Where earlier stupas were icons and indexes of the Buddha encased within indexes of his presence, later stupas were symbols of the Buddha and Buddhist theology. This change in the material practice of Buddhism reduced stupas ’ emotional immediacy in favor of greater intellectual detachment. In the end, this shift in the meaning ascribed to stupas created the preconditions from which the Buddhist image cult and Mahayana Buddhism emerged in the first through fifth centuries A.D. The development of Mahayana Buddhism and Buddha images signified a return to iconic worship of the Buddha.

The celebrations, you can see, were not subdued meditation events. Dancing, instruments being played and so on. This is hardly restrained. This is extatic worship.

This article examines a poem in the Kaludayittherapadanavannana which expands on the poem attributed to Kaludayitthera in the Theragatha; the poem in the Kaludayittherapadanavannana did not make it into the final canon. The hypothesis of this paper is that the poem may be a popular Dravidian song adapted to Buddhist use and translated into Pali, and this is the primary reason it was excluded from the canon.

This conclusion is based on several factors. 1) The author of the Pali poem was not well versed in the Pali language and made constant mistakes in translation. 2) Gratuitous repetition; the poem itself is not very good poetry, containing the kind of needless repetition one associates with a popular song. 3) 13.4% of the words in the poem are direct lifts from Dravidian words; this compares to only 3.9% of the words in the Theragatha poem itself, of which this poem is an extension. While this does not prove that the source was a Dravidian poem, it raises the probability quite significantly. In addition, this kind of literature—making lists of biota in the natural world for comparison, personification and poetic effect— is common in Dravidian Sangam literature. 4) The poem contains wrong or awkward phrases in Pali which can be better understood as Dravidian imports, and 5) an extensive and growing body of linguistic evidence shows that the adoption of Dravidian terminology into Buddhist thought and practice was not an uncommon occurrence.

For early Buddhism, I mediate between two polarized views: one promoting the idea of ‘eco-dharma’ as a reflection of Buddhism’s alignment with non-violence (ahiṃsā), and the alleviation of suffering (dukkha); a second arguing that early Buddhist traditions have been misappropriated by western environmentalism. I argue that the latter view subscribes to canonical models of passive monks removed from worldly concerns, despite archaeological evidence for socially-engaged monastic landlordism from the late centuries BCE. Others cite this evidence only to negate Buddhism’s eco-credentials, overlooking the human:non-human entanglement theme

Case studies include examples of Buddhist land and water management in central India, set within discussions of human v. non-human-centric frameworks of well-being and suffering, purity and pollution, and broader Indic medico-ecological epistemologies, as possible models for collective responses to environmental stress.

The collection notably includes a northern version of Ven. Nāgasena’s conversion of King Milinda (111, Fascicle 9) as well as many stories about Gandhara.

Surveying pre-Gupta inscriptions, it becomes clear that the aspiration for nirvana has one recurring feature attached to it; the aspiration of the donor for the attainment of nirvana occurs when the donation is connected in some way or another to the relics or figural or non-figural representations of the historical Buddha.

The same ideas can be seen emerging in the later canonical Pali Apadana, and connect to developments in the emergence of Mahayana.

One sage among them who possessed the five kinds of supernatural knowledge came down to the border of village. The sage told them what had happened…

Ancient fragments of the story of the Buddha’s “Twin Miracle”.

For the full comparison with existing parallels and a more thorough analysis, see his thesis on this Sūtra.

In the mixture with rags, strings and pegs together, well it was my image [rūpa].
So in the mixture with bone, flesh and sinews it is the individual rūpa of living beings.
If I divide the body parts apart, there is no individuality by name.
As my love was in rags, so it is in the body. Oh, blind passion!

A series of Jātaka stories and poems from Tocharian fragments.

The evidence points to a significant Buddhist presence with one or more structural reliquary stūpas dating to the early centuries BCE.

Other kings have victories; he has dhamma victories. Other kings go on hunting expeditions; he gets much more pleasure out of dhamma expeditions, on which he makes gifts to brahmins and renouncers and senior citizens, tours the country and finds instruction in the dhamma. Other kings have officials; he has dhamma officials…

The Aśoka of his inscriptions and of the Theravāda texts compared.

The moon was bright and the stars were clear. There was no more darkness. Celestial flowers fell down like rain from the sky to worship the Bodhisattva.

A translation of the Chinese version of Aśvaghoṣa’s famous epic composed in the second century of the common era. The classic Indian poem gives a tasteful biography of Śākyamuni Buddha’s life which is still admired for its artistry today.

For an older translation of the (reconstructed) Sanskrit, see Cowell, 1894.

This sutra builds on themes found in Early Buddhist texts such as the Natha Sutta (AN 10.17) giving an example of how later Buddhists texts evolved from earlier ones.

After some preliminary considerations concerning orality and writing in India and the date of the Buddha, this article re-examines the questions of where and when a version of the Pali Canon was first set to writing and what were the contents of that collection. It then goes on to examine the origin and evolution of the Māgadha language we now call Pali, seeing it as derived from a written language

The rule in Buddhist countries is that even the King bows to the monks.

