John Powers

Bodhicitta

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Date: 24-04-2012

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0091

Abstract: The Sanskrit term bodhicitta (mind of awakening) refers to the state of mind of a bodhisattva, who pursues buddhahood in order to benefit others. There are two primary aspects: (1) a conventional aspect of a bodhisattva who aspires to buddhahood and (2) an ultimate aspect, which is actualized when the nature of mind of a bodhisattva awakens. The conventional aspect also has two levels: (1) aspirational (praṇidhāna) bodhicitta, in which the bodhisattva takes a vow to attain buddhahood for the benefit of others and (2) practical bodhicitta, which refers to actual practice on the path. Bodhicitta is the key concept that separates the two main traditions of Indian Buddhism, Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) and Hinayana (“Lesser Vehicle”). The latter is a polemical term (rejected by those to whom it is applied) coined by their Mahayana rivals. Mahayanists characterize the Hinayana pursuit of personal liberation as selfish and valorize the universal compassion of bodhisattvas, who are portrayed as mighty heroes who pursue the supreme religious goal because of their universal compassion. Note that, in Tibetan, the term bodhicitta is byang chub kyi sems. In East Asia, the term is written as 菩提心 and pronounced in Mandarin as pútí xīn in Japanese as bodaishin in Korean as pori sim and in Vietnamese as bồ đề tâm.

Classical Indian Buddhist Philosophy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Date: 13-09-2010

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0051

Abstract: Classical Indian Buddhist philosophy encompasses a vast range of thinkers, schools, and issues. One important tradition is abhidharma (higher doctrine), a scholastic philosophy that examined key elements of Buddhist teaching and developed often elaborate and highly detailed analyses of the psycho-physical elements of existence. Early Buddhism is commonly ided into eighteen philosophical schools—including such influential traditions as Sarvāstivāda, Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Sthaviravāda, Mahāsāṃghika, and so forth—though more are actually mentioned in Indic sources. Each of these developed its own distinctive philosophical system and engaged in debate with both Buddhist and non-Buddhist rivals. With the rise of Mahayana, new philosophical systems—including the Middle Way school (Mādhyamika), the Yogic Practice school (Yogācāra), and the Epistemological school (Pramāṇa)—developed. Tantric Buddhism added a new stream of philosophical thought that developed the conceptual implications of tantric scriptural texts.

Three Turnings of the Wheel of Doctrine (Dharma-Cakra)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Date: 26-05-2021

DOI: 10.1093/ACREFORE/9780199340378.013.768

Abstract: The three turnings of the “wheel of doctrine” ( dharma-cakra ) is a Buddhist concept that has its origins in the Discourse Explaining the Thought ( Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra ), a 3rd–4th century Indian Mahāyāna work. According to the schema described in this text, in the first turning the Buddha laid out fundamental precepts such as the four noble truths and dependent arising. The Buddha subsequently taught a second wheel, comprising the Perfection of Wisdom ( Prajñā-pāramitā ) discourses and related works, in which the teachings of the first wheel were subjected to the critique of emptiness ( śūnyatā ): the Buddha corrected the false impression some followers had developed that his words have a privileged truth status and transcend the limitations of mundane words and concepts. But in so doing he moved some followers toward an extreme of nihilism. And so in the third wheel he differentiated what is and is not being negated. This framework, only sketchily outlined in the Sūtra , was later extended and reinterpreted by Buddhist exegetes, most often as a polemical and sectarian strategy by which they valorized their own doctrines and preferred scriptures and relegated those of rivals to lower status while still acknowledging them as valid teachings of the Buddha delivered for the benefit of particular types of trainees with specific proclivities. In some tantric sources, Vajrayāna is characterized as part of the third wheel. As with the Discourse Explaining the Thought ’s formulation, the tantric version of the three wheels presents them as sequential, with each requiring the others. Subsequent wheels build on and correct misconceptions in earlier ones, and the schema construes each successive dispensation as more profound than the preceding one(s) and as better representing the Buddha’s final thought.

