Part 17 - Boddhisattva Ideal in Pāli Canon

It is first necessary to ascertain the presence and scope of the bodhisattva ideal in Theravāda Buddhism. This will be accomplished by looking at the presence of the ideal in the Theravāda Buddhist Pāli canon (theory) as well as by investigating how the same ideal permeates the lives of Theravāda Buddhists (practice). The presence of the bodhisattva ideal in the Theravāda Buddhist Pāli canon is primarily restricted to Gotama Buddha. The use of the term “bodhisattva” occurs in a number of the suttas in the Majjhima, Anguttara, and Samyutta Nikāyas where the Buddha is purported to have said: “Monks, before my Awakening, and while I was yet merely the Bodhisatta, not fully-awakened....”^[1]

In addition to referring to the present life of Gotama, the term “bodhisattva” is also used in relation to the penultimate life of Gotama in Tusita heaven, as well as his conception and birth. In later canonical texts, the bodhisattva ideal is further developed and associated with numerous concepts. These developments (which include the concept of a bodhisattva vow) may be said to introduce “into Theravāda Buddhism what in Mahāyāna studies has been called ‘the Bodhisattva ideal.’^[2]

In the Sutta Nipata, for example, the term “bodhisattva” refers to the historical Buddha prior to his enlightenment and signifies a being set on Buddhahood. In addition, the bodhisattva ideal in this text is also associated with the quality of compassion. This is exemplified by the sage Asita’s remark to Gotama’s father (Suddhodana) that the young bodhisattva-prince “will come to the fulfillment of perfect Enlightenment... [and] will start turning the wheel of Truth out of compassion for the well-being of many.” ^[3]

In yet another canonical text, the Buddhavamsa, the bodhisattva ideal is developed to the greatest extent. Here, the bodhisattva ideal refers to an ideal personage who makes a vow to become a fully and completely enlightened Buddha (sammasam Buddha) out of compassion for all sentient beings, who performs various acts of merit, and who receives a prophecy of his future Buddhahood. In addition, the bodhisattva depicted in the Buddhavaṃsa makes a vow to become a bodhisattva only after the attainment of arahantship is within reach. This is portrayed in the chronicle of Sumedha. While Sumedha was lying in the mud and offering his body to the Buddha Dipankara to walk on, Sumedha thought: “If I so wished I could burn up my defilements today. What is the use while (remain) unknown of realizing dhamma here? Having reached omniscience, I will become a Buddha in the world with the devas.”^[4]

Another idea that arises in conjunction with the bodhisattva ideal is the need to complete a number of bodhisattva perfections (pāramitā); this can be found most clearly in the Buddhava.msa and the Cariyapitaka. In these two texts, ten perfections are delineated, as opposed to six perfections described in certain Mahāyāna texts (e.g., the Astasāhasrika-Prajñāpāramitā sūtra and the Ratnagunasamcayagāthā). The Buddhavaṃsa and the Cariyapitaka also discuss how each of the ten perfections may be practiced at three different levels: a regular degree, a higher degree, and an ultimate degree of completion. Though the concept of three degrees of perfection is suggested in the Buddhavaṃsa, the Cariyapitaka explores the idea in more detail, especially with the example of the first paramita giving (dana). To exemplify how the perfection of giving (dāna) was completed in the lowest degree, we find stories of how the bodhisattva gave people food; his own sandals and shade; an elephant; gifts to mendicants; wealth; clothing, beds, food, and drink; offerings; and even his own family members. To illustrate how the same perfection was fulfilled in the middle degree, we read how the bodhisattva gave away his bodily parts such as his eye. And finally, to demonstrate how the perfection of giving was fulfilled in the highest degree, we find a story of how the Bodhisattva gave away his own life when he was a hare.^[5]

In the Pāli canon, the term “bodhisattva” is also used in reference to other previous Buddhas. For instance, in the Mahāpadanasutta of the Digha Nikāya, the notion of past Buddhas (and hence past bodhisattvas) is elucidated. In the beginning of this sutta, the six Buddhas who preceded Gotama are mentioned as well as their names, the eons when they became Buddhas (i.e., when they attained enlightenment and taught), their caste, their clan, their life span, the trees where they attained enlightenment, the number of their disciples, their personal attendants, and their parents. After briefly outlining the lives of these six Buddhas, Gotama begins an in-depth recollection of the first Buddha, Vipassi, from his life in Tusita heaven until he dispersed his monks for the purpose of spreading the teachings. In this narration, the Buddha not only refers to Vipassi up to his enlightenment as a bodhisattva, but also takes the life events of Vipassi as the example for all future bodhisattvas and Buddhas, including (retroactively) Gotama himself.

