(Natasha Yehenara) Did the Buddha actually say this? The mystery of the Mahayana sutras [that displaced authentic historical Buddha texts with Hindu syncretism and a Brahmin-subverted movement to push the Buddha out and bring back the Old Vedic Religion]
Showing posts with label ancient Buddhist texts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ancient Buddhist texts. Show all posts
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Monday, December 22, 2025
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Secret Teachings of Theravada Buddhism
This compendium explains all of the good stuff, like:
- how to attain samādhi (super consciousness, coherent stillness, purified concentration);
- how to attain psychic powers, including knowing and seeing past lives.
- it includes the stages of insight and wisdom that one needs to reach nirvana.
 |
| Knowing and Seeing |
If one wishes to know more about mindfulness-of-breathing (ana-pana-sati), Ven. Nyanamoli wrote a small book that contains information from both the Path of Purification and what some say is its predecessor the Path to Freedom (Vimuttimagga). It can be found free at urbandharma.org or in book form at this amazon.com link.
There are, however, texts that are not well known (until now). We should never have to pay for such teachings because they are priceless and if people paid the price of it, no one would be able to afford it. Be wary if anyone asks for payment for these sacred Teachings.
All of the content inside Knowing and Seeing can be learned at Pa-Auk Meditation Centers. There is no charge at these centers, not for food, teachings, or lodging.
Best of luck, and please let me know how things go!
Bhikkhu Subhuti
Wikipedia (edited by WQ): Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification), is the "great treatise" on Theravada Buddhist doctrine compiled by Ven. Buddhaghosa in approximately the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a comprehensive manual condensing and systematizing the theoretical and practical teachings (vada) of Gautama Buddha as they were understood by the "elders" (theras) of the Great Monastery in Anuradhapura, in ancient Sri Lanka. It is described as “the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis (explanation) of the Three Baskets (Tipitaka), using the Abhidhamma method as it is called. It sets out detailed practical instructions for the purification of mind. It is considered the most important [commentarial] Theravada text outside of the threefold canon of the scriptures. Its structure is based on the Rathavinita Sutta (the “Relay Chariots Discourse,” MN 24), which describes the progression from the purity of discipline to the final destination of nirvana in seven steps. Its contents strongly resemble the material found in brief in an earlier treatise called the Path to Freedom (Vimuttimagga). [This is because both are thought to be written by the same author, one as a draft or outline and the other with all of the details added.]
Buddhaghosa compiling the texts in Sri Lanka
- Ven. Subhuti, americanmonk.org, The Secret Teachings of Theravada, 9/22/18 edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
"Daughters of the Buddha" (video review)
Daughters of the Buddha: Stories of Ancient Buddhist Women
 |
| What's a nun ever done? Plenty! |
Daughters of the Buddha: Teachings by Ancient Indian Women
It is a testimony to the invaluable contributions made by the women who were direct disciples of the historical Buddha — and a source of inspiration to Buddhist women today.
It’s a common misconception that the earliest textual records do not contain many, if any, teachings by the Buddha’s female disciples. This is not the case.
The fact is the earliest discourses (sutras) record a range of teachings from Buddhist women, lay and monastic. Unfortunately, their important contributions have so far not received the attention they deserve.
 |
| Fully ordained Buddhist bhikkhunis ("nuns") in the ancient orthodox Theravada tradition |
 |
| Vajrayana vegetarian resurgence in haunted Himalayas of Tibet, northern India, and Nepal |
.
In Daughters of the Buddha, esteemed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo examines the accounts of the first female disciples in the canonical scripture, taking the reader back to the earliest period in the history of Buddhism that can still be accessed today.
 |
| Sangha is only complete with females. |
He dedicates each of the 21 chapters in the volume to an individual and remarkable woman, sharing her particular insights and teachings with the reader.
Both Buddhist nuns and laywomen are featured in these pages, and their diversity of voices and richness of thought will serve as instruction and encouragement for modern scholars and practitioners alike.
To donate to Western Buddhist nuns, please check out the Alliance for Bhikkhunis (bhikkhuni.net)
 |
| First Buddhist Women (Murcott) |
✅ Paper mentioned:
academia.edu/35070174/Eth...
✅Sutras mentioned:
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NOTE: As an Amazon Associate, Doug earns a pittance from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where Doug will earn a very small commission on purchases made, at no additional cost. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thanks!
