The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism

Kaḥ thog. An important monastery affiliated with the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism, founded in 1159 by Kaḥ thog Dam pa bde gshegs (Katok Dampa Deshek, 1122–1192) in the eastern Tibetan region of Khams, also called Kaḥ thog rdo rje gdan (Katok Dorjeden). It is situated on the ridge of a mountain said to be shaped like the Tibetan letter “ka,” from which the institution takes its name. One of the oldest surviving Rnying ma monasteries in Tibet, along with BSAM YAS, Kaḥ thog has had a long and active history and maintained numerous rare instruction lineages that were lost in central Tibet. Widely famed for its philosophical studies, the monastery’s college traditionally drew students from all parts of eastern Tibet. Kaḥ thog’s monks were also renowned for their meditative training. The institution was home to the great scholar and historian Kaḥ thog rig ’dzin Tshe dbang nor bu (Katok Rikdzin Tsewang Norbu, 1698–1755). More contemporary figures associated with the monastery include the third KAḤ THOG SI TU, Chos kyi rgya mtsho (Chökyi Gyatso, 1880–1925); the scholar Mkhan po Sngags ga (Khenpo Ngakga, 1879–1941); and the meditation master Bya bral Sangs rgyas rdo rje (Jadral Sangye Dorje, 1913–). It is one of the four major Rnying ma monasteries in eastern Tibet, the others being ZHE CHEN, RDZOGS CHEN, and DPAL YUL.

Kaian kokugo. (槐安國語). In Japanese, “Words on the Peaceful Land of the Locust-Trees,” composed by the Japanese RINZAI ZEN master HAKUIN EKAKU. The peaceful land of the locust-trees (Sophora japonica) is an allusion to the tale of a retired official who dreams of a peaceful paradise, but upon waking realizes that it was nothing but a mound of ants living underneath a locust-tree in the yard. This tale is found in the Nanke taishou zhuan (“Biography of the Governor of Nanke”), written by Li Gongzuo (c. 778–848), and retold in the Nanke ji (“Record of the Southern Bough”) by the Ming-dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu (1550–1617). Hakuin composed this treatise in 1749 and published it the next year in 1750. The treatise, which was written at the request of his students, consists largely of Hakuin’s prose commentary and notes on the recorded sayings (YULU) of the Zen master Daitō (see SŌHŌ MYŌCHŌ). The entire treatise was written in literary Chinese.

kaihōgyō. (回峰行). In Japanese, lit. “the practice of circumambulating the mountain,” a SHUGENDŌ-related ascetic practice of running a course around the mountain of HIEIZAN, which is undertaken by Japanese TENDAI monks and nuns within the Sanmon branch of the school. The central deity of veneration for kaihōgyō is FUDŌ MYŌŌ (S. ACALANĀTHA-VIDYĀRĀJA). While engaged in running the course, one chants, meditates, and stops to pray at temples, shrines, and natural elements along the route. Kaihōgyō can be practiced for as little as one day or for a 100-day period as part of a monk or nun’s training. Best known, however, is its 1,000-day practice (sennichi kaihōgyō), which is carried out over a seven-year period. This route consists of twenty-five to fifty miles of running a day, depending on the stage of practice, which is broken up into 100-day terms. The first 700 days of practice benefits the practitioner (gyōja) himself (JIRIKI), while the last 300 days benefits others (TARIKI) and is thus known as the BODHISATTVA practice (bosatsugyō). Between these two stages, the gyōja undergoes a severe nine-day rite referred to as a dōiri (lit. “entering the hall”), during which he completely forgoes food, water, rest, or sleep. One who successfully completes the 1,000-day practice receives the title Daigyōman Ajari (Ācārya whose Great Practice is Fulfilled). Kaihōgyō dates back to at least the fourteenth century, and an earlier form of it may have been practiced as early as the ninth century. The origin of kaihōgyō is attributed to the Tendai monk Sōō (b. 831).

Kailāsa. The Sanskrit name for one of the most important sacred mountains in Asia, generally referred to in English as Kailash or Mount Kailash. It is 21,778 ft. high and is located in southwestern Tibet, not far from the current borders of India and Nepal. Lake Manasarovar is located eighteen miles to the southeast; these two sites have long been places of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, and followers of Tibetan BON, some of whom have regarded the striking dome-shaped peak as Mount SUMERU. The mountain is particularly important in Tibetan Buddhism, where it is called Gangs dkar Ti se (“White Snow Mountain Ti se”) or simply Gangs rin po che (“Precious Snow Mountain”). Pilgrims from across the Tibetan Buddhist world visit Mount Kailāsa, especially in the Year of the Horse, which occurs once every twelve years in the Tibetan calendrical cycle. Within that year, it is considered auspicious to visit the mountain at the time that marks the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passage into PARINIRVĀṆA (generally falling in May or June, depending on the lunar calendar). The primary form of practice is the thirty-two mile clockwise circumambulation of the mountain, often completed in a single day, with specific rituals and practices performed along the route. It is said that one circumambulation purifies the negative KARMAN of one lifetime, ten circumambulations purify the negative KARMAN accumulated over the course of a KALPA, and one hundred circumambulations ensure enlightenment. The mountain came to take on numerous tantric associations beginning in the eleventh century. According to a popular story, the yogin MI LA RAS PA won control of the mountain for the Buddhists by defeating a rival Bon priest, Na ro bon chung, in a contest of miracles. The mountain later became an important meditation site for the followers of Mi la ras pa, principally members of the ’BRUG PA BKA’ BRGYUD and ’BRI GUNG BKA’ BRGYUD sects. Both ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha and PADMASAMBHAVA are said to have visited Kailāsa. One of the most important associations of Mount Kailāsa is with the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA, which names twenty-four sacred lands (PĪṬHA) as potent locations for tantric practice. The Cakrasaṃvara literature recounts how long ago these twenty-four lands came under the control of Maheśvara (Śiva) in the form of Rudra Bhairava. The buddha VAJRADHARA, in the wrathful form of a HERUKA deity, subdued BHAIRAVA, transforming each of the twenty-four sites into a MAṆḌALA of the deity Cakrasaṃvara and his retinue. In Tibetan literature, Mount Kailāsa came to be identified with one of the twenty-four sites, the one called Himavat or Himālaya (“The Snowy,” or “The Snow Mountain”); this was one of several important transpositions of sacred locations in India onto Tibetan sites. The BKA’ BRGYUD sect grouped the peak together with two other important mountain pilgrimage sites in southern Tibet, LA PHYI and TSA RI, identified respectively as Cakrasaṃvara’s body, speech, and mind. These claims drew criticism from some Tibetan quarters, such as the renowned scholar SA SKYA PAṆDITA, who argued that the sites associated with Cakrasaṃvara were located not in Tibet but in India. Such criticism has not prevented Mount Kailāsa from remaining one of the most important pilgrimage places in the Tibetan cultural domain.

Kaimokushō. (開目鈔). In Japanese, “Opening the Eyes”; one of the major writings of NICHIREN. Nichiren composed this treatise in 1273 while he was living in exile in a graveyard on Sado Island. Nichiren’s motivation for writing this treatise is said to have come from the doubts that he came to harbor about the efficacy of the teachings of the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA due to the government’s repeated persecution of him and his followers. The Kaimokushō details the reasons behind the persecutions: bad KARMAN from the past, the abandonment of the country by the gods (KAMI), life in the impure realm of SAHĀLOKA, and the trials and tribulations of the BODHISATTVA path. In the Kaimokushō, Nichiren professes to have overcome his doubts and welcomes the bodhisattva path of martyrdom. The treatise explains the path that leads to “opening the eyes” as a journey from the teachings of the heretics to those of the HĪNAYĀNA, the MAHĀYĀNA, and finally culminating in the teachings of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI). According to Nichiren tradition, because Nichiren claims at the conclusion of the text to be the “sovereign, teacher, and mother and father to all the people of Japan,” he has thus revealed himself to be the Buddha of the degenerate age of the dharma (MAPPŌ).

kaishan. (J. kaisan; K. kaesan 開山). In Chinese, lit. “opener of the mountain,” a term used in East Asian Buddhism to refer to the founder of a monastery or sectarian tradition.

kaiyan. (J. kaigen; K. kaean 開眼). In Chinese, “opening the eyes,” also known as “dotting the eyes” (DIANYAN); the ritual of consecrating a newly carved or cast buddha image (see BUDDHĀBHIṢEKA). “Opening the eyes” refers to a ceremony, or series of ceremonies, that accompanies the installation of a buddha image or painting, which specifically involves either dotting the pupils of an image or ritually dropping eyedrops into its eyes, in order to animate it. After the image has been “enspirited” (rushen) by placing on the image embroidered five-colored thread, coins (to represent dragon’s eyes), and a mirror, the formal ritual begins by making offerings of incense, flowers, and lamps or candles before the newly installed image; at the conclusion of the ceremony, while reciting various MANTRA, the pupils of the eyes of the image are dotted with ink, thus literally “opening” them. (For this reason, in Korea, the ritual is most commonly known as “dotting the eyes,” or chŏman; see DIANYAN.) By thus opening the buddha-eye (foyan) through the performance of this ritual, the image is vested with numinous power, thus making it “come alive.” In Japan, the term kaigen is generally used for this buddha-consecration ceremony rather than tengen. Kaigen is then divided into the kaigen of phenomena (ji; see SHI) and the kaigen of principle (ri; see LI), which refer respectively to ceremonies consecrating a buddha image or the scriptures that might be enshrined inside the image and ceremonies that imbue the image with spiritual charisma. The ritual is also known as “opening the light [of the eyes]” (kaiguang; kaiguangming), and other variations. See also NETRAPRATIṢṬHĀPANA.

Kaiyuan Shijiao lu. (J. Kaigen Shakkyōroku; K. Kaewŏn Sŏkkyo nok 開元釋教録). In Chinese, “Record of ŚĀKYAMUNI’s Teachings, Compiled during the Kaiyuan Era”; a comprehensive catalogue (JINGLU) of Buddhist texts compiled by the monk Zhisheng (658–740) in 730. The catalogue began as Zhisheng’s own private record of Buddhist scriptures but was adopted soon afterward by the Tang imperial court as an official catalogue of the Chinese Buddhist canon (DAZANGJING) and entered into the canon as well. Zhisheng divided his catalogue into two major sections, a chronological register (rolls one through ten) and a topical register (rolls eleven through twenty). The chronological register contains a list of translated scriptures, organized according to translator’s name and the period during which the text was translated. Because this register provides alternative titles of texts, numbers of volumes and rolls, names of translators, and a list of alternate translations, it is an invaluable tool for studying the production and circulation of Buddhist texts in medieval China. The topical register contains “lists of canonical texts” (ruzang lu), which subsequently became the standard rosters from which East Asian Buddhism constructed its canon. This roster also includes 406 titles of texts classified as APOCRYPHA, that is, scriptures listed as either of “doubtful authenticity” (YIJING) or explicitly “spurious” (weijing), which Zhisheng determined were probably of indigenous Chinese origin and therefore not authentic translations of the Buddha’s words (BUDDHAVACANA). The renown of the catalogue is due to the great strides Zhisheng made toward eliminating discrepancies between the chronological and topical rosters, inconsistencies that had marred previous catalogues. The content and structure of all later catalogues is derived from Zhisheng’s work, making the Kaiyuan Shijiao lu the most important of all the Buddhist scriptural catalogues compiled in East Asia.

Kakacūpamasutta. (C. Moulipoqunna jing; J. Murihagunnakyō; K. Morip’agunna kyŏng 牟犁破群那經). In Pāli, “Simile of the Saw Discourse”; the twenty-first sutta of the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears as the 193rd SŪTRA in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA). According to the Pāli recension, the Buddha preached this sutta at Sāvatthi (ŚRĀVASTĪ), in conjunction with the admonishment of the monk Moliya Phagguna, who was overly friendly with nuns and angry at others’ criticism of his behavior. Moliya Phagguna remained recalcitrant even after being admonished; in response, the Buddha spoke to his disciples of the harmfulness of anger and of the need for patience even in the most heinous of circumstances, such as if someone were sawing off one’s limbs. Instead of giving in to hatred, such an event would offer an opportunity to develop loving-kindness by radiating loving thoughts even to one’s attackers.

Kakuban. (覺鑁) (1095–1143). Japanese monk and putative founder of the Shingi branch of the SHINGONSHŪ, also known as Mitsugon Sonja (Venerable Secret Adornment). Kakuban was a native of Fujitsu no shō in Hizen (present-day Saga). In 1107, Kakuban became a monk at the monastery NINNAJI in Kyōto and studied the fundamentals of esoteric teachings (MIKKYŌ) under the eminent master Kanjo (1052–1125). Kakuban spent the next year in Nara, where he is said to have immersed himself in doctrinal studies at the monasteries of KŌFUKUJI and TŌDAIJI. In 1110, he returned to Ninnaji and was tonsured by Kanjo. In 1112, Kakuban began studying the eighteen ritual procedures according to KŪKAI’s Jūhachi geiin, and the next year he received the KONGŌKAI and TAIZŌKAI MAṆḌALAs. In 1114, Kakuban received the full monastic precepts at Tōdaiji, and later that year he climbed KŌYASAN where he met the monk Shoren (d.u.). The next year, Kakuban studied a ritual known as the kumonjihō dedicated to ĀKĀŚAGARBHA under the monk Myōjaku (d.u.), and, during his stay on Mt. Kōya, Kakuban is said to have also received the consecration (ABHIṢEKA) of DHARMA transmission (J. denbō kanjō) eight times. In 1121, Kakuban received the three SAMAYA precepts and consecration of the two maṇḍalas from Kanjo at the sanctuary (dōjō) located in Ninnaji. In 1130, Kakuban established the temple Denbōin on Mt. Kōya with the support of retired Emperor Toba (1107–1123). There he attempted to reinstate a ritual of esoteric transmission known as the denbōe. When the temple proved to be too small to hold a great assembly, Kakuban again established the larger temples Daidenbōin and Mitsugon’in on Kōyasan in 1132. Kakuban subsequently devoted himself to developing a new esoteric ritual tradition that could incorporate the disparate ritual traditions that had developed in Kyōto, Nara, HIEIZAN, and other monastic centers. This new ritual tradition came to be known as the Denbōinryū. In 1134, Kakuban was appointed the head (zasu) of the monasteries of Daidenbōin and Kongōbuji on Mt. Kōya, but Kakuban’s rise to power was soon contested by the conservative factions of Kongōbuji monks with ties to the monasteries of TŌJI and Daigoji. As a result, Kakuban retired to his monastery of Mitsugon’in. In 1140, the monks of Kongōbuji launched a violent attack on Daidenbōin and Mitsugon’in, which forced Kakuban to flee to Mt. Negoro in Wakayama. In 1288, the split between Kakuban’s new ritual tradition (later known as Shingi or “new meaning”) and the old traditions of Tōji and Kongōbuji was formalized by the monk Raiyu’s (1226–1304) move of Daidenbōin and Mitsugon’in to Mt. Negoro. Kakuban is particularly well known for his efforts towards reestablishing the study of Kūkai’s writings as the central organizing principle for the study of mikkyō ritual traditions. Kakuban is commonly regarded as having developed a new approach to nenbutsu (see NIANFO), or invocation of the name of the buddha AMITĀBHA, known as the “esoteric recitation,” or himitsu nenbutsu. However, by Kakuban’s time nenbutsu practice in esoteric Buddhist contexts had already become a nearly ubiquitous feature of monastic and lay practice in Japan, and it would therefore be more accurate to regard Kakuban’s writings on this topic as an attempt to propose a unified nenbutsu perspective for the diverse factions of monks and ascetics (HIJIRI) who had come to Mt. Kōya in search of rebirth in the pure lands and abodes of MAITREYA, Amitābha, MAÑJUŚRĪ, AVALOKITEŚVARA, etc. Long after his death, Emperor Higashiyama (r. 1687–1709) in 1690 gave Kakuban the title Kōgyō Daishi.

