State or Statement? Samiidhi in Some Early Mahayana Sutras

ANDREW SKILTON

MEDHATION has, in recent years, been ascribed an impOliant role in early Mahayana Buddhism. In his survey volume of Mahayana doc­

trine, Paul Williams has taken note of recent work on certain meditation texts, particularly that by Harrison on the Pro(vllfpannasamiidlzi Si/fro (here­after cited as PSS),' and has made a convincing case for meditational ex­perience, particularly of the "visionary" kind, being a major factor in the origination of Mahayana literature and hence in the origin of Mahayana itself.2 In his bibliographical survey of Indian Buddhism, Nakamura Hajime cites a group of texts that includes the PSS along with other sutras and sasfros, but instead links them to the origins of the Yogacara schooP In a previous publication, I have myself linked a number of such samc7dhi sutras

* This article originated from work completed at Oxford University in 1997, but was sub­

sequently rewritten and aired in seminars at Bristol, Edinburgh and Cardiff Universities, and

eventually was offered as a part of a paper at a Stanford University conference entitled

"Investigating the Early Mahayana." held at Asilomar. California in May 200 I. Surprisingly.

while I have seen fit to alter the expression, I have been given no reason to change the content.

I Harrison 1978a, where the same point is first made by Harrison himself. Williams also

cites Demieville 1954 in his bibliography. .

2 Williams 1989.

3 In doing this. he goes against the opinion of others (including the present author) who

associates at least the PSS and Sall1iidhirc(ja Slilra with the prajiiapclrall1ilci genre. See

Harrison 1978a, Gomez and Silk 1989 and Regamey 1990.

51

THE EASTERN BUDDHIST XXXIV, 2

o n the understanding that they teach med i tat ion-re l ated matters and had some ro l e in early Mahayana . ..! Whatever historical use we make of t his body of textua l materia l , i t consists of a smal l group of early M ahayana sutras that we assoc iate w i th the p ract i c e of medi tat i o n . The basis of this associati on i s pr imar i l y the use of the tel111 samildhi i n the t i t l e of these texts. As I have shown on another occasi on , th is usage was understood to be generic, at l east i n the c i rc l e of Asailga, and because of th is, such texts were themselves occa­siona l ly known as .Wllllcldhi.5 In the p resent art i c l e , my i nterest is to examine our assoc iat ion of thcse sutras with meditation pract ice( s ) and see if it is j us­t i tied.

My start i ng point is the substant i a l M ahayana text known as the Sama­dhif'(lja Slltf'([ or the Calldrapradipasa/J/ildhi Sillra (hereafter, S R S ) . This text appears to have c i rcu l ated in at l east four distinct recensi ons , represent­ed by: the Chinese translation of Narendrayasas; the Gi lg i t manuscr ipt; and two groups of Nepalese manuscripts (hereafter, SRS I and II), from the first of which the Tibetan translation was made.() The extended title of the re­cens ion I have termed S R S II descri bes the text as the sarl'adharmasva­h/Ull 'aSamatal 'ipal'ici lell samiic/her .1 'a l/ul/ahd/wl71 SOl11adh ir{{ja/!l nama

/J/ah{Zl'clllaSlllra/!l, i .e., "the M ahayana d iscourse that is ca l led the king of sa/J/adhi, as rece ived fi-om the samac/hi elaborated as the sameness i n their essence of a l l phenomena." I n a separate i n vest igat i o n of the date of compo­s i t ion of this text, I have a lready con c l uded fro m thi s and other passages that the text itse l f is considered i n some way to be a salll{ldhi, and we can add to th is the observat ion that the sutra is also considered in some way to be derived from a samac/hi cal l ed the sar\'{/d/wrmasvahhiiva.\'{//J/atc7vipailcita­.\'al7/{ldhi.7 This interpretat i o n is j ust i fied by, and the t i t l e i tse l f p robably derived from, the repeated reference to th is sa/J/adhi throughout the sutra. In fact, a l most every chapter of the S R S i s introduced as an exp lanat i o n or glo­r ificat ion in some form or another of the sarmd/wrl11asvahlulms([mata­l'ipaiicita-,\'all/{Ic/hi, and so we are doubly j ust i fi ed in tak ing this as the exp l ic i t subj ect of the entire text.

The S RS is thus concerned wi th a sal11(ldhi that is l'ipa;icita in some way.

� Ski l ton 1 994. p . 105. 5 Ski l ton 1 999a. ASaI1ga lIses th i s .term to dcnotc fOllr texts : Siirw!lgulI/asulI/c1dhi Siitra,

Pru/'l'lItpal1l1a.\·all/iidhi Siitra, SUII/iidhiriiju Siitl'({ and 5;an'(/pli!l,l'(/SUlI/lIC('U.1'(/SulI/iidhi Slltra.

h Ski l ton 1999b. i See Ski l ton I 999a, chap. I et passi m .

52

SKILTON: STATE OR STATEMENT?

This l atter term has been interpreted variously. Narendrayasas took it as a grammatically negative, though religiously positive, term, synonymous with ni!jprapaiica, "the absence of conceptualizations ," and which he translated l iterally as "absence of frivolous talk." Ni!jprapaiica is widely attested throughout the canon, both Sravaka and Mahayana, and seems to be used to denote a state very similar to the "trans conceptual" knowledge, nirvikal­pajiiana, of the Vijfianavada . 8

Regamey, however, translates vipm1cita as "explained," rightly drawing attention to the literal meaning of the verb vipm1cayati, "to diffuse, to ex­pand," and the secondary sense, "to explain ." In a footnote, he mentions the Paramatthajotika's definition ofvipaiicitaiiiiu as applied to those "who need a detailed instruction; thus leaming by diffuseness . "9 This last usage is also frequent throughout the Pe!akopadesa and Nettipakara!1CI, and affinns the significance of the tenn in the didactic context. 10 Thus, Regamey' s transla­tion of the ful l title of the samadhi is "the samadhi which is explained as the equal ity of all the dharmas in their essence." II

Gomez and Silk, acknowledging the difficulty of interpretation of this t it le , adopts the translation "manifested," but without specific justification; thus, "the samadhi that i s manifested as the sameness of the essential nature of all dharmas ." 12 In a lengthy footnote, the authors refer to the s ingle occur­rence of the expression °vipm1citasal11cidhinirdesa in chapter 40 and, fol low­ing Regamey, look to chapter 8, verse 7 for guidance on interpreting the tem1. I am not convinced that either of these passages is justified as a defin­itive guide to interpretation. In particular, it strikes me as unsound to re ly upon chapter 8, verse 7, even assuming that it does clarify the situation, s ince it only occurs in recensions S RS I and 11. Nor is it clear why, if it were

K Fo l lowing Schmi thau sen ' s tran sl at ion of the term ( 1 98 7 , vol . l , p . 2 (2 ) . Edgcrton d i rects

attent ion to passage s i n the LllIiklil'alara Slllra and the Boc/hisal/mh/ull11i i n which prapaiica i s pa i red wi th vika/p a, B H S D s.v . prapaiica. The lack of a carefu l study of th i s term in the Pa l i

literature w h i c h h e notes in th i s entry has s i nce been rect ified b y Bh ikkhu Nanananda (197 1 ) .

See a l so Schmi thauscn 1 987 , vo l . 2 , n . 1 42 5 .

'! Regamey 1 990, p . 22 a n d n . 2 1 , quoting the Pal i -Eng l i sh Dict ionary. 10 I have located th i s and cognate form s some thi l1een t imes in the NC'l/liJukurulla ( text,

Hard y 1 902 ; translat ion , Niinamol i 1 9 62 ), and twenty-two t imes in the PC'!akopuc/csa ( text .

Barua 1 949; tra nslat ion , Nallamol i 1 964). II Regamey 1 990, p . 7 3 .

1 2 Gomez and S i l k 1989 , pp . 1 5 -1 6 . I n th i s volume . the sect ion dca l i ng w i th the SRS i s the

product of an experiment i n co l l aborative authorsh ip by a group of scho l ars and advanced

graduate students at the U n iversi ty of M ichi gan, 1 982-83 .

53

T H E E A S T E RN B U D DH I S T X X X I V, 2

introduced to these recensions with the intention to expla in this t it le , such an important passage should be so recondite. As I wi l l argue l ater, we do not need to look to this source as the sutra provides more exp l ic i t guidance in a more obvious p lace . 13 Meanwhi le , chapter 8 , verse 7 reads :

tasmad dhi yo icchi vipaikitam imam svabhavasamatam sugatana matar!l sa bhavayatu sarvi abhavadharmam prati l apsyatlmam j ananTm j inanaml4

Thus, Regamey:

He who longs for thi s M other of the Sugatas expla ined as the " Equal ity of the Absolute Essences," l et him meditate upon all the dharmas as non-existent. Then wi l l he atta in this Parent of the Victorious Ones . IS

Fina l ly, in Gomez and S i lk :

Therefore, one seeking the Mother o f the Sugatas, Who manifests herse lf as sameness of essentia l nature, By meditating on a l l dhannas as nonexistent, Will attain to this Mother of the Conquerors . 16

As for vipaiicita, my own preference is to attempt a translation which com­bines the two meanings noted by Regamey, and for this p urpose I suggest "elaborated" as an appropriate trans lation in this context. This, I hope, com­bines the root meaning of "expansion" with the d idactic character indicated by its frequent use in the Perakopadesa and Nettipakarana.

However, the problems of interpretation of the name sarvadharma­

svabhiivasamatiivipaiicita-samiidhi cannot be solved on a phi lological basis alone. Inherent in the task of deriving a satisfactory trans lation i s the need to p l ace the l inguistic item in context; in this case, for example, to understand what i t could possibly mean for a samiidhi to be "e laborated," and in fact

\3 We sho ul d also note two further tran slat ion s of th i s t i t le : Tatz : "the King of Samadh i s,

which exp la in s i n detai l the s im i l arity o f a l l dhannas i n their own-bei ng," for the ful l t it le o f

t he s utra ( 1 972 , p . I ): and Rockwel l : "th i s samadhi that i s expla i ned i n detai l a s t he equal i ty

of the nature o f a l l dhannas " ( 1 980, p . 2 3 ). 14 Text as e stab l i shed by Regamey 1 990 , p. 3 1 .

15 Regamey 1 990, p. 66. 16 Gomez and S i l k 1 989 , p. 80 n . !.

54

S K ILT ON : STAT E O R STAT EM E NT?

what is meant by samiidhi in the SRS in general . As I have already men­tioned, i t seems to be the case that the term samiidhi i s used in some early Mahayana sutras and by Asailga to denote the text itself (written or oral) . I would like here to take this argument one step further, and to suggest that in some Mahayana sutras the term samiidhi can be used to denote a specific lit­erary item incorporated within the sutra text.

Before doing so, however, we should review the recognized usages of the term samiidhi in the Sravaka and Mahayana canons. I? Common to both bod­ies of scripture is the Ubiquitous account of the Buddhist path in terms of eth­ical conduct (sila), meditation (samiidhi) and knowledge or insight (prajiiii). In this usage, which is the primary usage of samiidhi in the Sravaka canon, samiidhi includes both the range of preparatory practices and the series of distinct altered mental states which they produce and support. Thus the preparatory practices include : guarding of the senses; mindfulness and awareness; contentment; and suppression of the five hindrances (nzvaraIJa). The resultant altered mental states which these produce and sustain are the meditative absorptions (dhyiina): four in number in canonical sources, but considered as five in commentarial and Abhidharma sources .18 The medita­tive absorptions constitute a series of successively more refined and tranquil states of mind, characterized by concentration and equanimity. Experience of them is regarded as a prerequisite for experienc ing knowledge or insight, the third stage of the path. This insight or knowledge consists in the de­construction of the person into its constituent phenomena (dharmas). The meditative absorptions constitute the primary general referent of the tenn samiidhi in the Sravaka canon. All ied to thi s usage is one more specific and technical . For Vasubandhu and Buddhaghosa, i . e . , in both Sarvastivadin and Theravadin Abhidharma, samiidhi is that factor which characterizes the increasing concentration experienced in the meditative absorptions, i . e . , it i s given a technical definition by them as "one-pointedness of mind (of a wholesome character) . " 19 As such, and lying behind this applied usage, is the understanding for both authors that samiidhi i s primari ly an omnipresent

17 I present a brief survey of the m ai n characteri st ics here, but refer the reader to G llnaratana

( 1 98 5 , passim ) , Lamotte ( 1 965 , pp . 1 4-35 ) and Deleanll ( 2000, pp. 69-78 ) for more exhaus­t ive treatments .

I X I me�t ion on ly the four dhyiina; from the fourth of which , however, can be deve loped a

set of four iirtlpyasamiipalli. I� As sal11iidhis cillasyaikiigrafii i n Abhidharl11akosabhii,�)'a 2 .24 (Sastri 1 987 , p. 1 8 7 ), and

kllsalacittekaggatii sal11iidhi i n Visuddhil11agga ( Rhys Davids 1 975 , pp . 84, 464).

55

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V, 2

mental state, being that dharma which fac i l i tates the m ind continu ing to rema in on any object.20

Complementary to th i s account of samadhi is the categorization of i t accord ing to three appl icat ions or subj ects : emptiness (/;zln:vata), des ire­less(ness) (apranihita), and "s ignlessness" (anil7litta).21 These are known col lect ively as the vimok.Wll71l1kha. From th i s po int of v iew, samadhi i s seen as appl ied to three characteri st ic features of the Buddhist analys i s of phe­nomena (dharmas) : namely, that phenomena are empty of "selfll00d," do not ari se or decay through se lf-wi l l , and are free from the characteri stics of condit ioned existence . This threefold categorizat ion of samadhi, al though secondary to sWllZidhi as one-pointedness or med i tat ive absorpt ion , is the th i rd mai n referent of the term in the Sravaka canon. Samc7dlzi is thus direct­ly assoc iated with meditation, both as a mental technology and as the result­ing transformed consciousness of the practi t i oner, v iewed as either "mental state" or "mental content . "

Thi s same p i cture is repeated in the Mahayana corpus, but with the addit ion of a number of new features . First, the ins ight or knowledge which can be atta i ned by the bodhisattva on the basis of his practice of sallladhi transcends that of the Sravaka path insofar as i t deconstructs not only the per­son, but also the phenomena which make up the person . Second, the bod­hisattva ' s motive is a ltruism, rather than the perce ived self- in terest of the Sravaka, and thus seeks to take advantage of the magical power (rddhi) with which samadhi is assoc iated i n the Mahayana . Supposedly i n assoc iation with thi s last feature, there also appear in M ahayana l iterature references to a number of spec ific sal11adhi, each with a name and associated benefits, and a number of which are assoc i ated wi th spec ific sutras, as I have already noted. F ina l ly, one notes the appearance of lengthy l i sts of samc7dhi names, which one suspects have acquired their own aura of magical potency. Thus we can find samZidhi-name l i sts, some of considerable length, i n the Aksa)Yl­

matinirdeia,22 Bodhisattvapi{aka ,23 Dasabhzll7lI.§vara ,24 Ga�1(j([VYllha,25

20 I am gratefu l to both Sasak i Sh izuka and Honj6 Yosh ifumi who pointed out to me at the

200 1 Asi lomar conference the imp OJian Ce of th i s last defin i tion ofsamc7dhi.

