Drewes D. Dharmabhanakas in Early Mahayana

Indo-Iranian Journal
brill.nl/iij
Dharmabhanakas in Early Mahayana*
David Drewes
University of Manitoba
Abstract
is article examines materials concerning the role of dharmabhanakas, or dharma
preachers, in early Mahayana. t argues that early Mahayana can best be thought
of as a primarily textual movement centered on the composition, use, and transmission of Mahayana sutras, and that dharmabhanakas were its primary agents.
Koninklijke rill NV, Leiden,

.
Keywords
arly Mahayana uddhism dharmabhanaka bhanaka dharmakathika preaching
harmabhanakas, or dharma preachers, are gures that Mahayana sutras
mention frequently
and describe in remarkable ways. As early as
,
Masao Shizutani argued that they were employed in the important role
of composing and disseminating nearly all of the scriptures of early-period
Mahayana and that it seems that the Mahayana movement began with
the dharmabhanaka. n
raeme MacQueen suggested that it was
them that [Mahayana] sutras rst made their appearprobably through
ance and that many of the mysteries of the origins of Mahayana are
bound up with this gure ( , ). espite these suggestions, little additional work on dharmabhanakas has been done. Leading scholars
arly drafts of this paper were presented at the Annual onference on South Asia
in Madison in
and the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in
Philadelphia in
. would like to thank Ronald avidson, Ulrich Pagel, onathan Silk,
and Peter Skilling for reading a late draft and sending valuable comments. would also like to
thank Lance ousins for discussing the Pali materials with me, both at his home in Oxford
and by email. ough he and did not always agree, this paper beneted signicantly.
) Shizutani
,
a. would like to thank Paul arrison for the references to Shizutanis
articles and rik ammerstrom for translating the passages cited here.
*)
Koninklijke rill NV, Leiden,
O 0.6/00X
David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal
have suggested that the Mahayana arose as a result of the activity of lay people, dedicated ascetics, or people who mainly used or worshipped books,
making it dicult to imagine that people who memorized, recited, and
preached texts played a central role. Translators of Mahayana sutras have
encouraged the general neglect by almost invariably translating the term
dharmabhanaka inconsistently. dward onze, for instance, renders it var
iously as teacher,
preacher of dharma, reciter of dharma, when he
preaches dharma, and who recites dharma in his translation of the
Astasahasrika Prajaparamita (
a), making it dicult for readers to rec
ognize
that the text mentions a single gure repeatedly. A survey of the
material on these gures may help to open up a new perspective in the
eld.
or centuries after they were rst composed, uddhist texts were primarily preserved and transmitted mnemically/orally. Pali atthakathas depict
monks called bhanakas as being responsible for the transmission

of ud
dhist suttas. e most common references are to Dghabhanakas, Majjhimabhanakas, Samyuttabhanakas, Anguttarabhanakas, and jatakabhanakas,
anakas of the Dgha
Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Samyutta Nik
aya,
i.e., bh
Anguttara Nikaya, and jataka stories, though sometimes other sorts of

bhanakas, such as Dhammapadabhanakas or bhanakas of portions of the
are also mentioned. K.R. Norman
cases in which suttas
Vinaya,
points out
or portions of suttas are preserved in dierent forms in dierent nikayas and
deduces that lineages of bhanakas transmitted texts independently without
correcting them against oneanother (
, and
, ). A passage in
the Sumangalavilasin, the Dgha Nikaya Atthakatha, states that the Dgha
Scholars have long accepted the Sri Lankan tradition that uddhist texts were not written down until the rst century
, though there have been a few noteworthy exceptions
(Turnour
, liv, cix Weller
,
rough
,
de ong
,
Norman
, and
,
and n. ). e recent discoveries of an avadana manuscript
radiocarbon dated to a range of
(alk
) and a sutra manuscript radiocarbon dated to a range of
(Allon and Salomon

, n. ) now
strongly suggest that this tradition is ahistorical. f the dating of these manuscripts holds
up, presuming that these were not the very rst uddhist manuscripts, it is possible that
uddhists began to preserve texts in writing as early as the third century, perhaps even in
the time of Asoka. espite this, mnemic preservation of texts has always been more prestigious than writing in South Asia and texts preserved mnemically were believed to be more
reliable. Sri Lankan tradition may have represented itself as having long shunned writing
for this reason.
)
and Majjhimabhanakas each maintained distinct views on the contents and

Khuddaka Nikaya. Oskar von inber suggests on
arrangement of the
the basis of this passage that bhanakas may have redacted the Pali nikayas
pointed out that the atthakathas depict
(
, , ). Several scholars have
bhanaka lineages of various nikayas holding distinct views on a number of
doctrinal
and historical issues.
Sri Lankan inscriptions that Norman dates to as early as the second
century
make reference to Majjhimabhanakas, Samyuttabhanakas, an
inscripAnguttarabhanaka, and a jatakabhanaka. On the mainland,

seven
tions from harhut, two from Sac, and two from Karli record gifts made
by people identied simply as bhanakas.6 ommenting on some of the
inscriptions from harhut, Mahinda eegalle suggests that on the mainland there may have been generic bhanakas who were not associated
with particular texts or groups of texts. A few passages in the Pali Vinaya
that refer simply to bhanaka/-ikas lend additional support to this view.
Rhys avids, arpenter, and Stede
, .
.g., Adikaram
, oonesekere
,
and n. and
,
Norman
, and
, Mori
,
von inber
,
,
,
ndo
.
) Paranavitana
, nos.
,
,
,
,
and
, no.
a Norman
,
and n.
and
, . n Paranavitanas transcriptions the spellings are majhimabanaka,
sayutakabanaka, eka-utirikabanaka, and jatakabana[ka].
6) Tsukamoto
, ,
,
, ,
,
,
,
,
,
,
. n
Tsukamotos transcriptions the word bhanaka is spelled bhanaka or bhanaka in the harhut
inscriptions and bhanaka in one of the Karli inscriptions. or some unjustly harsh comments
on Tsukamotos collection, see Schopen
,
n. . Schopen ignores volume three,
published in
, which contains both of the re-edited inscriptions he criticizes Tsukamoto
for omitting. ough it would be unreasonable to expect any work of this scope to be
complete, Tsukamoto does neglect most of Richard Salomons publications, as Schopen
points out. or a fairer overall assessment, see ussman
. Many ndian uddhist
inscriptions remain unpublished (avidson
).
) eegalle
, cf. Norman
, . An inscription from Mathura refers to a monk
named uddhisrestha as a bhasanaka (bhasa(na)[k]a, bhasana[ka]) (Tsukamoto
that einrich
Lders suggests

, ), a term
is synonymous
with bhanaka (
,
) and that eegalle treats as a variant (
, ,
n. ). Lders may be correct,
but it is obviously a dierent word. e term occurs in a few vinaya texts (utt
, inananda
, Sankrityayana
, ,
), where it clearly refers to
reciters of uddhist texts. On the occurrence in the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya and one of the
occurrences in the Vinayasutra, see Schopen
,
and nn. , . would like to

thank arola Rolo very much for going through signicant trouble to provide me with a
copy of Rahul Sankrityayanas edition of the Vinayasutra.
) Oldenberg
, ,
,
,
,
,
/orner
, ,
,
,
,
,
.
)
)
Shizutani reports that the hinese translations of the harmaguptaka

and Mahsasaka vinayas contain phonetic renderings of the word bhanaka
to
(
,
b). n a single inscription from Amaravat a monk refers
himself as a student of the Samyuttabhanaka mahatheras dwelling at the

Pusakavana [monastery] (Tsukamoto
, ), but it is likely
that these were either Sri Lankan monks or monks who belonged to a
branch of the Sri Lankan tradition established in the Andhra

region.
Textual references to bhanakas of specic texts or collections of texts are
ali texts.0
apparently only found in P
Another gure, whose activities seem often to have overlapped with
those of bhanakas, is the dharmakathika (Pali dhammakathika). ese
gures are mentioned

frequently in canonical Pali sutta and vinaya texts,
where they are depicted as specialists in doctrinal discussion and debate.
n Pali commentaries and histories, and vinaya and other texts preserved
in Sanskrit, they are depicted as preachers, memorizers of texts, and people
responsible for textual transmission. Like bhanakas, they are mentioned
scholars have claimed
with some frequency in ndian epigraphy. Several
that early bhanakas were responsible solely for the mnemic preservation
and recitation of texts and that dharmakathikas were preachers. uilding
on this idea, Sodo Mori suggests that after uddhist texts began to be
preserved in writing, bhanakas were left with free time which they used to
Tsukamotos transcription reads samyutakabhanakanam pusakavanavasanamahath[e]ra
nam at[e]vasika . On the establishment

of the SriLankan tradition in the Andhra
region,
see ousins
,
. Scholars have generally accepted the Pali tradition that
the system of separate bhanaka lineages began in ndia, but it seems most likely to have
originated in and remained largely peculiar to Sri Lanka.
0) Nance (
,
) suggests that the Pali Milindapaha, which refers to jatakabhanakas,
have
Dghabhanakas, etc. (Trenckner
,
/orner
, ), may
been originally
composed in Sanskrit or Prakrit, but the small portion of the text for which
this seems likely to be true does not mention bhanakas (emiville
ussman
,
von inber
, ).
) Passages on dharmakathikas outside of P
ali texts have generally been ignored. or some
good examples, see owell and Neil
,
( utt
, cf. imer
,

and Nther, Vogel, and Wille
,
),
Lvi
, ( utt
, ) utt
, ,
Speyer
, Rajapatirana
,
.
) Tsukamoto
, ,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
Salomon
, Salomon
, . e spellings vary dharmakathika, dhamakadhika, dhamma
kadhika, etc.
) .g., arua
,
, but cf.
Shizutani
,
b okhale
,

