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Buddhist scriptures can divided into two main categories: those which are said to be the word of the Buddha and those which were composed by the great masters to explain the doctrine. The Buddha is said to have given as sermons a core group of buddha-nature scriptures, collectively known as the tathāgatagarbha sūtras. | Buddhist scriptures can divided into two main categories: those which are said to be the word of the Buddha and those which were composed by the great masters to explain the doctrine. The Buddha is said to have given as sermons a core group of buddha-nature scriptures, collectively known as the tathāgatagarbha sūtras. | ||
Following the appearance of these discourses, which lay out the basic parameters of buddha-nature theory, Indian scholars began to produce treatises that systematized the received teachings. The earliest and most influential Indian commentary on buddha-nature is the Ratnagotravibhāga. It became the main scriptural source for buddha-nature theory in Tibet. Who wrote this important text is not known. According to Chinese tradition the author was a man named Sāramati, a member of the kṣatriya clan from Central or Northern India. A northern Indian named Ratnamati is said to have come to China from Madhyadeśa between 498 and 508 and translated the Ratnagotravibhāga between 511 and around 520 in Luoyang. He may or may not have brought the manuscript with him, and may have been assisted by Bodhiruci. The later Indian and Central Asian traditions, however, holds that it was written by Maitreya—either a man by that name or the bodhisattva. In the Tibetan tradition it is believed that the Bodhisattva Maitreya revealed the root verses of the treatise to the fourth-century founder of Yogācāra, Ārya Asaṅga, who then composed the prose commentary. It was translated into Tibetan by six different teams, including Atiśa Dīpaṃkara by Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab, who worked with his Indian teacher Sajjana. Many of the greatest Tibetan philosophers have written commentaries, including Ngok Lotsāwa, Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen, the Third Karmapa, Dolpopa, Gyeltse Tokme, Gyeltsabje, Bodong Paṇchen, Go Lotsāwa, Śākya Chokden, Tāranātha, Jamgon Kongtrul, and Mipam, to name only a few masters from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. | Following the appearance of these discourses, which lay out the basic parameters of buddha-nature theory, Indian scholars began to produce treatises that systematized the received teachings. The earliest and most influential Indian commentary on buddha-nature is the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''. It became the main scriptural source for buddha-nature theory in Tibet. Who wrote this important text is not known. According to Chinese tradition the author was a man named Sāramati, a member of the kṣatriya clan from Central or Northern India. A northern Indian named Ratnamati is said to have come to China from Madhyadeśa between 498 and 508 and translated the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' between 511 and around 520 in Luoyang. He may or may not have brought the manuscript with him, and may have been assisted by Bodhiruci. The later Indian and Central Asian traditions, however, holds that it was written by Maitreya—either a man by that name or the bodhisattva. In the Tibetan tradition it is believed that the Bodhisattva Maitreya revealed the root verses of the treatise to the fourth-century founder of Yogācāra, Ārya Asaṅga, who then composed the prose commentary. It was translated into Tibetan by six different teams, including Atiśa Dīpaṃkara by Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab, who worked with his Indian teacher Sajjana. Many of the greatest Tibetan philosophers have written commentaries, including Ngok Lotsāwa, Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen, the Third Karmapa, Dolpopa, Gyeltse Tokme, Gyeltsabje, Bodong Paṇchen, Go Lotsāwa, Śākya Chokden, Tāranātha, Jamgon Kongtrul, and Mipam, to name only a few masters from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. | ||
Buddha-nature in East Asian Buddhism is largely based on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna, another treatise whose author is not easily identified. The second-century Indian poet Aśvagoṣa is considered by Chinese tradition to have been the author, but most scholars consider that unlikely. The sixth-century Indian monk Paramārtha is credited with its translation, and he may well have been its author, in China, together with a team of Chinese scribes. The first commentary appeared in 580, written by the monk Tanyan and was followed over the centuries by more than one hundred seventy written in China, Japan, and Korea, by some of the great religious leaders of East Asian Buddhism. These included Jingying Huiyuan of the Chinese Southern Dilun School, the Chinese Chan patriarch Shenxiu, the great Korean monk Wǒnhyo, the Chinese Huayan founder Fazang, and the Japanese founder of the Shingon School, Kukai. | Buddha-nature in East Asian Buddhism is largely based on the ''Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna'', another treatise whose author is not easily identified. The second-century Indian poet Aśvagoṣa is considered by Chinese tradition to have been the author, but most scholars consider that unlikely. The sixth-century Indian monk Paramārtha is credited with its translation, and he may well have been its author, in China, together with a team of Chinese scribes. The first commentary appeared in 580, written by the monk Tanyan and was followed over the centuries by more than one hundred seventy written in China, Japan, and Korea, by some of the great religious leaders of East Asian Buddhism. These included Jingying Huiyuan of the Chinese Southern Dilun School, the Chinese Chan patriarch Shenxiu, the great Korean monk Wǒnhyo, the Chinese Huayan founder Fazang, and the Japanese founder of the Shingon School, Kukai. | ||
The Japanese scholar D.T. Suzuki first translated the Awakening of Faith into English, in 1900. Some of the most influential early-Twentieth Century American converts used it in their promotion of Buddhism, most notably Paul Carus, the author of The Gospel of the Buddha, and Dwight Goddard, the author of The Buddhist Bible. Columbia University professor Yoshito S. Hakeda published a reliable translation in 1967. The Russian Buddhologist Eugène Obermiller first translated Ratnagotravibhāga into English, in 1931. Japanese scholar Takasaki Jikidō published a second English translation in 1966. | The Japanese scholar D.T. Suzuki first translated the ''Awakening of Faith'' into English, in 1900. Some of the most influential early-Twentieth Century American converts used it in their promotion of Buddhism, most notably Paul Carus, the author of ''The Gospel of the Buddha'', and Dwight Goddard, the author of ''The Buddhist Bible''. Columbia University professor Yoshito S. Hakeda published a reliable translation in 1967. The Russian Buddhologist Eugène Obermiller first translated Ratnagotravibhāga into English, in 1931. Japanese scholar Takasaki Jikidō published a second English translation in 1966. | ||
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