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Bhadracarīpranidhāna. (T. Bzang po spyod pa'i smon lam; C. Puxian pusa xingyuan zan; J. Fugen bosatsu gyōgansan; K. Pohyǒn posal haengwǒn ch'an 普賢菩薩行願讚). In Sanskrit, "Vows of Good Conduct," the last section of the Gaṇḍavyūha in the Avataṃsakasūtra and one of the most beloved texts in all of Mahāyāna Buddhism; also known as the Samantabhadracarīpraṇidhānarāja. The Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna focuses on the ten great vows (praṇidhāna) taken by Samantabhadra to realize and gain access to the dharmadhātu, which thereby enable him to benefit sentient beings. The ten vows are: (1) to pay homage to all the buddhas, (2) to praise the tathāgatas, (3) to make unlimited offerings, (4) to repent from one's transgressions in order to remove karmic hindrances (cf. karmāvaraṇa), (5) to take delight in others' merit, (6) to request the buddhas to turn the wheel of dharma (dharmacakrapravartana), (7) to request the buddhas to continue living in the world, (8) always to follow the teachings of the Buddha, (9) always to comply with the needs of sentient beings, and (10) to transfer all merit to sentient beings for their spiritual edification. The text ends with a stanza wishing that sentient beings still immersed in evil be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitābha. The text was translated into Chinese in 754 by Amoghavajra (705–774). Other Chinese recensions appear in the Wenshushili fayuan jing ("Scripture on the Vows made by Mañjuśrī"), translated in 420 by Buddhabhadra (359–429), which corresponds to the verse section from Ru busiyi jietuo jingjie Puxian xingyuan pin, the last roll of the forty-roll recension of the Huayan jing translated by Prajña in 798. (There is no corresponding version in either the sixty- or the eighty-roll translations of the
Huajan jing.) The verses are also called the "Précis of the Huayan jing (Lüe Huayan jing), because they are believed to constitute the core teachings of the Avataṃsakasūtra. In the main Chinese recension by Amoghavajra, the text consists of sixty-two stanzas, each consisting of quatrains with lines seven Sinographs in length, thus giving a total number of 1,736 Sinographs. In addition to the sixty-two core stanzas, Amoghavajra's version adds ten more stanzas of the Bada pusa zan ("Eulogy to the Eight Great Bodhisattvas") from the Badapusa mantuluo jing ("Scripture of the Maṇḍalas of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas") . . . Buddhabhadra's version consists of forty-four stanzas with 880 Sinographs, each stanza consisting of a quatrain with lines five Sinographs in length. Prajña's version contains fifty-two stanzas with each quatrain consisting of lines seven Sinographs in length. There are five commentaries on the text attributed to eminent Indian exegetes, including Nāgārjuna, Dignāga, and Vasubandhu, which are extant only in Tibetan translation. In the Tibetan tradition, the prayer is called the "king of prayers" (smon lam gyi rgyal po). It is incorporated into many liturgies; the opening verses of the prayer are commonly incorporated into a Tibetan's daily recitation. (Source: "Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 106. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
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According to Paul Harrison in his essay "Śāntideva: The Author and His Project" in Readings of Santideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (2019), the Maitreyavimokṣa is chapter 54 of the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra (see page 39). He explains that verse 1.14 of the Guide makes mention of Maitreya's commendation of the aspiration to awakening to Sudhana, which is a reference to a sequence of verses in chapter 54 (Maitreyavimokṣa) of the Gaṇḍavyūha. The relevant verses are given in full in the Anthology (See B101-104:G103-106; cf. also B9:G11).
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One of the longest works in the entire Buddhist canon, the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra is widely considered to be a compilation of independent scriptures, which was expanded upon over the course of time. It was extremely influential in East Asia, where it was preserved in an eighty-scroll recension. The Tibetan translation of this work fills four volumes in the Derge Kangyur. Though only two sections—namely, the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra and the Daśabhūmikasūtra—have survived in Sanskrit, both of which have also circulated as independent works.
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On the Conception of Bodhicitta in the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra (Läänemets 2008)
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
In the classical Mahāyāna thought the basic mental attitude of bodhisattvas bodhicitta ('mind of awakening')—is usually defined as consisting of two parts: praṇidhicitta ('mind of resolution') and prasthānacitta ('mind of progress'). In three classical and most revered works of later Mahāyāna-Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra and Śikṣāsamuccaya) and Kamalaśīla's Bhāvanākrama—almost identical definitions of the twofold nature of the bodhicitta are to be found. . . .
The Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra instead seems to be one of the most authoritative source in the discussion on the bodhicitta "theory" for the authors of later Mahāyāna. In the sutra itself, however, the very term bodhicitta occurs in very few occasions clearly having a secondary meaning while the main subject of discussion is the
person's attitude towards and activity in a certain state of mind that is called anuttturā samyaksaṃbodhi ('supreme perfect awakening') . . . (Läänemets, 113–15)Article
Visualizing a Buddhist Sutra
This book discusses the analysis of Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra. The Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra is a grand scripture covering a number of complicated themes and intricate Buddhist ideas. The study is confined to the principal idea of Bodhisattvahood versus Śrāvakahood, the concept of dharmadhātu: The realm of reality, and the Bodhisattva’s ten stages. It also describes the schematic arrangement of surviving inscriptional panels, and the eleven manuscripts of the Avataṁsakasūtra. In addition, the methodology and dialectics between form and contents as well as the interconnection between murals and inscriptions are elaborated. Finally, it summarizes the functionality of both murals and inscriptions. (Source: Oxford Scholarship Online)
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