asaṃkhya. (P. asaṅkhya; T. grangs med pa; C. asengqi; J. asōgi; K. asŭnggi 阿僧祇). In Sanskrit, literally, “incalculable” or “infinite”; often used with reference to “infinite” eons of time (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA).

asaṃkhyeyakalpa. (P. asaṅkheyyakappa; T. bskal pa grangs med pa; C. asengqi jie; J. asōgikō; K. asŭnggi kŏp 阿僧祇劫). In Sanskrit, “incalculable eon” or “infinite eon.” The longest of all KALPAs is named “incalculable” (ASAṂKHYA); despite its name, it has been calculated by dedicated Buddhist scholiasts as being the length of a mahākalpa (itself, eight intermediate kalpas in duration) to the sixtieth power. The BODHISATTVA path leading to buddhahood is presumed to take not one but three “incalculable eons” to complete, because the store of merit (PUṆYA), knowledge (JÑĀNA), and wholesome actions (KUŚALA-KARMAPATHA) that must be accumulated by a bodhisattva in the course of his training is infinitely massive. Especially in the East Asian traditions, this extraordinary period of time has been taken to mean that practice is essentially interminable, thus shifting attention from the goal to the process of practice. For example, the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA’s statement that “at the time of the initial arousal of the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA), complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAṂBODHI) is already achieved” has been interpreted in the East Asian HUAYAN ZONG to imply that enlightenment is in fact achieved at the very inception of religious training—a realization that renders possible a bodhisattva’s commitment to continue practicing for three infinite eons. In YOGĀCĀRA and MADHYAMAKA presentations of the path associated with the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA, the three incalcuable eons are not considered infinite, with the bodhisattva’s course divided accordingly into three parts. The first incalcuable eon is devoted to the paths of accumulation (SAMBHĀRAMĀRGA) and preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA); the second incalculable eon devoted to the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA) and the first seven bodhisattva stages (BHŪMI); and the third incalculable eon devoted to the eighth, ninth, and tenth stages.

asaṃprajanya. (P. asampajañña; T. shes bzhin med pa; C. buzhengzhi; J. fushōchi; K. pujŏngji 不正知). In Sanskrit, “without circumspection” or “without clear comprehension.” In Buddhist psychological analysis, when contact with sensory objects is made “without circumspection” (asaṃprajanya), then “attachment” (RĀGA), “greed” (LOBHA), “aversion” (DVEṢA), or “delusion” (MOHA) may result. The YOGĀCĀRA school lists asaṃprajanya in its hundred dharmas (C. BAIFA) list as the last of twenty secondary afflictions (UPAKLEŚA). Asaṃprajanya is the opposite of SAṂPRAJANYA (P. sampajañña), a term closely related to “mindfulness” (S. SMṚTI; P. sati), with which is it often used in compound as “mindfulness and clear comprehension.”

asaṃskṛta. (P. asaṅkhata; T. ’dus ma byas; C. wuwei; J. mui; K. muwi 無爲). In Sanskrit, “uncompounded” or “unconditioned”; a term used to describe the few factors (DHARMA), especially NIRVĀṆA and in some schools space (ĀKĀŚA), that are not conditioned (SAṂSKṚTA) and are thus not subject to the inevitable impermanence (ANITYA) that plagues all conditioned dharmas. See ASAṂSKṚTADHARMA.

asaṃskṛtadharma. (P. asaṅkhatadhamma; T. ’dus ma byas kyi chos; C. wuweifa; J. muihō; K. muwibŏp 無爲法). In Sanskrit, “uncompounded” or “unconditioned” “factors”; a term used to describe the few DHARMAs that are not conditioned (SAṂSKṚTA) and are therefore perduring phenomena (NITYADHARMA) that are not subject to impermanence (ANITYA). The lists differ in the various schools. The Pāli tradition’s list of eighty-two dharmas (P. dhamma) recognizes only one uncompounded dharma: NIRVĀṆA (P. nibbāna). The SARVĀSTIVĀDA school recognizes three out of seventy-five: space (ĀKĀŚA), and two varieties of nirvāṇa: “analytical” “suppression” or “cessation” (PRATISAṂKHYĀNIRODHA) and “nonanalytical suppression” (APRATISAṂKHYĀNIRODHA). YOGĀCĀRA recognizes six of its one hundred dharmas as uncompounded: the preceding three, plus “motionlessness” (āniñjya, [alt. aniñjya]), the “cessation of perception and sensation” (SAṂJÑĀVEDAYITANIRODHA), and “suchness” (TATHATĀ). Nirvāṇa is the one factor that all Buddhist schools accept as being uncompounded. It is the one dharma that exists without being the result of a cause (ahetuja), though it may be accessed through the three “gates to deliverance” (VIMOKṢAMUKHA). Because nirvāṇa neither produces nor is produced by anything else, it is utterly distinct from the conditioned realm that is subject to production and cessation; its achievement, therefore, means the end to the repeated cycle of rebirth (SAṂSĀRA). In several schools of Buddhism, including the Sarvāstivāda, nirvāṇa is subdivided into two complementary aspects: an “analytical cessation” (pratisaṃkhyānirodha) that corresponds to earlier notions of nirvāṇa and “nonanalytical suppression” (apratisaṃkhyānirodha), which ensures that the enlightened person will never again be subject to the vagaries of the conditioned world. “Analytical cessation” (pratisaṃkhyānirodha) occurs through the direct meditative insight into the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni) and the cognition of nonproduction (ANUTPĀDAJÑĀNA), which brings about the disjunction (visaṃyoga) from all unwholesome factors (AKUŚALADHARMA). “Nonanalytical suppression” (apratisaṃkhyānirodha) prevents the dharmas of the conditioned realm from ever appearing again for the enlightened person. In the VAIBHĀṢIKA interpretation, this dharma suppresses the conditions that would lead to the production of dharmas, thus ensuring that they remain forever positioned in future mode and unable ever again to arise in the present. Because this dharma is not a result of insight, it is called “nonanalytical.” Space (ākāśa) has two discrete denotations. First, space is an absence that delimits forms; like the empty space inside a door frame, ākāśa is a hole that is itself empty but that defines, or is defined by, the material that surrounds it. Second, as the vast emptiness of space, space comes also to be described as the absence of obstruction; in this sense, space also comes to be interpreted as something akin to the Western conception of ether, a virtually immaterial, but glowing fluid that serves as the support for the four material elements (MAHĀBHŪTA). Space is accepted as an uncompounded dharma in six of the mainstream Buddhist schools, including the SARVĀSTIVĀDA and the MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA, as well as the later YOGĀCĀRA; three others reject this interpretation, including the THERAVĀDA. The Yogācāra additions to this list essentially subsume the upper reaches of the immaterial realm (ārūpyāvacara) into the listing of uncompounded dharmas. Aniñjya, or motionlessness, is used even in the early Buddhist tradition to refer to actions that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome (see ANIÑJYAKARMAN), which lead to rebirth in the realm of subtle materiality or the immaterial realm and, by extension, to those realms themselves. The “cessation of perception and sensation” (saṃjñāvedayitanirodha) is the last of the eight liberations (VIMOKṢA; P. vimokkha) and the ninth and highest of the immaterial attainments (SAMĀPATTI). “Suchness” (TATHATĀ) is the ultimate reality (i.e., ŚŪNYATĀ) shared in common by a TATHĀGATA and all other afflicted (SAṂKLIṢṬA) and pure (VIŚUDDHI) dharmas; the “cessation of perception and sensation” (saṃjñāvedayitanirodha) is not only “a meditative trance wherein no perceptual activity remains,” but one where no feeling, whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, is experienced.

asaṃvāsa. (T. gnas par mi bya; C. bugongzhu; J. fugūjū; K. pulgongju 不共住). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “not in communion”; the lifelong punishment enjoined in the VINAYA on monks (and nuns) who have transgressed one of the major offenses that bring “defeat” (PĀRĀJIKA), such as the prohibition against engaging in sexual intercourse. The monk who is asaṃvāsa is not permitted to participate in any of the official monastic proceedings or ecclesiastical acts (KARMAN); thus he is effectively ostracized from the formal activities of the monastery. Although this term has sometimes been interpreted as “expulsion,” asaṃvāsa does not necessarily mean that the monk is banished from the monastery but simply that he is “no longer in communion” with the work, rules, and training of the monastic community as a whole. Indeed, there is evidence from virtually all recensions of the vinaya (except the Pāli recension of the THERAVĀDA school), that pārājika monks continued to live in the monastery even after their transgressions, in the special status of pārājika penitents (ŚIKṢĀDATTAKA).

āsana. (T. ’dug stangs; C. zuofa/zuo; J. zahō/za; K. chwabŏp/chwa 坐法/座). In Sanskrit, “posture”; commonly referring to the position of the legs and feet in representations of Buddhist images. Āsanas may be seated or standing, passive or active, and, in the context of esoteric imagery, they are usually prescribed in literary sources such as TANTRAs and SĀDHANAs. The term may also be used to refer to the physical support or seat for a Buddhist deity. See also ACALĀSANA; ĀLĪḌHA; ARDHAPARYAṄKA; BHADRĀSANA; LALITĀSANA; MAITREYĀSANA; NṚTYĀSANA; PADMĀSANA; PRALAMBAPĀDĀSANA; PRATYĀLĪḌHA; RĀJALĪLĀSANA; SATTVAPARYAṄKA; SATTVĀRDHAPARYAṄKA; VAJRAPARYAṄKA; VAJRĀSANA.

Asaṅga. (T. Thogs med; C. Wuzhao; J. Mujaku; K. Much’ak 無著) (c. 320–c. 390 CE). a.k.a. Ārya Asaṅga, Indian scholar who is considered to be a founder of the YOGĀCĀRA school of MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism. In the Tibetan tradition, he is counted as one of the “six ornaments of JAMBUDVĪPA” (’dzam gling rgyan drug), together with VASUBANDHU, NĀGĀRJUNA and ĀRYADEVA, and DIGNĀGA and DHARMAKĪRTI. Born into a brāhmaṇa family in Puruṣapura (modern-day Peshawar, Pakistan), Asaṅga originally studied under SARVĀSTIVĀDA (possibly MAHĪŚĀSAKA) teachers but converted to the Mahāyāna later in life. His younger brother was the important exegete Vasubandhu; it is said that he was converted to the Mahāyāna by Asaṅga. According to traditional accounts, Asaṅga spent twelve years in meditation retreat, after which he received a vision of the future buddha MAITREYA. He visited Maitreya’s abode in TUṢITA heaven, where the bodhisattva instructed him in Mahāyāna and especially Yogācāra doctrine. Some of these teachings were collected under the name Maitreyanātha, and the Buddhist tradition generally regards them as revealed by Asaṅga through the power of the future buddha. Some modern scholars, however, have posited the existence of a historical figure named MAITREYANĀTHA or simply Maitreya. Asaṅga is therefore associated with what are known as the “five treatises of Maitreyanātha” (the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA, the DHARMADHARMATĀVIBHĀGA, the MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGA, the MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRA, and the RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA). Asaṅga was a prolific author, composing commentaries on the SAṂDHINIRMOCANASŪTRA and the VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA. Among his independent treatises, three are particularly important. The ABHIDHARMASAMUCCAYA sets forth the categories of the ABHIDHARMA from a Yogācāra perspective. The MAHĀYĀNASAṂGRAHA is a detailed exposition of Yogācāra doctrine, setting forth such topics as the ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA and the TRISVABHĀVA as well as the constituents of the path. His largest work is the compendium entitled YOGĀCĀRABHŪMIŚĀSTRA. Two of its sections, the ŚRĀVAKABHŪMI and the BODHISATTVABHŪMI, circulated as independent works, with the former important for its exposition of the practice of DHYĀNA and the latter for its exposition of the bodhisattva’s practice of the six PĀRAMITĀ; the chapter on ŚĪLA is particularly influential. These texts have had a lasting and profound impact on the development of Buddhism, especially in India, Tibet, and East Asia. Among the great figures in the history of Indian Buddhism, Asaṅga is rare for the breadth of his interests and influence, making significant contributions to philosophy (as the founder of Yogācāra), playing a key role in TATHĀGATAGARBHA thought (through the Ratnagotravibhāga), and providing significant expositions of Buddhist practice (in the Yogācārabhūmi).

āsava. (S. āsrava). In Pāli, “contaminants” or “outflows”; mental contaminants that are eradicated upon attaining arahantship. They are: (1) the contaminant of sensuality (P. kāmāsava); (2) the contaminant of continuing existence (P. bhavāsava); and (3) the contaminant of ignorance (P. avijjāsava); to this list is sometimes added (4) the contaminant of views (P. diṭṭhāsava). See also ĀSAVAKKHAYA; and the more extensive discussion in ĀSRAVA s.v.

āsavakkhaya. (S. āsravakṣaya). In Pāli, “extinction of the contaminants” or “destruction of the outflows”; a supramundane (lokuttara) supernormal power (abhiññā) produced through the perfection of insight (VIPASSANĀ). It is equivalent to the attainment of “worthiness” (arahatta) or perfect sainthood. One who achieves this is a “worthy one” (arahant), attains in this life deliverance of mind (cetovimutti) and deliverance through wisdom (paññāvimutti), and at death passes into nibbāna never to be reborn. See ĀSRAVAKṢAYA.

asceticism. (S. duṣkaracaryā; P. dukkarakārikā; T. dka’ ba spyod pa; C. kuxing; J. kugyō; K. kohaeng 苦行). Derived from the Greek term askesis, “to exercise”; the performance of austerities, both mental and physical, for the purpose of attaining enlightenment (BODHI) and, in certain cases, special powers or knowledges (ABHIJÑĀ). The basic Buddhist attitude toward asceticism, as found in the narrative surrounding the life of the Buddha, has been a negative one, particularly with regard to those practices associated with physical torment, such as fasting. The Buddha himself is said to have once practiced asceticism with five fellow ascetics in the forest of URUVILVĀ, only to eventually abandon it for the middle way (MADHYAMAPRATIPAD) between sensual indulgence and mortification of the flesh. Ascetic practices nevertheless continued to be important in the various Buddhist traditions, as attested to by the life stories of the teachers MI LA RAS PA (Milarepa), BODHIDHARMA, and HAKUIN EKAKU to name but a few. See also DUṢKARACARYĀ; DHUTAṄGA; TAPAS.

asipattravana. (P. asipattavana; T. ral gri’i lo ma’i nags; C. jianye lin; J. ken’yōrin; K. kŏmyŏp rim 劍葉林). In Sanskrit, “forest with leaves of swords,” one of the neighboring hells (PRATYEKANARAKA) surrounding the eight hot hells, through which the denizens of the hells (NĀRAKA) must pass as they depart from those baleful realms. It is classified as part of the third of the four neighboring hells, called “razor road” (KṢURAMĀRGA). From a distance, the forest appears to be a forest of mango trees, and the denizens of hell approach in the hope of eating the mangoes. Upon arrival, they find that the leaves on the trees are swords and, as the denizens of hell pass through the forest, the leaves fall from the trees, lacerating their bodies.

Asita. (T. Mdog nag po; C. Asituo; J. Ashida; K. Asat’a 阿私陀). Sanskrit and Pāli name for an Indian brāhmaṇa who, according to Pāli sources, was chaplain to the BODHISATTVA’s grandfather Sīhahanu (S. Siṃhahanu) and teacher of the bodhisattva’s father Suddhodana (S. ŚUDDHODANA). After his retirement from the world, Asita developed various supranormal powers through his mastery of meditation and used them to sojourn in the realm of the divinities (DEVA). Once while staying in TRĀYASTRIṂŚA heaven, he learned that the future buddha SIDDHĀRTHA GAUTAMA had been born as the son of King Śuddhodana. Asita went to the palace to examine the infant and saw that the child was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a MAHĀPURUṢA, or great man. From these signs, he realized that Siddhārtha was destined to become a fully enlightened buddha. Despite his great joy, Asita was also dismayed to realize that, at his current age of ninety, he would not live long enough to witness this event. Instead, he would die and be reborn in the immaterial realm (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU), where he would not be able to hear the Buddha preach and could not be liberated by his salvific message. Asita urged his nephew Nālaka to renounce the world in anticipation of the future buddha’s enlightenment. The boy complied and later attained arhatship after reflecting on the sermon the Buddha delivered to him in the Nālakasutta.

