Bhartṛhari. (fl. c. 475). Sanskrit proper name of an important Indian grammarian and author of the Vākyapadīya, the central text of the Śabdabrahman school of Indian philosophy; thought by some to be a teacher of DIGNĀGA, who cites lines from Bhartṛhari in his seminal work the PRAMĀṆASAMUCCAYA. Dignāga’s theory of APOHA (exclusion), a central tenet in his system, is central to SAUTRĀNTIKA and some YOGĀCĀRA interpretations of the two truths (SAṂVṚTISATYA and PARAMĀRTHASATYA). The apoha theory holds that objects of conceptual thought have only a shared (sāmānya) essence and appear only as the exclusion of other categories. Some suggest this theory can be traced back through Bhartṛhari to the grammarian Vyāḍi. Bhartṛhari himself was not a follower of any Buddhist school, and his views are briefly refuted by ŚĀNTARAKṢITA in his TATTVASAṂGRAHA.

bhāṣya. (T. bshad pa; C. lun; J. ron; K. non 論). In Sanskrit, “commentary,” or “exposition”; especially an exegesis on a set of aphoristic statements (SŪTRAS) or kārikās (the same in verse form): e.g., ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA. In East Asia, the term lun was reserved for the commentaries of the eminent bodhisattva-exegetes of Indian MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism, such as VASUBANDHU, ASAṄGA, and MAITREYA/MAITREYANĀTHA; commentaries by indigenous East Asian exegetes are usually termed shu. One of the very few exceptions is the “Exposition of the *Vajrasamādhisūtra (KŬMGANG SAMMAE KYŎNG)” (KŬMGANG SAMMAEGYŎNG NON), by the Korean exegete WŎNHYO, which was so highly regarded that it was given this special designation.

bhautika. (T. ’byung ’gyur; C. youda; J. udai; K. yudae 有大). In Sanskrit, a secondary formation from BHŪTA (“element”), and therefore often rendered in English as “secondary element” or “sensible phenomenon.” According to the VAIBHĀṢIKA and SAUTRĀNTIKA schools, any material object (ĀLAMBANA) except sound (viz., an object of sight, smell, taste, and touch) is made up of eight components: the four elements (MAHĀBHŪTA) of earth, water, fire, and wind; and the four secondary elements (bhautika) of form, smell, taste, and touch. These eight components are inseparable from each other.

bhava. (T. srid pa; C. you; J. u; K. yu 有). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “becoming” or “existence,” conceived of as a process; the tenth link in the twelve-linked chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA; P. paṭiccasamuppāda). In Pāli sources, bhava is of three types depending on the strata of the universe in which it occurs: namely, sensuous becoming (kāmabhava) in the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU), subtle-material becoming (rūpabhava) in the subtle-materiality realm (RŪPADHĀTU), and immaterial becoming (arūpabhava) in the immaterial realm (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU). Wherever it occurs, bhava can be divided into an active process (P. kammabhava) or a passive process (P. uppattibhava). The active process is ethically charged, that is to say it is comprised of virtuous and unvirtuous volitional action (KARMAN) which leads to fortunate and unfortunate rebirth according to the deeds performed. The passive process refers to rebirth and all other events that befall an individual as a consequence of previous action. As such events or phenomena are automatic effects and are not volitional, they are ethically neutral. According to the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA and MAHĀYĀNA sources, the word bhava as the tenth link in the chain of dependent origination is a case of ascribing the name of the result (“becoming” reborn) to its cause (the most intense moment of upādāna attraction that fully ripens the volitional action in the instant prior to rebirth). The term is also used in a more general sense as “existence” and hence in some cases as a synonym of SAṂSĀRA. See BHAVACAKRA. In Tibetan, the translation of the term, srid, also denotes the secular realm, as opposed to the religious realm (chos).

bhavacakra. (P. bhavacakka; T. srid pa’i khor lo; C. youlun; J. urin; K. yuryun 有輪). In Sanskrit, “wheel of existence”; a visual depiction of SAṂSĀRA in the form of a wheel, best known in its Tibetan forms but widely used in other Buddhist traditions as well. The BHAVACAKRA is a seminal example of Buddhist didactic art. The chart is comprised of a series of concentric circles, each containing pictorial representations of some of the major features of Buddhist cosmology and didactics. Standard versions consist of an outer ring of images depicting the twelve-linked chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA). Within this ring is another circle broken into six equal sectors—one for each of the six realms of existence in saṃsāra. The salutary realms of divinities (DEVA), demigods (ASURA), and humans (MANUṢYA) are found in the top half of the circle, while the unfortunate realms (DURGATI; APĀYA) of animals (TIRYAK), hungry ghosts (PRETA), and hell denizens (NĀRAKA) are found in the bottom half. Inside this circle is a ring that is divided evenly into dark and light halves. The most popular interpretation of these two halves is that the light half depicts the path of bliss, or the path that leads to better rebirth and to liberation, while the dark half represents the path of darkness, which leads to misfortune and rebirth in the hells. Finally, in the center of the picture is a small circle in which can be seen a bird, a snake, and a pig. These three animals represent the “three poisons” (TRIVIṢA)—the principal afflictions (KLEŚA) of greed or sensuality (LOBHA or RĀGA), hatred or aversion (DVEṢA), and delusion (MOHA)—that bind beings to the round of rebirth. The entire wheel is held in the jaws and claws of a demon whose identity varies from version to version. Often this demon is presumed to be MĀRA, the great tempter who was defeated in his attempt to sway GAUTAMA from enlightenment. Another common figure who grips the wheel is YAMA, the king of death, based on the idea that Yama was the original being, the first to die, and hence the ruler over all caught in the cycle of birth and death. Often outside the circle appear one or more buddhas, who may be pointing to a SŪTRA, or to some other religious object. The buddhas’ location outside the circle indicates their escape from the cycle of birth and death. The same figure of a buddha may be also found among the denizens of hell, indicating that a buddha’s compassion extends to beings in even the most inauspicious destinies. According to several Indian texts, the Buddha instructed that the bhavacakra should be painted at the entrance of a monastery for the instruction of the laity; remnants of a bhavacakra painting were discovered at AJAṆṬĀ.

bhavāgra. (P. bhavagga; T. srid rtse; C. youding tian; J. uchōten; K. yujŏng ch’ŏn 有頂天). In Sanskrit, the “summit of existence” or “apex of the universe”; one of the names for the fourth and highest level of heavens of the immaterial realm of existence (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU), which is also known as the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception (NAIVASAṂJÑĀNĀSAṂJÑĀYATANA). As the highest level of existence, bhavāgra is also sometimes used in contrast to the lowest level of the hells, the AVĪCI.

bhāvanā. (T. sgom pa; C. xiuxi; J. shujū; K. susŭp 修習). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “cultivation” (lit. “bringing into being”); a Sanskrit term commonly translated into English as “meditation.” It is derived from the root √bhū, “to be” or “to become,” and has a wide range of meanings including cultivating, producing, manifesting, imagining, suffusing, and reflecting. It is in the first sense, that of cultivation, that the term is used to mean the sustained development of particular states of mind. However, bhāvanā in Buddhism can include studying doctrine, memorizing sūtras, and chanting verses to ward off evil spirits. The term thus refers broadly to the full range of Buddhist spiritual culture, embracing the “bringing into being” (viz., cultivating) of such generic aspects of training as the path (MĀRGA), specific spiritual exercises (e.g., loving-kindness, or MAITRĪ), or even a general mental attitude, such as virtuous (KUŚALA) states of mind. The term is also used in the specific sense of a “path of cultivation” (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA), which “brings into being” the insights of the preceding path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA). Hence, bhāvanā entails all the various sorts of cultivation that an adept must undertake in order to enhance meditation, improve its efficacy, and “bring it into being.” More specifically as “meditation,” two general types of meditation are sometimes distinguished in the commentarial literature: stabilizing meditation (ŚAMATHA) in which the mind focuses with one-pointedness on an object in an effort to expand the powers of concentration; and analytical meditation (VIPAŚYANĀ), in which the meditator conceptually investigates a topic in order to develop insight into it.

Bhāvanākrama. (T. Sgom rim). In Sanskrit, “Stages of Meditation,” the title of three separate but related works by the late-eighth century Indian master KAMALAŚĪLA. During the reign of the Tibetan king KHRI SRONG LDE BTSAN at the end of the eighth century, there were two Buddhist factions at court, a Chinese faction led by the Northern Chan (BEI ZONG) monk Heshang Moheyan (Mahāyāna) and an Indian faction of the recently deceased ŚĀNTARAKṢITA, who with the king and PADMASAMBHAVA had founded the first Tibetan monastery at BSAM YAS (Samye). According to traditional accounts, Śāntarakṣita foretold of dangers and left instructions in his will that his student Kamalaśīla should be summoned from India. A conflict seems to have developed between the Indian and Chinese partisans (and their allies in the Tibetan court) over the question of the nature of enlightenment, with the Indians holding that enlightenment takes place as the culmination of a gradual process of purification, the result of perfecting morality (ŚĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJÑĀ). The Chinese spoke against this view, holding that enlightenment was the intrinsic nature of the mind rather than the goal of a protracted path, such that one need simply to recognize the presence of this innate nature of enlightenment by entering a state of awareness beyond distinctions; all other practices were superfluous. According to both Chinese and Tibetan records, a debate was held between Kamalaśīla and Moheyan at Bsam yas, circa 797, with the king himself serving as judge (see BSAM YAS DEBATE). According to Tibetan reports (contradicted by the Chinese accounts), Kamalaśīla was declared the winner and Moheyan and his party banished from Tibet, with the king proclaiming that thereafter the MADHYAMAKA school of Indian Buddhist philosophy (to which Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla belonged) would have pride of place in Tibet. ¶ According to Tibetan accounts, after the conclusion of the debate, the king requested that Kamalaśīla compose works that presented his view, and in response, Kamalaśīla composed the three Bhāvanākrama. There is considerable overlap among the three works. All three are germane to the issues raised in the debate, although whether all three were composed in Tibet is not established with certainty; only the third, and briefest of the three, directly considers, and refutes, the view of “no mental activity” (amanasikāra, cf. WUNIAN), which is associated with Moheyan. The three texts set forth the process for the potential BODHISATTVA to cultivate BODHICITTA and then develop ŚAMATHA and VIPAŚYANĀ and progress through the bodhisattva stages (BHŪMI) to buddhahood. The cultivation of vipaśyanā requires the use of both scripture (ĀGAMA) and reasoning (YUKTI) to understand emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ); in the first Bhāvanākrama, Kamalaśīla sets forth the three forms of wisdom (prajñā): the wisdom derived from learning (ŚRUTAMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), the wisdom derived from reflection (CINTĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), and the wisdom derived from cultivation (BHĀVANĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), explaining that the last of these gradually destroys the afflictive obstructions (KLEŚĀVARAṆA) and the obstructions to omniscience (JÑEYĀVARAṆA). The second Bhāvanākrama considers many of these same topics, stressing that the achievement of the fruition of buddhahood requires the necessary causes, in the form of the collection of merit (PUṆYASAṂBHĀRA) and the collection of wisdom (JÑĀNASAṂBHĀRA). Both the first and second works espouse the doctrine of mind-only (CITTAMĀTRA); it is on the basis of these and other statements that Tibetan doxographers classified Kamalaśīla as a YOGĀCĀRA-SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA. The third and briefest of the Bhāvanākrama is devoted especially to the topics of Śamatha and vipaśyanā, how each is cultivated, and how they are ultimately unified. Kamalaśīla argues that analysis (VICĀRA) into the lack of self (ĀTMAN) in both persons (PUDGALA) and phenomena (DHARMA) is required to arrive at a nonconceptual state of awareness. The three texts are widely cited in later Tibetan Buddhist literature, especially on the process for developing Śamatha and vipaśyanā.

bhāvanāmārga. (T. sgom lam; C. xiudao; J. shudō; K. sudo 修道). In Sanskrit, “the path of cultivation” or “path of meditation”; the fourth of the five stages of the path (MĀRGA) in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA soteriological system (also adopted in the MAHĀYĀNA), which follows the path of vision or insight (DARŚANAMĀRGA) and precedes the adept path where no further training is necessary (AŚAIKṢAMĀRGA). In the Sarvāstivāda path schema, the path of vision consists of fifteen thought-moments, with a subsequent sixteenth moment marking the beginning of the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA). This sixteenth moment, that of subsequent knowledge (ANVAYAJÑĀNA) of the truth of the path (mārga), is, in effect, the knowledge that all of the afflictions (KLEŚA) of both the subtle-materiality realm (RŪPADHĀTU) and the immaterial realm (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU) that are associated with the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS have been abandoned. As a result, the meditator destroys all causes for future rebirth as an animal, ghost, or hell denizen, but is not liberated from rebirth altogether and may still be reborn as a human or divinity. The more deeply rooted afflictions are destroyed over the course of the path of cultivation. For each of the nine levels of the three realms of rebirth—the sensuous realm (with one level), the realm of subtle materiality (with four levels), and the immaterial realm (with four levels)—there are nine levels of afflictions (KLEŚA), from the most coarse to the most insidious, making eighty-one levels of affliction to be destroyed. As was the case with the path of vision, these defilements must be destroyed in a two-step process: the actual destruction of the particular affliction and the knowledge that it has been destroyed. There are therefore 162 “moments” of the abandoning of afflictions. This process, which takes place over the course of the path of cultivation, may occur over several lifetimes. However, when the 162^nd stage is reached, and the subtlest of the subtle afflictions associated with the ninth level—that is, the fourth absorption of the immaterial realm—has been abandoned, the adept is then liberated from rebirth. The bhāvanāmārga is one of the “paths of the nobles” (ĀRYAMĀRGA) and one on this stage is immune to any possibility of retrogression and is assured of eventually achieving NIRVĀṆA. Reference is also sometimes made to the mundane path of cultivation (LAUKIKA-bhāvanāmārga), which refers to the three trainings (TRIŚIKṢĀ) in morality (ŚĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJÑĀ) as they are developed before the first of the three fetters (SAṂYOJANA) is eradicated and insight achieved. In the Mahāyāna path system, with variations between YOGĀCĀRA and MADHYAMAKA, the bhāvanāmārga is the period in which the BODHISATTVA proceeds through the ten BHŪMIs and destroys the afflictive obstructions (KLEŚĀVARAṆA) and the obstructions to omniscience (JÑEYĀVARAṆA).

bhāvanāmayīprajñā. (P. bhāvanāmayapaā; T. bsgoms pa las byung ba’i shes rab; C. xiuhui; J. shue; K. suhye 修慧). In Sanskrit, lit. “wisdom generated by cultivation”; often translated as “wisdom derived from meditation”; the third of the three types of wisdom, together with ŚRUTAMAYĪPRAJÑĀ (wisdom derived from what is heard, viz., learning) and CINTĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ (wisdom derived from reflection or analysis). Although the general understanding is that this third and final manifestation of wisdom comes after, and is largely dependent on, the previous two types, bhāvanāmayīprajñĀ is considered to be the highest of these three because it is the culmination of one’s efforts to cultivate the path (MĀRGA) and the product of direct spiritual experience. This third type of wisdom is a form of VIPAŚYANĀ, an understanding of reality at the level of ŚAMATHA—profound concentration coupled with tranquility.

bhavaṅgasota. In Pāli, “subconscious continuum”; a concept peculiar to later Pāli epistemological and psychological theory, which the ABHIDHAMMA commentaries define as the foundation of experience. The bhavaṅgasota is comprised of unconscious moments of mind that flow, as it were, in a continuous stream (sota) or continuum and carry with them the impressions or potentialities of past experience. Under the proper conditions, these potentialities ripen as moments of consciousness, which, in turn, interrupt the flow of the bhavaṅga briefly before the mind lapses back into the subconscious continuum. Moments of consciousness and unconsciousness are discreet and never overlap in time, with unconsciousness being the more typical of the two states. This continuum is, therefore, what makes possible the faculty of memory. The bhavaṅgasota is the Pāli counterpart of idealist strands of Mahāyāna Buddhist thought, such as the “storehouse consciousness” (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA) of the YOGĀCĀRA school. See also CITTASAṂTĀNA; SAṂTĀNA.

Bhavasaṃkrānti. (T. Srid pa ’pho ba). In Sanskrit, “Transference of Existence,” a brief work ascribed to NĀGĀRJUNA; also known as Madhyamakabhavasaṃkrānti. The title seems to suggest that it deals with the practice of transferring one’s consciousness from one body to another, but this topic is actually not covered in the text. It discusses instead standard MADHYAMAKA topics such as the function of VIKALPA as the source of the world, the ultimate nonexistence of all phenomena, the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ), UPĀYA and PRAJÑĀ, and the two truths (SATYADVAYA). Nāgārjuna’s major commentators (BHĀVAVIVEKA, CANDRAKĪRTI et al.) do not cite the work, which raises questions about its authorship.

Bhāvaviveka. (T. Legs ldan ’byed; C. Qingbian; J. Shōben; K. Ch’ŏngbyŏn 清辯) (c. 500–570). Also known as Bhāviveka and Bhavya, an important Indian master of the MADHYAMAKA school, identified in Tibet as a proponent of SVĀTANTRIKA MADHYAMAKA and, within that, of SAUTRĀNTIKA-SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA. He is best known for two works. The first is the PRAJÑĀPRADĪPA, his commentary on NĀGĀRJUNA’s MŪLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ; this work has an extensive subcommentary by AVALOKITAVRATA. Although important in its own right as one of the major commentaries on the central text of the Madhyamaka school, the work is most often mentioned for its criticism of the commentary of BUDDHAPĀLITA on the first chapter of Nāgārjuna’s text, where Bhāvaviveka argues that it is insufficient for the Madhyamaka only to state the absurd consequences (PRASAṄGA) that follow from the position of the opponent. According to Bhāvaviveka, the Madhyamaka must eventually state his own position in the form of what is called an autonomous inference (svatantrānumāna) or an autonomous syllogism (SVATANTRAPRAYOGA). In his own commentary on the first chapter of Nāgārjuna’s text, CANDRAKĪRTI came to the defense of Buddhapālita and criticized Bhāvaviveka, stating that it is inappropriate for the Madhyamaka to use autonomous syllogisms. It is on the basis of this exchange that Tibetan exegetes identified two schools within Madhyamaka: the Svātantrika, which includes Bhāvaviveka, and the Prāsaṅgika, which includes Buddhapālita and Candrakīrti. ¶ The other major work of Bhāvaviveka is his MADHYAMAKAHṚDAYA, written in verse, and its prose autocommentary, the TARKAJVĀLĀ. The Madhyamakahṛdaya is preserved in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, the Tarkajvālā only in Tibetan. It is a work of eleven chapters, the first three and the last two of which set forth the main points in Bhāvaviveka’s view of the nature of reality and the Buddhist path, dealing with such topics as BODHICITTA, the knowledge of reality (tattvajñāna), and omniscience (SARVAJÑĀTĀ). The intervening chapters set forth the positions (and Bhāvaviveka’s refutations) of various Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, including the ŚRĀVAKA, YOGĀCĀRA, Sāṃkhya, Vaiśeṣika, Vedānta, and Mīmāṃsā. These chapters (along with ŚĀNTARAKṢITA’s TATTVASAṂGRAHA) are an invaluable source of insight into the relations between Madhyamaka and other contemporary Indian philosophical schools, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist. The chapter on the śrāvakas, for example, provides a detailed account of the reasons put forth by the ŚRĀVAKAYĀNA schools of mainstream Buddhism as to why the Mahāyāna sūtras are not the word of the Buddha (BUDDHAVACANA). Bhāvaviveka’s response to these charges, as well as his refutation of YOGĀCĀRA in the subsequent chapter, are particularly spirited, arguing that reality (TATHATĀ) cannot be substantially existent (dravyasat), as those rival schools claim. However, Bhāvaviveka made extensive use of both the logic and epistemology of DIGNĂGA, at least at the level of conventional analysis. Bhāvaviveka appears to have been the first Madhyamaka author to declare that the negations set forth by the Madhyamaka school are nonaffirming (or simple) negations (PRASAJYAPRATIṢEDHA) rather than affirming (or implicative) negations (PARYUDĀSAPRATIṢEDHA). Also attributed to Bhāvaviveka is the Karatalaratna (“Jewel in Hand Treatise”; Zhangzhen lun), a work preserved only in the Chinese translation of XUANZANG. Bhāvaviveka’s MADHYAMAKĀRTHASAṂGRAHA is a brief text in verse. As the title suggests, it provides an outline of the basic topics of MADHYAMAKA philosophy, such as the middle way (S. MADHYAMAPRATIPAD) between the extremes of existence and nonexistence, Madhyamaka reasoning, and the two truths (SATYADVAYA). The MADHYAMAKARATNAPRADĪPA is likely the work of another author of the same name, since it makes reference to such later figures as Candrakīrti and DHARMAKĪRTI.

