Mahāsthāmaprāpta. (T. Mthu chen thob; C. Dashizhi; J. Daiseishi; K. Taeseji 大勢至). In Sanskrit, “He who has Attained Great Power”; a BODHISATTVA best known as one of the two attendants (along with the far more popular AVALOKITEŚVARA) of the buddha AMITĀBHA in his buddha-field (BUDDHAKṢETRA) of SUKHĀVATĪ. Mahāsthāmaprāpta is said to represent Amitābha’s wisdom, while Avalokiteśvara represents his compassion. According to the GUAN WULIANGSHOU JING, the light of wisdom emanating from Mahāsthāmaprāpta illuminates all sentient beings, enabling them to leave behind the three unfortunate destinies (APĀYA; DURGATI) and attain unexcelled power; thus, Mahāsthāmaprāpta is considered the bodhisattva of power or strength. There is also a method of contemplation of the bodhisattva, which is the eleventh of the sixteen contemplations described in the Guan jing. An adept who contemplates Mahāsthāmaprāpta comes to reside in the lands of all the buddhas, being relieved from innumerable eons of continued birth-and-death. In the ŚŪRAṂGAMASŪTRA, the bodhisattva advocates the practice of BUDDHĀNUSMṚTI. Mahāsthāmaprāpta also appears in the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA (“Lotus Sūtra”) as one of the bodhisattvas who assembled on Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKŪṬAPARVATA) to hear the teachings of the buddha ŚĀKYAMUNI. Iconographically, the bodhisattva is rarely depicted alone; he almost always appears in a triad together with Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara. Mahāsthāmaprāpta can often be recognized by a small jar on his jeweled crown, which is believed to contain pure water to cleanse sentient beings’ afflictions (KLEŚA). He is also often described as holding a lotus flower in his hand or joining his palms together in AÑJALI. Mahāsthāmaprāpta is one of the twenty-five bodhisattvas who protects those who recite Amitābha’s name and welcomes them on their deathbed to the Buddha’s PURE LAND. Serving as one of the thirteen bodhisattvas of the Japanese SHINGONSHŪ of esoteric Buddhism, Mahāsthāmaprāpta is believed to preside over the special ceremony marking the first year anniversary of one’s death. He is also depicted in the Cloister of the Lotus Division (Rengebu-in) in the TAIZŌKAI MAṆḌALA.

mahāsthāna. (T. gnas chen; C. lingdi; J. reichi; K. yŏngji 靈地). In Sanskrit, lit. “great site”; a list of four or eight sites of Buddhist pilgrimage in India that were the scenes of famous events in the life of the Buddha. The four sites, as mentioned in the MAHĀPARINIBBĀNASUTTA, are the sites of (1) the miracle of his birth at LUMBINĪ, (2) the defeat of MĀRA and the achievement of buddhahood at BODHGAYĀ, (3) the first turning of the wheel of the dharma (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA) at ṚṢIPATANA (SĀRNĀTH), (4) his passage into PARINIRVĀṆA at KUŚINAGARĪ. In the list of eight, between the third and fourth events are added the following sites of (5) the “twin miracles” (YAMAKAPRĀTIHĀRYA) performed at ŚRĀVASTĪ, (6) the descent from the TRĀYASTRIṂŚA heaven at SĀṂKĀŚYA, (7) the taming of the elephant NĀLĀGIRI at RĀJAGṚHA, (8) the receipt of the monkey’s gift of honey at VAIŚĀLĪ. These sites became important places of pilgrimage in India and were ubiquitous stops during the sojourns of XUANZANG and other Chinese and Korean pilgrims on the subcontinent. These eight sites are found depicted in Indian sculpture dating from the Pāla period.

mahāsthāna. (T. gnas chen; C. lingdi; J. reichi; K. yŏngji 靈地). In Sanskrit, lit. “great site”; a list of four or eight sites of Buddhist pilgrimage in India that were the scenes of famous events in the life of the Buddha. The four sites, as mentioned in the MAHĀPARINIBBĀNASUTTA, are the sites of (1) the miracle of his birth at LUMBINĪ, (2) the defeat of MĀRA and the achievement of buddhahood at BODHGAYĀ, (3) the first turning of the wheel of the dharma (DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANA) at ṚṢIPATANA (SĀRNĀTH), (4) his passage into PARINIRVĀṆA at KUŚINAGARĪ. In the list of eight, between the third and fourth events are added the following sites of (5) the “twin miracles” (YAMAKAPRĀTIHĀRYA) performed at ŚRĀVASTĪ, (6) the descent from the TRĀYASTRIṂŚA heaven at SĀṂKĀŚYA, (7) the taming of the elephant NĀLĀGIRI at RĀJAGṚHA, (8) the receipt of the monkey’s gift of honey at VAIŚĀLĪ. These sites became important places of pilgrimage in India and were ubiquitous stops during the sojourns of XUANZANG and other Chinese and Korean pilgrims on the subcontinent. These eight sites are found depicted in Indian sculpture dating from the Pāla period.

Mahāsuddassanasuttanta. (C. Dashanjian wang jing; J. Daizenkennōkyō; K. Taesŏn’gyŏn wang kyŏng 大善見王經). In Pāli, the “Great Discourse on King Suddassana”; the seventeenth sutta of the DĪGHANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears as the fifty-eighth sūtra in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA); preached by the Buddha to ĀNANDA in the town of Kusināra (S. KUŚINAGARĪ) while he lay dying beneath twin sāla (S. ŚĀLA) trees in the grove of the Mallas. Ānanda begs the Buddha not to pass away in such an insignificant town, whereupon the Buddha recounts to him the former splendor of the place eons ago, when the city was governed by the CAKRAVARTIN Suddassana (S. Sudarśana). After recounting the king’s virtues, the Buddha reveals that he himself had been Suddassana in a previous life while he was a BODHISATTVA. Thus, the Buddha concludes, Kusināra is indeed a suitable place for the final demise (parinibbāna; S. PARINIRVĀṆA) of a buddha.

mahāsukha. (T. bde ba chen po; C. dale; J. dairaku/tairaku; K. taerak 大樂). In Sanskrit, “great bliss”; an important term in Buddhist TANTRA, with a range of denotations, from orgasm to enlightenment. In a more technical usage, it refers to a special bliss consciousness generated during the practice of ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA by causing the winds (PRĀṆA) to enter the central channel (AVADHŪTĪ). This bliss consciousness is then to be used to perceive emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ) directly, resulting in what is called the union of bliss and emptiness.

Mahātaṇhāsaṅkhayasutta. (C. Tudi jing; J. Dateikyō; K. Toje kyŏng 帝經). In Pāli, the “Great Discourse on the Destruction of Craving”; the thirty-eighth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears as the 201st sūtra in the Chinese translations of the MADHYAMĀGAMA); preached by the Buddha at the JETAVANA grove in the town of Sāvatthi (S. ŚRĀVASTĪ) to the monk Sāti, who held the mistaken view that the Buddha taught that consciousness (P. viññāṇa; S. VIJÑĀNA) transmigrates from life to life. The Buddha reprimands Sāti, telling him he never taught such a view, but that consciousness arises only due to causes and conditions and never otherwise. He continues with a lengthy discourse on dependent origination (P. paṭiccasamuppāda; S. PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA) in which he describes how all worldly phenomena come into being and pass away according to the law of cause and effect.

Mahāthūpa. In Pāli, “great STŪPA”; the great reliquary mound built by the Sinhalese king DUṬṬHAGĀMAṆĪ in the first century BCE, erected after he had vanquished the Damiḷas and reunited the island kingdom under his rule. The Mahāthūpa was erected in the MAHĀMEGHAVANA grove near ANURĀDHAPURA at a spot visited by all four of the buddhas who had been born thus far in the present auspicious eon (P. bhaddakappa; S. BHADRAKALPA). The monument, which was 120 cubits high and designed in the shape of a water drop, was crowned with a richly adorned relic chamber that housed physical relics (S. ŚARĪRA) of the Buddha acquired from the NĀGA MAHĀKĀLA. The arahant MAHINDA is said to have once indicated to King DEVĀNAṂPIYATISSA the site where the Mahāthūpa was to be built. Devānaṃpiyatissa wished to construct the shrine himself, but Mahinda informed him that that honor was to go the future king, Duṭṭhagāmaṇī. To commemorate that prophecy, Devānaṃpiyatissa had it inscribed on a pillar at the site. It was the discovery of that pillar that prompted Duṭṭhagāmaṇī to take up the task. Thousands of saints from various parts of the island and JAMBUDVĪPA (meaning India in this case) gathered at the Mahāmeghavana to celebrate the construction of the Mahāthūpa. Duṭṭhagāmaṇī fell ill and died just before the monument was completed. The royal umbrella was raised above the Mahāthūpa by his brother and successor, Saddhatissa.

mahā-upaputra. [alt. mahōpaputra] (T. nye ba’i sras chen brgyad; C. ba dapusa; J. hachidai bosatsu; K. p’al taebosal 八大菩薩). In Sanskrit, the “eight close sons”; a group of “eight great BODHISATTVAs” (which is the Chinese translation of the term). They are KṢITIGARBHA, ĀKĀŚAGARBHA, AVALOKITEŚVARA, VAJRAPĀṆI, MAITREYA, SARVANĪVARAṆAVIṢKAMBHIN, SAMANTABHADRA, and MAÑJUŚRĪ. These eight are often depicted flanking the buddhas ŚĀKYAMUNI or AMITĀBHA. This grouping is known throughout Asia, from northern India, where they appear in ELLORĀ, RATNAGIRI, and NĀLANDĀ, to Japan, as well as Indonesia—indeed, wherever MAHĀYĀNA and tantric Buddhism flourished. They figure as a group in TANTRAs of various classes, where the number of their arms corresponds to the main deity of the MAṆḌALA and their colors correspond to the direction in which they are placed. Textual evidence for the grouping is known from as early as the third century CE, with the Chinese translation of the Ba jixiang shen jing (“Eight Auspicious Spirits Scripture”). Their roles are laid out in the Aṣṭamaṇḍalakasūtra, where the aims of their worship are essentially mundane—absolution from evil, fulfillment of desires, and protection from ills. See also AṢṬAMAHOPAPUTRA.

Mahāvadānasūtra. (T. Rtogs par brjod pa chen po’i mdo; C. Daben jing; J. Daihongyō; K. Taebon kyŏng 大本經). In Sanskrit, the “Sūtra of the Great Legend”; a sūtra that exists in Pāli (where it is called the MAHĀPADĀNASUTTANTA) and is also extant in a DHARMAGUPTAKA recension that is the first SŪTRA in the Chinese translation of the DĪRGHĀGAMA. The scripture provides the biography of VIPAŚYIN (P. Vipassī), one of the buddhas of the past, from the time of his birth to the time of his enlightenment. The narrative closely mirrors that of the life of GAUTAMA SIDDHĀRTHA, but with the significant sites and persons having different names. The text notes that the life stories of all buddhas are the same. See also MAHĀPADĀNASUTTANTA.

Mahāvagga. In Pāli, “Great Chapter”; an important book in the Pāli VINAYAPIṬAKA, which provides the first systematic narrative of the early history of the SAṂGHA. The KHANDHAKA (“Collections”), the second major division of the Pāli vinaya, is subdivided between the Mahāvagga and the CŪḶAVAGGA (“Lesser Chapter”). The Mahāvagga includes ten khandhakas. The long, opening khandhaka narrate the events that immediately follow the Buddha’s experience of enlightenment (BODHI) beneath the BODHI TREE, including the conversion of the first lay disciples, Tapussa (S. TRAPUṢA) and BHALLIKA (cf. TIWEI [BOLI] JING); his earliest teachings to the group of five (P. pañcavaggiyā; S. PAÑCAVARGIKA); the foundation of the order of monks; and the institution of an ordination procedure through taking the three refuges (P. tisaraṇa; S. TRIŚARAṆA) and the formula ehi bhikkhu pabbajjā (“Come, monks”; see S. EHIBHIKṢUKĀ). Much detail is provided also on the enlightenment experiences and conversion of his first major disciples, including Aññātakoṇḍañña (S. ĀJÑĀTAKAUṆḌINYA), Assaji (S. AŚVAJIT), and Uruvela-Kassapa (S. URUVILVĀ-KĀŚYAPA), as well as the two men who would become his two greatest disciples, Sāriputta (S. ŚĀRIPUTRA) and Moggallāna (see S. MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA). Subsequent khandhakas discuss the recitation of the rules of disciple (P. pāṭimokkha; S. PRĀTIMOKṢA) on the fortnightly retreat day (P. uposatha; S. UPOṢADHA), the institution of the rains retreat (P. vassa; S. VARṢĀ), medicines, the design of the monastic robes (CĪVARA), and the robe-cloth ceremony (KAṬHINA), and of the criteria for evaluating whether an action conforms to the spirit of the vinaya. The Mahāvagga’s historical narrative is continued in the Cūḷavagga, which relates the history of the saṃgha following the buddha’s PARINIRVĀṆA.

Mahāvairocana. See VAIROCANA.

Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhisūtra. (T. Rnam par snang mdzad chen po mngon par rdzogs par byang chub pa rnam par sprul ba byin gyis rlob pa shin tu rgyas pa mdo; C. Da piluzhena chengfo shenbian jiachi jing/Dari jing; J. Daibirushana jōbutsu jinben kajikyō/Dainichikyō; K. Tae Pirojana sŏngbul sinbyŏn kaji kyŏng /Taeil kyŏng 大毘盧遮那成佛神 變加持經/大日經). In Sanskrit, “The Discourse on the Enlightenment of Mahāvairocanā”; a scripture also known as the Mahāvairocanasūtra and the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhitantra; the full title of the work is Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhivikurvitādhiṣṭhānavaipulyasūtra (“Extensive Sūtra on the Enlightenment, Transformations, and Empowerment of MAHĀVAIROCANĀ”). This scripture is an early Buddhist TANTRA, which was probably composed sometime between the mid-sixth and seventh centuries, around the time that the MANTRAYĀNA was emerging as distinct strand of MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism; the text is later classified as both a YOGATANTRA and a CARYĀTANTRA. It was first translated into Chinese by ŚUBHAKARASIṂHA and YIXING in 724–725, and would become one of the two most important tantras for East Asian esoteric Buddhism (the other being the SARVATATHĀGATATATTVASAṂGRAHA). The text was translated into Tibetan in the early ninth century; the Tibetan version contains an additional seven chapters, called the “continuation” (uttaratantra), that do not appear in the Chinese version. Among the commentaries to the text, the most important is that of BUDDHAGUYHA and that of the Chinese translators, Śubhakarasiṃha and Yixing. The tantra is set forth as a dialogue between VAJRAPĀṆI and the buddha Mahāvairocanā. The central topics of the text are BODHICITTA, KARUṆĀ, and UPĀYA, which the buddha VAIROCANA explains are respectively the cause, root, and culmination of his own omniscience. Much of the text deals with the traditional tantric topics of initiation (ABHIṢEKA), MANTRA recitation, MUDRĀ, visualization, and the description of the MAṆḌALA.

Mahāvaṃsa. In Pāli, the “Great Chronicle”; the most famous Pāli chronicle of Sri Lanka. Written in verse and attributed to Mahānāma Thera, it follows the outline of the earlier DĪPAVAṂSA in tracing the history of the Buddhist religion from its inception through the three Buddhist councils in India, to its introduction into Sri Lanka by MAHINDHA during the reign of DEVĀNAṂPIYATISSA, up to the reign of Mahāsena in the fourth century CE. Written most probably in the fifth century CE, the Mahāvaṃsa presents a more elaborate and coherent description of events than is found in the Dīpavaṃsa, although some material treated in the latter, such as the lineage of nuns, is omitted.

Mahāvastu. In Sanskrit, the “Great Chapter.” Also known as the Mahāvastu AVADĀNA, this lengthy work is regarded as the earliest Sanskrit biography of the Buddha. The work describes itself as a book “of the VINAYAPIṬAKA according to the LOKOTTARAVĀDA, which is affiliated with the MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA.” The work thus provides important insights into how the Buddha was understood by the Lokottaravāda, or “Proponents of the Supramundane,” a branch of the Mahāsaṃghika, or “Great Community,” which some scholars regard as a possible antecedent of the Mahāyāna. The placement of the work in the vinayapiṭaka suggests that the genre of biographies of the Buddha began as introductions to the monastic code, before becoming independent works. Indeed, it corresponds roughly to the MAHĀVAGGA portion of the KHANDHAKA in the Pāli vinayapiṭaka. The Mahāvastu is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the previous lives of the being who would become the buddha ŚĀKYAMUNI, recounting the virtuous deeds he performed and the BODHISATTVA vow he made to the buddha DĪPAṂKARA and other buddhas of the past. The second part begins in TUṢITA, when the bodhisattva decides where to take his final birth. It goes on to recount his birth, childhood and youth; departure from the palace; and search for enlightenment. It concludes with his defeat of MĀRA. The third section describes the first conversions and the foundation of the SAṂGHA. Like other early “biographies” of the Buddha, the narrative ends long before the Buddha’s passage into PARINIRVĀṆA. Also like these other works, the Mahāvastu does not provide a simple chronology, but is interrupted with numerous teachings, avadānas, and JĀTAKAs, some of which do not have analogues in the Pāli. There are also interpolations: for example, there are two versions of the BODHISATTVA’s departure, the first rather simple and the second more elaborate, containing the famous story of the chariot rides during which the prince encounters aging, sickness, and death for the first time (cf. CATURNIMITTA). The so-called proto-Mahāyāna elements of the Mahāvastu have been the subject of much debate. For example, the text includes a lengthy description of the ten bodhisattva BHŪMIs, often regarded as a standard Mahāyāna tenet, but their description differs in significant ways from that found in the Mahāyāna sūtras. Although clearly a work with many interpolations, linguistic elements suggest that portions of the text may date to as early as the second century BCE.