Kakuda Kātyāyana. (P. Pakudha Kaccāyana; T. Ka tya’i bu nog can; C. Jialuojiutuo jiazhanyan; J. Karakuda Kasen’en; K. Karagut’a Kajŏnyŏn 迦羅鳩馱迦旃延). One of the so-called six heretical teachers mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures as rivals or opponents of the Buddha; he is associated with MASKARIN GOŚĀLĪPUTRA (d. c. 488 BCE) and the ĀJĪVAKA group. Kakuda’s doctrine is described as that of nonaction (P. akiriyavāda), viz., a type of antinomianism: because there are seven eternal and unchangeable elements—earth, water, fire, air, pleasure, pain, and the soul—there is therefore no KARMAN and no such thing as knowledge and ignorance, good and bad, etc. He also argued that there is no such thing as murder, because when a sword splits a head in half, the sword has simply passed between the spaces in the seven elements. As a teacher, Kakuda was apparently annoyed by questions. He considered it a sin to touch cold water, refusing to bathe when hot water was not available and constructing a mound of earth in expiation whenever it was necessary for him to ford a stream. In some sources, he is described as having a large and devoted following; in others, as not commanding the respect of his disciples.

Kakukai. [alt. Kakkai] (覺海) (1142–1223). An early Kamakura-period Japanese scholar-monk from Keōin temple on Mt. Kōya (see KŌYASAN), and the thirty-seventh temple administrator (J. kengyō) of Kongōbuji; his sobriquet was Nanshōbō. Kakukai is especially known for his “immanentalist” SHINGON pure land thought, emphasizing the position that this very world is itself the PURE LAND, and that seeking rebirth in the pure land as a post-mortem destination should not be the main goal of Buddhist practice. His views on the pure land are similar to those of KAKUBAN. However, Kakuban, like Kakukai’s student DŌHAN, viewed the post-mortem attainment of rebirth in a pure land as a worthwhile goal. Many of Kakukai’s students, such as Dōhan, Hosshō, Shinben, and others, came to be regarded as paragons of the Shingon academic tradition on Mt. Kōya. Kakukai is also the author of an important medieval dharma lecture (J. hōgo) written in vernacular Japanese entitled Kakukai hokkyō hōgo.

Kakunyo. (覺如) (1270–1351). A Japanese priest of the JŌDO SHINSHŪ tradition, also known by his posthumous name Shūshō. Kakunyo was the great-grandson of the Jōdo Shinshū patriarch SHINRAN. As a young man, Kakunyo first studied on HIEIZAN and in Nara, and later studied Jōdo Shinshū teachings under Nyoshin (1239–1300), the second main priest of HONGANJI. In 1310, Kakunyo became the third main priest of Honganji. Thereafter, he spent much of his time traveling to spread Shinran’s teachings, before passing away in 1351. He authored a number of texts, including the Hōonkō shiki, the Shinran shōnin den e, the Shūi kotokuden, the Kudenshō, the Kaijashō, the Shūjishō, the Honganshō, the Ganganshō, the Shusse gan’i, and the Saiyōshō.

Kālacakratantra. (T. Dus kyi ’khor lo rgyud). A late ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA that was highly influential in Tibet. Although the title of the tantra is often translated as “Wheel of Time,” this translation is not attested in the text itself. Kālacakra is the name of the central buddha of the tantra, and the tantra deals extensively with time (kāla) as well as various macrocosmic and microcosmic cycles or wheels (CAKRA). According to legend, King SUCANDRA came to India from his kingdom of ŚAMBHALA and asked that the Buddha set forth a teaching that would allow him to practice the dharma without renouncing the world. In response, the Buddha, while remaining at Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKŪṬAPARVATA) in RĀJAGṚHA in the guise of a monk, set forth the Kālacakratantra at Dhānyakaṭaka in southern India (near present-day Amarāvatī) in the guise of the buddha Kālacakra. The king returned to śambhala, where he transcribed the tantra in twelve thousand verses. This text is referred to as the root tantra (mūlatantra) and is no longer extant. He also wrote a commentary in sixty thousand verses, also lost. He built a three-dimensional Kālacakra MAṆḌALA at the center of the country, which was transformed into an ideal realm for Buddhist practice, with 960 million villages. The eighth king of śambhala, Mañjuśrīkīrti, condensed the original version of the tantra into the abridged version (the Laghukālacakra). A later king of śambhala, Puṇḍarīka, composed the VIMALAPRABHĀ commentary, considered crucial for understanding the tantra. These two texts were eventually transported from śambhala to India. Internal evidence in the text makes it possible to date the composition of the tantra rather precisely to between the dates 1025 and 1040 CE. This was the period of Muslim invasions of northern India under Mahmud of Ghazni, during which great destruction of Buddhist institutions occurred. The tantra, drawing on Hindu mythology, describes a coming apocalyptic war in which Buddhist armies will sweep out of śambhala, defeat the barbarians (mleccha), described as being followers of Madhumati (i.e., Muhammad), and restore the dharma in India. After its composition in northern India, the tantra was promulgated by such figures as Piṇḍo and his disciple ATIŚA, as well as NĀROPA. From India, it spread to Nepal and Tibet. The millennial quality of the tantra has manifested itself at particular moments in Tibetan history. Prior to World War II, the PAṆ CHEN LAMA bestowed the Kālacakra initiation in China in an effort to repel the Japanese invaders. The fourteenth DALAI LAMA has given the initiation many times around the world to promote world peace. ¶ The tantra is an anuttarayogatantra dedicated to the buddha Kālacakra and his consort Viśvamātā. However, it differs from other tantras of this class in several ways, including its emphasis on the attainment of a body of “empty form” (śūnyatābimba) and on its six-branched yoga (ṣaḍaṅgayoga). The tantra itself, that is, the Laghukālacakra or “Abridged Kālacakra,” has five chapters, which in the Tibetan commentarial tradition is divided into three sections: outer, inner, and other or alternative. The outer, corresponding to the first chapter, deals with the cosmos and treats such topics as cosmology, astrology, chronology, and eschatology (the story of the apocalyptic war against the barbarians is told there). For example, this section describes the days of the year; each of the days is represented in the full Kālacakra maṇḍala as 360 golden (day/male) and dark (night/female) deities in union, with a single central Kālacakra and consort (YAB YUM) in the center. The universe is described as a four-tiered maṇḍala, whose various parts are homologous to the cosmic body of a buddha. This section was highly influential in Tibetan astrology and calendrics. The new calendar of the Tibetans, used to this day, starts in the year 1027 and is based on the Kālacakra system. The inner Kālacakra, corresponding to the second chapter, deals with human embryology, tantric physiology, medicine, yoga, and alchemy. The human body is described as a microcosm of the universe. The other or alternative Kālacakra, corresponding to the third, fourth, and fifth chapters, sets forth the practice of Kālacakra, including initiation (ABHIṢEKA), SĀDHANA, and knowledge (JÑĀNA). Here, in the stage of generation (UTPATTIKRAMA), the initiate imagines oneself experiencing conception, gestation, and birth as the child of Kālacakra and Viśmamātā. In the stage of completion (NIṢPANNAKRAMA), one practices the six-branched yoga, which consists of retraction (pratyāhāra), concentration (DHYĀNA), breath control (PRĀṆĀYĀMA), retention (dhāraṇā), recollection (ANUSMṚTI), and SAMĀDHI. In the last of these six branches, 21,600 moments of immutable bliss are created, which course through the system of channels and CAKRAS to eliminate the material aspects of the body, resulting in a body of “empty form” and the achievement of buddhahood as Kālacakra. The Sekoddeśaṭīkā of Naḍapāda (or Nāropa) sets forth this distinctive six-branched yoga, unique to the Kālacakra system. ¶ BU STON, the principal redactor of the canon in Tibetan translation, was a strong proponent of the tantra and wrote extensively about it. DOL PO PA SHES RAB RGYAL MTSHAN, a fourteenth-century JO NANG PA writer, championed the Kālacakra over all other Buddhist writings, assigning its composition to a golden age (kṛtayuga). Red mda’ ba gzhon nu blo gros, an important scholar associated with SA SKYA sect, regarded the tantra as spurious. TSONG KHA PA, who was influenced by all of these writers, accepted the Kālacakratantra as an authentic ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA but put it in a category by itself.

Kālāmasutta. (C. Qielan jing; J. Garankyō; K. Karam kyŏng 伽藍經). In Pāli, “Instruction to the Kālāmas”; popular Western designation for a Pāli sutta (SŪTRA) in the AṄGUTTARANIKĀYA; delivered to the Kālāma people of Kesaputta, which is more commonly titled in modern Southeast Asian editions of the Pāli canon as the Kesamuttisutta or Kesaputtisutta. (A separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears as the sixteenth SŪTRA in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA; the Sinographs Qielan are a transcription of Kālāma, so this seems to have been the title used for the scripture in the northwest Indian tradition). The sermon is prominently cited in Western writings on Buddhism for its advocacy of free inquiry and a putatively rational approach to religion, which is exempt from intolerance and dogmatism. In classical commentarial materials, however, the text is not interpreted in this way and is rarely mentioned. According to the Pāli recension, the Kālāmas had been visited by many religious teachers and had received conflicting testimony from them on what constituted the religious life; they also were put off by these teachers’ tendency to praise only their own dogmas and to revile those of their rivals. Confused, the Kālāmas asked the Buddha to arbitrate. In his response, the Buddha rejects the validity of testimony simply because it is widely known, grounded in “tradition” (anussava; S. ANUŚRAVA), appearing in scripture, or taught by a respected teacher. All these standards are said to be unreliable for understanding truth and falsity. Instead, the Buddha encourages them to follow what they themselves learn through their own training to be blamable or praiseworthy, harmful or beneficial. The Buddha then helps the Kālāmas to understand for themselves that the three afflictions of greed or craving (RĀGA; LOBHA), hatred (DVEṢA; P. dosa), and delusion (MOHA) are harmful and should therefore be abandoned, while their absence is beneficial and should therefore be developed. The discourse concludes with the Buddha’s instruction on how to project in all directions the four divine abidings (BRAHMAVIHĀRA) of loving-kindness (MAITRĪ), compassion (KARUṆĀ), empathetic joy (MUDITĀ), and impartiality (UPEKṢĀ) and a brief account of the solace that comes to those whose minds are free from hatred and defilement.

kalaśābhiṣeka. (T. bum dbang; C. baoping guanding; J. hōbyōkanjō; K. pobyŏng kwanjŏng 寶瓶灌頂). In Sanskrit, “vase empowerment,” “jar empowerment,” or “pot empowerment”; one of the four empowerments or initiations (ABHIṢEKA) of ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA, the other three being the secret empowerment (GUHYĀBHIṢEKA), the knowledge of the consort empowerment (PRAJÑĀJÑĀNĀBHIṢEKA), and the fourth empowerment (CATURTHĀBHIṢEKA). The vase empowerment is the only one of the four that is used in the three other tantras of KRIYĀTANTRA, CARYĀTANTRA, and YOGATANTRA. The term itself generally is meant to designate a series of empowerments or initiations, variously enumerated, but commonly counted as five: the water, crown, vajra, bell, and name empowerments, with a sixth, called the vajra master (VAJRĀCĀRYA) added in yogatantra and anuttarayogatantra. The vase empowerment may be publicly performed, often in large gatherings, and is considered a prerequisite for the three other empowerments.

kālasūtra. (T. thig nag; C. heisheng diyu; J. kokujō jigoku; K. hŭksŭng chiok 黑繩地獄). In Sanskrit, “black string”; the second of the eight hot hells (see NĀRAKA) of the Buddhist cosmos. In this hell, the henchmen of YAMA tie the unfortunate denizens to the ground with hot iron chains; then, marking lines on their victims’ bodies with black string, they use those lines as guides to cut the body into pieces with burning saws. After the bodies of the denizens of this hell have been cut into pieces, they are made whole again and the process is repeated.

kalaviṅka. (T. ka la ping ka; C. jialupinqie niao; J. karyōbinga chō; K. karyukpin’ga cho 迦陸頻伽鳥). In Sanskrit, “kalaviṅka (cuckoo) bird”; a mythical bird from the HIMĀLAYA mountains with a call said to be far more beautiful than that of all other birds and so compelling that it could be heard even before the bird had hatched. The bird and its call are used as a simile for the BODHISATTVAs and their aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTA), which are so compelling and persuasive that, even before they have achieved complete, perfect enlightenment (ANUTTARASAMYAKSAṂBODHI), they are still far superior to all other spiritual adepts. As the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA says, “It is like the kalaviṅka bird, which, even before it has hatched, has such great dynamism that other birds cannot challenge it. BODHISATTVA-MAHĀSATTVAS are just the same: even before they have hatched from inside the egg of birth-and-death, the dynamism deriving from the merit associated with generating the aspiration for enlightenment is so compelling that ŚRĀVAKAs and PRATYEKABUDDHAs cannot challenge them.” The DAZHIDU LUN explains, “It is like the kalaviṅka bird, which even before it has hatched, has a call that is far more subtle and sublime than that of other birds. Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas are also just the same: although they may not have yet hatched from the egg of ignorance, the sound of their preaching and discoursing is far superior to that of the śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and non-Buddhists.”

Kālayaśas. (C. Jiangliangyeshe; J. Kyōryōyasha; K. Kangnyangyasa 畺良耶舍) (383–442). A Central Asian monk who was one of the early translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese. Kālayaśas arrived at Jiankang, the capital of the Liu-Song dynasty, in 424, where he became an adviser to Emperor Wen. Two works of translation are attributed to him in the Buddhist catalogues. Perhaps the most influential work with which he is associated is the GUAN WULIANGSHOU JING, the “meditation-sūtra” on AMITĀBHA Buddha, which is one of the three foundational texts of the East Asian PURE LAND traditions. Because no Sanskrit recension of this sūtra is attested, this scripture is now considered to be either a Central Asian or a Chinese indigenous scripture (see APOCRYPHA), and its ascription to Kālayaśas is problematic. The second text that he translated is the Guan Yaowang Yaoshang er pusa jing (“Sūtra on Visualizing the Two Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata”), an early sūtra on the Medicine Buddha/Bodhisattva cult associated with the bodhisattva BHAIṢAJYARĀJA and the buddha BHAIṢAJYAGURU.