Aśoka. (P. Asoka; T. Mya ngan med; C. Ayu wang; J. Aiku ō; K. Ayuk wang 阿育王) (c. 300–232 BCE; r. c. 268–232 BCE). Indian Mauryan emperor and celebrated patron of Buddhism; also known as Dharmāśoka. Son of Bindusāra and grandson of Candragupta, Aśoka was the third king of the Mauryan dynasty. Aśoka left numerous inscriptions recording his edicts and proclamations to the subjects of his realm. In these inscriptions, Aśoka is referred to as DEVĀNĀṂ PRIYAḤ, “beloved of the gods.” These inscriptions comprise one of the earliest bodies of writing as yet deciphered from the Indian subcontinent. His edicts have been found inscribed on boulders, on stone pillars, and in caves and are widely distributed from northern Pakistan in the west, across the Gangetic plain to Bengal in the east, to near Chennai in South India. The inscriptions are ethical and religious in content, with some describing how Aśoka turned to the DHARMA after subjugating the territory of Kaliṅga (in the coastal region of modern Andhra Pradesh) in a bloody war. In his own words, Aśoka states that the bloodshed of that campaign caused him remorse and taught him that rule by dharma, or righteousness, is superior to rule by mere force of arms. While the Buddha, dharma, and SAṂGHA are extolled and Buddhist texts are mentioned in the edicts, the dharma that Aśoka promulgated was neither sectarian nor even specifically Buddhist, but a general code of administrative, public, and private ethics suitable for a multireligious and multiethnic polity. It is clear that Aśoka saw this code of ethics as a diplomatic tool as well, in that he dispatched embassies to neighboring states in an effort to establish dharma as the basis for international relations. The edicts were not translated until the nineteenth century, however, and therefore played little role in the Buddhist view of Aśoka, which derives instead from a variety of legends told about the emperor. The legend of Aśoka is recounted in the Sanskrit DIVYĀVADĀNA, in the Pāli chronicles of Sri Lanka, DĪPAVAṂSA and MAHĀVAṂSA, and in the Pāli commentaries, particularly the SAMANTAPĀSĀDIKĀ. Particularly in Pāli materials, Aśoka is portrayed as a staunch sectarian and exclusive patron of the Pāli tradition. The inscriptional evidence, as noted above, does not support that claim. In the Mahāvaṃsa, for example, Aśoka is said to have been converted to THERAVĀDA Buddhism by the novice NIGRODHA, after which he purifies the Buddhist SAṂGHA by purging it of non-Theravāda heretics. He then sponsors the convention of the third Buddhist council (SAṂGĪTĪ; see COUNCIL, THIRD) under the presidency of MOGGALIPUTTATISSA, an entirely Theravāda affair. Recalling perhaps the historical Aśoka’s diplomatic missions, the legend recounts how, after the council, Moggaliputtatissa dispatched Theravāda missions, comprised of monks, to nine adjacent lands for the purpose of propagating the religion, including Aśoka’s son (MAHINDA) and daughter (SAṄGHAMITTĀ) to Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, where the legend appears to have originated, and in the Theravāda countries of Southeast Asia, the Pāli account of King Aśoka was adopted as one of the main paradigms of Buddhist kingship and models of ideal governance and proper saṃgha-state relations. A different set of legends, which do not recount the conversion of Sri Lanka, appears in Sanskrit sources, most notably, the AŚOKĀVADĀNA.

Aśokan pillars. Stone pillars erected or embellished during the reign of King AŚOKA, many of which bear royal edicts attesting to the king’s support of the “dharma” and putatively of Buddhism. Although later Buddhist records mention more than forty such pillars, less than half of these have been identified. At least some pillars predate Aśoka’s ascendance, but most were erected by the king to commemorate his pilgrimage to sacred Buddhist sites or as Buddhist memorials. One representative example, located at Lauriyā Nandangaṛh, stands nearly forty feet tall and extends over ten feet below the ground. The heaviest may weigh up to 75,000 pounds. The pillar edicts form some of the earliest extant written records in the Indian subcontinent and typically avoid mentioning Buddhist philosophy, offering instead general support of dharma, or righteousness, and in some cases of the Buddhist SAṂGHA. At one time, the pillars supported stone capitals in the form of animals such as the bull. One Aśokan innovation was the use of lion capitals, the most famous being a lotus vase supporting a drum of four wheels and other animals, topped with four lions and a wheel (now missing). The use of lion symbolism may have been a direct reference to the ŚĀKYA clan of the Buddha, which took the lion (siṃha) as its emblem.

Aśokāvadāna. (T. Ku ṇā la’i rtogs pa brjod pa; C. Ayu wang zhuan; J. Aiku ō den; K. Ayuk wang chŏn 阿育王傳). In Sanskrit, “The Story of Aśoka,” a text belonging to the category of “edifying tales” (AVADĀNA), which narrates the major events in the life of King AŚOKA of the Indian Mauryan dynasty. The work focuses primarily on Aśoka’s conversion to Buddhism, his subsequent support of the DHARMA and monastic community (SAṂGHA), his visits to the major sites of the Buddha’s life (MAHĀSTHĀNA), and his construction of STŪPAs. It also records the transmission of the Buddhist teachings by five early teachers: MAHĀKĀŚYAPA, ĀNANDA, MADHYĀNTIKA, ŚĀṆAKAVĀSIN, and UPAGUPTA. The Aśokāvadāna relates that, in a previous life, Aśoka (then a small boy named Jaya) placed a handful of dirt in the Buddha’s begging bowl (PĀTRA). The Buddha predicted that one hundred years after his passage into nirvāṇa, the child would become a DHARMARĀJA and CAKRAVARTIN named Aśoka. As emperor, Aśoka becomes a devout Buddhist and righteous king, renowned for collecting the relics (ŚARĪRA) of the Buddha from eight (or in one version, seven of eight) stūpas and redistributing them in 84,000 stūpas across his realm. Parts of the Sanskrit text have been preserved in the DIVYĀVADĀNA, and the entire work is extant in Chinese. Only the Kunāla chapter of the Aśokāvadāna was rendered into Tibetan, in the eleventh century, by Padmākaravarman and RIN CHEN BZANG PO.

āśraddhya. [alt. aśrāddhya] (P. asaddhā/asaddhiya; T. ma dad pa; C. buxin; J. fushin; K. pulsin 不信). In Sanskrit, “lack of faith,” “disbelief.” In the roster of seventy-five factors (DHARMA) in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school of ABHIDHARMA, āśraddhya is listed as the fourth of the six major afflicted factors of wide extent (KLEŚAMAHĀBHŪMIKA) that are associated with all defiled thoughts and afflictions (KLEŚA), together with delusion (MOHA), heedlessness (PRAMĀDA), indolence (KAUSĪDYA), sloth (STYĀNA), and restlessness (AUDDHATYA). The YOGĀCĀRA school lists it in its roster of a hundred dharmas (C. BAIFA) as the thirteenth of the twenty secondary afflictions (UPAKLEŚA). Āśraddhya refers to the inability of a person to generate the tacit belief or confidence in a teacher and the doctrines that is necessary to undertake practice in earnest; it has a stronger affective dimension than the intellectual skepticism of the related term doubt (VICIKITSĀ).

āsrava. (P. ĀSAVA; T. zag pa; C. lou; J. ro; K. nu 漏). In Sanskrit, “contaminants,” “outflows,” or “fluxes”; mental contaminants that are eradicated upon attaining the status of a “worthy one” (ARHAT); also written as āśrava. They are (1) the contaminant of sensuality (kāmāsrava; KĀMA); (2) the contaminant of continuing existence (bhavāsrava; BHAVA); and (3) the contaminant of ignorance (avidyāsrava; AVIDYĀ); to this list is often added (4) the contaminant of views (dṛṣṭyāsrava; DṚṢṬI). Since the āsravas bind or immerse one in the cycle of existence, they are also sometimes called the “floods” (OGHA) and the “yokes” (yoga). The term āsrava is used in both Buddhism and Jainism, suggesting that it is one of the earliest such terms for the mental contaminants used within the tradition. (In the Buddhist interpretation, an āsrava is more of an “outflow,” because the contaminants flow out from the mind and affect the ways in which one interacts with the external world; indeed, the Chinese translation of the term means literally to “leak.” In the JAINA tradition, an āsrava is more of an “inflow,” because the contaminants flow into the body, where they adhere to the ĀTMAN, thus defiling it.) The term is a synonym of the KLEŚAs (afflictions, defilements), since objects (such as the five SKANDHAs) that can serve as objects of defilement are “contaminated” (sāsrava). The contaminants are permanently overcome through insight into such fundamental Buddhist truths as the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, conditioned origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA), or the three marks of existence (TRILAKṢAṆA). Because the ARHAT has permanently uprooted the contaminants from the mind, he or she receives the epithet KṢĪṆĀSRAVA (“one whose contaminants are extinguished”). See also ĀSAVA, ANĀSRAVA, ĀSRAVAKṢAYA.

āsravakṣaya. (P. āsavakkhaya; T. zag pa zad pa; C. loujin[zhi]; J. rojin[chi]; K. nujin[ji] 漏盡[智]). In Sanskrit, “extinction of the contaminants”; a supranormal power (ABHIJÑĀ) produced through the perfection of insight (VIPAŚYANĀ), and one of the three knowledges (TRIVIDYĀ) that are the products of enlightenment (BODHI). One who achieves this state is a “worthy one” (ARHAT) and at death passes into NIRVĀṆA, never to be reborn. See also ANĀSRAVA; ĀSRAVA.

āśraya. (T. gnas; C. suoyi; J. sho’e; K. soŭi 所依). In Sanskrit, lit. “basis.” In the SAUTRĀNTIKA school, the term is used idiosyncratically to refer to the “substratum” of existence. This substratum is the psychophysical entity that was presumed to exist independently from the momentary flow of the conscious continuum (SAṂTĀNA) and thus to provide the physical support for thought (CITTA) and the mental concomitants (CAITTA). This Sautrāntika teaching was critiqued by other Buddhist schools as skirting dangerously close to the proscribed notion of a perduring self (ĀTMAN). The term is also adopted subsequently in the YOGĀCĀRA school to refer to the “transformation of the basis” (ĀŚRAYAPARĀVṚTTI) of the mind, the path, and the proclivities, which transforms an ordinary person (PṚTHAGJANA) into a noble one (ĀRYA).

āśrayaparāvṛtti. [alt. āśrayaparivṛtti] (T. gnas yongs su ’gyur pa; C. zhuanyi; J. ten’e; K. chŏnŭi 轉依). In Sanskrit, “transformation of the basis” or “fundamental transmutation”; the transmutation of the defiled state in which one has not abandoned the afflictions (KLEŚA) into a purified state in which the kleśas have been abandoned. This transmutation thus transforms an ordinary person (PṚTHAGJANA) into a noble one (ĀRYA). In the YOGĀCĀRA school’s interpretation, by understanding (1) the emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) of the imagined reality (PARIKALPITA) that ordinary people mistakenly ascribe to the sensory images they experience (viz., “unreal imaginings,” or ABHŪTAPARIKALPA) and (2) the conditioned origination of things through the interdependent aspect of cognition (PARATANTRA), the basis will be transformed into the perfected (PARNIṢPANNA) nature, and enlightenment realized. STHIRAMATI posits three aspects to this transformation: transformation of the basis of the mind (cittāśrayaparāvṛtti), transformation of the basis of the path (mārgāśrayaparāvṛtti), and transformation of the basis of the proclivities (dauṣṭhulyāśrayaparāvṛtti). “Transformation of the basis of mind” transmutes the imaginary into the perfected through the awareness of emptiness. Insight into the perfected in turn empties the path of any sense of sequential progression, thus transmuting the mundane path (LAUKIKAMĀRGA) with its multiple steps into a supramundane path (lokottaramārga, cf. LOKUTTARAMAGGA) that has no fixed locus; this is the “transformation of the basis of the path.” Finally, “transformation of the basis of the proclivities” eradicates the seeds (BĪJA) of action (KARMAN) that are stored in the storehouse consciousness (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA), liberating the bodhisattva from the effects of any past unwholesome actions and freeing him to project compassion liberally throughout the world.

Aṣṭabhayatrāṇa-Tārā. (S). See TĀRĀ.

aṣṭaduḥkha. (T. sdug bsngal brgyad; C. baku; J. hakku; K. p’algo 八苦). In Sanskrit, “eight types of suffering” (DUḤKHA), sometimes specificed as the eight sufferings of humans. The eight are the suffering associated with (1) birth (jātiduḥkha), (2) aging (jarāduḥkha), (3) sickness (vyādhiduḥkha), and (4) death (maraṇaduḥkha); (5) “the suffering of being separated from persons and things one likes” (priyaviprayogaduḥkha); (6) “the suffering of being associated with persons and things one dislikes” (apriyasaṃprayogaduḥkha); (7) “the suffering of not getting what one wants” (yad api icchayā paryeṣamāṇo na labhate tad api duḥkham); and (8) “the suffering inherent in the five aggregates” (saṃkṣepeṇa pañcopādānaskandhaduḥkham); the eighth appears in some lists as “the suffering of getting what one does not want.” See discussion in DUḤKHA entry.

aṣṭakṣaṇa. (T. dal ba brgyad). In Sanskrit, lit. “eight moments,” i.e., eight qualities of an opportune [human] rebirth (these are defined in Tibetan as “eight freedoms”). The eight are freedom from (1) birth as one of the hell denizens (NĀRAKA); (2) birth as an animal (TIRYAK), (3) birth as a ghost (PRETA), or (4) birth as a long-lived divinity (DEVA); (5) birth in a border land or barbarian region; (6) birth in a place with perverted or heretical views; (7) birth as a stupid person who is unable to understand the teachings; and (8) birth at a time when or a place where no buddhas have arisen. In Tibetan LAM RIM literature, one is instructed to contemplate the rarity of such an opportune birth in order to take full advantage of it by practicing the path. See KṢAṆA.

aṣṭalokadharma. (T. ’jig rten gyi chos brgyad). In Sanskrit, “eight mundane dharmas” or “eight worldly concerns”; the preoccupation with gain (lābha) and loss (alābha), pleasure (SUKHA) and pain (DUḤKHA), praise (praśaṃsā) and blame (nindā), and fame (yaśas) and disgrace (ayaśas). This list encapsulates the concerns of foolish (BĀLA) ordinary persons (PṚTHAGJANA) who in each case desire to attain the first and avoid the second, unlike those who practice asceticism (DHUTAṄGA), understand impermanence (ANITYA), and are motivated to attain both a better rebirth and the state of NIRVĀṆA and BODHI.

aṣṭamahābodhisattva. In Sanskrit, “eight great BODHISATTVAs.” See AṢṬAMAHOPAPUTRA.

aṣṭamahāśmaśāna. (T. dur khrod chen po brgyad). In Sanskrit, “eight great charnel grounds.” See ŚMAŚĀNA.