Mahāvedallasutta. (C. Dajuchiluo jing; J. Daikuchirakyō; K. Taeguch’ira kyŏng 大拘絺羅經). In Pāli, “Greater Discourse on Points of Doctrine”; the forty-third sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension appears in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA); expounded by Sāriputra (S. ŚĀRIPUTRA) to the monk Mahākoṭṭhita (S. KAUṢṬHILA) at Sāvatthi (S. ŚRĀVASTĪ) in the JETAVANA grove. Mahākoṭṭhita approached Śāriputra and questioned him concerning a number of points of doctrine preached by the Buddha. These included, what is wisdom (PRAJÑĀ); what is consciousness (VIJÑĀNA) and its relation to wisdom; what is sensation (VEDANĀ); what is perception (SAṂJÑĀ) and what is the relation between sensation, perception, and consciousness; what is knowable by the mind alone; what is existence and how many kinds of existence are there; what is the first meditative absorption (DHYĀNA); what are the five sense faculties (INDRIYA); and what are the various kinds of deliverance attained through meditation (VIMUKTI). Śāriputra answered all of questions put to him to Mahākoṭṭhiya’s satisfaction.

mahāvibhaṅga. (S). See SŪTRAVIBHAṄGA.

Mahāvibhāṣā. (S). See ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀṢĀ.

Mahāvihāra. (C. Mohepiheluo; J. Mahabihara/Makabikara; K. Mahabihara 摩訶毘訶羅). In Pāli, the “Great Monastery”; built in the third century BCE for the elder MAHINDA at ANURĀDHAPURA by the Sinhala king DEVĀNAṂPIYATISSA, following the king’s conversion to Buddhism. The Mahāvihāra became the headquarters of the orthodox THERAVĀDA fraternity on the island, with many important shrines, such as the MAHĀTHŪPA, located on its grounds. Its authority was challenged by the ABHAYAGIRI and JETAVANA secessionist fraternities in the first century BCE and fourth century CE, respectively. Five hundred monks from Mahāvihāra were said to have participated in the first commitment to writing of a Buddhist canon, which occurred during the reign of VAṬṬAGĀMAṆI ABHAYA (the patron of Abhayagiri) in the last decades BCE. During the reign of Mahāsena, in the late third century CE, a royal decree forbade giving alms to the monks of the monastery, causing the monastery to be vacated for nine years; during this time, some of the buildings were destroyed, but they were eventually rebuilt. BUDDHAGHOSA composed his sutta commentaries while residing at the monastery. After the capital was moved from Anurādhapura to Pulatthipura, near the beginning of the ninth century, the monastery lost much of its influence and eventually fell into decay.

Mahāvihāravāsin. In Pāli, “Dweller in the Great Monastery”; the name of the monastic order and ordination lineage associated with the MAHĀVIHĀRA in Sri Lanka. Although originating in Sri Lanka, it established a presence in India, as indicated by inscriptions at NĀGĀRJUNAKOṆḌĀ. When FAXIAN traveled to Sri Lanka in 410 CE, he reported that there were three thousand monks belonging to the Mahāvihāravāsin. The commentarial tradition beginning with BUDDHAGHOSA, who compiled his sutta commentaries at the monastery, represents the Mahāvihāra positions on doctrine and practice. After a long period of decline, the Mahāvihāra fraternity was again made the sole monastic order on the island with the abolition of its rivals in the twelfth century CE during a purification program carried out by PARAKRĀMABĀHU I. It has been the dominant order in Sri Lanka during the modern period.

Mahāvīra. (T. Dpa’ bo chen po; C. Daxiong; J. Daiyū/Daiō; K. Taeung 大雄). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “Great Victor”; the title of NIRGRANTHA JÑĀTĪPUTRA (P. Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta), also known as Vardhamāna (d. c. 488 BCE), leader of the JAINA tradition, a ŚRAMAṆA sect in northern India that the Buddhists listed among the TĪRTHIKA groups, the adherents of non-Buddhist religions, sometimes mistranslated as “heretics.” Mahāvīra was considered to be the last in a long line of JINA (“victors” over ignorance) or tīrthaṃkaras going back through twenty-four generations to Pārśva. Mahāvira seems to have been an elder contemporary of the Buddha and figures prominently in Buddhist materials; indeed, he is one of the so-called six sectarian teachers criticized by the Buddha for their wrong views in such texts as the SĀMAÑÑAPHALASUTTA of the DĪGHANIKĀYA. See JAINA.

Mahāvyutpatti. (T. Bye brag tu rtogs par byed pa chen po; C. Fanyi mingyi daji; J. Hon’yaku myōgi taishū; K. Pŏnyŏk myŏngŭi taejip 翻譯名義大集). In Sanskrit, the “Great Detailed Explanation”; an important Sanskrit–Tibetan lexicon dating from the ninth century. In order to provide consistency in the translation of Indian SŪTRAs and ŚĀSTRAs, the Tibetan king RAL PA CAN convened a meeting of scholars in 821 and charged them with providing standard Tibetan equivalents for a wide range of terms encountered in Sanskrit Buddhist texts. The result was a lexicon known as the Mahāvyutpatti, which contains (in one version) 9,565 terms. The king is said to have instructed its compilers not to include tantric vocabulary. The work is organized into 283 categories, the purpose of some of which (the eighteen kinds of ŚŪNYATĀ, the ten virtuous actions, the thirty-two marks of a MAHĀPURUṢA) are more self-evident than others (“names of strange things,” “various terms”). During the seventeenth century, Chinese, Mongolian, and Manchurian equivalencies were added to the lexicon so that the terms would be available in the four major languages used in the Qing empire (Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian). The first English translation was made by ALEXANDER CSOMA DE KŐRÖS, but it was not published until long after his death. The Mahāvyutpatti continues to be consulted in editions produced by Japanese scholars that include additional Chinese equivalencies and various indexes.

Mahāyāna. (T. theg pa chen po; C. dasheng; J. daijō; K. taesŭng 大乘). In Sanskrit, “great vehicle”; a term, originally of self-appellation, which is used historically to refer to a movement that began some four centuries after the Buddha’s death, marked by the composition of texts that purported to be his words (BUDDHAVACANA). Although ranging widely in content, these texts generally set forth the bodhisattva path to buddhahood as the ideal to which all should aspire and described BODHISATTVAs and buddhas as objects of devotion. The key doctrines of the Mahāyāna include the perfection of wisdom (PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ), the skillful methods (UPĀYAKAUŚALYA) of a buddha, the three bodies (TRIKĀYA) of a buddha, the inherency of buddha-nature (BUDDHADHĀTU; TATHĀGATAGARBHA), and PURE LANDs or buddha-fields (BUDDHAKṢETRA). The term Mahāyāna is also appended to two of the leading schools of Indian Buddhism, the YOGĀCĀRA and the MADHYAMAKA, because they accepted the Mahāyāna sūtras as the word of the Buddha. However, the tenets of these schools were not restricted to expositions of the philosophy and practice of the bodhisattva but sought to set forth the nature of wisdom and the constituents of the path for the ARHAT as well. The term Mahāyāna often appears in contrast to HĪNAYĀNA, the “lesser vehicle,” a pejorative term used to refer to those who do not accept the Mahāyāna sūtras as the word of the Buddha. Mahāyāna became the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Mongolia, and therefore is sometimes referred to as “Northern Buddhism,” especially in nineteenth-century sources. Because of the predominance of the Mahāyāna in East Asia and Tibet, it is sometimes assumed that the Mahāyāna displaced earlier forms of Buddhism (sometimes referred to by scholars as “Nikāya Buddhism” or “MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS”) in India, but the testimony of Chinese pilgrims, such as XUANZANG and YIJING, suggests that the Mahāyāna remained a minority movement in India. These pilgrims report that Mahāyāna and “hīnayāna” monks lived together in the same monasteries and followed the same VINAYA. The supremacy of the Mahāyāna is also sometimes assumed because of the large corpus of Mahāyāna literature in India. However, scholars have begun to speculate that the size of this corpus may not be a sign of the Mahāyāna’s dominance but rather of its secondary status, with more and more works composed but few gaining adherents. Scholars find it significant that the first mention of the term “Mahāyāna” in a stone inscription does not appear in India until some five centuries after the first Mahāyāna sūtras were presumably composed, perhaps reflecting its minority, or even marginal, status on the Indian subcontinent. The origins of the Mahāyāna remain the subject of scholarly debate. Earlier theories that saw the Mahāyāna as largely a lay movement against entrenched conservative monastics have given way to views of the Mahāyāna as beginning as disconnected cults (of monastic and sometimes lay members) centered around an individual sūtra, in some instances proclaimed by charismatic teachers called DHARMABHĀṆAKA. The teachings contained in these sūtras varied widely, with some extolling a particular buddha or bodhisattva above all others, some saying that the text itself functioned as a STŪPA. Each of these sūtras sought to represent itself as the authentic word of ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha, which was more or less independent from other sūtras; hence, the trope in so many Mahāyāna sūtras in which the Buddha proclaims the supremacy of that particular text and describes the benefits that will accrue to those who recite, copy, and worship it. The late appearance of these texts had to be accounted for, and various arguments were set forth, most making some appeal to UPĀYA, the Buddha’s skillful methods whereby he teaches what is most appropriate for a given person or audience. Thus, in the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA (“Lotus Sūtra”), the Buddha famously proclaims that the three vehicles (TRIYĀNA) that he had previously set forth were in fact expedient stratagems to reach different audiences and that there is in fact only one vehicle (EKAYĀNA), revealed in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the BUDDHAYĀNA, which had been taught many times in the past by previous buddhas. These early Mahāyāna sūtras seem to have been deemed complete unto themselves, each representing its own world. This relatively disconnected assemblage of various cults of the book would eventually become a self-conscious scholastic entity that thought of itself as the Mahāyāna; this exegetical endeavor devoted a good deal of energy to surveying what was by then a large corpus of such books and then attempting to craft the myriad doctrines contained therein into coherent philosophical and religious systems, such as Yogācāra and Madhyamaka. The authority of the Mahāyāna sūtras as the word of the Buddha seems to have remained a sensitive issue throughout the history of the Mahāyāna in India, since many of the most important authors, from the second to the twelfth century, often offered a defense of these sūtras’ authenticity. Another influential strand of early Mahāyāna was that associated with the RĀṢṬRAPĀLAPARIPṚCCHĀ, KĀŚYAPAPARIVARTA, and UGRAPARIPṚCCHĀ, which viewed the large urban monasteries as being ill-suited to serious spiritual cultivation and instead advocated forest dwelling (see ARAÑÑAVĀSI) away from the cities, following a rigorous asceticism (S. dhutaguṇa; P. DHUTAṄGA) that was thought to characterize the early SAṂGHA. This conscious estrangement from the monks of the city, where the great majority of monks would have resided, again suggests the Mahāyāna’s minority status in India. Although one often reads in Western sources of the three vehicles of Buddhism—the hīnayāna, Mahāyāna, and VAJRAYĀNA—the distinction of the Mahāyāna from the vajrayāna is less clear, at least polemically speaking, than the distinction between the Mahāyāna and the hīnayāna, with followers of the vajrayāna considering themselves as following the path to buddhahood set forth in the Mahāyāna sūtras, although via a shorter route. Thus, in some expositions, the Mahāyāna is said to subsume two vehicles, the PĀRAMITĀYĀNA, that is, the path to buddhahood by following the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) as set forth in the Mahāyāna sūtras, and the MANTRAYĀNA or vajrayāna, that is, the path to buddhahood set forth in the tantras.

Mahāyānasaṃgraha. (T. Theg pa chen po bsdus pa; C. She dasheng lun; J. Shōdaijōron; K. Sŏp taesŭng non 攝大乘 論). In Sanskrit, the “Summary of the Great Vehicle”; an important treatise of the YOGĀCĀRA school, composed by the fourth-century master ASAṄGA. The text is lost in the original Sanskrit but is preserved in Tibetan and four Chinese translations, including those by such famous figures as PARAMĀRTHA and XUANZANG. The work is the most complete presentation of Yogācāra theory and practice, setting forth in detail the doctrines of the three natures (TRISVABHĀVA), as well as the foundational consciousness (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA), and the seeds (BĪJA) that reside there. It also sets forth practices for cultivating the wisdom derived from hearing (ŚRUTAMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), the wisdom derived from reflection (CINTĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), and the wisdom derived from meditation (BHĀVANĀMAYĪPRAJÑĀ), whereby the ālayavijñāna is destroyed and enlightenment attained. The lineage (GOTRA) of enlightenment and the nature of the DHARMAKĀYA are also elucidated. Both VASUBANDHU and ASVABHĀVA composed commentaries on the text, which were also translated into Chinese. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha served as the basis of the SHE LUN ZONG in China.

Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra. [alt. Sūtrālaṃkāra] (T. Theg pa chen po’i mdo sde’i rgyan; C. Dasheng zhuangyan jing lun; J. Daijō shōgongyōron; K. Taesŭng changŏmgyŏng non 大乘莊嚴經論). In Sanskrit, the “Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras”; one of the five works (together with the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA, the RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA, the MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGA, and the DHARMADHARMATĀVIBHĀGA) said to have been presented to ASAṄGA by the bodhisattva MAITREYA in the TUṢITA heaven (see also MAITREYANĀTHA). Written in verse, the text offers a systematic presentation of the practices of the bodhisattva from the standpoint of the YOGĀCĀRA school and is one of the most important of the Indian Mahāyāna ŚĀSTRAs. Its twenty-one chapters deal with (1) the proof that the MAHĀYĀNA sūtras are the word of the Buddha; (2) taking refuge in the three jewels (RATNATRAYA); (3) the lineage (GOTRA) of enlightenment necessary to undertake the bodhisattva path; (4) the generation of the aspiration to enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA); (5) the practice of the BODHISATTVA; (6) the nature of reality, described from the Yogācāra perspective; (7) the attainment of power by the bodhisattva; (8) the methods of bringing oneself and others to maturation; (9) enlightenment and the three bodies of a buddha (TRIKĀYA); (10) faith in the Mahāyāna; (11) seeking complete knowledge of the dharma; (12) teaching the dharma; (13) practicing in accordance with the dharma; (14) the precepts and instructions received by the bodhisattva; (15) the skillful methods of the bodhisattva; (16) the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ) and the four means of conversion (SAṂGRAHAVASTU), through which bodhisattvas attract and retain disciples; (17) the worship of the Buddha; (18) the constituents of enlightenment (BODHIPĀKṢIKADHARMA); (19) the qualities of the bodhisattva; and (20–21) the consummation of the bodhisattva path and the attainment of buddhahood. There is a commentary (BHĀṢYA) by VASUBANDHU and a subcommentary by STHIRAMATI.

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. (S). See RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA.

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā. (S). See RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA.

Mahayazawin-gyi. In Burmese, “The Great Chronicle”; a voluminous Burmese YAZAWIN or royal chronicle written c. 1730 by U Kala. Historically, other Burmese (Myanmar) royal chronicles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are based directly or indirectly on this text. Following the outlines of the DĪPAVAṂSA and MAHĀVAṂSA, the first part of U Kala’s work traces the history of kings from the time of MAHĀSAṂMATA at the beginning of the present world-eon, through the Mauryan dynasty in India, to the history of kings in Sri Lanka. As in the Pāli chronicles upon which it is patterned, the Mahayazawin-gyi portrays the histories of the Buddhist religion and of Buddhist kingdoms as intertwined. The history of Burma, which occupies the majority of the text, is organized into periods according to the capital cities. It begins with the founding of Tagaung, the first Burmese capital, before the lifetime of the Buddha. The Tagaung period is followed in turn by the Sirīkhettarā, PAGAN, AVA, PEGU, and the second Ava periods. The most famous episode of the chronicle is the long account of the conversion of Pagan’s king ANAWRAHTA (P. Anuruddha; S. Aniruddha; r. c. 1044–1077 CE) to Theravāda Buddhism through the efforts of the Mon saint, SHIN ARAHAN. This event allegedly precipitated Anawrahta’s conquest of the neighboring Mon kingdom of Thaton in search of texts and relics, and in turn the founding of the first Burmese empire. U Kala’s chronicle concludes with an account of the meritorious deeds of Tanin gan wei (r. 1714–1733), the king of Ava at the time the text was composed.

mahāyoga. (T. rnal ’byor chen po/ma hā yo ga). In Sanskrit “great yoga”; the seventh of the nine vehicles according to the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Here, the system of practice described elsewhere as ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA is divided into three: mahāyoga, ANUYOGA, and ATIYOGA, with mahāyoga corresponding roughly to practices of the “stage of generation” (UTPATTIKRAMA), in which one visualizes oneself as a deity and one’s environment as a MAṆḌALA. Its root text is the GUHYAGARBHATANTRA.

Mahinda. (S. Mahendra; T. Dbang chen; C. Moshentuo; J. Mashinda; K. Masinda 摩哂陀). Pāli proper name of the son of Asoka (S. AŚOKA), who converted the Sinhalese king, DEVĀNAṂPIYATISSA, to Buddhism in the third century BCE, thus inaugurating the Buddhist religion in Sri Lanka. The story of Mahinda is first recorded in the DĪPAVAṂSA (c. fourth century CE) and is elaborated in the MAHĀVAṂSA (c. fifth century CE) and BUDDHAGHOSA’s VINAYA commentary, SAMANTAPĀSĀDIKĀ. In each of these works, Mahinda’s story is preceded by a narrative that begins with the legend of Asoka’s conversion to Buddhism, through the convention of the third Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, THIRD) under the direction of MOGGALIPUTTATISSA, to the dispatch of Buddhist missions to nine adjacent lands (paccantadesa). Mahinda was chosen to lead the mission sent to Sri Lanka. Mahinda, together with his sister SAṄGHAMITTĀ, was ordained at the age of twenty at the request of his father, Asoka. He attained arahantship immediately upon his ordination. Mahinda was swift in learning the doctrine, and was placed in charge of Moggaliputtatissa’s one thousand disciples when the latter retired to Ahogaṅga due to a dispute within the SAṂGHA. Mahinda had been a monk for twelve years when the third Buddhist council was convened to celebrate the resolution of the dispute. Shortly thereafter, he was sent along with four other monks, a novice, and a layman to Sri Lanka for the purpose of converting its king. Mahinda preached the CŪḶAHATTHIPADOPAMASUTTA to Devānaṃpiyatissa, whereupon the king requested to be accepted as a lay disciple. The next day, he preached to the king’s sister-in-law, Anulā, and five hundred women of the court, all of whom became stream-enterers. Preaching to them a second time, they became once-returners. When they asked be ordained, he said that monks could not ordain women, and suggested that his sister, the nun Saṅghamittā, be invited, which was done. She came to Sri Lanka, bringing with her a branch of the BODHI TREE. The king offered to Mahinda the MAHĀMEGHAVANA, a royal pleasure garden that was to be the future site of the MAHĀTHŪPA. In the garden, which was on the outskirts of the Sinhalese capital, ANURĀDHAPURA, Mahinda established the SĪMĀ boundary for the MAHĀVIHĀRA monastery, which thenceforth became the headquarters of the Theravāda fraternity on the island. At Mahinda’s prompting, relics of the Buddha were received from Asoka and Sakka (S. ŚAKRA), king of the gods, which were interred in the Cetiyagiri and Thūpārāma. Under Mahinda’s direction, a council was held where MAHĀRIṬṬHA, a native son of Sri Lanka, recited the vinaya. According to the Samantapāsādikā, this recital marked the firm establishment of the religion on the island. The Saddhammasaṅgaha reckons the recitation of the vinaya by Mahāriṭṭha as the fourth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FOURTH). Mahinda died at the age of sixty and was cremated and his ashes interred in a shrine near the Mahāthūpa.

