THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

BUDDHIST STUDIES
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A. K. Narain
University oJ Wisconsin, Madison, USA
L. M. Joshi
Punjabi University
Patiala, India
Alexander W. Macdonald
Universiti de Paris X
Nanterre, France
Bardwell Smith
Carleton College
NorthJield, Minnesota, USA
Volume 5
EDITORS
1982
Ernst Steinkellner
University oj Vienna
Wien, Austria
Jikido Takasaki
University oj Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Robert Thurman
Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Number 1
e watermark
THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF BUDDHIST STUDIES, INC.
ThisJournal is the organ of the International Association of Buddhist Studies,
Inc., and is governed by the objectives of the Association and accepts
scholarly contributions pertaining to Buddhist Studies in all the various
disciplines such as philosophy, history, religion, sociology, anthropology, art,
archaeology, psychology, textual studies, etc. The JIABS is published twice
yearly in the Spring and Fall.
The Association and the Editors assume no responsibility for the views
expressed by the authors in the Association's Journal and other related
publications.
Manuscripts for publication and correspondence concerning articles should
be submitted to A. K. Narain, Editor-in-Chief,JIABS, Department of South
Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, U.S.A.
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final content of the Journal and
reserves the right to reject any material deemed inappropriate for publication
and is not obliged to give reasons therefor.
Books for review should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. The Editors cannot
guarantee to publish reviews of unsolicited books nor to return those books to
the senders.
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Andre Bareau (France) JosephM. Kitagawa (USA)
John Brough (U.K.)
Jacques May (Switzerland)
M.N. Deshpande (India) Hajime Nakamura Uapan)
R. Card (USA) John Rosenfield (USA)
B.C. Cokhale (USA)
David Snellgrove (U.K.)
P.S.Jaini (USA)
E. Zurcher (Netherlands)
J. W. de Jong (Australia)
Assistant Editor: Roger Jackson
The Editor-in-Chief wishes to thank Rena Haggarty for assistance in the
preparation of this volume.
Copyright The International Association of Buddhist Studies 1982
ISSN: 0193-600X
Sponsored by Department of South Asian Studies, University of Wiscon-
sin, Madison.
CONTENTS
I. ARTICLES
l. Original Purity and the Focus of Early Yogacara by John
P. Keenan
7
2. The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-Shan: Gender
and Status in the Ch'an Buddhist Tradition by Mir-
iam L. Levering
19
3. The Life and Times of Paramartha (499-569) by Diana Y.
Paul
37
4. Studies in Traditional Indian Medicine in the Pali Can-
on: Jlvaka and Ayurveda by Kenneth G. Zysk
70
II. SHORT PAPERS
1. Sa skya pan9ita'S Account of the bSam yas Debate: Histo-
ry as Polemic by Roger Jackson
89
2. The Text on the "Dharapi Stones from Abhayagiriya": A
Minor Contribution to the Study of Mahayana Lit-
erature in Ceylon by Gregory Schopen
100
3. A Report on Buddhism in the People's Republic of China
by Alan Sponberg
109
III. BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES
l. Histoire du Cycle de la Naissance et de la Mort by Yoshiro
Imaeda 118
2.
Theravada Meditation: The Buddhist Transformation by
Winston King
3. Chinese Buddhism: Aspects of Interaction and Reinter-
pretation by W. Pachow
4. Buddhism and Society in Southeast Asia by Donald K.
Swearer
5. Tantra in Tibet and The Yoga of Tibet by Tsong kha pa
IV. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
1. Asoka and Buddhism - A Reexamination by A. L. Ba-
sham
V. NOTES AND NEWS
1. A report on the 4th Conference of the lABS, University
of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, U.S.A. August 7-9,
121
124
126
127
131
1981 144
2. Constitution and By-Laws of the International Associ-.
ation of Buddhist Studies 153
Contributors 160
Original Purity and the Focus
of Early Y ogacara
by John P. Keenan
In understanding the ongoing process of the development of any
doctrinal system, isolated insights into particular texts or particu-
lar doctrinal themes are not sufficient. No number of monographs
on iilayavijiiiina or trisvabhiiva suffices, for, although such studies
do clarify particular themes, no understanding is gained of the
overall purpose for which these themes were developed. What is
desired is an overall insight into what the system is trying to
achieve. In the case of the Yogacara system, the question of its
basic intent and overall purpose is not easily determined. There
are, it would appear, two reasons for this situation. The first is that
the complex of questions regarding the dating, authorship, and
compilation of the various textual data have not yet received defi-
nite answers in many instances, and yet each of these questions
bears directly upon the understanding of the lines of doctrinal
development. A second reason is that the doctrinal focuses of
some of the basic Yogacara texts appear to differ.
The intent of this paper is to treat this latter concern. It will
attempt to describe the basic doctrinal focus of four early Yoga-
cara texts, suggest the intent of their authors, and draw a hypoth-
esis concerning the lines of development of early Y ogacara as seen
in these texts. The texts selected are the Mahiiyiinasutriilar;tkiira, the
Sar;tdhinirmocanasutra, the Mahiiyiiniibhidharmasutra, and the Mad-
hyiintavibhiigasiistra. All four texts were composed before the time
of the classical formulation of Yogacara by Asanga and Vasu-
bandhu. Although it is not possible to determine with any degree
of certitude the temporal relationship among these texts, insight
into their doctrinal emphases would help to identify the overall
problematic that led the early, pre-Asarigan Yogacarins to develop
their thinking.
7
The Mahayanasutralar[lkara, I which in its basic verses appears
to be quite early; shows close affinities with tathagatagarbha
thought. It affirms the original purity of the mind (cittaprakrtipra-
bhasvarta) and the adventitious nature of defilement (agantuka-
sarJ2klesa) .
When water, after having been stirred up, settles, the regain-
ing of its transparency is not due to something other than the
removal of dirt. The manner in which the mind is purified is
similar. It is to be understood that the mind is originally lumi-
nous (prakrtiprabhasvarar[l) at all times, but blemished by ad-
ventitious faults. It is not to be thought that apart from this
mind of dharmata there is any other mind that is originally
luminous.
2
This passage seems to be in full doctrinal accord with the
tathagatagarbha teachings and its content is reflected in many tatha-
gatagarbha texts.
3
Again, the Mahayanasiltralar[lkara states:
Although tathata is not differentiated in regard to all [sentient
beings], when it has been purified, it is tathagatahood. There-
fore it is said that all sentient beings are that seed [tadgarbha].4
This seems to be a clear affirmation of the basic theme of the
pure garbha, and the later prose commentary of the Mahayanasu-
tralar[lkara explains that it means that all sentient beings are tatha-
gatagarbha.
5
From such passages it appears that the basic focus of the
Mahayanasutralar[lkara is upon the mind of original purity, the
pure consciousness that is always present, even under the cover-
ings of defilement, and which enables one to attain purification
and enlightenment.
In discussing the ultimate realm, dharmadhiitu, the Mahayana-
sutralar[lkara laments:
8
Indeed there is nothing else in the world, and yet the world is
unconscious of it. How has this kind of wordly illusion come
about, whereby one clings to what is not and entirely ignores
what is?6
Again, this seems to reflect the tathagatagarbha theme that
only the pure garbha actually exists, while all else is non-existent.
7
The focus of the MahayanasutralarJLkdra is then upon the mind
of original purity, and not upon an analysis of empirical conscious-
ness. Thus, when it comes to art explanation of the trzsvabhiiva
doctrine, the MahayanasutriilarJLkara uses this doctrine to explain
just how empirical consciousness has devolved from that original
purity. The emphasis is not upon consciousness as experienced,
but upon the original purity of that now illusory consciousness.
The three natures (trisvabhava) are treated as marks of t a t h a t a , ~
and the reality envisaged is not the everyday consciousness of
sentient beings. The three natures are described as follows:
Reality (tatvarJL) is that which is always void of duality, that
which is the basis of confusion, and that which can never be
verbally expressed, for its being is not conceptualizable. It is to
be known, to be rejected, and to be purified, although it is
originally undefiled. When purified from klesa, it is like space,
gold, and waterY
These three categories correspond to parikalpita, paratantra,
and parini:jpanna.
10
The description of parikalpita as always void of
duality (dvayena rahitarJL) emphasizes the illusory nature of empiri-
cal consciousness, which clings to the dichotomy of subject-object.
The description of paratantra as the basis of confusion (bhrantesca
sarJLnisrayalJ) identifies the source of the illusions of parikalpita.
The description of parini:jpanna points to the originally pure mind,
which, although undefiled (amalarJL), must be purified from adven-
titious defilements. Its being is also said to be not conceptualizable
(yaccaprapancatmakarJL) , which suggests the tathagatagarbha tenet
that only the pure garbha actually exists, and also implies that the
reason why the world is unconscious of it is because it is beyond
the realm of subject-object concepts. The only function of paratan-
tra in this explanation is to identify the source of the confusion of
parikalpita. When one has understood that in fact the duality of
parikalpita is illusory, then its underlying source, paratantra, is to be
rejected. The conversion of the basis (asraya-parivrtti) is then a
turning around from the illusions of parikalpita to an awareness of
the original purity of parini:jpanna that takes place through the
rejection of paratantra. Because of the basic focus on original puri-
ty, the trisvabhiiva doctrine is here employed in order to explain
9
how empirical defilement arises to cloud over that purity. The
consistent tension .is between the pair of parikalpita-paratantra as
illusion and its source, and the purity of
Thus, in the MahayiinasutriilaTflkiira the intent of the author
appears to be the use of Y ogacara doctrines in order to explain
just how there can be both pure consciousness and empirical de-
filement-for the principal weakness of the tathagatagarbha tradi-
tion is its failure adequately to treat the causes of defiled con-
SCIOusness.
The SaTfldhinirmocanasutra
ll
presents a different focus, for it
does not admit the doctrine of the original purity of the mind.
Rather, it focuses upon the seed consciousnes (sarvabijaka, i.e.,
iidiina, i.e., iilaya-vijnana) as the basis for karmic defilement.
The seed consciousness [of sentient beings in the six destinies]
matures, evolves, becomes unified, grows, and reaches its de-
velopment, because it makes its own two things: the physical
body with its sense organs and the habitual proclivities (vii-
sana) of discriminately and verbally conceptualizing (pra-
panca) images and names.
12
.
The initial arising of consciousness results in prapanca, is due
to the proclivities of prapanca, and does not manifest any purity.
whatsoever. This idea contrasts sharply with the teaching of the
MahiiyiinasutriilaTflkiira. The SaTfldhinirmocana goes on to present an
analysis of phenomenal consciousness and offers an explanation
of the relationship between the six sense consciousnesses and the
base sarvabijaka-vijniina.13
In .its explanation of the trisvabhiiva, the SaTfldhinirmocana par-
allels the MahayiinasutriilaTflkiira, but the trisvabhiiva doctrine is here
used to explain the characteristics of the dharma (dharma-lakWlJ-a),
i.e., consciousness, rather than as a description of tathatii.
10
The dharma [of consciousness] is of three kinds: that which
has been totally imagined that which arises
in dependence on others (paratantra- and that which
is full perfection
That which has been totally imagined is the discrimina-
tion whereby all dharmas are conventionally held to have their
own svabhava, and the verbal expressions that arise conse-
quent upon this discrimination.
That which arises in dependence on others is the nature
whereby all dharmas conventionally arise. For, if this exists,
then that exits. If this arises, then that arises. This includes
[the dependent co-arising] of ignorance up to [the dependent
co-arising] of this grand mass of suffering.
That which is full perfection is the true nature of the
equality of dharmas (samatatathata). It is this tathata which bodhi-
sattvas come to realize because of their zeal (vfrya), and their
fundamental mental apprehension (aviparfta-cintana). By
gradual practices until they reach this realization, they finally
attain full enlightenment (anuttarasamyaksar[!,bodhi).
That which is totally imagined is like the defective vision
of one who has cataracts in his eyes. That which arises in
dependence on others is like the imagining of those images,
such as the appearance of hairs, flies, small particles or patch-
es of different colors before the eyes of one with cataracts.
Full perfection is like the true, unconfused objects which are
seen by the sound eye of one who has no cataracts. 14
This passage parallels that of the Mahiiyanasutralar[!,kiira in that
the function of paratantra is to account for the delusions of parikal-
pita. Thus the Sar[!,dhinirniocanasutra later explains that wisdom
enables one "to destroy paratantra."15 Although they do agree on
this point, they seem to do so from differing perspectives. The
Mahiiyanasutralar[!,kiira focuses upon the mind of original purity,
describes the three natures as the mark of tathata, and sees paratan-
tra as the basis for empirical defilement and confusion. The Sar[!,d-
hinirmocanasutra focuses upon the mind of karmic defilement, de-
scribes the three natures as the marks of phenomenal, defiled
consciousness, and sees paratantra as the basis of that defilement.
In t h e ~ e two early texts one can detect a Yogacara dilemma. If
the mind is originally pure, then how is one to account for empiri-
cal defilement? If the mind is not itself pure, then, being defiled,
how can one ever attain purification?16
It would appear from the extant fragments that the Mahiiyan-
abhidharmasutra
17
attempted to deal with this dilemma. In what is
perhaps one of the most famous passages of Yogacara, it writes:
The beginningless realm is the common support of all dhar- .
11
mas. Because of this, there exist all the destinies and the access
to nirvar.w.
1S
This passage appears to be an attempt to' account for both
defiled empirical existence (gatilJ sarva) and for the possibility of
nirvaJJ,a (nirva1J,adhigamo'pi ca). Later Yogacarins offer different in-
terpretations of this text. Asanga's MahayanasarJZgrahasastra,19 As-
vabhava's MahayanasarJZgrahOpanibandha,20 and Dharmapala's Vij-
naptimatratasiddhisastra
21
all interpret anadikaliko dhatuly, to be
The Ratnagotravibhagasastra cites it and interprets the
beginningless realm to be tathagatagarbha. Paramartha's transla-
tion of Vasubandhu's along with the oth-
er three Chinese translations of this text, gives the interpretation
of anadikaliko dhatulJ as alaya, but then it alone appends the tathaga-
tagarbha interpretation.
22
These explanations all represent later forms of doctrinal de-
velopment, and it would be anachronistic to follow such interpre-
tations rigidly. Rather, it would seem appropriate to interpret the
passage in the light of the problematic current at the time of the
composition of the MahayanabhidharmasiUra and the SarJZdhinirmo-
canasutra. Thus, the anadikaliko dhatulJ of the Mahayanabhidharma-
sutra can perhaps best be understood as an attempt to amalgamate
the focus upon original purity and the focus upon karmically de-
filed consciousness into a broader synthesis that might enable one
to explain both adequately. .
But what precisely are we to understand by this beginningless
realm? It would seem that it indicates consciousness as both pure
and defiled. In another passage, the Mahayanabhidharma says:
There are three dharmas: that which consists in the defiled
aspect (sarJZklesabhaga) , that which consists in the pure aspect
(vyavadanabhaga), and that which consists in both at thesame
time (tadubhayabhaga).23
The text of the MahayanasarJZgrahasastra, which quotes this
passage, goes on to identify these with, respectively, parikalpita,
. parin4panna, and paratantra.
24
Thus, paratantra is not only the
underlying cause for sarp.saric defilement, but also includes a pure
aspect.
Although paratantric consciousness does result in the defile-
12
ment of parikalpita, insight into its nature as dependent on others
implies awareness that there are no essences (svabhava) to be
grasped nor any essence that can grasp (grahyagrahaka). One and
the same consciousness, which, being dependent on others, has no
essence that could be pure or impure, gives rise to both the defil-e-
ments of all the destinies and to the access to nirvar;a. Thus anadi-
kaliko dhiltuly, is neither a pure mind of tathagatagarbha nor a basical-
ly defiled alayavijr1ana. Rather, it is dependently co-arisen
phenomenal consciousness as including both.
The Madhyantavibhagasastra also appears to predate Asanga,
at least in its verse sections.
25
It explains the trisvabhava as follows:
As for the three natures, one is eternally hon-existent. [The
second] does exist, but is not reality. [The third], since it is
reality, both exists and does not exist. This is the
of the three natures.
26
The second nature, paratantra, is here accorded some degree
of validity and plays a pivotal role in the development of trisvab-
kava thinking, for, although it is denied reality, it does exist and is
not simply to be rejected, as in the Mahayanasutrala'f!lkara. The
Madhyantavibhilga further describes paratantra as unreal imagining
(abhutaparikalpa) :
Unreal imagining exists, but in it duality [of subject-object]
does not exist. However, in this [unreal imagining] emptiness
exists, and moreover in that [emptiness] this [unreal imagin-
ing] exists.
27
Thus, paratantra is the source of the duality and illusion of
parikalpita. It is not to be entirely negated, though, for it does
indeed exist, and within paratantric consciousness one can discov-
er emptiness, i.e., the absence of duality. Here again the Madhyan-
tavibhilga is attempting to synthesize the two emphases, on the
originally pure mind and on empirical consciousness.
13
If defilement did not exist, then all bodily beings would then
be [already] delivered. If purification did not exist, then right
practice would be without result. Neither defilement nor un-
defilement exists. Neither purity nor impurity exists, because
mind is [originally] luminous, and its defilement is adventi-
tious.
28
It would thus appear that the Madhyantavibhaga does admit
the notion of the original luminoisty and purity of the mind, but
only after reworking it in the context of the trisvabhava. The origi-
nalluminosity of the mind does not mean that it has an impure or
a pure nature, for both are svabhavas that result from dualistic
imagining and therefore do not exist. But, since the unreal imag-
ining of paratantra does exist in emptiness, once the dichotomy of
parikalpita has been understood and rejected, then the original
luminosity and purity of the mind becomes manifest.
Thus, in parallel to the Mahayanabhidharmasutra, the Madhyan-
tavibhagasastra appears to be attempting a synthesis of the doctrine
of original purity within a more empirically oriented emphasis
upon defiled consciousness.
The overarching hypothesis that the preceding passages seem
to suggest is that early Yogacara thinkers are indeed concerned
with the question of the purity or impurity of consciousness, and
this in turn would imply that they developed their thinking in the
same doctrinal circles that gave rise to the tathagatagarbha tradi-
tion.
Yogacara is frequently and correctly described as having de-
veloped as a resurrection of theoretical thinking in the context of
prajiuiparamita, i.e., sunyata.
In its methodology, the Vijuanavada was really a successor to
the Abhidharma Buddhism, but it was the Abhidharma based
upon the sunyatavada of the Prajua-para-mita, and hence de-
serves to be called "mahayana-abhi-dharma," as shown in the
title of one scripture.
29
Although such is clearly the case, one should also be aware of
the possibility of a very close relationship between Y ogacara and
the tathagatagarbha doctrine. The earliest tathagatagarbha sutras be-
gan to appear shortly after the time of Nagarjuna (ca. 150 - ca.
250), and thus were contemporaneous with or shortly before the
above Y ogacara texts. The tathagatagarbha tradition offered an
alternative to what was perceived as the overly negative tone of the
Madhyamika and the prajiiaparamita literature.
3o
It would thus be
natural to assume some kind of connection between tathagata-
garbha and Y ogacara. 31
The fact that the five works traditionally attributed to Mai-
14
treya,32 the putative founder of Yogacara, include the Ratnagotra-
vibhiigasastra, as well as the Mahiiyanasutralar[lkara, shows that this
tradition regarded Y ogacara and tathiigatagarbha as coming from
the same source. Furthermore, the presence in the Ratnagotravib-
hiiga of the famous quotation on the anadikaliko dhiitulJ from the
MahiiyanabhidharrnasiUm suggests that the author of the Ratnago-
travibhiiga regarded the Mahayanabhidharrnasutra as being at least
consistent with tathagatagarbha themes.
33
It does seem clear that in
some instances the Ratnagotravibhiiga is dependent on the Ma-
hiiyanasutralar[lkiira. William Grosnick convincingly argues that the
Ratnagotravibhiiga's understanding of buddhadhiitu as the nondua-
lity of subject and object can be traced to the Mahiiyanasutralar[l-
kara,34 and Takasaki Jikido holds that the triyana teaching of the
Ratnagotravibhiiga is directly dependent upon the Mahiiyanasutra-
lar[lkara.
35
Although this directly shows only the dependence of the
Ratnagotravibhiiga on the Mahiiyanasutralar[lkara, it also suggests
that this Y ogacara work was well received within tathiigatagarbha
circles and was perceived as being consistent with tathiigatagarbha
themes. .
This does not mean that tathagatagarbha is to be reckoned as a
defined academic school in contrast to Madhyamika and Yoga-
cara. As Takasaki has pointed out,36 such an evaluation was a
peculiarity of Chinese Buddhism and is not found in either India
or Tibet. This is further borne out by the complete lack of polemic
against tathagatagarbha teachings in Yogacara works. Thus, while
tathiigatagarbha and Y ogacara did exist at the same time in India,
they were not rival systems.
The reason for this seems to be that the tathiigatagarbha tradi-
tion did not function on a theoretical, academic level at all, but was
rather presented as a practical, religious teaching, expressed in
poetic images and metaphors and aimed at the encouragement of
practice. In none of the extant tathiigatagarbha texts is there a
consistent development of that technical language necessary to a
theoretical endeavor.:
17
The foregoing textual data seem to suggest that the initial,
pre-Asangan Y ogacara thinkers represent a theoretical develop-
ment from within the same circles that produced the tathiigata-
garbha teaching. They appear to have taken their initial insights
from the notion of the pure mind, as in the MahiiyanasiUralar[lkara.
The exigency for theoretical development demanded a more em-
15
pirical approach to the analysis of consciousness, as is given in the
SaJ!ldhinirmocana. The Mahiiyiiniibhidharmasutra and the Madhyiinta-
vibhiiga then attempt to synthesize both purity and defilement by
stressing the basic Yogacara tenet of the paratantric nature of the
mind.
38
NOTES
1. LViahiiyana-sf1tralal[!kara, Expose de la Doctrine du Grand Vehicle, ed. and
trans. Sylvain Levi, 2 vols., (Paris, 1907). DaijoshogonkYOron kenkyt1, Vi Hahuu, .
Tokyo, 1961.
I follow Yamaguchi Susumu, Guiseppe Tucci, and Paul Demieville in deny-
ing that Maitreya was an historical person and the actual author of the Mahayana-
sf1trala7!!kara. See P. Demieville, "La Yogaclrabhilmi de BEFEO,
XLIV (1954), p. 381, n. 4. Vi Hakuju, "On the Author of the Mahayana-siltra-
alamkara," Zietschrift fur lndologie und lnintistik, VI (1928), pp. 215-225, argues for
the reverse opinion ..
The Chinese translation of Prabhakaramitra, who came to China in 627,
contains a preface by Li Pai-yao, which says that Asanga compiled the text, but
there is no firm evidence to uphold this claim. As the Mahiiyanasal[!grahasastra of
Asanga frequently quotes the Mahiiyanasl7.tralm!!kara, it seems safe to conclude that
the verse section of the Mahayanasf1tralal[!kara was composed before the time of
Asanga.
2. Levi, p. 88: yathaiva toye lutite prasadite na jayate sa
malapakar{astu sa tatra savacittasuddhau vidhire{a eva hi/ ! matal[! ca cittam
prakrtiprabhiisvaral[! sada tadagantukado{adu{itam/ na dharmatacittamrte'nyacetasa!y,
prabhasvaratal[! prakrtau vidhfyate.
3. On the original luminosity of the mind, see David S. Ruegg, La Theorie du
Tathiigatagarbha et du Gotra, (Paris, 1969), pp. 409-445.
4. Levi, p. 40: sarve{amavisi{!api tathata suddhimagata! tathiigatatval[! tasmacca
sarvadehina(!.
5. Levi, p. 40: Sarvesam nirvisi{(a tathata tadvisuddhisvabhiivasca tathiigata(!!
sarve satvastathiigatagarbhii ityucyati.
6. Levi, p. 58: na khalu jagatitasmadvidyate ki7!!cidamyajjagadapi tadase{ar!! tatra
sal[!mf1dabuddhi/ kathamayamabhin7.do lokamohaprakaro yadasadabhinivi{(a(! satsarrwn-
tadvihiiya.
7. See John P. Keenan, A Study of the Buddhabhumyupadesa: The Doctrinal
Development of the Notion of Wisdom in Yogacara Tho'ught, unpublished Ph.D Disserta-
hon, 0 niversity of Wisconsin, Madison, 1980, pp. 97-117.
8. Levi, p. 65: etena trividhal[! tathataya(! svalak{m}al[!
klesavyavadanalak{a1}amavokalpalak{aYJal[! ca uktal[! trividhal[!
9. Levi p. 58; tatvm!! yatsatatam dvayena rahita1'[! bhrantesca samnisraya(! sakya1'[!
naiva ca sarvathiibhilapitul[! yaccaprapaiicatmaka1'[!/ jiieyal[! hiyamatho visodhyamamalar[!
yacca prakrtya matm!! yasyakasasurvar1}avarisadrso. kle.sadvisudhirmata.
16
10. See Levi, p. 58.
'11. Samdhinirmocanasiltra, Explication des lVlyteres, ed. and trans. Etienne La-
motte, (Louvain, 1935). For an analysis of the composition of this text, see pp. 17-
24. Also confer Ui Hakuju; Toyo tetsugakushi, p. 37 for an alternate opinion.
12. Lamotte, p. 55 and p. 184. T. 16, p. 692b.
13. See Keenan, Buddhabhilmnyupadeia, pp. 131-142.
14. Lamotte, p. 60 and pp. 188-189. T. 16, p. 693a-b.
15. Lamotte, p. 73 and p. 197. T. 16, p. 695a.
16. In his Sesshin yuishiki no kenkyfl, Tokyo, 1956, pp. 168-169, Yuki Reimon
argues that one of the specific characteristics of Vasubandhu was that, in contrast
to earlier Yogacarins, who maintained the strict purity of the Yogacara position in
their contacts with tathagatagarbha thought, he was influenced by tathagatagarbha
.thought in a much greater degree. I rather think that, as in the MahayanastltralafJl-
kiira, tathagatagarbha influence can be seen in the earliest texts of the Yogacara
tradition. This does not negate the fact that Vasubandhu was influenced by such
teachings in evolving his "new understanding," but it does stress that there were
already precedents available for Vasubandhu to work upon.
17. The Mahiiyanabhidhannasiltra is extant only in fragments quoted in other
texts. These have been collected in Yuki Reimon, Yuishikiron yori mitanl yuishiki
shisoshi, (Tokyo, 1935), pp. 240-250. Six quotations appear in Asanga's Mahiiyana-
safJlgrahasastra, one in his Abhidharmasamuccaya, and one in K'uei-chi's Wei-shih erh-
shih lun shu-chi. The text is clearly before Asanga.
18. Quoted in the MahayanasafJlgraha; T. 31, p. 133b. Sasaki Gessho, Kan-
yaku shihon taishO ShOdaUoron, (Tokyo, 1931), p. 5. La Somme du Grand Yehicle d'A-
sanga, ed. and trans. Etienne Lamotte, 2 vols., (Louvain, 1973), II, 12.
19. Lamotte, La Somme, II, 12.
20. P. Mdo l:tgrel LVI, 23S
b
-
S
-239
a
-
6
.
21. VUnaptimatratasiddhi: La Siddhi de Huian-Tsang, trans. Louis de la Vallee
Poussin, (Paris, 1929), p. 169. Here Poussin gives the. Sanskrit, which has been
preserved in Sthiramati's commentary on the Trimsika: anadikaliko dhiituZI saroa-
dharmasamasrayaZI tasmin sati saroa ca.
22. T. 31, pp. 156c-157a. For an English translation, see Keenan, Buddhab-
humyupadeia, pp. 256-257.
