TEN STAGES OF BODHISATTVAHOOD.
{311}
_Gradation in our Spiritual Life._
/Theoretically/ speaking, as we have seen above, the Bodhi or
Bodhicitta is in every sentient being, and in this sense he is a
Bodhisattva. In profane hearts it may be found enveloped in ignorance
and egoism, but it can never be altogether annulled. For the Bodhi,
when viewed from its absolute aspect, transcends the realm of birth
and death (_samsâra_), is beyond the world of toil and trouble and is
not subject to any form of defilement. But when it assumes a relative
existence and is only partially manifested under the cover of
ignorance, there appear various stages of actualisation or of
perfection. In some beings it may attain a more meaningful expression
than in others, while there may be even those who apparently fail on
account of their accursed karma to show the evidence of its presence.
This latter class is usually called “Icchantika,” that is, people who
are completely overwhelmed by the passions. They are morally and
religiously a mere corpse which even a great spiritual physician finds
it almost impossible to resuscitate. But, philosophically considered,
the glory of the Bodhi must be admitted {312} to be shining even in
these dark, ignorant souls. Such souls, perhaps, will have to go round
many a cycle of transmigration, before their karma loses its poignancy
and becomes susceptible to a moral influence with which they may come
in contact.
This accursed force of karma is not the same in all beings, it admits
of all possible degrees of strength, and causes some to suffer more
intensely than others. But there is no human heart or soul that is
absolutely free from the shackle of karma and ignorance, because this
very existence of a phenomenal world is a product of ignorance, though
this fact does not prove that this life is evil. The only heart that
transcends the influence of karma and ignorance and is all-purity,
all-love, and all-intelligence, is the Dharmakâya or the absolute
Bodhi itself. The life of a Bodhisattva and indeed the end of our
religious aspiration is to unfold, realise, and identify ourselves
with the love and intelligence of that ideal and yet real Dharmakâya.
The awakening of the Bodhicitta (or intelligence-heart) marks the
first step towards the highest good of human life. This awakening must
pass through several stages of religious discipline before it attains
perfection. These stages are generally estimated by the Mahâyânists
at ten. They appear, however, to our modern sceptical minds to be of
no significant consequence, nor can we detect any very practical and
well-defined distinction between successive stages. We fail to
understand what religious necessity impelled the Hindu Buddhists to
establish such apparently unimportant {313} stages one after another
in our religious life. We can see, however, that the first awakening
of the Bodhicitta does not transform us all at once to Buddhahood; we
have yet to overcome with strenuous efforts the baneful influence of
karma and ignorance which asserts itself too readily in our practical
life. But the marking of stages as in the gradation of the Daçabhûmî
in our spiritual progress seems to be altogether too artificial.
Nevertheless I here take pains as an historical survey to enumerate
the ten stages and to give some features supposed to be most
characteristic of each Bhûmî (stage) as expounded in the _Avatamsaka
Sutra_. Probably they will help us to understand what moral
conceptions and what religious aspirations were working in the
establishment of the doctrine of Daçabhûmî, for it elaborately
describes what was considered by the Mahâyânists to be the essential
constituents of Bodhisattvahood, and also shows what spiritual routine
a Buddhist was expected to pursue.
The ten stages are: (1) Pramuditâ, (2) Vimalâ, (3) Prabhâkarî, (4)
Arcismatî, (5) Sudurjayâ, (6) Abhimukhî, (7) Dûrangamâ, (8) Acalâ, (9)
Sâdhumatî, (10) Dharmameghâ.
(1) _The Pramuditâ._
Pramuditâ means “delight” or “joy” and marks the first stage of
Bodhisattvahood, at which the Buddhists emerge from a cold,
self-sufficing, and almost nihilistic contemplation of Nirvâna as
fostered by the Çrâvakas {314} and Pratyekabuddhas. This spiritual
emergence and emancipation is psychologically accompanied by an
intense feeling of joy, as that which is experienced by a person when
he unexpectedly recognises the most familiar face in a faraway land of
strangers. For this reason the first stage is called “joy.”
