The Skill in MeansMotilal Banarsidass Publ., 1994 - 128 pages This rare sutra, ancient but timely, has long been treated with circumspection because of its liberal attitude toward sexuality and other ethical concerns. One of the original statements of the early Mahayana School, it is here collated from Chinese and Tibetan translations, and from passages that remain in the original Sanskrit. Originally part of a larger sutra on the six perfections that included the well-known perfection of Wisdom sutra, the Skill in Means sutra explicates the other five perfections of the bodhisattva. The translator has traced its source to verses of the Ratnagunasamcaya-gatha that have no counterpart in the Perfection of Wisdom. The Skill in Means is also found as part of the Ratnakuta collection of sutras, under the title The Question of Jnanottara`.In Part One, this Sutra establishes the liberal, even anti-monastic observance of Bodhisattva ethics, especially in matters of sexual involvement, introducing `skill in means` into the fabirc of Buddhist ethical life. Parts Two and Three constitute a reinterpretation of the life of the Buddha, demonstrating his motivation by `skill in means`; this is a primary source for the Buddhology of the Mahayana.The older and newer versions are translated side by side; extant Sanskrit passages are included. An introduction places the text in historical and literary prospective. There are copious notes, indexes and a bibliography. |
Table des matières
| 1 | |
The Skill in Means of Boddhisattvas | 23 |
PART | 51 |
PART THREE | 71 |
The Ten Karmic Connections 71 | 91 |
Bibliography and Abbreviations | 113 |
Index of Proper Names | 123 |
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Expressions et termes fréquents
alms Ananda Apadāna auditors and independent Bareau birth Bodhisattva great hero Bodhisattva King Bodhisattva takes Bodhisattva's skill brahman youth Jyotipāla bring sentient Buddhahood Buddhist caused by past Conze desire-attachment Devadatta dharma divine doctrine Edited eons ethics five hundred Foucher full awakening fully perfected Buddha giving gnosis gods hell hero Jñānottara hundred-thousand ibid Jātaka karma karmic connections Kasyapa Lamotte Lotus Mahāyāna sūtras Māra master Ananda maturity Māyā monastic monks Mpps nāga Nanamoli nirvāṇa obstacle caused Pali past deeds perfected Buddha Kāśyapa perfection of wisdom Priyamkara Ratnakūta rebirth reborn right and full Śākya Śākyamuni Sbhv Senart sentient shaven head skill in means śramana store of merit sutra Tathāgata Tatz teaching thorn of acacia thought of omniscience thought of supreme thousand Thus-Come Thus-Come-One Thus-Come-One's skill Tibetan transgression translation Tusita Upaya Venerable Lord versions vinaya wholesome womb Worthy yakṣas
Fréquemment cités
Page 13 - Bodhisattva to stop short of realizing the "reality-limit." This is something that the Disciples (sravakas) and Pratyekabuddhas do not do. For it is this skill in means which protects him. His thought of enlightenment consists in just that fact that he does not want to leave all beings behind. When he is thus endowed with the thought of enlightenment and with the desire for enlightenment and with skill in means, then he does not midway realize the reality-limit.™ And, "upheld by skill in means...
Page 74 - If I were to report this to the merchants, they would kill and slay him with angry thoughts and all go to the great hells themselves.' "And he thought, 'If I were to kill this person, I would likewise burn in the great hells for one hundred-thousand eons because of it. Yet I can bear to experience the pain of the great hells, that this person not slay these five hundred merchants and develop so much evil karma. I will kill this person myself.147 135.
Page 13 - ... does not derive his name from the fact that he has acquired this physical personality, but from the fact that he has acquired all-knowledge. And this all-knowledge of the Tathagata has come forth from the perfection of wisdom. The physical personality of the Tathagata, on the other hand, is the result of the skill in means of the perfection of wisdom.
Page 74 - There is no means to prevent this man from slaying the merchants and going to the great hells but to kill him.' "And he thought, 'If I were to report this to the merchants, they would kill and slay him with angry thoughts and all go to the great hells themselves.
Page 5 - Chapter 1. The practice of the knowledge of all modes. 1. INTRODUCTION. Thus have I heard at one time. The Lord dwelt at Rajagriha, on the Vulture Peak, together with a great gathering of monks, with 1,250 monks, all of them Arhats,— their outflows dried up...
Page 23 - The Convocation of the Assembly 1. Thus have I heard at one time. The Lord dwelt at Sravasti, in the Jeta Grove, in the garden of Anathapindika, together with a large gathering of monks, consisting of 1,250 monks, and with many Bodhisattvas, great beings. Early in the morning the Lord dressed, put on his cloak, took his bowl, and entered the great city of Sravasti to collect alms.
Page 98 - great being' in the sense that he will demonstrate dharma so that the great errors should be forsaken, —such erroneous views as the assumption of a self, a being, a living soul, a person, of becoming, of not-becoming, of annihilation, of eternity,, of individuality, etc. Subhuti : It is clear also to me in what sense a Bodhisattva is called a 'great being'.
Page 113 - The Superhuman Personality of Buddha and its Symbolism in the Mahäparinirvänasütra of the Dharmaguptaka.
Page 114 - Buddhaghosa. Visuddhimagga. Edited by Henry Clarke Warren, revised by Dharmananda Kosambi. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950.
Page 19 - Asia's analysis of the Bodhisattva's career is the presupposition that the best person to save others is a perfected being, a fully enlightened Bodhisattva.