Mori
, and
,
eegalle
, cf. eiger
,
.
expand their activities into textual interpretation and discussion, an idea

that other scholars have adopted as well. None of the scholars involved,
however, cites any evidence that supports either of these views. So far as
am aware, bhanakas are nowhere represented as conning their activities to
memorization and recitation. Two overlooked passages in the Pali Vinaya
that are surely older than all of the material that these scholars discuss depict
the bhanika ullananda as a preacher, suggesting that preaching was com bhanakas from the start.6 ough a careful study is a desideramon for
tum, it seems unlikely that a precise dierentiation between the activities
of bhanakas and dharmakathikas will be possible. harmakathikas are not
with particular texts or collections of texts, but seem generally to
identied
have engaged in activities similar to those of bhanakas, both in Sri Lanka
in the application of
and on the mainland. ere was clearly some uidity
both terms.
Mahayana sutras make reference to gures called dharmabhanakas with
ayana text
remarkable frequency, far more often than any sort of non-Mah
mentions bhanakas or dharmakathikas. To give a few examples from
preserved in ndic languages, for which the terminology
Mahayana sutras
is certain, in Wogiharas edition of the Astasahasrika, the word dharma
bhanaka occurs thirty-seven times in Vorobyova-esyatovskayas
edition
Sanskrit manuscript of the Kasyapaparivarta, it occurs ten times in
of the
Suzuki and dzumis edition of the Gandavyuha, six in Kern and Nanjios
edition of the Saddharmapundarka, sixty-one

in Rahder and Susas edition
of the Dasabhumika, seven in utts edition of the Samadhiraja, fty in

hattacharyas edition of the Ajitasenavyakarana, six in Lefmanns edition
Mori
, and
eegalle
Nance
ndo
As often happens in scholarship, both of these theories became established as a result

of what was essentially a guess being accepted as fact. arua asserted the rst idea without
relevant evidence and the other scholars adopted it, citing one another in turn (okhale
excepted). ough he could have discarded aruas idea when he found material in the
atthakathas that contradicted it, Mori concluded that there was a change in role of bhanakas
developed his idea on the eect of writing to account for it.

and
6) Oldenberg
, /orner
, .
) eegalle has published some of the following numbers already (
, ) but took them
without acknowledgment from the draft of this paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Academy of Religion in
. e apologized when contacted him about this by
email. eegalle states that the Karandavyuha and Suvarnabhasa mention dharmabhanakas
gave these as only

approximate gures. eegalles
twenty and thirty times respectively, but
assertion that the Pratyutpanna mentions dharmabhanakas eleven times is my mistake.
of the Lalitavistara, ve in Vaidyas edition of the Karandavyuha, nine in Yamadas

teen in Kurumiyas edition of the Ratnaketuparivarta, twelve
edition of the Karunapundarka, nine and in Skjrvs edition of the
Suvarnabhasottama, thirty-eight.
Tibetan translations of Mahayana sutras
use the term chos smra ba as the standard equivalent for dharmabhanaka,
utras
making it possible to provide nearly equally reliable gures for many s
not, or only partially, preserved in ndic languages. To give a few examples from some better-known texts, in arrisons edition of the Pratyutpannabuddhasammukhavasthitasamadhi Sutra, the term occurs ten times
in his edition of the Drumakinnararajapariprccha, three in raarvigs edition of the Aksayamatinirdesa, sixteen in the Aksobhyavyuha, three in the
a, one in the Bhadrakalpika, nineteen
Ugrapariprcch
in the Ajatasatru
kaukrtyavinodana, four and in the Suramgamasamadhi, four. Although
the term
does not occur in all Mahayana sutras, in most that am familiar
with that are more than a few pages long it occurs at least once or a few
times.
e term dharmabhanaka is used with great consistency and specicity.
Mahayana sutras do not use the term bhanaka alone or in compound with
texts. ey invariably use the
the name of any specic text or group of
compound dharmabhanaka. ough uddhas and celestial bodhisattvas
are often depicted preaching,

they are not called dharmabhanakas the
term is consistently used to refer to an actual human occupation.

e
term is not used to refer to sravaka preachers, and some sutras are clearly
careful to avoid doing this. n the Saddharmapundarka, for instance, the
his preaching abilities
uddha praises the arhat Purna Maitrayanputrafor
but instead of calling him a dharmabhanaka refers to him four times as

a dharmakathika.0 n the Astasahasrika, the arhat Subhuti preaches at
he should be established as the uddhas
ariputra says that
length and S
or cases in which this term renders other words, see below, note .
Aksobhyavyuha (dKon brtsegs, Kha, b a), Ugrapariprccha (dKon brtsegs, Nga,
a
rtyavinodana (mDo sde, Tsha,
a),Bhadrakalpika (mDo sde, Ka, b a), Ajatasatrukauk
uramgamasamadhi (mDo sde, a,
b b), S
b b). have not counted the occur
rence of chos smra ba on
b of the Ugrapariprccha because it likely renders dharmavadin
or another term (see below, note ). Mark Allon

and Richard Salomon suggest that the
Bhadrakalpika might not be a Mahayana sutra (
, ), but this concern seems unnecessary. Unless otherwise noted, all references to Tibetan texts are to the TRs bKa gyur
sDe dge par ma.
0) Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
. is passage restates the
traditional identication of Purna as the uddhas foremost monk dharmakathika (e.g.,
Morris and ardy
, /Woodward and are
, ).
)
)
foremost dharmakathika. Later, the uddha tells the god Sakra

(ndra)
that if one speaks and explains the dharma as Subhuti does one becomes a
dharmavadin. n Mahayana sutras the word dharmabhanaka thus seems
Wogihara
,
/onze
a, . e text spells dharmakathika dharmakathika. Subhuti was traditionally identied as the uddhas foremost monk who dwells
in peace (aranaviharin) (e.g., Morris and ardy
, /Woodward and are
, ), an identication that the Astasahasrika repeats twice (Wogihara
that the texts authors were aware of the

, , /onze
a, , ). Presuming
ariputra
tradition that Purna was the uddhas foremost monk dharmakathika, we can read S
as complimenting Subhuti by asserting that he should have been given this honor instead.
) Wogihara
,
/onze
a,
. Nance states that the terms dharmakathika and dharmavadin are common terms for preachers in Mahayana texts and suggests
that they are synonymous with the term dharmabhanaka (
,
), but both terms are
rare, neither is a synonym, and dharmavadin is not a specic term for preachers. Apart
from the passages in the Astasahasrika and Saddharmapundarka, and the version of the
Pacavimsatisahasrika (Kimura
Astasahasrikas passage in the
, . utt
,
), know of only one other passage from a Mahayana sutra that survives in an
ndic language in which the term dharmakathika occurs, a passage from the Ratnarasi Sutra
sasamuccaya (endall
antidevas Sik
quoted in S
, /endall and Rouse
,
clearly uses the word in imitation of the language of canoncf. Silk
,
), which
ical vinaya texts (cf. Silk
,
with Oldenberg
, /orner
, Silk
,
and inananda
, /Silk
,
). Apart
from the passage in the Astasahasrika that says that one becomes a dharmavadin by preaching like Subhuti, which is also found (albeit with the uddhas preaching substituted for
Subhutis) in the Pacavimsatisahasrika (Kimura
, V ) and onzes edition of what he identies as part of the Astadasasahasrika (onze

, for prob see Zacchetti
lems with onzes identication of this text,
, ), have found
only seven other passages in Mahayana sutras surviving in ndic languages that use this
term another passage in the Astasahasrika (Wogihara
,
/onze
a,
nabhasottama (Skjrv
) two passages in the Suvar
, . . , . . /mmerick
the Dasabhumika (Rahder
, , ) single passages in
, ), Vimalakrtinirdesa
(Vimalakrtinirdesa
, . ), and Karunapundarka (Yamada
, ) and a passage
Sik
sasamuccaya (endall
antidevas
from the Sagaramati Sutra quoted in S
, /endall
and Rouse
, ). Rather than a specic term for preachers, the term dharmavadin
seems generally to mean something closer to one who speaks in accord with dharma. e
Astasahasrika passage, for example, describes irreversible bodhisattvas as praisers of non
schism
(abhedavarnavadin) rather than praisers of schism (bhedavarnavadin), desirers of
rather than desirers of enemies (amitrakama), dharmavadins rather
friends (mitrakama)
than adharmavadins. e Dasabhumika passage says that second stage bodhisattvas are
kalavadins, bhutavadins, arthavadins, dharmavadins, etc. n the Suvarnabhasottama passages
the our reat Kings refer to themselves as dharmikas, dharmavadins, dharmarajas, etc. and
the uddha calls them dharmikas and dharmavadins and says that they rule in accordance
with dharma. As Nance observes, citing the translation of the Astadasasahasrika, the term
chos smra ba is sometimes used to render dharmavadin (Nance ,
,
n. Sher
phyin, Khri brgyad, Kha,
a). e term is also rendered chos smra ba in the translations
of the Astasahasrika and Suvarnabhasottama (Sher phyin, brGyad stong, Ka,
b,
b
a rGyud
bum, Pa,
b, b), but in the translations of the Pacavimsatisahasrika
Sher phyin,
ahasrika it is rendered chos su brjod (Sher phyin, Nyi khri, A, b
and Satas
to be used as a specic term for Mahayana preachers (cf. Shizutani

,
b). e term dhammabhanaka occurs four times in Pali atthakathas
century, but in these texts it is a casual
compiled in the fourth or fth
formation used to refer to anyone who might recite a uddhist text rather
than a specic term for preachers. ere are no known occurrences of the
term in non-Mahayana texts preserved in languages other than Pali.
Bum, a,
b) in the translation of the Dasabhumika, chos su smra ba (Phal chen, Kha,
b) and in the translation of the Vimalakrti, chos bzhin du smra ba (Vimalakrtinirdesa
, . ). n the Karunapundarka the term occurs in a dharan and the translators render
ha,
it phonetically (mDo sde,

b). n the translation of the Sagaramati the somewhat
unusual phrase adharme dharmavadin is rendered chos ma yin pas rtsod pa (mDo sde,
a, b [this folio side is misplaced in the TR edition cited here it should be located at
sasamuccaya renders it in the same way (bsTan
mDo sde, Pha, b]). e translation of the Sik
of the term, the fact that it is usually used
gyur sDe dge, dBu ma, Khi, b). e rareness
in contexts incompatible with the word dharmabhanaka, and the fact that it is rendered
known occurrences make it doubtin other ways in the Tibetan translations of most of its
ful that scholars will often mistake cases in which the underlying term was dharmavadin
for occurrences of the word dharmabhanaka. an Nattier plausibly suggests that an occur
rence of the term chos smra ba in the Tibetan
translation of the Ugrapariprccha renders
what was originally dharmavadin (

,
and n.
dKon brtsegs, Nga,
b). e
word chos smra ba was also sometimes used to render dharmakathika, as we see in the trans ahasrika (Sher
lations of the Pacavimsatisahasrika (Sher phyin, Nyi khri, Ka,
a), Satas
phyin, Bum, Nga, b), and Ratnarasi (Silk
,
), though the translators of the
Astasahasrika render it chos ston pa (Sher phyin, brGyad stong, Ka, b) and the translators
of the Saddharmapundarka render it variously chos sgrog pa, chos rjod pa, and chos ston pa
(mDo sde, a, b a). e rareness of the term, combined with the fact that it is only
known to be used to refer to sravakas or in vinaya-style lists of monastic specializations,
makes this largely unproblematic as well. Lists similar to the Ratnarasis found in a passage
in the Ugrapariprccha contain the term chos brjod pa (dKon brtsegs, Nga,
a a/Nattier
,
), which Nattier suggests renders dharmabhanaka (
,
n. ), but the
passages similarity to the Ratnarasi and vinaya passages mentioned

above suggests that the
underlying term was dharmakathika. Purna is called a chos smra ba, e.g., also in the Tibetan
brtsegs, Nga,
translations of the Purnapariprccha (dKon
a) and Vimaladattapariprccha
b) sutras.
n the S
uramgamasamadhi he is called a chos smra ba po
(dKon brtsegs, a,
(mDo sde, a,
b).
) e term occurs twice in the S
aratthappakasin (Woodward
, ,
),
once in the Samantapasadika (Takakusu and Nagai
, ), and once in the

