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.: 261 2, 263).Theyare dependent, not on unmediated experiences as such, but rather on all the doctrinal,sociological and indeed no doubt economic and political factors that generate doctrinalcategories and systematizations.For an influential (if controversial) critique of any  per-sonal private experiential account of these stages of the path, see Sharf 1995b (2005brepr.).Buddhism is not, Sharf wants to say,  all about meditative experiences.Cf.alsoBuswell and Gimello 1992: 11, and Sharf s comments, especially on the paper in thesame volume in which Gimello suggests that Buddhist path-structures serve as guidesto meditative experience and hence are taken to confirm Buddhist tenets.For Sharf, inreality systematic doctrinal  Buddhist mArga [path] texts.functioned more as sacredtalismans than as practical guides.[They] were venerated as invaluable spiritual trea-sures to be copied, memorized, chanted, and otherwise revered (1995b; 2005b repr.:265).Sharf argues that meditation is actually quite rare in Buddhist monastic life (apoint that, as we have seen, early Mahayanists also seem to have noted and lamented,although how many early Mahayanists there actually were is a moot point).For gen-eral support of Sharf s position from Tibetan monastic education and practice, see Dreyfus1997a (2005b repr., esp.46 9).For Dreyfus the texts on stages of the path are not todo with experiences as such, but  the construction of the kind of meaningful universethat Buddhist practice requires.They provide students with a meaningful outlook,which may support further practices, but which has no direct relevance to them (ibid.:50, 53).Moreover, study of the texts on the stages of the path is in itself meritoriousand hence coheres with real-life Buddhist practice that mainly involves merit-making(frequently from giving  the first of the perfections) rather than practising meditation(ibid.: 50).28.Since for late Indian and Tibetan schemes like that of the BhAvanAkramas theBodhisattva after the arising of bodhicitta is still far from the first Bodhisattva stage (bhEmi),the attaining of the Bodhisattva path defined in terms of the 10 bhEmis becomes verymuch more difficult, advanced and marvellous as time passes.A Bodhisattva on eventhe first Bodhisattva stage becomes more and more of an ideal type (or a category intowhich can be placed certain great teachers of the past), rather than a person who hascompleted an actual attainment as a hard-working Buddhist practitioner.Cf., on theother hand, ninth-century Japanese Tendai arguments for Buddhahood in one lifetime, with this very body , hence shortening the path considerably (see Groner s con-tribution to Buswell and Gimello 1992: 439 ff.).Here, in Tendai, attaining Buddhahoodis said actually to be easy.A similar idea, that Buddhahood can be attained in onelifetime, becomes a theme in some forms of late Indian (and hence Tibetan) tantricBuddhism.29.For translating kWAnti as  endurance rather than the standard  patience , see Nattier 2003a:244, n.240.9780203428474_5_end01.qxd 16/6/08 12:00 PM Page 358358 Notes30.For a handy survey of the stages of the path in Mainstream Buddhism, see Gethin 1998:Ch.7.31.One should not assume, however, that this combination originated with Atiza andKamalazcla.Pagel (1995) argues for what appears to be an early stage of the use of (atleast parts of) the five-path model in Ch.11 of the BodhisattvapiXaka, applied specificallyto the Bodhisattva s development of the perfection of wisdom.32.See Dhargyey 1976: 188 93; cf.Gyatso 1968: 83; Dalai Lama 1985: 91.33.Except, one assumes, out of compassion.In relatively late setras like the KAraURavyEhaSEtra certain very advanced Bodhisattvas such as Avalokitezvara are said, for example,to visit the hells in order to help suffering hell beings.But that is not (an uncontrolled)rebirth.That an advanced Bodhisattva may find himself in hell for any reason is (impli-citly) denied in a relatively early setra like the BodhisattvapiXaka (Pagel 1995: 326).34.Dhargyey 1976: 193 5; cf.Gyatso 1968: 83 4; Dalai Lama 1985: 91.Cf.sGam po pa1970: 233.35.This is particularly the case in the DaZabhEmika SEtra.This setra is now part of theAvataTsaka SEtra, which, as we have seen, expands the achievements of Bodhisattvasand Buddhas to immense magnitudes.36.Dayal 1932: 106 ff.On the four brahmavihAras in Mahayana sources, see Pagel 1995: 133 45.Cf.other setra sources discussed in Pagel 1995: 219 ff., where (logically enough) theabhijñAs are attained later at the fifth Bodhisattva stage, with the perfection of meditation.37.Pagel 1995: 80 ff.For a detailed study of these 37 factors in Mainstream Buddhism, seeGethin 2001.38.Dayal 1932: 66.Cf.the translation of the DaZabhEmika SEtra from the Sanskrit by Honda1968: 130 ff., and the translation from the Chinese by Cleary in his AvataTsaka trans-lation (1984 7, vol.2: 161 ff.).Note that this follows the DaZabhEmika SEtra, which reflectsan earlier model than the systematic one found in, e.g., Atiza and Kamalazcla, for whomit would make no sense to speak of a Bodhisattva at the first bhEmi vowing to enter theMahayana.He or she would have been following the Mahayana for a very long time already.39.On giving as the real basis of the whole path, see Buswell, in Buswell and Gimello 1992:123 6.On the early history of giving in Mahayana setra literature (the UgraparipVcchASEtra, where it particularly applies to lay Bodhisattvas), see Nattier 2003a: 111 ff., 166.On giving in the BodhisattvapiXaka, with comparative reference to a number of otherMahayana setras, see Pagel 1995: 145 60.Note (ibid.: 149) the centrality of impartial-ity in the Bodhisattva s giving.Cf.also nonattachment as  the object (artha) of allpractice (ibid.: 239).40.Even so, the DaZabhEmika SEtra does not discuss the perfections at any length.In othersetras too they are often mentioned only in passing.The setra that does discuss theperfections at length is the BodhisattvapiXaka (see Pagel 1995: 105 and n.24, 120, Ch.4),leading Pagel to argue that this was the reason for its inclusion in the MahAratnakEXacollection.9780203428474_5_end01.qxd 16/6/08 12:00 PM Page 359Notes 35941.See Dayal 1932: 172 ff., and sGam po pa 1970: 156.The importance of an awareness ofemptiness in the perfection of giving (and the other perfections) is particularly stressedin the AkWayamatinirdeZa SEtra (Pagel 1995: 156, 166; Braarvig 1993).42.The BodhisattvapiXaka specifically associates the perfection of giving with a jataka-type story of the Buddha s previous lives (Pagel 1995: 154).For one of the best-knowntales, see the story of the Bodhisattva giving his body to a starving tigress, in theSuvarUabhAsottama SEtra 1970: 85 97 [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]