Mahisamaṇḍala. (C. Moxisuomantuoluo [guo]; J. Makesamandara [koku]; K. Mahyesamandara [kuk] 摩醯娑慢陀羅 [國]). One of nine adjacent lands (paccantadesa) converted to Buddhism by missionaries dispatched by the elder MOGGALIPUTTATISSA at the end of the third Buddhist council (SAṂGĪTI; see COUNCIL, THIRD) held in Pāṭaliputta (S. PĀṬALIPUTRA) during the reign of Asoka in the third century BCE. Mahisamaṇḍala has been identified with modern Mysore and was converted by the elder MAHĀDEVA, who preached the Devadūtasutta. The third Buddhist Council at Pātaliputta and the nine Buddhist missions are known only in Pāli sources and are first recorded in the c. fourth-century text, the DĪPAVAṂSA.

Mahīśāsaka. [alt. Mahiṃśāsaka] (P. Mahiṃsāsaka; T. Sa ston pa; C. Huadi bu; J. Kejibu; K. Hwaji pu 化地部). One of the eighteen traditional “mainstream” (i.e., non-MAHĀYĀNA) NIKĀYAs or schools of Indian Buddhism. The school may be named eponymously after its founder, whose name seems to mean “Governing the Land,” a brāhmaṇa who had been a district governor before becoming an ARHAT. The school probably emerged some three centuries after the demise of the Buddha. Within the traditional division of schools into two groups, the MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA and the STHAVIRANIKĀYA, the Mahīśāsaka is placed among the latter. The school was an offshoot of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA and it may have spawned in turn the later DHARMAGUPTAKA school. Epigraphic evidence of the school has been found as far north as the Punjab and as far south as NĀGĀRJUNAKOṆḌĀ. The Chinese pilgrim FAXIAN came across its recension of the VINAYA in Sri Lanka. Like the other schools of the day, the Mahīśāsaka distinguished itself from its contemporaries through its position on a number of contested issues, including the question of which works should be included in the TRIPIṬAKA. In accordance with the Sarvāstivāda, it upheld that notion that dharmas function during all three time periods of past, present, and future. On the question of the whether or not there was an intermediate state (ANTARĀBHAVA) between death and rebirth, the Mahīśāsaka asserted that there was not, but that a subtle form of the aggregates (SKANDHA) was carried forward into the next lifetime. The Mahīśāsaka also asserted that the fourth noble truth of the path (MĀRGASATYA) was an unconditioned factor (ASAṂSKṚTADHARMA) like the third noble truth of cessation (NIRODHASATYA). The school also held that the Buddha is a member of the SAṂGHA, a question with important implications for the division of alms and monastic properties. The YOGĀCĀRA-exegete ASAṄGA is said to have been ordained in this school.

mahopaputra. (S). See AṢṬAMAHOPAPUTRA; MAHĀ-UPAPUTRA.

mahorāga. (T. lto ’phye chen po; C. mohouluojia; J. magoraga; K. mahuraga 摩睺羅迦). A type of demigod in the Buddhist pantheon, the mahorāga are huge subterranean serpents who lie on their sides and rotate in the earth, their rotations causing earthquakes and tremors. They are often propitiated prior to the construction of a shrine, STŪPA, or monastery. Iconographically, they are pictured like nāgas, with the head, arms, and torso of a human, and the lower body and tail of a serpent. The mahorāga are one of the eight kinds of nonhumans (AṢṬASENĀ) who protect the dharma, who often appear in the audience of Buddhist SŪTRAs; the other seven are the DEVA, ASURA, GANDHARVA, NĀGA, YAKṢA, GARUḌA, and KIṂNARA.

Maijishan. (J. Bakusekizan; K. Maekchŏksan 麥積山). In Chinese, “Haystack Mountain”; a cave monastery site located southeast of Tianshui in the northwest Chinese province of Gansu, located on a hill some 466 feet (142 meters) high. Situated on the edge of the Qinling Mountains, Maijishan was once an important stop along the ancient SILK ROAD. Based on an inscription dated to 407 CE in cave no. 76, construction of the Maijishan cave sites is presumed to have been initiated by the Yao Xin family (396–416) during the Later Qin dynasty and to have continued for centuries. Close to two hundred caves have been preserved, which include more than seven thousand terracotta sculptures and countless painted murals. Many of the caves and wooden structures at the site have been damaged or destroyed due to natural disasters. While the paintings at the site are heavily damaged, the sculptures are well preserved and feature smooth modeling and flat planes devoid of naturalism. The dignified facial expressions with foreign features (e.g., round, open eyes and pronounced noses) are similar to those of the BINGLINGSI images. The arrangement of cave no. 78 consists of three large seated buddhas, which probably represent the buddhas of the past, present, and future. Two small niches at the rear wall feature the pensive bodhisattva MAITREYA and SIDDHĀRTHA in the pensive pose (see MAITREYĀSANA).The two standing bodhisattvas in cave no. 74 are characterized by their smooth bodies and scarves that elegantly frame their bodies; these features, along with the three-disk crown, derive from the Silk Road cave site of KIZIL. The cave temple sites of Binglingsi and Maijishan reflect the artistic synthesis of different Central Asian styles, which heavily influenced the development of the later Northern Wei artistic styles at LONGMEN and YUNGANG. Both sites also display a range of iconographies derived from sūtras that were newly translated during the Liang and Qin dynasties, whose rulers used Buddhism to enhance their political prestige.

Maināmati–Lalmai Range. A low series of hills situated between the towns of Maināmati and Lalmai in the Comilla district of modern-day Bangladesh, where the ruins of a significant number of Buddhist monasteries have been discovered. The earliest ruins date from the sixth century CE, the latest, the thirteenth century CE. Among the more important sites are the Salban Vihāra with 115 monastic cells, the Kotila Mura, which has three STŪPAs, and the Charpatra Mura.

mainstream Buddhist schools. A neologism coined by modern scholars to refer to the non-MAHĀYĀNA traditions of Indian Buddhism, including DHARMAGUPTA, MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA, MAHĪŚĀSAKA, SARVĀSTIVĀDA, SAUTRĀNTIKA, STHAVIRANIKĀYA, etc., which traditionally number eighteen (although over thirty different schools are named in the literature). These are also sometimes referred to as the NIKĀYA or ŚRĀVAKAYĀNA schools. The locution “mainstream Buddhist school” is to be preferred to the pejorative HĪNAYĀNA, or “lesser vehicle,” a polemical term that the MAHĀYĀNA coined to refer to these schools, which (from their perspective) taught narrow and discredited perspectives on Buddhist practice. See List of Lists, “eighteen mainstream Buddhist schools,” and individual entries for these schools.

maithuna. (T. ’khrig pa; C. jiaojie; J. kōsetsu; K. kyŏjŏp 交接). In Sanskrit, “coupling,” “sexual intercourse”; a term that appears both in proscriptions in the monastic code as well as in prescriptions for certain forms of tantric practice. In the monastic codes (PRĀTIMOKṢA), there are discussions as to what constitutes the violation of the vow of celibacy (BRAHMACARYA), explaining that the misdeed has been committed if sexual penetration of an orifice to the depth of a mustard seed occurs. In tantric texts, especially of the ANUTTARAYOGA class, sexual union with a consort is prescribed as a technique for creating the great bliss (MAHĀSUKHA) necessary for the achievement of enlightenment.

Maitreya. (P. Metteya; T. Byams pa; C. Mile; J. Miroku; K. Mirŭk 彌勒). In Sanskrit, “The Benevolent One”; the name of the next buddha, who now abides in TUṢITA heaven as a BODHISATTVA, awaiting the proper time for him to take his final rebirth. Buddhists believed that their religion, like all conditioned things, was inevitably impermanent and would eventually vanish from the earth (cf. SADDHARMAVIPRALOPA; MOFA). According to one such calculation, the teachings of the current buddha ŚĀKYAMUNI would flourish for five hundred years after his death, after which would follow a one-thousand-year period of decline and a three-thousand-year period in which the dharma would be completely forgotten. At the conclusion of this long disappearance, Maitreya would then take his final birth in India (JAMBUDVĪPA) in order to reestablish the Buddhist dispensation anew. According to later calculations, Maitreya will not take rebirth for some time, far longer than the 4,500 years mentioned earlier. He will do so only after the human life span has decreased to ten years and then increased to eighty thousand years. (Stalwart scholiasts have calculated that his rebirth will occur 5.67 billion years after the death of Śākyamuni.) Initially a minor figure in early Indian Buddhism, Maitreya (whose name derives from the Indic MAITRĪ, meaning “loving-kindness” or “benevolence”) evolved during the early centuries of the Common Era into one of the most popular figures in Buddhism across Asia in both the mainstream and MAHĀYĀNA traditions. He is also known as AJITA, although there are indications that, at some point in history, the two were understood to be different deities. As the first bodhisattva to become a figure of worship, his imagery and cult set standards for the development of later bodhisattvas who became objects of cultic worship, such as AVALOKITEŚVARA and MAÑJUŚRĪ. Worship of Maitreya began early in Indian Buddhism and became especially popular in Central and East Asia during the fifth and sixth centuries. Such worship takes several forms, with disciples praying to either meet him when he is reborn on earth or in tuṣita heaven so that they may then take rebirth with him when he becomes a buddha, a destiny promised in the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA (“Lotus Sūtra”) to those who recite his name. Maitreya is also said to appear on earth, such as in a scene in the Chinese pilgrim XUANZANG’s account of his seventh-century travels to India: attacked by pirates as he sailed on the Ganges River, Xuanzang prayed to and was rescued by the bodhisattva. Maitreya also famously appeared to the great Indian commentator ASAṄGA in the form of a wounded dog as a means of teaching him the importance of compassion. Devotees across the Buddhist world also attempt to extend their life span in order to be alive when Maitreya comes, or to be reborn at the time of his presence in the world, a worldly paradise that will be known as ketumati. His earliest iconography depicts him standing or sitting, holding a vase (KUṆḌIKĀ), symbolizing his imminent birth into the brāhmaṇa caste, and displaying the ABHAYAMUDRĀ, both features that remain common attributes of his images. In addition, he frequently has a small STŪPA in his headdress, believed to represent a prophecy regarding his descent to earth to receive the robes of his predecessor from MAHĀKĀŚYAPA. Maitreya is also commonly depicted as a buddha, often shown sitting in “European pose” (BHADRĀSANA; see also MAITREYĀSANA), displaying the DHARMACAKRAMUDRĀ. He is said to sit in a chair in “pensive” posture in order to be able to quickly stand and descend to earth at the appropriate time. Once he is reborn, Maitreya will replicate the deeds of Śākyamuni, with certain variations. For example, he will live the life of a householder for eight thousand years, but having seen the four sights (CATURNIMITTA) and renounced the world, he will practice asceticism for only one week before achieving buddhahood. As the Buddha, he will first travel to Mount KUKKUṬAPĀDA near BODHGAYĀ where the great ARHAT Mahākāśyapa has been entombed in a state of deep SAMĀDHI, awaiting the advent of Maitreya. Mahākāśyapa has kept the robes of Śākyamuni, which the previous buddha had entrusted to him to pass on to his successor. Upon his arrival, the mountain will break open, and Mahākāśyapa will come forth from a stūpa and give Maitreya his robes. When Maitreya accepts the robes, it will only cover two fingers of his hands, causing people to comment at how diminutive the past buddha must have been. ¶ The cult of Maitreya entered East Asia with the initial propagation of Buddhism and reached widespread popularity starting in the fourth century CE, a result of the popularity of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra and several other early translations of Maitreya scriptures made in the fourth and fifth centuries. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra describes Maitreya’s present abode in the tuṣita heaven, while other sūtras discuss his future rebirth on earth and his present residence in heaven. Three important texts belonging to the latter category were translated into Chinese, starting in the fifth century, with two differing emphases: (1) the Guan Mile pusa shangsheng doushuo tian jing promised sentient beings the prospect of rebirth in tuṣita heaven together with Maitreya; and (2) the Guan Mile pusa xiasheng jing and (3) the Foshuo Mile da chengfo jing emphasized the rebirth of Maitreya in this world, where he will attain buddhahood under the Dragon Flower Tree (Nāgapuṣpa) and save numerous sentient beings. These three texts constituted the three principal scriptures of the Maitreya cult in East Asia. In China, Maitreya worship became popular from at least the fourth century: DAO’AN (312–385) and his followers were among the first to propagate the cult of Maitreya and the prospect of rebirth in tuṣita heaven. With the growing popularity of Maitreya, millenarian movements associated with his cult periodically developed in East Asia, which had both devotional and political dimensions. For example, when the Empress WU ZETIAN usurped the Tang-dynasty throne in 690, her followers attempted to justify the coup by referring to her as Maitreya being reborn on earth. In Korea, Maitreya worship was already popular by the sixth century. The Paekche king Mu (r. 600–641) identified his realm as the world in which Maitreya would be reborn. In Silla, the hwarang, an elite group of male youths, was often identified with Maitreya and such eminent Silla monks as WŎNHYO (617–686), WŎNCH’ŬK (613–696), and Kyŏnghŭng (fl. seventh century) composed commentaries on the Maitreya scriptures. Paekche monks transmitted Maitreya worship to Japan in the sixth century, where it became especially popular in the late eighth century. The worship of Maitreya in Japan regained popularity around the eleventh century, but gradually was replaced by devotions to AMITĀBHA and KṢITIGARBHA. The worship of Maitreya has continued to exist to the present day in both Korea and Japan. The Maitreya cult was influential in the twentieth century, for example, in the establishment of the Korean new religions of Chŭngsan kyo and Yonghwa kyo. Maitreya also merged in China and Japan with a popular indigenous figure, BUDAI (d. 916)—a monk known for his fat belly—whence he acquired his now popular East Asian form of the “laughing Buddha.” This Chinese holy man is said to have been an incarnation of the bodhisattva Maitreya (J. Miroku Bosatsu) and is included among the Japanese indigenous pantheon known as the “seven gods of good fortune”(SHICHIFUKUJIN). Hotei represents contentment and happiness and is often depicted holding a large cloth bag (Hotei literally means “hemp sack”). From this bag, which never empties, he feeds the poor and needy. In some places, he has also become the patron saint of restaurants and bars, since those who drink and eat well are said to be influenced by Hotei. Today, nearly all Chinese Buddhist monasteries (and many restaurants as well) will have an image of this Maitreya at the front entrance; folk belief has it that by rubbing his belly one can establish the potential for wealth.

Maitreyanātha. (T. Byams mgon; C. Cizun; J. Jison; K. Chajon 慈尊). In Sanskrit, the “Protector Maitreya”; an epithet of MAITREYA, the future buddha. The Sanskrit compound can also be read as “Protected by Maitreya,” and scholars have presumed that this is the name of an Indian scholar and contemporary of ASAṄGA (fourth century CE), whom they credit with the authorship of some or all of the “five books of Maitreya,” the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA, the MAHĀYĀNASŪTRĀLAṂKĀRA, the RATNAGOTRAVIBHĀGA, the MADHYĀNTAVIBHĀGA, and the DHARMADHARMATĀVIBHĀGA; all of which, according to tradition, were presented to Asaṅga in the TUṢITA heaven by the BODHISATTVA Maitreya.

Maitreyāsana. (T. byams pa’i ’dug stangs; C. banjia siwei; J. hankashiyui; K. pan’ga sayu 半跏思惟). In Sanskrit, the “posture of MAITREYA”; a posture (ĀSANA) in which the figure sits on a raised seat, with either both legs hanging pendant to the ground or with one leg pendant to the ground, the other leg crossed over the opposite knee. This pose is common in early images of Maitreya in China, Korea, and Japan, where the posture is translated as the “pensive pose” or “contemplative pose” (C. siwei xiang), because in this form the right hand rests lightly on the right cheek, depicting Maitreya’s musing over when he should take his final rebirth and reestablish the Buddhist dispensation. This posture was also adopted in Japan in representations of Nyoirin Kannon. This posture is also closely related to, and often synonymous with, the “auspicious pose” (BHADRĀSANA) and the “pendant leg posture” (PRALAMBAPĀDĀSANA).

maitrī. (P. mettā; T. byams pa; C. ci/cibei; J. ji/jihi; K. cha/chabi 慈/慈悲). In Sanskrit, “loving-kindness,” “kindness”; often seen in Western literature in its Pāli form mettā. Loving-kindness is one of the four divine abidings (BRAHMAVIHĀRA) and the four immeasurables (APRAMĀṆA), and is defined as the wish for happiness; the other three divine abidings and immeasurables are KARUṆĀ, or compassion; MUDITĀ, or sympathetic joy; and UPEKṢĀ, or equanimity. Of the four divine abidings, loving-kindness, along with sympathetic joy and compassion, is capable of producing the first three of the four states of meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). Equanimity alone is capable of producing the fourth dhyāna. In the VISUDDHIMAGGA, loving-kindness is listed as one among forty meditative topics (KAMMAṬṬHĀNA). The text indicates that divine abidings, including loving-kindness, are only to be used for the cultivation of tranquility (P. samatha; S. ŚAMATHA), not insight (P. VIPASSANĀ; VIPAŚYANĀ). In the Visuddhimagga, BUDDHAGHOSA recommends that the practice of mettā (maitrī) begin with wishing for happiness for oneself, and then extending that wish to others. In other contexts, maitrī, as the wish for the happiness of others, is considered one of the factors that motivates the BODHISATTVA to seek to save all beings from suffering. See also METTĀSUTTA.

