'adhimukti'

[Vincent Eltschinger]

Dear Taylor,
A very highlighting conceptual discussion of adhimukti/adhimok.sa can be
found in Lambert Schmithausen: Der Nirvaa.na-Abschnitt in der
Vini'scayasa.mgraha.nii der Yogaacaarabhuumi.h, Vienna 1969, pp. 179-180
(= endnote 263). As for the term adhimukticaryaa, your colleague is
certainly aware of the fact that it designates a pre-stage (but actually
already a bhuumi) in the system of the bodhisattvabhuumi-s. Although the
book is not availabe to me at the present moment, I guess some semantic
informations might be found in Har Dayal's classic work on the Bodhisattva
doctrine in Buddhism.
With best regards,
Vincent E.

> Dear friends
>
> A colleague, Ruth Gamble, has posted me this question:
>
> "The word is adhimukti [mos pa or mos gus in Tibetan].  In one of the
> poems I am looking at it is used in conjunction with spyod pa, or carya
> -- adhimukticarya...  adhi [above, over, on] and mukti is liberation,
> right?  So why does the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon list the
> meaning for adhimukti as "propensity, confidence"?  And, more
> intriguingly, why do you think most Tibetan translators translate mos
> pa/mos gus as "devotion"?"
>
> A can anyone cast any light on why adhimukti might mean 'propensity,
> confidence'?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> McComas
>