The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1815 page)

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Authors: John Bowker

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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p
ramit
literature was innovative in two principal ways:
(i) it advocated the
bodhisattva
ideal as the highest form of the religious life; and
(ii) the ‘wisdom’ it teaches is that of the emptiness (
nyat
) and non-production of phenomena (
dharmas
), rather than their substantial, albeit impermanent, mode of being.
Other important developments in the Perfection of Wisdom literature are the concept of ‘skilful means’ (
up
ya-kau
alya
) and the practice of dedicating one's religious merit to others so that they are assisted in realizing
nyat
in their own case. The major exponent of the Perfection of Wisdom school was
N
g
rjuna
.

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