The Mettâ Sutta (Discourse on loving-kindness)

The Mettâ Sutta (Discourse on loving-kindness)

(Suttanta pitaka Kuddaka Nikaya Suttaniparta -8)

 

Introduction

              The Pali word mettâ is a multi-significant term meaning loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness and non-violence. The Pali commentators define metta as the strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others (parahita-parasukha-kamana).[1]

               Essentially mettâ is an altruistic attitude of love and friendliness as distinguished from mere amiability based on self-interest. Through mettâ one refuses to be offensive and renounces bitterness, resentment and animosity of every kind, developing instead a mind of friendliness, accommodativeness and benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others. True metta is devoid of self-interest. It evokes within a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. Mettâ is indeed a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love.

BUDDHIST MEDITATION

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1. Introduction

             The Pali word metta is a multi-significant term meaning loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness and non-violence. The Pali commentators define metta as the strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others (parahita-parasukha-kamana). Essentially metta is an altruistic attitude of love and friendliness as distinguished from mere amiability based on self-interest. Through metta one refuses to be offensive and renounces bitterness, resentment and animosity of every kind, developing instead a mind of friendliness, accommodativeness and benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others. True metta is devoid of self-interest. It evokes within a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. Metta is indeed a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love.

The Most Venerable Mahâsi Sayâdaw and Rising and Falling

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Most Venerable Mahâsi Sayâdaw and Rising and Falling

Introduction

           Meditation is the systematic training of attention. Attention is the deliberate placing of awareness on its object, in order to know the object.

          All Buddhist meditation methods can be regarded as developing 'serenity' or developing ‘insight’. Vipassana[1] meditation is meditation for the purpose of cultivating insight or clarity about experience. The meditator aims to discern the three universal characteristics of experience according to Buddhism.

          Mahasi[2] Sayadaw[3] was a leading figure the revival of Buddhism in Myanmar post-independence, a movement that established many centers for teaching insight meditation. The Mahasi method is specifically designed to allow lay people in the modern world to attain the experience of enlightenment, or Nibbana. Vipassana meditation in this tradition is also known as 'mindfulness meditation' for its practice of continuous and unremitting attention to mental and physical phenomena as they appear to the meditator.

            Among the various type of meditation in the world today, the Vipassana method taught by Mahasi Sayadaw is unique. His technique is simple, logical ways to achieve real peace of mind and to lead a happy, useful life. His techniques are record of his experiences in meditation, as well as detailed instruction on how to practice in order to reach the gold he had attained, the experience of truth.

Buddhist Meditation Subject

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How to Produce Vipassanā Sati, Insight Mindfulness

How to Produce Vipassanā Sati, Insight Mindfulness

It only requires selecting any of the meditation objects mentioned in the remaining 19 sections for development of the Path of Insight Mindfulness, Vipassanā Sammāsati Magga. In accordance with ‘gacchanto vā gacchāmiti pajānāti’, as mentioned in the section on body postures, while walking, the body movements involved in the act of walking should be noted; while standing sitting lying down, body movements involved in each action should be noted. In accordance with ‘yathā yathaā vā pana’ etc., while sitting etc., if there are other minor body postures involved, they should also be noted carefully. Here special attention should be paid to the grammatical tense employed in ‘gacchanto vā gacchāmiti’ etc. It refers definitely to noting the present action only. It should be therefore thoroughly understood that learning by rote and pondering upon the types of corporeality, as enumerated in the Abhidhamma Texts, does no amount to contemplation of the body with mindfulness, Kāyānupassanā satipatthāna.

In addition, as mentioned in the section on Mindfulness with clear comprehension, Sampajanna paths, all body movements involved in going forward or going back, looking straight on or looking, asking, bending or stretching the limbs should be noted. 

1)The first group is the Prajna group.

(1)The first group is the Prajna group.

