The Development of Pure Land Buddhism in India: A Study of the Bhaisajyaguru-Sutra

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K19970
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0101:Philosophy, art, and related fields
• Research Institution: Bukkyo University
• Principal Investigator: Fukita Takanori 佛教大学, 総合研究所, 特別研究員 (70910751)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 薬師 / 聞名思想 / 浄土思想 / 浄土経典

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As a result of a comparative study of the variants in all known versions of the Vaisajyaguru-sutra, I did my best to clarify the history of the development of this Mahayana Buddhist scripture.
In this context, the notion of “hearing the name” of a buddha is central. This doctrine, which has an essential role in Pure Land Buddhism, was apparently added to the part of the sutra that explains the merits of the Vaisajyaguru Buddha, located between the descriptions of his twelve vows and the prolonging of a lifetime, in the first stage of development of the sutra itself. After that, it was added to the section proclaiming the twelve vows of this buddha.
I also concluded that the author(s) of a later version of the Vaisajyaguru-sutra changed the original sentence "hearing the sutra" to "hearing the Buddha's name" in order to add the doctrine valuing “hearing the name”, and this change happened between the fifth and seventh centuries.

Free Research Field

大乗仏教

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

大乗経典は時代の経過と共に増広されるのが常である。経典は各々が個別の発達を遂げているため、増広の仕方に一貫性を求めることはできないが、本研究では、『薬師経』にかんして、どのような方法で思想が付加されたのか、さらに、それが何世紀頃のことかということを具体的に明らかにした。これにより、大乗経典の中でも、特に浄土経典の発達にかんする一つのモデルケースを他の研究者に提供することができた。また、浄土経典を対象とした研究会を定期的に開催し、その中で若手と老練の研究者の交流をはかり、我が国における浄土経典研究のレベルアップに努めた。