Maitrīpa/Maitrīpāda. (c. 1007–1085). A tantric adept and scholar from north India, especially associated with the transmission of instructions and songs of realization on the doctrine of MAHĀMUDRĀ. He is known by several names: the Tibetan form Maitrīpa or its Sanskrit original Maitrīpāda; as a Buddhist monk, Matrīgupta; as a tantric adept, Advayavajra and Avadhūtipāda. Born in Bengal, Maitrīpa began his training as a Brahmanical scholar but later converted to Buddhism after debating with the scholar NĀROPA. He then received ordination and studied at the Buddhist universities of NĀLANDĀ and VIKRAMAŚĪLA under such eminent masters as RATNĀKARAŚĀNTI. Maitrīpa is said to have become a great academician, but he was also practicing TANTRA in secret. According to some traditions, Maitrīpa was expelled when liquor and a female consort were found in his room, perhaps by ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA, who was resident abbot of Vikramaśīla at the time. He then sought out the adept Śavaripa in south India and, after a series of trials, was accepted as his disciple, receiving various tantric instructions. Maitrīpa later returned to the north, marrying the king of Malabar’s daughter and composing numerous treatises on tantric theory and practice, especially that of amanasikāra (“no mental activity”), which are preserved in the BSTAN ’GYUR portion of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. He was an important teacher of MAR PA.

Majjhimanikāya. (S. MADHYAMĀGAMA). In Pāli, “Collection of Middle [Length] Discourses”; the second of the five divisions of the Pāli SUTTAPIṬAKA, the others being the DĪGHANIKĀYA, SAṂYUTTANIKĀYA, AṄGUTTARANIKĀYA, and KHUDDAKANIKĀYA. The Majjhimanikāya contains 152 suttas (S. SŪTRA) divided into three major parts, with fifty suttas in each of the first two parts and fifty-two in the third. Each one of these parts is further subdivided into five sections (vagga). The suttas are not arranged in any particular order, although suttas with broadly related themes (e.g., the six sense faculties, or INDRIYA), similar styles (e.g., suttas that contain a shorter, and often verse, summary of doctrine followed by longer expositions) or target audiences (e.g., discourses to householders, monks, religious wanderers, or brāhmaṇas) are sometimes grouped together in the same section. The enlightenment cycle of Gotama (S. GAUTAMA) Buddha finds some of its earliest expressions in several suttas in this nikāya. For example, the ARIYAPARIYESANĀSUTTA does not include the famous story of the prince’s chariot rides but says instead, “Later, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessing of youth, in the prime of life, though my mother and father wished otherwise and wept with tearful faces, I shaved off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness.” There is sometimes overlap between nikāyas; for example, the SATIPAṬṬHĀNASUTTA of the Majjhimanikāya appears as the first section of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta of the Dīghanikāya. Not all of the suttas are spoken by the Buddha; for example, ĀNANDA delivers the Gopakamoggallānasutta after the Buddha’s passage into PARINIRVĀṆA. The Sanskrit counterpart of the Majjhimanikāya is the MADHYAMĀGAMA, which is the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school’s recension of this collection. In the Chinese translation, ninety-eight of the Madhyamāgama’s 222 sūtras correspond to suttas found in the Majjhimanikāya, eighty appear in the Aṅguttaranikāya, twelve to the Dīghanikāya, and eleven to the Saṃyuttanikāya.

major and minor marks. See MAHĀPURUṢALAKṢAṆA.

makara. (T. chu srin; C. mojieyu; J. makatsugyo; K. magarŏ 摩竭魚). In Indian mythology, a kind of sea monster, depicted variously as either a crocodile, or a hybrid being with the body of a fish and the head of an elephant. In the twelve signs of the zodiac recognized in Indian astrology, makara corresponds to the constellation of Capricorn.

Makiguchi Tsunesaburō. (牧口常三郎) (1871–1944). Founder of SŌKA GAKKAI, a modern Japanese lay movement. Makiguchi was born in a small village in Niigata prefecture. Until 1928, he pursued a career as an educator and writer, serving as a teacher or a principal in several schools, and publishing articles on his educational philosophy, which focused on developing the creativity and personal experience of his students. Perhaps because of such personal misfortunes as the loss of four of his five children, Makiguchi converted in 1928 to NICHIREN SHŌSHŪ, an offshoot of Nichiren Buddhism, after finding that its teachings resonated with his own ideas about engendering social and religious values. Together with his disciple Toda Jōsei (1900–1958), Makiguchi founded in 1930 the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai (Creating Educational Values), a lay organization under the umbrella of the Nichiren Shōshū, which focused on publicizing his pedagogical ideas, and led its first general meeting. The society subsequently began to take on a decidedly religious character, focusing on missionary work for Nichiren Shōshū. As the Pacific War expanded, Makiguchi and his followers refused to cooperate with state-enforced SHINTŌ practices, leading to a rift between them and TAISEKIJI, the head monastery of Nichiren Shōshū. As a result, Makiguchi was arrested in 1943 on charges of lèse-majesté and violations of the Public Order Act, and died in prison one year later. After Makiguchi’s disciple Toda Jōsei was released from prison in July 1945, he took charge of the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai organization and renamed it Sōka Gakkai in 1946, developing it into one of the largest lay Buddhist organizations in Japan.

makuragyō. (枕經). In Japanese, lit., “pillow scripture”; the deathbed recitation of Buddhist scriptures. In Japan, a monk is invited to offer prayers and recite scriptures for the recently deceased. Before the corpse is interred in the coffin, the makuragyō service is performed at the deceased’s bedside or pillow, hence the service’s name. Traditionally, the deathbed service was performed by a monk called the kasō, who chanted passages from the scriptures through the night.

mala. (T. dri ma; C. gou; J. ku; K. ku 垢). In Sanskrit, “taint,” “stain,” “maculation”; often used as a synonym for afflictions (KLEŚA). Much of the discourse on the Buddhist path (MĀRGA) is expressed in terms of purity and pollution, with the path to liberation sometimes described as the gradual purification of the mind, in which various stains or taints are removed. What remains at the end of the process of purification is the subject of considerable discussion among the various Buddhist schools. For example, DHARMAKĪRTI declared in his PRAMĀṆAVĀRTTIKA, “The nature of the mind is clear light; its stains are adventitious.” See also AMALAVIJÑĀNA.

mālā. (T. ’phreng ba; C. man; J. man; K. man 鬘). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit. “garland” a “rosary,” viz., a string of beads usually held in the right hand and used for counting the recitations of prayers or MANTRAs; also called a JAPAMĀLĀ. The number of beads on the rosary varies by tradition, with some rosaries in pure land traditions having twenty-seven beads, and rosaries in Tibetan Buddhism commonly having 108 or 111 beads. The rationale for 111 beads is as follows: it is assumed that in each set of ten repetitions, one repetition will be faulty and need to be redone. Thus ten beads are added for the first hundred beads and one bead is added for the additional ten beads. The significance of the more common number of 108 is less clear. One common interpretation is that this number refers to a list of 108 afflictions (KLEŚA); fingering all 108 beads in the course of a recitation would then be either a reminder to remain mindful of these afflictions or would constitute their symbolic purification. Alternatively, this 108 can refer to all of phenomenal existence, i.e., the eighteen elements (DHĀTU), viz., the six sense bases, six sense objects, and six sensory consciousnesses, in all of the six realms of existence (GATI) (18 × 6 = 108). See also JAPAMĀLĀ.

Malalasekera, Gunapala Piyasena. (1899–1973). One of the most influential Sinhalese scholars of the twentieth century. Born in Malamulla Panadura, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Malalasekera entered the Ceylon Medical College in 1917. He attended the School of Oriental Studies at the University of London from 1923 to 1926, where he was a student of CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS. He later taught Pāli and Buddhist civilization, Pāli language, Sanskrit, and Sinhalese at the University of Ceylon. Aside from an immense influence on at least two generations of Indologists and Buddhologists in Sri Lanka, Malalasekera was also a distinguished diplomat, serving as the Ceylonese ambassador to the then-Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. He served as the permanent representative for Ceylon at the United Nations from 1961 to 1963, and as the high commissioner in Great Britain for four years after that. He was the president of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress from 1939 to 1957 and then again in 1967. He led the first conference of the WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHISTS in 1950 and became editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism in 1956. Malalasekera published many books and articles, including The Pāli Literature of Ceylon and A Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names.

*Mālānanda. (C. Moluonantuo; J. Marananda; K. Maranant’a 摩羅難陀). Reconstructed proper name of the Serindian monk who in 384 brought Buddhist scriptures and images to the Korean kingdom of Paekche (traditional dates 18 BCE–668 CE) from the Eastern Jin dynasty (265–420 CE) in China; his name is also reconstructed as *Kumāranandin. Mālānanda arrived in the Paekche capital via sea to an elaborate reception by the Paekche court and King Ch’imnyu (r. 384–385), suggesting that he came as part of an official mission from the Eastern Jin. In 385, under the auspices of the royal court, Mālānanda established a Buddhist monastery in the Paekche capital and ordained ten young men as monks, the first recorded instance of Buddhist ordination on the Korean peninsula.

Malang fu. (J. Merōfu; K. Marang pu 馬郎婦). In Chinese, “Mr. Ma’s Wife”; also known as YULAN GUANYIN (Fish Basket Guanyin); a famous manifestation of the BODHISATTVA GUANYIN (AVALOKITEŚVARA). The story of Mrs. Ma is found in various Chinese miracle-tale collections. The basic outline of the story begins with a beautiful young woman who comes to a small town to sell fish. Many young men propose to her, but she insists that she will only marry a man who can memorize the “Universal Gateway” chapter of the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA (“Lotus Sūtra”) in one night. Twenty men succeed, so she then asks them to memorize the VAJRACCHEDIKĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSŪTRA in one night. The ten men who succeed at that task are then asked to memorize the entire Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. One young man whose surname was Ma succeeds and he marries the beautiful fish seller. Unfortunately, she became ill on their wedding day and died the very same day. Later, a foreign monk visits the town to pay respects and informed Ma and the townsmen that this young fish seller was none other than the bodhisattva Guanyin in disguise.

Mālava. (S). One of the twenty-four sacred sites associated with the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA. See PĪṬHA.

Mallā. (T. Gyad kyi yul; C. Moluo [guo]; J. Mara [koku]; K. Mara [kuk] 摩羅[國]). In the plural, the Sanskrit and Pāli name of the people in one of the sixteen countries (MAHĀJANAPADA) that flourished in northern India during the Buddha’s lifetime. According to Pāli sources, the Mallā people were divided into two kingdoms, each with its own capital, Pāvā and Kusināra (S. KUŚINAGARĪ). The inhabitants of the former city were named Pāveyyakā Mallā, while those of the latter were named Kosinārakā. The Buddha is described as having inaugurated a new assembly hall in Pāvā by offering a sermon there for the populace. This hall was located in the Ambavana grove, which belonged to CUNDA, the blacksmith. Later, in the final year of his life, the Buddha would accept his last meal of SŪKARAMADDAVA (pork or possibly mushrooms) from Cunda, on account of which he would fall deathly ill with dysentery. From Cunda’s residence in Pāvā, the Buddha made his way to Kusināra where, lying down between twin sāla (S. ŚĀLA) trees, he passed into parinibbāna (S. PARINIRVĀṆA). When Ānanda laments the fact that the Buddha will pass away at such a “little mud-walled town, a backwoods town, a branch township,” rather than a great city, the Buddha disabused him of this notion, telling him that Kuśinagarī had previously been the magnificent capital named Kusāvatī of an earlier CAKRAVARTIN king named Sudarśana (P. Sudassana). The Buddha’s body was cremated at the Makutabandhana shrine in Kuśinagarī, after which the relics were removed to the assembly hall. There, the brāhmaṇa Doṇa (S. DROṆA) distributed them among the many claimants from different kingdoms and clans that were demanding their share. The Buddha claimed many disciples from the Mallā country as did his rival, the JAINA leader, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta (S. NIRGRANTHA-JÑĀTĪPUTRA). The Mallā belonged to the warrior caste (P. khattiya; S. KṢATRIYA), although they are depicted in Buddhist texts as living amicably with their neighbors. In Greek accounts, they are called Malloi, a people who for a time successfully resisted attack by Alexander’s forces. If this identification is correct, it would place their country in the area of modern Punjab.

Mallikā. [alt. Mālikā] (P. Mallikā; T. Ma li ka; C. Moli; J. Matsuri/Mari; K. Malli 末利). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “Jasmine”; a prominent disciple of the Buddha and the wife of King PRASENAJIT of KOŚALA. She was the daughter of a lower-caste garland maker who one day offered the Buddha a basket of fermented rice, without knowing his identity. The Buddha predicted that day that she would become queen of Kośala, which indeed came true. Her faith in the Buddha led to her royal husband becoming a disciple of the Buddha, which occurred when she suggested that the king visit the Buddha to have him interpret some disturbing dreams he had had. Despite her lack of education, she gained extensive knowledge of the dharma from ĀNANDA, who visited the palace to teach. As queen, Mallikā was a generous supporter of the SAṂGHA, sponsoring the construction of a hall, lined with ebony, that was used for sermons. In the Mallikāsutta, she asks the Buddha why some women are beautiful and some ugly, some rich and some poor, some powerful and some powerless. The Buddha explains that beauty is the result of gentleness and calmness, wealth is the result of generosity, and power is the result of a lack of envy. The commentary to the DHAMMAPADA (DHAMMAPADAṬṬHAKATHĀ) relates a story in which Mallikā was mounted by her dog while drying herself after a bath. She allowed the dog to continue, not knowing that she was being observed by the king. When he accused her of bestiality, she lied, saying that the window in the bathhouse prevented one from seeing clearly. To prove her point, she told the king to go into the bathhouse. When he returned, she falsely accused him of having intercourse with a goat. As a result of these two misdeeds—the bestiality and the lie—after her death, she was reborn in the AVĪCI hell for seven days, a fact that the Buddha hid from her bereaved husband Prasenajit. After seven days, she was reborn in TUṢITA, at which point the Buddha informed the king that his wife had been reborn in a divine realm. In the ŚRĪMĀLĀDEVĪSIṂHANĀDASŪTRA, Queen Śrīmālā is the daughter of Mallikā and Prasenajit.

malsa. (末寺). In Korean, “branch monastery”; an affiliate monastery of one of the twenty-four “district monasteries” (PONSA) in the contemporary Korean CHOGYE CHONG. See PONSA.

mamakāra. (P. mamaṃkāra; T. bdag gir ’dzin pa; C. wosuo; J. gasho; K. aso 我所). In Sanskrit, lit. “mine-making”; the mistaken conception of “mine,” or “possession.” Mamakāra is a form of ignorance deriving from the conception of self or “I” (AHAṂKĀRA) in which objects (primarily the SKANDHAs) are mistakenly conceived to be the possessions of an autonomous person. Based on this false presumption, all manner of negative afflictions (KLEŚA) arise, including greed, jealousy, and hatred. Wisdom is often described as the abandonment of the conceptions of “I” and “mine.” When it is understood that the person (PUDGALA) is merely a collection of impermanent and ever-changing physical and mental processes (SAṂTĀNA), one understands that there is no permanent, independent self among the constituents of materiality and mentality. If there is no autonomous self, then there can be no autonomous owner of the objects of experience. Thus, upon the abandonment of the conception of “I,” the conception of “mine” is also abandoned.

ma mo. A class of indigenous Tibetan female spirits. They are generally hostile, known to carry disease sacks (nad rkyal). With the advent of Buddhism in Tibet, they came to be identified with the Indian deity Mātarī [alt. Mātṛkā]. DPAL LDAN LHA MO is considered their leader. PADMASAMBHAVA subdued all ma mo on a mountain named Chu bo ri. There are numerous groupings of ma mo who appear in various deities’ retinues, such as Dpal ldan lha mo and YAMA, and who are invoked in rituals, called on both to cease their illness-causing activities and to inflict illnesses on enemies. They also figure in weather-making rituals, since they are able to withhold or send rain. They are depicted as ugly emaciated women with matted hair and withered breasts.

māṃsacakṣus. (P. maṃsacakkhu; T. sha’i spyan; C. rouyan; J. nikugen; K. yugan 肉眼). In Sanskrit, “fleshly eye”; one of the five eyes or five sorts of vision (PAÑCACAKṢUS), a list that overlaps with the five (or six) “clairvoyances” or superknowledges (ABHIJÑĀ). In Pāli texts, the “fleshly eye” is one of the five types of vision of a buddha. In Mahāyāna texts, the māṃsacakṣus refers to what would ordinarily be considered eyesight. It is said to be a VIPĀKAPHALA (maturation result) restricted in its range to the sight of the particular animal or deity that possesses it. In the case of vultures, for example, the fleshly eye may be able to see up to several miles, and in the case of certain divinities (DEVA) it may be the entire cosmos.

māna. (T. nga rgyal; C. man; J. man; K. man 慢). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “pride,” “conceit”; also known as asmimāna, the “‘I am’ conceit.” The eighth of ten “fetters” (SAṂYOJANA) that keep beings bound to the cycle of rebirth (SAṂSĀRA), pride arises from comparing oneself to others and manifests itself in three ways: viz., as the feeling that one is equal to, inferior to, or superior to others. Pride is a deep-seated and habitual affective response to other persons and continues to exist in subtle form in the minds of stream-enterers (SROTAĀPANNA), once-returners (SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), and nonreturners (ANĀGĀMIN) even though they have eliminated the “cognitive” fetter of personality belief (SATKĀYADṚṢṬI). Māna is permanently eliminated upon attaining the stage of worthiness (ARHAT), the fourth and highest degree of Buddhist sanctity (ĀRYAPUDGALA). According to the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA, there are seven kinds of conceit. The first kind is simply called “māna,” which refers to a sense of superiority toward those who are inferior and a sense of pride in the idea of being equal to those who are equal. “Atimāna” is haughtiness, the insistence on one’s superiority when in fact one is a mere equal to another person or the insistence on being equal to those who are in fact superior to oneself. “Mānātimāna” is “pride and conceit,” the insistence on one’s superiority when in fact the person to whom one is comparing oneself is superior. “Asmimāna” is the conceit “I am,” the deriving of a sense of an enduring self from grasping onto external objects and the internal five aggregates (SKANDHA). “ADHIMĀNA” is the overestimation of or bragging about one’s spiritual accomplishments. “ABHIMĀNA” has been variously interpreted as arrogance or “false humility,” admitting of another’s slight superiority when in fact he or she is vastly superior. “Mithyāmāna” is hypocrisy: posturing as a virtuous person when in fact one lacks virtue.

manaḥsaṃcetanāhāra. (T. yid la sems pa’i zas; C. sishi; J. shijiki; K. sasik 思食). In Sanskrit, “the sustenance (ĀHĀRA) that is mental volition (CETANĀ)”; a term used in YOGĀCĀRA materials to connote the support provided to the person by what might loosely be termed motivation. The term is said to refer to the mind (MANAS) in the sense of the sixth of six types of consciousness. See MANAS.

