scholarly journals Kathāvatthu (“Points of Controversy”) as a Primary Source of Early Buddhist Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 81-101
Author(s):  
Anastasiya V. Lozhkina
Keyword(s):  
Indian Philosophy ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Buddhist Literature ◽  
Buddhist Text ◽  
Pali Canon ◽  
Early Buddhism ◽  
Logical Method ◽  
Philosophical Texts ◽  
Pāli Canon

This article focuses on the under-researched Buddhist text Kathāvatthu (“Points of Controversy”) and aims to better determine its place within Indian philosophy. We consider how the text was compiled, its contents, and main characteristics (such as its genre, its classification lists – mātika). To understand some of those characteristics, we suggest viewing them as shared with the whole Pali Canon (a large body of heterogeneous texts, of which the Kathāvatthu is part). This article also illustrates the issues of translating religious and philosophical texts from the Pāli language. Particularly, we highlight that the Kathāvatthu belongs to the part of Pāli Canon known as the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, and consider how this influences the philosophical discourse presented in this text. We analyze the historical and philosophical content of the Kathāvatthu. We argue that such content of this work is consistently revealed in the discussion of issues controversial for the schools of Early Buddhism. At the beginning of the text, there are the most significant questions for Early Buddhism (about the subject (pudgala), about the one who has reached perfection – arhat). As we get closer to the end of the text, the importance of the issues discussed diminishes. Its final part contains the latest questions. The discussion in each question depends on the logical method of the eight refutations, the use of lists (mātika), and the position of the Theravada school to which the final version of the text belongs. In the article, special attention is paid to the determination of the Kathāvatthu genre. We conclude that the genre of this work can be considered as a unique example of religious and philosophical dialogue in Early Buddhist literature.

Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin S. Whitaker ◽  
Douglass Smith
Keyword(s):  
Hand Washing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pali Canon ◽  
Early Buddhism ◽  
Pāli Canon

The Pāli Canon presents a number of summaries of the Buddha’s teaching, one of the most concise being that of the Three Trainings (or Three Disciplines): ethics, meditation, and wisdom. The purpose of this chapter is to explicate the various formulations of these Three Trainings as well as to discuss their relationship to one another and other Pāli Buddhist teachings. Its focus is on the Pāli material of early Buddhism and Theravāda in particular. It discusses the Three Disciplines and their interrelations, along with analyses of what comes before the discipline, namely the ordinary worldling or person, and what comes after, namely the awakened person. The Three Trainings can be analytically divided, but the development of each reciprocates the development of the others. An illustration from the Pāli Canon, leaving out meditation, suggests that ethics and wisdom act ‘like one hand washing the other’.

Some Observations on the Jātakas

1939 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-251
Author(s):  
B. C. Law
Keyword(s):  
Third Century ◽  
Late Professor ◽  
Birth Stories ◽  
Buddhist Literature ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pali Canon ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Pāli Canon

Though much has been written on the Jātakas or Buddha's Birth-stories, there is no consensus of opinion as yet about the exact signification of the term Jātaka as employed in Buddhist literature. One may correctly say, no doubt, with the late Professor Rhys Davids that the Jātaka proper is atītavatthu or the “story of the past”. It is precisely in this sense that the Bharhut labels designate many of the illustrations. Though this is generally the case with the Jatakas, Professor B. M. Barua contends for a definition of Jataka which embraces also the paccuppanna-vatthu, or the “story of the present”. He points out that according to the Culla-Niddesa, a work of the Pāli Canon, which cannot be dated earlier than the third century b.c., the term Jātaka is obviously applied alike to the story of the present and to that of the past, the undermentioned four Suttantas being mentioned as typical examples of Jātaka:—(1) Mahāpadāniya.(2) Mahā-Sudassanīya.(3) Mahā-Govindiya.(4) Maghādeviya.

scholarly journals Potyczki Kryszny z Buddą. Kilka uwag o polemicznej wymowie Bhagawadgity wobec wczesnego buddyzmu

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-69
Author(s):  
Przemysław Szczurek
Keyword(s):  
Religious Thought ◽  
Pali Canon ◽  
Early Buddhism ◽  
Buddhist Doctrine ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Pāli Canon

Krishna’s skirmishes with the Buddha. Remarks on the polemical meaning of the Bhagavadgītā towards early Buddhism: The paper discusses the issue of the confrontation of the Bhagavadgītā with some aspects of the early Buddhist doctrine as presented in the Pāli canon. The confrontation points to the Bhagavadgītā as being a poem of the (broadly understood) orthodox current of Indian religious thought, which also contains some polemical elements, these mostly addressed to the most powerful heterodox religious current in the first centuries B.C. (which is most probable the date of the Bhagavadgītā’s composition). Several parts of the famous Sanskrit poem are compared and confronted with the respective parts of the Pāli canon in order to demonstrate, firstly, the different approaches of both currents, mostly in ethics and metaphysics, and secondly, the Bhagavadgītā’s reaction to particular elements of early Buddhism. The first six chapters of the Sanskrit poem have been subjected to analysis in this respect.

