Maitreya Bodhisattva: Ornament of Clear Realisation

Abhisamayālaṅkāra Sanskrit name: Abhisamayālaṅkāra-śāstra, composed by Maitreyanātha. Its full title is Abhisamayālaṅkāra-nāma-prajñāpāramitopadeśa-śāstra (Ornament for Clear Realization: A Teaching on the Perfection of Wisdom). Also known as the Verses on the Ornament for Clear Realization of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. It is a representative work of the Mahāyāna Maitreya school, summarizing the essential points of the 25,000-verse Prajñāpāramitā (equivalent to the Chinese translation of the Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra). The main content describes the three kinds of knowledge and eight subjects with seventy topics, explaining the process from an ordinary being's systematic practice to the attainment of Buddhahood. Written in Sanskrit, it consists of eight chapters with 272 verses. The eight chapters are: 1. Chapter on the Nature of All-Aspect Knowledge: Explains the Buddha's omniscient wisdom through the stages of generating bodhicitta, receiving instruction, determining the supports, basis of practice, objects of focus, aspirations, activities, accumulations, and accomplishment. 2. Chapter on the Nature of Path Knowledge: Explains the basis of path knowledge, the differences between the states of the two vehicles (śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha), bodhisattvas and Buddhas, the paths of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and the bodhisattvas' paths of seeing and meditation. 3. Chapter on the Nature of All-Knowledge: Demonstrates the conceptualization of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, the proximity and distance of the Mother of Buddhas (Prajñāpāramitā), the objects to be abandoned and their antidotes, the bodhisattva's preliminary practices, and the path of seeing to be observed. 4. Chapter on Complete Understanding of All Aspects: Explains the arising of virtuous roots that accord with liberation, the characteristics of supreme preliminary practices, the process of the four aids to penetration, showing how to comprehend all aspects and paths. 5. Chapter on Summit Clear Realization: Describes the characteristics, progress, and certainty of the four roots of virtue, mental stability, conceptual and non-conceptual understanding, objects to be abandoned and their antidotes, and uninterrupted samādhi. 6. Chapter on Gradual Clear Realization: Explains the gradual realization of thirteen natures including the six perfections, six recollections, and the realization of the naturelessness of all phenomena. 7. Chapter on Instantaneous Clear Realization: Demonstrates the dharmas realized in a single moment through four distinctive characteristics of the non-difference of all phenomena from the uncontaminated. 8. Chapter on Dharmakāya: Distinguishes between the dharmakāya, svabhāvikakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. Among these eight chapters, the first three enable comprehensive knowledge of all aspects, the next four explain the preliminary practices for mastering this knowledge, and the final chapter explains how these practices lead to Buddhahood. The title "Abhisamaya" means clear realization, referring to the process of attaining enlightenment, synonymous with "path" (mārga). Regarding the origin of this treatise, according to Haribhadra's commentary on the 8,000-verse Prajñāpāramitā, since the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra contains many repetitions and its profound meaning is difficult to discern, Maitreya composed this treatise to help Asaṅga understand the sūtra. The text's Sanskrit title states it was "composed by Noble Maitreya," hence it is attributed to Maitreya. This treatise has been translated and annotated by Master Fazun. This text has been highly regarded in both India and Tibet since ancient times. There are many commentaries based on it explaining the 25,000-verse and 8,000-verse Prajñāpāramitā, with twenty-one versions collected in the Tibetan Tengyur canon. [References: Indian Philosophy Research Vol. 1, Collected Works of Ogiwara Unrai, Catalog of the Tohoku Imperial University Tibetan Canon, C. Bendall: Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscript in the University Library Cambridge; E. Obermiller: History of Buddhism by Bu-ston]