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
34 (of 59)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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34
and 695-699 A.D. respectively.
The Daśabhūmika-Sūtra is in the
twenty-sixth chapter among thirty-nine chapters in total in the former.
The Avatamsaka-Sūtra speaks of fifty two stages: ten faiths (+), ten
abodes (+), ten conducts (+1), ten returnings (+), ten stages
(+), equal enlightenment (**), and finally, marvelous enlightenment
(妙覺) It seems that these 52 stages are only a form of classification of
the Bodhisattvas according to their qualities and that they do not indicate
the gradual stages of spiritual progress except the ten stages in the fifth
item, that is, the ten stages (+), where we find mention of the bhūmis.
Besides, between the 3rd and the 7th centuries, it has been rendered into
Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, etc., and this bears
etc., and this bears
evidence to its
popularity as well as importance as a Mahāyāna work.
The purpose of the Daśabhūmika-Sūtra is to present the ten stages
(bhūmi), in a systematic way, through which a Bodhisattva has to proceed
before he finally
finally attains
Buddhahood.
The accomplishments a
Bodhisattva has to attain in each stage are elaborately explained in the
Daśabhūmika-Sūtra.
3-2. Manuscripts and Translations of the text
or
There are the Sanskrit manuscripts of Daśabhumika-Sūtra
Daśabhūmiśvara with their variant translations in different languages.
The most ancient group of the Manuscripts is:-
