- 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