If attention is given instead to Salomon’s ‘central-western epigraphic Prakrit’, it can be seen as a later reflex of Pali by a method of presentation unique to this paper. Accordingly, it should be merged with the existing category of ‘Epigraphic Pali’ and serious attention given to the Theravāda tradition that the Buddha spoke Pali.

A compelling argument that the post-Ashokan “Prakrit” inscriptions found across South Asia from the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE were, in fact, composed in a later version of the same language that we see in the Pāli Canon (just a later form of it). This theory gives credence to the idea that the Pāli Canon is a trustworthy witness to the “common tongue” of ancient North India, perhaps even more reliable than the idiosyncratic “Māghadī” of Ashoka himself (despite his edicts having been committed to writing at the earlier date).

See also: Bhante Sujato’s reaction to this paper on SuttaCentral.

We have direct evidence of the extent of the Maurya empire thanks to the edicts of Aśoka, Candragupta’s grandson.

The Arthaśāstra, then, may not be a reliable source for finding out the way in which Candragupta’s empire was run. If my earlier reflections are right, it is rather an expression of the Brahmanical reaction against the political changes his empire had brought about.

There are excellent resources linked in the video description, and all of his videos are highly recommended for the self-studying student of Pāli.

… one who wishes happiness in the human world and the heavenly world should offer fruit

One day, I saw several monks who were very thirsty and had fallen to the ground. I got up quickly and offered them water to drink.

A deva explains the merit accumulated when she offered water to a monk who had fallen.

Raising my hands and putting my palms and fingers together, I saluted

Arahant Moggallana asks a deva about his previous good karma.

These inscriptions not only resurrect the valuable contributions of the nuns in ancient India, but also allow us to glean much about the order of nuns in the formative centuries of Buddhism.

An overview of the epigraphical evidence for the ancient, Bhikkhunī Saṅgha.

With these various strands of thought, the basic ingredients of the bodhisattva ideal seem to fall into place.

A paper outlining the pre-sectarian roots of the Bodhisattva Path.

This excerpt was extracted from Bhikkhu Analayo’s full-length monograph on the subject, The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal.

Its selection of chants is still influential in Theravāda liturgies today.

It is an early Sanskrit poem written in India on the legendary history of Buddha, and therefore contains much that is of interest for the history of Buddhism, besides its special importance as illustarating the early history of classical Sanskrit literature.

A more contemporary (2009) translation by Charles Willemen from the (arguably more faithful) Chinese recension of the text (Taishō 4 192) can be found here.

If the frustrated zombie turns back on the instigator and kills him, the monk incurs a heavy fault. I do not know whether there are any other cases of posthumous penalties in the monastic codes, but here we have at least one.

… the deer can still be seen roaming around but the monasteries that were built here lie mostly in ruins

A brief introduction to ancient Buddhist Art in India.

The four toraṇas, or gateways, [put] the stūpa, symbolically, at the place where four roads meet, as is specified in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta.

How the early Buddhists took the burial mounds and sacrificial posts of prehistoric India and adapted them to fit their new religious context:

… the stūpa symbolises the Dharma and the transformations it brings

Of all the discoveries Cunningham ever made he always considered that at Bharhut to be the most significant.

A large, ancient temple on the road to central India was discovered by lucky accident. How many more Buddhist temples existed in ancient central and south India that we’ll never see or even hear about?

We find a hidden stupa, search for the stories in the carvings, see through the invisible Buddha figures. And we see how this holy place fits into the lives of ancient Indians.

What had started out as a rather straightforward fact took on a mystical flavour.

On how the unbounded praiseworthiness of the Buddha expressed in the early texts quickly took on mythic proportions.

… whatever (is) seen, heard, or thought, the good say ‘putting down’

A short note on the grounds for valid knowledge in the pre-Abhidhamma Pāli.

Besides being a prominent motivation for the delivery of a teaching, compassion regularly features in descriptions of meditation practice in the early discourses

The argument that a nun called Sthūlanandā really did have pendulous breasts and large buttocks is, pardon the pun, a thin one. As stock images of uncouth femininity, these outsized and ungainly physical features serve the representational project of this passage

A survey of post-modern hermeneutical strategies for critical and historical readings of Canonical Vinaya literature.

We may begin with one simple list, but the structure of early Buddhist thought and literature dictates that we end up with an intricate pattern of lists within lists

… it is improbable

I suggest that the original form of the ‘enlightenment’ set was the ‘basic’ set: idaṃ dukkhaṃ, ayaṃ dukkha-samudayo, ayaṃ dukkha-nirodho, ayaṃ dukkha-nirodha-gāminī paṭipadā When these items became known as “Truths”, they were [later] so designated: idaṃdukkha-saccaṃ, etc.

And for a short post-script to this on the translation of the ariya part, see Why “Noble?” (1990).

The ability of a lineage to carry a particular association is of great benefit to the narratives, for it provides both weight and flexibility.

