Sabhika vastu

Dissertation in Buddhist Studies submitted at Hamburg (Sanskrit/Tibetan), 2022

The research findings for this study can be grouped under the following three Categories: 1. First of all, this study includes a thoroughly annotated translation of the opening sections of the fourth chapter of Yaśomitra’s Abhidharmakośavyākhyā IV.1–4, an early sixth century commentary on of Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, wherein Vasubandhu offers a basic exposition of Buddhist causality that has remained a pivotal resource in the traditional dissemination of Buddhist thought on that topical cluster. To date, said section in the Abhidharmakośavyākhyā had only been available in the original Sanskrit, its Tibetan and Chinese Translations, and, more recently, as a modern translation in the Japanese medium. Burnouf (1876, p. 399), amongst other scholars, had already by the mid-to-late nineteenth century understood Yaśomitra’s commentary to be a philosophically significant and historically impactful work, an early Buddhist commentary that is not only deeply embedded in the academic tradition of Nālandā-University, but that is also the only fully extant Sanskrit commentary to the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya known to date. The extract chosen for translation centers on an exposition of early Buddhist causal models that contextualizes and elucidates early conceptions of the relation-ship between cause and effect; Abhidharmakośavyākhyā IV.1–4 has hereby been rendered accessible, for the first time, to the wider academic community, therein allowing for further philosophical, historical, and linguistic analysis by contemporary scholarls. 2. Secondly, this study assesses the philosophical debate between the Sarvāstivāda-school on the one hand, andn the Yogācāras on the other. The former posit that any phenomenon can be broken down into a clearly defined, limited number of ‘basic building blocks’ (dharmā) that in turn, by dint of their causal efficacy, need to be based on a positively established ontology (Dhammajoti 2015b, p. 74); the latter expend effort to refute any inherent link beteween causal efficacy and any such reified, positively established, ontological status. The extract contained in this study has been chosen with a focus on the exposition of the Sarvāstivādin concepts of vijñapti, avijñapti, and avijñaptirūpa—avijñapti in particular being considered by the Sarvāstivādins as indispensable and immutable ‘sustaining link’ between cause and effect. The counterarguments fielded by the Yogācāra-school, are likewise rendered, together with an assessment of the degree and scope of their cogency. 3. The translation of Abhidharmakośavyākhyā IV.1–4 contained in this study is based on a philological study and text-critical edition both of the Sanskrit original and its Tibetan translation. A fully positive apparatus records all variant readings of the seven Sanskrit manuscripts and three Sanskrit Editions, taking into consideration scholarly observations made by Funabashi, Sako, and others. Likewise, the principal transmission lines of the Tibetan commentarial canon (Bstan ’gyur)—inter alia Cone, Derge, Narthang and Peking—have been critically collated and certain readings amended, taking into account novel insights provided in secondary literature. URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-ediss-112160 URL: https://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/handle/ediss/10483

The central thesis of this project, Text and Context: A Hermeneutical Study of the Ways the Buddha Answers Questions seeks to explore the pedagogical features of the Buddha through looking at the methods in which the Buddha replied to his interlocutors within the early Buddhist suttas. We can say that there are four specific ways in which the Buddha chose to answer enquiries. These are: categorical, analytical, counterquestioning, and silence. This project limits itself to the Suttapiṭaka of the Pāli Nikāyas. In this work, I select certain discourses from the Sutta Nikāyas as the main focus, while making references and citing other discourses as support. I will also use Buddhist commentary such as the Visudhimagga as secondary source. It is important to note, these selected suttas are well serve in my investigations of the Buddha's dialectical modes. Besides, they are well-known and widely discussed in the scholarly world. Approaching this dissertation through the hermeneutical 1 lens of geistige, each type of response is examined per chapter. For each chapter, one to three suttas (such as SN 44.10, MN 72, AN 3.65, MN 63, MN 71, and MN 90) are chosen for analysis, to show how the Buddha responded to a certain question or subject matter. Here, I will especially consider the Buddha's methods as pedagogy, or methods of guidance. v

1995

This third edition of The Middle Length Discourses (2005) includes numerous corrections and changes suggested to me by Bhikkhu Ñ›˚atusita, who diligently compared the entire translation with the original P›li text. I have also included other changes suggested to me by Ajahn Brahmava˙so and S›ma˚era An›layo. B.B.