aṣṭamahopaputra. (T. nye ba’i sras chen brgyad; C. ba da pusa; J. hachidai bosatsu; K. p’al tae posal 八大菩薩). In Sanskrit, the “eight great associated sons”; a group of eight bodhisattvas also known as the AṢṬAMAHĀBODHISATTVA or “eight great bodhisattvas”; they are KṢITIGARBHA, ĀKĀŚAGARBHA, AVALOKITEŚVARA, VAJRAPĀṆI, MAITREYA, SARVANĪVARAṆAVIṢKAMBHIN, SAMANTABHADRA, and MAÑJUŚRĪ. Textual evidence for the grouping is found as early as the third century, the date of ZHI QIAN’s Chinese translation of the Aṣṭabuddhakasūtra (Fo shuo ba jixiangshen zhoujing). In earlier representations, they flank either ŚĀKYAMUNI or AMITĀBHA. Their roles are laid out in the Aṣṭamaṇḍalakasūtra, where the aims of their worship are essentially mundane—absolution from transgressions, fulfillment of desires, and protection from ills. The grouping is known throughout Asia, from northern India, where they first appeared in ELLORĀ, Ratnagiri, and NĀLANDĀ, and from there as far east as Japan and Indonesia—indeed, virtually anywhere MAHĀYĀNA and tantric Buddhism flourished. They figure as a group in TANTRAs of various classes, where their number of arms corresponds to the main deity of the MAṆḌALA and their colors correspond to the direction in which they are placed. In the maṇḍala of the GUHYASAMĀJATANTRA, they flank the central figure AKṢOBHYA, who appears in the form of Vajradhṛk and his consort Sparśavajrā. When each has a consort, the females are called the aṣṭapūjādevī (“eight offering goddesses”). There are four in the Guhyasamājatantra maṇḍala: Rūpavajrā, Śabdavajrā, Gandhavajrā, and Rasavajrā. In the vajradhātu mahāmaṇḍala, the group of bodhisattvas is expanded to sixteen.

aṣṭamaṅgala. (T. bkra shis rtags brgyad; C. ba jixiang; J. hachikichijō; K. p’al kilsang 八吉祥). In Sanskrit, “eight auspicious symbols”; eight Indian emblems of good fortune, which became especially popular in Nepal and Tibet but are also known in China. The eight include the lotus (PADMA), the endless knot (śrīvatsa, T. dpal be’u), the pair of golden fish (suvarṇamatsya, T. gser nya), the parasol (chattra, T. gdugs), the victory banner (ketu, T. rgyal mtshan), the treasure vase (dhanakumbha, T. gter gyi bum pa), the white conch shell (śaṅkha, T. dung dkar), and the wheel (CAKRA, T. ’khor lo). VAJRAYĀNA Buddhism deified the symbols as eight goddesses, the aṣṭamaṅgaladevī, who each carry one of these emblems as their attribute. Chinese Buddhism regards the symbols as representing eight organs of the Buddha’s body, and in one Tibetan tradition the eight are collectively identified as forming the body of the Buddha. Designs of these symbols are found throughout both sacred and secular artwork and commonly adorn furniture, murals, carpets, and brocade hangings. In Tibetan communities, the eight symbols are traditionally drawn on the ground out of sprinkled flour or powder as a greeting to visiting religious teachers.

aṣṭamāyopamā. (T. sgyu ma’i dpe brgyad; C. ruhuan yu; J. nyogen no yu; K. yŏhwan yu 如幻喩). In Sanskrit, “eight similes of illusion”; teaching that all dharmas lack an inherent nature (NIḤSVABHĀVA). In the PAÑCAVIṂŚATSĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA, these are listed as a dream (svapna); an illusion (MĀYĀ); a mirage (marīci); an echo (pratiśabda); an optical illusion (pratibhāsa); a reflection (pratibimba), such as of the moon reflected in water (udakacandra); a city of the GANDHARVAs (GANDHARVANAGARA); and a tathāgata’s magical creation (tathāgatanirmita). Other famous metaphors or similes for the insubstantiality of the five aggregates (SKANDHA) include the five in the Pheṇapiṇḍūpamasutta of the SAṂYUTTANIKĀYA, which compare form to a lump of foam (P. pheṇapiṇḍa), feeling to a water bubble (P. bubbuḷaka), perception to a mirage (P. marīcikā), conditioned formations to the trunk of a plantain tree (P. kadalikkhandha), and consciousness to a conjurer (māyākāra). See also LIUYU (“six similes”).

aṣṭāṅgasamanvāgataṃ upavāsaṃ. (P. aṭṭhaṅgasamannāgataṃ uposathaṃ; T. yan lag brgyad pa’i gso sbyong; C. bazhaijie; J. hassaikai; K. p’alchaegye 八齋戒). In Sanskrit, the “fortnightly assembly with its eight constituents,” more popularly known as the eight rules of conduct (ŚIKṢĀPADA; P. sikkhāpada). On the fortnightly UPOṢADHA days, Buddhist laity would take three additional precepts beyond their standard list of five precepts (PAÑCAŚĪLA) to help foster a sense of renunciation. The full list of eight includes prohibitions against (1) killing, (2) stealing, (3) engaging in sexual misconduct, (4) lying, and (5) consuming intoxicants; these are supplemented by these three extra precepts prohibiting (6) resting on a high or luxurious bed, (7) using makeup and perfumes and enjoying music and dance, and (8) eating at improper times (viz., after midday). See also BAGUAN ZHAI; ŚĪLA.

aṣṭāṅgikamārga. In Sanskrit, “eightfold path.” See ĀRYĀṢṬĀṄGAMĀRGA.

aṣṭānta. (T. mtha’ brgyad; C. babu; J. happu; K. p’albul 八不). In Sanskrit, “eight extremes,” an important term in the MADHYAMAKA school, referring to eight qualities of which all phenomena are said to be empty (see ŚŪNYATĀ). The eight (in four pairs) are cessation and production, annihilation and permanence, coming and going, and difference and sameness. The locus classicus for the list is the opening passage of NĀGĀRJUNA’s MŪLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ, which reads, “Homage to the perfect Buddha, best of teachers, who taught that what is dependently arisen has no cessation and no production, no annihilation and no permanence, no coming and no going, no difference and no sameness, is free of elaborations and is at peace.” See also BABU.

aṣṭāryapudgala. (P. aṭṭhāriyapuggala; T. ’phags pa’i gang zag brgyad/gang zag ya brgyad; C. badaren; J. hachidainin; K. p’altaein 八大人). In Sanskrit, “eight noble persons”; referring to those who have achieved the four right paths and four fruitions of sanctity. See ĀRYAPUDGALA.

Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāvyākhyābhisamayālaṃkārālokā. (T. Brgyad stong ’grel chen/Rgyan snang). In Sanskrit, “Light for the Ornament of Clear Realizations, a Commentary on the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines,” by the Indian scholiast HARIBHADRA. See ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRĀLOKĀVYĀKHYĀ.

Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā. (T. Sher phyin brgyad stong pa; C. Xiaopin bore jing; J. Shōbon hannyakyō; K. Sop’um panya kyŏng 小品般若經). In Sanskrit, “Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines.” This scripture is now generally accepted to be the earliest of the many PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ sūtras and thus probably one of the very earliest of the MAHĀYĀNA scriptures. The Aṣṭa, as it is often referred to in the literature, seems to have gradually developed over a period of about two hundred years, from the first century BCE to the first century CE. Some of its earliest recensions translated into Chinese during the Han dynasty do not yet display the full panoply of self-referentially Mahāyāna terminology that characterize the more elaborate recensions translated later, suggesting that Mahāyāna doctrine was still under development during the early centuries of the Common Era. The provenance of the text is obscure, but the consensus view is that it was probably written in central or southern India. The Aṣṭa, together with its verse summary, the RATNAGUṆASAṂCAYAGĀTHĀ, probably represents the earliest stratum of the prajñāpāramitā literature; scholars believe that this core scripture was subsequently expanded between the second and fourth centuries CE into other massive Prajñāpāramitā scriptures in as many as 100,000 lines (the ŚATASĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ). By about 500 CE, the Aṣṭa’s basic ideas had been abbreviated into shorter condensed statements, such as the widely read, 300-verse VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ (“Diamond Sūtra”). (Some scholars have suggested instead that the “Diamond Sūtra” may in fact represent one of the earliest strata of the prajñāpāramitā literature.) The Mahāyāna tradition’s view of its own history, however, is that the longest of the prajñāpāramitā scriptures, the 100,000-line Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā, is the core text from which all the other perfection of wisdom sūtras were subsequently excerpted. The main interlocutor of the Aṣṭa, as in most of the prajñāpāramitā scriptures, is SUBHŪTI, an ARHAT foremost among the Buddha’s disciples in dwelling at peace in remote places, rather than ŚĀRIPUTRA, who much more commonly appears in this role in the mainstream Buddhist scriptures (see ĀGAMA; NIKĀYA). The prominent role accorded to Subhūti suggests that the prajñāpāramitā literature may derive from forest-dwelling (āraṇyaka) ascetic traditions distinct from the dominant, urban-based monastic elite. The main goal of the Aṣṭa and other prajñāpāramitā scriptures is rigorously to apply the foundational Buddhist notion of nonself (ANĀTMAN) to the investigation of all phenomena—from the usual compounded things (SAṂSKĀRA) and conditioned factors (SAṂSKṚTADHARMA), but even to such quintessentially Buddhist summa bona as the fruits of sanctity (ĀRYAMĀRGAPHALA) and NIRVĀṆA. The constant refrain of the Aṣṭa is that there is nothing that can be grasped or to which one should cling, not PRAJÑĀ, not PĀRAMITĀ, not BODHISATTVA, and not BODHI. Even the six perfections (ṢAḌPĀRAMITĀ) of the bodhisattva are subjected to this same refutation: for example, only when the bodhisattva realizes that there is no giver, no recipient, and no gift will he have mastered the perfection of giving (DĀNAPĀRAMITĀ). Such radical nonattachment even to the central concepts of Buddhism itself helps to foster a thoroughgoing awareness of the emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) of all things and thus the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). Even if the Aṣṭa’s area of origin was in the south of India, the prajñāpāramitā scriptures seem initially to have found their best reception in the northwest of India during the KUSHAN dynasty (c. first century CE), whence they would have had relatively easy entrée into Central Asia and then East Asia. This geographic proximity perhaps accounts for the early acceptance the Aṣṭa and the rest of the prajñāpāramitā literature received on the Chinese mainland, helping to make China the first predominantly Mahāyāna tradition.

*aṣṭasenā. (T. lha srin sde brgyad; C. tianlong babu; J. tenryū hachibu; K. ch’ŏnnyong p’albu 天龍八部). Sanskrit term for a grouping of eight nonhuman beings associated with the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU); they are often listed as being in attendance when the Buddha speaks the MAHĀYĀNA sūtras. There are various lists, but a standard grouping includes divinities (DEVA), dragons (NĀGA), demons (YAKṢA), demigods or titans (ASURA), demigod musicians (GANDHARVA), mythical birds (GARUḌA), half-horse/half-men (KIṂNARA), and great snakes (MAHORĀGA).

aṣṭavimokṣa. (P. aṭṭhavimokkha; T. rnam par thar pa brgyad; C. ba jietuo; J. hachigedatsu; K. p’al haet’al 八解脱). In Sanskrit, “eight liberations”; referring to a systematic meditation practice for cultivating detachment and ultimately liberation (VIMOKṢA). There are eight stages in the attenuation of consciousness that accompany the cultivation of increasingly deeper states of meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). In the first four dhyānas of the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPĀVACARADHYĀNA), the first three stages entail (1) the perception of materiality (RŪPA) in that plane of subtle materiality (S. rūpasaṃjñin, P. rūpasaññī), (2) the perception of external forms while not perceiving one’s own form (S. arūpasaṃjñin, P. arūpasaññī), and (3) the developing of confidence through contemplating the beautiful (S. Śubha, P. subha). The next five stages transcend the realm of subtle materiality to take in the four immaterial dhyānas (ĀRŪPYĀVACARADHYĀNA) and beyond: (4) passing beyond the material plane with the idea of “limitless space,” one attains the plane of limitless space (ĀKĀŚĀNANTYĀYATANA); (5) passing beyond the plane of limitless space with the idea of “limitless consciousness,” one attains the plane of limitless consciousness (VIJÑĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA); (6) passing beyond the plane of limitless consciousness with the idea that “there is nothing,” one attains the plane of nothingness (ĀKIÑCANYĀYATANA); (7) passing beyond the plane of nothingness, one attains the plane of neither perception nor nonperception (NAIVASAṂJÑĀNĀSAṂJÑĀYATANA); and (8) passing beyond the plane of neither perception nor nonperception, one attains the cessation of all perception and sensation (SAṂJÑĀVEDAYITANIRODHA). ¶ The ABHIDHARMASAMUCCAYA and YOGĀCĀRABHŪMIŚĀSTRA give an explanation of the first three of the eight vimokṣas within the larger context of bodhisattvas who compassionately manifest shapes, smells, and so on for the purpose of training others. Bodhisattvas who have reached any of the nine levels (the RŪPADHĀTU, the four subtle-materiality DHYĀNAs, and four immaterial attainments) engage in this type of practice. In the first vimokṣa, they destroy “form outside,” i.e., those in the rūpadhātu who have not destroyed attachment to forms (to their own color, shape, smell, and so on) cultivate detachment to the forms they see outside. (Other bodhisattvas who have reached the first dhyāna and so on do this by relaxing their detachment for the duration of the meditation.) In the second vimokṣa, they destroy the “form inside,” i.e., they cultivate detachment to their own color and shape. (Again, others who have reached the immaterial attainments and have no attachment to their own form relax that detachment for the duration of the meditation.) In the third, they gain control over what they want to believe about forms by meditating on the relative nature of beauty, ugliness, and size. They destroy grasping at anything as having an absolute pleasant or unpleasant identity, and perceive them all as having the same taste as pleasant, or however else they want them to be. These texts finally give an explanation of the remaining five vimokṣas, “to loosen the rope of craving for the taste of the immaterial levels.”

aśubhabhāvanā. (P. asubhabhāvanā; T. mi sdug pa bsgom pa; C. bujing guan; J. fujōkan; K. pujŏng kwan 不淨觀). In Sanskrit, the “contemplation on the impure” or “foul”; a set of traditional topics of meditation (see KAMMAṬṬHĀNA) that were intended to counter the affliction of lust (RĀGA), develop mindfulness (SMṚTI; P. SATI) regarding the body, and lead to full mental absorption (DHYĀNA). In this form of meditation, “impure” or “foul” is most often used to refer either to a standardized list of thirty-one or thirty-two foul parts of the body or to the various stages in the decay of a corpse. In the case of the latter, for example, the meditator is to observe nine or ten specific types of putrefaction, described in gruesome detail in the Buddhist commentarial literature: mottled discoloration of the corpse (vinīlakasaṃjñā), discharges of pus (vipūyakasaṃjñā), decaying of rotten flesh (vipaḍumakasaṃjñā), bloating and tumefaction (vyādhmātakasaṃjñā), the exuding of blood and the overflow of body fluids (vilohitakasaṃjñā), infestation of worms and maggots (vikhāditakasaṃjñā), the dissolution of flesh and exposure of bones and sinews (vikṣiptakasaṃjñā), the cremated remains (vidagdhakasaṃjñā), and the dispersed skeletal parts (asthisaṃjñā). The Kāyagatāsatisutta of the MAJJIHIMANIKĀYA includes the contemplation of the impure within a larger explanation of the contemplation of one’s body with mindfulness (KĀYĀNUPAŚYANĀ; see also SMṚTYUPASTHĀNA); before the stages in the decay of the corpse, it gives the standardized list of thirty-one (sometimes thirty-two) foul parts of the body: the head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, and urine. These parts are chosen specifically because they will be easily visualized, and may have been intended to be the foul opposites of the thirty-two salutary marks of the great man (MAHĀPURUṢALAKṢAṆA). The Chinese tradition also uses a contemplation of seven kinds of foulness regarding the human body in order to counter lust and to facilitate detachment. (1) “Foulness in their seeds” (C. zhongzi bujing): human bodies derive from seminal ejaculate and, according to ancient medicine, mother’s blood. (2) “Foulness in their conception” (C. shousheng bujing): human bodies are conceived through sexual intercourse. (3) “Foulness in their [gestational] residence” (C. zhuchu bujing): human bodies are conceived and nurtured inside the mother’s womb. (4) “Foulness in their nutriments” (C. shidan bujing): human bodies in the prenatal stage live off and “feed on” the mother’s blood. (5) “Foulness in their delivery” (C. chusheng bujing): it is amid the mess of delivery, with the discharge of placenta and placental water, that human bodies are born. (6) “Foulness in their entirety” (C. jüti bujing): human bodies are innately impure, comprising of innards, excrement, and other foul things underneath a flimsy skin. (7) “Foulness in their destiny” (C. jiujing bujing): human bodies are destined to die, followed by putrid infestation, decomposition, and utter dissolution. There is also a contemplation on the nine bodily orifices (C. QIAO), which are vividly described as constantly oozing pus, blood, secretions, etc. ¶ As contemplation on foulness deepens, first an eidetic image (S. udgrahanimitta, P. UGGAHANIMITTA), a perfect mental reproduction of the visualized corpse, is maintained steadily in mind; this is ultimately followed by the appearance of the representational image (S. pratibhāganimitta, P. PAṬIBHĀGANIMITTA), which the VISUDDHIMAGGA (VI.66) describes as a perfectly idealized image of, for example, a bloated corpse as “a man with big limbs lying down after eating his fill.” Continued concentration on this representational image will enable the meditator to access up to the fourth stage of the subtle-materiality dhyānas (ĀRŪPYĀVACARADHYĀNA). After perfecting dhyāna, this meditation may also be used to develop wisdom (PRAJÑĀ) through developing increased awareness of the reality of impermanence (ANITYA). Foulness meditation is ritually included as part of the THERAVĀDA ordination procedure, during which monks are taught the list of the first five of the thirty-two foul parts of the body (viz., head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and skin) in order to help them ward off lust.