23. Lamotte, La Somme, II, 125.
24. Lamotte's translation correctly does not include this section, which iden-
tifies the three dharmas with the trisvabhiiva, in the quotation from the Mahiiyanab-
hidharmasutra. Yuki Reimon, Yuishiki shisoshi, p. 249, argues that the entire passage
is from the Mahiiyanabhidharmasutra. But, as my friend and colleague, Professor
Hakamaya Noriaki, has pointed out to me, the Tibetan text clearly refutes Yuki's
interpretation.
25. For a discussion of the authorship of the iVladhyantavibhiiga, see Yamagu-
chi Susumu, Madhyantavibhiiga(fka: Exposition systematique du Yogacaravij'11aptivada,
(Nagoya, 1934), pp. X-XVII.
26. A .Buddhist Philosophical Treatise edited for the
First Time for a Sanskrit Manuscript, Nagao Gadjin, (Tokyo, 1964), pp. 37-38: svab-
hiivas trividhaZI asac ca nityafJl sac capy atatvataZI/ sad-asat tatvatas ceti svabhiiva-traya
i;;yate. Also confer, Yeh A-Yueh, Yuishiki shiso no kenkyu, Tokyo, 1975, pp. 79-84.
17
27. Nagao, p. 17: r.Lbhiltaparikalpo'sti dvaym.n tatm na vidyatel silnyata vidyate tv
atm tasyam api sa vidyate. Yeh A-Yiieh, pp. 1-4.
28. Nagao, pp. 26-27: sa7f/kli:;\a ced bhaven nasau
visuddha ced bhavan niisau vyayamo n4phalo bhavetl I na kli:;\a napi suddhii'sudd-
hana caiva sal prabhasvaratvac cittasya Yeh A-Yiieh, pp. 69-74.
29. Takasaki Jikido, A Study on the Ratnagotravibhaga (Uttaratantra), Being a
Treatise on the Tathiigatagarbha of Mahyana Buddhism, (Rome, 1966), p. 59.
30. See Takasaki, Study, pp. 305-306 for the section from the Ratna that
treats this issue. Also confer, Keenan, Buddhabhilmyupadesa, pp.
31. Thus, I agree with the basic idea of E. Frauwallner, "Amalavijiianam
und alayavijiianam. Ein Beitrag zur Erkenntnislehre des Buddhismus," in Beitrage
zur indischen Philologie und Altertumskunde: Walter Schubring zum 70. Geburtstrig dar-
gebracht von der deutschenm Indologie, (Hamburg, 1951), pp. 148-160, in emphasiz-
ing the importance of the question of the purity of the mind, against P. Demie-
ville, but there seems to be no firm evidence specifically to identify amala with
Sthiramati, nor alaya with Dharmapala, nor to locate the center of each with
respectively ValabhI and Nalanda.
32. Bu ston, History of Buddhism, tr. E. Obermiller, I, 53-55.
33. Takasaki, Study, p. 230.
34. Willaim Grosnick, The Zen Master Dogen's Understanding of the Buddha
Nature in tAe Light of the Historical Development of the Buddha-Nature Concept in India,
China, andJapan, unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madi-
son, 1979, pp. 91-92.
35. Takasaki Jikido, Nyoraiza shis6 no keisei, (Tokyo, 1974), p. 338.
36. Takasaki, Keisei, p. 3.
37 .. See Keenan, Buddhabhilmyupade.fa, pp. 96-116.
38. For a discussion of AsaIi.ga's thinking on original purity and that of the
classical Yogacara tradition, see Hakamaya N oriaki, "The Realm of Enlighten-
ment in Vijitaptimatrata: The Formulation of the Four Kinds of Pure Dharmas," in
The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 3, no. 2 (1980), pp.
21-42.
18
The Dragon Girl and the
Abbess of l\IIo-Shan:
Gender and Status in the Ch'an Buddhist
Tradition
by Miriam L. Levering
Women students of Buddhism, like those of other religious tradi-
tions, have in the last decade brought "new" questions to their
teachers. Has the tradition thought differences between men and
women significant for attainment of enlightenment? Where has
the tradition stood on the question of equal access for men and
women to teaching and practice? Has the tradition reflected, or
been a model for, society'S conceptions of the rel;;ttive capabilities
of the sexes? Or has it enabled adherents to transcend or to
change prevailing social norms?
In the case of the Chinese Ch'an Buddhist tradition, the his-
torical record relevant to these questions suggests that it is quite
possible that Ch'an teaching contributed to the ease with which
Chinese women in the twentieth century have been able to accept
their essential equality with men, viewing centuries of constraint
more as a product of an inequitable social structure than as reflect-
ing unequal endowments of intelligence or of moral and spiritual
capacities. Rejecting or more often quietly ignoring much in the
Buddhist heritage that suggested that birth as a woman indicated
that one was less prepared to attain enlightenment than men, or
indeed faced severe, perhaps insuperable, obstacles to rapid en-
lightenment, Ch'an teachers urged upon their students the point
of view that enlightenment, the source of wisdom, compassion,
serenity and moral energy, was available to everyone at all times;
any other view was seen as a hindrance to practice.
One of the foundation doctrines of the Ch'an/Zen school is
that the One Mind of enlightenment, possessed by all sentient
19
beings, is without lal0jana (C. hsiang), distinguishing characteristics,
including maleness or femaleness. As the Chinese teacher Hung-
pien is said to have told the emperor Hsuan-tsung (846-863):
If a person has enlightened and radiant wisdom, that is "Bud-
dha-mind." "Mind" is another name for "Buddha." [Buddha-
mind] has hundreds and thousands of other names, but the
essence is one. Fundamentally it has no form. And it has no
characteristics (hsiang) , such as blue, yellow, red, white, mas-
culine or feminine, and so forth. It is inherent in Heaven and
yet is not Heaven, it is in persons but is not persons. It is what
c a ~ s e s Heaven and mankind to appear, it enables men (tobe
men) and women (to be women). It neither begins nor ends, is-
produced nor extinguished.
l
Chinese social structure clearly marked distinctions among
old and young, male and female, noble and base. The rhetoric of
Ch'an denied such distinctions fiot only any ultimate importance
in themselves, but also any relevance to enlightenment. No charac-
teristic could ultimately be a prerequisite, or a barrier, to attaining
enlightenment. As the Sung Ch'an teacher Ta-hui Tsung-kao
(1089-1163) said concerning Lady Tang, one of his most success-
fullay students:
Can you say that she is a woman, and women have no share
[in enlightenment]? You must believe that this Matter. has
nothing to do with [whether one is] male or female, old or
young. Ours is an egalitarian Dharma-gate that has only one
flavor.
2
And again:
For mastering the truth, it does not matter whether one is
male or female, noble or base. One moment of insight and
one is shoulder to shoulder with the Buddha.
3
The debate within the Mahayana literature around the ques-
tion of whether one can reach full enlightenment in the body of a
woman is drawn, if one may be allowed to simplify, along the
following lines. Those who say that women cannot be enlightened
in their current birth do not dispute that women have the One
Mind, or the Buddha-nature, or whatever term one wishes to use
20
to point to their share in ultimate reality and their potential for
enlightenment. The point at issue is whether all sentient beings
are equally prepared to awaken to a realization of it. On the provi-
sionallevel of reality, distinctions among the capacities of sentient
beings exist: for example, sentient beings born in the human
realm have clearer and more capacious powers of reasoning than
do those in the animal realm. These capacities, which are reflected
in differences of hsiang, are the fruition of previously planted
karmic seeds. The key question is, what relevance do these capaci-
ties have for the objective of attaining enlightenment? Those with-
in the Mahayana who held that women could not be enlightened
in the current birth believed those capacities to be of critical im-
portance. To reach enlightenment, one must develop good capaci-
ties through aeons of disciplined study and practice. Monastic re-
nunciation and the adherence to precepts were crucial, as were
practice of the six piiramitiis. Male human birth and the opportuni-
ty to join the Buddha's sangha were signs that one's capacities for
enlightenment were well on their way toward full development;
birth as a woman was a sign that they were not so far advanced.
Those who subscribed to the belief in the so-called "five hin-
drances" held that Buddhahood and four other kinds of desirable
births could not be attained in their next birth by those who in this
lifetime were born female. The karmically-determined capacities
were simply not there.
Others in the Mahayana, however, tended to make less of
monastic renunciation, adherence to precepts, and aeons of study
and practice as prerequisites for enlightenment. They held that
the Buddha's Dharma and the merit of his Enlightened Mind were
more powerful than any negative set of causes and conditions
affecting the capacities of sentient beings. A moment of sincere
faith and insight on the part of any sentient being could lead to
enlightenment, overcoming any karmic impediments that might
obtain. By arguing that masculinity and femininity and other such
capacity-reflecting distinctions are merely in the realm of hsiang,
and thus empty, and that they are not ultimately relevant to the
success of the objective of attaining enlightenment, Ch'an/Zen
teachers placed their teaching clearly in this second stream. They
joined those who supported the universalizing tendency of the
Mahayana.
Although Ch'an is traditionally thought to have begun in Chi-
21
na in the sixth century, and in fact probably attained a self-con-
scious identity in the eighth, references to the need for establish-
ing a point of view that gender differences make no difference to
attaining enlightenment cannot be found for tertain before the
eleventh century.4 An exception may be the "Song of Proving the
Way," found for the first time in an eleventh-century text, but
thought to date from the late eighth century (see below). One.
finds more interest in the subject in the twelfth, thirteenth, four-
teenth, and sixteenth centuries (the latter three in Japan) with
Yuan-wu, Ta-hui, Hung-chih, Dagen, Bassui,5 Jakushitsu,li as well
as minor figures. The identical teaching can be found in our own
century in the writings and sermons of Chinese teachers like Hsu-
yun, Lu Kuan-yu (Charles Luk), and Nan Huai-chin, as well as the
Korean master Seung-sahn.
7
The teaching of the school appears
to have been clear and consistent over the centuries.
In this essay I wish to focus on two stories that Ch'an and Zen
teachers have traditionally used to give substance to their claim
that such a point of view, contrasting as it does with the low esti-
mate of the capabilities of women held by Confucian society from
the Sung onward in China and throughout most of Japanese histo-
ry, was not only to be preferred as an attitude. leading to enlighten-
ment but also was realistic. To establish the latter point it was
necessary to buttress the assertion that everyone could attain en-
lightenment with specific examples. Those to whom the tradition
has consistently appealed in preaching are the naga (dragon) girl
in the Lotus Sutra and the abbess Mo-shan Liao-jan, whose story
appears for the first time in the Ching-te ch'uan-teng lu of 1004.
Other women who are enlightened are mentioned in Ch'an litera-
ture,8 but the stories of the dragon girl and Mo-shan Liao-jan have
the particular virtue of underlining the point by showing their
heroines demonstrating their enlightenment while at the same
time refuting the specific charge that as women they cannot have
attained it.
The dragon girl
The story of the dragon girl appears in the "Devadatta" chap-
ter of the Lotus Sutra.
9
In the story the daughter of the naga king
Sagara, on hearing the bodhisattva Mafijusri preach the Lotus Sutra,
22
attains supreme bodhi, enlightenment. When the reality of her
attainment is challenged by Sariputra on the ground that she can-
not possibly have carried out preparation comparable to that of
Sakyamuni Buddha as a bodhisattva, and that no enlightenment
could be so speedily attained, the dragon king's daughter appears
before the assembled company. Sariputra puts before her -his
strongest challenge:
"You state that in no length of time you attained to the su-
preme Way. This thing is hard to believe. Wherefore? (Be-
cause) the body of a woman is filthy and not a vessel of the
Law. How can she attain to supreme bodhi? The Buddha-way
is so vast that only after passing through innumerable kalpas,
enduring hardship, accumulating good works, and perfectly
practicing the perfections can it be accomplished. Moreover, a
woman by her body still has five hindrances, viz., she c,annot
become firstly, king of the Brahma-heaven; secondly, Sakra;
thirdly, a mara-king, fourthly, a holy wheel-rolling king; and
fifthly, a Buddha. How then could a woman's body so speedily
become a Buddha?"IO
The dragon girl does not reply to the substance of this challenge,
but offers a demonstration:
23
Now the dragon's daughter possessed a precious pearl worth
a three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, which she held
up and presented to the Buddha, and which the Buddha
immediately accepted. The dragon's daughter then said to the
bodhisattva Wisdom-Accumulation and the honored Saripu-
tra: "I have offered my pearl, and the World-honored One
has accepted it-was this action speedy?" They answered:
"Most speedy." The daughter said: "By your supernatural
powers behold me become a Buddha, even more rapidly than
that!"
At that moment the entire congregation saw the dragon's
daughter suddenly transformed into a male, perfect in bodhi-
sattva-deeds, who instantly went to the World Spotless in the
southern quarter, where (she) sat on a precious lotus-flower,
attaining Perfect Enlightenment, with the thirty-two signs and
the eighty kinds of excellences, and universally proclaiming
the Wonderful Law to all living creatures in the universe.
ll
The story has been used to give Buddhists a double message:
on the one hand, a person born as a woman becomes a Buddha
only after having traded her female body for a male body; on the-
other, "a woman can achieve Buddhahood" (:J. nyonin jobutsU).12 -
Within the Ch'an school and its Japanese derivative the attaining
of a male body as a prerequisite to Buddhahood is far less empha-
sized than in, for example, the Nichiren tradition, and far more
emphasis is placed on the instantaneous quality of each of the
important moments of the story. The story appears to have been
understood in the Ch'an school as one that emphasizes the ex-
traordinary and rapid transformation that comes with enlighten-
ment, a transformation on which there are no limitations. The
dragon girl's offering of her priceless pearl to the Buddha and his
acceptance of it are both rapid, completely without deliberation or
obstruction; so of course are the steps that follow. The allusion to
the story in the famous Ch'an ':Song of Proving the Way," attribut-
ed to Yung-chia Hsuan-chueh (665-713) but probably written in
the late eighth century, 13 is typical of Ch'an interest in the story as
demonstrating the absolute and instantaneous character of en-
lightenment:
Wrong is not wrong, right is not right
To be offby a hair's breadth results in a mistake of a thousand
miles
[If] right, then the dragon girl suddenly achieves Buddha-
hood
[IUwrong, then Ananda is born in hell.I
4
The difference between delusion and enlightenment is merely a
single instant of thought. Even someone of low status in terms of
apparent closeness to enlightenment like the dragon girl can leap
to enlightenment through a single moment of right thought. Like-
wise, a great disciple of the Buddha like Ananda, whose position as
a man, monk and arhat indicates great karmic roots, experiences,
in a moment of deluded thought, rebirth in hell.
A reference to an unknown version of the dragon girl story
appears in the following intriguing episode in the record of the
master Yu-chou T'an-k'ung in chuan 12 of theChing-te ch'uan-teng
lu of 1004:
A nun wanted to "open the hall" and preach the Dharma.
24
(To "open the hall" is to preach ceremonially for the first
time as abbot or abbess of a particular temple.)
The master (T'an-k'ung) said: "Nun, as a woman you should
not open the hall."
The nun said: "The niiga girl attained Buddhahood at age
seven-what do you think about that?"
The master said: "The niiga girl [could change into] eighteen
[different] forms. Try one change of form for me."
The nun said: "Even if I were to change, I would stillbe a fox
spirit!" (Fox spirits could change into other forms, includ-
ing that of a pretty woman, to delude humans.)
The teacher chased her out with blows. IS
Although this story is puzzling in certain respects, it appears
that insofar as the verbal content of the exchange is concerned, the
nun holds her own, demonstrating that she knows clearly that
enlightened mind is the source of authority to teach, not external
attributes. Whether the master's statement that as a woman she
should not become a teacher is an allusion to current norms for
which he thinks there is a "good reason," or represents merely his
own opinion, or is simply a statement to test whether the nun's
mind has sufficient enlightenment and confidence to transcend
conventional notions, the nun's allusion to the dragon girl is an
excellent answer. The second exchange offers a particularly Ch'an
resolution to the ambiguity of the dragon girl story. The Lotus
Sidra story reaches an ambiguous compromise between the posi-
tion that birth as a woman does not reflect inferior roots for en-
lightenment and the position that only as a man can one reach the
full enlightenment of Buddhahood: the dragon girl does perform
the transformation. When T'an-k'ung challenges the nun to do
the same, she points out that that would prove nothing except that
she has magical powers; the question of whether she is qualified to
be an enlightened teacher must be resolved in a different realm
entirely.
Both Ta-hui Tsung-kao, the leading representative of Lin-chi
Ch'an in Sung China, and Dagen (1200-1253), transmitter of
TS'ao-tung Ch'an to Japan, and a great original master, use the
story of the dragon girl in their writings and sermons to illustrate
their conviction of the irrelevance of hsiang to enlightenment. In
Dagen's case, the story is cited in a discussion of the enlightenment
of women. In his argument in the "Raihaitokuzui" chapter of the
Shobogenzo that enlightened women are as worthy of respect as
25
enlightened men and should be taken by men as teachers, Dagen
brings up the example of the naga king's daughter. He says:
Even a seven-year-old girl who practices the Buddha Dharma
and is enlightened in it is the leader and guide of the fourfold
community of Buddhists, the compassionate parent of living
beings. For instance, the naga maiden in the Lotus Sutra
achieved Buddhahood. Giving respect and homage to some-
one such as her is the same as giving it to all the Buddhas.
16
Later in the chapter, in his criticism of the contemporary Japanese
practice of creating certain territories for serious monastic train-
ing and excluding women from them, he returns to the dragon
girl:
At the time a female became a Buddha, everything in the
universe was completely understood [by her]. What person
would hinder her [from entering the restricted territories],
thinking that she had not truly come into this world? The
merits [of her attainment] exist right now, illumining the
whole universe, so even though you set up boundary lines,
they are of no use.
17
Ta-hui also mentions the story more than once, and tells it
from beginning to end in one sermon. He repeats what he believes
to be the fact that although the Buddha preached the Dharma in
. over three hundred and sixty assemblies, only three persons in all
of the sutra literature are described as attaining complete, perfect
enlightenment in that very life. One is a butcher, who lays down
his knife and attains perfect enlightenment. The second is the
youth Sudhana in the Gar;4havyuha section of the Avatar[lSaka Su-
tra. The third is the naga girl. 18 All three are lay persons, while the
butcher because of his occupation and the girl because of her
gender and youth are unlikely candidates.
In one of his sermons, Ta-hui tells and comments on the story
in such a way as to raise one of the crucial questions about it from
the point of view of Ch'an. In what moment of the story did the
naga girl's attainment of perfect bodhi begin to take place? What is
the point at which the person who acts and behaves authoritatively
as an enlightened one makes her or his presence felt? Ta-hui
focuses on the moment of her offering her precious pearl to the
26
Buddha. He says: "Was her offering of the pearl speedy? Indeed,
it took place in her single instant of thought,"19 and goes on from
there to discuss how to understand the fact that perfect enlighten-
ment takes place in an instant. For him the important thing is not
her change of bodily form, nor her attainment of Buddhahood in
the southern quarter, but rather the single instant of enlightened
thought in which she offers her pearl to the Buddha ..
For Tan-k'ung and the would-be abbess, for the author of the
"Song of Proving the Way," for Dagen and Ta-hui, the story is not
that of a woman who became a male Buddha, it is the story of a
woman who, upon becoming a Buddha, is still thought of as a
woman. For them she becomes a Buddha not when she changes
her bodily form, but when she gives rise to supreme bodhi in a
single moment of enlightened thought. Apparently fOJ: these
members of the Ch'an/Zen school, to have it any other way would
be to give too much emphasis to form (hsiang), and not enough to
the power of the one thought of enlightenment and the Mind in
which it is grounded.
The story of M o-shan Liao-jan
An original Ch'an story that shows such a family relationship
to that of the dragon girl that it might be regarded as fundamen-
tally the same story in a characteristically Chinese transformation
is that of the encounter between the monk Kuan-ch'i Chih-hsien
and the abbess Mo-shan Liao-jan. To understand the story it is
necessary to know that in China the order of nuns was always
autonomous, fully separate from the order of monks. Yet in the
larger four-part sangha or assembly of the disciples of the Buddha,
monks ranked above nuns, who in turn ranked above lay men and
lay women. Whenever nuns and monks happened to meet, there-
fore, monks took precedence. Thus we have the dilemma of eti-
quette faced by the participants in this story. A monk, being high-
er in status, does not bow to a nun. A student, on the other hand,
bows in submission to a teacher:
27
When the monk Kuan-ch'i Chih-hsien was travelling from
place to place [looking for a teacher] he came to Mo-shan.
Before [meeting Liao-jan, the abbess of Mo-shan] he said [to
himself] "If this place is all right, then I will stay. Ifnot, then I
will overturn the Ch'an platform (that is, show up the igno-
rance of the teacher)." So saying, he entered the hall. Liao-jan
sent an attendant nun to ask: "Are you merely sightseeing, or
did you come for the Buddha Dharma?" Chih-hsien replied:
"For the Buddha Dharma." Liao-jan then ascended to her seat.
Chih-hsien asked for instruction. Liao-jan asked: "Where did
you start your journey today?" Chih-hsien replied: "From the
entrance to the road (lit., from the mouth of the road)." Liao-
jan said: "Why didn't you cover it?" Chih-hsien had no reply.
He then for the first time performed a kneeling bow. He
asked: "What is Mo-shan (lit., summit mountain)?" Liao-jan
said: "Its peak is not exposed." Chih-hsien said: "What is the
occupant of Mo-shan like?" Liao-jan !"eplied: "(S)he has nei-
ther male nor female form (hsiang)." Chih-hsien shouted:
"Why doesn't she transform herself?" Liao-jan replied: "She is
not a spirit, nor a ghost. What would you have her become?"
Chih-hsien at this could only submit. He became a gardener at
the nunnery, where he stayed three years.
20
The Chih-yiieh lu (Record of Pointing at the Moon) and Dagen both
tell us that later, when Chih-hsien was instructing his own disci-
ples, he said:
"When I was at Lin-chi's place I got half a ladle, and when I
was at Mo-shan's place I got another half-ladle, thus obtaining
the full ladle that has enabled me to satisfy my hunger until
today.21
It is interesting that Mo-shan Liao-jan is the only nun who is
given a record of her own in the Ching-te ch'uan-teng lu. This is
almost certainly connected to the fact that she had a male disciple
williJ?g to give her credit for an important role in his enlighten-
ment. Dagen, who recounts this story in support of his view that
one should seek out enlightened teachers regardless of sex, com-
ments:
28
Now, reflecting on this story, Mo-shan was a prominent disci-
ple of Kao-an Ta-yu. Her power of satori was superior, and
she became the mother who taught Chih-hsien. Lin-chi had
inherited the Dharma of the great Zen master Huang-po. His
was the great power of practice, and he became the father of
Chih-hsien. The father was male and the mother was female.
Chih-hsien showed that he had a superior spirit when he
sought the Dharma from Mo-shan and paid homage to her.
He was unflagging in his pursuit of later training, and he is
famous for seeking the Dharma without consideration of male
and female.
22
From a doctrinal point of view, it is of great interest that the
question and answer that convinced Chih-hsien that he could
profitably learn from Mo-shan Liao-jan was a question of the rel-
evance to enlightenment of the distinction between male and fe-
male. She says, in effect: "My enlightened Mind has neither male
nor female hsiang." He counters: "Why do you not transform
yourself?" One way of reading his question is to see it as asking:
"Why not become a male and then a Buddha, as the dragon girl
did, and thus prove that you are enlightened?" The fact that Mo-
shan, like the nun in the story quoted above, does not recognize
any need to transform herself, and therefore demonstrates her
enlightenment in a way different from that of the dragon girl, is
characteristic of the changes that had taken place within Ma-
hayana in China and particularly in Ch'an. Mo-shan Liao-jan
shows her enlightenment precisely by not showing it, letting it be
known that the top of her head is not visible. The loftiness of her
insight is demonstrated by her lack of interest in super-normal
powers (shen-t'ung). Likewise, Buddhahood as a final accomplish-
ment of perfection that can be externally displayed and verified
through the possession of the thirty-two marks (hsiang) , one of
which requires a penis, has paled in interest compared to the vivid
personalities of the enlightened Chinese teachers. Chih-hsien's
question thus only shows that he does not realize that mind en-
lightened to any degree transcends distinctions of hsiang. In pre-
serving this story, Tao-yuan, the compiler of the Ching-te Record of
the Transmission of the Lamp, Dagen, and the influential Ts'ao-tung
monk Hung-chih (who mentioned it frequently),23 and others re-
cord the agreement of the tradition that Liao-jan has had the best
of the exchange. In the thought world of the Lotus Sidra, the same
story could not be read as a triumph for Mo-shan.
Another interesting aspect of this story is that the question of
the relevance of unequal hsiang to enlightenment and the question
of the relative status of male and female are raised together. As a
monk, Chih-hsien, though not overly polite, is not incorrect in not
bowing to a nun. But if he intends to learn from her, he must bow
29
to her as a teacher. In his belated bow and final submission, Chih-
hsien concedes the point that within the school, the status of teach-
er is a matter of demonstrated wisdom, not of phenomenal charac-
teristics.
Dagen takes up the question of the status of women within the
Ch'an/Zen school at some length in the "Raihaitokuzui" chapter of
his Shi5bi5genzi5. He is concerned that attachment to external ap-
pearances (hsiang) prevents many monks from paying homage to
women or nuns even if they have acquired the Dharma and trans-
mitted it. Such persons, he says, do not understand the Dharma;
they have left the Buddha's path. They are like animals, far re-
moved from the Buddhas and patriarchs. In demonstrating the
error of this attitude, he points out that rank in the world and rank
in the Dharma are two different things. He does not challenge the
accepted relative ranking of men and women in the world. Nor
does he challenge the view that all other things being equal, nuns
rank below monks in the sangha. But he insists that rank in the
Dharma depends upon one's progress toward complete, perfect
enlightenment. Women, he points out, have attained the four
fruits, as well as the higher stages of the bodhisattva path. One, the
dragon girl, even attained to the stage of "wonderful enlighten-
ment," the final stage on the fifty-two-stage path to Buddhahood
conceived by the Hua-yen school. A hundred-year-old monk who
has not acquired the Way is not the equal of a woman who has
acquired it. Dagen says:
When you make Dharma-inquiries of a nun who transmits the
treasury of the eye of the true Dharma, ... who has reached
the stages of the bodhisattva's last ten stages, and you pay hom-
age to her, the nun will naturally receive your homage.
24
Concluding remarks
On a recent stay in Taiwan I discussed these stories with a
group of nuns in their late twenties and thirties. They belonged to
a nominally Ch'an order, had experienced Ch'an training under
the nun Hsiao-yun Fa-shih, and were pursuing studies in the Lotus
Siitra. When asked whether the story of the dragon girl reflected a
30
reservation about the capacities of women to attain enlightenment,
given that the dragon girl must first manifest maleness before
becoming a Buddha, the young nuns unanimously stated that that
would be a mistaken interpretation. Maleness and femaleness have
nothing to do with enlightenment, since enlightenment is a matter
of mind and heart. Clearly the point of the story, they said, was
that the dragon girl had the power of insight and determination to
become a Buddha, and the truth taught by the sutra had the trans-
formative power to make this possible. The transformation of her
body into a male body had no real significance as an element in the
story; for them it was part of the miraculous trappings of the myth
rather than the heart of the myth itself.
