Tag Archives: Michael Radich

A Docetic Mirror

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Vajragoni

As was stated in the introductory blog to this series, Chapter Five on The Adamantine Body will directly mirror what was covered in a Dharma-series last year entitled A Docetic Assessment. So once again, at this junction in the sutra, we will be engaging Michael Radich and his examination of the docetic factor in light of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra. Recall that Docetic Buddhology is the belief that the Buddha only has “an apparent” material body. Radich argues that, in light of the first part of this chapter, that the Tathāgata’s true body is the dharmakāya-cum-vajrakāya. All this is broken down as follows (fully extracted from the aforementioned series): read more

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A Docetic Assessment

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Vajragoni

Firstly, it needs to be stated that what we have is a true scholarly mansion in the contemporary efforts of the Hamburg Buddhist Studies in once again bringing to the fore the vast significance of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine. Our last series highlighted one such scholar, Jonathan A. Silk, and his analysis of the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta. In this series we will be engaged with Michael Radich and his examination of the docetic factor in light of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra. Radich believes that this sutra is the earliest in the Mahayana in emphasizing the origin of tathāgatagarbha doctrine; yet it needs to be added that the first appearance of the “term” tathāgatagarbha can be “traced back to the Mahāsaṃghika Ekottarikāgama (the Chinese recension of the Aṅguttara Nikāya): read more

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