The Background and Early Use of The Buddha Ksetra Concept

Originally published in three installments.
1. The Background and Early Use of the Buddha-Ketra Concept.

Introduction and Chapter One. by Teresina Rowell.
The Eastern Buddhist, Vol 6-3 (1934) pgs. 199-246

Chapter Two and Three. by Teresina Rowell.

Chapter Four, with Appendices and Bibliography. by Teresina Rowell.

THE
EASTERN BUDDHIST
THE BACKGROlJND AND EARLY rSE OF
'l'HE COKCEPT
1
IXTRODCCTIOX
"The obscurest period ill the history of Buddhism."
'Hote Sir Charles Eliot in "is that which follow,; the
reign of Asoka .... "
.1\ mv after more than ten years the:,;e post -Asokan "dark
ages "-as he calls them-are still relatively unexplored,
though the researches and insights of the great Bl1ddhi:,;t
scholars are gradually illuminating them. \Ve are beginning
to have some notion of what ,yas going on in Xorth Imlia
"when the ::\Iahay[ma came into being;3 we are learning to
find in primitive Buddhism lllany elements-ignored or
unknO\yn by earlier scholars aC(llwinted only ,yitlt monastic
contained the seeds of the ::\Iahayiina. \y ('
are beginning to have :,;ome vague ideas as to hO\\' these
seeds developed into later doctrines and practices. But ,Ye
have made as yet only a beginning. :.'II any of the distinctiyc
concepts of the :.'IIahiiyfma al'e still very incompletely undel'-
stood and their origin and grO\\'th almost completely shroud-
ed in darkness.
One of the mo:,;t significant and least eX}llorc(l of fiueh
characteristic ::\Iahayana concepts ifi the or
Buddha's Field. There is hardly a Sanskrit Buddhist ,york
but mentions it some,yhere-usually tens of thousand";; of
them. In the SadclharmapllJ.l(larlka
4
one of the basic scri])-
1 This is the first part of a disscrtatioll, l'rCSl'llte<l fur the rlcgl'ce
of Doctor of Philosophy in Yale LniYcl'sity, 1933.
" lliJl(luism and BwldhisJJI, Yol. II, p. 3.
3 ,Vhcn the sctoucl volumc of the Cmnbridg-c History of India is
madc a,,('cssiblc to the pullUc ,ve shall l{lloW nlOl'C. :Fol'tunatcly Pro,
fessor dc La Yallee Poussiu had atl'CSS to it for his L']iulc (lUX Temps
des JIauryas (H130).
I Henceforth gencrally designated as the Lotus.
200 THE BGDDIIIST
tureH of the Greater Y rhide, wr are almost wearied by the
freq llent repetitions of drscriptions of the 13 udc1ha-fields
",!tich the various Boc1hi,attyas are to obtain-" thoroughly
purified, charming, evcn, ndornecl ,,,ith jewel-trees .... " etc.
The Buddha-fields appear to be second only to BllCldhahoo(l
itsplf in their importanee in the future de;;tiny of the Bod-
hi,.,nttyas. They appear also ill this text in myriads as part
of cosmic illuminations. Th2 AvataJ!!saka Slltml and
arc full of them. The vastly ]lOllUlal'
Sllklult'at'ivYlllia is centered in the idea of Amitayas'
Bndelha-ksetra, and the most popular sects of Buddhism to-
day in the Par East are the Pure Land sects, which are
based upon this idea.
In view of the great importance of the concept for an
understanding of ::\Iahilyilna literature, it is strange 110'"
universally the Buddha-ksctra has been neglected by "Titers
on the l\Iahiiyi'ma. Seldom have they even explained the
term; much less thought of inquiring into its background
and development-the problem which shall particularly con-
cprll llS ill the present study. Buddha himself, clearly, never
mentioned snch a thing as n "Buddha's field;" ,,hence then
diel the idea come from: 'Yhat are these Buddha-fields:
lYhcJ'c are they? lIow do the Bodhisattvas attain them,
and what do they do ,,,ith them "'hen each has acquired one
of his own?
Kern in his translation of the Lotus, a scripture in
which the Buddha-fields playa very significant part, gives
liS 110 light on their meaning. In his only relevant foot-note
H
he explains the Buddha-fields as "obyionsly the morning
sky before dawn! "-an almost amusingly misleading inter-
pretation, based upon the solar-myth theory in terms of
which he understood (or misunderstood) the Buddhology
of the Lotus.
] Henceforth g01l0rall;" designated as A1atmizsaka.
Hencciorth generally designatcrl :IS Vimalakfrti.
3 SEE XXI, p. 8.
THE BCDDHA-KSETRA
201
The fe\\' other explanations ,yhich haye been gl\'en are
far from adeqnate. The occasional rE'ferencE's to Budd1ta-
ksetra in Professor de la Vallee I'ou:,;sin's inyal uable artides
in EnE, ,. Cosmogony and Cosmology, Buddhist," ,.
of the ,Vorlcl," etc., mention it only in its purely cosmologi-
cal use as a certain aggregate unit of ,yol"!(l-systems (eqnal
to the gTeat chiliocosm \yhich is made up of a tho\l,..allll
million \yorld-systems). Burnouf, on page :163 of his
on the Lotus, notes the three kinds of Bndclha-fields aCl'Ol"d-
ing to a Singhalese authority but goes no further than
that. Dr. Barnett's definition, in the introcluction to his
translation of 8antideya's Path of Liuht,1 gins a g()(xl idea
of the ethical as well as purely cosmological meaning of the
Dmlc1ha-field, including the Buddha's relationship to it:
"EYery Buddha," he explains, "has a domain of his O\\"n
or Bnddha-k:,)etra, a uniYerse nnder the rule of the Law
preached by him. The magnificence of such a domain is
proportionate to the nobility of the deeds performed by its
ruling Buddha during his probation as a Boclhisattya." III
a later note (p. 97) he defined the k:')etra more briefly as
"the domain of a Buddha-the system of a thousand million
\yorIels, each under the guardianship of a Buddha."
EYen this definition, hO\yeyer, \yhich is the best I 1!<lYe
been able to discoyer, fails to giw the reader much sllspic:ioll
of t he far-reaching ethical and philosophical im plicat iOIl S
which make the Buddha-k'letra such a fascinating and
lJlex problem to try to unrayel.
'rhe ])lace of the Buddha-field and the Dmldha-fielcls in
the :\Iallayana scheme has up to this time newr (so fen- as
I can disc oyer ) been investigated, and the (ll1estion of the
origin of the concept has neyer been raised in a
single paragraph in a general book on Religion ill rlli'iollS
Cult llrcs,2 olle would least exped an original sngges-
1 The Path of Ligllt, Wisdom of the East SCl"ics, p. 31.
Religio1l in Various elllillfrs, hy Friess a:tc1 Sdlllcidcr, pnl1lishetl
lnte in (Holt, N. Y.), p. 1.-;-1.
202 THE EASTERN BUDDHIST
tion about an obscure matter of Buddhist doctrinal history
which had not hitherto been r\"('n thought of as a problem.
The authors refer to the firld as a "new and distinctiYely
Buddhist paradise-conCe}lt"l and sugge::;t that it al'ose as a
solution of conflicts behveen the idea of NiryaJ.'a and the
idra of heaYen. This meaning of the Buc1dha-ksE'tra ,,'as
probably up}lE'rmost in later l\Iahayana; :B'riess and
Sehneider are particularly to be commended for recognising
the importance of the idea of Buddha's merit as helping' all
those in his ficIci, and their ::;uggestion concerning the origin
of the concept is valuable. ,Ve I'hall see in Chapter III
how the development of the k:;;etra-concept '\"as indeed fostel'-
ed by people's need for a concrete realm in which to 100],
fOJ'ward to being' reborn, alld by the growing desire to
worship Buddha and be with him in person. But this repre-
sents only one among many factor::; leading to the deYelop-
l11ellt of the concept which we propose to stUdy. rrhe ypry
development of Duddhology, for example, ,yhich is implie<l
in the notion of such a Buddha's field, implies a considerable
evolution of beliefs about the Buddha, and this evolution
must be investigated in order to understand 11mv the notion
of a Buddha's field arose. ln this study ,ye propose to
inycstigate as far as possible all the factor" \vhich played
a part in the deYelopment of the conee11t,2
1 "It wa" held that eaeh Bu(1<1ha upon ;lttaining l'\irYilt,la acquires
a field a s]lhere thronghunt ,yhich his prescnce and his nlst
accumulation of merit continue to exert a saying infiucnee upon all
those ,yho call upon him .... "
, The dlief sources used for the study of deyclopment arc as
follcnys:
(a) }'Ol' early Buddhist thought of thc third ecntury B.C. and
eadieI', ehiefly the Dlwmmapada, Sutta,Xiz)(Ua, Digila, Majjilima, and
Sal?l!!utta,Sikiiyas (supplemented lJy the latcl' Ailguttara) , and Jiita/.'a:
edids of Asoka (373-331 B.C.) for lay Buddhism of that period;
(ll) X'Ol' orthodox IIiwlY'ln:l idens: the Viswldlti J[agga, Att/w-
sal/iiI anfl othpr ('(\l1lment:tl'ies by Bllc1dhaghosa of Ceylon (fifth ccntury
A,D.) :
(c) For the period from the thinl c('ntury, B.C. on, when the
Mahayana was tnking rise: Kat/Ill /attlltl (for dodrinal ('ontroycrsics
in the third ccntUl'Y, and pll rticul:ll'ly for the liIa hasiil!lghikas),
THE BCDDIIA-KSETRA
203
and to elucidate the various sides of its meaning as it is
used in 8anskrit Buddhist scriptures
l
up to about J30 A. D.
At the outset of our inquiry into the backY1'oliw/ of the
concept of a Buddha's field, we must go to the early Pali
scriptures (see note on preceding page) and ask ,dwt con-
ceptions or presuppositions ,ye can find there ,vhicl1 may
Yasumitrn's Treat is( on the S ecis, Jl ilinila-paiiJ/a (end of pre-Christian
era and lJcginning of first ("entury A.D.); supplemented lJY histories
of ("ontemponlry India, translations fl'Olll Chinese ycrsions of scrip-
tures (espe('ially in "CondIe de Rfljag)'ha"; "La LegendI'
de l'Eml'ereur "Le l'arinirvfllla et II'S Funfrailles, JAS,
HJl8 ff. ete., aJl(1 Leyi and Chayanncs' translation of the sixteen Arhats
cyclc) , ami the eyideuce of areh:leology (Jf11S, "Le Buddha Pan""
etc.). Articles ami books consulted will lJe found listell in the Biblio-
graphy.
, The prim-ipal 8anskrit somees studied for the use of the
BlHltlha-ksetra arc as follows, with the dates of their first translation
into (or other dates where possible):
lJasaiJ/ulJJ!i/,a Suira (ed. Hahder) A.D. :297 (but some text on the
])hlllllis was translate(1 between 68 ,tIld 70 "'.D. Hml another certainly
existed ull(ler the Parthian king Au 8hih Kao US-170 A.D.)
Sarldltar))WpUl,u.larU:a (ed. Kel'll ami ="anjio) A.D. :26.3-:n7.
Sllkhiit'atTt'yilha (cd. }ILillel' aJl(1 .:s':lIljio,) first tr. betweeu US aud
170 A.D., aud often thereafter.
LaZitavistar(l (ed. Lefmann), eout>lining some ycry old materials
but largely representing Buddhist tradition of the serull(l ('entm), A.D.
.
Malulyil))(lsllirillamkilra (eel. awl tr. S. Levi), 1,), AS:lnga (fourth
century A.D. or perhal;s fifth; there is still disagreement ou his dates.)
(cd. Bendall), compiled by Sfllltic1eva in seventh
century A.D. from earlier sources.
The following translations "were made especial usc of:
(used in tr. frolll TilJetan) tr. into Chinese in
sixth century.
At'at!1iilsrl/,-aslltra (used in tT. from Chinese), A.D.
nnwZai,lrtillinlda, (used in tr. from Chinese), freljUl'lltly quoteel
by J'\flgflrjuna (seeolltl century A.D.) so prolmhly seyerfll ccnturies
earlier. First tr. into Chinese ISH _'-D. (this tr. lost.) Itlzumi's tr.
(Eastern B wZclhist, Yols. III aud IV) is lJased Oll the Chinese tT. by
Kumilrajiva (406 A.D. For this date see Idzumi-Intr. to Vimala-
kIrtill irdda, Eastern Buddhist lI, p. 3,")8-366.) For seholastie theory
the A b7lil77wr 11/([ Ko,{a of Yasu],:m(lhu (brothel' of Asailgn) and the
Vijfwpti1lll1tratii Siililili of IIin:lIl-ts:mg (sc,-cnth century A.D. cOlllpila-
tion and Chinese tr. of commeutaries on Tri1Jlsii,il of Yasllhamlhu)
,,-erc consulted in the French translations of de la Vallee roussin.
204 TIlE EASTERN BUDDHIST
have led to the notion of Buddha's having a "fiel(1" in allY
t,eme ,dJatsoever. Accordingly ,ye shall in the e11apter
investigate the lIse of "'helta (the Pali form of k.'jetm) and
related words (such as visoyo and gocam) ,yllol-;e nse may
throw some light on this question. In sueh an in(lniry it is
important to rememlJel' the Hindu gift (not, IHmcver, eon-
fined to India!) for using a concrete ,yord at once in a
literal and in a symbolic sense, thus investing common ex-
pressions ,yith profound ethical and philosollhieal overtones.
This is admirably illustrated in the case of the \I'ord bit ii ml,
,yhich meant first of all simply" earth," one of the five great
elements (malulblt Cdiini). Buddhaghosa explains (in A ttlw-
siilini,-" The Expositor" II, p. 291) how it may mean" the
great earth, or "a state of conseiousness" or "the fruition
of the religions life" because it is the ground or soil for
associated states ,yhich are depenc1ent upon it. It is some-
,dJat in the latter sense that the ,yord bll 17mi came to mean
one of the seven, or ten, stagcs in the career of a Do(1hisattva,
so that a description of the blu7mis (e.g. as in Du.(ublllllllik({)
covers almost all that maaers in l\Iahi"tyi"tna ethics and evell
metaphysic:,;. Similarly ,vas used in sewral ways-
literal and physical, psychological, ethical, etc. It is familial'
in non-Buddhist literature in the sense of the "body" as
the "field" of the 'qet i'({- j ria or "soul" (see especially
Bhag(lvad (JU(1 XIII).1 In Pali it appears fl'e(lnently in the
phrase P1li1 riakkhctta-" field of merit" (Sanskrit
k!}ctm), meaning an object of charity, nSllally some holy
person, by [Jiving to whom one produces merit for oneself.
This use of khctfa seems to have had nothing to do ,yith
"Buddha-khetta" (though the idea of merit is closely relat-
ed to the Bncldha-field, as \\'e shall see). The usC' of ra
in tIle concept we propose to study combinps psychological,
ethical, and other uses, but its primary meaning is remark-
ably close to the literal, though on a cosmic scale: a Buddha's
1 Awl the later Upcllisa!is-f!.g. gut, G, Hj; .1la it,. i G, etc. Ree
also Jiahavastu iii, p. 398, 1. 14, 399, 1. 2.
THE BL:DDIIA-KSETRA
205
k ~ e t r a in his area of the universe, his "field" in a primaril!J
spatial and cosmolouil'Ul sense. lIence ,Ye mast explore
early conceptions of Buddha's relation to the ,1'01'1(1 in order
to (1iscoYer the background of the Budclha-ksetra notion.
Then, having found that theories about the range of his
knolDleduc 'H're among the earliest ideas of the range of his
powers, ,ye shall examine the implications of his !tnowlcdue
of the world, to try to discover what is the meaning of call-
ing the whole cosmos" Buddha's domain" in this sense.
In the second part of the first chapter ,ye shall see ,yhat
is meant by calling the ,yorld (or a llarticular aggregate of
worlds) "Buddha's field" in the sense of :;phcre of his
beneficent injiuence.
In the second and third chapters we shall try to see
,yhat is meant by calling the world "Buddha's field" in
the sense of the realm of his authority, asking:
A. \Vhat such authority entails in Buddha's relation
to the creatures in his field;
B. lImy each" future Buddha" acquires such a realm,
(i.e. ,\'hat is the place of the k::;etra in the Boclhisattva-
career, and in particular ,,,hat is the meaning of "pnl'ifyillg
the field"?)
C. lImy the notions of a Bucl(lha's dllty to cJ/liuhten
others, and his particular localresponsibilitu fo}' a particular
1L'orlc7 arose and developed in the history of BlH1dhist
thought.
This \lill inyolve consideration of the development of
the" Bodhisattya-ideal" (one of the great problems in the
rise of .l\Iahayana Buddhism), of the belief in many con-
temporary Buddhas
l
assigned to different 11a1't;.; of the
nniYerse, of the" lIinduizing" of Dudc1hism throngh ;.;uch
influences as those of the Cakravartin legend, the lIindu
cleya-parac1ises, bhakti-cults, etc.
In the fourth chapter and its appendices we shall ;.;ee
the part played by the myriad fiel(ls in cosmic apocalypses,
J OIlC of the few l'enlly distinguishing marks of the ::\[nhiiyiina.
206 THE EASTER'S' BL'DDHIST
eS]lecially as described in the Lotus, and ,re shall try to
understand the ontology expressed by these" appearances."
This ,yill involve some consideration of the meaning of the
three kayas-the Buddhist "trinity "-in their relation to
the Bllddha-ksetra, ,,-hich involves us deeply in one of the
central problems of ::Uahayima origins: the gro,ying tendency
to believe in a cosmic Bucldha-kaya or Dharma-kaya, of
which the particular Buddhas and Boddhisattvas are
thought to be only temporary manifestations. In the latter
part of that chapter ,ye shall see how this metaphysical
doctrine of the is inteq1retec1 in a subjective
and (epistemologically) "idealistic" sense ,,,hich had far-
reaching influence in the later .:\Iahayiina.
It will be seen that our problem is not an isolated one,
but involy('s for its solution a large number of the most signi-
ficant problems in the development of l\Iahiiyana Buddhism.
In the present state of Buddhist research it must be obyious
that lYe cannot give a final ans,ver to any single question
,,-hich so largel;\- inyolves the solution of others for its full
explanation. 'While scholars of long standing arc wrestling
with the long-dark history of the early schisms, ,yhich must
be dug out from the 'ribetan and Chinese canon by such a
combination of scholarship and imagination as men like
Przyluski possess, '"hile texts are still to be published, it
,,,ould be presumptuous for a beginner to whom only
Sanskrit and Pali arc accessible to attempt a final solution
of any phase of such a complex and relatively unexplored
field_ Bnt the very fact of its being pioneer territory makes
a beginning necessary, and so mnch can be gleaned from
alread,\- llUblishec1 texts, with the aid of translations from
Chinese and Tibetan and the invaluable ,rork of Sylyain
Levi, Ija Vallee Poussin, Huber, Przylnski, Senart, and the
rest, that it seems ,,,orth ,,,hile to try to put together the
data and conjectures that follow, in the hO]le that they may
shed at least a preliminary light on this which is so
much in need of illumination.
TIlE BL'DDIIA-KSETRA
207
CHAPTER 1. BLDDHA AND THE COS:\IOS
A. As }<'IELD Of' Hrs KKOWLEDGE
B. As l{AKGE OF HIS BEXE\-oLEN'f lXFLuEKC'E
One idea of the relation of the Budclha-k'ietra to the
cosmos is forth in the story of hmy a certain Sada
Kaiseki, afraid lest Copernican astronomy overthrow
the Buddhist cosmology of the three worlds, tried to
refute Copernican astronomy and to demonstrate Indian
cosmology. He called Ullon the famous sage Yekicl6 and
explained the ;;crilltnral construction of the three worlds
and the dangers of the Copernican theory. But Yekido
replied:
"Bllddhistll aims to rleSi)'oIJ the th)'ee worlds Cl1ld
to establish Buddha's Holy Kingdom thl'ollUh01l/ the
univcl'se. 'Yhy do yon 'H1ste your energy in the con-
struction of the three ,yorlds?"
To!tl ill Xllkal'iya Krritcn's The ReligiON at the Samlll'lli, p. (itt
A. As F'IELD 010' HIS KNOWLEDGE
Our problem is to try to understand ,,;hat was meant
by the term or "field of Buddha," and parti-
cularly to elucidate its meaning ill terms of its background
and early development. 'Yhence did the idea probably
arise C! 'Yhat ideas are involved in the concept when 'I'e first
meet it in Buddhist scripture; what relationships or func-
tions exerciseel by the Buddha are expressed by the Bud-
dhists in mf'tapllUrical terms as his relation to a "field!"
'Vhat presuppositions underlie the notion of a Bmlc1ha's
field, anel where in primitiye doctrine may the roots of these
presuppo::;itions be sought?
Let us start our inquiry with the third queHtion, for
we must begin by asking' what ideas underlie the yery notion
of Buddha's haying a "field" of allY sort. 'rIle tentative
ans,,'er to this qne::;tion should giye us a ele,,, as to ,yhat
realms of early Bm1tlhist thought ,ye mnst explore in order
208 TITE EASTEHN B"CDDII1ST
to discover the pre-history of the eoneellt.
"\Ve have seen already in the introcluction that the
Buddha-ksetra iieemii to be llrimarily a eosmologieal eOlleept :
hack of all the ethieal and philosophical interpretations and
metaphorical elaborations iyhich cannot be neglected in ex-
ploring its history, lie eertain primary eoneeptiolls about
Buddha's relation to the [('orlel. In these primary concep-
1ions there inhere implications, ethical, etc., iyhich are ex-
panded and developed and given conerete expression in the
later complex picture of the Buddha-ksetra. "\Ve :-;hall f-iee
how later Buddhists described Buddha's functiolls and re-
lationships in concrete and pictureS(lUe imagery, hut our
problem now is to find out iI-hat presuppositions about his
l'elationshills and functions lie back of that later imagery.
'Ve must ask first what notions appear in early Bud-
dhist thought concerning any special and peculiar prOl:inre
of inHuenee or knowledge or action on the Buc1c1ha'f-i part.
Did his followers work out any theory about a particular
stope 01' range of his influence or power or knowledge? If
i\-e can find any idea of limits to his pmyer in the sense of
:;pecializution as iyell as spatial limitation, iye >;hould be on
the track of ideas of considerable importance for the deve-
lopment of the conception of a Buddha-field.
l. IIinayiina Ideas of a Buddha's Scope 01' Range
'Vhen we search through the Pali Pitakas for an answer
to these questions iye find that iI-hat appears to be the ear-
liest notion of a Buddha '>; scope or range is eonnccted not
so much with the limitation of hi>; powers as ,yith the parti-
cular and peculiar province of his pOirers as distinguished
from those of the rest of mankind. 'Ve shall see that
theories about the range of a Buddha's knolDlcdye were
probably among the very earliest to be formulated in any
consideration of the range or scope of his pOiyerS; but on
the iyay to investigating these theories and their implic-
ations, let us see what notions ire can discover in the early
TIlE BUDD1L\-KSETRA
209
literature with regard to a BIUldllll '", paril(,llial' ]Jl'ovill('c or
special ability or concern.
There are two suttas in the SUIiII SipIlt({-probably one
of the Buddhist ficriptures-in ,vhich the idea of
fipecial pOlnr, or sphere of concern or lmmy]edge on the part
of the Buddha is implied, and Buclc1haghosa in commenting
upon these suttas calls this special province Bnddha's vis({yu.
One is the "Kasibharadvajasutta,"l in commenting
upon ,vhich D1Hldhaghosa
2
labels as l1uddlw's visll!J({ his
ability to digest a certain food which no one in the realms
of gods or men could digest.
3
The other is the "Alavakasutta," in ,yhich a certain
Yakkha propounds to the Buddha a list of questions
4
con-
cerning ,yhat is of most worth, how one" crosses over," ,yhat
is the best life, etc.,-questions which in his commentary
Buc1dhaghosa calls Buddha's visuya." IIe probably include;;;
the elUS,YerS as ,Yell, meaning that problems as these
are the special province of the Buddhas.
G
And in so far
as the Dhamma realised and preached by the Buddhas is
concerned ,yitll jnst thefie questions, ,ye can see here in IIlna-
yana thong-ht an expression of the Dhamma-content of the
B1Hlc1ha '8 clomain ,vhich ,,,ill take an added signifieance ,,,hen
Sutta 1:r:ly:tgga Sutta 4, Tr. SBE X, part, V. 11 ff.
Pa)"ui//attillljoti7:r7 II, I, 4 p. 1::;4.
Sllt/a XilJr7ta, PTS ell. p. 1:); tr. p. 13-14: "Xo one in the
worIll of mell aud gOlls and l\Hira- and Brahma-rctiuues (saurahma7,'c)
.... eould lligesi this riCl'-milk with the exeeption of Tathiigata or a
diseiple of Tathagata.'
, SBE:S, ::!ml P:llt, p. 30. "How liyed do they eall lift' liwll the
hest '? HoI\' is one purified 1" etc.
:. "EY"1ll etc imclclhapaiih:-l vwldlwuisayr7 cya honti.'" ParQlIlatt/w-
Joti/,-{i 11, I, 10 p. 1.
'l'Iw btller amI mother of the questionCl' had, Buddhaghosa ex-
plains, lcal'llecl these questions together with their answers from the
Blessed One Kassapa. They are questions whose answers all Buddhas
kllo\Y. Cf. Childers (Pali Dictionary) who quotes sub voce Visa yo :
"te j:tnitmil tnva ca tlyisayo .... 1lUclclhiinam ent visayo. To know them
is beyonel (or not) your range; it is the peculiar proyince of the Bud
dhas."' Chiltlers refers to Dh. 183 for this qnotation, but it eloes not
nppear in D7w1J!l1wpaila 183.
210 TIlE BuDDHIST
lye come to consider similar conceptions in }Iahayuna texts.!
fn the AtthascIliJlZ:2 Budc1haghosa calls the provincc of
t he Buddhas their special business of ruling ,,-ith regard to
faults:
"Infinite rapturous joy arises in those Dhikklms who
learn the Vinaya text and reflect that it is the ]Jrovince of
the Buddhas and not of othel's to lay dOlyn the rule for
each fault or transgression according to its grayity."
These scholastic interpretations of the Bllddha-visaya
do not of course tell us much about early ideas, but they are
useful in calling our attention to ideas implied in early scrip-
tures were later formulated into more clearly defined
concepts of a Buddha-province. The process of c1eYelop-
ment they illustrate is instructive in suggesting how the idea
of the may have deyeloped, particularly be-
cause the ideas are so closely related that their pre-history
must coincide. The meaning of visC1ya in early Buddhist
literature may be yery significant for the history of the
Buddha-field notion, but here Duddhaghosa helps us scarcely
at all. rro us the most familiar use of vis!1Y{{ is in the
psychological sense of sphere or object of sense-perception
(see, for instance, SaJ)!yutta v. 218). In the Dhammasan-
ga1.11, ,yhere one ,nmld expect its 11sychological meaning
to be eX]llained, I can find it used only once, and then
3
in
the interesting' but not particularly psychological 11hrase
"}Iara's domain" 1 along ,vitll }Iara's fish-hooks and traps.
}Iore frequently in the Pitakas is the use of vis({!}!1 in quite
a different connection-in the phrase peiavisaya
3
anel pett ivi-
1 Sec quotations from later in this chapter and
the discussion of its implications.
" 11, (The Expositor p. 14): closflllurflpal)1 sikkhilpadapafiiiii-
pananl nilma imasmiln dose imasmim yltikkame idaI!1- nilma hoti ti
llafiilftpanlllam aiiilesam ayisayo lJllili7hlinam cta visayo ti.
" Dlw1Jl11WSall.lJal.li, sec 10.;9. Buddhist Psychological Ethics, p. 282.
1 Cf. Dasabhilmika, p. 62, line 5.
3 Dlglw iii. 234; JI. i. 73; S. iii. 224, etc. The psychological use
of the term seems to he coufine(] almost entirely to later texts,-S etti-
and works of Buddhaghosa, (except one reference in Sa!!l-
yutta).
THE B"CDDllA-I\::;ETRA
211
wya (realm of the petas or of the manes,) I-sigllificant as
an illustration of the literal local anel geographical connota-
tions belonging to the word from early times.
In one standard and oft-repeated phrase, "gocaro . ...
sako pettiko visayo," the association of 'visaya with gocam,
in the sense of sphere of suggests that the meta-
phor included an ethical meaning ,yider than just the ap-
plication of one's minel:
"Brethren, ,,,hat is the la,,,ful resort (gocam)'l of a
brother, his paternal proyince (sctl,o pcttiko visayo)? It is
the four a])plications of mindfulness (sat ipatthrlna).' ,,\
1 The Pali \\'ol'll has hoth meanings through eonfusiOl1 of
the Skt. paitrya anel lJitrya \"lith the word pcta (SId.
pteta).
As in DIglw iii. :ill; "Keep to yom own pastll1'cs (gocare),
hrethren, walk in the haunts where your fathers roame(l (sa7:e pettike
risaye). If ye thus walk in them the Eyil One will find no lalHling
plaee, no basis of attack. It is prceiscly l,y the cultinttion of good.
qualities that this merit grows." Note the Bllggesiion in the last
scntenec that {!()ca}"(l means somcthing likc charader, ill whie-h merit
grows hy cultiyation. Goeara hhikhnva caratha sake llettikc yisaye.
Goc:uc bhikkavc carataJ)l sake pattike visaye n:t lanhati ::\mro otiiriil)l,
na l:t('ehati ::\[uro '-ll':tllllllan:Ul1. Kusnliilliilll hhikkh:tvc DhalllJllCmam
('vam i(la III r;ufifimn .
3 This is one of thrce kinils of [local'll in Bwl<lhaghosa's rlassi-
fi('ation: llpanissaya .l}ocal'o-!!s a "sufficing cOlHlition: a good frieml
.... owing to whom one hears the lWW, purifies the 01<1 ... increases in
faith, yirhH', learning, self-sacrifice, wisdom."
arakkha{!ocal'o-as a "guardian: a brothel' here on entcring a
village goes .... looking l)('for8 him not fmthel" thnn the distame of a
plough, anel is well-restrainc(1. lIL' docs not go looking :It nn elephant,
a horse, a chariot, .... a woman, or a man .... "
1Ipaniba)!dhagocaro-as a "hond: the foul' :tpplieatiolls of mind-
fulness .... "
Quoted in risllll!lhi Jl11{!ga ID anil elsewhere frolll Samyntfa
XLYI, 7 [v. HGJ; . g. Jlltaka ii. :i9 and vi. 193; Jlilill(ia ilGH (tr. II
283). In the Jlilill(la the same statement is quote(1 in illustration of
the moral that one should never give up one's presence of 'IlliIUI, that
being the home in Ic7dcll lie a/cells. "'Anel this, 0 king', hns been
said by the Blesse(1 One, the god OWl' all goils: 'A 1111 which, 0
Bhikshus, is the Bhikshu's resort, the realm whieh is his own 1), right '1
It is this, the four modes of being mindful an(l thoughtful (sati-
pa11hana)." The association of the satiparthanas with the phrase
".I}ocara-saka pcttika t'isaya" seems to l)c familial' u t least hom the
time of the Pitakas, anel is prolJahly of long standing.
212 THE EASTERN DlTDDlIIST
GOC(f}'([ iH intereHting to lIH bccam;c of itH close similarity
to khet/a, though it sayors eyen more concretely of the
soil, meaning literally, "COlY'S grazing" or "pasture." It
is sometimeH used in a purely psychological sense, practically
synonYlllOUS ,,ith visayu, Wi in 8al]1.l}utta y. 218 where both
words appear. It is more familiar in the Pitakas in all
ethical sense as one's sphere of conduct, particularly in the
phrase clciiragocara-sampanlla.
1
Similar is its use in Dhammapada 22,2 ,,,here we read of
the ariY(lncliit goeara, rendered" range of true-aristocrats"
in ::\lrs. Rhys Davids' recent re-translation. And in verses
92 and 93
3
it appears in an interesting connection where its
specific meaning is by no means easy to ascertain:
'''rhey for "whom (worldly) store is not, who under-
stand the body's needs, the lIlen whose range is in the void,
th' unmarked, in liberty, as bourn of birds in air so hard
it is to trace whither those men are bound."
This is important for our study, because in verses 179 and
180 we find the phrase anantagocaram applied to thE'
Buddha. This must be one of the earliest suggestions of his
having a "range' '-so the content of the phrase should be
significant. To judge from ,,,hat we have seen of the early
use of gocara, the phrase must mean something like" realm
of conduct anel application." The Chinese version from the
FcWn([vl1rga
4
seconds this interpretation by translating:
"The field of whose activity is the void, the uncharacteristic,
and solitude" in verse 93, and in 179 and 180 "the Buddha,
the field of ,,,hose activity is infinite." (F diinavarga XXIX.
54, Rockhill, p. 150.)
1 Dlgha i, 63; JIajjhima i. :13; S(lJ!I)Jlltta v. lSi; Ithllttaka 96.
" Etam viscsato fiatvii appmn:1dmilhi pamliti"l appamiide pamo-
dUllti ari)Jil;Wl?l gacarc !"at:1, 23. PTS cd. of 19i4.
" Yesal)l sallllieayo natthi, yc pariiifii"ltabhojanii, sufifiato allimitto
ca vimokho yesaril gocaro, :1],:1se va salnmtflllal)l gati tcsa'!l durannayii.
92. YassflSayfl parikkhlni"l, :lhflre ea :missito suiiilato animitto ea vimokho
yesmil goearo, ak:1se, etc. 93.
4 Udi111avarga XXIX. 2;) translated in Rockhill, The U (7anawrga
from the Dlllldhist Callon, p. 146.
'fIlE BUDDllA-KSETRA
213:
In the S.B.E. edition of the Dhammapada, l\Iax ::\Iiiller's
rendering of these passages gives a definitely psychological
twist to gocara, translating in 179 "the Awakened, the
Omniscient" and in 92 "who has perceived void and un-
conditioned freedom." This interpretation, though wander-
ing far from literalness, may have been right in so far as
Buddha's peculiar sphere of activity 1s l)redominantly his
knowing, as we shall see in a moment.
11. The Range of a Buddha's Knowledge
,Ve have considered the m;e of these various words 111
order to try to find the earliest reachings toward any notion
of Buddha's having a particular scope or range, ideas ,vhich
seemel to be closely related to the notion of his having a
"field." ,Ve found that the early Buddhists had no clearly
defined concepts of this sort, bnt that ideas leading up to
such formulations seemed to be implied in the use of terms
like gocara and visaya. The problem of the 1'!lnge of Bud-
dha's knowledge they did however begin to discuss relatively
early; phrases referring to the omniscience of the fully-
enlightened One are familiar in the early Dhammapacla and
Suttanipiita.
Dhamlllapada 353. Sabbavidft' hamasmi.
Sllttaniprtta 176. "the all-knO\ving, the wise." (sa b-
bavidu sumedha.)
344. "thou all-seeing." (samantacakklw).
i345. "thou all-seeing as the thousand-eyed
Sakka of the gods."
And in the questions of King lIIilincla lone of the principal
1 Prohnh1y ('olllpilec1, a('cordillg to Rhys Dayids (in the introdu('-
tion to Tile Questions of Kill" Jlilinda and in the Prefacc to Dial. I)
"at 01' alJOut the time of the Christian erH," lmt pcrhaps going back to
an earlier original (not earlier than the latter half of the second century
B.C. when liyed). It seems to hc now agreed that ]\filinda
was the Grcco-Baetrian king, mentioned by StralJo and
J llstin and c1escrihec1 in a list of the Greek kings of Bactria as a King
of the Yonakas rcigning at Sagala. See Rhys Duvi(l's Introduction to
his translation xyiii ff. (SEE XXXV.)
"dilemmas" ",ith regard to the Buddha is the problem of
his universallmmYledge. Apparently some unorthodox sects
"'ere teaching that he kne,Y everything in one thought (eka-
k$ana-citfena). The orthodox yie,Y is explained by Kagasena
as follows: "Yes, Buddha ,yas omniscient. But the insight
of lmmdedge was not ahyays and continually (consciously)
present with him. The omniscience of the Blessed One was
clependent on reflection." But if he did reflect he knew
,yhatever he "'anted to lmo,Y (I p. 154-160. Text 102 ff).
Note that behind this ans,Yer lies the llrotest of dey eloping
Hlnayana orthodoxy against any tendency toward 1-,okot-
tarayada.
This problem of Buddha's omniscience yrill proye to be
of deci(led importance in the early history of the Buddha-
k'letra. So it is llarticularly interesting to find the \yord
khetfa giyen in the fourth century B.C. Dhammasangal;li
1
as one of the received metallhors for the" sphere of vision" :
"This that is sight, the sphere of sight (cakkhuyata-
nam), the element of vision (cakkhudhiitu) , the faculty of
yision (cakk1l1lndriyam) , this that is "a \Yorld" (loko),
"a door" (elvurll) , "an ocean" (sa1nllddo) , "lucent"
(Z](ll.l(luram) , "a field" (khcttam),2 "a basis" (vatthllm),
.;97. Bw/rlhist Psycholo[!ical Etllics, p.173 ff.
This is the only metnphoril'nl usc of khctta which I IwYe been
able to find he fore Buddhaghosa. III the Sutta Sipdta H'rses 7.;-79,
the figure of plou[!hil/[! is used ill rill ethic-al sense sug'gesting strongly
that the "fruit of immortality" grows out of a field, lJllt the worel
khetta cloes llot rlppoar. (The 'YOI'd '.-hctta does appeal' later in this
sutta, but in the sense of pulina kllctta which certainly fails to cany
out the figure of the ploughing set forth so cffediycly just' lJcfore.