These are the over two hundred kinds of knowledge that arise in one who develops concentration by mindfulness of breathing with sixteen grounds

… the earliest extant, detailed commentary on Buddhist meditation available in an Indic language

The Path of Discrimination was a key influence on later meditation manuals (such as the medieval Visuddhimagga) and is the oldest such commentary in existence, giving us a rare insight into the early Indian commentarial and meditation traditions.

For a translation of the entire Paṭisambhidāmagga, see SuttaCentral

Aśoka (c. 268-232 BCE) and Jayavarman VII (1182-1220?), two of the greatest rulers of India and Southeast Asia, were Buddhists by any definition. However, the puzzling problem is that their deaths were followed by an inexorable decay of their erstwhile great empires.

Theravāda, Zen and Lamaism, for all their superficial differences, share common ground in the practice of meditation, which is the ground of original Buddhism and qualifies them to take the name

The authoritative history of early Buddhism.

But the Bodhisattva, unwilling to ask anyone for help, plucks up his courage, and goes out with his basket and cutting tool and cuts grass. He sells the grass and ekes out a meager living, giving what he can to those in need.

The Buddhist tradition has tended to associate Moggallāna with concentration or serenity, and Sāriputta with wisdom or insight, and to characterize the former figure along with his outstanding faculty as inferior to the latter.

That nuns did participate in the transmission and explication of the sacred texts is, however, proven by both literary and epigraphic records.

A well-written overview of what the historical record says about early Buddhist women.

The fossils found clearly show that there has been a development from reptile to bird, even though the particular animal whose remains have been discovered was of course not the first one to start jumping or gliding from one tree to the next. Comparable to the fossils of an archaeopteryx, some early discourses reflect particular stages in the development of Buddhist thought.

… the modern pilgrim needs to have some idea about the religious, historical and archaeological background of each of the sacred places

This book provides a thorough account of the history behind the sacred sites of Buddhist India, from ancient to modern times.

… after the parinibbāna… Ānanda may have made Kosambī his base

An interesting example of what can be gleaned from a place-centered reading of the Pāli Canon.

Despite the volumes of scholarship published since, Buddhist India remains a remarkable introduction to the topic more than a century later.

For a more detailed, structural analysis, see “Some Remarks on the Textual History of the Śrāvakabhūmi” by the same author.

It is inescapable that, whatever the reading, according to the early texts the Buddha did not have “normal” genitals. And the only reading actually supported by a canonical text is that the Buddha was intersex, and his genitals looked like a woman’s.

This is striking proof of the general reliability with which Buddhist monks transmitted their texts

The amazing story of ancient Pāli texts in Burma, discovered to contain only minor differences from the contemporary canon.

… 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.

… the particular wording introducing these place names can tell us much about the development of the literary form of early Buddhist texts and about the historical memory of the early authors

Despite an extremely unfortunate (and, tellingly, uncited) dig at the very end against the Lord Buddha’s final words, this (otherwise) well researched and moderate take on mining the EBTs for historical fact gives us a good idea of how the texts were composed and when.

Buddhist texts are, by and large, nice. There’s no draconian punishments, no irrational fervor, no ‘smiting with swords’. A serene air of reason, balance, and sanity pervades.

This niceness is a huge problem.

Bhikkhu Sujato reminds us that the Pali Canon is still an ancient mythological text which needs to be read with a careful eye towards symbolism and historical context.

… the main force of the nikāyas is to discount speculation about nibbāna. It is the summum bonum. To seek to know more is to manufacture obstacles. By the time of the early Abhidhamma the situation is much clearer. The whole Buddhist tradition is agreed that nibbāna is the unconditioned

… it is only here that there is the contemplative

The Buddha tells the difference between his religion and others’ and gives a clear discourse on the meaning of enlightenment.

See also, Bhante Suddhaso’s translation of this sutta

… literalism, if not originating from artistic representations, would certainly have been encouraged by them.

Venerable Anālayo makes a compelling argument that fire miracles in the Canon came from symbolism and early Buddhist artistic motifs that came to be taken too literally, showing one example of how early Buddhist art influenced the texts.

Discriminatory views and practices are the antithesis of Right View, and they undermine the Middle Path by perpetuating identification with concepts of independent, constant, inherently existing selves and others

A brief outline of the discrimination faced by women across the Buddhist world, and a thoroughly cited argument for rejecting sexist views, even those that can be found in the Buddhist Canon.

Just as the beautiful lotus blossom grows up from the mud and water, so one with an enlightened mind develops out of the ranks of ordinary beings

The early Buddhists of ancient India did not represent the Buddha with anthropomorphic statues as is ubiquitous now. This essay explores the symbols and objects that were venerated in the early period after the Buddha’s death.

I would say that the Nikāyas and Āgamas give us a “historical-realistic perspective” on the Buddha, while the Mahāyāna sūtras give us a “cosmic-metaphysical perspective.”

Bhikkhu Bodhi explores the Bodhisattva ideal from the perspective of the both the Theravāda and Mahayana, with a brief summary of its history. An excellent introduction to this vital topic.