《梵網經》菩薩道之修道次第研究 ── 以靈源法師之《梵網經菩薩戒》為核心=A Study on the bodhisattva path in《The *Brahmajāla Sūtra》— Centered around Venerable Ling-Yuan’s Annotations on the Bodhisattva Precepts
In 1965, Venerable Ling-yuan published a contemporary annotation on the Brahmajāla Sūtra at the Da-Jyue Chan Monastery. After studying the theories and teachings of Tiandai and Huayan schools recently, the author realize that this exegesis actually explains the cultivation procedures of the bodhisattva path . In this study, six contemporary commentaries on the Brahmajāla Sūtra were collected for comparing the differences among them. Nonetheless, three different perspectives of introduction were found: the humanistic ethics, precepts/śīla towards liberation, and the cultivation procedures of the bodhisattva path. A subsequent effort was applied to review the relevant literature contiguously yet only works on bodhisattva precepts ( in the Brahmajāla Sūtra ) found, nothing related to the cultivation procedures of the bodhisattva path. As《The Brahmajāla Sūtra》proposes simultaneously ”the bodhisattva precepts” and ”the bodhisattva path, the orientation of this study is positioned on the cultivation procedurs of the bodhisattva path in the Brahmajāla Sūtra -- centered around the Venerable’s annotations on the bodhisattva precepts. The newly collated《Brahmajāla Bodhisattva śīla Sūtra》by Venerable Ling-yuan enables the author to realize that the Venerable actually assembled those commentaries mentioned above in his work, which includes Tiandai, Huayen, Consciousness-only (Yogācāra), Chan, Vinaya, and Pure-land schools, etc. Drawing from the result of this study, the Venerable integrated all ideologies, without contradiction, to develop his view for the procedures of cultivation on one hand and to enable affinity between the aspirated practitioners/beginners with the orderly procedure of the bodhisattva path on the other. Besides, his method discloses the procedural gradualness, and his discourse covers sudden and perfect teachings. Therefore, this Brahmajāla Sūtra could most likely be a paradigm in Chinese Buddhism for the cultivation procedures on the Buddha path. This study points out the key points of the bodhisattva precepts and additionally reveals the direct liaison between the bodhisattva precepts and the procedures of cultivating the bodhisattva path. Furthermore, the Venerable’s book on bodhisattva precepts (bodhisattva śīla ) of the《Brahmajāla Sūtra》covers the humanistic ethics, the precepts/śīla towards liberation in procedures of cultivating the bodhisattva path. From an extensive viewpoint , as the provenance of the sutras is related to “Pāramī”, the bodhisattva path in the Theravada Buddhism, whence following the sudden and perfect teachings in Chinese Buddhism, the syncretism between the Theravada and the Chinese Buddhism on the bodhisattva path could be achieved to form a Buddhist altruistic “universal ethics” and be able to provide a set of harmonious dialogue principles under the circumstance of oppositions among the contemporary diverse religions.
