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Buddhism Today
 
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Two Traditions of India - Truth and Silence
Prof. Alex Wayman
In an earlier article I cited the Laws of Manu: manuaat satya.m vi`si.syate ("Truth issuperior to silence") and turned the citation to my own purpose with the implication,"Now is the time to speak out, because truth is superior to silence."(l) However, the Indianlaw book had something else in mind with this intriguing maxim. In this I shall attempt toclarify the two traditions called "truth" and "silence" and to show that they borrow fromeach other but maintain sufficient contrast to allow the later philosophical schools to treatthem as though distinct.It should be acknowledged that the findings of this article differ rather from the generalityof the surveys of Indian philosophy and religion. Also, the juxtaposition of materials fromdiverse traditions of India requires a reorganization from the original discovery order forcommunication purposes. To justify that these traditions of truth and silence can betreated in contrast, I have prepared individual sections devoted first to the silence and thento the truth which the Laws of Manu takes to be superior. As a consequence of these mainfindings, it turns out that there are two Upani.sadic traditions, although not in terms of truth and silence; and that some later philosophical formulations, such as "conventionaltruth" and "absolute truth," take their inceptions in the old Upani.sads. This shows a sensein which later Indian philosophy develops from the early religion and mythology.
THE MUNI TRADITION
For "silence" the word used was mauna (Paali, mona), related to the word muni (one whohas the vow of silence), used in the. Rg-veda hymn X, 136: "The munis, girdled with thewind, wear garments soiled of yellow hue. They, following the wind's swift course, gowhere the gods have gone before." The word muni is important in Buddhism, where thefounder has the title ‘saakyamuni (muni of the `saakya clan). The Buddha is called "greatmuni," and he adopted for his order (the Sa^ngha) the soiled yellow hue of dress that waseluded to in the Vedic hymn. (2)The Chaandogya Upani.sad, VIII, 5, 2, in the course of its progressive explanation of brahmacarya (the pure practice of the student), says: "Now, what they call `silentasceticsm' (mauna) is really the pure practice (brahmacarya), for only after finding the self by the pure practice, does one think about it."(3) This passage apparently explains mauna(ascetic silence) as athinking about, or contemplation of, the higher self.The Udaanavarga, which is the northern Buddhist expansion of the Dhammapada, has animportant muni verse in Nirvaa.na chapter (XXVI, 27): "According as the Muni, with thestate of being a muni(4) derivedfrom himself, understands in this place (i.e., in Nirvaa.na), then is he freed from form andformless, from all suffering."(5) Along the same lines, but not using the words muni ormauna, AAryadeva states in his Catu.h`saataka, as cited in the Prasannapadaa: "He whoknows how to ward off at first sin, then to ward off the self, and finally to ward off everything, he is the sage (buddhimat)."(6) Also, it appears that the ubiquitous Buddhistterminology of body, speech, and mind, stems from the muni tradition. The RecitalSermon (Sangiiti- Suttanta, of the Diigha-nikaaya, III) allows me to use the word "muted"in the sense "rendered mute, silent, muffled" in his entry among the threefold items:"There are three states of being a muni (Paali: tii.ni moneyyaani): muted body, mutedspeech, muted mind." Elsewhere I cited Vasubandhu's commentary on the
 
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Da`sabhuumika-suutra on how to classify the five supernormal faculties (abhij~naa) bytheir respective purification of the acts of body, speech, and mind. The one called magicalability (.rddhi) purifies the acts of body; the divine hearing and knowing the makeup of others' mind, those of speech; the memory of former lives and the vision of the passingaway and rebirth, those of mind.(7) Therefore, this is the theory of supernormal facultiesconsistent with the muni tradition.As to how a muni describes himself, the Udaanavarga has these verses in its Tathaagatachapter (XXI, l-4) the words attributed to the Buddha immediately upon his enlightenment(my translation):I know all, have overcome all, am forever unstained by the dharmas, have eliminatedeverything, am free from all fear; having come to fully understand by myself, who canteach me!I am the Tathaagata, teacher of gods and men; have comprehended enlightenment as arevealer by myself; having reached omniscience, am endowed with the powers;incomparable and unequalled, who can teach me!I am the Arhat in the worlds; I am incomparable in the worlds; and in the worlds withtheir gods I am the Victor (jina), the conqueror of the Maaras.As there is no one like me, none can be my instructor (aacaarya); alone in this world, I amfully awakened, have attained the ultimate, complete enlightenment.W. Woodville Rockhill, in the appendix to his translation from Tibetan of theUdaanavarga, cites the commentary preserved in the Tibetan Tanjur. He says: " I translatethe following lines to show how very nearly the Commentator follows the received Paaliversion of the events that occurred shortly after Gautama had become a Buddha. "Whenhe (Bhagavat) had obtained perfect enlightenment, Brahmaa the lord of the universe,humbly begged of him to teach the dharma. Then the great Muni thought, ‘To whom shallI first teach the law?’ Rudraka had died seven days before that moment, Araa.la Kalaamahad also passed away. Then he thought, ‘I will teach the five.’ So Bhagavat started forVaraa.nasi, and on his way, an Ajiivaka saw Bhagavat, and said to him, ‘Ayu.smatGautama, your senses (appear) composed, your complexion is clear, your garments clean;who is your master (upaadhyaya)?Ayu.smat, to what sect do you belong? In what doctrine do you find pleasure?’ Then heanswered, ‘I am the Jina who has conquered Maara(the evil one).’ ‘Then, Ayu.smat Gautama, you say that you are the Jina?’ ‘The Jinas areall like me,’ he answered. ‘Where are you going, Ayu.smat?’ ‘I am going toVaraa.nasi.’"(8) Sir John Woodroffe cites the Hindu tradition about the word muni to thesame effect: "As theMahaabhaaraata says, ‘The Veda differ, and so do the Smriti. No one is a muni who hasno independent opinion of his own (naasau munir yasya mata.m no bhinnam).'"(9) Thispractically admits that the only person who could start a new religious movement in Indiamust be, or must have been, a muni.The word muni is understood as "the capable one" in Tibetan translation. According toBuddhaguhya, "The munis are pratyekabuddhas: because they have their own religiouspractice, pledge, and vow, and are capable by themselves while lacking a master, they arethe capable ones (muni)."(10) This explanation is consistent with the account about theSanskrit name .R.sipatana (Paali, Isipatana), another name of the Deer Park where theBuddha gave his first sermons:(11)Formerly when the time approached for the Buddha Kaa`syapa to appear in the world,there lived on that hill five hundred Pratyekabuddhas. They learned from a message givenby the devas that the Buddha was to manifest himself. By their magical power they soared
 
