Jiabs 27-1

JIABS
J oumal of the International

Association of Buddhist Studies
Volume 27 Number 1 2004
David SEYFORT RUEGG
Aspects of the Investigation of the (earlier) Indian Mahayana ....... 3
Giulio AGOSTINI
Buddhist Sources on Feticide as Distinctfrom Homicide................ 63
AlexanderWYNNE
The Oral Transmission of the Early Buddhist Literature ................ 97
Robert MAYER
Pelliot tibetain 349: A Dunhuang Tibetan Text on rDo rje Phur pa
129
Sam VAN SCHAIK
The Early Days of the Great Perfection........................................... 165
Charles MOLLER
The Yogacara Two Hindrances and their Reinterpretations in East
Asia.................................................. .................................................. 207
Book Review
KurtA. BEHRENDT, The BuddhistArchitecture ofGandluira. Handbuch der
Orientalistik, section II, India, volume seventeen, Brill, Leiden-Boston,.
2004 by Gerard FuSSMAN............................................................................. 237
Notes on the Contributors ............................................................................ 251
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EDITORIAL BOARD
SCHERRER-SCHAUB Cristina A.
TILLEMANS Tom J.F.
Editors-in-Chief
BUSWELL Robert
COLLINS Steven
Cox Collet
G6MEZLuis O.
HARRISON Paul
VON HINDBER Oskar
JACKSON Roger
JAINI Padmanabh S.
KATSURA Shoryu
KuoLi-ying
LOPEZ, Jr. Donald S.
MACDONALD Alexander
SEYFORT RUEGG David
SHARF Robert
STEINKELLNER Ernst
ZURCHER Erik
Proem
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER)
INDIAN MAHAYANA *
D. SEYFORT RUEGG
nest aussi facile dans l'Inde de constater des prolongements
que malaise d'assister a des ruptures. (L. Renou, Etudes
vediques et pii"(lineennes, tome VI [paris, 1960], p. 11)
As a continuation of his monumental Histoire du bouddhisme indien,
published in 1958, Etienne Lamotte once envisaged writing a second
volume to be devoted to the Indian Mahayana. This second part was,
however, never to appear, although Lamotte had already published in 1954
a preliminary study entitled 'Sur la formation du Mahayana'.! He did,
however, complete several major, and very extensive, publications on the
Mahayana, such as his richly annotated translations of Sastras like Asanga's
Mahiiyiinasarrzgraha, Vasubandhu's Karmasiddhiprakaraf}a, and the Ta-
chih-tu-Iun (*Mahiiprajniipiiramitopadesa) ascribed to (a) Nagiirjuna,2 as
* This paper had its origin in an outline of some important topics and problems in the
history of Mahayana which was prepared for a conference on early Mahayana Buddhism
in 2001. This will explain the necessarily minimalist, and somewhat aphoristic, treatment
of certain topics in this paper. A full and complete study would of course fill volumes and
constitute a comprehensive history of the subject. Needless to say, then, this paper claims
to be neither an exhaustive account of the topics touched on nor a comprehensive survey
of all research relevant to them. The purpose of these lines is also not to propound fmal
- much less ready-made or theory-detennined - solutions but, rather, to point up topics
and problems in the history of Mahayana, and to indicate possible approaches to their
study taking account of historical, philological, and theoretical issues. No hesitation has
been felt in referring, in a few places, to a Tibetan source or interpretation because, although
of course not contempoary with the issues being addressed here, for certain purposes such
a source can be as valuable as the Western secondary literature.
1 In: Asiatica (Festschrift F. Weller, Leipzig, 1954), pp. 377-96.
2 In addition to Lamotte's Le traite de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nagarjuna (5 vol-
umes, Louvain/Louvain-Ia-Neuve, 1944-1980), reference can be made to his Der Veifasser
Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
4 D'. SEYFORT RUEGG
well as no less important translations of Mahayana Sutras such as the
Sarrzdhinirmocana, the Vimalakirtinirdda and the Surarrzgamasamiidhi.
He moreover published valuable studies on the Bodhisattvas MaiijusrI and
VajrapiiI).i. Lamotte's works on the Mahiiyiinasarrzgraha and the Ta-chih-
tu-lun virtually amount to encyclopaedias of Mahayana, but not of course
to histories strictly speaking of Mahayana.
It may be that Lamotte soon came to realize the truly daunting nature
of any attempt to write a connected narrative history of the Mahayana
as a whole, or even of the earlier Indian Mahayana alone. And this could
explain why he never published such a work. In the circumstances, the
most practical approach may well be the one actually adopted by him,
namely the exploration of individual problems and topics in the Mahayana
on the one hand, and on the other the copiously annotated translation of
Mahayanist canonical texts and their commentaries.
It might also be that any single project - such as the one discussed at
the First (and only) Lamotte Memorial Symposium held in September
1989 in Brussels
3
- for a comprehensive and connected history will frag-
ment and break up in the face of the complexity of the Mahayana as a
religious, philosophical and social movement.
4
It is worthy of notice, moreover, that the great treatises of leading
Mahayanist doctors have actually utilized only a portion of the vast stock
of ideas and impulses found in the Mahayana Sutras. This appears to hold
true for Nagarjuna and CandrakIrti, and for AsaIiga and Vasubandhu, as
well as for later masters who composed more Qr less encyclopaedic Sum-
mae of Buddhist doctrine (such as the Tibetans Klon chen pa [1308-1363]
~ d Tson kha pa [1357-1419]).
des Upadesa und seine Quellen (Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Got-
tingen, 1. Philolog.-Historische Kl., Gottingen, 1973).
3 See Premier colloque Etienne Lamotte (Bruxelles-Liege 24-27 septembre 1989; Lou-
vain-Ia-Neuve, 1991), Avant-propos, p. vii.
4 An outline of several aspects of Mahayanist thought has been provided by P. Williams,
Mahayana Buddhism: the doctrinal foundations (London, 1989); but as is indicated py the
subtitle, this book is not intended by its author as a history of the Mahayana in the sense
under discussion here. Among other recent publications, reference can also be made to
Hirakawa Akira, A history of Indian Buddhism (Honolulu, 1990), Part m: Early Mahayana
Buddhism.
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MARA y ANA 5
The terminology:.Mahiiyana, Bodhisattvayana, Vaipulya, etc., in relation
to Sravakayana, Hfnayana, Sthaviravada / Theravada, etc.
Doubtless, for many students of Buddhism, the expression Mahayana
'Great Vehicle' is (in part at least) tolerably well-understood as to its ref-
erence or denotation.
s
The same does not, however, hold true for the
entirety of the connotations and implications of this term and concept.
The meaning of the expression Mahayana may be defmed for instance
by reference to the correlative, but antonymic, term Irmayana, or to the
descriptive and more neutral term Sravakayana - the 'Vehicle' of the
Buddha's Auditor-disciples - and eventually also by reference to Pratye-
kabuddhayana and Vajrayana or Mantrayana / Mantranaya (on which see
below). But the pair Mahayana and IDnayana 'Lower Vehicle' is not always
semantically well-defined and referentially unproblematic (see below).6
Agrayana 'foremost Vehicle' is regarded as an equivalent of mahayana.
Whilst a follower of the latter - the mahiiyanika / mahiiyanfya -
might very well describe himself as such, a follower of the other, 'lesser',
Yana would not normally call himself a IDnayiinist. But the term srava-
kayanika / sravakayaniya may be applied to him. As for the appellation
Theravadin (or Sthaviravadin) for a proponent of the Theravada (Sthavi-
ravada), originally its meaning does not seem to have been defined in
opposition to the Mahayana (whatever may be the case in much more recent
times; see below).
Mahayana may be defined in terms of its quasi synonym Bodhisat-
tvayana: the way, or 'Vehicle', of the Mahayanist is indeed the way of
the (aspirant) Bodhisattva leading, ultimately, to buddhahood. It also came
to be widely known as the Paramitayana (Tib. phar phyin gyi theg pa)
5 It has been argued by S. Karashima that alongside the word mahayana the tenu and
concept of mahajfidna needs to be taken into consideration in the present context; both tenus
being derivable from MIA mahajaT}a, a play on both meanings of this word was thus posi-
ble. See most recently S. Karashima, 'Who composed the Lotus Siltra', ARIR1AB 4 (2000),
pp. 171-2; id. 'Some features of the language of the SaddhannapuTJ4anKasUfra', IIJ 44 (2001),
pp. 215-17. Cf. O. von Hintiber, Das altere Mittelindisch im Uberblick rVienna, 2001) 251.
The word yana may mean either 'vehicle' (Tib. theg pa) or 'way' (Chin. dao). The
connotations of the word have been discussed recently by T. Vetter, 'Once again on the ori-
gin of Mahayiina Buddhism', WZKS 45 (2001), p. 62 f.
6 cf., e.g., D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'Some observations on the present and future of Buddhist
studies', JIASB 15 (1992), p. 110 ff.
6 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
'Vehicle of the Perfections', even though paramitas are recognized also
within the Sravakayana and although the Mahayana may on occasion
embrace in addition the Vajrayana or 'Adamantine Vehicle'.1
In addition to the expression bodhisattvayana, the term bodhisat-
tvacarya 'practice of the Bodhisattva' is also found. It is attested for
instance in Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakiirikii xxiv.32 - a text of
the utmost importance for the early history of the Mahayana since it is
evidently as old as many a Mahayanasiitra (and older indeed than some).
This idea was later to be expounded in Santideva / Santadeva's renowned
Bodhi( sattva )caryavatara.
In the final analysis, Mahayana may be understood as 'Buddhayana'.
The term buddhayana is found for example in the
paramita xvi (p. 319), alongside bodhisattvayana (and bodhisattvayanika),
and in the Kasyapaparivarta ( 12 and 118). This idea may be under-
stood against the background of theories of the Buddha-lineage or Bud-
dha-class (buddhagotra) and the Single Vehicle (ekayiina), and hence of the
doctrine of the 'Embryo' of the Tathagata (tathagatagarbha) according to
which sentient beings (sattva) without exception are 'buddhamorphic', that
is, that they all possess within themselves a naturally existing 'lineage /
gene' (prakrtisthagotra) for supreme and perfect Awakening (anuttara-
samyaksambodhi) and thus have the capacity of sooner or later becoming
buddhas. On the other hand, the idea of the Bodhisattvayana, or of the Bud-
dhayana, can also be understood within the frame of the theory of three ulti-
mate Vehicles (triyana) according to which only those beings possessing
the gotra of buddhahood - i.e. those following the Bodhisattvayana /
Mahayana - will finally become buddhas, whereas beings of the sravaka
iUld pratyekabuddha classes follow the Sravakayana and Pratyekabud-
dhayana and so ultimately become Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas.
8
7 Also attested is the term paramitanaya, which is then contrasted with mantranaya,
i.e. Vajrayana or Mantrayana. Together this pair piiramitiinaya and mantranaya constitutes
the Mahayana in Advayavajra's Tattvaratnavali. This is of course not the place to pursue
the question of the classical dichotomy between Siitra and Tantra, it being recognized that
in earlier times texts classified as Siitras may contain (proto-)Tantric elements.
8 For aspects of these doctrines see D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMarie du tathiigatagarbha
et du gotra (paris, 1969).
In his xii.36, Candrakirti interprets mahayana - which he
derives in this case from *mahad-yana according to the Puodara formation in PiiI;rini
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MARA Y ANA 7
The Mahayanist is known in canonical sources as mahayanika, and
also as mahayanahuyayin 'following the Mahayana', mahayanasampra-
sthita, 'set out (or: entered / engaged, Tib. yan dag par zugs pa) in the
Mahayana', and mahayaniidhimukta 'adhering with conviction (Tib. mos
pa) to the Mahayana'. The mahayanika is contrasted with the sravaka-
yanika and the pratyekabuddhayanika. As for the bodhisattva, he is
described as the child of the Buddha or Jina (jinaputra, etc.). But as said
in CandrakIrti's Madhyamakiivatara (i.1) following the KaSyapaparivarta
( 88), buddhas are born of bodhisattvas; and, as also stated in Nagar-
juna's Ratnavalf (ii.74), the triad of great compassion (mahakarUl}a), the
mind of non-duality (i.e. non-dual discriminative knowledge, prajiia), and
the bodhicitta are the causes of the bodhisattva, mahakarul}a being here
the chief. Prajiiaparamita is the mother (mat[, Tib. yum) or genetrix of
the bodhisattva and buddha (jinajananl, etc.).
The contextual position of the Mahayana
The question arises as to how, in the Buddhist traditions, the expres-
sions Mahayana 'Great Vehicle', Sravakayana 'Vehicle of the Auditor'
and Hmayana 'Lesser / illferior / Defective Vehicle' have actually been
used. Meaning is, after all, determined through use, that is, through lin-
guistic usage and the corresponding discursive concepts.
ill the ftrst place, it has to be observed that Sravakayana is not neces-
sarily just a polite (and perhaps 'politically correct') expression for HIna-
yana. The word 'Sravakayana' has been used by scholars as a general (if
sometimes imprecise) term to cover (i) teachings of 'Early Buddhism'
(reputedly) delivered by the Sakyamuni to his auditor-disciples (sravaka)
and contained in the old canon (the Agamas / Nikayas, the Vinaya, and even
the Abhidharma in canons where the latter has been accepted as buddha-
vacana), and (ii) doctrines set forth in commentarial and scholastic trea-
tises belonging to the various old orders / schools (nikaya) (such as the
(VI.iii.109) - as the yiina of the buddhas (ed. La Vallee Poussin, p. 400.9-10). In the same
passage he refers to the ekayana doctrine, describing the triyana doctrine as only abhipra-
yika 'intentional' (p. 399.10).
For the Bodhisattva in general, Har Dayal's The Bodhisattva doctrine in Buddhist San-
skrit literature (London, 1932) remains useful.
8 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
Abhidhanna and the writings of the Sautrantikas). B'etween these two
uses of the word there is, unfortunately, room for overlapping and, hence,
imprecision and ambiguity. As for the term 'HInayana', it is conceptually
narrower than 'Sravakayana', and strictly speaking it would apply to doc-
trines antithetical to the Bodhisattvayana (regardless of where these doc-
trines might be found). At all events, the fact remains that usage has var-
ied through the enormous and (synchronically and diachronically) various
literary output of Buddhism, and that the two words have not always been
sharply defmed in relation to each other. In practice, they have sometimes
been used with a virtually identical reference in so far as the two may
denote the same thing: the way of the Arhat. But even on the level of the
old canon it would be possible to distinguish between what is (broadly
speaking) Sravakayanistic (that is, more or less continuous with Mahayana)
and what is, strictly speaking, llinayanistic (that is, discontinuous with and
antithetical to Mahayana).
Secondly, even if 'Arhat' and 'Bodhisattva' appear as contrastive, anti-
thetical, terms and if the types of persons referred to by these two expres-
sions are not only distinct but opposable, it has nevertheless to be recalled
that arhant - alongside bhagavant and samyaksambuddha - is a regular
and altogether standard epithet of a buddha. In other words, it cannot cor-
rectly be held that, in all circumstances, the ideal of Arhatship is antithe-
tically opposed to (and even contradictory with) that of bodhisattvahood
or buddhahood. This well-established and essential fact is sometimes lost
sight of in discussions of the denotation and connotations of the terms
Bodhisattvayana and Mahayana.
9
9 It may be observed that a word such as *arhad-yiina does not seem to be attested, so
that the distinction between the two Vehicles is not reflected in a technical vocabulary of this
particular sort. For the 'way of the Arhat' in Chinese, however, see T. Vetter,loc. cit., p. 63.
Concerning the old canonical (Nikaya/ Agama) metrical formula that lists epithets of the
Bhagavant, see H. Bechert, "Alte Veljhas" im Pali-Kanon (NAWG, Philol.-hist. Kl., Got-
tingen, 1988), pp. 126-7, where in a Sarvastivadin version of the formula the word arhant
is lacking (reading bhagavii'!!s tathiigatal:z ... against a MUlasarvastivadin version in the
Divyiivadiina, p. 196, which reads bhagavii,!!s tathiigato 'rhan .. . ). The Pali formula lacks
the word tathiigata and reads bhagavii araha'!! ... (The different versions all have sugata.)
As for the Mahayana, in the A.r!asiihasrikii Prajiiiipiiramitii (pp. 48, 368), arhant follows
immediately on tathiigata. The formula has been explained by Haribhadra, Abhisamayiilam-
kiiriilokii ii.ll (p. 183), as well as in the *Prajiiiipiiramitopadea ascribed to Nagiirjuna
(see E. Lamotte, Le traite de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse, i [Louvain, 1944], p. 127).
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MAHAYANA 9
Among the great Mahayanist treatises, the fourth chapter of the Madhya-
makahrdayakiirikas - the Sravakatattvaviniscayavatara - by the sixth-
century Mahayanist doxographer and master of the (Svatantrika-)Ma-
dhyamaka school Bha(va)viveka (Bhavya) contains a critical discussion
of Sravakayana in relation to Mahayana. Asailga's earlier Mahiiyanasarrz-
graha can also be mentioned. The works by Mahayanist masters referring
to the Sravakayana are too numerous to list here.
With reference to the Mahayana as a canonical literary corpus or teach-
ing - in other words the Bodhisattvapitaka -, the term vaipulya, denot-
ing one of the (twelve) an-gas, has also been used in Sanskrit sources. 10
It should be observed, moreover, that certain Mahayanist sources rel-
ativize, or perhaps rather deconstruct and so to say 'zero', the very notion
of a 'Vehicle' (yana) - even mahiiyana itself and ekayana- by invok-
ing the idea of ayana 'no-vehicle'.n Such deconstruction or 'zeroing' of
a concept is a frequent and very characteristic feature of Mahayanist
thought which is applicable also to the Tathagata's verbalized teaching
desana, etc.), i.e. the object and content of a 'yana'P
The semantic value of the term Mahayana will, then, vary according
to whether the context in which it is invoked is the triyana system - that
10 See Asanga, Bodhisattvabhitmi (ed. Wogihara), p. 96, and Abhidharmasamuccaya (ed.
P. Pradhan), p. 79 - where in addition to vaipulya (fin tu rgyas pa'i sde) the equivalents
vaidalya (rnam par 'thag pay and vaitulya (mtshuhs bral) are enumerated, as they also are
in the p. 96, where the three terms are in fact described as
paryiiyas of mahiiyiina - and p. 83 ff.; and Vasubandhu, Vyiikhyiiyukti (D), ff. 82b-83a,
96b ff. In some texts vaitulya replaces vaipulya. The on the Abhi-
dharmadfpa (ed. Jaini, p. 101) refers to the vaitulikaSiistra; elsewhere the same work refers
several times to the vaitulika.
Cf. recently P. Skilling, Maht'isutras ii (Oxford, 1997), pp. 31-42. And for the Vetul-
laka see A. Bareau, Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit vehicule (Saigon, 1955), pp. 254-6.
Concerning the see U. Pagel, The Bodhisattvapitaka (Tring, 1995).
11 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMorie du tathiigatagarbha et du gotra, pp. 74, 181, with
Lahkiivatiirasutra ii.203-205 (and x.457-459) (cf. iii.1a = x.188a).
12 See Lahkiivatiirasutra iii.1b (= x.188b); and the Tathiigataguhyasutra (quoted by
CandrakIrti, Prasannapadii xviii.7 [po 366] and xxv.24 [po 539]). Cf. D. Seyfort Ruegg,
Three studies in the history of Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka philosophy (Studies in
Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka thought, Part I, Vienna, 2000), p. 113. In its tum, this
idea of ayiina is no doubt linked with that of Aryan Silence on which see
ibid., pp. 154-5,213; and id., Two prolegomena to Madhyamaka philosophy: Candrakfrti's
Prasannapadii i.1 and Tsoh kha pa/rGyal tshah rje's dKa' gnad/ gnas brgyad leyi zin bris
(Studies in Indian and TIbetan Madhyamaka thought, Part II, Vienna, 2002), pp. 19 (on the
difference from mukatii 'speechlessness'), 99.
10 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
is, the system of three essentially different, and potentially opposed, spiri-
tual ways of the Sravaka, Pratyekabuddha and Bodhisattva (or future
Buddha) - and the connected system of three distinct 'lineages' / spiritual
'genes' (gotra) which postulates ultimately and finally distinct spiritual
goals (i.e. buddhahood vs. arhatship) as well as paths, or whether, on the
contrary, the given context is the ekayana system of the Single (unique)
Vehicle - according to which the way of the Sravaka merges, at a cer-
tain stage, with that of the Bodhisattva or future BuddhaP .
In addition, as noted above, Mahayarra has often been used as an an
equivalent of Paramitayarra / Paramitanaya 'way/method of the (Mahayanist)
Perfections' (and of the Prajiiaparamita Sutras), in contrast to the Vajra- /
Mantra-yarra / naya (which, as a so-called 'experiential' way, may also
be complementarily opposed to a scholastic and analytical
/ the way or method of technical philosophical analysis and
definition).14 But at other times Mahayana comprises both the Pararnita-
yarra and the Vajrayarra.
The terms just discussed - mahayana, paramitayana, sravakayana,
hlnayana, sthavira / thera-vada, etc. - are thus not wholly symmetrical
and neatly demarcated as either synonyms or antonyms. And it is clear that,
philosophically (gnoseologically) and soteriologically, the term and con-
cept mahayana has had several distinguishable uses and connotations,
and sometimes indeed even denotations, depending on the exact way it has
been employed in a particlar context or situation.
Theravada / Sthaviravada, and the question of a 'Common', 'Mainstream'
Qr 'Conservative' Buddhism
Terminological and historical confusion has unfortunately been injected
into our discussions by writers who (perhaps out of a desire to be polite
13 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMarie du tathagatagarbha et du gatra.
14 T. Vetter has, however, argued for the existence at an early time of a major difference
between Prajiiaparamita and Mahayana in his article 'Once again on the origin of Mahayana
Buddhism', WZKS 45 (2001), pp. 59-89, opining that Prajiiaparamita was once connected
with Sravakas rather than with Bodhisattvas and the way to Buddhahood. See also his
earlier article 'On the origin of Mahayana Buddhism and the subsequent introduction of
Prajfzaparamita', ASIEA 48 (1994), pp. 1241-81.
and non-judgemental) have, quite Ullwarrantedly, renamed the Sravakayana
or ffinayana 'Theravada' (or'Sthaviravada').
The Pall word theraviida has (at least) three distinct meanings: (i) 'Teach-
ing of the Elders' (and thus not a particular school or Nikaya but, rather,
the pristine tradition of the Buddha's immediate disciples, this usage being
attested in several sources including ones counted as scriptural); (ii) the
tradition of the Mahavih1ira in Sri Lanka (statistically this may be the
most common use of the word in non-canonical Pali); and (iii) the Pall
equivalent of Skt. sthaviravada (i.e. a primary Nikaya of which, e.g., the
Sabbatthivada [Sarvastivada] is a division, this being accordingly a doxo-
graphical use of the word).
In terms of the last usage, theravada is, of course, only one of the many
orders / schools (nikaya) of the Sravakayana. And it cannot therefore be
considered as coextensive and coterminous with either Sravakayana or
Hinayana.
Furthermore, it appears that the Bodhisattva's career as a spiritual
model is not entirely unknown to Sravakayanist schools such as the Thera-
vada and the Sarvastivada, which is regarded as a division of the old
Sthaviravada / Theravada.
15
The use of the description 'mainstream Buddhism' basically to refer to
the Sravakayana, or to the way of the Arhat, is also problematic. It would
seem to imply that, beside it, the Mahayana was somehow just a turbu-
lent eddy or stagnant backwater in the great flow of Buddhist thought
(which is, incidentally, tantamount to suggesting that the Mahayana was
no true mahiiyana). Some scholars have instead preferred the appellation
'Conservative Buddhism', an expression not open to the objection just
15 On the Bodhisattva in the Pali canon and in the Theravada, etc., see W. Rahula,
'The Bodhisattva ideal in Theravada and Mahayana', in: Zen and the taming of the bull
(London, 1978), pp. 71-77; A.L. Basham, 'The evolution of the concept of the Bodhi-
attva', in: L. Kawamura (ed.), The Bodhisattva doctrine in Buddhism (Waterloo, Ont.,
1981), pp. 45-73; and I. Samuels, 'The Bodhisattva ideal in Theravada Buddhist theory
and practice: Are-evaluation of the Bodhisattva-Sravaka opposition', PEW 47 (1997), pp.
399-415. For some references see also the remarks by D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'Some observa-
tions on the present and future of Buddhist studies', JIABS 15 (1992), p. 112 n. 6. The place
of the Bodhisattva in the Theravada, in particular in the Jiitakanidiina and related texts,
has recently been studied by S. Gaffney, The Jiitakanidiina (Univ. of London thesis, 2003).
12 b. SEYFORT RUEGG
mentioned. But it should be remembered that, in some of its traditions,
Mahayana itself may be 'conservative' (those following it sometimes,
e.g. in Tibet, incorporate Agamic and Sravakayanist elements into their
practice, and follow a Vinaya; see below, pp. 30-31).
The degree to which the Mahayana was a minority movement has
still to be explored thoroughly. It was presumably so at the very outset.
But - the testimony of the literary texts being sometimes difficult to
assess (and notoriously subject to more or less tendentious interpreta-
tions), and it being no simple thing accurately to evaluate the evidence
of inscriptions - how in fact are the relevant materials to be understood
and checked for any given epoch and region? For example, are Hsiian-
tsang's (602-664) and Yi-ching's (635-713) accounts complete and con-
clusive in this regard? 16 There may here exist the risk of trying to explain
the unknown by the equally (or more) unknown: obscurum per obscurius.
It is on the other hand quite appropriate to speak of a 'Common Bud-
dhism', one shared by Mahayanists and Sravakayanists (see below, pp. 29,
38-39).
Types of sources for the history of the earlier Indian Mahayana
For the history of Mahayana the evidence from inscriptions is of major
significance. Its value lies first in the pieces of information which inscrip-
tions yield directly, on their own account, and secondly in the means of
comparison and control which they provide for what is found in Siitras
and Sastras. Here it is necessary to take account of two main types of evi-
dence. On the one side there are written textual sources, both literary and
epigraphical, the literary ones being usually subdivided into canonical
scripture (Siitra) and non-canonical scholastic comment (Sastra). On the
other side there are so-called material remains, many of which provide
only indirect, inferential, evidence; such remains are monumental (archi-
tectural, archaeological, etc.) and iconographical (sculpture, painting,
etc.); coins and artefacts also merit consideration.
16 See E. Lamotte, 'Sur la formation du Mahayana', p. 393 ff.; Histoire du bouddhisme
indien, pp. 597 ff. See further B. Wang, 'Buddhist Nikayas through ancient Chinese eyes',
in: F. Bandurski et al. (ed.), Untersuchungen zur buddhistischen Literatur (Gottingen,
1994), p. 181 ff.
. Starting mainly, but not solely, from about the fifth century CE, i.e.
from the Gupta period, a considerable number of Indian inscriptions bear
witness to the existence of the Mahayana. The expression mahayananu-
yayin 'followillg the Mahayana' (and, occasionally, mahiiyanika) appears
-'-- in conjunction with the expressions and paramopasaka -
in inscriptions dating from the sixth century. Also, beginning for the most
part with the Gupta period, the idea that all sentient beings may attain the
anuttara(buddha)jfiana 'supreme Gnosis (of a buddha)' - a concept that
is entirely in harmony with the Mahayana ill general and, ill particular,
with the tathiigatagarbha doctrine - is found in inscriptions. This idea
is, however, already attested in an earlier Brahml illscrip-tion from Govin-
dnagar (Mathura) dating from the reign of the ruler /
Similarly, the attainment by all sentient beings (sarvasattva)
\7 The Govindnagar (Mathura) BrahrnI inscription from the time of I
(the successor of I) - dated in the year 26, i.e. the year 104 CE according to
G. Fussmann, 'La place des Sukhiivatf-vyuha dans Ie bouddhisme indien', !A 1999, p. 541
,..--has: ... imena k(u)salam(ulena sar(va)(sat)[v}ii anut(t)ara(f]'l) bud(dh)ajiiiinaf]'l
prii(pnva)f]'l(tu) ... Concerning this inscription see further below; it was discussed by
G. Schopen in !lABS 10 [1987], p. 101. chronology has recently been examined
by I. Cribb, 'The early Kushan kings', in: M. Alram and D. Klimburg-Salter, Coins, art,
and chronology [Vienna, 1999], pp. 177-206; id., 'Early Indian history', in: M. Willis,
Buddhist reliquaries [London, 2000], p. 46 ff.; and H. Falk, 'The yuga of Sphujiddhvaja
and the era of the Silk Road art and archaeology 7 [2001], pp. 121-36, who
opts for 127 CE as the date of accession of Regarding see below.-
For ... sarvasatviiniif]'l anuttarajiiiiniiviiptaye in the ToramaJ)a inscription from Kura
(panjab), dated to the early sixth century, see G. Schopen, EB 32 (2000), p. 15. - Fur-
ther references in BrahmI inscriptions to the attainment by all beings of supreme Gnosis
associated with a or as donor - but with no explicit mention
of the mahiiyiina -, are found among the epigraphs dated to the Gupta period published
by H. Liiders, Mathurii inscriptions (Gottingen, 1961) 8,67, 186 (cf. 185). In this cor-
pus, however, there appears to exist no fixed and regular correlation between the dedi-
cation of a Bodhisattva (image) and either the Mahayana or the In connex-
ion with the dedication of a Bodhisattva (image), the 'Samitiyas' are mentioned in
80 of Liiders, and the Dharmaguptakas in 150; and in the very fragmentary 134 and
157, the Mahasiiqlghikas may perhaps be found. Regarding the anuttarajiiiina formula
in inscriptions, see also D. Seyfort Ruegg. La tMorie du tathiigatagarbha et du gotra,
p. 31 n. 2.
Concerning the general question of evidence for early Mahayana in Indian inscriptions,
this line of research has been pursued - following notably on M. Shizutani ('Mahayana
inscriptions in the Gupta period', IBK 10 [1962], p. 358 ff; cf.lndo bukkyi5 himei mokuroku
[Kyoto, 1979]), and Ajay Mitra Shastri, An outline of early Buddhism (A historical sur-
vey ofBuddhology, Buddhist schools and Sanghas mainly based on the study of pre-Gupta
14 b. SEYFORT RUEGG
of nirviilJa has been alluded to in a inscription from Hidda; this
idea is again in keeping with the soteriological universalism of the
inscriptions [VliraJ).asI, 1965]) - by G. Schopen; see his 'Mahayana in Indian inscriptions'
III 21 (1979), pp. 1-19; 'Two problems in the history of Indian Buddhism', Studien zur
Indologie und Iranistik 10 (1985), p. 38 ff.; 'The inscription on the image of
Amitabha and the character of the early Mahayana in India', JIABS 10 (1987), pp. 99-137;
and 'The Mahayana in the Middle Period ill Indian Buddhism', EB 32 (2000), pp. 13 f.
(concluding, p. 15: 'In India, it appears more and more certain that the Mahayana was not
institutionally, culturally or art historically significant until after the 5th century, and not
until then did the Mahayana doctrine have any significant visible impact on the intentions
of Buddist donors'); and R. Salomon and G. Schopen, 'On an alleged reference to Amitabha
in a inscription on a Gandhliran relief', lIABS 25 [2002], pp. 3-31(this inscrip-
tion is very unfortunately quite fragmentary). See also R. Salomon, Indian epigraphy (New
York, 1998), pp. 241-42 (on the significance for Buddhist studies of the inscriptional evi-
dence in general); id., 'A fragment of a collection of Buddhist legends', in: I. Braarvig,
Buddhist manuscripts (Manuscripts in the Schpyen Collection III, Oslo, 2002), VoL ii, p. 256
(for a palm-leaf manuscript fragment dated to the fourth century in which King /
- presumably the king - is described as [mahiiJyii{nasaJmprasthito);
id., 'A stone inscription in Central Asian GandhlirI from Endere (Xinjiang)', Bulletin of
the Asia Institute 13 (2002) (for an inscription dated to the middle of the third century where
a ruler of Kroraina / Shan-shan is described as mahayanasamprastida- and sacadharme
stida-). For the epithet mahiiyiina-sal'{lprastita, see also the Niya document no. 390 in:
A.M. Boyer et al." KhaTO:y{hf inscriptions discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese Turkestan
(Oxford, 1920), Pt. i, p. 140.
Regarding the expressions siikyabhik:yu and paramopiisaka, their exact extensional ref-
erence in Indian inscriptions is not entirely clear, although (as already mentioned above
in this note) the association with the Mahayanist idea of the attainment of supreme Bud-
dha-Gnosis by all beings is frequent. Subsequently, among the Newars of Nepal, the two
highest 'priestly' classes are the siikyabhik:yus (now connected with a conventual bah!)
and the vajriiciiryas (now connected with a bahii:), the first name having a long and com-
plex history in Nepal. On the terms siikyabhik:yu and paramopiisaka, see recently L. Cousins,
'Siikiyabhikkhu / sakyabhikkhu / siikyabhik:yu: A mistaken link to the Mahayana?', Nagoya
Studies in Indian culture and Buddhism 23 (2003), pp. 1-28.
As for the question whether the phrase ayiiya sal'{lbodhil'{l/ nikrami sal'{lbodhi (etc.) in
ASoka's Rock Edict VIII might already refer to wide accessibility of Awakening (a fun-
damental Mahayanist idea), see D. Seyfort Ruegg, La theorie du tathiigatagarbha et du
gotra (Paris, 1969), p. 32 note; id., Drdre spirituel et ordre temporel dans la pensee boud-
dhique de l'Inde et du Tibet (Paris, 1995), p. 61 n. 124. (pali sal'{lbodhipariiyana and
Skt. sambodhipariiyalJa, meaning 'aiming at Awakening' and applied to a certain category
of being, are, of course well-attested in canonical and commentarial texts; see our Theorie,
pp. 196-8.) Cf. L. de La Vallee Poussin, VInde aux temps des Maurya (Paris, 1930),
pp. 104-108. T. Vetter's cursory discussion in 'On the origin of Mahayana Buddhism and the
subsequent introduction of Prajfiiipiiramitii', ASIEA 48 (1994), p. 1243, n. 3 - referring
only to A. Basham, 'Sal1lbodhi in Asoka's 8th Rock Edict, IIABS 2 (1979), pp. 81-83, and
'The evolution of the concept of the Bodhisattva', in: L. Kawamura (ed.), The Bodhisattva
doctrine in Buddhism (Waterloo, Ontario, 1981), pp. 45-73 - is not conclusive.
Mahayana.
1S
Moreover, a pratima or image of the bhagavant and buddha
established in honour of 'all the buddhas (sarvabuddha), has been men-
tioned in the Govindnagar inscription just cited. 19
It is no doubt not entirely certain just what inferences are to be drawn
from the use of such formulae in regard to religion. At all events, with the
very important exception of a few epigraphs from the period men-
tioned above - the Govindnagar inscription alluding to the attainment of the
anuttara jftana by all sattvas, the Hidda inscription mentioning the attainment
of nirva7}a by all beings, and an inscription in Central Asian Gandhan: from
Endere (Xinjiang) referring to one who is mahayanasamprasthita - it is
noteworthy that the available inscriptional evidence for the Mahayana post-
dates by far our earliest evidence for the existence of important literary
texts of the Mahayana. The precise significance of the absence of more
abundant early epigraphic evidence for the Mahayana is, however, not easy
to assess. It might perhaps be interpreted as indicating that, in the earlier
period, the Mahayana was only a minority movement relatively to so-called
'mainstream' (see above, pp.11-12) Buddhism, or maybe even that it was
some kind of hidden or esoteric movement. But we must ask ourselves just
what sort of testimony inscriptions can, in principle, be expected to provide
in matters of religion and philosophy. The above-mentioned reference to
one who is mahfiyiinasamprasthita provides one such piece of evidence.
And the reference to the attainment by all sentient beings of anuttarajftana
20
18 This inscription from Hidda near Jalalabad on a jar containing a bodhisattva-
relic is dated to the year 28 of the era; it refers to the requisites for the nirvtil}a of all
beings as the purpose of the deposit. See S. Konow, inscriptions (CII, 1929), p. 158.
See also the materials assembled in R. Salomon and G. Schopen, 'On an alleged ref-
erence to Amitabha in a inscription on a Gandharan relief', JIABS 25 (2002),
p.15. This article refers to the identification of a sculpture earlier identified as being of
Amitabha by J. Brough (' Amitabha and A valokiteSvara in an inscribed Gandharan SCUlp-
ture', IT 10 [1982], pp. 65-70) and by G. Fussman (,La place des Sukhtivatf-vyiiha dans
Ie bouddhisme indien', JA 1999, p. 543). - In his recent Beitrage zur Erklarung der
Senavarma-Inscrift (AWL Mainz, Abhandlungen der Geistes- u. Sozialwiss. Kl., 2003),
pp. 47-48, O. von Hiniiber has observed that it is not quite certain whether, in the flISt cen-
tury, King Senavarrna of Oqi was hoping for nirvtil}a for himself alone or for all beings,
but he adds that the (unclear) context suggests the latter interpretation.
19 See G. Fussman, 'La place des Sukhtivatf-vyuha dans Ie bouddhisme indien', JA
1999, p. 541; and R. Salomon and G. Schopen, JIABS 25 (2002), pp. 19,24.
20 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMorie du tathtigatagarbha et du gotra, p. 31 n. 2. Com-
pare, however, G. Schopen, IIJ 21 (1979), pp. 7-8.
16 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
as well as the reference to the attainment of nirvii1J.a by all beings yield
very significant further pieces of early evidence. This might hold even for
the mention of 'all buddhas' (sarvabuddha) in the Govindnagar inscrip-
tion, as well as in other epigraphs (although in inscriptions connected
with, e.g., the Mahasarp.ghika and 'Sarnitiya' schools of the Sravakayana
this idea is perhaps rather a proto-Mahayanist feature). (It seems that no
mention has been made in inscriptions of a bodhisattvayiina.)
Now, early Mahayana would appear neither to have beep generally
established as an organized institutional entity nor to have constituted
a socio-religious order separate and apart from the Nikayas of the Sra-
vakayana, which are better attested epigraphically at this early time.
Accordingly, the absence from many a donative inscription of mention of
either the Mahayana or the Mahayanist is perhaps just what might be
expected in the circumstances. Even if they were Mahayanists, should
dedicators of icons and foundations necessarily have mentioned thIs cir-
cumstance explicitly in their public donative epigraphs? It has been
emphasized by Gregory Schopen that the Mahayana and Mahayanists are
only rarely mentioned as such in earlier donative inscriptions. But an
argument from silence can have force only if there exists a cogent reason
for expecting a given document to refer to some thing had it in fact been
in existence at the time of the writing of the document. Otherwise, the
argumentum e silentio is at best an inconclusive one. (Mention of the
Mahayana in a votive inscription, and in a longer descriptive or narrative
inscription attached, e.g., to an image or wall-painting, would perhaps be
more expected.) In sum, conceming the frequency and distribution of
Indian epigraphical evidence for the Mahayana, it is no simple matter to
evaluate just how much can conclusively be deduced, statistically, geo-
graphically and demographically, from the failure of more inscriptions
to refer to it explicitly at an early date.
21
21 Lamotte's observation that '[c]e mouvement, plus insinuant que revolutionnaire, prit
Ie nom de Mahayana. [ ... ] nne consituait pas une secte nouvelle, [ ... ] mais il se developpa
au sein meme des communautes religieuses' (Le traiti de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse, iii
[Louvain, 1970], p. xiii), remains valid (except perhaps for his use of the word 'secte').
For the use by Mahiiyiinists of the Vinaya of a Sriivakayanist Nikiiya see below. On
M ~ a y a n a at AJaIJ.!ii, see recently G. Schopen, 'The Mahayana and the Middle Period in
Indian Buddhism', EB 32 (2000), pp. 17-18, who also refers (p. 16) to a couple of donative
inscriptions - one from Gunaighar (Bengal, dated to the Gupta year 188) and the other
. To the present writer it would appear that we have here a problem,
methodological as well as epistemological, that has still to be resolved.
22
The meticulous studies and analyses by Gregory Schopen of proto- and
early Mahayanist materials contained in the epigraphical evidence and
his confrontation of it with other forms of literary evidence have been both
refreshing and fruitful; and they have contributed appreciably to a better
awareness among historians of Buddhism about the fundamental question
as to what we know (and/or think we know). Nevertheless, the present
writer would hesitate to go as far as Schopen has done in at least some
of his publications in contrasting literary texts with inscriptions: the lat-
ter are after all themselves texts, and presumably no less subject to their
own conventions and constraints than are religious and philosophical writ-
ings. It would seem problematic to set this fact aside and to treat texts
inscribed on stone, clay, metal, etc., as somehow more privileged, reli-
able and historically significant than other kinds of texts written on palm
leaf, birch bark, paper, etc. (The religious content of the two kinds of
textual documentation - that coming from inscriptions and that provided
in manuscripts - have on occasion converged, without of course becom-
ing totally indistinguishable, as may be seen from parallels existing
between certain epigraphs and some manuscript colophons.)
The problem under discussion also shows up through the gap appear-
ing to exist between the image of the earlier Mahayana as a minority
m()vement that is seemingly provided by earlier inscriptions on the one
side, and on the other side the picture of the Mahayana as a powerful and
dynamic movement that is found already in earlier Mahayanist Sutras
(and Sastras) available either in an Indian language or in the older Chi-
nese translations (notwithstanding the fact that this movement has occa-
sionally presented itself in its literature as a contested or embattled one). 23
from Jayarampur (Orissa) - where mahayanikas are mentioned, along with the name
Avalokitesvara.
22 In JIABS 10 (1987), p. 125, G. Schopen observed, somewhat cryptically, that, 'if we are
to make progress in our understanding we may have to finally realize that the history of the
Mahayana literature and the history of the religious movement that bears the same name are
not necessarily the same'. He then adds: 'This, I would think, should raise some interesting
questions'. What these questions are, and what the answers might be, he did not then say.
23 Concerning the important matter of a difference between the situation of the
Mahayana as reflected in earlier Indian sources and the picture gained through Chinese
18 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
This is of course not to contest in the slightest the fact that historically
- by reason precisely of the very often more mundane contents of inscrip-
tions as well as of their brevity and very nature not to speak of their more
lasting material supports (stone, metal, etc.) - epigraphic evidence has
been, in more than one civilization, different in kind from the sort of evi-
dence provided by literary texts in the narrower sense .. Concerning the
archaeological, art historical, numismatic, and iconographic evidence, it
is not possible to go into it here except to recall once more itll very great
importance for the history of Buddhism.
Some factors involved in the composition and transmission of Mahayana
Siltras
Among the factors favouring the composition (oral or written) of cer-
tain Mahayana Slitras we meet with the concepts of the anugraha 'kind
sources - that is, on what he has tenned the 'non-alignment' of these two pictures - see
the valuable remarks made by G. Schopen, 'The Mahayana and the Middle Period in Indian
Buddhism: Through a Chinese looking-glass', EB 32 (2000),.pp. 1-25. Schopen was right
to call attention to such 'non-alignment', and perhaps even to speculate that 'the history
of the Mahayana in China may well have been the single most powerful determining force
in how the history of the Mahayana in India was perceived and reconstructed' (ibid.,
p. 1). But then to conclude from such observations that 'the Mahayana may have been
assigned a place in the history of Indian Buddhism that it does not deserve' (ibid., p. 1) is
something of a leap, aligning quantitative evaluation with historical and religio-philo-
sophical study and analysis (which is in large part qualitative). To observe that Mahayiinists
were not demographically dominant in a given period in India tells us little about what their
qualitiative religious and philosophical, and also historical, significance may have been.
And the fact that (Buddhist) monks have not infrequently been the object of mirth or
ridicule in certain circles of Indian society (see ibid., pp. 3-4) tells us very little about the
iiiace of the Prajiiiipiiramitii, and of the Mahayana, in the thought of the 'cultured Indian upper
classes' . Monachism and monasticism - indeed sometimes even sOJ?1rryiisa 'renunciation'
(sometimes included among the kalivarjya) - have in fact been delicate and controver-
sial matters in classical Indian society. The issue has no doubt to do also with questions
as to the degree to which the Mahayana was a 'mainstream' or a minority movement (see
above, pp. 11-12). Regarding Schopen's discussion, on the basis of the Ratniivali, of the
Mahayana as the object of scorn and attack at the time ofNligiirjuna (ibid., p. 7 ff.), it should
be kept in mind that in one fonn or another the topos of a mahayana under threat is a famil-
iar one in Mahayanist literature - both earlier, when the Mahayana was presumably still
a minority movement within Buddhism, and later, when quantitatively it was (at least nom-
inally) predominant in a given area -, and that this topos can concern not only menace and
attack from outsiders but also internal pressures and decay among its nominal followers.
Compare the materials assembled by G. Schopen, ibid., pp. 19-21. See n. 70 below.
assistance', the anubhiiva / prabhiiva 'might', and the 'sus-
taining force' which the Buddha I Tathagata deploys for the sake of his
disciples as deliverers of Siitras. Alongside these factors may be men-
tioned this promulgator's pratibhana 'inspired intelligence, (expository)
presence of mind'; 24 this is the fourth of the analytical powers (pratisal[l-
vid) with which disciples are endowed, and which allows them to penetrate
and give expression to the deepest 'thought' of the Buddha. Meditative
visualization of the Buddha - a continuation of traditional buddhiinusm[ti
'rememoration of the Buddha' rendering him immediately present - has
also played a highly significant role, for instance in the Pratyutpannabud-
dhasammukhiivasthitasamiidhisutra. These factors require further detailed
study and monographic treatment, for so many of the Siitras of the Maha-
yana, whether delivered by the Buddha himself or not, can be described
as inspirational or visionary, or both together.
Prefixed to different texts of the Prajiiiipiiramitiisutra we have a highly
renowned Prajiiapiiramitastotra, a devotional hymn to Prajfiapararnita
ascribed to Rahulabhadra, and to the Saddharmapuf,ujarfkasutra there is
attached a praise of the Mahayana entitled SaddharmapUl:ujarfkastava
. also ascribed to Rabulabhadra. And preceding the Candrapradfpa / Samii-
dhiriijasutra there is found a hymn to the Mahayana that mentions both
the Bodhisattva kumiirabhuta interlocutor of the Buddha,
and the Candrapradipa itself.
. That there has, moreover, existed in the Mahayana a 'cult' ofthe book
.-or of the Siitra as the 'body I icon of the Buddha' (jinavigraha) - is
a well-known fact.
25
24 Rather than just 'eloquence' (as pratibhiina has so often been rendered), eloquence
being rather the outcome of pratibhiina. For an example of the corresponding verb prati-
bhii-, see for instance the Srlmiiliidevfsilflhaniidasutra referred to below, n. 35 .
. 25 See G. Schopen, 'The phrase sa prthivlpradeias caityabhuto bhavet in the Vajrac-
chedikii: Notes on the cult of the book in Mahayana', IIJ 17 (1975), pp. 147-81 (and id.,
'The Mahayana and the Middle Period in Indian Buddhism', EB, 32 [2000], p. 5). See also
T. Vetter, 'On the origin of Mahayana Buddhism', ASIEA 48 (1994), pp. 1242, 1266-72.
It may be noted that the characterization of a Sutra as jinavigraha is found for instance in
the SaddhannapUl:ujarfka.
In his article 'How the Mahayana began', The Buddhist Forum 1 (1990), pp. 21, R. Gom-
brich has written: '[ ... ] the rise of the Mahayana is due to the use of writing. To put it
more accurately: the early Mahayana texts owe their survival to the fact that they were writ-
ten down; and any earlier texts which deviated from or criticized the canonical norms (by
20 b. SEYFORT RUEGG
It has been suggested (as seen in the preceding note) that the rise of
the Mahayana was inseparably bound up with the use of writing. Writ-
ing and scripts (lipi) have indeed been mentioned in Siitras.
26
And it may
be taken for granted that the use of writing very significantly facilitated
its development and spread: the Mahayana could hardly have assumed the
form we now know, and which it has had for very many centuries, had
it not been for the use of writing for recording its literature. But it seems
that the further supposition that writing was a necessary precondition for
the rise of the Mahayana would require considerably more supporting
evidence than has hitherto been adduced. (Indeed, by a number of schol-
ars it has been assumed that Mahayana Siitras were originally composed
and transmitted orally, in some cases perhaps in Middle Indo-Aryan.)
On versions and recensions of Mahayana Siltras
Certain Mahayana Siitras have been transmitted in two (or more) dis-
tinct recensions which cannot, it appears, be regarded as deriving from
mere (scribal or aural) variants or revisions of either a single unified oral
composition (perhaps in Middle Indo-Aryan) or from a single written text
(be it in Middle Indo-Aryan or in [Buddhist] Sanskrit].
TIris is the case for example for the Saddhannapwp!arzka, of which dif-
ferent recensions have been identified.27 We are seemingly confronted
which I mean approximately the contents of the Vinaya Khandhaka and Suttavibhanga
and the Four Nikiiyas) could not suivive because they were not included among the texts
which the Sangha preserved orally.' Here the separate matters of the rise and the survival
of the Mahayana have been telescoped together. There are of course indications that some
Mahayana Siitras were not set down in a single written redaction, and hence that they may
. have sometimes been transmitted orally.
26 References - not all of Mahayanist origin - to scripts are found, e.g., in the
Mahiivastu (I, p. 135) and in the Lipis1ilasrup.darsanaparivarta of the Lalitavistara. - On
the use of writing by Buddhists, see O. von Hiniiber, Der Beginn der Schrift und fruhe
Schriftlichkeit in Indien (AWL, Mainz, 1989) (Stuttgart 1990). Cf. H. Falk, Schrift im alten
Indien (Tiibingen, 1993) 14. .
27 See the (fragments of) a Central Asian recension of this Siitra published by H. Bechert,
Uber die "Marburger Fragmente" des SaddharmapUlJtj.arfka (NAWG, Giittingen, 1972),
from the so-called 'Kashgar Manuscript' (actually from Khadaliq) various leaves of which
are kept in different libraries. See further H. Bechert, 'Remarks on the textual history of
the SaddharrnapuI).<;larika', in: Studies in Indo-Asian Art and Culture 2 (Raghu Vira Com-
memoration VoL, New Delhi, 1973), pp. 21-27; id., 'Foreword' to Lokesh Chandra (ed.),
SaddharmapUl:ujarzka-Sutra: Kashgar Manuscript (Tokyo, 1977). Bechert's conclusion
here with a remarkable and highly important phenomenon in the history
of religio-philosophical literature that has still to be fully addressed by
there (p. 6) is that the Central Asian manuscripts represent not 'just another recension of
the SaddhannapUJpjarfka, but an earlier stage of textual development', whilst 'the Nepalese-
Kashmiri recension is the result of the work done by an individual scholar who has care-
fully remodeled the text of the Siitra. His work shows the impact of Sanskrit renaissance
on the development of Mahayana literature.' See recently G. Fussman, 'Les Saddharma-
poo.<;Iarlka indiens', Annuaire du College de France 1995-6, pp. 779-86; Annuaire 1996-7,
pp. 749-763. -c Romanized texts of parts of the manuscript recensions of the Saddharma-
pillJljarika have been published by (amongst others) S. Watanabe, Jiang Zhongxin, and
H. Toda, who has also published a Note on the Kashgar manuscript of the Saddharma-
puTJ4arikasiitra (Tokyo, 1977) and studies on the manuscripts. See also K. Wille, Fragments
0/ aManuscript of the SaddharmapUJ;ujarfkasiitra from Khadaliq (Tokyo, 2000); id., 'Wei-
tere kleine SaddharmapulJq.arfkasiitra-Fragmente aus der Sammlung Hoemle', in: P. Har-
rison et al. (ed.), Siiryacandriiya (A. Yuyama Festschrift, Swisttal-Odendorf, 1998), pp. 241-
56. A new synoptic edition of the Sanskrit texts of the Siitra (chap. 13) together with the
Tibetan and Chinese translations in parallel is published by S. Karashima in 'A trilingual
edition of the Lotus Sutra', ARIRiAB 6 (2003), pp. 85-182. - The SaddhannapulJq.arzka
mdeed offers an advanced example of a Sanskrit Siitra work the distinct recensions of
}Vhich have often employed different wordings to express (approximately) the same basic
content, but which it is hardly possible to trace back to a single Urtext, to one unique
iirchetype. (Cases where the Chinese versions of a Siitra differ significantly, and suggest
the existence of distinct Indian recensions, are of course well known:)
Concerning the Kiisyapaparivarla, see J.W. de Jong, 'Sanskrit fragments of the Kasya-
paparivarta', in: Beitrage zur Indienforschung (Festschrift E. Waldschmidt, Berlin, 1977),
pp. 247-55, who concluded (p. 255); 'The Kasyapaparivarta, in which the verse parts are
later than the prose parts, offers an interesting example of a text in which the verses, writ-
tenin Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, are defmitely later than the prose parts, the language of
which is much closer to standard Sanskrit'. For this work see recently M. Vorobyova-Des-
yatovskaya in collaboration with S. Karashima and N. Kudo, The KiiSyapaparivarta:
Rdmanized text and facsimiles (Tokyo, 2002). Concerning the KiiralJq.avyiiha, see A. Mette,
Die Gilgitfragmente des KiiralJq.avyiiha (Swisttal-Odendorf, 1997). Regarding the Samii-
dhiriija, see A. Skilton, 'Four recensions of the Samiidhiriijasiitra', III 42 (1999), pp. 335-
56. As for the Sarvabuddhavi
e
ayavatiira-JfiiiniilokiiiaYf1kdrasiitra (- TathagatagulJajiiiiniicin-
tyailieayiivatiiranirdea?), quotations from it cited in the commentary to the Ratnagotravi-
bhaga-MahiiyiinottaratantraSiistra (ed. Johnston) differ on occasion from the text found
hlthe manuscript recently published by T. Kimura et ai. (Tokyo, 2004); whether in the
cOInmentary we simply have quotations from memory or whether there existed (at least)
two distinct recensions of the Siitra is not yet clear.
Regarding the use in connexion with Mahayana Siitras of the terms 'Buddhist Sanskrit',
:Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit', etc., see recently D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'On the expressions
chandaso iiropema, iiyatagziassara, sarabhaiiiia and i i r ~ a as applied to the "Word of the
Buddha" (buddhavacana)" in R. Tsuchida and A. Wezler (ed.), Hariinandalaharf (M. Hara
Felicitation Vol., Reinbek, 2000), pp. 297-304.
Finally, it may be recalled that recensional variation in the wording of related formu-
lae, strings and pericopes are to be found not only in Mahayana Siitras but also in versions
22 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
modem scholarship, namely a Sfitra extant inrecensions closely related
in their contents but not necessarily in their verbal expression. (This tex-
tual state of affairs is in 'fact what would differentiate a recension in the
specific meaning under discussion here from variant versions of a Sfitra
belonging to a reconstructible line of textual transmission derived from
a single Urtext, as well as from a version of an Urtext that has been delibe-
rately revised editorially.)
Were it true that writing was being employed from the beginning for
composing and transmitting a Sfitra, then, evidently, this did not neces-
sarily result in its text being definitively fixed in one single, 'original',
redaction with only textual (scribal or aural) variants supervening in the
course of its subsequent transmission. But (as noted above) it is in fact
far from clear that, from the start, writing was being regularly used when
Mahayana Sfitras were being composed and first transmitted. And to pos-
tulatesome Urtext from which distinct recensions derive, in the manner
of a stemma codicum, would here appear to constitute a misapplication of
otherwise sound philological method. What we seem to have before us in
such cases is, instead, records of a set of teachings / ideas / narratives in
of the old Agamas. Cf., e.g., G. von Simson, 'Zur Phrase yena ... tenopajagamaJupetya
und ihren Varianten im buddhistischen Sanskrit', in: H. Hartel (ed.), Beitriige zur Indien-
forschung (Festschrift E. Waldschmidt, Berlin, 1977), pp. 479-88; O. von Hintiber, Unter-
suchungen zur Mundlichkeit friiher mittelindischer Texte der Buddhisten (A WLM, Abh. der
Geistes- und Sozialwissenchaftl. Kl., Nr. 5, Mainz, 1994) (on variation between an uddana
and its canonical reference text, see id., in JAOS 123 [2003], pp. 222-3); M. Allon, Style
andfunction (Tokyo, 1997) (with bibliography, to which might be added P. Tuxen, 'Einige
Bemerkungen tiber die Konstruktion der Pilitexte', Festschrift H. Jacobi (Bonn, 1926),
pp. 98-102). Attempts have been made to explain these recensional variations, regarding
them, e.g., as reflecting variations in improvisatory oral recitation, differences in redacto-
rial usages between Buddhist schools/orders (niktiya), processes of Sanskrit or Pali linguistic
standardization, etc. In the case of the SaddharmapUl:u!arfka mentioned at the beginning
of this note, the processes underlying recensional variation do not however seem to have yet
been sufficiently clarified. Should one perhaps look, inter alia, in the direction of variant
redactions/recensions resulting from varying oral traditions? (On orality in relation to the
Buddhist canons, see the previous section.) Orality per se may not, however, supply a full
explanation of what is to be observed (for instance in the case of the Saddharmapu'!4arfka).
And in oral performance (as distinct from the oral and then written transmission of a text
fixed verbatim), it is to be asked what role may have been played by the inspirational
processes of anubhtiva, prabhtiva, adhie{htina and pratibhtina (cf. n. 24 above and n. 35
below). A stage of oral recitation marked by inspirational processes giving rise to redac-
tional/recensional differences could lie behind certain variations, which were then fixed in
writing in differing recensions. All this requires further study.
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MAHAyANA 23
parallel wordings, oral or written, that are all somehow linked with a
more or less compact - but nevertheless not univocally expressed - Siltra
tradition that came to be expressed in distinct recensions.
28
It has also to be kept in mind that a shorter, or simpler, version of a text
is not necessarily and invariably older than a longer, or more elaborate,
version. Fragments of the prajiiiipiiramitii kept in the
Sch0yen collection in Oslo, which have been dated to times, pres-
ent a text that is evidently closer to that of the later Nepalese manuscript
tradition than to the chronologically closer text of the Indo-Scythian
(Yiieh-chih) Chinese translation dating to the the second
century of the Common Era.
29
This sort of evidence should incite us to
28 The problems of multiple textual transmission and of so-called 'anonymous litera-
ture'in India have been addressed notably by Paul Hacker (for the Purfu;tas, following on
W:. Kirfel) and by Madeleine Biardeau (for the Mahiibhiirata, who postulates, however,
for this text a [probably] single authorship). See also O. von Hiniiber, 'Remarks on the prob-
lemof textual criticism in editing anonymous Sanskrit literature', in: Proceedings of the
First Symposium of Nepali and German Sanskritists 1971 (Kathmandu, Inst. of Sanskrit
Studies, Tribhuvan Dniv., 1980), pp. 28-40; and 1. Silk, The Heart Sutra in Tibetan (Vienna,
1994), pp. 6-17. Comparison may be made with the editing procedure adopted for a com-
plex text - as distinct from manuscript - tradition by F. Edgerton, The Paiicatantra
reconstructed (New Haven, 1924), where an 'original' Paiicatantra text, of unknown
authorship, has been constructed on the basis of various extant recensions and of parallel
versions (including the Hitopadda).
This matter of multiple transmission and of the Indian anonymous literature differs
from cases of multiple transmission, perhaps contaminated, of a text of single authorship
as studied in western philology, notably since G. Pasquali's Storia della tradizione e critica
del testo (Florence, 1952). Pasquali pertinently posed the question as to whether there has
always existed an archetype. More recently, the question of 'open recension', which does
not .allow the construction of an archetype and where manuscripts cannot be assigned to
a.stemma, have been discussed by M.L. West, Textual criticism and editorial technique
(Sfuttgart, 1973), p. 37 ff .
. 29 See L. Sander, "'Die Schj1lyen Collection" und einige Bemerkungen zu der hltesten
Atasiihasrika Handschrift', WZKS 44 (2000), pp. 87-100; and 'Fragments of an
hasrika manuscript from the period', in J. Braarvig (ed.), Buddhist Manuscripts
(Manuscripts in the Schj1lyen Collection I, Oslo, 2000), Vol. i, p. 1. (For the history ofthis
text see also L. Schmithausen, 'Textgeschichtliche Beobachtungen zum 1. Kapitel der
Prajiiiipiiramitii', in: L. Lancaster [ed.], Prajiiiipiiramitii and related systems
[Studies in honor of Edward Conze, Berkeley, 1977], pp. 35-80; and L. Lancaster, 'The
oldest Mahayana Siltra: its significance for the study of Buddhist development', Eastern
Buddhist 8 (1975), pp. 30-41. And on the place of this text in India as compared with China,
see G. Schopen, 'The Mahayana and the Middle Period in Indian Buddhism', EB 32
[2000], p. 3 ff.; Schopen avers, p. 4, that evidence for the 'popularity' of this work comes
24 b. SEYFORT RUEGG
exercise caution, and to develop a methodology of textual criticism that
is adequate to the very considerable complexities of the traditions and
their (written or oral) trarismission in 'floating' texts, with a view to avoid-
ing over-simplified stratifications of texts and analyses of their doctrines.
3o
An exclusively linear and stratigraphical model of the development in
time of texts and their doctrines may not always be appropriate.
Versions of other Mahayana Siitras, such as the Mahiiparinirviil}a, the
Suvarl}a(pra)bhiisottama, the Sukhiivatfvyuha, etc., have by now received
considerable attention from scholars. But much work remains to be done
in this very important area of Mahayana studies.
The matter of laymen (grhin, grhapati, grhastha) and of stiipas
The hypothesis that the Mahayana was either mainly or in essence a
development owing its origin to laymen is surely excessive.
31
In any case,
in the history of Buddhism the simple and neat opposition layman or
householder as against monk or monastic tends to break down.
'predominantly from the Late Pilla Period, that is, the 11th and 12th centuries', with-
out mentioning that Haribhadra wrote his great comment on it c. 800.) - On Lokalqema
see P. Harrison, 'The earliest Chinese translations of Mahayana Siitras: Some notes on the
works of BSR 10 (1993), pp. 135-77.
30 On textual and doctrinal stratification, and on the problem of stratigraphical mod-
els, see our observation in 'Some reflections on the place of philosophy in the study of
Buddhism', JIABS 18 (1995), p. 178, as well as below, pp. 36, 60. And for a discussion
of earlier attempts at stratification of the text of the Ratnagotravibhiiga-Mahiiyiinottara-
tantrasiistra, see D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'The meaning of the term gotra and the textual history
of the Ratnagotravibhiiga', BSOAS 39 (1975), pp. 341-63. - More generally, reference
might be made to G. Schopen, 'If you can't remember, how to make it up: Some monas-
tic rules for redacting canonical texts', in: P. Kieffer-Piilz and I.-U. Hartmann, Bauddha-
vidyiisudhiikaral; (H. Bechert Festschrift, Swisttal-Odendorf, 1997), pp. 571-82.
31 See in particular G. Schopen, 'Two problems in the history of Indian Buddhism: the
layman/monk distinction and the transference of merit', StII 10 (1985), pp. 9-47 = Bones,
stones, and Buddhist monks (Honolulu, 1997), pp. 23-55; and, recently, id., 'The bones of
a Buddha and the business of a monk: Conservative monastic values in an early Mahayana
polemical text', JIP 27 (1999), pp. 279-324, with reference to the Maitreya(mahii)sirrzha-
niida. - Cf. E. Lamotte, 'Le bouddhisme des hucs', Studies in Indology and Buddhology
(S. Yamaguchi Felicitation Volume, Kyoto, 1955), pp. 73-89 (esp. p. 86 f.); H. Durt, 'Bod-
hisattva and layman in early Mahayana', Japanese Religions 16/3 (1991), pp. 1-16; and
T. Vetter, 'On the origin of Mahayana Buddhism and the subsequent introduction of Pra-
jiiiipiiramitii', ASIEA 48 (1994), p. 1275.
In Buddhist society there has existed the category of gamins (rendered
in Tibetan by btsun pa, a word which is, however, the regular equivalent
of bhadanta). Only rarely mentioned, this type was apparently in status
both a religious and a layman (i.e. not a pravrajita, being neither a novice
srama,!era nor a fully ordained as exemplified in the person of
Candragomin. The celibate and abstinent gamin observing brahmacarya
'chastity' has also been defmed as one wearing the religious robe, the
outer distinctive mark of the monk.32 In tenns of morphology and taxo-
nomy, this category was apparently a somewhat anomalous and rather
exceptional one because of its ambivalence. For in some way its mem-
bership partook simultaneously of the state of monk and layman; and it
was, therefore, not readily definable in tenns of the standard classifica-
tions of Vinaya and Sastra Buddhism (e.g. Abhidhanna), where one is
either a pravrajita religious or one is not. (In Tibet, in particular among
rNiIi rna pas, an ambivalent category of householder-religious has survived
inconnexion with the Vajrayana and the vow of the Vajracarya in par-
ticular.)33
,.32 On Candragomin as a go mi dge bsiien, see Tiiraniitha, rGya gar chos 'byuh (ed.
p. 117. According to the Tshig mdzod chen mo, the go mi dge bsiien observes
. so long as he lives the fundamental and ancillary precepts of the upasaka, and he also
the robe of the religious (btsun pa'i cha lugs). The principal observance for him was,
then, the fivefold sik:japada or paiicaSrla.
For the two types of upasaka, mentioned for example in Haribhadra's Abhisamayafmrzkara-
loka ii.21-23 (ed. Wogihara, p. 331) - i.e. (1) the type defmed by his simply having taken
the threefold refuge and (2) the one defined additionally by observing the five sik:japadas
;-,;', see the references in E. Lamotte, Traite de fa Grande Vertu de Sagesse, p. 829 n. 3. -
COIlcerning the further category of Bodhisattva-Upiisaka, see P. Kieffer-Piilz, 'Die buddhis-
tische Gemeinde', in: H. Bechert (ed.), Der Buddhismus, i (Stuttgart, 2000), pp. 370-1.
33 The gamin is not to be confused with what is in Tibetan called a ser khyim pa 'house-
holder dressed in monastic garb', sometimes a term of reproach directed against laymen
inappropriately dressed as monks and wrongly claimed the latters' status. Tibetan
I:radition has been doubtful about one described as a reverend (bhadanta) who is neither
layinari nor monk (jo btsun skya min ser min). Nor does the gamin appear to correspond
precisely to the sakyabhik:ju of the Newars, for there seems to exist no evidence that the
gamin is first ordained as a bhiksu and then sets aside this state in order to revert to the
of upasaka (as does this category of Newar society through the ceremony of pr(IVra-
jyavisarjana [or vratamok:fa/:za]). Cf. S. Lienhard, Diamantmeister und Hausvater (Vienna,
1999), p. 97 ff.
For Tibetan understandings of the three vows - the sdom pa = sal"{lvara of the Bhik.<ju
pratimok:ja), the Bodhisattva, and the Vajrayiinist Mantrin - see J. Sobisch, Three-
vow theories in Tibetan Buddhism (Wiesbaden, 2002).
26 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
In tenns of the Brahmanical system of the four stages of life (iiSrama),
whilst the Buddhist largely corresponds to the sarrznyiisin in the
fourth iisrama, the (chaste) upiisaka (Tib. dge bsnen; fern. upiisikii, Tib.
dge bsnen ma) observing the (five) could probably best be
seen as corresponding in some respects, if only roughly, to the Brah-
manical category of the (chaste) viinaprastha in the. third iiSrama, rather
than to the grhastha or lay householder in the second iisrama begetting
children. In Buddhist society it was, then, the grhapati (Tib. khyim bdag)
'householder' - also referred to as grhin (Tib. khyim pa) or grhastha (Tib.
khyim na gnas pa) - who can most appositely be described as the lay-
man par excellence. At all events, the class of upiisaka is narrower than
that of grhapati; for not all grhapatis - not even those who might act
as diinapatis or almsgivers to the Buddhist Sarp.gha - were properly speak-
ing committed upiisakas observing the
Concerning the Buddhist class of monks - i.e., the category of the
pravrajita (Tib. rab tu byun ba) or person who has left home and
into the religious life (pravrajyii) -, it can be defined as made up of the
'novice', male (sriimalJera[kaj, Tib. dge tshul) and female (sriimalJerikii,
Tib. dge tshuI ma), as well as the monk Tib. dge sIon) and nun
Tib. dge sIon ma); but it is only the latter two who have received
upasampadii (Tib. bsnen rdzogs) or full ordination. As for the Buddhist
Community (sarrzgha), it is conventionally divided into four assemblies
namely upiisakas, and upiisikiis. The uni-
versal Noble Community described as being 'of the four directions' (ciitur-
disa-iiryasarrzgha) is stated to be composed of and it may be .
,givided into the eight types of Noble Persons (iiryapudgaIa, later subdi-
"vided into twenty types). The aryasarrzgha could also include Bodhisattvas. Dis-
tinguishable from this is the bodhisattvasarrzgha or Community of Bodhisattvas
(who are either monks or not as the case may be). The Buddhist religious
has in addition been regularly referred to as a sramalJa (Tib. dge sbyon),
a tenn that is however applicable also to non-Buddhists. (The categories
of religious just named were of course represented among Mahaylinists,
although in Tibet the group of fully ordained dge sIon mas, as distinct from
dge tshuI mas or 'novice' nuns, died out only to be revived recently.)
34 In his article 'Sur la formation du Mahayana', p. 378, Lamotte has described the upii-
saka as a member minuto iure of the SlIIpgha.
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MAlIA Y ANA 27
A major Mahayanist figure like the householder-religious and Bodhi-
sattva VimalakIrti could be considered as a sort of ideal model or exem-
plar for a certain religiously and philosophically - and perhaps. also
'mystically' - inclined spirituality described in the renowned Vimalaklr-
tinirdesa. The layman Bodhisattva VimalakIrti would seem to fit the above-
mentioned category of gomin, who was clearly a religious though not a
pravrajita or monk in the strict sense of one having full upasampadii.
A major Siltra, the Srlmiiliidevlsi'!lhaniida, is represented as being
expounded with inspired intelligence and presence of mind (pratibhiina =
spobs pa) by Queen SrlmaHi in virtue of the Buddha's kind assistance
and sustaining force.
35
As for the supposed link between the cult of the stilpa and the Maha-
yana - and also between the stilpa and the tathiigatagarbha teaching -,
it has no doubt existed. But it was scarcely a peculiar characteristic and
defining feature specific to the Mahayana alone, nor above all was it evi-
dently a practice in the first place of laymen.
36
35 For the Sanskrit, see the fragment of the Srimiiliidevisirrzhaniidasutra edited by K. Mat-
suda in J. Braarvig (ed.), Buddhist milnuscripts (Manuscripts in the Sch!llyen Collection 1), Vol.
i, p. 68: anyo 'pi me 'tra bhagavan bahilpalairo 'rthanirdeSaf:z tathiigatiinugrahena pratibhiiya-
til pratibhiiya subhe devfti bhagavatii[nu]jfiiitiil For anugraha in the Skt. manuscript, rather
than rjes su 'dzin pa 'kind assistance' the Tibetan translation has mthu (= prabhiiva) 'might'.
