何謂「道場」（Bodhimaṇḍa）？

What Is a “Daochang” (Bodhimanda)?

In modern Chinese, daochang 道場 means “a place of cultivating the path or attaining the path”. It seems to be a straightforward Chinese term. In fact, this word was interpreted and understood diversely against different historical and culture backgrounds. The interpretation of the word has endured a long process of development before it formed the present meaning in modern Chinese. In this article, the author has checked the meaning of this word in a great variety of literature, ranging from Sanskrit-lexicons, Pāli Jātaka, Mahāvastu, Lalitavistara, Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra, Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra etc., to tantric texts. He divides the long process of development into the following stages: 1. In the old Gāthās of Jātaka, only the word maṇḍa takes place. It means“middle”. 2. In Gāndhārī, we find the word bos̱imaḍa, which corresponds to the Sanskrit word bodhimaṇḍa. This is the earliest occurrence of the word that we can find in extant literature. It means “Bodhi tree”, and can be interpreted as a Karmadhāraya compound. 3. In Mahāvastu and Lalitavistara, bodhimaṇḍa means either the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha sat, or the Bodhi tree to which homage is to be paid. 4. Daochang in Chinese translation corresponds to bodhimaṇḍa and means “a place, in which there is the Bodhi tree”. It is a Bahuvrīhi compound and was understood by Dharmarakṣa 竺法護 in this way. However, Zhiqian 支謙 interpreted it as a Tatpuruṣa compound, that is, “a place for enlightenment”. 5. Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 once translated it as Puti daochang 菩提道場 (a place for enlightenment). His disciple Sengzhao 僧肇 explained it as “a place for cultivation”. 6. The Emperor Yangdi of Sui Dynasty 隋煬帝 called Buddhist temples as Daochang. 7. Xuanzang 玄奘 translated bodhimaṇḍa, which appears in the sūtras in an abstract context, as Miao puti 妙菩提 (excellent enlightenment) - a Karmadhāraya compound. However, he still called bodhimaṇḍa, the diamond-seat in Bodhgaya, “Daochang”. 8. In the commentary on Jātaka, bodhimaṇḍa is regarded as a Bahuvrīhi compound. 9. In tantric texts, maṇḍa itself is called “Daochang”, while bodhimaṇḍa is translated as“Puti daochang”. 10. Bodhimaṇḍa is regarded as a Tatpuruṣa compound in Tibetan and translated as byang chub kyi snying po,“the essence of enlightenment”. Sometimes it can also be translated as byang chub dkyil ’khor, “the circle of enlightenment”. The latter translation seems to have equated maṇḍa with maṇḍala. 11. In the same breath, a new word, bodhimaṇḍala, instead of bodhimaṇḍa, takes place in Sanskrit texts.