Even in the midst of perfect tranquillity of Nirvâna in which all
passions are alleged to have died away as declared by ascetics or
solitary philosophers, the inmost voice in the heart of the
Bodhisattva moans in a sort of dissatisfaction or uneasiness, which,
though undefined and seemingly of no significance, yet refuses to be
eternally buried in the silent grave of annihilation. He vainly gropes
in the darkness; he vainly seeks consolation in the samâdhi of
non-resistance or non-activity; he vainly finds eternal peace in the
gospel of self-negation; his soul is still troubled, not exactly
knowing the reason why. But as soon as the Bodhicitta
(intelligence-heart) is awakened from its somnolence, as soon as the
warmth of love (_mahâkarunâ_) penetrates into the coldest cell of
asceticism, as soon as the light of supreme enlightenment
(_mahâprajñâ_) dawns upon the darkest recesses of ignorance, the
Bodhisattva sees at once that the world is not made for self-seclusion
nor for self-negation, that the Dharmakâya is the source of “universal
effulgence,” that Nirvâna if relatively viewed in contrast to
birth-and-death is nothing but sham and just as unreal as any worldly
existence; and these insights finally lead him to feel that he cannot
rest quiet until all sentient beings are {315} emancipated from the
snarl of ignorance and elevated to the same position as now occupied
by himself.
(2) _The Vimalâ._
Vimalâ means “freedom from defilement,” or, affirmatively, “purity.”
When the Bodhisattva attains, through the spiritual insight gained at
the first stage, to rectitude and purity of heart, he reaches the
second stage. His heart is now thoroughly spotless, it is filled with
tenderness, he fosters no anger, no malice. He is free from all the
thoughts of killing any animate beings. Being contented with what
belongs to himself, he casts no covetous eyes on things not his own.
Faithful to his own betrothed, he does not harbor any evil thoughts on
others. His words are always true, faithful, kind, and considerate. He
likes truth, honesty, and never flatters.
(3) _The Prabhâkarî._
Prabhâkarî means “brightness,” that is, of the intellect. This
predominantly characterises the spiritual condition of the Bodhisattva
at this stage. Here he gains the most penetrating insight into the
nature of things. He recognises that all things that are created are
not permanent, are conducive to misery, have no abiding selfhood
(_âtman_), are destitute of purity, and subject to final decay. He
recognises also that the real nature of things, however, is neither
created nor subject to destruction, it is eternally abiding in the
selfsame essence, and transcends the limits of time {316} and space.
Ignorant beings not seeing this truth are always worrying over things
transient and worthless, and constantly consuming their spiritual
energy with the fire of avarice, anger, and infatuation, which in turn
accumulates for their future existences the ashes of misery and
suffering. This wretched condition of sentient beings further
stimulates the loving heart of the Bodhisattva to seek the highest
intelligence of Buddha, which, giving him great spiritual energy,
enables him to prosecute the gigantic task of universal emancipation.
His desire for the Buddha-intelligence and his faith in it are of such
immense strength that he would not falter even for a moment, if he is
only assured of the attainment of the priceless treasure, to plunge
himself into the smeltering fire of a volcano.
(4) _The Arciṣmatî._
Arciṣmatî, meaning “inflammation,” is the name given to the fourth
stage, at which the Bodhisattva consumes all the sediments of
ignorance and evil passions in the fiery crucible of the purifying
Bodhi. He practises here most strenuously the thirty-seven virtues
called Bodhipâkṣikas which are conducive to the perfection of the
Bodhi. These virtues consist of seven categories:
(I) Four Contemplations (_smṛtyusthâna_): 1. On the impurity of the
body; 2. On the evils of sensuality; 3. On the evanescence of the
worldly interests; 4. On the non-existence of âtman in things
composite.