As noted above, the process by which a person other than the Buddha is represented as expound-
ing a Sutra through the Buddha's kind assistance (anugraha), might (anubhiiva, prabhiiva), or
:sustaining force (adhi:;thiina) awaits detailed study. (For the semantics of adhi-:;tlui- in the
Vinaya, see H. Hu-von Hiniiber, Das Po:;adhavastu [Reinbek, 1994], p. 182 ff.) See the crite-
ria for pratibhiina in the Adhyiisayasarrzcodanasutra, cited in Badhicaryiivatiirapafijikii ix.43.
:6 See G. Schopen, 'Two problems .. .' (= Bones, stones, and Buddhist monks, Chap-
ter 5); and, recently, id., 'The bones of a Buddha and the business of a monk .. .', lIP 27
(1999), pp. 279-324. Cf. A. Hirakawa, 'The rise of Mahayana Buddhism and its relation-
ship to the worship of Stiipas', Memoirs of the Research Dept. of the Toyo Bunko 22
(1963), pp. 57-106. Since Hirakawa, the matter of the part played by laymen and the wor-
ship of the stilpa in the origins of the Mahayana has been discussed by T. Vetter, 'The ori-
gin of Mahayana Buddhism and the subsequent introduction of Prajfiiipiiramitii', ASIEA
48 (1994), pp. 1241-81. See also P. Harrison, 'Who gets to ride in the Great Vehicle?: Self-
image and identity among the followers of the Early Mahayana', JIABS 10 (1987), pp. 67-
89; and R. Gombrich, 'Organized Bodhisattvas', in: P. Harrison et al. (ed.), Suryacandriiya
(A. Yuyama Festschrift, Swisttal-Odendorf, 1998), pp. 43-56.
Concerning the tathiigatagarbha and the (tathiigata)dhiitugarbha / diigtiba, viz. stilpa
(a theme that requires further investigation), see D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMorie du tathiigata-
garbha et du gotra, pp. 505 n. 4, 515-16; and id., 'The gotra, ekayiina and tathiigata-
garbha theories of the Prajiiaparamita according to Dhannamitra and Abhayakaragupta',
28 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
The relation between Mahayana and Sravakayana / Hlnayana: opposi-
tion and complementarity
In Buddhist history, the Mahayana / IDnayana contrast or opposition
has sometimes been used polemically - indeed even quite militantly -
by both Mahayanists and Sravakayanists.
37
The two being held to be
opposed or antithetical, the Mahayana was on the one hand thought by
some of its enthusiastic advocates to supersede the HInayana. On the
other hand it was, on the contrary, considered by 'conservative' detractors
to be inauthentic - that is, not genuine buddhavacana - and so to be
rejected by the true follower of the Buddha. Still, long ago, Andre Bareau
called attention to how little critical discussion of anything that can be
regarded as necessarily and solely 'Mahayana' is in fact to be found in
major Sravakayanist treatises.
38
From another viewpoint, the term mahiiyana may instead belong to
a classificatory or taxonomic, and also a doxographic, differentiation.
in: L. Lancaster (ed.), Prajiiiipiiramitii and related systems (E. Conze felicitation volume,
Berkeley, 1977), p. 288 (referring to the passage ... saptaratnamayiirrzs tathiigatadhatu-
garbhiin smpiin kiirayet ... in Prajiiiipiiramitii iii, p. 62 ff.). - A fairly
early literary (i.e. non-teclmical) passage attesting the religious connotations of dhiitu '(pre-
cious) element', '(precious) deposit, relic', and '(precious) substance, ore' appears in
Buddhacarita xxvii.76-78 (a passage concerning the Buddha's bone-relics
held in a reliquary which is unfortunately not available in the original Skt., but the Tibetan
version of which reads [p, Iie, f. 118b-1l9a - D, ge, f. 98b]: ... gser gyi bumpa mams
kyis rab tu spyan drans so / j'di ni ri bo chen po'i rin chen khams Min dul Idge legs gan
ba chen po mams ni 'dzin pa stellmtho ris dag na lha yi gtso bo'i khams b:Zin dull khams
ni me yis log par sbyor ba ma yin iiidil ... ).For this set of semantic associations, cf.
D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'The meanings of the term gotra and the textual history of the Ratna-
gotravibhiiga', BSOAS 39 (1976), 341-63.
37 For a Mahayanist view, reference may be made for instance to the SaddharmapUlJ-
t;iarfka. See, e.g., F. Tola and C. Dragonetti, 'The conflict of change in Buddhism: the
Irmayarust reaction', Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie 9 (1996-97), pp. 233-54.
38 A. Bareau, Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Vthicule, p. 299 ff. The
bhiivrtti on the Abhidharmadfpa contains references to the bodhisattva, the bodhisattva-
miirga, and the bodhisattvayiina as opposed to the sriivaka- and pratyekabuddha-yiina, as
well as to the piiramitiis and to the three bodhis, in its Chap. iv and vi. At p. 199 (ed. Jaini),
the term bodhisattvacaryii refers to Sakyamuni' s earlier spiritual career. The same text
refers to a 'critique of authenticity' of the Mahayana, with references to the
and sukliipadea (p. 197). - Vasubandhu's Vyiikhyiiyukti engages in a defence of the
Mahayana against criticisms coming from 'conservatives'; see J. Cabezon, 'Vasubandhu's
Vyiikhyayukti on the authenticity of the Mahayana Siitras', in: J.R. Timm (ed.), Texts in
context: Traditional hermeneutics in South Asia (Albany, 1992), pp. 221-43.
Buddhist doxographical (i.e. Siddhanta / Grub mtha' -type) texts from
Tibet in fact have interesting things to say about what mahiiyana means.
These still remain to be fully explored.
To sum up very briefly the gist of a couple of these analyses; it is
recognized that a given SUtra may present both Mahayanist and non-
Mahayanist teachings 'in common' (cf. theg pa che ChUli gi grub mtha'i
thun mon du 'dod pa'i mdo sde du ma'i dgons pa).39 Also, there exist
persons whose spiritual 'lineage' / 'gene' (gotra = rigs) is indetermi-
nate or indefinite (i.e. still 'unexpressed') (aniyata = ma nes pa), rather
than definitively 'expressed' as either Mahayanist or Sravakayanist, so
that they require a common, undifferentiated teaching.
40
(As noted above,
p.6, there is a close correlation between aspects of yana-theory and gotra-
theory.)
In particular, a very significant distinction has been established between
a person who is spiritually a Hfuayanist (theg dman gyi gan zag) and
one who just advocates Hfuayanist doctrines (theg dman grub mtha' smra
ba) (e.g. the Sarvastivada / V a i b h a ~ i k a or Sautrantika). And a parallel
distinction applies between one who is spiritually a Mahayanist - that is,
One who duly practises the Bodhisattva's way founded in both discrimi-
native understanding (prajfiii) and conduct (carya, or salvific method,
upaya), as well as in the bodhicitta and in compassion (karulJa) - and
one who simply advocates doctrines of the Mahayana (viz. the Cittama-
'tra = Vijfianavada or Madhyamaka).41 Such analytical distinctions are
of course highly important for the historian of Buddhist religion and
philosophy, for they relate to the distinction between spiritual practice
and philosophical position as understood in Buddhism. This distinc-
tion between mahayana as a set of teachings or texts and mahayana as
spiritual practice and intellectual penetration appears to echo in part two
established uses of the term dharma, namely (i) a verbalized teaching
(defaniidharma = bstan pa'i chos) and (ii) ethical practice and intellec-
tual understanding (i.e. adhigamadharma = rtogs pa'i chos, rig par bya ba'i
chos).
39 See 'Jam dbyaiIs bzad pa, Grub mtha' chen mo, ga, f. 4a2.
40 Ibid, ga, f. 5a5.
41 See lCaiI skya Ral pa'i rda rje, Dag yig mkhas pa'i 'byun gnas, ja (Grub mtha'),
f. 8a2 = p. 253. Cf. 'Jam dbyaiIs bzad pa, Grub mtha' chen mo, kha, f. 2a.
30 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
The three spiritual categories of person (skyes bu gsitm) - the worldly
person, the follower of the Lower Vehicle and the follower of the Maha-
yana - is the subject of many texts such as Atisa's Bodhipathapradipa
and Tsml kha pa's Lam rim texts and their commentaries. The triad of
hfna, madhya and is already found in a quotation in Vasubandhu's
(iii. 94, p. 182, even though in this work on
Sravakayanist scholasticism Vasubandhu does not treat of the Mahayana
as such
42
).
Co-existence of Mahayana and Sravakayana
It is furthermore to be observed that, whilst the contents of the major
part of the Tibetan Sutra and Sastra collections - the bKa' 'gyur and
bsTan 'gyur - are indeed Mahayanist, it would still be quite inaccurate
to state that Tibetan Buddhism is solely Mahayanist to the exclusion of
all that may properly be considered Sravakayanist. Thus, within Tibetan
Buddhism, the monachal code or Vinaya binding on all monks - that
belonging to the order (nikaya) of the MUlasarvastivadins - is naturally
reckoned as part of the Old (i.e. Sravakayanist) Tripitaka. And although
the Agamas of the Sravakas as such have not indeed been included en bloc
in the Tibetan bKa' 'gyur (as they have largely been in the Chinese Bud-
dhist canon), textual materials belonging to these Agamas are neverthe-
less found in that canonical collection as individual Sutras or incorporated
either into the MUlasarvastivadin Vinaya or into other texts.
In his great Summa of Mahayanist thought and practice, the Lam rim
chen mo, Tson kha pa has included much material from the Sravakabhumi
(see below, p. 39). Moreover, in the curriculum of the Tibetan seminar-
ies (grva tshan), the Vinaya as well as Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa
- connected with the V and Sautrantika schools - and its com-
mentaries are the subject of regular and systematic study in the final
classes Cdzin grva). As for logic and epistemology (tshad ma = pramalJa)
- which cannot be classified specifically and per se as either Mahayanist
42 In Abhidharmakosabhii:fYa vii.34 there is found only a passing reference to the yana-
traya, in which a Buddha is said to establish disciples. The Bodhisattva is mentioned a num-
ber of times in the Kosa. (For their part, the Abhidharmadipa and do
refer to the three yanas as well as to the Bodhisattva; see n. 38 above.)
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MARA YANA 31
or Sravakayanist - they are studied towards the start of the Tibetan
scholastic curriculum. In Tibet, tshad ma has in effect been considered
to be either ancillary to or convergent with Mahayanist philosophy (witness,
for instance, the dual compound dbu tshad 'Madhyamaka and Pramffi:la') .
. The preceding examples have mostly been drawn from a more recent
period in the long history of the Mahayana. It will be necessary to try to
establish the extent to which patterns found in later times may also apply
to an earlier period in the development of the Mahayana. That Mahayanists
both lived in the same monastic communities as Sravakayanists and
followed the Vinaya of an old Nikaya is known for instance from Hsiian-
tsang (602-664), who also refers to what is known as 'Mahayana-Sthavi-
ras' (see n. 81 below).
Buddhism and the ambient Indian religions, and the problem of the rela-
tionship between Mahayana and Brahmanism / Hinduism
It is necessary to situate Mahayana not only within the overall frame-
work of Buddhism as a whole but also in the context of non-Buddhist
Indian religions and civilization. This undertaking confronts us with the
question of the relation between the Mahayana and the ambient religions
and culture(s) of India.
To take one significant example, certain areas of Mahayana have shared
features of the bhakti movement with other Indian religions: this move-
ment is not confined exclusively to one or two traditions and appears
almost pan-Indian, a fact overlooked in many publications on the subject
(see also below, p. 49) .
. The question of what may be more or less pan-Indian is a complex
and rather vexed one, both historically and theoretically. That the Mahayana,
together with Buddhism as a whole, was a product of Indian civilization
is self-evident: they have, in very large part at least, a shared cultural
matrix as well as geographical milieu. And in history many Buddhists
~ a v e been brahmans by family background and personal education. But
questions still arise as to how this interrelationship was to develop and
express itself over time, and on how we can model this interrelationship.
If it is true that Buddhism has much in common with Brahmanism /
Hinduism, it appears that the latter has on occasion also borrowed from
32 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
the former. And that Buddhism formed part of the so-called ancient illdian
'Sramana' culture is no less clear. Yet a precise general determination of
Buddhism's relation to Brahmanism / Hinduism, and to Jainism, is not
always an easy one to make and continues to pose many a problem.
43
That there have existed identifiable historical borrowings between Bud-
dhism and other illdian religious traditions appears incontrovertible, as just
noted. But the generalization of a Borrowing Model/Paradigm alone to
account for res semblances between Buddhism and Brahmanism / Hin-
duism is at the very least problematic, as is probably also the universal-
ization of a Syncretism Model: it would seem necessary to reckon in
addition with a Substratum Model/Paradigm. The Substratum Model does
not, of course, automatically and of itself rule out individual historical
instances of borrowing.
It might be that the use here of the term substratum is problematic.
But suitably employed and defined it seems serviceable; at all events,
whatever its shortcomings might be, no convenient alternative has been
found which is less problematic.
44
It should be noted that the expression
substratum is not being used here in the sense it has in linguistics. Rather,
it is being employed with reference to the characteristic idea found in
Buddhism of the laukika 'mundane, worldly' as a level that is systemically
and structurally contrasted / opposed to the lokottara 'transmundane,
supramundane', but which has nonetheless been acknowledged, and inte-
grated, by Buddhists within their religious world. ill Buddhist thought,
this structural contrast laukika Ilokottara constitutes a highly important
'emic' distinction. Whilst laukika (Pali lokiya) refers to the worldly or
mundane level, which Buddhists share with other illdians, lokottara reg-
ularly denotes what is specific to Buddhism in the view of its followers.
It may well be that the clarification of 'emic' usage is a prerequisite for
43 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'Sur les rapports entre Ie bouddhisme et Ie "substrat religieux"
indien et tibetain', fA 1964, pp. 77-95; and 'A note on the relationship between Buddhist
and "Hindu" divinities in Buddhist literature and iconology, the laukika Ilokottara con-
trast and the notion of an Indian "religious substratum"', in C. Cicuzza et al. (ed.), Le parole
ei marmi (R. Gnoli Felicitation Volume, Rome, 2001), pp. 735-42 (with a selected biblio-
graphy). Cf. F. Sferra, 'Some considerations on the relationship between Hindu and Bud-
dhist Tantras', in: G. Verardi and S. Vita (ed.), Buddhist Asia 1 (Universita degli Studi di
Napoli "L'Orientale", Centro di Studi sul Buddhismo, Kyoto, 2003), pp. 57-84.
44 See the second article cited in n. 43 above.
ASPECTS OF THE STIJDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MAHAyANA 33
our being able usefully and effectively to pursue 'etic' analyses and com-
parisons.
As indicated above, the Substratum Model does not automatically rule
out specific, historically identifiable, instances of syncretism; but the
concept of syncretism can present serious difficulties if it is taken as a uni-
versally generalizable key or paradigm.
45
Alongside the Substratum Model, the idea of religious and cultural
symbiosis also has a useful and important part to play. All this requires
further detailed study.
A further possible way of defIning the relationship between Mahayana
and Brahmanism / Hinduism is in terms of the concept of docetism whereby
a Buddha or Bodhisattva is deemed to deploy soteriologically appropri-
ate expedient means (upaya) in order to effect the benefIt of sentient beings
in. general (sarvasattva), or of a given set of trainees (vineya, vaineya) in
particular, these expedients being suited to disciples who may not yet be
able to absorb anything but 'mundane' (laukika) notions. Yet docetism
does not, of course, relate solely - or perhaps even mainly - to intem:-
.ligious phenomena. In Buddhism it is a feature characteristic of, for exam-
ple, the fundamental Mahayanist doctrine of the Buddha's three Bodies
(trikdya) which includes the nirmiiIJakiIya or ectypal 'phantom Body'. In
other words, it is a concept that may be invoked not only with reference
to what is external to Buddhism properly speaking but also with reference
to different levels of teaching and understanding within Buddhism itself.
The geographical milieu
. The geographical spread of early Mahayana would appear to have been
haracterized by polycentric diffusion. In India, after the demise of the
Buddha, earlier Buddhism indeed possessed no institutionalized ecclesi-
astical authority; for the purposes of the Vinaya it was organized into
!?cal simas 'parishes'.
... From the start, an important part in the spread of Mahayana was no
doubt played both by the Northwest of the Indian subcontinent and by the
45 See the first two articles cited in n. 43 above.
34
. D. SEYFORT RUEGG
Andhra country in south-central India, but presumaoly neither was the
sole place of its origin, Bihar, Bengal and Nepal too were important cen-
tres of Mahayana. Sri Lanka also was involved in the history of the
Mahayana, for the so-called Vetullakas were known there (seen. 10) and
the great Madhyami.ka thinker Arya-Deva, the disciple of Nagarjuna, is
reported to have been born there.
46
For the Mahayana, then, multiple geographical origins - even a sort
of plurigenesis in several geographically distant Sravakayiinist orders /
schools (nikiiya) - seems to be much more likely than geographical
monogenesis. A deftnitive clariftcation of this question is probably little
nearer today than when Lamotte and Bareau addressed the problem of
Mahayana origins in the 1950s.
47
Significant developments in the Mahayana then took place in Central
Asia also. Because of the importance in a large sector of Mahayanist
thought of the arapacana syllabary (in the A vataI!lsaka, Prajiiaparamita,
etc.) - with its ligature ysa, the sound [za] common in Iranian languages
and in 'Tocharian'- which constitutes the dhiirar;i or 'mnemonic' of the
Bodhisattva MaiijusIi, the question has arisen of possible Central Asian
and Serindian influence (through the Sakas / Scythians and in
the history of the Mahayana in the early part of the ftrst millennium.
Without it being necessary to go so far as to postulate a Serindian origin
for MaiijusIi,48 there seem to exist interesting avenues of investigation to
be followed up here.
46 On Mahayana in Sri Lanka, see recently M. Deegalle, 'A search for Mahayana in
Sri Lanka', JIABS 22 (1999), pp. 343-57; and S. Mori, Mahayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka
.(A Report, Nagoya, 1999) .
' 47 See E. Lamotte, 'Sur la formation du Mahayana' (using data derived inter alia from
Fa-hsien's and Hsiian-tsang's records and including Central Asia); and A. Bareau. Les sectes
bouddhiques du Petit Yehicule, p. 297 ff (calling attention to the importance of Sri Lanka
for the Vajrayana).
48 S. Levi, 'Ysa', in: Memorial Sylvain Levi (paris, 1937), pp. 355-63.
The arapacana mnemonic formula - derived from the standard syllabary or 'alpha-
bet' in sources in script - is found in Prajiiapiiramitasutras; see e.g. Paii-
cavil'{lsatisiihasrikii prajiiiiparamiita (ed. N. Dutt), pp. 212-13. For the place of this dhiira/J.l
in the Bhadrakalpika, see P. Skilling, 'An Arapacana syllabary in the Bhadrakalpika-
sutra', JAOS 116 (1996), p. 522 f. Concerning this syllabary, and for the signysa in it, see
R. Salomon, 'New evidence for a Gandhiid origin of the Arapacana syllabary', JAOS 110
(1990), pp. 255-73; id., 'An additional note on arapacana', JAOS 113 (1993), p. 275; and
O. von Hiniiber, Das altere Mittelindisch im Uberblick 193.
ASPECTS OF THE STIJDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MARA Y ANA 35
_ Moreover, at the end of the first millennium of the common era, clear
references to Islam and the Middle East are found in the literature of the
K1ilacakra.
The geographical horizon of the Mahayana thus came to cover an area
extending from the Near East to Japan, and from Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia
and Indonesia to Serindia and on to Siberia.
Two problems in comparativism: Gnosticism and Manichaeism
At least since the time of LJ. Schmidt's Uber die Verwandschaft der
gnostisch-theosophischen Lehren mit den Religionssystemen des Orients,
yorziiglich dem Buddhismus (Leipzig, 1828), consideration has from time
to tinie been accorded to the hypothesis that Gnosticism and Manichaeism
are somehow related to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism (and even to
Buddhism generally). It seems unlikely that Mahayana Buddhism is to any
great degree directly dependent on either of these religions: systemically,
-it appears very different indeed. An essential difference appears to lie in
. t h ~ f a c t that Mahayanist (and Vajrayanist) thought is usually not dualist
but grounded in the principle of non-duality (advaya), Still, given the fact
that Buddhism has spread in areas where these movements were estab-
lished, and the possibility that certain of its component elements might
even have developed there, it may be useful to study parallels between
them in case at least certain currents in later Buddhism should turn out
to share a common background with these two movements.
49
,,49 On the question of Buddhism and Gnosticism, Manichaeism, etc., see E. Conze,
'Buddhism and Gnosis', in: U. Bianchi (ed.), Le origini della gnosticismo (Leiden, 1967),
pp. 651-67. The characterization given of Gnosticism in the proceedings (p. 27) of this
-Messina conference of 1966 - viz. 'not every gnosis is Gnosticism, but only that which
involves in this perspective the idea of the divine consubstantiality of the spark that is in
need of being awakened and re-integated ... ' - might even be seen as applying to the
tathagatagarbha theory. See also G. Tucci, 'Some glosses upon the Guhyasamaja', MCB
'3 (1935); id., 'Animadversiones indicae', in: C. Vogel (ed.), lfianamuktavalf (J. Nobel
rommemoration Vol., New Delhi, 1959), pp. 226-7 (on the three-gotra theory of the
Mahayana), as well as G. Tucci and W. Heissig, Die Religionen Tibets und deT Mongolei
(Stuttgart, 1970), p. 28; H. de Lubac, La rencontre du bouddhisme et de l'Occident (paris,
1952), pp. 21-27; J. Ries, 'Bouddhisme et manicheisme: Les etapes d'une recherche', in:
lndianisme et bouddhisme (Melanges offerts 1t Mgr. Etienne Lamotte, Louvain, 1980),
pp. 281-95; the relevant recent publications of H. J. Klimkeit, including his Gnosis on the
36 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
Periodization
A problem soon confronting us in the study of the Mahayana is its
periodization. This concept is normally understood in terms of temporal
sequence and chronological stratification; and this use of the concept is
of course pertinent and usefuL
No less important is what might be called systematic periodization,
which in essence is not automatically equatable with chronological and
temporally sequential stratification.
50
In Tibetan hermeneutical 'systems that
relate to the Buddha's three 'turnings' of the Wheel of Dharma (dharma-
cakrapravartana), the first Cycle (corresponding roughly to the Agamas
and Vinaya) is not simply cancelled or superseded by the Siitras of the last
two Cycles (i.e. the Prajfiaparamita Siitras, and then certain Siitras linked
with the teaching of either the Vijfianavada or the Buddha-nature / tathii-
gatagarbha); nor does the third Cycle of the buddhavacana necessarily
(according, e.g., to Tibetan Madhyamikas) replace or supersede the second
Cycle of the Prajfiaparamitasiitras, which is deemed to retain its full force.
The Tibetan hermeneutical systems based on three Cycles of bud-
dhavacana do not appear to operate in precisely the same way as Chinese
p' an-chiao systems. 51 (In the East Asian tradition, the metaphor of the five
Silk Road: Gnostic texts from Central Asia (San Francisco, 1993); and V. Wallace, The
Inner Kalacakratantra (New York, 2001), p. 143 ff. Cf. S. Lieu, Manichaeism in Central
Asia and China (Leiden, 1998). The question of a relation between these religions becomes
acute for the history of the later Mahayana and the Vajrayana, for instance in the case of
certain concepts clustered around the bodhicitta (: pneuma, sperma). See M. Eliade, 'Esprit,
1umiere et semence', in: Occultisme, sorcellerie et modes culturelles (paris, 1976) (French
version of Occultism, Witchcraft and cultural fashions [Chicago, 1976]). G. Verardi, 'The
Buddhists, the Gnostics and the Antinomistic society, or the Arabian Sea in the first-second
century AD', Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli 57 (1997), pp. 323-46 (with bibliogra-
phy), has extended the comparison to an earlier period in the history of Buddhism also.
As for Mani, he was familiar with Buddhism. However, the existence of Manichaean
elements in Tibetan religion once posited by A. A. Georgi(us) in his Alphabetum tibetanum
(Rome, 1762; annotated German translation by P. Lindegger, Rikon, 1999), and then spec-
ulated upon by A. Griinwede1 and accepted by H. Hoffmann, Die Religionen Tibets
(Freiburg-Munich, 1956), p. 40 ff. - and envisaged also by G. Tucci, Illibro tibetano dei
morn (Milan, 1949), p. 45, and Die Religionen Tibets, p. 237 n. 4 - although conceivable
does not actually seem all that easy to substantiate in detaiL
50 See above, p. 24, and the end of the present article.
S! See, e.g., D. Lopez (ed.), Buddhist hermeneutics (Hawaii, 1988), Index s. v. p'an-
chiao. See also M.-W. Liu, 'The Chinese Madhyarnaka practice of p'an-chiao.: the case
'milky tastes' seems to presuppose a chronological succession in the Bud-
dha's teaching.
52
} Of considerable interest is the fact that the Tibetan
hermeneutical systems, though of course referring back to Siitras, are
often derived from Sastra sources, whereas Chinese Buddhist hermeneu-
tical systems seem usually to be rooted in Siitras alone.
in Mahayiina
In terms of the distinction between Siitras of provisional, 'surface-
level', meaning (neyiirtha) and those that are of definitive, 'deep-level',
meaning (nitiirtha), in Tibet it is sometimes the second Cycle and some-
fuTIes the third Cycle ('khar 10 = cakra) of the Buddha's teaching that is
held to be of definitive meaning, the other two Cycles being then very
often (though not invariably; see below) considered to be of provisional
meaning given the s definition of the nitiirtha as
being concerned with the ultimate sense (silnyatii, etc.). It should also be
noted that, contrary to a current rendering, neyiirtha properly means not
'interpretatable' - all meaningful utterances, including accordingly the
whole of the buddhavacana, are after all interpretable in a standard and
sense of this word -, but 'requiring interpretation in a fur-
ther (and different) sense'. Nor is neyiirtha necessarily coterminous with
'non-literal' (na yathiiruta, sgraji Min rna yin pa) and nitiirtha with 'lit-
eral' (yathiiruta = sgraji Min pa); for the criterion accepted for instance
by the Madhyamikas following the depends not
on the verbal expression in a Siitra - describable as either literal or not
literal - but on its intended purport. 53
Some Tibetan hermeneuts have developed a system of interpretation
according to which the Tathagatagarbha Siitras - which are attached to the
Third Cycle of the buddhavacana - are to be understood in conformity
of Chi-tsang', BSOAS 56 (1993), pp. 96-118; B. Petzold (in collaboration with ShinshO
Hanayama and Shohei Ichimura), The classification of Buddhism Bukkyo kyohan. Com-
prising the classification of Buddhist doctrines in India, China and Japan (Wiesbaden,
1995).
52 See also Hobo girin, s. v. Daigo .
. 53 For the Ak$ayamatinirdesa, see D. Seyfort Ruegg, Two prolegomena to Madhyamaka
philosophy, pp. 81,257 ff.
38 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
with the nltartha Prajfiaparamita Sutras belonging to' the Second Cycle.
And in this case they too are deemed to be nltartha.
54
It is to be observed that in Sutra-henneneutics a statement contained
in buddhavacana is held to be either provisional, and of 'surface-level'
(neyartha) meaning, or definitive, and of 'deep-level' (nltartha) meaning,
within the frame of the exegetical system of a single school. In the
Vajrayanist henneneutics of the Tantric however, the situation
is more complex; for there the same statement might be interpreted by
one interpreter, according to circumstances, as neyartha or nftartha.
The problem of the classification of Sutras as Mahayanist, and the refer-
ential extension of the expression 'mahayana'
A problem sometimes arises with the traditional classification of a
Sutra as Mahayanist or otherwise. For instance, in its title the Salistamba-
sidra is described as a Mahiiyanasutra; but there is in fact very little in
its content that would seem to be specifically, much less exclusively,
Mahayanist (apart perhaps from the fact that it is the Bodhisattva Maitreya
who teaches it to Siiriputra).56 The Lalitavistara, a biography of the Bud-
dha, is also described in its title as a Mahayanasutra; but very much of
the work is far from being specifically Mahayanist.
57
It is to be recalled, furthennore, that major works of the Mahayana are
not exclusively Mahayanist in their contents. Thus the Yogacarabhiimi
ascribed to Asariga - under the inspiration of Maitreya(natha) - con-
tains, alongside the properly Mahayanist Bodhisattvabhami, a Sravaka-
bhiimi, and much further material besides that could be described as
54 See, e.g., D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMorie du tathiigatagarbha et du gotra, p. 393, etc.;
id., Le traitti du tathiigatagarbha de Bu ston Rin chen grub (paris, 1973), Introduction.
55 The = mtha' drug (or vyakhyana), namely nftartha = nes don,
neyartha = dran don, sarrzdhya = dgons biad / dgons pa can, na sarrzdhya
= dgons min, yatharuta = sgra ji biin, and na yatharuta = sgra ji biin rna yin pa.
56 On Maitreya outside the Mahayana see, e.g., P. Jaini, 'Stages in the career of the Tatha-
gata Maitreya' in his Collected papers on Buddhist studies (Delhi, 2001), pp. 451-500.
57 On the question of the school/order affiliation of this Sutra, see J.W. de Jong, 'Recent
Japanese studies on the Lalitavistara', IT 23-24 (1997-8), p. 250 f.
Chinese translation of this Sutra contains the Arapacana formula sacred
to the Bodhisattva Maiijusrl; see J. Brough, 'The Arapacana syllabary in the old Lalita-
vistara', BSOAS 40 (1977), pp. 85-95. Cf. n. 48 above.
common to Buddhism as a whole.
58
It is furthennore to be observed that,
fu. his great Summa of Mahayanist thought and practice, the Lam rim chen
mo, Tsoli. kha pa has made extensive use of the Sriivakabhumi, notably
in his detailed treatment of Tranquillity (zi gnas = samatha).
;,iLIt thus appears that no hard and fast line, no rigid and impassable bar-
rier, has been erected by such authorities between Mahayana and other
in Buddhism even when they maintained its distinctiveness.
Cx.'aoctrinal and philosophical criterion for the Mahayiina
The doctrine of the non-substantiality of phenomena (dharmanairiit-
my a / dharmanif:tsvabhiivatii, i.e. sVabhava-sunyatii 'Emptiness of self-
eXistence') has very often been regarded as criterial, indeed diagnostic,
identifying a teaching or work as Mahayanist. For this there may of
be a justification. But it has nevertheless to be recalled that by the
of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayanist philosophy, it is reg-
hlarly argued that not only the Mahayanist but even the Sravakayanist Arhat
iliuSt of necessity have an an understanding (if only a somewhat limited one)
59 This very remarkable feature of Buddhist philo-
thinking has often been overlooked by historians of the Mahayana.
few other characteristically Mahayanist ideas have been briefly touched
eil above (pp. 6-7, 13-16).

classification of individual Mahiiyiinasutras

doctrinal and philosophical classification, or categorization, of many
\\Mahayana Siitras according to their contents may pose interesting problems.
example, although the Dafabhamikasutra refers to cittamiitra, i.e.
only' (in chap. vi), this text is nonetheless an important source for
"'--;;

For the expressions yogiiciira / yogiivaciira in Buddhism, see J. Silk, 'The Yogiiciira
:/lhilqu', in 1. Silk (ed.), Wisdom, compassion and the search for understanding (G.M. Nagao
Volume, Honolulu, 2000), pp. 266-314. Interestingly, in the Sanskrit title of
!"the ogiiciirabhUmi as preserved in the Tibetan bsTan 'gyur, the word yogiiciirya is found
if1stead of yogiiciira.
D. Seyfort Ruegg, The literature of the Madhyamaka school of philosophy in India
,(Wiesbaden, 1981), p. 7 n. 16; id., 7Wo prolegomena to Madhyamaka philosophy, pp. 100,
ff., 245, 247.
40 b. SEYFORT RUEGG
Madhyamikas; and this reference is accordingly not understood by
Madhyamaka commentators as referring specifically to the Cittamatra
(sems tsam) = Vijfiiinavada.
6o
A comparable problem arises for the Lankiivatarasutra, which is cited
by Madhyamikas as well as by Vijfiiinavadins. Besides, this work (chap. iii)
presents a special form of the tathagatagarbha as already endowed with
the thirty-two distinctive marks of a buddha, which it then com-
pares with the atmavada of the heterodox (tirthakara, i.e. the Brahmans
/ Hindus). The tathagatagarbha doctrine is accordingly described in the
Siitra as having been intended by the Teacher to remove for inexperi-
enced disciples their innate fear of non-substantiality (nairatmyasarrztrasa),
that is, in effect as being an 'intentional' (abhiprayika, i.e. neyartha)
teaching.
The doctrinal classification of the tathagatagarbha teaching
The question has then arisen whether the Siitras teaching the tatha-
gatagarbha are Vijfiiinavada or Madhyamaka in their philosophical posi-
tion. Although several scholars have taken these Siitras to be linked with
the Vijfiiinavada, many Tibetan interpreters connect them rather with the
Madhyamaka (even though, as mentioned above, they attach them to the
third Cycle of the Buddha's teaching). Concerning the commentary on the
Ratnagotravibhaga ascribed in the Tibetan tradition to Asailga (but in the
Chinese to a certain *Siiramati), this master's true intent (abhipraya =
dgons pa) is held to have been in accord with the Madhyamaka (and there-
fore to be definitive rather than provisional in meaning). However unex-
peCted this type of exegetical classification and hermeneutics might appear
to llS today, the historian of Mahayiina is obliged to take account of it.
61
It is to be noted that no form of the tathagatagarbha doctrine has been
taught in the Ta-chih-tu-lun ascribed to Nagiirjuna. But references to it are
found in the Sutrasamuccaya also attributed to him.
62
60 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, Two prolegomena to Madhyamaka philosophy, pp. 203-04.
61 See the works cited in n. 54 above.
62 P. 172 ff. (ed. Pasadika, in citations from the Lankiivatiirasiitra), rather than from
more 'standard' Siitras expounding the tathiigatagarbha. On the Siitrasamuccaya see below,
pp. 44-45, 48 n. 76.
ASPECTS OF TIIE STUDY OF TIIE (EARLIER) INDIAN MARA YA.NA 41
Scripture (SUtra) and commentary (Sastra) in Mahayiina
iC'A further interesting question in the history of the Mahayana is the
"diachronic relationship holding between a basic Sutra text (sometimes
available in more than one recension) and its commentaries (often very
!iitiInerous ).
An example of this intertextuaI relation is (1) the A.rtasiihasrikii Pra-
Jiapiiramitii, (2) the Abhisamamayiilarrzkiira ascribed to Maitreya(natha),
.and (3) the many commentaries on the latter such as those by the two
Vimuktisenas (the Arya and the Bhadanta), Haribhadra (the Abhisamayii-
lJinkiiriilokii Prajfiiipiiramitavyiikhyii), and Ratnakara.santi (the Siiratamii) .
. sets of intricately related texts - in this case a three-stage or three-
set - characterize much of Mahayana literature. And this in turn
.pi:>sesthe crucial question of the relation between (1) scriptural text
(i.e: Sutra), (2) semi-scriptural comment (i.e. Sastraic exposition such as
fueAbhisarriayiilarrzkiira), and (3) ordinary (sub)commentary (Vrtti, etc.).
:Wethus see how complex a historical phenomen the is, not
,'6ruyin its canoncal Sutras but also in its Sastraic stages of elaboration.
on the of their expression, Sutras and Sastras differ
:from each other in so far as the former are very often characterized by
tropes and figurative language making use of metaphor or metonymy and
<illustrating the topic being treated (the upameya) by means of comparisons
;(upamiina) and more or less elaborate parables. Sutras are moreover
marked quite often by irony, paronomasia, paradox, and antiphrasis. These
iifenot necessarily just word-plays and riddles, rhetorical devices or play-
fuI literary conceits; at once conceptual and linguistic, they may be moti-
by the perceived difficulty of conveying a deep intended sense
;s.";'one more or less inexpressible through ordinary linguistic-conceptual
'fueans - and be defined by analogical or anagogic processes, which may
:fuen be with conceptual inversions or reversals (viparyaya,
and, especially in the Vajrayana, with the occasional feature of trans-
gressive transvaluation of received norms (antinomianism or anomianism).
S.astras on the other hand are generally characterizable by their more tech-
'nical vocabulary as well as by their scholastic style and contents (even if
they too may make use of upamiinas).
fi'As already observed (p. 37), on the level of content, the hermeneuti-
cal distinction between the provisional (and eventually non-explicit)
42
. D. SEYFORT RUEGG
neyartha and the definitive nltartha (explicit or not as the case may be)
basically concerns the buddhavacana - in other words Sutras (and
Tantras) which are regarded as taught by the Buddha, or under his sus-
taining force - rather than Sastras, which are taken to be not only explicit
in their wording but defInitive in their contents (in the frame, of course,
of the particular system to which they belong).
On two early masters of the Mahayana: Nagarjuna and Vasitbandhu
The polysemy, and the resulting potential ambivalence, of the term
Mahayana and the problem of pinning down precisely to what it may
refer is reflected in discussions that have taken place as to whether, for
example, Nagarjuna (first/second century) and An Shih-kao (An Shigao,
second century) were Mahayanists. In his fundamental, and criterial,
Madhyamakakarikas Nagarjuna has not cited any particular Mahayanist
source, the only explicit reference there being to a Sravakayanist one (the
Katyayaniivavada, in xv.7). In the case of An Shih-kao, the Parthian trans-
lator of Buddhist texts into Chinese, no translations of specifIcally Maha-
yanist texts are attributed to him in the Chinese canon.
63
But, taken by them-
selves, these circumstances do not appear to justify (much less to necessitate)
the conclusion that neither Nagarjuna nor An Shih-kao was a Mahayanist.
64
The division between Mahayana and HInayana / Sravakayana has
impinged also on modern scholarly discussions concerning the existence
of more than a single author named Vasubandhu. Opponents of Erich
Frauwallner'sthesis distinguishing between two authors of this name
seem to have on occasion overlooked the fact that he supposed both that
his Vasubandhu I (the master referred to as the Vrddhacarya?) was a Maha-
yanist and that his Vasubandhu IT (the Kosakara) became a Mahayanist
63 On An Shih-kao see P. Harrison, 'The Ekottarikagama translations of An Shigao',
in: P. Kieffer-Piilz et ai. (ed.), Bauddhavidyasudhakara/:z (Swisttal-Odendorf, 1997),
p. 261 ff.; T. Vetter and P. Harrison, 'An Shigao's Chinese translation of the Sapta-
sthanasutra', in P. Harrison et ai. (ed.), Suryacandraya (A. Yuyama Festschrift, Swisttal-
Odendorf, 1998), pp. 197-216; S. Zacchetti, 'An early Chinese translation corresponding
to Chapter 6 of the Petakopadesa', BSOAS 65 (2002), pp. 74-98. See also A. Forte, The
hostage An Shigao and his offspring: An lranianfamily in China (Kyoto, 1995).
64 See Bangwei Wang, 'Mahayana or HInayana: A reconsideration of the yana affiliation
of An Shigao and his school', Bauddhavidyasudhakara/:z, pp. 689-99.
inhis later career. The fact that Sautrantika (and hence so-called 'Hfua-
yanist') presuppositions are detectable in the ViJTlsatika or TriJTlsikii
'(Vijnaptimatratasiddhi!.z)65 - works ascribed by Frauwallner to his Vasu-
bandhu II - is inconclusive for the discussion as to whether the differ-
ent works attributed to (a) Vasubandhu were in fact composed by more
than one author bearing this illustrious name when Vasubandhu II was
according to Frauwallner a master of both Mahayana and Sravakayana
(and when his Vasubandhu I could have been building on Sravakayanist
Still', in discussions as to the possible multiplicity of Vasuban-
dhus, the question of the relation between Mahayana and pre- or non-
Mahayana has crystallized around the person of this great figure. There seems
to exist no conclusive proof that at the time he wrote his Abhidharmakosa
the Kosakara was - or alternativeley was not (yet) - a Mahayanist;
nor does there even appear to exist a compelling reason for assuming that
the author of this Abhidharma-treatise should have felt obligated to address
init the Mahayana had he already been a Mahayanist.66 In short, the fact
that Vasubandhu's treatise on Abhidharma - a subject that was essen-
tially Sravakayanist (even though AsaiJ.ga is credited with the Mahayanist
Abhidharmasamuccaya) - does not bear on the Mahayana can per se tell
us little if anything about whether its author was already a Mahayanist at
the time of its composition.
A problem also arises in relation to the difficult question as to whether
the works ascribed to (a) Nagarjuna might in fact have been composed
by more than one author having this name. Even if ultimately germane
to the problem of the mUltiplicity of masters bearing the renowned name
of Nagarjuna, the observation concerning the absence in Nagarjuna's
Madhyamakakiirikiis of any explicit reference to a Mahayanist textual source
(see above) should in no way oblige us to conclude that their author was
not (yet) a Mahayanist.
67
In itself, this circumstance is independent of the
65 See L. Schmithausen, Sautriintika-Voraussetzungen in ViIp.satika und TriIp.sika',
WZKSO 11 (1967), pp. 109-30.
66 See recently P. Skilling, 'Vasubandhu and the Vyiikhyiiyukti literature', JIABS 23
(2000), p. 309 f.
67 At all events, the Ratniivalf also ascribed to Nagarjuna does know the Mahayiina. On
the Mahiiyiina in this text see recently G. Schopen, 'The Mahayana and the Middle Period in
Indian Buddhism: Through a Chinese looking-glass', EB 32 (2000), p. 6 ft, with n. 70 below.
44 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
question of the multiplicity of authorship of the works ascribed to Nagar-
juna. Discussion concerning these two quite distinct matters of multi-
plicity of authorship for the works attributed to Nagarjuna on one side and
of Nagfujuna 1's relation to the Mahayana on the other side can thus avoid
being vitiated by circularity in argument.
An effort has to be made, if not positively to prove (or disprove) the
traditional ascription of a given work to Nagarjuna I - which in some
cases may be practically impossible in the absence of conclusive con-
tent-bound diagnostic criteria, as well as of formal (e.g. stylometric) cri-
teria when the relevant text is available only in Chinese or Tibetan trans-
lations - then at least to develop criteria that might be able to make an
attribution likely - or, alternatively, doubtful- on other than (more or
less) impressionistic, subjective, grounds, or on the basis of an argument
from silence. As things now stand, with the exception of the Madhyama-
kakiirikiis - usually taken as a reference point and standard for ascribing
any other doctrinal work to Nagfujuna I - there is scarcely a text attribu-
ted to this early master - beginning with the *VaidalyaprakaralJa and
the Vzgrahavyavartanl, proceeding on to the Ratnavali: and finishing, e.g.,
with the (T. 1521, translated by KumarajIva) -
whose ascription to him has escaped being questioned in recent years.
Similar problems arise also for the hymns ascribed to Nagarjuna.
68
For
the historian of the Mahayana, this is truly a troubling state of affairs.
In the case of the *Akutobhaya, an argument against the attribution to
Nagarjuna I was already adduced in the Tibetan tradition. This is based
on the fact that, in one place in chap. xxvii, this commentary quotes a verse
found in the Catuly.sataka by Nagarjuna's pupil Arya-Deva, and on the
assumption that a master will not quote his own disciple.
69
The Satrasamuccaya, an anthology of scriptural texts of the Mahayana
ascribed to Nagarjuna, should in principle be of very special interest for
68 cf. D. Seyfort Ruegg, The literature of the Madhyamaka school a/philosophy. in India,
especially p. 33 ff. See also D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'Le Dhannadhatustava de Nagfujuna', in:
Etudes tibetaines dMiees ala memoire de Marcelle Lalou (paris, 1971), p. 448 ff. For some
methodological issues in the case of Nagfujuna, see our Literature, pp. 8-9, 33 f.
69 See The literature of the Madhyamaka school of philosophy in India, p. 48 n. 120.
The relation of the Akutobhayii to BuddhapaIita's commentary on the Madhyamaka-
kiirikiis remains to be fully investigated in published form. Cf. C. W. Huntington, 'A lost
text of the early Indian Madhyamaka', ASIES 49 (1995), p. 693 ff.
the discussion of the earlier Mahayana. For, if in fact by Nagarjuna I, this
compilation would take us back to a quite early stage in the history of the
Mahayana, in all probability to the fIrst or second century CEo And it would
supply the historian of the Mahayana with a very valuable terminus ante
quem for (at least parts of) the SUtras included in it. But historical and tex-
tual problems arise. Not only is the Siitrasamuccaya not available in the
original Sanskrit - it is extant solely in two quite late translations, a
Tibetan one attributed to Ye ses sde (c. 800) and a Chinese one attributed
to Fa-hu (from soon after the year 1000) - but there also exists the real
possibility that, in the course of its textual transmission over the centuries,
such an anthology might have been open to expansion and interpolation
(e.g. in the matter of the extracts in the Siitrasamuccaya taken from the
Laftkiivatiira relating to the tathiigatagarbha doctrine; see above, p. 40).
Still another difficulty arises from the fact that the illustrious name Nagar-
juna has evidently been borne by more than one important Indian Bud-
dhist master and author; and the question has therefore to be investigated
whether the Nagarjuna to whom the compilation of the Siitrasamuccaya
isascribed was in fact the same person as the author of the Madhya-
'11'lakakiirikiis. In this connexion it is noteworthy that the Chinese version
()fthis work is (by Chinese standards) relatively late. But at the same time
itmay be observed that in his Madhyamakasiistrastuti (v. 10) Candrak:Irti
lived in the seventh century, about half a millennium after Nagar-
Juna I - counted the Siitrasamuccaya as one of the latter's works.
CandrakIrti has also referred to it in his (ed.
,La Vallee Poussin, p. 402) in connexion with the ekayiina doctrine. The
SiUrasamuccaya has also been ascribed to Nagarjuna by the author of
Bodhicaryiivatiira v.106. In sum, therefore, the Siitrasamuccaya could be
of crucial importance for our present purposes if its ascription to Nagar-
juna I is correct. But, as already noted, the dates of the Chinese and Tibetan
translations leave open to question its evidential value for describing as
early either an idea or a given passage of a Sutra; for we have always to
reckon with the possibility of its expansion / interpolation even if, in its
core, this anthology were to be ascribed to Nagarjuna I.70
70 cf. D. Seyfort Ruegg, Buddhist Studies Review 17 (2001), pp. 222-4. As pointed out
above (p. 40), the Siltrasamuccaya quotes the Lafllaivatiirasiltra on the tathiigatagarbha,
46 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
Concerning the very important Ta-chih tu-lun (*Mahiiprajfiiipiirami-
topadea, T 1509) also ascribed to Nagarjuna, and available only in Chi-
nese, further research has no doubt still to be carried out on the question
whether this work was actually composed by its (supposed) Chinese 'trans-
lator', the Kuchean Kumarajlva (344-413 / 350-409?), perhaps on the
basis of extensive Indian Madhyamaka materials to which he may have
had access during his period of study in Kashmir.
71
At all events, Lamotte's
later hypothesis attributing this treatise to a Sarvastivadin Deutero-Nagar-
juna
n
does not seem necessary in order to explain the evidence.
73
Still,
although most unlikely to have been composed by Nagarjuna I, and there-
fore not genuine in the usual sense, this work does possess great significance
whereas the Ta-chih-tu-Iun, also ascribed to Nagarjuna, does not seem to mention this doc-
trine.
The ekayiina as opposed to the triyiina theory has been fleetingly mentioned also in
the Ratniivali (iv.88) ascribed to Nagfujuna. Now, in his recent article 'The Mahayana and
the Middle Period in Indian Buddhism', EB 32 (2000), p. 9, G. Schopen has invoked this
passage as a piece of evidence in support of his thesis that, at the time of the author of the
Ratniivalr, the Mahayana had not gained wide acceptance, and that this royal counsellor
was nevertheless hoping that it would at least be 'tolerated'. But to the present writer this
passage does not appear to have anything to do with (in)tolerance of the Mahayana by oth-
ers. Rather, the allusion in question relates to these two theories within the Mahayana, and
concerning which the royal recipient of the Ratniivalf is asked by its author not to take sides
but to maintain an attitude of impartiality (upelqii). It is, after all, not the task of a ruler
as such to take sides in such difficult, and controversial, matters of religio-philosophical
hermeneutics, any more than it would be for the king to pass judgement on the hermeneu-
tical problems, posed by utterances (abhisaf[ldhyoktiini, iv.88) ascribed to the Buddha which
have traditionally been regarded as allusive or 'intentional'. No reason seems therefore to
exist for describing this passage as having 'the smell of a retreat' by the author of the Rat-
niivalf, and to claim that it is a piece of 'sectarian rhetoric' (ibid., p. 9). Quite the reverse,
in fact, for this admonition addressed to the ruler by the author of the Ratniivalr represents
a regular Buddhist procedure. The question here, then, is whether the problematic of the
ekayiina as opposed to the triyiina had already been thematized at the time of Nagarjuna I,
the author of the Mulamadhyamakakiirikiis, in connexion with the idea of intentional utter-
ances. - On the ekayiina, see D. Seyfort Ruegg, Theorie du tathiigatagarbha et du gotra,
p. 177 ff.; and on intentional utterances and abhisaf[ldhi in Buddhist thought, see id., 'Allu-
siveness and obliqueness in Budhist texts', in: C. Caillat (ed.), Dialectes dans les littera-
tures indo-aryennes (Paris, 1989), pp. 295-328. Concerning the relation between the tem-
poral and religious authorities, compare our Ordre spirituel et ordre temporel dans la
pensee bouddhique de I'Inde (as in n. 17 above).
71 See The literature o/the Madhyamaka school o/philosophy in India, pp. 32-33. See
also P. Dernieville, L'Inde classique, ii (1953), 2079, 2130.
72 See E. Lamotte, Des Verfasser des Upadda (as in n. 2 above).
73 cf. The literature o/the Madhyamaka school o/philosophy in India, pp. 32-33.
for the history of the Madhyamaka in North India and Central Asia as well
in East Asia. It may accordingly be said to possess what might be termed
true doctrinal authenticity.74
It is clear that the historical and methodologogical problems attaching
both to the figure and to the authorship of Nagiirjuna have not yet been
sufficiently probed, much less fully resolved, despite their crucial impor-
tance for the history of the early Mahayana. Certain proposed solutions
seem to have involved unexamined premisses and circularity in argument
t3.king what is only a hypothesis to be already proved.
Some other problems of authorship and authenticity in earlier MaMycmist
literature
The Ta-ch' eng ch'i-hsin lun (*MaMyanasraddhotpada[istra) ascribed
to in the Chinese tradition - T. 1666 [Paramartha's [500-
569] translation] and T 1667 [Silq;ananda's [652-710] translation] - is
no doubt not by this old Indian author but, instead, a work produced in
China owing to Paramiirtha's teaching activity there in the sixth century.
It nevertheless possesses very considerable doctrinal interest; and for
Paramartha's school of Vijfianavada it can be said to have true doctrinal
authenticity, containing as it does important and genuine philosophical
materia1.
75
A further problem of authenticity concerns the so-called *Bud-
dhata-sastra (T. 1610) ascribed to Vasubandhu and supposedly translated
by Paramartha.
Questions concerning sources and the circumstances of composi-
t;ion also arise later for the so-called *Vijfiaptimatrata-siddhi (T. 1585)
compiled and redacted by Hsuan-tsang (602-664), but on the basis of
Indian materials going back to the Vijfianavadin Dharmapala and other
Indian commentators on V asubandhu ' s Trtqlsika and collected by this
Chinese scholar during his long period of study in India in the seventh
century.
74 On the general question of authenticity, see R. Buswell (ed.), Chinese Buddhist apo-
crypha (Hawaii, 1990).
. 75 See P. Demieville, L'Inde classique, ii (1953), 2148; and, more recently, J. Takasaki,
problems of the Mahiiyiinasraddhotprida', ABORI 68 (1987), pp. 413-24.
48
D: SEYFORT RUEGG
The Bodhi(sattva)caryavatara
In the later history of Madhyamaka, even Santideva / Santadeva's
Bodhi(sattva)caryiivatiira- ascribed in the Chinese canon to Naglirjuna
himself, and in one Tibetan version (from Dunhuang) to a certain "Blo gros
m(y)i zad pa - poses curious and interesting problems con-
cerning still another important Mahayana treatise.
76
This later work is alluded
to here since it shows that some of the above-mentioned historical problems
in the earlier history of the Mahayana are not met with exclusively at the
beginning of this tradition. In the history of the Mahayana, Sastra as well
as Siitra will continue to give us much food for thought and discussion.
Sastras - i.e. works not classified as buddhavacana - should not be
excluded in principle from the investigation of even the earlier Mahayana.
77
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Beside the approaches to the history of Mahayana outlined above, a fur-
ther highly important avenue consists in the study of the figures of the
Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas. There already exist a number of valuable mono-
graphs relating to the Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara (e.g. de Mallmann),
Tara (from G. de Blonay to P. Arenes), Maitreya / Ajita,78 Mafijusn (e.g.
Lamotte and de Mallmann), and Vajrapfu;ri (e.g. Lamotte).
76 See A. Saito, A study of Alqayamati (= Siintideva)'s Bodhisattvacaryiivatiira as
found in the Tibetan manuscriptsfrom Tun-huang (Miye University, 1993); A study of the
Dun-huang recension of the Bodhisattvacaryiivatiira (Mie, 2000); and 'Remarks on the
Tabo Manuscript of the Bodhisattvacaryiivatiira', in: C. Scherrer-Schaub and E. Steinkell-
ner (ed.), Tabo studies II: Manuscripts, texts, inscriptions and the arts (Rome, 1999),
pp. 175-89. Cf. A. Saito, 'Santideva in the history of Madhyarnika philosophy', in: Bud-
dhism in India and abroad (Mumbai-New Delhi, 1996), pp. 257-63. Santideva's work has
been dated to the second half of the seventh century or the flIst part of the eighth century.
The reference in this work (v.106) to Nagarjuna's Siitrasamuccaya has been discussed by
A. Saito, 'Notes on the interpretation of Bodhi(sattva)caryiivatiira V.104-106', in: H. Bode-
witz and M. Hara (ed.), Gedenkschrift 1. W. de long (Tokyo, 2004), pp. 134-47.
There is uncertainty in some sources as to the form of the name Santideva or Santa-
deva. (The proper name Santideva is attested in the Gunaighar (Bengal) copper-plate
inscription of Vainya Gupta, but it does not refer to the author of our text.)
77 For a recent contribution to the study in a fairly old Sastra of the problem of Maha-
yana in relation to Hinayana, see M. D' Amato, The Mahiiyiina-Hfnayiina distinction in the
Mahiiyiinasiitriillllflkdra: A terminological analysis (University of Chicago thesis, 2000).
78 See, e.g., E. Abegg, 'Der Buddha Maitreya', Mitteilungen der schweizerischen
Gesellschaft der Freunde Ostasiatischer Kultur 7 (1945), pp. 7-37; E. Lamotte, Histoire
Study of the Mahayana may furthennore focus on its multiplication of
Buddhas / Jinas / Tathagatas in addition to the Buddha Sakyamuni and his
(putative) human predecessors. Prominent among the (so-called cosmic)
Buddhas are and Amitabha to each of whom is assigned a pure
Buddha-field, respectively the Abhirati and the SukhavatI. The Vajrayana
was then to push further this process of multiplication of Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas as tutelaries (Tib. yi dam) with the development of, for
instance, Tathagata-pentads and the corresponding mm:ujalas.
It is in relation to the Buddha and to Bodhisattvas, and also of course
to his immediate spiritual master (guru, Tib. rtsa ba'i bla ma),19 that the
Mahayanist displays a strong strand of religious devotion (bhakti, Tib. gus
pa, dad pa; also adara, gaurava, preman, etc.), spiritual inclination or
affection (bhava, Tib. gus pa, bsam pa) and tranquil receptivity or clar-
ity of spirit (prasada, Tib. dad pa 'faith'), expressed both earlier and later
in an extensive literature of hymns and eulogies (stotra and stava).80 This
very noteworthy feature seems to have become prominent in Buddhism
at about the same time that bhakti movements were spreading in Hindu
India, but in this matter it is no easy thing to establish a direct dependence
of Buddhism on Hinduism (or vice versa).
Antecedents and prefigurations of Mahayanist doctrine in the thought of
Sravakayanist orders / schools (nikaya)
A further interesting problem arises when an effort is made to trace the
antecedents of Mahayanist doctrines within Buddhism.
In the search for these origins and precursors of Mahayana we should
not expect to find any single origin and source: monocausality seems in fact
to be ruled out by the evidence available. No one Sravakayanist order /
school (nikaya) of Buddhism can be identified as the single source of the
du bouddhisme indien, pp. 775-88; A. Sponberg and H. Hardacre (ed.), Maitreya, the
future Buddha (Cambridge, 1988); M. Deeg, 'Das Ende des Dhanna und die Ankunft des
Maitreya', ZeitschriJt for Religionswissenschaft 7 (1999), pp. 145-69; P. Jaini, Collected
papers on Buddhist studies (Delhi, 2001), pp. 451-500.
. 79 See, e.g., the Gurupaiiciisikii ascribed to and the related literature.
80 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'Le Dharmadhiitustava de Nagfujuna', pp. 454-7; id., The lite-
rature a/the Madhyamaka school a/philosophy in India, pp. 31,55.
On the related, but distinct, religious and spiritual factors of anugraha, prabhiiva, anu-
bhiiva and see above pp. 18-19.
50 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
Mahayana as a whole, or even as its main source. And in a number of
cases, Mahayanists have cohabited in the same monastic community with
Sravakayanists of various orders or schools.
8
!
Whilst the tathiigatagarbha doctrine, for instance, has sometimes
been linked with the MahasaIp.ghikas, 82 its precursors, or at least adum-
brations of it, appear to have been multiple and complex.
83
Exponents
of this doctrine sometimes connect it with the Luminous Mind (pra-
bhiisvarartz cittam, Pali pabhassarartz cittartz) of the old c a n o ~ c a l Agama
(including the Pali canon of the Theravadins).84 And as a prefiguration
it is no doubt possible to point to the idea of a 'Buddha-Seed' (buddha-
bija) - and (to an extent) even to the bija theory - as well as to the
(prakrtistha)gotra, all of which are of course not exclusively Mahaya-
nist.
85
81 See E. Lamotte, 'Sur la formation du Mahayana', p. 394 ff., as well as L. de La
Vallee Poussin, 'Opinions sur les relations des deux Vehicules au point de vue du Vinaya',
Bulletin de la Classedes Lettres et des Sciences Morales et PoUtiques (Academie Royale
de Belgique), 16 (1930), pp. 20-39. And on 'Mahayana-Sthaviras' in Sri Lanka, see
H. Bechert, 'Mahayana literature in Sri Lanka: the early period', in: L. Lancaster (ed.),
Prajfiaparamita and related systems (Studies in honor of Edward Conze, Berkeley, 1977),
pp. 351-8 (with id., 'Notes on the formation of Buddhist sects and the origin of Mahayana,
in: German scholars on India, VoL 1 [Varanasi, 1973], pp. 6-18). - For the Mahayanist
community of monks, see recently P. Kieffer-Ptilz, 'Mahayana- und Vajrayana-Monche',
in H. Bechert et al. (ed.), Der Buddhismus, i (Stuttgart, 2000), p. 303 ff.
82 It may be (?) that the tathiigatagarbha teaching was linked with the Mahasii:qJ.ghika /
Ekavyavaharika school in Bhavya's Nikayabhedavibhaligavyakhyana where we read: de
Min gzegs pa thams cad kyi gsuli ni sfiili po la mlion par mos pa '0 (cf. A. Bareau, fA 1956,
p. 173). Concerning possible Mahasii:qJ.ghika links, see Theone, pp. 47 ff., 412, 441 ff., 474.
See also M. Shimoda, 'The relationship between the Mahayana Mahiiparinirval}asutra
and the Mahasanghika', IBK 42/2 (1994), pp. 22-27.
83 One of the main sources for the tathiigatagarbha doctrine is the (Mahayanist) Mahii-
parinirvalJasutra, to which M. Shimoda has devoted a major study: Nehangyi5 no kenkyu
(Tokyo, 1997). For the relation of this Siitra to the Mahiimeghasutra see T. Suzuki, 'The
recompilation of the MahapannirvalJasutra under the influence of the Mahameghasutra',
IBK 49/2 (200I), pp. 1007-03. Another major source, the Tathiigatagarbhasutra, has been
studied by M. Zimmerruann; see his 'The Tathagatagarbhasutra, its basic structure and
relation to the Lotus Siitra', ARIRIAB 2 (1999), pp. 143-68; and id., A Buddha within: The
Tathagatagarbhasutra (Tokyo, 2002).
84 See D. Seyfort Ruegg, Theone, p. 411 ff. (where the Mahasii:qJ.ghikas are mentioned
as advocates of the theory).
85 See the discussion in Theone, passim; and D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'La traduction de la
terminologie technique de la pensee indienne depuis Sylvain Levi' forthcoming in the Pro-
ceedings of the S. Levi Memorial Symposium (paris, 2003).
In their respective ways, the (Lokottaravadin-)Mahasfup.ghikas (in rela-
tion for instance to the Madhyamaka tradition)86 and the Sautrantikas (in
relation for example to Vasubandhu and the Vijfianavada)87 have played
significant parts in the elaboration and development of Mahayanist thought.
But there is no reason to believe that they were alone in this. It has been
possible to link the famous Ta-chih-tu-Iun (*Mahaprajiiiipiiramitopadda)
ascribed to (a) Nagarjuna with Sarvastivada tradition (and the Miilasar-
vastivadin Vinaya).88
As for Sravakayanist antecedents of the iilayavijfiiina, in his Mahayiina-
sal'{lgraha ( i.11-12) AsaIiga has cited the mUlavijfiiina of the Mahasfup.-
ghikas, the *iisiil'{lsiirikaskandha of the MahIsasakas, and the bhaviiftga
(pali bhavaftga) of the Tamrasapyas / Tamraparr.nyas (i.e. the Staviras, and
more specifically, the Theravadins).89
Furthermore, Mahayanist monks have followed the Discipline-books of
a Vinaya-school, the Chinese using the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya for instance,
and the Tibetans the Miilasarvastivadin Vinaya (see pp. 30-31 above).
. In sum, no single philosophical doctrine and no single religious practice
- not even the Bodhisattva-ideal or the svabhiiva-sunyatii- (nibsvabhii-
vatii) or dharmanairiitmya-doctrine
9o
- can of and by itself be claimed
to be the main religious or philosophical source of the Mahayana as a
whole. And it would seem in large part to be a fallacy to attempt to link
the origins of the Mahayana with anyone particular Sravakayanist Nikaya.
86 See CandrakIrti, vi.44 (pp. 134-35), where the Purva-
saila branch of the (Lokottaravadin-)Mahasfupghikas is specified as the source. See also
CandrakIrti's Prasannapadii, xxvi.2 (p. 548), where the source of two verses of the same
material is given as iigamasutrii"(li. On these verses see D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'Le Dharma-
dhtitustava de Nagarjuna', in: Etudes tibetaines dediees a la memaire de Marcelle Lalau,
pp. 459-60. In his Sunyatiisaptativrtti, CandrakIrti also cites a couple of verses from the
same material. The source appears to be the *Lokiinuvartanasutra; see P. Harrison, 'San-
'skrit fragments of a Lokottaravadin tradition', in: L. Hercus et al. (ed.), Indalagical and
Buddhist studies (J.W. de Jong Felicitation Volume, Canberra, 1982), pp. 211-34. - Rel-
evant groups are known in Pali as Andhakas.
87 See above, n. 65.
88 See E. Lamotte, Der Verfasser des Upadea und seine Quellen (see n. 2), together
with his French translation of the *Upadea.: Le traite de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse. For
links with the Vinaya of the MUlasarvastivadins and the date of the latter, see G. Schopen,
'The bones of a Buddha and the business of a monk .. .', lIP 27 (1999), p. 293.
89 See the discussion in L. Schmithausen, Alayavijiiiina (Tokyo, 1987).
90 See above, p. 39.
52 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
But it remains perfectly legitimate, and of course very useful, to try to
identify in the thought of an earlier Buddhist school/order antecedents,
precursors and prefigurations of - or at least parallels to - a given com-
ponent element of the Mahayana.
91
The question of so-called 'merit-transfer'
An idea that has posed a number of thorny questions and conceptual
difficulties for Buddhist thought and the history of the Mahayana is that
often referred to as 'transfer of merit' (pu1'}yapari1'}amana). The process
of pari1'}amana (Tib. yoils su bsilo ba) in fact constitutes a most impor-
tant feature in Mahayana, where it denotes what might perhaps best be
termed the dedication of good (pu1'}ya, subha, kusala[miilaJ; Tib. bsod
nams, dge ba['i rtsa baJ) by an exercitant in view of the attainment by
another karmically related person (such as a deceased parent or teacher)
of a higher end. Yet such dedication appears, prima facie, to run counter
to the karmic principle of the fruition or retribution of deeds (karmavi-
paka). Generally accepted in Buddhism, both Mahayanist and non-Maha-
yanist, this principle stipulates that a karmic fruit or result (karmaphala)
is 'reaped', i.e. experienced, solely by the person - or more precisely by
the conscious series (saY(ltana) - that has sown the seed of future karmic
fruition when deliberately (cetayitva) accomplishing an action (karman).
The related idea of acquisition / possession (of 'merit' , Pali patti, Skt.
prapti), of assenting to and rejoicing in it (pattanumodana), and even of
its gift (pattidana) are known to sections of the Theravada tradition; and
91 Account must be taken of the fact that a given doctrine of a Sravakayiinist Nikaya,
as now available to us, is not automatically and necessarily earlier historically than a com-
parable idea of the earlier Mahayana.
According to certain records, for instance the legend of Mahadeva and the Council of
Pataliputra, the Mahasfup.ghikas were linked from early tinJes with the Mahayana and had
a Bodhisattvapitaka and a DharaJ)Ipitaka. For the arapacana formula see above, nn. 48 and
57. And on dhiiraJ;is, or mnemonic formulae, see T. Vetter, 'On the origin of Mahayana
Buddhism', ASIEA 48 (1994), pp. 1244, 1272-3.
For the Sravakayiinist Nikayas - in particular the Mahasfup.ghikas but also the Dhar-
maguptakas and Harivarman's *Satyasiddhisiistra - in relation to the Mahayana, see
A. Bareau, Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Whicule, p. 296 ff. Cf. D. Seyfort Riiegg,
'tiber die Nikiiyas der Sravakas und den Ursprung der philosophischen Schulen des Bud-
dhismus nach den tibetischen Quellen', in: H. Bechert (ed.), Zur SchulzugehOrigkeit von
Werken der Hfnayiina-Literatur, Part 1 (Gottingen, 1985), p. 111 ff.
this concept -absent in the oldest canonical texts in Pali, but found in
later Pali tradition (Petavatthu, Buddhiipadiina) - has been explained by
some writers as being due to Mahayanist influence, and by reference to
Nalinaksha Dutt's category of 'semi-Mahayana'.92
The dedication of good by one sentient being in favour of others has
of course to be kept separate from that particular kind of karman, also
known in Buddhism, which is held in common (siidhiirmJaf!l karma) by
karmic ally related sentient beings, who then share in the fruition of these
.actions in one single container-world (bhiijanaloka).93
The parilJiimanii of salutary roots (kusalamilla) in view of supreme
Awakening (anuttarii samyaksambodhil:z) appears also to violate another
important principle, that of the momentariness (k:;alJikatva, k:;alJikatii) of
things. For, given this very widely accepted principle, the question arises
as to just how there can exist a link (samavadhiina) between the mental
event of joyful approval (anumodakarrz cittam, anumodaniimanaskiira)
of a salutary act - the antecedent of the parilJiimaka-citta / parilJiimanii-
manaskiira - and the subsequent moment of its dedication.
94
Aspects of the concepts expressed by the terms paril'}iimanii and patti
have been considered by a number of scholars, and the matter awaits full
treatment.
95
When speaking of the Mahayana, it is essential to remember
92 See N. Dutt, Aspects of Mahiiyiina Buddhism and its relation to Hfnayiina (London,
1930), pp. 36-39.
93 For some references concerning this kind of karman that does not belong solely to
a single conscious stream, see D. Seyfort Ruegg, Two prolegomena to Madhyamaka philo-
sophy, p. 204 (n. 79).
94 This matter has been discussed in detail by Haribhadra in his Abhisamayiila7f1kiir-
iilokii ii.21-23, in his comments on chapter ii, the AnumodanapariJ.!amanaparivarta, of the
Prajfiiipiiramitii. For compare Santideva, Bodhicaryiivatiira ix.6
f.with Prajfiakaramati's commentary (in this work's section [ili.6-7] onparilJiimanii, this
problem has not been raised).
95 The literature on pUlJyaparilJiimanii and patti in Buddhism is extensive. See, e.g.,
J.-M. Agasse, 'Le transfert de merite dans Ie bouddhisme pili c!assique', fA 1978, pp. 311-
-32; J. Fil1iozat, 'Sur Ie domaine semantique de pUlJya', in: Indianisme et bouddhisme,
Melanges E. Lamotte (Louvain-Ia-Neuve, 1980), pp. 101-16; G. Schopen, 'Two problems
inthe history of Buddhism', StII 19 (1985) = Bones, stones and Buddhist monks, p. 36 ff.
(with the bibliography in n. 104); H. Bechert, 'Buddha-field and transfer of merit in a
Theravada source', IlJ 35 (1992), pp. 95-108, with a comprehensive bibliography of the
problem and a discussion of the studies by G. Schopen ('Two problems in the history of
Buddhism') and L. Schmithausen (,Critical response', in: R.W. Neufeldt [ed.], Karma and
rebirth [Albany, 1986], pp. 203-30). This article by Bechert is a revised version of his
54 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
that all this takes place against the background, implied or expressed, of
the Emptiness of self-existence (svabhavasunyata) and the Non-substan-
tiality (nilJsvabhiivata, nairatmya) of all things, and of the absence of
objectification (analambana, etc.).
Mahakaru1).a, or niralambana karu1).a, and sarvakaravaropeta siinyata
There exists in the Mahayana the idea of salvific activity, exercised by
the Buddha or by a Bodhisattva, which benefits a collectivity inasmuch
as this activity exercised by them, and marked by their highly expert use
of the appropriate salvific devices (upaya), does not take as its object any
single, individualized beneficiary of compassion. Essential to this kind of
activity appears to be on the one side the ethical and spiritual autonomy
of its numerically unlimited beneficiaries and on the other .side the soteri-
ological action of the Buddha and Bodhisattva as agents of this 'interper-
sonal' - but none the less universalized and non-objectifying - activity.
Non-objectifying compassion (niralambana karUlJ.a) - in other words
mahakarUlJa 'Great Compassion - having as it does the quality of being
non-reifying and unhypostatized, is moreover a component feature of that
form of Emptiness which has been described as endowed with all excellent
modes (sarvakaravaropeta sunyata).96 The realization of this character-
istically Mahayanistic principle brings into play, and engages in their full-
ness, all the Perfections (paramita) under the guidance of the sixth, namely
discriminating understanding (prajiia).
