The Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra and the Buddhism of Gilgit

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The Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra and the Buddhism of Gilgit
Dissertation
Translations of Sutras (Skt-Eng)


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People
Gregory Schopen
author
Topics
Texts
DRL topics
  • Medicine
  • Textual Studies

Description

Abstract

This work is made up of three unequal parts. The first part contains an edition of the Sanskrit text of what I have called 'Redaction A' of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra. This edition is based on a single manuscript found at Gilgit; with variants from four other manuscripts, also found at Gilgit, given in the critical apparatus. Stylistically 'Redaction A' seems to represent an 'unrevised" version of the text, perhaps a first attempt at Gilgit to commit an oral tradition to writing. The second part consists of a critical edition of the Tibetan translation of a Sanskrit text of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra. This edition is based on the Derge, Narthan, Peking and Lhasa versions of the 'phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai ạu rya'i 'od kyi snon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa and the 'phags pa de bźin gśegs pa bdun gyi snon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa. The Derge versions form the basis of the edition. The first and second parts are preliminary studies to the third and main part, since the whole was not intended as a study of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra per se. This third part is devoted to an English translation of the Sanskrit text, with notes; the latter making up the bulk of the work. In these notes I have attempted to show how a literate member of the Gilgit community, assuming he was familiar with the texts known to have been available to him, would have, or could have, understood the Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra, I have also attempted to show what was and what was not unique to the Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra vis-a-vis the Gilgit collection as a whole, and to make the first tentative steps towards reconstructing the 'Buddhism' current at Gilgit in the 5th-6th century.