Bhāviveka. (S). See BHĀVAVIVEKA.

Bhavya. (S). See BHĀVAVIVEKA.

Bhayabheravasutta. In Pāli, “Discourse on Fear and Dread,” the fourth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (an untitled recension of uncertain affiliation appears in the Chinese translation of the EKOTTARĀGAMA); preached by the Buddha to a brāhmaṇa named Jāṇussoṇi in the JETAVANAGrove in ŚRĀVASTĪ. The Buddha explains how a monk living alone in a fearful jungle must guard his thoughts, words, and deeds from evil. He then explains how he had to guard his own thoughts, words, and deeds while he strove to attain enlightenment as he sat beneath the BODHI TREE.

bhayatupaṭṭhānāñāṇa. In Pāli, “knowledge arising from the awareness of terror”; according to the VISUDDHIMAGGA, the third of nine knowledges (ñāṇa; JÑĀNA) cultivated as part of “purity of knowledge and vision of progress along the path” (PAṬIPADĀÑĀṆADASSANAVISUDDHI). This latter category, in turn, constitutes the sixth and penultimate purity (VISUDDHI) to be developed along the path to liberation. Knowledge arising from the contemplation of terror is developed by noting how all conditioned formations (saṅkhāra; SAṂSKĀRA) or mental and physical phenomena (NĀMARŪPA) of the past, present and future have either gone, are going, or are destined to go to destruction. A simile given in the Visuddhimagga is that of a woman whose three sons have offended the king. The woman, who has already witnessed the beheading of her eldest son, witnesses the beheading of her middle son. And having witnessed the beheadings of her two older sons, the woman is filled with terror at the knowledge that her youngest son will likewise be executed. In the same way, the practitioner observes how phenomena of the past have ceased, how phenomena of the present are ceasing, and how those of the future are likewise destined to cease. Seeing conditioned formations as destined to destruction in this way, that is, as impermanent (anicca; ANITYA), the practitioner is filled with terror. Similarly, the practitioner sees conditioned formations as suffering (dukkha; DUḤKHA), and as impersonal and nonself (anattā; ANĀTMAN) and is filled with terror. In this way, the practitioner comes to realize that all mental and physical phenomena, being characterized by the three universal marks of existence (tilakkhaṇa; TRILAKṢAṆA), are frightful.

bhikkhu. In Pāli, “mendicant”; a fully ordained Buddhist monk, who is enjoined to observe 227 rules of discipline according to the Pāli VINAYA. Upon receiving higher ordination (UPASAṂPADĀ), the new monk is required to remain under the guidance (nissaya; NIŚRAYA) of his preceptor (upajjhāya; UPĀDHYĀYA) for at least five years, until he becomes sufficiently skilled in dhamma and vinaya. After ten years, the monk becomes an elder (thera) in the saṅgha and is allowed to serve as an upajjhāya and ordain others. See also BHIKṢU.

bhikkhunī. (P). See BHIKṢUṆĪ.

bhikṣu. (P. bhikkhu; T. dge slong; C. biqiu; J. biku; K. pigu 比丘). In Sanskrit, lit. “beggar”; a male “religious mendicant” or, as commonly translated, “monk.” The female counterparts of bhikṣu are BHIKṢUṆĪ (nuns). The term is derived from the Sanskrit root √bhikṣ meaning, among other things, “to beg for alms.” The Tibetan translation of the term literally means “virtuous beggar”; the Chinese instead uses a transcription. Buddhism was one of the principal early groups of wandering religious (ŚRAMAṆA), which constituted a new religious movement in the fifth century BCE, and coined the term bhikṣu to distinguish its wanderers from those of other Śramaṇa sects, such as the JAINA and ĀJĪVAKA. A bhikṣu holds the higher ordination (UPASAṂPADĀ) of his VINAYA lineage and is thus distinguished from a novice, or ŚRĀMAṆERA. Novitiate status is attained by undergoing the “going forth” (pravrajyā; see PRAVRAJITA) ceremony and accepting a set of ten (and, in some traditions, expanded to thirty-six) precepts (ŚĪLA). After a period of service in the order, one may undergo the upasaṃpadā ceremony, by which one attains full ordination. At that point, the bhikṣu is expected to adhere to all the rules found in the litany of monastic discipline, or PRĀTIMOKṢA, e.g., 227 in the Pāli vinaya used in Southeast Asia, 250 in the DHARMAGUPTAKA vinaya used in much of East Asia, 253 in the MŪLASARVĀSTIVĀDA vinaya followed in Tibet, etc. By rule, although not necessarily in practice, a bhikṣu is allowed to possess only a set of four or eight “requisites” (PARIṢKĀRA, P. parikkhāra), which provide him with the minimal necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. The duties of a bhikṣu vary widely across the Buddhist tradition. These duties include, but are not limited to, preserving the teaching by memorizing, copying and/or reciting the scriptures; instructing younger monks, novices, and lay adherents; conducting a variety of different kinds of ceremonies; maintaining the monastery grounds, etc. Bhikṣus were customarily presumed to be dependent on lay followers for their material requirements and, in return, served as a field of merit (PUṆYAKṢETRA) for them by accepting their donations (DĀNA). Within any given monastery, bhikṣus maintain hierarchical relationships. Depending on the monk’s tradition, seniority may be determined by the number of years since full ordination (see VARṢĀ; C. JIELA), one’s performance in examinations, or other factors. Literary evidence suggests that the first Buddhist monks were itinerant ascetics who resided in communities only during the monsoon season. Later, as the tradition grew, these temporary residences evolved into permanent monasteries. In the Hindu tradition, the term bhikṣu may sometimes also be used to signify the fourth stage (āśrama) of life, in which one renounces worldly attachments for the sake of study and reflection (although this stage is more commonly referred to as saṃnyāsin); in this context, however, no formal renunciation through ordination is necessarily required. Throughout much of the history of Buddhism, there have been regions and historical periods in which Buddhist monks married but continued to maintain the appearance of a fully-ordained bhikṣu, including wearing monastic robes and shaving their heads. In English, such religious might better be called “priests” rather than “monks.” See also BHIKKHU.

bhikṣuṇī. (P. bhikkhunī; T. dge slong ma; C. biqiuni; J. bikuni; K. piguni 比丘尼) In Sanskrit, “beggar (female),” commonly translated as “nun.” A bhikṣuṇī holds full ordination in her VINAYA lineage and is distinguished from a novice nun (ŚRĀMAṆERIKĀ) or a probationary postulant (ŚIKṢAMĀṆĀ) who both accept only the preliminary training rules. The bhikṣuṇī is enjoined to observe the full set of rules of monastic discipline, or PRĀTIMOKṢA, governing fully ordained nuns, which vary from 311 in the Pāli vinaya to 364 in the MŪLASARVĀSTIVĀDA vinaya followed in Tibet (although the order of bhikṣuṇī was never established there). These rules mirror closely those also incumbent on monks (BHIKṢU) (although there are substantially greater numbers of rules in all categories of the bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa); an important exception, however, is that nuns are also required to adhere to the eight “weighty” or “deferential” “rules” (GURUDHARMA), a set of special rules that nuns alone are enjoined to follow, which explicitly subordinate the bhikṣuṇī to the bhikṣu SAṂGHA. Upon receiving higher ordination (UPASAṂPADĀ), the new nun is required to remain under the guidance (NIŚRAYA; P. nissaya) of her preceptor (UPĀDHYĀYĀ; P. upajjhāyā) for at least two years until she becomes skilled in dharma and vinaya. After ten years, the nun becomes an elder (sthavirī; P. therī) in the bhikṣuṇī saṃgha and, after another two years, may act as a preceptor and ordain new nuns into the order. In South Asia, the formal upasaṃpadā ordination of nuns is thought to have died out sometime during the medieval period, and there is little evidence that a formal bhikṣuṇī saṃgha was ever established in Southeast Asia. The only surviving bhikṣuṇī ordination lineages are in China, Korea, and Taiwan. Apart from East Asia, most Buddhist women known as “nuns” are actually only ordained with the eight, nine, or ten extended lay precepts (as in Southeast Asia), as Śrāmaṇerikā (as in Tibet), or else take the East Asian bodhisattva precepts of the FANWANG JING (as in Japan). In recent years there has been a concerted effort to reintroduce the bhikṣuṇī ordination to countries where it had died out or was never established.

bhrāntijñāna. (T. ’khrul shes; C. luanshi; J. ranjiki; K. nansik 亂識). In Sanskrit, “mistaken consciousness”; an epistemological term that is used to describe a consciousness that is mistaken with regard to its external sensory object, or “appearing object” (T. snang yul). Hence, according to the SAUTRĀNTIKA school, all conceptual consciousnesses, even those that are veridical, are mistaken in the sense that they mistake a generic image (arthasāmānya) of an object for the actual object. YOGĀCĀRA schools say all consciousness of external appearance is mistaken, and some MADHYAMAKA schools say basic ignorance makes even nonconceptual sensory perceptions mistaken. In addition to mistaken consciousnesses that arise from such forms of ignorance (AVIDYĀ), there are also mistaken consciousnesses produced by superficial causes––inner and outer causes and conditions that distort the five physical senses and sixth mental sense. For example, jaundice may cause something that is white to appear yellow and summer sunlight and sand may cause a mirage, in which the mistaken consciousness sees water where there is none.

Bhṛkutī. (T. Khro gnyer can; C. Pijuzhi; J. Bikutei; K. Piguji 毘胝). In Sanskrit, lit. “She who Frowns”; a wrathful deity understood to be a form of TĀRĀ, who is reputed to have been born from a frown of the BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEŚVARA. An alternate account is that she arose from a ray of light emanating out of Avalokiteśvara’s left eye at the same time Tārā was born from the right eye. Bhṛkutī is sometimes said to be an emanation of the buddha AMITĀBHA as well, particularly in Japan, and often appears with an image of Amitābha in her crown. Although she can appear in peaceful form, she is generally depicted as a wrathful deity, most commonly with one face with three eyes, and four arms holding a trident, vase, and rosary and displaying the VARADAMUDRĀ, and either standing in ĀLĪḌHA posture or sitting in LALITĀSANA. ¶ Bhṛkutī is also the name of the Nepali princess who married SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO. According to the MAṆI BKA’ ’BUM, she was the daughter of the Nepalese king Aṃśuvarman and was brought to Tibet by the famed minister Mgar stong btsan after Srong btsan sgam po saw her in a prophetic dream. The Nepalese king initially refused to send her, deriding Tibet as a land of savagery, lacking not only the teachings of the Buddha but basic civil laws as well. Mgar convinced the king that Srong btsan sgam po was sincere in desiring the DHARMA, and was able to return with her, after which he set out to China to bring back the Tang princess WENCHENG. Bhṛkūti is said to have brought with her to Tibet the statue of ŚĀKYAMUNI called JO BO MI BSKYOD RDO RJE, which was eventually housed in RA MO CHE. The historicity of both Bhṛkūti and her father has been called into question by recent scholarship. The Nepalese princess is said to have also brought a sandalwood statue of BhṛkuṭĪ to Tibet, but (if it ever existed) it had disappeared by the seventeenth century, when the fifth DALAI LAMA, in his guidebook to the temples of LHA SA, reported it missing.

bhūmi. (T. sa; C. di; J. ji; K. chi 地). In Sanskrit, lit. “ground”; deriving from an ABHIDHARMA denotation of bhūmi as a way or path (MĀRGA), the term is used metaphorically to denote a “stage” of training, especially in the career of the BODHISATTVA or, in some contexts, a ŚRĀVAKA. A list of ten stages (DAŚABHŪMI) is most commonly enumerated, deriving from the DAŚABHŪMIKASŪTRA (“Discourse on the Ten Bhūmis”), a sūtra that is later subsumed into the massive scriptural compilation, the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA. The bodhisattva does not enter the ten bhūmis immediately after generating the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA); rather, the first bhūmi coincides with the attainment of the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA) and the remaining nine to the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA). The ultimate experience of buddhahood is sometimes referred to (as in the LAṄKĀVATĀRASŪTRA) as an eleventh TATHĀGATABHŪMI, which the MAHĀVYUTPATTI designates as the samantaprabhābuddhabhūmi. The stage of the path prior to entering the path of vision is sometimes referred to as the adhimukticaryābhūmi (“stage of the practice of resolute faith”), a term from the BODHISATTVABHŪMI. An alternative list of “ten shared stages” of spiritual progress common to all three vehicles of ŚRĀVAKA, PRATYEKABUDDHA, and bodhisattva is described in the *MAHĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA and the DAZHIDU LUN (*Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra). An alternative list of seven bhūmis of the bodhisattva path, as found in MAITREYANĀTHA and ASAṄGA’s Bodhisattvabhūmi, is also widely known in Mahāyāna literature. For full treatment of each the bhūmi system, see BODHISATTVABHŪMI, DAŚABHŪMI; ŚRĀVAKABHŪMI; see also individual entries for each BHŪMI.

bhūmisparśamudrā. (T. sa gnon gyi phyag rgya; C. chudi yin; J. sokujiin; K. ch’okchi in 觸地印). In Sanskrit, “gesture of touching the earth”; this MUDRĀ is formed by the right hand touching the ground with extended fingers, usually across the right knee, while the left hand remains resting in the lap. It is the most common mudrā depicted in seated images of ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha. The bhūmisparśamudrā recalls a specific moment in Śākyamuni’s biography. After MĀRA had sought to dislodge the future buddha from his seat under the BODHI TREE by attacking him with his minions and seducing him with his daughters, he ultimately tried to cause the Buddha to move by claiming that he had no right to occupy that spot. The bodhisattva then touched the earth, thereby calling on the goddess of the earth Pṛthivī or STHĀVARĀ to bear witness to his practice of virtue over his many lifetimes on the bodhisattva path. The goddess responded affirmatively by causing the earth to quake. With that, Māra withdrew for good and the bodhisattva went on to achieve buddhahood that evening. In Southeast Asia, this scene is elaborated to include the goddess, called THORANI, emerging from the earth to wring from her hair all of the water that the Buddha had offered during his lifetimes as a BODHISATTVA. The water creates a flood that sweeps away Māra and his horde. The mudrā is also considered a gesture of immovability (acala) and is thus the mudrā associated with the buddha AKṢOBHYA.

Bhūridatta. See AJAHN MUN BHŪRIDATTA.

bhūta. (T. ’byung po; C. zhen/gui; J. shin/ki; K. chin/kwi 眞/鬼). The past passive particle of the Sanskrit root √bhū (cognate with English “be”); in compound words in Buddhist texts, it means “element,” “true,” or “real”; the word alone also means a class of harm-inflicting and formless obstructing spirits (i.e., “elemental spirits”). The MAHĀBHŪTA (literally “great elements”) are the well-known elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; the BHŪTAKOṬI (“ultimate state”) is a technical term used in the MAHĀYĀNA to distinguish between different levels of spiritual achievement; BHŪTATATHATĀ (“true suchness”) is the eternal nature of reality that is “truly thus” and free of all conceptual elaborations. The bhūta (“elemental”) spirits, who are sometimes equivalent to PRETA (“hungry ghost”), are said to inhabit the northeast quarter of the universe, or in some descriptions, all of the ten directions (DAŚADIŚ). Because they obstruct rainfall, the bhūta are propitiated by rituals to cause precipitation, as are the NĀGA (“serpent spirits, spirits of the watery subsoil”) who inhabit rivers and lakes. Tibetan medical texts also identify eighteen elemental spirits (’byung po’i gdon) that invade the psyche and cause mental problems.

bhūtaḍāmaramudrā. (T. ’byung po ’dul byed kyi phyag rgya; C. xiang sanshi yin; J. gōzanzein; K. hang samse in 降三世印). In Sanskrit, “spirit-subduing gesture,” a gesture (MUDRĀ) formed by crossing the left wrist in front of the right with palms facing forward and linking the little fingers; the thumbs hold down the two middle fingers and the forefingers of both hands stick out in the threatening gesture (TARJANĪMUDRĀ). In Tibet, the mudrā is specific to BhūtaḍĀmara, a name for a four-armed wrathful form of VAJRAPĀṆI; the Chinese translation of the term means “gesture that subjugates the three time periods” of past, present, and future.

bhūtakoṭi. (T. yang dag pa’i mtha’; C. shiji; J. jissai; K. silche 實際). In Sanskrit, lit. “end,” “limit,” or perhaps “edge” or “apex” (KOṬI) of “reality” (BHŪTA); the “peak experience” or “ultimate state” that is realized in the experience of the absolute (PARAMĀRTHA). Both buddhas and ARHATs are said to reside in the bhūtakoṭi, which in this context is synonymous with absolute truth (PARAMĀRTHASATYA). The DAZHIDU LUN (*Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra) glosses the term as follows: “In the term bhūtakoṭi, “real” (bhūta) refers to the DHARMATĀ; because it is realized, it is called the “end” (koṭi).” While dharmatā as the “nature of reality” is used interchangeably with “things as they are” (TATHATĀ, yathābhūta) to refer to the nature of reality itself, bhūtakoṭi appears along with NIRVĀṆA to imply the “peak experience” or “ultimate state” that is reached in the realization of that nature of reality. The ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA commentarial tradition also describes the bhūtakoṭi as a limit that bodhisattvas must cross over. In those contexts bhūtakoṭi is equivalent to the partial nirvāṆa of the arhat that bodhisattvas must avoid falling into, and hence is the extreme of tranquility. Bodhisattvas finally cross over that “reality limit” when they reach the state of full enlightenment.

bhūtatathatā. (C. zhenru; J. shinnyo; K. chinyŏ 眞如). In Sanskrit, “true suchness.” See TATHATĀ.

biandi. (J. henji; K. pyŏnji 邊地). In Chinese, “peripheral,” or “outlying” “regions”; referring to the regions beyond the civilizing influences of Buddhism and higher spiritual culture. The corresponding Sanskrit term YAVANA was used to designate Greeks (Ionians) and later even Arab Muslims. In Buddhist cosmology, the term refers to regions north and west of India proper, which are inhabited by illiterate, barbaric peoples hostile to Buddhism. The birth into a “peripheral region” is considered to be one of the states that constitute an “inopportune moment or birth” (AKṢAṆA), i.e., a state that precludes attainment of enlightenment in the present lifetime. In other contexts, as in the SUKHĀVATĪVYŪHASŪTRA, a PURE LAND devotee who practices with doubt, hesitancy, and intermittent faith, or who eventually regrets and regresses from his or her devotion, will not be able to be reborn directly into AMITĀBHA Buddha’s pure land (see SUKHĀVATĪ). Instead, he or she would be reborn first in the biandi (“outlying region”) of the pure land for five hundred years before being granted access to sukhāvatī proper. The outlaying region of the pure land is depicted as a bejeweled place landscaped with lotus ponds and teeming with palatial buildings; it is almost as blissful and trouble-free as the pure land itself, except that its denizens lack the freedom to roam anywhere beyond its confines.

bianwen. (變文). In Chinese, “transformation texts”; the earliest examples of Chinese vernacular writings, many drawing on prominent Buddhist themes. Produced during the Tang dynasty (c. seventh through tenth centuries), they were lost to history until they were rediscovered among the manuscript cache at DUNHUANG early in the twentieth century. The vernacular narratives of bianwen are probably descended from BIANXIANG, pictorial representations of Buddhist and religious themes. The Sinograph bian in both compounds refers to the “transformations” or “manifestations” of spiritual adepts, and seems most closely related to such Sanskrit terms as nirmāṇa (“magical creation” or “magical transformation,” as in NIRMĀṆAKĀYA) or ṚDDHI (“magical powers”). Bianwen were once thought to have been prompt books that were used during public performances, but this theory is no longer current. Even so, bianwen have a clear pedigree in oral literature and are the first genre of Chinese literature to vary verse recitation with spoken prose (so-called “prosimetric” narratives). As such, the bianwen genre was extremely influential in the evolution of Chinese performing arts, opera, and vernacular storytelling. Bianwen are primarily religious in orientation, and the Buddhist bianwen are culled from various sources, such as the JĀTAKAMĀLĀ, SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA, and VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEŚA. The genre does, however, include a few examples drawn from secular subjects. Bianwen may also have led to the development of later vernacular genres of literature with a religious orientation, such as the “treasure scrolls,” or BAOJUAN.

bianxiang. (變相) In Chinese, “transformation tableaux”; pictorial representations of Buddhist narratives, which seem to have been the antecedent for later vernacular narratives of the same themes known as BIANWEN. As is the case with the compound bianwen, the logograph bian here refers to the “transformations” or “manifestations” of spiritual adepts. Bianxiang deal almost entirely with religious topics and involve especially pictorial representations of AMITĀBHA’s PURE LAND (JINGTU) of SUKHĀVATĪ, famous episodes in the lives and activities of the Buddha and BODHISATTVAs (especially AVALOKITEŚVARA), and synopses of important sūtras (such as the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA). A great number of bianxiang were discovered at DUNHUANG and provide a window on the popular practices in medieval Chinese Buddhism. See also AMITUO JINGTU BIAN; DIYU BIAN[XIANG]; JINGTU BIAN.

bianyi shengsi. (J. hen’i shōji; K. pyŏni saengsa 變異生死). In Chinese, “birth and death as alternation and change”; one of the two types of rebirth (see SAṂSĀRA) described in the Chinese FAXIANG (YOGĀCĀRA) and TIANTAI schools, along with “birth and death in punctuated succession” (FENDUAN SHENGSI). This type refers either to the process of positive psychological transformation, wherein a person could be “reborn” symbolically while still in the same physical body, or to the subtle mental instabilities a novice BODHISATTVA experiences due to the presence of minor, but as yet unresolved, afflictions (KLEŚA).

