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Sacred Texts: Buddhism

A Buddhist Bible: The Lankavatara Sutra: Chapter XI. Bodhisattvahood and Its Stages

Dwight GoddardTaoism and ZenZen Buddhism

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This is a doctrinal Buddhist text, specifically a passage from the *Lankavatara Sutra*, a Mahayana scripture framed as a dialogue between the Buddha (the Blessed One) and the bodhisattva Mahamati. The passage systematically describes the ten stages (*bhumis*) of the Bodhisattva path, from the initial Stage of Joy through the tenth stage of Dharma-cloud, culminating in Tathagatahood (Buddhahood). Its central argument is that Bodhisattvas differ from ordinary disciples and Arhats because, sustained by the Buddhas' power, they resist the temptation to enter individual Nirvana and instead remain committed to liberating all beings — a defining feature of Mahayana soteriology. A notably distinctive claim is the "turning-about" (*paravritti*) at the eighth stage, described as a deep transformation of consciousness from ego-centered discrimination to universal compassion, after which habit-energy, mental discrimination, and the illusion of an external world permanently cease. The text also advances a strongly idealist metaphysics, emphasizing the "Tathagata-womb" (Buddha-nature) and Universal Mind as the ground of reality, while insisting this is not philosophical abstraction but direct experiential knowledge. Readers interested in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, the bodhisattva ideal, or classical accounts of enlightenment stages will find this dense, technically precise, and theologically rich.

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