Buddhist Insight
Short Description
Download Buddhist Insight...
Description
BTJDDHIST INSIGHT Essaysby Alex Wayman
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
George Elder
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS Delhi Yaranasi Patnq Madras
i-.i{
1
Fint Published: I984 C o p y r i g h@t v t o T I L A L B AN ARS ID As s Head Ofice : Bungalow Road, Delhi l l0 007 B,anches:Chowk, Varanasi221001 Ashok Rajpath, Patna 800 004 6, Appar Swamy Koil Street,Mylapore, Madras 600004 rights reserved.No qart of this publication may be reproduced .{.11 :r ransmitted in any form .oI by any means, withoutihe p;i;; ;ermrssion of Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN :089581-041-7 h-inted in India by Shantilal Jain at Shri Jainendrapress A_45, Naraina, Pha_se-X, New Delhi l l0 028 and published by \arendra PrakashJain, for Motilal Bananidass,delhi l l0 007
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction,by GeorgeR. Elder Part I. BuddhistPractice 1l l. Buddhaas Savior 29 2. Ancient BuddhistMonasticism 3. Aspectsof Meditation in the Theravd,daandMahiSdsaka69 4. The BodhisattvaPracticeaccordingto the Lam Rim ChenMo Part II. BuddhistDoctrine 5. The SixteenAspectsof the Four Noble Truths and Their Opposites 6. The Mirror as a Pan-BuddhistMetaphor-Simile J. The BuddhistTheory of Vision 8. DependentOrigination-the Indo-Tibetan Tradition 9- Nescienceand Insight accordingto Asanga's Yogdcdrabhumi 10. The Twenty Reifying Views (Sakkdyadillhi) I l. Who Understands the Four Alternativesof the Buddhisttexts ? Dispute in Buddhism 12. The Intermediate-state
r17 r29 153
r63 193 215 225 25t
Part III. InterpretativeStudiesof Buddhism 13. No Time, GreatTime,and ProfaneTime in Buddhism 269 287 14. The Role of Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux 307 15. Secretof the Heart Sutra Part IV. Texts of the Asangaschool 16. The Sacittikd and Acittikd Bhumi, Text and Translation 17. Asanga'sTreatise,the Paramdrtha-gdthd 18. Asanga'sTreatiseon the ThreeInstructionsof Buddhism
327 333 353
(vi) Part V. Hindu and BuddhistStudies 19. Two Traditions of India-:Truth and Silence 20. The Hindu-BuddhistRite of Truth-an Interpretation 21. Significanceof Dreamsin India and Tibet 22. The Significanceof Mantras,from the Vedadown to BuddhistTantric Practice 23. The GoddessSarasvati-from India to Tibet 24. The Twenty-onePraisesof Tird, a Syncretismof Saivismand Buddhism Acknowledgments Index
369 39r 399
4r3 43r AAI 453 457
TNTRODUCTION
Alex Wayman-Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of Middle East Languagesand Cultures and Professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University-enjoys a world-wide reputation as a truly outstanding scholar in the field of Buddhist Studies. This reputation is founded upon two decadesof teaching and writing, with his recent full-length publication entitled Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real, a translation from the Tibetan of a portion of Tson-kha-pa's expansive Lam rim cherc mo, published in 1978. While Wayman's half a dozen other books have become a standard of quality in this field, it is still a surprisefor colleaguesto learn that this scholar has also published more than ninety essaysto date. These essayshave appeared in what are now generally accessibleanthologies of other scholars and in the premier journals of the United States. Many have also been written at the requestof editors in Europe, India, and Japan" Indexes being what they are, and libraries and one's capacity to keep track being limited, a number of these fine short treatments have not yet been sufficiently known. Professor Wayman has already attempted to bridge the gap by publishing sixteen of his essaysin the collection, The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, 1973. While that volume focuses upon contributions to tantric Buddhism, the present volume makes more readily available to scholars and the intelligent reader wayman's contributions to our understanding of non-tantric Buddhism. The twenty-four essayscollected here focus almost entirely upon Early Buddhism (what the Mahdydnists refer to as Hinaydna) and upon Mahdydna Buddhism in India. Except one, each of these essayshas already been published. Their appearance together here has been advised by Alex Wayman himself; and this has allowed the author of the essaysthe opportunity to make corrections and to provide additional materials. My own emendations have been in terms of
2
BuddhistInsight
regularizing punctuation and diacriticals as much as feasible and seeing to it that the work reads more or less as a coherent statement rather than as so many separate papers. But it is also true that the general consistencyof Wayman's translations and his reliance in one article upon positions established in another lend a natural coherence-and, I think, strength-to the book. The method of scholarship found in this volume has been explained by the author in the prefaceto his The B.uddhistTantras' There, he states: "Al1 those works, whether published or in press or preparation, have a common method which is the subordination of personai opinion about the Tantra to authoritative explanations by the proficients of this cult." Accordingly, the reader will find here some of Wayman's views on the nature of non-tantric Indian Buddhism. But mainly he or she will discover the Buddhists' own Yiews on the nature of their religion-and this by way of translations of scripture (fairly literally rendered) illuminated by authoritative commentary. The commentators in this instance are most often Asanga (375-430, A.D.), especiallyhis Yogacdrabhilmiin Sanskrit, and Tson-kha-pa (1357titg, A.D.), especially his Lam 6m chen mo in Tibetan. The felicity of this combination is attestedby the fact that the Tibetan reformer often quotes from Asanga. While both of these ancient scholars are known to be Mahiydnists by religious persuasion, their works mentioned are encyclopedic in scope and provide a high standard of commentary on virtually all phases of Buddhism. It follows that the essayscollected here are also of a high standard with a minimum of mere speculation and with a ceftain fidelity to the complexity of the materials concerned. Since Buddhism is a rich religion and at times an obscure one' the reader will come upon passages, and perhaps articles,in this work that will seemopaque except to those trained in the issues; but the attentive reader will also find much to inform the intellect and delight the soul. In any case, in the essaysassembled here an extraordinary wealth of information, some of it entirely unexpected,is presentedin a manner that should give it an enduring uuio.. It might be mentioned also that there is actually a variety ,of styles in the collection. Most of the articles appearedin the seventiesbut one as early as 1959 and some as recent as 1980; furthermore, Professor Wayman was writing at different times for different publishers who have had their own purposes.
trntroduction
3
This bringsus to the questionof the sort 6f readerfor whom this volume is intended. wayman, the ..schorar,s scholar,,, wrote the essaysoriginally for coileaguesin the field; and they, of course,remain the primary audience. Graduatestudentsin BuddhistStudiesor Indian religionsin general will alsofind this work invaluable. But I would like to suggest stronglythat these €ssays be considered asa secondary source-alongsidlr.ripru..r_ within the undergraduatecurriculum. From -y o*n experience with collegestudents, I know that the surveysor guoonismnow availableareuseful;but I alsoknow that theyprovide information of a kind that theprofessorhimserfor herslican only too easily provide in lecture. The undergraduate student is left without a bridge betweenintroductory statementsand the foreign complexitiesof Buddhistscripture.with thisin mind,theseessays have beenarrangedasa sortofsurveyof non-tantricIndian Buddhismby way of in-depthdiscussion of its mostimportantissues. Part one' "Buddhist practice," opens ,itt a treatment of "Buddha as savior." It is not immediately apparent that this essayhas to do with the path; but it p.ouio., an initial focus upon the Indian man who fou'ded Buddhism at the end of the sixth century,B.c. while "Buddha,'-.6Jfus Awakened Qng,,_ can be said to be the chief epithet of siddhdrtha Gautama, we learn hereof the many namesgiven this figure in scripture and commentary;and Waymanshowshow the various namespoint to a variety of views of Buddha'sactivity within the rerigion. was GautamaBuddha a "savior" simpry because he reveared the truth about reality? or did he ..save,,also in the senseof somehowproviding otherswith the power to perceive this truth? In the first instance,discipleswould needto^..work,, out their salvationwith diligence;and in the second,they couldrery more upon the "grace" of the Lord. Thus, the proflem of Buddhist practiceis engaged..And wayman discusses the discipre,s..conversion"from an ordinarypersonto specialperson-one who has developedhis native"insight" and beco*, u ..son,, in the f;it of the Buddha. The article that follows, ..Ancient Buddhist Monasticism,"provides at some length a description of the monasticcontextin which the processof conversion took jprace: the kinds of ordination, the rures,the confessions-and stages of progress.Scholarsin particularwill bepleased to flnd here a technicaldiscussion of thetranslationof p ia tfuok sa as..Liberation-
4
Buddhist Insight
or onset.,' But there are in BuddhiSm "Three Trainings" on instructions; and the "morality" emphasized in the essay "meditation of practice The them. of monastic life is only one upon is yet another-indeed, it is a mental training which follows follows there so And the right establishmentof moral behaviour. the informative essay, "Aspects of Meditation in the Theravdda are and Mahisasaka." Since the Theravdda and Mahisd'saka section-"The' this in sects of Early Buddhism, the final essay Bodhisattva Practice According to the Lant Rim chen i'[s"turns our attention to the stage of discipleship called the bodhi' sattva within the MahdYana. third Part two can be looked upon as a presentation of the "Doctrine"' the training-training in f insighf"-5inss it takes up by which must be "discerned" once the mind has been "calmed" and meditatron. This is by far the longest section of the book, it opens with a discussionof "The sixteen Aspects of the Four. Truths Noble Truths and their opposites." The Four Noble first at his Buddha Gautama by taught are said to have been grows doctrine basic the see how to sermon; and it is interesting times the with the tradition to encompass eventually four ..truth,, complete with opposites or o'coverings"which obscure that these truths for ordinary persons. Buddhists ares aying and misperceived ; generally is ordinary rcality, called salnsdra, extrathe perceive not will unless one seessaqnsdracorrectly, one to the ordinary reality called nirvdrya. Having been introduced 'owheel" with sixteen aspects religious use of the symbol of the the essay' or spokes, we encounter the symbol of the "mirror" in ..The Mirror as a Pan-Buddhist Metaphor-simile." The the imagimaterials presented are particularly rich, capturing data move the nation u, t.ligiorrs symbols are intended to do; and tantric the through the varied traditions of Buddhism, including short the formr. This is all by way of prepatation, I think, for vision'" but important statement, "The Buddhist Theory of prajfia as of justify translation his to begins Professor wayman ooinsight" (rather than as "wisdom," a translation preferred by but it is ,o*.-; toward the close of the essayon "Meditation;" that translation a of significance the sense really here that we 'oseeing." FOr it is "seeing"-4nd having a nuance Of preserves ^the "eye" for it-which servesas the primary symbol of understanding throughout the history of Buddhism'
Introduction
5
While the successful yogin must "see" the Four Noble Truths in their multiple aspects,he must also seeDependent Origination. There follows, then, the long and complex discussion, "DepenPublished only dent Origination-the Indo-Tibetan Tradition." previously the author's of culmination is a this essay recently, published researchon the subject; and the extensive notes provide a sort of sub-text for the body of this essay. Avidya is the first member of this twelve-member formula for conditioned reality, and FrofessorWayman focusesupon it in his article, "Nescience ,and Insight According to Asanga's Yogdcdrabhumi." Actually, we learn that "nescience" is a general translation of avidyd since it might better be rendered "ignorance" as the first member of Dependent Origination so as to preserve an unexpected meaning as a kind of "waywardness'oin association with "fnsight" "feelings," the seventh member of the formula. opposes"nescienceo'in any form, and Asanga'slong list of metaphors for prajfid-including the most telling ones that have to do with "light" -can be found here. But the problem of "nescience"for the ordinary personis a persistentone; and so we read next of "The Twenty Reifying Views''. These must yield place in favour of the Buddhist view called "non-self" which is, in this instance, the view of the five skandhas,each denied in four ways as being "self." As the section comes to a close, we are treated once again to the Buddhist penchant for a four-fold analysis in the essay,"Who Understands the Four Alternatives of the Buddhist Texts?" This is the most philosophical, in some ways the most technical, essayin the volume; it goes directly to problems of logic-and Wayman takes on a number of his colleaguesin debate. The subject matter itself includes such ancient problems as this: Does the Tathdgata exist after death? And so the section closeswith the topic, "The Intermediate-State Dispute in Buddhism." Here, the debate is among Buddhists alone. And the question is whether a person who is not yet Enlightened goes directly to his or her next life upon death, or goes to an "intermediate state," some state in between. I think it is important to seein this essayand elsewherewithin the volume that a dispute among Buddhists may exhibit the difference between the Hinayana and Mahayana forms but may just as readily cut acrosssectarianlines. Part three is entitled "Interpretative Studies of Buddhism"
6
nuddhist Insight
since the author brings to bear upon Buddhist materials in these essavspoints of view which are not in themselvesnecessarily Buddhist. The first, "No Time, Great Time, and profane Time in Buddhism," allows categoriesmore usually associatedwith the "history of religions" school to inform our understanding of the Buddhist religion; the second, "The Role of Art Among the Buddhist Religieux" blends art history with a fair amount of modern aesthetic theory while relying upon positions already established in the essay on "Dependent origination." The third, "secret of the Heart.Siltra," is unique. Wayman calls it an "Asian-type commentary composed by a westernsl"-s1d fus is the Westerner. Here, this scholar brings to bear upon a famous Mahdydna scripture a more or less yogdcdra point of view in opposition to the usual Buddhist commentary from the point of view of the Madhyamika school. It is a style of scholarship which wayman also employs in his work, yoga of the Guhyasamdjatantra, published in 1977. Part four, "Texts of the Asanga School," provides a change of pace. It contains edited sanskrit and translated excerpts from the Yogacarabhumi of Asanga whose commentary, as already noted, has informed many of the preceding essays. Readers will gain from this section a clear idea of the kinds of materials involved in Buddhist scholarship, and scholars in particular will gain edited materials for their own work along with a clear sense of wayman's style of translation. The best introduction to these excerpts is actually found in the opening paragraphs of the second essay' "Asanga's Treatise on the Paramdrtha Gatha"-4nd, also, in the opening of the essay entitled, "Nescience and Insight According to Asanga's Yogdcdrabhilmi" introd,uced above. This is becauseof the preferenceshown to a presentation in the order of its appearance within the yogdcdrahbilmi itself. The short text, "The Sacittikd and Acittika Bhfrmi" was previously published only as edited; and wayman has taken the opportunity to provide the translation here as well. It contains Nos. g and 9 of the seventeenbhumis or "stages." The "paramdrtha Gatha" text already mentioned is a set of verses with commentary by Asanga which form a portion of "stage" No. I l; this material, by the way, was previously published as part of wayman's fuillength Analysis of the SrdvakabhilmiManuscript,l96l. It appears again here with corrections. And, finally, the text "Asafiga's
Introduction
Treatiseon the ThreeInstructionsof Buddhism"takesup the set of versesand commentarythat follow the "Paramdrtha Githi" within "stage" No. 11. This materialin the book has not been publishedin someform earlier. Part five extendsour appreciationfor the range of Professor Wayman'swork. It is entitled," Hindu and Buddhist Studies;" and its comparativeapproachshouldgivea certainfeelingfor the characterof Buddhismin India which was always surrounded, we might say,by Hinduism. The essayscan be looked upon as pairs. The first pair is made of : "Two Traditions of IndiaTruth and Silence" and 'The Hindu-Buddhist Rite of Truthan Interpretation." They move through the Vedas,Upanisads, and Buddhism; and they articulate the tradition of the muni or "silent sage" as distinct from the tradition of the sagewho verbalizeshis truth, especiallyby way of mantra. And the 'orite of truth" is shown to be a particular instanceof the power of truth spoken. The second pair of esSays-"Significanceof Dreamsin India and Tibet" along with "Significanceof Mantras, From the Veda Down to Buddhist Tantric Practice"-are less united in theme. Both, however,focusupon important features of Indian religiouslife and provide valuabledetailedclassifications. Finally, it is appropriatethat a volumeentitled Buddhist Insiglttshouldend with its attentionupon the Feminine since,in Buddhism, "Insight" is sometimes a "Woman." Wayman's treatment, "The Goddess Sarasvati-from India to Tibet," tracesthe history of a deity from her form as a river to her many forms within Buddhist meditation; and the translation essay, "The Twenty-OnePraisesof Tdrd, a Syncretismof Saivismand Buddhism," bringsthe volumeto a closewith a beautiful hymn. Sincethe last two essaystouch upon materialsthat are ambiguously related to both the non-tantric and tantric forms of MahdydnaBuddhism,they may serveas an encouragementto continue this "survey" of Buddhism by consultingAlex Wayman's other collection of essays,The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-TibetanEsotericism. GeorgeR. Elder Hunter College,New York City
PART ONE
BUDDHISTPRACTICE
BUDDHA AS SAVIOR
The Buddhistteachingsabout Buddha as a savior go deep into the meaningof Buddhism,and alsoinvolvedeep-seated difference$ in the personswho might be subjectto this salvific activity. our investigationshowsone situation during the time of the histori-. cal Buddha,another coming to the fore after his passingas the disciplesyearnedfor and receiveda new dispensation.Fortunate-. ly, it is all at hand-the old Buddhistscriptures,the later Mah6ydnadevelopments; and so it is possibleto discernsomechanges. in viewpointas time went on. A problem in one extensivecorpus of Buddhist literatureis. whether the Buddha's salvific operation is consistentwith Buddhist emphasison individual responsibilityand enterprise. But in anotherbranch of Buddhistliteraturethis doesnot appear to be a problem at all. There are also some highly disputed matters,as to whethersuch an activity as "grace" is accepted_ The old teachingof the Buddharesistedthis, and one must pass. to Mahdydnadevelopmentsto find convincingexamples. RrrnvaNr
EprrlIETs oF THE BuooHa
The celebrated Buddhist dictionary Mahdvyutpatti devotes its first section to epithets of the Buddha, and a later section to terms about the greatness of the Tathagata (a title of the Buddha).r From these two sections I have selected certain names that can be arranged in sets as follows: I Mahavyutpatti,editedby Rv6zanun6 sar.crr, 2nd edn., Tokyo, 1962, 2 vols.