Ratnākaraśānti (ca. 11th cent.) is one of the most influential figures in the final phase of Indian Buddhism, and more than thirty works are available in Tibetan translations (some of them are also available in Sanskrit originals). However, previous studies have pointed out that some works are of another person with the same namesake, because, among the works attributed to him, we find some serious diversity in their doctrinal systems. The present paper focuses on the diversity in interpretation of the Buddha-nature doctrine. We can find two types of interpretation, i.e., (I) that in accord with the yānatraya doctrine (in the Prajñāpāramitopadeśa, Muktāvalī, and Kusumāñjali), and (II) that in accord with the ekayāna doctrine (in the Sūtrasamuccayabhāṣya and Triyānavyavasthāna). The two positions are clearly contradicting each other. The first interpretation (I) is based on traditional Yogācāra doctrine that admits the gotrabheda doctrine (“differences of spiritual potentials”), while the second (II) premises the Madhyamaka doctrine that does not accept the gotrabheda doctrine on the ultimate level and claims all beings equally have the same potential to become a buddha. Furthermore, the existence of the diversity between the two interpretations is supported by other doctrinal issues, for instance, two different attitudes toward the understanding of Abhisamayālaṃkāra I.39. As a conclusion, the doctrinal position in the Sūtrasamuccayabhāṣya and Triyānavyavasthāna is different from that of the Prajñāpāramitopadeśa etc. The aim of the present paper is to show the clear diversity attested in the works attributed to Ratnākaraśānti, which will, hopefully, contribute to solving the question of the authorship of the works, i.e., whether they are composed by one person or not.

2012

This article first briefly examines the textual structure of the Sakka Sam . yutta of the Pāli Sam . yuttanikāya in conjunction with two other versions preserved in Chinese translation in Taishō vol. 2, nos 99 and 100. Then it compares the main teachings contained in the three versions. These three versions of this collection on the subject ofŚakra, ruler of the gods, represent three different early Buddhist schools within the Sthavira branch. This comparative study of these three different versions focuses on some shared images ofŚakra and on disagreements of some teachings presented in the three versions. It reveals similarities and significant differences in structure and doctrinal content, thus advancing the historical/critical study of early Buddhist doctrine in this area. * I am indebted to Rod Bucknell for his constructive comments and corrections on a draft of this article.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2006

CONTENTS The online pagination 2012 corresponds to the hard copy pagination 1992 Abbreviations............................................................................vii List of Illustrations.....................................................................ix Introduction...............................................................................xi T.H. Barrett Devil’s Valley to Omega Point: Reflections on the Emergence of a Theme from the Nō..............................1 T.H. Barrett Buddhism, Taoism and the Rise of the City Gods................13 L.S. Cousins The ‘Five Points’ and the Origins of the Buddhist Schools...27 P.T. Denwood Some Formative Inf1uences in Mahāyāna Buddhist Art…...61 G. Dorje The rNying-ma Interpretation of Commitment and Vow…..71 Ch.E. Freeman Saṃvṛti, Vyavahāra and Paramārtha inthe Akṣamatinirdeśa and its Commentary by Vasubandhu….................................97 D.N. Gellner Monk, Househo1der and Priest: What the Three Yānas Mean to Newar Buddhists...................................................115 C. Hallisey Councils as Ideas and Events in the Theravāda…………....133 S. Hookham The Practical Implications of the Doctrine of Buddha-nature……................................................................149 R. Mayer Observations on the Tibetan Phur-ba and the Indian Kīla ........................................................................163 K.R. Norman Theravāda Buddhism and Brahmanical Hinduism: Brahmanical Terms in a Buddhist Guise……………..............193 References...............................................................................201