| The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in Huanyan Sutra,which often abbreviated as The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra,is one of the most popular classics of Mahayana Buddhism.Prajna,a monk in the Tang Dynasty translated the Huanyan Sutra of forty volumes.The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is the last volume of this classic.However,neither sixty-volume version nor eighty-volume version of the Huayan Sutra has this volume.Since people in the Western regions took it as brief Huayan Sutra,the fourth patriarch of Huayan School wrote an independent note commentary for this volume.Actually,The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra was originally an independent classic.Before the translation of Huayan Sutra of forty volumes,the gatha of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra has been translated into Chinese many times.Almost at the same time when Huanyan Sutra of forty volumes translated,Tibetan monks have also finished two Chinese translations.However,most of these translations are regarded as other counterparts rather than Avatamsaka sutras.In Song Dynasty,The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra was separated from Huanyan Sutra of forty volumes and subsumed into Huanyan Sutra of eighty volumes.Thus,the very popular Huanyan Sutra of eighty-one volumes.were formed.What’s more,because The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is related to the pure land of Amitabha Buddha,buddhists of the Ming and Qing dynasties took it as a pure land classic.The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra has thus become one of Four Scriptures of Pure Land.It also appears in many Scripture confessions.There leaves a lot of questions worth discussing since the many changes in the classification of this classic.This paper takes six Chinese traslations of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva as the research object,to discusses their establishment,translation,edition and influence.The first chapter mainly presents the establishment and translations of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra abroad.Firstly,according to the catalogues of buddhist sutras and the content of these traslations,the dynasties and the sources of the six translations and the translators’motivations can all be verified.Secondly,by analysing the last two traslations,which have been neglected by previous researchers,it is concluded that asuvara vegnī svaha samantabhadra cari·pranidhānam dharoni is added into the Amoghavajra’s traslation under the influence of esoteric buddhism.The complete version of this Droni is maha samantabhadra muni carra-samudra ca pranidhi-samudra dharoni.Thirdly,in the transformation process from gatha to gadya,The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra absorbed the praying to Buddha for help,which is recongnized as pure-land-method,with Buddha replaced by the Samantabhadra-aspiration yet.Besides,both of Samantabhadra-aspiration and Samantabhadra-carya was strengthened under the influence of Huanyan Sutra.Finally,The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra has been recongnized as the Law,writing of western sages,the Esoteric and the Avatamsaka sutra according to the catalogues of buddhist sutras.The second chapter focus on the popular versions of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.This chapter analyzes the popularity of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in China,and concluded that this classic was mainly circulated in the form of Huanyan Sutra of eighty-one volumes,Four Scriptures of Pure Land and Five Scriptures of Pure Land and other combined classics.These combined classics that out of Tibetan are numerous,their sources are complex,and the external forms of many classics,such as the version written in blood or in gold powder,are different.In contrast to Huanyan Sutra of forty volumes,these combined classics are the versions that ordinary believers can access,read,and support.Athese ccording to these believers’ needs,some.versions also incorporate sutras and penitential observances,which are not found in the sutra.Besides,by contrastive analysis,this chapter discussed why Samantabhadrabodhisattvasutra is divided into six parts in the Southern Tripitaka,and suggested that Praise to the eight Bodhisattvas after Praise to Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra originated from Tripitaka of Liao Dynasty..The third counterpart explores believers’ understanding and practice of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.Based on the perspective of group identity,different characteristics on understanding and practice of buddhist,lay buddhist and ordinary believers have been proved evidently.Among these groups above,buddhist recognized the book as the Avatamsaka Sutra.They used their own blood to write buddhist sutras,chanted The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and vowed to the pure land with the instructions of this classic.Lay Buddhist are generally concerned about Samantabhadra-aspiration and Samantabhadra-carya in The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.Sometimes they also practiced calligraphy or accumulated merit by copying this classic.In modern times,there are many Lay Buddhists like Wei Yuan and Yang Wenhui tried to save country and people by printing and spreading buddhist sutras such as Four Scriptures of Pure Land.Instead of understanding The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra or Huanyan Sutra,ordinary believers preferred using them to repent,vow,remember the dead,rid the disaster and pray for blessings,which is very different from the other groups.Above all,there are both similarities and differences in the characteristics of these three groups... |
