(38) Journal of'Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 53,No .2, March 2005
A Precursory phrase of Tantric definition of Bodhicitta in the S~ntideva's Siksarnuccaya
Kazunori SASAKI
"Bodhicitta" or "thought of enlightenment" is the key concept especially in the later phase of Tantric Buddhism. The concept, which is characteristically defined as "sunyatu.karunabhinnamhodhicittam" clearly reflected by the unique world-view of Tantric Buddhism, played a significant role for consolidating the doctrines of the traditional exoteric Mahayana Buddhism into newesoteric Buddhism. The defini- tion appeared for the first time in the Uttaratantra of Guhi'a.Vamujatantra,as Yori- tomi [1973]and other precedent studies pointedout. Yoritomi [1973]also referred to a similar phrase "sunyatakarunagarbha-"in the Haribhadra's Ahhisainayalanku.rulo- ka (AAA)and the Kamalasila's Bhuvanukramas (BhK) as a potential precursor of this Tantric definition of Bodhicitta above. Toadd to it, present paper will show the foregoing examples of this phrase appeared in the Santideva's Siksusamuccava(SS) and the Nagarujuna's Ratnavarl (RA).
Tantricism in the Buddhism was born to show an alternative way to attain "un- surpassed perfect enlightenment" (anuttara-samyak-sambodhi)and this current of thought became the mainstream in the last period of Indian Buddhism. In the mon- asteries of those days monks generally learned and studied traditional exoteric lit- eratures under the view of Tantric interpretation and a lot of traditional concepts were re-defined. "Bodhicitta" or "thought of enlightenment" is also newly defined as "sunyatakarunabhinna", that is "the unity ofsunyata and karuna". Tantricism, especially in its later phase, puts stress on the realization of non-dual nature of the superficial duality and of the unity of two aspects of the reality. sunyata or void- ness and karuna or universal compassion are needless to say the pair of the essen- tial concepts of Mahayana Buddhism and this very pair of concepts is said to be identical and synonymous with the pair of prajna and upaya, which are the cardinal
967 A Precursory phrase of Tantric definition of Bodhicitta in the Santideva's Siksusamuccava (K. SASAKI) (39) concepts in the Bodhisattvamarga. Hence this definition of Bodhicitta as the perfect commingling of sunyata and karuna had far-reaching effect in the consolidation of the exoteric Mahayanic ideas into the Tantric system of thought.
As Yoritomi [1973] and other preceding studies showed, this Tantric definition had appeared for the first time in the Uttaratantra of Guhyasamajatantta. Yori- tomi [1973] went farther to assume a similar phrase "sunyatakarunagarbha-" in the Haribhadra's AAA as a potential precursor of the Tantric definition of Bodhicitta. The study also referred that the Kamalasila's BhKs have this phrase though it is not employed as the definition of Bodhicitta. In my research, 3 BhKs have 4 examples using this phrase, two of which are identical - there are 3 types, in short- and all of them modify the same wording "giving and so on". The wording "giving and so on" is generally used as set-phrase to imply the paramitas. Therefore it is presumed that this phrase was used in the BhKs having strong association with the paramitas, which are the ideals of Bodhi- sattvacarya, the way of practice of Bodhisattva. No one, as long as I know, has ever pointed outthat the Santideva's SS also contains this phrase of interest in the two of the 27 memorial verses (verses21 and 23) which is made by the author himself. As my previous study (Sasaki[2002]) and other studies demonstrate, these verses are thebackbone of that text. Therefore, judging from the fact that the author uses thisphrase in these memorial verses, even so much as 2 times, it would not be deniedthat Santideva employed the phrase intentionally. In the SS, however, compared to the BhKs' case,it is not so clear what concept is intended to be defined by this phrase in question. As to the SS's two examples the phrase modifies the word "deeds" (cestita)in one example and "giving" (dana) in another. Although the author himself didn't give any explanation about each of these examples, the Siksukusunmamanjariof Vairocanarakasita, one of the abridge- mental commentary on the SS, explains the former one that "When one practice in everyway 5 things such as giving and so on, that is the deeds which has voidness and universal compassion as their essence"(/gangtshe shying pa la sog inga/ /stongnyid Bangshying rje'isnying po can/ roam pa kun nas hyedgyur pa/). Accordingly, we can
966 A Precursory phrase of Tantric definition of Bodhicitta (40) in the Santideva's Siksasumuccuvu (K. SASAKI) see that the SS uses this phrase as a definition of paramitas with the same intention as BhKs.
Another example concerning this phrase is foundin the Nagarjuna's RA which says in the latter half of verse 96 of Chapter IV: " (venerableone also preached)to certain people the means for attaining the enlightenment which has voidness and universal compassion as its essence" (sunyatakarunagarbhamekesam bodhisadhunam). This example seems the oldest one for the moment using the phrase "sunyataka- rungarbha-" in itself. In this case, However, The context in which the phrase is employed is not the same as the ones in the while the SS and the BhKs. In this part of the RA the author tells about the characteristic of the teachings of the Venerable one, which is his ability to teach what is justsuit for the audiences SS and follow- ers use this phrase limitedly as a definition of paramitas as discussed above. Such intention of the author of the RA would be confirmed because his loyal successor Candrakirti quotes the very verse in the Prasannapadu under the same context as in the RA.
Now that it is clear the context is different between them and that there doesn't seems to be found any other work in the period between them which contains the phrase in the body text, we can suppose that the SS should be the origin of using "sunyatakarunagarbha -" in relation to the Bodhisattvacarya, paramitas in particu- lar. Besides, I will make an assumption like this; Santideva, the author of the SS, should find this phrase in the RA and adopted it as the definition of Bodhisattva- carya in his book. Since the connection among SS, BhKs and AAA is strongly pre- sumed due to their having this same phrase in common, It could be also assumed that the examples in the SS is one of the majorroots of such Tantric definition of Bodhicitta as I mentioned at the beginning of present paper.
965