It is based on the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra. Its central concept is svabhāvatā—every phenomenon has no essence of its own and is empty of a permanent self.

All things are empty of self-nature.  Prajñāpāramitā deals with the perfection of wisdom. The main concept of Prajnaparamita sutra is non-grasping of all dharmas and that no dharma has its own intrinsic nature; that is, the concept of the emptiness or unreality of things.

The Perfection of Wisdom sutras teaches that all entities, including dharmas, are only conceptual constructs. They are empty of permanent self, and that nature is void, emerged in opposition to the intrinsic nature concept. All entities are like hallucinatory objects. There is no ultimate truth. ‘Even Nirvana is like a magical illusion, is like a dream.

 The central idea of The prjanparamita is complete release from the world of existence. It goes beyond earlier Buddhist teaching. It offers a way to enlightenment.—the ideal of a bodhisattva.

There are several famous sutras in prajanparamita literature: Perfection of Wisdom sutra, Diamond sutra and Heart sutra .

Two Topics for Take-Home Exam

Theravada and Mahayana, a living example of togetherness

1-The discussion of The Path of the Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism

2- The Discussion of the Bodies of the Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism

 
 

Prepared for Professor Ajan Boon Retutassa of the Mahayana Buddhism course of the International M.A. Program at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University

By Ven.U Obhasa

(ID 5101405026) 

 

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University

Bankok, Thailand, October 20, 2009

The discussion of Bodhisattva Path

Bodhisattva Path. A bodhisattva (Pali, bodhisatta) is a person who, according to Buddhism, is on the path to attaining the status of an enlightened being. More specifically the term is commonly used for one on the path to becoming a fully enlightened buddha. The "path of the bodhisattva" is usually known in Sanskrit as the bodhisattvamārga (bodhisattva-path), the bodhisattvayāna (bodhisattva-vehicle), or the bodhisattvacaryā (bodhisattva-conduct). It is the path followed by such a person from the time he or she first attains bodhisattva status until reaching the "fruit of the path," commonly full buddhahood.

There is no significant difficulty with the meaning of bodhi. This derives from the Indo-Aryan root budh-, from which the word buddha also derives, literally "awakening," or "enlightenment." The real problem is with sattva. This commonly means in Sanskrit a "[sentient] being," an "essence," or sometimes "courage." Thus a bodhisattva would be an "enlightenment being," "one who has enlightenment as essence," or occasionally perhaps an "enlightenment hero." And that is how the term is regularly glossed in Buddhist Sanskrit sources. But it is not clear how it relates to one that has not yet attained the goal of enlightenment. K. R. Norman (1990–1996, p. 87) suggests that bodhisattva may have been "back-formed" as part of sanskritization of Middle Indo-Aryan (such as Pali) expressions.

Observing the bodhisattva precepts

In addition to the five basic precepts, undertaking the additional precepts of the bodhisattva enables one to ascertain the path and establish oneself on the path. The precepts are not "commandments" as much as they are "protectors" against wayward mind and delusive and unwholesome habits. For the bodhisattva the precepts are like a roadmap to virtue and to bodhi-mind. The bodhisattva precepts consist of the Three Cumulative Pure Precepts and the Ten Virtuous Precepts

The Three Cumulative Pure Precepts are the precepts to

Mahayan buddhism in South-East Asia

China

Buddhism probably arrived in China around the 1st century CE from Central Asia (although there are some traditions about a monk visiting China during Asoka's reign), and through to the 8th century it became an extremely active center of Buddhism.

First known Chinese Buddha statue, found in a late Han dynasty burial in Sichuan province. Circa 200 CE. The hair, the moustache and the clothing are strongly indicative of Gandharan influences ("Crossroads of Asia", p.208)

The year 67 CE saw Buddhism's official introduction to China with the coming of the two monks Moton and Chufarlan. In 68 CE, under imperial patronage, they established the White Horse Temple (白馬寺), which still exists today, close to the imperial capital at Luoyang. By the end of the second century, a prosperous community had been settled at Pengcheng (modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu).