12
BuddhistInsight a. Names indicating the Buddha as refuge and savior: worthy of refuge (iarapya), the refuge (iarattd, protector (Sopti; savior (trdyin, tdraka), rescuer of all (viivamtara). b. Buddha's double nature: perfect in clear vision and walking Q i dyacar a Uasar.npanna). c. Names of Buddha as guide and teacher: teacher(of gods and men) (iastr-devamanwydndm), guide (ndyaka, parindyaka, netr); charioteer of persons to be tamed (purusa-damyasaratlil); caravan leader for the beginners (sdrthavahaadikarmikdndm).
Some of those titles are in a scriptural passageof the Pdli canonical collection called Anguttara-nikaya (Book of Threes):2 Here aTathdgata arisesin the world, an Arahantwho is rightly completely enlightened, perfect in clear vision and walking, Sugata,World-knower, incomparable charioteer of personsto be tamed, teacher of gods and men, a Buddha Bhagavat. He proclaims thus: "Come ! This is the Path. This is the course I announce: I so mastered it that myself realized directly rvith supernormal faculty the incomparable yoga-way of brahma-conduct (bralmmcaril'ogadha).Come you also! I\{ay you so coursethat having masteredit you too yourselves may directly realize rvith supernormal faculty the incomparable yoga-way of brahma-conduct, and having acquired it may abide (therein) !" It is in this way that the Teacher . teachesthe Dhamma, and others coursefor the thusnessgoal. You should know, moreover, that these amount to many hundreds, many thousands,many hundred thousands. My rendition "perfect in clear vision and walking" for the well-known epithet vidydcaranasaivpannais in part verified in the Mahaprajfiaparamitaiastra, which explains the term vidya as possibly the three kinds of visions which the future Buddha had under the tree of enlightenment,namely, the memory of previous lives, the divine eye, and the ending of the fluxes. Theseare both o'clear visions" and supernormal faculties (abhijfifl, while the remaining three supernormal faculties of the standard Buddhist zThe passage wascalledto my attentionin A.K. Coouluswauv and I. B. HonNnn,GotamatheBuddha(London,1948),p. 43,but the translation is my own.
Buddha as Savior
13
list are merely supernormal faculties and not clear visions.s However, the Chinese idstra takes the carana part as practices, while I render it more literally as "walkingo' to indicate the wanderings during which the Buddha taught his Doctrine that was establishedin the clear visions. The Mahaprajfiapdramitaidstra, when explaining the epithet "teacher of gods and men," raises the question of why the title is restricted to two of the five (or six) destinies that also count the animals, hungry ghosts (preta), and hell beings. It replies that the Buddha frequently saves beings included among men and gods and rarely savesbeings of the "bad destinies," animals, etc. It adds that men have weak bonds and can easily gain detachment, while the gods have sharp insight (prajfia), and so both these can easily attain the Path.a The Chinese idstra fortunately also has an entry for the charioteer of persons to be tamed, which partially overlaps the caravan-leader epithet, which, however, it does not explain. The Buddha with his great benevolence (mahamaitrl), great compassion(mahakarurld),and great wisdom (mahajfiana),employs a voice sometimes sweet, sometimesharsh, sometimes of mixed quality, so that the caravan (sartha) does not lose the Path. Verses set forth that the Buddha's Dharma is the chariot, the disciples are the horses, the true dharmas are the merchandise, the Buddha is the charioteer. The usual theory of the epithet is that the term "person" (puru;a) refers to males, whether human or animal. The question of why women are not included, although women are also installed in the Path, is answeredwith the usual Indian remarks that women have detractions-here, that they cannot become a Cakravartin king, or Sakra (: Indra) , a Mara king, or have the rank of Brahma, and so were not intended in the title.s The "caravan-leader" epithet occurs in the early teaching that the Buddha's becoming completely enlightened did not necessitate a proclamation of the Path. Thus the Majjhima-nikdya has a celebrated passagethat the Buddha at first was not inclined to teach his Doctrine, deeming it too profound for persons imbued 3Cf. ftInNNr LauotrE, Mahaprajfiapdramitdidsta, Tome I (Louvain, 1944), pp. 1,28-129;and A. Wewev, Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real (Delhi, 1979), pp. 42-43. 4LAMorrE, tr. Tome I, pp. 135-137. 5l.a.uorrr, tr. Tome I, pp. 133-135.
t4
Buddhist Insight
with lust, hatred, and delusion. And then.Brahmd sahampati exhorted him to teach, saying among other things: Arise, O hero who defeated the troop [of Mara] ! Caravan-leader without a debt, walk in the world ! May the Bhagavat teach the Doctrine. (Some) will be those who understand (it). The scripture continued with the Buddha's surveying the world with his Buddha-eyeand noticing that persons were of all sorts, of little or much impurity, of keen or dull faculty, like lotuses of different colors and in different stages of development. He decided it would be helpful to preach his excellent Doctrine among men so that the "doors of the Immortal would be opened for them."s The verse shows the early occurrence of the epithet "caravanIeader," which was to be widely used in stories and with varying transcriptions and translation in Central Asia and various Asian Ianguages.TThe term sdrthavdhin also means a "merchant," and it is of interest that the early transmissalof Buddhism to China was by merchantsand in merchant communities.8 This meaning seemsto agreewith the qualification ,'without a debt," but this may also imply that the Buddha has no debt to requiteby walking in the world (cf. the previous epithet, "perfect in clear vision and walking"), i.e. would do it by virtue of his benevolenceand compassion. The expression "for the beginners" evidently intends the "novices,o' in short that they are being brought to a new ,country (: new sets of doctrines ) by the caravan leader who knows the Buddhist route and can avoid the pitfalls and wrong ;side-paths. CHeNcr FRoM OnorNnRy pnnsoN ro Anye The preceding section has shown that the Buddha's role as savior amounts to revealing the Path. This in effect separated persons into two groups-the ordinary persons who paid no heed to the Buddha's message, and those who hearkened. The 0This directly precedes the Dhammacakkapavattana episode of the Majjhimanikaya, Vol. I, pp.218-219,in the Bihar, 1958,edition. 7 See Arssnr E. DrcN, "Thesa-paoproblemRe-examined," Journalofthe American oriental society,82:3, July-sept., 1962,pp. 335-346,for the details. 8cf. E. Ztinonn, The Buddhist conquest of china (Leiden, 1959), p. 59.
Buddha as Savior
15
ordinary person is called the prthagjana, wrile the one who became a disciple is called the arya. The Pali scripture sarpyuttanikdya describes the ordinary person (p. puthujjana) as the one who has not heard the Doctrine or been disciplined in it, who has not come in contact with the noble ones (ariya) or illustrious persons; and this ordinary person identifies his self with the five personal aggregatesof form and so on.e According to the teacher Asanga, the arya person, the Buddha's disciple, views illustrious persons, is skilled in the noble doctrinesi he knows, as it truly is, suffering as suffering, the source as the source, cessation as cessation, the path as the path.ro rhus the disciple knows the four Noble Truths, or Truths of the Nobles, proclaimed by the Buddha in the first sermon, Setting into Motion of the wheel of Dharma. while the dryais the one who "enters the stream," and proceeds on the Buddhist path, this does not mean that the "ordinary person" was neglected. According to a Mah6y6na scripture called Kulagdra-siltra, ordinary persons were called "fish."ll Ananda, "fish" is a term for ordinary persons (prthagjana). The "fishing hook" is a term for the Tathdgata's generating (in them) the root of virtue (kuiata-muta). The "line" is a term for the "means of conversion.,, "Fish(erman)" is a term for the Tathdgata. "Fish rescuen'is a term for installing sentient beings in the Nirvdqa-fruit. Thus, much emphasis was put on the change from being an "'ordinary person" to being an "drya," installed in the Buddha,s family. The Pali author Buddhaghosa uses a mixed sanskritPdli term gotrabhilfidqa (knowledge of gotrabhrT)as the basis of the path aiming at Nibbdna. A recent article about the term gotrabhu has decided that it signifies "(one) having the state of the linee.ge,"'z while the translator of the pali Abhidhamma work eSarpyutta-nikdya, iii (Khandha-yagga,42). 10A. wevuaN, Analysisof the sravakabhumi Manus*ipt (Berkeley,1961), p.67. rr rhis scripture,found in both ribetan and chinese,was cited in a nativeTibetanwork by Tsor.i-xna-ra,his sansrgyasso lrta,imnonrtogsdart | lha ska'iphyagtshad,Tashilunpocollectedworks,Vol. Da. 12D. SeyFonrRuncc, "pali GottafGotra and the term Gotrabhfrin
16
BuddhistInsight
Puggala-pafifiatiunder the title Human Types takes the term to signify "one become of the Ariya family."rs A special kind of drya became the "ascetic son of the Buddha,o' and I will show elservherein this volume that this birth in the Buddhist family as a monk coincided with oneostaking of the vow called "Patimokkhasa\nvara."74 The Pali Saryyutta-nikaya hints at the nature of this change to an drya rvhen it points out that the ordinary person does not hear the Doctrine. This is because in Asanga's Yogdcdrabbumiit is (prajfid) attained taught that persons have a native "insight" through birth, and which he refers to as "eye of insight." This native insight contrasts with the promoted insight called "eye of insight belonging to the Aryas,o' which is presumably the three levels of prajfia, consisting of hearing, pondering, and cultivation. Hence, the change to being an arya is when this native faculty is promoted to hearing scriptures and so on with faith, whereupon it is called "insight consisting of hearing" (irutamayi prajfia).15 The "ordinary persons" also constitute the field for what are called the "four means of conversion" (samgralnvastu), that are enumerated in the Pd,li canon and undergo a development in Sanskrit Buddhist literature. The first one, giving (ddna), coincides with the first of the six Mahiydna perfections (pdramitd). Following the description of a Mahayana scripture, the Aksaya' matinirdeia-sfitra, this "giving" means giving any material thing and also giving the Dharma. The second, pleasant speech (priya-vadita) means sweet and attractive words to persons making requestsand listening to the Dharma. The third one, promoting aims (artha-caryd) means fulfilling the aims of oneself and others in strict accordance with hopes. The fourth one, consistency in advice (samdndrthafi) means, for example, that whatever the vehicle of teaching that oneself adheres to with the Pali and Buddhist Sanskrit,'o Buddhist Studies in Honour of I. B. Horner (Dordrecht, Holland, 1974), pp. 206-207. 13B.C. LAw, tr., Designationof Human Types(London, 1922),p. 19. 14A. WlvlraN, "Ancient Buddhist Monasticism," Studia Missionalia 28, 1979,p. 197.This essayappearsin this volume. 15All the citations from Asanga's Yogacarabhumi are in my essay, "Nescience and Insight accordingto Asanga's Yogacarabhfimi,"appearingin this volume.
Bucldhaas Savior
n
attitude that it is meritorious, one installs in that very vehicle persons who accept the material things and'Dharma of the first means(dana).rE A problem of this theory that one has become stationed in a species (s. gorra) with the inherent nature of parinirvdlta, is whether those who are not stationed in the speciesare incapable of it; and another problem is why those stationed in the species seem still so far away from parinirvana. Asanga, in common rvith early Buddhism as indicated in the preceding section, d,oes not appear concernedwith the problem of whether some persons are incapable of the change into an drya, thus resident in the speciesof the Buddhist religious goal, although some Mahdydna currents felt obliged to treat this problem; and the Lankavatdra.rutra like some other sources employs the term icchantika for persons who lack the requisite "root of virtue" (kuiata-mula) (cf. the previous'ofish" passagefrom the Katragara-sutra)susceptible of forming the basisfor entranceinto the "species."r? Asanga does concern himself rvith why personswith the nature of parinirt'apahave "moved it sarytsdrafar so long in former times and still have not attained parinir.vdqte,"a.nd he sets forth four reasons: l) they were born ir1 unfavorable circumstances; 2) they had the fault of heedlessness; 3) they enteredupon a wrong or perverse corxse; 4) they \,verehindered; and he proceeds to explain each of the four.l8 Thus Asanga's extensivewritings were aimed at the persons who were converts to the Buddhist position or had entered the religious life. Bupnnn as Snvron nNl SnIr-RELTANCE It has been usual in western expositions of Buddhism to bring up the Buddhist stress on "self-reliance." one such passage appealed to is in the Buddhist classicDhammapada(no. 276), in Radhakrishnan's translation: "You yourself must strive. The l.
i:
l1 li
t ! i
r6This material comes from the Ak;ayamatinirdeSasiitra itself, of which I have been preparing a translation. one may consult HaR Dayar. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist (Delhi, 1975), pp. sanskrit Literature 251-259, for more material on the four vastus. 17For the icchantika, cf. D. s. Runcc, La theorie du Tathagatagarbha et du gotra (Paris, 7969), pp. 75, ff. r8Cf. Arsx WAvuaN, Analysis, pp. 59-60.
18
BuddhistInsight
Blessed Ones are (only) preachers. Those who enter the path and practise meditation are releasedfrom ihe bondage of Mdra (death, sin)."re Along these lines there is a verse of unknown source which I cited elsewherewith annotational expansion:20 The Munis do not wash away the defilements (of the streams of consciousnessof the sentient beings) with water (as though it were a matter of washing away dirt). And they do not remove the suffering of beings with a hand (as though it were a matter of pulling out a thorn). They do not shift to another the (features of) comprehension of reality (as though it were a matter of shifting a tool from the right to the left hand). (But rather) they liberate (the beings from the cyclical flow) by the Teaching (provided the beings meditate on its meaning) of the truth of real nature (or absolute truth). It is possible to overly stress this self-reliance, as though the Buddhas are only preachers. This is because all the scriptures begin with "Thus by me it was heard" (evam mayd Srutam), admitting that the disciple did not derive the scripture from himself but from another. In Tibet, the author Tson-kha-pa cited the Tathagata, "The one rvho has heard (it) from another, is liberated from old age and death." And the Tibetan author added:21 In that passage,the Teacher clearly explains by personally drawing from his own memory. The words "The one who has heard (it) from another" means that he heard the exposition of nonself from another. Hence he listened previously to illustrious friendly guides for the meaning of nonself; and having done the hearing and pondering, in order to reject the adherence to the notion "It came from within" he states "heard it from 2ne[fus1"-of this there is no doubt. Thus. the cardinal Buddhist doctrine of "non-self" had to be learnedfrom another, sinceo'self" cannot originate the teachingof non-self. But then the important issueis what part of the corpus 1eS.Rlon,rKRrsHNAN, The Dhammapada(London, 1950),p. 146. 20A.WavrvrAN,"Purification of Sin in Buddhism by Vision and Confession," in GruruN H. Sasarr, ed.,A Study of Kleia (Tokyo, 1975)pp. 73-74, The passageis drawn from the annotational edition of Tson-kha-pa'sLam rim chen mo. 21A. WayrratN,Calming the Mind, p. 175.