- Ven. Analayo (book); Doug's Dharma, April 1, 2024 (video); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Buddhism's "The Book of the Ones"
John D. Ireland (trans.), Vagga Sutra (Itivuttaka: "This Was Said (by the Buddha)," 1.24-27); Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
§ 24. A Heap of Bones
This was said by the Blessed One... "Meditators, the skeletons of a single person, wandering on and running
through the Wheel of Life and Death (samsara) for an aeon (kalpa), would create a heap of bones as large as this Mount Vepulla, if there were someone to collect them
and if the collection were not destroyed."
The bones of a single person
Accumulated in a single aeon
Would make a heap
The size of a mountain —
So said the Great Sage.
He declared it to be
As great as Mount Vepulla
To the north of Vulture's Peak
In the hill-fort of Magadha.
But when one sees with perfect wisdom
The Four Noble Truths as they are —
Suffering, the origin of suffering,
The overcoming of suffering,
And the Noble Eightfold Path
Leading to the cessation of suffering —
Having merely run on
Seven times at most,
By destroying all fetters
One makes an end of suffering.
§ 25. Lying {Iti 1.25; Iti 18}
This was said by the Blessed One... "Meditators, I say that for an individual who transgresses in one thing, there is no harmful deed whatsoever one would not do. What is that one thing? It is this, meditators: deliberately telling a lie."
There is no harm that cannot be done
By a person who deliberately lies,
Who transgresses in one thing,
Taking no account of the next world.
§ 26. Giving {Iti 1.26; Iti 18}
 |
| Dana in Thailand: woman gives to Theravada monks and novices (Bugphai/flickr.com) |
.
This was said by the Blessed One... "Meditators, if beings knew -- as I directly know and see -- the result of giving and
sharing, they would not eat [a single morsel] without having given, nor would they allow
the stain of stinginess to obsess them and take root in their minds/hearts. Even
if it were their last morsel, their last mouthful, they would not eat
without having shared it, if there were someone to share it with. But, meditators, as beings do not know, as I know, the result of giving and
sharing, they eat without having given, and the stain of stinginess
obsesses them and takes root in their minds/hearts."
If beings only knew —
So said the Great Sage —
How the result of sharing
Is of such great fruit,
With a gladdened mind/heart,
Rid of the stain of stinginess,
They would duly give to noble ones
Who make what is given fruitful.
Having given much food as offerings
To those most worthy of offerings,
The donors go to heaven
On departing the human state.
Having gone to heaven they rejoice,
And enjoying pleasures there,
The unselfish experience the result
Of generously sharing with others.
§ 27. The Development of Loving-kindness {Iti 1.27; Iti 19}
"Just as the radiance of all the stars does not equal a sixteenth
part of the moon's radiance, but the moon's radiance surpasses them and
shines forth, bright and brilliant, even so, whatever grounds there are
for making merit productive of a future birth, all these do not equal a
sixteenth part of the mind-release of loving-kindness...
"Just as in the last month of the rainy season, in the autumn, when
the sky is clear and free of clouds, the sun, on ascending, dispels the
darkness of space and shines forth, bright and brilliant, even so,
whatever grounds there are for making merit productive of a future
birth, all these do not equal a sixteenth part of the mind-release of
loving-kindness...
"And just as in the night, at the moment of dawn, the morning star
shines forth, bright and brilliant, even so, whatever grounds there are
for making merit productive of a future birth, all these do not equal a
sixteenth part of the mind-release of loving-kindness. The mind-release
of loving-kindness surpasses them and shines forth, bright and
brilliant."
For one who mindfully develops
Boundless loving-kindness
Seeing the destruction of clinging,
The fetters are worn away.
If with an uncorrupted mind
One pervades just one being
With loving kindly thoughts,
One makes some merit thereby.
But a noble one produces
An abundance of merit
By having a compassionate mind
Towards all living beings.
Those royal seers who conquered
The earth crowded with beings
Went about performing sacrifices:
The horse sacrifice, the man sacrifice,
The water rites, the soma sacrifice,
And that called "the Unobstructed."
But these do not share even a sixteenth part
Of a well cultivated mind of love,
Just as the entire starry host
Is dimmed by the moon's radiance.
One who does not kill
Nor cause others to kill,
Who does not conquer
Nor cause others to conquer,
Kindly towards all beings —
Has enmity for none.
But a noble one produces
An abundance of merit
By having a compassionate mind
Towards all living beings.
Those royal seers who conquered
The earth crowded with beings
Went about performing sacrifices:
The horse sacrifice, the man sacrifice,
The water rites, the soma sacrifice,
And that called "the Unobstructed."