Asuka. (飛鳥). Japan’s first historical epoch, named after a region in the plains south of modern NARA. Until the eighth century (710) when the capital was moved to Nara, a new palace, and virtually a new capital, was built every time a new ruler succeeded to the throne. One of the earliest capitals was located in the region of Asuka. The Asuka period is characterized by the rise of powerful aristocratic clans such as the Soga and Mononobe and attempts such as the Taika reform (646) to counteract the rise of these clans and to strengthen the authority of the emperor. According to the NIHON SHOKI (“Historical Records of Japan”), the inception of Buddhism occurred in the Japanese isles during this period, when Emperor Kimmei (r. 532–571) received an image of the Buddha from the King Sŏngmyŏng of the Korean kingdom of Paekche in 552 (var. 538). Buddhism became the central religion of the Asuka court with the support of such famous figures as Prince SHŌTOKU, Empress Suiko (r. 593–628), and Empress Jitō (r. 686–697). After the establishment of the grand monastery ASUKADERA by the descendants of a Korean clan, other temples modeled after early Chinese monastery campuses, such as HŌRYŪJI, were also constructed during this period. These temples enshrined the magnificent sculptures executed by Tori Busshi.

Asukadera. (飛鳥寺) In Japanese, “Asuka Temple”; also known as Hōkōji (“Monastery of the Flourishing Dharma”), the Asukadera was built during the ASUKA period on a site known as the Amakashi no Oka by the Asuka River near Nara, Japan. Shortly after the death of Emperor Yōmei in 587, the powerful vassals Mononobe no Moriya (d. 587), who represented the indigenous ritual specialists, and Soga no Umako (551?–626), a supporter of Buddhism who came from the Korean peninsula, found themselves caught in battle over imperial succession. In celebration of the Soga clan’s victory over the Mononobe and the death of Moriya, the Soga commenced the construction of the first complete monastic compound in Japan, which they named Hōkōji in 588. Hōkōji was completed nine years later in 596 and for more than a century served as the central monastic complex of the Yamato court. The large monastic compound contained a central hall or KONDŌ and a central pagoda flanked by two other halls. A large lecture hall flanked by a belfry and SŪTRA repository was located behind the main monastic complex. According to the NIHON SHOKI (“Historical Records of Japan”), Empress Suiko commissioned two sixteen-feet gilt-bronze icons of the Buddha to be made by Tori Busshi for installment in Hōkōji. When the capital was moved from Fujiwarakyō to Heijōkyō (modern-day Nara) in 710, the major monasteries including Hōkōji were moved as well. Hōkōji, otherwise known as Asukadera, was subsequently renamed Gangōji.

asura. (T. lha ma yin; C. axiuluo; J. ashura; K. asura 阿修羅). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit., “nongods,” also translated rather arcanely as “demigod” and “titan,” referring to both a class of divinities and the destiny where those beings reside in the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU); in the list of six destinies (GATI), the asuras are ranked between the realms of the divinities (DEVA) and human beings (MANUṢYA) and are usually considered to be a baleful destiny (see APĀYA; DURGATI). The asuras live in the oceans surrounding the central continent of the world and in the lower reaches of Mount SUMERU. The asuras are said to be constantly jealous of the good fortunes of the divinities (deva), which prompted the king of the gods INDRA [alt. ŚAKRA] to expel them from their original home in the heaven of the thirty-three (TRĀYASTRIṂŚA); the asuras continue to engage in futile warfare against the devas above them to regain access to their lost realm. Many indigenous non-Buddhist deities, such as the Tibetan srung ma (sungma), were placed in this realm as they were assimilated into the Buddhist pantheon.

Asura Cave. A cave south of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal where PADMASAMBHAVA is said to have meditated and conquered the twelve bstan ma (tenma) goddesses. It is an important pilgrimage place, considered sacred by Tibetan and Newar Buddhists as well as Hindus, and the site of several Tibetan monasteries. According to the writings of one Tibetan lama, the fourth KHAMS SPRUL (Khamtrul) Rin po che, the cave may take its name from a small passage at its rear that is purported to lead to the realm of the ASURAs.

Asvabhāva. (T. Ngo bo nyid med pa). Name of the author of the Mahāyānasaṃgrahopanibandhana, a commentary on Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha. See also NIḤSVABHĀVA (“without self-nature”).

Aśvaghoṣa. (T. Rta dbyangs; C. Maming; J. Memyō; K. Mamyŏng 馬鳴) (c. second century CE). An Indian Buddhist poet from ŚRĀVASTĪ, renowned for his epic kāvya poem, the BUDDHACARITA, the first complete biography of the Buddha. According to traditional accounts, Aśvaghoṣa was born into a brāhmaṇa family in Ayodhyā during the reign of the KUSHAN king KANIṢKA and was converted to Buddhism by the VAIBHĀṢIKA teacher PĀRŚVA. His poetic works are esteemed for their distinguished artistic merit, considered representative of the high Sanskritic literary tradition. While the Buddhacarita is Aśvaghoṣa’s most famous work, he authored numerous other epic poems including the Saundarananda (“The Handsome Nanda,” an account of NANDA’s conversion) and the Śāriputraprakaraṇa (“Story of ŚĀRIPUTRA”). East Asian tradition also attributes to Aśvaghoṣa the DASHENG QIXIN LUN (Awakening of Faith), a treatise on TATHĀGATAGARBHA thought that is now widely presumed to be an indigenous Chinese treatise (see APOCRYPHA). ¶ A second tantric Aśvaghoṣa, author of the GURUPAÑCĀŚIKĀ (a brief text detailing the proper worship of a tantric guru), lived in about the tenth century.

Aśvajit. (P. Assaji; T. Rta thul; C. Ashuoshi; J. Asetsuji; K. Asŏlsi 阿示). The fifth of the five ascetics (PAÑCAVARGIKA), along with ĀJÑĀTAKAUṆḌINYA (P. Aññātakoṇḍañña), BHADRIKA (P. Bhaddiya), VĀṢPA (P. Vappa), and MAHĀNĀMAN (P. Mahānāma), who practiced austerities with GAUTAMA prior to his enlightenment. Subsequently, when Gautama abandoned the severe asceticism they had been practicing in favor of the middle way (MADHYAMAPRATIPAD), Aśvajit and his companions became disgusted with Gautama’s backsliding and left him, going to the ṚṢIPATANA (P. Isipatana) deer park, located in the northeast of Vārāṇasī. After the Buddha’s enlightenment, however, the Buddha sought them out to teach them the first sermon, the DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASŪTRA (P. DHAMMACAKKAPAVATTANASUTTA); while listening to this sermon, Aśvajit achieved the first stage of awakening or “opening of the dharma eye” (DHARMACAKṢUS), becoming a stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA), and was immediately ordained as a monk using the informal EHIBHIKṢUKĀ, or “come, monk,” formula. Five days later, the Buddha then preached to the group of five new monks the second sermon, the *Anātmalakṣaṇasūtra (P. ANATTALAKKHAṆASUTTA), which led to Aśvajit’s becoming a worthy one (ARHAT). It was through an encounter with Aśvajit that ŚĀRIPUTRA and MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA, the Buddha’s two chief disciples, were initially converted. Sāriputra witnessed Aśvajit’s calm demeanor while gathering alms in the city of RĀJAGṚHA. Impressed, he approached Aśvajit and asked who his teacher was and what were his teachings. In response, Aśvajit said that he was new to the teachings and could offer only the following summary: “Of those phenomena produced through causes, the Tathāgata has proclaimed their causes and also their cessation. Thus has spoken the great renunciant.” His description, which came to known as the YE DHARMĀ (based on its first two words of the summary), would become perhaps the most commonly repeated statement in all of Buddhist literature. Upon hearing these words, Śāriputra attained the stage of stream-entry (see SROTAĀPANNA), and when he repeated what he heard to his friend Maudgalyāyana, he also did so. The two then agreed to become the Buddha’s disciples. According to Pāli sources, Aśvajit once was approached by the ascetic Nigaṇṭha Saccaka, who inquired of the Buddha’s teachings. Aśvajit explained the doctrine of nonself (ANĀTMAN) with a summary of the Anattalakkhaṇasutta, which the Buddha had taught him. Convinced that he could refute that doctrine, Nigaṇṭha Saccaka challenged the Buddha to a debate and was vanquished. The Pāli commentaries say that Aśvajit intentionally offered only the briefest of explanations of the nonself doctrine as a means of coaxing the ascetic into a direct encounter with the Buddha.

Ātānātiyasutta. In Pāli, “Discourse on the Ātānātiya Protective Spell,” the thirty-second sutta of the DĪGHANIKĀYA (there is no equivalent recension in the Chinese translations of the ĀGAMAS). The discourse was preached by the Buddha to an assembly of deities on Vulture Peak GṚDHRAKŪṬAPARVATA) in RĀJAGṚHA. The divinities of the four directions, together with a retinue of lesser deities, told the Buddha that there are many unbelievers among gods and men who might bring harm to the faithful. They requested that the Buddha allow them to teach his monks the ātānātiya PARITTA, a protective spell to ward off danger; the lengthy spell lists the names of the seven buddhas of antiquity (SAPTATATHĀGATA) and the virtues of the current buddha GAUTAMA, to whom even the ogres (P. yakkha; S. YAKṢA) pay homage. The Buddha consented and advised that monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen memorize the spell so that they might dwell in comfort and safety.

atapa. (P. atappa; T. mi gdung ba; C. wure; J. munetsu; K. muyŏl 無熱). In Sanskrit, “not burning” (viz., “cool”), or “without torment” (also seen spelled as atapas, anavatapta); the second of the five pure abodes (ŚUDDHĀVĀSA), where those who have attained the rank of ANĀGĀMIN become ARHATs, and the highest level of the fourth meditative realm of subtle materiality (RŪPADHĀTU); it is also the name of the divinities (DEVA) who reside there. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a god there through achieving the same level of concentration (DHYĀNA) during one’s practice of meditation as the gods of that heaven. According to BUDDHAGHOSA, the heaven is called “without torment” because the gods born there torment no one.

Atigupta. (S). See ATIKŪṬA.

Atikūṭa. (C. Adiquduo; J. Ajikuta; K. Ajiguda 阿地瞿多) (c. seventh century). An Indian translator who traveled to the Chinese capital of Chang’an in 652, during the Tang dynasty. (His Chinese name may also be transcribed as Atigupta.) His major translation was the Dhāraṇīsamuccaya (Tuoluoni ji jing), which was completed in a total of twelve rolls in 653–654.

Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. (T. A ti sha Mar me mdzad dpal ye shes) (982–1054). Indian Buddhist monk and scholar revered by Tibetan Buddhists as a leading teacher in the later dissemination (PHYI DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet. His name, also written as Atisha, is an Apabhraṃśa form of the Sanskrit term atiśaya, meaning “surpassing kindness.” Born into a royal family in what is today Bangladesh, Atiśa studied MAHĀYĀNA Buddhist philosophy and TANTRA as a married layman prior to being ordained at the age of twenty-nine, receiving the ordination name of Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. After studying at the great monasteries of northern India, including NĀLANDĀ, ODANTAPURĪ, VIKRAMAŚĪLA, and SOMAPURA, he is said to have journeyed to the island of Sumatra, where he studied under the CITTAMĀTRA teacher Dharmakīrtiśrī (also known as guru Sauvarṇadvīpa) for twelve years; he would later praise Dharmakīrtiśrī as a great teacher of BODHICITTA. Returning to India, he taught at the Indian monastic university of VIKRAMAŚĪLA. Atiśa was invited to Tibet by the king of western Tibet YE SHES ’OD and his grandnephew BYANG CHUB ’OD, who were seeking to remove perceived corruption in the practice of Buddhism in Tibet. Atiśa reached Tibet in 1042, where he initially worked together with the renowned translator RIN CHEN BZANG PO at THO LING monastery in the translation of PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ texts. There, he composed his famous work, the BODHIPATHAPRADĪPA, or “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,” an overview of the Mahāyāna Buddhist path that served as a basis for the genre of literature known as LAM RIM (“stages of the path”). He spent the remaining twelve years of his life in the central regions of Tibet, where he formed his principal seat in Snye thang (Nyetang) outside of LHA SA where he translated a number of MADHYAMAKA works into Tibetan. He died there and his relics were interred in the SGROL MA LHA KHANG. Atiśa and his chief disciples ’BROM STON RGYAL BA’I ’BYUNG GNAS and RNGOG LEGS PA’I SHES RAB are considered the forefathers of the BKA’ GDAMS PA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibet, he is commonly known by the honorific title Jo bo rje (Jowoje), “the Superior Lord.”

atiyoga. (T. a ti yo ga/shin tu rnal ’byor). In Sanskrit, “surpassing yoga”; the ninth and most advanced of the nine vehicles according to the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Here, the system of practice described elsewhere as ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA is divided into three: MAHĀYOGA, ANUYOGA, and atiyoga, with atiyoga referring to the practice of the great completion (RDZOGS CHEN) in which all the phenomena of SAṂSĀRA and NIRVĀṆA appear as the sport of self-arisen wisdom.

ātmabhāvaparityāga. (S). See SHESHEN.

