Aṅgulimālīyasūtra
The Mahāyāna version of this sūtra, like the earlier Pali sutta of the same name, recounts a sorted tale of jealousy and revenge that spirals out of control, in which a once promising disciple is set on the path to become a vicious murderer in search of a thousand victims in order to create a garland strung with their severed fingers. That is, of course, until he encounters the final victim needed to complete his task, the Buddha. (You can read the story here). The Mahāyāna version is routinely included among the lists of so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras, the reason likely being the extensive discussion the protagonist has with Mañjuśrī on the proper view of emptiness. The position presented in the text has been taken by some to be an early precursor to the view of other-emptiness.
Relevance to Buddha-nature
This text is included among the class of tathāgatagarbha sūtras and features several important concepts related to buddha-nature, such as the singe vehicle and a universal element possessed by sentient beings that is equated with the ultimately pure nature of the mind. It also includes some proto-Zhentong explanations of emptiness as an absence of the extraneous, rather than an inherent quality of nothing-ness.
Access this text online
Scholarly notes
- the Yangjuemoluo jing (央掘魔羅經; T. 120), translated by Guṇabhadra; and
- the Sor mo’i phreng ba la phan pa (D 213/Q 879), translated by Śākyaprabha, Dharmatāśīla, and Tong Ācārya (9th cent.).
The main studies on this text are by Takasaki Jikidō (1974, 191–233), Ogawa Ichijō (1999; 2001, 7–15), Kanō Kazuo (2006), Suzuki Takayasu (1999a; 1999b; 2000), and L. Schmithausen (2003). Suzuki Takayasu notes that the Aṅgulimālīyasūtra, like the *Mahābherīhārakasūtra, refers to its preachers as *hitopadeṣṭṛ (teachers for the benefit [of others]).
Like the Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra, the Aṅgulimālīyasūtra reworks a scenario from mainstream canonical scripture – this time, the conversion of the bandit and murderer Aṅgulimāl(īy)a (see Theragāthā vv. 866–891; Majjhimanikāya, 86). The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra thus betrays a concern with the power of the dharma to save even hopeless sinners, also seen in the Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra (the portions found in the Dharmakṣema translation) on the salvation of Ajātaśatru (famed for killing his father, Bimbisāra, in order to usurp his throne), the Mahāmeghasūtra’s docetic reinterpretation of Devadatta, and icchantika doctrine.
Aṅgulimālīya is originally a Brahman youth named *Sarvalokapriyadarśana, connecting him to the central protagonist of the Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra group. He is accused by the wife of his teacher of sexually molesting her, and the teacher convinces Aṅgulimālīya to expiate his guilt by killing a thousand people and making a trophy garland of their severed fingers (the source of his grisly soubriquet – Aṅgulimālīya [“Finger Garland”]). Having killed 999 people, Aṅgulimālīya prepares to kill his mother. The Buddha intervenes, and Aṅgulimālīya wants to kill him, too. Instead, the Buddha manages to convert him. Various deities and advanced disciples express their admiration at the conversion, and Aṅgulimālīya defeats each in battles of Buddhist wit (often versified) and mastery of the dharma. Aṅgulimālīya takes precepts and is ordained by the Buddha. When Prasenajit comes to arrest Aṅgulimālīya, the Buddha declares that he has already become a tathāgata in a distant Buddha world, and that the teacher, the teacher’s wife, Aṅgulimālīya’s mother, and Aṅgulimālīya’s murders were all merely expedient phantoms to teach sentient beings.
The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra is elaborately concerned with the Buddha’s body (or, more accurately, the various special bodies that buddhas have or appear to have). The Buddha dwells “at the limit of the unproduced” (zhu wusheng ji [住無生際]; T. 120 [II] 533b6) in this ordinary world of ours (the Sahāloka), without really entering parinirvāṇa, and simultaneously also dwells in other buddha worlds. This is possible because he “is born in an unborn body” (or “arises in an unproduced body”; sheng busheng shen [生不生身]; 533b15–16). All the tathāgatas in all quarters of the cosmos are in fact doppelgängers of Śākyamuni. The Buddha also has other types of extraordinary body (or his body is described using other extraordinary epithets): he is “born in a reality-limit body” (sheng shiji shen [生實際身]; 533b7–9), and he dwells in a “limitless body” (or “countless bodies”; shenwubian [身無邊]; c1). This body is the dharmakāya – unconditioned; free of old age, sickness, death, and defilements; permanent and quiescent; and so on. The Buddha has attained this body, paradoxically, by giving up his (physical) body in countless incarnations. This lengthy exposition is linked in part to the prophecy complex common to the Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra group. The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra emphasizes the hardship to be endured by promulgators of tathāgatagarbha doctrine during the end-times; bodhisattvas have to be prepared to give up their bodies and their lives. Presumably, they too are promised the reward of the dharmakāya in exchange for such sacrifice.
The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra emphasizes strenuous practice and incorporates long discussion to ward off interpretations of tathāgatagarbha doctrine leading to moral lassitude or even antinomianism. The text also contains an amusing story relating to naked tīrthaka ascetics, clearly satirizing Digambara Jaina practice. This story is juxtaposed with the ban on meat eating and with the use of “pure” (presumably strained) water for cooking, to avoid harming tiny bugs. This may suggest that these practices were instituted to “keep up with the Jainas” (Nattier, 1991, 21).
The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra shares with the Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra group tathāgatagarbha/buddha nature preached as explicitly connected with *ātman (*ātmadhātu [wojie (我界)]) and concealed by defilements, the eternity of the Tathāgata, the secret teachings, the promotion of faith (xin [信]) toward the teaching of tathāgatagarbha, and concern with the worst sinners, including the icchantika.
Text Metadata
| Other Titles | ~ ārya-aṅgulimālīya-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra |
|---|---|
| Text exists in | ~ Tibetan ~ Sanskrit ~ Pali ~ Chinese |
| Canonical Genre | ~ Kangyur · Sūtra · mdo sde · Sūtranta |
| Literary Genre | ~ Sūtras - mdo |
This Text on Adarsha - If it doesn't load here, refresh your browser.
The wikipage input value is empty (e.g. <code>, [[]]</code>) and therefore it cannot be used as a name or as part of a query condition.