Another section of the suttapitaka where the term “bodhisattva” pertains to each of the six previous Buddhas is the Samyutta Nikāya. For instance, in the fourth section of the second book, we find the phrase “To Vipassi, brethren, Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme, before his enlightenment, while he was yet unenlightened and Bodhisatta, there came this thought....” This same phrase, then, is used in conjunction with the other five previous Buddhas in the following verses: Sikhi, Vessabhu, Kakusandha, Konagamana, and Kassapa. While most of the uses of the term “Bodhisattva” concern Gotama Buddha and the numerous Buddhas who preceded him, there are also references in the Pāli canon to the possibility of future Buddhas (and hence bodhisattvas). For example, in the Cakkavatisihanadasutta of the Digha Nikāya, the Buddha foretells of the future when “an Exalted One named Metteyya [Maitreya], Arahant, Fully Awakened [i.e.,Sammāsam Buddha], abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, and Exalted One, a Buddha, even as I am now,” will arise.^[6]

Though Maitreya is the only future Buddha mentioned specifically, the possibility of attaining Buddhahood is not restricted solely to him. In the Sampasadaniyasutta of the Digha Nikāya, for instance, Sariputta is professed to have said: “In the presence of the Exalted One have I heard him say and from him have received, that... in times gone by and in future times there have been, and will be other Supreme Buddhas equal to himself [i.e., Gotama] in the matter of Enlightenment.”^[7] Thus, no longer is the term “bodhisattva” used solely in conjunction with Gotama, with other past Buddhas, and with Maitreya; the Bodhisattva is regarded as a possible, albeit difficult, path open to anyone who desires Buddhahood. This more expanded use of the term “bodhisattva” is explicitly expressed in the Khuddakapaa.tha. In the eighth chapter of this canonical text (the Nidhikandasutta), the goal of Buddhahood is presented as a goal that should be pursued by certain exceptional beings. After demonstrating the impermanence and uselessness of accumulating and storing material possessions or treasures, the sutta mentions another type of treasure that is more permanent and which follows beings from birth to birth.

This treasure results from giving (dāna), morality (śīla), abstinence (samyama), and restraint (dama). This treasure fulfills all desires, leads to a rebirth in a beautiful body, enables one to become sovereign of a country and a loving spouse, and leads to rebirth in the human realm (from which liberation is possible) Moreover, the qualities of charity, virtue, abstinence, and restraint lead to the wisdom which produces the “bliss of Extinguishment” of either arahants, pratyeka^[8] Buddhas, or completely enlightened Buddhas. We read: “Discriminating knowledge, release of mind, the perfections of a Noble Disciple of a Buddha, the Enlightenment of a Silent Buddha and the requisites for Supreme Buddhahood, all these (qualities) can be obtained by this (treasure).... Therefore wise and educated men praise the acquisition of meritorious actions”. This sutta illustrates that the goal of Buddhahood and the path to the goal (i.e., Bodhisattva) are no longer simply associated with specific Buddhas of the past and future; rather, Buddhahood is one of three possible goals that may be pursued by “wise and educated” people. Though the idea that anyone may become a Buddha through following the Bodhisattva is only present in the Theravada Buddhist Pāli canon in seed form, it appears, nonetheless, to have been taken seriously by Theravādins. This is illustrated in the lives of numerous Theravādin kings, monks, and textual copyists who have taken the bodhisattva vow and are following the Bodhisattva to the eventual attainment of Buddhahood. The relationship between kings and bodhisattvas has its source in the bodhisattva career of Gotama as depicted not only in his life as Prince Siddhartha, but also in his penultimate earthly life when he was King Vessantara. As King Vessantara, the bodhisattva exhibited his compassion by fulfilling the perfection of giving. For instance, we find that the bodhisattva gave away his elephant to alleviate a drought in nearby Kalinga, his wealth, his kingdom, and his wife and children, and was even willing to give away his own life out of compassion for other beings.

