This article argues for a new interpretation of the Sanskrit compound ga??a-vyūha as it is used in the common title of the Mahāyāna text the Ga??avyūha-Sūtra.The author begins by providing a brief history of the sūtra’s appellations in Chinese and Tibetan sources. Next, the meanings of ga??a (the problematic member of the compound) are explored. The author proposes that contemporary scholars have overlooked a meaning of ga??a occurring in some compounds, wherein ga??a can mean simply “great,” “big” or “massive.” This general sense is particularly common in the compound ga?da-?aila (a “massive rock” or “boulder”) and is found in such texts as the Bhāgavata Purā?a, the Harivaṃ?a and the Har?acarita. Following the discussion of Ga??a, the author examines the term vyūha (“array”) as it is used in the Ga??avyūha-sūtra. The article concludes with the suggestion that a more appropriate translation of the Ga??avyūha-sūtra would be “The Supreme array Scripture.”
目次
Introduction 273 Gan: d: a 276 Vyu¯ha 283 Conclusion: Visions of Reality, Not Flowers... 287
