Note 125 — INDEX.

Upaya, meaning “expedient,” “stratagem,” “device,” or “craft,” has a technical sense in Buddhism. It is used in contrast to intelligence (prajñâ) and is synonymous with love (karunâ). So, Vimalakîrti says in the sûtra bearing his name (chap. 8, verses 1-4): “Prajñâ is the mother of the Bodhisattva and Upaya his father; there is no leader of humanity who is not born of them.” Intelligence (prajñâ) is the one, the universal, representing the principle of sameness (samatâ), while Upaya is the many, being the principle of manifoldness (nânâtvâ). From the standpoint of pure intelligence, the Bodhisattvas do not see any particular suffering existences, for there is nothing that is not of the Dharmakâya: but when they see the universe from the standpoint of their love-essence, they recognise everywhere the conditions of misery and sin that arise from clinging to the forms of particularity. To remove these, they devise all possible means that are directed towards the attainment of the final aim of existence. There is only one religion, religion of truth, but there are many ways, many means, many upayas, all issuing from the all-embracing love of the Dharmakâya and equally efficient to lead the masses to supreme enlightenment and universal good. Therefore, ontologically speaking, this universe, the Buddhists would say, is nothing but a grand display of Upayas by the Dharmakâya that desires thereby to lead all sentient beings to the ultimate realisation of Buddhahood. In many cases, thus, it is extremely difficult to render upaya by any of its English equivalents and yet to retain its original technical sense unsuffered. This is also the case with many other Buddhist terms, among which we may mention Bodhi, Dharmakâya, Prajñâ, Citta, Parivarta, etc. The Chinese translators have fang p’ien for upaya which means “means-accommodation.” (return)