Buddhas--Aksobhya; Mahayana Buddhism; Women in Buddhism; paradise (Buddhism)
摘要
The leading role played by women in the Universe Abhirati, Akṣobhya's Buddhafield, distinguishes it sharply from other buddhakṣetra. If we bear in mind that the pessimistic views concerning women, expressed in the majority of Mahāyānic sūtras, will finally prevail, the specific ideas expressed in the Chinese and Tibetan translations of the Akṣobhyavyūha, should receive due consideration. In this sūtra, the emptiness of the dharmas is indubitably related to the Perfection of Wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) and imbued with a definite salvation-power, although it can hardly be on a par with the realistic description of Abhirati and the fluctuating religious doctrine of the early stage of Mahāyāna, to which two of the lost Indian versions of the Akṣobhyavyūha might have belonged.