Kankhavitaran (Norman and Pruitt
,
). n the second passage in the Saratthappa
kasin, the author
explicitly states that he uses the term to refer to a bhidhammikas, suttantikas, and vinayadharas. e term also occurs in the Lnatthappakasin, traditionally
attributed to hammapala (de Silva
, ), and some late texts composed between
the twelfth and nineteenth centuries, most notably the Culavamsa (eiger
, ,
/
, , Chattha Sangayana CD-ROM
,Slakkhandhavagga-abhinava
tka
,
, Vinayasangaha-atthakatha,
, Kankhavitaran-purana-abhinava-tka,
, Vinaya adiyojanapali,
asadika, Ka
nkhavitaran, and
vinicchaya-tka, , Pacity
). n the Samantap
later texts, the term is used
on
most of the
in explanations of the monastic prohibition
e large amount of material on dharmabhanakas in Mahayana sutras

sorts of activities they
makes it possible to form a fairly clear idea of the
engaged in and the sorts of people they tended to be. A wide range of
material makes it clear that like non-Mahayana bhanakas, dharmabhanakas
memorized sutras and transmitted them orally to students

who studiedwith
them. n the Saddharmapundarka, for example, the uddha states that in
the future when dharmabhanakas

are rehearsing the recitation (svadhyaya)
another world and recite any words or syllaof the sutra he will appear from
bles they have forgotten. Later, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra promises
that if a dharmabhanaka forgets even a single syllable of the sutra he will
appear and repeat the entire text for him in person.6 e goddess Sarasvat
makes the same promise in the Suvarnabhasottama. e Astasahasrika
nika) following dharmabh
anakas
makes reference to students (dharmasrava
with a desire to memorize (udgrahtukama) the Prajaparamita. Sometimes sutras make reference to students copying sutras from dharmabhana
kas, either in addition to or in lieu of memorizing them. e Kasyapaparivarta, for example, states that one should give rise to the same reverence for
the dharmabhanaka from whom one hears, memorizes, copies, or learns it
(Vorobyova-esyatovskaya
as for the uddha
,
). A passage from
the Pratyutpanna states that students should follow a dharmabhanaka for a
period of years for the sake of hearing it, being instructed in it, learning
it,
copying it, retaining it in memory, proclaiming it, and cultivating it (arrison
/
, R). A passage from the Astasahasrika states that one
Prajaparamita in either
should follow a dharmabhanaka until he has this
mnemic [kayagata] or book[pustakagata] form.
dancing, singing, music, and seeing shows. e dhamma-reciter-song of unrestrained

monks (asamyatabhikkhunam dhammabhanakagta) is cited as an example of a type of
singing to beavoided. n oneof the passagesin the Culavamsa the term is applied to people
as sponsored by the king.
who participate in a recitation of the Tipitaka and atthakath
possibleto modern Westerners, the memoriza) ough it often seems strange or hardly
tion of texts has always been a central uddhist monastic practice. eorges reyfus reports
that with practice modern Tibetan monks can learn to memorize as many as ten to twenty
pages a day and that some memorize thousands of pages in total (
, , and personal
communication).
) Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
.
6) Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
.
) Skjrv
, . /mmerick
, .
) Wogihara
,
cf. onze
a,
.
) Wogihara
,
cf. onze
a,
.
A wide range of additional material depicts dharmabhanakas as public

the eighth,
preachers. A passage from the Astasahasrika states that on
fourteenth, and fteenth, wherever a son or daughter of good family who is

a dharmabhanaka will speak the Prajaparamita, there he or she will make
much merit.0 e eighth and either the fourteenth or fteenth of the
lunar half-month were traditional days for the observance of posadha (Pali
uposatha), when devout lay people would go to monasteries to take the
eight precepts, make oerings to the sangha, and listen to preachers recite
and preach the dharma, often through the night. is passage suggests that
dharmabhanakas often preached in monasteries, quite possibly at the same
time as non-Mah
ayana preachers. n another passage from the Astasahas speak,
rika, the uddha tells Sakra

that if a dharmabhanaka is unready to
gods will provide inspired speech or eloquence (pratibhana) for him or her,
and continues
Moreover, Kausika, that son or daughter of good family speaking this Prajaparamita will not have a frightened mind in front of the four assemblies [i.e.,
monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen] . A son or daughter of good family
possessed of the Prajaparamita will not receive any hostile question with this
discourse. And he or she will not be frightened, will not panic, will not fall
into panic. A son or daughter of good family, Kausika, who memorizes this
Prajaparamita, retains it in memory, recites it, learns it, sets it forth, teaches
it, instructs in it, explains it, and rehearses its recitation receives this benet in
this very life. Moreover, Kausika he or she will be ready and able to defeat
in accordance with the dharma the various opponents who will come forth.
And, when questioned by others, he or she will be able to respond to [their]
questions.
e fact that the text promises dharmabhanakas the ability to preach without fear and without being confounded by opponents questions suggests
that dharmabhanakas often preached to audiences that were at least partially hostile andthat they often got into disputes with people who rejected
their teachings.
n a very interesting passage in the Saddharmapundarka, the uddha
ayana preaching
paints a vivid picture of a dharmabhanaka and a Mah
ritual
0)
)
Wogihara
Wogihara
,
,
cf. onze
a,
.
, my trans. cf. onze
a,
e bodhisattva-mahasattva who is desirous of revealing this dharmadiscourse is established in pleasure [sukhasthita] and, established in pleasure,
speaks the dharma, either from memory [kayagata] or from a book [pustakagata]. When teaching, he is not excessively critical of others and does not
speak ill of other dharmabhanaka monks, does not denigrate them, and does
not speak denigratingly of them.

And he does not mention monks of the
Sravakayana by name and denigrate them, he does not speak denigratingly
of them, and in their presence he does not have the perception [that they are]
opponents. Why ecause he has been established in a state of pleasure. e
teaches the dharma for the various listeners [dharmasravanika] who come in a
gracious manner, not in an unfriendly way. And, when he is asked a question,
avakayana [teachings], but indeed
not disputing, he does not respond with Sr
answers just as if he had fully awakened to the knowledge of a uddha. en
at that time the hagavan spoke these verses
e is established in pleasure. Always clear-sighted, seated pleasurably, he
speaks the dharma,
an elevated throne [udara a sana] having been prepared in a clean and agreeable
place.
aving put on a clean, well-dyed robe [cvara] with excellent colors,
having put on a black under-shawl [asevakakrsna] and put on a large lower
robe [mahapramana Tib. sham thabs che tshad],
having seated himself on the throne, which has a foot pedestal and is covered
with multi-colored cloth,
having ascended [the throne] with well-washed feet and his head and face
freshly shaved (snigdha),
having seated himself on the dharma throne, when the assembled beings are
focused,
he should deliver many variegated discourses [citrakatha bahu] to monks and
nuns,
laymen and laywomen, kings and princes.
e wise one should deliver a sweet [discourse] with variegated meaning, never
being unfriendly.
f they then ask a question, he should explain the meaning in the proper way
again
and he should explain those things in such a way that, having heard, they will
obtain enlightenment [bodhi] .
And the wise one should speak the foremost dharma day and night with kots
of nayutas of illustrations [drstanta].
e should thrill and please the assembly without desiring anything at all.
ard food, soft food, food and drink, cloth, beds and seats, robes, and
medicine for the sick he should not think about and he should not ask for
anything from the assembly.
nstead, always clear-sighted, he should think, and these beings should
become uddhas.
us, will cause the true dharma, the basis of my pleasure and that of beings,
to be heard for the benet of the world.
e monk who, after my nirvana, will reveal [this sutra] without envy
sorrow, or annoyance.
will never have suering, obstacle,
No one will ever cause panic for him, beat him, denigrate him,
or drive him away because he is established in the strength of forbearance.
What is perhaps most interesting about this passage is its representation of

the details of a preaching ritual. e dharmabhanaka is described as being
washed and dressed in an elegant manner. aving

been established in
pleasure, presumably by his disciples, he sits on an elevated throne in front
of monastics and lay people to whom he preaches day and night. References to dharmabhanakas washing before preaching, wearing clean clothes,
thrones, and preaching at night are found in other
preaching from elevated
Mahayana sutras as well, suggesting that these were common features of
Mahayana preaching rituals. Such rituals were probably similar to nonMahayana preaching rituals of their day. Monks are depicted preaching
through the night and from elevated seats in the Pali canon, and rituals
in which monks preach or recite sutras and other texts from ornate, elevated thrones, often at night, are common in eravada countries to this
day. Along with reciting the dharma from memory or a book, the passage
says that dharmabhanakas should deliver many variegated discourses and
patiently respond to questions.

Like the passage from the Astasahasrika dis
cussed in the last paragraph, and similar passages from other
texts, this
Kern and Nanjio
,
/mDo sde, a,
ab, my trans. e translation
is of the Sanskrit text informed in places by the Tibetan translation. f. Watanabe
,
Toda
,
Kern
,
and, for the version of the passage
sasamuccaya, Silk
in the Sik
, .
) .g.,
Wogihara
,
/onze
a,
(for the identication of harmodgata as a dharmabhanaka, see Wogihara
,
,
) Kurumiya
,
,
Skjrv
, . . , . , . , . , . /
mmerick
, , , , , Suzuki and dzumi
,
Lefmann
, utt
, Samten and ahulkar

,
mDo sde, Na,

a (Caturdarakasamadhi Sutra) dKon brtsegs, a,
b (Vimaladattapariprccha Sutra) dKon brtsegs, a,
b (Bodhisattvapitaka Sutra) raarvig
, /
.
) .g., Rhys avids and arpenter
, , , /Walshe
, ,
,
eer
, /odhi
,
Oldenberg
, /orner
,
(cf. Prebish
,
,
,
and the original texts cited there) ureau
,
Schopen
,
n. XV. von inber

, Legge
, Takakusu
, ,

La Loubere
, Kmpfer
, avy
,
Knowles
,

Wells
, , Tiyavanich
, lackburn
,
eegalle
,
and the texts cited there Wickremeratne
, .
suggests that dharmabhanakas often spoke extemporaneously and inter

acted with members of their
audiences. Like the Astasahasrika passage,
negative reactions,
this passage also shows a strong concern for potential
which surely reects both the controversial status of Mahayana sutras and
actual rejection, heckling, and abuse historical dharmabhanakas must have
faced. Also interesting is the passages insistence on dharmabh

anakas not
being concerned with receiving gifts of food, clothing, or other things,

and
with their not asking for things from their audiences, as well as its assertion
that dharmabhanakas should preach without criticizing sravakas or other
dharmabhanakas. at the authors of the text were concerned with these
that dharmabhanakas often sought oerings for preaching
issues suggests
and that they often preached ina confrontational manner.6
Many sutras show evidence of this concern, criticizing or promising retribution to people who treat dharmabhanakas disrespectfully, e.g., arrison
/
, Vorobyova
esyatovskaya
, Kern
and Nanjio
,
,
,
/Kern
,
,
,
hattacharya
,
endall
, ,
/endall and Rouse
,
,
(Sarvadharmavaipulyasamgraha and Lokottaraparivarta sutras).