21 Abhidha,.maku.§ahllL{.\�\'({ 8.24 ( Sastri 1 9 87 , p. I 1 63 ) , Visuddhimagga ( Rhys Davids 1 975 , p . 6 5 7 f.).

22 I 1 8 samadhi: Braarv ig 1 993 vo l . I , pp. 5 8-6 0. 2J 1 0 1 samc7dhi: summ arised i n Chart I I of Page l 1 99 4, pp . 3 62-66 .

2 4 1 0 samc7dhi: Vaidya 1 967 p . 34 , Rahder 1 92 6 p . 53 : 9 samc7dhi: Vaidya 1 96 7 , p. 3 9 ,

Rahder 1 926 , pp . 59-60 ; 1 0 samc7dhi: Vaidya 1 967 , p. 5 5 , Rahder 1 926 p. 82 . 2 5 1 00 samc7dhi: Suzuk i and I dzumi 1 934-36 , pp . 3 6 .22 tf.

56

S K I LT O N : S T A T E O R S T A T EME N T?

Kiira!1(!myDha,26 Mahiivyutpatti,n and various Prajiliipiiral11itii texts .28 Sec­tion 2 1 of tM MahiivYlltpatti records some 1 1 8 samiidhi.

Perhaps because of the perceived emphasi s on magical power attained through these new Mahayana sal11iidhi, modem scholarly exp l ication of this subject in the Mahayana tends to assume that here, as in the Sravaka context, samadhi i s essent ia l ly a matter of altered states of consciousness and the practices that i nduce and sustain them. This is despite the fact that in the SRS we find only minimal and passing reference to the altered mental states and assoc iated practices fami l iar from the Sravaka canon. For thi s reason, some modem commentators have expressed mi ld p erplexity and exerc ised some ingenuity in explaining this state of affairs . "The Buddha . . . expounds on the merits of 'preserving the samadhi', a concept that wi l l recur throughout the sutra and which denotes preserving, in memory or written fom1, the text of the sutra, as wel l as the variety of spiritual exercises usual ly assoc iated with the term sal7ladhi. <'9 This "variety of sp iritual exerc ises usual ly assoc i­ated with the term sanuldhi" i s hard to di scern in the SRS. I t contains no significant exposition of either meditational practices or states of m i nd. Although every chapter is dedicated to expounding the benefits or powers of the survadharI7lClSl'Clhh(/vusallwtavipaiicita-samadhi, no description of a med itative technique that might generate an altered mental state i s assoc iat­ed with it. We are faced rather starkly by the need to expla in why, in a sutra that c laims to expound the '''king of samadhis ," there is only passing refer­ence to meditative techniques and altered states of mind. 30

My own engagement with th i s i ssue stems from text ed itorial work I had begun on chapter 1 7 of the SRS. This chapter conta i ns a vers ified recounting of a prose passage in chapter I. Since, for the purposes of the work on

2(, Thrcc d i s ti nct l i sts: Va idya 1961, 62 .I01llildhi, p . 284: 1 7 SOlllildhi, p. 297: and 37 .Iull/(idhi, p. 305.

27 #505-623: Sakaki 1916, pp. 40-49. Th cse are attri but cd to the Praji'iiipilramilil Slllra. 2� Asla.\'{ihosrikaprajiiaparamilii-62 .10Illiidhi: Vaidya 1960, pp . 242-43, 24 sOIlIC/dfti:

Vai dya 1960. p. 259; Pailul\·il!I.\·0Ii.\'(ihasrikapraji'iiljhlramilii- I 08 sOIl1lId17i: Dutt 1934. pp. 142-44 and I 98ff.: ,�'({10.\'(/I/(/.lrik"j)raiiiiij}(lral7li{{I-121 somildlii: Gho�a 1902-12, pp. 1412-14.

2') Gomez and Si l k 1989. p. 18. 3() The reader perforce re l i cs on my j udgem cnt. Howevcl·. i n a recent art i c l e t hat dea l s i n i t s

first sect ion with t he nature of.\·(/I7Ii1dhi i n the PrajiicijJilral7litil corpus, Deleanu notes i n pas s­

i ng concern i n g the SRS that "there is no c l ear ly ident i fiab le medi tat ive techn i que which can

be s i ngled out as this pa rti cu l ar samadhi" ( Dc lean u 2000, p. 73). Formu la i c re ferences to the

atta i n ment o f Pure Land reb i rth i n the SRS are d i scussed i n Schopen 1 977 .

57

T HE EA STER N B U D D H I ST XXX I V , 2

chapter 1 7, the mater ia l in chapter 1 i s therefore a s ignificant testimonium, I found myse lf committed to reviewing and eventual ly "re-establ i sh ing" this passage from a variety of sources. It was only after almost a year of reread­ing thi s materia l that its ful l s ignificance began to be c lear, i . e. , only after my preconceptions regarding the material had been thoroughly d isappointed, did I begin to take note of what the sutra is say ing exp l i c it ly at this point. I am referring to the l i st of terms which constitutes the greater pmi of chapter 1.

The S RS begins w ith a moderately ful l nidana, in which the scene is set and the audience described. This is fo l lowed by the identification of the main interlocutor of the sutra, here Candraprabha, who proceeds to ask the Buddha a seri es of quest ions, in part icular enquiring how it is that one can acquire certain qualit ies. In h i s rep ly, the B uddha exp lains that there is one s ingle dharma, the acqui s it ion of which enables one to acquire al l these other things , and furthermore that possess ion of that dharma enables one to acquire the samadhi that i s the subject of the SRS . The fo l lowing is the ful l text of the Buddha's rep ly : 3 !

When that had been said , the Il lustrious One sa id this to the young man Candraprabha: "Young man, when he possesses one single qua l i ty (dharma), a bodhisattva mahasattva partakes of these v i r­tues [of a Tathagata ] ,32 and quickly awakens ful ly and completely to unsurpassable , perfect and complete Awaken i ng. Young man, possess ing which s i ngle qua l i ty (dharma) does the bodhi sattva mahasattva partake of these v i liues and quickly awaken ful ly and completely to unsurpassable , perfect and complete Awakening? It is that h i s mind is equable towards a l l beings, h i s mind is benefi­c ial , h is mind i s sympatheti c, h is mind i s not inc l ined to retal i at ion, h i s mind is not vexatious. Possessing this s ingle quality (dharma),

young man, a bodhisattva mahasattva pmiakes of these vi liues and quickly awakens ful ly and complete ly to unsurpassab le, perfect and complete Awakening. " Then, on that occasion, the I l lustrious One addressed the young man Candraprabha in verse :

"The bodhisattva who proceeds, having taken up a s ingle qual i ty (dharma), obtains these virtues and quickly awakens to Awak­elllng . 1 2

31 Al l translations are the author' s , unless otherwise specified. 32 I have added the tenns in brackets for c lari ty.

58

SKIL TON: STATE OR STATEMENT?

The mind of the bodhisattva whose mind is not inclined to retalia­tion, retaliates nowhere, and he produces no harshness or ill will , and obtains these special qualities (gw:za) j ust as they have been lauded. 1 3

Enjoying an equal mind, the results of all actions are seen to be equal . The soles of his feet are even, and the range of his conduct IS even. 1 4

Developing an even mind that i s not vexatious, i s free from ill will and harshness , his doubts abandoned, the soles of his feet are even, marvellous, luminous, pure and delightful to look upon. 1 5

The bodhisattva blazes in the ten directions, fills the buddha-field with splendour and light. When he obtains the serene stage of spir­itual development, he establishes many beings in the knowledge possessed by the buddhas. 1 6

In this respect, young man, the bodhisattva mahasattva whose mind is equable towards all beings, whose mind is beneficial, whose mind is not inclined to retaliation, whose mind is not vexa­tious, partakes of this samiidhi that is called ' elaborated as the sameness in essence of all phenomena ' .

And what, young man, is the samiidhi that is called the elaboration of the sameness in their essence of all phenomena? It is:

Restraint of the body 2 Restraint of speech 3 Restraint of mind 4 Purity of actions 5 Going completely beyond supports 6 Comprehension of the aggregates 7 Indifference towards the bases of consciousness 8 Withdrawal from the sense-fields 9 Abandonment of craving 1 0 Direct realization of non-arising 1 1 Illumination of causes 1 2 Not destroying the fruit of action 1 3 Seeing the Teaching 1 4 Cultivation of the Path

59

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V . 2

1 5 Attentiveness to the Tathagatas 1 6 Possession o f penetrating understanding 1 7 Knowledge and penetration of the Truths 1 8 Knowledge of the Teaching 1 9 Knowledge and real ization of the analyt ical knowledges 20 Knowledge of the divis ions of words and syl lables . . .

[and so on, up to : ] 320 The d isconti nuation of syl lables 32 1 Imposs ib le to understand through sound 322 Recognized by the Wise 323 Known by those who are gentle 324 Penetrated by those with few desires 325 Taken up by those who have begun [to pract ise] vigour 326 Memorized by those who are m indful 327 The destmction of suffering 328 The non-ari s i ng of a l l th i ngs 329 The instruction which is a s ingle method for every exi stence,

destiny, rebi rth and realm"

.1.1 cvam ukte bhagava11l s Ca lldraprabha 11l k Ulll iira-bh ulalll clad a voca!. "cka-dhar11l ella

kUlll iira, samanvagato bodh i sattvo Illahasattva elan gUI)an prati Iabhatc, ks ipra lll c anuttaram sa illyaksaqlbodh i lll abh isamblldhyatc. kathalllcna kUlllara i ka-dharlllcna sa lll <lnviigato bodhi­

sattvo Illahasattva ctan glll)an prati Iabhatc , k�i pralll canllttaralll saillya ksa illbod h i lll abhi­

salllb lielhyate . yael-uta sarva-sattv esu sa llla-c i tto bhavat i h i ta-c i tto dayii-ci tto 'prati hata-c itto

' v isallla-c i tto 'nena kllil lara i ka-dharlllena [sic] salllanvagato bodh i sattvo Illahasattva etan

guryan prati lab hate, ks i pram can llttara lll saillyaksail l bodh i lll abh i saillbudhyate. "

atha kha l ll bhagavaills tasyall l v claya lll Candraprabha lll k Ull lara-bh iHalll gathabh ir

adhyabha�ata.

60

eka-dhannalll sall1adaya bod h isattvo ya vartate

etan gun an sa labhate k�ipralll bodh illl ca b lldhyate 1 2

na ca kva c i t prati hanyate ' sya c i ttall1 aprat ihata-c i ttu yo bhoti bodhi sattvah na ca kh i l u janayati na prado�all1, labhati yatha-parikL rt i tan v i se�an

sa ll1 a ll 1 c ittalll n i sevitva vipako darsi tah sa illah

sa illa padatala bhont i saillas c' acara-gocarah

sama-Ill-a visallla-c ittli bhavay i tva apagata-dosa-kh ilah prah Lna-ka llk�ah

cararya-vara-tala sailla ' sya b honti parama-prabhasvara - suddha -darsan Lya

1 3

1 4

1 5

S K I L T O N : S T A T E O R S T A T E M E N T?

As soon as he has recited the final item of this l i st , the Buddha concludes, "This , young man, is that samiidhi for which the name 'the e laboration of the sameness in their essence of a l l phenomena ' i s used.

,,34 In other words, the l ist itse lf is expli c itly introduced as the samiidhi of our sutra-not as aspects of the samiidhi, nor as benefits produced by i t ( as the Chinese trans lat ion suggests ) , but as the samiidhi itse l f. Despite the initi a l pecul iarity of thi s statement, there i s surely a certain v irtue in taking the text at its face value.

According to the expl ic i t statement of the SRS, the samiidhi, i t appears, consists of a l i st of about 330 terms or phrases, which are arranged as far as I can tel l in no identifiable overa l l order, and are related only indirectly, if at a l l , to meditation practi ce.35 Many of the terms are cognitive in scope, but there are also plenty that rel ate to affect or to deportment. By way of i l lus­tration, I offer three further passages of items from the l i st :

29 Being free from frowns 30 Mildness 31 Being of good conduct

dasa-d i sa tu vi roci bodh i sa ttval )

sphurati si riya prabhaya buddha-k �e traql

yada bhavati sa labdha- san ta-bhLlIll i s

tada bahu-sa ttva s thapeti buddha-j nane 16

tatra kumara sarva-sa ttve�u sama-ei tto bodh i sa ttvo m ahasattvo h i ta -ei tto 'p ra ti hata-c i tto

' v i �ama-e i tto imaql sarva-dharma-svabhava-samata-vipanci ta ql nama samadhi l1l pra ti l abha­

teo ka tamas ea kumara sarvadharmasvabhavasamatavipaiic i to nama sam adh i l ). yaduta

kayasa l1l varo , vaksal1l varo, manarysa J1lvara):i, karmapari suddh i l ), aramba�asamati k ramal ),

skandhaparij i'iii , dhiitusamatii , iiya taniipakar�a l \ tr�l)iiprahiil)aJ1l , an u tpiidasiik �iitkr iyavatiirah ,

h etud lpan ii, karmaphal iivip nll)iisa l ), dharmadarsanaJl1. miirgabhii vanii. tathiiga tasamavadhana l1l .

tik �l)apra j natii, satyanupravesaj i'iiinaJ1l . dha llllaj nana J1l . prati Sal11Vi dava tiiraj niinaJl1. ak�ara­

padaprabhedaj niinaql . . . v i varto ' k �arii l)iil1l , durvij neyo gho �e l)a, iijnatal1l v ij nai ry, j i1iita Jl1

sLlra ta i l ), pra tiv iddham a l peccha i l ). udgrh ltal1l iirabdhav lryai l ), dh rtal1l smrtimadbh i l ), k �ayo

dul )khasya, anutpadal ) sarvadharma l)aql , ekanayan i rdcSa l ) sarvabhavagatyupapa ttyayata ­

n iin iil1l ( The tex t u p to the term yad u ta i s quoted, m i nus some diagnosti c typography, from

Matsunam i 1975, pp. 227-28. The l i s t of terms beg inn ing kiiyasal11Varal ) is quoted. m i nus

appara tus and annota tion , from Sk i l ton 1997. pp . 162-175.) 34 ayal1l sa kumiira ucyate sarvadharmasvabhiivasamatiiv ipaikito n iima samadh i l )

35 A l though i n my edition t h e to ta l of i tems comes to 329, my numberi ng is employed for

ease of reference and not i n order to es tab l i s h a defin i tive to ta l . The S iil1k rtyiiyana manuscri p t

o f the S R S appends the total of 333 to the l i s t i n numera l s , whi l e the Ch inese trans lation

groups the firs t 2 1 0 i tems i n to groups of ten , bu t does not number the rema in i ng i tems. i ns tead

trea ting them as names of the sl1madhi.

