User:Peter jackson

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/Sources for early Buddhism

I'm building up here a collection of information & thoughts. This is subject to expansion & revision, so watch if you're interested. There's an emphasis on countering widespread misconceptions.

Contents 1 Ar(a)ha(n)t 2 Bodhisatt(v)a 3 Buddha 3.1 The historical Buddha 3.2 His teachings 3.3 Theravada concepts of Buddhas 3.4 Mahayana concepts of Buddhas 4 Buddhism 5 Buddhist studies 6 Canon(ical) 7 Christianity 8 Demographics 9 Enlightenment 10 Europe 11 Four noble truths 12 "Fringe" groups 13 Interpretation 14 Languages 15 Mahayana 16 Meditation 17 Modern Buddhism 18 Nuns 19 Psychic powers 20 Scripture 21 Notes 22 General scholarly works on Buddhism 22.1 For the general reader 22.2 Textbooks 22.3 Reference 22.4 Research

[edit] Ar(a)ha(n)t

For the record, the bracketed "a" occurs in Pali but not Sanskrit, & the "n" in the strong stem but not the weak. Literally, worthy one.

In Theravada, it means anyone who has reached the final stage, including the Buddha. Mahayana often/usually/always uses it in a sense exclusive of Buddhas. According to Theravada, when an arahant dies they will not be reborn, but will attain indescribability (apannattikabhava). According to most, but not all, Mahayana authorities, they must go on to become bodhisattvas. If they fail to do so in the lifetime in which they reach the attainment, they will go to some sort of dormant state, thence to be roused by a Buddha (or advanced bodhisattva?) & taught the bodhisattva path, presumably when ready.

[edit] Bodhisatt(v)a

V in Sanskrit but not Pali. Literal meaning of Sanskrit is enlightenment being, but this may be a mis-Sanskritization.

In Theravada, it's straightforward: a bodhisatta is someone on the path to Buddhahood.

In Mahayana, very confusing subject, which I haven't yet managed to find any scholar to have studied properly yet.

The problem ultimately stems from the Lotus Sutra, which states in quick succession that a Buddha's lifetime is extremely long, & then that it's infinite. Problem: which statement do you take literally?

• One view is that a Buddha's lifetime is infinite, so a bodhisattva should simply aim at becoming a Buddha as quickly as possible, having then all the time in the world to save others. I think this is the Tibetan view.
• The other view is that a Buddha's life is extremely long, but not infinite. This raises the question of whether a bodhisattva might help others more by remaining a bodhisattva for ever, or at least a much longer time, rather than becoming a Buddha for a very long but finite time.

The Huayan patriarch Fazang says a bodhisattva should carefully avoid eliminating all defilements so as to avoid becoming a Buddha for as long as there are beings to save, "presumably forever" comments Cook.^[1] I'm sure I read somewhere that Tiantai takes a similar position, tho' I haven't yet managed to find a citation for this.

Some Mahayana authorities say some bodhisattvas renounce Buddhahood for ever.^[2]

Some say there are 3 types of bodhisattva:^[3]

• king, who "assumes the powers of a buddha" & leads beings to enlightenment
• ferryman, who ferries them with him
• shepherd, who shepherds them ahead of him

"The bodhisattva leads all beings to buddhahood before becoming a buddha himself."

[edit] Buddha

Literally, awakened one.

[edit] The historical Buddha

His name was Gautama in Sanskrit, Gotama in Pali. Neither of those was his native language, though he may have been taught Sanskrit. His own dialect is unknown, & his name may have been Gotama, Godama, Goyama, Govama or Goama. The name Siddhartha/Siddhattha is first recorded about 100 BC & can't be treated as historical.

In the late 19th century, historians agreed on dates of about 563-483 BC, & these remained generally accepted through the first half of the 20th century, & have continued to be copied in non-specialist publications. However, a scholarly conference held in 1988 specifically to discuss this question produced different results. The majority of participants who gave definite dates placed his death in the period 420-380. Only one gave an earlier date (486) & a few gave even later ones. This seems to be still roughly the position.^[4]

[edit] His teachings

Certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts, so most scholars conclude at least that the Buddha must have taught something of the kind:^[5]

• the three characteristics
• the five aggregates
• dependent arising
• karma and rebirth
• the four noble truths
• the eightfold path
• nirvana

Some scholars disagree, and have proposed many other theories.^[6]

[edit] Theravada concepts of Buddhas

According to the Pali commentaries there are 3 types of Buddha:^[7]

1. sammasambuddha, who discovers the truth for himself & teaches it to others
2. paccekebuddha, who discovers the truth for himself but lacks the ability to teach it to others
3. savakabuddha, who is taught directly or indirectly by a sammasambuddha

This broad use of the term "buddha" as equivalent of "arahant" is rare. Normally "Buddha" refers only to type 1.

