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The Conceptions of Seeing the Buddha and Buddha Embodiments in Early Prajñāpāramitā Literature

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The Conceptions of Seeing the Buddha and Buddha Embodiments in Early Prajñāpāramitā Literature The Conceptions of Seeing the Buddha and Buddha Embodiments in Early Prajñāpāramitā Literature Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München vorgelegt von Wen ZHAO 趙⽂ aus China 2018 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Martin Lehnert Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Hans van Ess Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Hartmann Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: 22. Februar 2018 ye māṃ rūpeṇa adrākṣur ye māṃ ghoṣeṇa anvayuḥ, mithyāprahāṇaprasṛtā na māṃ drakṣyanti te janāḥ. draṣṭavyo dharmato buddho dharmakāyas Tathāgataḥ, dharmatā cāpy avijñeyā na sā śakyaṃ vijānituṃ. ——— Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā [Gilgit] 諸以⾊觀我 以⾳聲尋我 彼⽣履邪斷 不能當⾒我 應觀佛法性 即導師法⾝ 法性⾮所識 故彼不能了 ——— ⼤般若波羅蜜多經第九能斷⾦剛分 ⽞奘 Contents Abbreviations and Conventions ..............................................................................................v Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1 1. Dharmatā and its synonyms ..............................................................................................17 1.1 The canonical passages concerning dharmatā and its synonyms ................................18 1.1.1 The dharmatā and the Nidāna Saṃyukta passages ...........................................18 1.1.2 Tathatā as a synonym of dharmatā representing pratītyasamutpāda .................20 1.2 The equation of Buddha with his teaching and the dharmatā formula ......................22 1.3. The dharmatā formula in Prajñāpāramitā literature ...................................................23 1.4 Associating Tathāgata with dharmatā and tathatā ......................................................27 1.4.1 The Tathāgata and the synonyms of dharmatā in the Sadāprarudita story ........27 1.4.2 Associating tathāgata with tathatā in the chapter “Showing the World” ..........29 1.5. The category of asamskṛtadharma and the terms concerning reality .........................31 1.5.1 The debate on categorizing dharmatā as asamskṛta in Abhidharma schools ....31 1.5.2 Identifying the synonyms of dharmatā with “reality” in Mahāyāna .................33 1.6 The original meaning of bhūtakoṭi and its occurrence as the synonym of dharmatā ..36 2 The cult of the Prajñāpāramitā text and rhetorical techniques .....................................45 2.1 Previous studies on the cult of text and the methodological issue ..............................45 2.2 The rhetorical strategies concerning the mother of Tathāgatas ...................................47 2.3 The equation of Prajñāpāramitā text and its preacher to Buddha ...............................53 2.4 Comparing the merit of Prajñāpāramitā with the relics and stūpas ............................56 2.5 The protective function of Prajñāpāramitā text ..........................................................57 2.5.1 The Prajñāpāramitā text protected by the Buddhas ..........................................57 2.5.2 The Prajñāpāramitā text serving as incantation ................................................59 3. The Samādhi of direct encounter with the present Buddhas and the Sadāprarudita story ....................................................................................................................................65 3.1 Previous studies on the Sadāprarudita story ...............................................................65 3.2 Pratyutpanna-Samādhi Sūtra and its relationship to Prajñāpāramitā literature ..........67 3.3 Some similarities between Sadāprarudita story and Pratyutpanna-Samādhi Sūtra ....69 3.4 The practice and metaphor ..........................................................................................84 4 The ideal buddha-field and the soteriological function of seeing the Buddha ..............89 4.1 The ideal buddha-field in the early Prajñāpāramitā literature .....................................90 4.1.1 The records of the buddha-field Akṣobhya in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā ...90 4.1.2 The city Gandhavatī as a “semi-buddha-field” in the Sadāprarudita story .......99 4.1.3 The ideal buddha-field and bodhisattva vow in the Larger Prajñāpāramitā ...104 4.2 The soteriological function of recollecting or seeing the Buddha ............................107 4.2.1 Recollecting Buddha for rebirth in other buddha-fields .................................110 4.2.2 Arriving in other buddha-fields and the bodhisattva path ...............................111 4.2.3 Directly seeing buddha of other buddha-fields ..............................................114 4.2.4 The classification of seeing the Buddha in other sources ...............................117 5. From dharmatā to dharmakāya .....................................................................................120 5.1 Overview of previous studies on the dharma-body in Prajñāpāramitā literature ......120 5.2 Dharmakāya paralleling dharmatā in different versions of Larger Prajñāpāramitā ..121 5.3 One passage including fa-shen in Mokṣala’s translation ..........................................125 (iii 5.4 Dharma or dharmat! as the origin of dharmak!ya ...................................................126 5.4.1 From dharma / dharmat! to dharmak!ya in the context of seeing Buddha ...128 5.4.2 The multiple meanings of k!ya and the occurrence of dharmak!ya ...............130 5.5 The further development of dharmak!ya as the omnipresent body of the Buddha ..133 5.5.1 The omnipresent dharmak!ya in early Chinese translations ...........................135 5.5.2 The omnipresent dharmak!ya reflected in the Sam!dhir!jas%tra ...................136 5.6 dharmadh!tu and dharmak!ya ..................................................................................138 5.6.1 *dharmadh!tuja-k!ya in the Da Zhi-du Lun ...................................................138 5.6.2 *dharmadh!tuja-k!ya and its relationship with the Ga)*avy%ha-s%tra .........142 5.6.3 Dharmadh!tu as a word play in the Ga)*avy%ha-s%tra ..................................146 5.6.4 The equation of dharmadh!tu with the Buddha in the Sapta+atik! Prajñ!p!ramit! .........................................................................................................151 6. The pair-model of the Buddha’s embodiments associated with buddhānusmṛti .......157 6.1 The interpolation of pair-model of Buddha bodies into the Larger Prajñ!p!ramit! .157 6.2 The two Buddha bodies and buddh!nusm$ti in Sarv!stiv!da Abhidharma ..............159 6.2.1 Terms for the two Buddha bodies in Sarv!stiv!da Abhidharma .....................159 6.2.2 Buddh!nusm$ti and the two bodies of the Buddha .........................................163 6.3 The two bodies in the buddh!nusm$ti passage of meditation manuals .....................166 6.3.1 The pair-model as two steps of the practice of buddh!nusm$ti in Das Yogalehrbuch ...........................................................................................................167 6.3.2 Perceiving the Buddha image before meditation ...........................................172 6.4 Two bodies of the Buddha and buddh!nusm$ti in the Sam!dhir!ja-s%tra .................173 7. Buddhānusmṛti in the Larger Prajñāpāramitā ............................................................179 7.1 Buddh!nusm$ti and relevant terms in canonical texts ..............................................179 7.1.1 Recalling the scenes of the Buddha’s life in the Mah!parinirv!)a S%tra .......179 7.1.2 The ten epithets of the Buddha in Mah!n!masuttanta ....................................180 7.1.3 Concepts relevant to buddh!nusm$ti ...............................................................181 7.1.4 Interpretations of the three jewels in canonical texts and early treatises ........185 7.2 The interpretation of calling the Buddha to mind in the Larger Prajñ!p!ramit! ......189 8. The vajra-like body ..........................................................................................................197 8.1 Larger Prajñ!p!ramit! passage on destroying the vajra-like body ...........................197 8.2 Reconsidering the earliest record that refers to a “vajra-like body” .........................199 8.3 The vajra-like body and the enlightenment of the Buddha .......................................204 8.4 The vajra-like body and the parinirv!)a of the Buddha ...........................................208 8.5 The two kinds of vajra-like sam!dhi in the Larger Prajñ!p!ramit! .........................210 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................217 Glossary ................................................................................................................................222 Bibliography .........................................................................................................................225 Summary in German ...........................................................................................................244 (iv Abbreviation ADP = Aṣṭadaśasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (18000 stanzas) AKBh = Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya (Pradan 1967) AN = Anguttara Nikāya (tr. Woodward 1932) AP = Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (8000 stanzas) APDh = T 226 摩訶般若鈔經 (Mo-he-ban-re Chao Jing) APG = Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā from Gāndhāra (Falk & Karashima 2012) APK = Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā from the Kuṣāṇa period (Sander 2000) APKj = T 227 ⼩品般若波羅蜜經 (Xiao-pin Ban-re-bo-luo-mi Jing) APL = T 224 道⾏般若經 (Dao-xing Ban-re Jing) APN = Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā from Nepal (Mitra
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