ātmagraha. (P. attagaha; T. bdag ’dzin; C. wozhi; J. gashū; K. ajip 我執). In Sanskrit, “clinging to self” or “conception of self”; the fundamental ignorance that is the ultimate cause of suffering (DUḤKHA) and rebirth (SAṂSĀRA). Although the self does not exist in reality, the mistaken conception that a self exists (SATKĀYADṚṢṬI) constitutes the most fundamental form of clinging, which must be eliminated through wisdom (PRAJÑĀ). Two types of attachment to self are mentioned in MAHĀYĀNA literature: the type that is constructed or artificial (S. parakalpita; T. kun btags; C. fenbie wozhi) and that type that is innate (S. sahaja; T. lhan skyes; C. jusheng wozhi). The former is primarily an epistemic error resulting from unsystematic attention (AYONIŚOMANASKĀRA) and exposure to erroneous philosophies and mistaken views (VIPARYĀSA); it is eradicated at the stage of stream-entry (see SROTAĀPANNA) for the ŚRĀVAKA and PRATYEKABUDDHA and at the DARŚANAMĀRGA for the BODHISATTVA. The latter is primarily an affective, habitual, and instinctive clinging, conditioned over many lifetimes in the past, which may continue to be present even after one has abandoned the mistaken conception of a perduring self after achieving stream-entry. This innate form of clinging to self is only gradually attenuated through the successive stages of spiritual fruition, until it is completely extinguished at the stage of arhatship (see ARHAT) or buddhahood. In the Mahāyāna philosophical schools, the conception of self is said to be twofold: the conception of the self of persons (pudgalātmagraha) and the conception of the self of phenomena or factors (dharmātmagraha). The second is said to be more subtle than the first. The first is said to be abandoned by followers of the HĪNAYĀNA paths in order to attain the rank of arhat, while both forms must be abandoned by the BODHISATTVA in order to achieve buddhahood. See also ĀTMAN; PUDGALANAIRĀTMYA.

ātman. (P. attan; T. bdag; C. wo; J. ga; K. a 我). In Sanskrit, “self” or “I,” with a similar range of meanings as the terms possess in English, but used especially to refer to a perduring substratum of being that is the agent of actions, the possessor of mind and body (NĀMARŪPA), and that passes from lifetime to lifetime. The misconception that there is an “I” (ātman), a perduring soul that exists in reality (SATKĀYADṚṢṬI), and a “mine” (ātmīya), viz., things that belong to me, injects a “point of view” into all of one’s perception (SAṂJÑĀ), which inevitably leads to clinging (toward things we like, viz., LOBHA) and hatred (toward things we dislike, viz., DVEṢA). This mistaken belief that there is such a permanent self is regarded as fundamental ignorance (AVIDYĀ) and the root cause of all suffering (DUḤKHA). The Buddha therefore taught “nonself” (ANĀTMAN) as a palliative to this misconception of permanence. The precise meaning of ātman, the ways in which the misconception arises, and how that misconception is then extended beyond the person are considered in great detail in the various Buddhist philosophical schools. See also PUDGALA.

ātmavāda. (P. attavāda; T. bdag tu smra ba; C. woyu; J. gago; K. aŏ 我語). In Sanskrit, the mistaken “notion of a self”; viz., the misconception that there is a perduring soul that exists in reality (SATKĀYADṚṢṬI), which constitutes the most fundamental form of clinging. The false notion of a self is commonly listed as the fourth of the four kinds of attachments (UPĀDĀNA), along with the attachments to sensuality (KĀMA), views (DṚṢṬI), and the soteriological efficacy of rites and rituals (ŚĪLAVRATA).

attachment. See UPĀDĀNA; NONATTACHMENT.

Aṭṭhakanāgarasutta. (C. Bacheng jing; J. Hachijōkyō; K. P’alsŏng kyŏng 八城經). In Pāli, “Discourse to the Man from Aṭṭhaka”; the fifty-second sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears as SŪTRA no. 217 in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA); preached by the Buddha’s attendant ĀNANDA to the householder Dasaka of Aṭṭhaka at Beluvagāmaka near Vesālī (VAIŚĀLĪ). According to the Pāli recension, a merchant from the town (nāgara) of Aṭṭhaka named Dasaka approaches Ānanda and asks him if there was any one thing that could lead to liberation from bondage. Ānanda teaches him the eleven doors of the deathless, by means of which it is possible to attain liberation from bondage. These doors are made up of the four meditative absorptions (JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA), the four BRAHMAVIHĀRA meditations, and the three immaterial meditations of infinite space (ĀKĀŚĀNANTYĀYATANA), infinite consciousness (VIJÑĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA), and nothing-whatsoever (ĀKIÑCANYĀYATANA). Ānanda states that by contemplating the conditioned and impermanent nature of these eleven doors to liberation, one can attain arhatship (see ARHAT) in this life or short of that will attain the stage of a nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN), who is destined to be reborn in the pure abodes (ŚUDDHĀVĀSA), whence he will attain arhatship and final liberation.

aṭṭhakathā. In Pāli, lit. “recital of meaning” or “exegesis”; referring specifically to the “commentaries” to the first four NIKĀYAs, or scriptural collections, that comprise the Pāli Buddhist canon (tipiṭaka; S. TRIPIṬAKA). According to THERAVĀDA tradition, MAHINDA brought the Pāli tipiṭaka and aṭṭhakathās to Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland during the third century CE, during the time of King AŚOKA. The language of those Indian commentaries is unknown, but they were initially written down in Sri Lanka in some sort of Sinhalese PRAKRIT. That first Sinhalese recension of the four aṭṭhakathās was superseded when, two centuries later, the renowned Theravāda scholiast, BUDDHAGHOSA, rewrote them in Pāli and wrote a lengthy prolegomenon to this massive body of commentarial literature, which he titled the VISUDDHIMAGGA (“Path of Purification”). In conjunction with the systematic overview provided in the Visuddhimagga, the aṭṭhakathās thus claim to offer a comprehensive account of the full panoply of Buddhist doctrine. The aṭṭhakathā to the last, and latest, of the nikāyas, the KHUDDAKANIKĀYA (“Miscellaneous Discourses”), was composed separately, probably sometime between 450 and 600 CE, by the prolific Pāli commentator DHAMMAPĀLA, and seems to draw on a separate textual recension from that used by Buddhaghosa.

Aṭṭhakavagga. (S. Arthavargīya; C. Yizu jing; J. Gisokukyō; K. Ŭijok kyŏng 義足經). In Pāli, “The Octet Chapter” [alt. “The Chapter on Meaning,” as the Chinese translation suggests], an important chapter of the SUTTANIPĀTA. Based on analysis of the peculiar meters and grammatical formations used in this text, philologists have reached a broad consensus that the Aṭṭhakavagga and its companion chapter, the Pārāyanavagga, are among the very earliest strata of extant Pāli literature and may have existed even during the Buddha’s own lifetime. The Pāli suttas include citations and exegeses of some of the verses from the Aṭṭhakavagga, and the MAHĀNIDESA, a commentary that covers the text, is accepted as canonical in the Pāli canon (tipiṭaka, S. TRIPIṬAKA). All this evidence suggests its relative antiquity within the canon. The teachings contained in the chapter seem to suggest an early stratum of Buddhist teachings, prior to their formalization around fixed numerical lists of doctrines. The technical terminology that becomes emblematic of the standardized Buddhist presentation of doctrine is also relatively absent in its verses (GĀTHĀ). The Aṭṭhakavagga offers a rigorous indictment of the dangers inherent in “views” (P. diṭṭhi; S. DṚṢṬI) and displays a skepticism about religious dogmas in general, seeing them as virulent sources of attachment that lead ultimately to conceit, quarrels, and divisiveness. Some scholars have suggested that the kind of thoroughgoing critique of views presented in the Aṭṭhakavagga might have been the prototype of the later MADHYAMAKA logical approach, which sought to demonstrate the fallacies inherent in any philosophical statement. The verses also seem to represent an earlier stage in the evolution of Buddhist institutions, when monks still lived alone in the forest or with small groups of fellow ascetics, rather than in larger urban monasteries. Monks are still referred to as hermits or “seers” (P. isi, S. ṛṣi), a generic Indian term for religious recluses, rather than the formal Buddhist term bhikkhu (BHIKṢU) as is seen in the prose passages. A two-roll Chinese translation of a Sanskrit or Middle Indic recension of the text was made by ZHI QIAN during the Wu dynasty (c. 223–253 CE).

Aṭṭhasālinī. In Pāli, “Exposition of Meaning,” commentary by BUDDHAGHOSA on the DHAMMASAṄGAṆI, the first book of the Pāli ABHIDHAMMAPIṬAKA (S. ABHIDHARMAPIṬAKA). The MAHĀVAṂSA and SĀSANAVAṂSA state that the Aṭṭhasālinī was originally written in India; the commentary also mentions by name the SAMANTAPĀSĀDIKĀ (the commentary to the Pāli VINAYA) and the VISUDDHIMAGGA, suggesting that it comes from a relatively late stratum of Pāli commentarial writings. The Aṭṭhasālinī provides a spirited defense of the claim that the seven books of the Pāli abhidhammapiṭaka were actually spoken by the Buddha himself, rather than being later scholastic elaborations; they are the Buddha’s own enunciations of his enlightenment experience, which were handed down to ŚĀRIPUTRA and an unbroken succession of ABHIDHAMMIKAs until they were brought to Sri Lanka. The Aṭṭhasālinī’s extended defense suggests that this claim was a matter of much controversy, even within the tradition. The third chapter of the Aṭṭhasālinī presents some of the most comprehensive and detailed explanations of the workings of KARMAN theory found in Pāli literature. The Aṭṭhasālinī appears in the Pali Text Society’s English translation series as The Expositor.

auddhatya. (P. uddhacca; T. rgod pa; C. diao; J. jō; K. to 掉). In Sanskrit, “restlessness,” “agitation,” or “distraction”; along with its related “worry” or “regret” (KAUKṚTYA), with which it is often seen in compound, auddhatya constitutes the fourth of the five hindrances (NĪVARAṆA) to the attainment of meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). Auddhatya-kaukṛtya is the specific hindrance to joy (SUKHA), the fourth of the five factors of dhyāna (DHYĀNĀṄGA). Restlessness and worry are fostered by unwise attention (AYONIŚOMANASKĀRA) to mental unrest and are overcome through learning and reflecting on the SŪTRAs and VINAYA and by associating with elders of calm demeanor. Restlessness and worry are countered by SAMĀDHI, the fourth of the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA) and the sixth of the factors of enlightenment (BODHYAṄGA), together with development of the factors of tranquillity (PRAŚRABDHI), and equanimity (UPEKṢĀ).

Aurangābād. A complex of twelve rock-cut Buddhist caves located at the outskirts of the city of Aurangābād in the modern Indian state of Maharashtra. The oldest structure at the site is the severely damaged Cave 4, which dates to the beginning of the Common Era. The complex functioned as a center of popular devotion and secular patronage in the region. This strong linkage of the site with popular religiosity is particularly evident in Cave 2, with its central sanctum and pradakṣiṇapatha for circumambulation (PRADAKṢIṆA) left undecorated to display a number of individually commissioned votive panels. The arrangement combines the ritual need for circumambulation with the preference for placing the main buddha against the rear wall by creating a corridor around the entire shrine. The entrance to the shrine is flanked by the BODHISATTVAs MAITREYA and AVALOKITEŚVARA, both attended by serpent kings (NĀGA); the shrine itself contains a seated buddha making the gesture of turning the wheel of the DHARMA (DHARMACAKRAMUDRĀ) flanked by two bodhisattvas. The creation of the Aurangābād cave site appears to have been connected with the collapse of the Vākāṭakas, who had patronized the cave temples at AJAṆṬĀ. Aurangābād rose in response, testimony to the triumph of the regional powers and local Buddhist forces at the end of the fifth century. The small number of cells for the SAṂGHA, the presence of the life-size kneeling devotees with a portrait-like appearance and royal attire sculpted in Cave 3, and the individually commissioned votive panels in Cave 2 indicate the growing importance of the “secular” at Aurangābād. The strong affinities in design, imagery, and sculptural detail between Aurangābād Cave 3 and Caves 2 and 26 at Ajaṇṭā indicate that the same artisans might have worked at both sites. The sculptural panels in Cave 7, which date to the mid-sixth century, may demonstrate the growing importance of tantric sects, with their use of the imagery of voluptuous females with elaborate coiffures serving as attendants to bodhisattvas or buddhas.

aureole. See KĀYAPRABHĀ.

auspicious symbols, eight. See AṢṬAMAṄGALA.

Ava. [alt. Inwa]. Name of the chief Burmese (Myanmar) kingdom and its capital that flourished in Upper Burma between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries CE. Founded in 1364 at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Myitnge rivers, the city of Ava, whose official Pāli name is Ratanapura, was the successor state of the PAGAN empire (1044–c. 1287), whose cultural, religious, and political traditions Ava’s kings consciously sought to preserve. While occupying a much reduced realm compared to imperial Pagan and hemmed in by the hostile Mon kingdom of Rāmañña (Pegu) in the south, and Shan warlords in the north and east, Ava remained the preeminent military power in the region through its strategic control of the irrigated district of Kyaukse. Ava’s kings were lavish in their support of Buddhist institutions as testified by the numerous pagodas and temples constructed within the environs of the city. Especially important were the Sagaing hills on the opposite shore of the Irrawaddy river, where successive kings built scores of monasteries and colleges, making it one of Southeast Asia’s major Theravāda scholastic centers. In contrast to the neighboring Mon and Thai kingdoms, which by the fifteenth century had largely adopted the reformed THERAVĀDA Buddhism of Sri Lankan tradition, Ava continued to patronize its own native “unreformed” saṅgha, which was descended from Pagan and which Ava regarded as possessing a purer and more ancient pedigree than that of the Sinhalese. The political and religious traditions preserved at Ava came to an abrupt end, however, when in 1527, Shan armies overran the capital and three years later massacred its monks. Ava’s glory was resurrected in 1635 when King Thalun (r. 1629–1648) rebuilt the city and made it the capital of the restored Burmese empire of Taungoo. From the throne of Ava, Thalun orchestrated a major Buddhist revival in which he rebuilt the kingdom’s ancient national shrine of Shwesettaw near Minbu and erected the gigantic Kaungmudaw pagoda in Sagaing. In addition to the construction of monuments, Thalun held an inquest into monastic lands and instituted the office of ecclesiastical censor (B. mahadan-wun) to oversee religious affairs throughout the country, an office that survived into the British period. Ava was again sacked and its king executed by Mon rebels in 1752, an event that marked the end of the Taungoo dynasty. It was rebuilt and served twice as the capital of the third Burmese empire of Konbaung in 1765–1783 and 1823–1837.

avacara. (T. spyod pa; C. jieji; J. kaike; K. kyegye 界繫). In Sanskrit and Pāli, when used at the end of compound words, means “sphere,” “domain,” or “realm of existence.” In Buddhist cosmology, the term refers to the things that “belong to the sphere” of the three realms of existence (traidhātukāvacara, see TRAIDHĀTUKA), which comprise the entire phenomenal universe: the sensuous realm (kāmāvacara or KĀMADHĀTU), the realm of subtle materiality or form (rūpāvacara or RŪPADHĀTU), and the immaterial or formless realm (Ārūpyāvacara or ĀRŪPYADHĀTU). The three realms of existence taken together comprise all of SAṂSĀRA, the cycle of rebirth, and are the spheres within which beings take rebirth: there are no realms of existence that are unoccupied, and no beings are born anywhere other than in these three spheres. The sensuous realm is the lowest stratum of the universe and contains the following destinies (GATI), in ascending order: denizens of hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demigods (ASURA), and divinities (DEVA). Rebirth in the sensuous realm is the result of past performance of either predominantly unwholesome deeds (in the case of hell denizens, hungry ghosts, animals, and asuras), a mix of unwholesome and wholesome deeds (as with human beings), or predominantly wholesome deeds (the divinities). The beings in the sensuous realm all have a coarser physical constituent. The realm of subtle materiality is occupied by the BRAHMĀ and other gods, whose minds are perpetually absorbed in one of the four subtle-materiality meditative absorptions (RŪPĀVACARADHYĀNA). Rebirth in the realm of subtle materiality is the result of mastery of one or all of these four dhyānas, and the beings residing there are refined enough that they require only the subtlest of material foundations for their consciousnesses. The immaterial realm is occupied by divinities who are entirely mental, no longer requiring even a subtle-material foundation for their ethereal states of mind. The divinities in the immaterial realm are perpetually absorbed in immaterial trance states, and rebirth there is the result of mastery of one or all of the immaterial dhyānas (ĀRŪPYĀVACARADHYĀNA).

