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Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra
The ''Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra'' (''The inquiry of Ugra'') is an early Indian sutra which is particularly important for understanding the beginnings of Mahayana Buddhism. It contains positive references to both the path of the bodhisattva and the path of the arhat, the latter of which was denigrated as a lesser spiritual path in later Mahayana sutras. It also emphasises solitary spiritual practices instead of community-based ones much like the very early '' Rhinoceros Sutra''. History of the sutra While no version in an Indo-Aryan language survives, extant versions of the ''Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra'' include three Chinese translations ( Taishō Tripiṭaka 322, 12.15a-23a; T 323 12.23a-30c; T 310 0 11.472b-480b), a Tibetan translation, and a Mongolian translation based on the Tibetan version. The ''Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra'' was one of the first Buddhist texts to be brought to China and it was apparently very popular as it was translated into Chinese six times between the second ...
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Sutra
''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a condensed manual or text. Sutras are a genre of ancient and medieval Indian texts found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, sutras are a distinct type of literary composition, a compilation of short aphoristic statements.Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pages 54–55 Each sutra is any short rule, like a theorem distilled into few words or syllables, around which teachings of ritual, philosophy, grammar, or any field of knowledge can be woven. The oldest sutras of Hinduism are found in the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of the Vedas. Every school of Hindu philosophy, Vedic guides for rites of passage, various fields of arts, law, and social ethics developed respective sutras, ...
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Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra
275px, A decorative page of a Korean copy of the Heap of Jewels Sutra The ''Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra'' (Sanskrit; , Tib. ''dam-chos dkon-mchog-brtsegs-pa'') is a major ancient collection of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras. It is also known simply as ''Ratnakūṭa Sūtra'' (), literally the ''Sutra of the Heap of Jewels'' in Sanskrit (''kūṭa'' means ‘accumulation’ or ‘heap’). The ''Mahāratnakūṭa'' contains many important Mahāyāna sūtras, like the ''Śrīmālā-devī-siṁhanāda'', the ''Maitreya-paripṛcchā'', ''Kāśyapa-parivarta,'' and the ''Sukhāvatīvyūha''. The ''Heap of Jewels'' collection exists in Chinese and Tibetan translations. It also gives its name to one of the main divisions of Mahayana sutras in the Chinese Buddhist canon and in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. Overview The ''Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra'' contains 49 texts of varying length, which are termed "assemblies" by tradition. This collection includes the '' Śrīmālādevī ...
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Śrāvakayāna
''Śrāvakayāna'' (; ; ) is one of the three '' yānas'' known to Indian Buddhism. It translates literally as the "vehicle of listeners .e. disciples. Historically it was the most common term used by Mahāyāna Buddhist texts to describe one hypothetical path to enlightenment. Śrāvakayāna is the path that meets the goals of an Arhat—an individual who achieves liberation as a result of listening to the teachings (or following a lineage) of a Samyaksaṃbuddha. A Buddha who achieved enlightenment through ''Śrāvakayāna'' is called a ''Śrāvakabuddha'', as distinguished from a Samyaksaṃbuddha or pratyekabuddha. Use of the term Isabelle Onians asserts that although "the Mahāyāna ... very occasionally referred contemptuously to earlier Buddhism as the Hinayāna, the Inferior Way," "the preponderance of this name in the secondary literature is far out of proportion to occurrences in the Indian texts." She notes that the term Śrāvakayāna was "the more political ...
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Bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimokṣa, prātimokṣa or pāṭimokkha, pātimokkha. Their lifestyles are shaped to support their spiritual practice: to live a simple and meditative life and attain Nirvana (Buddhism), nirvana. A person under the age of 20 cannot be ordained as a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni but can be ordained as a samanera, śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇērī. Definition ''Bhikkhu'' literally means "begging, beggar" or "one who lives by dāna, alms". The historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, Prince Siddhartha, having abandoned a life of pleasure and status, lived as an alms mendicant as part of his śramaṇa lifestyle. Those of his more serious students who renounced their lives as householders and came to study full-time under his supervision also adopted this lifest ...
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Householder (Buddhism)
In English translations of Buddhist texts, householder denotes a variety of terms. Most broadly, it refers to any layperson, and most narrowly, to a wealthy and prestigious familial patriarch. In contemporary Buddhist communities, householder is often used synonymously with ''laity'', or non-monasticism, monastics. The Buddhist notion of householder is often contrasted with that of wandering ascetics (: '; Sanskrit: ') and Buddhist monasticism, monastics (''bhikkhu'' and ''bhikkhuni''), who would not live (for extended periods) in a normal house and who would pursue freedom from attachments to houses and families. Upāsaka and Upāsikā, Upāsakas and upāsikās, also called śrāvaka, śrāvakas and śrāvikās - are householders and other laypersons who refuge (Buddhism), take refuge in the Three Jewels (the Gautama Buddha, Buddha, the Dharma, teachings and the sangha, community) and practice the Five Precepts. In southeast Asian communities, lay disciples also Alms#Buddhis ...