The first known Mahayana scriptural texts are translations made into Chinese by the Kushan monk Lokaksema in Luoyang, between 178 and 189 CE. Some of the earliest known Buddhist artifacts found in China are small statues on "money trees", dated circa 200 CE, in typical Gandharan style (drawing): "That the imported images accompanying the newly arrived doctrine came from Gandhara is strongly suggested by such early Gandhara characteristics on this "money tree" Buddha as the high ushnisha, vertical arrangement of the hair, moustache, symmetrically looped robe and parallel incisions for the folds of the arms." ("Crossroads of Asia" p209)

Coming of Mahayana

Coming of Mahayana

Between the 1st Century B.C. to the 1st Century A.D., the two terms Mahayana and Hinayana appeared in the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra or the Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law.

About the 2nd Century A.D. Mahayana became clearly defined. Nagarjuna developed the Mahayana philosophy of Sunyata and proved that everything is Void in a small text called Madhyamika-karika. About the 4th Century, there were Asanga and Vasubandhu who wrote enormous amount of works on Mahayana. After the 1st Century AD., the Mahayanists took a definite stand and only then the terms of Mahayana and Hinayana were introduced.

We must not confuse Hinayana with Theravada because the terms are not synonymous. Theravada Buddhism went to Sri Lanka during the 3rd Century B.C. when there was no Mahayana at all. Hinayana sects developed in India and had an existence independent from the form of Buddhism existing in Sri Lanka. Today there is no Hinayana sect in existence anywhere in the world. Therefore, in 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists inaugurated in Colombo unanimously decided that the term Hinayana should be dropped when referring to Buddhism existing today in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, etc. This is the brief history of Theravada, Mahayana and Hinayana.

Dasa Pāramī (Ten perfections)

1

Dasa Pāramī (Ten perfections)

(An assignment)

Subject: Buddhist Doctrines on Suttanta Pi'aka.

Lecturer: Phra Medhiratanadilok

Mahachulalongkornrajvidyalaya University,

IMAP, Bangkok, Thailand. 2552/2009

2

Preface[1]

Buddhism was born in India in the 6th century B.C.Buddhism is the teachings or doctrines of the Buddha. The45 years teachings of the Buddha were compiled as a

“Tipi"ka”, based on the idea of early Buddhist canonical andmethodological references after the passing away of the Buddha. In fact, the Tipi"aka is the canonical texts of Theravāda Buddhism, which was compiled during “5th century B.C to1st century B.C.”1that we know from various sourcesespecially from sa*gītis or Buddhist councils. The texts of Tipi"aka contains 84,000 textual units teachings (Dhammakkhanda), of which 21,000 units belong to the Vinaya Pitaka 21,000 units to the Suttanta Pitakaand the remaining 42,000 units to the Abhidhamma PitakaThis work “Dasa paramita or ten perfections” we find inthe doctrines of suttanta pitaka 11,000 (the basket of discourses),the second part of Tipitaka.

Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana (Sanskrit: महायान, mahāyāna literally 'Great Vehicle') is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. It was founded in India. The name Mahayana is used in three main senses:

1. As a living tradition, Mahayana is the larger of the two major traditions of Buddhism existing today, the other being Theravada. This classification is largely undisputed by all Buddhist schools.
2. According to the Mahayana method of classification of Buddhist philosophies, Mahayana refers to a level of spiritual motivation^[1] (also known as Bodhisattvayana^[2]). According to this classification, the alternative approach is called Hinayana, or Shravakayana. It is also recognized by Theravada Buddhism, but is not considered very relevant for practice.^[3]
3. According to the Vajrayana scheme of classification of practice paths, Mahayana refers to one of the three routes to enlightenment, the other two being Hinayana and Vajrayana. This classification is part of the teachings of Vajrayana Buddhism, and is not recognized by Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

