The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c10.2

c10.2

A bodhisattva's entire career has been divided into several parts and stages. He rises and advances from one stage to another till he attains Enlightenment. These stages have been called bhūmis, and also vihāras. The word bhūmi means, "earth, place, region; (figuratively), ground, plane, stage, level; state of consciousness" (Pāli Dicy.). In a metaphorical sense, it is employed in a general way to denote "range", "state", "sphere", "station", "condition", "function", etc. We find such phrases as kāma-bhūmi, dānta-bhūmi, kumāra-bhūmi, nirvāṇa-bhūmi, citta-bhūmi, kṣānti-bhūmi, pṛthag-jana-bhūmi, tathatā-bhūmi, etc. In the Dhamma-saṅgaṇi, bhūmi is synonymous with magga (Way).¹ The Yoga-sūtras mention dṛḍha-bhūmi, prānta-bhūmi, sārva-bhauma, etc. (Yo. Sū., I, 14; ii, 27; ii, 31—pp. 18, 97, 104). Bhūmi has thus become a philosophical term, meaning "Stage" (of spiritual progress). Almost all the Buddhist treatises divide a bodhisattva's career into bhūmis, but the Bodhisattva-bhūmi also discusses thirteen vihāras (states, stations). The M. S. Al. gives a fanciful etymological explanation of bhūmi: "bhūyo bhūyo amitāsu" ("again and again in the unmeasured stages"); or, "bhūtānām amitānām" ("immeasurable number of creatures", to deliver them from fear).² Such conceits need not be taken seriously.