Dissertation Project Navpreet Singh

The Avalokita-sūtra Textual Family: Formation, Transmission and Historical Import

Subject: Indian and Buddhist Studies

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Vincent Tournier (LMU), Prof. Dr. Vincent Eltschinger (EPHE, Paris)

This doctoral project examines the Avalokita-sūtra textual family which is primarily concerned with the Buddha’s Awakening or bodhi. It appears in two versions in the Mahāvastu (c. 1st–4th/5th centuries CE), which is an integral part of the Monastic Discipline (Vinaya) of the important monastic order (nikāya) of the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravādin. These iterations are generally referred to as the first Avalokita-sūtra (As-I) and the second Avalokita-sūtra (As-II).
The As-I is believed to be an older version while the As-II to be a later one. Although both sūtras center on the Buddha’s defeat of Māra, they diverge in both structure and doctrinal focus. The As-I is a relatively self-contained account emphasizing the Buddha’s spiritual victory and the moment of Awakening. The As-II, while preserving this theme, adds substantial material that reflects the growing influence from the movement led by Bodhisattvas, commonly called Mahāyāna. It comprises a biographical narrative centred on the Buddha’s Awakening, but it also concludes with a lengthy devotional section on the merit of stūpa worship. In particular, it is marked by its engagement with Mahāyāna soteriology. For instance, it is the only text from Mahāvastu whose narrative features a great assembly of bodhisattvas alongside explicit references to bodhicitta, śūnyatā, and the pair of terms bodhisattva mahāsattva, all of which are hallmarks of Mahāyāna discourses. Their late integration into the Mahāvastu reflects a shift in religious emphasis toward devotional and bodhisattva-oriented concerns.
Scholars have identified at least two more versions of the As-II, namely the Avalokana-sūtra (Sanskrit Avlok), quoted to some extent in Śāntideva’s major scriptural compendium called Śikṣāsamuccaya (Śikṣā), and the Tibetan Avalokana-mahāyāna-sūtra (Tibetan Avlok). In addition, the As-II also shares an intertextual relationship with an independent work, the Caityapradakṣiṇagāthā (Cpg).
From a text-critical point of view, this textual family lacks a satisfactory edition. Existing editions of the Avalokita-sūtra rely on a single manuscript lineage, without systematic collation of variants or integration of Tibetan, Chinese, and manuscript evidence from the North-west of India. Newly available witnesses now make a comprehensive reassessment possible. From a text-historical point of view, this text is an excellent representative of a textual continuum that considerably evolved over time. The recensional and linguistic diversity need to be better studied to understand the development of this text. The fluid boundaries between texts and the borrowing and lending of material between them also deserves attention.
Furthermore, the late inclusion of the As-II within the canonical Mahāvastu raises the issue of canonization of discourses promoting the bodhisattva ideal. In particular, I will endeavour to examine which were the narrative and discursive means used to incorporate this text as an “appendix” (parivāra) of a canonical work. In doing so, the As-II was granted the state of buddhavacana (“the word of the Buddha”), in a context marked by heated debates about the authenticity of discourses that might promote the bodhisattva path. This part of my study will complement previous work by Vincent Tournier, on the integration of the Daśabhūmika, likewise promoting the Bodhisattva ideal, into the fabric of Mahāvastu.
The study of the Avalokita-sūtra has for a long time been neglected. This dissertation will be the first step toward its complete edition, translation and study of the whole textual family. This dissertation is especially relevant for the history of Buddhism, since a close study of the Avalokita-sūtra is expected to shed important light on the stūpa cult, the conception and representation of the Buddha’s Awakening, the evolution of the bodhisattva ideal, the issues of canonization, and much more that awaits to be yet understood from this text.