འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆབ་སམས་དཔའ་སྤྱད་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.4

intro.4

This opening narrative sets the stage for a sequence of dialogues between the three-year-old Ratnadatta and the Buddha’s close disciples Maudgalyā­yana and Śāriputra as well as the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Much in the same way that famous works such as the Vimalakīrti­nirdeśa­sūtra and Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra frame Mahāyāna doctrine within an inversion of traditional hierarchies of authority, Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva places such esteemed elders as Maudgalyā­yana and Śāriputra on the receiving end of a critique delivered by a three-year-old boy. This is a startling inversion and can be interpreted as a bodhisattva’s critique of the path leading to the attainment of a worthy one. Additionally, with its primary interlocutor being a small child, Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva can be classified together with a number of other works in which a young boy (dāraka) or girl (dārikā) boldly challenges one or more of the elder disciples of the Buddha and defeats them in philosophical debate.¹