Abhisamayālaṃkāra (Ornament for Clear Reali... http://religion.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/ac...

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion

Abhisamayālaṃkāra (Ornament for Clear Realization)  

James B. Apple
Subject: Buddhism, Histories and Regions, Practices, Applications, and Concepts
Online Publication Date: Feb 2018 DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.608

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Summary and Keywords

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The Abhisamayālaṃkāra (Ornament for clear realization) is an instructional

treatise on the Prajñāpāramitā, or Perfect Wisdom, whose authorship is
traditionally attributed to Maitreyanātha (c. 350 CE). As a technical treatise,
the Abhisamayālaṃkāra outlines within its 273 verses the instructions,
practices, paths, and stages of realization to omniscient buddhahood mentioned
in Prajñāpāramitā scriptures. In its abridged description, the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra furnishes a detailed summary of the path that is regarded as
bringing out the “concealed meaning” (sbas don, garbhyārtha) of Prajñāpāramitā.
The Abhisamayālaṃkāra contains eight chapters of subject matter, with a summary
of them as the ninth chapter. The eight subjects (padārtha) of the eight
chapters (adhikāra) correspond to eight clear realizations (abhisamaya) that
represent the knowledges, practices, and result of Prajñāpāramitā. The
Abhisamayālaṃkāra’s eight clear realizations are types of knowledge and
practices for bodhisattvas (“buddhas-in-training”) to achieve buddhahood set
forth within the system of the five paths (lam lnga, *pañcamārga) common to
Indian abhidharma and Yogācāra literature. The first three clear realizations
are types of knowledge that comprise Perfect Wisdom. Total Omniscience, or the
wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā, rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa nyid), is
regarded as the fundamental wisdom and the central concept of Prajñāpāramitā.
Total Omniscience is direct, unmediated knowledge that exactly understands the
manner of reality to its fullest possible extent in all its aspects. Path-
omniscience (mārgajñatā, lam shes nyid) comprises the Buddhist path systems of
śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas mastered by bodhisattvas. Empirical
Omniscience (vastujñāna, gzhi shes) cognizes empirical objects in conditioned
existence that are to be abandoned. It correlates to knowledge that is
comprehended by śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. The path to buddhahood itself and
the detailed means of its application are covered in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra by
the fourth through seventh clear realizations. The fourth chapter is devoted to
the realization of wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārābhisaṃbodha, rnam rdzogs
sbyor ba), a yogic practice that enables a bodhisattva to gain a cognition of
all the aspects of the three types of omniscience. The fifth realization is the
summit of full understanding (mūrdhābhisamaya, rtse sbyor), whereby yogic
practices reach the culmination of cognizing emptiness. The sixth chapter
defines the gradual full understanding (anupūrvābhisamaya, mthar gyis sbyor ba)
of the three forms of omniscience. The seventh abhisamaya clarifies the
“instantaneous realization” (ekakṣaṇābhisamaya) that occurs at the final moment
right before buddhahood. Abhisamayas four through seven are known as “the four
methods of realization” of the three types of knowledge. The eighth
realization, and last subject in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, is the realization of
the dharma body (dharmakāyābhisamaya). In this way, the first three realizations
describe the cognitive attainments of buddhas, the middle four realizations

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discuss the methods that take the cognitive attainments as their object, and
the eighth realization describes the qualities and attainments of the dharma
body, the resultant body of buddhas. The treatise was extensively commented
upon in Indian Buddhism and has been widely studied in Tibetan forms of
Buddhism up to the present day.

Keywords: abhidharma, bodhisattva, Mahayana, Prajñāpāramitā, omniscience, path (mārga),

abhisamaya (clear realization)

James B. Apple
University of Calgary

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