The historian of Buddhism readily sees in these stories and
their interpretations within the Ch'an/Zen tradition a blending of
the ekayana ("one vehicle") tendency within the Mahayana with the
Chinese belief in the "suddenness" of enlightenment. What in-
trigues this historian is that the Ch'an and Zen schools included
these stories in preaching and teaching at a time when their soci-
eties were putting more emphasis on Confucian education as a
path of self-cultivation, while at the same time failing to educate
women, or to allow women to become leaders and teachers. In
doing so Ch'an and Zen teachers planted seeds of the conviction
that gender differences were accidental, not essential. As Ch'an
and Zen appealed to members of the classes whose sons and hus-
bands were being educated, women from those classes found
themselves drawn to a path to enlightenment which granted them
in principle at least an equal status, as well as autonomy and lead-
ership roles, and one in which it was taught that gender and social
status were irrelevant considerations that could and should be
dropped from the minds of all genuine seekers. The point of view
truest to the tradition is well expressed in the Shobogenzo:
31
"What demerit is there in femaleness? What merit is there in
maleness? There are bad men and good women. If you wish
to hear the Dharma and put an end to pain and turmoil, forget
about such things as male and female. As long as delusions
have not yet been eliminated, neither men nor women have
eliminated them; when they are all eliminated and true reality
is experienced, there is no distinction of male and female."25
NOTES
L Tao-yUan, compo and ed., Ching-Ie ch'uan-Ieng lu (Taipei: Chen-shan-mei
ch'u-pan-she, 1967), p. 159-61. Hereafter cited as CTCTL. About Hung-pien
nothing further is known.
2. Ta-hui P'u-chileh. Ch'an-shih p'u-shuo, Dainihon zokuzOkyo 1, 31, 5, p. 455a.
Hereafter cited as Ta-hui p'u-shuo.
3. Ta-hui p'u-shuo, p. 433b.
4. The passage attributed to Hung-pien quoted above, the earliest, is not in
any source earlier than 1004. The closest thing to a doctrinal statement on the
subject appearing in earlier Ch'an works is found in the work called Erhju ssu-
hsing lun ("Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices") attributed to
Bodhidharma. The passage reads as follows:
Question: What does it mean to say "a male is not a male, a female is not a
female"?
Answer: If you seek [enlightenment] relying on Dharrna, then masculinity and
femininity are not things you can grasp onto. How do we know? Form itself is
not male form or female form. If form were male, then all grasses and trees
would correspondingly be male; and the same for female [form]. People who
are deluded do not understand; in their deluded thinking they see male and
female, [but] that is an illusory male, and illusory female; ultimately they are
not real.
This of course merely states that the distinction is empty; it does not address the
question of whether the distinction is relevant to enlightenment. Cf. Yanagida
Seizan, ed. and trans., Darurna no goroku (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1969), pp. 77-
79.
5. Cf. Philip Kapleau, compo and ed., The Three Pillars of Zen (Boston: Bea-
con Press, 1967), pp. 160-61 and 166.
6. Cf. Thomas Cleary, trans. and ed., The Original Face (New York: Grove
Press, 1978), p. 78.
7. Cf. Lu K'uan Yii, Ch'an and Zen Teaching, First Series (Berkeley, Ca.:
Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1970), p. 87. Also Stephen Mitchell, ed., Dropping
Ashes on the Buddha (New York: Grove Press, 1976).
8. Most notably Bodhidharma's disciple Tsung-chih, Layman P'ang's
daughter Ling-chao, and Candrottara, as well as a number of nameless laywomen
and nuns who inspire, challenge, or confound monks such as Te-shan, Chao-chou
and Lin-chi.
9. I have used the Chinese text in TaishO 9, pp. 34b-35c. Translations are
taken from Bunn6 KatO, trans., "Myoho-renge kyo": The Sulra of the Lotus Flower of
the Wonderful Law (Tokyo: Kosei Shuppansha, 1971), ch. 12, pp. 256-6l.
10. TaishO 9, p. 35c; Kat6, p. 260.
11. TaishO 9, p. 35c; Kat6, p. 260.
12. Cf. Harada Norio's interesting essay, "Ryunyo," in Zen bunka, no. 68
(March 15, 1973), pp. 25-30.
13. Cf. the introduction to Yoka shOdoka by Omori S6gen in Nishitani Keiji
32
and Yanagida Seizan, eds., Zenke goroku II (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1974), p. 113.
14. CTCTL, chuan 30, p. 229.
15. CTCTL, chuan 12, p. 34
16. Dagen, ShOb6genza, in Terada Toru and Mizuno Yaoko, ~ d s . , Dagen
. (Tokyo: I wanami Shoten, 1970, 2 vols.), I, p. 324. Hereafter cited as Terada and
Mizuno. The translation used here is from Francis Dojun Cook, H ow to Raise an Ox
(Los Angeles: Center Publications, 1978), p. 140. Hereafter cited as Cook.
17. Terada and Mizuno, I, p. 328. Cook, pp. 145-46. I have added "[by
her]".
18. Ta-hui p'u-shuo, p. 458d; see also pp. 447b-c. Ta-hui brings up the story
of the dragon girl elsewhere in Ta-hui p'u-shuo, pp. 402a, and 438c, and in Ta-hui
p'u-chueh Ch'an-shih yu-lu, Taisha 47, p. 838a, where he quotes Yung-chia's "Song
of Proving the Way," p. 900c and p. 909b.
19. Ta-hui p'u-shuo, p. 447c.
20. CTCTL, chuan 11, p. 19. An English translation by Lu K'uan-yil is given
in a translation by him of a sermon by the twentieth century teacher Hsil-yiln. It is
found in Lu K'uan Yil, Ch'an and Zen Teaching, First Series, p. 87. Dagen tells the
story somewhat differently in the "Raihaitokuzui" chapter of the ShObagenza. Cf.
Terada and Mizuno, I, pp. 318-20. Lu K'uan-yil's notes are interesting. Of the
final exchange he says:
When Kuan Ch'i asked about the owner of Mo Shan, i.e., about herself, she
replied that the owner was neither male nor female for sex had nothing to
do with enlightenment, and the dharmakiiya was neither male nor female.
Generally, women had many more handicaps than men, and Kuan Ch'i
seemed to look down upon her because of her sex and asked her why she did
not change herself into a man if she was (sic) enlightened. His question
showed that he was still under delusion.
21. Hsil Ju-chi, comp., Chih-yueh lu (Taipei: Chen shan-mei ch'u-pan-she,
1959), chuan 13 (vol. 2), pp. 932-33. Cf. Terada and Mizuno, I, p. 320.
22. Terada and Mizuno, I, p. 320; Cook, p. 137.
23. Hung-chih Ch'an-shih kuang-lu, TaisM 48, pp. 1-121, mentions Mo-shan's
story on pp. 16b, 32b, 42b, 44c, 47b, 94b. Ta-hui p'u-shuo mentions it on p. 446d;
Yuan-wu Fo-kuo Ch'an-shih yu-lu,TaisM 48, pp. 714-810, retells it on p. 779b, in a
Dharma-instruction (Fa-yu) given to a nun.
24. Terada and Mizuno, I, p. 322; Cook, p. 139.
25. Terada and Mizuno, I, p. 326; Cook, p. 143.
Bassui W: ~
Ch'an *.
Chao-chou .t![ 1'1-1
Chih-hsien i8 PM
33
GLOSSARY
Chih-yueh lu tiil J.l
Ching-te ch'uan-teng lu 1-'
Daruma no goroku it (7) 'ffl
Dagen :i1! j[;
Erh-ju ssu-hsing lun = A 1m IT
Fa-yu #;; 'ffl .
Harada Norio 1* S3 * tiE
Hsiang ;f
Hsu Ju-chi tfr:
Hsu-yun m:
Hsuan-tsung Eli *
Hua-yen * .fi:.!
Hung-chih *
Hung-chih Ch'an-shih kuang-lu * 1 IiiIi JJ(
Hung-pien 51. m
Kao-an Ta-yu jiWj ,Iifj,
J akushitsu ;R
Kuan-ch'i Chih-hsien il
Layman P'ang (P'ang Chu-shih) Jft !is"
Liao-jan T
Lin-chi
Ling-chao m ,f!iil
Mizuno Yaoko 7.K ff 51 T
Mo-shan -* LlJ
Mo-shan Liao-jan -* LlJ T
Nan Huai-chin Wi 'J! rJ:
Myoho-renge-kyo try #;; ji 1t
Nishitani Keiji g":fr m
Nyonin jabutsu -P: A fiX ffll
Omori Sagen 'If 1,:
Raihaitokuzui :m ff
Ryunyo m:":9::.
Shen-t'ung:5} :@.
ShObOgenzo jf" #;;
Ta-hui*-
Ta-hui P'u-chiieh Ch'an-shih p'u-shuo *- f giji
Ta-hui P'u-chueh Ch'an-shih yu-lu *- :It IiiIi 'ffl
Ta-hui p'u-shuo *-
Ta-hui Tsung-kao *- *
T'an-k'ung
34
Tao-yuan:@: W.
Te-shan 1 ~ ill
Terada Toru ~ E B ~
. Ts'ao-tung Wi i/OJ
Tsung-chih ,.@ :f,f
Yanagida Seizan tw EB ~ ill
Yoka shOdoka .iJ< ~ ~ :@: ~
Yu-chou T'an-k'ung ~ ;/-1'1 ~ ~
Yuan-wu Fo-kuo Ch'an-shih yu-lu ~ m ~ ='= * gjjJ ~ ~
Yung-chia Hsuan-chueh 7i<. ~ 1:: :I:
Zen 1
Zen bunka 1 X it
Zenke goroku * ~ ~ ~
35
CHllNLEIE 1UDllIE
llN JPHlllLOOIPHY,
A Quarterly Journal of Translations
Editor: Chung-ying Cheng, University of Hawaii
"Indispensable to specialists and laymen alike who want to understand
the ideological tendencies in Mainland China and the development of
recent Chinese thought .... the ideas are dynamic and the writing
lively. The journal is highly recommended. "-Wing-tsit Chan,
Dartmouth College
" ... probably the best English source for a good understanding of sub-
jects discussed by Chinese Marxist philosophers today."
-Charles Wei-hsun Fu, Temple University
Sample Issue Contents
Reevaluating "One Divides into Two" and "Two Combine into One"
On the Difference between "One Divides into Two" and "Two Com-
bine into One"
"One Divides into Two" Reveals Struggle; "Two Combine into One"
Reveals Unity
"One Divides into Two" Cannot Fully Describe the Theory of the
Unity of Opposites
On the Problem of the Debate over "One Divides into Two" and "Two
Combine into One"
How to Interpret Correctly "One Divides into Two"
The Place and Function of the Identity of Contradiction in the
Development of Things-A Draft Discussion
Quarterly
First Issue: Fall 1969
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un. E Sharpe Inc.
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Armonk. New York 10504
The Life and Times of Paramartha
(499-569)
by Diana Y. Paul
An implicit principle of selection is operative in any biography. In
religious biographies or hagiographies, the selection of biographi-
cal facts is especially critical to the emerging image of the religious
personality.l In the case of the Kao seng chuan (KSCF (Biographies
of Eminent Monks) we have simultaneously the tendency to select
common human experiences that indicate Buddhist monks are
ordinary men with shared emotions, ambitions, and weaknesses;
and the tendency to select events that characterize monks as
uniquely religious, that is, spiritually eminent. In other words, the
KSC and its sequel, the Hsii kao seng chuan (HKSC) (Continued
Biographies of Eminent Monks) chronicle the lives of those who are
recognized to have exemplified the religious ideals of the Chinese
Buddhist monastic community in the most favorable manner. Par-
amartha's own biography portrays a saintly scholarly figure
against the background of the emotionally and politically turbu-
lent events of the sixth century.
During this period marking the close of the North-South Dy-
nastic Period in China, philosophical schools of Buddhism
emerged and flourished in the wake of Indian missionary-monks
who had gained economic support from different Chinese courts.
Naturally, when the imperial hegemony was a stable one, produc-
tivity in translation work and major recognition of scholarship was
far more marked than in troubled periods of political and social
upheaval. The most significant translations and scholarship were
usually effected only when there was financial patronage from
highly influential state officials.
It is essential to remember that Buddhist "schools" in China
were not educational institutions established in terms of organiza-
tional hierarchies and codified dogma regarded as absolute doctri-
37
nal authority. The historical, political, geographical and economic
realities of the time were critical to the survival of any scholastic
endeavor, religious or secular. In the period at the end of the
North-South Dynasties, in particular, it is especially important to
investigate the personality and influence of the great Indian mas-
ters who served as the teachers and translators of innovative reli-
gious doctrines to their coteries of Chinese Buddhist disciples.
These Indian Buddhist pioneers were not content to translate the
scriptural texts solely for scholastic purposes. They were interest-
ed in interpreting texts in a way that would allow their Chinese
followers to analyze their work by writing their own commen-
taries, thereby transforming Buddhism into a culturally acceptable
religion. These Indian Buddhist monks also had to adjust to the
political and economic challenges of the time.
It was during the chaotic times of the Liang and Ch'en Dynas-
ties that Paramartha introduced the philosophical ideas of Yoga-
cara Buddhism to the Chinese elite in the south. Paramartha was
an Indian Buddhist monk and the first to introduce and dissemi-
nate, to any great extent, Yogacarin philosophical and religious
tenets to China, in the Kwangsi and Kwangtung provinces of the
south. This marked the beginning of a period of active interpreta-
tion and discussion of some of the most significant texts of the
Y ogacarin or "Consciousness-Only" tradition. Paramartha was
recognized as a major philosopher and exegete of Yogacara Bud-
dhism, exerting considerable influence on the development of
Chinese Buddhist thought, from the Liang Dynasty up t ~ r o u g h
the middle of the Tang. By providing a systematic and represen-
tative collection of core texts for his loyal followers, Paramartha
enabled Chinese Buddhist monks to prepare the foundation for
the classical Tang Buddhist schools: Hua-yen, whose most notable
proponents were Fa-tsang (643-712) and Chih-yen (602-668);
and Fa-hsiang, whose primary proponents were Hsuan-tsang
(600-664) and his disciple, K'uei-chi (632-682), also known as
Tzu-en.
Largely due to Paramartha's extensive translations and exe-
geses, Yogacara Buddhism was to affect Chinese thought for over
three hundred years. Not only Ch'an and Hua-yen Buddhists but
also the later neo-Confucians owed a considerable debt to Para-
martha's systematic thought. His works were to be the turning
point in a long-standing debate among Buddhist scholars concern-
38
ing the phenomenology of mind and the essential character of
human nature. He devoted his writings to analyzing the structures
of conscious acts and their relationship to spiritual enlightenment.
. If human nature is intrinsically good and destined for enlighten-
ment, he asked, why do human beings refuse to believe and act
like the enlightened beings they fundamentally are? This ques-
tion, lying at the heart of Mahayana, is the focus of all of Para-
martha's major tracts of writing.
While Paramartha was living, his works were subjected to the
vicissitudes of the times, ranging from a period of eminence and
recognition of his brilliant and innovative analyses of Buddhist
doctrine to periods of sporadic but intense persecution. A prelimi-
nary investigation of the personality and political life of Para-
martha will assist in understanding his place in the history of the
evolution of Buddhist thought. He was a religious and philosophi-
cal teacher of theretofore unknown Buddhist theories. He was a
political survivor who, though ostracized for the views he both
cherished and had hoped to disseminate, managed to continue his
writings-despite jealous Buddhist court monks who plotted his
banishment from the central sphere of political and religious in-
fluence and a lack of highly placed patrons that more economical-
ly stable times would have certainly provided.
The specifically religious dimension of Paramartha's life, in
accordance with the overall hagiographical intent of the HKSC, is
brought out in sharp relief from the sparse historical details of his
life before his arrival in China. First, I will attempt a brief recon-
struction of the political and religious context of sixth-century
India and its colony Funan, where Paramartha resided for some
time. Then I will summarize the political and economic unrest in
southern China on the eve of Paramartha's sojourn to Canton,
b ~ f o r e discussing in detail the biography of Paramartha.
The Historical Background of India and Funan
Paramartha was born in A.D. 499, approximately a hundred
and fifty years after the Yogacarin philosopher Vasubandhu, the
single Buddhist most influential on Paramartha's intellectual de-
velopment. At that time the city of U jjain was no longer part of the
Gupta empire. The collapse of the Gupta empire would occur in
39
the mid-sixth century, but the glory of the empire had faded
greatly as the Central Asian tribe, the HUI).as, had invaded north
India much earlier through the Khyber Pass .. The demise of the
dynasty politically fractured the country, and north India reverted
to its feudal kingdoms. In the Kathiawar Peninsula, ValabhI sepa-
rated from Magadha, so that Paramartha's family was part of an
autonomous kingdom, the province of Malwa, of which Ujjain was
the capital city. There is no evidence that the Gupta empire con-
trolled western Malwa, including Ujjain, except perhaps in the-
ory.3 By 510 both Malwa and ValabhI had regional kings who
theoretically acknowledged the Later Guptas only as the titular
heads of state.
In western Malwa, north of Ujjain, there were several feudal
lords during the early life of Paramartha. The most important was
King Yasodharman, whose heroic deeds in battling the HUI).a king
Mihirakula,4 son of ToramaI).a, are legendary. We know that Mi-
hirakula was an adherent of a Saivite sect of the Brahmanical
tradition and was alleged to have fiercely persecuted the Bud-
dhists.
5
Mihirakula and his troops met with fierce resistance, hav-
ing been defeated by Yasodharman of Malwa sometime between
527 and 533, according to a Mandasor (Dasapura) inscription,6 on
which it is said that Mihirakula paid obeisance to the feet of Yasod-
harman. There is some controversy concerning whether Mihira-
kula pressed on to Magadha to be defeated by Narasirphagupta
Baladitya II.
7
Even under Mihirakula and the Maitrakas, the provincial rul-
ers were allowed to continue their reign over the people.
8
Para-
martha's contemporaries, then, during his youth were Mihirakula
in Ujjain and Narasimhagupta Baladitya II, a Later Guptan king,
in Magadha. Yasodharman of Malwa, who captured Mihirakula in
approximately 532, would have been the reigning power in Ujjain
about the time of Paramartha's departure for foreign lands. Since
Paramartha was their contemporary, he must have enjoyed the
patronage of both Yasodharman and Baladitya II in order to have
the requisite financial resources for his missionary effort. Since we
are not certain of the precise date when Paramartha left for China,
probably around 545, he may have had the patronage of either
Baladitya II or, more likely, his son, Kumaragupta III, both of
whom were patrons of Buddhism-as were most of the Later Gup-
tans. The Maitraka ruler Dhruvasena I of ValabhI, the monastic
40
center for Yogacara Buddhism of the type that Paramartha advo-
cated, reigned from at least 525-545 and may have supported
Paramartha's missionary efforts as well.
According to the HKSC Paramartha set sail at some unknown
date for distant lands to propagate the Buddhist teaching. The
only country named in the HK?C besides China as a place of
missionary activity is Funan. Funan, at the time of Paramartha,
had become a center of international trade, incorporating all of
Cambodia, parts of Thailand, and the lower part of the Mekong
delta in Vietnam. This region functioned as a trade zone between
the two great empires of India and China and had been a vital
economic colony in India's possession since the first century A.D.
Funan had become predominantly Hindu but Buddhist mission-
ary activity during the sixth century must have intensified, since it
is said that the Buddhists also had a strong following.
It is known that Buddhist monks had already been sent to
China from Funan to translate texts during the imperial reign of
Wu of Liang. Sarpghapala (or Samghabhara) (460-524) resided in
China from 506 until 522. Mandra (or Mandrasena) collaborated
with him.9 Rudravarman,!O son of J ayavarman, had commissioned
at least six emissaries to China, from 517 until 539. Various pre-
sents were sent to the imperial court by Rudravarman, including a
sandalwood image of the Buddha, Indian pearls, a live rhinoceros,
saffron, and a relic of the Buddha (purportedly a twelve-foot-Iong
strand of hair.)!l After he allegedly killed GUI,lavarman, his half
brother and rightful heir to the throne, Rudravarman was in jeop-
ardy of being overthrown by native Cambodians. This eventually
brought the downfall of the Indian colony of Funan.
Two facts can be documented with regard to the state of
Buddhism in Funan at the time of Paramartha. First, government
support of Buddhism was an important factor in trade relations
between Funan and China. Paramartha'sjourney to China was not
the first, since envoys to China from Funan had been relatively
frequent before his departure for Canton. We know from the
HKSC that Emperor Wu of Liang had invited monks such as
Sarpghapala and Mandra from Funan to the imperial court prior
to Paramartha's departure for Canton. Second, Rudravarman
must have been the sovereign at the time Paramartha was engaged
in missionary activity in Funan, as he apparently had some interest
in Buddhism, for political if not personal reasons. His reign was to
41
come to an abrupt end about the time that Paramartha departed
from Funan.
Although Hinduism was the state religion of Funan, the fact
that Emperor Wu selected Funan as a resource center for recruit-
ing eminent Buddhist monks suggests that there was considerable
missionary activity by Buddhist monks in Funan during the sixth
century. By the beginning of the seventh century, however, Bud-
dhism had been banished f1lom Funan. Paramartha may have al-
ready suspected that BuddhIsm was beginning to lose its constitu-
ency in Funan when he accepted the invitation to go to China.
Historical Background of Southern China During the Late Liang and
Early Ch'en
The Ta-t'ung reign of Emperor Wu of Liang (reigned 502-
549) marked the beginning of the fourth decade of his reign. He
was a more fervent Buddhist than any Chinese sovereign before
him. This fact is reiterated in Paramartha's biography in the
HKSC, where it states that:
... the virtue of Emperor Wu of Liang extended over all
parts of the land, causing the Three Jewels [of Buddhism] to
flourish .... The emperor wished to transmit and translate
the teachings of the sutras, no less than during the Ch'in Dyn-
asty [Former Ch'in: 351-394; Later Ch'in: 384-417]. In addi-
tion, he [wished to have] published materials surpassing in
number those of the days of the Ch'i Dynasty [479-502).12
Emperor Wu had originally been of Taoist persuasion, and
his ties to Taoist alchemists continued even after his conversion to
Buddhism in 504 and his subsequent decrees exerting pressure on
Taoists to return to the laity .13 He began his reign in a period of
great prosperity and economic stability, but closed his reign with
indifference toward the national government. Envisioning himself
as an exemplary Buddhist sovereign, he had constructed many
Buddhist temples, the most famous being the Tung-fai temple,
whose construction between 521-527 drained the state treasuries
of enormous sums of money and increased the burden on the
economy.
In the year of Tung-t'ai's completion, Emperor Wu briefly
42
retired to become a monk. He was sixty-three years old at the time.
It is at the Tung't'ai temple that he had engaged in some of his
most noteworthy and controversial Buddhist practices, including
"Dharma assemblies" where the subtleties of sutras would be dis-
cussed at length, and where he granted amnesty to criminals or
made pronouncements. One of his more unusual practices was to
surrender himself as a temple servant for a day in order to raise
donations from wealthy aristocratic families for the temple cof-
fers.
14
Two instances in which he performed the acts of a temple
servant took place in 546 and 547, shortly before Paramartha's
arrival in Nanking. The Inexhaustible Treasuries he encouraged
were vast collections of capital, estimated to be worth 10,960,000
pieces of gold in 533.
15
All these acts were Wu's pious attempts to
save himself and others from unfortunate states of rebirth. Due to
the zealous practices of Emperor Wu he was praised as p'u-sa t'ien-
tzu, "The bodhisattva and Sori of Heaven" - and vilified by Confu-
cian historians as a spendthrift who allowed corrupt Buddhist
practices to continue unchecked. He also was criticized for not
observing the penal code, by being overly lenient toward prisoners
in accordance with his interpretation of the Buddhist ideal of com-
passion. When circumstances necessitated the execution of crimi-
nals, Wu reluctantly gave the command only after burning incense
and invoking the name of the Buddha to eradicate any potential
bad karma he would otherwise incur.
For all of his financial excesses in the name of the Buddhist
religion, Emperor Wu, particularly in the early period of his reign,
established social and economic reforms. He exerted himself in
stabilizing governmental organizations by maintaining tight con-
trol over the Southern Dynastic aristocracy. 16 However, at the end
of the Eastern Chin the firmly established aristocratic families had
lost much of their monopoly over government posts; in their stead
rose the "cold men", (han-jen) , who were ambitious commoners,
currying favor with local lords. These commoners had the backing
of wealthy regional lords and came to dominate others through
graft and bribery, increasing their own wealth considerably.
The history of the shifts in power during the Southern Dynas-
ties must always take into account the fact that the great landown-
ing regional lords had made alliances with the "cold men" for
business, profit, and capital. This economic and political alliance
was to oppress the farmers even more and cause the collapse of
43
the Liang. The aristocratic families who had emigrated from the
north, taking flight from the Hsien-pei invaders for the safe re-
gions of the south along the Yangtze delta, gained high adminis-
trative positions but often possessed no real poWer. The provincial
governors, who were princes of the imperial family, always had to
address the needs of the native southern Chinese clans surround-
ing them. Often the governors were in a weak position with regard
to protecting their own garrisons, since the military recruits came-
from native southern families.
The centralized government was politically organized as a sys-
tem in which each prince moved from one garrison to another,
with a metropolitan headquarters in the capital city of Chien-k'ang
(same as Chien-yeh, referred to in the HKSC, and known today as
Nanking). Militarily, the Liang Dynasty was not only vulnerable to
attack from the foreign rulers of the Toba-Wei house in north
China but also from within its own ranks. By the end of the Liang,
oppression of the peasants and farmers had increased but influ-
ences and threats from north China had temporarily declined,
due to its division into Eastern and Western Wei. The Liang
sought to take advantage of this division by increasing military
intervention. Emperor Wu, late in his career, turned to the "cold
families" (han-men) in hope of using the latter's power to gain
north China. These trusted men, who had been excellent govern-
ment servants and had not antagonized the aristocratic emigres,
were given low government positions that had real power behind
them, although they were looked down upon by the aristocracy
because of their plebian origins. Countering Emperor Wu's ambi-
tions were the ambitions of some of the more powerful southern
Chinese clans and emigres from the north who wished to appro-
priate for themselves the throne of south China. Unlike in the
Northern Dynasties, there was a constant need to strengthen na-
tionalism in the south. In addition, the tension between spending
vast sums of money on war and on Buddhist practices were signs
of a weakening of the Liang Dynasty. The insufficient increase in
the money supply had been a general tendency since the time of
Liu Sung. 17 Economic recession coupled with a high rate of infla-
tion during the late Liang Dynasty gave many of the "cold fam-
ilies" who were merchants increased prosperity and forced peas-
ants and farmers into more lucrative careers in the military as
soldiers for powerful native regional lords.
44
The rise of the notorious rebel Hou Ching
l8
and the marshal-
ing of forces against Emperor Wu is a long, complicated web of
intrigue that remains controversial among historians. Originally
Hou Ching was a powerful general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty in
north China. He had been a military aide to Kao Huan; who had
forced Emperor Hsiao-wu to flee west to Ch'ang-an, where he was
assassinated by Yii-wen T'ai in 534. Kao Huan then set up a pup-
pet emperor, Emperor Hsiao Ching, in Loyang in 535, establish-
ing the Eastern Wei. In 547, almost thirteen years after the inau-
guration of the Eastern Wei dynasty, Kao Huan died. His eldest
son, Kao Ch'eng (d. 549), did not look so favorably upon his fa-
ther's cohort, Hou Ching. Kao Ch'eng was assassinated in 549 by a
Liang prisoner ofwar.
