The Bodhisattvapiṭaka (Pagel 1995)

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The Bodhisattvapiṭaka: Its Doctrines, Practices and their Position in Mahāyāna Literature

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

A comprehensive study of the Bodhisattva doctrines and practices based on the Bodhisattvapiṭaka and other early Mahayana texts. This study also includes an English translation of the eleventh and most important chapter of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka. (Source Accessed July 6, 2021)

Citation

Pagel, Ulrich. The Bodhisattvapiṭaka: Its Doctrines, Practices and their Position in Mahāyāna Literature. Buddhica Britannica 5. Tring, UK: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1995.

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Partial translation of

Bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra [आर्यबोधिसत्त्वपिटकनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa byang chub sems dpa'i sde snod ces bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Bodhisattva's Scriptural Collection (84000)]. Translated by Surendrabodhi, Śīlendrabodhi, Dharmatāśīla, Xuanzang, Dharmarakṣa. Kangyur, RKTSK 56 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=56&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

In The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, the Buddha describes in detail the views and practices that are to be followed by the bodhisatva, the ideal Mahāyāna practitioner. Through his interactions with human and nonhuman interlocutors, and through stories of various past buddhas, we are led step by step through the topics of renunciation, the mind of awakening, the four immeasurables, and the six perfections. Among the many accounts of past buddhas included in the sūtra, we find the story of the prophecy made by the Buddha Dīpaṅkara to the brahmin Megha about his future attainment of awakening as the Buddha Śākyamuni. (Source: 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)

1 Based on dissertation

Pagel, Ulrich. "The Bodhisattvapiṭaka: Its Doctrines, Practices and their Position in Mahāyāna Literature." PhD diss., School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), 1992. https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29691/1/10752663.pdf.

Dissertations1992About this item

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive study of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka with specific emphasis on the bodhisattva ideal. The content of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka indicates that its exposition belongs to the earliest treatises on the bodhisattva. The practices and doctrines that are expounded are invariably rudimentary and show little of the complexities that characterise their discussions in later bodhisattva literature. The Bodhisattvapiṭaka's inclusion into the Mahāratnakūṭa rested probably on its pioneering account of the bodhisattvacaryā. Being by far the longest work on the bodhisattva in the whole collection, it expounds important practices and constitutes the hub for the remaining bodhisattva writings in the Mahāratnakūṭa.
      The study falls into five parts. The first chapter considers the position of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka in Mahāyāna literature. It investigates the various usages of the term Bodhisattvapiṭaka, it considers the relationship between the Bodhisattvapiṭaka and Akṣayamatinirdeśa and discusses the scholastic affiliation of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka. In addition, exploring the contents and evolution of the Mahāratnakūṭa collection, it establishes the scriptural context in which the Bodhisattvapiṭaka is placed. The second chapter provides an analysis of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka. It examines the structural and literary traits of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, its chapter organisation and some aspects of the bodhisattva path in the Bodhisattvapiṭaka. Chapter three discusses the bodhisattva ideal in the Mahāratnakūṭa collection. It distinguishes between the various categories of bodhisattva sutras in the Mahāratnakūṭa, it examines the bodhisattva practices and investigates whether there is evidence of a premeditated design that might have influenced the compilation of the Mahāratnakūṭa sūtras into one collection. Chapter four considers the bodhisattva doctrine as it is propounded in the Bodhisattvapiṭaka within the context of other

scriptural traditions. It discusses the evolution of the concepts of the cittotpāda, apramaṇa, pāramitā and saṃgrahvastu and assesses the contribution of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka to that process. Chapter five consists of a translation of the eleventh chapter of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka.

1 Scholarship on

Bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra [आर्यबोधिसत्त्वपिटकनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa byang chub sems dpa'i sde snod ces bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Bodhisattva's Scriptural Collection (84000)]. Translated by Surendrabodhi, Śīlendrabodhi, Dharmatāśīla, Xuanzang, Dharmarakṣa. Kangyur, RKTSK 56 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=56&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

In The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, the Buddha describes in detail the views and practices that are to be followed by the bodhisatva, the ideal Mahāyāna practitioner. Through his interactions with human and nonhuman interlocutors, and through stories of various past buddhas, we are led step by step through the topics of renunciation, the mind of awakening, the four immeasurables, and the six perfections. Among the many accounts of past buddhas included in the sūtra, we find the story of the prophecy made by the Buddha Dīpaṅkara to the brahmin Megha about his future attainment of awakening as the Buddha Śākyamuni. (Source: 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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