Kālika. [alt. Karīka] (T. Dus ldan; C. Jialijia zunzhe; J. Karika sonja; K. Kariga chonja 迦里迦尊者). The Sanskrit name of one of the sixteen ARHAT elders (ṢOḌAŚASTHAVIRA), who were charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next Buddha, MAITREYA. Kālika is said to reside in the Lion’s Island (Siṃhatā; viz., Sri Lanka) with one thousand disciples. According to Chinese tradition, Kālika used to be an elephant tamer. (Because elephants have both great strength and endurance, they are a common symbol of the BUDDHADHARMA.) Because of this talent, he earned the nickname “Elephant-Riding Arhat” (Jixiang Luohan). In Tibetan iconography, he holds two earrings; East Asian images often portray him as an old man reading a scroll. In Chanyue Guanxiu’s standard Chinese depiction, Kālika is encircled by long eyebrows, sitting in easy comfort on a rock, with his right arm wrapped around his right knee, and his long eyebrows twisted around his fingers. His right hand is placed naturally on an adjacent rock.

Kālī Kururagharikā. (C. Jialijia; J. Karika; K. Kariga 迦梨迦). Lay disciple of the Buddha, whom he declared to be foremost among laywomen who are able to generate faith even from hearsay; she was also well known as the mother of the arahant (ARHAT) SOṆA-KOṬIKAṆṆA (S. Śroṇa-Koṭikarṇa). According to the Pāli account, Kālī was born in Rājagaha (RĀJAGṚHA) but lived with her husband in the city of Kururaghara in the kingdom of AVANTI. When she was pregnant with her son Soṇa, she returned to her parent’s house, and there one evening, while relaxing on a balcony of the house, she overheard two disciples of the Buddha discuss the marvelous qualities of their teacher and his teachings. As she listened, faith (saddhā; S. ŚRADDHĀ) grew in her and she became a stream-enterer (sotāpanna; S. SROTAĀPANNA). That same night she gave birth to Soṇa. When Kālī returned to Kururaghara, she devoted herself to serving the arhat MAHĀKĀTYĀYANA, who was a family friend and who frequently visited their town. Her son became a merchant, but on a caravan journey he encountered a series of frightful visions that inspired him to take ordination under Mahākātyāyana, who served as his preceptor (upajjhāya; S. UPĀDHYĀYA). When Soṇa later visited the Buddha, Kālī prepared a costly rug and asked that he spread it out in the Buddha’s chamber. Soṇa had won praise from the Buddha for his eloquence (PRATIBHĀNA), and, on his return to Kururaghara, Kālī requested that he preach to her in the same manner as he had before the Buddha. Kālī Kururagharikā was considered the most senior of female disciples to have attained stream-entry. She was the devoted friend and companion of KĀTIYĀNĪ, another eminent laywoman praised by the Buddha.

Kaliṅga. (T. Ka ling ga; Jielingqie; J. Karyōga; K. Kallŭngga 羯陵伽). An Indian kingdom on the eastern coast of the subcontinent; identified with the modern state of Orissa. In the eighth year of his reign, the Mauryan emperor AŚOKA (third century BCE) conquered Kaliṅga. In his inscriptions, Aśoka states that the resulting carnage caused him to turn away from violence and toward the dharma. Kaliṅga is mentioned in the Pāli canon as one of seven states that flourished at the time of the mythical king, Renu, but it is not included in the classical list of sixteen nations (janapada). During his previous life as VESSANTARA, the BODHISATTVA gave the kingdom of Kaliṅga his white elephant, Pacaya, in order to alleviate that country’s drought. A TOOTH RELIC of the Buddha is said to have been enshrined at the Kaliṅga capital, Dantapura, and, later during the reign of the Sinhalese king, Sirimeghavanna, it was carried to Sri Lanka, where it was installed as the palladium of the Sinhalese royal house. From ancient times, there were close relations between the kings of Kaliṅga and Sri Lanka. During the reign of Aggabodhi II, the king and queen of Kaliṅga came to the island, renounced their thrones, and entered the order. The royal houses of both kingdoms frequently exchanged brides, and many descendants of the Kaliṅga dynasty are mentioned as having been crowned king of Sri Lanka. Māgha, the twelfth-century invader and scourge of Buddhism on the island, is also said to have hailed from Kaliṅga. During the early centuries of the Common Era, Kaliṅga was an important source for Buddhist and Brahmanical cultural influence among the Pyu and Mon peoples of Burma, contributing to the emergence of Buddhist civilization in Southeast Asia. Kaliṅga is also one of the twenty-four sacred sites associated with the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA. See also PĪṬHA.

Kālodāyin. (P. Kāḷudāyin; T. ’Char byed nag po; C. Jialiutuoyi; J. Karudai; K. Karyut’ai 迦留陀夷). An ARHAT elder, whom the Buddha declared to be foremost among his ordained disciples in gladdening clans. According to the Pāli tradition, he was the son of one of King ŚUDDHODANA’s ministers (purohita) at KAPILAVASTU and a playmate of the young BODHISATTVA SIDDHĀRTHA. After his son renounced the world, Śuddhodana made Kālodāyin his most trusted councilor. When the king heard that his son had won enlightenment, he repeatedly sent delegations from his court to invite the Buddha to the palace; but on each occasion the delegates became arhats after hearing the Buddha preach and forgot their mission. Finally, the king sent Kālodāyin to invite the Buddha at a suitable time. Like his predecessors, Kālodāyin also was ordained and soon became an arhat, but he did not neglect his commitment to the king. Conveying the invitation when the countryside was in full bloom, he accompanied the Buddha on a sixty-day journey from RĀJAGṚHA to Kapilavastu, each day flying with his ṚDDHI powers to Śuddhodana’s palace to keep the king and his people appraised of the Buddha’s progress. By the time the Buddha reached his hometown, the entire city of Kapilavastu was anticipating the Buddha’s arrival. It was for this accomplishment that Kālodāyin was honored by the Buddha as the foremost in gladdening clans or reconciling families. Different traditions describe Kālodāyin’s ghastly end. According to the SARVĀSTIVĀDA VINAYA, Kālodāyin was beheaded by the jealous husband of one of his lay supporters, and the severed head was buried in horse manure. Another account states that Kālodāyin by chance learned of a brāhmaṇa wife’s affair; in order to keep the affair secret, she had her servant behead the monk.

kalpa. (P. kappa; T. bskal pa; C. jie; J. kō; K. kŏp 劫). In Sanskrit, “eon” or “age”; the unit of measurement for cosmological time. There are a number of types of kalpas. An “intermediate kalpa” (antarakalpa), often a synonym of the generic kalpa, is said to mark the aeon during which the lifetime gradually decreases from being essentially eternal down to ten years. A “great kalpa” (mahākalpa) is composed of eighty intermediate kalpas and is the longest of the kalpas governing creation. (In the Pāli tradition, a mahākappa is instead said to be four “incalculable eons.”) In the cycle of creation and dissolution of the universe, a great kalpa is divided into four periods of twenty intermediate kalpas. These are (1) the “kalpa of creation” (VIVARTAKALPA), the period from the arising of the primordial wind that produces the receptacle world and the arising of the hell denizens; this is followed by (2) the “kalpa of abiding” (VIVARTASTHĀYIKALPA); (3) the “kalpa of dissolution” (SAṂVARTAKALPA), the period between the time when the hell denizens vanish through the dissolution of the receptacle world (BHĀJANALOKA), viz., the physical environment; and finally (4) the “kalpa of nothingness” (SAṂVARTASTHĀYIKALPA). The longest of all kalpas is called the “incalculable kalpa” (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA), which, despite its name, has been calculated as a mahākalpa to the sixtieth power. The BODHISATTVA path leading to buddhahood is presumed to take not one, but three, “incalculable eons” to complete. A kalpa during which a buddha appears in the world is known as an “auspicious” or “fortunate” kalpa (BHADRAKALPA).

kalpanā. [alt. kalpana] (T. rtog pa; C. fenbie; J. funbetsu; K. punbyŏl 分別). In Sanskrit, “thought,” “imagination,” or “conceptual construction”; generally carrying the negative connotation of a delusive fantasy and misconception, in which the object of thought is either nonexistent or falsely imagined. (The Chinese translates instead the connotation of conceptual “discrimination.”) Kalpanā is often contrasted negatively with direct perception (PRATYAKṢA), especially yogic direct perception (YOGIPRATYAKṢA), in which reality is perceived directly without the medium of mental images. See also VIKALPA; WANGXIANG.

kalpavṛksa. (T. dpag bsam shing; C. yuanshengshu; J. enshōju; K. wŏnsaengsu 圓生樹). In Sanskrit, “wish-granting tree”; a magical tree whose fruit takes the form of whatever one wishes for. Numerous such trees appear in Buddhist legends. Perhaps the most famous of them is said to grow on the slopes of Mount SUMERU, with its roots located in the realm of the demigods (ASURA) but its leaves, branches, and fruit located above in the realm of the divinities (DEVA). Because the demigods were thus unable to enjoy the fruit of the tree that grows in their land, they became jealous of the divinities and fought against them. There are several varieties of wish-granting trees, including the pārijāta.

kalpikāraka. (P. kappiyakāraka; T. rung ba byed pa; C. jingren; J. jōnin; K. chŏngin 淨人). In Sanskrit, lit. “one who makes it appropriate,” viz., “legalizer,” referring to a lay “steward” or “surrogate”; one who receives donations on behalf of monks and converts them into appropriate requisites. Monks are forbidden to physically touch certain kinds of donated goods. The VINAYA rules entailing forfeiture and confession (NAIḤSARGIKAPĀYATTIKA; P. nissaggiyapācittiya), for example, prohibit monks from handling gold and silver, so a monk out on his daily alms round (PIṆḌAPĀTA) would not be allowed to receive a monetary donation offered by a layperson. The kalpikāraka attending the monk would instead serve as his stand-in, receiving the money in the monk’s stead and keeping it until such time as the monk required some necessity or requisite. The kalpikāraka would then use the money to purchase the required item on the monk’s behalf. This is the only major ecclesiastical office that is held by a layman, not a monk. See also VAIYĀPṚTYA(KARA).

Kalu Rinpoche. (1905–1989). An important modern meditation master and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Recognized as an incarnation (SPRUL SKU) of the KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD master ’JAM MGON KONG SPRUL, Kalu Rinpoche was ordained at the age of thirteen by the eleventh SI TU RINPOCHE. Kalu Rinpoche began serious meditation study at an early age, undertaking his first three-year retreat at the age of sixteen. He also received the transmission of the teachings of the SHANGS PA sect of Bka’ brgyud. He later served as the meditation teacher at DPAL SPUNGS monastery. Following the Chinese invasion, Kalu Rinpoche left Tibet in 1962 and first stayed at a small monastery outside of Darjeeling, India. He later settled in Sonada, West Bengal, where he built a three-year retreat center, teaching there before traveling internationally for ten years (1971–1981). In 1971, he traveled to France and the United States, at the request of the DALAI LAMA and the KARMA PA, in order to educate Westerners in Buddhism. During those ten years, Kalu Rinpoche founded many meditation and dharma centers in Canada, the United States, and Europe, with his main meditation school in Vancouver, Canada. Kalu Rinpoche led his first three-year retreat for Western students of Tibetan Buddhism in France in 1976. His full name is Kar ma rang ’byung kun khyab phrin las.

kalyāṇamitra. (P. kalyāṇamitta; T. dge ba’i bshes gnyen; C. shanzhishi; J. zenchishiki; K. sŏnjisik 善知識). In Sanskrit, lit. “good friend”; viz., “spiritual guide,” or “religious mentor”; a spiritual companion or mentor (sometimes, though rarely, referring even to the Buddha himself) who encourages one in salutary directions and helps one to remain focused on matters of real religious import. Association with a kalyāṇamitra is said to be one of the foundations of religious progress: it is one of the seven things conducive to the welfare and weal of monks and one of the indicators that a monk will perfect the seven constituents of awakening (BODHYAṄGA). In the absence of “good friends,” it was thought preferable for monks to lead the solitary life of the rhinoceros (see KHAḌGAVIṢĀṆA; KHAḌGAVIṢĀṆAKALPA). Three kinds of kalyāṇamitra are described in the literature: an instructor, a fellow practitioner, and a lay supporter (DĀNAPATI). The Tibetan title “geshe” (DGE BSHES), referring to a monk who has successfully completed the scholastic curriculum of the DGE LUGS sect, is a contraction of the Tibetan translation of kalyāṇamitra.

Kalyāṇī inscriptions. The Pāli term for a set of stele inscriptions erected at PEGU, the capital of the Mon kingdom of Rāmañña, by King DHAMMACETĪ in 1479. The inscriptions are written in Pāli and Mon and celebrate the successful purification of the Mon SAṂGHA through the introduction of the Sri Lankan MAHĀVIHĀRA ordination lineage. As a document, the Kalyāṇī inscriptions follow the conventions of a Sinhalese sāsana katikāvata: that is, they are composed of a list of monastic regulations imposed by the court on the entire saṃgha throughout the realm, prefaced by a long historical introduction. The purpose of the introduction, in part, is to legitimate the new regulations by appealing to historical precedent, such as the legend of Dhammāsoka (AŚOKA).

Kalyāṇīsīmā. An ordination site established at the Mon capital of Pegu in 1476 by King DHAMMACETĪ (r. 1472–1492). The construction of the Kalyāṇīsīmā marked the beginning of the reformation of the Mon SAṂGHA in accordance with orthodox Sinhalese standards. The reformation is recorded by Dhammacetī in the KALYĀṆĪ INSCRIPTIONS that were erected at the site. Dhammacetī selected a delegation of twenty-two Mon monks to travel to Sri Lanka, where, at a site of the Kalyāṇīvihāra near modern Colombo, the monks were laicized and reordained into the MAHĀVIHĀRA tradition. Upon their return, the newly reordained monks consecrated the Kalyāṇīsīmā at Pegu. Under the leadership of an elder monk ordained in Sri Lanka some twenty-six years earlier, the king ordered all new monks in his realm to be ordained into the MAHĀVIHĀRA tradition at the Kalyāṇīsīmā. Simultaneously, the existing saṃgha was purged of malefactors, and monks found to be worthy of continuing in the order were encouraged to return to lay status and be reordained at the Kalyāṇīsīmā. In this way, the Mon saṃgha, which had been long divided into rival monastic lineages, was reunited into a single fraternity descended from the Mahāvihāra tradition in Sri Lanka. The procedures employed by Dhammacetī to effect his reforms of the Mon saṃgha were taken as a blueprint for the later THUDHAMMA reformation of the Burmese saṃgha carried out by King BODAWPAYA beginning in 1782.

kāma. (T. ’dod pa; C. yu; J. yoku; K. yok 欲). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “sensuality,” especially in the sense of sexual desire. Kāma often appears compounded with various intensifiers to emphasize its affective dimensions. KĀMARĀGA means “sensual craving” and is listed as the fourth of ten fetters (SAṂYOJANA) that keep beings bound to the cycle of rebirth (SAṂSĀRA). Kāmarāga is the desire for physical pleasure and sensuality; it belongs to the more general psychological category of craving (S. TṚṢṆĀ; P. taṇhā, lit. “thirst”), which ceaselessly seeks pleasure here and there and is the chief root of suffering. The five “strands of sensuality” (kāmaguṇa) refer to the sensual pleasures of the five physical senses (see GUṆA). KĀMACCHANDA means “sensual pleasure” or “sensual gratification” and is also classified as one of five hindrances (NĪVARAṆA) that prevent the mind from achieving meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). Kāmacchanda is temporarily overcome with the attainment of the first meditative absorption and is eradicated in its grosser forms by attaining the stage of once-returner (SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), the second degree of Buddhist sanctity or holiness (ĀRYAPUDGALA); it is completely eliminated upon attaining the stage of nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN), the third and penultimate degree of Buddhist holiness. Finally, KĀMADHĀTU, or the sensuous realm, is the lowest of the three realms of existence (TRAIDHĀTUKA) (excluding the realms of subtle materiality and immateriality) and receives this name because of the predominance of sensuous desire among the beings reborn there.

