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A Critical Study of Wisdom As Depicted in Astasahasrika

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A Critical Study of Wisdom As Depicted in Astasahasrika International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Research (IJSER) ISSN (Online): 2347-3878 Index Copernicus Value (2015): 62.86 | Impact Factor (2015): 3.791 A Critical Study of Wisdom as Depicted in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā with Reference to the Philosophy of Nāgārjuna Ven. Dr. Lenagala Siriniwasa Thero Head, Department of Sanskrit, Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka As explained in many philosophers the wisdom is the basic 3. Kṣāntipāramitā: patience, tolerance, forbearance, component in attaining final goal. Buddha also acceptance, endurance emphasized its value in attaining nibbāna. Without 4. Vīryapāramitā: energy, diligence, vigor, effort wisdom one cannot understand the teaching of Buddha due 5. Dhyānapāramitā: one-pointed concentration, to its supra-mundane nature. It has got far empirical sense contemplation in every word. That is why He said that this doctrine is not 6. Prajñāpāramitā: wisdom, insight for the fools but for the wise. But In Theravada there are 10 perfections to be fulfilled “paññāvantassaayamdhammo- for the enlightenment. They are Dāna, Sīla, Nekkhamma, nāyamdhammoduppaññassa” Paññā, Viriya, Khanti, Sacca, Adhitthāna, Mettā and Upekkhā. With this appreciation of wisdom the Buddhist scholars wanted to explain the value of wisdom in many ways. That Completeness of wisdom or Perfect wisdom is considered is why they wrote many books on this topic to clear up the as Prajñāparamitā. It is named as Sūnyatā, tathathā, idea and usage of wisdom. Especially the Mahāyāna dharmadhātu, paramārthasatya, anutpāda and anirodha. By Buddhist scholars composed a series of wisdom books. all these words one of the doctrinal and philosophical This series can be named as the literature of sense is insisted. That is Sūnyatā or Nihillism. Prajnāpāramitā. The content of those literary works can be ĀchāryaDinnāga has defined Prajñāparamitā as follows. divided into two sections. “prajñāpāramitā jñānamadvayamsatathāgataḥ 1. Philosophical section sādhyātādarthyayogena 2. Ritual section tāchchabdamgranthamārgayoḥ” (prajñāpāramitā piṇḍārtha, 1 kārikā) In the philosophicalsection the teaching of emptiness can be seen. In ritual section the practical usage of wisdom The primary focus of some Mahāyāna schools is which is connected to the compassion can be seen. Bodhicitta, the vow to strive for the awakened mind of Nāgārjuna composed Mūlamādhyamikakārikātaking into Buddhahood for the benefit of both oneself and all other consideration of wisdom as described in sentient beings. As Ananda Kumaraswami notes, “The Prajñāpāramitāsūtras. In MahāyanaVaipulyasūtras two most essential part of the Mahayana is its emphasis on the main factors are explained. Bodhisattva ideal, which replaces the Arhatta, or ranks before it.” According to Mahāyāna teachings, being a 1. Buddha, Bodhisattva and Mahāsattva (Lalithavistara, high-level bodhisattva involves possessing a mind of great Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and so on) compassion conjoined with insight(prajñā) realizing the 2. Sūnyatā and Prajñā reality of emptiness and/or the Buddhanature of all beings. Mahāyāna teaches that the practitioner will realize In PrajñāparamitāsūtrasSūnyatā and Mahākaruṇā are Buddhahood, the final goal of full awakening: an described. AcāryaSāntideva used his compositions to omniscient, blissful mind completely free from suffering explain both Sūnyatā and Mahākaruṇā. The discussions of and its causes, with which one is able to work tirelessly for Buddha, Subhūti and Sāriputta in Prajñāpāramitāsūtras are the benefit of all living beings. very important to get clear cut understanding on the path to the perfect wisdom. Mostly they are composed as Many “philosophical” schools and Mahāyānasūtras have dialogues. focused on the nature of enlightenment and nirvana itself. The word Pāramita has got different meanings. Pāramita Prajñāpāramitā Literature means perfections. Prajñā is one of the perfections. In Mahāyāna tradition there are only six perceptions. They Emphasizing the importance of wisdom the ancient are as follows. scholars have composed many books using maximum 125000 granthas (grantha means 32 syllables) and 1. Dānapāramitā: generosity, giving of oneself minimum 01 grantha. 2. Śīlapāramitā: virtue, morality, discipline, proper conduct Volume 5 Issue 9, September 2017 www.ijser.in Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Paper ID: IJSER171833 70 of 75 International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Research (IJSER) ISSN (Online): 2347-3878 Index Copernicus Value (2015): 62.86 | Impact Factor (2015): 3.791 In Nepalese Mūlabruhatprajñāpāramitāsūtra there are Prajñāpāramitā. The latest list has prepared by 125000 granthas1. Śatasāhasrikāprajñāparamita has got Dharmadattachaturvedi. 