The "Ornament of/for Realization , abbreviated AA, is one of five

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

-language Mahayana śastras which, according to Tibetan tradition, Maitreya revealed to

Asaṅga Asaṅga (, ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') ( fl. 4th century C.E.) was "one of the most important spiritual figures" of Mahayana Buddhism and the "founder of the Yogachara school".Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpasse ...

in northwest India circa the 4th century AD. (Chinese tradition recognizes a different list of Maitreya texts which does not include the AA.) Those who doubt the claim of supernatural revelation disagree (or are unsure) whether the text was composed by Asaṅga himself, or by someone else, perhaps a human teacher of his. The AA is never mentioned by

Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...

, who spent several years at

Nalanda Nalanda (, ) was a renowned '' mahavihara'' ( Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.Taranatha) and Haribhadra (late 8th century). The AA contains eight chapters and 273 verses. Its pithy contents summarize—in the form of eight categories and seventy topics—the

Prajñāpāramitā sūtras A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala Prajñāpāramitā ( sa, प्रज्ञापारमिता) means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna and Theravāda ...

which the

Madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddh ...

philosophical school regards as presenting the ultimate truth. Gareth Sparham and

John Makransky John Makransky is an American professor of Buddhism and comparative theology at Boston College, and a meditation teacher within the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Career Makransky practices the meditations of compassion and wisdom from T ...

believe the text to be commenting on the version in 25,000 lines, although it does not explicitly say so. Haribhadra, whose commentary is based on the 8,000-line PP Sūtra, held that the AA is commenting on all PP versions at once (i.e. the 100,000-line, 25,000-line, and 8,000-line versions),Sparham, AA vol. 1, p. xiv; Makransky, p. 129. and this interpretation has generally prevailed within the commentarial tradition. Several scholars liken the AA to a "table of contents" for the PP. Edward Conze admits that the correspondence between these numbered topics, and the contents of the PP is "not always easy to see..."; and that the fit is accomplished "not without some violence" to the text. The AA is widely held to reflect the hidden meaning (''sbas don'') of the PP, with the implication being that its details are not found there explicitly. (Sparham traces this tradition to Haribhadra's student Dharmamitra.) One noteworthy effect is to recast PP texts as path literature. Philosophical differences may also be identified. Conze and Makransky see the AA as an attempt to reinterpret the PP, associated with Mādhyamaka tenets, in the direction of Yogacara. The AA is studied by all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, and is one of five principal works studied in the

geshe Geshe (Tib. ''dge bshes'', short for ''dge-ba'i bshes-gnyen'', "virtuous friend"; translation of Skt. ''kalyāņamitra'') or geshema is a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks and nuns. The degree is emphasized primarily by the Gelug linea ...

curriculum of the major

Gelug 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodh_Gaya.html" ;"title="Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya">Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2 ...

monasteries. Alexander Berzin has suggested that the text's prominence in the Tibetan tradition, but not elsewhere, may be due to the existence of the aforementioned commentary by Haribhadra, who was the disciple of Śāntarakṣita, an influential early Indian missionary to Tibet.

Je Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan B ...

's writings name the AA as the root text of the

lamrim Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of ''lamrim'', pres ...

tradition founded by

Atiśa ( bn, অতীশ দীপংকর শ্রীজ্ঞান, ôtiś dīpôṅkôr śrigyen; 982–1054) was a Buddhist religious leader and master. He is generally associated with his work carried out at the Vikramashila monastery in Bih ...

Georges Dreyfus Georges B.J. Dreyfus (born 1950 in Switzerland) is an academic in the fields of Tibetology and Buddhology, with a particular interest in Indian Buddhist philosophy. In 1985 he was the first Westerner to receive the Geshe Lharampa degree, the highe ...

reports that "Gelug monastic universities... take the ''Ornament'' as the central text for the study of the path; they treat it as a kind of Buddhist encyclopedia, read in the light of commentaries by Je Dzong-ka-ba, Gyel-tsap Je, and the authors of manuals onastic textbooks Sometimes these commentaries spin out elaborate digressions from a single word of the ''Ornament.''" Dreyfus adds that non-Gelug schools give less emphasis to the AA, but study a somewhat larger number of works (including the other texts of the Maitreya-Asanga corpus) in correspondingly less detail.

