Aaa

TRENDS IN BUDDHIST STUDIES AMONGST WESTERN SCHOLARS

1980-1999

Vol. 2

Compiled by Michael Drummond

URUWALA DHAMMARATANA

REVIVAL OF VIPASSANA MEDITATION IN RECENT TIMES URUWALA DHAMMARATANA

In recent times people have begun to take an interest in meditation in general and Buddhist meditation in particular. There arc several schools of Buddhist meditation, and they can all be brought under three principal groups: Vipassana or Insight Meditation as practised in Burma, Thailand,

Sri Lanka, etc.; Cb’an or Zen Meditation prevalent in China, Japan, Korea, etc.; and the Tantric form of Meditation followed in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Sikkim, etc. Though they follow various methods and differ in details, they agree on the essential points and that is what matters. Their goal is one and the same—attainment of peace, harmony and happiness culminating in the realization of Nibbana.

This paper is related to Vipassana meditation as taught in the Theravdda tradition. In this connection it has to be noted that Vipassana is the last and the most important part of the Eight-fold Path represented by the three stages of sila or virtue, samadhi or concentration and pafiHn or wisdom. Vipassana is represented by paiinil which leads to the comprehension of the true nature of things and the realization of the ultimate peace of Nibbana.

Though the path has been taught in terms of these three stages, also known as the threefold training ( tisikkha ), the last has been characterised as the very life-blood of Buddhism. The tradition refers to this fact in the following words:

Na hi silavatarh hetu uppajjanti Tathagata 1

aUhakkhara tipi pada Sambuddhena sudesita.

Tathagatas are not bom for promoting virtuous practices (a*onc). (The essence of) the doctrine taught by the fully Enlightened One is enshrined in eight letters and three words.

Here the reference is to the three cliaracteristics ( tilakkliaijani) of the conditioned states ( sankhata-dhamma) namely anicca (impermanent nature), dukkha (unsatisfactory nature) and ancita (unsubstantial nature). They are the very-subject-matter of Vipassana meditation. The gatha in question docs not mean that the teaching of the Buddha attaches all importance to Vipassana and ignores the importance of sila and samadhi. The path being an integrated one, parbia is not possible without samadhi and samadhi is not possible without sila.

The traditional interpretation by implication only means that while Vipassana paniia represents the distinct and essential doctrine of the Buddha, sila and samadhi are common to other religious systems as well, of course with different emphasis on this point or that point, on this aspect or that aspect. This is borne out by the life-story of the Buddha himself. It is said

that as a result of his religious practices under Alarakaldma and Uddakarama- putta, Siddhattha attained higher levels of concentration and tranquillity represented by rUpa-jhSnas and arupa-jhanas. But then he found that they too were conditioned states and as such could not guarantee lasting peace and happiness. He therefore took to the middle path and attained the un¬ conditioned state cf Nibbana. The speciality of this path is pam or wisdom representing Insight-knowledge (vipassand-pa>m) which penetrates into the true nature of things (yathabhma-hanadassana). Hence this importance attached to Vipassana by the tradition.

Since the days of Lord Buddha there was a living tradition of Vipassana meditaticn handed down from teacher to pupil. It continued for several centuries in India and other Buddhist countries. But then, at a certain stage in the history of Buddhism, the continuity of the living tradition was inter¬ rupted by new developments including political upheavals. From the accounts handed down in the tradition, we learn that in the beginning Vipassana was practised even by the lay devotees, and as regards the members of the Sangha it was a regular practice of day-to-day life. However, as a result of the interruption of tha continuity of the living tradition.it came to be con¬ fined only to a few groups and individuals, here and there. And it is evident from the relevant accounts that in spite of their devotion and dedication to the practice of Vipassana, that inspiration, warmth, illumination, joy and the sense- of liberation associated with it in the beginning began to diminish. So in course of time the belief began to gain ground that the age of Arahantas was over and that devotees had to keep on practising Dhamma as far as they could waiting.for the appearance of Buddha Metteyya for their final emancipation. . j

According to an old tradition, Anurddhapura, the capital of Sri Lanka, was once teeming with so many saintly monks accomplished with psychic powers that when they moved to and fro through the space it became rather difficult for the people to dry their paddy due to their shadows.* After making allowance for the hyperbolic language, we can understand the nature of the spiritual climate that might have existed during the period under reference. But then, with the passage of time and the changing conditions, there resulted laxity in the spiritual effort also. The people in the island came to believe that Maliyadeva was the last Arahanta.* Similar beliefs came into existence in ether countries also. This belief became so common and strong that it worked as a formidable obstacle even on the path of those who dedicated themselves to the practice of Dhamma with all seriousness. However, there was an undercurrent of protest against this pessimistic belief and outlook based on the pronouncement made by the Buddha just before his parinibbana that, as long as bhikkhus follow the path of Dhamma, the world would not be devoid of Arahantas . 4 This kept up the sagging spirit of the spiritual life and saved it from extinction. This encou-aging attitude might have given rise to the traditional be'ief that came to prevail in some of the South

and South-East Asian countries for a fairly long time that twenty-five centuries after the parinibbana of the Buddha, there would take place a revival of Buddhism.

It may be mentioned here that it was this traditional belief that paved the way for the celebration of the 2500th Mahaparinibbapa day in 1956 on a grand scale all over the Buddhist world including the land of the Buddha. Certain events have taken place during this period which bear out this traditional belief. Among them what is of the greatest significance is that there has taken place a kind of re-awakening towards certain practical as¬ pects of Buddhism which had been almost lost sight of for. quite a long time. Here special mention has to be made of VipassanS-bhavana or Insight meditation. For a fairly long time it remained confined only to a few groups and individuals at certain places. During the period in question, in certain circles special interest was shown in Vipassana and befeye long it also began to receive popular attention. It was a kind of revival. And this revival of VipassanS practice may be regarded as the revival of Buddhism itself.

This revival first started in Burma and then in other countries. Meditation centres in Burma attracted people from all part* of the world. The memorable occasion of the sixth Buddhist Council (ChaHha Sangayana) highlighted the great event. At present there are meditation centres not only ih traditional Buddhist countries but in other countries as well in both East and West. And people in many countries now take interest in meditation. The reason is there is restlessness in the world which Lord Buddha has characterised as a symptom of dukkha or suffering, the. greatest ailment, and people find Vipassana meditation an effective remedy for the same.

There are several teachers in East and West engaged in giving instructions on Vipassana meditation. Their instructions are mainly based on the Sati- pajtlulna Sutta, the well known discourse of the Buddha on mindfulness, which has been characterised as ‘The Heart of Buddhist Meditation* by Ven. Nyanaponika Mahathera. These meditation teachers may differ in their method of approach and matters of detail but they all agree on the essential points and closely follow the instructions given in the Sutta.

The meditation camps conducted by these teachers .are open to allmen and women, monks and nuns, Buddhists and non-Buddhists. The only binding condition is that they all have to observe the discipline of the camps during the period of the retreat. So far thousands of sadhakas and sadhikas from all the five continents and from different walks of life—farmers, labourers, teachers, doctors, engineers, businessmen, administrators and others—followers of the major religions of the world—Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Christians, Muslims and Jews etc.—have participated in these camps.

At the end of a meditation camp it becomes a matter of joy to listen to the elevating experiences undergone ancf the ennobling benefits received by the participators. I, as one who has participated in some of these camps, should like to refer to some of these benefits, based on two reports which

UKUWALA dhammaratana 85

l have published in two issues of The Media Bodhi . 5 The experiences referred to here are from a cross-section of the participants. It is edifying to know about the immense good done to th<rm by Vipassana. For instance, a business¬ man narrated how he used to spend a restless lift Aiil of worries and anxieties causing physical and mental ailments, and by practising Vipassana he was able to lead a healthy and peaceful life.

A second meditator told, how he indulged in all kinds of distractions to get away from his unpleasant ‘self*. Instead of giving relief, this way of life created more and more complications for him. At last the path of Vipassana taught him how to live a simple life with healthy thoughts and habits leading to peace and happiness.

A third meditator narrated how he used to blame others for the miseries lie suffered. At last Vipassana disclosed to him where the rub was. As a result he discovered that it was his own wayward life led without self-discipline that was responsible for the unhappy situation. And after practising Vipas- saha he was able to settle down in life as a peaceful and useful member of the family and society.

A fourth meditator told how she had beep going after preachers and teachers of Yoga to have peace and happiness, and everywhere she met with disappointment leading to despair. However, at last she was fortunate enough to meet Acharya Sri S. N. Goenkaji who taught her VipassanS which gave her what she had been seeking for all her life.

Thus, every meditator related how he or she had to undergo suffering in one form or the other and the practice of VipassanS gave relief from the same. Dukkha was the common element that urged them to take to the path of Vipassana and the cessation of the same was the common experience they all underwent. On one occasion addressing his disciples Lord # Buddha said: earlier as well as now two things do I teaoh—suffering and the cessation of suffering. 6 This is what Vipassana does—it teaches how to comprehend dukkha and bring about its cessation. These meditation camps had a wonder¬ ful effect on many of them.

Vipassana has not been confined to law-abiding citizens leading the normal way of life. It has now gone to the jails. Some of the officers of the Rajas¬ than government who were greatly impresed by the changes that Vipassana could bring about in the mentality of man, decided to introduce it in jails for the benefit of the prisoners. Accordingly Acharya Goenkaji was invited and he conducted several camps for prisoners—not ordinary convicts but hard-boiled criminals including dacoits and murderers, some serving life sentences. These meditation camps had a salutary effect on many of them. Letters written by some of them regarding their experiences to the medita¬ tion teacher remind one of the udanas of old.

Along with the survey reports of the prison camps and the Police Academy, Rajasthan, we have also published the report of a survey made of the medita¬ tion camps held at Varanasi, by several scientists of the Banaras Hindu

University. The close relation between mind and body i: now an established fact. Mental changes that take place during Vipassana meditation also produce their corresponding changes in the body. They can be studies with reference to breathing, blood-pressure, chemical changes and other pheno¬ mena. Though the technique is not a perfect one which could ascertain subtle changes taking place at deeper levels, it can give satisfactory results as far as it goes. The studies made in the light of this technique also bear testimony to the healthy results of Vipassana meditation.

For some* meditation means a method for achieving miraculous power.

It is true that at the higher levels of samadhi what arc known as abhinilds or super normal powers can be achieved. They develop as a kind of by-pro¬ duct in course of these meditational practices. While samadhi is an essential condition of Vipassana, these supernormal powers are not. Their value is psychic only and not spiritual. Being mundane in nature they are likely to create allurement for the Yogavacara who has not developed full awareness and hinder his path of progress. Therefore the serious student of Vipassana is warned not to take undue interest in them. Even when one is already in possession,o r them one is instructed to be mindful of their conditioned nature in the light of the three characteristics of anicca , dukkha and anatta .

We learn from the texts that Lord Buddha and many of his disciples were in possession of all the five abhinilds related to supernormal poweis. At times they also made use of them to direct the minds of the devotees to¬ wards the higher life. But later on some unscrupulous elements began to abuse these powers, specially iddlti- power. Devadatta’s is a glaring case in point. So by an act of Vinaya performance of miracles was made an offence. This rule of discipline was respected for a fairly long time. But in course of time in certain circles undue importance came to be attached to the performance of miracles. Because of its popular appeal certain obscure cults also came to be built up around miracle-mongering. According to some historians this was one of the factors responsible for the downfall of Buddhism in India.

The meditation teacher takes care.to tell his students not to take to medita¬ tion with this misconception. Vipassana, he tells them, is the art of living a life free from tensions and conflicts. It is a technique for living happy, fruitful and peaceful life while facing problems and situations with equanimity. He also tells them not to have the wrong notion that the ten- day meditation camp would do the job for the whole life. It is just thq initia¬ tion into the technique which one has to keep on practising life-long with diligence and penetrate all levels of physical and mental phenomena.

It is,true that the ultimate goal of Vipassana is Nibbana. Dhamma is a gradual path ( anupubba-palipada ) which is progressive in nature (< opanayiko ). As one walks along the path one enjoys the fruits of liberation. This ex¬ perience one undergoes from the first to the last step on the path. It is not something to be taken for granted but experienced. It is this dynamic aspect

oi the Dhamma that invites one to come and see {ehipasstko) its immediate results ( akaliko).

Lord Buddha says: Just as the ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt, so also this Dhamma has but one taste, the taste of liberation. 7 This is true of the path from beginning to end. This is what is meant when the Dhamma is said to be excellent in the beginning (ddikalydno) excellent in the middle (majjhe-kalydno) and excellent in the end {pariyosana-kalydno).

One who participates in Vipassana camps begins to enjoy this taste of the Dhamma (Dhamma-rasa) as he begins to experience relief from the dukkha that is already there. In the light of this experience he or she can move forward on the path until full liberation from all dukkha is attained.

NOTES

VimuktisaAgraha, p. 154. Ed. TalahSnft Amaram6li, Colombo, 1889 Cullagallavatthu, RasavahinT. Ed. B. Devarakkhita. Colombo 1917.

The there (Mahyadcvs) in quostion is believed to have Hved in the first half of the •3th century He , s al«o believed to have lived in Waparema, which l had the occa. sion to visit the year before last and even saw the stone slab on which he is said to have slept.

MahaparinibbSna Sutta, D II 119.

April 1972 and August-October 1977. The meditation camps under rcfcrcnco were conducted by Acharya Sri S. N. Goenka.

Alagaddupama Sutta, M l 185.

Cullavagga, p. 357.

Duuatmt Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991; - Pasadika

1 Buddhist Studies), Tokyo 1990, p.5

f.; cf. No.39) in J1ABS 12, 1, ppJ58-63.

56 1990: Bechert, H. (cd.) Abkurzungsverzeichnis zur

•1: buddhistischen Literatur in Indien

) und Sudostasieh, Sanskrit-Worter*

| buch der buddhistischen Texte aus

! den Turfan-Funden, Beiheft 3

I (pp.75, 182; 83, 195; 29, 135; 68, 180),

Gdttingen.

57 1991: Galloway, B. ‘Thus Have I Heard: At One Time.

(cf. above Nos 39, 55) in IJJ 34,

2, pp.87-104.

Abbreviations

ASAW Abhandlungen der Sachsischen Akademie d.er .• Wissenscnaften zu Leipzig , Philologisch-historische

Klasse, Akademie Verlag, Berlin.

BST Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, Darbhanga.

EZ Epigraphia Zeylanica, London

I1J Indo-lranian Journal , Dordrecht.

J1ABS Journal of the International Association of Buddhist j

Studies, Madison/Northfield (USA). !

KS Friedrich Weller Kleine Schriften, ed. W. Rau, j

Stuttgart 1987. „ j

M10 Mitteilungen des Instituts fur Orientforschung, !

Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. !

PRS Lewis Lancaster (ed.) Prajhaparamita and Related \

Systems, Berkeley 1977. j

WZKMUL Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der j

Karl-Marx-Universitat Leipzig. '•

CERTAINTY AND THE DEATHLESS

There is a generally held opinion among scholars that at the time of the Buddha there were many lay persons who had become 'arahants, although during the early centuries of Buddhist history this had been a matter of dispute - some insisting that to achieve this goal a person would have to be a bhikkhu or monk, others that a lay person was able to become an. arahant, but could not then retain his lay status. The Theravada tradition is tljat if a layman did become an arahant he either ‘went forth’, that is, entered the Sangha, or passed away ( parinibbayati) that same day (Milindapanha, p.264). In the Tevijja-Vacchagotta Sutta (M 71) the Buddha states that no lay person can become an arahant without getting rid of the ‘householder’s fetter’ (gihisamyojana). The household life was thus not considered propitious for arahantship. Is there, however, any firm evidence in the Sutta Pitaka that lay arahants did exist? As it has been a matter of dispute this seems unlikely, but the purpose of this essay is to examine some of the evidence regarding the problem of the lay arahant and the nature of the ariya-savaka (‘noble disciple’) in Pali canonical literature.

In Dialogues of the Buddha (Vol.HI, p.5), the Rhys Davids’ translation of the DIgha Nikaya; there is a footnote giving several references said to demonstrate the existence of lay arahants at the time of the Buddha. The first reference is to Vin I (p.17) where Yasa becomes an arahant while the Buddha instructs his (i.e. Yasa’s) father. In fact Yasa was not at that

Buddhist Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Ireland

moment a bhikkhu, but the circumstances being such he could hardly be said to be living an ordinary lay life. He immediately afterwards asks for the ‘going forth’, thus conforming to the tradition mentioned above. On consulting the second reference, S V 94, this mentions nothing about arahants lay or otherwise and . must be an error. The next reference is to A III 451 which consists of the names of twenty or sc laymen and of each it is said that he '. . . has arrived at certainty regarding the Tathagata, has seen the Deathless and lives (motivated by) having experienced the Deathless’ (. . . tathagate nitthangato amataddaso amaiam sacchikatva iriyati).

That this passage does not refer to lay arahants is confirmed by the Commentary. It merely alludes to the fact that these laymen are ariya-sdvaka, assured of salvation. However, it is this reference (apparently) that has been adduced as being the main evidence for the existence of lay arahants by modern scholars. That the laymen named did indeed become either sotapannas, sakaddgdmins or anagamins (stream-enterers, once-returners,- non-returners) can be confirmed by consulting the further references to them to be found in various places 1 . Most are well-known individuals, such as Anathapindika, Mahanama, Purana, Isidatta, Hatthaka of A|avl, etc, whose fates are known from elsewhere in the Sutta Pitaka, but there are no arahants on the list

That this Ahguttara passage has been thought to refer to laymen becoming arahants was evidently due to C.A.F. Rhys Davids’ misunderstanding of it and EM. Hare’s translating it

i V Buddhist Studies Review 8. 1-2 (1991) - Ireland

incorrectly in Gradual Sayings. Hare’s rendering of nitthahgata as ‘gone to the end’ (GS III, pp.313-14) is wrong if the various other contexts where the word occurs are consulted. Nittha does indeed mean ‘end, conclusion’, but in combination with the verb gacchati (‘to go’), it evidently means ‘to come to a conclusion (about something), to be sure, to be certain, to come to or arrive at a certainty’. Note that the Pali idiom ‘gone’ is used where in English we would say ‘come’. In the Cuja-Hatthipadoma Sutia (M 27), for example, occurs the sentence: ‘When I saw four footprints in the Samana Gotama I was ' 1 certain [or, I came/went to the conclusion, nittham agamaml 'The Blessed One is fully enlightened..

