From Brahmanism to Buddhism

Asian Philosophy

Volumn 9, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 5-37

  Lindtner, Christian ^a  

^a NONE   (Denmark)

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EID: 61249306308     PISSN: 09552367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09552369908575487     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. This essay addresses itself to readers already familiar with the sources, and notes and references are therefore kept at a bare minimum. On Buddhism as Brahmanism, see recently HARTMANN, J.-U. (1987) Das Varnārhavarnastotra des Mātrceta (Göttingen), pp. 215-231 with reference to the earlier contributions by Geiger, Schrader and Bhattacharya.
2. The ideal was "companionship with Brahman/Brahmā", cf. SCHRADER, F. O. (1983) Kleine Schriften (Wiesbaden), p. 49.
3. Note that even the "triple protection" offered by Buddhism has Vedic roots; see WEILER, R. W. (1962) The Buddhism act of compassion, in: Indological Studies in Honor of W. Norman Brown (New Haven), p. 241.
4. Translation by NORMAN, K. R. (1985) The Rhinoceros Horn (London) p. 49.
5. Cf. e. g. the Varnašatam, an eulogy of one hundred epitheta of the Buddha, edited in WALDSCHMIDT, E. (1989) Ausgewählte Kleine Schriften (Stuttgart) pp. 329-345. Interesting from our point of view are: agraprāpta, rsisattama, gambhīra, traividya, dharmastha, brahmaprāpta, sugata - Buddha is the "true Brahman".
6. The most recent and convenient edition: VAN NOOTEN, B. A. & HOLLAND, G. B. (Eds) (1994) Rig Veda. A metrically restored text (Cambridge, MA) p. 554.
7. The philosophically interesting hymns have often been discussed, cf. e. g. ROCHER, R. (Ed.), (1978) India and Indology. Selected articles by W. Norman Brown (Delhi) pp. 5-89.
8. Refer to GELDNER, K. F. (1907-1909) Der Rigveda in Auswahl (Stuttgart).
9. Since aja is thus Vedic, the Mahāyāna doctrine of ajāti-samatā, anutpāda, etc. obviously has ancient roots. See e. g. QVARNSTRÖM, O. (1989) Hindu Philosophy in Buddhist Perspective (Lund) p. 24 etc.
10. Pointed out e. g. by FAUSBØLL, V. (1897) Fire Forstudier til en Fremstilling af den indiske Mythologi efter Mahābhārata (København) pp. 1-21.
11. See also his Indian Mythology (London, 1902) pp. 57-75. A work of good common sense.
12. There are often references to the Brahmajālasūtra in the works of the major Mahāyāna philosophers, see QVARNSTRÖM., Indian Mythology, op. cit., p. 98;
13. SCHRADER, Indian Mythology, op. cit., passim;
14. MAY, J. (1959) Candrakīrti. Prasannapadā Madhyamakavrtti (Paris) pp. 277-298.
15. FRANKE, R. O. (1978) Kleine Schriften (Wiesbaden) pp. 917-1017.
16. MEISIG, K. (1988) Das Sūtra von den Vier Ständen (Wiesbaden).
17. In spite of LÜDERS, H. (1954) Beobachtungen über die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons (Berlin) p. 81, n. 1, I think that ekodībhāva is related to ekodakībhūtam.
18. Beobachtungen Über Die Sprache des Buddhistischen Urkanons, Prasannapadā, see Scherrer-Schaub, op. cit., p. 336 for the edition and the translations.
19. The Buddhist sources share samkalpa with the early Upanisads. Very useful is LIMAYE, V. P. & VADEKAR, R. D. (Eds) (1958) Eighteen Principal Upanisads (Poona).
20. I here rely heavily on the Index to words and clauses, pp. 522-748. Also ANDERSEN, DINES (1892) Om Brugen og Betydningen af Verbets Genera i Sanskrit (Kjøbenhavn).
21. Using BROUGH, J. (Ed.) (1962) The Gāndhārī Dharmapada (London).
22. See also BERNHARD, F. (Ed.) (1965-1968) Udānavarga (Göttingen) For na . . . etad akiñci, cf. naihśreyaso dharmo gambhīro . . . . Ratnāvalī 1. 75;
23. JOHANSSON, K. F. (1927) Etymologisches und Wortgeschichtliches (Uppsala) p. 36.
24. CHARPENTIER, J. (1922) The Uttarādhyayanasūtra (Uppsala), p. 378.
25. For dharman/dharma/dhārma, etc., WÜST, W. (1935) Vergleichendes und Etymologisches Wörterbuch des alt-indoiranischen (Heidelberg) p. 102.
26. E. g. Prasannapadā, pp. 41 and 237.
27. Discussion, SCHAYER, S. (1931) Ausgezväklte Kapitel aus der Prasannapadā (Kraków) p. 26.
28. See AMES, W. L. (1993) Bhavaviveka's Prajñāpradīpa, in Journal of Indian Philosophy, 21, p. 247.
29. cf. TOLA, F. & DRAGONETTI, C. (1995) Nāgārjuna's Refutation of Logic (Delhi) p. 62.
30. See SCHERRER-SCHAUB, Nāgārjuna's Refutation of Logic (Delhi), op. cit., p. 108, n. 18 with references.
31. See SCHRADER, F. O. Kleine Schriften, pp. 19 and 481.
32. Cf. HARTMANN, Kleine Schriften, op. cit., p. 218;
33. MAY, Kleine Schriften, op. cit., p. 251;
34. SCHERRER-SCHAUB, passim. For more on this, see my review of Jeffrey D. Schoening's (1988) edition of the Śālistamba Sūtra, in Buddhist Studies Review, 15, 1, pp. 107-116.