Mahayana exam

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1.  Discuss the Origin of Mahayana Sutras

Answer :    Mahayana sutras were mainly composed in the south of India, and that later the activity of writing additional scriptures was continued in the east and north of India. Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were composed from the first century CE onwards. And it is believed that  the most of the Mahayana Sutras kept developing over the course of many centuries, from the 2nd century up until the 11th century AD . In these 10 centuries additional information was added, new Mahayana Sutras were written as the need for them was felt. As a result of this, many different versions exist of the same Mahayana Sutras. So these different versions of the same sutras display a large variety in content and length.  

The classification is divided into 3 periods: the beginning, the middle, and the last period. The beginning period is beginning roughly 150-250 CE. The middle period is roughly, 400-480 CE. The last period extends to the seventh century.

The earliest Mahayana scriptures and their important concepts may be divided into five groups.

    The first group is based on the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra. Its central concept is svabhāvatā—every phenomenon has no essence of its own and is empty of a permanent self. All things are empty of self-nature.[1]

    The second group of sutras are the Ratnakara, 宝积 , and Avatamsaka, 华严 , or Garland scriptures, with “the middle way” concept of the mind-only doctrine.[2]

     The third group was that of the Lotus, or the Dharma-flower Sutra, 法华 , and the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra, 维摩经.

                 The fourth group is Pure Land Sutras.

    The fifth group combined Mahayana concepts with traditional teachings.

The important sutras including their concepts in   The Prajñā group

The terms prajñā and prajñāpāramitā alone never refer to a single specific text, but a class of literature.[3] Prajñāpāramitā deals with the subject of the perfection of wisdom. The main concept of Prajnaparamita sutra is non-grasping of all dharmas and  that no dharma has its own intrinsic nature; that is, the concept of the emptiness or unreality of things.[4]

This was a development, particularly in opposition to the Sarvāstivāda sect[5] that held the opposite extreme, that every dharma has its own intrinsic nature.[6]

There are 2 kinds of realities—the conventional (sammuti) and the ultimate (paramattha). Conventional realities are products of mental construction, not realities existing by reason of their own nature. In contrast, Ultimate realities are things that exist by reason of their own intrinsic nature (sabhava). These are the dhammas: the final, irreducible components of existence, the ultimate entities which result from a correctly performed analysis of experience.

Later, the concept of self-existence or essence (svabhaava) was a development of Abhidharma schools. In the Abhidharma only dharmas, or ‘ultimate existents’, have essences. It opposes to ‘conventional existents’ which do not. We all know well that Early Buddhism was divided into many schools. They classified the dharmas differently.

According to the Sarvastivada, they held that each dharma was a real existent (dravya), had its own svabhava, and was impermanent (anitya). [7] Moreover, Sarvastivada held the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the 'three times', that is the teaching of “all exists”.

With the emergence of the Mahayana, the concept of svabhāvatā was developed[8]. The Perfection of Wisdom sutras taught that all entities, including dharmas, are only conceptual existents or constructs. For the Perfection of Wisdom there can be no essences at all. The phenomena have no essence of their own. They are empty of permanent self, and that nature is void, emerged in opposition to the intrinsic nature concept.  It is because they are simply mental constructs out of dharmas. They therefore lack their own specific and unique existence.

2.  Discuss the significant of Lotus Sutra

Answer  :  The lotus sutra is well-known for its extensive instruction on the concept and usage of skillful means (Sanskrit: upāya), mostly in the form of parables. It is also one of the first sutras to use the term Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle" Buddhism.

Like nearly all sutras. The Lotus Sutra begins with the Buddha’s close disciple Ananda speaking the words, “Thus what I heard”.

 The first important point the Buddha wishes to convey is that there is only one vehicle or one path to salvation,  which leads to the goal of Buddhahood. The Buddha’s earlier preaching on three paths for believers (three vehicles). They are; one was that of the sravaka or voice-hearer; second was that of the pratyekabuddha; and the third was that of the bodhisattva. 

