Preparation For Enlightenment: Understanding Derived From Listening, Reflection And Meditation--A Study Of Theśrutamayī, Cintāmayī And Bhāvanāmayī Bhūmayaḥ Of Theyogācārabhūmiśāstra
This study is an attempt to examine the doctrine of the threefold understanding śrutamayī-, cintāmayī- and bhāvanāmayī prajñā as an important aspect of the preparatory path (prayoga-mārga) in the early Yogācāra system based on the Maulī Section of the YBŚ which contains the oldest materials of the Yogācāra school. The three bhūmi-s Śrutamayī-, Cintāmayī- and Bhāvanāmayī bhūmi have so far been only partially translated and remarked on by a handful of scholars, but there are no in-depth analyses or comprehensive studies done by modern scholars. The threefold understanding represents important progressions of spiritual praxis in the Yogācāra system because a practitioner necessarily begins with the development of the withoutflow (sāsrava) prajñā before he can proceed to the development of the outflowfree (anāsrava) prajñā. This thesis explores the natures of the threefold understanding, with particular focus on the path structure, the delineation of threefold understanding as withoutflow prajñā, the taxonomy of the ‘preparatory efforts conducing to nirvāṇa’ (mokṣa-bhāgīya) and ‘preparatory efforts conducing to decisive distinction’ (nirvedha-bhāgīya) and their correlation with the threefold understanding, the arrangement of the two bases of the threefold understanding, and the cultivation of meditation undertaken by each of the three understandings. This thesis also looks into the early Yogācāra inheritance of the abhidharma. Both the early Yogācāras and the abhidharma tradition offer substantial analyses and discussions on the threefold understanding. To achieve this objective, I have consulted the abhidharma material of the Northern tradition, particularly the Mahāvibhāṣā, the Nyāyānusāra, the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya and the Avatāra. A textual analysis of the three bhūmi-s, doctrinal interpretations and critical enquiry into the relevant concepts of the preparatory path and the natures of the threefold understanding were made using the relevant extant fragments of the original Sanskrit version, Chinese and Tibetan translations. Sources in the Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī and other relevant passages in the Maulī Section and later materials were also consulted for the purpose of comparative study. This study revealed that the cultivation of the threefold understanding includes tranquillity and insight meditations and even the attainment of dhyāna-s, although they do not culminate in the permanent eradication of defilements. It was found that there are some general agreements between the early Yogācāras and the broad Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika tradition with regard to the categories and essential concepts of abhidharma. Some instances of mutual doctrinal influence between the two schools can also be seen, particularly in cases where the Ābhidharmikas invoked the authority of the Yogācāras for explanations on meditation. However, the early Yogācāras would at times depart from the broad Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika system in order to further develop and consolidate their own Yogācāra tenets, notably with respect to meditation and methods of meditation.
