The Bodhisattva Path

The Inquiry of Ugra, also known as Ugrapariprccha, is one of the most important Mahayana sutras. It has been preserved and transmitted over many centuries in India and China and is actively quoted in treatises about the bodhisattva way. It is however, one of the most overlooked texts in western Buddhist treatments. The Ugra is believed to be the earliest bodhisattva scriptures that was passed down to us. It provides a valuable insight into the process through which the bodhisattva pathway came to be considered a distinct vocational option within certain Indian Buddhist communities. The Bodhisattva path is a translation and study of the Ugra. It will change how we perceive Mahayana’s early practitioners. The author uses new methods to study the Ugra as an literary document to gain a better understanding about the world of ideas, activities, and institutional structures in which early self-proclaimed Bodhisattvas lived. She challenges the notion that the Mahayana was a “reform” or an alternative to earlier Buddhism. The early Mahayana is a more challenging and difficult vocation that was initially restricted to monastic men. This book combines a thorough critical analysis and translation of a key Buddhist scripture with a comprehensive re-examination and re-examination on the relationship between the Buddha, the practitioners and others interested in the history and formation of Mahayana.