transference of merits; Seng You; the You Lu; profound transference; pure threefold circle; dharmatā; supermundane
摘要
Transference of merits is considered an important religious practice in Chinese Buddhism. Over the time and place, the practice has diversely changed, especially for its “objects” to transfer merits to. During the Southern dynasties, there was a Buddhist text , the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》), catalogued by Seng You(僧祐) in the You Lu (《祐錄》) with no translator. According to the textual contents, the Buddha taught the practice of “profound transference” by cultivating the ten wholesome deeds, and with the merits gained from the cultivation to do profound transference of merits. This is much relevant to the “pure threefold circle” in the Vajracchedikā-prājñāpāramitā-sūtra (《金剛經》), that is, no practitioner, no object and no way of such transference. Therefore, it is also called the “dharmatā” – transference of merits. Besides this Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》), there are many Chinese Buddhist texts introducing different “kinds” of transference of merits, such as transferring for the advantageous rewards in the present life, or supreme goals in the future life by the practitioners and so on. The diversity of the types of transference of merits classifies the varieties of Buddhist texts prior to the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》), into supermundane or mundane kinds of Buddhist canonical texts. With such analysis, due to the profound teachings taught by the Buddha found within, the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》) is classified as the supermundane Buddhist text. This paper focuses on the detailed analysis of such types of merit transferences and insight of the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》).
目次
Table of Contents ABSTRACT III TABLE OF CONTENTS V LIST OF TABLES VII LIST OF FIGURES VII CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 MOTIVATION 2 1.2 PURPOSES 2 1.3 METHODOLOGY 3 1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1.4.1 Dissertations 4 1.4.2 Theses 5 1.4.3 Books 7 1.4.4 Journals 11 1.5 CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS 13 1.5.1 Challenges 13 1.5.2 Solutions 15 1.6 PROBLEM STATEMENT 17 CHAPTER 2 - ANALYSIS OF “TRANSFERENCE OF MERITS” 19 2.1 TRANSFERENCE OF MERITS 19 2.1.1 Definition in Buddhism 19 2.1.2 Chinese Usage of “回” and “迴” 22 2.1.3 “迴向”and “回向” 23 2.2 VARIETIES OF TRANSFERENCE OF MERITS 25 2.2.1 Types of Transference of Merits 25 2.2.2 Introduction of the Buddhist Texts Dated before the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 32 CHAPTER 3 – INTRODUCTION OF THE PROFOUND MERIT-TRANSFERENCE SŪTRA TOLD BY THE BUDDHA(《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 44 3.1 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROFOUND MERIT-TRANSFERENCE SŪTRA TOLD BY THE BUDDHA(《佛說甚深大迴向經》) AMONG THE BUDDHIST TEXTS 45 3.1.1 Appearance among the Buddhist Catalogues 45 3.1.2 Introduction of the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha(《佛說甚深大迴向經》) in the Zong Jing Lu (《宗鏡錄》) 46 3.1.3 Citation of the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha(《佛說甚深大迴向經》) in the Fa Jie Sheng Fan Shui Lu Da Zhai Fa Lun Bao Chan (《法界聖凡水陸大齋法輪寶懺》) 48 3.1.4 Discussion of the Textual Title of the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha(《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 50 3.2 HYPOTHESES FOR THE NON – POPULARITY OF THE PROFOUND MERIT-TRANSFERENCE SŪTRA TOLD BY THE BUDDHA(《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 52 3.2.1 Similarity with the Prajñā Buddhist Texts 52 3.2.2 Popularity of the Texts by Kumārajīva 53 3.2.3 Transformation of Transference of Merits 54 3.2.4. Significance Substituted by Other Expedient Practice 55 3.2.5 Little Attention Drawn to the Rebirth at the Akṣobhya’s Pure Land 56 3.3 SUMMARY OF THE PROFOUND MERIT-TRANSFERENCE SŪTRA TOLD BY THE BUDDHA (《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 57 CHAPTER 4 – ANALYSIS OF THE PROFOUND MERIT-TRANSFERENCE SŪTRA TOLD BY THE BUDDHA (《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 59 4.1 TITLE 59 4.1.1 The Authenticity of the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 59 4.1.2 Textual Canon from Southern Buddhism 63 4.1.3 Mingtian (明天) - a Bodhisattva or a Lay Person 65 4.2 PRACTICE 68 4.2.1 The Ways and Reasons for Bodhisattvas to Cultivate 68 4.2.2 The Places and Ways to Cultivate the Three Faculties 69 4.2.3 The Practice to Accomplish the “Profound Transference” 71 4.3 RESULTS 72 4.3.1 Relationship with the Land of Akṣobhya 72 4.3.2 Predictions for the Practitioners as Amritāghosarājatathāgata (甘露音王如來) 76 4.3.3 Identical with Profound Transference of Dharmatā 77 CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKS 80 5.1 CONCLUSIONS 80 5.1.1 A Supermundane Type of Buddhist Text 80 5.1.2 A Canonical Text Composed in China 81 5.1.3 A Textual Canon Posing No Special Influences on Chinese Buddhism 82 5.1.4 A Simplified Text Introducing the Prajñā Philosophy 82 5.2 FUTURE RESEARCH WORKS 83 5.2.1 Diversity of Transference of Merits 83 5.2.2 Specific Types of Transference of Merits in the Buddhist Texts 84 5.2.3 Sanskrit Origins of the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha (《佛說甚深大迴向經》) 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY 90 PRIMARY SOURCES 90 SECONDARY SOURCES 91 English Books 91 Chinese Books 92 English Journals 94 Chinese Journals 94 Dissertation 94 Theses 95 Dictionaries 95 APPENDIX A - TRANSLATION 96 APPENDIX B - DATA………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………109 List of Tables Table 1 - Types of Transference of Merits 26 Table 2 - Classification of the Buddhist Texts Based on Their Types of Merit-Transference 26
List of Figures Figure 1 - Varieties of Types of Transference of Merits Dated before the Profound Merit-Transference Sūtra Told by the Buddha 29