But these do not share even a sixteenth part
Of a well cultivated mind of love,
Just as the entire starry host
Is dimmed by the moon's radiance.
One who does not kill
Nor cause others to kill,
Who does not conquer
Nor cause others to conquer,
Kindly towards all beings —
Has enmity for none.
This, too, is the meaning of what was said by the Blessed One. Thus I heard.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Beyond the Main Buddhist Collections (guide)
 |
| The Buddha and royal Indo-Scythian disciples, Gandhara (enlightened-spirituality.org) |
This FIELD GUIDE is a quick glance through the pages of the Pali Text Society's publications catalog. It is enough to convince anyone that there is much more to classical Pali literature than the Tipitaka.
Intermingled with the familiar Sections (Nikayas), Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya texts), and the "Higher Doctrine" or "Ultimate Teachings" (Abhidharma) are scores of titles with long, scarcely-pronounceable Pali names.
Although many Western students of Buddhism are likely to be unacquainted with these works (indeed, most have never been translated into English), these books have for centuries played a crucial role in the development of Buddhist thought and practice across Asia and, ultimately, the West. In fact, in some countries they are as deeply treasured as the sutras themselves.
But what are these ancient books, and what relevance do they have to the western student of Buddhism in the 21st century? Although complete answers to these questions lie well beyond the range of my abilities, I hope that this short document will provide enough of a road map to help orient the interested student as he or she sets out to explore this vast corpus of important Buddhist literature.
Intermingled with the familiar Sections (Nikayas), Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya texts), and the "Higher Doctrine" or "Ultimate Teachings" (Abhidharma) are scores of titles with long, scarcely-pronounceable Pali names.
Although many Western students of Buddhism are likely to be unacquainted with these works (indeed, most have never been translated into English), these books have for centuries played a crucial role in the development of Buddhist thought and practice across Asia and, ultimately, the West. In fact, in some countries they are as deeply treasured as the sutras themselves.
But what are these ancient books, and what relevance do they have to the western student of Buddhism in the 21st century? Although complete answers to these questions lie well beyond the range of my abilities, I hope that this short document will provide enough of a road map to help orient the interested student as he or she sets out to explore this vast corpus of important Buddhist literature.
The origins of the post-canonical texts
 |
| Ven. Hotei, also known as Budai, sitting in a therapist's chair (Muffett68/flickr.com) |
.
The Ti-pitaka (Pali canon) assumed its final form at the Third Buddhist Council (circa 250 BCE) and was first committed to writing sometime in the 1st cent. BCE. Shortly thereafter Buddhist scholar-monastics in Sri Lanka and southern India began to amass a body of secondary literature:- commentaries on the Tipitaka itself
- historical chronicles
- textbooks
- Pali grammars
- articles by learned scholars of the past
- and more.
Most of these texts were written in Sinhala (Sinhalese), the language of Sri Lanka, a large island off the southern tip of India. But because Pali -- not Sinhala -- was the common language (lingua franca) of Theravada Buddhism, the "Teaching of the Enlightened Elders," the direct disciples of the Buddha, few Buddhist scholars outside of Sri Lanka could study them.
It was not until the 5th cent. CE, when the Indian monastic commentator Ven. Buddhaghosa began the laborious task of collating the ancient Sinhala commentaries and translating them into Pali, that these books first became accessible to non-Sinhala speakers around the Buddhist world.
These commentaries (Atthakatha) offer meticulously detailed explanations and analyzes -- phrase-by-phrase and word-by-word -- of the corresponding passages in the Tipitaka.
After Buddhaghosa the catalog of post-canonical Pali literature continued to grow with the addition of commentaries by both Buddhadatta (5th cent.) and Dhammapala (6th cent.), and sub-commentaries (Tika) by Dhammapala on several of Buddhaghosa's commentaries. During this time, and in the centuries that followed, other writers prepared Pali translations of additional early Sinhala texts.
These ranged from poetic hymns in celebration of the Buddha, to chronicles tracing the first millennium of Buddhist history, to detailed Abhidhamma textbooks. Most of the major post-canonical works, including the sub-commentaries, were completed by the 12th century.
Why these texts matter
 |
| The most famous Buddhist commentary of all |
Post-canonical Pali literature supplements the Tipitaka in several important ways. First, the chronicles and commentaries provide a vital thread of temporal continuity that links us, via the persons and historical events of the intervening centuries, to the Tipitaka's world of ancient India.
