Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies)

To enter the Mahayana Buddhist path to enlightenment is to seek both to become free from our dualistic, deluded world and to remain actively engaged in that world until all others are free. How are these two apparently contradictory qualities to be embodied in the attainment of buddhahood (dharmakaya)? How can one's present practice accomplish that? These questions underlie a millennium-old controversy over buddhahood in India and Tibet that centers around a cherished text, the Abhisamayalamkara. Makransky shows how the Abhisamayalamkara's composite redaction, from Abhidharma, Prajnaparamita, and Yogacara traditions, permitted its interpreters to perceive different aspects of those traditions as central in its teaching of buddhahood. This enabled Indians and Tibetans to read very different perspectives on enlightenment into the Abhisamayalamkara, through which they responded to the questions in startlingly different ways. The author shows how these perspectives provide alternative ways to resolve a logical tension at the heart of Mahayana thought, inscribed in the doctrine that buddhahood paradoxically transcends and engages our world simultaneously. Revealing this tension as the basis of the Abhisamayalamkara controversy, Makransky shows its connection to many other Indo-Tibetan controversies revolving around the same tension: disagreements over buddhahood's knowledge, embodiment, and accessibility to beings (in Buddha nature and through the path). Tracing the source of tension to early Mahayana practice intuitions about enlightenment, the author argues that different perspectives in these controversies express different ways of prioritizing those practice intuitions. Buddhahood Embodied Contents Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1 1 Basic Questions 1.2 Long Controversy over the Abhisamayalamkara on Buddhahood 1.3 Historical and Textual Issues behind the Controversy 1.4 Philosophical and Theological Concerns behind the Controversy 1.5 Wider Implications for the History of Mahayana Thought 2 The Buddha's Body of Dharmas (Dharmakaya) in Sarvastivada Abhidharma 3 The Buddhas' Embodiment of Dharma(ta) (Dharmakaya) in Prajñaparamita Sutras 4 Embodiment of Buddhahood in its Own Realization: Yogacara Svabhavikakaya as Projection of Praxis a... 4.1 Relevance of Yogacara texts to the Abhisamayalamkara's Eighth Chapter 4.2 Defining Principle of Buddhahood in Classical Yogacara: Dharmakaya as Realization of Thusness, n... 4.3 Yogacara Sixfold Analysis of Buddhahood: "Essence" (Svabhava) Corresponds to Svabhavikakaya 4.4 Meanings Implicit in Kaya Name Morphologies: Embodiment of Buddhahood in its Essence (Svabhavika... 4.5 Two Meanings of Dharmakaya in Yogacara, with the Term Svabhavikakaya Mediating between Them 4.6 Svabhavikakaya as a Direct Extrapolation from Yogacara Meditational Praxis and Gnoseology Path of Vast Collection Path of Preliminary Yogic Practice: Heat - Appearance Obtained Path of Preliminary Yogic Practice: Summit - Appearance Increased Path of Preliminary Yogic Practice: Patience - Partial Entry into Reality Path of Preliminary Yogic Practice: Highest Mundane Realization - Uninterrupted Concentration Path of Direct Seeing Path of Higher Meditation Culminating in Buddhahood 4.7 Summary 5 Enlightenment's Paradox: Nondual Awareness of the Unconditioned (Svabhavikakaya) Embodied in Condi... 5.1 Buddhahood as Nonabiding Nirvana (Apratisthita Nirvana) 5.2 Svabhavikakaya as Ontological Foundation of the Rupakayas, Epistemologically Exclusive to Buddha... 5.3 The Paradox of Buddhahood as Nonabiding Nirvana: Unconditioned Basis of Pervasive Activity in a ... 5.4 Paradox of a Buddha's Awareness: Inseparable from Unconditioned Thusness, yet Operative in the C... 5.5 Sambhogikakaya as Embodiment in Communal Enjoyment: Nairmanikakaya as Manifold Manifestations fo... 6 The Abhisamayalamkara and its Eighth Chapter on Buddhahood 7 Literary-Critical Analysis of Abhisamayalamkara, Chapter 8: A Map that Projects the Three Kayas of... 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8's Textual Basis in the 25,000-verse Prajñaparamita Sutra a. Late Indian and Tibetan commentators identify rP passages 8.1-8.3 as the textual basis of AA chap... b. Evidence that rP passages 8.1-8.3 were composed after the Abhisamayalamkara, and thus could not h... 1. rP passages 8.1-8.3 are missing in all Chinese translations of the 25,000-verse Prajñaparamita su... 2. rP passages 8.1-8.3 are missing in all Prajñaparamita sutras extant in Sanskrit and Tibetan excep... 