Bianzheng lun. (J. Benshōron; K. Pyŏnjŏng non 辯正論). In Chinese, “Treatise on Determining Orthodoxy”; a polemical treatise composed in 626 by the Tang dynasty monk Falin (d.u.) in response to such treatises as the Shiyi jiumi lun (“Treatise on the Ten Differences and Nine Obscurities”) and Xuanzheng lun (“Treatise on Manifesting Orthodoxy”) presented to the court by Daoist priests in defense of their own religion. The Bianzheng lun compares the teachings of Buddhists, Confucians, and Daoists in order to demonstrate the superiority of Buddhism. The Buddhist response to such theories as Laozi’s conversion of the barbarians (see LAOZI HUAHU JING) and early Chinese notions of qi (pneuma or energy) and DAO (way or path) can be found in the Bianzheng lun. The treatise is therefore a valuable resource for studying Buddhist perspectives on Chinese thought.

biexiang sanguan. (C) (J. bessō no sangan; K. pyŏlsang samgwan 別相三觀). See SANGUAN.

biexu. (C) (別序). See ER XU.

biguan. (J. hekikan; K. pyŏkkwan 壁觀). In Chinese, “wall contemplation” or “wall gazing”; a type of meditative practice reputedly practiced by the putative founder of the CHAN school, the Indian monk BODHIDHARMA, whom legend says spent nine years in wall contemplation in a small cave near the monastery SHAOLINSI on SONGSHAN. This practice is explained as a meditation that entails “pacifying the mind” (ANXIN) and is the putative origin of contemplative practice in the CHAN school. Despite the prestige the term carries within the Chan tradition because of its association with Bodhidharma, precisely what “wall contemplation” means has remained fraught with controversy since early in the school’s history. Two of the more commonly accepted explanations are that the practitioner renders his or her mind and body silent and still like a wall, or that the mind is “walled in” and kept isolated from sensory disturbance. Some scholars have suggested that the term might actually be a combination of a transcription bi and a translation kuan, both referring to VIPAŚYANĀ (insight) practice, but this theory is difficult to reconcile with the historical phonology of the Sinograph bi. Tibetan translations subsequently interpret biguan as “abiding in luminosity” (lham mer gnas), a gloss that may have tantric implications. Whatever its actual practice, the image of Bodhidharma sitting in a cross-legged meditative posture while facing a wall becomes one of the most frequent subjects of Chan painting.

bīja. (T. sa bon; C. zhongzi; J. shuji; K. chongja 種子). In Sanskrit, “seed,” a term used metaphorically in two important contexts: (1) in the theory of KARMAN, an action is said to plant a “seed” or “potentiality” in the mind, where it will reside until it fructifies as a future experience or is destroyed by wisdom; (2) in tantric literature, many deities are said to have a “seed syllable” or seed MANTRA that is visualized and recited in liturgy and meditation in order to invoke the deity. In the Chinese FAXIANG (YOGĀCĀRA) school, based on similar lists found in Indian Buddhist texts like the MAHĀYĀNASAṂGRAHA, a supplement to the YOGĀCĀRABHŪMI, various lists of two different types of seeds are mentioned. (1) The primordial seeds (BENYOU ZHONGZI) and the continuously (lit. newly) acquired seeds (XINXUN ZHONGZI). The former are present in the eighth “storehouse consciousness” (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA) since time immemorial, and are responsible for giving rise to a sentient being’s basic faculties, such as the sensory organs (INDRIYA) and the aggregates (SKANDHA). The latter are acquired through the activities and sense impressions of the other seven consciousnesses (VIJÑĀNA), and are stored within the eighth storehouse consciousness as pure, impure, or indeterminate seeds that may become activated again once the right conditions are in place for it to fructify. (2) Tainted seeds (youlou zhongzi) and untainted seeds (wulou zhongzi). The former are sowed whenever unenlightened activities of body, speech, and mind and the contaminants (ĀSRAVA) of mental defilements take place. The latter are associated with enlightened activities that do not generate such contaminants. In all cases, “full emergence” (SAMUDĀCĀRA, C. xiangxing) refers to the sprouting of those seeds as fully realized action. ¶ In tantric Buddhism the buddha field (BUDDHAKṢETRA) is represented as a MAṆḌALA with its inhabitant deities (DEVATĀ). The sonic source of the maṇḍala and the deities that inhabit it is a “seed syllable” (bīja). In tantric practices (VIDHI; SĀDHANA) the meditator imagines the seed syllable emerging from the expanse of reality, usually on a lotus flower. The seed syllable is then visualized as transforming into the maṇḌala and its divine inhabitants, each of which often has its own seed syllable. At the end of the ritual, the process is reversed and collapsed back into the seed syllable that then dissolves back into the nondual original expanse. Seed syllables in tantric Buddhism are connected with DHĀRAṆĪ, mnemonic codes widespread in Mahāyāna sūtras that consist of strings of letters, often the first letter of profound terms or topics. These strings of letters in the dhāraṇĪ anticipate the MANTRAs found in tantric ritual practices. The tantric “seed syllable” is thought to contain the essence of the mantra, the letters of which are visualized as standing upright in a circle around the seed syllable from which the letters emerge and to which they return.

Bi ma snying thig. (Bime Nyingtik) In Tibetan, “Heart Essence of VIMALAMITRA”; associated with KLONG CHEN RAB ’BYAMS whose collection of RDZOGS CHEN teaching of the “instruction class” (MAN NGAG SDE) are loosely referred to by this name. The Bi ma snying thig itself is a collection of five texts attributed to Vimalamitra, rediscovered as treasure texts (GTER MA) by Lce btsun Seng ge dbang phyug in CHIMS PHU near BSAM YAS, and passed down through Zhang ston Bkra shis rdo rje (1097–1167) to Klong chen pa who established the SNYING THIG (“heart essence”) as the central element in the rdzogs chen tradition. He gave an exegesis on the theory and practice of rdzogs chen in his MDZOD BDUN (“seven great treasuries”) and NGAL GSO SKOR GSUM (“Trilogy on Rest”), and in his Bla ma yang thig, revealed the contents of the Bi ma snying thig itself.

Bimbisāra. (T. Gzugs can snying po; C. Pinposuoluo; J. Binbashara; K. Pinbasara 頻婆娑羅) (r. c. 465–413 BCE). King of MAGADHA, and chief royal patron of the Buddha during his lifetime, who reigned from his capital city of RĀJAGṚHA (P. Rājagaha). There are several accounts of how the two first met. According to the Pāli JĀTAKA, the two first met at Rājagṛha just after GAUTAMA had renounced the world when the BODHISATTVA passed beneath the king’s window. Impressed with the mendicant’s demeanor, Bimbisāra invited him to join his court. When the bodhisattva refused, Bimbisāra wished him success in his quest for enlightenment and requested that he visit his palace as soon as he achieved his goal. The Buddha honored his request and, soon after attaining enlightenment, returned to Rājagṛha to preach to Bimbisāra and his courtiers. Immediately upon listening to the sermon, the king and his attendants became stream-enterers (SROTAĀPANNA). The Pāli MAHĀVAṂSA, however, states instead that they were childhood friends. Bimbisāra was munificent in his support for the Buddha and his SAṂGHA. The most famous of his donations was the VEṆUVANA (P. Veḷuvana) bamboo grove, where it is said he constructed a multistoried residence for the monks. He repaired the road from Rājagṛha to the Ganges River, a distance of five leagues, just so the Buddha would have an easier walk on his way to VAIŚĀLĪ. With such gifts, Bimbisāra declared that the five ambitions of his life had been fulfilled: that he would become king, that the Buddha would visit his kingdom, that he would render service to the Buddha, that the Buddha would preach to him, and that he would understand the meaning of the Buddha’s teachings. Bimbisāra met a tragic death at the hands of his son AJĀTAŚATRU (P. Ajātasattu). Even as his son was conceived, according to some accounts, astrologers had predicted that the unborn child would kill his father and recommended to the king that the fetus be aborted. The king would not hear of it and instead showered affection on his son throughout his childhood. Ajātaśatru was persuaded to murder his father by DEVADATTA, the Buddha’s evil cousin, who saw Bimbisāra’s continued patronage of the Buddha as the chief obstacle to his ambition to become leader of the saṃgha himself. According to some reports, it was only upon the birth of his own son that he realized the paternal love that his father had had for him. According to the Pāli account, Bimbisāra was reborn as a yakkha (YAKṢA) named Janavasabha and is said to have visited the Buddha in that form. See also VAIDEHĪ.

bindu. (T. thig le). In Sanskrit, “drop,” as in the title of Buddhist texts like DHARMAKĪRTI’s NYĀYABINDU (“Drop of Reasoning”). In Buddhist tantra, bindu is BODHICITTA, seminal fluids in the ordinary sense, and in an extraordinary sense the seed of the illusory world and enlightenment; in this tantric sense, bindu is either red (from the female) or white (from the male). A second meaning of bindu found widely in tantric literature in Tibet, and in the RNYING MA sect in particular, is in words like thig le chen po (great circle) and thig le nyag chig (single circle, single sphere), words for the primordial basis: the natural state of the mind as empty, creative, and a state of great bliss both in ordinary beings, and as the DHARMAKĀYA at the time of enlightenment. This bindu is understood as including all phenomena, in a causal sense, and as their essence. According to tantric physiology, the bindu resides in the channels (NĀḌĪ) and is the source of bliss when manipulated in meditation practice through the control of the energies (PRĀṆA). Iconographically, it is represented as a curved line on the top of the circular symbol placed on the top of letters to represent the nasalization of vowels (anusvāra).

bingfu. (J. hinpotsu; K. pyŏngbul 秉拂). In Chinese, lit. “to take hold of the whisk”; dharma discourses delivered by a CHAN master from the high seat while holding the fly whisk or “chowrie” (see VĀLAVYAJANA; C. FUZI). The chowrie, a yak-tail fan that Buddhist monks used to keep flies and mosquitoes away, is presumed to have originally been used among followers of the JAINA tradition to shoo away flies without injuring them and came to be used widely throughout India. In the Chinese CHAN tradition, the fly whisk (which in East Asia is usually made from a horse tail) became a symbol of the office or privilege of a Chan master and the first thing the Chan master would do after ascending to his seat for his formal dharma discourse (see SHANGTANG) was to “take up the whisk”; by metonymy, the term came to be used to refer to a formal Chan sermon. The head monks in a Chan monastery who are privileged to “take hold of the whisk” in the Chan master’s stead are called the “chief officers” (C. TOUSHOU): i.e., the chief seat (C. SHOUZUO), scribe (C. SHUJI), library prefect (C. ZANGZHU), guest prefect (C. ZHIKE), bath prefect (C. ZHIYU), and hall prefect (C. ZHIDIAN).

Binglingsi. (J. Heireiji; K. Pyŏngnyŏngsa 炳靈寺). In Chinese, “Bright and Numinous Monastery”; site of a Buddhist cave complex, located fifty miles outside Lanzhou, the capital of the present-day Chinese province of Gansu, and accessible only by boat. The complex contains 183 caves with 694 stone and eighty-two clay statues. Binglingsi, along with MAIJISHAN, developed under the patronage of the Qifu rulers of the Western Qin dynasty (385–43). The carving of Buddhist caves at Binglingsi may have started as early as the late fourth century; however, the earliest inscription was found in cave 169 and is dated 420. Two novel features can be found in cave 169. One is the stylistic link of some of its sculptures with the Buddhist art of KHOTAN on the southern SILK ROAD. For example, five seated buddhas in niche 23 inside the cave are attired in their monastic robes and perform the meditation gesture (DHYĀNAMUDRĀ), backed by a large aureole. Second, numerous inscriptions identify the sculptures and painted images in this cave, which include AMITĀBHA Buddha, accompanied by AVALOKITEŚVARA (GUANYIN) and MAHĀSTHĀMAPRĀPTA (Dashizi). This triad in niche 6 closely resembles the style of Liangzhou, and thus KUCHA. Among the painted images are the buddhas of the ten directions (see DAŚADIŚ), members of the Qin dynastic house, and the state preceptor (GUOSHI) Tanmobi (Dharmapriya), cotranslator with ZHU FONIAN of the AṢṬASĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ. The representations in cave 169 depict the content of then-newly translated scriptures such as the VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEŚA, SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA, and the shorter SUKHĀVATĪVYŪHASŪTRA (see also AMITĀBHASŪTRA), which had been translated by KUMĀRAJĪVA in Chang’an around 400–410. The sculptures and paintings at Binglingsi serve as precedents for the subsequent Northern Wei sculpture found at YUNGANG and LONGMEN.

Biographies of Eminent Monks. See GAOSENG ZHUAN.

Biqiuni zhuan. (J. Bikuniden; K. Piguni chŏn 比丘尼傳). In Chinese, “Lives of the Nuns,” the major Chinese collection of biographies of eminent BHIKṢUṆĪ, compiled c. 516 CE by Shi Baochang, a Buddhist monk whose own biography can be found in the XU GAOSENG ZHUAN (“Continued Lives of Eminent Monks”). The anthology consists of sixty-five nuns’ biographies, arranged chronologically beginning in the Eastern Jin (317–420 CE) and continuing through the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–588 CE). The introduction lists several characteristics that Shi Baochang deems worthy of emulation and special mention. These include steadfast asceticism, skill in meditation and study, chastity, and teaching abilities. The hagiographies themselves emphasize the following activities: over half of the nuns included in the anthology excelled in either scriptural study or meditation and religious practice. Almost half taught scripture and established convents. One-third of the nuns are said to have practiced strict vegetarianism. The same number is also said to have excelled in chanting scriptures: the most frequently named scriptures as the object of this devotion include the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA, the MAHĀPARINIRVĀṆASŪTRA, and the MAHĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA. The majority of nuns are also said to have inspired numerous monastic and secular followers. Many of the lay followers came from the highest reaches of society: governors and lords are regularly mentioned as patrons who often were instrumental in the founding of a new convent by donating land, funding construction, or both. In addition, almost half of the nuns were praised for their pure faith in the Buddha. In the instances where age was mentioned, almost half of the nuns were said to have adopted their vocation when they were still quite young (preadolescent); in contrast, only one-third were said to have left secular life once they were adults. The legitimacy of the Chinese nuns’ order was specifically addressed in at least three hagiographies, where it is asserted that the subjects’ ordinations were performed by foreign monks and nuns and was therefore valid.

Birushana nyorai. (J) (盧遮那如來). See NARA DAIBUTSU.

Biyan lu. (J. Hekiganroku; K. Pyŏgam nok 碧巖録). In Chinese, “Emerald Grotto Record” or, as it is popularly known in the West, the “Blue Cliff Record”; compiled by CHAN master YUANWU KEQIN; also known by its full title of Foguo Yuanwu chanshi biyan lu (“Emerald Grotto Record of Chan Master Foguo Yuanwu”). The Biyan lu is one of the two most famous and widely used collection of Chan cases (GONG’AN), along with the WUMEN GUAN (“The Gateless Checkpoint”). The anthology is built around XUEDOU CHONGXIAN’s Xuedou heshang baice songgu, an earlier independent collection of one hundred old Chan cases (GUCE) with verse commentary; Xuedou’s text is embedded within the Biyan lu and Yuanwu’s comments are interspersed throughout. Each of the one hundred cases, with a few exceptions, is introduced by a pointer (CHUISHI), a short introductory paragraph composed by Yuanwu. Following the pointer, the term “raised” (ju) is used to formally mark the actual case. Each case is followed by interlinear notes known as annotations or capping phrases (ZHUOYU; J. JAKUGO) and prose commentary (PINGCHANG), both composed by Yuanwu. The phrase “the verse says” (song yue) subsequently introduces Xuedou’s verse, which is also accompanied by its own capping phrases and prose commentary, both added by Yuanwu. The cases, comments, and capping phrases found in the Biyan lu were widely used and read among both the clergy and laity in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam as an contemplative tool in Chan meditation practice and, in some contexts, as a token of social or institutional status. A famous (or perhaps infamous) story tells of the Chan master DAHUI ZONGGAO, the major disciple of Yuanwu, burning his teacher’s Biyan lu for fear that his students would become attached to the words of Xuedou and Yuanwu. The Biyan lu shares many cases with the Wumen guan, and the two texts continue to function as the foundation of training in the Japanese RINZAI Zen school.