A Tipitaka without this accompanying historical thread would forever be an isolated anachronism to us, its message lost in clouds of myth and fable, its pages left to gather dust in museum display cases alongside ancient Egyptian mummies. These texts remind us that the Dharma (Pali, Dhamma) is not an artifact but a practice, and that we belong to a long line of seekers who have endeavored, through patient practice, to keep these teachings alive and producing enlightened beings on this earth.
Second, almost everything we know today about the early years of Buddhism comes to us from these post-canonical books. Though the archeological evidence from that era is scant and the Tipitaka itself contains only a handful of passages describing events that followed the Buddha's final nirvana (e.g., DN 16, MN 108, and Vinaya Cula-vagga XI and XII) the commentaries and chronicles contain a wealth of historical information with which we are able to partially reconstruct the early history of Buddhism. More
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Was there ever an Afghan-Buddhism?
Laila Re, Wisdom Quarterly, poet-in-residence, Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.)
Laila Re, edited by Wisdom Quarterly (Bella Esqh)
What is within me
is within you, too
and it’s a reflection of our Divine source,
the Motherverse.
and as our first Mother said,
i am We,
and may you hear
and may you see We in everything,
even in the coldest breeze.
just open your eyes
to the Signs,
something inextricable from you and me.
it’s this Energy
made from the same tree,
the tree of eternity.
and hopefully we can see
we have just been killing our own family.
you’re killing my family.
they’re killing my family.
this is the pain i feel daily
that’s haunting me,
terrifying me,
killing me slowly,
knowing i can’t stop the killing spree.
the Gods and Goddesses,
the Afrikan Kings and Queens,
are our ancestry.
we are all Divine
but have we forgotten this,
or is this the scheme.
let’s get back to what’s real
so we can re-learn
the most powerful force in the Universe,
the Black Hole.
let’s start back at the womb
and be reborn
into reality,
into our Oneness,
a cosmic bliss.
it is
within me,
within you,
electrons and protons we’re exchanging,
even in our simplest interactions,
Buddhism in ancient Afghanistan
Gandhāran Buddhist texts (Wikipedia edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
The British Library Collection
 |
| Modern Afghanistan was once ancient Shakya-land (Sakastan/Sistan), Indo-Scythia, a country (janapada) west of anything that could be called "India" where the Shakya clan, the Buddha's family, ruled from Kapilavastu, aka Bamiyan (ranajitpal.com). |
.
What is Within Me |
| How big Shakya-land with its three capitals? |
Was there ever such a thing as Afghan-Buddhism? There absolutely was. And what it was like is till to be determined by scholars hard at work piecing together the recently discovered Gandharan texts. Buddhist texts. The Buddha's family were Scythians who roamed and held land throughout Central Asia in what may now be termed Indo-Scythia: now Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and northwestern India (Kamboja and Gandhara, eventually extending their influence as far east as Bihar, where Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha). The clan met with tragedy during the Buddha's own life from a related rival clan. All the evidence is there little disturbed masked by this cover story by British and Indian archeologists to locate Kapilavastu, the Shakya-land capital in Hindu-India controlled Nepal. But the truth is much more fascinating and sensible.
Laila Re, edited by Wisdom Quarterly (Bella Esqh)
 |
| Pieces to Peace (Laila Re/amazon) |
is within you, too
and it’s a reflection of our Divine source,
the Motherverse.
and as our first Mother said,
i am We,
and may you hear
and may you see We in everything,
even in the coldest breeze.
just open your eyes
to the Signs,
something inextricable from you and me.
it’s this Energy
made from the same tree,
the tree of eternity.
and hopefully we can see
we have just been killing our own family.
you’re killing my family.
they’re killing my family.
this is the pain i feel daily
that’s haunting me,
terrifying me,
killing me slowly,
knowing i can’t stop the killing spree.
the Gods and Goddesses,
the Afrikan Kings and Queens,
are our ancestry.
we are all Divine
but have we forgotten this,
or is this the scheme.
let’s get back to what’s real
so we can re-learn
the most powerful force in the Universe,
the Black Hole.
let’s start back at the womb
and be reborn
into reality,
into our Oneness,
a cosmic bliss.
it is
within me,
within you,
electrons and protons we’re exchanging,
even in our simplest interactions,
inextricably We.
Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan
Me, too, so don't stare. - Early Buddhist schools
- Where/what was Gandhāra?