kāmacchanda. (T. ’dod pa la ’dun pa; C. haoyu; J. kōyoku; K. hoyok 好欲). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “sensual pleasure” or “sensual gratification”; an intensification of mere “sensuality” (KĀMA), which is classified as one of five hindrances (NĪVARAṆA) that prevent the mind from achieving meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). Kāmacchanda is temporarily overcome with the attainment of the first meditative absorption and is eradicated in its grosser forms by attaining the stage of once-returner (SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), the second degree of Buddhist sanctity (ĀRYAPUDGALA); it is completely eliminated upon attaining the stage of nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN), the third and penultimate degree of Buddhist sanctity.

kāmadhātu. (T. ’dod khams; C. yujie; J. yokukai; K. yokkye 欲界). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “sensuous realm” or “desire realm”; the lowest of the three realms of existence, so named because the beings there are attached to pleasures derived from the five sense organs (INDRIYA). The dominant force among beings born into this realm is therefore sensuality (KĀMA), and especially the sex drive. The sensuous realm includes the following six rebirth destinies (GATI), in ascending order: denizens of hell (NĀRAKA), hungry ghosts (PRETA), animals (TIRYAK), humans (MANUṢYA), demigods (ASURA), and six levels of sensuous-realm divinities (DEVA). Rebirth in the sensuous realm is the result of past performance of either predominantly unwholesome deeds (in the case of hell denizens, hungry ghosts, animals, and demigods), a mix of unwholesome and wholesome deeds (as with human beings), or predominantly wholesome deeds (the divinities). The beings in the sensuous realm all have a coarser physical constituent. Above the kāmadhātu are the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPADHĀTU) and the realm of immateriality (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU), where sensuality exerts only minimal sway over its beings. The kāmadhātu may also be designated as a world (LOKA), worldly realm (LOKADHĀTU), or “sphere”/“domain” (AVACARA).

Kamakura daibutsu. (鎌倉大佛). In Japanese, “Great Buddha of Kamakura”; a colossal bronze buddha image located at KŌTOKUIN, a JŌDOSHŪ temple in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The Kamakura daibutsu is a huge bronze statue of Amida (S. AMITĀBHA) and is one of Japan’s most renowned buddha images. It is forty-four feet high and weighs about ninety-three tons. The first Kamakura shōgun, Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), saw the colossal buddha image at TŌDAIJI (see NARA DAIBUTSU) that had been restored in 1185 and, inspired, proposed erecting a similar image in his capital of Kamakura. After his premature death, the building campaign was carried out by his court lady Ineda no Tsubone (d.u.) and the monk Jōkō (d.u.) and the image cast by Ōno Gorōemon and Tanji Hisatomo from eight separate bronze plates that were ingeniously pieced together. Casting and gilding of the bronze image began in 1252 and took some twelve years to complete; the new image replaced an earlier wooden statue from 1243 that had been badly damaged in a storm. It was originally located inside a huge wooden shrine hall; the building was destroyed by a tsunami that demolished the entire temple in 1495 but that was not strong enough to budge the massive statue. Without funds for repairs, the image was neglected for years until the Jōdo monk Yūten Ken’yo (1637–1718) arranged for needed restorations in 1712; just behind the image are four bronze plates in the shape of lotus petals, on which are engraved the names of the donors who contributed to the restoration project. The image’s head is covered with 656 stylized curls and is disproportionately large so that it will not look small to people viewing it from the ground; the hands are in the meditation gesture (DHYĀNAMUDRĀ) typical of Amitābha images, with both hands displaying encircled thumb and index fingers. The image was repaired in 1923 after the Great Kantō earthquake and once again in 1960–1961. The image is one of the most famous sites in Japan and draws well over a million visitors a year.

Kamalaśīla. (T. Ka ma la shī la) (c. 740–795). One of the most important Madhyamaka authors of late Indian Buddhism, a major representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, and a participant in the famous BSAM YAS DEBATE. According to Tibetan doxographies, he was a proponent of the YOGĀCĀRA-SVĀTANTRIKA-MADHYAMAKA. Although little is known about his life, according to Tibetan sources he was a monk and teacher at NĀLANDĀ. Tibetan sources also count him as one of three (together with ŚĀNTARAKṢITA and JÑĀNAGARBHA) “Eastern Svātantrikas” (RANG RGYUD SHAR GSUM), suggesting that he was from Bengal. He was clearly a direct disciple of Śāntarakṣita, composing important commentaries on his teacher’s two major works, the MADHYAMAKĀLAṂKĀRA and the TATTVASAṂGRAHA. The latter commentary, which is extant in Sanskrit, is an important source for both Hindu and Buddhist philosophical positions in the eighth century. Śāntarakṣita had gone to Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan king KHRI SRONG LDE BTSAN, where, with the assistance of PADMASAMBHAVA, he founded BSAM YAS, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet. According to tradition, at the time of his death Śāntarakṣita warned that a mistaken philosophical view would become established in Tibet and advised the king to invite Kamalaśīla to come to Tibet in order to dispel it. This mistaken view was apparently that of Heshang MOHEYAN, a Northern CHAN (BEI ZONG) monk who had developed a following at the Tibetan court. Kamalaśīla was invited, and a debate was held between the Indian monk and his Chinese counterpart, with the king serving as judge. It is unclear whether a face-to-face debate took place or rather an exchange of documents. According to Tibetan sources, the king declared Kamalaśīla the winner, named MADHYAMAKA as the official philosophical school of his realm, and banished the Chinese contingent. (Chinese records describe a different outcome.) This event, variously known as the BSAM YAS DEBATE, the Council of Bsam yas, and the Council of Lhasa, is regarded as one of the key moments in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Three of Kamalaśīla’s most important works appear to have been composed in response to the issues raised in the debate, although whether all three were composed in Tibet is not established with certainty. These texts, each entitled BHĀVANĀKRAMA or “Stages of Meditation,” 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, he sets forth the three forms of wisdom (PRAJÑĀ): the wisdom derived from hearing or learning (ŚRUTAMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), the wisdom derived from thinking and reflection (CINTĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), and the wisdom derived from meditation (BHĀVANĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ). This “gradual” approach, very different from what was advocated in the Chinese CHAN ZONG, is set forth in all three of the Bhāvanākrama, which, according to Tibetan tradition, were composed in Tibet after the Bsam yas debate, at the request of the king. However, only the third, and the briefest, directly considers, and refutes, the view of “no mental activity” (amanasikāra), which is associated with Moheyan. It was also during his time in Tibet that Kamalaśīla composed his most important independent (i.e., noncommentarial) philosophical work, the MADHYAMAKĀLOKA, or “Illumination of the Middle Way,” a wide-ranging exposition of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis. It deals with a number of central epistemological and logical issues to articulate what is regarded as the defining tenet of the Yogācāra-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka school: that major YOGĀCĀRA doctrines, such as “mind-only” (CITTAMĀTRA), and the three natures (TRISVABHĀVA) are important in initially overcoming misconceptions, but they are in fact only provisional (NEYĀRTHA) teachings for those who have not yet understood the Madhyamaka view. The Madhyamakāloka is also important for its exploration of such central MAHĀYĀNA doctrines as the TATHĀGATAGARBHA and the question of the EKAYĀNA. On this latter point, Kamalaśīla argues against the Yogācāra position that there are three final vehicles (for the ŚRĀVAKA, PRATYEKABUDDHA, and BODHISATTVA, with some beings excluded from any path to liberation) in favor of the position that there is a single vehicle to buddhahood (BUDDHAYĀNA) for all beings. Kamalaśīla is said to have been murdered in Tibet by partisans of the Chinese position, who caused his death by squeezing his kidneys.

kāmamithyācāra. (P. kāmamicchācāra; T. ’dod pas log par g.yem pa; C. xieyin; J. jain; K. saŭm 邪淫). In Sanskrit, lit. “wrong conduct due to sensuality,” the term is generally translated into English as “sexual misconduct”; synonymous with abrahmacarya, lit. “impure conduct.” Sexual misconduct constitutes the third of the ten unwholesome courses of action or nonvirtuous deeds (AKUŚALA-KARMAPATHA) and figures prominently in the precepts of both Buddhist clergy and laity. In its most straightforward formulation, sensual misconduct is defined (from the male perspective) as sexual intercourse with an inappropriate partner, often defined as a woman who is under the protection of another male. This would include females who are still under the protection of their father or mother, brother, sister, or relatives; married women; female convicts; and betrothed women. It would also include women who are members of a religious community, such as Buddhist nuns. Such a formulation would seem to permit sexual intercourse between consenting adults, whether married or not. However, further forms of sexual misconduct are often mentioned, including having sexual intercourse at an improper place, such as near a temple, monastery, or STŪPA, in the presence of a religious statue or painting, a relic, or one’s teacher; sexual intercourse at an improper time, such as a religious holiday, the night of the full moon or new moon retreats, during the daytime, or when a woman is menstruating or breast-feeding; and sexual intercourse in an improper orifice, defined as any orifice other than the vagina. From this perspective, many sexual practices may be classed as sexual misconduct. In the VINAYA literature, a wide range of what is considered deviant sexual behavior is proscribed, ranging from masturbation to necrophilia. Among the many forms of sexual misconduct, sexual acts that entail “defeat” (PĀRĀJIKA) for a BHIKṢU are those that involve the penetration by the penis of any orifice “to the depth of a sesame seed.” For a BHIKṢUNĪ, acts that entail expulsion include sexual intercourse, lustfully allowing a man to touch her anywhere between the collarbone and the knees, or to lustfully stand with a man, converse with a man, or go to a rendezvous with a man.

kāmarāga. (T. ’dod pa la ’dod chags; C. yutan; J. yokuton; K. yokt’am 欲貪). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “sensual craving,”; an intensification of mere “sensuality” (KĀMA), which is listed as the fourth of the ten fetters (SAṂYOJANA) that keep beings bound to the cycle of rebirth (SAṂSĀRA). Kāmarāga is the desire for physical pleasure and sensuality; it belongs to the more general psychological category of craving (S. TṚṢṆĀ; P. taṇhā, lit. “thirst”), which ceaselessly seeks pleasure here and there and is the chief root of suffering.

kami. (神). In Japanese, “spirits,” “gods,” or “deities” (the term is not gender-specific and can be used as either singular or plural). Kami worship preceded the arrival of Buddhism in Japan and much later came to be regarded as the putative indigenous religion of SHINTŌ. Kami is a complicated concept in Japanese religion, because the term applies to several different entities. Kami were perhaps most commonly considered to be spirits associated with physical objects; in the natural world, this meant that kami inhabited everything from rocks and trees to rivers and mountains. Kami could also designate ancestors or ancient heroes. The early historical record Kojiki (712), for example, recorded the names of various gods (kami) who created Japan and the Japanese people. In this text, all recognized clans (J. uji) had ancestries that linked themselves back to these local spirits. The tutelary deity of the ruling family, for example, was an anthropomorphized solar spirit named Amateru/Amaterasu ōmikami (lit. “Great Honorable Spirit Heavenly Radiance”), who was claimed to reside at the Ise shrine. From the Heian (794–1185) through the Tokugawa (1600–1868) periods, in conjunction with the ongoing Buddhist appropriation of native cults, kami were largely regarded as the local physical manifestations of buddhas and BODHISATTVAs, a theory of correlation known as HONJI SUIJAKU. In addition, local kami were also presumed to have converted to Buddhism and become protectors of specific shrines (both portable and fixed) and monasteries. The nativist (J. kokugaku) movement during the Tokugawa period, which developed as a reaction against such so-called foreign elements in Japanese culture as Buddhism and Confucianism, began to explore ways of distinguishing Buddhism from indigenous cults and held up the kami as something uniquely Japanese. From the inception of the Meiji period (1868–1912) up until 1945, the notion of kami became heavily politicized due to the government-mandated separation of buddhas and kami (J. SHINBUTSU BUNRI) and the proposition that the emperor (J. tennō) was a kami whose lineage could be traced back to the gods of the Kojiki. During this period, Japanese soldiers who died for the empire were interred at the Yasukuni shrine where they were venerated as kami; with the Japanese defeat in World War II, the Japanese government was compelled publicly to renounce this position. See also SHINBUTSU SHŪGŌ, HAIBUTSU KISHAKU.

kammaṭṭhāna. In Pāli, lit. “working ground,” viz., “meditative topic”; a topic or object of meditation (BHĀVANĀ) used for training the mind and cultivating mental concentration (SAMĀDHI). The term originally referred to an occupation or vocation, such as farmer, merchant, or mendicant, but was adopted as a technical term to refer generically to various types of meditative exercises. The VISUDDHIMAGGA lists forty topics used for this purpose. First are ten “visualization devices” (KASIṆA)—devices that are constructed from the elements earth, water, fire, and air; the colors blue, yellow, red, and white, and light and space—to develop concentration. Kasiṇa exercises can produce all four of the “meditative absorptions” (JHĀNA; DHYĀNA) associated with the realm of subtle materiality. Next are ten “loathsome topics” (asubha; see S. AŚUBHABHĀVANĀ), such as the decaying of a corpse, which can lead only to the first meditative absorption (dhyāna). These are followed by ten “recollections” (P. anussati; S. ANUSMṚTI): viz., of (1) the Buddha, (2) the dhamma (DHARMA), (3) the saṅgha (SAṂGHA), (4) morality, (5) generosity, (6) the divinities, (7) death, (8) the body, (9) the inbreath and outbreath (P. ānāpānasati, S. ĀNĀPĀNASMṚTI), and (10) peace. Of these, recollection or mindfulness (P. sati; S. SMṚTI) of the inbreath and outbreath can produce all four meditative absorptions, while recollection of the body can produce the first absorption; the remaining recollections only lead to “access concentration” (UPACĀRASAMĀDHI), which immediately precedes but does not reach the level of the first absorption. Next are four “immaterial spheres” (arūpāyatana), viz., the “sphere of infinite space” (ākāsānañcāyatana, S. ĀKĀŚĀNANTYĀYATANA); of “infinite consciousness” (viññāṇañcāyatana, S. VIJÑĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA); of “nothingness” (ākiñcaññāyatana, S. ĀKIÑCANYĀYATANA); and of “neither perception nor nonperception” (nevasaññānāsaññāyatana, S. NAIVASAṂJÑĀNĀSAṂJÑĀYATANA). Meditation on these objects involves the increasing refinement of the fourth absorption and leads to the acquisition of the “immaterial attainments” (ARŪPASAMĀPATTI), also called “immaterial absorptions” (P. arūpāvacarajhāna; S. ĀRŪPYĀVACARADHYĀNA, see DHYĀNA, SAMĀPATTI). Four positive affective states or “divine abidings” (BRAHMAVIHĀRA; [alt. P. appamañña]; S. APRAMĀṆA), are loving-kindness (mettā; MAITRĪ), compassion (KARUṆĀ), altruistic or empathetic joy (MUDITĀ), and equanimity or impartiality (upekkhā; UPEKṢĀ). Of these, loving-kindness, compassion, and altruistic joy can produce only the first three meditative absorptions, but equanimity can produce all four. There is one perception of the loathsomeness of food (āhāre paṭikkūlasaññā) and one analysis of the four elements (catudhātu vavatthāna), both of which can produce access concentration. Certain of these topics were said to be better suited to specific character types, such as the loathsome topics to persons with strong tendencies toward lust or the perception of the loathsomeness of food for gluttons; others, such as the meditation on the in- and outbreaths, were universally suitable to all character types. The Buddha was said to have had the ability to assess his disciples’ character types and determine which topics of meditation would best suit them; as later generations lost this assessment ability, the number of kammaṭṭhānas in regular use dropped dramatically, with mindfulness of breathing being by far the most popular topic.