avadāna. (P. apadāna; T. rtogs par brjod pa; C. apotuona/piyu; J. ahadana or apadana/hiyu; K. ap’adana/piyu 阿波陀那/譬喩). In Sanskrit, “tales” or “narrative”; a term used to denote a type of story found in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist literature. The precise meaning of the word has been the subject of much discussion. In the Indian Brāhmaṇas and śrauta literature, the term denotes either something that is sacrificed or a portion of a sacrifice. The term avadāna was originally thought to mean “something cut off; something selected” and was presumed to derive from the prefix ava- + the Sanskrit root √dā. Feer, who published a French translation of the AVADĀNAŚATAKA in 1891, tentatively translated it as “légende, action héroïque,” while noting that the Tibetans, the Chinese, and the Mongols all employed differing translations of the word as well. (The Chinese use a transcription, apotuona, as well as a translation, piyu, meaning “simile.” The Tibetan rtogs brjod has been rendered as “judgment” or “moral legend”; literally, it means the presentation or expression of the realizations [of an adept]. The Mongolian equivalent is domok.) Feer’s rendering of avadāna is closer to its meaning of “heroic action” in classical Indian works such as the Raghuvaṃśa and the Kumārasambhava. Avadānas are listed as the tenth of the twelvefold (DVĀDAŚĀṄGA) division of the traditional genres of Buddhist literature, as classified by compositional style and content. The total corpus of the genre is quite extensive, ranging from individual avadānas embedded in VINAYA texts, or separate sūtras in the SŪTRAPIṬAKA, to avadānas that circulated either individually or in avadāna collections. These stories typically illustrate the results of both good and bad KARMAN, i.e., past events that led to present circumstances; in certain cases, however, they also depict present events that lead to a prediction (VYĀKARAṆA) of high spiritual attainment in the future. Avadānas are closely related to JĀTAKAs, or birth stories of the Buddha; indeed, some scholars have considered jātakas to be a subset of the avadāna genre, and some jātaka tales are also included in the AVADĀNAŚATAKA, an early avadāna collection. Avadānas typically exhibit a three-part narrative structure, with a story of the present, followed by a story of past action (karman), which is then connected by identifying the past actor as a prior incarnation of the main character in the narrative present. In contrast to the jātakas, however, the main character in an avadāna is generally not the Buddha (an exception is Kṣemendra’s eleventh-century Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā) but rather someone who is or becomes his follower. Moreover, some avadānas are related by narrators other than the Buddha, such as those of the AŚOKĀVADĀNA, which are narrated by UPAGUPTA. Although the avadāna genre was once dismissed as “edifying stories” for the masses, the frequent references to monks as listeners and the directives to monks on how to practice that are embedded in these tales make it clear that the primary audience was monastics. Some of the notations appended to the stories in Śūra’s [alt. Āryaśūra; c. second century CE] JĀTAKAMĀLĀ suggest that such stories were also used secondarily for lay audiences. On the Indian mainland, both mainstream and MAHĀYĀNA monks compiled avadāna collections. Some of the avadānas from northwestern India have been traced from kernel stories in the MŪLASARVĀSTIVĀDA VINAYA via other mainstream Buddhist versions. In his French translation of the Avadānaśataka, Feer documented a number of tales from earlier mainstream collections, such as the Avadānaśataka, which were reworked and expanded in later Mahāyāna collections, such as the Ratnāvadānamālā and the Kalpadrumāvadānamālā, which attests to the durability and popularity of the genre. Generally speaking, the earlier mainstream avadānas were prose works, while the later Mahāyāna collections were composed largely in verse.

Avadānaśataka. (T. Rtogs pa brjod pa brgya pa; C. Zhuanji baiyuan jing; J. Senjū hyakuengyō; K. Ch’anjip paegyŏn kyŏng 撰集百經). In Sanskrit, “A Hundred Tales” (AVADĀNA). The collection was originally ascribed to the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school but is now thought to belong to the MŪLASARVĀSTIVĀDA, because of the large number of stereotyped passages that the Avadānaśataka shares with the DIVYĀVADĀNA and the Mūlasarvāstivāda VINAYA and its close correlation with certain other elements of the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya. Hence, the Avadānaśataka most likely originated in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, a provenance confirmed with the recent discovery of fragments of the text in the Schøyen Collection that most likely come from BĀMIYĀN. The Avadānaśataka is one of the earliest avadāna collections and was translated into Chinese (Zhuanji baiyuan jing), a translation traditionally attributed to ZHI QIAN. The Tibetan translation (Gang po la sogs pa rtogs pa brjod pa brgya pa) was carried out in the early ninth century by the monk Jinamitra and Devacandra. The composition date of the Avadānaśataka is uncertain. A date c. 100 CE has been proposed, based on Zhi Qian’s putative Chinese translation, whose traditional date of c. 223–253 CE provided a terminus ante quem for the compilation of the anthology. Recent scholarship, however, has questioned this attribution to Zhi Qian and indicates that the translation probably dates instead to the late fifth or early sixth century CE. The significant degree of divergence between the known Sanskrit texts and the Chinese recension may indicate that two or more Sanskrit versions were in circulation. The Chinese text also includes interpolations of story elements that derive from another Chinese collection, the Xian yu jing. In terms of structure, the stories in the Avadānaśataka are arranged symmetrically in ten chapters of ten stories apiece, each with a central theme: (1) prophecies (VYĀKARAṆA) of buddhahood, (2) JĀTAKA tales, (3) prophecies of pratyeka (“solitary”) buddhahood (see PRATYEKABUDDHA), (4) more jātakas, (5) tales of PRETA or “hungry ghosts,” (6) heavenly rebirths as DEVA (“divinities”), (7)–(9) male and female disciples who become ARHATs, and (10) stories of suffering resulting from misdeeds in past lives. The structure of a typical avadāna story includes (1) a frame story told in the narrative present; (2) a story of past deeds (which is the cause of the present achievement or suffering); and (3) a bridge between the two, linking the past actor with the person presently experiencing its consequence. Major motifs include devotion to the Buddha, the benefits of donation (DĀNA), and the workings of moral cause and effect (see KARMAN), as indicated in the stock passage with which more than half of the tales end: “Thus, O monks, knowing that black actions bear black fruits, white actions white fruits, and mixed ones mixed fruits, you should shun the black and the mixed and pursue only the white.” Although avadānas have often been assumed to target the laity, the reference to monks in this stock passage clearly indicates the monastic audience to which these tales were directed.

avadhūtī. (T. rtsa dbu ma; C. afudi; J. abatei; K. abujŏ 阿嚩底). In Sanskrit, “channel,” “vein,” or “canal.” According to various systems of tantric physiognomy, the avadhūtī refers to the central channel that runs from either the tip of the genitals or the base of the spine to either the crown of the head or the point between the eyebrows, with a number of “wheels” (CAKRA) along its course. To its left and right are two channels, both smaller in diameter, the RASANĀ (the left channel in males and the right channel in females) and the LALANĀ (the right channel in males and the left channel in females). Much tantric practice is devoted to techniques for causing the winds or energies that course through the other channels to enter into this central channel.

Avadhūtipāda. (S). See MAITRĪPA/MAITRĪPĀDA.

avaivartika. (T. phyir mi ldog; C. butuizhuan; J. futaiten; K. pult’oejŏn 不退轉). In Sanskrit, “nonretrogression” or “irreversible”; a term used to describe a stage on the path (MĀRGA) at which further progress is assured, with no further possibility of retrogressing to a previous stage. For the BODHISATTVA, different texts posit this crucial transition as occurring at various points along the path, such as on the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA), where there is then no danger of the bodhisattva turning back to seek instead to become an ARHAT; the first BHŪMI; or the eighth bhūmi, when the bodhisattva is then certain to continue forward to complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAṂBODHI). There are many variant forms in Sanskrit (e.g., avaivarya, avinivartya, avinivartanīya, and anivartiya), of which avaivartika is among the most common. The state of nonretrogression is also termed the avaivartyabhūmi. Nonretrogression is also listed in the MAHĀVASTU as the highest of four stages of practice (CARYĀ). In the PURE LAND schools, taking rebirth (WANGSHENG) in AMITĀBHA’s PURE LAND of SUKHĀVATĪ is said to constitute the stage of nonretrogression.

āvajjana. In Pāli, “advertence,” that is, adverting the mind toward a sensory object, which is the first of seven functions in the cognitive process that ultimately lead to sensory consciousness (P. viññāṇa, S. VIJÑĀNA). When the unconscious mind (P. BHAVAṄGASOTA) is interrupted by the presence of a sensory object, the mind first performs the function of “adverting” toward the object. Thereafter, the mind performs in sequence the functions of “seeing” (P. dassana), “receiving” (P. sampaṭicchana), “investigating” (P. santīrana), and “determining” (P. votthapana). Immediately after this, the mind generates six or seven “impulse moments” (P. javanacitta) associated with either wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral classes of consciousness, after which it reverts to the bhavaṅga.

Avalokitavrata. (T. Spyan ras gzigs brtul zhugs). Indian scholiast of the eighth century CE and successor to BHĀVAVIVEKA [alt. Bhavya] in the SVĀTANTRIKA school of MADHYAMAKA. Avalokitavrata wrote the Prajñāpradīpaṭīkā, an extensive subcommentary to Bhāvaviveka’s PRAJÑĀPRADĪPA, his commentary on NĀGĀRJUNA’s MŪLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ, in which he defends Bhāvaviveka from CANDRAKĪRTI’s critiques. That subcommentary is extant only in Tibetan translation.

Avalokiteśvara. (T. Spyan ras gzigs; C. Guanshiyin/Guanyin; J. Kanzeon/Kannon; K. Kwanseŭm/Kwanŭm 觀世音/觀音). In Sanskrit, “Lord who Looks Down [in Empathy]”; the BODHISATTVA of compassion, the most widely worshipped of the MAHĀYĀNA bodhisattvas and one of the earliest to appear in Buddhist literature. According to legend, Avalokiteśvara was produced from a beam of light that radiated from the forehead of AMITĀBHA while that buddha was deep in meditation. For this reason, Buddhist iconography often depicts Amitābha as embedded in Avalokiteśvara’s crown. His name dates back to the beginning of the Common Era, when he replaced the Vedic god BRAHMĀ as the attendant to ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha, inheriting in turn Brahmā’s attribute of the lotus (PADMA). Images of Avalokiteśvara as PADMAPĀṆI LOKEŚVARA (“Lord with a Lotus in his Hand”), an early name, are numerous. Avalokiteśvara is the interlocutor or main figure in numerous important Mahāyāna sūtras, including the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀHṚDAYASŪTRA (“Heart Sūtra”). His cult was introduced to China in the first century CE, where his name was translated as Guanshiyin (“Perceiver of the Sounds of the World”) or GUANYIN (“Perceiver of Sounds”); his cult entered Korea and Japan with the advent of Buddhism in those countries. Avalokiteśvara was once worshipped widely in Southeast Asia as well, beginning at the end of the first millennium CE. Although the Mahāyāna tradition eventually faded from the region, images of Avalokiteśvara remain. Avalokiteśvara is also the patron deity of Tibet, where he is said to have taken the form of a monkey and mated with TĀRĀ in the form of a local demoness to produce the Tibetan race. Tibetan political and religious leaders have been identified as incarnations of him, such as the seventh-century king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO (although that attribution was most likely a later addition to the king’s legacy) and, notably, the DALAI LAMAs. The PO TA LA Palace, the residence of the Dalai Lamas, in the Tibetan capital of LHA SA is named for Avalokiteśvara’s abode on Mount POTALAKA in India. In China, Avalokiteśvara as Guanyin underwent a transformation in gender into a popular female bodhisattva, although the male iconographic form also persists throughout East Asia. PUTUOSHAN, located off the east coast of China south of Shanghai, is said to be Potalaka. Avalokiteśvara is generally depicted in the full raiments of a bodhisattva, often with an image of Amitābha in his crown. He appears in numerous forms, among them the two-armed Padmapāṇi who stands and holds a lotus flower; the four-armed seated Avalokiteśvara, known either as Caturbhuja Avalokiteśvara [Caturbhujāvalokiteśvara] or Cintāmaṇi Avalokiteśvara [Cintāmaṇyavalokiteśvara], who holds the wish-fulfilling jewel (CINTĀMAṆI) with his central hands in AÑJALIMUDRĀ, and a lotus and crystal rosary in his left and right hands, respectively; the eleven-armed, eleven-faced EKĀDAŚAMUKHA; and the thousand-armed and thousand-headed SĀHASRABHUJASĀHASRANETRĀVALOKITEŚVARA (q.v. MAHĀKARUṆIKA). Tradition holds that his head split into multiple skulls when he beheld the suffering of the world. Numerous other forms also exist in which the god has three or more heads, and any number of arms. In his wrathful form as Aṣṭabhayatrāṇāvalokiteśvara (T. Spyan ras gzigs ’jigs pa brgyad skyob), “Avalokiteśvara who Protects against the Eight Fears,” the bodhisattva stands in ARDHAPARYAṄKA (“half cross-legged posture”) and has one face and eight hands, each of which holds a symbol of one of the eight fears. This name is also given to eight separate forms of Avalokiteśvara that are each dedicated to protecting from one of the eight fears, namely: Agnibhayatrāṇāvalokiteśvara (“Avalokiteśvara Who Protects from Fear of Fire”) and so on, replacing fire with Jala (water), Siṃha (lion), Hasti (elephant), Daṇḍa (cudgel), Nāga (snake), ḌĀkinī (witch) [alt. Piśācī]; and Cora (thief). In addition to his common iconographic characteristic, the lotus flower, Avalokiteśvara also frequently holds, among other accoutrements, a jeweled rosary (JAPAMĀLĀ) given to him by Akṣamati (as related in chapter twenty-five of the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA), or a vase. In East Asia, Avalokiteśvara often appears in a triad: the buddha Amitābha in the center, flanked to his left and right by his two bodhisattva attendants, Avalokiteśvara and MAHĀSTHĀMAPRĀPTA, respectively. In Tibet, Avalokiteśvara is part of a popular triad with VAJRAPĀṆI and MAÑJUŚRĪ. As one of the AṢṬAMAHOPAPUTRA, Avalokiteśvara also appears with the other bodhisattvas in group representation. The tantric deity AMOGHAPĀŚA is also a form of Avalokiteśvara. The famous mantra of Avalokiteśvara, OM MAṆI PADME HŪṂ, is widely recited in the Mahāyāna traditions and nearly universally in Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to the twenty-fifth chapter of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the KĀRAṆḌAVYŪHA is also devoted to him. See also BAIYI GUANYIN; GUANYIN; MIAOSHAN; MAṆI BKA’ ‘BUM.

Avalokiteśvaraguṇa-Kāraṇḍavyūha. (S). See KĀRAṆḌAVYŪHA.

Avalokiteśvarasahasrabhujanetra. In Sanskrit, “Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed AVALOKITEŚVARA”; one of the manifestations of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara. See SĀHASRABHUJASĀHASRANETRĀVALOKITEŚVARA.