- Schools of Buddhism
- Invisible History (of Afghanistan)
- RAWA: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (Sonali Kolhatkar)
Laila Re, B.A., B.Ed, M.Ed. York University, is an Afghan-Muslim peace activist, poetess, and teacher. She was born in 1987 in Kabul, but left her native land [the original Scythian "Shakya-land," where the Buddha was born] along with her family due to civil war. They then lived in Islamabad, Pakistan (a.k.a. ancient Gandhara) as refugees before migrating to Toronto, Canada in 1991. She has lived there ever since and visits the U.S. She is the author of Pieces to Peace (2014) and Wisdom Quarterly's Poet-in-Residence.
 |
| Down with the U.S. military-industrial complex's occupation of Afghanistan! (rawa.org) |
Gandhāran Buddhist texts (Wikipedia edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
 |
| Buddha stone relief from Gandhara (Durham Museum/Akuppa/flickr.com) |
.
 Early Buddhism |
| Scriptures |
| Gandhāran texts Āgamas Pāli Canon |
| Councils |
| 1st Council 2nd Council 3rd Council 4th Council |
| Schools |
| First Sangha └ Mahāsāṃghika ├ Ekavyāvahārika ├ Lokottaravāda ├ Bahuśrutīya ├ Prajñaptivāda └ Caitika └ Sthaviras ├ Mahīśāsaka ├ Dharmaguptaka ├ Kāśyapīya ├ Sarvāstivāda └ Vibhajyavāda └ Theravāda |
The Gandhāran Buddhist texts are the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered, dating from about the first century CE [Note 1]. They are written in Gāndhārī and are possibly the oldest extant Bactrian and Greco-Indian texts altogether.
They were sold to European and Japanese institutions and individuals and are currently being recovered and studied by several universities. The texts are in a considerably deteriorated state. (That they survived at all is remarkable).
But educated guesses about reconstruction have been possible in several cases using both modern preservation techniques and more traditional textual scholarship, comparing previously known Pāli language and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit versions of texts.
But educated guesses about reconstruction have been possible in several cases using both modern preservation techniques and more traditional textual scholarship, comparing previously known Pāli language and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit versions of texts.
Other Gandhāran Buddhist texts -- "several and perhaps many" -- have been found over the last two centuries but then lost or destroyed [2].
The texts are attributed to the Dharmaguptaka sect by Richard Salomon, the leading scholar in the field [3], and the British Library scrolls "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in Nagarāhāra" [4]. More
- "UW Press: Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara".
- Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 357 [1].
- "The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review article by Enomoto Fumio. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol NS32 Issue I, 2000, p. 160.
- Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999, p. 181.
The British Library Collection
In 1994 the British Library acquired a group of some 80 Gandharan manuscript fragments from the first half of the 1st century. They were written on birch bark and stored in clay jars, which preserved them. They are thought to have been found in western Pakistan (which was the location of Gandhara), in clay jars which were buried in ancient monasteries.
A team has been at work trying to decipher the manuscripts: Three volumes have appeared to date (2009). The manuscripts were written in Gāndhārī using the Kharoṣṭhī script and are therefore sometimes also called the Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts.
The collection is composed of a diversity of texts: a Dhammapada (aphorisms with origin stories), discourses of the Buddha (sutras, e.g., that of the Rhinoceros Horn), Avadanas and Purvayogas, commentaries and Abhidharma ("Ultimate Doctrine") texts.
There is evidence to suggest that these texts may belong to the Dharmaguptaka school, a Buddhist Nikaya ideology (Salomon 2000, p. 5). There is an inscription on a jar to that school, and there is some textual evidence as well. On a semi-related point, the Gandhāran text of the Rhinoceros Sutra contains the word mahayaṇaṣa, which some might identify with the later Mahāyāna school (Salomon, 2000, p. 127).
However, according to Salomon, in Kharoṣṭhī orthography there is no reason to think that the phrase in question, Amaṃtraṇa bhoti mahayaṇaṣa ("There are calls from the multitude"), has any connection to Mahāyāna (Salomon, 2000, p. 127).
The Senior Collection
The Senior collection was bought by R. Senior, a British collector. The Senior collection may be slightly younger than the British Library collection. It consists almost entirely of Pali canonical sutras, and, like the British Library collection, was written on birch bark and stored in clay jars [5].
The jars bear inscriptions referring to Macedonian rather than Indian month names, as is characteristic of the Kaniska era from which they derive [6]. There is a "strong likelihood that the Senior scrolls were written, at the earliest, in the latter part of the first century A.D., or, perhaps more likely, in the first half of the second century. This would make the Senior scrolls slightly but significantly later than the scrolls of the British Library collection, which have been provisionally dated to the first half of the first century" [7]. More
A team has been at work trying to decipher the manuscripts: Three volumes have appeared to date (2009). The manuscripts were written in Gāndhārī using the Kharoṣṭhī script and are therefore sometimes also called the Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts.
The collection is composed of a diversity of texts: a Dhammapada (aphorisms with origin stories), discourses of the Buddha (sutras, e.g., that of the Rhinoceros Horn), Avadanas and Purvayogas, commentaries and Abhidharma ("Ultimate Doctrine") texts.
There is evidence to suggest that these texts may belong to the Dharmaguptaka school, a Buddhist Nikaya ideology (Salomon 2000, p. 5). There is an inscription on a jar to that school, and there is some textual evidence as well. On a semi-related point, the Gandhāran text of the Rhinoceros Sutra contains the word mahayaṇaṣa, which some might identify with the later Mahāyāna school (Salomon, 2000, p. 127).
However, according to Salomon, in Kharoṣṭhī orthography there is no reason to think that the phrase in question, Amaṃtraṇa bhoti mahayaṇaṣa ("There are calls from the multitude"), has any connection to Mahāyāna (Salomon, 2000, p. 127).
The Senior Collection
The Senior collection was bought by R. Senior, a British collector. The Senior collection may be slightly younger than the British Library collection. It consists almost entirely of Pali canonical sutras, and, like the British Library collection, was written on birch bark and stored in clay jars [5].
The jars bear inscriptions referring to Macedonian rather than Indian month names, as is characteristic of the Kaniska era from which they derive [6]. There is a "strong likelihood that the Senior scrolls were written, at the earliest, in the latter part of the first century A.D., or, perhaps more likely, in the first half of the second century. This would make the Senior scrolls slightly but significantly later than the scrolls of the British Library collection, which have been provisionally dated to the first half of the first century" [7]. More
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Violence and Disruption in Society (sutras)
Elizabeth J. Harris; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds), Wisdom Quarterly
 |
| Police provoke peaceful protests to become violent as a pretext to violently clampdown. |
Violence and Disruption in Society: A Study of the Early Buddhist Texts
 |
| U.S. state-sponsored violence over Japan |
The total number of human beings who were killed immediately and in the following months was probably close to 200,000. [The countless other earthlings harmed are not measured or recorded.]
 |
| Nagasaki Museum (latimes.com) |
 |
| Hirohsima-Nagasaki (kootation.com) |
It is against the urgency of this background that the teachings of Buddhism about violence must be studied and interpreted. Excerpts such as the following have been extracted and used to sum up the Buddhist attitude to this issue:
All tremble at violence,
All fear death;
Comparing oneself with others
One should neither kill nor cause others to kill. (Dhp. v. 129)
Victory breeds hatred,These verses would seem to indicate a clearly defined Buddhist perspective. Yet such text extraction can lead to misrepresentation if not undergirded with a strong supporting framework. Furthermore, if Buddhism has a message for a violent world, it must do more than condemn violence. It must be able to interpret its nature, its roots, its hold on the world and the possibilities for its transformation. It must dialogue with other philosophies and ideologies such as utilitarianism [Note 1], scientific socialism, and the belief in a "just" or "holy" war.
The defeated live in pain.
Happily the peaceful live,
Giving up victory and defeat.
(Dhp. v. 201)
For instance, utilitarianism still lives among those who believe that violence can be justified if more people will benefit than will be hurt, and the consequentialist theory is similar to this. Then there are those who hold that certain forms of injustice and exploitation can only be destroyed through violence and that history will justify its legitimacy.
The view that violent change is a historical inevitability is close to this. Buddhism must be able to comment on the stance which argues that if Hitler had been assassinated early in his career numerous deaths would have been avoided, or the claim that force is justified against a government which is using violence against its people under the pretext of law. If it cannot, it will stand accused of irrelevance.
"Violence" is that which harms, debases, dehumanizes, or brutalizes human beings, animals, or the natural world. The violent person is one who causes harm in speech or action, either directly or indirectly, or whose mind is filled with such thoughts [2]. These four questions provide the framework for this study:
(1) What different forms of violence do the Buddhist texts show knowledge of?
(2) Why do the texts condemn violence or call it into question?
(3) What do they see to be the roots of violence?
(4) Do the texts give any guidelines for the eradication of violence in the individual or in society?