19
Kao Ch'eng's younger brother, Kao Yang
(529-559), succeeded as the military power behind the throne,
proclaiming himself emperor (Wen-hsiian) in 550, establishing the
Northern Ch'i. Following a quarrel with Kao Yang, Hou Ching
planned another military campaign, this time allying himself with
Yii-wen T'ai of the Western Wei, Kao Ch'eng's old rival and the
Hsien-pei power behind the throne in 547. Although Yii-wen T'ai
was uneasy about the alliance with Hou Ching, he commanded
HOll Ching to seize the Eastern Wei capital of Loyang. Hou Ching
felt trapped between the two rival forces. In 548, he allied himself
with Emperor Wu so as to gain his assistance in this crisis.
By this time Emperor Wu was well into his dotage and had
delegated the bulk of administrative responsibilities to both com-
petent officials and inefficient relatives from his immediate family.
Against the will of some of his most trusted advisers, Emperor Wu
enfeoffed Hou Ching as Prince of Honan, so as to cause trouble
for both the Eastern and Western Wei. Throughout the ensuing
hostilities precipitated by Hou Ching, Emperor Wu was to be inef-
fectual in rallying forces to defend the capital and empire from
the duplicitous Hou Ching. Assisted by one of Emperor Wu's own
sons, Hou Ching eventually seized the capital city of Nanking on
April 24, 549, after a six-month insurrection in which there was
lack of resistance from imperial troops. With dignity befitting an
imperial authority, Emperor Wu received Hou Ching at court.
when the rebel stormed the palace gates.
20
Emperor Wu died of
starvation on June 12, 549, while under house arrest.
After two-and-a-half years of nominally supporting the right-
ful heir to the throne, in the seventh month of 551 Hou Ching had
45
the puppet emperor Chien-wen (Hsiao Kang) intoxicated and
then suffocated him and murdered many of his children. After
the three-month interim reign of Hsiao Tung, Emperor Chien-
wen's successor, Hou Ching proclaimed himself Emperor of Han
on January 1, 552, and imprisoned Hsiao Tung.
21
On April 28,
552, three months after Hou Ching's ascent to the throne, Hou
Ching was forced to flee Nanking by troups commanded/by the
powerful generals Wang Seng-pien (d. 555)22 and Ch'en Pa-hsien
(50-3-559),23 under the orders of Hsiao 1. On May 26, 552, Gener-
al Wang Seng-pien killed Hou Ching and displayed his corpse in
Nanking. His corpse was savagely torn to pieces by the people and
eaten, then the bones were set afire. His head was taken to Chiang-
ling where emperor (Ylian) allowed the birds to eat it.
24
Emperor Liang's seventh son, Hsiao I, who had originally
been enfeoffed as Prince of Hsiang-tung, and who lived in
Chiang-ling, approximately 450 miles southwest of Nanking, pro-
claimed himself emperor (Yuan) of the Liang in Chiang-ling on
December 13, 552.25 His general, Wang Seng-pien, who had
overthrown his father's assassin, Hou Ching, was the power be-
hind the restoration of the Liang, and was still in Nanking. Per-
haps suspicious of Wang Seng-pien's own political ambitions, the
newly declared Emperor Yuan wisely chose to stay in Chiang-ling
but sent both generals to Nanking. Nearly all the aristocratic
emigres who had survived the fall of Nanking sought refuge
where Hsiao I resided.
26
Fearing also his younger brother, Hsiao
Chi, in Szechuan, Hsiao I had him assassinated by the Western
Wei in August 553.
27
The regions of Szechuan, however, were
sacrificed to the Western Wei, led by Yu-wen Tai, in exchange for
the disposal of Hsiao Chi, and the court was maintained in
Chiang-ling where Hsiao I now resided. This city was seized easily
by the Western Wei a year later, at the close of 554. The Western
Wei plotted the death of Hsiao I by taking all Liang functionaries
prisoners and leading them to Kuan-chung at the basin of the Wei
River. Only about two hundred families escaped forced migra-
tion.
28
Hsiao Ch'a, the son of Hsiao Tung, had Hsiao I crushed to
death while under the security of the Western Wei. On February
7, 555, he proclaimed himself emperor (posthumously known as
Prince of Yuchang).
Meanwhile, in Nanking both of Emperor Yuan's generals,
Wang Seng-pien and Ch'en Pa-hsien, were maneuvering for the
46
ultimate power behind the throne. The succession to the throne of
Liang posed a difficult problem. Hsiao Fang-chih was proclaimed
heir apparent by both generals. Later, however, Hsiao Yuan-
ming, the late Emperor Wu's nephew, a repatriated heir to the
throne living in Northern Ch'i, where he had been in exile, was
summoned back from Northern Ch'i by Wang Seng-pien. On July
1, 555, he was proclaimed emperor, and Hsiao Fang-chih was
designated prince regent, a virtual demotion. This was agreed
upon with the Northern Ch'i, and Nanking was securely in their
possession. This lasted a mere five months before a conflict be-
tween Ch'en Pa-hsien and Wang Seng-pien left the slayer of Hou
Ching dead.
29
H ~ i a o Yuan-ming, who had been sponsored by
Wang Seng-pien, was deposed and the fifteen-year-old prince re-
gent, Hsiao Fang-chih, Prince of Chin-an, ascended the throne as
emperor (posthumously known as Emperor Ching), with the
sponsorship of Ch'en Pa-hsien. After an appropriate waiting peri-
od of two years with Hsiao Fang-chih as a puppet emperor, Ch'en
Pa-hsien proclaimed himself emperor on November 16, 557, be-
ginning the Ch'en Dynasty.
The Biography of Paramartha
A standard account of his family background and place of
birth is given in the HKSC,30 allegedly based upon a biography of
Ts'ao Pi, nephew of Paramartha's favorite disciple, Hui-k'ai. This
biography not only establishes his foreign origins, but also admits
that an Indian Buddhist missionary-monk was as refined and as
intellectually well-bred as upper-class Chinese. We are told that his
personal name was Kulanatha, which means. "refuge of the fam-
ily"; his religious name, Paramartha, means "ultimate goal." Born
in northwest India in Ujjain (UjjayinI) (northeast of Baroda in
Madhya Pradesh),3! he was a Brahman by birth, of the prominent
Bharadvaja caste or clan (gotra).32 He is praised for the usual vir-
tues of a Buddhist monk: his impeccable morals, calm and digni-
fied demeanor, and proficiency in scripture, literary arts, magic,
fine arts and crafts. A truly gifted man, whose knowledge was not
only in Buddhist doctrine, he also seems to have been well suited
temperamentally for a missionary career, having undertaken long
and arduous journeys without fear of foreign people's "treach-
47
ery."33 It is also said that his beneficent presence was compatible
with the dispositions of the native people he encountered. These
are, of course, prerequisites for the ideal missionary-monk.
Little more is known of Paramartha's life'in India. He was a
monk (sriima1Ja) who had gained a considerable religious reputa-
tion for scholarship and travel. The biographical record in the
HKSC mentions that Emperor Wu of Liang devoutly yearned to
extend Buddhism throughout China. During the Ta-t'ung era
(535-546) he ordered his Palace Rear Guard Chang Fan and a
contingent to accompany the ambassador from Funan (Cambodia)
back to his own country.34 Emperor Wu wished to invite eminent
scholars in Mahayana Buddhism to bring significant sutras and
siistras to China. At this time Paramartha's reputation as a scholar
and missionary living in Funan presumably was brought to the
ambassador's attention, for the ambassador of Funan sent him to
Emperor Wu's court in compliance with the imperial order.
Little is known of Paramartha's adulthood until his early for-
ties, when he arrived in Canton. He may have resided in Funan
for some length of time, judging from the reputation he had
gained with the ambassador and, presumably, the government in
general.
The first of many documentary discrepancies in the account of
Paramartha's journey to China deals with the facts surrounding
the departure from Funan. According to his official biography in
HKSC he was sent to China from Funan and took many texts with
him.35 It is very clear from historical records, both Buddhist and
dynastic, that Emperor Wu of Liang made tremendous effort and
donated large sums of money to make Buddhism prosperous and
to seek out Buddhist missionaries. The account in the HKSC is
based upon Pao-kuei's introduction to the "new" Suvarnaprabhiisa-
sutra (Hsin-ho chin kuang-ming ching), eighth ch1lan, preserved in the
Li-tai san-paD chi (L TSPC):
48
Emperor Wu of Liang feared rebirth in the three [unfortu-
nate] destinies and grieved over falling into the four kinds of
gestation [womb, egg, moisture, or spontaneously generated].
He [wished to] set sail to rescue the drowning, holding on to
the torch of wisdom, in order to enlighten [others'] delusion.
During the Ta-t'ung period the emperor sent a Rear Guard
Chang Szu to Funan to send back to China invited eminent
monks and Mahayana siistras and sutras of various kinds. This
country [Funan] then yielded in turning over the western
Indian Dharma Master from Ujjain, namely Paramartha, who,
in Liang, was called Chen-ti, and with him, many stltrasand
sastras in order to honor the emperor.
After the Dharma Master Paramartha had traveled to
many kingdoms he had settled in Funan. His manner was
lively and intelligent and he had relished details in scriptural
texts and profound texts, all of which he had studied. In the
first year of T'ai-ch'ing (547) he went to the capital and had a
visit with the emperor who himself bowed down to him in the
Jeweled Cloud (Pao-yun) quarters of the palace in reverence
to him, wishing for him to translate sutras and sastras, relying
upon the foreigner. Opposition from the law made it difficult
for foreigners to be titled.
36
The Pao-kuei introduction may be reliable, since the intro-
duction was written in 597, only about sixty years after Para-
martha was summoned from Funan (in approximately 535),37 and
twenty-eight years after Paramartha's death, in 569. Pao-kuei's
teacher, Tao-an, had been one of Paramartha's followers, and his
death in 581 at the end of the Northern Chou Dynasty came only
thirteen years after Paramartha's. Some of the more recent ac-
counts of Paramartha's embarking on his journey to south China
claim that Emperor Wu of Liang commissioned an envoy to go to
Magadha, not Funan, to acquire sutras and Dharma Masters. From
Magadha the envoy met the Tripitaka Master Kulanatha, who at
first adamantly refused to go to China, but eventually boarded a
ship with his attendant Gautama and many others, bearing a gift
of a rosewood statue of the Buddha to be presented at the imperial
court. 38 The K' ai-yuan lu (KYL) combines parts of both versions of
the account, namely, that the Rear Guard Chang Fan (or Chang
Szu) had accompanied the Funan ambassador to his own country
and then went to Magadha.
39
This combined account is the most
questionable of all the sources, since passages are cited verbatim
from both HKSC and the colophon to the Ch'i-hsin lun, but synthe-
sized.
Of the four historical documents that mention the imperial
envoy, the Ch'i-hsin lun is allegedly apocryphal and the KYL incor-
porates portions of the Ch'i-hsin lun. If one rules out these two
records as unreliable historical sources, then there can be no doubt
that Paramartha was in Funan engaging in missionary activity
some time during the Ta-t'ung era of the Liang Dynasty.
49
Besides the conflicting textual evidence about Funan, the year
of departure remains vague in all historical records. Paramartha's
official biography in the HKSC simply states that during the Ta-
t'ung era, a span of slightly over ten years, the mission led by Rear
Guard Chang Fan was sent to seek but Buddhist monks and scrip-
tural texts. All other documents that indicate a time of departure
follow the HKSC.
When Paramartha arrived in Nanhai (modern Canton) on
September 25, 546, it was the last year of the Ta-t'ung era. We may
assume that his departure from Funan was towards the latter half
of the Ta-t'ung era, thus giving ample traveling time to make the
journey. Having stopped at various places along the coast, he ar-
rived at the capital city, Chien-yeh (south of modern Nanking),
two years later, in the intercalary month of the second year ofTai-
ch'ing (August 20 through September 17, 548).4IJWhen he arrived
at court, the eighty-five-year-old Emperor Wu prostrated himself
before Paramartha-an extremely rare show of reverence-and
had an audience with him in the Pao-yun temple.
41
At the time of
this audience, Paramartha was almost fifty years old and an expe-
rienced world traveler. While having his audience with the elderly
emperor, Paramartha was unaware of an event that was to affect
both his missionary efforts in C h i n ~ and the royal patronage of his
translation work-the plotting of the downfall of the Liang court
by the Toba rebel Hou Ching.
A mere two months after Paramartha's arrival in Nanking,
the rebellion had commenced and Emperor Wu's patronage was
attenuated by the impending political crisis. From the day of Para-
martha's reception at court until Emperor Wu's death by starva-
tion while under house arrest on June 12, 549, Paramartha was
sponsored, for a scant ten-month period, by the imperial court of
Liang, before the uprising of Hou Ching's troops.
After Emperor Wu's unfortunate death, Paramartha fled to
Fu-ch'un, in Chekiang, Fu-yang district, approximately 150 miles
southeast of Nanking, near Mt. Siao. There he was sponsored by
Lu Yuan-che, the regional governor of Fu-ch'un and a recent
convert to Buddhism. Paramartha attempted to resume transla-
tion activities. With a staff of twenty accomplished monks, includ-
ing Pao-ch'iung (504-584),42 he began translating the Shih-ch'i-ti-
lun (Treatise on the Seventeen Bodhisattva Stages) in five chilan during
the fourth year of Tai-ch'ing (550). The text is now 10st.
43
Accord-
50
ing to the KYL the monks apparently met with difficulties in trans-
lating the text, so they stopped work.
44
The HKSC states that
"although [the political and military situation of] the country has
not yet been settled, he [Paramartha] transmitted the text witl:t an
appendix (or glossary)."45 However, "transmitted" does not neces-
sarily indicate that the text was completely committed to writing,
so there need not be any contradiction between the sources, HKSC
and KYL. Both the older catalog, the L TSPC, and the more recent
Ta fang nei tien lu (NTL) omit any mention of an interruption in
the translation but both catalogs give the same date and place of
translation as found in the HKSC and KYL.46
After presumably beginning the translation of the Treatise on
the Seventeen Bodhisattva Stages, Paramartha returned to the capital
city in the third year of Tien-pao (552)47 by invitation of none
other than Hou Ching himself. Undoubtedly Hou Ching knew of
Paramartha's activities at Governor Lu Yuan-che's, and so sum-
moned him to court. The HKSC laments: "At this time there was
continuous warfare and famine; the Dharma was close to ruin."48
In the two and one-half years at Governor Lu Yuan-che's estate,
Paramartha had had the solitude to begin the translation work he
had intended as his chief purpose in traveling to China, but he also
undoubtedly had been concerned about political affairs at court,
where the murderer of Emperor Wu now dictated national policy.
Even more dispirited must his monastic assistants have been at the
starvation, devastation, and barbarisms in their homeland.
49
Al-
though reasons for stopping the translation of the Treatise on the
Seventeen Bodhisattva Stages are not given in any of the records,
psychological as well as scholarly difficulties must have affected
the monks assisting Paramartha in rendering the original text into
Chinese.
Paramartha, who had unfortunately found himself in the
midst of insurrection, was now summoned to Nanking by Hou
Ching, four years after he had first entered the palace gates under
the sedate reign of Emperor Wu. There is no indication from the
HKSC whether Paramartha was reluctant to visit Hou Ching. The
tone in his biography is neutral with regard to Paramartha's atti-
tude towards Hou Ching's invitation. It is intriguing to speculate
as to the motives behind Hou Ching's invitation to Paramartha. He
evidently desired Buddhist support, as indicated by his immediate
orders for the construction of new Buddhist temples, even though
51
he had burned countless temples before he seized Nanking.
50
Per-
haps the learned monk was to be used as a symbol of Hou Ching's
purported zeal for the Buddhist path or perhaps, and more likely,
Hou Ching wanted to exploit the prestige of a foreign monk after
his usurpation of the throne and ravaging of the south. What
better way to keep watch 'on Paramartha and any possible political
maneuvers by his wealthy provincial patrons than to keep him
under surveillance in palace quarters while pretending a desire to
learn the Buddhist sutras? In any event, Para martha was not in a
position to refuse Hou Ching's summons, so he left Fu-ch'un for
the capital, where he was duly honored by the rebel.
How long Paramartha was in Fu-ch'un is impossible tocalcu-
late with certainty but we can surmise that he left Nanking imme-
diately before or after Emperor Wu's death in June, 549. Assum-
ing that either Paramartha or his supporters realized his life was
immediately threatened, he escaped an ignominious death at the
hands of Hou Ching. Approximately two and one-half years later,
in 552, he had his audience with Hou Ching. The monk must have
had the suspicion that he was in a politically sensitive situation and
certainly must have conducted himself in the rebel's presence with
the subtlest diplomacy. Paramartha did not have to endure the
tensions of such circumstances for very long however. Given the
one-hundred-twenty-day span of Hou Ching's reign, we may esti-
mate that Paramartha had to endure the unchanneled violence of
his environment in Hou Ching's palace for no more than four
months.
51
During Emperor Yuan's reign, which began the Ch'eng-
sheng era on December 13, 552, Paramartha settled at the Cheng-
kuan temple in Nanking. That means that instead of being in
Chiang-ling with the imperial court of Emperor Yuan, Para-
martha decided to stay in the capital, where the real powers, Wang
Seng-pien and Ch'en Pa-hsien, were aligning their forces. There,
with more than twenty monks, including Yuan-ch'an, he translat-
ed the SuvarryLprabhiisa-sutra.
There are some interesting points of disagreement among the
records. First of all, the HKSC does not mention any specific date
for translating the Suvar1Japrabhiisa, only mentioning that Para-
martha translated the text at the Cheng-kuan temple in Nanking
during Emperor Yuan's reign, that is, during the Ch'eng-sheng
period (552-555). There are two textual dates given in some of the
52
other sources. LTSPC gives the date of the first year, Ch'eng-
sheng, namely 552, at the Cheng-kuan temple and also at Yang
Hsiung's residence in the Ch'ang-fan region of Nanking,52 NTL
and KYL follow suit, giving the identical time and place of trans la-
tion.
53
The Ku-nien i ching t'u chi (KN) gives the third year of
Ch'eng-sheng (554).54 The Tunhuang manuscript of the introduc-
tion to the first chuan of the composite SuvarrJaprabhiisa ttansla-
tion,55 undertaken by Pao"kuei, states that the earlier redaction by
Paramartha was translated from the second month, twenty-fifth
day, of the second year Ch'eng-sheng (March 25, 553) until the
third month, twentieth day of that same year (April IS). Thus, the
L TSPC, NTL, KYL, and KN records would be in error unless we
assume that the period delineated in the Tunhuang manuscript is
much too brief to translate a sidra seven chuan in length. Given his
usual speed of translating and the turmoil of the uprising of Hou
Ching, it is more reasonable to assume that Paramartha and his
staff began the translation during the first year of Ch'eng-sheng
(552), and continued to revise and refine the style until probably
April IS of the following year. The KN, which is the only record to
give third year Ch'eng-sheng, may be ruled out as either an error
or as indicating that further revisions of the translation or subse-
quent discussion may have taken place in 554. Documentary evi-
dence of two translation sites for the Suvarr:taprabhiisa-sutra indi-
cates that the translation staff most likely worked on the text first
at the Cheng-kuan temple in 552 and then later worked at Yang
Hsiung's residence in the Ch'ang-fan region of Nanking from
March 25, 553, until at least April S, 553.
56
From Nanking Paramartha traveled approximately three
hundred miles southwest to Yuchang, in the second month, third
year of Ch'eng-sheng (March I9-April17, 554). The HKSC men-
tions that this was a return visit to Yuchang, even though no re-
cording of a first visit to that city is found in any of the existing
documents. The HKSC could be in error and Paramartha may
have been paying his first visit to yuchang. The KN supports this
view, stating that Paramartha "went" to Yuchang, not that he re-
turned there. The KYL, which is based on the HKSC in part,
follows the latter text exactly. Since Hsiao I (Emperor Yuan) as-
sumed the throne in Chiang-lirig in December, 552. Paramartha
may have visited him before he became emperor in his earlier
residence at yuchang. This trip would have taken place on his way
53
to the Cheng-kuan temple in Nanking, where the generals Ch'en
Pa-hsien and Wang Seng-pien were vying for political power. Par-
amartha's return trip to Yiichang in 554 would have taken time,
considering the three-hundred-mile journey involved. At Yii-
chang he is said to have met the eminent monk Ching-shao (508-
583),57 and he visited temples in the immediate vicinity, Shih-
hsing and, probably, Hsin-wu.
Ui hypothesizes that the first time Paramartha went to Yu-
chang was on his way to Nanking from Nanhai (modern Can-
ton).58 That is, after Paramartha disembarked from his ship in
Canton on September 25, 546, he stopped at various places in the
Kwangtung region for two years until 'his arrival in Nanking,
sometime between August 20 and September 17, 548. One of the
places between Canton and Nanking along the possible water
routes is Yuchang, about midway between the two great urban
centers. Tang Yung-t'ung gives the same hypothesis for Para-
martha's first purported visit to Yuchang.
59
In any event, Yuchang
became a refuge for Paramartha on several occasions, for it reap-
pears in the biography later on.
At the Pao-t'ien temple in Yuchang in 554, Paramartha com-
pleted translations of the Mi-lo hsia sheng ching (Sidra of Maitreya's
Descent [from H eavenj) and the] en wang pan-jo ching (Sidra of the
Perfection of Wisdom of the Benevolent King), aided by Hui-hsien and
ten other monks. 50 He met Ching-shao, who was forty-six years
old; Paramartha was fifty-five. According to Ching-shao's biogra-
phy in the HKSC, Paramartha said that Ching-shao was "one of
the strangest individuals I have ever met."61 A commentary on the
Sidra of the Perfection of Wisdom of the Benevolent King was composed
five years earlier, in 549, according to the L TSPC and NTL,62 but
this is highly improbable, since Hou Ching was mounting his re-
bellion at that time. It is doubtful that such a commentary' ever
existed, given the paucity of sources and the improbable date of
composition. After completing these translations, Paramartha
moved to Hsin-wu where he resided at the Mei-yeh temple and
may have translated the Chiu shih i-chi (Commentary on the Theory of
Nine Consciousnesses) in two chitan, a text no longer extant.
Gj
From
there he moved to Shih-hsing, where he allegedly translated the
Ta-sheng ch'i hsin lun (Awakening of Faith in Mahayana), supposedly
in the second year of Ch'eng-sheng (553). Both the authorship of
the text and the translation date are highly problematic, however.
54
After having spent a brief period of time in Shih-hsing, Para-
martha moved northward, across the Nan-ling mountain range to
Nan-k'ang (near modern Kiangsi, district of Kan), protected by
the Grand Guardian Hsiao PO,64 who escorted him across the
mountains. At that time Ouyang Weiwas imperial representative
of Shih-hsing (called Tung Heng-chou under Emperor Yuan) and
also the honorary marquis of that area. We may assume that the
uneasy alliance between Grand Guardian Hsiao Po, an erstwhile
foe of Ouyang Wei's, had been resolved and that Ouyang Wei had
made amends by this time. Hsia_o Po lived in Kwangchow and
Emperor Yuan had been troubled by Hsiao Po's power and had
sent troops to replace Hsiao Po as governor of Kwangchow. Hsiao
Po led his troops to Shih-hsing, turning back the emperor's troops
while Ouyang Wei closed the gates to his fortress to ward off
battle. Hsiao Po was furious, and seized Ouyang Wei's property,
but then returned the wealth on the condition of an oath of alle-
giance. Hsiao Po then crossed the mountains from Nan-k'ang,
making Ouyang Wei his military governor. 65 These events all took
place after the ninth month of the third year Ch'eng-sheng (Octo-
ber 12-November 10, 554) when Hsiao Po was living in Shih-hsing
and had left Kwangchow.
Since Hsiao Po had made many trips to oversee the region
around Shih-hsing, on several occasions explicitly to outmaneuver
the powerful governor Ouyang Wei, he was experienced in cross-
ing the Nan-ling mountains and could conveniently accompany
Paramartha to Nan-k'ang at the same time that he supervised the
area under the guise of assisting a Buddhist monk in his travels.
The time of this sojourn across the mountains had to be between
the closing months of 554 and the third month of 557 (April 15-
May 13) when Hsiao Po was killed.
56
In the second month of 557,
one month before his death, Hsiao Po, having raised his army in
rebellion against the emperor, crossed the Nan-ling mountains to
Nan-k'ang. It was probably at this time that Paramartha was es-
corted to Nan-k'ang, having spent a good part of the years 555
and 556 in Shih-hsing. During this period, Paramartha "translated
in these various places in a hurried manner without a patron."57
At Shih-hsing Paramartha is said to have translated the Sui-hsiang
lun chung shih-liu ti shu (A Commentary on the Sixteen Truths from the
[a commentary on the Abhidharma-kofa attrib-
uted to GUI).amati]).68
55
In the third year of Chao-t'ai (557),69 at the very close of the
Liang Dynasty, Paramartha completed the translation of the Wu-
shang i ching (Auttarasraya-siitra) (Supreme Foundation Siitra), in the
ninth month, eighth day (October 16), at the request of Liu Wen-
t'o, Secretary of Nan-k'ang, P'ing-ku district. This date is found in
the colophon to theWu-shang i ching preserved in the KYL, which
criticizes the L TSPC for cataloging this text as a Ch'en transla-
tion.70 .
For at least a third time Paramartha returned to Yuchang, in
the seventh month of the second year of Yung-ting Guly 31-Au-
gust 29, 558). He also visited Lin-ch'uan (in Kiangsi, directly
south, approximately forty miles from Yuchang) and Chin-an (in
Fukien, a port city along the coast, three hundred fifty miles
southeast of Yuchang). First, he stopped at Lin-ch'uan, where he
translated two treatises by Vasubandhu, Chung-pien fen-pieh lun
(Madhyantavibhiiga)(Discernment of the Middle and Extremes) and the
Wei-shih lun (Treatise on Consciousness-Only).?!
From Lin-ch'uan Paramartha traveled to the port city of
Chin-an. At this time, the important monks Seng-tsung, Fa-chun,
Chih-wen (509-599), Hui-jen, Hui-k'ai, Fa-jen, Hui-kuang, and
Fa-t'ai crossed the Ling-nan mountains to have an audience with
the Indian Buddhist missionary. According to Fa-t'ai's biography,
Paramartha had been traveling in China for more than ten years
when he desired to go back to his homeland. At that time Ouyang
Wei detained him in Kwangchow.
72
According to the same source,
Fa-t'ai, Seng-tsung, Hui-k'ai and others desired to be instructed
and went to the Chih-chih temple in Kwangchow for Paramartha's
teachings. Hui-kuang's biography also mentions his being instruct-
ed at the same time as Seng-tsung, Hui-k'ai, and Fa-chun, but
omits any travel across the Ling-nan mountains.
73
According to
Chih-wen's biography, Chih-wen, Seng-tsung, Fa-chun, and other
eminent monks stopped at Chin-an with Paramartha. It is not
clear from the text when this meeting took place, nor if the meet-
ing was the first with Paramartha or a subsequent visit. 74 The only
clear indication of a visit to Chin-an is at this time. Liang-an, which
has been tentatively identified by Ui as equivalent to Chin-an, was
a point of travel for Paramartha in 563, some five years later.
Hence, we can say that these monks who sought the missionary's
new Buddhist teachings met him in either 558 at Chin-an or in
563-if we accept Ui's identification of Liang-an with Chin-an.
75
56
Only one translation is associated with Chin-an, Ch'eng lun shih i
(An Explanation of Correct Doctrines), cited in the L TSPC and
NTL,76 as translated at the Fo-li temple during the Ch'en Dynasty.
Moving from place to place must have been unsettling for
him, for his biography notes that:
... although Paramartha transmitted siitras and sastras, the
practice of [the Buddhist] religion was deficient and he was
depressed, for his original objective had not been realized.
Furthermore, observing the vicissitudes of the times [for
disseminating Buddhism], he desired to sail to Lankasukha
(Malaysia). Monks and laity earnestly begged him to prom-
ise to stay. He could not escape public opinion and so he
stayed in the southeastern regions (nan-yileh) [of China].
