The Buddhist Feminine Ideal

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The Buddhist Feminine Ideal: Queen Śrīmālā and the Tathāgatagarbha

Book

Translations of Sutras (Chi-Eng)

• A Few Good Men
• A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras
• Abiding in Good and Noble Deportment
• Appendix to the New Edition of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
• Buddha Pronounces the Sūtra of the Great Cundī Dhāraṇī
• Chapter on Entering the Inconceivable Liberated State of Samantabhadra's Practices and Vows
• Dialogue With Bodhisattva Infinite Wisdom
• Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of the Tathāgata Store
• Myōhō-renge-kyō
• On Entering into the Inconceivable State of Emancipation by the Practice and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra of the Mahavaipulya Buddha Avatamsaka Sutra
• On the Pāramitā of Ingenuity
• Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma
• The Buddhist Feminine Ideal
• The Definitive Vinaya
• The Dhâranî of Tchundi
• The Diamond Cutter of Doubts: A Commentary on The Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā-prajñā-pāramitā Sūtra) By Ch'an Master Han Shan
• The Diamond Prajna Paramita Sutra
• The Diamond Prajna-Paramita Sutra
• The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching), or Prajna-Paramita
• The Diamond Sutra (Hsüan Hua)
• The Diamond Sutra (Wai-tao and Goddard)
• The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui Neng
• The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom
• The Diamond Sutra: Translated from Kumarajiva's Chinese Version
• The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion
• The Essentials of the Dharma Blossom Sutra
• The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of The Avatamsaka Sutra
• The Giving Rise of the Ten Kinds of Mind of the Bodhisattva
• The Great Vows of Samantabhadra
• The Healing Buddha (1979)
• The Healing Buddha (1989)
• The Lankavatara Sutra: A Zen Text
• The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Lotus Sutra (2016) (BDK)
• The Lotus Sutra (Watson)
• The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic
• The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
• The Lotus of the Wonderful Law or The Lotus Gospel (2005)
• The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-sutra (3 vols.)
• The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra: The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra
• The Prediction of Mañjuśrī's Attainment of Buddhahood
• The Scripture of Master of Medicine, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata and The Sutra of the Girl Candrottarā
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Eight
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Five
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Four
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume One
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Seven
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Six
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Three
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Two
• The Shurangama Sutra: Sutra Text and Supplements
• The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 2: Edition and Translation
• The Sutra of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion's Roar and the Vimalakīrti Sutra
• The Sutra of the Lord of Healing
• The Sutra of the Master of Healing
• The Tale of King Udayana of Vatsa
• The Threefold Lotus Sūtra
• The True Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
• The Vimalakīrti Sūtra (Watson)
• The Vow to Live the Life of Samanta-bhadra
• The Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Sutra
• The Śūraṅgama Sūtra: A New Translation
• Vaipulya Sūtra of Śrīmālā's Lion's Roar That Reveals the Great Skillful Means of the One Vehicle
• Vajra-chhedika, the "Kin Kong King," or Diamond Sutra
• Vimalakīrti's Discourse on Emancipation
• Vimalakīrti-Nirdeśa-Sūtra: Translated from the Chinese

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

This book contains many valuable contributions. It places the Śrīmālādevīsūtra in the early development of the Mahāyāna and includes surveys of earlier translations of key terms and an overview of tathāgathagarbha theory. Paul points out the key role that the bodhisattvas play for sentient beings as guides in the transition from ordinary being to buddha. The Śrīmālā, although it affirms that all beings share the same buddha-nature and emphatically embraces the idea of a Single Vehicle, nevertheless asserts that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot comprehend the needed steps to shed adventitious stains and reveal the intrinsic purity of mind; only bodhisattvas can. Paul notes that while the Lotus Sūtra proclaimed the universal salvation via the Single Vehicle, and the Tathāgathagarbhasūtra proclaimed universal buddha-nature, it was the Śrīmālā that first combined those concepts. (Alex Gardner, 2018)

Citation

Paul, Diana Mary. The Buddhist Feminine Ideal: Queen Śrīmālā and the Tathāgatagarbha. American Academy of Religion Dissertation Series 30. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1980.