1. Forms of Violence:
The Buddha's Awareness
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Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple -- the first Buddhist temple to be built in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, 1803. It is filled with striking features and a rich past, a retreat for Buddhist devotees, serving as historical evidence of Burmese occupation (JMR).
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The sutras of the Buddha, as they have been handed down, are replete with details about the contemporary realities of his time. They reveal much about the social context within which he moved and the faces of society with which he was familiar.
The Canki [pronounced "chunky"] Sutra shows a Brahmin overlord insisting that the Buddha is equal to him in birth, riches, and knowledge of the Vedas (the sacred knowledge books of India inherited from the more ancient Indus Valley Civilization). He continues:
Indeed, sirs, King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha with his wife and children has gone to the recluse Gautama for [guidance] for life. Indeed, sirs, King Pasenadi of Kosala with his wife and children has gone to the [guidance] Gautama for refuge for life. Indeed, sirs, the Brahmin Pokkharasati with his wife and children has gone to the recluse Gautama for [guidance] for life [3].
Important here is the reference to kings. The texts show clearly that the Buddha -- himself a royal from the Shakya clan somewhere in the northwest frontier -- had an intimate knowledge of statecraft. Records of his conversations with King Pasenadi and King Bimbisara show him speaking in a language which those involved in government could understand.
King Pasenadi, for instance, comes through as a man torn between his duties as king, involving some degree of ruthlessness, and his concern for spiritual things. At one moment, he is seen preparing a Brahminical sacrifice in which many animals are to be slaughtered and menials beaten and, at another, speaking seriously with the Buddha about the dangers of wealth, power, and unskillful conduct [4].
What is significant is the level of knowledge shown by the Buddha about the pressures on a king such as Pasenadi. His use of similes and illustrations, for instance, appeals to Pasenadi's experience, including the central concern of all rulers at that time -- defense against aggression. At one point Pasenadi asks about the value of gifts and to whom a gift should be given for the gift to bear much fruit. The Buddha replies:
A gift bears much fruit if given to a virtuous person, not to a vicious person. As to that, sire, I also will ask you a question. Answer it as you think fit. What think you, sire? Suppose that you were at war, and that the contending armies were being mustered. And there were to arrive a noble youth, untrained, unskilled, unpracticed, undrilled, timid, trembling, affrighted, one who would run away -- would you keep that man? Would such a man be any good to you? [5]
The Buddha thus uses similes from Pasenadi's military world to indicate that virtue does not depend on birth but on qualities of character. In fact, in a number of texts, illustrations drawn from the context of the state, defense, and martial arts can be found. Not only does the Buddha make use of military metaphors, but the texts show that he [as a prince trained to one day assume throne as king of the Shakyas] had extensive knowledge of the strategies of war, punishment, and political patronage.
The Mahadukkhakkhandha Sutra, for instance, uses graphic description to show that war and conflict spring from sensual desires:
And again, meditators, when sense pleasures are the cause... having taken sword and shield, having girded on bow and quiver, both sides mass for battle, and arrows are hurled, and knives are hurled, and swords are flashing. Those who wound with arrows and wound with knives and decapitate with their swords, these suffer dying then and pain like unto dying...
And again, meditators, when sense pleasures are the cause...having taken sword and shield, having girded on bow and quiver, they leap on to the newly daubed ramparts, and arrows are hurled, and knives are hurled, and swords are flashing. Those who wound with arrows and wound with knives and pour boiling cow-dung over them and crush them with the portcullis and decapitate them with their swords, these suffer dying then and pain like unto dying [6].
In the next part of the sutra, a variety of horrific punishments are described, and a keen awareness of their nature is revealed:
Kings, having arrested such a one, deal out various punishments: they lash him with whips, and they lash him with canes, and they lash him with rods, and they cut off his hand... his foot... his hand and foot... his ear... and they give him the "gruel-pot" punishment... the "shell-tonsure" punishment... "Rahu's mouth"... the "fire-garland"... the "flaming hand"... and so on [7].
In another sutra, two men are pointed out while the Buddha is talking to a headman, Pataliya. One of them is garlanded and well-groomed; the other is tightly bound, about to lose his head. We are told that the same deed has been committed by both. The difference is that the former has killed the foe of the king and has been rewarded for it, while the latter was the king's enemy [8] .
Hence it is stressed that the laws of the state are not impartial: they can mete out punishment or patronage according to the wish of the king and his cravings for revenge or security.
It cannot be argued that the Buddha was ignorant of the political realities of his day. He spurned frivolous talk about such things as affairs of state [9]. But he was neither indifferent to them nor uninformed.