Manam Chonghŏn. (曼庵宗憲) (1876–1957). Korean monk and educator during the Japanese occupation and postwar periods; also known as Mogyang. After losing his parents at an early age, Manam became a monk and studied under HANYŎNG CHŎNGHO (1870–1948). In 1900, he devoted himself to the study of SŎN meditation at the monastery of Unmun Sŏnwŏn (UNMUNSA). In 1910, after Korea’s annexation by Japan, Manam traveled throughout the southern regions of the peninsula and delivered lectures on Buddhism to the public until he settled down at the monastery of PAEGYANGSA in 1920 to serve as abbot. At a time when the Buddhist community was split over the issue of clerical marriage, Manam, for the first time, divided his monk-students between the celibate chŏngpŏp chung (proper-dharma congregation) and the married hobŏp chung (protecting-dharma congregation). Manam’s actions were considered to be a formal recognition of clerical marriage and were heavily criticized by the rest of the Buddhist community led by YONGSŎNG CHINJONG (1864–1940) and Namjŏn Kwangŏn (1868–1936). In 1945, the Koburhoe organization that Manam established clashed with the General Administrative Committee of the Chosŏn Buddhist order over the issue of the laxity of Buddhist practice in Korea, with Manam arguing for a return to the strict and disciplined lifestyle of the past as a means of preventing the corruption of Buddhism. After the end of the Japanese occupation, Manam organized the Kobul Ch’ongnim gathering and initiated what later came to be called the “purification movement” (chŏnghwa undong) in Korean Buddhism. In 1952, he succeeded his teacher Hanyŏng and became head (kyojŏng) of the Chosŏn Buddhist order. As head, he gave the order a new name, the “Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism” (Taehan Pulgyo Chogye Chong; see CHONGYE CHONG), and created a new entry in its constitution, formally delineating the distinction between married monks (kyohwasŭng) and celibate monks (suhaengsŭng). He attempted to initiate a new plan for the organization of monasteries that would give priority to the celibate monks, but his plan was never put into practice. When President Syngman Rhee showed his support for the purification movement in May 1954, the monks of the Chogye order held a national convention and appointed Manam, Tongsan Hyeil (1890–1965), and Ch’ŏngdam Sunho (1902–1971) as the new leaders of the order and initiated a nationwide Buddhist reformation movement. Manam, however, was ultimately unable to mediate the different opinions of the representatives of the Buddhist community concerning the specific details and goals of the purification movement.

mānāpya. (S). See MĀNATVA.

manas. (T. yid; C. yi; J. i; K. ŭi 意). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “mind,” or “mentation”; generally a synonym of such related terms as CITTA and VIJÑĀNA. In lists of the six internal sensory organs (INDRIYA), manas is the sixth, in which context it is also referred to as the mental faculty (MANENDRIYA). As such, it differs from the other five faculties (the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and bodily sense organs), all of which are associated with physical organs. The sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness (MANOVIJÑĀNA), however, can know any object, whether physical or nonphysical; hence its objects are phenomena (DHARMA). The mental consciousness does not rely directly on a physical sense organ, as in the case of the preceding five types of consciousness; hence its sense faculty (INDRIYA) is mental, and is identified as a previous moment of consciousness, which allows for either the next moment of mental cognition of a previous object or the first moment of cognition of a new object. In YOGĀCĀRA, manas is sometimes used as an abbreviation for KLIṢṬAMANAS.

mānasapratyakṣa. (S). See MANONUBHAVAPRATYAKṢA.

manaskāra. [alt. manasikāra] (P. manasikāra; T. yid la byed pa; C. zuoyi; J. sai; K. chagŭi 作意). In Sanskrit, “mental engagement,” or “attention”; a general term for mental activity, concentration, or attention, with at least two technical senses: as one of the five omnipresent (SARVATRAGA) or seven universal (P. sabbacittasādhāraṇa) mental concomitants (CAITTA), it is the factor that directs the mind to a specific object; in the process of developing calmness or serenity (ŚAMATHA), there are four levels of increasingly powerful and continuous mental engagement with the object of concentration. See also AYONIŚOMANASKĀRA.

manaskarman. (P. manokamma; T. yid kyi las; C. yiye; J. igō; K. ŭiŏp 意業). In Sanskrit, “mental action”; thoughts that produce KARMAN. Virtuous and nonvirtuous actions are of three types: physical actions (those performed by the body), verbal actions (those expressed in words), and mental actions (thoughts). Physical actions of the nonvirtuous type would include killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. Verbal actions of the nonvirtuous type would include lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, and senseless speech. Mental actions of the nonvirtuous type would include covetousness, harmful intent, and wrong view. (See also KARMAPATHA).

Manasvin. (T. Gzi can; C. Monasi; J. Manashi; K. Manasa 摩那斯). One of the eight great NĀGA kings who assembled to hear the Buddha preach the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA.

mānatva. [alt. mānāpya] (P. mānatta; T. mgu bar bya ba; C. monatuo; J. manata; K. manat’a 摩那埵). In Sanskrit, a temporary period of “penance” imposed on a monk for a minor offense. According to the Pāli VINAYA, the mānatta penance is imposed on a monk who commits an offense requiring probation (P. saṅghādisesa; S. SAṂGHAVAŚEṢA) when that monk immediately confesses the infraction to another monk. The penance imposed in this circumstance is called “penance for unconcealed offenses” (apaṭicchannamānatta), which entails the loss of the usual privileges of monkhood for a set period of six nights. If a monk conceals a saṅghādisesa offense for a period of time before confessing it, he must undergo a “probationary penance” called either “probation” (PARIVĀSA) or “penance for concealed offenses” (paṭicchannamānatta). This probationary penance likewise entails the loss of privileges, but in this case that probation must last for as long as the offense was concealed. After the parivāsa penance is completed, the monk must then undergo mānatta penance for six nights. A monk undergoing mānatta punishment may not: (1) dwell under the same roof as another monk, (2) live where there is no other monk, (3) accept respect or praise from other monks or novices, (4) confer ordination (UPASAṂPADĀ) or provide “dependence” or guidance (P. nissaya; S. NIŚRAYA) to younger monks, (5) accept the services of a novice, (6) preach to nuns, (7) commit similar acts of wrongdoing, (8) criticize the act carried out against him, and (9) criticize the persons responsible for carrying out the act. After the six-night period of mānatta penance is finished, the monk is eligible to be readmitted into the SAṂGHA.

manāyatana. (T. yid kyi skye mched; C. yichu; J. isho; K. ŭich’ŏ 意處). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit.,“mental source” or “mental base of cognition”; another term for MANAS, when it appears on the list of the twelve ĀYATANA, the sources of consciousness or bases of cognition. The twelve sources of consciousness are the six external sensory objects (form, sound, taste, odors, objects of touch, and phenomena) and the six internal sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind). The five sense objects and the five sense faculties are necessarily physical, serving respectively as the causes of the first five types of sensory consciousnesses: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile consciousnesses. The sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness (MANOVIJÑĀNA), however, can know any object, whether physical or nonphysical; hence its objects are phenomena (DHARMA). The mental consciousness does not rely directly on a physical sense organ; hence, its organ (INDRIYA) is mental, and is identified as a previous moment of consciousness.

maṇḍa. (T. snying po; C. tihu; J. daigo; K. cheho 醍醐). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “cream”; used figuratively to refer to something’s “quintessence” or “supreme point.” This usage is implicit, for example, in the compound term BODHIMAṆḌA (lit. “the supreme point of awakening,” viz., “the seat of enlightenment”), the place where the buddha achieved complete, perfect enlightenment. Maṇḍa as representing the quintessence of the teachings of Buddhism is also found in the temporal taxonomy of the teachings (JIAOXIANG PANSHI) advocated by the Chinese TIANTAI ZONG, in which the “taste of ghee” (tihu wei) symbolizes the consummate teachings of Buddhism found in the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA and MAHĀPARINIRVĀṆASŪTRA.

maṇḍala. (T. dkyil ’khor; C. mantuluo; J. mandara; K. mandara 曼荼羅). In Sanskrit, lit. “circle”; a polysemous term, best known for its usage in tantric Buddhism as a type of “circular diagram.” Employed widely throughout South, East, and Central Asia, maṇḍala are highly flexible in form, function, and meaning. The core concept of maṇḍala originates from the Sanskrit meaning “circle,” where a boundary is demarcated and increasing significance is accorded to areas closer to the center; the Tibetan translation (dkyil ’khor) “center periphery” emphasizes this general scheme. In certain contexts, maṇḍalas can have the broad sense of referring to circular objects (“maṇḍala of the moon”) or a complete collection of constituent parts (“maṇḍala of the universe”). This latter denotation is found in Tibetan Buddhism, where a symbolic representation of the universe is offered to buddhas and bodhisattvas as a means of accumulating merit, especially as a preliminary practice (SNGON ’GRO). Maṇḍalas may have begun as a simple circle drawn on the ground as part of a ritual ceremony, especially for consecration, initiation, or protection. In its developed forms, a maṇḍala is viewed as the residential palace for a primary deity—located at the center—surrounded by an assembly of attendant deities. This portrayal may be considered either a symbolic representation or the actual residence; it may be mentally imagined or physically constructed. The latter constitutes a significant and highly developed contribution to the sacred arts of many Asian cultures. Maṇḍalas are often depicted two dimensionally by a pattern of basic geometric shapes and are most commonly depicted in paint or colored powders. These are thought of almost as architectural floor plans, schematic representations viewed from above of elaborate three-dimensional structures, mapping an ideal cosmos where every element has a symbolic meaning dependent upon the ritual context. Maṇḍalas are occasionally fashioned in three dimensions from bronze or wood, with statues of deities situated in the appropriate locations. When used in a private setting, such as in the Buddhist visualization meditation of deity yoga (DEVATĀYOGA), the practitioner imagines the entire universe as purified and transformed into the transcendent maṇḍala—often identifying himself or herself with the form of the main deity at the center. In other practices, the maṇḍala is visualized within the body, populated by deities at specific locations. In public rituals, including tantric initiations and consecration ceremonies, a central maṇḍala can be used as a common basis for the participation of many individuals, who are said to enter the maṇḍala. The maṇḍala is also understood as a special locus of divine power, worthy of ritual worship and which may confer “blessings” upon devotees. Religious monuments (BOROBUDUR in Java), institutions (BSAM YAS monastery in Tibet), and even geographical locations (WUTAISHAN in China) are often understood as maṇḍalas. Maṇḍalas have also entered the popular vocabulary of the West. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung developed theories of cognition incorporating maṇḍalas as an analytical model. The fourteenth DALAI LAMA has used the KĀLACAKRA maṇḍala as a means of spreading a message of peace throughout the world. See also KONGŌKAI; TAIZŌKAI.

Mandalay. The last royal capital of the Burmese Konbaung kingdom, prior to the British conquest of Burma (Myanmar). The city is situated on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy River, twelve miles north of AVA (Inwa) and five miles north of AMARAPURA, both previous capitals of the Konbaung dynasty (1752–1885). Built in 1857 by MINDON MIN (r. 1853–1878) at the base of the eponymous Mandalay Hill, its construction was carried out at the place where the Buddha is said to have made a prophecy that a great Buddhist capital would arise on that spot in the 2,400th year after the parinibbāna. Very similar in plan to Amarapura, Mandalay is laid out in a grid pattern, at the center of which is a royal precinct in the shape of a perfect square surrounded by a wide moat and a brickwork defensive wall. The wall is pierced by twelve gates, three on each side, crowned with multistoried tiered pavilions (B. pyatthat), symbols of royal authority. Broad avenues run perpendicularly from the gates to the center of the royal compound where the palace and ancillary buildings are located. Destroyed during Allied bombing in World War II, these structures have recently been restored. The city’s most famous shrine is the MAHĀMUNI pagoda, which houses the colossal bronze Mahāmuni image of Gotama Buddha (see ARAKAN BUDDHA). Originally housed in the palladium of Arakan, the Mahāmuni was seized by King Bodawpaya (r. 1782–1819) when he conquered that kingdom in 1785. As had been the case with the founding of earlier capitals, the construction of Mandalay was regarded as inaugurating a golden age wherein the religion, culture, and political fortunes of the Burmese kingdom would flourish. In connection with the prophecy, in 1868, Mindon Min summoned 2,400 learned monks to the capital from throughout the kingdom to revise the Pāli TIPIṬAKA in what came to be regarded by the Burmese as the fifth Buddhist council (see COUNCIL, FIFTH). In 1871, the revised Burmese canon was inscribed on 729 stone slabs that were erected, each in its own shrine, in concentric rings around the massive Kuthodaw pagoda (Pagoda of Great Merit). The entire complex occupies fourteen acres and is situated to the northeast of the fortified city at the base of Mandalay Hill. Nearby is the Sandamuni pagoda, constructed along a similar plan, which houses 1,171 slabs on which are inscribed the Pāli commentaries. Another monument constructed for the synod is the Kyauktawgyi pagoda modeled after the ANANDA TEMPLE at PAGAN, which contains a colossal seated statue of the Buddha. Commemorating Mandalay’s foundation legend is the Shweyattaw temple, also built by Mindon Min and located halfway up a stairway leading to the top of Mandalay Hill. The structure houses a colossal standing image of the Buddha covered in gold leaf, whose outstretched arm points to the city center, marking the spot where the Buddha delivered his prophecy. In addition to its pagodas and temples, the city boasted numerous monasteries and colleges making it one of the major scholastic centers of the kingdom. Mandalay ceased to be the Burmese capital in 1885 when it fell to British troops at the conclusion of the Third Anglo–Burmese War.

Mandāravā. (T. Man da ra ba) (c. eighth century). A revered female Indian Buddhist master, renowned as a close disciple and consort of the tantric adept PADMASAMBHAVA. She was born the daughter of the king of Sahor, modern Rewalsar in Mandi District, Himachel Pradesh. According to traditional sources, Mandāravā rejected the marriage arrangements made by her father, wishing instead to renounce the world and practice religion. Padmasambhava accepted her as his disciple and the couple remained in a hilltop retreat. The king learned of their arrangement and, in a fit of anger, had Padmasambhava (or, according to some accounts, the couple) burned alive. As a dense cloud of smoke cleared, the adept appeared seated atop a lotus in the center of a large lake, miraculously unscathed. The king and his court were thus converted to Buddhism and became Padmasambhava’s disciples. The lake became known in Tibetan as Mtsho Padma (Lotus Lake) and has become a major site for pilgrimage and religious practice. Mandāravā accompanied Padmasambhava to MĀRATIKA cave in Nepal where they undertook the practice of longevity. Although Mandāravā remained most of her life in India, she was revered as a ḌĀKINĪ in Tibet, where she is believed to have appeared numerous times as a female teacher and YOGINĪ.

mandorla. See KĀYAPRABHĀ.

manendriya. (P. manindriya; T. yid kyi dbang po; C. yigen; J. ikon; K. ŭigŭn 意根). In Sanskrit, “mental faculty” or “mental dominant”; another term for MANAS as it appears in the list of the six INDRIYA or sensory faculties that provide the foundation for the six forms of consciousness. Each of the six consciousnesses—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mental—requires a sense faculty or indriya in order to function. For the five sense consciousnesses, this organ is the physical sense organ associated with the eye, ear, nose, tongue, or body. The mind or mental consciousness (MANOVIJÑĀNA) does not have a physical support in this sense. Thus, the mental faculty is identified as a previous moment of consciousness.

maṅgala. (T. bkra shis; C. jixiang; J. kichijō; K. kilsang 吉祥). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “auspiciousness,” but having a wide range of connotations, including luck, good fortune, happiness, prosperity, welfare, good omen, and blessing. The term is also used to describe any number of social virtues, considered auspicious because they produce benefits in both this and future lifetimes. According to the Pāli MAṄGALASUTTA, for example, these virtues include not associating with fools, but associating instead with the wise; caring for parents, supporting wife and children, and following a salutary occupation; generosity, morality, helping relatives, and performing actions that are blameless; refraining from evil; abstaining from intoxicants; respect, humility, contentment, gratitude, learning the teachings (P. dhamma; S. DHARMA); obedience, ascetic practice, and so forth.