Bka’ babs bdun ldan gyi brgyud pa’i rnam thar. (Kabap Dünden gyi Gyüpe Namtar). In Tibetan, “Biographies of the Seven Instruction Lineages”; a collection of brief biographies composed by the Tibetan historian TĀRANĀTHA (1575–1634). It documents the lives of fifty-nine Indian SIDDHAs involved in the early transmission of tantric instructions that came to be important and widely practiced later in Tibet. Although it serves to legitimize the author’s own lineage, the text is considered to be an important source of historical information, because Tāranātha had direct contact with several of these masters. According to the text’s colophon, Tāranātha composed the work when he was twenty-six, in about the year 1601. Its complete title is: Bka’ babs bdun ldan gyi brgyud pa’i rnam thar ngo mtshar rmad du byung ba rin po che’i lta bu’i rgyan.

bka’ babs bzhi. (kabap shi). In Tibetan, “four instructional lineages” (bka’ means words—of a buddha or enlightened master—and babs means to descend in a stream); a series of tantric instructions that the Indian SIDDHA TILOPA received from various masters, codified, and then passed on to his disciple NĀROPA. These later became foundational teachings for the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism and were incorporated into the six doctrines of Nāropa (NĀ RO CHOS DRUG). Tibetan sources vary widely regarding the lineage and content of these four transmissions. According to a biography of Tilopa composed by MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS, they are (1) the transmission of illusory body (T. sgyu lus kyi bka’ babs) received from the siddha NĀGĀRJUNA; (2) the transmission of dreams (T. rmi lam gyi bka’ babs) received from the siddha Caryāpa; (3) the transmission of clear light (T. ’od gsal gyi bka’ babs) received from the siddha Lavapa; and (4) the transmission of inner heat (T. gtum mo’i bka’ babs) received from JñĀnaḍĀkinī. According to other sources, these four may alternatively include the transmissions of MAHĀMUDRĀ, the intermediate state (BAR DO), mother tantra (MĀTṚTANTRA), father tantra (PITṚTANTRA), and individual tantras such as the tantra of CAKRASAṂVARA, HEVAJRA, and GUHYASAMĀJA.

Bka’ brgyud. (Kagyü). In Tibetan, “Oral Lineage” or “Lineage of the Buddha’s Word”; one of the four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The term bka’ brgyud is used by all sects of Tibetan Buddhism in the sense of an oral transmission of teachings from one generation to the next, a transmission that is traced back to India. Serving as the name of a specific sect, the name Bka’ brgyud refers to a specific lineage, the MAR PA BKA’ BRGYUD, the “Oral Lineage of Mar pa,” a lineage of tantric initiations, instructions, and practices brought to Tibet from India by the translator MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS in the eleventh century. Numerous sects and subsects evolved from this lineage, some of which developed a great deal of autonomy and institutional power. In this sense, it is somewhat misleading to describe Bka’ brgyud as a single sect; there is, for example, no single head of the sect as in the case of SA SKYA or DGE LUGS. The various sects and subsects, however, do share a common retrospection to the teachings that Mar pa retrieved from India. Thus, rather than refer to Bka’ brgyud as one of four sects (chos lugs), in Tibetan the Mar pa Bka’ brgyud is counted as one of the eight streams of tantric instruction, the so-called eight great chariot-like lineages of achievement (SGRUB BRGYUD SHING RTA CHEN PO BRGYAD), a group which also includes the RNYING MA, the BKA’ GDAMS of ATIŚA, and the instructions on “severance” (GCOD) of MA GCIG LAB SGRON. In some Tibetan histories, Mar pa’s lineage is called the Dkar brgyud (“White Lineage”), named after the white cotton shawls worn by its yogins in their practice of solitary meditation. The reading Dka’ brgyud (“Austerities Lineage”) is also found. The lineage from which all the sects and subsects derive look back not only to Mar pa, but to his teacher, and their teachers, traced back to the tantric buddha VAJRADHARA. Vajradhara imparted his instructions to the Indian MAHĀSIDDHA TILOPA, who in turn transmitted them to the Bengali scholar and yogin NĀROPA. It was Nāropa (in fact, his disciples) whom Mar pa encountered during his time in India, receiving the famous NĀ RO CHOS DRUG, or the six doctrines of Nāropa. Mar pa returned to Tibet, translated the texts and transmitted these and other teachings (including MAHĀMUDRĀ, the hallmark practice of Bka’ brgyud) to a number of disciples, including his most famous student, MI LA RAS PA. These five figures—the buddha Vajradhara, the Indian tantric masters Tilopa and Nāropa, and their Tibetan successors Mar pa and Mi la ras pa (both of whom were laymen rather than monks)—form a lineage that is recognized and revered by all forms of Bka’ brgyud. One of Mi la ras pa’s chief disciples, the physician and monk SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN united the tantric instructions he received from Mi la ras pa and presented them in the monastic and exegetical setting that he knew from his studies in the Bka’ gdams sect. Sgam po pa, therefore, appears to have been instrumental in transforming an itinerant movement of lay yogins into a sect with a strong monastic element. He established an important monastery in the southern Tibetan region of Dwags po; in acknowledgment of his importance, the subsequent branches of the Bka’ brgyud are sometimes collectively known as the DWAGS PO BKA’ BRGYUD. The Bka’ brgyud later divided into what is known in Tibetan as the “four major and eight minor Bka’ brgyud” (BKA’ BRGYUD CHE BZHI CHUNG BRGYAD). A number of these subsects no longer survive as independent institutions, although the works of their major figures continue to be studied. Among those that survive, the KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD, ’BRI GUNG BKA’ BRGYUD, and ’BRUG PA BKA’ BRGYUD continue to play an important role in Tibet, the Himalayan region, and in exile.

Bka’ brgyud che bzhi chung brgyad. (Kagyü che shi chung gye). In Tibetan, the “Four Major and Eight Minor Bka’ brgyud.” A division of the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism into various sects and subsects stemming from the disciples of SGAM PO PA BSOD RNAM RIN CHEN. The terms “major” and “minor” indicate a relative proximity to the master Sgam po pa and carry no quantitative or qualitative overtones. The four major subsects follow from the direct disciples of Sgam po pa and his nephew Dwags po Sgom tshul (Dakpo Gomtshul, 1116–1169):

1. KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD, also called the Karma kam tshang, originating with the first KARMA PA DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA—a disciple of Sgam po pa

2. TSHAL PA BKA’ BRGYUD originating with Zhang tshal pa Brtson ’grus grags pa (Shangtsalpa Tsöndru Drakpa, 1123–1193)—a disciple of Dwags po Sgom tshul

3. ’BA’ ROM BKA’ BRGYUD originating with ’Ba’ rom Dar ma dbang phyug (Barom Darma Wangchuk, 1127–1199)—a disciple of Sgam po pa

4. Phag gru bka’ brgyud (Pakdru Kagyü) originating with PHAG MO GRU PA RDO RJE RGYAL PO—a disciple of Sgam po pa.

The eight minor subsects stem from disciples of Phag mo gru pa:

1. ’BRI GUNG BKA’ BRGYUD originating with ’JIG RTEN GSUM MGON

2. STAG LUNG BKA’ BRGYUD originating with STAG LUNG THANG PA BKRA SHIS DPAL

3. Gling ras bka’ brgyud (Lingre Kagyü) originating with Gling rje ras pa Padma rdo rje (Lingje Repa Pema Dorje, 1128–1288), this later became the ’BRUG PA BKA’ BRGYUD under his disciple GTSANG PA RGYA RAS YE SHES RDO RJE

4. G.ya’ bzang bka’ brgyud (Yasang Kagyü) originating with Zwa ra ba Skal ldan ye shes seng ge (Sarawa Kalden Yeshe Senge, d. 1207)

5. KHRO PHU BKA’ BRGYUD originating with Rgya tsha (Gyatsa, 1118–1195), Kun ldan ras pa (Kunden Repa, 1148–1217), and their nephew Khro phu lo tsā ba Byams pa dpal (Trophu Lotsāwa Jampapal, 1173–1228)

6. SHUG GSEB BKA’ BRGYUD originating with GYER SGOM TSHUL KHRIMS SENG GE

7. YEL PA BKA’ BRGYUD originating with Ye shes brtsegs pa (Yeshe Tsekpa, d.u.)

8. SMAR TSHANG BKA’ BRGYUD originating with Smar pa grub thob Shes rab seng ge (Marpa Druptob Sherap Senge, d.u.)

Bka’ brgyud mgur mtsho. (Kagyü Gurtso). In Tibetan, “An Ocean of Songs of the Bka’ brgyud”; a collection of spiritual songs and poetry composed by eminent masters of the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It was compiled by the eighth KARMA PA MI BSKYOD RDO RJE in about 1542, originally intended as a liturgical text to be recited as an invocation of the entire Bka’ brgyud lineage. The text is also part biographical recollection and doctrinal catalogue and is still much loved and widely read by adherents of the tradition. Its complete title is: Mchog gi dngos grub mngon du byed pa’i myur lam bka’ brgyud bla ma rnams kyi rdo rje’i mgur dbyangs ye shes char ’bebs rang grol lhun grub bde chen rab ’bar nges don rgya mtsho’i snying po.

Bka’ brgyud pa. (Kagyüpa). A person affiliated with the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

Bka’ brgyud sngags mdzod. (Kagyü Ngagdzö). In Tibetan, “Treasury of Bka’ brgyud Mantra”; a compilation of tantric teachings belonging to the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, compiled and edited in six volumes by the nineteenth-century Tibetan master ’JAM MGON KONG SPRUL BLO GROS MTHA’ YAS. The collection forms one of the five treasuries of Kong sprul (KONG SPRUL MDZOD LNGA), and largely preserves the esoteric instructions transmitted by Bka’ brgyud founder MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS to his disciple Rngog Chos sku rdo rje (Ngok Chöku Dorje).

Bka’ chems ka khol ma. (Kachem Kakölma). In Tibetan, “The Pillar Testament”; an early historiographic text, purportedly the testament of the seventh-century Tibetan religious king SRONG BSTAN SGAM PO. It is said to have been discovered in the hollow of a pillar in the JO KHANG Temple of LHA SA by the Indian master ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA in about 1049. The circumstances of both the author and revealer, however, have recently been called into question. The text details the reign of Srong bstan sgam po and likely served as a primary source for later accounts of the early royal dynastic period in Tibet.

Bka’ gdams. (Kadam). An early sect of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibetan, BKA’ (ka) is the word of the Buddha or an enlightened master, and gdams (dam) means “to instruct”; traditionally the compound is parsed as “those who take all of the Buddha’s words as instruction.” Another etymology associates the word bka’ with the words of ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA, whose followers began the early sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and in place of gdams “to advise” understands dam “to bind,” hence, “those who hold his sacred words as binding.” The origins of the sect are traced back to the founding of RWA SGRENG monastery in 1056 by Atiśa’s foremost disciple and interpreter ’BROM STON RGYAL BA’I ’BYUNG GNAS. The three main students of ’Brom ston pa are Po to ba Rin chen gsal (Potowa), Spyan mnga’ ba Tshul khrims ’bar (Chen Ngawa), and Bu chung ba Gzhon nu rgyal mtshan (Bu chungwa), from whom originate the three principal Bka’ gdams lineages (bka’ babs): (1) the authoritative treatises (gzhung) lineage, (2) the essential instruction (gdams ngag) lineage, and (3) the oral instruction (man ngag) lineage, respectively. Po to ba’s authoritative treatise lineage emphasized the close study of six paired fundamental Buddhist treatises: the BODHISATTVABHŪMI and MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRA, the BODHICARYĀVATĀRA and ŚIKṢĀSAMUCCAYA, and the JĀTAKAMĀLĀ and UDĀNAVARGA. The teachings of the lineage of oral instructions are collected in the BKA’ GDAMS GLEGS BAM PHA CHOS BU CHOS. The sect is probably best known for its strict discipline and austerity of practice, but the Gsang phu ne’u thog Bka’ gdams lineage that is traced back to the founding of the monastery of GSANG PHU NE’U THOG in about 1073 by RNGOG LEGS PA’I SHES RAB, an immediate disciple of Atiśa, and his nephew, the translator RNGOG BLO LDAN SHES RAB, gave the Bka’ gdams a well-deserved reputation as a sect of great learning. Monks from Gsang phu ne’u thog like PHYWA PA CHOS KYI SENG GE wrote important works on PRAMĀṆA (logic and epistemology) and formalized debate (rtsod rigs). The Bka’ gdams was responsible for the distinctive Tibetan BSTAN RIM (tenrim) (“stages of teaching”) genre, based on Atiśa’s seminal work, the BODHIPATHAPRADĪPA. This genre was later adapted and popularized by TSONG KHA PA in his influential LAM RIM CHEN MO. Tsong kha pa idealized Atiśa as the perfect teacher and his early DGE LUGS PA followers, first called Dga’ ldan pa (Gandenpa) after the DGA’ LDAN monastery he founded, were also known as the new Bka’ gdams pa. After the rise of the Dge lugs sect, the Bka’ gdams disappeared from Tibetan history, for reasons still not fully understood, with only the monasteries of Rwa sgreng and SNAR THANG retaining their original affiliation.

Bka’ gdams glegs bam pha chos bu chos. (Kadam Lekbam Pachö Buchö). In Tibetan, “The Book of Bka’ gdams, Dharma of the Father and Sons” originating with the Indian master ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA a seminal work of the BKA’ GDAMS sect of Tibetan Buddhism, being the primary text of the oral-instruction (man ngag) lineage organized into its present version by Mkhan chen Nyi ma rgyal mtshan (Kenchen Nyima Gyaltsen) in 1302. “Dharma of the Father” refers to Atiśa’s responses to questions posed by his foremost Tibetan student ’BROM STON RGYAL BA’I ’BYUNG GNAS (the two “fathers” of Bka’ gdams); “Dharma of the Sons” refers to Atiśa’s responses to questions posed by RNGOG LEGS PA’I SHES RAB and Khu ston Brtson ’grus g.yung drung (Kutön Tsondrü Yungdrung), the spiritual sons of Atiśa and ’Brom ston pa.

bka’ ’gyur. (kangyur). In Tibetan, “translation of the word [of the Buddha],” one of the two traditional divisions of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, along with the BSTAN ’GYUR, the translation of the treatises (ŚĀSTRA). The bka’ ’gyur comprises those SŪTRAs and TANTRAs that were accepted by the tradition as spoken or directly inspired by the Buddha. The collection was redacted, primarily by the fourteenth-century polymath BU STON RIN CHEN GRUB, based upon earlier catalogues, lists, and collections of texts, particularly a major collection at SNAR THANG monastery. The four major editions of the bka’ ’gyur presently in circulation (called the Co ne, SNAR THANG, SDE DGE, and Beijing editions after the places they were printed) go back to two earlier branches of the textual tradition, called Them spangs ma and ’Tshal pa in modern scholarship. The first xylographic print of the bka’ ’gyur was produced in China in 1410; the Sde dge bka’ ’gyur, edited by Si tu Gstug lag chos kyi ’byung gnas (1700–1774) was printed in the Tibetan kingdom of Sde dge (in present-day Sichuan province) in 1733. While the collection is traditionally said to include 108 volumes (an auspicious number), most versions contain somewhat fewer. The Snar thang edition holds ninety-two volumes, divided as follows: thirteen volumes of VINAYA, twenty-one volumes of PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ, six volumes of the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA, six volumes of the RATNAKŪṬASŪTRA, thirty volumes of other sūtras, and twenty-two volumes of tantras. The BON tradition formulated its own bka’ ’gyur, based on the Buddhist model, in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century.

bka’ ma. (kama). In Tibetan “words”; in the Tibetan RNYING MA sect, referring particularly to the MAHĀYOGA, ANUYOGA, and ATIYOGA TANTRAs. The term is contrasted with GTER MA (“treasure text”), which is also accepted as authentic scripture, but hidden and rediscovered at a later time, or directly transmitted through the medium of the mind. Two collections of the teachings of the Rnying ma sect in fifty-eight and 120 volumes are called Bka’ ma; they include the entire range of texts, from VINAYA to modern commentaries on the tantras and gter ma.

Bka’ thang gser ’phreng. (Katang Sertreng). In Tibetan, “The Golden Rosary Chronicle”; a treasure text (GTER MA) containing a well-known biography of PADMASAMBHAVA, discovered by the treasure revealer (GTER STON) SANGS RGYAS GLING PA. Its complete title is: O rgyan gu ru padma ’byung gnas kyi rnam par thar pa gser gyi phreng ba thar lam gsal byed.

bka’ thang sde lnga. (katang denga). In Tibetan, “the five chronicles”; treasure texts (GTER MA) describing the times and events surrounding the life of PADMASAMBHAVA, and discovered in stages by the treasure revealer (GTER STON) O RGYAN GLING PA during the late fourteenth century. The collection contains five books: the kings (rgyal po), queens (btsun mo), ministers (blon po), translators and paṇḍitas (lo paṇ), and gods and ghosts (lha ’dre). These accounts contain many early legends and myths but also sections of historical value and interest, including descriptions of Chinese CHAN Buddhist doctrine.

Bka’ thang zangs gling ma. (Katang Sanglingma). In Tibetan, “The Copper Island Chronicle”; the earliest of the many treasure texts (GTER MA) containing biographies of PADMASAMBHAVA, discovered by the twelfth-century treasure revealer (GTER STON) NYANG RAL NYI MA ’OD ZER.

Bka’ tshal. (Katsel). In Tibetan, one of the four “edge-taming temples” or “edge-pinning temples” (MTHA’ ’DUL GTSUG LAG KHANG) said to have been constructed during the time of the Tibetan king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO to pin down the limbs of the demoness (T. srin mo) who was impeding the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. The temple is located on the head flank (T. dbu ru) and pins down her right hip.

Bkra shis lhun po. (Tashi Lhunpo). A Tibetan monastery that served as the seat of the PAṆ CHEN LAMAs, located in the Tibetan city of Gzhi ka rtse (Shigatse), and considered one of the six great institutions of the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The others include SE RA, ’BRAS SPUNGS, and DGA’ LDAN, all located near LHA SA, together with BLA BRANG BKRA SHIS ’KHYIL and SKU ’BUM, in the northeast region of A mdo. Bkra shis lhun po was founded in 1447 by DGE ’DUN GRUB, a disciple of the Dge lugs luminary TSONG KHA PA. In 1618, the KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD monastery Bkra shis zil gnon (Tashi Silnön, “Tashi Lhunpo Suppressor”) was established on a nearby hill and, for a short while, superceded Bkra shis lhun po, but it was eventually destroyed amid sectarian strife between the rival institutions. The cleric BLO BZANG CHOS KYI RGYAL MTSHAN enlarged Bkra shis lhun po’s original structure, and the fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO conferred upon him the title of PAṆ CHEN LAMA, “Great Scholar.” Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan was affirmed as the fourth such master, with the first three prelates recognized posthumously, beginning with Tsong kha pa’s disciple MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG. The Paṇ chen Lama was elevated to a position of great religious and political authority, officially ranking second after the Dalai Lama but often acting as his tutor and occasionally rivaling him in political power. His monastery thus became a key institution in the religious and political history of central and western Tibet from the seventeenth century onward. The large monastic complex of assembly halls, temples, and residences, including its famous golden roof, was spared major destruction during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).

bkra shis tshe ring mched lnga. (tashi tsering chenga). In Tibetan, “the five long-life sisters,” a group of pre-Buddhist Tibetan deities who were subdued and converted to Buddhism by PADMASAMBHAVA; the sisters also make an appearance in the songs of MI LA RAS PA (MI LA’I MGUR ’BUM) collected by GTSANG SMYON HERUKA, where they give the yogin access to the highest states of bliss. According to the DGE LUGS tradition, they are dharma protectors (DHARMAPĀLA) who have not transcended existence in SAṂSĀRA (although both the RNYING MA and BKA’ BRGYUD sects assert that they have done so). They reside at either Mount Everest or LA PHYI, on the border between Tibet and Nepal. Their leader is Bkra shis tshe ring ma/Rdo rje kun grags ma or Tshe yi dbang phyug ma. The other members are Mthing gi zhal bzang ma, Mi g.yo glang bzang ma, Cod pan mgrin bzang ma, and Gtal dkar ’gro bzang ma. They are also known as the bkra shis tshe yi lha mo lnga.

Bla brang bkra shis ’khyil. (Labrang Tashikyil). One of the six great monasteries of Tibet belonging to the DGE LUGS sect of Tibetan Buddhism; located in the northeast region of A mdo near the traditional border with China. The other five include SE RA, ’BRAS SPUNGS, DGA’ LDAN, and BKRA SHIS LHUN PO, all located in central Tibet, together with SKU ’BUM in A mdo. The monastery was established in 1709 by the first ’JAM DBYANGS BZHAD PA incarnation, Ngag dbang brtson grus, and became the principal seat of his subsequent incarnations. At its peak, Bla brang bkra shis ’khyil housed four thousand monks and several colleges, making it the largest and most powerful in A mdo.