(II) Four Righteous Efforts (_samyakprahâna_): 1. To {317} prevent
evils from arising; 2. To suppress evils already existing; 3. To
produce good not yet in existence; 4. To preserve good already in
existence.
(III) Four Forces of the Will (_ṛddhipâda_): 1. The determination
to accomplish what is willed; 2. The energy to concentrate the mind on
the object in view; 3. The power of retaining the object in memory; 4.
The intelligence that perceives the way to Nirvâna.
(IV) Five Powers (_indrya_), from which all moral good is produced: 1.
Faith; 2. Energy; 3. Circumspection; 4. Equilibrium, or tranquillity
of mind; 5 Intelligence.
(V) Five Functions (_bala_): Same as the above.[129]
(VI) Seven Constituents of the Bodhi (_bodhyanga_): 1. The retentive
power; 2. Discrimination; 3. Energy; 4. Contentment; 5. Modesty; 6.
The balanced mind; 7. Large-heartedness.
(VII) The Eightfold Noble Path (_âryamârga_): 1. Right view; 2. Right
resolve; 3. Right speech; 4. Right conduct; 5. Right livelihood; 6.
Right recollection; 8. Right tranquilisation, or contemplation.
{318}
(5) _The Sudurjayâ._
Sudurjayâ means “very difficult to conquer.” The Bodhisattva reaches
this stage when he, completely armed with the thirty-seven
Bodhipâkṣikas and guided by the beacon-light of Bodhi, undauntedly
breaks through the column of evil passions. Provided with the two
spiritual provisions, love and wisdom, and being benefitted by the
spirits of all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, the
Bodhisattva has developed an intellectual power to penetrate deep into
the system of existence. He perceives the Fourfold Noble Truth in its
true light; he perceives the highest reality in the Tathâgata; he
also perceives that the highest reality, though absolutely one in its
essence, manifests itself in a world of particulars, that relative
knowledge (_samvrtti_) and absolute knowledge (_paramârtha_) are two
aspects of one and the same truth, that when subjectivity is disturbed
there appears particularity, and that when it is not disturbed there
shines only the eternal light of Tathâgatajñâ (Tathâgata-knowledge).
(6) _The Abhimukhî._
Abhimukhî means “showing one’s face,” that is, the presentation of
intelligence (_prajñâ_) before the Bodhisattva at this stage.
The Bodhisattva enters upon this stage by reflecting on the essence of
all dharmas which are throughout of one nature. When he perceives the
truth, his heart is filled with great love, he serenely contemplates
on {319} the life of ignorant beings who are constantly going astray
yielding themselves to evil temptations, clinging to the false
conception of egoism, and thus making themselves the prey of eternal
damnation. He then proceeds to contemplate the development of evils
generally. There is ignorance, there is karma; and in this fertile
soil of blind activity the seeds of consciousness are sown; the
moisture of desire thoroughly soaks them, to which the water of egoism
or individuation is poured on. The bed for all forms of particularity
is well prepared, and the buds of nâmarûpas (name-and-form) most
vigorously thrive here. From these we have the flowers of sense-organs,
and which come in contact with other existences and produce
impressions, feel agreeable sensations, and tenaciously cling to them.
From this clinging or the will to live as the principle of
individuation or as the principle of bhâva as is called in the Twelve
Nidânas, another body consisting of the five skandhas comes into
existence, and, passing through all the phases of transformation,
dissolves and disappears. All sentient beings are thus kept in a
perpetual oscillation of combination and separation, of pleasure and
pain, birth and death. But the insight of the Bodhisattva has gone
deeply into the inmost essence of things, which forever remains the
same and in which there is no production and dissolution.