6 1

THE EA S T ER N B U D D H I S T X X XI V, 2

32 Friendl iness 33 Sweetness 34 Having a smiling face 35 Being the first to greet 3 6 Being welcoming by saying, 'come ' 37 Freedom from id leness 3 8 Regarding one ' s teachers a s important36

lOS Guarding one ' s deportment 1 06 Lack of disturbance in one's deportment 1 07 Lack of distOliion in one ' s deportment 1 08 Being becoming in one ' s deportment 1 09 Knowledge and ski l l regarding what is meaningful and what

is meaningless 1 1 0 Being one who speaks appropriate ly III Being one who knows the world I 1 2 Being one who gives free ly 1 1 3 Be ing one who is open-handed 1 1 4 Being unimpeded in one's mind 1 1 5 Shame I 1 6 Being fearful of reproach3 7

1 45 Absence of desire for honor 1 46 Equanimity in the face of not being honored 1 47 Being unmotivated by gain 1 48 Not being downcast without gain 149 Absence of desire for fame 1 50 Lack of aversion to ignominy 1 5 1 Lack o f attachment to praise 1 52 Absence of dej ection at b lame 1 53 Absence of devotion to p leasure

1 54 Absence of aversion to suffering

3 6 vigatabhrkut ita, suratata, susilata, sakhi lyarp, madhuryar!1, smitamukhata, purvabhi­Iapita, ehitisvagatavadita, anaIasyam, gurugauravata

37 iryapatharak�aryam, iryapathavikopanam, iryapathavikalpanam, iryapathaprasadikata, arthanatihakausalyajfianarp, yuktabharyita, lokajfiata, muktatyagita, pratatapall i ta, anava­grhitac ittata, hri, vyapatrapita

62

SKIL TON: STATE OR STATEMENT?

155 Not appropriating conditioned things 156 Non-attachment to praise that is true 157 Endurance of baseless renown 158 Lack of intimacy with either householders or non­

householders 159 Avoiding what is outside one ' s proper field of action 160 Conduct appropriate to one ' s field of action38

Such examples demonstrate unambiguously that we are not dealing with a list of attributes, preconditions or products of sanuidhi as meditative prac­tice.

My proposition is therefore that sanuidhi is used in the SRS to denote a specific l iterary item, an item which is itself enclosed within the SRS, and in this sense is used to denote not a "state of mind" so much as a "statement of ternlS." My evidence for this suggestion is both internal and external, direct and indirect. The most explicit evidence is that provided by the text of chap­ter 1 of the SRS itself, viz . the explicit identification of this l ist as the samadhi with which the sutra is concerned.

The most concrete suppOli for understanding samadhi in this way comes from external sources-from paral lel passages in a number of other sutras . We find exactly the same usage in another of the very sutras designated by Asanga as samadhi. Thus, in the first chapter of the PSS , the bodhisattva Bhadrapala asks for the samadhi which produces some 146 "qualities and abilities" which he describes one by one (PSS lK-1 Y). After due congratu­lations, the Buddha responds to this enquiry as fo l lows :

[2B] "Bhadrapala, there is a samadhi called 'Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present ' ; if one preserves that samadhi without forgetting it, if one listens to it attentively and succeeds in being mentally undistracted, then those excellent qualities will not be difficult to obtain . "

Then the bodhisattva and mahasattva B hadrapala said t o the Lord:

3� satkaresv anabh i la�ah. asatkaresLlpek�a, l abhe anarth ikata. alabhe anavallnata, yasasy anabhi lasah, ayasasy apratighah. prasaqlsayam ananunayah, n indayam avisadah, sukhe an­abhi�vailgah. duhkhe avaimukhyam, samskaral)am anadanata, bhute varne aSaJ1galJ. abhute vanJe adh ivasanata. grhasthapravraj itair asaqlstavah. agocaravivarjanar!1. gocarapracarah. Thi s last sequence c learly bears some rel at ionsh ip to the a�tau 10kadharmalJ, cf. Dhar­masamgraha LXI ( Kasawara 198 1 . pp. 13 and 4 8 ).

63

T HE EAS TE R N B U D D H I S T XXX I V , 2

" Reverend Lord, would the Tathagata therefore p lease expound that samiidhi, which would be for the benefit of many beings, for the happiness of many beings , out of compass ion for the world, and for the welfare , the benefit, and the happiness of the great body of beings, of devas and of humankind; and which would shed a great l i ght for future bodhi sattvas and mahasattvas . "

Then t he Lord said to the bodhi sattva and mahasattva Bhadrapala: "In that case, Bhadrapala , l i sten we l l and cons ider i t carefu l ly , and I shal I expound i t to you . "

[2C] Saying: "So b e it , Lord ," the bodhisattva and mahasattva Bhadrapala and the world wi th its devas, humans, aSllraS and gal1dharvas l i stened to the Lord, and the Lord then said: " Bhadrapala, i f one dharma i s practi sed, cultivated, developed, frequently rehearsed, mastered, actively pursued, made to arise, made fami l iar, fu l ly purified, fu l ly concentrated on, and fu l ly undeliaken, then one w i l l become dist ingu ished by a l l good qual i ­t ies . What i s the one dharma'? Namely, the salluldhi cal l ed' Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present ' , which brings to fulfilment the dlwrl7las of which the first i s great learning (hahusrutya). "

[20] "Bhadrapala, what then is the sallu/dlli cal led 'Direct En­counter with the Buddhas of the Present''? Namely, ( 1) concentra­tion (l1lanosikiira) on thoughts which have the Buddha as their obj ect; (2) absence of mental distraction; (3 ) obta in ing mindfu l engagement and w isdom ; (4) not renouncing v igour (vI/ya); (5) attending on good friends (ko�val1a-l1litra); . . . [and so on, up to : ]

[2J] . . . ( 1 51) striv ing for the asp i ration to awakening; (152) equa­nimity towards the perfections (pelramitel); ( 1 53) [seeing] the sameness of the vis ion of the Tathagatas and perfect truth (bllllta­

ka!i); ( 1 54 ) [seeing] the sameness for a l l Buddhas of a l l V i liuous qual i ties-this , Bhadrapala, is the somadhi cal led 'Direct Encoun­ter with the Buddhas of the Present ' . "39

39 [2B] bzang skyong / da l tar gyi sangs mngon sum du bzhugs pa zhes bya ba ' i t ing nge 'dzin yod de / ting nge 'dzin de bzung zhing ma brjed la / rna blags te nyan c ing sems mi gyeng ba myed na / yon tan gyi khyad par de dag rnyed pa mi dka' bar ' gyur ro / /

64

SK I LT ON: ST ATE O R ST AT EMENT ?

Here, in explicit response to a request for a sal1ladhi, the Buddha provides a substantial list of concepts, practices and affects, indistinguishable in gener­al type from that in the SRS . As before, this samiidhi has an identity-it is not just any old list, but a list with a name, the pratyutpannabuddhasW?l­mukhiivasthita-sal1liidhi. Again, to make it quite clear that we are not dealing with a l ist of meditational tenns, the following sequence serves:

[2F] . .. (55) being in harmony with the Buddha; (56) not rejecting the Dhanna; (57) not causing schism in the Sangha; (58) avoiding slanderous talk; (59) entering the presence of the Holy Ones (a/ya) and attending upon them; ( 60) shunning fools; (61) not enjoying, taking no pleasure in, and avoiding worldly (laukika) talk; ( 62)

de nas byang chub sems dpa' sems dpa' chen po bzang skyong gis beom Idan ' das la 'di skad ees gsol to I I

btsun pa beom I dan ' das I de bas na de bzhin gshegs pas t ing nge 'dzin de bshad par gsol I I de n i skye bo mang po la sman pa dang I skye bo mang po la bde ba dang I 'j ig rten la sny ing brtse ba dang I skye bo phal po che dang I Iha dang m i ' i don dang sman pa dang bde bar 'gym zhi ng I ma 'ongs pa ' i byang chub sems dpa' sems dpa' chen po rnams la yang snang ba chen po bgyi s par ' gyur ro I I

de nas beom ldan 'das kyis byang chllb sems dpa' sems dpa ' chen po bzang skyong la 'di skad ces bka ' stsal to I I

bzang skyong I de ' i phyir l egs par rab tll nyon la yid la zllng sh ig dang ngas khyod la bshad par bya ' o II [2C] beom Idan 'das I de bzhin no I I

zhes gsol te I byang ehllb sems dpa' sems dpa' chen po bzang skyong dang I Iha dang I mi dang I I hn ma yin dang I dr i znr be a s pa' i 'j ig rtcn bcom klan ' das kyi Itar nyan pa dang I beam I dan 'das kyis de la ' d i skad ees bka' stsal to II

bzang skyong I ehos gcig la klln tll bsten I nges par bsten c ing bsgoms la Ian mang dll byas I lam dll byas I gzhir byas I yang dag par bsiang I legs par byang bar byas I sh in tll yongs Sli sbyangs I shin tu mnyaq1 par bzhag I sh in tll yang dag par brtsams na I yon tan thams cad khyad par du ' phags pa 'gyur ro II chos gcig po gang zhe na I 'di Ita ste I da Itar gyi sangs rgyas mngon sum du bzhugs pa zhes bya ba ' i t ing nge 'dzin te I mang dll thos pa sngon du 'gro ba' i chos rnams yongs su rdzogs par 'gyur ro II [2D) bzang skyong I de Ia da I tar gyi sangs rgyas mngon sum du bzhugs pa zhes bya ba ' i t ing nge 'dzin de gang zhe na I 'di I ta ste I sangs rgyas la dmigs pa ' i sems y id la byed pa I sems m i gyeng ba I dran pa nye bar gnas pa dang shes rab thob pa I brtson 'grus mi gtong ba I dge ba ' i bshes gnyen rnams Ia bsnyen bkllr byed pa I [ .. . ]

[21] [ ... ] byang chub kyi sems yongs Sll tshol ba I pha rol (li phyin pa rnams la scms mnyam pa I de bzhin gshegs pa mams b i ta ba la yang dag pa ' i mtha ' dang mnyam pa I sangs rgyas thams cad Ia yon tan gyi chos thams cad mnyam pa 'di n i I bzang skyong I da Itar gyi sangs rgyas mngon sum du bzhugs pa zhes bya ba 'i t ing nge ' dzin ees bya'o I I (Harr ison 1978b, pp. 20-25; 1 990, pp. 2 5-30).

65

T H E E A S T E RN B U D D HI S T XXXIV , 2

enjoying, taking pleasure in, l i king, and employing tal k which transcends the world (lokottara); (63) e liminating meaningless babble . 40

Comparing the two sutras in which we have now found th is usage, we can see a l so that i t occurs with in a formula ic narrati ve sett ing shared by both texts, and turning now to the th i rd of Asanga 's samadhi texts, the Silml11gal11a­

sal71c1dhi Siltra ( hereafter, SSS), it appears that we have the same usage in a s imi l ar setting. Quoting again at some l ength:

� 7 The bodh isattava Drdhamati said to the Buddha: Bhagavat, what is the samadhi through wh ich a bodhisattva:

rap id ly atta ins al1l1ttarasamyaksamhodhi,

i s never apart from frequentat ion by the Buddhas, i l luminates with his own light (al'a!Jhasa) a l l the ten regions , [ .. . ]

manifests, through the power of h is previous asp i ration (piirva­

pra�lidhal1a), the d isappearance of the Saddharma (saddhar­

mLll'ipraiopa ),

What then, 0 Bhagavat, i s this samadhi through which a bodhi­sattva man ifests such v i rtues (gll�1C/), but without definitive ly en­tering Parin i rval)a? [ . . . ]

[The Heroic Progress]

� 10 The Buddha said to Dn;lhamati: It i s a samadhi cal led 'Con­cen tration of the Heroic Progress' [Silramgal11asamadhi].

Bodhisattvas who have obta ined th is sal1uidhi can, s ince you ask about it, mani fest Parinirvalla, but without definit ively ceasing to be .4 1

There fol lows a list of 12 further attainments, which are, I suggest, wrongly taken by Lamotte to be the Siira,!lgama-samadhi. After several intervening matters, we come to the point at which the B uddha reveals the Sllranlgama­

samadhi proper:

411 [2F] . . . sangs rgyas dang 'thun pa / chos lll i spong ba / dge 'dun lll i 'byed pa / phra llla'i tshig spong ba / 'phags pa mams kyi drung du nye bar 'gro zhing de dag la bsnyen bkur byed pa / byis pa mams rnalll par spong ba / 'j ig rten pa 'i gtalll la lllngon par lll i dga' zhing lll i 'dod la ring du byed pa / 'j ig rten las' das pa' i gtam la mngon par dga' zhing 'dod la 'dun cing sten pa / gtam rgyud Illa yin pa rnam par spong ba /

41 Lamotte 1 998, pp. 1 1 0- 1 2 (Lamotte 1 965, pp. 1 2 1 -2 3 ) .

66

SKILTON: STATE OR STATEMENT?

