Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra[*]

Abstract

In the present paper the Avalokiteśvara chapter of the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra will be examined. In this text, Avalokiteśvara appears as one of the 53 benevolent friends or kalyāṇamitras of Sudhana, the protagonist of the sūtra and prototype of all aspirants for bodhisattvahood. Avalokiteśvara’s role in the Gaṇḍavyūha is rather that of a teacher and not of the “superbodhisattva”, almighty savior, as in the later Mahāyāna. He teaches the method of great compassion, the aim of which is to free all sentient beings from any kind of fears in order to lead them into the supreme perfect awakening, thus being adopted in the didactic scheme of the Gaṇḍavyūha. The relevant passages and terminological lists are presented and analyzed.

The author develops the hypothesis that the Avalokiteśvara chapter of the Gaṇḍavyūha reflects a very early phase of the development of the concept and　

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image of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara when the cult of the latter had not yet taken shape and widely spread in the Buddhist world and he clearly remains in the shadow of the three other archetypical bodhisattvas─Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, and Maitreya. The present writer does not exclude the possibility that the figure of Avalokiteśvara might have been developed on the basis of syncretism of the Buddhist teaching of compassion and the cult of some local protective deity. The question of location of the mount Potalaka as the residence of Avalokiteśvara is also discussed.

On the basis of a glimpse comparison with a number of other sources (Lotus Sūtra, Sukhāvatīvyūha, Heart Sūtra, Śūraṅgamasūtra), the author concludes that in the Gaṇḍavyūha Avalokiteśvara represents the active way of education and meditation as he does in the Heart Sūtra, while in the Lotus Sūtra and Sukhāvatīvyūha the aspect of passive faith and devotion is dominant. In the Śūraṅgamasūtra, being a later source, the combination of those two is elaborated.

關鍵詞：1.Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra　2.Avalokiteśvara　3.Mount Potalaka　4.Great Compassion　5.Way of Education　6.Way of Faith

【Contents】

Introduction

Although there are plenty of works on the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara published in Western languages and much more in Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian languages, the origin of this noble and magnificent figure, however, has still remained obscure.[1]　The image of Avalokiteśvara first appears in the ancient Indian Buddhist iconography of the second to third centuries C.E., in reliefs of the temples and stūpa complexes in Gandhāra, as a companion of the Buddha. Later, in the fifth or sixth century, it is already found throughout India as an independent figure and object of cult.[2]　It is natural, however, to consider that there must have been a certain evolution of the concept before it found its way into religious art. Thus, the beginning of the Avalokiteśvara cult may be dated back at least a century or two earlier, that is the period between the first century B.C.E. and the first century C.E. which coincides what is commonly accepted as the time when early Mahāyāna emerged in India.[3]

The written sources seem to confirm this assumption. In the Lotus Sūtra and the larger Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra, both supposedly dating back to the first or second　

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century C.E.,[4]　we meet bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara already in his full glory described in the former as the almighty savior of sentient beings from all dangers and disasters, and in the latter as the main attendant of the Buddha Amitābha in the latter’s Buddha-field. Thus, these two texts reflect the phase in the development of Buddhist religion when the Avalokiteśvara cult and worship had already reached its peak. The concept and figure of Avalokiteśvara as given in later sources (Amitāyurdhyānasūtra, Heart Sūtra, Śūraṅgamasūtra, Karaṇḍavyūha et al.) are definitely based on those two earlier scriptures.[5]　None of those texts, however, casts any light on the possible origin of Avalokiteśvara.

The list of the early literary sources containing materials on the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara could, however, not be complete without the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra, another early Mahāyāna sūtra which is, for reasons unknown to me, quite rarely cited in this connection. Even when it is mentioned then merely as one of the main sources in which the mysterious mount Potalaka, the residence of Avalokiteśvara is described.[6]　Much more interesting and meaningful doctrinal issues contained in the Avalokiteśvara chapter of the Gaṇḍavyūha, however, are almost completely ignored or overlooked by modern authors.

