Ten Stages Sutra
The Ten Stages Sutra (Sanskrit: Daśabhūmika Sūtra; simplified Chinese: 十地经; traditional Chinese: 十地經; pinyin: shí dì jīng) also known as the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, is an early, influential Mahayana Buddhist scripture. The sutra also appears as the 26th chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.
In the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, the Buddha describes ten stages of development that a bodhisattva must progress through in order to accomplish full Enlightenment and Buddhahood, as well as the subject of Buddha-nature and the awakening of the aspiration for Enlightenment.
Commentary
A commentary on the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, the Dasabhūmikabhāsya, was written by Vasubandhu in Sanskrit and translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci and others during the 6th century CE.
The Madhyamakāvatāra is a commentary on the meaning of Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and the Daśabhūmikasūtra-śāstra.
Chinese Daśabhūmikā school
A Daśabhūmikā school in China is said to have existed in China at one time, which centered on this sutra, but was later absorbed by the Huayan school, as the Huayan school's principal sutra, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, already contains the Daśabhūmika Sūtra. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra can also be found in modified form in the thirty-ninth chapter as part of the journey of the bodhisattva Sudhana. The Huayan school declined in China after the death of its fifth and best known patriarch, Zongmi (780–841), but they provided major foundational teachings for the Mahayana schools which exist today, such as Zen. The last vestige of the Huayan school today exists as the Kegon school in Japan, and its last temple is the great Todai-ji, perhaps the largest wooden building in the world.
