PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

220Pacific World[34.12] Hence, from these statements [the following should beunderstood]: this upåsaka, who, endowed with [the qualitiessignified by] these four syllables, has abandoned evil actions andpossesses an abundance of the requisite accumulation of merit, 63performs good deeds even in sleep, as if he were awake, becauseof his determination to practice consistently.Seeing everything as a reflection,the world [becomes] pure and clear.Like a person engaged in magic,he should always act [with a view to the]baselessness [of all phenomena].[34.18] He carefully reflects that from this point, there is no regression.Thus, day and night, continually engaged in acquiring therequisite of merit, he should remain until he has reached the seatof awakening, for the sake of the welfare of living beings.The classic definition of upåsaka is found at Açguttaranikåya VIII. 25.There, a lay follower asks the Buddha to explain the actions and virtues thatconstitute an upåsaka. The answer given by the Buddha is not fundamentallydifferent from that provided by Advayavajra throughout theKud®≈†inirghåtana: an upåsaka is one who takes refuge in the Buddha,dharma, and saçgha; who fulfills the five precepts (abstaining from thedestruction of life, etc.); and who “lives for the welfare of both himself andothers” (i.e., he possesses particular virtues, such as faith and generosity,and assists others in gaining them; he examines the teachings and reflectson their meaning, and encourages others to do so, and so on). Like theådikarma section of the Kud®≈†inirghåtana, the section on the upåsakacombines conventional notions known from both the Theravåda andMahåyåna, with less accepted ones emerging out of Vajrayåna andmahåsiddha milieus. Indeed, the Kud®≈†inirghåtana is an important workprecisely because it contributes to our understanding of this historicalprocess whereby the latter is integrated into the Buddhist mainstream ofthe former.