I
;
t
I t
Buddhaas Savior
19
must come from others and what part is to be added by oneself. It is not necessaryto cite a multitude of passages, sinceit is easyto get the answer that "right views" (samyagdysli),first member of the eightfold noble path, is what one.must receive from others. This part from others is referred to metaphorically as a "lamp" in the Northern Buddhist expansion of the Dhammapada called, Uddnavarga (XXII, 3-6). Here there is first mention of the person who entering a house enwrapped in darkness does not see objects in it even though he has eyes. when he listens he understands the natures that are virtuous or sinful: this is his "lamp", so he is a man who both has eyes and bears a lamp. Having hearkened, he understands the dharmas. Finally, having hearkened, he reaches Nirvana.2z This implication of the borrowed lamp is also in the canonical passages,saqnyutta-nikaya and elsewhere,saying, "he who seesthe Dhamma seesme, and he who seesme seesthe Dhamma."23 Therefore, the Buddha as savior is the one who shows or points out the Path, affords a glimpse (5. dariana). When one enters the path, he cannot do it just with a glimpse, but must enter with his body and all its faculties. The trouble is that this self-reliance is premature if it is not preceded by a glimpse of the right hall to enter. As to the "right viewso'-in Pdli, sammd ditthi, Nyanatiloka, rendering it "right understanding," has as full a list as could bb expected: the four noble truths; merit and demerit in terms of body, speech, and mind; the three characteristics (impermanence,suffering,and non-self); unprofitable questions;five bonds (saryyojana);unwise considerations (e. g. "Have I been in the past?" and other egoistic questions); wiseconsiderations(through hearkening); theory of the "Stream-enterer" and stages of the Path; supramundane "right understanding" when conjoined with the Path; the middle doctrine of Dependent Origination avoiding the extremes of nihilism and eternalism; doctrine of karma and fruit.z4 This, then, usuallv called the Buddha's Teaching, is also the dariana. 22F. BpnNsARD, ed., Udanavarga,Bandl (Gclttingen, 1965), Sanskrittexte aus den Turfanfunden. 2sCooM,qnaswAMy and HonNsR, Gotama, p. 23. z4NvaNarrLoKA, The Word of the Buddha ('Island Hermitage,' Ceylon, 1952), pp. 29-47.
20
BuddhistInsight
As long as \\'e restrict ourselvesto the,ancient position of Buddhisrn,such as f ound in the early scriptures,and avoid certain novel directions of Mahd,ydna Buddhism, we cannot ascribe to the Buddha's role more than this. still, this role of teaching the "right viervs" is by no means negligible if we are to understand this situation of ancient Buddhisrn. Later, such considerations rvereto be reevaluatedas we shall seein the next section. Even here more could be said. For instance,passing to Aryadeva's Catultiataka, we notice that he devotes Chap. XII to refutation of wrong views. Verse I refers to the o'hearer." The hearer who is upright (like a post) has discrimination (buddlimat : the native insight) and strives, is called the o'vessel." Otherwise,there would be no merit cf the speaker, nor any in the listener. Now the hearer comes in for some inspection. We should not forget that there is no point to teachingthe "right views" unless there is an appropriate audience. And in the Jatakamdld, XVII (The Story of the Jar): "But the speaker of the beneficial words is to be honoured by accepting his words and by putting them into practice (: taking them to heart)." This is advice for the -qrateful disciple. Finally, the Mahaydna-Sutrdlarykara (i. 16) summarizeshis sequenceof attainment: "Having based himself first on hearing, there ariseshere the 'mental orientation' (manaskdra); from the 'mental orientation' there arises the knowledge (jfiAna) whose field is the meaning of reality."zr Buroua AND ADHI;1HANI In the Mahdydna period, the Buddha had become equipped with multiple bodies; in particular the body with which he appearedon earth was not an ordinary human body but one called a Nirmd4akdya. This body was credited with various supernormal powers, e.g. adhi;lhdna, with a frequent verbal form adhitistrhali. The appendix to Viifiaptimdtratdsiddhi summarizes what is attributed to the Buddha by this term, starting with the Abhidharmakoia; and La Vallde Poussin here finds Burnouf's rendition "benediction" excellent in many passages. In these passages,there was rsThe Catuhflataka, Jatakamala, and Mahayana-Stitralarytkara passages are selected from among quotations in Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo, in my quotation notebooks.
Buddhaas Savior
2l especiallyan ability to conserve the body, mtrke it rastfor aeons.26 suzuki, sturJies in the Lankdvardra-sutra, exprains it as the sustainingpower of the original vows.2z This rendition is close to the usageas an architectur.al term for the Indian temple, where it is the foundation of the superstructure.2s Thus, the term suggeststhe sustaining or support for the spiritual component, the part in the ..intermediate space,, (antarik.ra). It is somewhat of a jump to pass to the usage by way of the Tibetan translation of the norn as ,,byin rlabs.,l We read in the book, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Docltrines, ..O Thou, in the Akanistha Hea'en, the emanation of the pure Realm of the Dharmakdya, vouchsafe me Thy ,gift-waves, (so) that Setf_ Knowledge, the Immutabre state of the Dharma-k aya, may be attained'"2e Here, the rendition "gift-waves,,is after the fornl of the Tibetan words, which, howwer, thernselves render the sanskrit word adhi;{hana. rt shourd be rnentioned that the root_ guru in the Akanistha Heaven is u'derstood i' Mahaydna theology as the sar'bhog a-kitya of the Buddha. The context of the passage,furthermorr, ug.r* with a rendition .,spiritual support." It is clear that^th.edeveropment.ca'ed Mahdyana Buddhism, .with its theory of the multipie bodies of the Buddhu, had made possiblea contributio'presurnabry by the Buddha to the discipre that extended beyond the old "showing of ilr" Futi .', The term in its Tibetan fgrm was frequent in a work wtrictr F. D. Lessing and I translated into Engrish under the titre utrt,o, grub r.ie,s Fundamentals of the nuicthfst Tantras (Mouton, The Hague, 1968), now feprinted with a new introduction a, Intrortuction to the Buddhist Tantric systems (Mot'al Banarsidass,Delhi, Ig7g.). Here we rendered it usually as ..blessing,,, anJ ih. u.rbal form as 'oenergizer',,rempowerr',and ihe like. ,rfil;.
"irlirl.^r-Lre
PoussrN,viifiaptirnatratasidcthi, Tome rr (paris,
suzuxt, studiesin the Lankavatdra siltra (London, ,r;iTil" rliIii." z8cf' pnasaNN.q, K_u^{aRAcuan"o, Dictionary of Hindu Architecture (London'1927)' l pp' l7-1g,saying,".-ii d"not", un ouj."t onwrrrctsomething -'tends'...itimpries the baseorlne corumn,beingthe memberbetweenthe :haft and the pedestal, if there be
any.,, zvKe.zt Dawa-sauDup, tr., W. y. EvaNs_WrNTz, dtid Secret Doctrines (London, tgZSl, p. 264.
ed.,
Tibetan
yoga
BuddhistInsight
22
Now, the developed theory that the Buddhas or celestial Bodhisattvas like Avalokitesvara could extend a power to chosen disciples to fortify the latters' limited resources, caused some change in the literature and encouraged the kind of praises and evocation rituals in which the deity is implored to extend this kind of blessing or empowerment (adhislhana). The theory undoubtedly helped to make the Bodhisattva practice flourish, to extol the possessionof compassion (karulta), and to attribute the intense form of this, "great cotnpassion" (mahakaru7A), to the supramundane Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So the scripture Aryagayaitrpa is cited: "Maflju5ri, the practice of the Bodhisattvas has what inception, has what spiritual foundation? MafljuSri replied: Son-of-the-gods, the practice of the Bodhisattvas has great compassion as its inception, and has the sentient beings as its spiritual foundation (adhislhdnn)." o'Bythe cognition of A N{ahdyarrasutacalled Akaiagarbhasays: insight (prajnA) all defilementis castout of doors. By the cognition of means (upaya) all the living beings are given hospitality." Candragomin's Si;1'alekha(v. 101) cornpares this nature of the great beings to the sun's impartial radiation and illumination of the worlds; the secondhalf of the versesays: "Such is this nature of the great ones -to have no aim of their own-who delight in the single taste of benefit and happiness for the worldlings." Such passagesare very numerous in the Mahdyd:naliterature, and this sample mereiy suggests how the Mahd:ydna authors were inspired to stress these points with all the beauty of expression they could muster.so I should give still another citation with the word adhislharn in the senseof a "spiritual foundation," sincethe Jlkpasamuccaya cites the Sanskrit of this passage from the Arya-Ratnacu(aparipyccha: "Thus, girding himself with the armor of benevolence (maiti) and having based himself on the spiritual foundation of great compassion (mahakarupadhi;lhana), he works at the meditation (dhyAna) which realizes the voidness possessedof all the soThe Aryagayaiir;a, Akaiagarbha-sutra, and the Si;yalekha passages are selected from among quotations in Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo, in my quotation notebooks. The line translated from the s;i;yalekha (1.P. Minaeff's edition) is: I na sa svarthalt kaicit prakytir iyam iva mahatarp yadete lokanarTt hitasukharasaikantarasikAh
l.
Buddhaas Savior
23
best aspects. What is the voidness possewed of all the best aspects? The one that does not lack giving, does not lack morality, does not lack forbearance,does not lack striving, does not lack meditation, does not lack insight, and d.oesnot lack mgans."31 The foregoing and much more that could be cited in amplification should serve to show that in the Mahdydna period the new role attributed to the Buddha by virtue of his various bodies could easily have produced teachingsthat the Buddha exercisesa "graee"-1o use the Western religious term. And yet, just when the stage is set for such a magnanimous activity by the Buddha, so that such an enlightened being could be regarded as a ..savior" in terms comprehensible to westerners, a reaction that also belongs to the Mahiydna was to set in. This other development, also a consequence of the theory of multiple bodies, will be clarified in the next section. Dm rnn Bunone sAvE ANy sprNcs ? Early Buddhism was realistic and so took the position that beings were either "rescued" or "not rescued." But a scripture called A;lasahasrika Prajfiaparamita that was translated by Edward conze, -and which was probably the earliest of all thl takes the'iillusionist" position:32 @res, The Lord.' Here the Bodhisattva, the great being, thinks thus: countless beings I should lead to Nirvana and yet there are none who lead to Nirvana, or who should be led to it. How_ ever many beings he may lead to Nirvana, yet there is not any being that has been led to Nirvana, nor that has led others to it. For such is the true nature of dharmas, seeingthat their nature is illusorv. Again: subhuti: The form of any illusory man is neither bound nor freed. The suchnessof the form of, an illusory man is neither slSdntideva's siksasamLtccaya, ed. by p. L. varova (Darbhanga,196l), text,p. l45.ll-13,withinthelongerpassage of similarsentiments.Thepait
I have translatedis the Lam rim chentno quotation. s2EowaRn coNzr, tr., The perfection of laisdom in Eight thousand slokas (Calcutta,1958),Chap. l, pp. g-9, 11.
BuddhistInsight
l'1
bound nor freed. Becausein reality i{ is not there aI all, becauseit is isolated, becauseit is unproduced. In this first chapter of the celebratedwork, the Buddha's early disciple S6:riputra,said to have been the best in "insight" (praifia) of those disciples,put a hard question to Subhuti, saying: As I understaud the teaching of the Venerable Subhuti, a Bodhisattva also is a non-production. But if a Bodhisattva is a non-production, how thei'r does he go on the difffrcult pilgrimage, and how can he possibly endure the experience of those sufferings (which he is said to undergo) for the sake of beings? Subhuti responded: I do not look for a Bodhisattva who goes on the difficult pilgrimage. Irr any cASe,one who coursesin the perception of difficulties is not a Bodhisattva. Because one who has generated a perception of difficulties is unable to work the r v ealof c oun tl e s sb e i n g s .... We see that there is sorne attractivenessin this position (or non-position) of illusion: it gets rid of the difficulties,because difficulties are a feature of the real n'orld. Even the unknown composer of the Ag{asdhasrikahad to work at it. A JapaneseBuddhologist Susumu Yamaguchi (then President of Otani University, Kyoto) wrestled r,vith this problem after he read Santideva'sBodhicarydvatdraand concluded that the Buddha was always absorbed in contemplation r,vithoutdoing anything for the salvation of the human beings during the half century from his attainment of enlightenment at the tirirty-fifth year of age till his entering into Nirvala when he was eighty years old. He further noted: "The Buddha is commonly said to have been preaching to save mankind during that period, but in reality he said no word through thesedecades." He also noted that the Indian Buddhist scholar Bodhiruci, coming to China in the sixth century A.D., claimed that the Buddha preached using one word only. So Yamaguchi gave lectures about it in Japaneseto show the position of his Shin Sectof JapaneseBuddhism;and his lectures were translated into English by Shoko Watanabe, a professor at Toyo University, in a book published in 1958. Yamaguchi kindly
Buddhaas Savior
I J
25
presentedto the piesent writer on the occa$ionof an early 1960's visit to Kyoto this book entitled Dynamic Buddha and static Buddlta. Professor Yamaguchi noticed that these tlo forms of Buddha were representedin sculpture. one was the meditating Buddha, contemplating prajfiaparamita, making no audible words; the other was the preaching Buddha, sometimes showing elongated tongue-what he calls the "dynamic Buddha." These two kinds of Buddha reflect the Mahdyana teaching of Buddha bodies: the Dharma-kaya is the "static Buddha", and the Sapbhoga-kaya and NirrnA4a-kdya the "dynamic Buddha." In the Tibetan tracirtion, the Dharma-kdya does not teach; only the "bodies of form" (sarpbhoga and Nirmd4a) teach.B' This, however, is a theory that goes back to the early parinirvdpastttra. Thus, in the Mahaparinibbdna-suttdntaof the p1tli Dtghanikdya, the Buddha, giving final instructions, told the gathering that after his passing. the Dharma and vinaya which he had taught would be their Teacher.Ba rhus this corpus, the Dharmavinaya, would be the 'oteacher" only metaphorically, because it was understood to be the topic of study. However, the Dharmavinaya (although composed of words) was silent: it never said a word, never explained itself. This rvas eventually personified as the "static Buddha" in Yamaguchi's book.Bb However, Mahdydna Buddhism arose to explain it and thus devised two bodies, the Sarybhoga-kayaand the Nirmala-kaya, the so-called "dynamic Buddha." of course,the Buddha did preach in words. In fact, he taught continuously; and much of what he taught is preservedin the old Buddhist canon, the four Pali Nikayas, and the four chinese Agamas. The Buddha, while a Bodhisattva, had engaged in many difficult practices and later uttered difficult doctrines-but this happenedin the real world, amidst the beingswhc live and die. some western expounders of Mahayina Buddhism speak about Prajffaparamita Buddhism as though it were the voidness (iunyata) -which they render as "emptiness"-dsyeid of all the best aspects. After all, it is this very author Santideva-the one 33For the Sambhoga-kdya and Nirmdna-kdya as teachers, cf. Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tatttras, Chapter One. saThe Dighanikaya (2. Mahd vagga) (Bihar, l95g), p. llg.l5_16. sssusurr,ru YaNrlcucHr, Dl,namic Buddha and static Buddha(Tokyo, l95g).
26
Buddhistrnsight
who composed the Bodhicarydvatdra tlnt inppired Yamaguchi's somewhat sensational book-who also composed the Siksasamuccara citing the Arya-Ratnacu{apariprcchdabout the voidness possessedof all the best aspects. So Santideva,if one will read him further, provided the solution to the problem. The Prajfraparamitd scripture As[asdhasrikd is a profound work; and it does not help to understandit to translate the term "prajfiaparamita" as the "perfection of wisdom." According to the teacher Asanga, man has a native uncultured form of prajiid, which certainly is not "wisdom," otherwise why need culture it through the three forms called in Sanskrit irutamayi prajfid, cintdmayt prajiia, and bhavanamayi prajiid, or try to get it to the perfection (paramita) ! So also the future Buddha Gautama is held to have said according to the Mahdydna biography Lalitcn,istara: "Alas, O charicteer, for the unawaking discriminatiorr of the childish person" (dhik sarathe abuclha bdlajanasya buddhtt,S.za Thus the problem of whether the Buddha "saved" any beings becamemore confused rvhen personswriting on the topic did not even knorv the meaning of the main terms. TnersrrR oF THEsALVrFrcACTIVITy As though to underline a conclusion that the Buddha's teaching of the Path-valuable as this is-did not constitute "saving" as later followers of this religion would prefer it, there arose other deities to do this job. Thus, there was the Buddha Amitabha or Amitiyus whose o'heaven"is called sukhdvati, along with scriptures followed by the chinese and JapaneseBuddhists for many centuries. Then in Northern India there arose the cult of the goddessTarn (the Savioress), popular in Nepal, Tibet, and Mongolia. Twenty-one forms of this deity are presented at the close of this volume. There were other deities too. In Japan the name Amitdbha occurred as Amita or Amida. In the classic of shin Buddhism, the Kyogyoshinsho,we read:Bz Now the Buddha Meditation Samadhi is the truly superb and soFnaNrrru EncERroN, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Reader (Delhi, 1978) p.14. sTKosuo Yauauoro, tr., The Kyogyishinsho (Tokyo, l95g), p. 41.