Black Hats. (C. heimao 黑帽). A popular designation in both European languages and Chinese for the KARMA PA lineage of incarnate lamas in the KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD subsect of the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Because of his black crown, the Karma pa is sometimes called the “black hat” (zhwa nag) lama. In the nineteenth century, a Western misunderstanding of this term led to the presumption that there was a “Black Hat” sect of Tibetan Buddhism, a mistake that persists in some accounts of Tibetan Buddhism. The Western and Chinese division of major Tibetan sects into YELLOW HATS, RED HATS, and Black Hats has no corollary in Tibetan Buddhism and should be avoided.

bla ma. (lama). A Tibetan term of uncertain derivation, used to translate the Sanskrit word GURU, or “teacher.” According to traditional paranomastic glosses, it means “none higher” and “high mother.” Outside of Tibet, it is sometimes assumed that any Tibetan monk is a lama, but this is not the case. This misconception is reflected in the Chinese term lama jiao, or “teachings of the lama,” the source of the European misnomer for Tibetan Buddhism, “Lamaism.” Within Tibetan Buddhism, the term may be applied to any religious teacher, especially one’s own teacher, regardless of whether the teacher is a monk or a layperson. In common Tibetan parlance, bla ma usually denotes an incarnate lama (SPRUL SKU).

Bla ma g.yung drung dgon pa. (Lama Yuru). The oldest Buddhist monastery in Ladakh and Zangskar; located 125 kilometers west of Leh, the capital of Ladakh. Bla ma g.yung drung is thought to have been founded between the tenth and eleventh centuries; the site is also believed to be a sacred BON site. According to traditional accounts, when NĀROPA came to the area to meditate in the eleventh century, he decided where the monastery would be built. He then magically drained a lake in the valley in order to make way for its construction. It is a ’BRUG PA BKA’ BRGYUD monastery, and currently one of the most active monasteries in the region. Bla ma g.yung drung’s library is also thought to be one of the oldest in Ladakh. The translator RIN CHEN BZANG PO built many temples at Bla ma g.yung drung.

Bla ma Zhang. [full name, Zhang tshal pa Brtson ’grus grags pa] (Shangtsalpa Tsöndrü Drakpa) (1123–1193). The founder of the TSHAL PA BKA’ BRGYUD, one of the four major and eight minor subsects of the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism (BKA’ BRGYUD CHE BZHI CHUNG BRGYAD). He was an important figure in twelfth-century Tibet in both the religious and political realms. Born into an aristocratic family near LHA SA, he is said to have studied black magic in his youth. When both of his parents soon died, he attributed their deaths to his negative deeds and decided to become a Buddhist monk, receiving BHIKṢU ordination in 1148. In 1152, he met the nephew of SGAM PO PA, from whom he received instructions in MAHĀMUDRĀ, the subject of his best known work, Phyag chen lam mchog mthar thug (“Supreme Path of Mahāmudrā”). In 1175 he established his own community, Tshal gung thang, north of Lha sa, controlling the region with a law code of his own composition and his own militia, dismissing criticisms of his use of force with the claim that such acts were the skillful methods of the tantric master. However, he eventually agreed to renounce violence when he was requested to do so by the first KARMA PA, DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA.

Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. (1831–1891). A founding member of the Theosophical Society, Blavatsky was born in Ukraine to an aristocratic family, the daughter of a military officer and a well-known novelist. She was largely self-educated, and traveled throughout the world for more than twenty years. Arriving in New York from Paris in 1873, two years later she and HENRY STEEL OLCOTT founded the Theosophical Society, an organization that played a prominent role in the introduction of Asian religions to Europe and America. The society’s purpose focused on promoting the understanding and awareness of the nature of reality through various disciplines. Madame Blavatsky claimed to have spent seven years in Tibet studying with masters whom she called “mahatmas,” preservers of an ancient wisdom that provided the foundation for all mystical traditions. She also claimed to have remained in telepathic communication with these masters throughout her life and to have translated their teachings from the Senzar language into English. After attempts at alliances with various Asian teachers in India, Madame Blavatsky concluded that the modern manifestations of Hinduism and Buddhism had drifted far from their original essence, so she devoted much of her writing to expounding the true teachings, which she sometimes referred to as “Esoteric Buddhism.” Two of her most important works are The Secret Doctrine (1888) and The Voice of the Silence (1889); these provide an account of, and commentary on, the theory of spiritual evolution that she is said to have discovered in the ancient Book of Dzyan, written in the secret language of Senzar. Although this text has not been found, nor the Senzar language identified, The Voice of the Silence has been considered to be a Buddhist text by some prominent figures within the modern Buddhist tradition.

Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan. (Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen) (1570–1662). A Tibetan Buddhist scholar and incarnate lama (SPRUL SKU), revered as the first or the fourth PAṆ CHEN LAMA; he was the first to receive the title. He entered BKRA SHIS LHUN PO monastery at age seventeen and in 1601 ascended the throne as the monastery’s abbot. He also later served as abbot of ’BRAS SPUNGS and SE RA. He lived during a formative period in Tibetan history that saw the rise to power of the DALAI LAMA institution and the DGA’ LDAN PHO BRANG government, and the demise of the political power of the KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD sect and their Gtsang patrons. Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan was instrumental in forging alliances between the emerging DGE LUGS sect and powerful families associated with the RNYING MA sect. He discovered and served as tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama, NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO, who recognized Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan’s achievements and conferred on him the title paṇḍita chen po, or “great scholar,” from which the name Paṇ chen Lama is derived. Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtsan is traditionally viewed as the fourth such master, with the first three prelates recognized posthumously as the previous incarnations, beginning with the Dge lugs founder TSONG KHA PA’s disciple MKHAS GRUB DGE LEGS DPAL BZANG. For this reason, Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan is also sometimes considered the fourth Paṇ chen Lama.

blo rigs. [alt. blo rig] (lorik). In Tibetan, “mind and reasoning,” “categories of mind” or “mind and awareness” (when spelled blo rig); a genre of Tibetan monastic textbook literature (yig cha) that sets forth the categories of mind so that beginners can learn the basic concepts of Buddhist epistemology and logic. This genre supplements, or is a subset of, the “collected topics” (BSDUS GRWA) genre of textbook that forms the basis of the curriculum during the first years of study in many Tibetan monasteries. The categories of mind are not fixed, but usually include subdivisions into seven, three, and pairs. The seven minds range on a scale from wrong consciousness (log shes), through doubt, assumption, and inference (ANUMĀNA), to direct perception (PRATYAKṢA); among the contrasting pairs of minds are “sense consciousness” (dbang shes) via the sense faculties (INDRIYA) and “mental consciousness” (yid shes) based on MANAS; minds that are tshad ma (“valid”) and tshad min (“invalid”); conceptual (rtog bcas) and nonconceptual minds (rtog med); and minds that have a specifically characterized (SVALAKṢAṆA) appearing object (snang yul) and a generally characterized (SĀMĀNYALAKṢAṆA) appearing object. The last of the contrasting pairs is primary and secondary minds, or minds (CITTA) and mental factors (CAITTA). Longer discussion of this topic includes a discussion of the fifty-one mental factors in several subcategories. The explanation of mind in blo rigs draws mainly on terminology found in DHARMAKĪRTI’s PRAMĀṆAVĀRTTIKA and its commentarial tradition, as well as the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA.

blo sbyong. (lojong). In Tibetan, “mind training”; a tradition of Tibetan Buddhist practice associated especially with the BKA’ GDAMS sect and providing pithy instructions on the cultivation of compassion (KARUṆĀ) and BODHICITTA. The trainings are based primarily on the technique for the equalizing and exchange of self and other, as set forth in the eighth chapter of ŚĀNTIDEVA’s BODHICARYĀVATĀRA, a poem in ten chapters on the BODHISATTVA path. The practice is to transform the conception of self (ĀTMAGRAHA), characterized as a self-cherishing attitude (T. rang gces ’dzin) into cherishing others (gzhan gces ’dzin), by contemplating the illusory nature of the self, the faults in self-cherishing, and the benefits that flow from cherishing others. The training seeks to transform difficulties into reasons to reaffirm a commitment to bodhicitta. Dharmarakṣita’s Blo sbyong mtshon cha’i ’khor lo (sometimes rendered as “Wheel of Sharp Weapons”), translated into Tibetan by ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA and ’BROM STON, founders of the Bka’ gdam sect, in the eleventh century; Glang ri thang pa’s (Langri Thangpa) (1054–1123) BLO SBYONG TSHIG BRGYAD MA (“Eight Verses on Mind Training”); ’CHAD KA BA YE SHES RDO RJE’s BLO SBYONG DON BDUN MA (Lojong döndünma) (“Seven Points of Mind Training”), and Hor ston Nam mkha’i dpal bzang’s (1373–1447) Blo sbyong nyi ma’i ’od zer (“Mind Training like the Rays of the Sun”) are four among a large number of widely studied and practiced blo sbyong texts. The Blo sbyong mtshon cha’i ’khor lo, for example, compares the bodhisattva to a hero who can withstand spears and arrows, and to a peacock that eats poison and becomes even more beautiful; it says difficulties faced in day-to-day life are reasons to strengthen resolve because they are like the spears and arrow of karmic results launched by earlier unsalutary actions. From this perspective, circumstances that are ordinarily upsetting or depressing are transformed into reasons for happiness, by thinking that negative KARMAN has been extinguished. The influence of tantric Buddhism is discernable in the training in blo sbyong texts like the Mtshon cha’i ’khor lo that exhorts practitioners to imagine themselves as the deity YAMĀNTAKA and mentally launch an attack on the conception of self, imagining it as a battle. The conception of self is taken as the primary reason for the earlier unsalutary actions that caused negative results, and for engaging in present unsalutary deeds that harm others and do nothing to advance the practitioner’s own welfare.

Blo sbyong don bdun ma. (Lojong Döndünma). In Tibetan, “Seven Points of Mind Training”; an influential Tibetan work in the BLO SBYONG (“mind training”) genre. The work was composed by the BKA’ GDAMS scholar ’CHAD KA BA YE SHES RDO RJE, often known as Dge bshes Mchad kha ba, based on the tradition of generating BODHICITTA known as “mind training” transmitted by the Bengali master ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA. It also follows the system laid out previously by Glang ri thang pa (Langri Tangpa) in his BLO SBYONG TSHIG BRGYAD MA (“Eight Verses on Mind Training”). Comprised of a series of pithy instructions and meditative techniques, the Blo sbyong don bdun ma became influential in Tibet, with scholars from numerous traditions writing commentaries to it. According to the commentary of the nineteenth-century Tibetan polymath ’JAM MGON KONG SPRUL, the seven points covered in the treatise are: (1) the preliminaries to mind training, which include the contemplations on the preciousness of human rebirth, the reality of death and impermanence, the shortcomings of SAṂSĀRA, and the effects of KARMAN; (2) the actual practice of training in bodhicitta; (3) transforming adverse conditions into the path of awakening; (4) utilizing the practice in one’s entire life; (5) the evaluation of mind training; (6) the commitments of mind training; and (7) guidelines for mind training.

Blo sbyong tshig brgyad ma. (Lojong Tsikgyema). In Tibetan, “Eight Verses on Mind Training”; a text composed by the BKA’ GDAMS scholar Glang ri thang pa (Langri Thangpa, 1054–1123), based upon the instructions for generating BODHICITTA transmitted to Tibet by the Bengali master ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA. The work became famous in Tibet for its penetrating advice for the practice of compassion (KARUṆĀ). It formed the basis for future influential works, including the often-quoted BLO SBYONG DON BDUN MA (“Seven Points of Mind Training”), by the Bka’ gdams scholar ’CHAD KA BA YE SHES RDO RJE, written several decades later. The first seven verses teach the practice of conventional (SAṂVṚTI) bodhicitta, and the last verse ultimate (PARAMĀRTHA) bodhicitta. The first training is to view sentient beings as wish-granting gems because it is only by feeling compassion for beings that bodhisattvas reach enlightenment; the second is to cultivate an attitude similar to a person of low status whose natural place is serving others; and the third is to immediately confront and counteract afflictions (KLEŚA) (here understood specifically as selfishness, attachment to one’s own interests, and hatred for those who oppose them). The fourth training is to treat people who are actually cruel as extremely rare and precious because they present an opportunity to practice patience and compassion, without which enlightenment is impossible; the fifth is the famous advice to “give all victory to others; take all defeat for yourself;” the sixth is to treat ungrateful persons as special gurus, and the seventh is to practice GTONG LEN (giving and taking), a practice of breathing out love and compassion and breathing in the sufferings of others. The eighth training is in a mind free from all conceptions.

Blue Cliff Record. See BIYAN LU.

Blyth, Reginald H. (1898–1964). An early English translator of Japanese poetry, with a particular interest in ZEN Buddhism. Blyth was born in Essex; his father was railway clerk. He was imprisoned for three years during the First World War as a conscientious objector. In 1925, he traveled to Korea, then a Japanese colony, where he taught English at Keijō University in Seoul. It was there that he developed his first interest in Zen through the priest Hanayama Taigi. After a brief trip to England, he returned to Seoul and then went to Japan, where he taught English in Kanazawa. With the outbreak of the Pacific War, Blyth was interned as an enemy alien, despite having expressed sympathy for the Japanese cause. Although he remained interned throughout the war, he was allowed to continue his studies, and in 1942 published his most famous work, Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics, which sought to identify Zen elements in a wide range of literature. After the war, Blyth served as a liaison between the Japanese imperial household and the Allies, later becoming a professor of English at Gakushuin University, where one of his students was the future emperor Akihito (b. 1933). After the war, he published a four-volume collection of his translations of Japanese haiku poetry, which was largely responsible for European and American interest in haiku during the 1950s, among the Beat Poets and others, and the writing of haiku in languages other than Japanese. Subsequent scholarship has questioned the strong connection that Blyth saw between Zen and haiku. Blyth died in Japan and is buried in Kamakura next to his friend D. T. SUZUKI.

Bo. (J. Haku; K. Paek 帛). Ethnikon used in China for monks who hailed from KUCHA, an Indo-European oasis kingdom along the SILK ROAD, at the northern edge of the Takla Makhan desert in Central Asia. The Chinese is the transcription of the surname of the royal family of Kucha, and thus applied to everyone who came from the region. See FOTUDENG; SHI.

bodaiji. (菩提寺). In Japanese, literally “BODHI temple”; also known as bodaiin, bodaisho, or DANNADERA. Bodaiji are temples that flourished mainly during the Edo period under the parish system (DANKA SEIDO) established by the Tokugawa shogunate. Parishioners, known as danka or DAN’OTSU, were required to register at these local temples. By establishing the danka and terauke (“temple support”) system, the early Tokugawa shogunate hoped to eradicate the threat of Christianity as they had witnessed it in the Christian-led Shimabara Uprising of 1637. During the Edo period, the bodaiji primarily offered funerary and memorial services for the ancestors of its parishioners and in many cases came to function as cemeteries. Festivals for the dead such as bon (see YULANBEN) and higan were also held annually at these temples. Although the danka system was abolished during the Meiji period, the bodaiji continue to function as memorial temples in modern Japan.

Bodawpaya. (r. 1782–1819). Burmese king and sixth monarch of the Konbaung dynasty (1752–1885). Originally known as Badon Min, he was the fourth son of Alaungpaya (r. 1752–1760), founder of the dynasty, and ascended to the throne through usurpation. His official regnal title was Hsinpyumyashin, “Lord of Many White Elephants”; the name by which he is most commonly known, Bodawpaya, “Lord Grandfather,” is a posthumous sobriquet. Immediately upon becoming king in 1782, he began construction of a new capital, AMARAPURA, and convened a conclave of abbots, known as the THUDHAMMA (P. Sudhamm) council, to oversee a reform of the Burmese SAṂGHA. In 1784, he conquered the kingdom of Arakan and transported its colossal palladium, the MAHĀMUNI image of the Buddha (see ARAKAN BUDDHA), to Amarapura and enshrined it in a temple to the north of the city. Later, in 1787 he dispatched a Buddhist mission to Arakan to bring the Arakanese THERAVĀDA saṃgha into conformity with Thudhamma standards. In 1791 Buddhist missions were sent from the capital to forty-two cities around the realm, each equipped with Thudhamma handbooks and newly edited copies of the Buddhist canon (tipiṭaka; S. TRIPIṬAKA). The missions were charged with the threefold task of defrocking unworthy monks, disestablishing local monastic fraternities, and reordaining worthy monks from these local groups into a single empire-wide monastic order under Thudhamma control. In conjunction with this policy of saṃgha unification, a standardized syllabus for monastic education was promulgated and monks and novices throughout the realm were thenceforth required to pass state-administered Pāli examinations or to leave the order. That same year (1791), Bodawpaya retired from the palace, placing the daily affairs of the kingdom in the hands of his son, the crown prince. While retaining ultimate royal authority, he donned the robes of a mendicant and took up residence at Mingun, some fifteen miles north of Amarapura on the opposite bank of the Irrawaddy River. There, he oversaw for several years the construction of the great Mingun pagoda, which, if it had been completed, would have been the largest pagoda in the world. The labor force for this project, numbering some twenty thousand people, was conscripted from the vanquished kingdom of Arakan. Strict and austere in temperament, Bodawpaya was quick to suppress heresy and banned the use of intoxicants and the slaughter of cattle, on penalty of death. He was enamored of Hindu science and sent several missions to India to acquire Brahmanical treatises on medicine, alchemy, astrology, calendrics, and what he hoped would be original Indian recensions of Buddhist scriptures. His missions reached BODHGAYĀ and returned with models of the main shrine and maps of its environs, which were used to create a miniature replica of the site at Mingun. He appointed Indian brāhmaṇas to refine court punctilio and attempted to reform the Burmese calendar along Indian lines. The calendar reforms were rejected by monastic leaders and this rebuff appears to have caused the king to become increasingly critical of the monkhood. Toward the end of his reign, Bodawpaya defrocked the Thudhamma patriarch, declaring the dispensation (P. sāsana; S. ŚĀSANA) of Gotama (GAUTAMA) Buddha to be extinct and its saṃgha therefore defunct. This attempt to disestablish the Burmese saṃgha met with little success outside the capital and was later abandoned. Bodawpaya’s military campaigns against Arakan and Assam extended the borders of the Burmese empire to the frontiers of the British East India Company. The cruelty of Bodawpaya’s rule in Arakan created an influx of refugees into British territory, who were regularly pursued by Burmese troops. Although British diplomacy kept tensions with the Burmese kingdom under control throughout Bodawpaya’s reign, the stage was set for eventual military conflict between the two powers and the subsequent British conquest of Burma in three wars during the nineteenth century.