'fhe point was to dewlop yil'tue l)y eultiyating one's own eharader,
not to sow "roots of merit" by gi\'ing alms to another.) In impli-
cation, it ,yould mean something like c/tm'acter, a nwanillg which
corresponds interestingly with a similar figure in the popular Chinese
rin Chih TVen: "Unexpedecl hlessings grow, as it were, in a very
adual fiehl which crln lJe ploughed and haneste(l. The heart, though
spiritual rind mysterious, yet possesses a solid, tangible soil, which can
he tilled and watered" (p. 31). "The Bu(ldhists .... will never relax
their yigilant guarcl OWl' the herlrt, which will by degrees become pure
:mcl hright, free from cyil thoughts and reae1y to do good. This
THE BL:DDIIA-KSETRA
215
Jetc ..... " :;\lr8 Rhys Davids notes that" this and the fol-
lmving similes will be quotations of metaphors applied
to the senses in the Sutta Pitaka."
'l'his psychological use of khetfa, considered in relation
to the problem of the limits of B1lddha's knowledge, is a
more promising allproach to the history of the Buddha-
kf)etra than the search for unexpressed implications in such
vague ,yords as goeara and vis(lya, though they are useful in
shmying us early premonitions of the notion of his having'
any sort of a range or scope. 'rhe problem of his knowledge
points more directly to later ideas of the Ducldha-kfletra, be-
cause the concept of his omniscience had from the vcry
first a distinct" cosmic reference." He was not just vagucly
"sabbavid," but more particl11arly "10kavid,"2 Indeed, it
seems to have been in the realm of his knowledge that Bud-
dha's relation to the ,,-orhl ,vas first discussed; in other
,yords, his knou'ing of theu'odd ,vas probably the first
formulated of his" cosmic relations." Decause he was eOiil-
pletdy enlightcne(l (Sambllddlw) he must of course haw
knmYl1 the whole ,,-orld, all there ,vas of it. All that exists
comllrisec1 the object of his lnmlYledge, his visaya (in the
psychological sense of the Iyon1, ,yit11 what practical and
ethical imlllications ,Ye shall see further on).
In a sense this involves the notion of limitation whieh
,Ye have been looking for: though the Buddha's polt'ers are
limitless, still the extent of the existing ,nlrlcP does set
clllightcmncllt is enlled their most /I([PPY land." (p. 35. Open COllrt,
1906, tr. Carus nnd Suzuki.)
] tattlwlJl. is given in the l'ali Dietiollary as "hnsis 01' ground,
field, plot, word nearly 8ynonymous with I:hctta 1mt even more
litenllly "local."
" Sec e.g. JI. i, 178; Dig/I([ iii, 76; S. i, 6:2; v. 167, 3+3; A. ii, +8.
3 But even the whole wOl'l,l coultl not hound was
onphatieally in vit'w of his omniseienee. T'1
this sense he ,,-as "Iokottara" in the wry ('arliest Bm1c1hist thought,
hefore the fnntasies of popular mythology grafte([ themselves upon the
Buddha-legend nnd made him "Iokottara" in more spectacular nml
fantastic ways. But see nbove p. :214, for the distinction ]Jehveen the
orthodox coneeption of his ol11llisciellCe alHl the Lokottur3vft(lin's illtel'-
pretntiun. See Senart, La Legcndc elu Boudd/I([.
certain bounds to the 1'allUe of his empirical knowing. That
"range" is the whole world. ('1'hen with the multiplication
of the "'orld-systems, speculation 'would be necessary to
formulate more precisely the meaning of his" cosmic range,"
perhaps involving real spatial limitation, but we are getting
ahead of our story.)
In the light of our suspicion that the t'isaua in the sense
of a Buddha's field of knowledge represents perhaps the
first definite notion of his having any sort of a cosmic field,
it is particularly interesting to discover, in the only IIlna-
yuna reference to the Buddha-field which, so far as I can
(liscover, has come down to us, the visaya-khetia as one of the
three kinds of Buddha-khettas! The list appears in the cos-
mological section of Buddhaghosa's l'isuddhi ,,,here
he enumerates the three kinds:
1
the jati-khetta, or bil'th-
field, which embraces ten thousand rak1'at'i(las or worlds
'which shakes at the coming to rebirth of a Tathu-
gata; the ii1.1tt-khctta or field of authority, which embraces a
hundred thousand kof'is (sic) of worlds, where there func-
tions (t'attatO the power of the various kinds of Pirit ;B and
the visaya-khetta which is infinite and immeasurable, and of
,yhich it is said that as far as he may desire, there whatever
the Tathugata desires (to know), that he knows.'!
1 Buc1llhakkctam nama tivic1hmn hoti: jiitikkhettam, anflkkhet
ta!!" visayakhettaii Tattha jatii'/:hcttm!l dasasahassa cakkaYiqa-
plll'iyantam hoti, yal!l Tathiigatassll patisfllldhigg:lhanfldisu kampati.
A 1.1 {ik/,:hcttalll kotisatasahassa cnkkaYfllapariyalltm!l, yattha Ratant!-
suttal!' Khallllhnparittall', ete ..... ti imesa':1 paritt:lnam flnul)h:-n'o
vattati.
Vis{/yakkllclam llllantam aparimanam. yflvatfl vfl pana iikau-
kheyyfl ti yuttm!" yattha :ral:1 ;ra!!l Tathiigato flkallkhati, tal]' hl]:'
jiilliiti. (Yis. ?If. 414).
2 Sec p. fo1' (lisC'llssioll of ('osmology illndved here.
" See lll'low, p. 244.
1 Hanly's YerSiOH (Jfallual of Bu(7!7his1I1, 1860, p. 2) supports our
emphasis on the meaning of 1'i8a.lla as field of knowlellge, ('yen ficIel of
perception. He sets forth the threefold dassifieation of the "Sakwala
HyStl'll1S" :
l. Tfisayal;-8Cira-the systems that appeal' to Buddha;
2. A[/f'!I(l-8Ctra-thc E,Ystems (lOO,UOO kehts ill !lumber) 7hat
THE BUDDHA-KSETRA
217
1t seems that back of this scholastic theory of the Bud-
dha '8 infinite visaya-khetta must lie those early speculations
about his omniscience, about the infinite scope of his knowl-
edge, which it ,vas that peculiarly made him Buddha, i.e.
"enlightened.' '1
Having explored the probable bacl,ground of that phase
of the complex involved in the idea of a
visaya-khetta, ,ve must next inquire ho,y the Buddha's rela-
tion to this cosmic field was conceived. It may be ,yell to
know something about the nature of the world com-
prised the range of. his ImmYleclge, and something about the
content of his knowing. in other ,Yon1s, is implied
receive the ordinances of Buddha;
3. Jammal.:-Setra-the systems (10,000 in llumller) in which a
Buddha may be 1)orn (between the 1,irth in whieh he becomes a
claiment for the Buddhaship, 01' a Bodhisattva, and the hirth in
which he attains the supremacy,) 01' in which the appearall('e of a
Buddha is known, and to whieh the power of pirit, 01' priestly ex-
orcism, extends.
Tumour's translation (in the J. As. Soc_ Bengal, August 1831'1, p.
(91) explains tlw Jiitikhetta as "10,000 clwkkawaWni (or negions to
which his birthright extends) which arc bounded by the
belonging to the ,Jati Buddha; whi('h is subjed to do homage in this
world to the Tathagata on all occasions from the day of his l,ring con-
ceived in the womb of his mother." The last phrase quoted in Pali he
renders: "Whatever the Tathiigata may vouchsafe, that he can accom-
plish."
1 This is supported by the use of in Dasauhiimika as tho
sphere ot Buddha's omniscient bwwlerige, e.g. in the phrase
(p. 3, 1.6). Cf p. ]1.1. line 9:
kosaprflpta". Sec also Boilhisattwbhfuni (Ch. Vihfll'a, edIted with
p. 21, "Smpassing by the sphere of his own bm1dhi the
1'llnge (of understanding in the wider sense) of all snlyakas and prat-
yekalmddhas." The word is usc(l also in a wider sense, e.g . . Da,( p. 8,
P, where it apparently indudes the sphere of the magi(,al as well as
intellectual powers of a Buddha:
A ray from S:1kyamuni's iirJ.lii-shcath illumines all the world-systems
audience-asscmlJlies, suppresses suffering, puts down ]l.1iira-cxist-
enees and manifests "the power of the Yarietie" (\1' forms) of a B udl)lta-
prorillcc." A similar use occurs IJas. p. 16 M:\I, line 4, and p. 8;'" line
18. On p. C. line 3-;), seems to he used just like our 'sphere'
01' 'realm' in the simplest metaphorical sense: "passing 1>eyo]](l the
realm of all worlds, ___ . passing beyond the realm of the di',inc ......
Cf. Bodhisattvabh11111i, p. 6. line
218 THE EASTE!iX RC'DDHIST
in calling him "lokayid"? Buddbaghosa gives a gloss on
this 'YOI'd ,vhich !:;uccinctly sets forth its t\yo aspects as
probably conceived from yery early times:
He knows the characteristics of ]leople-therefore he
knows the world of liying beings in all respects,i and" by
his infinite Buddha-Immvledge (he) has ];:nO'Y11, under-
stood, penetrated the infinite ,,-orld-systems_ Tlms he has
known the spatial world in all respects. . ... " Hence he
is called lokavicllr.
2
Vis. 111. 207 (tr. II, 238).
The "spatial ,yorld" in Buddhist cosmology of Bud-
dhaghosa's time ,vas vastly different from the relatiwly
small affair in which the early Buddhists believed. Bud-
dhaghosa can, therefore, give us no help in understanding
how they conceived the world ,yhich was Buddha'!:; field of
ImmYledge. They almost certainly had no notion of Imnd-
reds of thousands of crores of ,yorld-systems, and they may
llot have believed in the existence of more than one (though
the common and early Hindu belief in various heavenly
worlds indicates a tendency tmva1'(l pluralizing the cosmos).
One "world-system" included this Saha-world with :Ut.
JUeru in the center, encircled by the wall of mountains called
Cakkaviila (which later came to be the term for the whole of
any one world), lighted by one sun and moon and sur-
rounded below and above by the various hells and heaYClls
presided over by various divinities.
1
The ,,,hole scheme
For an illustration of how Buddha's all-knowledge included the
kal'ma of rreatures, see the charming tale in Asvaghosa's Siltralmhl:ara
(Sedion 57, p. 2S3 ff. tr. by Huber) of how Siiriput;'a tUl'ned away a
would-be convert as hopeless, hut the Compassionate Onc knew that
this man had a shred of good karma through oncc having cried "Adora-
tion to Buddha too when chased hy a tigel'. Siil'iputl''L ,,'as not omllis-
dent, says the Sidra, and could not penetrate the nature of things, for
the principle of karma is very subtle. Buddha alone understands
"Lui, qui est pel'sonnifiee,
Lui, qui est compatissant ot affectueux,
Lui, Ie Bouddha, traverse les trois l110nclcs
Pour cherchel' qu'il lluisse conyel'tir."
" Evam ammt:1ni caklulY:li:lni, [[nantii lokadhiituyo Bhagavii
an:lntena Buddlwllflnena m-elli, aflftflsi, llutivijjhi, eyam assa okiisaloko
pi Eabhathii Yidito; pi sahbathii viditalokattii lo/,'a1:idil.
THE BUDDlIA-KSETHA
219
divided into three realms of desire, form, and formles;;ness.
2
Each such universe has it:-; own four ,rorld-guarclians, its
o,vn Drahma,3 Indra (or Sakka), l\Iara, and all the other
varieties of gods and spirits.
Such was one" triple-,rorlel," beyond "'hich the imagi-
nation of the early Buddhists probably did not go, especially
since they were supposed
4
to reject, as futile, all discussions
of the infinity or non-infinity of the uuiverse. But cosmo-
logical discussions soon found their ,ray into Buddhism, and
their picture of the make-up of the total cosmos soon out-
reached the paltry ten-thousancl ,rorlel-systems which seem
to have stood for the whole universe in the time of the earlier
Nik(iyas and the Jdiaka. 'Ve cannot say just ,,,hen the
larger round numbers came into use; by the time of the
Aligllitam lVikiiya the Tisahasslmahasahassl-lokadhatu-the
"Thrice-a-thousand, (i.e. 1000") l\Iighty Thousandfold
'V odd-System,' ,:; seems to have become standard for the
inclusive cosmos. According to the Aligllttara
1
a Buddha
can make his voice heard throughout this latter area (a
thousand-million-lokadhatus). It is this" great chiliocosm"
See Przyluski, Bralimil Sahillnpati, J. As., July-Sept. 1()2-1, p.
1;",5 for an interesting presentation of the idea that in the earliest Bu(l-
dhist cosmology the gods were thought of as all on one celestial level,
not separated into respective heavenly realms. The divifling up and
assorting of this originally "relatively homogeneous hem'en" into
respedivr domains under the sovereignty of different goc1s would, upon
this theory, illustrate u tendelley refiected also in the assigning of
various regions of the universe to the sovereignty of different Buddhas
:m(l Bodhisattvas, a tendency which would have important impliwtions
for the history of the But Professor Edgerton points
out to me that the notion of different heawnly regions presided over
by all sorts of celestial or Sl.lpcrnutmal beings, is certainly older than
Buddhism in India. See Brhac1il)'a(lyaka -1, 3, 33 which men-
tions a Gan,lhal'va-world, Brahmii-wol'ld, I'rajiipati-\\,orld, ete.
" Kumadhiitu, l'llpadhiitu, arflpadhutu.
3 In the same way later the Great Chiliocosm was supposed to
have its Brahmu, who was calleel Mahu-Brahmii, as he might ,yell he!
" E.g. Dfgha i. 23. "1\1. La Vallee Poussin's aItide in ERE,
"Cosmogony and Cosmology, Buddhist" shoulcl be consulted for this
whole subject. See especially p. 137h for the identification of this
"great Chiliocoslll" with
\yhich is later used as the equivalent of the Bnddha-kf?etra in
its purely numerical cosmological use. (Iloweyer many
world-systems \yere supposed to make up the cosmos, each
{me, of course, has its sun and moon, its hells and heayens,
its four Great Kings-Guardians of the four quarters-its
J\Iara and Indra and Brahma).
\Ve shall return later to the bearing of this" growth"
of the Buddhist universe upon the theory of multiple Bud-
dhas and their Buddha-fields; for the present \ye are con-
cerned with it only to make clear to ourselyes as far as pos-
sible what sort of a world and how inclusiye a one the early
Buddhists thought of Buddha as "knowing."
But having pictured to ourselves the primitive Buddhist
\yorld-view, it becomes apparent that we haye not progressed
yery far toward understanding "Buddha's field" or \yhat
is meant by calling the universe his "field." As a mere
static object of vision it has little meaning; we must know
more about his relation to it and the way it was conceived
as working.
m. The Implications of Buddha's Knowledge
of the Cosmos
Probably the most remarkable fact about the Buddhist
,cosmos in its dynamic aspect, was the extent to which it \\"as
,conceived as interdependent and closely knit together-
whether it was thought of as embracing one lokadhatu or
countless crores of them. Every part of it was linked to
very other part; life in anyone level was interchangeable
'with life in almost any other (though here as elsewhere facilis
desccnslls applied) ; even without dying the sage could pass
from realm to realm, and the ordinary person did in fact
run the gamut of the many spheres of existence in the course
of his repeated rebirths. The" chain" upon \\"hich it all
Imng together \yas Karma, the law of moral causation, the
1 See LL1iguttara i. 227-228 (Gradual Sayings I, 207) for the ex-
planation of the makeup of the larger cosmic units.
THE BUDDHA-KSETRA
221
law of retribution, impersonal and automatic and hence ab-
solutely just in assuring to each the fruit of his deeds. This
law binds the ,Yorld, or the ,Yorlds, together. Having under-
stood the ,yorkings of Karma and the dependence of all ex-
istence upon this law of spil'ihtal causation, one has under-
stood the universe, however far it extends. One then kmnYs
the universe, and can control it.
1
The implications of this
for Buddha's power are far-reaching. He has seen things
as they are; he has understood the whole ,yodd as it is, or
rather as it works, for the essential point of his Enlighten-
ment is the understanding of Karma and the universal
moral eallsation involved therein. And the control
his understanding makes possible is, as we shall see below,
the stopping of Karma.
It is not without significance that in every version of
the story it is the Twelvefold Paticcasamuppiida or Chain of
Devendent Origination which the Buddha is said to have
This applies not only to the Buddha Sfikyamuni hut to anyonc
who can aehieve the requisite knowledge. And the principle of eontrol
IJY knowledge holds good also for lesser degrees of undcrstmuling: early
in his career the Sage is expected to aequire various sorts of "'super-
natural"' powers (called significantly the "higher knowledges,. ablti-
fiia) :-notably clailToyance and clair-audienee (which :l1"e known
picturesquely in Pali as the "deva-eye" and "c1en1-heming"). At a
further stage the Sage is believed to he able to eause the earth to shake
by his meditations-a doctrine which may make it easier for U8 to
understaJl(l in their Hindu as well as in their cosmic perspective thc
phenomcnal powers of a Buddha.
To us such manifestations belong in the realm of mngie and crlHle
supernaturalism, but 011 the hasis of Buddhist beliefs nhout the worlel
they are in the deepest sensc consistent with naturnl law, for since
spiritual OJ" moral causation is the basis of the working of the universe,
the Sage is simply nsing this power when he practises magieal feats
depending on the domination of matter hy mind.
All such Imowlc(lge is quite definitely practical; it is sought he cause
it confers p01L'cr-a purpose which scems to be characteristic of all
Indian search for knowledge. To the Hindu, knowledge is most
decidedly power; it is the most significant of human faculties-not as
an end in itself, hut as a means of control, as a means of attaining
other practical powers. This is true of all Hindu philosophy (sec The
What i/o they Seek, ancl Why? by }'ranklin Edgerton in
JAOS, Vol. 49, 2, p. 97-121).
revolved in his mind and" completely realised" while sitting
under the Boclhi tree. (See particularly Jelia ka,
Katlui p. 102.) rfhis metaphysical doctrine about the ,rork-
ing of things is absolutely and primarily important in Bud-
dhism. It is as knmrer of this sequence that Buddha is
"Knower of the \V orld,' '1 for all that lives is subject to and
dependent upon this la,r for its very existences.
All Dharmas are Depcndentll]Jon a Ca11se-that is the
root-word of PrimitiYe Buddhism, that is its basic meta-
physics and theory of the universe.
The reader ,rill remember that ,rhatever the Patic-
casamuppada is quoted in Buddhist scriptures, the second
and more significant part is ahrays its statement in reverse,
sho,ring ho>\' "by the cessation of the smilskaras conscious-
ness ceases" and so on up to "the cessation of birth, old age,
death, grief, lamentation, sorrow, misery, and
In this reverse statement of the chain of causation ,re
see the practical and ethical implications of the meta ph.n;ical
theory which we haye just been considering. Buddha ,,,as,
Cf. JJlw1ll111apada 419 "'here the content of the knowledge of
the "Awakened" (Buddha) is described as concerned particularly with
"The destruction and return of beings cyerywhcrl'''-a concrete ex-
pression of the inyariable sequence put in abstrad terms as the cycle
of relJirth of the Paticcasmnuppiida. This phrase in the Dllllmmapada
might well be a gloss ou "Iokayirl" which "'ould probalJly he taken here
in the sense of knowing the world of liying creatures rather than of
knowing the spatial world (see a boYe, p. 218). But in thl' latter
sense also, Buddha's worl<l-knowing means his knowledge of the order
of causation, and in practire "the spatial world" llleant little or nothing
apart from living rreatures.
In astl'Ollomy, presumably, Buddha was not interested; a raId
planet, if there were such a thing, 1youl<1 interest him even less than a
cold abstrad metaphysical statement. But we must remember that
there 'were no cold planets in the Buddhist uniyersc; Sfll'ya, the sun,
for instance, was a livlng 'being in the chain of Karma; so also was
OhalHlra, the moon. Hence it is perhaps merlllingless to speak of
Buddha's knowledge of the spatial wmld apart from the rreatures
inhabiting it.
Cf. DIpavaJi.sa I 69, where an uninhabited island comes into the
story, and into Buddha's ken, only as a potential dwelling place for
creatures.
TIlE BUDDHA-KSETRA 223
from the beginning, not interested in ]lure metaphysics. The
Paticcasamuppada as a cold abstract statement about reality
would have made little difference to him. Emancipation,
Release-these were "what mattered,l and these could be
achieyed only by stopping the working'S of Karma/ (begin-
ning as it did ,yith ignorance and desire), and so cutting off
the \"Cry roots of old age and all the other miseries that
make life full of clukkha.
"Wherever t11(' abstract law of causation is stated, tl1('
reverse statement is emphatically stated too:
"Given That, This Comes to be; the rise of that makes
this arise."
"If that comes not to be, this comes not to be; Th c
Stopping of That This Stop.3
In the Vinaya
4
the moral of this is pointed ,yith peculiar
insistence:
"lI
T
hatsocvel' has Cal/sally AJ'isen ,is Trlwt 11IC!!J be
Stopped."
Concrete applications of this are interesting:
"1\either self-made the puppet is, nor yet
1 Mrs. Rhys Dayids to the contrary notwithstanding: She
done admirable senice in emphasising" the all(l in many cases
joyous content of tho salvation which the early Buddhists founel,
but we cannot follow hor all the way. How far tho negative phrase-
ology is clue to "monkish editing" is a far-reaching question; here \ye
can say only that though the monks may have oyercmphasisec1 the
Jlegative side of the doctrine that came down to them-stressing retreat
-still our knowledge of contemporary Indian thought makes it secm
likely that salvation, however positive its content, will hayc been
formulated in negative terms.
2 In quite another sense than the l'latonie, virtuo depends upon
knowledge; here upon the knowledge of how to stop what is at the
root of sin and evil, for the uprooting of craving depends upon an
understanding of the chain of causation morc than upon moral effort
to stop wanting things. Both proccsses enter in, but it is intercsting
to note the prcdominantly intellectual rather tlwn ethical met/lOll of
:tehieving salvation.
" K. S. II, 23, 4;3, 46, etc. Fur. Dial, II. 17.
Vinaya Texts i. H6.
By other wrought is this ill-plighted thing.
By reason of a cause it came to be /
By rupture of a ca1tScit dies away."
"So the fiye aggregates, the elements,
And the flix spherefl of sense, eyen all these,
By reason of a ca11se they came to be;2
By 1'1lptul'e of a cause they die away."
And again:
"Lo! when appear true doctrines to the saint
Zealous and thoughtful, all his doubts clissolye;
He knows that all Becoming is through Ca11se.
I.Jo! when a Pl)ear true doctrines to the saint
Zealous and thoughtful, all his doubts dissolve;
He knows the demolition of all cause."
Particularly arresting is the cosmic application of the
Four Truths:
3
"The 1l'0l'ld (loko) hath been throughly understood
by the Tathagata. From the world the Tathagata is
wholly detached.
The origin of the world hath been thoroughly under-
stood by the Tathagata, and it hath been cast aside by him.
The Cessation of the world hath been thoroughly
understood by the Tathagata, and it hath been realised
(sacchikaroti) by him;
The Way leading to the Cessation of the U'ol'ld hath
been thoroughly understood by the Tathagata, and hath
been attained by him."
vVe see thatuudel'standing of the chain of causation
constitutes the heart of Buddha's knowledge, both of the
,yorld and of men; this constitutes his Dharma, his Truth:
understanding in particular of how to stop the wheel of
rebirth. This is implicit in the earliest Buddhist doctrine,
but is hardly eyer stated outright. In only one scripture,
1 Hetul1l paticca samhhfltam hetubhanga nirujjhati. Sal?lyutta i.
134, ~ 9. 5.
" K. S. I. p. 169.
, iti1:uttaka ~ 112, tr. p. 131. Tl'. hy J. H. Moore in Columhia
Indo-Iranian Series Vol. V. (1908).
THE BUDDIlA-KSETRA
225
so far as I lmO\y, is thc Karma-causation basis of Buddha's
knowledge and Dharma, together ,,ith its practical implica-
tions, set forth explicitly, and in a cosmic setting-in what
might be called astronomical perspective. This one i:lcrip-
ture is the which ,ye know only from
the Tibetan, translated by Feel' in the Allnales elu Musee
Ouill1et (t. V. p. 160 ff.). The most significant portion of
the text is a dialogue between Buddha and l\Iahabrahma
(the Hindu Creator, personified form of the .B'irst-Canse)
concerning the creator of the ,YorId. ::\Iahabrahma had been
under the illusion (common to his orthodox Hindu "'orshill-
pel's: the humour in this dialogue is delightful) that he had
created the world, but Buddha proceeds to ask him a long
and very inclusive series of embarrassing questions. 'fhe
course of this inquisition thoroughly roots up the "uncri-
ticised assumptions" of .:.\Iahabrahma; it also contains some
very interesting remarks about the relation of Buddha's
Dharma (which is the Truth he realised and hence l)ractical-
ly the same thing as the" knO\vledge" ,yhich they haye been
discussing) to the workings of Karma-particularly, of
course, in suppressing them. The "'hole discussion is parti-
cularly relevant to our larger subject as illuminating ,yhat
is meant by calling the whole cosmos" Bl1ddha 's c1omain."
It is all so pertinent that we shall quote from it at some
length.
1
"In the great thousand of three thousand ,yorld-
systems:! (hereafter Great Chiliocosm) Dralnna and the
great Brahma triumphant anc1 inyincible, who exereised
over a thousand beings a sovereign po,,"('r, said to them-
selves:
" 'It is us that these beings have been made, by
118 that they have been made to appear; it is us that
the world has been created, by us .... made to appear.' "
"'Vhen the Brahmas and ::Uahabralllna and the Loka-
palas and .:\Iahe<:;varas obsened that their respective
1 Annalcs!lll ;tIl/sec Guimet, t. Y. p. 160 ff.
, For the make-up of this cosmic unit, see !late on p. 21D.
226 THE E.\STETIN BUDDHIST
realms were plunged in darkness by the pOlyer of Buddha
(because he about to go into NirvaY.la) they were griev-
eel. Then l\Iahabrahma asked himself what this meant; he
looked oyer the great chiliocosm and said to himself:
" "Vho is the ereator, the Lord, the all-pOlrerful
master of this great chiliocosm'? The Tathagata,
Buddha, perfectly accomplishe<l (in knOl.-ledge) has arriv-
ed today at Nirval.'a ; for what reason do these incompre-
hensible tran:-:;formations, such prodigies, take place? It
is :-:;urely the mark of his NirvalJa; it is his pOI.-er ,.-hich
has produced all theiie manifestations.' So :\Iahabrahma
with his escort of numerous Brahmiis, afflicted in his heart,
hurried to where Buddha "was, reyerencect the Buddha,
and asked for insinlction as to hOlY he should conduct
himself and 'rhat 11(' iihoulcl learn. Budclha replied:
" 'Brahmii, at this moment you triumph over all ....
you know all, you rule oyer a thousand beings- [ or
"'orIds] : well! if I "'ere to say that it is by me that living
beings haye been macle to appear, by me that the ,,'orld
\\'as created .... ,.-ould this proposition be true:'
"Brahma repiled: "It is true, Bhagayat; it is true,
Sugata.'
"Buddha said: 'Brahma, and yon-by whom '\'ere
you created?'
And the great Brahma replied absolutely nothing, not
a sole ,YOI'd, and Bhagayata adde<l: 'At the time of the fire
caused by the end of the Kalpa, ,.-hen the great chiliocosm
,ras consumed, entirely commmed, consnmecl to being ut-
terely, totally and completely, ,rhen all ,ye reduced to
being nothing more than a cinder, at that time .... ,.-as
that phenomenon your ,.-ork, Brahmii, and these trans-
formations, ,yere they your ,York?'
"Brahmii. replird: ' No, Bhagavat.'
"Bhagavat asked: "VeIl! this earth which serves as a
support for the mass of ,raters, ,,,hile the snpport
the wind, the supports the heayen, and ,yhile at the
top at a height of 68,000 yojanas it all stays up without
falling !-,yhat do yon think of all that? Is it you
baye created that .... '?'
"Drahma replied, 'No, Blessed One.'
"Bhagavat returned: 'Brahmii, and the incomparable
TIlE BL:DDllA- KSETHA
227
realms of the sun and of the moon, in which the g'ods
d,,'ell in majesty; these majestic and incomparable realms
of the goels, what do you think of their apparition, \rhen
all \ras in the yoid? Brahmu, ,,'as it by you that these
things ,rere created and made to appear, by you that they
,rere emlO1wd "'ith their properties and their virtues ?'
, 'Brahmu replied: 'No, blessed one,'
"Bhagayat returned: 'And the spring, the summer,
the autumn, the winter, the end of winter, the spring,
these seasom;, ,yhat do you think of them? [- etc, 1 ' ...
water, mirrors, reflections, moon, sun, stars, Qruyakas,
etc .. earth, mountains, rivers, an Indra, a Brahma, th('
LokapiUas, men and beings not human, voices and sounds,
and their echoes, perceptions and feelings in dreams, the
fears and miseries of beings. , .. [etc, 1 .. , ,And the good
al1(l bad sides of life .... diseases of yarious sorts.".
hunger, and deserts and mirage and the middle Kalpa ....
awl the yarious gTiefs resulting from separation from
loyed ones, ... is it you by ,yhom these ,yere created?'
" 'Brahma, are there not also various kinds of moral
and immoral ads on the 11art of living beings, their lia-
bility to suffering", hell, animal birth, the Yama-\yorId, the
elwin of divine and human mallifestaliolls {('hiI'll proceed
from (l ca lise . ... bad actions, ... desires .... and this law
of the ,yorIeL ,yhose ,yorking is so disgraceful in all the
world-systems awl \rhich consists in birth, old age. dis-
content, unhappiness, the la,,' in virtue of ,\'hich all
all passes, .... the In,,' by virtue of ,yhic11 friencl-
I:;hip and all joys are changed into their opposites ... ,
these things again, Drallllla, is it you ,rho haye caused
them all to appear?'
" 'And ignorance, laziness .... ,yhose presence causes
people to surrenc1er themselves to llas:-;ion, to attachment,
to hate, to folly, amI ,\'11ic11 canses the aeenmulation of
the fruit" of one's deeds to 11ile up-and the five phases
by ,yhich one passes (from this life to another) -birth,
death, departure, appearance, perishing .... and the circle
of the future ,yhich ever grows and where revolves the
,yorId 'rith Brahma and the gods, creatures and ascetics,
like a conj llsed ,Yeb, like a muddled ball of thread, this
circle in perpetual mOYement, hy ,\'hich one passes from
this world to the other, and from the other world to this;
the ignorance produced by this circular notion, these
things, .what do you think of them? \Vas it you ,,,ho
created them?'
" 'Xo, Blessed One.'
" 'Very well, ,vhy did you have this thong'ht: "it is
by me that the world has been created"?
" 'Blessed One, I had no sense: I have always kept the
notions that I have arrived at and have not rejected them
-so I am in error. In fine, Blessed One, since I haye
neYer heard in a consecutive fashion the discipline of the
Dharma lll'eached by the Tathagata, I said to myself that
it was by me that these beings had been created .... And
now I ask the blessed Tathagata concerning the true and
precise meaning of these matters.'
" 'It is by Karma that the world has been created ....
made to by Karma that beings haye been created;
it is from Karma, arising from Karma as a cause that the
distinctions (of being) come to be.
" 'And "'hy so? ignorance arise the smp.skaras,
from the sa111skaras consciousness, etc. Thus is produced
this great mass of suffering .... This being so, Brahma, if
one suppresses ignorance, one suppresses all the rest-this
great mass of suffering .... and the intermediates. Brahma,
when Karma and Dharma are mixed ,dth each other, be-
ings are manifested and produced; when Karma and the
Law avc not mixed, beinys are not produced; then nothing
is produced, then there is no longer one who acts or one
'1'110 proyoke:,; action .... Brahma,it is thus that the Karma
of this u'orZd disappcars, that natural corruption disap-
pears, that sorrow disapl)eartl (to giye place to) the paci-
fication of Rorro,,,, (to deliYerance, to absolute repose, to
Yes, Brahma, everything which is Karma is
thus used up (elmis0) ; everything which is moral corrup-
tion is taken a'1'ay, all that is suffering is appeared, all
that is sickness is stopped; it is then complete 1'\irvaJ).a.
And all this exists by the power of the Buddhas; it is by
the properties and yirtues eonferred by the Buddhas that
the Law itself, this Law has appeared.
" ',Vhy so? You ,,,ill say. Brahma, when the blessed
do not appear, such a teaching of the La,,, does not appear.
THE DUDDlIA-KSETHA
229'
,Yhen the blessed Bnddhas appeal' ill the \Yol'lc1, then, in
order to give calm, the categories of the Tja\y are comple-
tely tanght, so profollnd, scintillate in their (1('])th,
difficult to lln(lerstaml and tu rpmelllbel'. So, in hearing
it, beings snbject to the 1mI' of birth, olel age, etc., attain
to complete freedom from birth, etc.
U 'Y e". Bl'alnnii, it is thns; accorclingly all component
thingsl (or the saIjlskaras) are like an image, none is
eternal, they are Alldnating amI ehanging .... they perish
and un(lergo the 1m" of change. That, Brahma, is ,,,hat
the Bndc1hils teach .... snch are the properties and virtnes
(collllllunieatecl by) the Bucldhas. EYen ,,,hen the blessed
Bnddhas haYe entered into cOlllplete and ,,,hen
their law is in the decline, it is still tlms: all the com-
ponenb are like a refieded image; sneh is the ]1rineiple;
it is ill this that thpir property anel their virtue consist
.... It is liC('({us(' thc Tatl/(Iwtfas know that all the SaIll-
skaras are like a elream .... are ,,,ithont dnration and
subject to the la\y of ehange" it is fa}' thatl'c!lsOll that thc
l'athcl[Jatas tear-II that eYery componpnt thing is nothing
bnt a dream, etc.
" ',Vhen oue has been instrneted on this point ....
when one has unravelled the characteristic signs, by these
evident amI obvilJUS signs of C(fuses and ('onscquenccs one
grasps the prillciple that the sal1lskaras are without (lura-
tion anc1 like a dream, etc.
" 'Tlms ,,,ise anellearned men, recognising that thing,;
do not endure, uecome sacl, and as a result of eonsiclering
eauses and conseqnPllees ,,,ill l(',we their home a11(l \yauder
as religious mendicants .... and "ill obtain Bodhi. Haying
seen in the ,,,ater the elise of the moon ... " ,,,hethel' the
rrathagata has taught them or \\'hether some other teacher
than the Tathagata, haying realised by their o\\'n intelli-
gence that the saIjlskaras are like a dream, etc ..... they
,yill leave home and .... will ohtain the fruit of <.;rota-
apatti ... Sakrdagami ... Boc1hisattya ... the Greater V chi-
cle ... ..
1 On the SaJ!lsicrta dlwJ'1llas-sce p. 231.
" Cf. SanlYlltta ii. 2 ... K. S. II. p. 21: .... there be an
arising' of Tnthiig'ntns, 01' whether thcre ],( no sueh nrising', this nature
of things just (era n stnllcls, this causal status, this cnusn] orderliness,
this rclatedness of this to that."
230 THE EASTEHl\" BGDDHIST
" 'Bralllna, is it thus that one must understand ,,,hat
are the properties and virtues of the Bud(lhas: Brahma,
that by Ichich creatures are ,\"ise, that by which Olle comes
to say that the saIp.skrtas .... are like a dream, etc ..... so
that haying seen these signs one comes to be plunged in
the greatest misery, that is the domain of the Buddhas,
that is the property and the virtue of the Buddha. Born
from a preyious Karma and former actions, beings, by
virtue of a pre-existing cause, must come to complete
maturity; it is that which the la,\" proclaims. "'.Yhen one
has heard this ,rord, one states that the sarnslcrtas are like
a dream, etc ..... ; then one does homage to the rrathagata,
one arrives at the perfect law. The beings ,\"ho have learn-
ed in the society of the blessed Buddhas to practise purity,
or who in leaving home have come to grasp completely the
bases of the teaching, they also, by this 'enchainment' of
causes and effects, say to themselves: the sarpslqtas are
suffering, they perish .... etc. Coming to reason in this
fashion. believing because of tlu's series of causes and
effects, h>aving home, etc., even although no blessed Bud-
dhas had appeared in the ,YorId, neyertheless, thanks to
the pOl\"er and properties and virtues (communicated by)
the Buddha, thanks to the roots of m ( ~ r i t produced tOlyard
the Buddha, will come to obtain Bodhi. Brahma, it is by
snch deductions and thus that one must know that the
domain of Buddha exists. Brahma, this gn>at chiliocosm,
Belonging to the Buddha, is the domain of Buddha.' "
HaviuQ' entrusted it to Brahmu he tells him to follow
the roal of yirtue and to haye an understanding with
:Jlaitreya as he has had with him-:JIaitreya the compas-
sionate ,yho is to rule over the gTeat chiliocosl1l by the lmw
as the l)resent Buddha has done. "'Do you then, see to
it that nothing' shall be interrupted-neither these "'.Vays
of merit [" chemins" in the French translation 1 nor the
Lm\' of Buddha, the Dharma, the Order. And why? A"
long as the rule of yirtue shall be perpetuated thns with-
out interruption, the rule of Indra, Brahma, the Loka-
piUas, etc ..... ,yill not be interrupted. Consequently,
Brahma, this great thousand of three-thousand wOJ'Zd-
systems, the field of Buddha, res, of Buddha, I entrust
it to you, Brahmu'."
