Compare to the Pāli version.
]]>It has been claimed that Indian Buddhism, as opposed to East Asian Chan/Zen traditions, was somehow against humour. In this paper I contend that humour is discernible in canonical Indian Buddhist texts, particularly in Indian Buddhist monastic law codes (Vinaya). I will attempt to establish that what we find in these texts sometimes is not only humourous but that it is intentionally so.
]]>an occasional series of notes on Buddhist vocabulary
When faced with the task of rendering the term Tathāgata into other languages, translators had to decide between taking it to imply tathā āgata, “thus come”, or tathā gata “thus gone”
]]>The Chinese translations are mirrors of Indian scriptures, whose languages had shifted from colloquial ones, including Gāndhārī, to Sanskrit. Many of these Chinese translations are dated or datable. Therefore, if we carefully put the translated and transliterated words in chronological order, we may be able to trace the change of the original Indian forms
]]>In certain cases I found that it was possible to clear up perceived difficulties without too much trouble. In other cases, the more I looked, the more problematic the texts became. So this work is concerned with problem-solving: looking at difficult or controversial areas, highlighting the most accurate textual data, and looking at different possibilities for interpretation. It is not meant to be a guide to monastic conduct, and does not attempt to be complete or systematic. Along the way I offer a little advice for those seeking practical guidance. Usually, despite the forbidding textual complexities, the ethical issues are really quite simple.
]]>Then, when King Brahmadatta had released the elephant, he
said in verse:
‘You should now leave, O king of elephants!
Serve your parents and be filial (towards them)!’
… the original composer of the gāthās was likely aware of and comfortable with the polyvocal nature of the teachings, which added a richer and deeper dimension to the teaching.
]]>The redactors of the Bhaiṣajyavastu seem to have transformed the stories into stories of donations, using opening and closing stock phrases and some additions to the text.
]]>The right view module enjoins adopting a correct basic attitude to karma, rebirth, as well as merit, giving and sacrifice that is informed by the Buddhist requalification strategy, so that it becomes integral to the Buddhist path and its emerging dāna ideology. The import of such an explicit promotion of a human recipient of worship or sacrifice can hardly be overestimated. This is a world apart from the ontological and cosmogonical yajña of the Ṛgveda
]]>indriyopasamo nande mānastabdhe ca saṃnatih |
kṣamitvaṃ cāṅgulīmāle kaṃ na vismayam ānayet ||
Tranquillity of the senses in a Nanda, humility in a Mānastabdha, mercy in an Aṅgulimāla — whom would not these amaze?
A transcription of one leaf of a Sanskrit fragment and an introduction to early Buddhist textual scholarship.
]]>what leads to imperturbability are the insights that:
]]>[an analysis of] the meditative approaches to imperturbability depicted in MN 106 and its Chinese and Tibetan parallels.
… any theory which goes beyond the data of sensory experience could lead to a lot of unnecessary speculation and diatribes resulting in vexation.
]]>… the Pāli and Buddhist Sanskrit forms were sometimes contradictory, reflecting the redactors’ different interpretations of the oral transmission. By comparing these different forms, it is possible to isolate a proto-form which explains the ambiguities and is closer to the original
]]>… an overview of the main stylistic features of early Buddhist sutras and the organizational principles employed in the formation of textual collections of sutras that support the idea of these texts and collections being transmitted as fixed entities and the ways in which such texts changed and were changed over time
]]>Linguistically, China remained China even after this massive import of Indian culture. Nevertheless, there are some non-negligible aspects of Indian Buddhist language that contributed [to] the Chinese language.
]]>The Madhyama Āgama collection translated [into Chinese] by Sanghadeva contains altogether 222 discourses, distributed over eighteen chapters
]]>… the Ekottarika Āgama preserved in Chinese translation is a text with rather complex features, combining some material that could be relatively early with other texts that clearly reflect later developments.
]]>‘they master one self, tame one self, bring one self to nibbana.’ That sounds as if people who are supposed to realize their lack of self are being credited with three.
On what an odd expression in the Digha Nikāya can tell us about the construction of the Pāli Suttas.
]]>In the Nikāyas and Āgamas, dependent origination serves as the portal to the first breakthrough to the Dhamma. […] When the Susīma-sutta states that “the knowledge of the persistence of principles” precedes “the knowledge of nibbāna”, the intention may well have been the same as that of the other versions, namely, that knowledge of the arising sequence of dependent origination precedes knowledge of the cessation sequence.