Maṅgalasutta. In Pāli, “Discourse on the Auspicious”; one of the best-loved and most frequently recited texts in the Southeast Asian Buddhist world. The Maṅgalasutta appears in an early scriptural anthology, the SUTTANIPĀTA; a later collection, the KHUDDAKAPĀṬHA; and in a postcanonical anthology of “protection texts,” the PARITTA. The text itself is a mere twelve verses in length and is accompanied by a brief preface inquiring about what is true auspiciousness. The Buddha’s response provides a straightforward recital of auspicious things, beginning with various social virtues and ending with the achievement of nibbāna (S. NIRVĀṆA). The Maṅgalasutta’s great renown derives from its inclusion in the Paritta, a late anthology of texts that are chanted as part of the protective rituals performed by Buddhist monks to ward off misfortunes; indeed, it is this apotropaic quality of the scripture that accounts for its enduring popularity. Paritta suttas refer to specific discourses delivered by the Buddha that are believed to offer protection to those who either recite the sutta or listen to its recitation. Other such auspicious apotropaic suttas are the RATANASUTTA (“Discourse on the Precious”) and the METTĀSUTTA (“Discourse on Loving-Kindness”). These paritta texts are commonly believed in Southeast Asia to bring happiness and good fortune when chanted by the SAṂGHA. The Maṅgalasutta has been the subject of many Pāli commentaries, one of the largest of which, the Maṅgalatthadīpanī, composed in northern Thailand in the sixteenth century, is over five hundred pages in length and continues to serve as the core of the monastic curriculum in contemporary Thailand. The Maṅgalasutta’s twelve verses are: “Many divinities and humans, desiring well-being, have thought about auspiciousness; tell us what is the highest auspiciousness./ Not to associate with fools, to associate with the wise, to worship those worthy of worship—that is the highest auspiciousness./ To live in a suitable place and to have done good deeds before, having a proper goal for oneself—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Learning, craftsmanship, and being well-trained in discipline, being well-spoken—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Care for mother and father, supporting wife and children, and types of work that bring no conflict—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Generosity, morality, helping relatives and performing actions that are blameless—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Ceasing and refraining from evil, abstaining from intoxicants, diligence in morality—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Respect, humility, contentment, gratitude, listening to the dhamma at the proper time—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Patience, obedience, seeing ascetics and timely discussions of the dhamma—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Ascetic practice, the religious life, seeing the four noble truths, and the realization of nibbāna—that is the highest auspiciousness./ If someone’s mind is sorrowless, stainless, secure, and does not shake when touched by the things of the world—that is the highest auspiciousness./ Having acted in this wise, unconquered everywhere they go to well-being everywhere—for them, this is the highest auspiciousness.”

Man’gong Wŏlmyŏn. (滿空月面) (1871–1946). In Korean, “Replete in Emptiness, Moon-Face”; the cognomen and ordination name of an important SŎN (C. Chan) monk of the late Chosŏn and Japanese colonial periods. Man’gong was born in T’aein county, North Chŏlla province, and became a novice monk in 1884. After enlightenment experiences in 1895 and 1901, he became in 1904 a dharma heir of KYŎNGHŎ SŎNGU (1849–1912), the preeminent Sŏn master of his generation who was renowned for his efforts to revitalize Korean Sŏn practice. Like Kyŏnghŏ, Man’gong was also a well-known iconoclast, who practiced an “unconstrained practice” (K. muae haeng; C. WU’AI XING) that was not bound by the customary restrictions of monastic discipline. After 1905, Man’gong often resided at SUDŎKSA on Mt. Tŏksung in South Ch’ungch’ŏng province, and he and his lineage are closely associated with that monastery. Man’gong also collaborated with such contemporary Buddhist leaders as HAN YONGUN (1879–1944) and Sŏktu Pot’aek (1882–1954) in attempting to rejuvenate Korean Buddhist practice. Man’gong established the Sŏnhagwŏn (Cloister for Sŏn Learning) in 1921 in order to promote Korean Sŏn meditation training. Man’gong emphasized training in “questioning meditation” (K. kanhwa Sŏn; C. KANHUA CHAN), using the meditative topic (K. hwadu; C. HUATOU) “no” (K. mu; C. WU; see WU GONG’AN; GOUZI WU FOXING). Man’gong was also publicly critical of the Japanese colonial government. There is a well-known anecdote that, at a conference of abbots from the thirty-one Korean head monasteries (PONSA) in 1937, he chided the Japanese governor-general by telling him that only Korean Buddhists would be able to save him once he had fallen into hell for destroying their tradition. In his later years, Man’gong retreated to the hermitage of Chŏnwŏlsa, near Sudŏksa on Mt. Tŏksung. Man’gong had several renowned disciples who constitute the Tŏksung transmission lineage, including the monks Kobong (1890–1961), Ch’unsŏng (1891–1977), and Pyŏkch’o (1899–1986), and the nuns KIM IRYŎP (1896–1971) and Pŏphŭi (1887–1975); Sungsan Haengwŏn (1927–2004), a major propagator of the Korean Sŏn tradition in the West, was Man’gong’s dharma successor through Kobong.

Manhae. (K) (萬海). See HAN YONGUN.

maṇi. (T. nor bu; C. moni/zhu; J. mani/shu; K. mani/chu 摩尼/珠). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “jewel”; one of the generic terms for a precious gem in Buddhist texts, appearing in such compounds as “wish-fulfilling jewel” (CINTĀMAṆI) and the famous MANTRA, OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ. In this mantra and elsewhere, the term is particularly associated with the bodhisattva AVALOKITEŚVARA. The term occurs commonly in most strata of Buddhist texts, both literally in descriptions of the heavens and pure lands and figuratively as a metaphor for something beautiful, precious, and rare.

Ma ṇi bka’ ’bum. In Tibetan, “One Hundred Thousand Pronouncements [Regarding] Maṇi”; a heterogenious compilation of texts traditionally attributed to the Tibetan king SRONG BTSAN SGAM PO. This large collection of works, usually published in two massive volumes, is generally understood as a treasure text (GTER MA), said to have been revealed by three individuals during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: the SIDDHA Gngos grub (Ngödrup), the famed treasure revealer (GTER STON) NYANG RAL NYI MA ’OD ZER, and Shākya ’Od—a disciple in the Nyang ral lineage sometimes known as Shākya bzang po (Shākya Sangpo). The texts are organized into three parts or cycles (skor): (1) “The cycle of SŪTRAs” (mdo skor), containing many legendary accounts of the BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEŚVARA and Srong btsan sgam po; (2) “the cycle of sādhanas” (sgrub skor), containing various meditation manuals (SĀDHANA) based on different aspects of Avalokiteśvara; and (3) “the cycle of precepts” (zhal gdams kyi skor), a miscellany of texts, many of which relate to the bodhisattva of great compassion. The remaining texts are sometimes referred to as “the cycle of the disclosure of the hidden” (gab pa mngon phyung gi skor). The title of the collection refers to the famed six-syllable MANTRA of Avalokiteśvara, OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ. The texts are an important early source for many of Tibet’s key legends: the activities of Srong btsan sgam po, including the founding of the JO KHANG temple, and the status of Avalokiteśvara as the special protector of Tibet and the Tibetan people, incarnated in the person of Srong btsan sgam po himself. The Ma ṇi bka’ ’bum also includes an account of a set of four statues (three or five according to some sources) in a form of AVALOKITEŚVARA (called the “Four Brother Statues of Avalokiteśvara”) said to have spontaneously arisen by miraculous means from the trunk of single sandalwood tree. According to the Tibetan text, the Tibetan king Srong bstan sgam po dispatched a monk named Akaraśīla to southern Nepal, where he discovered the four images in the midst of a large sandalwood grove. Akaraśīla then “invited” the statues to reside in various locations in order to dispel misery and strife and serve as the basis for religious practice. These statues are considered some of the most sacred Buddhist images in Nepal and Tibet. In their most common reckoning, the four brothers are: (1) the white MATSYENDRANĀTH in Jana Bāhāl, Kathmandu, Nepal; (2) the red Matsyendranāth in nearby Patan; (3) the Ārya Lokeśvara in the PO TA LA Palace, LHA SA; (4) and the ’PHAGS PA WA TI in SKYID GRONG, southern Tibet (a part of which is now in possession of the Dalai Lama in exile). Sometimes a fifth image is included: the Minanāth in Patan.

ma ṇi ’khor lo. In Tibetan, lit. “MAṆI wheel,” commonly rendered into English as a “prayer wheel”; a device for the repetition of a MANTRA, so-called because of its frequent use in conjunction with repetitions of the mantra OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ. The device, commonly used in Tibetan Buddhism, is a hollow cylinder ranging in length from a few inches to a few feet, filled with a long scroll of paper on which a mantra has been printed thousands of times. The scroll is wrapped tightly around the central axis of the device and enclosed in the cylinder. Each turn of the wheel is considered the equivalent of one recitation of the mantra, multiplied by the number of times the mantra is printed on the scroll. Smaller prayer wheels are carried and spun in the left hand while a rosary (JAPAMĀLĀ) is counted in the right hand as the mantra is recited. Larger versions are often mounted in a series along walls; very large wheels may even fill a small temple, where they are turned by pushing handles at their base. There are also wheels that are turned by the wind, water, or convection.

Mañjughoṣa. (T. ’Jam pa’i dbyangs; C. Miaoyin pusa; J. Myōon bosatsu; K. Myoŭm posal 妙音菩薩). See MAÑJUŚRĪ.

Mañjuśrī. (T. ’Jam dpal; C. Wenshushili; J. Monjushiri; K. Munsusari 文殊師利). In Sanskrit, “Gentle Glory,” also known as MAÑJUGHOṢA, “Gentle Voice”; one of the two most important BODHISATTVAs in MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism (along with AVALOKITEŚVARA). Mañjuśrī seems to derive from a celestial musician (GANDHARVA) named Pañcaśikha (Five Peaks), who dwelled on a five-peaked mountain (see WUTAISHAN), whence his toponym. Mañjuśrī is the bodhisattva of wisdom and sometimes is said to be the embodiment of all the wisdom of all the buddhas. Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, and VAJRAPĀṆI are together known as the “protectors of the three families” (TRIKULANĀTHA), representing wisdom, compassion, and power, respectively. Among his many epithets, the most common is KUMĀRABHŪTA, “Ever Youthful.” Among Mañjuśrī’s many forms, the most famous shows him seated in the lotus posture (PADMĀSANA), dressed in the raiments of a prince, his right hand holding a flaming sword above his head, his left hand holding the stem of a lotus that blossoms over his left shoulder, a volume of the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ atop the lotus. Mañjuśrī plays a major role in many of the most renowned Mahāyāna sūtras. Mañjuśrī first comes to prominence in the VIMALAKĪRTINIRDEŚA, which probably dates no later than the first century CE, where only Mañjuśrī has the courage to visit and debate with the wise layman VIMALAKĪRTI and eventually becomes the interlocutor for Vimalakīrti’s exposition of the dharma. In the SADDHARMAPUṆḌARĪKASŪTRA, only Mañjuśrī understands that the Buddha is about to preach the “Lotus Sūtra.” In the AVATAṂSAKASŪTRA, it is Mañjuśrī who sends SUDHANA out on his pilgrimage. In the Ajātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodana, it is revealed that Mañjuśrī inspired ŚĀKYAMUNI to set out on the bodhisattva path many eons ago, and that he had played this same role for all the buddhas of the past; indeed, the text tells us that Mañjuśrī, in his guise as an ever-youthful prince, is the father of all the buddhas. He is equally important in tantric texts, including those in which his name figures in the title, such as the MAÑJUŚRĪMŪLAKALPA and the MAÑJUŚRĪNĀMASAṂGĪTI. The bull-headed deity YAMĀNTAKA is said to be the wrathful form of Mañjuśrī. Buddhabhadra’s early fifth-century translation of the Avataṃsakasūtra is the first text that seemed to connect Mañjuśrī with Wutaishan (Five-Terrace Mountain) in China’s Shaanxi province. Wutaishan became an important place of pilgrimage in East Asia beginning at least by the Northern Wei dynasty (424–532), and eventually drew monks in search of a vision of Mañjuśrī from across the Asian continent, including Korea, Japan, India, and Tibet. The Svayambhūpurāṇa of Nepal recounts that Mañjuśrī came from China to worship the STŪPA located in the middle of a great lake. So that humans would be able worship the stūpa, he took his sword and cut a great gorge at the southern edge of the lake, draining the water and creating the Kathmandu Valley. As the bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañjuśrī is propiated by those who wish to increase their knowledge and learning. It is considered efficacious to recite his mantra “oṃ arapacana dhīḥ” (see ARAPACANA); Arapacana is an alternate name for Mañjuśrī.

Mañjuśrīkīrti. (T. ’Jam dpal grags pa). Eighth king of the mythical kingdom of ŚAMBHALA, and the first of the twenty-five so-called “kulika kings” of śambhala. The first seven kings of śambhala are known as dharmarājas, starting with Sucandra, who received the KĀLACAKRATANTRA from the Buddha and then propagated it in his kingdom. Mañjuśrīkīrti is said to have ascended to the throne of the kingdom 674 years after the Buddha entered PARINIRVĀṆA. He is credited with first preventing some three hundred thousand brāhmaṇas from leaving the kingdom and then converting them to Buddhism, turning all the inhabitants of śambhala into a single class, the VAJRAKULA, or “vajra family.” This is one of the etymologies of the term “kulika king.” His greatest achievement, however, was the composition of a summary of the Kālacakratantra received by Sucandra. This work is known as the Mūlakālacakratantra, or root Kālacakratantra, and alt., as the Laghutantra, or “short tantra.” It is said that over the course of time, the original tantra was lost, so that the recension of the Kālacakratantra that exists today is the version composed by Mañjuśrīkīrti.

Mañjuśrīmitra. (T. ’Jam dpal bshes gnyen). An important, and possibly mythical, figure in the RDZOGS CHEN tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. According to some accounts, he was a king of Siṅghala (Sri Lanka). The rdzogs chen teachings are said to have originated from the primordial buddha SAMANTABHADRA, who transmitted them to his emanation (SAṂBHOGAKĀYA), the buddha VAJRASATTVA, who in turn transmitted them to his NIRMĀṆAKĀYA emanation, known by the Tibetan name DGA’ RAB RDO RJE (perhaps Pramodavajra in Sanskrit), who finally transmitted them to Mañjuśrīmitra. He is said to have received these teachings in the form of 6,400,000 verses and organized them into the three categories of SEMS SDE, KLONG SDE, and MAN NGAG SDE. He in turn transmitted these teachings to Śrīsiṃha. Mañjuśrīmitra is the author of Rdo la ser zhun.

Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa. (T. ’Jam dpal gyi rtsa ba’i rgyud; C. Dafangguang pusazang wenshushili genben yigui jing; J. Daihōkō bosatsuzō Monjushiri konpongikikyō; K. Taebanggwang posalchang Munsusari kŭnbon ŭigwe kyŏng 大方廣菩薩藏文殊師利根本儀軌經). In Sanskrit “The Fundamental Ordinance of MAÑJUŚRĪ”; known in Tibetan as the “Fundamental Tantra of Mañjuśrī.” The work is an early and important Buddhist TANTRA (marking a transition between the SŪTRA and tantra genres), dating probably from around the late sixth or early seventh centuries, which was later classed as a KRIYĀTANTRA. The text, which is in a compilation of fifty-five chapters, provides detailed instructions by the Buddha on the performance of rituals and consecrations, including the important jar or vase consecrations (KALAŚĀBHIṢEKA). The work is also among the first to introduce the notion of families (KULA) of divinities, in this case three families: the TATHĀGATAKULA, the PADMAKULA, and the VAJRAKULA. Like other tantric texts, it provides instruction on a wide range of topics, including the recitation of MANTRAs, the drawing of images and MAṆḌALAs, and the nature of the VIDYĀDHARA, as well as on astrology, medicine. Among the many prophecies in the text is the oft-cited prophecy concerning NĀGĀRJUNA, in which the Buddha states that four hundred years after his passage into PARINIRVĀṆA, a monk named Nāga will appear, who will live for six hundred years.

Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti. (T. ’Jam dpal gyi mtshan yang dag par brjod pa; C. Sheng miaojixiang zhenshi ming jing; J. Shōmyōkichijō shinjitsumyōkyō; K. Sŏng myogilsang chinsil myŏng kyŏng 聖妙吉祥眞實名經). In Sanskrit, “Litany of the Names of MAÑJUŚRĪ”; one of the most popular liturgical works of late Indian Buddhism. The text dates from the late seventh or early eighth century CE and in its present form includes 167 verses and a lengthy prose section. It begins with a request to the Buddha from a disciple, in this case, the tantric deity VAJRADHARA, to set forth the names of Mañjuśrī. The Buddha offers extensive praise to Mañjuśrī in the form of multiple epithets and identifications, equating him with all that is auspicious, although special attention is paid to his identity with the myriad categories of Buddhist wisdom. In other verses, the Buddha provides syllables to be recited in order to visualize a variety of deities, all of whom are considered forms of Mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī himself is identified with the letter A, the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, and hence the source of all other names and the deities they represent. The Buddha also describes the MAṆḌALA of Mañjuśrī. The prose section, like so many Mahāyāna sūtras, extols the virtues of its own recitation. Here, the Buddha declares that those who recite the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti three times daily will gain all manner of attainment and will also be protected by the Hindu gods, such as Viṣṇu (NĀRĀYAṆA) and Śiva (Maheśvara).

man ngag sde. (me ngak de). In Tibetan, “instruction class”; comprising the third of three main divisions of RDZOGS CHEN doctrine according to the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The other two are SEMS SDE (mental class) and KLONG SDE (spatial class). The man ngag sde teachings, regarded as the highest of the three, have constituted the core of Rnying ma practice since the eleventh century. It is said that sems sde teaches the clarity/awareness side of enlightenment, klong sde teaches the spatial side of enlightenment, and man ngag sde combines the two. A wide range of practices are included in the man ngag sde, concerned above all with the presentation by the teacher of a “pure awareness” (RIG PA) that is free from dualistic conceptions, and the recognition and maintenance of that state by the student; the instructions on the BAR DO emerged from these texts. The most famous practices of man ngag sde are “cutting through” (KHREGS CHOD) and “leaping over” (THOD RGAL). The man ngag sde has a number of subcategories, the most famous of which is the SNYING THIG. The root tantras of the man ngag sde are said to be the seventeen tantras.

manojalpa. (T. yid la brjod pa; C. yiyan; J. igon; K. ŭiŏn 意言). In Sanskrit, lit., “mental talk” or “mental chatter”; a general term for thought (VIKALPA), often in the negative sense of a constant subconscious murmur of conceptions regarding sensory objects. In the YOGĀCĀRA school, the object of manojalpa is the imaginary (PARIKALPITA), defined as the falsely imagined nature of objects as separate from the consciousness that perceives them and naturally serving as the bases of their conceptual designations.

manomayakāya. (T. yid kyi rang bzhin gyi lus; C. yishengshen; J. ishōshin; K. ŭisaengsin 意生身). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “mind-made body”; a subtle body acquired during meditative practice, which can exercise psychical and magical powers (ṚDDHI), such as passing through solid objects, appearing in many places at once, or flying. This body is described as living on joy, not solid nutriment; lacking such characteristics of a physical body as solidity, cohesion, heat, and motion; and being invisible to normal sight. The SĀMAÑÑAPHALASUTTA refers to the manomayakāya as something achieved by the meditator who has mastered the fourth of the four meditative absorptions (P. JHĀNA; S. DHYĀNA) associated with the subtle-materiality realm (RŪPADHĀTU); this meditative body is created from one’s current physical body, the sutta says, as if drawing a sword from its scabbard or a reed from its sheath. The LAṄKĀVATĀRASŪTRA lists three types of manomayakāya achieved by a BODHISATTVA: (1) a body obtained through the enjoyment of SAMĀDHI on the third, fourth, and fifth stages (BHŪMI) of the bodhisattva path; (2) a body obtained by recognizing the self-nature of the dharma itself, which is achieved on the eighth bhūmi; and (3) a body the bodhisattva assumes in accordance with the class of being he is seeking to edify. The manomayakāya is also analogous to the “transitional being” (GANDHARVA) that abides in the ANTARĀBHAVA, the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Existence in any of the four meditative (dhyāna) heavens of either the subtle-materiality realm (rūpadhātu) or the immaterial realm (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU) may also sometimes be designated as a heavenly mind-made body (divyo manomayaḥ kāyaḥ). Finally, the mind-made body is manifested by great bodhisattvas (vaśitāprāptabodhisattva) and other sanctified beings during their transfigurational births-and-deaths (PARIṆĀMIKAJARĀMARAṆA)—viz., the births-and-deaths that may occur even after enlightenment—one of the two categories of SAṂSĀRA, along with the determinative birth-and-death (PARICCHEDAJARĀMARAṆA) experienced by ordinary sentient beings within the three realms of existence (TRILOKADHĀTU). Mind-made bodies may be perceived only by the DIVYACAKṢUS, literally the “divine eye,” one of the five (or six) superknowledges (ABHIJÑĀ) and three “knowledges” (TRIVIDYĀ). The term also figures in the development of the theories of the two, three, or four bodies of the Buddha (BUDDHAKĀYA). Early scholasts speak of the Buddha having both a physical body and a manomayakāya, or “emanation body” (NIRMĀṆAKĀYA), a second body that he used to perform miraculous feats such as visiting his mother in the TRĀYASTRIṂŚA heaven atop Mount SUMERU after her death.

manonubhavapratyakṣa. [alt. mānasapratyakṣa] (T. yid kyis myong ba’i mngon sum/yid kyi mngon sum; C. yishouxianliang; J. ijugenryō; K. ŭisuhyŏllyang 意受現量). In Sanskrit, “mental direct perception”; a form of perception (PRATYAKṢA). According to the ABHIDHARMA analysis, the mind (MANAS) is capable of directly perceiving an object without the intrusion of a process of thought, just as the five sense consciousnesses are capable of directly perceiving a sensory object. An experience of sensory direct perception is said to be followed by a single moment of mental direct perception. That moment, however, is so short that for ordinary beings it passes without being noticed. Other forms of mental direct perception include the various superknowledges, or ABHIJÑĀ, such as the ability to know the thoughts of others, the ability to remember one’s own former lives, and the ability to hear and see things at a great distance. One element of the Buddhist path is the process of developing mental direct perception to the point that one can directly perceive with the mind (and without thought and imagination) the truths of impermanence, suffering, and nonself. When these truths are directly perceived at the level of a SAMĀDHI that unifies serenity (ŚAMATHA) and insight (VIPAŚYANĀ), the mental direct perception then becomes what is called yogic direct perception (YOGIPRATYAKṢA).

Manorathapūraṇī. In Pāli, the “Fulfiller of Wishes”; a Pāli commentary on the AṄGUTTARANIKĀYA written by BUDDHAGHOSA. Cf. SADDHARMAVIPRALOPA.

manovijñāna. (P. manoviññāṇa; T. yid kyi rnam par shes pa; C. yishi; J. ishiki; K. ŭisik 意識). In Sanskrit, “mental consciousness”; the sixth of the six consciousnesses (after the five sensory consciousnesses). Unlike the sense consciousnesses, all of which entail forms of direct perception (PRATYAKṢA), the mental consciousness is capable of both direct perception (pratyakṣa) and thought (KALPANĀ). Also, unlike the sensory consciousnesses, the mental consciousness is not limited by object: whereas the eye can only see visual objects, the ear can only hear auditory objects, etc., the objects of the mental consciousness are said to be all phenomena (DHARMA) because it is capable of thinking about anything that exists. The mental consciousness also differs from the five sense consciousnesses in terms of its precondition (PRATYAYA). For the five sense consciousnesses, the respective sense organ serves as the precondition; thus, each of these sense organs has a physical dimension (RŪPA). However, for the mental consciousness, the precondition is a previous moment of consciousness, which allows for either the next moment of mental cognition of a previous object or the first moment of cognition of a new object.

Manpukuji. (萬福寺). In Japanese, “Myriad Blessings Monastery”; located in Uji, outside Kyōto, Japan. Currently, Manpukuji is the headquarters (honzan) of the ŌBAKUSHŪ of the ZEN tradition. The monastery was founded by the émigré CHAN (Zen) master YINYUAN LONGXI with the support of the shōgun Tokugawa Ietsuna (1639–1680). Construction began in 1661 and the dharma hall was completed the next year with the help of the grand counselor Sakai Tadakatsu (1587–1662). In 1664, Yinyuan left his head disciple MU’AN XINGTAO in charge and retired to his hermitage at Manpukuji. Mu’an thus became the second abbot of Manpukuji and oversaw the construction of the buddha hall, the bell tower, the patriarchs’ hall, and so forth. For several generations, émigré Chinese monks dominated the abbacy of Manpukuji. The construction of Manpukuji was modeled after Yinyuan’s old monastery of Wanfusi (which is pronounced Manpukuji in Japanese) in Fuzhou (present-day Fujian province). The major icons were also prepared by émigré Chinese artists and, along with the famous portrait of Yinyuan, are now considered important cultural artifacts. Mu’an’s disciple Tetsugen Dōkō (1630–1682) led a project to carve a complete set of xylographs of the Ming dynasty edition of the Buddhist canon, which is now housed at Manpukuji; this edition, commonly called the Ōbaku canon, is one of the few complete xylographic canons still extant in East Asia (cf. the second carving of the Korean Buddhist canon, KORYŎ TAEJANGGYŎNG).

mantra. (T. sngags; C. zhenyan; J. shingon; K. chinŏn 眞言). In Sanskrit, “spell,” “charm,” or “magic formula”; a syllable or series of syllables that may or may not have semantic meaning, most often in a form of Sanskrit, the contemplation or recitation of which is thought to be efficacious. Indian exegetes creatively etymologized the term with the paronomastic gloss “mind protector,” because a mantra serves to protect the mind from ordinary appearances. There are many famous mantras, ranging in length from one syllable to a hundred syllables or more. They are often recited to propitiate a deity, and their letters are commonly visualized in tantric meditations, sometimes within the body of the meditator. Although mantras are typically associated with tantric texts, they also appear in the SŪTRAs, most famously in the PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀHṚDAYASŪTRA (“Heart Sūtra”). Numerous tantric SĀDHANAs require the recitation of a particular mantra a specific number of times, with the recitations counted on a rosary (JAPAMĀLĀ). In Tibetan Buddhism, mantras are also repeated mechanically by turning “prayer wheels” (MA ṆI ’KHOR LO). Perhaps the most famous of all such spells is the six-syllable mantra of the bodhisattva AVALOKITEŚVARA, OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ, which is recited throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world. The Japanese SHINGONSHŪ takes its name from the Sinitic translation of mantra as “true word” (C. zhenyan; J. shingon).

mantrayāna. (T. sngags kyi theg pa; C. zhenyan sheng; J. shingonjō; K. chinŏn sŭng 眞言乘). In Sanskrit, “mantra vehicle”; often used as a synonym of VAJRAYĀNA, suggesting the central place of mantras in tantric practice. According to one popular paronomastic gloss, the term MANTRA means “mind protector,” especially in the sense of protecting the mind from the ordinary appearances of the world. In this sense, the mantrayāna would refer not simply to the recitation of mantra but to the entire range of practices designed to transform the ordinary practitioner into a deity and his ordinary world into a MAṆḌALA. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan forms of the terms mantrayāna and guhyamantrayāna (“secret mantra vehicle”) are used as commonly as vajrayāna and more commonly than TANTRAYĀNA.

manuṣya. (P. manussa; T. mi; C. ren; J. nin; K. in 人). In Sanskrit, “human”; one of the six realms of rebirth (GATI) in SAṂSĀRA, together with the realms of divinities, demigods, animals, ghosts, and hell denizens. Human rebirth (along with that of divinities and sometimes demigods) is considered a fortunate rebirth, unlike rebirth as an animal, ghost, or hell being, which are considered unfortunate (DURGATI; APĀYA). To achieve liberation from rebirth, human birth is considered the ideal state, because a human being is not so beset by suffering that one is unable to practice the path (as are the animals, ghosts, or hell denizens) or so intoxicated by pleasures (as are the divinities) that one is disinclined to do so. According to the theory of KARMAN, rebirth as a human is the result of having performed a virtuous deed, such as a keeping a vow, in a previous life. Among humans, some are more fortunate than others in terms of their access to the dharma and their opportunities for practice, described in a list of opportune births (KṢAṆA; KṢAṆASAṂPAD), such as birth at a time and place where a buddha exists and where one has the capability to understand his teachings. Rebirth as a human endowed with such prospects is said to be exceedingly rare and unlikely to occur again in the near future; therefore, every effort should be made either to achieve liberation in this lifetime or to accumulate the necessary merit (PUṆYA) to ensure rebirth as a human. In Buddhist cosmology, humans occupy the four island continents that surround Mount SUMERU in the cardinal directions. However, humans as they are commonly encountered are found only on the southern continent of JAMBUDVĪPA; the human inhabitants of the other three continents exceed them in both height and in life span.

Manzan Dōhaku. (卍山道白) (1636–1715). In Japanese, “Myriad Mountains, Purity of the Path”; ZEN master and scholar of the SŌTŌSHŪ. Manzan is said to have become a monk at the age of nine and to have experienced a deep awakening at sixteen. After his awakening, he left the following verse: “The night is deep and the clouds have cleared from the sky as if it had been washed; throughout the world, nowhere is the radiance of my eyes defiled or obstructed.” In 1678, he met the Sōtō Zen master Gesshū Sōko (1618–1696) and inherited his dharma (shihō). Two years later Manzan took over the abbacy of the temple Daijōji from Gesshū and remained there for ten years. In 1700, Manzan went to the city of Edo (Tōkyō) in hopes of reforming the custom of IN’IN EKISHI, or “changing teachers according to temple.” Instead, he called for a direct, face-to-face transmission (menju shihō) from one master to his disciple (isshi inshō). After several failed attempts he finally succeeded in persuading the bakufu government to ban the in’in ekishi and GARANBŌ (“temple dharma lineage”) practice in 1703. Manzan was also a consummate scholar who is renowned for his efforts to edit Zen master DŌGEN KIGEN’s magnum opus, SHŌBŌGENZŌ. He based his arguments for the abandonment of garanbō and in’in ekishi on his readings of the Shōbōgenzō. Manzan left many works. His Zenkaiketsu and Taikaku kanna offered a Zen perspective on the meaning of precepts. He also wrote the Tōmon enyoshū, which explains various matters related to Zen, including face-to-face transmission (menju shihō). His teachings can also be found in the Manzan oshō gōroku. His most eminent disciple was the Tokugawa reformer MENZAN ZUIHŌ (1683–1769).

Māra. (T. Bdud; C. Mo; J. Ma; K. Ma 魔). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit., “Maker of Death”; the personification of evil in Buddhism and often referred to as the Buddhist “devil” or “demon”; he is in fact a powerful divinity of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU), devoted to preventing beings from achieving liberation from rebirth and thus conquering death. In the biographies of the Buddha, Māra figures as the Buddha’s antagonist. According to the most elaborate accounts of the Buddha’s enlightenment experience, when the BODHISATTVA SIDDHĀRTHA sat under the BODHI TREE, vowing not to rise until he attained liberation from SAṂSĀRA, he was approached by Māra, who sought to dissuade him from his quest. When he refused, Māra sent his minions to destroy him, but their weapons were transformed into flower blossoms. When he sent his daughters—Ratī (Delight), Aratī (Discontent), and Tṛṣṇā (Craving)—to seduce him, the bodhisattva remained unmoved, in some versions transforming them into hags and then restoring their beauty once they repented. When Māra questioned the bodhisattva’s right to occupy his seat beneath the Bodhi tree, the bodhisattva declared that he had earned that right by accumulating merit over countless eons. When asked who could vouch for these deeds, the bodhisattva extended his right hand and touched the earth, thereby calling the goddess of the earth, STHĀVARĀ, to bear witness to his virtue; this gesture, called the BHŪMISPARŚAMUDRĀ (“earth-touching gesture”), is one of the most common iconographic depictions of the Buddha. The goddess bore witness to the bodhisattva’s virtue by causing the earth to quake. In a Southeast Asian version, the goddess is called THORANI, and she wrung out from her hair all the water that the bodhisattva had offered in oblations over many lives. This created a great torrent, which washed Māra away. In all accounts, Māra is finally vanquished and withdraws, with the entire episode being referred to as the “defeat of Māra” (Māravijaya). Māra reappears shortly after the Buddha’s enlightenment, urging him to immediately pass into PARINIRVĀṆA and not bother teaching others. His request is rejected, but he nevertheless extracts from the Buddha a promise to enter nirvāṇa when he has completed his teaching; near the end of the Buddha’s life, Māra reappears at the CĀPĀLACAITYA to remind him of his promise. Māra also distracts the Buddha’s attendant, ĀNANDA, preventing him from requesting that the Buddha live until the end of the eon, a power that the Buddha possesses but must be asked to exercise. Ānanda is chided by the Buddha and later rebuked by the SAṂGHA for his oversight. Māra commonly appears in Buddhist literature when monks and nuns are about to achieve enlightenment, attempting to distract them. Māra would eventually figure in sectarian polemics as well. In the MAHĀYĀNA sūtras, those who claim that the Mahāyāna sūtras are not the authentic word of the Buddha are condemned as being possessed by Māra. In scholastic literature, Māra is expanded metaphorically into four forms. SKANDHAMĀRA, the māra of the aggregates (SKANDHA), is the mind and body of unenlightened beings, which serve as the site of death. Kleśamāra, the māra of the afflictions (KLEŚA), refers to such afflictions as greed, hatred, and delusion, which catalyze death and rebirth and which prevent liberation. MṚTYUMĀRA, the māra of death, is death itself, and DEVAPUTRAMĀRA, the deity Māra, is the divinity (DEVA) who attacked the Buddha and who seeks to prevent the defeat of the other three forms of Māra.

maraṇa. (T. ’chi ba; C. si; J. shi; K. sa 死). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “death.” In ordinary parlance, death refers to the cessation of a living being’s vital signs, marking the end of a single lifetime. This fact was apparently unknown to Prince SIDDHĀRTHA, such that his observation of a dead body during an excursion outside his palace served as one of the four signs or sights (CATURNIMITTA) that led him to renounce the world and seek a state beyond death. Death is common theme throughout Buddhist literature. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are often listed as four faults of SAṂSĀRA. The gods MĀRA and YAMA are closely associated with death. Throughout the Buddhist world, all manner of rituals are performed to forestall death, and there are numerous instructions on how to face death. Because death is certain to come, but its precise time is unknown, there are constant reminders to be prepared for death at any moment. Because the friends and possessions accumulated in this life cannot be taken to the next life, it is said that nothing is of benefit at the time of death except the dharma. The signs portending death in various levels of existence and the physical and psychological process of dying are described in detail in Buddhist literature. After death has occurred, rituals are typically performed to guide the consciousness of the deceased to rebirth in an auspicious realm. Together with “old age” or “senescence” (JARĀ), death constitutes the twelfth and final link in the cycle of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA). From a philosophical perspective, death is also viewed as occurring constantly with the passage of each momentary combination of mind and matter (NĀMARŪPA) or the five aggregates (SKANDHA). Viewed from this perspective, an individual dies (and is reborn) moment after moment (see KṢAṆIKAVĀDA), physical death being merely the final specific instance thereof. The passing away of an enlightened person is described as a special kind of death, insofar as the conditions for future existence have been eliminated in that individual and as a consequence there will be no more rebirth for that person.

maraṇānusmṛti. (P. maraṇānussati; T. ’chi ba rjes su dran pa; C. niansi; J. nenshi; K. yŏmsa 念死). In Sanskrit, “recollection of death”; one of the most widely described forms of Buddhist meditation. This practice occurs as one of the forty objects of meditation (KAMMAṬṬHĀNA) for the development of concentration. One of the most detailed descriptions of the practice is found in the VISUDDHIMAGGA of BUDDHAGHOSA. Among six generic personality types (greedy, hateful, ignorant, faithful, intelligent, and speculative), Buddhaghosa states that mindfulness of death is a suitable object for persons of intelligent temperament. Elsewhere, however, Buddhaghosa says that among the two types of objects of concentration, the generically useful objects and specific objects, only two among the forty are generically useful: the cultivation of loving-kindness (P. mettā; S. MAITRĪ) and the recollection of death. In describing the actual practice, Buddhaghosa explains that the meditator who wishes to take death as his object of concentration should go to a remote place and repeatedly think, “Death will take place” or “Death, death.” Should that not result in the development of concentration, Buddhaghosa provides eight ways of contemplating death. The first of the eight is contemplation of death as a murderer, where one imagines that death will appear to deprive one of life. Death is certain from the moment of birth; beings move progressively toward their demise without ever turning back, just as the sun never reverses its course through the sky. The second contemplation is to think of death as the ruin of all the accomplishments and fortune acquired in life. The third contemplation is to compare oneself to others who have suffered death, yet who are greater than oneself in fame, merit, strength, supranormal powers (P. iddhi; S. ṚDDHI), or wisdom. Death will come to oneself just as it has come to these beings. The fourth contemplation is that the body is shared with many other creatures. Here one contemplates that the body is inhabited by the eighty families of worms, who may easily cause one’s death, as may a variety of accidents. The fifth contemplation is of the tenuous nature of life, that life requires both inhalation and exhalation of breath, requires a balanced alternation of the four postures (ĪRYĀPATHA) of standing, sitting, walking, and lying down. It requires moderation of hot and cold, a balance of the four physical constituents, and nourishment at the proper time. The sixth contemplation is that there is no certainty about death; that is, there is no certainty as to the length of one’s life, the type of illness of which one will die, when one will die, nor where, and there is no certainty as to where one will then be reborn. The seventh contemplation is that life is limited in length. In general, human life is short; beyond that, there is no certainty that one will live as long as it takes “to chew and swallow four or five mouthfuls.” The final contemplation is of the shortness of the moment, that is, that life is in fact just a series of moments of consciousness. Buddhaghosa also describes the benefits of cultivating mindfulness of death. A monk devoted to the mindfulness of death is diligent and disenchanted with the things of the world. He is neither acquisitive nor avaricious and is increasingly aware of impermanence (S. ANITYA), the first of the three marks of mundane existence. From this develops an awareness of the other two marks, suffering and nonself. He dies without confusion or fear. If he does not attain the deathless state of NIRVĀṆA in this lifetime, he will at least be reborn in an auspicious realm. Similar instructions are found in the literatures of many other Buddhist traditions.