Title of the work

Tibetan - Buddha Shakyamuni and Prajnaparamita - Walters W8561

The text's full title is: :*Sanskrit: ' :*Tibetan: Which means: :*''abhisamaya'' () - "Realization(s)" :*' () -- "Ornament" (Berzin prefers " Filigree") :*''nāma'' () -- "called" :*''prajñāpāramitā'' () - "Perfection of Wisdom" :*''upadeśa'' () -- "Instructions" (literally, "an up-close look") :*''śāstra'' ()-- "Treatise" Thus, a "Treatise fInstructions n thePerfection of Wisdom, called heOrnament f / forRealization " Sparham explains: :"The word ''abhisamaya'' is made up of the prefix ''abhi'' ("toward, over"), the prefix ''sam'' ("together with"), and the root ''i'', a verb of motion with the secondary meaning "to understand." Generally speaking, ''abhisamaya'' means a coming together, a "re-union," particularly of a knower with something to be known, hence a "clear realization." In a title ''abhisamaya'' may just mean "chapter," hence the title ' means ''Ornament for the Clear Realizations'' or ''Ornament for the Chapters.'' Conze adds some details about the term's origins: :In the

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist '' Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Bud ...

scriptures the term is used to designate the stage when we comprehend the four holy truths. In the '' Abhidharmakośa'' (VI 122) it is interpreted as the correct (''sam'' = ''samyak'') knowledge (''aya'') which is turned toward (''abhi'') Nirv. In the ''Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'' itself it is invariably coupled with ''prāpti'', "attainment," and in one place...it is a synonymn for ''sāksātkriya'' (realization). As to whether we are speaking of one realization, or of eight, Sparham offers the following explanation by , a 14th-15th century Tibetan commentator: :An admirer views a naturally beautiful woman adorned with golden ornaments reflected in a mirror. The ''Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras'' are the naturally beautiful woman. The systematization of the contents of the ''Sūtras'' into eight subjects and seventy topics are the golden ornaments, and the ''Ornament'' the mirror through which they view her. Elaborating on the metaphor, Geshe Jampa Gyatso distinguishes between a "natural ornament" (the beautiful woman, the Perfection of Wisdom), "beautifying ornament" (her jewelry, the eight categories and seventy topics), "clarifying ornament" (the mirror, the AA), and "joyful ornament" (the joy of the beholder or AA devotee).

Philosophical perspective

The PP Sūtras form the basis for the Mādhyamika ("Middle Way") school of Indian

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combi ...

, which Tibetan consensus acknowledges as the "highest" (truest, best) tenet system. Other writings by Maitreya and Asaga, however, form the basis for the rival Yogācāra ("Yoga Adepts") or Cittamātra ("Mind Only" or "Consciousness Only") school. It is therefore perhaps understandable that the AA, as Sparham writes, "straddles the ground between Indian Middle Way and Mind Only..." Conze concurs, ascribing to the AA "an intermediate position between Mādhyamikas and Yogācārins..." Conze discovers in the AA "some affinities with other Yogācārin works" and suggests a number of precise correspondences. At the same time, he notes, "Two of the specific ''doctrines'' of the Yogācārins, i.e. the 'storeconsciousness' and the three kinds of own-being (''svabhāva'') are quite ignored."

Eugène Obermiller Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".śūnyatā ''Śūnyatā'' ( sa, शून्यता, śūnyatā; pi, suññatā; ), translated most often as ''emptiness'', ''vacuity'', and sometimes ''voidness'', is an Indian philosophical concept. Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and other p ...

'') of all separate elements of existence, i.e. the standpoint of the Mādhyamikas." Obermiller sees the AA as the product of interaction between Mahāyāna Buddhism and the Hindu

Vedānta ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...

philosophy. Gelugpa writers, following Bu ston, affirm Maitreya's text to represent the Prāsaṅgika viewpoint, but consider Haribhadra and later commentators to have taught something called "Yogācāra Svātantrika Madhyamaka." The category is often criticized as artificial, even by the standards of Tibetan

doxography Doxography ( el, δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term ...

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

and Sakya writers agree that the AA contains

teachings, without necessarily endorsing the subdivisions proposed by Gelugpas. In an aside, Ian Charles Harris finds it "curious" that :"...Maitreya is generally considered to be the mythical instructor of Asaga, and therefore for those who see ''Māhāyana'' Buddhism in terms of schools

s Harris does not S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histo ...

to be the founder of the ''Yogācāra-Vijñānanavāda.'' One wonders why someone seeking to establish a rival school to Nāgārjuna should wish to write a treatise on the ''Prajñāpāramitā'' if, as many authors believe, it is amenable only to an interpretation from the standpoint of the ''Prāsa-Madhyamaka''." Harris goes on to note the "strange fact" that Tsongkhapa would be a self-avowed Prasangika, despite his system's assignment of "all the great ''Madhyamaka'' authorities on the ''Prajñāpāramitā''" to Yogācāra Svātantrika Madhyamaka. According to Makransky, the AA was designed to impose a Yogācāra framework and vocabulary onto the PP. AA commentator Arya Vimuktisena preserves this Yogācāra reading; however, Makransky sees Haribhadra's reading as an attempt to "Mādhyamika-ize" the AA. Later Tibetan commentators broadly follow Haribhadra.

