The Origin and Transition of the Ideas of Equality and Discrimination in Buddhism, Focusing on the Mahayana Mahaparinirvanasutra

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Mahayana Mahaparinirvanasutra asserts that all sentient beings possess buddha-dhatu. Yet the sutra makes one exception to this otherwise universal rule: the icchantika. The existence of this category of beings as the object of discrimination runs contrary to the spirit of Buddhism, which as a rule recognizes the fundamental equality of all beings. I traced the process of change in the concept of icchantika within Indian Buddhism. Furthermore, by examining relevant works of representative Chinese Buddhist thinkers, I investigated the problem of how the icchantika were interpreted in Chinese Buddhism. As a result of this inquiry, it became clear that the icchantika had already transformed into a purely conceptual existence within Indian Buddhism, and was accepted as such from the beginning in Chinese Buddhism.As head of the research team, I have presented one part of the results of the research at the XII th Conference of The International Association of Buddhist Studies held in Lausanne, Aug. 23-28, 1999. In addition to this, I have presented the findings of this research at several other Conferences in Japan, and also published these findings as articles in various journals.