[The Hundred Aspects of the Heroic Progress]

§21 Then the Buddha said to the bodhisattva Dglhamati: The Suraq1gamasamadhi is not obtained by the bodhisattvas of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth stages (bhumi); it is only the bodhisattva dwelling in the tenth bhumi who can obtain this Suraq1gamasamadhi . What then is this Suraq1ga­masamadhi?

1. Purifing the mind [and making it pure] l ike space (akasavac cittaparikarman).

2. Examining and bringing to the fore the minds of all beings (sarvasattvacittana1fl prqtyavek$a sa1?lmukhzkaralJa1?l).

3. Knowing the strength and weakness of the spiritual facul­ties in beings (sarvasattvanam indriyaparaparajfianam).

4. Determining (avadhara�1a) and understanding ( parijiiana)

the [mechanism of] the cause and the fruit (hetuphala) in be­ings.

5. Knowing the fruition of action in beings (sattvana1?l kar­

mavipakajfiana1?l) .

[ . . . ] 96. From moment to moment, manifesting the acquisition of

complete enlightenment (abhisar!lbodhi) and, by conforming with beings to be disciplined (vaineya), causing them to obtain deliverance (vimukti).

97. Manifesting the entry into the womb (garbhavakranti)

and the birth (janman).

98. [Manifesting] the renunciation of the world (abhini$kramalJa)

and the acquisition of Buddhahood [or complete enlightenment] (abhisa1flbodhana ).

99. Setting turning the Wheel of the Dharma (dharmacakra­

pravartana).

100. Entering great NirvaI).a, but without attaining complete cessation.

o Dr<;lhamati, the Suraq1gamasamadhi is so infinite (aprama�1a)

that it reveals all the marvellous power of the Buddha and innu­merable beings benefit from it.42

42 Lamotte 1998, pp. 119':"'27 (Lamotte 1965, pp. 131-40). In these passages, a l l bracketed items are Lamotte's insertions.

67

T HE E A STE RN B U D D H I ST XXX I V , 2

The discordance between Lamotte ' s titles imposed upon the text in brackets and the content of the text is particularly noticeable once one understands that it is the list of tenns that is the samiidhi.43

The conclusion of Lamotte ' s translation of the Chinese text does not fol­low exactly the pattern shown by the SRS and PSS, in that the l ist i s not con­cluded by the enclosing phrase of identification, "This, young man, is that samiidhi for which the name siirG1?lgama-samiidhi is used. " Fortunately the Tibetan translation contains the complete text of the passage and thus allows us to see that the SSS , too, confon11S closely to the pattern of the other sa111iidhi sutras we have examined. Lamotte , working from Kumarajlva ' s Chinese version, which lacks this conclusion, and assuming that the Tibetan material is a later interpolation, relegates i t to a footnote .44 The footnote reads:

Ripening an infinite and countless number of beings and ripening them from moment to moment according to the requirements of beings to be discipl ined (vaineyasattva); manifesting the attain­ment of enlightenment (abhisG1?lbodhi) and del iverance (vimukti): manifesting the Bodhi sattva ' s entry into the womb (garbhiivalaii­nti), the birth (janman), leaving of the world (abhini�kramal}a), the practice of austerities (du�karacG1yii), the going to the seat of enlightenment (bodhima�u:Jaga111ana), the victory over Mara (l11iiradhar�al}a), the attaining of enl ightenment (abhisG1?lbodha­na), the turning of the Wheel of the Dharma (dhar111acakra­pravartana), the great Nirval).a and the destruction of the body (kiiyaviniisa), and all the while not abandoning the dhanna-nature (dharmatii) of a bodhisattva and not definitively entering Nirval).a­without-a-remainder (nirupadhise�anirviil}a): this , 0 Dr9hamati , i s what is called SiiraI]1gamasamadhi . 45

43 At the level of the trans lation as a whole, this "discordance" amounts to a systematic edi­toria l redaction of the text. The section t it les, i nvented by Lamotte, the sect ion numbers, and the speculatively reconstructed Sanskr i t terms wi th which the text i s larded, go a cons iderable way towards obscuri ng the text as transmitted by the Buddhist tradit ion in favour of a vision of i t constructed by Lamotte.

44 Lamotte speculates that Kumiir�lva would not have omitted to translate a part ofthe text he had before h im, but does not consider the possibi l ity that he had to work from an incomplete text! This ful ler l ist is that borrowed from the SSS by another text I shaH discuss l ater, the Prasiintavi­

niscayapriitihiiryasamiidhi Slltra, which was translated into Chinese in the seventh century C .E. 45 Lamotte 1998, pp. 126-27 (Lamotte 1965, p. 140) n . 81. sems can mtha' yas pa / tshad

med pa yongs su smin par byed pa dang / sems kyi skad cig sems kyi skad c ig la dul ba' i sems can ji Itar yongs su smin pa l a / mngon par rdzogs par byang chub pa dang / mam par grol ba ston pa dang / byang chub sems dpa' dag mngal du 'jug pa dang / btsas pa dang / mngon par

68

S K I L T O N: S TAT E O R S T A T E M E N T ?

The S S S therefore confonns to the stmctural pattern observed in the SRS and PSS .

We therefore have three instances, each taken from a sa771iidhi sutra, o f a l ist of tenns and phrases exp l i cit ly i dentified as a samiidhi and known by a specific, unique name. Moreover, their narrative context i s identical . I n the nidiina of the sutra, a bodhisattva asks the Buddha how one might obtain a number of attainments . The Buddha repl i es that there i s a s ingle teaching (dharma) whereby these and, often, fUliher qual iti es can be obtained, and that thi s i s a samiidhi given a specific name . 46 In a lmost identical passages, the samiidhi in question is then introduced, recited, and the recitation con­cluded with an emphatic phrase of identification, "This , young man, i s that samiidhi for which the name . . . 'x' . . . i s used. "

In previous work on these sutras, the real identity of these l i sts has not been understood and a variety of interpretati ons have been employed to explain them-or rather, expla in them away. Thus, Lamotte understands the sural!lgama-samiidhi proper to be a l ist of "aspects" of a meditative attain­ment-as implied by the section tit le he provides for his trans lat ion . Otherwise he passes over the l i st as a whole in s i lence, remarking only upon incidental matters , such as the numbering which occurs only in the Chinese translation, d ifferences in the Tibetan translat ion of individual ten11S, and so onY Harri son takes the pra(l'lffpal1l7a-Sal71iidhi proper to be a second l i st of "attributes and attitudes" enta i led by the s{fl7uldhi as meditative state, a supplement to the l ist of attributes given by Bhadrapala i n PSS 11-1 y::lX

'byung ba dang I dka ' ba spyod pa dang byang chub kyi sny ing por 'gro ba Liang / bdud 'du l

ba dang I byang chub m n gon par rdzogs par ' tshang rgya ba dang I chos kyi ' khor 10 bskor ba

dang / my a ngan l as 'da ' pa chen po dang / I us 'j i g pa yang s ton l a byang chub sems dpa ' i chos

nyid de yang m i g tong zh ing sh in tu phung po med par yang my a ngan l as m i 'da ' pa 'd i n i b lo gros b rtan pa dpa ' bar ' gro ba' i ti ng nge 'dzin ees bya s te I

46 The SSS expands th i s sequence, but the ou tl i ne can s ti l l be seen there ,

4 7 See notes 43 and 8 1 to h i s trans la tion ( Lamotte 1 998 , pp . 1 1 9 . 1 26-2 7 ) .

4X Han'i son 1 990, p.xxviii. This in terpretation is undoubtedly i nfluenced by the immediately fol­

lowing passage in chapter 3 which describes a form of hllddhclll/i,\'/}/rli med i ta tion . for the m ean­

time , the re l a tionship between the two kinds of.l'({I71c1dhi a ppearing in chapters 2 and 3 of the PSS

remains unclear. S ince H arrison himself sugges ts that this sutra is se l f�consciously synthesi sing in

i ts approach to hlidd/ull1l1.1'l71rlilPure Land and .I'III1.1'({/(/ teachings ( Harri son 1978a) , i t Illay be tha t

some fllliher syn thetic i n tent l ies behind th i s juxtapos i tion of'",\'{//Ilildhi a s l is t" with '".I'({lIlcldhi as

a l tered s ta te of consciousness." Were the PSS the only suppol1i ng evidence for the present argu­

men t, I would cel1a in ly be more cautious in presenting i t. However. i t i s no t-and I suggest that

the exac t referent ofs({l71c7dhi throughout the PSS should now be c losely reviewed . The distincti on

between the two senses of.l'({I71c7dhi may even provide us w i th a tool for a provisional l i tera J)' s trat­

i fication in which we di fferenti a te p Oliions of tex t wri t1en with one or another .I'(//}uidhi in mind .

69

T HE E A S TE RN B U D D H I S T XXX I V , 2

Regarding the SRS, Cuppers describes the sarvadharmasvabhiivasama­

tiivipaiicita-samiidhi as a l ist of "samiidhigwJa" without further specifying their relationship to the SRS.49 Although, in each case, in the text itself the list i s identified as the samiidhi emphatically and unambiguously, previous commentators have s imply ignored thi s expl ic it identification.

The treatment of the SRS in the study in Gomez and S i lk is altogether more thought-provoking. In this case, I assume that it was the pressure of preconception that compelled the authors into a fictional contextual ization of the sarvadharnlasvabhiivasamatiivipaiicita-samiidhi. Seeking to identify the " leading themes" of the SRS, they introduce our samiidhi as fol lows : "At the beginning of the sfitra, in reply to the questions ofCandraprabha, the Buddha enters a samiidhi called in the Sanskrit version ' the samiidhi that is manifest­ed as the sameness of the essential nature of all dharmas ' . "50 From this altered state, the authors would have us bel ieve, the Buddha recites the samiidhi l ist to Candraprabha. I have already presented the cited passage in ful l , and, as the reader may have noticed, there is no reference to the Buddha entering samiidhi. Nor is there any reference to the Buddha entering (or leav­ing ! ) samiidhi at this point in any of the samiidhi sutra that I have or wil l dis­cuss in this art icle . I take it that the authors had in mind more fami liar scenes such as the fol lowing, the nidiina of the extended version of the Heart Sutra:

Thus have I heard at one time . The Lord dwelled at Raj agrha, on the Vulture Peak, together with a large gathering of both monks and Bodhisattvas . At that time the Lord, after he had taught the dis­course on dharma cal led "deep splendour," had entered into con­centration. 5 1

Or, alternatively, from the nidiina of the Saddharmapll1:ujarlka Sutra:

At that time, the Il lustrious One, surrounded by the ' fourfold assembly, honoured, revered, venerated, thought much of, wor­shipped, esteemed and highly regarded [by them] , uttered a dis­course on the Teaching cal led The Great Exposition, a greatly

4 9 Clippers 1990, p. xxiv . 5 0 Gomez and S i l k 1989, p . 18. 51 EvaqJ maya smtam ekasmin samaye. B hagavan Rajagrhe viharati sma Grdhrakuta-par­

vate, mahata bh ik�u-saqJghena sardhaqJ mahata ca bodhisattva-saqJghena. tena khalu puna!). samayena Bhagavan gambhira-avabhasaqJ nama dharmaparyayaqJ bha�itva samadhiqJ samapanna!). ( Conze 1967, p. 149 ; English version, Conze 1973, p. 140) .

70

S K IL T O N : S T A T E O R S T A T E M E N T ?

extended sutra, an exhortation for bodhisattvas, the property of all buddhas, [then] sat down right there on the great seat of teaching, crossed his legs, [and] entered a samadhi called The Foundation of Boundless Exposition [where he] remained with his body and his mind undisturbed. 52

In both cases , the Buddha is described as entering a named samadhi. In both cases, since the Buddha is in samadhi, i . e . , is experiencing an altered state of consciousness with which ratiocinative activity i s incompatible, the burden of further discourse is taken up by a bodhisattva disciple : in the Heart Sutra

by A valokitesvara, and in the Saddharmapu�l(!arlka Siitra by Mafijusrl. Before the Buddha can speak again , he is shown, in both cases, emerging from that samadhi : "Thereupon the Lord emerged from that concentration, and he applauded the holy Lord A valokita, the Bodhisattva, the great being : 'Well said, well said, son of good family ! . . . ' ' ' 53 and "Thereupon the Illustrious One emerged mindful and aware from the samadhi. Having emerged, he addressed the venerable Sariputra . . . 54

All such practicalities are absent in the nidana of the SRS. The authors of thi s description have invented a context, famil iar from other texts, that allows them to treat the present matter as something familiar and understood. They have then presented this fiction as a factual account of the sarvadhar­

niasvabhavasamatavipaHcita-samadhi in the SRS . Yet there is no mention of it in their own translation in the same volume. No recension of the SRS describes such a meditative context. This invention in the face of that fact can only be understood as evidence of the need, when we come to the term samadhi, to understand it in relation to meditative states , even where no such states are implied. Following this , the same authors characterize the samadhi

proper as, "the virtues or extraordinary qual ities of this samadhi," although further down the same page they describe the same l i st as, " some three

52 tena khalu punal) samayena bhagavaf!1S catasrbhi l) par�adbhil) parivrtal) puraskrtal) satkrto gurukrto manital) piij i to 'rcito 'pacayito mahanirdesal11 nama dharmaparyayaf!1 siitra­ntaf!1 mahavaipulyaf!1 bodhisattvavavadaf!1 sarvabuddhaparigrahaf!1 bha�itva tasminn eva mahadhannasane paryankam abhujyanantanirdesaprati�thanaf!1 nama samadhirp samapanno ' bhiid an iiijamanena kayena sthito ' n i iij apraptena ca c i ttena ( Outt 1 953, p . 3) .

53 Atha kha lu Bhagavan tasmat samadher vyutthaya-Arya-avalokitesvaraya bodhisattvaya mahasattvaya sadhukaram adat. sadhu sadhu, ku laputra . . . (Conze 1 967, p. 1 53; Engl ish ver­sion, Conze 1 973, p. 1 4 1 ) .

5 4 atha khalu bhagavan smrtiman saf!1prajanaJ11s tatal) samadher vyutthito vyutthaya­yu�mantaJ11 sariputram amantrayate sma ( Outt 1 953, p . 23).