Kanaka Bharadvāja. (T. Bha ra dhwa dza bsod snyoms len; C. Jianuojiabaliduoshe; J. Kanyakabaridaja; K. Kanakkaballit’asa 迦諾迦跋釐墮闍). The Sanskrit name of the third of the sixteen ARHAT elders (ṢOḌAŚASTHAVIRA), who are charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA. He holds a PĀTRA and lives in the eastern continent of VIDEHA with 3,600 disciples. Because he would lift his bowl up every time he received food on alms round, he was known in Chinese as the “Raising his Bowl Arhat” (Jubo Luohan). In CHANYUE GUANXIU’s standard Chinese depiction, Kanaka Bharadvāja is depicted as skinny and emaciated as a stick, his eyes staring in anger, his mouth closed, and his eyebrows sticking out horizontally like a sword. Holding a chowrie in his right hand and resting his left hand on his knee, he sits leaning against a rock.

Kanakavatsa. (T. Gser be’u; C. Jianuojiafacuo; J. Kanyakabassa; K. Kanakkabŏlch’a 迦諾迦伐蹉). The Sanskrit name of the second of the sixteen ARHAT elders (ṢOḌAŚASTHAVIRA), who are charged by the Buddha with protecting his dispensation until the advent of the next buddha, MAITREYA; he is said to reside in Kashmir with five hundred disciples. In the East Asian tradition, he is known as the “ŚRĀVAKA who knows all the wholesome and unwholesome dharmas.” Because he was renowned as a dynamic debater, one day a person approached him and asked, “What is happiness?” He answered, “It is the contentment that is gained through sensuality in hearing, viewing, smelling, tasting, and touching.” The person continued, “Then what is joy?” He replied, “It is the contentment that is gained not through sensuality, but instead through the sincerity and joy one feels in the Buddha’s existence.” For this reason, Kanakavatsa is also known as the “Happiness and Joy Arhat.” In CHANYUE GUANXIU’s standard Chinese depiction, Kanakavatsa is portrayed in a gray robe, sitting in meditation on a rock, with his hands forming a MUDRĀ, and carrying a staff on his shoulder. His face is full of wrinkles, with eyebrows hanging downward and his gaze turned slightly upward.

kanbian. (J. kanben; K. kambyŏn 勘辨). In Chinese, “critical examinations”; a technical term used within the CHAN school to refer to the encounters between Chan monks and masters in which each questions and challenges the understanding of the other. These examinations are often in the form of an extended exchange or dialogue, which will often involve successive series of verbal and gesticulative joustings between the parties. Paradigmatic examples of kanbian are found in the second section of the LINJI LU (“The Record of Linji”), the discourse record (YULU) attributed to LINJI YIXUAN (d. 867).

Kandarakasutta. In Pāli, “Discourse to Kandaraka,” the fifty-first sutta of the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (there is no equivalent recension in the Chinese translations of the ĀGAMAS), preached by the Buddha to a gathering of monks on the banks of Gaggarā lake at Campā. Kandaraka, a wandering ascetic, visits the Buddha in the company of Pessa, the son of an elephant driver, and marvels at the silence maintained by the Buddha’s congregation of disciples. The Buddha tells him that his disciples are self-controlled through their practice of the four foundations of mindfulness (P. satipaṭṭhāna; S. SMṚTYUPASTHĀNA). He then tells Pessa about four types of persons in the world: those who torment themselves, those who torment others, those who torment both themselves and others, and those who torment neither themselves nor others. After their departure, the Buddha addresses his disciples and elaborates on what he means by the four types of persons. Those who torment themselves are ascetics who undertake various mortification practices (see TAPAS). Those who torment others are butchers, hunters, fishermen, thieves, executioners, and prison wardens. Those who torment themselves and others are kings and their consorts who sponsor sacrifices wherein they undergo severe penances themselves and order the slaughter of sacrificial animals. Finally, those who torment neither themselves nor others are persons who have renounced the household life and gone forth as disciples of the Buddha. They abstain from extreme asceticism and harming others; they abstain from acquisitiveness and abide by the monastic rules; they practice meditation and quiet the mind; and they attain the four degrees of meditative absorption (JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA) and the three knowledges (tevijjā; S. TRIVIDYĀ). The Buddha enumerates the three knowledges as (1) recollection of one’s own previous lives (pubbenivāsānussati; S. PŪRVANIVĀSĀNUSMṚTI); (2) the divine eye (dibbacakkhu; S. DIVYACAKṢUS), or the ability to see the demise and rebirth of beings according to their good and evil deeds; and (3) knowledge of the extinction of the contaminants (āsavakkhāya; S. ĀSRAVAKṢAYA), which encompasses knowledge of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (ariyasacca; S. āryasatya) and is equivalent to arhatship.

Kang. (J. Kō; K. Kang 康). A Sinograph used as an ethnikon for monks, missionaries, and translators who hailed from the kingdom of SOGDIANA in Central Asia (the Greek Transoxiana), as in the name of the translator KANG SENGHUI. Chinese descendants of Sogdian ancestry, such as FAZANG, also carried this ethnikon as their secular surname.

Kang Senghui. (J. Kō Sōe; K. Kang Sŭnghoe 康僧會) (d. 280). Sogdian monk and early translator of numerous mainstream Buddhist texts into Chinese. Kang Senghui emigrated in 247 to Jianye, the capital of the Wu dynasty (222–264). According to his hagiography, Kang Senghui was brought to the court of Wu as part of the court’s investigation into Buddhism. As evidence of the truth of his religion, Kang Senghui miraculously manifested a relic (ŚARĪRA) of the Buddha, for which the marquis of Wu, Sun Quan, built a monastery near the capital named JIANCHUSI. When Sun Quan’s grandson, Sun Hao (r. 264–280), attempted to destroy all Buddhist structures in his kingdom, Kang Senghui is said to have successfully dissuaded him from doing so by making recourse to the notion of “sympathetic resonance” (GANYING). Kang Senghui translated several texts, including a collection of AVADĀNAs called the Liudu ji jing, and he wrote an important preface and commentary on the ANBAN SHOUYI JING, a Chinese recension of the *Smṛtyupaṣṭhānasūtra (P. SATIPAṬṬHĀNASUTTA). As a learned scholar of Buddhism who was also well versed in the Confucian classics, astronomy, and divination, Kang Senghui played a crucial role in the development of a gentry Buddhist culture in the south, which was heavily influenced by indigenous Chinese philosophy.

Kānheri. The most extensive Buddhist monastic cave site in India, located six miles southeast of Borivili, a suburb of present-day Mumbai (Bombay), in the modern Indian state of Maharashtra. The name derives from the Sanskrit Kṛṣṇagiri, or “Black Mountain,” probably because of the dark basalt from which many of the caves were excavated. Over 304 caves were excavated in the hills of the site between the first and tenth centuries CE. During the fifth and sixth centuries, older caves were modified and refurbished, while new caves were added, presumably initiated under the patronage of the Traikuṭakas (388–456 CE). While many of the new caves are architecturally rather plain, a number of important images were produced. The most extraordinary images are found in caves 90 and 41. The walls of cave 90 are abundantly, but haphazardly, carved with a myriad of images, suggesting that this hall was not intended for congregational purposes but rather as a place where believers could fund carvings as a way of making merit (PUṆYA). On the left side wall of cave 90 is an especially complex iconographic arrangement. It shows VAIROCANA Buddha in the center, making the gesture of turning the wheel of the dharma (DHARMACAKRAMUDRĀ) and seated in the so-called European pose (PRALAMBAPĀDĀSANA); accompanying Vairocana are four smaller images at the four corners of the composition. Together, these comprise the five buddhas (PAÑCATATHĀGATA or PAÑCAJINA). At each side of the composition is a vertical row of four buddhas, who together represent the eight buddhas of the past. By the sixth century, female images had emerged as a common part of Buddhist iconographic conceptions in South Asia, and Kānheri is no exception. Flanking the central Buddha in this same arrangement is a pair of BODHISATTVAs, each accompanied by a female consort. Depicted next to the stalk upon which rests the central Buddha’s lotus pedestal are several subordinate figures: INDRA and BRAHMĀ, with female consorts, as well as male and female NĀGA. Kānheri was also a crucial site for both transoceanic and overland trade and pilgrimage networks, which probably accounts for the presence of images of AVALOKITEŚVARA, a bodhisattva who could be called upon by seafarers and merchants who were in distress. Avalokiteśvara’s image in cave 90 shows him in the center, flanked by his attendants, and surrounded by scenes of the eight dangers, including shipwreck. In the bottom right-hand corner, seafarers are depicted praying to him. In cave 41, the unusual form of an Eleven-Headed Avalokiteśvara (EKĀDAŚAMUKHĀVALOKITEŚVARA), which is dated to the late fifth or early sixth century, indicates advanced and esoteric Buddhist practices at Kānheri. While frequently found in later Buddhist art in Tibet, Nepal, and East Asia, this image is the only extant artistic evidence that this iconographic type is of Indian provenance. A sixteenth-century Portuguese traveler reported that the Kānheri caves were the palace built by Prince Josaphat’s father to shield him from knowledge of the sufferings of the world. (cf. BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT). See also AJAṆṬĀ.

kanhua Chan. (J. kannazen/kanwazen; K. kanhwa Sŏn 看話禪). In Chinese, “Chan of investigating the topic of inquiry,” or, more freely, “questioning meditation.” The systematization of this meditative practice is commonly traced back to the writings of the Song-dynasty CHAN master DAHUI ZONGGAO. The kanhua Chan technique grew out of the growing interest in the study of “public cases” (GONG’AN), viz., old stories and anecdotes of Chan masters, which flourished during the Song dynasty. Dahui’s teacher YUANWU KEQIN is also known to have lectured on numerous public cases, and his anthology of gong’an, along with his analysis of them, was recorded in the famous collection the BIYAN LU (“Blue Cliff Records”). Dahui further elaborated upon Yuanwu’s investigation of public cases and applied this process to the practice of Chan meditation. In his lectures and letters (DAHUI PUJUE CHANSHI SHU), Dahui urged his students (many of whom were educated literati) to use the gong’an as a “topic of meditative inquiry” (HUATOU, K. hwadu), rather than interpret it from purely intellectual or conceptual perspectives. Perhaps the most famous huatou is the topic “no” (WU) attributed to the Chan master ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN: A monk asked Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have buddha-nature (FOXING), or not?” to which Zhaozhou replied “WU” (“no”; lit. “it does not have it”). (See WU GONG’AN; GOUZI WU FOXING.) (Because of the popularity of this one-word meditative topic, kanhua Chan is often interpreted to mean the investigation of the “critical phrase” or “keyword,” in which the “keyword” “wu” is presumed to have been extracted from the longer gong’an exchange.) The investigation of this huatou starts by “investigating the meaning” (C. canyi; K. ch’amŭi) of the huatou: what could Zhaozhou have meant by answering “no” to this question, when the right answer should be “yes”? The mainstream of East Asian Buddhist doctrine insists that all sentient beings, including dogs, are inherently enlightened and thus do in fact possess the buddha-nature, so this question promotes inquiry. Examining what Zhaozhou might have meant by saying “no” has what Dahui termed “taste” (C. wei, K. mi), meaning intellectual interest. As one’s intellectual inquiry into this question continues, however, the student is ultimately left with “doubt” (YIQING), viz., the inability of the (unenlightened) mind to understand Zhaozhou’s motive in giving this response to the student’s question. Doubt, Dahui says, renders the mind “puzzled, frustrated, and tasteless” (viz., lacking intellectual interest), just as if you were gnawing on an iron rod.” Once doubt arises, there is no longer any conceptual support for the meditation, and the student moves on to “investigating the word” (C. canju; K. ch’amgu), viz., just sitting with the huatou wu and no longer trying to understand Zhaozhou’s motive in offering this response. At this point, the huatou becomes a “live word” (C. huoju; K. hwalgu) that helps to free the mind from conceptualization and to lead the meditator forward toward liberation. As the sense of doubt becomes more and more intense, it finally “explodes” (C. po; K. p’a), bringing an end to the deluded processes of thought and removing the limiting point of view that is the self. Once the distinctions between self and other disintegrate, the meditator experiences the interconnection between himself or herself and all the phenomena in the universe (SHISHI WU’AI). Kanhua Chan, therefore, employs the inevitable doubt that a benighted person would have about the sayings of the enlightened Chan masters of old to create a powerful sense of inquiry that leads the meditator toward the experience of nonconceptualization and finally enlightenment. ¶ Dahui’s system of kanhua Chan was first taught in Korea by POJO CHINUL, where it is known as kanhwa Sŏn, and popularized by Chinul’s successor, CHIN’GAK HYESIM. Kanhwa Sŏn continues to be the most common contemplative technique practiced in Korean Sŏn halls. Korean Sŏn monks typically work on one hwadu—often Zhaozhou’s “no”—for much of their career, continually deepening their experience of that topic. In China, after the Ming dynasty, kanhua Chan merged with the recitation of the buddha AMITĀBHA’s name (NIANFO), so that Chan meditators would turn the recitation into a huatou by reflecting on the topic “Who is reciting the Buddha’s name?” In Japanese Zen, due in large part to the efforts of HAKUIN EKAKU and his disciples, kannazen became widespread within the RINZAI ZEN tradition, where it was incorporated into an elaborate system of kōan training, involving the systematic investigation of many different kōans.