But now, the Buddha tell us, these lesser [aths or] goals are to be aside and all beings are to aim for the single goal of Buddhahood, the one and only vehicle to true enlightenment or perfect understanding, a state designated in the Lotus Sutra by the Sanskrit term ‘anuttara-samyak-sambodhi’.

It is explained that The Buddha has earlier taught his followers the doctrine of the 3 vehicles, because at that time they were not yet ready to comprehend or accept the highest truth. Therefore he had to employ [what he terms] an expedient means or skillful means (upaaya) in order to lead followers [them] gradually along the road to greater understanding. He then illustrates his point through the famous parable of the burning house. The doctrine of the Three Vehicles, then, was a conceptualization of the difference between Mahayana and Śrāvakayāna Buddhism.

The Chapter 12 of the lotus sutra relates the affair of equally astounding import. In it, the bodhisatva Manjusri describes how he has been preaching the Lotus sutra at the palace of the dragon king at the bottom of the sea. Among his listeners [who], Manjusri mentions the daughter of the dragon king Sagara, a girl just turned 8, who was able to master all the teachings, succeeded in gaining enlightenment. 

The girl herself appears before the astonished assembly performs various acts that demonstrate she has in fact achieved the highest level of undersanding and can “in an instant” attain Buddhahood. Early Buddhism had asserted that women are  hampered in their religious endeavors by “five obstacles”, one of which is the fact that they can never hope to attain Buddhahhood. But all such assertions are here in the Lotus sura unequivocally thrust aside.

The child is dragon, a nonhuman being, she is of the female sex, and she has barely turned 8, yet she reaches the highest goal in the space of a moment.  the lotus sutra reveals that its revolutionary doctrine operate in a realm transcending all petty distinctions of sex, or species, instant or eon. The revelations concerning the universal accessibility of Buddhahood,

Most famous and influential of the devotional chapters of the lotus sutra are those with which portray various bodhisatvas who can render particular aid and protection to the believer.  For example, In chapter 25, centers on a bodhisattva Avalokitesavara, known in China as Guan Yin. The chapter relates in very concrete terms the wonderful types of assistance that he bodhisattva can render to persons of all different social levels and walks of life. In order to make his teaching and aid most readily acceptable to all kinds of beings, the bodhisattva is able to transform to 33 different forms, matching his form to that of the being be man or woman, exalted or humble, human or nonhuma in nature.

The ultimate "teaching" of the sutra, however, is implied to the reader that "full Buddhahood" is only arrived at by exposure to the truths expressed implicitly in the Lotus Sutra via its many parables. Skillful means of most enlightened Buddhas is itself the highest teaching That is the "Lotus Sutra" itself.        

Another concept introduced by the Lotus Sutra is the idea that the Buddha is an eternal entity, who achieved nirvana eons ago, but willingly chose to remain in the cycle of rebirth to teach beings the Dharma time and again.

3.  Discuss the doctrine of “nonduality” in the lotus sutra

Answer  :  The concept, often described in English as “nondualism”, is extremely hard for the mind to grasp or visulize, since the mind engages constantly in the making of distinctions and nondualism represents the rejection or transcendence of all distinction. The world percieved through the senses, the phenomenal world as we know it, was described in early  Buddhism as “empty” because it was taught that all such phenomena arise from causes and conditions, are in constant state of flux, and are destined to change and pass away in time.

They are also held to be “empty” in the sense that they have no inherent or permanent characteristics by which they can be described, changing as they do from instant to instant. But in Mahayana thought it became customary to emphasize not to negative but rather the positive aspects or import of the doctrine of Emptiness. If All phenomena are characterized by the quality of ‘emptiness’, then emptiness must constitute the unchanging and abiding nature of existence, and therefore the absolute or unchanging world must be synonymous with the phenomenal one. Hence all mental and physical distinctions that we perceive or conceive of with our minds must be part of a single underlying unity.