The complexity of the concept of Mahayana
Some modem writers have perhaps been inclined to use the terms 'Maha-
yana' and 'llinayana' somewhat umefiectively if not carelessly, without
'Buddha-Feld und Verdienstiibertragung: Mahayana-Ideen im Theravada-Buddhismus Cey-
Ions' , Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres et des Sciences Morales et Politiques (Academie Royale
de Belgique) 62 (1976), pp. 27-5L - For the idea of merit-transfer in Bralunanism/Hin-
duism, see M. Hara, 'Transfer of merit' , ALB 31-32 (1967-68), pp. 383-411; id., 'Transfer of
merit in Hindu literature and religion', Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko 52 (1994), pp. 103-35.
96 This last concept has historical links with the concept of the Empty of the hetero-
geneous (gian stan), as distinct from the ran stan, i.e svabht'tvasilnyatii 'Emptiness of self-
existence' .
ASPECTS OF THE STUDY OF THE (EARLIER) INDIAN MAHiW ANA 55
having paid due attention to semantic nuance and to important gnoseo-
logical and soteriological distinctions. Before such terminology can be
securely and meaningfully taken over, a careful 'ernic' analysis, based on
the original Buddhist categories, is required of the synchronic, and syste-
matic, uses made of it by a given text or set of related texts, as well as by
the scholastic traditions deriving diachronically from the textual corpus.
In its philosophical thought, ethical practice and religious discipline
the Mahayana, including also its earlier forms, evidently embraced various
currents and strands of theory and practice. Apparently these components
were sometimes in tension with each other.
It would seem, for example, that as a whole the Mahayana was neither
a one-sidedly lay, or 'popular', movement nor was it exclusively an asce-
tic or monachal, and so-called 'elitist', one (at least to the extent that
these pairs of opposed descriptions are to be considered as deftning mutu-
ally exclusive and contradictory extreme positions - in other words, in
Buddhist parlance, as antas). In the Mahayana we find criticized and
repudiated certain forms of austerity; and excessive forms of it could
even be represented by Mara, being induced by his 'acts' (miirakannan),97
or again by Devadatta.
98
Yet we ftnd also recognized in the Mahayana the
famous qualities (dhuta-IdhutagulJ-a = sbyaizs pa'i yon tan 'factors of
purification, austerities') of the ascetic or piif!lsukulika.
99
Such an oppo-
sition between contrasting forms of religious life and discipline is in part
c;ongruent with the well-known distinction between wilderness-dwelling
eremetic monks and town-dwelling coenobitic monks (iiralJ-yaka I griimiin-
tika, arafifiaviisf I giimantavihiirf, who may be identifted as DharmabhiiI)a-
kas).100 It was no doubt not asceticism as such that was repudiated in the
97 See, e.g., Aetasiihasrikii Prajiiiipiiramitii, Chapter xxi, p. 391 ff.
98 cf. B. Mukherjee, Die Uberlieferung von Devadatta '" in den kanonischen Schriften
(Munich, 1966), p. 75 ff., discussing the views of the Sriivakayanist (!) sources on this mat-
ter; and M. Deeg, 'The Sangha of Devadatta', JICABS 2 (1999), pp. 183-218. An echo of
the view of Devadatta as an advocate of extreme asceticism is to be found much later
among the songs of 'Brug pa Kun legs, fo1. 19b and 30b (see R.A. Stein, Vie et chants de
'Brug-pa Kun-legs Ie Yogin [paris, 1972]).
99 See, e.g., J. Dantinne, Les qualites de l'ascete (Brussels, 1991). Cf. G. Schopen, EB
32 (2000), p. 22 f.
100 See lately F. Deleanu, 'A preliminary study on meditation and the beginnings of
Mahayana Buddhism', ARIRL4.B 3 (1999), pp. 65-113; S. Karashima, 'Who composed the
Lotus Siitra?',ARIRIAB 4 (2000), pp. 143-82; and D. Boucher, 'The textual history of the
56 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
Mahayana, but those forms of it that were not governed by the Perfec-
tions, and in particular by the foundational Perfection of liberality (diina-
piiramitii) and the key central Perfection of discriminative understanding
(prajfiaparamita). As already observed above (p. 27), the 'householder'
Bodhisattva VimalakIrti might possibly be seen as emblematic of a com-
bined lay-religious current within Mahayana.
101
It may also be recalled
that, in Buddhist tradition continued by both the Prajiiapiiramita and the
Abhidharma, the category of Pratyekabuddha is subdivided into two, the
(bse ru Ita buy, who lives as a solitary ascetic (ekavi-
hiirin), and the vargaciirin (tshogs spyod), who is linked with a Sravaka
(sriivakapurvin) and the Sravakayana.
Indeed, as is so often the case in the study of Indian religion and thought,
for the history of the Mahayana we shall no doubt need to adopt in many
a case a 'both ... and' view which is 'emically' based, renouncing the spe-
cious clarity and simplicity of some stark 'either. .. or' dichotomy couched
in terms of 'etic' categories. We shall surely have to eschew any gener-
alizing reductionism that transforms the whole of the Mahayana into some
one-sided dogma or praxis (even if, at some times and places, we do
indeed find extreme and unilateralist positions expressed in our sources).
By way of conclusion
In scholarly research, the tracing of both continuities and discontinu-
ities is one of the first tasks the historian will set himself. In many of its
aspects, the Mahayana appears not so much as a radical break in the
course of Buddhist thought - one that is markedly discontinuous with
RaerrapalaparipTcchii', ibid., pp. 93-115. Aspects of this problem have also been treated
by J. Silk in his 1994 University of Michigan thesis: The origins and early history of the
Mahiiratnakura tradition of Mahiiyana Buddhism, with a study of the Ratnarasisutra and
related materials.
101 Another, somewhat different, case is the householder U gra of the G[hapati- U grapa-
rip[cchiisutra. Cf. J. Nattier, Afew good men: The Bodhisattva Path according to the Inquiry
of Ugra (Honolulu, 2003).
A diplomatic edition of the Sanskrit text of a manuscript of the Vimalakfrtinirde.fa was
published in 2004 in Tokyo by H. Takahashi and the other members of the Study Group
on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature at the Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism
of Taisho University.
therest of the 'Buddha-Word' (buddhavacana) or the Buddha's teaching
(dharma, siisana)102 - but rather as continuing elucidation and persist-
ent elaboration. It reveals itself as a development of much of what was
said in other sections of the Buddha's teaching, of which the Mahayana
scriptures are indeed deemed by its followers to form part and parcel.
In other words, the Mahayana may often be regarded as representing
changes in emphasis or perspective, destined perhaps for a particular spir-
itual type or category (gotra, etc.) of persons as defined by their mental
aptitudes and predispositions and by their spiritual aspiration (iisaya, etc.).
And topics merely foreshadowed earlier, or only roughly sketched out
previously, are there thematized and developed. A good number of the fun-
damental ideas of the Mahayana in fact tum out to have antecedents, pre-
cursors or prefigurations in the old canonical scriptures (Agamas /
Nikayas) and their commentaries.
In its historical stages, what we know as Mahayana would appear to
have been a complex and many-layered, as well as a geographically widely
diffused and polycentric, set of teachings and practices that relate to a men-
tality, ideal and movement having multiple religious and philosophical
expressions as well as social and geographical origins. It presents itself
as an aspiration toward a spiritual goal: immediately the practice or path
of a Bodhisattva (bodhisattvacaryii, bodhipatha, etc.) and ultimately the
state of a Buddha (buddhatii, etc.).
Concerning the description as 'mysticism' that has not infrequently
been attached to one or the other feature of Mahayanist thought, given that
in its usage this expression seems to bear so many heterogeneous mean-
ings, its applicability and usefulness here are problematical. As a whole,
the Mahayana seems to have little to do with a via unitiva or unio mys-
tica; rather, in Mahayanist thought, a key idea is advaya 'non-duality'
(which is something different even from Vedantic advaita or monism).
"
It is true that in Mahayana, the ineffable - that is, the conceptually and
speculatively unthinkable (acintya, atarkya, etc.) and verbally inexpress-
ible (anabhiliipya, etc.) ultimate reality of the (aparyiiya)paramiirtha -
is a very prominent theme. And throughout Buddhist thought the
avyiik[tavastus 'unexplicated points' and Aryan Silence
102 Although it may of course so appear in certain of its sources.
58
D. SEYFORT RUEGG
occupy a conspicuous place.
103
But inexpressibility and indeterrninability
do not seem to be equatable for instance with the arrheta 'unspeakable',
much less with the aporrheta 'forbidden', as found in the secrecy of the
Greek mysteries. With reference to bodhi 'Awakening', it may of course
be understood as a sort of illuminatio - one not induced from without
(aparapratyaya; cf. pratyiitmavedya, etc.) -, with the Bodhisattva's path
then constituting a sort of via illuminativa. But since - rather like
'shamanism'104 - 'mysticism' seems to mean quite different things to dif-
ferent people, and since it therefore has only a limited heuristic value
because it begs many a question and probably raises more problems than
it actually clarifies, it had perhaps best be used sparingly (after being
defined for a specific context) if not avoided altogether. !Os Concerning
the matter of experience, mystical or otherwise, it may be recalled that
CandrakIrti has provided an interesting, if brief, critique of anubhava.
106
As for ecstasy, it seems correct to say that in its outlook and techniques
the Mahayana has been more enstatic than ecstatic. 107
If, then, it is to be invoked at all in connexion with the Mahayana, the
description as mysticism will be either general and unspecific, and hence
fairly vague, or, on the contrary, restricted to what relates to i n s i g h ~ and
inner understanding of the paramiirtha (cf. pratyiitmavedya, etc.), or again
103 cf. D. Seyfort Ruegg, La tMorie du tathagatagarbha et du gotra, p. 105 n. (on the
difference from avaktavya, avacya), and Chap. v (with id., 'On the knowability and express-
ibility of absolute reality in Buddhism', IBK 20 [1971], pp. 495-489); id. Three studies in
the history of Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka philosophy, Section II.
104 cf. recently Revue Diogene - Chamanismes (Paris, 2003); H.-P. Francfort and
R. Hamayon, The concept of Shamanism: Uses and abuses (Budapest, 2001).
, 105 The ancient Greek 'mysteria' - award etymologically connected with 'mysticism'
and derived from Gk. mUD 'to initiate' - have been surveyed by W. Burkert, Ancient
mystery cults (Cambridge, MA, 1987), p. 7 ff. He comes up with the following description
(p. 11): 'mysteries were initiation rituals of a voluntary, personal and secret character that
aimed at a change of mind through experience of the sacred'. Almost all of Burkert's
description would be problematical for 'mystery' to the extent that this notion is applica-
ble in the Mahayana (and perhaps even in the Vajrayana). On mysticism in Asia, compare,
e.g., F. Staal, Exploring mysticism (Berkeley, 1975); S. Weightman, Mysticism and the
metaphor of energies (SOAS, London, 2000).
106 Prasannapada i.l, p. 58.
107 On an aspect of this issue and of shamanism (in regard to a Buddhist work that
is not Mahayanist), see D. Seyfort Ruegg, 'On a Yoga treatise in Sanskrit from Qlzil',
JAOS 87 (1967), p. 163. F. Staal has touched on shamanism, op. cit., pp. 73-75, 78, 204,
206.
to what might be .called visionary insight (as in the case of, e.g., the Sarva-
.
. The Mahayana is not an entirely uniform and monolithic movement.
Nor does it even pretend to be such in so far as it insists that it was taught
by the Buddha and his followers for the benefit of types of persons
having different mental aptitudes and spiritual predispositions. And in its
historical origins it was not totally homogeneous. Rather than monogen-
esis, and unilinearity, plurigenesis and polycentricity have marked both
its origins and subsequent development. This fact will, however, hardly
justify speaking in relation to it of 'Buddhisms' or of 'Mahayanas' (in the
plural): this procedure would appear to possess little heuristic and explana-
tory value, and it seems merely to displace the problems resulting from
the complex nature of the Mahayana without providing us with a new
and fruitful avenue for research and clarification. As for the masters and
schools of Mahayana in both its Siltra (Prajfiiipiiramitii, SafTldhinirmo-
cana, Tathiigatagarbha, etc.) and Sastra (Madhyamaka, Vijfianavada, etc.)
forms, they were of course very much aware of the variety of ideas and
doctrines that have been subsumed under the name of Mahayana.
The Mahayana appears, then, less as a monothetic entity than as a poly-
thetic structure with so to say 'family resemblances' connecting various
components. The multiple aspects and facets of the Mahayana locate them-
selves, in a quasi-historical narrative, within a religio-philosophical view
and frame where the Buddha figures as Teacher, Buddha-Word (bud-
dhavacana) is its verbal expression, and buddhahood (buddhatii, etc.) is
its ultimate end. For its followers, within the very considerable diver-
sity of its teachings and practices, there have of course existed overarch-
ing principles and themes, many of them newly found and elaborated.
It is these, together with the stages of development through which the
Mahayana has passed, that need also to be identified and explored in
detail in our research.
Still another of the facets of the Mahayana (and of Buddhism in gen-
eral) deserving mention is its link with medicine and healing, Bodhisattvas
as well as the Buddha himself being thought of, metaphorically and lite-
rally, as physicians and healers.!08
108 See already the long article Byo of 1937 in the HobOgirin, iii, pp. 224-70.
60 D: SEYFORT RUEGG
The critical exploration of the Mahayana towards which we strive as
scholars will, needless to say, be historical, philological, archaeological,
art historical, inscriptional (with the caveat entered above, pp. 15-18),
sociological, religious, and philosophical. When appropriate, other disci-
plines, for instance numismatics, may also have to be called upon. The
study of the recensions of Mahayana Siitras, based on the Indian origi-
nals and their Chinese, Tibetan and other old versions, still remains to be
carried further (see pp. 20-23 above). All this is clearly a very,time-con-
suming task requiring a large force of experienced scholars. We of course
already have available a number of valuable articles and books concerned
with the Mahayana in and/or outside India. Because of the obstacles and
difficulties outlined above, however, there has so far appeared no com-
prehensive and continuous narrative treatment of the history of the
Mahayana, or even of its more ancient Indian periods, to complement
Lamotte's masterly volume of 1958 devoted to the earlier history of Indian
Buddhism. Such an undertaking would require the concerted and sustained
efforts of a large group of scholars. In the circumstances of today, the
number of qualified researchers available to undertake these tasks remains,
however, relatively small, and it is scarcely adequate for the many tasks
before us.
A matter of considerable importance for our quest, relating as it does to
the epistemology as well as the data of Mahayana studies, seems to be the
following consideration. Employing the standard and well-tested methods
of the philological and historical sciences - and in a very legitimate
search for origins, core data and textual or doctrinal strata through employ-
ing a more or less chronological and stratigraphical kind of analysis -,
we sometimes find that the object of our enquiry so to say breaks up and
becomes fragmented and impalpable, somewhat like the proverbial onion
when being peeled. What are then additionally required are approaches
to the subject that are thematic and hermeneutical, exploring religio-philo-
sophical topics and structures (topoi, philosophoumena, etc.) in their var-
ious contexts, and seeking to lay bare the systematic significance of the
constituent parts. Rather than limiting itself exclusively to bringing to
light vertical, chronological-stratigraphical, layers, our study will some-
times need to be more comparable to tomography, where the image may
reveal cross-linkages in a horizontal, synchronic, slice. It may also be appro-
priate to bring together materials from the geographically far-flung tradi-
tions of Buddhism. In such work the comparative method too will have
a very important part to play. It will, however, still be possible for the
enquiry to be diachronic whenever this appears to be appropriate and
desirable, for we shall no doubt continue to wish to work forwards and
backwards in time. And our study will thus not cease to be historical in
the narrower, and modem, sense of this word. Yet at the same time it
'will need to bring to bear descriptions and analyses that are not exclusively
stratigraphical and hence relatable in their procedures either to the evo-
lutionary models of palaeontology proper to natural science, or to the
methods of archaeological excavation. Therefore, far from being either
ahistorical or antihistorical by seeking to overthrow the necessary tech-
niques of philology and history, this study will prove to be historical also
in the wider, and original, meaning of this word. In this way our quest can
also be historia in the sense of enquiry and of its product, an account of
this enquiry.
Finally, when we approach the study of early Mahayana, non-scriptural
texts - those not classifiable as Sutras - are not automatically to
be excluded from our attention. It is of course only good philological and
historical practice to tum to the old Sutra works that constitute the
acknowledged foundations of the Mahayana. But given the very nature
of Mahayanist sources - and in the light of the fact that the precise
dating of many a Mahayana Sutra is in any case problematical and may
in some cases place it in the same period as a Sastra - basic exegetical
works originating in the older period, such as those of Nagarjuna, also
need to be taken carefully into account. Indeed, Sastra literature can yield
invaluable avenues of approach even to the earlier Mahayana.
62 D. SEYFORT RUEGG
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Proem .................................... .
The terminology: Mahayana, Bodhisattvayana, Vaipulya, etc., in relation
to Sravakayana, H3nayana, Sthaviraviida / Theraviida, etc. ...... .
The contextual position of the Mahayana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Theravada / Sthaviraviida, and the question of a 'Common', 'Mainstream'
or 'Conservative' Buddhism ...................... .
Types of sources for the history of the earlier Indian Mahayana . : . . . .
Some factors involved in the composition and transmission of Mahayana
3
5
7
10
12
Sfitras ............................ . 18
On versions and recensions of Mahayana Sfitras . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20
The matter of laymen (grhin, grhapati, grhastha) and of stilpas . . . . .. 24
The relation between M';maylfua and Sra"vakayana / H3nayana: opposition
and complementarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
Co-existence of Mahayana and Sravakayana . . . . . . . . . . . . ... .. 30
Buddhism and the ambient Indian religions, and the problem of the relation-
ship between Mahayana and Brahmanism / Hinduism ....
The geographical milieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tw? p ~ o b ~ e m s in comparativism: Gnosticism and Manichaeism
Penodization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hermeneutics in Mahayana ................... .
The problem of the classification of Sfitras as Mahayanist, and the referen-
tial extension of the expression 'mahayana'
A doctrinal and philosophical criterion for the Mahayana ..
The doctrinal classification of individual Mahayanasfitras . .
The doctrinal classification of the tathtigatagarbha teaching
Scripture (Siltra) and commentary (Sastra) in Mahayana
On two early masters of the Mahayana: Nagiirjuna and Vasubandhu
31
33
35
36
37
38
39
39
40
41
42
Some other problems of authorship and authenticity in earlier Mahayanist
literature ......... 47
The Bodhi(sattva)caryavatara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 48
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 48
Antecedents and prefigurations of Mahayanist doctrine in the thought of
SravakaYanist orders / schools (nikaya) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 49
The question of so-called 'merit-transfer' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Mahtikaru1J.a, or niralambana karu1J.a, and sarvaktiravaropeta silnyata 54
The complexity of the concept of Mahayana 54
By way of conclusion ..........................- 56
BUDDHIST SOURCES ON FETICIDE AS DISTINCT
FROM HOMICIDE*
GIULIO AGOSTINI
!:}\fter 1969 (Ling), the scholarly interest on the Buddhist view of abortion
been steadily growing.
l
This interest is not just historico-philological,
$utis related to the contemporary debate on legislation about abortion in
It!iany countries. In this paper I confme myself to historico-philological
iiliatters. My first aim is to present unambigous evidence showing that
one ancient school of Indian Buddhism made a clear distinction
l{;,;\"''''"
abortion and homicide. My second aim is to contextualize this
which unfortunately entails some degree of speculation.
results of previous philological research can be easily summarised.
1ltPe PaJiVinaya and other canonical and post-canonical texts explicitly
"171""."'
,put abortion and homicide into one and the same category. The human
fetus is at all times a 'living being' (priinin) because it is endowed with
'We (jivita, iiyus) and consciousness (vijfiiina) right from conception.
:I9,Uing (miirar.za, vadha) is defmed as 'cutting off life' (iiyuruccheda) ,
iitld therefore abortion is classified as the 'murder of a living being'
''(ptiir.ziitipiita). If the living being in question belongs to the human species,
is classified as 'homicide' (manu.yyavadha). Consequently, those
i13uddhists who are responsible for an abortion break: the vow not to kill
l;Jiuman beings and lose whatever religious status they have achieved:
fmpnks, nuns, novices, lay brothers and lay sisters would all infringe their
These results provide a correct description of the Buddhist posi-
on abortion according to most schools. However, the picture is not
_ii/
is a revised version of a paper I delivered on March 24, 2002, at the Annual Meet-
rriJg of the American Academy of Religion I Western Region (March 23-26, 2002 - Saint
College, Moraga, California). The paper itself was based on a chapter of my PhD
grJiesis (Agostini 2002).
See, e.g., Lecso 1987, Florida 1991, Stott 1992, Keown 1995 and 1999, McDermott
Collins 1999, Green 1999, Perret 2000, Keown 2001, Green 2001.
64 GruLla AGOSTINI
complete, because two Buddhist sources that allow abortion have so far
escaped the attention of scholars.
*
* *
Of the two passages I want to discuss, the first one is neither the more
explicit nor the earlier one. It is the shorter one, and for easiness of expo-
sition I deal with it first. For the scholarly study of abortion it -is a unique
source because it belongs to a text addressed to Buddhist lay brothers
(upasaka), not to clerics.
In the 12th century the Buddhist monk Sunayasn wrote the Upasa-
Eight Verses on the Vows of Buddhist Lay Brothers.
He also wrote a short commentary on it, the
ralJa. Both texts are extant only in their Tibetan translations by SunayasrI
himself and by Dar rna drags. Since these translations are located in the
'Dul ba (Vinaya) section of the Tanjur,2 one would expect SunayasrI to
represent the MUlasarvastivada legal tradition, which, however, does not
make any distinction between abortion and homicide (see Appendix One,
3.4).
In the fifth verse of the Sunayasn lists grave
infringements of the upasaka precepts as "causes that [result in] the loss
of the [upasaka] vow" (sdom pa fiams pa'i rgyu rnams = *sarhvaratyaga-
hetavab). The flrst infringement, as expected, is "homicide" (mi gsod pa =
In the commentary we read SunayasrI's interesting defl-
nition of homicide:
4
yan lag Ina mnon par grub pa 'i Ito na gnas pa' am phyir byun ba 'i mi rnams
la sman dan mtshan la sags pas tshe'i bar chad
2 Tanjur, 'Dul ba: Narthang ed., Cat. numbers 3633-4, vol. U, pp. 174b7-175a6 and
175a6-180b4 (= N); Peking ed., Cat. numbers 5642-3, pp. 190b4-191aS and 191aS-197a3
(= Q); Derge ed., Cat. numbers 4141-2, vol. Su, pp. 156b5-157a3 and 157a3-161b2 (= D);
Cone ed., vol. Su, pp. 155b5-156a3 and 156a3-160b2 (= C); the Golden Tanjur was unfor-
tunately not available to me. To my knowledge, these texts have not been edited, trans-
lated, or studied so far. I am working on an edition and translation. My dating of SunaYaSrl
is mostly based on the fact that he himself translated both texts into Tibetan and on the
dating of the co-translator Dar rna grags (see the Appendix in Agostini 2002).
3 N 175a3-4, Q 190b8-a1, D 156b7-a1, C 155b7-al.
4 N 179a3, Q 195a7-8, D 160aS, C 159aS.
BUDDIDST SOURCES ON FETICIDE AS DISTINCT FROM HOMICIDE 65
.cutting off life (iiyuruccheda) of human beings (manuD'a) whose five
limbs have (paficiingiibhinirvrtta), whether they are in the womb
or have come out [of it], by means of drugs, cutting tools, etc.
The 'five limbs' are the head, the anns and the legs (see below). In this
.. passage, SunaYaSii defines 'killing' (vadha) in traditional tenns as 'cut-
_ring off life': since life in Buddhism starts at conception, feticide at any
. stage of pregnancy would qualify as killing (vadha). But is it, at any stage
of pregnancy, homicide No, says Sunayasii: it is homi-
',' 'ide only if the fetus has already developed the 'five limbs'. Prior to this
idevelopment the fetus is not a 'man' yet, at least for the purposes of the
definition of homicide. What is it then? SunayaSii does not say, and
is a serious difficulty: in the traditional classification of living beings
: according the six destinies of rebirth (gati) and the four yonis there is no
"foam for a fetus who is not a man and yet is alive in a human womb.
if'Further, SunayaSii does not say whether abortion at the early stages of
would at least entail a minor offence - it seems not -, and
;whether his definition of homicide would hold good for Buddhist clerics
- as it should -, and not just for lay brothers: maya monk com-
feticide without incurring a piiriijika sin? Sunayasii adds nothing
ito defend or explain his position, apparently at variance with everything
.Pi'"
know from many other sources. He must have assumed that for his
41,tidience all this was old news, and indeed we can now tum to an older

*
* *
"The Sr'ighaniiciirasangraha is an anonymous text in verses on the
;'priduct of Buddhist novices. It is not extant. commentary,
:'[4eSphutiirthii Srlghaniiciirasangrahat'ikii, is extant and refers to three
commentators. The anonymous author of the verses and his commen-
belonged either to the Mahasamghika school or, more probably,
t?:a related one. The Srighaniiciirasangraha and its commentary are cer-
;iatnIy older than SunaYaSii' s but are difficult to
may have lived as late the seventh century.s
S On this text see Agostini 2003 and the literature therein quoted.
66 GruLla AGOSTINI
The author of the verses, in a section devoted to the first precept of
novices (not to kill human beings), says:6
pancasiikhiidinirv[ttarh na hanyiit priil)inarh [yat*] II 5cd II
[A cleric] must not kill a breathing being who has developed the five bran-
ches etc.
J comments:
7
na hanyiin na miirayet I kam ity iiha I priil)inam I priil)o niima viiyu/:t, so
'syiistfti priil)! I sa ca eva? pancasiikhiidinirv[tta/:t parig[hyate I
ata/:t kalaliidisiitane sarhvaratyiigo na bhavati I priil)isabdena ca
yagatiparyiiya/:t eva parig[hyate na priil)imiitram, sajantukasaliliidipari-
bhoge I jiitiviici viiyarh sabda/:t I tena
pancasiikhiidi[nir]v[ttarh miirayata/:t syad eva sarhvaratyiiga/:t I
"Should not kill" [means:] should not murder. Whom? [The author of the
verses] says: "a breathing being". Breath is wind. "Breathing being"
[means:] one who has that [breath]. And by what [adjective] is it qualified?
[A breathing being] "who has developed the five branches etc." is referred
to. Therefore, there is no loss of the vow if one destroys a [fetus at the stages
of] kalala etc., and by the term "breathing being" [which in other contexts
could refer to both men and animals], only a synonym for 'man's destiny'
is referred to [in this context], not breathing beings in general, because mak-
ing use of water full of living organisms etc. has been declared to be a minor
offence [and minor offences are discussed in a separate section]. Or this term
[Le., 'breathing being'] indicates the species. Therefore, let there be loss of
the vow for one who kills a woman, a man, or a 'neuter' who have developed
the five branches etc.
Sunayasn's and statements are very similar: according to
both there is no "loss of the [lay or clerical] vow" (Sunayasn's sdom pa
fiams pa, precisely corresponding to sarhvaratyaga) when a
fetus that has not "developed the five limbs/branches" (SunayasrI's yan
lag rita milOn par grub pa = *paficaitgabhinirvrtta, corresponding to
paficasakhiidinirvrtta), is destroyed. Therefore,
and Sunayasn refer to the same theory. Only states the reason
why a fetus that has not developed the five limbs may be destroyed: since
6 Singh 1983: "Appendix 6", piidas 5cd reconstructed from the commentary.
7 Text in Singh (1983: 54). The translation is mine (cfr. Singh 1983: 138-139; Derrett
1983: 22).
BUDDHIST SOURCES ON FETICIDE AS DISTINCT FROM HOMICIDE 67
it does not breathe, it is not a 'breathing being' (priilJin), and since the
vow as taught by the Buddha merely prohibits 'killing breathing beings'
(priilJiitipiita), the unbreathing fetus of whatever species may be killed.
8
As for the human species in particular, the unbreathing human fetus is
not a man and its destruction is not homicide
To be sure, it must be killing, given definition of death as
the destruction of the faculty of life,9 not of breath.
also adds some temporal specifications: the period when the
fetus is not a man starts with the first fetal stage (kalaliidi), i.e. from con-
ception, and ends with the development of the sexual faculties (indriya).
does not say how long this period lasts. According to most
Buddhist schools, the fetus is kalala in the first week, arbuda in the sec-
pnd one, peSf in the third one, ghana in the fourth one, and prasiikhii in
the fIfth and in the following weeks of gestation. During the long prasiikhii
stage the fetus has five limbs. By the end of the seventh week, the fetus
is endowed with the indriyas (eye, ear, nose, tongue) other than body and
inind (kiiya, manaIJ), already present at birth. 10 The development of breath,
therefore, seems to be more or less concomitant with the development of
the sexual faculties and of the other faculties. According to this timeline,
8 I disagree with Derrett (1983: 22, n. 2), according to whom killing a living being
who has not developed the five branches must "certainly be a dukkata [minor offence]".
He refers to Therav:'ida pacittiya 61, which is about killing animals.
9 mrtyur jfvitendriyanirodhaf; (Singh 1983: 54).
10 See Appendix Two for various opinions on the development of the limbs, breath, and
the indriyas. As for the common Buddhist embryology here presented, the canonical pas-
sage on the five stages is found in a verse of the Sarizyuttanikaya I 206 (Feer's old edition)
and I 443 (Somaratne's new edition) = Kathiivatthu 494: pathamariz kalalariz hoti kalalii
hoti abbudariz I abbudii jiiyate pesi pesf [or: pesiyii] nibbattatf ghano I ghanii pasiikhii
jiiyanti kesii loma nakhii pi [or: nakhiini] ca. In prose also in Mahiiniddesa I 20. The com-
mentaries specify the duration of each stage: tasmii kalalii sattiihaccayena ... abbudariz
niima hoti ... sattiihaccayena ... pes! ... sattiihaccayena ghano ... ghanii pasiikhii jayantf
ti paficame sattiihe (Sarizyuttanikiiya-atthakathii I 301; see also Mahiiniddesa-atthakathii
II 247-248 and Boisvert 2000: 308). These passages confinn a Thai monk's suggestion
(Singh 1983: 138, n. 8) that the five branches are the arms, the legs, and the head, which all
develop at the prasiikhii stage. To this stage must refer the very tenn siikhii in the Srighanii-
ciirasarhgraha. Cfr. Susrutasarhhitii III 17 : trtfye [miisiJ hastapiidasirasiirh pafica pilJrJakii
nirvarttante (Bhishagratna 1998: II 159); Carakasarizhitii N 11: trtfye miisi sarvendriyiilJi
sarviingiivayavas ca yaugapadyeniibhinirvartante (Jadavaji Trikamji 1981: 618); A:ttiin-
gahrdayasarhhitii II 1.54bc-55: vyaktfbhavati miise 'sya trtfye giitrapaficakam II murddhii
dve sakthinf bahu sarvasuk:tmiingajanma ca (Para<;lakara 1982: 371).
68
GIULIO AGOSTINI
feticide within the first forty-nine days from conception would, not be
homicide.
must reconcile the legitimacy of the "destruction of the
kalala etc." (kalaladi-satana), advocated by himself, with the proscrip-
tion of abortion (garbha-patana) enshrined in all Vinayas. We know
that endorses this proscription because just as the various Vina-
yas explicitly mention the prohibition of abortion only after the general
definition of 'killing human beings', so does he quoting the:( following
verse: 11
I
na kuryiit priilJighiitiiya na ca garbhasya siitanam II 711
[A novice] should not make preparations of purgatives, emetics, ointments,
poisons, and weapons to kill breathing beings, nor [should he cause] the
destruction of the fetus.
12
This verse explicitly proscribes abortion using the phrase garbhasya
satanam, which is very close to the Vinaya compound garbhapatana.
The author of the verses and therefore, know and accept the
Vinaya prohibition of 'causing the fall of the fetus', but they interpret it
in a particular way. For, if "the destruction of the kalala etc." (kalaliidi-
satana) does not cause loss of the vow, whereas "the destruction of the
fetus" (garbhasya satana) does, it follows that according to the author of
the verses and the word garbha in the Vinaya does not apply
to the fetus in its early stages of development (kalaliidi), but only to a fetus
that has developed the five limbs, as SunayasrI puts it, and breathes,
as puts it. Therefore, the doctrine in favor of feticide is here
reconciled with the Vinaya, and this means that it is addressed not just to
novices, but even to monks.13
*
* *
11 Singh 1983: "Appendix 6" (verse 7 reconstructed from the commentary).
12 The reading garbhasatane was also known to (ib.): kedt garbhasatana-
nimittam virekadikam na kuryad iti nimittasaptamfm van:layanti.
13 Differently Derrett (1983: 22): " ... so an unformed embryo's destruction (though
an offence for a monk) is not a cause of loss of status for a novice". The words in brackets
are only Derrett's opinion, based on the Vinayas of other Buddhist traditions.
As already seen, defines priilJa as breath (vayu). This is no
innocent statement, for he could have hardly ignored another, more influ-
. ential and less literal definition. Vasubandhu's AbhidharmakosabhiirJa
mentions two definitions of pralJa. The context is the same as Jayarak-
sita's: 'killing living (or breathing) beings' (priilJiitipiita). Vasubandhu's
. first definition is the same as priilJa is wind (ViiyU).14
The second and therefore preferable definition is different: priilJa is the
faculty of life (jrvitendriya).15 Another most authoritative text, the com-
mentary to the PaIi Vznaya, in an analogous context (third piiriijika: homi-
cide), also mentions two definitions: in everyday language piilJa means
'living being' (satta), but in rigorous language it means the faculty of
life (jlvitindriya).16 The latter meaning is therefore the correct one accord-
ing to both Vasubandhu and Theravada orthodoxy. Since the faculty of
life is present from the moment of conception, according to Vasubandhu
and Buddhaghosa abortion qualifies as priilJiitipiita and manurJavadha
at all stages of pregnancy, no matter whether the fetus breathes or not.
The definition of priilJa as life is therefore crucial for those Buddhists
Who want to classify every type of feticide as homicideP
14 katharh pralJatipato bhavati I pralJo nama vayuJ.t kayacit-
tasannisrito vartate tam atipiiyati ad N 73ab; Pradhan 1975:
243 = Shastri 1970-1973: II 685).
15 jfvitendriyarh va pralJaJ.t tan nirodhayati I yady ekasyapi
syantarayarh karoti pralJatiptitavadyena sp[Syate nanyatha. ad
N 73ab; Pradhan 1975: 243 = Shastri 1970-1973: II 685).
16 tattha palJo ti voharato satto paramatthato jfvitindriyarh. jfvitindriyarh hi atipatento
palJarh atipatetlti vuccati (Vinaya-atrhakatha II 439). Notice, however, that the Chinese text
more or less literally derived from the Samantapasadikti is so different that it agrees with
Iayaralqita: 1i'B,
1i'B, (T.l462 XXIV 751al0-13), "Question: How should
one understand 'living being' (satta)? Answer: people in the world conventionally call it
'living being' (satta, instead of the expected palJa). Those who discuss its real nature [call
it] '.breathing being / breath / production of breath' (palJa, instead of the expectedjlvitin-
driya). How should one understand 'cutting off the life of a living being?' Answer: Cutting
off breath / production of breath, so that one is not allowed to live". Only in minor details
does my translation differ from Bapat and Hirakawa's (1970: 319).
17 See Poussin (1923-1931: III 154, n. 2): "Contre la premiere definition on formule
cette objection que I' asva[sic]saprasvasa manque pendant les quatres premieres periodes
de la vie embryonnaire. - Tuer un embryon ne serait donc pas chemin-de-l'acte. - Houei-
houei cite Ie Nanjio 1157 (ecole MahIslisaka) qui fait du de Plirlijika iii.
L'embryon jusq'au 49
me
jour .....
70 GIULIO AGOSTINI
According to Buddhaghosa one who practices meditation OIl breath
should ask himself: ime assasapassasa nama kattha atthi, kattha n' atthi,
"Where do these in-breaths and out-breaths exist?" And he should answer:
ime anto matukucchiyarh n' atthi "they do not exist [in one] inside the
mother's womb".18 A literalist definition of pralJ.in in Theravada would
entail extreme consequences: abortion would be legal at all stages of
pregnancy. Not even claims this.
implies that the fetus starts breathing during gestation, when
the fetus has five limbs. This theory is already attested in the Jfianapras-
thana, the fundamental text of the Sarvastivadins, who however were anti-
abortionists (see Appendix One, 4). In the Jfianaprasthana the context is
meditation on breath. The following passage tells us that it is only during
the first four embryonic stages that breath is not present: 19
Po;1t:J5fT
H! ... 0 0
Mz;fr$iZ9MJ:i.
Should one say that the activities of inhaling and exhaling depend on the
body or on the mind? Answer: One should say that these activities depend
both on the body and on the mind, as appropriate (yathiiyogam) ... If not as
appropriate, then inhaling and exhaling would also occur in the egg and in
the womb, at the stages of kalala, arbuda, ghana, and pesf,20 when the fac-
ulties (indriya) are neither complete nor ripened yet, as well as in the fourth
meditation (dhyiina).
The quotes the last sentence and comments it as follows:
21
18 Visuddhimagga (Warren and Kosambi 1950: 234). Translation in NliI;1amoli (1991:
276; I add the square brackets). See also Vinaya-atthakathii II 425 and Patisambhidii-
magga-atthakathii II 498. It seems that Buddhaghosa is referring to the entire gestation
period, and so Keown (1995: 72) understands. Buddhaghosa uses the term assiisa as a syno-
nym of piil)a.
19 T.1544 XXVI 921c13-21 (Xuanzang's translation, A.D. 657-660). For a modern
Sanskrit translation see Sasm (1955: 23). The same passage is found in Gautama Sailg-
hadeva's translation (A.D. 383), entitled (T.1543 XXVI 776a8-15).
20 Somewhat different in Gautama Sailghadeva's version, who is not content with a
transliteration: " ... then the limbs and the skin in the egg or in the womb turn thicker,like
koumiss" (T.1543 XXVI 776aI4).
21 T.1545 XXVII 132b5-12. efr. Yogiiciirabhiimi (Sriivakabhiimi): dviiv iisviisapras-
viisayol; samnisrayau I katamau dvau I kiiyas cittam ca I tat kasya hetol; I kayasamnisri-
ttiS cittasamnisritiis ciisviisaprasviisiil; pravartante I te ca yathiiyogam I sacet kiiyasam-
nisritii eva pravarteran I asamjfiisamiipanniiniim nirodhasamiipanniiniim
. r", {iiJittm*o I!i itt=!r ,\i!,ft:1i 1dlll\ VlttIJ r,l] '/$

ll\]tt:f;l.
iJf1f,m!lt!.AJt"m-ru-. B1f-$iTIi
...
Question: Why does breathlngnot occur at the stage of kalala? Answer:
Because it is thln, and ifbreathlng did occur, [the kalala] would flow away.
Question: Why does breathlng not occur in the stages of arbuda, pes!, and
ghana, when the faculties are not complete yet, are not ripened yet? Answer:
At that time in the body the path of the wind has not gone through yet, and
the hair pores (romakapa) are not open yet. Ifbreathlng did occur, the body
would be scattered and destroyed. Thus, in the egg-shell and in the mother's
womb, from the [stage ot] kalala until the faculties are not yet complete
and ripen, during this time there is no [1.] body yet [that could function as
a] support of breath, [2.] the path of the wind has not gone through yet,
and [3.] the hair pores are not open yet. There is only [4.] the presence of
a gross mind to support breath [? priilJa-bhumi-audiirika-citta-sammukhi-
bhiiva?]. Although one item [that supports breath, i.e. the fourth one] is
present, since three items [numbered above] are missing, breathlng does not
occur .
" . 'We can link: these elements of embryology to the Buddhist theory of
Jile and rebirth epitomized in the twelve stages of the pratztyasamutpiida.
An five embryonic stages mentioned above, from kalala to prasiikhii,
develop during the fourth stage of the pratztyasamutpiida, namely
'ftamarilpa, but the praSiikhii lasts longer and reaches the subsequent stage
Of 22
t\B!1i;*ii*raHi:1fl.

sattviiniim pravarteran I sacec cittasamnisritii eva pravarteran I tenii-
:riipyasamiipannopapanniiniim sattviiniim pravarteran I sacet kiiyasamnisritiis cittasam-
niSritiil}. pravarteran I te ca na yathiiyogam tena caturthadhyiina-samiipannopapanniiniim
sattviiniim kalalagatiiniim ciirbudagatiiniim peSigatiiniim sattviiniim pravarteran I na ca
pravartante I tasmiid iiSviisapraSviisiil}. kiiyasamnisritiis cittasamnisritiis ca pravartante I
tena yathiiyogam I ... dye iiSviisaprasviisayor bhilmf I ... tatriiudiirikam niibhf-
pradeSam upiidiiya yiivad mukhaniisikiidviiram ... sil/qrnaTh ... sarvakiiyagatiini
'romakilpiini (Wayman 1961: 89-90 = Shukla 1973-1991: 1221; I modify the punctuation
and eliminate editorial diacritics).
22 T.1545 xxvn 119a5-9.
72
GIULIO AGOSTINI
What is namarilpa? After rebirth-linking has occurred, but the four material
faculties (indriyas), the eye etc. [i.e. the ear, the nose, and the tongue], have
not arisen yet, the six -ayatanas are not complete. [It corresponds to] the
five internal stages: kalala, arbuda, peS!, ghana, and [the initial stage of]
prasakhii. TIlls is the stage of namarilpa. What is After the four
material faculties (indriya) have arisen, and the six ayatanas are [therefore]
complete. TIlls is the [continuation of the] stage of prasakhii.
and Sunayasn must have relied on this theory. The 'develop-
ment of the five limbslbranches' and the beginning of breathing cor-
respond to the development of the ayatanas.
23
Even the Vimuttimagga, in
a passage that compares the twelve nidanas of the pratftyasamutpada to
the stages of the life of a plant, likens to the development
of "branches" .24 From this moment onwards, the fetus' aspect and psy-
chological activity are indeed comparable to those of a new-born baby;
in particular, it feels pain.25
*
* *
After the indriyas have developed, nobody would seem to doubt that
the fetus is a man and that feticide is homicide. As for the preceding
period of gestation, a doubt might certainly remain in a nihilist, according
23 See also Asanga's Abhidharmasamuccaya (v.v. Gokhale 1947: 31): ... 'ntarabhavo
nirudhyate, kalalail ca savijilanakam utpadyate, sa ca I tata urdhvam indriyabhi-
nirvrtti/.!, yatha pratftyasamutpade ... See also AbhidharmakosabhafYa ad III 21d-22a
(Pradhan 1975: 132 = Shastri 1970-1973: II 437). See also the commentary to the
Arthaviniscayasutra (Samtani 1971: 121,123): ta ete paficaskandha/.! kalalarvudaghanape-
sfsakhaprasakhavastha aniepannaeatjayatana vijiianapratyayam namarupam ... kiiyasrita-
satyam ktiyayatanam paripunJam bhavati I tada tasyayatanasyasrayas
cakeuradayas tadanfm paripun:za iti.
24 Bapat 1937: 104, corresponding to T.164S XXXII 450b23-24.
25 Boisvert (2000: 30S), without speaking of abortion, sees the beginning of a completely
new phase starting with the fIfth week: "The fIrst four stages would belong to the embryo,
whereas the last, the pasakha, where a distinct human form arises, would be the fetus".
Indeed, Buddhaghosa explicitly refers to the psychological activities that are possible after
the development of the indriyas, at the stages of sparsa, vedana etc. of the pratftyasamut-
pada: so indriyasampanno phusati vediyati talJhfyati upadiyati ghatiyati ... (Warren and
Kosambi 1950: 464); see also Mahavibhaea T.1545 XXVII 119aS-17. The Mahaslirhghika
tradition that the bodhisattva, as soon as he enters the womb, is inunediately at the stage of
prasakha (Bareau 1955: 61, thesis IS) seems to confIrm that this stage was felt to be quali-
tatively different from the preceding ones.
to whom consciousness arises from a body endowed with breath and with
the indriyas.
26
But is not a nihilist, and we must assume that,
just as any Buddhist, he also believes that the fetus is endowed with life
and consciousness from conception. His idea that the unbreathing human
fetus is not a 'man' and may be killed is disconcerting: what
is his source? He claims that everything he says comes from the Vinaya.
27
Therefore, we should now survey the defmitions of 'man' and 'abortion'
in the extant canonical or, lacking this, post-canonical Vinaya literature.
In Appendix One I arrange all these materials into three groups because
they disagree on a most important term:
i. according to some texts (see Appendix One, 1), homicide means killing
. a "man"
2. according to other texts (see Appendix One, 2), it means killing a "being
with the body/shape of a man"
according to a third group of texts (see Appendix One, 3), it means
killing "either a man or a being with the body/shape of a man" (manu-
va va).
When these terms are defmed in the texts of the fIrst and second groups,
we find out that the terms and are equivalent:
they both refer to the entire pre-natal and post-natal life. According to the
texts of the third group, however, they are mutually exclusive: the term
refers to the fetus until the development of the indriyas
(fIrst forty-nine days according to the Marnsasakas), whereas the term
refers to the following pre-natal and post-natal life.
accepted the definition of found in the Vinaya
schools of the third group, but his Vinaya, whatever it was, belonged to
the fIrst group as no was mentioned. Otherwise he could
not claim that early feticide is not homicide. Among the Vinayas of the
third group, the authoritative one was either the Mahasarh-
ghika Vinaya (extant in Chinese) or a related one (not extant).28 It is
26 kayiid eva tato jiiiinam I yuktam jiiyate ity etat Kamba-
liisvataroditam I I vijfiiinam astity etac ca siihasam I asaiijiitendriyatviid dhi na
tatriirtho 'vagamyate (Tattvasangraha, kar. 1864-1865).
27 samuddh[tam (Singh 1983: 121)
28 See Appendix One, 1.3, and Agostini 2003.
74
. GIULIO AGOSTINI
remarkable that only this Vinaya omits a definition of the term man as
including the entire pre-natal life, and only this Vinaya in its section on
abortion mentions the "limbs" of the fetus, i.e. it seems to envision a
fetus that has limbs. All this does not mean that the Mahasamghika Vinaya
explicitly allows feticide; it only means that its wording leaves room for
interpretation.
With some reasonable degree of speculation, one may try to make sense
of all this variety. We should start from the only piece of e:vidence we
have: in the Sarvastivada tradition the reading was changed
into va va. The former reading is attested
in Sanskrit fragments of the Sarvastivlidins, the latter one in Chinese trans-
lations, although the simple reading is retained in one Chinese
passage (see Appendix One, 4).
In the light of this evidence, I suggest that the 'original' reading was
in the Buddhist tradition in general, and that the wording of
the canonical commentary as found in the Mahasamghika Vinaya is also
closer to the 'original' version: it is simple, devoid of any legal or abhid-
harmic sophistication, as though it reflected a time when the interpreta-
tion of the precept was not controversial. Later on, the simplicity of this
wording allowed for two competing interpretations: 1. abortion is never
allowed; 2. in some cases abortion is allowed. Most schools favored the
first interpretation. They added definitions (Appendix One, 1) of the term
to enshrine in the canonical commentaries of the
within their Vinayas, the interpretation according to which the fetus at all
stages of pregnancy is a man endowed with life and consciousness. Other
schools (Appendix One, 3) added the compound to the
old term in the wording of the precept itself, as the Sarvastivadins
certainly did (Appendix One, 4): they accepted the interpretation of the
term as excluding part of the fetal life, but added the term
to explicitly protect the fetus in the early stages of preg-
nancy. Other schools (Appendix One, 2) substituted the term
with the compound understanding it as inclusive of the
entire pre-natal and post-natallife.
29
29 It may be worth noticing that a possible analysis (vigraha!) of this compound is
ca ca. This possibility was well known to the Buddhists. The
ad IV 78d (Pradhan 1975: 248 = Shastri 1970-1973: II 695-696)
BUDDillST SOURCES ON FETICIDE AS DISTINCT FROM HOMICIDE 75
" Some data are consistent with this admittedly hypothetical reconstruc-
tion. The Vznaya term for abortion, 'causing the fall of the fetus' (garbha-
patana), could have been interpreted in the light of the Indian medical and
juridical literature: the miscarriage of an undeveloped fetus is a 'flow'
(toot sru), whereas the miscarriage of a developed one is a 'fall' (root pat).30
IIlboth cases abortion would be expressed by a causative form, 'causing
ltflow' in the first case and 'causing a fall' (patana) in the second one.
Buddhist texts only proscribe garbhapatana, and this terminology could
be construed as allowing, by implication, an earlier abortion, * garbhasra-
"'ana.
31
I do not have any evidence showing that some Buddhists actually
upheld this interpretation is not explicit), but the entire point
'analyses the compound karmapatha as composed of: 1. karmapathiis ca 2. karma ca karma-
'patMs ceti. This calls for a grammatical explanation. YaSomitra (Shastri, ib. = Wogihara 1932-
1936: 410) applies piir;tini VII 4 82, which would also allow (ayam api sidhyati) a more
simple analysis: karma ca karmapathiis ca karmapathii iti. This corresponds to the analy-
sis of manuliyavigraha given above. Yasomitra then goes further, to justify V asubandhu' s
more complex interpretation of karmapatha. Should we take the same step, the result
would be that all human beings are manUIfYavigraha, and some are also manulfYa.
30 Jolly (1977: 76; he uses the word 'abortion' in the sense of 'miscarriage'): "Abor-
tion in the beginning of pregnancy is called garbhavicyuti, garbhavidrava ... in the fIfth
or sixth month when the body of the fetus has already become firm, is denoted as garbha-
piita. ... Others take the period of garbhapiita to begin with the fourth month." Lipner
(1989: 43) refers to Maffci as quoted in the commentary (11th-12th century) ad
Yiijfiavalkyasmrti ill 20: ii caturthiid bhavet sriivaJ:! piitaJ:! paficamalialirhayoJ:!, "Till the
fourth (month of pregnancy, miscarriage) would be an 'emission (sriiva), and a 'fall' (piita)
forthe fIfth and sixth (months)" (Lipner's translation, ib.; Yiijfiavalkyasmrti, p. 338).
, 31 Even in Hindu law, abortion, when not denoted by a term meaning 'to kill the fetus',
is often referred to with a term related to the root 'to fall' (see the occurrences quoted in
Lipner 1989: 65 n. 32, 66 n. 46). This, however, does not mean that there is a juridical
difference between 'causing the fall of the fetus' and 'causing the flow of the fetus'. For
example, (XX 24) says: "By killing a Brahmin or a fetus whose gender carmot
be determined one becomes a bhriuJahan - a murderer of a Brahmin; for fetuses whose
gender carmot be determined grow to be males" (Olivelle 1999: 304); therefore, it does
not matter that the sexual organs have yet to develop during the fIrst month (Appendix Two)
or even later (see Olivelle, ib.: n. ad loc.). Again, in Yiijfiavalkyasmrti ill 20 the term
garbhasriiva covers cases of garbhapiita: garbhasriive miisatulyii nisiiJ:! suddhes tu kiira-
"in the case of a flow of the fetus, the means of purification [to be undertaken by
the woman] is [to be undertaken for] as many nights as the months [of pregnancy]"
(Yiijfiavalkyasmrti, p. 338). The commentary (ib.) explains that the rule applies
in the case of miscarriage at any month of pregnancy, even though in the later months one
should say garbhapiite, and it refers to other examples of this imprecise usage in technical
texts. Notice, however, that in common language the difference was maintained (sravatir
yady api loke dravadravyakartrke parisyande prayujyate ... ; ib.).
76 GIULIO AGOSTINI
of two stories found in the Petavatthu of the Theravadins is precisely to
confute it. In both a jealous wife kills the fetus of a co-wife. The impor-
tant difference is that in the first story the fetus is two months old and it
'flows out' (pagghari), whereas in the second story it is three months old
and it 'falls' (pari). The edificatory purpose of these stories is evident: in
both cases the woman is gUilty of gabbhapatana, in spite of the etymo-
logical inconsistency.32 If this had not been the point, one story, without
mentioning the age of the fetus, would have been enough. As shown in
Appendix Two, the third month is a crucial one in the fetal development:
it corresponds to the 'five-limbed' stage according to few Buddhist tradi-
tions and to classical Indian medicine. However, according to Theravada
doctrine (see Appendix Two) the fetus has five limbs already during the
fifth week, and all indriyas develop during the seventh week. The dis-
agreement with the Petavatthu, a text "clearly addressed to laypeople" ,33
indicates that if a layperson would ever make a difference between abor-
tion and homicide in ancient India, she or he would most probably make
it in consonance with the idea that a fetus is liquid up to the second month
and solid thereafter, i.e. she or he would follow Indian medicine instead
of Theravada commentaries.
Other data are consistent with my suggestion that some Buddhist tra-
ditions reacted against the idea that early feticide is not homicide. Today's
anti-abortionists avail themselves of embryological arguments to make
the point that the fetus at very early stages of gestation or even at con-
ception is not substantially different from a fully developed human being
32 The Petavatthu stories are I 6 and 7 (pp. 5 and 6; for a translation see Kyaw and
Masefield 1980). McDermott (1999: 158-161) analyses both, along with a third one from
the Dhammapada commentary. In I 6 the guilty woman, now reborn as a pet!, confesses
her sin with these words: st'ihariz padutthamanast'i akaririz gabbhapt'itanariz II tasst'i dvemt'i-
siko gabbho lohitan neva paggharf. The fetus is still 'liquid life': lohitan neva paggharf
ti vipajjamt'ino ruhiran neva hutvt'i vissandi (Petavatthu-atthakathti, p. 34). In I 7 she says:
st'ihariz padutthamanast'i akaririz gabbhapt'itanariz I tasst'i temt'isiko gabbho pubbalohitako [or:
piitilohitakol patio The fetus is now 'solid life': piitilohitako paa ti kw;zapalohitariz hutvt'i
gabbho paripati (Petavatthu-atthakathti, pO. 37). The commentary introduces another impor-
tant difference between the two stories: in 16 (pp. 30-31), the woman asks a female noo-
Buddhist ascetic (paribbt'ijikariz) to cause the abortion in return of a meal (annapt'int'idfhi
sangm;zhitvt'i), whereas in 17 (pp. 34-36) she hires a doctor (vejjariz t'imisena upalt'ipetvt'i).
It seems therefore that the Buddhist author portrays non-Buddhist ascetics as willing to pro-
cure abortions up to a certain stage of pregnancy, but not thereafter.
33 Hiniiber 1996: 51.
BUDDmST SOURCES ON FETICIDE AS DISTINCT FROM HOMICIDE 77
and therefore feticide is always homicide. In the same vein, we may
understand the attempts of the ancient Buddhists to develop a unique
embryology according to which the fetus develops the limbs, or the
. indriyas, or breath, much earlier than other Indian traditions held. I arrange
all the evidence in Appendix Two in order to show when the crucial
tlevelopment of the fetus takes place according to the various Buddhist
traditions, to the Jainas, and to classical Indian medicine. The common
Buddhist opinion was that the indriyas develop already in the seventh
week, and that this development marks the shift from manuvavigraha to
Not much room would be left for legal abortion. Some Bud-
dhists belonging to the Mahasamghika group, the Uttarasailas and Apara-
sailas, went as far as maintaining that' the fetus is endowed with the
indriyas at conception, thereby extending to all humans one of the features
of the bodhisattva's rebirth.
34
This singular theory could have allowed
them to refute abortion without changing the letter of the Vinaya.
'Conclusions
"
.' . Feticide at the early stages of pregancy is not homicide according to a
Buddhist tradition represented by the author of the Srlghanacarasailgraha,
byhis four commentators, the last one being (7th century AD. ?),
fu.td by Sunayasrl (12
th
cent. AD.). I suggested that the reading manuvarh
inanuvavigraharh va in some Vinayas developed as a reaction to this
tradition. This reading is already attested in a Chinese translation dated
383 AD. (see Appendix One, 3.1). By this date, therefore, the theory
Wfavor of abortion might have been available in ancient India.
findings have some relevance for the scholarly discussion of the
;date of the Vinayas and of the method of their composition. The wording
'of an important precept - and possibly of the canonical commentary on
- was still subject to modifications and additions in the first centuries
hf the Common Era, probably in the third or fourth century, as the Sar-
yastivada substitUtion of manuvarh with va manuvavigra-
!zarh va shows. Also, the sectarian distribution of the important readings
34 See Bareau 1955: 61 (thesis 18 of the Mahlisamghikas): a tenth-bhilmi bodhisattva
suddenly reaches the stage of pTaSiikhii. See ib., pp. 103 (thesis 25 of the Uttara.sailas), 105
(thesis 9 of the Apara.sailas).
78
GruLlO AGOSTINI
and va va
does not follow the lines of sectarian affiliation and must be explained as
a result of late contamination.
Finally, I have not taken any position on the original Buddhist view of
abortion because I have not found clear evidence on the original period.
All we can say is that the unconditional prohibition of abortion is attested
in most Buddhist traditions and is consistent with everything we know of
the Buddhist view of life and rebirth. It is certainly possible .that some-
where in ancient India local custom allowed feticide, and that some Bud-
dhists decided that such a custom could be reconciled with the Vinaya.
APPENDIX ONE
Statements on Murder and Abortion in Vinaya Literature
1. The reading manu!iyam
1.1. Vinayamiitrkii.
This is a commentary to the Dharmaguptaka or Haimavata Vinaya.
35
We are interested in the following passages:
:!Gl!;f!;{o ...
1P* 0 36
If a monk cuts off the life of a man, he incurs a piiriijika. He should not reside
together [with the other monks]. ... From [the time the new being] takes
[place in] the womb of the mother until it is old, if [a monk] cuts off the
life of man, he incurs in all cases a piiriijika.
1.2. Dharmaguptaka Vinaya
This Vinaya was translated into Chinese in A.D. 410-412:
@FflWf.A.iP 0 ... 0 37
35 Nakamura 1980: 56 n. 24.
36 T.1463 XXIV 839b27, 29.
37 T.1428 xxn 576b26-27, c1-2.
If a monk intentionally with his own hand cuts off the life of a man ... Man
[means]: frOIp the first [moment ot] consciousness up to the last [moment
ot] consciousness, and one cuts off his life.
1.3. Mahasamghika Vinaya
This Vinaya was translated into Chinese in A.D. 416-418:
... A*. {fillAil!WTfii.
.... flk!!!Ba*Bf:l5r 38
If a monk, with his own hands, takes the life ofa man ... 'Man' [means:]
a living being included in the human destiny of rebirth. 'Takes the life'
[means:] he causes his life not to continue, and the four great [elements]
(mahiibhuta) to separate and scatter. This is called 'taking life' ... If [a monk]
wants to cause a fall of the fetus, and he causes the fetus' limbs, down to
the body-faculty and the life-faculty, to fall, he is parajika.
Since Jayarak1)ita's Vinaya was very close to the Mahasamgbika Vinaya,
a close comparison is in order. The statement A*. {fillA/tI!WTfii could
be translated in Sansk;rit as iti prii1J,l .39
could have had this passage in mind when he gave the defi-
Illtion of prii1J,in: prii1J,isabdena ca eva parigrhyate
'(see above for the entire passage).
, It is important to notice that only this Vinaya does not define the term
'Illan' with some words like 'from the [JIst moment of consciousness ... ' .
When it comes to define abortion, only this Vinaya envisions a fetus that
. has "limbs", which develop at a later time than conception.
38 T.1425 XXII 255a8-9, 17-18 and b25-26. See also the Mahasamghika Prii-
timoqasittra and BhiquT}i (T.1426 XXII 549c12, T.1427 XXII 556cI2).
39 The back translation is almost certain: it is a common tenn,
.and it deserved an entry in the Mahiivyutpatti (Mvy. 9230; with a different Chinese ren-
dition). I recognize that the back translationpriiT}i, however, is less certain. 1f$literally
means 'having life'. In Mvy. 4917 it corresponds to prii1Jibhitta. In the Mahiisamghika
Wnaya (piicattika 19: not to use water containing tiny living beings), we find the gloss
"insects [means]: down to tiny 1f$" (T.1425 XXII 345al0). Hira-
kawa's Index to the (1973-1978) lists three Chinese translations
for prii1Jin (s.v.), and none of them is exactly 1f $. Still, prii1JG (s.v.) is given as the equiva-
lent of $, and it is therefore at least possible that prii1Jin ('having prii1Ja') corresponds to
1f $ {'having $'}.
80 GIULlO AGOSTINI
2. The reading manufiyavigraha
2.1. Lokottaravadin Priitimokfiasiitra
yo puna svahastarh jfvitad vyaparopeya .... 40
Whatever monk should, with his own hand, deprive one who has human
form of life ....
2.2. Theravadin Vinaya
yo pana bhikkhu saficicca manussaviggaharh jivitii voropeyya . .. manussavig-
gaho niima yarh miitukucchismirh pathamarh cittarh uppannarh pathamarh
viiifiii1)l1lh piitubhiltarh yava marar.zakiilii etthantare eso manussaviggaho nama .
.. .jivitii voropeyyii ti jfvitindriyarh upacchindati uparodheti santatirh vikopeti.41
Whatever monk should intentionally deprive a human being of life ... Human
being means: from the mind's fIrst arising, from (the time of) consciousness
becoming first manifest in a mother's womb until the time of death, here
meanwhile he is called human being .... Should deprive o/life means: he cuts
off the faculty of life, destroys it, harms its duration.
3. The reading manufiYalh vii manufiyavigraham vii
Texts belonging to tills section are mainly extant in Chinese. Before
quoting them, one must ascertain what Chinese characters correspond to
the compound manu:j)Iavigraha. Many rules of the Pali piitimokkha are
again quoted in the last book of the Vinayapitaka, the Pariviira. The Chi-
nese translation of the Upiiliparip[cchiisutra is extremely close to tills
text, so much so that it seems to be a slightly different version thereof,
possibly belonging to the Theravadins of the Abhayagirivihara.
42
In the
40 Text in Tatia (1975: 7). Translation in Prebish (1996: 50). In the uddana of the
same text (folio 8, verso), Roth (1970: 27, n. 4) reads .... He (ib.:
xviii) used photoprints of the manuscript and the old edition by Pachow and Mishra (1956).
However, Pachow and Mishra (ib., p. 7) read syat, whereas Tatia (1975:
8) has the correct ... The Vinaya of the Lokottaravadins
(Roth 1970: 27) also reads but in a different context.
41 Pali Vinaya III 73. Translation in Horner 1949-1966: I 125-126. Norman, too, trans-
lates manussaviggaha as "human being" (pruitt and Norman 2001: 9).
42 Stache-Rosen 1976: 29-30; 1978; 1984: 30. The affiliation to the Abhayagiri school,
however, is not certain (HinUber 1996: 23). The Upaliparip[cchiisutra was translated by
Gl1I,lavarman into Chinese in the fITst half of the 5
th
century (Stache-Rosen 1976: 27; 1984:
26-27,31).
. Upiiliparip[cchCi,sfttra the precept against killing human beings includes
the following words: ililWf .A.!Ill-, "intentionally cuts off the life of a
[being] similar to a man" .43 Like many Vznaya translations, the transla-
tion of the UpiiZiparip[cchiisfttra is indebted to KumarajIva's version of
the Sarvastivada Vznaya for the renditions of many technical terms. There-
fore, this translation does not really tell us what force viggaha had for a
Theravadin. For our purposes, however, it is enough that when we find
the rendition 'similar to a man' in other Chinese translations, we can rea-
sonably assume that the original Sanskrit term was indeed
graha.
3.1. The commentary entitled Vinaya.
The nikiiya affiliation of this text is unknown. It is the most ancient
Vznaya text transmitted in the Chinese Buddhist canon. It was translated
by Buddhasmrti in A.D. 383.
44
In the section on the third piiriijika it says:
...
0 0 45
If a monk, with his own hands, intentionally cuts off the life of a man or
of a [being] similar to a man's form/body, ... In the placenta it obtains two
faculties: body faculty and life faculty. If a monk, having the intention to
kill it, using charms, causes a fall of a human fetus, and doing this he kills
it, [this monk] is piiriijika, he is not accepted [in the samgha].
The expression "similar to a man's form/body" seems to represent the
transition between the literal meaning of "man's form/
body", and its later Chinese renditions as "similar to man".
43 T.1466 XXIV 903c9. Stache-Rosen, showing the similarity with the Pili version in
her introduction (ib.: 20), translates )J@[ as "einem menschen", but her real translation
(ib.: 43) is more literal and agrees with mine: "einem menschenlinlichen Wesen". To be
sure, the Chinese ..AJmi could also mean "mankind, humanity", which would probably be
the fIrst meaning selected by a modem Chinese speaker. This meaning would agree with
Horner's translation and would spare us the task of looking into this expression any longer.
However, we will see that another Chinese translation of manussaviggaha can only mean
'similar to a man' and that the Tibetan and Chinese translations of this term in the Miilasar-
vastivada Vinaya do not mean 'humankind'.
44 Nakarnura1980: 55.
45 T.1464 XXIV 856b7-8, 25-27.
82
GIULlO AGOSTINI
3.2. Mahisasaka Vinaya
The Vinaya of this school was translated in A.D. 422-423:
*ttli. *A*{);I,A. ...
46
If a monk by himself kills a man or a [being] similar to a man ... Until
forty-nine days after [consciousness] has entered the maternal womb, [the
being] is called 'similar to a man'. At any time thereafter, it is 'man'.
Only this text specifies how long the manu-D'avigraha lasts: seven weeks
(fourty-nine days).
3.3. Kasyapiya Priitimokffasutra
It was translated in A.D. 543 by Gautama Prajiiaruci, an uptisaka from
Benares: *ttli. *A*f);l,A. ii!l:Ei-IWf;!tiiJ ... ,47 "If a monk, intention-
ally, with his own hands, cuts off the life of a man or a [being] similar to
a man .... "
3.4. Miilasarvastivadin Priitimokffasutra and Vinaya
In the we read:
yab punar va va svahastam samcintya
jfvitad vyavaropayec ... 48
46 T.1421 XXII 8b2-3,7-8.
47 T.1460 XXIV 660al-2. On Gautama Prajiiaruci see Wang (1994: 175) and Bagchi
(1927-1938: IT 440).
48 Text in Chandra 1960: 2. In his edition, the string of syllables yal} punar
Vii is reconstructed from the Tibetan, but Prof. Oskar von Hiniiber
kindly informed me that the Sanskrit text is extant in the Peking manuscript of the Miilasar-
vastivadin The Tibetan reads: yan dge slon gan mi'am mir ehags pa la
bsam biin du ran gi lag gis dar te I srog bead dam I de la mtshon byin byin nam ...
(Vidyabhusana 1915: 79). Vidyabhusana's translation (ib., p. 40: " ... takes away the life
of a human being ... ") does not account for mir ehags pa, "human fetus", and this error
was reproduced by Pachow (1955: 76) in his comparative study of the The
Gilgit fragments edited by Chandra complement those previously edited by Banerjee (now
in Banerjee 1977: 14), translated by Prebish (1996: 51), who has a note ad loe.: "The dis-
tinction between a human and one that has a human form seems to be only in this text."
This must be corrected in the light of the evidence of the Chinese translations. I know of
only one more occurrence in published Sanskrit literature of the reading vii
Whatever monk should intentionally, with his own hand, deprive a human
or one that has a human form of life ...
For the related passage in the Millasarvastivada Vinaya, we have to
tum to the Chinese and Tibetan translations. This Vinaya was translated
into Chinese by Yljing in the seventh century A.D.:
... Ffi
.. ... llIJT1fIJ1!r4-
W iPfN /f14ti1L*Jl ,49
And if a monk intentionally, with his own hands, cuts off the life of a man
or of a human fetus ... The word 'man' means: in the mother's womb, already
provided with the six faculties, i.e. the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the
body, and the mind. 'Human fetus' means: as soon as [consciousness] enters
the womb of the mother, [the fetus] being provided with only three faculties,
i.e. body, life, and mind .... 'Cuts off the life' means: he causes another's
life faculty not to continue.
4. Sarvastivada: from manu!fYam to manu!fYam vii vii
The of this school was discovered in Central Asia. Its
hikaya affiliation became evident after a comparison with Kumarajiva's
Chinese version.
50
In the extant fragments of the third piirajika the sim-
ple reading 'man' occurS:
51
yaJ;. punar svahastena
manueYavigrahalh va: it is found in the text on monastic ordination
of the Miilasarvastivadins, in the section on the third patanfya (Banerjee 1977: 68).
49 T.1442 XXIII 660a27-28, b4-6, b7. See also the Miilasarvastivada Vinaya Smhgraha,
T.1458 XXIV 537c11-20. For the Tibetan version see Derge, Kanjur, Ca, 136a4-6: mi'am
zes bya ba ni gan gis ma'i [tor dban po drug po 'di Ita ste I mig gi dban po dan I rna ba'i
dban po dan I sna'i dban po dan I/ce'i dban po dan I Ius kyi dban po dan I yid kyi dban
po thob par gyur pa'o I I mir chags pa la zes bya ba ni gan gis ma'i Itor dban po gsum
po 'di Ita stel Ius kyi dban po dan I tshor ba'i [sic; read srog = dban po dan I yid
kyi dban po thob par gyur pa la'o I ... srog bcad dam zes bya ba ni de'j srog bcad par
gyur na'o. See also Mvy. 9236: = mir chag pa [sic: chags pal.
50 Finot edited the Sanskrit, and Huber translated the Chinese version into French (Finot
and Huber 1913). In.the introduction (ib.: 465, n. 1) they speak of a "parfait concordance"
between the Sanskrit and the Chinese.
51 Finot and Huber 1913: 477. Other Sanskrit fragments of the Sarvastivada Pratimok-
have been published by Simson (1986-2000), and the simple accusative
is confirmed by at least three of them (ib.: I 34, 114, 236; it is not certain whether Finot
had already used the last one [ib.: I vi, n. 3]).
84 'GillLIO AGOSTINI
samcintya jlvitiid vyaparopayec .... To my knowledge, this is the only
attestation in any Indian language of the reading as opposed
to the more sophisticated manuITavigraha. Thanks to this reading, it is
possible to trust the Chinese versions of other Vinayas where the simple
reading 'man' occurs.
Strangely enough, the corresponding passage in KumarajIva's Chinese
version of the Sarvastivada is different from the San-
skrit. The reading is "a man or a [being] similar to a man", H:;Ji. A
tffj;.(A. j& gF.-6Jr .... 52
The Sarvastivada Vinaya was translated into Chinese by the same
KumarajIva and others in A.D. 404-409. In the VibhaiJ.ga section of the
Sarvastivada Vinaya, we find the statements relevant to murder and abor-
tion. The reading is "a man or a [being] similar to a man", just as in the
Chinese
...
... ...

If a monk intentionally, by himself, takes the life of a man or [a being] simi-
lar to man ... Including [the case when] in the womb [a fetus] first receives two
faculties, the body-faculty and the life-faculty, and in this while [a monk] finds
a means to kill it. ... As soon as [the fetus] in the womb obtains two indriyas,
namely the body-faculty and the life-faculty, at the stage of kalala ...
