The Progress in Meditation

The title, THE PROGRESS IN MEDITATION: THE THREE BHA?VANA?KRAMAS OF KAMALA?I?LA refers to the Sanskrit tile BHA?VANA?KRAMA composed in Tibet between the years 792-794 CE on the occasion of the the so-called bSam Yas debate or the Council of Lhasa which featured the historic encounter between the Indian Buddhist scholar Kamala?ila and the Chinese Chan monk Hva Shang Maha?ya?na. The completed translation of the three Bha?vana?kramas of Kamala?i?la represents for me the grateful fulfillment of a task originally undertaken over 40 years ago when I first encountered Prof. Giuseppe Tucci's editions of the trilogy. In my peregrinations and vicissitudes over these years, I have actually lost three earlier translations but so committed have I been to getting a complete translation done that I began anew over three years ago with a determined effort to get the task done in a reasonable time-frame. Thanks to my experience with the earlier (lost) completed translations, my latest attempt was much obviated. I am pleased to present to interested readers these most celebrated treatises on Buddhist meditation according to the standpoint of the hybrid Yoga?ca?ra-Svatantrika Ma?dhyamaka school represented by ?a?ntarak?ita and Kamala?i?la. My Introduction does not cover all important topics in the trilogy but focuses primarily on some topics of polemical significance such as gradual versus instantaneous enlightenment (kramika vs. yugapat bodhi) 'discriminating wisdom and skillful-means' (prajñopa?ya), the importance of the balanced practice of tranquility and insight (?amatha-vipa?yana?-yuganaddha) and the proper role of mindfulness and attention (sm?ti-manasika?ra) in the practice of sama?dhi (sama?dhi-bha?vana?). The headings in square brackets are not part of the original texts (Sanskrit or Tibetan) but were deemed necessary to delineate the various topics. The Bha?vana?krama-s of Kamala?il?a are of particularly foundational importance in the history of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and more generally to Buddhist soteriology in the matter of the sudden-gradualist controversy concerning enlightenment (bodhi), an issue which figures greatly in some Maha?ya?na schools, both exoteric (Su?tra-based) and esoteric (Tantra-based). From a modernist perspective, the trilogy may be characterized as partly religious and partly philosophical: it has the pervasive tone of Buddhist piety in its extolment of the bodhisattva-practice involving the Six (or Ten) Perfections (pa?ramita?) and Ten Stages (bhu?mi) as found in the Maha?ya?na Discourses (Su?tras) and Expository Treatises (?a?stras), amply quoted in the trilogy, but its rigorous arguments and polemics are entirely consistent with the author's commentary (Pañjika?) to his teacher ?a?ntarak?ita's Compendium of Philosophical Tenets (Tattvasa?graha). The logical arguments of the Bha?vana?kramas (BKs) are also entirely consistent with those found in his Madhyamaka?loka. The Bha?vana?krama-s can be classed with the Bodhisattvabhu?mi, Bodhicittopa?da-Su?tra?a?stra and the Bodhicarya?vata?ra. In an even wider comparison, it is comparable in part to the Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga in exposition of the theme of the integration of tranquility and insight (?amatha-vipa?yana-yuganaddha) and the Tian Ta'i patriarch Chi-I's monumental The Great Calming and Contemplation (Mo ho chih kuan), devoted entirely to the subject of ?amatha-vipa?yana?. Translated from the original Sanskrit with footnotes and appendices of the Sanskrit texts in Devanagari and Roman, this present translation is only the second complete translation from Sanskrit. The other pioneering translation by Paramananda Sharma (Aditya Prakashan, Delhi 1997, 2004)) from the Sanskrit is entirely welcome but the scholarship in this area requires the more complete treatment that i have given to this trilogy.