Books/The Nonduality of Nonconceptual Wisdom and Conceptual Cognition: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Teaching in the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa-parivarta

The Nonduality of Nonconceptual Wisdom and Conceptual Cognition: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Teaching in the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa-parivarta

Translation of The Discourse on Neither Increase nor Decrease

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Abstract

Although the doctrine of tathāgatagarbha can be traced to the teaching of an innately pure luminous mind (prakṛtiś cittasya prabhāsvarā) in early Buddhist teachings, the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa-parivarta (AAN) is often considered one of the earliest Buddhist scriptures that explicitly expound the teachings of the tathāgatagarbha.
      The central message of the AAN focuses upon the non-increase and non-decrease nature of the dharmadhātu. This brings out the idea of the dharmadhātu as a totality which transcends all dualistic notions. Translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci in 525 CE, the AAN is now extant only in Chinese translation (Taishō no. 668). Unfortunately, no serious studies have ever been conducted on this sūtra in Western scholarship. The precise relationship between the tathāgatagarbha and the two Mahāyāna traditions, Madhyamaka and Yogācāra, is also worth investigating in detail. The thesis will argue that the tathāgatagarbha is not a separate school in Indian Buddhism. It will then study the historical issues relating to the AAN, followed by a philosophical investigation of its teachings. The thesis will also undertake an "external" consideration of the doctrinal relationship between the AAN and a number of sūtras and śāstras. It will also incorporate a study of Bodhiruci (菩提流支), of the Northern Wei (北魏) dynasty, who translated the AAN into Chinese, as well as the first complete English translation of the AAN from its extant Chinese version.
      This study may provide an alternative view on the tathāgatagarbha theory. The thesis will argue that the tathāgatagarbha is referring to be an aspect of all experiences. This means that all beings are by nature having a dimension of the mind not fully realized, and it is yogic meditative practices that enable the practitioners to develop an awareness of the enlightenment which is always implicit in our consciousness.

Citation	Shiu, Henry. "The Nonduality of Nonconceptual Wisdom and Conceptual Cognition: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Teaching in the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa-parivarta." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2005.

ContentsSources

• Acknowledgementsi
• Abbreviationsvi
  
  

• Introduction1

PART ONE: The Tathāgatagarbha in Relation to Other Mahāyāna Teachings

• Chapter One: The Nature of the Tathāgatagarbha14
• Chapter Two: Tathāgatagarbha and the Two Mahāyāna Traditions47
  
  

PART TWO: An Analysis of the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa-parivarta (AAN)

• Chapter Three: The Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa-parivarta70
• Chapter Four: The Main Themes and a Structural Analysis of the AAN88
• Chapter Five: The Notion of "No Increase and No Decrease" in Mahāyāna Scriptures122
  
  

PART THREE: The AAN and Other Tathāgatagarbha Sūtras

• Chapter Six: The AAN and the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra142
• Chapter Seven: The AAN and the Śrīmālāsiṃhanādasūtra153
• Chapter Eight: The AAN and the Aṅgulimālyasūtra161
• Chapter Nine: The AAN and the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra168
• Chapter Ten: Other Sūtras on the Tathāgatagarbha Teaching176
• Chapter Eleven: The Problems of Dating the Sūtras180
  
  

PART FOUR: The AAN and Other Tathāgatagarbha Treatises

• Chapter Twelve: The AAN and the Ratnagotravibhāga185
• Chapter Thirteen: The AAN and the Dasheng fajie wuchabie lun202
• Chapter Fourteen: The AAN and the Dasheng qixin lun209
• Chapter Fifteen: The AAN and the Foxing lun239
• Conclusion255

APPENDICES:

• Appendix I: English translation of the Foshuo buzeng bujian jing264
• Appendix II: Bodhiruci, the Translator of the AAN282
• Bibliography306

佛說不增不減經 (Fó shuō bù zēng bù jiǎn jīng), T668, 16: https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT2012/T0668.html, translated by Bodhiruci

tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

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Taishō - Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō, Chinese Tripiṭaka

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sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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An important sūtra source for the Ratnagotravibhāga, particularly for its discussion of the nine examples that illustrate how all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.

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"This sūtra became an important scriptural source for the discussion of buddha-nature in China and is famous for associating the term buddhadhātu with tathāgatagarbha.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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