Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra

by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön | 2001 | 941,039 words

This is the English translation of the Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra (“the treatise on the great virtue of wisdom”) by Nagarjuna (c. 2nd century A.D.). The book, in the form of an encyclopedia on Buddhism, is a commentary on the Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita (“the perfection of wisdom in five thousand lines”). Volume I describes the conditions...

Chapter XXXIX - The Ten Powers of the Buddha according to the Abhidharma

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- Sub-Contents: (+ / -)

Preliminary note to Chapter XXXIX

Note (1): The Daśabalasūtra

Note (2): Lists of Jñānabalas

+ Part 1 - General questions

. I. Attributes of the śrāvaka and attributes of the Buddha

. II. Attributes to be fulfilled (prāptukāma) and attributes to be cognized (jñātukāma)

. III. Definition of the ten powers (bala) according to the Daśabalasūtra

. IV. Why teach the ten powers (daśa-bala)?

. V. Why are there only ten powers?

. VI. Why the first power includes the other nine

+ Part 2 - The ten powers in particular

. I. The power of the possible and the impossible (sthānāsthāna-jñānabala)

. The Bahudhātuka-sūtra (sutta)

. II. The knowledge of the retribution of actions (karmavipāka-jñānabala)

. III. The knowledge of the dhyānas, etc.

. IV. The knowledge of the degree of the moral faculties (indriya-parāpara-jñānabala)

. V. The knowledge of the aspirations of beings (nānādhimukti-jñānabala)

. VI. The knowledge of acquired dispositions (dhātu-jñānabala)

. VII. The knowledge of the way leading to the various destinies

. VIII. The knowledge of former abodes (pūrvanivāsa-jñānabala)

. IX. The knowledge of death and rebirth (cyutyupapāda-jñānabala)

. X. The power of the destruction of the impurities (āsravakṣaya-jñānabala)

+ Part 3 - Appendices to the ten powers

. I. The best of the ten powers

. II. Why the buddha thinks highly of his ten powers

. III. There is no boastfulness in the buddha

Appendix 1 - The story of Śrīvṛddhi

Appendix 2 - The mind at death (maraṇacitta)

Appendix 3 - The story of Aṅgulimāla

Appendix 4 - The story of Cūḍapanthaka

Appendix 5 - The story of Vakkhali

Appendix 6 - The story of Śaivala, son of Amṛtā (aunt of the Buddha)

Appendix 7 - The expression of driving out a peg by means of a counter-peg

Appendix 8 - The fourth dhyāna

Appendix 9 - The Praśānta-sūtra

[k. 24, p. 235b]

Sūtra. – Furthermore, O Śāriputra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to know completely the ten powers of the Buddha, the four fearlessnesses, the four infallible knowledges, the eighteen special attributes, great loving-kindness and great compassion, must exert himself in the Perfection of Wisdom (punar aparaṃ Śāriputra bodhisattvena mahāsattvenā daśa tathāgabalāni catvāri vaiśāradyāni catasraḥ pratisaṃvido ‘ṣṭadaśāveṇikān buddhadharmān mahāmaitrīṃ mahākaruṇāṃ parijñātukāmena prajñāpāramitāyaṃ śikṣitavyam).

Śāstra. –

Last Updated: 28 September, 2019