In this paper, I will introduce and analyze the content of the Avalokiteśvara chapter of the Gaṇḍavyūha. This is one of the earliest sources revealing the concept　

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and figure of the great bodhisattva and thus its examination and the comparison with other textual sources may allow us to see the problem of the origin and meaning of the concept and figure of Avalokiteśvara in the early Mahāyāna literature in a new light.[7]

The Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra as a Source

Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra,[8]　in Chinese Buddhism best known under the title Ru fajie pin (入法界品) as the last chapter of the voluminous Huayan jing (華嚴經or Avataṃsakasūtra),[9]　is, like the Lotus Sūtra, in terms of literary form and　

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composition a compendium of didactic religious tales, composed as such, most likely, for the purpose of presenting as completely as possible all the doctrinal issues circulating at the time in the Buddhist world of India interpreted within the new framework of the Mahāyāna. The compositional unifying thread is the story of the merchant’s son Sudhana (Shancai tongzi善財童子), an aspirant for the bodhisattvahood, who, following bodhisattva Mañjuśrī’s (Wenshushili pusa 文殊師利菩薩) instruction, travels round India and visits various teachers called ‘benevolent friends’ (kalyāṇamitras, shan zhishi善知識), fifty-three altogether, in order to ask them about the bodhisattva conduct (bodhisattvacaryā, pusa xing 菩薩行). Each of them gives Sudhana specific instructions to contemplate, and finally these were integrated in the meditation of the vision of Maitreya’s (Mile pusa 彌勒菩薩) magic mansion (kūṭagāra), leading Sudhana into the realization of the totality　

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of the bodhisattvahood embodied in the figure of the great bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Puxian pusa普賢菩薩).[10]

Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the Role of a kalyāṇamitra

In the Gaṇḍavyūha, Avalokiteśvara[11]　appears as one of Sudhana’s benevolent friends, the twenty-eighth in the order visited by him. His status as a teacher is equal to the other kalyāṇamitras─ monks, nuns, householders, merchants, kings, goddesses etc. who represent a cross-section of the intellectual elite in India at that time plus some mythological figures who, according to the understanding of Mahāyāna Buddhists, naturally belonged to the same circle being ideal archetypical teachers created in meditation but acting as real gurus in the minds of devoted adepts.[12]

Avalokiteśvara’s contribution to Sudhana’s bodhisattva education is thus also equal to that of other “average” kalyāṇamitras, in that it explores just one aspect of the bodhisattva conduct, here the one based on the concept of ‘great compassion’ (mahākaruṇā, dabei大悲). Like the other benevolent friends, Avalokiteśvara acknowledges, after revealing his teaching, that of all the methods within the vast scope of a bodhisattva’s conduct he can only teach this particular one and is not able to impart the attitude and knowledge of the great bodhisattvas who are like Samantabhadra in their entirety.

This shows clearly that at least when the Gaṇḍavyūha was composed,[13]　

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in the religious and scholarly circles involved in this text-building process, Avalokiteśvara had not yet risen to the level of universally worshipped bodhisattvas as had Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Maitreya who appear in the sūtra as “superbodhisattvas” integrating all aspects of the bodhisattva conduct.[14]　The　

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authors of the Gaṇḍavyūha perceived him rather as a locally venerated Buddhist saint or deity, in any case a being on a much lower level than the three bodhisattvas just mentioned. So, we may suppose that the Avalokiteśvara presented in the Gaṇḍavyūha was only starting his “career” as a great bodhisattva in the advancing Mahāyāna movement. Due to the present lack of supportive data at our command, we only may speculate on the role the Gaṇḍavyūha might have played in the development of the cult of Avalokiteśvara by including him as a bodhisattva into their soteriological system. It still seems to me that the hypothesis that the Gaṇḍavyūha may have played a crucial role in this process must not be excluded.

As mentioned before, bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara appears in the Gaṇḍavyūha in the common range together with other mundane and divine kalyāṇamitras from whom he did not differ formally by status or special virtues. Even more, the Avalokiteśvara chapter is one of the shortest among the kalyāṇamitra chapters lagging behind many others in terms of volume and richness of doctrinal explanation. This again demonstrates that the figure of Avalokiteśvara was not very prominent in the eyes of the authors of the Gaṇḍavyūha, and so they did not make an extra effort to develop a grandiose story around his personage as they have done, for example, in the cases of most of the night goddesses and especially of bodhisattva Maitreya.

The literary form and style of the Avalokiteśvara chapter[15]　follow the general pattern applied throughout the Gaṇḍavyūha with few minor deviations. The pattern includes some standard structural units in fixed order: Sudhana’s arrival at the place of the kalyāṇamitra; description of the surroundings and the retinue as well as the appearance of the kalyāṇamitra (this is the most optional unit often being absent but present in the Avalokiteśvara chapter); Sudhana pays homage and asks for instruction; the kalyāṇamitra’s praise for Sudhana’s resolve to attain supreme perfect awakening (anuttarāsamyaksaṃbodhi, anouduolo sanmiao sanputi 阿耨多羅三藐三菩提), introduction of his or her method and the giving of instruction; the kalyāṇamitra acknowledges his or her limited ability and virtue which is not equal to those of the great bodhisattvas; guiding Sudhana to the next benevolent friend.　