The Eight Categories and Seventy Topics

The AA is divided into eight categories, which correspond to the eight chapters of the work, and (with one technical exception in chapter eight) to the eight "realizations" said to be necessary for full enlightenment. (Conze remarks that these eight are "not attested elsewhere.") This division into eight appears thus at the beginning of the AA itself: :

he Buddhas He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

proclaim the ''Perfection of Wisdom'' 'Sūtra''by way of eight subjects. These eight are the knowledge of all aspects, knowledge of paths, and all knowledge. Then there is the awakening to all aspects, when culmination is attained, serial, awakening in an instant, and the Truth Body. A verses 1.4 and 1.5, Sparham translation These eight categories naturally fall into three groups, as shown below. The seventy topics (here enumerated but not shown) are their subdivisions. Obermiller traces this list to a manual attributed to 'Jam dbyangs Bzhad pa, who also created the various definitions and category-boundaries familiar to Tibetan debaters. The text may be subdivided further still, into 1,200 items. Unless otherwise indicated, the English terms below follow Sparham's translation (which revises Conze's).

The Three Knowledges

The first three categories represent the objects or goals of practice, whose attainment leads to peace for the four classes of Buddhist practitioner. Obermiller calls them "the 3 Kinds of Omniscience," while Toh prefers "the Three Exalted Knowers" and Berzin, "the Three Sets of Realized Awareness." :1. Knowledge of all aspects ::(''Sarvākārajñatā'', ''rnam pa tham cad mkhyen pa'').............................10 topics ::(Wisdom attained by Buddhas; inclusive of categories two and three below) :2. Knowledge of paths ::(''Mārgākārajñatā'', ''lam shes pa'')....................................................11 topics ::(Wisdom attained by

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schoo ...

s; inclusive of category three below) :3. All-knowledge ::(''Sarvajñatā'', ''gzhi shes pa'')...........................................................9 topics ::(Wisdom attained by '' sravakas'' and '' pratyekabuddhas,'' i.e.,

Hinayana Hīnayāna (, ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "small/deficient vehicle". Classical Chinese and Tibetan teachers translate it as "smaller vehicle". The term is applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' ...

practitioners) Berzin explains these categories as :"...groupings of realizations gained by the three sets of ''aryas'' ('''phags-pa'', highly realized beings), those who have gained nonconceptual cognition of the sixteen aspects of the

four noble truths In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; pi, cattāri ariyasaccāni; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones".[aFour Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Encycl ...

. The three are organized into basis, pathway, and resultant stages and thus, in a complex manner, are cumulative. They are studied, however, in reverse order to their attainment, in order to inspire interest in developing them." ''Sravakas'' and ''Pratyekabuddhas'', in order to discern the truths of ''anitya'' (impermanence), ''anatman'' (selflessness), and ''dukha'' (suffering), must acquire knowledge of the fundamental constituents of reality (''vastu'')--namely the ''skandhas'', ''ayatanas'', and '' Skandha#Eighteen Dh.C4.81tus, dhatus'' which are the subjects of

Abhidharma The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the ...

. This is the "all-knowledge" of chapter three. A bodhisattva, in order to benefit all sentient beings, must additionally cognize the various possible paths by which others may progress, so that he may, for example, teach in different ways in accordance with their various situations and capacities. This is the "knowledge of paths" of chapter two. According to the Mahayana understanding, only a fully enlightened Buddha has eliminated obstacles to omniscience (''jneyavaranaheya'') as well as obstacles to liberation (''kleshavaranaheya''). "Knowledge of all aspects" in the first chapter refers to this ultimate state. The AA begins with this as the most impressive of the three, and the ultimate goal of the Mahayana practitioner.

