Bodhisattvaprātimokṣacatuṣkanirhārasūtra
| 🤓 Admin Zone 🛠️ hidden to non-admins | |
Description
Fujita first distinguishes this text from a superficially similar but textually unrelated "Bodhisattva-prātimokṣa" found in a Cambridge Sanskrit manuscript (introduced by N. Dutt in 1931), showing that the manuscript's composite text—combining a Bodhisattva-saṃvara-vidhi, part of the Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā, and a fragment of Nāgārjuna's Bodhicittavivaraṇa—is a different work entirely, despite a scribal colophon labeling it "bodhisattvaprātimokṣaḥ."
The article then surveys the actual content of the catuṣkanirhāra text (a sūtra framed as a dialogue between the Buddha and Śāriputra, transmitted via Atiśa's translation team), tracing through the fourteen passages Śāntideva quotes from it—covering topics like generosity, renunciation, humility, patience, and the bodhisattva's distinctive qualities versus those of śrāvakas. Fujita also reviews earlier Tibetan doctrinal debates (Grags pa rgyal mtshan, Tsongkhapa) over how a "bodhisattva prātimokṣa" relates to the śrāvaka prātimokṣa. He concludes that this sūtra treats the six pāramitās and related bodhisattva conduct in an unsystematized way (unlike a formal śikṣāpada code), with the arousal of bodhicitta as a key distinguishing feature from śrāvaka prātimokṣa. (Abstract generated by Claude.ai July 25, 2026])Fujita first distinguishes this text from a superficially similar but textually unrelated "Bodhisattva-prātimokṣa" found in a Cambridge Sanskrit manuscript (introduced by N. Dutt in 1931), showing that the manuscript's composite text—combining a Bodhisattva-saṃvara-vidhi, part of the Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā, and a fragment of Nāgārjuna's Bodhicittavivaraṇa—is a different work entirely, despite a scribal colophon labeling it "bodhisattvaprātimokṣaḥ."
The article then surveys the actual content of the catuṣkanirhāra text (a sūtra framed as a dialogue between the Buddha and Śāriputra, transmitted via Atiśa's translation team), tracing through the fourteen passages Śāntideva quotes from it—covering topics like generosity, renunciation, humility, patience, and the bodhisattva's distinctive qualities versus those of śrāvakas. Fujita also reviews earlier Tibetan doctrinal debates (Grags pa rgyal mtshan, Tsongkhapa) over how a "bodhisattva prātimokṣa" relates to the śrāvaka prātimokṣa. He concludes that this sūtra treats the six pāramitās and related bodhisattva conduct in an unsystematized way (unlike a formal śikṣāpada code), with the arousal of bodhicitta as a key distinguishing feature from śrāvaka prātimokṣa. (Abstract generated by Claude.ai July 25, 2026])