Table of contents

• Introduction1
• Chapter I: Historical Overview9
• Chapter II: Tathāgatagarbha47
• Chapter III: Tathāgatagarbha Thought in the Śrīmālādevī-Siṁhanāda Sūtra: Part I89
• Chapter IV: Tathāgatagarbha Thought in the Śrīmālādevī-Siṁhanāda Sūtra: Part II105
• Concluding Remarks137
• Chapter V: The Teaching of Queen Śrīmālā Who Had the Lion's Roar: A Comprehensive Text That Teaches the
  Skillful Means of the One Vehicle141
  • Chapter 1: The Merits of the Tathāgata's True Doctrine141
  • Chapter 2: The Ten Ordinational Vows147
  • Chapter 3: The Three Vows151
  • Chapter 4: The Acceptance155
  • Chapter 5: Ekayāna165
  • Chapter 6: The Unlimited Noble Truths183
  • Chapter 7: The Tathāgatagarbha187
  • Chapter 8: The Dharma-Body191
  • Chapter 9: The Underlying Truth: The Meaning of Emptiness197
  • Chapter 10: The One (Noble) "Truth"203
  • Chapter 11: The One Refuge207
  • Chapter 12: The Contrary Truths209
  • Chapter 13: The Inherently Pure215
  • Chapter 14: The True Sons (of the Tathāgata)221
  • Chapter 15: Śrīmālā225

• Appendix I: Methodology231
• Appendix II: Bibliography241

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Śrīmāladevīsiṃhanādasūtra [श्रीमालदेवीसिंहनादसूत्र]. 'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Guṇabhadra. Kangyur, RKTSK 92 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=92&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

One of the more prominent sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, this text tells of the story of Śrīmālādevī taking up the Buddhist path at the behest of her royal parents based on a prophecy of the Buddha. It includes mention of important concepts related to the teachings on buddha-nature, such as the single vehicle and the four perfections, or transcendent characteristics, of the dharmakāya. It also mentions the notion that buddha-nature, which is equated with mind's luminous nature, is empty of adventitious stains but not empty of its limitless inseparable qualities. In his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, Asaṅga quotes this sūtra more than any other source text. In particular, it is considered a source for the fifth of the seven vajra topics, enlightenment.

1 Based on dissertation

Paul, Diana. "A Prolegomena to the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra and the Tathāgatagarbha Theory: The Role of Women in Buddhism." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1974.

Dissertations1974About this item

This dissertation is a study and English translation of the Śrīmālādevīsūtra by Diana Paul from the Chinese editions by Guṇabhadra (T353) and Bodhiruci (T310(48)).

1 Scholarship on

Śrīmāladevīsiṃhanādasūtra [श्रीमालदेवीसिंहनादसूत्र]. 'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Guṇabhadra. Kangyur, RKTSK 92 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=92&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

One of the more prominent sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, this text tells of the story of Śrīmālādevī taking up the Buddhist path at the behest of her royal parents based on a prophecy of the Buddha. It includes mention of important concepts related to the teachings on buddha-nature, such as the single vehicle and the four perfections, or transcendent characteristics, of the dharmakāya. It also mentions the notion that buddha-nature, which is equated with mind's luminous nature, is empty of adventitious stains but not empty of its limitless inseparable qualities. In his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, Asaṅga quotes this sūtra more than any other source text. In particular, it is considered a source for the fifth of the seven vajra topics, enlightenment.

Śrīmāladevīsiṃhanādasūtra [श्रीमालदेवीसिंहनादसूत्र]. 'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Guṇabhadra. Kangyur, RKTSK 92 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=92&typ=1.

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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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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  

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Śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt श्रावक  Tib ཉན་ཐོས།  Ch 聲聞  

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Pratyekabuddha - Pratyekabuddhas are saints who, in their last birth in the cycle of existence, are said to become enlightened through solitary practice on the nature of dependent ordination. These saints are said to appear when there is no buddha around and work either alone or in small groups. Skt प्रत्येकबुद्ध  Tib རང་སངས་རྒྱས།;རང་རྒྱལ།  Ch 緣覺  

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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  

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Tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt तथागतगर्भ  Tib དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་  Ch 如来藏  

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Ekayāna - The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment. Skt एकयान  Tib ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ་  Ch 一乘  

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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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

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'

Ekayāna - The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment. Skt एकयान  Tib ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ་  Ch 一乘  

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Dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt धर्मकाय  Tib ཆོས་སྐུ་  Ch 法身  

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Prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt प्रभास्वरता  Tib འོད་གསལ་  Ch 光明  

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