The ''Ten Stages Sutra'' (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra''; ; ) also known as the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, is an early, influential
Mahayana
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
scripture. The sutra also appears as the 26th chapter of the ''
''. Modern Buddhist studies scholars generally hold that these Mahayana sūtras first began to appear between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. They continued being composed, compiled and edited until the decline of Buddhism in India.
Contents
In the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'', the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
describes
ten stages of development that a
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
must progress through in order to accomplish full Enlightenment and Buddhahood, as well as the subject of
Buddha-nature
In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature ( Chinese: , Japanese: , , Sanskrit: ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within ...
and the awakening of the aspiration for Enlightenment.
Commentary
There is a commentary which survives in Chinese called the ''
Daśabhūmikavibhāṣā'', it is attributed to Nagarjuna.
Another commentary on the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'', the ''Dasabhūmikabhāsya'', was written by
Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; floruit, fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Indian bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and scholar. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary on the Abhidharma, from the perspectives of th ...
in Sanskrit and translated into Chinese by
Bodhiruci
Bodhiruci () was a Buddhist monk from North India (6th century CE) active in the area of Luoyang, China.Sylvie Hureau'Bodhiruci' († ca. 534 et 537) : Moine bouddhiste indien, traducteur.Dictionnaire biographique du haut Moyen Âge chinois. C ...
and others during the 6th century CE.
Chinese Daśabhūmikā school
A
Daśabhūmikā school said to have existed in China at one time, which centered on this sutra, but was later absorbed by the
Huayan school
The Huayan school of Buddhism (, Wade–Giles: ''Hua-Yen,'' "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "''Avataṃsaka''") is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty, Tang dynasty (618-907).Yü, Chün-fan ...
, as the Huayan school's principal sutra, the ', already contains the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra''. The ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' can also be found in modified form in the thirty-ninth chapter as part of the journey of the bodhisattva Sudhana. The Huayan school declined in China after the death of its fifth and best known patriarch,
Zongmi
Guifeng Zongmi () (780–1 February 841) was a Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who is considered a patriarch of both the Huayan school and Chan Buddhism. Zongmi wrote a number of works on several Mahayana Sutras, Chan and Huayan ...
(780–841), but they provided major foundational teachings for the Mahayana schools which exist today, such as
Zen
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
.
See also
*
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...
Notes
External links
List of Mahayana Sutras*
{{Buddhism topics
Mahayana sutras
Yogacara
Vaipulya sutras