THE B1:DDHA-E:SETRA
231
So the ,yorId is Buddha's domain and belongs to the
Buddha-but in preeisely ,rhat sellSe? If it is only e.rtillc-
tion of the ordinary ,yorld 'rhich his Law" produces" ,yhat
is left to be his domain? "What the Buddhas teach is, clearly,
cessation of the cycle created by Karma, extinction of the
pemicious "determinations" made to appear by Karma; but
the logical result of this cessation ,yould be a complete
denuding of the world: is it this bare (and to us barren,
though sorrmdess) nniverse ,yhich is the Buddha's domain 7
Three (lUestions should help to clarify our perplexity:
,Yhat is the content, if any, of ,yhat remains when
Karma has been used up i
,Yhat is the relation of this residue to the elemrnts of
existence in the ordinarv ,yorIel ?
And, finally, ,yhat a ~ ' e the full implications of Dharma
a::; here used!
First, as to ,yhat remains over \yhen Karma has been
"used Ul)." This qnestion m11st be considrred concomitantly
",ith the second one, for obyiously if there are any factors
in the ,yorId not dependent upon Karma, it is they ,yhich
will suryiYe ,yhen Karma has been utterly extinguished. For
a formal answer to this (lUestion we mllst turn to teclmieal
Buddhist metaphysics. In the standard list of seventy-1ye
dharmas in the Abllicllwrma ](OS([, se"enty-two are s([l)1slqta
-" composed"-put together (henee liable to change and
dissolution) ; three are asu)!zSh'rla-non-component, ]lot sub-
ject to change and hence eternal. These three are iihi.(a and
the two kinds of nirocllw.
'l'his classi1cation does little more than giye ns the
formal background for onr problem, leaying uutouehecl tlie
eternal question of the positive or nesative character of
KirYih).a, an issue ,yhich ,ye haye touched npon in our 1rst
question. ,Ve may be able to shed some light upon it if
lye approach it from the angle of onr seeond query, asking
what exists (besides the Karmic chain) in the ordinary state
of things. ~ o w our text states that salvation consists in
232 'rIlE BUDDHIST
tile' sC[Jal'tdion of Dllllrll/(I (lnd Karma, i.e. Dlwl"lna must
11([1'(' bec)l there all the time! and Dharma will remain U'ltClI
J{urma llflS been e.rtinguished. '1'hen Dharma mnst be synon,\'-
mons 'with the apparently negatiye concepts: XirYillpl, paci-
fication, extinction, etc. But Dharma has a posi-
ti,'e content. Dharma is the one thing that is real, in fact,
for the smi1skrtas (as ,,'e are reminded almost (fd lUI IlSC(( III 1)
are like dreams and reflected images and echoet;. Obsen'e,
howeyer. that it is 1lot that the smilskrtas arc entirely
Hlll'eal, bnt only that they are as echoes, images,
figures ,,,hich imply the existence of some Reality to br
drramrd and echoed and reflected, This soundt; extraordi-
narily like the familiar language of Hindu thought, accord-
ing to ,,'hicll the shifting ,yheel of birth and death, due to
the workings of Karma, is but the illusory reflection of the
one Imperishable Reality ,,,hicll is Brahman.
It it; extremely interesting to find these common Hindu
ic1ras implied in this Bllc1(lhist text, particularly for their
significance in the dryelopmrnt of the Mahayana. It has
long been recog"llit;ed that the ::\Iahayfma represents in large
measure the re-absorption of Hindu ideas into Blldclhism,
but texts like this, illustrating intermediary stages in the
process, are not often cliscoycred. Particularly signifieant
are the ideas about the Dharma implied in the J[a nl 1.1 ii-
PU1.1(larlka, for the notion of Dharma as thr Reality lllHlt'l'ly-
iug shifting phenomena and snl'yiying their dissolution con-
tains all the elements of the Dharmakaya doctrille
1
though
this doctrine Deems not to haye been formulated at the time
of the K(lrU1,lO-Pu1/r!ar"ika.
Most significant for future doetrine is the further state-
ment that this cosmic Dharma" exists by the pOU'eJ' of the
Buddhas: It ,is by the properties and virhles conferred by
the B1ld(llws that this Law itself, this Law has appeared."
1 For further discussion of this doetrine see Chapter IV anel
Appendices. Xote how the ]lhrase "of the Budellws" suggests a reach-
ing toward the notion of a Bmldha-prillciple in the uniYerse.
'rilE nl:DDIIA-Kt->ETHA
233
The Buddhas are the ultimate basis of what is Heal in the
This is the ]lrofoulHl meaning "'hich is impliE'd
in the in ('aIlillg' this great tllOnsaml of
three thousaml worl<1-systellls the (lomain of Buc1(lha, the
fiel<1 of Buddha.
This belief involves asslllnptiolls about the relation of
Buddha to the universe ,yhich go far deeper into
than the IIlllayana belief ill the \\'orld as object of Iii" knmyl-
edge. 'rhere he \\'as set oyer against tlH" \yorld as its
knOlYer; here "the Bud(lhas" are part of the fnnclamental
Reality of the ,yorld itself, or rather the ,\'orld is part of
their Reality. The ,yorlel belong::; to them.
Our third question on the full implications of Dharma
has been partially elucidated in the discussion of the other
t\yo. It remain!:> to remind our::;elves of its more limited use
as the Teaching of the Buc1c1has,-the Truth about the
uniYerse 'which they realised. EYen in this sense Dharma
is ultimately identified ,yith cosmic law, as suggested in the
follOlying pictnresque statement of the depenclability of
Bnddha's "word," comparing it with the most regular awl
dependable sequences in the realm of "natural causatioll " :1
120. "As a clod cast into the air (loth smely fall to tile
ground,
So the ,vol'll of the Buddhas is snre amI
everlasting.
12l. "As the death of all mortals is sure amI constant.
So the \vorcl of the glorious Buddhas is sure and
everlasting.
1 Cf. Bliai.'ajya.lJul'uwi(iiiI'Ylljil'uiJlwl'ilja 17 ... tr. 170)
where the \Vonl of thc Buddlws is sail] to I)e even more clqwll(hhle
than na turc :
"Yonder sun am] moon, so mighty and strong, might
fall to carth;
i')ulllcru l,ing of mountains mig-ht move from his
But the word of the Bucldhas could not fail."
The teachings of the Buddha seem to be "ynOllYITlOUS in this passage
with the profound Bwldlw-[joc(ll'(l:
234 THE EASTERN llrDDHIST
122. "As the rising of the sun is certain "'hen night has
faded,
So the of the glen'ions Buddhas is sure and
everlasting.
123. "As the roaring of a lion ,\,110 has left his den i",
certain,
So the word of the gloriolls Buddhas is sure and
everlasting.
12-. "As the delivery of ,,'omen ,yith child is certain,
So the word of the glorious Buddhas is sure and
ever lasting. ' '1
'rIle idea of Dharma as the u'(( V to emancipation, "'C
have "een in "tudying the practical implications of Buddha '8
lmOidedge, how understanding of the causal elwin is neces-
sary for release. The 1l11dcrstClJldin[! is, of course, Dharma.
As we read in the KCI}u}Jii-pu}.u,larlka :
"That by which creatures are ,yise, that by which
they realise that all smTIskrta are like nothing but a
dream," etc.-"that is the domain of the Buddhas."
It is interesting to find this idea in a relatively early
H"inayana ,york-the Sar!lYldta-where the conception of the
reality of the world being based or found upon the Buddha
IS expressed in a Jlositive but (iuite abstract form:
"For us, Lord, thin[!s have the E.raltecZ One as their
,'oots, their guide, their (KS II. 133)
This conception is clearly not confined to the l\Iahayiina.
Its roots go back much earlier, as ,ye have just seen; but
in the ::\Iahayana this cOllyictiol1 was giyen concrete form
in the series of Buddhas anel Bodhisaitvas who represented
-to use the term made popular by Professor
a "concrescence" in personal form of the eternal Budc1ha-
1 J {itah'a tl'. p. ] 8. This :mel other passages quoted from the
Ni(lilna-katlz{i arc from Hhys Dayic1s' translation in Buddhist Birth
Stories, Vol. I.
" Blwgara1il millaka no hhallte 1711(1I111J1a bhagm'allncttild ])liaga,
val)'patis:tr:ll,lii. (S. ii. Hlt\, Xyi. 3, 3.)
TIlE BeDDIIA-KSETHA
235
principlE' "which is the basic reality of the uniycrse aud
"'hich is eyer actiye in the ,yorld bringing creatures to ell-
lightemnE'nt.
B. As SPHEHE OF IllS BEXEYOLEXT IXFLuExcE
This magnificent Buddhist faith in the essential Bud-
dha-ness of " things "-this confidence that the fllmlamE'ntal
reality or "nature of things" is ,yorking toward uniYE'rsal
enlightE'lllnent,l must haye giwn great dignity and courage
to man's struggle for full realisation of the truth. Iu th('
light of this belief we can better sense how the occasional
"concrescence" of this uniyersal Buddha-principle is in the
fullest sense a cosmic eyent: cosmic in its cause, "ince it
arises from the cosmic Enlightenment-nature; cosmic in its
result, in that it fOl'lYards by concrete teaching and preach-
ing the enlightening of creatures. It is 80me,yhat surpris-
ing to us to realise hOlY literally the appearance of a Bnc1tlha
is thought of as a cosmic eyent; how it is classE'd, for in-
stance, ,rith the destruction of world-systems in the" Great
Proclamations," as told in the Ayidure Kidiina of the
IficWna I1utlul of the Jiltaka:
2
"It ,yas when the Boc1isat ,yas thus chyelling in the
city of Delight, that the so-called' Buddha proclamation'
took place. For three such' Proclamations' (HaWlwla n)
take placc on earth. These are the three: \Vhen they re-
alise that at the end of a hundred thousaJH1 veal'S a nc\\-
dispensation ,,-ill begin, the angels called ,yith
their hair flying and dishevelled, with ,yeeping faces,
,,-iping' away their tears with their hands, clad in red
garmE'nts, and with their clothes all in disorder, wander
among men, and make proclamatioll, saying,
" 'Friends, one hundred thousand years from now
there ,yill be a nc,y dispensation; this system of ,yodds
will be destroyed; eyen the mighty ocean will dry up;
this great earth, "with Sinel'u [sic. J the monarch of mOlln-
1 Thongh the enlightenment docs inyo!yc first a negatiye cessation
of the natura! world.
" Rhys DaYids tr. p. 58-59. J<lta7.-a I, p. 47-4S in Fausholl's
edition.
tains, Iyill be burned up and (lestroye(l; amI the I\'hole
\yorlel lip to the realms of immaterial allgels. Ivill
il\yay. Therefore. 0 friench, do mercy, lin' in
and sympathy, alld lleace, eherish your mothers, 'mllPoJ't
your fathers, honour tlte elders in your tribes.'1 This is
called the proclamation of a new Age (Jl(f}Jp(flwWhaZa/!.)
"Again when they realise that at the ewl of H thou-
>;anc1 yean; an omniscient Bnel(lha will ajllJem' Oil earth,
the angel-guardians of the "worlel (loka}J171({devaUi) go
from place to place and make proclamation, saying,
'Friends, at the end of a thousand years from this time
a Buddha I"ill appear on earth.' This is calleel the pro-
clamation of a Buddha
It is particularly because of the tremenclons significance
for the eosmos in terms of the enlightenment to result from
it, that the coming to birth of a Buddha is \\"(-'lcomed Irith
manifestations of joy on the part of all (:]eatnres. So
the Suddha angels are deelared in Rl!ddlwco)'ita
to have rejoiced at the birth of Buddha" \rith ]]0 selfish or
partial joy, bnt for the sake of religion,-bpcanse creation
\vas now to obtain perfeet release." (P. 2D7 of Beal's tr.)3
Xot only creatures but the very earth itspjf participates
in the cosmic joy. As we read in the .Itltaka (.Yiiliillakatlut
-tr. ]1. 64) :
"Xow at the moment when the future Bndc1ha made
himself incarnate in his mother'::; IHlll1b. the eom;tituent
elemellts of the ten thousand world-systems (llwkec1, and
trembled, and were shaken violently."
If had not been beforehan(l, In' might have
expected that only one cakkavura, that in Iy11icl1 the Buddha
actually appeared, IH11l1d shake at his arrival, bnt lye re-
1 Xote the silllple trillal morality illl'lll,'atc(] hcrc!
The would seelll to han' bccn taekc,] on to an old
doetrinc.
, Th,' third kinel of IJ1'(wlamation is the cakkaratti/w/{17w/an 01'
pl'oeJan1<ltiOll of a uniYel'snl-enlpc)'ol'.
" III T/w World's Great Classics, ed. Dwight, Stoelr1al'cI,
et(', Yolulllc entitlcr1 Sacred Boo/,'s of tile East.
THE BUDDTIA-KSETHA
237
member that according to Dm1dhaghosa eyen the birthfield,
the Jitti-khetta, \y11ich shakes at the coming to rebirth of a
Buddha, embraces ten thousan(l world-system:.;. But it \yill
be noticed that" the ten thom;an(l "'orld-systems" seems to
mean something rather different in Buddhaghosa from what
it means in the J(ltaka. In the riSllddhi JlaU{fa it if;
obviously a relatively small ;;"1'onp-a sort of aggregate
11nit-in a cosmos consisting of infinite \Iorld-systems. In
the J iltaka it is quite ot11e1"lyise. There the phrase the" ten
thousand \yorlel-systems" seems quite clearly to coyer the
\\"hole cosmos. I lwve not fou11(1 any\yhere in tIle Jiitaka
any mention of more than ten thollsand Jokadhiitus or cak-
kavii!as as making up the cosmos, and the use of the phrase
in the qlloted passage from the Si(W)/(/ ItatMi and throngh-
out the Jiitaka makes it seem evident to me that this \yas a
rOlmd number signifying the \yhole of the It
follows then that the compiler or authors of tIl(' .Iii/aka,
thought of the u'hole 1111iveJ"se as ::;haking' at the appearance
of a Bud(lha. Their cosmos included 10,000 world-systems,
-and all 10,000 shook; the whole cosmic scheme natnrally
joined in the general rejoicing. ,\Vhy then does Bndc1ha-
ghosa, \yhose cosmos includes cro1'es of \yorld-systeH1S, limit
the eartlHluaking" to 10,000 ,yorlds-a mere infinitel-;ill1cll sec-
tion of the grand cosmos \yhioh had by his time come to be
standard even in Hlnayiina orthodoxy'!
The conjecture seems to me llllayoidable tliat from the
time \\"hen "the ten thousand \\"orld systems" meant the
total nniverse, some standard phrases about the shaking of
the ten thousand cakkaviqas at the birth of Bmlclha
1
had
1 Stnllclal'(lization of "jittikhetta" as cquiYalellt to 10,000 world
systems (or 10 ehiliorosms) in a pm'ely numeri("al sellse is ShO\Vll in
Paramatt/uulfZ)(11l i (Petavatthn COlllmentary, hy Dhammapnla) 111,
138: "The divinities from 10 lokadhntns havillg assemhled," it is said,
"from j,itikhcthls so ("alleel, (that is) from 10,000 ea]{l<avnlas (literally
from 10 "thollsand("akkavalas" or rhilio("osllls), tIll' gods of the l"ealms
of desil"e and the Brahmii-;liYinities,"' ete. Dasasll lokadhittnsn sanni-
pntih-iina r1cvatii ti jiitikhettasafifiitesll c1as,lsu Cakkaviilasahassesn kiima-
vacal"ac!cyaW hrahmiic1eyaWca ....
been imprinting themselves upon the tenaeious memories of
Bnddhist monks, ,vho did not ahvays ponder deeply the
meaning of the rigamaroles which they passed on into oral
tradition (than which no form of orthodoxy is more con-
sel'Yative). Thus in later days when the Buddhist cosmos
had expanded, there ,vill still have sUl'Yived the hoary phrase
about ten thousand cakkava!as shaking at Buddha's birth!
It ,ms neYer the ,yay of Buddhism to reject old and ap-
parently inconsistent trallditions-it kept them all, giying
them if neeessary new meanings. So 13uddhaghosa, having
probably heard in his youth this old tradition that ten thou-
sand world-systems eomprise the area-or "field' '-,vhich
shakes at Buddha's birth, not realising how the contents of
the universe had" grown" since the time when that old tra-
dition first took root, will have fitted the phrase as he lme,\-
it into his scheme, ,vith the result that ,,-e have seen above.
The shaking of these ten thousand worlds was only
the beginning of the mighty cosmic eclat ,vhidl heralded the
Buddha's incarnation;l
"The Thirty-tlvo Good Omens also "'ere made mani-
fest. In the ten thousand world-systems an immeasurable
light appeared. The blind reeeived their sight (as if from
very longing to behold this his glory). The deaf heard
the noise. '1'he dumb spake one with another. The crook-
eel beeame straight. The lame walked. All prisoners
were freed from their bonds and chains. In eaeh hell the
fire "\\"as extinguished. The hungry ghosts reeeived food
and drink. The ,\-ild animals ceased to be afraid. The
illness of all who ,vere sick \\-as allayed. All men began
to speak k i l l l l l ~ - . Horses neighed, and elephants trumpet-
ed gently. All musical instruments gave forth each its
note, though none played upon them. Bracelets and other
ornaments jingled of themselves. All the heavens became
clear. A cool soft breeze "wafted pleasantly for all. Rain
fell out of due season. ",Vater, ,wlling up from the yery
earth, oYerflOlvec1. The birds forsook their flight on high.
1 Cf. the cxpectations of a reign of kindlincss :mc1 cosmic bloom
at the birth of a clh-ille child, expressed in Yergil"s Messiunic (IYth)
Eclogue and in Deutero-Isaiah.
THE ilUDDIIA-KSETRA
239
The rivers stayed their ,,-a tel's 'flo\\'. The ,,-a tel'S of the
mighty ocean became fresh. Every,yhel'e the earth ,ras
covereel ,dth lotnses of eyery colour. All flmyers blossom-
ed on laml and in water.... The ten-thousand ,yodd-
o:r,.;tpID<'; l'Pvolved, and rushed as close together as a bUllch
of gatht>red flmrers; and became as it ,vere a ,yovell 'Heath
of \Yodds, as s,reet-smelling and resplendent as a mass of
garlands, or as a sacred altar decked ,,-ith flowers."
(Jataku, Sidiinakatha tr. p. 64.)
Kow this cosmic eclat cannot, obyionsly, be thought of
as entirely a consciuus reaetion to the appearance of a Bud-
dha: it is rather the almost automatic reaction of all thing's
to his beneficent influence. X ot only is he the one ,yho is to
realise the way to emancipation; not only ,,,ill he proclaim
that ''''ly "for the welfare of gods and men," but he
irradiates sneh a beneficent influence that ,,,ithin its range
eyil eeases now, and creatures become benevolent. It is by
yirtue of Buddha's Dharma that men learn how, consciously,
to oyercome hate and delusion and death, and it is only a
slight extension of this belief, in mythological garb, to say
that at his mere coming to birth these miseries are tem-
porarily, as it ,,,ere in anticipation, suppressed. Even at
the prophcsy of his future attainment of Buddhahood
similar miraeles take place-foretastes for a day of ,,,hat
can be accomplished for ever ,yith the lmcmledgp of his Lenr:
"}dl flcnyers blossom on land and spa,
This day they all have bloollled, verily thon shalt be
Buddha.
"In hell the fires of ten thonsand worMs die mit,
This day these fires are quenched, verily thou shalt be
Buddha.
"Then diseases are dispelled and hunger ceases,
This day these things are seen, verily thou shalt be Bud-
dha.
"'1'1)(>n Desire ,rastes away, Hate and Folly perish,
This day all these are dispelled, verily thon shalt be Bud-
dha.
"Then Iralls, and doors, and rocks are no im pediment,
This day they haye melted into air, verily thou shalt be
Buddha.
")\. t that moment death and birth do not take place,
This clay these thing's are fieen, yerily thou shalt be Bud-
dha." (iYidii1loklltlu{ 91-116, J(ltaku, tr. p. 1G-17).
It is Buddha's Dharma idlich makes a 1:' to pia pos-
sible at all, an(1 so eYen the anticipation of his Enlighten-
ment causes the IH)rld to appeilr as a Utopia for a short
space of time; and hit; first ph.n-;ical appearance on eal,th in
his mother's In)mb starts the beneficent influence,,> ,yorking'.
These fanciful descriptions of co;;mic ( ~ c l a t exprec;s ill my tho-
lol,!ical form what the coming- of Buddha means to the Irorld;
but the mythological form iyaS probably not consciously
rl&borated by adoring' Buddhists. 1t represents, rathel', a
quite literal belief in the pot;sibility of what iye shouh1 call
magical inYer"ions of the natural order of things, but Ii"hich
to the Buddhists seem (Iuite rational and explicable ii"ithin
the total scheme of things because the appearance of a Bud-
dha is a sort of irruption of the spiritlwl pOW(')' iyhich is in-
calculably superior to matter and the ordinary modification"
of matter. It is then in the deepest sense" natural" tlw t
wonders should occur in the physical iyorlel at the ap-
pearance of a Being iyllO is absolutely without eCJual among
gods or men. He incarnates the true Heality of the iyorId;
is it then strange that the ,yorId should alter its ordinary
course ,yhen he appears in it ~ 'l'hrre is in all common
humanity a tendency to build up myth around the birth of
its gods and to express the greatness of the occasion by a
cosmic eclat and inversion of nOl\mal order: the Buddhists
simply lJaye a better metaphysical basis for this sort of myth
than haye other religions Iyhich have done j nst the same
thing. The reader may remember the story (charmingly
retold by Selma T-,agerlOf in her" Christ Legends") of how
,yild animals and eyen spears and arrOiYS refused to do
any injury on the night of Christ's birth. This tale illus-
TIlE BL:DDTIA- K:-;ETRA
241
irates almost exactly the Kame half-magical notion of the
ben('yulellt influence of the Great Being-thought of often
as a sort of physical emanation.
This "range of beneyolent influence" expressed in the
jiiti- and also, as ,,,e shall see, in the iil)ii-khetta, is quite
different from the range of the Buddha's knowle(lge which
"'e eonsic1ered first (and which was probably the first kind
of "field" he was thought of as IUlI-iug). '1'he yisaya-khetta
represents an abstract and intellectual relationship to the
II-orld, common to all the Buddhas and illclllding all the
knOlnl ulliYerse ,,,ith its one or ten or infinite ,,,odd-systems.
The" range of beneficent influence" on the contrary repre-
sents a concl'cte, almost physical (really spiritual, due to
beneficent moral or spiritual cammtion, but thought of as a
relationship of a particular Buddha to a limited
1'aJ/ge of tCorle/-systems. '1'he personal presence of a Buddha
(80me,,-here ,,,ithin ten thousand world-system is indis-
pensable to this kind of influence, ,,-herem;, as stated in the
"eyen ,,,hen the blessed Buddhas are
entered into complete KirYiil.Ja and their La,,, is in the de-
cline, it is still tlms in this matter: all component thillgs
are like a reflected image; snch is the principle; it is in this
that their property and their yi1'tne consist"-that if:, the
,dlOle nn1yerse is still in an intellectual and metallhp;ieal
sense the domain of the Buddhas in that it is truly re-
presenteel by their Dharma ,y11ich alone leads to the cessa-
tion of ill and to the attainment of XirYiiJ,Ia. Quitl' other-
,yise ,yith the sphere of a Buddha's beneficent influence:
when he disappears it is overcome by grief:
2
"Dans Ie temps 011 Ie Tathagata vinI de se concher
.... , en ce temps-la dans Ie grand millier de trois mille
r6giom; (Iu monds les arbres, les herbes, les branches des
arhres, les bois, les forets, tout a11tant qu'il y en a, se
tournant du cOte 011 s'accomplisse Ie NirYiil:ta clu Tatha-
1 See nl>oye, pngc 229. Bnscil on A/"/guttara i, 286, 134. (Gl'ac7ual
Sayillgs, I, 204-265.)
c Kal'w.ui-Pu1y.I aI'Ika, tl'. :E'eer, :\111soe Gllimet Allllnles t. Y. p. 160.
2-12 TIlE EASTERN BUDDHIST
gata, s'inclillerent profonnc1ement avec emllressement et
respect, et se tOllrnerent vers lui en se penchant.
"Dans Ie grand millier de trois mille regions du
monc1e, les flellves, les conI'S d'eau, les citernes, les lacs,
les etangs, les sources, les reservoirs, les lotus rouges qui
suiycnt Ie courant, tout antant qu'il y en a, benis (Tib.
, 'byin" corresponding to Skt. et doues par
la puissance dn Bouddha, cesserent de couler .... 1a
lumiere du soleil et de la lune, des etoiles. des pierres
precieuses, clu feu, les vel'S lllisant, toutes les choses qui
ont 1 'eclat, tout cela par la puissance du Boucldha cessa
(Petre visible et de briller; tout perdit se clarte, sa magni-
ficence et sa sp1endeur."
This is but a mythological clothing of the Buddhist
feeling tliat all the splendor of the has vanished \vith
the death of the Tathagata .... In Asvaghm;a's Bllcldlwcarita
the same feeling is beautifully expressed in its philosophical
and cosmic perspective but quite without entering any realm
of snpernatnral or magic:
"This \yorld "'as everywhere asleep, \"hen Buddha
setting forth his Imy caused it to a\yake; but now he has
entered on the mighty calm, and all is finished in an
unencling sleep. man's sake he had raise(l the stand-
ard of his law, and now, in a moment, it has fallen; the
sun of Tathagata's wisc10m spreading abroa(l the lustre of
its 'great awakening',' increasing ever more and more in
glory, spreading abroad the thousand rap; of highest
Immdedge, scattering and destroying all the gloom of
earth, \yhy has the darkness great come back again: His
unequalled \"isdom lightening the three worlds, giving
eyefl that all the world might see, nm\" suddenly the world
is blind again, be\yilderec1, ignorant of the \yay; in a
moment fallen the bridge of truth that spanned the rolling
stream of birth and death, the swelling' flood of lust and
rage and doubt, and all flesh ovel'\\"helmed therein, forever
lost." (S. Beal tr., op. cit. p. 449.)
'fhe positive reaction to Buddha's appearance-i.e., the
positive side of his influence upon the worlcl-\yas probably
believed in more literally than the abnormal manifestations
TIlE BUDDIlA-KSETRA
243
at his death, for latter are little more han a fanciful
or metaphorical garb for deep grief and loss, "'hile, as ,ye
suggested above, belief in the cosmic eclat at Buddha's birth
contains magical as ,yell as metaphorical elements which lie
deep in the umlug history of human thinking. The magical
element-that is, the belief is a sort of physical infi1telice
irradiated from the Buddha's person, is illustrated signi-
ficantly in the description of ,,,hat happens ,yhen Buddha
enters a city. On a small scale there occurs an eclat and
universal benevolence similar to what happened in the ten
thousand world-systems when Buddha first appeared in
them!
"And thus, being arrived at the city, he touched ,yith
his foot the threshold of the gate. Immrdiately the earth
trembled six times."
(Vrrses by the reciter) : "The earth ,yhich has the
ocean for its wall as well as the mountains and cities,
everything eyerywhere leaped and ,.,hook ,dlE'n the l\IUXI
had tonche(l the doorsill with his foot. \Yhen he enters
thus into the city, men and women obtain the pnre faith;
in the city everything transforms itsrlf like tIlE' ,yaYeS of
the sea when the ,yind blows: everything give,., forth fiuch
a harmonions sound as had never been known in the
before. \Vhen the Buddha entered the city, the hills be-
came leyel; there was no more gTaYel or rubbish; thorns
anel Oldnre disappeared entirely from the earth; the blind
sa,Y, the cleaf heard, the mute spoke. The enyious changed
their ,yays, the foolish became semible, the poor became
enriched; the sick were cured; all the instruments of music
resollnded without being played .... The light "'hich the
Buddha projects rafliates into the ,yodd like a hundred
snns; it illuminei5 everything ,yithin and ,yitlwut ,yith a
clarity like the colour of gold. The lig-ht which the Bud-
dha spreads about eclipses the sun and moon. Radiating
on creatures, it refreshes them and delights them in great
measure; just as ,yhen one waves over the
fevered, there is not one of them ,yho is not satisfied
(apaise) with it."l
1 A('o/,'{it'alliina: Ayu\Vang Tchouan, AY:H1ftlla t1e la Terre, (d.
Diyyilyat1ilna p. 364-365) from J. Przyluski, Lc Lcgc1Ielc ele l'E1Jl]Jci"cul"
244 'fUE BUDDHIST
'Vhat the first appearance of the Buddha did to the
whole ,Yorld, his entry into a particular <.:ity (loes to the
pOlye1's of nature and to the human beings therein. 'rhis
seems to imply a yery literal and spatial llotion of the Bud-
dha's infiuen<.:e, ,yhieh is apparently thought of as ]le1'yad-
ing a certain area about his person.
'Ve are reminded of llrimitiYe ideas of influence as a
sort of physical emanation ,yhi<.:h is the endowment of beings
more highly empowered than their fellows ,rith j\Iana, or
po,,-ers of black magic. Such ideas are closely bound up
with the notion of lIlo}'(ll causation 'rhich we found centrally
important in the Buddhist theory of the ,yorld. 'Ve shall
continue to find in Buddhist thought examples of this kind
of primitiye thinking.
'rhis really magical notion of a physical sphere of bene-
ficent infiuence seems to lie back of the Dudc1hi:,t concept
of Pirit, ,yhich is significant for our study because Dud-
dhagllOsa's second kind of khetta-the Ana-khetta- (,rhicll
embraced 100,000 kotis of cakkavaJas) 'H1S characterised as
the realm ,yithin ,yhich functioned the pmwr of the yarious
Parittiis. i\ ow ]Jarilta is a "warding-charm" or protection
-a ,yay of keeping off evil by the exercise of beneyolence
combined ,yith a formula or some magic object.1
And the beneyolence is thought of as belonging not to
the person in danger but to the Buddha, as is ShmYll con-
vincingly by the Canda Pirit Sutta from the 8aJ!lYlitta
(translated by Gogerly in his interesting section on Pirit in
"Ceylon Bllddhism" and K. 8. I, 71). 'Vhen the moon is
seized by Rahu (the demon of Eclipse), she takes refuge in
the Buddha as "conquering" and" free from eyil." Bud-
dha thereupon addresses RallU:
A("()7,'a dUllS tcs Totes inriiells et Chinois. (J\lusee Guimet Annales, t.
32) p. 22.i-22G. Cf. CI,. II, AYa(l;1na dll Hoi for "'hat happens
,,hell Bmldha tOllehcs the earth with his foot. See also VimalaUrii
quotation on last page of chapter IV.
1 'Yhil'h ,yorks like our rabbits foot, or the Italian ("l'ookecl bow
TIlE BeDDIIA-KSETHA
245
"Rallll: Camla has taken refuge ill the lJ oIy Tatha-
gata. Release Canda! Bndc1ha compassionates the
,,,orIel! "
If he had not released Canda, the text tells us, Rahn's hearl
,,,ould haye split.
In the Jlilillda (II, 21;'). text 1.:>2) the results of the
use of Paritta are set forth in language reminding 1lS of
,,,hat happens at the Buddha's birth: !Snakes won't bite,l
robbers ,,,on't harm, etc.
""Yhen Pirit has been said o\,er a man, a sHake, ready
to bite, ,,,ill not bite him, but eloiSe its jam.;-the elnb \"hich
robbers hold aloft to strike him ,,,ill neYer strike; they
,,,ill let it (1ro]l, and treat him kindly-the enraged ele-
phant l'mhing' at him \"ill suddenly stop-the burning
fiery conflagratiun sllrging tOlnlnls him ,,,ill die ant-the
malignant poison lw has eaten ,,,ill become harmless, and
turn to food-assassins ,,,ho haye cume to slay him ,,,ill
become as the slaye" ,1'110 '.n1it 111)on hilll-alld the trap
into ,,,h icll he lias trodden will hold him not."
A paritta fails through thE' obstructions of Karma, or
of unbelief-another reminder of' Buddhist belief in moral
causation.
Bnc1l1haghosa apparently belieycc1 that around the Bnd-
dlm to the llistance of so many \"orlel-systems there is a
perYac1ing moral force ,yl1ic11 protects those ~ \ Y h o take refng-r
in it. The llOlyer of Pirit is effective ,yithin that region.
but not outside it. The pcmer seems to rest in the beneficent
influence of Buddha, ,,,hich is ready as it '\'ere to be crys-
tallised upon calP It ])rrvacll's 100,000 kotis of ,,,orld-
to ward off the cyil eye, thongh our charms arc in theory 1110re pnrely
111agieal.
1 C1ll/aragga y. G, Oldy alleged use of word Parittfl by IIII' Bwlil/w
of charm against snake bite.
, Cf. the l'Ilahiiyfllla idea of the antilability of I3ucMha's mcrit
to all in his field. (Sce Chapter 11.) Trnnsfcr of merit 1)ccomes one
of the most characteristic ideas eOllneetcd with the Bucldhalqctra.
A Buddha's merit helps to "saye" all those in his fidel. Recognition
is due to :'I18ssrs. Schneider am1 Friess for being probably the first to
call attention to this association. Religion in Various Cllltul'cs, p. 1:)
(N.Y., Winter 1932).
systems; there must be a Buddha somewhere within that
distance of the creature in need of protection if the Parittii
is to ,york 1
Just ,yhy Al,lii-khetta would be supposed to embrace
this precise (!) number of cakkaviiJas I cannot imagine, un-
less, along the line of our former reasoning, this round num-
ber represents the next stage after the 10,000 in the growth
of the Buddhist universe, and may perhaps mark the period
,,,hen the theory of Pirit and iil,lii-khettas ,yas first committed
to memory.
This Buddha's field of authority (or ,yith
its curious magical associations, is obviom;ly more closely
connected ,,ith the Jiiti-khetta and its cosmic eclats than
with the more psychological awl philosophical Visaya-khetta
(field of knmdedge) ,yhich 'Ye dealt with first. The iil.lii-
khetta is more mag'ical and physical than the visaya-khetta
and has less to do with" cosmic perspective" (though as ,ye
have already seen it did concern the sun and the moon!).
It is ]larticularly interesting' as an illustration of the ,yay
Buddhism took to itself llOpular charms and exorcisms, but
this does not concern us here except to provide a background
for understanding' other kinds of magic pO'Yer a11(l emana-
tion" a11(l other illustrations of spiritual cansation ,yllich
shall concern u" in the next chapter in connection ,,,itll Bud-
dha's relation, as lokaniitlw, to the creatures in his" field."
(To be continued)
TERESIN A ROWELL
THE BACKGROUND AND EARLY USE OF
THE BUDDHA-Kf?ETRA CONCEPT
CHAPTER II.
THE FIELD IN THE BODHISATTVA-CAREER
!
A. A BUDDHA '8 FUNCTION IN HIS FIELD.
B. How HE OBTAINS IIIs FIELD-ITS PLACE
IN HIS CAREER.
'l. As the place where he purs"1tes his
career.
H. As the Ideal Goal of his caren,
HI. Meaning of 'Purifying the Field."
In the preceding chapter we considered the background
of the notion of a Buddha's field. We tried to discover
what ideas lay behind the development of such a concept.
and particularly what ideas about Buddha's relatioti to the
e:osmosseem likely to have led up to the three types of Buri-
dha.:.treld which appear in Buddhaghosa. "
We sa,v that these three types
l
really involved but two
ditferent conceptions of Buddha's relation to the nniverse:
2
the abstract conception of (the) Buddha as lmower of the
wnale'cosmos (embodied in the notion" of his infinite 'V,isaya-
lAna), and the concrete and personal conception of (a)
Inddha as exercising authority and influence over a certain
:Fangeof world-systems (embodied in the jiiN- and iil.u]-
lisflas.)
We found that the former conception, had its roots in
the earliest Buddhist thought. We found a'good many i d ~ a ; ;
m !lLt'Uer Hmayana literature dealIng in some ways with
:Bud'dha's knowledge of the world expressed in such terms
1 See page 216(18).
2 See page 241(43).
380
THE EASTERN BUDDHIST
as Buddha's visaya and gO'cara, and in the early-argued
doctrine of his omniscience. But the background of the idea
of his and spatially limited magic influence arid
authority was much more difficult to discover. We did find
in 'the Jataka ra:tb,erwell-developed. notions of Buddha's
magical beneficent influence (at the time of his birth, espe.
cially) : but in the early scriptures only the barest rudiments
of this sort of thought could be found-in the ideas onhe
par/ttas-and even in the J iitakathere seemed to be little if
any notion of spatia.l limitation of this influence, or any
concept of Buddha's sovereignty over anypartic'ula1' area.
For the history of these ideas of Buddha's particular
local soverdyntywe have to go beyond Hinayftna back
grounds, for the forces at work in the development of such
ideas are the forces "which produced the Greater Vehicle;
they cannot be understpod from within Hinayana tradition
alone. We have already referred to one factor in this de-
velopment-the extension of the cosmos. There was no need
to mark out limits to Buddha's influence when the universe
was thought of as comprising only one, or ten-thousand,
world-systems, and when there 'was thought to be only one,
Buddha .. at a time. But the growing elaboration and multi
plication of the universe must have contributed to the -rise'
of he lief in many contemporaneous Buddhas, and
quently to the .necessity of limiting the range of inflllence of
each.,one., ,This developll1ent cqncerned Buddha's relation-
silipto the' Buddha field
a.hayana scriptures is far more
a>ceIthlrit1:n'itof\vorlds:' It is Ii wayorexiJressing
tionsb..ip ofa Buddha or future--Buddha to the creatures he
hasungertaken to lead to, rp.aturity. Its background can be
deeper than cosmology as well as
bey:o,p,d the' confi.nes of the Lesser Vehicle and investigating
the'rootsof the concept of a' Buddha's sovereignty overhlS
world in his' (ethical) relationship to the world
Qfcreatures.
THE BUDDIIA-!\:fjETRA
381
In.the course of this search we must ask three questions;
A. How is a Buddha '8 function or position in his
field conceived in Mahayana thought? What does his
authority entail? What is he there for?
