Essay name: Dasabhumika Sutra (translation and study)
Author:
Hwa Seon Yoon
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Department of Pali
This is a study and translation of the Dasabhumika Sutra (“Ten Stages Discourse�)—a significant Buddhist text. It examines the distinction between Theravada (Hinayana) and Mahayana Buddhism, focusing on the divergence in the spiritual concepts of Arhatship, Bodhisattva, Paramitas and Bhumis.
Chapter 4 - Annotated Translation of the Dasabhumika-Sutra
201 (of 213)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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enjoyment of his emancipation; is not easy to know the acts of his
transformation, the acts of his mystical power, or the acts of his might."
569 In sum, even the act of lifting up and putting down of his feet as he walks
is not easy to know even by the Bodhisattva who, having reached the
young princedom, abides in the (ninth) Bodhisattva stage (called) Good
Intelligence. Thus, Oh! son of the Conqueror, this Bodhisattva stage
(called) Cloud of Doctrine is immeasurable, (and) this is the description in
short. In the full details, it is to be known as described endlessly in
countless hundreds thousands kalpas.
Bodhisattva Vimukticandra asked: “Oh! son of the Conqueror, what
is the entrance into the ranges and the spheres of Tathāgatas like, if this
sphere of practice and sustaining power of Bodhisattvas is thus
immeasurable?"
Bodhisattva Vajragarbha replied: “Just like, Oh! son of the
569 cf. The Buddhas' lokottaras: they are free from defiled (sāsrava) dharmas, all
their discourses are in keeping with the teaching of the Doctrine which they can explain in a
single vocal utterance (ekavāguhāra); all the sūtras proclaimed by them are precise and
definitive in meaning (nītārtha); their material bodies (rūpakāya), their might (prabhāva)
and their life-spans (āyus) are unlimited; plunged into continuous concentration (samādhi),
they experience no fatigue in propounding the Doctrine, answering questions, constructing
their sentences; they understand all things in a single instant of thought; until their entry
into Parinirvāṇa, they are always in command do the twofold knowledge of the destruction
of the defilements (āsravakṣaya) and their non-re-arising (anutpādajñāna).