[edit] Mahayana concepts of Buddhas

I don't know that Mahayana ever uses the term for anyone other than a samyaksambuddha. Whether the idea of such as one who discovers the truth for himself & teaches it to others is applicable to Mahayana is doubtful: after all, what the Mahayana is supposed to be about is teaching the way to Buddhahood!

The traditional Mahayana view is that a Buddha is not a human being.^[8] Anyone beyond 7th stage bodhisattva exists on a superhuman plane of existence & any human body they appear to have is a mere appearance of humanity created by their magical power: nirmanakaya in Sanskrit, sprulsku (tulku) in Tibetan. According to the Lotus Sutra, followed by traditional authorities, the Buddha's birth, early life & enlightenment were all illusion & he had attained enlightenment ages before.

[edit] Buddhism

The English word "Buddhism" is first recorded in 1801.^[9] A rather convenient date to simplify a gradual process. We can say that in the 18th century what is now called "Buddhism" was simply included in the category of idolatry/paganism/heathenism, but in the 19th & 20th it was generally recognized as a religion. Some scholars defined religion in ways that excluded Buddhism.^[10] I think psychologists & sociologists would count Buddhism as a religion, saying it fulfils the psychological/sociological roles of religion in the lives of most Buddhists. Those who take a different view are probably looking at things from an abstract philosophical point of view. This is to be distinguished from the fact that some Buddhists themselves claim it's not a religion, a sociological phenomenon found in all religions.^[11] Recently, many scholars have started talking of "many Buddhisms"^[12] or "Buddhist religions".^[13] Perhaps the 21st century view is that Buddhism is a family of religions.

[edit] Buddhist studies

"The scholarly study of Buddhism is no longer in its infancy, although it seems to me that it has not yet progressed much beyond toddler stage. There are still very many areas in which there is no agreement among scholars, and an understanding of both tenet and meaning in Buddhist thought has not progressed as far as one might like and hope. There are disputes over translation of key terms ..." Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1990, page xi

The majority of scholarship in this field is in Japanese,^[14] which most Western scholars can't read.

Quality may be another matter. College and university rankings are dominated by American (& sometimes British) ones, even when produced elsewhere.

[edit] Canon(ical)

The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority^[15] refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another^[16] says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial and pseudo-canonical.

[edit] Christianity

"... speculation concerning the influence of Buddhism on the Essenes, the early Christians, and the gospels is without historical foundation." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 159

[edit] Demographics

Estimates of world Buddhist population are in the range 230-500 million, with most in the region of 350 million.^[17] This world Buddhist population falls rather neatly into 3 roughly equal groups:

• Theravada
• Pure Land
• everybody else (Zen, Vajrayana, Nichiren ...)

[edit] Enlightenment

This English word is use to repesent a variety of words & concepts in the Buddhist tradition.

The Pali & Sanskrit word bodhi, literally means awakening. In the Pali Canon, it, along with its variant sambodhi (the prefix sam often has no effect on the meaning of words), is regarded as equivalent to arahantship or the attainment of nirvana. Eg there are the 7 bojjhangas, & stream-enterers are described as sambodhi-parayana. Mahayana often/usually/always restricts these terms to Buddhas.

Chan (Zen) uses the term wu (satori), which it differentiates from Buddhahood, in particular by not regarding it as final or ultimate.^[18] There are in fact many stages/grades of satori, at least in Rinzai Zen.

Fazang says that a bodhisattva's renunciation of enlightenment for the sake of remaining in the world to help beings is itself the only enlightenment that matters.^[19]

[edit] Europe

About 1613, the Western Kalmyks/Calmucks/..., a Mongol tribe following Tibetan Buddhism, migrated across the Urals & settled on the lower Volga. There's been a continuous Buddhist presence in Europe at least that long.