B. How does each future Buddha acquire such a
position? What part does the field play in his career as
a Bodhisattva?
C. How did the notion of such a position and such
a duty in relation to creatures, arise in the history of
Buddhist thOught 1
We shall try to deal with the first two of these questions
mthe present Chapter (II). The third chapter will be de-
:voted to an attempt to answer the third question.
We shall find that a full answer to the first question
wilLgrow out of ,,,hat we discover in trying to answer the
but we may at the outset try to get at least a pre-
liminary picture of the way in which a Buddha's relation to
hiS field-the creatures in his field-\vas-eonceived by early
.Mahayana Buddhists. As we go on, this picture ,,,ill be
enlarged and filled in by what we learn about what a Bodhi-
sattva had to do in order to become a Buddha in a field.
A. A BUDDHA'S IN HIS FIELD.
A Buddha's prima.ry function is teaching the creatures
in Ms Buddha-field, according to the Lohts and ,gik$iisa-
muccaya and SukhiivatI-lTYl1ha and other representative
llahayanascriptures. Hischaracteristicactiyity .. is
in.gthe Dharma, helping others to reach enlightenment. One
of his most familiar epithets is lokanliyaka, guide of the
:world; he is frequently spoken of as U teachel' of gods aneZ
men' (deviiniil1t manu?y(i:rpli!t ca niitha, or sastli) .
When the 18,000 Buddha-fields are illuminated by a
ray of light from the Blessed One's u1't!iikosa, in one of those
e()smicapocalypses so characteristic of the Lotus, Buddhas
.. 1 This pbrase is familiar in PaIi-e.g. Ailguttara, i. 151. For its
see Lotus 65 1: 6-passim.
382
EASTERN BUDDHIST
preaching the Dharma
l
are seen in all the Buddha-fields
M:aitreya, in wonder' at the spectacle, observes "how
18,000 appear variegated, beautiful, extremely
beautiful, having Tathiigatas as their lellders, Tatha::ratas as
1heir guides."2
According to the Lotus,3 these fields over which the
Buddhas preside fill the whole realm of existence "down to
the great Hell A vici to the limits of being (blwt'iigra)."4
They are inhabited by creatures in all the six gat is or states
'of existence,a but among their inhabitants the LotI/,S men-
" 6, 1. 11: "And whatever Buddhas,
Ones, those fields stay, remain, tarry, they all became visiule, and the
dharma preached by them could be heard in entirety by nIl beings."
Gil.thas p.9, 7: "I see also the Buddhas, those king-liolls; reveal.
iug, they analyse the Dharma, comforting ( n mnuy kotis of ('reatnres
and emitting sweet-sounding voices."
. 8 : "They "emit, 'each in own field, a deep, sublime wonderful
voice while proclaiming this Bnddha-dharma by menus of myriads of
kotis of illustrations and proofs:' Cf. Giith1i 76: "Aftel' rousing Il11d
stimulating many Bodhisattvas," etc.
Ibid. p' 8, ]. 7. Tathiigatapiirvalgamil.ni, Tathiigntnparil,liiynkiilli
. " . (tr. p. 9).
". P. "6, ]ine u (tr. p. 7).
For discussion, qhaviigrn. see Abhidharmakosa, ,"iii, p. 75.
G ,ye c,a sUl11vidyunle
sma (p.6,line 9). Elsewhere, however, even in this same text, in other
descriptions of the it as definitely asserted that tile
"field" jlj .dcvoidof hells and . the ]owerstates of being. See especially
Ch. VI,tr.'p.148: "HisBuddha-field will be ...... frl'efromlJeings
of the bruteereation,: hell, iaud the host of demons,"
be there, nor fearot
the placesofpuftishmcftt or ot dismalstatcs." . For other
tlIe fif,llcl see, .. esp .. 1$,19,.
.", . ',o.l1- . . . o.f; (',oncei
'. '.
and by-"ldenl
.............. ,. . . ... , uddhaofield . issiJlIpI,!
this.univ'el'se i8 composed:' As"
slleliitl3pr:a.c'tieallysy.u,onym(l118'Witli)okadhiltu, oru cel'tllill aggregate
aUc6nditions of being. As this
.' .' "'. ." is the Buddha-field of
si'. . ..... '. .... '.. hells und Ilix l1;atis are the nelda
in Bilell. (325, tr. 290):
f'Whatever hell!! are hi. the infinite fields of the Bud(lhns ... ;."
THE
383
tionsespecially "bhik!?us, bhikr;;ul).ls, male and female lay-
'disciples, Yogins, those who have obtained the fruition (;Jf
the Brahmacarya) and those who have not yet obtained the
fruition." There seem to be also Buddhas who have entered
into NirvaJ).a (perhaps Pratyelmbuddhas?) and stupas con-
taining their relics! The most important inhabitants of the
Buddha-fields are the Bodhisattvas who pursue their Bodhi-
sattva-career under the guidance of some" Jina. "1
They are called the" jewel-adornments" of his fieldY
To them he preaches his most profound sermons; for them
he produces those miraculous illuminations and shakings of
Biiadha-fields, with rains of celestial flowers, which are the
liild also in Sukhiivati 939, p.60, line 2 if. (tr. 60): "Whntever
mountains, MeruB, great Merus ...... ....... (which are specifically
excluded ill most descriptions of the Buddhakllletra) exist everywhere
in hundred thousand kotis of Buddhafields ...... " For a philosophieai
answer to the problem raised hy this l'Ontradietion sec end of Chapter
VI.
t Lotu8 I, giitha 13: "I see in many fields what Bodhisattvas
(mnny) as the sand of the river Ganges, many thousands of kotis (of
them:) are producing enlightenment by various energy.:' .
iI.#Gsiilwsrika-Prajiiiiparamitii (German tr. p. 137): The Bodhi
sattvas say, "We wish to hear this Prajiiaparamita in detail from the
Tathliglita ...... Aklilobhya, and from these heings following the Bodhi
aattvllyiina who in this Buddhafield live the Brahma-earya."
2 Subhuti's vyiikarul,la (Lotus VI, gathil. 21) "In (that field)
lrill be many Bodhisattvas to turn the wheel that canllot be turned
bil.Ck;endowed with keen faculties they will under that Gina, be the
ornaments of that Buddhafield." Cf. gathfi 29 of the same chapter
Mlihlltlityiiyana's vyilkaral,ll!:
Qt; $ariputra's vyilkariu,la (tr. p. 66-67): "The Bodhisattvas of
Buddha.neld ... are called ratnns, and at that time there will be
many. Bodhisattvas in that lokadhiitu (= Buddhakf}etrn, see p. 6,:;,
liRe &::9) called 'Viraja'-ilUlumcrable, inClllculn.ble, inconeeivahle,
Itilpiiiallelled, immeasurable, indeed Burpassing computation except by
Tathllgata'computatioll (66, Iille 4) .... "
'''Nowfurther at that time the Eodhisattvas ill that Buddha-field
ahall become stepping upon jewel-lotuses. And not performers of
lllio/ for the nrst time (allfidikarmikiis) .shnll those Bodhisattvas he;
having roots of merit collec'ted through a long period and having
followed the Bmbma-caryii under many hUJldred thousands of Buddhas
praised by the Tathilgata, intent upon Buddhaknowledge,
akilled. in all leading to (or by) dharma, gentle, mindful, of Bodhi
aattvasof suchu sort shall that Buddhafield be full." (66, 1. 10).
38"4
preludes to a particularly important Dharma-Expositio
ll
.
1
For the sake of their enlightenment
2
he uses his magic power
(anubhava)3 toenable them to go field to field to wor-
ship various Buddhas. Even this passive function of the
Bmldha in his field-being worshipped by the Bodhisattvas
---:has jts chief meaning in its fruits
4
for the Bodhisattvas'
enlightenment.
So we see that all of the Buddhas' activities in their
:fields are phases of their function as teachers: teachers,of
all beings but particularly of the Bodhisattvas. The fields
and even the Buddhas themselves seem to exist primarily
for the sake of the Bodhisattvas, rather for the Bud.
dhas'! Since most Mahayana'treatises were written not for
perfect Buddhas but still" on the way" it is
1 For tbis use of the Buddha-fields see Ch. IV.
" Often we read of the relation between a Buddha and the
Bodhisattvas.in his field being quite personal-as in Lotus XIV, gutbas
36 ff. "These Bodhisattvas .... so innumerablEl, etc.,
have I rousedexcited, .... fully developed to supreme .perfect enlighten
ment after my having arrived at perfect Sambodhi in this world.
I have .... perfected . thesekulaputra. in their Bodhisattvaship."
38: "It is I who ba;ve brought them to maturity for bodhi, and
it is in. my field that they have their abodes; by me alone have
been brought to maturity; these Bodhisattva are my sons." ,
!tis in the S'ukhallaHthat this rel!ltion is developed par excellence"
in the personall'elat;ionshipsbetween Amitllbhll and the Bodhisattvaa
in his . field.
3 Sukh. 8, giitM 21, p,16; and 37, p. 57: "What Bodhi,
sattvasare'bornm.that Buddhafield, they all by ('I) one morniilg;
meal having gone to other world-systems 'reverence many
ofk9tisof as many as they ..
' .. ... 271,1 . 4, w 11.. .. .... ""i
ofpreachfug by .. tIle anilb ....
in all dil'ections,(when tjif
';. -.--,'" , .. ,:--.---. -- - , ,'-
........ ,the Buddhas
shallsee,ise:l:ertcd for the sake 9f enlightening cre;l"
. pr()tectio.n.supposed to be exercised over young'.
qnl!, .J.,o}'U:8 XIII, 271, 1. 4. where they-are
avalokitlisca
tasea.Of.X . 231;i 1.i;.bha.gaviiIjls ca asmakam
'. ' .'.
, Seebelow
t
p.402(12) ff.
THE
:385
not surprising to find the of mainly
ffom the Bodhisattva's point of view.
B. How HE OBTAINS HIS FIELD--lTS PLACE
IN HIS CAREER
i. As the Place Where he Pursues his Career
To the Bodhisattva a Buddha-field is first of aU the
in -which he strives upward on his career toward Bud-
cffi.abood. We have just seen something of the importance
()tthe,Bodhisattvas in the field. Conditmns there are ideal
toward enlightenment:
1
tltere is no' turning
b'iilik.
2
Creatures become enlightened after only one more
the evil one can get no advantage over people
there and his following becomes there no longer recognis-
able.
4
People in the field, eHpecially the disciples and Bodhi-
manifest all sorts of good qualities that aid in their
attainment of enlightenment."
ii. As the Ideal Goal of his Career
lIore significant even than as the favourable scene of
"; 1 The description which follows has heen put together in brief
lrtim several vyiikaral,1as, whieh should be consulted entire for the
iAt1i!9aphel'e of supernatural powers attrihut<>d to the inhahitants of
1lieclittiire fields.
'ill ;Lotus VI, p. 155 gatha
Sukl,: 8, gilthil 2'0. See also p. 44; Whate;er beings
been ,born there, 01' lire born there now, or e\ocr will he
are all firmly attached (niyatii) to the Supreme (Truth)
, to NirvilJ}a, 11ecause there j.s th.at field no occasion
of two rUBis, namely of not. 1?eing firmly attached,
attached to falsehood. .
Klisynpll's VyakaraJ}ll. Lotus VI, p. 145 line 2:ff: Ul!.
. plipiyiln avatliruJ!l lupsyate nn en Marapar"at prajna-
. . tntra khalu pUllar Mi!.rlls ea Milrapal'"adasca.
&,::E.g! ,Lotus VIII, glithas 16-19, (p. 202,. line 5 :ff.) The Bodhi-
Was . there' are alt' endowed with great abhijiill. and tbe pratisaJ!lvids
:':ire skilled ill instructing creatures. See also ibid. VI, gfithns
':21'-22; 26-37, and description quoted below p. 390. PiirJ}u's
arana. "Their two foods are delight iu the Dharma and delight
! IF 0
386
his career, the is to the Bodhisattva in the
second place the goal of strivings-the "ideal1'ealm which
he must purify during his career and which he hopes to
possess he shall have himself reached Buddhahood.
In the Lotus this meaning of the field is uppermost.
We find the most frequently in
connection with prophesies (vyiikara1}a) made by the Blessed
One concerning the destined Buddhahood of certain Bodhi
sattvas. When they have finished their Bodhisattva course,
he tells ,them,! and have worshipped innumerable Buddhas,
they shall at length become thoroughly enlightened and be
Tathiigatas, each in a Buddha-field of his own. Meanwhile,
they must, like Pfirl.1a,2 be constanty active and energetic
in purifyingtkeir own Buddha-fields, as well as ill bringing
creatures to matUrity. .
Such references as to what '{nust be dOl/C ab01lt the
Bllddha-fidd during the Bodhisattvas' career, coupled with
the frequency with which the field is spoken of in the f1lhlre
in such a representative Mahayana text as the L01118, show
that to the aspiring reader of the Greater Vehicle the
Buddha-kf?etra meant far more than a static cosmological-
1 Thrls to the 200 Lotus XX (tr. p. 211): "After ac
. Bodhisattva-course and after honouring Buddhuga$
numerous as the dust atoms of :fifty worlds und ufter ae.quiring the
Saddhal'llla, they shall in their last bodily existence
- .at the same instant ..... in all directiolls of space in
his .. own. Buddhnksetra. 'l'hey shall aU
'bec<>lneTathltgatnsby name )latnaketurajas. . The arrays aud good
quulitiesof shall be equaljequal also shulIlle,
; ...
'. . .
the
. ... Vn.194(f,.
' ........................ ' .. 3.37'.alJdI4: ' .. Pi
.. "Constantlymid assiduously heBhal1 ..
and bringing creatures to
. such a Bodhisattva -course, of
neons,he shall reach supreme,
peifeet'.'eIi1jg. . ent;he.ilhallin the world be the Tathrtgnta called
Dhftl'nlaprs:bMsa. ... "
THE BUDDHA-KfjETRA
387
unit. It was, rather, a functiollal concept-
an,jdeal to be striven for, to be "purified," even, as we shall
be produced .
.. , It played a vital part throughout the Bodhisatha-
In the very first bhfuni (stage),l according to the
DasabJtumika Sidra, the Bodhisattva arouses his determina-
,(cittotpiida) 'to purify all the (01' the whole) Buddha-
fields.
2
.,'. Later in the first bhumi, according to he
ten great aspirations the seventh
is concerned with purification of the field (Blt iil/I i
p .. 15) :
"He mal{es a seventh great pral.lidhiina for the
purifying of all (or the whole) Buddha-fields, purifying
an the fields as one field and one field as the assembly of
field'3, adorned with the decorations of the array of the
splendour of the immeasurable Buddha-fields, provided
with the Way thoroughly purified by removal of all klesas,
with beings who are mines of wisdom, having asso-
ciation with the lofty for the sake of
delighting the sight of all beings according to their dis-
positions. ' ,
'.' In other texts the whole pralJidhana (not merely a
wc,.sections of it, as in Daiabhtimika) is concerned with
b.ddha-field-with the Bodhisattva's determination to
"''''f'it, and to be sure that it and its inhabitants shall be
of certain qualities. We shall looiC at some of
iiili\aein a moment, after we have finished outlining briefly
..... ,
Many treatises for the Bodhisattva divide the career into
. '. or bbumis. The usual number is ten, but see cll. VI of Har
. Eoqbiaatt1:a Doctri'1lcin BtKldhUt;'SI:t . ,Litc1"(iture, ("The
.' evidence of a prior' .
SS p. 11: This part of the
),carning for the approaching
unto nttaining great unto grasping
of the 13uddha-dharmas, unto snvingthe whole creation,
. with' great pity and compassion, unto going after
2e:.'w11:h01l1t a remnant in tho ten direction, unto purifying all
together with their members and unto confidence ill
great wheel of the Dharma.
a88
THE EASTERN BllDDHIST
':the,Place of the.l3.Ud<l,ha-kllletra in the various stages of the
Bodhisattva-career. .' .....
Havip.g "made up his mind" and made his
in the :first .bhi,in:li, to purify the field, the Bodhisattva is
supposed in: the later bhfimisto worlt at actually
it. .,according to Dasabhuniika, this" duty belongs
culadyto the bhfimi;1 according to Pmjiiiiparamita,
to the eighth;2 according to Makiiyana-Silt1iilay/z.kora,tQ
ninth and terith.s
1. Dci.f. VII, B, p,56: stationed ill the seventh
betakes .. him,s,eJfto the' imm,easurable
undertakes ( y.:.....:a:vatarati"":"'same verb througlloutthiS
daty oithe imn:le!LBurable Buddhas, Blessed Ones, wh1cl!
'. ..
'he .lletakeIJ. to . t\1e. iiluni'las,u!;llple .
. theimm'BtI.tu.ra'blC field of
measurable Buddhas . "
In . VIII;'X:, . p. 67 the Bodhisattva is said to obtain the Boal:,
'Sattva-eal'eel"power 'oftheBodhisattva who has climbed unto thii
(eighth)bhnmi' in 'um-anD'er characterised by immeasurable bodj:;
mQdifieapon and by.immeasurable voice-production, knowledge-pro-
duct jon, .rebb'th .pro(},ucti9n,.byimmeasurablc field'purification, erea::
ture-matriring,Buddha"worsbip; awaking to the Dhnl'makiiya .... by-
immeasiuable.aildifillce-assembly-modi:fientionproduetioll. , .. " etc.
!l See DayalI'; '277. The bhumis are described in PI'. 1454--1473
of Praj"Pd8at. .
3 . 'f' ..... . ,""'o.; OomllL--Classification of thc practice
ot the Sumyakprahilnlls (complete abandon.
'. 'the i.e. free:!rQjj]:
livyakaraI)1l in the' Btlq forW
fOl' consecration ill the 10th-lOfor
all .. thcs.e. tlirce--{liJiiiiiiis
in the Buddhn-bhilmi. .... :.,
r .... .'c" '"U'.' andhlwiIlg:'
) .th'c ffl.ust:W;
THE BUDDHA-Kl?ETRA
389
during his career the Bodhisattva obtains a
Wii:.lral'lma (see p. 386) prophesying bis future attainment of
and describing his future Buddha-field in all
The vyakaral)a includes also prediction of the
his Kalpa and his own name-to-be as Buddha,
of his disciples and of the Bodhisattvas in his
mention of the length of his life-span and that of
vyakaral)am: idrSe buddha-
eva:qmama, iyata kalena buddho
idfsas ca asya parivaro
kalaro asya saddharma-anuvrttir bhavil?yatitij:MSAL.
Com.)
to Asailga the Bodhisattva obtains such a
in the eighth bhllmi (see note 3, preceding page).
encouraged by his vyakaral)a, the Bodhisattva
, ... ,. to pursue the Bodhisattva career under the leader-
, . of some Tathagata, worshipping many Buddhas and
"",,,nn ... to purify the field, until at last he attains Buddha-
and comes into possession of his own Buddha-field.
l
many Bodhisattvas come to enlightenment at
1i!I\)i.I:ii:tU1C time; see foot-note 1, p. 386.)
,field
2
will be pure, bright, free from stones, sand,
free from holes and steep precipices, free from
and sewers, even, lovely, calming and beautiful to
, made of lapis lazuli, adorned with jewel-trees,
Tlms the sixteen princes of Lotus VII. p. 184, line '3 if: I
and declare to y.ou, bhikl?us. those sixteen princes, youths,
the yule of that Blessed Olle as novices were Dharma-
ufUlmlHm), they have all become enlightened into unsurpassed
and they all now (cturhi) stand, tarry,
the'Jen (lirections.ill "arious Buddhafleldspl'caching the
many hundreds of thousands of nayutus of kotis of
To be explicit, in the. east, in the lob
.. .. the Tathilgatn named in the soutIHast
(in the west-Amitilyus!)
Lottls I, giithii. 88: Varaprabhu's pupils after worshipping
"havingpurBued the course, then in due order (iinulo-
became Buddhas ill many worldsystems."
Lotus VI, p. 144, 1. 9; p. 145, 1. 2 if.
390
fastened in a checkerboard marked off with gold thl'eada,
covered with flowers .. '.'
The typical is usually described in thiJ!
way, but :the descriptions in the vyiikaral).as in tne
Lotu.s add certain specifications to those listed above.
Sariputra's field
l
is to be even, lovely, calming, supremely
beautiful to see, thoroughly purified; prosperous,2 thriving,
giving security, having abundant food, filled with manyfoll(
and throngs of men and 'filled with gods, etc ..... and in those
there sha.ll jewel-trees ever always filled
with flowers of the seven precious objects. Piirl).a's field
is' to be even,3 become like the palm of the hand, madeofi
the seven jewels, free from mountains, filled with
edifices made of the seven jewels. There' shall be pala.ces
of the gods stationed in the air; gods on their part will
behold men and men will likewise behold gods. At that time'
this Buddha-field shall be free from places of punishment,
free from womankind. And all those beings shall come illto
existence by "apparitional birth"; they shall be followers'
of the Brahmacarya, having their own light by their
essences made of mind,possessed of magic powers, traversing
the sky, energetic, mindful, wise, having gold-coloured forms
adorned with tq.e thirty-two marks of a great man.
4
,
Now that must the future Buddha do in order to obtaitt
Buddh;lhood a.nd the possession of a "pure":field of SUCh'll
sort'Wehaye seen that his to
dh.a"xl?etra. futhecourse'of
most entirely concerned with his obligation to "]Jurify"it.
What does this." piwi ficatio1l, pI the .Buddha-field" meanL
1 ... Lot'll,s III, .p . 65, 1. 9ft'.
. !!. translates. The word does not appear iii
BolJtlillgk;Roth.
8..z:.otu$'YIII.p.202,line 2ft' .
.... .... .tr..for description of an .apocalypse;br
Which theJ31id(ffia.fjelds are descrilledalmost exactly lilre stlip3S;'
deekedwitltstl'ingsofclothsj cQvered with canopies, etc.!
THE BUDDHA-KfjlETRA
391
iii. Meaning of Purifyin(J the Field
We find in the main two interpretations of this" pur i-
" in Mahayana scriptures. One is_ predominantly I
and defines purification of the field in terms of
.. one's mind-from selfishness and particularly
false differentiations. This interpretation we shall
most completely in .Asanga's ffIah(lyalla
. . The other interpretation defines purification
. in terms of action (though motive also is given an
place), making the purity of the future field
on the Bodhisattva's efforts in behalf of the en-
t of creatures. We shall find this view repres-
__ l ly in the texts assembled by Santideva in
ya.
1
Asanga interprets purification in intel-
terms because in his system there is nothing to be
except the mind,-all things being "originally
, It is our false distinction-making, our dualisms of
vs. object, self vs. others, which prevent us from
the true natural purity of Tathata.
2
Purification
in remGving these "obstructions."3
. A combination of the ethieal and intellectual interprctations
found in Vasubandhu's Vijiiiiptillliitratl! Siddlli, where a "pUl'e
said to bc produced by the maturing of the results of n
's efforts toward his own Buddhahood 01' creatlll'cs'
thisdevelopment into a. "pure .field" is set, forth intbe
terms of the vijiiiinavMll. See quotations froin the
page of Appendix B-Tlie TrinUy allcl tile Field. .
expression of sueh dew remhids us tllat be WIIS n
he became a Buddhist!
ullunlly .. clas.sU,ied liS of two kinds-mornl Ilnd
r.'''qi,T .. t.i." ancljiiilYitwliaiiris. .
of purification in -terms of oY'c*:coinilig duality
... 2 where dhYlina. is snid to arrive at being su1:i8:uddham
takil1g 110ld of (non-discriminating
;eferrillg to . thoroughly purified. understanding which
of non-duality (or "nonduality as its object");
16" Com. "non-discriminated knowledge" is listed as n way
the iminediate presence of a-cycle-puri-
392
".As the clouds are obstructions of the rays of the
sun so the perversity of creatures is an obstruction of the
Buddha-knowiedges." (MSAL IX., 34)
Buddhata::::Tathata. It is universally present in. the
multitude ofcreattU'es as space is universal in the multitude
of forms (MSAL IX. 15). So attainment of Buddhahood
means realisation of non-duality-purification of the mind
from false distinction-making. And 1)1(I'ificafion of the
Buddha-k$etra seems generally in Asanga to mean exactly
the same thing! The process. of purifying the field seems
to be identified with what the Bodhisattva does towards his
own Buddhahood.
Purifying the Buddha-dharma and purifying the Bud-
dha-k/?etra seem to be used almost interchangeably, referring
to the intellectual side of the Bodhisattva's efforts as con
trasted
l
with his maturing of creatures,!! It thus becomes
XV. 5 where purifieation of karma is gh"'en this Sl1m(' intellectual
meaning: "not discriminating the actor, the performllnce of the act, etc."
1 Not as antitheses, but as two different pllrts of the same
career,
2 For "attaining a Pl1rified field" set off 11 gaiust maturing
creatures see XVII. 13 : t'latV.iin ameyiln paripiiclluaya kl)etrasya Bud
dhallYa. ea lladhanaya/I. COmm.: In this phrase the twofold (is
meant)-ofdevotingoneself to it: immeasurable (,l'easures and a
thoroughly purified Buddhafield. Having helJrd the Dhlll'ma,(knowl.
edgedel'ivcs) fromeausing it to be established in: tllem
tures), alldbyheing(pneself). stationed' in it (the field) .
. . parisud.
dhaI]1ca srutvi't yel)u prntil)thiipulliltl yatra
.... ..... ......... ........ ... '
. . .. ........ :E.'or. ilL.q .si TIl ilarpa ir sec.
bh\lmis he practiees
is free
'the OUler according
. a .creatures.
.]'911hisPtli-ifteation l)y "nondiscriminating knowledge"
see ..... :&:dJ: ..... 29:i .. ..
.. vl'ujati 80 sid<1him
meaning having etel'llully lofty applied
and purification of the tWQ,lJl
illtelli,qellce he proceeds step by.
(Jte.ptotllehigl1est pel'fection.
THE
393
eleal' that to Asanga ]Jurification of the field, as indeed
eterything else in his system, means primarily purifying the
IIlindfrom the obstructions of imagined duality.l
Vimalakirtinirdesa and Avataf!tsaka, scriptures whose
interpretations of field-purification we shall consider next,
similar interpretation of purification of the field,
it more closely with the maturing of creatures, and
out of the "Perfections" (dana, sila, etc.).
"The Buddha-lands as innumerable as particles of dust
are raised from one thought cherished in the mind
of the Bodhisattva of mercy,
Who, practising meritorious deeds in numberless
kalpas, hath led all beings to the truth;
All the Buddha-Land rise from one's own mind and
have infinite forms,
Sometimes pure, sometimes defiled, they are in various
cycles of enjoyment or suffering .... ":!
"The sincere mind is the ]J1l're land of the Bodhi-
siJJtva when he shall arrive at full enlightenment, beings
who never flatter, will be born in that land.
3
iii nir"ikalpella dharmanairntmyajiiilncna prnti-
pratipattei! ca avikalpana. trimnl]galapariiiuddhir vedi-
yukta iti sntvii.nam-iitmnnas cal
With this meaning 1)y the non-discriminating knowledge of the
of dhaiin"as is to be known the non-discriminating
of producers, "of what is produced, and of pro
okerl to maturing and purification of the two," it is said,
of creatures and of himself.
purification of the field interpreted ill terms of that
tion"wbi('h transcends the duality of subject vs. object,
commentary where somethillgof this kind seems to be
::u-thapurlivrttnu udgrahaparavrttau
paramalJ1 lubhyate yena bhoguspzp.dnraunaI]1
In object-transformation as in receiver (i.e. subject1) trans-
heobtahts highest mastery of field-purification, by which he
bhoga at will. (Cf. IX. 62 Comm. where the :'svilbhilvikakii.ya
" sumbaddhn" is described almost identically
int1111iJEesting bhoga as desired in sazp.bhoga-mustery").
eastern, Buddhist, Vol. I, p. 153.
The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. III, p.
394
"The firm mind 1'S the pure land of the Bodhisattva;
when he shall arrive at full enlightenment" beings who are
endowed with virtues shall be born in that land ....
"Charity (Dana) is the pure Illnd of the Bodhisattva;
when he shall arrive at full enlightenment, beings who
are capable of renouncing all will be born in that land.
"Discipline (sila)l:s the pure land of tile Bodhi.
satil'a: when .... he shall arrive at full enlightenment,
beings "'ho are endowed with the thirty-two ('xcellent
features, ,,,ill be born in that land.
"Patience (k$iinti) is the pure land of th,' Bodhi.
sattva: when he shall arrive at full enlightenment, beings
who are endowed with the thirty-two excellent features,
will be born in that land.
"Diligence (virya) .... J.l1editation . ... Wisdom ... the
FOllr-fold Immeasurable Mind . ... the Pow' Ways of Ac
nptullce .... the way of Necessary Means .... the thirty.
seven Requisites for Attaining Supreme Enlightenment
(are the pure land of the Bodhisattva) ; there in that land
he will find neither the three unhappy regions nor the
eight misfortunes .... There in that land he will not find
eYen the breach of precepts ....
"Beings \\'ho are born in that land will 1Il'\'('\' suffer
untimely death, will be abundantly rich, doing good,
truthful and sincere, tender in stalk; their families and
relatives will never be scattered; they will be sldllful
in reconciliating quarrels, ever ,henefiting others when
speaking; they ,vill never be en VlOUS, or angry, but e,'er
maintaining right principles.
"Thus, 0 Ratnakuta, the Bodhisattva 'with sincere
mind begins his work; from this beginning he obtains a
firm mind; through the firm mind he becomes a master
of his will; with his .will mastered he follows the true
doctrine; following the true doctrine as he brings hiwelf
toward the Mahayana; and as a consequence he learns the
Necessary :.Means (upaya); with the Necessary Meanshe
brings all beings to perfection;' by this perfection his
Buddha--lalld is . purified; as his Buddha-land is purified,
his preaching is purified; as his preaching is purified,hls.
mind is purified; as his mind is purified all virtues' are
purified. Therefore. 0 Ratnakuta, when the Bodhisattva
THE UCDDIiA-KJ:jETRA
wishes fo obtain II ]Jul'e fir lrl , he shollt,j plli'il'l his lIIillri.
atld his mind is purifieri, purifieri is his UlI,f,III1J-fidd. "1
The other and more genf'l'al interpretatioll "t' .. pIIl'ifil'rl-,
tion" tends to identify the Bodhisattva \; f'fflll'ts til .,btaill
himselF and to attain a ,. purifif'd" fif'ld. witll
hise110rts to mature crf'atures, field is not 11IIrl' IInlh.'
diligently to bring' thf'm to matul'it,\. ,A:- \If' 1'1'Hd
in Ratnamegha tr. I :
"1 the Bodhisattva learns of people's I!rasping' grer:d
and violence, he must not say. 'Away with these peopll'
so grasping and violent!' and on that account be df'presserl
and turn back on the IIe makes a vow to have a
very pure field in which the very name of suell Jlf'rs(Jn"
shall be not heard.
3
Anrl if the Borlhisattl'll tl/l'/I his ffl,.,
away {1"Om the good uf fill creatures, his field is not }Juri
and his work not accomplished. Then the wise Bodhi-
sattva thinks (284), 'Therefore, whatever being'S of animal
nature may be insignificant, timid, stupid. deaf. dumb b,\-
nature, may I meet in Illy Buddha-field all who ill anim!:ll
form are not behavin/! so as to attain Xil'Yiil,la, not cured.
rejected by all Buddhas and Bodhisathas; these all T
:would seat in the bo-tree circle and brin!! to thE' knflWledl!'
'of supreme enlightenment.' "
Similarly in (Sik,y. 1:i:1.1:
For the obtaininy of (J thoroughly purified Buddha-
field, unto all (,I'eatures tm('her-affection is
Sttkhiivafi-vyftha sets forth in some detail tllp pthies "f
1 See end of Chapter IV fur conclusion of this qllotatioll,
a Cf. Bodhisattva BM1111i ill Le J!useon Vol. 7 (1906) p.
, .. e ksetravisuddhi is iOl'lurlerl in a section on thp ripening of thl'
--,. of the purity of pmctice," showillg how thf' eightfold fruit
"pened lends to the we-Ifare uf others, a 011 for olll'self to th .. ,
" ,'nciples" (dllaTlIIas) that make a Buddha,
a This sentenre iIIustrutes also a further mealling of purit:- (If
in tel'ms of the purity of the creatures who shull l)e there.
tl'. 287: People become pure in hody, ,"oice. :llld mind, in
1l!at, wonderful lield," Cf. Lotu8 VIII. galM lA,
'. SUl'nlsut\'('Sv !Ilislrpremoktalll
396
the Bodhisattva who is trying to bring about the purity of
his Buddha-field.
1
( 10, p. 25 line 9 if.)
"He bringing about (sam1tdanayun-Cf. SukJulvati
p. 27 line 10) this of such 'a sort (as described in the
praIiidhana in 8) thorough purity of the Buddha.field,
'greatness of the Buddlia-field, loftiness of the Buddha.
field, performing the Bodhisattva-career, for immeasura-
ble, incalculable, inconceivable, incomparable, measureless,
innumerable, unspeakable hundreds of thousam;ls of
niyutas of kotis of years in no way considered a purpose
bf lust,malice, hurt; in no way did he conceive the idea,
even of lust, malice, hurt .... " He was "gentle, charming
indeed, and, compassionate; pleasant to live with,
agreeable,aimiable, content, of few wishes, satisfied, re-
tired, not evil,notfoolish
t
not suspicious, not crooked, not
wicked, not deceitful, tender
t
kindly speakingl always
zealous, docile in tIle searching after the pure Law
And for the
good of all beings he recited the great pra:t;lidhana, show-
ing respect to friends (kalyii1}u-mitru), teachers, masters,
the Buddha-, Dharma, an!! Sangha, always girded for the
performance of the duties of a Bodhisattva, righteous,
gentle, hot deceitful, not, flattering, virtuous, a leader for
thesake of tousing others to perform all good laws (pRr-
sarvakitSaladhm'ma-samii-dapanafii'Yai), produc.
ingby his activity the ideas of emptiness
t
causelessness,
and. purposelessness (su.nyatiinimitta , etc.), aIld he was
well guarded speech."2
(Text p.26 line 9) "Uninterrupted by himself
1 'fjimilur. . in association with
df o,na.::f:l7ollt
inalice
... day ... uutWI
..... , .... , ." .......... '.. . 'Wili::Pfuetisecolitinence and avoid. criminal
Ilistsan'(f i,jIlifate: and morality of the Buddha,"
IwiUl'emainuntllthe the chain oflJcing for one living
an itnmeasurable, inconceivable 1ieJd;, .
of body and speech. Karma of
.1'i1ied;'Iuni. the performer of karma that is not
..' . '
2. fl'. S.B.R XLIX 2nd part, p. 25.
THE BUDDHA-KfjETRA
397
pursuing the Bodhisattva-career, he himself walked in the
perfection of charity (dana) and caused others to walk in
that very same perfection. Similarly for the other per-
fections-morality (sila) , forbem'ance (k$iinti) , energy'
(virya) , meditaNon (dhyiina) , wisdom (prajiiii). Roots
of merit of such a Mort he has accumulated, with which he
is endowed, that wheresoever he is reborn, there appear
from the earth many hundreds of thousands of niyutas of
kotis of h'easures!"
, "
During his pursuance of the Bodhisattva-career he
worshipped innumerable Buddhas and gave them all sorts
of, presents; he established innumerable beings in supreme
or in fortunate rebirths in noble families
brpositions of sovereignty over Jambudvipa, in the posi-
tion of cakravartins, lokapalas, and various other ldnds
of supernatural beings.
The passage just quoted illustrates clearly the idea that
a Bodhisattva is to purify his field-to-be by exerting himself
to the utmost on behalf of creatures, particularly trying to
help to lead them toward Enlightenment or "maturity."
Weare not told just how it is that such activity produces a
:" we shall have to turn to other scriptures for
on the worIdngs of this" spiritual causation."
When we formulate the problem in terms of how ction
can affect or produce a world, we are immediately reminded
'Otfhe early Buddhist dictum that the world is produced
! 'Ve remember the stress laid upon this doctrine
jl it is especially interesting to
the Abkidlwnna Kosa
2
a statement to the effect that
flfl'/,"",'I.f,-'< hells are prOd1tCed vythekarmaofthe creatures
to be reborn there in punishment for that evil
The same doctrine, that the merit of. creatures
;'f1,'(:,"y ...... u."'''' the nature, of the world they are to live in, is
in Astasahasrika Pra iiiii-Piiramitii (quoted in
.. .
,l See above p. 228(30),
de la Vallee Poussin, Yol. III, p. 155. Cf. p. 139 and
,1:&5j.und Vol. IV p. 227,
398
Siks. tr. 309) ; "Alas, these beings have small merit that ill
their world such waterless forests are known!"
This doctrine of the- basis of a world in the karma of
its inhabitants is significant for the from two
angles-(a) the effect of the Bodhisattva's 111M'it in deter-
mining directly the nature of his field-to-be, and (b) the
effect, if there be any, of the merit of the creatures who are
to' be the denizens of his field. The former idea is familiar
in the :form 0, the accepted Hindu belief that celestial
sovereignty over some" bright and blessed" heavenly worlcP
is obtained as the result of meritorious action on earth, The
basis of the latter idea we have just seen illustrated in the
statement that the hells produced by the karma of the
wicked who are to dwell there. Does this apply to the
Buddha-field? Is it in any sense produced by the merit of
its inhabitants other than the Bodhisattva who is to be its
ruling Buddha? The interdependence and uniform causality
of the whole system of worlds forces us to answer that tJie
conditions of each world must represent a kind of total
effect of the karma of its creatures; but it seems out of the
question that sinful mortals could ever accumulate sufficient
merit to produce the ldnd of paradises we read about in the
vyiikaral,las. These super-worlds must be produced by the
merit of super-men: How is this logical diffieulty to be
solved?
