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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c8.s9: VII. Dūraṅgamā or Sābhisaṁskāra-Sābhoga-Nirnimitta-Vihāra

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c8.s9

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VII. Dūraṅgamā or Sābhisaṁskāra-Sābhoga-Nirnimitta-Vihāra

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A Bodhisattva after completing the bodhisattvamārga enters into the seventh bhūmi. He now commences practising a different and superior path aided by the ten kinds of knowledge of expedients (upāyaprajñājñāna)². The ten kinds are as follows: He

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² B. Bh., p. 19. It should be noted that there are two sections in each of the ten kinds of knowledge or activities of the bodhisattva, the first section being indicated as (a) representing his actual, and the second as (b) the expedients (upāyakauśalya) adopted by him for the sake of ordinary human beings.

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i. (a) possesses a mind well-trained by the meditations of śūnyatā, animitta and apraṇihita; (b) appears as if acquiring a collection of great merits and knowledge;

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ii. (a) comprehends the essencelessness (nairātmya-niḥsattva)

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of all dharmas; (b) does not give up the four apramāṇavihāras, viz., karuṇā, maitri, muditā and upekṣā;

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iii. (a) collects the best of all merits; (b) does not cling to any dharma;

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iv. (a) remains detached from the three dhātus; (b) shows also his doings in the three dhātus;

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v. (a) frees himself absolutely from all afflictions (kleśas); (b) performs actions needed for eradicating rāga, dveṣa etc. of beings;

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vi. (a) realises the non-duality (advaya) of all things which are like mirage, echo, etc.; (b) shows also his various actions, discriminations, and immeasurable aspirations;

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vii. develops a mind well aware of the sameness of all Buddhakṣetras;

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viii. (a) merges himself in the dharmakāya of all Buddhas; (b) shows also his rūpa-kāya with its major and minor lakṣaṇas¹;

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¹ Laṅkā., p. 192, tells us that the bodhisattvas in this bhūmi cannot see the manomayadharmakāya of the Tathāgata.

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ix. acquires the voice of the Tathāgata; and

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x. (a) comprehends the time distinguished as past, present and future as one moment (ekakṣaṇatryadhvānubodham); (b) shows also for the sake of the world his existence in the various kalpas.

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For even a moment he does not remain dissociated from mārga-abhinirhāra (activities relating to the path), and jñānābhirhāra (activities relating to jñāna). He completes all the ten pāramitās² and the four saṃgrahavastus, four adhiṣṭhānas and thirty-seven bodhipakṣika dharmas.³ He is now endowed with kāyakarma and vākkarma, pure according to the aspiration of the bodhisattva, the ten kuśala-karmapathas practised by Samyaksambuddhas and performs spontaneously the functions connected with the worldly arts and crafts (śilpasthānakarmasthāna) which were mastered by him in the fifth bhūmi,¹ and is now the teacher of beings of the three thousand worlds ² and has no equal in āśaya (aspiration) and exertion (prayoga) excepting, of course, those bodhisattvas who are in the higher bhūmis. He has now in front of his mind all dhyānas, samādhis, samāpattis, abhijñās and vimoksas, which will be completed in the following bhūmis. He now practises many samādhis and goes beyond the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha bhūmi and approaches the Prajñājñānavicāraṇabhūmi.³

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² Daśa., pp. 56-7. It will be observed that the pāramitās are counted here as ten, i.e., adding to the usual six (7) Upāya-kauśalya, (8) Praṇidhāna, (9) Bala and (10) Jñāna. See ante, p. 12.

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³ Daśa., pp. 57-8 gives briefly a comparative statement of the previous six bhūmis and the seventh bhūmi. All the attainments acquired hitherto up to the seventh bhūmi are completed spontaneously (anābhogena) by the bodhisattvas in the later bhūmis.

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¹ See ante, p. 272.

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² Cf. B. Bh., p. 20.

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³ Daśa., p. 60 accounts for the reasons of Bodhisattva's repeating the performances of the first or other bhūmis. Cf. B. Bh., p. 20.

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He attained nirodha in the sixth bhūmi, and in the seventh, he entered into and arose out of it but it should not be thought that he is subject to nirodha because he is above the delusion (vitarkadoṣa) of the Śrāvakas, viz., that nirodha is saṃskṛtātyanta vyupaśama (the ultimate cessation of the constituted things).⁴ It is one of the excellences of bodhisattvas that they rise up to, and remain in, the bhūtakoti-vihāra (i.e., ultimate possible state of sentient existence)⁵ but are never subject to nirodha.

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⁴ In fact this shows the line of demarcation between the Śrāvakas and the Bodhisattvas.

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⁵ Cf. Bhavāgra or Bhavāgraparama=Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana. Kośa, VI, 37 fn. Cf. also Dīgha, II, p. 156: when Buddha was attaining parinibbāna it was said that he "nevasaññānāsaññāyatana-samāpattiyā vuṭṭhahitvā saññā-vedayita-nirodham samāpajji." Then he comes down from there and attains parinibbāna in the fourth jhāna.

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Armed with great powers, meditation, and knowledge of expedients, he manifests himself in the world, shows his aspiration for Nirvāṇa, and surrounds himself with a large number of followers, but he remains mentally detached from everything. According to his praṇidhāna he appears in the tridhātu to rescue beings from misery, but he is not contaminated by the worldly impurities. Though he has the Buddhajñāna he shows himself as belonging to the class of Śrāvakas or Pratyekabuddhas, or even as subject to the snares of Māra and the influences of heretical teachers, going even so far as to sever himself from the Buddhadharma, take to worldly rites, or the enjoyments of the worlds and heavens.

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He sees many Buddhas, hears from them the law, and acts according to their directions. His faith in the abstruse dharma (gambhīradharmakṣānti) is purified. He greatly develops the upāyakauśalya-pāramitā.¹

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¹ The Mtu. (I, p. 127) says nothing in particular about this bhūmi except that a bodhisattva practises self-control for doing good to beings. The Sata. (p. 1457) speaks of forty dharmas relating to the non-existence of soul and other worldly things, and the realisation of śūnyatā and allied matters. Hence, it gives the gist of the practices mentioned in the Daśa.

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