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Dharmaguptaka
The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; ; ) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools from the ancient region of Gandhara, now Pakistan. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas from the Oddiyana, Oddiyana kingdom in northwestern Pakistan. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism, and their Prātimokṣa (monastic rules for bhikkhu, bhikṣus and bhikkhuni, bhikṣuṇīs) are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravada, Theravāda and the Mulasarvastivada, Mūlasarvāstivāda. Etymology ''Guptaka'' means "preserver" and ''dharma'' "law, justice, morality", and, most likely, the set of laws of Northern Buddhism. Doctrinal development Overview The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a śrāvaka (''śrāvakayāna' ...
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Jan Nattier
Jan Nattier is an American scholar of Mahāyana Buddhism. Early life and education She earned her PhD in Inner Asian and Altaic Studies from Harvard University (1988), and subsequently taught at the University of Hawaii (1988-1990), Stanford University (1990-1992), and Indiana University (1992–2005). She then worked as a research professor at the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University (2006–2010) before retiring from her position there and beginning a series of visiting professorships at various universities in the U.S.Academia.edu profile. https://berkeley.academia.edu/JanNattier Career Nattier is one of a group of scholars who have substantially revised views of the early development of Mahāyana Buddhism in the last 20 years. They have in common their attention to and re-evaluation of early Chinese translations of texts. Her first notable contribution was a book based on her PhD thesis which looked at the Chinese Doctrine of the Three A ...
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Shantideva
Shantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; ; ) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna. Abhayadatta Sri also lists Shantideva as one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas and is known as Bhusuku Pa (布苏固巴). Two works of Shantideva are extant, the '' Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra'' and the ''Śikṣāsamuccaya'', both of which were written with the intention of being training manuals for one who intends to follow the path of the bodhisattva. The Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra in particular was the subject of both Indian and Tibetan commentaries during the period it was written and has also received large amounts of attention from both academics and lay practitioners in recent years as well including a commentary written by the 14th Dalai Lama. Biography There are two sources of Shantideva's life composed by the Tibetan historians; Buton Rinchen Drub and T ...
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Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nāgārjuna is widely considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement. His ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (''Root Verses on Madhyamaka'', MMK) is the most important text on the Madhyamaka philosophy of Śūnyatā, emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today. History Background India in the first and second centuries CE was politically divided into various states, including the Kushan Empire and the Satavahana dynasty, Satavahana Kingdom. At ...
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Ten Stages Sutra
The ''Ten Stages Sutra'' (Sanskrit: ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra''; ; ) also known as the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, is an early, influential Mahayana Buddhist scripture. The sutra also appears as the 26th chapter of the '' ''. Modern Buddhist studies scholars generally hold that these Mahayana sūtras first began to appear between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. They continued being composed, compiled and edited until the decline of Buddhism in India. Contents In the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'', the Buddha describes ten stages of development that a bodhisattva must progress through in order to accomplish full Enlightenment and Buddhahood, as well as the subject of Buddha-nature and the awakening of the aspiration for Enlightenment. Commentary There is a commentary which survives in Chinese called the '' Daśabhūmikavibhāṣā'', it is attributed to Nagarjuna. Another commentary on the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'', the ''Dasabhūmikabhāsya'', was written by Vasubandhu in Sanskrit ...
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Dasabhumika-vibhāsā
The ''Dasabhumika-vibhāsā'' (Chinese: ''Shízhù pípōshā lùn'', 十住毘婆沙論, Taisho no. 1521) also known as the ''Ten Stages Treatise'' (十住論) is a Buddhist Treatise on the '' Daśabhūmika-sūtra'' attributed to Nāgārjuna. The treatise only survives in a seventeen fascicle Chinese translation completed by the Kuchean translator monk Kumārajīva (344–413). Kumārajīva is said to have received the text from Buddhayaśas, who recited the work.Fan, Mingli ��明麗 (2012)An Exploration of the "Corrupt Bodhisattva" and the "Genuine Bodhisattva" in the ''Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā Śāstra''.''Collections of College Students' Theses Relating to Buddhism'' (pp. 325-342). Taipei: Hua-yen Lotus Society. The original Sanskrit text has not been preserved, nor is there any other surviving translations into other languages. The ''Ten Stages Treatise'' is a work on the bodhisattva path, focusing on the essential practices for entering the first two bodhisattva stages ...
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