The' answer is particularly significant for our study.
are indeed produced hy the merit
both of the Bodhisattva and of the <5ther inhabitants, but
, get, sufficient merit to, be reborn ina
f 61'S his
isthought of ,llots()lel
y
asivorkin.g:by itselfupouphysical nature, (or, iil BtlddJijst'
1, 145 if. (Dia!. Part III, p. 139, 4-p.
quoted, in Ghapter IV; Sa1p. i. 227 (KS I, p, 293;...294). }'Ol' a YaM
yuna<'Vel'sioncf.Lotm Ch. XVII,gllthl117, 01' Bibi. tr. 287, where it
hy worshipping the Buddhns, a
man becomes Brahma or Sakrn.
THE BUDDHA-KE.lETRA
399
tel'll1inology, merely purifying the bhajanaloka or 'c reeepta-
the karma-produced cosmos which holds the
Hying beings),l but as transfer1"ed by the Bodhisattva to the
JrellttU'es for their well-being. A Bodhisattva might deli-
"apply" his store of merit to his Own enlighten- '
ili9nt, if he chose, or to .the welfare and development of
(or to both).
2
The Bodhisattva in' A#asiihasrih7
who recognises how the paucity of crea-
tures' merit brings about the waterless world they must live
illi,resolves as follows after first practising the perfections
ofdiina, tyiiga, sila, and :3
"So will I perform and so bring it about; so \yill
{exert myself unto the purity of the Buddha-field .....
that when I have been awakened to supreme, 11llsurpassed
enlightenment, in no way, shape or manner could there
be any robber caves, .... any waterless forests, etc"., ,in
that Buddha-field .... "
"So will I endow all beillgs with merit that they shall
have most excellent water .... etc."
The "purifying" effect of roots of merit when applied
to the well-being of creatures is set for in
(Bhl1mi VI p. 54, line 14 ft.) :
"Those roots of merit of the Bodhisattva stationed in
1 Abliidharma III, l31-!. (Ia YallEle Poussin t1'.).
So 8iklj (348, tr. 307) from Ratllmneglla: He gh-ing at a
'1'al:liliJl:atil shl'ine or image :t flower or incense or perfume, applic,q
ng from., the gift) so as (n) to allnul the wickedness
'6fliinRRVrll1l'ii.lIPQ. or dirt of all beings, and (h) to obtain the, Tathiigata-
Cf. Bodhisattva-bhulIIi (eh. Vihiirn, I'd. Rabeler with Dasa-
.1!ltlimi,l;a) p. 10, lille 3 if: "He hears the Dharma from those Tath:i'
holds it inst, aud IlI'1'il'es at perfection in the Dharma
'according to the Dharma, and applies those roots
to great enlightenment and niatures creatures by meaus of
SamglnhavastuB. By these three causes of purifi('atioll of
foots of merit in greater measure the purilled: (1) hy taking
.. 0 worship of the Tathugata, Sungha and Dharma, (2) b:' maturing
... by means of tbe Samgrahavnstu8, and (3) by applying of root!!
. unto l}odhi for l;lIlny hund reds of thousands of uiyutns of
of kalpns/'
,3 8il(s. 349-3,'j0 (Tr. 300),
400
the sixth, 'AbhimukhI' bhfimi, extinguish the fires of the
kle.sas of these hundreds of thousands of kotis of creatures,
cool and refresh and they become not-to-be-diverted
by the four" aVll-caras (realms or spheres) of Mara."
Particularly significant for the relation of the idea of
transfer of merit to. are the Bodhisattva's
application of merit toward the happier rebirth of creatures,
as preached in He applies his merit so that
creatures may avoid rebirth in hells and in animal-wombs
(Sik$ 215, tr. 207; 280, tr. 256-257); so that they may be
reborn in heaven o.r "on the other shore" (Ibid. 314. tr.
281) ; so that they may see and hear the Buddhas (29 fI.
tr. 32 if.) and follow the Dharma when they have heard it.
t t How' could good provide life and help
for the whole world, ending in the Pure Law, in such a
way that through tho.seroots of good there might be for
all beings removal ofh.ell and unhappy states; so. that by
these theycould.keepaway from them the mass of pain
which consists inbii'th as an animal Dr Yama's world? ....
"May this very root of good turn out for purifying
the ways or all. qeings, for purifying their achievements,
for purifying their. merit and magnanimity ....
"By this my root of good may all beings please aU
the Buddhas. _ . _.andin the presence of these holy TatM
gatas the supreme Buddhas may they hear the. preaching ..
of the Law, and hearing may they put away all errors and '.
may .. heard ..... .
. H}'fay tlieybe taught by all the Buddhas .... "1
. PrajiiJipara
rn
ita
2
. explicitly identifies
fhefields :
.. .. these roots .of
.. .. What is the
tr. 32-33. . .
- .. Qul)tedin.Da8.:Introduetion,p. xi. (Note the relation between
the overcoming of duality between scl(
anllotherJ?;.',.. ....... ; .. ... ... ......... .
. . parisodhnyanl iltmaparacitt
a
;
yll pariJ}/imanlll iyam
u(!Y!1te. bodhisa.ttvasya buddhakl?etraparisodhauakusalamfiHl\aropann
paril}amall.il."
THE
401
turning over to others of these roots of merit that is called
cultivation and turmng over of roots of ' merit (which
the Bodhisattva's purifying of the Buddha-
field.' ,
These "roots of merit" whose transferenee
1
seems to
so important a role in the development of the Buddha-
Ji@tl'a, how are they accumulated? We have seen already
how they were gathered by good actions toward creatures,2
1 The origin of this IJelief in the possibility of transferring
merit, a belief so contrary to the spirit of salvation through one's
'()Wll' efforts alone as taught in primitive Buddhism, is of considerable
interest in connection with our study, since the belief is so closely
'iJ6ked:' to the concept. Professor Hopkins has written
two excellent articles ill JRAS (1906) p. 581; 1907 p. 665) on
of lite Karma Doctrine III Hinduism, suggestillg that
bClief in transfer of merit goes baek to ancient ideas much older than
Karma, which tht' Karma-doctrine could not altogether eradicate_
Such were the idea of inherited sin in the Rig Veda, the idea th.at a
son takes his father's karma (Kaus. up. ii-15 (10, and the belief that
a good wife shares the fruit of her husband's acts (Jlanu v. 166; lx. 29;
Bam. ii. 27. 4--:j) ,
It is to find in the AJiguttal'u (i. 167) a Brahmin's
objection to Got:lllla's practice 011 the grounds that it calms only the
single Self, extinguish.es only the single self, so that the Buddhist
'waMerer is profident in a practice of merit that !1.ffects only one
'PC't8111i and so is less \'i'orthy thall the of the Brahmins which
IHfectmany people through the merit produced! Buddha. answers by
/jh9wmg how many people are inspired to imitate the Tathiigata's
by his example and invitation. But the stor:,yis significant
the kind of which will have led to the re-adoption
of the theory of transfer of merit.
c( III the MilinclaPm1lta (p. 294) is admitted that certain kinds of
Pretasmay derive benefit froJll the gifts of living relati .... es_ And there
line 10) to the trllllsference:toothers of (the merit
(iftsoddsdeeds. The PaIi word used is GvajJeYa.
188 fl'., especially his suggestions pp. 191-192 that
ofpariJ,Illmauii gl'ew out of Ule common Hindu recognition
,otthe 'fact of, human solidarity-that "no man lives to himself, alone";
lind out of the developing tenderness of the "Indian heart" which
the thought of suffering und so' mitigated the rigors
'iil:hellt
"Creatures" are actually ealled the Bodhisattva's Buddha-
an interesting from DlIa'rmasangiti (S'iks. p. 153) :
ik'fhe;Field of creatures is the Buddfw.fieZtl of the Bodhisatt1la; and
trQmthis Buddhafield comes 1lis attaining unto grasping of the Buddha-
402
THE .USTERN BUDDHIST
I
. more and more stress was
laid upon worship as the way par excellence
to accumUlate merit (see for example, note 1, p.398 above.)
Worshipping the Buddhas is Qne of the chief activities of
the Bodhisattvas in the Bu?dha-fields,l and this worshipping
is mentioned in -vyakarana$ as. if . it were condi-
tion of the realisation of Buddhahood.
2
There isa most significant development of thought in-
the full consUl.eration.of which would carry us
"far but of our field. We can deal with it here only as it
. affects the technique of obtaining a field.
,It seems to he the giving aspect of worshipping the
Buddhas whichis the particular source of merit. This in-
dicates that the belief:must go bact() the old
doctrine, according to which (as we saw in the itltroduction)
dharmas (qualities of a Buddha which make him what he is):-
'I should not go astray illteference to 'it; and he has this thought:
'Every good act or bad aetis unfolded depending 011 creutures, on the
basis of bad conduct there are,unfolded e"Us, on the hasis of good
conduct .gods and .men I"
bodhisattvasya yatasca Buddha
Illbhiigamo bhavatil Nu arhfimi tasmin
vipratipattuml evaIp.ca. asya bhavatil sarvmp sucarital!l duscarita1!l
sat'IJiin.fliriiya (this must be 11 misprint
for asraylit) ca. papil.hpravartilllte/suearitiisrayat devamm1Usya ,iti/ I
1 Su1.m; . 37etpassim, (Lotus passim,esp. tr. p. 8, I, oatllii 87
and 8S;.Vrn tr;p, 145); RaJitrapiilaperiprccllij gh-eseffee-
tiveand poeticeJ.;pression, to this familial' of the Bodhi-
sattvas(but.with. noconn.ectiouwiththe idea of Merit) :
leaders from the range of \{otis'of
. ksetJ:as at once: :.' .
Ha' delighted to worship the owm
().. . .. d) qualities,
I:I!J.vingdoHeh.tllllcage: to the beauty ofthe Suga t;I, ha dug heard
-t n.
{Il. .."'. . ... ,., ........... pl'oclaming
9 ullc1ll.) .............. .
lIu(lseep. 386ft.,
.. fOI' . loW' peopleiif
.... .....\.> D
ll
Cl,d.e.1ight'j:ti 1he,dharmas.of the Buddlm; those who
have learned 1\ bout the careers
0 .. .,'. '.(1.) .10):'dll:.o.f.;this triple-world l' J
i ',; " ,"" -'_.: -: ,-, -,', -' -- " - ; ,,-., ,
THE
403
individuals or groups (especially the Arya Sangha)
"admirable fields or merit" in that gifts to them
produced great merit for the donor. This is a thoroughly
doctrine in Pali Pitakas;l it is easy to see how, as
i#abY influences converged to magnify the person of the

2
, he will have been thought of' increasingly as the
field of merit. Gifts to him (or to them, as belief
-Buddhas is elaborated:) would be
thought of as supremely merit-producing. The Mililldlt-
Qiiest'ions
3
reflects discussion of this matter in the query
gifts made to the extinct Buddha can have any
ltilit/ and whether he may be said in any sense to benefit
ffC)Jn them. The decision of Nagasena is that the Buddha
aaesnot 'benefit, but that the donor does benefit from the
This discussion shows that the stupa-cult must have
liifen well developed at that time, third century B.C., and
the accumulation of merit through giving gifts to the
:atiddha (perhaps to the Buddhas of past and p:resent) was
established doctrine.
When this doctrine is linked to the Bodhisattva-ideal
9I applying merit toward one's own enlightenment and to-
ard the happier l'ebirths and eventual maturity of all
er,eatures, the result is the picture we have been studying
m::fuhis cluipter-Bodhisattvas worshipping Buddhas in many
-" . s,giving thein gifts" and so piling up merit, and then
lying this merit to their own enlightenment and chiefly
.. l 'Dig1la iii. 5, 227: Majjhima i. 446 . iii. 80 : SU1?lyuttai.l67,
343,382; .dliguttara 1. 244: ii. 34, 56, 113: iii. 158. 279:ff .
. 292. ,-' [(aaddM).
Daya] p. 32 for ear]y importance of faith in thc Buddha
a V XXXV, p. 144 (text p. 95. 10).
. to ',Waasilie:lt 25J. 283.for the argu-
.. '''';_;''1ft outliis"pofufI .' '. .' '.' '
fr. p.26: - and
ho:!y:<Bu,ddl1as;, w(!re"hO:IlO1ltre(l, and wor-
. 'touch whatevercau8espleaSllXc;:sucbas cloaks.
""'"r>'W'''_ ''''U''''''''. seats, refreshements, medicines. and' other furni-
he collected such virtue tbat he obtained the command of
neeessluie!B. after performing Hie duties of a BodlIisntt\"a."
404
TUB BASTERN BUDDHIST
,
to the benefit of others, wh6 will thereby be born where they
can hear the name of the Buddhas and become enlightened
in one birth. In many of the' "Applications" of merit, as
we sawinSik$iis.a1mwca.ya,i the BOdhisattva applies his roots
of merit tofudher th,e of all creatures every-
where, apparently ,vith no thought of their further relation
to him in the future, buth! Pmjiiiipiiramitii. (Siklf. tr. 308
it seem!) to be implied that the
beneficiaries of his present meritorious acts (worshipping
the,Buddhas, following tIle Perfections, etc.) a l'(' to be the
creatu.res in HISfut1we field!
This is a transition of the greatest significance for the
future oithe concept,especially in the Pure
Land sects of the Far East, which are outside the lmrview
of this study_ It is most instructive to find already in
SukMvafia confusion between the generall\Iahayana ideal
of attaining for oneself a pure field', means of worshipping
the Buddhas, and the special ideal set forth in the Sukhii-
vativyiUw scripture--rebirthin Sukhiivati /J !}U'orsh ippill(J
Am.itiiyus:
"..A.mitiiyus the Bud,dha then utters forth: Of old
therElwasthis pral}idhi of line: may creatures hear my
na.meand go to my field just for ever.
Ii And this pta:r;tidhi . of mine has been fulfilled,
auspicious; from many
hll:",iIlgcoriie qllicldy;inmypresence become non-divertible,
haYiggon.1yonElmore hil':th.. .
'- ' - -. - j
. I 'T'herefore, what Bodhisat.tva here 'wishes 'May my
the I.l;ll!3orelease.many cl'eahires
}) ....... ,.,. "','
-" the .. worl(}system
] etliim
. . of Buddhas, having
power, having per-
. Tr.p. 205 ff.
THE BUDDIIA-KfjETRA
405
formed pfija in the presence of the Sugatas, by bhakti
they will go to sukhlivatk" (Sukh. 31, glithas 17-21.
pp.53-54.)
We have considered how a future Buddha attains a
pUre Buddha-field: how he strives to purify it by freeing
from differentiation or by working for the maturity
llfCl'eatures, and how he applies to their rebirths
and enlightenm.ent the m.erits he accumulates by practising
the perfections and worshipping the Buddhas.
... . We are now ready to ask how this ideal of working
for others' enlightenment-this twofold picture of the. self-
.Bodhis1'l#vas on the one hand, and the Buddhas
as guides and teachers each to the creatures in his
Buddha-field, on the other-developed in the
history of Buddhist thought.
watermark
CHAPTER III.
THE BUDDHA-DUTY
A. Background of the Teaching Ideal.
B. Background of the Idea of Each B1tddha's
Responsibility for a Particnlar 1V orZd.
,Ve saw in the second chapter that a Buddha's function
in his field is primarily to guide to enlightenment the Bod-
hisattvas and other creatures there, after he has obtained a
"purified field" by purifying his own mind and helping to
"mature" creatures when he was himself a Bodhisattva.
The problem now is to investigate the background of this
conception of a Buddha's function and position in his field.
The problem is twofold.
First, What is the background of the idea of responsi-
bility for teaching others, implied in what we have seen of
a Buddha's function in his field?
Second, what is the background of the notion of dif-
ferent Buddhas' padicular local sovereignty and teaching
responsibility, each for the particular world he presides
over?
The first question is of considerable significance for the
history of the Buddha-kf?etra because each Buddha's charac-
teristic activity as Lord of his Field seems to be the teaching
of the Dharma so that it is scarcely possible to conceive of
the Bllc1c1ha-fiel(l (as rommonl: interpreted in ) I a h a ~ - a n a )
apart from the teaching ideal. If each Buddha should go
into Nirval).a immediately after his enlightenment, there
could scarcely be a Buddha-field in the sense in which we
have seen it predominantly used.! Hence it is particularly
1 In Hlnayana there might be a purely cosmological idea of the
Buddhafield, as simply the world where a Buddha is born and goes into
Nirvli1.lU, but the concept as we have it used involves a belief that the
Buddha is in the world for some purpose beyond his own enlighten
mellt; his field is the r:lace where he carries out this purpose.
THE BUDDHA-Ki?ETRA
407
important, ill 'Jlll' effort tu 1IIll1er,,(uml tlle Im<:kgl'Ollllll 01
this concept, to investigate the background of the ideal of
renouncing NirvaJ}.a for the sake of leading others to the
truth. How far, we must ask, is the idea of a Buddha-duty
implied in Pali literature, and what is the history of the
development of the "Bodhisattva-ideal" of sharing the
Dharma? It is important to trace this development, and to
see how much of a "missionary ideal" is inherent in the
early Buddhist picture of the Blessed One, for when belief
arose in the existence of many universes and many Buddhas
at a time, naturally each Buddha was, at first, presumably
thought of as carrying out in his aggregate of world-systems
the same functions which the single one-at-a-time Buddha
performed in the whole one or ten-thousand lokadhatus.
A. Background of the Teaching Ideal
The roots of the "missionary ideal" lie farther back in
early Buddhism than is often supposed. It was by no means
a new ideal developed by the Greater Vehicle alone; its
springs lie back among the very sources of the great current
of Buddhism which flowed on into the "Bodhisattvayana,"
leaving the monastic emphases of the Lesser Vehicle behind
as almost a backwash. In the earliest Pali literature, though
the self-help doctrine is stressed and Nibbana is held up as a
supreme ideal, instructing others is recognised as an im-
portant activity of the best of men (Sutta Nipiitaj 85-86,
text 86-87) : ~ 176 (177) ; 212
1
(218) ; S 282 (2881. et aU
Later HIllayana literature in spite of its apparent
NirvaJ}.a-centeredness has preserved a strong conviction that
a Buddha himself comes into the world for some purpose
other than his own enlightenment; one of the most familiar
phrases in the Pali Pitakas is that characterising a Buddha
1 This verse really illustrates the monastic trend better than the
missionary, for though "leading others" is mentioned, the Muni is
spoken of as "wandering solitary!"
or Tathiig-ata as a lwrson "U'hOSf birth into tll!' lI'orlrl is for
the welfare of many folk, for the happiness of many folk;
who is bont out of compassion for the wadel, for the profit,
welfare and happiness of devas mankind.' '1
We should not be far wrong if we said that a Buddha's
compassion is as essential an element in his make-up as his
wisdom or understanding. It is this element of compassion
which plays a major part in the development of the Bod-
hisattva ideal and of the whole Mahayana. And it must have
been an integral part of the original Buddha out of whose
teachings both vehicles grow, for even the Hlnayana Buddha
who appears in the Pali Pitakas is quite definitely motivated
by compassion. It was primarily out of compassion for the
world thus he is said
2
to have decided to preach at all just
after his enlightenment, when this heart "inclined to rest
quiet and not to preach the Dharma." Considering the dif-
ficulty of the Dharma
3
and the stupidity and conservatism of
people, he hesitated whether it would be worth while to try
to preach the Dharma at all. But Brahma Sahmp.pati,
knowing what was in the Buddha's mind, thought to him-
self :
"The world is undone, quite undone, inasmuch as the
Tathagata's heart inclines to rest quiet and not to preach
his Dharma!" so he came beseeching him:
"May it please the Lord, may it please the Blessed
1 e.g. Kutra Nipata 683; Anguttara. I. i Ch. XIII-Gradual Say-
ings 1, p. 14; I. ii Ch. VI-Gradlwl Sayings, I p. 71.
2 Majjhima i. 167-168 (Further Dialogues I. 119-120).
rinUjJl1 j. :)'I:t1J:iy;!g'ga I,.j (r"iJ/ujj(l 1'(,1"/8.1.
Parallel Version with some variations in Jata/.;a-Xidalla/.;atha
tr. p. 111, and Digha ii. 37-39 (Dial. II, 29 ff.)
3 "The Dharma is hard to understand .... abstruse, and only to be
perceived by the learned, while mankind .... takes delight .... in what
it clings on to, so that for it, being thus minded, it is hard to under-
stand causal relations and the chain of causation-hard to understand
the stilling of all or the renunciation of all worldly ties, and
extirpation of craving, passionlessness, peace, and Nirvana. Were I to
preach the Dharma, and were not others to understand 'it, that would
be labour and annoyance to me! Further Dialogues 1. 118.
THE BVDDHA-Kl?ETRA 409
OIlC', to ]1]'('<ll"]1 Dharma: Heillg,; there are ,\huse
vision is but little dimmed, who are perishing because
they do not hear the Dharma; these will understand it!"
Thereupon Buddha, heeding Brahma's entreaties and
'" moved by for all beings, surveyed the ',yorld
with the eye of enlightenment" and "saw that there were
indeed some who would understand."
In this story is implied the compassion-inspired deter-
mination-,,-hich lies at the basis of the Bodhisattva ideal-
to preach to others instead of going into Nirvana. This ideal
is made explicit in a Jataka story! which goes far back into
the past to explain the background of this decision of
Gotama Buddha's. It tells how, in the time of the first
Buddha Dipa:rp.kara, the Bodhisattva Sumedha (later to be-
come the Buddha Gotama) explicitly determined to j'enounce
Nirviir;a for the sake of helping others to realise the Dharma
and cross the stream of existence:
The story goes that ages ago the wise Sumedha practised
great charity and renounced all pleasures and left the world,
seeking to enter the deathless and birthless "city of
Nirval).a," and had actually attained the eight samapattis
and the five abhijiias when the Teacher Dlpa:rp.kara appeared
in the world.
As Dipa:rp.kara was on his way to the city of Ramma,
Sumedha joyfully threw himself in the mire before him to
serve as a bridge, 'with the thought "this deed will long
be for my good and my happiness. " As he lay in the mire,
beholding the Buddha-majesty of Dipa:rp.kara Buddha
2

he thought as follows:
"'Vrrr T ,.-illing', T conlc1 pntrl' the of Rall1l1la as
a noyice in the pl'ie>;tliood, after haying destroyed all human
passions; but why should I disguise myself to attain Nirval).a,
after the destruction of human passion Let me rather,
like Dipa:rp.kara, having risen to the supreme knowledge of
the Truth (Pamma-abhisaY(lbodhim) enable mankind to enter
the ship of t1'1dh (Dhamma-navarn) and so carry them across
:the Ocean of Existence, and when this is done afterwards
1 Jatuka Vol. I. Nidana Kathii, p. 10 ff. Rhys Davids' tr. p. 12 ff.
2 Who is called lokanayaka (p. 11) !
410
(rltll/II Xil'l'!(I.lII: fllis indlo7 it is riUlif flint J xllolllil du.'
Then having enumerated the eight conditions (necessary
to the attainment of Buddhahood), and having made the
resolution to become a Buddha, he laid himself down. There-
fore it is said,
"64. As I lay upon the ground this was the thought of
my heart,
If I wished it I might this day destroy within
me all human passions,
65. But why should I in disguise arrive at the knowl-
edge of the Truth 1
I will obtain omniscience and become a Buddha,
and (save) men and angels.
66. "Why should I cross the ocean resolute but alone?
I will attain omniscience, and enable men and
angels to cross.
67. By this resolution of mine, I a man of resolution
Will attain omniscience, and save men and
angels.
68. Cutting off the stream of transmigration, annI-
hilating the three forms of existence,
Embarking in the ship of Truth, I will carry
across with me men and angels."
This Jataka tradition, while quite within the limits of
Hlnayiina orthodoxy, illustrates how much of the "Bodhi-
sattva ideal" was, probably from quite early times, implicit
in Buddhist thought and ready to be developed when the
need for it arose.
Indeed, this sharing emphasis was probably never
absent from the popular religion. The lay gospel never laid
llllll:lt l'llllllwsis on Xiryi!I.la (stressillg, instead, rebirth ill
heaven) 1 as we learn from the Rock Edicts of the Emperor
Asoka. These edicts are our chief source of knowledge of
the lay Buddhism of the period which preceded crystallisa-
tion of the Lesser and Greater Vehicles. And they never
even mention Nirviil).a! The religion they inculcate is a
simple ethical doctrine of truth and non-injury and justice
1 See Rock Edict VI, Y. A. Smith Asoka p. 164.
THE BUDDHA-Kf?ETRA 411
to relations ami frieuds/ I"ith a strong urge im-
plied in Asoka's diligent efforts to convert others. Sharing
the Dharma is one of his chief principles; he takes particular
pride in sending missionaries all over the world to spread
knowledge of the Dharma.
2
Asoka's mention
3
of gifts to the Sangha, and the tradi-
tion
4
that he himself took the yellow robes in later life,
show that monasticism had an important place in the Bud-
dhism of this period, even though the lay gospel is still far
from monastic. And monasticism grew. The monks of the
Sangha grew in numbers and in influence. This growth is
reflected in the Questions of King Milinda,5 where Nirval).a
is frequently discussed as the goal of the religious life, where
1 For himself the king sets a more universal aim (ibid): "For
the welfare of all folk is what I must work for-and the root of that,
again, is in effort and the dispatch of business. And whatsoever exer-
tions I make are for the end that I may discharge my debt to animate
beings, and that while I make some happy here, they may in the next
world gain heaven." Cf. Pillar Edict VI.
2 Cf. Rock Edict XIII (Smith's Asoka p. 173 ff): "Even upon
the forest folk in his dominions His Sacred Majesty looks kindly and
he seeks their conversion, for (if he did not) repentance would come
upon his Sacred Majesty. They are bidden to turn from evil ways
that they be not chastised. For His Sacred Majesty desires that all
animate beings should have security, self-control, peace of mind, and
joyousness.
"And this is the chiefest conquest in the opinion of His .. __
conquest by the Law of Piety-and this .... has been
won by Him, both in his own dominions and in all the neighbouring
realms as far as 600 leagues-(then follows an enumeration) .... "
Cf. Pillar Edict VII (ibid. p. 191): "I will cause the precepts of
thp T,;nl" of Piety to 110 preached, and with instrmtioll ill that 1.[1\'-
will 1 instruet, so that lllen hearkening thereto may conform, lift them-
selves up, and mightily grow __ .. [etc. telling how he has carried out
his ideal] .... "
3 Cf. Rock Edict VIII-"Dharma-Tours" wherein are practised
the visitings of ascetics and Brahmans, with liberality to them, the
visiting of elders with largest of gold, etc. See also Sarnath Edict
referring to monks and nuns and a place reserved for the clergy.
Minor Rock Edict I, V. A. Smith's Asoka, p. 147.
5 A book probably used by many of the schools, even those tend-
ing in Mahayana directions, but said to have been regarded with
respect by the Hinayanists.
412 THE EASTERN BL"DDIlIST
it is asserted that a layman who attains Arhatship must
enter the Order at once or die!1 where laymen are said to
be able to attain Nirval).a only if they have pursued the
monastic vows in some former existence,
2
etc. In this book
the distinction is already made between a complete fully-
enlightened Buddha and a Pratyeka-Buddha-one who
works for his own enlightenment alone, ,vithout thought of
leading others "across."
All these indications of the monks' influence upon the
Dharma, emphasizing self-culture and the attainment of
Nirval).a to the exclusion of any effort to imitate the Buddhas
in pj'eaching the DIiarma, show how one-sided Buddhism
was becoming, and make it easy to understand why there
had to be a reaction to re-emphasise the missionary spirit.
Har Dayal has well pointed out
3
that the development of
the Bodhisattva doctrine cannot be understood except as a
reaction against excessive monasticism. We have seen that
the implicit Bodhisattva ideal was no new creation of the
Greater Vehicle, but a vital part of the original religion.
When the monks left it out, other schools in North India
corrected the balance by putting it in double measure! There
was a special pull for them to re-emphasise Buddha's com-
passion and desire to help mankind-the attributes which
are incarnated in the Bodhisattvas-because contemporary
Hindus were developing a similar emphasis in their bhakti-
cults. There was a great revival of Hinduism in the second
century B.C. after the fall of the l\lauryas (184 B.C.) in
,yhich the worship of Y i ~ l . l l l aud ~ i Y(\ \\<1,; he('nllling 111nre
and more popular. Both of these deities were thought to
incarnate themselves in order to save mankind. Thus Krl?l).a
says in the Bhagavadgitii IV, 7 and 8, and X, 11:
, 'Whenever there is decay of dharma, and ascendency
of adharma, then I create myself.
1 Vol. II, p. 97 (text 265).
Vol. II, p. 254 (text 353).
3 The Bodhisattva Doctrine, p. 3.
TIlE BUDDHA-Kl?ETRA 413
"F(Jj' 111,' l)]'utediull uJ' the guud, 1'U1' the dest1'uetloll
of evil-doers, for the sake of establishing the dharma, I be-
come manifest yuga after yuga."
"For the sake of compassion just for them (i.e. only
those who wOl'sllip Me), I stationed in their self-essence
destroy the ignorance-born darkness with the luminous
lamp of understanding."
It is, however, more in the development of Buddhology
than in the development of the Bodhisattva-ethics that we
shall find expressions of the bhakti-trend. In the growing
emphasis upon devoted worship of the Buddha as a God
this trend is certainly reflected, but in the Bodhisattva-ideal
as an inspiration to laymen to work for the enlightenment
of others, it seems to me we have a peculiarly Buddhist em-
phasis. Hinduism never become a missionary religion, even
though it did worship deities who became incarnate for
man's sake.
1
Buddhism on the other hand, had in its
original ideal (as we have seen in the earlier part of this
chapter) a strong element of compassion and assumption of
responsibility for others' enlightenment; and when the need
arose it re-emphasised these elements in the form of the con-
crete model of the Bodhisattva. Lay men and women were
supposed to imitate this model, which was much more ap-
pealing and practicable for the princes and merchants of
North India than the model of a Buddha absorbed in
Nirviil.la. Few of these people who were engaged in the
active cosmopolitan life of the Panjab, Kashmir, Baktria,
etc.,2 had any leaning towards the monastic life, and the
1 If the Mahayana was only a sort of "Hinduised" Buddhism, it
is difficult to see whence came the tremendous missionary impulse which
carried Buddhism alone of Hindu sects across all Asia as an autono-
mous religion.
" 1<'01' this period in Indian history see Rapson, Ancient India;
Rawlinson, Intercourse between India and the Western World, and
Bactria; Vincent A. Smith, Early History of India (3rd ed. Oxford,
1914): Cambridge History of India, Vol. I (and II as soon as
published); de la Vallee Poussin, L'Inde aux Temps des Mauryas,
(1930).
innH1on; frolll the Xur1h "l'rtaillly \rtl'l' lIut
likely to be converted to a passive religion of leaving the
world! The Bodhisattva-ideal, growing naturally out of the
lay ethics of Asoka, was admirably suited to meet their
needs, just as it later became an inspring and workable
modeF for the great Japanese prince ShOtoku-Taishi.
2
And
so powerful was this missionary or teaching-ideal which the
Mahayana re-emphasised (perhaps partly in order to convert
various racial groups in North India and beyond) 3 that
Buddhist missionaries went forth over the mountain passes
and carried their faith beyond North India into Turkestan
and Tibet and even across Mongolia and the ocean to the
Land of the Rising Sun."4
B. Backgrottnd of the Idea of Each Buddha's
Responsibility for a Particular Wodd
We have been considering the background of what we
called the "missionary" impulse in Buddhism-the impulse
of compassion which led each Bodhisattva in turn to re-
nounce NirvaI}.a in order to preach the Dharma-the impulse
which developed into the Bodhisattva-ideal and the Greater
Vehicle, and without which there could have been no such
idea of a Buddha's field as we have been studying. But
much more than just a general determination on each
Buddha's part to preach the Dharma is pre-supposed in the
Buddha-field concept as we have seen it in l\Iahiiyiina scrip-
tures. It involves more especially responsibility for a
I As set forth in the rim((7a7:Trtillirr7e.'I1.
I::)ee Anesaki, History of Japanese Religion, p. 63.
3 Hal' Dayal (Bodhisattva Doctrine p. 32) makes the interesting
point that in this milieu the universality of Buddhism will have been
a great asset, in contrast to the close association of Hinduism with
national and social "culture-patterns" to such an extent that it could
not adapt itself to new needs, as could Buddhism which was not tied
up with any particular "culture-pattern."
But the monastic and non-missionary forms of Buddhism, which
differed scarcely at all from common Hindu ways of release, were
almost entirely absorbed in India.
THE BUDDHA-Ki?ETRA 415
pa)'ticlIlo)' lcur/d. \Ye haye already :;eell :;omethlug of how
a Buddha's relation to his particular world, both before
and after his attainment of sovereignty over it, was con-
ceived; now we want to know how he comes to be assigned
to one particular world. What are the historical factors in
this localising of responsibility?
The primary historic fact in this connection must be
the rise of belief in the simultaneous existence of several
Buddhas. Insofar as this belief was a natural corollary of
the enlarging cosmology, the basis is laid right here for the
idea of each Buddha's local sovereignty. For just as this
world has its Buddha Sakyamuni and constitutes his field,
so (when the cosmos had expanded to include many sets of
world-systems) each of the myriad other univeres has its
own Buddha and constitutes his field.
1
"Buddha-ki?etra"
then becomes a convenient way of designating the aggregate
of world-systems included in such a universe. Sometimes
the term is used thus in a purely numerical or cosmological
way with complete loss of any association with a Buddha's
presence in the field, as in the Mahiivastu where we read of
Buddha-fields" empty of best of men"!2
The belief in simultaneous Buddhas probably grew also
out of the possibility of many contemporaneous Bodhi-
sattvas, and the consequent possibility that more than one
might come to enlightenment at the same time. Then, since
there cannot be more than one Buddha at a time in anyone
1 This was first made clear to me in a letter from Prof. de la
Vllllt"e Poussin.
, JI oi"l 1'11 0 1 u i. 1::1, liue Ii f[:
sriiyatam lokiinathiinam ksetram tatviirthanisritam/ /
ca tesam paramavadinam/
tani nisamya vakyini ea naravara/;"
trisahasriir}i
ato caturgunam jiieyam upaksetram tathavidham/ /
Kasyapa asks if ari;e in all Buddhafields or only
in certain ones, and Katyayana replies:
kimcid eva bhavaty aparisiinyam.
apratimariipadhiirehi/ (p. 122, 1. 1.)
bahuni sunyakiini /
416
\\"o),J(1-,.;ystem.
1
tlle\" lllHSt becom(' Bml!lJIH" ill cliffrrrnt
worlds,2 and each will have toward his particular world the
relationship and responsibility which the one-at-a-time Bud-
dhas had over the whole known cosmos.
We have already seen something of this earlier relation-
ship in the use of such terms as lokaniiyaka in the Pali
literature, "chief of the world" (e.g. Butta Nipiita 995),
1 Digha ii. 225 (Dial. II. 263): Then answered Sakka, ruler of
the gods .... : "Nowhere, gentlemen, and at no time is it possIble that,
in one and the same world-system, two Arahant Buddhas supreme
should arise together, neither before nor after the other. This can in
no wise be." Cf. Anguttara. i, XV. 10 p. 27 Gradual Sayings 1. 26.
2 Bodhisattvabhumi (quoted in Abhidharmakosa iii, 201 (note 2)
has preserved an interesting record of this line of reasoning,
attributed to the Mahasal!lghikas. They observed that many people
apply themselves at the same time to the and to the pre-
requisties of supreme enlightenment (sa11lbharas): so it seems logical
to suppose that they might reach enlightenment at the same time. It
would not be convenient for several Buddhas to appear at the same
time in the same place .... but on the other hand nothing prevents
several Buddhas appearing at the same time; therefore they appear in
different universes." This is the argument summed up in Kosa iii,
p. 200 but the whole discussion as quoted from Bodhisattvabhumi is
interesting:
"tatra prabhiitair eva kalpair ekatyo 'pi buddhasya pradurbhavo
na bhavati/ ekasminn eva ca kalpa prabhiitanam buddhanam pradur-
bhavo bhavati/ tesu ca tesu ..... diksv aprameyasamkhyeyesu loka-
dhiitiisv eva buddhiinam 'utpado kasya
hetohl santi dasasu aprameyasamkhyeya bodhisatt'va ye tulya-
tulysal!lbhiirasamudagatas cal yasminn eva divase
mase sal!lvatsara ekena bodhisattvena pra1,lihital!l
tasminn eva divase .... sarvaihl yatha caika utsahito ghatito vyavac-
chitas ca tatha sarvael tatha hi dhriyante 'sminn eva' lokadhatav
'Ill('kiilli l)()(lhi,mttY'l,,,tiilli :,":llli tnlY'lkiil"krt'l[lr'llli(lh'-ll\:llli tuly"diilliilli
tulyaslliini tulyaksantini tulyaviryal.li tulyaprajfiani
prag eva dasasu buddhakl!etrii'l}Y
api trisohasramahiisiihasrii'l}Y aprameyiisa11l!;hyeyiini l1asasu
sa'f!lvidllantel na ca dvayos tavad bodhi-
sattvayor ekamil!l lokadhatau lokadhabu yugapad utpat-
tyavakiiso 'sti, prag ev::iprameyasHmkhyeyanaml na ca punas tulyasam-
bharanam kramenanuparipiUikaya utpado yujyatel tasmad dasasu diksv
te tuly-
asal!lbhiira bodhisattva anyonyel!u buddhakl!etrel!u utpadyanta iti
veditavyaml I
THE BUDDHA-m;;ETRA 417
,. Lord of tiLt UlIli'CJ':,C" (Jufuku, 1\iuulla Kathu tr. p. 11,
gatha 5), as well as in the familiar phrase" for the welfare
of the many," etc.
