Avalokitesara=觀自在菩薩; Mount Potalaka=補怛洛迦山; Great Compassion=大悲法門; Way of Education=教化方式; Way of Faith=信仰方式
摘要
In the present paper the Avalokite?vara chapter of the Ga??avyūhasūtra will be examined. In this text, Avalokite?vara appears as one of the 53 benevolent friends or kalyā?amitras of Sudhana, the protagonist of the sūtra and prototype of all aspirants for bodhisattvahood. Avalokite?vara’s role in the Ga??avyūha is rather that of a teacher and not of the “superbodhisattva”, almighty savior, as in the later Mahāyāna. He teaches the method of great compassion, the aim of which is to free all sentient beings from any kind of fears in order to lead them into the supreme perfect awakening, thus being adopted in the didactic scheme of the Ga??avyūha. The relevant passages and terminological lists are presented and analyzed. The author develops the hypothesis that the Avalokite?vara chapter of the Ga??avyūha reflects a very early phase of the development of the concept and image of the bodhisattva Avalokite?vara when the cult of the latter had not yet taken shape and widely spread in the Buddhist world and he clearly remains in the shadow of the three other archetypical bodhisattvas─Samantabhadra, Mañju?rī, and Maitreya. The present writer does not exclude the possibility that the figure of Avalokite?vara might have been developed on the basis of syncretism of the Buddhist teaching of compassion and the cult of some local protective deity. The question of location of the mount Potalaka as the residence of Avalokite?vara is also discussed. On the basis of a glimpse comparison with a number of other sources (Lotus Sūtra, Sukhāvatīvyūha, Heart Sūtra, ?ūra?gamasūtra), the author concludes that in the Ga??avyūha Avalokite?vara represents the active way of education and meditation as he does in the Heart Sūtra, while in the Lotus Sūtra and Sukhāvatīvyūha the aspect of passive faith and devotion is dominant. In the ?ūra?gamasūtra, being a later source, the combination of those two is elaborated.
Contents: Introduction 297 The Ga??avyūhasūtra as a Source 299 Bodhisattva Avalokite?vara in the Role of a kalyā?amitra 301 Mount Potalaka: Religious and Historical Dimensions 304 Appearance of Avalokite?vara 311 Avalokite?vara’s Method of Great Compassion: An Analysis of Related Lists 313 Avalokite?vara Chapter in the Didactic Scheme of the Ga??avyūha 328 A Few Comparisons with Other Sources: Educational and Devotional Ways 330