Essay name: Dasabhumika Sutra (translation and study)
Author:
Hwa Seon Yoon
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Department of Pali
This is a study and translation of the Dasabhumika Sutra (“Ten Stages Discourse”)—a significant Buddhist text. It examines the distinction between Theravada (Hinayana) and Mahayana Buddhism, focusing on the divergence in the spiritual concepts of Arhatship, Bodhisattva, Paramitas and Bhumis.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
33 (of 59)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
33 62
colophons available in all the manuscripts and versions. As regards to
the meaning of the title, J. Rahder thinks that the word Daśabhūmiśvara
stands for one who has mastered the ten stages in the career of a
and is an epithet of Mañjuśrī in the Ārya-
Bodhisattva,
mañjuśrīnāmāṣṭaśataka.63
The Daśabhūmika-Sūtra is considered as one of the most
important Mahāyāna Texts by its distinctive contribution hence it is put in
the group of principal texts called the Navadharma,64 in Nepal. It is one
of the two independent Buddhist (Sanskrit) Sūtras belonging to the
Buddhāvatamsaka-Sutra; other one being the Gandavyuha-Sūtra."
The entire Buddhāvatamsaka-Sutra,"
was made available into two
Chinese versions in sixty volumes and in eighty volumes during 418-420
62 R.L. Mitra, SBLN. p. 79; also compare Johannse Rahder, Acta Or. IV, p.214.
63 Acta Or. IV, p.214.
64 The other texts that fall into this special category, i.e., Navadharma are:-
Aṣṭasāhasrikā-Prajñāpāramitā, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, Lalitavastu, Laṃkāvatāra,
Suvarnaprabhāsa, Gandhavyūha, Tathāgataguhyaka, Samādhiraja.
65 The Sanskrit text was published: Gvy. critically edited, collating six MSS., by
D.T. Sunuki and H. Idzumi, during 1934-36.
66 The Buddhāvatamsaka-sūtra, though its Sanskrit text has not wholly been
preserved, has been translated into Chinese with the Chinese equivalent Hua-yen (R)
meaning "Adorned with Various Flowers".