[edit] Four noble truths

The idea that these are the central teachings of Buddhism originated with 19th century Western scholars, who came across them in the 1st sermon & drew this conclusion. The fact that most Buddhists had never heard of them didn't trouble them: they knew what the real teachings of the Buddha were, & the opinions of real live Buddhists didn't matter. Later, a lot of Buddhists got a lot of their ideas about Buddhism from these same Western scholars, & the 4 NTs are now taught to Sinhalese children in Sunday schools as a creed. Here are some sourced statements on the actual position:

• The early teaching^[20]
• and the traditional understanding in the Theravada^[21] are that these are an advanced teaching for those who are ready for them.
• The Mahayana position is that they are a preliminary teaching for people not yet ready for the higher and more expansive Mahayana teachings.^[22] They are little known in the Far East.^[23]

Furthermore, the translation is wrong: they aren't even statements, but things, though Wikipedia can't treat this as a fact yet, as there are still plenty of "reliable sources" that haven't caught up with recent scholarship (as usual). Nevertheless, it has to be treated as a point of view that must be mentioned alongside the other one, because it is found in some RSs.^[24]

[edit] "Fringe" groups

There's disagreement among scholars about whether certain groups should count as Buddhist:

• Falun Gong: the World Christian Encyclopedia (2nd ed, Oxford University Press, 2001) counts this as Buddhist, & estimates its followers at about 30 million;^[25] [3], a website specializing in religious statistics, doesn't, & estimates 10m
• various Nichiren groups: the above website apparently counts these as Buddhist, since none appear in its list of major religions, which would be justified by size for some; WCE^[26] counts them as "New Religions", & gives the following estimates for followers of the largest ones:
  • Soka Gakkai 18m
  • Rissho Koseikai 5m
  • Reiyukai 3m
  • Nichiren Shoshu 1m

[edit] Interpretation

"There are few cold facts in the study of religions: all explanation involves interpretation." Penguin Handbook of Living Religions, 1984, page 13; reprinted in New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions, 1997, page 5

[edit] Languages

• Theravada uses Pali
• East Asian Buddhism uses (classical) Chinese
• Tibetan Buddhism uses (classical) Tibetan
• Western scholars use Sanskrit
• The Buddha himself used none of the above, though it's not known what dialect(s) he did use

[edit] Mahayana

Meaning great way or vehicle.

Jonathan Silk, in an article called "What, if anything, is Mahayana Buddhism?",^[27] argues that there is no straightforward answer to the question, but that it should be understood in the light of Wittgenstein's concept of family resemblance: members of a family resemble each other in various ways, but there is no characteristic or set of characteristics that defines membership of the family. Similar ideas have been expressed by other scholars.^[28]

The Lamotte-Hirakawa theory of the lay origins of Mahayana is widely accepted among Japanese scholars,^[29] but has been rejected by Williams & Schopen,^[30] by Gombrich,^[31] & tentatively by Gethin.^[32]

One problem with Mahayana is its frequent use of a pragmatic concept of truth:^[33] doctrines are "true" in the sense of being spiritually beneficial. This enables it to have all sorts of contradictory teachings, which in turn makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to say what it "really" believes. Some traditions within Mahayana have developed detailed hierarchies of truth, but these of course contradict each other. Others don't bother.

[edit] Meditation

"Throughout most of the history of Buddhism, monastics have been the primary practitioners of meditation. While lay-people were not prohibited, most traditions have considered engaging in serious meditation too challenging while maintaining the householder life. ... most historical evidence suggests serious lay meditation has been the exception. Modern ethnography indicates that even meditation in the monastery is not nearly as common as might be expected ... In recent history ... often only a minority of monastics engage in sustained meditation practice." Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism, pages 502f

[edit] Modern Buddhism

In modern times, Buddhism has often been influenced by modern Western ideas like rationalism, feminism ... More interestingly, it has also often been influenced by Western scholars' ideas about Buddhism itself.^[34]

[edit] Nuns

According to the scriptures,^[35] the Buddha had to be asked 7 times before he agreed to authorize an order of nuns, warned it would weaken the teaching & shorten its lifetime, & laid down rules making them thoroughly subordinate to monks. A number of historians have questioned this account, including some who think nuns were a later invention.

The order of nuns died out in Ceylon in the 11th century, & in Burma in or not long after the 13th. It was never introduced to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia or Tibet. It survives to the present day in China, Korea & Japan. In recent times the Dalai Lama has authorized Tibetan Buddhist women to receive ordination in traditions that have it. In Theravada, the head of the Dambulla chapter of the Siyam Nikaya in Ceylon has carried out hundreds of ordination ceremonies for nuns in the last few years, but the governing council of Burmese Buddhism has declared that there can be no valid ordination of nuns in modern times.^[36] Confusingly, unordained women under vows are often called nuns, as sometimes are even Japanese married clergy.