Kanhwa kyŏrŭi non. (看話決疑論). In Korean, “Resolving Doubts about Observing the Keyword”; attributed to the Korean SŎN master POJO CHINUL. Shortly after Chinul’s death in 1210, his disciple CHIN’GAK HYESIM is said to have discovered the Kanhwa kyŏrŭi non among Chinul’s effects and arranged for the text to be published in 1215. The treatise displays the rapid crystallization of Chinul’s thought around kanhwa Sŏn (see KANHUA CHAN), but its occasionally polemical tone suggests Hyesim’s editorial hand. In the Kanhwa kyŏrŭi non, Chinul carefully expounds on the practice of observing the hwadu (HUATOU), the “meditative topic” or “keyword” deriving from a Chan public case (kongan; C. GONG’AN). He underscores the efficacy of the hwadu technique in counteracting the defects of conceptual understanding. In a series of questions and answers, Chinul also attempts to clarify the relation between the hwadu technique, the consummate interfusion of the DHARMADHĀTU, and the so-called sudden teachings (DUNJIAO) of Buddhism, as defined in the HUAYAN tenet-classification system (see JIAOXIANG PANSHI; HUAYAN WUJIAO). Chinul demonstrates that the goal of kanhwa Sŏn is not simply to abandon words and thought, as in the “sudden teachings,” but to realize the unimpeded interpenetration of all phenomena (SHISHI WU’AI), the consummate description of enlightened experience according to the Huayan school. Unlike the prolix, scholastic explanations of Huayan, however, kanhwa Sŏn relies much less on conceptual descriptions in its soteriology and thus provides a more direct “shortcut” (kyŏngjŏl) to enlightenment than is offered in Huayan. Kanhwa Sŏn therefore offers the only truly perfect and sudden (wŏndon; C. yuandun) approach to enlightenment.

kanhwa Sŏn. (看話禪). In Korean, the Sŏn of investigating the topic of meditative inquiry (hwadu; C. HUATOU), or more freely, “questioning meditation.” See KANHUA CHAN.

Kaniṣka. (T. Ka ni ska; C. Jianisejia wang; J. Kanishika ō; K. Kanisaekka wang 迦膩色迦王) (c. 127–151 CE). Third king of the KUSHAN kingdom in the northwest of India and legendary patron of Buddhism, rivaled, according to the tradition, only by AŚOKA, some four centuries later. The story of his conversion to Buddhism is widely found in the literature, but it seems to belong to the realm of legend, not history. Kaniṣka is said to have convened the fourth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FOURTH), which led to the compilation of the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀṢĀ (“Great Exegesis of Abhidharma”).Thanks to Kaniṣka’s putative support, the Kushan kingdom has traditionally been assumed to have been an important conduit for the introduction of Buddhist materials into China via the SILK ROAD of Central Asia. Recent evidence of the decline in western Central Asian trade during the Kushan period, however, may suggest instead that the Kushans were more of an obstacle than a help to this dissemination. Hence, it may not have been the Kushans who facilitated the transmission of Buddhism but their Indo-Scythian predecessors in the region, the Saka (S. Śaka) tribe. The emerging scholarly consensus is that Kaniṣka’s reign began in 127 CE; if accepted, this date will allow much more precise dating of the cultural products of the KASHMIR–GANDHĀRA region.

kaṅkhāvitaraṇavisuddhi. In Pāli, “the purity of overcoming doubt”; the fourth of seven “purities” (VISUDDHI) to be developed along the path to liberation, according to the VISUDDHIMAGGA. The purity of overcoming doubt refers to the understanding of the conditions that give rise to name and form (NĀMARŪPA), viz., mentality and materiality, with reference to the three time periods (S. TRIKĀLA) of past, present, and future. The practitioner notes that no instance of name and form arisen in the present came into being through the will of a creator, nor did it arise spontaneously by itself without a cause. Rather, the practitioner understands that everything that has arisen has occurred because of a specific cause or condition. Thus, the practitioner understands, for example, that, due to the contact of the eye sense base with a visible object, a moment of visual consciousness arises. In the same way, the practitioner understands that what has arisen in the present because of causes and conditions (HETUPRATYAYA) becomes the cause and condition for something arising in the future. This knowledge encompasses knowledge of the relationship between volitional action (KARMAN) and its result (VIPĀKA) and that future existence within the cycle of rebirth occurs as a result of volitional action. In addition, the practitioner clearly understands the distinction between volitional action and its result, that is, that there is neither volitional action in the result nor result in the volitional action. In this way, the practitioner overcomes doubt regarding causality underlying the appearance of name and form in relation to the three times.

Kānkṣā-Revata. (P. Kaṅkhā-Revata; T. Nam gru; C. Lipoduo; J. Ribata; K. Rip’ada 離婆多). An important ARHAT who was foremost among the Buddha’s monk disciples in mastery of meditative absorption (JHĀNA; DHYĀNA). He is typically known as Kānkṣā-Revata (Doubting Revata), to distinguish him from several other REVATAs who appear in the literature, because, prior to his enlightenment, Revata was troubled by doubt concerning what was permissible and what was not. According to Pāli sources, he was born into a wealthy family in the city of Sāvitthi (S. ŚRĀVASTĪ). One day, he heard the Buddha preach in Kapilavatthu (S. KAPILAVASTU) and resolved to renounce the world and enter the order. He attained arahantship by relying on jhāna and his exceptional skill in these meditative states won him distinction. Revata had resolved to attain this distinction in a previous life as a brāhmaṇa, when, during the time of Padumuttara Buddha, he heard the Buddha describe one of his disciples as preeminent in his attainment of jhāna. In another famous story, the mother of Uttara had been reborn as a hungry ghost (P. peta; S. PRETA) and after fifty-five years of wandering encountered Revata and begged him for relief. He relieved her suffering by making various offerings to the SAṂGHA in her name.

Kaṇṭhaka. [alt. Kanthaka] (T. Bsngags ldan; C. Jianzhi; J. Kenjoku; K. Kŏnch’ŏk 犍陟). In Sanskrit and Pāli, the name of the horse that GAUTAMA rode when he departed from his father’s palace in KAPILAVASTU and renounced the world (PRAVRAJITA). Kaṇṭhaka was born on the same day as Gautama, as was his groom CHANDAKA. Kaṇṭhaka was destined from birth to carry the future buddha from the household life into homelessness and was suitably magnificent in stature for that honor. Eighteen cubits in length, he was white, the color of a conch shell, and the sound of his neighing and gallop resounded throughout the kingdom of Kapilavastu. When he was saddled to carry his master into the wilderness, Kaṇṭhaka realized the significance of the event and neighed in exultation. Lest Gautama’s father be forewarned and attempt to prevent his departure, the divinities muffled his neighing and the sound of his hoofs. The prince rode on Kaṇṭhaka’s back, while Chandaka held onto his tail. Outside the city gates, Gautama turned to take a final look at his capital; a shrine (CAITYA) was later erected on the spot in commemoration. Between midnight and dawn, they traveled thirty leagues to the river Anomā. Kaṇṭhaka crossed the river in one jump and Gautama and Chandaka dismounted on the other side. There, the BODHISATTVA gave Chandaka his ornaments and directed him to take Kaṇṭhaka back to the palace; a shrine commemorating the event was later erected on the spot as well. Kaṇṭhaka continued to look at his master as he departed, and when he disappeared from view, Kaṇṭhaka died of a broken heart. He was immediately reborn in TRAYASTRIṂŚA heaven as a deity named Kaṇṭhakadevaputra and dwelled in a magnificent palace made of gems, where the ARHAT MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA later visited him.

Kanzan Egen. (關山慧玄) (1277–1360). Japanese ZEN master of the RINZAI ZEN tradition and founder of the influential monastery of MYŌSHINJI in Kyōto. Kanzan was a native of Shinano in present-day Nagano prefecture and at a young age was ordained at the monastery KENCHŌJI in Kamakura. In 1307, he met the eminent Zen master NANPO JŌMYŌ when the latter was appointed the abbot of Kenchōji. In 1327, Kanzan visited Nanpo’s leading disciple SŌHŌ MYŌCHŌ, also known as Daitō, to continue his studies with him at the monastery DAITOKUJI in Kyōto. In 1303, Kanzan is said to have attained awakening while struggling with the kōan (C. GONG’AN) of YUNMEN WENYAN’s “barrier” (case 8 of the BIYAN LU). Daitō himself had penetrated this kōan earlier at Kenchōji under Nanpo’s guidance. In recognition of his disciple’s achievement, Daitō gave him the name Kanzan (Barrier Mountain). In place of his teacher Daitō, Kanzan later became the personal instructor to Emperor Godaigo (r. 1318–1339) and Hanazono (r. 1308–1318). After Daitō’s death in 1337, Emperor Hanazono converted his country villa into a monastery and invited Kanzan to serve as its founding abbot (kaisan, C. KAISHAN); this monastery was subsequently given the name Myōshinji.

kapāla. (T. thod pa; C. dulou qi/jiebobei; J. dokuroki/kōhahai; K. ch’ongnu ki/kŏpp’abae 髑髏器/劫波杯). In Sanskrit, “skull”; used in Buddhist TANTRA to refer to the skull cup that is often one of the accoutrements of MAHĀSIDDHAs and wrathful deities. The vessel, made from the cranium of a human skull, is often elaborately carved and inlaid with precious metals. The symbolism of the skull cup is variously explained; most generally, it is yet another antinomian aspect of Buddhist tantra, in which things that would be regarded as polluting in Indian culture (in this case the skull of a corpse) are put to use to overcome dualities. It is also said that the skull cup is a constant reminder of death. In tantric SĀDHANAs, the skull cup is often said to contain the elixir of immortality (AMṚTA). The skull cup figures prominently in tantric iconography (being held, for example, by PADMASAMBHAVA) and in tantric practice. For example, in GCOD practice, one visualizes the top of one’s own head being cut off and transformed into a huge vessel, where one’s own body is cooked and offered to VAJRAYOGINĪ.

Kapilavastu. (P. Kapilavatthu; T. Ser skya’i gzhi; C. Jiapiluowei; J. Kabirae; K. Kabirawi 迦毘羅衛). In Sanskrit, the capital city of the ŚĀKYA tribe and the hometown of the buddha GAUTAMA. The city was located north of the larger region of KOŚALA, in the foothills of modern-day Nepal. Kapilavastu is the town where SIDDHĀRTHA Gautama was raised and lived as a prince until he renounced worldly life. Later, after his enlightenment, he stayed often at Nigrodha’s Park in the precincts of the city, together with his growing band of disciples. In Kapilavastu, his cousins ĀNANDA and DEVADATTA, his half-brother NANDA, and his barber UPĀLI were converted and became monks (BHIKṢU). When the Buddha ordained his then seven-year-old son RĀHULA as a novice (ŚRĀMAṆERA) without the knowledge of the boy’s mother, YAŚODHARĀ, the Buddha’s father, ŚUDDHODANA, protested, and a rule was created stating that ordinations would not take place without prior parental consent. After the death of his father, the Buddha’s foster mother MAHĀPRAJĀPATĪ begged the Buddha to be allowed to join the SAṂGHA, thus initiating the order of nuns (BHIKṢUṆĪ).

Kapimala. (C. Jiapimoluo; J. Kabimara; K. Kabimara 迦毘摩羅). Sanskrit name of an Indian monk who lived during the second century CE, who is listed as one of the successors in the Indian Buddhist lineage that traces itself back to the person of the Buddha himself. An Indian brāhmaṇa who was a native of PĀṬALIPUTRA (modern Patna), the capital of the kingdom of MAGADHA, he is said to have challenged the exegete AŚVAGHOṢA with his superpowers (ABHIJÑĀ) but was defeated by Aśvaghoṣa’s profound learning and became his disciple, along with his three thousand adherents. He is typically listed as twelfth of twenty-three or thirteenth of twenty-four primary successors to ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha.

Kapleau, Philip. (1912–2004). Influential twentieth-century American teacher of Zen Buddhism. Kapleau worked as a court reporter at the war crimes trials following World War II, first in Nuremberg and then in Tokyo. He met D. T. SUZUKI in Japan in 1948 and later attended his lectures at Columbia University in 1950. He returned to Japan in 1953, where he spent the next thirteen years practicing Zen, the last ten under YASUTANI HAKUUN (1885–1973), a Zen priest who had severed his ties to the SŌTŌ sect in order to form his own organization, called Sanbōkyōdan, the “Three Treasures Association,” which taught Zen meditation to laypeople. Kapleau returned to the United States in 1965 and in the following year founded the Zen Center of Rochester, New York. While in Japan, Kapleau drew on his training as a court reporter to transcribe and translate Yasutani’s instructions on Zen meditation, along with his formal interviews (DOKUSAN) with his students, and testimonials of their enlightenment experiences. These were compiled into The Three Pillars in Zen, first published in Japan in 1965, a work that influenced many Westerners to undertake Zen practice; it is widely recognized as a classic of the nascent American tradition of Zen Buddhism. As one of the first non-Japanese Zen teachers in America, Kapleau set out in this book to adapt some of the forms of Zen practice that he thought would be better suited to an American audience. Kapleau’s modifications included an English translation of the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀHṚDAYASŪTRA (“Heart Sūtra”). Yasutani was strongly opposed to the use of the translation, arguing that the sound of the words was more important than their meaning. Teacher and student broke over this question in 1967 and never spoke again. Kapleau, however, remained dedicated to Yasutani, and the Rochester Zen Center flourished under Kapleau’s direction.

kāraṇahetu. (T. byed pa’i rgyu; C. nengzuo yin; J. nōsain; K. nŭngjak in 能作因). In Sanskrit, the “efficient,” “generic,” or “enabling” “cause,” the first of the six causes (HETU) recognized in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA-VAIBHĀṢIKA ABHIDHARMA system. This category of cause subsumes all five other causes within it, and it corresponds with the predominant effect (ADHIPATAPHALA) as its specific effect. Each conditioned DHARMA serves as the enabling cause for all other dharmas besides itself by the mere fact that it does not obstruct the others’ arising. The kāraṇahetu provides the broad context necessary for the operation of causality, so that the process of production and cessation will continue unabated.

Kāraṇḍavyūha. [alt. Karaṇḍavyūha; Avalokiteśvaraguṇa-kāraṇḍavyūha] (T. Za ma tog bkod pa’i mdo; C. Dasheng zhuangyan baowang jing; J. Daijō shōgon hōōgyō; K. Taesŭng changŏm powang kyŏng 大乘莊嚴寶王經). In Sanskrit, “Description of the Casket [of AVALOKITEŚVARA’s Qualities]”; the earliest textual source for the BODHISATTVA Avalokiteśvara’s MANTRA “OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ” (oṃ, O Jewel-Lotus); the extended version of the title is Avalokiteśvaraguṇa-kāraṇḍavyūha. The earliest version of the Kāraṇḍavyūha is presumed to have been composed in Kashmir sometime around the end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth centuries CE. There are Tibetan and Chinese translations, including a late Chinese rendering made by the Kashmiri translator TIAN XIZAI (d. 1000) in 983. The Kāraṇḍavyūha displays characteristics of both sūtra and TANTRA literature in its emphasis on the doctrine of rebirth in AMITĀBHA Buddha’s pure land (SUKHĀVATĪ), as well as such tantric elements as the mantra “oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ” and the use of MAṆḌALAs; it is thought to represent a transitional stage between the two categories of texts. The sūtra is composed as a dialogue between ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha and the bodhisattva SARVANĪVARAṆAVIṢKAMBHIN. While describing Avalokiteśvara’s supernal qualities and his vocation of saving sentient beings, Śākyamuni Buddha tells his audience about the mantra “oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ” and the merits that it enables its reciters to accrue. Avalokiteśvara is said to be the embodiment of the SAṂBHOGAKĀYA (enjoyment body), the body of the buddha that remains constantly present in the world for the edification of all beings, and the dharma that he makes manifest is expressed in this six-syllable mantra (ṢAḌAKṢArĪ), the recitation of which invokes the power of that bodhisattva’s great compassion (MAHĀKARUṆĀ). The sūtra claims that the benefit of copying this mantra but once is equivalent to that of copying all the 84,000 teachings of the DHARMA; in addition, there are an infinite number of benefits that derive from a single recitation of it.

