Note 101 — Chapter VII · NOTES.

“Purvapranidhânabala” is frequently translated “the power of original (or primitive) prayer.” Literally, pûrva means “former” or “original” or “primitive”; and pranidhâna, “desire” or “vow” or “prayer”; and bala, “power.” So far as literary rendering is concerned, “power of original prayer” seems to be the sense of the original Sanskrit. But when we speak of primitive prayers of the Dharmakâya or Tathâgata, how shall we understand it? Has prayer any sense in this connection? The Dharmakâya can by its own free will manifest in any form of existence and finish its work in whatever way it deems best. There is no need for it to utter any prayer in the agony of struggle to accomplish. There is in the universe no force whatever which is working against it so powerfully as to make it cry for help; and there cannot be any struggle or agony in the activity of the Dharmakâya. The term prayer therefore is altogether misleading and inaccurate and implicates us in a grave error which tends to contradict the general Buddhist conception of Dharmakâya. We must dispense with the term entirely in order to be in perfect harmony with the fundamental doctrine of Buddhism. This point will receive further consideration later. (return)