7 1

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V , 2

hundred problematic words and phrases which seem to have been cul led from various scriptural sources to define the merits and powers of the samadhi. "55

Regrettably, they make no identification of these sources, nor how they know that these terms have been "cul led," although this would constitute a maj or contribut ion to our understanding of the nature of such a samadhi and its m i l ieu . Assuming the same possib i l i ty, I have searched in vain for such sources myself. On the fol lowing page, in their brief summary of the con­tents of the sutra, they fllliher describe the samadhi proper as, "a l i st of approx imately three hundred synonyms or attributes of th is samadhi. "

Final ly, in a note to this l ast statement, the authors concede : " It i s not c lear whether the terms or ep i thets are meant as definit ions or descriptions or if they are attributes of the samadh i , its causes or effects. "56 S i nce these samadhi have invariably been seen as noth i ng more than l i sts, a lbeit inex­p l icab le in an assumed meditative context, the expl ic it and unambiguous identification of them as sal1uldhi in each sutra has been ignored . 5 7

Having estab l ished what I understand i s the intended referent of the term samadhi i n three publ ished sall l(ldh i sutras , it should be po in ted out that this usage i s not restricted to these alone. I t occurs in at least two others . Thus, we can inc lude in the same group the Kual1 ch 'a chu fa hsing ching 'W�*��i'iY�1i *( t5� and the Pra.§alltavini.�cayapratilza,ya-sa17l adhi Slltra.59 The Kuan ch 'a chu fa hsil1g ching is a medium-length sutra (4 chz'ian) translated into Chinese in 595 C . E . by li'ianagupta . There is no Tibetan translation accord­ing to Lancaster' s catalogue of the Korean canon, a lthough Nanj io remarks laconica lly " It agrees with T ibetan . "6o S ince a Sanskrit t i t le i s not known for it, I suggest provis ional ly the fu l l t it le * Sarvadhannaniyafapravicayacmya

[-samadhi] Slitra. Here, the B uddha, responding to quest ions from the bo-

55 Gomez and Si lk 1 989, p . 1 8 . 56 Ib id . , p. 1 8 , n . l 3 . 5 7 Dr. Y-G A n has drawn m y attention t o the i nteresting fact that Murakami ( 1 970, p . 868 )

describes these l i sts as consisting of "good dharma or methods of practice ." Deleanu, appar­ently fol lowing tbe lead in Gomez and S i lk , describes the SRS sanuldhi as "hundreds of qual ­ifications and merits" of the sarvadharl1lasvabhiivasamatavipaiicita-samiidhi ( De leanu 2000, p. 73) .

5� T 1 5, 727b-749b (#649) . My attention was drawn to this slltra by Murakami 1 970. 59 T 1 5, 723a-727b (#648) ;r;Z�(H$�j!=.�tlli*,'ll: . 60 See Lancaster 1 979, p. 1 4 1 (K 405) ; Nanj io 1 980 , p. 1 03 (#424), t it le reconstructed as

Sarvadharl71acaTyii-dhviina ['1 ]-sillra (sic ) . The Rev. JlIo-Hsueb Shih has suggested * Sarva­

dharmaniyalaparlksii-samiidhi (private communication, Ju ly 26, 1 996).

72

S K IL TON : STATE OR STATE MENT?

dhisattva mahasattva *Priyaraja (.g.=E'ffiii)ljl1�iiJiii) , explains that there is a sal11iidhi called the * sarvadharl11aniyatapravicayacmyii-sal11iidhi ¥*J'Ei:J!�il'l� ¥�lT=)ljl1±11!. .

Priyaraj a, what i s that which is known a s the *sarvadharmaniyata­pravicayacmyii-samiidhi? It is known thus [*yaduta] : As one speaks, so one acts ; as one acts , so one speaks; purification of the body; purification of speech; purification of the mind; to seek [one ' s] benefit; not seeking [to fulfil one ' s] desires; not abandon­ing compassion; not grasping dharmas, ( 1 0) ; [ . . . and so on, up to a total of 535 items] . 6 1

The l ist i s concluded once again with an explicit identification: "Priyaraja, this i s what i s known as the sarvadharma11l)JatapravicayacGlyii-samiidhi. "62

The Prasiinfaviniscayapriitihiilya-samiidhi Slitra (hereafter, PVPS) has an even greater interest for us, as the samiidhi which it transmits is in part taken from that in the SRS. The only Chinese translation of the PVPS was made by Hslian-tsang in 663/4 C .E . ,63 suggesting that it is a later composi­tion than the SRS, a deduction confirmed by internal evidence which I shall discuss shOlily. Although Murakami, and fol lowing him Clippers , refers to the PVPS as the Pra.�iil1faviniscayapriitihiilya Szitra, this tit le is attested neither by the Chinese translation, which has *Prasiintaviniscayapriitihiilya­samiidhi Szitra, nor by the Tibetan, which transl iterates , Alyaprasiinta­viniscayapriitihiilya-niima-samiidhi Mahiiyiina Sf/tm. The Chinese text can be fruitfully compared in other respects with the Tibetan translation, made by Danasila and Ye shes sde in the early ninth century C .E .64The Tibetan text takes up three fascicles (bam po), to the first of which the shorter Chinese text corresponds. Significantly, the final two bam po of the Tibetan work take Mafijusri as the interlocutor of the Buddha, whereas the first pOliion, i . e . , the entire Chinese text and the first fascicle of the Tibetan translation, concerns the dialogue between the Buddha and a bodhisattva called Bhadrapala.65

6 [ T I S , 728c27-729a l . 62 T I S , 730c I 2- 1 3. 63 This information is taken from Lancaster 1 979, p. 1 64 ( K482 ) and Nanj io 1 980, #522. 64 Peking 32, I 89b-228a (#797 ). 65 This is an interesting parallel with the P SS, where the main interlocutor is also

Bhadrapala. The l ikelihood i s that this is not coincidence, i n my view, although the PVPS is not borrowing verbatim from the PSS. However, compare PVPS: tshul khrims kyi phung po

73

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V , 2

This immediately suggests the possibil ity that the text i s composite, an impression that is confirmed by a c loser examination of the first part in itself. Here, a number of subsections are discernible . We have first the nidiina, an extended description of the congregation which has assembled to hear the Buddha teach.66 Then Bhadrapala asks the Buddha a series of questions . 67 Finally, the Buddha repl ies to these questions, asseliing the potency of the samiidhi, and then recites some 76 terms as the prascll1taviniscayapriiti­hiirya-samiidhi itself:

Bhadrapala, what is the prasiinfaviniscayaprclfihiirya-samiidhi? It is comprehending al l dharmas as they really are ; thoroughly understanding [their] signs ( *nimitta ) ; ful ly understanding the .characteristics of delusion ( * viparyiisa) . . . [and so on, up to : ] not consorting with householders or wanderers ; staying in a sol itary place; being free from desires ; accepting emptiness, the absence of signs and the absence of i ntention in respect of phenomena (dhar­mas) . Thoroughly understanding all dharmas in thi s way-this, Bhadrapala, is the samiidhi called the pra.�iintaviniscayap"iiti­

hiirya . The bodhisattva who learns this samiidhi obtains an unde­filed knowledge of all dharmas.68

Having apparently concluded the samiidhi, however, the Buddha then carries on:

skyon rned pa dang / ting nge ' dzin gyi phung po las rni gyo ba dang ( Peking 1 97 .7, sDe dge 363.1), with #52 and #53 in the PSS : tshlll khrims kyi phung po la skyon med pa / ting nge 'dzin gyi phung po la gyo ba med pa (Harri son 1 978b, p. 22) .

66 Peking 32, I 89b.6- I 96a.4 (#797); T 1 5, 723a-725b. 67 Peking 32, I 96a.4- I 97a.4 ( #797); T 15, 725b-726a. 68 bzang skyong rab tu zhi ba mam par nges pa' i cho 'phrul gyi ting nge ' dzin gang zhe na

/ 'd i Ita ste / chos thams cad yang dag pa ji Ita ba bzhin du khong du chlld ba dang / mtshan nyid rab tu rtogs pa dang / phyin c i log gi mtshan nyid yang dag par 'joms ba dang / . . . [and so on, up to] khyim pa dang rab tu byung ba mams dang mi 'dre pa dang / dben pa la gnas pa dang / stong pa nyid dang mtshan rna med pa dang smon pa med pa dang chos mams la bzod pa dang / chos thams cad j i Ita ba bzhin du rab tu rtogs pa ste / ' di n i bzang skyong rab tu zhi ba mam par nges pa' i cho 'phrul gyi ting nge ' dzin ces bya ba ste / ting nge ' dzin 'd i la slob pa' i byang chub sems dpa' n i chos thams cad l a sgrib ba med pas shes pa ' thob bo / (Peking 32, 197a.7-198a.5 [#797] ; T 15, 726a.13-726b.10 [#648] ) . The figure of 76 is of necessity provisiona l . My work on the samadhi of the SRS has demonstrated the difficulty of determin­ing the exact division of terms i n such a l ist . I note that the sDe dge edition of the PVPS car­ries an abbreviated version of this list, marking the lost passllge with an e l l ipsis (362.4) .

74

SK I L T O N : S T AT E OR S T A T E M E NT?

Furthennore, BhadrapiHa, [that] called the prasiintaviniscaya­priitihiirya-samiidhi i s : the knowledge of the sameness in their essential nature of all dharmas; . . . 69

whereupon begins the recitation of over 200 items borrowed from the sarvadharl7lasvabhiivasamatiivipai1cita-samiidhi.70

This i s followed by the complete Si"irQ/?1gama-samiidhi l i st . Following the final item taken from the SRS, the PVPS incorporates , without dist inction, the surQ/?1gama-samiidhi from its second item onwards, including the final items occUlTing in the Tibetan translation of the SSS . 7 1 Once again the entire sequence is enclosed with what is recognizably the usual phrase of identifi­cation: " ' di ni rab tu zhi ba mam par iles pa ' i cho 'phml gyi tiil lle ' dzin ces bya ' 0" (It i s this that i s to be called the prasiintavin iscayapriitihiilya­samadhi) .

The significance of this extensive borrowing i s fourfold: it confin11S that the PVPS is composite, both in regard to its sections and to its samiidhi; it confirms that there was known to the redactor of the PVPS a samiidhi that dealt with the "sameness in their essential nature of all dharmas" that is sub­stantially the samiidhi of the SRS and which is quoted by him as a part of a supplementary definition of the prasiintaviniscayapriitihill ya-samiidhi; it also confirms that the samiidhi l i st of the SurCll?1gamasal71iidhi Siitra was understood as a samiidhi by the redactor of the PVPS ; and most s ignificant­ly, i t shows that the redactor knew of samiidhi of this type and consciously manipulated these texts in order to produce another "textual" samiidhi to which he assigned a new name, the prasanta1 'in i.�caJ 'apriitihiil�)!(I-Sal11iidhi . This editorial activity provides further, and I would say conclusive, confir­mation of my proposit ion regarding samadhi in these sutras, for in the PVPS we see the work of an editor within the Buddhist tradition�but not, I assume, involved in the composition of our other samiidhi sutra�who

(,9 bzang skyong ga nan yang rab tu zh i ba rnam par nges pa ' i cho ' phrul gyi t ing nge ' dz in

ces bya ba n i ' di I ta s te / chos thams cad mnyam pa nyid du shes pa dang . . .

70 Pek ing 32 , 1 98a .6-200a. 7 (#797 ) ; T I S , 726b . 1 1 ff. ( #648 ) . I t may not be coinc idental

that the borrowed passage from the SRS begins with #77 tl'om the sall ICidhi i n chapter I : sama fcijiicil1am. A general out l i ne of th is bon-owing from the SRS i s given in Murakami 1 970.

7 1 Lamotte 1 965 , p . 1 40 n . 8 1 ( cf. Pek ing 32, 200a. 7-202b. 8 [#797) . s Dc dge, mdo sde da

372 .4 ) . As such, the PYPS i s an i mportant testimon ia l for the text of the SSS i n the seventh

century . M urakami ( 1 970, p . 868 ) appears not to not ice that the .{:iiramgama-sam[ldhi i s used

by the PYPS, presumab ly through over-re l iance upon the Ch i nese trans lat ion, which cuts off part-way through th i s quotat ion .

75

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V , 2

nevertheless clearly understood the usage of the word samcldhi to mean "col­lection of terms. " 72 This represents objective confirmation of a high order for the present thes is .

Not al l Mahayana sutras with sa1l1cldhi in the t i t le are concerned with the transmission of a samadhi l ist . For example, a review of the Chinese and Tibetan translations of the lengthy Sarvapul1yaswl1uccayaSal17cldhi Siitra has suggested that it does not belong to this genre. S imi larly, at present, I would exc lude both the Mayopamasamadhi Satra and the Tathagatajiianamll­

drasal71adhi S�ltra from this group. For example , in the nidana of the latter we find: "Then at that time the I l lustrious One attained that samadhi cal led the Tathagatajiianamudra. As soon as he had attained the samcldhi, the body of the I l lustrious One disappeared; the characteristics (lak�ml1a) of [h is] body disappeared . . . "73 ; and later: "Then the I l l ustrious One, reco l lected, know­ing [his] domain , roused (vyutthaya) from that sal17adhi. As soon as he had roused from it . . . " 74 In the interlude between these points the Buddha is s i lent. The pattern for samadhi as meditative state , a l ready seen in the Saddharl11apU!1cjarika Szitra and Heart Sutra, i s fol lowed here . At the same time, we should note that this sutra also contains extensive l ists of terms. While this is suggestive in the l ight of the present discussion, I nevertheless restrict the category of samadhi-l ist sutra to those that exp l ic it ly i dentify the list as a named samadhi, and that lack any reference to the Buddha entering altered mental states . C learly not to be included in this category is the Mayopamasamadhi Satra: " Padmasrlgarbha, these two supreme beings have attained the Mayopam(lsamadhi. Remaining (sthita) in the Mayopama­

samadhi . . . "75 A review of the entire corpus of Mahayana samadhi sutras is a desideratum.

72 My assumption that the redactor of the PVPS was not involved in the redaction of the other sutms discussed here, is based primari ly on the highly faulty transposition of the sarva­

dharmasvabhavasamafavipaiicifa-samadhi from the S R S . This is not conclusive, of course, and may only reflect an indifference to the exact sequence and content of such a l i st.