Buddha as Savior
27
wonderful gate. with His name as vowed in the forty-eight vows, Amita Buddha, with the vow's power, savesall beings, ...oh how great! The Law of rhusness that is one with reason is one. It savesand benefitsmen. This is so because the vows are different. our Sakyamuni answered the call and took birth in this defiled world and Amita Buddha appeared in the Pure Land. Places differ like as the defiled world and the Pure Land, but salvation is one. It is easy to practice and easy to attain, for truly this is the way of the Pure Land School. So the historical Buddha Sakyamuni took birth in this defiled world and announced the difficult practice, becausesuch was his vow; while the Buddha Amitdbha stayed in the pure Land, the western paradise, and announced the easy practice, becausesuch was his vow. But salvation is one. Turning to the Goddess Tara, there are the praises of the white Tara by Dge-'dun-grub (posthumously the First Dalai Lama), including this: I bow to Thee the virtuous Mother of Buddhas of the three ages, who protects against all dangers such as lion, elephant, fire, poison, snakes;with your left hand holding a blue lotus (utpala) and making the gestureof the "giving of protection." I bow to Thee, the locus of all protection, she who guides all beings to the great-ecstasycity of liberation by means of eyes borne on the palms of hands and soles of feet that are the four gates of liberation of voidness and so on. I worship Thee who is adorned on the head with Amitayus, the Lord who mindfully confers long life and knowledge, and who holds the vesselfull of immortality nectar. I bow to Thee who confers occult powers as desired like imrnortal life, knowledge, and merit, simply by (our) reciting such incantations as "Tdre." Those are verses from Dge-'dun-grub's lovely work.s8 By the "Tare" incantation he means or.n tdre tuttdre ture svdhd, the ten-syllabled evocation of the goddess Taru. Ratnakarasdnti explains the formula as or.n, the seedknowledge made clear at the 38I translated this work in 1970whilestayingin Dharmsala, H. p. India.
28
Buddhistrnsight
end with svdha. Then "Tare" (o Tdrd, who rescuesby bringing to the other side-the paramitd); 'oTuttare" (O rescuerfrom suffering); "Ture" (o Tur6, the fast one, who rescuesspeedily.)Be Amitdbha and rdrd were not the only deities appealed to. There were the Medicine Buddha (Bhaisajya-guru) and the great Bodhisattvas like Avalokitesvara and Mafljusri. It is not necessary to cite more verses, which so often were fashioned with beautiful phraseology. The situation is clear enough. The devoteesexpectedthese deities to supply very human wants and fulfil aspirations. In return the devoteessupplied all the finances and wherewithal for splendid temples and art in Asia. This does not mean that Sakyamuni was forgotrcn in the shuffie. He is always there or far off, sometimesshadowv or comins back into focus.
asSeeChapter 22.
2 ANCIENT BUDDHIST MONASTICISM-
IxrRooucrroN There have been many studiesof Buddhist monasticism,oriented both to the ancient forms and to modern features in certain Buddhist countries of Asia and south-east Asia. Many of these studies have been prepared by fine scholars. It is impossible to deal with the manifold aspects in one paper. So the present writer restricts the topic, first of all, to the ancient period, while stressingthose particular aspectsas appear to be of vital concern in all periods. It is well to admit that there are a number of disputed points in regard to the ancient form of Buddhism portrayed in this paper, and to mention that this writer will not shirk the responsibility when such points deservefair appraisal and conclusions. In the first part, emphasizingthe pratimokqa, vinitadeva's commentary on the vinaya is employed to suggest a new rendition for the term; the theory of two oral traditionsvinaya and Dharma-is combined with a division into two Prdtimoksa-s to advance a position that various vinaya lineages were in Buddhism from the beginning and that the separationinto Buddhist sects was due to doctrinal and not vinaya disagreements. In the second part, emphasizingthe monastery inhabitants, there is exposition of well-establishedfacts of monastery life with a comparison to the Brahmanical "stages of life." In the third part, emphasizing the offences,only some of the pre+Abbreviations: P. for Pdli language;s. for sanskritlanguage;JBRS for TheJournalof theBihar Research society;pTT for pekingTibetanTripitaka,the Japanese photographic reproduction of the pekingTibetancanon.
30
BuddhistInsight
vious scholarly'findings can be presentecl. There are a number of selections from Asanga's Yogdcarabhumi)which appears not to have been utilized by other western specialistsin the topics of this paper. I.
Solre EARLv Rrucrous oF INorA, THE TERM pRArruorqe, Vrulya BEGTNNINGS
At the time of the Buddha (6th - 5th centuries, B.c.) there were various religious orders, with namesthat were sometimesobscure in later times. The main classification seemsto be into brdhmalta atd iramaqta, with both including the wanderers (parivrajaka).L While these words were not always used with the same meaning, it appears that the term brdhmaryastood, for persons adhering to the Vedic religion, and who sooner or later would follow four stages of life; and that the iramaryas were ascetic orders. Asanga provides a more detailed breakdown: "There are six kinds of persons, as follows: (l) the ascetic (iramaqta), (2) the braltmona, (3) the chaste person (brahmacdrin),(4) the monk (bhik-ru),(5) the restrainer (.vati), (6) the one gone forth (to the religious life) (prat'rdjita)." In further detailing, Asanga gives four kinds of ascetics:a. the one victorious over the path (ntargajina),u'ho is the Sugata,having achieved,without remainder, the extirpation of lust, hatred, and delusion; b. the teacher of the path (margadeiika); c. the one who lives by the path, who has entered the stream, etc. (margajivin); d. the one who insults the path (margadusin)., Since in the Buddhist religious way, the one gone forth to the religious life (pravrajita) and the one called "monk" (bhiksu) had to severprevioussocial relationsand enter into a monasterial situa.tion living with other novices and monks, rules had to be devisedboth for their daily conduct within the monastery and for their encounterswith the lay community, as when seeking alms. The various prohibitions and other rules are in the code called P. Pdtimokklta-or S. Prqtimoksa-sutra. This contains some one hundred fifty rules called 'opoints of instruction" (P. sikhapada, 1Cf. B. C. Llw, "A Short Account of the Wandering Ascetics (Parivrajakas) in India in the sixth Century,B.C." JBRS,LIII, i-iv, 1967,pp.17-26. zArpx WAyuaN, Analysis of the Sravakabhumi Manuscript (University of California Press,Berkeley, 196l), p. 103.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
31
s. iiksapada) emphasizing prohibitions, which are roughly the samein various forms of this vinaya (discipiine) work (some only extant in chinese translation) that have been handed down; along with extra rules called P. selihiya dhamrna, s. iaik;a-dharma, emphasizingpcsitive rules of deportment, which differ considerably in number and kind in the various Vinayas. Since in the Buddha's lifetime a nun order was started, it was necessaryat that early date to make up a separate pdtirnoklcha for the nun, dropping some of the monk rules and adding a further set, especia.llyto define the nun's conduct toward a monk and her attire. The Patimokkha was rehearsed along with scriptures at the bimonthly meetings of the ordained monks in a meeting called in P. Uposatha ("well-beirg"), narnely on full moon and new moon days, which are traditional days in h-rdiapicked for festivals. These are the two days, P. cdtuddasi, the l4th day in a lunar fortnight of decreasing phase (: first day of disappearance , of the moon), and P. Palnarasi, full moon day. The way it works out according to one explanation is that in the four months of a season, the 3rd and 7th meetings are cdtuddasi, and the others, lst , 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and gth are panlarasi. Hence, most of the Uposatha meetingswere on a full-moon day.t The term "Patiinokkha" has been much discussed.,and its meaning disputed. of course,the observanceof the prohibitions and precepts of the Patimokkha is independent of knowing the derivation of the term. when the Buddhist vinayas were translated into chinese principally in the 5th century, A.D. , there was a difficulty in interpreting the s. "pratimok$a." The translators either transcribed the term phonetically or else translated it as though it read Pratimoksa, with prati-understoodin the distributive sense ("each one") and mok;a of course rendered as "liberation."a This rendition appearsto agreewith avoiding the prohibited elementsof the list, confessingeach one as was com3c. s. IJTASAK, Dictionary of Earty Buddhist Monastic Terms (Bharati Prakashan, Varanasi, 1975), pp. 52-53. aMy wife (who is Japanese) has read for me the entries on the term in the Buddhist dictionaries by ono, Hakuju ui, and Hajime Nakamura; and all sources agree that when the lerm was translated into Chinese it was always with this distributive meaning of pratt, although there are differing interpretations of this distributive meaning ..each one."
32
BuddhistInsight
mitted, and, when indicated, rnaking amends by penance. When the Vinaya was translated into Tibetan starting in the early 9th century, A.D., the term was uniformly rendered as so sor thar pa, which understands the distributive sense of prati- in agreement with the Chinese translations. When in the l gth century the Pali scriptures began to be translated into English, an interpretation was rnade that the term Patimokkha should be understood with the short a, arrd that P. pati (: S. prati) should be taken in the "against" sense; and since "against liberation" entails a bond, the translators with this persuasion decided on the rendition "obligation" and have been using this regularly.s This rendition appearsto agreewith the obligation of the monks to recite the list at the Uposatha and to abide by the pronouncements within the text. Of course, these translators knew cf the gloss (to be explained below) on the term found ia the Vinaya exegesiscalled Maltdvagga: patimokkham ti adiry eto/.n, mukhar.n etaUt,pamuklnryxetary kusalanarytdhammanam, tena vuccati p.6 . It is easyto misunderstandthis and think it is a false etymology? and so should be disregarded.s The reason I am led away from the false-etymology theory is my having found in Vinitadeva's commentary on the Mulasarydstivdda Vinayavibltangathe saying, so sor thar pa |es bya bs ni dafi por thar pa'o.e This comment, taking pratirnoksa as equivalent to adimoksa ("libei-ation at the beginrring, aditas"), is grammatically justified by understanding prdtimoksa : pra I atimolc5a. SeeSpeijer: "The upAsara 'pra' has sometimes the power of denoting the beginning of the action," citing Kai on P. l, 2, 2l for the terrn pradyotitalt ("He commencedto shine").to Now atimoksa is a pre-Buddhist term found in the Satapatha-Bralmraqta,14, 6, l, 8, with identical 5Cf. The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary, ed. by T. W. Rnys Davros and Wu-rtav Srror (The Pali Text Society,London,7952 reprint), P a r t V ( P - P h . )p, . 7 3 . sMahavagga(Oldenbergedition), ll, 3, 4. TMore recently, J. W. oe JoNG, review, Cnant,es S. Pnrsrsu, Buddhist Monastic Discipline, in Indo-IranianJournal, 19 (1977), p. 127. 8But this is no excusefor Nathmal Tatia to omit the line from his edition of the Mahavaggain Samkhitta-pi1akam,Vol. I (Nava Nalandd Mahivihdra, 1975),p. 71,circaline 11. gPTT, Vol. 122,p. 304-1-1. 10J.S. SrrtJrn, SanskritSyntax (Reprint, Kyoto, 1968),Para.309,p. 232; herc pra- is prefixed to the verb.
Ancient BuddhistMonasticism
33
passage in Brhaddraqtyaka-(tpqnisad,3.l, 6,tt and which was presumably replaced in later Sanskrit wiih the term rnoksa. Hence, vinitadeva's comment-possibly repeated in his vinaya lineage for a thousand yearslz-understands the termpratimok;a to mean 'ocommencementof liberation," which can be rendered more neatly, "liberation-onset." Nor,v we can return tc the Mahavagga gioss (above cited) to render it with fidelity: .,As to the 'Pdtimokkha,'ra it is the beginning (adD, to wit, it is the orifice {mukha) and it is the commencement (s. pramukha) of the virtuous natures (s. dharma); therefore, one says,.Liberation-Onset.'"r4 Furthermore, there is a canonical passagesuppcrting the above conclusion. This is in the Anguttara-nikaya (Book of Fives), Rajava.gga, the Yassamdisam-sutta. Here a Ksatriya king is said to have five salient points whereverhe abides: (1) being wellborn through his father and mother; (2) having bountiful treasuries; (3) mighty through his army; (4) having a wise minister; (5) abiding where he has conquered. The monk also is said to have five comparable salient points wherever he abides. As to the first point, "in that a monk has morality, dwells restrainedby the Pdtimokkhasamvara,...[and so oo, much like a Dighanikaya passagecited belowl-he has the perfection of birth like the consecratedKsatriya king." Since the taking of the patimokkhasar.nvara(seebelow) is likened to an illustrious birth. this llReferencefrom BonrrrNcr and Rorn Sanskrit-Wdrterbuch(reprint of Meicho-Fukyti-Kai,Tokyo, 1976). lzRaNrsno GNoLr, The Gilgit Manuscript of the saighabhedavastu, part I (Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo oriente, Roma, lg77), General Introduction, p. xix, decidesthat the compilation of rhe Mulasarvdstivada vinaya dates back to the times of Kani;ka, of course,the content would frequently go back to much earlier times. I3Arn,q HrRarawa, A Study of the Vinaya-pitaka (Sankibo_Busshorin,. Tokyo, 1970) [in Japanesewith a summary including table of contents in Englishl, p. 419, points out that Buddhaghosain his vinaya commentary Kankhavitarani analyzed "Pdtimokkha" into pa+ ita mokkha, understood as "especiallyexcellentliberation."Thus, p. pa-S.pra was understood only by its classicaImeaning. larhere still remains the problem of why the words mukha, pamukha were chosenfor the gloss. The author of the Mahavaggamay have intended, while the words can signify in the manner of my rendition, to have also suggested the "facing" or confrontation as happens in the confessionalpart of the Patimokkha, as will be pointed out later in this essay.
Buddhist Insight
34
birth supportsthe rendition"Liberation-onset.":this onsetis a in the inner precinctsof Buddhism,so the monasticfollowers of the were called samarydSakyaputtiyd,"asceticswho are sons Ruddha."16 T heDigha- nik a y a p a s s a g e (I,6 2 )th a ts h o u l dnow bementi oned is from the well-known scripture samafifia-phala-sutta: (s. pravra' when the ascetic(s. iramalta) has thus gone forth (s' Pdtimokkhasa{nvara the by jita) he dwells restrained begood of perfection the prd,timoksa-sar.nvara).He has views havior and of lawful resort (dcdragocarasar.npanna), fearfullyeventheminort}ringstobeavoided.Herightfully (s. iiksapada), takes and learns the "points of instruction" whileaccompaniedbyvirtuousactsofbodyandvirtuous equipped with acts of speech. With pure livelihood and morality,heguardstheSensedoors,accompaniedbymindfulness and awareness. He is happy' "Patimokkhasamvafa'" This brings up the important expression promise.lG As used solemn the "vow," a means Here sarytvara but ccnveys the sense of here, it does not mean "restraint," ..holding together," i.e. adhering inthe streamof consciousuess; phrase "while accombecauseu vow is not to be forgotten. The actsof speech"raises panied by virtuous acts of body and virtuous mind, since Buddhism it . q,r.riion: why not by virtuous acts of four of speech' and body' of three karma, of ,p.ui, of ten paths number of the typical a ten, up makes tirree of mind? This BuddhistVinayacode.However,morality(ii|a)perseamounts bad acts of body to the seven abstinences, i.e. from the three seven also is imnumber the so and four bad acts of speechilT as in the citation variously, detailed portu"t for Vinaya theoiy, but Vinayavagga) Sevens' of (Book below. The Aiguttara-'nikq'a (dhamma), natures seven of possessed states that when a monk is discipline, Buddhist the of he is a vinayadhlra (holder, or retainer Vinaya), as follows: (Suttavibhanga) 15Cf. I. B. HonNBn, tr. The Book of Discipline Yo]l. l p' lii' (London, 1g4g),translator's introduction' pa; and in this 16The term sar.nvarais translated into Tibetan by sdom languagetherearesdomgsumbooksonthe'othreevows,"namely,thePratimokga, the Bodhisattva, and the Mantra vows' l?Cf. DpaKKUMAR Blnu.r., An analytical Study of the four Nikayas (Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, 1'97t)' pp' 128'129'
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
35
Hc knows what is a transgression (apatti) and knows what is not. He knows what is a light (lahukfi transgression; he knows what is a grave (garuka) one. you shourd know (kho) 'that when both Patimokkhas are well-handed to him in 'extenso,well-analyzed (suvibhatta), well set-in-motion (suppavatti), well-determined (suvinicchita) according to scripture and according to anuvyafijana (? commentary)-having trained, then at will, easily, without trouble, he attains and dwells in the four Jhdnas (the four s. dhyanasof the Realm of Form), derived from mentals, a comfortable state in the present life; and having extinguished the fluxes, (he attains and dwells) in the liberation of mind (cetas) and liberation of insight (pafifia) which are nonfluxional; and in this life realizes for himself. while it is not clear how one divides up this passageto get the number seven, the important thing is that the commentarypresumably Buddhaghosa's-cited in Hare's translation (the above is my own), The Book of sevens,says that the expression '"both Fatimokkhas" means "of monk and nun.o' previously, we observed that the monk and nun have each a patimokkha list.le However, this interpretation does not appear to fit in the context referring to a monk, not a particular nun (although a nun can also be a vinayadhara). Therefore, we may well presume that "both Pdtimokkhas" refer to an alternate classification, namely, two kinds of recitation of pd:timokkha: by exhortation (ovada) and by cornmand (a4q1.rn A certain Chinese vinaya commentary has considerable information about these two Patimokkhas.2' we learn that the former Buddhas and then Sakyamuni himself recited only the patimokkha of exhortation, such as the lines, "abstain from all kinds of evil; accumulate all that is good;" while the monks (and nuns) only recited the patimokkha of command, which is the code recited during the uposatha. The Buddha announced: "The Tathagata cannot recite the Pdtimokkha at the time of the uposatha in a congregation 18E. M. HARE, tr., The Book of the Gradual sayings (Ariguttara-Nikaya) Vol. IV (London, 1955 reprint), p. 95, n. 1sCf. Upasl', Dictionary, p. 152. 20P. V. Bap.qr and A. Hnarawa, trs., Shan-Chien-p,i-p'o-Sha; a Chinese version by Saighabhadra of Samantapasadika (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, 1970), pp. 134-136.