The Four Practices

Categories four through seven (in this order) represent progressive stages of spiritual practice en route to enlightenment. Conze calls them four "understandings"; Obermiller, "practical methods"; Toh, "applications"; and Berzin (who notes the close connection to "yoga," ngal sbyor), "applied realizations." :4. Full awakening to all aspects ::(''Sarvākārābhisambodha'', )..........................11 topics :5. Culmination clear realization ::(''Murdhābhisamaya'', )..........................8 topics :6. Serial clear realization ::(''Anupurvābhisamaya'', )............................13 topics :7. Clear realization in a single instant ::(''Ekaksanābhisamaya'', )..............................4 topics Referring to the above, Dreyfus explains that :"...the ''Ornament'' presents the four practices or realizations hapters 4-7 emphasizing particularly 'the practice of all the aspects' (), which is treated in the fourth chapter. In fact, that practice is the central topic of the text and may have been an actual practice in which all the aspects of the three wisdoms hapters 1-3are brought together... But--and this point is crucial--no teacher I have ever met seems to have practiced this meditation, or even to have been clear on how to do so... Clearly the work's central themes are not practiced in the Tibetan scholastic traditions." Tibetan tradition lays special emphasis on chapter four, perhaps because it is the longest and most complex, and therefore best suited to commentary and debate. This fourth chapter enumerates, and extensively describes, (in Obermiller's words) "173 forms of the Bodhisattva's ''yoga'' as realizing respectively the 173 aspects (of the 3 forms of Omniscience)."

The Resultant Truth Body

The last Category concerns the result of spiritual practice: :8. The Resultant Truth Body ::(''Dharmakāyābhisambodha'', chos sku)........................................4 topics :::::::::::::::: -------------- ::::::::::::::::70 topics By this is meant the Dharmakāya, one of several glorified spiritual bodies (Makransky prefers "embodiments") which a Buddha is said to possess. A commentarial tradition beginning with Arya Vimuktisena interprets the AA as teaching the existence of three such bodies (the '' trikaya'' doctrine); a rival tradition follows Haribhadra in identifying four such bodies, with the fourth, disputed ''kāya'' being the ''Svabhāvikakāya'' (Tib. ngo bo nyid kyi sku) or "Nature / Essence Body". (Other writers interpret this last term as a synonym for Dharmakaya, or else as symbolizing the unity of the three.) Makransky, whose ''Buddhism Embodied'' focuses on this eighth chapter of the AA, writes that :"Haribhadra had read ''AA'' 8 as a systematic treatise whose purpose was to present a logically coherent model of Buddhahood. His perspective owed much to Buddhist logic and Abhidharma traditions that had sought such systematic coherence. Ratnākarāśānti, basing himself instead on the perspective on nondual yogic traditions, specifically understood the terms ''svābhāvikakāya'' and ''dharmakāya'' in ''AA'' 8 (and throughout Mahāyana literature) to refer to a Buddha's ''own'' perspective on the nature of his attainment, ''not'' to a human perspective on it. ..Tsong kha pa, influenced by the logico-epistemological approach expressed in Haribhadra's work, supported his interpretation of ''AA'' 8. Go ram pa, drawing from a perspective framed by nondual yogic praxis, supported Ratnākorāśānti's call to return to Arya Vimuktisena's previous interpretation. Tsong kha pa and Go ram pa's interpretations are closely related to their differing perspectives on a Buddha's awareness, which was an explicit topic of discussion in Candrakirti's ''Mādhyamikāvatāra,'' upon which they both commented." For Makransky, the controversy reflects a fundamental tension between immanent and transcendent aspects of Buddhism, which is also reflected in debate over the

Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma The Three Turnings of the Wheel (of Dharma) refers to a framework for understanding the sutra stream of the teachings of the Buddhism originally devised by the Yogachara school. It later became prevalent in modified form in Tibetan Buddhism and r ...

, or gradual vs. sudden enlightenment (as at

Samye Samye (, ), full name Samye Mighur Lhundrub Tsula Khang (Wylie: ''Bsam yas mi ’gyur lhun grub gtsug lag khang'') and Shrine of Unchanging Spontaneous Presence is the first Tibetan Buddhist and Nyingma monastery built in Tibet, during the reign ...

). In his view, all these controversies stem from a fundamental difficulty in reconciling the transcendent nature of Buddhahood with the immanent nature of bodhicitta.