Avanti. (T. Srung byed; C. Abanti [guo]; J. Ahandai[koku]; K. Abanje [kuk] 阿般提[國]). In Sanskrit and Pāli, an Indian kingdom in the southwest subcontinent, north of present-day Mumbai; its capital was Ujjayinī (P. Ujjenī); the dialect spoken there was related to, and perhaps the ancestor of, the language used in the Pāli canon. Avanti was located along the major southern Indian trade route (the Dakṣiṇāpatha) that passed through ŚRĀVASTĪ in central India, one of the main centers of early Buddhism. Buddhist missionaries following this trade route began to proselytize in the southwest even during the Buddha’s lifetime. Kātyāyana, also known as “Kātyāyana the Great” (MAHĀKĀTYĀYANA; P. Mahākaccāna), one of the Buddha’s ten major disciples, hailed from the Avanti region and later returned to his native land to disseminate Buddhism. He is said to have requested that the Buddha allow for special dispensation to ordain new monks in outlying regions without the requisite number of ten monastic witnesses. PŪRṆA (P. Puṇṇa) was another important disciple from the coastal area of this region (Sūrpāraka), who returned there to proselytize as well. He is the subject of the Puṇṇovādasutta (no. 145 in the Pāli MAJJHIMANIKĀYA) and the Pūrṇāvadāna, which describe his resolve to spread the teachings of Buddhism. Buddhism became firmly established in the Avanti region at least by the time of King AŚOKA; Aśoka’s son, MAHINDA, who later transmitted Buddhism to the island kingdom of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), is said to have been a native of its capital, Ujjayinī. Avanti was a stronghold of the STHAVIRANIKĀYA, and its monks led the opposition to ten disputed items in the monastic discipline that resulted in the schism with the MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA order.

āvaraṇa. (T. sgrib pa; C. zhang; J. shō; K. chang 障). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “obstruction,” “obstacle,” or “hindrance.” In MAHĀYĀNA literature, two types of āvaraṇa are commonly described: “obstructions that are the afflictions,” or “afflictive obstructions” (KLEŚĀVARAṆA), and cognitive or noetic obstructions, viz., “obstructions to omniscience” (JÑEYĀVARAṆA). ŚRĀVAKAs and PRATYEKABUDDHAs can be freed from the afflictive obstructions, but only BODHISATTVAs are able to free themselves from the cognitive obstructions. In the YOGĀCĀRA system, the cognitive obstructions result from fundamental misapprehensions about the nature of reality. Because of the attachment that derives from the reification of what are actually imaginary external phenomena, conceptualization and discrimination arise in the mind, which in turn lead to pride, ignorance, and wrong views. Based on the mistakes in understanding generated by these cognitive obstructions, the individual engages in defiled actions motivated by anger, envy, etc., which constitute the afflictive obstructions. The afflictive obstructions may be removed by followers of the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and beginning bodhisattva paths by applying various antidotes or counteragents (PRATIPAKṢA) to the afflictions or defilements (KLEŚA); overcoming these types of obstructions will lead to freedom from further rebirth. The cognitive obstructions, however, can only be overcome by advanced bodhisattvas who seek instead to achieve buddhahood, by perfecting their understanding of emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) and compassion (KARUṆĀ) and amassing a great store of merit (PUṆYA) by engaging in the bodhisattva deeds (CARYĀ). Buddhas, therefore, are the only class of beings who have overcome both types of obstructions and thus are able simultaneously to cognize all objects of knowledge in the universe. The jñeyāvaraṇa are therefore sometimes translated as “obstructions to omniscience.” In the elaboration of the obstructions in the Yogācāra text CHENG WEISHI LUN (*Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi), there are ten types of āvaraṇa that are specifically said to obstruct the ten types of suchness (TATHATĀ) correlated with the ten stages of the bodhisattva path (DAŚABHŪMI): (1) the obstruction of the common illusions of the unenlightened (pṛthagjanatvāvaraṇa; C. yishengxing zhang); (2) the obstruction of deluded conduct (mithyāpratipattyāvaraṇa; C. xiexing zhang); (3) the obstruction of dullness (dhaṇḍhatvāvaraṇa; C. andun zhang); (4) the obstruction of the manifestation of subtle afflictions (sūkṣmakleśasamudācārāvaraṇa; C. xihuo xianxing zhang); (5) the obstruction of the lesser HĪNAYĀNA ideal of PARINIRVĀṆA (hīnayānaparinirvāṇāvaraṇa; C. xiasheng niepan zhang); (6) the obstruction of the manifestation of coarse characteristics (sthūlanimittasamudācārāvaraṇa; C. cuxiang xianxing zhang); (7) the obstruction of the manifestation of subtle characteristics (sūkṣmanimittasamudācārāvaraṇa; C. xixiang xianxing zhang); (8) the obstruction of the continuance of activity even in the immaterial realm that is free from characteristics (nirnimittābhisaṃskārāvaraṇa; C. wuxiang jiaxing zhang); (9) the obstruction of not desiring to act to bring salvation to others (parahitacaryākāmanāvaraṇa; C. buyuxing zhang); and (10) the obstruction of not yet acquiring mastery over all things (dharmeṣuvaśitāpratilambhāvaraṇa; fa weizizai zhang). These ten obstructions are overcome by practicing, respectively: (1) the perfection of giving (DĀNAPĀRAMITĀ); (2) the perfection of morality (ŚĪLAPĀRAMITĀ); (3) the perfection of forbearance (KṢĀNTIPĀRAMITĀ); (4) the perfection of energetic effort (VĪRYAPĀRAMITĀ); (5) the perfection of meditative absorption (DHYĀNAPĀRAMITĀ); (6) the perfection of wisdom (PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ); (7) the perfection of expedient means (UPĀYAPĀRAMITĀ); (8) the perfection of the vow (to attain enlightenment) (PRAṆIDHĀNAPĀRAMITĀ); (9) the perfection of powers (BALAPĀRAMITĀ); and (10) the perfection of omniscience (jñānapāramitā). See also KARMĀVARAṆA; NĪVARAṆA.

Avataṃsakasūtra. (T. Mdo phal po che; C. Huayan jing; J. Kegongyō; K. Hwaŏm kyŏng 華嚴經). In Sanskrit, “Garland Scripture”; also known as the BUDDHĀVATAṂSAKASŪTRA (“Scripture of the Garland of Buddhas”), or *Buddhāvataṃsakanāmamahāvaipulyasūtra, the Sanskrit reconstruction of the title of the Chinese translation Dafangguang fo huayan jing, which is usually abbreviated in Chinese simply as the HUAYAN JING (“Flower Garland Scripture”). The sūtra is one of the most influential Buddhist scriptures in East Asia and the foundational text of the indigenous East Asian HUAYAN ZONG. The first major edition of the Avataṃsakasūtra was said to have been brought from KHOTAN and was translated into Chinese by BUDDHABHADRA in 421; this recension consisted of sixty rolls and thirty-four chapters. A second, longer recension, in eighty rolls and thirty-nine chapters, was translated into Chinese by ŚIKṢĀNANDA in 699; this is sometimes referred to within the Huayan tradition as the “New [translation of the] Avataṃsakasūtra” (Xin Huayan jing). A Tibetan translation similar to the eighty-roll recension also exists. The Avataṃsakasūtra is traditionally classified as a VAIPULYASŪTRA; it is an encyclopedic work that brings together a number of heterogeneous texts, such as the GAṆḌAVYŪHA and DAŚABHŪMIKASŪTRA, which circulated independently before being compiled together in this scripture. No Sanskrit recension of the Avataṃsakasūtra has been discovered; even the title is not known from Sanskrit sources, but is a reconstruction of the Chinese. (Recent research in fact suggests that the correct Sanskrit title might actually be Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra, or “Scripture of the Garland of Buddhas,” rather than Avataṃsakasūtra.) There are, however, extant Sanskrit recensions of two of its major constituents, the Daśabhūmikasūtra and Gaṇḍavyūha. Given the dearth of evidence of a Sanskrit recension of the complete Avataṃsakasūtra, and since the scripture was first introduced to China from Khotan, some scholars have argued that the scripture may actually be of Central Asian provenance (or at very least was heavily revised in Central Asia). There also exists in Chinese translation a forty-roll recension of the Avataṃsakasūtra, translated by PRAJÑA in 798, which roughly corresponds to the Gaṇḍavyūha, otherwise known in Chinese as the Ru fajie pin or “Chapter on the Entry into the DHARMADHĀTU.” Little attempt is made to synthesize these disparate materials into an overarching narrative, but there is a tenuous organizational schema involving a series of different “assemblies” to which the different discourses are addressed. The Chinese tradition presumed that the Avataṃsakasūtra was the first sermon of the Buddha (see HUAYAN ZHAO), and the sūtra’s first assembly takes place at the BODHI TREE two weeks after he had attained enlightenment while he was still immersed in the samādhi of oceanic reflection (SĀGARAMUDRĀSAMĀDHI). The Avataṃsaka is therefore believed to provide a comprehensive and definitive description of the Buddha’s enlightenment experience from within this profound state of samādhi. The older sixty-roll recension includes a total of eight assemblies held at seven different locations: three in the human realm and the rest in the heavens. The later eighty-roll recension, however, includes a total of nine assemblies at seven locations, a discrepancy that led to much ink in Huayan exegesis. In terms of its content, the sūtra offers exuberant descriptions of myriads of world systems populated by buddhas and bodhisattvas, along with elaborate imagery focusing especially on radiant light and boundless space. The scripture is also the inspiration for the famous metaphor of INDRAJĀLA (Indra’s Net), a canopy made of transparent jewels in which each jewel is reflected in all the others, suggesting the multivalent levels of interaction between all phenomena in the universe. The text focuses on the unitary and all-pervasive nature of enlightenment, which belongs to the realm of the Buddha of Pervasive Light, VAIROCANA, the central buddha in the Avataṃsaka, who embodies the DHARMAKĀYA. The sūtra emphasizes the knowledge and enlightenment of the buddhas as being something that is present in all sentient beings (see TATHĀGATAGARBHA and BUDDHADHĀTU), just as the entire universe, or trichiliocosm (S. TRISĀHASRAMAHĀSĀHASRALOKADHĀTU) is contained in a minute mote of dust. This notion of interpenetration or interfusion (YUANRONG) is stressed in the thirty-second chapter of Buddhabhadra’s translation, whose title bears the influential term “nature origination” (XINGQI). The sūtra, especially in FAZANG’s authoritative exegesis, is presumed to set forth a distinctive presentation of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA) in terms of the dependence of the whole on its parts, stressing the unity of the universe and its emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) of inherent nature; dependent origination here emerges as a profound ecological vision in which the existence of any one thing is completely dependent on the existence of all other things and all things on any one thing. Various chapters of the sūtra were also interpreted as providing the locus classicus for the exhaustive fifty-two stage Mahāyāna path (MĀRGA) to buddhahood, which included the ten faiths (only implied in the scripture), the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, and ten stages (DAŚABHŪMI), plus the two stages of awakening itself: virtual enlightenment (dengjue) and sublime enlightenment (miaojue). This soteriological process was then illustrated through the peregrinations of the lad SUDHANA to visit his religious mentors, each of whom is identified with one of these specific stages; Sudhana’s lengthy pilgrimage is described in great detail in the massive final chapter (a third of the entire scripture), the Gaṇḍavyūha, titled in the Avataṃsakasūtra the “Entry into the Dharmadhātu” chapter (Ru fajie pin). The evocative and widely quoted statement in the “Brahmacarya” chapter that “at the time of the initial arousal of the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA), complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAṂBODHI) is already achieved” was also influential in the development of the East Asian notion of sudden enlightenment (DUNWU), since it implied that awakening could be achieved in an instant of sincere aspiration, without requiring three infinite eons (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA) of religious training. Chinese exegetes who promoted this sūtra reserved the highest place for it in their scriptural taxonomies (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI) and designated it the “perfect” or “consummate” teaching (YUANJIAO) of Buddhism. Many commentaries on and exegeses of the sūtra are extant, among which the most influential are those written by FAZANG, ZHIYAN, CHENGGUAN, LI TONGXUAN, GUIFENG ZONGMI, WŎNHYO, ŬISANG, and MYŌE KŌBEN.

avavāda. (P. ovāda; T. gdams ngag; C. jiaodaolun; J. kyōdōron; K. kyodoron 教導論). In Sanskrit, “admonitions” or “instructions”; oral instructions that provide practical advice to a student. These may include instructions given to a monk or nun, or instructions on how to put into practice a particular doctrine or teaching. The term carries the connotation of advice drawn from experience in contrast to learning derived from books, although a true practitioner is said to be someone who can see all of the SŪTRAs and ŚĀSTRAs as avavāda. The term often appears in compound with its near-synonym anuśāsanī as “admonition and instruction” (avavādānuśāsanī). The compound OVĀDAPĀṬIMOKKHA (S. *avavādaprātimokṣa) is also used to refer to a foundational disciplinary code (PRĀTIMOKṢA) handed down by the past buddha VIPAŚYIN (P. Vipassī), which is believed to summarize the teachings fundamental to all the buddhas; it is found in the MAHĀPADĀNASUTTANTA [DĪGHANIKĀYA no. 14] and DHAMMAPADA v. 183: “Not doing anything evil,/Undertaking what is wholesome,/Purifying one’s mind:/This is the teaching of the buddhas” (P. sabbapāpassa akaraṇaṃ/kusalassūpasampadā/sacittapariyodapanaṃ/etaṃ buddhāna sāsanaṃ). This verse has been widely incorporated into THERAVĀDA Buddhist rituals and ceremonies. According to the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA, in the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ sūtras, there are distinct avavāda for each stage of the bodhisattva path (MĀRGA) corresponding to the twenty-two stages of BODHICITTA.

āveṇika[buddha]dharma. (T. chos ma ’dres pa/ma ’dres pa’i chos; C. bugong[fo]fa; J. fugūhō/fugūbuppō; K. pulgong[bul]bŏp 不共[佛]法). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “unshared factors”; special qualities that are unique to the buddhas. They usually appear in a list of eighteen (aṣṭādaśa Āveṇikā buddhadharmāḥ): (1)–(2) the buddhas never make a physical or verbal mistake; (3) their mindfulness never diminishes; (4) they have no perception of difference; (5) they are free from discursiveness; (6) their equanimity is not due to a lack of discernment; (7)–(12) they do not regress in their devotion, perseverance, recollection, concentration, wisdom, or liberation; (13)–(15) all their physical, verbal, and mental actions are preceded and followed by gnosis; and (16)–(18) they enter into the perception of the gnosis that is unobstructed and unimpeded with respect to the past, future, and present. An expanded listing of 140 such unshared factors is given in the YOGĀCĀRABHŪMIŚĀSTRA.