In the second part of this and other Vinayas, which is not devoted to
the explanation of the almost all schools mention the four
patanryas / akaraT!Jyas as a fundamental teaching for a newly ordained
c1eric. The four patanryas are grave offenses, and closely correspond
to the four piiriijikas in their order, content, and technical terms in all
Vinayas but one: the only exception is the Chinese Sarvastivada Vinaya,
which for the third patanrya merely uses the term "man", instead of the
expected "a man or a being similar to a man". 54 This complex reading is
S2 T.1436 XXIII 471a12. Huber's translation (Finot and Huber 1913: 477): "un etre
hurnain ou pareil a un etre hurnain ... ", '
S3 T.1435 XXIII 8b12, 8c17-18, 1Oa25-27. On abortion see also ib. 157a27-b3 and the
Sarvastiviida Vinaya Samgraha, T.1440 XXIII 518c23-29.
S4 T.1435 XXIII 157a21-23: ilI1fV:1'$;f(;. 7J::if!ii". 1'i!! i&:
$$. .... In the other Vinayas the wording of the thirdpiiriijika
also conspicuously absent in the Sarvastivada Vinaya Samgraha, a com-
mentary to the precepts of the priitimolqa.
55
,. . The reading is therefore the original one in the Sarvastivada
tradition, because it agrees with the extant Sanskrit fragments' of the
It was later changed in the Vinaya only in the strategic
of the priitimolqa, in the Vibhanga section, but it was left unchanged
htthe second section of the same Vinaya.
;
ApPENDIX TWO
The crucial moment in the development of the fetus
'At conception:
to some Buddhist schools related to the Mahasfuilghikas,
.'." .. , the Uttarasailas (Bareau i955: 103, thesis 25) and probably the Apara-
sailas (ib., p. 105, thesis 9), the indriyas develop .
. ..... 'According to a Buddhist text in the Mahiisamnipiita collection (T.397
[10] :xm l64bl-ll) the fetus already breathes (ib. 7-9).
In the fifth week:
According to Theravlidin commentaries (Boisvert 2000: 308) the limbs
develop. The week for the more important development of the indriyas_
is rarely specified, but see below the references to the Kathiivatthu
commentary (eleventh week) and to the Abhidhammatthavibhiivini-pkii
(seventh or eleventh week).
'always matches the wording of the thlrd patanzya/akaralJiya: Theraviida, I 37; Dharma-
guptaka, T.1428 XXII 815c3ff; Mamsasaka, T.1421 XXII 120a28ff; the Mahasamghika
Wnaya merely reads "the Four Parajikas", T.1425 XXII 415a24, thereby indicating exactly
the same wording as in the Wbhanga. In the Miilasarvastiviidin Bhilqukarmavakya (BaneIjee
1977: 68), the pataniya formula only mentions but in an ungranunatical
way (kuntapipilako 'pi pral}!ju jivitan na vyaparopayitavyalJ kalJ punar vado manu!j)Iavi-
graham va); the Buddha's statement of the third parajika is then quoted as including the
words manu!j)Iariz va manu!j)Iavigrahariz va.
55 The relevant section is T.1440 XXIII 518a21-519a2.
86 GIULIO AGOSTINI
In the second month:
- According to a briillImnpc text, the (Kapani 1976: 8),
the head starts to develop.56 This text was perhaps composed iI) the 2
nd
_
3rd century A.D.57 Just as in common Buddhist embryology, the fIrst
two stages last one week each. However, the subsequent development
of the fetus is described month after month. The head develops in the
second month, the feet in the third one, the nose (and maybe breath)
in the sixth one, along with the eyes and the ears. Remarkably, it is only
in the seventh month that the jfva joins the embryo.
In the seventh week:
- According to the ManobhUmi section of the YogiiciirabhUmi (Bhattha-
charya 1957: 27-28; T.1579 XXX 284c26-285a6) during the seventh
and penultimate stage the indriyas develop abhi-
nirv[ttir; indriyiivasthii). The limbs have already developed in the fIfth
stage. To be sure, the Yogiiciirabhilmi does not state that each stage
lasts a week, but since this passage is explicitly based on the authority
of a Garbhiivakriintisiltra, we can infer that each stage (except the last
one) lasts a week, as in the three Garbhiivakriintisiltras known to myself
(see below). Notice, however, that in these siltras the indriyas develop
in the nineteenth week (see below).
- According to the Samyuktiigama (T.100 II 476b18-22) the indriyas and
sexual organs develop. The limbs have already developed in the fifth
week.
58
-".;According to the MahIsasaka Vinaya (T.1421 XXII 8b7-8) a manuDiavi-
." graha becomes manuDia. This passage does not specify that the indriyas
develop. Other Vinayas (see Appendix One) do not mention the week
when the manuDiavigraha becomes manuDla, but they specify that it
happens when indriyas develop.
S6 The French translation (Kapani 1976: 15) skips some words, with the result that
saptame is wrongly rendered as "sixieme".
S7 SO Lipner (1989: 54), with a question mark.
S8 It is not a Sarvastiviidin text An ancient Japanese tradition ascribes it to the KaSya-
plyas. Scholars are inclined to ascribe it to the MahIsiisakas or Dharmaguptakas (Mayeda
1984: 101).
_ According to the Vimuttimagga (T.1648 XXXII 433b5-16 and in par-
ticular b17; English translation by Ehara et al. 1961: 173), one can
speak of a body. The limbs have already developed in the fifth week.
Notice that this Theravadin text agrees with the first opinion mentioned
In the Abhidhammatthavibhiivini-tikii, but not with the second one
. (seventh week), which is also found in the Kathiivatthu-atthakathii.
_ According to the first opinion mentioned in the Abhidhammatthavibhii-
vini-tikii (Saddhatissa 1989: 163-164 = Wijeratne and Gethin 2002: 249),
the indriyas develop. Saddhatissa (1989: xix) dates this text to the twelfth
century. The second opinion mentioned in the same text refers to the
eleventh week and agrees with the Kathiivatthu commentary (see below).
In the eleventh week:
- According to the Kathiivatthu-atthakathii (p. 148) the indriyas develop.
- According to the second opinion mentioned in the Abhidhammatthavi-
bhiivini-tikii (Saddhatissa 1989: 163-164 = Wijeratne and Gethin 2002:
249), the indriyas develop.
In the third month:
-'-- According to classical Indian medicine (Carakasarhhitii: Jadavji 1981:
327-328; Susrutasarhhitii: Bhishagratna 1998: 159;
sarhhitii: Paraq.akara 1982: 369-371) the limbs develop. 59 In these texts
the fetus' stages last one month each: in the fIrst month the fetus is
kalala; in the second month it is ghana (male), or pesl (female), or
arbuda (napurhsaka, 'neuter'); in the third month the limbs develop.60
- According to the combined evidence of the Petavatthu stories I 6 and
17 (p. 5-6; for a translation see Kyaw and Masefield 1980) the fetus
is liquid in the second month and solid in the third one. According to
Indian classical medicine this happens in the fourth, or fifth, or sixth month
(Jolly 1977: 76).
59 The Susrutasalhhita was composed in the fIrst centuries B.C. and reached its present
fonn in the fIrst centuries A.D. (Filliozat 1975: 12); the Carakasarrzhita was composed in
the second or fIrst century B.C. (ib., p. 18); the was composed
between the seventh and tenth centuries A.D. (ib., p. 11).
60 See also Jolly 1977: 66-67.
88
GIULlO AGOSTINI
In the fifth month:
- According to Jaina texts, the Viyiihapannatti and especially the later
Tandulaveyiiliya, the limbs develop (Caillat 1974: 51 and passim). In
the Tandulaveyiiliya a sloka mentions four successive stages of fetal
development, corresponding to the first four of the Buddhists, and states
the duration of the first two: the gabbha is kalala for one week, abbuya
for another week, then pes!, and then ghal)a (no time framework is
given for the last two stages). This is followed by a prose passage that
says something more and something different. It is said that the pesl
precedes the abbuya, or that they represent the same stage (as in Indian
classical medicine). Particularly important and at variance with the stan-
dard Buddhist tradition are the following statements: the fetus becomes
a pesl in the second month, in the fourth month the pregnancy is evident
from outside,61 and only in the fIfth month does the fetus develop fIve
protuberances, i.e. the hands, the feet, and the head.
In the nineteenth week:
- According to the Garbhiivakriintisutras, the indriyas (eye, ear, nose,
tongue) develop (T.317 XI 888b16-17; T.31O[13] XI T.3l0
[14] XI 330a4-5). The limbs develop in the fifth week (ib.: 887b16;
323a25; 329b5-6).
- According to some "minor texts" (lUI) phran tshags [sic; read tshegs])
quoted in the 'Dul ba mda rtsa'i mam Mad iii ma'i 'ad zer legs bsad
lun gi rgya mtsha (a Tibetan work of the 13
th
century; vol. 1, f. 195b,
lines 5_6)62 the senses develop.
The author is Kun mkhye mtsho sna ba ses rab bzan po (1250-1300 A.D.).
As the title indicates, this work is a commentary on the Vinayasutras by
GUI).aprabha, the greatest authority on monastic discipline in the Miilasar-
vastivadin tradition.
61 "il fait gonfler Ie corps de Ia mere" (Caillat 1974: 51):
62 This passage is also quoted and translated in a note to the English translation of a
nineteenth century Tibetan treatise on Vinaya by KoiJ.-sprul Blo-gros-mtha'-yas (see KoiJ.-
sprul Blo-gros-mtha'-yas 1998: 374 n. 104).
BUDDillST SOURCES ON FETICIDE AS DISTINCT FROM. HOMICIDE 89
ApPENDIX THREE
Abortion Allowed in the Chinese Version of the Samantapiisiidikii
Surprisingly enough, the Chinese version of the PaIi commentary to the
Vinaya, the Samantapiisiidikii, registers some cases in which a monk who
indirectly procures an abortion is not gUilty:63
:9:AJ'iJ 0 il!,

1. The woman said to a Bhikkhu: how can abortion be brought about? The
Bhikkhu said in reply: you can squeeze the fetus dead and then it will fall
by itself. Thus the Bhikkhu instructed her to squeeze it down, but the woman
applied hot massage. The Bhikkhu [here] is not guilty.
2. If a Bhikkhu has given instruction to squeeze it down herself and if the
woman has called in another person to squeeze it down dead, then the Bhik-
kIlU is not guilty.
3. A Bhikkhu has given instruction to merely squeeze it so that it would soon
die. Following this instruction, [the woman] squeezes it; or, even if there is
another person to squeeze it dead, then the Bhikkhu becomes guilty of a
grave offence.
In the first two cases, the monk is not guilty because the woman does
not exactly follow his instructions.
64
In the third case, the instruction of
the monk is merely to squeeze the fetus, and therefore he is guilty of a
"grave offence",65 no matter who actually squeezes it.
The PaIi parallel passage organizes all the elements found in the Chinese
text in a different way: the fetus is either crushed or heated by oneself or
by another person. In all cases the monk incurs a piiriijika. In the Plili
Vinaya ill 84, the monk suggests to "crush" (maddassu ti) the fetus, but
the woman "has it crushed" by someone else (maddiipetvii gabbhmh piitesz).
The monk is guilty of a piiriijika. The commentary explains why the monk
63 T.l462 XXIV 753a5-9. I present the translation by Bapat and Hirakawa (1970: 328),
but I separate and number the paragraphs differently.
64 I am indebted to Oskar von Hiniiber for the interpretation of this passage.
65 Either a piiriijika or a samghiivase:ta (Nolot 1991: 385).
90 GIULIO AGOSTINI
is guilty, even though there is a disagreement between what the monk says
and what the woman does:
66
madditvii piitehi ti vutte aiiiiena maddiipetva pateti, visanketarh. maddiipetva
piitapehi ti vutte pi sayarh madditva piiteti, visanketam eva. manussaviggahe
pariyiiyo niima natthi. tasma gabbho niima maddite pataa ti vutte sii sayarh
va maddatu aiiiiena vii maddiipetva patetu visalJketo natthi piiriijikam eva.
tiipanavatthusmim pi es' eva nayo.
Having [the monk] said: 'Crush and kill [the fetus]" she kills it by having
[someone else] crush it. ['This is a] a disagreement. And even if [the monk]
says: 'Have it crushed and killed [by someone else]', and she crushes and
kills it herself, [there would be] a disagreement as well. With reference to
[the precept about] manussaviggaha there is no variation. Therefore, once it
is said that the fetus, if crushed, dies, whether she herself crushes it or kills
it by having [someone else] crush it, there is no disagreement. It is just a
piirajika. 'This same exegesis [applies] to the story of burning [the fetus].
To conclude, according to the Chinese text, disagreement (visaJiketa)
matters, and therefore the monk in some cases is not guilty, whereas
according to the Pili visaJiketa does not matter, and therefore the monk:
is always guilty. Notice that all this has nothing to do with the age of the
fetus. I therefore would assume that even when the monk is not guilty,
the woman and her assistants are guilty of homicide.
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THE ORAL TRANSMISSION
OF EARLY BUDDHIST LITERATURE!
ALEXANDER WYNNE
Two theories have been proposed to explain the oral transmission of early
Buddhist literature. Some scholars have argued that the early literature was
not rigidly fixed because it was improvised in recitation, whereas others
have claimed that word for word accuracy was required when it was recited.
This paper examines these different theories and shows that the internal evi-
dence of the Pili canon supports the theory of a relatively fixed oral trans-
mission of the early Buddhist literature .
.L. llltroduction
Our knowledge of early Buddhism depends entirely upon the canoni-
cal texts which claim to go back to the Buddha's life and soon afterwards.
But these texts, contained primarily in the Siitra and Vinaya collections
{)f the various sects, are of questionable historical worth, for their most
basic claim cannot be entirely true - all of these texts, or even most of
them, cannot go back to the Buddha's life. There are at least two reasons
for believing this. Firstly, although the different Buddhist sects claim that
their Canons were compiled at the first council of Rajagrha (shortly after
the Buddha's death), there is a general disagreement about the extent
. and classification of this canon. Because of this, Lamotte has commented:
'It would be absurd to claim that all those canons were fixed at the very
beginnings of Buddhism'.2 And secondly, it is hard to believe that all the
doctrinal teachings of the various Siitra-pitakas could go back to the same
teacher, or even the same period, for they include diverse and sometimes
mutually exclusive ideas.
3
1 I would like to thank Professor Richard Gombrich for reading an earlier version of
this paper.
2 Lamotte pp. 129-130.
3 For discussions of some of the different doctrinal strands, see La Vallee Poussin,
Schmithausen 1981, Bronkhorst 1985 and 1993, Gombrich 1996 (in particular, chapter 4:
98 ALEXANDER WYNNE
In these circumstances, it is clear that an accurate history of early Bud-
dhism depends upon the stratification of the canonical texts. But the Bud-
dhist literature is oral, and. before we attempt to stratify it, we must have
some idea about how it was composed and transmitted. This is not a
straightforward task. The stratification of literature based on a manuscript
tradition is relatively straightforward, for with written documents we can
assume an original text that may have been altered for various reasons.
But with the literary remnants of an oral tradition, we are denied even this
most basic premise. For it may be the case that the early Buddhist tradition
produced a sort of literature very different from one that is based on the
written word, i.e. one that never had an 'original' text. If so, the s t r a t i f i ~
cation of the early Buddhist literature would be difficult, and perhaps
even impossible.
2. Theories of oral composition and transmission in early Buddhism
Theories of the oral composition and transmission of the early Buddhist
literature fall into two categories. Some have emphasised the role of
improvisation, and argued that the early Buddhist literature was changed
and adapted according to the particular conditions of performance. This
theory is based upon Parry and Lord's study of Homeric epic literature
in Yugoslavia,4 and has been formulated by L.S. Cousins as follows:
ill practice they would have to be tailored to the needs of the particular sit-
uation - shortened or lengthened as required. An experienced chanter would
be able to string together many different traditional episodes and teachings
so as to fonn a coherent, profound and moving composition. It has been
clearly shown that in many cases a traditional oral singer does not have a
fIxed text for a particular song. He can for example be recorded on two dif-
ferent occasions. The result may vary in length.s
If the early Buddhist literature was formed in this manner, it is hard to
see how it could be stratified. For what appear to be different strata accord-
ing to the text critical method may in fact have been formed through the
'Retracing an Ancient Debate: How Insight Worsted Concentration in the Pall Canon') and
Wynne 2002.
4 See Albert B. Lord, The Singer of Tales (Cambridge, Mass. 1960).
5 Cousins p. 1.
THE ORAL TRANSMISSION OF EARLY BUDDIDST LITERATURE 99
vicissitudes of oral perfonnance, perhaps because of a singer's inclination
any given day.,
Against this theory, others have argued that the early Buddhist litera-
tture is different in many ways from the sort of oral material that is fonned
;'in perfonnance. Nonnan has pointed out the following:

The great majority of Pili canonical texts, however, are in prose, and com-
plete accuracy of reproduction is required at each recitation. In these cir-
cumstances the [mdings of modern investigators of oral epic literature seem
to have little relevance.
6
In addition to this, Gombrich has pointed out that the peculiar nature
:Qf the early Buddhist literature makes it likely that precise wording mat-
Ctered in its transmission:
The early Buddhists wished to preserve the words of their great teacher,
texts very different in character from the general run of oral literature, for
they presented logical and sometimes complex arguments. The precise word-
ing mattered'?
'According to this view, verbatim accuracy would have been the nonn
:\Vhen the early Buddhist literature was composed and transmitted. If so,
ilt would indeed seem that stratification of the early Buddhist literature is
p()ssible. But what evidence is there in the early texts to support these dif-
ferent views? The views of Gombrich and Nonnan seem to be based on
'intuition rather than the'internal evidence of the literature itself. Cousins
,160 does not adduce much textual evidence to support his claim, but he
present some arguments. For example, he proposes that the mate-
nal in the Suttapitaka was fonned by singers perfonning orally on
day or for the occasion of some sangha meeting', or 'when
yisiting the sick or for recitation after receiving food at the house of a lay-
wan' .
8
But these suggestions hardly exhaust all the possible ways in which
early Buddhist literature could have been recited, and in any case, tex-
tual support for them is noticeably lacking. The only textual evidence that
presented by Cousins comes in the fonn of his interpretation of the four
r:,6 Nonnan 1997 p, 49.
", 7 Gornbrich 1990 p. 21.
. 8 Cousins pp. 4-5
100 ALEXANDER WYNNE
mahiipadesa-s, the four means of establishing the authenticity of an early
Buddhist text as described in the Mahiiparinibbiina Sutta.
9
3. The four sources of canonical authenticity (mahiipadesa)
The compound mahiipadesa means great' source' or 'authority', 10 and
refers to the sources from whom a teaching might be accepted as the
teaching of the Buddha. They are: the Buddha himself, a whole monas-
tic community (along with its elders and experts)l1 dwelling in a particu-
lar monastery, 12 certain learned monks dwelling in a particular monastery, 13
or just one learned monk dwelling in a particular monastery.14 Although
there are four possible sources from whom it is said that a teaching may
be accepted, in each case the method of establishing the authenticity of
the teaching in question is the same. So in the case of a teaching said to
have been received directly from the Buddha, the following is advised:
Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu might say: 'I have heard [and] grasped this,
venerable sir, directly from the Blessed One; this is the doctrine, this is the
discipline, this is the irIstruction of the teacher.' 0 bhikkhus, what is spoken
by that bhikkhu ought not to be welcomed, it ought not to be scorned. Not
welcomirIg and not scomirIg [it], those words and letters (padavyanjanani),
havirIg been learnt correctly (sadhukaT(l), ought to be put (otaretabbiini) into
Sutta [and] compared (sandassetabbiini) with VirIaya. If, when beirIg put into
Sutta and compared with VirIaya, they do not enter into Sutta and do not
compare with Vinaya, the conclusion on the matter ought to be understood
(gantabbarrz) [as follows]: 'Clearly this is not the speech of the Blessed
One, the bhikkhu has understood it badly (duggahitarrz).' Thus, bhikkhus, you
ought to abandon it. If, when being put into Sutta and compared with Vinaya,
they enter into Sutta and compare with Vinaya, the conclusion on the matter
ought to be understood [as follows]: 'Clearly this is the speech of the Blessed
9 D II.123.30ff (= A II.167.31ft).
10 DOP s.v. apadesa.
11 It is possible that the word piimokkha refers to experts in the Vinaya, if it is an abbre-
viation of the expression vinaye piimokkho. On the latter expression, see Gombrich 1992
pp.247-251.
12 D II. 124.2l : amukasmil'[! niima iiviise sal'[!gho viharati satthero sapiimokkho.
13 D II.125.5: amukasmil'[! niima iiviise sambahulii therii bhikkhii viharanti bahussutii
iigatiigamii dhammadharii vinayadharii miitikiidharii.
14 D II.125.24: amukasmil'[! nama iiviise eko thero bhikkhu viharati bahussuto iigatiigamo
dhammadharo vinayadharo miitikiidharo.
THE ORAL TRANSMISSION OF EARLY BUDDlllST LITERATURE 101
.One, the bhikkhu has understood it cOlTectly.' Bhikkhus, you ought to con-
sider this to be. the First Great Authority .15
This passage does not state what was to be done with the dhamma or
.vinaya which was accepted as the Buddha's words (bhagavato vacanarrz).
But because it is stated that the rejected teachings were to be abandoned,
we can suppose that the opposite was to be done with what had been
accepted as the Buddha's words, i.e. if it was thought to agree with what
had already been collected under the heading of 'Sutta' and 'Vinaya', it
to be. added to them. According to Cousins, the passage shows that
ihere were different methods for collecting the Sutra and Vinaya material.
He interprets the passage as follows:
If something does not match with vinaya (vinaye sandissantl), it should be
rejected. This suggests an established and relatively defined set of vinaya
rules such as we know to have existed from the comparative study of sur-
viving vinaya works of various schools. Similarly something should be
rejected if it does not enter sutta (sutte otarann). This is an unusual
expression; it is best interpreted in the light of the Petakopadesa tradition
where otaralJii is one of the sixteen hiiras.
It may there be taken as a particular method of exegesis which links a given
discourse into the teaching as a whole by means of one of the general
categories of teaching. The Petakopadesa in fact specifies six possibilities:

i .. 15 D II. 124.3ff: idha bhikkhave bhikkhu evaTfi vadeyya: sammukhii me taT{l itvuso bha-
. gavato sutaT{l sammukhii pa{iggahitaT{l, ayaT{l dhammo ayaTfi vinayo, idaT{l satthu stisanan
tassa bhikkhave bhikkhuno bhtisitaTfi n' eva abhinanditabbaT{l na pafikkositabbaTfi. ana-
bhinanditvti appa{ikkositvti tani ptidavyaiijantini stidhukaTfi uggahetvti sutteotiiretabbtini
vinaye sandassetabbiini. tani ce sutte otiiriyamtiniini vinaye sandassiyamtintini na c' eva sutte
J'taranti na vinaye sandissanti, nitthaTfi ettha gantabbaT{l: addhti idaTfi na c'eva tassa bha-
gavato vacaMTfl, imassa ca bhikkhuno duggahitan ti. iti h' etaTfi bhikkhave cha44eyyiitha.
fiini ce sutte otiiriyamtiniini vinaye sandassiyamiiniini sutte c' eva otaranti vinaye ca san-
dissati, nitthaTfi ettha gantabbaTfl: addhii idaTfi tassa bhagavato vacanaTfl, imassa ca
bhikkhuno suggahitan ti idaTfi bhikkhave pathamaT{l mahtipadesaTfi dhiireyyiitha.
b, The same four sources of canomcal authenticity are found in the Sanskrit fragments of
/:he MahtiparinirviilJa Satra, in almost exactly the same words as the Pili text - althought
there is no Sanskrit version of the Pili mahiipadesa (Waldschmidt p. 238ff). If we accept
FrilUwallner's theory that Buddhism spread to the far north-west of India because of the
.A8okan missions (Frauwallner pp. 22-23: 'The mission of Kassapagotta, Majjhima and Dun-
dubhissara gave origin to the Haimavata and Kasyaplya. The mission of Majjhantika led
to the rise of the Sarvastiviidin. The Dharmaguptaka school is perhaps issued from the
mission ofYonaka-Dhammarakkhita ... And the community of Ceylon owes its origin to the
.mission of MalIinda.'), the coincidence of the Mahtiparinibbiina Sutta and MahtiparinirvtilJa
satra implies that this method of establishing canonicity preceded 250 B.C.
102 AiEXANDER WYNNE
aggregates, elements, spheres, faculties, truths, dependent origination. Any
one of these can be used to analyse the content of a discourse and their use
will automatically place it in its context in the teaching as a whole.
What is envisaged for sutta is not then a set body of literature, but rather a
traditional pattern of teaching. Authenticity lies not in historical truth
although this is not doubted, but rather in whether something can accord with
the essential structure of dhamma as a whole. 16
For Cousins, then, the difference between the verbs sandissati (in the
phrase vinaye sandissanti) and otarati (in the phrase sutte otarimti) is that
sandissati means 'match' and implies that the 'Vinaya' with which some
new teaching was to be matched was relatively fixed, whereas otarati
means 'enter into' and implies that the 'Sutta' with which a new teach-
ing was to be compared was 'not a set body of literature, but rather a tra-
ditional pattern of teaching'. Therefore, Cousins implies that doctrinal
coherence rather than historical truth was the motivating factor of those
who put together the collection of doctrinal discourses called 'Sutta'.
Is this an accurate estimation of this passage? The difference between
the verbs used to describe the act of comparing teachings with either
'Sutta' or 'Vinaya' is certainly of some significance. Cousins' suggestion
that otarati ought to be interpreted in the light of the Petakopadesa defi-
nition of otara/pi makes good sense. It probably means, as Cousins indi-
cates, that the doctrinal content of a new teaching under consideration
was to be compared with the doctrinal content of a body of oral litera-
ture called 'Sutta', in one of the six categories of otara/JaY Of course this
means that the body of literature called 'Sutta' is not a 'set body of lite-
rature', for the passage is concerned precisely with the supplementation
of the existing body of literature called' Sutta'. But the fact that' Sutta'
was not fixed during the time when the method of the four mahapadesa-
s was applied says nothing about how the individual works of that body
of literature were composed and transmitted. In fact, if we follow the
wording of the passage, the implication is that the works comprising
'Sutta' were transmitted word for word. We can deduce this because we
16 Cousins pp. 2-3.
17 Be and Ne (D II.66.8) both use the verb osarati. This is probably incorrect, for the
Sanskrit version of the text uses the verb ava + ..Jtt throughout (Waldschmidt p. 238), and
thus corresponds to the PTS editions which are based mainly on Sinhalese manuscripts.
THE ORAL TRANSMISSION OF EARLY BUDDHIST LITERATURE 103
are told that the 'words and letters' (padavyafijaniini) of the teaching
under consideration were to be 'learnt correctly' (siidhukaf!1 uggahetvii)
before judgement was passed. If attention was to be paid to the words and
letters of proposed teachings, it implies that the content of what was
known as 'Sutta' was also transmitted by paying a similar attention to its
words and letters, i.e. that it was transmitted word for word. The passage
therefore shows that the accuracy with which a body of literature called
'Butta' was meant to be transmitted was very high, down to the letter.
It was not a fixed body of literature, for it could be supplemented by com-
paring its already established doctrinal content with the doctrinal content
of new teachings, which could then be added to it. But the early Buddhists
at least attempted to transmit it accurately.
Exactly the same observations apply to the way in which the Vinaya
was formed. It cannot have consisted of an 'established and relatively
well defined set of vinaya rules', as Cousins supposes, because the issue
. in question seems to have been the supplementation of an existing body
of literature called 'Vinaya' by comparing new teachings pertaining to dis-
. cipline with it. Contrary to what Cousins thinks, the verb sandissati can-
not mean that the set of Vinaya rules was relatively fixed. Instead, it
seems that the verb sandissati was used because it was the standard verb
used to state that a person conforms to certain ethical or religious practices,18
or that certain practices are found 'in' a person or persons.
19
It is under-
standable, therefore, that in the passage in question, it is asked if the words
and letters of the teaching 'conform' (sandissanti) to the 'Vinaya', for this
18 D 1.102.10: api nu tval]'! imiiya anuttariiya viiiiiearaJ;lasampadiiya sandissasi
siieariyako ti?
D II.75.27ff (=A IV.l7.8, A IV.20.20, A IV.22.7, A IV.22.24, A IV.23.9): yiivakfvaii
ca briihmal}a ime satta aparihiiniyii dhammii vaijfsu thassanti, imesu ea sattasu apari-
hiiniyesu dhammesu vaiif sandissati.
M ill.163.23ff (=S V.I77.19, S V.397.7, S V.345.17, S V.345.29, S VA07.28): sal]'!vij-
iante te ea dhammii mayi ahaii ea tesu dhammesu sandissiimf ti.
A V.340.31: yiin' imiini bhante bhagavatii saddhassa saddhapadiiniini bhiisitiini, sal]'!vij-
janti tiini imassa bhikkhuno, ayaii ea bhikkhu etesu sandissati.
19 Sn 50.18: sandissanti nu kho bho Gotama etarahi briihmaJ}ii poriilJ.iinal]'! briihmalJ.ii-
nal[l briihmalJ.adhamme ti?
D ill.82.11ff: ye 'me dhammii akusalii ... khattiye pi te idh' ekaeee sandissanti ... [briih-
malJ.e pi ... vesse pi.""} sudde pi te idh' ekaeee sandissanti.
A ill.221.11ff: paiie' ime bhikkhave poriilJ.ii briihmalJ.adhammii etarahi sunakhesu san-
dissanti no briihmal}esu.
104 ALEXANDER WYNNE
is the verb that was to be used when considering a thirig's conformity to
religious practices. There is no implication that the Vinaya was fixed.
Although Cousins argues that the passage on the four mahiipadesa-s
shows variability in the fIxing of Suttas but not the contents of the Vinaya,
there is in fact no such implication. Instead, we are told that the early
Buddhist literature consisted of primitive collections called 'Sutta' and
'Vinaya', and we can deduce that both of these were periodically expanded
by the addition of new material. In order for new material to be accepted
into these collections, they were learnt word for word and then compared
with the content of the existing collections. If the comparison showed
that the new agreed with the old, it was added to it, and no doubt trans-
mitted word for word. If the passage on the four mahapadesa-s reflects
the actual practice of early monastic Buddhism, it is hard to imagine that
improvisational methods of oral transmission could ever have been used,
for such methods do not guarantee the accuracy to the letter demanded
by the passage on the four mahiipadesa-s.
4. Other arguments for improvisation
Other arguments to support the theory of an improvisational method of
composing and transmitting the early Buddhist literature have been proposed
by Rupert Gethin. He has suggested that the use ofrnnemonic lists allowed
for a certain amount of flexibility in the composition of the early literature:
[T]he lists not only aid mechanical memorization (learning by rote), but act
as a kind of flowchart for the composition of a discourse. They indicate the
various paths and themes that the composer can choose to follow and expand
as she feels appropriate. The matrix of interconnecting lists provides a form
or structure within which she can improvise.
The Pili canon has come down to us as a fixed literary text, but clearly was
not always so. Given the model of interlinking lists, one can easily see
how there might be a version of a sutta mentioning the four applications of
mindfulness as a bare list, and another version mentioning them with a brief
exposition, and yet another version that goes on to give a very full exposi-
tion. Such a state of affairs highlights the difficulties about entering into
arguments about the "original" version of a Sutta, for example, in the con-
text of comparative research between the Pili Nikayas and Chinese Againas.
The peyyiila or "repetition" sections of the Sarp.yutta and Ailguttara Nikayas
are particularly interesting in this respect. Here the texts, as we have them,
.indicate an initial pattern or formula that is to be applied to various items
in succession. The result is a text with quite radical abbreviations. Indeed,
it is not always clear from the manuscripts and editions we have just how
much we are meant to expand the material to get the "full" text. Perhaps a
certain freedom is intended here; the peyyala sections of the Saf!lyutta and
AJiguttara Nikayas can appear to read more like the guidelines for oral recita-
tion and composition than a fixed literary text.
20
Gethin assumes, then, that interconnecting lists formed flowcharts for
the composition of Suttas. But it can be objected that not many Suttas
appear to have been composed in this manner. Instead, it seems that most
of the Suttas in the Dlgha and Majjhiroa Nikayas are narratives which
employ lists but are not formed out of them. This is perhaps less obvious
for the Suttas contained in the Sarp.yutta and Anguttara Nikayas, (and
perhaps a few of the DIgha and Majjhiroa Suttas)21 in which narrative
elements are limited, whereas lists and other mnemonic aids more often
provide the textual structure. So perhaps it is possible to imagine a period
of oral composition when many Suttas were composed in the way imag-
ined by Gethin. On top of this, Gethin is saying that Suttas built around
interlinking lists could have been contracted or expanded at will, mean-
mg that they were never exactly fixed throughout their early transmission.
If so, it is difficult to make any suppositions about a Sutta's original form.
By using this model, Gethin explains the differences between the Pali,
Sanskrit (Sarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka) and Chinese (Sarvastivadin)
versions of the Dasottara Siitra:
[W]e should not think in terms of an "original" or "correct" version of
such a text. Rather, what we have here is a mnemonic association and pro-
gression; this technique and system goes beyond mere learning by rote,
yielding a structure within which, provided one knows what one is doing,
it is perfectly legitimate to improvise as one feels appropriate.
If correct, this would mean that a text was continually modified by
improvisation after it had been inherited by Buddhist sects in the North-
West and South of the Indian subcontinent.
22
But whatever the truth of
20 Gethin 1992 p. 156.
21 E.g. the Dasuttara Sutta and the Sa/igfti Sutta, on which see below.
22 According to Frauwallner, this would have been after the Asokan missions c.250 B.C.
See n.15 above.
106 ALEXANDER WYNNE
this claim, it must be remembered that the Dasottara Sidra represents an
extremely rare style of SiUra composition; only the Sangfti Sutta has been
composed in a similar way. As Gethin notes, the structure of these two
texts recalls the AIiguttara Nikaya's numerical method of composition,23
but no other individual Suttas are quite like them. In other words, We
have here an important example of geme difference between different
sorts of Sutta, and generalisations about the composition of the mass of
early literature ought not to be made on the basis of a couple, of unusual
Suttas. The various versions of the Dasottara Sidra, as well as the San-
grti Sutta, should not be the standard against which the rest of the early
literature is judged. In any case, Gethin's explanation of the different ver-
sions of the Dasottara Sutra is not the only one. The differences could
just as easily have been produced by the natural variations of a relatively
fixed oral transmission, in which case the early sectarian redactors would
have been responsible for them. This point is overlooked by Gethin -
he does not say that we have a choice of two models to explain the dif-
ferences between the sectarian versions of the Dasottara Sutra. Which
model is more likely to reflect the truth?
Both views are theories purporting to explain a certain state of affairs,
i.e. the extant forms of the various versions of the Dasottara Sutra. Unless
any supporting evidence is presented, there is very little to choose between
them. But the theory of Gethin has no evidence to support it. On the other
hand, there is evidence to support the notion of a relatively fixed oral
transmission. The passage on the four mahiipadesa-s, which appears to
represent compositional conditions in pre-sectarian Buddhism, suggests
that improvisation was not likely once the early sangha had begun the
1 : ~ s k of collecting the early literature. If this evidence reflects historical
facts, it is hard to imagine that oral improvisation in the transmission of
literature was the norm in the early period of sectarian Buddhism.
So what are we to make of Gethin's model of interconnecting lists? If
we look at the Suttas which use lists extensively, it is hard to imagine that
they reached their extant form through improvisation. Many of the Sarpyutta
and AIiguttara Suttas, for example, use lists and matrices extensively and
methodically, but they involve such heavy repetition that it is hard to
23 Gethin 1992 p. 157.
imagine that they were improvised, let alone performed. And I do not
think that the peyytila sections of the Sarpyutta and Ailguttara Nikayas
'appear to read more like guidelines for oral recitation and composition
than a fixed literary text.' In my experience, the content of a peyyiiZa sec-
tion is usually obvious. Even in the Sarpyutta and Ailguttara Nikayas,
which use the technique most extensively, the numerous peyyiila sections
usually come after one preliminary Sutta which spells out word for word
the pattern which is to be understood for the Suttas that follow. This
hardly allows for free improvisation. For example, p. 359ff of the PTS
edition of the Sa!iiyatanavagga (SaiTlyutta Nikiiya IV) marks the begin-
nmg of the Asankhata-sarrzyutta (S Book XLIII = S IV book IX). This
vagga consists of f o r t y ~ f o u r Suttas
24
squeezed into less than fifteen
pages, precisely because of the abbreviations achieved by the peyyiiZa
method. But the pattern for all the Suttas is given in full in the first and
last Suttas of the vagga, and we are never in any doubt about the con-
tent of the peyyiila sections.
25
This is in fact the general rule of the
peyyiiZa sections of the Sarpyutta and Ailguttara Nikayas. It can hardly
have been the case that there were Buddhist monks in ancient India who
chanted pe during communal recitation, when they could not be both-
ered to recite the full version of a Sutta. Nor were the peyyiiZa sections
of the extant texts the product of oral composers, or early scribes, who
shortened texts in order that oral reciters might improvise around the
skeleton structure of the text left. They were simply the product oflater
scribes who found the job of writing out lengthy sections of repetition
tedious.
The lack of evidence to support the theory that the early Buddhist lit-
erature was composed by free improvisation means that we should instead
examine the textual evidence for the alternative view in more detail.
A preliminary step in this direction has already been taken with the study
of the passage on the four mahiipadesa-s; as we have seen, this supports
the claims of Norman and Gombrich, i.e. that verbatim accuracy was
24 The PTS editor, L. Feer, counts only forty-four Suttas in thie section of S IV, but as
he points out in his introduction to the edition, the total amount of Suttas would come to
1463 if each section was printed in full. This is perhaps the most extreme example of
abbreviation attained by the peyyiila method.
25 In fact the full pattern, or most of it, is given in Suttas 1, 12(1), 12(45) and 44.
lOS ALEXANDER WYNNE
required in the transmission of the early Buddhist liteniture. If more com-
pelling evidence for this sort of transmission can be found, then we must
accept that this theory is 'closer to the truth than the alternative theory for
which there appears to be no evidence.
5. The evidence for a relatively fixed oral transmission
5.1. The Bhikkhu- and Bhikkhul}f patimokkhas
It is at least clear that certain parts of the early Buddhist literature must
have been transmitted word for word in the earliest times. The Bhikkhu-
and Bhikkhul}f-Piitimokkhas, for example, can hardly have been subject
to an improvisational method of oral transmission, for their content
(monastic rules) is hardly the sort of material suitable for improvisation
and/or performance. The following passage on the qualities of a 'knower'
of the Vinaya (vinayadhara) shows that the Patimokkhas were probably
always transmitted verbatim:
Endowed with seven qualities, bhikkhus, is a bhikkhu a !mower of the dhamma.
Which seven? He understands what is a transgression and what is not, he
understands what is a trifling transgression and what is a serious one, both
piitimokkha-s are well learnt (sviigatiini) by him in detail, well analysed,
[they] are well set out [and] are well determined, down to the Sutta (suttaso),
down to the letter (anuvyafijaso); he attains the fourjhiina-s, higher states of
mind, pleasant abidings in this life, when he desires, easily [and] without dif-
ficulty, [and] because of the fading away of the corruptions, he passes his
time having realised, witnessed [and] attained for himself, in this very life,
the corruptionless release of mind, the release through insight.
26
At a very early date then, the Bhikkhu- and Bhikkhul}l-Piitimokkhas
must have been memorised and transmitted word for word. Both these
26 A rv.140.18ff: sattahi bhikkhave dhammehi samanniigato bhikkhu vinayadharo hoti.
katamehi sattahi? iipattiJ?1 jiiniiti, aniipattiJ?1 jiiniiti, lahukaJ?1 iipattiJ?1 jiiniiti, garukaJ?1
iipattiJ?1 jiiniiti, ubhayiini kho pan' assa piitimokkhiini vitthiirena sviigatiini honti, suvibhat-
tiini suppavattfni suvinicchitiini suttaso anuvyaiijaso, catunnaJ?1 jhiiniinaJ?1 abhicetasikiinaJ?1
ditrhadhammasukhavihiiriinaJ?1 nikiimaliibhf hoti akicchaliibhf akasiraliibhf, iisaviinaJ?1
khayii aniisavaJ?1 cetovimuttiJ?1 paiiiiiivimuttiJ?1 dirrhe va dhamma sayaJ?1 abhiiiiiii sacchikatvii
upasampajja viharati.
The pericope, or the most important part of it from ubhayiini to anuvyaiijaso, is found
at: A rv.142.12, A rv.279.25; A V.71.20, A V.72.17, A V.73.8, A V.SO.25, A V.201.9;
Yin I.65.6, Yin 1.68.20, Yin LSI (x2); Yin II.95.37, Yin II.249.1S, Yin IV.51.28.
texts are examples of a genre of early Buddhist literature not governed
by the conventions of improvisation and/or performance.
5.2. Wordfor word recitation of the dhamma in the Bhikkhu-patimokkha
Further evidence supports the idea that the conventions governing the
'transmission of not just the Patimokkhas, but also most of the early Bud-
:dhlst literature, similarly involved word for word repetition. For exam-
ple, one of the pacittiya rules in the Bhikkhu-Patimokkha forbids a bhikkhu
from teaching the dhamma 'word for word' to someone who has not
received full monastic ordination:
If any bhikkhu should make someone who is not ordained (anupasampan-
narrt) recite (vaceyya) the Dhamma word by word (padaso), there is an offence
entailing expiation.
27
The word dhamma is often contrasted with the word vinaya in the Pali
canon to distinguish the doctrinal discourses from the ecclesiastic law,28
and so it seems that in this pacittiya rule, the word refers to the doctrinal
teachings included in the Suttapitaka rather than the Vinaya rules. This
inuch is obvious, for the law forbids the instruction of a non-monastic in
a certain way: if non-monastics were taught in certain ways by members
of the sangha, they cannot have been taught the Vinaya rules, but only
the doctrinal discourses, i.e. dhamma. And if a non-monastic was not
supposed to recite the dhamma word for word, it suggests that this was
exactly how monastics did recite it. This evidence suggests that the Sutta
portions of the early Buddhist literature were learnt verbatim among the
Ordained. While the extent of the material covered by the word dhamma
is not made clear, and although the passage does not rule out the use of
improvisational methods, we have important evidence showing that the
basic literary training in early Buddhism consisted of word for word rep-
etition, and that some portion of the Suttapitaka was transmitted in this
manner.
27 The Patimokkha p. 46.13 (bhikkhupiitimokkha, suddhiipiicittiyii 4 = Yin IV. 14.20ff):
yo pana bhikkhu anupasampannal'[! padaso dhammal'[! viiceyya piicittiyal'[!. (Nonnan's
translation in Pruitt and Nonnan 2001 p. 47).
28 See PED s.v. dhamma, vinaya; Oldenberg p. x.
110 ALEXANDER WYNNE
5.3. The Kinti Sutta
Further evidence for tlJ.e word for word transmission of the early Bud-
dhist literature is provided. in a number of places. In the Kinti Sutta,
the course of action to be taken when there is disagreement about the
meaning (attha) and letter (vyafijana) of the doctrine (abhidhamme)29 is
outlined. In the exhaustive style that is so characteristic of early Buddhist
texts, the Buddha describes four possible sorts of disagreement (niinii-
viidii) :
1. Disagreement over meaning and letter (atthato c'eva niinaf(l byafija-
nato ca niinaf(l).
2. Disagreement over meaning but not letter (atthato hi kho niinaf(l byafi-
janato sameti).
3. Agreement over meaning but not letter (atthato hi sameti byafijanato
niinaf(l).
4. Agreement over meaning and letter (atthato c'eva sameti byafijanato
sameti).
The method of working out these four sorts of disagreement is more
or less the same in all cases. So for the first sort of disagreement (over
meaning and letter), the Buddha advises the following:
29 Bhikkhu Nfu.lamoll and Bhikkhu Bodhi translate this compound as 'about the higher
Dhamma' (p. 848). According to von Hiniiber, in the earlier parts of the Pili canon it
means 'things relating to the teaching' (p. 64). DOP defines it as: 'as regards the doctrine,
as regards dhammas'; it lists references where the term appears next to the term abhivi-
naye, where it is clear that we are dealing with the basic dyad dhamma-vinaya. The dhamma
in the text in question consists of the list of thirty-seven 'factors conducive to awakening'
'(bodhi-pakkhiyii dhammii), and is what Bronkhorst calls 'an early, perhaps the earliest,
list of of the type that came to be called miitrkii/p. miitikii and formed the basis for the later
Abhidharma works.' (1985, p. 305). Although it stands at the beginning of the Abhid-
harma tradition, I doubt that the word abhidhamma refers to the beginning of Abhidharma
teachings here. Gethin (2001 p. 232) has pointed out that the Kinti Sutta belongs to a group
of four Suttas in which the bodhi-pakkhiyii dhammii are said to encapsulate 'the essential
teaching and practise of Buddhism'; the other Suttas are the Mahiiparinibbiina Sutta, the
Samiigama Sutta and the Piisiidika Sutta. It seems that at the stage of oral composition rep-
resented by these texts, there was a concern to fIx the syntax and semantics of the Bud-
dhistdoctrine. The Sutta is concerned with the fIxing of the Buddha's dhamma, not its
extension into abhidhamma, and must predate the start of the Abhidharma proper. Thus
the prefix abhi- probably does not mean 'higher', as NaI),amoli and Bodhi think, but sim-
ply means 'as regards to the doctrine', as defmed by DOP.
. In this case, you ought to approach a bhikkhu whom you consider to be par-
ticularly easy (0 speak to; having approached him, you should address him
thus: 'There is a difference among you, Venerable Sirs, over both meaning
and letter. The Venerable Sirs ought to know that it is because of this (amina)
that there is a difference over both meaning and letter. Let not the Venerable
Sirs get into a dispute (viviidar!1V
Then, you ought to approach a bhikkhu, belonging to the other faction of
bhikkhus on the other side (ekato), whom you consider to be particularly easy
to speak to; having approached him, you should address him thus: 'There
is a difference among you, Venerable Sirs, over both meaning and letter. The
Venerable Sirs ought to know that it is because of this (amina) that there is
a difference over both the meaning and letter. Let not the Venerable Sirs get
into a dispute.'
Thus what has been badly understood (duggahfta1J1) ought to be held [by all
concerned] as badly understood (duggahltato), [after which] the dhamma and
the vinaya ought to be spoken.30
Exactly the same process of regulation is described for all four cases,
although it is not clear how there could be a dispute if two parties agree
on the meaning and letter. The process of arbitration seems to involve a
heutral group of bhikkhus, i.e. the sangha at large, mediating between the
two factions, in each case appealing to the most reasonable or moderate
among them. The speaker for the sangha at large outlines the reason for
the difference ('it is because of this that there is a difference ... '), and
then appeals to what would have been one of the most basic sentiments
of the early Buddhist sangha, that is, not to let a difference break out into
a dispute (vivada), which might possibly lead to schism.3l The brief sen-
tence at the end of the passage is not exactly clear (,Thus what has been
30 M II.239.7ff: tattha yaf(! bhikkhUf(! suvacataraf(! maiiiieyyiitha, so upasaf(!kamitvii
evam assa vacanfyo: iiyasmantiinaf(! kho atthato c' eva niinaf(! byaiijanato ca niinaf(!. tad
aminii p' etaf(! iiyasmanto jiiniitha, yathii atthato c' eva niinaf(! byaiijanato ca niinaf(!. mii
iiyasmanto viviidaf(! iipajjitthii ti. athiiparesaf(! ekato pakkhikiinaf(! bhikkhUnaf(! yaf(!
bhikkhuf(! suvacataraf(! maiiiieyyiitha, so upasaJ'J1kamitvii evam assa vacaniyo: iiyasmantii-
naf(! kho atthato c' eva niinaf(! byaiijanato ca niinaf(!. tad aminii p' etaf(! iiyasmanto jiiniitha,
yathii atthato c' eva niinaf(! byaiijanato ca niinaf(!. mii iiyasmanto viviidaf(! iipajjitthii ti. iti
duggahftaf(! duggahitato dhiiretabbaf(!; duggahftaf(! duggahftato dhiiretvii yo dhammo yo
vinayo so bhiisitabbo.
31 The early Buddhists were well aware of this danger. For example, in the Sangfti
Sutta, at the death of NigaI).!ha Nataputta a vicious dispute is said to have broken out among
the Jains (D III.210.3: viviida), and in response Sariputta is said to have appealed to the
Buddhist sangha that this should not happen to them.
112 ALEXANDER WYNNE
badly understood ... '), but it seems to imagine a scenario where the two
factions have been made to acquiesce to the decision of the mediating
body not involved in the dispute. Although it is said that the letter is 'tri-
fling' (appamattakarrz) when there is a disagreement about the letter
alone,32 the same process of mediation and resolution is described. The let-
ter mattered.
33
We do not know if this evidence records historical actuality, but the
pragmatic approach envisaged in the text suggests that the eru:ly sangha
would have resolved literary disputes in such a way. Of course, it is only
to be expected that some differences were not resolved, but that is beside
the point. The point of interest here is that the text shows that disagreements
about the exact wording of the early literature were potentially serious
affairs. Differences certainly arose, and some of them were probably not
resolved, but this passage shows that a common presupposition accepted
by all Buddhists was that teachings should be transmitted to the letter.
In the light of this evidence, it is hard to see how improvisational
methods could have been used in the transmission of the early Buddhist
literature. The learning of the Piitimokkhas down to the letter, instruction
involving word for word recitation of the dhamma, and regulatory processes
which rejected wrong wording all preclude improvisation. We have
also seen that the arguments for the possibility of improvisation are not
convincing. The evidence studied thus far is particularly one-sided. But
to come to a more exact understanding of the matter, we must consider
in greater detail the genre of the early Buddhist oral literature.
32 M II.240.10/l6: appamattakal'{l kho pana' etal'{l yadidal'{l byanjanal'{l.
33 On this passage, Gethin (2001 p. 236) comments: 'Disagreement over attha is a
potentially more serious affair. The solution proffered here seems to be that the two sides
in a dispute over attha should accept that some matters may be hard to grasp (duggahfta)
others easy (suggahfta).' But the word duggahfta in Pili canonical texts always means
'badly grasped/understood', and not 'hard to grasp/understand'; for example, as it is used
in the Alagaddupama Sutta at M 1.133.30. Gethin goes on: 'I take it that this implies that
since difference of opinion over the satipa{!hanas and so on ultimately concern quite sub-
tle matters of practical experience, bhikkhus should guard against attachment to particular
interpretations of their theoretical formulation.' But the differences envisaged in the pas-
sage nowhere refer to different interpretations of personal experience, and its point was not
to wam against being partial to doctrine seen in the light of personal experience. The matter
is simply about the transmission of sacred literature, in its meaning and letter. As we have
seen, there is a concern not only for semantic accuracy, but also for syntactical accuracy,
and this of course has uothing to do with practical experience.
6. Genre in the early Buddhist literature
Genre can be defined as follows:
A Gattung or genre is a conventional pattern, recognizable by certain for-
mal criteria (style, shape, tone, particular syntactic or even grammatical
structnres, recurring fonnulaic patterns), which is used in a particular society
in social contexts which are governed by certain formal conventions.
34
According to this definition, the genre of a composition depends upon
certain formal criteria, such as style or recurring formulaic patterns, and it
is determined to a large extent by the conventions of the society in which
it functions. If we consider the early Buddhist literature in this way, what
do its genres tell us about its transmission? The issue of style seems to be
a quite simple one - the Buddhist texts are solemn compositions which
can hardly have been transmitted in performance. The internal evidence
of the early Buddhist literature suggests exactly this. In the following pas-
sage from the AIiguttara Nikaya, which comments on the reasons for the
. future disappearance of the Dhamma and Vinaya, the doctrinal discourses
are viewed as sacred utterances rather than compositions to be performed:
Moreover, bhikkhus, there will be bhikkhus in the future, undeveloped in
body, discipline, mind [and] insight. Being of this nature, the Suttantas
spoken by the Tathagata - profound, with profound meaning, transcen-
dent, connected to emptiness - they will not desire to listen [to these] when
they are being spoken, they will not lend their ears [to them], they will not
direct their minds towards understanding [them], and they will not think
that those teachings ought to be learnt and accomplished. But the Suttantas
which are poetic, fashioned by poets, with ornamental syllables and letters,
heretical [but] spoken by disciples, they will desire to listen [to these] when
they are being spoken, they will lend their ears [to them], they will direct
their minds towards understanding [them], and they will think that those
teachings ought to be learnt and accomplished.
35
34 Barton p. 32.
35 A Ill. I 07 .11ff: puna ca pararrz bhikkhave, bhavissanti bhikkha aniigatarrz addhiinarrz
abhiivitakiiyii abhiivitasflii abhiivitacittii abhiivitapafifiii, te abhiivitakiiyii samiinii abhiivi-
tasfla abhiivitacittii abhiivitapafifiii, ye te suttantii tathiigatabhiisitii gambhlrii gambhfratthii
lokuttarii sufifiatiipa{isarrzyuttii, tesu bhafifiamiinesu na sussusissanti, na sotarrz odahissanti,
na afifiiicittarrz upat(hapessanti, na ca te dhamme uggahetabbarrz pariyiipUlJitabbarrz mafifiis-
santi. ye pana te suttantii kavikatii kiiveyyii cittakkharii cittavyafijanii biihirakii siivakabhii-
sitii, tesu bhafifiamiinesu sussusissanti, sotarrz odahissanti, afifiiicittarrz upatthapessanti, te
ca dhamme uggahetabbarrz pariyiipUiJitabbarrz mafifiissanti.
114 ALEXANDER WYNNE
This is evidence, surely, that the early sangha was'suspicious of a
poetic style of Sutta composition, And if we conclude from this that most
of the early Buddhist texts were not considered to be poetic composi-
tions, it vastly reduces the chances that they were somehow improvised.
Schmithausen has suggested that the Sutta in which this evidence is
contained may be later than other Suttas found in the same vagga,36 but
the point it makes about the style of enunciating Suttas is corroborated
by further canonical evidence. The Gftassara Sutta, for example, warns
against the dangers of singing the dhamma in a drawn out voice (ayata-
kena gftassarena); 37 one of these dangers is that householders will think
that bhikkhus sing (gayanti) just like they do.
38
This advice against reciting
the dhamma in the style of non-monastic singing corresponds to an episode
in the Vinaya where the Buddha forbids the dhamma to be sung in a drawn-
out voice:
At that time, six bhikkhus were singing the dhamma in a drawn out voice.
People were offended, vexed [and] annoyed [saying]; 'Just as we sing, so
do these ascetic followers of the Sakyan sing the dhamma, in a drawn out
voice.'39
The Buddha goes on to sanction such singing by defIning it as a dukkata
offence.
40
It seems that style mattered to the early sangha, who did not
wish their literature to be transmitted in the poetic style of non-monastic
bards. This is not surprising, for the early Buddhists were attempting to
transmit sacred literature; they were more concerned with preserving
important teachings than with taking into consideration the needs of their
audience. It seems to me that this stylistic consideration rules out the pos-
'sibility that performance based methods, which perhaps included elements
36 Schmithausen 1992 p. 117.
37 A III-2Sl.1ff (=Paneakanipata CCIX, Kimbilavagga lX): pane' ime bhikkhave tidf-
nava iiyatakena gftassarena dhammaT(l bhalJantassa. katame panea?
38 A III.2S1.4ff: gahapatikti pi ujjhtiyanti: yath'eva mayaT(l gayama, evam ev'ime
samalJa sakyaputtiya giiyantl ti.
39 Yin II.lOS.S: tena kho pana samayena ehabbaggiya bhikkha ayatakena gftassarena'
dhammaT(l gayanti. manussa ujjhiiyanti khlyanti vipaeenti: yath'eva mayaT(l gayama, evam
ev'ime sama/Ja sakyaputtiya ayatakena gftassarena dhammaT(l giiyantl ti. (On this, see
Collins 1992 p. 2S).
40 Yin II.10S2l: na bhikkhave ayatakena gftassarena dhammo gayitabbo. yo gayeyya,
apatti dukkatassa ti.
of improvisation, can have been the means for the transmission of the
early Buddhist literature. In addition, there is evidence that the formal
conventions of oral transmission were affected and moulded by the
communal patterns that operated within the early sangha. The evidence
suggests that communal recitation was the norm, and this has important
ramifications for the transmission of the early literature. Such evidence
is seen, for example, in the Pasadika Sutta, where the Buddha is reported
to have advised communal recitation in response to the Jain quarrels after
the death of NigaJ?tha Nataputta:
Therefore, Cunda, as regards the teachings I have taught to you through
understanding, meeting together again and again, [comparing] meaning with
meaning (atthena atthal'{l), [comparing] letter with letter (byaiijanena byaii-
janal'{l), you should recite communally and not argue, so that the holy life will
be long lasting and endure long, which will be for the benefit of the many,
for the happiness of the many; [do it] out of compassion for the world, for
the purpose, welfare [and] happiness of gods and men.41
This evidence suggests that the early Buddhists used the example of the
Jain quarrels about their literature in order to ensure the accurate trans-
mission of their early teachings. There are important implications if com- .
IDuna! recitation was the foremost means of oral transmission in the early
Buddhist sangha, as has been noted by Mark Allon:
[C]ommunal or group recitation or performance requires fixed wording.
It is not possible for more than one individual to perform at the same time
in the manner described by Parry-Lord without producing utter chaos, for
in that method, each individual creates his compositions anew each time he
performs.
42
If the Buddha's words in the Pasadika Sutta were taken seriously, it
means that the formal conventions of group chanting would have ruled
(Jut the ability of individuals to improvise in the manner of a single oral
performer. The various genres which make up the early Buddhist litera-
ture would all have been subject to group recitation at some point, and
41 D m. 127. 15ff: tasmiit iha cunda ye va maya dhammii abhififia desita, tattha sabbeh'
eva saT(lgamma samagamma atthena atthaT(l vyafijanena vyafijanaT(l saT(lgayitabbaT(l na
vivaditabbaT(l, yathayidaT(l brahmacariyaT(l addhaniyaT(l assa ciratthitikaT(l tad assa bahu-
janahitaya bahujanasukhiiya lakanukampiiya atthiiya hitaya sukhaya devamanUSSanaT(l.
42 Allan p. 366.
116 ALEXANDER WYNNE
this involved social conditions very different from those 'in which improv-
isational and performance based methods could have functioned. The evi-
dence for group recitation is not limited to the Pasadika Sutta - similar
evidence is found in the Saflgiti Sutta,43 a name which perhaps indicates
that it was composed at a major communal recitation.
44
If this was the
case, it is likely that the same compositional conditions applied to the
very similar Dasuttara Sutta, which would rule out Gethin's suggestion
that differences in its various sectarian versions were produced by the
oral improvisation of individual chanters.
7. The historical value of circumstantial evidence
I have thus far cited canonical evidence suggesting word for word accu-
racy in the transmission of the early Buddhist literature, as well as evi-
dence suggesting that stylistic and social conditions precluded improvi-
sational methods of oral transmission. This evidence requires further
scrutiny, however. Should we assume that the canonical evidence is an
accurate record of historical events? Or should we assume that this evi-
dence is normative and only permits conclusions to be drawn about the
ideals, but not deeds, of the early Buddhists? Many scholars today incline
towards the opinion that the early Buddhist texts contain hardly any reli-
able historical information. This view has been articulated by Gregory
Schopen as follows;
Even the most artless formal narrative text has a purpose, and that in "scrip-
tural" texts, especially in India, that purpose is almost never "historical" in
our sense of the term ...
Scholars of Indian Buddhism have taken canonical monastic rules and formal
literary descriptions of the monastic ideal preserved in very late manuscripts
and treated them as if they were accurate reflections of the religious life
and career of actual practising Buddhist monIcs in early India.
45
43 D Ill.Zl1.3: tattha sabbeh' eva sal[!gayitabbal[! na vivaditabbal[!. This is exactly the
same pericope as that found in the Fasadika Sutta, but minus the section sal[!gamma sama-
gamma atthena atthal[! vyafijanena vyafijanal[!.
44 This point has been made by Cousins (1983 p. 4): 'So far as I know, it has not actu-
ally been suggested that it may well have been recited at one of the Councils. Yet its name
clearly indicates that it is intended for chanting together and this surely means at a Sangfti.'
45 Schopen 1997 p. 3.
_ But it is surely naIve to treat the entire contents of the canonical liter-
ature in this way: It cannot be doubted that much of the canonical liter-
, ature is nonnative, but this does not warrant the assertion that it contains
, no descriptive or historical elements. In fact, some quite simple' steps
'can be taken to separate nonnative from descriptive material. We must
'differentiate direct evidence from indirect or circumstantial evidence.
In legal parlance, circumstantial evidence is not the direct evidence of a
who claims that he saw or heard something, but is a singular fact
,that can be used to infer another fact. In other words, circumstantial evi-
'dence is the indirect, unintentional evidence which affords a certain pre-
sumption. In the context of the early Buddhist literature, circumstantial
,evidence is not the direct evidence contained in the Buddhist texts, e.g.
that the Buddha said such and such a thing on such and such an occasion
(which may be true or false), but consists of the indirect facts from which
()ther facts can be inferred. So, for example, the Buddha's advice in the
Kinti Sutta on how to resolve potentially schismatic disputes is direct
,evidence that can neither be substantiated or denied;46 we do not know
if the Buddha said such a thing, or if the sangha followed the ideals said
'to have been set out by him on that occasion. This is the nonnative evi-
dence of which Schopen is so suspicious. But the circumstantial evidence
in this passage consists of the fact that the early sangha imag-
,med that there could be disputes about the precise wording of the early
oral literature. From this we can infer that a priority of the early sangha
}Vas the precise wording of the literature, and that efforts were made to
jransmit the early Buddhist compositions accurately, to the letter. If this
was not the case, the text would never have said that disputes could arise
over the letter.
;" In a similar vein, all the other evidence that I have presented is circum-
stantial and from it we can infer that the early Buddhists really did attempt
to transmit the early Buddhist literature with verbatim accuracy. So in
the passage on the four mahiipadesa-s,47 the way new teachings were said
to be compared with the existing collections of 'Sutta' and 'Vinaya' means
that these existing collections must have been transmitted verbatim -
46 See section 5.3.
47 See section 3.
118 ALEXANDER WYNNE
otherwise it would never have been said that the words and letters of the
new teachings had to be learnt correctly (siidhukaf{l). The description of
the vinayadhara is surely an ideal,48 but the ideal of learning both the
Patimokkha-s to the letter reflects the fact that this was how the early
Buddhists attempted to transmit it in early times. The Vinaya rule for-
bidding non-monastics permission to be taught the dhamma does not
allow us to conclude that such things never happened,49 but the rule would
not have stipulated that the teaching was not to be 'word. by word'
(padaso) unless that was how monastics were in fact taught. And the
Piisiidika Sutta would never have said that when bhikkhus should gather
together to recite communally,50 the recitation should be 'letter by letter'
(byaiijanena byaiijanaf{l) unless that was how the early Buddhists attempted
to transmit the literature.
The worth of this circumstantial evidence should not be underesti-
mated. But it follows from the rule of drawing inferences from circum-
stantial evidence that the prohibitions against bhikkhus singing the dhamma
in a drawn out voice,51 and the evidence warning that in the future there
will be those who compose poetic sorts of Suttas,52 imply that there were
bhikkhus who sang their compositions in drawn out voices and who com-
posed poetic sorts of Suttas. This must indeed be so, but Suttas which may
have been sung in a 'drawn out voice' are not evidence that improvisa-
tional methods were used in the transmission of literature; in any case,
this passage shows that even this prohibited recitation was communal
and therefore not improvisational (the offenders were the six bhikkhus).
Moreover, as far as I can tell, there are no Suttas in the early canonical
collections that could be described as poetic with 'ornamental syllables
and letters'. And the important issue, surely, is the correct determination
of the methods by which the extant texts were transmitted, not texts which
may have existed. Even if others can find some of these 'heretical' Suttas
in the early literature, there can be no evidence that they were composed
through improvisational means.
48 See section 5.1.
49 See section 5.2.
50 See section 6.
51 See section 6.
52 See section 6.
8. Asoka's CaIcutta-Bairaf edict
There is one final point I wish to make. In his Calcutta-Bairat edict,
;\soka names some texts, the study of which he considers advantageous.
53
The general consensus seems to be that what Asoka calls Munigiithii
correspond to the Munisutta (Sn 207-21), Moneyasute is probably the
second half of the Niilakasutta (Sn 699-723), and Upatisapasine may
;6brrespond to the Siiriputtasutta (Sn 955-975).54 The identification of
inost of the other titles is less certain,55 but Schmithausen, following
,bldenberg before him,56 identifies what Asoka calls the Liighuloviida
;0Xith part of a prose text in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Ambala{!hika-
; Riihuloviida Sutta (M no.61).57 It is hardly likely that Asoka knew these
'ithts in exactly the same form as they are found in the extant Suttapitaka,
'but this does not matter. What matters is .that Asoka was able to name
and this surely means that their content was more or less fIxed.
0:'[ doubt whether the regular audience of an individual oral performer would
; have been able to put together the connected events of any given oral per-
' formance and refer to it by a single title. The early Buddhist literature
(known to Asoka must have contained works that were relatively fIxed,
. and this means that the works in the collections of literature that belonged
. to the missionaries sent out in his time were also relatively fIxed. This
. claim is supported by the fact that the passage in the Pili Mahiiparinib-
. biina Sutta on the four mahiipadesa-s is almost identical to the corre-
Sanskrit version,58 implying that the method of word for word
recitation of a text was pre-sectarian, and therefore to be dated before the
middle of the third century B.C. The early Buddhists of the fourth and
third centuries B.C. must have been composing texts which were, as far
'as they were concerned, fIxed. Differences in the corresponding passages
of the extant sectarian literature cannot, therefore, be the result of oral
iinprovisation.
53 Hultzsch p. 173: Vmaye-samukase Aliya-vastilJi Aruigatha-bhaytini Muni-gtitlui Moneya-
sute Upatisa-pasine e chti Ltighulovtide.
54 Nonnan 2001 p. xxxiii.
55 See Schmithausen 1992 p. 116-117, Jayawickrama pp. 230-32.
56 Olderiberg p. xl.
57 Schmithausen 1992 p. 115: 'It must refer to a prose text'.
58 See p. 101 n.15 above.
120 ALEXANDER WYNNE
9. Conclusion
Although the early Buddhist texts include infonnation on their own
transmission, there is no canonical evidence to suggest that imprqvisation
in perfonnance was a factor in their transmission, and it would seem
that the arguments for it have been overstated. Cousins, for example, has
commented: 'The kind of divergence and variation in the oral tradition
suggested here is not simply an inference from the pattern of most but
not all fonns of oral literature so far studied. It has a much fJimer basis.
It is precisely this kind of variation which is actually found in the different
versions of the four nikayas preserved by various sects and extant today
in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan'.59 But no evidence to support this
claim is presented, and we are forced to conclude that this argument is
precisely an inference based upon 'the pattern of most but not all forms
of oral literature so far studied'. In a similar vein, Gethin has said that 'The
earliest Buddhist literature was composed orally and built up around
lists' ,60 lists which 'provide or fonn a matrix within which she [the com-
poser] can improvise. '61 He argues that the differences between the various
versions of the Dasottara Sidra have been caused by this sort of improvi-
sation. But this argument also seems to be an inference based on the study
of other oral literatures, rather than a study of the early Buddhist evidence.
As far as I can tell, there is in no clear evidence in the Pali canon which
supports these claims, and much that goes against them, as I have attempted
to show.
The evidence on the literary history of early Buddhism presented here
concerns only the transmission and not the composition of the extant texts.
Furthennore, we must admit that this evidence reflects a well developed
literary tradition, and not the conditions which existed at the beginning of
Buddhist composition. So how were the texts composed in the fIrst place?
No one can deny that there must have been a period of free literary
transmission at the beginning of Buddhism. After the Buddha's death, every
bhikkhu or bhikkhu1)! would have remembered a number of stories about
the Buddha's life and teaching, some of which they witnessed themselves,
59 Cousins 1983 p. 5
60 Gethin 1992 p. 166.
61 Ibid. p. 156.
and others which they heard second-hand. In the beginning it is likely that
such stories and teachings, based on the collective memory of the early
sangha, were not fixed and circulated freely. Does this mean that it was
a period when improvisational methods were used? Possibly, but if so,
the improvisational methods would have been very different from those
studied by Parry and Lord. The techniques studied by Parry and Lord
presuppose a developed literary tradition which utilises fixed building
blocks, i.e. set phrases and pericopes (strings of words conveying vari-
ous ideas), around which a composition could be strung. These building
blocks would not have been known in a period of free transmission, and
so it seems that the methods studied by Parry and Lord simply cannot have
been used at this time. But what about the situation at the beginning of
a developed literary tradition, which would have been initiated by the
appearance of oral building blocks, and which eventually produced the
extant texts?
We can imagine that in an early period when the composition of such
oral building blocks had begun, there may well have been a period when
they were used by individual singers in improvised performances. Indeed,
Mark Allon has commented that stylistic features of some these pericopes
could have functioned as compositional aids 'within a tradition of com-
posing material during the performance in an improvisational manner and
in a tradition of composing fixed texts which were to be transmitted ver-
batim.'62 At the same time, he points out that the gross repetition found
in the DIgha Nikaya Suttas, although based on the use of these pericopes,
cannot reflect a tradition of improvisational performance.
63
But there are
many more Suttas which are shorter and which use the same pericopes
without the same level of repetition - could they be the product of
improvisation in performance? This seems to be most unlikely, for a very
simple reason .
. It is clear that the building blocks of the early Buddhist texts must
have been composed in a collaborative effort. Mark Allon's detailed study
of the pericopes used in the DIgha Nikaya shows a literary tradition of
great complexity and sophistication. The mnemonic techniques used to
62 Allon p. 365.
63 Ibid. p. 365.
122 ALEXANDER WYNNE
compose the pericopes from which the extant texts were fashioned can
hardly have been the work of individual composers working in isolation
from one another. It must"have been a joint effort. And if we are to sup-
pose that a joint effort was required to compose these building blocks, we
must imagine that the communal factor which determined communal
recitation and word for word transmission would have come into existence
at the very beginning of Sutta composition. In other words, I am sugges-
ting that if there was collaboration from the beginning, it can hardly have
been the case that the collaborators composed oral building blocks and
then went off, leaving the pericopes they had fashioned to be used by
individuals as they liked. Surely it was the case that the various peri-
copes, the building blocks of the early Buddhist texts, were fashioned by
committees in order to tum a growing body of loose material into a fonn
that could be more easily remembered. It must have been a joint project
involving many participants, and this implies that not only the pericopes
but also their distribution within texts would not have been a matter of
improvisation.
Of course, once a sophisticated literary tradition - one that uses oral
building blocks - is up and running, then it is quite likely that new mate-
rial would have been composed using these building blocks. New com-
posers, perhaps who wished to say new things, would have fashioned
new texts out of the building blocks which had already been composed.