Ancillary Topics

Obermiller, describing the curriculum of Drepung's (’Bras spungs)

Go mang Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * ''Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position l ...

college, reports that the monks studied the AA in a four-year sequence (after certain preliminary subjects); and that each class also studied a prescribed "secondary subject" (zur-bkol) for that year: :First class: Introduction to the AA as well as the special topic, the "Twenty Sangha." :Second class: Finished through the seventh topic of the first AA chapter; the supplementary topic was dependent origination (''pratītyasamutpāda'') :Third class: Finished the first AA chapter and continued; also studied the Yogacara theory of the storehouse consciousness (''ālāyavijñāna''), and the difference between definitive and interpretable scripture as taught by Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra. :Fourth class: Focused on the fourth chapter of the AA ("which is regarded as the most difficult"), supplemented with "the teaching about the four degrees of trance in the sphere of Etherial Bodies...and the four degrees of mystic absorption in the Immaterial Sphere." The fourth-year students would conclude with a celebratory feast. Obermiller adds that "All these studies are conducted in the form of lectures which are accompanied by controversies between the different groups of students according to the method of 'sequence and reason' (''thal-phyir'')."

Twenty Sangha

The subject of "Twenty Sangha" (''vimsatiprabhedasamgha,'' dge 'dun nyi shu) aims at schematizing the various spiritual levels through which one might pass on the way to enlightenment. Here "Sangha" refers not so much to actual monks and nuns (the term's most common meaning), but to an idealized, gradated schema of all the types of accomplished Buddhist. The AA explains that it is the latter sense of "Sangha" which constitutes the object of Buddhist Refuge, and in an especially cryptic verse, offers the following subdivision into twenty types: :There are Twenty ategories those with dull and sharp faculties, those who have attained faith and vision, those who are born from family to family, those born with one interval, those who are born in the intermediate state, those who are born, with effort and effortlessly, those who go to Akanistha, three who leap, those who go to the upper limit of the world, those who destroy attachment to the form ealm those who pacify visual phenomena, the bodily witness, and the rhinoceros. A verses 1.23-24, James Apple translation What does this mean? " Akanistha" is the name of the highest Buddha-field in the Form Realm, inhabited by pious gods and tenth-ground bodhisattvas. The solitary nature of the rhinoceros made that animal a traditional symbol for ''pratyekabuddhas'' ("solitary Buddhas"). Beyond that, the list is quite difficult to decipher. The basic project seems to have been inspired by an earlier typology of four ( Stream-Enterer, Once-Returner, Non-Returner, ''

Arhat In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved '' Nirvana'' and liberated ...

''), which may be expanded to eight by distinguishing between approachers to (zhugs pa), or abiders at ('bras gnas), each level. Unfortunately the list of twenty does not correspond very well with this earlier one. Furthermore, Tibetan exegetical tradition estimates the actual number of types of Sangha (including combinations and subdivisions) to approach the tens of thousands. Such difficulties seem to account for much of the subject's popularity in debate.(See Apple's monograph on the subject.)

Definitive and Interpretable Scriptures

Tibetan tradition accepts the common Mahayana view that Sakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha) taught various kinds of teachings that do not seem to agree—hence the various discrepancies between nikaya Buddhism and the Mahayana scriptures—and following the '' Sandhinirmocana Sutra'', hold that the Buddha taught three grand cycles called " Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma." According to the sutra, the first of these consists of Hinayana teachings; the second, of Mahdyamaka teachings; and the third, of Yogacara teachings. The sutra seems to assume the third cycle to consist of the "highest" teachings. However, Tibetan tradition generally sides with Madhyamaka, and therefore must read the sutra in this light. The issue becomes more pressing in view of the fact that Tibetan Buddhist doctrine in fact combines elements from all three cycles, and is therefore faced with the task of defending its authorities while simultaneously minimizing contradictions between them.

Form and Formless Realm Absorptions (Trances)

Commentarial literature

In India

The oldest extant commentary is that of Ārya Vimuktisena (Grol sde), called ''Illuminating the Twenty Thousand: A Commentary on the Ornament'' (''Pañcavimsatisāhasrikāprajñāparamitopadesasāstrabhisamāyalakāravrtti,'' ). Written in a different style from its successors, it makes frequent reference to

Vasubandhu Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary ...

's '' Abhidharmakośaśāstra.'' Even more influential have been the commentaries of Haribadra (Seng ge Bzang Po), especially his ''Blossomed Meaning'' (''Sphuṭārthā,'' 'grel pa don gsal) and ''Light for the Ornament''. (''Abhisamāyalakāralokāprajñāpāramitāvyākhyā'', ). Haribhadra also edited an abridgment of this work, called the "Short Commentary" (''Sphuṭārtha'', 'grel pa don gsal/'grel chung). Altogether, 21 ancient Indian AA commentaries are said to have been translated into Tibetan, although it is possible to doubt the existence of some of the titles listed. For example, an ambiguous reference at the beginning of Haribhadra's prefatory homage is sometimes interpreted to mean that Asanga wrote an AA commentary. If so, the work is no longer extant. Haribhadra also mentions an AA commentary by

entitled ''Padhati'' ("The Well-Trodden Path"), and one by

Bhadanta Vimuktisena Bhante ( Pali; my, ဘန္တေ, ; Sanskrit: ''bhavantaḥ''), sometimes also called Bhadanta, is a respectful title used to address Buddhist monks and superiors in the Theravada tradition. The term religiously means "Venerable Sir." Et ...