Together with his old friends from the preceding. Liang
Dynasty, he reviewed his translations. Whenever the words
and the meaning conflicted, these would all be recast and
organized in order to make them consistent throughout
[the text], from beginning to end.'7
And so he continued to pursue the difficult work of translating
amidst personal depression and the instabilities of Ch'en economic
patronage.
While Paramartha was in the southeastern regions of Fukien
and Kiangsi he commenced translation work on what were to be
some of his best known works, many of which are collected in the
TaishO. The Korean Yogacarin master W6nchuk, in his commen-
tary on the Sarrtdhinirmocana, Chieh-shen-mi-ching shu, places the
translation of the Sarrtdhinirmocana (Chieh-chieh ching) by Para-
martha within the Pao-ting era of the Northern Chou (561-565) in
the Ssu-t'ien-wang temple. He cites an index of Paramartha's
works that dates the text in the second year T'ien-chia (561) in
Chien-tsao temple.7
8
In all the sutra catalogs, however, no date or
place of translation is specified other than the general dating of
the text as a Ch'en Dynasty translation. According to Ui, Hui-k'ai
gives the dates of translation of the Wei-shih lun (Treatise on Con-
sciousness-Only) as from the fourth month, sixteenth day, in the
fourth year T'ien-chia (May 23, 563) until the third month, fifth
day, in the fifth year of T'ien-chia (April 1, 564). The Mahayan-
saf(lgraha (Acceptance of Mahayana) (She ta-sheng lun) was translated
immediately after the Wei-shih lun, in Ui's opinion,79 although this
disagrees with the HKSC, which reverses the order, placing the
57
translation of the Sarrtgraha before the Wei-shih lun. Even though
the exact sequence of events is unclear, Fa-t'ai's biography sug-
gests that the Sarrtgraha was translated at Ouyang Wei's residence
in Kwangchow.
80
Since Ouyang Wei died in 563, his patronage of
the Sarrtgraha translation project could have taken place only up
through 563, the fourth year of Tien-chia. Therefore, the S a ~ n
graha was probably initially translated before the Wei-shih lun, in
agreement with the account in the HKSC, NTL, L TSPC, and
KYL.81 The translation may have been initiated in 561 a.t the
Chien-tsao temple, continued at the Ssu-t'ien-wang temple and
either completed in Ouyang Wei's residence in 563 or continued
after his death when his son, Ouyang Ho; became the financial
sponsor of Paramartha's works.
By the fourth year of Tien-chia (563) Paramartha had gained
prominence throughout southern China and had developed an
ardent group of disciples, including Hui-k'ai, Seng-tsung, Ching-
shao, Fa-k'an, and Fa-t'ai, who traveled great distances to hear his
new teachings, particularly those based on the Sarrtgraha:
All prominent monks in Chien-yeh [Nanking]-Seng-
tsung from Chien-yuan temple in Yang-tu, Fa-chun, Seng-
jen, and others-had respectfully heard about the innovative
teaching [of Paramarthal Therefore, they traveled far south
of the Yangtze in order personally to receive his excellent
answers [to their questions] about the new teaching. Para-
martha was delighted that they had desired to come to him,
and [consequently] translated the Mahayanasarrtgraha and oth-
er sastras for them, which took a total of two years [to trans-
late]. He again commented on the doctrinal meanings [of
texts], roaming from one place to another, without peace of
mind.
82
Sometime before or in the midst of translating the Sarrtgraha,
Paramartha must have grown disheartened at his circumstances,
even though his earnest following of disciples and Governor Wang
Fang-she attempted to boost his morale. On the twenty-fifth day,
ninth month, of the third year Tien-chia (November 7, 562), ac-
cording to Ui, or during the ninth month of that same year (Sep-
tember 17-0ctober 16th), Paramartha again decided to leave Chi-
na, setting sail in a small boat from Liang-an to his homeland, but
strong winds and his "fate" drove him back to Canton in the
58
twelfth month Ganuary lO-February 9, 563) after three months at
sea. From this ill-fated sea voyage he was invited by Ouyang Wei to
live at the Chih-chih temple in Canton and begin translating his
most important works, the Sarrtgraha and Wei-shih lun. We do not
know the exact month of Ouyang Wei's death in 563, but we can
say that Paramartha had the economic resources of Ouyang Wei's
son, Ho, after the father died, as clearly indicated in the HKSC.
Ouyang Ho (538-570) apparently was intellectually gifted and
contributed to or actively observed the translation proceedings.
After this invitation "Paramartha considered these conditions, re-
alizing that it was impossible to return west."83 After 562, he did
not make any other attempts to leave China and appeared to have
proceeded at a rapid pace under fairly stable conditions to resume
his work at the Ouyang estate.
In the HKSC a bit of hagiography follows the description of
Ouyang Ho's patronage of Paramartha and his staff. The Indian
missionary apparently had an island retreat off of Canton in the
delta of the Pearl River. The waters were turbulent and the cliffs
jutting out toward the water were very steep. Paramartha, howev-
er, was believed to be able to cross the waters effortlessly, while
Ouyang Ho dared not cross the treacherous waters. On one occa-
sion Paramartha went to visit Ho.
Paramartha spread out his sitting mat on the water and sat
cross-legged on it, as if he were riding a boat. He floated over
the waters to the shore. When he climbed ashore to greet him
[Ouyang Ho], the sitting mat was not wet, and he spread it out
as usual [to sit on]. Other times he would use a lotus leaf as a
boat to ride across. There are many examples of such marvels
[pertaining to Paramartha]. 84
After five years of intensive translation (of texts such as the
Vajracchedika, Kuang-i fa-men ching, and Abhidharmakosa) , made
possible through the generosity of the Ouyang family, another
dramatic event occurred in Paramartha's life, second only to the
fall of Nanking. During the sixth month of the second year
Kuang-t'ai or Kuang-ta Guly lO-August 8, 568):
59
Paramartha had grown weary of the world and felt extremely
fatigued. It seemed better to him to prepare for an early
rebirth in a better world. So he went into the mountains north
of Nanhai [Canton] intending to commit suicide. At that time,
Chih-k'ai [Hui-k'ai] was lecturing on the Abhidharmakosa. On
hearing what had happened, he hurried to him [Paramartha].
Monks and laity ran after one another into the countryside
[towards the mountains]. The governor [Ouyang Ho] 'also
dispatched envoys and guardsmen to restrain him. He [the
governor] personally prostrated himself [in front of Para-
martha]. Only after detaining him for three days did he [Para-
martha] return to his normal state.
85
After his attempted suicide, he then stopped at the Wang-
yuan temple with his closest disciples Seng-tsung and Hui-k'ai,
who had requested that Paramartha be invited to the capital by
Emperor Wen. Monks at court
... who were in prestigious positions and had great reputa-
tions were afraid of losing [their status] and so memorialized
saying "Those groups of works translated beyond the moun-
tains [in the Kwangtung and Kwangsi regions] mainly ex-
pound Idealism ('Consciousness-Only') without sense objects
(wu-ch'en wei-shih). Their words are antagonistic to govern-
ment policy and damaging to the national morale. He should
not be allowed in China proper, but relegated to the hinter"
lands." The emperor agreed. Therefore, the innovative writ-
ings from Nanhai remained hidden throughout the Ch'en
Dynasty.86
Then, two months later, on the twelfth day, eighth month of the
second year of Kuang-t'ai (September 18, 568), Paramartha's fa-
vorite disciple, Hui-k'ai, died. Paramartha grieved deeply for him
and burned candles and incense with the rest of his disciples in Fa-
chun's room. He continued to translate the Abhidharmakosa, no
longer assisted by Hui-k'ai, but he soon became very sick himself.
On February 12, 569, at noon, five months after Hui-k'ai's death,
Paramartha died at the age of seventy-one. The next day his body
was cremated and a stupa erected at Ch'ao-ting (near Canton). On
the thirteenth day (February 15) Seng-tsung, Fa-chun, and others
returned to Mt. Lu in Kiangsi to carryon the work of Paramartha.
When one looks at the biographical account of Paramartha's
circumstances and compares his situation with the prodigious
amount of translation activity undertaken during those political
upheavals, one is struck by the amazing tenacity and endurance
60
with- which the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to close and
difficult textual study were overcome.
Now during Paramartha's tiine in the Liang Dynasty, there
was chaos and anarchy. The response [to crisis] was defeatist
and fatalistic. The roads and river ways were seldom traveled.
He roamed about as a missionary; in accordance with regional
affinities he pursued his course. This resulted in the fragmen-
tation of the textual collections and the frequent separation
from some of his translators.
87
This would hold true, in Paramartha's case, not only for Liang
but also for theCh'en Dynasty. Not only is Paramartha portrayed
by his biographer as a patient, assiduous monk in a hostile society,
but he is also reverentially treated as a saint, honored as the Master
of the Bodhisattva Precepts,88 and as one who could perform mir-
acles. This may even hint at the wonder with which the biographer
beheld Paramartha's voluminous translations, for would it not be
something of a miracle and a demonstration of a highly disci-
plined nature to translate extremely difficult philosophical texts
while being forced to move from place to place? The biography
holds one's interest in another way as well. The mental dejection
of a monk who was compelled to be a political survivor as well as a
reclusive missionary scholar is poignant yet realistic. He was not
accustomed to the political arena of southern Chinese society, and
the continual confrontation with various state officials frustrated
the saintly Paramartha to the point of contemplating suicide. An
uneasy but pragmatic alliance between various provincial military
men such as Ouyang Wei and his -son Ho was necessary both
economically and politically. This was a situation characteristic of
many Buddhist clergy in southern China, and proved to be the
rule rather than the exception.
The wise and stoic Paramartha comes to life as a missionary-
monk first and foremost, as a politically astute foreigner secondar-
ily, and yet also as one whose human relationships reinforced the
image of the brilliant, culturally adaptable man of spartan and
restrained manner. Two interesting anecdotes are preserved in his
biography:
61
One day when the weather was bitterly cold, Paramartha
was wearing only thin clothing, and he endured it without
mentioning it all night. Some of his students were seated by
his side. Hui-k'ai and others stood quietly by him in atten-
dance throughout the night. They debated and conversed for
a long time, until their voices had b e c o m ~ quite loud. At one
point Parar11artha fell asleep. [Hui-]k'ai quietly covered him
with a garment, but Paramartha was secretly aware of it and
let it fall to the ground. His stoicism and contentment with
little was like that. [Hui-]k'ai continued to serve Paramartha,
becoming increasingly close to him as time passed.
Another time Paramartha sighed three times from frus-
tration. Hui-k'ai asked the reason for this, and Para martha
replied: "You and the others are sincere about the True
Dharma and it is fitting that you should assist in its transmis-
sion. Only it grieves me that these are not the times for dis-
seminating the Dharma. My purpose in coming here has been
obstructed." [Hui-]k'ai heard this and was saddened. For a
long time he wept. Kneeling before Paramartha he said: "The
Great Dharma is cut off from the world, but you have come all
this way to China. The people have no responses [to meet
these times]. Can anything be done to remedy this?"
Paramartha pointed his finger to the northwest and said:
"In that direction there will be a great kingdom, neither too
near nor too far. After we all have died, it [the Dharma] will be
greatly prosperous, but we shall not see its ascendence. This is
why I sighed deeply."89
These anecdotes illustrate Paramartha's character and the af-
fection his devoted disciples had for him. His stature as a scholar
made him sought after by politicians and by renowned Chinese
Buddhist monks, who became his disciples. It is his brilliance as a
translator and philosopher that assures his status as one of the
geniuses in Chinese Buddhist history. As the inspiration prefigur-
ing the distinctively Chinese Buddhist schools formulated during
the Sui Dynasty, Paramartha was one of the key figures in con-
structing and systematizing the Buddhist analysis of mind. An
examinatiori of Paramartha's particular interpretation of Yoga-
cara Buddhism and his impact on Sui and T'ang Chinese Bud-
dhism will bring to light his original contributions to the develop-
ment of Chinese Buddhist thought during the subsequent period
of Buddhism's zenith yo
62
NOTES
1. Frank E. Reynolds and Donald Capps, ed., The Biographical Process: Stud-
ies in the History and Psychology of Religion (Mouton: The Hague, 1976), p. 3.
2. Kao.seng clman (KSC) and Hsu kao seng c1man (HKSC), T.2059.50 and
T.2060.50 respectively. The KSC was compiled by Hui-chao (497-554) of the
Liang Dynasty in approximately A.D. 530. It is a record of approximately 257
eminent monks and 243 of their assistants, or disciples, from the years A.D. 67-
519. This collection of biographies served as a model and standard for all subse-
quent biographical collections. The HKSC, its immediate successor, was compiled
by Tao-hsuan (596-667) of the Tang Dynasty in approximately A.D. 645. It is a
record of approximately 340 eminent monks and 60 of their assistants, from A.D.
520-641. Paramartha's biography is included in HKSC.
3. Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, Early History of North India: From the Fall of the
Mauryas to the Death of HarJa (c. 200 B.C.-A.D. 650), (Calcutta: Academic Publish-
ers, 1968), pp. 227-228.
4. The name Mihirakula is equivalent to the Iranian name Mithra (Sanskrit:
Mitra). He may have been the first of the Maitraka Dynasty that ruled ValabhI
from the early sixth century. (At least one scholar disagrees with that view. Cf.
Jagan Nath, "Early History of the Maitrakas of ValabhI," Indian Culture, April
1939, pp. 407-414.) He ascended the throne circa 511-512, when he succeeded his
father, Toramal).a, since the fifteenth year of his reign is recorded as 526-527 in
an epigraphic record from Mandasor (Dasapura). Much of Mihirakula's life and
political activities remain obscure. In both Mandasor stone inscriptions, dated
533-534, Yasodharman is described as the supreme sovereign over lands that even
the HUl).as and Guptan rulers could not conquer and as the one to whom Mihira-
kula paid homage (Fleet, Corpus Inscriptionum, III, 142-158). The Gwalior inscrip-
tion mentions the fifteenth year of Mihirakula's reign.
5. Thomas Watters, tr., On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India (629-645 A.D.),
(London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1904), I, p. 289.
6. If the fifteenth year of Mihirakula's reign is 526-527 and he is said to
have paid homage to Yasodharman in 533, then his reign had to have terminated
some time between 526-527 and 533.
7. Jean Filliozat, Political History of India, tr. by Philip Spratt (Calcutta:
1957), pp. 180-181. Yasodharman may have participated in the war against Mihir-
akula as a vassal of Baladitya II. On a separate occasion in 517 Baladitya II may
have attempted to wage war against Mihirakula while the latter was in a confronta-
tion in Kashmir. Unsuccessful at that time, Baladitya may have attempted a later
attack in Magadha after Yasodharman's victory. Some historians deny that there
were two defeats of Mihirakula. See S. R. Goyal, A History of the Imperial Guptas
(Allahabad: Central Book Depot, 1967), pp. 350-353.
8. Filliozat, Political History of India, p. 176.
9. The monks Mandra and Sarpghapala have translations listed in the Ku-
nien i ching t'u chi (KN), T.2151.55.364bI4-20 and 364b21-c6 respectively. Mandra
translated three texts: the Pao-yiin ching, Fa-chieh ti hsing wu fen-pieh ching, Wen-shu-
shih-Ii slmo pan-jo po-lo-mi ching, totaling eleven chilan. Sarpghapala translated elev-
en texts, including the A-yil-wang ching (Svira on King Aoka), P'u-sa tsang ching, and
63
the Wen-shu-shih-li slmo ching (perhaps a collaboration with his fellow
compatriot Mandra).. At the end of Paramartha's biography (HKSC,
2060.50.43Ia4-6) is appended a note on a.Ch'en translation of the Ta-sheng pao-
yiln ching in eight chilan by a Funan monk named Subodhi, The note mentiof!s that
Subodhi's text is slightly different from the Liang translation by Mandra in seven
chiian. Subodhi's translation is also listed in the KN, 365c2-5. In SaJTlghapala's
biography (HKSC, 426a3-bI2) it says that the monks Mandra and SaJTlghapala
collaborated on all three of the texts that the KN attributes to Mandra. There is no
separate biography for Mandra in HKSC.
10. King Jayavarman and his son Rudravarman, who was the last king of
Funan, are mentioned in the Liang shu, ch. 54, pp. 789-790. Cf. George Coedes,
Les Etats Hindouises d'lndochine (Paris: 1948), for the details of the rise and decline
of Rudravarman's power. (pp. 104-105).
11. Liang shu. ch. 54, p. 790. Also described in Louis Malleret, L'Archeologie
du Delta du Nlekong, vol. Ill: La Culture du Fou-nan (Paris: Ecole Fran<;ais d'Ex-
treme-Orient, 1962), Publications de I'Ecole Fran<;aise d'Extreme-Orient, p. 369;
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Kambuja-desa: An Ancient Hindu Colony in Cambodia
(Madras: 1944), p. 34.
12. HKSC, 2060.50.429cll-12,
13. See Michel Strickmann, "On the Alchemy of T'ao Hung-ching," espe-
cially pp. 155-158 in Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion, Holmes Welch and
Anna Seidel (eds.), (Yale University Press, 1979).
14. From the time of Southern Ch'i the practice of "abandoning the body"
(she-shen) became prominent among the ruling class. However, Wu of Liang was
the first emperor to engage in this practice. Emperor Wu "abandoned his body"
four times: In 527 when he was sixty-four years of age he became a temple servant
at the T'ung-t'ai temple and granted amnesty to prisoners. This lasted for four
days. In 529 he again performed this practice at the T'ung-t'ai temple, this time as
a temple craftsman in a commoner's garment. He lectured on the
and ransomed himself for one million copper cash. This lasted seventeen days.
The third "abandonment of the body" took place in 546 at both the Fa-chia and
T'ung-t'ai temples, lasting thirty-seven days. The last occurrence was a year later
(547), and lasted forty-three days. Wu was criticized: "In the first year of T'ai-
ch'ing, Emperor Wu, by abandoning his body ... forgot he was Emperor under
Heaven." See Mori Mikisaburo, Ryo no butei (Kyoto: 1956), pp. 144-148, 166-169,
for further discussion of Emperor Wu's zeal in undertaking this practice and
aristocratic opposition to Wu's actions. The idea of this practice was given to Wu
from SaJTlghapala's translation of the Siltra on King Afoka (T.2043.50) ..
15. Emperor Wu's donations to the Inexhaustible Treasury of T'ung-t'ai
temple alone were estimated to be valued at 10,960,000. Cf. Kenneth Ch'en,
Buddhism in China: A +listorieal Survey (Princeton University Press: 1964), p. 126.
16. See Miyakawa Hisayuki, RikuchOshi kenkyu (Tokyo: 1956), Chapter 9, pp.
138-143, for an analysis of the downfall of Liang and the rise to power of Ch'en
Pa-hsien.
17. Kawakatsu Yoshio, "La decadence de l'aristocratie chinoise sous les Dy-
nasties du Sud," Acta Asiatica, XXI (1971), pp. 32-38.
64
IS. Cf. Hou Ching's biography, Liang shu, eh. 56, pp. S33-S57; Nan shih, eh.
SO, pp. 1993-201S (Peking; Chung-hua shu-chil, 1975).
19. Miyakawa, Rikuehoshi kenkyii, p. 147.
20. For an analysis of the factors contributing to Hou Ching's upr-ising, see
twO articles .by Kawakatsu Yoshio: "Kokei no ran to Nancho no kahei keizai" in
TohO gakuhO, XXXII (1962), pp. 69-11S, and "La decadence de l'aristocratie chin-
oise sous les Dynasties du Sud," Acta Asiatica, XXI (1971), pp. 13-3S.
21. Nan shih, eh. SO, p. 2016.
22. See Wang Seng-pien's biography in the Liang shu, eh. 45, pp. 623-636.
23. See Ch'en Pa-hsien's biography, Ch'en shu (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chil,
1972), pp. 1-43.
24. See Liang shu, eh. 56, p. S62, and Nan shih, eh. SO. p. 2016, for vivid
descriptions of Hou Ching's death and the destruction of his corpse; also see Liang
shu, eh. 5, p. 125.
25. Liang shu, eh. 5, p. 131.
26. See Kawakatsu, "La decadence de l'aristocratie chinoise," p. IS.
27. Liang shu, eh. 5, p. 133.
2S. Chou shu, compiled by Ling-hu Te-fen (5S3-666) in 50 eh. (Peking:
Chung-hua shu-chil, 1971), eh. 2, p. 36.
29. Liang shu, eh. 6, pp. 143-144.
30. T.2060.50.429c6-431a6. All biographical data on Para martha is based
upon the HKSC account of his life, unless otherwise noted.
31. One of the seven sacred cities in the Hindu tradition. It is located in
northwestern India, in the Malwa province (present-day Madhya Pradesh), twenty
miles west of the Chambal River and approximately 250 miles west of ValabhL
32. The Bharadvaja gotra is mentioned by Taranatha in his History of Bud-
dhism in India (edited by Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Simla, Indian Institute of
Advanced Study, 1970) as a "vicious" family having one member mentioned as "a
great expert in magic" (p. 23). It is also found in the (1S.5), tr.
Leon Hurvitz (Columbia University, 1976), p. 13, as a gotra of the Buddha Can-
drasuryapradIpa and in Pali literature as Bharadvaja. A governor (parivrajaka
maharaja) named is mentioned in a Khoh copper plate inscription
dated 52S-529 as beiongingto the Bharadva:ja gotra, in the northern regions of
GodavarI, directly south of Malwa. See John Faithfull Fleet, Corpus Inseriptionum
Indiearum (Calcutta: ISSS), vol. III, pp. 112-116. The HIrahadagalii copper plate
inscription of Sivaskandhavarman, dated midfourth century' A.D., also mentions
the Bharadvaja gotra. Cf. Dines Chandra Sircar, ed., Select Inscriptions Bearing on
Indian History and Civilization (Calcutta: 1965), I, p. 466. Cf. preface to She ta-sheng
lun, T.1593.31.112c4 for designation of Paramartha's gotra as Bharadvaja.
33. T.2060.50.429cIO-11.
34. T.2060.50.429cI2-13. The imperial escort of the Funan ambassador
back to his own country probably took place early in the Ta-t'ung era. See Liang
shu, eh. 3, p. 79 (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chil, 1973), where 'a Funan envoy is
mentioned as having brought tribute to the emperor in the autumn, seventh
month, of the first year Ta-t'ung (535).
35. HKSC, 2060.50.429cI 2-16.
65
36. LTSPC,2034A9.106a3-12.
37. See note 34 for tentative dating.
38. Ta-sheng ch'i-hsin lun (CHL), TI666.32.575aI7-22. The CHL imd its
colophon allegedly by Chih-k'ai (also known as Hui-k'ai), is probably an apocry-
phal text, not translated by Paramartha. '
39. KYL,2154.55.538b24-27.
40. L TSPC, citing Pao-kuei's introduction to the gives the
date, "the first year of Tai-ch'ing," 547. Cf. T2034.49.106al O . .According to Vi
Hakuju, Indo tetmgaku kenkyu (Tokyo: 1930), VI, 13, this must be a scribe's error
since all other sources give "the second year of T'ai-ch'ing."
41. The only citation for Pao-yun tien in the palace of Emperor Wu of Liang
is in Paramartha's biography. However, a Chung-yun tien is mentioned in the
biographies ofT'an-luan (HKSC, 2060.50A70a29). Pao-ch'iung (479a20), Seng-ta
(553a7), and Hui-yun (650bI7) as the place where Emperor Wu of Liang invited
them to lecture on Buddhist doctrine. In Seng-ming's biography (693b et passim)
miraculous Buddhist statues are housed in the Chung-yun tien. The Pao-yun tien
may be a scribe's error for Chung-yun tien, or the palace temple's name may have
been changed during the Late Liang to Pao-yun, perhaps renaming the palace
temple after the siUra translated by Mandra and Sarpghapala of Liang. The em-
peror himself lectured on siUras and eminent monks attended his sermons at the
Chung-yun tien. Cf. Liang shu, ch. 3, p. 96.
42. The biography of Pao-ch'iung is recorded in the HKSC (4 78c6-4 79c20),
but does not mention the Shih-ch'i ti-lun or Paramartha.
43. The Treatise on the Seventeen Bodhisattva Stages (Shih-ch'i ti-lun) was a
commentary on a siUra by the same name. According to Paramartha's biography
of the Yogacarin master, Vasubandhu (T2049.50.188c 13-16), Maitreya descend-
ed from the tu.'jita heaven and lectured on the Siltra of the Seventeen Bodhisattva
Stages for Asanga's edification.
44. KYL, 2154.55.538bll-14.
45. HKSC, 2060.50A29c25.
46. NTL, 2149.55.266a24-25 and L TSPC, 2034A9.99a4. The LTSPC also
gives the same date and place of translation for Ta-sheng ch'i-hsin lun, which is
almost certainly not one of Paramartha's translations. The KN also lists this text
(3q.4cl2-14). According to Hsuan-tsang, in his Yu-chia lun chi, ch. 1
(TI828.42.311 b) the translation date is given as the tenth month (October 26-
November 25) of the fourth year T'ai-ch'ing (550), rather than simply "the fourth
year of T'ai-ch'ing." Hsuan-tsang also identifies this text with the first part of the
Y ogacaryabhilmi.
47. In the year 552 Liang was in the first year of Ch'eng-sheng but the
HKSC is using Northern Ch'i's Dynastic regnal titles. Some manuscripts noted in
the Taisho (p. 429) use Tai-pao or Ta-pao, but Ta-pao lasted only one year. If it
had continued, the year 552 would have corresponded to the third year of Ta-
pao.
48. HKSC, 2060.50A29c26-27.
49. There is a story of a monk who starved for over a year, to the verge of
death. This period of ruin and lack of food came at the end of Liang, when Hou
Ching set out to take over south China. Even when someone offered him a bowl of
66
rice with just the slightest trace of pork hidden in it, he would not violate his
vegetarianism and eat it, although "his stoma,ch burned like fire." (HKSC,
2060.50.4S0a4-7).
50. According to Seng-ta's biography (HKSC, 2060.50.553aI2) Hou Ching
built two temples, Shan-ming and T'ien-kuan, but no other mention of these two
temples occurs in the HKSC. In T'af\-yin's biography (60Sc6-10) Hou Ching
builds two temples, one to the mountain spirits (shen-hsien) and later, after his
insurrection, the Ta-yen temple, in Yeh-tung. There is a wealth of information in
Seng-ming's biography concerning Hou Ching's revolt (especially 692b21-
693b24), involving miraculous Buddhist statues with halos and fortune-telling
powers. These miracles also occur in the Chung-yun tien during Late Liang and
early Ch'en after the death of Hou Ching.
51. An interesting prediction about Hou Ching by a Buddhist monk is
retold in the Nan shih, ch. SO, where it says that he will come to a violent death.
Emperor Wu is then said to have analyzed the name Hou Ching by breaking the
two Chinese characters into six characters meaning: "a petty man who will be
emperor for one hundred days." Hou Ching's reign was one hundred twenty
days.
52. L TSPC, 2034.49.9Sc22. The Cheng-kuan temple was also a translation
site for SaITlghapala, a monk from Funan invited to China by Wu of Liang (HKSC,
2060.50.426aI3).
53. NTL, 2149.55.266a22; KYL, 2154.55.53Sa27.
54. KN,2151.55.364cl3.
55. Ui cites a Tunhuang manuscript of the composite translation of the
Suvan.wpmblllisa (T.664) by Pao-kuei. See Indo tetsugaku kenkY1l, VI, pp. 16-1S.