Bodhgayā. (S. Buddhagayā). Modern Indian place name for the most significant site in the Buddhist world, renowned as the place where ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha (then, still the BODHISATTVA prince SIDDHĀRTHA) became a buddha while meditating under the BODHI TREE at the “seat of enlightenment” (BODHIMAṆḌA) or the “diamond seat” (VAJRĀSANA). The site is especially sacred because, according to tradition, not only did Śākyamuni Buddha attain enlightenment there, but all buddhas of this world system have or will do so, albeit under different species of trees. Bodhgayā is situated along the banks of the NAIRAÑJANĀ river, near RĀJAGṚHA, the ancient capital city of the MAGADHA kingdom. Seven sacred places are said to be located in Bodhgayā, each being a site where the Buddha stayed during each of the seven weeks following his enlightenment. These include, in addition to the bodhimaṇḍa under the Bodhi tree: the place where the Buddha sat facing the Bodhi tree during the second week, with an unblinking gaze (and hence the site of the animeṣalocana caitya); the place where the Buddha walked back and forth in meditation (CAṄKRAMA) during the third week; the place called the ratnagṛha, where the Buddha meditated during the fourth week, emanating rays of light from his body; the place under the ajapāla tree where the god BRAHMĀ requested that the Buddha turn the wheel of the dharma (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA) during the fifth week; the lake where the NĀGA MUCILINDA used his hood to shelter the Buddha from a storm during the sixth week; and the place under the rājāyatana tree where the merchants TRAPUṢA and BHALLIKA met the Buddha after the seventh week, becoming his first lay disciples. ¶ Located in the territory of MAGADHA (in modern Bihar), the ancient Indian kingdom where the Buddha spent much of his teaching career, Bodhgayā is one of the four major pilgrimage sites (MAHĀSTHĀNA) sanctioned by the Buddha himself, along with LUMBINĪ in modern-day Nepal, where the Buddha was born; the Deer Park (MṚGADĀVA) at SĀRNĀTH, where he first taught by “turning the wheel of the dharma” (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA); and KUŚINAGARĪ in Uttar Pradesh, where he passed into PARINIRVĀṆA. According to the AŚOKĀVADĀNA, the emperor AŚOKA visited Bodhgayā with the monk UPAGUPTA and established a STŪPA at the site. There is evidence that Aśoka erected a pillar and shrine at the site during the third century BCE. A more elaborate structure, called the vajrāsana GANDHAKUṬĪ (“perfumed chamber of the diamond seat”), is depicted in a relief at Bodhgayā, dating from c. 100 BCE. It shows a two-storied structure supported by pillars, enclosing the Bodhi tree and the vajrāsana, the “diamond seat,” where the Buddha sat on the night of his enlightenment. The forerunner of the present temple is described by the Chinese pilgrim XUANZANG. This has led scholars to speculate that the structure was built sometime between the third and sixth centuries CE, with subsequent renovations. Despite various persecutions by non-Buddhist Indian kings, the site continued to receive patronage, especially during the Pāla period, from which many of the surrounding monuments date. A monastery, called the Bodhimaṇḍavihāra, was established there and flourished for several centuries. FAXIAN mentions three monasteries at Bodhgayā; Xuanzang found only one, called the Mahābodhisaṃghārāma (see MAHĀBODHI TEMPLE). The temple and its environs fell into neglect after the Muslim invasions that began in the thirteenth century. British photographs from the nineteenth century show the temple in ruins. Restoration of the site was ordered by the British governor-general of Bengal in 1880, with a small eleventh-century replica of the temple serving as a model. There is a tall central tower some 165 feet (fifty meters) in height, with a high arch over the entrance with smaller towers at the four corners. The central tower houses a small temple with an image of the Buddha. The temple is surrounded by stone railings, some dating from 150 BCE, others from the Gupta period (300–600 CE) that preserve important carvings. In 1886, EDWIN ARNOLD visited Bodhgayā. He published an account of his visit, which was read by ANAGĀRIKA DHARMAPĀLA and others. Arnold described a temple surrounded by hundreds of broken statues scattered in the jungle. The Mahābodhi Temple itself had stood in ruins prior to renovations undertaken by the British in 1880. Also of great concern was the fact that the site had been under Śaiva control since the eighteenth century, with reports of animal sacrifice taking place in the environs of the temple. Dharmapāla visited Bodhgayā himself in 1891, and returned to Sri Lanka, where he worked with a group of leading Sinhalese Buddhists to found the MAHĀBODHI SOCIETY with the aim of restoring Bodhgayā as place of Buddhist worship and pilgrimage. The society undertook a series of unsuccessful lawsuits to that end. In 1949, after Indian independence, the Bodhgayā Temple Act was passed, which established a committee of four Buddhists and four Hindus to supervise the temple and its grounds. The Government of India asked Anagārika Munindra, a Bengali monk and active member of the Mahābodhi Society, to oversee the restoration of Bodhgayā. Since then, numerous Buddhist countries—including Bhutan, China, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam—have constructed (or restored) their own temples and monasteries in Bodhgayā, each reflecting its national architectural style. In 2002, the Mahābodhi Temple was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

bodhi. (T. byang chub; C. puti/jue; J. bodai/kaku; K. pori/kak 菩提/覺). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “awakening,” “enlightenment”; the consummate knowledge that catalyzes the experience of liberation (VIMOKṢA) from the cycle rebirth. Bodhi is of three discrete kinds: that of perfect buddhas (SAMYAKSAṂBODHI); that of PRATYEKABUDDHAs or “solitary enlightened ones” (pratyekabodhi); and that of ŚRĀVAKAs or disciples (śrāvakabodhi). The content of the enlightenment experience is in essence the understanding of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni): namely, the truth of suffering (DUḤKHA), the truth of the cause of suffering (SAMUDAYA), the truth of the cessation of suffering (NIRODHA), and the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering (MĀRGA). Bodhi is also elaborated in terms of its thirty-seven constituent factors (BODHIPĀKṢIKADHARMA) that are mastered in the course of perfecting one’s understanding, or the seven limbs of awakening (BODHYAṄGA) that lead to the attainment of the “threefold knowledge” (TRIVIDYĀ; P. tevijjā): “recollection of former lives” (S. PŪRVANIVĀSĀNUSMṚTI; P. pubbenivāsānussati), the “divine eye” (DIVYACAKṢUS; P. dibbacakkhu), which perceives that the death and rebirth of beings occurs according to their actions (KARMAN), and the “knowledge of the extinction of the contaminants” (ĀSRAVAKṢAYA; P. āsavakkayañāṇa). Perfect buddhas and solitary buddhas (pratyekabuddha) become enlightened through their own independent efforts, for they discover the four noble truths on their own, without the aid of a teacher in their final lifetime (although pratyekabuddhas may rely on the teachings of a buddha in previous lifetimes). Of these two types of buddhas, perfect buddhas are then capable of teaching these truths to others, while solitary buddhas are not. Śrāvakas, by contrast, do not become enlightened on their own but are exposed to the teachings of perfect buddhas and through the guidance of those teachings gain the understanding they need to attain awakening. Bodhi also occupies a central place in MAHĀYĀNA religious conceptions. The Mahāyāna ideal of the BODHISATTVA means literally a “being” (SATTVA) intent on awakening (bodhi) who has aroused the aspiration to achieve buddhahood or the “thought of enlightenment” (BODHICITTA; BODHICITTOTPĀDA). The Mahāyāna, especially in its East Asian manifestations, also explores in great detail the prospect that enlightenment is something that is innate to the mind (see BENJUE; HONGAKU) rather than inculcated, and therefore need not be developed gradually but can instead be realized suddenly (see DUNWU). The Mahāyāna also differentiates between the enlightenment (bodhi) of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and the full enlightenment (samyaksaṃbodhi) of a buddha. According to Indian and Tibetan commentaries on the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ sūtras, buddhas achieve full enlightenment not beneath the BODHI TREE in BODHGAYĀ, but in the AKANIṢṬHA heaven in the form of a SAṂBHOGAKĀYA, or enjoyment body remaining for eternity to work for the welfare of sentient beings. The bodhisattva who strives for enlightenment and achieves buddhahood beneath the Bodhi tree is a NIRMĀṆAKĀYA, a conjured body meant to inspire the world. See also WU; JIANWU.

Bodhicaryāvatāra. (T. Byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa; C. Putixing jing; J. Bodaigyōkyō; K. Porihaeng kyŏng 菩提行經). In Sanskrit, lit. “Introduction to the Practice of Enlightenment,” a.k.a. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, “Introduction to the Bodhisattva Practice”; a poem about the BODHISATTVA path, in ten chapters, written by the Indian poet ŚĀNTIDEVA (fl. c. 685–763). The verse is regarded as one of the masterpieces of late Indian MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism, eliciting substantial commentary in both India and Tibet. The most influential of the Indian commentaries is the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā by PRAJÑĀKARAMATI. The text is especially important in Tibetan Buddhism, where it has long been memorized by monks and where stanzas from the text are often cited in both written and oral religious discourse. The poem is an extended reverie on the implications of the “aspiration for enlightenment” (BODHICITTA) that renders a person a bodhisattva, and on the deeds of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). In the first chapter, Śāntideva distinguishes between two forms of bodhicitta, the intentional (PRAṆIDHICITTOTPĀDA) and the practical (PRASTHĀNACITTOTPĀDA), comparing them to the decision to undertake a journey and then actually setting out on that journey. In the fifth chapter he provides a famous argument for patience (KṢĀNTI), stating that in order to walk uninjured across a surface of sharp stones, one can either cover the entire world with leather or one can cover the sole of one’s foot with leather; in the same way, in order to survive the anger of enemies, one can either kill them all or practice patience. In the eighth chapter, he sets forth the technique for the equalizing and exhange of self and other, regarded in Tibet as one of the two chief means of cultivating bodhicitta. The lengthiest chapter is the ninth, devoted to wisdom (PRAJÑĀ). Here Śāntideva refutes a range of both non-Buddhist and Buddhist positions. On the basis of this chapter, Śāntideva is counted as a PRĀSAṄGIKA in the Tibetan doxographical system. According to legend, when Śāntideva recited this chapter to the monks of NĀLANDĀ monastery, he began to rise into the air, leaving some questions as to precisely how the chapter ends. The final chapter is a prayer, often recited independently.

bodhicitta. (T. byang chub kyi sems; C. putixin; J. bodaishin; K. porisim 菩提心). In Sanskrit, “thought of enlightenment” or “aspiration to enlightenment”; the intention to reach the complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAṂBODHI) of the buddhas, in order to liberate all sentient beings in the universe from suffering. As the generative cause that leads to the eventual achievement of buddhahood and all that it represents, bodhicitta is one of the most crucial terms in MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism. The achievement of bodhicitta marks the beginning of the BODHISATTVA path: bodhicitta refers to the aspiration that inspires the bodhisattva, the being who seeks buddhahood. In some schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism, bodhicitta is conceived as being latent in all sentient beings as the “innately pure mind” (prakṛtipariśuddhacitta), as, for example, in the MAHĀVAIROCANĀBHISAṂBODHISŪTRA: “Knowing one’s own mind according to reality is BODHI, and bodhicitta is the innately pure mind that is originally existent.” In this sense, bodhicitta was conceived as a universal principle, related to such terms as DHARMAKĀYA, TATHĀGATA, or TATHATĀ. However, not all schools of the Mahāyāna (e.g., some strands of YOGĀCĀRA) hold that all beings are destined for buddhahood and, thus, not all beings are endowed with bodhicitta. Regardless of whether or not bodhicitta is regarded as somehow innate, however, bodhicitta is also a quality of mind that must be developed, hence the important term BODHICITTOTPĀDA, “generation of the aspiration to enlightenment.” Both the BODHISATTVABHŪMI and the MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRA provide a detailed explanation of bodhicitta. In late Indian Mahāyāna treatises by such important authors as ŚĀNTIDEVA, KAMALAŚĪLA, and ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA, techniques are set forth for cultivating bodhicitta. The development of bodhicitta also figures heavily in Mahāyāna liturgies, especially in those where one receives the bodhisattva precepts (BODHISATTVASAṂVARA). In this literature, two types of bodhicitta are enumerated. First, the “conventional bodhicitta” (SAṂVṚTIBODHICITTA) refers to a bodhisattva’s mental aspiration to achieve enlightenment, as described above. Second, the “ultimate bodhicitta” (PARAMĀRTHABODHICITTA) refers to the mind that directly realizes either emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) or the enlightenment inherent in the mind. This “conventional bodhicitta” is further subdivided between PRAṆIDHICITTOTPĀDA, literally, “aspirational creation of the attitude” (where “attitude,” CITTA, refers to bodhicitta), where one makes public one’s vow (PRAṆIDHĀNA) to attain buddhahood; and PRASTHĀNACITTOTPĀDA, literally “creation of the attitude of setting out,” where one actually sets out to practice the path to buddhahood. In discussing this latter pair, Śāntideva in his BODHICARYĀVATĀRA compares the first type to the decision to undertake a journey and the second type to actually setting out on the journey; in the case of the bodhisattva path, then, the first therefore refers to the process of developing the aspiration to buddhahood for the sake of others, while the second refers to undertaking the various practices of the bodhisattva path, such as the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). The AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA describes three types of bodhicitta, those like a herder, a ferryman, and a king. In the first case the bodhisattva first delivers all others into enlightenment before entering enlightenment himself, just as a herder takes his flock into the pen before entering the pen himself; in the second case, they all enter enlightenment together, just as a ferryman and his passengers arrive together at the further shore; and in the third, the bodhisattva first reaches enlightenment and then helps others to reach the goal, just as a king first ascends to the throne and then benefits his subjects. A standard definition of bodhicitta is found at the beginning of the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA, where it is defined as an intention or wish that has two aims: buddhahood, and the welfare of those beings whom that buddhahood will benefit; the text also gives a list of twenty-two types of bodhicitta, with examples for each. Later writers like Ārya VIMUKTISENA and HARIBHADRA locate the Abhisamayālaṃkāra’s twenty-two types of bodhicitta at different stages of the bodhisattva path and at enlightenment. At the beginning of his MADHYAMAKĀVATĀRA, CANDRAKĪRTI compares compassion (KARUṆĀ) to a seed, water, and crops and says it is important at the start (where compassion begins the bodhisattva’s path), in the middle (where it sustains the bodhisattva and prevents a fall into the limited NIRVĀṆA of the ARHAT), and at the end when buddhahood is attained (where it explains the unending, spontaneous actions for the sake of others that derive from enlightenment). Karuṇā is taken to be a cause of bodhicitta because bodhicitta initially arises and ultimately will persist, only if MAHĀKARUṆĀ (“great empathy for others’ suffering”) is strong. In part because of its connotation as a generative force, in ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA, bodhicitta comes also to refer to semen, especially in the practice of sexual yoga, where the physical seed (BĪJA) of awakening (representing UPĀYA) is placed in the lotus of wisdom (PRAJÑĀ).

Bodhicittavivaraṇa. (T. Byang chub sems ’grel). In Sanskrit, “Exposition of the Mind of Enlightenment”; a work traditionally ascribed to NĀGĀRJUNA, although the text is not cited by Nāgārjuna’s commentators BUDDHAPĀLITA, CANDRAKĪRTI, or BHĀVAVIVEKA. This absence, together with apparently tantric elements in the text and the fact that it contains a sustained critique of VIJÑĀNAVĀDA, have led some scholars to conclude that it is not the work of the same Nāgārjuna who authored the MŪLAMADHYAMAKAKĀRIKĀ. Nonetheless, the work is widely cited in later Indian Mahāyāna literature and is important in Tibet. The text consists of 112 stanzas, preceded by a brief section in prose. It is essentially a compendium of MAHĀYĀNA theory and practice, intended for bodhisattvas, both monastic and lay, organized around the theme of BODHICITTA, both in its conventional aspect (SAṂVṚTIBODHICITTA) as the aspiration to buddhahood out of compassion for all sentient beings, and in its ultimate aspect (PARAMĀRTHABODHICITTA) as the insight into emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ). In addition to the refutation of Vijñānavāda, the text refutes the self as understood by the TĪRTHIKAs and the SKANDHAs as understood by the ŚRĀVAKAs.

bodhicittotpāda. (T. byang chub kyi sems bskyed pa; C. fa puti xin; J. hotsubodaishin; K. pal pori sim 發菩提心). In Sanskrit, “generating the aspiration for enlightenment,” “creating (utpāda) the thought (CITTA) of enlightenment (BODHI)”; a term used to describe both the process of developing BODHICITTA, the aspiration to achieve buddhahood, as well as the state achieved through such development. The MAHĀYĀNA tradition treats this aspiration as having great significance in one’s spiritual career, since it marks the entry into the Mahāyāna and the beginning of the BODHISATTVA path. The process by which this “thought of enlightenment” (bodhicitta) is developed and sustained is bodhicittotpāda. Various types of techniques or conditional environments conducive to bodhicittotpāda are described in numerous Mahāyāna texts and treatises. The BODHISATTVABHŪMI says that there are four predominant conditions (ADHIPATIPRATYAYA) for generating bodhicitta: (1) witnessing an inconceivable miracle (ṛddhiprātihārya) performed by a buddha or a bodhisattva, (2) listening to a teaching regarding enlightenment (BODHI) or to the doctrine directed at bodhisattvas (BODHISATTVAPIṬAKA), (3) recognizing the dharma’s potential to be extinguished and seeking therefore to protect the true dharma (SADDHARMA), (4) seeing that sentient beings are troubled by afflictions (KLEŚA) and empathizing with them. The Fa putixinjing lun introduces another set of four conditions for generating bodhicitta: (1) reflecting on the buddhas; (2) contemplating the dangers (ĀDĪNAVA) inherent in the body; (3) developing compassion (KARUṆĀ) toward sentient beings; (4) seeking the supreme result (PHALA). The Chinese apocryphal treatise DASHENG QIXIN LUN (“Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna”) refers to three types of bodhicittotpāda: that which derives from the accomplishment of faith, from understanding and practice, and from realization. JINGYING HUIYUAN (523–592) in his DASHENG YIZHANG (“Compendium on the Purport of Mahāyāna”) classifies bodhicittotpāda into three groups: (1) the generation of the mind based on characteristics, in which the bodhisattva, perceiving the characteristics of SAṂSĀRA and NIRVĀṆA, abhors saṃsāra and aspires to seek nirvāṇa; (2) the generation of the mind separate from characteristics, in which the bodhisattva, recognizing that the nature of saṃsāra is not different from nirvāṇa, leaves behind any perception of their distinctive characteristics and generates an awareness of their equivalency; (3) the generation of the mind based on truth, in which the bodhisattva, recognizing that the original nature of bodhi is identical to his own mind, returns to his own original state of mind. The Korean scholiast WŎNHYO (617–686), in his Muryangsugyŏng chongyo (“Doctrinal Essentials of the ‘Sūtra of Immeasurable Life’”), considers the four great vows of the bodhisattva (see C. SI HONGSHIYUAN) to be bodhicitta and divides its generation into two categories: viz., the aspiration that accords with phenomena (susa palsim) and the aspiration that conforms with principle (suri palsim). The topic of bodhicittotpāda is the subject of extensive discussion and exegesis in Tibetan Buddhism. For example, in his LAM RIM CHEN MO, TSONG KHA PA sets forth two techniques for developing this aspiration. The first, called the “seven cause and effect precepts” (rgyu ’bras man ngag bdun) is said to derive from ATIŚA DIPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA. The seven are (1) recognition of all sentient beings as having been one’s mother in a past life, (2) recognition of their kindness, (3) the wish to repay their kindness, (4) love, (5) compassion, (6) the wish to liberate them from suffering, and (7) bodhicitta. The second, called the equalizing and exchange of self and other (bdag gzhan mnyam brje) is derived from the eighth chapter of ŚĀNTIDEVA’s BODHICARYĀVATĀRA. It begins with the recognition that oneself and others equally want happiness and do not want suffering. It goes on to recognize that by cherishing others more than oneself, one ensures the welfare of both oneself (by becoming a buddha) and others (by teaching them the dharma). Mahāyāna sūtra literature typically assumes that, after generating the bodhicitta, the bodhisattva will require not one, but three “incalculable eons” (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA) of time in order to complete all the stages (BHŪMI) of the bodhisattva path (MĀRGA) and achieve buddhahood. The Chinese HUAYAN ZONG noted, however, that the bodhisattva had no compunction about practicing for such an infinity of time, because he realized at the very inception of the path that he was already a fully enlightened buddha. They cite in support of this claim the statement in the “Brahmacaryā” chapter of the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA that “at the time of the initial generation of the aspiration for enlightenment (bodhicittotpāda), complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAṂBODHI) is already achieved.”