(7) _The Dûrangamâ._
Dûrangamâ means “going far away.” The Bodhisattva enters upon this
stage by attaining the so-called {320} Upâyajñâ, i.e. the knowledge
that enables him to produce any means or expediency suitable for his
work of salvation. He himself abides in the principles of _çûnyatâ_
(transcendentality), _animitta_ (non-individuality), and _apranihita_
(desirelessness), but his lovingkindness keeps him busily engaged
among sentient beings. He knows that Buddhas are not creatures
radically and essentially different from himself, but he does not stop
tendering them due homage. He is always contemplating on the nature of
the Absolute, but he does not abandon the practice of accumulating
merits. He is no more encumbered with worldly thoughts, yet he does
not disdain managing secular affairs. He keeps himself perfectly aloof
from the consuming fire of passion, but he plans all possible means
for the sake of sentient beings to quench the enraging flames of
avarice (_lobha_), anger (_dveṣa_), and infatuation (_moha_). He
knows that all individual existences are like dream, mirage, or the
reflection of the moon in the water, but he works and toils in the
world of particulars and submits himself to the domination of karma.
He is well aware of the transcendental nature of Pure Land
(_sukhâvatî_), but he describes it with material colors for the sake
of unenlightened masses. He knows that the Dharmakâya of all the
Buddhas is not a material existence, but he does not refuse to dignify
himself with the thirty-two major and eighty minor excellent features
of a great man or god (_mahâpuruṣa_). He knows that the language of
all the Buddhas does not fall within the ken of human comprehension,
but {321} he endeavors with all contrivances (_upâya_) to make it
intelligible enough to the understanding of people. He knows that all
the Buddhas perceive the past, present, and future in the twinkling of
an eye, but he adapts himself to divers conditions of the material
world and endeavors to help sentient beings to understand the
significance of the Bodhi according to their destinies and
dispositions. In short, the Bodhisattva himself lives on a higher
plane of spirituality far removed from the defilements of worldliness;
but he does not withdraw himself to this serene, unmolested
subjectivity; he boldly sets out in the world of particulars and
senses; and, placing himself on the level of ignorant beings, he works
like them, he toils like them, and suffers like them; and he never
fails all these times to practise the gospel of lovingkindness and to
turn over (_parivarta_) all his merits towards the emancipation and
spiritual edification of the masses, that is, he never gets tired of
practising the ten virtues of perfection (_pâramitâ_).
That is to say, (1) the Bodhisattva practises the virtue of charity
(_dâna_) by freely giving away to all sentient creatures all the
merits that he has acquired by following the path of Buddhas. (2) He
practises the virtue of good conduct (_çîla_) by destroying all the
evil passions that disturb serenity of mind. (3) He practises the
virtue of patience (_kṣânti_), for he never gets irritated or excited
over what is done to him by ignorant beings. (4) He practises the
virtue of strenuousness (_vriya_), for he never gets tired of {322}
accumulating merits and of promoting good-will among his
fellow-creatures. (5) He practises the virtue of calmness (_dhyâna_),
for his mind is never distracted in steadily pursuing his way to
supreme knowledge. (6) He practises the virtue of intelligence
(_prajñâ_), for he always restrains his thoughts from wandering away
from the path of absolute truth. (7) He practises the virtue of
tactfulness (_upâya_), for he has an inexhaustible mine of
expediencies ready at his command for the work of universal salvation.
(8) He practises the virtue of will-to-do (_pranidhâna_) by
determinedly following the dictates of the highest intelligence. (9)
He practises the virtue of strength (_bala_), for no evil influences,
no heretical thoughts can ever frustrate or slacken his efforts for
the general welfare of people. (10) Finally, he practises the virtue
of knowledge, (_jñâna_), by truthfully comprehending and expounding
the ultimate nature of beings.