36
BuddhistInsight
which is not pure." For the Buddhas "know with their own minds the minds of their followers and then instructed them.'o That is to say, the Buddha knew with superhuman vision the minds of the persons assembledfor the Pdtimokkha-recitation; but the monks themselvesare not able to assesstheir fellows by this supernormal faculty: they have to rely upon the more obvious acts of body and speechwhich define "morality" for them. Hence the distinction: the monks will concern themselvesin the Patimokkha of the Uposatha with "moraliry" in the meaning of the sevenabstinences,among others;zl while the Buddha will do the exhortation which requires knowing the minds of others. Let us try out the new rendition of the term "Patimokkha" in two important passagesof the scripture "Upili and the Patimokkha" (from the Anguttara-nikdya, Book of Tens): In consideration of what purpose were the "points of instruction" prescribed for the disciples (5. iravaka) by the Tathdgata and the Ltberation-Onsetrecited? (Upali is told, in consideration of ten purposes,to wit:) For the excellenceof for the well-being of the Congrethe Congregation (Sar.n-uha); gation; for chastising errant persons; for the comfort of the virtuous monks; to restrain the (defiled) fluxes (asrava) of the present life; to prevent the (defiled) fluxes in the future life; to instill faith in those of scarcefaith; to promote even more those with faith; to establish the illustrious Dharma; to assistthe Vinaya. Then UpAli asked in what circumstances the Liberation-Onset is suspended,i.e. recitation of it postponed; and was told there are ten such, to wit: When a "defeated" person is seatedin that assembly; when talk of whether one is "defeated" is not finished; when an unordained person is seated in that assembly; when talk of whether one is unordained is not finished; when a personwho has repudiated the instruction is seated in that assembly; when talk of whether one has repudiated is not finished; when a eunuch is seated in that assembly; when talk of whether one is a eunuch is not finished; when a seducerof a 2lThree offences of body and four of speech (as the ten paths of karrna Shan-Chien* has it) is not the only classification; cf. Bnpar and Hrnartwa, P'i-P'o-Sha, pp. 535-536, for allusion to the Vinaya breakdown of the numbers*
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
37
nun is seatedin that company; when talk of whether one is a nun-seducer is not finished. The meaning of "defeated" will be explained later. Meanwhile we observethat the circumstancesfor suspensionof the recitation are in terms of acts of body and speech, as was mentioned previously. There is little doubt that both kinds of Pdtimokkha, i.e. of exhortation and of command, were in existenceat the time of the Buddha; although the now extant forms of the Pdtimokkha (the "command" kind) in the senseof a text may not be exactly the original one that the monks recited in the Buddha's time, even leaving out the set of Saiksa (precept) rules. It has been noticed by scholars that each of the main Vinayas of Buddhist sectshad its own Prdtimoksa-sutra.2z This need not be attributed to a single reason. The fact of different Vinayas has in the past been deemed intimately bound up with the division of the Buddhists into different sects, involving difficult historical matters of what are called the Buddhist Councils. According to Buddhist traditions, the First Council at Rajagaha (S. Rajagpha), held in the year after the Buddha's passing, rehearsed the Stlra division according to Ananda's mernory and the Vinaya division according to Updli's memory. Later, a third divisicn called Abhidharma was added-the three called tripi{aka, often rendered the "Three Baskets." The Second Council, held under the sponsorship of king KalaSoka about 110 years after the Buddha, concerned the errant Vajjian monks at VaiSali who were committing some or all of ten prohibited things, including No. 10, the receiving of gold and silver. It is generally conceded now
22AsE. Fn.a.uwarrNrn, The Earliest Vinayaand the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature (Is. M.E.O., Roma, 1956),pp. I-2, points out, Vinayasof these schools are preserved: Sarvdstivddin,Dharmaguptaka, Mahisdsaka, and Mahasdmghikain Chinesetranslation; Pali school in original Pali; MUlasarvdstivddinin Chineseand Tibetan translations. Cf. ErrcNuB LAuorrr, Histoire du bouddhismeindien (Louvain, 1958),pp. 181-193,for structureand analysis of the Vinayapitaka. Cf. W. Pncnow and RnulKANrA MmuRA, The Pratimoksa-sfitra of the Mahasanghikas(Ganganatha Jha ResearchInsti. tute, Allahabad,1956), pp. 15-22,for concordancetables of severalPratimok5a-siltra,showing their almost complete agreement,except for the Saikladharmas. Cf. Hm.artwa,, A Study (n. 13, above), English summary, pp. 15-18, for his conclusions about various Pratimok;a-sfrtra-s.
38
BuddhistInsight
that while earlier (or at this time or later)'the Buddhist Sdr.ngha (congregation of monks) divided into the Mahdsdryghika and Sthavira, the Mahisar.nghika group of monks were not themselvesguilty of the ten prohibited things. But that the division was over the errant monks and so is placeable at this time is not necessarily the implication of the Pdli Vinaya text called Cullavaggq in its Chap. XII (Oldenberg edition) devoted to this Council of Vai6dli. While discussing individually the commission of the ten prohibited things, the authors included in the list two items suggestinga rival Uposatha.2s This appears to have been a defiant act on the part of the errant monks, rather than the independent Uposatha by a separate well-established Buddhist sect. The Cullavagga accovnt stops with saying the ten disputed points were brought up at a duly organized Sdr.nghameeting and does not rnention the outcome. However, the Milasarvdstivdda Vinaya account, as we know from the Tibetan tradition which has only this Vinaya, holds that the errant monks were ejectedfrom the Sdr.ngha.zaThe "five thesesof Mah6deya"26 downgrading the "Arhat," about 137 years after the Buddha, could well be the causeof doctrinal splits in Buddhism but hardly capable of generating another Vinaya. Hence, the existence of multiple Vinayas in connection with sectarian splits has been a mystery that attracted various scholarly researchesand speculations. our previous findings suggest that Demi6ville has been on the right track in stressing two oral traditions, that of the Vinaya-dharas and the Dharma-dharas, where Dharma really means the stttra class, first gathered by Ananda.26 Combining 23For the first item, cf. Cullavagga, tr. by RuysDavrosandOronNnrRG, SacredBooksof theEast,Y ol. 20,p. 410(for XII, 2, 8): "'Is it allowable, Lord, for a numberof Bhikkhuswho dwellwithin the samecircuit,withinthe same 'No, Sir, it is not allowable."' boundary,to hold separate Uposatha?' 24As one Tibetan source, cf. Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals of the BuddhistTantras,tr. by FrnorNaNoD. LEsslNc and Arpx WayuaN(Mouton, The Hague,1968),pp.63-67. 25Fora comparisonof differenttextual traditionsof the fivetheses, cf. J.qNtcsJ. Narrtrn and Cnanus S. PnrersH,"MahdsSryghika Origins:The Beginnings of BuddhistSectarianism," Historyof Religionst6:3,Feb. 1977, pp. 250-257.But the expositionof the presentpaperdoesnot allow me to acceptthe conclusions of thesewritersin their attempt(cf. their p. 238)to fix theschismat year116afterBuddhaand dueto a Vinayaquarrel. z6Cf.Paul Drrrarsirlr,B, "A propos du Concile de Vai6ali," T'oungPao,
Ancient Buddhist Monasticism
39
this with the thesis of two Pd:timokkhas, one the Buddha's exhortations and the other the instruction of morality preserved in the Vinaya recited in the Uposatha, a distinct possibility of some of the divergent Vinaya traditions having been in Buddhism from the beginning emerges. Such is the implication of an alternate tradition that not much credence was perhaps hitherto given by reason of obviously faulty features, namely, that the Scripture was recited in four different languages, Sanskrit, Apabhrar.nSa,Prakrit, and PaiSdcika, accounting for four basic divisions-Mfllasarvastivddin, using Sanskrit, descended from the son Rdrhula; the Mahisdmghika, using Apabhrar.n6a, descended from Mahdki6yapa; the Sar.nmatiya, using PaiSici, descendedfrom Upali; and the Sthavira, using Prakrit, descended from Katyayana.z1 Of course, the sectarian divisions cannot be properly attributed to these dialect differences. Even son the seemingly arbitrary associations of this tradition are suggestive.2s According to Edgerton,2ethe Buddha had allowed and perhaps urged the monk-teachers to preach the scriptures in their own dialects so as to bring the Buddhist teachings to the widest audience. Later King ASoka sponsored a council in which the scriptures were collected and an attempt made to homogerrze them, with perhaps the Magadha type taken as the basis; and from the homogenization resulted the sacerdotal language of Pali. This is what the above-mentioned tradition calls Prakrit, claimed to descend from Katyayana. At about this time, or Vol. 40, 1951, p. 254, n., mentioning that the compounds dharma-vinaya and siltra-vinaya(of course,meaning the same: dharma:siltra, and vinaya) are frequent in the accounts of the Council of VaiSali; and pp. 260-261, agreeingwith N. Durrn Early Monastic Buddhism,on the important distinction dhammadhara and vinayadhara, retainers of the dhomma (5. dharma), and retainers of the vinaya. 27As one Tibetan source, cf. Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals (n. 24, above), pp.67-69. zaCf. LtN Lt-KouaNo, L'Aide-Mdmoire de la Vraie Loi (Adrien-Maisonneuve, Paris, 1949), pp. 194-228,for a lengthy discussionof these matters; but his sourcesmake somewhat different correlationsbetweenschools and languages.As we shall see,this difference, per se, does not matter much: the main thing is that such correlationsare made at all. zeFnaurr,INEoceRtoN, BuddhistHybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary : Vol. I: Grammar (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1978),pp.t-2.
40
BuddhistInsight
perhaps later, the canon was also rendered into Sanskrit, and this is the language of both the Sarvdstivddin and Milasarvastivddin, supposedlydescendedfrom the son Rdhula. But it appears now that the attempt to create a Middle Indic canon in a Prakrit form or the Sanskrit canon of the scriptures was done either with an exemption or a compromise that it would not extend to the Vinaya, the disciplinary code. Hence, the various forms of the Pratimoksa-siltra. For the other two, first take the Mah6sdr.nghika,said to have used Apabhrarysa and to have descended from MahakaSyapa. It is of interest that the Vinaya of the Lokcttaravadin sect of the Mahdsdryghika, preservedunder the title Mahdvastu, uses a kind of language that Edgerton calls "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" and includes in the earliest form of this mixed language. Th.is is not how the word ApabhrarySa ("fallen-off language") is used nowadays, but conceivably it applies to the languageof the Mahdvastu.Tltelast one mentioned, the Sammatiya, is attributed a dialect called PaiSdciso and said to descend from Upali. This suggestsa confused association of names and is hardly identifiable l,vith the remaining extant Vinayr,s, those of the Dharmaguptaka and the Mahi(asaka; and it is dubious that Updli, the great Vinaya-dhara of early Buddhism, rvould be more associatedwith a tradition leading to these vinayas than to the others. This alternate traciition is obviously too neat, with its fourfold description, to suit what is probably a complicated situation. In any case,the partial truth of this tradition cannot account for the doctrinal divisions among the Buddhists: it rather points, albeit confusedly, to a diversity of Vinaya lineages. It appears then that the division into Buddhist sects, said in some accountsto have amoun.tedto eighteen,is an independent matter from muitiple Vinayas; and this lends credenceto the position Bareau has argued at length, attributing the initial split to Mahadeya'sfive theses,which were of doctrinal nature.sl The 30Fcr locales of this dialect. cf. MauRrce WlNrrRNrrz, A History of Indian Literature,Vol. II: BuddhistLiteratureand Jaina Literature(English translation)(MLBD Delhi, 1980),p.604. arANoni BAnE.nu,Les premiers conciles bouclclhiclues (PressesUniversisitaires CeFrance,Paris, 1955),p. 89, by decidingin favor of the datecircal3T after Buddha for the schism,efrectivelyseparatesthe considerationfrom the Council of VaiSali. After careful considerationof the various factors, he
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
4l
fact of having a slightly different vinaya-different not by reason of the basic monk and nun prohibitions, but by extra precepts and varying amplitude of associatedlegends and later of Jdtakas (previous-birth stories of the Buddha)-cannot be judged the sourceof sectariansplits along doctrinal lines unlessthesedoctrinal divisions had somehow invaded one or more of the vinayas. For the early period there is no evidence of this at all. when we come to the Mahdvastu (as a sub-sectvinaya of the Mahdsiryghika), we do see some doctrinal intrusion, for example, the early Mahdydna Buddhist theory of ten Bodhisattva stages; but this text Mahdvastu is assembledperhaps five hundred y.urc after Buddha, long after all the old Buddhist councils. Frauwallner's conclusion about the old Skandhakatext (which besides the details of monastic life contains all the legends, including biography of the Buddha) that "rt must have been composed shortly before or after the second councilo',i.e. in the first half of tlre 4th cent., B.c.,t, should be accepted. This is becausethe obviously great challenge to the sdr.ngha by the errant monks of vai6ili forced a stock-taking of legends;therefore, the organizers of the second Council would be responsiblefor settling the form of the Skandhaka. However, if it is true that some other vinaya lineages were present in Buddhism from the beginning, theselineagescould continue, if not at vaisdli, then at Rajagpha, and so on. That is why legen,Jscontained.in vinayas other than the Theravada (cescendedfrom the Sthavira) might conceivably be different for having been accepted from Buddhist beginnings, or for having been added centuries later. In the light of the preceding-in order to rationalize the Buddhist vinaya history about the eighteen schools, especially the initial break that was between the groups called the Mahds6r.nghika and the Sthavira-we have simply to assume that the monks at vaisali in a legal Uposatha rehearsed the vinaya legends. And when the news reached Rdjagpha, this promptld similar rehearsals of legends, not in the spirit of rivalry with vaisali but becauseit seemeda good thing to do. If some years concludes(p. 109),among other things, that the schismbetweenthe Mahasdmghikaand the Sthavira rook praceat pdtaliputra, capitalof Magadha, over the five thesesabout the Arhat, that the King of Magadha vainly atlempied to arbitrate the dispute. s2FRauwar,LNER, The Earliest Vinaya(n.22, above), p. 67.
42
BuddhistInsight
later there should be a divisive quarrel over the status of the' Arhat (per the five points of Mahddeva), and the monks who acceptedthe five points could claim that there were more monks of this persuasionthan on the other side, they could then begin to call themselvesthe Mahisiryghika (the great clergy). But this rvas not becausetheir Vinaya was different in the essentials from the Vinaya of the Sthavira; nor did they differ in the main points of Buddhist doctrine, non-self, impermanence,suffering, dependent origination, and so on, from the other sect. However, the quarrel about the Arhat had profound implications for the theory of the Buddhist path and was later to inaugurate the great movement called Mahdyina Buddhism. Such sectariandifferenceswould eventually bring some differences in the associatedlegends of the school, simply becauseit was a different sect and therefore had differing ability to draw upon the old legends. In this light, while some doctrines-namely, those found in the Pali canon of the four Nikdyas-are clearly earlier than others, say some of those found in Mahdydna siltra,r, it is uncertain to state such "earlier" or "later" in terms of Vinaya legends. As an indication of this, even for the meaning,of the term Pitimokkha, I resorted to the Vinaya tradition of the M[lasarvastivada, i.e. Vinitadeva's commentary on its Vinayavibhanga -which some scholars think arose many centuries after the Theravdda-while specialists in the Vinaya preserved in the Pali language were unable to come up with such an explanation. II.
Tsn MoNAsTERYeNn PsnsoNs IN IT
Since the monk and nun had to leave home and to give up layman's money transactions, from the beginning there had to be dwellings set aside for such persons, either supported by the community of lay followers or else self-supporting.ss In India the Buddhist monastery was usually called a vihdra,sawhich can also 33Inthe caseof Indianand ChineseBuddhistinstitutions, onemay referto' ANoni BAnEAu,"Indian and Ancient ChineseBuddhisme:Institutions Analogous to Jisa," Comparative Studies in Society and Hfstory, III: 4,. July 1961, pp. 443-451;and in the case of Himalayan area and Mongolian 'oBuddhistMonastic Economy: the Jisa institutions, to Rosrnr J. Mrusn, Mechanism,"in ibId.,III: 4, July 1961,pp. 427'438. BaSeeDrpar Kuuan BlnUA, Viharas in Ancient India (Indian Publicationsn Calcutta, 1969).
