OUTLINE
Part One: The practice of upāya
The Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Jñānottara (’Superior Wisdom’) asks the Buddha about the practice of upāya. The Buddha answers with:
- By giving a handful of food to even an animal and transfers the merit to anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi
- Rejoicing at others practicing giving, and transferring the merit of that joy
- Gathering flowers and incense and offering them to buddhas
- When receiving blissful karmic results, hoping all sentient beings do to
- Praising the buddhas and knowing they have the same one Dharmakaya
- Explaining stanzas of Dharma
- Not being ashamed if poor
- Not coveting the offerings made to sravakas and pratyekabuddhas
- Practicing all six paramitas while practicing Giving
- Six upāya of giving, fulfilling the paramitas
Jñānottara then asks about ‘heavy transgressions’
Part Two: Bodhisattva King Honored by All
- Ānanda tells on Bodhisattva King Honored by All for sitting on a couch with a woman The Buddha gives Ānanda and Jñānottara the karmic backstory
Part Three: The Brahmancārin Jyotis (Constellation)
- The Buddha tells of the Brahmancārin Jyotis (Constellation) - A past life of the Buddha in which he gave up ‘pure conduct’ to marry a woman as upāya, who was the same woman as Yashodra
Part Four: The Monk Vimala (’Stainless’)
- The rsi falsely accused of staying in a cave with a woman that could have been saved if Sariputra and Maudgalyayana had used upāya
- A six ‘illustrations’ of what the upāya of a bodhisattva is like
Part Five: The Bodhisattva Priyamkara (’Loving Deed’)
- The Bodhisattva Priyamkara (’Loving Deed’) and the elder’s daughter Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā
- Dakṣiṇottarā (’Increasing Virtue’) burned up completely with desire for him But she was reborn a god because her desire was for the bodhisattva
Part Six: The Wasteland
- Mahakasyapa tells of the narrow way out of the ‘Wasteland / Marsh’ of Samsara
Part Seven: The Upāya-pāramitā (Sutra)
The Buddha explains the Upāya-pāramitā (Sutra) to Jñānottara - a retelling of the life story of the buddha and significant events through the lens of ‘karmic purity’ and everything being an upāya
- The list of events are woven around the question of why it appeared to be that the Buddha, in a previous life as Brahmancārin Jyotis (’Constellation’, see Part Three) seemed to slander the Buddha Kasyapa
- The Ten Unfortunate Events
- The Khadira Thorn for killing the pirate
- The Blue Lotus
- The Empty Bowl