But this does not necessarily mean that these new compositions would have
been subject to an improvisational method. As we have seen, the method
of integrating the new into the old suggested by the passage on the four
mphiipadesa-s does not allow any room for an improvisational method.
Any new composition would have been presented to the sangha as a whole,
and, if accepted, transmitted verbatim by the collaborative method of the
early sangha.
Group recitation and word for word accuracy does not mean that com-
position and transmission were carried out in a mechanistic and regi-
mented fashion, producing closed and canonised texts. On the contrary,
as long as the canon was not closed, and as long as oral composition and
transmission continued, some degree of variation could not have been
prevented, especially when Buddhism was spreading to the far comers of
the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Every measure was taken to ensure
that the early literature was as fixed and accurate as it could be under the
circumstances, but it was never written in stone. Variation in the parallel
texts of the different sects was only to be expected, for many variables
existed in the post-Asokan age. The parallel texts of the different sects
show us that the arrangement and even the language of compositions could
vary considerably,64 and from the amount of texts unique to certain sects,
it seems that there was an ongoing composition of new texts which could
be incorporated into the Nikayas/Agamas. In such circumstances, we must
imagine that the ancient guardians of the early Buddhist literature in the
post-Asokan period had a significant amount of redactional authority.
TIris redactional authority allowed some freedom in dealing with the sacred
literature, and it is because of this freedom that the differences in the par-
allel texts of the different sects appeared.
The model of oral composition and transmission which I am suggesting
can be summed up as follows:
Generally speaking we may envisage things as follows. At the beginning
there is a time of free transmission, during which the text is rendered in
free words from memory. Memorial sentences, mostly couched in the form
of verses, probably came early to the help of the memory. This sort of trans-
mission has always been employed with less important texts. I recall, e.g.
how the J ains fixed down by means of memorial sentences the contents of
the legends which they inserted in their sermons, but left the execution in
detail to the reciter. 65 The passage to an established tradition is marked by
the appearance of fixed formulae. These are known to everybody from the
Buddhist and Jama tradition. Wherever a subject of common recurrence is
treated, it is treated in the same words. Also the descriptions regularly
repeated in the Jama canon belong to this class. This gradually leads to an
established tradition, which fIxes the text in a certain version. But even such
an established tradition is never rigid as with the Vedic texts. Chiefly with
the Buddhists we remark even later frequent modifications of redactional
nature. To these belong the above discussed levelling tendencies, which led
to the uniforming of the verbal expressions of similar texts in the various
64 As pointed out by Allon p. 367.
65 This method may explain the composition of the Iatakas, where canonical verses
are separated by long tracts of non-canonical prose commentary. Such a method of trans-
mission is exactly what one would expect under the conditions of an improvisational model
of free transmission. But the prose passages in the Jatakas that may have been left to the
whim of the reciter are not considered to be canonical in the Theravada tradition, and there
is of course no evidence that they were ever transmitted with a degree of improvisation.
124 ALEXANDER WYNNE
canonical collection, or to the transfer of missing texts' from one collec-
tion into another. .. These modifications, however, were hardly left to the
arbitrary care of single individuals. In my opinion they were carried out in
synods of the communities and thus rendered obligatory for further trans-
mission.
66
.
These observations of Erich Frauwallner, made almost half a century ago,
seem to me to be supported by my interpretation of the textual evidence
presented here.
My main concern in this paper has not been to formulate a t h ~ o r y about
the composition of the early Buddhist literature. I have attempted to use
the internal evidence of the Pali canon in order to draw some conclusions
about the methods of oral transmission that rendered the texts in their
extant form. My purpose in doing this has been to assess whether or not
the early Buddhist literature is such that the methods of higher criticism
can be applied to it. And I think that the evidence leads to a unanimous
conclusion: philological, conceptual, and narrative oddities in the early
Buddhist texts are likely to be significant - not produced by the random
variation of an oral tradition, but by causes that in theory can be discov-
ered. It seems to me that there are indeed many different conceptual and
chronological strata within the various collections of early Buddhist lite-
rature, the identification of which is a necessary prerequisite for an advanced
understanding of the history of early Buddhism; The fact that there was
a period of free transmission at the begiIiniIig of Buddhism probably pre-
vents the possibility of ever recovering the first version of a Sutta. But it
does not prevent the possibility of finding different strata in the literature,
and hence earlier versions of the texts, on the basis of textual peculiarities.
It"is the job of the historian of religion to identify and explain these dif-
ferences. But at least we can safely assume that the texts can be studied
critically, which means that in principle they can be stratified, and a more
accurate history of early Buddhism written.
66 Frauwallner pp. 173-74.
Alexander Wynne,
St John's College, Oxford.
Abbreviations
A Ailguttara Nikaya
Be Burmese edition
D DIgha Nikaya
DOP Dictionary of Pali (= Cone)
M Majjhima Nikaya
Ne Nalandii-Devanagarf-Piili-Series. Kashyap, Bhikkhu J.; Bihar: Pili Pub-
lication Board.
PED Pali English Dictionary (= Rhys Davids and Stede)
PTS Pali Text Society
S Sarp.yutta Nikaya
Vin Vinaya Pitaka
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PELLIOT 349:
A DUNHUANG TIBETAN TEXT ON RDO RJE PHUR PA
ROBERT MAYERl
1. Introduction
ill 1978, the late R.A. Stein published a paper under the title 'A pro-
pos des documents anciens relatifs au phur-bu (kTIa)'.
2
ill this paper, Stein
made a wide-ranging analysis of ancient texts concerning the kUa, includ-
ing two Dunhuang texts (pelliot 44 and Pelliot 349), as well as various
materials from the later canonical collections of the Kanjur, Tenjur and the
tNying ma'i rgyud 'bum (henceforth NGB). Much of what Stein reported
in that article remains valid at the time of writing over two decades later;
but inevitably, with the passage of time, some of his findings have also
become more debatable. What remains valid is his important identification
1 An earlier version of this paper was delivered on December 12, 2000 at the Univer-
sity of Hamburg's Institut fur Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets, at the kind invi-
tation of Professor David P. Jackson. This text was one of those studied by my advanced
reading group during my time as Visiting Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin,
1999-2001. Two students made contributions to this paper: Gudrun Melzer most signifi-
bantly by preparing the presentation of items 5.1 and 5.2 in the Appendix, by locating
texts within the Stidhanamiilii, and by discovering the parallel text in the PilJrJi!crtasiidha-
nopiiyikiivrttiratniivalf (see under Appendix 5.2). Melzer also prepared the initial tran-
scription of the Tibetan text, a difficult task that she worked on with Kerstin Grothmann.
My thanks to these two students, whose outstanding keenness also made short work of the
arduous tasks of locating P349 within the largely uncharted microfIlm, and printing it out
in a readable fmID. My many thanks also to Dr. RalfKramer of the Bodleian Library, Oxford,
who went to a great deal of trouble to procure for me a clearer view of the text than we
had been able to achieve in Berlin. Our thanks also to Professor Matthew Kapstein for his
help on an item of vocabulary. At a later stage, Professor Cristina Scherrer-Schaub made
a number of useful points on the presentation and the contents of this paper, for which we
are very much indebted. Above all, many thanks to Dr Cathy Cantwell for making her stud-
ies in the Sa skya pa and rNying rna pa Vajrakl1aya literature available to me, and for
many other extremely useful and learned suggestions made in the course of reading this
paper through in its [mal stages of preparation.
2 See Proceedings of the Csoma de Karas memorial Symposium, ed. L. Ligeti, Budapest,
pages 427-444.
130 ROBERT MAYER
of a strong connection between the kUa materials and the Guhyasamaja
tradition; and also the importance of the occurrence of the shared iden-
tity of the forms VajrakIla and Amrtaktn:t<;ialin. I believe Stein's article was
the first to remark that VajrakIla and Amp:akUJ).<;ialin often and on signif-
icant occasions share a merged identity: while Bischoff's 1956 study of
the Mahtibala-nama-sutra had showed that Vajra1dla and Amp:akuI).<;ialin
occur as different deities in the same maI).<;ialas, Bischoff had not yet
encountered any evidence of the merged identity these forms often share,
a feature that took particular significance in the important Guhyasamaja
literature and its many derivatives.
3
What have become more question-
able however are some of Stein's minutiae in historical and textual data.
4
3 VajrakIla in this context is generally depicted as a deified stake, rather than a hernka
who wields a stake as his main implement (more on this distinction below). The occur-
rences of Amrtakur.l<;lalinlV ajrarnp:a merged with VajrakIla in Guhyasamaja Chapter 13
(verses 74-75) and also (if less specifically) in Chapter 14 (verses 59ft) seem to have
proven very influential, and are certainly the distant basis of the verses and mantra in the
concluding-lines of the text Pelliot 349 analysed here; although Pelliot 349's concluding
lines follow the specific arrangement as found in Nagarjuna's cornmentarial Pancakrama
rather than the root text of the Guhyasamaja itself. Not surprisingly, many important
Guhyasamaja cornmentarial texts such as CandrakIrti's Pradfpoddyotana and Nagarjuna's
Pancakrama reaffIrm the identity of the deity described in Guhyasamaja Chapters 13 and
14 as AmrtakuI:1<;lalin appearing as VajrakIla, as do subcornmentarial texts like MunisTIo-
hadra's Pancakrama{ippalJi. Boord 2002:26ff gives very useful citations from the Guhya-
samaja literature of Amrtakur.l<;lalinN ajrarnp:a identifIed as VajrakIla. Perhaps based on such
materials, Boord's earlier work (Boord 1993:6 and the whole of Ch. 2) argued at length
that Amrtakul).<;lalin or Vajrarnp:a is in fact the main precursor of VajrakIla. However I
fmd this a considerable oversimplifIcation. For a different and more broadly cultural and
Indological (rather than narrowly Buddhological) view of the precursors of VajrakIla, see
Mayer 1991.
-- 4 For examples of what has become questionable, on page 428 Stein stated categori-
cally that the Guhyasamaja was not translated into Tibetan before about 1000 C.E., yet
we now know diferently - for a clear resume, see Torn Tomabechi's paper Selected
Tantra Fragmentsfrom Tabo Monastery. See also Kenneth Eastman's 1980 more detailed
study and stemma codicum of the Guhyasamaja made from all the extant Tibetan versions
available to him at the time, to which Tomabechi refers. We can add to Eastman's and
Tomabechi's findings that in fact several witnesses of this famous scripture as found in
the NGB (Rig 'dzin voL Tsa; sDe dge vol. Na; gTing skyes vol. Tsa), give very specific
colophonic information that the main Guhyasamaja mulatantra (i.e. chapters 1-17 with-
out the Uttaratantra or 18
th
chapter) was first translated by Vimalarnitra and sKa ba dpal
rtsegs (palJ4ita bi ma la dang 10 tsa ba ska wa dpal rtsegs kyi bsgyur pa'o/l), i.e. around
200 years earlier than the date Stein gives, and moreover that in these particular editions,
the Uttaratantra (Le. Chapter 18) was translated later by Buddhaguhya and a certain 'Brog
mi dpal ye shes (rgya gar gyi mkhan po sangs rgyas gsang ba dang/ !bod kyi lotstsha ba
PELLIOT 349: A DUNHUANO TIBETAN TEXT ON RDO RJE PHUR PA 131
Of the two Dunhuang lala texts Stein addressed in his paper, the longer
and more significant one had already been studied in some detail by
Bischoff and Hartmann (1971), who produced both a transcription of the
Tibetan text, and a full translation. Stein made considerable use of their
work, while adding more of his own insights. The text in question is the
famous P44, a text that describes Padmasambhava bringing the Vajrakf-
laya tradition to Tibet, and which includes the famous and important
Yang Ie shod narrative that re-occurs in much later literature, in which
Padmasambhava meditates at Pharping in Nepal and subdues demons
there by means of the Vajrakflaya tradition brought to him from Nlilanda.
'brag mi dpal yeshes bsgyur ba'o//). The Rig 'dzin and sDe dge edition colophons also
suggest that the famous Rin chen bzang po translation was a reworking of the earlier trans-
lation (slad kyi mkhan po atsarya shraddha ka ra war ma dang / zhu chen gyi 10 tstsha ba
dge slang rin chen bzang pas bsgyur te gtan la phab pa'o//), although it is not absolutely
clear if this refers to the whole text or only to the Uttaratantra. One should note however
that not all NOB editions have the so-called NOB version - some merely reproduce the
Kanjur's Rin chen bzang po version. Of course NOB colophons are not always reliable as
historical sources, but additional information comes from the Blue Annals (p.204-5), which
also mentions that there existed translations of the Guhyasamtija made earlier than Rin chen
bzang po, although here the earlier translations are attributed to the comparatively late fig-
ure of Srnrti, who along with his near contemporary Rin chen bzang po traditionally marks
the watershed between Old and New translation periods. In addition, of course, we are now
aware of the important testimony of the Dunhuang text Tib 438 and 431, which together
comprise a complete 17-chapter Guhyasamaja mUlatantra in Tibetan with many marginal
notes - which Kenneth Eastman believes to date from between 800 and 900, and which
he has attempted to demonstrate as the sole source for all subsequent Guhyasamaja edi-
tions in Tibetan, all of which he says merely revise this Dunhuang original. This would
include Rin chen bzang po's version, and those that followed Rin chen bzang po's, such
. as the editions by 'Oos 10 tsa ba Khug pa lhas btsas (Tomabechi dates him as 11 century)
and by Chag 10 tsa ba Chos rje dpal (Tomabechi dates him as 1197-1264) and even by
Tsong kha pa, who is said to have studied many Guhyasamaja manuscripts comparatively.
How exactly the Dunhuang text compares with the NOB version found in some NOB edi-
tions and attributed to Vimalamitra and sKa ba dpal rtsegs remains to be seen - Eastman
did not present a full critical or comparative edition. My thanks to Dr Adelheid Hermann-
Pfandt, who very kindly made Eastman's work available to me.
Another possible error of Stein's: on p. 437-8 he explains how in following a textual
clue from Ratua gling pa's rNying ma chos 'byung, he sought key verses in the two Kf la
ya bcu gnyis texts found in volume Ha (29) of the NOB (presumably, referring to the Rig
'dzin and gTing skyes editions then available to him), but could not find the verses in either
of those texts. He seemingly remained unaware that the main Ki la ya bcu gnyis is not in the
Rig 'dzin or gTing skyes volumes Ha at all- where only two minor texts of that name
occur - but in volume Dza (19) of the Rig 'dzin, gTing skyes and mTshams brag editions
alike.
132 ROBERT MAYER
Bischoff and Hartmann's study was of course a pioneering work, and it
might well prove fruitful to retranslate their renderings when time and
oppurtunity permits (note that the first chapter has already been retrans-
lated recently by Matthew Kapstein in his book published in 2000, The
Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism).
The other Dunhuang text Stein addressed is the shorter Pelliot 349,
which has not to our knowledge so far been transcribed and translated.
Although apparently the first person to look at this text, Stein himself
made no effort at all to present a transcription of the Tibetan, nor did he
present any translation. Rather, he limited himself to a very brief summary
comprising only 9 lines in his own words of the basic gist as he saw it
of the text (not all of which we can now fully agree with). He also made
a few important observations such as pointing out its citation of materi-
als found in Guhyasamiija commentarial materials attributed to Nagarjuna
(Stein cites the Tibetan translation of the Pil'J4ikrtasiidhana from the
Peking Tenjur vol. 61, no. 2661, p. 269; and Louis de la Vallee Poussin's
Sanskrit edition of the Pancakrama, found in his Etudes et Textes Tantriques,
Gand & Louvain, 1896. pp. 1-2.). These materials include the important
mantra found in the root Guhyasamiija's Ch.14 v58, with whichPelliot
349 comes to its culmination.
Our effort here is therefore in the first instance to transcribe and trans-
late the text of P 349 in full. This has by no means been easy, and we
can see why Stein did not attempt either task. Firstly, regarding the tran-
scription, the text is damaged in parts, and it has proven impossible to
reconstruct the missing portions with any certitude. By and large, we have
resisted the temptation to attempt reconstruction except where the recon-
struction is quite uncontroversial. Secondly, the remaining parts of the text
are here and there illegible in the monochrome microfIlm available to us,
and might remain so even if good quality colour images eventually become
available from the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (or even if we get an
opportunity to view the original). Hence we can sometimes only guess at
the shape of the Tibetan letters underneath the vagueness of our available
images. lllegible parts of the text are clearly marked in our transcription.
Our inability to read parts of the text of course in several places con-
tributes to uncertainty in our translation of connected readable portions.
Moreover it is also likely that the text itself contains some errors, for
PELLIOT 349: A DUNHUANG TmETAN TEXT ON RDO RJE PHUR PA 133
example, giving in line 8 the seed syllable (bfja) Nya when A was much
more likely intended (see comments on line 6 below). Like IOL Tib J 754
(81-82) (Mayer & Cantwell 1994), this text with its untidy layout and
the poor quality of its writing, very much gives the appearance of a: note
or aide-memoire for personal use, rather than a carefully and neatly written
scripture for communal use. But even if the whole text had been readable
and error-free, we could not have given entirely confident translations of
all of it. Line 21, for example, is largely readable, but remains a little
ambiguous. Wherever our translation is uncertain, we mark it clearly.
Unfortunately perhaps for students of the rNying rna canonical tradi-
tion, it is not only ancient Dunhuang Tantric materials that are difficult
to understand: considerable portions of existing canonical materials from
the NGB continue to defy the best efforts of even the most learned rNying
ma pa lamas, who, with the best will in the world, simply can not under-
stand them. Of course this is frequently due to transrnissional errors, many
. of which one might hope will eventually be removed through careful tex-
tual criticism. Take for example the famous and widely cited rDo rje
phur bu chos thams cad my a ngan las 'das pa'i rgyud chen po, in which,
if one examines all surviving witnesses, one finds that the level of trans-
missionally generated'confusion can be quite severe.
s
But over and above
transmissional obscurities, the materials are also inherently difficult. This
is particularly true of some of the more arcane Mahayoga materials where
the root texts are extremely terse condensed references to extremely com-
plex and highly technical ritual categories, and which imply access to a
parallel oral or commentarial tradition for filling in the details. But as is
so often the case with Tantric texts for which a specific commentarial
tradition is no longer available, the remaining root text becomes de facto
partially lost when the oral or commentarial materials are lost. This is
apparently the case for sections of the Vajrakll.aya materials in the NGB:
5 This occurs in 26 chapters at Rig 'dzin Vol. Sa 1 13v-155v, at gTing skyes Vol. Sa
141r-192r (Kaneko 336), and at Nubri Vol. Sha44r-96v. However, it also occurs in 28 chap-
ters at sDe dge Vol. Zha 46r-82r and at mTshams brag Vol. Chi 229.5-340-3 (Taipei 5102
Vol 61 pp. 164-180). The difference is caused by a number offolio misplacements, which
subsequently became incorporated into some of the transmissions with a number of quite
confusing results. Nevertheless this tantra is among the most frequently cited within com-
mentarialliterature. Cathy Cantwell and I are currently engaged in editing this text at the
Oriental Institute, University of Oxford.
134 ROBERT MAYER
the famous Phur pa bcu gnyis, for example, has no coriunentarial works
written specifically for itself, and lamas trying to read it have to rely on
general VajrakTIaya commentaries, of which there are of course many. But
the problem with relying on the general commentaries is that when the
Phur pa bcu gnyis presents unusual materials or unique rites, especially
if in abbreviated and terse outline only, the general commentaries can
provide only the vaguest of clues as to the exact meaning. As a result,
I found that not even the most learned Phur pa mkhan po's of our time
could understand substantial passages of the Phur pa bcu gnyis. And so
on.
6
1t should therefore not surprise us to fmd similar difficulties in inter-
preting Dunhuang kila materials, and to some extent that is the case with
Pelliot 349. Nevertheless I hope much of our translation is valid, especially
where the text is not destroyed or illegible.
One of Stein's great contributions in his brief study of P349 was to point
out the close relation between some Guhyasamaja and Vajrakila materials.
Indeed, although Stein did not point this out, Chapter 14 of the Guhysa-
miija root tantra even has important text uttered by "the Blessed One,
the Great VajrakTIa" (bhagaviin mahiivajrakilal;, beam ldan 'das rdo rje
phur bu chen po, Ch.14 v70-72), and this chapter in particular contains
a great deal of kfla ritual. This relationship has 'since also been com-
mented on briefly in Mayer 1991 and at greater length in Boord 1993
and 2002. The full relationship between these two Mahayoga traditions
is an extremely complex issue that we do not wish to go into in much detail
in the present paper, since it requires at the very least a full length mono-
graph treatment and moreover the textual transmission of the Guhyasa:
rniija tradition in Tibet gives signs of being quite complicated. Never-
theless we add as an appendix Gudrun Melzer's demonstration of some
important textual parallels to passages of Pelliot 349 that occur in t h ~
Pancakrama commentarial texts of the Guhyasamaja tradition attributed
to Nagarjuna, which Stein clearly remarked but did not actually present
6 Even for those few NGB texts where commentaries do exist, the commentaries can
often be later than or slightly at variance to the actual NGB texts they comment upon ---
sometimes taking a particular view, sometimes following a slightly different text, and so
to varying degrees departing from or failing to illuminate the intentions of the authors or
redactors of the actual NGB texts as transmitted. Commentaries certainly can not solve all
our problems, but they often help.
to his public. Thus Melzer presents the Sanskrit of de Vallee Poussin's
pil}qikramasrldhana edition of 1896, with additional reference to Mimaki's
facsimile edition of 1994; and from the Tibetan, she adds the sDe dge
and Peking Tenjur versions of the same. In fact versions of the verses in
question also occur elsewhere, in texts Stein did not remark. Melzer found
them also in the Pil}qikrtasrldhanoprlyikrlvrttiratnrlvail attributed to Ratna-
karasanti, although here in a discontinuous form with word by word com-
mentary interspersed (note the term srldhanoprlyikrl in the title, which we
will comment on below; Peking Tenjur 2690, folios 297b-298b). Other
parallels - some more exact, some less exact, and some with particularly
interesting continuities to P349 - also occur in more recent Sa skya and
rNying rna pa Phur pa texts of various genres: we cite an example below
of a citation from the ritual text the Sa skya Phur Chen, and Boord 1993: 107
gives a translation (but does not give the Tibetan) of a parallel passage
from a Phur pa historical text by the 18th century Byang gter author
'Phrin las bdud 'joms. I should add, I have also found further related pas-
sages in several NGB Mahayoga scriptural texts, for example, in the gZi
ldan 'bar ba mtshams kyi rgyud, usually classified within the Tantra sde
bco brgyad section of Mahayoga and dedicated to the Ten Wrathful
Deities (dasakrodha, khro bo bCU).7 In some of these NGB scriptures, we
appear to find extremely interesting evidence of Paficakrama verses enter-
ing NGB canonical scriptures (compare Appendices 5.2 and 5.3 below);
but of course a lot more work will have to be done before we can say with
any certainty quite what such definitely existent but extremely complicated
textual relationships amount to. Elsewhere in the NGB, in the Phur pa
phrin las skor section of Mahayoga, there appear to be remixes of the Pafi-
cakrama-derived ldla verses that more closely follow some of the words
found here in P349 (e.g. in chapter 16 of the Phur pa gsang chen rdo rje
'phreng ba'i rgyud;8 we include this example in Appendix 5.4 below).
These parallels with the commentarial Paficakrama verses bear interest-
ing comparison with the Dunhuang Phur pa text IOLTibJ754,8l-82, and
7 This text occurs as the 6th text in the Rig 'dzin NGB in vol. Dza (folio 234 -253), in the
gTing skyes NGB also in voL Dza (pages 516-561), in the mTshams brag NGB in volume
Zha (pages 533.3-580.4), and in sDe dge vol Pha, folios 36-52.
8 Rig 'dzin VoL Sha folios 43-60; gTing skyes VoL Sha: 93-128; mTshams brag vol. Ji
folios 214-258; Taipei 5120 voL 61 pages 316-322; sDe dge Vol. Zha folios 145-161.
136 ROBERT MAYER
also several instances in the NGB such as the Phur pa bcu gnyis Ch.l1,
where the parallels might follow the Guhyasamiija root tantra itself or its
commentaries.
9
.
By examining the constant textual remixes and permutations so charac-
teristic of much rNying rna pa Tantric literature, we hope eventually to
arrive at a clearer understanding of the cultural, religious and literary
processes through which these texts were produced and reproduced as
commentary, revelation and canonical scripture.
2. Tibetan text in transliteration:
We present the transliteration according to the conventions established
in Tsuguhito Takeuchi's Old Tibetan Manuscripts from East Turkestan in
The Stein Collection a/the British Library, Tokyo 1998:
$
I
[abc]
[abc?]
[ ... ]
[---]
[3]
[a(jb)]
abc [

page initial sign (mgo yig, siddharrz)
reversed gi gu
our conjectural restorations of letters partly illegible or lost in the
original
uncertain readings
illegible letters, number unknown
illegible letters, number known, indicated by broken line
illegible letters, approximate numbers known, indicated by numer-
alwith
ambiguous readings
end of line lost through damage
text deleted in the original manuscript
9 This is not the ocassion to digress at length on such relationships - but to give a short
example, the Guhyasamaja root tantra (Ch.I4 65-68) has three VajrakTIa mantras that strike
at the samayas of body, speech and mind. These mantras reappear in IOLTibJ754,81-82
and in NOB texts such as the PhUT pa bcu gnyis Ch.Il as mantras for bestowing conse-
crations of body, speech and mind to the material kIla. The fIrst of the three (that of body)
reappears throughout VajrakTIaya literature of all periods in the mantras of the goddess
'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna, VajrakTIaya's main consort, and also in the mantras of Amrta-
kuI).<;lalin as used in VajrakTIaya texts. Whether passages such as PhUT pa bcu gnyis Ch.ll
relate more closely to the root Guhyasamaja or to its commentaries remains to be examined.
The latter might seem more likely, but we can not be sure as yet.
PELLIOT 349: A DUNHUANG TIBETAN TEXT ON RDO RJE PHUR PA 137
[1] $11 II phur ba'i [--]m rgyud nilleho ga 'i rgyud [ni?] ki la ya [---]
gnyis [k?]yi [don dang?]
[2J tan tra sde gsum kyi mdo' btus nasi /las mam s[-]u [2] gi eho ga
'i rgyud ni las eher b[t?][--]
[3] la phur ba'i rtsis mgo mam pa bzhi bstan tel Iphur bu'i no phyi ka
dang phur ba'i bsam [rgyud?]
[4] [-]/phur ba'i yon tan dangl phur bu 'i grub pa'i rgyu dang Imam pa
bzhi '01 Ide la phur bu [-]
[5] no phyi ka nil lha tib ta tsag kra khro bo ehen po 'i sku mdog dmarl I
spyan gsum phyag
[6] [dru]g pallzhabs geig rdo rje bu [--][rtse?] [2]1 I[khams?] kyi
[g?]nod sbyin [-Jan po 'tshir [zhing/(/zhig)]
[7] [bdag?] dang gnyis su [3]r dbyings [geig?] pa ni I no phyi ka '01 I
bsam rgyud [n?]i [ ... ]
[8] dbyings geig pu lasl /lag pa g.yas kyi mthil tul nya las zla ba'i dkyil
tu [sgyur?] I
[9] thabs kyi rang bzhin yin basi /khro bo ehen po beul g.yon kyi mthil
du rna lasl I
[10] nyi rna 'i dkyil 'khor tu gyur tellshes [rab] kyi rang bzhin kyi rtags
[ ~ ? ] [yin bas?]
[11] khro bo ehen mo beur dmyigs pa la rtsogs pa nil I [bsam?] rgyud
[phu]r bu 'i yon tan
[12] nIl Ide ltar khyab pas tshe 'di la bgegs zhI stel /bsod nams kyi tshogs
thobll[2]
[13] pha rol kyi mtho ris kyi gnas su phyin pasl lye shes kyi tshogs thob
pas//bsod
[14] nams dang ye shes kyi tshogs mam pa gnyis thob pasl lyon tanl
Iphur bu 'i grub
[15] rgyu ni de ltar byas nasI /bgegs zhi stel yon bdag gi bsam ba grubl
Imtho [ris]
[16] kyI gnas thoblltshogs ehen po gnyis kyang rdzogsl Ithabs dang shes
rab kyi
[17] rang bzhin kyi las rna g.yos pasl yon tan dang grub pa'i rgyu '0 I
Iphur bu 'di lag pa
[18] gnyis kyi bar du dril zhing gsor ba'i tshel/gnan bzlog gi phur bu'i
rgyu nil I mtshon
138 ROBERT MAYER
[19] myl la babs pa'i lcags la bgyi'l Irgya mdud kyi steng du he ru ka
dgodl Ingos bzhir phrin
[20] las kyi khyad bar darig [sbyar(/rgyud)] te dgodllmgul zur brgyad la
rna mo chen mo brgyad dgodl Irtse mo la
[21] mu ka brgyad bgod nasi Isna la bdag rang la gdabl [-]'i bsam rgyud
nil rgyu phun sum tshogs pa
[22] stel /lhar byin kyis brlabs nas grub pa gsol tel I'dod pa'i khams man
cad du gdab I bgegs
[23] la gdab pa'i thabs nillrgyu kun lhar tshogs nasi /lag pa'i bar du
drild pas zhe sdang gi
[24] bsam ba myl skyedl snyIng rje chen pos gzhi bzungl /'od zer dang
'phro 'du byung bas/I gang la bya ba
[25] 'i gzugs la phog pas byang cub kyi sems sk[y?]es pasl Izhi ba chen
po 'i rang bzhin [tu?]
[26] gyur par bsams nasi Iphur bu bsgrags pa'l tshig bshad 'di brjod dol
khro bo rgyal po 'di dag
[27] gisl /bgegs nI bkug nas mam par gzhigl /blo ldan rab du sbyor ba
yisl cho ga bzhin du
[28] phur bus gdabl Irdo rje rgyal chen bdud rtsi pol Irdo rje phur bu
nyid gnas pasl ud dpal sngan po
[29] 'i mdog 'dra bal /bgigs kyi tshogs la 'og du gzigs//lte ba man cad
cha mams ni rtse mo
[30] Ita bur mam par [ ... ] de 'i sngags mams sbyor bas yis/ I rdo rje phur
nges btab na/ bgegs
[31] [Ius?] shin tu myl g.yo 'o/Iorp_ gha gha gha ta ya gha ta yal sa rwa
tu shta ni phatl ki la ki la ya
[32] sa rba ba pham phatl I hUIp. hiiIp. [ba]dzra dha rod a [-] pa ya ti I [
3. Translation as a whole, without comments
Conventions :-
[---] Gaps in the text, one dash for each missing syllable.
[ ... ] Gaps where enumerating the number of missing sylables is impos-
sible.
[abc] Conjectures occasioned by illegible text or difficult meaning of
which we are reasonably confident
[abc?]
(abc)
Conjectures of which we are a little doubtful
Occasionally we present the relevant Tibetan word in italics within
round brackets, sometimes with a Sanskrit or English gloss, to
help the reader understand our thinking.
In particular, please note that the beginning of the text is damaged and
illegible, and an accurate reconstruction does not seem possible.
Note also that the text variously uses the words phur bu, phur ba, and
kflaya to describe the implement and deity; we reproduce these usages
verbatim as they occur. This is for a reason: the names and terms are
currently used differently to the way they appear in P349 and are also sub-
ject to contemporary debate. The term phur bu (sometimes interpreted as
equivalent to kllaka) in more modem usage more generally refers to the
implement, while phur pa (sometimes interpreted as equivalent to kfla)
can refer to the deity or the implement. While such restricted usages might
possibly be intended in our text - with the difference that here phur pa
takes the form phur ba (see lines 1, 3 and 4) which does not nowadays
occur at all except as an error - unfortunately our text is not consistent.
We have phur bu'i yon tan in line 12, referring back to phur ba'i yon tan
in line 4. As for the term kllaya or vajrakllaya: this is absolutely ubiqui-
tously used in Tibetan texts of all historical periods (including the present)
to refer to the yidam form of the deity or to its tantric texts rather than
the implement, yet it is nowadays under attack from the majority of West-
ern scholars, who wish to impose a term more commonly used for the
implement (klla or vajraklla) in its place. I have argued however that
there is little point in hyper-Sanskritising the Tibetan usage of kllaya into
klla.lO At all other times, technical terms are in English, or Sanskrit where
no English term is established (eg heruka or matr).
[1] As for the Phur ba [gtam rgyud, oral tradition? or bsam rgyud, Tantra
meditation tradition?], the Tantra ritual [tradition] [- -] the meaning
of the two [- - -] Kllaya [ ... ]
10 All the more so since such a learned expert in Sanskrit Tantric languages as Alexis
Sanderson has also argued that the form ldlaya might well have been current in Indian
Tantric circles to refer to the deity, and need not be a Tibetan distortion ofkIla (the imple-
ment). See Mayer 1996:165-6.
140 ROBERT MAYER
[2,3] extracted from the siltras of the three sections of Tantra: regarding
the ritual traditions of the [- - -] rites greatly [- - -] four principal
headings are taught for Phur ba: Phur bu's means for attainment (no
phyi ka = sadhanopiiyikii), Phur ba's meditational [tantra tradition?]
[4] [-], Phur ba's qualities, and Phur bu [as a] basis for accomplishment,
four in number. From these,
[5] regarding the Phur bu means for attainment: the deity Dlptacakra
(lha tib ta tsag kra), the great wrathful one, has a body colour of red;
is three-eyed and [six]-armed;
[6] has a single lower limb (zhabs gcig) [of a] Vajra [-] [point?][- -];
he crushes the [- -] [ y a k ~ a s ] of [the world?]; and
[7] [onself?] being [one] with the [non-dual] expanse [- - -], this is the
means for attainment. As for the meditational tantra [ tradition] [ ...... ] :
[8] from out of the single [non dual] expanse, on the palm of the right
hand, [visualise arising out of] the syllable Nya, a moon disc;
[9] being of the nature of skilful means, [upon it arise?] the Ten Great
Wrathful Deities. On the left palm, from the [syllable] Ma
[10] arises a sun mar;tqala; [since it is?] [- - -] the sign for the nature of
wisdom,
[11] meditate and so forth as [arising upon it?] the Ten Great Female
Wrathful Deities. As for the [Tantra meditation tradition's] virtuous
qualities:
[12] by pervading [one's hands] in this way, one's obstacles in this life
will be pacified; [thereby] the accumulations of merit can be attained
[-]
[13] [so that] one passes on to an abode in the transcendent heavens
[where] the accumulation of wisdom can [also] be attained;
[14] and thus the two accumulations of merit and wisdom can both be
attained: [hence these are its] virtuous qualities. Regarding the Phur
bu as a
[15] basis for accomplishment: having done accordingly [as above], the
obstacles [will be?] pacified, patron's wishes will be accomplished,
[16,17] heavenly abodes will be attained, and even the two great accumu-
lations will be completed. Since these rites whose [very] nature is
skilful means and wisdom do not waver, they are a basis for accom-
plishment and qualities.
PELLIOT 349: A DQNHUANG TIBETAN TEXT ON RDO RJE PHUR PA 141
[18] On the occasion of rolling and brandishing such a Phur bu between
one's two hands, regarding the materials of the suppressing and
repelling Phur bu,
[19] make it out of iron from a weapon [that has fallen on a man?];
above its knotted cords, establish Heruka; on the four faces,
[20] establish those endowed with the [fourJ particular enlightened activi-
ties; on the eight sides of the neck, establish the eight great Matrs;
[21] having established the eight Mukhas (mu ka brgyad) on its point, [with
such a tip (sna fa), one can strike at one's own self?]. As it is said
in the meditation tradition: since this is the Perfection of Material,
[22] consecrate it as the deity and request accomplishment, and one will
be able to strike at [allJ the Realm of Desire (kiimadhiitu) below.
[23] As for the means of striking at the obstacles: having assembled all
the material as the deity, when rolling it between the hands, do not
give rise to angry thoughts,
[24] [but] with great compassion, adhere to the Base (gzhi). Giving rise
to the emanation and reabsorption of rays of light,
[25] as these strike at the form of whoever [the rite] is to be done for,
generating bodhicitta, imagine that they become transformed into
the nature of the Great Peace,
[26] and utter these verses of Phur bu recitation:
[27] By this wrathful king
The obstacles are summoned and totally destroyed.
Those supremely endowed with good intellect
[28J Strike with the phur bu in accordance with the rite.
The great Vajra King, the Amrta being,
Abides as the Vajra Phur bu itself,
[29] Blue in colour like an utpala,
Gazing down at the hosts of obstacles.
The part below his navel
[30] Is like a point, and utterly [ ..... J [brlag, destroys?J
If, endowed with his mantras,
One definitively strikes with Vajra Phur [bu],
[31] The bodies of the obstacles will become quite immobilised
Oql gha gha gha ta ya gha ta ya I sa rva du shta ni phat II ki la ki la
[32] ya sa rva ba pham phatll hilrp. hUql [ba] dzra dha rod a [-J pa ya ti [ ...
142 ROBERT MAYER
4. Translation with our comments
Translation of line 1-4
[1] As for the Phur ba [gtam rgyud, oral tradition? or bsam rgyud, Tantra
meditation tradition?], the Tantra ritual [tradition] [- -] the meaning
of the two [- - -] Kilaya [ ... ]
[2,3] extracted from the siitras of the three sections of Tantra: regard-
ing the ritual traditions of the - - - rites greatly - - - four principal
headings are taught for Phur ba:Phur bu's means for attainment
(no phyi ka = siidhanopiiyikii), Phur ba's meditational [tantra tradi-
tion?]
[4] [-], Phur ba's qualities, and Phur bu [as a] basis for accomplishment,
four in number.
Comments on lines 1-4
Line 4:
Even if the beginning of the text has been partially destroyed render-
ing it untranslatable, we can at least with some certainty interpret the
term no phyi ka, which is one of the four topics or headings that struc-
ture the text (phur ba'i rtsis mgo mam pa bzhi). This term had puzzled
Stein who remarked that he could not understand it ('mot inconnu'), but
Matthew Kapstein has provided us with the answer. According to Kap-
stein (personal communuication, February 1, 2000), it is quite common
within Dunhuang ritual texts, and seems to be a Tibetan vulgar Sanskrit
based on siidhanaupayika> naupayika> no p(h)yi ka, i.e it means 'methods
for sadhana'. Following Das, Hackin and other sources, we have found
various citations of the term that support Kapstein's interpretation: DVP
553 (no pyi ka) and 554 (no pyi kii), both on page 171 of the de Vallee
Poussin catalogue; Hackin pages 8 and 46 (no phyi ka); see also Siidha-
namiilii 209, 228, 240, 248, which mention siidhanopiiyikii.
ll
See also
Edgerton p.146, who cites Siidhanamiilii 415.5,449.17,468.12, and 486.3
(all colophons); and Blue Annals p. 160, which refers to the Tenjur text
'Jig rten snang byed zla ba'i no pi ka, Tg. rGyud no. 3584.
11 Thanks to Gudrun Melzer for discovering these titles within the Sadhanamala.
Translation of lines 5-7
From these,
[5] regarding the Phur bu means for attainment: the deity DIptacakra
(lha tib ta tsag kra), the great wrathful one, has a body colour of red;
is three-eyed and [six]-armed;
[6] has one foot, a Vajra [-] [point?][- -]; he crushes the [- -] [ y a k ~ a s ]
of [the world?]; and
[7] [onself?] being [one] with the [non-dual] expanse [- - -], this is the
means for attainment.
One of the questions that arises here concerns the deity Dlptacakra,
whose name appears on line 5. Here in P349 Dlptacakra is clearly male:
lha fib ta tsag kra khro bo chen po. Moreover we find passages in a num-
ber of other authoritative ancient sources that remix many of the words
of P349, and which also affIrm DIptacakra as a male deity, Such passages
occur in the VajrakIlaya writings of the early Sa skya pa master Grags
pa rgyal mtshan (1147-1216); in an NGB VajrakIlaya scripture called the
Phur pa gsang chen rdo rje 'phreng ba (for these passages, see Appen-
dix 5.4 below); and also in the still current major Sa skya pa VajrakIlaya
ritual, the Phur chen, with its commentaries (which we will discuss
shortly), Yet in much of the very recent tradition, above all in most West-
ern translation and study of VajrakIlaya, DIptacakra is almost invariably
taken to be the Sanskrit name of the female deity whom Tibetan sources
cail 'Khor lo rgyas 'debs maP This 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs ma is the central
12 For Dlptacakra used as the Sanskrit name for 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna, see for exam-
ple my own previous work, Mayer 1996: 174 and Mayer 1998:293; or see Boord 2002:39
and Boord 20'02:316. Both Boord and myself have here been continuing the usage already
well established in the modem West. See also the numerous unpublished works on VajrakI-
laya produced by various Western Dharma organisations for their practitioners, for exam-
ple, the impressively extensive and detailed works of the Vajravairocana Translation Com-
mittee based in the USA to which half a dozen leading rNying rna pa lamas and mkhan
pos contributed; or those circulated among the Western Sa skya pa community, to which
several major Sa skya pa lamas have contributed: in all of these, Dlptacakra is ubiquitously
used to indicate the female consort 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna. However, Boord 1993 tem-
porarily changed his usage from Dlptacakra to Twtacakra, without giving any reasons
for doing so; I have never encountered the form Twtacakra other than in Boord 1993, and
144 ROBERT MAYER
VajrakIlaya deity's famous female consort of union (sbyor), a more com-
mon counterpart to Ekaja!a who is his female consort of killing (sgrol)
- although whether these two are really separate consorts, or two aspects
of the same consort, is very ill-defmed - sometimes they are described
as two separate consorts, sometimes as two aspects of the same. But it is
noteworthy that while so many recent sources now give 'Khor 10 rgyas
'debs rna the Sanskrit name Dlptacakra, this usage is very rare in Tibetan
literature, where she is, as far as I can see, nearly always calle<;l only by
her Tibetan name. In fact, I can not recollect ever having encountered
Dlptacakra - nor any other Sanskrit name - offered for 'Khor 10 rgyas
'debs rna in any traditional Tibetan sources whatsoever. I am not saying
there are no such - only that I have no recollection of encountering any.
On the other hand, there are several occasions when Ekajata is identified
as 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna, for example, in the Sa skya literature; but
here the tendency seems to be more a conflation of the two consorts.
13
Nevertheless, there is at least one good justification for the modem
usage of Dlptacakra - it comes from her mantra, OY(! dfptacakra hana
hana huY(! phaf. But there is also a good argument against it: it in no
way translates her Tibetan name. The Tibetan name 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs
ma means something like 'She who seals with the wheel(s)'. But, as 'Jam
mgon kong sprul points out (following earlier commentarial tradition),
the etymology of the mantra is as follows: dfpta means blazing, cakra is
a wheel, and hana hana is the exclamation strike! strike!; so the whole
mantra means "strike, strike with the blazing wheel!" He adds that it is
because of the meaning of this mantra that the yum appears holding a wheel
of destruction in her right hand.
14
Thus the literal Tibetan translation of
Dlptacakra would be 'Khor 10 'bar ba, not 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs mao
We must also note at this point that the root Guhyasamiija (14.65) has
a mantra OY(! chindha chindha hana hana daha daha dfptavajracakra huY(!
certainly not so far in any Tibetan sources. More recently, Boord 2002 has (albeit again
with, no explanation) reverted from Trptacakra back to the more usual Dlptacakra.
13 Compare Phur Chen 16.4 ffwhere the usual Sa skya form of 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna
is elaborately visualised, with Phur Chen 36b. - 37a where with no explanation this same
visualisation is lengthily praised as Ekajatii; for a similar passage, see also Grags pa rgyal
mtshan p, 184.4. A myes zhabs offers no explanation in his great commentary (see below).
14 See his famous commentary, dPal rdo rje phur pa rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi dum bu'i sgrel
pa snying po bsdud pa dpal chen pa'i zhallung zhes bya ba, p. 101.
pha{ which clearly anticipates the Tibetan tradition of this consort of
VajrakTIaya, since she subsequently takes the greater part of this mantra
as her own; but unfortunately, the Guhyasamiija root tantra is not at all
clear about what (if any) the gender implications of the words dlptavaj-
racakra might be - does this point to a male name, as our several quoted
traditional sources would have it, or to a female name, as many modern
and recently translated sources would have it? Or neither? Or both?
Unfortunately, the Guhyasamaja commentaries are not any more clear
than the root tantra about the gender implications of the words - from
what I have seen so far, they only add to the uncertainty.15
But here in Pelliot 349, the name Dlptacakra certainly refers not to the
very well known female consort deity of Vajrakilaya, but to a wrathful
male deity (khro bo chen po, khro bo rgyal po) with a Heruka upper body
and a klla-shaped lower body. In the broader Vajraldlaya literature, such
an iconographical form most typically represents the 'Supreme Son' or
15 Unfortunately, I have not had time to check on these commentaries with adequate
thouroughness (there are a great many of them - around a dozen Tenjur volumes are
dedicated to Guhyasamaja commentaries!). Chintaharan Chakravarti's edition of the San-
skrit manuscript of Candraldrti's Guhyasamiijatantrapradfpadyatanatfkii from the Rahul
Collection does clearly interpret Guhyasamaja 14.65 as referring to a female (page 159,
paragraph 3: amityiidika niranta mantra!; I chinda chinda siidhyakiiyam I hana hana kiiya-
balam I daha daha kiiya[mJ I dfptavajrarrt ca cakrarrt ca yasyii dfptavajracakretyii-
mantralJam I hurrt phaqiti cadanam). Boord translates this very nicely, but accepts it with-
out further question (Boord 2002:39). However, I.S. Jha points out in his introduction that
the Rahul Collection text appears to comment on a Guhyasamaja root text that has a num-
ber of readings not found in other Guhyasamaja editions - so further research of San-
skrit sources is probably called for. Meanwhile, the Tibetan translation of this famous
commentary by Candraldrti as witnessed in the Peking and Golden Tenjurs (Peking 2650,
Vol. Sa f.155b; Kinsha rgyud 'grel vol Sa,201) does not specify a female at all (arrt zhes
bya ba Ia sags pa ni sngags tel ming mtha' med ces bya'alltshinda tshinda zhes bya ba
nil bsgrub par bya ba'i Ius chad cig pa'al /ha na ha na zhes bya ba ni Ius kyi stabs chams
shig pa'al Ida ha da ha zhes pa ni Ius bsregs shig pa'al Idfpta badzra cakra zhes bya ba
ni rda rje dang 'khar Ia 'bar ba can gang yin va lal 'bar ba'i rda Tje 'khaT Ia can zhes
bod pa'al /hUrrt phat ces pa ni bskul ba'a/). Another Guhyasamaja text from
the Peking Tenjur (Vol. Sha, 243b-244a) which is attributed to Nagarjuna, the Srfguhyasa-
miijatantrasyatantratikiiniima or dPal gsang ba 'dus pa'i rgyud kyi rgyud 'grel pa, also
comments on Guhyasamaja 14.65 in such a way as to leave gender unspecified: arrt ni mam
par snang mdzad dalltshinda zhes pa ni chad ces stan tal/ha na zhes pa ni bsgrub bya'i
Ius sad cig ces par stan talldfpta badzra zhes pa ni rda rje 'bar ba ste/ /bod pa'i tshig go
/hUrrt dang phat ni khras pa la' oJ. Clearly, we will need to look further in both Sanskrit
and Tibetan sources before arriving at a clear decision about Dlptacakra's gender in
Guhyasamaja commentarialliterature.
146
ROBERT MAYER
sras mchog form of the VajrakIlaya deity, frequently associated with the
quintessentially male material kUa as a ritual implement and the deity's
ninniilJakiiya.
16
This application of the name Dlptacakra to a male deity with a phur bu
shaped lower body is certainly not unknown even in literature in regular
contemporary use: the Phur chen sadhana, the major current practice of
the Sa skya Khan lugs phur pa tradition, has the following verse (start-
ing on folio 24r line 6):
tfpta ca kra phur pa'i lhal mthing nag gcer bu ral pa can! sku stod khro bo
chen po lal zhal gsum phyag kyang drug pa ste/ dbu la rigs lnga'i sangs rgyas
rdzogsllte ba man chad sku yi cha/ utpal sngon po'i 'dab 'dra bal 'bar ba'i
phreng ba 'khrigs pa'i 'odllcags kyi phur pa zur gsum pal drag por gyur ba'i
phur pa ste/ btab na lha yang brlag par 'gyurl gnod byed bgegs fa smos ci dgosl
'DIptacakra, Phur pa deity, / Dark blue and naked, with matted hair, [Your]
upper body is a great male wrathful one.! With three heads and six arms,!
[Your] heads are perfected by the Buddhas of the Five families.! The part
of your body which is below the middle/ Is like the petals of a blue lotus';
With light amassing in a blazing garland! [Around] the three-sided iron phur-
pa,! This is the phur pa [which has] become wrathful! If it were to strike, even
the gods would be destroyed, / What need is there to speak of the harmful
forces and obstacles?'
The great 17th century Sa skya savant' Jam mgon A myes zhabs wrote
the definitive commentary on the Sa skya Phur chen, and his analysis of
the words tfpta ca kra phur pa'i lha etc as cited above are most interest-
ing and quite clear. He says that: they refer to the material kila held in
one's hands, which is visualised as the 'Supreme Son' kIla; that this is
VajrakIlaya (ie not his consort); and that the Tibetan meaning of his name
is 'khor [0 'bar ba.17 We can see that the words 'khor [0 'bar ba follow the
literal translation of diptacakra that we [md in much Tenjur commentary
on Guhyasamaja Ch.14, and also in Tibetan commentarial explanations
16 One should note that exceptions do of course occur. For example, in some instances
forms with heruka upper bodies and kila lower bodies can represent dharmakiiya deities
of the five enlightened families (but these are nevertheless still male!). But this form most
typically represents the male nirmii1:zakiiya 'Supreme Son' or material kIla
17 dipta tsa kra phur pa'i lha ces sags brjadl de dagi don nil dfpta tsa kra zhes pas ni
lag na yad pa'i sras mchag de nyid gsal btab pa yin la/ '0 na 'di badzra kf la ya yin pa
la/ dfpta tsa kra ste 'khar 10 'bar ba zhes brjad pa. See 'Jam mgon A myes zhabs, ed. Sopa
1973:347. .
of the meanings. of the Sanskrit mantra of VajrakTIaya's female consort
- but which is generally denied her as her actual name in Tibetan sources,
which instead call her 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs mao
Note also that some of the lines here from the Phur chen are parallel
to the Guhyasamdja commentarial materials presented in the appendix
given below: lutpal sngonpo'i 'dab 'dra bal 'bar ba'iphreng ba 'khrigs
pa'i 'od, and also sku stod khro bo chen po lal zhal gsum phyag kyang
drug pa stei; also Ite ba man chad sku yi chao In addition, the above
verses are close to the verses from Grags pa rgyal mtshan and from the
NGB's Phur pa gsang chen rdo rje 'phreng ba'i rgyud that we cite in
Appendix 5.4, where we again [rod a male Diptacakra - although there
following P349 in giving the deity's colour as red rather than blue.
In fact, as we have already pointed out above, these particular verses
(or, more commonly, various remixes of them) are quite widespread in
VajrakI1.aya literature in general, but interestingly they are not always
taken to indicate a single male deity as they do above and in P349 - or
perhaps, even where they seem to, they are often interpreted otherwise.
For example, Martin Boord has presented a translation of the verses as
found in the 18th century Byang gter author Phrin las bdud 'jom's Byang
gter phur pa'i dbang gi 10 rgyus legs par bshad pa nor bu'i do shal. How-
ever, (perhaps following an uncited oral explanation?), Boord appears to
conjecturally introduce the word 'and' into his text, to get around what
he quite understandably (but perhaps mistakenly in this case) sees as the
anomaly of the name Diptacakra being applied to the quintessentially
male klla deity. In this way Boord tries to attribute the name Diptacakra
to the female consort instead. Hence he gives us a yum-yab interpretation:
'Dh Twtacakra [and] the KTIa god, dark blue in colour, naked, with long
dishevelled hair ... '; I wonder if Boord should have more simply written:
'Dh Diptacakra, KTIa god, dark blue in colour, naked, with long dishev-
elled hair ... '. thus accepting the transmitted textual evidence of Diptacakra
applying to a single male deity? See Boord 1993:107.
18
18 Boord (1993: 108, note 398) seems to say that Phrin las bdud 'joms took his text from
the 17th century bKa' brgyud pa author gTsang mkhan chen 'Jam dbyangs dpa1ldan rgya
mtsho's rDo rje phur pa'i chos byung, but I am not sure if this is what he means. Never-
theless it is clear that the author (whether Phrin las bdud 'joms or gTsang mkhan chen)
associates these verses with the famous Pharping narrative, which we fmd in Pelliot 44 and
throughout subsequent Phur pa histories: hence the author has Padmasambhava utter a
148 ROBERT MAYER
So the question arises: is the name Dlptacakra, ubiquitous in the last
30 years or so as referring to Vajrakilaya's female deity of union 'Khor
10 rgyas 'debs rna, being correctly used? I regret that adequate answers to
this question can probably only be achieved by a detailed study we
can not attempt here - we would have to look through enough sources
to ascertain at which point the Sanskrit name Dlptacakra became applied
to 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna. Given that her mantra contains the element
diptacakra, and the sheer depth of contemporary opninion that. calls her
DIptacakra, this identification might in fact tum out to be be quite old,
and traditionally accepted. In which case, it raises the issue of the double
application of the name Dlptacakra to Vajrakilaya's Supreme Son and to
his consort of union alike. While some Indological scholars might argue
that such name and gender ambiguities are unremarkable from their point
of view, my impression is that they are sufficiently rare in rNying rna pa
literature - at least for deities with such prominent and clearly defined
personalities as these - to pose an interesting question. If this is anything
more than just a modernist confusion prompted by the Sanskritising impulse
of Western scholarship, then was the ambiguity originally 'planned', a
doctrinal and ritual development that was deliberate from its outset? -
after all, there are few Indian tantric traditions more minutely analysed
than the Guhyasamaja, and few Tibetan tantric traditions more commented
upon than Vajrakilaya. Or was it a possibly anachronistic anomaly aris-
ing from the gradual emergence of Vajrakilaya and his maI).qala out of the
conceptual vagueness of the pantheonic margins - where identity and
gender is more often ill-defmed - into the minutely scrutinised limelight
ofpantheonic centrality - where identity and gender is usually more
clearly defmed? Or did it originally arise from the confusion of a faulty
scribal transmission that was later rationalised? Or from some other kind
of interpretational confusion between mantras and names? 19 Or was it a
version of these verses in the Asura cave at Pharping in order to tame the various trouble-
some godesses there (he lists them as Sho na, bDag nyid chen rna, and bSe rna).
19 Some examples of potentially confusing passages: Ch.II of the NGB's Phur pa bcu
gnyis bestows the body consecration on to the male material kIla with the mantra: Of!!
chindha chindha hana hana dfptackara hUf!!, a form of words which on its own and with-
out added commentary might imply to the reader that dfptackara is the name of the male
material kIla, as in P349. mcidentally, we know this must be an old tradition, because an
almost identical pattern occurs in the Dunhuang texts IOLTibJ 754, 81-82, and IOLTib
result of alternative interpretations of Guhyasamiijatantra 14.65 and its
commentaries?
Not without important reservations, one can also consider an additional
perspective: the 'Supreme Son' can be functionally very close to the
consort. Both can represent Vajrakilaya's practical apotropaic activities
of summmoning and liberating obstacles (which typically make use of a
further minor pantheon of more marginal deities), as opposed to the more
central soteriological functions closely associated with the main deity
Vajrakilaya himself and his immediate circle. Or, to use rNying rna pa ter-
minology, the Supreme Son and the consort alike (along with other more
marginal often female Vajrakilaya maJ).Q.ala deities such as the dog-headed
goddess Svana
20
) can be especially important in the smad las, the 'lower
J331.III, where the former bestows the body consecration with om tshin dha tshin dha da
ha da ha ha na ha na tib ta ca kra hum phad; and in the latter with 0111 ha na ha na tib
ta ca kra hUl11 phat. (Note: these mantras, and the other mantras for consecrations of speech
and mind that accompany them, are all derived from the Guhyasamiija Ch.14). But Phur
pa bcu gnyis Ch.l1 continues by seemingly indicating that the latter part of the mantra is
that of the female consort, invoked to make the body consecration of the male material kfla
by joining in union with the male deity so that they can produce' bodhicitta'; hence it is
not necessarily the case that 'Dlptacakra' refers to the male material kfla itself or its male
deity form. The Phur pa bcu gnyis Ch. 11 gives the following explanation: Then, inter-
linking together one's eight fingers,! In between one's thumbs which are in line,! Insert the
kfla, and say the following words:/OI11 and chindha chindha and! Hana hana dfpta and!
Cakra hUl11; with this superlative utterance,! The bodhicitta of the lord's union with his con-
sort! Emanates superlatively, and dissolves into the [kfla}. Sparks filling a thousand worlds
shoot forth,! And [the kila} obtains a great power and glory/ Which can attain all goals
with certainty; [Upon this}, present it to rest within the centre of the secret consort. The
interlinking of hands or fingers in such a context to represent a yab-yum is also mentioned
in Guhyasamiija 14.66 and its commentaries, as well as in most VajrakIlaya literature. The
chindha chindha elements occur in much VajrakIlaya literature in mantras of Arnj:takw).qa-
lin, who is often identical to VajrakIla; while the hana hana dfpta and cakra hUI11 elements
are probably here taken to be those of 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna, VajrakIlaya's consort of union
(sbyor). The placing of the kTIa to rest within the centre of the secret consort probably refers
to the phur khung or kTIa stand, which is often identified with the consort's "sky" into which
the [male] implement can be put to rest vertically. We can conclude that this mantra in this
instance is not necessarily indicative of the male deity being called Dlptacakra; rather, it
might simply be the mantra of 'Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna. But such passages (especially the
mantras on their own without further commentary) can easily become a source for confu-
sion.
20 Her Sanskrit name is variously rendered as SvanamukhI, Svanrnukha, Svana, or Svana
and her Tibetan name as Sho na or Shwa na. She is the most famous of the VajrakIlaya
protectresses, whose place in the VajrakIlaya m3.I)qala traditionally goes back to her being
tamed by Padrnasambhava at Pharping (cf Pelliot 44).
150 ROBERT MAYER
rites' of eliminating obstacles, rather than the stod las, or 'upper rites' of
realising dhannata.
21
Could this functional closeness of the male ninnalJ-a-
kaya form to the more marginal female deities of activity and his conse-
quent co-habiting of various subsidiary mal).<;ialas with them contribute to
occasional name or gender ambiguity? But a problem with this analysis
is that it is the consort of liberation (sgrof), Ekajata, who fits this scenario,
rather than the consort of union (sbyor), Khor 10 rgyas 'debs rna.
Nevertheless, gender and name ambiguity is certainly not so rare among
the more marginal deities of the Vajrakilaya mal).<;iala: one can point out
that the twenty attendants of the Ten Wrathful Deities (two for each) can
sometimes be seen as all female, and sometimes as ten males and ten
females; likewise Svana can also sometimes (but comparatively rarely)
have male counterparts
22
, and the descriptions of the other Vajrakilaya pro-
tectors can also vary quite a lot. We can conclude - if it is not simply
a confusion of both ancient and modem scholarship! - that what might
be surprising about the gender and name ambiguity of Dlptacakra is not
so much the ambiguity as such, but its existence between such famous and
well-defined deities as Vajrakilaya's main consort and his 'Supreme Son'.
Translation of lines 8 to 11
As for the meditational tantra [tradition] [ ...... ] :
21 Evidence for this can again be found in the Phur pa bcu gnyis, where Ch. 9 is devoted
entirely to the Supreme Son. Here the Supreme Son is envisaged as having his home in
the mar;u;lala of the secret consort, 'encircled by a blazing radiance of fire,' (perhaps an allu-
siini. to Dlptacakra as a female, perhaps an attribute of himself), where he co-habits with
relatively marginal and mainly female 'lower rite' deities of killing and liberating and the
largely female VajrakIlaya protectors such as Svana and Remati.
22 The gter rna of mChog gyur gling pa (mChog gling gter sar) have both male and
female Svana deities: for example, the Zab bdun mehog zab yang dag gi shwa na ehenpo'i
zlog pa'i phrin las beol ba (volume 17, pp. 559-569) has the passage: yab geig shwa na
mu kha ehe! mthu chen bdud rgyal mams kyi gshed..! khyod kyi yum geig shwa na mal
mkha la 'khor 'das thams cad rdzogsl (p. 562). Thanks to Andreas Doctor for these texts.
Note however that in the Shwa na dkar nag gi rgyud of the NGB (sDe dge Zha f. 260;
mTshams brag Ji p. 1096; gTing skyes Sha p. 493; Nubri Sa f.65 gong; Rig 'dzin Sha
f.222), which is the only Tantra specifically for Svana deities with which I am currently
familiar, only female forms of Svana are ever explicitly mentioned (although it is also just
conceivable that male ones might also be very vaguely implied, especially with a liberal
helping of creative exegesis; at least they are not explicitly precluded).
PELLIOT 349: A DUNHUANG TIBETAN TEXT ON ROO RJE PHUR PA 151
[8]. from out of the single [non dual] expanse, on the palm of the right
hand, [visualise arising out of] the syllable Nya, a moon disc;
[9] being of the nature of skilful means, [upon it arise?] the Ten Great
Wrathful Deities. On the left palm, from the [syllable] Ma
[10] arises a sun maI)qala; [since it is?] [- - -] the sign for the nature of
wisdom,
[11] meditate and so forth as [arising upon it?] the Ten Great Female
Wrathful Deities.
Comments on lines 8 to 11
Line 8:
The text here reads Nya. We know however that this is quite likely an
. error for A because more or less all other sources give A in this context
of visualising the sun and moon on the hands as part of the klla-wield-
. ing ritual: to mention but a few, the old Dunhuang texts IOL Tib J 754,
81-82; the NGB's Phur pa bcu gnyis Ch. 11;23 the main current Sa skya
sadhanas (Sa skya Phur chen f. 24r and the dPal rdo rje phur pa'i bsnyen
sgrub gsal byed bdud rtsi'i 'od can f. 150). The process is a complex one
of consecrating the hands and the /ala and solemnly wielding them both
in elaborate and graceful hand gestures or mudrii. P349 gives an extremely
abbreviated reference to this famous klla rite.
Lines 9 and 10:
. The Ten Wrathful Deities (khro bo bcu) and their consorts are very
important in the VajrakTIaya traditions and of course occur throughout
many other Vajrayiina texts in addition. In this version of this rite, the Ten
Wrathful Deities and their consorts are mentioned as arising directly from
the visualised sun and moon on the palms of the hands. In the Phur pa bcu
gnyis Ch.l124 and the current Sa skya traditions (dPal rdo rje phur pa'i
bsnyen sgrub gsal byed bdud rtsi'i 'od can folio 150; Sa skya Phur chen
f. 24r), the process is more gradual, with the wrathful deities developing
in stages out of the unions of the male and female peaceful Buddhas, all
performed with elaborate visualisation and hand gestures or mudrii.
23 gTing skyes Vol Dza p. 110; sDe dge Vol Pa f.217r
24 gTing skyes Vol. Dza pp. 110-112, sDe dge Vol. Pa f. 217r-218r
152 ROBERT MAYER
As for the [Tantra meditation tradition's] virtuous qualities:
[12] by pervading [one's hands] in this way, one's obstacles in this life
will be pacified; [thereby] the accumulations of merit can be attained
[-]
[13] [so that] one passes on to an abode in the transcendent heavens
[where] the accumulation of wisdom can [also] be a t t ~ e d ;
[14] and thus the two accumulations of merit and wisdom can both be
attained: [hence these are its] virtuous qualities. Regarding the Phur
bu as a
[15] basis for accomplishment: having done accordingly [as above], the
obstacles [will be?] pacified, patron's wishes will be accomplished,
[16,17] heavenly abodes will be attained, and even the two great accumu-
lations will be completed. Since these rites whose [very] nature is
skilful means and wisdom do not waver, they are a basis for accom-
plishment and qualities.
lines 11-14:
Here we find a rationale for the apotropaic aspects of the VajrakI1.aya
rites: specifically aimed at removing this-worldly obstacles, they only do
so in order to enable spiritual practice, as the first stage of a gradualist
spiritual program. This kind of rationale is also found in hagiographic
materials about early Vajrakilaya practitioners: see for example the story
of gNyags Ji'Hinakumara as contained in the bDud 'joms chos 'byung.
zs
The reference to the rebirth in a pure realm is noteworthy: in most VajrakI-
laya literature this is a virtue enjoyed by practioners of VajrakTIaya and
their 'liberated' victims alike. Another of the Dunhuang Phur pa texts,
IOLTibJ331.ID, makes this connection clear in its title, Zhi ba'i mchog
'pho ba'i 'phrin las bsdus pa' 0 - where 'phrin las refers to the Phur pa
'liberation' ritual, and 'pho ba to the yogic transference of consciousness
to the pure realm, here glossed as zhi ba'i mchog, supreme peace.
26
25 Dudjom1991 :601-605.
26 I hope to comprehensively study this important text in the near future.
PELLIOT 349: A DUNHUANG TIBETAN TEXT ON ROO RJE PHUR PA 153
Lines 15-17:
This reiterates much of the above, but taking the perspective of yogic
accomplishment rather than the virtuous qualities of the practice.
[18] On the occasion of rolling and brandishing such a Phur bu between
one's two hands, regarding the materials of the suppressing and repelling
Phurbu,
[19] make it out of iron from a weapon [that has fallen on a man?]; above
its knotted cords, establish Heruka; on the four faces,
[20] establish those endowed with the [four] particular enlightened activi-
ties; on the eight sides of the neck, establish the eight great Matrs;
[21] having established the eight Mukhas (mu ka brgyad) on its point, [with
such a tip (sna la), one can strike at one's own self?]. As ins said
in the meditation tradition: is the Perfection of Material,
[22] consecrate it as the deity and request accomplishment, and one will
be able to strike at [all] the Realm. of Desire ('dod pa'i khams, kiima-
dhiitu) below.
Lines 19-21:
Phur pa bcu gnyis Chapter 1()27 describes the materials for making a
kila as ideally to be taken from weapons such as knives and arrowheads,
as well as from meteors or thunderbolts, and to have qualities of cutting,
sharpness, and hardness etc. It is also possible that the Phur pa bcu gnyis
advocates the use of iron from an arrowhead that has pierced a person's
heart, but the text is corrupt at that point, and the meaning ambiguous.
The text here in P349 is slightly obscure (mtshon myi la babs pa 'i lcags),
but it seems a reasonable conjecture that the material is meant to be iron
from a weapon that has actually struck a person.
These lines also support one of the findings of Mayer & Cantwell 1994:
that the classic Tibetan kila design as we know it today was already in
place by the time the Dunhuang texts were written. Although extremely
27 gTing skyes Vol. Dza page 106; sDe dge Vol. Pa folio 216r
154
'ROBERT MAYER
terse in describing the kfla, nevertheless here at the very least we have
the knotted cords, the four-square base, and an eight-facetted shaft, fea-
tures that make unmistakeable reference to the yiipa or Indian sacrificial
stake (Mayer 1991).
The establishment of deities on the different parts of the kfla is ubiqui-
tous in all kfla literature, but the details of which deity is put where seems
to vary from text to text and siidhana tradition to siidhana tradition, which
is perhaps understandable in that the different VajrakIlaya maI)J;lalas are
populated by slightly different arrangements of deities. Nevertheless the
placement of Heruka in his 'palace' above the knotted cords (as here also)
does seem to be a constant. The deities of the four enlightened activities
will probably be those of the standard list of peaceful, increasing, pow-
erful and wrathful activities, or else the well-known four goddesses with
iron hook, noose, iron chain and bell who summon and bind. Mention is
made here of the eight mu ka; possibly a popular Sanskritism (mukha =
face or head), referring to the frunous animal-headed goddesses as found
in many VajrakTIaya texts all of whose nrunes end in -mukha; for exrunple,
eight occur in Chapter 7 of the Phur pa bcu gnyis, in the context of the
definitive arrangement of the central VajrakIlaya maI).q.ala.
More problematic is the culmination of this section, sna fa bdag rang fa
gdab//. In particular we have problems interpreting sna: the tip of the phur
bu is more often referred to as dbaf than sna, and striking oneself on the
nose with the consecrated phur bu is not mentioned elsewhere! However,
Cristina Scherrer-Schaub has pointed out to me that in Old terminology, sna
is an ancient term for gtso bo, which may be understood as a metaphorical
expression for dbaf, meaning pinnacle or tip. I run following her sugges-
tion here. dBal is of course widely used to refer to the point of a phur bu,
and is especially widespread in the Bon Phur pa tradition. There is an impor-
tant part of the rNying rna and Sa skya rite where the freshly empowered
kila is solemnly touched (not struck) to 'the five places and three gates",
i.e. (1) crown of head, (2) forehead, (3) back of right ear, (4) back of
head, (5) back of left ear, (6) forehead again (7) throat and (8) heart.
More generally, from a soteriological point of view, the ultimate function
of the phur pa is to enable one to strike at the ignorance, desire and aggres-
sion within oneself: this is always seen as the ultimate usage of the imple-
ment, a soteriological interpretation that goes back to the Guhyasamiija.
PELLIOT 349: A DUNHUANG TffiETAN TEXT ON RDO RJE PHUR PA 155
, Line 22:
: The Dunhuang Phur pa text IOL Tib J 331.ID explains it will subsume
. the VajrakTIaya teachings within 'Seven Perfections' (phun sum tshogs pa
bdun). The first two of these are gzugs phun sum tshogs pa; the 'Perfec-
;tion of Form' , and byin rlabs phun sum tshogs pa, the 'Perfection of Con-
secration'. The first details the materials and form to be used in making
the MIa, and the second the methods of consecrating it. The 'Perfection
. Of Material' (rgyu phun sum tshogs pa) mentioned here in P349 does not
occur in IOL Tib J 331.ID, but its initial 'Perfection of Form' seems to
cover similar ground, and as in P349 is likewise followed by consecration
. Of the implement as the deity, which then forms the basis for the subsequent
Htuals.
