Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious - Volume 3

427 Pages·2004·19.559 MB·English

by  Paul Williams

BUDDHISM
Critical Concepts in Religious Studies
Edited by Paul Williams
Volume III
The Origins and Nature of Mahayana Buddhism;
Some Mahayana Religious Topics
~~ ~~o~1~;n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2005
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Editorial material and selection © 2005 Paul Williams; individual owners
retain copyright in their own material
Typeset in Times by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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ISBN 0-415-33226-5 (Set)
ISBN 0-415-33229-X (Volume III)
Publisher's Note
References within each chapter are as they appear in the original complete
work.
CONTENTS
VOLUME III THE ORIGINS AND NATURE OF
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM; SOME
MAHAYANA RELIGIOUS TOPICS
Acknowledgements vii
33 Siikiyabhikkhu/Sakyabhikkhu/Sakyabhik$u: a mistaken link
to the Mahayana? 1
L.S. COUSINS
34 A preliminary study on meditation and the beginnings of
Mahayana Buddhism 26
FLORIN DELEANU
35 How the Mahayana began 74
R. GOMBRICH
36 Buddhiinusmrti in the
Pratyutpannabuddhasaf!lmukhiivasthitasamiidhi-sutra 84
PAUL M. HARRISON
37 Who gets to ride in the Great Vehicle? Self-image and
identity among the followers of early Mahayana 108
PAUL HARRISON
38 Is the Dharma-kiiya the real "phantom body" of the
Buddha? 126
PAUL HARRISON
v
CONTENTS
39 Searching for the origins of the Mahayana: what are we
looking for? 164
PAUL HARRISON
40 The rise of Mahayana Buddhism and its relationship to the
worship of stiipas 181
AKIRA HIRAKAWA
41 Maiijusri 227
ETIENNE LAMOTTE
42 The oldest Mahayana siitra: its significance for the study of
Buddhist development 302
LEWIS R. LANCASTER
43 Inspired speech in early Mahayana Buddhism 312
GRAEME MACQUEEN
44 Changing the female body: wise women and the
Bodhisattva career in some Maharatnakiifasiitras 344
NANCY SCHUSTER
45 What, if anything, is Mahayana Buddhism? Problem of
definitions and classifications 383
JONATHAN A. SILK
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Volume III
The publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reprint their
material:
Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism for permission to reprint L.S.
Cousins, 'Siikiyabhikkhu/Sakyabhikkhu/Siikyabhik!)u: a mistaken link to the
Mahayana?', Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism, Smpbhal:'a 23,
2003, pp. 1-27.
The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka Univer
sity, Tokyo, Japan for permission to reprint Florin Deleanu, 'A preliminary
study on meditation and the beginnings of Mahayana Buddhism', Annual Report
of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka Uni
versity for the Academic Year 1999 (ARIRIAB III, March 2000), pp. 65-113.
The Society for the Study of Pali and Buddhist Culture, Nagoya for permission
to reprint Richard Gombrich, 'How the Mahayana began', from Tadeusz Sko
rupski (ed.) The Buddhist Forum: Vol. 1, 1990, pp. 21-30. Originally published
in the Journal of Pali and Buddhist Studies I, Nagoya, March 1988, pp. 29-46.
Kluwer Academic Publishers for permission to reprint Paul M. Harrison,
'Buddhiinusmrti in the Pratyutpannabuddhasa'flmukhiivasthitasamiidhi-siitra',
Journal of Indian Philosophy 6, 1978, pp. 35-57. © 1978 Kluwer Academic
Publishers. With kind permission from Kluwer Academic Publishers.
The International Association of Buddhist Studies for permission to reprint Paul
Harrison, 'Who gets to ride in the Great Vehicle? Self-image and identity among
the followers of early Mahayana', Journal of the International Association of
Buddhist Studies 10, 1, 1987, pp. 67-89.
The International Association of Buddhist Studies for permission to reprint Paul
Harrison, 'Is the Dharma-kiiya the real "phantom body" of the Buddha?',
Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15, 1, 1992, pp.
44-94.
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Eastern Buddhist Society for permission to reprint Paul Harrison, 'Search
ing for the origins of the Mahayana: what are we looking for?', The Eastern
Buddhist, new series XXVIII, I, 1995, pp. 48-69.
Mrs Fusae Hirakawa for permission to reprint Akira Hirakawa, 'The rise of
Mahayana Buddhism and its relationship to the worship of sutpas', Memoirs of
the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 22, 1963, pp. 57-106.
Brill Academic Publishers for permission to reprint Etienne Lamotte,
'Mafijusri', T'oung Pao 48, 1960, pp. 1-96.
The Eastern Buddhist Society for permission to reprint Lewis R. Lancaster, 'The
oldest Mahayana sutra: its significance for the study of Buddhist development',
The Eastern Buddhist 8, I, 1975, pp. 30-41.
Elsevier for permission to reprint Graeme MacQueen, 'Inspired speech in early
Mahayana Buddhism', Religion II, 1981, pp. 303-19, and Religion 12, 1982,
pp. 49-65. Reprinted from Religion © 1981 and 1982. Reprinted with permis
sion from Elsevier.
The International Association of Buddhist Studies for permission to reprint
Nancy Schuster, 'Changing the female body: wise women and the Bodhisattva
