Tathagatagarbha; Doctrine; Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra; Mahāyānā; history of Buddhist ideas
摘要
Famously, tathāgatagarbha doctrine holds that every sentient being has within the body a womb for Buddhas, or an embryonic Buddha – the potential for full buddhahood. Previous scholars have seen this doctrine as originating in the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra. In this book, Michael Radich argues that rather, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is most likely our earliest extant tathāgatagarbha text. Radich then argues that tathāgatagarbha ideas originated as part of a wider pattern of docetic Buddhology – ideas holding that Buddhas are not really as they appear. Buddhist docetic texts are clearly troubled by the notion that Buddhas could have flesh-and-blood human mothers. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is one such text, and tathāgatagarbha functions as a better substitute for imperfect human maternity: rather than a putrid, painful human womb, buddhahood springs from a “womb” inherent in every sentient being, which promises final liberation from flesh altogether. This book should interest readers concerned with the history of Buddhist ideas, gender in Buddhism, the early Mahāyāna, the cult of the Buddha’s relics, and relations between Buddhist ideas and practice.
目次
Foreword 9 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 Outline 13 Contributions of this study 16
Part I Is the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra "Our Earliest" Tathāgatagarbha Text? Introduction 19 The portion of MPNMS under consideration ("MPNMS-tg") 20 1 MPNMS-tg as a “Tathāgatagarbha Text” 23 1.1 MPNMS-tg as a veritable "tathāgatagarbha text" 23 1.2 The Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra as a "tathāgatagarbha text" 32 2 The Date of MPNMS-tg, Relative to Other Tathāgatagarbha Texts 35 2.1 Does MPNMS-tg refer to (our present) TGS by title? 35 2.1.1 References to a/the (this?) Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra within MPNMS-tg 37 2.1.2 Reference to other titles and texts in MPNMS 40 2.1.3 MPNMS references to other Mahāyāna texts by title 50 2.1.4 Relations to other texts without mention of their title 53 2.2 Similarity of one simile between MPNMS-tg and TGS 56 2.3 Summary 57
3 Evidence for the Absolute Dates of MPNMS-tg and Other Tathāgatagarbha Scriptures 59 3.1 Evidence for the absolute date of MPNMS-tg 59 3.2 Independent evidence for the absolute dates of TGS 83 3.3 Summary 85 3.4 Takasaki’s chronology: The Anūnatvāpūrṇatva-nirdeśa and Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda-sūtra 85 3.5 Chronological relations between MPNMS-tg and other texts in the MPNMS group 97 3.6 Conclusions 99
Part II The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra and the Origins of Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine Introduction 101 Schmithausen’s criteria for a "scenario of origin" for Buddhist concepts 102 4 Tathāgatagarbha, the Problem of Maternity, and Positive Corollaries to Docetic Buddhology 105 4.1 Terms 105 4.2 Docetism as a corporeal issue 107 4.3 The extension of docetism beyond death and birth 110 4.4 Negatively-framed docetism about the Buddha's conception, gestation and birth 115 4.5 "Material-miraculous" positive corollaries of docetism about the Buddha’s conception, gestation and birth 118 4.6 The material-miraculous, "docetic" womb 124 4.7 Dharmakāya and vajrakāya as positive corollaries of corporeal docetism 129 4.8 Tathāgatagarbha as a "soteriological-transcendent" positive corollary to docetism about the Buddha’s conception, gestation and birth 132 4.9 Docetism and the problem of the Buddha’s mother(s) 143 4.10 Docetic reinterpretations of other branches of kinship 154 4.11 Summary 155
5 Garbha and Dhātu 159
6 Conclusions 169 6.1 Summary 169 6.2 Directions for future research 171
Appendix 1 Terms related to "tathāgatagarbha" in MPNMS 175 Appendix 2 Chinese zang 藏 (esp. in DhKṣ) and "secret teachings" 193 Appendix 3 Further apparent historical detail in the MPNMS group prophecy complex 199 1 *Sarvalokapriyadarśana 199 2 A "*cakravartinī" 202 3 Trials and tribulations of the espousers of the MPNMS group 205 Appendix 4 "MPNMS-dhk" and "MPNMS-tg" 207 Appendix 5 "Kataphatic gnostic docetism" 211 Abbreviations 215 Bibliography 219 Index 247
