Luminous Bliss: A Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet

Chapter 1: Indian Mahayana Origins and Departures

Chapter One Indian Mahayana Origins and Departures The Soteriology of Buddha Fields Around the beginning of the Common Era, hundreds of years after the death of the historical “architect” of Buddhism, Buddha Śākyamuni, a small and active minority of Indian Buddhists, belonging in all probability to a number of different monastic ordination lineages (Pāli nikāya), continued to elaborate on preexisting soteriological options, and over the course of centuries articulated them into an original and enormous body of scriptures—Mahayana sutras—that reflected a variety of philosophical approaches and ritual and contemplative practices.1 A common thread that unified these lineages featured a universal aspiration to reach “supreme and perfect awakening” (Skt. anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi), as did Śākyamuni, who, according to birth stories of his past lives (Jātaka), was once a being (Skt. sattva) set toward awakening (Skt. bodhi), a bodhisattva that became a buddha. Proponents of buddhahood were self-identified as exponents of the Mahayana (“Great Vehicle”), in contrast to contemporary Buddhist factions, the śrāvakas, who were denigrated as the Hinayana (“Small Vehicle”) for focusing on one’s own liberation, nirvana, the state of an arhat. The partisans of Mahayana idealism questioned self-serving estimations of the summum bonum of Buddhist practice by challenging the division between “self-liberation” and “other-liberation.” They held the view that these two seemingly distinct soteriological endeavors converge in the altruistic vocation of bodhisattvas who vowed to become buddhas in order to deliver all sentient beings from unwanted states of suffering. Mahayana orientations share much in common with the philosophical principles and ethical discipline of Śrāvakayāna Buddhism but arguably differentiate themselves from the latter on the grounds of soteriological intentionality .2 Their scriptures emphasize the spiritual pursuits and glory of bodhisattvas , which, in conceptual terms and practical expression, eventually 3 Chapter One 4 meant acknowledgement of the interdependent origination of self and phenomena (Skt. pratītyasamutpāda) through a rigorous course of training aimed at refining six “perfections” (Skt. pāramitās): generosity (Skt. dāna), morality (śīla), patience (kṣānti), vigor (vīrya), concentration (dhyāna), and discriminating understanding (prajñā).3 As we will examine in the following sections, in a number of Mahayana sutras the unrivaled path of a bodhisattva is conceptually analogous with the production, purification, and maturation of a buddha field (Skt. buddha-kṣetra; Tib. sangs-rgyas kyi zhing; Ch. foguo).4 These identifications accommodate a number of doctrinal issues, not least that buddha fields are outside the forces of compulsive becoming, the suffering and frustration of cyclic existence (samsara). These symbolic kernels of Buddhist enlightenment were ethically elaborated to represent exalted virtues, such as altruism and renunciation embedded in the bodhisattva’s vows of “ecumenical liberation.” Buddha fields are characterized by a semantic polysemy that suited Mahayana expressions of worship and devotion and resonated with prevailing Indic (and non-Indic) beliefs in heavenly realms and eternal life. The conceptualization of buddha fields as pure abodes, idealized locations where the buddhas perpetually teach the Dharma, inspired meditators, artists, and thinkers to contemplate new ways of representing and engaging with their exalted forms. Buddha fields came to represent the goal and consummation of the Mahayana path, while the possibility of encountering buddhas and celestial bodhisattvas residing in heavens compensated for the spiritual vacuum left by the absence of Śākyamuni Buddha and provided an incentive for contemplative training. Certain bodhisattvas emerged from deep meditation with tales of visions they had experienced, visions of a universe far more vast than had previously been supposed. Throughout the ten directions, they claimed, were other worldsystems like our own, each with its own hierarchy of gods and human beings. Most important for aspiring bodhisattvas, however, was the news brought by these early visionaries that in some of these world-systems buddhas were currently living and teaching. Thus while our own world-system is currently devoid of a buddha (though the Dharma itself is still present and accessible), other buddhas were now held to exist in the present, albeit in world-systems located (to use contemporary scientific parlance) many millions of light years away. These new visions thus introduced the dramatic possibility of encountering a living buddha in the near future—indeed in one’s very next life, through being reborn in his realm.5 Overall the Pure Land material is narrative, with its integrity and realism strongly informed by its soteriological content. Hence, in time buddha Indian...