3. rP passages 8.1-8.3 were not part of the Prajñaparamitasutra in Arya Vimuktisena's time 4. Large Prajñaparamita Sutra passages 8.4-8.5 were the actual textual basis for Abhisamayalamkara c... 5. Textual history of rP, and evidence that Haribhadra was its redactor 6. Terms and concepts in Abhisamayalamkara chapter 8 not found in Prajñaparamita passages 8.4-8.5 7.3 Conclusion: Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8 as a Yogacara-Prajñapramita Mapping 8 Internal Evidence that Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8 Teaches the Three Yogacara Kayas 8.1 Introduction: Prajñaparamita and Yogacara Patterns of Thought Relevant to Analysis of Abhisamaya... 8.2 Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8's Table of Contents: AA verse 1.17 8.3 Svabhavikakaya/dharmakaya: Abhisamayalamkara verses 8.1-8.6 8.4 Abhisamayalamkara verses 8.7-8.11 8.5 Sambhogikakaya: Abhisamayalamkara verses 8.12-8.32 8.6 Nairmanikakaya and its Activity: Abhisamayalamkara vv. 8.33-8.40 8.7 Conclusion 9 Arya Vimuktisena on Gnoseology and Buddhology in the Abhisamayalamkara 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Correspondence between Arya Vimuktisena's Gnoseology and the Svabhavikakaya of Yogacara 9.3 Arya Vimuktisena on Svabhavikakaya/Dharmakaya 9.4 Arya Vimuktisena on Sambhogikakaya and Nairmanikakaya 9.5 Conclusion 10 Haribhadra's Analytic-Inferential Perspective on Buddhahood: Buddha Dharmas as Fourth "Body" 10.1 Haribhadra's Eighth-Century Lens on Abhisamayalamkara 8 10.2 Translation of Haribhadra's Commentary on the Four Kayas Essence Body (Svabhavikakaya) Body of Dharmas Consisting of Gnosis (Jñana-atmaka Dharmakaya) Body of Communal Enjoyment (Sambhogikakaya) Body of Manifestation(s) (Nairmanikakaya) All Activities Ascribed to the Body of Dharmas Consisting of Gnosis 10.3 Haribhadra's Reinterpretation of Essence Body (Svabhavikakaya) Essence Body (Svabhavikakaya) 10.4 Haribhadra's Body of Conditioned Dharmas Consisting of Gnosis (Jñanatmaka Dharmakaya) Body of Dharmas Consisting of Gnosis (Jñana-Atmaka Dharmakaya) 10.5 Haribhadra's "Refutation" of the Traditional Three-Kaya Interpretation 10.6 Reading Four Kayas into the Rest of Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8 Body of Communal Enjoyment (Sambhogikakaya) Body of Manifestation(s) (Nairmanikakaya) All Activities Ascribed to the Body of Dharmas Consisting of Gnosis 10.7 Concluding Remarks 11 Responses by Indian Scholars to Haribhadra's Four Buddha Bodies 11.1 Buddhajñanapada 11.2 Dharmamitra 11.3 Prajñakaramati, Buddhasrijñana, and Kumarasribhadra 11.4 Ratnakarasanti 11.5 Abhayakaragupta 12 The Controversy Continues in Tibet: Tsong kha pa and Go ram pa 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Tsong kha pa's Buddhology 12.3 Go ram pa's Buddhology 13 Sources of Controversy—Nonabiding Nirvana and the Mahayana Quest for Authentic Reinterpretation o... 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Mahayana Intuitions of a Buddha's Vast Connection to the World that Pushed up against the Third... a. Nonabiding Nirvana and Universal Emptiness b. Nonabiding Nirvana, Bodhicitta, and the Bodhisattva Path c. Nonabiding Nirvana, Buddhanusmrti, and Devotional Practice d. Nonabiding Nirvana and Buddha-Nature 13.3 Postponement Models of Nirvana as Doctrinal Experiments in the Direction of Nonabiding Nirvana 13.4 Tension Created by Redefining the Third Noble Truth as Nonabiding Nirvana: The Mahayana Quest f... 13.5 Summary and Conclusions a. Origins of the Tension in Mahayana Formulations of Buddhahood b. Nondual Yogic-Attainment Perspective in Mahayana Doctrinal Formation c. An Eighth-Century Analytic-Inferential Perspective d. An Eighth-Century Nondual Yogic-Attainment Perspective e. Opposing Mahayana Ways to Reinterpret the Four Noble Truths f. Historical, Sociological, and Practical Significance of these Two Perspectives on Buddhahood Notes Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. The Buddha's Body of Dharmas (Dharmakaya) in Sarvastivada Abhidharma Chapter 3. The Buddhas' Embodiment of Dharma(ta) (Dharmakaya) in Prajñaparamita Sutras Chapter 4. Embodiment