career in some Mahiiratnakiitasiitras', Journal of the International Association
ofB uddhist Studies 4, 1981, pp. 24-69.
Brill Academic Publishers for permission to reprint Jonathan A. Silk, 'What, if
anything, is Mahayana Buddhism? Problems of definitions and classifications',
Numen 49, 4, 2002, pp. 355-405.
Disclaimer
The publishers have made every effort to contact authors/copyright holders of
works reprinted in Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies. This has
not been possible in every case, however, and we would welcome correspon
dence from those individuals/companies whom we have been unable to trace.
viii
33
SAKIYABHIKKHUISAKYABHIKKHUI
SAKYABHIKSU
A mistaken link to the Mahayana? 1
L.S. Cousins
Source: Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism, Sa111bha~a 23 (2003): 1-27.
In the Ku~al)a period2 it is quite common for inscriptions to refer to the monastic
fraternity either of the donor (when himself a monk) or of the recipients. Later
this is less common and we see instead a growing practice of making donatory
inscriptions which do not specify any monastic school. In the case of donors
new titles become prevalent, while in the case of recipients it becomes more
normal to donate to a monastery rather than to a monastic lineage. In two papers
published around 1952 and 19623 Masao Shizutani referred to this development
and conjectured that 'the new title Sakyabhik~u was of Mahayana origin'. He
was no doubt aware that earlier scholars had taken it to mean 'Buddhist monk';4
so he adds the comment that:
"This conjecture, however, may possibly be erroneous, and the title
may have been devised in order to distinguish the Buddhist monks from
the Jaina monks. "5
This was followed up by H. Sarkar in 1968. Sarkar also believed that the
Sii.kya-bhi/qus could be identified as a distinct group, partly on the basis of their
names.6 Then in an influential article first published in 1979 Gregory Schopen
developed the same idea in rather more detail.7 To summarize the facts on which
he based his position:
1. There is a donatory formula found in sources from around the fourth
century and down to around the thirteenth century.
2. This formula involves the donation of good fortune (pwJya) to all beings,
sometimes with an additional reference to the donor's family (kinship or
monastic). In its full form it occurs with a phrase indicating that this is in
order to obtain supreme knowledge (anuttara-jiiii.na).
THE ORIGINS AND NATURE OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
3. The same donatory formula is found in the colophons of two Mahayana
manuscripts from Gilgit and in the colophons of a number of post-tenth
century Mahayana manuscripts, mostly from Nepal.
4. Many of the donors bear the titles of either Sakya-bhik.<;u or paramopasaka.
Schopen adds to the references to epigraphic materials initially collected by
Shizutani and collects together a total of fifty seven passages. At the end of this
article he puts forward as a 'possible interpretation' the view that from the
fourth century and throughout the Gupta period the followers of the Mahayana:
"appear to have gone by the names sakyabhik:ju/paramopasaka - at
least in inscriptions-and these names were never dropped."8
I believe this conclusion to be mistaken. It seems in clear contradiction to the
literary sources and is not clearly required even by the inscriptional evidence. In
what follows I shall address first the usage of Sakiya-bhikkhu and Sakya-bhikkhu
in Pali sources, then Sakya or Sakka by itself (i.e. without or separated from
bhik.<;u), then Sakya-bhik.<;u and the earlier Pali Sakkaputtiya. Finally I discuss
paramopasaka and then look at the donatory formula itself.
Siikiya(-bhikkhu) and Sakya-bhikkhu in Pali
To begin with, let me tum to some Pali passages which have not as far as I know
been noticed in this context.
In the commentary to the Cii!a-Narada-jataka9 there is a reference to a
Sakiya-bhikkhu - a mother desirous of finding a husband for her daughter seeks
to arrange for a Sakiya-bhikkhu to become enamoured of her daughter. The
passage is clearly translated by A.L. Rowse:
"So her mother thought to herself: 'This my daughter is off ull age, yet
no one chooses her. I will use her as bait for a fish, and make one of
those Sakiya ascetics come back to the world, and live upon him'." (Ja
Trsl. IV 136).
The story is set in the time of the Buddha and it is clear from the context that
the term simply means any bhikkhu who is a follower of the Buddha. Here it
cannot possibly mean Mahayanist. It could conceivably mean a bhikkhu who is
of the Sakiya (Sakya) clan, but that seems unlikely.
The exact date and authorship of the Jataka commentary is still unclear.
Traditionally it is attributed to Buddhaghosa, but we should not necessarily take
this too literally. Even if true, it might only mean that it was compiled by a
group under Buddhaghosa's presidency. More probably, we should take the
attribution as simply meaning 'text of the school of Buddhaghosa, produced
relatively close to his time' and this is evident enough from its content.
2