A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t4.127

v2.c19.s6.t4.127

In the Buddhist dictionary Mahā-Vyutpatti (65, 4), a work called Buddhāvataṃsaka² is mentioned in a list of Mahāyāna-Sūtras, immediately after the Śatasāhasrikā, Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā and the Aṣṭasāhasrikā-Prajñā-Pāramitās. Both in the Chinese Tripiṭaka (Section IV, Hua-yen) and the Tibetan Kanjur,³ there is a large body of writings entitled thus. It is the sacred scripture of the Avataṃsaka school which arose in China between 557 and 589 A.D., and of the Japanese Kegon sect.⁴ According to Chinese sources, there are supposed to have béen six different Avataṁsaka-Sūtras, the longest of which contained 100,000 Gāthās and the shortest 36,000. The latter was translated into Chinese in 418 A.D. by Buddhabhadra together with other monks. Sikṣānanda made a translation in 45,000 Gāthās, between 695 and 699 A.D.¹ Though no Avataṁsaka or Buddhāvataṁsaka Sūtra has come down in Sanskrit, there is a Gaṇḍavyūha-Mahāyāna-Sūtra,² which corresponds to one of the Chinese translations of the Avataṁsaka.³ The main contents of the Gaṇḍavyūha are the wanderings of the youth Sudhana, who travels all over India on the advice of the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, in order to attain to the highest knowledge essential for enlightenment. He wanders from land to land, seeking instruction from various persons, monks and nuns, lay adherents both male and female, from a merchant, a king, a slave, a boy, also from the goddesses of the night, from Gopā, the wife of Śākyamuni and from Māyā, the mother of Śākyamuni,⁴ until, finally, by the favour of Mañjuśrī, he attains to perfect knowledge, through the instrumentality of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.[^1)