Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

C OUNCILS, BUDDHIST
But this raises the question of what precisely constitutes
the world. Mahayana writings tend to respond by
suggesting that while it is true that there can be only
one buddha at a time in a single trichilicosm (set of a
billion world systems), since there are innumerable
trichilicosms, there can in fact be innumerable buddhas
at the same time in these different trichilicosms.
Thus Mahayana writings tend to focus on the universe
as made up of innumerable clusters of world systems,
and each of these sets of world systems has its own series
of buddhas. Since these sets of world systems are
not absolutely closed off from each other, we even now
in our part of the universe—called the Saha world—
have access to the living buddhas of other parts. A cluster
of vast numbers of world systems constitutes in
effect the buddha-field or potential sphere of influence
of a buddha. It is this buddha-field that a bodhisattva
seeks to purify through his wisdom and compassion
on the long road to buddhahood. The notion of a purified
buddha-field is related in the development of
Mahayana thought to the notion of a buddha’s pure
land, such as Sukhavat—the Realm of Bliss of the buddha
AMITABHA/Amitayus, where the conditions for attaining
enlightenment are particularly propitious if
one can but be reborn there. But the question persists
whether such PURE LANDS are to be found in some far
flung part of the cosmos or are here now, if we had
but the heart to know it.
The Mahayana notion of buddha-fields with their
buddhas and bodhisattvas finds expression in the
HUAYAN JING in a wondrous cosmic vision of a universe
constituted by innumerable world systems, each
with its buddha, floating in the countless oceans of a
cosmic lotus, of which again the numbers are countless.
This vision ends in the conception of a multiverse
of worlds within worlds where the buddha, or buddhas,
are immanent.
See also: Divinities; Realms of Existence
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COUNCILS, BUDDHIST
RUPERT GETHIN
Before the Buddha died, his statements to the monks
that they might abolish all the lesser and minor disciplinary
precepts and work out their own salvation with
diligence provided ample bewilderment to the members
of the early SAṄGHA. Because these statements
were open to ecclesiastic interpretation, the early community
decided to hold periodic councils designed to
encourage tacit agreement with regard to matters of
doctrine and discipline. In so doing, it was hoped that
uniformity would be affirmed and sectarianism discouraged.
Whether the early councils were truly historical
events has long been a matter of contention in Buddhist
communities. While most Asian Buddhists
believe that the first council was a historical event, its
historicity is questioned by virtually all Buddhist
scholars. They argue that while it was not unlikely that
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