Many sutras also contain promises of protection fordharmabhanakas or provide dharans for
,
,
this purpose, e.g., Kern and Nanjio
,
,
/Kern
,
,
arrison
, raarvig
, / Skjrv
, . . , . /mmerick
, , Vimalakrtinirdesa
/Lamotte
, . Nanjio
,
/Suzuki
,
. Kamala Tiyavanich reports
that a twentieth-century ai preacher told her that often, monks with lesser [preaching]
skill are jealous and seek to ruin [a] preacher by using black magic. So a good preacher
must possess magical knowledge for self-protection. e must learn to recite sacred mantra
for self-defense as well as to attract people with goodwill (
, ). Similar sentiments
probably existed in ancient ndia.
6) Many s
utras speak of food and other gifts that dharmabhanakas could expect for preaching. A passage in the Bhadramayakaravyakarana, for example, lists gifts of food, robes, oerings, beds, seats, medicine, and care when sick as benets to be gained from preaching
uramgamasamadhi states that a meal oered to
the dharma (Rgamey
, ). e S
a dharmabhanaka who preaches it is equal to the meal oered to the uddha when he
dharma (mDo sde, a,
rst taught the
b cf. Lamotte
,
[Lamotte improbably reconstructs chos smra ba as dharmacarya]). n Sten Konows edition of the Sanskrit
text of the Aparimitayuh Sutra the uddha advocates giving money to dharmabhanakas
utra (
after they explain the s
, ). e Pratyutpanna tells a story of a king
who gives a dharmabhanaka a hundred thousand pieces of gold for preaching well (ar A passage in the Astasahasrika says that one should not follow
rison
/
, L).
on material things (Wogihara
a dharmabhanaka monk with a mind focused
/onze
a,
), suggesting that people did so. Simon de La Loubre
reports that seventeenth-century ai uddhist preachers could easily become rich from
gifts they received for preaching (
,
). Other sutras also caution against being critical
of other dharmabhanakas arrison
, Rgamey
,
Phal chen, a,
b
(Avatamsaka Sutra).
Mahayana sutras depict dharmabhanakas preaching and teaching in a

wide range of places and circumstances. We have already seen that a passage from the Astasahasrika recommends that dharmabhanakas preach on
posadha days, presumably

in monasteries. n the Sadaprarudita
story at the
end of the Astasahasrika, the dharmabhanaka harmodgata is depicted as
living and preaching

in the center of a city. e Saddharmapundarka
states that whether a dharmabhanaka lives in a village or monastery people
the dharma. e Sarvadharmapravrttwill visit him to ask questions about
inirdesa Sutra tells a story of a dharmabhanaka monk named Visuddhacari

tra who travels with a group of monk disciples, takes up residence in a
monastery, and goes daily to preach the dharma in a nearby village. After
being expelled from the monastery he and his disciples go to another
monastery and preach in nearby villages, cities, the region (ljongs, yul
*janapada, *desa), and royal cities (rgyal poi pho brang khor, *rajadhan)
(raarvig
, ). e same text tells a story of a dharmabhanaka who
about
preaches to a layperson in his home and gets into an argument
the dharma with him ( ). e Aksayamatinirdesa similarly makes reference to dharmabhanakas preaching in villages, cities, towns (grong rdal,
*nigama), the region (yul), and royal cities (raarvig
, / ).
Other sutras contain similar lists as well. e Suvarnabhasottama advises
kings to set up preaching thrones in their palaces andinvite dharmabhana akas to preach there. Later it tells a story of a king who visits a dharmabh
naka who lives in a cave and sets up a throne for him to preach in a pure
place.
e sutra also makes reference to its being preached in monasteries
or monastic cells (lena).0 e Samadhiraja tells a story of a dharmabhanaka
who travels alone, preaching in villages, cities, towns, the kingdom (rastra),
he
and royal cities, until he arrives at a royal city named Ratnavat, where
resides for several days, preaching the dharma in the city during the day
and staying near a stupa outside the city at night (utt
,
).
)
)
)
0)
Wogihara
,
,
/onze
a,
,
.
Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
.
.g., Skjrv
, . /mmerick
, Vimalakrtinirdesa
, . mDo sde, Na, a (Sarvapunyasamuccayasamadhi Sutra).
Skjrv
, . . , . . , . /mmerick
, ,
/Lamotte
,
n all of the sutras am familiar with dharmabhanakas are consistently

that suggests that
depicted as male monastics, but there is some material
women or lay people could also become dharmabhanakas. e Pali Vinaya
avadana mentions
mentions female bhanakas (bhanika) and the Divy
female dharmakathikas (dharmakathika). As we saw above, the Astasahas

rika refers in two passages to sons or daughters of good family (kulaputra,
kuladuhitr) who are dharmabhanakas. Although the phrase son or daugh family is formulaic, its use in these passages suggests that some
ter of good
dharmabhanakas were women. e Ratnaketuparivarta similarly refers to
monks or nuns
(bhiksu, bhiksun) who are dharmabhanakas or dharma Suvarnabhasot nika) (Kurumiya

students (dharmasrava
,
). e
tama states that one should

approach monk, nun, layman, or laywoman
[bhiksubhiksunyupasakopasika] dharmabhanakas and ask them to preach
against criticizing its dharutra and
the Saddharmapundarka warns
the s
mabhanakas, whether they are householder (grhastha) or monastic (pravra

dharmabhanakas as well.
jita), suggesting
that lay people could become
As we saw above, some scholars have already suggested that dharmabhanakas were responsible for the composition of Mahayana sutras. Shizutanistates that dharmabhanakas were employed in the important role of
nearly all of the scriptures of early-period
composing and disseminating
Mahayana and MacQueen suggests that it was through them that Mahayana sutras made their rst appearance and that dharmabhanakas prob of sutras
ably continued to play a major role in the ongoing generation
within Mahayana (
, ). Paul arrison comments similarly that the
dharmabhanaka is a gure whom we may identify with the compilers and
of Mahayana sutras (
disseminators
,
). While these scholars do
not provide explicit argument for this view, it seems likely to be correct
if for no other reason than that, as Shizutani points out, dharmabhanakas
were textual specialists and Mahayana sutras reserve their greatest words
of praise and authorization (
,
a) for them.
More specic evidence that supports this view is found in passages that
depict the future revelation of Mahayana sutras. n such passages, found
in many sutras, the uddha entrusts either the sutra itself, or Mahayana
sutras in general, to certain bodhisattvas who vow to return to this world
Oldenberg
, ,
,
,
,
/orner
,
,
,
,
owell and Neil
,
.
) Skjrv
, . cf. mmerick
, Kern and Nanjo
Kern
,
.
)
after roughly ve hundred years in the last time, the last period (pascima
kala, pascima samaya) to reveal it, or them, to the world. ommenting
specically on passages in the Pratyutpanna, arrison argues that the scenario they describe can be seen as an authenticating device that both
explains the sudden appearance of the sutra in the world and vindicates
those who champion it by identifying them with [people who heard the
sutra from the uddha] (
, n. ). t seems that Mahayana
authors often incorporated such passages into their texts and then claimed
either to be or to have received their texts from the bodhisattvas to whom
the uddha originally entrusted them. n passages of this sort the future
revealers of sutras are commonly depicted as, or explicitly said to be, dharmabhanakas. n the Astasahasrika, for instance, the uddha states that he
revealed the Prajaparamita to people who will teach it in the
personally
last time, the last period, and that these people will be bodhisattvas who
will copy it, memorize it, retain it in memory, recite it, etc., which is a
standard list of dharmabhanakas activities. n the Pratyutpanna, the ud his death the sutra will go into a cave in the
dha similarly states that after
ground and that certain bodhisattvas will return to preach and spread it
in the last period. Several bodhisattvas then vow to perform this task, stating that they will memorize, copy, and propagate profound sutras of this
kind (
/
, , K) at that time. n the Vimalakrtinirdesa
bodhisattvas promise to spread the sutra in the future and Maitreya says
that he will provide them with memory (smrti) by which they will be
able to memorize sutras of this kind, learn them,

retain them in memory, set them forth, copy them, and teach them in detail to others.6
Presuming that the authors of these texts presented themselves as reincarnations of the people about whom these predictions were made, these
or discussion of the pascima kala, see arrison
, n. Nattier
,
,
oucher
, . As oucher suggests, Nattiers suggestion that in early
Mahayana literature the term refers simply to a latter period immediately following the
uddhas death is incorrect. plan to discuss this issue in another publication.
) Wogihara
,
cf. onze
a,
.
) n one passage the text explicitly identies people who perform a similar list of activities
as dharmabhanakas (Wogihara
,
).
6) Vimalakrtinirde
sa
, . cf. the same sections in Lamotte
. or
more similar passages, see, e.g., Kern and Nanjio
,
,
,
/
Kern
,
,
,
Ashikaga
, /mez
,
mDo
sde, Ka, ab/e Fortunate Aeon
, raarvig
, / ikata
,
/onze
b, Tucci
,
/onze
b,
. or some
additional discussion, see rewes
, .
)
passages strongly suggest that they were dharmabhanakas. Although most
of these prediction passages merely list dharmabhanakas

activities, in the
Saddharmapundarka a group of nuns, including the uddhas aunt and