Other sUtm catalogs claim that the Suvarf.!pmbhasa was translated by Paramartha
during the Ch'en Dynasty; for example, Fa-ching's catalog (T.2146.55.115alS)
and Ching-t'ai's catalog (T.2147.55.182b6).
56. Ui, Indo tetsugaku kenkyu, VI. p. 18.
57. Ui, Indo tetsugaku kenkyu, VI. p. 19, but does not give a reference for this
information. See Ching-shao's biography, HKSC, 2060.50.480a7-9. While C h i n g ~
shao met Paramartha in Yuchang, it is not clear which trip to Yuchang is meant.
Ui says Ching-shao was forty-seven and Paramartha fifty-six (according to the
Chinese way of calculating age). This would indicate that Paramartha met Ching-
shao in 554.
58. Ui, Indo tetsugaku kenkyu, VI, p. 19.
59. Tang Yung-t'ung, Han Wei Liang-chin Nan-pei-ch'ao Fa-chiao shih
(Shanghai: 1938), pp. 855-867.
60. LTSPC, 2034.49.98c24-99a3,alO. There is no listing for either the Mi-la
hsia sheng ching or the] en wang pan-jo ching and its commentary in the H KSC.
61. Ching-shao's biography is listed in the HKSC, 2060.50.479c21-480c1.
Ching-shao was a famous Liang scholar who enjoyed the patronage of Emperor
Chien-wen and the princes of Shao-ling and yueh-yang.
62. LTSPC, 2034.49.99alO; NTL, 2149.55.266b3.
63. The Chiu shih i-chi is listed in L TSPC, 2034.49.99al1, as a translation in
the third year, T'ai-ch'ing (549), which is unlikely, given Hou Ching's rebellion
during that year and Paramartha's flight to Fu-ch'un. If there was a commentary
67
by that name, it probably was translated in 554, after Paramartha left Yilchang.
Also listed in NTL (2i49.55.255b5) with information identical to LTSPC, it is not
listed in the HKSC or KYL.
54. Liang shu, ch. 5, p. 147. Hsiao Po is given the titl'e Grand Guardian in the
twelfth month of 555.
55. See Ouyang Wei's biography, Ch'en shu, ch. 9, pp. 157-159, for the
relationship between Ouyang Wei and Hsiao Po.
55. Liang shu, ch. 5, pp. 145-147.
57. HKSC,2050.50al-2.
5S. This text is listed in L TSPC, 2034.49.SSa20, without any translation
date or attribution to GUI).amati. Another text attributed to GUI).amati, entitled the
Sui-hsiang lun, is listed in the L TSPC (SSaS). Both are catalogued under Ch'en
Dynastic translations. The Commentary on the Sixteen Truths was either translated
earlier than the Ch'en in Shih-hsing, that is, in 555 or 555, or the place of transla-
tion is incorrect. The NTL, KN, and KYL all give GUI).amati's Sui-hsiang lun as a
Ch'en translation (2149.55.273b25; 2151.355a2; 2154.545c19). Probably The Com-
mentary on the Sixteen Truths corresponds to the extant translation in the Taishi5 that
is entitled simply the Sui-hsiang lun. This text would not be the same as GUI).ama-
ti's, which is lost. Vi Hakuju (Indo tetsugaku kenkYl1, VI, p. 97) does not take a
position on whether the two texts Sui-hsiang lun and Sui-hsiang lun chung shih liu ti
shu were translated in Ch'en or in Liang, the latter at Shih-hsing. Probably the text
now listed in the Taishi5 is the Late Liang translation at Shih-hsing. The text, now
lost, attributed to GUI).amati, was the referred text from the Ch'en Dynasty.
59. The Wu-shang i ching is a Liang translation, even though the LTSPC
(T.2034.49.S7c13) states it is a Ch'en translation, completed during the second
year of Yung-ting. The KYL criticizes the LTSPC dating, since there was no third
year of Chao-t'ai during the second year of Yung-ting. This regnal date would be
equivalent to second year Tai-p'ing and first year Yung-ting. However, on the
eighth day, ninth month of Chao-t'ai, Yung-ting had not been established nor had
the Ch'en Dynasty. See KYL, 2154.55.53Sbl-2; 545c25; 595c22-27 (citation from
Wu-shang i ching colophon).
70. KYL, 2154.55.53Sbl-2. The L TSPC claims the text is a Ch'en transla-
tion, completed in the second year Yung-ting (55S), at the Ching-t'u temple in
Nan-k'ang (2034.49.S7c13). The NTL agrees with the LTSPC (2149.55.273a29).
The colophon is preserved in part in the KYL (595c20-27). The KYL criticizes the
dating methods of the L TSPC, which catalogs texts only up to the fifth year of
Ch'eng-sheng (555), the year that Liang was coming to an end. The fifth year
Ch'eng-sheng corresponds to the second year Chao-t'ai. In the ninth month of
that year the reign was changed to Tai-p'ing. In the tenth month of the following
year (557), the Ch'en Dynasty was established. Therefore, the KYL argues, Octo-
ber 15, 557, was still within the Liang Dynasty. (Actually, twenty-two days later
Ch'en Pa-hsien established his reign, beginning the Yung-ting period.)
71. KYL, 2154.55.545c2,5. No translation dates are given. Also see NTL,
2149.55.273bI5,c7 (lists Wei-shih lun wen-i ho), and L TSPC, 2034.49.SSa3, 12 (same
information as NTL). .
72. Cf. Fa-t'ai's biography, HKSC, 2050.50.43Ia9-12.
73. HKSC, 2050.50.503b22-23.
68
74. HKSC, 2060.50.609b 19-21.
75. Ui Hakuju, Indo tetsugaku kenkyil, VI, pp. 24-25.
76. LTSPC, 2034.49.88a13; NTL, 2149.55.273c8.
77. HKSC, 2060.50.430a3.
78. Chieh-shen-mi-ching shu, ZZ.34.299b5-12.
79. Ui claims that Hui-k'ai gives these dates in his colophon to the She ta-
sheng lun, but no such information is found in the colophon preserved in the
TaishO; cf. Indo tetsugaku kenkyfl, VI, pp. 24-26.
80. Fa-t'ai's biography, HKSC, 2060.50.c7-9.
81. LTSPC, 2034.49.87c21; NTL, 2149.55.273b8; KYL, 2154.55.545b24.
82. HKSC, 2060.50.430a8-9.
83. HKSC, 2060.50.430a18-19.
84. HKSC, 2060.50.430a23-27.
85. HKSC, 2060.50.430a27-b3.
86. HKSC,2060.50.430b4-7.
87. HKSC,2060.50.430b16-19
88. Hui-k'ai's introduction to She ta-sheng lun, 'r.1593.31.112c22.
89. HKSC, 2060.50.430c2-13.
90. This research is part of an ongoing project and forthcoming book,
Philosophy of Mind in Sixth-Century China: Pammiirtha's Evolution of Consciousness
(Chuan shih lun).
69
Studies in Traditional Indian Medicine
in the Pali Canon:
JIvaka and Ayurveda
by Kenneth C. Zysk
The canonical and post canonical Buddhist literature preserved in
Pali and other Buddhist languages contains many references to
dise.ases and to medical treatments. We will investigate one rather
nicely compact episode found in the eighth chapter of the Maha-
vagga of the Vinaya Pitaka. It recounts six healings performed by
the physician Jlvaka Komarabhacca I and is told in order to estab-
lish the circumstances for the propounding of the rules pertaining
to the use and distribution of the robes worn by Buddhist monks.
Versions, often with significant variants, are also found in the
Vinaya portions of Buddhist works in Sinhalese,2 Tibetan
3
and in a
sutra in Chinese,4 reflecting the popularity of the story.
While there are several published articles drawing our atten-
tion to the medical importance of this tale,5 an intensive and thor-
ough investigation of it in light of ayurveda is still wanting. Our
purpose, therefore, will be to make a detailed examination of the
purely medical sections of each of the healings, comparing them to
the classical ayurvedic tradition of the Caraka and Sufruta Sa'Y[thitas.
I. A seven-year-old disease of the head (szsabiidha) suffered by a merchant's
wife from Saketa
6
70
Then Jlvaka Komarabhacca approached to where the
merchant's wife was; having approached her [and] having
observed her abnormality, he said this to her: "0 lady, I have
need of a handfuF of ghee." Then the merchant's wife or-
dered a handful of ghee to be given to Jlvaka. Jlvaka, then,
decocting that handful of ghee with various medicines [and]
making the wife lie down on [her] back on a bed, adminis-
tered [the decoction] through the nose. The ghee, adminis-
tered through the nose, then, issued from the mouth [and]
was spat out into a receptacle .... Now, as the story goes,
Jlvaka Komarabhacca eradicated the seven-year-old disease of
the head with just one nasal-treatment.
8
Although the cause of this persistent disease of the head is not
specified, the treatment which was administered quite clearly in-
volved nasal-therapy (natthukamma), by which ghee decocted with a
number of undefined medicines was poured into the nose of a
patient lying supine on a bed. The liquid, we are told, was not
swallowed, but spat out.
In classical ayurvedic medicine, there are either five or eleven
types of diseases of the head, defined according to their special
causes. Caraka mentions five, caused by wind, bile, phlegm, a com-
bination of these and wormsY Susruta lists eleven: the five men-
tioned by Caraka in addition to those caused respectively by the
wasting of the elements of the body 10 by silryavarta, II by
severe pain in the neck, eyes, eyebrows and temples (anantavata) ,
by a splitting pain in the head (ardhavabhedaka) and by extreme
pain in the temples, leading to death (sankhaka).12
Caraka states that the principal means of treating these dis-
eases of the head is nasal- thera py 13 which is said by
Susruta to be of two types, head-purgation (Sirovirecana) and lubri-
cation (snehana), involving the use of medicines or oil cooked with
medicines and administered through both nostrils.14 Caraka pre-
scribes the following technique for the application of this medicat-
ed oil:
The physician who knows the correct medical prescrip-
tion should administer the nasal-oil .. , to the patient who is
lying down comfortably in a supine position on a well-covered
couch and who has his head hanging down slightly and his
feet a little elevated; 15 ... and after having pushed the nose
up with the thumb of the left hand, he should then properly
apply the nasal oil to both nostrils equally with the right hand,
by means of a hollow tube or by means of cotton ... ,16
Susruta includes another important point, not mentioned by
Caraka: "The wise patient should never at any time swallow down
the nasal-oil. The oil should be made to flow to the srngatakasl7
71
and should come forth from the mouth; and on account of the
danger of disorder to the kapha, the patient should spit it out
without suppressing the urge (to do SO)."18
The method of treatment of diseases of the head outlined in
the ayurvedic texts reflects rather closely that preserved in this Pali
episode.
II. A seven-year-old disease of the head (sisiibadha) suffered by a merchant
from Riijagahal9 . .
Now as the story goes, Jivaka Komarabhacca made the
householder-merchant lie down on the bed [and] bound him
to it. Having cut away the skin
20
of the head [and] twisted
open a suture [of the skull],21 he extracted two living crea-
tures and showed them to the crowd of people, [saying:] "Do
you see these living creatures, one small and one large ... ?"
... Then, he closed the suture, sewed back the skin of the
head and applied ointment.
22
In the previous case, no cause was mentioned; but here two
creatures living inside the skull are specified as causing the head-
disease. Likewise, the treatment administered by Jivaka is, rather,
a surgical operation similar to that which is known as trepanation.
Among the causes of maladies of the head, the medical texts,
as we have already noted, mention worms (krmi).23 The treatment
of such a morbid condition of the head, however, is quite different
from that performed by Jivaka.
Caraka prescribes the use of nasal-therapy, involving purga-
tions of the head, in order to eradicate diseases of the head caused
by worms.24 Susruta also specifies purgations of the head for such
maladies and details the technique, as follows:
72
The [medical] treatment of a head being devoured by
worms will now be mentioned: Indeed one should give blood
in the nose. The creatures become stupified by that, and over-
joyed with the smell of blood, they congregate [in the nasal-
'passages, etc.] from anywhere.
25
Their eradication from there
[ i ~ e . from the nasal-passagesJ26 is to be accomplished by pur-
gations of the skull or by [a nasal-therapy consisting of] seeds
of the hrasvafriguka plant mixed with nili (Indigofera tinturia,
Linn.).27 One should treat [the patient] by means of vermi-
fuges a10d by na.sal-therapies (i.e. nasal-drops) pre-
pared wIth unne. [LIke':"Ise,] shoul.d emp.loy vermifuges
and .combmed wIth puttmatsya (= puti-
karaiiJa; Caesalpmza crzsta, Lmn. = C. bonducella, Flem.) as well
as various types of foods, vermifuges and drinks.
28
The treatment by a type of trepanation, therefore, represents
a significant variant, not found in the earliest texts of the ayurve-
dic medical tradition.
III. A rectal fistula (bhagandala) suffered by king Seniya Bimbisara of
Magadha, which stained his clothes with blood
29
Then Jlvaka Komarabhacca, promising the king's son,
Abhaya, [that he would treat the king,] took up the medicine
with the finger-nail [and] approached to where Seniya Bimbi-
sara of Magadha was; and having approached the king, he
said: "Let us see your malady." Now as the story goes, Jlvaka
removed the king's rectal fistula with just one application of
ointment.
3o
The affliction from which the king suffered is quite clearly a
suppurating rectal fistula. The treatment, performed by Jlvaka,
involved the application of a medicated salve to the fistula by
means of a finger-nail.
In the ayurvedic tradition, Susruta begins by enumerating
five types of rectal fistula (bhagandara) , caused respectively by
wind, bile, phlegm, a combination (of the three) or external fac-
tors. He then proceeds to identify its locations as the perinaeum,
the rectum or the bladder and concludes by delineating the differ-
ence between a rectal fistula (bhagandara) and a rectal pustule or
boil (pzaka), saying that the former has an opening while the latter
does not.
3
! It seems likely, therefore, that the description offered
in the Pali passage fits well the definition given by the ayurvedic
authorities.
Although the account of Jlvaka's treatment of the fistula does
not parallel exactly the prescribed course of action outlined in the
medical texts, there may be some subtle similarities.
Caraka states that the fistula should be treated initially by
purgation, probing and lancing; and, after the tract has been
73
cleansed with what Susruta calls an e0a1'!l, an application of caustic
medicines for cauterisation should be made.
32
Both commenta-
tors, Cakrapa.r:tidatta and 1)alha.r:ta, gloss e0a1'!l as salaka. In the
ayurvedic tradition there are numerous types of salaka.
33
It is in-
teresting to note, however, that Vagbhata refers to three types,
used for the application of caustic medicines, whose ends resemble
the nails of the small, ring and middle fingers.
34
In the Buddhist
tradition, salaka (Pali: salaka) is considered to be a bamboo splinter
with caustic medicines used in the treatment of boils and of
wounds.
35
It seems possible, therefore, that in this account, Jlva-
ka's finger-nail could have aptly functioned as such an instrument
used to apply medicines in the treatment of a rectal fistula.
IV. A knot in the bowels (antaga1'!thilbadha)36 suffered by a merchant's son
from Vara1'!aSl
The knot is said to have been caused by the man's sporting
activities, in the form of turning somersaults with a stickY It hin-
dered the proper digestion of the rice-milk he drank and the food
he ate and disrupted the normal evacuation of faeces and urine,
leaving him emaciated, wretched looking, ugly and pale, with his
body covered with veins.
38
Jlvaka's treatment of this condition follows:
[Then,] making the people move back, QIvaka] encircled
[the patient] with a curtain, bound [him] up to a post [and]
situated his wife in front of [him]; splitting the outer skin of
the abdomen, he extracted the knot in the bowels [and]
showed it to the wife, [saying:] "Look at your husband's afflic-
tion". . . . After having disentangled the knot in the bowels,
replaced the bowels [and] sewn up the outer skin of the abdo-
men, he applied a medicated salve. Then as the story goes,
shortly after that, the merchant's son from Vara.r:tasI became
well.
39
We learn that the merchant's son's affliction was the result of
acrobatic activities with a stick, suggesting that he may have suf-
fered a wound to the abdominal wall, from which a part of the
bowels protruded. The treatment administered by Jlvaka was a
form of laparotomy by which the abdominal wall was cut, the knot
74
removed and repaired, the incision sewn .up and a salve applied.
In the classical ayurvedic treatises, there is no exact equivalent
of the Pali antagary,tha, which in Sanskrit one would expect to be
antragrantha or antragranthi. Susruta, however, describes a type of
wound tothe abdomen wall from which the unbroken small intes-
tines have protruded. The treatment of such a condition is as
follows: The intestines should be washed with milk; lubricated
with ghee and gently placed back into their original position.
Where the re-introduction of the intestines is made difficult be-
cause the wound is too large or too small, a small incision should
be made according to the prescribed method; and the intestines
should be replaced in their correct position. In all cases, the
wound or incision should be sutured and a medicated oil, pre-
pared with various vegetal products, should be applied to the skin
to promote its healing.
40
Vagbhata mentions the affliction, vrary,a-
granthi, "wound-knot", which, when located in the bowels, is said
to be incurable.4l
It may be suggested, therefore, that the description and
course of treatment of the affliction anatagary,tha, offered in the
Pali, resembles the ayurvedic definition and cure of an abdominal
wound or lesion, where a part of the small intestines has pro-
truded from the perforated abdominal wall.
V. Morbid pallor (pary,rJ,urogabadha) suffered by King PaJjota of Ujjeni
42
75
The rather involved treatment follows:
The Jlvaka Komarabhacca ... having gone to Ujjeni, ap-
proached to where King Pajjota was; [and] having ap-
proached him, he observed his abnormality [and] said this:
'Give me some ghee! I will boil the ghee which the king shall
drink." [The king replied:] "Indeed, good Jlvaka, you must
do what you can in order to make me healthy without ghee.
Ghee is loathsome to me
43
[and] disagreeable." It then oc-
curred to Jlvaka: To be sure, the disease of this king is of such
a kind that he cannot be made healthy without ghee. Let me
boil the ghee so that it has the (reddish-yellow) colour, the
smell and the taste of an astringent decoction.
44
Jlvaka, then,
boiled the ghee with various medicines [so that it] had the
colour, the smell and the taste of an astringent decoction.
Now, it occurred to Jlvaka: Indeed, when the ghee has been
drunk and digested by the king, he will be given to vom-
it. ... 45 He made the king drink the ghee .... 46 Then, indeed,
when King Pajjota had drunk and digested the ghee, he was
given to vomit. ... Then as the story goes, King Pajjota be-
came wellY ,
Although no symptoms are mentioned, it is clear that the king
suffered from morbid pallor. His condition was eradicated by a
rather surreptitious application of ghee, which Jlvaka knew to be
the essential cure for the disease.
In the medical tradition, parJ,rJuroga is considered to be a ge-
neric term for diseases which turn the skin a pale There
are either four, five or eight types,49 of which kamala or jaundice,
as we know it, is said to be a part.
50
For this reason, therefore,
morbid pallor is perhaps the best translation of the Pali parJ,rJuroga
and the Sanskrit parJ,rJuroga.
51
Susruta states that the principal cure for the condition of
pa'Y!uroga is ghee;52 and he and Caraka prescribe many remedies
containing ghee, none of which, however, appear to be of the
as tringen t variety. 53
Jlvaka's knowledge of the treatment of the disease parJ,rJuroga
(parJ,rJuroga) , therefore, seems to reflect, with very little variation,
that which is presented in the ayurvedic treatises.
VI. A condition where the body is filled with the bodily dosas (dosabhi-
sanna), suffered by the Lord Buddha
54
The treatment, we are told, required the drinking of a purga-
tive.
55
The prescription that Jlvaka gave for it included: (1) The
lubrication of the Buddha's body for a few days;56 and (2) the use
of a weak purgative:
76
It then occurred to Jlvaka Komarabhacca: It is not prop-
er that I should give the Lord a coarse purgative. Having
mixed three handfuls of lotuses
57
with various medicines, he
approached to where the Lord was; and having approached
him, he presented to him a handful of lotuses, [saying:] "0
good one, may the Lord snuff up this first handful of lotuses.
It will purge the Lord ten times." And a second time, he
presented to the Lord a handful of lotuses, [saying:] "0 good
one, may the Lord snuff up .... It will purge the Lord ten
times." And a third time, he presented to the Lord a handful
of lotuses, [ ... ] " ... It will purge the Lord ten times; there-
fore, the Lord will be purged a total of thirty times: ... " It
then occurred to Jlvaka Komarabhacca ... : Indeed, I admin-
istered a purgative to the Lord with a total of thirty times.
"[Since] the Tathagata's body is filled with the dosas, it will not
be purged a total of thirty times; it will be purged [ only] a total
of twenty-nine times. Yet, the Lord, after having been
purged, will perform ablutions; and when he has bathed, he
will purge one time. Thus, the Lord will be purged a total of
thirty times .... Then, Jlvaka Komarabhacca said this to the
Lord: "Until, 0 good one, your body becomes normal, alms-
food of soup will be sufficient." Then, as the story goes, the
Lord's body soon became normaJ.5H
In this final account of Jlvaka's healings, the Buddha is afflict-
ed with the bodily dosas (Skt. dOJa), the treatment of which required
that a purgative be taken in order to eliminate them. Since the
Buddha may be considered to be a type of person with a delicate
constitution, a mild purgative was administered. It involved lubri-
cation, the inhalation of the fragrance of three individual handfuls
of lotuses mixed with various medicines, and a bath, resulting in a
purgation of thirty times. After that, the patient was instructed to
eat only light food, until the body returned to its normal state.
Although the term dosiibhisanna, "filled with the dosas," does
not allow us to determine the specific disease from which the
Buddha suffered, we can broach a connection with the ayurvedic
medical tradition through its prescribed treatment.
In his chapter on "the treatment of supervenient diseases
cured by emetics and purgatives,"59 Susruta states that these are
the principal remedies used to cleanse the system of all and
prescribes that when a purgative is administered the patient's body
should first be lubricated (snigdha) and sweated (svinna).5! In the
case of kings or ones who have never been purged, he advises the
use of mild purgatives, which he describes as being pleasant, with
noticeable results(?) (dntaphala) , savoury, small in quantity but
great in potency and presenting little risk of creating disorders.
52
After the application of the emetic or purgative, the patient
should be washed with tepid water;63 and when he feels weak or
thirsty, he should be given in small doses a diet of light or luke-
warm peyii.
64
77
Jlvaka's course of treatment of a condition where the body is
diagnosed as being filled with the morbid humours (do
0
as) , there-
fore, seems to follow that outlined in the Susruta SarJ2hita. The use
of lotuses mixed with medicines certainly fits Susruta's definition
of a mild purgative. Nowhere in the classical ayurvedic treatises,
however, are lotuses mentioned in cases requiring mild purga-
tion.
65
Likewise, the mention of a total of thirty (3 times 10) purga-
tions with a mild purgative is not expressed in the medical texts.
Conclusions
The results of our investigation allow us to observe certain
trends with respect to the ayurvedic medical ideas in the Buddhist
tradition.
In general, the account of the cures preserved in the legend
of the physician Jlvaka Komarabhacca reflects a basic ayurvedic
foundation. This is supported to some extent in versions- of the
legend itself: Jlvaka's teacher is said to be a world-renowned physi-
cian who lived in Taxila
66
and who, in the Tibetan Vinaya, is said to
be Atreya,67 whose words are actually supposed to be the Caraka
SarJ2hita. Rather than adhering to the tradition of Atreya, however,
the evidence points to a closer connection with the Susruta SarJ2hita,
as most of the medical details in the comparative passages quoted
have been derived from that text.
There is one treatment which simply is not found in the ayur-
vedic works: the cure of a disease of the head caused by creatures
living in the skull by means of a type of trepanation does not occur
in the classical medical literature. There is, however, evidence for
such a surgical practice offered from archaeological remains: in at
least one skull discovered at Timargarha in west Pakistan
6H
and
perhaps others from the area of the north-west of India,69 there
are definite signs of trepanation, suggesting that the practice was
used, but was not included in the classical ayurvedic treatises.
Other differences, such as the use of lotuses as a mild purga-
tive, indicate only minor variations from the medical tradition of
ayurveda and may merely be fanciful. The case of a knot in the
bowels suffered by a merchant's son poses a problem because
there is no exact equivalent in Sanskrit for the Pali antaga1ftha. The
underlying current of ideas, however, supports an ayurvedic basis.
78
The Pali account of the physician J l v a ~ a , therefore, illustrates
a well-established ayurvedic medical tradition and preserves at
least one practice not found i ~ classical ayurueda. If the fourth
century B.C. date of the Vinaya, suggested by Frauwallner, is cor-
rect,70 we .can safely conclude that the crystallisation of the classical
system of Indian medicine was already well under way by that
time. Further research into the medical principles found in the
Buddhist texts in Pali and other languages would, however, allow
us to draw more concrete conclusions concerning the evolution of
ayurvedic medicine and the role that the Buddhists played in it.
NOTES
I. On the possible derivation of the name .Komarabhacca from the Sanskrit,
kumiirabhrtya, the medical science of paediatrics as well as the care of women
during pregnancy, parturition, the puerperal period and lactation, see Yin. Texts,
pt. 2, p. 174 n., Horner, vol. 4, p. 381 n.2 and Malalasekera, Dictionary, vol. I., p.
957 n.2. .
2. See Hardy, A Manua(of Buddhism, pp. 237-249.
3. The Peking Kanjur, vol. 3, leaves 50-67; see also Schiefner, Melanges
Asiatiques, Tome VII (1879), pp. 472-514 and W.R.S. Ralston, trans., Tibetan Tales,
pp.75-109.
4. "Sutra prononce par Ie Buddha au sujet de I'Avadana concernant 'Fille-
de-Manguier' (A.mrapali) et 'K'J Yu' Qlvaka)," No. 499 (Trip. XIV, 6, pp. 48r.-
52v.) in Cinq cents Contes et Apologues extraits du Tripi(aka Chinois et traduits en Fran-
r;ais par Edouard Chavannes, Tome III, pp. 325-261 (also Tome IV, p. 246).
5. See in particular D.V. Reddy, "Jeevaka, a physician of the VI century
B.C.",Indianjournal of History of Medicine, Vol. 3 (1958), pp. 37-49; G. Mukhopad-
hyaya, The History of India_n Medicine, vol. 3, pp. 681-744; and Mme Liacre de
Saint-Firmin, lVUdicine et legendes bouddhiques de l'Inde, Paris, 1916.
6. MV 8.1.7: tena kho pana samayena Siikete set(hibhariyiiya sattavassiko sfsiibiidho
hoti.
7. Buddhaghosa, at Samantapiisiidikii, 8.1 (p. 1116) glosses: ekahatthapii.(ena,
"with the hollow of one handful"; cf. Vin. Texts, pt.2, p. I 78n. I and Horner, vol. 4,
p.384n.2.
8. MV 8.1.10-11,13: atha kho jfvako Komiirabhacco yena sei(hibhariyii ten' upa-
sa7[lkami, upasa7[lkamitvii setthibhariyiiya vikiira7[l sallakkhetvii se\lhibhariya7[l etad avoca:
pasatena me (N.). ayye sappinii attho 'ti. atha kho se(!hibhariyiijfvakassa Komiirabhaccassa
pasata7[l sappi7[l diipesi. atha kho puako Komiirabhacco ta7[l pasata7[l sappiT(! niiniibhesaj-
jehi nippacitvii set(hibhariyam maiicake uttiirw7[l nipajjiipetvii (B.: nipatetvii, "making to
descend") natthuto adiisi. atha kho tam sappi natthuto dimw7[l mukhato uggarlchi (R.:
uggacchi). atha kho set(hibhariyii paUggahe nit(ubhitvii (R.: nut(huhitvii) .... atha kho
Jfvako Komiirabhacco se(!hibhariyiiya sattavassika7[l sfsiibiidha7[l eken 'eva natthukammena
apakahi. At Sumangala-viliisinf 1.1.27, Buddhagosa states the nasal-treatment
consists of a mixture of oil (tela7[l ),ojetva natthukaranam).