44
BuddhistInsight
outer respect to secular authority.al But by the seventh century, admission to the priesthood was by public registration.az For some generalities about the tay follower and the one in the monastic life, we turn to the teacher Asanga, referring to the teacher converting people to the Buddhist position and what the lay follower does in return:ag What is dissemination of the preserved doctrines? That very person who has fully comprehended the Illustrious Doctrine informs people that there is good fortune and power in the direct perception of the Illustrious Doctrine. With precepts only a.she has fully comprehended it and which are in conformity with it, he follows it in teaching and follows it in introducing (people). What is corresponding sympathy from others? "Others" means donors and patrons. They bring the conditions of things useful for living, as follows: religious garb, alms, bedding, seats,medicaments,and whateverutensils rnay be in point. One is shown sympathy by them. Just as rnonks gain rnerit (pu4t1,a)by their practices, so do the laity by their contributions of living materials for the monks, their adornments to tire Buddhist structurescalled stupa, and the like; they gain trusting faith (5. prasada) in the three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, San-eha)and plant the virtuous roots (kuiala' mula) for appropriate results in future lives.aa Asanga tells how to differentiate the layman and the one gone into the religious life in terms of prevalent defilement:a5 Reflections (vikalpa), elaboration (prapafica), attachment (sanga), and (mundane) ideas (sarr.jfia) are four kinds of a1Cf. LsoN HunvITz, oo'Render Unto Caesar'in Eariy ChineseBuddhism: Hui Yiian's Treatise on the Exemption of the Buddhist Clergy from the Requirementsof Civil Etiquette," LiebenthalFestschrift(Santiniketan,India, 1957), pp. l-36. a2J.Taxarusu, tr. A Record of the Buddhist Religiort by l-Tsing (Munshi' ram Manoharlal, Delhi, 7966),p. 98. a3ArEx WAymAN, Calning the Mind and Discerning the Real; Buddhist Meditation and the Middle View, from the Lam rim chenmo of Tson-kha-pa (Motilal Banarsidass,Delhi, 1979), p. 34, from Asanga's Sravakabhumi. al-oursRrNou, et al.,L'Inde Classique,TomeII (EcoleFrancaised'Extr€me. Orient, Hanoi, 7953),p. 597. 45PTT,Vol. 111, p.238-5-7,8, in the Parydya-sarygrahagi.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
45
defilements. The former two are on the side of the one in the religious life (pravrajita); the other two are on the side of the householder (grltastha). Those gone-forth have reflections from recalling experience of (mundane) sensory objects; and elaboration from that swaying addiction. The householders have attachment from living amidst (mundane) sensory objects; and (mundane) ideas resulting from adherence to attachment's sign-sources. Asanga reveals the mind of the rnonk, his fixed ideas in five situations:a6 (1) the idea when entering a city that one is enteringa prison; (2) when in the monastery, continually having the idea of the monk, e.g. "f have abandoned the home attire and adopted one of bad color, so am not 'good-looking,"' and so on. Twenty-two points were stated in the sutra;a7 (3) the idea of antidote to the sickness that is continually in f ood; (4) the idea when in seclusion, that in regard to forms to be perceived by the eye, the sounds to be perceived by the ear, one is blind and deaf and dumb; (5) the idea when lying down, that one has stretched out his hands and feet like the deer of the hermitage. Asanga may perhaps speak more for himself than for the generality of monk and nun. There are of course a wide diversity of such persons, who ordinarily started out as a Buddhist layman -male, the updsaka, or female, the upasika. In the beginning the Buddha conferred the "going forth" (p. pabbajjQ ordination of the male novice (Srama4era),perhaps the first female novice (iramaperika), and postulants (iikgamdnd); and he conferred the "full ordination" (P. upasampada)of the monks (bhik;u) and perhaps the first of the nuns (bhiksuni). But as Buddhism spread to other parts of India, it became necessary for qualified monks to be permitted to conduct these two kinds e6PTT,Vol. 111,p. 225-1-2, f., in the Vinaya-sarytgraha4i. 4?Asanga's list is somervhat larger(his sourceunknown)than that oi the Pali Vinaya;cf. HonNax,tr.TheBookof Discipline,Vol. I, p. 42, for the eighteenidentifications of "monk." For extended explanations of theeighteen. cf. Bapar and Hrnarawn, ShanChien-P'i-P'o-Sha, pp. 178-183.
-46
BuddhistInsight
of ordination.4s Perhaps this shift coincided with the event mentioned in this paper above when the Buddha stopped participating in the Uposatha, and there arose the distinction of two kinds of Pdtimokkha. Since this might have led to a large number of unwarranted ordinations by a person seekingto build up a power center, it was prescribed that only a bhiksu of ten years standing and of proven learning couid confer the full ordination.ae These wise rules helped to ensure the integrity of the Sdr.ngha;and so, by and large, the main disputes between Buddhist sects in later times were over doctrinal rather than Vinaya matters. Accordingly, there were different forms of ordination, mainly in terms of complexity. The ones conferred by the Buddha himself were the most simple.0oThe first, later called the Pafrcavargenaganena upasampadd, was the ordination of the 'ofortunate band of five" in the episode of Sarnath; when seeingthe Buddha coming from afar their own resolution was broken, and the monk marks-namely, the shaven head, begging bowl, and yellow monk garb-appeared upon them in a miraculous manner, and they becamethe first disciples.sl The next one, apparently, is the Ehi Bliksukaya upasampada,the "Come, O bhikgu!" formula, addressedto the candidate for ordination. A third forrn is the Saraqtdgamanaupasampadd, what is called the Svam upasampadd, done by the candidate himself, who first adopted the marks of a monk, shaven head, etc., and appearing before the Buddha thrice uttered, "I take my refuge in the Buddha, I take my refuge in the Dhamma, I take my refuge in the Sangha." But once the ordination processwas turned over to the senior monks, a more elaborate procedure was required, involving a formal act of the Sd:mgha.52This formal ordination is called, P. Natti catutthakamma upasampadd and S. Jfiapticaturthakarma upasampadd. asMnoaN MonaN STNGH, "Life in the Buddhist Monastery during the 6th Century B.C.," JBRS, XL, Pt. 2, June 1954,pp. 134-135. 4eMaoaN MonaN STNGH,ibid., p. 135. 50For the following names of various upasampadd,cf. B. JrNaNaNoa,ed., Upasampadajfiaptih,Tlbetan Sanskrit Works Series,Vol. VI (K. P. Jayaswal ResearchInstitute, Patna, l96t), Introduction, p. 2. srThis story is part of the introduction to "The First Sermon" in both the Mahdvastu and Lalitavistara; cf. FnaNxrn EocsntoN, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Reader(MLBD Delhi, 1978),pp.17,20. SrMap.eNMonaN SrNcH,op. cit., pp. 136-137.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
47
As the nun order started later in the Buddha's pilgrimage, it appears that all nun ordinations-with the'possible exception of the Buddha's aunt, the first Buddhist nun-took place through a formal Sdr.nghaact; but becauseof certain differencesfrom the monk ordination, it was given a different name, P. Atrlhavdcika uposampada.ss There was much emphasis on seniority of "bhiksubecoming,o' with respectful devotion extended to the senior monks. The age of entering the religious life in different countries, where Buddhism establisheditself with the sdrygha, has a rower limit at l55aand caseswhere a boysswas ordained. when ordination becarne formalized, this increased the period between p. Pabbajja and P. upasampadd, i.e. the novice and the fully ordained. A period of five years has been mentioned,s6but this has perhaps not been standard during the many centuries and various countries. There are various well acknowledged reasons for entering the Buddhist order. In Buddhist countries orphans frequently entered the Sdr.ngha,as did widows the nun order. There are stories about devout parents urging their sons to enter this religious life, even with the background of auspicious dreams.s? The ancient story "conversion of Sdriputra and Maud, galyayana,' concerns the "seeker" of the truth, the way, who finally decides to enter the Brotherhood.bs while in the beginning the Buddha admitted virtually everybody into the order, soon exclusions of certain types-criminal element, etc.-had to be enforced. It appears that the more the 53Cf. Up,qsl.r, Dictionary, p. 50. 54MADANMonLN Srucn, op. cit., p. 135. 55For example,LAuorrr, Histoire du bouddhismeindien, p. r85, mentions that Kumarajiva (350-409)was ordained at the age of six (356). This is known as the Kdkuttepaka pravrajyd.(the ordination of thosewho scare away crows), cf. Anukul c. Banerjeg, sarvdstivdda Literature (calcutta, r9s7), pp. 179-180. s6MaoaN MonaN SrNcn, op. cit., p. 137. 5zcf. the rather primitive article, Arsx wavMAN, "The parents of Buddhist Monks," Bharati (BanarasHindu University),1966-68,No. X & XI (..Central Asia Number," ed. by A. K. Nanan), pp. 25-29. 58cf. EocsRroN, BuddhistHybrid sanskrit Reader pp.26-33, for hisedited text from the Mahavastu, with introductory notes about the versions of the story.
48
BuddhistInsight
imperial patfonage enjoyed by Buddhism, the more it excluded persons-such as desertersfrom the army, sons lacking the permission of their parents-so as not to offend the civil and military authority. This process appears to have been completed during the patronage of the celebrated King A5oka.5e For obvious reasons,personswith contagiousdiseaseswere excluded,as were persons with severe sensory affiictions, such as deafness (not allowing the person to hear the precepts).60 It seemsuseful to compare the two ordinations of the Buddhist system with the Brahmanic "stages of life." As well known this is a sequenceof the celibate student, followed by the householder, for the first two stages. There followed two stagesof homelessness,the Vdnaprastha and the Sannyasa. It has been proposed that the P. Pabbajja (the "going-forth") or the ordination as a novice somewhat resemblestheVanaprastha stage; while the fullordination (P. Upasampadd) is equivalent to attaining the Sannyasa,which is sometimescalled the Bhiksu A$rama.01 However, in consideration that the ascetic orders did not recognizethe requirement to be a householder, i.e. to repay a debt to the forefathers by procreating progeny, which is essential to the theory of the four stages,the comparison must be done in a different way. Indeed, also in the Brahmanic system,the lad left home to take up the Vedic study with a preceptor who would give him a second birth (make him dviia). Hence, the nearest equivalent is to take the Buddhist novice as equivalent to the brahmacdrin student in the first stage; and to take the fully-ordained monk and nun, becausethey have loosened their soctal duties, to be roughly equivalent to the Vinaprastha (forest-hermit) in the third stage. The equivalent to the sannydsa stage can be noticed in the description of this stagein the New Upaniqads: he only needs strip of, cloth, water pot of wood or earth, and staff: sleepson the ground, with the sky for roof; stays at one place during the rains, rest of the year travels continuously; avoids theatre, families, feasts.62 This bears some resemblanceto the Buddhist o'Some Aspects of Buddhism as Gleaned 5eCf. RaogAKRISHNA CsoUogl,RY, through ASokan Inscriptions," ,IBR,S (Buddha Jayanti special Issue, vol. Two), 1956, p. 426. 60For a longer list, cf. (JrAsa'r, Dictionary, p. 138. olMaoaN MonaN StNcn, op. cit., pp. 135-136. 62Cf. K. V. G.q,Jnl.toRAGADKAR,Neo-Upanishadic Philosophy (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1959), pp. 109-113.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
49
ascetic practices called the dhutagupa (qualities of a purified man), thirteen in number (infra), and the ti,vo-week retreats by the monks (iryfra). However, in the Brahmanic theory, th; sannyasastage was in the declining period of life, after complete disengagementfrom social duties; whereasin the Buddhist case the asceticpractices and retreats could take place when the person was relatively young and in full possessionof his strength and sensoryfaculties. ' An important differenceto add to the above is that in the case of the sannydsinthere was an automatic extinction of his propertyrights. But the Buddhist monk or nun did not undergo a .,civil death" at ordination. This is becausetrre Buddhist monk could return to the social group if he found the monastic life too hard, or if he experienceda change of heart about this kind of life; and there was no extinction of his property rights in the meantime.63 Turning to ordination practices themserves, we note agreement between the Theravd.da and the Mfllasarvdstivdda use of the P' upajjhdy4, s. updcthydya. In both cases, the Buddha,s ltlinjunction that a person should seek out a ..competent,, monk to act as his upajjhaya refers both to a person ordaining a novice and to a person looking after a disciple (p. saddhiviharika, s. sardhavihdrin), serving this master who will eventuaily introduce him to an appropriate meeting of the sar.ngha r* ,n. purpose of ordination as a bhiksu.'t tn the Mfilasarvdstivdda practice, for example, the continuance of this Vinaya tradition in Tibet where it.was the only Yinaya,the usage of the term can be seen in the biography of rson-kha-pa ltisl-t+t9), founder of rhe Gerugpa sect.65"In his seventh year, he .went forth, to the religious life. The lama Don-grub Rin-chen becamehis 'princ ipar, (upacrrrydya), charged with admitting the candidate to the religiou, ori.r. Glon-nu Byan-chub became his 'instructor' (acdrya). He took the vow of novice (iramanera), and"was given the name Blo-bzan Grags-pa'i-dpal." Notice that a superior called upddhydya and an underling called dcdrya both playeo a paft in-fulfiiling the candidate's "going forth" as a novice. Latir the biographt 63Dr' DBv Rar cuawaNA,"The vinayapitaka andAncie't Indian Jurisprudence," Vol. XLIV, pts.i & ii, March-June, "rBR^t, tgSg,pp. 22_23. 6cCf. Upasltx, Dictionar!, pp. 44-45. 65Wayuau, Calnting the Mind, pp. 16, 19.
BuddhistInsight
50
mentions the persons who directed Tson-kha-pa's full ordination as a bhik5u: 1) one who was his "principal" @pAdhyAya,Tib' mkhan po), a monastery abbot in spiritual descent from Sakyadribhadra (1127-1225),who introduced the third Milasarvdstivida ordination lineage to Tibet; 2) one, happening to be the abbct of another monastery, who was his "counselor" (Tib. Ias kyi slob dpon; s. karma-acdrya);3) a third one, a kind of religious head, who was his "confidant" (Tib. gsan ste ston pa; s. ialtonuiasaka). Thus, the term upddhydyc was used for the principal at the novice vow and at the monk vow and could be iwo different persons. The Tibetal equivalent to upadhydya, namely mkhan po, was regularly used ior the head of a monastery. For the vow of the novice, the followilg comes from the M[lasarvastivida practice:66After the applicant (already a tay Buddhist) before the assembled Sd:mghahas expressed a desire to obtain the "going forth" ordination from an upadhydya, a ptearranged monk asks on his behalf if he can be gralted the ordination, whereupon the sd,r.ngharesponds-he can be, if he is pure. After that, the applicant seeks out an upadhydya, who arrangesfor the Dersonto get his hair and beard shaved;and after yellow bathing, he is furnished by the upadhl'aya with bowl and takes his applicant the upddhy'dya robes. Then in front of the announces Sdr.ngha, the and refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, that he is giving up his marks of a householder and accepting this is said three times. The those of one "gone forth"-and 'oFine!" The applicant is then upddhydyc says something like, turned over to another monk who inquires of the upadhydya if he has ascertained the applicant's purity; a1d with assent, the applicant again goes through the set formulas as above of refuge anO ttooice's vow. Some monks require the applicant to be able to tell from a shadow the time of the day. Now the "instructor" (acarya) makes the novice state in his presencethe ten dpada) which are the ten things he will points of instruction (.frk,r he had previously agreed to desist these, Of give up. or ior.go vow, natnely, from killing layman's Buddhist the during from five lying, and intoxiactivity, sexual unlawful stealing, living beings, pleasurable witnessing from desisting adds cants. He now like unguents, things beautifying of use from entertainments, 66B.q,NsRlsB,Sarvdstivada Literature,
pp' 109-113'
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
5l
using high and big beds, taking meals at wrong times, and accepting gold and silver. The dcdrya says something like, "Fine!" For the vow of the monk, the following also comes from Mfrlasarvdstivdd,a practice0z: The novice having attained an age, of which the minimum is stated as "twenty" (as before, presumably l5+5; and with inevitable exceptions), asks the upddhyaya for an alms-bowl and religious robes. He also asks the karmakdraka bhik;u (previously called the karmq-dcarya) and the rahonusdkato conduct their proper rcles in the ceremony and asks some other monks to participate. The information is given tbat at least five vinayadharas (retainers of the vinaya code) had to participate in the upasanpadd ardination. The candidate makes his salutations, then squatting in front of the upadhydya, three times implores him to act as the upddhydya fcr his full-ordination. Assenting, the upadhyay,aprovides the candidate with three robes either already made up, or with cloth for the same; and the two go through a robe conflerment ceremony with formulas repeated thrice. Then comes exhibition of the bcwl, and afterwards the upadhydyaconfers the bowl. Three times the candidate states the proper use of the bowl. The candidate is moved to the side, standing wirh folded hands, but in view of the assembled Sar.ngha. The karmakdraka bhikpu now asks the rahonusdsaka bhiksu if he is willing to make the confidential inquiries to the candidate with the named upadhyaya.upon getting the assent of the ral.ionuiasaka bhik;u the karmakaraka bhiksu makes a muktikajfiapti-apparently meaning his motion to the assembledSdr.ngha, upon his sitting down-that the rahonuiasaka bhik;u be permitted to make his confidential inquiries to the candidate. There foliows the jfrapti-kq,rmq of the rahonuiasaka bhiksu apparerftly meaning his questions to the candidate, out of ear-shct of the Sdingha (hence as the "confidant") on various private matters, starting with "Are you a man?" "Do you possessthe male organ?" "Are you at least 20 years of age?" "Are your three robes and bowl complete ?" and going down to questions of whether he is a thief, a king's soldier, nun-seducer, indebted to someone, aflicted with various illnesses, and so on (in fact, oTBeNBnlrs, Sarvdstivdda Literature, pp. 114-141.