On the contrary, his concern for the human predicament made him acutely aware of the potential for violence within the economic and political forces around him. The political milieu of rival republics and monarchies janapadas] in northern India forms a backdrop to his teaching, whether the rivalries between the kingdoms [of Kosala and Magadha or the struggles of the republics to maintain their traditions and their independence in the face of the rising monarchies [10].
However, the violence attached to politics and statecraft forms only one section of the picture which emerges from the texts. Violence is detected in the Brahmanical sacrificial system, in the austerities practiced by some wanderers, and in the climate of philosophical dispute among the many shramana groupings as well as in the area of social discrimination and the economic order.
Religion, to take this first, is seen as a cause of physical, verbal, and mental violence. The violence inflicted through sacrifices is described thus:
Now at that time a great sacrifice was arranged to be held for King Pasenadi, the Kosalan. Five hundred bulls, 500 bullocks, and as many heifers, goats, and rams were led to the pillar to be sacrificed. And they that were slaves and menials and craftsmen, hectored about by blows and by fear, made the preparations with tearful faces weeping [11].In contrast, the shramana groupings within this period rejected sacrifice [to the gods]. Denying the authority of the Vedas and a realm of gods [brahmas, devas, nagas, asuras] to be manipulated, their emphasis was on renunciation, the gaining of insight, and philosophical debate.
Nevertheless, a form of violence was present. The austerities practiced by some of those who came to the Buddha were worse than any enemy might inflict as punishment. Prior to enlightenment Prince Siddhartha as a wandering ascetic practiced them. In the Maha-Saccaka [12] and the Maha-Sihanada [13] Sutras there is vivid description of the excesses undertaken. More
ENDNOTES
Abbreviations: DN...Digha Nikaya, MN...Majjhima Nikaya, SN...Samyutta Nikaya, AN...Anguttara Nikaya, Dhp...Dhammapada, Snp...Sutta Nipata.
Textual references have been taken from the Pali Text Society's editions of the Nikayas (Sutra Collections). Unless specified otherwise, English translations have been taken from the PTS versions, though some have been slightly altered.
1. Utilitarianism is a philosophy which claims that the ultimate end of action should be the creation of human happiness. Actions should be judged according to whether they promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. The most important exponent of this philosophy was the nineteenth century British thinker John Stuart Mill. One of the weaknesses of utilitarianism is that it can be used to justify the violation of minority rights.
2. Reference may be made to many texts which stress that encouraging others to do harm is blameworthy. AN ii,215, for instance, speaks of the unworthy man and the more unworthy man, the latter being one who encourages others to do harmful actions such as killing living beings.
3. MN 95/ii,167.
4. The Kosala Samyutta (Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. 1) records the conversations which this king had with the Buddha. The examples mentioned have been taken from this section.
5. SN i,97.
6. MN 13/i,86-87.
7. MN 13/i,87.
8. SN iv,343.
9. In several sutras, the Buddha comes across groups of wanderers engaged in heated discussions about kings, robbers, armies, etc. (e.g., DN iii,37; MN ii,1). In contrast, the Buddha advised his disciples either to maintain noble silence or to speak about the Dharma.
10. See Romila Thapar, A History of India (Pelican Books UK, 1966), Chapter 3.
11. SN i,75.
1. Utilitarianism is a philosophy which claims that the ultimate end of action should be the creation of human happiness. Actions should be judged according to whether they promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. The most important exponent of this philosophy was the nineteenth century British thinker John Stuart Mill. One of the weaknesses of utilitarianism is that it can be used to justify the violation of minority rights.
2. Reference may be made to many texts which stress that encouraging others to do harm is blameworthy. AN ii,215, for instance, speaks of the unworthy man and the more unworthy man, the latter being one who encourages others to do harmful actions such as killing living beings.
3. MN 95/ii,167.
4. The Kosala Samyutta (Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. 1) records the conversations which this king had with the Buddha. The examples mentioned have been taken from this section.
5. SN i,97.
6. MN 13/i,86-87.
7. MN 13/i,87.
8. SN iv,343.
9. In several sutras, the Buddha comes across groups of wanderers engaged in heated discussions about kings, robbers, armies, etc. (e.g., DN iii,37; MN ii,1). In contrast, the Buddha advised his disciples either to maintain noble silence or to speak about the Dharma.
10. See Romila Thapar, A History of India (Pelican Books UK, 1966), Chapter 3.
11. SN i,75.
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