Mahaprajapat autam and his wife Yasodhara, vow to
adopted mother
reveal the sutra in the last time in other worlds and the uddha explicitly
states that they will born as (male) dharmabhanakas. A jataka story in
born as a monk who
the Bhadrakalpika tells us that Amitayus was once
appeared in the last time of another uddhas dharma to preach the sutra
and explicitly identies him as a dharmabhanaka.
Along with depicting them as revealers ofMahayana sutras, Mahayana
sutras often tell stories that depict dharmabhanakas as advanced bodhisatt e Astasahasrikas Sadavas very near to the attainment of uddhahood.
anaka harmodprarudita story, for instance, depicts the great dharmabh
gatas city andhavat as a virtual pure land, with trees made of gems,
ponds with lotuses the size of cart wheels, and networks of bells that
give o heavenly music in the wind, which beings there enjoy while they
have sex with one another (tena ca sabdena te sattvah krdanti ramante
paricarayanti). harmodgata is depicted as presidingover the city much
like a pure land uddha, preaching from a great golden throne in the center of the city, andperhaps surprisinglyliving in a great mansion with
sixty-eight thousand women with whom he plays, makes love, and has
sex, endowed and furnished with the ve objects of desire [i.e., objects of
the ve senses] (astasastya strsahasraih sarddham pacabhih kamagunaih
ngbhutah krdati ramate paric
arayati).0 Merely hear
samarpitah samanva
ing him preach

is sucient to enable
Sadaprarudita to obtain six million
dierent samadhis. n the Saddharmapundarka the uddha tells a story of

had eight sons who became stua uddha named andrasuryapradpa who
dents of a dharmabhanaka named Varaprabha after andrasuryapradpas
Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
.
mDo sde, Ka, ab/e Fortunate Aeon
, .
) Wogihara
,
cf. onze
a,
. f. this passage with
Ashikaga
, /mez
, . On the meaning of the verbs krd, ram, and
paricar, see arrison

,
and
n. .
0) Wogihara
,
cf. onze
a,
. e irrelevance of traditional
uddhist morality, especially sexual morality, to bodhisattvas is a common theme in early
Mahayana sutras that has been neglected. n Lokaksemas version of this passage har
modgata is said to have , ,
wives and concubines
who are united to amuse him
(Lancaster
,
). A full translation of Lokaksemas version of the Astasahasrika is an
urgent desideratum.
) Wogihara
,
/onze
a,
.
)
)
death. y preaching the Saddharmapundarka for eighty antarakalpas Vara of uddhahood, they all become
prabha ripens all eight for the attainment
dharmabhanakas themselves, and all eventually go on to attain uddha for one named Yasaskama, who was attached to prot and
hood, except
fame and was unable to memorize sutras. At the end of the story the uddha identies himself as having been Varaprabha and Maitreya as having
been Yasaskama. Later in the same text the uddha tells a story of a uddha named Mahabhijajanabhibhu who had sixteen sons, all of whom
became dharmabhanakas. ey reveal the Saddharmapundarka to a vast
Mahabhijajanabhibhu predicts
that all sixteen
number of beings and
will attain uddhahood and that anyone who does not reject their teaching will attain uddhahood as well. e uddha then states that he himself
was one of the sixteen dharmabhanakas and that the others also went on to
become uddhas, including the uddhas

Aksobhya and Amitayus. Many
akyamuni,
other sutras contain similar stories, many of which depict S
Aksobhya, Amitayus, pamkara, Majusr, and others as having been
dharmabhanakas in previous
great
lives. Such stories consistently empha
size the great power, knowledge, and sanctity of dharmabhanakas and
present being a dharmabhanaka as a typical occupation of advanced

bod
hisattvas in their nal lifetimes before attaining uddhahood.
ecoming a dharmabhanaka is also associated with advanced status in
formal models of the bodhisattva

path. e Dasabhumika Sutra, the locus
classicus for the system of ten bhumis, or stages, of the bodhisattva path,
states that bodhisattvas on the third bhumi have no regard for any ascetic
practice (duskara) except ascetic practice on behalf of their dharmabhanaka.
ey are willing
to give up all of their wealth and even their own limbs.
odhisattvas on the fth bhumi have obedience (susrusanata) to all bod teachings in the
hisattvas and dharmabhanakas, listen to and memorize
presence of uddhas, and typically

become monastics and dharmabhanakas
themselves. On the ninth bhumi, a bodhisattva becomes a dharmabhanaka
Kern and Nanjio
, /Kern
, .
Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
.
) .g., mDo sde, Tsha,
b a (Ajatasatrukaukrtyavinodana) Skjrv
, .
/mmerick
, utt
, , ,
,
mDo sde, Ka, b a, ab/e Fortunate Aeon

, , arrison
/
, N, WX Vaidya
,
dKon brtsegs, a, b b
(Mahapratiharyanirdesa Sutra). or a discussion of the stories in the Samadhiraja, see illiozat
, urt
, and Skilton
. or a discussion of the story in the Karandavyuha,
see Studholme
, .
)
)
and protects the treasury of the Tathagatas dharma, becomes a great

dharmabhanaka (mahadharmabhanaka), and having obtained the state of
being a dharmabh
anaka, teaches the dharma with the skillful voice of a
bodhisattva which pursues

immeasurable knowledge and is produced by
the four pratisamvids (sa dharmabhanakagatim upagato pramanajananu catuhpratisamvidabhinirh
a dharmam
gatena kausalyena
rtaya bodhisatvavac
desayati). Although Mahayanasa stra authors seem not always to have been
fully sympathetic to the Mahayana of the dharmabhanakas, the Bodhisattvabhumi states similarly that one acquires the state of being an inconceivable, great dharmabhanaka (acintyamahadharmabhanakatva) in the
text explicitly correlates to the ninth bhumi.6
pratisamvidvihara, which the
e Ratnagotravibh
aga preserves this idea as well, stating that a bodhisattva
acquires the state of being an unsurpassed dharmabhanaka (bla na med
ninth bhumi.
pai chos smra ba nyid, *anuttaradharmabhanakatva) on the
Although bhanakas mentioned in Pali commentaries are depicted as important thinkers, this association of dharmabhanakas with advanced religious
attainment seems to have no parallel in non-Mah

ayana literature. n addition, so far as am aware, Mahayana sutras do not link any other activity
or occupation to high religious attainment in this way.
Perhaps the most interesting passages on dharmabhanakas in Mahayana
and served. n a
sutras are ones that depict them as people to be followed
passage in the Astasahasrika, Subhuti asks the uddha where people who
believe in and become

intent on the Prajaparamita as soon as they hear it
were born in their previous lives and where they will go in future lives. e
uddha replies
A bodhisattva-mahasattva who, when he hears this deep Prajaparamita, will
become rmly devoted to it and not shrink back, cower become stupeed, or doubt and [who] will rejoice at seeing and hearing it, [who] will
memorize and cultivate this deep Prajaparamita, not relinquish his focus
linked to the Prajaparamita, and not turn his mind away, [who] will give
rise to a desire to memorize it, retain it in memory, recite it, learn it, and set it
forth, [this bodhisattva] will form a relationship [karisyaty anubandham], follow, and not abandon the dharmabhanaka. Subhuti, like a cow with a young
Rahder
, , , . See also Rahder and Susa
, . On
the four pratisamvid s, or special knowledges, see, e.g., ayal
,
.
6) utt
,
. or other passages on dharmabhanakas in the Bodhisattvabhumi, see
pages ,
,
,
.
) bsTan gyur sDe dge, Sems tsam, Phi,
b ohnston
, .
)
calf does not abandon her calf, in just this way a bodhisattva, having heard
this deep Prajaparamita, does not abandon the dharmabhanaka until he has
this Prajaparamita in either mnemic or book form. Subhuti, this bodhisattvamahasattva is one who has passed on from [the world of ] humans and is reborn
among humans.
Subhuti then continues to question the uddha and the uddha states
that such people may previously have lived in other uddha-elds or they
may have lived in the Tusita heaven and learned about the Prajaparamita
from Maitreya. e main point of this passage is that anyone who becomes
involved with Mahayana texts is already an advanced bodhisattva, an important idea reiterated throughout Mahayana sutra literature that has long
been overlooked. What is particularly interesting here for our purposes
is the passages representation of the proper course of action for people
to follow when they encounter the Prajaparamita. As soon as they hear
it, they immediately believe in it. ey then continue to think about it
and wish to hear it again and to see it, presumably in written form. Along
with this, they conceive a desire to memorize it, retain it in memory,
preach, recite, and spread it, i.e., to become dharmabhanakas themselves.
and follow him
ey then establish a relationship with the dharmabhanaka
until they are able to memorize the Prajaparamita or make a copy of
it for themselves. Overall, this passage reads as an idealized account of a
conversion to the Mahayana. One rst hears a dharmabhanaka recite or
preach the Prajaparamita, then becomes his student, and nally

becomes
a dharmabhanaka oneself.
e importance
of following dharmabhanakas is given a signicantly
more forceful presentation in the Astasahasrikas Sadaprarudita story. When
Sadaprarudita nally arrives after along journey at andhavat and receives
teachings from harmodgata, he gives him prodigious gifts and oers
himself, along with ve hundred and one young women travelling with
him, to harmodgata as slaves. Sakra

then states
Sadhu, sadhu, son of good family odhisattva-mahasattvas should become
renouncers of all that they have. With a mind of renunciation of this sort a
bodhisattva-mahasattva quickly fully awakens to unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, and, having worshipped dharmabhanakas [dharmabhanakanam
)
)
Wogihara
,
plan to discuss this idea in a future publication.
a,
pujam krtva] in this way, is able to hear [about] the Prajaparamita and
means.
skillful
Son of good family, those previous Tathagatas, arhats, fullyenlightened uddhas also, while formerly pursuing the course of a bodhisattva,
abiding in renunciation in this very way, enquiring into the Prajaparamita
and skillful means, attained unsurpassed, complete enlightenment.60
Along with seeking out and following dharmabhanakas, we see here the
give them all of our
idea that we should also be willing to serve them and
possessions in order to be able to hear the Prajaparamita.
Passages like this are common in Mahayana sutras. n the Pratyutpanna,
the uddha tells a story of a prince named rahmadatta who hears a
dharmabhanaka named Ratna teach the Pratyutpanna and is so thrilled that
he gives him ne cloth and a hundred thousand pieces of gold, becomes
a monk, and serves him for eight thousand years, despite the fact that
he never gets an opportunity to hear the sutra again. After his death he
encounters a large number of other uddhas and eventually becomes a
uddha himself.6 Presenting the moral of the story, the uddha states
that a person should be willing to travel up to a hundred yojanas to obtain
an opportunity to hear and memorize the Pratyutpanna. e then continues
ose bodhisattvas who are endowed with resolve and who strive for awakening
should evoke the apperception of Teacher [i.e., of the uddha] towards the
masters from whom they hear this samadhi [i.e. the Pratyutpanna Sutra] .
ey should honour those sons of good family who preach the harma [chos
smra ba *dharmabhanaka] with all honours, and they should follow them.
for one year, or two, or three, or four or ten years,
ey should follow them
or a hundred, or for as long as they live . hadrapala, those sons or daughters
of good family should relinquish their own minds, and having relinquished
them should become of like mind with those masters. ey should follow the
masters with reverence and respect. ey should follow them with obedience.
ey should follow them by not being disobedient, by constancy of devotion,
by the elimination of ckleness, and by the absence of wrong views. ey
should evoke the apperception of good friend towards them they should also
evoke the apperception of Teacher. hadrapala, if those bodhisattvas behave
in that way towards those masters, then it will be impossible that they
should not at the very least manage to hear this samadhi, unless they formerly
performed and accumulated acts conducive to the ruin of the harma.
(arrison
/
, RS)
60)
6)
Wogihara
arrison
,
, LN and
,
n.
a,
n another passage in the Pratyutpanna, the uddha tells a jataka story