Kārli. [alt. Kārle]. Buddhist cave temple site in western India, situated halfway between Mumbai (Bombay) and Pune in Maharashtra. Based on inscriptional evidence, the excavation of the site began around 124 CE, toward the end of the reign of Nahapāna, who ruled over much of western India during the early second century. The veranda and doorways to the site are decorated with outstanding sculptural features: flanking the doorways are carvings of couples in sexual union (MAITHUNA); these images are stylistically similar to contemporary carvings in the city of MATHURĀ. The end wall of the veranda features carvings of almost life-size elephants, which appear to support the architectural structure. The images of buddhas and BODHISATTVAs also found on the veranda were carved in the late fifth century, when the iconographic profile of the cave was modified. The interior of the cave’s CAITYA hall, which is South Asia’s largest, is characterized by an impressive, harmonious balance of architectural and sculptural elements. A STŪPA appears at the end of the long nave, with an ambulatory that allows its circumambulation (PRADAKṢIṆA). A row of pillars carved directly out of the rock parallels the shape of the cave itself. These pillars are adorned with capitals that depict sculpted images of figures riding animals, which are stylistically close to those of the contemporary or slightly earlier images at the great stūpa at SĀÑCĪ.

Karma Bka’ brgyud. (Karma Kagyü). One of four major subsects of the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as the Karma kaṃ tshang, it dates to the first KARMA PA, DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA. Headed by a lineage of incarnate lamas (SPRUL SKU), who each hold the title of Karma pa, the sect held great political power from the late fourteenth through the early seventeenth century, until the ascendancy of the DGE LUGS at the time of the fifth DALAI LAMA. It continues to be strong in exile. The Karma bka’ brgyud is known for its equal emphasis on study and practice, and in the realm of practice, on MAHĀMUDRĀ. Because of the black crown worn by the Karma pa, the sect is sometimes mistakenly referred to in the West as the “BLACK HATS.” For a detailed history, see KARMA PA.

Karma chags med. (a.k.a. Rā ga a sya) (1613–1678). A KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD teacher born near the RI BO CHE monastery in eastern Tibet, an unsuccessful candidate for the position of ninth KARMA PA and founder of the Gnas mdo branch of the Karma kaṃ tshang tradition, named after the monastery Gnas mdo that he established; at the same time, a founding figure in the lineage of the RNYING MA monastery DPAL YUL, one of the four great Rnying ma monasteries of Khams. A prolific author, he is known for his devotion to AMITĀBHA; his Rnam dag bde chen zhing gi smon lam (“Prayer to Be Reborn in SUKHĀVATI”) is recited in all sects. As redactor of the GTER MA (treasure texts) revealed by his student and teacher Mi ’gyur rdo rje, he originated a fusion of BKA’ BRGYUD and RNYING MA teachings that spread widely in Khams.

Karma gling pa. (Karma Lingpa) (1326–1386). A treasure revealer (GTER STON) of the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. He is best known for unearthing the treasure cycle entitled the Zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol (“Peaceful and Wrathful Deities, the Natural Liberation of Intention”) from a mountain peak in his native region of Dwags po (Dakpo). Part of this doctrinal cycle, called the BAR DO THOS GROL CHEN MO (“Great Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State”), became widely known in the West as the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead. See also BAR DO; ANTARĀBHAVA.

karmakula. (T. las kyi rigs; C. jiemo bu; J. katsumabu; K. kalma pu 羯磨部). In Sanskrit, “action family”; one of the “five lineages” or “five families” (PAÑCAKULA) of tantric Buddhism. The five are usually given as the TATHĀGATAKULA, VAJRAKULA, PADMAKULA, RATNAKULA, and KARMAN families (different tantras have different lists). Those in the karmakula become enlightened in the form of the buddha AMOGHASIDDHI. Each of the five families is associated with one of the five aggregates (SKANDHA), five wisdoms (JÑĀNA), five afflictions (KLEŚA), five elements (MAHĀBHUTA), and five colors. For the karman family, these are the conditioning factors (SAṂSKĀRA) skandha, the wisdom of having accomplished what was to be done (KṚTYĀNUṢṬHĀNAJÑĀNA), the affliction of envy, the element air, and the color green. See also PAÑCATATHĀGATA.

karmamudrā. (T. las kyi phyag rgya). In Sanskrit, “action seal”; a term used to refer to the female consort in the practice of sexual yoga in ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA. In the context of sexual yoga, three types of female consorts or VIDYĀ (“knowledge women”) are sometimes enumerated. The first is the JÑĀNAMUDRĀ, or “wisdom seal,” who is an imagined or visualized partner and is not an actual consort. The second and third types of consorts are both actual consorts. The SAMAYAMUDRĀ, or “pledge seal,” is a consort who is fully qualified for the practice of sexual yoga, in the sense that she is of the appropriate age and caste, has practiced the common path, and maintains the tantric pledges (SAMAYA). The third and final type is the karmamudrā, who is also an actual consort but who may not possess the qualifications of a samayamudrā. In some expositions of tantric practice, these three types of “seals” are discussed with reference to MAHĀMUDRĀ, or “great seal,” a multivalent term sometimes defined as the union of method (UPĀYA) and wisdom (PRAJÑĀ), which does not require a consort.

karman. (P. kamma; T. las; C. ye; J. gō; K. ŏp 業). In Sanskrit, “action”; in its inflected form “karma,” it is now accepted as an English word; a term used to refer to the doctrine of action and its corresponding “ripening” or “fruition” (VIPĀKA), according to which virtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind produce happiness in the future (in this life or subsequent lives), while nonvirtuous deeds lead instead to suffering. In Vedic religion, karman referred especially to ritual actions. The term came to take on wider meanings among the ŚRAMAṆA movements of wandering ascetics, to which Buddhism belonged. The JAINAs, for example, have a theory of karman as a physical substance created through unwholesome actions, which hinder the soul’s ability to achieve liberation; in order to free the soul from the bonds created through past actions, the body had to be rigorously cleansed of this karmic substance through moral discipline and asceticism. Although the Buddhists accepted the notion of moral causality, as did the Jainas, they redefined karman instead as mental intention (CETANĀ) or intentional (cetayitvā) acts: the Buddha specifically says, “Action is volition, for after having intended something, one accomplishes action through body, speech, and mind.” These actions are of four types: (1) wholesome (KUŚALA), which lead to wholesome results (vipāka); (2) unwholesome (AKUŚALA), which lead to unwholesome results; (3) mixed, with mixed results that may be partially harmful and partially beneficial; and (4) indeterminate (AVYĀKṚTA), which are actions done after enlightenment, which yield no result in the conditioned realm. The term karman describes both the potential and kinetic energy necessary to sustain a process; and, just as energy is not lost in a physical process, neither is it lost in the process of moral cause and effect. The Buddhists assert that there is a necessary relationship that exists between the action and its fruition, but this need not manifest itself in the present life; rather, when the complex of conditions and the appropriate time for their fruition come together, actions will bear their retributive fruit, even after an interval of hundreds of millions of eons (KALPA). The fruition of action is also received by the mental continuum (CITTASAṂTĀNA) of the being who initially performed the action, not by another; thus, in mainstream Buddhism, one can neither receive the fruition of another’s karman nor redeem another’s actions. The physical universe (BHĀJANALOKA) and all experience within it are also said to be the products of karman, although in a passive, ethically neutral sense (viz., upapattibhava; see BHAVA). The goal of the Buddhist path is to be liberated from the effects of karman and the cycle of rebirth (SAṂSĀRA) by destroying attachment to the sense of self (ĀTMAN). The doctrine of karman is meant to counter the errors of antinomianism (that morality is unnecessary to salvation), annihilationism, and materialism. Actions do, in fact, matter, even if there is ultimately no self that is the agent of action. Hence, karman as representing the continuity between action and result must be understood in conjunction with the teaching of discontinuity that is ANĀTMAN: there is indeed a causal chain connecting the initiator of action and the recipient of its result, but it is not the case that the person who performs the action is the same as the person who experiences the result (the wrong view of eternality) or that the agent is different from the experiencer (the wrong view of annihilationism). This connection is likened to milk changing to its different forms of curds, butter, and ghee: the milk and the ghee are neither identical nor different, but they are causally connected. The process that connects karmic cause and effect, as well as the process by which that connection is severed, is detailed in the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA). Enlightened beings, such as a buddha or an ARHAT, have destroyed this chain and thus have eradicated all attachment to their past karmic continuums; consequently, after their enlightenment, they can still perform actions, but those will not lead to results that would lead to additional lifetimes in saṃsāra. Although the Buddha acknowledges that the connections between karman and its effect may seem so complex as to appear unfathomable (why, for example, does the evil person who harms others live in wealth, while the good Samaritan who helps others lives in poverty?), he is adamant that those connections can be known, and known with perfect precision, through the experience of awakening (BODHI). Indeed, two of the three kinds of knowledge (TRIVIDYĀ; P. tevijja) and one of the superknowledges (ABHIJÑĀ) that are by-products of enlightenment involve insight into the validity of the connection between karmic cause and effect for both oneself and for all beings: viz., the ability to remember one’s own former lives (PŪRVANIVĀSĀNUSMṚTI: P. pubbenivāsānunssati) in all their detail; and the insight into the karmic destinies of all other beings as well (CYUTYUPAPATTIJÑĀNA; P. cutūpapātānuñāṇa). Distinguish KARMAN, “ecclesiastical proceeding,” s.v.; see also ĀNANTARYAKARMAN; ANIÑJYAKARMAN; ER BAO; KARMĀVARAṆA.

karman. (P. kamma; T. las; C. jiemo; J. katsuma/konma; K. kalma 羯磨). In Sanskrit, “ecclesiastical proceeding”; from the literal meaning of karman as an “act.” (To distinguish karman as “action” from “ecclesiastical proceeding,” the Chinese uses a translation for the former and a transcription for the latter.) Such proceedings include admission into the order as novices (pravrajyā, see PRAVRAJITA), full ordination of monks and nuns (UPASAṂPADĀ), the fortnightly confession ceremony (UPOṢADHA) for recitation of the PRĀTIMOKṢA precepts, the invitation ceremony (PRAVĀRAṆĀ) closing the rain’s retreat (VARṢĀ), giving cloth for robes (KAṬHINA), the adjudication of rules, the administration of punishments to transgressors of the precepts, and the settlement of disputes among the clergy. At such formal proceedings, a motion is made before the congregation of monks that may be approved by silent assent (see JÑAPTIDVITĪYĀ KARMAVĀCANĀ [P. ñattidutiyakammavācā]; KARMAVĀCANĀ). In responding to monks who have transgressed the precepts, for example, the VINAYA provides for seven different ecclesiastical proceedings, depending on the kind and severity of the infraction. They are reprimands; expulsion from the clergy; the appointment of an overseeing mentor (see ĀCĀRYA; ANTEVĀSIKA); temporary proscription against contact with the laity; confronting with incriminating evidence a suspect who refuses to confess; confronting an unrepentant transgressor with incriminating evidence; and correcting someone who intransigently holds on to the pernicious view that certain precepts are expendable. Distinguish KARMAN, “action,” s.v.; see also SAṂGHAKARMAN.

Karma pa. In Tibetan, a title given to the incarnate lama (SPRUL SKU) identified at birth in each generation as the head of the KARMA BKA’ BRGYUD subsect of the BKA’ RGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is commonly etymologized as “man of [enlightened] action.” In the history of Tibetan Buddhism, the lineage of the Karma pas is considered to be the first to institutionalize its succession of incarnate lamas, a practice later adopted by the other sects. According to tradition, at the time of his death, each Karma pa composes a letter that specifies the date and location of his next incarnation. This letter is given to a close disciple, who then reveals its contents upon the death of the Karma pa, with the information in the letter used to locate the child who has been born as the next Karma pa. Among the most famous and sacred possessions of the Karma pa is a black crown, said to be made from the hair of one hundred thousand ḌĀKINĪS. The actual crown is said to be invisible to persons lacking sufficient merit. However, during the Ming dynasty, the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–1424) presented the fifth Karma pa with a visible physical replica of the crown. The replica itself is said to have great power; the “black hat ceremony,” in which the Karma pa dons the crown, is among the most important in the sect. In the ceremony, the Karma pa holds the hat upon his head; otherwise, it is said, it will fly off into space. It is also said that those who see the crown will be liberated from rebirth. Due to the importance of the crown, the Karma pas are sometimes called the “black crowned” (zhwa nag). In the nineteenth century, a Western misunderstanding of this term led to the identification of a sect of Tibetan Buddhism called the “BLACK HATS,” a mistake that persists in some accounts of Tibetan Buddhism. Like the DALAI LAMAs, the Karma pas are considered to be emanations of the BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEŚVARA. Also like the Dalai Lamas, the Karma pas have been among the most important and revered religious figures in the history of Tibet; they include many great scholars and yogins. Some have also had political power, at times leading to conflicts, sometimes polemical, and sometimes military, with the DGE LUGS PA. Although the main seat of the Karma pas was MTSHUR PHU Monastery in central Tibet, the Karma pas tended to travel widely. Their importance and influence extended throughout the Tibetan cultural domain, including China. The lineage includes:

1. Karma pa DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA (1110–1193)

2. Karma pa KARMA PAKSHI (1203–1283)

3. Karma pa RANG ’BYUNG RDO RJE (1284–1339)

4. Karma pa Rol pa’i rdo rje (Rolpe Dorje, 1340–1383)

5. Karma pa Bde bzhin gshegs pa (Deshin Shekpa, 1384–1415)

6. Karma pa Mthong ba don ldan (Tongwa Dönden, 1416–1453)

7. Karma pa Chos grags rgya mtsho (Chödrak Gyatso, 1454–1506)

8. Karma pa MI BSKYOD RDO RJE (1507–1554)

9. Karma pa DBANG PHYUG RDO RJE (1556–1603)

10. Karma pa Chos dbying rdo rje (Chöying Dorje, 1604–1674)

11. Karma pa Ye shes rdo rje (Yeshe Dorje, 1676–1702)

12. Karma pa Byang chub rdo rje (Jangchub Dorje, 1703–1732)

13. Karma pa Bdud ’dul rdo rje (Dudül Dorje, 1733–1797)

14. Karma pa Theg mchog rdo rje (Tekchok Dorje, 1798–1868)

15. Karma pa Mkha’ khyab rdo rje (Kakyap Dorje, 1871–1922)

16. Karma pa RANG ’BYUNG RIG PA’I RDO RJE (1924–1982)

17. Karma pa O rgyan ’phrin las rdo rje (Orgyan Trinle Dorje, b. 1985).

The line of Karma pas originated during the twelfth century with DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA, a close disciple of SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN, who had himself studied under the famous YOGIN MI LA RAS PA. Dus gsum mkhyen pa established several important monasteries, including Mtshur phu, which served as the main seat of the Karma pas and the Karma bka’ brgyud in central Tibet. Dus gsum mkhyen pa’s successor, the second Karma pa KARMA PAKSHI, is remembered especially for his prowess in meditation and thaumaturgy. He was patronized by the Mongols, first by Möngke (1209–1259) and later by his brother, the Yuan emperor Qubilai Khan (r. 1260–1294) before losing the emperor’s support. The third Karma pa RANG ’BYUNG RDO RJE continued this affiliation with the Mongol court, playing a role in emperor Toghun Temür’s (r. 1333–1368) ascension to the throne. The fourth Karma pa Rol pa’i rdo rje and fifth Karma pa Bde bzhin gshegs pa maintained ties with the Chinese court—the former with Toghun Temür and the latter serving as the preceptor of the Yongle emperor (reigned 1402–1424) of the Ming dynasty, a position of great influence. The sixth Karma pa Mthong ba don ldan did not maintain the same political connections of his predecessors; he is remembered especially for his contributions to the religious life of the Karma bka’ brgyud, producing meditation and ritual manuals. The seventh Karma pa Chos grags rgya mtsho is known primarily for his philosophical works on logic and epistemology (PRAMĀṆA); his voluminous text on the topic is still used today as a principal textbook in many Bka’ brgyud monasteries. The eighth Karma pa MI BSKYOD RDO RJE is among the most renowned scholars of his generation, a prolific author whose writings encompassed Sanskrit, poetry, and art, as well as MADHYAMAKA philosophy and tantra. The ninth Karma pa DBANG PHYUG RDO RJE is revered for his influential works on the theory and practice of MAHĀMUDRĀ. It was during his lifetime that the DGE LUGS hierarchs ascended to power, with an attendant decline in the political fortunes of his sect in central Tibet. His successor, the tenth Karma pa Chos kyi dbang phyug, was thus forced into a life of virtual exile near the Sino-Tibetan border in the east as his patron, the king of Gtsang, was defeated by the Gushri Khan, patron of the Dge lugs. As the war came to an end, the tenth Karma pa returned to LHA SA where he established ties with the fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO. The eleventh Karma pa Ye shes rdo rje and twelfth Karma pa Byang chub rdo rje lived relatively short lives, although the latter made an important journey through Nepal together with his disciple, the brilliant scholar and Sanskritist Si tu CHOS KYI ’BYUNG GNAS. The life of the thirteenth Karma pa Bdud ’dul rdo rje was, for the most part, lived outside the sphere of politics. He is remembered for his love of animals, to which he taught the dharma. Beginning during his lifetime and continuing into that of the fourteenth Karma pa Theg mchog rdo rje, there was a revival of Bka’ brgyud doctrine in the eastern Tibetan province of Khams, as part of what has come to be called the RIS MED or non-sectarian movement. The fourteenth Karma pa’s disciple, ’JAM MGON KONGS SPRUL BLO GROS MTHA’ YAS, played a leading role. The fifteenth Karma pa Mkha’ khyab rdo rje, a principal disciple of ’Jam mgon kongs sprul, was a prolific scholar. The sixteenth Karma pa RANG ’BYUNG RIG PA’I RDO RJE, like other lamas of his generation, saw the Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet, fleeing to India in 1959 and establishing an exile seat at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. He was the first Karma pa to visit the West. The seventeenth Karma pa O rgyan ’phrin las rdo rje was enthroned at Mtshur phu monastery on September 27, 1992. In late December 2000, he escaped into exile, establishing a residence in Dharamsala, India. Although his identification as the Karma pa has been disputed by a small number of followers of a rival candidate, O rgyan ’phrin las rdo rje is regarded as the seventeenth Karma pa by the majority of the Tibetan community, including the Dalai Lama.

Karma Pakshi. (1203–1283). A Tibetan Buddhist master recognized as the second KARMA PA, renowned for his virtuosity in meditation, thaumaturgy, and his activities at the Mongol court. The name “Pakshi” is derived from the Mongolian word for “teacher” or “master,” and the second Karma pa is also frequently known by the epithet grub chen, or MAHĀSIDDHA. In his youth, Karma Pakshi was recognized as a child of great intellectual ability and skill in meditation. He conducted his early training under the BKA’ BRGYUD teacher Spom brag pa Bsod rnams rdo rje (Pomdrakpa Sönam Dorje, 1170–1249) and spent a great period of his time in meditation retreat near the monastery of MTSHUR PHU in central Tibet. Traveling to eastern Tibet, he founded a monastery at Spungs ri (Pungri) and renovated the Bka’ brgyud institution of KARMA DGON established by his predecessor DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA. Karma Pakshi’s fame spread throughout the Tibetan border regions to the north and east. In about 1251, the Mongol prince Qubilai (later Khan, r. 1260–1294) sent an invitation to Karma Pakshi, who was residing at Mtshur phu. He arrived at the Mongol court several years later. Karma Pakshi was one of numerous religious figures present at court, including the SA SKYA hierarch ’PHAGS PA BLO GROS RGYAL MTSHAN. Karma Pakshi quickly impressed Qubilai with a display of magical powers, and the Mongol prince requested him to remain permanently at court. The relationship soured, however, when Karma Pakshi refused the offer. On his return to Tibet, he formed a relationship with Qubilai’s elder brother and political rival Möngke (1209–1259) and consented to visit Möngke’s palace in Liangzhou. He taught the Mongol ruler and his court Buddhist doctrine, especially TANTRA based on the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA. For ten years, Karma Pakshi traveled across China, Mongolia, and Tibet and is also said to have debated with numerous Daoist practitioners. Qubilai assumed the role of high Khan after Möngke’s death in 1259. Angered at Karma Pakshi’s support of his rival brother, and still smarting from his refusal to remain at court, Qubilai ordered Karma Pakshi’s capture and exile. Qubilai eventually relented and allowed the Karma pa to return to Tibet. Upon his return to Mtshur phu, he constructed a massive statue of ŚĀKYAMUNI called the “ornament of the world” (’dzam gling rgyan). The completed statue, however, was slightly tilted. In a famous account, Karma Pakshi is said to have straightened the statue by first assuming the same tilted posture and then righting himself, simultaneously moving the statue. Among his principal disciples was O rgyan pa Rin chen dpal (Orgyenpa Rinchenpal), who would become the guru of the third Karma pa, RANG ’BYUNG RDO RJE.

karmapatha. (P. kammapatha; T. las kyi lam; C. yedao; J. gōdō; K. ŏpto 業道). In Sanskrit, “course of action”; the name given to a standardized list of ten types of wholesome (KUŚALA) and unwholesome (AKUŚALA) actions (KARMAN), which lead respectively to salutary rebirths (viz., in the realms of humans and divinities) or unsalutary rebirths (APĀYA; DURGATI, viz., in the realms of hungry ghosts, animals, or hell denizens). The respective ten types are further subdivided into three subsets according to whether they pertain to physical actions, speech acts, or mental actions. The ten unwholesome courses of action (akuśalakarmapatha) include, under the category of the body: (1) killing (prāṇātipāta; P. pāṇātipāta), (2) stealing (adattādāna; P. adinnādāna), and (3) sexual misconduct (KĀMAMITHYĀCĀRA; P. kāmamicchācāra); under the category of speech: (4) lying (mṛṣāvāda; P. musāvāda), (5) slander or malicious speech (paiśunyavāda; P. pisuṇavācā), (6) offensive or harsh speech (pāraṣyavāda; P. pharusavācā), and (7) frivolous prattle (saṃbhinnapralāpa; P. samphappalāpa); and under the category of mind: (8) covetousness (ABHIDHYĀ; P. abhijjhā), (9) ill will (VYĀPĀDA), and (10) wrong views (MITHYĀDṚṢṬI; P. micchādiṭṭhi). The root causes of the ten unwholesome courses of action are greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEṢA), or delusion (MOHA): for example, killing, ill will, and offensive speech are generally motivated by hatred; sexual misconduct, covetousness, and stealing are generally motivated by desire and greed; wrong views are generally motivated by delusion; and lying, slander, and frivolous prattle are motivated by a combination of all three. For a thought to be classified as an unwholesome mental course of action, it must be particularly extreme—for example, the wish to misappropriate someone else’s property, the malicious intention to harm someone, or the adherence to pernicious doctrines. The ten wholesome courses of action (kuśalakarmapatha) are the opposite of those given in the preceding list: under the category of body, the avoidance of killing, the avoidance of stealing, and the avoidance of sexual misconduct; under the category of speech, the avoidance of lying, the avoidance of slander, the avoidance of offensive speech, and the avoidance of prattle; under the category of mind, unselfishness, good will, and right views (SAMYAGDṚṢṬI). The list of ten wholesome and ten unwholesome courses of action is frequently found in all strata of Buddhist literature.

Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa. (T. Las grub pa’i rab tu byed pa; C. Dasheng chengye lun; J. Daijō jōgōron; K. Taesŭng sŏngŏp non 大乘成業論). In Sanskrit, “Investigation Establishing [the Correct Understanding] of Karman”; an important treatise written c. 360 CE by the Indian scholiast VASUBANDHU, which seeks to explain karmic continuity by resorting to the quintessential YOGĀCĀRA doctrine of the storehouse consciousness (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA). The Sanskrit recension has not survived, so the text is known only through its translations into Chinese (by Vimokṣaprajña and XUANZANG) and Tibetan. Vasubandhu critiques different theories propounded concerning the interconnections between KARMAN (action) and VIPĀKA (fruition) discussed in rival Buddhist schools, including the VAIBHĀṢIKA, SAṂMITĪYA, and SAUTRĀNTIKA. Through this exhaustive analysis, Vasubandhu concludes that, while everything may be momentary (KṢAṆIKA), karman and vipāka are connected through the requital of causal associations that are embedded in the storehouse consciousness. This storehouse consciousness is the repository of the seeds (BĪJA) of past actions and serves as a retributory or appropriating consciousness (ĀDĀNAVIJÑĀNA), which manifests karmic fruitions based on the wholesome and unwholesome influences arising in the other consciousnesses (VIJÑĀNA) to which it is related. The storehouse consciousness is thus the repository for the seeds of all past experiences, as well as the consciousness that “appropriates” a physical body at the moment of rebirth. Vasubandhu’s analysis reconciles momentariness (KṢAṆIKAVĀDA), one of the most radical framings of nonself doctrine (ANĀTMAN), with the imperishability of karman.

karmavācanā. (P. kammavācā; T. las su bsko ba; C. baijiemo; J. byakukonma; K. paekkalma 白羯磨). In Sanskrit, a “proceeding” or “stating of the matter”; carried out as part of the performance of an ecclesiastical act or saṅghakamma (S. SAṂGHAKARMAN; see also KARMAN) that involves the recitation of a prescribed ritual text. In the Pāli tradition, not all ecclesiastical acts require the performance of a kammavācanā; those that do not are called P. ñattikamma. Ecclesiastical acts that do require a formal “statement of the matter” may be one of two types. The first is the P. ñattidutiyakammavācā (S. JÑAPTIDVITĪYĀ KARMAVĀCANĀ), an ecclesiastical act that requires the performance of a kammavācanā once. This is the dictated procedure that is to be followed during certain formal occasions within the SAṂGHA, such as the ordination ceremony, the adjudication of rules, the administration of punishments to transgressors of the precepts, and the settlement of disputes among the clergy. A motion or proposal is made formally one time to the attendees and repeated once to solicit additional comment. If the proposal is read in this manner with no audible objections from the group (silence thus indicates approval), it is passed and considered binding on the participants. The second is the P. ñatticatutthakammavācā (S. jñapticaturtha karmavācanā), an ecclesiastical act that requires the performance of a kammavācanā three times. This type involves matters of greater importance or formality and requires three formal questions and an audible response before they are considered decided. There are no saṅghakamma in the Pāli tradition that require the recitation of a kammavācā two times.

karmāvaraṇa. (P. kammāvaraṇa; T. las kyi sgrib pa; C. yezhang; J. gōshō/gosshō; K. ŏpchang 業障). In Sanskrit, “karmic obstruction,” or “hindered by KARMAN.” The term is used in the VISUDDHIMAGGA with reference to meditators who are incapable of making any progress in concentration (SAMĀDHI) exercises, specifically involving the KASIṆA visualization devices. The text notes that a practitioner who has engaged in any of the five types of unwholesome “acts that are of immediate effect” (P. ānantariyakamma; S. ĀNANTARYAKARMAN), such as patricide or causing schism in the community of monks (SAṂGHBHEDA), is “obstructed by his acts” and will therefore never be able to develop a viable meditation practice. ¶ The relation of karmāvaraṇa to meditation practice continues in Korean Buddhism, where the term ŏpchang is colloquially used to refer to any kind of persistent physical, mental, or emotional obstacle to meditation practice, whether that be, for example, constant pain in one’s legs that makes it difficult to sit in meditation for long periods, an inability to concentrate, or emotional distress caused by being apart from one’s family. Anything that continually inhibits one’s ability to practice effectively may be termed an ŏpchang (karmāvaraṇa). In the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA, obstacles to meditation practice are referred to as vimokṣāvaraṇa, obstruction to the production of the eight VIMOKṢAs, that is, physical and mental inflexibility (akarmaṇyatā). The ARHAT who is free in both ways (ubhayatobhāgavimukta) is free from this as well as from the KLEŚĀVARAṆA.

karuṇā. (T. snying rje; C. bei; J. hi; K. pi 悲). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “compassion,” or “empathy”; the wish that others be free from suffering, as distinguished from loving-kindness (MAITRĪ; P. mettā), the wish that others be happy. Compassion is listed as the second of the four divine abidings (BRAHMAVIHĀRA) along with loving-kindness, empathetic joy (MUDITĀ), and equanimity (UPEKṢĀ). As one of the forty topics of meditation (P. KAMMAṬṬHĀNA), compassion is used only for the cultivation of tranquillity (ŚAMATHA), not insight (VIPAŚYANĀ). Compassion is to be developed in the following manner: filling one’s mind with compassion, one pervades the world with it, first in one direction, then in a second direction, then a third, a fourth, then above, below, and all around. Of the four divine abidings, compassion, along with loving-kindness and empathetic joy, is capable of producing the first three of the four stages of meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). This mainstream Buddhist notion of compassion is to be distinguished from the “great compassion” (MAHĀKARUṆĀ) of the BODHISATTVA, whose compassion inspires them to develop BODHICITTA, the aspiration to achieve buddhahood in order to liberate all beings from suffering. This great compassion is distinguished both by its scope (all sentient beings) and its agency (one personally seeks to remove the suffering of others). Great compassion thus becomes the primary motivating force that enables the BODHISATTVA to endure the three infinite eons (ASAṂKHYEYAKALPA) necessary to consummate the path to buddhahood. In Mahāyāna literature, numerous techniques are set forth to develop compassion, including acknowledging the kindness one has received from other beings in past lifetimes.

Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka. (T. Snying rje pad ma dkar po; C. Beihua jing; J. Hikekyō; K. Pihwa kyŏng 悲華經). In Sanskrit, “Lotus of Compassion”; a MAHĀYĀNA SŪTRA important in the developing cult surrounding worship of the buddha AMITĀBHA. The sūtra was translated into Chinese in ten rolls by DHARMAKṢEMA and seems to have been compiled from various shorter texts. The sūtra tells the story of how a king and his thousand sons aroused the aspiration for enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA) and received a prediction that they would each be reborn in the PURE LAND. The sūtra is important in the pure land schools for its listing of fifty-one vows of the buddha AMITĀBHA, indicating that it was closely aligned with the teachings of the SUKHĀVATĪVYŪHASŪTRA.