of Buddhahood in its Own Realization: Yogacara Svabhavikakaya as Projection of... Chapter 5. Enlightenment's Paradox: Nondual Awareness of the Unconditioned (Svabhavikakaya) Embodied... Chapter 6. The Abhisamayalamkara and its Eighth Chapter on Buddhahood Chapter 7. Literary-Critical Analysis of Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8: A Map that Projects the Three ... Chapter 8. Internal Evidence that Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 8 Teaches the Three Yogacara Kayas Chapter 9. Arya Vimuktisena on Gnoseology and Buddhology in the Abhisamayalamkara Chapter 10. Haribhadra's Analytic-Inferential Perspective on Buddhahood: Buddha Dharmas as Fourth "B... Chapter 11. Responses by Indian Scholars to Haribhadra's Four Buddha Bodies Chapter 12. The Controversy Continues in Tibet: Tsong kha pa and Go ram pa Chapter 13. Sources of Controversy-Nonabiding Nirvana and the Mahayana Quest for Authentic Reinterpr... Selected Bibliography Indic Materials Tibetan Writings Works in European Languages Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Provides many new translations of original texts formative of Mahayana concepts of Enlightenment and resolves the 1200-year-old controversy between Indian and Tibetan views of the meaning of buddhahood.To enter the Mahayana Buddhist path to enlightenment is to seek both to become free from our dualistic, deluded world and to remain actively engaged in that world until all others are free. How are these two apparently contradictory qualities to be embodied in the attainment of buddhahood (dharmakaya)? How can one's present practice accomplish that? These questions underlie a millennium-old controversy over buddhahood in India and Tibet that centers around a cherished text, the Abhisamayalamkara. Makransky shows how the Abhisamayalamkara's composite redaction, from Abhidharma, Prajnaparamita, and Yogacara traditions, permitted its interpreters to perceive different aspects of those traditions as central in its teaching of buddhahood. This enabled Indians and Tibetans to read very different perspectives on enlightenment into the Abhisamayalamkara, through which they responded to the questions in startlingly different ways.The author shows how these perspectives provide alternative ways to resolve a logical tension at the heart of Mahayana thought, inscribed in the doctrine that buddhahood paradoxically transcends and engages our world simultaneously. Revealing this tension as the basis of the Abhisamayalamkara controversy, Makransky shows its connection to many other Indo-Tibetan controversies revolving around the same tension: disagreements over buddhahood's knowledge, embodiment, and accessibility to beings (in Buddha nature and through the path). Tracing the source of tension to early Mahayana practice intuitions about enlightenment, the author argues that different perspectives in these controversies express different ways of prioritizing those practice intuitions.John J. Makransky is Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies and Comparative Theology at Boston College. To Enter The Mahayana Buddhist Path To Enlightenment Is To Seek Both To Become Free From Our Dualistic, Deluded World And To Remain Actively Engaged In That World Until All Others Are Free. How Are These Two Apparently Contradictory Qualities To Be Embodied In The Attainment Of Buddhahood (dharmakaya)? How Can One's Present Practice Accomplish That? These Questions Underlie A Millennium-old Controversy Over Buddhahood In India And Tibet That Centers Around A Cherished Text, The Abhisamayalamkara. Makransky Shows How The Abhisamayalamkara's Composite Redaction, From Abhidharma, Prajnaparamita, And Yogacara Traditions, Permitted Its Interpreters To Perceive Different Aspects Of Those Traditions As Central In Its Teaching Of Buddhahood. This Enabled Indians And Tibetans To Read Very Different Perspectives On Enlightenment Into The Abhisamayalamkara, Through Which They Responded To The Questions In Startlingly Different Ways. The Author Shows How These Perspectives Provide Alternative Ways To Resolve A Logical Tension At The Heart Of Mahayana Thought, Inscribed In The Doctrine That Buddhahood Paradoxically Transcends And Engages Our Worlds Simultaneously. John J. Makransky. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 451-463) And Index.