73 de nas de ' i tshe bcom Idan ' das . . . de bzhin shegs pa ' i ye shes kyi phyag rgya zhes bya ba' i ting nge ' dzin l a snyoms par zhugs so I ting nge ' dzin la snyoms par zhugs l11a thag tu I bcom Idan 'das kyi sku yang mi snang I sku ' i I11tshan ma yang mi snang . . . ( Talhagata­

jnanal11udrasamiidhi Slltra 86.3-87 .3) 74 de nas bcom Idan 'das dran pa dang I dan zhing mkhyen bzhin du ting nge 'dzin de las

bzhengs so I bcom I dan ' das ting nge ' dzin las bzhengs ma thag tu . . . ( Tathagata­

jiianamudrasamadhi Sllfra 95.1-2) . 75 pad ma' i dpal gyi snying po skyes bu dam ba 'd i gnyis ni sgyu ma Ita bu ' i ting nge ' dzin

thob pa y in te I 'd i gnyis sgyu l11a Ita bu' i ting nge ' dzin la gnas nas I (Mayopamasamadhi

Sllfra 441.1 f. )

76

S K I L T O N : S T A T E O R S T A T E M E N T ?

S o far, in support of the contention that samiidhi i n the SRS i s a reference to a l i st of tenns , we have discovered a number of instances of the same usage in four other Mahayana sutras . This is in itself sufficient evidence to justi fy the understanding offered here, but there is also a varied body of inter­esting internal evidence from the SRS and other samiidh i sutras which I shal l now briefly explore.

The first of this i nternal evidence has already been reviewed in my discussion of the date of the SRS . There, I assemble a number of statements in the sutra which state or imply that there i s a textual item called a/the samiidh i . 76 The following i s a selection :

dhareti yal) santam imarp samadhim [One who memorizes thi s tranqui l samiidhi ] ( 2 .27d)

samadhi srutva imu dharayeyul) [Having heard thi s samiidhi they should memorize it.] ( 2 . 2Sd)

dharentu vacentu imaql samadhim [they should memorize and rec ite this samiidhi] ( 1 6 . 7 d)

bahuna111 ca buddhanam bhagavatam antikan maya pravraj itvaYaIl1 kumara sarvadharmasvabhavasamatavipaficitah samadhir v ista­relJa sruta udgrhltah pr�to dharito vacitah pravaIiitah aralJabhavanaya bhavito bahullkrtall parebhyas ca vistarelJa SaIl1prakasitalJ [ . . . and, having gone fOlih into the re l igious l i fe in the company of many i l lustrious buddhas, young man, I have at length heard , re­ceived, questioned, memorized, recited, c ircu lated, cultivated by bringing about freedom from defilement, propagated and ex­pounded at length to others this sa17uldhi which i s e laborated as the sameness in the ir essence of al l phenomena . . . ] ( 1 7 ; see Dutt and Sharma 1 94 1 , 1 95 3 , 1 954 , p . 220 .4-7; and e l sewhere)

ima vara santa samadhi bhasamalJah, [Re lating th is excel lent tranqu i l s([mcldhi . . . J ( l S . 7d)

tatha vyakaromy aham anantamatim hastasmi yasya susamadhivaram [So I predict the boundless inte l l igence, of him in whose hand [is held] thi s exce l l ent samcldh i . . . ] ( 29 . S2cd)

76 Sk i l ton, 1 999a. There. I a l so present further statements from the PSS and the SSS .

77

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T XXXI V , 2

acaryu loke bhavi�yati nityakalam dharitva santarp imu viraj am samadhirp [Having heard thi s tranquil samadhi born of excel lence, he wil l be a teacher in the world through all time . ] (32 . 1 72cd; and as a refrain thereafter)

sa sro�yate etu samadhi santam [He wil l hear this tranqui l samadhi] (36 . 3 8b)

Further s imi lar statements are also adduced from the PSS and SSS . The PSS i s pal1icularly rich i n passages that expl ic itly indicate the literary nature of its samadhi : 77

. . . through desire for this samadhi, for the sake of mak i ng this samadhi endure for a long time and in order that this samadhi be preserved, copying it well and presenting it as a book . . . (4D .2 )

On hearing th i s sal11iidhi, experience joy, And discard a l l the various spel ls of the world . . . ( 5E . 8ab)

It i s the same, Bhadrapala, with any sons of good fami ly . . . to whose hearing such a prec ious samiidhi as this has come : if on hearing it they do not copy it i n book form, teach it, rec ite it, pre­serve it, read it, expound it , cultivate it, or put it i nto practice . . . (6A)

They rec ite and develop the excel lent sal71adhi . . . ( l 3L . 3d, and s imilarly, vv. 1 3L .4d, 6d and l I d ; 1 41 .9 , 1 0, 1 1 and 1 2 )

And from the S S S : 78

67 . . . . Those who have not heard the Surarpgamasamadhi are cer­tainly possessed by Mara (maradhisrhita), and those who have heard it are certainly protected by the Buddhas (buddha­

parigrhlta). What then can be said (kafl punar vada�) of those who, having heard it, repeat and practise it? B hagavat, the bodhisattva who wishes to penetrate the Buddha attributes (buddhadharma) and reach the other shore (parii) ,

should l i sten attentively (ekacittasravana) to the Surarpgama­samadhi . . .

77 Quoted from Harrison 1990 . n Quoted from Lamotte 1 998 .

78

SKIL TON : STATE OR STA TEMENT?

76 . . . . The devaputra said : It is those who hold this Siirarp­gamasamadhi in their hands that the whole world with its gods and mankind (sadevamanu$ya [aka) should venerate.

1 32 . . . . But now that, from the lips of the Buddha, we have heard this samadhi . . .

1 73 . . . . . If a master of the Dharma (dharmacarya) writes down (likhayati), studies (svadhyayati) or teaches (udddayati) the Siirarpgamasamadhi . . .

1 74 . . . . Dp;lhamati, whoever writes down (likhati) and studies (svadhyayati) this Siirarpganiasamadhi . . .

Whil e these quotations unambiguously demonstrate that samadhi i s used in this and other texts to denote a text, we can only claim that this is a reference to the sutra as a whole if that is the only "text" under consideration. The exis­tence of a "text within a text," i .e . , the samadhi l ist, opens up an ambiguity. I suspect that the majority of such references are in fact references to the samadhi l ist rather than the entire sutra; possible exceptions are those pas­sages where explicit mention is made of hearing or leaming verses of the samadhi . Since these samadhi l ists are in prose in the five cases considered above, this could imply that the referent in those cases is a verse section of the sutra proper. Against this, we can argue that since the SRS samadhi is itself rendered into verse in chapter 1 7, even these references, in the case of the SRS, could be regarded as references to the samadhi l i st .

Alongside these, we have an interesting passage in chapter 4 of the SRS . Here, Candraprabha asks the Buddha for a definition of the term samadhi : "Illustrious One, the term ' samadhi ' is being used. Of what phenomenon i s samadhi the designation?"79 The Buddha ' s reply is to offer, in the same manner as before, another l i st, in this case of some 42 terms or phrases, again indistinguishable in general type from those we have already seen: 80

7� samadhil) samadhir iti bhagavann ucyate . Katamasyaitad dhannasyadhivacanarp samadhir iti (Matsunami 1975 p. 195, l ines 1 0-1 1 ) . Cf. Gomez and Si lk : "0 B lessed One, the word ' samadh i ' is often used. Exactly what thing (dharma) is designated by the word ' samadhi '?" (1989, p. 75) .

8 0 In the PVPS, a portion of these tenns from chapter 4 are imported into the midst of the redaction of tenns from chapter I .

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T H E E A S T ERN B U D D H I S T X X X I V , 2

Young man, the tenn samiidhi is being used; that i s to say: com­prehension of the mind; not a state of rebirth; knowledge of non­rebirth; the state of having laid aside one ' s burden; knowledge of the Tathagatas; . . . the protection of secret spel ls , hannlessness , the state of not oppressing those who are well behaved, the state of possessing subtle speech, the state of being free from the entire threefold world system, acceptance in confonnity with emptines s i n respect of al l dharmas, a state of intense desire for the knowl­edge of the All Knowing; the tenn samiidhi i s being used thus , young man. Correct and not incorrect practice (avilpratipatti) in respect of such items (dharmas) as these-it is this , young man, for which the tenn samiidhi is used. 8 1

There are several observations to be made on this passage . First, the question as to the meaning of the tenn samiidhi in this discourse is answered with a l i st of tenns entirely comparab le with those from the main samiidhi l ist in chapter I , and thus confinns our understanding of samiidhi in the SRS . This conclusion is supported by the phrasing, which is directly paral le l to that used to conclude and identify the main samiidhi. Second, the concluding sentence attempts some explanation of the phenomenon, by asserting that samiidhi in this usage should be understood as the "correct practice" of the items in the l ist . Explanation i s necessary when the usage i s questionable, and reflects the expectation or experience that, at the t ime of composition of chapter 4 , audiences may have been unsure of the meaning of the tenn in chapter 1 . We seem not to have been the first to have been baffled over this

81 samadhii) samadhir iti kumarocyate yaduta cittasya nidhyaptii), anupapattii), apratisan­dhijiianaITl, apahrtabharata, tathagatajiianarp . . . guhyamantraDam arak�aDa, avihirpsa, s l lavatam anutpic;lita , siik�mavacanata, sarvatraidhatuke 'n i s ri tata, sarvadharme�u siinyatanulomiki k�antii) , sarvajiiajiiane t1vracchandata, samadhii) samadhir iti kumarocyate . yaite�v evarpriipe�u dharme�u pratipattiI' avipratipattir ayarp sa kumarocyate samiidhir iti (Matsunami 1975, pp. 195 line 13-194 line 9). Cf. Gomez and Silk : "The actual practice of such dharmas-no contrary practice-young man, is called ' samadhi ",

( 1 989, p. 76). In a Buddhist context, it is the practice to translate pratipatti as "correct procedure" or "applica­tion . . . in practice," thus rendering the semantic dimension stressed by Edgerton in his entry s .v. pratipatti, where he offers the translations, "behaviour, practice, perfonnance, esp. good behaviour ." We should note that the primarily cognitive sense recorded for non-Buddhist Sanskrit (see, e.g. , Monier-Williams ' dictionary, s.v. pratipatti) , such as ' knowledge' or 'understanding', fits a number of the passages from Buddhist sources quoted by Edgerton well enough, and we should perhaps not exclude this meaning from consideration in Buddhist Sanskrit texts.

80

S K I L T O N : S T A T E O R S T A T E M E N T '!

matter. Thi rd , the i tems that const i tute the l i st are des ignated ellUlI 'll /os .

Fourth, there- is a s i m i lar passage i n the P S S :

[ 1 8A] When th i s was sa id , t h e bodhi sattva a n d mahasattva B hadrapa l a sa id to the Lord : " Reverend Lord, how shou ld bodh i ­sattvas c u l t ivate th i s sall /aclh i '? " The L ord sa id : " B hadrapa l a , i f a n y sons or daughters of good fam i l y shou ld w i s h t o c u l t i vate th i s samadhi, they shou l d n o t rest i n form , they shou l d not rest i n fee l ­ings , i n thought or i n dlzarll 7as; they shou l d n ot rest i n reb i rth ; they shou ld not rest in any ciliaI'll/as ; they should not rest in empt i ness , s i g n l essness, or w i s h l essness ; they shou ld not rest i n fri end l i nes s . What then, Bhadrapa la , i s sal7/cldh i ? I t i s the appl i cat i o n of these dllOl'l7/CiS i n pract i c e ( pralipatti ) , and not the m i sappl i c at ion ( I 'll)/'({ I ipall i ) . " � 2

The m odern trans l ator has recon structed as pratipatti and l 'ipratipatli the l i ke ly Sanskr i t terms tra n s l ated i nto T i betan as n a n I a n and log pa 'i n a n Ian .

Th i s draws attent ion to the l i ke l i h ood that the ori g i n a l Sanskr i t of the fram­i n g sentences i n t h i s second passage was a l most ident ica l to that i n the para l ­l e l passage from t h e S R S . I n t h e fi rst passage, fro m t h e S R S , t he quest i o n about t h e usage of t h e term .1' (lIIlildlz i i s answered p o s i t i ve ly , i . e . , by g i v i ng a concrete examp l e o f the sort o f th ing des i gnated by the term i n t h i s usage­another l i st of dl/(/ m ta s . In the second passage, from the PSS, the equi va lent quest ion i s answered negat ive ly , i . e . , by say i ng what i s not des i gnated by the term . Here, the B uddha i s shown exp l i c i t l y exc lud i ng fro l11 cons i derat ion a col l ec t ion of the most i mportant med i tat i ve p ract i ces used and a ssoc i ated with the term sal/lildh i in the Sravaka and M ahayana t rad i t i o n s : the SI7/ I'I.l '"jJaslhana, med i tat i ons on reb i rth and dlwrll I({S, the l 'ill /okS(//l l l lklw and

0 :' [ I X A l dc s k a d c c s b ka ' s tsa l pa chi n g / bya n g c h u b SC Ill S d p a ' SC I l lS dpa ' c h e n po bzang

skyong gis bcolll Idan ' clas l a ' cl i sbd ccs gsol t o / I

b t s u n P,I bco lll khi n 'das / byang c h u b selll S d p a s t i ng nge ' d z i n ' el i .i i I tar bsgolll par bgyi I I bcolll I d a n ' cl as k y i s b ka ' stsa l p a / / bza n g s kyong / r igs k y i bu ' a lll r igs k y i hu nlO g,l Ilg Ia 1 ,1 t i n g n ge ' d z i n ' d i hsgo lll ' dod p a r

gyur n a / des g z u g s l a gnas par Ill i bya ' o I I t shm ba d a n g I sellls d a n g I chos l a g lws par Ill i

bya ' 0 I I skye ba la gnas par III i bya ' 0 I; c llOs t h a llls cad la gnas par m i bya ' 0 1 / stong pa n y i d

dang ; I1l t s h a n m a Illcd d a n g I smon pa Ill cd pa l a g n a s p a r Ill i bya ' o / 1 byallls pa l a g n a s p a r

l1l i bya ' o / 1 bzang skyong / d e l a t i n g n g e ' d z i n g a n g zhc n a I gang c lms de d a g l a n,1 I1 tan d u

byed k y i / log pa ' i n a n tan d u byed pa m a y i n p a ' o I I ( i l arr i son I li 7 X b , p . 1 5 5 : E n g l i s h ver­

s i o n , H a rr i s o n 1 l)l)O. p. 1 44 ) . As w i t h the S R S passagc, I wonder whether here we shou l d read

"correct u n derstan d i n g" for jJra/ijJulli.