This" chiefness" probably involved S1!p1''rr:acyl rather
than sovereignty, but one would easily shade into the other,
and it is easy to see how the familiarity of such concepts in
the early literature will have builded naturally into the later
picture of each Buddha being chief, guide, and ruler of his
world.
n seems to have been originally the supremacy or pre-
eminence of a Buddha (rather than any ethical qualifica-
tions) 'which was taken to explain the non-appearance of
two in a single field or world-system;2 but in later explana-
tions we can trace growing explicitness of an idea that a
Buddha has a job to pel'form in his wodd:
Thus Mahavastu i. 121:3
1 Gradual Sayings, I, p. 15 (Anguttara i, p. 22, XIII 5) :
"Monks, there is one person born into the world who is unique, without
a peer, without counterpart, incomparable, unequalled, matchless, un-
rivalled, best of bipeds he. Who is that one It is a Tathagata
who is Arahant, a fully Enlightened One." (This passage is preceded
by a paragraph stating that "there is one person in the world whose
birth is for the welfare of the many, etc.")
2 Two Buddhas could not arise together in one worlc1-system be-
cause (1) the world could not support the virtue of two-it would
shake and be dispersed, as an overfilled cart .... boat .... man; (but
it is admitted that this argument is adduced to make the power of
the Buddhas known!) (2) disputes would arise between their followers
leading to two rival parties; (3) the scripture to the effect that
Bnrldh;l (,l1i('f, l)(>,t {If ;111, ,yithollt ('()Untel'l'"rt OJ' l'iY;ll, <'1(', ,,",1111,1
Le pl'oYeil false; (cl) the natUl'al chamdel'istic of the Buddhas is that
one Buddha only should appear in the world-because of the greatness
of the virtue of the all-knowing Buddhas. "Of other things, also, what-
ever is mighty is singular .... as .... a Tathagata, an Arhant, a Buddha
supreme, is great; and he is alone in the world. Whenever anyone
of these spring up, then there is no room for a second." Questions of
King Milinda II, 47 (text 237).
3 Mahakasyapa asked Mahakatyayana, "For what cause, for what
reason is it that two completely enlightened Buddhas do not arise in
one field f' Thus 'addressed, Mahiikatyayana replied in the following
verses:
"\\That La" tu be pel'lUl'lllell by th" t'leplwllt uf llle'll, lIte
Buddha-karma, is very hard to perform;
But this Dharmata of the Buddhas fulfills all that.
If he were unable (to perform it), wise (or skilled)
in the Buddha-Dharmas,
Then two great-souled Tathagatas would arise;
But they cast off (deny) that insufficient nature of
the great rishis-
Therefore, two bulls-of-men do not arise in one field."
Practically the same reason is adduced among others
in Bodhisattva-bhumi (fo1. 39, quoted Kosa iii. p. 202 ft.
note.) :
"So in this manner in many Lokadhatus just Buddha-
manyness is fitted ( or arranged) and there is not
simultaneous production of two Tathagatas in a single
Buddha-field. This for what reason?
For a long period, you know, by the Bodhisattvas
thus a pral).idhiina is undertaken: "l\1ay I alone in a
leaderless field be a leader, discipliner of beings, releaser
from all sorrows .... "
And further, one Tathiigata in a triple thousand great
chiliocosmic single Buddhafield is able to perform all the
Buddha-duty: Hence the production of a second Tatha-
gata (would be) just useless."
This later and somewhat stylised picture of the
sovereign Buddha was painted largely after the model of the
Cakravartin or universal righteous monarch. Inspired
originally, perhaps, by the imposing sovereignty of Can-
dragupta and his successors,
l
this ideal of righteous
monarchy grew deeply into Indian thought-forms and con-
stituted the pattern for much relig-ions In Bun-
dllist \\Titings this figure is especially familiar in the tradi-
tion about the or Super-Man, who is marked
yatkiirya'f!! naraniigena Buddhakarma suduhkaram/
tatsarvam paripiireti esa buddhana dharmata/ / .
asamartho yaw siyat buddhadharmesu caksumam/
tato duve mahatmanau utpadyete / .
tal!l casamarthasadbhaval)1 (emended n. p. 471 to svabhava1!1)
varjayanti maharsabhau/ /
tasmad duve na ekaksetre nararsabhau/ /
1 See Beal, Catena, p. 129: .
THE 419
by tlJil'(\" -hI U \: hal'aLi ie Jllark", allll lllll"t bel'ollle eitllel'
a Cakravartin or a Buddha. It is extremely significant for
the influence of this Cakravartin figure upon the history of
the Buddha field concept to find in a description of the
Cakravartin's destined realm
l
a pasage very suggestiye of
later descriptions of the Buddha-field:
"He, endo,ved
2
with this mark, if he dwell in the
House becomes a monarch Cakkavatti (turner of the
wheel). Conquering not by the scourge, not by the sword,
but by dhamma, he doth preside over this earth to its ocean
bounds, an earth void of barrenness, pitfalls, or jungle,
mighty, prospero1ls, secure and fort1lnate, and without
blemish (01" without mark, animittam!)."
"And
3
if he leave the world, illustrious going forth,
He exercises superiority over all creatures;
There is found no greater than he;
Over the whole world having lorded it he lives, 'tis
said."
1 In the famous Suttanta on the Marks of the Superman, tr.
in Dialogues of the Buddha, Part III, p. 139 iI. I have come across
no passage in Pali more like the typical Sanskrit descriptions of the
than this. The Cakkavattl-Sihanada-Sutta (D'igha no.
XXVI-Vol. iii, p. 75) contains a description of the ideal state of this
world under Metteyya (see Appendix D. The Field In Relation to the
Cosmic Cycle), but this description is not as close to the familiar
Sanskrit description as that quoted from the Lakkhana
Suttanta.
2 Text (Dfgha iii. 1. 146, 5): .. , .. So imarp. pathavitp. sagara-
pariyantam akhilam animittam akal).takam iddharp. phitaI)l khemal!l
sival!l nirabbudaI)l adal,l9.ena asatthena dhammena abhivijiya ajjha-
vasati/
3 Ibid. p. 156:
pabhajnm pi ea anoma-nikkamo
<Jggatalll \ajati saIJIJa-lJ'iIlillam
ten a uttaritaro na vijjat"i
sabbam lokam abhibhuyya viharatlti/
This Suttanta shows how by building up merit one may
attain celestial glory and dominion, etc., in a "bright and blessed
world" (Rhys Davids)-more literally a "well-gone heaven-world"
(sugati1'!l 107ca1'!l).
The ethics demanded in his former lives of one "thus come"
(tathagata-I am not at all sure that this means a Buddha here, for
the future-Cakravartin could hardly be referred to as T"athagata in
this sense!) if he wishes to 1)e a ure very interesting
]<'lll'thrr infln('ll('(' (1f the CakrnY<lrtill ]]'('111'1 ll)1nll TIlHl-
dhist picturing of their founder is shown clearly in the
Milinda Questions,1 where the King asks what is the reason
why the Tathagata is called a king. N"agasena replies as
follows:
".A king means, 0 king, one who rules and guides
the world, and the Blessed One rules in righteousness
(dhammena) 2 over the ten thousand world-systems, he
guides the whole world with its men and gods, its Maras
and Brahmas, and its teachers, 'whether SamaI.las or Brah-
mans. That is the reason why the Tathagata is called a
king.
, '.A king means, 0 king, one who, exalted above all
ordinary men, making those related to him rejoice, and
(tr. pp. 139-152): (1) carrying ont common Hindu morality-keeping
festivals, filial duties to parents, honours to recluses and brahmins,
etc.! (2) living for the weal of great multitudes, protecting them from
fear or danger or need; (3) being compassionate and refraining from
taking life; (4) giving food (probably to holy men); (5) being
popular with the people through giving, kind speed), wise conduct,
impartiality; (6) being "one who spoke to the multitude on their good,
on dhamma, explaining to the multitudes, a celebrant of righteous-
ness (dhamma-yiigi); (7) being a zealous learner; (8) inquiring about
the good; (9) being free from anger .... ; (10) reuniting separated
families.
This is continued in the second chapter of the same Suttiinta,
ending p. 167 of tr.
Cf. Buddha's story (Sam. i. 227 KS 1. p. 2(3) of how Sakka,
ruler of the gods, attained l;is celestial sovereignty by carrying out
seven rules of conduct when he was a man (note the family basis of
this ethics!) :
"As long as I live, may I maintain my parents,
As long as I live, may I revere the head of the family,
lOl1g' :1:-. I lin" IILI," T ll'-'l' !:!llg11:lgC)
As long as I live, may I utter no slander;
As long as I live, with a mind rid of stain and selfishness, may I COll-
duct myself in a home with generosity, with clean hands, delighting
in renunciation, amenable to petitions, delighting in sharing gifts.
As long as I live, may I speak the truth, not give way to anger, or
repress it if it arises. By undertaking and cal'l'ying out these 'UICE
when he was a human bei!lg, Sakka attained his celestial position!"
1 The Questions of King Milinda, II, p. 28 (text 228-227).
2 Note how the Buddha is called Dharmariija in Mahayana works
-e.g. Lotus V, giithft 1; XIII, glUM 51.
THE BUDDHA-Ki;>ETRA 421
those (ljllJosc(l lu lliltl ltlu \ll'll , raisl's aluft lIte
of Sovranty, of pure and stainless white, with its handle
of firm hard wood, and its many hundred ribs, the symbol
of his mighty fame and glory, And the Blessed One, 0
king, making the army of the Evil One, those given over
to false doctrine, mourn; filling the hearts of those, among
gods or men, devoted to sound doctrine, with joy; raises
aloft over the ten thousand world-systems the Sunshade
of his Sovranty pure and stainless in the whiteness of
emancipation, with its hundreds of ribs fashioned out of
the highest wisdom, with its handle firm and strong
through long suffering-the symbol of his mighty fame
and glory,1 That too, is the reason why the Tathagata
is called a king,
" A king is one who is held ,,"orthy of homage by the
multitudes who approach him, who come into his pres-
ence, And the Blessed One, 0 king, is held worthy of
homage by multitudes of beings, whether gods or men,
who approach him, who come into his presence, That too,
is the reason why the Tathagata is called a king,
"A king is one who, when pleased with a strenuous
servant, gladdens his heart by bestowing upon him, at his
own good pleasure, any costly gift the officer may choose,
And the Blessed One, 0 king, when pleased with anyone
who has been strenuous in word or deed or thought,
gladdens his heart by upon him, as a selected
gift, the supreme deliverance from all sorrow-far beyond
all material gifts, That too is the reason why the Tatha-
gata is called a king,
"A king is one who censures, fines, or executes the
man who transgresses the royal commands. And so, 0
king, the man who, in shamelessness or discontent, trans-
grp",ps tIl(' ('Ollll1W1Hl of tllP OIlP, lai(l clcn\'n ill
the rules of his Order, that man, despised, disgraced, and
censured, is expelled from the religion of the Conqueror.
That too is the reason why the Tathagata is called a king.
"A king is one who in his turn proclaiming laws and
1 For use of similar imagery in later works, belonging to the
Mahayana, Cf. Rii!1trapiilaparipTcchiL quoted in Sfk!1. tr. 287 (text 321) :
The Jinas proclaim thy praise and glory far and wide in all regions
_ over hundreds of fields, 285. (318); With thy glory thou dost illu-
minate a hundred fields.
j'l'gulatiollS <l(,('(ll'l1i11 g' to thr lnil1 (10\\'11 ill
succession by the righteous kings of ancient times, and
thus carrying on his rule in righteousness, becomes beloved
and dear to the people, desired in the world, and by the
force of his righteousness estab1ishes his dynasty long in
the land. And the Blessed One, 0 king, proclaiming in
his turn laws and regulations according to the instructions
laid down in succession by the Buddhas of ancient times,
and thus in righteousness being teacher of the world,-
he too is beloved and dear to both gods and men, desired
by them, and by the force of his righteousness he makes
his religion last long in the land. That too, is the reason
why the Tathagata is called a king."l
If all this monarchial splendor had gathered itself
around the figure of the Buddha even when there was sup-
posed to be but one Buddha in the universe at a time, we can
readily imagine how easily, when there were supposed to be
many of them existing simultaneously, the many Buddhas
would be thought of as ruling, king-like, each over his own
field. The Cakravartin must have played a particularly
significant part in the history of the concept,
as a model for the Mahayana picture of the Buddhas ruling
-by dhamma, of course-over their respective fields.
2
But the Wheel-King was not the only model for this
picture. There were other figures, equally familiar in Hindu
mythology, to whose likeness the Mahayana Buddhas were
gradually assimilated. These figures were the variatts chief
1 Przyluski has shown in his study of "Le ParinirviiI,la et les
Fl111{>]':\illcR." .TA8. XI (Jfilil) 4>;,,> fI'. to XV (Jfi20). "fl'.
'TNc}})(}tts de Bcligicux ct /'(IiIlUllts de Bois," XIll ,11111), ::(;".
430) how the Cakravartin model exercised a determining influence upon
the growth of Buddhist legend. The funeral rites according to the
earliest records were those of a similar Samana, but under the influence
of the Cakravartin model the tradition that Buddha had heen
buried with royal honours! (See also Senart, La Legende du Bou(1clha,
esp. eh. II.)
2 See, however, Mus, Le Buddha Pare (BEFEO 1928), p. 274,
for gap between the ruling Buddha modelled on the Cakravartin or on
Hindu presiding gods, and the SaI)lbhogakaya in the midst of his
Bodhisattvas.
THE 423
U()IT" (l" Ill( JIili(l/(s jJUIIIJU(jIl, IdlU 11l'1'e tllUllgltt of! as presid-
ing over various worlds or heavens in the sky, places where
virtuous persons "were reborn in bliss.
These deva-heavens were taken over bodily by Buddhism
and from the beginning given an important place
2
in Bud-
dhist cosmology, as places of rebirth for the layman
3
"who
could not appreciate Nirval.la, or who, even if he could ap-
preciate it, could not hope to attain it in one life-time.
4
Given this initial importance of the deva-heavens, par-
ticularly the heavens of individual gods like Sakka and
Brahma, it was inevitable that Buddhist thought should
1 Even when the cosmos was made up of only one, or ten thousand,
worldsystems (each worldsystem having its several heavens presided
over by various gods-see Chapter I, p. 219 (21), note 1).
2 The orthodox Hlnayana scriptures have so accustomed us to
think of NirviiJ.la as the only goal that it is difficult for us to realise
the great importance of rebirth in heaven as an ideal for the layman.
M. Przyluski's researches have shown the popularity of the Treatise on
Rebirth in Heaven among the protoMahayana schools of North Iridia.
It seems to have been one of the three most popular scriptures. See
Legende de I'Empereur Agoka, p. 196, 412, and passim, especially the
quotations on p. 196 from Sutrala1['kara, pp. 45, 130, 439.
3 As such they played an important part as ethical "sanctions":
"It is impossible, monks, .... that one addicted to ill deeds of body,
speech, and thought should, consequent on that. ... when body breaks
up, after death be reborn in the Happy Lot (sugatiJ'!l), in the Heaven
World (saggam 10kaJ'!l). But that it should be otherwise may well be."
Angutt. i. p. 29; Gradual Sayings 1. p. 26. Note, along this line, the
familial' antithesis in Dhammapada; "this world .... the other world."
It is interesting to discover in this connection in the SU1!lyutta
(iv. 270, K. S. IV. 186) the doctrine that taking refuge in the Buddha
(or Dhamma 01' Sangha) secures one's rebirth in heaven-a very signi-
ficant predeceRsor of the Pure Lana Sects that calling" npon Amitnl)hn
ellsnn', OIl""S I""I,irth ill his Buddlw-ficld I:)ukhuyati;-
"Good indeed, 0 Lord of the Devas, is the going to take refuge
in the Buddha .... the Dhamma .... the Sangha. Such going to take
refuge in the Buddha is the reason why, when body breaks up, after
death, some beings are born here in the Happy State, in the Heaven
World!"
When we Tead (in the Anguttara, for instance) how in a certain
deva-heaven disciples of Buddha (who are also adepts in jhana) pass
away and are not reborn, we are strongly Teminded of the praises of
Sukhllvati as a place where creatures become enlightened in one birth!
"And how is a monk blessed with speed
424 TIlE BUDDHIS'r
!Jl'Ut1W:l' lleHYl'lh f'()l' 11:(' Hl1(1(11W", .\ pow"l'fnl
"psychological lag" would compel this assimilation.
instance, Hindu converts to Buddhism, "'ho ,,'ere used to
thinking of Brahma as presiding over the highest heaven,
when they were no,,, taught that Buddha was superior to
all gods could imagine this superiority only in the concrete
terms which were familiar' to them. They ,,,ould quite
naturally think of Buddha as ruling over a heaven higher
than Brahma's and more glorious than Brahma's, and,
having aspired previously to be reborn in Brahma's heaven,
they would now aspire to be reborn in Buddha's heaven-
world! Their picture of Buddha and his heayen would
necessarily be modelled to a large extent upon the picture
already in their heads of Brahma and his heaYCn.
This process of assimilation is of course perfectly
familiar ,,,henever one religion appears to supplant another;
means may be changed, but the fundamental pictures in the
minds of the common people resist change with the tenacity
of centuries!
Buddhist teachers did try to show the inferiority of the
old gods-(see the references in Dayal's note 13, p. 330)- '
or else they tried to make the figure of the Buddha supplantl
"Herein a monk, by destroying the five fetters that bind to the
lower world, is reborn spontaneously (in the Pure Abodes), destined
there to pass away, not to return from that world." Ailgutt. i. 245,
Gradual Sayings I, p. 224.
"A certain person, by utterly transcending consciousness of form
'" .. reaches up to and abides in the sphere of infinite space .... When
he makes an end he is reborn in the company of the Deyas who have
Il';("li"ri thl' "plll'I'l' of illfillitl' S1';["\',
.. ow monks, the life of those Deyas is :;0,000 cydes. Therein the
ordinary man stays and spends his lifetime according to the life-span
of those deyas: then he goes to Purgatory or to the womb of an animal
or to the realm of Ghosts. But a disciple of the Exalted One, after
staying there and spending his lifetime according to the life-span of
those Devas, finally passes away (parinibbayati) in that very state."
Ailgutt. i. 267; Gradual Sayings, 1. p. 245-246.
1 So Sutta Nipata 657: Who is endowed with the three-fold
knowledge, pacified, free from further existence-thus know, 0
Vasegha-is to be recognised as Brahma and Sakka.
TIlE 425
thelll ('lltirl'ly. I i! ,.;()rt of llLUllCUlistil' propaganda:) 1 but
human conservatism ,,'as too strong for them, and instead of
the gods being humanised the Buddha became deified!
It was not only psychological "lag''' which demanded
that the Buddhas be made into gods and giyen each his
particular heayen. Other psychological factors played their
part in this demand: particularly the worshippers' need for
a concrete realm which they could yisualise when they
thought of rebirth, and still more their desire for a personal
1'elationship with the Buddha. "Dwelling in the sight of
the Buddhas" is expressed as an end in itself in the Dham-
mapada from the Chinese.
2
"Being delivered and seeing
the Tathiigata" along with obtaining great riches and being
reborn among the devas, is the goal for the sake of which
offerings to Upagupta are recommended, in the AQokiivadiina
(A-yu Wang King, 32b-33b. Legende de l'Empereur AQoka,
p. 248).
This emphasis upon personal devotion to the Buddha
js the expression in Buddhism of a tendency which was
.becoming irresistibly strong in contemporary India-a
tendency to stress bhakti or devoted worship of a personal
,God. At this time the Gila was teaching the attainment of
supreme salvation through devotion to Saivites were
finding their blessedness in devotion to Siva, and Buddhists
] Cf. the Deva-dlJalnma Jataka, "On True Divinity." "The pure
in heart who fear to sin; the good, kindly in world and deed-these
are the beings in the world, whose nature should be called divine."
(J ataka I, tr. p. 183).
nl'lll. Till IJllilllliJlOl)(uiu ji'''lil till Ba(l,ll(is! COIIII/), 1' .. 1:\ i1.--;(
story of how two disciples going across a desert from Riigagriha to
to see the Buddha, nearly die of thirst. The only pool is full
of inseets. One drinks, arguing that the end justifies the means. The
other, considering that the Law of Buddha was one of universal love,
which forbade the taking of life, refused to drink, died, was reborn
in Heaven and came first to where Buddha was. When the other
arrived, Buddha said, "You who say you see me, yet have transgressed
my Law, are not seen by me, .... whereas this man who has kept the
Law dwells ever in my sight." This refers to Buddha as Dharmakiiya,
.but still it illustrates how being in Buddha's sight was highly pried.
llaliinill,\- f()Ullc1 it similar ubjl'd uf 11l'y"tiuli ill their fU111ll1l'L
for whose person they had always felt deep love and re-
verence. Har Dayal thinks that the bhakti movement arose
in Buddhism;1 it is true that there was a natural basis for
it in Buddhism, but the sort of devotion inculcated in the
Lotus for the snpernal Blessed One is clearly an expression
of the trend toward devotional theism which was making
itself felt in various forms in the India of that time. The
growing desire to believe that the Buddha was present and
existing sOllie where
2
as an object of devotion, was also
probably in part a result of the bhakti tendency. For bhakti
pre-supposes that the object of one's devotion is there to
receive it: one can hardly be devoted to an extinct person!
If the old forbidden question about Buddha's existence after
(or in) Nirval).a could be answered in the affirmative, (or
if the Buddha were thought of as renouncing Nirval).a for
endless ages), the worshippers might have some hope that
Buddha did exist somewhere in space, perhaps in a heaven
like Brahma's3 and could be prayed to and would bring his
1 See his arguments in The Bodhisattva Doctrine, p. 31 f.
2 See views of the quoted on following page.
" Such a belief may have been fostered by two beliefs: (a) that
the Bodhisattva came from the heaven wilere he had presided
previous to his descent; according to some schools he never really left
this heaven but merely sent a nirmal.lakaya down; (b) that at his
death he ascended to the Brahma-heaven. Such a belief is expressed,
curiously enough, by .Ananda at the Master's death, according to both
Sa7[tyuktiigama and Avadiina-Qataka, whereas Anuruddha speaks of Him
as entered into Nirval.m! (J. As. 1918 Vol. XI, p. 491-501 ff.-Le
Parinirvii1,La et les Funerailles du Bouddha) :
S(/I!'!Jldta!)ul/l<I XIII, -1. [I. _J!)" fl'Ulll Tsa-u-llilll-l .. il/f/ (X:tll,iio
n. 344):
"Le Guide, avec ce joyau de corps,
Est monte vel'S Ie dieu Brahma." (Spoken by .Ananda).
Avadiina-Qataka (Speyer's ed., Bibl. Bud. III, p. 198):
"Le conducteur excellent, possedant un corps precieux
Ayant de grandes magics, est alle au monde de Brahma."-
(.Ananda.)
Feel' translates:
"Le joyau du corps avec lequel Ie guide
Doue de la puissance surnaturelle est entre dans Ie monde de-
THE 427
follo\yel'S to ue reiJorn in his heaven if they called on him.
A Buddha in Nirva1!a would have been of no use to
them, would have had no emotional appeal! In the Milinda
Questions! it is argued thl1t gifts to the sacred relics in
stiipas have some point in that they do the donol' good, even
if the Buddha does not receive them, but this very discussion
reflects a tendency to think of the Buddhas as existing after
Nirva1!a,2 and "receiving" the worship performed to their
stupas. This is corroborated by the doctrine of the :\Iaha-
saIp.ghikas as stated in the Kafhii Vatthu,3 "that the Bud-
dhas persist in all directions." The Commentary explains
that" the l\![ahasaIp.ghikas hold that a Buddha exists in the
four quarters of the firmament, above, below, and around,
causing his change of habitat to come to pass in any sphere
of being."
The active people of North India were clearly not tc.
be satisfied with Nirva1!a as goal and Buddha in Nirva1!a as
ideal standard: they wanted to look forward to rebirth in a
concrete picturesque realm presided over by a living com-
passionate personal Buddha-a Buddha at least as splendid
as their own kings and generals or their old gods! This'
demand alone would be enough to explain the genesis of the
Buddha-lu,letra idea.
One further development, in quite another direction, is
worthy of mention for the influence it may have had upon
the growth of the notion of different individuals' local
responsibility for preaching the Dharma in different regions.
This dCYelolllllent is concerlled with the cyde of tradi-
Brahmli,
A He consume par un feu interieur." (J. As. 1879, II. p. 275,
quoted by Przyluski, J. As. XI, p. 491).
1 Tr. I, p. 144 ff. "On Honours paid to the Buddha."
2 Ibid. "If the Buddha accepts gifts, he cannot have passed
entirely away!"
3 Points ot Controversy, p. 355. Cf. Vasumitra's Treatise on Early
Buddhist Schools, (Tr. Masuda-Asia Major, 1925) p. 19, for Doctrine
-o.f MahiisliI]1ghikas et al. that "the rilpakaya of the Tathiigata is indeed
limitless. "
tiom; connected with the :;ixteen arhab,' to \lhom the Ihul-
dha at his NirvaI).a is supposed to have entrusted the
Dharma. They were to protect the Dharma, each in his
particular region of the world, after the NirvaI).a of the
Blessed One. Their story is particularly significant for the
evolution of the idea .of local assignment of responsibility
later connected with the Buddha-kl?etra, because they seem
to be the prototypes of the sixteen princes whom we met in
the preaching the Dharma in the
several directions of space, in different Buddha-fields.
In what seems to be the oldest form of the story the
Buddha entrusts the Dharma to Brahma and the four
Lokapalas,3 who are to protect the Dharma each in his own
region; in the next stage of the legend he entrusts it also
to four great Sravakas who are to stay out of NirvaI).a to
guard the Dharma until the coming of J\Iaitreya.
4
In a later
1 Levi et Chavannes, Les Seize Arhat, J. As. 1916, Vol. 8, p. 5 ff.
and 189 ff.
2 Ch. VII. p. 134 line 3 ff. (tr. p. 177): "Those sixteen princes,
the youths, who as novices under the mastership of the Lord were inter-
preters of the Law, have all reached supreme perfect Enlightenment,
and all of them are staying, existing, living, even now, in the several
directions of space, in different Buddha-fields, preaching the Dharma
to many hundreds of thousand myriads of kotis of disciples and Bodhi-
sattvas, to wit:
In the East, monks, in the lokadhiitu Abhirati, the Tathagata,
Arhat .... .... and Merukuta; In the southeast, monks, is the
Tathagata SiI!lhagho?a, etc.; In the south, .... etc.; In the south-west,
.... etc.; In the West, monks, the Tathagata Amitayus, etc.; In the
llnrtIHv("t .... . <>te.; In the north .... . dc.; III the llorth-enst th!'
Ta thaga ta i::ian-aloka bhayaj itatthamlJhita ta tva vidh\-al1l:;anakara and
the sixteenth, myself, Sakyamuni, who have attained perfect
enlightenment in the center of this Saha-world."
3 Parallel in A-yu wang Tchouan Ch. IX, (tr. Przyluski Legende
de I'Empereur A,oka, p. 399-400): The Buddha says to
"You must protest the law of Buddha in the East." The Buddha says
to Viru\lhaka, "You must protect the law of Buddha in the South."
The Buddha says to "You must protect the law of Buddha
in the West." The Buddha says to Vaisramal).a, "You must protect the
law of Buddha in the North."
J. As. 1916, Vol. 3, p. 192 (Kutra of Ekottara Agama, Tok. XII.
THE BUDDHA-K:;;ETRA
429
111l' Dilarllla ill E'ntrllstell tu ,iJ,tCtJl Unut
Arhats, who, like the four, are to stay out of Nirviil.J.a:-
until the final extinction of the Dharma! Until then they
dwell in diD'erent parts of the world (one is in the Heaven
of the Thirty-rrhree!), in the various dil'ecfions,1 maintain-
3. 34b, col. 9; ibid IV. 5, 48b col. 5) At that time the Blessed One
said to Kusyapa:
"N ow I have the age of decrepitude; I am about to be eighty.
Now the Tathugata has four great Sravakas who are capable of taking
charge of the apostolate and of conversion. Their wisdom unlimited,
their virtues are complete. Who are the four f They are: the
MaM Kasyapa; the bhiksu Kundopadhiiniya; the bhiksu Pindola; the
Rahula. You others, '(besides you great
8ravakas, must not enter into Parinirval.Ul. It must be only after the
extinction of my Law that you should attain Parillirvul.!U. 0 Maha-
Kasyapa, you too must not enter into Parinirval.la." (There seems to
have been a well-known tradition that Kasyapa was supposed to wait
for the coming of .Maitreya before entering Nirvana-Hiuan-tsang,
Memoircs II, 8; Divyavadhana 61; Mula Sarvastivadin Vinaya, and
Ar;okav., tr. by Przyluski, J. As. 1914, II, 527-546.)
Another vel'sion from Sliriputra-pariprcchli (N anj. 1152) :
"Sariputra said to Buddha: "How does it happen, 0 Tathagat&,
that you have said to Sakra Devendra and to the Four Deva Kings;
'I shall shortly enter into Nirval).a. You others, each in your region,
protect and maintain my Law. After I shall have left the world, the
four great Mahakasyapa, Pil).gola, KUl).gopadhaniya, and
Rahula will remain without entering into Nirval).a; they will spread
my Law and make it penetrate.... In the time of the counterfeit
Law, .... you shall be witnesses of the faith; according to the ....
impOl'tance of the occasion, you shall cause images of Buddha or of
monks to appear (ri. functions of Buddhas in Buddha-field! See Ch.
III). When Maitreya shall descend to be born here, you shall be
authorised to enter into Nirval).a."
Onp of these four Arhnts, Pin\loln, hac! nn interesting histo!'y of
his OIYII. Origill:!l!." (,(,lul'i!lI/cd (as :t showing off his
magic powel') not to enter into Nirval).a till Maitreya should appear
on earth, he came to represent the Bodhisattva-ideal as the protector
of the Dharma, in the period when the Mahayana was taking shape,
particularly in India. The punishment aspect of his story is
pushed farther and farther into the background until it is finally left
out altogether in some of the Cashmirian recensions of the story, and
Piugola comes to b:: thought of as a self-sacrificing person, prototype
of the Bodhisattva who here renounced Nirval).a! (Les Seize Arhat pp.
207-208, 2]3 ff.)
1 Nandimitra leur dit: .... Le Tathagata auparavant deja a
430 THE EASTERX BUDDHIST
the Sad-Dlwl'llla alld lllakillg tl!t'lw.;ehl''i w.,l'i'lll t" li\illg
creatures. The fact that their respective realms are-with
one exception
2
-in this ,,-orld, does not lessen the importance
of the cycle of stories for the evolution which we are in-
vestigating. The sixteen Arhats as persons who stayed out
of Nirviil.w, seem to be significant as predecessors of the
Bodhisattvas and their assignment to various geographical
prononce Ie texte sacre (sutra) concernant la duree de la Loi.
Maintenant je rexposerai de nouveau brillVement en \"otre favour. Le
Buddha Bhagavat au moment de son Parinirvana " confie la Loi sans
superieure a seize grands Arhat et a leur entom:age, en leur ordonnant
de la proteger de a ce qu' eUe ne ftit pas detruite. II leur
ordonna de faire en personne et avec les bienfaiteurs (danapati) un
veritable champ de bonheur (Pil).9.ola was similarly supposed to be a
de a ce que ces bienfaitures obtinssent la recom-
pense du grand fruit .
... . Ces seize grande Arhat que voila possedent au complet les
merites illimites qui sont les trois Sciences, les six Penetrations, les
huit Delivrances, etc.; ils se sont affranchis des trois souillures des
trois dhlltus; ils recitent et possedent le9 trois Receuils; ils ont des
connaissances vastes et profondes sur les trois regles etrangeres a la
leligion. Parce qu'ils ont recu Ie mandat du Bouddha, grace a la force
de leurs Penetrations 8urnatureUes, ils ont prolonge la duree de leur
propre longevite. Et aussi longtemps que devait durer la Loi correcte
duo Bhagavat, constamment apres lui ils ront protegee et maintenue ...
. . . . Les bhilqms et demanderent: "N ous ne savons pas
en que I endroit demeuraient generalement les seize Yenerables,
guardant et maintenant la vraie Loi et se rendant utiles aux etres
vivants."
N andimitra repondit: "Le premier Venerable, avec son entourage
de mille Arhat, Ie plus souvent 11 sa residence partieuliere dans la
continent Kiu-t' o-ni occidentale (Aparagodanl); Le 2me Venerable,
avec son entourage de 500 Arhat, Ie plus souvent 11 sa residence parti-
culiere dans Ie royaume de Kia-chamilo (C'ashmir-Kosmira) de la
regiun du S uti!; Le 3me yeneralJle .... 000 Arhat .... Ie ("ontinl'nt ....
oriental (Purva-Videha); Le 4me Venerable .... 700 Arhat Ie continent
.... septentrional (Uttarakuru); Le 5me Venerable .... 800 Arhat. ...
Ie continent. ... meridional (Jambudvlpa); etc., to; Le lOme Venerable
.... 1300 Arhat .... Ie ciel des trente-trois (TrayastriIiusa): etc. to;
Le l5me Venerable .... 1500 Arhat .. Ie montagne Tsieou-fong ('cime
du vautour' ou Grdhrakuta)." Les Seize Arhat, p. 8 ff.
See the remark of Tao-Siuan (Seize Arhat, p. 2l4) that there are
holy men everywhere in every place who preside over the Buddhist Law!
2 This one exception-the "Heaven of the Thirty-Three"-is
particularly interesting.
THE BUDDHA-Ki?ETRA 431
areas l'l'ilecb a s.i.gniticallt stage in the evolution 01 local
division of responsibility among those mandated to preach
the Dhanna, which points to the later assigning of future
Buddhas to various areas of the universe for their RlHlclhll-
fields, as we saw in the case of the sixteen princes in Lotus
VII.
(To be concluded)
TERESINA ROWELL
THE BACKGROUND AND EARLY USE OF
THE BUDDHA-Kf?ETRA CONCEPT
( Concluded)
CHAPTER IV.
APOCALYPTIC USE OF THE FIELDS
"Though he understands that there is neither tirth
nor death, yet he manifests himself in all lands as the
sun is seen from every quarter. Honouring countless
millions of Tathagatas in all the ten directions, in him
there is no idea of particularity because he distinguishes
not bet,veen those Buddhas and Though he LOm-
prehends the emptiness of those Buddha-lands and of the
beings therein, yet he ever realises the land of purity for
the sake of beings who ought to be taught."
From the Vimalakirtinirdesa
(Eastern Buddhist, IV. p. 53).
We have considered the Buddha-field as the d,velling
place of the upward-striving Bodhisattvas and the ideal
world which they must create and "purify" during their
career, and as the realm of sovereignty and teaching re-
'ponsibility where each "completely Enlightened One"
tarries out his Buddha-duty of maturing creatures. "\Ve have
to deal with the part played in this teaching procf'SS
!,y those miraculous illuminations of Buddha-fields which
are so familiar to us from the apocalypses of the Lotus. "\Ve
lUust try to discover what is meant when they are referred
to as "illusory manifestations": how far they are thought
of as real or unreal, and what fundamental meaning IS
expressed by their appearance.
)Iarvelous illumination of myriads of Buddha-fields is
132
almost a common occurrence in some of the great ::\Iahayana
texts,-notably the Lotus. They appear most frequently as
an accompaniment of some particularly significant utterance
on the part o.f a Tathagata. Great expositions of the
Dharma (dharmaparyiiyas) are in the l\Iahayana Usually
heralded by a display of marvels on a grand scale, and U;e
illumined fields play an important part in setting the stage.1
Their especial function is to create a sense of the vast cosmic
extent of the marveI,2 making both learned and simple
hearers feel the vast glory of the Tathagata and the cosmic
setting of his Dharma. The significance of his activities for
the whole cosmos is expressed, much as we saw it expressed
See e.g. Lotus I, p.15-l6, gathii 52: "For what purpose has
light of such a sort been emitted today by the Sugata? How great
the power of the bull-of-men! How extensi.e and pure his knowledge!
"53: -Whose single ray emitted today in the world makes visihle
many thousands of fields! There must be some sort of I'eason for
the being emitted of this extended ray.
"54: '.Vhat supreme dharmas were attained by the Sugata then,
on the terrace of enlightenment by the best of men,-will the leader of
the world explain them, or will he prophesy their destiny to the Bodhi
sattvas?
"55: There must be a reason of no small weight why many
thousands of fields are manifested, beautifully adorned, shining with
jewels, and Buddhas characterised by infinite .ision are seen" (d(syanti
for d(syante). See also Lotus I. 8 (tr. 9); 20, line 8 ff., etc.
, Typical is the apocalypse in Lotus eh. XXIII 423 (tr. 393):
"At that moment the Bhagavat Sakyamuni. ... sent forth from his flrnii
sheath a ray of light by which in the east hundreds of thousands of
crores of Buddha-fields equal to the sands of eighteen river Ganges,
became illuminated. Beyond those Buddhafields, equal, etc. is the
world called As thus used, the Buddha
fields are simply an element in cosmic enumeration, a way of expressing
.ast numbers and vast distances. This use is common (see especially
Lotus, XI passim). Perhaps still more familiar is their purely numeri-
cal use in the phrase "equal in number to the countless, hundreds
of thousands of crores of niyutas of dust-atoms in ten Buddha
fields' (dasabuddha1.:setriinabhiliipya1.:otiniyutasatasiihasraparamii!lura
jahsamii . .. ,) used to 'express vast numbers of world-systems, creatures,
Bodhisatt.as, etc. See e,g. Das. 3, 72, 81, 89, 95, 98, 99 and passim,
to take examples from only one text.
CONCEPT 133
in Hinayiina literature, by shaking of the Buddha-fields.
