Statement or Supramundanity? Making Sense of Śūraṃgama-Samādhi and Its Related Narratives

Bibliographic Data

ID16901705
AuthorsCan Li (0000-0001-8438-1549, Beijing Foreign Studies University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume14
Issue8
Pages974
Publication date2023-07-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14080974
OpenAlexW4385341760
LanguageEN
References cited21

The aim of this paper is to provide a new interpretation for the term Śūraṃgama-samādhi, an important concept in the Mahāyāna literature, by proposing new exegeses of its primary and derivative meanings as they appear in the Śūraṃgamasamādhi-sūtra (hereafter SSS). While many have defined samādhi as a form of meditative practice, a state of mind, or a collection of terms as argued by Andrew Skilton, the concept samādhi in the SSS can be understood as a locus of gathering or convergence in the metaphorical sense. In SSS, this metaphorical location refers to the supramundane state of those buddhas and tenth-stage bodhisattvas, wherein all his supernatural powers and manifestations converge. Lamotte’s interpretation of Śūraṃgama as “marche héroïque/heroic progress”, however, only provides a single understanding of this polysemous concept. This article will offer a more nuanced understanding and interpretation of this compound term. Regarding the derivative meanings of the term, the present paper argues that the traditional interpretation of the term Śūraṃgama-samādhi (in the derivative meaning) as self-referential to the sūtra itself (Śūraṃgama-samādhi = SSS) does not align with the meaning of the term as it appears in the SSS. The exclusion of “self-reference” in our interpretation of the derivative meaning of the term therefore avoids the paradox of an “infinite loop of self-reference” as presented by past studies on the subject

Epistemology · Linguistics · Narrative · Physics · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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