[INDOLOGY] The meaning of "bhāvanādharmaḥ"

[Lyne Bansat-Boudon]

Purists consider the use of this term in French to be an Anglicism.Dear colleagues,

I am not at all certain that my observation fits within the context of the question, but I would like to highlight one point.
 bhāvanā is known as a Mīmāṃsaka concept, central to many exegeses, including contemporary ones, but I would also like to point out that Śaiva and Tantric texts use the concept with a very different meaning.
Indeed, in this Tantric context, bhāvanā specialises in the sense of "meditative realisation" or "realising meditation" (according to Padoux's translation), with the transition from Mīmāṃsaka bhāvanā to Śaiva bhāvanā based on the primary meaning of “effectuation” or “realisation”.
Kārikā 68 of Abhinavagupta's Paramārthasāra is a definition of bhāvanā, enlightened by Yogarāja's commentary. It confirms in every respect the conceptual appropriation by non-dualist Śaivism of the concept of bhāvanā, which it uses to understand this practice that Abhinavagupta and his school otherwise call antaryāga, the "interiorised sacrifice", drawn from a Kaula tradition (see LBB-KDT 2011: Introduction to Tantric Philosophy, Routledge: 50-51). In this concept of antaryāga, we recognise the ritual and sacrificial acceptation of the Mīmāṃsaka bhāvanā, transposed to a metaphorical level. This is how the concept is imperceptibly transformed, travelling from the idea of an external performance (sacrificial gestures) to that of an interiorised performance, which is strictly speaking a “realisation” in the mystical sense of the term in English (Purists consider the use of this term in French to be an Anglicism!) .
Śaiva bhāvanā therefore functions as a metaphor for Mīmāṃsaka bhāvanā, a metaphor justified by the ideological transfer of bhāvanā from the ritual plane to the metaphysical and mystical level. (see LBB-KDT 2011), and the Annex s.v.  I deal with the question in a forthcoming paper.

Best wishes,

Lyne


Lyne Bansat-Boudon

Directeur d'études pour les Religions de l'Inde

Ecole pratique des hautes études, section des sciences religieuses

Membre senior honoraire de l'Institut universitaire de France

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De : INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> de la part de Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Envoyé : mardi 23 septembre 2025 14:25
À : indology at list.indology.info <indology at list.indology.info>
Objet : Re: [INDOLOGY] The meaning of "bhāvanādharmaḥ"


Yes, another idea:

bhāvanā is nowaday a common expression at least among Buddhist: On fullmoonday they dress in white clothes and go to the monastery to "follow bhāvanā". It appears likely to be meditation. The teachings of bhāvanā (may be there is a bhāvanā-Upaniṣad?) may refer to this praxis?


Am 23.09.2025 um 09:01 schrieb Paul Thomas via INDOLOGY:
Hello Colleagues,

I'm currently working on a translation of the Vimalaprabhā for the 84000 translation project. The Vimalaprabhā is the most extensive Indian commentary on the Buddhist Laghukālacakratantra, composed in the earlier part of the eleventh century.

There, I’ve come across the title of a text, or, more likely, a term for a genre of texts that was current in medieval India at the time that the Vimalaprabhā was composed.  The term comes in the commentary on Laghukālacakratantra 2.96 that lists out false sources of knowledge (vidyā), listing the Vedas with their ancillaries, the Smārta doctrines, logic (Pramāṇa), the Śaiva Siddhānta, and the works (śāstram) composed by Vyāsa (the Mahābhārata) and Vaiśvānara.  It is the last on this list, the work(s) composed by Vaiśvānara that I can’t identify:

Laghukālacakratantra 2.96ab:
vedaḥ sāṅgo na vidyā smṛtimatasahitas tarkasiddhāntayuktaḥ
śāstrañ cānyad dhi loke kṛtam api kavibhir vyāsavaiśvānarādyaiḥ |

The commentary defines the works of Vaiśvānara, who, as I understand it, is the god Agni, as the bhāvanādharmaḥ, using a construction parallel to that used to describe the “teachings of the Purāṇas,” composed by Mārtaṇḍeya (mārtaṇḍeyakāvyaṃ purāṇadharmādayaḥ). Therefore I think bhāvanādharmaḥ here is not a title strictly speaking, but rather should be interpreted to mean “the teachings of bhāvanā,” whatever that may mean:

Vimalaprabhā v. 1, p. 221:
evaṃ śāstraṃ cānyad dhi loke kṛtam api kavibhir vyāsavaiśvānarādyair iti vyāsakāvyaṃ bhārataṃ vaiśvānarakāvyaṃ bhāvanādharmaḥ | ādiśabdena vālmīkikāvyaṃ rāmāyaṇaṃ mārkaṇḍeyakāvyaṃ purāṇadharmādayaḥ saṃgṛhītāḥ kṛtaṃ kavibhir ebhir na vidyā |.

Some sources say that Vaiśvānara composed some of the hymns of the Ṛgveda, but this doesn’t seem to be what is referred to here.  The Tibetan translations are of no help, simply translating bsgom pa’i chos if I recall, and neither does the Tibetan scholar mKhas grub rje (1385–1438) identify what this is.
Any ideas?




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