CHAPTER II NOTES.
[20] His date is not known, but judging from the contents of his works, of which we have at present two or three among the Chinese Tripitaka, it seems that he lived later than Açvaghoṣa, but prior to, or simultaneously with, Nâgârjuna. This little book occupies a very important position in the development of Mahâyânism in India. Next to Açvaghoṣa’s Awakening of Faith, the work must be carefully studied by scholars who want to grasp every phase of the history of Mahâyâna school as far as it can be learned through the Chinese documents. ([return])
[21] Be it remarked here that a Bodhisattva is not a particularly favored man in the sense of chosen people or elect. We are all in a way Bodhisattvas, that is, when we recognise the truth that we are equally in possession of the Samyak-sambodhi, Highest True Intelligence, and through which everybody without exception can attain final enlightenment. ([return])
[22] Mahâyâna-abhidharma-sangîti-çâstra, by Asanga. Nanjo, No. 1199. ([return])
[23] Yogâcârya-bhûmi-çâstra, Nanjo, No. 1170. The work is supposed to have been dictated to Asanga by a mythical Bodhisattva. ([return])
[24] By Asanga. Nanjo, 1177. ([return])
[25] Mahâyâna-samparigraha-çâstra, by Asanga. Nanjo, 1183. ([return])
[26] Perceiving an incarnation of the Dharmakâya in every spiritual leader regardless of his nationality and professed creed, Mahâyânists recognise a Buddha in Socrates, Mohammed, Jesus, Francis of Assisi, Confucius, Laotze, and many others. ([return])
[27] Ancient Hindu Buddhists, with their fellow-philosophers, believed in the existence of spiritually transfigured beings, who, not hampered by the limitations of space and time, can manifest themselves everywhere for the benefit of all sentient beings. We notice some mysterious figures in almost all Mahâyâna sûtras, who are very often described as shedding innumerable rays of light from the forehead and illuminating all the three thousand worlds simultaneously. This may merely be a poetic exaggeration. But this Sambhogakâya or Body of Bliss (see Açvaghoṣa’s Awakening of Faith, p. 101) is very difficult for us to comprehend as it is literally described. For a fuller treatment see the [chapter] on “Trikâya.” ([return])
[28] Though I am very much tempted to digress and to enter into a specific treatment concerning these two Hindu Mahâyâna doctrines, I reluctantly refrain from so doing, as it requires a somewhat lengthy treatment and does not entirely fall within the scope of the present work. ([return])
[29] That Açvaghoṣa’s conception of the Âlaya varies with the view here presented may be familiar to readers of his Awakening of Faith. This is one of the most abstruse problems in the philosophy of Mahâyâna Buddhism, and there are several divergent theories concerning its nature, attributes, activities, etc. In a work like this, it is impossible to give even a general statement of those controversies, however interesting they may be to students of the history of intellectual development in India.
The Âlayavijñâna, to use the phraseology of Samkhya philosophy, is a composition, so to speak, of the Soul (puruṣa) and Primordial Matter (prakṛti). It is the Soul, so far as it is neutral and indifferent to all those phenomenal manifestations, that are going on within as well as without us. It is Primordial Matter, inasmuch as it is the reservoir of everything, whose lid being lifted by the hands of Ignorance, there instantly springs up this universe of limitation and relativity. Enlightenment or Nirvâna, therefore, consists in recognising the error of Ignorance and not in clinging to the products of imagination. ([return])
[30] For a more detailed explanation of the ideal philosophy of the Yogâcâra, see my article on the subject in Le Muséon, 1905. ([return])
[31] “One mind” or “one heart” meaning the mental attitude which is in harmony with the monistic view of nature in its broadest sense. ([return])
[32] These ten stages of spiritual development are somewhat minutely explained below. See [Chapter XII]. ([return])
[33] The ten moral precepts of the Buddha are: (1) Kill no living being; (2) Take nothing that is not given; (3) Keep matrimonial sanctity; (4) Do not lie; (5) Do not slander; (6) Do not insult; (7) Do not chatter; (8) Be not greedy; (9) Bear no malice; (10) Harbor no scepticism. ([return])
[34] Mahâyânism recognises two “entrances” through which a comprehensive knowledge of the universe is obtained. One is called the “entrance of sameness” (samatâ) and the other the “entrance of diversity” (nânâtva). The first entrance introduces us to the universality of things and suggests a pantheistic interpretation of existence. The second leads us to the particularity of things culminating in monotheism or polytheism, as it is viewed from different standpoints. The Buddhists declare that neither entrance alone can lead us to the sanctum sanctorum of existence; and in order to obtain a sound, well-balanced knowledge of things in general, we must go through both the entrances of universality and particularity. ([return])
[35] The doctrine of Trikâya will be given further elucidation in the chapter bearing the same title. ([return])