Citation
Schopen, Gregory. "The Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra and the Buddhism of Gilgit." PhD diss., Australian National University, 1978. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/109328.
Table of contents
  • Acknowledgementsv
  • The Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra. The Sanskrit Text of Redaction A from Gilgit
    • Introduction
    • I. The Manuscripts of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra found at Gilgit1
    • II. On the Redactional Differences in the Gilgit Manuscripts of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra4
    • III. Notes On and Towards a Methodology27
    • The Sanskrit Text36
  • 'phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai ḍū rya'i 'od kyi sṅon gyi
    smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa źes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo:
    The Tibetan Translation of a Sanskrit Text of the Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra.
    • Introduction72
    • Concordance of the Kanjur Editions of the 'phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai ḍū rya'i 'od kyi sṅon gyi
      smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa źes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo      75
    • Concordance of the Kanjur Editions of the 'phags pa de bźin gśegs pa bdun gyi sṅon gyi smon lam gyi khyad
      par rgyas pa źes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo      77
    • The Tibetan Texts79
  • The Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra and the Buddhism of Gilgit. Translation and Notes.
    • Introduction
    • I. More Notes On and Towards a Methodology105
    • II. Abbreviations, Bibliography and Notes for Textual Sources111
    • III. Other Abbreviations123
  • Translation and Notes
    • 0. Invocation125
      • a. The Name Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha.125
      • b. The Character of Bhaiṣajyaguru and the 'Type' of the Gilgit Cult Figure127
      • c. The Hīnayāna Cult of Śākyamuni: A New Interpretation of 'the Cult of Maitreya'147
      • d. The Mahāyāna Cult of Śākyamuni: The Cult of the Book154
      • e. Conclusions.160
    • 1. Introduction and Setting162
      • a. On the Formula evaṃ mayā śrutam ekasmin samaye162
    • 2. Request for the Teaching, and the Audience and Time for which it was Intended165
      • a. The Epithet Dharmarāja165
      • b. Buddhānubhāva and the Problem of Authority in Mahāyāna Sūtra Literature166
      • c. Ideas Concerning 'The Last Time': The Formula paścime kāle paścime samaye173
    • 3. The Compliance with the Request and Reiteration of the Intention180
      • a. Karma and Karmatic Buddhism at Gilgit180
    • 4. Introduction of Bhaiṣajyaguru, his Buddhafield and Vows191
      • a. Praṇidhāna, Satyavacana, and 'Natural Law'191
    • 5.1. The First Great Vow195
      • a. The Thirty-Two Marks of a Great Man195
    • 5.2. The Second Great Vow197
      • a. Prabhā and the Photic Event: A Literary Commonplace197
    • 5.3. The Third Great Vow202
      • a. The Interconnectedness of Material and Spiritual Well-being in a karmatically constructed world.202
    • 5.4. The Fourth Great Vow204
    • 5.5. The Fifth Great Vow205
    • 5.6. The Sixth Great Vow206
      • a. Physical Defects and Deformities: Cause and Prevention206
    • 5.7. The Seventh Great Vow210
      • a. Sickness, Disease and 'Karmatic Medicine'210
    • 5.8. The Eighth Great Vow223
      • a. Women and a Fundamental Ambivalence in Buddhist Literature223
    • 5.9. The Ninth Great Vow230
    • 5.10. The Tenth Great Vow231
    • 5.11. The Eleventh Great Vow232
    • 5.12. The Twelfth Great Vow233
    • 5.13. Conclusion of the Vows234
    • 6. Description of Bhaiṣajyaguru's buddhafield235
      • a. The Idea of a Buddhafield and 'The World of Maitreya'235
      • b. The Formula yādṛśā ca sā sukhāvatī lokadhātu tādṛśāṃ tad buddhakṣetraṃ bhaviṣyati: An Additional Note237
    • 7. The 'Vows' in Operation: A First Illustration Connected with Rebirth242
      • a. Gifts and Giving as a Source of Merit243
      • b. Jātismara and One Kind of Salvation Theory247
    • 8. The 'Vows' in Operation: A Second Illustration Connected with Rebirth253
    • 9. The 'Vows' in Operation: A Third Illustration Connected with Rebirth255
    • 10. The 'Vows' in Operation: A First Illustration Connected with the Temporary Avoidance of Rebirth256
      • a. Devas, Yakṣas and Rākṣasas as a Source of Dread256
      • b. Kākhordas and Vetāḍas: 'Things' or 'Beings'?259
      • c. Ojas and the Threat of its Loss.262
      • d. Devas, Yakṣas and Rākṣasas as a Source of Protection264
      • e. Conclusions269
      • f. The Non-Tantric dhāraṇī and the Question of a Tantric Element in the Buddhism of Gilgit.270
    • 11. The 'Vows' in Operation: A Fourth Illustration Connected with Rebirth276
      • a. The Question of a 'Lay' and a 'Monastic' Buddhism.277
      • b. More on Sukhāvatī as a Generalized Religious Goal: the Case of the Karaṇḍavyuha.279
      • c. The Importance of the Moment of Death.284
    • 12. The 'Vows' in Operation: A Fifth Illustration Connected with Rebirth295
    • 13. Mañjuśrī's Assurance to Those Who Preserve the Teaching296
    • 14. The Ritual Response for the Temporary Avoidance of Rebirth297
      • a. Liturgical Texts and the Ritual Complex at Gilgit298
      • b. Bodhic Buddhism and Its Reaction to the Fact of Pūjā: The Case of the Samādhirāja.316
    • 15. The 'Vows' in Operation: A Final Illustration341
    • 16. The Basis on which the Teaching is to be Received344
      • a. The Buddha as 'A Speaker of That which is not Otherwise' and the Centrality of Faith.345
    • 17. The Central Situation of the Text354
      • a. More on the Salvation Theory355
      • b. The Judgement of the Dead and the puruṣasya sahajā pṛṣṭhānubaddhā devatā.357
    • 18. The Ritual Response to that Situation360
    • 19. The Extension of the Response: from the Individual to the State363
      • a. Texts and Rituals for 'the Protection of the State'.360
    • 20. A Question concerning the Situation368
      • a. On the Possibility of Lengthening the Individual Life-Span368
      • b. The Akālamaraṇas and the bhayas: a Final Case of the Process of Generalization.370
    • 21. The Yakṣa-Generals' Assurance to those who Preserve the Teaching.372
    • 22. The Names by which the Sūtra is to be Preserved.373
    • 23. Conclusion.374
    • 24. Colophon.375
Interconnections
Works related to this item
1 Full translation of
Bhagavato bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhasya pūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistārasūtra [आर्यभगवान्भैषज्यगुरुवैडूर्यप्रभस्यपूर्वप्रणिधानविशेषविस्तरनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai ḍūrya'i 'od kyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་སྨན་གྱི་བླ་བཻ་ཌཱུརྱའི་འོད་ཀྱི་སྔོན་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha (84000)]. Translated by Jinamitra, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Dharmagupta, Xuanzang, Yijing, Śrīmitra, Kālayaśas. Kangyur, RKTSK 503 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=503&typ=1.
Classical WorksAbout this item
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha centers on the figure commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. The text opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a large retinue of human and divine beings. The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī asks Śākyamuni to teach the names and previous aspirations of the buddhas, along with the benefit that buddhas can bring during future times when the Dharma has nearly disappeared. The Buddha gives a teaching on the name and previous aspirations of the Buddha Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha, and then details the benefits that arise from hearing and retaining this buddha's name. (Source: 84000)
1 Scholarship on
Bhagavato bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhasya pūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistārasūtra [आर्यभगवान्भैषज्यगुरुवैडूर्यप्रभस्यपूर्वप्रणिधानविशेषविस्तरनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa bcom ldan 'das sman gyi bla bai ḍūrya'i 'od kyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་སྨན་གྱི་བླ་བཻ་ཌཱུརྱའི་འོད་ཀྱི་སྔོན་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha (84000)]. Translated by Jinamitra, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Dharmagupta, Xuanzang, Yijing, Śrīmitra, Kālayaśas. Kangyur, RKTSK 503 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=503&typ=1.
Classical WorksAbout this item
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha centers on the figure commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. The text opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a large retinue of human and divine beings. The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī asks Śākyamuni to teach the names and previous aspirations of the buddhas, along with the benefit that buddhas can bring during future times when the Dharma has nearly disappeared. The Buddha gives a teaching on the name and previous aspirations of the Buddha Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha, and then details the benefits that arise from hearing and retaining this buddha's name. (Source: 84000)



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'

Hīnayāna - The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion. Skt हीनयान  Tib ཐེག་དམན།  Ch 小乘  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Hīnayāna'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt आत्मन्  Tib བདག་  Ch 我;灵魂  

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