Of the Progresse of the Bodhisattva: The Bodhisattvamārga in the Śikṣāsamuccaya

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Abstract

Human language is unfit to describe the content of the mystical experience; the conditions necessary to attain the desired goal, on the contrary, are much more easily susceptible to linguistic expression. This is the principal reason why mystics always deal at greater length with the via mystica than with the unio mystica. Therefore the specific nature of Buddhism can only become clear through an examination of its mystic way. During the whole history of Buddhism the way to Nirvana has been the core of the doctrine.[1]

The Buddha is credited with clearly and succinctly expounding the Buddhist path (mārga). Despite the eloquence and brevity of the Buddha's exposition, the corpus of Buddhist scriptures explaining the path is prolix.
      It is generally thought that the moral precepts (śikṣāpadas), correct practices (samudācāras) and restraints (saṃvaras) for a bodhisattva[2] are to be found in Mahāyāna sūtras. Yet it seems that the most likely outcome of reading these sūtras is not enlightenment, but confusion.[3] Mahāyāna sūtras appear too extensive and complex to be of much practical benefit to an incipient bodhisattva.
      This paper asserts that the Śikṣāsamuccaya (ŚS) and Śikṣāsamuccayakārikā (ŚSKā) are composed by Śāntideva (Ś) to counter the bewilderment which results from reading Mahāyāna sūtras. Both works explicate the essential principles (marmasthānas) of these sūtras for the benefit of a bodhisattva new to the way.
      Further, this paper asserts that of all the various practices described in Mahāyāna sūtras, Ś believes that the practice of giving (dāna ≡ utsarjana) is fundamental. In the ŚS and ŚSKā the way of the bodhisattva (bodhisattvamārga) is essentially the way of giving (dānamārga).
      In short, Ś expects a bodhisattva:

i) to give everything (sarva+√dā ≡ sarva+ut+√sṛj) in order to attain perfect enlightenment (samyaksaṃbodhi);

ii) to make a worthy gift of his person (ātmabhāva), enjoyments (bhogas) and merit (puṇya) in order to give everything;

iii) to preserve (√rakṣ), purify (√śudh), and increase (√vṛdh) his gift in order to make a worthy gift; and

iv) to practice the four right strivings (samyakpradhānas)[4] in order to preserve, purify and increase his gift.

It is asserted in this paper, then, that Ś considers the unsurpassed and perfect enlightenment of the Buddha attained by the practice of complete giving (sarvadāna ≡ sarvotsarjana) and complete giving attained by the practice of the right strivings. This conception of the way of the bohisattva is represented in Figure 7.1[5] and in more detail in Figure 7.2[6].
Overall, this paper attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of the content, structure, theme and meaning of the ŚS and ŚSKā. To the knowledge of the present writer, it is the first of its kind.

Notes

De Jong, ‘Absolute’, pp. 58–59.
To reduce distraction bodhisattva & dharma(s) are not italicised. It is also to be noted that ‘bodhisattva’ is used in this paper as an abbreviation for ‘bodhisattva-maha ̄sattva’. Following Haribhadra (Wogihara, ‘Abhisamayālaṁkārāloka’, p. 22, lns. 13–16, quoted in: Kajiyama, ‘Philosophy’, p. 91; & Idem, ‘Meanings’, pp. 265–266) the present writer distinguishes between: a.) a bodhisattva who tries to attain his own interest (i.e., enlightenment); b.) a mahāsattva who tries to attain the interest of others; & c.) a bodhisattva-mahāsattva who is devoted to enlightenment both for himself and for others.
Cf. Bendall & Rouse, p. 17, lns. 5–12.
I.e., i.) the non production of non existing bad dharmas; ii.) the destruction of existing bad dharmas; iii.) the production of non existing good dharmas; & iv.) the increase of existing good dharmas.
P. 190.
P. 191.

Citation

Mahoney, Richard. "Of the Progresse of the Bodhisattva: The Bodhisattvamārga in the Śikṣāsamuccaya." MA thesis, University of Canterbury, 2002.

Table of contents

- Abstractix
- Prefacexi

Part I Bodhipakṣa Dharmas1

1. Exordium3
- 1.1 Remarks3
- 1.2 Content & Structure9

2. Bodhipakṣa Dharmas23
- 2.1 Remarks23
- 2.2 Smṛtyupasthānas28
- 2.3 Samyakpradhānas32
- 2.4 Ṛddhipādas40
- 2.5 Indriyas & Balas42
- 2.6 Bodhyaṅgas49
- 2.7 Āryāṣṭaṅgamārga56
- 2.8 Conclusion64

Part II Samyakpradhānas67

3. Giving69
- 3.1 Remarks69
- 3.2 ŚSKā72
- 3.3 ŚS76
  - 3.3.1 Prologue76
  - 3.3.2 One's person82
  - 3.3.3 Enjoyments83
  - 3.3.4 Merit85
- 3.4 Conclusion88

4. Preserving93
- 4.1 Remarks93
- 4.2 ŚSKā95
- 4.3 ŚS103
  - 4.3.1 One's person108
  - 4.3.2 Enjoyments111
  - 4.3.3 Merit112
- 4.4 Conclusion113

5. Purifying117
- 5.1 Remarks17
- 5.2 ŚSKā119
- 5.3 ŚS123
  - 5.3.1 One's person127
  - 5.3.2 Enjoyments & Merit149
- 5.4 Conclusion154

6. Increasing159
- 6.1 Remarks159
- 6.2 ŚSKā161
- 6.3 ŚS167
  - 6.3.1 One's person & Enjoyments168
  - 6.3.2 Merit174
- 6.4 Conclusion185

7. Postscript189

Appendix A. ŚSKā193

Appendix B. Samyakpradhānas203

- References211

- Indices226

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Scholarship on

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Śikṣāsamuccaya [शिक्षासमुच्चय]. bslab pa kun las btus pa [བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།]. [The Compendium of Training]. Tengyur, RKTST 3281 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3281&typ=2.

Classical WorksAbout this item

Śikṣāsamuccaya (T. Bslab pa kun las btus pa; C. Dasheng ji pusa xue lun; J. Daijōjū bosatsugakuron; K. Taesǔng chip posal hak non 大乘集菩薩學論). In Sanskrit, "Compendium of Training," a work by the eighth-century Indian Mahāyāna master Śāntideva. It consists of twenty-seven stanzas on the motivation and practice of the bodhisattva, including bodhicitta, the six perfections (pāramitā), the worship of buddhas and bodhisattvas, the benefits of renunciation, and the peace derived from the knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā). The topic of each of the stanzas receives elaboration in the form of a prose commentary by the author as well as in illustrative passages, often quite extensive, drawn from a wide variety of Mahāyāna sūtras. Some ninety-seven texts are cited in all, many of which have been lost in their original Sanskrit, making the Śikṣāsamuccaya an especially important source for the textual history of Indian Buddhism. These citations also offer a window into which sūtras were known to a Mahāyāna author in eighth-century India. The digest of passages that Śāntideva provides was repeatedly drawn upon by Tibetan authors in their citations of sūtras. Although Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra and Śikṣāsamuccaya both deal with similar topics, the precise relation between the two texts is unclear. Several of the author's verses appear in both texts and some of the sūtra passages from the Śikṣāsamuccaya also appear in the Bodhicaryāvatāra. One passage in the Bodhicaryāvatāra also refers readers to the Śikṣāsamuccaya, but this line does not occur in the Dunhuang manuscript of the text and may be a later interpolation. (Source: "Śikṣāsamuccaya." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 821. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)