37 100000 granthas. Pañcaviṁsatisāhasrikā was composed As listed there are 48 names of the Prajñāpāramitā works. with 25000 granthas. Daśasāhasrikā has got 10000 38 granthas. Aṣṭasāhasrikāwas composed with 8000 granthas. As explained in AṣṭasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā sutra the There are more than 50 Prajñāparamita sutras including spread for Prajñāpāramitā books was occurred in order in above given books. Vijayarājavajrācharya has given a list2 the world starting from South direction and then Eastern direction. Finally, North direction in the world. 39 Some of those books can be seen as Sanskrit, Tibetan and However, Nāgārjuna has explained the spread of this Chinese versions. literature has occurred first in Magadha region. After the Buddha's passing away It was spread in South region of 1. PañcaviṁsatiśatasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā (Nepalee) India. Then it has reached to Western direction. After five 2. ŚatasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā3 hundred years of the Buddhist era it has reached to 3. PañcaviṁsatisāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā4 Northern direction. 40 4. AṣṭasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā5 5. SvalpāksharīPrajñāpāramitā6 According to Dutt. Nthe Prajñāpāramitā is the most 6. Prajñāpāramitāhrudayasūtramvistrutam7 holyand the most valuable of all works. 41 7. Prajñāpāramitāhrudayasūtramsamkṣiptam8 8. KaushikaPrajñāpāramitā9 He has mentioned that the earliest Prajñāpāramitā work is 9. AdhyardhasatikaPrajñāpāramitā10 Daśasāhasrikā. It has written by Lokarakshā about 148 A. 10. VajracchedikāPrajñāpāramitā (trimsatika)11 D. The Sanskrit versionscannot be found. We have only 11. SārdhadvisāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā12 Chinese translation. Due to the non-reference of this work 12. SaptasahasrikāPrajñāpāramitā13 by Indian scholars It may have a non-Indian Origin. If we 13. AṣṭasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā14 depend on Tibetan tradition Aṣṭasāhasrikā is the earliest 14. Dasasāhasrikā15 one which was preached by Maitreya. However, 15. PañcaviṁsatiPrajñāpāramitā16 Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra which is written by Nāgārjuna 16. AṣṭasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā17 has followed Aṣṭasāhasrikā, daśasāhasrikā and 17 EkaviṁsatislokaPrajñāpāramitā18 Pañcaviṁsatikā, but he has not mentioned the source. 18. CaturdasaslokaPrajñāpāramitā19 Japanese scholars believe that Nagarjuna's work has 19. EkāksharīPrajñāpāramitā(letter —A˜)20 followed the Chinese Prajñāpāramitā called Ta-Min-Tu- 20. Prajñāpāramitanāmāstasatakam21 Ching. According to Nanjio's information this is a version 21. PrajñāpāramitaPindārtha22 of Aṣṭa or DaśasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā. 42Nepalese 22. DevarajapravaraPrajñāpāramita23 tradition refers that the earliest one was in verses. Then it 23. NāgasriPrajñāpāramita24 was elaborated as Aṣṭasāhasrikā and 24. Prajñāpāramitāmūlahrudayam25 daśasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā. When we consider the other 25. Prajñāpāramitasūtram26 literal works the early texts were in Verses. In the same 26. MahāPrajñāpāramitāŚāstram27 manner Prajñāpāramitā literature also started in verses. 27. MahāPrajñāpāramitasūtravibhāshā28 Therefore, we can accept the Nepalese concept. 28. AbhisamayālamkāronāmaPrajñāpāramitopadesaŚāstram29 Some scholars believe that theAṣṭasāhasrikāhas written by 29. Abhisamayālamkāro nāmaPrajñāpāramitā30 Nāgārjuna. Then he wrote himself a commentary named as 30. PrajñāpāramitāDhārani31 MahāPrajñāpāramitāśāstra(sūtrabhāsya). In the meantime 31. PrajñāpāramitāMantrā32 ĀryaMaitreyanātha wrote Prajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstra 32. PañcaśatikāPrajñāpāramitā33 including 8 chapters and 274 verses. It was further named as Abhisamayālankāra. It was the brief treatise of The number of Prajñāpāramitā compositions which is Aṣṭasāhasrikā and Pañcaviṁsati. Then Dinnāga wrote given by different scholars is different from each other. Prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārtha as a brief note on Aṣṭasāhasrikā. He wrote a tīkā including 58 verses. In the same way Edward Conze 4034 kambalapāda wrote a tīkā using 9 verses. Vassubandhu RyushoHikata 2735 (paddhati), ĀryaVimuktisena (vrutti), Hemarājasākya 4536 BhadantaVimuktisena(vārtika) and Haribhadra (āloka) also wrote commentaries on Aṣṭasāhasrikā. In Tohoku catalogue there are many more works related to Prajñāpāramitā literature. Perfect Wisdom in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Ekaksarimātā (T no 23), Sūryagarbha (T no 26), In this workVen. Subhuti explains Mahāprajñā with the Candragarbha (T 27), Samantabhadra (T 28), Vajrapāni (T power or influence of the Buddha. Here perfect 29), Vajraketu (T no 30) understanding of the theory of nihilism is considered as the final goal. Nanjio’s catalogue of the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka and the catalogue of Walleser’s Die Vollkommenheit der In the second chapter which is named as SakraParivarta it Erkenninis are important to find the Literature of is explained that the Lord of god and Other Devas and Volume 5 Issue 9, September 2017 www.ijser.in Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Paper
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