in which he was born as a prince and renounced his kingdom in order to
become a monk and follow a dharmabhanaka, but, though he served him
for thirty-six thousand years, never obtained

an opportunity to hear the
sutra. xplaining the point of this story to the bodhisattva hadrapala, the
uddha says
hadrapala, if people seek this samadhi singlemindedly they should constantly
follow their teachers and never forsake them, they should make them oerings,
namely of medicinal broths, drink and food, clothes, bedding, and various
utensils, even all their gold, silver and jewels. All their wealth they should oer
to their teachers without begrudging it, and if they have nothing of their own
they should beg for it and then oer it. ey will quickly obtain the samadhi
and not give rise to thoughts of dissatisfaction. hadrapala, setting aside these
customary oerings, if the teachers have need of them, those seekers of the
harma should go so far as to cut o their own body, their esh, their limbs
and trunk, and oer them to their teachers. f their teachers have need of
their lives they should still not begrudge them, so how could they not oer
external things to their teachers Such is the way, hadrapala, in which these
seekers of the harma, in serving Teachers of harma, will assist and obey
them. urther, they will serve their teachers as slaves obey their masters as
ministers [serve] their princes so will they serve their teachers. us these
people will quickly obtain the samadhi. aving obtained the samadhi they
should remember it and bear it in mind, being ever grateful to their teachers
and constantly thinking of how to repay them.6
e Bhadrakalpika fancifully describes a glorious samadhi that it identies, among other things, with seeking out a dharmabhanaka without
straying and serving a dharmabhanaka without [concern for] material
things [zang zing, *amisa]. e same text tells a story of a dharmabhanaka
for whom thirty thousand

beings provided all the necessities for pleasure (bde bai yo byad thams cad ) exactly as he wished (bsam pa ji
lta ba bzhin) and who, having been thus established in pleasure (bde
bar gnas pa *sukhasthita), taught the sutra for half a kalpa. Later the
text identies serving a dharmabhanaka without resentment or weariness as a form of the perfection of vigor (*vrya).6 A passage in the
arrison
, W. is prose version of the passage occurs only in the hinese
translations of the text. e Tibetan preserves a shorter verse version of the story (arrison
/
, X) in which the person the uddha served is identied as a dharmabhanaka
(chos smra ba).

6) mDo sde, Ka, b,
ab, b cf. e Fortunate Aeon
, , ,
.
6)
Bodhisattvapitaka Sutra, repeated in the Aksayamatinirdesa as well, states
teaching thrones (chos kyi

that giving birch
bark, ink, books, beautiful
stan sna tshogs *vicitradharmasana), material things, and all prot [rnyed
pa *labha], honor, and praise to dharmabhanakas will increase a bodhisattvas equipment of knowledge (ye shes gyitshogs *janasambhara).6
anakas
e Sarvadharmagunavyuharaja Sutra advocates oering dharmabh
cloth, jewelry (rgyan rnams), umbrellas, vehicles (bzhon pa *yana), and

other things.6
n the Saddharmapundarka, the uddha states
ods and humans should make [the gesture of ] ajali to [a dharmabhanaka of

the Saddharmapundarka] wherever he goes they should honor, showveneration to, venerate, worship, and reverence him with owers, incense, perfumes, garlands, ointments, powders, robes, umbrellas, banners, ags, musical
instruments, hard food, soft food, food and drink, vehicles [yana], and heaps
of the foremost, heavenly jewels. at dharmabhanaka is to be honored, shown
of heavenly jewels should
veneration, venerated, and worshipped, and heaps
be oered to that dharmabhanaka.66
n the corresponding verse version of this passage the uddha states that
one who praises the sutras dharmabhanakas will make more merit than one
who would praise the uddha himself for a kalpa.6 e same text promises
that if one retains the sutra in memory, teaches, reveals, and writes it, one
will develop the ability to preach in such a way that
ose for whom he teaches dharma, even gods, having heard his beautiful,
pleasing, sweet voice, will think that he should be visited for the sake of
seeing, for the sake of paying homage, for the sake of revering, and for the
sake of listening to the dharma . Monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen
will also be desirous of seeing him. Kings, princes, ministers, and viceroys
will also be desirous of seeing him . Others also, brahmans, householders,
people from the town or region, will always constantly be associated with that
dharmabhanaka as followers until the end of their lives.6
dKon brtsegs, a,
b raarvig
, cf.
between the Bodhisattvapitaka and Aksayamatinirdesa, see Pagel
6) mDo sde, a,
a a,
b.
66) Kern and Nanjio
,
, my trans. cf. Toda
,
.
6) Kern and Nanjio
,
/Kern
,
.
6) Kern and Nanjio
,
, my trans. cf. Toda
,
.
6)
. On the relationship
, .
and Kern
,
and Kern
e Kasyapaparivarta presents obtaining the sight (darsana) of a dharmabhanaka as one of four great treasures (mahanidhana) of bodhisattvas.
e corresponding
verse version of the passage states that [a bodhisattva]
with a pure mind always looks upon a dharmabhanaka with reverence
states
(Vorobyova-esyatovskaya
, ). Later, the text
rom which dharmabhanaka one might hear this dharma-discourse, memo
rize, write, or learn it, toward
that dharmabhanaka, Kasyapa, one should give
agata. Kasyapa, whichever son
rise to reverence of the same kind as for the Tath
or daughter of good family honors, shows devotion to, venerates, or worships
a dharmabhanaka ( predict to unsurpassed, complete enlightenment) and at
the time of (death)

he or she will have a vision of the Tathagata.6
n the Samadhiraja, the uddha, speaking to the prince andraprabha,

says
Moreover, prince, a bodhisattva-mahasattva who desires this samadhi [i.e.,
the Samadhiraja Sutra], either a householder or a monastic, and is desirous
of quickly fully awakening to unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, should
serve, attend, and wait upon without deceit bodhisattva-mahasattvas possessing morality, virtues, and praja. f there is a bodhisattva-mahasattva monk
who has memorized this samadhi, and he is aicted and very sick, that monk
should be made to rise from that aiction even with ones own esh and
blood [svamamsasonita]. A bodhisattva-mahasattva endowed with determina
tion, prince, who desires
this samadhi and is desirous of quickly fully awakening to unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, untrembling, fearless, having
given up even his own esh and blood, should cause the dharmabhanaka monk
to rise from aiction.
(utt
, ,my trans.)
e uddha then states that he will make this clear to andraprabha with
a story and tells a jataka in which he was born as a princess who cut
esh from her body and used her own blood to heal a dharmabhanaka
named hutamati who had an illness that could be cured by no other

means.0 ese passages, and many others like them that occur throughout
Mahayana sutra literature, depict dharmabhanakas as the deserving recipi service. We are to regard
ents of the most extreme forms of devotion and
Vorobyova-esyatovskaya
,
/dKon brtsegs, ha,
b, my trans. e material in parentheses is missing in the Sanskrit manuscript but supplied from the Tibetan
translation.
0) utt
, . or a discussion of this story, see urt

.
) or few similar passages from other s
utras, see dKon brtsegs, Nga,
b/Nattier
,
6)
dharmabhanakas as uddhas, give them all of our possessions, work to pro whatever pleasures they desire, serve them like slaves, follow
vide them with
them for long periods of time even if they are reluctant to teach us, and even
oer them our own esh, blood, and lives.
ecause most material of this sort is normative in nature, the extent to
which it can be taken as evidence for actual states of aairs surrounding
historical dharmabhanakas is not always clear. is is especially so in consideration of the factthat most of this material was probably composed
by dharmabhanakas themselves, who had an obvious interest in encour treat them well whether or not they were accustomed
aging people to
to receiving reverential treatment in actual practice. Nevertheless, there
is a signicant amount of material that suggests that devoted service to
dharmabhanakas was common practice in early and even later Mahayana.
Some of this material can be found in Mahayana sutras themselves. n the
Astasahasrika, for example, near the beginning of the Sadaprarudita story,
Sadaprarudita has just set out in search of the dharmabhanaka harwhen
modgata, a voice from the sky says to him

You should avoid bad friends, son of good family, and you should serve, attend,
and wait upon good friends [kalyanamitra] who teach the dharma thus, All
dharmas are empty, signless, wishless,

unarisen, unborn, unrestrained, and
non-existent. Proceeding in this manner, son of good family, before long
you will hear the Prajaparamita either from a book or from the memory
of a dharmabhanaka monk. And you should give rise to the perception of the
Teacher, son of good family, in regard to the one from whom you may hear
the Prajaparamita, and be thankful and grateful, thinking, e one from
whom hear this Prajaparamita is my good friend. earing it, will quickly
indeed become irreversible from unsurpassed, complete enlightenment and
will be close to Tathagatas, arhats, fully-enlightened uddhas. will be born
in uddha-elds that are not without Tathagatas and will avoid undesirable
rebirths and obtain the accomplishment of desirable rebirths. Weighing these
advantages, son of good family, you should give rise to the perception of the
Teacher in regard to the dharmabhanaka monk, but you should not, son of
monk with a mind linked to material
good family, follow a dharmabhanaka
things of the world. You should follow a dharmabhanaka monk with desire
for the dharma, with respect for the dharma, and you should be aware of the
deeds of Mara. t is indeed Mara, the evil one, son of good family, [who]
provides objects of form, sound, taste, smell, and touch for a dharmabhanaka,
Suzuki and dzumi
(Sagaramati Sutra) Konow