āveśa. (T. ’bebs pa; C. aweishe; J. abisha; K. amisa 阿尾捨). In Sanskrit, “possession”; the possession of shamans and mediums by a spirit or divinity so they could serve as oracles. Specific rites are outlined in esoteric Buddhist materials to incite possession in young children of usually seven or eight years of age; once the children began to shake from their inhabitation by the possessing deity, they would be asked a series of questions regarding portents for the future. In China, the tantric master VAJRABODHI was said to have used two seven-year-old girls as oracles in the palace, who were claimed to have been possessed by two deceased princesses. In Tibet, some of the bodies (rten, sku rten) through which an oracle (lha) speaks attained considerable importance in the religious and even political affairs of the state; among them the GNAS CHUNG (Nechung) oracle, said to be the pre-Buddhist spirit PE HAR, who was tamed by PADMASAMBHAVA and tasked with protecting the Buddha’s teaching, has the status of state oracle.

avīci. (T. mnar med; C. abi diyu/wujian diyu; J. abijigoku/mukenjigoku; K. abi chiok/mugan chiok 阿鼻地獄/無間地獄). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “interminable,” “relentless,” “incessant”; referring to the deepest, largest, and most tortuous of the eight great, or eight hot, hells (see NĀRAKA). (The Chinese use either a transcription corresponding to the first two syllables of the Sanskrit avīci or else the translation “interminable,” combined with their own cultural translation of “hell” as a “subterranean prison.”) This hell is said to be located twenty thousand YOJANAs below the continent of JAMBUDVĪPA and is the destination of beings whose “wholesome faculties are eradicated” (SAMUCCHINNAKUŚALAMŪLA) or who have committed the most heinous of acts, which, after death, result in immediate rebirth in the avīcı hell: patricide, matricide, killing an ARHAT, wounding a buddha, and causing schism in the SAṂGHA (see ĀNANTARYAKARMAN). Because beings reborn in this hell are being constantly burned alive in hot flames, with no respite in their torture, the agony they experience is said to be “Interminable.” (Editors’ note: According to one esoteric lineage, there is a special level of the avīci hell reserved especially for compilers of dictionaries, where, no matter how many terms the authors have defined, an interminable list remains.) Another seven levels of the hot hells are either situated above, or in other interpretations, at the same level as avīci. The ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA lists a corresponding series of bitterly cold hells beginning with the arbuda hell. Avīci and its seven companion hells each have sixteen (four in each direction) neighboring hells (PRATYEKANARAKA) or subhells (utsada), where supplementary tortures are meted out to the unfortunate inhabitants, such as plains of ash that burn their feet; swamps of excrement and corpses in which maggots eat their flesh; roads and forests of razor blades that slice off their flesh; and rivers of boiling water in which they are plunged. Like all levels of hell, however, avīci is ultimately impermanent and, once the previous unwholesome actions of the inhabitant are expiated after many eons, that being will be reborn elsewhere according to his KARMAN.

avidyā. (P. avijjā; T. ma rig pa; C. wuming; J. mumyō; K. mumyŏng 無明). In Sanskrit, “ignorance”; the root cause of suffering (DUḤKHA) and one of the key terms in Buddhism. Ignorance occurs in many contexts in Buddhist doctrine. For example, ignorance is the first link in the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA) that sustains the cycle of birth and death (SAṂSĀRA); it is the condition that creates the predispositions (SAṂSKĀRA) that lead to rebirth and thus inevitably to old age and death. Ignorance is also listed as one of the root afflictions (S. MŪLAKLEŚA) and the ten “fetters” (SAṂYOJANA) that keep beings bound to saṃsāra. Avidyā is closely synonymous with “delusion” (MOHA), one of the three unwholesome roots (AKUŚALAMŪLA). When they are distinguished, moha may be more of a generic foolishness and benightedness, whereas avidyā is instead an obstinate misunderstanding about the nature of the person and the world. According to ASAṄGA’s ABHIDHARMASAMUCCAYA, for example, moha is the factor of nescience, while avidyā is the active misconstruction of the nature of reality; he uses the analogy of twilight (= moha) falling on a coiled rope (= reality), which someone in the darkness wrongly conceives to be a snake (= avidyā). Due to the pervasive influence of ignorance, the deluded sentient being (PṚTHAGJANA) sees what is not self as self, what is impermanent as permanent, what is impure as pure, and what is painful as pleasurable (see VIPARYĀSA); and due to this confusion, one is subject to persistent suffering (duḥkha) and continued rebirth. The inveterate propensity toward ignorance is first arrested in the experience of stream-entry (see SROTAĀPANNA), which eliminates the three cognitive fetters of belief in a perduring self (SATKĀYADṚṢṬI), attachment to rules and rituals (S. ŚĪLAVRATAPARĀMARŚA), and skeptical doubt (S. VICIKITSĀ). Avidyā is gradually alleviated at the stages of once-returners (SAKṚDĀGĀMIN) and nonreturners (ANĀGĀMIN), and permanently eliminated at the stage of arhatship (see ARHAT), the fourth and highest degree of sanctity in mainstream Buddhism (see ĀRYAPUDGALA).

avijñaptirūpa. (T. rnam par rig byed ma yin pa’i gzugs; C. wubiaose; J. muhyōjiki; K. mup’yosaek 無表色). In Sanskrit, “unmanifest material force,” or “hidden imprints”; a special type of materiality (RŪPA) recognized in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school of ABHIDHARMA, especially. The Sarvāstivāda school notably makes recourse to this unique type of materiality as one way of reconciling the apparent contradiction in Buddhism between advocating the efficacy of moral cause and effect and rejecting any notion of an underlying substratum of being (ANĀTMAN), as well as issues raised by the teaching of momentariness (KṢAṆIKAVĀDA). When a person forms the intention (CETANĀ) to perform an action (KARMAN), whether wholesome (KUŚALA) or unwholesome (AKUŚALA), that intention creates an “unmanifest” type of materiality that imprints itself on the person as either bodily or verbal information, until such time as the action is actually performed via body or speech. Unmanifest materiality is thus the “glue” that connects the intention that initiates action with the physical act itself. Unmanifest material force can be a product of both wholesome and unwholesome intentions, but it is most commonly associated in Sarvāstivāda literature with three types of restraint (SAṂVARA) against the unwholesome specifically: (1) the restraint proffered to a monk or nun when he or she accepts the disciplinary rules of the order (PRĀTIMOKṢASAṂVARA); (2) the restraint that is produced through mental absorption (dhyānajasaṃvara); and (3) the restraint that derives from being free from the contaminants (anāsravasaṃvara). In all three cases, the unmanifest material force creates an invisible and impalpable force field that helps to protect the monk or nun from unwholesome action. Prātimokṣasaṃvara, for example, creates a special kind of force that dissuades people from unwholesome activity, even when they are not consciously aware they are following the precepts or when they are asleep. This specific type of restraint is what makes a man a monk, since just wearing robes or following an ascetic way of life would not itself be enough to instill in him the protective power offered by the PRĀTIMOKṢA. Meditation was also thought to confer on the monk protective power against physical harm while he was absorbed in DHYĀNA: the literature abounds with stories of monks who saw tiger tracks all around them after withdrawing from dhyāna, thus suggesting that dhyāna itself provided a protective shield against accident or injury. Finally, anāsravasaṃvara is the restraint that precludes someone who has achieved the extinction of the outflows (ĀSRAVA)—that is, enlightenment—from committing any action (KARMAN) that would produce a karmic result (VIPĀKA), thus ensuring that their remaining actions in this life do not lead to any additional rebirths. Because avijñaptirūpa sounds as much like a force as a type of matter, later authors, such as HARIVARMAN in his TATTVASIDDHI, instead listed it among the “conditioned forces dissociated from thought” (CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA).

Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī. (T. Rnam par mi rtog pa la ’jug pa’i gzungs). In Sanskrit, “DHĀRAṆĪ for Entrance into the Nonconceptual”; also called the Drumavikalpapraveśadhāraṇī, or “Dhāraṇī for Entrance to the [Wish Fulfilling] Tree of Paradise.” The text is cited in the DHARMADHARMATĀVIBHĀGA and appears to be the source of a number of its doctrines. There is a commentary on the text by KAMALAŚĪLA.

avṛha. (P. aviha; T. mi che ba; C. wufan tian; J. mubonten; K. mubŏn ch’ŏn 無煩天). In Sanskrit, “free from afflictions”; the name of the fifth highest of the eight heavens of the fourth concentration (DHYĀNA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPADHĀTU), and one of the five heavens within the fourth dhyāna that constitute the ŚUDDHĀVĀSA, the “pure abodes,” where those who have attained the rank of ANĀGĀMIN become ARHATs. As with all the heavens of the realm of subtle materiality, one is reborn as a divinity there through achieving the same level of concentration (dhyāna) as the gods of that heaven during one’s previous practice of meditation.

avyākṛta. (P. avyākata; T. lung du ma bstan pa/lung ma bstan; C. wuji; J. muki; K. mugi 無). In Sanskrit, “indeterminate” or “unascertainable”; used to refer to the fourteen “indeterminate” or “unanswered” questions (avyākṛtavastu) to which the Buddha refuses to respond. The American translator of Pāli texts HENRY CLARKE WARREN rendered the term as “questions which tend not to edification.” These questions involve various metaphysical assertions that were used in traditional India to evaluate a thinker’s philosophical lineage. There are a number of versions of these “unanswerables,” but one common list includes fourteen such questions, three sets of which are framed as “four alternatives” (CATUṢKOṬI): (1) Is the world eternal?, (2) Is the world not eternal?, (3) Is the world both eternal and not eternal?, (4) Is the world neither eternal nor not eternal?; (5) Is the world endless?, (6) Is the world not endless?, (7) Is the world both endless and not endless?, (8) Is the world neither endless nor not endless?; (9) Does the tathāgata exist after death?, (10) Does the tathāgata not exist after death?, (11) Does the tathāgata both exist and not exist after death?, (12) Does the tathāgata neither exist nor not exist after death?; (13) Are the soul (jīva) and the body identical?, and (14) Are the soul and the body not identical? It was in response to such questions that the Buddha famously asked whether a man shot by a poisoned arrow would spend time wondering about the height of the archer and the kind of wood used for the arrow, or whether he should seek to remove the arrow before it killed him. Likening these fourteen questions to such pointless speculation, he called them “a jungle, a wilderness, a puppet-show, a writhing, and a fetter, and is coupled with misery, ruin, despair, and agony, and does not tend to aversion, absence of passion, cessation, quiescence, knowledge, supreme wisdom, and nirvāṇa.” The Buddha thus asserted that all these questions had to be set aside as unanswerable for being either unexplainable conceptually or “wrongly framed” (P. ṭhapanīya). Questions that were “wrongly framed” inevitably derive from mistaken assumptions and are thus the products of wrong reflection (AYONIŚOMANASKĀRA); therefore, any answer given to them would necessarily be either misleading or irrelevant. The Buddha’s famous silence on these questions has been variously interpreted, with some seeing his refusal to answer these questions as deriving from the inherent limitations involved in using concepts to talk about such rarified existential questions. Because it is impossible to expect that concepts can do justice, for example, to an enlightened person’s state of being after death, the Buddha simply remains silent when asked this and other “unanswerable” questions. The implication, therefore, is that it is not necessarily the case that the Buddha does not “know” the answer to these questions, but merely that he realizes the conceptual limitations inherent in trying to answer them definitively and thus refuses to respond. Yet other commentators explained that the Buddha declined to answer the question of whether the world (that is, SAṂSĀRA) will ever end because the answer (“no”) would prove too discouraging to his audience.

avyākṛtadharma. (P. avyākatadhamma; T. lung du ma bstan pa’i chos; C. wujifa; J. mukihō; K. mugibŏp 無法). In Sanskrit, “indeterminate,” “neutral,” or “indifferent” dharmas. This term is used in contrast to dharmas that are wholesome (KUŚALA) or unwholesome (AKUŚALA); avyākṛtadharmas are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, and therefore “neutral.” Such “interdeterminate dharmas” include the KLIṢṬAMANAS, ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA, and the results of KARMAN. The term is also used more generally for deeds that in themselves are neither virtuous nor nonvirtuous but may become so depending on the intention with which they are performed.

Awakening of Faith (in Mahāyāna). See DASHENG QIXIN LUN.

ayaḥśālmalīvana. (P. simbalivana; T. lcags kyi shing shal ma li’i nags; C. tieci lin; J. tesshirin; K. ch’Ŏlcha rim 鐡刺林). In Sanskrit “forest of iron thorns”; one of the neighboring hells (PRATYEKANARAKA) surrounding the eight hot hells, through which the denizens of hell must pass as they depart from hell. It is classified as part of the third of the four neighboring hells, called “razor road” (KṢURAMĀRGA). The denizens of this hell arrive at a tree, where a loved one sits at the top of the tree beckoning. As the denizen climbs the tree, its body is lacerated by iron thorns in the bark of the tree. When it reaches the top, the loved one is gone and is now beckoning from the bottom of the tree. Climbing down, the body is again lacerated. The process is repeated until the unwholesome action has been expiated.

āyatana. (T. skye mched; C. chu; J. sho; K. ch’ŏ 處). In Sanskirt and Pāli, “sense-fields” or “bases of cognition.” In epistemology, these twelve sense-fields, which serve as the bases for the production of consciousness, are the six internal sense bases, or sense organs (the “faculties” or INDRIYA, i.e., eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) and the six external sense objects (the “objective supports” or ĀLAMBANA, i.e., forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tangible objects, and mental phenomena). The contact (SPARŚA) between a sense base and its corresponding sense object would lead to specific sensory consciousnesses (VIJÑĀNA); hence, the āyatanas are considered to be the “access” (āya) of the mind and mental states. In the context of the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA), the āyatanas are usually described as comprising only the six sense bases. The twelve āyatana are subsumed as the first twelve of the eighteen elements (DHĀTU). The āyatanas are one of the three major taxonomies of factors (along with SKANDHA and dhātu) found in the SŪTRAs, and represent a more primitive stage of DHARMA classification than the elaborate analyses found in the later ABHIDHARMA literature. In compound words like ĀKĀŚĀNANTYĀYATANA, ABHIBHAVĀYATANA, and so on, āyatana means simply “stage” or “level.”

ayoniśomanaskāra. [alt. ayoniśomanasikāra] (P. ayonisomanasikāra; T. tshul bzhin ma yin pa’i yid la byed pa/tshul min yid byed; C. feili zuoyi/buzheng siwei; J. hiri no sai/fushōshiyui; K. piri chagŭi/pujŏng sayu 非理作意/不正思惟). In Sanskrit, “unsystematic attention” or “wrong reflection”; attention directed to an object in a superficial manner, without thoroughgoing attention. This term refers especially to the entrancement with the compounded forms of things as revealed through their external marks (LAKṢAṆA) and secondary characteristics (ANUVYAÑJANA), so that one does not perceive that they are impermanent (ANITYA). It also entails wrongly ascribing a notion of permanent selfhood (SATKĀYADṚṢṬI) to things that are compounded and thus lacking a perduring substratum of being. Because of unsystematic attention to sensory experience, the sentient being becomes subject to an inexorable process of conceptual proliferation (PRAPAÑCA), in which everything that can be experienced in this world is tied together into a labyrinthine network of concepts, all connected to oneself and projected outward as craving (TṚṢṆĀ), conceit (MĀNA), and wrong views (DṚṢṬI), thus creating bondage to SAṂSĀRA.

āyuṣman. (P. Āvuso; T. tshe dang ldan pa; C. jushou; J. guju; K. kusu 具壽). In Sanskrit, “friend” or “brother” (lit. “endowed with life,” which is the meaning of the Chinese translation “full of life”); a polite form of monastic address, usually used between equals or when a teacher or senior monk addresses a student or junior monk.

Ayuthaya. [alt. Ayutthaya]. There are two important places called Ayuthaya in the Buddhist tradition. ¶ Ayuthaya was a city in north-central India, prominent in early Buddhist texts, that is identified as the ancient city of SĀKETA; it was said to be the birthplace of the Indian divine-king Rāma. ¶ Ayuthaya is the name of a major Thai kingdom and its capital that flourished between 1350 and 1767 CE. The city of Ayuthaya was built on an island at the confluence of the Chao Phraya, Pasak, and Lopburi rivers and grew in importance as the power of its neighbor, the Thai kingdom of SUKHOTHAI, waned. Strategically located and easy to defend, Ayuthaya was accessible to seagoing vessels and commanded the northward trade of the entire Menam basin, whence it grew rapidly into a major Asian entrepôt. Merchant ships from China, Java, Malaya, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Persia, Portugal, Holland, France, and England regularly docked at its port. One of the world’s wealthiest capitals, Ayuthaya contained hundreds of gilded monasteries, temples, and pagodas within its walls and was traversed by grand canals and waterways that served as avenues. Strong Khmer influence is evident in the architecture of Ayuthaya, which developed a distinctive stepped-pyramidal pagoda form called prang. The city’s magnificence was extolled in the travelogues of European and Asian visitors alike. Soon after the city’s founding, Ayuthaya’s kings became enthusiastic patrons of reformed Sinhalese-style THERAVĀDA Buddhism, inviting missionaries from their stronghold in Martaban to reform the local saṅgha. The same form of Buddhism was adopted by neighboring Thai states in the north, the Mon kingdom of Pegu, and later the Burmese, making it the dominant form of Buddhism in Southeast Asia. In 1548, the Burmese king, Tabin Shwehti, invaded the kingdom of Ayuthaya and laid siege to its capital, initiating more than two centuries of internecine warfare between the Burmese and the Thai kingdoms, which culminated in the destruction of Ayuthaya in 1767 and the building of a new Thai capital, Bangkok, in 1782.