(8) _The Acalâ._
Acalâ, “immovable,” is the name for the eighth stage of
Bodhisattvahood. When a Bodhisattva, transcending all forms of
discursive or deliberate knowledge, acquires the highest, perfect
knowledge called _anutpattikadharmakṣânti_, he is said to have gone
beyond the seventh stage. Anutpattikadharmakṣânti literally means
“not-created-being-forbearance”; and the Buddhists use the term in the
sense of keeping one’s thoughts in conformity to the views that
nothing in this world {323} has ever been created, that things are
such as they are, i.e. they are Suchness itself. This knowledge is
also called non-conscious or non-deliberate knowledge in
contradistinction to relative knowledge that constitutes all our
logical and demonstrative knowledge. Strictly speaking, this so-called
knowledge is not knowledge in its ordinary signification, it is a sort
of unconscious or subconscious intelligence, or immediate knowledge as
some call it, in which not only willing and acting, but also knowing
and willing are one single, undivided exhibition of activity, all
logical or natural transition from one to the other being altogether
absent. Here indeed knowledge is will and will is action; “Let there
be light,” and there is light, and the light is good; it is the state
of a divine mind.
At this stage of perfection, the Bodhisattva’s spiritual condition is
compared to that of a person who, attempting when in a dreamy state to
cross deep waters, musters all his energy, plans all schemes, and,
while at last at the point of starting on the journey, suddenly wakes
up and finds all his elaborate preparations to no purpose. The
Bodhisattva hitherto showed untiring spiritual efforts to attain the
highest knowledge, steadily practised all virtues tending to the
acquirement of Nirvâna, and heroically endeavored to exterminate all
evil passions, and at the culmination of all these exercises, he
enters all of a sudden upon the stage of Acalâ and finds the previous
elaboration mysteriously vanished from his conscious mind. He
cherishes {324} now no desire for Buddhahood, Nirvâna, or Bodhicitta,
much less after worldliness, egoism, or the satisfaction of evil
passions. The conscious striving that distinguished all his former
course has now given way to a state of spontaneous activity, of
saintly innocence, and of divine playfulness. He wills and it is done.
He aspires and it is actualised. He is nature herself, for there is no
trace in his activity that betrays any artificial lucubration, any
voluntary or compulsory restraint. This state of perfect ideal freedom
may be called esthetical, which characterises the work of a genius.
There is here no trace of consciously following some prescribed laws,
no pains of elaborately conforming to the formula. To put this
poetically, the inner life of the Bodhisattva at this stage is like
the lilies of the field whose glory is greater than that of Solomon in
all his human magnificence.
Kant’s remarks on this point are very suggestive, and I will quote the
following from his _Kritik der Urteilskraft_ (Reclam edition, p. 173):
“Also muss die Zweckmässigkeit im Produkte der schönen Kunst, ob sie
zwar absichtlich ist, doch nicht absichtlich scheinen: d.i., schöne
Kunst muss als Natur anzusehen sein, ob man sich ihrer zwar als Kunst
bewusst ist. Als Natur aber erscheint ein Produkt der Kunst dadurch,
dass zwar alle Pünktlichkeit in der Uebereinkunst mit Regeln, nach
denen allein das Produkt das werden kann, was es soll sein,
angetroffen wird, aber ohne Peinlichkeit, d.i., ohne eine Spur zu
zeigen, dass die Regel dem Künstler vor Augen {325} geschwebt und
seinen Gemüthskräften Fesseln angelegt haben.”[130]
(9) _The Sâdhumatî._
Sâdhumatî, meaning “good intelligence,” is the name given to the
ninth stage of Bodhisattvahood. All the Bodhisattvas are said to have
reached here, when sentient beings are benefitted by the Bodhisattva’s
attainment of the highest perfect knowledge, which is unfathomable by
the ordinary human intelligence. The knowledge leads them to the
Dharma of the deepest mystery, to the Samâdhi of perfect spirituality,
to the Dhâranî of divine spontaneity, to Love of absolute purity, to
the Will of utmost freedom.
The Bodhisattva will acquire at this stage the four Pratisamvids
(comprehensive knowledge), which are (1) Dharmapratisamvid, (2)
Arthapratisamvid, (3) Niruktipratisamvid, (4) Pratibhanapratisamvid.