'[23] As for the means of striking at the obstacles: having assembled all
the material as the deity, when rolling it between the hands, do not
give rise to angry thoughts,
[24] [but] with great compassion, adhere to the Base (gzhi). Giving rise to
the emanation and reabsorption of rays of light,
[25] as these strike at the form of whoever [the rite] is to be done for, gen-
erating bodhicitta, imagine that they become transformed into the
nature of the Great Peace,
[26] and utter these verses of Phur bu recitation:
Comments on lines 23-26:
The description of the actual wrathful rite makes clear its adherence to
conventional Buddhist ethics. Even while striking at the obstacles (bgegs),
P349 insists the practitioner should not give rise to angry thoughts, but
should proceed with a mind of compassion that adheres to the Base (gzhi,
equivalent to Sanskrit iilaya, of course originally a Mahayana term but
also much adapted in rDzogs chen texts). Although not spelt out by name,
the rite of forceful liberation or 'killing' (sgroI ba or m o k ~ a ) is clearly
being referred to. In Tib J 75481-2, also a Dunhuang text dealing with
the same rite, similar Buddhist principles are likewise invoked (Mayer &
Cantwell 1994). We [md similar sentiments in the opening passages of
156
ROBERT MAYER
IOL TibJ 331.III. The clear evidence of the Dunhuang klla 'killing' rites
taken as a whole seems to be that they were fully ethicised and soteriol-
ogised. As we would expect from materials so closely linked to Guhya-
samaja, the early Tibetan klla tradition of mok:fa was not a sorcery tradi-
tion, but a Mahayana Buddhist one, albeit in the final analysis most likely
a bloodless calque on non-Buddhist Tantric blood sacrificial rites of the
type still so widespread in Sakta religion. The rite of mok:fa of course con-
tinues as a central practice in contemporary rNying rna pa ritual" especially
in the Vajrakilaya traditions, and it is remarkable how little the rite
described in these Dunhuang texts has changed over the last millennium,
if at all. For a detailed study of mok:fa, see Cantwell 1997.
The mention of the projection and reabsorption of light rays in line 24
is very similar to the instruction given at the same point in the same ritual
as described in IOL Tib J 754,81-82 (Mayer & Cantwell:59-60).
[27] By this wrathful king
The obstacles are summoned and totally destroyed.
Those supremely endowed with good intellect
[28] Strike with the phur bu in accordance with the rite.
The great Vajra King, the A.mp:a being,
Abides as the Vajra Phur bu itself,
[29] Blue in colour like an utpala,
Gazing down at the hosts of obstacles.
The part below his navel
[30] Is like a point, and utterly [ ..... ] [brlag, destroys?]
If, endowed with his mantras,
One definitively strikes with Vajra Phur [bu],
[31] The bodies of the obstacles will become quite immobilised
O1p gha gha gha ta ya gha ta ya I sa rva du shta ni phat II ki la ki la
[32] ya sa rva ba pham phatJI hfup huIp. [ba] dzra dha rod a [-] pa ya ti [ ...
Comments on lines 27-32:
As R.A. Stein has already discussed, these verses are found also in
several places in the Guhyasamaja tradition (see the appendix below).
The .culminating .mantra does not survive intact in P349, but is easily
recognisable as a famous mantra from verse 58 of the Guhyasamiija's
Chapter 14: Of!l gha gha ghiitaya ghiitaya phat kflaya kflaya
sarvapiipiln phat hilf!l hUf!l vajrakfla vajradhara iijfiilpayati sarvavigh-
niiniif!l kilyaviikcittavajraf!l kilaya hilf!l phaf. In fact, this mantra has had
a long and varied career in Vajrayana literature, and appears in a variety
of traditions beyond the Guhyasamaja, for example in the Y oginI tradi-
tions of VajravariihI. This mantra is still found in the rNying rna pa
VajrakIlaya traditions, but interestingly the deity to which it is attached
can often be a female one. In the Phur pa bcu gnyis Ch. 13 and again
in Ch. 20, this mantra is given as that of rDo rje sder mo, or 'Vajra claw'.
This is one of the special lower rite goddesses (according to Phur pa
bcu gnyis Ch. 20) who takes their orders from the central deity and
perform the actual strikes against the obstacles, in this sense closely
related by function to the male deity form with the heruka upper body
. .
and the kfla lower body who here in P349 (line 28) is called rdo rje
rgyal chen bdud rtsi po, the Great Vajra Amp:a King. rDo rje sder mo's
Sanskrit name remains unclear;28 but rDo rje sder mo under her Tibetan
name also occurs in the Dunhuang text IOL Tib J 331.111, where she
also has the same mantra as appears here (Of!l gha gha ghiitaya etc.), and
the same lower-rite function as in the Phur pa bcu gnyis Ch. 20. The
Dunhuang text IOL Tib J 754, 81-82 also has the same mantra with the
same function, but does not mention the name of any deity either male or
female.
5. Appendix: some parallel Sanskrit and Tibetan texts to P349 lines 27-
32 (5.1 and 5.2 prepared by Gndrun Melzer)
PiJ;lcJikramasadhana (PKS) of Nagarjuna:
Facsimile Edition in Mimaki 1994:
Ms. of Vallee Poussin's edition
A PKS 2a4-2b3
B PKS 2a3-2bl,
28 The rNying rna text does not attempt a Sanskrit name, although Sa skya phur chen
folio 18b line 2 calls her Vajra Tata but has here identified her as a regular member of its
sambhogakaya maI).qala rather than as a special goddess of killing in the nirmiil;akaya
maI).qala.
158
ROBERT MAYER
5.1. Pil}.4ikramasadhana
(Vallee Poussin 1896, pp. 1-2)
Anena krodhariipel}.a
vinayakan I
ldlayed vidhivat sarvan
prayogeI).a tu buddhiman 1110
vajramp:amaharajaxp.
vajrakIlaxp. vibhavayet I
m10tpaladalasyamaxp.
jvalamalakulaprabham II 11
nabhidesad adhobhagaxp.
sUlakaraxp. vibhavayet I
i.i.rdhvaxp. krodhalqtitp.i caiva
II 12
adho vighnagaI).an
tan mantraxp. samudaharan
ii
I
nikhaned vajrakIlaxp. tu
niscalam II 13
01]1 gha gha ghataya ghataya phat
iii
ldlaya ldlaya sarvapapan
phat
iV
hi.i.t]1 hi.i.t]1v vajrakIla vajradhara
vi
ajiiapayati sarvavighnanlit]1 kaya-
vakcittaxp.vii ldlaya hi.i.t]1viii phat
[5.2]
sgrub pa'i thabs mdor byas pa (PiI).4ikrtasadhana)
sDe dge vol. 3,1.4-4,1.2; Peking 2661.
khro bo'i gzugs can 'di yis ni II
bgegs kyi dbang po nyid bkug nas II
blo dang Idan pas sbyor ba yis /I
cho ga bzhin du phur bus gdab /I
rdo rje bdud rtsi rgyal po che /I
utpal sngon po 'dab ma'i mdog II
. 'bar phreng 'khrigs pa'i 'od Idan pa /I
rdo rje phur bu mam par bsgom /I
Ite ba'i phyogs nas smad kyi cha /I
rtse mo Ita bur mam par bsam /I
.stod ni khro bo'i dbyibs can te II
zhal gsum phyag drug Ita bur bsgom /I
de yi gsang sngags legs brjod la /I
bgegs kyi tshogs la 'og gzigs pas /I
rdo rje phur bu nges btab na /I
bgegs kyi Ius ni myi g.yo 'gyur /l
oIp gha gha gha ta ya gha ta ya I sa rva du phat phat I
Id la ya ld la ya I sa rva pii patp phat phat hiiIp. hiiIp. hiiIp. I
.. badzra ld la ya I badzra dha ro a dznya pa ya ti I sarva bighnan I
ika ya viik ci tta I badzra
ix
ld la ya hiiIp. hiiIp. hiiIp. phat phat
; The PiQc;likrtasadhanopayikavrttiratnavali or mDor bsdus pa'i sgrub
thabs kyi 'grel pa rin chen phreng ba attributed to Ratniikarasanti
. (peking 2690: 297b 1.7. to 298b 1.2) contains a slightly different version
: of the verses to the above. Here, the verses are broken up with word by
: Word commentary interspersed. Thanks to Gudrun Melzer for discovering
!.this passage .
.frdo rje bdud rtsi rgyal po chel
;jutpal sngon po'i 'dab ma'i mdog
:l'bar phreng 'khrigs pa'i 'od ldan pal
jrdo rje phur bus mam par bsgom/
(/
' ........ .
:)te ba'i phyogs nas smad kyi chat
;/rtse mo Ita bur mam bsam zbing/
:/stod ni khro bo'i dbyibs can tel
.lzhal gsum phyag drug Ita bu bsgom/
........ .
:!ie yi gsang sngags legs brjod laf
/bltas pas 'og tu bgegs kyi tshogsl
:/rdo rje'i phur bus nges btab naf
/bgegs kyi Ius la mi g-yo 'gyurl
'OIp gha gha gha ta ya sarba du hiiIp phat phat I
.10 la ya ld la ya sarba pii patp phat phat hurp. hiiIp. badzra ld la ya badzra
adznya pa ya til
sarba bighnfup. ka ya ba ka ci ttatp ld la ya hiiIp hiiIp. hiiIp. phat phat
160 ROBERT MAYER
[5.3]
gZi ldan 'bar ba mtshams kyi rgyud
This text of about twenty folios has no chapter divisions or titles. The
text cited below is taken from folios 274r-v of vol. Zha of the mTshams
brag edition (Vol 21 pages 551-552 in the modern pagination). It is
very close to the text from the Pil:u!ikrtasiidhana cited above in Appen-
dix 5.2:
/huIflI khro bo' i rgyal po 'di bdag gisl
/bgegs kun bkug nas mam par 'jig
/blo ldan rab tu 'byor pa yisZ
Icho ga bzhin du phur kun btabl
Irdo rje bdud rtsi rgyal po yil
Irdo rje'i phur bu nyid gnas pal
lutpal sngon po'i mdog 'dra barl
/bar ba'i 'phreng ba 'khrig pa'i 'odl
/lte ba man chad chas mams nil
Iphur rtse Ita bur mam par sgoml
Iro stod khro bo Ita bu nyidl
/zhal gsum phyag kyang drug pa stel
/bgegs kyi tshogs la 'og tu gzugsl
Ide yi sngags ni brjod bya stel
Irdo rje phur pa nges btab nasi
/bgegs Ius bzhin du mi g-yo ba'ol
10Ifl gha gha gha ta ya sarba dustan hUIfl phat/
/kilaya kilaya sarba piipaIf1 hUIfl phatl
/huIfl hUIfl hUIfl badzra kilayal
/badzra darod adnya payatil
/ka ya bag citaIf1 badzra ki la ya hUIfl pha!/
[5.4]
Phur pa gsang chen rdo rje 'phreng ba'i rgyud, Chapter 16
Rig 'dzin edition of the NGB, Vol. Sha folios 43v to 60r
tib ta cakra phur pa'i lhall
dmar po gcer bu ral pa canl I
kun kyang khro bo chen po lal I
zhal. gsum phyag ni drug pa stell
.ral gri sku la phur.pa'i sol/
Ite ba yan chad chas mams nill
na za rdo rje go cha gtamsl I
lte ba man chad chas mams nill
utpal sngon po'i mdog 'dra ball
'bar ba'i 'phreng bas 'khrig pa'i 'odll
lcags kyi phur pa zur gsum pall
btab na lha yang rlag pa'i phyirll
gnod byed dgra bgegs smos ci dgosll
kI la yal
rna ra ya phatl
Phur pa'i las byang, by Grags pa rgyal mtshan
rDo rje phur pa'i sgrub skor, Sa skya bka' 'bum, vol. 4, p 182.
dIb ta tsakra phur ba'i lhal
Idmar po gcer bu ral pa canl
/sku stod khro bo chen po lal
Izhal gsum phyag kyang drug pa stel
Iral gri'i sgra la phur bu'i sol
Ite ba man chad sku yi cha mams nil
lutpal sngon po'i 'dab rna 'dral
/'bar ba'i phreng ba 'khrugs pa'i 'odl
/lcags kyi phur pa zur gsum pal
/drag po gyur pa'i phur bu stel
/btab na yang brlag 'gyur tel
/gnod byed bgegs la smos ci dgosl
/0J:f1 badzra kI la ya sarba b i g h n ~ baJ:f1 hUJ:f1 phat/
Notes to appendix texts:
i A, B iirdhvakrodhalqiirp. ii A samudaharet iii A +pha! iv A +phat v A
+hUJ:f1 vi A vajradharo vii A kayavakcittavajraJ:f1 viii A +huJ:f1 hiiJ:fl ix
Peking omits
[Courtesy of BNP]
6. Bibliography
Tibetan Sources:
bDud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje: dpal rdo rje phur bu thugs gyi sgrub pa
gsang ba'i rgya can bdud 'joms gnam lcags spu gri'i las byang khrag 'thung
mngon par rol pa 'i dga' ston. From the Collected Works of H.H. bDud 'joms
Rill po che, vol. 10.
Grags pa rgyal mtshan: rDo rje phur pa'i sgrub skor, in Sa skya pa'i bka' 'bum
vol. 4, pp. 175-199. Tokyo, 1968.
'Jam mgon a myes zhabs kun dga' bsod nams: beom ldan 'das rdo rje gzhon
nu'i gdams pa nyams len gyi chu bochen po sgrub pa'i thabs kyi rnam par
bshad pa 'phrin las kyi padmo rab tu rgyas pa'i nyin byed, in Ngawang
Sopa, ed: The Vajrakfla Rites As Practiced by the 'Khon Lineage of Sa skya,
New Delhi, 1973.
Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas: dPal rdo rje phur pa rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi dum bu'i
'grel pa snying po bsdus pa dpaZ chen dgyes pa'j zhallung zhes bya ba
n.d.,n.p.
rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, 'The Collected Tantras of the Ancient School of Tibetan
Buddhism'. gTing skyes edition: Ed. Dil mgo mKhyen brtse. Reproduced
from a manuscript copy from gTing skyes dgon pa byang monastery in
Tibet. 36 vols. Thimbu, 1973-75.
Rig 'dzin edition: original manuscripts held by the British Library, London. An
electronic catalogue by Cathy Cantwell, Robert Mayer and Michael Fischer
can be found at http://ngb.csac.anthropology.ac.uk:8080/
mTshams brag edition: The Mtshams brag Manuscript of the rNying ma rgyud
'bum, Photo-offset litho reproduction made in Delhi under the auspices of
the National Library of Bhutan. 46 volumes. Thimpu 1982.
dPal rdo rje phur pa'i bsnyen sgrub gsal byed bdud rtsi'i 'od can. From the sGrub
thabs kun btus vol Pa, p. 140 ff.
Phur pa bcu gnyis kyi rgyud ces bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo sDe dge rNying
ma'i rgyud 'bum vol. Pa, folios 176r-251v; and gTing skyes dgon pa byang
monastery ms., Khyentse Rillpoche reprint, vol Dza lr-lOOr (pp. 1-199)
Sa skya phur chen: dPal rdo rje gzhon nu'i sgrub thabs bklags pas don grub.
Rajpur, India.
Other Languages
Bhattacharya, Benoytosh (1968). Sadhanamiilii vols. 1 and 2. GOS nos. 26 & 41.
Baroda.
Bischoff, F.A. & Charles Hartmann (1971). 'Padmasambhava's Invention of the
Phur-bu: Ms. Pelliot Tibetain 44.' Etudes Tibetaines Dediees a la Memoire
de Marcelle Lalou. Paris, pp. 11-28.
164 ROBERT MAYER
Boord, Martin J. (1993). The Cult of the Deity Vajrakfla. Tring.
-. (2002). A Bolt Of Lightning From The Blue. Berlin.
Cantwell, Cathy (1997). 'To t:neditate upon consciousness as vajra: ritual "killing
and liberation" in the rNying ma pa Tradition', In PlATS 7, Tibetan Studies
Volume 1, ed. Krasser, Much, Steinkellner & Tauscher,
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien pp.
Chakravarti, Chintaharan, ed. (1984).
ko(ivyiikhyii. Patna. .
Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje. (trans. Dorje and Kapstein) (1999). The
Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston. .
Eastman, Kenneth W. (1980). Chibetto-go Guhyasamiijatantrano tonkoo shutsudo
shahon. Tokyo.
Edgerton, Franklin (1970). Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi.
Fremantle, Francesca (1971). A Critical Study of the Guhyasamiija-tantra. PhD
diss. SOAS, London.
Hackin, Joseph (1924). Formulaire Sanscrit-Tibetain du X' Siecle. Paris.
Kapstein, Matthew (2000). The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism. Conversion,
Contestation and Memory. New York. .
Lalou, M. (1939, 1950, 1961). Inventaire des Manuscrits Tibetains de Touen
houang conserves ilIa Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris.
Matsunaga,Yukei (ed.) (1978). The Guhyasamiija Tantra. Osaka.
Mayer, Robert (1996). A Scripture of The Ancient Tantra Collection: The Phur- .
pa bcu-gnyis. Oxford. .
-. 1991 'Observations on the Tibetan Phur-pa and the Indian KIla'. The Buddhist
Forum II. London.
Mayer,.Robert & Cathy Cantwell (1994). 'A Dunhuang ManUscript on Vajraldlaya
[IOL MSS TIE J 754,81-82]'. (Reprint) Tibet Journal XIX.l, pp. 54-67.
Mimaki, Katsumi (1994). Paficakrama: Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts Critically Edited
with Index and Facsimile Edition of the Sanskrit Manuscripts. Tokyo.
Roerich, George N. (1976). The Blue Annals Delhi.
tein, Rolf A. (1978). 'A propos des documents anciens relatifs au phur-bu (leila)',
Proceedings of the Csoma de Koros memorial Symposium, ed. L. Ligeti,
Budapest pp. 427-44.
Scherrer-Schaub, Cristina (1999-2000). 'Priere pour un apostat - Fragments d'his-
toire tibetaine'. In Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie 11 (1999-2000), pp. 217-246.
Takeuchi, Tsuguhito (1998). Old Tibetan Manuscripts from East Turkestan in
The Stein Collection of the British Library Volume II. Descriptive Catalogue.
Tokyo and London.
Vallee Poussin, Louis de la (1896). Etudes et Texts Tantriques, Paficakrama. Gand
& Louvain.
-. (1962). Tibetan Manuscripts from Dunhuang in the India Office Library. London.
Jiang, Zhongxin & Toru Tomabechi (eds) (1996). The Paficakramatippani of
Munisrfbhadra (Yogimanoharii). Bern.
THE EARLY DAYS OF THE GREAT PERFECTION
SAM VAN SCHAIK
1. The origins of the Great Perfection
The origins of the Great Perfection movement, so important in the later
Tibetan tradition, have proved very difficult for modern scholarship to
establish. The genuinely early texts available to scholars are like the few
remaining pieces of what was once a large puzzle. Inquiries into the early
history of the Great Perfection have, of necessity, been rather like plac-
ing these pieces into an arrangement that merely suggests the larger whole.
Because of the scarcity of pieces, a certain amount of guesswork has had
to be employed in their arrangement. Here I hope to add some more of
the puzzle's lost pieces, rearrange the existing pieces somewhat, and pro-
duce an impression of the original whole. This arrangement will inevitably
be refined or thoroughly reshuffled in the future, as. further pieces are
found.
l
The earliest Great Perfection texts to be translated and made available
in Tibet were those now known as the mind series (sems sde). Later devel-
opments in the Great Perfection brought far more complex doctrines and
practices, but the early mind series texts stayed close to one central theme:
the immediate presence of the enlightened mind, and the consequent use-
lessness of any practice that is aimed at creating, cultivating or uncover-
ing the enlightened state. David Germano has coined the useful phrase
"pristine Great Perfection" to refer to this kind of discourse. The largest
and most well known of these texts is the Kun byed rgyal po'i mdo, in
which one finds a rejection of the elaborate imagery and practices asso-
ciated with the tantras.
1 I would like to thank Jacob Dalton, Matthew Kapstein and Tsuguhito Takeuchi for
sharing their unpublished work with me, which contributed significantly to the develop-
ment of this paper. Harunaga Isaacson provided some very useful references to the Indic
tantric literature, and Jacob Dalton pointed out many significant Tibetan sources.
Volume 27 Numberl 2004
166
SAM VAN SCHAIK
As early as the ninth century, there was a recognizable fonn of the Great
Perfection with much in common with the mind series. This is proved by
certain Tibetan manuscripts found in the Dunhuang library cave, walled
up in the early eleventh century. ill the collection of these manuscripts at
the British Library, Samten Karmay discovered two texts which looked
very much like mind series literature: ITJ 594 and 647.
2
The first of these
texts has the title sBas pa'i rgum chung; it includes a preamble in which
the author is identified as Buddhagupta, and the category of the text as
Atiyoga. The second text, Rig pa'i khu byug, employs terminology famil-
iar in the early Great Perfection.
3
These two finds seemed to confInn that
the mind series, as we know it now, is a fair representation of the kind of
thing that was being called rdzogs chen in the ninth and tenth centuries.
Karmay, however, suspected that the Great Perfection might have been
more intimately linked in this early period with meditation techniques
focussed on deities and their mar.uJalas known as the development stage
(bskyed rim) and sexual practices known as the perfection stage (rdzogs
rim), in other words, the whole milieu of texts and practices known to the
tradition as Mahayoga. Karmay looked at a text from the bsTan 'gyur
called Man ngag ita ba 'i phreng ba, attributed to Padmasambhava, which
discusses the practices of the deity yoga from the standpoint of the Great
Perfection.
4
David Gennano has also argued that the early Great Perfec-
tion derived in part from Mahayoga, and in part from a strand of thought
represented by the early mind series texts. As evidence for the Mahayoga
influence he cited passages in the one of the fundamental scriptures of the
Mahayoga, the Guhyagarbha tantra, which employ the tenn rdzogs chen
in relation to the idea of the immediate presence of enlightenment.
5
, , ~ ) '
~ , '
2 The Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts in the British Library's Stein collection have the '
prefix IOL Tib J (an identification which has changed somewhat over the years, and largely
been ignored by scholars who usually prefer to refer to the manuscripts with the prefix
"Stein Tibetan"). The corresponding manuscripts in the Bibliotheque nationale de France's
Pelliot collection have the prefIx Pelliot tibetain. Here, I have abbreviated the former to
ITJ and the latter to PT.
3 Karmay 1988, chapter 2. ITJ 647 text appears as the fIrst in the list of eighteen as the
Rig pa'i khu byug. In the Kun byed rgyal po this text has the title rDo rje tshig drug. As Kar-
may has shown, the six lines of the root text also appear scattered throughout other scriptures
from the corpus of Atiyoga.
4 Karmay 1988, chapter 6.
5 Germano 1998, pp. 212-218.
THE EARLY DAYS OF THE GREAT PERFECTION 167
Thus both Kmmay and Germano have suggested that the Great Perfec-
tion developed threugh the intermingling of the literature of two traditions.
The first of these is the pristine ritual-free discourse of the authors of the
earliest mind series texts, siddha-style yogic practitioners. The second"is the
elaboration of the Great Perfection as the culmination of ritual practice by
commentators on the Mahayoga tantras. In fact, as I will argue below,
although we do find these two kinds ofliterature in the early days of the Great
Perfection, this does not in fact entail the existence of two separate traditions.
In the following pages I trace the evolution of the rdzogs chen term
itself, and the parallel evolution of "Atiyoga", the scriptural category and
" so-called vehicle (theg pa) which came to be synonymous with the Great
Perfection. Most of the sources for this discussion are texts from the
library cave at Dunhuang, which date from before the cave was sealed
at the beginning of the eleventh century. Though available to scholars for
the past century, most have never been studied before. I also examine the
work of two Tibetan writers involved in the creation of the Great Perfec-
tion in Tibet, the ninth-century tantric exegete gNyan dPal dbyangs and
. the tenth-century redactor of teachings gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes.
Through these enquiries I hope to shed some light into the obscure regions
in which the Great Perfection scriptures were created.
6
2. What is the Great Perfection?
(i) rDzogs chen as a ritual moment
As far as we are aware, the earliest appearance of the term rdzogs chen
lJeing used in a similar way to the Great Perfection literature, is in the Guh-
yagarbha tantra. The term rdzogs chen seems to be used in the tantra in asso-
ciation with a specific ritual moment, the state of being at the climax of the
sexual yoga of the perfection stage immediately following consecration
6 In the following pages, I use the phrase "Great Perfection" to refer to the tradition,
and the Tibetan rdzogs chen to refer to the tenn itself. Furthennore, I refer to the early texts
of the Great Perfection as "the mind series" (a translation of sems sde). Although this usage
is anachronistic in that sems sde itself does not appear in any pre-eleventh century text (in
some early texts the classification is sems phyogs, but this tenn has also not been found in
any pre-eleventh century text), I have employed "the mind series" as a useful label for this
group of texts and the early fonn of Great Perfection discourse that they contain.
168 SAM VAN SCHAIK
with the drop of semen or bodhicitta.7 In this context, the word rdzogs
chen could certainly be interpreted to have the semantic content of a great
(chen) culmination of the perfection (rdzogs) stage. This usage occurs in
chapter thirteen of the tantra, spoken by the Tathagata from the state of
sexual union, and in chapter fourteen, which is a further poetic discourse
on that state. Furthermore, chapter nineteen, which deals with the com-
mitments (samaya) associated with the perfection stage yoga, also uses the
term rdzogs chen. The use of the term in the sixth chapter is more general,
speaking of the yogin who realizes the great perfection; yet on the evi-
dence of the other occurrences of the term, this realization would be under-
stood to come about through the practice of the perfection stage.
Given that rdzogs chen is closely associated in the Guhyagarbha tantra
with the ritual moment of the culmination of perfection stage yoga, the
question of what it signifies remains. In general, the significance seems
to differ little from later Great Perfection traditions: all qualities (yon
tan) and enlightened activities ('phrin las) - that is, the aims of the Bud-
dhist practitioner - are complete (rdzogs) from the start (ye nas). That
is to say, in another phrase that is used in the tantra far more often, every-
thing is spontaneously present (lhun gyis grub).8 Furthermore, there is an
emphasis on the transcendence of concepts in a state beyond the reach of
thought (bsam gyis mi khyab). In spite of the association of rdzogs chen
with these ideas, so familiar from the later Great Perfection texts, the phrase
itself occurs only four times in the tantra, and is certainly not the deftning
term for this complex of ideas that it later became.
Certain texts preserved in the Dunhuang collections confirm that the
term rdzogs chen was actually used in practice in the context of the ritual
moment of consecration.
9
For example, in PT 321, a siidhana based around
a Heruka mm:uJala, following self-consecration and the offering of the
bodhicitta to the mal}cJala of deities, the text mentions the mal}cJala of the
secret great perfection (rdzogs pa chen po gsang ba'i dkyil 'khor), which
is associated with the purity of all phenomena. 10
7 Dalton 2004.
8 For translations of the passages referred to here, see Germano 1994, pp. 214-215.
9 Dalton 2004.
10 PT 321, f.16r. Another manuscript, ITJ 437, a treatise on the development and per-
fection stages incorporating material from the Guhyasamaja tantra and the Vajramrta
169
Another piece of evidence for the association between the tenn rdzogs
chen and the Guhyagarbha in this period is provided by an untitled
poem from the Dunhuang manuscripts, PT 322B. 11 This text, which has
not been noticed before, takes rdzogs chen as its theme while remaining
within the frame of reference of the Guhyagarbha and MiiyiijiiZa tantras.
12
On reading it, one feels that the tenn rdzogs chen has begun to represent
the complex of ideas surrounding it, as it does in the later tradition. Never-
theless, the author the setting of these ideas is clearly the universe of the
MiiyiijiiZa tantras, as the following verses demonstrate:
The teaching of the primordial, spontaneously present great perfection,
This sublime experiential domain of supreme insight
Is bestowed as a precept upon those with intelligence;
I pay homage to the definitive counsel spoken thus.
Without centre or periphery, neither one nor many,
The maJ:ujaZa that transcends thought and cannot be expressed,
illuminates the mind of intrinsic awareness, wisdom and knowledge;
I pay homage to the great Vajrasattva.
From the illusory three worlds [like] the limitless sky,
Many millions of emanations are present everywhere,
, Surrounded by the net of insight in the expanse of sameness,
I pay homage to you, the magical net (MiiyiijiiZa).
The ten directions and the four times secretly have the nature of the great
perfection,
Which itself is the suchness of the defmitive essence,
Primordial and spontaneously present, cause and effect inseparable,
I pay homage to the supreme secret nucleus (Guhyagarhha)Y
tantra, refers to the bodhicitta substance as "the great perfection, the great self, the heart nec-
tar" (f.14r: rdzogs cen (sic] bdag nyid chen po thugs kyi bcud).
11 The hand seen in this manuscript is identical to several others in the Dunhuang col-
lection. A group of four manuscripts in the same hand are a syncretic explication of Chan
and Mahayoga meditation practices (see van Schaik and Dalton 2004). Thus the scribe
of PT 322B was certainly making use of Chan texts as well, although this is not apparent
in PT 322B itself.
12 The term Miiyiijiila tantra can be used to specifically denote those tantras with Miiyii-
}iila in their title, such as the Vajrasattva miiyiijiila tantra, or a more general group including
the Guhyagarbha. The texts under examination here use the term in the latter sense.
13 PT 322B, f.1r: ye nas lhun grub rdzogs pa chen po'i chos// shes rab mchog gi spyod
yul dam pa dell blo Idan mams la man ngag sbyin pa'i phyir// gros kyi nges don 'di skad
phyag 'tshal bstod// mtha' dang dbus myed gcig dang du mar bral// bsam 'das brjod myed
170 sAM VAN SCHAIK
(ii) rDzogs chen as a framework for all tantric practice
The earliest known commentary on the Guhyagarbha tantra is the Rin
po che spar khab by the Iridian author Vilasavajra, was probably written
in the 770S.1
4
The commentary does not give any special precedence to the
tenn rdzogs chen, and does not employ it in any specific technical sense. 15
By contrast, the only other known Indic commentary on the whole tantra,
the rGya cher 'greZ ba of SuryaprabhasasiIpha, places far more weight on
the tenn rdzogs chen, and uses it far more frequently.16 The status of this
commentary is rather uncertain because of the author's obscurity, but we
will have reason to return to SilryaprabhasasiIpha later, since he may in fact
have been closely involved in the development of the Great Perfection at
the beginning of the ninth century.
The Man ngag Zta ba'i phreng ba is a treatise on chapter thirteen of the
Guhyagarbha attributed to Padmasambhava. If the attribution is correct,
then the text would probably date from before or during Padmasambhava's
sojourn in Tibet in the 770S.1
7
While the text touches obliquely on the
actual practices, the commentary primarily develops the ideas of spon-
taneous accomplishment and primordial purity as the experiential climax
of the practices. The author articulates the status of rdzogs chen as the
rdo rje dkyil 'khor mil rang rig ye shes mkhyen pa'i thugs la gsalll rdo rje sems dpa' che
la phyag 'tshal bstodll nam ka'i mthas klags snang srid sgyu rna lasll sprul pa' bye ba mang
po ci yang gda'il shes rab dra bas mnyam nyid dbyings su 'khrilll sgyu 'phrul dra ba
khyod la phyag tshal bstodll phyogs bcu dus bzhi rdzogs chen rang bzhin gsangll de nyid
snying po nges pa'i de kho nail ye nas lhun grub rgyu 'bras dbyer myed pa'ill gsang ba'i
snying po mchog la phyag 'tshal bstod/I
, 14 This text (P.4718) is known in the canons merely as the gSang ba'i snying po'i 'grel;
the name Rin po che'i dpar khab appears in the colophon, and the text is known to the
rNying rna tradition merely as the sPar khab. See Davidson 1981 pp. 6-7, where the nam-
ing and dating of Vilasavajra (Tib. sGegs pa'i rdo rje) are discussed. Vilasavajra is often
referred to in modem scholarship as LIlavajra.
15 See for instance P.4718: 272-5-8.
16 The text is the dPal gsang ba'i snying po'i rgya cher bshad pa'i 'grel pa, P.4719
(vol.83). The differences in the use of rdzogs chen between this text and the sPar khab
become obvious if one compares the treatment of the Guhyagarbha' s thirteenth chapter in
the two commentaries.
17 The text is found in the bsTan 'gyur (P.4726) under the title Man ngag gi rgyal po
Ita ba'i 'phreng ba. As shown by Karmay, the text dates at least to the time of Rong zorn
(fl. 12th c.) who wrote a commentary upon it (Karmay 1988, pp. 137-138). The transcription
in Karmay 1988 is taken from this, rather than the canomcal version.
culmination of the three ways (tshuT) of inner yogic practice: the ways
of development (bskyed), perfection (rdzogs), and great perfection (rdzogs
chen).18 These three ways are subdivisions of the vehicle of inner yoga
(mal 'byor nang ba), and not considered to be vehicles in their own'right.
Thus rdzogs chen is rooted in the practices prescribed by the tantra: the
visualization of deities and the experience of bliss through sexual union.
It primarily functions as an interpretive framework for these experiences:
The way of the great perfection is to realize that all phenomena of salJ'lsara
and nirval)a are inseparable and have always had the nature of the mal)tjala
of body, speech and mind, and then to meditate on that [realization].19
One feels on reading these texts that there is some unresolved tension
- why practice deity yoga at all if the deity and malJtj.ala are already
spontaneously present? The existence of an early Tibetan treatise that
addresses precisely these questions is evidence that the Tibetan recipients
of these teachings felt the need to resolve this very tension. The title of
the treatise is rDo rje sems dpa' zhus Ian (Questions and Answers on Vaj-
rasattva) and it was written by an early figure in the Tibetan Mahayoga
lineages called gNyan dPal dbyangs. We may provisionally date the writ-
ing of the Zhus Ian to the early ninth century.20
18 This use of rdzogs chen as the culmination of the development and perfection stages
is also found in the exegtical tradition on the Guhyasamiija tantra, through Buddhajiiana-
pada's commentary on this tantra (p.2716, vo1.65, 10-1-2):
If one does not realize this unchanging realization [of the perfection stage],
One is not practising what is called "Mahayoga"
Once one has fully understood it,
This is the great perfection, the embodiment of wisdom.
'di ni rtogs par mi 'gyur 'di don rna rtogs na Irnal 'byor chen po zhes bya de la mi
bya'o Ide Itar rab tu shes par byas nas su Irdzogs pa chen po ye shes spyi yi gzugsl
However, as the tenn rdzogs chen is not found ill the Guhyasamiija, its appearance here
may represent a contamination from contemporary traditions of Guhyagarbha exegesis.
19 Man ngag Zta ba'i 'phreng ba, p. 7: rdzogs pa chen po'i tshul nil 'jig rten dang 'jig
rten las 'das pa'i chos tharns cad dbyer med par sku gsung thugs kyi dkyil 'khor gyi rang
bzhin ye nas yin par rtogs nas sgom pa stel
20 Versions of the Zhus Zan exists in the bsTan 'gyur and in three different Dunhuang
manuscripts. Three manuscript items of the text exist in the Stein and Pelliot collections
of Dunhuang manuscripts. PT 837 and ITJ 470 are almost identical, and the latter appears
to be a copy of the fonner. The third, PT 819, which is not complete, differs from the other
two, and is generally closer to the version found in the bsTan 'gyur (p.5082, Narthang rgyud
'grel vol. ill, ff.12Ia-127a). These canonical verions contain mchan 'grel notations through-
out, which are not found in PT 819 and differ completely from the notation in PT 837 and
172 SAM VAN SCHAIK
Using a question-and-answer format, the Zhus Zan deals explicitly with
problematic issues in the application of a Great Perfection-style view to the
practices of Mahayoga. So; for example, the following Great Perfection-
style statement is made:
This mind itself which is without basis or root
Is, like the sky, not purified by cleansing.
Because enlightenment is free from production,
Enlightenment does not come from cause and effect.
21
And the question that very understandably follows is, how then do the
blessings of the deity come about? The answer comes as a simile:
When dirty water becomes clear,
No effort is required for the reflections of the sun and moon to appear.
Similarly, if one transforms one's own mind through yoga,
No accomplishment is required for the conquerors' blessings to arise.
22
The agenda here looks very similar to that of the Man ngag lta ba'i
phreng ba, but expanded so that the Great Perfection approach is applied
to all yogic practice, not just to the culmination of the perfection stage.
The Zhus Zan is also a step onwards from the Man ngag Ita ba'i phreng
ba in that it deals with the conflicts and problems arising from the impo-
sition of this framework. The author is keen to get the message across that
the practice of deity yoga is emphatically not to be abandoned, but any
ITJ 470. Orthographic features of the manuscripts indicate that PT 837 and IT] 470 date
from the post-imperial period (mid-ninth to late tenth centuries), while PT 819 may be some-
what earlier. The later date of PT 837 and IT] 470 is also suggested by the fact that the
differences this version shows from the version in PT 819 are usually extra syllables in
the 'verses, which often clarify or elaborate the meaning of the lines, but render them hyper-
metricaL Thus they may be explanatory notes which have been incorporated into the main
text at some point. In any case, the existence of these two variant editions of the text by
the tenth century suggests that the text had been in circulation for some time at this point.
In the colophon of the Zhus Zan found in PT 819 and ITJ 470, dPal dbyangs states that he
wrote this explication of Mahayoga for the sNa nam and lDong clans. Though interesting,
this statement is not immediately helpful in dating the work. The Zhus Zan was held in high
regard by gNubs Sangs rgyas ye shes, who cites it several times in his bSam gtan mig sgron:
pp. 30.3, 201.6, 219.3, 255.6, and 277.3.
21 IT] 470, section 7: /gzhi rtsa myed pa'i sems nyid nil /bkrus pas myi dag nam ka
bzhin/ /skyed dang bral ba'i byang chub laJ /byang chub rgyu 'bras yongs kyis myed/
22 IT] 470, section 12: /ci ltar chu la myog pa dangs par 'gyur na/ /gnyI zla'i gzugs
bmyan 'byung ba brtsal myi dgos pa bzhin/ /rang sems mal 'byor dag par sgyur pa naJ /rgyal
ba'i byin brlabs 'byung ba bsgrub mi dgos/
concept of the practices as a cause for enlightenment, or of the deities as
separate from one's own primordially enlightenment mind, is to be aban-
doned.
The Zhus Zan constantly refers to nonduality, freedom from effort, and
the primordial and spontaneous presence of the enlightened mind, using
terminology that is central to the mind series of the Great Perfection, such
as rig pa, byang chub sems and Zhun gyis grub. The term rdzogs chen itself
appears just once, in an answer to a question - if there is no cause and
effect, how does the yogin obtain his accomplishments? The answer is
couched in another simile:
When, as in the example of a king appointing a minister,
_ The accomplishments are granted from above, this is the outer way.
When the kingdom is ruled having been offered by the people,
This is the way of the unsurpassable, self-arisen great perfection (rdzogs chen).23
This political metaphor is fascinating in itself, but the verse is most sig-
nificant for the implication it makes that the audience for this text should
consider itself to be following the way of rdzogs chen while practising
Mahayoga. Here, as in the Man ngag Zta ba'i 'phreng ba, rdzogs chen is
a "way" (tshul), a word suggesting a mode of practice rather than a sep-
arate set of practices. It is certainly not considered a vehicle (see section vi
below). According to this verse, deity yoga without the concepts of cause
and effect and without the idea that one gains accomplishment from else-
where is the way of rdzogs chen. Thus rdzogs chen is certainly not some-
thing intrinsically separate from deity yoga.
The Zhus Zan is not an isolated case, for we have another text from the
Dunhuang collection that, though it does not use the term rdzogs chen,
applies this Great Perfection-style framework to the practices of the tantras.
The manuscript (ITJ 454) is without a title or a colophon, but what we
have of it is a reasonably long section - ten scroll panels - which deals
with various topics arising out of deity yoga. These include a discussion
of different kinds of yoga, of the result of yogic practice, of the true nature
of meditation on the deity, of mind and the phenomena of sal'(lsiira and
23 ITJ 470, section 9: Idper na rgyal pos blon por bskos pa Itar na/ Igrub pa gong nas
byin ba phyi'i tshullol /'bangs kyis rgyal ba'i srid phul nas dbang bsgyur Itarl Irang 'byung
rdzogs chen bla na med pa'i tshul/
174 SAM VAN SCHAIK
nirviilJ-a, of pure perception, and the oneness of conventional and ulti-
mate truth. The opening lines of the manuscript show clearly the influence
of Great Perfection-style discourse on this treatise:
It does not matter whether all of the phenomena of mind and mental appear-
ances, affliction and enlightenment, are understood or not. At this very
moment, without accomplishing it through a path or fabricating it with anti-
dotes, one should remain in the spontaneous presence of the body, speech,
and mind of primordial bUddhahood.
24
This is the perspective from which the practice of deity yoga is addressed.
Thus it is said that one's deity is simply the awareness (rig pa) of one's
own enlightened mind (byang chub sems). As for the Buddha, the concept
is explained in the following way:
One's own mind is primordial purity and buddhahood, and to comprehend
that this mind is primordially purity and buddhahood is to be accomplished
as a buddha, to see the face of the buddha, to hold the buddha in one's
hands.25
Such statements occur again and again, while the practicalities of medi-
tation itself are barely addressed. Yet the sphere of reference here is cer-
tainly the tantras, and not just the Guhyagarbha. Seven tantras are cited,
all of which are found in the later lists of eighteen Mahayoga tantras
(in some cases, this is the earliest reference to these tantras yet seen).26
24 ITJ 454, panel 1: Isems dang sems snang ba'j chos thams cad dam! /kun nas nyons
mongs pa dang! mam par byang ba'i chos thams cad rtogs kyang rung rna rtogs kyang rung!
'phralla lam gyis rna bsgrub gnyen po rna bcos tel ye nas sangs rgyas pa sku gsung thugs
!hun kyis [sic] grub par gnas pa la bya/
}5 ITJ 454, panel 4: yang na rang gyi sems ye nas mam par dag cing sangs rgyas pa yin
dang! sems ye nas mam par dag cing sangs rgyas pa yin pa'i don rtogs pa ni sangs rgyas su
grub pa 'am! sangs rgyas kyi zhal mthong ba 'am! sangs rgyas lag tu 'ongs zin pa yin!
26 The cited tantras are:
1. Sangs rgyas thams cad dang mnyam par sbyor ba'i rgyud (Skt. Sarvabuddha-
samayoga tantra): P.8, P.9, TbA02-404.
2. dBang chen bsdus pa'i rgyud: Tb.595.
3. dPal mchog dang po'i rgyud: TbA12.
4. gSang ba 'dus pa'i rgyud (Skt. Guhyasamaja tantra): P.81, TbA09.
5. Ri bo'i [rtsegs pa'iJ rgyud: TbAlI.
6. gCig las phrin pa'i rgyud [=gCig las 'phros pa'i rgyud}: cf. P.2032.
7. U pa ya pa sha (Skt. Upayapasa tantra): PA58, TbA16.
(These comprise numbers 3, 4, 12,9,7,5, and 16 of the list of eighteen tantras set out in
Martin 1987, pp. 178-182.
T h ~ s in this text we see the broadening of the Great Perfection approach
to tantric practice, away from reliance on one tantric tradition (the Miiyii-
jiiIa) towards a more general framework for all tantric practice in Maha-
yoga.
(iii) rDzogs chen free from yogic practice
At some point the term rdzogs chen achieved an independence from the
practices of Mahayoga. This is clear when we look at the mind series
texts, most of which contain no references to the practices of development
and perfection, or merely negative references stating that the Great Per-
fection transcends such practices. One of the Dunhuang texts, IT] 647, is
a commentary on one of these mind series texts, the Rig pa'i khu byug.
We need only look at two aspects of the text, which has already been
discussed in detail by Karmay. Firstly, it does employ the term rdzogs chen
- once again as "way" (tshul) - in the concluding part of the text, where
the subject matter is "the way of the Great Perfection view and practice
of yoga. "27 Secondly, and here we begin to see the shift away from the
texts of the previous two sections, there is an assertion of independence
from the development and perfection stages:
Because of the spontaneous accomplishment of ineffable bodhicitta, the
ma1J4ala is established spontaneously and abides without artifice, with no
need for the activities of development and perfection.
28
In some places this text is still concerned with interpreting tantric prac-
tice - it offers an interpretation of the ritual practices of killing (sgroI ba)
and sexual union (sbyor ba) in Great Perfection style framework, this is,
in terms of non-conceptualization. Thus even while it grapples with tantric
terminology, the text asserts a pristine form of non-practice. Yet a few
scribbled notes in another hand on the last folio of the manuscript (which
were not mentioned by Karmay in his study) suggest that this non-prac-
tice may be more rhetoric than reality. The notes, which are very faded
27 ITJ 647, f.5r: mal 'byor gyi Ita spyod rdzogs pa chen po'i tshuV
28 ITJ 647, f.5v: hIjod pa dang bra! ba'i byang chub serns lhun gyis grub pas/ bskyed
rdzogs bya mi dgos par dkyil 'khor gdod [for gdon] pa lhun gyis gnas pa la rna bcos par
gnas pa'o/
176 SAM VAN SCHAIK
and entirely blank in places, give the name of the text (Rig pa 'i khu byug),
which is called a "statement" (lung), and follow with the statement "if
you wish to hear these sweet words ... " There follows the hundred-sylla-
ble mantra, written out in a form not quite the same as that which is known
the later Tibetan traditions. That the recitation of the mantra is required
for those who wish to receive this statement is implied if not stated out-
right. The passage also contains an exhortation to "strive, day and night. "29
The Dunhuang manuscripts may yet have more to tell us about the actual
practices which coalesced around this Great Perfection style rhetoric.
A brief siidhana attributed to MaiijusrImitra (ITJ 331/1) involving merely
the visualization of the syllable hUql bears some resemblance to later
developments in Great Perfection meditation in the Seminal Heart (snying
thig) traditions.
3D
In any case, whether the dismissal of tantric practices in this manuscript
was taken as rhetorical or literal by its scribes and readers, there is no
doubt that the whole discussion of practice is couched in the language of
rejection. This is the point at which it becomes possible to consider rdzogs
chen as an independent approach, not only as the culmination of the per-
fection stage, or a framework for all yogic practice.
(iv) rDzogs chen as a textual category
In all of the previous examples, rdzogs chen is a "way" (tshuT) of prac-
ticing yoga. Even in the case of the commentary on the Rig pa'i khu byug,
there is no indication that the author considers there to be such a thing as
a Great Perfection text as such. The author does not classify the root text
with the appellation tantra, sutra, nor even the less prestigious "statement"
(lung) or "precept" (man ngag). Thus there is a vagueness about the
status of this text, and we do not know whether it was considered to be
scripture or not.
This picture is changed by another Dunhuang text, which has previously
gone unnoticed, that refers to "the sutras of the Great Perfection". The
29 ITJ 647, f.5v: //nang nub brtson par bya'o/ snyan thos pa 'dod nal/ (the hundred-
syllable mantra follows).
30 This text is briefly discussed in Eastman 1983, pp. 52-53, where Eastman raises the
question of whether the text might be considered an Atiyoga stidhana.
manuscript is split between the Stein collection in London and the Pel-
liot collection in Paris (the first two pages are PT 353 and the remaining
nine are ITJ 507). The bulk of the text is a description of two different
kinds of malJala, inhabited primarily by various kinds of female deity.
The goddess EkajatI performs a central role in both malJalas, which is
interesting given the significance of this deity to the later Great Perfection
traditions.
The introduction to the text states that the teaching found within derives
"from the tantras of the secret mantra and from the sutras of the Great
Perfection" .31 This does suggest that for the author of this text, rdzogs chen
indicated a category of texts with the status of scripture. It is certainly not
unknown, even in the later tradition, for Great Perfection texts to be
termed sutra: while most Great Perfection scriptures of the later tradition
were called tantras, several mind series texts, including the Kun byed
rgyal po, are still identified by their titles as sutras.32 None of these texts
are mentioned in gNubs chen's bSam gtan mig sgron (STMG), as far as
I can tell, so they may represent a strand of the Great Perfection that was
unknown to gNubs chen, or that developed after STMG was written.
The main part of PT 353 / ITJ 507 is a fairly straightforward malJala
visualization, and the presence of Great Perfection-style elements is lim-
ited to the following lines in a brief introduction to the practice:
33
All phenomena are contained in the dhannakiiya. The dhannakiiya is itself
contained in the jftiinakiiya. Due to the compassion of the jftiinakiiya, all
31 PT 353, f.Ir: zhi cing rgya cher ni gsang ba'i sngags tan tra rdzogs pa chen po'i mdo
las zhib tu 'chad del
32 The rNying rna rgyud 'bum contains ten Great Perfection texts apart from the Kun
byed rgyaZ po which are entitled sutras (Tb.7-I6). These are not necessarily the texts
referred to by PT 353, of course.
33 This section of the text seems to be structured along the standard Mahayoga division
into three concentrations: the suchness concentration (de bzhin nyid kyi ting nge 'dzin),
(ii) the all-illuminating concentration (kun tu snang gi ting nge 'dzin), and (iii) the causal
concentration (rgyu'i ting nge 'dzin). The fIrst generally involves a dissolution of all appear-
ances in emptiness, the second the emergance of a moon disc embodying compassion for
all sentient beings, and the third the appearance of a seed syllable on the disc, representing
the deity. In this text, compassion is said to pervade all beings the the three realms, which
is perhaps no more than an ordinary Mahayana aspiration. Nevertheless, it fmds an echo
in the later Great Perfection snying thig texts, in which the primordial basis (gzhi) is defIned
according to its essence (ngo bo), nature (rang bzhin) and compassion (thugs rje). The last
item, compassion, is frequently characterised as "all pervasive" (kun khyab).
178
SAM VAN SCHAlK
sentient beings are pervaded by compassion, so. that it arises in each of their
own minds. The three realms are pervaded by the dharmakaya, so that they
are the same. When o n ~ has been blessed by this great principle, one acts
free from causation.
34
-
(v) rdzogs chen as a vehicle
The next stage in the development of the term rdzogs chen is its trans-
formation into a fully fledged vehicle (theg pa), at which point it looks
much like it does throughout the later tradition. The earliest evidence of
the Great Perfection being considered not just a scriptural category but a
vehicle is in the bSam gtan mig sgron (STMG) of gNubs chen Sangs
rgyas ye shes, probably written in the first quarter of the tenth century.35
gNubs chen refers to "the vehicle of the activity-free Great Perfection" .36
In the STMG, rdzogs chen has become synonymous with Atiyoga, and is
no longer applicable in the context of Mahayoga. While gNubs chen's
approach to the practices of Mahayoga has absorbed much of the com-
mentarial tradition discussed above, such as the Zhus lan, he never applies
the term rdzogs chen in that context. In an echo of the Rig pa'i khu byug-
commentary, gNubs chen states that the Great Perfection is free from the
development and perfection stages.
37
In short, we first see the term rdzogs -chen appearing sporadically in the
Guhyagarbha tantra, which is thought to have been circulating in India
by the mid-eighth century. The term is used to indicate the high level of
realization that results from the sexual yoga of the perfection stage. This is
supported by ritual texts from Dunhuang that use the term in the context
or these practices. While the earliest dateable commentary makes little use
of the term, by the late eighth century it was being given a much more .
detailed treatment by Guhyagarbha exegetes such as Padmasambhava.
34 Pelliot tibetain 353, f.2r: chos thams cad ni chos kyi sku 'dus/ /chos kyi sku yang
ye shes kyi skur 'dus/ lye shes kyi sku'i thugs rjes/ /sems cam mtha' dag la thugs rje des
khyab par rang rang gyi sems la shar tel /chos kyi sku des kharns gsum khyab ste mnyam
pa nyid du/ dgongs pa chen pos byin kyis brlabs nasi /rgyu dang bra! bar mdzad dol.
35 The dates of gNubs chen, and of the composition of the bSam gtab mig sgron, are
discussed in Vitali 1996, pp. 546-547.
36 STMG p. 312: rdzogs pa chen po bya ba dang bra! ba'i theg pa.
37 STMG p. 360.
fu these works, rdzogs chen was the culmination of the development and
perfection stage, the realization that all phenomena have always been the
pure state of the deity and the malJrJaZa.
Later, in the early ninth century, Tibetans began to write interpretive
works on tantric practice. fu the rDo rje sems dpa' zhus Zan, gNyan dPal
dbyangs applied the ideas of Padmasambhava's work to the practice of
tantra in general, and in this context continued the use of the term rdzogs
chen. As we will see below, at this same time texts were being written
that looked very much like the early mind series texts. At some point, per-
haps simultaneously with the writing of the tantric treatises, yet perhaps
not until the late ninth century, these texts picked up the term rdzogs chen
and applied it to their approach, which was very similar to that of the
Man ngag Zta ba'i phreng ba and the Zhus Zan except in that it made no
concession to the actual practice of development and perfection stages.
By the beginning of the tenth century, there was a body of texts associ-
ated with the term rdzogs chen, as we see from STMG, and our gnomic
reference from PT 353 to "the sutras of the Great Perfection". And around
the same time as the writing of PT 353, or perhaps even earlier, we see
gNubs chen writing about rdzogs chen as a vehicle. It seems quite possible
that the existence of a recognised scriptural corpus of Great Perfection lit-
erature and the conferring of vehicle status upon the Great Perfection
occurred at around the same time; I return to the question of gNubs chen's
involvement in this process below.
3. The development of Atiyoga
(i) Atiyoga as a stage in practising yoga
The earliest stages in the development of the usage of the term Atiyoga
are to be seen in certain Indic tantras. The earliest of these is probably
the Sarvabuddhasamiiyoga tantra, one of the earliest of the so-called
yoginl tantras, probably dating from the eighth century.38 In a verse from
38 The existence of several texts comprising and related to this tantra was fust noted
in Davidson 1981, p. 58, p. 75, n.43. A great step forward in understanding the relation-
ship between the texts is made in Weinberger 2003, pp. 260-268. My citations are from
the bKa' 'gyur version, which is classed a "subsequent tantra" (phyi ma'i rgyud). The exis-
tence of the root tantra is difficult to determine, but see Weinberger's analysis.
180 SAM VAN SCHAlK
the second chapter of the tantra, which exists in a Sanskrit' citation, as well
as in Tibetan, Atiyoga is compared to Anuyoga:
Through Anuyoga the bliss of all yogas is practised,
And through Atiyoga the true nature is fully experienced.
39
Here, there appears to be some association of Anuyoga with the bliss
of the sexual practices, and Atiyoga with a realization of the nature of real-
ity. The context of this verse is a discussion of stages in ritual practice,
which begins with Yoga, and then proceeds through Anuyoga and Ati-
yoga. Thus there is a basis here for the way the term Atiyoga is used in
the later tradition.
40
The tantra, which is thought to be later than the Sarvabud-
dhasamiiyoga, discusses a fourfold set, Yoga, Anuyoga, Atiyoga and
Mahayoga, as the four stages of yogic practice. Although the tantra goes
on to defme Atiyoga as the completion of all malJq.alas, it appears only
as the penultimate stage, below Mahayoga.
41
This may in fact be the
same system intended in the Sarvabuddhasamiiyoga where, in the passage
from the tantra's second chapter discussed above, there is an implication
that there may be a stage above Atiyoga, which is explicitly defined as
39 P.8 (voU) 184-4-7: rjes su sbyor bas mchod byed cing/ mal 'byor kun gyi bde ba
dag/ bdag nyid kun tu myang byed na/ shin tu sbyor bas 'grub par 'gyur.
The Sa!lskrit text of this verse is to be found in in the ninth chapter of Aryadeva's
Caryiimeliipakapradzpa, kindly brought to my attention by Harunaga Isaacson: piijyate
'nuyogena sarvayogasukhiini tu/ samlisvlidayamanas tu atiyogena siddhyati//.
40 There are other occurances in the tantra of the Tibetan term (shin tu mal 'byor ba)
which translates Atiyoga in the above passage, but without the Sanskrit we must bear in
mind the possiblity that another term may have been translated in these instances. A very
sinlilar verse to the one quoted above appears in the tantra's third chapter (185-1-5). Also
in the third chapter is a verse that mentions Atiyoga alongside Mahliyoga, in association
with the supreme samaya (dam tshig mchog).
P.8 (voLl) 184-5-7: de yi dam tshig de byung ba/ sdug pa'i dam tshig bdag rjes
'brang/ shin tu sbyor dang sbyor chen pol thams cad bdag nyid dam tshig mchog/.
In the sixth chapter a practitioner of Atiyoga (shin tu mal 'byor pa) is mentioned; the
passage, which is difficult to interpret, seems to deal with sexual yogic practices.
P.8 (voU) 188-5-8: gzhan yang shin tu mal 'byor pal rna Ius pad mo mam sbyang
phyir/ skalbzang dam pa mi 'gyur pal pad me sgyu rna 'byung bar gyur/
41 KrilJayamiiri tantra 17.8, p. 123: bhlivayed yogam anuyogarp. dvitlyakarn/ atiyogam
r,tlyam tu mahliyogam caturthakam//.
Tibetan in P.103 (volA) 16-4-lff: dang por sgom pa mal 'byor tel gnyis pa rjes kyi mal
'byor yin! gsum pa shin tu mal 'byor tel bzhi pa mal 'byor chen po' 0/.
Mahayoga in one commentary.42 In any case, both tantras use the names
of the various levels of yoga to signify different ways of engaging in the
tantra's practices. On the whole the way the Sarvabuddhasamiiyoga treats
Atiyoga looks more consistent with the later usage of Atiyoga in Tibet,
and may be one of the direct sources for this usage.
The Guhyagarbha tantra does not use the term Atiyoga, but the early
commentary on the tantra mentioned above, the sPar khab of Vilasavajra,
mentions Atiyoga as the highest of all approaches to tantric practice:
Atiyoga, in which it is taught that even the two inner [yo gas : in this case,
Yoga and Mahayoga] and abiding in the natural fruition of all objects are
merely the obscurations of the various stages of attachment to imputa-
tions.
43
In all of these texts, the different yogas stand for stages in, or approaches
to, tantric practice. The significance of Atiyoga is not quite clear but there
seems to be a consistent theme, beginning with the Sarvabuddhasamayoga
in the eighth century and picked up by the sPar khab, of Atiyoga as a reali-
zation that cuts to the true meaning of reality.
If we turn again to the Dunhuang manuscripts to look for early
appearances of Atiyoga in Tibet, we find that these references are in fact
rather late. The term appears in one of the interlinear notes to the main text
of the rDo rje sems dpa' zhus Zan. Yet these notes appear only in a version
of the text that probably dates to the late tenth century. The note in ques-
tion is appended to a point in the main text where the following answer
is given to the question of how one should perform the propitiation and
accomplishment (bsnyen bsgrub) of the deity:
When in ultimate propitiation and accomplishment no subject or object is per-
ceived,
Because there are no difficulties or effort this is the supreme propitiation and
accomplishment. 44
42 Srlsarvabuddhasamayoga-!jiiki/J!jiilasalJ1varatantriirthfkii (303b.6-304a.3) by rGya
sbyin Idong po. Thanks to Jacob Dalton for pointing out this reference.
43 The passage is in chapter thirteen of the commentary, Peking bsTan 'gyur, rgyud 'grel
Bu 186b: nang pa gnyis po dang! dngos po thams cad kyi rang bzhin 'bras bur gnas kyang!
brtags pa la zhen pa'i rim pa sna tshogs kyi bsgrib pa tsam du ston pa'i a ti yo ga'o/.
44 ITJ 470, section 13: /bsnyen pa don dam par bya ba dang byed pa myi dmyigs na/
/tshegs dang 'bad pa myed pas bsnyen pa'i mchog got.
182 SAlVI VAN SCHAIK
The note indicates this being without difficulties or efforts to be "an
explanation of the view of Atiyoga." (a ti yo ga'i Ita ba'i bzhed). There
is too little here to guess whether Atiyoga indicates anything more than
a view that can be applied to the practice of deity yoga.
(ii) Atiyoga as a distinct approach
Several Dunhuang texts, of which only one has been examined, are pro-
totypes, or variations of the nine vehicle system that later became nor-
mative for the rNying rna traditions. One of these, PT 849, is already
well known to contain a list of nine vehicles.
45
However, Atiyoga occurs
there only as a subdivision of the vehicle of Yoga (in the sequence Yoga,
Mahayoga, Anuyoga, Atiyoga) and is not itself a vehicle. This manu-
script has been dated to the late tenth or even early eleventh century, and
yet there is little development here beyond the earlier uses of Atiyoga in
India. Strangely, a Dunhuang text that does in fact describe the set of
nine vehicles just as they are found the rNying rna tradition has previously
been overlooked. In this text (ITJ 644) none of the nine are referred to as
vehicles, meaning that as in the previous manuscript, Atiyoga is present,
but not as a vehicle. The nine are discussed in terms of their deity line-
ages (lha rgyud), which implies that each is a different way of practising
deity yoga. The deity lineage of Atiyoga, which is given a definition
almost identical to Anuyoga, is said to be identical to the view of Atiyoga.
The practice of Atiyoga (and again this is shared with Anuyoga) is defmed
as spontaneous presence. Despite the conspicuous absence here of the
word "vehicle," the presence of the set of nine in a form identical to the
later and definitive nine vehicle set is striking.
46
45 This text is transcribed, translated into French and discussed in Hackin 1924. It is
also discussed in Kannay 1988 pp. 148-149 (where it is incorrectly identified as PT 489).
The dating of the text to the tenth century is discussed in Takeuchi unpub.
46 ITJ 644 cannot be dated with such certainty, but paleographic features and its orig-
inallocation in a bundle of texts mostly from this period, indicate a post-imperial date. The
relevant lines on Anuyoga and Atiyoga are as follows (lTJ 644, f.l v): la nu yo ga'i Ita ba
dang lha rgyud ni gcig stel khyad par myed dol grub tshad nil yong nas lhun kyis grub par
'dod dol a ti yo ga'i Ita ba dang lha rgyud gcig ste khyad par myedl grub tshad ni/lhun
gyis grub par Ita' o.
For our purposes the most interesting Dunhuang text is another over-
looked gem, called Teaching the views and activities o/the seven great gen-
eral statements (sPyi'i lung chen po bdun so so'i Ita spyod pa bstan pa:
PT 656). As the title suggests, this text sets out seven approaches: the nine
vehicles of the later tradition without the Pratyekabuddha and Upaya yoga
stages. Each stage is a system of "general statements" (spyi'i lung) rather
than a vehicle. Each approach is defmed in turn according to its view, medi-
tation, activities, and pledges, before we come to the seventh, Atiyoga:
The view of the Atiyoga secret mantra is to view [everytlllng] as the malJrjala
that is ornamented with the inexhaustible body, speech and mind. Everytlllng
that manifests - all sentient and non-sentient beings from the hell beings
to those who possess the omniscient wisdom of all the buddhas and bhaga-
vans, and the physical objects of the outer world which is their container-
and their manifestation as forms and colours, is the body. Their being uncre-
ated is the speech. Their nirvanic nonduality is the mind ....
The samaya is just this one: openness .... Why is it called openness? Because
of spontaneous accomplishment, we do not say: "If you maintain this, you
will be accomplished, and if you do not maintain it, you will not be accom-
plished. "47
In this treatment, Atiyoga constitutes a distinct approach, based on the
ideas of nonduality and spontaneous accomplishment, yet still predicated
on the tenuinology of Mahayoga, its mal}rj..alas and samayas.
48
This is
also seen in a passage which comes later in the text, where liberation and
union (sbyor sgroI), two tenus associated in the Mahayoga tantras with
killing and sexual intercourse, are given an Atiyoga interpretation:
47 PT 656, 1.33ff: gsang sngags a ti yo ga nillsku gsang[sic] thugs myi zad rgyan gi
'khor lor Ita ba stell de yang sangs rgyas bcom Idan 'das thams cad khyen pa'i ye shes
can dangl sems can dmyal ba yan cad sems yod pa dang! sems myed pa snod gyi 'jig rten
phyi'i yul bems por snang ba thams cadi lal kha dog dang sbyibs su snang ba nil skull de
nyid rna skyes pa ni gsungllllgnyi ga mye ngan las 'das pa ni thugs sol [ ... J Iidam tshig
ni gcig ste phyalloll [ ... J ci'i phyir phyal zhes na/ !hun gyis grub pa'i phyir na bsrungs
pasl grub la rna srungs pas myi grubs ces bya ba myed pasll
48 The discussion of the Atiyoga interpretation of samaya is also found in a, presum-
ably Indic, commentary to the Hevajra !antra by *Vrravajra (dPa' bo rdo rje): rGyud thams
cad kyi gleng gzhi dang gsang chen dpaZ kun tu kha sbyor zhes bya ba'i rgyud kyi rgyal
po'i rgya cher bshad pa Tin chen phreng ba zhes bya (p.2329). This interpretation is in terms
of freedom from concepts, and from "contaminants" (zag). See 277-2-6ff. The persistence
of the term atiyoga in later developments of Indic tantra is a potentially interesting topic
which I have not had the opportunity to investigate here.
184
. SAM VAN SCHAlK
In the Atiyoga mantra, union is the union of space arid wisdom. My con-
sciousness is wisdom and all of the objects that are cut through by that
[wisdom] are space. Liberation is being liberated by great sameness ....
Therefore there is noi even so much as the name sentient being, In reality,
it does not matter whether one practises or not.
49
Here we fmd Atiyoga defined, in distinction to other approaches includ-
ing Mahayoga and Anuyoga, in teims of radical non-conceptualization,
nonduality, and non-activity. While it is still referred to as " A ~ y o g a secret
mantra", firmly placing it in the Vajrayana fold, it is defmed so that it has
its own apparently self-sufficient view, meditation, activities, and vows.
In the latter case, the independence from the vows of the previous approaches
is made quite explicit. Thus we see here a fully realized definition of
Atiyoga as a distinct approach, if not a vehicle per se.
Whether the definition of Atiyoga as distinct from Mahayoga meant
that they were incommensurable in practice is difficult to determine, but
another Dunhuang text, PT 44, suggests that in some circles they were con-
sidered quite compatible. The text contains a difficult but very interesting
passage on the application of the Atiyoga approach to a Mahayoga prac-
tice, in this case, VajrakTIaya.
50
The passage, in which Padmasambhava
teaches his followers certain precepts after they have exhibited signs of
the accomplishment of VajrakIlaya, is as follows:
He taught the secret bodhicitta that is included within Atiyoga, and the sad-
hanas of VajrakTIaya in accordance with the Mahayoga texts. Mter he
showed that meditation on VajrakTIaya is the dharmadhiitu, they meditated
on the nonduality of objects and minds within the unborn bodhicitta. [ ... ]
According to the Byi to da rna la (in Sanskrit) and the Rig pa mchog gi rgyud
(in Tibetan), during the siidhana one meditates upon the secret bodhicittaY
In the terminology of the ritual this is called "the vajra youth." It teaches
this as the authentic statement, Atiyoga. And it teaches that the state after
49 PT 656, 1.56ff: sngags a ti yo ga'i sbyor ba nil dbyings dang ye shes su sbyor ba'ol
bdag kyis mam par shes pa nil ye shes des bcad pa'i yul thams cad na dbyings soil bsgrol
ba ni mnyam pa chen pos bsgrol ba'oll [ ... ] sems can zhes bya ba'i mying yang myed pa
la byall dngos su na spyod kyang rung! rna spyad kyang rung ngoll
50 This text has been translated in Bischoff & Hartman 1971, not very satisfactorily.
The translation here is my own attempt. A discussion of the text, and an improved trans-
lation of its first half appears in Kapstein 2000.
51 This is a reference to Rig pa mchog gi rgyud (skt. *Vzdyottama tantra), PA02. See
Bischoff & Hartman 1971, pp. 12-l3.
185
liberation is the aim of the ritual. And one should meditate on the lack of
difference between bodhicitta and great bliss. According to the precepts on
this, there are said to be four [kinds of] great statement. Although they caD.
be distinguished according to their particular features, all of the correct state-
ments are said to be Atiyoga.
52
The manuscript is about as late as a Dunhuang text can be: Tsuguhito
Takeuchi has recently dated the writing of the text to between 978 and
circa 1010, when the cave was sealed.
53
Despite the difficulty of the
passage, and there are several elements of the translation above that are
uncertain, we can see that Atiyoga here refers to a teaching on the nature
of mind, identifying it with wisdom, and referring to this as bodhicitta.
54
Therefore this Atiyoga closely resembles the Atiyoga of the mind series
texts. In this manuscript Mahayoga and Atiyoga seem to be highly com-
patible, with Atiyoga meditation being applicable to the practice of Maha-
yoga deities like Vajrakilaya. Furthermore, Atiyoga is intimately linked
with the key Mahayoga rite of "liberation" (sgroI ba). Though the term
for the sexual practices, "union" (sbyor ba), is not mentioned here, the
reference to "great bliss" clearly implies a sexual yogic practice. As in
the Spyi'i lung chen po bdun passage quoted above, Atiyoga is intimately
conjoined with these key Mahayoga ritual concepts. While that was a
reading of ideas of sameness and nonconceptuality onto the term libera-
tion and union, here in _PT 44, there is at least an implication of the way
in which practitioners of Mahayoga combine their ritual practice with the
nondual and nonconceptual space of Atiyoga.
52 PI' 44, ff.13-19: gsang ba'i byang cub kyis sems a ti yo gar,gtogs pa dang II phur
bu'i bsgrub thabs rna ha yo ga'i gzhung bzhin bstan pa phur ba'l bsgom pa chos kyis
dbyings su gsa! nas II byang cub kyis sems bskyed par rna byas kyis bar du II [ ... J rgya
gar skad du byi to da rna la' 0 II bod skad du rig pa mchog kyi rgyud to I bsgrub thabs su
byang cub kyis serns gsang bar bsgom mo II las kyi skul tshig du rdo rje gzhon nu zhes
bya'o II khungs lung a ti yo gar bstan pa dang II bsgra! nas gnas kyis cho ga'i gza gtad
gang yin bar bstan pa dang II byang chub kyis sems bde ba chen po las myi dams par
bsgom mo I de ltar man ngag kyis don du lung chen po bzhir bstan no II khyad bar gyis
so sor phye nas kyang II yang dag pa'i lung thams cad kyang a ti yo gar bstan to II rdzogs
sto II II II
53 Takeuchi unpub.
54 Although in PI' 44 the Atiyoga teachings are given by Padmasambhava to his dis-
ciples, there is no attempt to credit him as their originator, as there often is in the later treas-
ure (gter rna) tradition.
186
S'AMVAN SCHAIK
This text shows that in the late tenth century, though there is a d i s t i n c ~
tion between the texts of Atiyoga, called "authentic statements" (khungs
lung)55 and the texts of Mahayoga, there was certainly a compatibility,
even an interdependence, between the practices of Mahayoga . and the
meditation on the true nature of mind in Atiyoga.
(iii) Atiyoga as a textual category
There is just one Dunhuang text that identifies itself as belonging to the
category (phyogs) of Atiyoga; it is the sBas pa'i rgum chung (ITJ 594),
one of the Great Perfection texts studied by Karmay that looks like an
early mind series text, although it is not found in any of the surviving col-
lections. The words that place the text itself within the category of Atiyoga
occur in an introduction to the text written on the page before the text
proper begins. In similar language to PT 44, the introduction also states
that the text is derived from "the statements on bodhicitta" (byang chub
sems kyi lung). The introduction is probably a later supplement added by
the writer of the manuscript, and the orthography of the manuscript itself
suggests; again, a tenth-century date.
The text itself is ascribed to a Sangs rgyas sbas pa. The identity of this
figure, and his relationship to the author known as>Buddhaguhya or Bud-
dhagupta in the bsTan 'gyur is uncertain, and the question is complicated
by the fact that the names Buddhagupta and Buddhaguhya (as well as
their Tibetan equivalents Sangs rgyas sbas pa and Sangs rgyas gsang ba)
seem to have been used interchangeably.56 The existence of a figure known
both as Buddhaguhya and Buddhagupta as the author of the a number of
Yoga tantra treatises is quite certain. And there is early evidence for the
existence of a Buddhagupta who was the author of works on Mahayoga
tantras. STMG mentions a Buddhagupta in connection with both Maha-
yoga and Atiyoga.