8 1

T H E E ,c\ S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I \ ' , 2

/ lwilrihl/(I \ ,( / I I (I , "� What cou l d be more exp l i c i t than t h i s'? Even t he t e rm i nol ­ogy con fi rms th i s po in t . The term tran s l ated as " rest in ," gll us p u r hyed pa, su re l y stands for a form cognate \v i t h sl/z ilu , such as is used in the passage from thc lI i(kil lo o f the Suddlwrilw/J l I /u/or iku Siilm quoted above, The author is spec i fi c a l l y exc l ud i ng sus ta i ned exper i ence o f med i ta t i ve prac t i ces/states s l l ch as a rc descr ibed there , Oncc aga i n , the i tcms of the l i st are des ignated d Iw rII / ( / S ,

The d i s t i n c t i o n between the two k i nds of s(I I / / (ldh i we are cons ider ing appears a l so to i n form a passage in chapter 1 5 of the p s s :

[ 1 5 K] BhadrapJ la , who w i l l h ave t�l i t h i n t h i s sO!lutdhi , apart from Tathagatas , Arhats and Per lCc t l y Awakened Ones , bod h i sattvas and mahasat tvas i ncapab l e of regres s ion , and s rJvaka s who are d i rect \v i tnesses ( kU l 'U-soksil l ) '! Why i s that , B hacl rapa l a ? Because a l l foo l i s h common peop l e a re in error a s regards t h i s bod h i ­sa t tva s ' s({/lutdhi o f D i rect Encoun ter w i t h t he Buddhas of the Presen t . Why i s tha t , B hadrapJ l a '? Because , a l t hough one shou l d concen t ra te on t hose very dlwrllw s . a n d shou l d see t hose very dlwr/lw.\' , and shou l d concentrate on the Buddhas and Lords , and shou l d see the Tathagatas , and shou l d hear the Dharma, one shou l d n o t fi xate on them . "-I

T h i s Eng l i s h t ran s la t i o n c l ear ly re ll ec ts the u n ders tand i ng tha t ,\wl/Lldh i must refer to the hliddlutl l l l,\' / l irli sO/luldh i of chapter 3. At th i s stage, I prefer a

" I su spcct t h a t t h i s l i s t has i t s ()\I n s i g n i l icancc as c l i dcncc I l l !' t h c m i l i c u i n Iv h i c h the PSS li as c o m poscd, I t i s h i g h l y rcm i n i s c c n t o l" s u c h gro u p i n g s Ill l i l ld i n med i ta t i on tex ts d i scussed by De m i c I ' i l 1 e ( 1 95 4 ) , and lI'h i l e I do not t hcr e l'mc mean to suggcst t h a t t h e m i l icu of t he P S S i s ncccssar i l y' t h a t o l " thosc t l� x t S ( i , c . . sccond cen t u ry C E , S a n'as t i v ad i n K a s h m i r) , I do th i nk t h a t to locate texts or t ra d i t i o n s t h a t reco m m e n d t h e pract i c c 0 1' p rcc i s e l y thcse mcdi ta t ions may t a k e us a s tep c l oser to i t .

S � [ 1 5 K ] bzang skyong I de bzh i n gshegs pa dgra bcom pa yang dag par rdzogs pa ' i sangs

rgyas mams dang byang chub sems dpa ' scms dpa' chcn po phy i r mi Idog pa maills dang / I lya ll thos I u s m llgoll sum du byed pa ma ills m a gtogs par t i ll g Ilgc 'dz i ll ' d i la su zh ig m ngon par dad par ' gym ' , bzallg skyollg / de c i ' i phy i r zhe Ila ;' da I ta r gyi sangs rgyas 1l 1 l1gon sum du bzhugs pa ' i byallg chub SC Ill S dpa ' i t i n g nge ' dz i n \I i la by i s pa so so ' i skye bo thams cad

ky i s Il i ' kh ru l to bzang skyong / de c i ' i phy i r zhe na ;' chos de dag ny id y i d la bya / ehos de

dag ny id b l ta bar bya i sangs rgyas bcolll I dan ' clas dag kyang y id l a bya / de bzh i n gshegs pa mams kyang b l t a bar bya ! chos kyang m llyall par bya s te ! mngon par zhcn par Il i mi bya 'o / I ( T i betan text i s li'om Harr i son 1 9 7 X b , pp . 1 3 0-3 1 ; Eng l i s h trans l a t i on i s quoted from H a rr i so ll 1 990, p , 1 2 5 [sec t io ll 1 5 K ] ) ,

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translation reflecting our new understanding of the usage of samadhi i n these sutras . "Those very dharmas" of the final sentence are the items of the samadhi . The act of "reflecting" ( yid fa byed, manasi karoti ) on them is be­ing contrasted with reflection on the buddhas, the object of the buddhanu­smrti meditation of chapter 3. I suspect that the two verbs yid fa byed and Ita

ba, "attending to," " investigating, " or s imply "seeing," are being used as near synonyms . "Investigating" or just " seeing" the Tathagatas and hearing the Dharma are products of buddhanusmrti . 85

Final ly , one must beware of holding to fixed, incorrect views (lIll1go11 par

zhen pa, abh in ivisati ) regarding samadhi . Allowing for these considerat ions , the fol lowing revision i s possib le :

B hadrapala, who wi l l have faith in thi s samaelhi, apali from Tathagatas , Arhats and Perfectly Awakened Ones, bodhi sattvas and mahasattvas incapab le of regression, and sravakas who are d irect witnesses? For, Bhadrapala , a l l foo l i sh common people mis­understand thi s bodhisattvas ' samadhi of Direct Encounter wi th the Buddhas of the Present. For, Bhadrapala , i t i s those very dhar­

mas on which one shou ld reflect, and i t i s those very dhurlllus

which one should i nvestigate , [a l though] one should a l so reflect on the Buddhas and Lords , and a lso attend to the Tathagatas, and a lso hear the Dharma. One should not hold to incorrect views.

With thi s reading the thi rd and final sentence d i stinguishes between the items of the sumadhi l i st in chapter 2 and the hllddhanusmrli sUI1u7dh i of chapter 3.

Turning again to the SSS , I have a l ready pointed out that the Tibetan trans­l at ion retains a ful l er, and, I suggest, complete text for the .1:/lramgw7Ia­

samadhi . Curiously, in h is note, Lamotte curta i l s h is trans l iteration of the Tibetan text before the end of the paragraph, as i s indicated by the semi-final partic le , sle, at the end of the passage he transcribes. The ful l paragraph i s concl uded with the statement " ' di n i dpa ' bar ' gro ba ' i t in ne ' dzin gyi yu l lo / / , " which we may translate as : "Th i s i s the scope of the .l;zlrct'! lgall/u­

samadh i . " The implication here , that the samadhi encompasses the items of the forego ing I i st , is strengthened by the ensuing passage of Lamotte ' s trans­l ation, where the sutra itse l f exp lains that the .I;zlralllgall/a-samadhi i s a com­prehens ive container for numerous concepts , practices and atta inments :

�5 One could make the case that the c lauses concerning the hliddhiil1l1slIIrti are interpola­

t ions , but w i thout an overview of textua l stratificat ion i n th i s text , I am not i n c l ined to do so at th i s stage.

83

T I I I 1 . \ S T I R 1\ 13 l [) [) I I I S T \( \( :\ I \ ' . "

[The Hero i c Progress and Good Dha rma] �n Drdha lll a t i . th i s Sura lllga lll usamad h i i s not understood in the l i ght of a s i ng l e s tatemen t ( ekUIJm/u ) . a s i ng l e ob jec t ( cka/wl/­hOl/o ) . a s i ng l e mean i n g ( (,kar//w ) : a l l the absorpt i on s ( dh rc/l /O ) , atta i nmen t s ( ,I'UI /UljJU / f i ) , l i be rat i on s ( l 'il/ lOksu ) , concentra t i on s ( sUl/uldh i ) , superknow l edges ( uh h ijlic'i ) , s u p e rn or m a l powers ( nldh i ) and penetrat i n g know l edges ( /Jf '({ f i,I'WII I 'ii/iilI I lU ) a rc i n c l uded ( ,lwl Igr/l / fo ) i n the S lml ll1gamasamadh i .

� 2 3 Jus t a s spr i ngs , s t reams , r i vers , t r i b u ta r i e s and vv a ter courses fl ow i n to t he great sea ( l/w/ul,l'ul/ l l Idm ) , so a l l the bodh i sa t tva pos­sesses in the way of iI/n il/ws and ,IWIIIII){ (ffis i s to be found i n the S ll ra l1lga m asa Illadh i .

�24 .J ust a s a nob l e Cakr ava rt i n k i n g i s accompan i ed everyvvhere by a n hero i c genera l ( ,I;LirasCl/ ul}( f f i ) and fou r army c o m p a n i e s ( ( ,( { / l I Iwigu/Ju/u ) , so , ( ) Dr�lha lll a t i , a l l t he , I Ul l l i!ilh il l l l lk/ws, SUll lcI­J)({ / f i 1 1 1 1 1 k//({.\', I J / '{f I i h /U/I / ( { I I / l / k /WS, I 'ill IOksWIl l / k// ( /.\', d/u! m 1/ ill / I I k /ws, uhhijtlUll l l lk/ws, l 'idl 'U I 'ill l l lk f il l l l lk/ws and i lhu/ 'I I lUl I l l Ik/IU,I' a rc i n ­c l uded i n t he S Li ramgamasa lllild i , and everywhere t h a t lxxl h i ­sa t tvas p rac t i se t he S u ramgamasamild i they a rc accom pan i ed by a l l t h e ,I'Ul l l ildh i.l' .

�25 Drdhamat i , j u s t a s a nob l e Cakravart i n k i ng. vvh i l e trave l l i ng, is fo l l owed by h i s seven jewe l s (l'uIJ /um/l/u ) . so, 0 Drdha illa t i . the Sl lrLlmgama samadh i is a lways fo l l owed by a l l the aux i l i ary dhar­mas o f en I i gh ten ill en t ( /JOd/lljhlksikud//({ / 'II l i l ) . That i s why t h i s .\'Ul l l ildh i i s named ' Hero i c P rogress ' ( ,Yilf'({lI IgUI/ / (f ) . �h

The T i betan t ra n s la t i o n of �22 i s pa rt i c u l a r ly i nterest i ng :

b i n g ros br tan pa dpa ' bar ' gro ba ' i t i ng nge ' dz i n n i bshad pa gc i g tu Ill i b l t a / spyod y u l gc i g tu Illa y i n / rna m pa gc i g tu ma y i n I d m i gs pa gc ig tu llla y i n I don gc ig tu l a s byung bar m i b l ta ' o / de c i ' i p hy i r zhe na I blo gros b rtan pa t ing nge ' dz i n thams cad dang I snyo ill s par 'j ug pa thams cad dang I rn a lll par tha I' pa thams cad dang I rdzu ' p h ru l dang I m ngon par shes pa dang I so so yang dag par r ig pa' i shes pa de dag thams cad n i dpa ' bar ' gro ba ' i t i ng nge ' dz i n gy i nang elu \ius s h i ng chud par b l ta ' o IX7

,,(, L amotte 1 l)l)K . pp . 1 2 7 - 2 1( ( La il lo t te 1 9(' 5 , p . 1 -1 1 ) .

,'" s l k dge 5 2 K . 7 529 .2 .

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S K I L T O N : S T A T E O R S T A T E M E N T ?

[Dr<;lhamati, the siirm!lgama-samiidhi should not be investigated through a single explanation; it is not a single sphere; it is not a s in­gle aspect; it i s not a s ingle obj ect; it should not be investigated as arising from a single meaning. For, Dr<;lhamati , all sal71iidhi, all samapatti, all vimok$a, and all rddh i, abhijiia, and pratiSal!l Vid are col lected with in the Hlrcll?1gama-samiidhi . ]

This same point is also made by a passage from the PSS :

[24G] B hadrapala, in the last time, the last age, when the great ter­ror occurs and the True Dharma is destroyed, sons or daughters of good fami ly who have set out in the Bodhisattvayana, who wish to obtain the perfection of all dharl71as and the perfection of omni­scient cognition, and who wish to bring about the purification of their wholesome potent ia l i t ies should strive to copy, g ive instruc­tion in, and memorize this sal1uldh i, and proclaim it i n ful l to oth­ers . Why i s that? The cognition of the knowledge of all dharlJ las in all their aspects, Bhadrapala, i s condensed within thi s samadhi .xX

The next body of internal evidence for understanding these somadhi as l i sts of terms, and probably the most te l l ing, comes from the seventeenth chapter of the SRS . Here, in the context of a iataka-type story , the B uddha-to-be is a newborn boy who i s presented as rec iting a series of some 70 verses in which the entire samctdhi l i st (with occasional omi ss ions and variants ) is recapitu­lated. Several aspects of this passage should be emphasized. Each verse in th i s section has a refrain as its l ast pada . The refrain varies ; there are four or five altogether. H owever, that which both begins the section and recurs l ater ( i . e . , in a total of 1 8 verses ) , states exp l ic i t ly that the terms being rec ited are samadhi . It reads, "kaccij j ino bha�ati taq1 samadhi q1 " ( I hope the Conqueror teaches that samadh i ) . The ident ification is a lso expl ic i t in the verses which introduce thi s sect ion . Thus, verse 56 describes the samctdhi as "the sole instruction for [all] the realms of existence" -yo ekll nirde.l;l I hhal'e

K K [24G] bzang skyong / byang chub sems dpa ' i theg pa l a zhugs pa ' i r igs kyi bu 'am / rigs ky i bu mo chos thams cad kyi pha ro l tu phyin pa dang / thams cad mkhyen pa' i yc shes kyi pha ra l tu phyin pa thob par 'dod pa dang / dge ba ' i rtsa ba rnam par dag pa thob par ' dod pas

phyi ma ' i dus phyi ma ' i tshe 'j igs pa chen po ' byung ba / dam pa ' i ehos rnam par 'j i g pa ' i dus

der t ing nge 'dzin 'di y i ger bri ba dang / lung mnod pa dang / kha ton bya ba dang / gzhan

dag l a yang rgya eher yang dag par bsgrag par bya ba ' i phyir sbyor bar bya' 0 / / de e i ' i phy i r

zhe na / ehos thams cad ky i rnam pa thams cad m khyen pa ny iel ky i ye shes n i / bzang skyong

/ t ing nge ' elz in ' di ' i nang elu ' elu s so / / (T i betan, Harrison I 978b, p . 20X ; Eng l i sh trans lat ion, H arrison 1 990, p . 1 93 ) .