By the Dharmapratisamvid, the Bodhisattvas understand the {326}
self-essence (_svabhâva_) of all beings; by the Arthapratisamvid,
their individual attributes; by the Niruktipratisamvid, their
indestructibility; by the Pratibhanapratisamvid, their eternal order.
Again, by the first intelligence they understand that all individual
dharmas have no absolute reality; by the second, that they are all
subject to the law of constant becoming; by the third, that they are
no more than mere names; by the fourth, that even mere names as such
are of some value. Again, by the first intelligence, they comprehend
that all dharmas are of one reality which is indestructible; by the
second, that this one reality differentiating itself becomes subject
to the law of causation; by the third, that by virtue of a superior
understanding all Buddhas become the object of admiration and the
haven of all sentient beings; by the fourth, that in the one body of
truth all Buddhas preach infinite lights of the Dharma.
(10) _The Dharmameghâ._
Dharmameghâ, “clouds of dharma,” is the name of the tenth and final
stage of Bodhisattvahood. The Bodhisattvas have now practised all
virtues of purity, accumulated all the constituents of Bodhi, are
fortified with great power and intelligence, universally practise the
principle of great love and sympathy, have deeply penetrated into the
mystery of individual existences, fathomed the inmost depths of
sentiency, followed step by step the walk of all the Tathâgatas. Every
thought cherished by the Bodhisattva now dwells in {327} all the
Tathâgatas’ abode of eternal tranquillity, and every deed practised
by him is directed towards the ten balas (power),[131] four
vaiçâradyas (conviction),[132] and eighteen avenikas (unique
characteristics),[133] of the Buddha. By these virtues the Bodhisattva
has now acquired the knowledge of all things (_sarvajñâ_), is dwelling
in the sanctum sanctorum of all dhâraṇîs and samâdhis, have arrived at
the summit of all activities.
{328}
The Bodhisattva at this stage is a personification of love and
sympathy, which freely issue from the fount of his inner will. He
gathers the clouds of virtue and wisdom, in which he manifests himself
in manifold figures; he produces the lightnings of Buddhi, Vidyâs,
and Vaiçâradyas; and shaking the whole world with the thunder of
Dharma he crushes all the evil ones; and pouring forth the showers of
Good Law he quenches the burning flames of ignorance {329} and passion
in which all sentient creatures are being consumed.
* * *
The above presentation of the Daçabhûmî[134] of Bodhisattvahood
allows us to see what ideal life is held out by the Mahâyânists
before their own eyes and in what respect it differs from that of the
Çrâvakas and Pratyekabuddhas as well as from that of other religious
followers. Mahâyânism is not contented to make us mere transmitters
or “hearers” of the teachings of the Buddha, it wants to inspire with
all the religious and ethical motives that stirred the noblest heart
of Çâkyamuni to its inmost depths. It fully recognises the intrinsic
worth of the human soul; and, holding up its high ideals and noble
aspirations, it endeavors to develop all the possibilities of our
soul-life, which by our strenuous efforts and all-defying courage will
one day be realised even on this earth of impermanence. We as
individual existences are nothing but shadows which will vanish as
soon as the conditions disappear that make them possible; we as mortal
beings are no more than the {330} thousands of dusty particles that
are haphazardly and powerlessly scattered about before the cyclone of
karma; but when we are united in the love and intelligence of the
Dharmakâya in which we have our being, we are Bodhisattvas, and we
can immovably stand against the tempest of birth and death, against
the overwhelming blast of ignorance. Then even an apparently
insignificant act of lovingkindness will lead finally to the eternal
abode of bliss, not the actor alone, but the whole community to which
he belongs. Because a stream of love spontaneously flows from the lake
of Intelligence-heart (_Bodhicitta_) which is fed by the inexhaustible
spring of the Dharmakâya, while ignorance leads only to egoism,
hatred, avarice, disturbance, and universal misery.