It is this concept of Emptiness or nonduality that leads the Mahayana texts to assert that samsara, the ordinary world of suffering and cyclical birth and death, is in the end identical with the world of nirvana, and that earthly desires are enlightenment.

Sum up, the Lotus Sutra indicates that emptiness (śūnyatā) is not the ultimate vision to be attained by the aspirant Bodhisattva, but the attainment of Buddha Wisdom is indicated to be a bliss-bestowing treasure which transcends seeing all as merely empty. Nondualism represents the rejection or transcendence of all distinctions."

Translation and composition

Though we do not know what language the Lotus Sutra was first composed in, it was very probably not Sanskrit, and therefore the Sanskrit versions of the text are already one step removed from the original. However it is conventionally thought that this sutra is translated from Sanskrit. Its first translation was done by Dharmarakṣa around 209 CE. Later, this early translation by Dharmarakṣa was superseded by a translation in seven fascicles by Kumārajīva in 406 CE.  And it is known that Kumārajīva made extensive use of the earlier version to the extent of borrowing readings directly from Dharmarakṣa's version.

Kumarajiva translation of the Lotus sutra as it exists at present ids made up of 28 chapters. Nearly all the chapers consist of a combination of prose and verse passages. Verse form was used to make it easier for the followers of the religion to memorize. Kumara’s Chinese translation is the version in which the Lotus sutra has been known and read over the centuries throughout the countries of East Asia.

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras in Asia and the basis on which the Tien Tai in China (Tendai in Japan) school and the Nichiren schools in Japan were established. The full text of lotus sutra usually includes the lotus sutra, the Sutra of Innumrable Meanings Wu liang yi jing), and the Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy (Pu Xian Jing). These other sutras that are usually included with the lotus sutra, were probably composed later than it was,

The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sutra is also classified in the same genre of the Lotus Sutra. Its famous teaching is nondualism.[9]

4.  Discuss the Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra or the Vimalakirti Sutra

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra The sutra expounds the profound principle of Mahāyāna as opposed to Theravada teachings, focusing on the explication of the meaning of nonduality. A significant aspect of the scripture is the fact that it is a teaching addressed to high-ranking Buddhist disciples through the mouth of the layman bodhisattva Vimalakīrti, who expounds the doctrine of emptiness in depth, eventually resorting to silence. This is said to be in keeping with the general Mahāyāna Buddhist view that the highest teaching cannot be expressed in words. This particular teaching by Vimalakirti is used to portray the most accomplished disciples of the Buddha as deficient in understanding, in order to be able to present the ideal of Bodhisattvaship as higher than Arahantship

The Vimalakirti-sutra. is a masterpiece, and it is read more generally than other Buddhist sutras by the laity. There are 2 signification of this sutra. The first one is that its chief figure of interest is not the Buddha but a wealthy layman called Vimalakirti. Another one lies in setting the pace for the layman who strives for annutara-samyak-sambodhi, or supreme perfect enlightenment.

What we have to notice especially in this text is that Mahyana Buddhism does not require us to lead a homeless life as a Bhikshu in order to attain enlightenment, that is, the householder's life is as good and pure as the mendicant's. The sutra is seen by some as a strong assertion of the value of lay practice that to be a perfect Buddhist one need not renounce family life and join the order of monks and nuns, where it was seen as being compatible with Confucian values. This sutra was influential on Pure Land schools, and very popular in China and Japan .

The doctrine of non-duality in Vimalakirti Sutra

The doctrine of non-duality is essentially a re-statement of the Buddha’s teaching of the middle way between the existence and non-existence. It is beyond the realm of good and bad, nirvana and samsara, virtue and evil, self and liberation. They are both void because wherein ultimately, there is neither existence nor non-existence.

This is the part of English translation done by Burton Watson as below.

