Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta
(Created page with "{{Text |PopupSummary=A source for the ''Uttaratantra'''s expositions of the fourth and sixth vajra topics, i.e. the element and qualities. |FullTextRead=No |PagesScholarship=B...") |
|||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Text | {{Text | ||
− | |||
|FullTextRead=No | |FullTextRead=No | ||
|PagesScholarship=Buddhist Cosmic Unity | |PagesScholarship=Buddhist Cosmic Unity | ||
}} | }} |
Revision as of 11:15, 4 July 2018
One of the sūtra sources cited in the Ratnagotravibhāga, especially in relation to the fourth and sixth of the seven vajra topics discussed therein—namely, the teachings on the element, which in this case is a synonym for buddha-nature, and the teachings on the qualities. Though much of it is quoted in the Ratnagotravibhāga, the full text is only extant in a single Chinese translation.
Relevance to Buddha-nature
Almost one third of this short sūtra is quoted in Asaṅga's commentary to the Ratnagotravibhāga, where it is used as a source for the exposition of the fourth vajrapada, the element (dhātu or khams), as well as the sixth vajrapada, the qualities (guṇa or yon tan), which are crucial aspects of the treatise's presentation of buddha-nature.
Access this text online
Scholarly notes
The Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta may be divided into two main parts, with the second, the main body of the text, giving the impression of being quite shastric – doctrinally complex and even somewhat abstruse. The first part of the text discusses a range of “false views” (dṛṣṭi), which are, however, difficult to identify or interpret with precision. These false views are, in various ways, said to prevent insight into the correct nature of truth and reality, the topic of the second part.
In accordance with the title of the text, the main burden of the correct view presented in the second part is that there is “neither decrease nor increase” in the “realm (or domain, or element) of (sentient) beings” (sattvadhātu; T. 668 [XVI] 467a2–7), which means that the overall number of sentient beings does not increase or decrease, despite all the vicissitudes of transmigration, and despite the fact that some beings may attain liberation or buddhahood. This is because there is in fact only one realm or element (*ekadhātu), which is identical in both the deluded realm of ordinary sentient beings in saṃsāra and in the liberated state of the buddhas. This leads to a series of other equivalences: sattvadhātu is paramārtha (ultimate truth); sattvadhātu is tathāgatagarbha; tathāgatagarbha is dharmakāya (the transcendent body); sattvadhātu is dharmakāya. This bivalent single essence that runs through all things and states of being, both suffering and liberated, is also aligned with the notion of the “originally pure mind” (*prakṛtipariśuddhacitta, *prakṛtiprabhāsvara). It is also said to be precisely the dharmakāya that, “carried by the flood of saṃsāra,” comes and goes through the rounds of birth and death; the feature that distinguishes this state of the dharmakāya from its fully realized state in the buddhas is that it is “hidden within a sheath of countless defilements.”
(Source: Radich, Michael. "Tathāgatagarbha Scriptures." In Vol. 1, Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism: Literature and Languages, edited by Jonathan A. Silk, Oskar von Hinüber, and Vincent Eltschinger, 262. Leiden: Brill, 2015.)
Text Metadata
Text exists in | ~ Chinese |
---|
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.