("the Intelligent" Vimuktisena—not to be confused with Ārya, "the Noble" Vimuktisena) called ''Excellent Explanation of the Twenty Thousand'' (', ). However, the commentaries by Ārya Vimuktisena and Haribhadra are most fundamental to the subsequent commentarial tradition. Sparham writes that :...practically speaking, the ''Light'' aribhadra's commentaryis the more readable explanation. It has fewer words to explain

ince it is based on the 8,000-line PP rather than the 25,000-line version Ince may refer to: *Ince, Cheshire, a village in Cheshire, UK *Ince-in-Makerfield in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, UK *Ince (UK Parliament constituency), a former constituency covering Ince-in-Makerfield *Ince (ward), an electoral ward covering ...

Ārya may well be the more profound thinker, but Hari's is the better book. This perhaps explains why Hari, not Ārya, became the most influential Indian figure in the study of the Perfection of Wisdom in Tibet, even though Ārya is more admired. It also perhaps explains why Hari's own abridgement of his ''Light'' is the basis of nearly every Tibetan Perfection of Wisdom commentary. Makransky, on the other hand, feels that Arya Vimuktasena's commentary better captures the AA's Yogācāra assumptions.

In Tibet

The AA was extremely influential in Tibet, resulting in the production of numerous commentaries. The first were those of "Ngok Lotsawa" or "Ngok the Translator" (Rngog Lo tsa ba Bal ldan Shes rab, 1059–1109): (a summary), (a "small" commentary), and an 8000-line Prajnaparamita summary called ''Yum brgyad stong pa'i 'grel pa'i don bsdus'' (possibly a sub-commentary to Haribhadra's ''Short Commentary''). Well known

commentaries on the AA include the by Dza Patrul Rinpoche, Orgyen Jikmé Chökyi Wangpo which forms the whole of the sixth volume of his ''Collected Works''; and ''The Words of the Invincible Maitreya'', (''ma pham zhal lung'') by Pöpa Tulku Dongak Tenpé Nyima. Sakya commentators on the AA include 'Go rams pa bsod nams seng ge (four commentaries),

Sakya Chokden Serdok Penchen Sakya Chokden (gser mdog pan chen shakya mchog ldan, 1428–1507) (also transliterated as ''Shakya Chogden'') was one of the most important religious thinkers of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was a student of Rongtön She ...

, Shes ba Kun rig (seven commentaries and treatises), and G.Yag ston (, 1350–1414). The latter's work is ''King of Wish-Fulfilling Jewels'' (), in eight volumes.

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...

commentaries on the AA include Padma Karpo's "The Words of Jetsun Maitreya"; the "Short and Clear" commentary by Shamar Konchok Yenlag; "Introducing the Lamp of the Three Worlds: A commentary on the Ornament of Realization" ( by Karma Thinleypa

Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan B ...

's teacher Don grub Rin chen encouraged him to study the five texts of Maitreya, especially the AA. One of Tsongkhapa's major works, ''Golden Garland'' (gSer-phreng), is an AA commentary. His disciple Gyaltsab () also wrote an AA subcommentary, called ''Ornament of the Essence'' ().

In East Asia

The AA seems not to have been translated into Chinese until the 1930s. At this time the Chinese monk Fazun (法尊), an associate of Taixu (太虛), produced a translation entitled 現觀莊嚴論, for use by the Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Institute (漢藏教理院) in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

. The institute's leaders sought to harmonize the Buddhisms of China and Tibet, and improve relations between the

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kha ...

pas and Han Chinese immigrants to Eastern Tibet. Fazun had studied in the ''geshe'' program of the Drepung ('Bras spungs) college () of Loseling (Blo gsal gling), near

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...

