A Way Toward Mind Deliverance, or Higher: The Brahmavihāras as Depicted in the Northern Āgamas and Their Implications for the Emergence of the Bodhisattva Path

Abstract

Using the Grounded Theory and the northern Āgamas, this research demonstrates that the doctrines of early Mahāyāna, when defined as the six pāramitās, is rooted in the Brahmavihāras’ benefits, their culminations, and their combinations with meditations for wisdom deliverance. The research first develops a taxonomy of the Brahmavihāras’ benefits and their combinations with other mediations. This then leads to a conceptualization that consists of three theses: (1) The Brahmavihāras—as a way toward mind deliverance and their culminations that are commensurate with meditations for wisdom deliverance—led to the emergence of the Five and Six Gateway Spheres. (2) The Five and Six Gateway Spheres further led to the combination of the Brahmavihāras and the three samandhīs, through which the Buddha became enlightened. (3) The synthesis of the Brahmavihāras and the three samandhīs constitutes the origin of the three among the six pāramitās. The study concludes by demonstrating that early Mahāyāna’s religious mission was also based on the Buddha’s teaching on the Brahmavihāras.