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One or more verse sections may or may not be added. For the Avalokiteśvara chapter, the verse section poses an extra text-historical problem as it definitely is a later extrapolation, by style, language and doctrine significantly different from the prose section.

Mount Potalaka: Religious and Historical Dimensions

In the Avalokiteśvara chapter, Sudhana’s arrival is described in the following way:

As we see, the location here is described in a rather trivial way as a beautiful but still worldly place leaving the impression of a very commonplace mountain slope on this earth, not of a virtual Buddha-field born in meditation which usually is made of diamonds, jewels and other precious materials. With the exception of the diamond and jewel rock seats of Avalokiteśvara himself and his bodhisattva retinue, no wondrous detail is to be found. In other words, the introduction of Avalokiteśvara in his mountain residence does not differ significantly from that of other hermits in the Gaṇḍavyūha, Meghaśrī, Sāgaramegha or Bhiṣmottaranirghoṣa, for example. This again speaks in favour of the hypothesis that the authors of the sūtra most likely had a really existing place in their mind when they described mount Potalaka and Avalokiteśvara as a local Buddhist saint or mountain deity and not yet the universally honoured great bodhisattva who is the embodiment of great compassion.

In the verse sections, however, more details were added to the description of Avalokiteśvaras’s abode. The verses at the end of the previous Veṣṭhila chapter mention that mount Potalaka is located ‘in the middle of the king of stormy waters’ (śirījalarājamadhye),[18]　an important feature which surely had a great impact on the creation of later myths and legends connecting Avalokiteśvara’s residence with the ocean or even describing it as an island.[19]　The two following lines describe the surroundings in the mountain generally in the same way as it is done in the prose section but stressing its jewel ground: ratnāmayaṃ taruvaraṃ kusuma-abhikīrṇam udyānapuṣkiriṇiprasravaṇa-upapetam ||[20]　(“Made of jewels, surrounded by trees, scattered with flowers, gardens, ponds and streams.”)

In the verse section in the middle of the Avalokiteśvara chapter,[21]　the oceanor other kinds of “stormy waters” are not mentioned any more. The abode of the bodhisattva, however, is described as a ‘jewel mountain’ (ratnaparvata) and Avalokiteśvara’s place there as a ‘cave’ (kandara) on the ‘diamond slope of the mountain adorned with jewels’ (vajramaye giritaṭe maṇiratnacitre). A list of mythological creatures such as ‘gods’ (deva), ‘demigods’ (asura), ‘serpent-demons’ (bhujaga), ‘centaurs’ (kinnara), and ‘demons’ (rakṣasa) is added as part of his retinue.[22]　

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The epithets ‘wise’ (dhīra) and ‘hermit’ (ṛṣi) are used for Avalokiteśvara in the verses. Since the verse section is considered to be a later interpolation, we become witness to the changes occurring in the description and the transference of an originally realistic and natural place of beauty to a supramundane adamantine realm. Even more, a direct hint at Avalokiteśvara’s own Buddha-field is found in the verse section.[23]

Ancient and modern authors have made attempts to localize mount Potalaka in the real geographical space of India. The most famous passage in this regard, cited and examined again and again by scholars is, that of the Xuanzang’s (玄奘) description of mount Potalaka (Budaluojia shan 布呾洛迦山)[24]　in his Records on the Western World (Datang xiyu ji 大唐西域記):

We do not know whether Xuanzang really visited this place or whether his record is based only on what he heard from the locals.[27]　Still, in his record the mount Potalaka is described as a real place in South India and we are informed that the　

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approximate location of the Potalaka is “to the east of the Malaya mountains” not far from the sea. That must be somewhere in modern Tamilnadu in South-West India, not far to the north from the southern tip of India.

We also learn from Xuanzang’s Records that in the first half of the seventh century a kind of mixed Avalokiteśvara-Īśvaradeva (Śiva – ?) cult was practised at this mountain. However, we do not know whether this was in harmony with mainstream Mahāyāna practice at that time or whether we deal with a more or less independent rudimentary local cult. Still, what Xuanzang says seems to support the theory of Avalokiteśvara-Śiva connections.[28]　The Gaṇḍavyūha itself also gives some indirect hints in favour of this theory as the next kalyāṇamitra Sudhana was guided to from mount Potalaka by another bodhisattva accompanying　

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Avalokiteśvara, Ananyagāmin, was the god Mahādeva (Datian大天) who resided in the great temple in the city of Dvāravatī.[29]

Here it should be a matter of interest to refer to the modern Japanese scholar Shu Hikosaka’s work. On the basis of his study of Buddhist scriptures, ancient and medieval Tamil lan