52
BuddhistInsight
the entire list, which if in any case is not answered properly would drop him from consideration as a monk); and he informs the candidate to stay there until called and not to be shy about revealing to the assembledSdr.nghahis answer to any of the questions. The rahonuidsaka bhiksu moving within ear-shot of the assembled monks declares that the candidate, aftet being questioned, speaks of himself as free from all restrictions (to his full ordination). The assembled monks say, "If he is perfectly pure, then let him come." The candidate is now brought before the monks and salutes them. The karmakardka bhiksu (in his role of "counselor") then directs the novice on what he should say, namely, the formula of asking for the upasampadd ordination with the named upddhydya, andthat he is willing to answer any question. The kqrmakaraka bhiksu, after being saluted by the candrdate who sits down in front of him, tells the candidate to give answers to the questions without shynessand then goes through the samelist that the rahonuidsaka bhikgu had asked in confidence. After this, the karmakdraka bldk;u does his karnn of three times declaring that the candidate is a man rvith male organ, has completed 20 years of age, has all the robes and begging borvl, and is pure concerning the restrictions;. and that if it be the Sdmgha'sconvenienceand approval, then let the Sdr.nghaconfer the upasompada ordination on the given candidate rvith the named upadhyaya; andthat all in favor should remain silent, and those against speak up. After the third time, he declaresthat since the Sapgha has remained silent (if that was the case), it must be concluded that the Sdr.ngha has granted the upasampadaordination on the candidate with such and such name, who has the named upadhyaya. This completes the ful[ordination of the candidate as a monk (bhiksu). The newly ordained bhikgu is made to measure the shadow and then is informed about the parts of the day and night and about the seasons. This ends the formal cererirony of ordination. He is then told about monastery life, about robes, food, etc., and asked if he is willing to live this way. He is told about the four gross falls, for which he would be ousted from the Sd:rygha. He is told about the four rules about ascetics,i.e. their brotherly conduct, of not reviling others even when reviled, etc. He is told about the moral rules of the Prdtimoksa and his expected service from this day onward to the upadhyaya, who is as a father to a son. He is
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
53
told to study the Buddhist doctrines of the personal aggregates, dependent origination, etc. The above rituals of "going forth" (pravrajya) and "full ordination" (upasampad6) are called p. kammavdcd, s. karmavd.kya.as According to the Tibetan history text The BIue Annals, both Nagdrjuna, founder of the Madhyamika sect of Buddhism, and Asanga, founder of the yogdcara sect, received their ..full ordination" in the Milasarvastivdda vinaya.Ge Hence, ordination as a monk was independent of doctrinal affiliations, as this paper has already set forth. As to the newly-ordained monk's learning about parts of the day and the seasons,this is apparently a brief reference to in. forming him of daily and seasonal observances. There have been doubtlessmany differencesin daily observancesin Buddhist monasteries in different countries and centuries. For example, there is description about the daily life of the monks in ancient ceylon that they arose before sunrise and contemplated the Buddha, loving kindness, impurity of the body, and death; then proceeded to their ablutions, sweeping,dressing according to the rules, meeting with other monks to recite the ..Lovingkindness scripture" (Metta-sutta);then to the hall for their breakfast.?' There is a modern publication on the morning and evening chanting in Thai Buddhism.?1 The vinayas set forth extensively the main observancesin topics frequently called vastu. Hence, the Mllasarvastivdda vinaya is called vinayavastu.zz In this vinaya, the first book is the pravrajyavastu, from which previous material on the ordination of novices and monks was drawn. This book goes also into the .sBaNpnJBr, sarvdstivdda Literature,p. 142.For more information,cf. HsnnnnrHAnm, Karmavdcanri (sanskrittexte aus den Turfanfunden;Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1956). For ordinationceremonies of countriesother than India, cf. J. P. MrNavBnr,Recherches sur Ie Bouddhisme (pais,1g94), "La communaut6 desmoinesbouddhistes," pp. 296-315. eeGsoncnN. RorRlcH, The BrueAnnars,part one (Delhi, r97g), pp. 34-3s. T'warpora RAHuLA,History of Buddhismin ceylon (M.D. Gunasena& Co., Colombo,1956),pp. 173-174. Trrhe Pali chantingscripturewith rhai & EnglishTranslation, T962. 72Thefollowing material on the vinayavastuis summarized from Banerjee, sarvdstivddaLiterature, pp. 10l-246.FnauwaLLNER, The Earliest l/inaya,pp.70-129,compares all the vastu-sof the variousvinayas.
54
BuddhistInsight
qua.lificationsof the monks chiefly engagedin the ordination rites and the reasonsfor asking the various questions of the candidate for bhik;u. The second book, the Popdhavastu concerns the Prdtimoksa recitation which has been already mentioned by the name P. Uposatha (S. Upavasatha). More details will follow in this paper. This Vinaya then reversesthe proper order of two books, the Varqdvastu,concerning the conduct of monks during the rains-their restriction to one residence, etc.-and the Pravdranavastu, to confess any offences committed during the three-month retreat of the rains in a l-day ceremony concluding this retreat.Ts The fifth one, the Carmavastu, on footwear; the sixth, Bhaipajyavastu,on food and medicaments;the seventh, Civaravastu, on the materials and preparation of monk robes; and the eighth, Kafhinavastu, on distribution of robes at the end of the rainy season and laymen's gifts-are mainly on the food and clothing needs and the rules for special cases. The ninth, KoSdmbakavastu, on suspension (utksepaniya) of a monk, inaugurates chapters showing the internal ecclesiasticallaw code of the Buddhist monasteries. Then, the tenth, Karmavastu, concerns limitations of monks to perform suspension; the eleventh, Pap{ulohitakavastu, gives the disciplinary actions for various serious offences; the twelfth, Pudgalavastu, goes into particular casesof punishment for specific offences;the thirteenth, Pdrivisikavastu, the duties of monks undergoing light punishment (parivdsa); the fourteenth, Posadhasthdpanavastu,establishing the impurity that would exclude a monk from participation in the Upavasatha (P. Uposatha). The concluding parts in this Vinaya are the fifteenth, Sayanisanavastu,on construction of monastery buildings and furnishing them; the sixteenth, Adhikara4avastu, formation of the nun order and settlement of disputes among the monks; and finally Sar.nghabhedakavastu, which should be concerned with splits in the monk community but in fact in this Vinaya goes in to the legendary origin of the Sakya race and the life of Gautama, who became the Buddha, from birth to leaving home for the religious life. As to the thirteen "qualities of a purified man" (dhutagu4a), or elseto be renderedoostrands that were shaken off," they consti73Thatis, in this Vinayathe Pravdra4dvastu is the third vastu,though logicallyit shouldbe the fourthone.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
55
tute a movement to adopt more ascetic practices than monastery life was prone to, in consideration that the Middle Path of the Buddha avoided the extremes of mortification of flesh and indulgence in desires but also that the Buddha was called "great ascetic" (mahalrama7a).74 In the Visuddhimagga the thirteen (called here dlrutanga) are: l. to wear robes made of refuse rags (parysukulikafigam); 2. to have not more than three robes (tecivarikangam); 3. to eat only food collected by begging (pirtdapdtikangam);4. to not miss any housein the regular rounds when begging (sapaddnacdrikangam);5. to sit down for eating only once a day no matter what (eka,sanikangam);6. to be satisfied with whatever is received in one's single bowl (pattapiryQilcangam); 7. to refuse any food after finishing one's meal (khalupacchabhatti' kangam); B. to dwell in a forest, away from the city (arafifii' kangam); 9. to dwell at the base of a tree (that is not prohibited for the purpose) (rukkamulikangam); 10.to live in an open space (except when raining) (abbhokasikangant);11. to live in a cemetery (sosanikangam);12.to usewhateverbed or seatis offered,without adversecomment (yathasanthatikangam);13.to take rest at night only by sitting (nesajjikangam). Needless to say, a practitioner would adopt a certain one of these ascetic practices, which normally meant a renunciation of certain privileges accorded to the monks in monastery life. Asanga explains that these practices are meant to purify the mind and make it fit fordwelling in chastity (brahmacarya).75 Besides,it appearsthat the monks dwelling in the usual monastery setting had an opporfunity to practice more toward santddhi during the three-month retreat of the rains when they did not go begging. There are indications that they may have had to get along with less food than at other times.?6 Indeed, it is said:1l "If during the three months of summer-retreat, a ?aCf. NITINAKsHADurr, Early Monastic Buddhism (Calcutta, 1960), pp. 155, f., from which the following thirteen dhutarigaare summaized, for the theory that Devadatta's attempt to force certain rigorous practiceson the Slmgha as a whole-an attempt opposed by the Buddha-attained some measureof successin time in terms of adoption by various monks, although the list was not itself ever incorporated in the Vinaya. 75Wa,vvnN,Analysis of the Srdvakabhumi,p. 82. 76Cf. HonNan, The Book of Discipline, Vol. f, on the Fourth Defeat, pp. 153-154. TTBapatand Hmartwa,, Shan-Chien-Pi'-P'o-Sha, p. 142.
56
BuddhistInsight
Iarge number of monks who had started practising samadhi have not finished their job, the Tathdgata cioesnot observe the Great Pavarand.." By "Pavarani" is meant the one-day ceremony, as alluded to above, for concluding the retreat during the rainy season. The Buddha was also mentioned as going into retreats for specifiedpurposes: once in a solitary place for a half-month, except for one bringing food-to enter a samddhi for examining the past on a certain matter;?8 at another time for a retreat of three months-apparently to set an example.zeIt appears that the two-week retreat was a favorite of rnonks, as the writer has observed some Tibetan monks doing the same in present times, for coming to a conclusior on some troublesome point of doctrine, etc. we should nct leave this topic of Buddhist monasterial life rvith the impression ihat it just amounted to a big problem of persons adjusting to this sort of life, some obeying injunctions, others committing offencesto be censured or deservingejection from the Sarygha. This may be clarified by a cursory comparison of the Brahmin with the Bhiksu and by an ancient quarrel. It is rvell knorvn that rvhen Gautama left home to seek the religious life he undertook an asceticdisciplineespeciallyby the River Nairaiijand for six years, perhaps for some time with no more food intake than some asceticswere reported to have taken in those days-a handful of beans every third day.aoAt the end of that time he decidedthat this coursedid not lead to the highest goal (the Dharma transcendingman's) and he undertook a middle path between mortification of the flesh and indulgence in sensory desires, taking a modest nourishment while meditating at the base of the Bodhi Tree. So also the Hindu Laws of Manu (lI, 100) state: "Keeping the village of the sensesin subjection and controlling the mind, he would accomplish all (human) aims rvithout reducing his body through t-oge." This indicates that rvhen the Buddha decided on the middle path he accepteda certain pcrtion of the Brahmanical "stages of life," and while continuing to uphold the ascetic ideal renounced its more extreme form.
T8Bapar and Hnlrtw4 Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, p. 290. ?eB.qpar and Hmarawt, Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, p. 434. 80cfl. A. L. Basnau, History and Doctrines of the Aitvikas Company, London, 1951), 50, for this practice.
(Luzac
&
Ancient Buddhist Monasticism
57
what he accepted in common with the Brahmanical course became called in Buddhist terminology "instruction of morality" (adhisila-iiksd),amounting, in monasterial language,to adherence to the Patimokkha (s. Pratimoksa). Then a Brahmin lad, starting at eight years and taking the vedic course.for twelve years, would become a Brahmin priest in his village at the same age (twenty) that the Buddhist vinaya gives for "fulr ordination" as a monk (bhiksu). This Brahmin lad for the normal period of twelve years had been adhering to a standard of continence called braltmacarya, which was precisely enjoined upon the entrants to Buddhist monasterial life. However, while the Brahmin proceededto the next stage of life, the householder who raises a family, the Buddhist monk continued his celibate ways, attempting, as the first part of this article has cited from the Anguttaranikaya (Book of Sevens),to surmount the Realm of Desire, dwell in the forn Dhyanas of the Realm of Form and then in the liberation of mind and of insight, and have the full realization in this life. And so the quarrel is over how to attain all (human) aims. It is easierto compare the two systemsin terms of a sequence from AsangaosSravakabhutni: going forth, restraint of morality, restraint of senseorgans, moderation in food, practice of staying awake (in the former and latter part of night), conduct with awareness,solitude, elimination of hindrances,right dwelling in samddhi.sl Thus, in the Brahmanical system, the lad went forth to the preceptor, becametwice-born; and the Buddhist monastic followers became "ascetics who are sons of the Buddha." The Brahmanical youth restrained his morality in the code called 'brahmacarya and was supposed to restrain his senseorgans in the manner set forth in the Laws of Manu, Chap. 2; while the Buddhist monasterial novice was supposed also to restrain his morality and then his sense organs, as set forth at length in Asanga,s Srdvakabhumi. But then the Buddhist system went on to claim something over and beyond the Brahmanical procedure for attaining the (human) aims. It was claimed that the ascetic in the Buddhist order would proceed to oomoderationin food," o'practice of staying awake," and so on. In the description of "practice of staying awake" Asanga states that when one has 81Cf.WayuaN,Calmingthe Mind, pp. 31-38.
Buddhist Insight:
58
moderation in food in the manner set forth, he goes on to purify his mind from obscuring natures by walking and sitting during the day and during the first watch of the night; and also during the last rvatch of the night after resting in the middle watch of the night. Notice that Asanga claims something for this phase that was not claimed for the restraint of morality or for the restraint of senseorgans, namely, a purification of the mind from obscur-' ing natures, as a preparation for entering into samadhi. That is not to denigrate those previous observancesand behavior restrictions as trivial; indeed, Buddhism puts great stock on this prior base of morality for proceeding to meditation. In short the Buddha's rejection of the extreme of mortiflcation of the flesh should be viewed as a rejection of asceticpractices that are not preceded by a previous moral training involving a continuous discrimination of things to be rejected and things to be accepted (especially by the senses). And the Buddhist rejection of the Brahmanical "stages of life" is an attitude that if one waits until the last period of life before one is an ascetic, there is not much that this ascetictsmwould accomplish in the senseclaimed for the asceticismthat follows directly upon the restraint of senseorgans. It is not the business of the present writer to take sides on this great cleavage between the two systems, except to observe the foregoing as essential for understanding the great movement of Buddhist monasticism. Of couise, the training of the Brahmin youth for a number of years with the brahmacarya code, followed by the stage of householder, doubtless helped to preserve Hinduism through the many centuries. The non-return to society of the Buddhist monk in the sense of raising a family (except for the person leaving the monkhood) meant a more fragile base in society for the Buddhist monastery. ru.
TgB orrBNcEs, coNFESSIoN,AND PENANCE
Since the offences are listed in the Pdtimokkha (S. Prdtimokqa), it should be recalled that this paper already establishedthe meaning of the term as "Liberation-onset." Consistent with my findings, Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakoia (IY, 16) states: "Ths Prdtimokqa path-of-act is the pair, candor (vtifiapti) and reticence (avijfiapti), at the outset" (adye viifiapty-aviifiapti prdtimoksakriydpathal). And Vasubandhu comments in part: "Priti-
Ancient Buddhist Monasticism
59
moksa is the candor and reticence at the commencement, of the person taking the vow (saynvara)" (saqnvara-samdddnasya prathame vijfiapty-avijfiapti prdtimokga ity ucyate).82 These terms are in the Mahdsdmghika listed tenets I have elsewhere, cited: No. 60 "virtue causedby a vow increases";No. 61 "candor (aijfrapti) is virtue"; No. 62 "reticence (auijfiapti) is immoral."83. "Path of-act" apparently refers to the confessional. The Pratimoksa-siltrq, verse 16, of the Mfilasarvdstivdda Vinaya is cited in Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo as illustrative of the Instruction of Morality (adhiiilaiiksA) for the monks:8a This Pritimoksa (Liberation-Onset) is like the bridle of a hundred sharp nails on the difficult-response mouth of the horse-like mind driven by incessant effort.85 According to the context of this verse's citation, the "difficultresponse mouth" means the spiritual guide's speech endowment (uacasd'bhyupetary) of Mahayana-Sutralarytkdra,XVII, 10.. "hundred The sharp nails" are presumably the "one hundred kermoso' of the work Millasaruastiuddanikayaikaiatakarman, briefly alluded to by I-Tsing but not listed by him, and apparently all the main monastery rites starting with ordination as a novice.86 The teacher who has gone through these "karmas" is said to have' these as a bridle on his mouth, capable of answering the difficult questions of the disciples,while his mind, like a horse, is spurred on. Vinitadeva explains the "hundred sharp nails" as the "points of instruction" (iikpapada),87 which might signify the 150-odd 82P. Pn.noHaN,ed., Abhidharmakoiabhalyam (K. P. of Vasubandhu JayaswalResearch Institute,Patna,1975),p.207. 83A. W,q,yr\aAN, "The Mahisdmghikaand the Tathigatagarbha," The' BuddhistStudies,Vol. 1, No. 1, JournalofthelnternationalAssoctationof 1978,p. 36. seTashilunpo ed. of Lam rim chenmo, fol. 20b-5,in an introductory, sectionon the topic; relianceon the spiritualguide(kalya4amitra). 85ANurur, CnaNona BnNeRlnn, ed., Prdtimok;a-sfitra (Mulasarvdstivada)(Calcutta, 1954),p. 3, mentionsthat reconstructedpassageshave beenput in bracketsin his text. He had to reconstructa number of lacunae with the. help of the Tibetan. However, in the case of verse 16, his reconstruction does not appear to have been successful;and so I have used the rest of the verse(extant Sanskrit)plus the Tibetan translation to arrive at the translation" given. s6Tararusu, tr., A Record, p. 95. 87PTT,Yol. 122, p.279-3-2.