Though the paradigm for the close association between the institution of kingship and Buddhahood came from Gotama when he was a bodhisattva, it was quickly adopted by Theravadin kings by the second century B.C.E. and fully incorporated after the eighth century C.E. In the early examples, we find the relationship drawn between kings and bodhisattvas in numerous, albeit tempered, ways. For instance, King Duttagamani exhibited the quality of compassion by refusing to enter the heavenly realm after his previous life as an ascetic (samanera) so that he could be reborn as a prince and unite the regional rulers of Sri Lanka as well as help develop the sangha and the Buddha’s teaching. Though Duttagamani is not referred to as a bodhisattva in the Mahavamsa, he appears to demonstrate certain Bodhisattvic qualities. Just as a bodhisattva renounces the enlightenment of an arahant so that he could be reborn countless times in this world of impermanence and suffering out of compassion for all beings, so, too, did King Duttagamani renounce the world of the devas in order to return to this world of suffering for the sake of the Buddhist doctrine and out of compassion for all inhabitants on the island of Sri Lanka.

Similar examples of bodhisattva-like compassion are exhibited by King Sirisamghabodhi, who is said to have risked his life to save the inhabitants of Sri Lanka from a devastating drought 28 and who even offered his own head in order to divert a potential war; by King Buddhadasa, who created “happiness by every means for the inhabitants of the island... [and who was] gifted with wisdom [i.e., panna] and virtue [i.e., sila],... endowed with the ten qualities of kings [i.e., the ten raajadhammas],... [and] lived openly before the people the life that bodhisattas lead and had pity for (all) beings as a father (has pity for) his children”; and especially by King Upatissa, who fulfilled the ten bodhisattva perfections during his reign. By the eighth century C.E., the amalgamation between the institution of kingship and bodhisattvas became even stronger. At this time, we find evidence of certain Theravādin kings in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand who openly declared them to be bodhisattvas. For example, King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196 C.E.) of Polonnaruva, Ceylon, states that “I will show myself in my [true] body which is endowed with benevolent regard for and attachment to the virtuous qualities of a bodhisattva king, who like a parent, protects the world and the religion.”^[9]

In other epigraphical markings, there is a reference to King Paraakramabaahu VI as “Bodhisatva Paraakrama Baahu.” Finally, the conflation of kings and bodhisattvas on the island of Sri Lanka is established most strongly by King Mahinda IV, who not only referred to himself as a bodhisattva as a result of his bodhisattva-like resolute determination, but who even went so far as to proclaim that “none but the bodhisattas would become kings of prosperous Lanka.” In Burma, the relationship between kings and bodhisattvas is exemplified with King Kyanzittha, who claimed him to be “the Bodhisatva, who shall verily become a Buddha that saves and redeems all beings, who is great in love and compassion for all beings at all times...and who was foretold by the Lord Buddha, who is to become a true Buddha.” In another instance, King Alaungsithu wrote that he would like to build a causeway to help all beings reach “The Blessed City [i.e., nirvana].” Finally, kings Sri Tribhuvanaditya, Thiluin Man, Cansu I, and Natonmya all referred to themselves as bodhisattvas. In Thailand, a similar connection is drawn. One example of a Thai bodhisattva-king is Lu T’ai of Sukhothai who “wished to become a Buddha to help all beings... leave behind the sufferings of transmigration.”^[10] The relation between King Lu T’ai and bodhisattvahood is also manifested by the events occurring at his ordination ceremony that were similar to “the ordinary course of happenings in the career of a Bodhisattva.”^[11]

