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The Paccekabuddha: A Buddhist Ascetic
A Study of the Concept of the Paccekabuddha in Pali Canonical and Commentarial Literature
 by
Ria Kloppenborg 
Buddhist Publication SocietyKandy• Sri Lanka
The Wheel Publication No. 305–7
First Published: 1983Copyright © BPS, 1983.BPS Online Edition © 2006For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and redistributed in any medium. However, any such republication and redistribution is to be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and translations and other derivative works are to be clearly marked as such.
 
Contents
Preface....................................................................................................................................................4Introduction...........................................................................................................................................5The Paccekabuddha..............................................................................................................................9I. 1. His Position, Compared with the Sammāsambuddha and the Sāvaka............................11I. 2. His Outward Appearance.......................................................................................................15I. 3. Names And Individuals..........................................................................................................15I. 4. His Predicates...........................................................................................................................17II. The Way Towards Paccekabodhi.................................................................................................18II. I. The Period In Which No Buddha Exists...............................................................................18II. 2. Conditions and Resolve.........................................................................................................18II. 3. Instruction...............................................................................................................................19II. 4. The Entrance Upon Religious Life (
).......................................................................20II. 5. The Meditations......................................................................................................................22II. 6. Insight and Enlightenment....................................................................................................23II. 7. Nibbāna...................................................................................................................................24III. The Paccekabuddha’s Way of Life..............................................................................................26III. I. Solitary (
)............................................................................................................................26III. 2. Places of Residence...............................................................................................................27Ill. 3. Behaviour (
)..................................................................................................................29III. 4. Walking for Alms..................................................................................................................31III. 5. Instruction Given By Him....................................................................................................34IV. The Khaggavisāṇasutta of the Suttanipāta............................................................................362
 
Preface
The Paccekabuddha is an important figure in the Buddhist tradition who exemplifies the ascetic and introspective tendencies of the Buddhist and pre-Buddhist Indian heritage. Most of the textual references—canonical as well as commentarial—concerned with the Paccekabuddha relate the popular stories which describe the individual Paccekabodhisatta’s search for enlightenment, rather than elaborate on the doctrinal aspects of the phenomenon of the solitary enlightened one.Therefore a systematic study of the place of the Paccekabuddha in Buddhist thought is stimulated less by the texts than by an attempt to uncover and convey the special reality of the individual’s choice for his own way towards liberation.For me, this study has again emphasised the importance of the ancient ascetic, individualistic and world-rejecting tradition.I wish to express my deep gratitude to the Venerable Nyanaponika Mahāthera for his critical remarks and his friendly, unobtrusive guidance. I am indebted to Mrs. Helen Wilder’s efforts to select the passages from my original book as published by E. J. Brill, Leiden, in 1974, for this version in the
Wheel Series
, and to the publishers for their kind permission to revise and reprint the original work.Ria KloppenborgUtrecht, June 19823

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