A sequel to Bhikkhu Bodhi’s previous study of the Susīma Sutta, attempting a reconstruction of the sutta’s history from its parallels and giving a master class on comparitive hermeneutics.
]]>Given the fact that the praiseworthy qualities of the Buddha are the main theme of the Mahāsakuludāyi-sutta and its parallel, it is not surprising if the tendency to elevate the Buddha’s status would to some degree also have influenced the reciters responsible for transmitting the discourse. A comparison of the two versions in fact reveals several instances where this tendency is at work
A translation and analysis of MA 107, a short parallel to MN 77.
]]>The differences between Buddhist Chinese and the native Chinese language found in non-Buddhist documents are obvious.
]]>… based on what can be culled from the Madhyama-āgama discourse in comparison with the other versions, it seems possible to arrive at a coherent narrative of [the founding] of the order of nuns.
]]>… the Theravāda version of events in the Nandakovāda-sutta conveys an attitude towards nuns that is considerably less favorable than the attitude underlying the parallel versions
How the Theravāda elders managed to make the suttas sound misogynistic through small redactions.
]]>… revised versions of previously published articles. Each study builds around a partial or complete translation of an Ekottarika-āgama discourse, followed by an examination of aspects that I felt to be of further interest.
]]>… in what follows I briefly survey the four main Chinese Āgamas. In the first of the chapters that follow this introduction, I try to place the early discourses in historical perspective. An assessment of their value as testimonies for early Buddhist thought serves as a foundation for the comparative studies found in this and the other three volumes.
]]>Each study is based on partial or complete translations of the Madhyama-āgama discourse in question – one exception being the parallel to the Cūḷavedalla-sutta, where I instead translate the Tibetan parallel – followed by an examination of some aspects that I felt to be of further interest.
]]>The present paper offers a survey of some features of the Madhyama-āgama, based on a comparison with its extant parallels.
]]>In this thousand-page tome, Bhikkhu Analayo goes systematically through the MN, one sutta at a time, and explains how the Pāli text differs (or not) from its parallels preserved in Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. Perhaps surprisingly, they don’t differ all that much, though in some places the differences do shed light on the original teaching and shows what kinds of changes occurred to the texts during the process of transmission.
The book begins and ends with Bhikkhu Analayo’s reflections on the EBTs and the process of oral transmission, and while the book could certainly be read cover-to-cover, the primary way to use this book is as a reference work alongside the Majjhima Nikāya.
You can also download the book for free at the University of Hamburg website:
]]>Placing the Pali discourses and their counterparts in the Chinese Āgamas side by side often brings to light an impressive degree of agreement, even down to rather minor details. This close agreement testifies to the emphasis on verbatim recall in the oral transmission of the early discourses. In this respect the early Buddhist oral tradition forms a class of its own in the ambit of oral literature
An excellent introduction on the use of comparative studies to discern the history of the Buddhist Texts, particularly showing the influence of Abhidhammic thought on the Pāli Canon. Find part one here.
]]>It is this potential of the Chinese Āgamas as a supplement to the Pali discourses to which I would like to draw attention with the present article, taking up a few examples from the first group of fifty discourses in the Majjhima Nikāya.
An excellent introduction to the power, purpose, and method of comparative textual study. Find part two here.
]]>[on] the impact of oral transmission on this material; the notion of a parallel and difficulties in applying this notion; the advantage of approaching the category of a parallel with the help of the Buddhist four-fold logic; and the potential of comparative studies.
]]>… at an earlier time references to the four noble truths in this and other discourses may have been without the qualification ‘noble’
An example of the minor differences to be found between the Āgamas and their Pāli Parallels.
]]>Any kind of study in this field [of Buddhism] remains incomplete unless the materials of the Chinese Āgamas are tapped and utilized.
A brief introduction to the Chinese Āgamas and comparative studies.
]]>If someone gives up this body to continue with another body, I say that this is indeed a serious fault. If someone has given up this body and does not continue with another body, I do not say that this is a serious fault.
]]>On the basis of Prajnavarman’s and Nagarjuna’s citations and of Vasubandhu’s and Asanga’s lists, it seems that parallels to the Pali Asankhatasamyutta were indeed transmitted by the (Mula-)Sarvastivadins and perhaps other schools, even though they have not been preserved in Chinese translation.
]]>