Thanks to several previous studies, the
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (
MPNS) has been proved to shift its central thought from the
buddhakāya idea to the
tathāgatagarbha/buddhadhātu idea. The present author has shown in another paper (Suzuki [1999]) that the movement between the
buddhakāya idea and the
tathāgatagarbha/buddhadhātu idea appears in the larger context including the
MPNS, and has extracted this context from the various Mahāyāna
sūtras under the name of the
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra-Group (
MPNS-G), which consists of the
Mahāmeghasūtra (
MMS), the
MPNS, the
Aṅgulimālīyasūtra (
AMS) and the
Mahābherisūtra (
MBhS). While the
AMS is a direct successor of the
MPNS, the
MBhS succeeds the
MPNS critically and shifts back its central thought from the
tathāgatagarbha/buddhadhātu idea to the
buddhakāya idea again.
The
MPNS-G declares or suggests the non-emptiness of the
tathāgata. This is reinterpretation of the
pratītyasamutpāda and the
śūnyatā idea, and follows the rule of the historical Buddhist hermeneutics. It is especially worthwhile to note that the
MBhS, like the
Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra in the
Vijñāptimātra idea, devaluates the
śūnyatā idea as imperfect. This quite negative attitude toward the
śūnyatā idea does not appear in any other Indian texts on the
tathāgatagarbha idea including the
MPNS and the
AMS. Aiming at establishing the theory that every sentient being is able to perform religious efforts and become
buddha on account of the nonemptiness and the eternalness of the
tathāgata, the
MBhS must reject any
sūtra concerning the śūnyatā idea as imperfect. Though the
MPNS is a pioneer in reinterpretation of the the
śúnyatā idea, the
MPNS cannot devaluate it perfectly because the
śūnyatā idea is one of the main backgrounds to the
MPNS. The
MBhS's decisive attitude toward the
śūnyatā idea devaluation becomes possible by having the
MPNS as its basis. (Source:
UTokyo Repository)