Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra

by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön | 2001 | 941,039 words

This page describes “purely subjective result of this wish” as written by Nagarjuna in his Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra (lit. “the treatise on the great virtue of wisdom”) in the 2nd century. This book, written in five volumes, represents an encyclopedia on Buddhism as well as a commentary on the Pancavimsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita.

II. Purely subjective result of this wish

Question. – Since reality does not come up to his expectation, why does the bodhisattva formulate the wish (praṇidhāṇa)?

Answer. – So that his own mind may progress in purity (viśuddhi). He is like the yogin in the concentration of loving-kindness (maitrīsamādhi) who, unable to do anything about beings in suffering, only formulates the wish so that his own mind may progress in purity.[1]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The ascetic who, in the course of the meditation on loving-kindness, so that “all beings may be happy”, formulates a purely platonic vow; this vow is of profit only to himself; beings gain no advantage from it (cf. p. 1240F, 1259F).

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