PRATYUTPANNASAM?DHI-S?TRA

Pratyutpannasam?dhi-s?tra, an early Mah?y?na meditation text, was first translated into Chinese by Lokak?ema in 179 c.e. The full Sanskrit title is Pratyutpanna-buddha-sa?mukha-avasthita-sam?dhi-s?tra, which translates as "the scripture of the meditation in which one comes face-to-face with the buddhas of the present," that is, buddhas now inhabiting other worlds. The principal objectives of this encounter are to hear the dharma from the buddha of one's choice and to be reborn with him in his world after death. The text's use of Amit?bha in Sukh?vat? as a paradigm case suggests links with Pure Land Buddhism, but practitioners may seek to encounter and be taught by any buddha of the present. The s?tra thus provides a means and a rationale for continuing scriptural revelation. After purifying themselves, practitioners meditate on the buddha's virtues and visualize his physical person (using the standard list of thirty-two marks and eighty features), while seated facing the appropriate direction (e.g., west for Amit?bha). Doing this continuously for up to seven days and nights, they eventually see the desired vision, either in the waking state or in dreams. Interestingly, the s?tra itself undercuts an excessively literal understanding of the process or undue emotional attachment to its results by deconstructing them in terms of the doctrine of ??nyat? (emptiness), thus representing a merging of various currents of Mah?y?na Buddhist thought and practice.

Evidence for the practice in India is slim, although many sources extol the salvific value of such visions of the buddhas. In East Asia, however, the pratyutpannasam?dhi and its derivatives are well attested elements in the meditative and ritual repertoire of Buddhism.

Bibliography

Harrison, Paul. "Buddh?nusm?ti in the Pratyutpanna-buddhasa?mukh?vasthita-sam?dhi-s?tra." Journal of Indian Philosophy 6 (1978): 35–57.

Harrison, Paul. The Sam?dhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present: An Annotated English Translation of the Tibetan Version of the Pratyutpanna-Buddha-Sa?mukh?vasthita-Sam?dhi-S?tra with Several Appendices Relating to the History of the Text. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1990.

Paul Harrison