Plants in Early Buddhism and the Far Eastern Idea of the Buddha-Nature of Grasses and Trees

Plants in Early Buddhism and the Far Eastern Idea of the Buddha-Nature of Grasses and Trees

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The present study has grown out of a lecture held in the winter term 2003-04, in which my aim was to present my view on the problem of the sentience of plants in early Buddhism to the participants of a series of lectures or various aspects of Buddhism, past and present, which were arranged by the Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies of the University of Hamburg over about a decade. (Source: Biblia Impex)

Citation	Schmithausen, Lambert. Plants in Early Buddhism and the Far Eastern Idea of the Buddha-Nature of Grasses and Trees. Lumbini, Nepal: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2009. https://archive.org/details/earlyplantsinearlybuddhismfareasternideaofbuddhanatureofgrassestreeslambertschmithausensentinan_218_v/mode/2up.

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• Preface9
• Technical Remarks17
  
  
• Pt. I: Reconsidering the Status of Plants in Early Buddhism19
• 1. Plants as a Borderline Case between Sentient and Insentient19
• 2. Alternative Proposals30
• 3. Plants as Living Beings with One Sense-Faculty in the Vinaya36
  • Philological Excursus on the phrase 'jīvasaññino manussā rukkhasmiṁ' (§ 16)42
• 4. Plants as Insentient Living Beings (Fujimoto)48
• 5. Additional Arguments for the Sentience of Plants Revisited58
  • 5.1. Findly's Arguments58
  • 5.1.1. Additional Passages Referring to Plants as Sentient Beings59
  • 5.1.2. Additional Arguments for Plants Possessing the Sense of Touch65
  • 5.1.3. Arguments for Plants as Complex Sentient Beings69
  • 5.2. Okada's Arguments for Plants as Sentient Beings76
  • 5.2.1 Tree Deities and Numinous Trees77
  • 5.2.2. Plants Reacting to Extraordinary Events84
  • 5.3 Résumé89
• 6. Plants as Saintly Beings?89
  • 6.1 Discussion of Findly's Arguments90
  • 6.2. Systematic difficulties94
• 7. Résumé98
  
  
• Pt. II: The Problem of the Relationship between the Idea of the Buddha-Nature
      of Grasses and Trees and Early Buddhism101
• Pt. II.A: The Question of Textual Continuity103
  • Excursus: Remarks on 'Buddha-nature' (§ 53)106
• 1. General Passages122
  • 1.1 Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra: Maitreya's Palace123
  • 1.2. Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā124
  • 1.3. Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (1): *Ayuṣparivarta129
  • 1.4. Viṁśatikā Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi136
  • 1.5. Buddhāvataṁsaka (1): Cittamātra Passages140
  • 1.5.1. Daśabhūmika-sūtra VI141
  • 1.5.2. 'Verses Recited in the Palace of Suyāma'148
  • 1.5.3. The 'Chapter on Religious Practice'160
  • 1.6. Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa161
  • 1.7. Buddhāvataṁsaka (2): 'Eulogies on Mount Sumeru'163
  • 1.8. Saddharmapuṇḍarīka: Oṣadhiparivarta167
  • 1.9. Résumé168
• 2. Specific passages169
  • 2.1. Dharmadhātu-prakṛty-asaṁbheda-nirdeśa170
  • 2.2. Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (2): 'Chapter on Religious Practice'176
  • 2.3. 'Amitābha-sūtra' 185
  • 2.4. Buddhāvataṁsaka (3): Samantabhadracaryā-nirdeśa189
  • 2.4.1. First Explanation197
  • 2.4.2. Second Explanation201
  • 2.4.3. Third Explanation224
  • 2.4.4. Conclusions Regarding the Buddhāvataṁsaka226
  • 2.5. Résumé238

• Pt. II.B: An Attempt at a Structural Comparison241
• 1. Facets of the Far Eastern Idea of the 'Buddha-Nature of Grasses and Trees'
     and their Indian Background247
  • 1.1. Buddha-Nature as the Essential Nature of Plants249
  • 1.2. The Buddha-Nature of Plants as Experienced by Awakened Beings275
  • 1.3. The Omnipresence of Vairocana280
  • 1.4. Plants Miraculously Transformed into Buddhas290
  • 1.5. Plants Becoming Buddhas292
• 2. New Aspects of the Buddha-Nature and Sentience of Plants in Japanese
     Buddhism294
• 3. The Question of Practical Consequences308
• 4. Résumé322
• Conclusion327
• Abbreviations329
• References341
• Index367