It may by argued that these Bodhisattva kings were influenced by certain Mahāyāna doctrines when they appropriated certain Bodhisattvic qualities or took the Bodhisattva vow this does not invalidate the relationship between kingship and bodhisattvas in Theravāda Buddhism. Though a link may be established between these bodhisattva kings and Mahāyāna Buddhism, this does not dismiss the fact that the bodhisattva ideal was taken seriously by Theravādin kings or that the bodhisattva ideal has a place in Theravāda Buddhist theory and practice. Moreover, while it may be possible to posit that these kings were influenced by Mahāyāna concepts, it is impossible to demonstrate that these kings were only influenced by Mahāyāna Buddhism; just because a king may have been influenced by Mahāyāna ideas does not mean that certain Theravāda ideas, including the ideas of a bodhisattva as found in the Buddhava.msa and Cariyapitaka, were not equally influential. The presence of a bodhisattva ideal in Theravāda Buddhism is also represented by the numerous examples of other Theravādins who have either referred to themselves or have been referred to by others as bodhisattvas. The celebrated commentator Buddhaghosa, for example, was viewed by the monks of the Anuradhapura monastery as being, without doubt, an incarnation of Metteyya. There are even some instances of Theravādin monks who expressed their desire to become fully enlightened Buddhas. For instance, the twentieth-century Bhikkhu, Doratiyaveye of Sri Lanka, after being deemed worthy of receiving certain secret teachings by his meditation teacher, refused to practice such techniques because he felt that it would cause him to enter on the Path and attain the level of arahant in this lifetime or within seven lives (i.e., by becoming a sottapanna). This was unacceptable to Doratiyaveye because he saw himself as a bodhisattva who had already made a vow to attain Buddhahood in the future. The vow to become a Buddha was also taken by certain Theravādin textual copyists and authors. The author of the commentary on the Jātaka (the Jātakattakathā), for example, concludes his work with the vow to complete the ten bodhisattva perfections in the future so that he will become a Buddha and liberate “the whole world with its gods from the bondage of repeated births... [and] guide them to the most excellent and tranquil Nibbana.”

Another example of a Theravādin author who wished to become a Buddha by following the Bodhisattva is the Sri Lankan monk Maha Tipitaka Culabhaya. In his twelfth-century subcommentary on the Questions of King Milinda, he “wrote in the colophon at the end of the work that he wished to become a Buddha: Buddho Bhaveyyam ‘May I become a Buddha.’^[12]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid., 1:8:2-3.

[2]:

Ibid., 1:10:9, 1:10:22-23.

[3]:

Ibid., 3:114. Though the possibility for the existence of other future Buddhas beside Metteyya is mentioned only briefly in the Pāli canon, in other post-canonical Theravādin texts, there are more specific references to future bodhisattvas and buddhas. For instance, in the Daśabodhisattuppattikatha, the Daśabodhisattaddesa, and in one recension of the Anāgatavaṃśa Deśana, the nine bodhisattvas who will follow Maitreya are mentioned. Moreover, in one recension of the Daśabodhisattuppattikathā, we even find the places of residence of seven of the ten bodhisattvas: Metteyya, Rāma, Pasena, and Vibhuti are presently residing in Tusita heaven and Subhūti, Nalagiri, and Parileyya are now in Taavatiṃsa heaven. Thus, it appears that the Theravādin tradition acknowledges certain “celestial” bodhisattvas who are currently residing in various heavenly realms and not that the only recognized bodhisattva in Theravāda Buddhism is Maitreya (Edward Conze, Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies: Selected Essays by Edward Conze, Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1998, p. 38.

[4]:

Digha Nikāya 2:1-7.

[5]:

Digha Nikāya 3:76.

[6]:

Khuddakapatha 8:15-16.

[7]:

Though the accessibility of these three goals to all beings is only briefly mentioned in the Khuddakapatha, in the Upasakajanalankara (a twelfth-century Pāli text dealing with lay Buddhist ethics), all three ways of liberation are clearly admitted (Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes, Osaka: Kufs Publication, 1999, p. 119.

[8]:

Mahāvaṃśa 22:25-41.

[9]:

Ibid., 36:76.

[10]:

K. R. Norman, Pāli Literature: Including the Canonical Literature in Prākṛit and Sanskrit of All the Hinayāna Schools of Buddhism, A History of Indian Literature, vol. 7, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz, 1983, p. 94. 42 Reginald Ray, Buddhist Saints in India: A Study of Buddhist Values and Orientations, London: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 251.

[11]:

Ti Tun, “Religion in Burma, A.D. 100-1300,” The Journal of the Burma Research Society 42, 1997, p.53.

[12]:

H. Saddhatissa, The Birth-Stories of the Ten Bodhisattas and the Daśabodhisattuppattikatha, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. 29 London: Pāli Text Society, 1975, pp. 38-39.