.
,
,
endall
utt
, /endall and Rouse

Yamada
, ,
a bodhisattva-mahasattva, to serve, attend, and wait upon, but he serves,

attends, and waits upon them with superior skillful means. n this case, son
of good family, you should not give rise to a mind of distrust [aprasada] in
the dharmabhanaka monk but give rise to this thought, do not understand
that he understands. e serves, attends, and waits upon
the skillful means
these dharmas in the training of beings for the sake of acquiring good roots
for beings. odhisattva-mahasattvas do not have attachment or a mental basis
anywhere. And at that time you should consider, son of good family, the true
principle of dharmas. And which true principle of dharmas is this, son of good
family Namely, that all dharmas are without delement or purication .
onsidering the true principle of all dharmas in this way, son of good family,
following the dharmabhanaka, you will soon go forth into the Prajaparamita.
You should also, son of good

family, take note of another deed of Mara. f,
son of good family, a dharmabhanaka rebukes or does not take note of a
son of good family with desire for the Prajaparamita, in that case, son of
good family, you should not form aversion [prativani] but, having only desire
you should follow the
for the dharma, having only reverence for the dharma,
dharmabhanaka monk with an undaunted mind.
n this remarkable passage we see essentially the same idea that we saw in
the passages quoted above We should treat dharmabhanakas like uddhas
and follow and serve them faithfully. What is novel here

is the specic
advice that the passage oers and the fact that much of it seems intended
as an apology for dharmabhanakas behavior. We should not follow a
for worldly things, we should not lose
dharmabhanaka out of a desire
heart if a dharmabhanaka rejects us, and we should not be surprised if a

dharmabhanaka turnsout to be devoted to the pursuit of wealth and sensual
pleasures. n such cases we should reect that the dharmabhanaka is so wise
perhaps to
and pure that he engages in such activities solely for our benet,
teach us the lesson that all dharmas are without delement or purication.
iven that uddhist monks were traditionally not supposed to engage
in the pursuit of sensual pleasure, it seems that this advice can only be
an attempt to justify behavior that actual followers of the Astasahasrikas
dharmabhanakas were likely to encounter.

ahasrika contains two other signicant passages that address
e Astas
problems that could arise between dharmabhanakas and their students.

at length. Speaking to
ecause of their great richness, quote them here
Subhuti, the uddha says
Wogihara
a,
Moreover, Subhuti, a student [dharmasravanika] will be dedicated and desirous of memorizing the Prajaparamita, but the dharmabhanaka will be lazy
and not desirous of teaching the dharma. is also, Subhuti, should

be understood by a bodhisattva-mahasattva as discord [visamagr Tib. tshogs pa dang
bral ba] that is a deed of Mara. Moreover, Subhuti, the dharmabhanaka will
not be lazy and will be desirous of giving the Prajaparamita, but the student
will be lazy or have much to do. is also, Subhuti, should be understood by a
bodhisattva-mahasattva as discord that is a deed of Mara. Moreover, Subhuti,
a student will be dedicated, desirous of memorizing the Prajaparamita, desirous of retaining it in memory, desirous of reciting it, desirous of learning
it, desirous of setting it forth, even merely desirous of writing it, and will be
knowledgeable, intelligent, and have a good memory, but the dharmabhanaka
will spend time in another place, or not be one who can understand something
from a brief statement [udghatitaja], or not be one who can understand from
a detailed explanation [vipacitaja],

or one without deep knowledge . is
also, Subhuti, should be understood by a bodhisattva-mahasattva as discord
that is a deed of Mara. Moreover, Subhuti, the dharmabhanaka will not be
lazy, be one with deep knowledge, and be desirous of giving, desirous

of reciting this Prajaparamita, but a student will leave for another place, or not be
one who can understand something from a brief statement, or not be one
who can understand from a detailed explanation, or one without deep knowledge. is also, Subhuti, should be understood by a bodhisattva-mahasattva
as discord that is a deed of Mara. Moreover, Subhuti, the dharmabhanaka will
robes,
be one who is intent on material things, intent on prot, honor, and
but a student will be one with few desires, content, and solitary, or will not
be desirous of giving wealth [artha Tib. nor] . is also, Subhuti, should
be understood by a bodhisattva-mahasattva as a deed of Mara. Moreover,
Subhuti, a student will have faith, be desirous of hearing this Prajaparamita,
desirous of understanding the meaning, and willing to give up wealth, but the
dharmabhanaka will not have faith, be one of few desires, or not be desirous
of speaking. rom this also, Subhuti, discord that is a deed of Mara is to be
understood. Moreover, Subhuti, a student will have faith, be desirous of hearing, and desirous of understanding the meaning, but because of conditions
obstructing the dharma these sutras will not accrue to or fall to the lot of the
dharmabhanaka. rom this, also, Subhuti, a student will have an aversion to
a dharma-speaker
[dharmabhanin] who has not acquired them . is also,
Subhuti, is to be understood by a bodhisattva-mahasattva as a deed of Mara.
Moreover, Subhuti, those who are dharmabhanaka monks will be pleased by
solitude but those who are students will be intent

on the assembly. ose
dharmabhanakas will say, will give this Prajaparamita to those who will follow me, butwill not give it to those who will not follow me. us those sons
Wogihara
,
/Sher phyin, brGyad stong, Ka,
ab, my trans. e
translation of this and the following passage is of the Sanskrit text informed in places by the
Tibetan translation. f. onze
a,
.
and daughters of good family will follow that dharmabhanaka from desire,
dedication, and respect for the dharma [in order to acquire the Prajaparamita], but he will never give them a chance [to learn it]. And that dharmabhanaka will be one who desires some material things [amisakicitkabhilasin] but
they
will be unwilling to give. And wherever he goes will be poor, without
prosperity, and he will have danger of losing his life. And those students will
hear from others, at place is poor and without prosperity and in that place
there could be a danger of losing ones life. And that dharmabhanaka will say
to those sons of good family, n this place, son of good family, there is the
danger of poverty. f you come, do not be regretful later, having entered the
danger of poverty. n this way they will be rejected by that dharmabhanaka
with a subtle means [upaya]. And, with a daunted look, they will think, ese
are signs of rejection, these are not signs of a desire to give. inking, e
does not want to give [the Prajaparamita] they will not follow him . is
also, Subhuti, is to be understood by a bodhisattva-mahasattva as a deed of
Mara . Moreover, Subhuti, a dharmabhanaka will be one who is intent on
friendly families and families that give him alms. ecause of being intent on
those friendly families and families that give him alms, he will think that those
[families] should be seen and visited constantly. ecause of that constant seeing, and because he has much to do, he will reject [his] students, [saying],
Right now have [a family] that need to see, right now have [a family]
need to visit. is also, Subhuti, is to be understood by a bodhisattvamahasattva as a deed of Mara.
n these two passages we again see what seems to be an attempt to provide

an explanation for actual diculties that arose in dharmabhanakas circles.
e rst passage states that problems can arise because a dharmabh

anaka
a
or one of his students is too lazy or busy to teach or study, because
dharmabhanaka or his student moves away, because a dharmabhanaka or
ignorant or lacks aptitude, or because a dharmabhanaka
does
his student is
not know or possess the sutras that his student wishes to study. t states
that sometimes dharmabhanakas will be unwilling to give their sutras away
dharmabhanakas will sometimes be intent
and we again see the idea that
on the acquisition of material gain and honor.

Particularly interesting is
the passages depiction of a situation in which a student is willing to oer
wealth to a dharmabhanaka, but in which the dharmabhanaka is unwilling
desires. n this case the fault is clearly
to teach because he has few

depicted as
being with the dharmabhanaka, the idea apparently being that if a student
is willing to make an appropriate

oering a dharmabhanaka should be
Wogihara
,
/Sher phyin, brGyad stong, Ka,
f. onze
a,
and Kimura
, V .
b, my trans.
willing to teach. e second passage continues in the same vein and depicts
dharmabhanakas as promising to teach sutras to their followers, but then
doing so, and as desiring worldly things that their followers
never actually
are unwilling to give. Like the rst passage, this strongly suggests that
dharmabhanakas often did not part with their sutras easily and that they
gifts or payment for them. e passage also suggests that
often expected
sometimes dharmabhanakas would refuse to accept students as a skillful
testing their resolve. Overall, these passages yield
means, perhaps a way of
a picture of dharmabhanakas as people who presented themselves as exalted
religious gures, sought to attract patrons and followers, commonly lived
an itinerant lifestyle, often sought fame and wealth, and typically required
gifts, payment, and service from their students.
Other evidence on the role of dharmabhanakas comes from outside
of the corpus of Mahayana sutra literature. irst,

Nagarjuna mentions
dharmabhanakas in two separate passages in the Ratnaval
You should furnish a true dharmabhanaka [chos smra] with worship, prot,
and honor.
You should do things to please him and serve him respectfully with six dharmas.
You should honor the true dharma and the dharmabhanaka [chos smra] most
highly
And listen to the dharma respectfully and also make gifts of the dharma.
n both of these passages Nagarjuna advocates essentially the same sort of

devotion to dharmabhanakas as Mahayana sutras themselves. f we presume
that he was not himself a dharmabhanaka, these passages constitute signif
icant corroborating evidence for the importance
of service and devotion to
dharmabhanakas in pre-upta period Mahayana.6
Other possible
evidence comes from the writings of the hinese pilgrims
a-hsien and -ching. a-hsien, who traveled to ndia in the late fourth and
early fth centuries, describing the city of Pataliputra, writes
ahn
, , , my trans. What the six dharmas are is not clear. ey could be
objects of the senses or perhaps six practices, e.g., not drinking alcohol, having a good
occupation, listed earlier in the text (ahn
, ).
6) N
agarjuna never identies himself as a dharmabhanaka and, so far as is known, is not
suggestion that Mahayanasa stra
identied as a dharmabhanaka by any other author. Nances
authors were dharmabhanakas

