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 XXXI - The Thirty-seven Auxiliaries to Enlightenment

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- Sub-Contents: (+ / -)

+ Note on the Thirty-seven Auxiliaries to Enlightenment

. I. Lists of auxiliaries (bodhipākṣika or bodhipakkhiya)

. II. Canonical definitions of the 37 auxiliaries

. III. The auxiliaries in the abhidharma

. IV. The auxiliairies in the mahāyāna

Part 1 - The auxiliaries belong to the Greater Vehicle as well

+ Part 2 - The auxiliaries according to the Abhidharma

. Abhidharma auxiliaries (A): Number of auxiliaries

. Abhidharma auxiliaries (B): The elements constituting the thirty-seven auxiliaries

. Abhidharma auxiliaries (C): The seven classes of auxiliaries

. Abhidharma auxiliaries (D): Order of the thirty-seven auxiliaries

. Abhidharma auxiliaries (E): Detailed study of the auxiliaries

+ Part 3 - The auxiliaries according to the Mahāyāna

. Mahāyāna auxiliaries (A): The four foundations of mindfulness

. Mahāyāna auxiliaries (B-C): The four right efforts and the four bases of magical power

. Mahāyāna auxiliaries (D): The five faculties

. Altruism in the practice of the faculties (indriya)

. Mahāyāna auxiliaries (E): The five powers

. Mahāyāna auxiliaries (F): The seven factors of enlightenment

. Mahāyāna auxiliaries (G): The eight members of the path

Appendix 1 - The example of the master-archer

Appendix 2 - Vijñānabīja (seed-consciousness)

Appendix 3 - The three characteristics of Conditioned Dharmas (saṃskṛtadharma)

Appendix 4 - The impermanence of the mind (cittānityatā)

Appendix 5 - The Prakaraṇapāda-śāstra (aka. Prakaraṇagrantha or Prakaraṇa)

Appendix 6 - The families of worms (kṛmi or kiki) inhibiting the human body

Appendix 7 - The nature of the mind (citta, manas)

[k. 19, p. 197b] (p. 1137F)

Sūtra (cf. Pañcaviṃśati, p. 19, l. 12–15; Śatasāhasrikā, p. 56, l. 9–57, l. 10). –The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who abides in the perfection of wisdom by the method of non-abiding should, without producing them, complete perfect [the following] (Prajñāpāramitāyaṃ sthitvā bodhisattvena mahāsattvenāsthānayogenānutpādanataḥ paripūrayaitvyāḥ):

the four foundations of mindfulness (catvāri smṛtyupasthānāni),
the four right efforts (catvāri samyakpradhānani),
the four bases of magical power (catvāra ṛddhipādāḥ),
the five faculties (pañcendriyāṇi),
the five strengths (pañca balāni),
the seven members of enlightenment (sapta bodhyaṅgāni),
the eight members of the Path (aṣṭāṅgamārga).

Śāstra. –

Last Updated: 28 September, 2019