[edit] Psychic powers

It's often claimed these are unintended side-effects of meditation. This is simply false. Both the Pali Canon (eg Samannaphala Sutta) & the Visuddhimagga clearly speak of deliberately developing them.

[edit] Scripture

The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority^[37] refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another^[38] says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial and pseudo-canonical.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977, pages 110f
2. ^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 351
3. ^ Lopez, Story of Buddhism, page 73/Buddhism, page 77
4. ^ *Cousins, L. S. (1996). "The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review Article". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Series 3 (6.1): 57-63. ; reprinted in Williams, Buddhism, volume I; NB in the online transcript a little text has been accidentally omitted: in section 4, between "... none of the other contributions in this section envisage a date before 420 B.C." and "to 350 B.C." insert "Akira Hirakawa defends the short chronology and Heinz Bechert himself sets a range from 400 B.C."; Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 82; Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism, page 107
5. ^ Mitchell, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2002, page 34 & table of contents
6. ^ Skorupski, Buddhist Forum, vol I, Heritage, Delhi/SOAS, London, 1990, page 5; Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol 21 (1998), part 1, pages 4, 11
7. ^ Udana Commentary, tr Peter Masefield, volume I, 1994, Pali Text Society, page 94
8. ^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, page 125
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Dictionary
10. ^ Numen, vol 49, page 389; reprinted in Williams, Buddhism, Routledge, 2005, Volume III, page 403
11. ^ [1]
12. ^ Gethin, Foundations of Buddhism, page 2
13. ^ Robinson et al, Buddhist Religions, 5th ed
14. ^ Hirakawa, History of Indian Buddhism, volume 1, English translation, Hawai'i University Press, 1990, page IX
15. ^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 142
16. ^ Bechert & Gombrich, World of Buddhism, Thames & Hudson, London, 1984, page 79
17. ^ [2]
18. ^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 51
19. ^ Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism, Pennsylvania State University Press, pages 110f
20. ^ Harvey, Introduction, p. 47
21. ^ Hinnels, John R. (1998). The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0140514805. , pages 393f
22. ^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 92
23. ^ Eliot, Japanese Budhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935, page 60
24. ^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 296; Gethin, Foundations of Buddhism, page 60
25. ^ page 10
26. ^ volume 2, page 11
27. ^ originally published in the periodical Numen, volume 49 (2002); reprinted in Williams, Buddhism, volume III
28. ^ Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, pages 2f; Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume Two), page 492
29. ^ Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, page 20
30. ^ id, pages 21f
31. ^ interview
32. ^ Foundations of Buddhism
33. ^ Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, page 2
34. ^ Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, volume 28 (part 2), page 302 (2005); Williams, Buddhism, volume I, page xxix; Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 164
35. ^ Book of the Discipline, volume V, chapter X
36. ^ See the article on Theravada nuns in Buddhist Studies Review, 24.2 (2007)
37. ^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 142
38. ^ Bechert & Gombrich, World of Buddhism, Thames & Hudson, London, 1984, page 79

[edit] General scholarly works on Buddhism

[edit] For the general reader

• Bechert & Gombrich, World of Buddhism, Thames & Hudson, London, 1984: written by 11 scholars; contains nearly 300 illustrations, including 82 in colour
• Lopez, Buddhism, Penguin/Story of Buddhism, Harper, San Francisco, 2001: very impressionistic: gives lots of Buddhist beliefs & practices, but often doesn't say which school(s) they belong to

[edit] Textbooks

• Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, Cambridge University Press, 1990
• Gethin, Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1998: mostly deals with early Buddhism, which the author regards as the "foundations"; the rest of Buddhism is covered much more briefly
• Mitchell, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2002
• Robinson et al, Buddhist Religions, 5th ed, Wadsworth, Belmont, California, 2004: the s is new to this edition
• Prebish & Keown, Introducing Buddhism, ebook, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2005; printed ed, Routledge, 2006

[edit] Reference

• Chapter 8 in New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions, 1997; Penguin edition 1998: good brief account
• Kitagawa & Cummings, Buddhism & Asian History, Macmillan, 1989: selected articles from Encyclopedia of Religion, 15 vols, Macmillan, New York, 1987
• Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2 vols, Macmillan, 2004: written by over 200 scholars; as this is far more than any other book in English, this is closer to specialized knowledge, & the most accurate book on Buddhism in English; this doesn't mean it's entirely accurate, or even consistent
• Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Routledge, 2007: written by 23 scholars

[edit] Research

• Williams, Buddhism, 8 vols, Routledge, 2005: reprints of articles by many scholars, 1958-2003