The bodhisattva Candrottara declared, "'Darkness' and 'light' are dualistic, but the absence of both darkness and light is nonduality. Why? At the time of absorption in cessation, there is neither darkness nor light, and likewise with the natures of all things. The entrance into this equanimity is the entrance into nonduality."

The bodhisattva Ratnamudrahasta declared, "It is dualistic to detest the world and to rejoice in liberation, and neither detesting the world nor rejoicing in liberation is nonduality. Why? Liberation can be found where there is bondage, but where there is ultimately no bondage where is there need for liberation? The mendicant who is neither bound nor liberated does not experience any like or any dislike and thus he enters nonduality."

The bodhisattva Manikutaraja declared, "It is dualistic to speak of good paths and bad paths. One who is on the path is not concerned with good or bad paths. Living in such unconcern, he entertains no concepts of 'path' or 'nonpath.' Understanding the nature of concepts, his mind does not engage in duality. Such is the entrance into nonduality."

The bodhisattva Satyarata declared, "It is dualistic to speak of 'true' and 'false.' When one sees truly, one does not ever see any truth, so how could one see falsehood? Why? One does not see with the physical eye, one sees with the eye of wisdom. And with the wisdom-eye one sees only insofar as there is neither sight nor nonsight. There, where there is neither sight nor nonsight, is the entrance into nonduality."[10]

There are three classical Chinese translations extant:

• the 維摩詰所說經 Wéimójié suǒshuō jīng (trans. by Kumārajīva ; T 475.14.537a-557b).
• the 說無垢稱經 Shuō wúgòuchēng jīng (6 fasc. trans. Xuanzang . T 476.14.557-587)
• the 佛說維摩詰經 Fóshuō wéimójié jīng (2 fasc. trans. Zhi Qian . T 474.14.519-536).

In addition to these, 4 earlier translations had been done by Lokakṣema (188), Dharmarakṣa (308), Upaśūnya (545), and Jñānagupta (591).

Of the three extant renditions, Kumārajīva's has traditionally been the most popular. There are also two translations from the original Sanskrit into Tibetan.[11]

5.  Discuss the Nirvana Sutra

Answer  :  The Nirvana Sutra, or Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra  is a major Mahayana sutra, as 'one of the three great masterpieces of Mahayana Buddhism.

The scripture presents itself as providing the re-correct understanding of earlier Buddhist teachings, such as those on non-Self and Emptiness: "non-Self" in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra refers to the impermanent, mundane, skandha-constructed ego, while "Emptiness" (shunyata) is explicated as meaning empty of that which is compounded, painful, and impermanent.

However,    The nirvana sutra implies the ‘self’ (atta-personality view-egoistic view) of  ‘non-self’ (anatta) in the sense of mundane which is impermanent, and the ‘Self” (atman) of ‘true Self’ in the sense of supramundane, ultimate reality,  that is Selfhood of Buddha , which is emptiness (empty of that which is compounded, painful, and impermanent). This Self of the Buddha is the source of ever-enduring life.

The Nirvana Sutra is striving for its teachings on the eternal, unchanging, blissful, pure, inviolate and deathless "Self" (ātman) of the Buddha in the interiority of Nirvana: "

Here the sutra controverts the familiar Buddhist teaching that "all dharmas [phenomena] are non-Self", and in the Dharmakshema version the Buddha even declares that "in truth there is Self (Atman) in all dharmas".

Much of the central focus of the Nirvana Sutra falls on the existence of the Buddha-dhatu (Buddha-nature, Buddha element, or Buddha principle), also called the Tathagatagarbha ("Buddha-matrix" or "Buddha embryo"), in every sentient being which includes animals.

Mahaparinirvana is characterized as being that which is "Eternal (nitya), Blissful (sukha), the Self (atman) and Pure (subha)”

"The Tathagata's Body is not causally conditioned. Because it is not causally conditioned, it is said to have the Self.