1
Upon the Blessed One's entrance into meditation,2 especially
preceding a sermon, or upon the arrival of a Tathiigata on
this earth,3 the acclaim and participation of the cosmos is
sif1nified by the shaking of the fields.
" On other occasions the hundreds of thousands of crores
of niyutas of Buddha-fields have a place not only in the
display heralding the sermon, but in the very teaching
itself. In such cases the Tathiigata may describe the glories
of the fields in order to inspire the Bodhisattvas.
4
1 The fields thus take the place of the 10,000 world-systems which
in the Jatuka and other Hinayana works celebrated Gotama's birth,
enlightenment, etc. by their joyful shaking. Shaking of the world-
systems continues to appear in Mahayana texts, however, as in Lotus
163, line 5 ff. (tr. 160). "World-systems" and "Buddha-fields" are
used practically synonymously in this connection (as in their numerical
use, as we saw from the Mahiit'astu). A curious combination of
ksetms and dhatns celebrated the Bodhisattva's attainment of per-
f;ction, in Das. 83 D (Bhlimi X), with "a shaking of all lokadhatus/
and an ending of all calamity/ and an irradiation and illumination of
the whole dharmadhatu/ and a purifying of all (or the whole)
lokadhiltu/ and a crying of the bruit of the names of all the Buddha-
( !) .... and a sounding of the instruments and voices of men
and gods in all world-systems ... "
2 e.g. Lotus, tr. p. 6-7; 9; 20; 24, g1ithas 61-64.
e.g. Lotus, tr. 184, gatha 67; p. 397, etc.
So Su1.:h. 10, line 2-6: The Tathiigata Lokesvararaja upon the
request of the bhiksu Dharmakara sets forth for a full koti of years
the "perfection of of the ornaments of the qualities' (gu1}iila1!l-
kiiraryilhasa1!lpada1!l) of the Buddha-fields of 8100,000 niyutas of kotis
of Buddhas-together with [their] form, together with instruction :md
exposition; desirous of welfare .... unto the non-ending (?anupacche-
diiya, upaL':tediiyan of Buddha-fields, having conceived great com-
passion for all creatures .... "
Cf. the marvelous illumination in Das. 85 E, in which the ray IS
not merely a herald but seems itself to perform the instruction, in-
stigation of Bodhisattvas, manifestation of transformations, etc.:
"Then, good youths, rays called 'Possessed of the higher knowledge of
omniscience' came forth from the lima-sheath of those Tathagatas,
Arhats etc., [as] innumerable Having illumined all the
World-systems in all the ten directions without exception, having re-
verenced the ten-formed world ,having manifested mighty Tatha-
gat a-transformations ('I;'ikuT'!:itas) , having instigated many hundreds
of thousands of kotis of niyutas of Bodhisattvas, having shaken to-
In the apocalypses considered so far, the Buddha-fields
have been spoken of as having a veritable existence of their
own, whether they appeared as heralds to express the cosmic
magnitude of the scene, or as part of the teaching itself.
They seem to have been thought of as existing in their o,m
right simply as component elements of the universe (practi-
cally equivalent to lokadhatu), which are illumined in vast
numbers and shake as part of the marvelous phenomena
connected with the Tathagatas' preaching.
But in other apocalypses the many Buddhas who preach
in various Buddha-fields are spoken of as "created," as if
they had no ultimate reality of their own. Often in the
Lotus, in miraculous illuminations, the various Buddhas
preaching the Dharma to creatures, in their various fields
in all the directions, are referred to as Tathiigata-vigrahas-
"Tathagata-forms" or "frames."1 And though it is not
getller in six tcuys an the Buddha-kl!etra extents .. . _having shown all
the Buddha-seats of elllightenment-into-Samhodhi helonging to all
Tathugatas, and pointed out the splendour of the arrays of the
audience-assemhlies of all the Buddhas, etc .... that ray retul'llcd."
1 See especially the passage concerning Prahhfltaratlla's
adhifithana (see next page and Appendix C) in Lotus 242, line 4-13
(tr. 230 ff) : "When the Buddhas .... in other Buddha-fields shall preach
this. _ . . Lotus, then may this stupa which is the frame of my self-essence
(iitlllabhiirorigrahastllpa) approach the Tathugata to hear the Lotus.
And when the Buddhas wish to open this stupa, and show it to the
four-fold audience, then, having ass em hIed all those Tathiigata-frames
created from their own self-essence by the Tathiigatas in other Buddha-
fields in the ten directions, which in those several Buddha-fields Wl(lcr
'/'arious names preach the Dharma to creatures __ .. it should he opened
lmd shown, etc .. _ .. So (tad), many Tathiigata-frames created by me
also which in the ten directions in other Buddha-fields in thousands of
lokadlliitus preach the Dharma to creatures, they all now ought to be
hrought here." tan mayupi .. __ bahavas Tathiigatavigraha nirmita ye
dasasu diksv anyonyesu buddhaksetresu lokadhatusahasresu
dharma'Y' :.After this follows (starting p. 243) the passage
quoted in Appendix A. The Tathiigatavigrahas of Lotus XL
Cf. Lotu8 247, 1. 12 (tr. 235): tena khalu samayella hhagavatii
Siikyamuninii ve nirmitus Tathugatiih purvasyul'l disi sattvunuJ!!
dharmam sma gafigiinadlviilukopamesu
yutasata-sahasresu. ..
Cf. almost an identical passage in Lotus 307, line 4, (tr. 290).
BUDDHA-Ki?ETRA CONCEPT 135
necessarily implied in such statements that their fields like-
wise are creations of the Tathagata's powers of projecting,
still, belief in "created Buddhas" may have paved the way
for the belief in " manifested fields" which we shall see
later in this chapter.
The belief in illusory manifestations or "Buddha-
forms" preaching in various parts of the universe, goes
back to a belief of long standing in Buddhism that the
Buddha
l
could by iddhi power (by the special type known
as adhitthiinii-iddhi) project a sort of double of himself.
Thus in the Pali Atthasiilin'i
2
we read how the Buddha by
his adhitthiina created a ninnnitabuddha to preach the
Dhamma while he himself went off to beg for his supper 1
(See Appendix C for further illustrations of the develop-
ment of this belief and the use of adhi$thiina in early
This sort of "created Buddha" seems clearly
to be the ancestor of the nirmita-Buddhas or Tathiigata-
vigrahas which we meet in the Lotus.
A type of magic power closely related to adhitthiina
was vikubbanii-iddhi (see Appendix C), the power of trans-
forming oneself into various different shapes. Even in the
Pali literature
3
,,e find the Buddha using this power to
make himself like in appearance to whatever group he might
be talking to: brahmins, householders, various categories of
devas, etc. This transformation appearance will easily have
1 (or anyone who attained the requisite power).
2 The Expositor, p. 20, Text p. 16.
3 Thus Malliiparinibbiina Suttiinta, 21, DIg/za ii, 109 (Dial. II,
112): 'Kow of eight kinds, Ananda, are these assemblies. \Vhich
are the eight Assemblies of nobles, brahmins, householders and
wanderers, and of the de,ahosts of the four Lokapalas (Guardians of
the four Quarters), of the Great Thirty-Three, of the Maras, and of
the Brahmas.
"Now I call to mind, Ananda, how when I used to enter into an
assembly of many hundred nobles, before I had seated myself or
talked to or started 11 conversation, I used to beeome in colour
like unto their color, and "in ,oice like unto their ,oice. Then with
religious discourse I used to instruct and incite them," etc., for all,
eight kinds of assemblies.
developed into the nirmii/lJakaya or "body of transforma-
tion or metamorphosis" so familiar to us from Sanskrit
Buddhist. scriptures.
These two interrelated powers-self-rmtltiplicatioll, and
self-transformation to accommodate one's form to the form
of one's hearers-playa rOle of the greatest importance in
the teaching-technique of the l\Iahayana Buddha. Some
comprehension of the ontology implied in their use is vital
to an understanding of the meaning of the Buddha-fields in
the apocalypses of the Greater Vehicle. The lIIahi'iyana
Bodhisattva is expected to cultivate such powers in his ef-
forts to enlighten all creatures. According to Dasabhilmika,
in the eighth bhiimi he assumes various forms according to
his audience,! and "becomes endowed with an illusory mani-
festation in countless Buddha-fields and TatMjgata-audience-
assemblies," though he "does not move from one
field."1 He can "manifest complete enlightenment in what-
1 Das. 68. M: According to the body modifications of beings and
their intents, in those Buddha-fields and in those audience-assemblies in
each several place and in each several way he manifests his own body
(or "an own body?): in the audience-assembly he manifests
the colour and form of a sramana, in the brahman a audience-assembly
he manifests the colour and of a brahma1.la, etc.
Yadrsi satvaniil!l kayavibhaktis ca (var1.lalingasa'!1sthanarohapari
I.laha) adhimuktyadhyasayas ca ca
tatra tatra tatha tatha svakayam adarsayati/ sa srama1.la-
srama1.lavarJ.Iariipam adarsayati/
mandalesu brahmanavarnariipam adarsayati/ ksatriya, etc.! vaisya,
etc./ siidra ... gr hii. pa ti. . : cii turmaharajika .. trayastril!lsa .. ./ ..
etc., etc.!
Sravakavaineyikiinam satvaniim sravakakiiyavarnariipam adar-
sayati/ satvanal!l pratyekabuddhavar1.la
riipam adarsayati/ bodhisattva, etc .... tathagata, etc.! iti hi bho
jinaputra yavanto satvaniim upapattya-
yataniidhimuktiprasariis tathatvaya svakayavibhaktim adarsayati/
Cf. Lotus 444-445 (tr. 411) where Bhagavat explains how "there
are worlds in which the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara preaches the
Dharma to creatures in the shape of a Buddha; in others in the
shape of a Bodhisattva. To some he shows the Dharma in the shape
{)f a Pra tyeka buddha ... sra vaka ... Brahma ... Indra ... gandharva ...
etc. With such a faculty of transformation (vikurvayd) the Bodhi-
sattva Avalokitesvara is moving in this Saha-world."
BUDDHA-Kl?ETRA 137
aer Buddha-field at whatever time he desires."2 And as
he adapts his own forms to suit the needs of the creatures
"ho have to be enlightened, so he establishes Buddha-fields
according to the needs of beings. According to Vim ala-
kirtinirdesa :3
"A Bodhisattva establishes his world according to the
beings who are to be taught and disciplined."
Are the fieids then all merely illusory manifestations,
or is there some reality behind them 1 Are any of them
real? The statement quoted from Dasabhumika to the effect
that the Bodhisattva while manifesting himself in many
1 DaS. 68, line 5 ff. L: He knows the world completely with all
the elements, the satvakiiya and the (see below 141, n. 2,
for possible meaning of these terms) and the three dhatus and the
different kinds of dust atoms. Expert in (1. 15) knowledge of the
.arious distinctions of the field-body and of the various differentiations
of the creature-body, he exercises his intellect upon the production of
the scope of the arising of beings. He for the maturing of beings
establishes a body of his own of just such a sort as the
coming to rebirth and assuming of bodies on the part of creatures.
He having suffused even one triple-chiliocosmic great chiliocosm
produces an own body of creatures in zealous applications to (its n
modifications for the sake of (their) realisation of Thatness (satviiniim
sWk"iiyam vibhaktyadhimukt4u tathatviiyopapattaye) by means o-f
following up understanding of (illusory) manifestations in order that
creatures may arrive at maturity unto unsurpassed-complete-enlighten-
ment-release.
So having suffused two, three, (up to) unspeakably many triple-
ehiliocosmic great chiliocosms, he provided with knowledge of this
sort firmly fixed in this (eighth) bhiimi, does not move from one
Buddha-field but becomes endowed with an illusory manifestation in
countless Buddha-fields and Tathagata-audience-assemblies.
2 Das. 70, 0: He, having thus attained to a realisation of the
understanding of the Kayas, becomes abiding in possession of powers
among all beings: ... he obtains ornament power by manifesting
consisting in having all the lokadhatus decorated with many
array ornaments; adhimukti power by manifesting a filling of all
world-systems with Buddhas; rebirth power by manifesting rebirths
in all the world-systems; pra!lidhiina power by manifesting complete
enlightenment, etc. (as quoted); rddhi power by manifesting in aU
BUddha-fields magic power of self-transformation (rddhivikuTt'a1.la) ..
etc.
Eastern Buddhist, Vol. III, p. 61-62.
l38 THE EASTERN BUDDHIST
fields really DOES NOT MOVE FRmr ONE BUDDIIAFIELD might
mean that there is one "real" field for every "real" Bodhi-
sattYa, and that the other Bodhisattvas and fields which
appear are creations of the real Bodhisattyas. This is true
to Buddhist theory up to a point,1 but in the orthodox answer
there is a still deeper "Reality" than that of the various
Bodhisattvas. This is the Dlzarma-kiiya-the one PRINCIPLE
OF BUDDHANESS which underlies the apparently diverse and
scattered Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This answer as worked
out in the Trikaya theory is familiar at least in its general
outlines to all who know anything of Mahayana Buddhism;
what we are concerned to make clear here is the use of the
Buddha-fields in apocalypses to express in concrete form this
fundamental theory of reality.
The XVth chapter of the Lotus
2
is primarily concerned
with the setting forth of this answer. The Buddha there
explains that he has really e,xisted from all time and has
merely manifested various NirvaIJas in order to lead crea-
tures to Sarpbodhi. He has created all this.3 He repre-
1 For its application to Tathiigatas, se.eral of which seem to
project vigrahas, see Lotus Ch. XI, 242 ff. See particularly ::\1 us
remarks, (Le Buddha Pare, Son Origine Indienne - (}akyamuni dans Ie
Muhayanisme Moyen, BEFEO, 1928, p. 240-241 ff.) to the effect that
the various Buddhas are real and can be subordinated only to the in
finite Dharmakiiya. Hence it is only qua Dharmal.;aya that Siikyamuni
may be spoken of as creating them.
2 'Vhich contains the essence of the whole book. Ch. XV is the
lotus of the Sad Dharma; M. :Mns has well shown how the preceding
chapters lead up to XV, gi.ing the setting, and the remaining chapters
from XVI on speak of the great exposition as already over!
3 Lotus Ch. XV, 317, 1. 9 (tr. 300): yatah pralJhrty al1al!!
kulaputra sahilyiiIJl lokadhiitau satt.iinaIJl dharmaIJl desayiimy
anyesu ca Iokadhiitukotinayutasatasahasresu ye ca maya .. ,antr:1ntarii
Arhantal} Samyak parikirtita Dipal!lkarata-
thilgataprabhrtayas ea Tathagatilniim .. ,parinir.al}iiya 'I1layai1'a
tani upaya1.-au.alyadhaT'I1lailesaniibhinir1liiranirmitani.
Cf. ch. X, giithii 26 (tr. 224): "My body has existed entire hi
thousands of kotis of regions."
Cf. ch. VII; 186, 1. 5-6 (tr. 190): yad aham anyasu
anyonyair niimadheyair .iharami.
According to some schools the -Bnddha himself has nothing to do
BUDDIIA-K!?ETRA CONCEPT 139
sents the Dharmakiiya, of lvhich all the manifestations in
varions fields are but created buddhas" or
projections.
The Dharmaldiya has for its field the whole Dhar-
madhiitn,l which embraces all the other fields within itself.
It is ill this sense that there may be said to be only one
"real" field, and it is as a concrete expression of this truth
'"ith the modifications which arise through the different viewpoints
trom which people look at him. This epistemology is so significant
for the meaning of the Buddhafields as they appear in apocalypse
that we may quote from a very interesting scripture whieh sets forth
this theory explicitly
translated by Wassilief, Buddhismus, 175): "Der Buddha besteht
eigentlich aus einem geistigen Korper, welcher nicht geboren, aus nichts
herrorgekommen und durch nichts begranzt ist; aber er steIlt sich den
lJflebten iVesen unter verschiedenen Formen, und verschiedenen Hand
lungen, lehrend usw. dar. Alles dies ist eigentlich dem Buddha un
bd.annt: man darf nicht ann ehmen, dass er gedacht habe, dieses odeI'
jrnrs sein zu wollen; so nimmt das kostbare vaidiirya, legt man es auf
cin griines Zeug, auch griine Farbe an, auf ein rothes, rothe usw.; so
,ollfiihrt eia l\fagier verschiedne Verwandlungen, in denen er selbst
Ilithts Wirkliches sieht. So auch die Sonne: den einen scheint es, dass
sic aufgegangen, den andren, dass sie nntergegangcn, den dritten, dass
rs !lIittag sei.
"Die einen sagen, dass die Lehre des Bnddha wachst; . die andren,
dass sie abnimmt; aber der Mond selbst weiss weder von der Abnahme
noeh der Zunahme, welche ihm zugeschrieben wird."
This theory that the modifications arise of themselves was carried
to extremes by the who, according to Vasnmitra
(Treatise on tile Origin and Doctrines of Early Indian Buddhist
Schools, tr. J. Masuda in Asia Major, II, p. 1-78) insisted that even
sueh modifications as the grammatical arrangement of nouns, etc., in
the Buddha's sermons arise of themselves! "The Mah1isamghikas
maintain ... that the Bnddha expounds all the Dharmas with single
Sound ... ; that at no time does the Buddha preach (after the arrange-
ment) of nouns (nama) and so on, because he is always in Samiidhi;
but the sentient beings rejoice, considering that the Buddha preaches
nouus and so on."
Cf. the concrete expression of this epistemology in Malliivastu
ii, 313, line 10, where it is explained that beings see the Bodhimanda
according to their merits: gods see it as gold, or silver, etc., while
those with gross inclinations see only a handfnl of grass!
1 Siddhi 707: "Le svahh.'ivikakayu (= Dharmakaya) est con-
stitue par Ie senl Dharmadhatu." See further Appendix B-The
Trinity and the Fields.
140
in apocalyptic form that we find the teaching Tathagatas
of the l\Iahayana manifesting "all the fields as one field and
one as all." In the great apocalypse in the eleventh chapter
of the Lotus
l
(see Appendix A for more detailed quotation)
when twenty-hundred-thousand nayutas of crores of Bud-
dha-fields, made of lapis-lazuli, etc., appear on all sides in
the eight directions, the Blessed One Sakyamuni "arranged
all those many Bttddha-fields as just one Buddha-field, one
spot of earth, level, lovely, set out with trees, made of the
seven precious objects, etc."2
The Avatarhsaka Sfttra
3
sets forth this same theory in
more philosophical and less pictorial language:
"All lands are interpenetrating in the Buddha-land
And they are countless in number, a phenomenon beyond
our. understanding;
There is nothing which does not fill up every quarter of
the universe, .
And things are inexhaustible and immeasurable and
\
1 p. 246, line 6-7.
2 A similar display occurs more than once in Lalitavistara: "And
all those Buddhafields appeared as one Buddha-field, decorated with
variously arranged ornaments" (Foucaux p. 238).
Sarvani ca tani buddhaksetrany ekam iva buddhaksetram sam-
drsyante sma nanaVYiihiilal!1krtani ca/ (text 277, line 7.) . . .
"All those extended fields were seen as one . " (Foucaux p. 241,
gathii 17b.) sarve te vipulii ksetriih drsyanty ekam yathii tathii! (text
280, line 12) and in Chapter XX': ;'Then in th'e east in the world
system Vimala, from the Buddha-field of the Tathiigata Vimala
prabhiisa, a Bodhisattva named Lalitavyiiha, being instigated by that
ray ... approached BodhimaJ.l(l.a and in order to do homage to the
Bodhisat employed such rddhi-power that by it he manifested all the
limits of the realm of space in ten directions-all the Buddha-fields,-
as just a single circle of pure deep-blue vaidiirya (Biihtlingk-Roth
gives "beryl" for this, not lapis lazuli). (text 290, line 9-16) dasasu
iikiisadhiituparyavasiiniini ekal!1 mal.l(l.ahi-
miitram iidarsayati sma/
Cf. the Bodhisattva's purification of "all the fields as one and one
as all," in DaSabhiim.ika 15 JJ.
3 Ch. VI, Eastern Buddhist I, p. 237 .... This scripture is the
basis of the Kegon sect of the Mahiiyiina, whose fundamental doctrine
is the mutual inte,rpenetration of all things in the universe. The
imagery serves admirably to express this belief.
CONCEPT 141
move with perfect spontaneity.
All the Buddha-lands are embraced in one Buddha-land
And each one of the Buddha-lands embraces all the
other in itself;
But the land is neither extended nor compressed:
One land fills IIp all the ten quarters of the 1tniverse.
And in turn the universe with all its contents is em-
braced in one land
A.nd yet the world as it is suffers no damage (diminu-
tion). "
This one field of the Dharmakaya, which comprises all
the Buddha-fields in itself, is of course wholly abstract;l
but in the illahayana scriptures we find it made real to the
Bodhisattvas though vivid visual imagery, as the jewel-
decked Buddha-field of the eternal Sakyamuni.
But when it is thus concretised it cannot be strictly
called the field of the Dharmakaya. In this glorified and
supernal but still sensible form it must be thought of as
the field of the Buddha qua SaIpbhogakaya.
2
The glorified
Buddha who appears as SaIpbhogakaya
3
differs from the
1 The Dharmakfiya is universally present, like space, having no
single geographical base. But this bare intellectual realisation could
not satisfy the Buddhist mind, with its love for concrete embodiment
of abstract metaphysics. So, as the scholastic systematiser puts it in
the Si(ldhi (p. 711, 28b), the samatfi jiifina (or realisation of identity
-i.e. nonduality, or non-multiplicity of the ultimate reality) trans-
forms itself into the pure land on which the Sambhogakfiya rests.
Thus from another angle we have come back to the doctrine discussed
in Ch. II, that the pure is produced by (or developed
out of) the realisation of non-duality. See further Appendix B-The
Trinity and The Fields.
2 It seems to be because of this association of the Sambhogakaya
with the Buddha-ksetra in its typical idealised
ete.,-that this "body" is called the See quotation from
Das., n. 1 p. 137 above. The satva-l.;aya apparently refers to the
nirmii'.lakiiya.
3 La Vallee Poussin in JRAS 1906, p. 943 ff. (The Three Bodies
of a Buddha) explains Sa1!1bhogakiiya as "Body of Enjoyment or
Beatific Body" because "a Buddha so long as he is not yet merged
into Nirvii'.la, possesses and enjoys, for his own sake and for others'
Welfare, the fruit of his charitable behaviour as a Bodhisattva." See
{:hapter II.
Dharmakaya in having form at all; he differs from the
NirmaI;lkaya in that while the latter is merely a manifesta-
tion or transformation, having only reflected reality, the
Sal!lbhogakaya is the truest possible approximation, in form,
to realisation of the wholly abstract and formless Dharma-
kaya.
1
Only the Bodhisattvas attain to a vision of this gloriom;
embodiment of the ultimate reality. One of the characteris-
tic features of the Sal!1bhogakaya is that it is only in the
midst of the audience-assembly of Bodhisattvas that this
glorified Buddha appears.
]\1. J\Ius has shown
2
that the supernal figure, "'hich in
Lotus XV appears on Grdhrakuta preaching to the Bodhi-
satt-vas, is par excellence the SaJ]tbhogakaya, though it is
only as embodiment of the Dharrnakiiya, as we have already
seen, that he can speak of himself as eternal and as having
created all the other Buddhas.' The great lesson he teaches
the Bodhisattvas, besides the truth of his eternal existence
behind all the apparent" extinctions," is that this lokadhatu,
this very saha-world, is his Buddha-field and is even 110W
decked with jewel-trees and surrounded by divine music
and flowers, though people imagine it to be "burning."
Lotus XV. 324-325) :
"10. Of such a sort has been this true adhisthana of
mine
3
for inconceivable thousands of crores ~ i kalpas
and I have not moved from this Grdhrakuta here and
from
4
other crores of abodes.
1 We find in Avatamsa7.:a one attempt to set forth this relation
between the basic reality and the Sambhogakaya which appears to
the Bodhisattms: "The Tathagata has no form, for he is formless
anel serene. Yet front his tl'ans(Je'ndenta( nature in which everything
is found, he manifests himself in response to our needs." Eastern
Buddhist, Yol. I, p. 285.
2 Le Buddha Pare, op. cit. His use of the Touen IIouang
frescoes to illuminate the meaning of the Lotus is particularly fascinat-
ing: see p. 208 ff.
3 See Appendix C on adhil?thana.
4 anyasu sayyflsanakotibhisca/ The locative of the prononn sug
gests a possible translation "to other abodes."
CONCEPT 143
"11. Even when creatures look on this lolmdhatu
and imagine that it is burning, even then this Buddha-
field of mind becomes full of gods and men.
"12. They have various delight in play-crores of
pleasure groves, palaces and aerial palaces; decked with
hills made of jewels, likewise with trees possessed of
flowers and fruit.
"13. And aloft gods are striking musical instru-
ments and pouring a rain of l\Iandaras by which they are
covering me, the disciples and other sages who are striving
after enlightenment. (Tr. ap. Kern p. 308)
"14. And thus this my field is eternally established,
but others imagine that it is burning: in their view this
,,,orld is most terrific, wretched, replete with number of
woes."
It is made a test of the disciples' faith that they
should see the Tathagata "setting forth the Dharma
(here) on Grdhrakuta, surrounded by a host of Bodhi-
sattvas, attended by a host of Bodhisattvas, in the center
of the congregation of disciples. This my Buddha-field
the Salta-world made of lapis-lazuli, forming a level plain;
forming a checkerboard of eight compartments with gold
threads, set off with jewel-h'ees, they shall see." (Lotus
XVI, 337 line 9 ft., tr. 321).
A similar vision is described in Lotus XP when all the
Tathagatas and their Bodhisattvas come to the Saha-world
to salute Prabhutaratna's stopa. ".At that period this all
embracing world (iya:ql sarvavatI lokadhatu) was adorned
with jewel trees; it consisted of lapis lazuli, etc." (See
A.ppendix A for rest of quotation.)
The meaning expressed by all this picturesque imagery
seems to be the omnipresence
2
and in particular the HERE-
1 244, line 7 ff.
2 Cf. Vimala7;'irti (Eastern Buddhist III, no. 4, p. 339): "Again,
Silriputra, a Bodhisattva who has realised the Inconceivable Emancipa.
tiou can show to all beings all the adornments of the lauds of Buddha
concentrated in one country; or he can take all beings of the land of
BUddha in the palm of his right hand, and not moving from his
original abode, can :fly through all the ten quarters showing to all
beings all things."
144
presenee of the Dharmakiiya or basic Buddhaness, and con-
sequently the essential ideality of THIS WORLD. Just as
the manifestation of all the fields as one field (and one as
all) indicated in concrete form the non-multiplicity of the
fields, or the fact that the Dharmakaya is the one reality
of which they are all but projections or appearances, so
the manifestation of this world as an ideal Buddha-ktjetra
1
or of all the fields right here, indicates how the whole
Dharmadhatu has its base here, and tMs world is really ideal
if we can only recognise it as such.
The concentration of "all the Buddhas and all the
Buddha-fields in this very chamber" is the vivid way in
which Vimalakirtinirdesa expresses
2
objectively this doctrine
of the focussing right here of Buddhaness itself.3
1 In Lalitavistara Ch. XIX (Foucaux p. 238, text 276, 1. 19-277,
1. 6) this 107.:adhiitu (the whole triple-chiliocosm) is made to appear
under the guise of a in all its glory when the Bodhi-
sattva approaches the Terrace of Enlightenment. Curiously, it is here
:Maha Brahma who "arranges" this apocalypse:
"Maha Brahma, who presides over this triple-thousand great
chiliocosm, established this triple-thousand great chilio-
cosmic world-system at that moment as even, become as the paim of
the hand (paJ?italajatam), without stones or gravel, covered with
diamonds, etc ... _At this time all the great seas were calm and for
its inhabitants there was no pain .. And having seen this very
lokadhatu adorned, in the ten directions by Sakra, Brahma, and the
Lokapalas in order to do homage to the Bodhisattva, the 100,000
Buddha-fields became adorned. And all those Buddha-fields appeared
as one. ___ etc."
2 Eastern Buddhist III, no_ 4, p_ 347: "This chamber is ever
frequented by such beings as Sakra, Brahman (sic), and Bodhisattvas
of different regions __ . _ There, in this chamber all the Buddhas at all
the quarters led by Sii7.:yamuni. __ . There in this chamber all the
magnificent heavenly palaces and all the pure lands of all the Buddhas
are manifested."
3 Cf. the curious description in DuS 91: "He establishes in his
own body the immeasurable Buddha-kl?etra-arrays of infinite Buddhas,
Bhagavats, and he establishes in his own body all the arrays of the
evolution and dissolution of the world-systems_ .. _and he establishes
the Tathagata-kaya in his own body and his own body in the Tatha-
gata-kaya, and he establishes his own in the Tathagata-
kuya and the Tathugata-kaya in his own For thus,
good youth, the Bodhisattva established in the Dharmamegha Bodhi-
BUDDHA-Ki';!ETRA CONCEPT
14[;
The same scripture
l
sets f o ~ t h this doctrine also in the
subjective terms of the idealistic school which declares that
"if the mind is purified, purified is the Buddha-field."
Siiriputra wonders, if this is so, why this Buddha-land of
ours is so impure as we see it, though it was established by
the Buddha out of his pure mind when he was a Buddhi-
sattva?
The Buddha replies with another question: "Is it the
fault of the sun if the blind cannot see its brightness?"
"No. "
"So it is not the fault of the Tathagata, but beings
because of their sins cannot see the pureness of this
Buddha-land of ours. Really this land of ours is ever
pure . ... the inequalities are in thine own mind. Thou
seest this land not through the wisdom of a Buddha: thou
think est this impure. I tell thee, 0 Sariputra, the Bodhi-
sattva pure in his firrn mind looks upon all things im-
partially with the wisdom of a Bttddha
2
and therefore this
Buddha-land is to him pure without blemish."
Then Buddha touched the earth with his toes and all
the three thousand great chiliocosms were seen adorned with
precious jewels, as the treasure-adorned land of the treasure-
adorned Buddha.
"THIS WORLD OF OURS IS EVER PURE AS THIs:3 YET TO
SAVE BEINGS OF INFERIOR CAPACITIES IS THIS WICKED AND
DIPURE WORLD SHOWN."
TERESINA ROWELL.
satt.a-bhiimi manifests these and other immeasurable hundreds of
thousands of kotis of niyutas of rddhi-vikurvanas!"
1 Vimalakfrtinirdesa, Easter"n Btuh7l!ist, "\'oL III, p. 64.
2 Cf. Ch. II 011 the dependence of purity of the field upon the
Budhisattvas freedom from duality.
3 This conviction, which is statecl also in the famous fifteenth
chapter of the Lotus (quoted above p. 142) is particularly interesting
because of the way in which it was used by Nichiren, the Japanese
Buddhist prophet of the thirteenth century A.D_ See Auesaki, Nichiren
the Buddhist Prophet, and a short article by the present writer in The
Open Court for December 1931 entitled Nichiren, Prophetic Pantheist.
APPENDIX A
THE TATHAGATA-VIGRAHAS OF LOTUS XI
234, line 1- 246,
line 10, Kern tr. p. 230)
"Then l\Iahapratibhana the Bodhisattva .... addressed
the Blessed One thus:
'Should we then, Lord, revere also those Tathagata-self-
essences created by the Tathagata (-atmabhaviiIps tathagata-
nirmitan), all of
At that moment the Blessed One sent forth a rav from
his iirl)a-sheath, and by that ray as soon as it had been
emitted, whatever Buddhas .... dwelt in the east in fifty
hundreds of thousand of nayutas of crores of world-systems
equal (in number) to the sands of the river Ganges, they
all became manifest. And those Buddha fields made of
crystal became visible, variegated with jewel-trees, decked
with strings of cloth, full of many hundreds of thousands
of Bodhisattvas, coyered with canopies, covered with gold
nets of the seven jewels. In those various (fields) Buddhas
were seen preaching the Dharma with sweet and gentle voice.
'l'hose Buddha-fields appeared full of hundreds of thousands
of Bodhisattvas also. Thus in the south-east; thus in the
south; thus in the south-west; thus in the west; thus in the
north; thus in the north-east; thus in the nadir; thus in the
zenith; thus on all sides in the ten directions of space: in
each direction many hundreds of thousands of nayutas of
crores of Buddha-fields like to the sands of the river Ganges,
(244) in many hundreds of thousands of llayutas of crores
Qf world-systems like to the sands of the river Ganges what
Buddhas dwelt, they all became visible.
Then those Tathagatas, Arhats, in the ten directions of
space addressed each his own troop of Bodhisattvas: "\Ve
shall have to go, good youths, to the Saha-world, to the
Lord Sakyamuni, the Tathagata, to salute humbly the Stiipa
of the Relics of Prabhiitaratna, the Tathagata. There-
upon those Lords, those Buddhas resorted with their own
APPENDIX 147
satellites, each with one or hyo to this Saha-world. At that
period this all-embracing world (iyal1l sarvavati lokadhatu)
was adorned with jewel trees; it consisted of lapis lazuli,
was covered with a network of seven precious substances
and gold, smoking with the odorous incense of magnificent
perfumes [Kern gives jewels], everywhere strewn with
JIiindarava and great Mandarava flowers, decorated with a
network of little bells, showing a checker-board divided by
gold threads into eight compartments
vi'laddha--other mss. abhinaddha and nibaddha], devoid of
villages, towns, boroughs, provinces, kingdoms, and royal
capitals, without Kala-mountain, without the mountain
JIucilinda, and great l\fucilinda, without a Mount Sumeru,
without a Cakravala and great Cakravala, without other
principal mountains, without great oceans, without rivers
and great rivers, without bodies of gods, men and demons,
without hells, without brute creation, without a kingdom of
Yama. For it must be understood that at that period all
beings in any of the six states of existence in this world
had been removed to other ,,"'orlds, with the exception of
those who were assembled in that congregation. (245) Then
it was that these Lords, Buddhas, attended by one or two
satellites, arrived at this Saha-,Yorld and went one after the
other to occupy their lion-seat at the foot of a jewel tree.
Each of the jewel trees was five-hundred yojanas in height,
had boughs, leaves, foliage, and circumference in proportion,
and was provided with blossoms and fruits. At the foot of
each jewel tree stood prepared a throne, five hundred [two
mss. give 5] yojanasin height, and adorned with magnificent
jewels. Each Tathagata went to occupy his throne and sat
on it cross-legged. .A.nd so all the Tathagatas of the whole
triple-thousand great chiliocosmic lokadhatu sat cross-legged
at the foot of the jewel trees .
.. At that moment the whole triple-thousand great chilio-
cosmic ,yorld-system was replete with Tathagatas, but the
beings rroduced from the proper body of the Lord Sakya-
muni (Sakyamunes tathagatasyatmabhavanirmita) had not
yet arrived, not from a single point of the horizon ....
Then the Lord Sakyamuni, the Tathagata, etc., proceeded
to make room for these Tathagata-frames (vigraha) that
"ere arriving one after the other. On every side in the
eight directions of space (appeared) twenty-hundred-thou-
sand myriads of kotis of Buddha-fields all made of lapis
lazuli, decked with a network of seven precious substances
and gold .... etc., as above (246) .... without bodies of gods,
etc. (p. 246, 1. 6). All those many Buddha-fields he arranged
as one sole Buddha-field, one sole spot of earth; (Hini ca
sarvaI].i buddhak::;etraI].y ekam eva buddhak::;etram ekam eva
prthivipradesam parisal!lsthapayamasa), even, lovely, set off
with trees of seven precious substances, trees five hundred
yojanas in height and circumference, etc. At the foot of
each tree stood prep.ared a throne, five yojanas in height and
width, consisting of celestial gems, glittering and beautiful.
At the foot of those jewel-trees the Tathagatas sat cross-
legged. In that manner again Sakyamuni purified further
twenty hundreds, etc., of world-systems (247) in each direc-
tion. In order to make room for those Tathagatas as they
came, those twenty hundreds of world-systems, ... , also in
every direction he made free from towns, villages .....
Those Buddha-fields were made of vaidurya etc., etc."
APPENDIX B
THE TRINITY AND THE FIELDS
The essential ideas concerning the relation of the three
kiiyas to the and the have been set forth in
Chapter IV, but there was not room there to include several
interesting passages dealing with this subject in the
rijiiaptimatrata Siddhi
1
and Mahayana Sfitriilayttkiira.
2
The
present appendix is devoted to these passages.
The DHARMAKAYA or Svabhavikakaya is identical for all
Buddhas; it is the foundation of the other two kayas and
especially it is the basis of the Salllbhogakaya.
IX, 60: svabhaviko 'tha salllbhogyal.t kayo
llairmaJ;liko 'paraJ.!/ kayabheda hi buddhanalll pratliamas
tu
Siddhi p. 713, v.: Le svabhavikakaya et sa terre sont
"realises" d'une maniere 'identique par tous les Tatha-
gatas. Aucune distinction n'est possible entre Ie Sva-
bhiivikakaya (l'un Bouddha et celui des antres Bmtddhas.
XI. 62: samaJ.! tacchlifltah kayaJ.!
f>vabhaviko mataJ.!/ salllbhogavibhutahetur/
bhogadaciane- sviibhavikal.t sarvabuddhanalll samo nirvi-
sistataya/ durjiianatayii/ tena sUlllbhogikena
kiiyena salllbuddhasalllbhogavibhutve ca hetur
bhogadarsanaya/
There is nothing outside of this Dharmakuya to be its
base or ground; that is, it must be identical with its "field"
1 Compiled and translated into Chinese by HiuanTsang, and
translated into French by L. de 111. Vallee Poussin in the first volume,
first series (Memoires) of Buddhica, Documents et Travaux pour
l'Etude dn Boud(lhisme, publies sous 111. direction de Jean Przyluski.
Page references in this Appendix are all to Poussin's translation;
numbers with small letters following, to folios of the text (e.g. 29b.)
