Reconsidering the Mahāsudarśana-sūtra: The Other World, Brahmā, and the Four apramāṇas

Abstract

The Mahāsudarśana-sūtra （Mahāsudassana-suttanta, DN. 17） is regarded as an important narrative of early Buddhist literature, particularly because it describes the city of Kuśāvatī, the capital of King Mahāsudarśana, which has distinct parallels with the description of Amitābha’s Pure Land in the Sūkhāvatīvyūha. It seems, however, that scholars have not paid sufficient attention to the fact that the narrative is framed within the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, and that the Buddha narrates the magnificent landscape of the city of Kuśāvatī as the visualized expression of the bliss of attaining parinirvāṇa. In Kuśāvatī, king Mahāsudarśana practices the Four Infinite Minds （apramāṇa）. As a result, he abandons his own life-force （āyus） and is reborn in the heaven of Brahmā, since the four apramāṇas are the meditation that can purify one’s past karmas and are also known as the four brahmavihāras, the term which means the ultimate goal or the state of salvation in Indian religious tradition. Thus, comparative studies of the Mahāsudarśana narrative and the Sukhāvatīvyūha should not be limited to surface meaning; rather it is necessary to examine contextual meaning as well.