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

G AVA M PATI
Salomon, Richard. A Gandharl Version of the Rhinoceros Su tra:
British Library Kharosthl Fragment 5B. Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 2000.
GANJIN
RICHARD SALOMON
Ganjin (Chinese, Jianzhen; 688–763) was a Chinese
monk who played a major role in the establishment of
Buddhism in Japan. In 742 Ganjin accepted an invitation
from two Japanese emissaries to introduce orthodox
ORDINATION rituals to Japan. At that time a
legitimate order of monks (SAṄGHA) did not yet exist
in Japan and proper ceremonies to establish an order
could not be conducted since Japan lacked the quorum
of ten senior bhiksu (fully ordained monks) to
preside over the ordination ceremony as required by
VINAYA regulations.
During a twelve-year ordeal, Ganjin and his followers
endured five shipwrecks, which cost Ganjin his
eyesight and took the lives of thirty-six of his disciples,
before they finally arrived in Japan in 754 on their sixth
attempt to cross the sea. Once in Japan, Ganjin constructed
an ordination platform at Todaiji temple in
the capital city of Nara and founded a new monastery,
the Toshodaiji, to serve as a center for the study of
VINAYA doctrines. In 754 alone Ganjin and his Chinese
compatriots ordained more than four hundred new
Japanese bhiksu. Today, Ganjin is still revered as the
founding patriarch of Japan’s Vinaya school (Risshu),
which adheres to the commentaries on vinaya by
DAOXUAN (596–667). In addition to establishing
Japan’s first properly constituted saṅgha, Ganjin also
introduced Chinese medical knowledge, Chinese calligraphy,
and the texts and doctrines of the TIANTAI
SCHOOL (Japanese, Tendai) of Buddhism. His biography,
the To daiwajo to sei den (Biography of the Great
Master of Tang China Who Journeyed to the East; 779)
by Genkai (O mi no Mifune, 722–785), is one of the
early classics of Japanese Buddhist literature.
Bibliography
Tamura, Kwansei. “Ganjin (Chien-Chen): Transmitter of Buddhist
Precepts to Japan.” Young East (Tokyo) 6, no. 4 (1980):
4–6.
WILLIAM M. BODIFORD
GAVA M PATI
Gavam pati (Pali, Gavampati) is a disciple of the Buddha,
one of the first ten to be ordained and to have
known the state of ARHAT. His name means “guardian
of the cows” or “bull.” Gavam pati is mentioned first
of all in the VINAYA or monastic codes of the various
schools. These sources report on Gavam pati’s appearance
after the ordination of Yaśa, an early convert,
whose example Gavam pati seeks to emulate. Gavam
pati is introduced as a friend of Yaśa’s; like Yaśa,
Gavam pati comes from a rich Varanas family. The
episode, described precisely in the Pali Vinaya, is also
evoked, with few differences, in Sanskrit texts
(Saṅghabhedavastu [Section on the Schism in the Community],
Catusparisat-su tra [Su tra on the (Establishment
of the) Fourfold Assembly]) and in their Chinese
translations.
The Theragatha (v. 38) mentions Gavam pati’s
supranormal powers and calls him a man of great wisdom
“who has surpassed all attachments and reached
the far shore of existence” (Norman, p. 5). His mythical
nature is explained in the text’s commentary
(Theragatha-atthakatha): During three prior lives,
Gavam pati accumulated merits that allowed him, in a
fourth life, to live in a heavenly realm, where he resides
in a sumptuous house, the Serssakavimana
(Palace of Acacias). In his fifth life, in Gautama’s time,
Gavam pati saved a group of monks by stopping a
river’s flood waters so that the waters remained standing
in the air, like a mountain. Echoing this theme, the
Vinaya of both the Mahśasakas and the Dharmaguptakas
shows how Gavam pati helped the Buddha and
his retinue cross the Ganges on their way to Kuśinagara.
Finally, both the Payasi-su tra and the Dhammapada-atthakatha
(Commentary on the Word of the
Doctrine) emphasize that Gavampati resides, in a timeless
fashion, in the Palace of Acacias.
Gavam pati’s unusual personality is even more obvious
in the texts of north Asian schools. Jean Przyluski
showed how Tibetan and Chinese texts glorify
Gavam pati at the moment of his parinirvana.
Gavam pati was summoned to the Rajagrha Council after
the Buddha’s death. A young monk came to his celestial
palace to invite him, but Gavam pati immediately
understood that the Buddha had passed away, and decided
that he, too, would accomplish his parinirvana.
Then, he performed a series of wonders: He sprang
into space; his body started to radiate water and fire;
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