Māratajjanīyasutta. (C. Xiangmo jing; J. Gōmakyō; K. Hangma kyŏng 降魔經). In Pāli, “Discourse on the Rebuke to Māra”; the fiftieth sutta in the MAJJHIMANIKĀYA (a separate SARVĀSTIVĀDA recension is the 131st sūtra in the Chinese translation of the MADHYAMĀGAMA; there are also two other independent translations); the scripture is an account of an encounter between MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA (P. Mahāmoggallāna) and the divinity MĀRA, the personification of evil. According to the Pāli recension, Mahāmoggallāna was in the Bhesakaḷā grove at Suṃsumāragiri in the Bhagga country when Māra entered his belly. Mahāmoggallāna coaxed Māra to stop vexing him by relating how in a previous life, during the time of Kakusandha Buddha, he had been Māra’s uncle. He warns Māra of the dangers that befall those who create trouble for the Buddha and his disciples.

Māratika. (T. ’Chi ba mthar byed). A cave in eastern Nepal near the town of Rumjitar, called Haileshi in Nepali, believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be the site where PADMASAMBHAVA and his consort MANDĀRAVĀ undertook the practice of longevity for three months. According to traditional accounts, in a vision the couple received initiation and blessings directly from the buddha AMITĀYUS, and Padmasambhava attained the state of a VIDYĀDHARA with the power to control the duration of his life.

māravijaya. In Sanskrit, the “defeat of Māra.” See MĀRA.

mārga. (P. magga; T. lam; C. dao; J. dō; K. to 道). In Sanskrit, “path”; a polysemous term in Sanskrit, whose root denotation is a road, track, way, or course. As one of the most important terms in Buddhism, it refers to the metaphorical route from one state to another, typically from suffering to liberation, from SAṂSĀRA to NIRVĀṆA. The term derives in part from the view that the means of achieving liberation from suffering have been identified by the Buddha, and he himself has successfully followed the route to that goal, leaving behind tracks or footprints that others can follow. Indeed, it is the Buddhist view that each of the buddhas of the past has followed the same path to enlightenment. However, in the interval between buddhas, that path becomes forgotten, and the purpose of the next buddha’s advent in the world is to rediscover and reopen that same path. The term mārga occurs in the Buddha’s first sermon (S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASŪTRA; P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA) as the fourth constituent of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (CATVĀRY ĀRYASATYĀNI), where it is identified as the eightfold path (ĀRYĀṢṬĀṄGAMĀRGA) between the two extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. Elsewhere, the path is associated with the threefold training (TRIŚIKṢĀ) in morality (ŚĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJÑĀ). However, there are numerous delineations of the path to enlightenment. For example, both the mainstream Buddhist schools and the MAHĀYĀNA describe three paths: (1) the path of the ŚRĀVAKA, culminating in attainment of NIRVĀṆA as an ARHAT; (2) the path of the PRATYEKABUDDHA, also culminating in the nirvāṇa of an arhat; and (3) the path of the BODHISATTVA, culminating in the attainment of buddhahood. Each of these paths has its own stages, with a common system describing five (PAÑCAMĀRGA): (1) the path of accumulation (SAṂBHĀRAMĀRGA), (2) the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA), (3) the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA), (4) the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA), and (5) the adept path, “where there is nothing more to learn” (AŚAIKṢAMĀRGA). In more technical descriptions, the path to enlightenment is described as a series of moments of consciousness in a process of purification, in which increasingly subtle states of contaminants (ĀSRAVA) and afflictions (KLEŚA) are permanently cleansed from the mind. The term “path” figures in the title of a number of highly important Buddhist works, such as the VISUDDHIMAGGA (“Path of Purification”) by the Pāli commentator BUDDHAGHOSA. The Tibetan exegete TSONG KHA PA wrote of the “three principal aspects of the path” (lam rtso rnam gsum): renunciation, BODHICITTA, and correct view. See also DAO.

mārgajñatā. (T. lam shes; C. daozhi; J. dōchi; K. toji 道智). In Sanskrit, “knowledge of the paths”; one of the three knowledges (along with SARVĀKĀRAJÑATĀ and SARVAJÑATĀ, or VASTUJÑĀNA) set forth in the ABHISAMAYĀLAṂKĀRA. When explained from the perspective of the path that bodhisattvas have to complete in order to reach their goal of full enlightenment, the knowledge of paths is indicated by nine dharmas; these include its special causes (MAHĀKARUṆĀ, Mahāyāna GOTRA, and so on), the bodhisattva’s paths of accumulation and preparation (called MOKṢABHĀGĪYA and NIRVEDHABHĀGĪYA), a special path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA), and a path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA) understood from the standpoints of UPĀYA (method) and PRAJÑĀ (wisdom). “Method” consists of zealous resolution (ADHIMOKṢA) regarding the merit (PUṆYA) that derives from the perfection of wisdom (PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀ) and its results; rejoicing (ANUMODANA) in that merit; and dedicating it to the goal of full enlightenment (PARIṆĀMANĀ). Wisdom consists in innate purity, and the purity that derives from the elimination of obscurations (ĀVARAṆA). When described from the perspective of the bodhisattva’s actual practice, “knowledge of the paths” refers to the Mahāyāna path of bodhisattvas, including all the aspects (ĀKĀRA) of knowledge that are as yet uninformed by the full knowledge of a buddha (the sarvākārajñatā).

mārgaphala. (P. maggaphala; T. lam ’bras; C. daoguo; J. dōka; K. to kwa 道果). In Sanskrit, lit. “path and its fruition”; the eight stages of realization belonging to an ĀRYA, or “noble one.” consisting of four supramundane paths (MĀRGA) and four supramundane fruits (PHALA). These are as follows: (1) realization of the path of stream-enterer (SROTAĀPANNA), and (2) the realization of the fruition of stream-enterer; (3) realization of the path of once-returner (SAKṚDĀGĀMIN), and (4) realization of the fruition of once-returner; (5) realization of the path of nonreturner (ANĀGĀMIN), and (6) realization of the fruition of nonreturner; and (7) realization of the path of the worthy ones (ARHAT); and (8) the realization of the fruition of worthy one. In Tibetan, the literal translation of mārgaphala as LAM ’BRAS refers to a central doctrine of the SA SKYA sect.

mārgasatya. (P. maggasacca; T. lam gyi bden pa; C. daodi; J. dōtai; K. toje 道諦). In Sanskrit, “the truth of the path”; the fourth of the so-called FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (catvāry āryasatyāni) set forth by the Buddha in his first sermon (S. DHARMACAKRAPRAVARTANASŪTRA; P. DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANASUTTA) in the Deer Park (MṚGADĀVA) at SĀRNĀTH. In that sermon, the Buddha identified the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering to be the eightfold path (ĀRYĀṢṬĀṄGAMĀRGA). In later literature, the truth of the path is also described in terms of the three trainings (TRIŚIKṢĀ) in morality (SĪLA), concentration (SAMĀDHI), and wisdom (PRAJÑĀ). Like the three other truths, the truth of the path has four aspects. They are: (1) path (mārga), because the path leads to liberation from suffering and rebirth; stated more technically, it leads from the state of the ordinary person (PṚTHAGJANA) to the state of the noble one (ĀRYA); (2) suitability (nyāya), because the path contains the antidotes suitable to destroy suffering and the origin of suffering; (3) achievement (PRATIPATTI) because the path brings about liberation; and (4) deliverance (nairyāṇika), because wisdom destroys the afflictions (KLEŚA) and delivers one to a state of liberation.

Marīcī. (T. ’Od zer can ma; C. Molizhi; J. Marishi; K. Mariji 摩利支). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit. “Shining,” or “Mirage”; proper name of the Indian goddess of the morning sun, who was adopted into the Buddhist pantheon. Marīcī rides a chariot drawn by seven pigs; her charioteer is Rāhu. She is depicted with three faces and eight hands, either in her chariot or simply standing on the back of a sow. In tantric Buddhism, Marīcī is the consort of VAIROCANA, although she is rarely shown in sexual union with him. Due to her porcine steeds, in Nepal and Tibet she is sometimes confused with VAJRAVĀRĀHĪ. Under the name Aśokakāntā, she is also an attendant of TĀRĀ.

Mar pa bka’ brgyud. (Marpa Kagyü). In Tibetan term, “Oral Lineage of Mar pa”; one of the so-called eight great conveyances that are lineages of achievement (SGRUB BRGYUD SHING RTA CHEN PO BRGYAD). The term refers generally to the teachings transmitted from such Indian masters as TILOPA, NĀROPA, and MAITRĪPA to the Tibetan teacher MAR PA CHOS KYI BLO GROS and subsequently to MI LA RAS PA, RAS CHUNG PA RDO RJE GRAGS, SGAM PO PA BSOD RNAM RIN CHEN, and the various BKA’ BRGYUD subsects. It is generally synonomous with the term DWAGS PO BKA’ BRGYUD. See also BKA’ BRGYUD CHE BZHI CHUNG BRGYAD.

Mar pa Chos kyi blo gros. (Marpa Chökyi Lodrö) (1012–1097). A renowned Tibetan translator and lay Buddhist master who played an important role in the later transmission (PHYI DAR) of Buddhism from India to Tibet. He is regarded as the Tibetan founder of the BKA’ BRGYUD sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which traces its lineage to India and the MAHĀSIDDHAs TILOPA and NĀROPA. In his traditional biographies, Mar pa is generally regarded as a reincarnation of the Indian mahāsiddha DOMBĪ HERUKA. Mar pa was born to wealthy landowners in the southern Tibetan region of LHO BRAG and quickly proved to be a gifted child. As an adult, Mar pa was characterized as having a volatile temper, although ultimately compassionate. His parents sent their son to study Sanskrit and Indian vernacular languages with the translator ’BROG MI SHĀKYA YE SHES in western Tibet. Because resources for studying Buddhism in Tibet were limited as the so-called dark period between the earlier dissemination (SNGA DAR) and later dissemination (phyi dar) came to an end, Mar pa decided to make the harrowing journey to India to seek instruction from Buddhist masters. He would make three journeys there over the course of his life. He first spent three years in Nepal, acclimating to the new environment and continuing his study of local languages. There he met two Nepalese teachers, Chitherpa and Paiṇḍapa, who offered many religious instructions but also encouraged Mar pa to seek out the master who would become his chief guru, the great SIDDHA NĀROPA. According to tradition, Mar pa studied under Nāropa at the forest retreat of Pullahari, receiving initiations and teachings of several important tantric lineages, especially those of the BKA’ ’BABS BZHI (four transmissions) that Nāropa had received from his principal teacher TILOPA. Despite the fame of this encounter, contemporary Tibetan sources indicate that Mar pa himself never claimed to have studied directly with Nāropa, who had already passed away prior to Mar pa’s trip to India. Mar pa’s other great master was the Indian siddha MAITRĪPA, from whom he received instruction in MAHĀMUDRĀ and the tradition of DOHĀ, or spiritual song. Mar pa received other tantric transmissions from Indian masters such as Jñānagarbha and Kukkurīpā. Upon his return to Tibet, Mar pa married several women, the most well known being BDAG ME MA, who figures prominently in the life story of MI LA RAS PA. He began his career as teacher and translator, while also occupying himself as landowner and farmer. He had intended to pass his dharma lineage to his son DARMA MDO SDE, for whom Mi la ras pa’s famous tower was built, but the child was killed in an equestrian accident. Mar pa’s accumulated instructions were later passed to four principal disciples: Ngog Chos sku rdo rje (Ngok Chöku Dorje), Mes tshon po (Me Tsönpo), ’Tshur dbang nge (Tsur Wangnge), and the renowned YOGIN and poet Mi la ras pa. At least sixteen works translated from Sanskrit by Mar pa are preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. He is also known as Mar pa LO TSĀ BA (Marpa the Translator) and Lho brag pa (Man from Lhodrak). Among the biographies of Mar pa, one of the most famous is that by GTSANG SMYON HERUKA.

Maru. (S). One of the twenty-four sacred sites associated with the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA. See PĪṬHA.

ma sanjin. (J. masangin; K. ma samgŭn 麻三斤). In Chinese, “three catties of flax”; a CHAN expression that becomes a famous meditative topic (HUATOU) and is used in Chan “questioning meditation” (see KANHUA CHAN). The phrase appears in a case or precedent (GONG’AN) attributed to DONGSHAN SHOUCHU (910–990) in the YUNMEN ZONG: Once when Dongshan was asked, “What is the Buddha?,” he replied, “Three catties of flax.” This gong’an appears as case no. 18 in the WUMEN GUAN (“Gateless Checkpoint”) and case no. 12 in the BIYAN LU (“Blue Cliff Record”).

Maskarin Gośālīputra. (P. Makkhali Gosāla; T. Kun tu rgyu gnag lhas kyi bu; C. Moqieli Jushelizi; J. Magari Kusharishi; K. Malgari Kusarija 末伽梨拘賖梨子) (d. c. 488 BCE). In Sanskrit, “Maskarin, Who Was Born in a Cow Shed”; the name of an ĀJĪVAKA teacher (and the sect’s founder, according to some sources) who was a contemporary of the Buddha. Because no Ājīvaka texts have survived, information about the school’s doctrines must be derived from Buddhist and JAINA sources. According to Jaina accounts, Maskarin Gośālīputra was a disciple of MAHĀVĪRA but eventually left the Jaina fold. Maskarin Gośālīputra subsequently founded his own school of wandering religious (ŚRAMAṆA) called the Ājīvakas and was notorious for denying the doctrine of moral cause and effect (KARMAN). As his rivals describe his teachings, he asserted that there is no immediate or ultimate cause for the purity or depravity of beings; instead, beings are directed along their course by destiny or fate (niyati). Thus attainments or accomplishments of any kind are not a result of an individual’s own action or the acts of others; rather, those beings experience ease or pain according to their positions within the various stations of existence. Maskarin Gośālīputra is portrayed as advocating a theory of automatic purification through an essentially infinite number of transmigrations (saṃsāraśuddhi), during which all beings would ultimately attain perfection. The Buddha is said to have regarded Makkhali Gośālīputra’s views as the most dangerous of heresies, because they were capable of leading even the divinities (DEVA) to loss, discomfort, and suffering. He is one of the so-called six heterodox teachers (TĪRTHIKA) often mentioned in Buddhist sūtras and criticized by the Buddha. The other five are PŪRAṆA-KĀŚYAPA, AJITA KEŚAKAMBHALA, KAKUDA KĀTYĀYANA, SAÑJAYA VAIRAṬĪPUTRA, and NIRGRANTHA-JÑĀTĪPUTRA.

Mathurā. [alt. Madhurā] (T. Bcom rlag; C. Motouluo; J. Machūra; K. Mat’ura 摩偸羅). North central Indian city on the Yamunā River, located approximately thirty miles (fifty kms.) north of Agra, and renowned as the birthplace of Kṛṣṇa. During the time of the Buddha, it was the capital of Śurasena and was ruled by King Avantiputra. The Buddha seems to have visited the city but did not preach there. Indeed, he seems to have disliked it; in the Madhurasutta, he enumerates its five disadvantages: uneven ground, excessive dust, fierce dogs, bestial spirits (YAKṢA), and difficulty in obtaining alms. Buddhism gained favor there in later years, and Mathurā became one of the major scholastic centers of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA and/or MŪLASARVĀSTIVĀDA school; both FAXIAN and XUANZANG describe it as a flourishing Buddhist city.

mati. (P. mati; T. blo gros; C. hui; J. e; K. hye 慧). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “discernment” or “intelligence.” This term is often used in ABHIDHARMA texts to mean “the proper discernment of DHARMAs,” and, in this sense, mati is closely synonymous with PRAJÑĀ, or “wisdom.” Mati in its denotation of “discernment” or “mentality” is used in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA system to indicate one of the ten “omnipresent mental factors” (MAHĀBHŪMIKA) that are said to accompany all consciousness activity. In the “eight consciousnesses” model of the the YOGĀCĀRA school, mati refers to the seventh consciousness (KLIṢṬAMANAS). ¶ Mati is also used as a proper noun and serves as the name of a handful of figures in Buddhist literature, including a previous incarnation of ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha.