1

BUDDHISM
PAST AND PRESENT


















OUA Unit REL15
Peter Friedlander
2































Copyright Peter Friedlander
Last saved: Monday, 17 January 2011
3
PREFACE
Buddhism Past and Present is an introduction to the history of the Indian Buddhism. The
aim is to present, not only to a historical outline of Indian Buddhism, but also some of the
major issues which are involved in the study of this subject.
The origins of this book are to be found in my own personal and academic interest in
Buddhism. In particular I have been involved in Insight meditation for since the mid
1980s and have been teaching about the history of Buddhism since 1993.
This book forms the lecture notes for the subject Buddhist Studies 1 which I have taught
for La Trobe University as a distance education subject delivered via Open Learning
Australia since 1999.
This is a revised version of this book made in August 2010 from a version I made in
March 2002 incorporating some updates to earlier versions taking into account
developments in the study of Buddhism since I first wrote this book in 1998. This pdf
version of the book contains a number of problems with fonts which I have not
completely resolved, but hopefully it may still be useful to you when you are searching
for things in the book.

4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to thank all the teachers who have introduced me to Buddhist
meditation practice. In particular, Christopher Titmuss, from whom I first learnt Insight
meditation, the late Godwin Samararatne, and Angarika Munindra.
Second, I would like to thank Tadeusz Skorupski who organised the Buddhist Forum
meetings at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, and all the
speakers who came and gave lectures at the forum during the 1980s. It was from
attending this forum, while I was a student of South Asian Studies at SOAS that I learned
much about the fundamentals of the academic study of Buddhism.
Third, I would like to thank Greg Bailey for his comments on earlier drafts of this book
and for his encouragement to work on this subject.
Finally, and most of all, I would like to thank all the students to whom I have taught this
subject for their comments and suggestions.
Peter G. Friedlander
5
CONTENTS

PREFACE ....................................................................................................... 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 1 The Study of Buddhism............................................................ 13
Introduction.................................................................................................... 13
Content and context in early Buddhism......................................................... 13
Eternal India .................................................................................................. 14
Buddhism as soteriology and social system.................................................. 16
What is History .............................................................................................. 17
Canons and Customs in religions.................................................................. 19
Conclusion..................................................................................................... 27
CHAPTER 2 The Discovery of Buddhism ..................................................... 28
Introduction.................................................................................................... 28
Early Western reports of Buddhism............................................................... 28
Indology and the study of Buddhism ............................................................. 29
Colonialism and the Buddhist Revival ........................................................... 32
Buddhism in Australia.................................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 3 India at the time of the Buddha................................................. 36
Introduction.................................................................................................... 36
Dates and the dates of the Buddha............................................................... 36
India and the iron age.................................................................................... 37
Vedic culture.................................................................................................. 39
Religious diversity in ancient India ................................................................ 42
Urbanisation and Trade................................................................................. 46
Religion in an age of change......................................................................... 47
Conclusion..................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 4 The Life of the Buddha............................................................. 50
Introduction.................................................................................................... 50
Drama or Documentary?............................................................................... 50
Stories and Storytellers ................................................................................. 53
6
Epic Storytelling Traditions............................................................................ 56
The Birth of the Buddha ................................................................................ 57
The Great Departure ..................................................................................... 59
The Teaching Career .................................................................................... 61
Conclusion..................................................................................................... 65
CHAPTER 5 Dukkha and the Four Noble Truths .......................................... 66
Introduction.................................................................................................... 66
Definitions of Dukkha .................................................................................... 66
Dukkha in Indian religious traditions.............................................................. 69
The Buddhas definition of Dukkha................................................................ 70
Reincarnation and sasra........................................................................... 72
Karma............................................................................................................ 73
Conclusion..................................................................................................... 75
CHAPTER 6 Dependent Origination ............................................................. 76
Introduction.................................................................................................... 76
Desire (tah) and dependent origination ..................................................... 76
The Twelve Links .......................................................................................... 78
Interpretations of Dependent Origination....................................................... 80
Causal theories in India................................................................................. 82
What is reborn?............................................................................................. 84
CHAPTER 7 Noble Eight-fold Path ............................................................... 87
Introduction.................................................................................................... 87
The role of wisdom (pa) in the path......................................................... 87
The role of conduct (sla) in the path ............................................................. 88
The role of meditation (samdhi) in the path ................................................. 89
The Eight Fold path and other Eight Fold paths ............................................ 90
The Eight-fold Path as a personal and universal path................................... 92
Nibbna......................................................................................................... 93
Conclusion..................................................................................................... 96
CHAPTER 8 Pj and Devotion.................................................................... 97
Introduction.................................................................................................... 97
7
Sacrifice and pj.......................................................................................... 97
The presence of the Buddha ......................................................................... 99
Offerings to the Ancestors........................................................................... 100
Contemplation and pj .............................................................................. 101
Magical attraction and the Buddhas relics .................................................. 102
Devotion to the Buddha............................................................................... 106
Conclusion................................................................................................... 107
CHAPTER 9 Early Buddhism...................................................................... 109
Introduction.................................................................................................. 109
Sources for studying early Buddhism.......................................................... 109
Theoretical problems................................................................................... 110
The fixing of the canon................................................................................ 110
How many early Buddhists were there?...................................................... 112
Buddhism or Buddhisms?............................................................................ 113
Feeding the ancestors................................................................................. 115
Conclusion................................................................................................... 117
CHAPTER 10 Buddhism and the State....................................................... 118
Introduction.................................................................................................. 118
Aoka and the Maurya Dynasty................................................................... 118
The Aokan Edicts ...................................................................................... 119
The Legends of Aoka ................................................................................ 120
Divisions in the Sangha............................................................................... 125
Conclusion................................................................................................... 126
CHAPTER 11 Buddhist Monasteries........................................................... 127
Introduction.................................................................................................. 127
Early Buddhist Monastic Settlements.......................................................... 127
Other early Monastic traditions.................................................................... 128
Rainy season residences ............................................................................ 128
Shrines or Cetiya......................................................................................... 130
The success of monasteries........................................................................ 133
Conclusion................................................................................................... 134
8
CHAPTER 12 Buddhist Art and Literature................................................... 135
Introduction.................................................................................................. 135
Visual Art ..................................................................................................... 135
Music........................................................................................................... 139
Literature ..................................................................................................... 141
The Pali canon ............................................................................................ 148
The earliest Buddhist manuscripts .............................................................. 151
Conclusion................................................................................................... 152
CHAPTER 13 The Emergence Of The Mahyna ...................................... 154
Introduction.................................................................................................. 154
The terms Mahyna and Hnayna ........................................................... 154
Difference and similarity .............................................................................. 155
Origins or Emergence? ............................................................................... 156
Mahyna explanations of Mahyna origins ............................................. 160
Distinguishing Characteristics ..................................................................... 161
Conclusion................................................................................................... 165
CHAPTER 14 The Lotus Sutra.................................................................... 167
Introduction.................................................................................................. 167
Texts and traditions ..................................................................................... 167
Origins and development ............................................................................ 169
The followers of the Lotus stra .................................................................. 172
The teachings of the Lotus stra ................................................................. 175
Conclusion................................................................................................... 178
CHAPTER 15 Perfection of Wisdom Literature ........................................... 179
Introduction.................................................................................................. 179
The Origins and Development of Prajpramit literature......................... 179
Teachings on Emptiness ............................................................................. 182
The use of Similes....................................................................................... 183
Poetic and Philosophical modes of teaching ............................................... 184
The Bodhisattva .......................................................................................... 185
Skill in means .............................................................................................. 185
9
Conclusion................................................................................................... 187
CHAPTER 16 The Vimalakrtinirdea Stra ................................................ 189
Introduction.................................................................................................. 189
Texts and Traditions.................................................................................... 189
Skill in means .............................................................................................. 191
The Teachings of Vimalakrti ....................................................................... 192
Texts and literature...................................................................................... 192
Conclusion................................................................................................... 193
CHAPTER 17 Ngrjuna and the Middle Path............................................ 194
Introduction.................................................................................................. 194
Ngrjunas life and works .......................................................................... 194
Ngrjunas philosophical teachings ........................................................... 195
Ngrjunas social teachings and other works ............................................ 197
How many Ngrjunas?.............................................................................. 197
Indian, Tibetan and Chinese accounts of Ngrjunas life........................... 197
Ngrjuna as an alchemist in Indian Tradition............................................. 200
Ngrjuna as a legendary Figure ................................................................ 201
Conclusion................................................................................................... 202
CHAPTER 18 Tantra-Mantra-Yantra........................................................... 203
Introduction.................................................................................................. 203
The Etymology of Tantra............................................................................. 203
Contemporary forms of Tantra in India........................................................ 205
Tantra and Shamanism as a global phenomena......................................... 206
Shamanism and ritual.................................................................................. 206
The Sacred Journey .................................................................................... 208
Tantra In Indian Tradition ............................................................................ 209
The Origins and Emergence of Tantra ........................................................ 211
Conclusion................................................................................................... 213
CHAPTER 19 Tantric Ritual ........................................................................ 214
Introduction.................................................................................................. 214
Tantric Transmission Lineages.................................................................... 214
10
Tantras as Ritual Performances.................................................................. 216
The Transformation of Negative Phenomena.............................................. 216
Microcosm and Macrocosm in Tantra ......................................................... 217
Tantra and Round Dances .......................................................................... 218
Liberation in Life.......................................................................................... 220
Tantra and Pj........................................................................................... 221
Questions about Tantra............................................................................... 224
Conclusion................................................................................................... 227
CHAPTER 20 The Mahsiddhas................................................................. 228
Introduction.................................................................................................. 228
Sources on the Mahsiddhas...................................................................... 228
Characteristics of the Mahsiddhas ............................................................ 229
The Time and Social Background of the Mahsiddhas ............................... 231
Mahsiddhas as exemplars of The Spiritual Hero ..................................... 232
Proof in Indian Tradition .............................................................................. 234
Living Mahsiddha traditions....................................................................... 235
Conclusion................................................................................................... 236
CHAPTER 21 Buddhism in Medieval India.................................................. 237
Introduction.................................................................................................. 237
Central Asian and Islamic Influences .......................................................... 237
Tibetan accounts of the Destruction of the Monasteries.............................. 238
The End of Monastic Buddhism................................................................... 239
Medieval Indian Buddhism.......................................................................... 241
Siddhas, Sants and anti-caste sentiments .................................................. 243
What makes Buddhists Buddhist?............................................................... 244
CHAPTER 22 Bodhgaya............................................................................. 246
Introduction.................................................................................................. 246
Prehistoric Bodhgaya .................................................................................. 246
The earliest agricultural communities of Bodhgaya..................................... 247
Bodhgaya at the time of the Buddha ........................................................... 248
The Archaeological History of the Temple................................................... 251
11
The development of the sacred sites: Pilgrims accounts............................. 253
The history of the temple: the archaeological account ................................ 254
Pilgrimage as a social and economic phenomena ...................................... 256
Conclusion................................................................................................... 256
CHAPTER 23 The Buddhist Revival In India............................................... 257
Introduction.................................................................................................. 257
Hinduism and Buddhism ............................................................................. 257
The Hindu Revival ....................................................................................... 259
Hindu Reform Movements........................................................................... 262
Ambedkar and the Buddha and Dharma..................................................... 263
Anagrika Darmapla and the Mahbodhi Society ..................................... 267
Nehru and Aoka: Buddha as the Ideal Statesman..................................... 268
The BJP and the Buddha ............................................................................ 269
CHAPER 24 Buddhism and the West ......................................................... 270
Introduction.................................................................................................. 270
The Theosophists........................................................................................ 270
Theravda Buddhism.................................................................................. 272
The Tibetan Diaspora.................................................................................. 273
Buddhism and Beliefs.................................................................................. 274
Is there an Essence of Buddhism?.............................................................. 277
References.................................................................................................. 278

12
13
CHAPTER 1
The Study of Buddhism
Introduction
Buddhism is about fundamental questions. Nobody would dispute this. To study
Buddhism from an academic perspective also poses a number of fundamental questions.
In particular you will find this book focuses on issues highlighting the relationship of
Buddhism to the context in which it emerged and developed. In this chapter I will look at
the following issues.
Content and context in early Buddhism
Eternal India
Buddhism as soteriology and social system
What is History?
Canons and Customs in religions
Content and context in early Buddhism
In the second chapter I introduce a discussion of the material culture in which Buddhism
emerged, the transition into the Iron Age in North India and the beginnings of
urbanisation. Why, you might ask, bother to discuss such matters. Surely, you might say,
we are concerned with the message of the teachings of Buddhism, not with the
circumstances in which they were produced.
I would argue that to understand the teachings it is essential to understand the
circumstances that led to their coming into existence. The teachings of Buddhism today
exist in relationship with those of other traditions. Part of what makes Buddhism what it
is, is the ways in which it differs from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Materialism, and all
the other -isms of the modern world. So in order to understand the origins and

14
development of Buddhism as a cultural process we need to study the material and social
culture in which it emerged.
In other words we need to challenge our own assumptions about India to understand
India and Buddhism. I would argue that to understand the Buddhas teachings against a
dynamic era of change would be very different from seeing them in the context of an
eternal search for truth.
Eternal India
There is another reason to study issues such as the material transformation India was
going through at the time of the Buddha. We need to challenge one of the basic
assumptions often made by Westerners about India: India is an unchanging eternal
culture. The origins of this common view are to be found in 19th century views of India
which characterised it as stagnant from a negative viewpoint, or eternal from a positive
viewpoint. Such views were related to a corresponding view that the West was dynamic
and innovative.
A positive gloss on this theory saw the Indian village as the home of an idyllic self-
sufficient community.
1
However, the critical view held that this was an aspect of what
became known as Oriental Despotism. This view proposed that India (and Asia in
general) consisted of isolated self-sufficient villages which were dominated by imperial
elites who levied taxes and controlled the irrigation schemes on which agriculture
depended.
2
One of the essential features of this theory was that this was an unchanging
and constant system which held back progress.
3
In other words it was an aspect of
Eternal India.
This theory was so influential that figures such as Marx and Engels adopted it as did
protagonists of the legitimacy of the British Empire such as James Mill. This led to the

1
Muller, Max, India What Can It Teach Us?, London: 1883. Quoted in Thapar, Romila, Interpreting Early
India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993. p. 32.
2
Thapar, Romila. op. cit. p. 33ff.
3
Thapar, Romila. op. cit. p. 12.

15
theory that Indian culture was a composite of three civilisations, Hindu, Muslim and
British, the former two of which were backward, stagnant and ahistoric.
4

Now, I am not really concerned with the validity of such views in themselves. However, it
is vital to realise that they are not truths but opinions and that to view India through such
a perspective would not do justice to it. Over and over again if you study the history of
India you will see that it has been just as dynamic and innovative as the West.
The importance of stressing this is to raise the issue of whether aspects of the Buddhas
teachings were really innovative answers to new problems that faced the Buddha and his
followers. The transition from a lifestyle based on nomadic pastoral communities to
settled agricultural communities must have been stressful from economic, social and
personal perspectives.
We also need to maintain an awareness of other issues where our assumptions may
cause us to fall into delusions. In particular the notion of Indias otherness may influence
our thinking at times without our being aware of it. Saids work on Orientalism
5
has
crystallised the issues on this and made it essential for studies of non-Western traditions
to consider this concept.
In this book you may be surprised where I discuss concepts such as the economic
aspects of monasteries or the way that they competed for patronage. At first sight such
discussions appear in contradiction to the spiritual nature of Buddhism. But, in truth why
should we see a separation? What causes us to contrast materialism and spiritualism? If
you think for a while you will see in part it is due to long standing assumptions about the
otherness of India. The West is materialist, the East is spiritual. Neither statement is
true, they are just convenient, and misleading simplifications.
In 1998 I spoke, in Hindi, at a seminar in Bodhgaya on the notion of karma and
reincarnation.
6
Later I read in a Hindi newspaper
7
of how I had spoken about my worries
that Western Buddhists were becoming materialists. The journalist had ignored almost

4
Thapar, Romila. op. cit. p. 89.
5
Said, Edward W. Orientalism, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978.
6
Sujata Memorial Lecture, Samanvey Ashram, Friday 6
th
November 1998.
7
Aj, (Patna Edition), November 7
th
1998.

16
everything I said and rather concentrated on what would appeal to his audience, the
otherness of the West. Western Buddhists are often shocked by the materialism and
sheer normality of Buddhist monks and practitioners in Asia. In the end when you go
beyond the assumptions of otherness we are all human beings with the same frailties
and possibilities.
We need to be wary of one of the most all pervasive and deceptive assumptions about
the past. That people were different in the past. If Orientalism points out the danger of
seeing non-Western people as other, the study of history points out the danger of
seeing non-modern people in a similar light.
Most of the stories from Buddhist literature, indeed most stories from ancient literature,
reveal the ordinary everyday humanity of people in every era of history. Sometimes
people seem to presume that in the past there were at times golden eras in which
people were somehow finer and nobler than the present debased and corrupt era. It is
important to study ideas like this and it is important to be wary of having such
assumptions.
Buddhism as soteriology and social system
No study of Buddhism would be complete unless we address what is probably the most
fundamental question of all. What is the relationship between Buddhism as a pathway to
liberation and as social system. A pathway to liberation is often called in religious studies
a soteriology a doctrine of salvation. This is generally taken in the sense of being a
personal path to liberation. In contrast there is no doubt that for most Buddhists the
teachings of the Buddha are not so much a pathway to liberation as a way to live in the
world, a social system. Liberation is for another life, or somebody else.
For Westerners this is often a key unspoken assumption as we are mostly interested in
Buddhism as a path to personal liberation. The primary focus of our study of Buddhism is
then on Buddhism as a path to liberation and Buddhism as a social system may be seen
as a kind of irrelevant accretion onto the Buddhas teachings.
This is another kind of dichotomy, like Western and Eastern, Ancient and Modern. It is
less true the closer you get to it. That is not to say that Buddhism has not adapted to

17
different cultural circumstances and taken on diverse forms throughout the world. It has.
What is more it is really hard at times to say whether something is Buddhist, or Tibetan,
for instance.
My point here is that the Buddhas teachings live in relationship to social systems. To
separate the two would be to do an injustice to both. What is more it would make no
sense in terms of the study of the origins and development, the history, of Buddhism to
separate out pure Buddhism from Buddhist practice.
What is History
Also we must address the issue of what is history? One of the central paradoxes of what
we are going to be doing can be presented in the following way: on the one hand, we
know quite well that while history is happening, it is not past history, it is the present
moment and there is nothing mysterious about the present moment in itself. On the other
hand, when we look at ruins, remains, statues, manuscripts, there is a certain mystique
about them which actually gives them power for us. Although they exist in the present
moment they somehow testify to something which once was and now no longer remains.
It is a very good question to make certain at the beginning of any kind of academic
exercise that you do what it is that you are trying to do. And often a good thing to do is to
begin by looking at the title of the thing you are supposed to be doing. This book is called
Buddhism past and present: the development of Indian Buddhism. I shall use the word
India, instead of the long winded South Asia as just a kind of short hand way of saying,
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and maybe Sikkim. Nepal Id probably
regard as being the Northern edge of South Asia. Tibet I would regard as being part of
the central Asian area or the Himalayan region. And that is one aspect of this book you
should appreciate. I am not intending to talk about East Asian Buddhism to any great
extent at all. I am not actually intending to talk about Tibetan Buddhism either except
insofar as Tibetan Buddhism tells us things about what happened with Buddhism inside
India earlier on, or at some times. So this book is really about India. In the book,
especially in the first few chapters, we will also look at what is meant by Buddhism.
Which I will suggest is an interesting Western construction rather than a pre-existing
phenomenon which was waiting to be discovered.

18
But lets just stop and think about the word history for a moment. D. D. Kosambi in his
important study of the early history of India published in 1956 defined history as the
presentation in chronological order of successive developments in the means and
relations of production.
8
Stripped of its Marxist terminology this is basically the everyday
viewpoint on what constitutes history. History is basically a narrative, a series of events,
a story about the past by which the historian tries to put things into a sequence.
I have often wondered about this particular definition of history, which is a very popular
one, because one of the things that strikes me about history is although its about the
past its actually based on a very close study of the present moment. There is nothing
that you study in history that does not in some way or other exist at the present moment.
This may sound paradoxical but it is true. Your understanding of what occurred in the
past can only be established by inferences made in the present moment on the basis of
observations of artefacts, texts, or recordings which exist in the moment you perceive
them.
So I think to say History is the study of what happened in the past, and putting it in a
sequence of events is to rush too far and too fast into defining what history is. If you
actually look at the process by which histories are created it doesnt happen by looking at
events in the past, it happens by looking at materials which exist now and inferring from
those materials what may have happened in the past.
Historical data, documents and artefacts, do not have implicit in them any narrative, a
story of how x became y, and then it became z, and then it became something else
again. Actually, most of the evidence you find gives you frozen moments in time, it gives
you little incidents out of the past. So part of the job of thinking about history is to try and
think about how those things fit together but, for me history is not simply a narration of
events that happened in the past, it is rather looking at the relationship between what
exists in the present moment and what existed in the past. In E.H Carrs work What is
History? he suggested that his first answer to the question of What is History is that it is:

8
Kosambi, D. D. An introduction to the study of Indian History , Bombay: Popular, 1956. p. 1ff.

19
a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an
unending dialogue between the present and the past.
9

And there is another aspect to this, what is the reason that history matters? I mean in a
sense what happened in the past, what the hell it really doesnt matter, it happened in
the past, its come and gone. There must be some greater reason why people would like
to study the past. And its normally because people study the past, and construct
pictures of the past, because it informs them about how they are at the present.
The question is Whats the purpose of finding out about the past? in other words whats
the purpose of history? and a possible answer is the purpose of finding out about the
past is finding out about yourself, by trying to find out about the past. It is one way in
which we try to find out about ourselves. Because we can understand ourselves by
looking at what happened in the past. And that might be true on a personal level but its
also extremely true on a social level. Every time an historian sits down to write a book
about the past, they selectively pick different events from the past based on what seems
of importance to them. So when you read a contemporary American account of the
history of Buddhism, to some extent it will be influenced by the fact that that writer will
perceive that there are certain things about Buddhism which will make it relevant and
appropriate for an American audience and other things which will seem more difficult to
deal with and so they will be left behind. They will be regarded as a kind of unnecessary
baggage that doesnt need to be dealt with.
So when we are looking at Buddhism, then we ought to be aware of the fact that virtually
every source we look at about the history of Buddhism in India is to some extent also the
production of people who have particular motives in writing those texts.
Canons and Customs in religions
G. Schopens article Protestant suppositions in the study of Buddhism
10
makes a
number of very important points about Western assumptions about history and culture
that have influenced the way that we have understood the history of Buddhism.

9
Carr, E.H. What is History?, London: Penguin, 1981, (originally published by Macmillan, 1961) p. 30.

20
When we study history, there is a tendency to give primacy to texts above all other forms
of information. This may in part be due to part of the very history of history itself in the
West because in a sense most of our Western understandings of history probably go
back to Herodotus.
11
Herodotus is often described as the father of history. He wrote
down numerous stories that he heard from all kinds of people about the world and
created something which in some senses was regarded as the first history of the world
as he knew it. But then the literary text he had created became in a sense enshrined and
was seen as authoritative precisely because it was a literary text. So later on when
people wanted to write a history of the world they said that because Herodotus had
mentioned something it must have been something which truly existed. But this is a little
strange because Herodotus was quite free about the kind of things he would write down
in his history of the world. Some of it is very detailed and contains reasonable sounding
accounts.
I will say something of the method by which the Indians get their large
supplies of gold, which enable them to bring to Persia the gold-dust I have
already mentioned. Eastward of India lies a desert of sand; indeed of all the
inhabitants of Asia of whom we have any reliable information, the Indians
are the most easterly - beyond them the country is uninhabitable desert.
There are many tribes of Indians, speaking different languages, some
pastoral and nomadic others not.
12

But other things are miraculous accounts, which he described as having heard, but could
not vouch for the veracity of. For instance of India he described how people in the
deserts of Western India search for gold by using ants which seek out the gold.
There is found in this desert a kind of ant of great size - bigger than a fox, though not as
big as a dog. ... These creatures as they burrow underground throw up sands in heaps,
just as our own ants throw up the earth, and they are very like ours in shape. The sand

10
Schopen, G. Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism, in Bones,
Stones and Buddhist Monks, University of Hawaii, Honolulu. 1997 (1st pub. 1991), 122.
11
Aubrey de Selincourt, Herodotus : the Histories / newly translated and with an introduction. by.
Harmondsworth, Middlesex ; Baltimore : Penguin Books, 1954.
12
de Selincourt 1954: 216-217.

21
has rich content of gold, and this it is that the Indians are after when they make their
expeditions into the desert.
13

He also has accounts of how, I believe in Arabia, there are sheep who have trolleys on
their tails with wheels in them. Herodotus put all these things down in his history and
they became a text. A text which is automatically regarded as authoritative simply
because it is a literary text.
In addition we need to look closely at how we use texts when we write history. Jonathan
Walters argued in 1999 that we need to examine different modes of using texts and see
them differently when relating them to how they were understood at the time of their
creation, how they were interpreted in the past, how they are understood now and as
sources for data on the different periods in which they have existed.
14

Texts have a kind of primal value now in Western culture as the main sources of history.
Schopen pointed out in his article called Protestant suppositions that since the early
19th century we have essentially had really three main sources on which to build a
history of Indian Buddhism. We have had texts, we have had inscriptions, pieces of
writing on buildings and stones and on metal objects such as statues and things, and we
have had archaeological remains. But right from the word go, and up until virtually now,
there has always been a presupposition that the best form of evidence to take is a text. It
could be argued however that all forms of artefacts are in a sense texts a building or a
pot is a text in the sense that it carries meaning along with its functional value.
However, normally scholars do not look as any form of artefact as being a text apart
from what be called a scripture: in particular canonical literature.
If you think about this I would suggest to you that much of the time the kind of canonical
literature we will study in this book, the Buddhist Suttas and Stras, are all to some
extent rather like political manifestos. They are not normally descriptions of what is
actually happening, they are descriptions of what the authors of these texts think should
be happening. If you were to write a history of Australia based on political manifestos,

13
de Selincourt 1954: 218.
14
Walters, Jonathan, S. Suttas as History: four approaches to the Sermon on the Noble Quest
(Ariyapariyesana-sutta), in History of Religions, Vol. 38 no. 3, Feb. 1999, pp. 247-284.

22
rather than what the political parties actually did, I suspect you would have a rather
different picture of Australian history from that we might find by studying what actually
took place. If we are to write a history of Indian Buddhism based on a series of texts
which are designed to inculcate ideal values and to be manifestos of how people should
behave, then we will also end up with a very strange history of Indian Buddhism and of
Buddhism in general. Because, we wont actually be looking at Buddhism in practice in
India in the past we will be looking at what some small number of elite people believed
Buddhism should have been at different times in the past. So we are going to have to be
careful both with our use of modern sources, to be aware of the fact that people are
writing those with some kind of agenda in mind, but also in our use of old texts, historical
sources and canonical material. I would argue this is because people also wrote those
with some agenda in mind. On the other hand we can also use the evidence we can find
by studying inscriptions and archaeological evidence. Now quite clearly people did not
build buildings with a political manifesto in mind, apart from certain Nuremberg rally style
of buildings and that sort of thing. So you may get palatial buildings which represent
certain peoples grand visions of how the world should be. But the great majority of
buildings that you find around the place will be of buildings that were used because they
were the kind of things that people needed. They were the kind of religious structures
that people actually went to every day. The kind of things that you will find in inscriptions
are again generally well datable, unlike literary texts which are actually really, really hard
to date in most cases. Inscriptions can be dated with a fair degree of accuracy. What is
more the purpose for which inscriptions were made can often be inferred from its context
and is implicit in the creation of inscriptions. They record events such as donations,
endowments, establishing of practices, identifications of images and objects. In other
word they record not just how people felt society should be organised, but also what
actually happened. I think that because of the way in which in which these forms of text
tell us about what was actually practised they ought to give considerable emphasis to the
study of archaeology and inscriptions along with looking at literary texts which tell us
about how some people felt society should function.
For instance many people think that when you become a nun or a monk in Buddhism
you must renounce physical possessions. They are therefore perplexed when they see

23
Buddhist monks with watches, cameras, radios, etc. and ask themselves: how can they
have these things? In fact if you look around you in the Buddhist world you will see that
monks often have quite a wide range of possessions, ranging from watches to
computers. Some people look upon this as some kind of corruption which has crept into
Buddhism and suggest that there was an ancestral period when monks were pure and
noble and had no physical possessions but in the degenerate modern age monks now
freely make use of possessions. Gregory Schopen discusses this point
15
showing that
academics in the 19th century, such as Buhler, thought that monks could not possess
property.
It is therefore most useful to compare this with the inscriptional evidence which you find
from Indian sites. In this you can find numerous references to monks donating things to
the Sangha, and nuns, I should point out. Monks and nuns, monastic Buddhists in
general were in possession of things which they could donate to the Buddhist
community. Well if they could donate them clearly it means they had things. Monks were
not people who never had possessions.
In fact the code of conduct for monks does not prohibit monks having possessions at all.
A monk is entitled to a number of basic possessions: three main robes; an alms bowl; a
waistband; a needle and thread; razor and a water filter. In addition he can also possess
items which are appropriate to his environment. The principle is that such things should
not be luxurious or expensive.
16

There was also, Schopen points out, at least one monastery which has been excavated
in South India where not only are coins found in the monastic cells, where the monks
lived, but actually coin making equipment. The lead you needed for making the dies and
all the technology you needed for making coins.
17
Now in ancient India, as in the modern
world there were two types of people who made coins. People who are authorised by the
state to do so, and people who were counterfeiters. So if we put aside the possibility that

15
Schopen, G. op. cit. 3-5.
16
Ariyesako, Bhikkhu. The Bhikkhus' Rules: a guide for Laypeople, Sanghaloka Forest Hermitage,
Kallista, 1998. 69-70.
17
Schopen, G. op. cit. 5.

24
the monks were counterfeiters we have a group of monks who were authorised by the
local state to make money. This does not fit in with the canonical code of conduct for
monks and nuns, the vinaya, which says monks and nuns should not handle money. So
how exactly the vinaya rules are to be understood in this context is an issue we will have
to look at.
Id like to suggest one perspective on understanding books of rules about how people
should behave. If people did not do actions which were considered wrong by society
there would be no need for laws prohibiting such actions. In other words, if people did
not lie you would not need to have a commandment saying people should not lie. If
people didnt kill there would not have to be a commandment saying do not kill. And if
there is a rule in the vinaya saying, and this is interesting, that it is a minor infringement
of the vinaya to own or have excessive possessions when you are a monk. Clearly
monks have always had possessions in India. The notion of renunciation, if we are to
really look at what happened in the history of Buddhism in India is not simply as we
might imagine it that people said, from now on Ill have no money, no possessions, no
wealth, no anything. Something much more subtle is going on. Similarly so, in the case
of monks handling money. Clearly the reality has rarely matched the vinaya.
Another similar issue which comes up and this is quite an interesting one too I think.
People often will say to you that Buddhism is essentially about liberation, and Id agree
its true it is a religion which is about liberation, but on the other hand Buddhism also has
to deal with issues related to the physical birth, marriage and death of people. What you
often get in Buddhist countries in the world is a kind of mixture, certain life cycle rituals
are done with Buddhists others with non-Buddhists. One of the interesting things is that
traditionally it was said by Western scholars that the vinaya code said very little about
what to do with dead monks. For a long time it was argued that this was because issues
related to death were not handled by Buddhists and must have been handled by Hindu
ritual specialists. But, recent studies by some people of sections of the vinaya have
turned up whole sections on this topic. In particular about the problem of monastic
ghosts. What happens if a monk dies, does he come back as a ghost? What to do about
this problem. Because, after all, everybody worries about ghosts, it is a kind of basic
human concern. In fact there are bits of the vinaya that talk about what to do with monks

25
and nuns after they die.
18
You may have seen the so called votive stpas at temples
such as Bodhgaya, small stpas clustered around the main shrine, and traditionally they
are called votive stpas. They are regarded as symbolic offerings donated to the main
shrine. But almost all of them have places in which relics could have been placed and a
lot of them when they were excavated were found to have ashes in. But at the time when
the excavations were made it was felt on the basis of perceived understanding of the
vinaya codes in the Pali canon that these could not be the relics of monks because there
was no reason to bury a monk near a shrine such as that at the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.
So there was no real explanation for the presence of the ashes and it remained a bit of a
puzzle. But, in particular with Bodhgaya there is an association with the notions of it as a
funerary related site. The traditions of making offering called piadna to departed
ancestors testifies to the relationship between Gaya, and Bodhgaya as part of the sacred
area, to this area as one in which the demarcation between the living and the dead is not
so finely divided. This actually extends into the Buddhist temple complex too, which is
not only a temple but also a funerary ritual area. It therefore seems likely that many of
the so called votive stpas actually originally were funerary monuments containing
some portion of the ashes or relics of leading monks and nuns.
19
This insight into the
nature of the main shrine area in Bodhgaya has somewhat changed my view about the
main shrine area itself. Instead of a collection of simple symbolic offerings to the Buddha
I now suggest you might see it as an area in which funerary remains were in a sense
offered to the Buddha. This gives the site another gloss, as essentially one is visiting a
large mortuary complex. What is also interesting about this is that it is not something you
would expect based on the textual sources because the textual sources dont tell you to
do this. The textual sources dont contain much information about this and yet that
seems to be exactly what is happening at this site. What is more, the inscriptions say
that it is happening. Thats the point here. Although the texts are largely silent on this
issue, the inscriptions make it clear that a religious practice was being undertaken.

18
Schopen, G. On Avoiding Ghosts and Social Censure in Bones, Stones and Buddhist Monks, University
of Hawaii, Honolulu. 1997, 204-237.
19
Schopen, G. Burial Ad Sanctos and the physical presence of the Buddha. in Bones, Stones and
Buddhist Monks, University of Hawaii, Honolulu. 1997, 114-147.

26
Now up until recently when historians came across inscriptions which seemed to be at
odds with what books based on the scriptures said should be the case, the historians
regarded the inscription as in some senses recording something which had gone wrong.
That is to say they dismissed the inscription as incorrect or a corruption of the tradition. I
think that that is a very unsatisfactory attitude.
There is another important reason why texts have been seen to be more significant than
Buddhist practice, inscriptions and archaeology and that actually has something to do
with colonialism. When Europeans went to South and South East Asia they started to
encounter many cultures and one of the interesting processes that happened was that
because classical texts in the west are so important people started to gather together
Buddhist texts. And they started to construct a theory which said precisely this, that there
was an original and pure form of Buddhism which is preserved in the texts but that the
contemporary degenerate people of Asia no longer understand their own religious
traditions, and if we as westerners properly understand their texts we will know more
about their religions than they themselves.
So this is a kind of colonialist attitude in which they disempowered practising Buddhists
in favour of themselves as linguists and philologists and preservers of texts. This, in my
view, is a major reason why texts in the 19th century were viewed as more important
than practice. You come across it frequently in writings about both Buddhism and
Hinduism where you get comments which distinguish between pure original Buddhism
and Hinduism which came close the pure teachings of Christianity, but that the present
forms of Buddhism and Hinduism are practising a degenerate form of religion.
That is fine, in a sense, because we can deal with all of this blatant prejudice, but
unfortunately this kind of bias is reproduced in another way in the contemporary period.
Nowadays we place a great emphasis on meditation. So we say that as practising lay
Buddhists, in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, etc., do not do much meditation so they are
not real Buddhists, they are just every day Buddhists, life cycle Buddhists. Whereas if we
get deeply into the spiritual traditions, make deep contact with the meditation traditions
we are reaching a true level of Buddhism which the modern everyday followers of
Buddhism in Asia do not do. We ought to be wary of such views. Because it may be a

27
new form of colonialism. We may no longer feel that we can appropriate Buddhism
through its texts. We may be finding a new way to appropriate Buddhism. Through its
practice.
So all the time as things come up you have to look carefully at your own motivations and
the motivations of others. I think that with the meditation the situation is a little bit helped
by the fact that many meditation teachers are from Buddhist cultures and that you are
actually interacting with the traditions in a very powerful way. But make no mistake, there
are people in the west who do in some senses feel that because they meditate they have
a better understanding of Buddhism than Buddhists in Asian countries who dont
meditate and who simply live a Buddhist lifestyle, whatever that may mean.
Conclusion
So what is history? It is many different things depending on who you are. As far as I am
concerned in this book we are going to look at history as dialogue between a close
examination of what artefacts from the past which exist now and theories which interpret
what happened in the past which led to their creation. It is also an attempt to put the
inferred events into sequence to some degree. But its not simply a narration of events in
the past. As long as we do not consider the motivations that drive us to study the past, or
the motivations of the people who produced texts, artefacts and inscriptions in the past
we will miss half the story.
28
CHAPTER 2
The Discovery of Buddhism
Introduction
This chapter looks at the process by which Western culture became aware of the
religious traditions of Asia including Buddhism. I also look at the interaction of Western
colonialism and scholarship with Asian religious traditions which led to the emergence of
the notion of Buddhism. I will look at the following issues.
Early Western reports of Buddhism
Indology and the study of Buddhism
Colonialism and the Buddhist Revival
Buddhism in Australia
Early Western reports of Buddhism
The West has known about India and its religions since at least as early as 300 BCE
when Megasthenes visited Patna as an envoy to the court of Chandragupta Maurya.
20

Despite this European perceptions of the religious traditions of Asia began in a fairly
broad manner, perhaps simply with an awareness that they were by and large neither
Christians, Jews nor Muslims, but rather Heathens.
21
By the 18th century perceptions of
Indian
22
religion saw Hinduism as the religion of India. According to 18th century Indians
the Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu and Buddhists were one variety of Hindus.
Furthermore, western travellers to Asia did not initially in general recognise that many of

20
De Jong, J. W., A Brief History of Buddhist Studies in Europe and America. Delhi: Sri Satguru
Publications: 1987. p. 5 passim. Contains a good account of this development in outline.
21
King, Richard., Orientalism and Religion Postcolonial Theory India and the Mystic East, London:
Routledge, 1999. p. 99.
22
I shall use the terms India and Indian to refer to South Asia and South Asian.

29
the religious phenomena they encountered in South East Asia were varieties of
Buddhism.
23
Due to this there was only a gradual development of the categories of
Buddhism and Hinduism. The issue of the relationship between these two terms will be
discussed further later in the course. For now it is important to highlight that the
development of these categories was not simply an abstract intellectual development,
but part of a general Western attempt to categorise and map Asia as a part of a process
of exploration and colonisation. This initial phase of discovery and colonisation has left
us a legacy of viewing Buddhism and Hinduism as entirely separate traditions, but the
sense of a clear separation may be hard to maintain the closer we get to the subject
matter.
Indology and the study of Buddhism
Indian studies are often called by the term Indology which refers mostly to Western
academic study of ancient Indian history, literature and culture. In a sense its
development began along with that of academic study in the West, in a complex
interchange between the Christian academic traditions and those of the ancient and
medieval middle Eastern worlds, both pre-Christian and Muslim. The genesis of this
development is to be found in Christian encounters with Indian religious traditions from
the 17th century onwards. With the development of colonialism in the 18th century,
particularly after the effective British annexation of Bengal after 1765 following the battle
of Buxar in 1764
24
academic study of Indian religions got a great boost. People such as
William Jones started to study with Indian Pandits and learn Sanskrit and study ancient
Indian texts. By the time of the foundation of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1784 in Calcutta
there was extensive awareness of Indian culture as a field for academic study. In his
opening address to the society its founder Sir William Jones said that it was to be.

23
Almond, P.C. The British Discovery of Buddhism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Probably the best study of the development of awareness of Buddhism in Britain and the West. See
particularly the introduction on pp. 132.
24
Wolpert, Stanley, A New History of India, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1982 (2
nd
Ed.), p. 185.

30
A society for enquiring into the History, Civil and Natural, the Antiquities,
Arts, Sciences and Literatures of Asia.
25

By the mid 19th century this had developed into the precursors of modern academic
Indology, with its primary focus on the study of the languages and literatures of India.
The development of the study of Buddhism as a distinct field within Indology dates back
to the early 19th century when a number of scholars who had learned Pali began to
translate and work on Buddhist texts from South East Asia. In 1826 Burnouf and Lassen
published the first grammar of Pali in a European language.
26
In 1837 George Turnour
published an edition and translation of the Mahavasa, a Singhalese Pali history of
Buddhism and Ceylon, and from this point the development of Pali studies took off
rapidly. Professor T. W. Rhys Davids (18431922) was an outstanding figure in this
development. During the period from 1881 to 1894 he translated, in co-operation with
Herman Oldenberg, three volumes of the Vinaya and announced the foundation of the
Pali Text Society.
27
The founding of the society was a significant step and heralded the
translation of the majority of the works of the Pali canon into English. Indeed, even today
many of the available translations of Pali works go back to these pioneering efforts.
Sometimes this can be a disadvantage, for instance in the midst of the Vinaya code
there are sections which so shocked their translators that they felt unable to print matter
that might offend their audiences.
28
In an important recent work Charles Hallisey has
argued that our understanding of Theravda has been profoundly influenced by the
colonialist discourse and needs to be carefully reassessed.
29

Meanwhile Sanskrit scholarship also began to flourish. One of the leading pioneers was
Max Muller who was born in Germany but worked in Oxford from 1848 onwards and by
1849 had begun the publication of a monumental series of works on the Rigveda. He
also oversaw the publication of the Sacred Books of the East Series which included

25
Keay, John, India Discoverd, London: Collins, 1988. p. 26.
26
De Jong, J. W., op. cit. p.13.
27
Oliver, P, Ian, Buddhism in Britain, London: Rider & Company, 1979. p. 29.
28
It seems that these relate to offences concerned with masturbation and various sexual activities.
29
Hallisey, Charles. Roads Taken and Not Taken in the Study of Theravada Buddhism, in Donald S.
Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Curators of the Buddha, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

31
versions of the Dhammapada and the Questions of King Milinda amongst other famous
works. By the mid 19th century a number of other scholars also started to look in detail at
Buddhist Sanskrit texts from India. In 1844 Burnouf published translations from the
Divyvadna and the Avadnaataka and in 1852 his translation of the Lotus Stra
reached the general public.
30
So during the 19th century scholars laid firm foundations
for their study of Buddhology. At times though it seems the motives behind some of the
activities of the Indologists and Buddhologists was questionable. On the one hand they
seemed to have played a part in what can be described as the appropriation of textual
truths into the hands of Westerners. On the other hand some of them were also involved
in one way or another in the study of non-Christian religions in order to prove the
superiority of Christianity. To this day most people studying Sanskrit keep a copy of
Monier Monier-Williams Sanskrit dictionary to hand.
31
Yet Monier Williams motivations
seem to have been closely allied to missionary activity, as he said
I have made it the chief aim of my professorial life to provide facilities for
the translation of the sacred scriptures into Sanskrit.
32

This is an odd motivation in somebody whose legacy has been to help thousands to read
Buddhist and Hindu texts in their original Sanskrit.
In a sense to talk of the Indian discovery of Buddhism sounds like nonsense, surely the
Indians had always know about Buddhism? You might say. But, to a great extent in the
18th century Buddhism was not seen as a distinctive phenomena at all, in part due to it
having all but disappeared from the Indian heartland and in part due to the syncretic
nature of Indian religious traditions. British administrators, such as Alexander
Cunningham, were often also scholars and they became fascinated by Buddhism which
they saw as somehow nobler in its ideals than contemporary Hinduism. Cunningham
contributed greatly to the revival of Buddhism by excavating and restoring key Buddhist

30
De Jong, J. W., op. cit. p.19.
31
Monier-Williams, Monier, Sir, A practical Dictionary of the Sanskrit language : Arranged with reference to
the classical languages of Europe for the use of English students Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1877.
32
Monier-Williams, op. cit. p. ix. It should be born in mind that was also a condition of appointment to the
Boden Chair at Oxford University.

32
sites such as Bodhgaya, Bharhut
33
and Sanchi. Cunninghams motivations seem to have
been very complex, in part an insatiable desire for knowledge and in part a desire to
discover a golden past which lay outside of the modern age in which he lived. In the
introduction to his account of his excavations of the stpas at Sanchi, The Bhilsa Topes
published in 1854, he advances a theory on the origin of Buddhism that the Buddha is
the same as a deity of the Druids and produces a number of arguments to support his
view.
In the Buddhistical worship of trees displayed in the Sanchi bas-reliefs,
others, I hope, will see (as well as myself) the counterpart of the Druidical
and adopted English reverence for the Oak. In the horse-shoe temples of
Ajanta and Sanchi many will recognise the form of the inner colonnade at
Stone-henge. More, I suspect, will learn that the there are Cromlechs in
India as well as in Britain; that the Brahmans, Buddhists and Druids all
believed in the transmigration of the soul; that the Celtic language was
undoubtedly derived from the Sanscrit; and the Buddha (or Wisdom) the
Supreme Being worshipped by the Buddhists, is probably (most probably)
the same as the great god Buddhws, considered by the Welsh as the
dispenser of the good. These coincidences are too numerous and too
striking to be accidental.
34

So, in an interaction between Indian, Western, and Sri Lankan traditions a picture of the
Buddhist heritage of India gradually began to emerge.
Colonialism and the Buddhist Revival
Two significant factors in all of this were the British annexation of Burma in 1886
35
which
brought a large Buddhist kingdom into the British empire and the Buddhist revival in

33
Cunningham, Alexander. The Stupa of Bharhut a Buddhist monument ornamented with numerous
sculptures, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998. (1
st
published 1879).
34
Cunningham, Alexander, The Bhilsa Topes or Buddhist Monuments of Central India : Comprising a Brief
Historical Sketch of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Buddhism with an Account of the Opening and
Examination of the Various Groups of Topes around Bhilsa. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1997, pp. vvi.
(Reprint. First Published in 1854 by Smith Elder & Co., London).
35
Wolpert, Stanley, op. cit. p. 268

33
Ceylon. In the second half of the 19th century in Ceylon there was a revival of Buddhist
culture and with the active participation of Westerners such as the American Theosophist
Colonel Olcott a resurgence of Buddhist identity took place. One of the most significant
figures to emerge from this movement was Angarika Dharmapala who founded the
Mahabodhi society and worked tirelessly for the cause of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and
India. A number of Indian scholars also took up the study of Buddhism, such as Sarat
Chandra Das, or became Buddhist monks such as Bhikkhu Jagdish Kashyap. In the 20th
century B.R. Ambedkar, the untouchable leader, converted to Buddhism and led several
million Indians back into the Buddhist tradition. This topic will be more fully addressed
later in this work.
Buddhism became during the 19th and 20th centuries an integral part of western culture.
This process has happened in different ways in countries throughout the world to a
greater or lesser extent. According to 1999 figures around 6% of the worlds population,
some 350 million people, are Buddhists. The largest populations of Buddhists are to be
found in: China, 102,000,000; Japan, 89,650,00; Thailand, 55,480,000; Vietnam,
49,690,000; Myanmar, 41,610,000; Sri Lanka, 12,540,000; South Korea,10,920,000;
Taiwan, 9,150,000; Cambodia, 9,130,000; India, 7,000,000.
36

In Britain Buddhism has a long history, it seems that the first British person to enter the
Sangha was as early as 1901 when Charles Henry Allan Bennett was ordained as
Ananda Maitreya in Burma.
37

Buddhism is also a vital force in America and Rick Fields in his When the Swans came to
the lake
38
paints a picture of a country which has gradually come to adopt Buddhism as
an integral part of its religious culture. According to an article by Jan Nattier in Civilisation
online in January 2000
39
in 1960 there were around 200,000 Buddhists in America, who
were virtually all from a Chinese or Japanese background and half of whom lived in

36
http://www.buddhanet.net/history/bud_stats.html, accessed 27 May 2000
37
Oliver, P, Ian, Buddhism in Britain, London: Rider & Company, 1979. p. 43.
38
Field, Rick, How the Swans came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America, Boston and
London: Shambala, 1992.
39
http://www.civmag.com/articles/C9912E07.html

34
Hawaii. At present estimates of the number of Buddhists are of the order of two to three
million and of whom a fair number now come from non Buddhist backgrounds.
Likewise people in Europe have also enthusiastically taken up interest in Buddhism and
Europe is now playing a vital role in the development of Buddhism. The best account of
this development can be found in Stephen Batchelors work The Awakening of the
West.
40

Buddhism in Australia
In Australia recent census figures indicate that Buddhism, along with Hinduism, is the
fastest growing religion in Australia today. Perhaps in part this is due to the emigration
that has occurred from South East Asia but it also reflects a great interest in Buddhism
amongst Anglophone Australians. There have been Buddhists in Australia from as early
as the 1850s when Chinese gold miners came to the gold fields. Anglophone interest in
Buddhism also dates back to 19th century interests in Theosophy and in the 20th century
there has been a succession of Buddhist monks and lay people who have fostered the
Buddhist tradition in Australia. Paul Croucher published an interesting study of Buddhism
in Australia in 1988
41
. According to the 1991 census there were 140,000 Buddhists in
Australia, of these around 86% were born in Asia, and a third of these in Vietnam. In
addition of the 20,000 or so Australian born Buddhists around a third had at least one
parent who was Vietnamese. In other words in 1991 most Australian Buddhists were
migrants or refugees.
42
The number of Buddhists in Australia at the next census in 2001
will make interesting reading. At the moment the level of interest in Buddhism in Australia
can by see from the fact that the number of Buddhist organisations has now increased to
296.
43


40
Batchelor, Stephen. The Awakening of the West: The encounter of Buddhism and Western Culture.
London: Aquarian Press, 1994.
41
Croucher, Paul, Buddhism in Australia 1848-1988, Kensington: New South Wales University Press,
1989.
42
Enid Adam and Philipa Hughes, The Buddhists in Australia Canberra: Australian Government Publishing
Service, 1996.
43
URL: http://www.buddhanet.net/history/bud_stats.html

35
However, statistics cannot tell the whole story. The American census no longer records
religious affiliation.
44
While the Australian census also treats this matter in an interesting
manner. For instance, until 1981 the New South Wales Census grouped Muslims and
Buddhists together and it is only under pressure from Buddhist groups that it looks as if
the 2001 census there might be a check box to indicate that you are a Buddhist. The
following Item is from the Buddhist Councils web site.
After some lobbying by the Buddhist Council, the Commonwealth Bureau
of Statistics has decided to provide a tick box for Buddhists in the question
pertaining to "Religion" in the 2001 Commonwealth Census. In the past,
non-Christian religions have had to physically write the name of their
religion under "Other". This was discriminatory as many Buddhists come
from a non-English speaking background and many could not write in
English. Many native born Australians cannot spell "Buddhist". Although
this is the only optional question, Buddhists are urged to tick this box.
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED!
45


44
Nattier, Jan. 2000, op. cit.
45
URL: http://www.buddhistcouncil.org/news.htm on 16
th
May 2000
36
CHAPTER 3
India at the time of the Buddha
Introduction
In this chapter I will look at issues to do with the era in which the Buddha lived. In
particular I will examine:
Dates and the dates of the Buddha
India and the iron age
Vedic culture
Religious diversity in ancient India
Urbanisation and Trade
Religion in an age of change
Dates and the dates of the Buddha
If you think about it for a while you will realise that historical dates in the period we are
interested in are quite hard to fix in South Asia. If you consider this it will become clear
why this is so. Normally calendrical systems in ancient India worked on the number of
years elapsed in a particular rulers reign as monarch. Even when you find an inscription
from ancient India, and in fact none as old as the Buddhas period has ever been found,
you find dates, if any, in the form, so many years have elapsed in the reign of such and
such a ruler. Therefore, as it can be a problem to determine when a particular ruler
came to power even though we know the date in a rulers reign we may not be able to
determine the absolute date. Fortunately, for historians, the ancient Greeks had contact
with India and it is possible to date the period of the rule of Chandragupta Maurya and by
inference his descendent Aoka. Because of this it is fairly certain that Aoka was
consecrated as emperor in 268 BCE, and that is a fairly reliable date. In fact it is one of
the first reliable dates in Indian history.


37
So if we knew the number of years which had passed between the death of the Buddha
and the consecration of Aoka as emperor we would know the Buddhas date of death.
There is a very popular Sri Lankan tradition which says that he died 216 years before the
consecration of Aoka. So that would mean he died in 483 BCE. There is also internal
evidence from the Pali canon which indicates that he lived for 80 years and so his dates
are regarded by most Southern Buddhists as 563-483 BCE.
The situation is complicated by the existence of a separate Northern tradition which says
that only one hundred years had elapsed since the Buddhas death and the consecration
of Aoka. The debate over the dates of the Buddha is immensely complicated and I think
should not be too closely studied at this point. The Southern Buddhist Sri Lankan dates
may have been influenced by desires such as those of establishing the validity of the rule
of the kings of Sri Lanka. The Northern Buddhist date may represent a use of one
hundred years as a kind of symbolic number meaning simply, a considerable length of
time. In addition there are also other dates and a variety of fixes which have been
applied to try and correct apparent inconsistencies. There is an excellent book by Heinz
Becholdt about this subject and an interesting review article by Lance Cousins which
sums up the contemporary state of scholarly debate about this issue. Suffice it to say
that there is general consensus that he probably lived around 480-400 BCE. This period,
the 5th century BCE was also one in which major changes were going on in India. Thus
although we cannot be certain exactly when he lived, we can be certain it was during this
period of transition in Indian culture.
India and the iron age
Archaeological evidence shows that India was undergoing a major transformation during
the 5th century BCE. During this period the intensive use of iron implements seems to
have become widespread. Previous to this period India had been primarily a Neolithic
culture with knowledge of the use of copper and bronze and the precious metals gold
and silver. However it was around the time of the Buddha that the use of iron became
widespread. There is also evidence from archaeology and palaeontology that during this
period there was a transition going on from earlier basically nomadic pastoral based
economies to settled agricultural communities. In Bodhgaya itself the beginnings of


38
agriculture seem to go back as early as the 11th century BCE on the evidence of husks
of rice and wheat baked into pottery from that period and there is extensive evidence of
settlements from the 6th century BCE. It thus seems reasonable to argue that the period
around the 6th/5th century BCE was that in which settled agricultural communities
became dominant in Northern India.
The Vedas, the earliest Indian textual traditions, depict a lifestyle centred around
nomadic pastoral culture. It is worth noting that India is a large continent and that at this
period its population was probably really quite small and that it consisted of extensive
areas of wilderness with scattered settlements along major routes. In other words there
was a lot of wild frontier country and wilderness and a great scope for nomadic life.
The modern Indian historian D.D. Kosambi was influential in arguing that it was the
widespread adoption of iron implements in the 6th century BCE which made it possible
to cut down forests and plough heavy clay soils. The dense rain forests had been he
argued hard to clear and plough prior to this but this period marks the beginning of
widespread agriculture in Northern India.
46
Along with this he also argued that the rise of
Buddhism and Jainism were linked to a transition from a tribal based culture to one in
which there were broad ranging interchanges between communities.
47

The potential surplus generated by the new agricultural communities was greater than
that of the former pastoral communities. This allowed for the development of urban
areas, villages that grew into towns and around the time of the Buddha India
experienced a process of rapid urbanisation. Near Bodhgaya Rajgir became a major
urban centre and the capital of the kingdom of Magadh until the later shifting of the

46
D.D. Kosambi. The Culture and Civilisation of Ancient India in Historical Outline, London: Routledge and
Keegan Paul, 1965. For an appreciation of D.D. Kosambi's contribution to the study of Indian history see.
Thapar, Romila. 'The Contribution of D.D. Kosambi to Indology', in, Thapar, Romila. Interpreting Early
India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993. pp. 89 -113.
47
Thapur, Romila, op. cit. p. 104.


39
capital to Patna. A significant recent reassessment of the discourse on urbanisation was
made by Steven Collins in an article in 1993.
48

Even near to Bodhgaya, on the other side of the river at Bakraur, a place now
remembered as the spot where the Buddha was fed milk rice after ending his austerities,
there was a significant settlement. The modern village of Bakraur is built on the site of a
market town called in Pali sources Senangama, Generals village an indication that it
was a military garrison town and it appears that it was a significant market town on trade
routes that pass through this area. This is very different from the modern situation in
which Gaya is a major town, around a million people, Bodhgaya a significant village,
around 20,000 people and Bakraur a hamlet of a few thousand people. In the Buddhas
time it was Bakraur which appears to have been the major town, with Bodhgaya, a small
village called Uruvela and Gaya a forest area inhabited by scattered ascetic groups and
isolated villages.
Vedic culture
In the pre agricultural phase it seems that the dominant cultural traditions were those of
the Vedic Brahminical traditions. According to these only Brahmins could propitiate at
sacrificial rituals and the rituals were a vital link between this world and that of the gods
and ancestors. It was then through the sacrifices (yaja) that the smooth functioning of
the natural order and human society could be ensured. As long as the gods were kept
happy they kept the human world happy and ensured adequate rains and an absence of
natural calamities and beneficial living conditions. Another aspect of the Vedic sacrifices
was that they formed an economic focus for society. Groups and individuals
demonstrated their wealth and status by their patronage of the sacrifices and they
formed a focus for the surplus generated by the communities. To perform sacrifices
supplies of quantities of food stuffs and other materials had to be offered, probably most
of the surplus being used in the sacrifice. Partly being burnt in fire sacrifices, partly being
redistributed to the participants in the sacrifices.

48
Collins, Steven, 1993, The Discourse on What is Primary' in Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 21, no. 4.
1993. 301390.


40
The relationship between status and sacrifice can clearly be seen in the case of the
Avamedha, or horse sacrifice. Only kings and rulers could perform this as first a horse
had to be let loose to wander where it wanted through the land of the ruler patron of the
sacrifice. Wherever it wandered was the land of the ruler. No doubt this may have been
aided by the horse being followed by an army it seems. In other words only powerful
rulers with extensive dominions and the forces to rule them could perform such
sacrifices. Other Vedic sacrifices demanded the presentation of various quantities of
wealth, from greater to lesser amounts. What matters here in a sense is that Vedic
sacrifice had both a spiritual dimension, the linking of this world and the next, and a
social dimension, it was the focus of economic activity.
One thing about Vedic culture that needs to be mentioned is that it became popular in
the 19th century to argue that the Vedic people, the Brahmins and higher castes were
invaders who had entered India from central Asia. This notion was partly inspired by the
18th realisation that Sanskrit was closely related to Greek and Latin and clearly they had
sprung from a common source, a putative original Indo-European language. Clearly
there was some sort of linguistic diffusion and transmission of ideas in the ancient world
whereby a language spoken in the central Asian or Anatolian region had spread out
West into Europe and East into India and Iran. Avestan, the ancient language of Iran, is
similar to Sanskrit in many ways and Avestan mythology has also striking resemblences
to Vedic mythology, if often with striking inversions of roles in stories.
The 19th century in Europe was also the age of the development of the notion of the
modern nation state in which the idea that language, race, and culture were linked
played a major role. This led to the increasing use of race as a category to justify the
development of modern countries and the notion that each country was inhabited by a
single racial community. It was therefore proposed that in order for Sanskrit to have
spread into India it must have been a Sanskrit speaking race of people who spread into
India and became the dominant community.
There are a number of problems with this theory. For a start, why propose it at all and
what is the motivation for proposing it. It was already realised by the 19th century that
there was no linkage between race and language. Many communities speak English, yet


41
they have different ethnicities. It appears that the motivation for the proposal must have
been something more than a simple explanation of the linguistic situation in India. One
interesting possibility is that it served in part as a justification for British rule in India. For
it said that the British and the Indians were part of the same race and therefore just as
the British ruling classes felt it was right for them to rule in Britain so it meant that it was
natural for them to rule in India. It also dispossessed the Brahmins and Kshatriyas of the
legitimacy of their rule by saying that they, like the British, were invaders of India.
In the last twenty years the Indo-Aryan invasion theory has come under close scrutiny in
academic research. The vision of fair skinned Aryans sweeping away the dark skinned
aboriginal inhabitants and either driving them into Southern India or subduing them has
turned out to have an interesting problem.
The linguistic basis of the invasion has been challenged. In particular close studies of the
Vedas have revealed a number of Dravidian (South India) linguistic features in them.
These are probably best explained by the mingling of Indo-European peoples speaking
several varieties of dialects akin to Vedic Sanskrit and Dravidian speaking communities.
In 1987 in Archaeology and Language Colin Renfrew argued that a model for linguistic
diffusion could be made in which small numbers of specialised communities, people with
new farming technologies or skills such as metal working, gradually expanded over
generations into new areas.
49
This model would account for the spread of Sanskrit,
rather like the spread of English in modern India, without needing to invoke any
mechanism not apparent in the world today.
50

Another aspect of this debate was that in the first decades of the 20th century Mortimer
Wheeler and others excavated the mounds at Harrapa and Mohenjodaro in modern
Pakistan and revealed that well planned cities, similar to the middle Eastern city states of
the fertile crescent, had flourished there from around 3000 to 1500 BCE. These sites
seemed to the excavators to have been suddenly destroyed at some time and they

49
Renfrew, Colin, Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins, London: Penguin
Books, 1989 (orig. ed. 1987). pp. 120144.
50
Renfrew, Colin, op. cit. pp. 208210.


42
proposed that an ancient Indus valley culture had been destroyed by invading Indo-
European war bands. However, since that time excavations in Rajasthan and Gujarat
have revealed other sites where there is a continuous transition from the Indus valley
culture to Vedic culture and there is no evidence of any major fracture between earlier
and later cultures. In addition some of the identifications of artefacts from Harrapa as
proto-Hindu have also been cast into doubt by more recent scholarship. In particular the
so called proto-Shiva image appears on close examination to have no connection with
Shiva at all.
51

I feel then that in the light of the present state of debate it is worth repeating. The Indo-
European invasion theory is now thoroughly discredited, rather it seems that a model
based on the notion of the gradual diffusion of Indo-European language and ideas took
place. The important implication of this is that there has been a continuous development
of culture in India from the earliest times.
Religious diversity in ancient India
Buddhist Jain and Brahminical sources reveal a picture of the religious cultures of India
at the time of the Buddha which shows a great diversity of religious traditions. It is
common to group these traditions into two main groups. The Vedic traditions were those
who accepted the authority of the Vedas and the Samaa (Skt ramaa ) traditions were
those who did not accept the authority of the Vedas. Amongst the Samaa traditions are
normally included the Buddhists, Jains, jvikas, Lokyatas, Jailas and other groups.
The meaning of Samaa probably derives from to strive or from those who have
pacified the mind.
The Jains (Skt Jaina) tradition is still extant and has perhaps around five million
followers. The fundamental characteristic of Jainism is a belief in non-violence (Skt
ahis) as the highest doctrine. Due to a desire to avoid violent occupations they have
tended to specialise in being jewellers and bankers and have thus developed a
significance out of all proportion to their absolute numbers. Jain tradition holds that their

51
Doris Srinivasan, 1975-76, The so-called Proto-Siva Seal from Mohenjo-Daro: An Iconological
Assessment, in Archives of Asian Art, no. 29.


43
doctrine is eternal (Skt sanatana) and it has been revealed in the present cycle of the
world by 24 teachers (Skt trthakara). The last of these was Mahvra who was a
contemporary of the Buddha. The previous two teachers, Parvantha and Nemintha
were also probably historical figures but there is considerable dispute over the historicity
of the earlier teachers. The very first teacher was called abhantha The Bull Lord
and he established society, agriculture, and the arts and crafts and laid down the rules
for the organisation of society.
52

The Jains share with the Buddhists a belief in karma, but they disagree on how it
functions and on the existence of the spirit which they hold to be an actual phenomena.
For the Jains karma is a physical process by which actions generate particles of karma
which adhere to the spirit and weigh it down within the body. The Jains aim is to cease
production of karma and amongst ascetics to burn away their existing karma through
bodily and physical austerities. The ultimate aim is to eliminate all karma so that the
individual spirit can return to its true nature, an aspect of the universal spirit. They also
share with the Buddhists a lack of belief in a creator God and are in the last resort not
religions. In the sense that religion refers to a system of belief based on the concept of
the universe having been created by a supreme deity. The Buddha and Mahvra are
reported to have debated with each other over how karma functioned. Mahavira argued
that it was the action and not the intention that mattered, Buddha argued that the
intention was as important as the action.
The jvakas were another significant ascetic community but they are no longer extent
and it seems that their tradition died out in the medieval period in the South of India
where it had survived longest. The most extensive study of the jvakas available is still
that by published by Basham in 1951.
53
The Buddhist depiction of the jvakas is very
negative and it says that they were misguided because they did not believe in karma but
rather in fate (Skt niyati). The analogy is given that they said life was like a ball of string
unrolling. Everything on the string was already determined and it only appeared to be

52
Dundas, Paul, The Jains, London: Routledge, 1992, p. 18-19.
53
Bashan, A. The History and Doctrines of the Ajivakas, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1981. (1
st
published
1951).


44
changing. The Buddhist depiction of the jvakas as a scurrilous group can be contrasted
with the early Jain text the Sages utterances (Skt ibhita). In this the jvakas leader
Makkhali Gosla is depicted as arguing that people should practice renunciation and
asceticism as everything was predetermined and so there was no point in engagement in
the world. This is a somewhat different slant on their teachings from that of the Buddhists
who depict them as immoral. However sources on the jvakas also indicated that they
were very interested in the universe and tried to analyse it into constituent elements and
atoms and regarded it as worthy of what might be terms proto-scientific study. Is it not
possible that the way that Buddhist texts depict Makkhali Gosla as a significant
opponent of the Buddha shows that the jvakas were a significant movement.
The Lokyatas, the (followers of the way of the world, were another significant ascetic
community. Neither their community nor any of their texts survive. However, from
reference to them it is clear that they were ancient India materialists who argued that
there was no spirit and that on death consciousness was finished. They are universally
censured for teaching a doctrine that rejected karma and could be linked to enjoyment of
the senses and sensuality in general. However, they were after all a philosophical
tradition and are remembered as an ascetic tradition and so the criticisms of them need
to be carefully considered. In the 20th century they have also been cited as a proto-
Marxist tradition by left wing Indian historians. Indeed Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya in the
introduction to his major 1959 study of Lokyata, described himself as a Marxist student
of the Lokyata.
54

Alongside these Samaa traditions there were also developing in India at this time the
traditions which became identified with the texts called the Upanishads. These were
ascetic forest based traditions that accepted the validity of Vedic authority but were
concerned with enquiry into the nature of the spirit. One of the characteristics of the
Upanishads is a common belief in the existence of supreme spirit (Skt paramtma) which
exists in all beings. However, due to lack of insight individuals identify their spirit (Skt
tma) as separate from the supreme spirit. The aim of the practices described in the

54
Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad, Lokyata, Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1978 (1st edition 1959), p.
xvi.


45
Upanishads is through yoga, meditation and asceticism to gain a flash of (insight (Skt
jna) into the true nature of reality and to overcome the duality of spirit and supreme
spirit.
The Buddhist texts do not contain any explicit debates between the Buddha and
Upanishadic sages. There are whole works, such as the third book of the Digha-Nikya
and parts of the Suttanipa which are in the form of debates between the Buddha and
Brahmins, but the arguments do not concern Upanishadic teachings. It thus appears that
the teachers of Upanishadic doctrines were not significant opponents of the Buddha.
However, Richard Gombrich and others have argued that it is possible to detect aspects
of Upanishadic doctrines in Buddhist texts. It thus appears that at the time of the Buddha
although the Upanishadic teachings were developing they had not yet become a
significant force in society.
55

There was also a community called the Jailas, ([those who wear] matted hair (akin to
Jamaican dreadlocks) mentioned in Buddhist sources. They were very active in the
Gaya area as well as other areas and were ascetics who lived in the forest, had matted
hair and revered sacred fires. They acknowledged the authority of the Vedic tradition and
it is possible that they were a form of Shaivite ascetic tradition as the practices of
wearing matted hair and worshipping sacred fires are also a feature of the Shaivite
tradition. The most well known members of this tradition in the Buddhist context were
Uruvela Kassapa who along with his brothers Nad Kassapa and Gay Kassapa are said
to have had respectively 500, 300 and 200 disciples who were all converted to
Buddhism.
56

There were also fringe practices carried out by individuals who did not belong to
particular communities. The Buddha is asked by individuals who lead the lifestyle of
cows and dogs what the effect of their ascetic practices will be, and tells them the best

55
Gombrich, Richard, Theravada Buddhism, London: Routledge, 1991 (1
st
ed. 1988).
56
Upasak, C.S. The Role of Uruvela Kassapa in the spread of Early Buddhism:, in: Narain, A. K. Studies
in Pali and Buddhism, Delhi: B. R. Publishing, 1979, pp. 369-374.


46
result would be rebirth as a cow or dog. It is possible that these were representative of
some of the diverse forms of individual ascetic practice which were practised.
57

There were also very important animistic traditions active in India. Modern Indian religion
involves numerous local deities and spirits of trees, lakes, rivers, hills, boundaries,
hearths, etc. These specialised minor deities seem to have been a constant feature of
village level religious cultures. There are numerous references in Buddhist texts to
female and male tree spirits (Skt yakin , yak , yaka). The Monastic code of Conduct
(Vinaya) explains the prohibition on cutting down trees in that it harms the tree spirits.
Buddhist texts also mention serpent deities associated with water (Skt Nga) and these
are still worshipped today. For instance the Buddha was sheltered by the Nga king
Muchalinda under his hood. There are numerous indications that Buddhism incorporated
these animistic deities into its own tradition.
One aspect of these local deities is that they are not always friendly, in fact they are
often very hard to keep happy and can become wrathful easily. The spirits need to be
kept constantly happy be making offerings to them. Happy spirits send bountiful
harvests, good health and peace and harmony. Wrathful spirits send natural calamities,
sickness and strife. Local deities need constant propitiation. They are linked to the land
and are like a landlord in the sense that they need to be paid a rent of offerings to keep
them happy and then they will protect their tenants, the people who live on their lands.
Urbanisation and Trade
So at the time of the Buddha there was already in existence a broad and diverse range
of cultures in Northern India. On the one hand nomadic pastoral communities and on the
other settled agricultural communities in which urban centres were rapidly developing.
The rapidity of the growth of urbanisation is hard to determine but there is a chance it
was really very rapid and within a few generations the rise of the new towns had radically
altered Indian culture. It can be argued that an apparent rapid introduction of currency
indicates a rapid change from a rural economy based on bartering to inter-urban trade in
goods. Indeed there was apparently a relationship between the growth of these towns

57
Majjhima Nikya I. 387.


47
and interurban trade. Accounts of merchants leading caravans of pack animals laden
with goods, or making river voyages are common in early Buddhist sources.
The towns and their rulers also functioned as facilitators of agriculture and trade by
ensuring peace and order within their borders and trying to keep down the number of
robbers, pirates and bandits. To maintain such a peace the rulers would have needed
standing armies, or police forces. These forces also appear to have been used in order
to expand the areas of the new kingdoms. A piece of evidence that suggests rapid
change concerns the absorption of the republics by the kingdoms. The Buddha came
from the Sakyan republic in the foothills of the Himalayas. These republics seem to
have been semi-tribal rural communities in which the leaders were elected by the
community rather than having been hereditary kingships. However, in the span of the
Buddhas life almost all of the republics were swallowed up by the rapidly expanding
kingdoms based in towns. Indeed the kingdom which ruled from Rajgir and then Patna in
the space of a few centuries expanded from a small area of central Bihar to an empire
under Aoka that stretched from Gujarat to Bengal and from Nepal to half way down the
Deccan.
Religion in an age of change
There is some evidence that the Vedic traditions were unsure how to respond to these
rapid changes and there are textual references to the problems of maintaining a pure
lifestyle and performing rituals correctly in urban areas. Accounts of the Buddhas life
during his teaching career are mostly set in places which were just outside towns and
urban areas rather than in remote forest areas or in village communities. This is
supported by the apparent patronage of Buddhism by urban communities rather than
rural communities which seem to have formed the power base of the Vedic tradition.
However, it should not be thought the Buddhist tradition was non-Brahminical as the
majority of the early participants seem to have been Brahmins, but quite possibly urban
Brahmins.
The question of why the ramaa traditions apparently developed at this time is vital. Yet
there are a number of problems which need to be addressed here. First, and most


48
important, on what basis can we argue that there was a rapid development of the
ramaa traditions at this time? The only evidence for this is textual and relies on later
Buddhist and Jain sources which describe the time of Buddha and Mahvra as a period
of rapid increase in the number of the followers of their traditions. Most modern
scholarship has used this literature to argue that there were actually large scale
conversions to the ramaa traditions. However, modern scholarship ignores or
discounts those aspects of Buddhist, and to a lesser extent Jain, textual traditions which
describe how there were already large number of Buddhists and Jains from the times of
the earlier Buddhas and Trthakaras. What bothers me here is this. Why is one aspect
of the textual sources regarded as relating to history and another to myth? When both, or
neither, may not be history or myth, but rather dramatic elements in stories about the
importance of the ramaa traditions.
This is not the place to investigate whether the answers to these questions can be found.
But rather to set of up a range of questions which need to be addressed. Was there a
major change in the economic change in Northern India actually taking place during the
life of the Buddha or had such a change already taken place? Was there actually an
increase in the number of followers of the ramaa traditions? What did conversion by
lay people to the ramaa traditions actually imply?
In particular in what sense did it imply rejection of other traditions. We tend to assume a
model for religious conversion in which to become, for instance, Christian, a person has
to cease being, for instance, Jewish. But it is not clear that this is an appropriate model in
ancient India for religious conversion. In the accounts of the conversions to the teachings
of the Buddha in the Pali canon there are no references to any change of lifestyle in the
lay people who convert, only to a changed pattern of patronage which now includes the
followers of the Buddha. Consider also that early Buddhists are not depicted as
abandoning belief in gods, goddesses, spirits and supernatural beings, but they are
simply regarded as now part of the world view of those who give alms to the Buddha and
his community of monks and nuns. I would argue that the picture of conversion in the
early Buddhist texts is not one in which lay people make major changes in their beliefs
about the world but is rather concerned with adopting the practice of providing alms to


49
Buddhist ascetics. In the end although to define what is meant by people asking to
become followers of the Buddha is not simple, what I think is evident is that it did not
mean that they abandoned much of their world view which from a modern view-point we
might see as Hindu. Although I would argue that it was not a Buddhist or a Hindu world
view, but rather the world view of the inhabitants of ancient India.
Conclusion
I would argue that at the time of the Buddha, the 5th century BCE, the rural pastoral
communities were being eclipsed by the rapid rise of urban centres in areas of settled
agriculture. There were numerous competing religious traditions, both Vedic and non-
Vedic and it is in this context we have to consider the Buddhas teachings.
50
CHAPTER 4
The Life of the Buddha
Introduction
In this chapter I want to investigate issues about not only the life of the Buddha but also
what we understand by the notion of the life of the Buddha and why we are interested in
studying it and how our understanding might vary from early Indian perceptions of the
story and its importance. To this I will look at the following points.
Drama or Documentary?
Stories and Storytellers
Epic Storytelling Traditions
The birth of the Buddha
The Great Departure
The Teaching career
Drama or Documentary?
The theme of the life of the Buddha is obviously one that needs to be addressed fairly
early on in any study of Buddhism. In one way or another we all see the Buddha as the
central teacher of Buddhism and the central focus of the tradition. But before we start to
consider the story of the life of the Buddha we need to talk about notions of stories. What
is a narrative? Are there differences between Indian and Western narrative structures?
What might be the major variations in how to tell stories which might effect our
perceptions? Have people at different times and places seen what constitutes a story
differently? Is there a single story of the life of the Buddha?
I would ask you first to consider are we talking about a drama or a documentary? Are
you expecting dramatic features and twists and turns to depict a drama about the life of


51
the Buddha or a rationally collected range of factual information to give a reasoned
account of his biography? For a documentary we would need ideally a collection of hard
facts, documents, as these are the basis of a good documentary. But would we find such
documentary evidence on the facts of the Buddhas life from the 5th century BCE in
Northern India? The answer is such facts might be hard to come by.
Indian historical traditions are fairly diffuse at the time of the Buddha. Even in the West
the notion of History was only then coming into being. Herodotus is often cited as the first
historian and he is seen as the pioneer in this field and his works marks a transition from
essentially accounts of dynastic lineages to accounts of the narrative of the development
of traditions and a kind of geographic account of the varieties of phenomena he heard
about. This new way of looking at the world and history did not develop in India until
quite a long time after this period. It would therefore be unrealistic to expect ancient
Indian sources to conform to what we would expect in a history. What there is in Indian
sources is a great wealth of stories about incidents in the life of the Buddha all of which
in one way or another serve to highlight the greatness of the Buddha. Such stories have
been studied in the West under the rubric of Hagiography, meaning the life of saints.
Typical of saints in the medieval and ancient Christian worlds, these stories have been
examined to see how they are structured to reveal the greatness of the saints. A third
way of looking at the story would be to seek to determine the facts about the historical
Buddha from the hagiographic materials. In the 19th century there was an attempt to sort
out the historical aspect of Christian traditions, which were seen as fundamentally
modern post enlightenment narratives, from the mythical elements in the stories which
were seen as corruptions of the stories. This was done with both Christ and the Buddha.
The sifting process went through the legends, rejecting the supernatural and the
miraculous, and created a factual biography of the Buddha. This is a valid and
meaningful thing to do, for modern Western audiences, but from Indian traditional
perspectives it is not valid as it separates out the mundane and the miraculous in a way
which conflicts with inseparability of these aspects of the stories. So we must bear in
mind not just the story but the audience, what may seem reasonable to us may seem
unreasonable to others, and vice versa.


52
So what factual data is there on the life of the Buddha? I would suggest: none really
whatsoever. There were no records of births and deaths, even now in rural India the
births and deaths of people are not registered. Yet alone other documents, drivers
licences and the like, none of which existed in former times, and even if they did they
would all have perished over time. The only physical remains of the Buddha are his
relics, his ashes, some of his teeth and fragments of bone. As these have been
cremated they cannot even be used for DNA testing, and it is hardly likely that a sacred
relic would be given up for scientific testing as it would probably damage it. What is more
there must be considerable doubt about the authenticity of all the relics and one
suspects that if they were all gathered together their volume might exceed their original
mass. Like the true cross, of which it is said there are sufficient relics to build a
substantial ship. In the end the relics do not tell us very much about the Buddha. So in
the absence of documentary evidence a documentary is really going to be hard to
create.
One of the major early sources for the life of the Buddha is not in the form of literary
texts. It consists of the sculptures and reliefs carved onto early Buddhist monuments
erected from around the 3rd century BCE onwards, in other words about a century or two
after the life of the Buddha. These visual representations depict the previous lives of the
Buddhas and the present lives of the Buddhas and the Buddha. The railings at
Bodhgaya, Bharhut and Sanchi vividly depict this heritage. They include symbols which
represent images from the lives of the Buddhas. A tree to represent enlightenment,
different sorts of trees signifying different Buddhas. A wheel to represent the teaching of
the Dharma, a stpa to represent the death and so on. These symbolic images represent
particular important scenes from the Buddhas life. There are also numerous images of
incidents from the previous lives of the Buddha. It is interesting that what modern
Western audiences might regard as the primary focus, the life of a historical Buddha, is
not the primary focus of the art on these monuments at all. The primary focus is rather
the lives of the Buddhas. Westerners may be interested in a documentary on the life of
the historical Buddha, ancient India was clearly not interested in this, but was interested
in something else.


53
The stpa at Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh has fallen down but the remains of the railings
are mostly gathered together by Cunningham when he excavated the site in the 19th
century. The Bharhut stpa is probably the oldest extent remains of a stpa and it dates
from around 250 BCE. It is unusual as in addition to having scenes depicted on it they
are mostly labelled and their names are given.
58
From this it has been possible to
determine that the majority of stories depicted on this monument. It appears that the
scenes on this and other early Buddhist monuments are mostly from the previous lives of
the Buddha. These stories are called birth-stories (Skt jtaka). These is a large genre,
the Pali tradition preserves around 550 stories, whilst others are preserved in Sanskrit,
Chinese and Asian languages. The typical structure of these is that the Buddha tells a
folk story about animals often similar to folk stories from all over the world. Similar stories
are also found in a non-Buddhist context in India within a tradition which is called
Pacatantra and which is mostly about animal stories and morality tales.
59
Like the
Jtakas it is a vast collection. In India then there was an active tradition of folk story
telling which often ends up the story with a verse which sums up the teaching in a pithy
aphorism. It is such tales which dominate the visual imagery on early Buddhist
monuments.
Stories and Storytellers
Some authors have expressed dismay about this situation which they regarded as the
corruption of the pure Buddhist tradition. I would like to suggest that we need to look at
this through a paradigm shift. We should not be surprised because stories cannot exist
without story tellers. If we are going to talk about the story of the Buddha we are also
going to need to talk about who tells the story and who the story is told to. The existence
of the birth stories on the monuments to my mind indicates that the major group telling
the stories of the Buddha must have been traditional story tellers. Such tellers of stories
are referred to in the canon. In particular the Buddha once refers in the Samyutta Nikya

58
Cunningham, Alexander. The Stupa of Bharhut a Buddhist monument ornamented with numerous
sculptures, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998. (1
st
published 1879).
59
Sharma, Visnu, (Candra Rajan trans.) The Pancatantra, Delhi: Penguin Books, 1993.


54
to people who wander around with pictures telling stories (carana-citra).
60
There is a still
extant tradition of story telling that used pictures as a support and cue for the telling of
tales. These people travel around and unroll the picture and set up their stall and attract
audiences and tell their tales. Tibetan traditions also continue this tradition.
It has been proposed that when you went to a Buddhist monument you would have been
shown around by guides and they would have told you the stories using the visual
representations as cues. In other words the pictures represent a kind of catalogue of the
stories that were told at these monuments. The story tellers are just as important as the
stories. No story can exist without a tradition that can tell it. I propose that the pre-
existing story telling traditions appear to have adopted the Buddhas story and
incorporated it into their repertoires of tales and made use of the new monuments as
venues for story telling. I would like to suggest a possible parallel, we are essentially
talking about a media form like a newspaper. News media need to include various
elements to attract and keep their audiences, they need headlines, but they also need
editorials, local stories, sports, womens, entertainment, etc. Media forms need this
variety. Surely the story telling traditions of India would have been similarly multi-faceted.
The story of the Buddha needs then to looked at in company with a study of the kinds of
story telling traditions which maintained and told the stories.
Another important factor about Indian story telling traditions is that traditionally there was
little interest in what might be called biography. In the West biography has become a
major genre, in which a consecutive narrative recounts how influences, intentions and
motivations shape a persons life. Biography as we understand it consists of a neat
narrative which links causes and results. Indian stories do not fall into this pattern, the
major mode is to recount a series of disconnected incidents which in one way or another
illustrate the innate greatness of the central figure. There is no causal connection. Each
incident is complete in itself, they do not rely on a narrative structure. In addition they do
not rely on revealing the story, for everybody knows the story to begin with, there is no
question of will something happen everybody knows already what has happened. There

60
Dehejia, Vidya, 1990, On Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art, in The Art Bulletin,
September 1990, p, 377.


55
is no point in a dramatic revelation. What is of interest is how the incidents reveal the
nature of the hero and make you experience the feelings themselves.
Western classical dramatic theory developed the notion that a drama was a development
which led to a cathartic change in the characters, and in the audience. The revelation is
a sudden change that makes one feel good. Indian dramatic theory in the form it attained
by the sixth century CE in the Nya-astra is based on the notion of emotions (Skt
rasa) and is somewhat different, there are said to be nine emotions which can be
depicted in a story: anger, love, valour, peace, etc. The whole function of any story is to
depict one of these emotions and generate them in the audience. The drama embodies
the emotion and the events are harmonies on the basic theme. Indian sacred stories fall
into the same pattern even if they predate the full development of rasa theory.
61
The
events in classical Indian stories all serve to reveal the essential unchanging characters
of the actors in the stories, and in particular as embodied in the life of the central figure.
In the words of Edwin Gerow.
The chief function of plot, in classical terms, has been seen as a test of
character; but since it is a forgone conclusion that the character survives
the test, through his heroism, his wit, or his virtue, the interest can lie only
in how it happens.
62

In comparison Western notions of plot mean change and development - of fortune,
status, outlook, in mans essential and individual nature.
63
This is in stark contrast to the
pervading sense of plot in Indian stories in which events only serve to highlight the
unchanging nature of the characters. I would argue this difference it critical to
understanding Indian myths and legends. They are not stories of how the characters are
changed by events but rather of how events cannot change the characters. It is
interesting in this regard to also question whether Western myths and legends also
follow this narrative structure. Surely legends such as the Arthurian legends function in a

61
Gerow, Edwin, The rasa theory of Abhinavagupta and its application, in Dimock, E.C. (ed.) The
Literatures of India: an introduction, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978 (1974). pp.212-216.
62
Op. cit. p. 218.
63
Loc. cit.


56
similar manner, it is not events that make Arthur, but events that reveal Arthur to be what
he is.
Epic Storytelling Traditions
Another important story telling tradition which was active in India was that of the epic
story tellers. There are two great Indian epics: The Rmyaa, which tells the story of
Rma and the Mahbhrata which tells the story of the five Paava brothers. These
epics assumed their present forms between the 4th century BCE and the 4th century CE.
There are actually versions of the Rmyaa and the Mahbhrata in amongst the
Jtaka tales in the Pali canon. Epic story telling is a fascinating process. Parrys work in
Yugoslavia in the interwar period revealed that epics in that area were re-created every
time they were told from stock phases and narrative elements and the basic plot
structures. The epic is constantly recreated by the epic story tellers. John Smiths work in
Rajasthan has shown that India epic tradition is maintained in a similar manner. Indian
epics are not neat narratives. Like folk stories they contain constant, bewildering,
digressions and basically depict the greatness of leading characters. If you had within
India both folk and epic story telling traditions and these were the dominant media forms
then is it no surprise that a dry documentary on the life of the Buddha might not, to put it
bluntly, have sold well? Faced with the choice of a worthy documentary on one TV
channel or a lively entertainment show on another channel many people switch to the
entertainment. Surely, to sell the story of the Buddha it would have been natural to make
it conform to the normal notions of what made a good story in order to maximise the
story tellers audience in the market. But, it must also have had something unique in it to
make people want to watch it rather than some other story. In particular it epitomised the
ideal of how to live in order to attain the ultimate realisation of the end of suffering.
An example of this similarity of the story of the Buddha with other Indian great stories is
that most Indian great stories include tales of the previous lives of the main characters. It
is almost a prerequisite for a great life that it should be foreshadowed by previous lives,
what you might call a prequel. Just as in the Biblical tradition the prophesy of the future
coming of a sage increases the sages importance so in India the previous lives create a
build up and increase the significance of the later lives. Viu has ten incarnations, iva


57
is depicted as having had a variable number of incarnations. How then could the Buddha
not have had previous lives? For had he not had previous lives he would not be viewed
as a truly great person.
The Buddhas story thus conforms to the grand prototype of the great story in India. But
there is no single life of the Buddha in Indian sources but rather a multiplicity of lives of
the Buddhas. Reynolds traces the story of the life of the Buddha from early scattered
references to his life to the later linking up of an ever greater number of incidents and a
narrative begins to be constructed out of them. I also suggest that there was a process of
the consolidation of stories about the Buddha by monastics in the canonical literature
which at some point merged with the developing popular tradition of the stories of the
lives of the Buddha told by the story telling traditions. This fusion of stories created
something akin to the modern version of the story. Some elements may have not entered
the story until quite late on. For instance the slipping away from the Harem while the
women sleep may not have entered the story until around the 1st century BCE. A major
study of the way in which the story developed was made by Frank Reynolds in 1976 in
which he argued for the slow accretion of story elements onto a core story.
64

The Birth of the Buddha
Let us now turn to the main scenes in the Buddha life. The first scene is often of the
conception in which an elephant brings down the seed of the Buddha and implants it in
Mydevis womb. This is sometimes also spoken of as Mydevis dream. In it she
sees a miraculous elephant with six tusks enter her side. In fact it is a miraculous
conception. Interestingly enough many major figures have miraculous conceptions.
Mahvras conception is very similar in that a miraculous elephant plants the seed in his
mothers womb
65
Although in that case there is a complication as the gods then change
their mind about his mother and the embryo has to be transplanted from a Brahmin into a

64
Reynolds, Frank E., The Many Lives of Buddha: A Study of Sacred Biography and Theravada
Tradition, in Reynolds, Frank E. and Donald Capps, eds., The Biographical Process, The Hague: Mouton,
1976. pp. 3961.
65
Jaini, P. S. The Jain Path of Purification, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1990. (orig. ed. 1979) p. 6.


58
katriya womb by Harinegamesi, a kind of celestial goat headed deity. Other famous
miraculous conceptions include, for instance, Padmasambhava who is born from a lotus.
It is I suppose interesting that at least one Western figure has an immaculate conception.
The Birth itself is also a miraculous event. In the common representation of this
Mydevi is depicted as standing up and holding onto a tree while the Buddha is born
from her side and he then takes seven steps while the gods look down on the scene and
scatter flowers and bear witness to the greatness of the Buddha. Now I would like to
make a couple of points about Mydevi. In this image she resembles a tree spirit (Skt
yak). These are common images on Buddhist monuments and are normally depicted
as attractive fertile looking women who are inter-twinned with trees. The tree spirits were
clearly important in ancient India and it is remarkable that Buddhas mother is basically
depicted as a tree spirit. The gods witnessing to the birth of the Buddha is also an
important motif in Indian story telling. It is a little bit like a quotation in an essay, it
testifies to the truth of the statement which it supports. The bearing of witness (Skt ski)
is a form of testimony to the truth of something. So far then there is a miraculous
conception and birth.
The childhood incidents include the identification of the 32 marks of a great person upon
the Buddhas birth which is interesting. These marks reveal somebody who is destined to
be either a world ruler or a Buddha. Some of the marks are fairly normal, like having
even shoulders and a pleasing complexion; some are slightly odd, such as that the
hands should reach down to the knees. Some are distinctly odd, the ability to touch the
crown of the head and the ears with the tongue is a peculiar and abnormal mark and
most perplexing of all is the ability to withdraw the penis into the body, or perhaps to
have a penis enclosed in a sheath like an elephant. The precise meaning of this mark is
unclear, although it clearly indicates that a woman cannot be a world ruler (Skt
cakravartin) or a Buddha.
The childhood incidents, his education, the sheltering from the world by his father and his
marriage are popular themes in Sanskrit Buddhist literature. I will not dwell on them here.
I would point out that in traditional Indian texts it is normally the duty of a parent to train
their offspring in the family occupation. Therefore for Buddhas father to have shielded
him from the world makes little sense. It is rather an example of a narrative device to


59
heighten the drama in the story. The incident of the four visions and the birth of the
Buddhas son Rahula are well covered in many sources and I will not pursue them here.
The Great Departure
The great departure is the next important scene in most visual representations of the
Buddhas life. It is a standard element in many stories of the Samaa tradition. In the
Jain tradition there five marks of being that of a Jain teacher, miraculous, conception,
birth, renunciation, enlightenment, teaching and death. Without these a life cannot be
that of a saviour. It is therefore essential for the Buddha to have a similar list of events in
his life, and it is notable that all the Buddhas have these events in their lives. So he
leaves the palace and rides off on his horse with his retainer and finally cuts off his hair
and takes off his royal clothes and jewellery and puts on the clothes of an acetic in the
forest. He goes off to search for the truth in the forest by practising austerities. A sidelight
on the renunciation which is notable is that he does this only after he has had a son and
fulfilled his duty to continue his lineage. He therefore acts in an manner which is in a
classical Indian sense moral, although from a Western viewpoint to have a son and then
abandon his wife seems far from moral.
The Buddhas practice of asceticism in the forest is a popular image and in particular the
practice of austerity. He is said to have studied with different teachers but to have gone
beyond their teachings, or to have found them incomplete. Reynolds has argued that
these studies with different teachers may be elaborations of the story and this may be so
but it seems likely that he would have had access to different teachings. The end of the
austerities is the story of the gift of milk-rice by Sujta. According to most of the stories,
at some point he abandons extreme austerities and accepts a meal of milk rice which is
offered to him by a village woman called Sujta which means well born. The scene
depicts him sitting under a tree being given an offering by a woman. If you recall
Buddhas mother resembled closely a tree goddess. In this scene he resembles closely a
tree god. There is a story about Sujta that she had vowed to make offerings to the tree
gods if she had a male child. To make such a vow is called manauti in modern Hindi and
it is a common practice. She had had a male child and was thus in the habit of making
offerings to the tree gods and so when she saw the Buddha sitting under a tree she


60
gives him the offering. The point here is that there is a conflation of images here, making
offerings to the Buddha, and making offerings to the tree gods. The stories sum up and
conflate various images and themes.
There is a degree to which the ways that elements are woven into the stories which
suggest that perhaps other traditions are being made to play supporting roles in the
drama. For instance, on the way to the tree he is given grass by a Brahmin to sit on and
thus the story incorporates Brahmins. He then sits under the tree and attains
enlightenment and while he is meditating a storm comes up and he is protected by the
Serpent (Nga) deity Muchalinda who shelters him under his hood. In this way the story
incorporates the Ngas. Following this, it is said, he worked out the doctrine of
dependent origination but felt reluctant to teach the world how to solve the problems
which beset it. However, Brahm
66
and the other gods come and implore him to teach
and he then accepts the burden of teaching and sets off to Varanasi. This incorporates
the Brahm as endorsing the teachings of the Buddha.
An element in this which is worthy of attention is the manner in which these stories depict
the relationship between Buddhism and other traditions. The key point is that the way the
stories work is that they incorporate the other traditions and make them support the
Buddha. Thus the birth scene, incorporates the tree goddess tradition into Buddhism, the
gift of the milk rice by Sujta to the Buddha incorporates the tree gods into Buddhism,
the protection by Muchalinda of the meditating Buddha incorporates the Nga tradition,
the gift of the grass is an incorporation of Brahminical tradition and finally the need for
Brahm to persuade him to teach incorporates the Brahminical gods into Buddhism.
Each tradition is acknowledged but made to play a supporting role within the
constellation of traditions that makes up the Buddhist tradition. There is also an element
in this in that may show that followers of these traditions may have become followers of
Buddhism. This process of incorporation of other traditions is vital as it points to an
important narrative strategy in these stories: the stories use existing elements but give
them new meaning within a Buddhist context.

66
Note Brahm is the god who creates the universe in Hinduism, Brahma, is the universal spirit.


61
The Teaching Career
The next scene in the life is the first teaching in Sarnath which is on the outskirts of
Varanasi. Why teach in Sarnath? Part of the answer may be practical in origins, its a
place where there would have been lots of people to listen to the teachings and it is said
that the five ascetics, who had formerly been the companions of the Buddha, were
practising there. There is also another element to this though which is by teaching in
Sarnath the teachings gain authority. It is like going to give a lecture in Harvard, the very
name suggests respectability and authority. What is more just as Harvard suggests
learning to Americans, so Varanasi suggests sacredness in India, perhaps akin to the
word Jerusalem for many followers of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Thus to teach at
Sarnath is another form of verification of the teachings. I would like to draw your attention
also to the name of the sutta, it is the turning of the wheel of Dharma, not the creation of
the wheel of Dharma. There is never any suggestion in these stories that what the
Buddha taught was fundamentally new. He turns the wheel of Dharma which has always
existed but has for a while not been turning so well. There is a story in which some
monks come to the Buddha and tell him that he is being defamed by a monk who is
wandering around the town claiming that you have worked out this doctrine on the basis
of your own intellect and that it is your own invention and that you are an ordinary human
being without supernatural powers. To this the Buddha replies that this is wrong because
he is teaching the Dharma which has always existed. The Buddha in a sense never
teaches his own doctrine at all, what he teaches is an eternally existent Dharma.
I would like to point out that so far really only a very few people are reported to have had
contact with the Buddha. These are surprisingly few in number, his family, some ascetics
in the forest and a few people in Bodhgaya, not many people. So in a sense so far there
have been very few eye witnesses. In fact accounts of his life even in early sources are
told by people who only met the Buddha much later on. So all of the story up to the
beginning of the teaching dates from a period in which he was not really well known,
because he does not become famous until after he starts teaching. There is an element
to the story so far which is basically that it is a mixture of Indian story telling motifs and
perhaps some basis in the life of a person.


62
But I would not be certain on their being much historicity in most of the story up until the
beginning of his teaching career. The forty five years after his enlightenment, from the
age of 35 to 80 were the period when he would have actually been more in the public
eye and more people might have met him. Interestingly in seven scene versions of the
life of the Buddha the more possibly historical aspect of the story is only in the last two
scenes, teaching and death, and the five earlier scenes relate an essentially
hagiographic set of incidents about his life.
This teaching phase of the Buddhas life may have more historicity. But even so most of
the popular scenes in the teaching career of the Buddha often focus on miraculous
events. This is in stark contradistinction to modern Theravdin depictions of the
Buddhas life as a modern human biography. Two favourite incidents in visual art are the
Buddhas miracle in Sravasti when in response to doubts about his authenticity as a
teacher he reduplicates his body countless times and displays himself in numerous
identical forms all of which are standing on a jewelled walkway in the sky and fire is
rising up from his body and water raining down from his body. This is not the sort of thing
that humans often do. But on the other hand the ability to reduplicate oneself countless
times is a standard supernatural ability of great beings in Indian tradition, take for
instance Ka who reduplicates himself to dance with each of his devotees in the round
dance in Vrindavan. It is then the sign of being a great person.
Another incident relates to Mydevi who died a week after his birth. During the
Buddhas teaching career he decides it would be good to teach to his mother and so he
goes up during the rainy season to the heaven of the 33 gods where his mother is living
and teaches to her. At the end of the rainy season Indra and the other gods build a
stairway from heaven to earth and he descends back to earth as a place called Sankissa
in modern Uttar Pradesh not far from Varanasi. This is a popular image and is normally
represented as a kind of flight of steps leading up into the sky. This was also a historical
monument and was visited by Chinese pilgrims who described it although no trace of it
now remains. Again this is not the sort of behaviour historical people are much involved
in, but it does fit with the kind of supernatural abilities great heroes have.


63
One last point about this story is it points to another manner in which stories were
created, maintained and propagated. That is local story telling traditions at different
shrines. It seems clear that it was at Sankissa that the stories of this event must have
had their focus and that local stories from there became incorporated into the great
narrative of the Buddhas life. The French scholars Foucher and Bareau have suggested
that these local cycles of stories played a vital role in the development of the narrative.
This is analogous to the way that at all manner of Indian pilgrimage sites the stories have
cues in the landscape and monuments of the site that are the stages on which the local
guides will tell you about particular incidents in the lives of the gods associated with that
place. It must be a vital part of the development of the story of the Buddha that the
landscapes of the sites associated with him became in a sense textualised. They act as
stages on which the drama of his life was enacted and through the process of pilgrimage
to the various sites the individual cycles of stories became woven together into a greater
narrative.
Lamotte argues that three early sites associated with the teachings show a shift from
interest in the previous lives of the Buddha to the Buddhas life itself.
67
At Bhrhut, the
earliest site, he identifies 40 Jtakas: involving human, animal, male and female births.
He considers that they deal mainly with the perfections of dna, la, knti and vrya. It
is also notable that it is only at Bhrhut that the Bodhisattva is depicted as a woman. The
life of the Buddha is depicted in twelve events at Bhrhut: conception; childhood
contests; cutting of hair; enlightenment; first discourse; gift of Jetavana grove; Indras
visit; Nga Elputras visit; worship by Prileyyeha elephants; descent from heaven;
parinirva and worship by Ajtatru.
At Bodhgaya he says that the Jtakas and the present life tend to balance
68
he says
twelve Jtakas are represented on the palisade that surrounded the site (including seven
unidentified Jtaka stories) and there are twelve scenes from the Buddhas life. The
scenes are: first meditation; grass cutters gift; cave of Buddhas shadow; the first sermon
represented by the dharmacakra; the return to Kapilavastu; gift of Jetavana grove; the

67
Lamotte: p. 404.
68
Lamotte: p. 404.


64
miracle of walking on water; Indiras visit; worship by the Prileyyeha elephants; the
parnirva stpa.
However at Sanchi Lamotte identifies only five Jtakas: aanta, mahkapi, yainga,
yma and Vivantara. However, he identifes 34 scenes at Sanchi which belong to eight
cycles.
69
First, from the Kapilavastu cycle: 1-conception, 2-first meditation, 3-four
encounters, 4-great departure, 5-return to Kapilavastu, 6-gift of Nyagrodahrma, 7-
conversion of the kyas. Second from the Bodhgaya cycle: 8-six years of austerities, 9-
Sujtas offerings, 10-the grass cutters offering, 11-temptation and assault by My, 12-
the walk after enlightenment, 13-Mucalinda Nga, 14-the two merchants gift, 15-gift of
four bowls, 16-rest at Ratnagha, 17-the gods invitation to teach, 18-the conversion of
the Jailas, 19-visits of gods, 20-victory over the serpent, 21-wonders of wood and fire,
22-wonder of water, 23-Aoka visits the Bodhi tree. Third and fourth, from the Varanasi
and Kusinagar cycles: 24-war over the relics, 25 transport of relics, and 26- the stupa at
Rmagrma. Fifth, from the Rjagha cycle: 27-Bimbisras visit, 28-Ajtaatrus visit,
29-Indras visit. Sixth, from the Vaiali cycle: 30-The monkeys offering. Seventh, from
the rvasti cycle: 31-gift of Jetavana grove, 32-the great wonder: the twin wonders, 33-
the great wonder: the multiplication. Eighth, from the Skya cycle: the descent from
the Tryastrisa heaven.
I have included this detailed analysis here because it points to something immensely
important. Already in ancient India there were multiple versions of the story of the
Buddha current in different places and times. Why then should we imagine there is one
story, and only one, which is the real story. Just as there were many stories in ancient
India there must be many ways of telling the stories of the Buddhas life relevant to
different times and places.
The last scene in his life is normally the Buddha lying down on his side and passing into
Parinirva. The story associated with this is odd, it is said that he ate a meal of a food,
apparently of mushroom or pork, which was off and died as a result. What is odd about
this story is its lack of apparent mythic parallels in other great Indian stories. This

69
Lamotte: pp. 405-406.


65
suggests to me that this may actually be a trace of historical tradition, after all anybody
who has been to India knows that intestinal problems are an everyday aspect of Indian
life. What is more Ayurvedic sources reveal that this has been the situation for at least
the last two thousand years. This is not a standard Indian story telling motif, dying from
eating off food, and it has the ring of something which might be based on a historical
tradition.
However, it is possible to see the story in another way. In this sense the important point
is that the Buddhas death is voluntary, he knew the meal was off but still ate it and thus
voluntarily ended his life. Indeed there was great concern in the early tradition over why
the Buddha had died at all, and why not at a greater age. His attendant nanda is
blamed for not requesting he live for a hundred years, due to which the Buddha died
before he would have otherwise. What is interesting here is that the same incident can
mean different things to different people. For modern people it is important as it shows
the humanity of the Buddha, he could die of food poisoning. Whilst for ancient people it
was important as it showed that he died voluntarily and was thus as in control of his
death as he had been of his life.
Conclusion
So to sum up: to study the life of the Buddha as a documentary may be valid from a
modern Western viewpoint, but it was apparently never the focus of Indian interest in the
Buddha. Rather his life was seen as embodying the characteristics of a great persons
life. Also to understand how the story came into being it is necessary to consider not just
the story itself but also the tellers of the story and the audience of the story. Finally it is
vital to examine the ways in which through the stories the relationship between
Buddhism and the other Indian traditions was articulated and to investigate the ways in
which the stories incorporate elements from other traditions and shift their meaning so as
to substantiate the greatness of the Buddhist tradition.
66
CHAPTER 5
Dukkha and the Four Noble Truths
Introduction
In the next chapters I would now like to focus on a number of key ideas from the
Buddhas teachings. In particular, the concept of Dukkha, the Four Noble Truths,
Dependent Origination, The Noble Eight-fold Path and the concept of Nibbna. In this
chapter I will look at the following topics.
Definitions of Dukkha
Dukkha in Indian religious traditions
The Buddhas definition of Dukkha
Reincarnation and sasra
Karma
This is an approach to the history of ideas in Buddhism. As part of a history of Buddhism
it is necessary to examine both what could be called the social history and the
conceptual history of the Buddhist tradition. The main approach is based around the
comparison of key Buddhist concepts with non-Buddhist concepts from the time of the
Buddha and the subsequent development of those ideas in the history of the Buddhist
tradition. In particular I want to look at the ways in which Buddhism changed and
responded in relationship to other changes and developments in Indian religious
traditions.
Definitions of Dukkha
One of the main problems we are going to encounter is this, is it possible to translate all
of the main terms and find simple word to word relationships with English words. For
instance there is simple formulation of the Four Noble Truths which is:


67
There is dukkha,
There is the arising of dukkha,
There is the cessation of dukkha,
There is a path to the cessation of dukkha.
I have retained the word dukkha in all four noble truths to point out its evident importance
in the Noble Truths and that if we are to get a good understanding of them we will first
need to investigate the meanings of the word dukkha.
The Pali form of the word is dukkha and the Sanskrit form is dukha, I shall purely for
convenience use the Pali form in this book. It is often interesting to look at words and
discover their derivations, the word dukkha comes from two elements. A prefix du,
which means, wrong, bad, incorrect and a root sth which means, standing, location,
position. By Sanskrit laws of word formation these combine to produce dukha from
which the Pali dukkha is derived. So the root meaning of dukkha is something akin to
wrong-standing or bad-location or incorrect position.
Another way to examine a word is to look for its lexical opposite, in this case the
combination of the prefix su, which means correct, good, right and sth which yields Skt
sukha (Pali sukha) which means right location and gives a range of meanings related to
happiness, well-being, prosperity. Clearly then as dukkha is the opposite of sukkha it is
clear that this helps to clarify the meaning of dukkha. However it should be noted that the
true opposite of both sukha and dukkha is nibbna, a term which will be examined in
chapter six.
There is a relationship between the social and spiritual dimension to Buddhist thought
and in order to understand key terms such as dukkha we will need to examine the range
of meanings possible in both personal contexts and social contexts. It is also necessary
to examine the long term use of terms such as dukkha, which has been in use since at
least the Buddhas time and is still a common term in Northern Indian languages
including Hindi. The Hindi meanings of dukkha are quite broad. They include, emotional
qualities such as sorrow, grief, distress, dejection, vexation, regret, annoyance and
physical aspects such as pain, misfortune, difficulty, trouble. In Sanskrit dukkha also


68
covers the same range of meanings indicating that this concept has been of central
importance in India for much of the last two and a half millennia at least.
I would like to draw your attention to the way that words function in language. Most
words have a broad range of meanings attached to them and even when they are used
in specific contexts there are still echoes of the full range of meanings of the word
inherent in its use. A word such as blue is a sense simply a colour. But it also describes
an emotion feeling blue it also may remind some of blues music and the cultural
associations that go with that. In short most words are not tokens of a single relationship,
but indicators of a range of possible meanings. By context we know that the door is
blue is referring to its colour, not its emotional state, we would then have to translate that
into, for example, Hindi using a word that simply means the colour blue. But if I say hes
got the blues I understand it to refer to a mental condition and would translate it with an
entirely different word. This is not to mention all the other meanings of blue which relate
to blue films etc. which would need quite different translations. My point is this, to some
extent the multiple meanings of words overlap in languages, but translation of specific
usages of these words into other languages looses the shades of meaning inherent in
the word.
Are we then going to find a word to translate dukkha which has the same range of
meanings as dukkha itself? There have been a number of translations, unease, anxiety,
collective-anxiety, physical pain, ill. However, the most popular translations is suffering
which was coined by Rhys Davids as one of the pioneer translators of the Pali canon. To
me there seem to be problems with all of these translations. Ill brings to mind for many
people a medical analogy, which may be appropriate in some contexts but not it all. In
particular it localises the meaning of dukkha into a medical context and will influence
subtly how we will perceive dukkha. At the moment suffering has become the most
popular translation. One problem with this may be that for many people suffering also
has a significance within Judeo Christian tradition in which suffering is something which
ennobles the spirit. It is after all a key term, the suffering of the Jewish people and the
choice of Jesus to suffer for his followers are hardly marginal aspects of the tradition.
The problem clearly is that suffering is in some senses good in Western tradition, this is


69
not the case in Indian tradition as far as I know, dukkha is never a good thing in itself.
The sense in which dukkha is a noble is that it is one of the Noble truths and a part of
the path to the end of dukkha itself.
So it appears that if we constantly use the term suffering to translate dukkha we may be
limiting the meaning of the word in a way which is conducive to developing a full
understanding of dukkha. It may in fact be conducive to projecting a modern western
interpretation of the texts onto their interpretations by focusing on suffering rather than
dukkha.
Dukkha in Indian religious traditions
It would be a good approach to therefore look at other uses of dukkha in Indian tradition.
The first thing to say is that dukkha is a shared concept of more than one religious
tradition in India and it is as important in non-Buddhist traditions as it is in Buddhist
traditions. Its opposite sukha is also a shared concept. It is not found to any significant
degree in the Vedas but it is a highly significant term in the Upanishads and the Epic
literature of the Rmyaa and Mahbhrata traditions, all of which were developing at
around the same time as the Buddhist tradition. Indeed, it seems that there was a
common belief that life in sasra was dukkha. The non-Buddhist traditions also agree
on the cause of dukkha which is said in the Upanishads to be Skt ta (Pali tah).
Hence there was agreement that the root of dukkha was thirst or desire. This association
of concepts is still current today in India.
An examination of opposite of dukkha will also reveal aspects of dukkha. The opposite of
dukkha is sukkha. Significantly there is no clear opposite in English of suffering,
perhaps relief comes closest, which is very different from sukkha. The meanings of
sukkha cover both personal mental and physical levels, happy and well, and a social
context in which it means contented and affluent or prosperous.
Another way to look at dukkha is to examine related similar words in Pali, Sanskrit and
Hindi. In Hindi there are numerous words that relate to pain, dard, p, sickness, roga,
vydi they could be said to be aspects of dukkha. Likewise there are terms for happy
states of mind, prta, prema, khu, and prosperity dhan, amr that can be regarded as


70
aspects of sukkha. There is also a related noun and verb in Sanskrit, Pali and Hindi
bhoga/bhogn which means consumption, offering and to consume. It is extremely
common in the Pali canon. It occasionally refers to the action of eating and consuming
but its main meanings relate to two apparently mutually contradictory categories, to
experience pleasurable states and painful states, the usage is that one consumes
dukkha and sukkha. An explanation of this lies in the extended connotations of the term
bhogn which is considered to mean to consume in this life dukkha and sukkha which
are the fruits of the karma generated in previous lives. In other word there is an intimate
relationship between dukkha and sukkha and reincarnation. However, normal usage
does not allow one to consume any of the related terms. So I would argue that to
understand dukkha and sukkha we need to see their meaning in relation to the given
truth in South Asia of reincarnation. To divorce dukkha and sukkha from reincarnation
may be meaningful for Westerners who come from a Judeo-Christian tradition in which
reincarnation is not a given truth, but it will be an obstacle to the historical understanding
of dukkha and sukkha if we ignore the part they play in reincarnation. In the end then
because suffering says nothing about karma and reincarnation it is a translation that
inappropriately limits the meaning of dukkha. It is rather then dukkha is that which is
unsatisfactory as the result of previous karma, and often as a result of the karma
accumulated in a previous life.
The Buddhas definition of Dukkha
So the first Noble Truth, There is dukkha already has a lot of concepts built into it which
need to be acknowledged, in particular that karma and reincarnation in sasra are
given facts of existence. In the following discussion I will follow the common practice of
using the term suffering to stand for dukkha. Sometimes people will study the Buddhas
teachings for a while and come to the conclusion that he simply taught that life is
suffering. The question that comes up for me when I hear this viewpoint is where is the
person coming from who is making this statement and how to explain the Buddhas
teachings on suffering?
It is true that life is suffering. It is the one common shared experience of all living beings,
that there is suffering in life. Surely nobody could dispute this. In regards to what the


71
Buddha meant by suffering the definition of the first Noble Truth, that of suffering, is as
follows in the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta.
Birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, contact with
that which is not desired (Pali appiya Skt apriya) is suffering, separation from what is
desired is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering, in brief the five aggregates
are suffering.
70

However, the formulation of the Buddhas teachings into the Four Noble Truths indicates
that the Buddhas teachings cannot simply be reduced to (life is suffering. If they could
then why do we not have the essence of the teachings in (The One Noble Truth?
Rather, you need to realise that the Four Noble Truths need to be taken together and
you cannot reduce the teachings to the First Noble Truth only, (life is suffering.
One view is that you need to know, relinquish, realise and practice the Buddhas
teachings. You have to: know that suffering exists; relinquish the cause of suffering,
which is craving; realise that suffering can be ended in nibbna; and practice the path to
the end of suffering. You cannot reduce the Buddhas teachings to only one of the Four
Noble Truths, and so you cannot simply say that the Buddhas teaching is that life is
suffering.
I think that this is important as sometimes people come to Buddhism with a very negative
attitude towards the world and see in Buddhism a tradition that denies the world. Nothing
could be less true. The Four Noble Truths indicate that along with the knowledge of
suffering, we also need to learn to abandon the cause of suffering, aspire to the end of
suffering and act in order to end suffering. The Four Noble Truths are in truth life
affirming and not negative in their implications.
Another aspect of this issue is that if you look at how the Buddha teaches to lay people
in the Pali canon you will find that he normally follows an approach called the gradual
teaching. He starts by teaching that being satisfied with existence in sasra is
inadvisable and people need to practice the path to liberation from sasra. Only then, if
he saw that the person was ready, did he go on to teach the Four Noble Truths and

70
Dhammacakkappavattanasutta.


72
Dependent Origination. The path for lay people to practice is the same as that for
ascetics. The path is the Eight-fold Noble Path with its three limbs of giving, morality and
meditation (dna-sla-bhvan). But, the emphasis for lay people is on the first limb,
giving.
So in a sense we can argue that rather than the basis of Buddhism being the belief that
(life is suffering the basis of Buddhism is the practice of giving or dna. I do not think
that any teaching which has as its basic practice giving can be regarded as anything
other than life affirming.
So to return to the basic question, what to do if somebody comes to the conclusion that
the teaching of the Buddha is simply that (life is suffering. First, I feel we need to listen to
why they are saying this and try to understand what (life is suffering means for them.
Second, we need to acknowledge that the Buddhas teaching that (life is suffering is the
first of the Four Noble Truths and cannot be separated from the other three Noble
Truths: there is an origin suffering, a cessation of suffering and a path to the cessation of
suffering. Third, that the first step on the path to the ending of suffering is the practice of
giving. In other words, despite the First Noble Truth being that (life is suffering the
Buddhas teachings are life affirming and not negative in their implications.
Reincarnation and sasra
There are textual sources that indicate that the theory of reincarnation
71
developed in
India along with other concepts which have greater similarity to Western traditions of life
being followed by an everlasting afterlife. In the Vedas it does not seem that people are
reborn on earth, rather if they have a good life they go to heaven and if they have a bad
life they go to hell. There are tensions in Indian tradition about questions related to
rebirth and how it functions. How do heavens and hells fit into the doctrine of rebirth?
What happens to the person on death, what reincarnates? How do making offering to the
dead affect their karma?

71
Or rebirth. I shall use both reincarnation and rebirth in reference to punnajanama, being born again.


73
People come to Gaya each year to make offerings to their departed ancestors in order to
free them from a kind of unsatisfactory intermediate state of existence and grant them
rebirth in a better form. A local Brahmin informant stated that the reason that this
happens is because in the last fortnight of the month of vina the spirits of the dead
come close to Gaya and are hungry to be fed by their descendants. The feeding of the
dead increases their merit and they get rebirth, otherwise they get stuck as ghosts bhta
or preta. The Indian tradition has been dealing with the issue of bhta and preta it seems
from the earliest times and the problem of ensuring that they do not hang around the
living but go somewhere else. This is quite similar to Western beliefs, people die, they
become spirits, they need help to ensure that they can get away from the living. Running
alongside this, but somewhat at a tangent, is the doctrine of rebirth in which dependent
on your karma you are reborn again in sasra.
Karma
There seem to have been a number of significant developments in the Indian
understanding of the concept of karma around the time of the Buddha. The doctrine of
kamma (Skt karman) has a root meaning which relates to (action. In the Vedic tradition it
refers to the performance of ritual and good karman is simply the correct performance of
rituals, which leads to the gods and humans being happy, and incorrect performance or
rituals, which results in unhappy gods and human suffering. By the time of the Buddha
there is a debate on the meaning of karma. The Jain doctrine was that everything you
do, not Vedic rituals which they did not accept, generates karma but the Buddha shifted
the emphasis from the action to intention.
72
In the Aguttara Nikya the Buddha says
that cetan is kamma
73
and that it relates to actions done with body speech and mind
preceded by cetan, consciousness.



72
Literally cetana which can also be translated consciousness, but is translated as intention in this
context.
73
AN. III .415. Cetanha bhikkhave kamma vadmi.
74
AN. IV.63. Cetayitvkamma karoti kyena vcya manas.


74
Evidently there was debate on how karma functioned. There was also debate on whether
karma existed at all. From the Pali canon it can be seen that Buddha reserved his
strongest criticisms for those who argued against the theory of karma. In particular he
condemned the rejection of karma by the jvakas whose doctrine he compared to a hair
blanket, useless and vile. It is also implicit in the criticism of the Lokyatas that their
doctrine had no place for karma in it, there was simply physical cause and effect. It is
notable that both these philosophies which rejected karma did not survive in India as
recognisable traditions and it was only those traditions which accepted some form of
karma that survived. In other words, it became a universally accepted truth in India that
karma in some sense was part of the functioning of sasra. It would be appropriate to
examine some of the interpretations of karma in different traditions.
The Jain view is rather puritan in its overall sense. It stresses that interaction with the
senses, of which one is action itself, causes an influx of particles of karma which weigh
down the spirit or jva and cause it to be unable to reunite with the universal spirit. The
methods to stop this are twofold; first, to withdraw from all forms of activity, even sensory
experiences, which allow for the influx of karma, the second is to carry out ascetic
practices tapas which will burn away the karma. The cause of existence in sasra is
seen as primarily due to the influx of karma.
Within the Upanishadic tradition the interpretation of karma as ritual action seems to
have been reinterpreted in a radical manner. In the Upanishads the notion of ritual is
internalised and the understanding of karma developed into a notion of action in general.
There is some ambiguity in the Upanishads as to whether it is the action or the intention
that conditions karma. But there is a general consensus that karma is both the action,
and the fruit of the action.
75
The mechanism by which karma functions is conceived in
advaita thought as part of a process in which beings jva continually live and die in
sasra. The fundamental principle is that of an identity of the spirit (tman) and the
Supreme Spirit (paramtman). However, lack of insight (ajna) leads to the arising of I
consciousness (ahakra). The ahakra leads to the arising of a mistaken perception

75
The action is karma-kriy (karma-action) and the fruit of the action is karma-vipka (karma-result'), but
both are normally just referred to as karma.


75
of reality as delusion (my). Delusion my leads to the arising of ta desire which
leads to the performance of actions which produce karma. This karma then leads to fruits
in form of dukkha and sukkha. Rebirth is then conditioned by karma and gives the
opportunity to consume the fruits of karma, dukkha and sukkha. In the process
unfortunately the whole thing then starts up again and the being jva is caught in
avagamana the cycle of death and rebirth in sasra. They key to escaping from this
negative cycle is twofold. First, by the practice of yoga and asceticism it is possible to
burn away to generate psychic heat tapas which burns away karma. Second, in
meditative absorption it is possible to develop of a flash of insight jna which leads to
the realisation of the identity of the (tma) and the Supreme Spirit (paramtma).
Within this context it can be seen that the shared belief in karma of both the ramaa
traditions, Jainism and Buddhism, and the Vedic and Upanishadic traditions implies a
shared belief in reincarnation in sasra. There are also considerable similarities in the
belief that it is interaction with the world, through the senses and actions, that causes
karma to be created.
Conclusion
In conclusion then if we are to understand what the term dukkha meant for people in
ancient India then we are going to have to consider that it formed part of system of
thought. The concepts of dukkha, sukkha, karma are all aspects of an integrated system
of system of belief in reincarnation and the name of the whole system is sasra. It is
also notable that sasra is fundamentally unsatisfactory. Perhaps this is because
existence in it involves repeated experiences of old age, dying, death and rebirth. It
should also be born in mind that birth is painful. Obviously so for mothers but less
obviously so it was seen that life in the womb was painful. It is described as like hanging
upside above a burning caldron, the basis for this is hard to understand, but this
conception of existence in the womb is found in many Indian sources. Of course this is
not to say that to be a Buddhist in the modern world you have to accept this system any
more than Christians actually have to believe in heaven and hell. However, to study the
history of Buddhism without an awareness of the notion of cyclic existence in sasra
would produce a limited understanding of the development of the Buddhist tradition.
76
CHAPTER 6
Dependent Origination
Introduction
In this chapter I want to look at dependent origination and some of the key concepts
need to study it. These include.
Desire (tah) and dependent origination
The Twelve Links
Interpretations of Dependent Origination
Causal theories in India
What is reborn?
Desire (tah) and dependent origination
This term paicca-samuppda (Skt prattyasamutpda) is variously translated by different
authors as Dependent Origination
76
or Conditioned Origination
77
or Dependent
arising. The root meaning is that one things arises dependent on something else. Look
again at the Four Noble Truths
There is Dukkha.
There is a cause of Dukkha.
There is a cessation of Dukkha.
There is a path to the cessation of Dukkha.

76
Nyanatiloka, Mahathera, Guide Through the Abhidhamma-Pitaka, Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society,
1983 (1938), p. 155.
77
Warder, A. K., Indian Buddhism, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991 (1970), p. 49.


77
The second and third noble truths indicate that Dukkha has both a cause and a
cessation. According to the Buddhas teachings the cause of Dukkha is tah (ta),
which means physical thirst, and emotional or mental desire and (craving.
The Noble Truth of the origin of suffering is this: It is this desire (tah) which produces
rebirth accompanied by passionate greed (nandirga) finding delight (nandin) here and
there, namely: sense desire (kmatah), existence-desire (bhavatah) and desire for
non-existence (vibhavatah).
78

To understand suffering it is vital to understand tah. The first definition of tah in this
quote is that it leads to rebirth. The second definition is that there are three types of
tah; sensual tah (kma tah), tah for existence and tah for non-existence.
This is another instance of how Buddhist teachings are inter-related and describe a
process. Suffering is caused by tah not only because it relates to not getting what we
desire but also because it leads to rebirth which leads to suffering.
There is another reason why tah is important. We all experience it and it is an
opportunity to escape from suffering. Normally when we encounter something pleasant
we desire to move towards it, when we encounter something unpleasant we desire to
move away from it, and when we encounter something neutral we have no desire to
move towards or away from it. In other words the experience of desire provides the
means to realise the nature of suffering.
The most complete exposition of how the process of becoming occurs is taught in the
doctrine of Dependent Origination. In this the Buddha taught that tah was part of the
process of twelve interdependent links which make up process of Dependent Origination.
So to understand then the cause of dukkha and its cessation it is essential to consider
the process of Dependent Origination.
Dependent origination also needs to be studied because it is an essential aspect of
Buddhist teachings. There are a number of places in the Pali canon where Buddha
teaches to lay people. He normally starts by teaching on the inadvisability of being
satisfied with existence in sasra and on the advisability of practising the path to

78
Dhammacakkappavattanasutta.


78
liberation from sasra. He then goes on to teach what are described as the teachings
which are special to the Buddhas (note the plural) which are the Four Noble Truths and
Dependent Origination. It also forms a vital link in the story of the enlightenment of the
Buddha as he worked out this after his enlightenment sitting to the North of the Bodhi
tree and saw that through it the problems of living beings could be solved. In the
Mahnidana sutta nanda starts by saying that he has understood the doctrine. But the
Buddha replies to him, do not say that it is very hard to understand. So we should bear
this in mind, it is in some senses very hard to understand even if we can get an
intellectual understanding of it, we need to also attain an intuitive understanding (Pali
pa Skt praj)of it as well.
The Twelve Links
It is conventional to speak of it as having twelve links, but there are instances of versions
of it with a lesser number of links in the Pali canon. The twelve link version has, however,
become standard and is accepted by both Theravda and Mahyna Buddhists so it is
convenient to work with this scheme. There are also varying interpretations of it current
within Theravda traditions and other Nikya Buddhist traditions. The Nikya traditions
were all non Mahyna but disagreed on some matters of doctrine and practice.
Nowadays the only Nikya Buddhist tradition surviving is that of the Theravda tradition.
In fact Theravda tradition monks, and often lay people to, recite the cycle of Dependent
Origination on a daily basis as part of their daily practice.
The first link is avijj (avidy). It is unfortunate that both avijj (avidy) and ajna
(ajna) are mostly translated into English as ignorance as they are very different
concepts. The first link of dependent origination is avidy, not ajna. Vidy, in a positive
sense is knowledge, science, learning, scholarship (Monier Williams). Jna on the
other hand is much more closely related to the notion of gnosis, it is a special kind of
insight, not a system of learning or knowing. The ignorance at the start of the chain of
dependent origination is avidy in the sense of lack of knowledge of the Four Noble
Truths and Dependent Origination and the basic nature of Buddhist teachings.


79
This is not the Upanishadic notion of ignorance as failure to realise that the individual
and the supreme spirit are one and the same. It is lack of knowledge of the Buddhist
teachings in themselves. This point is important because some modern Indian thinkers
have tried to claim that the sense of ignorance here is the same as the Upanishadic
sense of ignorance.
This leads to the second link.
The second link is sakhr (saskra), conditional disposition. This is the latent
tendency in the mind to develop characteristics. This is not a very clear translation as
conditional disposition is not a part of everyday English. It is sometimes also translated
as formative influences. Another way to look at this is to look at the everyday saskra
of life. Concrete examples of modern Indian saskra are life cycle rituals, ceremonies
at birth and naming, coming of age, marriage, etc. These transitional rituals are also
saskra transformative events which shape the way the individual sees themselves.
Like Christening, Bar-Mitzvah, etc. Events which form the individual. So here the
saskra refers to any events which cause the development of the individual. This leads
to the next link vijna.
The third link is vijna (consciousness). The combination of avijj and sakhr leads
to the arising of vijna. It should be noted that this is consciousness in the sense of
consciousness of self and other and the arising of the six sense consciousnesses of
Buddhist thought. Another aspect of vijna which is important is that it is discriminating
consciousness which is being referred to here. The prefix vi normally relates to division
and analysis and in what is being spoken of here is consciousness not in the sense of
pure self awareness, but consciousness of something.
The fourth link is nmarpa name and form, the concepts and forms of the phenomenal
world. Due to the arising of the consciousness of I it is possible to identify things as
other than I and hence the world of name and form comes into existence.
The fifth link is salyatana (ayatana) the six senses. The process of perception is
seen as part of an interaction between the six senses, which includes a mental sense
manasikra. These are seen as having three elements each, a physical base, ears,


80
eyes, nose, tongue, body, mind, a consciousness which goes with each, and a process
of interaction, via sound, light, smell, taste, touch and thought. The interaction of these
leads to the sixth link.
The sixth link is phassa (spara) contact or touch. This refers to the actual contact of
the sense base and the appropriate sense consciousness. This leads to the seventh link.
The seventh link is vedan (vedan) sensation or feeling. Feeling here refers only to
three types of feeling: good, bad, neutral. The links up to this point refer basically to the
process of perception. These feelings are experienced at the doors of perception, the
sense bases and are linked to desires to move towards the good feelings, away from
bad feelings and neutrality towards neutral feelings. The desire to move towards good
feelings leads to the eighth link.
The eighth link is tah (ta) thirst, desire. It is specifically the desire to get closer to a
good type of vedan. This leads to the next link.
The ninth link is updna grasping or attachment. This is the attempt to hold onto the
good feeling which leads to the tenth link.
The tenth link is bhava existence or becoming, which is also said to be identification of
something. This link is hard to grasp. What is the difference between nmarpa and
bhava? There are two aspects to this. First, bhava is not the actual name and form of
something but rather the process of it coming into being, it could be translated as
existence perhaps. Second, along with the next two links it forms a set of three links that
refer to life. In this sense bhava is conception. It is the combination of desire and
attachment just as conception is the result of desire and attachment. This leads to the
eleventh link.
The eleventh link is jti birth, with leads inevitably to the last link.
The twelfth link is jarmaraa (old age and death.
Interpretations of Dependent Origination
There are two major interpretations of Dependent Origination in Theravda Buddhist
traditions. Both are presented in Pali commentarial sources. There is a perceptual


81
model, a sudden approach, which stresses that the whole process occurs in every
moment of thought. There is also a second understanding which stresses that it is a
description of reincarnation. This gradual approach stresses that the process is one that
occurs over two, or commonly three, different lives. This existence of two understandings
of Dependent Origination may have contributed to the difficulty of understanding of it.
Buddhaghosa emphasised the reincarnation model in his influential fifth century work
The Path of Purification. This points to the diversity present in the Buddhist tradition
Dependent Origination is simultaneously a personal perceptual model for liberation and a
social model for liberation from sasra.
The sudden approach focuses on the way in which the whole process is one that occurs
as thoughts arise in the mind. In this interpretation there is a clear indication of the kind
of analytical observation of the mind which is characteristic of meditative practices. To
understand Dependent Origination in this way does not need any belief in anything to do
with rebirth. There is rather a need to analyse the workings of the mind. The commentary
on the Abhidhamma by Dhammapla strongly puts forward this view. Within the
Theravda Abhidhamma there is a great emphasis on analysis and thus to break up
each moment into parts is an approach. Dependent Origination provides another method
of analysis for experience. It provides a model for experience, not just intellectual
understanding. Thus when the Buddha tells Ananda he has not grasped Dependent
Origination perhaps what he is saying is that he has intellectually understood it but, as he
is not yet an Arhant, he has not experienced it.
Within the broader Buddhist community there has been a much greater influence of the
gradual approach which integrates Dependent Origination with the doctrine of rebirth.
This reflects to a greater extent the debate about the nature of the world that seems to
have been the concern of lay and scholastic Buddhism. According to this the links are to
be understood as related to three lives. Links one to two are from a previous life, three to
nine are this life and ten to twelve are the next life. This interpretation makes it clearer
why the last three links are bhava, jti and jarmaraa as these will correspond to
conception, birth and old age and death. Although the notion of conception appears to
have varied in various periods of medical thought in India.


82
Both methods of interpretation have in common that the fundamental approach is to try
and get out of the cycle of dependent origination. This can be done by breaking free of
the links at any point in the cycle. Normally the main points at which the cycle can be
seen as being capable of interruption are in the first link, lack of knowledge and in the
stage of observations of the process of perception the opportunity for experiencing which
is obtained in this life.
Causal theories in India
The question then arises of what is the relationship between Dependent Origination and
other India understandings of the world. What are similarities and the differences. In
order to illustrate this I think that it would also be good here to mention two other
traditions, the Sakhya and Shaivite traditions. The Sakhya tradition also dates back
to at least the period of the Buddha. It is Vedic, in that it accepts the Vedas, but seems to
have been an independent tradition. It proposes a masculine force which is non-material
and inspires action, the purua; and a female force which is the physical manifestation of
things, the prakti.
The origins of the Shaivite tradition are not known but it is also very ancient and early
references to iva in his form as Rudra occur in the Vedas. According to Shaivite
teachings the universe is the manifestation of iva, the male creator and akti his female
consort who is the manifestation of power.
Thus both traditions shared a common notion that it is possible to identify fundamental
essences of elements which in combination create the phenomenal world.
The notion of things having fundamental essences is also clear from what is known of
jvaka tradition teachings which seemed to have shown an interest in the notion of
breaking down reality into elements, and then working out the mixture of basic elements
in matter.
There are clearly traces of this kind of thinking in Buddhism also where there is talk of
basic elements, earth, fire, water, air and space. The Sarvstivda tradition accepted five
elements as genuinely existent, but the Theravda tradition denied the reality of space
as an element while accepting the first four: earth, fire, water and air.


83
Two aspects of this elemental theory are notable here, one it proposes that things have
fundamental natures and second that it proposes that there is a development in
elements.
One formulation of this is that each element can be sublimated in the next so earth
(physical matter) can be the consumed by fire, fire consumed by water, water
evaporated by wind and wind consumed in space. (other sequences are also possible). It
is not clear if this is cyclic or not, however the notion that space can give rise to matter
seems to be not inconceivable. This then is a sort of scheme of Dependent Origination of
elements, or at least it represents a similar notion of development.
The Ayurvedic system also posits a basic set of elements and humours which have
characteristic modes of development. In other words it provides a mode for dependent
origination. It is also notable that the Buddha himself refers to the three humours of the
Ayurvedic medical system and Kenneth Zysk has argued that there was a close
relationship between Ayurvedic medical thought and Buddhist thought. It is no accident
that there are three humours, bile, phlegm and wind and three parallel mental poisons,
rga, dvea and moha.
A similar scheme of development has also been described above in relation to
Upanishadic thought where lack of insight leads to the mistaken belief in the self, as a
separate mind and body, which leads to actions based on self interest which leads to the
creation of karma which leads to rebirth and the repetition of the cycle. There is a famous
simile in the Upanishads of two monkeys in a tree. One due to desire ta eats the fruits
of the tree and suffers rebirth, the second remains detached from ta and escapes the
cycle of rebirth that is sasra. This simile demonstrates that desire is just as much
part of Hindu as Buddhist tradition and it is really a fundamental feature of Indian
thought from the time of the Buddha onwards that ta is the root cause of existence in
the phenomenal world, or sasra.
In other words there is common basis to the notion of developmental theories, theories of
dependent origination, in non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions. In fact it is apparent that
such theories were popular in ancient India. However, what does seem to be a
distinguishing characteristic of Dependent Origination is that it does not rely on anything


84
having an essence. Quite the opposite, it denies that anything has an essence and
affirms that everything is simply part of a process and nothing has an inherent self
nature. Due to this through the meditative and reflective process it is possible to realise
that there is no such thing as the self and this insight lies at the heart of the Buddhas
teachings.
At least in theory it does. In practice there are a number of fudges that are apparent.
For a start there is a minor fudge, Nikya Buddhist tradition accepts that elements have
some aspect in which they exist and used these as an aspect of its meditation practice.
This appears to be an inconsistency and later Buddhist doctrine of nyat emphasised
that nothing has its own unique nature and thus avoided this inconsistency in Nikya
Buddhist doctrines.
What is reborn?
Secondly and much more importantly the theory of rebirth posed a major problem for
Buddhism. What was it that passed from birth to birth? For the advaita traditions there is
no problem, the spirit, or a bit of the supreme spirit that due to delusion believes it is
separate passes from birth to birth. As Ka says in the Bhagavadgta the spirit dons
bodies as a person puts on clothing. For Nikya Buddhism this was in theory not an
option. It is sometimes said to be like one candle lighting another or glasses knocking
together and the disturbance in the water being carried from one to another. Nothing
actually passes from one to the next other than a sort of momentum. At a philosophical
level different Nikya Buddhist schools argued over what passed between bodies, some
proposed a kind of (personality (Skt pudgala) others a kind of intermediate existence
(Skt antarabhava). The Theravdins doctrinally rejected the pudgala theory and have a
kind of intermediate existence theory. Despite this the Vatsputriy and Samitiy schools
who believed in the pudgala were actually very successful in India and flourished up to
the demise of monastic Buddhism in Northern India.
However, despite the doctrinal denial of any kind of a non material self, there are
indications that this was never widely believed by the lay community. Take for instance
the Tirokua-Sutta in the beginning of the Khuddaka pha of the Khuddaka Nikya of


85
the canon which deals with how to make offerings to the dead. This composition clearly
shows a belief in the shades of the departed. This translation is by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Outside the walls they stand,
& at cross-roads.
At door posts they stand,
returning to their old homes.
But when a meal with plentiful food & drink is served,
no one remembers them:
Such is the kamma of living beings.
Thus those who feel sympathy for their dead relatives
give timely donations of proper food & drink
-- exquisite, clean --
[thinking:] "May this be for our relatives.
May our relatives be happy!"
And those who have gathered there,
the assembled shades of the relatives,
with appreciation give their blessing
for the plentiful food & drink:
"May our relatives live long
because of whom we have gained [this gift].
We have been honored,
and the donors are not without reward!"
For there [in their realm] theres
no farming,
no herding of cattle,
no commerce,
no trading with money.
They live on what is given here,
hungry shades
whose time here is done.


86
As water raining on a hill
flows down to the valley,
even so does what is given here
benefit the dead.
As rivers full of water
fill the ocean full,
even so does what is given here
benefit the dead.
79

Now technically these shades of the dead, preta, are a separate kind of birth and so
something from the dead person has already moved on into another birth. Practically this
does not probably work though, clearly the ghosts are functionally a kind of immaterial
form of the person. We will talk more about this point later. It is a major fudge in the
Buddhist teachings. Technically there is no self and nothing that moves from birth to
birth. Effectively there is clearly some essence of a person which was seen as moving
from birth to birth. In other words Dependent Origination as a method of explaining the
phenomenal world works at a meditative level, nothing has its own self nature, but at a
practice level it leaves unresolved the apparently basic human concern over what
happens to the dead.

79
Http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/khuddaka/khp/khp.html, accessed: Saturday, 2 March 2002
87
CHAPTER 7
Noble Eight-fold Path
Introduction
In this chapter I will look at The Noble Eight-fold Path and consider the following points in
relation to its study.
The role of wisdom (pa) in the path
The role of conduct (sla) in the path
The role of meditation (samdhi) in the path
The Eight Fold path and other Eight Fold paths
The Eight-fold Path as a personal and universal path
Nibbna
The role of wisdom (pa) in the path
The fourth of the Four Noble Truths is The Noble Eight-fold Path, Athagikamagga (Skt
Ariytgikamrga) The word noble translates arya, a term which has been defamed
this century, but basically just means excellent with no relation to a racial community.
It is an interesting paradox that The Noble Eight-fold Path consists of eight parts but in a
sense all eight parts needs to be practised simultaneously. However, it will be convenient
here to examine them first sequentially. It is conventional to divide the path into three
groups.
The first part is Pa (Skt praj) Wisdom and contains two limbs. The first limb is
sammadihi (Skt samyagdi) right view. Right view may be a synonym for the Four
Noble Truths and Dependent Origination. It may also be a reference to keeping to
Buddhist teachings. It might also be interpreted as the acceptance of the truth that life in
sasra is fundamentally unsatisfactory. The second limb is sammasankappa (Skt

88
samyakasakalpa) right resolve. Again to understand the meaning of sakalpa it is
helpful to consider its everyday context. At the start of any religious ceremony one
makes a sakalpa, a resolution to carry out the ceremony. So the basic conditions are to
develop the right view and a resolution to undertake the path.
The role of conduct (sla) in the path
This then prepares for the second part of the path. Sla (Skt la) means morality in the
sense of actions that are performed in concordance with harmonious conduct. It is an
immensely important virtue in the Buddhist tradition to act with sla, morality and
decorum as it is viewed as a prerequisite for a successful life. It is above all acting with
care and thought. It is more than just a right and wrong type of morality and it is rather
the thoughtful carrying out of action. In a sense you could also translate sla as conduct,
in the sense of right conduct.
There are three limbs of sla: Sammavca (Skt samyagvk) right speech;
sammakammanta (Skt samyakkarma) right action; and sammaajva (Skt samyagjva)
right livelihood.
The first limb of sla is Right speech. This is a form of the fourth of the five precepts. In
the five precepts it is wrong speech (Skt musvd) which is renounced but here it is
right speech which is adopted. It involves not just the absence of lying but also the
practice of speech which is beneficial to others rather than causing distress. There is
also a close relationship between speech and thought and so in a sense this also refers
to right thinking.
The second limb of sla is Right action. This can also be related to the precepts and
covers the renunciation of: the taking of life (ptipt) taking that which is not freely
given (adinndn) and sexual misconduct (kmesu micchcr). It is then the positive
side of these aspects which is stressed here: acting for the benefit of living beings,
generosity and appropriate sexuality.
The third limb of sla is Right livelihood. This does not relate directly to the five precepts.
There are certain occupations which are not regarded as conducive to Buddhist practice:
executioner, slaughter-person, hunter, etc. That is those occupations which involve the

89
taking of life and violence. One explanation of this is that such occupations generate
negative karma, another explanation may be that the images left in the mind by such
occupations appear as disturbances in the mind during meditation. Due to this there is
an apparent absence of Buddhist butchers in Asia, rather they are mostly Muslims in Sri
Lanka and were formerly in Tibet. This appears to be somewhat hypocritical to many
Westerners, but was an accepted practice. There is also evidently some potential conflict
over whether military service constitutes a form of Right Livelihood.
The role of meditation (samdhi) in the path
The third part is Samdhi, meditation and contains three limbs: samma vyma
(samyagvyyma) right effort; samma sati (samyaksmti) right mindfulness; and samma
samdhi (samyaksamdhi) right concentration.
The term samdhi has a range of meanings in Indian religious traditions. It is generally
taken to mean developing stability in meditative practice. The practice of firmness,
resolution and stability in practice. It is related to the term jhn (Skt dhyna) but not
identical.
The first limb of samdhi is Right Effort. This consists of neither excessive diligence not
complete slackness. It has been described as making an effort without effort. It is not the
effort in extreme asceticism, which is a form of wrong effort.
The second limb of samdhi is Right Mindfulness. Within the context of a meditation
retreat this would need little explanation. It is the development of continuous awareness
of what is occurring. The Pali term sati was translated by Rhys Davids as mindfulness
and this translation has become immensely successful in English. In Sanskrit the term is
smi and it has a range of meanings which are related to memory and recollection.
There is then a sense in which sati is the practice of the recollection of things. The
Burmese traditions include a practice in which you recall and note events as they occur
pain in foot, etc. A development of full awareness of what is occurring in the four
foundations of mindfulness, the breath, body, feelings, and mind.
The third limb of samdhi is Right samdhi. This is the practice of meditative absorption
or concentration in itself.

90
It is sometimes said that the limbs of the path need to be developed consecutively. As for
each limb to be attained the practice of the preceding limbs also needs to be established.
Thus by the time the limb of Right samdhi is attained it would imply the simultaneous
attainment of all eight limbs.
The Eight Fold path and other Eight Fold paths
There is also a question about the relationship of this scheme to other Eight-Fold paths.
Notably that of Patajlis Eight-Fold path of yoga. This is also an eight limb path (Skt
aaga) it contains: moral restraint (yama), restraint of the senses (niyma), physical
postures (sna), breath control (pryma), Withdrawal of the sense from the sense
objects (pratyahra), concentration (dhraa), meditation (dhyna) and meditative
absorption (samdhi).
There is it evidently little direct relationship apart from the division into eight parts and its
inclusion of meditative practice in the path. There is no substantial evidence for either of
these famous Eight-Fold paths being inspired by the other, although some people have
argued that one inspired the other. However, it brings to mind the question, why were
such schemes created? Why eight parts, why any similarities if one is not the basis for
the other?
A possible explanation for the similarity might be that they are both formulations of some
prior existing scheme which traditions such as Buddhism and the Yoga tradition have
adapted to new purposes. A number of the terms in the Buddhist path also playing a role
in rituals. This suggests that the following possible match between elements in the
Noble Eight-Fold path and the performance of rituals might be considered.
Eight-Fold Path Right- Ritual performance (Sanskrit terms)
samyagdi view establishment (pratih?)
samyakasakalpa resolve resolution (sakalpa)
samyagvk speech utterance of ritual formulae (stuti)
samyakkarma action performance of ritual actions (vidhi)
samyagjva livelihood offerings (arpaa)

91
samyagvyyma effort dedication (pranidna)
samyaksmti mindfulness recollection or prayer? (prrthan?)
samyaksamdhi concentration absorption (samdhi)
There is a fair match between the Noble Eight-Fold Path and the performance of rituals.
This suggests that the popularity of Eight-Fold Paths might have been derived from an
Eight-Fold scheme for ritual performance. Unfortunately I do not know of such a scheme
from Brahminical sources that has eight parts and rituals for pj are often conceptually
divided into sixteen parts. So although there is fair match there little to support this
notion.
Another possibility is that the division into eight has something to do with another
common eightfold division current in ancient India. One possibility is that there might be
a relationship with direction symbolism. In this case there is are references to such
symbolism in the Sgalaka-sutta (DN 3) and the niya-sutta (DN 32) of the Dgha-
Nikya. If you map the various references to what can be found in each direction you can
construct a diagram like this. (Note that directions start with East which was up on
Indian maps)
Direction Eight-Fold Path Sgalaka-sutta niya-sutta
East samyagdi mother-father (mt-
pit)
gandhabba realm
South-
East
samyakasakalpa
South samyagvk teacher (cariy) peta realm
South-
West
samyakkarma
West samyagjva son-wife (putta-adr) nga realm
North-
West
samyagvyyma
North samyaksmti friends-companions yakkha realm

92
(mitt-macc)
North-East samyaksamdhi
There are some interesting correspondences here. For instance that the path begins with
mother and father and gandhabbas. Which as the spirit that enters the embryo in the
womb is said to be a gandhabba seems an interesting correspondence. Likewise there is
a correspondence between speech/action, teachers, those who know what went before,
and the petas, those who lived before. Harder to explain are the relationships of the
remaining correlations.
Probably the model for the eightfold path is neither ritual nor direction symbolism but that
divisions into eight were popular mnemonic devices is well known. Indeed if you consider
the section of the eights in the Aguttara Nikya then it becomes apparent that lots of
things were remembered by eights. So perhaps in the sense the division of the path into
eight parts is simply a mnemonic device.
The Eight-fold Path as a personal and universal path
The Noble Eight-fold Path is mainly known as a path for the individual with regard to the
cultivation of a way to allow for the cessation of suffering. It should not here be regarded
as simply a step by step path as all of its elements need to be cultivated simultaneously
in order for it to be fully developed. However there is a logical development in its
progression from right view, to right concentration which could be seen as mirroring that
from the development of an individual towards liberation from suffering. This would seem
to fit better with the practices of forest monks and nuns.
The monastic community in and on the edge of the settled areas concentrated less on
the meditative tradition and more on the social aspect of the teachings. A second aspect
of the Noble Eight-fold Path is that it is also a path for a community to follow. In other
words it should not be seen as simply a path for individuals to gain liberation but also a
way in which individuals should act in society so as to foster the liberation of all living
beings. On the one hand the first two sections provide a model for how society should
function as a whole and on the other it provides a rationale for the support of the

93
monastic community as they were, within a traditional society, most likely to be able to
devote time to the development of right concentration and the fulfilment of the path.
Nibbna
All South Asian religious traditions (with the exception perhaps of the materialists) by the
time of the Buddha took it as a given that there was something unsatisfactory about life
and in particular about the endless process of transmigration. Within the Brahminical
tradition the aim became by the time of the Mahbhrata to attain four goals of life rtha,
kma, dharma and moka, to gain physical well being, be involved in the world, follow
Dharma and attain liberation. It was believed that the sense of the self as separate from
the universal spirit was the fundamental reason why beings remained locked into the
cycle of sasra. However, there was a kind of gnosis or jna that led to a glimpse of
the true nature of the oneness of the tma and the paramtma and led to moka
liberation from sasra. Jain traditions stressed that the cause of existence in sasra
was a physical effect of karma clinging to the tma. The Jains practised non-violence,
morality and asceticism in order to stop the build up of negative karma and burn away
existing karma and gain freedom from sasra. The goal of all traditions was liberation
from existence in sasra.
We often use the term Enlightenment in relation to Indian teachings and this illustrates
one aspect of the use of language which is relevant here. The word enlightenment is
resonant with meaning in English not just because of its association with Indian
teachings but also because of its use in 18th century English. In the time of the
movement called the Enlightenment this became a key term as it meant to cast light on
all of the factors in the universe and with the light of intellect and reason understand their
nature and relationship. It focused on cataloguing and analysing phenomena. To some
extent then whenever we use the word enlightenment we are bringing to mind echoes of
this meaning of the word. However, used in the context of Indian tradition it also refers
clearly to something which is not to do with the intellect at all but rather a kind of spiritual
realisation. This manner of using common terms resonant with meaning and then
interpreting them as having different meanings is typical of the Buddhist tradition. It is
mostly the case that Buddhism took existing terms and redefined their meaning. Due to

94
this it should be realised that nibbna (nirva) was not a term invented by Buddhists,
but one adapted to a new meaning in order to teach Buddhist teachings.
Buddhist teachings also led to liberation from existence in sasra and the term used to
refer to this was nibbna (nirva). Those who had attained nibbna were called Arhat
(arahan) those who had destroyed the enemies i.e. the three poisons. There were
others who had glimpsed nibbna and would live for seven more lives before attaining
nibbna and others who would attain nibbna in their next lives. An Arhat has the same
level of realisation as the Buddha but a Buddha is self realised and the Arhat has a
teacher, the Buddha. There is also the category of the paccekabuddha (Skt
pratyekabuddha) who has no teacher, but unlike the Buddha does not teach the Dharma.
Nibbna literally means blowing out and can be used in relation to the extinguishing of
fires. The fires which are extinguished in nibbna are sometimes referred to as those of
rga, moha and dvea attraction, infatuation and aversion or the three poisons. These
three poisons are agreed on by all Buddhists and in the Theravda tradition it is
sometimes said that the fires to be extinguished are the ten fetters.
Another view of nibbna sees it as concerning the dissolution of the self. Richard
Gombrich comments on this point.
Endless misunderstanding has been caused by western writers who have assumed that
nibbna is the blowing out of the person or soul. This is WRONG. (sic) In fact it is a
Buddhist heresy. The texts are plain: one must extinguish the fires of greed, hatred and
delusion.
80

A factor here may be not only simple misunderstanding of Buddhist doctrines but also
traces of two 19th century views of Buddhism. First, a negative view by missionaries who
depicted Buddhism asceticism as nihilistic and nibbna as the annihilation of the self.
81

Second a positive view, typified by the works of Edwin Arnold who published in 1879 his
influential poetic life of the Buddha, The Light of Asia. In this he depicts nibbna as
tranquillity and rest, something that all Buddhists would agree on, and as oneness with

80
Gombrich, Richard. Theravada Buddhism, London: Routledge, 1988. p. 63.
81
Harris, Elizabeth, J. Ananda Metteyya: The First British Emissary of Buddhism. Kandy: Buddhist
Publication Society, 1998. p. 20.

95
all that exists,
82
a view of nibbna that many Buddhists would not agree on. In part these
conflicting 19th century Western views of nibbna are still reflected in contemporary
discussions of nibbna. These discussions tend to see nibbna in terms of either the
personal or the universal and do not see the blowing out of the three fires as the primary
characteristic of nibbna.
Descriptions of nibbna in the Pali canon depict it mostly in terms of the absence of
negative factors although it is also occasionally described in positive terms. In the Udna
the Buddha gives 14 characteristics including he says that it is not-born, a not-become,
a not-made, a non-compounded.
83
There is an ambivalence in Buddhist tradition about
whether nibbna is an actual state which is somehow different from existence, or a
perceptual shift in the relationship between one who has attained nibbna and the
phenomenal world.
In part this reflects different interpretations by Buddhist monks and lay people over a
wide range of geographical areas and times. In part though it is also an issue due to how
we, as modern Westerners, seek to define the question What is nibbna?. Consider the
word psychological which is often used for the perceptual model. Is this not a term
which is of fairly recent coinage, perhaps since the 19th century, the science of the mind.
Does it not also have medical connotations? Does it not give a sense of scientific
authority to use this term? I think you will find that it does. How then can it be an
appropriate category for considering the nature of how nibbna was understood two and
half millennia ago in India? Also to be able to talk about ontological states we need to
have a common basis for agreeing what real means. To a great extant it seems that the
phenomenal world was regarded as unreal by ancient Indian traditions, yet it is
regarded as the hall mark of reality by many modern Westerners.
84


82
Harris, Elizabeth, J. op. cit. p. 22.
83
Woodward, F.L. Verses of Uplift; The Udana, London, Pali Text Society, 1948, p. 98.
84
The phenomenal world tends to be regarded in Brahminical teachings as an empirical rather than an
absolute reality. In everyday terms there is a perception that everything that is impermanent cannot be real
in the same sense as that which is eternal is real.

96
Related terms to nibbna include mokkha (Skt moka) which is liberation. There is also
another concept amatapada (Skt amtapada) the state of non-dying. These terms are
often all glossed into English as nibbna. This reflects a conflation of meanings. The
state of non-dying is ambiguous, it means to be immortal, and to be free from dying, the
only way in which this is possible is to attain liberation moka from life in sasra. There
is in this a trace of a discourse going on in the religious traditions of South Asia. Within
the context in which Buddhism developed there were a variety of notions of liberation.
These would surely have influenced how different Buddhists, from varying backgrounds,
saw the nature of nibbna. In other words religious backgrounds would have conditioned
by other notions of nibbna.
Conclusion
In the Vedas liberation may have been living with the ancestors, or perhaps living a full
life of one hundred years and attaining in this state an immortal state or amtapada.
Within the concept of life in sasra the emphasis shifted to liberation from sasra and
attaining moka. There were then notions of dwelling as individuals in a heavens and of
escaping from existence as an individual in any sense in moka. The concept of nibbna
may in part reflect then two types of interpretation of liberation in South Asian traditions.
For some nibbna related to concepts of liberation in a place somehow separate from
sasra for others nibbna was something else again, something which was beyond
expression in words.
97
CHAPTER 8
Pj and Devotion
Introduction
In this chapter I want to explore something of the world view of early Buddhism in
relation to its practices and its rituals. In particular I will investigate:
Sacrifice and pj
The presence of the Buddha
Offerings to the Ancestors
Contemplation and pj
Magical attraction and the Buddhas relics
Devotion to the Buddha
Sacrifice and pj
Vedic rituals are based around sacrificial rituals (yaja), in particular fire sacrifices.
However, in general it is a different form of religious ritual called pj which is most
widespread in South Asia religious traditions. It has been argued that the origins of the
word pj are not from Sanskrit but from a Dravidian root which is related to the notion of
to smear, perhaps to smear vermilion paste onto images and onto the performers of the
ritual. There is it seems evidence that the primary origins of pj are to be found in South
Indian religious traditions. You could describe pj as a form of multi-media experience.
It involves all the senses. It involves: sound, the making of sacred utterances; touch, the
performance of prescribed actions; sight, the lighting of lamps; smell, the offering of
incense and taste, the offering of food, ritual offerings. The pj ceremonies performed
by Buddhists and non-Buddhists in South Asia in general consist of five of six parts:
resolution to perform the pj, preparation of the sacred area, invocation of a deity or
spirit, offerings, and communication with the deity, normally involving an exchange where

98
in return for offerings some form of benefit is expected to accrue to the performer, such
as the transfer of merit. The final part is the departure of the deity and clearing up after
their departure, it is important not to hold back the deity after the pj. This is in many
ways analogous to arranging a meeting with somebody: the decision is made to invite a
guest, preparations are made for their visit, they are invited, they are offered greetings
and refreshments, there is communication with the visitor and they are finally bid
goodbye and there is the clearing up after they leave. It is a reciprocal relationship; you
offer something and you expect something in return. There is a sense in pj
ceremonies in which some spirit of god is conceived of as actually attending the pj.
The Durg pj is an example from Northern India which has all these elements. Notable
in this is that there is the preparation of a sacred area, a pavilion in which the goddess
resides and after the invocation for nine days the goddess is manifest both in form of an
aniconic form of residence for the goddess, a water pot in which her spirit resides during
the festival, and an iconic representation, a statue of the goddess. During the
ceremonies offerings will be made to her and if she is pleased she will grant merit and
well being to the performers of the pj. Then the statues and the waters in the pots will
be put back into ponds and rivers and she will be released to return to her residence in
the mountains and natural environment.
Another form of pj is that made to the ancestors in the pitpaka ceremonies which
dominate the religious culture of Gaya. In this too their will be invitations made to the
gods to become manifest in symbolic representations of them and offering will be made
to the gods and to the spirits of the departed ancestors of the performers of the rituals.
It is no surprise that just as Buddhism employs non-Buddhist language to articulate its
ethos that it also utilises pj rituals to illustrate its beliefs and embody its practices.
Normally both lay and monastic Buddhists perform pjs. Often pj is performed
according to regular cycles, at dawn and dusk of each day, and at other significant
junctures, or at regular dates within each month, or on an annual cycle.
The elements of non-Buddhist pj are also found in Buddhist traditions and Theravda
Buddhism is no different from any other form of religious tradition in this way. Many of
the Theravda Buddhist pj rituals are centred on the Buddha himself or on the

99
Sangha. Mahyna traditions have elaborate cycles of pj rituals, perhaps because
they allow for greater deification of aspects of the Buddha. For the moment it is sufficient
to concentrate on the Nikya Buddhist traditions.
It is important to consider the role of pj rituals for lay people as for them they form a
vital part of their regular religious activities and the integration of these with daily life.
Amongst the Sri Lankan community the morning and evening performance of chants and
offerings to the Buddha is considerable and there is great stress on rituals in which
offerings are made to the Sangha, on a regular basis of food and seasonally in
ceremonies such as that of the kahina ceremonies in which robes are offered to the
Sangha at the end of the rainy season. These ceremonies all involve pj rituals and
through the performance of pj rituals to the Buddha and offerings to the Sangha lay
people generate merit.
The presence of the Buddha
It is interesting in this respect that modern Theravda Buddhists have a major problem in
theory over the presence of the Buddha. This is because in the Pali canon the Buddha
refuses to answer the question of whether the Buddha is present after his death or not.
The normal interpretation of this is that he does not exist after his death and therefore
you cannot actually invite him to a pj ritual. Because there is nobody to invite. The
Theravda Buddhist tradition deals with this issue in a very nice way. It re-values the
elements in pj rituals. It says that Buddhist pj rituals, while outwardly identical to
non-Buddhist pj rituals, are ceremonies to honour the Buddha and each element in the
pj ritual is an element of the teachings. The mechanism by which the pj ritual
functions is that wholesome thoughts are generated in the person performing the pj
ritual and it is this that generates merit. So for instance the offerings of flowers
symbolises impermanence, for flowers fade and wither like the body and other
impermanent things. The offering of lights is a metaphor for how the light of the Buddhas
teachings illuminate the darkness of ignorance. The offering of incense symbolises the
way the Buddhas teachings pervade all things, just as scents do. The offering of water
can be seen being made, it symbolises purity and just as water refreshes life so to do the
doctrines of the Buddha. So everything which is normally offered in a pj ritual, as an

100
offering to the invited spirit, is re-valued and regarded as symbolic of the Buddhas
doctrines. Orthodox Theravda Buddhists, lay and monastic alike, will explain the
performance of pj in this way.
Offerings to the Ancestors
There are in addition pj ceremonies for deceased relatives made by Sri Lankan
pilgrims in Bodhgaya. There are yet more problems here. What constitutes a departed
spirit, and how does it benefit from offerings made to it, or in its name? How could these
offerings influence the fate of a deceased person? The explanation of this is that the
ancestors attend the ceremony and take part in it along with their living descendants and
that they themselves generate wholesome thoughts through attending the ceremony and
are benefited in this way through it. How does that work if rebirth is determined by the
karma accumulated during life? There is clearly some kind of a fudge going on here,
you ought not to be able to transfer merit, in any way to departed ancestors: but you can.
This model of how the ceremonies for the departed work, the spirits of the dead attend
ceremonies and are pleased by them and attain better rebirth is interesting in the context
of the main ritual focus of religious culture in Gaya. Here non-Buddhists come in
hundreds of thousands to make offerings to their ancestors. A local Brahmin of Gaya
explained to me that the spirits of the dead gather in Gaya in the time around the end of
the rainy season and are seeking aid from their descendants to fulfil their needs in the
afterlife and ensure their rebirth in good realms. For the non-Buddhist rituals there is no
problem to understand how the ceremony works the spirits of the dead actually attend
the ceremony and they get a direct transfer of food and merit from the performers of the
rituals. In the Tilokua sutta of the Khuddaka Nikya, a directly equivalent description of
the ancestors is given, so clearly there is an interplay between non-Buddhist and
Buddhist ideas here. There is still a tension here though between the notion of rebirth
being due to karma accumulated in life and how offerings to the dead can influence their
karma. This appears to reflect a tension between a survival of the belief in a kind of
afterlife and the notion of rebirth. This matter will not be pursued further here.
Clearly the modern Theravda Buddhist explanation of why the perform the same rituals
as non-Buddhists has much to be said for it. It conforms to the notion of the revaluation

101
of religious terms which seems to by typical of the Pali Buddhist canon according to
Norman and Gombrich.
Another way of looking at it might be to speculate whether for most of the last two and a
half millennia for most of the inhabitants of South Asia the different between Buddhist
pj and non-Buddhist pj may not have been very clear. It is entirely possible that
people performed pj rituals on exactly the same model to the Buddha as they would
any other spirit and believed in the actual presence of the Buddha and the transference
of merit to the performer of the pj. In the previous chapter I argued that regarding
notions of liberation there had been a great deal of conflation of different Buddhist and
non-Buddhist concepts. There is it seems a similar kind of overlap with regard to how
pj works, and a complete agreement on the importance of pj. Sources, from the
time of the Pali canon onwards reveal that pj has always played a central role in
Buddhist practice.
Contemplation and pj
Another aspect of pj which is very important is contemplation of the deity, be it in
aniconic or iconic form. Within non-Buddhist traditions you can see both aniconic and
iconic representations of the deity often side by side. In aivite tradition there is both the
aniconic representation of iva as the ligam and the iconic representation of him in one
of his various forms. Likewise in Vaiava tradition there are both aniconic
representation in the form of oval stones called ligrama and iconic representations as
one of the incarnations of Viu. The goddess also often manifests in two forms, as an
aniconic spirit present in a pot of water and as an iconic representation of some form of
the goddess. There is a close association of water and the sacred in India which is
worthy of considerable attention. Here though let us concentrate on the manner in which
the deity can take both iconic and aniconic forms and both are suitable for contemplation
as symbols of the deity. Buddhist shrines are like any other in this respect, there are
normally iconic representations, images of the Buddha and aniconic images such as the
Bodhi tree, the Dharma cakra, etc. This combination of aniconic and iconic is then quite
typical of Indian religious traditions. Putting aside for the moment the issue of the

102
apparent lack of iconic representations of the Buddha for several centuries after the
death of Shakyamuni Buddha.
It is however possible to argue that the contemplation of the Buddha has been a central
feature of Buddhist practice since early times. There is a section at the end of an early
Buddhist text called the Sutta-nipta in which the Brahmin Pigiy who is a devotee of
the Buddha cannot get to see him because he is old and weak and he is questioned over
whether this distresses him. In reply he says that it is possible for him to see him as
clearly with my mind as with my eyes. Thus he is not bothered by being separated from
the Buddha because he spends the night in contemplating the virtues of the Buddha. So
he visualises the Buddha by night and day. with constant and careful vigilance it is
possible for me to see him with my mind as clearly as with my eyes, in night as well as
day.
85
There is also an aspect of Buddhist pj rituals which is an enumeration of the
virtues of the Buddha. If you recall there are thirty-two characteristics of the Buddha and
all of these can be meditated on within Buddhist pj rituals. Now it is interesting that
within the modern Theravda tradition they say that there is a difference between
worshipping the Buddha and honouring the Buddha and what they do is honour the
Buddha. The word pj in Indic languages covers both English terms. It is possible to
see a dividing line between the abstract honouring of somebody and the worship of the
body. The intellectual distinction is possible. But it will not change in any way the
descriptions of people being so highly devoted to the Buddha that to say they honour
him rather than worship him seems little more than a semantic difference. In all
apparent ways the contemporary honouring of the Buddha seems indistinguishable
from worshipping the Buddha. This could be point of issue yet again about the
revaluation of ritual within Buddhism.
Magical attraction and the Buddhas relics
Magical attraction in Indian tradition is a fascinating phenomena. There is an enormous
tradition of what for want of a better word we can call magic in India. For Westerners the
word magic summons up images of something which is separate from religious activity, it

85
passmi na manas cakkhunva, ratidivi brhaa appamatto,
manassamno vivasemi ratti, teneva mami avippavsa.5.18.19.

103
is almost the antithesis of religious activity as it is ritual activity performed for worldly
ends. This is also generally speaking the distinction which is drawn in India between
magic (jaddu)and religion (dharma). The status of the fourth Veda, the Atharvaveda, was
ambiguous in the Brahminical tradition around the time of the Buddha. This can be seen
from the references to the three Vedas found in the Pali canon. But nowadays Hindus
always talk about four Vedas and at some point it seems that a large and probably
ancient collection of texts related to ritual performances were accepted into the Vedas in
the form of the Atharvaveda. This is a fascinating collection of texts and could basically
be characterised as a large collection of texts for sacred rituals which are on the
borderline between worldly magic and religious observances. They include chants and
perhaps notes on rituals in some cases for ceremonies which are for the attainment of
specific ends. Many of them have been studied as they are the earliest examples of
Indian medical traditions and are for the removal of specific illnesses and diseases,
casting out jaundice and like matters. Due to the worldly nature of these formulae they
can be described as magical medical formulae. There are also charms for matters such
as insuring health and prosperity and for positive outcomes such as your crops grow well
and your cows are fertile. There are also spells for such matters as securing victory in
conflict and defeating your enemies. There is also spill over into themes which are
constant in later collections of spells in the Indian tradition such as making sure that a
particular woman falls in love with you or gaining power over individuals. Matters which
in a Western context appear to be closer to black magic than religious observances.
The dividing line between rituals with worldly, magical, ends, and non-worldly, spiritual or
religious ends, in these rituals is very hard to draw. Where is the dividing line between a
magic spell to ensure well being for your family and a religious formula that seeks to
ensure bountiful crops for the whole community. It is interesting that at the end of the
Buddhist paritta ceremony one of the invocations is that the gods should ensure bountiful
rains.
Later texts than the Atharva Veda also contain descriptions of how to perform the magic
spells which are first instanced in the Atharva Veda. These descriptions remain constant
up to the present day and rely in many ways upon a consistent model. This model is very
similar to pj and like pj it involves the summoning up of spirits. Also like Western

104
occult traditions in that there is a strong notion that possession of something linked to the
spirit enables you to more summon up that spirit. If you are in a place associated with the
spirit it helps you, or if you have a physical bit of the spirit, or a creature that became a
spirit, such as hair, skin or bone, it helps or if you have something touched by the spirit,
an article of clothing or one of their possessions it helps. Also like Western tradition if you
succeed in summoning up a spirit you can demand it grant you a boon, or you will not
release it again. However, this is a dangerous personal relationship because if you
summon up a spirit but cannot control it you can be in major trouble as it can gain power
over you.
It is very striking that there is a similarity between these traditions of magical attraction
and Buddhist traditions. According to Buddhist tradition the most effective places to go
for the performance of Buddhist rituals are I believe to be of three types, the major place
associated with the Buddhas life, (Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath and Kushingar), places
where there are physical relics of the Buddha, places where there are objects which
were touched by the Buddha. So the most important places are the sites where the
Buddha was and the most important things are relics or things he touched. The relics of
his body: his teeth, his hair, his bones are important in themselves, but they also fall into
the pattern of the most effective aids to magical attraction. Nowadays the Buddhas tooth
in Kandy is the most famous of such relics. The presence of such a relic is felt to make
contact with the Buddha most likely to be possible, if it is possible at all.
Formerly there were also many objects which had been touched by the Buddha which
were held at sacred sites. These included his begging bowl, his robe, and other items.
Over the passage of time the majority of these seem to have disappeared. Even as late
as the 19th century his begging bowl was said to be still existent in Central Asia,
although curiously it had metamorphosed into something so large it was impossible to
carry. His tooth in Sri Lanka is also said to be somewhat large for a man. The objects
preserved in India that the Chinese pilgrims saw were apparently invested with all kinds
of magical powers and a degree of volition. There are a number of stories about how for
instance the begging bowl could only be picked up when it wanted to be so to speak and
was otherwise impossible to lift up. Paul Muss in his book about Borobudur, the great
stpa in Java, was the first person to suggest that there is a relationship between

105
magical attraction and Buddhist sites. He furthermore suggested, despite the orthodox
Theravda position that the Buddha does not exist after his parinirva, that the great
majority of Buddhists in South Asia seem to have not been particularly concerned about
this.
Whether or not he was extinguished after his parinirva they were going to try and
summon up his presence. So while there might have been a theoretical belief in his
ultimate extinction in practice they tried to summon up his presence. Schopen argues
that the relics of the Buddha were felt in India to still have the presence of the Buddha in
them. The presence in the relics also had the power to manifest itself rather like that of a
person. There are monastic records which indicate that even the ownership of some
sites was vested in the relics. In addition relics it seems had the power to transform the
things around them and in a sense imbue them with the quality in the relic itself. He
argues that some of the small stpas around the main stpas at sites like Bodhgaya
were not votive stpas as they are normally called but actually funerary monuments in
which the ashes of Buddhists were placed. By being located in the presence of the relic
of the Buddha it seems it was felt that this would transform them to and allow for the
liberation of their spirits. In other words the relics were seen as having a salvific power
due to the presence of Buddha within them.
There is an analogous Tibetan tradition that other objects when placed next to relics are
transformed into relics themselves over time. This allows for the maintenance of relic
traditions and one suspects that similar processes were active in India. It would account
for relics such as a begging bowl made of stone that is too big to pick up and teeth which
are apparently not human at all being relics of the Buddha.
Bodhgaya formerly had at least one relic of the Buddha, which was in the top of the spire
of the temple, but it was lost when the temple fell into ruin during the Muslim period.
However, in that it still has a site associated with the Buddha, his place of enlightenment,
and an object which had been in contact with him, the tree, it is clearly a highly charged
site. In fact the only one of the major pilgrimage sites that contains these two elements
together, place and primary object.

106
Burmese Buddhist tradition also tops out its temples with relics. These sometimes take
the form of semi precious stones which have been kept in the presence of other relics
and transformed into relics. In the Tibetan tradition relics are sometimes enshrined in
images. In the Sechen Gompa in Bodhgaya a recently constructed image of great
modern teacher Dilgo Khentse Rimpoche contains physical relics of the teacher himself.
The reverence for relics amongst Tibetans was illustrated during the visit of relics to
Bodhgaya in 1998 when the relics from Patna were brought and taken for a while to the
main temple. When they were being carried through the crowd of Tibetan monks at one
point all the monks began to jostle and crowd them in the hope of hitting their head
against the vessel carrying the relics in order to have physical contact with the relics.
Devotion to the Buddha
So let us look at this complex of phenomena: there are devotional pj rituals, the
Buddha as an object of devotion, in both aniconic forms, such as his relics, and iconic
forms such as statues of him. In addition despite any theoretical problems with whether
he existed or not after his death it seems that people tried to summon up his presence. A
key element in this is not just the existence of a focus for the ritual but also the attitude of
devotion with which the ritual is performed. There are various words for devotion in Pali
and Sanskrit and the main term used in Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts is sraddha. This
means respect, honour, reverence, and in the Buddhist context to be devotion. The other
Indic term which is particularly associated with devotion is bhakti, which comes from a
root that is related to the notion of sharing. However, this word is not in the Pali canon,
nor yet in most Mahyna works, with the possible exception of some later Tantra
texts.
86
However, contemporary Hindi speaking Buddhists (a small community I admit)
speak of bhakti to the Buddha. It seems then in a sense that sraddha in Buddhist context
includes both devotion and faith. Along side sraddha there are also uses of pj and the
related term vandana
87
used in the Pali canon.

86
Nor yet does it occur in Hindu texts before the Mahbhrata and the vetvatara Upanisad which is
now regarded as quite late. (Personal communication from Greg Bailey July 2000)
87
Vandana, nm. praising, praise, adoration, homage, reverential greeting, See McGregor 1993.

107
However, I would like to point out there is a strong relationship between pj and bhakti.
A feature of bhakti is that it is a personal relationship, it is a relationship between you and
a personal deity to which you are devoted, with no need for any priest as a middleman. It
also sets up a reciprocal relationship in which in return for your devotion your deity is
obliged to aid you, its a personal relationship. This is also a feature of pj that it sets up
a personal reciprocal relationship between its performer and the deity being worshipped.
It is especially true in the context of the more magical varieties of the ritual where it is
explicit that if you can summon up the spirit you can demand something in return.
So the question of whether the Buddha is present after death or not is a vital one. For if
offerings are being made to an indefinable distant abstraction then there can be no
personal relation with that. You cannot have a personal relationship with nibbna,
because it is not like a person at all. But if we can in some way summon up the presence
of the Buddha then we can have a personal relationship with the Buddha. What is more
though pj we can ensure that the Buddha responds to us. The key to this is devotion
which is the touchstone of a personal relationship with the divine. This suggests then that
the traditional argument that what one thing that distinguishes Mahyna from Nikya
Buddhism is the presence of devotion in Mahyna but not in Nikya Buddhism. The
notion that this is so does not really hold out as the early texts have strong devotional
elements in them. The story of Ananda is an example of a devotional relationship.
Despite attending the Buddha for the last 18 years of Buddhas life he does not become
enlightened until the night after the Buddhas death. In other words he spends 18 years
in a devotional relationship and only attains relationship when it is necessary to continue
his relationship with the now extinct Buddha. It is interesting that the Buddhas refusal to
answer the question of whether he exists after death or not is taken by philosophers to
be a negative answer, leading to the theological position of the Theravda Buddhists that
he is no longer present, but that the practitioners of Buddhism seem to have taken it to
mean that there is a possibility that he is present.
Conclusion
You could argue that one way to develop a personal relationship with the Buddha is
through the Sangha. The members of the Sangha embody the Buddhas values. So in

108
our dealings with monks and nuns we are having a personal relationship with the
Buddha, through his representatives. In this way the Buddhist tradition allows for a
perfectly everyday relationship to develop. Again it is a reciprocal relationship, the laity
make offering of food, clothing and perhaps alms and in return they give the laity
teachings and a form of blessings. To sum up then pj and devotion have played a
significant role in Buddhism from the early times and there is a close relationship
between the two concepts.
109
CHAPTER 9
Early Buddhism
Introduction
In this chapter I will discuss how we can talk about Buddhism in the period between the
death of the Buddha and the accession of the Emperor Aoka. In order to do this I will
look at the following points.
Sources for studying early Buddhism
Theoretical problems
The fixing of the canon
How many early Buddhists were there?
Buddhism or Buddhisms?
Feeding the ancestors
Sources for studying early Buddhism
It is in a way a difficult period to talk about early Buddhism in the period between the
death of the Buddha and the accession of the Emperor Aoka. There is no
archaeological evidence and no inscriptional evidence for this period. So the only
sources we have to rely on are the Buddhist texts themselves most of which can not be
clearly dated. Even where there are textual sources for this period there is often good
reason for believing that the views expressed in them may reflect post Aokan
Buddhism. For instance the Kathvatthu or Points of Controversy in the Pali canon is
put in the form of debates that occurred after the death of the Buddha, but it refers to
schools of Buddhism which only developed after Aoka. It is sometimes claimed that this
was because the Buddha anticipated possible disputes and provided headings for all of
them which were filled in later. This sounds a less than convincing explanation for the
origin of the text. So part of the problem is how do you distinguish which texts date from

110
this period and which were set down later. Even if we limit ourselves to the Pali canon
this presents a considerable problem. Some Pali scholars claim to date texts on their
doctrinal contents. However, this may be a circular argument, we propose that
something is a later development and so when instances of it are found they should be
from a later period, therefore they are from a later period. There is a second way of
dating which relies on stylistic features: the forms of composition of metres change, small
grammatical variations in sections of the Abhidhamma. Such techniques of dating will
always be problematic.
Theoretical problems
Some theoretical problems are worth considering. First and foremost that the Buddha did
not appoint a direct successor. It is a famous saying that he told his followers to be A
Lamp unto themselves.
It is also said that he had left permission to change minor rules in the code for monastic
conduct. But, nobody could decide what was a minor rule and so the code has remained
unchanged since then. Although there are variations in interpretation and clearly in
practice amongst different Buddhist communities and in some places changes have
been introduced. For instance the Japanese government legislated for changes in the
code to insist that monks marry. Such major changes were very rare indeed.
A third issue is that after the death of the Buddha the question of what he had actually
said was an issue that was addressed. It is said that in the first rainy season after his
death five hundred Arhats gathered at Rajgir and determined what was the authoritative
canon of the Buddhas teachings. The number five hundred signifies probably just a
large number rather than exactly five hundred and the cave in which the council was said
to have been held seems hardly large enough to fit five hundred people into. However,
there is no good reason to doubt that such a council was held and some sort of recitation
of the remembered texts was made. The general consensus of all Buddhist traditions on
the council having been held supports this view as does the evidently oral nature of the
texts.
The fixing of the canon
It is said that two parts of the canon, the Sutta piaka and the Vinaya piaka were fixed. It
is possible that the word piaka which means basket or winnowing fan may be a later

111
term as it seems to be a reference to a container for manuscripts rather than having
anything to do with oral recitation. It should be born in mind that what we are speaking of
here is an oral rehearsal of the canon, not it being fixed in written form. Despite
reference to writing in the canon it does not seem that it was written down until after the
time of Aoka. The third part of the modern canon, the Abhidhamma piaka was not
fixed until later, perhaps at around the same time as the texts were being written down.
There is also a text of the canon which is regarded as a fairly late composition which is
called the Cariy piaka The basket of Conduct which may date from around the time of
the writing down of the texts as it includes the term piaka in its title. In other words not
everything in the modern Pali canon dates from the first council. Nor yet is everything in
the canon the direct words of the Buddha.
The recitation of the texts at the council was made in order to fix the authentic version of
the canon. There must have been some process by which different people recited the
texts and a consensus was reached on what was the correct version of a particular
teaching. Perhaps some parts or versions were accepted and some were rejected or
amended.
The question must be raised here of why such a council needed to be held. There was
evidently concern over this or the council would not have been held. Perhaps in part this
is due to the presence of many suttas that are not actually the words of the Buddha.
There are suttas in which it is said that the Buddha had requested his disciples give
teachings and then he had approved of them. Or suttas that the Buddha recited but he
was repeating the utterances of other people, such as elements of the jtaka tales which
were evidently traditional. There are also materials which were said by others at other
times and are then reported to the Buddha and he then said that he approved of. There
is also a fourth category which are suttas which the Buddha had predicted would be said
and gave prior approval to. So clearly the concept of the speech of the Buddha,
Buddhavacana, which was adopted at the first council was not simply what the Buddha
had said but that which accorded with the teachings of the Buddha. There are references
in the Pali canon itself where there are references to suttas learnt by heart. There is a
sutta in the Udna varga where the Buddha asks a young follower to recite some
dharma that he has learnt and the follower recites The section of Eights which is a part
of the Sutta-nipta. From this it is clear that parts were fixed during the life of the
Buddha. However, the descriptions of what happened after the death of the Buddha can

112
in no sense be the utterance of the Buddha. There are also aspects which reflect the
spectrum of Buddhist texts from lay to monastic traditions.
How many early Buddhists were there?
At this point it might also be interesting to consider a very basic question. How many
early Buddhists were there? Of course it is not even easy to say how many Indians there
were, let alone Buddhists. But the numbers cannot have been very large. Later Buddhist
sources report vast numbers of followers, particularly in Mahyna texts large numbers
seem to be used simply to indicate that something is important. Early sources often refer
to numbers like five hundred followers in the groups that surrounded the Buddha later
sources gradually expand this number until it reaches many thousands. Whatever the
number was it must have consisted of two basic divisions. Monastic Buddhist monks and
nuns and lay followers. But the enumeration of the lay followers also is a problem, on
what grounds was somebody a Buddhist. There are stories of people who gave up
feeding non Buddhist ascetics and shifted their patronage solely to Buddhist ascetics.
But there are other stories from which it appears that some people supported all manner
of ascetics. What does it mean to be a Buddhist. It does not mean that people had to
give up the worship of the gods and spirits as these were absorbed into Buddhism, Indra
and many of the gods and spirits such as ngas and nginis, yaks and yakas in a
sense also became followers of the Buddha and hence their followers were also
Buddhists. I would therefore not like to make an actual numerical guess beyond
hazarding that it cannot have been very many at all and we may be talking in hundreds
or thousands.
One external sources for this are the reports made by the Greek ambassador
Megasthenes to the court of Chandraguta Maurya at Paaliputra, modern Patna, during
the period between the death of the Buddha and Aokas accession to the throne. It is
significant that although he mentions various kinds of ascetic traditions including the
ramaa s he makes no direct mention of the Buddhists. This is either due to a peculiar
oversight or to the small number of Buddhists at this time. Buddhism therefore seems
likely to have not been very extensive in numbers during the period we are examining
here.
There is then a slight discontinuity between the Buddhist accounts of how Bimbasra
and Ajtasatru patronised Buddhism and the lack of any external evidence for such

113
patronage. It is possible that to some degree these elements were magnified in their
importance after the adoption of Buddhism as a state religion under Aoka. At the very
least there should be some scepticism about the Buddhist accounts of how these kings
abandoned other traditions and took solely to Buddhism.
Buddhism or Buddhisms?
Another fundamental question that needs to be addressed is why should we presume
there was ever such a thing as a single undivided Buddhist tradition? There is after all
evidence in the Pali canon of there having been dissension and diversity within the
tradition even during the life of the Buddha. There are accounts of monks whose
practices varied in different locations. In addition his followers appear to have distinctive
characters. Many of his main disciples typify different aspects of the tradition. riputra is
depicted as having great stability in the practice, but no supernatural powers. Whilst
Moggallna is the archetype of a disciple with immense supernatural powers.
Mahkassapa is always shown as the embodiment of how a forest monk should live.
There is already a depiction here of the distinction into forest monks who practice
meditation and austerities and urban monks who live in association with lay
communities.
Perhaps the most striking example of the variations in the early Sangha related to
Devadatta. In the Pali canon he is remembered as a villain: he urged a rogue elephant to
trample the Buddha to death, but the Buddha calms the elephant; he sets off an
avalanche to kill the Buddha, but the Buddha escapes without serious injury. Devadatta
and the Buddha also argue over the degree of austerity that monks and nuns should
practice. It is said that he asked for extra rules. The first rule he asked for was that it be
made compulsory for monks and nuns to be vegetarians. The second rule was that only
three robes made of rags should be allowed. The third rule was to be that the only
dwelling places were to be at the foot of trees in the forest and there should be no fixed
residences. The fourth rule was that only one meal a day could be taken. In the story told
in the Pali canon it is said that these should be optional practices which can be adopted
as wished by monks and nuns. It is interesting that these rules all basically relate to the
practices now associated with forest monks and are part of a set of thirteen difficult
practices dhutaga adopted by forest monks and nuns especially during the rainy
season. The difference between Mahkassapa and Devadatta seems to be that the

114
former represents a forest tradition that accepts that its hard practices should be optional
and Devadatta wants these practices to be made mandatory. Now it is evident that the
rule about vegetarianism and the concern over issues related to clothing are similar to
Jain traditions where strict vegetarianism is essential and amongst the Digambara Jain
tradition ascetics must remain naked whilst the vetambara tradition will allow monks
and nuns only a garment consisting of single sheet of white cloth. There were also
ascetic traditions where robes made of cast off rags, called gudr in Hindi are regarded
as preferable and this practice is still found in India. The kernel of the dispute between
the Buddha and Devadatta seems then to be over the issue of asceticism and following
the practices of forest traditions similar to those of the Jains.
Whilst he is always depicted as a villain in the Pali canon in the Mahyna text the Lotus
Stra he is depicted in a favourable light as an exemplar of the ascetic forest tradition.
An external source also throws light on his tradition in that the Chinese pilgrims reported
that there were still monasteries of his followers flourishing well into the common era in
India. This could be said to be an instance of an early division in the Sangha. However, it
could equally be regarded as evidence for diversity within the earliest Sangha rather than
it ever having been a single unified tradition. The idea of the community having been
from the start not a single united tradition but a community containing a diversity of
traditions and practices has interesting implications. In particular it suggests that later on
when the origins of the Mahyna are considered the question would not have to be how
did the Mahyna develop from Nikya Buddhism, but how did some of the Buddhist
traditions come to identify themselves as Mahyna. But let us leave that discussion
aside now until chapter thirteen.
Another thread to examine is that the story of the Buddha that we know now is a mixture
of elements that were synthesised over a period of time. There are for instance versions
of the Parinibbna sutta in Pali and in Chinese that were translated from Sanskrit
versions. The descriptions of the funeral ceremony differ in the details of how the
ceremony was carried out and the Pali version is more elaborate than the Chinese
translation of the Sanskrit version which were made in the second century CE.

115
In the Pali version of the sutta he is wrapped in 500 layers of fine Banarasi cloth whereas
the Chinese version has him just wrapped in the robes of an ordinary monk.
88
The
Chinese version may then be a translation from an earlier, less complicated, version of
the sutta. There is another aspect of the stpa cult which presents a tension in the
tradition. If a persons fate is based on the karma they accumulate in their life due to their
actions how then does worshipping at stpas act to accumulate merit. There is some
evidence of a gradual shift in emphasis in the tradition towards giving greater importance
to the worship performed at stpas as a method of accumulating merit. McDermott has
examined this issue and argues that there is evidence for the notion of the transfer of
merit in the Mahparinibbna sutta but this may be a later Pali introduction into the
text.
89
It is notable in all of this that the action of going to a stpa and worshipping there
is somehow regarded as creating merit and that it is possible to transfer that merit to
others, including petas.
Feeding the ancestors
In the text called the Kathvatthu or Points of Controversy in the Pali canon there is a
detailed description of various debates which the Theravda tradition had with other
Nikya Buddhist schools. One issue was that taken up was whether gifts given in this
existence can benefit beings in other realms. In other words that it is possible to transfer
merit to the petas, the departed ancestors. This is in apparent opposition to the view that
a persons fate is dependent on the deeds they did in their own life. In the Kathvatthu it
is argued that merit cannot be transferred and that the views of the Rjagiriya and the
Siddhattika schools who held this view were wrong. But in the Petavatthu of the Pali
canon it is held that merit can be transferred to the petas.
90
There is a partial resolution
of this issue in the Milandapaha where it is held that some kinds of petas can benefit
from the transfer of merit, the so called hungry ghosts but not others.
91
There was then
a diversity of opinions on this issue in early Buddhism.

88
McDermott, J. P. Development in the Early Buddhist Concept of Karma, Delhi, Motilal Banasidass,
1984. p. 42
89
McDermott, J. P. op. cit. p. 35-48.
90
McDermott, J. P. op. cit. p. 97-98.
91
McDermott, J. P. op. cit. p. 110-111.

116
To some extent this may reflect also a diversity of views on the transfer of merit in non-
Buddhist traditions. In Brahminical texts there is a concern with how offerings to the
petas function and in some texts question how offerings to the petas can actually benefit
them as they are non-substantial and the offerings substantial. One explanation that is
given is that the petas are able to consume the essence of the offerings or their scents
as they are offered or burnt.
The Abhidhamma in a sense highlights the inconsistencies in the Sutta Pitaka and seeks
to resolves these issues. In the Moliyasvakasutta of the Samyutta Nikya (IV, 3.2.3.1)
the Buddha describes different ways in which kamma functions. There are diseases that
occur due simply to the functioning of the humours of bile, phlegm and wind. There are
natural disasters that occur due to the simple tendency of rocks and water, for instance,
to fall downwards. There are plagues and epidemics that occur just due to random
circumstances. There is also a fourth type of kamma which is due to intention. However,
he says only a Buddha can understand what types of kamma have brought about any
event or condition in the world. The Abhidhamma standardises this as five sorts of
kamma: first, accidental kamma, that some things just happen by natural causes;
second, seed kamma, that things grow according to the characteristics in their seeds and
third, health kamma, that the functioning of the humours can cause effects and fourth,
intentional kamma, the kamma we are familiar with. In a typical Abhidhamma logic there
is a fifth type of kamma also, which is all four types of kamma taken together as one. A
common attack on kamma, that it implies that disabled people are as they are due to
previous intentional actions in past lives, is entirely baseless. Unless you are a Buddha it
is not possible to say why things are as they are and it may be one of the other sorts of
natural kamma functioning, or a combination of types of kamma that result in people with
different abilities. This subtle analysis of kamma is, however, normally simplified down
into a kind of deterministic view in which everything is the result of previous intentional
kamma.
The Milandapaha also contains a number of striking similes and one of these is the
Buddhas bazaar.
92
In this there is the image of a market selling all manner of products
such as Long life, health, beauty, the unconditioned (asakhata) and non-dying

92
Rhys Davids, T. W. (translator), The questions of King Milinda, New York: Dover Publications [1963].
Reprint of The Sacred books of the East (American edition) ; v. 35-6, 1890-94 ed. p. 232ff.

117
(amata).
93
The last of these is often a synonym for Nibbna. Yet the currency for which
all of these are available is kamma. This gives a suggestion that Nibbna can be
attained as the result of good kamma rather than through the practice of the cultivation of
insight. There is also a similar image in the Nidhikaasutta of the Khuddukapha
where it is said that Nibbna may be acquired in exchange for merit (pua) which has
been accumulated in life. The imagery is that worldly fortunes cannot be hoarded as they
will all get lost, but the merit generated in life becomes an inseparable possession of the
person.
94

Conclusion
So in considerations of merit and kamma it is important to realise that there were
considerable variations in Buddhist views on how these functioned and early Buddhist
tradition does not present a uniform view on these teachings. This also seems to apply to
the entire question of whether early Buddhism was ever a single unified doctrinally
consistent tradition. Rather it seems that Buddhism was from the earliest times a
complicated interweaving of diverse traditions of forest and urban traditions which saw
themselves, by and large, as members of a Buddhist tradition which was able to
accommodate a wide range of views and practices.

93
Rhys Davids, T. W. op. cit. verse. 341
94
McDermott, J. P. op. cit. p. 35-36.
118
CHAPTER 10
Buddhism and the State
Introduction
The Maurya dynasty and the Emperor Aoka have a special place in the history of India
as it is generally held that during this period there was the first Indian empire. In this
chapter I want to explore the relationship between the Maurya dynasty and Buddhism
and the modern Indian perception of Aoka as the first Indian Emperor. I will investigate
these themes by looking at the following points.
Aoka and the Maurya Dynasty
The Aokan Edicts
The Legends of Aoka
The Spread of Buddhism
Divisions in the Sangha
Aoka and the Maurya Dynasty
This chapter is concerned with the Maurya Dynasty, the Emperor Aoka and the period
around his reign. It is in many ways the start of the history of Buddhism in the sense of
the story of an historical datable person. What matters more than the fact that Aoka
came to the throne in 268 CE is that during the Maurya dynasty monumental stone
architecture, in the forms of rock inscriptions, pillar inscriptions, cave excavations and
free standing constructions were created which still exist and witness to the involvement
of the state with the Buddhist tradition. There are Mauryan period monuments at
Bodhgaya and other major sites, such as the Aokan pillars. which can be identified as
from this time. It is also the start of epigraphy, the recording of texts on stones and gives
us the oldest actual recorded statements with regard to the Buddhist tradition. This
means for the first time in the history of Buddhism evidence from archaeological

119
excavations and inscriptions can be correlated with textual sources. So it is a unique
moment in the history of Buddhism.
The Aokan Edicts
The inscriptions which Aoka had carved were written in Brahmi script. The Brahmi script
whilst the origin of later Indian scripts is sufficiently different enough from later scripts to
make reading it difficult. Indeed it seems that the knowledge of how to read the Aokan
inscriptions was lost as early as the beginning of the common era. The Chinese pilgrims
who visited India from time to time were told about what was written in the inscriptions,
and the information about their contents remembered in local traditions remained
constant for hundreds of years.
95
Unfortunately, it was wrong, not only had the script of
the inscriptions been forgotten but also what they said. A striking parallel is found in
Herodotus where it is recorded that the guides to the great pyramids in Egypt said that
the hieroglyphic inscriptions on them recorded the amount of garlic eaten by the workers
while constructing them, but there is no evidence from the extant inscriptions of any
similar kind of statements ever having been written on the pyramids. This points to the
importance of considering that what we may need to consider in a sense is two versions
of the Aoka story: one depicted by the inscriptions and the archaeological evidence; the
other revealed in the stories and legends associated with the first great Buddhist ruler in
history. Although the two overlap, they are not the same thing. In 1910 H. G. Wells wrote
that in Asia Aoka is universally admired because his inscriptions reveal him to have
been the first great humanitarian Emperor of India. This is fine, apart from the fact that
nobody in Asia remembered him for anything in his inscriptions for two millennia. What
was remembered was the Aoka of legend, not the Aoka of his inscriptions.
96

The decipherment of the Aokan edicts was an aspect of the interaction between
Western scholars and Indian Pandits. The principal figures in this story were a man
called James Prinsep along with other Western scholars and unnamed Indian Pandits.
97

After many attempts Prinsep succeeded in 1837 in deciphering the script and together
with a Pandit translated and published one of the inscriptions. This revealed that it had
been made by The beloved of the Gods and that he had become a Buddhist. It was

95
Strong, John, The Legend of King Asoka. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. p.7.
96
Strong John, op. cit. p. 5.
97
Keay, John, India Discovered, London: Collins, 1988. p. 52.

120
soon realised that The beloved of the Gods was a normal epithet of an Indian king and
that the ruler being referred to was the Emperor Aoka who was well known in legend to
have converted to Buddhism.
The contents of the inscriptions reveal a man who is very human and understandable as
a person. He furthermore wishes to set up a rule of law in his domain and causes the
inscriptions to be carved to witness to this rule of righteous law, this dhamma, (Skt
dharma) in his kingdom. There is an ambiguity in the inscriptions, it never speaks of the
Buddha dhamma, only the dhamma, to an extent then the question of whether he is
speaking of the Buddha dhamma is not clear in all cases. There is a reference to going
to Mahabodhi which may in a sense be a statement of going to Buddhism. However, in
regard to whether he became a follower of dhamma, or of the Buddha, his actions in
setting up monuments at all the major Buddhist sites suggests that the dhamma he is
speaking of in his inscriptions is that taught by the Buddha. The main forms of
inscriptions he set up were shorter edicts on pillars and longer edicts carved onto rocks
and boulders. The edicts are all basically copies of a limited number of basic edicts. The
translations of the inscriptions make a fascinating study in themselves. I will not talk
more of them here because in comparison to the legends the contents of the inscriptions
did not play a major role in the development of Buddhism.
The Legends of Aoka
The legends of the life of Aoka survive in two main textual traditions. The first is a Sri
Lankan tradition recorded in the Mahvasa and the Dpavasa accounts of the story of
Singhalese Buddhism written in around the 4th or 5th century CE in Sri Lanka. The
second is recorded in the Aokvadna, a second century CE Sanskrit text from North
West India, perhaps from the Mathura area.
98
This later work also exists in several
Chinese versions and was first translated in CE 300. There are also a number of stories
about Aoka which are extent in Chinese, Japanese and other Asian languages. It must
be born in mind that the stories which assumed these textual forms in the second to fifth
centuries CE must have been circulating in oral form for a long time prior to them being
set down as texts.

98
Strong John, op. cit. p. 27-28.

121
Perhaps one of the most striking things about Aoka in the Aokvadna legends is the
striking contrast between him before his conversion, when he is a cruel and heartless
man, and after his conversion when he becomes the model Buddhist ruler.
There is a key junction in the story where once he has become ruler he has an artificial
hell built in Patna into which to throw his enemies to be executed. The description of this
prison is like that of hell in the Pali canon.
Four-square the Great Hell standeth, with four gates
divided and partitioned, with a wall
Of iron girt. Of iron is the roof,
Its floor of iron too, dazzling and hot.
99

Indeed, in the Aokvadna the description of hell of the Blapanditasutta from Majjhima
Nikya
100
is referred to as the model for Aokas prison.
101
There are graphic
descriptions of the elaborate tortures and torments of hell in the Pali canon. Two more
peculiar features of the hell that Aoka builds is that looks like a normal building from the
outside and that he grants to the warder of the prison the boon that he can execute
everyone who enters it.
The central focus of the conversion story of Aoka is that a Buddhist monk called
Samudra enters the prison by accident while on his alms round and the warder then tells
him he cannot leave and will be executed after one week. Samudra sees the dreadful
torments of the prison and attains enlightenment. So when the time comes for him to be
killed and he is put into a cauldron and a fire is lit under it the cauldron will not boil and
he cannot be harmed and simply sits in meditation floating above the cauldron. Aoka is
summoned to see this miracle and Samudra displays his supernatural powers abhia
and flies up in the sky and performs miracles of reduplicating his body and manifesting
fire and water from his body. He preaches to Aoka and the Emperor is converted.
102

Samudra flies off, Aoka closes the prison and becomes a righteous ruler according to
the Dharma.
This is a far cry from the story recounted in the rock edicts where Aoka says that he
became a follower of the Dharma after he conquered Kaliga, modern Orrisa, and

99
Gradual Sayings, Vol. 1: 125.
100
Vol. 3: 209-23
101
Strong John, op. cit. p. 212.
102
Strong John, op. cit. p. 214-218.

122
seeing the terrible suffering decided to renounce violence. What is common to the two is
simply that Aoka was violent before he became a follower of the Dharma and that
afterwards he renounces unnecessary violence. Yet he does not immediately in the
legend renounce all violence. Indeed sometime later he issues a bounty on the head of
Jain ascetics (or jvakas the text is ambiguous naming them as Jains but describing
practices of the jvakas) which results in the death by accident of his own brother
Vtaoka along with thousands of Jains. It is only after this that he abolishes the death
penalty.
103
There are also restrictions on punishments in the edicts.
The most important effect of his conversion, in a sense, in the legend is that he goes on
pilgrimage to the holy places of Buddhism and erects monuments at each of them. This
coincides well with the archaeological record. The pillars Aoka erected have survived
until today and are still scattered around the country at sites where he erected them,
sometimes for reasons unclear, and sometimes at sites due to their connection with the
Buddhas life. The pillar at Sarnath had a capital which is well preserved of four lions
looking out in the cardinal directions. Formerly it also bore a wheel of Dharma on its top
but this is now broken. The lion capital from Sarnath was adopted as the national symbol
of India at Independence and can be found on most coins currently in circulation and
official publications and signs. The technique used for the polishing of the sandstone on
the Aokan monuments was very distinctive producing a mirror like shine and great
hardness. Some aspects of this technology and the decorative designs reveals some
contact with the Syrian culture of the time. The technique for polishing the stone was
either forgotten soon after or simply dropped as only artefacts from Aokas time in India
archaeology show the use of this technique.
He erected pillars, and probably structures: at Lumbini, the birthplace; Bodhgaya, the
place of enlightenment; Sarnath, the place of the first teachings and Kushingar, the
place of his parinirva. At Bodhgaya from the reliefs on the Bharhut stpa which depict
the Bodhi tree in the second century CE it seems he erected a kind of double storey
open railing around the tree. There is also a legendary account of how Bimbasra had
put railings around the tree during the Buddhas life. It is not a temple in the modern
sense. There is no image and no image hall, instead there is basically a kind of elaborate
railing around the tree itself and the stone slab at its base that marks the place where the

103
Strong John, op. cit. p. 231-233.

123
Buddha sat and attained enlightenment. The relief also depicts a pillar, and the remains
of one was found in the area. Clearly one key element in this is that this is setting up a
relationship between Buddhism and royal patronage.
There is a remarkable story in the Aokvadna about Aoka and the Bodhi tree which
contains a number of interesting elements. The basic situation in the legend is that
Aoka keeps going to visit the tree but he has a jealous wife called Tiyarakit who
does not realise he is visiting a tree and thinks he is going to see a woman called Bodhi.
So she asks a sorcerer woman called Mtaga to kill her rival Bodhi. Mtaga agrees
and goes and ties thread round the tree and utters incantations to cause it to die. The
tree begins to die and Aoka is heartbroken and declares that if the tree dies he will die
too. His wife offers to comfort him as his suitor Bodhi is dying and then it comes out that
Bodhi is not a woman but a tree. Tiyarakit then realises her error and gets the
sorcerer woman to reverse the curse and restore the tree. Aoka then worships the tree
and performs a massive ceremony in honour of the tree.
104
This fits in well with the
archaeological evidence for his having built a structure around the tree.
I would also like to point an interesting theme here in this legend. The life of Aoka has
somehow become linked to that of the tree. This recalls a fairly widespread motif of
keeping ones life essence in a special place separate from ones body for safe keeping.
In Celtic mythology it is common to find that the life essence is kept separate from the
body of powerful figures. In Indian mythology it is a less common theme. But here it is
directly expressed. This I would argue is linked to two phenomena. First the Buddhist
belief that the essence of the Buddha is present in his relics including the Bodhi tree.
Schopen has shown that this was a significant aspect of Buddhist belief in India and
would help to explain the assumption in the legend that life essence and the Buddhas
living relic, the Bodhi tree, can be linked. Second, it is possible that by adding his life
essence to the tree the legend is reflecting an equation of the worldly ruler and the
teacher of the Dharma. One thing which is fascinating about this legendary theme of
linking life to the tree is that it may reflect the possibility that if Aoka could see this
linkage as part of his pilgrimage it is possible that other pilgrims may also have been
thinking along similar lines. There are numerous possible ramifications of this idea. For a

104
Strong John, op. cit. p. 257-260.

124
start just as Aoka has to protect the tree to protect his life then everybody who invests
their life in the tree or in a Buddhist relic must do so to protect themselves.
In this light the decision to erect 84,000 stpas throughout his realm has interesting
implications. The story is that he decides to break open the original ten stpas and erect
stpas everywhere containing relics. Again this mirrors the archaeological record. The
excavation of these stpas that go back to Aokan times reveal that they contained
perhaps a gram or so of relic each. The number 84,000 is taken in medical traditions in
India to be the number of atoms in the body, and hence one atom goes to each stpa.
The Spread of Buddhism
The importance of this change was vital for the development of Buddhism. It means that
not is it possible to make Buddhist pilgrimage in the area in which the Buddha was active
but also now it is possible throughout Aokas domain to make pilgrimage to local
Buddhist sites containing relics. It allows for local pilgrimage in Gujarat, north-western
India and other areas where the Buddha had never been during his life. This then allows
him to construct a set of spiritual symbols which spread out and cover his kingdom just
as his administration does on a worldly level. There is a precedent for this relationship of
the ruler to the Dharma in the ajaa and cakavatti sihnda suttas of the Pali canon
which depict how a true Buddhist Emperor should rule. These give the opportunity for an
interplay between the Pali canon and his imperial policy. The implications of Aoka
building stpas all over his kingdom are important. First, it established a common linked
religious tradition which mirrored the new administrative structure of its empire. Second,
just as Aoka had linked his life to the Bodhi tree, it established a link between protection
of the Dharma and the protection of the rule of the king. Third it suggests that the
Dharma taught by the Buddha underwent a significant change in its relationship to
society at this time. Whereas to begin with the Dharma was basically a teaching which
flourished in the interdependence of individual lay community members and the monastic
Sangha, Aoka transformed the Dharma into an interaction between the lay community,
the monastic Sangha and the state.
There is also evidence of Aoka spreading the Dharma outside the area of his rule. In
some cases even by sending relics outside his realm. To the South the Sri Lankans
trace their origins of their Buddhist tradition to missions sent by Aoka of his brother
Mahindra and his sister. They took with them relics, especially a sapling from the Bodhi

125
tree to grow in their new land of Sri Lanka. These relics became the sacred symbols for
the rule of the Singhalese kings.
The accounts of missions to the North may relate to the spread of Buddhism into
Kashmir and the far North of India. As for the missions he is said to have sent to the East
and the West little is known of what happened to them if they existed and they did not
lead to the establishment of Buddhism at that time in any far flung countries which are
known of.
Divisions in the Sangha
In one of his edicts Aoka condemns those who would cause divisions in the Sangha
and says that they must be made to wear white clothing, that is return to lay status. The
precise meaning of the divisions that Aoka was referring to is not known. It seems quite
possible that what was being referred to was not splits in regard to belief systems, but
the division of the Sangha into separate communities.
However, the dominant theme in the story of the origin of the Buddhist sects is of a
dispute over doctrinal matters between two groups of monks which led to the second
Buddhist council. According to this story around a century after the Buddhas death the
monks at Vail adopted ten practices which were regarded by some as violating the
precepts. These ranged from seemingly minor issues, such as carrying salt in an animal
horn, to evidently major issues, such as accepting gold and silver in offerings. There was
no resolution of the issues possible at the council and the Sangha divided into two
sections, the majority who accepted the Vail practices and became called the
Mahsaghika the great assembly and a conservative minority who rejected the Vail
practices who became known as the Sthaviravda (Pali Theravda).
105

Over time the two schools divided over and over again and conventionally it is said that
18 schools developed. However, Ettiene Lamotte in his major study of Buddhism
concluded that the traditional account of there having been 18 schools of Buddhism is
unlikely to be based on an actual historical reality and is rather a conventional way of

105
Hirakawa, Akira, (trans, Paul Groner), A History of Indian Buddhism, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1993
(1st ed, 1990), pp, 7983,

126
talking about what was a very complex and changing patter of organisation in early
Buddhism.
106

Some of the more prominent schools developed from schisms in the Mahsaghika
were the Lokottaravda, Bahurutya, Caitika, Aparaaila and Uttaraaila. The most
outstanding schools which developed from the Sthaviravda were the Sarvstivda, the
Vtsputrya, Sammatya, Mahsaka and Dharmaguptik schools.
107
In many cases it
is not possible to say much about what was distinctive about these schools of Buddhism
but some schools became well known for their stance of certain issues. In particular the
Sarvstivda school is remembered for arguing that the phenomenal world as real
108
and
having existed in the past the present and the future.
Conclusion
In conclusion the period of the beginnings of state sponsorship of Buddhism in India to
the history of Buddhism is vital. It is probably the case that if Aoka and the Maurya
dynasty had not adopted Buddhism as a religion worthy of patronage by the state it
might never have assumed the importance it has had in history. Rather it would like the
Jains and the jvakas simply have been one of the many religious traditions of India. It
is due to Aoka and the Maurya dynasty that Buddhism became a major state sponsored
religion in India and had the opportunity to spread throughout India and begin the
process of diffusion into the rest of the world.



106
Lamotte, Ettiene, History of Indian Buddhism, Louvain: Universite Catholique de Louvain, 1988, pp,
518593,
107
Hirakawa, Akira. op. cit. pp. 110119.
108
Hirakawa, Akira, op. cit. p. 119.
127
CHAPTER 11
Buddhist Monasteries
Introduction
In this chapter I want to investigate some of the ways in which the growth of Buddhist
monasteries influenced the development of the Buddhist tradition. I will look at the
following points.
Early Buddhist Monastic Settlements
Other early Monastic traditions
Rainy season residences
Shrines or Cetiya
The success of monasteries
Early Buddhist Monastic Settlements
It is important to consider the development of the monastery and the nunnery/convent
within Buddhism. The term monastery will be used here to refer to both male and female
institutions for convenience. The monastery is after all a central feature of the Buddhist
tradition and has been so since early on in the development of Buddhism. How did this
come to be as in the Pali canon it is clear that the Buddha does not live in a monastery
but led a wandering lifestyle. This reflects an aspect of Indian tradition of that time which
is that religious seekers were basically wanderers. The term that is often used to refer to
such seekers is pabbjaka (Skt paravrjaka) which means going forth from the home
into a homeless life, not life in a monastery. There are still many such wandering
ascetics in India and a common rule that many follow is to not spend more than three
nights in a row in a single place.

128
There is a problem with spending the whole year wandering in India. During the rainy
season for about four months the roads and tracks are awash with water and it is simply
very difficult to move around the country. There is also a moral question which has been
raised at times that wandering around in floods may cause harm to living beings. Due to
this it seems that already in the time of the Buddha there was a tradition of staying in one
place for the rainy season, the Buddhists called this vassavsa, and the non-Buddhists
caturmsa. There is a reference in the canon to how the Buddha was implored by his
followers to adopt this practice and accepted this and so Buddhist monks like those of
other ramaa traditions took to spending the rainy season in temporary dwelling
places. It seems that in many ways the origins of the Buddhist monastic tradition go back
to these rainy season retreat dwellings. Simple huts put up for a season or caves in hills.
Other early Monastic traditions
It is sometimes suggested that the Buddhist community invented monasticism. However,
the Jains believe that their teacher Parvantha, who flourished some three hundred
years or so before the Buddha established the institution of fixed dwellings for monks
and nuns of the Jain tradition. It is also known that the jvakas had rainy season
residences and the caves at Barabar from the period of Aoka have an inscription saying
that they were for the rainy season residence of jvakas. So to some extent it may be
that there was a common ramaa tradition of having settled rainy season monastic
residences.
Rainy season residences
There is also a Buddhist tradition from the Pali canon that the Buddha was given a rainy
season residence in the form of a Bamboo grove at Rajgir by king Bimbasra. While at
Savahi a rich merchant called Anthapiik gave a mango grove as a residence.
There also references to entire monasteries being built over night. So we are basically
looking at very temporary dwellings. Simple huts rather like a campground. There is a
tradition of building simple one room huts in India and even now the term for a house (Hi.
ghar) is often used by people to refer to a one room dwelling. In this context the various
injunctions in the canon about monks and nuns not dwelling under the same roof make
excellent sense: for what is being spoken of is them not dwelling together in single room

129
small huts. Nowadays these rules create many complications for a single roof covers
many rooms, yet still monks and nuns cannot live under the same roof.
There seem to have been two types of main early residences. One of which was
orchards and gardens in and on the edge of towns called rma, which means a place of
rest or ease, which were maintained by the patrons who had donated it to the Sangha.
The second type of residence was called an vsa, a dwelling, and was in the forest well
separated from settlements and maintained by the Sangha rather than patrons. The
definition of being in the forest is sometimes made in terms of the number of flights of an
arrow it would take to get to the vsa. It should be realised that there was a problem for
the early Sangha in really living very far from inhabited areas in that they relied on alms
rounds. So a residence far enough away from a settled area to make alms rounds
impossible would have meant that the monks had to live on the wild produce the forest
provided without cultivation. So the number of monks and nuns who lived in remote
areas can never have been large. The Vinaya code also speaks of not putting lay people
in danger by living in remote bandit infested country and there are special rules about
nuns not putting themselves in danger by dwelling in wild places.
Initial depictions of these residences depict them as randomly scattered collections of
huts in groves. The first patterns of organisation are for huts to be arranged in rows with
prominent monks dwelling at the ends or centre of the rows. With the Buddha himself
living in the centre of the row. It is apparent that these rows of huts were also arranged
into courtyards. The earliest courtyard monasteries were simple temporary structures
which were not intended to last for longer than the rainy season. There is a story of a
monk who builds himself a hut of straw and sticks but it was taken away by the local
women for firewood and fodder. The monk who was formerly a potter therefore made
himself a house out of pottery. However, the Buddha sees this and says that it is not
appropriate to make a hut out of fired clay as it involves harm to the insects which might
have been harmed by the firing process. This suggests that the early huts were only
made out of materials gathered from the forest and not from fired mud bricks which
would have been a more permanent form of residence.

130
These simple courtyard monasteries eventually began to be built it seems of more
permanent materials. Why not build permanent buildings which were returned to each
year just as the caves were used from year to year. None of the early wooden
architecture has survived but the Pali canon contains descriptions of types of residences
which have more than one floor and are clearly more complicated and permanent
structures than simple leaf covered huts. There is also a vital piece of living evidence for
the form of these early wooden archetypes of Buddhist monastic architecture in the cave
temples and monasteries of Western India cut into the Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
These accurately model the construction techniques used in wooden buildings. Also
architectural forms like the railings at the stpas reveal the wooden forms they replaced.
But the most splendid examples of the early forms of Buddhist monastic architecture are
the Western Indian cave monuments. These can be combined with the archaeological
data from excavations in Magadha. There are also the accounts of the Chinese pilgrims
which contain some details of the forms of the monasteries they saw.
The picture that emerges is of highly organised structures of one or more floors arranged
around courtyards with larger cells in the corners and in the centre of at least one of the
sides. These centre cells represent what was at one time the residence of the Buddha
and later his representatives and these seem to have developed over time into shrines.
The Buddhist term for these shrines is ghandhakui scented hut and it seems that the
place where the Buddha dwelt was regarded as being pervaded with scent and in later
times this term came to mean a shrine room. Even such structures as the temple at
Bodhgaya were known as ghandhakuis.
Shrines or Cetiya
There was also a tradition of constructing shrines in Northern India which were known as
cetiya (Skt caitya). The Pali canon records instances of the Buddha halting at cetiya sites
often dedicated to yakas. The term cetiya was also adopted by the Buddhist tradition to
refer to combination meeting halls and shrines in which the Sangha assembled. The
typical developed form of such cetiya halls in Western India is that of a loft apsidal hall
with pillared arcades around it and a stpa in the curved end of the hall. The cetiya halls

131
at Ajanta, Ellora and Bhaja in particular indicate that these structures were beautiful
buildings suitable for large assemblies of hundreds and monks.
The cetiya halls also make it clear that monasteries contained stpas. It also seems from
archaeological evidence that stpas had monasteries attached to them. The tradition of
building stpas was another prior existing tradition in India and the Buddha speaks of
them being built for monarchs and Buddhas. They are essentially funerary mounds in
which cremated remains were interred. There are no extant royal stpas in India, nor yet
any identified remains of any such structures. There are remains of Jain stpas. In
particular an excavation at a place called Kakl l near Mathura has revealed the
foundations of a second century CE Jain stpa and there are depictions of the stpa on
some of the sculptures from the site which show it to be very similar in appearance to a
Buddhist stpa. It is also possible that one of the structures at the Jain pilgrimage site at
Sonagiri near Gwalior represents a form of stpa which is still existent. Despite this the
stpa is now principally remembered as a Buddhist architectural tradition. Hirakawa and
other Japanese scholars in the 20th century developed a theory that the stpas were
centres of lay Buddhism in distinction to the monasteries which were centres of monastic
Buddhism. However, some care needs to be exercised here as Schopen and others
have shown that a study of the inscriptions listing donors at stpas and monasteries
does not reveal any great separation. Indeed it is striking that many of the donation
inscriptions at stpas record gifts by monks and nuns. This suggests that there cannot
have been a great separation between the two kinds of sites.
This also raises a very interesting question. How could the monks and nuns make
donations. Despite the view of many people that there is a Vinaya rule that monks and
nuns could not possess anything, there is no such rule. Indeed they seem to have been
in effective control of wealth from an early period. Schopens article On Monks and
Nuns clearly reveals that the argument over this issue is one which has been skewed by
an over reliance on the canonical material prohibiting the possession of wealth by monks
and nuns in contrast to the wealth of inscriptions indicating that they were in a position to
act as substantial sponsors. This suggests that the current display of monks and nuns
having possessions which is often seen in Asia is the continuation of a long tradition. The
most pragmatic answer is that they are not personal possessions but possessions of the

132
Sangha which are being managed by monks and nuns. It seems that people always took
a pragmatic attitude to this question. Schopen also points out that in a monastery at
Ngarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh the dies for making money were found. This
indicates that either they were forgers, an unlikely possibility, or that they had a royal
permit to mint money.
Whatever else the question of the possession of wealth by the Sangha reveals one thing
is evident. Monasteries had become by the second century or so BCE major focuses of
patronage and very affluent institutions. Not only were there donations to them by monks
and nuns but also by businessmen and royal patrons. There are even donors described
as romakas, probably a reference to people either actually from Rome or more probably
from the Greco-Buddhist kingdoms of Gandhara in North West India and probably from
Buddhist areas of central Asia.
Another interesting aspect of the monastic institutions revealed by the inscriptions is that
the donations included gifts of money, interest on investments and revenue from land
around the monastery made over in perpetuity to the monastery to fund such activities as
burning lamps in the shrine rooms or providing the monks with robes. It thus seems that
during the period from perhaps 200 BCE onwards monasteries became significant land
holders. The distribution of the Western Indian cave monasteries also seems to be
related to trade routes from seaports into the hinterland and it seems that large and
prosperous monastic institutions developed in areas where there was the greatest
patronage available. Indeed, the evidence from the inscriptions at these sites has
allowed historians such as Uma Chakravarti to construct a picture of the social
dimension of these sites which brings the bare stone walls of the monuments alive.
109

This also mirrors the situation in central Asia where cave temples and monasteries were
excavated over the same period. Some of the cave temples at Dun Huang in China are
the most striking examples of a style of architecture that originated in India.
So in a period of perhaps two to four hundred years there was a development from what
were little more than temporary camping grounds on the edge of towns to well endowed

109
Chakravarty, Uma,The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987,

133
permanently settled splendid monastic institutions clustered along trade routes and
enjoying lavish royal patronage.
The success of monasteries
There are two questions to address here. First, why were Buddhist monasteries so
successful, how did they manage this transformation? Second, what effect would this
have had on the belief system of the people who lived in the monasteries and their lay
followers?
It might be worth considering the related institution of the Ashram of the Vedic tradition.
In this system a single teacher gathers around herself or himself a group of followers and
they live in a hermitage in the forest and are supported by the local community. It is a
kind of organisation based on individual people. But it is not responsive to changes in
available patronage unless the Guru appoints disciples as his equals in status and
despatches them to new areas of available patronage. However, the Buddhist Sangha
allows for the deployment of monks into areas of potential patronage as soon as an
opportunity is presented to the Sangha. To make a rather crude comparison its like a
franchise operation moving in on a bunch of corner shop traders. The Buddhist monastic
tradition may have simply been a new mechanism for harnessing patronage. This kind of
economic model may be one reason why the monasteries were so successful at
exploiting changing circumstances. There is also clearly an aspect of this in which it is
royal patronage after Aoka that radically transformed the monastic structure. Clearly
whether it is principally a question of royal patronage of successful harnessing of lay
resources within a few centuries of the Buddhas life his Sangha had been transformed
from a wandering group of philosopher ascetics into a richly endowed religious
institution.
The final question which needs to be addressed is what effect would this have had on
the beliefs and practices of lay and monastic Buddhists. It might be compared to
changing from a structure in which Buddhism was like a travelling circus which would
every so often show up in your town and put on a show to a situation in which every town
had a state sponsored Buddhist centre in it. Surely that would have had a quite
significant influence on the nature of peoples perceptions of what the Buddhist tradition

134
stood for and what its doctrines were. It may be that some aspects of the changes in the
doctrines of the Buddhist tradition may have been influenced by this economic evolution
over the period of four hundred years or so between the death of the Buddha and the
beginning of the Common Era.
Conclusion
It seems that the change to settled monastic institutions from a wandering ascetic
lifestyle must have had major implications. At the time of the Buddha to renounce the
world was to become a wanderer who probably spent eight months of the year
constantly on the road and camped for four months in the rainy season in a grove by a
town or in a cave in the hills. By the beginning of the Common Era to renounce the world
meant to move into large and affluent state sponsored monasteries often situated near to
major trade routes and sources of rich patronage. What happened to the rule of living on
the alms that could be collected in a day and storing nothing for the next? The Pali canon
stresses that the monks and nuns live solely on the alms rounds for each day. How could
large monasteries and nunneries with thousands of residents in them be really supported
in this manner? Why do they have what appear to be refectories and kitchens in them in
some cases? Certainly it is known that somewhere along the line the whole notion of
alms round for large monasteries was sidelined and left for forest monasteries. The
changes in the monastic life of Buddhist monks and nuns from the time of the Buddha to
the beginning of the Common Era must have radically influenced both the structure of
the Sangha and the ways of thinking about the Dharma that were current.
135
CHAPTER 12
Buddhist Art and Literature
Introduction
Is there such a thing as Buddhist art? In a sense there is on the one hand art which
relates to Buddhism and on the other art which is produced by Buddhists. Both of these
could be described as Buddhist art. I will take the term Buddhist art in this chapter as
meaning art which is concerned with Buddhist subjects. A rap record recorded by a
Buddhist will not be taken as Buddhist art in this context unless it is concerned with
Buddhist themes. Of course we do not have any ancient Indian rap recordings to even
listen to. I shall rather consider here.
Visual Art
Music
Literature
The Pali canon
The earliest Buddhist manuscripts
Visual Art
What we have available as a primary resources are stone sculptures, reliefs and
carvings and architectural designs which go back to as early as the third century BCE.
The long lasting nature of stone has ensured the survival of art from the time of the
beginning of monumental stone constructions (and excavations) onwards.
There are also references in texts to vanished visual art forms. Art in less permanent
media must also have been produced at the same time as the art in stone, and indeed
probably before monumental art in stone. However, paintings, drawings and statues in
perishable materials, such as wood and fabric have not survived the ravages of time.

136
The Pali canon contains a number of references to the lost visual art forms of the
Buddhas period. Two references are very interesting. First, in the Vinaya piaka there is
a reference to a picture gallery erected by king Bimbasra which is apparently a place of
public amusement, a kind of art gallery. Unfortunately it becomes the origin of a rule that
nuns should not go to art galleries. There is also a reference by the Buddha to paintings
displayed by wandering story tellers.
110

From the third century BCE onwards sculptural art in stone was being produced at
Buddhist sacred sites. Particularly of note are the railings from Bharhut and Sanchi
stpas in Madhya Pradesh and the Bodhgaya temple in Bihar. These are all
representative of some of the earliest Buddhist art forms. There are also important early
remains from the stpa at Amravati in Andhra Pradesh and the cave temples of
Maharashtra.
It is particularly striking that there is a profusion of three major types of imagery on these
monuments. First there are depictions of stories from the previous lives of the Buddha,
the jtaka tales; second there are depictions of the lives of the previous Buddhas and
third, there are depictions of key events in the life of akyamuni Buddha.
It was it appears conventional to represent the life of akyamuni Buddha, and previous
Buddhas in terms of certain symbolic key events. A standing woman holding on to a tree
giving birth represents the Buddhas birth. A platform under a tree being worshipped
represent the enlightenment. A wheel on a pillar represents the first teaching and a stpa
represents akyamuni Buddhas parinirva. However, these symbolic scenes often also
represent earlier Buddhas lives. For instance there is an enlightenment scene from the
Bodhgaya railings in which it can be seen that the leaves are the wrong shape for a
Bodhi tree of akyamuni Buddha, the Peepal tree, but the right shape for the leaves of
the Bodhi tree of Kayapa Buddha is that of a different tree.
So one of the most remarkable features of the art from prior to the second century CE is
the absence of the representation of the Buddha, or any Buddhas, in human form. This
representation of the Buddha in non-human form has come to be called aniconic as

110
Dehejia, Vidya, 1990, On Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art, in The Art Bulletin,
September 1990, 375392,

137
opposed to iconic, the representation in human form. In early Buddhist monumental
stone visual art the Buddha is represented only in symbolic forms.
This is in a way reminiscent of the Islamic traditions prohibition of the depiction of the
prophet. Here too although the Prophet cannot be depicted the winged horse on which
he rode to heaven can be depicted. The textual sources for the Islamic prohibition on
images of the prophet are unambiguous and explicit in the tradition. In the Buddhist case
there is no firm textual evidence for their every having been such a prohibition. There is
nowhere in the Pali canon where it prohibits images, nor yet in most Chinese materials,
there is perhaps only a single Sarvstivda reference to a prohibition on some particular
sort of images of the Buddha.
Susan Huntington is an American academic who wrote an article in 1990 in which she
challenged the accepted view that the images of symbolic scenes from the Buddhas life
were aniconic.
111
She suggested that these images are not of the life of the Buddha at all
but rather they were of Buddhist pilgrimage sites. The images of worshipping the Bodhi
tree do not show the Buddha because he is not there in human form as these are later
worshippers of the site at which he gained enlightenment. In other words they represent
the same scene as we see today. This proposal has much merit, it is a misunderstanding
to see these scenes as of the life of the Buddha, they are clearly scenes from the sites
associated with the Buddhas. However, she does not explain why no images were
installed at these locations as became the practice from the second century CE onwards.
It is possible that one resolution of this problem is that there may have been early
images in less permanent media than monumental stone but that none have survived.
Even so it is odd that none of the early art on monuments depicts such images and until
some contrary evidence is found it does seem that for the first four centuries or so after
the death of akyamuni Buddha there were no iconic representations of him or any other
Buddha.
Some Chinese Buddhist sources claim that accurate depictions of the Buddha were
made during his life, in particular a sandalwood statue that formed the basis for all later

111
Susan L, Huntington, 1990, Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of Aniconism, in Art Journal, Vol, 49 #
4 Winter 1990,

138
images. There are also however references to how difficult it was to depict his image and
so there is a tension in sources as to whether there were or not early images. However,
it must be recalled that the in the Pryana Thuti Gth in the Sutta-nipta there is a
reference to a person seeing the Buddha in his mind and so there was clearly no
prohibition of conceiving of the Buddha in human form.
112

A similar tension is evident in other Indian traditions. iva can be represented in aniconic
form as a ligam, Viu as a ligrma, and the goddess can take the form of water in a
kailaa pot. All are aniconic images and appear in a sense to have precedence over the
iconic forms of representation. iva, Viu and the goddess are seen as manifesting
themselves from their aniconic forms in iconic forms. This then may be similar to the
Buddhist case.
However, suddenly in the first or second century CE the production of Buddha images
seems to have suddenly started in two distinct areas. One area was in the North West in
the kingdom of Gandhara which was part of a Greco-Buddhist cultural area and in the
Mathura area which was part of the Indian Buddhist world. The 19th century discovery of
the Gandharan images by Western scholars who viewed Greek art as the origin of all art
led them to propose that the origins of the Buddha image were the result of Greek
influence. Naturally, this theory was not popular with all Indians and there is a famous
article by the Indian art critic Ananda Coomaraswamy which was written in about 1920 in
which he showed that the Mathura images are just as old and it is not possible to
conclusively argue that they Gandharan images predate the images from Mathura, which
are clearly part of the Indian artistic traditions.
One issue that comes up when looking at the early Buddhist art is does it fit the definition
of being concerned with Buddhist themes. It includes depictions of the sun god Srya,
serpent deities of Ngas and tree goddesses and gods or Yaks and Yakas. In what
sense are these Buddhist? The answer seems to be as all of these figures have been
incorporated into the Buddhist tradition they can be called Buddhist. There are
description of shrines, caitiyas, to Ngas, Yaks and Yakas in the Pali canon which

112
Saddhatissa, H. Sutta Nipta, London: Curzon Press, 1994 (1st ed.1988).

139
indicate that these were pre-existing traditions which were incorporated into Buddhism
and which probably brought with them visual representations of these figures.
The Western Indian cave temple monuments are also very striking examples of early
Buddhist art. They contain not only early sculptural art but the earliest Buddhist paintings
at Ajanta preserved in the murals on the walls of the caves. These had been abandoned
and were discovered by the British in the 19th century and attempts made to preserve
their contents. There is also a relationship which is clear between the Ajanta murals and
the earliest paintings preserved in manuscripts which date from the tenth century CE
onwards.
Music
Buddhist art includes both music and literature. What constitutes music is a question
which needs to be addressed. The common Sanskrit and Pali word for music is sagta
which means simultaneously both music and dancing, that is both the song, the gta, and
its performance. It is arguable that there is an unity of music and performance.
However, early Buddhist music is not much studied as such due to the fact that evidently
none of it survives. You cannot point to something and say this is a recording of a third
century BCE Buddhist song. There are modern Buddhist songs, but we can not be sure
of which aspects go back to early musical traditions.
It is, of course, well known that monks and nuns are not allowed to play musical
instruments or sing. But note it does not say in the Vinaya that lay people cannot do so
at sacred sites and on holy days. Also the definition of music seems to relate to secular
music, not to the performance of sacred texts, in the sense of oral texts, which are
described as being chanted. There is an explicit prohibition on singing the dhamma as a
long-drawn plain-song sound in a manner like the singing of lay people.
113
Due to which
the Buddha ruled that.
Monks, dhamma should not be sung with a long-drawn plain-song sound.
Whoever should (so) sing it, there is an offence of wrong-doing.

113
Vinaya, Cullavagga V.3. Horner 1963: 145-46.

140
However, it is of note that he then allows the practice of monks intoning (sarabhaa)
the dhamma.
114
The precise meaning of the various terms here is not clear.
There is also a reference to two monks who were brothers called Yametu and Tekula
who wanted to recite the Buddhist texts according to the manner of Vedic chants.
However, this was not approved of by the Buddha and he rebuked them and said.
Monks, the speech of the Awakened One should not be given in metrical
form. Whoever should (so) give it, there is an offence of wrong doing. I
allow you monks, to learn the speech of the Awakened One according to
his own dialect.
115

Vedic chants are still performed today as they were two thousand years ago due in part
to the existence of texts that describe how they should be performed in detail. They are
not described as music, but rather as chanting to set tunes and according to set rhythms.
To a Western ear they appear to all intents and purposes to be in fact a form of music.
Is it possible that aspects of Buddhist chanting traditions have similarly ancient origins.
There are a collection of texts which form part of a daily chanting ritual in Theravda
Buddhism which are called the Paritta-suttas in Pali. In their present form the collection is
known to go back to around the third century CE when it was fixed in its present form in
Sri Lanka. However, there are a number of suttas which are common to the Paritta-
suttas and to the Khuddaka pha of the Pali canon. The Khuddaka pha appears to be
a similar set of texts for daily recitation to the Paritta-suttas. In particular the Magala
sutta and the Metta sutta along with the various refuges are common to both collections
of texts and it seems that they have probably been popular texts for daily recitation since
the time of the compilation of the Pali canon.
116

It is possible therefore that when you are listening to Theravdin monks chanting the
Paritta-suttas you may be listening to a form of Buddhist music that goes back to the

114
Op. Cit. p. 146.
115
Vinaya, Cullavagga V.33. Horner 1963: 193-94.
116
de Silva, Lily, The Paritta Ceremony of Sri Lanka: its antiquity and symbolism, in: Kalupahana, David,
ed., Buddhist Thought and Ritual, New York: Paragon House, 1991. p. 139150.

141
performance traditions of the Buddhas day. However, there is no conclusive proof for
this.
Another ancient Buddhist musical tradition is that of the Newari traditions of the
Kathmandu valley. Their musical traditions sound distinctly different from those of
modern Indian classical music. It is indeed possible that their music preserves aspects of
Indian Buddhist musical traditions as they were in the twelfth century CE before the
Muslim invasions cut short the life of Indian monastic Buddhist musical traditions.
Although, it must be admitted that, there also elements in their music which may be more
typical of Himalayan music than musical traditions of plains India.
There are also Indian musical traditions which are related in one way or another to
Sanskrit musicological works. There are as far as I know no Buddhist musicological
works.
However, Buddhist literature and visual art is full of reference to music. The texts
describe how songs are sung to the Buddha, his relics and his sacred sites. There are
also references to playing musical instruments, in particular wind, and percussion
instruments and to a lesser extent stringed instruments. The visual art also depicts the
playing of instruments at Buddhist sacred sites, trumpets and conch shells and drums.
Oddly though none of this counts as music while it is performed for the purposes of
worship of sacred sites. Indeed the prohibition is normally on secular music and not
sacred music.
In a sense then the only access we have to the sounds of ancient Indian Buddhist music
is through its modern counterparts, Sri Lankan, South East Asian, Himalayan, Central
Asian and East Asian Buddhist musical traditions. However, each of these musical styles
is evidently very much of its area but even so they may all contain elements derived from
ancient Indian Buddhist musical traditions.
Literature
When we consider Buddhist literature three key terms which we need to consider are
Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. We will also need to consider the terms Magadhi and Ardha-
Magadhi. What does Sanskrit actually mean? It has a root meaning which does not

142
actually refer to a language as such but to the concept of something being refined or
purified. The term Sanskrit can be found in Buddhist texts used in the sense of meaning
that which is refined as opposed to that which is natural which is called Prakrit. Likewise
in Sakhya the principle of Prakriti is nature, hence Prakrit is that which is natural. So in
a sense then Sanskrit does not refer to a language as such but to that which is refined or
purified speech.
The languages in which the Vedas are written are not quite the same as classical
Sanskrit which was standardised by Panini in about the 2nd century BCE. Despite the
variations in the linguistic forms from the Rig Veda, which is considerably different from
classical Sanskrit, the languages of the majority of Indian high cultural texts are all in
forms of Sanskrit. Some of the later texts, such as the Puras and the Epics are often
not in very refined Sanskrit, but they are still in Sanskrit. Also from around the second
century BCE onwards Buddhist texts began to be produced in Sanskrit. These texts are
often in a kind of Sanskrit mixed with vernacular forms and which is often referred to as
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. They are hybrid as they are a mix of Sanskrit and Prakrit. So
you should bear in mind that the term Sanskrit does not simply refer to the classical
standard form of the language but rather to a group of related language forms which
share a common heritage in grammar, vocabulary and syntax.
In a similar manner the term Prakrit, which means natural [speech] refers to a group of
language forms. Indeed Prakrits appear in Sanskrit texts. For instance, classical Sanskrit
dramas, such as Klidsas Little clay cart include speeches by different characters in
various forms of Prakrit. For instance, whereas the cook speaks in a cooks Prakrit and
monkeys speak in a Prakrit appropriate for monkeys, the king the leading characters and
the narrator speak in Sanskrit. This is similar to the modern linguistic situation in India
where within a single environment or location a variety of language forms are spoken by
different people. For instance in a monastery in Bodhgaya, the cooks and workers will
speak in varieties of local dialect, but the monks will speak in standard Hindi as well as
their mother tongues, and the leading figures will also be able to converse in English. In
other words the use of multiple languages according to social register is a common
feature in South Asia.

143
There are also three other elements which need to be considered. First, there is the
Dravidian element in the language situation in India. This term refers to a completely
different language group nowadays spoken in the forms of Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu
and Kannada in the Southern states of India. There is also an isolated pocket of the
Dravidian languages in the Brahui language of modern Pakistan. This language group is
based on a quite distinct vocabulary and grammar. Second, it should be noted, for
completeness sake, that there are also a variety of tribal languages spoken in India
which belong to various other language groups again. These include the languages of
the tribal groups in Bihar, such as Santhali and Gond. Third there are also languages
from distinct language groups spoken in the Himalayan and Burmese border regions of
South Asia.
The situation at the time of the Buddha was probably very similar with a wide variety of
languages being spoken in the area in which he lived. The dominant Prakrit language of
his period in the area where he was active was called Magadhi, as is the present Hindi
dialect of the area. This name is also preserved in the name given to the Prakrit of many
of the Jain scriptures. These were compiled from oral sources based on traditions active
mainly in the Magadh area and the language of these scriptures is called Adha-
Magadhi, that is Half-Magadhi. It is a form of cleaned up Magadhi, half way between
everyday speech and a pure language.
The most important reason to consider any of this is that we need to consider how the
Buddha would have addressed his audiences. He would have needed to speak in such a
manner as would have been comprehensible to his audience. Clearly is a situation of
such linguistic diversity he would have had to modulate his forms of speech according to
the audience he was addressing. Speaking to a king and to a gang of street children, you
need to speak in different ways.
Also we should consider that modern mass-education and media have been rapidly
erasing the differences between dialects but that the situation in pre-modern cultures is
one in which language forms vary considerably over short distances. There is a Hindi
saying that after every three villages the language (that is the dialect) changes. So in that
the Buddha was born on the Nepali border then his own language would not have been

144
the same as that of Rajgir in Magadh or Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh. There are elements in
the texts of the Pali canon which can be regarded as indicative of slight differences in
language perhaps reflective of these ancient dialect differences.
Surely when the Buddha was addressing King Bimbasara he would have expressed
himself in a different register than when he was addressing an ascetic who was visiting
from another part of India, such as Bahiya who had come from Maharashtra to visit the
Buddha. I would speculate that a skilled orator would express even the same notion to
both audiences in different ways in order to get the teaching across as well as possible.
If then you had been listening to both speeches you would have heard two versions of
the same teaching. Were you then to be asked which was the genuine teaching of the
two you would have had to say that both were genuine, although they were different in
exact wording as they carried the same teaching.
The question of how to teach and the languages in which to teach is indeed addressed in
the Pali canon. It is said that the Buddha was asked when teaching in different areas
should the teachings be in a single language or adapted to the local language. The
Buddha said that the teachings should be made in the language of the area. So disciples
of the Buddha would have been teaching in a variety of languages according to the
contexts in which they found themselves, so that people could understand them.
The Buddha is also said to have favoured natural language, Prakrit, over refined speech,
Sanskrit, as the latter would not have been comprehensible to the general public. So
what then is the relationship between Prakrit and Pali?
In a sense the term Pali, like Sanskrit, does not refer to a language at all. Richard
Gombrich pointed out that it actually means sacred scripture and is a descriptive term
for the Theravda scriptures and the language they are in. It is a standardised and
consistent language based on earlier dialects. It is not exactly what the Buddha said, it is
a standardised form of what the Buddha said. It is close to the Prakrit Magadhi
languages that the Buddha probably spoke in, but it is not identical to them.
The Pali canon features long set phrases which are repeated countless times in identical
terms. Such as the formulation of the Noble Truths and set descriptions like he saluted
the Buddha and sat down at one side of him. These set doctrinal phrases and stock

145
descriptive elements are, however, normally contextualised within passages which are
each in a sense unique.
It seems to therefore be appropriate to point out that we have no way of knowing when
the tradition of explaining the Pali canon with further commentorial material began. The
textual traditions now extant always feature the main texts and subsidiary commentaries.
It is known than that this tradition goes back in Sri Lanka to the time of the introduction of
Buddhism, when it is said that commentaries explaining the texts were introduced along
with the texts themselves. (I am using the term text here to refer to a spoken text, not a
written text). This pattern of text and commentary is common in South Asian literature. It
is also a feature of non-Buddhist Indian literature and a Stra (Skt) or Sutta (Pali) means
a string or thread and is the condensed essence of a text onto which a commentary
should be stung.
The repetition of set phrases and material to contextualise and explain them is a feature
which is typical of texts with commentaries. Part of the motivation for this is clearly that it
is no good giving a teaching in a language nobody understands, it has to be accessible.
Likewise even if the main teaching is linguistically comprehensible it will probably need
an explanation to contextualise and make the meaning clear to the particular audience
which is being addressed. Thus the issue of what constitutes the speech of the Buddha
(Buddhavacana) is further complicated here by the possibility that we may have multiple
versions of reported versions of what the Buddha said, all genuine, but all slightly
different.
If we entertain the notion that the Pali texts are not the actual speech of the Buddha, but
standardised versions of what he said, what then would be the relationship of the
Sanskrit versions of the texts to the Pali versions? The Sanskrit versions are also
standardised versions and would stand in similar relationship to the original utterances.
If we put aside the Theravda claim that the Pali texts are literal word of the Buddha then
we have to consider this possibility. The existence of other Prakrit versions also seems
to point to the same truth. None of the extant versions are simply the literal words of the
Buddha, all textual traditions are, in one way or another, standardised versions of the

146
words of the Buddha. The canon itself contains references to how it is important to
understand the intended meaning of the text and not get caught up in the literal meaning.
In the present day the various Sanskrit and Prakrit versions of the canon are not all
perfectly preserved. There are large sections of the canons of a number of Nikya
Buddhist traditions extant in their original language forms and, fortunately, more
extensive translations of these texts into Chinese. Therefore it is possible to compare the
Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali versions of some texts.
An instance of this is the Dhammapada. This is available in Pali, Sanskrit, two Prakrits,
Chinese and Tibetan translations. The various traditions do not have exactly the same
text. The number of verses varies, the order of the verses varies and the texts of the
verses vary and to some extent even the meaning of individual verses is not the same.
The common endeavour behind all of this was clearly a constant effort by different
people in diverse locations to keep the Buddhas teachings comprehensible. For some
people it seemed that Pali was the best, for some Prakrits, for some a widely know
standard language, Sanskrit, seemed the most appropriate. For some it was necessary
to translate the texts into totally new languages, such as Chinese. It needed one or more
Indian Pandits and one or more central Asian and Chinese Pandits who would sit
together. The India Pandit reads out the text to the Chinese Pandit who writes it down
and then it is compared for meaning by the various people involved. In the particular
case that was being studied in this article it is argued that although the text is described
as being in Sanskrit, the Indian Pandit was apparently reading it out in Prakrit based on
the evidence of the kinds of mistakes that were being made in translation. So this
suggests that not only do we need to consider the languages of the written forms of the
texts but of the spoken forms of exposition which were employed. We must remember
then that the text consists of the text, the expounder and the listener.
I would like to make one other point about the linguistic changes in the growth of the
canon. It seems to reflect to some extent the geographical spread of Buddhism. By the
second century CE Buddhism had spread throughout South Asia and into Central Asia
and China. Therefore the issue of how to give the teachings must have been of prime
concern in the Buddhist world. The common consensus was clearly that the texts

147
needed to be translated into languages appropriate for the peoples of the areas in which
Buddhism was active. But at the same time there is of course the overarching need to
maintain the meaning of the teachings while the form of expression varies. Within the
North Indian linguistic area is was possible to maintain key terms in forms which were
commonly employed, sukha, dukha, dharma, karma, nirva, sasra, etc.
But, once the texts started being translated into Chinese a new set of problems was
apparent. Just as terms such as dharma, nirva, sasra present problems for
translation into English, so to is there a problem when translating such terms into
Chinese. There was, for instance, no common view of reincarnation in the cycle of
sasra as a given truth in Chinese.
Interestingly enough the first school of Chinese translation, the old school, translated by
finding the most similar Chinese terms available for Indic terms, normally finding terms
from Taoism that were equivalent. Thus the Buddha became a teacher of the Tao rather
than the Dharma. This translation approach was standard from the beginnings in the
1st/2nd century CE up to around the 5th century. At this point the translators revised
their views and retranslated the texts again using Chinese equivalent versions of the
Indic terms rather than Taoist equivalents.
So was the canon of the Nikya Buddhist traditions exactly the same for all the
traditions? I have indicated above that in the case of the Dhammapada there were
variations between the different traditions. Variations in the number of verses and verses
that are common to all traditions and unique to individual traditions. You cannot simply
say that one version is the original version, yet it is desirable to consider how the
versions related to each other. It is likely that none of the extant versions are the original
version as oral traditions are often more fluid than textual traditions. So rather than
saying that any one textual version it might be better to propose that all the versions are
but windows onto an earlier oral tradition. There are in the case of other texts instances
where the Pali versions of texts seem more developed than other versions. For instance
the Pali Mahparinibbna sutta seems more complex then the version translated into
Chinese from the Sanskrit Sarvstivda tradition. The latter having a more simple
description of the funeral rites and the former a more elaborate version.

148
The Pali canon
There are basically three parts of the Nikya Buddhist canon. The Sutta Piaka, the
Vinaya Piaka and the Abhidhamma Piaka. The Sutta Piaka is fairly consistent in some
parts over the various versions, in particular the Dgha and Majjhima, Sayutta and
Aguttara Nikyas are fairly consistent in their contents, if not in the exact forms of the
texts.
However the next Nikya, Khuddaka Nikya which in the Pali version contains 14 texts
has a much greater variation in its contents. It includes the Khuddaka Pha, a sort of
early version of a collection of the chants for daily recitation and the Dhammapada,
which I have already noted has considerable variations between the various versions.
The next text is the Udna, which at least in the Sarvstivda version is similar to the
name given to the Dhammapada which is called the Udnavrga. There is also the
Itivuttika further sayings of the Buddha and the Jtakas. The number of the Jtakas also
varies from tradition to tradition. There are also instances of completely different works
being included in this part of the canon by different traditions.
The Sarvstivda tradition included a text called the Mahvastu in the canon, a kind of
life of the Buddha, but the Theravda tradition does not include this text. While the
Theravda tradition included the Vimanavattu and the Pettavatu in its canon, tales on the
good and bad results of giving or not giving to the Sangha. These last two texts are
regarded as very late by scholars. So to are the following texts called the Buddhavasa,
an account of the previous 24 Buddhas and the Cariya-piaka which is an account of how
the Buddha manifested the ten perfections in his previous lives as a Bodhisattva. The
very fact that the title of the last includes the term piaka in its title, which is a term that
means basket or winnowing fan suggest that it must have come from a time when the
canon could be put into baskets, clearly only possible once it had been written down.
The Pali canon was first written down in the first century BCE in Sri Lanka according to
Sri Lankan sources. The traditional explanation of this is that it was due to fear of parts of
the canon getting lost that led to it being written down. It is said that during a famine
there was only a only a single monk left alive who knew one section of it and this was the
cause of it being set down in writing. You may think it was odd that it was not previously

149
written down, but there seems to have been a reluctance to write things down in ancient
India.
To return to the contents of the canon the next part is the Vinaya Piaka which includes
details on how the monks and nuns should live and stories to explain the rules of the
monastic code. Even in the fifth century CE when Chinese pilgrims were visiting India
and trying to get copies of the Vinaya they found it quite difficult as in many places it
existed only in the form of oral tradition. The reluctance to commit to writing parts of the
canon seems to have been a long standing aspect of the tradition in India. People simply
preferred to remember the whole thing. It was indeed one specialisation that monks
could have was to memorise entire parts of the canon, and memorisation of the Vinaya
Piaka was apparently a common phenomena.
The last part of the canon is the Abhidhamma Piaka, a philosophical study of the
Buddhas teachings. This contains seven works in the Theravda version. In the
Sarvstivda version the number and nature of the works was somewhat different.
Certain parts show evidences of having been based on similar earlier traditions, others
are clearly distinctive contributions of the various schools. It is not clear if all schools had
their own Abhidhamma Piaka traditions or they were shared in common by various
traditions. The main Abhidhamma Piaka traditions seem to have been those of the
Theravda and the Sarvstivda traditions.
The different Abhidhamma Piaka traditions are acknowledged to be later parts of the
canon which were not in existence at the time of the first council and they post date the
Sutta and Vinaya Piakas. There are considerable variations between the different
philosophical traditions. The Theravda tradition held that there were only four realities
rpa, citta, cetisaka and nibbna, whereas the Sarvstivda tradition held that there
were five realities and included space ksa as a fifth reality. Also whilst the Theravda
tradition held that only the present moment existed when things were perceived, the
Sarvstivda tradition held that things existed in the past, present and future. This last
view accounts for the name of the tradition which means all exists. Due to this it is
natural that the philosophical texts vary in their contents. Despite sharing a common
interest in philosophical analysis. Indeed the differences between the traditions form the

150
basis for a Theravda tradition text, the Katthavattu or Points of controversy which
outlines the differences between the traditions as seen from a Theravda viewpoint.
A point of note in this is that in the Katthavattu the philosophical position on the
possibility of transferring merit to deceased relatives of the Theravda tradition is put as
that it is impossible in distinction from that of the other schools which say that it is
possible. But, this viewpoint also conflicts with the views expressed in the Khuddaka
Nikya of the Theravda canon itself, in which the transfer of merit is clearly regarded
as possible. A further twist to this issue is that in the later text called Milanda Paha a
compromise is suggested that merit can be transferred to some classes of preta, and this
is the current view of most Theravda tradition followers.
There is a further question which is worth addressing here is. What parts of the Nikya
Buddhist canon are also accepted by Mahyna Buddhist traditions? Interestingly
enough though the question becomes not really what are accepted texts, so much as
what are texts that interest different traditions. The Sutta texts for instance are accepted
as genuine by the Mahyna tradition, but they are of little interest to the Mahyna it
seems. However, almost all the traditions agree on the importance of the Dhammapada
as the essence of the Buddhas teachings.
The Vinaya Piaka is also a commonly held part of the early canon. Although that
majority of East Asian and Himalayan traditions follow the Sarvstivda Vinaya rather
than the Theravda Vinaya, however there are in theory no major differences. This is of
course quite separate from the question of how the Vinaya is interpreted which evidently
varies widely between the Northern and Southern traditions.
The Abhidhamma contains almost no texts which are common between Nikya
Buddhists, let alone between the Nikya Buddhists and the Mahyna Buddhists.
However, there is a similar fascination with philosophy in all the traditions.
It is also vital to realise that there is much in Theravda tradition which is unique to it and
not held in common with other Nikya Buddhist traditions. The great synthesis of
teachings in the Visuddhimagga, The Path of Purification by Buddhaghosa which was
composed in the 5th century CE is distinctly Theravda in its viewpoint. It was based on
a translation into Pali of the existing Singhalese commentaries on the canon and records

151
traditions which may well go back in origin to India but had undergone centuries of
evolution in Sri Lanka. Buddhaghosa himself was from North India, from near Bodhgaya
and went to Sri Lanka to translate their vernacular commentaries into Pali.
The famous Sri Lankan chronicles, such as the Mahavasa are also distinctly Sri
Lankan Theravda creations that link the history of Buddhism to that of the ruling
dynasties of Sri Lanka.
There was also a continuous tradition of creating new Pali texts in South East Asia, in
Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It is interesting to note that in this case the
argument for Pali as the sacred language has completely altered. The early argument for
Pali it seems was, as suggested above, that it was comprehensible to the people as it
was close to everyday speech. Evidently in Sri Lanka and South East Asia this was not
the case. Rather it was seen as being the authentic language of the Buddha. In a sense
then it has become a kind of purified language whose function is akin to that of Sanskrit
in India, a kind of sacred lingua franca comprehensible over a wide area and felt to be
the essence of refinement and imbued with great power and sophistication.
It is clear that the breadth and depth of Buddhist literature is hard to comprehend. Even
were you to become a master of the Theravda Tipiaka you would still not have read the
greater part of the literature of the other Nikya Buddhist traditions. Also to be able to do
a good comparative study of this literature in real depth you would need to know not just
Pali, Prakrit and Sanskrit, but also to access the translations of the parts of the Nikya
Buddhist canons lost in Indic languages you need to learn Chinese to read these
portions in translation. This is as they say in Australia a big ask, however, beginning to
map out the dimensions of this issue is the first step on the road to the study of Nikya
Buddhist literature.
The earliest Buddhist manuscripts
Finally, as an epilogue let us consider the case of the earliest Buddhist manuscripts yet
discovered. A few years ago the British Library in London was approached to find out if it
was interested in acquiring what appeared to be some old manuscripts which had
emerged from war torn Afghanistan. These were a collection of rolled up birch bark
manuscripts. These are very difficult materials to deal with as they normally crumble into

152
dust as you touch them. In this case they were stored in urns and they were purchased
in the urns. The library spent a year and a half gradually humidifying and unrolling the
manuscripts a millimetre at a time and ended up with fragile sheets of birch bark
sandwiched between perspex sheets. It should be born in mind that birch bark is a bit
like vellum, as long as its kept in normal conditions it is pliable and an excellent writing
surface, it only become so crumbly if left to dry out in an arid environment for two
thousand years. These were then photographed and digitised. They are a very exciting
discovery as it has become apparent that they date from around the first century CE.
They are written in a dialect of Prakrit in a script called Kharoshti, and the number of
scholars it is said who can read this script are said to be merely a handful. The Kharoshti
script was popular in the North Western part of India and dropped out of use by the time
of the Islamic invasions of India. The group of scholars who are working on these
manuscripts are still working on deciphering them.
The initial reports indicate that they are all fragments of works. This turns out to be
because they are fragments of old manuscripts which had been re-copied and the old
manuscripts were interred in an urn and buried as if they the body of the Buddha. This in
itself is fascinating as it shows that the Buddhists buried their old manuscripts, Hindus
also treat their manuscripts like their dead and prefer to ideally place them into rivers as
they do the ashes of bodies.
The contents of the manuscripts include sections from Dhammapada, the rhinoceros
verses, and verses in praise of the lake now known as Manasarover by Mount Kailash,
known in Buddhist literature as lake Anavatapta. There also indications that they
productions of the Dharmaguptik tradition. They contain no parts of the Vinaya or
Abhidhamma Piakas and appear to be all drawn from the Sutta Piaka. However, we
are still waiting for further detailed reports on their contents.
Conclusion
What then can we learn by looking at Buddhist art? It makes a valuable source for the
study of the material cultures of different periods. It is also, unlike texts, often quite
datable and allows us access to particular moments in Indian Buddhist history. It does
not tell about philosophy, but it does tell us about what people were interested in. In fact

153
sites like Ajanta, Ellora, and other well preserved sites give us a kind of snapshot of what
was interesting to people at different times. It gives us in other words a kind of catalogue
of the interests of Buddhists at different times. So unlike textual sources, which normally
represent hundreds of years of evolution of ideas all intertwined the Buddhist
monuments represent a succession of moments from the material culture of the living
Buddhist tradition in India. Buddhist art is then an unparalleled source for the study of the
Buddhist tradition in India. In particular it is of immense value when used in conjunction
with textual sources as it allows us to compare and contrast the evidence from the texts
with that from archaeological sources and build up a richer picture of the Buddhist
tradition in Indian history than either type of source on its own allows.
154
CHAPTER 13
The Emergence Of The Mahyna
Introduction
In this chapter I want to investigate a number of issues which are essential to
understanding the issues related to the emergence of the Mahyna. In particular I will
look at.
The terms Mahyna and Hnayna
Difference and similarity
Origins or Emergence?
Theories on the origins of the Mahyna
Mahyna explanations of Mahyna origins
Distinguishing Characteristics
The terms Mahyna and Hnayna
It we are going to look at the question of the origins and development of the Mahyna
we are going to have to do four things. First, we need to examine the terms Mahyna
and Hnayna. Second, we need to look at the way we frame our questions about this
question itself. Third, we need to examine the existing theories on the origins of the
Mahyna and fourth, we need to look at the question of whether there are
distinguishing characteristics of the Mahyna, and if so what they are.
The word mah means great and yna means a way or path or vehicle, so the
Mahyna is the Great Way or the Great Vehicle. Mahyna Buddhists often speak of
Nikya Buddhism as Hnayna Buddhism. But the term Hnayna is pejorative, as hna
means base and low, hence the Lesser Vehicle. Indeed, in the Theravda canon this
word is used in this way and the Buddha refers to low, base uneducated people as being


155
puttujjana or hna. This term is still used in the same way in modern Hindi. Clearly no
group is likely to use such a term as a form of self identification. Rather Mahyna is a
polemical term used by the Mahyna traditions to distinguish themselves from earlier
Nikya Buddhist traditions. Theravda Buddhists nowadays do not refer to themselves in
this manner, nor did any Nikya Buddhist traditions as far as is known. The Nikyas are
the collections of texts in the early canon. The Nikya Buddhists as we have seen over
the last few chapters really had quite distinctive viewpoints on many issues and it is
inappropriate to refer to them as the Hnayna as they never identified themselves in this
manner.
Difference and similarity
Modern Theravda traditions sometimes express opinions against the Mahyna. An
instance of this is in The Mirror of the Dhamma a collection of texts for daily recitation
published in Sri Lanka. In the introduction to this its authors say.
... many distorted forms of ritual, some of them a travesty of the Buddhas teaching, have
penetrated the West. Ostentation and mummery now parade, as Buddhist worship, in
many lands. This is due to the fact that the Occidental student first came in touch with
the Dhamma through degenerate Sanskrit and Chinese sources of so-called Mahayana
Buddhism. The originators of this gibberish were corrupt Bhikkhus who were expelled
from the Order during the time when the Arhants yet swayed the destinies of the
Dispensation. The taint remains even with some who now turn, with relief, to the plain
straightforward philosophy of the Pali Tipitaka.
117

Such sentiments of antipathy are fortunately rare. Despite this it is very apparent that
there is an enormous difference between the Mahyna and the Theravda traditions in
the contemporary world. But I would like to point out that partly this is an accident
created by circumstances. The main Mahyna traditions are found in Central and East
Asia, mainly in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The main area in
which the sole existent school of Nikya Buddhism, Theravda Buddhism is found is in
South and South East Asia, mainly in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

117
Narada and Kassapa, 1975, The Mirror of the Dhamma, A.B. Gomes Trust, Colombo, p. 9.


156
These Northern and Southern Buddhists are from strikingly different cultural areas,
with different languages, foods and societies. Whatever the ideological differences there
may be between the Mahyna and the Theravda there are much greater cultural
differences, one likes meat, another likes fish, one likes noodles, another likes rice.
These may seem fairly insignificant differences, but it is surprising how important such
aspects of material culture can be in formulating senses of identity.
However, the origins of the Mahyna are to be found within India and so initially such
material cultural differences are unlikely to have been a major factor. There would have
been no dispute over whether to eat momos, meat dumplings or string hoppers and
sambhal, rice noodles with fish curry. All would have shared in common a diet of rice and
dl, or whatever the contemporary regional equivalent was, and lived within similar
material cultures of South Asia. Indeed some Chinese pilgrims reports of India in ancient
times indicate that monks of both vehicles dwelt together in the same monasteries. This
would not have been difficult as both shared a common monastic code, Vinaya, and a
common diet, language, and the cultural values of their contemporary Indian society.
Origins or Emergence?
It is most important now to consider carefully the question or questions we want to
address. Are we looking at a single question, What is the origin of the Mahyna? or
are we looking at two questions which have become conflated together, the first of which
is What are the origins of the Mahyna? but the second of which is How did the
Mahyna emerge?. There is often a difference between the issues of origins and
emergence. It is one question to look at the origin of something and another to look at its
emergence into the public sphere.
This is vital to acknowledge as there are really three questions here. First, what are the
characteristics of the Mahyna. Second, when did texts first emerge which contain
aspects of Mahyna teachings. Third, when did texts first emerge that proclaim
themselves to be Mahyna texts. Fourth, when is there the first inscriptional evidence
for the Mahyna. Fifth, what led to this development. So there really at least five main


157
questions which are worthy of attention if a discussion of this issue is to produce a
satisfactory discussion.
Theories on the origins of the Mahyna
First let us review some major theories on the origins of the Mahyna. The order they
are given in is not indicative of any particular priority.
The first explanation is that around a century after the Buddhas death there was a split
in the Sangha and it broke into two divisions. One faction kept to the teachings of the
elders and took the name of the Sthavravda (Pali Theravda), The doctrine of the
elders and the second faction, who were greater in number, took the name of the
Mahsaghik The great assembly. According to the Theravda tradition it is the
Mahsaghik which is the origin of the Mahyna. This theory proposes that in the
South of India the Mahsaghik assembly developed two views which became typical
of the Mahyna, first that the Buddha was Lokkottara, transcendental, not just an
historical person, and second that he used Upayakaualya, Skill in means to teach his
doctrines. This is to a great extent a modern theory and was largely developed in the
19th and 20th centuries and became popular amongst South and South East Asian
Buddhists.
Second, there is a view which has been presented more by Western Buddhist scholars
which said that Mahyna developed out of a variety of Nikya Buddhist schools. Again,
there is an emphasis on viewing the main change as being from a view of the Buddha as
a historical person to the Buddha as a Lokkottara, transcendental figure.
A third view was developed by the Japanese in the twentieth century and Hirakawa Akira
was a leading exponent of this theory. He proposed that Mahyna Buddhism was a
development out of lay Buddhist practice at stpas and represent a shift away from
monastic Buddhist practice. In other words he saw its origins in institutional rather than
doctrinal changes.
A fourth view was proposed in the 1980s by Richard Gombrich who proposed that the
origins of Mahyna lay in the development of written texts. He argued that as long as
Buddhist tradition was based on oral traditions it was impossible to have much variation


158
in the tradition as sufficient bodies of monks to preserve variant doctrines could not be
maintained. However, once texts began to be written down it became possible to
preserve a wider variation in doctrinal viewpoints and this led to the emergence of the
Mahyna traditions.
A fifth view was proposed by Reginald Ray in his book called Buddhist Saints in India
published in 1994.
118
His argument is essentially that it represents a fusion of the more
meditative traditions of the forest monks with the more orthodox views of urban monastic
Buddhism.
A sixth view was argued by Paul Williams in 2000.
119
He points out that there have never
been any such things as Mahyna ordination lineages and it is a mistake to confuse
ordination lineages and schools of thought in Buddhism. Rather he proposes that:
Mahyna is not as such an institutional identity. Rather it is an inner motivation and
vision, and this inner vision can be found in anyone regardless of their institutional
position.
120

This argument suggests that to a great extent much of the debate about the origins of
the Mahyna has simply missed the point all together by looking for institutions when
we should have been looking at motivation.
All of these theories have various points in their favour and a number of points in which
they leave problems to be resolved. It is probably helpful at this point to consider the
context in which the origins and the development of Mahyna occurred. It is important
to realise that there were other significant changes happening in Indian religious
traditions during the period from the sixth century BCE to the first century CE.
The first is the decline in the importance of the Vedic sacrificial model for religion.
Although modern day Vedic tradition still plays lip service to the performance of Vedic
rituals these in fact decreased rapidly in importance during the centuries after the
establishment of Buddhism. The Buddha argues extensively against sacrificial rituals in

118
Reginald A, Ray, Buddhist Saints in India, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994,
119
Williams 2000: 96-111.
120
Williams 2000: 102. (Text italicised in the original.)


159
the Theravda canon, yet in a sense this becomes a non-issue by the first century CE as
by this time Brahminical tradition has also largely dropped Vedic sacrifice as the central
feature of religious culture. They were displaced by the performance of pj and a
variety of other rituals such as raddha offering and perhaps of greatest significance of
all the development of the worship of images in temples as the primary focus of religious
activity.
The second major change during this period is the rise of devotional religion or bhakti. It
is in the second century CE text the Bhagavadgt that this doctrine rises to the forefront
and it is generally said that Kas statement to Arjuna that via bhakti realisation can be
attained that marks the arrival of bhakti as the supreme form of activity in Indian religious
culture. The origins of bhakti are normally traced to Dravidian religious traditions. In
Tamil literature the earliest occurrences of descriptions of bhakti occur in the 4th century
CE.
121
Bhakti is typified by a personal devotional relationship between the devotee and
the deity. The relationship is reciprocal and by devotion you can oblige the deity to help
you. It is even beneficial for instance to be patita fallen as only by being fallen can you
cause the deity to display their power of being the up-lifter of the fallen patitapvana.
122

There are also aspects of Tamil devotional tradition that emphasise the importance of
the locations where the gods dwell and praise of these temple homes of the gods are a
major feature of bhakti literature. However, I would not like to suggest that bhakti does
not have Northern India parallels which do not go back to the time of the Buddha.
Although the actual term bhakti never occurs in the Theravda canon there are aspects
of how the disciples of the Buddha relate to the Buddha which are clearly suggestive of a
bhakti element in early Buddhism. So again we have a question here of origins and
emergence. It is in Southern India that bhakti first emerges as a movement which
identifies itself as the bhakti movement, but there are elements of bhakti which run
throughout Indian tradition, both North and South.
This difference between self identification and external identification is, I consider, an
important distinction. It is one thing to say an external observer that the similarities

121
Personal communication from Greg Bailey, July 2000.
122
patitapvana is a popular epithet of god in Hindi, as in Gandhi's favourite devotional song.


160
between various phenomena mean that they can all be identified by a common term. It is
quite another thing for a particular community or group to use a term which identifies the
group, community or tradition as being identified by a common term. The latter is an
assertion of identity, the former is an observance of similarities between traditions. It is
therefore a totally different question to ask when did the first Mahyna characteristics
emerge and when did the first people who called themselves followers of the Mahyna
emerge.
Mahyna explanations of Mahyna origins
Let us return to something more straightforward. There are a number of Mahyna
explanations of the origins of the Mahyna. According to the 17th century Mahyna
Tibetan historian Trntha the origins of the Mahyna are in a second phase of
teachings that the historical Buddha made. Trntha says that there were two turnings
of the wheel. The first was that made at Sarnath which form the basis of the Nikya
Buddhist teachings. The second was made later in the Buddhas life at the stpa which is
nowadays called Amaravati and which was is also known as Dhnyakaaka which was a
city of the ndhra people which was situated in the modern Andhra Pradesh.
123

However, the world was not yet ready for this teachings and they were hidden away by
the Ngas in their realms beneath the waters. Ngas it will be recalled are beings who
can shift their forms between human and serpent forms and are famous as hoarders of
treasure. They are in a sense not dissimilar to dragons in Western mythology, and were
identified as dragons by Chinese pilgrims to India. In the first or second century CE a
sage called Ngrjuna, of whom we will speak more later in the course, visits the Nga
realm and recovers the Mahyna texts, particularly the Perfection of Wisdom literature.
This story has some interesting relationships to modern scholarship. The association of
the origins of the Mahyna and Southern Indian is shared by this legend and modern
scholarship as is the identification of the Perfection of Wisdom literature as some of the
earliest Mahyna literature. However, there are also evidently some problems. For
instance archaeological evidence indicates that the stpa at Amaravati was not in

123
Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass: Delhi, p. 293.


161
existence during the life of the Buddha, it was begun in the second century BCE.
Perhaps another problem is that many Mahyna texts do not identify their place of
origin as Amaravati but a wide range of places. For instance, according to the Lotus
Stra, the Heart Stra and a number of other texts they were revealed at Vulture Peak in
Rajgir.
I suppose the role of dragons is also questionable from a rationalist viewpoint and there
have been attempts made to equate the Ngas and the aboriginal inhabitants of India in
order to historicise this legend. This interpretation of the story says that the Mahyna
represents in a sense religious traditions current amongst rural tribal people in the
forests which were maintained in that society until the second century CE when they
emerged into a wider public sphere. I am not sure how far it is legitimate to attempt this
kind of historical analysis of legends. Ngas are in Indian mythology the archetypal
figures who hoard gems and thus for them to hoard the Dharma is only reasonable as it
is a kind of priceless gem. However, to argue that all references to Ngas are references
to Indian tribal communities may be as legitimate as arguing that all references to
dragons in European mythology are to aboriginal inhabitants of Europe.
Distinguishing Characteristics
It is often said that one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Mahyna is a belief in
the Buddha as a transcendent rather than an historical person. However, there are
numerous references in the Theravda canon to how the Buddha is not a normal human
being in the sense that modern Western people use the term. The view of the Buddha as
transcendent(Pali lokuttara) is indeed inherent in the Theravda canon, for instance the
Lakkhaa sutta (DN30) makes it clear the Buddha is essentially superhuman in nature
as he possesses 32 marks which mark him out as either a Universal Ruler (cakkavatti) or
a Buddha. As has been pointed out in above the entire thesis that the Buddha is
depicted as merely an historical person is largely a 19th and 20th century creation
influenced by Western perceptions of the relationship between the historical Buddha and
the historical Christ. There is I argue no sound basis whatsoever for arguing that a
distinguishing characteristic of the Mahyna is the belief in the Buddha as a
transcendent being.


162
A second distinguishing characteristic of the Mahyna is said to be the doctrine of
nyat the emptiness of essential nature in all things. It is therefore interesting to not
that the Theravda canon contains a number of references to nyat. The Buddhas
teachings are spoken of as profound, profound in meaning, transcendent and concerned
with nyat. The Buddha also instructs his disciples to meditate upon nyat and that
all phenomena are ultimately of the nature of nyat.
A third distinguishing characteristic of the Mahyna is that said to be that the Mahyna
affirms the existence of the Buddha after his death and the Nikya Buddhist traditions
deny this. Of course the Theravda canon itself refuses to answer this question and so in
a sense the distinction should be between Mahyna affirmation and Nikya Buddhist
refusing to answer the question. Yet, as has been pointed out above, there is a degree of
ambiguity in the Nikya Buddhist traditions on this point, Buddhist scholars may have
held that he did not exist after death but the inferred behaviour of people at sacred sites
indicates that people regarded the Buddha as still present at the sites and in his relics.
There is then an interesting problem what actually is the difference between the Nikya
and Mahyna Buddhist beliefs. There is no doubt a difference in emphasis, but
apparently no fundamentally different views and no views not held to some degree in
common. There is a shift to a greater emphasis on a transcendent Buddha, nyat and
the presence of the Buddha after death.
I would argue that in many ways one of the most distinctive features of the Mahyna is
to begin with simply that it calls its self Mahyna and distinguishes itself from other
Buddhist traditions by using this term. It is in part simply a form of polemic and acts to
help set up a sense of identity that there are those how follow the Mahyna and those
who do not. It may in some senses imply nothing about belief systems at all, simply
speaking about a sense of group identity, of self identification.
Another argument which is often advanced is not about beliefs as such but about the
source of authority for the legitimacy of texts. Theravda Buddhists nowadays are known
for attacking the Mahyna on the basis that the Mahyna texts are not the authentic
word of the Buddha, whereas Theravda texts are authentic words of the Buddha
buddhavacana. This argument is somewhat undermined by the way in which the majority


163
of the Pali canon is also not the utterances of the Buddha but of others whose words
were validated or endorsed by the Buddha. There is a kind of category of spontaneous
utterances in the Theravda canon which indicate that anybody can produce
buddhavacana. However, for the Nikya Buddhists only those texts which have been
handed down in oral tradition from the time when they were validated by the historical
Buddha and at the first council on the Buddhas death are legitimate. Evidently, there are
a few odd exceptions, such as the Kathavattu, the points of controversy between Nikya
Buddhist schools, which clearly could not have existed at the time of the first council, but
is regarded as having been pre-validated by the Buddha and hence counts as
buddhavacana.
Is in not possible that as long as new textual traditions did not identify themselves as
other they could have been accepted into Nikya Buddhist traditions? The distinction in
that case between Nikya Buddhism and Mahyna Buddhism may be related simply to
claiming to be separate from Nikya Buddhism.
However, it is also possible that judging from the Lotus Stra there may have developed
a new way of claiming legitimacy for texts which conflicted with the Nikya Buddhist
model. I will examine this in more detail in the chapter on the Lotus Stra. For the
moment I would like to simply point out that two characteristics of this Stra. First, it
claims legitimacy by claiming to be continuously being revealed by the Buddha at
Vultures Peak even though his physical body no longer exists, that is he is dead yet can
still reveal his teachings. Second, and this is most important, the Buddha continuously
reveals the text to sages in the forest in visions. There is a possibility that the
legitimisation of texts by claiming that they were revealed in visions was regarded as
unacceptable by Nikya Buddhists who preferred to legitimise texts by asserting that
they were orally preserved traditions handed down from the first council. I would suggest
though that this important argument over truth claims is indicative of other basic
disagreements.
It is possible that the difference between the Mahyna and the Theravda lay not in
beliefs or the manner of seeking legitimacy per se but in the milieu of Buddhist activity in
which the traditions flourished? Did the early Mahyna lay a greater emphasis on


164
spiritual practice in some form and on mysticism and individual realisation. While the
Nikya Buddhist traditions were more concerned with scholasticism, dealing with laity in
the sense of teachings and pastoral care and the maintenance of strict standards of
monastic behaviour. In a sense if these characterisations of the traditions are legitimate
then they seem to resemble the differences between forest and urban monastic practice.
The emphasis on emptiness seems to fit well with meditative practices. The vision of the
transcendent Buddha as present in all things might be said to be easier to recall in a tree
or a mountain in isolation than in a shop or a cart in a crowded market. In the forest there
might also have been greater freedom to develop new visions of what constituted the
essence of the Dharma than in the city where there would have been the constant
pressure from other monks and lay people to maintain the common consensus on what
constituted the Dharma. In this light the possibility that there is a forest element in the
Mahyna appears attractive. There is also some support for this in the Lotus Stra and
the Perfection of Wisdom literature where it describes how the practitioners of these
traditions are Bodhisattvas who dwell like monks in the forests.
It is generally argued that the Bodhisattva ideal is a distinctive feature of the Mahyna.
The term Bodhisattva itself is found in Theravda Buddhism and is used to refer to the
Buddha in his previous lives after he had made the resolve to become a Buddha and
before he became the Buddha. It is not however an ideal that practitioners aspire to as
the aim is to become an Arhat. However, in Mahyna Buddhism the aim is to become
a Bodhisattva rather than an Arhat. This appears at first sight to be a definitive difference
between the traditions. However, there are a number of complications to this.
First, it is not clear if the term Bodhisattva is being used in the same sense in the early
Mahyna as it is in later Mahyna. In the Lotus Stra and the Perfection of Wisdom
literature the Bodhisattvas are often described as a type of religious person who dwells
in the forest and preaches the Dharma. There is no clear reference that I am aware of in
many contexts in these texts to these Bodhisattvas forming the desire to be born over
and over again to save all living beings. This seems to be a later development of the
Bodhisattva doctrine as are the doctrines of the various levels of attainment, or bhmi,
which characterise later developments in the tradition. It is therefore unclear whether the


165
Bodhisattva ideal of the early Mahyna is the same as the Bodhisattva of the developed
Mahyna.
Second, the status of the Bodhisattvas such as Majur and Avalokavara appears to
be somewhat ambiguous. They seem to function more as kinds of deity than simple
teachers of the Dharma. Indeed they are often spoken of as kinds of emanations of the
Buddha rather than sentient beings who are on the path to becoming Buddhas in their
own right.
Due to this it is hard to say that the Bodhisattva ideal is a distinctive feature of the
Mahyna as it is not clear whether the Bodhisattva ideal is a constant phenomena
which never changes. Rather, like the doctrines of the transcendent Buddha, emptiness
and the presence of the Buddha after death the Bodhisattva ideal seems to have been
one which was already present in Nikya Buddhism but underwent a greater emphasis
and development in Mahyna Buddhism.
Reginald Rays theory in a sense collapses all of the theories into one. He proposes that
the origins of the Mahyna are to be found in Southern Indian forest monastic traditions
of the 2nd or 3rd centuries BCE. There traditions did not become accepted he argued in
the South initially but only by the 2nd or 3rd century CE in the North did they emerge as
self identifying movements. In a sense just as Aokas adoption of Buddhism leads to its
emergence as a source of archaeological data so to the emergence of inscriptional
evidence for the Mahyna in the 4th or 5th centuries CE may be an indication of it
becoming patronised by royalty and the general public. Such an origination in the South
combined with an emergence in the North and gradual shift towards recognition as a
legitimate area for patronage would explain most of the data on the origins and
emergence of the Mahyna so far uncovered.
Conclusion
In conclusion I would like to point out four things. First, there are numerous theories on
the origins of the Mahyna. Almost all of these are based on the notion that there are
doctrinal differences between the Nikya and Mahyna Buddhist traditions. However,
the legitimacy of this view is highly questionable.


166
Second, there is also a need to recognise that any theory of the origins of the Mahyna
needs to explain both its origins and its emergence.
Third, it must be remembered that the present situation is not a reflection of the original
situation at all. There emergence of the Mahyna took place in an environment in which
it lived alongside Nikya Buddhist traditions within a common material culture in which
there were no differences in diet or social behaviour. It was not about different cultural
areas as with our modern perceptions of Southern Theravda and Northern Mahyna
traditions.
Fourth, that attempts to characterise the definitive features of the Mahyna are
problematic. There is no single set of Mahyna beliefs and many of the doctrines typical
of Mahyna schools are already present in Nikya Buddhist traditions. In particular the
doctrines of the transcendent Buddha, emptiness, the presence of the Buddha after
death and the Bodhisattva were all already present in Nikya Buddhism. While it may be
true to say that they receive greater emphasis in the Mahyna it is not true to say that
the simple presence of these doctrines is a way of distinguishing the Mahyna. If we
were to argue in this manner then we might be put into an odd position where we would
have to argue as they are also present in Nikya Buddhism that it is in itself a form of
Mahyna Buddhism.
In the end though one thing is abundantly clear. The followers of the Mahyna did
regard themselves as belonging to a new and distinct tradition for they coined a new
term to refer to themselves, Mahyna, The Great Vehicle. The Mahyna use of the
term Hnayna to describe the Nikya Buddhist traditions is also indicative of an attempt
to set up a hierarchy in which they were asserting superiority over their compatriots. It
seems in a sense that it is all about argument and polemic more than anything else and
is indicative of new tendencies in the Buddhist Sangha to break up not only into Nikya
Buddhist schools but also now into new schools calling themselves Mahyna schools.
Finally, the best way to understand what constitutes the Mahyna may not in the end
be to try and theorise about its nature but to examine some of the major Mahyna texts
and to find out what they themselves say about the Mahyna.
167
CHAPTER 14
The Lotus Sutra
Introduction
In this chapter I want to look at one of the most popular Buddhist textual traditions which
has influenced the course of Buddhist history in India and East Asia. I will look at the
following points.
Texts and traditions
Origins and development
The followers of the Lotus stra
The teachings of the Lotus stra
Texts and traditions
The Lotus Stra or in Sanskrit the Saddharmapuarik Stra is a kind of world in itself.
The only translation of the Sanskrit version of this work was made by H. Kern in the late
19th century.
124
It is full of strange and odd terminology, such as goblins for yaka but
despite this is still the only translation of the Sanskrit version of the text available. There
is also a fine modern translation of the Chinese version of this work by Kumrjva called
The Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma translated by Leon Hurvitz.
125

The Lotus Stra is quite simply one of the most important of the Mahyna scriptures
and is therefore a text which it is worth reading.

124
Kern, H. Saddharma-Pundarika or the Lotus of True Law, (Sacred Books of the East series volume 21).
Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1994. (1
st
published by the Oxford University Press 1884)
125
Hurvitz, Leon, trans. Scripture of the lotus blossom of the fine dharma. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1976.


168
One interesting thing about a Mahyna text is to find out when it was first translated into
Chinese as this gives a date for when the text must have already come into existence.
The Lotus Stra was first tr*anslated into by Dharmaraka in 268 CE. On this basis we
can say that the text must have been in existence by this time. However, it is the
translation made in 406 CE by Kumrjva which is probably the most famous of the
translations of this text into Chinese. This version of the Lotus Stra has became
immensely popular in Central Asia, China and Japan. Micheal Pye has argued that
although the version by Kumrjva was translated later it was from an earlier version of
the text.
126
A major factor in the popularity of Kumrjvas translation is that it dates
from the period of new translations in which Buddhist terms are translated into Chinese
using Buddhist terminology, whereas Dharmarakas version is from the period of old
translations in which Buddhist terms are rendered into Taoist equivalents.
There are also Tibetan translations of the Lotus Stra but unfortunately none of these
have been translated into English and so for those who do not know Tibetan these are
not accessible. Nor do they form part of the scholarly literature on the Lotus Stra.
In addition there are numerous Sanskrit manuscripts of the Lotus Stra in existence in
the libraries of Nepal, where there are major collections of Sanskrit Mahyna literature,
and in Western libraries. In particular Cambridge University library has some excellent
copies. In the last part of the 19th century the Japanese scholar B. Nanjio and H. Kern
published a critical edition of the Lotus Stra (eventually published in 1912) and this text
formed the basis for L. Kerns translation which was published in 1884.
127
Unfortunately,
despite the wealth of materials discovered since that time there has been no more recent
complete critical edition of this text. There is much work still to be done on the Sanskrit
recensions of this text.

126
Pye, Michael. Skilful Means a concept in Mahayana Buddhism, London: Duckworth, 1978. pp. 168-182.
127
Bapat, P.V. 2500 Years of Buddhism, Delhi: Publications Division Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting, Government of India, 1956. p. 356.


169
Origins and development
As the case in Nikya Buddhist literature the Lotus Stra is based upon earlier oral
traditions. Textual scholarship suggests that the Lotus Stra is representative of a long
period of transmission and elaboration of a text. It is probably better in fact to speak of
the Lotus Stra tradition, rather than speaking of it as text, as to call it a tradition reflects
better the nature of this work. The present text contains 28 chapters. Of these the first
nine chapters form probably the oldest part and are a kind of complete work in
themselves. These first nine chapters probably date from the first century BCE to the first
century CE. You will also notice when you read the Lotus Stra is that it is in a mixture of
prose and verses. Typically each chapter starts with a prose section and then a series of
verses which repeat the subject matter. It is considered likely that the verses are older
and the prose sections are later, a form of commentary or explanation of the verses. So
it is the verses of the first nine chapters which are the oldest existent strata in the text.
The later chapters and the prose sections are later.
The verses are in a form of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit which is full of Prakrit language
forms. The prose is in a form of Sanskrit which is closer to classical Sanskrit. It is likely it
has been suggested that the verses preserve older forms of the text. It has been argued
that the verses were probably originally in Prakrit and they have been partly
Sanskritized whereas the prose was probably composed directly in Sanskrit. Although it
is quite possible that this was done on the basis of earlier Prakrit commentaries on the
verses.
The first nine chapters are distinct from the viewpoint that they contain no mentions of
written texts or books, it is only from chapter ten that references to the Lotus Stra as a
book start to appear. This is suggestive of the possibility that the first nine chapters go
back to a period when the Lotus Stra was an oral tradition, and the later chapters date
from a period in which it had begun to become a written textual tradition. So this volume
represent a textual tradition that records the development of a tradition from at least as
earlier as the first century BCE and which continued to develop in its Sanskrit tradition up
until the end of monastic Buddhism in India in the 12th century.


170
In comparison to the complexity of this scholarly approach to the origins of this textual
tradition the Lotus Stra itself is very clear about the origins of the tradition. As regards
the location, it was first taught by the Buddha himself at Vultures Peak in Rajgir. This
site is today a great place of pilgrimage for East Asian pilgrims due to it being the place
where both the Lotus Stra and the Heart Stra were taught. The Lotus Stra is also
quite clear on when it was taught, it was taught 40 years after his enlightenment. In other
words if he was enlightened when he was 35 when he was 75, towards the end of his
life.
The Lotus Stra contains a description of the Buddhas enlightenment in Bodhgaya, his
subsequent meditation for a week under the Bodhi tree and his realisation of the nature
of Dependent Origination. The text continues and in it is described how he was reluctant
to teach but at the entreaty of Sakka, the king of the gods, he decided to go to Sarnath
and teach the first sermon. It is notable that there is nothing in this account of Buddhas
enlightenment that Nikya Buddhists would have disagreed with. All of these elements
are common to Nikya Buddhism and the Lotus Stra. A further common feature is that it
divides the teachings into nine types of literature, a common Nikya division, whereas
most later Mahyna texts describe the Buddhas teachings into twelve types of texts.
There is in fact a great deal in the Lotus Stra which Nikya Buddhists would not find
difficult to accept.
However, there are some teachings in it which could have posed problems for Nikya
Buddhists. Particularly orthodox monastic Buddhists. The Buddha says that not only did
he give the text at Vultures Peak forty years after his enlightenment, but also he
continuously reveals the text at Vultures Peak. Anybody who goes there with the
appropriate attitude can perceive him teaching the text. So whereas Nikya Buddhist
orthodoxy in a sense argues that the Buddha does not exist after his death, the Lotus
Stra asserts absolutely that he does continue to exist after his death. This in terms of
text is a significant change. I have argued in previous chapters that peoples practices
indicate that there was a widespread hope that the Buddha continued to exist after his
death and people behaved as if he continued to exist. So what has changed here is that


171
this widespread belief has now become enshrined in a textual form. This is a departure
from the letter of early Buddhism, if not its spirit.
A further fascinating feature of the Lotus Stra relates to the problem of what happens if
its teachers forget a part of it. If a part of the Lotus Stra is forgotten then it says that the
person should spend time in the forest practising and trying to remember the Lotus
Stra, and if the practice is done correctly the Buddha will appear to the practitioner in a
luminous form and help the practitioner to remember the text. In other words the
Buddha is accessible during practice in the forest, and he is accessible in the form of a
luminous body. The Sanskrit text states that this luminous form of the Buddha will
correct any verses which cannot be remembered. On, the one hand you could look at
this as saying just that the text could be corrected in the forest. But, on the other hand
this seems to lay open the path for additions to be made to the Lotus Stra as whatever
was lost could be restored. This may have some similarity to Tibetan Terma text
traditions. In these not just verses, but entire works can be revealed, or remembered, in
visions.
Is it possible then that this provides us with a picture of how the text was created? Is this
a description of how people went to the forest and practised in some manner, repeating,
contemplating, and meditating on the Lotus Stra and then had visions in which the
luminous body of the Buddha revealed more of the Lotus Stra to them?
This also has implications for notions of authentication of the text. Previously in the
Nikya Buddhist tradition authentication had been by a text being, at least in theory, a
handed down oral tradition from the time of the first council. Here we have a new method
for authentication, that the Buddha himself appears to practitioners in a vision and by
helping the practitioner to remember the text authenticates it personally. This is then an
indication of a new Mahyna source of authentication, authentication by vision. One
aspect of this is that it is a sense undeniable. That is to say nobody can deny the validity
of the practitioners personal experience in the forest, all an opponent could have said
was that they did not believe it. It is likely that the Nikya Buddhists did not believe it
either. However, as the Lotus Stra practitioner is now apparently putting forward a new


172
source of valid authentication it appears they were no longer concerned with
authentication by the techniques of Nikya Buddhist oral tradition validation of texts.
The followers of the Lotus stra
One of the features of the Lotus Stra that make it highly readable is that it full of
parables and similes. Its philosophical content is low but it is full of content which deals
with how the followers of the Lotus Stra tradition should behave and to whom it should
be taught to and who not to teach it to. In other words we can speak not just about the
text but also its audience; the community that made up the followers of the Lotus Stra
tradition. It advises against trying to teach the Lotus Stra tradition to unsympathetic
audiences and it particularly warns against teaching to rvakas. A rvaka is one who
listens and is a common early Mahyna way of referring to Nikya Buddhists. One
explanation for this term is that they listen to the Dharma. Perhaps in distinction to
reading it in texts or that they are those for whom authority comes from oral transmission
of texts. Another group who are regarded as unsuitable for going out to teach to are
people from low caste and untouchable communities. There is, however, an important
proviso given, it is legitimate to teach to rvakas and low castes if they come to gain
teachings, the prohibition is only on going uninvited to teach to these groups. In contrast
there is a heavy emphasis on how the teachers of the Lotus Stra tradition have a duty
to go out and teach to other communities.
There is extensive description of how to teach the Lotus Stra tradition and of practices
which are suitable for the followers of the Lotus Stra tradition. In the second chapter
there is a section which describes four basic types of followers. First, there are those
who honour the Buddha vehicle, second, those who are forest dwelling Bodhisattvas,
third, those who honour the Sangha and fourth those who worship at stpas and
venerate images. These four types of practices are of great interest.
The word yna means both way and vehicle and in the practices described as honouring
the Buddha vehicle this double meaning appears to be explicitly addressed. The
practices include the actual honouring of temple carts. These were used to take images,
and probably relics, on trips around the areas surrounding sacred sites. The practice of


173
temple carts is still active in Hindu tradition in the South of India and in the most famous
case at Jaganath Puri. This practice was also part of Indian Buddhism and Chinese
pilgrims described enormous temple carts three or four stories tall that they saw being
wheeled around the streets of the cities. Another meritorious practice that is described is
offering of wives and children to the temple. It is not clear exactly what is meant by this
but it may be related to the practice of dedicating servants to temples. One practice at
Hindu temples that the British discouraged was that of the Devadasis, women female
servants. There were claims made that this tradition had become corrupted over time
and these women were essentially temple courtesans. It is possible that the Lotus Stra
references are to similar dedication of female servants to the temple. This tradition goes
back to a time when women, akin to Japanese Geisha girls, skilled in the arts and
culture, acted as entertainers at temples. The phrase offering of children brings to mind
the Kumari, the living goddess of Kathmandu, a custom whereby a girl for some years
before her puberty lives as the embodiment of the goddess. Was a similar practice
somehow part of Buddhism? Or does the offering of children refer to the offering of child
servants to temples? There is no clear answer to this question which can be drawn from
the text.
Another practice which is mentioned as highly meritorious is the offering of the devotees
own flesh and even his or her own life. A number of contemporary phenomena which are
parallels to this could be described. For instance when visiting the Cool cemetery near
Bodhgaya it is a Tibetan practice to cut of bits of the pilgrims hair and fingernails and
burn them. In this case the act is explained as both an offering and acts to set up a link
with the site and the pilgrim, making it likely that a future birth in this auspicious location
will take place. The practice of burning fingers as offerings has also been occasionally
seen at the stpa in Bodhgaya in recent years.
The practice of actually setting fire to yourself as an offering, self immolation is clearly
described in the Lotus Stra. This became very popular in East Asia and monks would
burn themselves to death as offerings to the Buddha. The image of the monk who burnt
himself to death in protest against the Vietnam war accords with this long standing
tradition. There are also references in some Chinese Stras to the practice of jumping off


174
high places as an offering to the Buddha. Indeed there is a peculiar story in the
Ngadatta Stra of how a woman jumps of a high building to give her life as an offering
but due to her great merit she is transformed into a man before she hits the ground and
is able to attain enlightenment.
This does not appear at first sight to relate well to modern Hindu practices. But the sat
tradition may be a close Indian parallel. It is comparable in that it involves self-immolation
for religious ends and like the story of Ngadatta involves women. Although there are
traditions of male ascetics offering their lives by starving themselves and practising
austerities to the point of death in India I know of no practice involving self-immolation as
part of male asceticism. But in that the Lotus Stra refers to it appears that there was
such a tradition, a kind of male sat, amongst the Indian Buddhist community.
The third kind of practice is to make offerings at stpas, and these practices mirror those
found in Nikya Buddhism. There are injunctions to make offerings, make pjs, recite
mantras, make prostrations, offer incense, garlands, flags, play all sorts of musical
instruments, drums, horns, conches bells, sing songs and dance. It also mentions the
practices of honouring the Sangha by offering food, clothes, medicines.
The fourth group of practices described involve honouring the Bodhisattvas who live in
the forest. In an very interesting phrase it says that they are like monks, the Sanskrit
term used is sadya which means looking like monks. I suggest that this implies that
they are not monks, how else could they look like a monk. In other words this is a
description of separate community of Bodhisattvas. These forest dwelling Bodhisattvas,
human beings not supernatural deities. The practices of these Bodhisattvas include
reading and reciting sacred texts and contemplation and praise of the Buddha. It is
precisely to this community that according to the Lotus Stra that its text is revealed, not
to the monks who live in the monasteries in towns or at the stpas.
There is a clear hierarchy also expressed in the Lotus Stra regarding forms of worship.
The worship of texts, in both oral and written forms is described as giving equivalent
merit to worshipping thousands of stpas, or the worshipping of millions of monks. So in
spite of describing a range of religious practices the Lotus Stra ranks them into a
hierarchy, which places the veneration of the Lotus Stra above the earlier veneration of


175
sacred sites and the monastic Sangha. It creates indeed a new category of holy site,
which are the places where the Lotus Stra is expounded, preached, copied, studied or
recited. It is these locations which are most worthy of veneration.
The teachings of the Lotus stra
The teachings of the Lotus Stra seem at times hard to identify, it mostly emphasises the
importance of teaching and not what is to be taught. However, many of its most
important teachings are in the form of parables and similes which are demonstrations of
skill in means, Sanskrit upayakaualya. Sometime also translated skilful means which is
a translation from the Chinese version of the term. This doctrine is a key feature of the
Lotus Stra as it means that the Buddha can give a teaching which is a half truth in order
to bring people towards a complete truth.
In Nikya Buddhism this is not generally regarded as legitimate. There is a saying that
the Buddha did not teach with a closed fist, meaning he did not keep things back or hide
things. However, there are many examples of skill in means in the Pali canon, even if
they are not called this. The most striking example is that of Sundarnanda. In this
popular story there was a monk who was fixated on his bride he had left just before his
marriage to become a monk. The Buddha shows him a vision of celestial nymphs and
promises him, quite literally, a hundred nymphs if he will continue his practice as a monk.
Encouraged by this Sundarnanda maintains his practice and attains liberation. At which
he releases the Buddha from this bond to provide him with a hundred celestial nymphs if
he attains liberation. Basically, the Buddha lies to Sundarnanda by promising to give
him a boon that he knows that if he obtains he will not want. Is this not a story of skill in
means?
The term upaya means a strategy or means, as in the way to do something, such as how
to make a chapt. But in Buddhism it always means a teaching which apparently tells
one thing but is in reality about something else. The most famous such story is that
which teaches the doctrine of ekayna, the one vehicle. There is a man who lives in a
large house which is in a bad state of repair who has many sons who are playing in the
house. One day the house catches fire and the father who is standing outside calls to


176
them saying the house is on fire you must come out. The children who are absorbed in
their games take no notice. So the man decides to attract the children out by building
three carts; a deer cart, a goat cart and a bullock cart. When the children see the new
toys they run out of the house and are all saved. The children then ask him for the carts
but he says he will only give them the bullock cart because it is the best of all of them.
Why a deer, goat and bullock cart? The deer is believed to be under the sway of the
sense of listening. That is why deer are depicted as attending the first sermon, they are
attracted by sound. They are a symbol of listening, so the deer cart is a symbol of the
rvakayna, the path of the Nikya Buddhists. The goat is in India often seen as a
solitary lone animal that loves to spend its time in the hills and wild places, it is a symbol
of the Pratyekabuddha. The Pratyekabuddha were individuals who attained liberation
without a teacher, like a full Buddha, but did not chose to teach the Dharma like a fully
enlightened Buddha, a sammasambuddha buddha. The bullock cart is of course big,
powerful and capable of carrying many people. It is a symbol of the Bodhisattvayna or
the Mahyna, both terms are used in the Lotus Stra.
As this is a demonstration of skilful means it is taken to show that there is in reality only
One Vehicle. There are two unfortunate aspects of the doctrine of the One Vehicle.
There is a layer of text within the Lotus Stra which is highly sectarian and akin in tone to
a fire and brimstone type of preaching. Here even thinking ill of the Lotus Stra results in
death and countless aeons of suffering. Another unfortunate interpretation of this
doctrine of One Vehicle has been to see the Lotus Stra as the only teaching worth
listening to. This is a pity as the doctrine of One Vehicle could also be interpreted to
mean that all teachings have only one teaching at their heart, rather than there is only
one teaching worth listening to.
There is also another important innovation in the Lotus Stra which is the appearance of
Avalokatevara a being who listens, or observes, the world and can release those who
call on him from physical suffering and distress. Prior to this in Buddhism there has been
an ambiguity over whether there is any aid available to Buddhists. Technically, there was
none as the Buddha was not definitely present after his death, however, clearly people
did call on his help in the hope that he might still be present. Here in Avalokatevara


177
there is a fully positive affirmation of the existence of a being with salvific power. He is
not a god, but you would not know this when you read about him as he shares the
attributes of a deity. The tales of Avalokatevara are immensely popular in East Asia and
form a kind a separate genre of literature which is fascinating to read. Within the Indian
tradition the importance of calling on deities is also highly stressed. The main context
within which it occurs is within bhakti where to call on the gods name causes him to
come to the rescue of his devotees, thus to simply utter the name Ram is auspicious and
capable of granting release from distress. There is the delightful story of the elephant
who is being attacked by a crocodile, as this occurred it started to roar and went Raaa..
by doing so it uttered half of the name of Ram and thus he was attracted and rescued
the elephant.
What in the end is the philosophical viewpoint of the Lotus Stra? It describes a range of
practices, such as honouring temples, stpas, the Sangha and the followers of the Lotus
Stra the Bodhisattvas. Nothing, in this is particularly unusual. It also teaches the
doctrine of skill in means and teaching through parables, both new teachings as
formulated doctrines. It also has a new teaching in the introduction of Avalokatevara a
specific being with a salvific power. Highly significant also is its affirmation of the
continuous existence of the Buddha after his death and presence at Vultures Peak and
accessibility in visions.
However, these practices, teaching methods and ways to liberation seem to feature a
complete absence of what might be called philosophical content. It seems at time that all
it teaches is how to teach, not what to teach. Its focus is how to teach. It describes how
the teacher should walk with the text on their shoulder, a position of honour, and in
suitable places in public areas. Sitting on well prepared platforms they should arrange
their robes over their right shoulders and begin to expound the teachings. Then on these
sites the text should be kept and shrines to the text and teachings can be built.
Previously relics were needed for enshrining in temples now anywhere the teachings are
made becomes a sacred site. But what is it that is being taught?
The first vital teaching is the continuous presence of the Buddha. This sets up the
possibility for a devotional relationship between the devotee and the Buddha. This


178
teaching suffuses the text and runs through it like the thread on which all of its other
teachings are strung.
The second vital philosophical teaching is found expressed only once in the text in
chapter ten. Here it describes how the preacher should enter the abode of the
Tathgata
128
and should don the robe of the Tathgata and sit on the sitting spot (sana)
of the Tathgata.
But then it poses a series of questions. What is the real abode of the Tathgata? It is
sarvamaitrvihra, loving-kindness to all living beings. What is the real robe? It is the
practice of great patience or fortitude mahkant. What is the real sitting spot of the
Tathgata? It is the emptiness of all Dharmas sarvadharmanyat. This last term is a
key concept in Mahyna Buddhism, this is the real seat of the Buddha, the real source
of teaching and the ultimate source of the Lotus Stra. The main topic in the Perfection
of Wisdom literature is sarvadharmanyat and unlike the Lotus Stra the Perfection of
Wisdom literature talks of little else. The main difference between these two key early
Mahyna traditions is that the Lotus Stra focuses on a devotional approach to
sarvadharmanyat whereas the Perfection of Wisdom literature focuses on a path
through insight into sarvadharmanyat.
Conclusion
Simply from the viewpoint of the influence that the Lotus stra has had on the
development of East Asian Buddhism it is evident that it is an immensely important text.
Moreover, study of its text reveals that it is in itself a rich source for the study of early
Indian Buddhist traditions. It also important to acknowledge that it was one of the textual
traditions that were active in the formation of what is now know at Perfection of Wisdom
literature.

128
Called a layana which is also a term for a Buddhist cave dwelling in Maharashtra.
179
CHAPTER 15
Perfection of Wisdom Literature
Introduction
The Perfection of Wisdom literature is a major part of early Mahyna literature. In this
chapter I want to look at the following points.
The Origins and Development of Prajpramit literature
Teachings on Emptiness
The use of Similes
Poetic and Philosophical modes of teaching
The Bodhisattva
Skill in means
Changes in attitude to the Buddha
The Origins and Development of Prajpramit literature
The Sanskrit name for this literature is Prajpramit actually does not mean
Perfection of Wisdom. It contains the root term j which relates to wisdom in its sense
of wisdom that leads to liberation as opposed to wisdom that has to do with knowledge, it
is a term also used for insight in distinction to vidy which refers to knowledge. The prefix
pra means excellent/supreme and so praj means excellent wisdom/supreme insight.
The remainder of the word means pra, the other shore, i means gone and t is a postfix
that makes a term into a state of being. So all together Prajpramit means something
more like The state of excellent wisdom gone to the other shore, or The Supreme
Insight from the other shore. The other shore of what? Well that is a big question, but
here it can be taken to mean that which is the other shore from where we are in


180
sasra. This is a bit of a mouthful to speak about all the time and so the more catchy
Perfection of Wisdom has become popular as a translation of Prajpramit.
Like the Lotus Stra the Prajpramit literature represents not a single unitary text but
a textual tradition that is the heir to a long tradition of oral and textual development. The
most famous twentieth scholar of Prajpramit literature was Edward Conze and his
views are in general taken as quite authoritative as he studied the Prajpramit
literature for pretty much the whole of his life and gained a deep understanding of it. He
proposed that its origins were in the first or second century BCE in Southern India in the
Andhra Pradesh area, the same time and area as that in which the Lotus Stra probably
had it origins. However, the first firm date in Prajpramit literature is 179 CE when a
translation of the version in 8000 lines, the Aasahasrik Prajpramit Stra was
translated into Chinese by Lokakema. He was one of the Indian Pandits who worked
with in Central Asia with Chinese sages translating texts into Chinese. There are many
later translations into Chinese, and into Tibetan. There are also some important Prakrit
versions of the Prajpramit literature which were found in North West Pakistan in
Gilgit and in Central Asia, these are fairly early and may date back as early as the fourth
or fifth century CE.
Fortunately it also became a popular manuscript to copy in Sanskrit and so many
Sanskrit manuscripts of the Prajpramit literature also survive. However, due the
perishability of manuscripts there are no particularly ancient Sanskrit manuscripts
available for study. In addition the versions available for study at the moment are all of
the text as revised by the eighth century Pla dynasty scholar Haribhadra who wrote the
important Abhisamaylakara commentary on it. It is not clear to what extent Haribhadra
made alterations to the text or whether he simply divided it into chapters in a new way.
In Mahyna and in Tibetan Mahyna traditions the origins of the Prajpramit
literature are often taken as being synonymous with the origins of the Mahyna itself. It
is generally held that Ngrjuna recovered the texts of the Prajpramit literature from
the Ngas who had kept them from the time of the Buddha when they were given at the
stpa at Amaravati to the emergence of the Mahyna.


181
Unlike the Lotus Stra which consists of a single text one characteristic of the
Prajpramit literature is that it is vast literature consisting of numerous main texts and
commentaries. It can seem a daunting task to try and approach this literature.
There are some early versions which are a bit shorter. In particular there is a text called
the Ratnaguasamacaya, the collection of jewel like virtues. This is a verse text in
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit which is fairly close to Prakrit. Due to it being verse it has
retained the Prakrit forms so as to maintain the way the verses scan. The translation is
about 40 pages long.
The next oldest version is probably the version in 10,000 lines of the Prajpramit
literature which is about 10,000 words or so in English.
The next later version is in 25,000 lines and then there is a version in 100,000 lines.
Following this the versions start getting smaller again. The Vajrachedika Stra or
Diamond Stra, actually the Diamond cutter Stra. The next version again is the Heart
Stra and the ultimate end of this process is a version in one letter a. At the same time
people also began to make commentaries and the most famous commentary is the
eighth century Ornament of the Teaching or Abhisamaylakara. It is often said that the
root texts are not fully understandable without the commentaries and not all of them are
translated into English.
Conze suggested a number of tendencies to the way the texts developed over the
centuries and they make a very interesting list of the developments of the tradition.
These include, in the order of their development: an increasing trend towards
sectarianism, increasing scholasticism, emphasis on skill in means, growing concern
with Buddhas of faith, such as Tr and Avalokatevara. There is also a very evident
trend towards verbosity, the earliest Buddhist texts often use multiple terms, the Dharma
is deep, deep in meaning etc. In the Prajpramit literature terms such as the earth
shook gradually get more and more complicated until they end up with formulations like
the earth, shook, rocked, rolled, quaked and trembled. A further tendency which is quite
apparent is for lamentations over the decline of the Dharma start appearing. The hidden
meanings of the texts also become eventually a subject for discussion, especially in the


182
commentaries. The dharmakya theory also starts to appear, the view that there are
different bodies of the Buddha, in particular that the dharmakya is not simply the body
of the Buddhas teachings, but this becomes transformed into the dharmakya being the
abstract eternal form of the Buddha and the form he appears in the world in is caused
the nirmakya, the construction body. Later still the number of kyas, or bodies
increases again and a sabhogakya, or enjoyment body appears in addition. Later still
the doctrines of the stages of the evolution of the Bodhisattva, the bodhisattvabhmi
theory appears. Finally, the tendency to extract out the essential essence of the
Prajpramit literature becomes manifest.
Teachings on Emptiness
The Prajpramit literature shares with the Lotus Stra an enormous emphasise on
the teaching of the Dharma and the importance of the doctrine of emptiness. Unlike the
Lotus Stra the Prajpramit literature emphasises countless times this doctrine and
in particular expands on the implications of this doctrine. In particular the implication of
emptiness is seen as being that nothing has any inherent self nature, or svabhava,
literally self-nature. This is the view because everything is essentially of the nature of
emptiness. Whereas in Nikya Buddhism the method for realisation is to attain insight
into the non-existence of the self, in the Prajpramit literature the main method for
realisation is the recognition that nothing has a self, a svabhava.
One striking aspect of its teaching method is its relentless emphasis on creating logical
negations, something is not something, and not not something. Such statements are
hard to understand. Indeed its arguments often ramble on for pages without apparently
making any sense at all. Despite this even if you do not take to its abstruse style of
argument it contains a wealth of material which is more approachable. It makes
extensive use of similes and parables to teach and these are as clear as its philosophical
arguments are obscure. So just as in the Lotus Stra it is possible to learn a great deal
about the material culture of the communities within which the Prajpramit literature
was current. The following references are drawn from the Ratnaguasamacaya which is


183
basically a short version of the Aasahsrika Prajpramit and hence many of these
teachings crop up in the same sequence in both texts.
The claim is made that texts are better than relics and wisdom is even better than texts.
A simile is given that a relic of the Buddha in a casket suffuses the casket with a quality
that makes the casket worthy of reverence. So in the same way the text of the
Prajpramit literature is revered as it contains the essential teachings of the Buddha.
There is considerable emphasis in the Prajpramit literature on veneration of the text
as the receptacle of wisdom.
The use of Similes
The wealth of similes include those based on: villages, oceans, springs, seasons,
pregnant women, ships, kings and ministers, jewel islands, merchants on a journey,
people created by magic, a machine, a parachute.
One of the main groups addressed in the Prajpramit literature are traders and
merchants from urban areas, rather than farmers and rural people. Its viewpoint is very
open and includes numerous references to sea voyages. This is a far remove from the
landscape of Magadh and more akin to the sea going cultures of the South of India. The
similes describe an environment which would be compatible with that of India from the
time of Aoka onwards. Some of the similes are also timeless and not bound by culture
or environment. For instance it suggests that just as a man infatuated with a woman
thinks only of her, so a man infatuated with the Dharma thinks also only of it and is single
minded in his pursuit of it. There are teachings about signs that indicate the coming of
things, such as the signs of spring like blossom, pregnancy heralds child birth, and
digging for water in a desert a man becomes happy when the sand become damp.
These kinds of teachings show that even if the whole of the teaching is not revealed its
signs may be found. Some similes are complex like two merchants who are preparing for
a journey. One checks his ship carefully before setting out, the other does not, and the
result is predictable.


184
In an important teaching like this it suggests that a magician at a cross-roads might
conjure up the images of many men by magic. But would those apparent images be
real? It only asks the question, it does not answer it.
It describes the universe as being like a machine of interlocking parts, an interesting
depiction perhaps of a view of Dependent Origination.
The odd parallel of the parachute suggest that the Dharma is like a parachute and just as
a man jumping off a cliff can be saved by a parachute so a person following the Dharma
will be saved. The oddity here is essentially that there is no well know tradition of
parachuting in ancient India.
Poetic and Philosophical modes of teaching
One thing I would like to point out to you is that despite the tendency to endlessly state
that things simultaneously do and dont exist and neither dont or do not exist, and similar
kinds of pairs this is not in some senses philosophy. It is rather a kind of text which
summons up a state of mind which is suggestive of the nature of emptiness. In some
instance the Prajpramit literature expresses itself in a very poetic manner. In
particular the famous last stanzas of the Diamond Stra show how a text can have both
a poetic truth and be interpretable in philosophical terms.
As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp,
a mock show, dew drops, a bubble,
a dream, a lightning flash, or a cloud
So we should view what is conditional. (Diamond Stra verse 84)
Emptiness is not taught as a logical philosophical argument but spoken of as experiential
truth. The commentaries explain all these terms in logical philosophical terms. For
instance a fault of vision refers to the debate over how perception functions. The mock
show refers back to the conjuror at the cross-roads. The point is that this is accessible as
a philosophical truth, but it also functions as set of image which have the ability to
engender a non-conceptual insight into the nature of emptiness. It can therefore be


185
suggested that its teachings are intended to be taken as experiential as much as they
are intellectual.
The Bodhisattva
The Prajpramit literature also contains numerous references to Bodhisattvas. Some
are human, some are more than human. The Bodhisattvas are often depicted as human
teachers of the Dharma. It describes who they travel and teach the Dharma. They are
said to sit in round buildings with peaked roofs.
129
Perhaps caitya halls, or communal
halls of some sort. Or are these references to tents, like circus big tops? This is only a
speculation. However it is not a speculation that such travelling teaching expositions still
take place and this is one of the texts that the Tibetan Buddhist teachers still expound
on. There is also a reference to performing the Prajpramit literature on set days of
the lunar month in a regular cycle and this practice is still current amongst the Newari
Buddhists of the Kathmandu valley. The chanting of the Stra and the giving of teachings
on it are an integral part of this tradition. This point to the Prajpramit literature being
both a performance tradition. Indeed, the Perfection of Wisdom literature says that the
teaching of the Bodhisattvas is better than that of the worship of Stra texts or holy relics
and more efficacious than all other forms of practice.
There are also reference to celestial Bodhisattvas in the Prajpramit literature such
as Majur and Avalokatevara and to their salvific powers. It is possible that over the
period in which the Perfection of Wisdom literature the nature of the Bodhisattva
developed from that of a teacher of the Dharma into a kind of figure with powers like that
of a deity, such as Majur.
Skill in means
Skill in means is also a key feature of the Prajpramit literature. This is nicely
illustrated in the Skill in the Means Stra which forms part of the Prajpramit

129
Conze, Edward, The Perfection of Wisdom in eight thousand lines and its verse commentary, San
Francisco: Four seasons Foundation, 1973, p. 221.


186
literature. It is quite short and contains some extreme examples of skill in means. Mark
Tatz argues that the Skill in means Stra, is a fairly early part of the Prajpramit
literature which became independent from the main text early on. It is preserved in both
Chinese and Tibetan versions and in fragments of the Sanskrit text quoted in other
works. It contains a number of stories which show how the doctrine of skill in means
works.
A striking instance of what seems an odd kind of Bodhisattva is found in the Bodhisattva
Priyakara who is a monk who is so fantastically handsome that women die on the spot
when they see him. They thus attain liberation from the female body and are
reincarnated with male bodies and are able to attain liberation. Evidently this is a very
peculiar story from our modern viewpoint. It is an example of skill in means, and a pretty
sneaky strategy it seems.
130

The Bodhisattvas can act in apparently immoral ways to lead people to liberation, in the
story of the Compassionate Ships captain
131
the Bodhisattva in a former life was a ships
captain who out of compassion for the 500 merchants he was carrying on his ship killed
a robber in order to stop him killing the 500 merchants.
There is a story of a monk who is immensely handsome and having meditated in the
forest for a long time is going to the town when a woman sees him and falls in love with
him and want him to marry her. He want to decline but she pressurises him and he
agrees in order to use skill in means to lead her towards liberation. In this way he helped
her to reach enlightenment. The Skill in means doctrine gives the teachers great freedom
teaching techniques and in choices about how to teach.
Changes in attitude to the Buddha
A second aspect of this work is that it demonstrates some of the concerns current in the
early Mahyna about the nature of the Buddha. In particular it tries to explain how all of
the apparent misfortunes of his life, which are on the surface just the kind of accidents

130
Tatz, Mark, The Skill in Means Sutra, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1994, p. 39.
131
Tatz, Mark, op, cit, p. 73.


187
that could have happened to a person, were actually examples of skill in means. Thus he
came back from a begging round without any food once, so that monks who have the
same experience are not disheartened. Also although his body is really incapable of
suffering harm he pretended to have a thorn stuck in his foot, in order to lead people to
liberation. This indicates an increasing emphasis on the Buddha as a manifestation of a
supernormal phenomena. Also that the text considers it necessary to explain incidents
like this is indicative of some tension that must have existed over such incidents. The
tension is not between a human or a divine Buddha. The Nikya Buddhist explanation is
that rather they represent the maturation of former negative karma that could not be
worked out by the Buddha until his last life as Gautama Buddha. So the Skill in Means
doctrine means that all of these stories become displays which are ways of teaching.
It is also possible that these debate may reflect arguments about how karma worked.
The Pali canon doctrine of karma includes the possibility of purely accidental events, so
physical sickness need not be the fruit of any karma. However, this only works because
the early canon considers that things actually exist, and so accidents of matter can
occur. However, once the view began to shift towards nothing really existing, in the
sense of having no self nature, then accidental karma became a problem, for it implies
that things exist in their own right. So instead Buddhism started shifting towards only
accepting the existence of intentional karma. It is possible then that some events in the
Buddhas life could be understood early on as examples of accidental karma, in
particular his various physical ailments and so were not a problem for early Buddhists.
The concern about this issue it seems coincides with the change in view of the world
from real to unreal. Although the use of these terms needs considerable qualification, it
might be better to say from dharmas having their own self nature to the emptiness of all
dharmas.
Conclusion
The doctrine of the emptiness of all phenomena and that of Skill in Means actually fit
together in an interesting way. Thus the language of the Prajpramit literature leads
one part of the way to something which is inexpressible. A nice parallel for this is how the


188
Buddha created a jewelled city in the sky and told everyone that it was nirva, but when
everyone got there he revealed it was a mirage and the true nirva lay further beyond
and was without form and was emptiness. Skill in Means can be the telling of half truths,
which lead to the realisation of ultimate reality.
The goal of the teaching of emptiness of all things in Prajpramit literature is not an
intellectual understanding, but rather an experiential insight. So the teachings can never
ultimately substitute for the experience, and thus all they can be are examples of Skill in
Means, signs and stratagems which point the way towards realisation of emptiness. The
Prajpramit literature is only in the end like a relic casket for the teaching it contains.
189
CHAPTER 16
The Vimalakrtinirdea Stra
Introduction
This is a brief look at a text which is commonly found in East Asia with the Lotus Stra
and the Prajpramit literature. In this chapter I will look at the following points.
Texts and traditions
The Householder Bodhisattva
Skill in means
The Teachings of Vimalakrti
Texts and literature
Texts and Traditions
The Vimalakrtinirdea Stra is available in at least seven Chinese translations made
from the third century onwards starting with that made by Chih Chien in sometime
between CE 222-253.
132
However, the most popular Chinese version was that made by
Kumrajva in CE 406. In addition there are also several extant Tibetan translations. The
most readable translation of Kumrajvas version is that made by Luk in 1972
133
and
Thurmans 1976 translation
134
of the Tibetan version has achieved great fame for its
readability and accuracy. There is also now a translation by Burton Watson which has
become very popular. The text itself is quite short consisting of twelve chapters and an
epilogue in the Tibetan version and only 14 chapters in Kumrajvas version.

132
Hirakawa, Akira. op. cit. p. 252.
133
Luk, Charles. The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambhala, 1990.
134
Thurman, Robert. A. F. The Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1991. (1
st

published 1976 Pennsylvania State University). p. ix.


190
Until recently it was thought that there are no extant Sanskrit versions. However, during
1999 Japanese researchers found copy of a Sanskrit manuscript of the
Vimalakrtinirdea Stra in the Potala library in Lhasa in Tibet. The manuscript is thought
to have come from the library of a temple destroyed during the Cultural Revolution
Period. According to one report this a 11-12th century CE palm leaf manuscript.
However published photographs of the manuscript show it to be on paper, and perhaps
somewhat later than the first reports suggested.
135
However, in that it is the first known
copy of the Sanskrit text of the Sutra to be found its discovery is very exciting and its
publication will no doubt lead to a resurgence of scholarly interest in the
Vimalakrtinirdea Stra.
Possibly the oldest manuscript of the Stra is of a commentary on it called Jomyogen-
ron (Commentary on the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra) which dates from 706 CE and is in
the Kyoto National Museum.
136
Even older datable materials related to Vimalakrti are
found in the cave temples at Dunhuang In cave 220 there is a wall painting from the
early Tang dynasty dated 642 CE which depicts a debate between Vimalakirti and the
Bodhisattva Manjusri and in cave 103 a painting of Vimalakirti in debate with Majuri
from the first half of the 8th century CE.
137

The Householder Bodhisattva
The main innovation of the Vimalakrtinirdea Stra is the emphasis on the idea that the
Bodhisattva can be a householder. Indeed he is a householder who in Thurmans
translation can visit brothels, night-clubs and cabarets.
138
Yet still he is a Bodhisattva.
This depiction of the householder Bodhisattva was popular for perhaps two reasons in

135
Japan Times Online, 18 DEC 2001, Scholars note '99 find of rare sutra copy', URL:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20011218c1.htm, accessed: 17/01/11.
136
Kyoto National Museum, URL: http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/meihin/shoseki/mh79e.htm, accessed:
17/01/11.
137
AH 371/EA 356 (Murray): Study Sheet #4, URL: http://www.wisc.edu/arth/ah371/study04.html,
accessed: 17/01/11.
138
Thurman. op. cit. p. 20ff.


191
East Asia, one good and one not so good. It was seen as a justification for the role of the
lay holy man, and as a justification for lay holy men leading luxurious lives.
Skill in means
The Vimalakrtinirdea Stra is also a tour de force of Skill in Means. He uses such
devices as pretending to be sick in order to make people come to him to hear his
teachings, when he is not really sick at all. The text describes him as a rich Licchavi
merchant of Vaishali who was living during the time of the Buddha and as the text opens
the Buddha and his disciples are visiting the Mango grove on the edge of the town. At
this point he takes to his bed pretending to be sick and the followers of the Buddha,
reluctantly, come to visit him and are given teachings. The reluctance is due to the fact
that he is renowned for besting all others in debate.
There is an element in the use of Skill in Means in the Vimalakrtinirdea Stra which
appears to relate to what in later tradition are sometimes called Upside down teachings
(Hindi: ulabas) and which are typical of late Buddhist Siddha and medieval Sant
teachings. These are basically apparently nonsensical inversions of the normal order of
things, such as spirituality in the context of cabarets, or chairs which are larger than the
room they are in. Vimalakrti constantly turns things on their head to show that
conventional reality is an illusion. This process of setting up irreconcilable opposites is
perhaps a part of teaching technique designed to cause a break in the functioning of the
conventional mind.
There is also a kind of joking to some of the teachings. There is an episode in which
riputra, who is depicted as a rather foolish blind follower of the Vinaya, asks the
goddess why she does not use her powers to transform herself into a male form.
139
In
reply the goddess swaps forms with him and much to his distress riputra is given a
female form for a while. Notice again the early Mahyna interest in male and female
and whether liberation is possible for a woman.

139
Thurman, op. cit. p. 61.


192
The teaching of impossible opposites are poetic images of irreconcilable notions which
cannot fit into reality and the state of mind engendered through the teachings is also one
that does not fit into normal reality.
The Teachings of Vimalakrti
It is also clear that one of the most important teachings of Vimalakrti is found in the ninth
chapter, the Dharma Door of Non-Duality. In this there are a list of ways of realising the
state of non-duality. Some are theoretical, some practical, some yogic, some
philosophical, but, the final teaching is that given by Vimalakrti. When asked to give his
teaching he simply stays silent and does not say anything at all. So his final teaching is
no teaching, yet another upside down teachings. So here is yet another impossible
opposite. Within a vast literature of innumerable texts teaching the Dharma and
countless depictions of the need for preachers to expound on the Dharma the highest
teaching of all is now depicted as silence. I do not want to dwell on the philosophical
meaning of this here, but rather point its value as an experiential teaching method. It also
invites comparison with the Zen tradition of teaching without words and the use of Koans
to set up situations in which the conventional mind has no role to play.
Texts and literature
It should be noted that these mutually incompatible ideas are packaged into what is a
beautifully worked out literary text. It was probably more popular in East Asia than it ever
was in India, as was the Lotus Stra which seems to have often been linked together
with it. The Prajpramit literature also forms a key element in the East Asian
synthesis of the early Mahyna traditions. We should perhaps therefore not see these
three as separate, but as part of a linked group of text which typify many of the leading
characteristics of the early Mahyna in practice. This may also have been the case in
South Asia and we should see these early texts as complementary to each other, rather
than as separate traditions per se.


193
Conclusion
In the end it is clear that the Lotus Stra the Prajpramit literature and the
VimalakrtinirdeaStra have all moved away from the early Nikya Buddhist teaching of
non-self and are all focused on the teaching of the emptiness of all dharmas,
sarvadharmanyat, as the supreme teaching leading to nirva.
194
CHAPTER 17
Ngrjuna and the Middle Path
Introduction
In this chapter I would like to look at Ngrjuna in terms of both his depiction in legend
and of works attributed to Ngrjuna. I shall look at the following points.
Ngrjunas life and works
Ngrjunas philosophical teachings
Ngrjunas social teachings and other works
How many Ngrjunas?
Indian, Tibetan and Chinese accounts of Ngrjunas life
Ngrjuna as an alchemist in Indian Tradition
Ngrjuna as a legendary Figure
Ngrjunas life and works
Ngrjuna is a persons name. A nga is a serpent, a dragon in Chinese translations, and
an rjuna is a type of a tree. It is sometimes explained that the name derives from the
association of serpents and trees. Whatever the derivation of the name it is became
permanently associated in Indian tradition with the archetype of the great philosopher
and magician. The study of Ngrjuna spans Buddhist, Hindu and Jain traditions.
140
He
is mainly remembered in India today as a great alchemist and wizard. For the Buddhists
he is remembered above all as the formulator of a philosophical system based on the
teachings of emptiness found in the Prajpramit literature.

140
Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara (eds,), 1994 (1st ed, 1988), Monks and Magicians: religious
biographies in Asia, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi,

195
How is this possible? Well one aspect of the conundrum is it seems possible that there
was more than one Ngrjuna. Some Tibetan traditions assert that Ngrjuna lived for
over 500 years and this explains how he could have been active over such a long period.
On the other hand many Western scholars argue that there was a Ngrjuna who was a
Buddhist philosopher who lived in around the second century CE, followed by one or
more Ngrjunas who carried on his teachings.
Ngrjunas philosophical teachings
From a philosophical viewpoint the most important Ngrjuna was the author of the text
called the Mlamadhyamikakrik Verses on the source of the middle way. It consists
of around 450 Sanskrit lokas or kriks, divided into 27 chapters. A krik is a short
verse which is normally accompanied by a commentary which explains its contents.
Ngrjuna presents his text in the form of a debate in which his opponents put forward
his arguments and he counters their arguments and asserts his own. He does not label
his opponents and so it is up to the reader and commentators to identify the viewpoints
they are putting forward, which is not easy without an encyclopaedic knowledge of early
Buddhist philosophy. There is also the problem that there have been different
interpretations at times of whether certain arguments are intended to be in the voice of
Ngrjunas opponents or his own. His opponents appear to be basically other Buddhists
from different schools of Nikya Buddhists. There has been some debate over whether
Ngrjuna himself is a Mahyna or a Nikya Buddhist himself, the majority view is that
he was a follower of the Mahyna.
He denies both the extremes of eternalism and nihilism. Instead he puts forward the
argument that due to prattyasamutpda, dependent origination, all things arise due to
interdependence and nothing has its own inherent self nature, svabhva, and instead it
is emptiness nyat which is the true nature of all things. Therefore the true nature of
all dharmas is emptiness, sarvadharmanyat.
He also formalises an important doctrine on types of truth. This is well illustrated in
chapter 24 the Examination of the Noble Truths ryasatyaparka. Ngrjuna puts
forward a view that the teachings of the Buddhas are based on two truths savtti satya

196
Enveloped Truth and paramrtha satya Ultimate meaning Truth (XXIV:8). The former
is normally translated Conventional truth and the later Ultimate truth. However, the
Ultimate Truth is only approachable he says through conventional expressions which are
expressed in the forms of Relative truths.(XXIV:10). He in no sense denies the utility of
Conventional truth but teaches that it is the key to understanding the Ultimate truth.
This is a departure from Nikya Buddhist tradition where there is no formulated doctrine
of two types of truths. However, the Buddha does teach in this way in the canon also and
there are references to the conventional and profound teachings of the Buddha which
may relate to this kind of discussion. There was also clearly a great deal of debate in the
Nikya traditions about the meaning of the texts and some schools argued in favour of a
similar frame work of there being apparent truths in the texts which expressed implicit
truths which could not be expressed in conventional language. However, it is Ngrjuna
who formulates this into a philosophical doctrine in a most striking manner which
assumes great significance in Mahyna teachings.
One aspect of the text that deserves attention is simply that it is written in excellent
classical Sanskrit. It can therefore be argued that its audience must have been
philosophers adept in Sanskrit language and this testifies to the rise of classical Sanskrit
as the lingua franca of the Mahyna Buddhist world by the time of its composition. It is
not a text for teaching to popular audiences, it is not it appear a text which preachers of
the texts like the Lotus Stra would have been likely to present in public areas as
communal teachings. An advantage of using Sanskrit was of course that the elite over a
broad range of linguistic areas could understand it. The most likely target for the text
appears to be the very kind of scholarly philosophers who posit the arguments in the
text. In terms of the philosophical contents of this text and its use of Sanskrit it appears
likely that it was written during the first or second century CE.
There are no mentions of alchemy in this work, nor yet to the retrieving of the Mahyna
texts from the realm of the ngas. This has led some scholars to question whether this is
by the same Ngrjuna as some of the other texts attributed to him.

197
Ngrjunas social teachings and other works
Less well known in the West are works on social teachings and lay practice of Buddhism
attributed to Ngrjuna. These are in two works called the Ratnval The Collection of
Gems and the Suhllekha, The Letter to a Friend. Both works are in the forms of books
of advice on how a lay person should practice Buddhism. The former is advice to a king
on how to rule, the latter advice to an ordinary lay person. They emphasise the role of
morality la and generosity dna in everyday life. They are also notable in that they
present a picture of how Buddhism must be part of total involvement in life. They have
both been extremely popular texts in Tibetan Buddhism. Neither contains much that
resembles the philosophical stance of the Mlamadhyamikakrik. They are of course
however full of information about the social conditions which pertained at the time they
were written. The texts refer to a king who lived perhaps around the fourth of fifth century
CE.
How many Ngrjunas?
There are also devotional verses attributed to Ngrjuna that exist in Tibetan
translations. There are even mystical alchemical verses attributed to him in Apabhraa,
a form of language midway between Prakrit and old Hindi, from the 12th century. So the
range of works attributed to Ngrjuna extends from mystical verses in the vernacular
though to sophisticated Sanskrit philosophical treatises. This not an impossible range of
works for one person to produce but it has led to doubts over the identity of the author or
authors of these works.
Indian, Tibetan and Chinese accounts of Ngrjunas life
It is important when studying the life of a person such as Ngrjuna to look at the
different versions of his life story in order to establish what common themes they share
and the nature of the ideas being expressed through the metaphor of the life story in
different accounts. In this way one can learn not just about the central figure of the
stories but also about the social and religious circumstances which surrounded the
creation and transmission of the various versions of the persons life.

198
I would like to start out by looking at a major Indian account of his life preserved in a
Tibetan account. The following account is based on a Tibetan source from 1566 CE said
to be from the Indian Siddha Buddhaguptanthas account, the preceptor of Trntha.
At the birth of Ngrjuna, a Brahmin from Vaidarbha, it was prophesied that he would die
at the best at the end of seven years, months and days. As an infant he demonstrated
the power to learn texts with an extraordinary speed and understanding. When his death
approached his parents sent him away to Nalanda. The Abbot, Saraha, gave him a
mantra and he survived and become a monk. He learned all the texts and gained all the
siddhis. He then studied in Oiyna, probably the Swat valley in North Western India,
and to Kmarpa, in Assam in the far North East of India and learnt all the tantras.
The next incident, in slightly variant forms, is common to all traditions about Ngrjuna.
Once he flew on magic flying sandals to an island where an alchemist, called Vydhip,
lived and learnt how to make gold. He has previously deceived alchemist into thinking
that he flew to the island on only one sandal which the alchemist demanded from him as
the price of the teaching to stop him leaving the island again. However, he has a second
sandal which he hid to begin with and having learnt the secrets of transmuting base
metals into gold he escapes from the island on his magic sandal and flies back to Bihar.
In Nalanda there was a famine and as a penance for him having made certain errors
Saraha, told him he has to establish stpas. Ngrjuna then became Abbot and expelled
thousands of dissenting monks from the monastery. The famine continued but he gained
a boon of food to feed the monks from a goddess but the boon was lost when a
lascivious novice tried to seduce her and was tricked into burning down a magical post
outside the temple which was a symbol of the deal. Ngrjuna repaired the railings and
stpas at Bodhgaya and Dhnyakaaka.
He then visited the Nga realm and brought back the Prajpramit texts and wrote the
Mlamadhyamikakrik to refute its critics.
He then returns to his alchemical pursuits. It is said he wanted to turn certain mountains
into gold, but even though he was dissuaded but still there are gold mines in those
mountains. He then went to the South of India where he prophesied a child would be a
great king and the child became the tavhana king Gautamputr, for whom he wrote

199
the Ratnval and the Suhllekha. He then lived for 200 years at r Prvata in the South,
a famous site related to alchemy, until he gave his life away by the voluntary gift of his
head to a prince.
This account by Buddhaguptantha consists of about twenty incidents. There is a similar
account in Bustons Jewel garland of stories about Indian Pandits. There is a greater
emphasis on the desire to turn mountains into gold in this version. This is similar to the
Jain versions of the story except that in these he is a Buddhist who converts to Jainism
and learns alchemy from a Jain master. In this version of the story the incident of the
magical island also figures highly. There are also connections with Gujarat in these
stories and in Arabic accounts and scholars from the West have confirmed this
connection as a living tradition.
Likewise there are Chinese versions of Ngrjunas life which have a similar character, if
the details largely vary. Wallesers article contains a good study of the relationship
between the Chinese and Tibetan traditions.
141
In one tradition up to the age of 20 or so
he was a non-Buddhist and learnt the Vedas and sciences before going on to learn the
siddhi of invisibility which he used to enter into a kings harem and have fun, but
eventually he and his companions are discovered by the use of powder that reveals their
footprints. After his companions are killed he realises the futility of such worldly
endeavour and becomes a monk. The main similarity between the extant Chinese and
Tibetan traditions is that both contain the story of how he established the Mahyna after
visiting the realm of the Ngas.
The stories about Ngrjuna from Tibetan and Chinese sources presumably to a greater
or lesser extent derive from Indian sources. There are also numerous Jain and Hindu
traditions about Ngrjuna and in all of them his main characteristics are that he is an
alchemist and a wizard. Also some of the stories, such as the alchemists island and the
gold mountains are common elements in all the traditions. The Jain versions of the
stories make him out to have been a Buddhist who became a Jain and learns the siddhis

141
Walleser, M,, 1990 (1st ed,?), The Life of Nagarjuna from Tibetan and Chinese Sources, Asian
Educational Services, Delhi,

200
from Jain sages. Hindu versions of the stories generally just make him a great alchemist
wizard and make nothing of him ever having been a Jain or a Buddhist. It is notable that
there are even verses attributed to him in old Hindi from the Nthsiddha tradition and that
he remains an important figure in contemporary Indian tradition. So whether there was
one or many historical Ngrjunas there are undoubtedly many Ngrjunas in Indian
tradition. Ngrjuna the Buddhist philosopher of the middle way, Ngrjuna the Buddhist
alchemist, Ngrjuna the Jain sage and Ngrjuna the Hindu alchemist and poet saint.
Ngrjuna as an alchemist in Indian Tradition
Why would a philosopher be associated with alchemy? Alchemy is not just the process
of physically transforming base metal into gold, though the use of mercury and the
philosophers stone. It is also the transformation of the body into the perfected body.
Alchemy forms no part of Nikya Buddhism but it is related from here on in Mahyna
Buddhism. Nikya Buddhism has little good to say to magic, but the Buddha himself is
said to practice my, the term used for magic in the Pali canon. The Tantric tradition on
the other hand has a lot to do with alchemy. Ngrjuna is a key figure in this
transformation of the tradition towards a concern with the perfection of the body.
It is also interesting in this respect that there are really several different elements in the
stories of Ngrjuna. There is a long standing tradition in India with more than one
person identifying themselves with the same personality. This tradition is carried on
today in the Tibetan tradition where the present Dalai Lama is the fourteenth incarnation
of the same person. Indeed the Tibetan tradition is full of such reincarnations or Tulkus,
which in Sanskrit means a nirmakya, a construction body.
Indian traditions also contain examples of such traditions of reincarnation of the same
spirit in a sequence of bodies. There is also considerable evidence that other figures
from the medieval traditions manifested themselves in more than one physical body.
There is a vast tradition of the compositions of poet saints being attributed to the same
people but being produced by different people. This was understood in some cases as
the spirit of a person speaking through different people. Is it not possible that
Ngrjunas spirit could have in a similar manner could have spoken through different

201
peoples voices? In a sense what we are speaking here of is the investigation of the
Indian precedents to the Tibetan Tulku system.
Ngrjuna as a legendary Figure
There is another possibility in terms of the legends that also needs to be considered.
This is that legend cycles seem to grow and develop over time and more and more
elements often accrete onto core stories. The legends associated with Ka are a
classic example of this. It is argued by many scholars that the modern Ka legend is a
composite of at least four elements, Vasudeva cycle stories, Vrindavan cycle stories,
Mahbhrata cycle stories, and Ka of the Bhagavadgt. None of these were probably
originally related to each other but they were gradually fused into a composite narrative
as a cult developed around Ka.
A fusion of originally separate elements into a composite story of Ngrjuna may be the
best way to account for the main elements in his legend: Ngrjuna the Mahyna
founder, Ngrjuna the philosopher, Ngrjuna patron of Buddhism and Ngrjuna the
alchemist may have been at one point separate elements which fused together to form
the modern story.
One factor that points to difficulties in the view that all of these elements relate to one
single historical person is dating, the element in the legend related to events which took
place over a period of at least five centuries or more. If Ngrjuna is really the originator
of the Mahyna, then he would have to date to perhaps the first century BCE. However,
in that the Mlamadhyamikakrik is apparently a systemisation of the earlier
Prajpramit literature it must post-date it, perhaps the first century CE. Furthermore,
it seems likely that the Mlamadhyamikakrik cannot date from later than the second
century CE, yet the rise of alchemy in India post-dates this by several centuries, probably
not before the fifth or sixth centuries CE. Thus if all the elements in the legend relate to a
single person then he must have lived from at least the first century BCE to the sixth
century CE. Some Tibetans argue that he lived for at least five hundred years. Few
Westerners would be willing to accept this hypothesis.

202
It seems more reasonable to propose a hypothesis that the Buddhist Ngrjuna as he is
now known is a composite of at least cycles of stories. First, a cycle of stories about the
origins of the Mahyna. Second, a cycle of stories about a great scholar monk who was
the author of the Mlamadhyamikakrik and a patron of Buddhism. Third, a cycle of
stories about a great alchemist.
Conclusion
One question that would need to be answered here is why and how did these story
elements fuse into a single cycle of stories. A model for this is that a central focus of a
story in legends tends to attract other legends that explain the origins of the story and
legends which enumerate the greatness of the central story. Viewed from this
perspective both the Ngrjuna as the originator of the Mahyna and Ngrjuna as the
great alchemist are accretions onto the central focus of the story Ngrjuna the great
philosopher monk. In view of the importance of the Mlamadhyamikakrik in the history
of the Mahyna this model appears attractive as the legends all serve as supports to
the central greatness of a text which is truly a remarkable landmark in the development
of the Buddhism in India.
203
CHAPTER 18
Tantra-Mantra-Yantra
Introduction
In this chapter I would like to consider what we mean when we talk about Tantra and its
relationship to the terms mantra and yantra. I will consider the following points.
The Etymology of Tantra
Contemporary forms of Tantra in India
Tantra and Shamanism as a global phenomena
Shamanism and ritual
The Sacred Journey
Tantra in Indian Tradition
The Origins and Emergence of Tantra
The Etymology of Tantra
Tantra comes from the root tan expanse or stretch and the suffix tra indicative of a state
or condition. So literally tantra means that which is extended. It is also one of the words
that means a thread and it is interesting to note that Stra also means a thread. So
tantra and stra are closely related. It has been used in the Indian tradition to mean, a
kind of sacred text, a form of ritual and philosophical system. It should be noted that the
meanings all tend to collapse into one in that normally a tantra is a text which describes
how to do a ritual which conforms to the philosophical system of tantra. Each aspect of
this is tantra, text, ritual and philosophy.
It is important to realise that tantra is still something which is ever present in Indian
culture. We tend to hear about the demise of Buddhist tantra and this might lead us to
think that tantra has died out. This is far from the case.


204
Contemporary forms of tantra in India are typically varieties of magical rituals, often
referred to as mantra-tantra-yantra, magical formulae, rituals and devices. Here I am
using device in the sense of a diagram or visual representation such as ma((la or an
amulet or charm. There are even a number popular magazines on this subject sold
throughout the Hindi speaking area. These rituals normally contain sounds, rituals, texts,
smells, and liquid and solid foods. There are numerous tantra texts published in Hindi,
but they are generally intended to procure worldly aims rather than spiritual
transformation. Their aim is not an ultimate state of spiritual realisation but rather for
concrete aims. Almost all Indians believe in tantra as a living phenomena and fear the
power of Tantric practitioners. The most common aims in tantra rituals today are:
ensuring wealth and victory, the subduing of obstacles, the defeat of enemies, the
recovery of lost items and last, but not least, sexual potency and making the person you
desire subservient to your wishes. The last is extremely popular. A couple of examples
may show the nature of some of these tantras. While living in Banaras the family I was
staying in lost a radio cassette recorder. The woman who was the head of the household
went to a Tantric practitioner who gave her a set of mantras to recite and told her to tie a
string 108 times around a particular tree for 21 days. She performed the ritual for the
proscribed period and then went back to the practitioner who said that due to her
successful completion of the ritual he could now reveal to her that her radio-cassette
recorder had been stolen and she would not get it back. But, the practitioner was famous
as on many occasions he was successful in locating lost items. Another example from a
contemporary tantra text deals with gaining sexual power over a man. A women can
chant a mantra over a clove while soaking it in her own menstrual blood and then grind it
up and put it in the food of a man she seeks to gain sexual power over. Likewise, there
are tantras for men to gain power over women. There are 19th century manuscripts
which are full of such tantras. For instance in the Wellcome collection in London I found
tantras for flying, that required the application of frogs grease to the body in
combination with the use of mantras to attain the ability to fly. Some other tantras are for
aims such as to make your neighbours stove not work properly. This involved making
incantations over cow dung cakes (which are burnt in stoves) and then putting them into


205
your neighbours stove which would not burn properly from then onwards. These are
clearly not spiritual texts. But they share with other tantras the need for faith and Tantric
practitioners. This kind of phenomenon is of course akin to magic in the West. In all
these traditions the role of the Tantric or magician is vital they are seen as people who
are able to invest, utterances, actions, and objects with power. It is possible to compare
such activity to Shamanism.
Contemporary forms of Tantra in India
Tantra is in many ways similar to shamanic ritual and as such is part of a cultural
complex which is a global phenomena found from the Amazon to Siberia. Four aspects
of shamanism are of note here: first it is a social phenomena involving both the shaman
and the community; second, it has a personal level at which it is a transformative
experience of altered consciousness; third, by the participation of the shaman it helps to
form a group identity and fourth in its aims there is no separation into the mundane and
the spiritual.
I would propose that we need to consider the proposition that tantra is in some ways a
form of Shamanistic tradition and operates within a similar cultural context in India. In
talking of the earliest manifestations of tantra in Indian culture the earliest references in
to Tantric elements which are found in the Atharvaveda. However, there are far older
instances of tantra in world culture. By tantra I mean here Shamanistic practices. For in
order to understand tantra it is necessary, I would argue, to propose that tantra is a word
that is used to refer to the later Indian developments of the Shamanistic traditions. This
idea was first clearly put forward in the 19th century by thinkers related to the
Theosophical movement, who argued that Indian traditions contained versions of what
they called The Great Tradition, a universal human tradition which has continued since
the dawn of humanity. The methods of such thinkers often did not stand up to close
scrutiny and used methodologies that were not then, and are not now academically,
acceptable. However, the basic insight, that esoteric Hindu and Buddhist traditions are
an expression of a universal human tradition has since been argued in terms that are


206
academically respectable. Mircea Eliade in his works Shamanism

and Yoga,
Immortality and Freedom,
143
has clearly shown the continuity from Shamanistic practices
to Tantric tradition. In his influential studies of religion he made a very convincing case
for this and is in part responsible for inspiring Joseph Campbells ideas found in works
such The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
144

Tantra and Shamanism as a global phenomena
The term Shamanism is generally used to refer to the spiritual practices which typify the
spiritual life of people living in the hunter gather stage of human development. Strictly
speaking Shaman is the title of the religious specialists of the Siberian region. They act
within their communities as ritual experts, leading rites in which members of the
community take part, and as preservers and teachers of the spiritual traditions of their
communities. Community here referring to the whole of the group of people (tribe for
want of a better word). What is most characteristic of this type of spirituality is that it
involves the communal and individual performance of rites which words, singing,
instrumental music, dance, costume, visual representations, drama, and altered states of
consciousness, often but not always related to mind altering substances. Such
Shamanistic traditions are universal and have been observed in all known hunter gather
cultures, albeit in countless varied forms, from Amazonia to Australia.
Shamanism and ritual
Eliade, and the more popular writer Joseph Campbell, have argued that the basic model
that underlies the Shamanistic tradition is that of the sacred journey. Campbell indeed
argues that a kind of Jungian analysis of this sacred journey, a voyage of self discovery,

142
Eliade, Mircea, (translated by William R. Trask), Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972, (originally published in French in 1951)
143
Eliade, Mircea, (translated by William R. Trask), Yoga Immortality and Freedom, Princeton: Princeton
University Press, second edition 1969, (originally published in French in 1954)
144
Campbell, Joseph, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, London: Paladin, 1988 (orig. ed. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1949)


207
is possible and that in a sense it is a metaphor for the personal experience of every
individual and that which unites individuals into the community. I will not dwell on this
personal transformative aspect of Shamanism here but rather would draw you attention
to the social dimension of the journey. For it is based on a departure from the community
and world, a transformative experience, and a return to membership of a new
community.
The transformative experience, or catharsis, is the peak experience within the ritual. It
may be partly induced by dance, sensory experiences, mind altering substances,
whatever, what matters is that it is an experience of an entirely different kind of
consciousness from that of everyday life. It is part of a process in which the normal
structuring of everyday reality is temporarily broken down and dissolved and through the
experience of an altered state of mind the world is then recreated and restructured
according to a new paradigm, understandable only to those who have experienced the
altered state of mind. It is this altered state of reality, a consciousness which is utterly
separate from normal reality, which typifies the Shamanistic experience.
This sacred journey at an inner level transforms and shapes the individual and on an
outer level transforms and shapes the community. This kind of ritual is often called an
initiation ritual, because it confers upon the participant membership of a particular type of
community. The tribe/community consists then of two types of people, children who have
yet to undergo the rituals and any adults who for one reason or other do not undergo the
rituals, and those who have been initiated. The number of initiates in the community
may well vary, in some communities everyone undergoes some sort of initiation, in
others only certain types of people are allowed to undergo initiation. But what matters
here I would argue is that ritual, sacred journey and community are related parts of a
whole. In addition it is striking that the experience of those who have been through the
ritual is either expressly secret, or effectively secret, as it is simply not comprehensible to
those who have not undergone the experience.


208
The Sacred Journey
Quite how long Shamanistic traditions were the common heritage of mankind no one can
really say. Researches on early man suggest that some sort of humanity emerged at
least fifty thousand or more years ago, perhaps as far back as a hundred thousand years
ago. Yet farming only began between six to ten thousand years ago, so for the previous
95% of so of prehistory humanity lived as hunter gatherer peoples. Would it be surprising
if some aspects of the culture of 95% of our past survived into the era since the invention
of agriculture?
Perhaps the earliest human art forms produced were made during the last ice age was
still in progress, around ten thousand years ago, the inhabitants of the Dordogne region
of France painted their famous images on the walls of caves. You have to ask yourself
why these people chose to climb down into permanently dark caves deep in the ground
to make their images of hunting, fighting and strange figures who are half human and
half animal. One suggestion for their origins is that they were made as part of
Shamanistic rituals. If this is the case then these images, and similar paintings from
around the world, such as Alta Mira in Spain and numerous sites in Australia and
elsewhere, can be interpreted as indicating that Shamanistic traditions were the spiritual
culture of people during the last ice age ten thousand years ago.
But when agriculture began the Shamanistic traditions of the hunter gatherer peoples of
the old world must have faced a challenge. For as agriculture developed so did the first
religions. Shamanism to survive had to change and evolve and all over the world it did
so in different ways. In some perhaps it almost completely disappeared, in others it was
so transformed that it is not till we look closely that we realise that it survives.
I would propose the following ideas should be considered. One of the most important
ways that Shamanism responded to the new circumstances was by hiding. It moved from
the exoteric to esoteric. In a sense one might propose it was fighting a guerrilla war, by
becoming an association of secret societies. Its structure, based on communities, was
ideal for this. In a sense to it worked out an accommodation with the new religions in


209
which it became possible for its followers to practise publicly an outer exoteric religion,
while inwardly practising an inner secret esoteric spiritual tradition.
As students of the history of Buddhism in South Asia the question that should be
addressed is how did Shamanism adapt to the development of agriculture in South Asia
from around six thousand years ago, and to what extent is Tantra, and Tantric Buddhism
in particular, an expression of the Shamanistic tradition. Basically, I would argue that
Tantra is nothing more or less than Indian Shamanism. There seems to be no basic
difference at all. Everything I have said of Shamanism applies to Tantra. Only the names
have been changed. Of course there is also much that is specifically Indian in Tantra,
and much that is Buddhist in Buddhist Tantra.
Tantra In Indian Tradition
Tantra is a pan Indian phenomena present in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Kashmiri
aivism is probably one of the most well known varieties of tantra in India along with
Bengali tantra and that of the Tamil Sittas. In other words North, South, East and West
there are Tantric traditions. The spread of Tantra also is a phenomena that moves
through time. For since the arrival of Islamic culture in India numerous elements from
Middle Eastern traditions have entered the Indian world view. Including in particular
magic squares, methods of divination and the use of Middle Eastern vocabulary terms in
the creation of mantras.
Despite this seemingly universal permeation of tantra though everything in India there is
one central puzzle we must address. It is normally said that self referential tantra texts,
those which call them selves tantras, do not appear before around the 6th century CE,
although some scholars are now arguing in favour of dates as early as the 4th century
CE. Of course there is no way of knowing if there were texts which called themselves
tantras which existed earlier but were secret. For instance in the sixth century text the
Hevajra tantra it says.
If an unworthy person sees either the book or the picture (of Hevajra), there is no
accomplishment in this life of the next life [for the one who shows them]. They may be


210
seen at any time by a follower of the tradition. Whilst on the road they should be
concealed either in the hair or under the armpit.
145

The earliest texts that identify themselves as tantra texts thus include an element of
secrecy about their traditions in their own texts.
However, in terms of content and form the earliest texts with a tantric aspect in India are
probably those of the Atharvaveda which is full of rituals which are tantric rituals in all but
name. This text was being accepted as one of the Vedas in around the time of the
Buddha. That is to say that most of the Buddhist refer to The three Vedas and exclude
the Atharvaveda. However, it is thought that its contents are probably earlier than its
acceptance as one of the Vedas. Its contents clearly show a degree of overlap between
what might be called sorcery tantra for worldly ends and the higher tantra. Another text
which shows this feature is the 4th century CE Bower manuscript. This manuscript was
found in an unusual manner. General Bower was on tour in central Asia in the late 19th
century and one night near Samarkand a local person came into his tent and offered him
a bundle of birch bark manuscripts. These turned out to include a text on the greatness
of garlic and the Psakeval, a divinatory text which begins with a series of mantras
which are an invocation to the sorceress named Mtg (The elephantess). A
sorceress of the same name also tried to kill the Bodhi tree in the Aokvadna. She
encircled the tree with some thread and related over it, with due ceremony, an
incantation calculated to destroy it. The tree was struck by the fire of the incantation, it
became leafless, and its branches began to wither.
146
Indeed it seems that Mtg is a
typical name for a sorceress. There is then a level at which tantra is present in Indian
tradition, and in Buddhist tradition from an early period at least the first century CE, in the
sense of magical rites.
The earliest fully fledged forms of tantra in the Buddhist tradition are seen in the Lotus
Stra where there are magical formulae, called dhrai in a Buddhist context are given

145
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra Tantra with the Commentary
Yogaratnamala, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1992. pp. 267-268.
146
Narayan, S. Bodh Gaya Shiva Buddha, 1987. p. 79.


211
by sorceresses for recitation for the preservation of the text and the dumbfounding of its
enemies. Dhrai, means something which is held or maintained and they are basically
the same as mantras but under another name. cf. agae gae gaur gandhr cali
mtgi pukkasi sakule vrsali sisi svh. Like most mantras this makes little sense,
but it is interesting that the sorceress Mtg crops up yet again in this context. The
whole series of dhrai/mantras in the Lotus Stra clearly has an element of tantra in
them.
The Origins and Emergence of Tantra
The question is when and where did fully formed Buddhist tantra texts emerge. The most
common consensus of scholars is that they emerged only in the 6th century CE. Alexis
Sanderson (a noted scholar from Oxford University) has argued the earliest tantra texts
come from Kashmiri Shaivism and date from around the 4th or 5th century and Buddhist
tantra texts were inspired by them. This theory was presented in an unpublished paper
presented in a conference in Germany in 1990, it remains in circulation only amongst
Buddhologists, like a secret tantra text in itself. Many people are unhappy with this
theory. Few Buddhists, but many Hindus, are happy with this theory.
I would question whether the question of the origins of tantra and its emergence are the
same question. It appears that the origins of tantra are to be found in the ritual magical
traditions already present in the Atharvaveda and the question really being asked here is
when did tantra emerge as an acceptable format for a text to present itself as. So the
question is really why did tantra texts gain acceptance in Buddhism in the 6th century.
Were there social factors which made it possible for esoteric traditions to enter the public
arena? Such factors might equally have effected both Hindu and Buddhist tradition and
led to the emergence of tantra texts. Clearly something changed for texts such as the
Hevajra-tantra are clear on the injunction that it must be kept secret and not shown to
outsiders not initiated into the tradition.
147
Yet by the around the 6th century CE tantra
texts begin to enter the public sphere of Buddhist activity.

147
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, loc. cit.


212
Is their emergence as textual traditions possibly related to their transition from oral to
textual tradition? It is indeed possible that the earliest tantra texts are the first written
forms of earlier oral traditions. However, there are two problems with this theory.
First, the texts already refer to their written formats and refer to manuscripts in a form
which had been popular since the first century CE at least, birch bark manuscripts. The
use of birch bark for the manuscript is mentioned in the Hevajra-tantra The book should
be written on birch bark twelve finger-widths long.
148
This form of manuscript is also
attested to by a number of finds of manuscripts such as the Bower Manuscript which
dates from the 4th century CE of which contains a divinatory text called the Psakeval,
which begins with a series of mantras in invocation to the sorceress Mtg.
Second, the Hevajra tantra, in the form now existing, appears to be the product of a long
tradition of both oral and textual transmission. Such evidence suggests that in itself the
transition from oral to textual tradition is unlikely to explain the emergence of tantra.
Moreover, it begs the question of why they started to be written down.
Is it possible that the secret progenitors of the tantras existed before their public sphere
equivalents? In a sense this is not a good question. By definition if they were secret we
cannot know about them and in itself this argument tells us nothing about the antiquity of
the tantras.
One factor may have been that this is also the period when the great Buddhist
universities flourished and it is possible that in the interaction of scholastics and mystics
an opportunity arose for tantra to become socially acceptable. Within these institutions
there may have been a liberal environment which allowed for the tantras to become an
orthodox exoteric tradition. But it will remain a mystery, why did this not occur earlier as
similar circumstances had been current for centuries in the Universities.
In part the problem lies not in the issue, but in the form of question. The issue is not the
origin of tantra, nor yet its emergence as a self identifying tradition. Both of these issues
have been extensively addressed by scholars.

148
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 267.


213
Conclusion
One point on scholarly attitudes to tantra needs also to be born in mind. First, there is a
wildly anti-tantra attitude that has its origins in 19th century reactions to the sexuality
expressed in tantras. This viewpoint sees tantra as something which invaded and
debased the Buddhist tradition and lead to the decline of Buddhism in India. A second
attitude is that typified of wildly pro-tantra advocates who see it as a license to a religion
based on sex which sees tantra as a kind of sensual tradition. Both these extreme
viewpoints are probably not very helpful and have little to do with ancient Indian attitudes
to tantra, and a lot to do with modern attitudes to life. What has not been, I suggest,
sufficiently considered is the question, of why Buddhist texts that emerged in the 6th or
7th centuries chose to identify themselves as Tantra. I will return to this question at the
end of the next chapter.
214
CHAPTER 19
Tantric Ritual
Introduction
In this chapter I would like to investigate the practice of Tantra and the how we might
phrase the questions we ask about Tantra. I will do this by considering the following
points.
Tantric Transmission Lineages
Tantras as Ritual Performances
The Transformation of Negative Phenomena
Microcosm and Macrocosm in Tantra
Tantra and Round Dances
Liberation in Life
Tantra and Pj
Questions about Tantra
Tantric Transmission Lineages
Tantra texts entered the public sphere in around the 6th century CE. However the texts
are considered within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as meaningless without a
transmission lineage, a lineage of teachers, which communicates the esoteric meaning
of the text. The importance of these lineages is crucial to the Tibetan tradition which
traces back the transmission lineages of its tantra traditions to Indian masters. For
instance Kcrya (Pkt Knh or Knhp) is associated with the practice of the
Cakrasavara-tantra and the introduction of the Hevajra-tantra, Guhyasamja and Black


215
Yamntaka-tantras.
149
There are other tantras for which there is no oral transmission
lineage and these are considered to be dead tantras, they are no longer functioning
tantras. The tantra texts often are composed of composites of different elements which
have been brought together, explanatory material, manuals on how to perform the rites
and formulae to be uttered. Some tantras, such as the Guhyasamja-tantra are
apparently works created by particular authors at particular times. Others, such as the
Hevajra-tantra appear to be the results of long oral and textual traditions and to date
them is more problematic. Due to this there are often difficulties in dating the texts on
linguistic or textual grounds. In some cases it may be possible to suggest that a certain
tantra is late in date, such as the Klacakra-tantra which contains references to invading
barbarians which appear to be reference to Muslims. There is also some evidence that
suggests that this tantra may have had a Central Asian origin, modern day Afghanistan
and North of that area. Yet even in such cases what is datable in a tantra texts may only
be the later levels of a tantra text not its earlier textual levels. Buddhist tantra texts often
present themselves as teachings of the Buddha. For instance the Klacakra was taught
by the Buddha during his lifetime at Dhnyakaaka to Sucandra who took it to Shambala,
a mystical Central Asian kingdom, from where it emerged, apparently as late as the 10th
century. Some might balk at such an origin story as a historical truth on the basis that,
the stpa at Dhnyakaaka (Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh) did not exist during the
lifetime of the Buddha and Shambhala is a mythical location. However, it is the claim of
tantra texts that they date from the same time as other Buddhist texts and constitute the
third turning of the wheel, the first being the teachings at Sarnath, the Nikya traditions,
the second the teachings revealed at Rajgir and Amaravati which constitute the
Bodhisattva traditions (the early Mahyna) and the third the tantra traditions, often
called the Vajrayna, the diamond way. There are also sometimes references to a fourth
turning of the wheel.

149
Templeman, D. Trntha's Life of Kcrya/Knh, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives, 1989. p. xi.


216
Tantras as Ritual Performances
Tantra texts describe ritual performances, some of their characteristics include.
Circular maala patterns on which people may actually move about or visualise doing
so. A maala being a circular or spherical pattern. In tantric ritual they normally have
two aspects, a physical form and a mental form.
Deities inhabiting different locations in the maala
Practitioners entering and moving along pathways through the maala
Male and female deities and participants.
Realisation of both external forms, paintings and drawings, and internal visualisations,
mental constructions, a complete visualisation.
Eventual dissolution of both outer and inner maalas into nothingness. For instance the
physical destruction of a sand maala.
Final reconstruction of a shared reality at the end of the ritual.
The Transformation of Negative Phenomena
A further group of general features of tantra are also interesting. The first is the
conversion of negative states into positive states is a feature of tantra, i.e. the conversion
of passion into dispassion, anger into vigour, vice into virtue, ignorance into realisation. A
manifestation of this is the prevalence of angry deities who become protector deities, in
both Indian and Tibetan traditions the subduing of demons by the Mahsiddhas is a
prominent feature of many stories. Also often beneficial deities take on wrathful forms
such as Vajravarhi who cuts away ignorance.
Tantras often contain descriptions of how to draw the maalas on which are they are to
be performed. For instance in the Hevajra-tantra.
Draw a maala comprising a square enclosure having four openings and encircled by
lines of different colours. It should have four archways and be decorated with vajra
threads. Then draw eight ritual pots which have five lines drawn on each of them. The


217
maala should be drawn using powder of the five gems or rice or son on or else with
powder of bricks or charcoal from the cremation ground.
150

There are also descriptions of how to draw the deities in the tantras, for instance.
151

Likewise the iconography and its symbolism are described.
152
So too is the manner of
making of the text described and instructions for how to care for it and to whom it
revealed to.
The Book should be written on birch-bark twelve finger-widths long by one who keeps
the Observance of the vow. Collyrium should be used as ink and human bone for the
pen.
153

Microcosm and Macrocosm in Tantra
These texts represent in part a process of the equation of the inner and the outer worlds.
There is a process of textualisation and contextualisation of the inner and the outer, the
macrocosm, the cosmos, and the microcosm of the body lies at the heart of tantra
practice. There is also stressed a need to internalise the tantra texts.
It is interesting to note that anybody who learns a text by heart tends to see the world
through that text. Some modern Sikhs, Muslims and Christians see the world through
their sacred texts, and secular people see the world through the texts of popular media.
Such practitioners of texts have instant access to all aspects of the texts and can quote
all instances of the occurrence of any theme in a text. In an oddly similar manner, many
Western people see the world through the imagery of popular entertainment and media.
In a similar manner tantra texts contextualise the world via conflating the body, maala
and the external universe. This constructs a universe mediated via the text of the human
body and an identity of the inner and outer worlds.

150
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 255.
151
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 250.
152
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. pp. 2634.
153
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 267.


218
There is an aspect of tantra ritual which is described as a gaacakra, a people circle
these were rituals to be performed at night in remote locations such as funerary grounds,
which involved music and dancing as well as other forms of rituals.
Carypa also went the land of Konkana, and there were many ketrayogins gathered
there together performing a gaacakra feast. One night the sounds of amarus and other
instruments of offering were heard and their melodious sounds pervaded the whole
land.
154

Tantra and Round Dances
A useful paradigm to look at would be the relation between gaacakra rituals in tantra
and a number of other Indian people circle or round dance traditions. There is a global
phenomena of round dances and it has many Indian manifestations. These range from
tribal round dances to modern disco round dances, the Gujarati garbhar dances.
Perhaps the most famous round dance is that of Ka and the cowgirls at the rasalla.
The high religious version of this is now somewhat rarefied in its depiction in that Ka
replicates himself and dances with all of the cowgirls on a full moon night in autumn.
There are anthropological accounts of tribal round dances in which the dancing was part
of a deliberate breaking of normal taboos and the couples all had sex.
The normal taboos on the inauspicious are also all reversed on the other great seasonal
festival associated with Ka when he and the cowgirls sprayed each other in the spring
with coloured water and for the morning of Holi only, the obscene becomes seemly. For
that morning only the obscene becomes auspicious and quite disturbing scenes can be
witnessed in places such as Banaras. In one case, the rasall dances this reversal of
morality is linked to round dance rituals.
There is a remarkable similarity between these round dances and the gaacakras, the
people circles in which the Mahsiddhas took part. They too are described as a being
held at night, like the rasalla, and involving male and female participants with sexual

154
Templeman, D. 1989. op. cit. p. 25.


219
activity quite possibly being indicated and a deliberate breaking of normal taboos. Such
as the five forbidden things beginning with M, mithuna intercourse, matsya fish, madira
wine, mudra sometimes said to mean food grains, or a sexual partner, and mnsa meat.
A description of such total reversals of normal purity and pollution rules is found in the
Hevajara-tantra.
He must eat the Five Nectars, drink liquor made from mollasses, eat the poisonous
Neem and drink the placental fluids. He must eat foods which are sour, sweet, bitter, hot,
salty, astringent, rotten, fresh and bloody liquids along with semen. By means of the
awareness of non-dual knowledge there exists nothing inedible. Obtaining menstrual
blood he must place it in a skull-cup and mixing it with phlegm and mucous, the holder of
the Vow must drink it.


Clearly tantra practice is not easy for worldly people to perform. Within modern Tibetan
traditions, such as the Gelugpa tradition, such sections are taken to be metaphorical and
not to be actually performed. For instance the following passage is taken to be
metaphorical by many traditions nowadays. It appears, however, to be a description of
an action which is in reality to be performed by yogi practitioners.
In a garden in a lonely place or within the inner chamber of ones house, making the
Mahmudr consort naked, the wise yog should always serve her. He should kiss and
embrace her and stimulate her sexual organ. The vagina should be aroused and the
nectar of the lips should be drunk. The yog whose sexual organ is aroused should
erotically mark and activate her with his hands. With the Swing, with the Knee and with
the Wide-open, thus the adamantine yog should repeatedly make love and gaze above.
Then the yog will attain numerous powers and become equal to all the Buddhas. Semen
is to be drunk there and especially wine. Meat should be eaten there for the benefit of
semen.
156


155
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 198.
156
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 291.


220
There is a tradition that the Mahsiddhas practised these rituals after they ceased to be
monks and became yogis.
There is also a concern with death in these traditions. But it is not the same as the
meditations on death which form part of Nikya and Bodhisattvayna Buddhism. In these
the recollection of death serves to bring people towards an immediate realisation of the
need to practice now, and not put off practice.
The gaacakra rituals were often performed in funeral or burning grounds. An ancient
locus for practices associated with transformation, by the metaphor of them being places
where spirits left their bodies behind and also as they were scaring places sites at which
it was possible to realise the true nature of things. In this context it is of note the one of
the Nikya Buddhist practices is to meditate in funerary grounds, if for different reasons it
is argued.
Liberation in Life
The aim of Buddhist practice it the cessation of suffering and the end to the cycle of
death and rebirth. One who is liberate in life attains jvanamukti liberation in life. They
die to the world yet still live. What better place could there be for a practice designed to
attain this state than a funerary ground. (Similar to Kabrs maxim of: ais maro ki bahuri
na marn die in such a way one does not have to die again). In a sense the gaacakra
tantra ritual is a kind of transformative festival in which the participants die to the world
and are reborn as what, as perfected ones or siddhas.
Joseph Campbells speaks of an archetypal heros journey which he says is a
magnification of the formula represented by the rites of passage of separation-initiation-
return with a story like this:
A hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural
wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero


221
comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons upon his
fellow men.
157

One could then say that the core story of tantra is the journey of the hero into an
unknown territory in order to obtain a secret item of great value, the gift of
immortality/nirva and the return to the phenomenal world as a hero, a siddha.
However, many would say this is far too vague and general to really tell us anything
about tantra.
Tantra and Pj
What is the relationship between all of this and the teachings of the Satipahana sutta
and Nikya Buddhist practice? On the face of it there seems to be no clear relationship,
other than opposition.
Another possible model for understanding the relationship of tantra to Buddhist, and
Hindu religious activity is to see it as a variation on the pj model which runs through
Indian religious activity. There is a common beginning in setting up a sacred space, then
the development of resolution, the invocation of a deity, meeting with the deity, transfer
of something (merit/gnosis) and a final dedication of merit. It could be objected though
that despite the formal similarity they do not identify themselves as a form of pj, yet
there are places in tantra texts where they do identify themselves as including pj
rituals and employ the same language as pj rituals. For instance the second part of the
Hevajra-tantra begins with a rite for establishing sanctity pratih, the same rite as
begins a pj. It includes the performance of a fire sacrifice, setting up a maala and
the sanctification of an image followed by the establishment of the deity in the image and
the making of offering to the image of flowers, incense, lamps, perfume and food
accompanied by a variety of mantras.

From this one might argue that the performance
of the tantra starts with a pj, or that the tantra is a form of extended pj. Which ever
way you put it, I would argue that, there is a close relationship between tantra and pj.

157
Campbell, J. op. cit. p. 30.
158
Farrow and Menon, op. cit. p. 147ff.


222
In a sense then rather than seeing tantra as something external which entered into
Buddhism it might be better to conceptualise it as a shift from pj as a subsidiary part of
Buddhist practice to the central focus. There is, after all, a meditative aspect to Nikya
Buddhist pj also in the performance of chanting, followed by meditation and the final
dedication of merit.
It might be interesting to enquire why Western people tend to see such a strong
separation between pj rituals and meditation, when clearly the Buddhist tradition did
not do so. Rather it may be that pj rituals were always a prime focus in Buddhism.
Theravda traditions in their pre-modern, pre Protestant revival Buddhism, forms clearly
had a degree of focus of pj rituals which is akin to the importance of tantra rituals in
Mahyna Buddhism.
Indeed one of the most common forms of Theravda practice is to perform a mixture of
chants, and sometimes a pj, followed by a meditation session. Some of the common
everyday protection chants (paritta suttas) also have a slightly Tantric quality to them.
For instance a popular protection chant is the ntiy sutta
159
which includes
summoning deities and spirits to protect the practitioners and the statement that the
exact repetition of the text, as one might repeat a mantra, grants protection.
160
A version
of this sutta also exist in Tibetan, and a fragmentary Sanskrit version
161
as well, which
points to the former popularity of this sutta in areas now dominated by Mahyna
Buddhism.
However, the aim of these Theravda protection chants is always the protection of the
followers of the Buddha and the well-being of the Buddhist Sangha as a whole.
However, in some tantra texts the concerns range from the worldly to the transcendental.
The following passage from the Hevajra-tantra is illustrative of this with its concern with

159
Dgha Nikaya 32.
160
Walshe, Maurice. Thus Have I Heard, London: Wisdom Publications, 1987. pp. 471478.
161
Walshe, Maurice, op. cit. p. 613.


223
the themes of everyday tantra, in particular the subduing of women. But note how the
accomplishment changes with the number or recitations.
By reciting the mantra clearly with a beautiful deep tone ten thousand times the yog who
is devoted to the Hevajra practice will attract all women . By reciting the mantra one
hundred thousand times, the yog whose mind is devoid of all doubts by means of he
uniting with vajra, is capable of achieving all rites.


Tantras often classify their aims not in terms of the worldly and the transcendental but in
terms of four aims of tantra: pathana over-throwing; vasya subduing; akrisi attracting
and sthambhana, paralysing.
One of the most important aspects of the Tantra traditions is that they focus on an
identification between the practitioner, the sdhaka, and the emanation bodies of the
Buddha, the sabhogakya of the Buddha. This is apparently a major shift in emphasis
from earlier Buddhist traditions in which the practitioner is not visualised as becoming the
Buddha. However, there is also an element of identification between the practitioner and
the Buddha in earlier Buddhist traditions. All Buddhist traditions share a common aim the
attainment of nirva and liberation from the cycle of existence in sasra.
In Nikya Buddhism the path that is followed by the practitioner leads to the realisation
that the notion of the self is unreal and this lead to nirva. One of the questions in the
Nikya Buddhist canon which the Buddha refuses to answer is whether or not the
Buddha exists after his death in nirva or not, yet it does assert that in some sense he
enters into nirva after death. The Nikya Buddhist tradition also asserts that all the
Arhants on death in some sense also enter into nirva. In other words all those that
attain nirva come to share a common identity in that they all enter into nirva,
although it cannot be said whether they exist or not in nirva. In this instance the
precise manner of existence does not matter, what matters is that they enter into the
same state and therefore in a sense share a common identity. However, like early

162
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I, op. cit. p. 252.


224
Buddhist art, this is an aniconic identity, they do not share in the anthropomorphic form
of the Buddha.
There is also an element of identification of the practitioner and the Buddha in the
Mahyna Buddhism of the Perfection of Wisdom traditions, the Bodhisattvayna. The
method of practitioner becomes the realisation of the emptiness of all dharmas as a way
to attain liberation from existence in sasra. In that no dharmas have any inherent self
nature (svabhava) this realisation has the consequence that the practitioner shares with
the Buddha in a common identity, that of having no identity. However, in the
Bodhisattvayna it is clearly expressed that the Buddha does continue to exist after his
death in nirva as he can continue to reveal himself to his followers. This suggests that
some people would have seen it as possible by entering into nirva to gain a common
identity with the Buddha in both an aniconic and an iconic form.
In Tantrayna Buddhist traditions this identification is seen as functioning on two levels.
On an ultimate level the practitioner realises identity with ultimate Dharmakya form of
the Buddha in the emptiness of all dharmas. An aniconic identification with the Buddha.
Whilst on a relative level the practitioner shares complete identification with the
emanation bodies of the Buddha, his sabhoga kya manifestations which is a form of
iconic identity with the Buddha.
This suggests that the underlying shift between Nikya Buddhism and Mahyna
Buddhism is not in whether there is identification between the practitioner and the
Buddha but in the form of this identification. The shift is between an aniconic
identification in Nikya Buddhism to iconic identification in Tantrayna Buddhist
traditions.
Questions about Tantra
The question is often posed what are the origins of tantra? I have suggested that this is
not a good question if one wants to know why Buddhist traditions emerge in the 6th
century CE which called themselves tantra traditions. The answer to this question is


225
clearly that the tantra traditions are much older than the 6th century CE and so this does
not help us to understand why tantra emerged at this time.
The question could be reformulated as why did tantra emerge in the 6th century CE?.
This is also not a good question as presupposes that we know what characterises
Buddhist tantra traditions and that they already in a sense existed as self conscious
traditions.
The form of question which is most useful, I would argue, is Why did Buddhist traditions
in the 6th century CE identify themselves as tantra traditions? The value of this question
is it makes us focus on what features of tantra would have been advantageous to the
propagation of traditions in 6th century CE.
First of all traditions need methods of legitimisation. That is to say a basis on which they
claim to be authentic. The Nikya traditions assert their legitimacy on the basis that they
are oral transmissions of teachings made by the Buddha during his life in the world. In a
Brahminical sense they are claiming to be ruti, the highest form of Brahminical
authority. The Bodhisattvayna traditions assert their authority on the basis that they are
oral or textual traditions which go back to the Buddha either revealed during his life and
then hidden and rediscovered (cf. Ngrjuna stories) or directly revealed in visions by
the Buddha or other Buddhas (cf. The Lotus Stra tradition). In that this has an element
of mind recalled in transmission it appears to be related to the Brahminical smti
tradition. The Tantrayna traditions assert their authority again on the basis of oral
transmission and revelation by emanation bodies of the Buddha. However, they now add
a third element, they are also lineages in which empowerment has been transmitted from
teacher to disciple since the beginning of the tradition. This method of asserting authority
also has a Brahminical counterpart in the notion of adhikra in which a guru empowers
his disciple by transmitting his authority, or adhikra, to the disciple. As mentioned at the
beginning of this chapter no tantra is considered as valid today unless a transmission
lineage for it can be considered to exist. This is not the same for Nikya Buddhism, there
is no express need for such a transmission lineage for the method to be effective. Nor


226
yet in Bodhisattvayna is there the need for a transmission lineage, only for a suitably
gifted teacher to be available to aid the practitioner in their development.
In a world in which religious traditions compete with each other to have not one but three
grounds, ruti, smti and adhikra for claiming authority in a sense could be a
competitive advantage. It would be an advantage in claiming superiority over other
Buddhist traditions and I think vitally in this case over Hindu traditions.
It must be born in mind that the term Hindu can be legitimately used to refer to
Brahminical traditions after the 6th century CE when resurgent movements in India
amongst non-Buddhist traditions began to seriously challenge Buddhism after a period of
many centuries in which Buddhism had been the dominant religious culture in India. It is
very noticeable that Nikya Buddhist texts spend time arguing with Brahminical
opponents but that Bodhisattvayna texts do not do so, they spend their time arguing
with Nikya Buddhist traditions. However, in Tantrayna traditions the opponents in
debate become the new Hindu traditions, called in Buddhist texts trthakas, those of the
trthas. A trtha is a place of pilgrimage. A great deal is known from Hindu and Buddhist
sources about the nature of the philosophical debates between the traditions over the
relative merits of belief in non-self and atmn, the different forms of the Buddha and the
different deities and the paramatmn. The sources of authority on which the Hindus
based their truth claims were I suggest three-fold: ruti, smti and adhikra. It is surely no
accident that the Tantrayna traditions adopted the same sources of authority as their
trthaka opponents as it would have allowed them to argue with each other on equal
terms. It is in the end a very difficult form of authority to argue against that you have a
secret empowerment lineage, for how can your opponent deny something which is
secret and they have no access to.
The songs in the tantras in mystical language point the ever greater importance of the
secret. These are clearly only comprehensible to initiates who know the codes of twilight
language sadhyabh. These are understood as symbolic of mental states that need
to be transformed into positive states.


227
Conclusion
To sum up then if the question is Why did Buddhist traditions in the 6th century CE
identify themselves as tantra traditions? then first factor I would propose is that they
could claim a form of authority previously lacking in Buddhism, the direct transmission of
adhikra from guru to disciple within the tradition. This would have been an advantage
both in competition with earlier Buddhist traditions and in competition with the resurgent
Brahminical Hindu traditions. The second factor is the topic of the next chapter, unlike
the Nikya and Bodhisattvayna Buddhist traditions, but like the Hindu traditions, they
offered a fast track to nirva in this life.
228
CHAPTER 20
The Mahsiddhas
Introduction
In this chapter I would like to look at the late Indian tradition of the Mahsiddhas, the
(Great Perfected Ones and their role in the development of Indian, and Tibetan,
Buddhism. I will look at the following points.
Sources on the Mahsiddhas
Characteristics of the Mahsiddhas
The Time and Social Background of the Mahsiddhas
Tensions Between Orthodox and Hetrodox
Mahsiddhas as exemplars of (The Spiritual Hero
Proof in Indian Tradition
Living Mahsiddha traditions
Sources on the Mahsiddhas
So far we have looked at the origins and emergence of tantra and forms of tantric ritual
in abstract terms. Now lets turn to the practitioners of tantra and in particular the
Mahsiddhas great realised ones or the the great perfected ones. In early Buddhism
the aim was to become an Arahat (Skt. Arahant), in early Mahyna the aim is to
become a Bodhisattva and in late Buddhism the aim becomes to attain the state of being
a Mahsiddha. The practitioners of tantra often call themselves Siddha, Mahsiddha, or
even just yogi. These then were the practitioners of tantra.
It is traditionally said that there were 84 Mahsiddhas. However, the number 84 is a
magic number signifying completion and completeness. There were never 84


229
Mahsiddhas in a mundane sense and the lists of Mahsiddhas all vary, and sometimes
dont add up to 84.
The main sources on the Mahsiddhas are:
First, Tibetan translations of Indian sources on the lives of the Mahsiddhas; such as
Abhyadattas work and those of Buddhaguptantha.
Second, Tibetan traditions about the lives of the Mahsiddhas; such as Trnthas
works.
Third, Indic manuscripts with isolated stanzas of vernacular (bh) Mahsiddha songs
in them. Some of these songs are called vajragt diamond songs and some are isolated
dohs as in the case of the dohs of Saraha in the Hevajra-tantra. A doh is a rhyming
couplet akin to a haiku.
Fourth, a single Indic manuscript of carygt songs in apabhraa bh and a Sanskrit
and a Tibetan commentary on this text. The name of this language varies according to
scholars and is also spoken of sometimes as Old Hindi, or Old Bengali. The term
carygt means songs of action.
Tibetan translations of Sanskrit and apabhraa bh works. Such as the Queen
dohs attributed to Saraha which is extant only in Tibetan.
Characteristics of the Mahsiddhas
The general characteristics of the Mahsiddhas can often be seen in pairs of opposites:
they were against ritualism and for practice of mahmudra siddhi; against the
establishment but for the practice of worldly siddhi; against scholasticism but for
liberated lifestyles and they were firmly anti-hierarchical and pro-individualism and
teaching by example.
One of the most consistent features of the lives of the Mahsiddhas is that they
represent a kind of crazy wisdom teaching. They are not tales of simple monks who
lead a straightforward meditative life. Rather they live wandering lives in which they
travel around India and get involved in hair raising scrapes.


230
The most famous Mahsiddha stories are those of Saraha and Kha (Skt Kcry).
The ending p (or pda, or pva) is a title and is sometimes attached to the names of
Mahsiddhas, such as Sarahap or Khap. This tradition continued in Tibet with great
yogis such as Marp, Narop and Milarep. Different versions of the life stories of
famous Mahsiddhas often show varying features. Trntha and Karma Phrin-las-pas
accounts of Sarahas life are illustrative of this.
According to Trntha he was born as Rhula a Brahmin in Oivia and in his youth he
became a learned scholar and was proficient in all of the Vedas. At one point Vajrayogin
manifested before him in the form of a barmaid and offered him the nectar of immortality,
in the form of beer, which he drank. The Brahmins then accused Saraha of being a
drunkard and being over fond of beer. He suggested a trial in which both he and the
Brahmins would hurl rocks onto water and the victor would be the side whose rock
floated on water. The Brahmins agreed and they went and performed the test, naturally
Sarahas rock floated and the Brahmins sunk. He then became a monk by the name of
Rahulabhadra and after he had become proficient in the Tripiaka he became Abbott of
Nalanda. But he became dissatisfied with this life. At some point he then met a yogin in
the form of a low caste woman who was an arrow maker and she showed him how to
practice her art and how to see reality. He then gave up being a monk and took her as
his consort and wandered around as a yogi and an arrow smith. He became known as
one who shoots with an arrow (Saraha). He worked for years and then was challenged
by the king over his unorthodox lifestyle at which he sang a song of realisation and his
body was transformed into a Vidydhara and he flew off into the heavens and
disappeared.
163

According to Karma Phrin-las-pa he was a Brahmin born in Vaidarbha. The story of
Vajrayogin here is compounded with a story of his having been one of five brothers and
how the goddess appeared to each of them in the form of a young woman and in the
case of Saraha this did not occur until after he has been a monk and the Abbott of

163
Templeman, D, The Seven Instruction Lineages, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives,
1983, pp, 23.


231
Nalanda. In this version of the story only after he has been a monk does he meet four
Brahmin girls in a garden and drinks four cups of beer and attains realisation. They then
tell him to seek out the arrow smith woman in the market. He watched her making arrows
and through this attained realisation. He then took her as his consort and practised the
tantras. After some time the question of his behaviour was raised and he sang various
cycles of dohs for the people, queen, and king.
164

The Time and Social Background of the Mahsiddhas
Probably the most famous Mahsiddhas are Saraha, Knhp, Luip and Tilop who
probably all lived during the 8th to 12th centuries. Their period is roughly co-terminus
with that of the Pla dynasty of Bengal which also ruled during this period. They came
from a wide variety of caste backgrounds from high caste Brahmins to untouchables and
number both men and women amongst their ranks. The area in which they were active
also extended over the whole of India, and beyond and they are particularly associated
with a number of siddhaphs, sacred places, in the East such as Kmarpa in Assam,
in the South such as Dhnyakaaka in Andhra, in the West such as Hinglaj in Sindh near
the Iranian border and in the North such as Oyna the area of the modern Swat valley
on the Pakistan Afghanistan border.
Tensions Between Orthodox and Hetrodox
Despite being revered and remembered as transmitters of the lineages of the tantras,
and authors of commentaries on the tantras the Mahsiddhas also argued against
ritualism. Their life stories indicate that they practised within what might be called crazy
wisdom traditions. Their songs and stories are full of scathing criticism of ritualism and
injunctions against mantra and tantra. Some people fudge this by suggesting that they
were anti empty ritual but pro genuine ritual. It may that this is in a way true, but it may
also be that their teachings are simply inconsistent, in that they express a truth by
simultaneously holding two truths. This would be quite consistent with the carygt songs
which are full of such upside down imagery where mutually incompatible statements are

164
Guenther, Herbert, V. The Royal Song of Saraha, Berkeley and London: Shambala, 1973. pp. 37.


232
juxtaposed and create a situation a little like a Zen Koan, something which dumbfounds
the conventional mind.
Mahsiddhas as exemplars of The Spiritual Hero
In many ways Mahsiddhas are ideal exemplars of the spiritual hero. In their life stories
they leave behind all forms of convention in order to seek out the ultimate. They also
demonstrate through their lives how to search for the ultimate. The field within which they
act as spiritual warriors is the whole of India. In numerous cases they battle with
malevolent deities, demons and spirits, worldly religious and secular opponents and by
defeating them in battle or debate prove themselves. They are in this sense warrior
sages. They also have control over formidable supernatural powers including abilities
such as flying, replicating their bodies and being in many places at once, and all manner
of gazes by which they can subdue their opponents. They can split mountains asunder
and destroy their opponents merely by looking at them.
A story that illustrates this concerns Khap who had a disciple who had made a statue
of Heruka (a Buddhist deity) dancing on iva. The disciple was accused by his enemies
of being anti iva and he went to Khap who was residing in a graveyard outside of
the city and told him of his trouble. Khap then told him not to worry but to arrange a
contest whereby a statue of Heruka dancing on iva and another statue of iva dancing
on Heruka should be placed overnight in a locked shrine room. Then Khap carries on
his practice in the cemetery. When the sealed room was opened in the morning the
statue of Heruka dancing on iva was still as it was but now the statue of iva dancing on
Heruka had swapped round and become Heruka dancing on iva.
165
Such miraculous
stories witness to the greatness of the tradition. This story is similar to a popular
medieval tale of how the merit of the Rmacaritamnas was judged by putting it at the
bottom of a pile of books overnight in a shrine room but in the morning it had risen to the
top of the pile of books.

165
Templeman 1989. op. cit. pp. 3436.


233
It should not be thought that in this they are departing from previous Buddhist tradition.
The Buddha himself performed miracles, such as multiple manifestations of his body at
ravasti, and he could read minds and split the heads of his opponents and cause them
to vomit up blood. His disciples were also possessed of these abilities and it is famous
that Moggallna could fly in the air and had all the abhias, magical powers, that were
marks of an enlightened person.
It is notable that the Mahsiddhas actually use their powers in order to teach, they often
choose example rather than words as their method of exposition of Buddhist teachings.
This is similar to earlier forest monk traditions and the more miraculous side of Buddhist
tradition, and unlike the more orthodox monastic tradition.
One particular aspect of their stories that also deserves note is the ways in which the
goddess manifests herself in them. It is typical that she appears disguised in the form of
a young or old woman, respectively of great beauty or great ugliness. In this manner she
tests the discernment of the Mahsiddhas to distinguish the real goddess from worldly
tests. In particular the goddess of wisdom often tests the Mahsiddhas by appearing as
a loathsome old woman as a test of the Mahsiddhas compassion and equanimity. The
correct identification of the goddess brings about realisation, incorrect identification shuts
off the possibility of realisation.
There are also ambiguous elements in these stories about the relationship between the
teacher and the disciple. There are numerous examples of how the Mahsiddhas ignore
the advice of their teachers, normally it gets them into trouble it must be admitted, but
they certainly do not follow their teachers instructions with blind faith. In addition, the first
generation of Mahsiddhas do not have human teachers, rather they are the founders of
lineages. The oddity is that they themselves gain enlightenment due to their interaction
with goddesses or other deities. For instance both Sarahap and Khap gain
enlightenment due to the actions of the goddess.
Another distinguishing characteristic of the Mahsiddhas is that they are yogis and not
monks. They in many cases were monks, Saraha knew the whole Tripiaka it is said. But
they all renounce being monks and become wandering yogis and take consorts. This is


234
clearly a major departure from previous tradition in which the scholar monk is the highest
ideal in Buddhism. Yet in a sense it is apparent that there was always a tension between
the mundane and the magical in Buddhism, between the monks who practised
scholarship and the forest monks who practised meditation and developed siddhi or
perfections.
Proof in Indian Tradition
There are a number of ways of establishing proof (Skt prama) in Indian tradition. Most
Buddhist sources agree on direct experience (Skt pratyaka) and inference or logic (Skt
anuma). Some also accept the validity of tradition (Skt gama).
It is interesting that these three forms of proof are closely related to the sources of
authority in Buddhist tradition. The teachings of Buddha are true because they were
directly heard/experienced by his followers, so they are pratyaka. They are also
understandable by logic so they are anuma, and they form the basis of a
remembered tradition, so they are gama.
The non-Buddhist Skhya-Yoga tradition accepts as prama perception (Skt
pratyaka), inference (Skt anuma) and accurate testimony (Skt abda).
166
These are
essentially the same as the commonly accepted Buddhist forms of proof. However, there
is a fourth basis for proof that is accepted in the non-Buddhist Nyya-Vaieika school:
direct experience (Skt pratyaka), inference or logic (Skt anuma); analogy (Skt
upamna) and tradition (Skt abda).
167

The addition of a third basis of prama as analogy upamna is significant in that it
involves comparison, resemblance, analogy and simile. All of these form a vital element
in the teachings of the Mahsiddhas. Thus for instance to make a comparison between
the way the sacrificial fire ritual functions and the way in which the inner practice of
austerity functions might be a legitimate form of prama. It is interesting that one
aspect of this is that in effect what is taking place is that an example for something is

166
Eliade, M. 1969. op. cit. p. 375.
167
Sen, K. M. Hinduism, London, Penguin Books, 1982, (first published 1961). p. 78.


235
being regarded as a form of proof, a way to teach that which is true. There may also be a
question here which could be investigated about the relationship between establishing
proof via analogy (upamna) and teaching via skill in means (upyakaualya).
The Mahsiddhas exemplify teaching through example, their life stories testify to the
truth of what is a liberated life. Neither do they on tradition (gama/abda) to prove their
teachings, they do not rely on inference and logic (numa), indeed their actions
generally appear to be illogical. Rather they rely on direct experience (pratyaka) and
(upamna) to give authority to their teachings.
Living Mahsiddha traditions
The cross over between the Indian and Tibetan traditions in regard to the history of the
Mahsiddhas is also very important. In the early 17th century Jo-nn Trntha wrote
numerous works on the history of Indian Buddhism which document the lineages which
give authority to the contemporary Tibetan Buddhist traditions. In his work The Seven
Instruction Lineages he includes as the seventh lineage that which goes back to
Gorakhnth (Skt Gorakantha). Today Gorakhntha is principally remembered as a
Hindu figure, the archetypal yogi. But within Kathmandu valley he is also identified with
Avalokatevara. This points to a factor in the stories of the Mahsiddhas which is that
they represent a crossing of the boundaries between what is now called Buddhist and
Hindu. So Gorakhnth is both Hindu and Buddhist, as is his disciple Jalandharip. The
stories say the same, the teachings remain more or less constant, yet the Hindu tradition
interprets them as Hindu, the Buddhists as Buddha. Thus you can find the same stories,
or very similar ones in both Trntha and in Hindu traditions collected in a book called
Gorakhnth and Knphaa Yogs by G. W. Briggs.
It seems that by the eighth to twelfth centuries the Mahsiddhas were in the forefront of a
trend towards the diminution of differences between Buddhism and Hinduism. There
were perhaps earlier Mahsiddhas, some sources suggest that they were perhaps active
earlier and it is clear that they were still active in India at least until around 1600 CE. The
later activities of the Mahsiddhas are less well known but the biography of Trnthas


236
Indian Mahsiddha guru Buddhaguptantha makes it clear that even as late as the early
17th century the Mahsiddha tradition was still active in India.
Conclusion
In a sense this brings to a full circle the history of Buddhism. From the time of akyamuni
Buddha when he was seeking to distinguish his tradition from that of other schools
through to the Mahsiddhas where the question of distinctions into Buddhist and non-
Buddhist becomes hard to distinguish. Depending on how you frame your questions you
could look at this development as the Hinduisation of Buddhism, or the Buddhistisation
of Hinduism. Or preferably, of a coming together, or confluence of two traditions. The
Mahsiddhas had expanded the scope of Buddhist activity in Northern India to include
not just the monastic traditions of the Nikya and Mahyna traditions but also the lay
Mahsiddhas Buddhist yogs practising outside of the monastic context.
237
CHAPTER 21
Buddhism in Medieval India
Introduction
You might expect this chapter to be called the end of Buddhism in India, but I dont see it
that way. In order to show you something about how I see this period I will look at the
following points.
Central Asian and Islamic Influences
Tibetan accounts of the Destruction of the Monasteries
The End of Monastic Buddhism
Medieval Indian Buddhism
Siddhas, Sants and anti-caste sentiments
What makes Buddhists Buddhist?
Central Asian and Islamic Influences
The earliest Islamic influences in South Asia were probably the peaceful activities of
traders active along the Western coast of India. These were followed by the annexation
of Sind which occurred by around CE 800. However, it was in the period from around CE
1000 that raids from the modern day Afghanistan began to increase and Muhmad of
Ghazni raided Northern India and from 1010 to 1026 sacked the temples at Mathura,
Thanesar, Kanauj and Somnath. There was then a period of relative quiet before
Muhammad Ghuri at the end of the 12th century began a more systematic attack on
Northern India. In decisive battles in CE 1191 and 1192 at Tarain near Delhi he defeated
Prithiviraja the king of Delhi and conquered the capital of Northern India.
168
In the

168
Thapar, Romila. A History of India, Volume One, London: Penguin Books, 1976. pp. 232237.


238
following years his successors and generals continued their conquests and rapidly
gained victory over the rest of Northern India.
What is evident is that in the North of India the Buddhist monastic tradition was totally
destroyed by the Muslim invasions of the 12th and 13th centuries. Muslim accounts of
their conquests paint a picture of the systematic destruction of the major Buddhist
centres and the wholesale demolition of monasteries and temples. The translations of
Islamic accounts of the destruction of the monasteries in A.K. Warders Indian Buddhism
paint a graphic picture of this destruction.
169
These Islamic accounts portray a kind of
glorious depiction of how the Islamic armies acted. There is for instance the account of
the destruction of the great monastery at Oddantapuri, modern Bihar Sharif, from which it
is clear that they had no idea what they were doing only realising that the fortress they
had conquered was a college after having sacked it. However, there can be no doubt
that such actions marked the death knell for monastic Buddhism in Northern India.
Tibetan accounts of the Destruction of the Monasteries
On the other hand there is a vivid account of this destruction as witnessed by the Tibetan
pilgrim Dharmasvmin who visited Bodhgaya and Magadha at the time of the Muslim
conquest of the area.
170
From this it can be seen that the process was not as glorious
sudden, total and destructive as the Muslim accounts depict it to be. Despite the
destruction of Oddantapuri, he speaks of monks continuing to try and live in the ruins of
the great monastic university at Nalanda and of successive Muslim raids on the site. He
also describes how the temple at Bodhgaya was attacked but not destroyed and how
pilgrims were able to resume their pilgrimage activities after Muslim raiding parties left
the area.

169
Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism, Delhi, Motilal Banarasidass, 1991. (1
st
ed. 1970). pp. 506508.
170
Roerich, G, Biography of Dharmasvamin, Patna: K, P, Jayaswal Research Institute, 1959,


239
The End of Monastic Buddhism
An equally significant, but less spectacular aspect, of the Muslim invasions was that they
took away the lands of the monasteries. It was not just the destruction of the temples and
monasteries but also the redistribution of the land that destroyed Buddhism. Thus they
did not actually have to destroy the monastery at Bodhgaya to cause its destruction. The
act of taking away its land and distributing its lands to the Muslim commanders would
have been sufficient to ensure its gradual decay and eventual destruction. It should be
remembered that by this time the monasteries and temples were basically enormously
powerful land-holding institutions. Thus, to destroy them it was necessary not to actually
knock them down, but just take their lands away. In a country like India where the
climatic conditions are not conducive to the preservation of buildings it would have taken
no more than neglect to reduce most of the once splendid temple and monastery
buildings to piles of bricks to be used for building materials.
There is a whole debate on the issue of why Northern India fell so easy prey to these
invasions. However, there is a similarity to how the Romans managed to conquer the
Celts so easily. For the Celts war was a kind of pastime of the ruling classes and they
never expected it to actually amount to any real change in the living conditions of the
people, for the Romans war was conquest and carried in its train an inevitable wholesale
redistribution of land and wealth. A similar kind of gap in the understanding of the
significance of war and conquest may have contributed to the easy destruction of the
North Indian kingdoms by the invaders from Afghanistan in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The difference here it is important to realise is not between Hindu and Muslim at all but
between Central Asian and North Indian cultures of this time.
It is also important to acknowledge that it is not true to say that Buddhism ever totally
disappeared from India. Buddhism has continued in peripheral areas of South Asia up to
the present day and is still active in the Himalayas, in Ladakh, Himachal and Uttar
Pradesh, in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal, and in Sikkim and Bhutan. In some places
the changes consequently were subtle, such as in Ladakh which took part in the
development of Tibetan Buddhism. While in other places, such as the Kathmandu valley,


240
there were major transformations in Buddhism in response to local conditions. In the
Kathmandu valley a form of Buddhism survived which evolved to counter the difficulties
faced by Buddhists within a largely Hindu cultural zone. In particular the institution of
monastic Buddhism was replaced by all males, of a particular caste, being regarded as
in a sense monks, but becoming householder monks and marrying and having families.
Buddhism also survived in the area on the border of India and Burma in modern day
Assam and in Bengal particularly in the Chittagong hill tracts. These Eastern Indian
Buddhist traditions interacted with Burmese traditions but maintained aspects of Indian
traditional practice. Due to this a form of Buddhism developed in this area that had links
to both earlier Bengali Buddhist tradition and Theravda Burmese traditions.
So, on the one hand Buddhism never died out totally in India. On the other hand an
aspect of this issue that is often ignored by those who wish to attribute the destruction of
Buddhism in India to the Muslim invasions is that there is some evidence that Buddhism
had largely disappeared from South India before the 12th century. In this case it was due
to a reformed Hinduism, under the leadership of akarcrya (CE 788-820), which had
led to the dominance of a new form of syncretic Hinduism. This gives rise to a common
India tradition that it was akarcrya who drove the Buddhists out of India by defeating
the Buddhists in debate. Whether this is true is a moot point, nor is it clear how much it
had to do with debate and how much to do with a shift of royal patronage to Hinduism.
There is also an interesting aspect to this development which is that akarcrya
established for the first time a system of Hindu monasteries, with main centres at
Shringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Badrinatha. He also for the first time organised the Hindu
aivite ascetics into orders, the Dasanm sadhus, and thus his restructured Hinduism
took on both the organisational structure of orders of ascetics and monastic dwellings
that had been typical of Buddhism. Of course there is no certainty that it was actually
akarcrya himself who carried out all of these changes, but his name is associated
with these developments. However, the change to land holding monasteries of orders of
ascetics/monks, rather than Ashrams of individual lineages.


241
Medieval Indian Buddhism
On the one hand this period marked the end of monastic Buddhism but on the other
hand the activities of the Mahsiddhas continued. It is interesting that monastic
Buddhism was unable to respond to these changes. The Jain tradition was able to
weather the storms of Islamic iconoclasticism and Hindu revivalism and by pursuing a
slightly different path they survived where the Buddhists did not. The Jains may have
been aided in this by their greater strength in the banking sector rather than land-holding
which the Buddhists specialised in. Other factors may have been their closer integration
with Hinduism as it is apparent that they had developed very close links with the
Vaishnava tradition.
On the other hand the influence of the end of monastic Buddhism on the Buddhism of
the Mahsiddhas and their followers is less clear. These traditions did not hold land or
have great institutional structures and so they left a less obvious footprint in Indian
History. During the last two decades of scholarship it has become increasingly apparent
that the Mahsiddha traditions survived the Islamic invasions.
Trnthas account of Buddhaguptantha, his Indian gurus life, makes it clear that
there were numerous Buddhist Mahsiddhas as late as the 16th century. They were able
to travel all over India and practised alongside the Shaivite Nthasiddhas.
There are also accounts of Buddhist pilgrimage to India after the Muslim invasions.
These can be found in Tibetan sources and indicate that despite the difficulties
pilgrimage continued. In addition at Bodhgaya there are epigraphical remains which
indicate that pilgrimage from within India also continued. Furthermore, from an account
by Trntha of his lineage there is evidence for continued patronage of Bodhgaya by
the local rulers after the Muslim conquest. So although the numbers of pilgrims to
Bodhgaya was small it is evident that in some form pilgrimage did continue.
The dividing line between the Buddhist Mahsiddhas and aivite Nthasiddhas was not
clearly defined. It is known that by the 16th century the site at Bodhgaya had been taken
over by the Nthasiddhas and it appears that there was a process by which the tantric


242
traditions of the Buddhist Mahsiddhas and the aivite Nthasiddhas converged.
Numerous aspects of Nthasiddha tradition are, in terms of their form and content, either
deeply indebted to Buddhist tradition, or a form of Buddhism. Indeed the establishment
of a aivite monastery as opposed to Buddhist monasteries at Bodhgaya is also
indicative of this transition from Buddhist to non-Buddhist.
Philosophically there is also an element of convergence in the teachings of the Buddhist
Mahsiddha doctrines and those of the Advaita-Vedanta. The distinction between non-
self and self which had separated earlier Buddhists from non-Buddhists had it seemed
become blurred over time. The notion of the obstruction of the kleas making us unable
to realise the Buddha-nature present in all things has remarkable similarity to the Advaita
teaching that due to lack of insight we are unable to realise the identity of jvtman and
paramtman. However, the paths to the realisation of these truths remained separate
and clearly followed different paths.
One aspect of the continuation of Buddhist teachings within Indian tradition may be in
found then in the close similarity of aivite and Advaita teachings to Buddhist teachings.
Indeed, some of the aspects of Advaita doctrines are influenced by Buddhism. There are
even suggestions that akarcrya and his guru Gauapa were crypto-Buddhists
and Rmnuja and Madhava saw his doctrine of Brahma as the same as the Buddhist
notion of nyat.
Another aspect of the continuation of Buddhism in India is found in Medieval Indian
mysticism. In particular the bhakti movement and the Sants, such as Kabr, bears clear
evidence of Buddhist influence. Kabr was a Muslim by birth, born in CE 1498 as a
member of the Julah weaver community of Banaras, some three centuries after the
demise of Buddhism in Northern India. It was proposed by Hazari Prasad Dwivedi that
the Julah weaver community were probably Nthpanths who converted en masse to
Islam to avoid being low-caste Hindus.
171
There is also a theory that they were Buddhists
before they became Muslims.

171
Dwivedi, H. Kabir, Delhi: Rajkamal Prakasan, 1985. p. 25 (Hindi)


243
Whatever the truth of this matter may be there is no doubt that there are elements in
Sant teachings which show considerable continuity with Buddhist teachings. Kabr is the
founder of a religious tradition which has a number of striking similarities with Buddhism.
For instance the style of his teachings, in terms of the verse forms and imagery are
consistent with Mahsiddhas teachings. Kabr and the Sants use similar couplet forms,
doh, and similar verse forms, pada, as were used by the Mahsiddhas. The use of
twilight language (Skt sandhybh) and upside down imagery (Hindi: ulaba). In
fact not just the styles, imagery and teachings relate but even entire songs are the same.
There is a song by Kabr which is almost identical to a song by the Mahsiddha
Dheeap.
172

There are also aspects of the traditions of the followers of the Kabr which resemble
Buddhist traditions. Four aspects of these are worthy of note. First, they are organised
into monastic orders and have a system of monasteries. Second, their monasteries
contain not only shrines to Kabr but also the samdhis of former Abbots of the
monasteries. These samdhis are a kind of funerary memorial and resemble funerary
stpas. In view of Schopens argument for the funerary character of the so called votive
stpas this seems to be a continuation of a Buddhist tradition. Third, early twentieth
century accounts of the activities of the Chattisgarh branch of his followers indicate that
they practised maala rituals and drew large maala designs in the courtyards of their
monasteries on which they performed ceremonies. Fourth, Kabr and the Sants were
devotees of a deity which they described as without attributes (Hindi: nirgua) or
formless. Unlike their bhakti movement compatriots who worshipped a deity with
attributes (Hindi: sagua) who manifested in forms such as Rma and Ka.
Siddhas, Sants and anti-caste sentiments
It is possible to trace a connection between the anti-caste viewpoints expressed in the
Mahsiddha literature and the similar sentiments expressed in the songs of the Sants
and espoused by contemporary Ambedkarite Buddhists. In particular the anti-caste

172
Dasgupta, S. B. Obscure Religious Cults, Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Limited, 1976. pp. 416417.


244
sentiments can be found in the works of Sant Raids, a younger contemporary of Kabr,
who was born in an untouchable leather working community in Varanasi in around
CE1450. Kabr and Raids are famous for their opposition to the caste system and one
of the fundamental arguments that they use is that it is not a natural system. Everybody
is created equally from a mixture of blood (the vehicle of the ova) and semen which are
not particularly pure things in Indian thought. This basic argument against caste by birth
is clearly found in the works of the Mahsiddhas in a similar form. There is also an
affinity with the anti-caste sentiments expressed in early Buddhist literature on what
makes a man truly a Brahmin, action rather than birth. This then is the crux of the
argument, is caste, or technically jti, based on birth or action. For the Buddhists and the
Sants it was not based on birth. There is a famous Kabr song in which he asks if
Brahmins are really different from others would they not be born from a different orifice?
An allusion to the Vedic myth of their birth from the mouth of the primal being. He then
goes on to ask if Muslims were really different would they not be born already
circumcised? Yet we are all born equal and so caste cannot be based on birth.
There is one final way in which the Mahsiddhas and the Sants resemble each other is
in a common shared set of key terms in their teachings. In particular nyat is often
linked to sahaja, a term which means literally born together or innate. The sense in
which sahaja is used is not easy to grasp but it points to the way in which all phenomena
are spontaneously born out emptiness. The continued importance of the concept of
sahaja in Sant teachings points to their closeness to the Mahsiddhas, for nowhere else
in Indian tradition are these two terms associated in a similar manner. There is a famous
verse of Kabr in which he says. Yogs cry Gorakh! Gorakh!, Hindus say Rm! Rm!,
the Muslims say God is one, the but Kabrs Lord dwells in each and every body. (Kabr
Granthval pada 300). If Kabr was not Hindu, Muslim or Yog then what was he? Was
the Sant tradition in a sense an inheritor of the Buddhist tradition.
What makes Buddhists Buddhist?
This raises a very interesting question. If you have a tradition which shares in common
with Buddhism: a teaching that everything is of the nature of nyat; a performance


245
tradition of songs and sayings; a ritual tradition and a monastic tradition, but it does not
call itself a form of Buddhism can you call it a type of Buddhism? Indeed, when these
people referred to neither themselves nor anybody else as Buddhists might it be
legitimate to regard them as a medieval Indian continuation of the Buddhist tradition? In
the end, it seems not as if people do not refer to themselves as Buddhists then how can
they be considered to be Buddhists.
Whether in some sense Buddhism therefore survived as a part of Hinduism is also an
issue that needs to be addressed. Ultimately it will come down to a question of what
being Buddhist means, does it mean to follow a set of practices or to identify oneself as
Buddhist whatever one does?
246
CHAPTER 22
Bodhgaya
Introduction
In this chapter I would like to look at Bodhgaya as an exemplar of the history of the
Buddhist traditions. In order to do this I will look at the following points.
Prehistoric Bodhgaya
The earliest agricultural communities of Bodhgaya
Bodhgaya at the time of the Buddha
Pilgrimage as a social and economic phenomena
The history of the temple: the archaeological account
The development of the sacred sites: Pilgrims accounts
The Archaeological History of the Temple
Bodhgaya at the time of the Buddha
Prehistoric Bodhgaya
The picture you probably have of Bodhgaya at the time of the Buddha is of an isolated
tree on a sandy bank in an out of the way virgin forest. However, the reality appears to
have been very different according to archaeological and textual data. The forest was
actually mixed with farmland and inhabited by many groups. These included the Jailas,
the Kayapas, and the Nirajana and Gay Brahmins. You will I am sure be familiar with
how Sujta fed milk rice to the Buddha after he abandoned austerities and before his
final enlightenment. According to the Pali sources Sujta was the daughter of the military
commander who governed the market town called Senanigama or Senapatigama
(military village or generals village), which is now known as Bakraur. Excavations have
shown that the modern village of Bakraur was a significant settlement and lay at the
focus of a number of trade routes leading from Rajgir down to the South. So rather than


247
the Buddha having found a virgin forest he found a well established site that was a
centre for trade and for austerities. This last factor I will return to later in this chapter and
it is highly significant.
Indeed, archaeological excavations in Bodhgaya have revealed continuous habitation of
the site since prehistoric times. There is no substantial evidence of hunter gatherer
habitation but there are Neolithic tools found, particularly microliths and ceramics which
indicate early inhabitation in the area and finds include a number of fish hooks which
suggest that fishing formed part of the livelihood of people before the arrival of
agriculture.
173

The earliest agricultural communities of Bodhgaya
On the mound called Taradih, situated to the East of the main temple excavations show
continuous habitation from the 11th century BCE onwards. During the chalcolithic from
the 11th to the 6th centuries BCE the farming of rice and wheat began in the area. This
can be told from traces of husks baked into pottery. In around the 6th century BCE the
first iron artefacts appear in the area and the density of construction of buildings
suggests more intensive inhabitation suggestive of greater agricultural activity in the
area.
Bodhgaya itself is built on around half a dozen raised areas, which are up to around 40
feet or so above the surrounding landscape and which are mounds built up by centuries
of constant habitation. The mounds contain extensive finds of tools, and other artefacts
and also of the ground plans and remains of layer upon layer of wattle and daub houses
and bamboo and mud buildings. The higher levels are predominately of the demolished
Buddhist temples and monasteries of the later medieval period. Indeed behind the
Tibetan market pits excavated for rubbish disposal in 1999 revealed the walls of the
great Sri Lankan monastery reaching down around fifteen feet or so into the ground.

173
Ansari, A, Q, Archaeological remains of Bodhgaya, Delhi: Ramanand Vidya Bhavan, 1990.


248
Bodhgaya at the time of the Buddha
From Brahmanical sources it is also known that Gaya was already important as a
pilgrimage site associated with the making of offerings for departed ancestors. The great
myths associated with Gaya relate how it was an area inhabited by asuras, non-Vedic
deities, who practised austerities in the area. One version of the story runs as follows.
The asura called Gaysura was a devotee of Viu and practised austerities by standing
on one leg for thousands of years without eating or drinking meditating on Viu. He
began to build up such great powers that the gods became concerned. Due to this they
tried to break his austerities by sending heavenly maidens (apsar) to tempt him and
when this did not succeed they attacked him, but due to his spiritual power built up by his
austerities. They then went to Viu and asked him what to do and he told them to ask
Gaysura to let his body be used as the location for a fire sacrifice for the welfare of the
world. Gaysura agreed and lay down so that the fire sacrifice could be performed on
him. Perhaps I should have pointed out before that when he laid down his body stretched
out five koa, about ten miles or so it seems. As long as the sacrifice was being
performed he was peaceful and did not shake but the gods started to worry what would
happen at the end of the sacrifice would he start to shake, or even get up. In order to pin
him down they established sacred sites all over his body, the sacred sites of the Gaya
area, and Viu himself in the form of Gaddhara placed himself on his chest, the site of
Viupada temple (The footstep of Viu).
174
Variants or this story, such as the version
in the Vyupura, also include that Gaysura gained a boon from Viu that people
who saw him would gain entry directly into heaven, and this was the cause of the gods
enmity that led them to demand his body as a location for their fire sacrifice.
175

It is also important to note that this connection between the Gaya sacred area and its
importance as a place close to heaven is also linked to the prevalence of ghosts in the
area. Indeed, it is famous that during the Piipaka fortnight each year the ghosts of the

174
j, 27 September 1999.
175
Hindustn, 30 September 1999.


249
ancestors all gather here and seek offerings which will ensure their satisfactory further
existence in heaven or rebirth.
There is a further factor here which is that the Brahminical texts describe Gaya area as
an important non Vedic sacred area. In other words its sanctity is viewed as predating
the supremacy of the Vedic traditions in the area. Indeed, in its association with the
asuras, the non-Vedic elements predominate in its myths. The sacred area of Gaya
includes Bodhgaya and nearby sites such as Dharmaraya and Mtagvypi near to
modern Bakraur all of which are regarded as parts of the sacred geography of Gaya.
176

Now I would like to make a suggestion here, we should consider why the Buddha gained
enlightenment in Bodhgaya in relation to the myths that relate to Gaya. It is not simply a
historical co-incidence that the Buddhas first teachings were at Sarnath on the outskirts
of Varanasi. In Indian tradition Varanasi is one of the main sites of spiritual authority so
to give a teaching there gives it authority. It is like giving a lecture at Oxford, Cambridge
or Harvard, rather than Coventry, Birmingham, or Bendigo. It lends authority to what is
taught.
I would suggest that to have a realisation at Gaya also gave a certain authority to the
Buddhas realisation. This is because this site is related to asceticism, contact with the
dead, with past lives and other worlds. It is also a place which is known above all for how
coming here gains release from suffering and a better afterlife. So for the enlightenment
of the Buddha to happen here lends authority to it. All aspects of Gaya as a sacred area
are curiously echoed in the Buddhas enlightenment story. It deals with the practice of
asceticism, like Gaysura, the ability to see his previous lives, like the vision of the
ancestors, and it grants liberation from suffering in this world or the next. It seems to me
therefore that the choice of Gaya for enlightenment was no accident but rather that the
Buddha chose this site for his realisation of enlightenment as it was supremely well fitted
for this. There is, of course, also the element from Buddhist tradition which says that
Bodhgaya is the place of enlightenment of all the past and future Buddhas, in this sense

176
Bhattacharyya, Tarapada, The Bodh Gaya Temple, Calcutta: K, L, Mukhopadhyay, 1966,


250
to then Bodhgaya is clearly not a random choice of location for enlightenment. Indeed, in
Buddhist terms it is the only place for Buddhas to gain enlightenment.
The enlightenment story and Bodhgaya are richly layered with different sorts of
associations with all manner of cults. There are associations with sacred trees and their
deities. The Sujta legend often includes the element that she mistook the Buddha for a
tree deity who she was in the custom of making offerings to in order to fulfil a vow she
had made. The enlightenment tree in itself may well be the most revered tree in the
world. In addition there are tanks and Nga deities which are associated with this
location. For instance the Nga Mucalinda features in the story of the enlightenment as
the Nga is said to have protected the Buddha during a storm after his enlightenment.
There is also a railing to the main temple which includes a relief of what is apparently a
Nga shrine which was probably in the area. It depicts serpents and peculiar pots with
spouts and holes in them which were offerings to serpents to dwell in. Similar pots and
such a shrine have been excavated at Rajgir.
In other words Gaya is a remarkable place and by no means simply a virgin forest area
but rather: an ancient sacred area associated with penance and the dead; on trade
routes and well inhabited; near to a major market town and already a place of pilgrimage.
Indeed even in the Buddhist accounts it is implicit that it was already a place of
pilgrimage because there is mention of how the first two lay people to convert had come
there to make offerings of the same food stuffs as contemporary pilgrims who come to
make offerings to their ancestors.
Another aspect of the enlightenment story is that the Buddha converted the Gaya
brothers to his teachings and also the Jailas. The Jailas were ascetics and was
mentioned earlier in the course worshipped fire and serpents. There is a story of how the
Buddha dared to spend the night in the chamber with the serpent and thus converts the
Jailas to following him.
Now it cannot be told whether the sacred trees and serpent shrines of the area may post
date the Buddhas enlightenment, but it is possible that they predate it. What matters I
believe is not the precise sequence of events but that these elements are all clustered


251
together. It represents a confluence of traditions and cults, trees, Ngas, Jailas, rites for
the ancestors, all of which are being incorporated into Buddhism. Now in contemporary
Buddhist teachings there is little emphasis on these elements as they are not current
religious phenomena that need to be addressed. However, the presence of these
elements in the Buddha story suggests that they once were important phenomena that
were regarded as part of the Buddhas story, perhaps because followers of these
traditions formed significant numbers in the early followers of the Buddha.
Let us return to the worship of trees. This is a very ancient Indian tradition. Perhaps the
earliest Indian representations of the worship of trees are found on seals from
Mohenjodaro. In some of the seals there are trees, apparently on platforms or
surrounded with railings being honoured by people and with what appears to be a female
figure emerging in the crown of the tree. The relationship of this most ancient image to
the Buddhist veneration of the Bodhi tree is unclear. However, it is said in the Pali canon
that after the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree king Prasenajita built
a railing around the tree and the site where he had sat.
The Archaeological History of the Temple
It is not clear what form of monument Aoka erected at the site when he visited it.
However, there is a relief from Bharhut which shows the Bodhi tree surrounded by a sort
of multi-storied open air construction enclosed in a railing and with an Aokan pillar
standing outside of it. It is probable that may of the present stone railings were added by
a queen called Kurangadevi during the unga period. The stone dais that represents the
diamond throne the vajrsana is also thought to be from the Aokan period.
There are also images of what may have been the cloister built over where the Buddha
walked up and down doing walking mediation after his enlightenment. At present only the
bases of one of the colonnades of pillars are exposed as the other row of pillar bases are
now under the wall of the main temple.
Quite when the first temple was built is not clear but possibly during the Kuna period
the original structure was replaced by some form of temple, possibly wooden, and the


252
tree was moved to one side of the tree and the vajrsana was moved into the temple.
Later during the Gupta period, perhaps around the 5th century CE, the present brick
structure was first erected.
177

It should be pointed out that the temple grounds are also a fine example of the kind of
process of creative re-discovery of the past that typifies many pilgrimage sites. For the
2500th anniversary celebrations the sites of the major events of the first seven weeks
after the Buddhas enlightenment were rediscovered by the Temple Management
Committee. The process does not seem to have been based on historical research but
rather inspired judgements on what sites might be suitable for each event and what sites
were convenient. However, this brings up a serious point, many pilgrimage sites undergo
such a constant process of rediscovery and in this manner grow and change according
to the demands of the times. An example is Mathura where the sites associated with
Ka were rediscovered by Rpa Goswam in the 16th century. Likewise the birth site of
Raids in Varanasi was rediscovered by one of his followers in a dream in the 1940s.
This process continues in the present day. The Abbott of the Burmese monastery has
helped to rediscover sites for pilgrimage in Bodhgaya. For instance the present site for
the monument to here Sujta fed milk rice to the Buddha, behind the Mtagvypi well,
was located mainly because it was on a good pathway, and was felt to be an appropriate
spot for a pilgrimage site.
I would argue that the purpose of a sacred landscape is not in the end to be a historical
record, but rather to be a text though which the story of the sacred site can be told. The
real location of these events does not matter, what matters is that we the pilgrims with
our guides can be taken through the landscape and according to the prompts given by
the landmarks listen to the story. In a way as the pilgrims move though the sacred
landscape and follow the events in the story it is also possible for them to recreate the
experience of the story itself. It could be argued that it is not just the sites which have
been rediscovered by the interpreters of the sacred site but that each pilgrim rediscovers

177
Barua, Dipak K, Buddha Gaya Temple, Gaya: Buddha Gaya Temple Management Committee, 1981,


253
the story for themselves as they move though the landscape. This process is clearly
going on now, and it is likely that it has always been part of the way that sacred sites like
Bodhgaya functioned.
The development of the sacred sites: Pilgrims accounts
Vivid accounts of the temple are found in the descriptions of it by various Chinese
pilgrims. Fa-Hsien (5th century CE) described it as having over 700 images and being a
most impressive structure.
178
There are also accounts of the temple by Huen-Tsang (7th
century CE) and I-Tsing (7th century CE).
Their accounts also include the stories they were told at each of the locations they
visited. For instance they were taken to the place to the place to the South of the temple
that marked where the birds circled around the future Buddhas head to foretell his
coming enlightenment. What was happening was clearly that they were taken to that
spot and told that tale. Thus each location around the sacred site was the key to a story
that was told from a cycle of tales about the Buddhas enlightenment. Nowadays this
event is not marked by any monument and its tale is not told. Likewise Huen-Tsang was
taken to a place where two Sujtas fed milk to the Buddha. Nowadays the site is lost,
and the legend too has changed, in this case back to the story in the Pali canon of only
one Sujta. It is I would suggest an important element in how the story of the Buddha
has developed that it has been enriched by cycles of stories associated with monuments
marking the sites of significant events at pilgrimage sites.
The Tibetan pilgrim Dharmasvmin in the 12th century also left accounts of the temple. It
was apparently part of a complex of temples dedicated to different deities and former
Buddhas and also major monastery complexes. The most important monastery was built
with Sri Lankan patronage, for Sri Lankan monks. During the Pla dynasty the temple
was again expanded and took on a form similar to that it is in today with the four
subsidiary temples at the corners of the main platform.

178
Giles, Herbert, A,, Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms, Varanasi: Prithvi Prakashan, 1972,


254
The history of the temple: the archaeological account
By the late 19th century the temple was little more than a pile of bricks and desperately
in need of restoration. In the early 1880s the Burmese had sent a mission to restore the
temple but the British were horrified to discover that they were demolishing all the small
stpas around it and in the British view wrecking it. However, in 1883 the British annexed
Burma and took over the reconstruction of the temple.
The temple was extensively restored according to plans drawn up from a number of
models of it which were available at the time and major archaeological excavations were
done at the same time. The excavations revealed the remains of the railings from round
the temple and examples of the terracotta statues that had once adorned the niches in
the walls as well as the countless stpas that surround the main temple. Furthermore the
British collected together many of the statues and railings from the temple which had
been scattered around the area and many statues were recovered from the Hindu
monastery in the village. There was some controversy over the restoration of the corner
temples as these were not part of the early temple but Pla dynasty additions. However,
they left all the Tantric sculptures that were in the Hindu monastery were they were and
only restored the earlier non-tantric sculptures. There were also problems with the
restoration of the main entrance as from the Chinese pilgrims accounts it appears that it
was made of wood, yet they chose to restore it in stone and cement. The restoration
really raised the problem of how to restore a monument that had been a living and
evolving structure for over a thousand years before its evolution came to an end with the
Muslim invasions. When the British started restoring the temple there were three levels
of shrines, perhaps representing the late Buddhist doctrine of the three bodies (Skt kya)
of the Buddha of the Buddha, the Emanation body Sabhogakya, the Manifestation
body Nirmakya and the Dharma body Dharmakya.
By combining archaeological excavation with comparisons from the accounts of the
Chinese pilgrims Cunningham managed to identify what many of the subsidiary


255
structures around the main temple were.
179
It is interesting that one of them is related to
a previous Buddha, Kayapa Buddha, and that a number of the subsidiary monuments
seem to have also been highly significant in their own right. However, they did not
restore any of the major subsidiary temples, which had originally crowded around the
main temple. The temple complex probably resembled the Jain temple cities of
Rajasthan. Nor yet did the British restore the great monastery that the Singhalese had
built to the North of the temple and which originally had rivalled in height the main temple
and covered a vast area and now lies under the main market of the village.
The story of the great monastery is shows that from early times the Singhalese had been
a significant community in Bodhgaya and had under royal patronage constructed a great
monastery here for pilgrims from Sri Lanka and as a centre for traditional Theravda
Buddhism. The Chinese pilgrims describe how it fed and housed the pilgrims from the
funds it controlled as it was a rich land holding monastery. Indeed it seems to have been
one of the major land owners of Bodhgaya. The food and lodging offered in the great
monastery was, it seems, free, but there was probably an expectation then, as now, that
in return pilgrims would make donations at the shrines in Bodhgaya. However
relationships between the Singhalese monks and the Mahyna tradition were not
always smooth and there are Tibetan accounts of the Singhalese monks running wild
and smashing Mahyna images and burning Mahyna scriptures.
At the time of Dharmapala there was a stone statue of Tara which was situated beside
the spring from which the monks of north-eastern Vajrsana drew their water. At that
time the Singhala rvakas known as the Sendhapas burned many tantric scriptures
and, finding a large silver image of Heruka, they destroyed that as well.


Despite these disputes the fame of Bodhgaya did not decline. There are even record that
show that pilgrims managed to come from places as far away as China and bring with

179
Cunningham, Alexander. Mahabodhi or the Great Buddhist Temple under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh-
Gaya, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998. (1
st
published 1892).
180
Templeman, David. The Origin of the Tara Tantra by Jo-Nan Trntha, Dharamasala: Library of
Tibetan Works and Archives, 1981. p. 23.


256
them sufficient wealth to have temples constructed in Bodhgaya. This is a tribute to how
far you could travel with cash in your pocket in former times. There is even a Chinese
plaque which was recovered from the Hindu monastery that records the erection of a
temple by a Chinese pilgrim. The temple itself is sadly gone or no longer identifiable.
Pilgrimage as a social and economic phenomena
Pilgrimage links diverse communities spread over great distances with a common
heritage. It has both a personal level at which it changes the lives of the individuals who
make the pilgrimage and a social level in the way that it then changes the communities
to which the pilgrims return. In this way pilgrimage helps to unite the periphery and the
centre in religious traditions. It also has an economic aspect in that it supports the
economic life of the place of pilgrimage. In this manner it resembles modern mass
tourism . The economic influence of this may have effected the number of sacred sites.
After all if you could (discover a site associated with the Buddha you could attract
pilgrims and this may account for some of the proliferation of sacred sites at pilgrimage
places. It is moreover in the interests of the inhabitants of pilgrimage sites that pilgrimage
continues.
Conclusion
In terms of the development of the tradition pilgrimage is immensely important. Through
the tales told by the guides and story tellers of the pilgrimage site it plays a vital role in
developing and maintaining traditional stories about the life of the Buddha. Indeed, the
very landscape of the pilgrimage site becomes a kind of sacred text which when
interpreted by the local guides preserves a text of the tradition.
257
CHAPTER 23
The Buddhist Revival In India
Introduction
In this chapter I would like to look at some of the major themes in the revival of the
Buddhist tradition in India during the last two centuries.
Hinduism and Buddhism
The Hindu Revival
Hindu Reform Movements
Ambedkar and the Buddha and Dharma
Anagrika Darmapla and the Mahbodhi Society
Nehru and Aoka: Buddha as the Ideal Statesman
The BJP and the Buddha
Hinduism and Buddhism
Let us start by reading something written in 1956 by S. Radhakrishnan, the noted
academic and President of India in the introduction to an Indian government publication
to mark the celebrations of the 2500th anniversary of the Buddhas enlightenment.
Radhakrishnan emphatically asserts that.
The Buddha did not feel that he was announcing a new religion. He was born, grew up,
and died a Hindu. He was restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals of the Indo-
Aryan civilization.
181

He elaborates on this point as follows.

181
Radhakrishnan, S. op. cit. p. ix.


258
Buddhism did not start as a new and independent religion it was an offshoot of the more
ancient faith of the Hindus, perhaps a schism or a heresy.
182
While on the fundamentals
of metaphysics and ethics the Buddha agreed with the faith he inherited he protested
against certain practices which were in vogue at the time. He refused to acquiesce in the
Vedic ceremonialism. Buddha utilised the Hindu inheritance to correct some of its [Vedic
cultures] expressions, he came to fulfil, not to destroy, for us in this country the Buddha
is an outstanding representative of our religious tradition. He left his footprints on the soil
of his India and his mark on the soul of the country with its habits and convictions. While
the teachings of the Buddha assumed distinctive forms in other countries of the world in
conformity with their own traditions here in the home of the Buddha it has entered into
and become an integral part of our culture. The Brahmins and the Shramanas were
treated alike by the Buddha and the two traditions gradually blended. In a sense the
Buddha is a maker of modern Hinduism.
183

Is it not striking that this Buddha did not form a new religion but rather that Buddhism is
at best a schism within Hinduism and at worst a heresy. Moreover the viewpoint that
he is in a (sense a maker of modern Hinduism is striking. A similar claim is made in the
influential work Hinduism written by the Bengali intellectual by K. M. Sen in 1959.
Buddhism has exercised an enormous influence on the Hindu faith. In a sense it is wrong
to say that Buddhism disappeared from India later. In fact most of its tenets came to be
accepted by large sections of the Hindus, and Hinduism once again revealed its
remarkable power of assimilation by making Buddhism part of itself.
184


182
It is interesting that the Hindi version of the same introduction translates this as. The Buddha Dharma
did not start as a new or independent Dharma. It was only a branch of a more ancient Hindu Dharma, it
should perhaps be considered as a rebellious or separatist tendency of Hindu Dharma.

183
Radhakrishnan, S. Introduction, in Bapat, P.V. 2500 Years of Buddhism, Delhi: Publications Division
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, 1956, p. xii.
184
Sen, K. M. op. cit. p.66.


259
I believe that in order to understand such developments, and indeed the revival of
Buddhism in modern India, we need to address some fundamental questions. In
particular what is religion and what is the relationship between religion and the
development of communal identity. This is because to look at the Buddhist revival we
have to look at the context within which it occurred, which is the revival of religions as a
whole in 19th and 20th century Asia. The reason why we need to look at this is because
we need now to examine issues to do with colonialism and religion.
Early on in the colonial period in India the British brought with them ideas about the
relationship between religion and society which were part of an active debate going on in
Europe at the same time. This debate interacts with India traditions which typically
results in Indian traditions formulating responses to Western debates which then serve to
redefine Indian traditions themselves.
The Hindu Revival
A concrete example of this is Ram Mohan Roy, a Bengali intellectual who in the early
19th century formulated some of the first responses to Western attacks on Indian
religion. He tried to create a version of Hinduism which could be successfully defended
against Christian criticism. Two striking features of his approach were an attempt to
identify a set of texts which actually represent Hinduism and an effort to claim that there
was a pure original form of Hinduism which is different from the present day practices of
Hindus. Further more these two elements are linked in that this pure Hinduism is to be
found within the texts not the practices of the Hindus. This marked a great change from
early Hindu life which allowed for belief in almost anything as long the rules of the social
system were observed. One of the problems we have here is that to talk about this issue
we are constantly driven to use the word Hinduism yet a great deal of the meaning of
this word in the sense of the religion of the Hindus is a creation of this interaction
between the colonialists and Indian intellectuals. It articulates a set of views on what
makes someone a Hindu in terms of belief in a manner analogous to the concept of a
basic set of Christian beliefs. Earlier Indian uses of the term Hindu are much more
vague and go back to as early as the 12th century. The basic sense in which the term is


260
first used appears to be simply for an inhabitant of India as opposed to a Turk who is a
Muslim central Asian settler in India. However, by the time of Kabr in the 15th century it
is clear that the term Hindu had become identified with a certain group of Indians who
shared some degree of religious identity. However, whether that identity related as much
to social practices as it did beliefs. It was a British, or Western, influence that sought to
locate Hindu in terms of beliefs rather than practices.
Ram Mohan Roy is remembered for the idea of purifying Hinduism by getting back to its
original form which is embodied in its texts and not its practices. This can be related to
the debate in Europe over whether religion lay in textual sources, as Luther argued,
rather than in its contemporary practices. This then represents a major shift in the nature
of debate over what constitutes religion in India from the early 19th century onwards.
A second major factor that need to be examined is the relationship between colonialism
and nationalism. It needs to be born in mind that the very concept of the modern nation
state was only being developed in Europe itself from the later part of the 18th century
onwards. To define a nation three major characteristics were identified, ethnicity, religion
and language. Previous to this the notion of nation had been defined by loosely
structured ideas based on the concept of the divine right of kings to conquer and rule
areas. The 18th century marks a revolution in the concept of nation.
We are not concerned here with language in itself, nor yet ethnicity, but we need to talk
about religion as a symbol of being a nation state. Consider if you will how the Flemish
and Dutch peoples share a common ethnicity and language, yet due to differing religions
have different nation status. Or the manner in which Ireland has been divided by
religious identity. Clearly religion can be a powerful symbol for nation status.
In India to the implications of this were profound for both Hinduism and Buddhism. You
cannot understand the Buddhist revival in India without understanding the Hindu revival.
In particular it must be acknowledged that part of the push to develop a Hindu religion
was motivated by the desire to create a religion which would justify the claim for there
being such a thing as the nation of India. Clearly India could not be defined though its
language, as there were numerous languages, or its ethnicity, as this was extremely


261
diverse. One way in which it could claim to be a nation was by claiming a common
religious heritage, that of Hinduism.
The only problem with this that not everybody wanted to be a Hindu. The Muslims were
busy working on the notion of being part of the nation of Islam and following the 18th
century Wahabi movement in Saudi Arabia were involved in a form of revival that
stressed the pan-national identity of Islam.
Another group who were unhappy about being Hindus were the Sikhs. The followers of
Guru Nnak and the lineage of gurus he began which culminated in the formation of the
Khalsa in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh. The Singh Sabh published a famous booklet in
the late 19th century called We are not Hindus and struggled to show that the Sikh
tradition was separate from Hinduism in terms of practice, belief and language. The
Sikhs were thus able to articulate their claim to separate status and now have their own
state.
The Jains were also affected by this development. Like the Buddhists they were at one
time a separate tradition in India. However, they had negotiated a relationship with the
Vaishnava community as they shared common concerns about purity and pollution and
non-violence. They intermarried quite freely and thus were in some senses Hindu
although their beliefs varied from Brahminical Hindus. This was a problem as they could
not claim nation status but argued their status as a separate religion within Hinduism.
They also made a vital contribution to the Indian Nationalist movement as their ideas
about non-violence had an immense effect on Gandhi. Indeed it could be argued that
Gandhis notions of non-violence ahis is predicated on Jain religious teachings. It is
far from clear why Buddhism is credited with this as it is not in fact a cardinal teaching of
Buddhism, but rather the central tenet of Jainism.
The fate of Buddhism was also influenced by European views on it. Many argued that
contemporary Hinduism was a low and debased practice but that once India had
followed the noble and humanitarian philosophy of Buddhism. The great founder of
which was the historical philosopher par excellence the Buddha. One of the most
interesting features of this for nationalism was that it offered a model for secular non-


262
religious governance of India. From the Buddhist example it could be argued that India
had a precedent for the kind of humanitarian government that the British claimed to
espouse. Fortuitously in 1837 with the decipherment of the Aokan edicts it was also
revealed that India had once had a great emperor who had ruled according to
humanitarian principles in the name of Buddhist philosophy. This meant that as a symbol
Buddhism as part of Hinduism offered an example of how an independent India could be
a secular modern nation. A glorious example of the synthesis of Western interests in
Buddhism and Indian nationalism. Thus in the later part of the 19th century Aoka was
held up as a symbol of how the state could be ruled equitably by Indians just as the
British ruled India. This meant that the Buddha also needed to be maintained in the role
of a philosopher as a counterpart to the Greek philosophers role in ancient polity.
There was one problem with this in that there nationalist movement included both
modernists and traditionalists. For the modernists the Buddha was a great symbol for a
rational humanitarian India. For the traditionalists he was a problem. How could a figure
who they regarded as a kind of aberration be adopted as a positive symbol? Traditional
Hindus disliked the Buddha and the common story about him as an avatra of Viu was
that he was a malicious trickster who tested people by led people astray and converted
them to Buddhism only so they could then attain merit by reconverting to Hinduism. This
story is of course very odd as what is meant by Hinduism in this debate was unclear.
But it is clear that the Buddhas denial of the authority of the Vedas did offend 19th
century Buddhists.
Hindu Reform Movements
From the time of Rm Mohan Roy in the early 19th century a number of Hindu reform
movements began which sort to restore Hinduism to its pure form found in its texts. The
first of these was the Brahmosamja. A slightly later movement was that founded by a
Gujarati Brahmin called Daynand who started the Aryasamja. This society tried to
restore the pure Vedic form of Hinduism, in particular he rejected image worship and
hereditary caste distinctions. This last point was highly significant as he instituted a
practice whereby untouchable people could undergo a purification ceremony (uddhi)


263
and be granted caste status if they joined the Aryasamja. Following the annexation of
the Punjab in 1848 two movements grew in importance in the area, the Singh Sabh of
the Sikhs and the Hindu Aryasamja. There was a rapid growth of Aryasamj members
in the latter half of the 19th century in the Punjab and the Agra area particularly due to
untouchable people joining up. But by around the start of the 20th century these former
untouchables then left the Aryasamja and started to form their own associations. Two
communities set up organisations, the leather working community who identified
themselves as followers of Raids and the sweepers who identified their great teacher
as Vlmki the author or the Rmyaa. The rhetoric of the Raidss and Vlmks
included two elements from the nationalist cookbook. First, they claimed to have a
distinctive ethnicity, they said that they were the indigenous inhabitants of India who had
been conquered by the invading Aryans. Second, they asserted a distinct religious
identity separate from Hinduism. In the case of Raids they also traced an evolution of
anti-caste thought from the life and works of Raids himself down to their 20th century
movements.
Ambedkar and the Buddha and Dharma
It is within this context, of religion as one of a group of nationalists symbols, that we need
to consider the emergence of Ambedkar and his ideas about Buddhism. B.R. Ambedkar
became the leader of the untouchable Mahar community from Maharashtra and his
views on Buddhism developed within this context. The concept of religion shifted away
from what could be described as its two main traditional characteristics; a social
organisational system and a soteriology, a way to liberation. It became rather a symbol
for community identity.
Ambedkar was born in 1892 in a small town called Mhow which was then a princely state
but is now in Maharashtra. He was born into the untouchable Mahar community but was
a gifted child and his father had served in the British military forces. In the Bombay
Presidency area the British had raised whole regiments of untouchables to fight against
the high caste Maharattas who they were suppressed. Due to his background
Ambedbkars father had a pension and gained a desire to educate his children. In


264
addition the ruler of the princely state offered scholarships to help untouchables to study.
However, it was not easy for an untouchable to study in school. He had to sit separately
from the other students and was not allowed to touch any of the books or materials to be
handled by the other students and the teachers. Nor even dream of touching the drinking
water which the students shared. Despite this Ambedkar was a brilliant student and he
got scholarships to study in London and then at Colombia University in New York. While
in the USA he met Marcus Garvey and came into contact with the civil rights movement
and was most impressed with their attempts to gain equal rights. On his return to India
he was expected to join the administrative service of the Maharaja of Mhow but was
horrified to discover that his colleagues still treated him as an untouchable. He then
moved away to Bombay and became a lawyer representing the rights of the
untouchables and a social organiser leading the untouchables struggle to gain equal
rights.
During the 1930s he became the commonly accepted leader of the untouchables in India
and he attempted to unite them into a separate lobby within the nationalist movement.
On the other hand Gandhi was trying his best to maintain that everybody who lives in
India is a Hindu. By 1917 it became obvious that the Muslims would not follow this line
and they were granted separate reserved status within the Legislative Assemblies. The
Legislative Assemblies were a quasi-democratic representative system that the British
were developing in attempts to pacify demands for independence. The Muslims were
granted separate seats on the grounds of their common language, identity and religion.
Ambedkar by 1931 at the Round Table Conference in London negotiated for the
untouchables being regarded in a similar manner and successfully got them a number of
reserved seats in the Legislative Assemblies. This would have made them a third force in
Indian politics. Gandhis response was to declare the untouchables an inseparable part
of Hinduism and they had to remain within Hinduism and could not be granted separate
representation. He refused to countenance any forms of affirmative action for
untouchables and argued that all that was necessary was a change of heart by the
higher castes who would then bring the untouchables up to their level. He totally


265
opposed Ambedkar over the reservation for untouchables in the Legislative Assembly
and goes on a fast to death to force Ambedkar to give up the advantages he had won
from the British. Ambedkar has to back down.
It was within a few years of this that Ambedkar declares that although he was born a
Hindu he will not die as one. He was lobbied by Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and
followers of other faiths who sought to get him to convert to their religions. He rejected
Islam and Christianity as non-Indian and Sikhism and Jainism as unsatisfactory for his
needs. In the end in 1956 he converted to Buddhism and led about 3 million of his
followers into the Buddhist tradition.
Ambedkar was a mother tongue Marathi speaker and spoke English fluently. He did not
read either Pali or Sanskrit and all of his contact with Buddhist literature was though
translations, mostly English and to a lesser extent Marathi publications. His interpretation
of Buddhism was thus mediated through a largely Western education and he made a
reinterpretation of Buddhism as a social movement. In particular he saw the teaching of
the cessation of suffering as a social issue and argued that Buddhism should seek to
improve the physical conditions of Buddhists. He defined suffering as the oppression of
the untouchables, the source of suffering as caste prejudice, the cessation of suffering
as the eradication of caste prejudice and the way to end suffering as following his own
teachings. His great slogan was Educate, Organise, Agitate. He totally altered some
elements in Buddhism. In particular he denied that karma effected rebirth, as this might
imply that untouchables are born in a bad situation due to bad actions in previous lives.
He also interpreted some aspects of the Buddhas story in novel ways that stressed the
philosophical rational aspect of the Buddha. For instance he attributed the Buddhas
renunciation to the Buddhas opposition to armed conflict over a dispute over water
rights. In his seminal work on Buddhism, The Buddha and his Dharma which was
published after his death in 1956 his basic argument is that Buddhism is a way to social


266
liberation, not spiritual liberation.
185
This is not a view that seems consistent with
traditional Buddhism but it has shaped the development of his movement after his death.
It is possible that his death soon after his conversion left his vision for Buddhism
unfinished. His views on monasticism were ambivalent and he condemned the institution
as not valid and saw them as a community of non-producing exploiters of masses of the
untouchable workers. It should be born in mind that he was also greatly influenced by left
wing writings. He was also suspicious it seems that Brahmins, the class enemy, would
infiltrate the monastic community and subvert the movement. So on his death he left no
clear role for monks in his interpretation of Buddhism and did not lay out how his version
of Buddhism was to function. The only source for knowledge of Buddhism was
apparently to be Ambedkars own works. This has led to only a slow development of a
monastic community amongst Indian Buddhists.
However, increasingly his followers seem to splintering into more socially orientated
groups and others who are adopting a more conventional Buddhist base. In the 1970s
the radical wing formed the Dalit Panther movement on the model of the Black Panthers
but the force of this movement was rapidly defused by internal dissension. The term
Dalit means oppressed and is the term chosen to refer to themselves by most
untouchables who identify with Ambedkars more militant views. Traditional caste titles,
such as Chamr, Vlmki and Mahar are not widely employed as their use is considered
an incitement to racial hatred, rather like using nigger or whitey. Nor yet is Gandhis
Harijan which means People of God regarded by most untouchables as anything other
than patronising. The official term used in publications for untouchables is the bland
scheduled castes. Since the mass conversion to Buddhism most non-militant
untouchables in Maharashtra have called themselves Buddhists, the militants call
themselves Dalits.

185
Ambedkar, B. R. The Buddha and His Dhamma, Nagpur: Buddha Bhoomi Publications, 1997. (1
st

published 1956)


267
Since around 1992 the followers of Ambedkar have taken over management of the
Bodhgaya temple and are apparently trying to gain training and monastic discipline in
order to substantiate their claims to be the rightful managers of the temple over the more
orthodox Sri Lankan monks who seek to gain control over the temple.
Anagrika Darmapla and the Mahbodhi Society
Anagrika Dharmapla (1864-1933) is an immensely significant figure in the revival of
Buddhism in Sri Lanka and India. He was born under the name of David Hewavitarane in
Colombo Sri Lanka. In 1880 he met Madame Blavatksy and Colonel Alcott when they
visited Sri Lanka and took refuge in Buddhism. Then in 1886 he became the secretary of
the Buddhist Theosophical society and became intensely active in Buddhist activities. In
1891 he visited Sarnath and Bodhgaya and became began his to campaign tirelessly for
the reclaiming of the temple from the its Hindu management. He formed the Mahbodhi
society of India in 1891 and in 1893 he attended the Chicago Parliament of Religions as
a representative of Theravda Buddhism. Due to his efforts and his Indian supporters
who formed the Mahabodhi society the temple was eventually taken under government
management and after Independence taken out of the Hindu Abbots of the local Hindu
monastery.
There are two main views on his career. The conventional Theravda view is that he was
the greatest champion of the Buddhist revival movement in Sri Lanka. The view of some
others is that he was responsible for causing a split between Buddhists and Hindus
which led to the civil unrest and war that has torn Sri Lanka apart during the last few
decades.
Whatever the position you take up in this debate it is clear that he was an immensely
influential figure and three aspects of his career are particularly striking. First, he
championed a linkage between patriotism and modernisation in the Sri Lankan Sangha.
Second, he campaigned for the restoration to Buddhists of the pilgrimage sites in India
and third he was seen as a spokesman for Buddhism in the Western world. One thing is
also abundantly clear, his views were based on the notion that there was a pure form of


268
Buddhism which was found in Buddhist texts and that Buddhist practice had to be
purified by the removal of all elements he saw as neither rational or scientific.
186

Nehru and Aoka: Buddha as the Ideal Statesman
I have argued above during the independence movement in India there was a movement
to articulate interpretations of Indian history which would support the notion of India as a
great nation state. One of the most powerful symbols that was adopted was that of the
Emperor Aoka who provided a model for a powerful, non-sectarian and humanitarian
leader of an Indian state.
In a letter to his sister on May 24th 1956 Nehru wrote.
Today is Buddha Jayanti day and the full moon of Vaisakh will rise again as did 2500
years ago on the Buddha. We have celebrated it in India on a big scale for it seems to
have a particular significance in this age of ours. It is curious - this homecoming of the
Buddha to Indian hearts and minds after a long lapse...
187

In post independence India Nehru seems to have fostered this image of Aoka and this
led to a depiction of Aokan Buddhism and patronage of Buddhism which stressed its
humanitarian and non-sectarian features. It is interesting to consider whether he in a
sense saw himself as a kind of modern Aoka and whether this influenced his views. It
was also during his period of office that the celebrations of the 2500th anniversary of the
Buddha were held. This offered a great opportunity to India to foster its links with
Buddhist countries in Asia and the Indian media consistently depicted the Buddhist
heritage of India as a powerful symbol of India as a great humanitarian nation.

186
Gokhale, B.G. Theravada Buddhism and Modernization: Anagarik Dhammapala and B.R. Ambedkar,
JAAS, XXXiV, 1, 1999.
187
Nayantara Sahgal (ed.), 2000, Before Freedom: Nehru's letters to his sister 1909-1947. Harper Collins:
New Delhi. (Quoted in Hindustan Times, October 22
nd
2000).


269
The BJP and the Buddha
During the last two decades there has also been an attempt by Hindu nationalists in
India to depict Buddhism in India in an entirely different manner. The BJP and its
supporters, such as the RSS, depict the Buddha as a Hindu and lay claim to all
Buddhists being Hindus. There are a number of agendas for this attitude. First, it
concords with traditional caste Hindu views on Buddhism. Second, it provides a means
for reclaiming the Buddhist Ambedkarites as Hindus and not Buddhists. Third, it allows
the Hindus to lay claim to all Buddhist sites.
It is notable that up until the destruction of the Mosque at Ayodhya the BJP had been
campaigning for the reclaiming of the Bodhgaya temple from what it regarded as secular
management whilst the Ambedkarites had been campaigning for it to be handed over to
the Buddhists. However, following Ayodhya the BJP dropped its opposition to the
Ambedkarites and in return for their cooperation supported their claim to the temple.
Although now it is clear they are claiming that Buddhists are Hindus and so the temple is
in Hindu hands.
This agenda is being pursued in two ways: first in a kind of sledgehammer approach
where leaders such as L.K. Advani are claiming that Buddhism is based on the
Upanishads, a claim that enrages Buddhists; and second by leaders such as Atal Behari
Vajpayee who are trying to sponsor a unity of Buddhists and Hindus.
Contemporary perceptions of Buddhism in India in the media present an inconsistent
picture in which several images of Buddhism are conflated. On an abstract level there is
Buddhism as the great India humanitarian philosophical tradition and as an integral facet
of Hinduism. However, alongside this on a practical level there is also Buddhism as the
religion of the untouchables followers of Ambedkar and as the religion of foreign
countries such Tibet. These perceptions of Buddhism do not sit happily together. In
particular the growing influence of politics based on a notion of Hindu-ness (Hindi:
hindutva) suggest that in the coming years Buddhists, and Buddhism, in India may face
new challenges concerning the relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism.
270
CHAPER 24
Buddhism and the West
Introduction
To cover two and half thousand years of the history of Buddhism in a single book is a
fairly optimistic estimate of what somebody might be able to study during really only a
few weeks of study. To then go on and in one chapter cover Buddhism in relation to all of
the cultures of the world would be hopelessly unrealistic. Due to that this chapter
contains rather a sketch of a number of issues that could be addressed and a more
detailed look at a single topic. I will look at the following topics.
The Theosophists
Theravda Buddhism
The Tibetan Diaspora
Buddhism and Beliefs
Is there an Essence of Buddhism?
The Theosophists
But before looking at some of the elements of the spread of Buddhism into the Western
world and its interaction with Asian cultural systems I would like to explore the notions of
romanticism and classicism a little. One way of looking at the development of European
thought since the renaissance has been to identify two tendencies one of which could be
called romanticism and the second classicism. As a broad generalisation the classicists
believed that there were some underlying principles that governed the order of the world,
as in the Greek classical notions of harmony. The romantics stressed that whether or not
there were underlying patterns what mattered was how we perceived the world. They
stressed the emotions that were generated by interacting with the world. These two
attitudes have had far reaching influences on Western thought. The classicists felt that


271
an objective picture of the world could ideally be perceived through pure reason, the
romantics that what mattered was your subjective feelings about how you saw the world.
These two models were then applied to studying the world as part of the European
colonial project. I would argue that be the late 18th and early 19th century it had become
apparent that the classicists were more interested in studying how the world could be
fitted into their categories and the romantics were fascinated by what made the non-
European world strange and other.
The romantics were concerned with the sublime in nature and on the other there was a
sense that there was a mystery in the oriental. This seeking to find something
transcendental and meaningful in nature and the sense, to quote a contemporary
phrase, that the truth is out there had a profound influence on Western spirituality. It
lead to searching for the sublime and the mystic in non-European culture and to locate in
the orient alternative soteriological paths.
Probably the first major Western interest in Buddhism as a spiritual system came from
the Theosophist movement. But I feel that to talk about them we first need to consider
briefly the spiritualist movement that it grew out of. This itself can be seen as coming out
of more general 19th century interest in spiritualism and the romantic in Europe and
America. Spiritualists, such as Madam Blavatsky, were interested in an eclectic mixture
of spiritualism, mysticism, and Orientalism. Her writings are a bewildering cascade of
freely associated thoughts that waver from the ancient Egyptians to masters who dwelt
in the Himalayas. Colonel Olcott is also a remarkable figure and the interaction between
his views and those of Madam Blavatsky and the Sri Lankan Buddhists led to major
developments in Buddhism in both the East and the West. They became the first
Western proponents of Buddhism and their interests in Buddhism led to the visits of
Anagrika Dharmapla to the West. What is I feel perhaps most important about the
Theosophists is that they saw Buddhism as part of a spiritual path. Prior to this interest in
Buddhism had largely been limited to that of interest in an abstract philosophical system.
The Theosophists, and perhaps in particular Colonel Olcott, saw it as part of a spiritual
path.


272
Theravda Buddhism
The spread of Theravda Buddhism into the West began in the second half of the 19th
century. In an Australian context it is interesting to note that Theravda Buddhists from
Sri Lanka have been in Australia since the 1870s and the first saplings of the Bodhi tree
were planted in Australia in the 1880s, so that Theravda Buddhism in Australia has a
history that now stretches back over two centuries.
188
(Croucher: 4).
The main sources for Theravda influence in the West have been Burma, Thailand and
Sri Lanka.
In the 19th century the main interest in Buddhism was based upon its texts but in since
the mid 20th century the focus has shifted to meditation practice. Significant movements
based on lay practice of meditation have emerged from Thailand, such as those of Ajhan
Cha and Buddhadasa, and from Sri Lanka and there has now been an interplay between
the Insight meditation traditions of these countries which has led to a variety of
interpretations of this technique becoming popular in India and around the world. A
number of Westerners spent time in the 60s and 70s with modern Thai teachers Ajahn
Cha and Buddhadasa and took aspects of their teachings back to the West. In particular
these Thai influenced Insight mediation teachings are now associated with the Insight
Meditation Society in Barrie and with Gaya House in Devon.
Another important figure in the Buddhist revival in India, and the world, is S. N. Goenka
who is active in popularising a particular form of Insight meditation. During the 19th
century in Burma a movement began to popularise the practice of insight meditation
amongst lay people. This movement claimed that it was preserving original Buddhist
teachings which had been handed down by secret lineages in Burma and based its
teachings on an interpretation of certain texts in the Pali canon, in particular the
Satipahana sutta. Goenka formerly lived in Burma and learnt this technique there. He
later returned to India and began to teach this technique as a non-religious form of

188
Croucher, Paul, Buddhism in Australia 1848-1988, Kensington: New South Wales University Press,
1989. p. 4.


273
cultivation and he, and his disciples, have trained thousands of people in how to
meditate according to this tradition. He and his followers are today immensely influential
in the spread of Theravda Buddhism.
Engaged Buddhism is a term developed in the US to describe Buddhist activity which is
related to environmental and human rights issues. There are three figures from Asia who
stand out in its development. First, Sulak Sivaraksa a social activist from Sri Lanka.
Second, A. T. Ariyaratne the leader of the Sarvodaya movement from Sri Lanka. Third,
Thich Nhat Hanh, the exiled Vietnamese Buddhist leader has been prominent in this
movement especially in association with efforts to promote world peace. All of these
leaders have, in one way or another, made efforts to reformulate Buddhist traditions as
engaged social movements aiming to introduce grass roots level social development and
trying to promote world peace.
The Tibetan Diaspora
Tibetan Buddhism is very much within the scope of this work as the influence of the
Tibetan refugee community on Buddhist culture in India is profound and the interaction
between Indian based and Western based Tibetan traditions has a major influence on
Buddhism today. Since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959 several hundred thousand
Tibetans have fled from the Chinese occupation and are now spread out all over the
world. Due to this there are Tibetan Buddhist centres in most Western countries.
This has changed the Tibetan tradition from what was apparently an inward looking
culture to one which has reached out in all directions. There has also been a peculiar
fascination with Tibetan culture and some Americans saw Tibet as a paradigm for how
there was an original and perfect form of Buddhism which was being destroyed by one of
its greatest cold war enemies, the Peoples Republic of China. The romantic view of
some followers of Tibetan Buddhism has to some extent obscured the complexity of
Tibetan tradition. Those who see it as an archetypal reservoir of pure original Buddhism
fail to see its enormous depth and complexity. In particular close examination of Tibetan
Buddhism reveals its diversity and the way that different groups within its traditions are


274
actively involved in constructing different versions of its own history and significance.
One vital factor in this development has been the relationship between the Guru and
disciple. This has resulted in immense personal devotion to Tibetan teachers and a wide
ranging transmission of Tibetan cultural values to Western followers.
Buddhism and Beliefs
Different Buddhist traditions appeal to different Westerners. Each tradition, which I would
characterise here as: South East Asian Theravda, East Asian Zen, and Tibetan
Mahyna is seen to have its own characteristics. Some see Theravda as austere;
Zen as simple, Tibetan as lush. The choice of adjectives would vary according to your
perceptions. The question that I think is of interest is are there factors in the backgrounds
of people from different Judeo-Christian traditions that make them see one tradition as
more attractive than the others?
One example of this issue relates to the issue of the nature of the Buddha. For some
Buddhists the Buddha was simply an historical person, for others he represents
something much greater than simply an historical person. Broadly speaking the divide
here is between the Theravda Buddhists who seek to present him as an historical
person and the Tibetan Mahyna Buddhists who speak of multiple manifestations of the
Buddha. This seems akin to the debate in the Judeo-Christian tradition over Christ,
Christian modernists are set on presenting Christ as an historical person and play down
the supernatural miracles in his life as much as possible concentrating on his teachings
instead. Others, generally more traditional focus more on the miracles of his life and that
he is basically a transcendent figure. What is interesting here is that often some people
may find it difficult to accept a transcendent Christ, but have no problem with multiple
manifestations of the Buddha. Whilst other people may be bothered by the occurrences
of miracles in Christs life and find the presentation of Buddha as a purely historical
person easier to live with.
A second question is the role of ritual. For some people Western liturgical ritual seems
devoid of meaning. In Buddhist traditions there is a choice between a range of roles for


275
ritual, from traditions where it is less stressed, such as some of the Insight Meditation
tradition, through to others where it is apparently the prime focus, such as the Tibetan
traditions.
A third question which Buddhism now faces is what is the relationship between
Buddhism and beliefs. In the past as Buddhism has spread into different cultural areas,
in particular East Asia, South East Asia and the Himalayan region and Central Asia it
took on aspects of the host cultures it entered into. Likewise, as the Western calendar
enters its 21st century Buddhism appears to be taking on aspects of Western culture. On
the one hand some say it is becoming materialistic, a form of supermarket spirituality.
On the other hand there are attempts being made to separate out the essence of
Buddhism from what is seen as cultural baggage which it has gathered over its long
journey.
A clear example of this kind of issue is over karma and rebirth. A British footballer
recently suggested that the reason that disabled people were disabled was due to their
actions in previous lives. He was sacked for stating his opinions. Stephen Batchelor in
his best seller Buddhism without Beliefs has argued for a form of agnosticism with regard
to this question.
189
But was widely criticised for his views by Buddhists, a well known
Tibetan Rimpoche commenting that to believe in Buddhism but not rebirth was like being
a Buddhist without legs. This might be contrasted with Colonel Olcotts efforts to get a
basic statements of Fourteen Fundamental Buddhist Beliefs signed by Japanese,
Burmese, Ceylonese, Chittagongese and Mongolian Buddhists signed in 1891. Not only
is it implicit here that all Buddhists have beliefs, but also that as part of item number five
Sakyamuni taught that ignorance produces desire, unsatisfied desire is the cause of
rebirth...
190
Clearly this is not a debate to be quickly dismissed. There are various
strategies for dealing with the debate over rebirth and karma.

189
Batchelor, Stephen, Buddhism without Beliefs, New York: Riverhead Books, 1997, pp, 3438,
190
Kirthisinghe, B.P., Colonel Olcott His Service to Buddhism, Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1981,
p. 15.


276
First, the possibility of rebirth can simply be denied. This approach appeals to many
Westerners who a gut level probably do not believe in rebirth as it does not form part of
normative Western cultural values.
Second, it can be suggested that we maintain a kind of agnosticism about rebirth, and
decide not to decide at an intellectual level whether it exists or not. This is the attitude
favoured by Stephen Batchelor.
Third, one can accept rebirth, but deny the link to karma. This is the attitude of B. R.
Ambedkar.
Fourth, one can accept rebirth and its link to karma. However, there is a major
complication here that needs to be addressed. What is karma and how does it function,
and most important of all, are there a variety of views on this in the Buddhist tradition?
Theravda traditions classify karma into four varieties. There is accidental karma, seed
karma, disease karma and intentional karma. In the Pali canon the Buddha says that
only an Arhat can determine whether an event is due to previous intentional karma. So it
is possible that disability may be due simply to pure accident or disease and no
unenlightened person can say that disability is due to previous bad intentional karma.
This viewpoint thus short circuits the debate over karma and rebirth in a sense. It means
that there is a link, but that the link is beyond normal comprehension. Two factors are of
note here. First, most Theravda Buddhists in practice actually ignore this doctrine and
treat all karma as intentional. Second, this view only works if you view some aspects of
reality as having inherent self-nature. In other words only Theravda Buddhists accept
this viewpoint at all.
Mahyna traditions regard everything as due to intentional karma. Due to this they have
to regard disabilities and misfortunes as due to previous bad karma. This produces many
doubts in a great many people as while it means that we might console ourselves with
thinking that the Chinese will suffer for their actions in Tibet, does it also imply that the
Tibetans have done something en-masse as a nation which means that it is their karma
to experience their present situation? Likewise, if an apparently random group of people


277
is on a plane that crashes does that imply that for each of them it was the working out of
their own individual karma? Such questions are not easy to deal with.
Ambedkars solution of denying the link between karma and rebirth certainly avoids all
these unpleasant questions. However, it raises the question of how to reconcile this view
with traditional Buddhist beliefs.
Finally I would like to point out that karma as a concept in non-Buddhist Indian thought is
not actually a single unitary concept. Technically at a philosophical level karma is divided
into two aspects, the performance of actions and the result of actions, karmavipka.
However, on an everyday level karma is a kind of gut feeling about how the present
relates to the path.
Is there an Essence of Buddhism?
Is there an essence of Buddhism? Most of what has been presented here has suggested
Buddhism as a cultural phenomenon has no essence. It is rather a constantly evolving
stream of ideas and practices which for two and a half millennia has changed and
adapted to circumstances. On the other hand it may be that Buddhism as a soteriological
system has an essence. Indeed, in the Pali canon the Buddha often says that his
teachings are of one rasa. The term rasa is full of connotations in Indian languages. It
relates basically to juice and its range of meanings includes: juice, taste, flavour,
sentiment, emotion and essence. So in the end if the Buddha himself said that his
Dharma was of one essence then how can this be denied. So what is that that essence?
How can it be defined. In terms of a history course what we need most of all to look at is
how have Buddhists over time have defined the essence of the Buddhas Dharma. Is the
essence of the Dharma in the texts, the tradition or the practice, or in none of the above?
278
References
Almond, P.C. The British Discovery of Buddhism. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988.
Ambedkar, B. R. The Buddha and His Dhamma, Nagpur: Buddha Bhoomi Publications,
1997. (1st published 1956)
Ansari, A. Q. Archaeological remains of Bodhgaya, Delhi: Ramanand Vidya Bhavan,
1990.
Ariyesako, Bhikkhu. The Bhikkhus Rules: a guide for Laypeople, Sanghaloka Forest
Hermitage, Kallista, 1998.
Bapat, P.V. 2500 Years of Buddhism, Delhi: Publications Division Ministry of Information
& Broadcasting, Government of India, 1956.
Barua, Dipak K. Buddha Gaya Temple, Gaya: Buddha Gaya Temple Management
Committee, 1981.
Basham, A. The History and doctrine of the jvakas, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1981.
(1st published 1951).
Batchelor, Stephen. The Awakening of the West: The encounter of Buddhism and
Western Culture. London: Aquarian Press, 1994.
Batchelor, Stephen. Buddhism without Beliefs, New York: Riverhead Books, 1997.
Bhattacharyya, Tarapada. The Bodhgaya Temple, Calcutta: K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1966.
Chakravarty, Uma., The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1987.
Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad, Lokyata, Delhi: Peoples Publishing House, 1978 (1st
edition 1959)
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces, London: Paladin, 1988 (first
published by Princeton University Press 1949)
Carr, E.H. What is History?, London: Penguin, 1981, (originally published by Macmillan,
1961).


279
Collins, Steven, 1993, The Discourse on What is Primary in Journal of Indian
Philosophy, Vol. 21, no. 4. 1993. 301390.
Conze, Edward, The Perfection of Wisdom in eight thousand lines and its verse
commentary, San Francisco: Four seasons Foundation, 1973.
Croucher, Paul. A History of Buddhism in Australia, Kensington: New South Wales
University Press, 1989.
Cunningham, Alexander. The Bhilsa Topes or Buddhist Monuments of Central India :
Comprising a Brief Historical Sketch of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Buddhism with
an Account of the Opening and Examination of the Various Groups of Topes around
Bhilsa. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1997 (1st published 1854).
Cunningham, Alexander. The Stpa of Bharhut a Buddhist monument ornamented with
numerous sculptures, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998. (1st published 1879).
Cunningham, Alexander. Mahabodhi or the Great Buddhist Temple under the Bodhi Tree
at Bodh-Gaya, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998. (1st published 1892).
Dasgupta, S. B. Obscure Religious Cults, Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Limited, 1976.
Dhammika, S. Navel of the Earth the History and significance of Bodhgaya, Singapore:
Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, 1996.
Dehejia, Vidya, 1990, On Modes of Visual Narration in Early Buddhist Art, in The Art
Bulletin, September 1990. 375392.
De Jong, J. W., A Brief History of Buddhist Studies in Europe and America. Delhi: Sri
Satguru Publications: 1987.
de Silva, Lily, The Paritta Ceremony of Sri Lanka: its antiquity and symbolism, in:
Kalupahana, David, ed., Buddhist Thought and Ritual, New York: Paragon House, 1991.
p. 139-150.
Dimock, E.C. (ed.) The Literatures of India: an introduction, Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1978 (1974).
Dwivedi, H. Kabir, Delhi: Rajkamal Prakasan, 1985. [Hindi]
Dundas, Paul, The Jains, London: Routledge, 1992
Eliade, Mircea. (translated by William R. Trask), Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of
Ecstasy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972, (originally published in French in
1951)


280
Eliade, Mircea. (translated by William R. Trask), Yoga Immortality and Freedom,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, second edition 1969, (originally published in
French in 1954)
Farrow, G. W. and Menon, I. The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra Tantra with the
Commentary Yogaratnamala, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1992.
Gerow, Edwin, The rasa theory of Abhinavagupta and its application, in Dimock, E.C.
(ed.) The Literatures of India: an introduction, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1978 (1974).
Giles, Herbert A. Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms, Varanasi: Prithvi Prakashan, 1972.
Gokhale, B.G. Theravda Buddhism and Modernization: Angarik Dhammapala and
B.R. Ambedkar, JAAS, XXXiV, 1, 1999.
Gombrich, Richard. Theravda Buddhism, London: Routledge, 1988.
Guenther, Herbert, V. The Royal Song of Saraha, Berkeley and London: Shambala,
1973.
Hallisey, Charles. Roads Taken and Not Taken in the Study of Theravda Buddhism, in
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Curators of the Buddha, Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1995.
Harris, Elizabeth, J. Ananda Metteyya: The First British Emissary of Buddhism. Kandy:
Buddhist Publication Society, 1998.
Herodotus, Herodotus : the Histories / newly translated and with an introduction. by
Aubrey de Selincourt. Harmondsworth, Middlesex ; Baltimore : Penguin Books, 1960.
Hirakawa, Akira. (trans. Paul Groner), A History of Indian Buddhism, Delhi: Motilal
Banarasidass, 1993 (1st ed. 1990).
Horner, I. B. (trans.), The Book of Discipline (Vinaya-piaka) Volume V (Cullavagga),
Luzac & Company, London, 1963.
Huntington, Susan L. Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of Aniconism, in Art Journal,
Vol. 49 # 4 Winter 1990.
Hurvitz, Leon. Scripture of the lotus blossom of the fine dharma. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1976.
Jaini, P. S., The Jain Path of Purification, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1990. (orig. ed.
1979).
Keay, John, India Discovered, London: Collins, 1988.


281
Kern, H. Saddharma-Pundarika or the Lotus of True Law, (Sacred Books of the East
series volume 21). Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1994. (1st published by the Oxford
University Press 1884)
King, Richard. Orientalism and Religion Postcolonial Theory India and the Mystic East,
London: Routledge, 1999.
Kirthisinghe, B.P., Colonel Olcott His Service to Buddhism, Kandy: Buddhist Publication
Society, 1981,
Kosambi, D. D. An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Bombay: Popular, 1956.
Lamotte, Ettiene. History of Indian Buddhism, Louvain: Universite Catholique de Louvain,
1988.
Luk, Charles. The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Stra, Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambhala, 1990.
McDermott, J. P. Development in the Early Buddhist Concept of Karma, Delhi, Motilal
Banasidass, 1984.
Monier-Williams, Monier, Sir, A practical grammar of the Sanskrit language : Arranged
with reference to the classical languages of Europe for the use of English students,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1877.
Narain, A. K., Studies in Pali and Buddhism, Delhi: B. R. Publishing, 1979
Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara (eds.), 1994 (1st ed. 1988), Monks and Magicians:
religious biographies in Asia, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi.
Pye, Michael. Skilful Means a concept in Mahyna Buddhism, London: Duckworth,
1978.
Reginald A. Ray, Buddhist Saints in India, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Renfrew, Colin. Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins,
London: Penguin Books, 1989 (first published by Jonathan Cape 1987).
Reynolds, Frank, E., The Two Wheels of Dhamma, in Smith, Bardwell L., ed., The Two
Wheels of Dhamma. Chambersburg, Pa.: American Academy of Religion, 1972. 630.
Reynolds, Frank E., The Many Lives of Buddha: A Study of Sacred Biography and
Theravda Tradition, in Reynolds, Frank E. and Donald Capps, eds., The Biographical
Process, The Hague: Mouton, 1976.
Rhys Davids, T. W. (translator), The questions of King Milinda, New York: Dover
Publications [1963]. Reprint of The Sacred books of the East (American edition) ; v. 35-6,
1890-94 ed.


282
Roerich, G. Biography of Dharmasvamin, Patna: K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute,
1959.
Saddhatissa, H. Sutta Nipta, London: Curzon Press, 1994 (1st ed.1988).
Schopen, G. Bones, Stones and Buddhist Monks, Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1997.
Sharma, Visnu, (Candra Rajan trans.) The Pancatantra, Delhi: Penguin Books, 1993.
Sen, K. M. Hinduism, London, Penguin Books, 1982, (first published 1961).
Srinivasan, Doris. 1975-76, The so-called Proto-Siva Seal from Mohenjo-Daro: An
Iconological Assessment, in Archives of Asian Art, no. 29.
Strong, John, The Legend of King Aoka. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
Tatz, Mark. The Skill in Means Stra, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1994.
Thapar, Romila. Interpreting Early India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Thapar, Romila. A History of India, Volume One, London: Penguin Books, 1976. (1st ed.
1966)
Thurman, Robert. A. F. The Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass,
1991. (1st published 1976 Pennsylvania State University).
Templeman, David. The Origin of the Tara Tantra by Jo-Nan Trntha, Dharamasala:
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1981.
Templeman, David. The Seven Instruction Lineages. Dharmsala: Library of Tibetan
Works & Archives, 1983.
Templeman, David. Trnthas Life of Kcrya /Knh, Dharmsala: Library of
Tibetan Works and Archives, 1989.
Upasak, C.S. The Role of Uruvela Kassapa in the spread of Early Buddhism:, in:
Narain, A. K. Studies in Pali and Buddhism, Delhi: B. R. Publishing, 1979, pp. 369-
374.Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism, Delhi, Motilal Banarasidass, 1991. (1st ed. 1970).
Walleser, M., 1990 (1st ed.?), The Life of Ngrjuna from Tibetan and Chinese Sources,
Asian Educational Services, Delhi.
Walshe, Maurice. Thus Have I Heard, London: Wisdom Publications, 1987.
Walters, Jonathan S. Suttas as History: four approaches to the Sermon on the Noble
Quest (Ariyapariyesana-sutta), in History of Religions, Vol. 38 no. 3 Feb. 1999, pp. 247-
284.
Wolpert, Stanley, A New History of India, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1982.