SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive study of the Bodhisattvapitaka with specific emphasis on the bodhisattva ideal. The content of the Bodhisattvapitaka indicates that its exposition belongs to the earliest treatises on the bodhisattva. The practices and doctrines that are expounded are invariably rudimentary and show little of the complexities that characterise their discussions in later bodhisattva literature. The Bodhisattvapitaka's inclusion into the Maharatnakuta rested probably on its pioneering account of the bodhisattvacarya. Being by far the longest work on the bodhisattva in the whole collection, it expounds important practices and constitutes the hub for the remaining bodhisattva writings in the Mahdratnakuta. The study falls into five parts. The first chapter considers the position of the Bodhisattvapitaka in Mahayana literature. It investigates the various usages of the term Bodhisattvapitaka, it considers the relationship between Bodhisattvapitaka and Aksayamatinirdesa and discusses the scholastic affiliation of the Bodhisattvapitaka. In addition, exploring the contents and evolution of the Mahdratnakuta collection, it establishes the scriptural context in which the Bodhisattvapitaka is placed. The second chapter provides an analysis of the Bodhisattvapitaka. It examines the structural and literary traits of the Bodhisattvapitaka, its chapter organisation and some aspects of the bodhisattva path in the Bodhisattvapitaka. Chapter three discusses the bodhisattva ideal in the Mahdratnakuta collection. It distinguishes between the various categories of bodhisattva sutras in the Mahdratnakuta, it examines the bodhisattva practices and investigates whether there is evidence of a premeditated design that might have influenced the compilation of the Maharatnakuta sutras into one collection. Chapter four considers the bodhisattva doctrine as it is propounded in the Bodhisattvapitaka within the context of other scriptural traditions. It discusses the evolution of the concepts of the cittotpada, apramana, paramita and samgrahvastu and assesses the contribution of the Bodhisattvapitaka to that process. Chapter five consists of a translation of the eleventh chapter of the Bodhisattvapitaka.