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up to the sky and equipoised themselves in the element of fire (tejodhaatu). The fire thatissued from their own bodies burned their material bodies, and the ashes fell to the earth.It was said, "The .R. sis have fallen," and for this reason the place is called .R. sipatana(the falling of the .R.sis), Hence, in consideration of this silence, there are the silentpersons called munis, who are called pratyekabuddhas since they are enlightened bythemselves without depending on another teacher, and who are also called .R.sis or seers.The association of the munis with flying, as mentioned in the Vedic hymn, was containedby other names, pratyekabuddha and.r.si.(12) That the association of the munis with thesky or space was not forgotten in later times is apparent in the Sa.mdhivyaakara.na, anexplanatory tantra of the Guhyasamaajatantra, in a Sanskrit passage I have edited from thePradiipoddyotana manuscript:Thus, the Reality was heard by me on a certain time extraordinary.The Bhagavat, diamond lord of mysteries, with the supreme pledge of the triple vajra, wasdwelling as the Mahaamuni (great silent one) in the pure heart of the world, in this uniqueself- existence of sky having the modes of omnicient knowledge, in the all Tathaagatagnosis having the inconceivable perfection of merits; beyond existence, non-existence andboth, called "place of no location." (13)While the foregoing has been mainly based on Buddhist sources, it should be observedthat the muni tradition is part of the great ascetic non-Vedic tradition that becameincorporated into Hinduism with worship of the god `Siva, as R.N. Dandekar has welldescribed,(14) although this `Saivitic incorporation apparently takes place after the adventof Buddhism It is well known that `Sa.mkara, the great AdvaitaVedaantin, was a followerof `Siva and insisted that knowledge (j~naana) is the main thing for liberation(mok.sa).His followers use, among other works, theA.s.taavakra Sa.mhitaa, in which A.s.taavakra says (chap. XVII, 1): "He has gained thefruit of knowledge as well as the practice of yoga, who, contented and with purifiedsenses, ever enjoys being alone(ekaakii)."(15) All this gives a new complexion to theHindu opponent's challenge to ‘Sa.mkara that he was a "Buddhist in disguise." This isoften misconstrued as having doctrinal implications. In fact, the criticism was a rejectionof `Sa.mkara's monastic retreat system, which afforded and still affords individuals anopportunity to leave society for seeking divine knowledge in solitude. There are severalforms of the Buddha's silence. First there was his ascetic silence; then upon hisenlightenment, when he hesitated to teach, deeming his doctrine too profound for peopleat large, this was the first withholding type of silence. Later, he sometimes refused toanswer certain questions dealing with ultimatums, with a selective silence. A certainBuddhist sect had a tenet "The Buddha never said a word."(l6) Of course, the Hinduopponents of Buddhism would not lose the opportunity to argue cogently that it is a finething to know through ascetic silence, but that this does not furnish validity for theBuddha's teachings, since he would have to renounce the ascetic silence in order to teach,and so what proof is there that the teaching itself reflects the omniscience of the silence?Presumably it was through such attacks that Buddhism was forced into its multiple bodytheory, with the Dharmakaaya remaining silent and omniscient, and another body, such asthe Nirmaa.nakaaya of the Buddha, doing the teaching.(17) Also the buddhas were said tohelp chosen disciples of a progressed nature with adhi.s.thaana (blessing, empowerment,or spiritual support), a kind of silent power. Thus, in Mahaayaana Buddhism, the Buddhacame to have a role tantamount to the solar deity.
THE TRUTH TRADITION
For "truth" the ancient Indians generally employed two words, satya and .rta, which haverespectively a subjective and objective reference. Satya is the truth of men and gods; and.rta is the truth of the universe that the sun will rise and set and that seasonalcharacteristics will recur.It is well recognized that in the ancient Vedic tradition the deity Varu.na was in charge of the.rta, the universal order; and it was believed that liars
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