57
A previously unnoticed Dunhuang mentions the name
SS The distinction between four kinds of statement (lung) is intriguing, but difficult to
link to divisions of Atiyoga preserved in the later tradition.
S6 This question of identification is discussed in Karmay 1988, pp. 61-63. See David-
son 2002, pp. 153-159, and Hodge 2003, pp. 22-24, for discussions of the Buddhaguhya/
Buddhagupta who wrote the Yoga tantra commentaries.
S7 STMG pp. 204, 223, 344, 414.
Buddhagupta in ~ o n n e c t i o n with the a supreme essential teaching of the
Vajrayana, alongside the names Srlmafiju (Mafijusrlmitra?) and HUIpkara,
who are both strongly associated with the Mahayoga tradition. 58 The later
rNying rna histories identify a single Buddhaguhya as the author of com-
mentaries on Yoga tantra, Mahayoga and Atiyoga. According to traditional
histories, he was a student of Buddhajfianapada and Vilasavajra, both of
whom were familiar with the term rdzogs chen, as we saw earlier.
59
Thus there are good reasons to believe that the author of the sBas pa 'i
rgum chung really was the Mahayoga exegrete Buddhagupta (who may
be identical with the Yoga tantra exegete of the same name). But whoever
the author of the text really was, ITJ 594 is evidence that by the tenth cen-
tury the term Atiyoga had begun to signify the textual classification of a
type of discourse very similar to those texts which survived in the later
Tibetan tradition as the mind series.
60
(iv) Atiyoga as a vehicle
We have already seen that the first dateable use of the term rdzogs
chen as a vehicle (theg pa) is in STMG, and this is also the case with
Atiyoga. In fact, these two terms, the development of which, as we have
seen, followed parallel yet distinct trajectories, have become entirely syn-
onymous in STMG.61 It was Atiyoga that came to be most closely asso-
ciated with vehicle status in the rNying rna tradition, in the structure of
the nine vehicles. The nine-vehicle structure was known to gNubs chen,
the author of STMG, since he discusses it in his Mun pa'i go cha, a com-
mentary on the dGongs pa 'dus pa'i mdo.
62
gNubs chen, who was closely
58 ITJ 1774: 'slob pon ni 'bu ta kub ta dang/ shi ri man 'ju dang/ hung ka ra
59 See Gu bkra'i chos byung p. 100-101 and Dudjom 1991, voU, pp. 465-466.
60 Another case of the use of the term Atiyoga appears in PT 699, a commentary on a
Chan text ascribed to Bodhidharma. The commentary ends with a discussion of the char-
acteristics of a master of the sutras, a master of the tantras, and a master of Atiyoga. A trans-
lation of this passage, and a study of the commentary, which brings a Mahayoga structure
to the Chan text, appear in van Schaik and Dalton 2004. The root text exists in two other
Dunhuang manuscripts, ITJ 689/1 and ITJ 1774. Interestingly, in ITJ 1774 the Chan root
text is followed by a fragment (which I have mentioned briefly already) about a teaching
of the secret mantra which includes the name of Buddhagupta.
61 See for instance p. 376.
62 See Dalton 2002.
188 SAM VAN SCHAIK
involved in the promulgation of this text in Tibet, may be 'one of the first
writers to have described the nine-vehicle system in detail.
Although as we saw above there are certain Dunhuang texts that appear
to be early instances of the nine-vehicle system, none of these aetually
refers to Atiyoga as a vehicle. The closest they come to such a defIni-
tion is to include Atiyoga as one in a series of "statements" (lung).
Therefore, gNubs chen remains the earliest known exponent of the nine
vehicles, as vehicles per se. This places the first appearance of Atiyoga
as a vehicle within gNubs chen's lifetime, in the late ninth and early tenth
centuries.
63
We should note here that there is a text attributed to sKa ba dPal brt-
segs in the bsTan 'gyur, entitled The Instructions / Teachings on the Stages
of the View (ITa ba rim pa'i man ngag or lTa ba rim pa'i bshad pa).64
This text refers to Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga as vehicles, and
describes the general approach of Atiyoga in some detail. Though unlikely,
it is possible that Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga were designated vehi-
cles in a late eighth century text, but not again until the early tenth cen-
tury. However, I am inclined to doubt the attribution of this text to dPal
brtsegs and therefore its status as an eighth-century text. gNubs chen
quotes dPal brtsegs several times in STMG, but these passages, including
one that mentions Atiyoga, are not from the lTa ba rim pa'i man ngag.
65
One would not expect gNubs chen to overlook a source from a well-known
author which offered a venerable tradition for his assertion that Atiyoga
was a vehicle. Furthermore, as Karmay has noticed, Bu ston, though
including this text in the bsTan 'gyur along with the other texts attributed
to <o/al brtsegs, was inclined to doubt its authenticity.66
To sum up, the term Atiyoga first appears in certain Indic tantras, per-
haps the earliest of which is the Sarvabuddhasamiiyoga. Atiyoga appears
in association with Mahayoga and Anuyoga; all three are ways of prac-
tising the deity visualization and sexual yoga described in the tantra.
63 On the dafug of gNubs chen's works see Vitali 1996.
64 PA728 and 5843.
6S STMG 132, 151, 153,406. The citation in the Atiyoga section actually refers to a
sKol,mdo 10 tsa ba dPal brtsegs, who may be a different figure entirely (STMG p. 406).
66 Karmay 1988, p. 149.
On the Tibetan sc;ene there is little sign of Atiyoga until the beginning of
the tenth century. Perhaps in the intervening years it was rendered redun-
dant by the popularity of the tenn rdzogs chen, used to refer to the highest
level of yogic practice in the Mayajala tantras. The earliest appearances
of Atiyoga in the Dunhuang texts may well be later than the works of
gNubs chen (early tenth-century), in which Atiyoga is granted the full
status of a vehicle. Nevertheless, the various uses of Atiyoga within the
Dunhuang texts discussed above suggest that the place which it holds in
STMG (as a vehicle and textual category) remained only one of many
meanings of the tenn throughout the tenth century.
The question of whether Atiyoga should be considered a vehicle in itself
continued to be an issue within the Tibetan tradition, and as late as the
thirteenth century its status as such was disputed by Sa skya PaIf<;lita (1182-
1251) in his sDom gsum rab dbye. By this time, Atiyoga was well estab-
lished as a scriptural category in rNying rna systems, yet Sa paIf seems
to have considered this an inauthentic innovation.
In the secret mantra of the new schools,
The superiority of the great yoga
67
Is that there is no class of tantras superior to it.
There is also no object of meditation
Higher than the great yoga.
The wisdom that arises from it
Is unelaborated and inexpressible;
Therefore it is not a stage in the vehicles.
If one understands this tradition properly,
Then the view of Atiyoga too
Is wisdom and not a vehicle;
To make the inexpressible an object of expression
Is not the intention of scholars - thus it is said.
68
67 Sa PaI)., perhaps to make the analogy between Mahayoga (mal 'byor chen po) and
* Anuttarayoga (mal 'byor bla na med pa) clearer, refers to the latter as mal 'byor chen
po here. Neverthless, it is clear that the higher tantras of !lie new schools are signified.
68 sDom gsum rab dbye, Sa skya bka' bum Vol.V, 312-1-2: Ides na gsang sngags gsar
rna la! Ima! 'byor chen po'i !hag na nil Ide bas !hag pa'i rgyud sde rnedl /bsgorn pa'i dmigs
pa nyid kyang nillmal 'byor chen po'i gong na medl Ide las skyes pa'i ye shes nillspros
pa rned cing brjod bral basi Itheg pa rim pa rni bzhed dol /lugs 'di legs par shes gyur na!
la ti yo ga'i Ita ba yangl lye shes yin gyi theg pa mini /brjod bra! brjod byar byas pa nil
Imkhas pa'i dgongs pa min zhes bYa!.
190 SAM VAN SCHAlK
In the opinion of Sa pal)., Atiyoga is a wisdom arising out of the prac-
tice of the development and perfections stages, and not a vehicle, though
it may be designated as a view. The last lines look like a reference to
Atiyoga being made the special subject of treatises, like the statements and
precepts we have been examining in the Dunhuang manuscripts. Sa pal).
accepted the usage of Atiyoga in tantras such as the Sarvabuddhasamii-
yoga that were considered to be genuine by the Sa skya, and rejected the
later developments of texts devoted to Atiyoga alone, and the
of Atiyoga into a vehicle for these texts. Sa pal). probably considered these
to be Tibetan innovations, and on the strength of the evidence reviewed
above, he may well have been right.
4. gNyan dPal dbyangs, gNubs chen, and the Great Perfection scriptures
(i) dPal dbyangs and the six lamps
Now that we have seen how the terms rdzogs chen and Atiyoga first
developed in Tibet, I would like to offer a theory on the way the Great
Perfection texts themselves came into being. At the centre of this theory
is the obscure figure of gNyan dPal dbyangs, whom we have already
come across as the author of the rDo rje sems dpa' zhus Ian. I will take
dPal dbyangs as emblematic of the original creators of the earliest Great
Perfection texts. This approach has its limitations of course, for we are only
dealing with a single figure who may be exceptional rather than typical, but
as we will see, the conclusions drawn from the case of dPal dbyangs are
at least in agreement with the sources reviewed above.
dPal dbyangs is significant because he is a named figure from the early
ninth century, writing texts that look like the early mind series texts, which,
because they make no reference to any Great Perfection scriptures or
vehicle of Atiyoga, seem to come from the same period and milieu as the
early mind series texts. There are six texts attributed to the dPal dbyangs
in the bsTan 'gyur, known to the tradition as The Six Lamps (sgron ma
drug). They are the following:
1. Thugs kyi sgron ma (P.5918)
2. rNal 'byar spyod pa'i lugs nges pa'i don laji bzhin sgom thabs kyi
sgron ma or Man ngag rgum chung (P.5922)
3. mTha'i mun scI sgron rna or ITa ba rgum chung (P.5920)
4. ITa ba yang dag sgron ma (p.5919)
5. Thabs dang shes rab sgron ma (P.5921)
6. ITa ba rin po che sgron ma (P.5923)69
The importance of these texts has been recognised by Guiseppe Tucci
and Samten Karmay, yet the implications of their existence have not been
fully worked out.
70
The first of the texts, Thugs kyi sgron ma, is by far
the longest, and differs from the other five in being written as a treatise
on Mahayoga (and the Mayajala tantras in particular) and its relationship
to other modes of practice. Yet there is little discussion of actual practices
except to undercut their basis in conceptual structures and on the whole
the emphasis is on nonduality and the spontaneous presence of wisdom.
71
This text is therefore similar in approach to the rDo rje sems dpa' zhus
Ian in its application of the doctrines of nonduality and spontaneous pres-
ence to the practice of development and perfection stage yoga.
The other five texts, all under two folios in length, are discourses in
the style of the early mind series texts.72 The term dzogs chen itself does
not appear in them at all, though we know that dPal dbyangs was famil-
iar with the term, which he used in the Zhus Ian. The doctrine of the texts
is referred to in other words, such as "the yoga of one's own mind" (rang
sems mal 'byor).1
3
If dPal dbyang's works were written at a time when Great Perfection
texts with scriptural status were in circulation, one would expect some
reference to them somewhere, yet no such reference is made. The only
reference to a textual tradition is to an unspecified group of statements
(lung) and precepts (man ngag) in the third verse of the ITa ba yang dag
sgron ma:
Non-conceptualization, the nature of ultimate truth,
The great way of awareness - if one focuses on it with the mind,
69 Nos.1, 2 and 4 also appear in the bKa' rna shin tu rgyas pa, vo1.86, pp. 283-340.
70 Tucci 1958, pp. 141-150; Karrnay 1988, pp. 59-69.
71 For example, the discussion of prayer (srnon) in 232-4-4
72 The statement in Karrnay 1988, p. 66 that all except nos.2 and 3 are on the doctrines
of the Guhyagarbha is incorrect.
73 ITa ba rin po ehe sgron rna, 1.53.
192
. SAM VAN SCHAIK
One will achieve resolution through awareness with the statements and pre-
cepts,
And become convinced of the correct nature of phenomena.1
4
dPal dbyangs then goes onto give an introduction into a Great Perfec-
tion-style view. He places this text in the tradition of statements and pre-
cepts, a tradition of authored texts rather than canonical scripture. These
six lamps might then serve as a p'aradigm for the way the early Great
Perfection scriptures came into being. This of course depends on several
other factors, including the dates of their composition, their relationship
to other figures and texts in the early Great Perfection tradition, and their
history in the centuries after their composition. So, to start with, we need
to look a little more closely at gNyan dPal dbyangs himself.
Samten Karmay has covered most of the scarce sources available on
this figure.
75
In the later rNying rna tradition he is barely remembered,
figuring only as one of the students of gNyags Jfilinakumara, himself said
to have been a follower of Padmasambhava.1
6
Earlier sources are barely
more informative, although they do place OPal dbyangs in Great Perfec-
tion lineages. In Nyang ral Nyi rna 'od zer's history of Buddhism, gNyan
dPal dbyangs occurs in certain enumerations of teachers (a tsa rya) along
with Vairocana and gNyags Jfianakumara. The Blue Annals is slightly
more informative: regarding the "mind class" (sems phyogs), the text
indicates that the source of the teaching is a Buddhagupta (sangs rgyas
gsang ba) whose disciple was Vimalamitra. It goes on to tell how gNyags
Jfilinakumara received teachings from Vimalamitra, Vairocana and g.Yu
sgra snying po, and that one of the students of gNyags Jfilinakumara was
,a sNyan dPal dbyangs.
77
Additionally, the Blue Annals also mentions the
.' transmission of the six lamps in the twelfth century.78
Several lines from the sEas pa'i rgum chung, the Dunhuang text attrib- ,
uted to Buddhagupta, are found in two of six lamps (nos. 2 and 3 which .
74 ITa ba yang dag sgron rna 1l.9-16: mam pa mi rtog don dam rang bzhin gyi /rig pa'i .
tshul chen sems kyis dmigs ba na /lung dang man ngag rig pas thag gcod tel chos kyi rang
bzhin yang dag yid ches bya/.
7S Karmay 1988, pp. 66-69. Karmay shows that gNyan dPal dbyangs is clearly not the
same as the sBa' dPal dbyangs who was the second abbot of bSam yas.
76 See Dudjom 1991, voLl, pp. 601-605.
77 Blue Annals p. 170.
78 Blue Annals, p. 659.
193
have alternative. titles also ending with rgum chung) as well as in the Zhus
Zan. Thus dPal dbyangs appears to have been incorporating into his own
writings lines from a work he considered a statement or precept by an
earlier figure in his teaching lineage, Buddhagupta.1
9
.
However, the most direct influence on dPal dbyangs may in fact have
been a hitherto unsuspected Indian tantric exegete. Something near to
the name of this figure appears in one of the six lamps themselves. In the
opening verses to the iTa ba yang dag sgron ma, in which dPal dbyangs
sets out his reasons for writing the text, he pays homage to his teacher:
Due to my teacher dPalldan thugs kyi dkyil 'khor nyi ma 'od,
Blazing rays of light came forth in my mind's darkness.
A fraction of this true nature of the intrinsic profound, unborn mind,
Transcending songs and words, transcending the characteristic of the sky,
manifested.
80
Although the word ston has meanings other than "teacher," the use of
the honorific dpaZZdan (skt. sri) strongly suggests that this is indeed a
person. The best candidate for the identity of the teacher dPal dbyangs
mentions here is a Nyi ma'i 'od kyi seng ge (*SiiryaprabhasasiIpha) who
appears as a minor figure in some histories. A long commentary on the
Guhyagarbha tantra mentioned earlier is ascribed to this Siiryaprabha-
sasiIpha. The commentary is held to have been translated into Tibetan by
Vairocana, though this is problematic.
s1
SiiryaprabhasasiIpha's students
, are said to have included gNyags Jfiiinakumara and Jfiiinakumara's own
student Sog po dPal gyi ye shes.
82
This ties in rather well with dPal
dbyang's status as a student of Jfiiinakumara. If one of Jfiiinakumara's
students was able to receive teachings from Siiryaprabhasasirpha then
79 In theory, the incorporation could have been the other way around, as the Dunhuang
manuscript may be no earlier than the end of the tenth century. But because the early evi-
dence for the existence of a Buddhagupta involved in Mahiiyoga that we reviewed earlier
is quite strong, it seems likely that this figure was an influence on the work of dPal dbyangs.
80 ITa ba yang dag sgron rna IU-8: dpalldan thugs kyi dkyil 'khor nyi ma'i 'od ston
gis/ shin tu 'bar ba'i zer tsam bdag blo mun bar byung/ dbyangs dang tshig 'das namkha'i
mtshan nyid las 'das pa'if rang sems skyed med zab mo'i don 'di phyogs tsam snang/.
81 Dudjom Rinpoche takes this event as the starting point of the rNying ma lineages in
Khams (Dudjom 1991, voU, p. 687). However, the colophons of the canonical editions
do not give Vairochana as the translator, but a figure called Padma ru tshe. A discussion
of this commentary and a summary of the first chapter appears in Martin 1987.
82 Blue Annals, pp. 108, 158.
194 SAM VAN SCHAlK
dPal dbyangs, another student, could also have had the opportunity to
do so.
The attribution of the long commentary on the Guhyagarbha to Surya-
prabhasasirpha needs to be further analysed, but it is interesting to com-
pare this text to those we have been examining. The long commentary is
far closer to the approach of dPal dbyangs than to the only other early
commentary on the Guhyagarbha, the sPar khab. The whole of the text
is shot through with the concepts of spontaneous accomplishment, non-
duality, and bodhicitta as the nature of all phenomena. Like dPal dbyangs
in the Zhus lan, Suryaprabhasasirpha is concerned with questions arising
out of the application of these approaches to the practices of Mahayoga.
83
It is a pity that the accounts of this teacher are from much later histo-
ries, yet the fact that the works of dPal dbyangs and Suryaprabhasasirpha
employ a similar approach to the Mahayoga material goes some way to
support the traditional account that Siiryaprabhasasirpha was living and
writing towards the end of the eighth century through to the early ninth.
And while the verse cited above does not provide a clear identification,
we can at least accept the possibility that Suryaprabhasasirpha was the
teacher of dPal dbyangs.
84
The picture that I would like to suggest here, based on dPal dbyangs
and the attribution of the sBas pa'i sgum chung to Buddhagupta, is that
within certain lineages of tantric exegesis, especially those focussing on
the Guhyagarbha, it became customary by the late eighth century to write
texts, presented as statements (lung) or precepts (man ngag), which elab-
orated the ideas of nonduality, spontaneous presence, primordial purity
aIld so on, removed from direct reference to the actual yogic practices
derived from the tantra. Another figure in the mind series lineages, Mafi-
jusrimitra, seems to confIrm this picture, as he is known to have written
83 For example, SuxyaprabhlisasiIpha's discussion of how the siddhi appear shows a con-
cern with reconciling a position of nonduality and spontaneous presence with ordinary
accomplishments, similar to section 12 of the Zhus Zan (see dPaZ gsang ba'i snying po'i
rgya eher bshad pa'i 'greZ pa, P.4719 (vo1.83), 27-4-3ff.)
84 If Suxyaprabhlisasimha was the same person as the legendary Great Perfection teacher
Sa SiIpha, who is with the early mind series literature, this would follow the pat-
tern we have seen in the work of Buddhagupta and dPal dbyangs, of authors writing both
Mahayoga tantric commentaries and brief, "pristine" Great Perfection texts. There is as
yet, unfortunately, no basis for such an identification.
the most important Mahayoga commentary on the MafijusrfniimasaT[lgfti
tantra.
85
Thus the early or proto- Great Perfection texts were written by the
same people who were producing more conventional direct exegesis of
the tantras. There were clearly two different kinds of texts being written,
yet the tradition of placing these two kinds of discourse into two different
textual categories, Mahayoga and Atiyoga, had yet to be developed. The
model for this dual mode of literary production may have been the Guhya-
garbha itself, wherein, as mentioned earlier, chaper thirteen employs the
term rdzogs chen in the context of the realization arising out of the bliss
of sexual union, whereas chapter fourteen employs the term in a more gen-
eral yogic song on the state of ultimate realization.
(ii) gNubs chen and the lamp for the eyes of contemplation
As we have seen, the first datable instance of an unambiguous use of
Atiyoga as a vehicle is in the works of gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes,
from the late ninth and early tenth centuries. In his bSam gtan mig sgron
(STMG), gNubs chen makes a strong distinction between the vehicles of
Mahayoga and Atiyoga. Dealing with them in two different chapters,
he quotes from a number of sources. The sources for Mahayoga are not
the sources for Atiyoga, and vice versa. The texts quoted in the Atiyoga
chapter include many of those classified in the later tradition as the eight-
een early translations of the mind series, as well as a number of other
texts found in the rNying ma rgyud 'bum or Bai ro rgyud 'bum. None
of the passages from these texts that are cited in STMG make an explicit
85 Gennano 2002. p. 247 points out that three seminal Great Perfection figures were
Maiijusrfniimasalpgfti exegetes: dGa' rab rdo rje, Maftjusrlmitra and Vimalamitra. In this
paper Gennano writes insightfully on the early relationship between Mahayoga and the
Great Perfection (p. 240):
The origin of the Great Perfection within Mahayoga points however to their symbiotic
relationship. The fonner offered a built in deconstruction of the latter's own architec-
tronie doctrinal and ritual complexity, as well as a mitigating influence on its empha-
sis on the visual logic of deities and the wrathful logic of subjugation. Mahayoga in
tum offered the Great Perfection a backdrop for its radical rhetoric of negation and
the natural inherence of Buddhahood, a safety net in which it could perfonn its acro-
batics within empty space, semantic fields that gave its own denials substance even
under the erasure of negation.
196 SAM VAN SCHAIK
distinction between Atiyoga and Mahayoga. We know that many mind
series texts, such as the Kun byed rgyaZ po and the Khyung chen gi rgyud,
do make this distinction in no uncertain tenns. If such passages were
available, he would have been likely to have used them. So it looks like
they appeared some time after the STMG, perhaps in part to address its
concerns, while the authors of the earlier mind series texts were not as
concerned with distinguishing the vehicle of Atiyoga from other vehicles.
Although most of the texts cited in the Atiyoga chapter of STMG can
be identified with texts in later collections, a number of the cited texts can-
not be found. One such text, referred to by gNubs chen as rGum chung,
is in fact the Man ngag rgum chung of dPal dbyangs. Although gNubs
chen cites the rGum chung four times in the Atiyoga chapter of STMG,
the authorship of the text is never acknowledged.
86
This is in contrast to
other chapters in STMG, where gNubs chen quotes from the Zhus Zan and
the ITa ba yang dag sgron me, mentioning dPal dbyangs as responsible
for the works.87 This may be indicative of a pattern in STMG. In fact, only
two of the citations in the Atiyoga chapter are attributed, one being a
teaching of Lo tsa ba dPal brtsegs, and the other a text called Klong 'grel
by Vimalamitra.
88
In the other cases only the short titles are given, some
familiar mind series texts like the bDe 'byams and sPyi chings, others
which are not easy to identify in later collections. The identifiable texts
are among the shorter mind series texts in the canon. Few of them are
styled tantra.
89
It is possible that, like the Man ngag rgum chung, these
86 STMG pp. 382, 404-405, 440. In the fIrst instance the title is given as sBum chung.
87 The Zhus Ian is cited on pp. 30, 201, 219, 255 and 277. The ITa ba yang dag sgron
rna is cited on p. 49 as a sgom lung of rnKhan po dPal dbyangs.
88 The dPal brtsegs texts is cited on p. 406. The Vimalamitra text is cited on p. 9 and
p. 276. This is perhaps a commentary to the mTsho kIong (Byang chub kyi sems Tgya mtsho
kIong dgu'i rgyud, Th.69), which is cited twice in the Attyoga chapter. There is a com-
mentary on the Klong drug rgyud attributed to Vimalamitra in the bKa' ma shin tu rgyas
pa (voUOO) but as the root text is one of the Seminal Heart tantras which were not in cir-
culation until the eleventh century at the earliest, this is most unlikely to be the text referred
to here. As a final note, there is also a mysterious text referred to in STMG as coming from
the lineage of the three acaryas (pp. 424, 434).
89 These are the Sems sgom pa'i rgyud (perhaps Sems bsgom rdo la gser zhun, cited
many times in STMG), Khyung chen lding ba'i rgyud, rMad du byung ba'i rgyud, Yul kun
la 'jug pa'i rgyud, Man ngag rna ba rgyud (though the last may be a transformation of
rNa brgyud kyi man ngag, also cited in STMG). .
texts had previously been transmitted as statements and precepts of par-
ticular teachers. The almost total lack of authorial attribution in the Ati-
yoga section of the STMG suggests that gNubs chen himself may have
been complicit in the activity of transforming authored texts into scripture.
In fact, names of teachers are mentioned quite frequently in the Atiyoga
chapter, though mainly in the interlinear notes to the text. These were
apparently written by gNubs chen, unless his references to himself in the
notes are a later falsification.
90
The teachers are associated with different
approaches to teaching the Great Perfection, rather than with specific texts.
Their names are as follows:
dGa' fab fda fje
'Jam dpaI bshes gnyen
fGyaI po 'Da' he na ta 10
Ra tsa ha ta
OTgyan rna ha fa tsa
Ku leu fa dza
'Bu ta leug ta
Shri seng nga / sing ha
dGe slang rna Kun dga' rna
Bi rna la mi tra
Bai fa tsa na
A tsa fa gSaI ba rgyaI
Eleven of the names appear in the early mind series lineage list found
in the Bairo rgyud 'bum. The remaining name, an Acarya gSal ba rgyal
can be identified with one of gNubs chen's teachers, gSal ba'i rgyan, an
early author of texts based on the dGongs pa 'dus pa'i mdo.
91
The dGongs
pa 'dus pa'i mdo, later classified as Anuyoga, is clearly considered an
Atiyoga text in STMG, as it is quoted more frequently than any other
text in the Atiyoga section. Thus gNubs chen must have considered gSal
ba'i rgyan an Atiyoga teacher. The appearance of gSa! ba rgyal is fur-
ther reason to believe that the interlinear notes are the work of gNubs
chen.
90 STMG, pp. 375,419. The author of the notes refers to himself as "the little monk"
(ban chung), an epithet which gNubs chen uses to refer to himself in the main text.
91 This figure is generally known either as gSal ba'i rgyan or bDe ba gsal mdzad. His
texts on sadhanas and empowerrnents based on the dGongs pa 'dus pa'i mdo were collected
by gNubs chen. See Dalton 2002, p. 145, n.227.
198
SAM VAN SCHAIK
The attribution of different approaches to the Great Perfection to these
figures itself suggests that they may have been responsible for some lit-
erary production, and that these names themselves were originally been
the authorial names attached to the Great Perfection texts that gNubs
chen quotes. The appearance of Buddhagupta's name in ITJ 597 may be
an example of a continuing tradition in which the authorial names were
still attached to the texts, which as "statements" (lung) were accepted to
be the writings of named teachers. The appearance of these names the
interlinear notes of STMG as the exponents of particular approaches to
the Great Perfection may have been gNubs chen's strategy for acknowl-
edging their contributions after stripping their names from the texts they
created.
These Atiyoga teachers do not appear in any kind of lineage or hier-
archy in STMG, and it is quite likely that the arrangement of these names
into a mind series lineage seen in other texts is a later development.
By the twelfth century these names, as well as a number of others from
sources now unknown, had been arranged into a lineage. This can be seen
in two texts from the Bai ro rgyud 'bum, a collection of mind series texts
associated with the Zur family, who are considered the inheritors of gNubs
chen's transmissions.92 The arrangement of the early Great Perfection
teachers into the lineage found in the Bai ro rgyud 'bum is awkward, and
there has always been a difficulty in dealing with it in the Great Perfection
tradition.
93
The author of one of these texts, the Bai ro'i 'dra 'bag chen
rna, suggests that the order of the lineage is uncertain (go rims rna nges
pa).94 Later Great Perfection Seminal Heart (snying thig) traditions com-
pressed the list by taking out many of the names.
Perhaps the reason for the clumsy nature of the lineage list in the Bairo
rgyud 'bum is that the names were not consecutive figures in a lineage,
but authors from a span of not more than two or three generations. Where
gNubs chen made a space for the names as teachers of different approaches
92 See Kapstein unpub., pp. 6, 9. The earlier of the two texts is the Pa' sgrub mams
kyi thugs bcud snying gi nyi ma (voU, pp. 1-172) and the later is the Bai ro 'dra bag chen
mo (vo1.8, pp. 442-489), a biography of Vairocana. Kapstein argues that the fonner text
dates from the twelfth century, while the latter is a later addition to the collection.
93 See Kapstein unpub., pp. 5-6.
94 See Karmay 1988, p. 20.
to the Great Perfection, the author of the Baira rgyud 'bum text, or the
. tradition that he was repeating, did the same thing by placing the names
in a diachronic rather than synchronic arrangement. Despite the ensuing
difficulties, the lineage arrangement served as a way of preserving the
names of these Great Perfection authors, although many were, in any
case, forgotten by the later tradition.
Due to the paucity of sources, it is perhaps impossible to determine
whether gNubs chen was repeating a received tradition or himself attempt-
ing to found a tradition. There is however, reason to believe that gNubs
chen was attempting to define a tradition around the names Great Per-
fection andAtiyoga. Firstly, as we have seen, gNubs chen's works are the
earliest reliably dateable instance that we see Atiyoga being defmed explic-
itly as a vehicle (theg pa). If gNubs chen was involved in early attempts
to establish a tradition, then to give the tradition vehicle status would have
been highly desireable.
Furthermore, the great range of texts quoted in the Atiyoga section of
STMG suggests that gNubs chen may have been drawing these texts
together, to make them all part of a group under the label of Atiyoga,
where they were previously disparate texts from a number of lineages. The
texts themselves, while sharing numerous resemblances, are by no means
a homogeneous group. gNubs chen may well have faced the same diffi-
culty that confronts us. when examining our Dunhuang texts: while the
texts bear certain resemblances to what we know in the later tradition as
the Great Perfection, they are also quite different from each other. gNubs
chen's enumeration of different approaches to the view of Atiyoga sug-
gests an attempt to unify as a whole a somewhat disparate group of teach-
ings. His bringing together of the texts in the Atiyoga chapter of the
STMG can itself be seen as a act of imposing a coherence and unity upon
the texts. Yet the differences between his chapter and the accepted texts
of the later tradition, such as his inclusion of the dGongs pa 'dus pa'i mdo
and several other texts that do not form part of later canons, and the
conspicuous absence of the Kun byed rgyal po'i mdo, suggest a movement
still in development, one that has yet to achieve a stable canon. Thus even
if gNubs chen was not the fIrst to gather together these texts and catego-
rize them as belonging to a vehicle of their own, he was certainly one of
the earliest to do so.
200 SAM VAN SCHAIK
5. Conclusions
Returning to the simile I introduced at the beginning of this paper,
I will now take the various puzzle pieces that have been examined alone
and try to place them into an arrangement suggesting the most convinc-
ing complete picture. We must begin with the Guhyagarbha tantra, since
it seems that the actual term rdzogs chen was more closely associated
with this text than any other. The term itself signified the realization aris-
ing out of the culmination of sexual yogic practice. The tantra and cer-
tain others of a group known as the Mayajala tantras were circulating in
some form by the mid-eighth century, and by the 770s, commentaries
were being written on them. By the 790s, certain commentaries and trea-
tises began to elaborate upon the ideas of primordial purity, spontaneous
presence and nonduality which played a role in the Guhyagarbha (as they
do in most Mahayoga tantras).
ill the transmission lineages for the Guhyagarbha and its family of tantras
in the late eighth and early ninth centuries there was a trend for writing
short texts expounding these ideas outside of the tantra's ritual framework.
The activity of writing these texts was not considered to be inconsistent
with writing exegetical works on the tantras themselves. Therefore, these
earliest forerunners of the Great Perfection texts were probably written
to provide an interpretive framework for the practice of the development
and perfection stage practices of the Mayajala tantras. We may compare
them to latter siddha literature like the mahamudra instructions of the
Naropa lineage, and the *margaphala (lam 'bras) system from the VirUpa
lineage. All of these systems took as their fundamental tenet the primor-
dially enlightened mind, and it seems that there was a need in all of these
tantric transmission lineages for an interpretive framework into which the
discourse of the tantras could be placed.
By the time the mahiimudra and margaphala teachings were brought
to Tibet, no trace was found of the forerunners of the Great Perfection
texts, which has since led to doubts over their illdic heritage. Though there
is little doubt that most of the texts in the canons of Great Perfection
scriptures originated in Tibet, illdic models may well have existed at one
time. If the illdic Great Perfection-style texts were strongly associated
with the transmission lineages for the Guhyagarbha tantra, then the fact
201
that the Tibetans who brought back texts from India in the eleventh cen-
tury failed to ftnd any of these texts would be due the to same reason they
failed to ftnd the Guhyagarbha itself - neither would not have survived
the apparent demise of these lineages in India by the eleventh c"entury.
In Tibet, by the beginning of the ninth century, literary production of the
texts later classifIed as the mind series was well underway. gNyan dPal
dbyangs, probably following the model of his teacher Suryaprabhasasirpha,
wrote treatises on Mahayoga ritual with a particular emphasis on nonduality
and spontaneous presence, as well as short treatises that took the ideas of
nonduality and spontaneous presence and expounded them without reference
to the ritual universe of the Mahayoga tantras. The model for this latter kind
of text might have been the fourteenth chapter of the Guhyagarbha, but as
more and more such texts were written, many seem to have deliberately
eschewed all reference to Mahayoga ritual except to declare it unnecessary.
The Dunhuang manuscripts show a variation in how much such texts
chose to acknowledge the ritual universe of the Guhyagarbha. Unlike the
later mind series texts such as the Kun byed rgyal po, these early texts were
not presented as the words of the buddha Samantabhadra. Rather they
were short, pithy instructions. In concordance with this, they were known
as statements (lung) or precepts (man ngag) not as sutras or tantras. Thus
there is no need to posit two streams of textual creation coming together
in the early Great Perfection literature. Rather, it seems that two types of
composition occurred within Mayajala commentarial traditions.
The heterogeneous nature of these early texts is demonstrated by the
very person who attempted to bring them together as a coherent group cat-
egorized as Atiyoga, gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes. This term Atiyoga,
which had begun in certain tantras, perhaps most importantly the Sarva-
buddhasamayoga, as a stage in the practice of yoga, appears in several
Dunhuang manuscripts, probably from the tenth century, in a number of
enumerations of different systems of tantric practice. Although none of
these manuscripts explicitly designates Atiyoga as a vehicle, in most it
has come to have the same status as Mahayoga, which would entail a
scriptural content. Because all of these manuscripts appear" to be from
around the same period as the STMG (the early tenth century), or later,
it appears that gNubs chen was one of the first to designate Atiyoga as a
vehicle and to associate a group of scriptures with it. Therefore gNubs
202 SAM VAN SCHAlK.
chen may well be a central point in the coalescence of the 'Great Perfection
as a tradition. In order that these Great Perfection texts be considered
scriptures, it was necessary remove from them any association with author-
ship. The names of teachers in the Atiyoga chapter are generally men-
tioned only in the interlinear notes, and associated with approaches to the
teaching, rather than specific texts.
The names of Great Perfection teachers and the texts cited in the
Atiyoga chapter of STMG correspond closely, if not exactly, with the
texts and lineage found in the early mind series collection known as the
Bairo rgyud 'bum. The lineage of Great Perfection teachers found in this
collection, which probably dates to the twelfth century, appears to be a
construction in which the teachers whose names were preserved by gNubs
chen, and no doubt in other lost texts, were placed in a diachronic list,
even though as such the lineage was recognised to be untenable, and was
severely truncated by later traditions.
Much remains to be established regarding these early days of the
Great Perfection. But if the Dunhuang texts tell us anything, it is that we
cannot posit a Great Perfection tradition existing in the ninth and tenth
centuries. The texts, which in varying degrees acknowledged or moved
away from their basis in the Miiyiijiila tantras, were not the homogeneous
group presented in the bSam gtan mig sgron. Thus the development of the
Great Perfection as a distinct tradition begins to look like the work of
certain determined individuals. Future research may discover who these
were, especially in the years between gNubs chen and the patriarchs of
the Zur lineage. Another important area for further research is the devel-
opment of the mind series literature from the earliest texts (found in the
bSam gtan mig sgron citations and the Dunhuang manuscripts) to the later
sutras and tantras, of which the Kun byed rgyal po is only one of many.
Their provenance is as yet unknown, but these later texts seem to reinforce
the existence of a pristine Great Perfection in total distinction from
Mahayoga, and thus carry on the work of gNubs chen.
The Dunhuang manuscripts which we have been looking at, mostly
dating from the late tenth century, show us that whatever the efforts of
gNubs chen, Atiyoga and the Great Perfection continued right through to
the beginning of the eleventh century to be seen as a way of approaching
Mahayoga ritual and meditative practice, rather than a distinct approach.
Furthermore, not long after the latest of these Dunhuang manuscripts,
we see the appearance of new trends in Great Perfection literature with
the emergence of the Seminal Heart in the eleventh century. The Semi-
nal Heart literature presents a pristine rhetoric interwoven with instruc-
tions on actual meditative practices that absorb and transform the prac-
tices of Mahayoga and later Indic traditions.
95
So it appears that the
"pristine" form of Great Perfection only ever existed as one strand in
Great Perfection discourse, and never dominated the field. Rather than a
chronological development from the pristine to the ritualized, the pris-
tine discourse always existed alongside other forms of Great Perfection
literature that engaged fully with structured practice, first in the form of
Mahayoga and later in the specialized tantric meditations of the Seminal
Heart.
References
Tibetan and Sanskrit Sources
P. bKa' 'gyur and bsTan 'gyur, Peking edition.
Tb. rNying ma rgyud 'bum, mTshams brag edition.
Gu ru bkra shis
Gu bkra'i chos byung. Krung go'i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 1990.
gNyan dPaI dbyangs
ITa ba yang dag sgron ma: P.5919
ITa ba rin po che sgron ma: P.5923
Thabs dang shes rab sgron ma: P.5921
Thugs kyi sgron ma: P.5918
mTha'i mun sel sgron ma: P.5920
rDo rje sems dpa' zhus Ian: P.5082
rNal 'byor spyod pa'i lugs nges pa'i don la ji bzhin sgom thabs kyi sgron ma:
P.5922
gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes:
mDo 'grel mun pa'i go chao In Bdud 'joms 'Jigs braI Ye shes Rdo rje, ed. (1982).
Rnying rna bka'ma rgyas pa. KaIimpong, W.B.: Dubjang Lama. Vois. 50-51.
Rnal 'byor mig gi bsam gtan. S.W. Tashigangpa, Ladakh, 1974.
95 This process has been well documented in Germano 1994.
204 sAM VAN SCHAIK
Padmasambhava
Man ngag Ita ba'i phreng ba. P.4726 [transcription and translation in Kannay
1988, pp. 152-171]
Sa skya
sDom gsum rab dbye, in Sa skya bka' 'bum (vol.V). The Toyo Bunko, Tokyo,
1968.
SI1ryaprabhiisashpha
dPal gsang ba'i snying po'i rgya cher bshad pa'i 'grel pa: PA719
Vilasavajra
rGyud kyi rgyal po chen po dpal gsang ba'i snying po'i 'grel pa (rin po che spar
khab): PA718
Anonymous works and collections
Kun byed rgyal po'i mdo: Th.l
with RatniivaliPafijikii of Kumiiracandra. Rinpoche, Sam-
dhong and Dvivedi, Vrajvallabh, eds. Rare Buddhist Text Series-9. Central
Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, 1992.
Guhyagarbha Tantra: ThA17
The rGyud 'bum of Vairocana: a Collection of Ancient Tantras and Esoteric
Instructions. Leh: S.W. Tashigangpa, 1971.
Sarvabuddhasiimayoga tantra: P.8
Dunhuang manuscript sources
ITJ IOL Tib J
PT Pelliot tiMtain
ITJ 331/1: Short sadhana attributed to MafijusrItnitra.
ITJ 437: Short treatise on Mahayoga.
ITJ 454: Long but incomplete treatise on Mahayoga.
ITJ 470, PT 819, PT 837: rDo rje sems dpa' zhus Ian. Asc. gNyan dPal dbyangs.
ITJ 594: sBas pa'i rgum chung. Asc. gSangs rgyas sbas pa.
ITJ 647: Rig pa'i khu byug with anonymous commentary.
PT 44: The story of Padmasambhava's introduction of the VajrakIlaya practices
to Tibet. Author unknown. Dated: ca. 978-ca.101O.
PT 321: Heruka siidhana.
PT 322B: Prayer extolling the Great Perfection and the Miiyiijiila tantras.
PT 353, ITJ 507: Thabs dang shes rab tu ldan pa'i rang bzhin gyi dkyil 'khor
mtshan nyid. pescription of two ma1}rjalas.
PT 644: A treatment of the nine vehicles (though without the term "vehicle")
and the vidyiidhara levels.
PT 656: Spyi'i lung chen po bdun so so'i ita ba dang spyod pa bstan pa gsungs
pa'i don man ngag. Presentation of a seven-part doxographical system.
PT 849: Miscellany containing, among other things, lists of Buddhist vehicles,
tantras and kings. Dated: late 10
th
-early 11th c.
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206
sAM VAN SCHAlK
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_12th c.)'. Unpublished' conference paper. .
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Tibet. Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan.
THE YOGACARA TWO HINDRANCES
AND THEIR REINTERPRET A TIONS IN EAST ASIA
CHARLES MULLER
1. The Basic Yogacara Teaching of the Hindrances
The "two hindrances" are the afflictive hindrances (mmlll klda-iiva-
and cognitive hindrances These two cate-
gories subsume the broad range of phenomena that engender suffer-
ing, impel continuity of the cycle of rebirth, impede the attainment of lib-
eration, and obstruct the ability to see reality as it is.
In their standard interpretation, the afflictive hindrances include all the
various fonns of mental disturbances enumerated in the classical Y ogacara
texts, starting with the six primary afflictions that arise based on the reifi-
cation of an imagined self (ilGJe., :!if Je.; These six afflic-
tions serve as the basis for the twenty secondary afflictions, and such fur-
ther derivative sets as the ninety-eight, 104, and 128 afflictions. These
afflictions furthennore exist in actively manifest fonn, latent fonn, debil-
itating fonn, seed fonn, as habit energies, and in a range of sub-varieties
of strength and weakness, coarseness and subtlety, and intermixture. Gen-
erally speaking, they are karmic - viz., in addition to being the direct
causes and manifestations of suffering, they enmesh sentient beings in
perpetual rebirth, and thus, by definition, obstruct the attainment of lib-
eration. This type of hindrance is named based on its role as the agent
(rather than object) of obstruction.
The cognitive hindrances are subtler obstructions of awareness that are
characterized by mistaken imputation and discrimination. In the nonna-
tive Yogacara explanation, all cognitive hindrances are ultimately pro-
duced from the imputation of selfhood to phenomena (?Sf\G). The San-
skritjiieya, which can be interpreted as "the knowable(s)," or "all that
can be known" was usually rendered into Chinese as suozhi.PJT9;!J - "that
which is known," or "objects of cognition," etc. The orientation for the
208 CHARLES MULLER
naming of the cognitive hindrances is more complex than that of the
afflictive hindrances, since, depending on how one looks at it, cognition
can be seen as either the reCipient, or the agent of obscuration. The stan-
dard Yogacara explanation tells us that it is the things that should be
known (reality, suchness, the noble truths, correctly apprehended phe-
nomena, etc.) that are subject to obstruction, rather than being the obstruct-
ing agents. Yet reflection on the matter is going to suggest that it is that
which we erroneously impute - thus, "know" - that correct
cognition, whether in the sense of the fundamental imputation of a self
onto discreet phenomena, the secondary imputation of a self in our bod-
ies (satkiiya-dNti - the basis of the afflictive hindrances), or, in the reifi-
cation of and attachment to our own opinions. Simply put, that which we
hold to be real and true is exactly what obstructs us from seeing things
as they are.
Although this latter approach, wherein flTin is identified as both the agent
and recipient of obstruction, can be suggested by the literal interpretation
of both the Sanskrit and Chinese terms (jfieya-avaralJa and suozhi), it is
not explicitly identified as such in the first teaching of the hindrances we
will encounter in this paper - that given in the original Y ogacara texts.
Nonetheless, this is clearly a point that is open to interpretation in such
works as the Yogacarabhiimi.l Once we get to the Awakening of Mahiiyana
Faith
2
[AMP] however, this becomes a moot point, as the cognitive obstruc-
tions in that text are explicitly defined, not as any sort of object (thus, the
character flT is dropped in their naming) but as a one-sided habit of see-
ing only the suchness aspect of things. When we arrive to our third text
under discussion in this paper, the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, we
1 As Paul Swanson showed in his 1983 article on this topic, the question of the tat-
status of the cognitive hindrances considerably sparked the interest of Zhiyi, who
discussed it at some length in his Mohezhiguan.
2 ill rendering the title of the Dasheng qixin lun as "Awakening of Mahayana Faith,"
rather than Hakeda's "Awakening of Faith in Mahayana" I am following the perspicacious
argument made by Sung Bae Park in Chapter Four of his book Buddhist Faith and Sud-
den Enlightenment. There he shows that the inner discourse of the text itself, along with
the basic understanding of the meaning of mahayana in the East Asian Buddhist tradition
does not work according to a Western theological "faith in ... " subject-object construction,
but rather according to an indigenous East Asian essence-function model. Thus, mahayana
should not be read as a noun-object, but as a modifier, which characterizes the type of faith.
THE YOGAcARA TWO IllNDRANCES 209
will find an even more explicit argument for the known itself being the
obstructions.
To simplify our approach to the hindrances for the time being, it suf-
fices to say that it is the afflictive hindrances that directly bring about
karmic suffering and rebirth in the three realms, and it is the cognitive hin-
drances that keep sentient beings in a state of misapprehension of reality
that leads them to continue making the errors that allow for, at best, the
non-elimination of mental disturbances, and at worst, the creation of new
ones.
The most extensive elaboration of the hindrances in their normative
Y ogacara interpretation is found scattered iIi various sections of the
Yogacarabhilmi-sastra, and the basic framework taught there is used, with
minor variations, in other Indian Yogacara texts. Discussions of the hin-
drances are also found in the works of the East Asian circle of Y ogacara
studies that developed around Xuanzang 600-664), most impor-
tantly, in the Cheng weishi lun where Xuanzang attempted to
present a compact and systematic overview of the Y ogacara system as he
understood it. The Cheng weishi lun contains a section that summarizes
the hindrances (more or less) according to their basic Yogacara framework.
There we read:
What are the afflictive hindrances? Led by attachment to an .imagined real
self, they consist of the one hundred twenty-eight fundamental afflictions and
the various secondary afflictions that are derived from them. These all tor-
ment and vex sentient beings in mind and body and obstruct nirvana. Thus
they are called the afflictive hindrances. What are the cognitive hindrances?
Led by attachment to imagined real phenomena they are constituted by
views, doubt, ignorance, craving, hatred, pride, etc.
3
They obscure the undis-
3 There are already problems here, since the Cheng weishi lun has identified craving
and hatred here as contributing to the constitution of the cognitive hindrances. In most of
the Y ogacara texts, these are considered to be subsumed in the category of the afflictive
hindrances. As Weonhyo says in the early part of his Doctrine of the Two Hindrances:
Led by the attachment to person, the [six] fundamental afflictions and the [twenty]
secondary afflictions, such as anger, resentment, concealing and so forth constitute
the nature of the afflictive hindrances. If we take into account the other phenomena
that are associated with these afflictions, including attendant factors, the karma they
produce, as well as the karmic retribution that is experienced, all can be seen as play-
ing a role constituting the afflictive hindrances. What constitutes the cognitive hin-
drances? Led by attachment to phenomena, they have as their substance deluded con-
210 CHARLES MULLER
torted nature of knowable objects and are able to. obstruct 'bodhi. Thus they
are called the cognitive hindrances.
The cognitive hindrances 'necessarily reside within the afflictive hindrances,
because the afflictive hindrances take the cognitive hindrances as their sup-
port. Although they do not differ in tenns of essence, their functions are
different. [Adherents of] the two vehicles can only eliminate the afflictive
hindrances; the bodhisattvas eliminate both. Only the supramundane prac-
tices are capable of pennanently eliminating both kinds, but the quelling
4
of
the two in their active state can also occur within contaminated. practices.
(T 1585.31.48c6-29) [emphasis mine]
The basic relationship between the hindrances presented in the Cheng
weishi lun (which roughly summarizes the system established in the
Yogiiciirabhumi and related texts) is one that has a well-organized roots-
to-branches structure. The cognitive hindrances, as subtler errors of impu-
tation, serve as the basis of the afflictive hindrances. They are usually
not karmic, since they occur prior to the point of intention, thus do not have
any morally qualitative imprint associated with their function. The afflic-
tive hindrances, on the other hand, are behavioral habits that always carry
karmic imprint to some degree, and usually bring undesirable conse-
quences.
When the two hindrances are discussed in the context of the Y ogacara
paths by which they are removed (mainly in the paths of "insight" [dar-
sana-miirga ~ ] and "cultivation," [bhiivanii-miirga ~ i H ] , or the ten
bhumis) the afflictive hindrances are generally said to be removed earlier
by both bodhisattvas and adherents of the two vehicles (who rely on self-
salvifically oriented practices) while the cognitive hindrances are generally
UIJderstood to be removed later, by bodhisattvas only, through practices
grounded in emptiness and compassion.
s
ceptualization and discrimination, along with attachment to the teachings, pride, igno-
rance and so forth. Taking into account the secondary phenomena that can be included
as cognitive afflictions, there are also the attendant factors and their marks that are
attached to. (RBJ 1.790a16-23)
4 The important distinction between "quelling" (or "subduing") and "permanent elimi-
nation" is discussed below in note 22.
S As Weonhyo explains in his treatise on the hindrances, this common distinction made
between the bodhisattvas and "hinayiina" practitioners in terms of the hindrances is only
true in a general sense, as certain types of cognitive hindrances are actually removable by
sriivakas and pratyekabuddhas, and there are certain situations (such as that where the sal-
THE YOGACARA TWO HINDRANCES 211
Although the hindrances are mentioned with regularity throughout the
Yogacara classics; there is no single text, in which the hindrances them-
selves are treated as a main topic in a comprehensive and systematic man-
ner.6 We invariably find them interspersed in the discussion of other related
Y ogacara issues, such as the extent to which defilement penetrates the iilaya;
how the practices of the various paths are distinguished; the relationship
between certain kinds of affIictions, or views, and ignorance; the function
by which affIiction perfumates mental states, and so forth.
When one reads these various descriptions, although they generally fit
into the basic model described above, there are discrepancies at the level
of fine interpretation. For example: At any given level of spiritual attain-
ment, which disturbances are fully eliminated, and which are only tem-
porarily suppressed? By what kinds of practices is correction successfully
accomplished? At what layer(s) of consciousness do the various antidotes
have their effectiveness? What kinds of (natures of) practi-
tioners are able to carry out which kinds of practices? What kinds of results
are produced? And so on. When one seeks the answers to these questions,
even if one is lucky enough to fInd a sustained discussion of the topic,
it will often be the case that the account given in another text will differ
on one point or another. Thus, it is hard to know, without some serious
investigation, to what degree the various interpretations of the hindrances
in the Y ogacara texts actually concur with each other.
2. Weonhyo's Research on the Two Hindrances
The Korean scholar-monk Weonhyo 617-686), known in East
Asia for his insightful and extensive commentarial work on a wide range
of Mahayana texts, and most notably for his influential work on the Awak-
ening of Faith and Nirvana Sutra, is, as far as we can tell, the only scholar
in the history of Buddhism to publish a full-length study on the two hin-
vation of other sentient beings is at stake) where bodhisattvas are more proficient than the
practitioners of the two vehicles at the removal of the afflictive hindrances.
6 The Madhyiinta-vibhiiga contains a chapter entitled "articulating the hindrances"
(see T 1600.31.466b-468b), but this is a somewhat idiosyncratic piece that does not shed
much light on the internal relationship of the hindrances in terms of their correlation of
self-views.
212 CHARLES MULLER
drances. In the course of this project he investigated the explanations of
the hindrances throughout some fIfty Mahayana texts, the results of which
were written up in a treatiSe entitled the /jangui (=l\Iitjij Doctrine of the
Two Hindrances).7 At the center of this inquiry were the Indian Yogacara
texts and their commentaries, but he also located passages germane to
hindrance theory from the Nirvana Sutra, Avatarpsaka-siltra, Sutra for
Humane Kings, and many other workS not strictly classifIed as Yogacara,
since all of these works, even if not specifIcally using two hjndrances
terminology, do have something to say about and removal
of affliction and ignorance. The /jangui is organized into fIve main sec-
tions:
(1) An analysis of how the various texts explain the hindrances as being
constituted, especially in terms of such Yogacara categories as retri-
butive motal quality; the distribution (or lack thereof) of the afflictions
throughout eight consciousnesses; their conditions of manifest activity
and latency; their function in the situation of seeds, habit energies,
and perfumation; their categorization in terms of Yogacara dharma-
theory, etc.
(2) An enumeration of their various functions, broadly subsumed in the two
categories of those afflictions that produce karma and those that bring
rebirth.
(3) An explanation' of the rationale behind the various types of arrange-
ments of the hindrances, including the groupings of afflictions into
128, 104, and ninety-eight; the perspective of the eight kinds of deluded
conceptualization; the three kinds of afflictions, and the two catego-
ries of hypostatic and arisen.
(4) An account of the Yogiiciira paths for the elimination of the hindrances.
While all fIve paths are discussed, the primary focus is placed on
7 I completed an annotated translation of this work for the international Weonhyo trans-
lation project in August, 2002, which is expected to be published by a major academic press
in the near future. Although the source text is not unduly long (about 25 pages in the HBJ),
it is an extremely difficult text, with the difficulties being compounded by the extensive
corruption of the source versions in our possession. Based on research - immeasurably
aided by the availability of digital versions of the Taish<i, I did extensive editing of the
source text, and have made this edited version available on my web site at http://www.hm.
tyg.jp/-acmuller/digitexts.htm. In the event of a change in URL, please search for "two
hindrances. "
. what exactly occurs within the two supramundane paths of insight and
cultivation. This includes analyses of the relative virulence and subtlety
of different types of mental disturbances, how the paths are actually
applied in the circumstances of the two lesser vehicles and bodlllsattva
vehicles, and so on.
(5) A final chapter that treats discrepancies in interpretation between
Mahayana/Hfuayana, and between various Mahayana scriptures and
commentators.
The overall discourse of each of these five sections is broadly structured
by a distinction between two hermeneutic approaches. That is, in each sec-
tion, Weonhyo will first discuss the topic in terms of standard Yogacara .
interpretations, which he calls the "exoteric approach" He then
follows by looking at it from the "esoteric approach" What is
the meaning of "esoteric" in this case? Since the establishment of this
category occurs as a direct result of Weonhyo's work with the Awakening
of Mahayana Faith, we need to look at the pivotal role that text played
in stimulating the composition of the Jjangui.
3. The Awakening of Mahayana Faith
It is a fairly well known fact that the AMF ended up being Weonhyo' s
favorite text,
8
and since the central concern of the AMF is with issues
pertaining to the origins of and removal of affliction and ignorance in the
effort of attaining liberation, it is not surprising that the hindrances are
discussed within it. Yet the explanation that the AMF provides for the
hindrances departs radically from the generic Yogacara presentation that
8 Weonhyo called the Awakening of Mahayana Faith [AMF] "the patriarchal teaching
of all treatises," and called its author "the chief arbiter of all controversies." Zlf!li
* . (T 1845.44.226b5-12). He commented on the AMF eight times - far
more than he did on any other work. Among these commentaries, two are extent. The ear-
lier commentary, entitled Daeseung gisinnon byeolgi (Expository Notes on the Awakening
of Mahayana Faith was written prior to the composition of the Ijangui,
and the latter work, the Daeseung gisinnon so (Commentary on the Awakening of Mahayana
Faith) was written afterwards. These are contained in Taisho, and were also redacted
together with the treatise itself to create the Combined Version of Weonhyo's Commen-
taries on the Awakening of Mahayana Faith. A translation of this combined version by Sung
Bae Park is to be released as part of the international Weonhyo translation project.
214 CHARLES MULLER
we have articulated up to this point. With Weonhyo obviously being well-
studied in the standard Y ogacara structure of the hindrances, we can under-
stand the puzzlement he must have felt upon his first encounter the fol-
lowing passage in the AMF:
Furthennore, the aspect of defiled mental states is called the afflictive
obstructions,9 because they are able to hinder the intrinsic wisdom [that
cognizes] suchness. The aspect of ignorance is called the obstructions of
wisdom ... 10 (T 1666.32.577c20-22)
The phrase that says "the aspect of defiled mental states is called the
afflictive obstructions" is not, taken alone, problematic in the context of
the generic Y ogacara definition. But in the latter half of the first sentence
cited above, the afflictive obstructions, rather than being presented in the
standard manner as "obstructing liberation," are said to impede the intrin-
sic wisdom that cognizes suchness - viz., they obstruct nothing less than
the most fundamental manifestation of enlightened awareness. This kind
of impedimentary function is not discussed in the context of the Yoga-
carabhUmi and other Indian Y ogacara texts, and if it were, it would prob-
ably be categorized as a cognitive hindrance. Furthermore, the fITst part
of this phrase, while not seeming problematic at fIrst glance, does pres-
ent difficulties upon further examination. Rather than being constituted by
the six primary and twenty secondary afflictions, with the reification of
a self at their head, the afflictive obstructions are identifIed as the AMF's
six defiled mental states
ll
- a description of a sequential corruption of
9 The AMF uses a different Chinese character to designate these obstructions - ai iii
instead of zhang 1$. These are synonyms, so there is nothing special indicated in this. But
asi):way of making distinctions in this paper, ai will be translated as "obstructions/' to indi-
cate that they are from the AMF, and zhang as "hindrances" to indicate that they are from
the "orthodox" Yogacara system.
10 In the context of Y ogacara works, the Chinese logograph tf does not necessarily indi-
cate its more standard Chinese connotation of "wisdom" (i.e. prajfiii). It is often used to trans-
late the Sanskritjiiana (orjiieya, etc.) "cognition," and is thus synonymous with 9;0. How-
ever, in the context of the explanation that is given in the AMF, as well as in Weonhyq's
commentary, where the obstruction is said to hinder the cognitive function of sages, the ren-
dering as wisdom is not inappropriate. Nonetheless, the polysemy should be kept in mind.
11 The six defiled mental states are: (1) Defilement in which the mind is associated with
attachment; (third of the six coarse marks). (2) Defilement in which the mind is associ-
ated with non-interruption; (second of the six coarse marks - mark Qf continuity).
(3) Defilement in which the mind is associated with discriminating knowledge; (first of
the six coarse marks). (4) Defilement in which the mind is not associated with manifest
THE YOGAcARA TWO HINDRANCES 215
mind that has connotations unique to the AMF, and which cannot read-
ily be correlated to the way that the afflictive hindrances are understood as
being constituted in the Yogiiciirabhiimi, etc. We will discuss this further
below.
Coming to the second sentence, we fmd the wisdom (cognitive) obstruc-
tions defmed as "ignorance." This identification would not in itself be
problematic, if not for the fact that the ignorance being introduced here
is not a form of nescience that obstructs the fundamental apprehension
of tathatii. Instead, it blurs the functioning of the karmic, phenomenal,
discriminating wisdom that one uses for everyday activities. While this
impediment does fall under the domain of cognitive functioning, it would
seem to be a secondary-level problem, which makes it difficult to recon-
cile with the systematic roots-and-branches framework implicit in the
"Vasubandhan" Yogacara structure. The relative priority of the two hin-
drances in the traditional Yogacara approach and those offered in the
AMF seem here to be reversed in terms of fundamental and derivative,
since the AMF's afflictive obstructions obscure cognition of tathatii, and
the obstructions of wisdom impede a relatively external phenomena-
oriented form of awareness. The author of the AMF is aware of the prob-
lems that would arise in trying to correlate his account of the hindrances
with the normative Yogacara version, and feels obliged to clarify:
[What is the meaning of the afflictive obstructions?] Since, depending upon
the defiled mind, one is able to see, manifest, and deludedly grasp to objects,
the mental function is contrary to the equal nature of suchness. [What is the
meaning of the wisdom obstructions?] Taking all dharmas to be eternally
quiescent and lacking the marks of arising, ignorant non-enlightenment is
deluded and one apprehends phenomena incorrectly. Thus one has no access
to the wisdom regarding particular phenomena that is applied to all objects
of the container world. (T 1666.32.577c23-25)
fonn; (mark of the objective realm; third of the three subtle marks). (5) Defilement in which
the mind is not associated with the subjectively viewing mind, (mark of the subjective
perceiver; second of the three subtle marks). (6) Defilement in which the mind is not
directly associated with fundamental karma. (mark of karma, which is moved by igno-
rance; the fIrst of the three subtle marks) The six are listed in order of increasing subtlety,
and thus it is said that the fust two reside in the sixth consciousness; the third resides in
the seventh consciousness and the last three reside in the eighth consciousness. As shown,
these six are analogous to the fust six of the nine marks of the arising of suffering, including
the three subtle marks, and the fIrst three of the six coarse marks.
216 CHARLES MULLER
Rather than being defined in tenns of the traditional six primary or twenty
secondary afflictions, the afflictive obstructions are seen as consisting in
a fundamental inability to perceive the equal nature of existence. Accord-
ing to the AMF, this will be the precondition for the first motion of the mind,
and that motion will lead to a series of attachments, and eventually, agita-
tion. On the other hand, the obstructions to wisdom have their basis in the
opposite error of being absorbed in a one-dimensional vision of only undif-
ferentiated suchness, which results in an inability to interact with the world.
My study of this topic through these three texts by Weonhyo - the
Jjangui, along with the earlier and later commentaries on the AMF, has
brought me to the finn conclusion that it was precisely Weonhyo's puz-
zlement with this passage in the AMF that stimulated him to enter into
his extensive study of the hindrances. In his earlier AMF commentary he
acknowledges the fact that there seems to be a problem, but does not fully
explain it - probably because he is not yet prepared to do so. He then
embarks on his two hindrances research project, and after finishing that,
writes his latter commentary. In that commentary the matter is explained
clearly and concisely, including a recommendation for interested readers
to "take a look at my book on the topic."
Let us now follow Weonhyo in his first-time treatment of the passage
in his earlier commentary on the AMF, the Expository Notes. He frrst intro-
duces the standard Yogacara definition of the hindrances:
There are two general approaches to explallring the two hindrances. The first
interpretation is that in which adherents of the two vehicles are pervasively
hindered by the ten afflictions,12 which cause them to transmigrate, and hin-
der their attainment of nirvana. These are called the "afflictive hindrances."
Bodhisattvas, however, are subject to special hindrances, such as the various
delusions of attachment to phenomena, etc., which lead to misapprehension
of the knowable objective realm, which in turn obstruct their realization of
enlightenment. These are called the "cognitive hindrances." This is the
[standard] interpretation that is given in other scriptures and treatises. (RBJ
1.765a7-11)13
12 The ten afflictions are: desire, ill-will, ignorance, pride, doubt, view of self, extreme
view, evil view, view of attachment to views, and extreme views in regard to discipline.
The fIrst fIve affect those of lower spiritual development while the second fIve affect those
of greater spiritual development.
13 The reader may want to take note, regarding the cognitive hindrances, of the differ-
ence between this basic description and that given above in the citation from the Cheng
THE YOGA.CARA TWO HINDRANCES 217
Weonhyo next introduces the new approach that he has encountered in
theAMF.
ill the second interpretation, all kinds of states of moving thought and attach-
ment to characteristics function contrarily to the quiescent nature of the wis-
dom that cognizes suchness. These are called the "obstructions of affliction. "
The dark unawareness of intrinsic ignorance acts contrary to the function of
detailed examination by conventional wisdom. This is called the "obstruc-
tion to discriminating wisdom." (HEJ 1.765all-I3)
Having taken note of this difference, Weonhyo indicates that the AMP s
version of the hindrances is at least non-standard, and perhaps even oppo-
site to what one would expect.
Now [the AMp] addresses the hindrances from this latter perspective, and
therefore it says that the six kinds of defIled mental states are called "obstruc-
tions due to affliction," and calls the hypostases ofignorance
14
the "obstruc-
tions to discriminating wisdom." But would it not be more reasonable to say
that ignorance should hinder the wisdom that cognizes suchness, and the
defIled mental states hinder conventional (discriminating) wisdom? (HEJ
1.765a14-17)
Wouldn't it, indeed. Why are they not reversed? It would certainly seem
more systematic to say that the direct recipient of the contrary effects of
intrinsic ignorance is intrinsic wisdom, and that the manifestly functioning
hindrances obscure manifestly functioning wisdom. Why, according to
Weonhyo, is this not the case?
Because it is not yet necessary for it to be this way. The meaning of "not
yet necessary" is like the treatise its"lf explains. (HEJ 1.764a18)
weishi lun. That text lists pride, doubt and so forth under the cognitive hindrances, whereas
Weonhyo has listed them under the afflictive hindrances. Since Weonhyo' s categorization
agrees with the explanations given in the Yogacarabhumi and all related texts that I have
seen, one has to wonder as to whether Xuanzang simply got it wrong here, if there was a
corruption of the text, or he was deliberately offering a different interpretation. This is not
a minor point, since the way one interprets the functions of the hindrances reflects one's
overall understanding of consciousness theory.
14 The Ijangui contains an extensive discussion regarding the role of these
hypostases and the hindrances which is a bit too complicated to broach in this paper. This
topic is treated in my forthcoming translation of that text. Please also see the information
on this term in the online Digital Dictionary of Buddhism at http://www.acmuller.net/cgi-bin/
xpr-ddb.pl?71.xml+idCb7121-660e-4f4f-S730'). (log in as "guest".)
218 CHARLES MULLER
The AMP itself does not have an explanation of the phrase "not yet nec-
essary," so we are left to figure this out for ourselves. One possible way
to understand this is to assume that it is not yet necessary to resort to a
secondary-level explanation of the hindrances, since Weonhyo understands
that the AMP's explanation is being carried out in the context of a more
fundamental level of the operation of cognitive function than that treated
in the standard Y ogacara context. The AMP's focus is on giving an account
of the course of the mind through its very first movements - the so-called
three subtle and six coarse marks, which also playa direct role in the
explanation of the six kinds of deluded mental states.
At this point in his treatment of the hindrances, Weonhyo was far from
satisfied, since sometime after the completion of this commentary he
embarked on his two hindrances research project, after which he returned
to the AMP to write his final commentary - the commentary that would
serve to spread his fame as a scholar across East Asia. What does he have
to say, after doing this extensive investigation? Returning to the same
passage, where the author of the AMP has just given his idiosyncratic
description of the hindrances, Weonhyo writes with the assuredness of
someone who has studied the matter thoroughly:
The sixth section is a clarification of the meaning of the two obstructions.
In their exoteric interpretation, they are called the two hindrances; in their
esoteric interpretation, they are called the two obstructions. These connota-
tions have received full treatment in [my treatise] the /jangui. The explana-
tion in this text (the AMF) is that according to the esoteric interpretation.
The meaning of "the aspect of defIled mental states," refers to the six kinds
of defIled mental states. "Intrinsic wisdom," refers to quiescent luminous
wisdom [i.e. the wisdom that cognizes suchness]. [Since the defIled mental
states] act contrary to quiescence, they are called "obstructions of affliction."
The meaning of "ignorance," is that of intrinsic ignorance. The meaning of
the phrase, "mundane karmic wisdom," is the same as "subsequently attained
wisdom." Ignorance darkens [perception] such that nothing can be dis-
criminated. Therefore it acts contrary to the wisdom that discriminates the
conventional world. Due to this connotation, it is called "the obstruction to
discriminating wisdom." (HEJ 1.764c14-23) [emphasis mine]
The Yogacara version of the hindrances has now been labeled by Weon-
hyo as "exoteric" in contrast to the "esoteric" hindrances 6f the AMP.
He has also added a significant qualification to the meaning of "mundane
219
karmic wisdom" in associating it with "subsequently attained wisdom,"
originally a translation of the Sanskrit which is a tech-
nical term denoting the special correct discriminative power used by sages
after their enlightenment, for the purpose of teaching others. Weonhyo then
recommends interested readers to have a look at his recently-written treatise
on the topic, the Ijangui. Not only is the matter explained there at great
length - the entire monograph has been structured according to this eso-
teric/exoteric framework derived from his reading of this passage in the
AMP. Moreover, Weonhyo will fInd evidence of this esoteric approach in
earlier Indian works, most prominently the Srimala-sutra, where he fInds the
esoteric aspect of the hindrances to have relevance as an approach to explain-
ing the most fundamental bases or "hypostases" of ignorance and affliction.
4. The Esoteric Aspect of the Hindrances in the Ijangui
Weonhyo adumbrates the discussion of the esoteric hindrances in the
Ijangui by repeating the basic definition given in the AMF - that the
afflictive obstructions are constituted by the six defiled mental states,
while the obstructions to wisdom are constituted by intrinsic ignorance.
This interpretation of the afflictive obstructions reflects a basic thematic
component of the AMF, as its point of departure is that of the One Mind
which has the two aspects of suchness and arising-and-ceasing. An impor-
tant aim of the AMP was to trace the first series of mental moments in
arising-and-ceasing that lead the mind in its departure from suchness.
This occurs starting with the first movement of mind produced by igno-
rance and then proceeds through the sequence of the six defiled mental
states. Passing through these six states of "descent," one arrives to the
state where the mind is associated with attachment (the coarsest of the six
defilements, third of the six coarse marks). One then continues down through
the last three of the six coarse marks, i.e. (4) the coarse mark of defining
names H;g:r (assigning names to sensations). (5) the coarse mark of
producing karma (performing good and evil activities based on
attachment to the sensations), and (6) the coarse mark of the suffering pro-
duced by karma
From this perspective then, affliction has movement as its most basic
characteristic. SpecifIcally, the frrst movement of thought is the telling step
220 CHARLES MULLER
away from the original perfect equanimity of suchness. After that, it's all
downhill, so to speak, to the point where one experiences the suffering
of karmic retribution. Here, "moreover, Weonhyo states that every type of
hindrance in the Y ogacara system, whether active or latent, afflictive or
cognitive, can be explained within the context of these six mental states.
