Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 40, No. 2, March 1992
On the Parinman
Chapter
of
the Bodhicaryavatara
Mieko KAJIHARA
1. The last chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara (BCA) is called the pari-namana pariccheda ('the chapter on the transfer of merit to others'). In spite
of this title, the text is not clear as to the merit of what deed is transferred and who transfers the merit. From the context up to the preceding chapter, it is inferred that the same one that has entered the bodhicarya ('the practices for the enlightenment') transfers its merit. But it is generally understood
otherwise that the merit of composing the text entitled Bodhicaryavatara is transferred by the author 8antideva. 1) This understanding is derived from the first verse (BCA 10. 1), which summarizes the whole chapter as follows:
BCA 10. 1 bodhicaryavataram me yad vicintayatah subham/ tena sarve janah santu bodhicaryavibhusanah //
"By the merit of me, who is deliberating the entering into the practices for the enlightenment (bodhicaryavatara-), all people shall become embellished with the practices for the enlightenment (bodhicarya-)."
The expression bodhicaryavataram me...vicintayatah is interpreted as "of me (i. e. the author), who is deliberating (i. e. composing a book on) the bodhicaryavatara." 2)
2. Probably, this interpretation has been given on the basis of the apparent correspondence of BCA 10. 1 to the opening verses of the text (BCA 1.1-3), where the author declares his making of the book. However, the authenticity of these verses is dubious, because of the fact that the Tun-huang ms. of BCA does not have these verses,3) but puts devotional verses in their place. 4) The same declaration verses also appear in a more
suitable context in the introduction of the 8iksasamuccaya (SS p. 19-14),
-1062-(26) On the Parinamana Chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara (KAJIHARA) which is supposed to have been composed by the same author. SS starts with the verses of invitation for all beings to the holy words and thereafter inserts the present verses. It is likely that these declaration verses were borrowed from SS into the enlarged vulgate version of BCA, 5) probably on account of the sameness of the next verses of both texts (BCA 1.4=SS p. 21-2), which will be examined below.
3. BCA 10. 1 corresponds not to the declaration verses discussed above, but to the passage of the first topic of BCA, i. e. the bodhicitta, of which the following is the opening verse:
BCA 1.4 ksanasampad iyam sudurlabha - SS 21-2 pratilabdha purusarthasadhani/
yadi natra vicintyate hitam punar apy esa samagamah kutah//
"This good luck of getting the favorable moment (ksanasampad -), which is very difficult to obtain and accomplishes the end of human beings (i. e. the liberation), has been obtained. If the beneficial thing (hita-) is not deliberated on this chance,
how can such an encounter [with this good luck occur] again?"
The expression vicintyate6) hitam here gives a useful clue to the meaning of the expression bodhicaryavataram me...vicintayataii in BCA 10. 1. Pra-jnakaramati comments on na...vicintyate hitam in this way:"[the beneficial thing (hita-), i. e.] the cause of happiness of oneself and others, or what accomplishes the heavenly life and the liberation, [is not deliberated (na... vicintyate), i. e.] is not undertaken" (svaparasukhahetuh svargapavargasadhanam nopadiyate) (BCAP, p. 911-13). The beneficial thing (hita-) mentioned here is specified by BCA 1.7 as the bodhicitta by reason that the bodhicitta causes people to reach the liberation, thus:
BCA 1.7 kalpan analpan pa avicintayadbhir drstam munindrair hitam etad eva/ yatah sukhenaiva sukham prav rddham utplavayaty apramitan janaughan//
"The chiefs of sages [i. e. Bodhisattvas], who are deliber ating (pra-vi-cint) for not a few kalpas, have recognized this very one [i. e. the aspiration to the en-lightenment (bodhicitta-) stated in the preceding verse] as the beneficial thing
-1061-On the Parinamana Chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara (KAJIHARA) (27) (hita-), because it easily makes immeasurable floods of people swim up to the increased happiness [i. e. the liberation]."
So the expression vicintyate hitam implies the conceiving of the bodhici-tta, or in other words, the resolution to enter the bodhicarya. If the word bodhicaryavatara-in BCA 10.1 is understood literally in the sense of the entering into the practices for the enlightenment, both expressions in BCA 1.4 and 10.1 come to have the same meaning. The passage of the bodhi-citta also states the merit of the bodhibodhi-citta: e. g. the streams of merit (punyadhara-) arise to one who has taken the bodhicitta on himself (BCA 1. 18-19), and the bodhicitta, which is the seed of bliss and the medicine of sorrow of the world, has immeasurable merit (punya-) (BCA 1. 26). The merit (Subha-, punya-, kusala-) which is declared to be transferred to all beings in BCA 10. 1 and in other verses in the tenth chapter7) is this very merit that arises to one who has resolved to enter the bodhicarya.
4. We have reached the conclusion that the one who declares to trans-fer the merit in the parinamana chapter ("I" in the text) is the same monk that has taken the bodhicitta on himself and has entered the bodhi-carya in the preceding nine chapters.8) This interpretation makes it quite understandable that the word "I" appears in increasing number in the final part of the pari'amana chapter and that this "I" declares his sincere wish to accomplish the bodhicarya successfully (e. g. BCA 10. 54). When the final parinamana chapter is understood in this way, and the three declaration verses (BCA 1. 1-3) are to be excluded as discussed above, BCA proves to be a coherent work in which all the sentences are narrated by one and the same person ("I" in the text) that has entered the bodhicarya. And this literary feature suggests that this work was composed as a text to be re-cited daily or ceremonially by monks who have entered the bodhicarya. 9)
1) L. de la Vallee Poussin, Introduction a la pratique des futurs Bouddhas (Paris 1907), p. 143; M. L. Matics, Entering the path of Enlightenment (London 1970), p. 284; G. Kelsang Gyatso, Meaningful to Behold (London 19893), p. 359; P. Sharma, Santideva's Bodhicharyavatara (New Delhi 1990), Vol. II, p. 471f. Cf. also n. 2.
-1060-(28) On the Parinamana Chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara (KAJIHARA)
2) Poussin,"Bodhicaryavatara", Museon XI (1892), p. 103; E. Kanakura, Satori he no michi (in Japanese) (Kyoto 1965), p. 211; and the translations in the books listed in n. 1.
3) See A. Saito, "Bodhisattvacaryavatara Ascribed to Acarya Aksayamati" (in Japanese), in Buddhism and society in Tibet『 チ ベ ッ トの 仏 教 と 社 会 』(ed. Z.
Yamaguchi, Tokyo 1986), p. 84.
4) Poussin identifies the first two verses as the preliminary stanzas of. the Mulamadhyamaka and translates the third verse, which consists of a salutation to the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas (Catalogue of the Tibetan Manuscripts from Tun-huang in the India Office Library, London 1962, p. 196).
5) For the relations between the vulgate longer version and the Tun-huang ms. of a shorter version, see Saito (1986), pp. 103-105.
6) The word vicintyate here is attested by all the Skt. texts (BCA, BCAP, SS);
Chinese tr. of BCA and ss: 思 惟; and Tibetan tr. of BCA's comm.(P.[100]
5275) and SS: bsams think', BCA's comm. (P. [100] 5282): blo mind'. But Tun-huang ms. of BCA, Tibetan tr. of BCA, BCAP, comm. of a shorter version of BCA (=Tun-huang ms., see Saito, p. 98) (P. [100] 5274) and abstracts of BCA (P. [100] 5280, 5281) have bsgrubs accomplish' in its place. The passage of BCAP quoted below, where vicintyate fits to the context better than bsgrubs of the Tibtan tr., shows that the former is the original reading and was placed with the latter in some versions during the transmission of the text. 7) subha- 10.1; punya-10. 2, 31; kusala- 10.10, 15
8) Cf. Kalyanadeva's comm. on BCA 10.1, which states that "is deliberating (vi-cintayatah)" means "after having started and not having concluded" (P. [100] 5275, Sa 103b1-2; D. 3874, Sa 88a6).
9) For details, see M. Kajihara, "The Bodhicaryavatara for Ritual Recitation" (in Japanese), Machikaneyama Ronso 25 (1991), pp. 25-38.
[BCA] Bodhicaryavatara, ed. I. P. Minayeff (1889).
[BCAP] Bodhicaryavatarapanjika, ed. de la Vallee Poussin (1901-14). [SS] Siksasamuccaya. ed. C. Bendall (1902, rep. 1970).
[P] Peking edition. [D] sDe dge edition.
<Key Words> parinamana, bodhicarya, bodhicitta, Siksasamuccaya, Santideva (Graduate Student, Osaka University)