6.  Discuss The Tathagatagarbha doctrine

Answer  :  The Tathagatagarbha doctrines clarify the true nature and meaning of "Emptiness" (shunyata) by delimiting its range of application and revealing that a full understanding of Emptiness needs to be balanced by knowledge of the indestructible and omni-present Buddha-dhatu, and that this mysterious Dhatu (Principle, Element or Factor) is only empty of impermanence, impurity and suffering, not of its own immeasurable virtues and blissful eternity.

So when some commentators on Buddhism, eager to minimise or de-essentialise the Buddha Nature,  seek to claim that the Buddha-dhatu is simply another word for Emptiness, they should in all conscience explain to the student that 'Emptiness' has different ranges of meaning and connotation, and that when applied to the Tathagatagarbha, it means empty of imperfection and physical / ideational graspability. That is not to say that the Tathagatagarbha / Buddha-dhatu is not real and true. It is, in fact, the most real entity (although not, of course, a tangible or material 'thing') that can ever be seen or known. It is nothing less than the heart of the Buddha himself.  

7.  Discuss the Srimaladevi – sungabada Sutra

Answer  :   The Śrīmālādevī-simhanāda-sūtra literature also[12] emerged in the same period as the Nirvāṇa-sūtra literature. Śrīmālādevī is the name of the person who was in the discourse. The sutra is short, filling only one volume. There are two versions in Chinese translation. One, translated by Bodhiruci[13] is called Simhanāda, 師子吼 , and is combined with the 48^th discourse of the Mahāratnakūta-sūtra, 大宝积经 , Great Gem-heap Sutra. This sutra deals with Buddha-nature, particularly using the Tathāgata-garbha[14] concept. It consists of 14 divisions. The fundamental teaching is similar to that of the latter part of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, but gives more explanation of the nature of mind and of the mind of absolute purity.[15]

In the sutra of queen srimala, where we find the main character, srimala, is an astute teacher of the tathagatagarbha. Srimala is praised for her intelligence and compassion, not for her beauty or wealth, which are implicit. She is eloquent in expounding the Dharma and is charismatic, as are all Bsvs.  srimala is an 8^th stage  female BS, an irreversible BS. Srimala receives the prediction of future  Bhood, and then begins her long discourse on the ultimate and most difficult teaching in Bsm. She epitomized the Mahayana ideal , that of a sentient being who, regardless of sex or status, stives to realize his or her spiritual potential orn Bhood.

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[1] 性空幻有See Lv Cheng, op. cit., p. 2032.

[2] Chen Guan Sheng, Li Pei Zhu, op. cit., p. 436a-b: 中道唯识.The Dharmalakṣaṇa school describes it as the Mind-Only Doctrine; the Three-śāstra school as the eight negations; the Tiantai as the true reality; and the Huayan as the dharmadhātu. 法相宗以唯识为中道.

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajnaparamita

[4]Chen Guan Sheng, Li Pei Zhu, op. cit., p. 92b: 法空:

[5] Ibid., p. 407a: 有部

[6] 法无自性: See Lv Cheng, op. cit., p. 2036.

[7] See: Etienne Lamotte, History of Indian Buddhism from the Origins to the Shaka Era, translated from the French by Sara Webb-Boin, Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut Orientaliste de l'Universite Catholique de Louvain, 1988, p. 600.

[8] Chen Guan Sheng, Li Pei Zhu, op. cit., p. 380b: 性空

[9] Jia Jinhua, “Doctrinal Reformation of the Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism”, in the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 24 No. 1, 2001, p. 7

[10] http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/Vimalakirti.htm

[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimalakirti_Sutra

[12] Chen Guan Sheng, Li Pei Zhu, op. cit., p. 289a: 胜髮经类 .

[13] Ibid., p. 194a: 菩提流支 .

[14] Ibid., p. 291a: 师子吼 .

[15] Ibid., p. 446b: 自性请净心 .