(
,
) seems unlikely.
n this city there had resided a great rahman, named Rdha-smi, a professor of the mahyna, of clear discernment and much wisdom, who understood
everything, living by himself in spotless purity. e king of the country honoured and reverenced him, and served him as his teacher. f he went to inquire
for and greet him, the king did not presume to sit down alongside of him and
if, in his love and reverence, he took hold of his hand, as soon as he let it go,
the rahman made haste to pour water on it and wash it. e might be more
than fty years old, and all the kingdom looked up to him. y means of this
one man, the Law of uddha was widely made known, and the followers of
other doctrines did not nd it in their power to persecute the body of monks
in any way.
While it is not clear that this particular teacher was a dharmabhanaka, this
is suggested by the fact that a-hsien describes him as being aliated

with
the Mahayana and as spreading the dharma widely. ough his being a
brahman apparently had something to do with it, a-hsien depicts him as
a person whom even the king treated with utmost solicitude and devotion.
-ching, who visited ndia in the late seventh century, paints a similar
picture of a monk who lived in a monastery in Tamralipti in modern West
engal
At that time there was a hikshu named (Rhula-mitra) in that monastery.
e was then about thirty years old his conduct was very excellent and his
fame was exceedingly great. very day he read over the Ratnakta-stra [i.e.,
the Kasyapaparivarta], which contains
verses. e was not only versed in
the three collections of the scriptures, but also thoroughly conversant with the
secular literature on the four sciences. e was honoured as the head of the
priests in the eastern districts of ndia .
e assembly assigned to venerable priests, if very learned, and also to those
who thoroughly studied one of the three collections, some of the best rooms
(of the monastery) and servants. When such men gave daily lectures, they were
freed from the business imposed on the monastics. When they went out, they
could ride in sedan-chairs, but not on horseback. (Takakusu
, )
Although -ching does not explicitly identify *Rahulamitra as a dharmabhanaka, the fact that he describes him as reading, and perhaps lecturing
on, the Kasyapaparivarta suggests that he may have been. ough it is
unclear how much continuity they had with the early dharmabhanaka
Legge
, . or a discussion and retranslation of this passage, see eeg
,
. eeg reconstructs the preachers name as Raivatasvamin.
tradition, we know that at least some people referred to themselves as

dharmabhanakas at least roughly during -chings time from the colophons
of two ilgit manuscripts, one of which identies its copyist as the dharmabhanaka Narendradatta and the other of which identies two of its donors
as dharmabh
anakas the great dharmabhanaka a carya monk Kalyana
trata and the great

dharmabhanaka monk hramedramati
(von inber
, , ). Two undated but apparently fairly late rahm inscriptions from the same area similarly make reference to three dharma ura, Pala, and unasena who stayed (vicar) there.
bhanakas named S
the treatment typically accorded

n either case, the way -ching describes
to monks like *Rahulamitra suggests that prominent Mahayana preachers
were treated much as Mahayana sutras recommend as late as the seventh
century.
e signicance of the material discussed here for our understanding of
ndian Mahayana will undoubtedly take some time to determine. t is perhaps possible to say immediately that dharmabhanakas are mentioned so
signicance by these
frequently in Mahayana sutras, and assigned so much
texts, that it will not be possible for any future theory of Mahayana to be
credible if it does grant them a signicant place. Since the beginning of
the study of ndian Mahayana, scholars have persistently tended to imagine early Mahayana as a group or groups that split o from the main body
of ancient uddhists. Attempts to determine which uddhists split o and
why they did so have proceeded primarily on a priori grounds. ssentializing the Mahayana as a movement centered on the bodhisattva ideal, and
projecting this imputed essence onto the movements origin, most scholars have imagined the rejection of the arhat ideal as the Mahayanas initial
Tsukamoto
, ,
cf. von inber
, , and emmann and
Knig
, . e word dharmabhanaka occurs twice in one of the inscriptions and
in the rst occurrence is spelled dharmavanaka.

Ronald avidson also points out that the
Dharansamgraha was compiled in hang-an in
by the ndian monk Atikuta,
who is identied
as a dharmabhanaka in the texts introduction (personal communica
tion). ust as this paper was entering the press, Pter-niel Sznt noticed a late eleventhcentury Astasahasrika manuscript colophon in which the scribe identies himself as the
anaka Ananda
dharmabh
dwelling at the glorious Nalanda (
and personal communication). is is currently the latest known, datable, mainland reference to a historical person
identied as a dharmabhanaka, though it is again dubious that this represents a continuous
tradition from early Mahayana. Perhaps additional study of Pala manuscript colophons will
turn up additional examples. Sznt also points out that the term occurs in at least two late
tantric texts.
)
impulse. e central question of early Mahayana thus became Which part

of the uddhist community rejected the arhat ideal and why Without citing any evidence, ean Przyluski proposed that lay people were responsible
and that they rejected the arhat ideal because they saw it as selsh, isolationist, and nihilistic (e.g.,
,
), a theory that became dominant
in Western uddhist studies for more than fty years. More recently, several Western scholars have argued that the main agents of early Mahayana
were forest dwellers or ascetics who reacted against the corrupt monastic
establishment, or looked down on the pursuit of arhatship and strenuously
pursued uddhahood as a higher religious goal. Only a small minority of
Mahayana sutras advocate forest dwelling or ascetic practice, however, and
it seems unlikely that they represent an especially early or important part
of the tradition.
f we begin from the actual facts that we have, it may be possible to
solve the problem fairly easily. My own view is that the Mahayana was
at root a textual movement that grew out of preaching circles and developed within, and never really departed from, traditional uddhist institutional structures. Apart from Mahayana sutras themselves, we have virtually no epigraphic, archaeological, or other evidence for the Mahayana
during the rst centuries of its existence. We know that Mahayanists lived
in and travelled between monasteries where non-Mahayanists also lived
and that Mahayana monks and nuns continued to take ordination in the
various nikayas. Mahayana sutras do not advocate or reect an awareness
of any sort of separate Mahayana institution, but often represent themselves as being part of a new textual revelation that the uddha arranged to
begin about ve hundred years after his death. Mahayana sa stra authors
also show no awareness of a distinct Mahayana institution and defend
only the status of Mahayana sutras as buddhavacana when apologizing
for the Mahayana. e practices that Mahayana sutras recommend most
frequently and enthusiastically, almost constantly in many texts, are ones
involving the use of Mahayana sutras themselves listening to them, memorizing them, reciting them, preaching them, copying them, and worshipping them.0
harmabhanakas were the central gures of this movement. ey composed Mahayana sutras and claimed that they had been entrusted to
them by the uddha himself. ey typically presented themselves as exalted
)
0)
or a general discussion of scholarship on early Mahayana, see rewes

or a general discussion of early Mahayana, see rewes
, part .
, part .
bodhisattvas with knowledge and power nearly equal to that of uddhas.

ey attributed great power to their texts and claimed that anyone who
used them could make easy and rapid progress to arhatship, pratyekabuddhahood, or uddhahood. espite their monastic status many dharmabhanakas claimed to be above the restraints of uddhist morality. Some
apparently became wealthy and lived as uddhist libertines. Some
of them
may have done some ascetic practices or publically presented themselves
as ascetics, but this was probably unusual. As Mahayana sutras reiterate again and again, the vast power of these texts makes strenuous training unnecessary. ere does not seem to be any good reason to imagine
that dharmabhanakas spent much time practicing meditation. Samadhis
are mentioned frequently

but more often than not are depicted as accruing to bodhisattvas as a result of other practices, usually textual ones.
harmabhanakas were clearly unwelcome in certain monasteries, and often
rejection and abuse. ey aimed to preach in a dynamic,
had to endure
inspiring manner, publically enacting the role of great bodhisattvas, and
sought to attract believers, followers, and patrons. Some early dharmabhanakas likely acquired royal patronage that helped the movement to spread.
espite
the rejection they endured, they clearly enjoyed signicant success,
witnessed by the hundreds of Mahayana sutras that survive to this day.
What led dharmabhanakas to compose Mahayana sutras is unclear,
they did so as a reaction to anything. e
but it seems unlikely that
most common thing that Mahayana sutras criticize non-Mahayanists for
is rejecting Mahayana sutras. ough some sutras criticize certain people for immoral behavior, this is uncommon, and other Mahayanists are
usually included in the critique, indicating that this was not a Mahayana
vs. non-Mahayana issue. nstead, dharmabhanakas can probably better be
thought of as participating, along with other authors

from roughly the same
period, including avadanists, the authors of texts like the Buddhavamsa and
been
Cariyapitaka, and the authors of many other texts that have surely
lost, in a widespread eort to present a vision of a broader universe that

to them seemed intimated or presupposed by earlier uddhist texts. arly
uddhist texts clearly depicted the uddha as having vast knowledge that
he never imparted to his disciples, but left the broad question of the content
of this knowledge completely open. ey also clearly represented the bodhisattva as a distinct sort of being dedicated to the pursuit of uddhahood,
)
f. echert
and Walters
but presented no teachings for them, leaving the question of their training open as well. ecause, as beings pursuing uddhahood, bodhisattvas
surely needed to know precisely the things that the uddha did not teach
his sravakas, the development of the Mahayana sutraas a genre of literature that presented teachings for bodhisattvasgave dharmabhanakas the
ability to ll both of these gaps simultaneously, along with the ability to
promise the high reward of uddhahood to their listeners. n so doing, it
opened to them a broad new road for the extension of uddhist thought
and practice and an opportunity to create what they could fairly claim were
the most powerful texts in the universe.
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Indo-Iranian Journal

Dharmabhanakas in Early Mahayana*

Koninklijke rill NV, Leiden,

harmabhanakas, or dharma preachers, are gures that Mahayana sutras

Koninklijke rill NV, Leiden,

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

monks called bhanakas as being responsible for the transmission

Anguttara Nikaya, and jataka stories, though sometimes other sorts of

(Allon and Salomon

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

and Majjhimabhanakas each maintained distinct views on the contents and

inscripAnguttarabhanaka, and a jatakabhanaka. On the mainland,

Rhys avids, arpenter, and Stede

sayutakabanaka, eka-utirikabanaka, and jatakabana[ka].

and nn. , . would like to

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

Shizutani reports that the hinese translations of the harmaguptaka

branch of the Sri Lankan tradition established in the Andhra

gures are mentioned

Tsukamotos transcription reads samyutakabhanakanam pusakavanavasanamahath[e]ra

nam at[e]vasika . On the establishment

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

expand their activities into textual interpretation and discussion, an idea

edition of the Saddharmapundarka, sixty-one

of the Dasabhumika, seven in utts edition of the Samadhiraja, fty in

As often happens in scholarship, both of these theories became established as a result

developed his idea on the eect of writing to account for it.

gave these as only

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

of the Lalitavistara, ve in Vaidyas edition of the Karandavyuha, nine in Yamadas

kaukrtyavinodana, four and in the Suramgamasamadhi, four. Although

are often depicted preaching,

term is consistently used to refer to an actual human occupation.

but instead of calling him a dharmabhanaka refers to him four times as

or another term (see below, note ). Mark Allon

, /Woodward and are

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

foremost dharmakathika. Later, the uddha tells the god Sakra

, /Woodward and are

, ), an identication that the Astasahasrika repeats twice (Wogihara

that the texts authors were aware of the

Astasahasrikas passage in the

, V ) and onzes edition of what he identies as part of the Astadasasahasrika (onze

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

to be used as a specic term for Mahayana preachers (cf. Shizutani

it phonetically (mDo sde,

what was originally dharmavadin (

passages similarity to the Ratnarasi and vinaya passages mentioned

, ), and once in the

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

e large amount of material on dharmabhanakas in Mahayana sutras

memorized sutras and transmitted them orally to students

the future when dharmabhanakas

dancing, singing, music, and seeing shows. e dhamma-reciter-song of unrestrained

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

A wide range of additional material depicts dharmabhanakas as public

fourteenth, and fteenth, wherever a son or daughter of good family who is

rika, the uddha tells Sakra

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

not speak denigratingly of them.

robe [mahapramana Tib. sham thabs che tshad],

of nayutas of illustrations [drstanta].

David Drewes / Indo-Iranian Journal

What is perhaps most interesting about this passage is its representation of