- In the Ahguttara passage, too, it is the Buddha or Tathagata who is referred to. Again, in the Udana Commentary (p.76) occurs this sentence: Therefore it must be concluded ( nittham..

. gantabbam), not by water is one cleansed.’

The negative anitthahgata is also found (e.g. A II 174, S HI 99), meaning ‘being unsure, uncertain’, and is a synonym of hesitation or doubt ( kahkhita , vicikicchita ). It ought to be obvious that an adaptation of ‘gone to the end’ would not fit the examples quoted, nor is it likely anywhere else where the expression occurs. However, following Hare’s rendering, it is probably Lamotte’s paraphrase of this Ahguttara passage in his Histoire du bouddhisme indien that has been crucial in misleading many scholars and authors. He says ‘The Ahguttara knows of some twenty lay people. . . who attained the end • (nistha ), the Imm 9 rtal ( amrta ), without ever having taken up the

religious life’ 2 . This is a distorted and misleading account of what the text actually says. Nevertheless, it has apparently been accepted without question by many ever since it appeared in 1958 and it is thus this reference that is most often cited as evidence for the existence of lay arahants 3 ^

Far from implying some final attainment, tathdgate nitthahgato simply means the person concerned has reached a conclusion about the Tathagata; he has the certainty that the Buddha is indeed fully enlightened. It is because he has acquired the faith or confidence ( saddha) that arises through knowledge and insight into the Dhamma taught by the Buddha. His certainty arises because he has actually ‘seen the Deathless’ for himself. He is amataddaso• ‘one who sees ( daso ) the Deathless ( amata )’. The Buddha has revealed to him the four Noble Truths ( ariya-sacca ), specifically the ending of suffering, which is the Deathless, and the path leading to it And he has understood it, that is, he has acquired Right View and thus

2 Etienne Lamollc, History of Indian Buddhism , English tr. by Sara Webb-Bom [correctly Boin-Webb], Louvain 1988, p.SO.

3 Richard Robinson, in what is obviously a quote of this Lamotte passage, states, ‘The Sutras lirt twenty upasakas who attained the highest goal without ever becoming monks* ( The Buddhist Religion , Belmont 1970, p37>, also H.W. Schumann, ‘The Pali Canon lists the names of twenty-one householders who became Arahants without ever becoming monks’ (The Historical Buddha , tr. by M.O’C. Walshe, London 1989, p.191). And Nathan Katz too, when he says, 'Certainly if one reads the primary texts on this issue, one learns of numerous lay arahants* (Buddhist Images of Human Perfection , Delhi 1982, p.179), one may haiard a guess he is referring to Lamotte. These are just three examples.

stepped onto the Path, the ariya-magga*. Right View is acquired by hearing the Teaching with the Dhamma-ear (<dhammasota) and seeing the goal by having the Dhamma-eya (dhammacakkhu) opened for him by the Buddha. It is by means of the Dhamma-eye that the Deathless is seen. The whole process is described in the story of Suppabuddha the leper (Udana 5,3), where the Buddha by a gradual talk prepares Suppabuddha’s mind, uplifts and purifies it from the hindrances to understanding, and when the moment is right, reveals the four Truths: suffering, origination, cessation and the Path. Whereupon the ‘stainless Dhamma-eye arises’ that sees ‘whatever . is of the nature to originate (through conditions), all that is of a nature to. cease (through their removal)’. Suppabuddha declares he has understood, affirqjs his faith in the Buddha by.going for refuge, and is later said to have become a sotapanna. The point is, Nibbiina.or the Deathless or the four Truths are seen at the moment of entry onto the ariyan-plane. Thus, to have ‘seen the - Deathless’ is again not a final attainment, but the initiation into what, for us who have not seen it, must remain a profound mystery; the opening of the ‘door to the Deathless’, whereby the ordinary person, the outsider or puthujjana , is transformed into an ariya-savaka.

However, there is still work to be done, the Path has still to be trodden, and this is indicated by the ending of this brief Ahguttara passage. The verb iriyati means: ‘to go on, to proceed, to progress, to live or behave in a particular way’. It

4 The Path always begins with Right View and progresses stepwise in a causal sequence as indicated in the Mahacattarisaka Sutta (M 117). This is despite Nyanatiloka’a denial, - see his Buddhist Dictionary under ‘Magga*.

indicates activity, movement, and the reason for it is because of 'having experienced, or realised, the Deathless’ (amatapi sacchikatva). In other words, the experience of having seen the Deathless is now the motivating force in his life, that impels him onward towards its final attainment

Are there any other references in the Sutta Pitaka that can establish there were arahants at the time of the Buddha who continued living as laymen? We believe there are none that stand up to serious consideration. There is S V 410, for instance, which deals with how a wise lay-follower ( sapahho upasako) should admonish another wise lay-follower who is sick so that the latter gets rid of all attachments. It ends with the Buddha declaring there is no difference between such a layman who so avers and a bhikkhu who is rid of the asavas (i.e an arahant). However, the point is that this is a deathbed exhortation and so conforms to the idea, mentioned above, that the attainment of the highest goal by a lay person necessitates either dying or ’going forth’ as a bhikkhu. Another example of such an exhortation is that of Sariputta instructing Anathapirujika as he lay on his deathbed (M 143), but this did not lead to Anathapindika becoming an arahant. Here it is said that he was a sotapanna and after death was reborn as a deva in the Tusita heaven.. Another possibility is the Sekha Sutta (M 53), which was addressed to a company of lay people headed by Mahanama the Sakyan. This deals with the course of training leading up to the highest goal. But practising this course necessitates becoming a bhikkhu, for the Sutta states that the disciple undertakes to observe the Patimokkha and thus implies the removal of the ‘householder’s fetter’: the ownership of property, the accumulation and storing of possessions, the procreation of children and so forth.

It may seem unfair that the laity are excluded from the highest goal. However, this view is based upon a number of misconceptions and the assumption of a rivalry between the laity and the Sangha, an assumption for which there is no justification at the time of the Buddha. Although arahantship evidently necessitated living the bhikkhu-life, lay people could be sotapannas, sakadagamins and anagamins, and many were, and in large numbers,'if the suttas are to be believed. All these constituted the Blessed One’s community of disciples assured of salvation, the ariya-sahgha. And not only human beings, for divine beings, too,«devas and brahmas from the various heavenly worlds, were included in this spiritual community. It is this ariya-sahgha in its entirety that is said to be \.. worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of salutation, an incomparable field of merit for the world’, it should be noted, and not merely the Bhikkhu Sangha per se as is sometimes suggested and assumed. All these various kinds of noble persons are equally assured of salvation, in contrast to the puthujjana, the outsider, who has had no such assurance. So the sotapanna, etc. should not be regarded as being inferior to the arahant in this respect There is also another consideration. The Thetavada commentarial tradition assumes that the goal of all * Buddhist endeavour is arahantship and the three ‘lower* paths of the sotapanna, etc. are stages on the way to that goal. However, in the suttas themselves there is very little to support this theory and it may be that originally the four ‘paths’ were possibly regarded not as ‘stages’ but as alternative goals that . were realised by. the individuals concerned. Depending upon the capacity of the person - perhaps due to past kamma which varied for each individual - upon being instructed in the Dhamma, he or she attained one or other of the paths (of the

Buddhist Studies Review 8,1-2 (1991) - Ireland *

sotapanna, etc.). This instruction in the Dhamma is sometimes said to be initiated by the Buddha when he perceives, by reading the minds of his audience, someone there is capable (J bhabbo) of understanding it and realising one or other of these paths, as was the case with the leper Suppabuddha. In the suttqs, furthermore, once named individuals are declared to be sotapannas, etc., it is never said they finally ended as another kind of noble person (ariya-pug gala). Nor is it ever suggested that those who became arahants had first to become sotapannas, then sakadagamins and anagdmins as is assumed in the Commentaries. In fact it is the definitions of these various persons that preclude one kind from becoming any other, as Horner once pointed out 5 . All are equal in that, upon being taught the Dhamma by the Buddha, they have been granted a vision of the Deathless and established upon the path leading to its actualisation, to ahhd or final knowledge. However, the several kinds of ariya-savaka are distinguished by the length of time they must continue in existence before realising this aim, this probably being due to the nature of their past kamma still awaiting fruition. The arahant attains ahhd ‘here in this present life’ ( ditth’eva dhamme, ‘in this invisible state’). In a number of places (e.g. S V 237, etc.) it is said, if a person *.. .does not attain ahhd beforehand [patihacca , a gloss on ditth’eva dhamme) here in this present life, then he attains it at the time of dying. If he does not attain ahhd beforehand here in this present life nor... at the time of dying, then by the destruction of the five lower

5 LB. Horner, Early Buddhist Theory of Man Perfected , London 1936, p.223f. See also Peter Masefield, Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism , London 1986, P .127f,

fetters he attains extinction in the interval’ (antara-parinibbayi < ‘, i.e. without returning ‘here’, that is, he is the first of the five kinds of anagdmin or non-returner). Elsewhere, final knowledge in this present life and the state of non-returning are called the twin fruits-of the holy life ( brahmacariya ) 7 For the sakadagamin and the sotapanna a yet longer period must elapse before final knowledge is attained. They have to undergo several more births up to a maximum of seven. The significance of all this is that, once an individual has left his present life before attaining ahhd, he has passed beyond the point where he could become an arahant. Moreover, the once-returner or sakadagamin, because he is a ‘returner’ cannot, naturally, then become a non-returner and so forth.

Not only could lay people become sotapannas, sakadaga¬ mins and anagdmins, but references in the Sutta Pitaka to the -first and second especially allude more often to the lay ariya-savaka than to the bhikkhu. This is in contradiction to the view sometimes stated by modern writers 8 . In fact when.

6 This is a term of uncertain meaning. There are a number of reasons for thinking it ma> indicate the existence of an 'intermediate slate* between death and rebirth, an antarabhava , and accepted as such by some Buddhist schools, the Sarvaslivada, etc. But this is not countenan^d in the Theravada .*xegetical tradition which denies the existence of such a slate. For an examination of this problem see Masefield, op. cit ., p.l09f.

7 E.g. M 10; It, suttas 45-7, etc. *. . . one of these two fruits is to be expected, final knowledge in this present life or, there being some residual defilement ( upadisesa\ the state of non-returning.

8 E.g. Steven Collins, Selfless Persons , Cambridge 1982, p.92, says, *. . . the idea of being a person on the Path, and therefore at least a stream-winner

upon being instructed in the Dhamma by the Buddha, a person • declares he goes for refuge ‘to the Lord, to the Dhamma and to the Order of bhikkhus’ and then says, ‘May the Lord accept me as a lay-follower as one gone for refuge from this day forth for ; as long as life lasts’, one may conclude that person to be an ariya-savaka and at least on the sotapanna path. Whereas if, , instead of becoming a lay-follower, he says, ‘May I, Lord, receive the going forth in the Lord’s presence...’, this is almost ; invariably followed by, ‘Then the venerable so-and-so. . . soon realised even here in this present life through his own direct knowledge that unequalled goal of the holy life. . . And the venerable so-and-so became one of the arahants’. It seems as if it is expected that one who goes forth will become an arahant, or that he goes forth because he knows he has the capability to become one.

In the Maha-VacchagOtta Sutta (M 73) there is found a threefold division of the Buddha’s followers. First there are the monks and nuns who are arahants, then there are the lay-followers who are of two kinds (1) householders, both men and women, who are living’the holy life ( brahmacariya , which must mean the practice of celibacy here) and are anagamins, and (2) householders of both sexes who are enjoyers of serise-pleasures (i.e. non-celibates) who ‘have accepted the Teaching, overcome doubt and perplexity (i.e. ‘have arrived at certainty’) and live confident and independent of others in the

( sotapanna), must originally have meant no more than being a monk*. This is not the picture one derives from the early Pali literature. It is more likely sotapanna was a term brought in to accommodat3 the pious lay-follower who was unable to take the step of 'going forth* into homelessness.

Teacher’s instruction’. Of each of these six categories (three pairs of male and female) the Buddha says there are not merely a hundred. . . five hundred, but many more such followers and Vacchagotta remarks that if any one of these categories was missing the holy life propagated by the good Gotama would be incomplete in this regard.

That there actually existed lay people who were celibates during the Buddha’s'lifetime may seem surprising, even a novel idea, hardly mentioned in modern Buddhist writings. However, although the large numbers could be attributed to pious exaggeration, that they existed is confirmed in one or two other places. There is, for example, the instance of Ugga of Hatthigama who gave up his four young wives, giving the eldest in marriage to a man of her choice, when he became an anagamin (A IV 214). It is because the anagamin, like the arahant, is rid of the five lower fetters ( samyojand ) that bind beings to the sensual world that he leads a life of continence (brahmacari). The sotapanna and sakadagamin, the ‘enjoyers of sense-pleasures’ and hence still sexually active, while having overcome the three fetters of personality-belief C sakkaya-ditthi ), doubt and attachment to outward observances, still have the fetters of sensual desires and malevolence and will return again after death to this world, the Kamaloka (the world of sense-desires). The anagamin is free of these fetters although not yet free of the five higher fetters, and so will arise in the Pure Abodes of the form world (Rupaloka), but cannot return again here to the Kamaloka. The arahant, being rid of all fetters, is not. liable to be reborn anywhere. The higher fetters are: desire for form and formless realm existence, conceit.

restlessness and ignorance 9 . It is the subtle residual clinging i

supplied by these fetters that enables the anagamin to continue \

living a limited lay-life. It is the absence of these fetters in the arahant that precludes him from so living and for whom thei Bhikkhu Sangha was established by the Buddha.

A number of lay anagamins, such as Hatthaka of Alav! and Ugga of Vesali, are said to have had large numbers of followers. Although the Commentaries sometimes suggest their following was of a purely secular nature, that they were communal leaders, headmen or rajas, it does seem more likely they were actually preachers of the Dhamma with other lay people, as their pupil-disciples. After he passed away, Hatthaka visited the • Buddha as a brahma-god of the Aviha heaven and remarked that now devas come from afar to hear the Dhamma from him (A 1 279). Citta of Macchikasanda even instructed bhikkhus (cf. Citta Samyutta, S IV 281ff).

A distinction perhaps should be drawn between the actual state of affairs and the ‘ideal’ picture that is presented (e.g. in M 73, Ud 6,1, etc.). There must have been many who heard the Buddha preach but remained unaffected and we learn of quarrelsome, badly behaved monks, schismatics and so forth.

9 Perhaps ‘ignorance’ as a translation of avijja, especially in the context of the sarnyojana, may be misleading. It cannot here refer to ignorance as stupidity or delusion (moha) % but rather the absence of the specific knowledge(s) possessed by the arahant, that is. the threefold knowledge or tcvijja : the knowledge of former births, seeing the arising and passing away of other beings according to kamma, and especially ’.he knowledge of the ending of the flow of defilements (dsawj).

These were the puthujjana , those who were apart ( putliu ) from the ‘ariya’. They were outsiders, foolish people who could not comprehend the Dhamma when it was taught to them and retained their various erroneous views. The ideal was that all bhikkhus should be arahants and that the attainment of the arahant* path was the sole reason for going forth. The laity then consisted of both celibate anagamins and sotapannas still enjoying sense-pleasures, all entirely devoted to the Buddha and supplying the Order of bhikkhus with its needs. The arahant bhikkhus were full-time professionals, the elders of the edittmunity, the guardians of the Teaching, instructors and advisors. Whether or not this ideal was ever realised during the lifetime of the Buddha, after his passing away the criya-sahgha underwent a rapid decline. And-indeed this was inevitable. The literal meaning of savaka is ‘hearer’ and upon the departure of the Buddha there would soon be no more of that *. . . community of "those who had heard" (the Dhamma directly from) the Blessed One’ (the bhagavato savaka-sahgho). Thus Subhadda was not only the last savaka converted by the •Buddha (D II153), but the last savaka of all!

Although there would still be those who by their own efforts successfully practised the Path to enlightenment, as is testified throughout the long history of Buddhism, this was on a more limited scale than formerly. Evidently few savakas were able to' make others ‘see the Deathless’ in the same way that the Buddha could. And it would be more difficult to ‘arrive at the certainty’ of faith in the Blessed One when one could no longer meet him face to face. As the venerable Ananda said, shortly after the Buddha passed away, ‘There is not even one bhikkhu, brahmin, who is possessed in every way and in every part of all those things of which the Lord was possessed... this Lord was

one to make arise a path that had not arisen before, to- bring about a path not brought about before, to show a path not , shown before... But the savakas are now path-followers who

do so by following after him’ (M 108).

Interestingly, as Peter Masefield has pointed out 10 , when it is said the Buddha ’makes arise a path... shows a path’, this must

| have been meant in the sense of making it arise in a particular

' person on a particular occasion and not in a general sense of

propagating a universal teaching for all. Despite the Buddha’s stricture on accepting teachings based on hearsay, the latter view arose after the passing of the Buddha and the disappearance of the original savaka-sahgha when direct contact j was no longer possible. The Buddhist community had to come

to terms with this new situation and to interpret what had been collected and preserved of what the Buddha had said and taught. In this interpretation one of the ideas that appeared‘was that jhe [j four paths were stages on the way to the ultimate attainment of

} Nibbana, and this in turn has led inevitably to further changes

j in outlook in present day Theravada Buddhism. If the view is

i entertained that arahantship is to be regarded as the sole goal of

] Buddhist endeavour and the sotapanna, etc. is relegated to a

stage on the way to that goal, then the tendency is to regard the

j j; arahant as the only true ‘ariyan disciple’. Again, if the arahant

j; has to be a bhikkhu, the ariya-sangha is then conceived as

| l some kind of elite within the Bhikkhu Sangha itself. The laity

being excluded from any meaningful spiritual attainment is then demoted to a secondary role. In recent times undue emphasis has been placed upon the social division‘of the Buddhist world.

10 Masefield, op. cil^ pp.141-2.

widening the gulf between the Sangha and the laity, and even going so far as to identify the latter with the puthujjana. However, this is to ignore and confuse the evidence of the texts themselves, which conceived of a spiritual dimension cutting across the purely social divide of the bhikkhu and the layman.

EPITHETS OF THE BUDDHA

L Buddho dasdbalo satthd sabbahhu dipaduttamo Munindo bhagava natho cakkhuma (a)hgiraso muni.

1. The Awakened One, Him of the Ten Powers, the Teacher,

the All-knowing One, the Supreme Biped. The Lord of Sages, the Blessed One, the Protector, the Seeing One, the Resplendent One, the Sage.

2. Lokandtho (a)nadhivaro mahesi ca vinayako Samantacakkhu sugato bhuripanho ca maraji.

2. The World Protector, the Unexcelled One, the Great Seer and the Guide. The All-seeing One, the Happy One, Him of Extensive Wisdom and the Conqueror of Mara.

3. Narasiho naravaro dhammaraja mahamuni Devadevo lokagaru dhammasami tathdgato Sayambhu sammasambuddho varapahno ca nayako

3. The Lion of Men, the Excellent Man, the Dhamma-king, the

Great Sage. The God of Gods, the World Teacher, the Dhamma-Lord, the Thus-Gone. The Self-made, the Fully Enlightened One, Him of Excellent Wisdom and the Leader.

4. Jino sakko tu siddhattho ca gotamo Sakyasiho tatha sakyamuni va (a)diccabandhu ca.

4. The Conqueror the Sakyan, then .the Accomplished One, (Son of) Suddhodana and Gotama. The Lion of the Sakyas, also the Sakyan Sage and the Kinsman of the Sun.

(Moggallana’s Abhidhanappadipika, edited by Velligalla Siddhattha, Ceylon 1900, p2. Translated by John D. Ireland)

METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE LANGUAGE OF THE EARLIEST BUDDHIST TRADITION

The almost simultaneous publication of works by Franklin Edgerton on Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (Grammar!Dictionary!Reader, New Haven 1953; Delhi 1970) and by Heinrich Liiders on the language of the original Buddhist Canon (Beobachtungen uber die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons, ed. W. Waldschmidt, Berlin 1954) touched off a scholarly discussion on the language of . the earliest Buddhist tradition and on the nature of the Middle Indian dialects underlying ‘Buddhist Sanskrit’, which was reflected not only in the numerous reviews of both these works, but also in a series of articles in academic journals. At that time, a symposium on this subject was held during the German Oriental Conference (‘Deutscher Orientalistentag’) in 1954. It should be emphasised, however, that this interest failed to produce a general communis opinio regarding the questions that were raised, or that was even accepted by the greater part of the scholarly world; indeed, the discussion merely seemed to die away. It was revived, however, more than twenty years later, and most of the relevant arguments as well as various theories were formulated in the volume Die Sprache der altestcn buddhistischen Uberlieferung/The Language of the Earliest Buddhist

Buddhist Studies Review 8. 1-2 (1991) - Bechert

Tradition (ed. H. Bechert, Gottingen 1980) 1 . Relevant problems were further discussed by Oskar von Hinuber ( Das altere Mittelindisch im (Jberblick, Vienna 1986). and by K.R. Norman in various essays.

The question, of course, has a long history. Both N.L. Westergaard ( Om de oeldeste Tidsrum i den indiske Historic med Hensyn til Literatures Copenhagen 1860, p.84) and EA.W. Kuhn ( Beitrage zur Paligrammatik, Berlin 1875, especially pp.6 and 9) had asserted long ago that the language of the Pali Canon could not be identical with the language spoken by the Buddha himself, as the Sinhalese tradition maintains. Both identified Pali as the language of UjjayanI, and their most prominent follower has been R.O. Franke ( Pali und Sanskrit, Strassburg 1902, p.131 ff.). Franke even proposed that the tradition according to which Kaccayana, the author of the oldest surviving Pali grammar, had lived in Ujjeni', should v be considered ‘a dim recollection* of this original Pali (op. pit ., p.139, n.2; cf. also O. von Hinuber, ‘Zur Geschichte de§ Sprachnamens Pali’, Beitrage zur Indienforschung. Ernst Waldschmidt zum 80. Geburtstag gewidmet, Berlin 1977, pp.237-46).

In 1912 Sylvain Levi proposed the thesis that a language of the ’precanonical’ Buddhist tradition could be detected in the

1 This essay is based on my paper ‘AUjemeine Bemerkungen zum Thema "Die Sprache der aliesten buddhistischen Oberlieferung" therein, representing methodological considerations which, it seems to me, remain valid for the further study of the problems involved. even, today. I wish to thank James Di Crocco for preparing the English translation and Philip Pierce for rereading

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earliest terminology of the Buddhists, especially in the terms used in the Vi nay a; he maintained that in this ‘precanonical* language - and by this he meant essentially what H. Oldenberg (e.g. in ‘Studien zur Geschichte des buddhistischen Kanons*, NAWG 1912, p.206 = Kleine Schrifte/i 2, Wiesbaden 1967, p.1024) somewhat misleadingly called simply ‘MSgadhf -.the intervocalic tenues are weakened (S. Levi, ‘Observations sur une langue precanonique du bouddhisme’, JA 1912, pp.495 ff; cf. also E.J. Thomas, ‘Pre-Pali Terms in the Patimokkha’, Festschrift M. Winternitz, Leipzig 1933, pp.161 ff.). H. Luders, who had already taken up this problem in connection with his epigraphical studies (see ‘Epigraphische Beitrage’ III, 1913 = Philologica Indica, Gottingen 1940, p.288), stated at first that ’the earliest Buddhist scriptures were written in Old ArdhamSgadhf, and that ‘the works constituting the available Pali canon, like those of the Sanskrit canon are, at least in part, translations of works in Old Ardhamagadhl*. Later he called the language in question simply an ‘eastern dialect’ or also ‘the eastern language’ (cf. Beobachtungen uber die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons, p.8) and used the term ‘Urkanon’ - ‘original canon’ - for the material underlying the available texts. W. Geiger advanced a different opinion; he stated that ‘Pali was not a pure MagadhI, but was rather a kind of lingua franca based on MSgadhi which the Buddha himself had used’, and that ‘the Pali canon represented an attempt to reproduce the buddhavacanaiji in its original form 4 (Pali Literatur und Sprache, Strassburg 1916, p.4). As we know, there was no general agreement with Geiger’s thesis. Finally Helmer Smith (*Le futur moyen indien’, JA.1952, , p.178) stated that we must postulate the existence of a ‘koine gangetique, dont l’ardhamagadhl et le pall represented les normalisations les plus anciennes’ for the period in question. If this is accepted, then the approach to the problem of

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Buddhist Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Beehert

methodology must be quite different from that of the scholars quoted above.

We can proceed from the above on the assumption that none of the canonical texts exactly reflects* the language of the Buddha or even of the earliest Buddhist tradition, and that accordingly the various textual versions are based in one way or another on earlier stages of the tradition couched in a different linguistic form. Thus we must further assume that there has been a transference of the texts from one linguistic form to another, with or without intermediate stages, either in the form of a deliberate translation or a gradual transformation in the oral tradition. In the course of this transformation certain peculiarities have been preserved which represent the linguistic form of earlier stages of the tradition that has since been lost. We have agreed to call these ’Magadhisms’, and some of them might well have belonged to the language of the Buddha. The primary task now before us is to make sure that we are fully aware of the implications of the terminology which we employ in this field. A second essential task is to move our thinking ahead from the isolated discussion of certain individual observations of a linguistic nature, on which we have concentrated the greater part of our deliberations to date, to a consideration of the broader interrelationship of the questions associated with our problem. Thirdly, we must review our research methods and strive to develop them even further, and we should make use of the results of research into related developments outside India.

Now 1 should like to try to formulate some questions in this vein and thereby venture some suggestions as to how we should go about the problem, without in any sense intending to

propose definite-solutions. In this connection it would be best to start with the subject itself, which has long been formulated as the question* of what was ‘the language of the Buddha*. Taking into consideration the circumstances of the life of the Buddha as we know them, we can certainly come up with conjectures about which local dialect the Buddha must have spoken, but it would be much more appropriate to formulate the question in such a way that what we are really setting out to find is the linguistic form of what we term the ‘earliest Buddhist tradition’ - that is, the body of traditional material that underlies all the variants of the tradition that have come down to'us, and thus represents, as it were, the archetype of the Buddhist tradition. At this point it is only natural to recall the passage in the Vinaya where the Buddha himself may have given US’ a due as to the linguistic form in which his teaching was transmitted (see E Lamotte, History of Indian Buddhism, Louvain-la-Neuve 1988, pp.552-5), and along with it the controversy over the interpretation of this passage. (Sec John Brough, ‘Sakaya niruttiya: Caul kale het\ Die Sprache der altesien buddhistischen Oberlieferung, pp.3542.)

The question as to the linguistic form of the earliest Buddhist tradition cannot be separated from the question of the content and structuring of this tradition. Was there really such a thing as an ‘Urkanon’, or is it not more likely that separate bodies of traditional material came to be integrated into one Canon, gradually at first, in the course of the dissemination and diversification of Buddhism, eventually to form the ’earliest tradition*? The corpus of traditional material would then have been organised into Pitakas, Nikayas, Agamas, Angas, etc., in accordance with various principles of classification. It now appears as if, along with the fusion of distinct regional traditions

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into supra-regional streams, there also ensued a fusion of different principles of organisation, in accordance with which the division into Pi;akas was largely accomplished; the other organisational systems which originally had equal standing were then used for the subdivision of the Sutrapipika. It would thus seem that these same organisational principles were applied simultaneously at several places, independently of each other, to traditional material which itself had already become locally diversified, so that many correspondences arose which would not necessarily have had to derive from an archetype. Consequently we have to be extremely sceptical about any assumption that an ‘Urkanon’ ever actually existed.

We can now formulate our question more precisely. In every case we much check to see at what stage of development certain complexes of tradition were so organised that they could already be regarded as constituting a structured -literary work. There can be no doubt that this occurred very early for the formulary for confession (P. pdtimokkha, Skt. pr&fitnoksd), it is much more difficult, however, to determine.in which phase of the tradition the formu'aries for governing the life of the community (P. kammavaca, Skt karmavdeandft) were put in order and came to underlie the broader context of a skandhaka text. For the history of the formation of the VinayapUaka we can refer to the book by E Frauwailner O'he Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature , Rome 1956) and to an entire series of other studies which have appeared since, while for the text of the four Nikayas or Agamas no really serious attempt to reconstruct the four ‘Ur-Agamas has yet been undertaken. So far as we can see at this time, such an attempt would probably be doomed to failure, because in this case the application of the principles of organisation was introduced at a

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time when the local diversification of the tradition was already further advanced than with the Vinaya. The compilations available to us hardly go back to any ‘Ur-Agamas’, but originated as the result of local applications of the same principles of organisation to bodies of traditional material that were still largely in agreement. As a natural consequence of this, various compilations of texts came into being that resembled each other in many respects, and their similarities can lead to the erroneous Gumption that there might have been an original form of the corpus as a whole.

Besides, in the e*ly period we must also take into account numerous borrowings from other branch traditions; thus we arc dealing with a tradition that is largely ‘contaminated’, and consequently if we try to reconstruct the oldest form of the tradition on the principle of a genealogical tree we can easily go astray.

The question now arises as to when the tradition was actually established in definite form. Buddhist tradition of course maintains that the texts were already established at the time of the First Council, but were still being transmitted orally for a long time thereafter - in Ceylon from the advent of the • Thcravada until the time of King Vattagamani Abhaya (89-77 B.C.EJ. As for the traditional date when the Pali Canon was first written down, we can declare with certainty tM . in view of the most recent research into the source history of the Ceylonese chronicles, the traditional account constitutes reliable • historical information. Also, if my conjecture is correct that the 1 process of committing these texts to writing had actually been initiated in the motherland some time previously, we can reject outright the possibility that a written translation into Pali of the

Buddhist Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert

Buddhist Studies Review 8, 1-2 (1991) - Bechert