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The Previous Buddhist Thinking and the works of Asanga CXXV
activities (gamanam) till the acquisition of the last Kaya leading to the privileged families, and in special circumstances.1 This 'activity'not only includes the kusala-pravṛttis, but also presupposes the good deeds responsible for the purification of the mental faculty, acquisition of the visista indriya through vipaka which also pre-supposes in its turn, the kusala dharmas, which depend on it."
This nature of avatara has been elucidated in terms of gotra, avatara and culmination (paripāka or vipāka) of the (previous) good deeds and it has been stated that the pudgala having śraddha in the teachings of the purvabuddhas, practises the sila-samādāna, śruti-grahaṇa, tyāgavardhana and darśanābhyāsa-all this is called avatāra.R
In the Bodhi., this avatara has been defined as following and penetrating upon the instructions of the Venerable Master (Sikṣāpadasamādānaṁ) with regard to duscarita-viveka and kama-viveka.1
Thus, in Asanga's view-point avatara represents the Buddhist concept of the entrance in the path of meditation
1.
Cp. MVB, 141...... Avatārāvasthā utpaditābodhicittasya, ibid., p. 127: Avatarotra pratyekam satyāsatyalaksaṇāvabodhaḥ]; Gotramevavat ārśca tatha naiṣkramyameva cal
Bhumayastisra etā hi bhūmiḥ śrāvakasaṁ jñitā|| sank sepena ima eva śrāvabhūmiḥ kathyate
our reconstruction of the Gotrabhūmi, JGJRI, XXIV. 132. Sanskrit reconstruction of the Avatārabhūmi, para 5: ...... Dānabalotpadanena utterottrena yasmin sthite
parinirvanti, samyaktvena nişkramyamāṇatvāt caramasyantyasya kayasya prāptiparyantam visiṣṭotpatti yad gamanam tadevävtāra ityucyate. (See App. I)
Ibid., paras 2-4.
Ibid., para 6.
2.
3.
4. Tatrāvatāraḥ katamaḥ/
Śraddhapratilambhamadhipatimkṛtvā agarikasya duścarita vivekašik ṣāpadasamādānaṁ/ anāgārikāṁ va pravrajataḥ kāmavivekasikṣāpadasamādānam, Bodhi., p. 57; See, also pp. 78-79.
