UPĀYA is a Sanskrit and Pali term meaning "device, strategem," or "means." The term has a technical function in Buddhism, especially in the Mahāyāna, where it is frequently used in the compound upāyakauśalya ("skill in means"). In Buddhist usage, it refers to certain manners of teaching or forms of practice that may be employed along the path to final release, and in which a buddha or bodhisattva is especially skilled. Often, these involve the skillful evaluation of the spiritual capacities of beings on the part of a buddha or bodhisattva, and a concomitant revelation of just that degree of truth that is most beneficial to the specific religious needs of the devotee. The usual Chinese equivalent is fangbian (Jpn., hōben). Although fangbian is an ordinary Chinese word with its own distinct meaning, owing to various terminological conflations its...