All the references with this appendix are from the Xth part of the
Sirldhi.
2 Indicated in this Appendix as :MSAL. Roman numbers refer
to chapters, Arabic numerals to sections in" the text.
150
-it is its own ground. Its field may be called the Dhar-
madhatu or Dharmata, ,yhich cannot be distinguished, ex-
cept logically, from the Dharmakaya itself:
Le Svabhavikakaya est constitue par Ie seul Dhar-
madhatu. Siddhi. p. 707, (25b).
Siddhi, p. 711, iv., Les K!?etras:
a) Le SViibhiivikakaya ou Dharmatakaya (= Tathata.
pur Dharmadhatu) a pour terre la Dharmata. Pas de
ference de nature entre Ie corps et Ia terre sur Iaquelle il
s'appuie; cependant on peut dire que Ie corps se rap porte
au Bouddha, que la Dharmata se rap porte a la terre, vu
qu 'on peut MabHr une distinction entre. Ie SUbstance, Ie
svabhava qui est la Dharmata, et sa manifestation, Ie
qui est Ie Bouddha.
Evidemment ni ce corps ni cette terre ne sont Rupa.
On ne peut donc dire que leurs dimensions sont gran des
ou petites. Cependant, a tenir compte des choses et des
characteres qu'ils supportent, leurs dimensions sont in-
finies; comllle l' espace, ils s' etendent partout. (28b.)
In the Siddhi there seem to be two SaIpbhogakayas, one
representing the body which has as its base the pure field
produced by the Bodhisattva's activities for his own Bud-
dahood, the other the body which has as its base the pure
field produced by the maturing of the Bodhisattva's efforts
on behalf of others.!
Un SvasaIpbhogakaya avec sa terre appartient en
propre a chaque Bouddha; chacun, pour soi, obtient la
qualite de Bouddha, developpe un corps et une terre de
SaIpbhoga personnels. Tous ces corps et terres sont in-
finis, mais ils ne se font pas obstacle. Ibid. p. 713-714.
Page 712 (iv. Les cont.) Le SvasaIpbhogakaya
"revient s'appuyer sur sa terre" (C'est-a-dire: Ie corps et
Ia terre ou Ie corps reside, se confondent; il n 'y a pas
1 In )Lsanga's classification the SaI!J.bhogakiiya corresponds to
the Siddhi's s,asambhogakaya,-See MSAL IX, 63 Com:
"The SiiI!J.bhokik (body) has as its mark attainment of one's Olen
artha;
"The NairmiiJ).ik (body) has as its mark attainment of other's
urtha."
APPENDIX 151
de terre en dehors ou It part du corps.) Le pur Vijiiana
(Ie huitieme Vijiiana anasrava), associe It l' Adarsajiiana,
se developpe (ou se transforme) en une plwe terre de
BOllddha, parfaite, sans extremites, ornee de joyaux, Ce
developpement (ou cette transformation) a pour principe
la maturite (paripiika) des causes .... qui produsient une
terre toute pure de Bouddha, causes que Ie Bodhisattva a
jadis cultivees en vue de son prop1'e bien. Ce developpe-
mellt. ... commence au moment ou Ie Bodhisattva devi!::nt
Bouddha et durera, sans interruption, jusqu'a 1 'extremite
de l'avenir. Le Svasal11bhogakaya s'appuie sur cette terre
et y reside.
Telle les dimensions de la terre, telles les dimensions
du corps.
Chacun des trente-deux lakl?a:gas et des quatre-vingts
anuvyaiijanas de ce corps de Bouddha, est infini (ananta) ,
car il procede de racines de bien sans limite (aparyanta).
Les qualites (gw.ws) de ce corps et sa sapience ne
sont pas des Dharmas de Ri.ipa: on ne peut pas lui attri-
buer dimensions ou figures grandes ou petites. Le
Svasal11bhogaldiya a pour support Ie Dharmatllkaya qui
S 'etend partout: donc, lui aussi, s' etend partout. De
meme les qualites sont omnilocales comme le corps de
Svasal]lbhoga qui les supporte; de meme aussi la sapience,
comme la Tathata qu'elle connait. (29a.)
c) Le ParasaIp.bhogaldiya aussi s 'appuie sur sa terre.
Par la force des grandes bienveillance-pitie, en vertu de
Ia maturite des pures causes qui produisent ttne pure
(Suddha) tCiTe de Bouddha, causes que la Bodhisattva a
cultivees jadis en vue du bien d'alltnli, en faveur et con-
formement aux besoins des Bodhisattvas des dix Bhi.imis,
Ie Samatajiiana se trans forme en terre pure, petite,
grande, mediocre, eminente, sujette It modifications. C 'est
Sur cette terre que s 'appuie Ie Parasal11bhogakaya.
Les dimensions du corps aussi sont indeterminees.
The latter type of Sal11bhogakaya and the
are but "manifestations" for the sake of creatures. They
have no ultimate reality:
En eiiet, Ie Parasal11bhogakaya et Ie Nirma:gakaya ne
sont que des manifestations, moyens, de la conversion des
etres; ils ne sont pas, Ie leur nature, reel Juana, 709, c-d.
But even the unreal NirmaJ.lakaya must have some
"base" which is the magically" created" field belonging to
the created transformation-bodies, or apparently human
Buddhas. Their fields usually appear impure, but may be
modified according to the needs of creatures.
d) Le Nirmiiryakiiya s'appuie S11r une terre dife
"creee", ninnitii. Par la force des grandes bienveillance_
pitie, en vertu de la maturite des pures causes qui pro-
duisent une terre pure-sale, causes que Ie Bodhisattva a
jadis cultivees en vue de bien d'autrui, en faveur et con-
formement aux besoins des etres qui n'ont pas encore
obtenu une Bhumi, Ie Krtyanusthanajuana cree
(nirmiryoti) une terre de Bouddha (29b) ou pure, ou sale,
ou petite, ou grande, sujette a modifications.
Le NirmaJ.lakaya s'appuie sur c"ette terre et y reside.
Ses dimensions, comme celles de la terre, ne sont pas
determinees. 713 (29a-29b).
Quant aux deux derniers corps, ils sont relatifs aUK
vineyas, c'est-a-dire aux etres que les Bouddhas ont a
convertir. Les etres, pour leur conversion, dependent de
plusieurs Bouddhas ou d'un seul Bouddha. De ceci, il
suit que les deux derniers corps sont communs a plusieurs
Bouddhas ou propres a un Bouddha.
Comment les choses se passent-elles lorsqu'nn senl
Vineya depend de plusieurs Bouddhas?-En meme temps
et dans Ie meme lieu, chacun de ces Bouddhas developpe
un NirmaJ.lakaya, une terre: tontes ces "creations" sonf
identiqlles, 116 se font pas obstacle. En d'autres termes,
ces Bouddhas sont ensemble la "condition souveraine"
(adhipatipratyaya--cf. the expected meaning of "supre-
macy" in qui fait que Ie Vineya se developpe
en un nimitta de NirmaJ.lakaya. On dira: "Dans cette
terre (ketra) , il y a un Buddhakaya qui deploie les
pouvoirs magiques, qui enseigne et seuve."
Asanga explains how the Sa1]lbhogakiiya varies in all
the world-systems according to the audience assemblies, the
Buddha-fields, the names, the bodies, and the common ap-
propriation of the dharma:
APPENDIX 153
tatra sal!lbhogikal}. sarvalokadhatui';lu pari';lanma1].Q.ala-
buddhaki';letranamasariradharmasal!lbhogakriyabhirbhin-
nal)/l\lsAL. IX, 61 Commentary.
It is as Sal!lbhogakaya that the Buddha makes the
Bodhisattvas appropriate the dharma in the audience-
assemblies:
ThiSAL. IX, 60 Commentary: trividhal}. kayo buddha-
lliiIp./ svabhaviko dharmakaya asrayapariivrttilaki';la1].al)/
sal]!bhogiko yen a dharmasa1!zbhogan.1
karoti/ nairma1].iko yella nirma1].ena satvarthal!l karotij
And since it is the field as it appears to the Bodhi-
sattvas-pure and je\vel-set-which is the Buddha-ki';letra par
excellence, and since the field in this sense belongs to the
Sal!lghogakiiya, this particular "body" is also calleel the
k$efra-kaya, as we saw in Chapter IV.
APPENDIX C
ADHISTHANA
The word Adhi$!hana interests us because it is used in
the crucial fifteenth chapter of the Lotus to express the
power by which the eternal Buddha has appeared again
and again in the world, appearing to become extinct, while
really eternally existing. It is to this adhii?thiina-pmnr
(adhi$!hanabaliidhanam) that he calls the disciples' especial
attention in the very first words of the sermon which con-
tains the essence of the Lotus of the True Law. This sermon
. is impressively heralded in order to ensure the utmost atten-
tion for its profound message, which begins:
1
"Hear, then good youths, this my adhi$!hiina-power
2
<!f such a sort .... : It is supposed that by the Blessed One
the Tathiigata, having gone forth from the
8iikya clan, at Gayii the great town having ascended the
eminent summit of Bodhimal).ga, became enlightened
3
into
unsurpassed complete enlightenment. But it is not to be
looked at thus. On the contrary you must know, good
youths, many are the hundreds of thousands of l1ayutas
of crores of kalpas since I have been enlightened into
unsurpassed complete enlightenment. ... "
In the gathiis later in the chapter, he explains (gatha
three) how he manifests a nirviil).abhiimi as a device (upiiya)
for the sake of enlightening creatures, though really he
does not become extinct, but declares the dharma right here.
In the next gatha (four), he uses the verb corresponding
to adhii?thiina to describe this process of illusory manifesta-
tions:
1 Lotus, Chapter XV. p. 316, line 1 if.
2 BaHidhanam means more than just power, having also the ideas
of support, and the "taking to oneself" conveyed by the a.
3 This confusion between instrumental and nominative is in the
Sanskrit as here translated.
APPENDIX 155
"There I establish myself, and for all creatures I
(am) just thus. But perverted in mind, deluded men
do not see me standing right there." He explains that
he comes into the world of living creatures again and
acrain, but he does not show his true self -essence (tadiit-
If they really desire to see him he will show
them the SADDHARMA, which is really his self-essence.
1
Then follow gi'ithiis 10 if. which we have quoted in
Chapter IV: "Such is this my true adhi$thiina . ... " etc.
H is evident that we have here to do 'with a momentous
concept. Its importance for Buddhist doctrine is sufficiently
indicated by its use at the beginning of the Blessed One's
sermon, where its meaning seems to include all he wants to
express about the relation of his eternal self-essence to the
manifestations which appear to become extinct. But just
because of this very inclusiveness in its meaning here, it is
particularly difficult to isolate the specific content of the
word. Its use in Lotus XI helps us somewhat. There (see
quotation page 134, note 1)2 it seems to refer to the power
and resolution by which Prabhutaratna arranges to have
the "shipa which is the frame of his self-essence" appear
in different Buddha-fields wherever the Lotus is preached.
in this passage is practically synonymous with
pra1).idhana, so it is easy to understand why the word has
been translated "resolve." But it means a special kind of
resolve and its meaning includes not only the resolve but the
1 Cf. statements in the Pali to the effect that "He who sees the
Dharma sees me"; "after I am gone revere the dharma in my place";
and others which, like the above, are basic to the Dharmakiiya concept.
2 Which should be preceded by the following (Lotus 241, 1.
8--Kern p. 229): Then Prabhiitaratna the Tathagata etc. had this
"Let my stiipa here, this stiipa of my proper bodily
frame (or form, iitmabhiit'a-vigraha-stiipa) arise wherever in any
Buddha-field in the ten directions of space, in all worlds, the Dharma
paryaya of the Lotus of the True Law is propounded, and let it
stand in the sky above the assembled. congregation when this Dharma-
paryaya is being preached by some Lord Buddha or another, and let
this Stiipa of the frame (or form) of my proper body give a shout of
applause to those Buddhas while preaching this Dharma-paryaya."
156 TilE EASTERN BUDDHIST
magic power which prodt!ces the manifestations and makes
them" stand." The latter element is recognised in La Vallee
Poussin's valuable notes on the word in Kosa vii, p. 83, n. 3,
and p. 119 51 if. and especially n. 2, where it is explained
as meaning" faire durer"l-a supernatural or magical ac-
tion by which the body (iii. 31) or life (vii. 83) is prolonged,
or by which a magical being (nirmaJ.la!) is est a blished by his
creator, saying, "l\Iay he endure!" (vii. 119; viii, 210).
The editor of the Kosa mentions also Patisambhidu-
magga ii, 207, where adhitthana refers to miracles of multi-
plication, but he does not follow this clue back to the common
meaning of adhittlulna in Buddhaghosa, where we discover
what particular kind of "resolve" and "making to endure"
the word in its specific meaning refers to, and hence '''hat
it has to do with the later l\Iahayiina Buddha's projection
of nirmiiJ.las.
It is primarily a DUPLICATE OF ONESELF whose projection
ancl "establishment" is meant 'by adhitthiina. The power of
self-multiplication had long standing in Buddhism as one of
the various kinds of magic power (iddhi) :
'" Being one he becomes manifold, being manifold he
becomes one" (.illajjhil1la i. 34-Further Dialogues I, 24 and
in many other places in the Pali Pitakas.) This power is
regularly listed as one of the many "psychic" powers which
may be acquired by the adept. Clairvoyance, clairaudience,
and remembrance of former births are the most familiar
ones, but the possessor of iddhi could also "pass at will
through wall or fence or hill as if through air, pass in and
out of the solid earth, walk on the water's surface .... glide
in state through the air," .... etc. Knowledge of the
thoughts of others was another of the most frequently
attained powers.
In the Visuddhi lliagga (378; Path of Purity 438),
Buddhaghosa lists ten iddhi powers, of which the first is
1 Elsewhere he, like Burnouf, usually tarnslates the word benedic-
tion and the verb, "eonsaera" after the Tibetan byin kyirlabs.
APPENDIX 157
adhitt11l
1na
:
1) Adhitthiinii iddhi: By nature one, he projects
many; having projected a hundred or a thousand or a
hundred thousand, by (higher) knowledge he establishes
(that many duplicates of himself) with the thought, "l\Iay
J be many." Thus having distinguished (divided or modified
himself?), the psychic power manifested (after having thus
distinguished) accomplished by adhitthiina
1
(adhitthiina-
l'asena) is called adhitthiinii iddhi by name ..
pakatiya elw, bahukam avajjatij sataIp. va sahassaIp.
va satasahassaIp. va avajjitva iUil).ena adhitthati, bahuko
homl ti. EvaIp. vibhajitva dassita iddhi adhitthiinavasena
nipphannatta adhitthiinii iddhi nama.
2) vikubbanii iddhi:
2
"He discards his original form
and takes on the form of a boy, of a snake, .... of the dif-
ferent forms of an army .... 3.
3) rnanomayii iddhi: "Here a monk calls up from
this body another body, having form, made of mind .... "
etc. (tr. l\Iaung Tin).
In the AtthasiilinI4 occurs a most interesting illustra-
tion of the use of adhitthiina power, in a passage which is
particularly significant for the Trikaya theory in the light
it throws on the background of the idea of multiple Buddhas,
conceived as more or less unreal emanations of the One
1 Cf. Buddhaghosa's commentary on this type of iddhi and its
elaboration in relation to juana, in Visuddhi Magga, 386-387, (Path of
Purity, p. 448-449.)
2 This is interesting as the ancestor of the Skt. vikunitam-
power of self-transformation. It may include self-multiplication as
well when combined with the old standard four iddhi powers, as in a
fragment from a Mahayana Siitra in Gupta script published from M.A.
Stein's collection (CH. 0079 B) in JRAS 1911, p. 1079, 5-6: "At his
vyakara!).a a certain Bodhisattva (who was to become Maitreya) re-
eei,ed celestial vision and celestial hearing and remembrance of former
births and knowledge of others' thoughts and rddhi-vikurvitam."
3 For the use of this power in adapting one's form to that of
one's hearers, especially by the Mahayana Bodhisattvas, see quotations
in Ch. IV, p. 136 fr.
16, tr. The Expositor, p. 20.
Buddha. The story goes that some literal-minded disciple
once became curious as to how the Buddha managed to keep
from starving while preaching the preternaturally long
disquisitions often attributed to him. Buddhaghosa explains
as follows:
"The Buddha, having formed a esta-
blished or resolved (by adhifthiina power-{]dhitthiiya!) :
'let him have robe-taking, bowl-taking, voice, action, and
gesture of this sort (i.e. the same as mine), and let him
teach the so great Dharma'; and taking his bowl and robe
he went to lake Anottatta. " Buddhaghosa adds that there
was no difference between the supreme Buddha and the
created Buddha as regards their rays (rasmisll) , voices,
or words./ so bhikkhacaravelal!l sallakkhetva nimmitabud-
Illiipetvii, 'imassa civaragaha:t;tam pattagaha:t;tal!l
sarakutti akappo ca esa rupo nama hotu, ettakam nama
dhammam desetu 'ti adhitthiiya pattacivaram iidaya
Anotattadahal!l gacchati/
'Ve cannot tell how early the Buddhists began to believe
in this kind of magical emanation on Buddha's part; the
power has its roots in the power of self-multiplication which
seems to go back to earliest times. Buddhaghosa, of course,
represents later orthodox formularization of doctrine, but
the use of adhitthana which he relates shows us the line
ot: thought which had been developing, even in IIinayana,
out of the earlier stratum.
Still more illuminating with reference to the developing
tbeory of the emanational nature of beings who taught the
Dharma even after the Nirva:t;ta of the Buddha is a curious
episode quoted in de la Vallee Poussin's article in T' Oung
Pao (1928, Vol. 26, p. 20) : Les Ne1lf KaZpas qll'a franchis
Siikyal1l1lni pO Ill' devancer Maitreya.
" ..t\nd The Sutra says, 'The Buddha at the moment of
his saw that a being to be converted was actually
in the Naivasamjiianasamjiiayatana (etage supreme du
monde-un ou cet etre echappait necessairement a
sa mise) but was to be reborn here below and there be con-
APPENDIX 159
wrted by him. The Buddha accordingly then constituted
and created by power (adhiti$pwti-Ia Vallee
poussin traI}slates 'consacra') a nirmiitwkaya, destined to
remain, but hidden, in this world, and (he, Sakyamuni)
with the body which he had assumed before (in the womb
of Maya) entered into Nirval,la.
1
The being in question
died in the empyrean, was reborn here below, and the
ninnal.wkaya (corps magique) 'consecrated' (rather
'created through power') by the Buddha
taught him the Law in such a fashion that- he became
an Arhat. Then the ninniitwkiiya disappeared and ceased
to appear."
We have now seen enough of the use of adld$thana to
understand its relevance to our discussion in Chapter IV,
particularly to the projections of created Buddhas. Thought
of in the Pali as the magic (iddhi) power by which a super:
natural but still largely human Buddha projects copies of
himself, adhi$thana comes in the to stand for the
power by which the One Eternal Buddha projects ninnatw-
liiiyas for the sake of enlightening creatures. It is with this
meaning that it can stand at the head of the most significant-
chapter of the Lotus, to express the relation of the One
Buddha to the many Buddhas; and in another of the most
important chapters (XI) it can express the relation of
Prabhiitaratna to his stiipas.
Besides this strict meaning of power of self-projection,
1vith the philosophical implications we have seen, adhi$thana
is used also of various other sorts of magic power,2 some-
times connected with miracles of multiplication
l
and some-
1 There was a good deal of discussion among the dogmaticians
as to whether or not a perSall could exert adhisthana-power to make
something endure atter his death! See the di;cussion Kosa vii, 'p.
U9 ff. 52a and b. Kasyapa is supposed to have used this power to make
his bones last until the coming of Maitreya, but others say, "No, if the
bones of Kasyapa endure it is by the adhisthana of the gods."
2 In the Milinda-pafiha (309) is used of the power
of producing miracles of an unspecified character: "It is by the ad-
highiina of three kinds of people that wonders (patihiram) take place
at the chetiya of some person who is "nibbuta" .... by the adhitthiina
of Arhats, gods, and intelligent belie,iug women or men." It is in-
times quite different.:! 'We shall now look at a few of the
uses of aclhi$thiina found in the Lalitavistara,3 a treasure_
house of interesting exhibitions of this magic power.
Some of these are close to the original notion of self-
multiplication, as when the assembly of gods saw a great
number of Bodhisattvas by the of the Bodhi-
sattva (31, lines 307) :
sa sarva devaparl?ad bodhisattviidhisthiinena
[sic] tan bodhisattvan drl?tva ca punar yena bodhisattvas'
tena saiijaliIp. pra1).amya namasyanti sma/
evaIp. codanam udanayanti sma,,f 'sadhv acintyam idaIp.
bodhisattviidhistha,nam [sic] yatra hi nama vayaIp. vya-
valokitamatre1).eyanto bodhisattvan paSyama' iti;/'
In the Lalitavistara aclhi$thiina is used also of a power
of transformation applied to inanimate objects and to other
persons. Remembering that reunification as well as multi-
plication was one phase of aclhitthiina, we are interested to
find this power employed by the just-enlightened One to
make into one bowl the four bowls given him by the four
Lokapalas! Since he needed only one bowl, and yet did
not wish to hurt the feelings of any of his benefactors by
accepting only one bowl, he accepted all four, thinking (384,
1.4-5) ; yannv aham imani catvari patraI)i pratigrhya, elmlp.
patraIp. .
He took them with a thought of benevolence(anukampii)
teresting in connection with what we shall see later of the enlightening
purpose almost always associated with this power, that the gods, for
example, are said to exercise their adhiHhiina with the thought: "By
this wonder, may the true faith always remain established on earth
.... ". The nature of the wonders is not explained.
1 See especially the curious passage in Dasabhumika p. 2-3, C. on
the adhisthilnu of the former vow of Vairocana.
2 A' miraculous power-projection but not necessarily of oneself
seems to be the meaning of in the Vinu;aka7.;iiri7.;apra7.;ara7ja
of Vasubandhu, tr. by La Vallee Poussin in Le 1912 (p. 87):
"et par Ie pouvoir mentale des personnes doues des pouvoirs magiques
(rddhi) comme, par exemple, par la (tr. benediction) de
Mahilkiltyilyana, Sara1!a (fils d'Udayin) vit des reves."
3 Edited by Lefmann. References are to pages in his edition of
the text except where references to Foucaux's translation are indicated.
APPENDIX 161
to the giver., and, "having taken, established (them as) one
bowl by the power of his application (pratigrhya ca ekal!l
pat ram adhiti;;thati sma adhimuktibalena ..... " Foucaux,
319-320, translates:
"apres I 'avoir pris, il imposa sa benediction sur un
seul vase, par la force du bon vouloir."
The use of adhi;;thana to transform another person is
illustrated in the story of 's daughters. Disturbed at
their father's failure to persuade Buddha to enter NirvaJ.la
shortly after his enlightenment, they determine to have an-
other. try at the sage to see if they can tempt him. But
when they approach him they are turned into old women by
his aclhi$thiina-powcr!1 And when they return to their
father to beg him to undo the effects of Buddha's curse and
cause their decrepit forms to disappear, he replies (Foucaux
315) :
"Je ne vois pas dans Ie monde mobile et immobile
l'homme qui pourrait changer l'effet de 1a puissance
(adhi$fhiina-here rightly translated, since it was obvious-
ly not a 'benediction') du Bouddha."
naham pasyami tal!l loke puru;;am sacaracare/ bud-
dhasya yo hy adhi;;thanal!l (sic) saknuyat kartum
anyathii/ (379, line 2-3.)
In the examples considered thus far, the Buddha '8
power has been exercised upon an object or a
person, if not to conjure up doubles of himself, but in
another set of stories it is something so intangible as the
subject-matter of speech or song which is altered through
! The most entertaining and ironical episodes
occur under this head. There is, for instance, the story of
Buddha's first visit to school, an occasion on which he dis-
comfited (and also amused) the teacher by reeling off the
1 This story is a superb example of the symbolic meaning of
Buddhist mythology. Of course Buddha did cause Desire and Lust
and the other "daughters of Mara" to appear in an unpleasant guise!
It would be interesting to know whether this episode had a concrete
personified form from the beginning of Buddhist legend.
162
names of sixty-four languages, some of which the teacher
himself had never heard of, inquiring which he was sup-
posed to learn first! At this point the reader naturan\'
wonders why the phenomenal youth should have gone t'o
school at all under such circumstances, and it is explained
that he stayed to enlighten the other children. For by his
he brought it about that while they were learn-
ing the alphabet, when they repeated the letter "a," out
came the words "anitya sarva salJ1skara"; "a"-"iitma-
parahita, " etc.
At the end of the chapter where the same episode is
summarised, it is interesting to discover an1tbhava used
clearly as a synonym of adhifJfhana:
"Ainsi done, Religieux, pendant que ces enfants
lisaient l'alphabet, par la puissance (anubhavena, 127, 1.
7-8) du Bodhisattva apparerent des innombrables cen-
taines de milles de portes. principales de la loi. Alors,
32000 enfants furent, par Ie Bodhisattva,
present a la salle d'ecriture, completement ll1uris, et leurs
pensees furent dirigees vers 1 'Intelligence parfaite et ac-
complie!"
More irony is present in the story of a very similar kind
of adhilftlulna - exercised, however, by the Buddhas in the ten
directions: when the Bodhisattva was surrounded by the
luxury and charm of his harem-beautiful women singing
enchanting music-the Buddhas feared lest he forget his
resolution to go forth from the household state in quest of
supreme enlightenment. Accordingly" les Buddhas Bhaga-
vants qui demeurent aux 10 points de l'espace, firent, par
leurs adhilfthana, sortir du milieu de ces concerts ces Gathas
(l'exhortation an Bodhisattva!:2
1 127, 1. 4-5: tatra bodhisattt'udhisthuncna [sic]
diirakanam matrkam vacayatam yada .... etc.
2 Fo"ucaux148. Lefmann' 163, 1. 9-10: dasadigavasthi-
tanal!! buddhanal!l bhagavatJim adh4tlu"inena, etc.
In the other versions of the story later in the chapter the follow-
ing words are used as synonymns of
APPENDIX 163
" 'Voila ton temps venu, 0 grand Richi; distribue au
moude I 'eau sans fin du fleuve de la loi!
Va promptement aupres du meilleur des arbres,
touche a la dignite immortelle ....
Par des formes agreables et belles, par des sons
me!odieux, par des odeurs et des gouts agreables, par de
doux contacts, ce monde est toujours enveloppe dans les
filets du temps, comme un singe lie dans les filets du
chasseur ... ,
La vieillesse change la beaute en laideur; la vieillesse
ravit l'eclat. ...
Toute substance finit par perir, il 11 'y a rien de
durable dans ce qui est compose. Passagers sout Ie desir,
!a royaute, les jouissances. Sors de la ville excellente!' "
"par la 'puissance' (utesut) des supremes Djinas des 10 points de
l'espace, on entend cea gathas .... " (Foueaux p. 149, 'tejair'
(20); 'anubhavi' (50), etc.
In Ch. XVI (Foucaux 205), it is by the Bodhisattva's
that Chandaka tells his story about Gotama's leaving home so eloquently
that the grief of the King and of Gopa is appeased!
APPENDIX D
THE BUDDHA-FIELD IN RELATION TO
THE COSl\IIC CYCLE
'Ve saw in Chapter IV and its appendices how the
Buddha-field meant an ideal, glorified domain-covered with
jewel-trees, etc.; and when the present world appeared
under its ideal aspect as the field of the Buddha SakyamullI,
it appeared even and lovely and covered with jewel-trees.
With this purity of the field was probably implied (and
sometimes stated, e.g. in the Lotus vyakaral).as and in
SUkhiivati) the superior morality of the inhabitants.
On the other hand, as we saw in Chapter II, page
382(52), note 5, the Buddha-fields are sometimes conceived
as containing hells and all the six states of existence.
In viewing of this inconsistency it is interesting to
discover that the standard Chinese interpretation of the
Buddha-k!?etra makes it include both the ideal and the
ordinary, though in a fashion whose meaning we can only
conjecture. In Eitel's Handbook, "Buddha-kchetra" is de-
fined as "the sphere of each BtulcZha's influence, said to be
of four-fold nature"-that is, made up of four "domains"
in progressive stages of moral and religious development.
1) The domain where good and evil are mixed;
2) The domain in which the ordinances (of religion)
are not altogether ineffectual, though impurity is
banished and all beings reach. a state of Sriivalm
and Anagamin;
3) The domain in which Buddhism is spontaneously
accepted and carried into practice, where its de-
mands are fully responded to;
4:) The domain of spiritual nature, where all beings
are in a permanent condition of stillness and light.
APPENDIX 165
Professor Hodous tells me that this is the usual Chinese
interpretation of the and that these four
domains are generally interpreted in terms of the cosmic
cycle and its stages of greater and lesser approximation to
the Buddhist ideal.
The tradition of periods of progressive moral degenera-
tion or elevation is familiar to us from Pali cosmological
speculations, but it is curious to think of them as physical
domains. Since the Chinese Brahmajala and other texts
which might make this clear are not accessible to me, I can
only conjecture tentatively and subject to further investiga-
tion, that these four domains refer to successive stages of
the development of any Buddha's world-the world which
he assiduously "purifies" on his way to Buddhahood and
for the cultivation of which he produces great roots of merit.
As he progresses in knowledge and conduct, his field reaches
a more and more complete approximation to the thoroughly
pure ideal Buddha-field-the "domain of spiritual nature"
in Eitel's classification. (The stages of approximation must
be sllccessive (not simultaneous), or they could have no con-
nection with the cosmic cycle.) "\Ve remember from our in-
Yestigations in Chapter III that the purity and glorious
attributes of a Buddha's field were supposed to depend
upon his actions in behalf of creatures, when he was a
Bodhisattva. Perhaps the first two stages described in Eitel,
represent the condition of his world before he himself attains
Buddhahood, while he is purifying it ; it does seem reasonable
that it must be impure before he completes its purifica-
tion, but the Indian Buddhists never worked this out so
materially.
This is all, unfortunately, rather conjectual. There is,
however, a set of traditions in Indian Buddhism in which
one aspect of the relation of the to the cosmic
cycle is set forth quite clearly.
We refer to the prophesies relating to the coming of
In these traditions the means
166 TilE EASTERN BUDDHIST
clearly an ideal state of things, but instead of characterising
some far-off paradise under Amitabha or some other Tathii-
gata, this ideal condition is to characterise this world in the
future
l
under the Buddha Maitreya (nm" a Bodhisattva in
the Tu!?ita heaven.)
According to the cosmological theories taken over into
Buddhism (see Poussin's Ages of the lVorld, Buddhist,
ERE i, esp. p. ISSa), the world goes through periodic cycles
of both degeneration and improvement.!! At a certain stage
in the cycle a Buddha appears-after a downward period of
increasing wickedness and loss of spirituality, during which
the average age of man decreases from many thousands, to
hundreds or scores of years. When their age reaches a re-
latively low point between one hundred and one thousand
years, then the Buddha manifests himself (for when the age
of men runs into hundreds of thousands of years, it is
practically hopeless to try to convince them of the transiency
of things!) After a Buddha's the effect of his
preaching lflsts in full force, according to common Buddhist
tradition,3 for a millenium. Then follows the Age of the
Copied or Counterfeit Law, which is in turn followed by
the dreadful age of the Latter Law, when all sorts of calami-
ties befall the world besides the depravity and short life of
man. The peak of sin and of misery occurs when the
average length of life has fallen to ten years, and then the
upward swing begins again. 'When the life of man reaches
80,000 years, appears, and this world, which is
then in a particularly joyous and fruitful state, is his
Buddha-field.
4
1 For affinities between this expectation of a "good time coming"
with Persian eschatology, see Przyluski Legende de l'Empereur Alloka.
La Croyance au .lIessie dans l'Inde et l'Iran, RIIR' 1929,
pt. 4, p. 1-12; Sir Charles Eliot, Hinduism and Bu(ldhism III 218 ff.
and Abegg Messiasglaube in Indien und Iran.
2 See Visuddhi JIagga, 416 if. (Path of Purity, II, 483 ff.)
3 See for example, Beal, Romantic Legend, p. 3 if.
The Pali versions of this prophesy are quoted in Abegg. op. cit.
second part, Der :Messiasglaube in Buddhismus, See especially the
APPENDIX 167
It is thus described in the story of the sixteen Arhats:
1
After the NirvaI].a of the sixteen Arhats, one never
hears more of this. Buddha in the ,,orId. Then 70,000
Pratyeka-Buddhas appear, who in their turn enter NirvaI].a
,,hen the age of men reaches 80,000 years. Then l\Iaitreya
appears.
"A ce moment-la, Ie Jambudvlpa croit en etendue
et en purete; il n 'y a plus ni rences ni epines, ni ravines,
ni tertres. Uni et fecondant, un sable d 'or couvre Ie sol.
Part out des etangs purs et des fourres d'arbre; des fleurs
celebres .... et des amas de joyaux .... Les hommes ont
tous un coeur compatiment et pratiquent les 10 bonnes.
actions; leur longevite augmente; la prosperite et la joie
fermement etablies. Hommes et femmes abondent;
les villes et les bourgs sont voisins les uns des autres; les
poules en volent es rencontrent. Dans les travaux des
champs qu'ils font, ils recoltent sept fois ce qu'ils ont
same, etc ..... (Ce sera entierement comme il est expose
dans Ie Sutra de Jllaitl'eya devenant Bouddha-Nanj. 209,
tr. due a Kumarajiva 402 A.D.)
:\Iaitreya will preach and save lwti,; upon kotis of beings.
And if donors living in this epoch have honored the Buddha
and accumulated roots of merit by making images of Bud-
dhas, stiipas, and giving gifts, they will be reborn as men
in the time of and will obtain NirvaI].a through the
influence of his teaching. If they make images, they will
give up home life in 's first assembly; if they realise
and teach the scriptures of the Mahayana (enumerated in
great detail on pp. 16-20 of the 16 Arhats article), in the
second assembly, and in the third if they give gifts to the
Sal).gha.
The background of l\Iaitreya's future destiny is told
Cal;/;avattls"ihaniidaSutta Sutta of the Digha) and Aniigata
talilsa JPTS 1886, tr. in Warren, Buddhism in Translations, p. 481 ff.
1 J. As. 1916 Vol. VIII, p. 7 ff. from Relation sur la Duree de la
Loi enollce par Ie Grand Arhat Xalldimitra.
in the S1ttra, prononce par le Bouddlza, sur Ie temps des
Existences anciennes et ftttllres, (translated under the
Oriental Tsin, 317-420 A.D., Nanj. 562; TT. XII, 8) :
The are discussing the superiority of the
grhapati who gives alms to the or one 'who every
morning realises incalculable benefices. Aniruddha tells
how when begging in Benares Kingdom in time of famine
he shared his food with' a Pratyeka Buddha and by the
results of this action was reborn seven times in heaven
and became king among the devas, then seven times here
below and became king of men.
Then Buddha prophesies: "In the distant future,
. there will be a people where one shall live up to 80,000
years. This JambudvTpa will be great, rich, happy, po-
pulous; villages and cities will be distant only a cock-
flight. 'V omen will marry at an age of five-hundred.
There will be only four maladies.
"There will be a king, Sankha, Cakravartin, intelli-
gent and wise; his four bodies of troops will traverse the
universe; he will possess the seven jewels. He shall have
one thousand intrepid sons and shall govern all the ter-
ritory up to the sea, not by the sceptor or the sword but
by the Law .... He shall distribute alms, and .... finally
make himself a monk."
Ajita arises and declares to Buddha that he will
attain unto becoming the king; Buddha rebukes him, but
confirms his vow with a prophesy, and then prophesies
further:
"There will be a Buddha l\Iaitreya-Tathagata, with-
out obstructions, Sa:rp.yaksa:rp.buddha, etc..... the refuge
of the community of Buddha. He shall preach, shall
spread the brahmacarya; his assembly of will be
innumerable, like mine."
Then l\Iaitreya arises and declares that he will be
l\Iaitreya-Tathagata.
An analogous text is included in one of the tales of
the Damamukasfifra (tr. 445 A.D. Hien-yu king, K. 12; TT
IV, 9. 69b)-
APPENDIX 169
Anuruddha tells the Avadana: "Le Venere du
lUonde survient et propose de discourir sur Ie temps
future.-'Le territoire de ce Jambudvipa sera carre,! plat
et vaste, nivele; Ie sol donnera naissance a des herbres
tendres comme des vetements de deva. En ce temps, les
hommes vivront jusqu'a 80,000 ans; leurs corps sera long
de 80 pieds, droit et beau; ils seront d'un nature humain
et accomodant et pratiqueront les dix vertus." (For the
above quotations I am indebted to :M. Demieville's ex-
tremely useful "Comte rendu de Leumann, 1\Iaitreya-
samiti," in BEFEO XX, iv, 259.)
The statement that people are reborn in 1\Iaitreya's field
in more or less ideal conditions for enlightenment according
to their deeds in this world, is interesting for its bearing
on the development of the idea of the Buddha-field as a
heaven. Even though l\:laitreya's field is to be in this world,
it is in an ideal and paradisical condition, and statement of
the desire to be rebol'n there suggests that this ancient
may have had some relation to the paradise-
interpretation of the which becomes the pre-
dominating meaning of the field in Far Eastern Buddhism.
1 This curious item Occurs frequently in the scripture of the
Buddha-fields, which are said to be "bound into a checkerboard
or vinaddham): e.g. Lotus, p. 244,1.10 (tr. 233).
Cf. Ch. 16, 39 (tr. Oldenberg) when sixteen great
lines are drawn on the grOlmd in reverence for the Bo-branch.
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London.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 173
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The Background and Early Use of The Buddha Ksetra Concept

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Originally published in three installments.

1. The Background and Early Use of the Buddha-Ketra Concept.

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