Bodhidharma. (C. Putidamo; J. Bodaidaruma; K. Poridalma 菩提達磨) (c. late-fourth to early-fifth centuries). Indian monk who is the putative “founder” of the school of CHAN (K. SŎN, J. ZEN, V. THIỀN). The story of a little-known Indian (or perhaps Central Asian) emigré monk grew over the centuries into an elaborate legend of Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of the Chan school. The earliest accounts of a person known as Bodhidharma appear in the Luoyang qielan ji and XU GAOSENG ZHUAN, but the more familiar and developed image of this figure can be found in such later sources as the BAOLIN ZHUAN, LENGQIE SHIZI JI, LIDAI FABAO JI, ZUTANG JI, JINGDE CHUANDENG LU, and other “transmission of the lamplight” (CHUANDENG LU) histories. According to these sources, Bodhidharma was born as the third prince of a South Indian kingdom. Little is known about his youth, but he is believed to have arrived in China sometime during the late fourth or early fifth century, taking the southern maritime route according to some sources, the northern overland route according to others. In an episode appearing in the Lidai fabao ji and BIYAN LU, after arriving in southern China, Bodhidharma is said to have engaged in an enigmatic exchange with the devout Buddhist emperor Wu (464–549, r. 502–549) of the Liang dynasty (502–557) on the subject of the Buddha’s teachings and merit-making. To the emperor’s questions about what dharma Bodhidharma was transmitting and how much merit (PUṆYA) he, Wudi, had made by his munificent donations to construct monasteries and ordain monks, Bodhidharma replied that the Buddha’s teachings were empty (hence there was nothing to transmit) and that the emperor’s generous donations had brought him no merit at all. The emperor seems not to have been impressed with these answers, and Bodhidharma, perhaps disgruntled by the emperor’s failure to understand the profundity of his teachings, left for northern China, taking the Yangtze river crossing (riding a reed across the river, in a scene frequently depicted in East Asian painting). Bodhidharma’s journey north eventually brought him to a cave at the monastery of SHAOLINSI on SONGSHAN, where he sat in meditation for nine years while facing a wall (MIANBI), in so-called “wall contemplation” (BIGUAN). During his stay on Songshan, the Chinese monk HUIKE is said to have become Bodhidharma’s disciple, allegedly after cutting off his left arm to show his dedication. This legend of Bodhidharma’s arrival in China is eventually condensed into the famous Chan case (GONG’AN), “Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?” (see XILAI YI). Bodhidharma’s place within the lineage of Indian patriarchs vary according to text and tradition (some list him as the twenty-eighth patriarch), but he is considered the first patriarch of Chan in China. Bodhidharma’s name therefore soon became synonymous with Chan and subsequently with Sŏn, Zen, and Thiền. Bodhidharma, however, has often been confused with other figures such as BODHIRUCI, the translator of the LAṄKĀVATĀRASŪTRA, and the Kashmiri monk DHARMATRĀTA, to whom the DHYĀNA manual DAMODUOLUO CHAN JING is attributed. The Lidai fabao ji, for instance, simply fused the names of Bodhidharma and Dharmatrāta and spoke of a Bodhidharmatrāta whose legend traveled with the Lidai fabao ji to Tibet. Bodhidharma was even identified as the apostle Saint Thomas by Jesuit missionaries to China, such as Matteo Ricci. Several texts, a number of which were uncovered in the DUNHUANG manuscript cache in Central Asia, have been attributed to Bodhidharma, but their authorship remains uncertain. The ERRU SIXING LUN seems to be the only of these texts that can be traced with some certainty back to Bodhidharma or his immediate disciples. The legend of Bodhidharma in the Lengqie shizi ji also associates him with the transmission of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra in China. In Japan, Bodhidharma is often depicted in the form of a round-shaped, slightly grotesque-looking doll, known as the “Daruma doll.” Like much of the rest of the legends surrounding Bodhidharma, there is finally no credible evidence connecting Bodhidharma to the Chinese martial arts traditions (see SHAOLINSI).

bodhimaṇḍa. (T. byang chub snying po; C. daochang; J. dōjō; K. toryang 道場). In Sanskrit (and very late Pāli), “seat of enlightenment” or “platform of enlightenment,” the place in BODHGAYĀ under the BODHI TREE where the Buddha sat when he achieved liberation from the cycle of birth and death (SAṂSĀRA). (The word maṇḍa in this compound refers to the scum that forms on the top of boiling rice or the heavy cream that rises to the top of milk, thus suggesting the observable and most essential signs of the supreme act of BODHI, or enlightenment. Note that Western literature sometimes wrongly transcribes the term as *bodhimaṇḍala rather than bodhimaṇḍa.) All buddhas are associated with such a place, and it is presumed that all BODHISATTVAs of this world system as well will sit on such a seat before attaining buddhahood. The term is also used to refer to the region surrounding the seat itself, which, in the case of ŚĀKYAMUNI, is Bodhgayā. The bodhimaṇḍa is also known as the VAJRĀSANA (“diamond seat”), since it is the only site on earth strong enough to bear the pressures unleashed by the battle for enlightenment. Buddhist iconography often depicts the Buddha just prior to his enlightenment sitting on the bodhimaṇḍa in the “earth-touching gesture” (BHŪMISPARŚAMUDRĀ), i.e., with his right hand touching the ground, calling the earth to bear witness to his achievement. The bodhimaṇḍa is often said to be the center or navel of the world and thus can be understood as what early scholars of religion called an axis mundi—the liminal site between divine and profane realms; according to the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA, the various hot and cold hells (see NĀRAKA) are located not below Mount SUMERU but below the bodhimaṇḍa. In medieval East Asia, the Chinese term for bodhimaṇḍa began to be used to designate a “ritual precinct,” viz., a site where such critical Buddhist rituals as ordinations were held, and by the seventh century came to be commonly used as the equivalent of “monastery” (si). In Korea, toryang (= bodhimaṇḍa) is also used to designate the central courtyard around which are arrayed the most important shrine halls in a monastery.

Bodhiñāṇa. (1917–1992). See AJAHN CHAH BODHIÑĀṆA.

bodhipakṣa. (S). See BODHIPĀKṢIKADHARMA.

bodhipākṣikadharma. [alt. -pakṣa-; -pakṣika-] (P. bodhipakkhiyadhamma; T. byang chub kyi phyogs kyi chos; C. puti fen/sanshiqi daopin; J. bodaibun/sanjūshichidōbon; K. pori pun/samsipch’il top’um 菩提分/三十七道品). In Sanskrit, “factors pertaining to awakening” or “wings of awakening.” There are thirty-seven factors pertaining to enlightenment (saptatriṃśad bodhipākṣikā dharmāḥ), a conflation of seven distinct lists of practices: (1–4) the four foundations of mindfulness (SMṚTYUPASTHĀNA, P. SATIPAṬṬHĀNA), (5–8) the four right efforts or abandonments (SAMYAKPRADHĀNA, P. sammāpadhāna), (9–12) the four requisites of supranormal power (ṚDDHIPĀDA, P. iddhipāda), (13–17) the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA), (18–22) the five mental powers (BALA), (23–29) the seven factors of enlightenment (BODHYAṄGA, P. bojjhaṅga), and (30–37) the noble eightfold path (ĀRYĀṢṬĀṄGAMĀRGA). This comprehensive list is said to encompass the entire teachings of the Buddha and may constitute one of, if not the, earliest examples in Buddhist literature of “matrices” (MĀTṚKĀ; P. mātikā), the dharma lists that were the foundation of the ABHIDHARMA. As additional psychic characteristics associated with meditative states were added to this original list of bodhipākṣikadharmas, the various factors listed in these mātṛkā came to be considered an exhaustive accounting of the “elements of reality” (DHARMA).

Bodhipathapradīpa. (T. Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma). In Sanskrit, “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment”; a work composed by the Indian scholar ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA at THO LING GTSUG LAG KHANG shortly after he arrived in Tibet in 1042. Tibetan histories often note that Atiśa wrote this text in order to clarify problematic points of Buddhist practice, especially TANTRA, which were thought to have degenerated and become distorted, and to show that tantra did not render basic Buddhist practice irrelevant. The Bodhipathapradīpa emphasizes a gradual training in the practices of the MAHĀYĀNA and VAJRAYĀNA and became a prototype and textual basis first for the bstan rim, or “stages of the teaching” genre, and then for the genre of Tibetan religious literature known as LAM RIM, or “stages of the path.” It is also an early source for the instructions and practice of BLO SBYONG, or “mind training.” Atiśa wrote his own commentary (pañjikā) (Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment) to the text. The text says bodhisattvas must first follow one of the sets of PRĀTIMOKṢA disciplinary rules; based on those precepts, they practice the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ); with those perfections as a solid foundation, they finally practice Buddhist tantra.

Bodhirak, Phra. (P. Bodhirakkha) (b. 1934). Thai Buddhist leader who is the founder of the SANTI ASOKE movement. Born in 1934 in northeastern Thailand as Mongkhon Rakphong, he became a well-known TV entertainer, songwriter, and movie producer before abruptly walking away from his career at the age of thirty-six to seek the dhamma. He was ordained in 1970 into first the THAMMAYUT and later the MAHĀNIKAI orders, but eventually left both orders to establish the independent Santi Asoke (“People of Asoke”) movement, which grew rapidly. Bodhirak was finally excommunicated from the Thai saṅgha in 1989 for defying national ecclesiastical law (including publicly proclaiming himself to be a “once-returner,” or sakadāgāmi [S. SAKṚDĀGĀMIN]) and for his controversial views on Buddhism, which mainstream traditions found to be iconoclastic and doctrinaire. He continues to live as a monk and is an influential figure in contemporary Thai Buddhism; he and his movement have also come to play a role in Thai politics through the Phalang Dhamma Party, which has ties to Santi Asoke.

Bodhiruci. (C. Putiliuzhi; J. Bodairushi; K. Poriryuji 菩提流支) (fl. sixth century). A renowned Indian translator and monk (to be distinguished from a subsequent Bodhiruci [s.v.] who was active in China two centuries later during the Tang dynasty). Bodhiruci left north India for Luoyang, the Northern Wei capital, in 508. He is said to have been well versed in the TRIPIṬAKA and talented at incantations. Bodhiruci stayed at the monastery of YONGNINGSI in Luoyang from 508 to 512 and with the help of Buddhaśānta (d.u.) and others translated over thirty MAHĀYĀNA sūtras and treatises, most of which reflect the latest developments in Indian Mahāyāna, and especially YOGĀCĀRA. His translations include the DHARMASAṂGĪTI, SHIDIJING LUN, LAṄKĀVATĀRASŪTRA, VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA, and the WULIANGSHOU JING YOUPOTISHE YUANSHENG JI, attributed to VASUBANDHU. Bodhiruci’s translation of the Shidijing lun, otherwise known more simply as the Di lun, fostered the formation of a group of YOGĀCĀRA specialists in China that later historians retroactively call the DI LUN ZONG. According to a story in the LIDAI FABAO JI, a jealous Bodhiruci, assisted by a monk from SHAOLINSI on SONGSHAN named Guangtong (also known as Huiguang, 468–537), is said to have attempted on numerous occasions to poison the founder of the CHAN school, BODHIDHARMA, and eventually succeeded. Bodhiruci is also said to have played an instrumental role in converting the Chinese monk TANLUAN from Daoist longevity practices to the PURE LAND teachings of the GUAN WULIANGSHOU JING.

Bodhiruci. (C. Putiliuzhi; J. Bodairushi; K. Poriryuji 菩提流支) (d. 727). A renowned Indian translator and monk (to be distinguished from an earlier Bodhiruci [s.v.], who was active two centuries earlier during the Northern Wei dynasty). Bodhiruci is said to have been a south Indian who was invited to China by Emperor Gaozong (r. 649–683) of the Tang dynasty in 663, but did not arrive until thirty years later, in 693, during the reign of Empress WU ZETIAN (r. 684–704). He is said to have changed his name from Dharmaruci to Bodhiruci at the request of Empress Wu. He resided in the monastery of Foshoujisi, where he dedicated himself to the translation of several scriptures, including the RATNAMEGHASŪTRA (Baoyun jing), ADHYARDHAŚATIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA (Shixiang bore bolomi jing), and Gayāśīrṣasūtra. Bodhiruci also assisted ŚIKṢĀNANDA in his translation of the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA. In 706, he resided in the monastery Chongfusi and commenced the translation of the lengthy RATNAKŪṬASŪTRA, which the famed Chinese pilgrim and translator XUANZANG had failed to complete earlier. Bodhiruci’s translation, edited into 120 rolls, was completed in 713.

bodhisaṃbhāra. (T. byang chub kyi tshogs; C. puti ju/puti ziliang; J. bodaigu/bodaishiryō; K. pori ku/pori charyang 菩提具/菩提資糧). In Sanskrit, “collection” of, or “equipment” (SAṂBHĀRA) for, “enlightenment” (BODHI); the term refers to specific sets of spiritual requisites (also called “accumulations”) necessary for the attainment of awakening. The BODHISATTVA becomes equipped with these factors during his progress along the path (MĀRGA) leading to the attainment of buddhahood. In a buddha, the amount of this “enlightenment-collection” is understood to be infinite. These factors are often divided into two major groups: the collection of merit (PUṆYASAṂBHĀRA) and the collection of knowledge (JÑĀNASAṂBHĀRA). The collection of merit (PUṆYA) entails the strengthening of four perfections (PĀRAMITĀ): generosity (DĀNA), morality (ŚĪLA), patience (KṢĀNTI), and energy (VĪRYA). The collection of knowledge entails the cultivation of meditative states leading to the realization that emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) is the ultimate nature of all things. The bodhisaṃbhāra were expounded in the *Bodhisaṃbhāraka, attributed to the MADHYAMAKA exegete NĀGĀRJUNA, which is now extant only in Dharmagupta’s 609 CE Chinese translation, titled the Puti ziliang lun. In this treatise, Nāgārjuna explains that the acquisition, development, and fruition of these factors is an essentially interminable process: enlightenment will be achieved when these factors have been developed for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River (see GAṄGĀNADĪVĀLUKĀ). The text also emphasizes the importance of compassion (KARUṆĀ), calling it the mother of perfect wisdom (PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ). The perfection of wisdom sūtras stress that PARIṆĀMANĀ (turning over [merit]) and ANUMODANA (rejoicing [in the good deeds of others]) are necessary to amass the collection necessary to reach the final goal.

bodhisattva. (P. bodhisatta; T. byang chub sems dpa’; C. pusa; J. bosatsu; K. posal 菩薩). In Sanskrit, lit. “enlightenment being.” The etymology is uncertain, but the term is typically glossed to mean a “being (SATTVA) intent on achieving enlightenment (BODHI),” viz., a being who has resolved to become a buddha. In the MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS, the Buddha refers to himself in his many past lifetimes prior to his enlightenment as a bodhisattva; the word is thus generally reserved for the historical Buddha prior to his own enlightenment. In the MAHĀYĀNA traditions, by contrast, a bodhisattva can designate any being who resolves to generate BODHICITTA and follow the vehicle of the bodhisattvas (BODHISATTVAYĀNA) toward the achievement of buddhahood. The Mahāyāna denotation of the term first appears in the AṢṬASĀHASRIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ, considered one of the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras, suggesting that it was already in use in this sense by at least the first century BCE. Schools differ on the precise length and constituent stages of the bodhisattva path (MĀRGA), but generally agree that it encompasses a huge number of lifetimes—according to many presentations, three incalculable eons of time (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA)—during which the bodhisattva develops specific virtues known as perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) and proceeds through a series of stages (BHŪMI). Although all traditions agree that the bodhisattva is motivated by “great compassion” (MAHĀKARUṆĀ) to achieve buddhahood as quickly as possible, Western literature often describes the bodhisattva as someone who postpones his enlightenment in order to save all beings from suffering. This description is primarily relevant to the mainstream schools, where an adherent is said to recognize his ability to achieve the enlightenment of an ARHAT more quickly by following the teachings of a buddha, but chooses instead to become a bodhisattva; by choosing this longer course, he perfects himself over many lifetimes in order to achieve the superior enlightenment of a buddha at a point in the far-distant future when the teachings of the preceding buddha have completely disappeared. In the Mahāyāna, the nirvāṇa of the arhat is disparaged and is regarded as far inferior to buddhahood. Thus, the bodhisattva postpones nothing, instead striving to achieve buddhahood as quickly as possible. In both the mainstream and Mahāyana traditions, the bodhisattva, spending his penultimate lifetime in the TUṢITA heaven, takes his final rebirth in order to become a buddha and restore the dharma to the world. MAITREYA is the bodhisattva who will succeed the dispensation (ŚĀSANA) of the current buddha, GAUTAMA or ŚĀKYAMUNI; he is said to be waiting in the tuṣita heaven, until the conditions are right for him to take his final rebirth and become the next buddha in the lineage. In the Mahāyāna tradition, many bodhisattvas are described as having powers that rival or even surpass those of the buddhas themselves, and come to symbolize specific spiritual qualities, such as AVALOKITEŚVARA (the bodhisattva of compassion), MAÑJUŚRĪ (the bodhisattva of wisdom), VAJRAPĀṆI (the bodhisattva of power), and SAMANTABHADRA (the bodhisattva of extensive practice). In Western literature, these figures are sometimes referred to as “celestial bodhisattvas.” ¶ In Korea, the term posal also designates laywomen residents of monasteries, who assist with the menial chores of cooking, preserving food, doing laundry, etc. These posal are often widows or divorcées, who work for the monastery in exchange for room and board for themselves and their children. The posal will often serve the monastery permanently and end up retiring there as well.

bodhisattvabhūmi. (T. byang chub sems dpa’i sa; C. pusa di; J. bosatsuji; K. posal chi 菩薩地). In Sanskrit, lit. “ground” or “stage” (BHŪMI) of a BODHISATTVA, referring to the systematic stages along the path (MĀRGA) of a bodhisattva’s maturation into a buddha. A normative list of ten bhūmis, which becomes standard in many MAHĀYĀNA accounts of the bodhisattva path, appears in the DAŚABHŪMIKASŪTRA, a sūtra that was later incorporated into the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA compilation. These ten stages (DAŚABHŪMI) of the Daśabhūmikasūtra correspond to the forty-first to fiftieth stages among the fifty-two bodhisattva stages, the comprehensive outline of the entire bodhisattva path taught in such scriptures as the Avataṃsakasūtra, the PUSA YINGLUO BENYE JING, and the RENWANG JING. The first bhūmi begins on the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA), and the other nine bhūmis occur on the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA). (For detailed explication of each stage, see DAŚABHŪMI s.v.) The PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ SŪTRAs, and the MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRA and ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA in their exegesis of these stages, explain that bodhisattvas reach each higher level along the path after completing the preparations (parikarman) for it; they set forth the same ten levels as the Daśabhūmikasūtra with the same names. Ārya VIMUKTISENA, in his exegesis of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, says bodhisattvas on the tenth bhūmi are like TATHĀGATAs who have passed beyond all stages, and lists eight other stages corresponding roughly to the stages of the eight noble persons (ĀRYAPUDGALA), with the first through ninth bodhisattva bhūmis described as a transcendent ninth level. In contrast to the normative ten bhūmis described in the Daśabhūmikasūtra, MAITREYANĀTHA/ASAṄGA in the BODHISATTVABHŪMI instead outlines a system of seven stages (bhūmi), which are then correlated with the thirteen abodes (VIHĀRA). (See the following entry on the treatise for further explication.) The seven-bhūmi schema of the Bodhisattvabhūmi and the ten-bhūmi schema of the Daśabhūmikasūtra are independent systematizations.

