2013 The Chapter on Right Conduct in the Bodhisattvabhūmi

Religions of South Asia, 2023

2014

This sūtra is a superb example of Mahāyāna literature with a finely crafted, coherent, and self-conscious narrative structure, which includes the extraordinary characterization of its main protagonist as a non-Buddhist nirgrantha. It has been the center of a number of recent studies that focus on its instructions for the compassionate conduct of warfare, corporal punishment, and torture. However, this should not distract us from the general literary quality of the text and its bearing on a wider range of interests, such as the ekayāna doctrine, the perfections, pure lands, skillful means, the perception of heterodox traditions, and the cult of the book. Since this is a review for the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, I will focus on the ethical content of the translation. A great deal is at stake in the interpretation of the Buddhist ethics of violence, both for historical interpretation and current Buddhist communities engulfed in conflict. In

2014

1982

ii In the Siksasamuccaya Santideva, a Madhyamika philosopher of the early eighth century A.D., builds upon the philosophy of sUnyata (emptiness) to demonstrate its practical implications in religious life. In his portrayal of the Bodhisattva Santideva focuses on this religious hero's ascent from imperfection toward the realisation of prajffaparamita, the perfection of wisdom. Wisdom, philosophically the end of all false ideas about reality, in the sphere of behaviour is an ethical ideal characterised by compassion and altruism. The Bodb~sattva is one who has mastered wisdom and whose conduct is permeated with this ethical ideal. Santideva's presentation of the Bodhisattva is not,limited to the ideal, but also explores the many levels of achievement through which an aspiring novice-Bodhisattva must progress toward fulfilment of the ideal. Though Santideva

2012

The Buddhist Forum Volume VI. The Institute of Buddhist Studies. Tring UK, 2001

Contents List of Illustrations ............................................................. ix Preface ................................................................................ xi The Historical Spectrum of the Bodhisattva Ideal........... 1 Bodhisattva Vow by Bodhibhadra .................................... 15 Sevenfold Practice of the Dharma by Śākyaśrībhadra ... 23 Mental Attitude During Daily Activities ............................. 25 Eulogy of the Twelve Deeds of the Buddha ..................... 31 Two Eulogies of the Eight Great Caityas ........................... 37 Hymn to the Thirty-five Buddhas of Confession .............. 57 Presentation of Offerings to the Ḍākinīs ........................... 65 Offering Butter Lamps ......................................................... 81 Three Types of Evocation (sādhana) .................................. 83 Self-generation as a deity .................................................... 88 Visualisation of the victorious vase ................................... 109 Visualisation of the maṇḍala at the front ......................... 112 Funeral Rites for Rebirth in the Sukhāvatī Abode ............ 137 Transference of consciousness .......................................... 145 Liberation through hearing in the intermediate state ..... 154 The cremation ceremony ..................................................... 156 Ritual with an effigy-card (byang chog) ............................... 172 Jyotirmañjarī of Abhayākaragupta ....................................... 183 The Saṃpuṭa-tantra: Sanskrit and Tibetan Versions of Chapter Two ................. 223

2012