35. WALDSCHMIDT, E. (1967) Von Ceylon bis Turfan, (Göttingen) p. 351;
36. SCHRADER, Von Ceylon bis Turfan, op. cit., pp. 121, 169, 310;
37. PED. Early references in KERN, H. (1896) Manual of Indian Buddhism (Strassburg) p. 99.
38. When the Buddhists spoke of astāṅgikamārga, tridosa, dvādaśāṅga (-nidāna) they were, in my opinion, adopting medical terminology. Cf. e. g. MÜLLER, R. F. G. (1951) Grundsätze altindischer Medizin (Kopenhagen), passim.
39. Also WEZLER, A. (1984) On the quadruple division of the Yogaśāstra, Indologica Taurinensia, 12, pp. 289-337 (a somewhat different view).
40. That a tathāgata - the true brahman and bhagavat - was vidyā-caranasampanna was not a specific Buddhist notion. It is also so in ancient Jaina sources, cf. SCHRADER, Indologica Taurinensia, op. cit.
41. Likewise Gītā V. 18 (vidyāvinayasampanna), cf. MEISIG, Indologica Taurinensia, op. cit., p. 166;
42. For the formula, WALDSCHMIDT, Von Ceylon bis Turfan, p. 380. Closely related, almost synonyms in the early period: śīla- prajñā, dharma-vinaya and sāmkhya-yoga, jñāna- karma. They all refer to a Bhagavat who is intellectually and morally perfect.
43. It is ridiculous to say: aham asmi Brahmā . . . . The Tevijja (in DN) makes it clear that it was the common ideal in those times to "see Brahmā", i. e. to find a mārga to sahavyatā with Brahmā/Brahman. The Buddha is just one of those who offer such a mārga. The old canonical passage; attā te, purisa, jānāti saccam vā yadi vā musā, sakkhi (cf. KERN, op. cit., p. 68, n. 8) could perhaps be understood as a "reply" to RV 10. 129. 7.
44. As for tattva note the remark in the Mahābhāsya: tad api nityam yatra tattvam na vihanyate. Quoted in JACOBI, H. (1970) Kleine Schriften (Wiesbaden) p. 686, n. 1.
45. Cf. my paper, LINDTNER, C. (1981) "Atiśa's introduction to the two truths, and its sources", in Journal of Indian Philosophy, 9, pp. 161-214.
46. See LINDTNER, C. (1992-1994) Nāgārjuna and the problem of precanonical Buddhism, Religious Studies, 15-17, pp. 112-136.
47. Also, Buddhist Studies Review (1997), 14, pp. 109-139
48. and The Adyar Library Bulletin (1997), 61, pp. 45-68.
49. On these four "marks", see Jaini's fine paper, JAINI, P. S. (1970) Śramanas: their conflict with Brahamanical society, in: J. W. ELDER (Ed.) Chapters in Indian Civilization (Dubuque, IA) pp. 39-81.
50. In GARBE, R. (1921) Die Bhagavadgītā (Leipzig) p. 145.
51. WAYMAN, A. & H. (1974) The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrimā lā, (New York/London) p. 96;
52. TAKASAKI, J. (1966) A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra) (Roma).
53. E. g. TAKASAKI, A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga, op. cit., p. 206 (for bīja, etc., p. 21).
54. E. g. MATSUNAGA, Y. (Ed.) (1978) The Guhyasamāja-Tantra (Osaka) p. 4, etc. etc.
55. SCHAYER, S. (1931) Ausgewählte Kapitel aus der Prasannapadā (Kraków) p. 1.
56. For the texts, QVARNSTRÖM, Ausgewählte Kapitel aus der Prasannapadā, op. cit., p. 120.
57. See also Bhavya's MHK V. 106: The Buddha's jñāna is like ākāśa. For dhātu, bhūta, etc.
58. see also MÜLLER, R. F. G. Grundsätze altindischer Medizin, Kopenhagen, passim.
59. Quoted in RADHAKRISHNAN, S. (1960) The Brahma Sūtra (London) p. 455.
60. SWTF, p. 241.
61. MACDONELL, A. A. (1919) A Vedic Reader for Students (Oxford) p. 135.
62. For the following remarks about Varuna, cf. e. g. GONDA, J. (1960) Die Religionen Indiens I (Stuttgart) pp. 73-84.
63. Cf. DIETZ, S. (Ed.) (1984) Fragmente des Dharmaskandha (Göttingen) p. 62 (with references).
64. In other words: one and the same ātman plays (much like Janus!) two roles, as two persons (purusa, Lat. persona), and as an " intermediary", consisting of vijñāna/manas/svapna. The duality, then, depends on vijñāna. Is there here an allusion to RV 1. 164. 20? Cf. Mundaka-Up. III. 1-4.
65. Cf. my paper LINDTNER, C. (1992) On Nāgārjuna's epistemology, in: A. WEZLER & E. HAMMERSCHMIDT (Eds), Proceedings of the XXXII International Congress for Asian and North African Studies, Hamburg, 25th-30th August 1986, Stuttgart 1992, p. 168.
66. For Kambala's Ālokamālā, see "A treatise on Buddhist idealism", in: LINDTNER, C. (1985) Miscellanea Buddhica, (Copenhagen) pp. 109-221.
67. RAU, W. (Ed.) (1977) Bhartrharis Vākyapadīya (Wiesbaden) p. 135. Note that vibhūti and bhāga suggest that the world is not a "creation" but rather a part of mind, from which it is not really different.
68. I have discussed these verses with further reference in DRABINA, J. (Ed.) (1993) Studia Religiologica, XXVI (Kraków) p. 18.
69. HARTMANN, Studia Religiologica, op. cit., p. 217.
70. For a good recent edition of this important text, see MYNSTER, L. (1990) Kejser Julian mod Galilœerne (Copenhagen).