60
Buddhist Insight
prohibitions of the Prdtimoksa-siitra or might conceivably refer to the "one hundred karmos.o' The Prdtimoksa as a morality (iila) beyond the five layman's vows is called "morality of a day and night," since during the Poqadha (P. Uposatha) there is no eating atter noon for a day and a night, which is the fast (upaudsa) accompanied by the eightfold mor ality (as!Angai tla).88 The recitation of the Prdtimoksa is ordinarily in full, but it could be cut short to the minimum of the four "defeats" (pdrdjika) alone.8e Thesefour, mentioned first in the list, are the worst offences, requiring immediate expulsion from the Simgha: l) sexualintercourse,of any sort; 2) theft of a valuable, with awarenessthat it does not belong to oneself; 3) murder, or commending it or abetting it; 4) pretending to superhuman powers.eo As to the secondone, "stealing," it has been wrongly suggested as relevant that the monk upon entering the Order had renounced any claim to private property.el Rather, the four 'odefeats" are related to the Buddhist Genesisstory, where-portraying the fall from a superhuman state of the first eon men-sexual intercourse went along rvith eating of coarsemorsel food, requiring crops of same, leading to their theft and mortal blows on that account.e2 Indeed, all the "defeats" have features of "theft", sometimes metaphorical. Thus the first one, sexual intercourse, m€ans taking a sexualpartner, who (or even,which) does not belong to the monk for such a purpose sincehe is supposedto be celibate. The second ssCf. Errsrwn Lauorrl, Le TraitddelaGrandeVertudeSagesse,TomeII (Louvain,7949),esp.pp. 825-832, for this fast,the "eightfoldmorality,"and informationabouta six days'fast,whichmay amountto threedaysat full moonandthreedaysat newmoon, or elsetwo dayseachat full andnew, plus two "eighth" days. 8eB.JN.q,NaNDA, ed., AbhisamdcarikalBhik;uprakir{rakal (K. P. Jayaswal Researchlnstitute, Patna, 1969),Introduction, p. viii. e0cf. the extended treatment in Bapnr and Hnlx swa,,Shan-Chien-p'iP'o-Sha, op. cit. elSo HonNnn, The Book of Discipline, Vol. I, introduction, p. xxi. Cf. precedingconclusion,employing the.IBRS article by Dn. Dpv Rar Cg.nNANA, n. 63, above. e2Cf. Anx WAvuaw, "Buddhist Genesis and the Tantric Tradition," Oriens Extremus,9:1,1962,pp 1,27-131, for a summaryof the story and implication for the 'oupward" progressof the Buddhist monk. This essaycan be found also in A. wayman, The Buddhist Tantas (samuel weiser, Newyork, 1,973),pp. 24-29.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
6l
one is theft per se, especially of material, valuable objects. The third, murder, means taking or promoting the taking of a life, which belongs to another and has irreplaceable preciousness.The fourth one of pretense to realizations and powers in its explanation has five explicit thieves:e3i) the big thief in the story about the "defeat": monks living on the bank of the River vaggumuda near vesali (S. vaisali) getting by false pretensionsfood, medicine, and other valuables.ii) the big thief monk who pretendshe learned the Dhamma (s. Dharma) from himself (through his powers of realization) and not from someone else. iii) the big thief evilminded monk who condemns those monks who are following the path and progressing in meditation, praising himself as the really pure man. iv) the big thief who secretly takes and gives gifts of monastery property in order to get favors and support of certain householder. v) the big thief who acts as though the monastery property belongs to hirn and freely takes it and uses it or gives it away. The preceding shows that thievery, either concretely or in metaphorical senses,was viewed with particular horror. perhaps this attitude is behind the Mahi.ydna Buddhist emphasis oo o'giving" (ddna) as the first perfection (pdramita), even ahead of "morality" (irla). The Pdtimokkha of the nan (bhikkhuni) has eight ..defeats," the above four in common with the monk, and four additional ones: 5) enjoying the contact of a male person between the collar-bone and knee; 6) concealing the "d.efeat" offence of another nun; 7) becoming the follower of a monk who has been suspended; 8) possessing any of eight sexual dispositions.ea Besides, a nun had to accept the eight guru-dltarma, which the Buddha enjoined upon the women who would enter the order, considering that women are also capable of attaining Arhatship, but which doubtless did not encouragethem to become nuns:eb ssCf.Bapar and Hrnarlw.q, Shan-Chien-p'i-p'o-Sha, pp. 335, ff. for an extended discussion of thefivebig thieves.
eaCf.Upasl'x, Dictionary, p. 158. esFor the eight guru-dharma, cf. Gusrav Rorn, Bhik;u4i-vinaya (K. p. Jayaswal Research rnstitute, Patna, 1970), Introduction, chap. III, pp. xxix-xxxii. The association of the number eight with women appears an establishedmatter in the Pdli Anguttara-nikaya (Book of Eights), where besides the canonical story about Mahapajdpati's acceptanceof the eight dharmas,there is the account that women have eight qualities who after death_
62
BuddhistInsight
i) no matter how old the nun, she should bow her head,to the feet of a monk, even one ordained that day; ii) being a virgin of eight'een years she requests the Orders of monks and nuns for two years' training at the end of which she may be fully ordained; iii) nuns may not addressmonks regarding the true and the false; a monk may address nuns regarding the true but not the false; iv) the nuns must wait until the monks have been supplied with food, bedstead,and lodging before being themselvessupplied; v) .a nun guilty of a grave offence must apply to the Order of nuns for the severe penance of isolati on (mdnatva) for half a month and certification of rehabilitation from both the Orders; vi) every half month the nuns should desire the coming of the monks on Uposatha day, for instruction; vii) the nuns may not spend the rainy seasonat a place devoid of a monk; viii) upon the conclusion of the rainy seasonthe nuns should desire to invite each other before both the Orders (to be open about what transpired during the rainy season).' Then for the monks comes a section of thirteen Sanghddisesa offences. One of the traditional explanations for the titlewhereby it is rendered "beginning with (Adi), and remaining with (sesa) the Sangha,"e6 i.e. entirely within the purview of the Sangha-seems confirmed by Vinitadeva's commentary on the Vinayavibhanga, with the S. SdryghdvaSesa ("remains in the 'Sdrygha"). Thus Vinitadeva: "depends on the Sar.ngha" (Tib. 'dun 'dun Ia rag dge lus pa); "entailed by the Sdr.ngha" (dge dan 'brel 'dun las rnampar ldan par ba); "arises from the Sar.ngha"(dge 'gyur); and "'without a remainder' (would be) becausethere is 'with a remainder' no common (shared) means of purification; (would be) becausethere is a common means of purification."e? Hence, the term Sanghddisesaseemsto have been adopted to contrast with the Parajika ("defeat"), namely, where there is a means of purification within the Sdr.nghafor a serious offence and where there is no such means.As to the list, the first five relate to sexual indiscretions short of sexual intercourse. Then come offences relating to construction of morrastic dwellings, false are reborn as lovely fairids; and earlier the 'oGreat Chapter" has a passago that a woman enslavesa man in eight ways. e6For a discussionof the title, cf. FIoRNER,The Book of Discipline, Vol. f, Introduction, pp. xxix-xxxii. gzPTT,Yol. 122,p. 313-4.
AncientBuddhistMonastioism
63
accusations, abetting schisms in the Sangha, and polluting the faith of a devout family. The nun had'some more possible offences. There was a light punishment of living apart called parivdsa and a severe penance of isolation called manatta (5. manatva), both requiring the sanction of the Sangha in the beginning and end. By "end" is meant that one becomes ready for restitution (abbhdna) by the official act of the Sangha, consisting of at least twenty persons.es Next come the two aniyata-dhammesor Indeterminate Offences about the associationof a monk with a woman, where the gravity of the offence (whether o'defeat", Sanghidisesa, or the lesserfault called Pacittiya) is determined by a reliable witness, especially a reliable female layman (upasika).se The Theravdda Vinaya now presents thirty Nissaggiyapicittiyas, offences especially about the religious garb-its measurements,renewals,etc.; and the begging bowl; as well as money transaciions with laymen.lm These are followed by ninety-two infractions (pacittiya; Sanskrit uses the term pdtayantika) of the monk in the Bhikkhu-Pdtimokkha, with a hundred sixty-six of the nun in the Bhikkhuni-Pdtimokkha. Some of these are heretic views on matters of morality, such as declaring permissible acts that are permissible, and vice versa. Violations of the prohibition on monks to view entertainments, concealing a serious offence of another monk, are among the miscellaneousoffences.1o1 Various Vinayas differ considerably in the material presented on each of these sins. For example, Pdcittiya No. 33 in one list on "taking food successively"is quite short.102In the Mtlasarvastivada Vinaya this is Pdtayantika No. 31, and Vinitadeva's commentary, taking its cue from the basic Vinayavibhanga,launches into a lengthy description of drawing the "Wheel of Life" (wellknown from its Chinese and Tibetan forms),103of which there is nothing corresponding in the other account of this offence. The Patidesaniya are a group of offences to be confessedin a ssThissummaryof the list is basedon Upasak,Dictionary,pp,2l3-2I4. seBaparand Hrurrwd,, Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, Introduction,p. xxxi. 100{Jp4s411, Dictionary, l0lUpAsAK, Dictionary,
pp. 121-122. p. 15I; B.lrer and Hmarawn, Shan-Chien-p'iP'o-Sha, Introduction, pp. xxxiii-xxxv. 10296p41 and Hrnarltwt, Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, pp. 470-47I. loaPTT, Vol. 123, p. 1.2-3-3, f.
64
BuddhistInsight
manner prescribed by the text: "r have fallen into a blameworthy matter, unbecoming, which ought to be confessecl,I confessit.'" They are the offences of requesting food from impoverished persons,four related to monks and eight to nuns.1oa The group of sekkiya (S. Saiksa) is precepts. The Ther avada Yinal'a has 75 such rules, samefor monk and nun : l-2, on proper dress, 3-26 on how to enter a village, town, or house, 27-56 on taking meals, 57-72on preaching of the Dhamma,73-75 concerning toiiets, etc.losThe Dharmagupta school is quite different here, n'ith 24 rules dealing with the stilpa}os The final entries in the pdtimokkha have to do with settling of disputes.loT Asanga, in vinaya-samgrahani, says:108"one may understand all transgressions(dpatti) to be established by the fifteen wickednesses (dugkyta)," as follows: 1. a grave thing, e.g. the four defeats. But the beginner can have them in a pre-defeat form, which taken care of in time, can ayert a "defeat.,' 2. non-contentment with lack of things one might want more of. 3. creating incidents, or opportunities, to have offensive relations with nuns, etc. 4. acting in such a way among raity as to causethose without faith not to get faith and for those with faith to lose it. 5. trading or trafficking in merchandise and precious things like gold and silver.
6. lust, leading to sexualdischargesand to erotic advances. 7. hurting othersby calumny,etc. 8 . causinginjury to othersby requiringthem to carry excessive loads,etc. 9. interruptingthe progressto "heaven" (sugat by breaking ) the concordin the Sangha. 104!4p41 and HrurAwA, p. 436; Upasak, Dictionary, p. l5l. 105{Jp454K,Dictionary, pp. 240-241. 1068A'4T and HrnarawA, Introduction, p. xxxv, and pp. 4g7_4gg. 107upASAK,Dictionary, has a good summary,pp. 223-224, and refersto the lengthl, description in Cullavagga. 108PT"I',vol. 111, p. 222-5-5to p.223-4-3; in thistranslation from the Tibetan I have given only the main list with meagerexpansionfor some items.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism
65
10. interrupting the way of the ascetic(or novice) by refusing precepts,saying, "Don't tell me!,, 11. not eliminating what is to be eliminated; and eliminating what should not be eliminated. 12. dwelling where one should not dwell; and not dwelling where one should dwell. 13. not venerating what one should. venerate, e.g. the pratimoksa; and venerating what one should not venerate. 14. to tell what should be kept secret, e.g. to express the superior dltarma (uttaradharma)to one not ordained; and 1o concealwhat should be told, e.g. not to tell theneophytes about the transgressions(apatti) that concern them. 15. t o r ely upon w h a t o n e s h o u l d n o t re ry u pon a.g.on not , properly examined clerical garb; and not to rely upon what one should rely upon. Asanga was pteviously mentioned to have been ordained in the MDlasarvastivada vinaya; therefore, the foregoing and the following from the vinaya section of his great work should be taken as consistent with that vinaya. He classifies by their nature (svarupa)ecclesiasticar offences (apatti)as minor, middling, and great, where the Defeats are the great transgressions, the sdr.nghdvasesathe middling kind, and any other the minor transgression. He gives another classification where the Defeats and the Sdr.nghdvasesaare grave (s. guruka; p. garukdpatti), the infractions (Patayantika) and the pratidesaniya are middling, and the Dusklta is a light one. Classified by agency, he ,uy, what is done through ignoranceand heedlessness is a minor transgression; what is done through many defilementsis a middline transgression;and what is done through (deliberate)disrespect ii a great transgression. classified by intention, whatever one does in a small way when enwrapped by lust, hatred, and delusion, is a small (transgression);does in a medium way, is a medium one; does in a great way, is a great (transgiession). classified by points (of instruction), there are also the minor, the middle, and the great transgression. classified by the number of monks required for the case,minor transgressionsrequire one to five; middling transgressionsrequire ten, or twenty, or thirty; for the great one, no number given.ros '0ePTT, vol. 117,p.224-l-6to 224-3-2;rhave takenfromTibetanthemain detailsof Asanga'sremarks.
BuddhistInsight
66
Turning to the confessional,it should be observedthat certa.in offenceswere never a.dmittedto be atoned for by confessingthem. We have seenthe four Defeats (para.iika)as a mandatory expulsion from the Order. The grave sins that could be handled by required suspensiort the Sdmgha, and called S. SamghdvaSesa, and penance, not expulsion. Any others, i.e. the minor transgressions,could be atoned for by confessing,also referred to as "pacifying" the sin. According to the Pd:li Vinaya text Mahdragga: "If a Bhikkhu, after a threefold proclamation, does not confess an existing offence which he remembers, he commits an intentional falsehood.llQ The confessingof sins one by one was a traditional explanation in Asia for the translation of the term prdtimok;a by "liberation one by one." Thus I-Tsing writes: "While thus confessing one's own faults and desiring to be purified, one hopes the sins are expiated being confessedone by one. To confess sins all at once is not permitted in the Vinaya."lrr The settlement of sins susceptibleof being handled in this manner is referred to in Pdli as palififiatakararya.lr2The monk admits the offence before the assembledSangha or before a monk. This is a procedure wider than the confessionof minor infractions. If one restricts the consideration to these minor ones, this is probably the situation referred to in the often-cited report of a J. F. Dickson (lournal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1875) who was allowed to witness a Patimokkha in Ceylon and said, among other things: "After we were seatedthe priests retired two and two together, each pair knelt down face to face and made confession of their faults, one to another, in whispers."rra ElsewhereI cited sourcesfor the Mahdyina equivalent to this confession "face to face," pointing out that this abatement of sin, tantamount to a calming of the mind, is involved in facing the Thirty-five Buddhas of Confession and in other forms of "facing" under specified 114ul.q.rqgsQrgces.l1a lloRHYs Devlos and OrorNeunc,"t tld*P#kmra (SacredBooksof the Oxford, 1881), \1, 3, 4 (Uposatha Ceremony and Patimokkha),
East, XIII,
p. 243. 111f46ar
View more...
Comments