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Avatamsaka Sutra

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Avatamsaka-sutra
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Mahayana Buddhist sutra that explores the teachings of the Buddha Gautama. It speaks of the deeds of the Buddha and the resulting merits that blossom like a garland of flowers. It begins with the Buddha's Enlightenment attended by a chorus of bodhisattvas and divine beings. It describes an assembly in the palace of Indra, where the Buddha teaches that all beings have the Buddha nature. Around AD 400 a Chinese translation appeared, Huayan jing, which gave rise in the 6th century to the Huayan sect, which became in Japan the Kegon school. See also Vairocana.

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Buddhism Dictionary: Avataṃsaka Sūtra
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A Mahāyāna sūtra purportedly preached by the Buddha immediately after his enlightenment (bodhi) that directly conveys the content of his vision. No complete Sanskrit text of this sūtra remains extant, although portions of it do exist and Chih-yen of the Hua-yen school left an outline of the Sanskrit text from which the translation by Śikṣānanda was produced. There are four translations extant, three in Chinese and one in Tibetan. These are: (1) the translation by Buddhabhadra in 60 fascicles, completed in 420 ce (Taishō 278); (2) the translation by Śikṣānanda in 80 fascicles, completed in 699 ce. (Taishō 279); (3) the 40-fascicle translation of the last chapter, called the Gaṇḍavyūha, produced by Prajñā in 798 ce (Taishō 293); and (4) the Tibetan translation in 45 chapters produced by Jinamitra in the 8th century (Peking edition, vols. 25, 26). In addition to the three complete translations (nos. 1, 2, and 4 above), many portions of this sūtra have been translated and disseminated as self-standing works. This fact, plus the existence of autonomous sections in Sanskrit, has led scholars to conclude that this is an encyclopedic work which was augmented over the centuries as other works were added to it.

According to Hua-yen exegesis the sūtra's primary goal is to show the reader how the world appears to a completely enlightened Buddha or advanced Bodhisattva. It presents a universe conceived as empty of inherent existence and as arising and fading away each moment in response to the activities of mind. The Buddha, realizing that all reality arises in dependence on mind, and having perfect control of his mind through his meditation, is able to produce effects at any distance which may appear to unenlightened beings as magic, but which to him simply manifest reality as it is—mind-made. His transformations are not different in quality from those worked by ordinary beings as they pass from life to life; the crucial difference is that the Buddha is aware of the process and can control it. This places the Buddha in a universe lacking disparate objects with solid boundaries between them. Instead, he sees a constant flow and flux in the basic transformations of mind.

As a result of this fluidity and lack of hard boundaries, all of reality is seen as perfectly interpenetrating. This interpenetration occurs at two levels. First, the ultimate nature of reality, the noumenon, is perfectly expressed in all individual phenomena. More concretely, the single Buddha Vairocana (of whom the historical Buddha Śākyamuni is said to be an emanation) is the ground of all reality. Since all individual phenomena emerge from him, he perfectly pervades all things. Second, because of this complete pervasion of noumenon (Vairocana) into all phenomena, all phenomena perfectly interpenetrate each other. Each individual thing arises out of this basic matrix of transformations, and so each implies and influences all of the others. Everything is within everything else, and yet there is no confusion of one phenomenon with another.

The most important sections are the Daśabhūmika, which describes the levels (bhūmi) traversed by a Bodhisattva, and the final chapter, the Gaṇḍavyūha, which depicts the journey of a youth named Sudhana as he visits one teacher after another, eventually seeing a total of 53. Each teacher deepens his awareness, and the group represents every level of being, from the prostitute Vasumitrā to the greatest Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. By the end of his journey, Sudhana experiences the falling of the boundaries that separated his own body and mind from the rest of reality and he sees the ocean of flux that is the dharma-dhātu, or field of dharmas. His realization renders all former obstacles transparent to him and he wanders unimpeded through the cosmos as he wills. As the sūtra concludes here, the reader is left with a vision and a promise that, upon his or her attainment of perfect enlightenment (saṃbodhi), they will also accomplish what Sudhana accomplished and roam freely in the dharma-dhātu. This text forms the doctrinal basis of the Sino-Japanese Hua-yen school.

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The Avataṃsaka Sutra (Chinese: 華嚴經; pinyin: huá yán jīng; Vietnamese: Kinh Hoa Nghiêm; Japanese: Kegon Kyō; Wylie: mdo phal po che) is one of the most influential Mahayana Sutras of East Asian Buddhism. The title is rendered in English as Flower Garland Sutra, Flower Adornment Sutra, or Flowers Ornament Scripture.