Alagadd?pama Sutta as a Scriptural Source for Understanding the Distinctive Philosophical Standpoint of Early Buddhism

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 111-123
Author(s):  
P. D. Premasiri
Keyword(s):  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Pali Canon ◽  
Early Buddhism ◽  
Buddhist Doctrine ◽  
Philosophical Standpoint ◽  
History Of ◽  
Special Mention ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Pāli Canon

The Alagadd?pama Sutta is the 22nd discourse of the Majjhima-nik?ya of the Pali canon. In the sutta itself it is mentioned that the Buddha’s delivery of this discourse was necessitated by the need to refute a wrong view held by one of his disciples named Ari??ha. Parallel versions of the sutta are found preserved in the Chinese ?gamas. The two main similes used in the sutta, those of the snake and of the raft, are referred to in the scriptures of a number of non-Therav?da Buddhist traditions as well, showing that the Buddhist doctrine represented in it is early and authentic and the message contained in the sutta was considered to be extremely significant by many early Buddhist traditions. The Alagadd?pama Sutta shows the Buddha’s role as one of the earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy who engaged in a critique of the craving for metaphysics and dogma frequently exhibited in those who propound worldviews. The Buddha did not value a belief or a worldview on grounds of the logical skill with which it was constructed but on grounds of the transformative effect it could have on the character of an individual and the sense of wellbeing it could promote. There are several discourses of the Pali canon which give prominence to this aspect of the Buddha’s teaching. Among them the Brahmaj?la Sutta of the D?gha-nik?ya and the A??hakavagga of the Suttanip?ta need special mention. The Buddha is seen to have consistently avoided engagement in speculative metaphysics, pointing out that the goal of his teaching goes beyond all such engagement. The Buddha himself distinguished his own worldview as a Teaching in the Middle (majjhena) avoiding the common tendency of humankind to be trapped by either of the two extremes, Eternalism or Annihilationism. These distinctive standpoints of the Buddha are all seen to be amply represented in the Alagadd?pama Sutta.

scholarly journals The fivefold eye of the Buddha in Pāli Canon and Commentaries

2021 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
A. Nanda
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Theravada Buddhism ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Buddhist Literature ◽  
Textual Study ◽  
Pali Canon ◽  
Extensive Search ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Pāli Canon

In the early strata of Buddhist literature, the Buddha is depicted as the man perfected, who is sometimes referred as ‘one who endowed with eye’ (cakkhumanta). (Suttanipāta verses 160, 405 & 540; Dīghanikāya II 123, 166, 167 & 256; Dhammapāda verse 273). ‘Endowed with eyes’ could be interpreted as ‘spiritual insight’ or ‘wisdom’. In the later Pāli literature, this concept was allegorically referred to as ‘fivefold’. However, the epithet has not always been associated with the Buddha, and other mendicants were often referred to as cakkumanta (Dīghanikāya II 254; Dhammapāda verse 273). For example, in the Mahāsamaya sutta of Dīghanikāya, it had been used to describe monks in general. In the modern field of the Theravāda Buddhalogy, less attention has been given to the concept of the fivefold eye of the Buddha. An extensive search for scholarly works in this area will startle a serious researcher by its glaring omission. A brief mention is found in Toshiichi Endo’s book on ‘Buddha in Theravāda Buddhism: A Study of the Concept of Buddha in the Pāli Commentaries’ (2002). He touched on the concept as explained in the Pāli commentaries, skipping over the issue of origins and development of the concept. Therefore, my primary goal here is (i) to explore the concept of the fivefold eye of the Buddha in the Pāli commentaries, and (ii) to attempt to trace its origins and development. I argue that the fivefold eyes of the Buddha developed in the process of apotheosis of the Buddha, which was prompted by emerging challenges of different religious and social challenges, particularly devotionalism of Brahmanism. It is a textual study. The main source of this study is Pāli canon and commentaries. It also referred to the Mahāvastu-Avādana in order to show a historical development and a comparative analysis of the fivefold eyes of the Buddha.

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