, and possibly even obtained the degree.Chibs.edu.tw
For background on this school, see Gray Tuttle, ''Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China'' (Columbia UP, 2005). The institute failed to survive the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

In the West

The AA seems not to have attracted the attention of Western scholars until the 1930s, when

Eugène Obermiller Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Theodore Stcherbatsky Fyodor Ippolitovich Shcherbatskoy or Stcherbatsky (Фёдор Ипполи́тович Щербатско́й) (11 September (N.S.) 1866 – 18 March 1942), often referred to in the literature as F. Th. Stcherbatsky, was a Russian Indologist who, ...

produced an edition of the Sanskrit / Tibetan text. Obermiller, a specialist in Yogacara and

Tathagatagarbha Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...

literature, also wrote a lengthy article on the AA ("The Doctrine of PP...") and was in the process of composing ''Analysis of the AA'' when he died. While Obermiller approached the AA from the perspective of "Monism," which he associated with Vedanta, his studies in the Buryat Mongolian monastery of Dgah ldan dar rgyas gling (Chilutai) exposed him to a more traditional hermeneutic framework. Along with a translation of the AA (or the three-fifths of it which he finished), he also provided a summary of Haribhadra's commentary for each section. Edward Conze, who was active from the 1950s to the 1970s, devoted his career to PP translations and commentaries, his AA translation being an early example. An especially significant work was his translation of the PP Sutra in 25,000-lines, which he organized according to the AA topics. This required a certain amount of creative editing on his part—for example, his translation does not strictly follow the 25,000-line AA, but incorporates text from other PP Sutras. Like Obermiller, Conze's writings betray a certain German idealistic influence, hence his references to "Union with the Absolute." During the 2000s, several Western scholars with experience as Buddhist monks living among the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, who had participated in traditional

studies, published articles and books related to the AA. Their ranks included Gareth Sparham (who translated the AA anew, along with the commentaries of Arya Vimuktisena, Haribhadra, and Tsongkhapa) and Geshe

(whose writings describe the contemporary social context of AA study). In addition, studies and translations by

Karl Brunnhölzl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austr ...

and the Padmakara Translation Group have focused on non-Gelug readings of this text, which the earlier literature had neglected. The AA has also received attention from several Western

dharma center A Dharma Centre (Sanskrit) or Dhamma Centre (Pali) is a non-monastic Buddhist centre in a community. According to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the function of these centres is to preserve and spread the teachin ...

s (notably those associated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, whose "Masters Program" devotes several years to its study), with the result that the AA has now been transmitted to the West not only as a text, but as a living spiritual tradition.

