Ekayana

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Ekayana ( Skt. Eka-yana , Chinese  一乘 , Pinyin Yisheng , W.-G. i-sheng ; ed. 일승, il seung ; Jap. 一乘 , ichi jō ; viet. Nhất Thừa; Tib. : Theg pa gcig pa ; German: "the one vehicle") is seen in some schools of Mahayana - Buddhism as the highest or actual vehicle - also called Buddha-yāna .

The remaining currents or teaching structures (vehicles; e.g. Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna or the Triyāna from various teachings for Śrāvakas, Pratyeka Buddhas and Bodhisattvas) do not proclaim any ultimate truth according to this view. The teachings of the other vehicles are therefore only “skilful means” ( Upaya ) that are supposed to lead to liberation and, as conventional truths, therefore only have relative validity. The differences between the individual Buddhist vehicles result from the fact that they are intended for people with different starting conditions. Although there are many methods and paths, ultimately there is only one Buddha path - "the one vehicle".

Schools and Traditions

Examples of mentions of Ekayana can be found in almost all major Mahayana scriptures, including the Srimala Sutra , Lankavatara Sutra , Avatamsaka Sutra, and Lotos Sutra . The ideas presented therein and the related comments by later authors form a teaching basis for the Hua-yen or Kegon school and the Tiantai or Tendai school .

In contrast to the Tendai school, the Hosso school claimed that the Hinayana and other vehicles could not simply be subsumed under the Ekayana.

The Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh , who teaches in the West, sees the various Buddhist traditions in the light of the Ekayana: The Buddha, using means skillfully, says, here is one way, there is another, and this is a third way - people can each other choose one - but in reality there is only one way (ekayana). [..] Nowadays people in the west practice Theravada, Zen, Pure Land, Vajrayana and many other Buddhist traditions, and we know that they all follow the true path of the Buddha. Peace and reconciliation among practitioners have become possible through the Lotus Sutra.

The Ekayana in Buddhist Literature

The Lankavatara Sutra says, “As long as there is a mind making mental effort, there is no peak in relation to vehicles; but if there has been a change in mind, then there is no vehicle and no one to use it. In fact there is no listing of vehicles and that is why I am talking about a vehicle; but for the purpose of transporting the ignorant, I am talking about the variety of vehicles "

In the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra, "One Vehicle" is explained using the metaphor of the world as a burning house . The father (Buddha) lures his children, absorbed in the game, out of the burning house by telling them that he has drawn different wagons outside, each with goats, deer or large oxen (these represent the various vehicles) and for them to play with specially prepared. The children run out of the house and their lives are saved. After leaving the house, the children ask for the three cars they had promised. The father then gives each of them a magnificently decorated, large and white ox wagon (which stands for the Ekayana).

Ekayana is not specifically mentioned in the Avatamsaka Sutra. However, the concept of interpenetration described in the sutra provided an important basis for the view of Ekayana in the Hua Yen school.

Word origin and delimitation

The term Ekayana originally comes from Vedic times and already means a “spiritual journey” in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad .

In the Pali Canon (Satipatthana Sutta) a similar term - ekāyana - is used, which is typically translated as "direct way" or "only way". Here this term is used to describe different meditation techniques ( mindfulness meditation ). Ekāyana is composed of the words ekā (one, one) and ayana (walking, leading), while ekayāna (the one vehicle) is composed of the words eka and yāna.

literature

  • Kotatsu, Fujita; Hurvitz, Leon (1975). "One Vehicle or Three". Journal of Indian Philosophy 3 (1/2): 79-166
  • Nattier, Jan (2007). One Vehicle in the Chinese Agamas ( Memento of July 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University 10, 181-200

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gregor Paul : Philosophy in Japan. From the beginning to the Heian period. Iudicium, Munich 1993, p. 106
  2. ↑ Thich Nhat Hanh: Touching love from the depth of understanding. Theseus, ISBN 3-89620-082-8 , page 111
  3. ↑ Lankavatara Sutra: Creating the Immaculate Truth. OW Barth, ISBN 3-502-65385-2 , page 142, verse 204-205
  4. ↑ Lotus Sutra, Chapter 3 ( Memento of October 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ ekāyano maggo leading to one goal, a direct way: Eka and Ayana , The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary