The Gaganagañjaparipr.cch ¯a and the Sky as a Symbol of Mah¯ay¯ana Doctrines and Aspirations

: The Gaganagañjaparipr.cch¯a is a Mah¯ay¯ana dharmapary¯aya and is the eighth chapter of the great canonical collection of Mah¯ay¯ana Buddhism, the Mah¯asam.nip¯ata . The text is lost in the original Indic, but survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations, with several passages of the Sanskrit version preserved as quotations in later commentaries. It has been regarded as an authoritative canonical source throughout the intellectual history of Mah¯ay¯ana Buddhism, but scant scholarly attention has been paid to this important text. Thus, this paper aims to provide a concise yet comprehensive introduction of the Gaganagañjaparipr.cch¯a , including its textual history, its basic structure, and its reception in Indian, Tibetan, and East Asian Buddhist traditions. It also examines how the fundamental concepts of Mah¯ay¯ana Buddhism, such as emptiness, endlessness, and imperishability, are signiﬁed in the Gaganagañjaparipr.cch¯a by the image of the sky (Skt. gagana ), the central metaphor of the text.


Introduction
The Gaganagañjaparipr . cchā (hereafter Ggn), which can be translated as "Questions of [the bodhisatva] 1 Gaganagañja," is a Mahāyāna dharmaparyāya 2 and is the eighth chapter of the Mahāsam . nipāta. 3 As is the case for many Mahāyāna texts, the original Sanskrit of Ggn is not extant, but there are three full-length translations in Tibetan and Chinese. This text has been considered as an authoritative canonical source in the intellectual history of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. This is documented by the fact that Ggn was translated into Tibetan and at least twice into Chinese, and that it was quoted in various commentaries and exegetical works by Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean thinkers. Thus, adequate scholarly treatment of such an important text is required, but it has been almost entirely neglected by modern scholarship, partly because there is no full Sanskrit text available. In this paper, I will first investigate its textual history, its content, and the later reception in Mahāyāna Buddhist literary traditions as an introductory overview of the text. Then, I will analyze the symbolic image of the sky, gagana in Sanskrit, used to illustrate the bodhisatvacaryā throughout the text.

The Gaganagañjaparipr . cchā in Tibetan and Chinese Translations
The complete text of Ggn is now accessible in the following secondary versions: (a) 'Phags pa nam mkha'i mdzod kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo (*Āryagaganaga ñjaparipr . cchānāmamahāyānasūtra). According to the colophon, 4 it was translated by the team Vijayaśīla,Śīlendrabodhi, and Ye shes sde in the late eighth or early ninth century CE during the first propagation (snga dar) in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. 5 Consisting of eight bam pos, the text is composed of 175 block-print pages in the Derge Kanjur. 6 (b) Dafangdeng daji jing xukongzang pusa pin 大方等大集經虛空藏菩薩品 7 (*Mahāvaipulya mahāsam . nipātasūtragaganagañjaparivarta), T.397(8), juan pp. 14-18, translated by the Indian monk *Dharmaks . ema (曇無讖, pp. 385-433) during the Northern Liang 北涼 dynasty in Guzang 姑臧 between 420 and 421. 8 It is the earliest extant version and is listed as the eighth chapter (pin 品) of the Mahāsam . nipāta (Daji jing 大集經) corpus. (c) Daji da xukongzang pusa suowen jing 大集大虛空藏菩薩所問經 (*Mahāsam . nipātamahāga ganagañjabodhisatvaparipr . cchāsūtra), T.404, juan pp. 1-8, translated by the Tantric Buddhist monk-translator Amoghavajra (不空, pp. 704-74). He translated this sūtra, according to the colophon of T. 404, at the Daxingshan monastery 大興善寺 in Chang'an 長安, the capital of Tang dynasty, and it was during the An Lushan Rebellion (755-63) that he ensconced himself in the Daxingshan monastery. Since An Lushan and his rebel forces captured Chang'an at the beginning of 756, and it was not recaptured by Tang imperial forces until 757, we can assume that Amoghavajra translated this text between 756 and 757. 9 As for the textual history of the Chinese translations of Ggn, two points should be mentioned: (1) According to Chinese catalogues, besides the above-mentioned translations, there appears to have been another translation of Ggn made by Shengjian 聖堅 (fl.   10 during the Western Qin 西秦 dynasty. The oldest extant canonical catalogue, the Chu sanzang jiji 出三藏記集, 11 describes that it was translated during the reign of Qifo Chipan 乞佛熾槃, which lasted from 412 to 428 (cf. T.2145, 14c13-15). However, the Zhongjing mulu I 經目錄 and Zhongjing mulu II 經目錄, 12 both complied approximately 80 years after the the Chu sanzang jiji was composed, record that it was done during the reign of Qifu Guoren 乞伏國仁, namely, from 385 to 388 (cf. T.2146, 120a7; T.2147, 159b13-14). The Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶記, 13 nearly contemporary with the Zhongjing mulu I, mentions that Shengjian translated Ggn for Qifu Qiangui 乞伏乾歸, who ruled the Western Qin from 388 to 412 (cf. T. 2034, 83b18-19). The Datang neidianlu 大唐內典錄, 14 compiled 150 years later than the Chu sanzang jiji, simply refers to the existence of the "second" translation of Ggn, produced by Shenjian of the Western Qin (cf. T.2149, 55c23). Judging from these records, we can see that the bibliographic information of the second rendition of Ggn was already indefinite and inconsistent even at the early stage of Chinese Buddhist translation.
(2) It is also notable that not every text associated with the term xukongzang pusa 虛 空藏菩薩 in the Chinese Tripit . aka, as well as in the Chinese catalogues, is related to the Ggn or the Sanskrit term gaganagañja. The reason for this is that, since the earliest Chinese Buddhist translations, both words, gaganagañja "the treasury of the sky" andākāśagarbha "the essence of the sky," have been rendered as the same term xukongzang 虛空藏 by such translators as Buddhayaśas 佛陀耶舍, Dharmamitra 曇摩蜜多, Dharmaks . ema 曇無讖, and Amoghavajra 不空金剛 (e.g., the Xukongzang pusa jing 虛空藏菩薩經 T.405 by Buddhayaśas between 403 and 413, and the Fushuo xukong zang pusa shenzhou jing 佛虛空藏菩薩神經 T.406 by Dharmamitra between 424 and 441). 15 In the Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大 藏經, there are twelve sūtras whose titles contain the term xukongzang pusa 虛空藏菩薩 or just xukongzang 虛空藏, and among them, only two sūtras, translated by Dharmaks . ema T.397(8) and Amoghavajra T.404, are identified as relevant to the Ggn or the Sanskrit gaganagañja. 16 The same rendering of two different words such as this has often caused confusion among scholars, examples of which can be found in Visser (de Visser 1931, pp. 17-18) and Park (1979, pp. 127-28). In both places, one can see that the term xukongzang 虛空藏 is misinterpreted asākāśagarbha, which should be understood as gaganagañja. Visser counts T.397(8) and T.404 in the texts related to the bodhisatvaĀkāśagarbha, and Park fails to recognize a quotation from Ggn in his annotated translation of Dasheng qixinlun shu 大乘起信論疏 (cf. T.1844, 202c2-22) since he reads the Xukongzang jing 虛空藏經 as thē Akāśagarbhasūtra (see also footnote 64 in Park 1979, pp. 210-11).

Textual Structure and Content
The main interlocutor of the Ggn is the bodhisatva Gaganagañja, who came from the *Mahāvyūha Universe (Tib. bkod pa chen po'i 'jig rten gyi khams), seeking the teachings of the Buddha, namely, the exposition of the dharma (dharmaparyāya) called "Chapter of the Great Collection (mahāsam . nipātaparivarta)." 17 The Ggn is divided into two parts, which are structured into seven chapters. The first part is, as the title itself suggests, centered on the bodhisatva Gaganagañja's inquiries to the Buddha. It consists of the first four chapters: (1) occasion (nidāna); (2) introduction (upodghāta); (3) Gaganagañja's thirty-six questions; (4) Buddha's answers to these questions. The second part is composed of the later three chapters: (5) Gaganagañja's seven miracles; (6) metaphysical dialogues between various figures, including the Buddha, Gaganagañja,Śāriputra,Ānanda, and Māra, on the fundamental principles of Mahāyāna Buddhism; (7) transmission (parīndanā) of the true dharma (saddharma). This structure of the Ggn, consisting of nidāna, upodghāta, main body, and parīndanā, appears to be shared by many Mahāyāna texts, regardless of genre, i.e., -nirdeśa, -paripr . cchā, -vyākaran . a, -samādhi, and -dhāran .ī . 18 Although the main part may differ depending on the text and subject, most of the Mahāyāna sūtras have the monologue and/or dialogue part as their main body in which the Buddha, or in some cases the main interlocutor of the text, delivers sermons on the various topics of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. In the case of the Ggn, the first part, especially the third and fourth chapters, Gaganagañja's thirty-six questions and the Buddha's answers to them, belong to the monologue part, and the second part is by and large included in the dialogue part. 19 Throughout the text, the supernatural abilities of the bodhisatva Gaganagañja are highlighted as one of his distinguishing qualities. In particular, the second part of Ggn begins with a description of various kinds of miracles Gaganagañja displays. First, he pours down rains of flowers, jewels, food, clothing, ambrosia, and six pāramitās all over the world (cf. D281b3-284a5). Then, at the request of five hundred widows, he sends down their husbands from the sky to relieve them and further to rouse their bodhicitta (cf. D284a5-b5). Lastly, five hundred magically created beings are bestowed on five hundred merchants who are in danger of robbery and death (cf. D284b5-285a7). 20 However, to understand the Ggn as a whole, it should be noted that such magical displays are nothing but "expedient means" (upāyakauśalya), which are, after all, designed to emphasize the main ideas of the text, namely, emptiness (śūnyatā), non-duality (advaya), sameness (samatā), original purity (ādiviśuddhi), and inexhaustibility (aks . ayatā) inherent all dharmas. Indeed, except for the part of Gaganagañja's miracle, the second half of the Ggn consists, for the most part, of a series of philosophical and metaphysical discussions between the Buddha, Gaganagañja, and other characters. Here, the understanding of such ideas is consistently emphasized as the ultimate goal of the bodhisatva, and the expedient means merely serves as motivation for bodhicitta. Table 1 below presents a synoptic outline of the contents of Ggn. Table 2 below shows a list of the topics of the thirty-six questions and answers between Gaganagañja and the Buddha.

Citations in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese Literature
The Ggn has been quoted in many important Indian commentaries, such as the Ratnagotravibhāga by Asaṅga (ca. 4th century CE), 23 the Prasannapāda 24 and the Madhyamakāvatārabhās . ya 25 by Candrakīrti (ca. 600-650), theŚiks .ā samuccaya byŚāntideva (ca. 685-763), 26 and the Bhāvanākrama by . 27 The citations of Ggn are also found in the Tibetan translations of Indianśāstras, including the mDo kun las btus pa by Nāgārjuna (if the attribution is correct), 28 the Cig car 'jug pa rnam par mi rtog pa'i bsgom don by Vimalamitra (ca. 8th century CE), 29 the Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi tshig le'ur byas pa'i 'grel bshad tshig rab tu gsal ba by Dharmamitra (ca. 9th century CE), 30 the dBu ma'i man ngag rin po che'i za ma tog kha phye ba, the Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma'i dka' 'grel, and the mDo kun las btus pa chen po by Atīśa (982-1054). 31 Further, it is referenced in the following philosophical texts composed by Tibetan masters-the Be'u bum sngon po by Dolpa Sherap Gyatso (1059-1419), 32 the Tshogs bshad chen mo by Sangye Gompa (1179-1250), 33 the rTsa she tik chen rigs pa'i rgya mtsho by Tsong khapa (1357-1419) 34 , and most recently, the Steps of the Path to Enlightenment by Lhundub Sopa (1923Sopa ( -2014. 35 (For a comprehensive list of references to the Ggn, see Han 2021a, pp. 19-21.) The reception of Ggn as an authoritative source is not confined to Buddhist traditions in India and Tibet. The Ggn was first introduced into China by the Indian monk-translator Dharmaks . ema, who played a vital role in propagating Mahāyāna doctrines and practices in Northwest China during the early decades of the fifth century CE. Since then, his translation has had a widespread influence on East Asian Buddhist traditions, being quoted in various works by Chinese, Korean, and Japanese thinkers. Here, I will give some examples to describe its historical trajectory, passing through different cultural and social milieus in East Asian countries.
First, the second narrative of the past (bhūtapūrva) that relates the story of the King Pun . yālam . kāra (T.397(8), 294b4-296a7) was extracted with a small revision and circulated as a chapter of the Jinglu yixiang 經律異相 "Extraordinary Affairs from the Sūtras and Vinayas." (T.2121, 146c11-147a19) 36 The Jinglu yixiang is a collection of essential passages from various canonical texts, complied by Baochang 寶唱 et al. in 516, by the decree of emperor Liang Wudi 梁武帝 (r. 502-549) to spread the marvelous wonders of Buddhism. 37 This canonical anthology was transmitted to Japan already in the Heian period (9-12th century CE), and had an influence on later indigenous literature, such as the Hōbutsushū 物集, the Gensenshū 言泉集, and the Kingenruijushō 金言類聚抄 (cf. Komine 1982). It also circulated in Korea, as part of the second Koryȏ Tripit . aka (Jaejo taejanggyong 再雕大藏經), completed in the middle of the thirteenth century CE, and has been referenced in various local texts, even to the modern times. 38 Second, the Korean scholarly monk Wonhyo 元曉 (617-686) quoted some passages of Ggn in his Daeseung gisillon so大乘起信論疏 "Commentary on the Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith." The quotation deals with the concept of "mahāyāna" (T.397(8), 114c27-115a28), in which its orientation and characteristics are metaphorically described using various parts of a vehicle (T.1844, 202c2-21). 39 Wonhyo is one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Korean Buddhism, and his Daeseung gisillon so has had a great impact on Korean intellectual history.
Lastly, Gōhō 杲寶 (1306-1362), a Japanese monk who was active in the late Kamakura and early Muromachi periods, quoted Dharmaks . ema's translation in his sub-commentary to the commentary of the Mahāvairocanasūtra, the Dainichikyōsho ennōshō 大日經疏演鈔 (T.2216, 166a28-b13). The passage quoted here is about the meaning of the name of Gaganagañja (T.397(8), 108a15-26). It is interesting that Gōhō, an adherent of Shingon Buddhism, referred to Dharmaks . ema's translation (T.397 (8)), but not that of Amoghavajra (T.404), who has been acknowledged as the sixth of the eight patriarchs in the history of Shingon lineages. 40 Apart from these examples, it is also notable that the Ggn may be referenced in the sixth chapter of the Book of Zambasta, a fifth-century Khotanese Buddhist poem (Chen and Loukota 2018, p. 138). The quotation identified (verse nr. 6. 44) has not yet been fully discussed. 41 However, if this identification is correct, it can show that the Ggn was distributed not only in India, Tibet, and East Asian countries, but also in Central Asia, already in the fifth century CE. It further implies that the Ggn had, at least to some extent, an influence on Khotanese Buddhist literature as well as its religious and intellectual tradition.

The Symbolism of the Sky Embedded in the Gaganagañjaparipr . cchā
A central concept, or even the central concept, of Mahāyāna Buddhism, may be said to be that of "emptiness (śūnyatā)." This concept is frequently symbolized by the space,ākāśa, or the sky, gagana, as in the sūtra in question here. Thus, the sky is a symbol of emptiness and is chosen as the leitmotif of our text. The sky also becomes a metaphor for the teachings of the Mahāyāna, the pāramitās, the apramān . as, etc., as this symbol runs throughout the whole text, being a leitmotif that is related to all the items of Mahāyāna ideology. 42 In a study published in 1995, Harrison remarked that the key factor influencing the success of religions is not their intellectual or moral superiority, but rather their capacity to capture people's imagination. 43 Since the Ggn has had an impact, directly or indirectly, on Buddhist traditions almost all over Asia, it is assumed that its authors, or editors, have achieved some degree of success in capturing the reader's imagination, and that such utilization has probably played a significant role there. In what follows, I will briefly describe how the image of the sky is used in constructing the text, and further, how the core concepts of Mahāyāna Buddhism (e.g.,śūnyatā, pāramitā, and aks . ayatā) are interpreted and symbolized in the Ggn by the image of the sky.

The Bodhisatva Gaganagañja-A Personification of the Mahāyāna Doctrines
The main character of this sūtra is the bodhisatva Gaganagañja, "The One Whose Treasury is like the Sky." He is a celestial bodhisatva, created to promulgate Mahāyāna doctrines and practices. The term gagana literally means "the sky, atmosphere, firmament" and is an old Sanskrit word, probably dating back to the Vedic period. 44 In Pāli Buddhist literature, it is often used in connection with the moon (candra), though not in the Mahāyāna context or that of Sanskrit literature. 45 In Ggn, the sky (gagana) is used as a symbolic image to represent various features of the bodhisatva practices (e.g., greatness, expansiveness, boundlessness, and purity), but also the concept of emptiness (śūnyatā) inherent in such activities, and beyond, in all dharmas.
The term gañja means "treasury, heap [of grain], grain store." Its etymon is unclear, but it is probably a Persian loanword (Burrow [1955(Burrow [ ] 1973. It occurs in the Kharos . t . hī inscriptions from Niya (G. gam . ña, gaṁni, draṁga) and late Sanskrit works, 46 but not in any of Pāli texts. Throughout Ggn, the treasury (gañja) is described as the source of the bodhisatva Gaganagañja's wonder-workings, from which he brings down various gifts, including rains of flowers, jewels, food and clothing, ambrosia, and the teaching on the six pāramitās. 47 Then, the notion of gaganagañja can be understood as "a treasury in the sky (Tib. nam mkha' la mdzod)." At the same time, however, it can be also interpreted as "a treasury like the sky," since the treasury signifies Gaganagañja's accumulation of merit and knowledge (pun . yajñānasam . bhāra), his roots of good (kuśalamūla), his resolution to awakening (bodhicitta), and the like, all of which are described as inexhaustible, imperishable, pure, and everlasting (cf. Part II, Chapter 6, §1-4, cf. Han 2021b, pp. 467-76). In the dialogue betweenŚāriputra and Gaganagañja, gaganagañja is explained as follows: The venerableŚāriputra addressed himself to the bodhisatva Gaganagañja: "After you set this treasury in the sky, which is inexhaustible, imperishable, and everlasting, son of good family, how long will it last?" Gaganagañja said: "VenerableŚāriputra, do you think the sky will be exhausted, destroyed, or disappear?" Sāriputra replied: "No indeed, son of good family." Gaganagañja said: "VenerableŚāriputra, in the same way that the awakening (bodhi) is of the essential character of the sky, my roots of good are transformed into the [treasury]. Therefore, this treasury in the sky (gaganagañja) is inexhaustible, imperishable, and everlasting. 48 In Mahāyāna literature, bodhisatva names, created evidently for particular sūtras, are personifications of various Mahāyāna doctrines (e.g., the bodhisatva Aks . ayamati "Imperishable Intelligence" in the Aks . ayamatinirdeśa, the twelfth chapter of the Mahāsam . nipāta corpus). However, several of them are also generated with nature or meteorological metaphors, some examples of which are the bodhisatvasĀkāśagarbha "Essence of Space," Sāgaramati "Oceanic Intelligence," Ks . itigarbha "Essence of Earth," Mahāmeghagarbha "Essence of the Great Cloud," Vajrapān . i "Thunderbolt in Hand," Sūryagarbha "Essence of the Sun," Candragarbha "Essence of the moon," Dhāran .īś vararāja "The Earth Ruler" 49 and, as in our case, Gaganagañja "Treasury of the Sky." 50 In the Ggn, the image of the sky is exploited in the construction of the text itself, and in constructing the bodhisatva character around which the text is built. Taken all together, these bodhisatva names portray the whole universe in which we live, and the authors/editors appear to have exploited the metaphors of various elements of this existential world to construct Mahāyāna literature, as well as its own belief system. Thus, one can say that these names are nothing but symbolic expressions, and do not represent historical personalities. Further, the bodhisatva Gaganagañja functions here as a literary tool to mirror the idea that all phenomena are empty of an essential substance.

The Sky as a Metaphor for the Six Perfections
The Ggn is characterized as having a symbolic image of the sky. In the Ggn, the sky is used as a strong metaphor that carries multiple connotations related to the bodhisatva path (bodhisatvamārga). Additionally, it serves as the central motif that recurs throughout the entire text, generating various types of thematic imagery. The use of such literary devices as image, metaphor, and motif, allows the author to provide more concrete and specific meanings, and further to enhance the artistic quality of the text itself. Let us look at the following example, taken from the Buddha's teachings on the first perfection, the perfection of generosity (dānapāramitā). Here, one can see how the metaphor of the sky is used to describe the fulfillment of six perfections, which is one of the most important principles in Mahāyāna literature: "Son of good family, when the bodhisatva is endowed with four qualities, his generosity becomes like the sky. What are those four" To wit, (1) entering living beings into the purity through the self-purification; (2) entering into the purity of generosity (dāna) with the purity of living beings; (3) entering into the purity of transformation (parin .ā mana) by purification of generosity; (4) entering into the purity of awakening (bodhi) through the purification of transformation. When he is endowed with those four dharmas, son of good family, the generosity of the bodhisatva becomes like sky." 51 The underlined parts can be understood in various ways, depending on the interpretation of the term gagana (Tib. nam mkha'). First, it can simply indicate "the expanse of the sky." Then, the sentence would mean that the bodhisatva should have a vast amount of generosity like the sky that is endlessly open. At the same time, gagana can also signify "empty space." In this case, the generosity of the bodhisatva should be understood from the perspective of the concept of emptiness (śūnyatā), which is a fundamental idea in Mahāyāna metaphysics. Further, it may denote "the clarity of the sky." If so, the sentence should be understood from the perspective of the purity of giving, or more specifically, the principle of the threefold purity (triman . d . alapariśuddhi), that is "being pure of the giver, recipient, and giving itself". Lastly, it can imply the sky without boundary or obstruction. Then, the sentence means that, when the bodhisatva cultivates the perfection of generosity, he should be free from discrimination or prejudice. In this manner, the term gagana can be interpreted in many ways, and such multiple connotations embedded in a single word can carry different levels of meaning, which is more profound and complex than its literal sense. The same metaphor is continually applied to the rest of the perfections, and similar interpretations can be made for them. Thus, the image of the sky, metaphorically used in the Ggn, enriches the reading of the text, stimulating the reader's literary and visual imagination. See, also, the following passage, in which the third perfection, the perfection of patience (ks .ā ntiapāramitā), is described with a more varied use of the sky-metaphor (here the term gagana is differently translated as "the sky" or "empty space" according to the context in which it is used): "How, then, son of good family, does the patience (ks .ā nti) of the bodhisatvas become like the sky? When the bodhisatva is endowed with four qualities, his patience becomes like the sky. What are those four? To wit, (1) never responding to abuse with more abuse because the speech is just like empty space (*ākrus . t . o na pratyākrośati vāco gaganasamatvāt); 52 (2) never responding to beatings with more beatings because the body is just like empty space (*tād . ito na pratitād . ayati kāyasya gaganasamatvāt); 53 (3) never responding to insults with more insults because the thought is just like empty space (*paribhās . ito na pratiparibhās . ayati cittasya gaganasamatvāt); 54 (4) never responding to anger with more anger because the intention is just like empty space (*ros . ito na pratiros . ayatiāśayasya gaganasamatvāt). 55 When the bodhisatva is endowed with those four dharmas, son of good family, his patience becomes like the sky." 56

Various Elements Related to the Sky
The image of the sky is used as a central metaphor for different aspects of the bodhisatvacaryā, but it also serves as a leitmotif that runs deep throughout the entire text. In the Ggn, one can find various symbolic images and events with which the image of the sky is directly or indirectly associated. Perhaps the most important example of them is various sky-related miracles performed by Gaganagañja, such as the rains of flowers, jewels, food and clothing, falling down from the sky (see Chapter 5, Han 2021b, pp. 435-66). In this section, I will present several such examples.
(a) Pavilions shining in the sky The Ggn opens with a spectacular event that a marvelous pavilion (kūt .ā gāra) illuminates the world. When the Buddha sets the wheel of the dharma in motion, the pavilion in which an assembly of monks and bodhisatvas are sitting appears suddenly, shining in the vault of the sky. Then, the rest of the world is eclipsed and disappear (cf. Part I, Chapter 2, §1-4; Han 2021b, pp. 35-40). According to Vreese (de Vreese 1947, pp. 323-25), the term kūt .ā gāra (lit. a point-house) means nothing but a type of building that has a pointy roof. 57 It is depicted as a house, or just a hut, with the gabled roof in the early Buddhist literature, as well as in Indian inscriptions (see, for example, Skilling 2009, p. 69). In the Ggn, however, the kūt .ā gāra is represented not just as an ordinary building with a gabled roof, but as a splendid large pavilion, appearing in the vault of the sky. Such a magnificent image of kūt .ā gāra can be found in Chapter on Entering the Dharma-realm (Dharmadhātupraveśanaparivarta) of the Gan . d . avyūha. In this sūtra, that the main character Sudhana enters the dharmadhātu is described as entering the Maitreya's kūt .ā gāra which is very luxurious and spacious as the sky (cf. T.293, 831c1-832a2). 58 As such, it is assumed that the image of kūt .ā gāra has been developed as time went by, from an ordinary building to a luxury mansion. It is also likely that the Ggn makes use of the expanded image of kūt .ā gāra shining in the sky as an auspicious sign (pūrvanimitta) at the very beginning of the text, probably for dramatic purposes. 59 The passage concerned runs as follows: When the Lord revealed the exposition of the dharma, Chapter of the Great Collection, to bodhisatvas, the great beings, the whole assembly thought that "I am sitting in a pavilion in the vault of the sky." The display of these marvelous pavilions illuminated the sight of living beings. Save for the bodhisatvas, the great beings, the great disciples, devas, nāgas, yaks . as, and gandharvas, who were seated in the pavilions, the rest of the beings in this trigalactic megagalactic world-system, appearing as a form, became nothing. All of them thought that "I am just like empty space." At the time, just like the manifestations of forms in the great three-thousands of worlds disappeared in the sky at the end of the aeon, the manifestations of forms disappeared from the sight of anyone . . . Save for those who were sitting in the pavilion in the sky, the rest of them in the great three-thousands of worlds, staying on the surface of the earth, fade away . . . However, with the lion's throne (simhāsana) of the Lord it was another matter, they perceived it as shining ten thousand yojanas high as placed in these pavilions placed in the vault of the sky. 60 (b) Māra stuck in the dark sky In Chapter 6, there is a section on Māra Pāpīyān and his followers. He disguises himself as a householder, comes to the presence of the Buddha, and asks how many people will believe in his teachings in the future. The Buddha replies that there will be few such people left. Having heard this, the Māra reveals his true colors and flies up to the sky to go back to his territory. However, then, Gaganagañja stops him in mid-air and makes him listen to various teachings from Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Ratnapān . i, Dharmarāja, etc., in which diverse ways to transcend the territory of Māra (māragocara) and to overcome the works of Māra (mārakarman) are explained (cf. Part II, Chapter 6, §58-70;Han 2021b, pp. 731-62). What is notable here is that the bodhisatvas see the sky as clear and open space, but, on the contrary, that Māra and his followers cannot see anything else but the darkness in the sky. The story of Māra stuck in the dark sky is depicted as follows: After hearing this, Māra the Wicked One became delighted, pleased, joyous, and overjoyed. He danced and tried to leave the congregation . . . At that moment, the bodhisatva Gaganagañja said to the wicked Māra: "Wicked One, why are you leaving after having shown your true colors?" Māra thought: "Even Gaganagañja and other bodhisatvas, to say nothing of the tathagata, perceived [my leaving], but I am going to go back to my territory." Then, the bodhisatva Gaganagañja, having stopped the Wicked Māra and his servents in the sky, exercised his magical power in such a way that they could not go back to his territory, saying: "Wicked One, just like the sky has no obstruction (anavr . ti), why do you not go back to your territory?" Māra replied: "Son of good family, the sky is without obstruction to you, but it looks dark to us. The only we can see in front of us is darkness (tamo 'ndhakāra), except for the congregation of the Buddha on the ground. It looks luminous." Gaganagañja said: "So it is, Wicked One. They are those who have the brightness of the dharma (śukladharma) in their mind, and the darkness in front of you is because of the works of Māra (mārakarman)." Māra replied: "O good man, from now on I will never do the works of Māra." 61 (c) A flying bird that leaves no trace A bird flying in the sky often serves as a metaphor for being free or unattached in Buddhist literature. Especially, the trace that a bird leaves in the sky is used to represent the spiritual, or rather "ethereal," dimension of an arhat, bodhisatva, or even the buddha, as it can neither be seen nor measured by our perceptual ability. According to Lamotte ([1962] 2011, p. 154, fn. 11), it is an old comparison, and its early example can be found in the Dhammapada. Here, the path of an arhat, whose field of the senses (gocara) is empty, signless, and liberated, is compared to the "footstep (pada)" of a bird in the air. 62 The same comparison also occurs in Mahāyāna literature. For example, it is found once each in the Daśabhūmikasūtra and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. In the Daśabhūmikasūtra, the stage (bhūmi) of Son of the Conqueror (jinaputra) is described by the metaphor of the track of a bird in the sky as it is invisible and ineffable. 63 In the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the same metaphor is used to explain how the bodhisatva should consider all living beings. 64 In the Ggn, the metaphor of bird tracks occurs in three (!) different places and contexts (see below). It is notable that this metaphor is straightforwardly used in the Dhammapada, the Daśabhūmikasūtra, and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa (e.g., "Just like the track of a bird in the sky, one should . . . "), while in the Ggn, it is used in a paradoxical way (e.g., "although bird tracks do not remain in the sky, one still . . . " and "bird tracks in the sky is expressible, but . . . "), which appears to be a more developed use of this metaphor.
1. Just as a bird 65 flying in the sky does not leave any trace, one who practices for awakening does not have any distinguishing mark (nimitta) in their behavior. 66 2. Just as, even though bird tracks do not remain in the sky, we still talk about its place by word, in the same way, whether the buddha is born or unborn, we still talk about it with the word to be born. 67 3. The water in the ocean of three thousandfold worlds is measurable, bird tracks in the sky in ten directions are expressible, and someone can have the same thought as all living beings; but the great qualities (mahāgun . a) of the son of the Sage are inexhaustible. 68

Conclusions
In this paper, I investigated an important sūtra belonging to the tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Gaganagañjaparipr . cchā, by focusing on its textual history, its content and structure, and its influence on Indian, Tibetan, and East Asian Buddhist traditions. I also reflected on how the image of the sky is used in this text to describe the central concepts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and how it can be interpreted from a literary, specifically metaphorical, point of view. As such, this paper is divided into two parts: (1) a textual survey of the Ggn, which is mainly philological and historical in nature, and (2) a metaphorical analysis of the sky around which the key concepts and distinctive features of the text are constructed.
The Gaganagañjaparipr . cchā is a typical Mahāyāna dharmaparyāya, which has similar textual elements 69 and metaphysics to other Mahāyāna texts, such as the As . t . asāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the Aks . ayamatinirdeśa, and the Sāgaramatiparipr . cchā. However, it also has its own uniqueness and characteristics as a religious, as well as a literary text-that is, the ample utilization of the image of the sky throughout the text. In the Ggn, the sky, gagana, is pointing to the central idea of the Mahāyāna creed, namely, emptiness, endlessness, and imperishability of that which is empty and unborn. Gagana is then also made part of the name of the main interlocutor of the sūtra, namely, Ganganagañja, who is scarcely a historical person, but rather a personification of Mahāyāna teachings, expanded through his dialogue with the Buddha. Thus, the sky here functions as a central reference point and an expressive symbol throughout the text forśūnyatā, but also for the space in which the various virtues of the Mahāyāna unfolds, the compassion and generosity, the six pāramitās, and so forth.
It is a frequent trait in the literature we are relating to, then, that the singular texts are constructed on a basic symbol representing Mahāyāna tenets, gagana in our case. Further, the symbol is used to give the particular text its individuality by naming the main interlocutor by means of the symbol and naming the text itself accordingly. This principle is widely employed in the whole collection of Mahāsam . nipāta. 70 In the Aks . ayamatinirdeśa, for example, we find that the concept of imperishability, aks . ayatā, is personified in yet a fictitious personality, namely, Aks . ayamati, "The One with Imperishable Intelligence (cf. Braarvig 1993b, pp. l-li)" It is also found in the Sāgaramatiparipr . cchā that the endless ocean, sāgara, is employed as a symbol of the endlessness of existence and personified in the main figure Sāgaramati, "The One Whose Intelligence is (Endless) like the Ocean" (for more examples, the Dhāran .īś vararājaparivarta, the Sūryagarbhaparivarta, the Candragarbha-parivarta, etc.). 71 Thus, one might argue that it was among the principles employed by the authors/editors of Mahāyāna texts when they were constructing their grand literature based on probably the most popular form of Buddhism in India sometimes in the first or second centuries CE.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Acknowledgments: This paper is based in part on my doctoral dissertation, submitted to the University of Oslo in 2020. I would like to thank my supervisor, Jens Braarvig, for his warm guidance, inspiring discussion, and constant encouragement. I also wish to thank Peter Skilling for his generous advice and helpful comments at various stages of my research. I am very grateful to Vesna Wallace who kindly invited me to participate in this special issue, and to two anonymous reviewers whose detailed comments led to substantial improvements of this paper.

Conflicts of Interest:
The author declares no conflict of interest.

Aks .
Aks In this paper, I use the spelling bodhisatva with a single t rather than bodhisattva with a double t in accordance with the usage in the recent works of Braarvig (2020aBraarvig ( , 2020b and Skilling (2013, Skilling 2014-2015, 2018a, 2020. It is the spelling used in manuscripts and inscriptions written in Sanskrit and Gāndhārī. It is also found in Khotanese, Sogdian loanwords, Tibetan transliterations, and Thai old documents. For a detailed discussion on the spelling of the term bodhisatva, see (Bhattacharya 2010). See, also, (Skilling 2013, p. 69;Skilling 2014Skilling -2015).
2 According to Skilling (Skilling 2014(Skilling -20152021, pp. 37-38), the term dharmaparyāya (P. dhammapariyāya, G. dham . mapayaya, Tib. chos kyi rnam grangs) is the earliest term used for the titles of Buddhist texts, the surviving evidence of which can be found in King Aśoka's "Bairāt . -Calcutta" inscription. It is probably used to indicate "a self-contained sermon of the Buddha or others, which is described internally, in the very text itself, by the Buddha or others (email from Peter Skilling, 13 July 2021)." It is also likely that the term dharmaparyāya or just paryāya was later replaced by editors with the well-known term sūtra (P. sutta, G. sutra, Tib. mdo) to give authority to them as legitimate buddhavacana in the process of compilation, or rather "canonization," of Buddhist texts. Here, I quote an excerpt from Skilling's personal note on the term dharmaparyāya: "What is the difference between dharmaparyāya and sūtra? The word sūtra/sutta was also current; it stands at the head of the lists of nine/twelve aṅga and in manuscripts it is often used for the closing statement that ends the document: 'such and such sūtra is finished', the latter surely a written editorial or scribal convention rather than an internal or integral part of the discourse. Sūtra is rarely used as an internal title, and context suggests that the term sūtra refers to the complete package, with the introduction and closing (nidāna, nigamana) as well as internal narratives, while the dharmaparyāya is the discourse properly speaking. But sometimes dharmaparyāya is used for the entire text, and it is also used for long and expanded Vaitulya/Mahāyāna compilations. It appears that the scope and meaning of the two terms changed and expanded with time and circumstances (email of 13 July, quoted with permission)." 3 The Mahāsam . nipāta, which can be interpreted as "Great Collection of Sūtras" or "Great Congregation of Monks and Bodhisatvas" (Braarvig 1993b, p. xxv), is a voluminous canonical collection, consisting of seventeen independent parivartas that share a common tendency to promote the fundamental principles of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The place and date of the compilation are unclear, but it was probably in Central Asia or China around the third century CE. It appears that each text in this collection was originally composed and circulated independently, but that they were collected at a certain point under the title of Mahāsam . nipāta. It is also likely that after the collection was compiled, new texts, such as the Pratyutpannabuddhasam . mukhāva-sthitasamādhisūtra, was inserted as new parivartas. For the formation of the Mahāsam . nipāta corpus and its complex textual development, see (Braarvig 1993b;Saerji 2005Saerji , 2019. It is also briefly touched upon in (Kurumiya 1978;Tudkeao 2016;Skilling 2018a;Chen and Loukota 2020;Han 2021a). Saerji's works (Saerji 2005(Saerji , 2019, both written in Chinese, are introduced in (Silk 2021, pp. 61-62). 4 The text-critical analysis of the Tibetan translation of Ggn shows that twenty-four Kanjur editions share the same colophon (with only minor variants). The editions consulted are as follows: Cone, Derge, Peking, Lithang, Ragya, London, Stog, Shey, Lhasa, Narthang, Hemis I, Hemis II, Basgo, Phugbrag I, Phugbrag II, Lang, Tabo, Gondhla, Chizhi, Dodedrak, Dongkarla, Gangteng, Neyphug, and Phajoding. See (Han 2021a, pp. 234-42). Digital images of all the materials are available from Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies (rKTs: https://www.istb.univie.ac.at/kanjur/rktsneu/sub/index.php) and Endangered Archives Programme (EAP: https://eap.bl.uk) (both accessed on 5 June 2021).

5
It is confirmed by the fact that the Tibetan translation of Ggn is indexed in one of the earliest catalogues produced in the ninth century, the lHan kar ma (Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 50-51). The same colophon is also given in other relatively early catalogues, such as Gondhla and early Mustang. See, respectively, (Tauscher 2008, p. 37;Eimer 1999, p. 101). It is regrettable that I could not check the 'Phang thang ma in this study, which is also regarded as one of the earliest catalogues. For more information about the three translators, their lives and works, see (Han 2021a, pp. 12-13 The title given at the beginning of juan 14 is the Xukongzang pin diba zhi yi suowen pin diyi 虛空藏品第八之一所問品第一 (cf. T.397, 93a6); but the other juans have the Xukongzang pusa pin 虛空藏菩薩品 with their chapter numbers. 8 For the dating of Dharmaks . ema's arrival in Guzang where he translated the Ggn and other sūtras, see (Chen 2004, pp. 257-59). Yet, later catalogues, such as the Datang neidianlu 大唐內典錄, records that it was during the reign of Emperor An Di 安帝 of Jin dynasty, that is, between 396 and 418 (T 2149, 256a13). In this paper, I followed Chen's argument. 9 For more details on Amoghavajra's life and translational efforts, see (Orzech 2011a(Orzech , 2011b, particularly on his activity during the An Lushan Rebellion, see (Lehnert 2011, p. 352). It is also briefly treated in (Han 2021a, pp. 15-16).
10 Also known as Jiangong 堅公 or Fajian 法堅 (cf. T.2034, 83c13-14). For his floruit, see (Bingenheimer et al. 2017, p. 2 In Tibetan, however, gaganagañja andākāśagarbha are differently rendered as nam mkha'i mdzod "treasury of the sky" and nam mkha'i snying "essence of the sky,", respectively. Jñānagupta 闍那崛多, a late sixth-century translator of the Sui dynasty, also used a different term xukong yun 虛空孕 forākāśagarbha, as seen in his work Xukong yun pusa jing 虛空孕菩薩經 (T.408). 16 The twelve texts are 大方等大集經虛空藏菩薩品 (T.397 (8) The purpose of his arrival is emphasized several times in the sūtra. For example, see D247a5-7: shā ri'i bu byang chub sems sems dpa' sems dpa' chen po nam mkha' mdzod de (6) nga la blta ba dang|phyag 'tshal ba dang|bsnyen bkur byed pa dang|'dus pa chen po'i le'u'i chos kyi rnam grangs 'di rab tu yongs su bzung ba dang|phyogs bcu'i 'jig rten gyi khams nas 'dus pa'i byang chub sems dpa' 'di dag chos kyi dga' ba dang|bde (7) ba dang|mchog tu dga' bskyed pa dang|theg pa chen po 'di 'ang rab tu yongs su gzungs ba dang|byang chub sems dpa' thams cad kyi byang chub kyi phyogs kyi chos kyang yongs su gzung ba'i phyir nga'i gan du' ong ngo||"OŚāriputra, the bodhisatva, the great being Gaganagañja is coming here to see, praise, and serve me, and uphold this exposition of the dharma (dharmaparyāya), "Chapter of the Great Collection (mahāsam . nipātaparivarta)." He is coming with the assembly of bodhisatvas who have gathered from the worlds of the ten directions for the sake of the joy of the dharma, happiness, the source of great joy, the upholding of the great vehicle, and the wings of awakening of all bodhisatvas." Its Chinese parallels are found in T 397 (8), 94b12-20 and T 404, 614b20-25. 18 For more details on the genres of Mahāyāna texts, cf. (Skilling 2021, pp. 35-36). 19 This shared structure of Mahāyāna literature is universal, but the specific terms, such as nidāna, upodghāta, and parīndanā, are made by later commentators, as seen in the case of the Aks . ayamatinirdeśa. The structure of Mahāyāna sūtras, as well as their styles and formats, may document how the Mahāyāna texts has been interpreted, changed, and developed over the time. 20 The description of such miracles is one of the characteristic features of Ggn. It is unlikely, however, that these miracles were included in the original, or more precisely, an earlier version in the textual development of Ggn. The reason for this is that the earliest extant witness, T. 397(8), briefly treats this section, whereas the later versions, T. 404 and the Tibetan, elaborate on this magical display as an emblematic event that opens the second half of the text. See the comparison of original texts in (Han 2021b, pp. 433-60) 21 According to Bhavya, vidyāmantra (Tib. rig pa'i gsang sngags), which can be translated as "knowledge-mantras," is one of the three mantras (the rest of them are dhāran .ī mantra and guhyamantra). It is concerned with the core teachings of the Buddha, such as pāramitā and caturāryasatya, by which kleśas can be removed. This vidyāmantra is difficult to understand as it is spoken in a language beyond this world (lokottaravākya), or in the language of devas, nāgas, yaks . as, and so forth. For more details, see (Braarvig 1997, pp. 34-37). 22 On the phrase triratnavam .śā nupaccheda in Mahāyāna literature, see (Skilling 2018b). 23 Cf. Johnston (1950), pp. 44-45;D4025, 98a3-b5;T.1611, 833a15-b9: on kleśa (corresponding to Ggn 320b6-321a7). 24 Cf. La Vallée Poussin 1903-1913. 128 on ekadharma (Ggn D281a2-3). 25 Cf.  Wang et al. 2020). The author is indebted to an anonymous reviewer for this reference. 29 Cf. D3910, 12b1-2: on mārakarman (no exact parallels found in the Ggn). 30 Cf. D3796, 62a4: onśūnyatā (no parallels in the Ggn).
"A term (often misspelt leitmotif ) invented (1871) by F. W. Jähns, the expert on Weber, to describe a short constantly recurring mus. phrase or theme used to denote a person, thing, or abstract idea. 'Representative theme' is a good Eng. alternative. Composers throughout history have used the device in one form or another, e.g., Gluck and Mozart, Weber in Der Freischütz, Mendelssohn, Berlioz (the idée fixe in the Symphonie Fantastique), but it was raised to its highest and most complex form by Wagner, especially in Der Ring des Nibelungen, where the subtle combinations of leitmotiv create symphonic textures. Wagner used the term Hauptmotiv in 1867 (Kennedy 1989, p. 579 In this story, the Buddha and the bodhisatva Gaganagañja appear as twin sons of the King Pun . yālam . kāra, Sim . ha and Sim . havikrāntagāmin, who leave the palace to become renunciants. They attain the anuttarasamyaksam . bodhi and lead their father, the King Pun . yālam . kāra, to abdicate his throne and to practice the true dharma as a monk. This story places a particular emphasis on the practice of dānapāramitā, the renouncement of worldly desires (including kingship and kingdom), Gaganagañja's magical display, and most importantly the necessity of becoming a monk. Its translation and original texts, see (Han 2021b, pp. 543-74). 37 For the content, structure, and literary characteristics of the Jinglu yixiang, see (Bai andLi 1995, 1996 This citation is given at the very beginning of the text, describing the meaning of the term mahāyāna using an analogy of a vehicle. The importance of this analogy was first identified by (Braarvig 1993b, pp. xcvi-viii) in his study on the Aks . ayamatinirdeśa, the twelfth chapter of the Mahāsam . nipāta. For the original text and its translation, see (Han 2021b, pp. 607-12). 40 For his life and translational activity as a Shingon monk, see (Kameyama 2017). 41 This is my tentative speculation, but the verse 6. 44 (Emmerick 1968, pp. 122-23) appears to be related to the verses 89, 90, and 91 in the Ggn (cf. Han 2021b, p. 410). Another point I wish to make is that the verse 6. 39, identified as a quotation from the Ajātaśatrukaukr . tyavinodana by Chen and Loukota (2018, p. 138), appears to correspond to the verse 127 in the Ggn in their content and wording (cf. Han 2021b, p. 486).