DarmamuKa
dharma-mukha , nt. , entrance or introduction to the [Page280-b] doctrine or to religion, way of entering it; so correctly Burnouf on SP 53.5 , introductions à la loi , confirmed by Tib. on LV 161.14 chos kyi sgo rnam , doors or entrances to the doctrine or to religion . They are usually said to be very numerous: dharmāmukhā (°mā° m.c. ) koṭisahasr' aneke prakāśayiṣyanti anāgate 'dhve SP 53.5 ( vs ); asaṃkhyeyāni dharmamukha-śatasahasrāṇi niścaranti sma LV 128.8 (as the alphabet is recited, religious dicta come forth); a formulaic list, beginning (akṣayavimokṣa)-saṃbhedaṃ nāma dharmamukha(ṃ) Gv 195.24 ; sarvadharmaśubhavyūhaṃ nāma dharmam° 196.3 , and others in 196.5—6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20 , etc. (the names are pompous but unilluminating); (sarvaromamukhebhyo) vividhāni dharmamukhāni niścaramāṇāny aśrauṣīt Gv 515.5 , foll. by: yad uta, bodhisattvaguṇavarṇa-mukhāni dānapāramitā-mukhāni etc. (the cpds. become longer and more embracing as they proceed); precisely four are listed in LV 182.5 ff. , (bodhisattvaḥ …) catvāri dharmamukhāny āmukhīkaroti sma … (6) yad idaṃ … catuḥsaṃgrahavastu-prayoga-nirhāraviśuddhiṃ ca nāma dharmamukhaṃ … (and three other even more complicated ones, showing no clear relation to the Gv lists; it seems clear that there was no standard or accepted list); (bodhisattvāḥ …) dharmamukhaiḥ saṃcoditavyā bhavanti LV 161.14 , are to be instigated (to withdraw from the world) by (the utterance of) introductions to religion (such as those which then follow in verses).