79
9. SuSth. 17.6; 19.4.
10. The Madhukosa to MN 60.1 explains this as "by the wasting away of blood,
marrow (or fat), etc." asrgvasadfnaf!!
11. According to :Oalhal).a at Su Utt. 25.1--4, some consider silryavarta to be
pain in the head caused by bile and wind, which increases during daylight hours
and becomes calm at night ( ... "tatra vatanuga1Jl pitta1Jl cita1Jl sirasi madh-
yalme tejasa 'rkasya tad vivrddha1Jl sirorujam. karoti paittikil!l ghora!n saf!!samyati dina-
asta1Jl gate prabhahine silrye vayur vivardhate. san tim avapnoti samyati
vedana, pittanilakrtal} . ... ).
12. Utt. 25.2-4; see also AHUtt. 23, MN 60.1 and Jolly, Medicin, p. 118. On
the latter four causes, cf. CaSiSth. 9.70-87.
13: SiSth. 9:88.
14. CiSth. 40.21; cf. also CaSiSth. 9.89-92, 116.
15. SiSth. 9.98-99: ... sneha1Jl kuryad vidhanavit, ... uttanasya
sayanasya sayane svastrte sukham, kincit kiiicit padonnatasya ca.
16. SiSth. 9.102-103: ... nasamunnamya hastena da-
kuryad samam. picuna va 'pi yathavidhi,
... Cf. also SuCiSth. 40.25-27.
17. :Oalhal).a to SuCiSth. 40.30 explains srnga(aka as "being the combination
of the vessels which soothe the apertures of the nose and ear as well as the eye and
the tongue" sirar;al!l .. This
definition seems to point to the sinuses.
18. CiSth. 40.29-30: nopagilet kathaf!! cid api buddhiman. srizga(-
akam abhiplavya nireti vadanad yatha; kaphotkleiabhayac cainaf!! avidharayan.
Cf. also CaSiSth. 9.103-107.
19. MV 8.1.16: tena kho pana samayena Rajagahakassa seHhissa sattavassika s'isa-
badho hoti.
20. Cf. Buddhagosa at Samantapasadikii 8.1 (p. 1117): s'isacamma1Jl apanetva.
21. Buddhagosa (ibid.) glosses: "having opened the suture of the skull" (sib-
bini1Jl vivaritva).
22. MV 8.1.18: atha kho jfvako Komarabhacco se((hif!! gahapatif!! mancake nipaj-
japetva (B.: nipatetva, "having let fall") mancake (S.: mancakena) sambandhitva s'isac-
chavi1Jl upphaletva (N.: uppa(etva, "having torn up", S.: phaletva, "having cut or
split") sibbini1Jl (S.: sibbani1Jl) vinametva dve pal.lake nfharitvajanassa (N.: mahajanassa)
dassesi: passeyyatha (R.: passath' ayyo, B.: passathayye, SI.: passatha) ime dve ekal.n
khuddaka1Jl eka1Jl mahallaka1Jl . .. , sibbini1Jl sampa(icchadetva (R.: sampa(ipadetva, B.:
sampa(ipa(etva) s'isacchaviVl sibbetva (B.: sibbitva) alepa1Jl adasi.
23. See in particular CaSiiSth. 17.27-29, CiSth. 26.118, SuUtt. 25.10-11
and AHUtt. 23.12-15.
24. ViSth. 7.20 and CiSth. 26.183-187.
25. Following palhal).a (to SuUtt. 26.27): ... samayanti samagacchanti. yatas-
tato tatra cagatana1Jl' krmir;a1Jl kilrcakadibhir nirharar;a1Jl kaTta-
vyam (or from the 1915 edition: samayanti itastato tatra . .. ).
26. This rendering is based on AHUtt. 24.15-16: krmije nasya1Jl tena
milrcchanti sor;itagandhena niryanti
dhilmabhya1Jl kuryan nirharar;a1Jl tatal}, ... :Oalhal).a (to SuUtt. 26.29), however, con-
siders the vs. beginning with to be a treatment for the eradication of those
80
worms which are inaccessible by the nasal-passages (idanfr!l kilrcakadib(lir aga-
myanaTfl nirhar(zr;arthaTfl cikitsitam aha: ity adi). Cf. also K.L. Bhisha-
gratna, vol. 3, p. 137. See also H.K., p. 633. .
27. Following I)alhal!a. He also refers to Gayin, who offers the interpreta-
tion that the purgation of the skull is composed of the seeds of the hrasvasigruka
plant, etc. .(ml1rdhavirecanaiZI. . . ; gayz tu hTasvaSigrukabijani
.firavirecahadravyar;i manyate. hrasvasigrukabijair ity adi . .. ); see also SuUtt. 54.34-36
and cf. KL. Bhishagratna, vol. 3, p. 137.
28. Utt. 26.26-30: krmibhir SiTaSaZI kriya. lWS)'e hi sOJ,li-
tal!! dadyat tena milTcchanti jantaVa(l, mattazl samayanti yatastataZI.
nirhaTar;am kalym.n tata mildhavirecanaiZI, hrasvasigrukabijair va ka7?lsyan'illsamayutai(!.
krmighnair avaplrjais ca miltrap4faiT upacaret, piltimatsyayutan dhiiman krmighnaTfls ca
pTayajayet. bhajanani krmighnani panani vividhani ca. Cf. also AUtt. 24.15-18.
29. MV 8.1.14: tena kho pan a samayena Taiil1a Magadhassa Seniyassa Bimbisar-
assa bhagandalabiidho hati, safaka lohitena makkhiyanti (SI.: makkhfyanti).
30. MV 8.1.15: evaT[! deva 'ti kho Jrvaka Kamarabhacca Abhayassa rajakumaTassa
pafisur;itva nakhena bhesaJjaTfl adaya yena raja Magadho Seniya Bimbisaro ten' ujJa-
sal?zkami, upasaT[!kamitva rajanaIJI iVIagadhm!1 SeniyaIJI BimbisaTaTfl dad avoca: abiidhm,n
te (N .) deva passama 'Ii. atha kho Jzvako Komarabhacco Tm1no Magdhassa Seniyassa
Bimbisarassa bhagandalabiidhm.n eken' eva alepena apakarjrjhi.
31. N iSth. 4.3: vatapittaslesmasannipatagan tunimittazl
sravisambflkavartonmargiJ.w yathasaT[!khyaT[! panca bhagandara bhavanti, te tu bhagagu-
dabastipradeSadarar;ac ca "bhagandara" ity ucyante, abninnaZI pirjakazl, binnas tu bhagan-
daraZI. Caraka defines bhagandara more generally: "For the rectal fistula should be
[known as] pustules on the side of the rectum, which frequently ripen and suppu-
rate [and as being caused] by worms, slight injury to the [tail-] bone, copulation,
diarrhoea, etc., and excessive horse-back [riding] (CaCiSth.12.96: krimyasthisfl-
gudasya parsve pi-
rjaka bhrsartih pakvaprabhinna tu bhagandaraZI syat). Cf also SuNiSth. 4.10-13.
32. See CaCiSth. 12.97 and SuCiSth. 8.4. Cf. also AHUtt. 28.25-26, where
merely prescribes the use of a surgical instrument (sastTa).
33. See Mukhopadhyaya, Surgical Instruments of the Hindus, pp. 155-174.
34. AHSuSth. 25.38: nimnamukhas tisraZI kanin-
zmadhyamanaminakhaman asamair mukhaiZl. Cf. also Mukhopadhyaya, Surgical In-
struments, vol. 1, p. 159.
35. For salaka, cf. Miln IV.1.33(l12) and IV. 2.13(149). See also PTS-PED,
p. 699 and cf. MWSED. p. 1059, col. 1.
36. ST., however, reads perhaps more clearly: antagar;qabiidho, "the affliction
of a swelling in the bowels."
37. On the exact meaning of this, see especially Vin. Texts, pt. 2, pp. 184-85
n.l; and cf. Horner, vol. 4, p. 389 n.2.
38. MV 8.1.21: tena kho pana samayena Barar;aseyyakassa sef!hiputassa mokkhaci-
kaya k/(antassa antagar;thabiidho hoti yena (SI.: tena) yagu pi pUa na samma parir;amaTfl
gacchati bhattam pi bhuttaT[! na samma. parir;amaT[! gacchati uccaro pi passavo pi na
pagur;o. so tena kiso hoti lilkho dubbar;r;o uppar;rjuppar;4ukajato dhamanisanthatagatto.
39. MV 8.1.22: evaT[! ... Jrvako Komarabhacco ... gantva yena Barar;aseyyako
se((hiputto ten' upasaT[!kami, upasaT[!kamitva Baral,J{lSeyyakassa setfhiputtassa vikaraT[! sal-
81
lakkhetva janaT[! ussaretva tirokaraT}iyaT[! (S. and SL: tirokaraT}iT[!) parikkhipitva (B.:
parikkhipetva) thambhe ubbandhitva (S. and S1.: upanibandhitva, "binding him on to")
bhariyaT[! puratD udaracchaviT[! (R.: upphtiletva, "cutting open")
niharitva bhariyaya dassesi passa te samikassa qbadhal.n, ...
antani paUpavesetva udaracchaviT[! sibbetva (B.: sibbitva) alepaT[! adasi. atha
kho Ba1'aT}aseyyako seHhiputto na cirass' eva arogo ahosi.
40. SuCiSth. 2.56-66; Caraka does not mention such a disease or treatment.
Cf. NM 43.4
41. AHUtt. 29.12-14.
42. MV 8.1.23: tena kho samayena UjjeniyaT[!(N.) raiiiio Pajjotassa paT}rjuroga-
btidho hoti.
43. Buddhagosa (p. 1117) explains rather fancifully: "Surely this king is
born of a scorpion; and ghee is medicine for the sake of warding off the poison of
a scorpion. Therefore, it is loathsome to a scorpion" (aya7J! kira raja vicchikassa jato,
ca sappi bhesajjaT[! hoti vicchika1!aT[! patikkulaT[! tasma evam aha).
44. Cf. Horner, vo!' 4, p. 391n.1.
45. Buddhagosa (p. 1117) glosses uddekaT[! as uggaraT[!.
46. Buddhagosa (p. 1117) elaborates: "Both making him drink the ghee
and explaining the action of the food to the maidservants" (sappiii ca payetva
paricarikanaii ca ahtiravidhiT[! acikkhitva).
47. MV 8.1.23-25: evaT[! .. . Jivako Komarabhacco ... UjjeniT[! gantvayena raja
Pajjoto ten' upasaT[!kami, upasaT[!kamitva raiino Pajjotassa vikara7J! sallakkhetva
Pa}jottaT[! etad avoca: sappi7J! dehi (B.) sappiT[! deva nippacissami, ta7J! devo pivissatiti.
alaT[! bhaT}e jivaka yaT[! te sakka vina sappina aroga"f!l. katu7J! taT[! karohi. jeguccha7J! me
sappi, (B.: pa\ikulaT[!, Skt. pratikula, "disagreeable") ti. atha kho jivakassa
Komarbhq,ccassa etad ahosi: imassa kho ranno tadiso abtidho na sakkii (SL: sakkii maya)
vina sappina arogaT[! kiituT[!. yam nunanaT[! sappiT[! nippaceyya7J! kasiiva-
gandha7J! kasavarasan ti. atha kho jivako Komarabhacco nanabhesajjehi sappiT[! nippaci
kasavavaT}T}a7J! kasavagandhaT[! kasiivarasam. atha kho Jfvakassa Komarbhaccassa etad
ahosi: imassa kho ranno sappi pftaT[! pariT}amenta7J! uddekaT[! dassati .... atha kho jivako
Komarabhacco rajanaT[! PajjotaT[! sappiT[! payetva .... atha kho rarlrl0 Pajjotassa
sappi pitaT[! pariT}amenta7J! uddekaT[! adasi .... atha kho riija Pajjoto arogo samano . ...
48. See in particular SuUtt. 44.3-4; cf. also AHNiSth. 13.1-4 and MN 8.2.
49. The older edition(1913) of SuUtt. 44.4 mentions four types of morbid
pallor, the newer, following palhalj<I, eight: those caused by the three plus
the combination of those caused by the three by their combination, by the
comsumption of earth, by the two kinds of jaundice, kiimala and kumbhakamalii,and
by halimaka. CaSuSth. 19.4(CiSth.16.3), AHNiSth. 13.7 and MN 8.1 list five kinds:
those being caused by the three their combination and the consumption of
earth.
50. See CaCiSth. 16.35-36, SuUtt. 44.5-6, AHNiSth. 13.15-16 and MN 8.16-
23.
51. Cf. G.J. Meulenbeld, The Madhavanidana, pp. 296-313 and R.F.G. Mull-
er, "Worterheft zu einigen Ausdriiken indischer Medizin," MID, vo!' 7(1961), p.
112.
52. Utt. 44.14; cf. also AHCiSth. 16.1.
53. CaCiSth. 16.47-55; 134-135; SuUtt. 44.15-20; cf. also AHCiSth. 16 ..
82
54. MV S.1.30: tena kho pana sarnayena bhagavato kayo dosabhisanno Jwti. See
also Horner, vol. 4, p. 394n.1.
55. MV S.1.30: icchati tathagato virecanam patun ti.
56. MV 8.1.30: tena hi bhante li.nanda bhagavato kayam katipahal.n sinehethalf!'ti.
Buddhagosa (p. IllS) comments: "Now, is the body of the lord coarse? It is not
coarse! Therefore, he said thus: ' Divine beings always place the divine-strength
into the food of the lord; and now, the oily liquid moistens, everywhere, the dosas;
it makes the vessels supple' " ( ... ki1J1- pana bhagavato kayo hlkho. na lilkho. bhagavato
hi aMre sada devatti dibboja1J1- pakkhipanti, sinehapanarf! pana sabbattha dose temeti, sira
mudukti kamti, ten' aya1J1- evarn aha).
57. Buddhagosa (p. IllS) explains: "One handful of lotuses is for the sake
of removing the coarse dosa; one is for the sake of removing the middle dosa; and
one is for the sake or removing the subtle dosa." ( ... eka1J1- uppalahatthal:n o(arikado-
saharar;at(ha1J1- eka1J1- majjhimadosaharar;attharfl ekarr!
58. MV 8.1.31-33; atha kho Jfvakassa Kornarabhaccassa etad ahosi: na kho me tal.n
pa(irilpam (N.: patirilpa1J1-) yo 'ha1J1- bhagavato o(arikaYfl virecanazn dadeyyan (Si.: da-
deyya1J1- yan nilnaha1J1-) ti. tfr;i uppalahatthani nanabhesajjehi paribhavetva (SL: paribha-
vetva tathagatassa upanameyya1J1-) yena bhagava ten' upasa1J1-kami, upasaYflkamitva ekw.n
uppalahattha1J1- bhagavato upanarnesi imam Mante bhagava pa(hamaYfl uppalahatthal.n
upasinghatu, idam bhagavanta1J1- dasakkhattu1J1- virecessatfti. dutiya1J1- pi uppalahatthaYfl
bhagavato upanarnesi ... , bhante bhagava ... upasii!ghatu, idw.n bhagavantaYfl dasa-
kkhattu1J1- virecessatfti. tatiya1J1- pi uppalahattha1J1- bhagavato upanamesi . . . , idaYfl bhaga-
vantaYfl dasakkhattu1J1- virecessatfti, eva1J1- bhagavato samati1J1-saya (B.: samattil.nsaya) vire-
canaYfl bhavissatfti . ... atha kho Jfvakassa Komarabhaccassa ... etad ahosi: maya kho
bhagavato sarnati1J1-saya virecana1J1- dinrw1J1-. dosabhisanna tathagatassa kayo, na bhagavan-
taYfl sarnati1J1-sakkhattu1J1- virecessati, ekilnati1J1-sakkhattu1J1- virecessati, api ca
bhagava viritta nahayissati, nahata1J1- bhagavanta1J1- sakiYfl virecessati, evaYfl bhagavato sa-
mati1J1-saya virecana1J1- bhavissatfti .... atha kho Jfvako Komarabhacco bhagavantclYfl dad
avoca: yava bhante bhagavato kayo pakatalto hoti, alaYfl (S. reads per-
haps preferably: yilsapir;dakena) 'ti. atha kha bhagavato kayo na cirass' eva pakatatto
ahosi.
59. SuCiSth. 33: varnanavirecanasadhyopadravacikitsatam.
60. SuCiSth. 33.4.
61. SuCiSth.33.5,19.
62. SuCiSth. 33.44-45; cf. CaSiiSth. 15.17-25. states that because
it is mild and safe, the plant caturahgula especially should be used as a purgative
for a child, for one who is old, for one who is injured, for one who is emaciated
and for a very delicate man (AHKaSth. 2.31: bale vrddhe sukumare ca
manave, yojyo rnrdvanapayitvad
63. SuCiSth. 33.11.
64. Ibid. and SuCiSth. 33.26. peya is defined as thin gruel (See G.]. Meulen-
beld, The Madhavanidana, pp. 476-477; cf. also U.c. Dutt, Materia Medica of the
Hindus, p. 269).
65. See ibid., pp. 110-112 and CaKaSth. 1.4-7.
66. MV 8.1.5-7.
67. See Ralston, trans., Tibetan Tales, pp. 93f.
6S. See A.H. Dani, ed., "Timargarha and The Gandhara Grave Culture,"
83
Ancient Pakistan, vol. 3 (1967), p. 48, 100 and 240 and Wolfram Bernhard, "Hu-
man Skeletal Remains from the Cemetery of Timargarha," ibid., pp. 368-369.
69. See A.K. Roy Chowdhury, "Trepanation in Ancient India," Asiatic Soci-
ety of Calcutta, Communications, vol. 25 (1973), pp. 203-206; A.K. Sharma, "Kali-
bangan Human Skeletal Remains-an Osteoarchaeologlcal approach," jOIB, vol.
19 (1969), pp. 109-114; and A.K. Sharma, "Neolithic human burials form Burza-
hom, Kashmir,"jOIB,vol.'16 (1967), pp. 239-247.
70. Erick Frauwallner, The Em"les! Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Litera-
ture, p. 67,
Selective Bibliography and Abbreviations
B. Burmese edition of the Pali Tipitaka.
CiSth. Cikitsasthiina.
JOIB journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda.
KaSth. Kalpasthiina.
MIO Mitteilungen des Institut fur Orientforschung.
N. Nalanda-DevanagarI edition of the Pali Tipitaka.
NiSth. Nidanasthiina.
R. Romanised edition of the Pali Tipitaka.
S. Sinhalese edition of the Pali Tipitaka.
SaSth. Sarfrasthiina.
SiSth. Siddhasthiina.
SI. Saimese(Thai) edition of the Pali Tipitaka.
SUSth. Sutrasthiina.
Utt. Uttaratantra.
ViSth. Vimanasthiina.
Texts
AH A!f(angahrdayasaT(thita by Srlmad V a g b h a ~ a . Edited by Sri Jlvanadavi-
dyasagarabhanacarya. Second edition. Calcutta, 1890.
Ca The CarakasaT(thita by Agnivesa, revised by Caraka and Dr4habala, with the
Ayurveda-dfpika commentary of Cakrapar;,idatta. Edited by Vaidya Ja-
davjI TrikamjI Acarya, Bombay: NirIJaya Sagar Press, 1941.
84
The Caraka Samhita. 6 vols. Edited and published with translations in
Hindi, Gujarati and English by Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurvedic So-
ciety. Jamnagar, India: Shree Gulbkunverba Ayurvedic Society,
1947. Agnivesa Caraka SaT(thita. Vols. 1 and 2. Text with English
translation" and critical exposition based on CakrapaIJidatta's Ayur-
veda-dlpika, by Ram Karan Sharma and Vaidya BhagawaIJ Dash.
VaraIJasI: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1976-1977.
MN Madhavanidana by Madhavakara, with the commentmy Nladhukosa by
Vijayarak!ita and Srz and extracts from Atahkadarpa'f}a by
Vacaspati Vaidya. Edited by VaidyaJadavjI TirkamjI Acarya. Bom-
bay: NirI,laya Sagar Press, 1955.
MY The Vinaya Vol. 1,' The Mahavagga. Edited by Hermann
Oldenberg. London: Luzac and Company, Ltd., 1964. The Maha-
vagga. Edited by Bhikkhu J. Kasyapa. Bihar: Pali PublIcation
Board, 1956 (Nalanda-DevanagarI-Pali-Series).
Samantapasadika: Buddhaghosa's commentary 'on the Vinaya Pi{aka. Vol. 5,
Edited by J. Takakusa and Makoto Nagai, assisted by Kogen Mizuno.
London: Luzac and Company, Ltd., 1966.
The Sumangala-viliisinz, Buddhagosa's commentary on the D'(l{ha Nikaya. Part. 1.
Edited by T.W. Rhys Davids and J. Estlin Carpenter. London: Luzac
and Company, 1968.
Su The Su.srutasa'I'[Lhita of Susruta, with the Nibandhasangraha commentary of
Srz I)alha1Jiicalya. Edited by JadavajI TrikamjI Acarya. Bombay: Nir-
r;taya Sagar Press, 1915. The Su.srutasa'I'[Lhita of Su.sTUta, with the Niband-
hasangraha commentary of Srz I)alha'f}acalya and the Nyayacandrikapanjika
of Srz Gayadasacarya on Nidanasthana. Edited by JadavjI Trikamji
Acarya and Narayar;ta Rama Acarya "Kavyatirtha." YararyasI: Chauk-
hambha Orientalia, 1980.
Secondary Sources
Bernhard, Wolfram. "Human skeletal remains from the cemetery of Ti-
margarha." Ancient Pakistan, Vol. 3 (1967), pp. 291-407.
Bhishagratna, Kaviraj Kunjalal, trans. The Sushruta Samhita. 3 Yols. Yar-
anasi: The Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1963.
Chavannes, Edouard, trans., "Siitra prononce par Ie Buddha au sujet de
l'Avadana concernant 'Fille-de-Manguier' (Amrapali) et 'K'l- Yu'
(Jlvaka)," in Cinq cents Contes et Apologues extraits du Chinois.
Tome, III. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1911; also Tome. IV. Paris: Impri-
merie national, 1934.
Dani, Ahmad Hasan, ed. "Timargarha and The Gandhara Grave Cul-
ture," Ancient Pakistan, Vol. 3 (1967), pp. 1-407.
Dutt, Uday Chand. The Materia Medica of the Hindus, Calcutta,J 922.
Frauwallner, Erick. The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Lit-
erature. Roma: Is. M.E.O., 1956.
Hardy, R. Spence, trans. A Manual of Buddhism, in its modern development;
rpt. Yaranasi: The Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1967.
H.K. Hilgenberg, Luise and Willibald Kirfel, trans. VagMata's
85
hrdayasaT[!hitil, ein altindisches Lehrbuch der H eilkunde. Leiden: E.J. Brill,
194J.
Horner, vol. 4 Horner, LB .. , trans. The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-
Pitaka). Vol IV (Mahavagga). London: Luzac and Com-
pany, Ltd., 1951.
Jolly, Julius, Medicin. Strassburg: Karl]. Trubner, 1901.
Malalasekera, Dictionary Malalasekera, G.P. Dictionary of Pilli Proper
Names. VoLl (A-Dh). London: John Murry
(Publishers for the Government of India),
1937.
Meulenbeld, G.]., trans The Mildhavanidilna and its chief commentmy, chap-
ters 1-10. Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1974.
Miln. Rhys Davids, trans. The Questions of King Milinda. 2 parts.
1890,1894; rpt. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1963.
Muller, Reinhold F.G. "Worterheft zu einigen Ausdrucken indischer Me-
dizin," MIO, vol. 7 (1961), pp. 64-159.
Mukhopadhyaya, Girindranath. The Surgical InstTUments of the Hindus. 2
vols. Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1913, 1914.
--_. The History of Indian Medicine. 3 vols. 1923, 1926, 1929; rpt. New
Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corp., 1974.
MWSED Monier-Williams, Sir Monier. A Sanskrit-English Dictionmy.
1899; rpt. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1974.
PTS-PED Rhys Davids, T.W. and William Stede. The Pilli Text Society's
Pilli-English Dictionary. London: The Pali Text Society, 1972.
Ralston, W.R.S., trans. Tibetan Tales, derived from Indian Sources. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner and Co Ltd., 1906.
Reddy, D.V.S. "Jeevaka, a physician of the VI century B.C." Indianjour-
nal of History of Medicine, Vol. 3 (1958), pp. 37-49.
Vin. Texts Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg, trans. Vinaya Texts.
Part.2. 1882; rpt. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.
Roy Chowdhury, Amiya Kumar. "Trepanation in ancient India." Asiatic
Society of Calcutta, Communications. Vol.25 (1973), pp. 203-206.
Saint-Firmin, Mme Liacre de. Medicine et legendes bouddiques de l'Inde. Par-
is, 1916.
Schiefner, A. "Der Prinz Dslvaka als Konig der Arzte." Melanges
asiatique tires du Bulletin de l'Academie imperiale des Sciences de St.-peters-
bourg. Tome.VIII (1879), pp. 472-514.
Sharma, A.K. "Neolithic human burials from Burzahom, Kashmir."
jDIB. Vo1.l6(3)( 1967), pp. 239-242.
____ . "Kalibangan human skeletal remains- an os teo-archaeological
approach." JDIB. Vo1.l9(l969), pp. 109-114.
86
Sa skya pandita's Account of the bSam yas
Debate: History as Polemic
1
by Roger Jackson
The Corinthians. There is ... no advantage in reflections on the
past further than may be of serivce to the present.
Thucydides
Peloponnesian War I, 123
Most literate societies possess at least a rudimentary sense of the
value of historical accuracy, and the means for separating fact
from myth. They are, however, no less prone than non-literate
societies to live under the sway of myths and symbols, and when an
event affects men's minds sufficiently with its symbolic forceful-
ness, that event can become more important as myth than history,
to the point where the true record is obscured nearly beyond
recall. Such an event is the bSam yas debate, a debate between
Indian "gradualists" and Chinese "simultaneists" called circa 792
to 794 by the Tibetan king Khri srong Ide btsan, and after which
Chinese Buddhist influence diminished considerably in Tibet.
Indian participants in the debate, most notably KamalasIla, in
his three Bhavanakramas, felt that Hvashang Mahayana and his
supporters were preaching an absolutistic quietism that was
unrepresentative of Buddhist tradition, spiritually fruitless and
subversive of the sort of gradual, ethically-based practices en-
joined on the majority of practitioners. They felt, in short, that,
should the Chinese carry the day, Tibet would be lost to true
Buddhism, following an easy but pointless path. Tibetan histori-
ans - and not only those influenced by the dominant dGe lugs pa
tended to agree, viewing their country's early Bud-
dhist history as a series of triumphs over the all-too-Tibetan temp-
tation to adopt comfortable but specious spiritual practices. The
89
bSam yas debate, according to this view, is the first in a series of
pivotal "reforms" that also include the advents of Ansa and Tsong
kha pa. As a result, the bSam yas debate and its participants have
long since been absorbed into the realms of both popular and
scholastic myth. They are no longer just events and people, but
elements in a symbolic drama that, again and again, Tibetan writ-
ers have found useful as an illustration of points that are relevant
not to the eighth century, but to their own times;2 in the process,
of course, the question of what actually happened at the debate
has often been ignored.
