Based on the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras as the major textual source and prajñāpāramitā, the main practice in Buddhist Path to Enlightenment, as the perspective, this paper discusses not only perspectives on sentient beings in Buddhist life medicine but also how life cultivation results in transformation of sentient beings. The discourse of this paper consists of the following seven sections. Section one, the introduction points out the thesis of the research and delineates the preliminary framework. Section two presents the characteristics of the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras in terms of life medicine and paths of religious practice. Section three elucidates how the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras bypass human beings or sentient beings to investigate the reality of all related dharmas which in tern become the foundation in comprehending the reality of the so-called human beings or sentient beings. Section four examines the perspectives on sentient beings in the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras. In short, sentient beings are to be comprehended as equally thoroughgoing emptiness (śūnyatā), non-duality (a-dvayatā; a-dvayatva), and illusion and emanation (māyā-nirmita). Section five focuses the deliberation on one specific passage in the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras to investigate the perspectives on sentient beings by way of the practice of prajñāpāramitā. Section six expounds how the practice of prajñāpāramitā in the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras transforms sentient beings into wisdom-seeking practitioners and ultimately enlightened masters. Section seven, “conclusion and outlook” summarizes the main points of this paper, and delineates the further relevant explorations in the future.