In terms of constitution, we can readily see how the standard primary
and secondary Y ogacara afflictions could be included within the trans-
formations of the six defiled mental states. But the emphasis in /he AMP
is more on the actual sequence of events that occur in the mind of each
person who drifts away from awareness of tathata. Here we can apply some
more meaningful characterization to the distinction between the Y ogacara
"exoteric" and AMP "esoteric" by noting that this is not a distinction
being made in terms of scrutability, such as is intimated by the distinction
between neyiirtha and nftiirtha, but one of mode. The original Yogacara
approach to the hindrances is one of schematizing them and articulating
their constitution, pinpointing them in the vast map of consciousness. The
AMP instead attempts to describe how the hindrances actually operate in
the mind of a practitioner - what their concrete effects are. Its empha-
sis is functional in character.
As for the cognitive obstructions in the AMp, it is discriminating wis-
dom that is obscured. Like the Yogacara cognitive hindrances, the wis-
dom obstructions are concerned with incorrect apprehension of phenom-
ena, but in the case of Yogacara, one is fixated on the seifhood of things.
In the case of the AMF's wisdom obstructions, one is instead understood
to be absorbed in the apprehension of suchness, and is thus incapable of
making proper distinctions in regard to phenomena. What is being
obs"tructed, as we have noted above, is "subsequently attained wisdom,"
the correct discrimination used by sages after they have completed the path
of insight. While both obstructions can be seen as being extremely sub-
tle, the obstructions to wisdom would tend to be defined in the
context of their activity in the minds of those who have already had some
transformative experience with correct awareness. Thus the wisdom
obstructions affect advanced practitioners who need to be skillful in the
handling of mundane circumstances for the purpose of teaching - bodhi-
sattvas. We can here again in the case of the cognitive obstructions char-
acterize the distinction between the exoteric/esoteric approaches by say-
ing that those from the original Y ogacara system are more schematic in
their charting of the constitution of the hindrances, while the AMF explains
them functionally - in terms of the actual impedimentary effects they
engender.
Weonhyo winds up the explanation of the cognitive obstructions by
linking them back around through the concept of intrinsic ignorance to
the hypostases of ignorance M,1Yj11:f.fu taught in the Srfmiilii-sutra. In so
doing, he absorbs the cognitive aspects of both of the AMP's obstruc-
tions into "intrinsic ignorance." While intrinsic ignorance functions to blur
phenomenal distinctions, it is at the same time the primary factor in that
allows the six defiled mental states to slip into their chain reaction. Thus,
the most fundamental form of ignorance is simultaneously anterior and
posterior to the afflictive obstructions, their initial condition as well as their
outcome. Weonhyo says:
Intrinsic ignorance, the basis upon which the six defiled mental states are
established, is the most extremely subtle fonn of darkness and non-awareness.
Confused in regard to the oneness and equality of the nature [of living
beings] within, one is unable to face outside and grasp the distinctions in
characteristics. Therefore one lacks the ability to grasp to objectively dis-
tinguished differences, not to mention the difference between them and cor-
rect cognition. Since the characteristics [of suchness] are the things most near,
this ignorance is the most distant thing from them. It is like the nearness of
the lowest acolyte to the head monk. Within all of birth-and-death there is
not a single thing that is more subtle than ignorance and which serves as a
basis. Only with this as a basis [does thought] suddenly appear. Therefore
it is called "beginningless ignorance." (RBJ 1.795all-14)
To reiterate, the original Y ogacara explanation of the two hindrances
tends to be schematic in its emphasis, describing precisely where the hin-
drances fit into the intricate map of consciousness, while the AMP's descrip-
tion has a functional orientation. It tells us that the afflictive obstructions
would affect beginning-to-advanced practitioners who are yet unable to
control the movement of their thoughts, while the wisdom obstructions
affect advanced practitioners who have already succeeded in stabilizing
their thoughts, but who still get stuck in one-pointed absorption in tathatii.
We can here make the obvious connection between the AMF's afflic-
tive/wisdom obstructions and the pair of meditative techniques known as
samatha and vipaSyanii - to which a portion of the AMF is allotted for
222 CHARLES MULLER
discussion. The afflictive obstructions, which have movement and agita-
tion as their basic character, would be an impediment to samatha (calm
abiding), while the tendency to be absorbed in suchness and the inability
to make proper distinctions would interfere with the function of vipasyanii
(analytical meditation).15 Thus, again, a practice orientation.
5. The Two Hindrances in the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The next major reworking of the hindrances is found in the influential
East Asian apocryphon, the Sutra of Peifect Enlightenment [SP] (Yuan-
jue jing I I J J l * ~ ) the epitomic "original enlightenment" text that grew out
of the nascent Chan/Huayan nexus, taking the soteriological schemes
developed by the AMF as its basis, expressing these even more directly
roto the realm of practical application.
16
The standard characterization made by modem scholars regarding the
Chan/Huayanrriantai attitude toward the branch of East Asian Y ogacara
known as Faxiang has been to maintain that the East Asians were on
the whole unreceptive to Faxiang's unwieldy technical categories, to the
notion of rigidly predetermined religious capacities, and to the require-
ment of three incalculable eons for the attairIment of Buddhahood.
17
While
most specialists in this area would probably still acknowledge that there
is some measure of truth contained in this general observation, it should
be taken in counterbalance with an awareness of the extent to which, on
the other hand, the East Asian tradition actually had little recourse but to
adopt a significant amount of Y ogacara technical language to establish the
foundations of East Asian Buddhist systems of psychology, epistemology,
and soteriology. Such fundamental Yogacara concepts as the eight con-
sciousnesses, eighteen realms, three natures, karmic seeds and habit ener-
gies, two hindrances, and so on, became basic vocabulary for East Asian
doctrinal schools such as Tiantai and Huayan, and can be shown to have
15 Interestingly, as obvious as this correlation seems, I have not seen it qJade in either
the classical commentaries on the AMF or in modern studies.
. 16 For an annotated translation of this sutra, please see my book, The Sutra of Perfect
Enlightenment: Korean Buddhism's Guide to Meditation.
17 See for example, Kenneth Ch'en's Buddhism in China, p. 325, and Wing-Tsit Chan's
Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, p. 373.
223
their influences in Chan as well. But while seeking to ground themselves
in Indian doctrinal foundations, the founders of the indigenous East Asian
schools were equally determined to present something that would resonate
well enough with indigenous metaphysical and soteriological intmtions
that it could be put into practice. Thus, while they sometimes used Yogaca-
ra and other Indian Buddhist concepts intending a close approximation of
their original meaning, they just as often drastically reworked them for
application to their own models of practice and enlightenment.
A significant part of the new articulation of Buddhist doctrines came
in the form of the composition of new scriptures
18
such as the SPE, and
the most common denominator shared by East Asian indigenous works
connected with the formation of indigenous Chinese schools was a logic
based in the East Asian essence-function (tiyong mm) paradigm, along
with a special concern for the notion of sudden enlightenment.
19
With
the watershed text for this essence-function transformation of Buddhism
being the AMF, tiyong-oriented and sudden enlightenment-attentive teach-
ings appeared one after the other in the form of such scriptures as the
lingang sanmeijing the Platform Sutra (Liuzu tanjing
the SPE, along with various other commentaries produced
within the emerging Huayan and Chan traditions. The SPE is exemplary
as an East Asian composition that appropriates a number of seminal
Indian teachings, reinterpreting these for application into its own system
of practice.
20
The SPE's formal discussion of the two hindrances comes in its fifth
chapter (Chapter of the bodhisattva Maitreya), the chapter that carries out
the most extensive appropriation of Yogacara structures. Here, in response
to Maitreya's request for a set of criteria by which to distinguish practi-
tioners according to level, the Buddha answers by arranging practitioners
18 For a full volume treatment of the phenomenon of East Asian apocrypha, see Robert
Buswell's Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha.
19 See the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, p. 10-14.
20 One of the most prominent examples of this adaptation can be seen when the author
of the SPE explains the traditional Indian meditation methods of samatha and vipaSyanii,
but then introduces a wholly new, third type of practice called chan'na (dhyiina
which later becomes shortened to chan) that is understood to subsume and transcend the
prior two.
224
CHARLES MULLER
into five which he calls the "five natures" - a' clirect reference
to the five natures of Faxiang.
21
In contrast to the Faxiang model of the five natures, which was created
for the purpose of making clear distinctions between practitioners in terms
of their predetermined soteric capacities, the SPE's "natures of practi-
tioners" are fluid levels on the path of religious awareness that are attain-
able by anyone. Rather than being fIrm predilections, these "natures"
refer instead to the quality of one's present attainment, judged .according
to the degree to which one has eliminated various types of obstructions
to liberation and correct awareness. The SPE further alters the original
Yogacara scheme by actually presenting not five, but six kinds of prac-
titioners, with the re-interpretation of the Yogaciira icchantika category
into two different types of characters, who are listed below as number one
and number six.
The six are: (1) those who have not achieved any actualization what-
soever of their buddhahood (but this, like the others, is not a fixed limita-
tion, and therefore practitioners at this level are encouraged to move ahead
by eliminating their own coarse hindrances to liberation.); (2) those who
have attained to the level of the two vehicles; (3) those who have attained
to the level of bodhisattva; (4) those who have attained to the level of bud-
dhahood. Number five (5) is the "indeterminate" nature, which is appro-
priated in the SPE to express the Chan belief in the possibility of the
immediate attainment of enlightenment by anyone. (6) Those who in their
self-delusion believe themselves to be enlightened, and hence deem them-
selves qualified to serve as spiritual guides to others. As we will see below,
tl1js category is of special importance to our present discussion, as it rep-
resents an important component of the distinctive interpretation applied
to the cognitive hindrances in the SPE. The criteria by which these "five"
natures are distinguished is none other than the two kinds of hindrances.
The sutra reads:
(
21 In Faxiang, these were five predispositions that practitioners were believed to possess
in of their potential for attainment of liberation. They included (1) and (2) the two
lesser vehicle practitioners (arhats and pratyekabuddhas), (3) great vehicle practitioners
(bodhisattvas), (4) those whose nature is not detennined, and (5) icchantikas - persons
so depraved that they are incapable of attaining liberation, no matter what they do.
225
Good .due to. s.e?-tient beings generate ignorance
and manifest .the distinctions and mequalities of the five natures. Based on
the two kinds of hindrances they manifest deep and shallow [resistance to
liberation]. What are the two kinds of hindrances? The first are the hindrances
of principle, which obstruct correct awareness; the second are the phenom-
enal hindrances, which impel the continuation of saTflsara.
What are the five natures? Good sons, if sentient beings have not yet been
able to eliminate the two kinds of hindrances, this is called "non-consumnia-
tion of one's Buddhahood." If sentient beings permanently discard desire,
then they have succeeded in removing the phenomenal hindrances, but have
not yet eliminated the hindrances of principle. They are able to awaken in
the way of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas but are not able to manifest and
dwell in the state of the bodhisattva.
Good sons, if all sentient beings of the degenerate age desire to float on the
great ocean of the Tathiigata's Perfect Enlightenment, they should first arouse
the determination to eliminate the two kinds of hindrances. Once the two
kinds of hindrances are quelled,22 one can awaken and enter the state of the
bodhisattva.
After permanently eIiminating the hindrances of phenomena and principle,
one is able to enter the sublime Perfect Enlightenment of the Tathagata, and
able to fully accomplish bodhi and great nirvana.
Good sons, all sentient beings without exception actualize Perfect Enlight-
enment. When you meet a Genuine Teacher, rely on the dharma-practice of
the causal stage that he sets up for you. When you follow this practice, both
sudden and gradual will be included. If you come upon the correct path of
practice of the unsmpassed bodhi of the Tathagatas, then there are no "supe-
22 "Elimination" and "quelling" are technical terms with specific applica-
tion in two hindrances discourse. In Yoglicara path theory, the main portion of the afflic-
tive hindrances proper (i.e., leaving out the categories of seeds, habit energies and some
subtle cognitive hindrances) are first "quelled" in the Path of In$ight, and then "eliminated"
in the Path of Cultivation, or the illtimate Path. Quelling refers to it subjugation of the hin-
drances, where their activity has been stopped, but they still exist in latent form. Elimina-
tion means final, complete eradication, which Weonhyo compares to uprooting, and then
burning, the roots of a plant. We can see from this phrase that entry into the realm of the
bodhisattvas is characterized by quelling of both, but at this stage there is not yet elimi-
nation. Weonhyo devotes an extensive section in the Ijangui to the matter of "distinctions
in eIimination arid quelling." In this section in the Ijangui, the variations in quelling and
elimination according to the type of practice, according to the text and so forth, are far more
complex than those presented here in the SPE. For example, "entry into the realm of the
bodhisattva" would have to be clearly defined in terms of a precise stage, and as to whether
one started out on the bodhisattva path from the beginning, or, to borrow a phrase from
Jan Nattier, "merged left" from a two-vehicle pathway.
226 CHARLES MULLER
rior" or "inferior" abilities of people: all accomplish buddhahood. (T 842.
17 .916b20-c7; RBI 7.146a; Muller, Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, pp. 144-
146.)
While we know that the author of the SP E had both the Y ogacara and
AMF models of the hindrances in mind while composing the sutra,23 when
it comes to introducing them, he starts by distancing himself from these
prior models by abandoning their translated Chinese nomenclature. For
"cognitive hindrances/obstructions to wisdom" / he uses
"hindrances of principle and for afflictive hindrances/obstructions
/ he uses "hindrances of phenomena *Ilt." This is a ref-
erence to li and shi as they are established in the Huayan commentarial
tradition, where li refers to enlightenment at the level of the apprehension
of the empty character of existence, wherein the practitioner perceives
suchness. Shi refers to the ordinary discriminating consciousness. The li-shi
pair is also one of the many East Asian analogs to the tiyong paradigm,
being the predominant Buddhist tiyong variant starting from the Tang
period. Given this context, we would assume the hindrances of phenomena
to be related to obstructions derived from the unenlightened discriminating
consciousness, whereas hindrances of principle would be impediments that
are concerned in some way with insight into the empty nature of existence.
One question that would arise based on the interpretations of the hin-
drances that we have encountered thus far is whether "principle" is under-
stood as acting as an agent of obstruction, or if it is insight into principle
that is being obstructed - or both. This question will be treated below.
While the utilization of the five natures theory here only has a very gen-
eral. correspondence with the original Y ogacara categories, when it comes
to the hindrances, the author intends a much closer correlation. The ini-
tial definition resonates with the Yogacara model by: (1) Arranging the
two from the perspective of the hindrances of principle being impedi-
mentary with regard to correct apprehension of reality (thus, cognition),
and the hindrances of phenomena (affliction) being the force propelling
the continuity of sa1'[lsiira, and (2) Arranging them according to the gen-
23 One hint of confIrmation of the author's awareness of both defInitions of the hin-
drances is that in labeling them, he uses both of the Chinese characters used by Xuanzang
and the AMF respectively to render the meaning of the hindrances/obstructions: zhang
from the Xuanzang translations, and ai i! from the AMF.
eral distinction made between the respective abilities to quell and eliminate
demonstrated by unenlightened practitioners, adherents of the two vehicles,
bodhisattvas, and buddhas. The Y ogacara analysis of the distinctions of
levels of practitioners in terms of their success in quelling or eliminating
specific types of hindrances - treated in detail in the Jjangui - matches
this (being articulated, of course,in infinitely greater detail).
While the SPE's hindrances, based on this brief explanation, can be cor-
related to the normative Y ogacara/Faxiang hindrances in terms of their
priority and the respective domains of their impedimentary function, there
are problems to be seen if we scrutinize the way the hindrances are named
and defmed. In Faxiang, the cognitive hindrances are defined as the impu-
tation of self onto objective phenomena, which is inverse in connotation
to the SPE's term, "hindrances of principle." There are similar problems
with correlating the SPE's hindrances of principle with the wisdom obstruc-
tions of the AMF (Weonhyo's "esoteric" hindrances), since in the AMF,
the obstructions to wisdom are defined in their role of obfuscation of phe-
nomenal wisdom, which is again, opposite in connotation from the "prin-
ciple" terminology of the SPE.
Analogous problems arise in trying to reconcile the afflictive obstructions
of the AMF (which are impedimentary toward the effort of perceiving
suchness) with the SPE's hindrances of "phenomena." We will examine
options for resolving these problems below.
6. Zongmi's Analysis of the Hindrances
Having at length arrived at a modicum of understanding of the diffi-
culties involved here based on my own analysis of these texts, I became
curious as to whether any classical scholars had attempted to grapple with
the complex relationship among these three models of the hindrances.
The most obvious candidate here would be the Chan/Huayan patriarch
Zongmi (** 780-841), since, in addition to being the principal com-
mentator on the SPE,24 he also did extensive work on the AMF, and was
24 Zongmi wrote seven commentaries on the sutra, the most comprehensive of which
was called the Great Commentary on the Sutra of Peifect Enlightenment (IIJU:kilfrt).
He also wrote two commentaries on the AMF, a fact that is not surprising, given the close
relationship between the two texts. Peter Gregory, in his study of Zongmi, devotes much
228 CHARLES MULLER
well-versed in Faxiang phenomenology. In investigating Zongmi's com-
mentary on this "five natures" passage in his Great Commentary, I was
more than pleased to find out that he perceived precisely the same prob-
lems that I have raised here in reconciling both the naming and ostensive
content of the SPE's hindrances with those of Yogacara and the AMF.
(In fact, I found Zongmi' s discussion to be such a useful overview of the
various problems involved in arriving at an integral understanding of the
three approaches that I went straight ahead and translated the entire sec-
tion, but after realizing that it would be a bit cumbersome to include it
here, placed it on my web site.)25 From here, I will summarize the main
points of Zongmi's analysis.
Zongmi starts by explaiI).ing the original Y ogacara connotations of the
hindrances and shows how, broadly spealdng, the Yogacara pair of afflic-
tive/cognitive hindrances are to be mapped to the SPE's phenomenal/prin-
ciple hindrances. The definition of the phenomenal hindrances as being
mental disturbances that impel the continuity of birth and death is classic
Yogacara. The hindrances of principle are to be understood as equivalent
to the cognitive hindrances, in the context of the Y ogacara understanding
that the knowables in themselves are not the hindrances.
Zongmi then follows Weonhyo (although he doesn't cite him) by mak-
ing a parellel hermeneutic distinction between the hindrances found in
Yogacara (which he calls their "formal" ~ approach - equivalent to
Weonhyo's "exoteric" approach), and those taught in the Awakening of
Faith (which he calls the "essential" II approach - equivalent to Weon-
hyo's "esoteric" approach). The reader should recall now that the afflic-
t i ~ t : : obstructions of the AMF exhibited both an afflictive and a cognitive
character. Zongmi states this explicitly, distinguishing the deftled mental
states (afflictive obstructions) according to the AMF's own hermeneutic
principle of the two kinds of aspects: (1) the aspect of non-enlighten-
ment and (2) the aspect of continuity of rebirth. He associates the aspect
of the continuity of rebirth, as we might expect, with the SPE's pheno-
menal hindrances, and takes the aspect of non-enlightenment and places
space to explaining Zongmi's relationship with the SPE. See Tsung-mi and the Sinijication
of Buddhism.
2S See http;llwww.hm.tyg.jpl-acmullerldigitexts.htm. and in the event of a change ofURL,
please search for "Zongmi on the Two Hindrances". This passage covers Z 243.9.333-334.
THE YOGACARA TWO IllNDRANCES 229
it together with the AMF's wisdom obstructions in the category of the
SPE's hindrances of principle. In this way, the hindrances of principle have
come, from the perspective of the AMF, to be virtually identical with
"intrinsic ignorance."
His discussion of the AMP's obstructions to wisdom follows the treat-
ment given in Weonhyo's latter commentary. He says: "[I]gnorance has
the function of blurring, such that things are not properly distinguished.
Since this opposes the function of [discriminating] wisdom, it is called
the obstruction to wisdom." (Z 243.9.333b9) He goes on to say that even
though the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment attributes this kind of "blur-
ring" activity to the hindrances of principle, in fact they operate within
both the hindrances of principle and phenomena in the SPE. In this sense,
the implications are closer to normative Y ogacara than to the AMF, since
in the AMF, the blurring function is limited to the domain of wisdom
obstructions. In the original Yogacara model, although the cognitive hin-
drances are defined differently in terms of function and priority, they are
understood as operating inseparably from the afflictive hindrances.
Zongmi is also attentive to the confusion that arises based on the fact
that the description of the AMF's obstructions of the wisdom of suchness
(afflictive obstructions) seem to match conceptually with the SPE's hin-
drances of principle (given the similarity in connotation between the notions
of principle !11!. and suchness tzO), while the AMF's hindrances to karmic
wisdom seem to match with the SPE's phenomenal hindrances. Such a
mapping would of course controvert the intentions of the SPE's author.
Zongmi says:
Since, in the case of the Awakening of Faith, it is opposites that obstruct each
other, the six deflled mental states obstruct the wisdom of suchness, and
ignorance obstructs the wisdom that discriminates the world. It is precisely
because this relationship seems contradictory that the author of that treatise
saw the need to clarify himself, saying "what does this mean?"
Zongmi settles this by declaring that the confusion arises due to an
attachment to the literal meaning of the words, which obscures the general
purpose of the passage - which is to distinguish the basic implications
of the concepts of "ignorance" and "affliction." He says:
If we approach the two hindrances of principle and phenomena in a general
sense, then anything that obstructs the principle and [discriminating] wisdom,
230 CHARLES MULLER
causing them not to be clearly manifest, can be collectively called "ignorance."
And that which prevents mental functioning from attaining liberation, can
be collectively called "affliction." Since the emphasis of the teaching in the .
SPE is on principle and [discriminating] wisdom, both of the hindrances taught
in the AMF can be generally subsumed under the category of hindrances of
principle taught in the SPE. (Z 243.9.333a7-11)
In other words, the two obstructions to both kinds of cognition - that
which perceives suchness and that which carries out correct discrimina-
tion - are together subsumed in the category of "obfuscation of correct
awareness," again, equivalent to the AMF's intrinsic ignorance.
We can now summarize the connotations of the hihdrances of the SPE
by saying that they are intended, as much as possible, to subsume both
of the prior models. They are expected to be understood according to the
basic afflictive!cognitive distinction in the Yogacara model, but they also
follow the function-oriented shift of the AMF by widening the definition
of the cognitive to include both subjectively and objectively oriented
hindrances. There is also the overriding correlation of the arrangement of
the hindrances according to the level of the practitioners. For example,
all three versions of the cognitive/wisdom/principle hindrances are under-
stood to be particularly impedimentary to bodltisattvas. In the Yogacara
explanation, the removal of the cognitive hindrances is the focus of the
practice of the bodhisattvas. In Weonhyo's commentary to theAMF, they
are the obstructions that affect bodhisattvas. In the Sutra of Perfect Enlight-
enment, bodhisattvahood is evaluated in terms of the degree to which the
hindrances of principle have been eliminated.
Taking note that the prioritization of the cognitive aspect was a promi-
nent dimension of the AMF, we can observe that the SPE takes the pri-
oritization of the cognitive to an almost exclusive level. This point is well
attended by Zongmi, who wraps up his discussion of the hindrances by
saying:
I will next give a special interpretation to the [meaning of] the hindrances
of principle. When, in the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, there is something
that is obstructed, consciousness [rather than objects] must necessarily be the
basis [of the problem]. The sutra initially says "hindrances of principle,"
but this is a term applied to the obstruction of correct awareness, which is
in fact a matter that transcends such categories as essence arid characteristics.
This is because this sutra takes correct awareness as its cardinal principle.
(Z 243.9.333all-13) [emphasis mine]
Those who have done serious study of the SPE will sense that there is
more to this shift than simply an enhanced tendency to focus on cogni-
tive, rather than affective problems. A new dimension to the cognitive will
be broached that was never explicitly stated in the context cif the
Y ogacara texts or the AMF, which is the increasingly subjective and prac-
tical indication of the function of cognitive hindrances as being entrap-
ment in the views one has constructed based on some sort of limited
experience of awakening. While this tendency is sharply distinguished
from the Y ogacara perspective, which focuses more precisely on the impu-
tation of selfhood onto entities, we can glean the beginnings of such an
approach in the discussion of the wisdom obstructions in the AMF, where
awareness is obscured by one's absorption in a view of suchness. But the
SPE goes one step beyond this, turning the warning against becoming
attached to incomplete experiences of enlightenment into its central theme
in the latter portions of the text.
The real expansion of the meaning of the hindrances of principle in
their role as errors in regard to the reification of transmundane insights
takes place mainly in chapters six (pure Wisdom Bodhisattva) and nine
(Purifier of All Karmic Hindrances Bodhisattva). In those chapters we
find the focus to be especially on the reification of experiences of reli-
gious insight as the most dangerous kinds of obstacles to liberation. The
SPE warns that since these experiences almost invariably fall short of
perfect realization, rather than eliminating hindrances, they serve instead
to create newer, subtler obstacles that lie dormant in the iiZaya conscious-
ness, awaiting the appropriate causes and conditions for their re-manifes-
tation. The worst thing that one can do then, for example, based on an
experience of "kensho," is to assume that one has attained a significant
level of realization and to start playing the role of guru. The sutra says:
Good sons, these sentient beings of the degenerate age who are practicing
bodhi regard the ego's infinitesimal perception as their own purity, and are
therefore unable to penetrate to the root of the self-trace. If someone praises
their [mistaken] dharma, then they will be overjoyed and immediately try
to save him. But if someone criticizes their attainments, they will be filled
with anger and resentment. Hence, you can know that the trace of self is
being firmly held to; it is concealed in the store consciousness and is playing
freely throughout the faculties without interruption. (T 842.l7.919c23; Sutra
of Perfect Enlightenment, p. 212.)
232 CHARLES MULLER
Unless enlightenment is complete and final - "perfect" - it reverts
to an understanding, and becomes a hindrance.
26
This theme is summed
up most succinctly in the chapter of the bodhisattva Pure Wisdom:
Good sons, all bodhisattvas see their understanding as an obstruction. But
even if they eliminate the "understanding-obstruction," they still abide in a
view of enlightenment. This "enlightenment-obstruction" becomes a hindrance
and they are not perfectly free. (T 842.17.917a21; Sutra of Perfect Enlighten-
ment, p. 160.)
7. Conclusions
We have seen a series of progressive moves made here with the hin-
drances here that have parallels with other aspects of the absorption and
adaptation of Indian Buddhist paradigms into East Asia. Especially where
Y ogacara concepts are concerned, the transformation that occurred in the
process of assimilation of Buddhism into China is usually characterized
as "reductionism." 27 For example, in this case, the intricate and complex
framework of the Y ogacara hindrances - through the five paths, hundred
dharmas, various arrays of afflictions, delusions - both latent
and active - is subsumed into the six defiled minds and obstruction of
subsequently-attained wisdom in the AMP. In the Sutra of Perfect Enlight-
enment, these are further reduced in the fifth chapter to two categories of
the li-shi paradigm, and as Zongmi shows, ultimately reduced to the sin-
gular blindness of our misapprehensions of enlightenment.
While later "classical Chan" discourse drops the usage of the techni-
cal terms "cognitive hindrance" or "hindrance of principle," Chan prac-
tice: especially the form of Chan practice that includes direct interaction
between teacher and student, becomes focused almost exclusively on the
removal of cognitive hindrances in the broad sense taught in the SPE, as
26 Concern with this problem has direct bearing on the naming of the title of the sutra,
with emphasis being placed on the fact that unless enlightenment is total, or "perfect," it
is really not enlightenment at all. The Chan/Zen school has, down to modem times, placed
emphasis on the attainment of insight experiences. This sutra warns against deceiving one-
self in regard to these experiences.
27 A theme discussed, for example, in Robert Buswell's Formation of Ch'an Ideology
and Dan Lusthaus' more recent Buddhist Phenomenology, although these two scholars
have significantly different takes on the process of Sinification.
the Chan masters. were (and still are) expected to identify in their students
the prejudices, presuppositions, and most importantly, attachment to
incomplete enlightenment experiences, which become nothing but a new
form of delusion.
From a perspective of Buddhist historical/textual scholarship that
focuses on the precise maintenance of certain forms of discourse, there
is a tendency to see this reductionism in a mostly disparaging light -
especially where it has tended toward the kind of essentialism associated
with the "original enlightenment" thought despised by Critical Buddhists.
I would suggest, as an alternative, that such "streamlining," to be properly
understood, must be seen in the full context of the needs of those who car-
ried it out. Starting with the transition to the AMF, the central concern is
about the ability to apply these Y ogacara concepts to the situation of
actual practice. Although the original meaning of "yogacara" is obstensi-
bly "yoga practice," it is apparent that an elaborate understanding of the
subtle permutations of the meaning of the hindrances in that system is not
going to be of much use in the context of actual contemplation practice
for most people. It would be unwieldy, and perhaps even a distraction in
the context of meditation. Thus the transformations of Indian teaching in
such texts as the AMF and SPE are perhaps not so much for the purpose
of creating a match with East Asian philosophical paradigms for merely
conceptual purposes, but to allow the doctrine to have some relevance
for application in actual practice.
Acknowledgments
An early draft of this paper was presented at the Y ogacara Seminar of
the American Academy of Religion at the 2001 Annual Meeting in Den-
ver, and the input from Seminar members toward its further development
has been invaluable. I would like to specially thank Cuong Nguyen, my
volume editor in the Weonhyo translation project, and Dan Lusthaus, who
took an interest in this paper from an early point in time. The time I have
spent in discussion and debate with both of these excellent scholars over
the finer interpretations of the hindrances and related Yogacara issues
has contributed much to the depth of this paper - although it still leaves
much to be desired in providing a truly comprehensive and accurate dis-
234 . CHARLES MULLER
cussion of this topic. I would also like to thank the members of the Tokyo
Buddhist Discussion Group for their input on various parts of this paper
that I presented in our meetings in Gene Reeves' living room in Nakano
Fujirni-cho. Finally, I would like to convey my appreciation to the anony-
mous peer-review reader, whose comments were pivotal in the reorgani-
zation of this paper.
Bibliography
Modem Works
Buswell, Robert E., Jr. (1989) The Formation of Ch 'an Ideology in China and
Korea: The Vajrasamiidhi-sittra, a Buddhist Apocryphon. Princeton, NJ: Prince-
ton University Press.
-, ed. (1989) Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha. Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press.
Cook, Frances H., trans. (1999) Three Texts on Consciousness Only. Berkeley:
Numata Center for Translation and Research.
Gregory, Peter N. (1991) Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Lusthaus, Dan. (2002) Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation
of Yogiiciira Buddhism and the Ch' eng Wei-shih Lun. London: Routledge-
Curzon.
Muller, A. Charles. (1999) The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment: Korean Buddhism's
Guide to Meditation. Albany: SUNY Press.
Park, Sung Bae. (1983) Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment. Albany: SUNY
Press.
Swanson, Paul L. (1983) "Chih-I's Interpretation ofjfieyiivaral;a: An Application
of the Three-Fold Truth Concept." Annual Memoirs of the Otani University
Shin Buddhist Comprehensive Research Institute. vol. 1, pages 51-72.
Wayman, Alex, and Hideko Wayman, trans. (1974) The Lion's Roar of Queen
Srimiilii. New York: Columbia University Press.
Classical Texts
Cheng weishi lun (Establishing Consciousness Only). T 1585.31.1a-
59a
Da niepanjing (MahaparinirviiJfa-sutra). T 374. 12.365c-603c
Daeseung gisinnon sogi heobon (Combined Commen-
taries on the Awakening of Mahayana Faith). HEJ 1.733-789
Daesung gisinnon byeolgi (Expository Notes on the Awak-
ening of Mahayana Faith). T 1845.44.226a-240c
Dasheng qixin (Treatise on Awakening of Mahayana Faith).
Attributed to T 1665.32.575b-583b
Gisinnon so (Commentary on the Awakening of Mahayana Faith).
T 1844.44.202a-226a
Huayanjing (Avatarp.saka-siitra). T 278.9.395a-788b
ljangui (Doctrine of the Two Hindrances). Weonhyo RBJ 1.789c-
814b
Jingang sanmeijing (Vajrasamadhi-siitra). T 273.9.365c-374b
Liuzu tanjing (Aff!ElJWl*!l!) (platfonn Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch). T 2008.48.346a-
362b
Pusa yingluo benye jing T 1485.24.101Ob-1023a
Renwang jing (C.:E*!l!) (Sutra for Humane Kings). T 245.8.825a-834
Shengmanjing (Wjt%!l!) (SrlmaIa-siitra). T 353.12.217a-223b
Yuanjue jing (f111t*'!l!) (Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment). T 842.17.913a-922a
Yuanjuejing dashu (Great Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect
Enlightenment). Zongmi. Z 243.9.324a-418b
Abbreviations
RBJ Hanguk bulgyo jeonseo [The Collected Texts of Korean Buddhism] (1984).
Seoul: Dongguk University Press.
T TaishO shinshU daizokyo [Japanese Edition of the Buddhist Canon] (1924-35).
Tokyo: Daiz6ky6kai.
Z Zokuzokyo [Dai nihon zokuzokyo] (1905-1912). Kyoto: Zoky6 shoin.
BOOK REVIEW
Kurt A. BEHRENDT, The Buddhist Architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orien-
talistik:, section II, India, volume seventeen, Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2004,
ISBN 90-04-11595-2 (also written 90 04135952).
I am used to reading bad books with pretentious titles, but seldom till now (and
I am 64 years old) with such amazement and growing indignation. Amazement,
because here is a book which, by its lack of methodology and basic knowledge,
pushes back this subject by more than one hundred years. Indignation because
being published in a well known series, till now renowned for its scholarly stan-
dards, it will become easily available, somewhat popular, deceive all the beginners
and give our colleagues not specializing in this field a wrong and outdated impres-
sion of the standards we usually achieve. To say it in a few words, this is not a
handbook, but a Ph.D. by somebody who does not know any of the main lan-
guages of Ancient Buddhism; does not seem to have read any Buddhist treatise
even in English translations; has a very limited knowledge - and even compre-
hension - of modem Buddhist scholarship; uses the word "architecture" only
as a substitute for "planning, masonry, iconic decoration" and "Gandhara" as a
substitute for Pakistan.
If this book was, as sometimes happens now, a Ph.D. written in a remote uni-
versity fifty years ago and published as an act of filial devotion by the son or
grandson of the deceased author, the review could stop at that. But this is a Ph.D.
of the University of California, Los Angeles, where I have many respected col-
leagues and even friends. Its supervisor was Robert Brown, Professor of Art His-
tory in its Center for Southeast Asian Studies!. The General Editor of the series
is my respected colleague and foremost Buddhist and Sanskrit scholar Johannes
Bronkhorst, Professor of Indian Studies at Lausanne University. Anyone would
believe that, being backed by these authorities, K. Behrendt's book cannot deserve
such appreciations. So let us go in more details.
K.L. Behrendt knows well that Gandhara, properly speaking, is the ancient
name of the Peshawar province. He makes a distinction, which the title of the
book skillfully skips, between "the Peshawar basin or ... ancient Gandhara ... and
Greater Gandhara ... used here for the large cultural sphere that includes parts of
Afghanistan, Kashmir, and the Swat valley, as well as the Peshawar basin"( p. 2)2.
1 Whom I know mainly through his paper on "The Walking Tilya Tepe Buddha: A Lost
Prototype" in Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 14, 2000 [2003].
2 References to pages given between brackets without any other indication refer to the
book here reviewed.
238 GERARD FUSSMAN
One could question this terminology, for Behrendt's Greater Gandhiira overlaps
what some scholars call (wrongly also, to my mind) Greater Kashmir. One could
also question the concept, because.ifEastern Afghanistan, Swat, Ancient Gandhiira
and parts of Northern Panjab(i.e. Taxila) compose, despite local differences, a
cultural unit with a common language (gandhan), script artistic idiom
(Gandhiiran art) and distinctive history (having been included in the Achaemenid
Empire), ancient links with Kashmir are elusive. But the title would not have
been deceptive if the book were about the Buddhist architecture of Ancient or
Greater Gandhiira. It is not. It is a book whose scope is limited to Pakistan, and
its scope is limited to Pakistan probably because K. Behrendt does not 'master
French enough for using its scholarly literature. The exclusion of Afghanistan is
thus .explained: "Documentation of many excavations conducted in Afghanistan
before the Soviet invasion is poor, because many of the archaeologists have died,
leaving excavation descriptions unpublished. In light of these problems, the mate-
rial from Afghanistan is covered here only in a limited extent" (p. 22). Let us
comment that somewhat surprising sentence. The archaeologists in charge of
Buddhist excavations in Eastern Afghanistan "before the Soviet invasion" (1978)
who have died are Barthoux, Meunie, Hackin and Carl whose excavations done
before 1940 are published and easily available. One may criticize the way they
were done, specially when one does not know under which constraints they
worked; one may criticize the way they were published, sometimes posthumously,
but, to cite only one instance, the site of Shotorak near by Begram is much bet-
ter documented than any site near by Peshawar and many sites near by Taxila,
which are much commented upon by K. Behrendt. The first Afghan explorer of
Haqqa near by Jelalabad, ChaYbaY Moustamindy, also has died, but nobody
expected any new publication from him. The last excavator of Haqqa, Z. Tarzi,
is well alive and easy to "meet: he is Professor at Strasbourg University. Prof.
Kuwayama is retired, but alive and K. Behrendt met him. The last explorer of
Buddhist monuments around Kabul, i.e. myself, met K. Behrendt in Kansas-City
in 2000. As for Ghazni, if it is also to be included in K. Behrendt "Greater Gan-
dhiira", K. Behrendt was lucky enough to meet M. Taddei before his untimely
death and to work in the Istituto Orientale di Napoli where G. Verardi holds a
chair for years (p. xxvii). He could also use the reports and papers they both
wrote, and he even lists the two main ones (p. 21 n. 24).
Although only Eastern Afghanistan was part of the Gandhiiran cultural area,
the long note 23 pp. 20-21 includes Bamiyan, which cannot be said to be part of
Gandhiira, and lists the Afghan Z. Tarzi among the French archaeologists, while
referring to only one of his Haqqa papers. Note 25 p. 21 gives under the page
subtitle "Overview of Greater Gandhara" a bibliography of Japanese publications
which includes not only Bamiyan, but also Chaqalaq Tepe and Haibak, well to
the north of Hindukush, i.e. in Southern Bactria.
"The western edge of Greater Gandhara includes the area of Kashmir, which is
currently (2003) inaccessible because of civil war. The early Buddhist architectural
REVIEW 239
tradition from Kashmir has been documented only sparsely; it is not included
here" (p. 22). I m u ~ t confess that if there are/were remains of early Buddhist
architectural monuments in Kashmir proper (let us say the vale of Srlnagar and
its immediate surrounding), I do not know them. But since 1979 we know, fur-
ther north, detailed engravings of stiipas along the Karakoram Highway leading
to Xinjiang, well and meticulously documented by our German colleagues from
Heidelberg. Inscriptions and comparative archaeology demonstrate they were
made by people coming from or through Gandhara and Kashmir. A huge part of
the bibliography is in German and French, but there are also numerous English
papers and, in anyway, pictures are self-speaking for archaeologists. No reference
is made to them although the importance of the Karakoram route is recognized
3
.
These kinds of shortcomings are usual in Ph.D. where you have to circumscribe
the theme to complete the work in a few years and where many students like to
demonstrate their erudition by listing titles of books and papers they never read.
Bus this is sold as a handbook, supposed to give a detailed survey of Gandharan
Buddhist architecture which thus does not include Shotorak; nor the only Bud-
dhist column still standing a few years ago (the Minar-i Cakri, near by Kabul);
nor Haqqa with its wonderful decorated rooms, its subterranean meditation room,
and its well documented "stucco"4 sculpture; nor the some of best evidence we
have of the entire shape of Gandharan stiipas (the Karakoram engravings, see below).
Indeed this is a book about Taxila, with a few developments on Gandhara proper
(the so-called Peshawar basin) and Swat although "because the Taxila sites are
beyond the Indus river, they cannot be included in Gandhara proper, although they
share many common features" (p. 23 n. 28), which sentence is perfectly right.
The lack of documentation about the monasteries on the right side of the Indus
valley, most of them were dug out at the end of the 19
th
c. or the early 20th c.,
may explain the choice of Taxila as the starting point of a study of Gandharan
Buddhist architecture, but it should have been said openly not to deceive the
3 "The Peshawar basin was a vital trading center because of its strategic location adja-
cent to the Karakoram and Khyber passes crucial to the India-China trade. The major urban
and Buddhist centers of TrudIa were constructed near the mouth of the Hunza valley (sic),
which provides access to the Karakoram pass (sic). As long as the Karakoram route was
the main transit point (sic) into and out of south Asia, the economy in the Peshawar basin
probably thrived, and many Buddhist monasteries and sacred areas were built" (p. 23).
These amazing sentences probably come from a quick reading of one of Prof. Kuwayama' s
papers on Chinese pilgrims'itineraries. I doubt whether the Karakoram route was ever a
major trade route and in any case trade with Iran and Western Central Asia (former Soviet
Central Asia), much more important than trade with China, never passed through the
Karakoram. As for Hunza, which is so far away from TrudIa (a two or three-months jour-
ney before the invention of cars and modern roads), let us suppose it is a slip for Hanpur.
But this is a benevolent explanation for here are other instances of K. Behrendt's geograph-
ical accuracy: "Bactria: Ancient name for a region in Afghanistan"; "Kabul basin: Agri-
cultural region in Afghanistan; now includes the modern city of Kabul" (pp. 306-307), etc.
4 It is plaster.
240 GERARD FUSSMAN
potential reader. hI any case, one wonders whether the good starting point now
is not the Swat valley with many monasteries perfectly dug out and published by
our Italian colleagues and so many inscriptions, recently discovered and published,
shedding light on the religious beliefs of local rulers and monks. But K. Behrendt
does not care neither for inscriptions nor Buddhist literature.
* * *
Although A. Foucher's L'art grico-bouddhique du Gandhiira (paris 1905-
1951) is almost never referred to by K. Behrendt
5
, it set a standard for studying
Buddhist art and is still, by far, the best book on its subject. Foucher's method
is quite obvious. Buddhism being a living religion with a huge ancient literature,
the study of early Buddhist art should be based on a good knowledge of early
Buddhist literature and contemporary inscriptions, thorough examination of the
archaeological remains and observation of present day Buddhist practice, with a
caution against anachronism. Foucher was a good Sanskrit scholar. He had some
personal knowledge of the Nepalese, Ceylonese and Cambodian monastic life.
He was well travelled and studied in details most hIdian Buddhist sites. He was able
to weave all these threads together and produce a pioneering study which is not
yet outdated nor surpassed. It is not outmoded either: most of the scholars I know
are happy to recognize their debt towards this great and witty archaeologist.
Foucher's information is now outdated. Many more hIdian texts are now pub-
lished or available, either in the original hIdian language or in early Chinese and
Tibetan translations. Many inscriptions have surfaced in the last twenty years. The
relative chronology and succession of rulers begin to rest on a sound basis. Many
excavations were made and published since 1905. Thousands of sculptures, many
of them outstanding, were and are being sold in the antiquity markets. The exo-
dus of Tibetan monks since 1959 enormously increased our knowledge of Bud-
dhist doctrines and monastic customs for, as pointed out by so many scholars,
Tibetan buddhism is the direct heir of Kashrniri and Gangetic buddhism. There
is thus scope for a new handbook of Gandharan architecture. But K. Behrendt does
not seem to be acquainted with Buddhist literature, even in translations. He does
not care for inscriptions, even the two sets of Apracaraja and Oqiraja inscriptions
recently published, in journals easily available, by scholars he was able to meet
and who are not close-fisted, as Buddhists used to say. He does not even quote
from the Senavarrna inscription, the most detailed document on early Gandha-
ran Buddhist creed. He quotes some inscriptions, but only when published in
excavations report and fitting his theses. If I am not wrong, three inscriptions only
are fully quoted. The first was found in Ranigat. "The inscription incised on a
stone frame reads Vasudeva Maharaja Devaputrasya Agrabhaga Parihasadaha
5 Although not quoted, Foucher's book is the direct (if K. Behrendt was able to read it)
or indirect source of the typology used pp. 27-38. This is not the sole instance where
K. Behrendt does not acknowledge its debt to the French scholar.
REVIEW 241
Bhaya(tu), or as the excavator translated, "May the great king of Vasudeva be
given supreme happiness"" (p. 98, n.52, sic, without any comment). The English
and Indian wordings are so strange that I often wondered whether it is not a joke
faked by a Japanese student of my respected colleagues from Otani University.
The other inscription is the famous silver scroll dated in the year 136 of Azes
found in a side chapel of the Dharmarajika stiipa. The translation by Konow is
quoted from Marshall's Taxila, p. 256, without reference to the Corpus Inscrip-
tionum Indicarum (1929) where Konow prints a slightly different reading and
translation. This is no great problem because neither Konow's reading nor the two
other comments printed since, do not modify the main meaning of the inscrip-
tion. K. Behrendt's own comments are, to say the least, a bit naIve. "Thus, we
know that an individual had relics of the Buddha placed in his own two-celled
shrine ... That a single patron possessed a relic of the Buddha and that this per-
son from the distant town of Noacha in Bactria chose to donate this shrine is
highly significant. It is unfortunate that we do not know the meaning of the
donor's reference to this structure beeing a Bodhisatvagaharni, translated by Mar-
shall as a bodhisattva chapel" (p. 75). Neither Marshall nor Konow commented
upon bosisatvagaha (sic) because the meaning is obvious: it is a room (grha) with
an image either of a bodhisattva, most probably Maitreya or A valokitesvara, or
of the Buddha still called bodhisattva at that time in Mathuran inscriptions and
on some Kushan coin legends, or even a small stiipa for the stiipa represents the
Buddha. The meaning of taTJuvae may be questioned but the translation "his
own" is now agreed upon. So the inscription has nothing surprising. It states that
the chapel was built with the donor's own money and that he deposited relics
inside to get more merits. Dozens of inscriptions mention such deposits. From
the wording of some of them it is quite clear that the donors claimed responsi-
bility, i.e. a kind of property, for such buildings. They could call them "my stiipa"
and also care for stiipas built by their fathers and forefathers as if it was an inher-
ited possession. The Senavarma inscription is quite clear about this. As for the
Bactrian origin of the donor, as pointed out by Konow, it is only a guess by Mar-
shall. A nice guess, but still a guess.
The third inscription is the well known Kalawan copper plate dated in the year
134 of Azes. Behrendt quotes its translation as printed in an early paper by Mar-
shall, without referring to any of the two papers by Konow nor to subsequent par-
tial editions. For the convenience of the reader, I give here a translation of the
inscription which makes use of everything published about it till now, including
present day agreed upon interpretations of its terminology. As far as Behrendt's
purpose is concerned, there is no major difference between Konow's princeps
translation and the following one. "In the year 134 of Azes, on the twenty-third
23 of the month Srav!lQ.a, at this term, Candrabh(a)6, a female-worshipper, daughter
of the wealthy (grhapati) Dhrama, wife of Bhadrapala, in Chaq.asila, establishes
6 Better than Konow's Candrabhi:.
242
GERARD FUSSMAN
cOIporeal relics
7
in the/her chapel-smpa
8
. With
9
her/his brother the wealthy Nan-
divardhana, with her/his sons Sama/Syama and Sacitta and her/his daughter
Dhrama; with her/his daughters-iI).-law Raiija and Indra; with the iiciirya JIva-
nandin son of Sama/Syama. Given in trust (parigrahe) to the Sarvastivadins.
The kingdom and its cOIporations are honoured. All beings are honoured. May
it be for <their and our> obtainment of nirviil}a".
Here are Behrendts' comments (p. 83). "The inscription shows that the source
of patronage for a major devotional structure, used by the public and occupying
a prominent position within the sacred area, came from a member of the lay com-
munity. It shows that this individual financed an important religious building
critical to the function of the KaIawan sacred area. The inscription shares the
merit generated from this donation with other members of the donor's family ...
This shrine is described in the inscription as being for the common good and
veneration of all beings (can this be understood as public use?) ... The direct
reference to the Sarvastivada Buddhist sect is intriguing ... The nature of this
1st century C.B. religious sect is not well understood." There is no mention in
the inscription neither of a sacred area (see below) nor of a shrine, less so of an
"an important religious building critical to the function of the KaIawan sacred
area". As can be seen from Marshall's description and a look at the plan he pub-
lished, the small building where the deposit was found is a later and minor build-
ing. The smpa built inside was, like every other smpa (at least till the advent of
vajrayiina), open to the reverence of every people, even if protected inside a
room (grha) which could be closed. More than half of the Buddhist donations were
made by lay people. The fact is so well known and expected that G. Schopen had
to write a paper to remind us that monks and nuns could also be donors and were
often so. The donor's goals do not differ from goals expressed in most other
inscriptions, as can already be seen from Konow's introduction to his Corpus
(p. cxvii). Is it necessary to explain to anybody who are the Sarvastivadins and
what is a Buddhist nikiiya? There is nothing in this inscription which deserves
K. Behrendt's amazed comments, except for the date, often commented upon,
and the social context, never commented upon. The donor is a lady, probably
belonging to a wealthy family of (traders?)lO, having personal savings and property,
7 The inscription does not say whose these relics are.
S So Konow, who explain it as "evidently a stiipa standing in a grha, i.e,. a roofed build-
ing. For we have already seen that our stiipa was situated within a chapel that had been
roofed over" (Ep. Ind. XXI, 1931-1932,252). Marshall and Behrendt translate "stiipa shrine"
although grha never means a shrine. H. Falk (2003) wonders whether the compound could
not be understood as meaning garbha-grha-stiipa, which, on philological grounds is equally
possible. But this terminology would be new.
9 That means she gives a share of the merits accruing from her gift to the below-named
people.
10 This seems to be the meaning of grhapati and would explain why corporations are
honoured, i.e. are given a share of the merits.
REVIEW 243
probably widowed and under the care of her brother for she does not share her
merits with her husband, probably family-related to the acarya, who would be
quite young for he was the son of her son or nephew Sama/Syama. The personal
names of the members of this family show that they did not care too much for
the distinction we now make between Induism and Buddhism.
Let us not dwell any more about epigraphy and the usefulness of reading trans-
lated inscriptions and texts (preferably also reading them in their original language)
for a study of patronage and meaning of religious architecture
ll
. K. Behrendt
does not quote any text, probably because he did not care to read them
12
So that
he feels quite free to invent Buddhist categories. I shall only comment - and
briefly so - two expressions which recur as a leitmotiv in his study: "sacred
area" and "double-celled relic-shrine". Sacred area is now fashionable. It is con-
veniently used by anthropologists to make a distinction between religious places
and living quarters. Many archaeologists use it as a shortened designation of that
part of a Buddhist monastery where most of devotional buildings (stiipa, statue-
chapels, etc.) stand as opposed to the living quarters of the monks. That works
well as long as these convenient designations are not transformed illto a concept,
i.e. illto a radical opposition between cultic space and habitations. K. Behrendt
uses it that way, at almost every page as can be seen from quotations already
given, opposing "monastic area" and "sacred area". This is purely non-sense.
There is no way to translate "sacred area" ill an Indian language. In Western lan-
guages the expression refers to a space which cannot be approached except by
authorized people (mainly priests), should be respected, and is so much filled
with divine presence that it can be dangerous (Latin sacer, Arabic /:tarim). In an
Indian context, in this restricted sense, "sacred space" can only refer to the inner
sanctum of a Vedic sacrificial space, of a Indu temple (garbha-grha) and of a
vajrayana cultic room. There is no evidence of vajrayana in Gandhara, except
may be for an Haq.q.a ma1Jq,ala, but drawn ill an open place. Let me remirId that
stiipas were to be built at cross-roads, i.e. in places were every kind of people
and "animals would come. There is another meaning, "bringing religious merit and
profit", Sanskrit pU1Jya, which could be used for describillg Buddhist Gandharan
sites. But in this sense, no distinction can be made between living quarters and
cultic space. For building a monastery or giving alms to the monks brings as
much merit as paying homage to a stiipa as can be seen not only from direct
observation of present day monasteries, but from the story of AnlithapiI;tq.ada and
11 Just a word about the famous Bruxelles Buddha dated in year 5. If Behrendt had only
phoned to any specialist of epigraphy (they are many in the States now thanks
to Prof. R. Salomon's teaching), he would have known that the palaeography of the inscrip-
tion makes sure its Kushan date. That would have spared him his comments on p. 287, as
well as his at least dubious terminology (SravastI devotional icon).
12 It seems that most of his Buddhist information derives from a meeting with G. Schopen
at Kansas City in 2000. G. Schopen is not a bad informant. But he was interviewed too
late and too briefly to improve a manuscript probably already almost fInished.
244 GERARD FUSSMAN
so many inscriptions. fudeed the main stiipa is part of the monastery. If it often
stands outside the living quarters of the monks, either to be built in a prominent
position and be seen from far away or/and make monks' life quieter, there are
many of its being entirely surrounded by the monastic quadrangle,. e.g.
at Paharpur. fudeed, this is the main characteristic of Foucher's "sarpgharama des
plaines". The verb "establishes", used in the inscriptions for the
depositing of relics, refers to a huge ceremony conducted by monks, which means
that most often building a "main" stiipa in a place where there was none before
entailed the building of cells for monks, so that they could care for
the daily upkeep of the stiipa. Let us add that any cell inside the living quarters
where a monk teaches or meditates is as much a "sacred area" as a stiipa. To stop
short at that, the Buddha's cell (gandhakuti), when there was one, stood inside
the cell-quadrangle: that was the "most sacred space" of the whole monastic area,
including its main stiipa!3!
"Double-celled relic-shrines" would be, according to K. Behrendt, a kind of
specific Gandharan way to build "relic-shrines". This should be one of the main
novelties of his book: there were almost everywhere in Gandhara relic-shrines,
housing relics which often could and would be readily displayed to pilgrims or
local believers (his whole chapter III). There exists indeed some evidence that cor-
poreal relics could be exhibited during festivals. K. Behrendt cites the well-known
evidence from Haqqa (outside his Gandhara!) and the Chinese Famensi. He could
have added the better known Kandy tooth etc. But the same Chinese pilgrims who
refer to the Haqqa bone-skull do not refer to any other display of cor-
poreal relics in Gandhara. As for material relics, only the Buddha's bowl in
Peshawar is referred to: as everyone knows this is the only material
possession of the Buddha which could have been preserved from the funeral fIre.
Now we have dozens of inscriptions commemorating the establishment of relics,
some of which have even be recovered, sometimes in situ. The overwhelming evi-
dence shows that these tiny fragments of bones or particles of ashes supposedly
recovered from the Buddha's funeral pyre where buried under huge heaps of
earth and stone, never to be seen again. When by accident, either a storm or an
earthq1lake (see the Senavarma inscription), they were brought to light, they were
buried again by devout donors. The Asokan legend of the distribution of relics
also points to the practice of burying relics for ever. Buddhist siltras and vinayas,
as far as I know, never refer to the display of Buddha's relics. One can surmise
that the personal belongings or ashes of a respected iiciirya could be kept and dis-
played at times, but there is no other evidence as Tibetan. Nevertheless, according
to K. Behrendt, keeping of relics in accessible rooms and periodical or selective
display of them would have been a major practice of Gandharan buddhism. His
13 Although K. Behrendt's knows G. Schopen's paper about the meaning of gandha-
ku(i, he uses this very specialized compound to designate small niches which never bore
this name (p. 171 and 306).
REVIEW 245
almost sole evidence are the oversized and many times whitewashed relic cham-
bers of a JaI).Q.iaI B stiipa, a huge pit in the Sirkap apsidal temple D, and the
unfilled, many times white-washed, relic-chamber of stiipa A 4 at KaIawan. The
JaI).Q.iaI B stiipa was excavated by Cunningham and, before that, had been opened
by treasure-seekers. The Sirkap apsidal temple D was excavated by Cunningham
whose report Marshall did not trust. The Kalawan evidence is the only indis-
putable. But none of these relic-chambers had doors nor stairs. They were dug
deep into the ground, and not accessible from above, otherwise remains of an empty
access room would have been found above the closed relic-room. The drawing
in Marshall, Taxila, pI. 73 d is perfectly clear. Indeed the section gives the expla-
nation of this mystery. When a stiipa breaks down, it cannot be repaired. It is
encased in a new stiipa. If the digger (and the standards of Marshall's excavations,
even if equal to the best standards of his student's times, cannot be compared to
modern standards), digging from upside and searching for a reliquary, does not
understand he is digging inside a previous rubble stiipa, he will empty it entirely.
Its outer walls only will stay. They can even entirely disappear, leaving no other
trace as the former outer whitewash, which then looks like being the whitewash
of the later walls, in fact built against them. This is no supposition. In some
Afghan stiipas emptied by Masson, the whitewashed shape of an earlier a/:uja could
still be seen 20 years ago.
As for "double-celled shrines", they are very well known everywhere in India,
but not called so. In Hindu temples, they are the garbha-grha and its preceding
antechamber. In Buddhist monasteries, they are the monk cell and its antecham-
ber, where his trainee (antevasin) used to sleep. When this cell was used to house
a statue or stiipa, or when it became the model for a small shrine, it constituted
this so-called "double-celled shrine". It developed in the huge statue halls well
known e.g. from NaIanda and every living Buddhist monastery in the world.
There is nothing special in Gandharan double-celled shrines. They only testify
to the development of puja being made to statues. That is known since the begin-
ning of the study of Buddhist "iconic" art.
* * *
From the title of this so-called handbook we could expect a technical study of
architecture, with new drawings, plans and systematic explanations. In this respect
also the title is deceptive. There are 127 illustrations, gathered at the end of the
volume, of quite good qUality. All, except three of them, are reprinted from ear-
lier publications. Photographs do not call for many comments. They are usually
well chosen, although more meant to illustrate K. Behrendt's assertions than
to give an overall view of Gandharan architecture, as should be expected in a
handbook. The plans are also well reproduced, most often from excavations
reports. But in most instances, they are "slightly modified from <the original>"
without any indication about the nature of these modifications. So that you
246 GERARD FUSSMAN
need go back to the original to be sure that no important detail has been "mod-
ified". K. Behrendt is responsible for three drawn illustrations only: two chrono-
logical charts, i.e. lists (fig. 6 and 7), and one drawing of his reconstruction of
a "phase IT small stiipa" and the terminology he uses to describe it (fig. 8).
We could expect more original drawings in an original study of architecture, spe-
cially drawings and maps which would have summed up in a visible and easily
understandable way K. Behrendt's conclusions, e.g. a map of the sites belonging
to his so-called "phase I (or 11,111)" (see below) or a typical (idealtype) monastery
plan.
But K. Behrendt is not interested in technical details. There is no indication
whatever about the roofmg of the residential buildings, about the average width
of the walls, doors and gates, about the average outer and inner dimensions of
buildings (e.g. the average width of the cells), no discussion about the possibility
to guess the destination of bigger rooms and call them e.g. uposatha-room, or
dinner-hall or kitchen etc. The words "pilaster" and "capital" do not appear in
the index, and very seldom in the text. Nor do I remember having seen the words
cupola, lintel, beam etc. There is no reference to Greek, Roman, Central Asiatic nor
Indian architectures. I do not remember having read any comment by K. Behrendt
on the material constraints faced by the builders (nature of the ground, earth-
quakes, rains, heat, availability of water, physical characteristics oflocal building
materials, skills of the masons and architects, etc.). Nor is there any attempt to
check whether the plans of Gandharan monasteries fit the Vinayas precepts about
monks' life, nor any comparison with other Buddhist sites in India nor present
day direct observations of living monasteries. There is no allusion whatever to
the navakarmika, the monk in charge for new buildings and repairs, now well
known from inscriptions. Patronage is sparsely mentioned (we quoted above two
of Behrendt's main references) although much information can now be derived
from recently published inscriptions and G. Schopen's papers. As for nuns and
nunneries, they are entirely inexistent although we know both from texts and
inscriptions, and, in Gandhara proper, from the Senavarma inscription, that they
were female Buddhist communities. K. Behrendt is not interested in trying to
know whether and how it could be possible to distinguish a nunnery from a male
monastery.
The ignorance and lack of inquisitiveness of the author of this so-called hand-
book result in an amazing handling of the archaeological data. To give only a few
instances, K. Behrendt did not see that there is a difference, all important for
planners and builders, between an isolated building (vihiira) and a compound
(saf[!ghiiriima). He often uses vihiira with both the meanings. This difference is
well known to every student of Gandharan art since Foucher, Art Greco-boud-
dhique, p. 99 (published in 1905). A look at the PTS Piili-English Dictionary s. v.
vihiira demonstrates that even if lexicographers do not make such a sharp dif-
ference as Foucher, they still make it. Worse, as K. Behrendt uses vihiira both
for isolated cells (p. 33) and compounds (p. 140), there are instances where one
REVIEW 247
cannot know whether he refers to small buildings, big quadrangles or groups of
buildings (e.g. p. 139; see also p. 37).
Some sentences are highly amazing. "Large multi-storied quadrangular monas-
teries were generally preferred not only because monks could (sic) live together,
but also probably because these large buildings surrounding a courtyard offered
more security from passing bandits. The foundations of tower-like structures
can be seen at several sites" (p. 33). It is well known that many Indian monas-
teries were multi-storied and looked like fortresses with comer-towers. There is
no doubt either that they were bandits in Ancient India, and even invaders. But
Indian and, more specifically, Gandhiiran quadrangular sal'[lghliramas were not
planned as fortresses: they were copies of Indian big houses, called catul;siila in
Sanskrit, well known to any Sankrit beginner. The comer-towers were not meant
as defense-towers but as buttresses. Some late monasteries in the Gangetic plains,
e.g. in NaIanda, could number as much as seven storeys, not in Gandhiira, one
of the places in the world most prone to earthquakes. We can expect that, like
most NWFP traditional buildings till now, they used to be at most two-storey high
(ground-floor and upper-floor), and even this has to be demonstrated. The pres-
ence of staircases (p. 93) is no evidence whatever: anybody having stayed in an
Indian house would have known that, even in one-storied buildings, stairs are more
convenient than ladders to climb on the top of roofs, a most important living
space, specially during the hot season. The existence of many storeys should be
deduced from the amount of building materials recovered from the excavated
ruins, the width and nature of the walls: a thin wall made of rubble cannot support
the weight of many storeys; on the contrary, these may be expected if the ground-
floor walls are much larger than usual.
K. Behrendt does not care for this kind of architecture. His architecture is lim-
ited to planning and masonry. Planning is mainly reduced to oppositions between
mountainouslflat grounds, sacred area/living quarters, shrines/stilpas and its
evolution is retraced by using as main (indeed almost unique) criterion the typo-
logy of masonry as made by Marshall for Taxila, with slight modifications: phase
I (early): rubble or kafijur; phase II: diaper masonry; phase III: semi-ashlar or ash-
lar masonry. These phases are thus not very different from Marshall's periods and
I, II, III could easily be replaced by dates. Phase I = before Kujula Kadphises, i.e.
before the Kushans, i.e Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian.; Phase II = from Kujula
Kadphises up to 200 C.E., i.e. during the Great Kushans; Phase III: from 200
C.E. till the end. It would have been much more convenient to label them so.
We may wonder whether it was sound to choose Taxila as a starting point.
Taxila was badly dug out, almost round the year, by hundred of workers with-
out the presence of any trained archaeologist. Marshall used to spend here a few
weeks every year and write down the information given to him by the foremen.
Many data of his final report cannot be checked anymore in the field, or when
checked, look wrong. T. Fitzsimmons is perfectly right in writing that "Mar-
shall's treatment of masonry .. is not systematic or consistent enough to serve as
248
GERARD FUSSMAN
the foundation for a reevaluation of the sites"14. As "conservation work" in Taxi-
la means rebuilding the walls every year after the rains, nothing sure can be said
about the original masonry, less so when the building was already rebuilt or enlarged
in antiquity. That is the main reason why no archaeologist ever trusted Marshall's
typology-based chronology. Indeed, if masonry should be used as a reliable
chronological criterion, the starting-point should be Butkara I, so well dug out
and published by our colleague D. Faccenna. Reference is made to his typology,
but it is not used.
One may benevolently suppose that K. Behrendt used the Taxila evidence
because Taxila, being the largest city in early North-West India, we can expect its
influence being felt in the whole area, not the other way round. Not even this is
quite sure. Even if Taxila's influence was felt around, a thesis which is not unsound,
we do not have any evidence for its being felt immediately. At times also, Greek
and Central-Asiatic influences would have been stronger or earlier around
Peshawar, most probably a foundation
15
, than in Taxila whose true rela-
tive importance in Kushan times is not well known.
Moreover even if they are fashions and trends in masonry, they are restricted
by material constraints. The type of masonry locally used mostly depends on the
nature of building materials readily available. These are not the same in Peshawar,
Butkara and Taxila. It also depends on the skills and habits of local masons and
architects, which differed according to the importance of the locality and the
price the donor was ready to pay. It would not be unexpected to find monuments
of the same period, shape and destination being built with different types of
masonries, depending on whether the masons or foremen were local people stick-
ing to their traditional skills or innovative individuals or immigrants from another
area. Patrons may prefer tradition to novelty or vice-versa. Repairs may be made
so as to be undistinguishable from earlier masonry or according to a new fashion
or using a type of masonry most fitted to the size or nature of the defects. Besides,
one cannot use exactly the same type of masonry for a stfipa, whose surface was
protected by a plastered or earthen painted coating, and a quadrangle, whose
outer walls do not show any trace of such a coating. The building technology could
not be the same in small and huge srupas, in one-storied and multi-storied build-
ings, etc. So that the masonry criterion is of dubious use, as known since long.
It is nevertheless the most used by K. Behrendt, and his starting point for dating
sculpture and stfipa shapes.
Dating Gandharan sculptures is still problematic for everybody, although there
are fixed points which K. Behrendt does not seem to be aware of, e.g. the BImaran
14 T. Fitzsimmons, Stupa Designs at Taxila, Kyoto University, 2001, p. 7.
15 There is no reference whatever to the Gandharan early capital, although
the name Charsaqqa appears p. 46 and although there is also a stray reference to Shaikhiin
pherI (p. 176). A student reading this handbook would certainly have appreciated to be
told that these are the modem names of the two (pre-Alexander and Indo-Greek)
lavatI, that both sites have been excavated and their excavation reports published.
REVIEW 249
golden casket. Dating living quarters is also problematic because they usually had
a very long life, whence many repairs and modifications of widely different dates.
But there exists now a fairly large amount of evidence to date stiipas. Dozens of
entire small stiipas, either recovered from roofed-over monastic rooms (grha-
stapa) or stiipa-shaped reliquaries, are now documented. Many of them can be
surely dated, either from the associated finds (they are contemporary or later
than the coins deposited with them, better: in them) or inscriptions they bear.
The palaeography of script is now precise enough, and the relative
chronology of the rulers named in most dedicatories formula is agreed upon. This
evidence is not used at all. Taxila's masonry evidence is supposed to be better.
Neither are the many drawings of stiipas engraved along the Karakoram High-
way used as evidence although the accompanying inscriptions, made by or for the
donors, are a sound basis for datation. There are thus at least seven different types
of North-Western stiipas engraved in Chilas ll. They all date back to the 1
st
c. C.E.
and are published with detailed comments since 1989
16
Some kilometers further
North, many sites exhibit palaeographically dated drawings of later Buddhist stii-
pas. The most impressive is Shatial, which boasts no less than 138 such draw-
ings, all published in 1997, many of them known since 1979
17
: This second and
supplementary sound basis for a detailed and complex
18
chronology Gandhiiran
stiipa architecture and decoration is totally ignored and untapped by K. Behrendt.
I stop at that. Listing all the mistakes and misconceptions of this entirely use-
less book would take us too far. Some may think that this review is already too
long and too harsh. Remember: the book originates from a UCLA Ph.D. and is
published in a till now highly valued series of handbooks.
Gerard Fussman, Paris.
16 G. Fussman, in Antiquities of Northern Pakistan I, Mainz 1989, vol. 1, pp. 1-33;
vol. 2, Plates 1-43. A look at these plates (especially 6, 9, 16,22) would have probably
prevented K. Behrendt to write that "an intensive survey of the extant main stupas in
Swat, Taxila, and the Peshawar basin shows that it was impractical or simply impossible
to circumambulate at the level of the drum" (p. 53 n. 45). For these Chilas II smpas, as
well as some metal smpas known for long, have stairs leading to a very narrow pradalqilJa-
patha around the drum. An examination of the engravings as a whole (i.e. the entire scene,
including both the donor(s) or worshipper(s) and the smpa) shows that the stairs were used
for climbing up to the level of the basis of the drum (awfa), i.e. the level where many relic-
caskets were found, and circumambulate it thanks to the protection afforded by a balustrade.
17 G. Fussman und D. Konig, Die Felsbildstation Shatial, Materialien zur Arch1ilogie
der Nordgebiete Pakistans 2, Mainz. The series, mainly authored by Dr. Ditte Bandini-
Konig, now numbers five huge in folio volumes.
18 For many shapes overlap, i.e. you could [md at the same moment in the same site
smpas whose outer appearance was quite diverse and one cannot exclude the possibility
that a donor or architect preferred to order a smpa being built according to an ancient and
respected model (e;g. asokean), not to contemporary fashion.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
David SEYFORT RUEGG, Indologist and Tibetologist, president of the
IABS from 1991-1998. Translator of Bu-ston's anthology of Sutra texts
on the Tathagatagarbha theory. Author inter alia of several publications
on the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana philosophy. Research Profes-
sor in the Department for the Study of Religions, School of Oriental and
African Studies, London University.
Giulio AGOSTINI earned a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University
of California, Berkeley. He is an independent scholar whose research
mainly focuses on Buddhist ethics (laypersons, Vinaya) and on the his-
tory of exegesis of important Hinayana statements.
Alexander WYNNE is a junior Research Fellow in Oriental Studies at
St. John's College, Oxford.
Dr. Robert MAYER received his BA from the University of Bristol in
England, and his PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Together with his wife Dr Cathy Cantwell, he is currently conducting
a research project at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford, where
they are also Visiting Scholars at Wolfson College. His previous posi-
tions include Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the Uni-
versity of Wales, Senior Research Associate at the University of Kent,
and Visiting Professor of Tibetology at the Humboldt University of
Berlin.
Sam VAN SCHAIK received his PhD in Tibetan Buddhist Literature
from the University of Manchester, England. He currently works at
the British Library's International Dunhuang Project, researching early
Tibetan Manuscripts. He has recently published a study of the Rdzogs
chen texts of 'Jigs med gling pa, entitled Approaching the Great Perfec-
tion.
252 NOTES ON CONTRlBUTORS
Charles MULLER is Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Toyo
Gakuen University in Tokyo. His earlier research focused on Korean Seon
Buddhism and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, and he has recently
been working with East Asian Y ogacara and the Awakening of Faith. He
is the founder and managing editor of both the H-Buddhism scholars net-
work and the online Digital Dictio-
nary of Buddhism <http://www.acmuller.net/ddb>.
Gerard FUSSMAN, ancien arcbeologue-adjoint de la Delegation Arcbeo-
logique Frans;;aise en Mghanistan, est Professeur au College de France
(chaire d'histoire du monde indien) depuis 1983. Une partie de sa biblio-
graphie porte sur l'Inde du nord-ouest a epoque ancienne. Elle se trouve
sur www.college-de-france.fr <http://www.college-de-france.fr> .

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