The Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Commentaries on the Prajñāpāramitā Literature

Abstract

This study considers the Tathāgatagarbha theory described in the commentaries on the Prajñāpāramitā literature written during the later periods of Indian Buddhism. In particular, I focus on words mentioned in the Ārya-śatasāhasrikā-pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā­ṣṭādaśasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā-bṛhaṭṭīkā, the Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-bṛhaṭṭīkā （both written by the 9th century）, and the Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī-nāma-vyākhyā （the 12th century）. These three commentaries, unlike the eight abhisamaya systems described in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, are known as annotations of the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras by three gateways and eleven discourses, but prior study results are a few, and their ideological features are not obvious.

The Abhisamayālaṃkāra has no mention of tathāgatagarbha, and the word itself does not appear in the Abhisamayālāṃkārālokāprajñāpāramitā-vyākhyā of Haribhadra （around 9th century）, which explains the Abhisamayālaṃkāra in association with the Abhisamayā­lāṃkārālokāprajñāpāramitā-vyākhyā. However, the word tathāgatagarbha appears nine times in the Ārya-śatasāhasrikā-pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāṣṭādaśasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-bṛhaṭṭīkā that I deal with, and it is mentioned twice each in the Śatasāhasrikāpra­jñāpāramitā-bṛhaṭṭīkā and Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī-nāma-vyākhyā. In this paper, I only provide the original texts and tentative translations of references to the word tathāgata­garbha in the Ārya-śatasāhasrikā-pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāṣṭādaśasāhasrikā-prajñā­pāramitā-bṛhaṭṭīkā. I would like to discuss other portions on another occasion.