This text describes a cosmos of infinite realms upon realms, mutually containing each other. The vision expressed in this work was the foundation for the creation of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism, which was characterized by a philosophy of interpenetration. Huayan is known as Kegon in Japan.

The sutra is also well known for its detailed description of the course of the bodhisattva's practice through ten stages where the 'Sutra of the Ten Bhumis' (Skt. Daśabhūmika-sūtra, Wyl. phags pa sa bcu pa'i mdo), is the nomenclature given to the thirty-first chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra.[1]

Contents

History

The sutra was written in stages, beginning from at least 500 years after the death of the Buddha. Two full Chinese translations of the Avatamsaka Sutra were made. Fragmentary translation probably began in the 2nd century CE, and the famous Ten Stages Sutra (十地經), often treated as an individual scripture, was first translated in the 3rd century. The first complete Chinese version was completed by Buddhabhadra around 420, and the second by Śikṣānanda around 699. There is also a translation of the Gandavyuha by Prajñā around 798. The second translation includes more sutras than the first, and the Tibetan translation, which is still later, includes even more. Scholars conclude that sutras were being added to the collection. The sutra has not survived in Sanskrit.

Format

The sutra, among the largest in the Buddhist canon, contains 40 chapters of somewhat disparate topics, though with some overarching themes:

  • The interdependency of all phenomena (dharmas).
  • The progression of the Buddhist path to full Enlightenment, or Buddhahood.

Two of the chapters serve as sutras in their own right, and have been cited in the writings of many Buddhists in East Asia.

The Twenty-Sixth Chapter: Ten Stages Sutra

Chapter 26, the Dasabhumika Sutra or Sutra of the Ten Stages details the ten stages, or bhūmi, of development a bodhisattva must undergo to attain supreme enlightenment. The ten stages are also depicted in the Lankavatara Sutra and the Shurangama Sutra. The sutra also touches on the subject of the development of the "aspiration for Enlightenment" (Bodhichitta or Bodhi resolve) of full Buddhahood or anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

The Final Chapter: The Gandavyuha Sutra

The last chapter of the Avatamsaka also circulates as a separate text known as the Gandavyuha Sutra. The Gandavyuha Sutra details the journey of the youth Sudhana, who undertakes a pilgrimage at the behest of the bodhisattva Manjushri. Sudhana will converse with 52 masters in his quest for enlightenment. The antepenultimate master of Sudhana's pilgrimage is Maitreya. It is here that Sudhana encounters The Tower of Maitreya, which along with Indra's net is one of the most startling metaphors for the infinite to emerge in the history of literature across cultures.

In the middle of the great tower... he saw the billion-world universe... and everywhere there was Sudhana at his feet... Thus Sudhana saw Maitreya's practices of... transcendence over countless eons (kalpa), from each of the squares of the check board wall... In the same way Sudhana... saw the whole supernal manifestation, was perfectly aware it, understood it, contemplated it, used it as a means, beheld it, and saw himself there.[2]

The penultimate master that Sudhana visits is the Bodhisattva Manjushri (Great Wisdom Bodhisattva). Thus, one of the grandest of pilgrimages approaches its conclusion by revisiting where it began. The Gandavyhua suggests that with a subtle shift of perspective we may come to see that the enlightenment that the pilgrim so fervently sought was not only with him at every stage of his journey, but before it began as well—that enlightenment is not something to be gained, but "something" the pilgrim never departed from.

The final master that Sudhana visits is the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Universal Worthy), who teaches him that wisdom only exists for the sake of putting it into practice; that it is only good insofar as it benefits all living beings.

When this done, the world of the Gandavyuha (ceases) to be a mystery, a realm devoid of form and corporeality, for now it overlaps this earthly world; no, it becomes that "Thou art it" and there is a perfect fusion of the two... Samantabhadra's arms raised to save sentient beings become our own, which are now engaged in passing salt to a friend at the table and Maitreya's opening the Vairocana Tower for Sudhana is our ushering a caller into the parlor for a friendly chat.[3]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Rigpa Shedra (January 2009). 'Sutra of the Ten Bhumis'. Source: [1] (accessed: April 10, 2009)
  2. ^ Thomas Cleary's translation of the Gandavyuha Sutra, Entry Into the Realm of Realty
  3. ^ D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Series 3

External links

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