Can Ultimate Reality Change? The Three Natures/Three Characters Doctrine in Indian Yogācāra Literature and Contemporary Scholarship

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 04-02-2023

DOI: 10.1007/S11841-021-00860-6

The Body of the Buddha

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Date: 26-04-2021

DOI: 10.1093/ACREFORE/9780199340378.013.745

Abstract: Buddhist discussions of the body, particularly in South Asia, encode a number of ambiguities and conceptual tensions. A pervasive trope in this literature characterizes bodies as foul, oozing fluids, prone to offensive smells, decaying and causing pain, and as containing a range of disgusting substances within a bag of skin, including urine, feces, mucus, and bile. People are warned of the dangers of emotional investment in their bodies because this leads to inevitable suffering and loss. On the other hand, beautiful bodies are proof of past or present moral cultivation and of success in religious practice. The most exalted bodies—surpassing those of all other beings, even gods—are those of buddhas, and their perfect physiques proclaim their supreme attainments.

Indian Buddhist concepts of normative and deviant bodies: can ancient sexual mores be reconciled with modern sensibilities?

Publisher: Informa UK Limited

Date: 02-10-2019

DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2019.1663622

The Disputed Middle Ground: Tibetan Mādhyamikas on How to Interpret Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti

Publisher: MDPI AG

Date: 11-11-2021

DOI: 10.3390/REL12110991

Abstract: By the twelfth century, a broad consensus had developed among Tibetan Buddhists: The Middle Way School (Madhyamaka) of Nāgārjuna (c. 2nd century), as interpreted by Candrakīrti (c. 600–650), would be normative in Tibet. However, Tibetans had inherited various trajectories of commentary on Madhyamaka, and schools of thought developed, each with a particular reading. This article will examine some of the major competing philosophical stances, focusing on three figures who represent particularly compelling interpretations, but whose understandings of Madhyamaka are profoundly ergent: Daktsang Sherap Rinchen (1405–1477), Wangchuk Dorjé, the 9th Karmapa (1556–1603), and Purchok Ngawang J a (1682–1762). The former two contend that Nāgārjuna’s statement “I have no thesis” (nāsti ca mama pratijñā) means exactly what it says, while the latter advocates what could be termed an “anthropological” approach: Mādhyamikas, when speaking as Mādhyamikas, only report what “the world” says, without taking any stance of their own but their understanding of Buddhism is based on insight gained through intensive meditation training. This article will focus on how these three philosophers figure in the history of Tibetan Madhyamaka exegesis and how their respective readings of Indic texts incorporate elements of previous work while moving interpretation in new directions.

Dharma

Publisher: No publisher found

Date: 2010

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0059

Buddhism and the Body

Publisher: No publisher found

Date: 2012

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0114

Australian National University

Location: Australia

View Organisation

McMaster University

Location: Canada

View Organisation

University Of Virginia

Location: United States of America

View Organisation

Deakin University

Location: No location found

View Organisation

Deakin University

Location: Australia

View Organisation

College Of The Holy Cross

Location: United States of America

View Organisation

University Of Melbourne

Location: Australia

View Organisation

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP160100947

Start Date: 2016

End Date: 12-2022

Amount: $414,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0772673

Start Date: 2007

End Date: 12-2010

Amount: $255,482.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP110102042

Start Date: 2011

End Date: 12-2014

Amount: $540,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP190101253

Start Date: 04-2019

End Date: 12-2024

Amount: $418,268.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0985125

Start Date: 2009

End Date: 12-2013

Amount: $297,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

A Tibetan Polemical Debate And Its Contemporary Philosophical Relevance

Start Date: 2016

End Date: End date not available

Funder: Australian Research Council

Negotiating Modernity: Buddhism Between Tibet And China

Start Date: 2011

End Date: 2014

Funder: Australian Research Council

The Indian Roots Of Modern Chinese Thought

Start Date: 2008

End Date: 2011

Funder: Australian Research Council

On Whose Authority? The Contest To Define Tibetan Buddhism

Start Date: 2007

End Date: 2009

Funder: Australian Research Council

Tibet’s Rivers In The Anthropocene: History And Present Trajectories”

Start Date: 2019

End Date: 2021

Funder: Australian Research Council