85

T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V . 2

gatilUll!1 -which i s the conc luding item in the sal11cidh i proper (#329) . 89 The rec itation of the sa/J7cidhi over, the king, Dr<;ihabala, asks, "How came you to hear this salJ1cidh i '? " (v. 1 3 1 ) , to which the boy repl i es that he has asked for it from many previous buddhas and has devoted himself to it merely after hear­ing them rec ite it for h im ( vv . 1 32- 1 34 ) . Later the boy recounts the service performed for "those monks who memorized this samcidh i and who recited it , and who set i t out" (v. 1 49 ) , and final ly the B uddha Narendragho$a ex­pounds the samac/h i to the k ing, who hears it and renounces his kingdom (v. 1 6 1 ) , and together with h is ret inue, learns, rec ites and i l l uminates the sumcldh i for the sake of others ( vv . 1 62- 1 64 ) .

Para l l e l t o th i s , we can a l ign a s im i la r treatment in the S S S . I have already mentioned the passage in the T ibetan that Lamotte designates a later addition to his �2 1 and leaves out of cons iderat ion, but which, on compari son with the SRS and PSS , I cons ider to be a pati of the complete or orig ina l text In his footnote , Lamotte transcribes and trans lates the final terms of the s([/1uldhi and the standard statement of identificat ion, but cuts short the text at that poi nt Only by careful comparison with a footnote occurring several pages earl ier are we l i ke ly to rea l ize that the "extra" Tibetan cons ists of a cons id­erab ly l arger passage than that he transcribes for us . 90

I n fact, the passage consists not only of the four i tems from the l i st and the conc luding phrase as provided by Lamotte, but a l so a considerab le body of verse that covers five s ides of the Peking edition of the KanjyuL Exami­nat ion of these verses reveal s that, in para l l e l with the S RS , we are deal ing with a re-presentation of the .�[lr(l/?lgama-samcidh i i n verse . As there, the sU/1uldh i in question is recapitulated, with variat ions determ ined by metre , in due sequence, and at the conc lus ion is agai n emphat ica l ly identified as the /i [I/'{/l1 lgal1la-sal1lcidh i by the Buddha : "b lo gros b rtan pa de ni dpa ' bar ' gro ba' i t in ne ' dzin ces bya ste / de yan dpa ' bar ' gro ba ' i tiIi. ne ' dzin gyi yul yin no . " The variations in the trans lation of this identification passage show that it has not been mechanica l ly transposed from the end of the samcidhi, but was translated afresh at this point in the text

Returning aga in to the SRS , of equal significance to the evidence of chap-

X9 For this and subsequent verses I use the numbering of Dutt ' s edition . 9() Fol ios 286b .5-289a.3 = sDe dge 524 .4-528 .7ff. ( Lamotte 1 998 , p. 1 1 9 [Lamotte 1 965,

p. 1 3 1 ] n. 43 ) . Curiously, he also describes this material as "partly versified" (pUliiel lement vers ifie) , although the only prose consists of the final identifying phrases which occupy less than two l ines.

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ter 1 7 i s that of chapter 3 9 . There , the sutra offers a simple commentary upon each of the items from the samadh i l i st . After the final gloss has been given, the chapter concludes : "This shou ld be understood as the explanation of these three hundred items . This, young man, is that samadh i for which the name 'e laborated as the sameness in their essence of all phenomena' i s used. "9 1 Once again , a ful l recitation of the samadhi l i st i s expl i c it ly identi­fied as the sarvadharma-svab/ulvasamafavipaiicita-samadh i .

Conclusions

I have presented the data largely without interpretation and a l lowed the texts to speak for themselves-a treatment I think they deserve . I make no attempt to address the many questions which may be raised regarding, for example, the possible origin and function of such samadhi, thei r role in the formation of sutra texts, and their l i nks with other Mahayana sutras . These must be left to a separate discussion . Neverthel ess, I wou ld l i ke to comment at this point on a few matters, staI1 ing with how such a usage of sam ad hi is possib le . The sense ofsamcidhi as one-pointedness of mind is derived from the sense of the verba l root and prefixes , sam-ci-dha, "to col lect" or "place together" -in this case the act ivit ies of the mind. S ince we are deal ing with what appears to be a co l l ection of terms, the etymology of the term sal1 lcldh i lends itse lf to th i s usage. I have found no recognizable precedent for it in the Sravaka canon . There are some seventeen samcldh i suffa in the Pa l i canon, none of which employs a l i st of terms as the referent of the term sumclc/h i . n

Th is appears to ind icate that we are dea l ing w ith an exc lus ive ly M ahayana usage . I t occurs in two sutras known to have been translated into Chi nese in the l ate second century C . E . by Lokak�ema (PSS and SSS ) and in a th i rd , the SRS , which may also have c i rcu lated at that t ime .'!3 We m ight argue that the usage was sti l l current for Asanga in the fOUl1h and Hsilan-tsang in the sev­enth centuries , but I would not go so far as this . Regard ing Asanga, we can only say that he used the term samcldh i to denote sutra texts that contained

9 1 ayam esam trayanam paclasatanam n i rdeso drastavyah / ayam sa ucyate kumara sarva­

dharmasvabhavasamatav ipamci to nama samadh ih ( Dut! 645 . 1 4� 1 5 ) .

')2 These are a l l i n the Sall l l 'l I l Iil Nikii.l'il ( 1 0 ) and A ligullam Nikiinl ( 7 ) . The exact number

of slIlfa with such a name var ies accord ing to edi t ion . Thus, the DicriollarJ ' of' Puli Proper NUII/es, re ly ing upon the PTS ed i t ion , l i sts c l even sulla with that t i t le ( Ma la l asekara 1 974, S .v .

sUlI/iidh i .I'll/fa ) . The Sri Lal1ka Buddha Ja val1fi TrtiJilaka Series edit ion however bestows the t i t l e on the seventeen to wh ich I refer above.

9] Sk i l ton 1 999a.

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T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V . 2

th is term in their t i tl e . Of s ign ificance here i s h i s inclusion with our sCll71adhi

texts of the Sarmpunyasumllccayasamcldhi Szi tra , which r have not been able to ident ify as a samadh i sutra of the type I have been discussing in this artic l e . This i nd icates that h is own usage of the term was concerned with tit les only, and not with the spec ific usage of "samcldh i as text. " I n turn, this suggests the poss ib i l ity that the intended mean ing of samadh i i n these par­t icular texts was not current in h i s t ime, for we shou ld sure ly expect a schol­ar of Asmiga ' s status to be aware of such usage i f i t were c urrent. Wh i l e s uggest ive, th i s argument i s c learl y not conc lus ive and I do not present i t a s such . HSLian-tsang ' s trans lat ion of the PYPS does not demonstrate i n itse lf the currency of th is usage, mere ly of a text that conta ins i t . The redaction of the PYPS may have taken p lace centuries before h i s t ime , although the evi­dence of th is part icu lar text confirms that its redactor celia in ly knew of this usage ofs(flluldhi . As such, th i s i s the only i nstance that I can c i te at this stage of expl ic i t acknowledgement of it by another author with i n the B uddhist tra­d i t ion . If Asmiga ' s apparent ignorance of such usage reflects the genera l s it­uat ion , we may tentat ively conc lude that the PYPS was redacted prior to h is t ime.

I n terms of chrono logy, we are dea l i ng with a phenomenon that i s located, by concrete evidence, in the second century C . E . It may have become obso­l ete by the fOUlih century, and to postulate any term in us post qucm requires a specu lat ive venture into that dark h i nterland that we ca l l " Mahayana ori­g ins . " I tend towards a v iew that, whi l e i nd iv idua l recens ions of a Mahayana sutra may wel l be the work of an ind iv idual redactor, the component ele­ments that were redacted were very l i kely the product of several , even many, authors and in th i s sense that these sutra texts may be better understood as the product of communit ies rather than i nd ividua l s . 94 If th is is the case, then it a l so ra i ses the poss ib i l ity that the texts we have been d iscussing are the prod­uct of a loca l ized community, and that the usage that they employ could thus be unknown to or i gnored by the evolv ing "mainstream" of Mahayana B ud­dhist pract ice and scho larsh ip . Perhaps th i s usage was just another option in early Mahayana that was rej ected by those who eventually constructed the estab l ished Mahayana of the seminaries?95 If thi s too were true, then although it undermines the chronological arguments regarding Asallga that I

'14 I regard th i s v iew as uncontrovers iaL It hard ly needs repet i t ion that a number of

Mahayana sutras have been shown beyond d ispute to be composite texts. '15 See Schopen 2000 for a recent discuss ion of other such rejected opt ions .

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have out l ined above, i t has the effect o f p lac ing together our samadhi sutras, geographical l y and c hronological ly , as the l iterary output of a local ized early Mahayana community . 96 Such a conc lus ion would have exciting imp l ica­t ions, l argely aris ing from the poss ib i l i ty that we cou ld v iew th is group of sutras as a re l ated body of materia l reflecting the values, pract ices , c i rcum­stances , and so on, of a spec ific , i f unident ified, communi ty of early Mahayan i sts . As such, the ir study could be i nvaluab l e for offering ins ights into the dynamics of a spec ific community and thus shed valuab l e l i ght i nto the g loomy h interland to which I have a l ready refen·ed . This cou ld be an oppOliunity for research comparable to the h istorica l potential of the G i lgit co l l ect ion or the surv iv ing trans lat ions of Lokak�ema. Whereas both of the last represent bodies of texts known to have been accepted, a lthough not redacted, as scripture with i n a spec ific and dated mi l ieu, these samadhi sutra texts wou ld represent the scri ptura l output of a s i ng le community from the earl i est datable period for M ahayana . ')7

Th i s reassessment of the usage of the term S({/Jutdh i in some early Mahayana sutras demonstrates the necess ity for us to continue to take texts at face value, and a l low them to say what they say. The power of expectat ion i s always strong and somet imes acqu i res unexpected support i n our modern academic env i ronment in which, on occas ion , interpretat ion seems to hold the attent ion better than expl ic i t statement and concrete ev idence . I n the pre­sent case, the warning s igns were that a number of texts cons istently Ll i 1ed to make sense or to meet our expectat ions regard i ng a med itat ion text. We shou ld a l so suspend any cynica l assumpt ions that re l ig ious texts usua l ly thus fa i l u s somewhere a long the l i ne . Even if they sometimes do so, \\l e must not a l low such an assumption to determ ine our treatment of primary sources . To do otherw i se is to hamper the enormous amount of deta i l ed work sti l l requ i red t o enab le us t o understand Mahayana sutra l i terature .

The genera l thrust of th i s i nvest igation seems unavoidable-that the term ,\'(f l l ladhi , h i therto assoc iated exc l us ivc ly with med itative pract i ce and expe­r ience ( however these i n themselves are interpreted ) or with the fundamenta l psycholog ica l components of Abh idharma analys is , was used i n some earl y Mahayana c i rc les t o denote not on ly an experience o r transformed state of

'Ih H o w s l i c h a com m u n i ty m i ght bc d c li ncd sho u l d be thc s u b j cct o r ru rther research . 1 e n v i sagc anyth i n g from a s i n g l e I 'illilru to a gro u p or m o n a steries or evcn a gcograph ica l l y or

pcrhaps p o l i t i c a l l y de l i m ited u n i t , such as a ",d l ey popu l a t i o n or an i s o l ated c i ty or oas i s statc.

'! 7 Both the Ci i l g i t c o l l e c t i o n and thc Loka k�ema trans l a t i o n s havc been e x a m i ned i n t h i s

way. t h e formcr b y Sehopen ( 1979) a n d t h c l at ter b y H a rr ison ( 19g 7 a n d 199.3).

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T H E E A S T E R N B U D D H I S T X X X I V . :2

consc i ousness , but a lso a l i teraIY statement , whether written or oral : pr i mar­i l y a l i st of B uddh i st concepts, practices and affects, and by extens ion a sutra i n whi c h such a l i st i s embedded. I n fact, i t seems that such l i sts came to be so embedded not by chance, but were themse l ves the or igi n a l , even if l ater m i s u nderstood, foc i of such s utras . A s such, th i s observat ion ident ifies an unrecogn ized sub-genre of the Mahayana s utra, i n wh ich I n u m ber five members, a total which may be supp lemented by other rep resentat i ves as they are i dent i fi ed . At the l east, we have estab l i shed that a) the samclc/h i of the S RS , a l ong with those of a few other salllclc/h i sutras , has no d i rect con­cern with med i tat ive states and pract ices , and b) the bas i s on which i t i s ent i ­t led a samadh i sutra . 0' F i nal ly , j ust as the term salJuldhi i s used to denote a "co l l ected" state of mind , so, i n the s utra d i scussed here , i t denotes a "co l ­lect ion " o f terms and shou ld be tran s l ated as s u c h . The S(fJ77{ldh irclja Siilra thus becomes, "The Discourse on the K i ng of Co l l ect i o n s . "

'i X T h i s conc lus ion contributes, a lbe i t from an unexpected quarter, t o the debate developed

by Sharf concern i ng thc d i sj unct ion bctween rel ig ious experience and rhetor ic i n accounts of

Buddh is t medi tat ion pract ice ( see Sharf 1 995 and Faure / 99 1 , pp. 295-97 . ) He proposes that

much h i storical and doctrina l scholarsh i p has been m is led by the uncr i t ica l assumption that

the techn ica l term ino logy of Buddh ist meditat ion a l ways has an exc lus ive ly experient ia l ref­erent.

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