Bibliography

Amano, Hirofusa. "A Fragment from the ''Abhisamayālaṅkāra-namaprajñaparamitopadesa-sastravṛtti,'' alias 'Sphuṭartha' of Haribhadra. Annual Report of the Tôhoku Research Institute of Buddhist Culture, vol. 3 (1961), pp. 1-25 (in Japanese). Amano, Hirofusa. ''A Study on the'' Abhisamaya-Alaṅkara-Karika-Sastra-Vṛtti. Tokyo, 1975. Amano, Hirofusa. "On the Composite Purpose of the ''Abhisamayālaṅkāra-karika-sastra'': Haribhadra's Way of Explaining. ''Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies,'' vol. 17, no. 2 (1969), pp. 59-69 (in Japanese). Amano, Hirofusa. ''Sanskrit Manuscript of the'' Abhisamayalaṅkara-vṛtti (in six parts). ''Bulletin of the Hijiyama Women's Junior College,'' vol. 7 (1983), pp. 1-15; ''Bulletin of the Faculty of Education of Shimane University,'' vol. 19 (1985), pp. 124-138; vol. 20 (1986), pp. 67-86; vol. 21 (1987), pp. 39-51; vol. 22 (1988), pp. 10-25; vol. 23 (1989), pp. 1-7. Apple, James B. ''Stairway to Nirvana: A Study of the Twenty-Samghas base on the works of Tsong Kha Pa.'' SUNY Press, 2008. Apple, James B. "Twenty Varieties of the Samgha: A Typology of Noble Beings (Arya) in Indo-Tibetan Scholasticism" (in two parts
Parts I
an
Part II
. ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'' 31 (2003), 503–592; and 32 (2004), 211–279. These are chapters of Apple's doctoral dissertation for the University of Wisconsin (Madison), which later evolved into the monograph ''Stairway to Nirvana'' (see above). Brunnhölzl, Karl (translator). ''Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition'' (in two volumes). Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2011 and 2012. Conze, Edward. ''The Prajñāpāramitā Literature.'' Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2000 (1978). See pp. 101–120. Conze, Edward (translator and editor). ''The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom: With the Divisions of the Abhisamayālankāra.'' Univ. of California Press: 1985. Conze, Edward (translator).
Abhisamayālankāra:
Introduction and Translation from Original Text, With Sanskrit-Tibetan Index.'' Serie Orienta: Rome, .d.; actually 1954 Dreyfus, Georges. ''The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk.'' University of California Press: 2003. Ch. 8 (pp. 174–182 of this edition) discusses the role of the Abhisamayalankara in the Tibetan monastic curriculum. Dreyfus, Georges. "Tibetan scholastic education and the role of soteriology." In Paul Williams (ed.), ''Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies,'' vol. VI, pp. 32–57. Originally published in the ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' vol. 20, no. 1 (1997), pp. 31–62. This is an early (and extended) version of material later incorporated into ''The Sound of Two Hands Clapping.'' Dreyfus's discussion of the Abisamayalankara begins on pp. 46, and continues to the end of the article. Jackson, David P. (ed.), ''Rong-ston on the'' Prajñāpāramitā ''Philosophy of the'' Abhisamayālaṃkāra: ''His Sub-commentary on Haribhadra's "Sphuṭārthā: A Facsimile Reproduction of the Earliest Known Blockprint Edition, from an Exemplar Preserved in the Tibet House, New Delhi.'' Nagata Bunshodo: Kyoto, 1988. Makransky, John J. ''Buddhism Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet.'' SUNY Press, 1997. Focuses on the eighth chapter of the AA. Instead of three or four "bodies" (''kāya''), Makransky prefers to speak of "embodiments." Obermiller, E gène ''Analysis of the Abhisamayalamkara.'' Asian Humanities Press: 2003. Original publication London: Luzac & Co., 1936. Obermiller, E. ''The Doctrine of Prajñā-Pāramitā as Exposed in the Abhisamayalamkara of Maitreya.'' Canon Publications: 1984. Originally published in ''Acta Orientalia'' 11 (1932–33), pp. 1–133, 334-354. Obermiller, E. & T eodoreI. Shcherbatskoi. ''Abhisamahalankara-Prajnaparamita-Upadesa-Sastra: The Work of Bodhisattva Maitreya.'' Sri Satguru Publications, 1992. Sparham, Gareth (translator). ''Abhisamayalamkara with Vrtti and Aloka'' (in four volumes). Jain Publishing Company, 2006 (vol. 1) and 2008 (vol. 2). Sparham, Gareth (editor). ''Golden Garland of Eloquence,'' vols. 1 and 2. Jain Publishing Company. 2008. Translation of an AA commentary by Tsongkhapa. Toh Sze Gee (translator). ''The Explanation'' Ornament of the Essence ''along with (i) the Root Text of the ''Treatise of Quintessential Instructions of the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for Clear Realization'' and (ii) the Commentary'' Clear Meaning, by Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen. FPMT Masters Program Translation, 2009. Available from FPMT Education Services.

References

Sources

* * — ''(First Abhisamaya - with the Vrtti of Arya Vimuktisena and the Aloka of Haribhadra)'' * — ''(Second and Third Abhisamayas- with the Vrtti of Arya Vimuktisena and the Aloka of Haribhadra)'' * * — a study of interpretations of the Abhisamayalankara. * - reprint edition of 1936 publication * * — ''(First Abhisamaya)'' — the first part of Tsongkhapa's ''legs-bshad gser-phreng'' commentary on the AA. * — ''(Second and Third Abhisamaya)''

External links

*Berzin, Alexander
"The Five Paths"
February 2002, revised April 2006. *Berzin, Alexander

March 2004, revised April 2006. *Berzin, Alexander

February 2002, revised July 2006. *Rigpa Shedra (wiki).
Abhisamayalankara
" *Shenga, Khenchen.
Prologue to the Abhisamayalankara
" *Tsöndrü, Khenpo.
The Seventy Points:
The Words of Jikmé Chökyi Wangpo: A Commentary Presenting the Subject Matter of the Great Treatise, the ''Abhisamayalankara.''" *Tsulga, Geshe. Oral Commentaries on the ''Ornament of Clear Realizations'' and its Seventy Topics, given to th
Kurukulla Center
(Scroll about halfway down the page for audio files.)

In Chinese

羅時憲

(''Concise Translation and Course Notes on the''Abhisamayalankara). Hong Kong: Dharmalakshana Buddhist Institute (佛教法相學會), 2005. Include
traditional
{dead link, date=October 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes and simplified character versions (free) as well as audio lectures in the form of MP3 files. Mahayana texts Yogacara Buddhist commentaries Buddhist texts Yogacara shastras