Bodhisattvabhūmi. (T. Byang chub sems dpa’i sa; C. Pusa dichi jing; J. Bosatsujijikyō; K. Posal chiji kyŏng 菩薩地持經). In Sanskrit, “The Bodhisattva Stages”; a treatise on the entire vocation and training of a BODHISATTVA, attributed to MAITREYA/MAITREYANĀTHA or ASAṄGA (c. fourth century CE), the effective founder of the YOGĀCĀRA school. Sanskrit and Tibetan recensions are extant, as well as three different renderings in Chinese: (1) Pusa dichi jing, translated by DHARMAKṢEMA between 414–421 CE, which is also abbreviated as the “Treatise on the Bodhisattva Stages” (C. Dichi lun; J. Jijiron; K. Chiji non); (2) Pusa shanjie jing, translated by GUṆAVARMAN in 431 CE; and (3) a version incorporated as the fifteenth section of XUANZANG’s Chinese translation of Asaṅga’s YOGĀCĀRABHŪMIŚĀSTRA. In the Tibetan BSTAN ’GYUR, the Bodhisattvabhūmi appears as the sixteenth and penultimate part of the fundamental section (sa’i dngos gzhi) of the Yogācārabhūmi (which has a total of seventeen sections), but it is set apart as a separate work in 6,000 lines. The Bodhisattvabhūmi explains in three major sections the career and practices of a bodhisattva. The chapters on the abodes (vihārapaṭala) in the second major division and the chapter on stages (bhūmipaṭala) in the third section are considered especially important, because they provide a systematic outline of the soteriological process by which a bodhisattva attains enlightenment. ¶ In contrast to the ten stages (DAŚABHŪMI) of the bodhisattva path that are described in the DAŚABHŪMIKASŪTRA, the Bodhisattvabhūmi instead outlines a system of seven stages (BHŪMI), which are then correlated with the thirteen abodes (VIHĀRA): (1) The stage of innate potentiality (gotrabhūmi), which corresponds to the abode of innate potentiality (gotravihāra); (2) the stage of the practice of resolute faith (adhimukticaryābhūmi), corresponding to the abode of resolute faith (adhimukticaryāvihāra); (3) the stage of superior aspiration (śuddhādhyāśayabhūmi), which corresponds to the abode of extreme bliss (pramuditavihāra); (4) the stage of carrying out correct practices (caryāpratipattibhūmi), which includes the abode of superior morality (adhiśīlavihāra), the abode of superior concentration (adhicittavihāra), and the abode of the superior wisdom (adhiprajñavihāra), i.e., the abode of superior insight associated with the factors of enlightenment (bodhipakṣyapratisaṃyukto ’dhiprajñavihāra), the abode of superior insight associated with the truths (satyapratisaṃyukto ’dhiprajñavihāra), the abode of superior insight associated with the cessation of dependently arisen transmigration (pratītyasamutpādapravṛttinivṛttipratisaṃyukto ’dhiprajñavihāra), and the signless abode of applied practices and exertion (sābhisaṃskārasābhoganirnimittavihāra); (5) the stage of certainty (niyatabhūmi), which is equivalent to the signless abode that is free from application and exertion (anābhoganirnimittavihāra); (6) the stage of determined practice (niyatacaryābhūmi), which corresponds to the abode of analytical knowledge (pratisaṃvidvihāra); (7) the stage of arriving at the ultimate (niṣṭhāgamanabhūmi), which correlates with the abode of ultimate consummation [viz., of bodhisattvahood] (paramavihāra) and the abode of the tathāgata (tathāgatavihāra). In this schema, the first two stages are conceived as preliminary stages of the bodhisattva path: the first stage, the stage of innate potentiality (gotrabhūmi), is presumed to be a state in which the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTA) has yet to be generated; the second stage, the stage of the practice of resolute faith (adhimukticaryābhūmi), is referred to as the stage of preparation (saṃbhārāvasthā) and applied practice (prayogāvasthā) in the case of the fivefold YOGĀCĀRA mārga schema, or alternatively to the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications in the case of the comprehensive fifty-two stage bodhisattva path presented in the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA, PUSA YINGLUO BENYE JING, and RENWANG JING. The third stage, the stage of superior aspiration, is regarded as corresponding to the first of the ten bhūmis in the Daśabhūmikasūtra; the fourth stage of carrying out correct practices corresponds to the second through seventh bhūmis in that rival schema; the fifth stage of certainty pertains to the eighth bhūmi; the stage of determined practice to the ninth bhūmi; and the stage of arriving at the ultimate to the tenth bhūmi. In fact, however, the seven-bhūmi schema of the Bodhisattvabhūmi and the ten-bhūmi schema of the Daśabhūmikasūtra developed independently of each other and it requires consider exegetical aplomb to correlate them. ¶ The Bodhisattvabhūmi also serves as an important source of information on another crucial feature of bodhisattva practice: the Mahāyāna interpretation of a set of moral codes specific to bodhisattvas (BODHISATTVAŚĪLA). The chapter on precepts (śīlapaṭala) in the first major section of the text provides an elaborate description of Mahāyāna precepts, which constitute the bodhisattva’s perfection of morality (ŚĪLAPĀRAMITĀ). These precepts are classified into the “three sets of pure precepts” (trividhāni śīlāni; C. sanju jingjie, see ŚĪLATRAYA; TRISAṂVARA): (1) the saṃvaraśīla, or “restraining precepts,” (cf. SAṂVARA), which refers to the “HĪNAYĀNA” rules of discipline (PRĀTIMOKṢA) that help adepts restrain themselves from all types of unsalutary conduct; (2) practicing all virtuous deeds (kuśaladharmasaṃgrāhakaśīla), which accumulates all types of salutary conduct; and (3) sattvārthakriyāśīla, which involve giving aid and comfort to sentient beings. Here, the first group corresponds to the generic hīnayāna precepts, while the second and third groups are regarded as reflecting a specifically Mahāyāna position on morality. Thus, the three sets of pure precepts are conceived as a comprehensive description of Buddhist views on precepts, which incorporates both hīnayāna and Mahāyāna perspectives into an overarching system. A similar treatment of the three sets of pure precepts is also found in the Chinese apocryphal sūtra FANWANG JING (see APOCRYPHA), thus providing a scriptural foundation in East Asia for an innovation originally appearing in an Indian treatise. ¶ In Tibet, the Bodhisattvabhūmi was a core text of the BKA’ GDAMS sect, and its chapter on śīla was the basis for a large body of literature elaborating a VINAYA-type ritual for taking bodhisattva precepts in a Mahāyāna ordination ceremony. The SA SKYA PA master Grags pa rgyal mtshan’s explanation of CANDRAGOMIN’s synopsis of the morality chapter, and TSONG KHA PA’s Byang chub gzhung lam are perhaps the best known works in this genre. In Tibet, the SDOM GSUM genre incorporates the Bodhisattvabhūmi’s three sets of pure precepts into a new scheme that reconciles hīnayāna and Mahāyāna with TANTRA.

Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra. (T. Byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa). An alternate title of the BODHICARYĀVATĀRA by ŚĀNTIDEVA. See BODHICARYĀVATĀRA.

bodhisattva path. See BODHISATTVAYĀNA; MĀRGA.

Bodhisattvapiṭaka. (T. Byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod; C. Pusazang jing; J. Bosatsuzōkyō; K. Posalchang kyŏng 菩薩藏經). In Sanskrit, “The Bodhisattva Basket,” one of the earliest MAHĀYĀNA scriptures, written by at least the first century CE and perhaps even as early as the first century BCE. The text is no longer extant, but its antiquity is attested by its quotation in some of the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras translated into Chinese, including *LOKAKṢEMA’s translation of the KĀŚYAPAPARIVARTA made in 179 CE and in DHARMARAKṢA’s 289 CE rendering of the Vimaladattāparipṛcchā. The content of the anthology is unknown, but based on much later compilations bearing the same title (and which therefore might have been derived from the original Bodhisattvapiṭaka), the text must have been substantial in size (one later Chinese translation is twenty rolls in length) and have offered coverage of at least the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). Sections of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka may also have been subsumed in later collections of Mahāyāna materials, such as the RATNAKŪṬASŪTRA.

bodhisattvapraṇidhāna. (T. byang chub sems pa’i smon lam; C. pusa yuan; J. bosatsugan; K. posal wŏn 菩薩願). In Sanskrit, “bodhisattva vow”; the vow to achieve buddhahood in order to liberate all beings from suffering. Following the BODHICARYĀVATĀRA, the MAHĀYĀNA commentarial tradition considers this vow to be the point at which one makes a public pronouncement of one’s aspiration to achieve buddhahood (PRAṆIDHICITTOTPĀDA), which is distinguished from the subsequent practice of this aspiration (PRASTHĀNACITTOTPĀDA), i.e., cultivating specific bodhisattva precepts (see BODHISATTVASAṂVARA) and mastering the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ). In Mahāyāna sūtras, which tend to be less systematized, this vow is typically made before a buddha, who then offers a prediction (VYĀKARAṆA) that the aspirant will succeed in his quest; the person is then called one who will not turn back, or “irreversible” (AVAIVARTIKA). The recitation of the bodhisattva vow is a central component in many Mahāyāna liturgies. See also BODHICITTOTPĀDA.

bodhisattva precepts. See BODHISATTVASAṂVARA; BODHISATTVAŚĪLA; PUSA JIE; SDOM GSUM.

bodhisattvasaṃvara. (T. byang chub sems dpa’i sdom pa; C. pusa jie; J. bosatsukai; K. posal kye 菩薩戒). In Sanskrit, lit. “restraints for the BODHISATTVA”; the “restraints,” “precepts,” or code of conduct (SAṂVARA) for someone who has made the bodhisattva vow (BODHISATTVAPRAṆIDHĀNA; PRAṆIDHĀNA) to achieve buddhahood in order to liberate all beings from suffering. The mainstream moral codes for monastics that are recognized across all forms of Buddhism are listed in the PRĀTIMOKṢA, which refers to rules of discipline that help adepts restrain themselves from all types of unwholesome conduct. With the rise of various groups that came to call themselves the MAHĀYĀNA, different sets of moral codes developed. These are formulated, for example, in the BODHISATTVABHŪMI and Candragomin’s Bodhisattvasaṃvaraviṃśaka, and in later Chinese apocrypha, such as the FANWANG JING. The mainstream prātimokṣa codes are set forth in the Bodhisattvabhūmi as saṃvaraśīla, or “restraining precepts.” These are the first of three types of bodhisattva morality, called the “three sets of restraints” (TRISAṂVARA), which are systematized fully in Tibet in works like TSONG KHA PA’s Byang chub gzhung lam. It seems that in the early Mahāyāna, people publicly took the famous bodhisattva vow, promising to achieve buddhahood in order to liberate all beings. A more formal code of conduct developed later, derived from a number of sources, with categories of root infractions and secondary infractions. The bodhisattva precepts, however, could be taken equally by laypeople and monastics, men and women, and formal ceremonies for conferring the precepts are set forth in a number of Mahāyāna treatises. In addition, there appear to have been ceremonies for the confession of infractions, modeled on the UPOṢADHA rituals. Some of the precepts have to do with interpersonal relations, prescribing the kind of altruistic behavior that one might expect from a bodhisattva. Others are grander, such as the precept not to destroy cities, and appear to presuppose a code of conduct for kings or other important figures in society. There is also the suggestion that the bodhisattva precepts supersede the prātimokṣa precepts: one of the secondary infractions of the bodhisattva code is not to engage in killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, or senseless speech when in fact it would be beneficial to do so. The great weight given to the precept not to reject the Mahāyāna as being the word of the Buddha (BUDDHAVACANA) suggests that, throughout the history of the Mahāyāna in India, there were concerns raised about the questionable origin of the Mahāyāna sūtras. With the rise of TANTRA, the “three restraints” (trisaṃvara) of bodhisattva morality were refigured as the second of a new set of precepts, preceded by the prātimokṣa precepts and followed by the tantric vows. There was much discussion, especially in Tibetan SDOM GSUM (dom sum) literature, of the relationships among the three sets of restraints and of their compatibility with each other. ¶ Although there is much variation in the listings of bodhisattva precepts, according to one common list, the eighteen root infractions are: (1) to praise oneself and slander others out of attachment to profit or fame; (2) not to give one’s wealth or the doctrine, out of miserliness, to those who suffer without protection; (3) to become enraged and condemn another, without listening to his or her apology; (4) to abandon the Mahāyāna and teach a poor facsimile of its excellent doctrine; (5) to steal the wealth of the three jewels (RATNATRAYA); (6) to abandon the excellent doctrine; (7) to steal the saffron robes of a monk and beat, imprison, and or expel him from his life of renunciation, even if he has broken the moral code; (8) to commit the five deeds of immediate retribution (ĀNANTARYAKARMAN) i.e., patricide, matricide, killing an arhat, wounding a buddha, or causing dissent in the saṃgha; (9) to hold wrong views; (10) to destroy cities and so forth; (11) to discuss emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) with sentient beings whose minds have not been trained; (12) to turn someone away from buddhahood and full enlightenment; (13) to cause someone to abandon completely the prātimokṣa precepts in order to practice the Mahāyāna; (14) to believe that desire and so forth cannot be abandoned by the vehicle of the ŚRĀVAKAs and to cause others to believe that view; (15) to claim falsely, “I have withstood the profound emptiness (śūnyatā)”; (16) to impose fines on renunciates; to take donors and gifts away from the three jewels; (17) to cause meditators to give up the practice of ŚAMATHA; to take the resources of those on retreat and give them to reciters of texts; (18) to abandon the two types of BODHICITTA (the conventional and the ultimate). See also BODHISATTVAŚĪLA.

bodhisattvaśīla. (T. byang chub sems dpa’i tshul khrims; C. pusa jie; J. bosatsukai; K. posal kye 菩薩戒). In Sanskrit, “BODHISATTVA morality” or “bodhisattva precepts”; the rules of conduct prescribed by MAHĀYĀNA literature for bodhisattvas, or beings intent on achieving buddhahood. These precepts appear in a variety of texts, including the chapter on morality (śīlapaṭala) in the BODHISATTVABHŪMI and the Chinese FANWANG JING (*Brahmajālasūtra). Although there is not a single universally recognized series of precepts for bodhisattvas across all traditions of Buddhism, all lists include items such as refraining from taking life, refraining from boasting, refraining from slandering the three jewels (RATNATRAYA), etc. In the Bodhisattvabhūmi, for example, the Mahāyāna precepts are classified into the “three sets of pure precepts” (trividhāni śīlāni; C. sanju jingjie): (1) the saṃvaraśīla, or “restraining precepts,” which refers to the so-called HĪNAYĀNA rules of discipline (PRĀTIMOKṢA) that help adepts restrain themselves from all types of unsalutary conduct; (2) practicing all virtuous deeds (kuśaladharmasaṃgrāhakaśīla), which accumulates all types of salutary conduct; and (3) sattvārthakriyāśīla, which involve giving aid and comfort to sentient beings. Here, the first group corresponds to the preliminary hīnayāna precepts, while the second and third groups reflect a uniquely Mahāyāna position on morality. Thus, the three sets of pure precepts are conceived as a comprehensive description of Buddhist views on precepts (sarvaśīla), which incorporates both hīnayāna and Mahāyāna perspectives into an overarching system. A similar treatment of the three sets of pure precepts is also found in such Chinese indigenous sūtras as Fanwang jing (“Sūtra of Brahmā’s Net”) and PUSA YINGLUO BENYE JING (see APOCRYPHA), thus providing a scriptural foundation in East Asia for an innovation originally appearing in an Indian treatise. The Fanwang jing provides a detailed list of a list of ten major and forty-eight minor Mahāyāna precepts that came to be known as the “Fanwang Precepts”; its listing is the definitive roster of bodhisattva precepts in the East Asian traditions. As in other VINAYA ordination ceremonies, the bodhisattva precepts are often taken in a formal ritual along with the bodhisattva vows (BODHISATTVAPRAṆIDHĀNA; PRAṆIDHĀNA). However, unlike the majority of rules found in the mainstream vinaya codes (prātimokṣa), the bodhisattva precepts are directed not only at ordained monks and nuns, but also may be taken by laypeople. Also, in contrast to the mainstream vinaya, there is some dispensation for violating the bodhisattvaśīla, provided that such violations are done for the welfare and weal of other beings. See also BODHISATTVASAṂVARA.

bodhisattva vow. See BODHISATTVAPRAṆIDHĀNA; BODHISATTVASAṂVARA; BODHISATTVAŚĪLA.

bodhisattvayāna. (T. byang chub sems dpa’i theg pa; C. pusa sheng; J. bosatsujō; K. posal sŭng 菩薩乘). In Sanskrit, lit. “BODHISATTVA vehicle,” the path (MĀRGA) that begins with the initial activation of the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA) and culminates in the achievement of buddhahood; one of the early terms used for what eventually comes to be called the “Great Vehicle” (MAHĀYĀNA). The bodhisattvayāna focuses on the development of the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) over a period as long as three incalculable eons of time (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA). At the culmination of this essentially interminable process, the bodhisattva becomes a buddha, with the full range of unique qualities (ĀVEṆIKA[BUDDHA]DHARMA) that are developed only as a result of mastering the perfections. The bodhisattvayāna is distinguished from the ŚRĀVAKAYĀNA, in which teachings were learned from a buddha or an enlightened disciple (ŚRĀVAKA) of the Buddha and which culminates in becoming a “worthy one” (ARHAT); and the PRATYEKABUDDHAYĀNA, the vehicle of those who reach their goal in solitude. The bodhisattvayāna, by contrast, is modeled on the accounts of the current buddha ŚĀKYAMUNI’s extensive series of past lives, during which he was motivated by the altruistic aspiration to save all beings from suffering by becoming a buddha himself, not simply settling for arhatship. The śrāvakayāna, pratyekabuddhayāna, and bodhisattvayāna together constitute the TRIYĀNA, or “three vehicles,” mentioned in many Mahāyāna sūtras, most famously in the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA.

Bodhisena. (C. Putixianna; J. Bodaisenna; K. Porisŏnna 菩提僊那) (704–760). Indian monk who traveled first to Southeast Asia and China starting in 723 and subsequently continued on to Japan in 736 at the invitation of the Japanese emperor Shōmu (r. 724–749), where he resided at DAIANJI in Nara. Bodhisena was instrumental in helping to introduce the teachings of the HUAYAN (Kegon) school of Buddhism to Japan. Shōmu also asked Bodhisena to perform the “opening the eyes” (KAIYAN; NETRAPRATIṢṬHĀPANA) ceremony for the 752 dedication of the great buddha image of VAIROCANA (see NARA DAIBUTSU; Birushana Nyorai) at TŌDAIJI. At forty-eight feet high, this image remains the largest extant gilt-bronze image in the world and the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall) where the image is enshrined is the world’s largest surviving wooden building.

Bodhi tree. (S. bodhidruma [alt. bodhivṛkṣa; bodhiyaṣṭi; bodhivaṭa]; P. bodhirukkha; T. byang chub shing; C. puti shu; J. bodaiju; K. pori su 菩提樹). The name for the sacred tree under which each buddha achieves enlightenment (BODHI), according to the standard hagiographies; sometimes abbreviated as the “bo tree” in English. The Bodhi tree is one of the elements in all stories of a buddha’s enlightenment and each buddha has a specific type of tree associated with him. In the case of the current buddha, GAUTAMA or ŚĀKYAMUNI, the tree under which he sat when he attained enlightenment is a pipal, or fig, tree (Ficus religiosa). The original Bodhi tree was located at the “seat of enlightenment” (BODHIMAṆḌA, VAJRĀSANA) in BODHGAYĀ, in northern India, but cuttings from it have throughout history been replanted at Buddhist sites around Asia, and now the world. It is said that the Buddha authorized a seed from the tree to be planted in JETAVANA. Its veneration and protection are a common theme in Buddhist literature, figuring prominently, for example, in the story of AŚOKA. The tree was cut, burned, and uprooted by various Hindu kings, including Saśāṅka of Bengal in the seventh century. It was subsequently replaced by a seedling derived from a cutting that had been taken to Sri Lanka in the third century BCE. The Pāli MAHĀBODHIVAṂSA (c. tenth–eleventh century CE) tells the history of the Bodhi tree, the arrival of a cutting from it in Sri Lanka, and the beginnings of the Sinhalese worship of the tree as a Buddhist relic. The large seeds of the Bodhi tree are commonly used to make Buddhist rosaries (JAPAMĀLĀ).