Because it is both history and myth, the bSam yas debate is
susceptible of two different sorts of study. A first-order study, the
sort pursued by Demieville, Tucci and Houston':' seeks to recon-
struct what actually happened at the debate through a judicious
use of all available historical materials, with the greatest weight,
generally, given to the most ancient. A second-order study, which
has not so far been attempted, would examine extant histories of
the debate in order to show how each history reflects not only an
actual course of events, but the more contemporary concerns of
the historian. It is a contribution to the second type of study, the
"history of history," that I hope to make here.
Although it .is possibly the oldest Tibetan history of Bud-
dhism, the Thub pa'i dgongs pa rab gsal of Kun dga' rgyal mtshan,
the Sa skya par;H;lita (1182-1251), has received little attention from
Western scholars.4 Written in Mongolia sometime between 1244
and 1251, it antedates by a century the far better known Chos
'byung of Bu ston Rinpoche and by a still greater span The Blue
Annals of Gos 10 tsa ba and the history of Buddhism written by
Taranatha. The Thub pa'i dgongs pa rab gsal contains an account of
the bSam yas debate.
5
The account is worthy of attention, not so
much for its antiquity, or for any new historical light it casts on the
events at bSam yas, but for what it tells us about Sa skya paI).c)ita
and, more broadly, what it shows us about the process by which
the bSam yas debate was mythologized. The account of the debate
is part of the section "Refuting those who accept as the teaching of
the Buddha that which is neither the sriivaka (yiina) nor the Ma-
hayana." This section has four parts: "Refutations of (1) the early
Chinese school, (2) the later (Tibetan) school that followed it, (3)
the present-day school that accepts as mahiimudrii the meditation-
(system) of the non-aspectarian Cittamatra and (4) (the school
90
that) accepts as mahamudra the specious (It(J,r snang) Perfection of
Wisdom." The debate is described in the first of the four parts. A
translation follows.
91
According to a Chinese monk of the time of King Bri
srong Ide btsan, "Words are essenceless, so one cannot attain
Buddhahood (tshang mi rgya) through a verbal dharma; when
one examines the mind, that is the White Panacea (dkar po chig
thub)." Having written commentaries on that (view, e.g., ) the
gSam gtan nyal ba'i 'khor la, the gSam gtan gyi Ion and its Yang
lon, the ITa ba'i rgyab sha and the mDo sde brgyad cu khungs,6 he
spread this White Panacea throughout all the Tibetan realm.
(The White Panacea) did not accord with the Indian
Dharma-school, so the King invited the reverend Ye shes
dbang po (to court). When he asked him which Dharma-
school- the Indian or the Chipese - was the true one, Ye
shes dbang po said, "The acarya left the following
testament: 'Because the acarya Padmasambhava gave this Ti-
betan realm the twelve protective goddesses (brtan ma), no
heretics will arise. Nevertheless, because it is the nature of
causality that both day and night, right and left, waxing and
waning, and pure and impure dharmas (all) arise, after my
death will come a Chinese master (mkhan po) who will negate
method and wisdom and will say that one attains Buddha-
hood only by the examination of the mind called the White
Panacea. The Conqueror talks in a sutra of - "among the five
degenerations - the degeneration of view." When it is said
that there will be enjoyment of an (inferior) emptiness, (it is
implied that this) will occur not just in Tibet; at the time ofthe
five degenerations, (such) enjoyment will be (in) the nature of
all persons. When this (attitude) spreads, it will be generally
harmful to the Buddha's doctrine, so you (the King) then
should invite from India my disciple, the great sage known as
Kamalaslla. (He will) enter into debate with the Chinese mas-
ter. Practice (in accordance with) the school of the winner.'
Because prophesied (thus), I ask that you act
accordingly. "
When thus requested (by Ye shes dbang po, the King)
invited the acarya KamalasIla.
With the King and (various) sages looking on at bSam yas,
the weapons of all (the disputants) were collected. Flower gar-
lands were given (to the disputants). The winner would be
honored, the loser expelled. The King promised to punish
those who failed to act thus (i.e., abide by the result). At that
time, on Kamalaslla's side there were only a few: several (lin-
eage-)holders of the Indian Dharma-school, the master Gos,
\ "
92
and others. On the Chinese master's side, a great multitude
gathered, including Queen Bro za byang chub, gZid mal ba
gco rma rma, and others.
Then, iiciirya KamalasIla asked his opponent, "What is the
position of the Chinese Dharma-school?"
The Chinese said, "Your Dharma-school, beginning from
going for Refuge and generating the Thought of Enlighten-
ment; ascends from below like a monkey ascending to a tree-
top. (In) our Dharma-school, one does not attain Buddha-
hood through the dharmas of activity (bya byed); (rather,)
meditating non-discursively, one attains Buddhahood just by
the examination of the mind. (Our) Dharma is one that alights
from above, like a garuda alighting from the sky on a tree-
top."
At that, the iiciirya said, "Neither the analogy nor the
meaning is acceptable. Firstly, (as for) the unacceptability of
the analogy: (i) does the garuda alight from the sky on the
treetop with his wings grown instantaneously to maturity, or
(ii) once he has been born in a crag or elsewhere, must his
wings mature gradually, and (is he only then able to) alight
(on a treetop)? (i) is impossible; (ii) is an appropriate analogy
for the gradualist, but is not an appropriate analogy for the
simultaneist. "
The (Chinese) master could not reply to (the discussion
of) the analogy.
At that, the iiciirya added, "Not only is your analogy mis-
taken; your meaning is delusive, too. Does (your) non-discur-
sive meditation (i) stop just one kind of discursive thought or
(ii) is it necessary to stop countless discursive thoughts? If you
say (i) that it is the stopping of one kind, then it follows that
sleep, swoon and other (such states) also would be non-discur-
sive (meditation), because they too only stop one kind of.
thought. If you say (ii) that it is the stopping of countless
discursive thoughts, then, when you meditate non-discursive-
ly, is it (a) unnecessary or (b) necessary to have an immediate-
ly-preceding discursive thought, viz., '1 will mediate non-dis-
cursively'? If (a) it is unnecessary, then it follows that sentient
beings of the three realms also produce (this kind of) medita-
tion, because they also 'meditate' without an immediately-pre-
ceding discursive thought, viz., '1 will meditate.' If (b) it is
necessary to have an immediately-preceding discursive
thought, viz., '1 will meditate non-discursively,' then you have
broken your promise to meditate for (that
promise) itself is a discursive thought. It is analogous to losing
silence when you say, '1 am observing silence,' or babbling
about (the impo.rtance of) not babbling."
(KamalasIla) ma.de this and refutations through
scnpture and reasonmg, and the Chmese master lost his con-
fidence.
The King said to him, "If you have an answer, speak it!"
The master replied, "I am like one thunderstruck (mgor
thog brgyab pa); I do not know (how to) answer." .
The King said, "In that case, offer the flower-garland to
the acarya and make an apology. The White Panacea Dharma-
school is to be spurned, and one should act in accordance with
the Indian Dharma-school, which contradicts neither scrip-
ture nor reason. Also, from now on, anyone who practices the
White Panacea will be punished."
This was decreed throughout all of Tibet, and the Chi-
nese books were collected and hidden as treasures (gter) at
bSam yas. Upset at (all) this, the Chinese master returned to
his own country.
It is reported that (before he left) he prophesied to his
followers, "I have (accidentally) left a shoe behind at the
Dharma-center. I infer from this omen that when the Bud-
dha's doctrine is on the verge of destruction, my doctrine
alone will remain."
Later wise kalyar;,amitras have said, "The Chinese master
did not understand the Dharma, but he was one who under-
stood omens somewhat. Nowadays, the original Dharma has
been spurned; that is the reason for (the popularity of) the
White Panacea, which accepts that Buddhahood is attained by
pointing to the mind."
I have seen it written in another testament that the one
who inferred from the forgotten shoe at the time of the de-
parture for China was another distressed Hva shang, not the
master (involved in the debate).
It is also said that the Chinese master set his head on fire
and died facing west, toward SukhavatI; that gZid mal ba gco
rma rma committed suicide by beating his own genitals; and
so forth, (but) since I have already detailed much of this, I will
write no more. (The reader) should refer to the rGyal bzhed
dba' bzhed chronicles.
7
This rather concise account adds little that is reliable to what
we already know of the circumstances and proceedings of the
debate;8 it does, however, tell ).lS a great deal about Sa skya pal1-
,
First, the strict use oflogical dilemmas in the speech of rebut-
tal put into the mouth of KamalasIla reflects Sa skya paI:1c;iita's
great interest in Buddhist fogic - indeed, his Tshad ma rigs pa'i gter
93
.stands as the first great Tibetan treatise on the subject. It is true
that Kamalaslla,on the evidence of his panjika to
Tattvasa'T{Lgraha, was an accomplished dialectician, and it is entirely
possible that his argument in the course of the debate was every bit
as tightly reasoned as Sa skya paQ.Q.ita would have us believe. The
fact remains, however, that in no other account of the debate is the
dilemma employed so consistently - not. even in' Kamalaslla's
third Bhavaniikrama, which was composed immediately after the
debate, and presumably reflects the substance, if not necessarily
the style, of Kamalasi:la's contribution to the proceedings. In the
absence of any corroborating evidence, it is safest to assume that
the speech attributed to KamalasIla by Sa skya paQ.Q.ita reflects
more closely what a Buddhist logician would like the iiciirya to have
said than what he actually said.
Second, and far more interesting, is a Sa skya paQ.Q.ita's con-
tention that the "Dharma-school" taught by the Chinese master is
the White Panacea - a contention found in no other source. We
know from Thuu kvan's Grub mtha' shel gyi me long that the White
Panacea was a synonym for mahiimudrii, coined by Zhang g-yu brag
pa brtson 'grus grags pa - Zhang Rinpoche - the founder of the
Tshal pa lineage of the Dvags po bKa' brgyud tradition.
9
Zhang
Rinpoche (1123-93) is clearly considered by Thuu kvan to have
been one of the greatest of the bKa' brgyud masters, yet the Tshal
pa school died out centuries ago, so we must reconstruct Zhang
Rinpoche's views from second-hand accounts and from the frag-
mentary writings of his own that are available.
10
Thuu kvan de-
scribes the White Panacea as a 'joining of method and wisdom as
bliss and emptiness,"ll and Nor bzang's Phyag chen gsal sgron adds
that "when the earlier bKa; brgyud pas called their mahiimudrii
meditations the White Panacea, their intention was that by pro-
ducing the essence of the Original Mind, which is great bliss, by
that one meditation on reality they would obtain the final fruit."12
It is clear from Zhang Rinpoche's writings, scattered as they
are, that he places great emphasis on the meditative search for and
discovery of "the reality of one's own mind."13 In this emphasis,
and in his preoccupation with ultimate truths and practices-
often expressed through negation of the conventional- he is
very much in tune not only with other early bKa' brgyud pas, but
also with the prajnii-piiramitii and dohii traditions of Indian Bud-
94
dhism. The White Panacea, from the evidence of Zhang Rin-
poche's writings, is virtually indistinguishable from mahiimudrii.
Be that as it may, we also know that Sa skya paf.lQita, in his
. sDom gsum rab dbye, violently opposed the White Panacea
l4
on the
grounds (a) that it implied "total mental inactivity," or quietlsm
l5
and (b) that there did not seem to be in it any place for such
fundamental practices as bodhicitta.
16
It is far from a coincidence
that these are among the same criticisms leveled against the system
of Hva shang Mahayana by KamalasIla in his Bhavaniikramas.
Thuu kvan -like Nor bzang before him - defends the White
Panacea. from Sa skya paf.lQita's attack, maintaining that "if you
examine the words of Zhang tshal ba honestly and in detail, (you
find that) the position of complete mental inactivity clearly is not
represented, and the objections in the sDom gsum are obviously
forced,"l? and that there is no warrant for believing that bodhicitta
is considered superfluous in the White Panacea. IS Thuu kvan ex-
culpates Zhang Rinpoche, but not all of his successors, who "write
their explanations of mahiimudrii accepting literally what is written
in (his) gSal sgron me,"l9 and thereby fail to understand that in the
White Panacea there is room for both discursive and non-discursive
thought, method and wisdom, conventional and ultimate truth.
Like many a Ch'an master, then - indeed, perhaps like Hva
shang Mahayana - Zhang Rinpoche may not himself have misun-
derstood the Buddha's teaching but, because of his style and em-
phases, was likely to be misunderstood by others.
The question of the White Panacea's "legitimacy" quite aside,
it remains the case that Sa skya paf.lQita not only believes it to be
nihilistic quietism, but asserts it to be a Chinese Dharma-school, one
in existence at the time of the bSam yas debate. Indeed, Sa skya
paf.lQita believes both the White Panacea and the rdzogs chen tradi-
tion of the rNying rna to be Chinese in origin.
20
It is easy to see
how he may have arrived at this conclusion: (a) The teachings of
the White Panacea seem greatly to resemble those attributed to
Hva shang Mahayana by Kamalaslla; (b) There is evidence from
ancient texts that the Hva shang's books were hidden after the
debate, with their eventual rediscovery in mind. Therefore (c) the
White Panacea is a revival of the teaching of H va shang Mahayana.
It is quite possible that Chinese views exercised an influence
on subsequent Tibetan schools, but if they did, it is far more likely
95
that they affected the rNying rna tradition, which unquestionably
originated at a time when Chinese teachers were active in Tibet.
The White Panacea - quite apart from being mentioned nowhere
as a gter ma-based teaching - is in the mainstream of the Bka'
brgyud tradition. Zhang Rinpoche was a disciple of sCorn pa, who
was in turn a directdisciple of sCam po pa. He was, thus, squarely
in the lineage that reached back through Mi la ras pa and Mar pa
to the Indian siddhas Maitrlpa (whom Thuu kvan describes as a
teacher of the White Panacea), Tilopa and Naropa. The White
Panacea, therefore, belongs to the second diffusion of Buddhism
in Tibet, whereas direct Chinese influence was only marked dur-
ing the first; and the White Panacea's determinable antecedents
are Indian, not Chinese. It is true that there exist the further
possibilities (a) that there may have been Chinese influence on the
Indian siddhas, and/or (b) that there may have been current in
Zhang Rinpoche's time left-over Chinese ideas that may have in-
spired him. There is no evidence at present for either possibility;
even if there were, the probability that both Hva shang Mahayana
and Zhang Rinpoche taught the same doctrine, known as the
White Panacea, would be remote.
The most reasonable conclusion, then, is that Sa skya paI).<#-
ta's assertion, that the system taught by the Chinese master at the
bSam yas cl,ebate was the White Panacea, is simply a case of polemi- .
cal anachronism, an attempt to discredit the pal).qita's contempo-
rary opponents by associating. them with an historical person of
established notoriety. The conclusion is reasonable because (1)
The White Panacea is mentioned as the bSam yas Chinese school
in no other text, (2) There is no evidence that there ever existed
any Chinese school called the White Panacea, (3) There is no other
indication that the White Panacea existed as far back as the eighth
century; all evidence points to its being firmly within the bKa'
brgyud tradition, which is traced largely to post-eighth-century
India and (4) Sa skya pal).Q.ita's virulent opposition to the White
Panacea and other mahiimudrii teachings gave him a motive for
attempting to discredit them.
Finally, it might be noted that the very fact that Sa skya paI).-
<;lita sought to discredit the White Panacea by associating it with the
Chinese position at the bSam yas debate indicates that, as early as
the thirteenth century, the debate had begun to assume mytho-
logical status. Hva shang Mahayana, in particular, had already
96
assumed enough symbolic weight that identification with him
might prove damning to a particular tradition. Sa skya paf.l-
<;lita was the first Tibetan scholar to "use" Hva shang Mai:ayana in
this way, and he was perhaps the most egregious, but few have
been the Tibetan historians or scholars with no ideological axe to
grind; thus, slight is the chance that any account of the bSam yas
debate is entirely reliable.
2
! The Tibetans understood as well as
other peoples that "the awareness of history is one of the greatest
forces of which the beneficent appeal must be felt,"22 for history
presents a past from which the present may learn. Indeed, so
useful is the past for the present, so important are its lessons
believed, that in some cases -like Sa skya paf.lqita's - "history"
comes to matter more than what happened.
NOTES
1. I wish to thank Prof. Geshe Sopa of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
for first drawing my attention to Sa skya pal1<#ta's account of the debate, and for
sharing his understanding of the account with me.
2. The most notable, perhaps, is Tsong kha pa, who, in the lhag mthong
section of his Lam rim chen mo, finds that the sort of quietism preached by Hva
shang Mahayana has far from died out and that, in fact, it is prevalent among his
opponents, particularly those guilty of "overpervasionism" (khyab ches ba) - negat-
ing too much in their search for the object to be refuted by a meditation on
emptiness. Cf. Alex Wayman, Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real. Buddhist
meditation and the middle view, from the Lam rim chen mo of Tsoit-kha-pa (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1978). Among dGe lugs pa objections to Hva shang's
view are that he stresses (a) absolute truth to the exclusion of the conventional, (b)
wisdom to the exclusion of method, (c) absorbtive meditation ('jog sgom) to the
exclusion of analysis (dpyad sgom) and (d) mental inactivity to the exclusion of the
cultivation of the bodhisattva's perfections. Most of these criticisms are found,
either explicitly or implicitly, in KamalasIla's third Bhavanakrama. Cf. also Thuu
kvan, Grub mtha' thams cad kyi khungs dang 'dod tshul stan pa legs bshad gyi me long,
"Jing" chapter, Ilb8-12a7, and "dGe lugs" chapter, 57b8-5814 and 60a2-60b7.
3. Paul Demieville, Le Concile de Lhasa. Une controverse sur Ie quietisme entre
Bouddhistes de l'lnde et de la Chine au VIlle siecle de i'ere chretienne, vol VII of Bibliohe-
que de l'lnstitut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale de France,
1952); Giuseppe Tucci, Minor Buddhist Texts II (Roma: Instituto Italiano per il
Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1958); and G. W. Houston, Sources for a HistolY of the
bSam yas Debate, Abteilung 1, Band 2 of Monumenta Tibetica Historia (Sankt Augus-
tin, Germany: VGH 1980). These are the three major West-
ern monographs on the subject. Articles of interest include: Yoshiro Imaeda,
"Documents de Touen-Houang Concernant Ie Concile du Tibet," Journal Asia-
tigue, 1975, pp. 124-146; R. A. Stein, "Illumination subite ou saisie simultanee:
97
Note sur la terminologie chinoise et tibetaine," Revue de lHistoire des Religions, voL
179 (1971), pp. 3-30; and Alex Wayman, "Doctrinal Disputes and the Debate of
bSam yas," Central Asiatic Journal, vo!' XXI, no. 2 (1977), pp. 139-144.
4. Houston, for example, fails to mention it in his S9urces for a History of the
bSam yas Debate, althought it is cited in partial paraphrase, without attribution, in
the mKhas pa'i dga' s/on of dPa' bo gtsug lag, which Houston does include, and
translates on pp. 42-43. .
5. In The Complete Works of Pandita Kun-dGa'-rGyal-mTshan; compiled by
bSod-nams-rGya-mTsho; vo!' 5 of The Complete Works of the Great Masters of the Sa-
skya Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Biblioteca Tibetica 1-5 (Tokyo: The Tokyo Bunyo,
1965), pp. 24/4/3-25/4/2.
6. These works, attributed to Hva shang Mahayana, are also listed in the
mKhas pa'i dga' stan of dPa' bo gtsug lag, the Chos 'byung of Bu ston and the Deb ther
dmar po. As Houston notes, however (p. 5), they are "not known to present scholar-
ship." The only two extant works believed to have been written by Hva shang
Mahayana, which are both named mKhan po ma ha yan gi bsam gtan cig car 'jug pa'i
sgo, are discussed in Demieville, pp. 14-17.
7. This almost certainly refers to the rGyal rabs sba bzhed, an eariy chronicle
that is concerned chiefly with the reign of Khri srong Ide btsan. Cf. Houston, p. 4
and pp. 57-S7.
S. A possible exception is Hva shang Mahayana's rather dramatic suicide,
which I have not seen reported elsewhere.
9. Thuu kvan, "bKa' brgyud" chapter, p. 17b. Cf. also G.N. Roerich, The
Blue Annals (reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979), pp. 711-715.
10. The only text known to me is the Writings (bKa' 'thor bu) of Zhang-gu'Yu-
brag-pa brtson-'grus-grags-pa, reproduced from a manuscript from the library of
Burmiok Athing by Khams-sprul Don brgyud-nyi-ma (Tashijong, Palampur,
H.P.: The Sungrab Nyamso Gyunpel Parkhang, 1972). A number of the texts
contained in the book discuss mahamudra, but none, as far as I can determine,
mentions the White Panacea.
11. Thuu kvan, lac. cit., p. 1Sb.
12. Cited ibid., p. 23b.
13. Cited ibid., p. 19b.
14. He also opposed the "One Thought" of 'Bri gung pa. Cf. ibid., p. 23a.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., p. 23b.
17. Ibid., p. 23a.
IS. Ibid., p. 23b.
19. Ibid., p. 20ba.
20. Sa skya paP9ita, sDom gsum rab dbye, in The Complete Works . ... , p. 309,
foL 2-3.
21. The Wang Si text translated by Demieville in Le Concile de Lhasa presents
a view of the debate quite different from that of most Tibetan accounts, and it
considerably antedates most of them. In both it and the bKa' thang sde lnga (which
is also quite old), the Chinese are said to have won the debate, and their position is
less ludicrously absolutistic than it tends to appear in many later histories. Cf.
Tucci, p. 45.
98
22. Bertrand Russell, "The Art of History," in Robert E. Egner and Lester
E. Denonn, eds., The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1961), p. 544.
99
The Text on the "DharaOl Stones from
Abhayagiriya" :
A Minor Contribution to the Study of
Mahayana Literature in Ceylon
1
by Gregory Schopen
Thanks above all to the work of Professor Heinz Bechert we are
beginning to have a much clearer picture of "Mahayana literature
in Ceylon." Professor Bechert has established what appears to be a
workable periodization for Mahayana literature in Ceylon and
added significantly to the list of Mahayana texts known to have
circulated there.
2
Still, our knowledge has perhaps not progressed
so far that the addition of yet another title to the list might not be
of some interest.
It appears that some time between 1940 and 1945 "eight
granite tablets (placed on a rectangular platform) were found
buried at a spot to the south east of the Northern Dagoba (ancient
Abhayagiriya)," and that these tablets had "Tantric mystic formu-
las inscribed on them in North-Eastern Nagari of about the 9th
century." No one seems to have paid much attention to these
"tablets" until 1967, when Dr. Nandasena Mudiyanse published a
transcription of them in his interesting book, Mahayana Monuments
in Ceylon.
3
Dr. Mudiyanse, who refers to these inscriptions as the "Dhara-
1).1 Stones from Abhayagiriya," recognized that two of these "tab-
lets" ~ nos. iy and v - were related, and formed "one complete
dhara1Ji." This "complete dhiira1Ji' reads in his transcription:
4
no. iv 1: ... Namas = traiyadhvikiiniirp, sarvva tathiigatiiniirp, orp,
bhuvibhuvana dhare dadha ...
100
2: cala cala dhara dhara sarvva tathiigata dhiitu dhare pad-
mam = bhavatu jaya dhare
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
no. v 1 :
2:
3:
4:
5:
vimale smara smara sarvva tathagata dhannmacakrapra-
varttana vajrabodhi
ma1JrjJ'ilankarala'YfLkrte sarvva tathiigatadhi-?thite bodhaya
bodha-
-ni bodhani budhya budhya sambodhani sambodhani cala
cala cala-
-ntu me sarvv = avara1Jani sarvva papa vigate hu'YfL hil'YfL
hum hum huru
h u ~ u sphuru sphuru sarvva stoka vigate sarvva tathagata
hr-
d ~ y a vajri1Ji sambhara sambhara sarvva tathiigataguhya-
dhiirani mudre buddhe subuddhe sa-
-rvva tathagatadhi-?thitadhatu mudre svaha II samayadhi-
-?thite svahii II sarvva tathagata
hrdayadhatu mudre svahii II suprati-?thita stupe sarvva
tathagatadhi-?thite huru hu-
-ru hfl'YfL hu'YfL svahii II o'YfL sarvva tathiigato-?1Ji-?a dhiitu
mudre sarvva tathaga-
tadhiitubhU-?itadhi-?thite svahii II hU'YfL hu'YfL phat phat svahii
II
What Dr. Mudiyanse did not recognize, however, is that four
of the remaining six "tablets" also contain pieces of this "complete
dhiira1Ji." His no. i = no. v line 2 (beginning with svaha Iisamaya-
dhi-?thite . . ) to line 4 (ending . . O'YfL sarvva); his no. ii = no. iv line 6
(beginning me sarvv = ... ) to no. v line 5 (ending .. phat svahii);
his no. iii = no. iv line 7 (beginning sarvva stoka [rd. sokaJ .. ) to no.
v line 5 (ending phat svahii); and his no. viii = no. v line 4 (begin-
ning svahii II O'YfL .. ) to line 5 (with the addition of the standard ye
dharma hetu verse, etc.). That is to say that six of the eight tablets
(nos. i, ii, iii, iv, v, and viii) all give pieces - several of them over-
lapping - of the same dhiira1Ji.
Dr. Mudiyanse seems to imply that the dhara1Jis on his tablets
were "composed" by Ceylonese "Vajrayanists." He says of these
dhiira1Jis: "The eight dhiira1Ji inscriptions discovered near the
Northern-dagaba seem to have been composed by the Vajrayanists
who, as attested by a study of the monuments of the 8-10th cen-
turies, appear to have commanded a considerable following in
Ceylon. These, it appears, were addressed to the stupa [i.e. the
Northern-dagabaJ, etc."5 In regard to at least six of the eight tab-
lets, however, this is almost certainly not the case. Although I
cannot identify the texts on tablets no. vi and vii, the text on tablets
101
no. i, ii, iii, iv, v and viii has almost certainly been taken from a
Mahayana sutra, entitled, according to the transliterated Sanskrit
found at the beginning of its Tibetan translation, Arya-Sarvatatha-
gatadhi0thanahrdayaguhyadhatukaraTJrj,amudra-nama-dharar/i-mahaya-
na-sutra. The Sanskrit text of this sidra appears not to have come
down to us, although I have not been able to check all the various
catalogs of Buddhist manuscripts to confirm this. It is, however,
available in a Tibetan translation done, according to its colophon,
by Vidyakaraprabha and of Rtsang, who appear
to have lived in the second half of the 8th century A.D. or at the
beginning of the 9th.
6
This Tibetan translation is entitled 'P hags pa
de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi byin gyis rlabs kyi snying po gsang ba ring
bsrel gyi za ma tog ces bya ba'i gzungs theg pa chen po'i mdo; most of the
known contain two copies of it. For example in the Peking
it is found at Vol. 6, no. 141, 151-3-2 to 153-5-6, and at
Vol. 11, no. 508, 112-2-2 to 114-4-7. There also appear to be
three Chinese translations of this text in the Taisho, two by
Amoghavajra done in the 8th century (T. 1022a and 1022b), and
one by Danapala in the 10th century.? If one compares the text of
the dharaTJz found on the "Dhara[.l1 Stones from Abhayagiriya"
with that found in the Sarvatathagatadhi0thanahrdaya-guhyadhiitu-
karaTJrj,amudra-nama-dhiiraTJz-sutra, there can be little doubt that -
apart from minor variants and corruptions - the two are exactly
the same, and that, therefore, the text on the Abhayagiriya stones
was taken from this particular sutra. This, in turn, would appear to
be fairly clear evidence of the fact that the
ahrdayaguhyadhiitukara'f!4amudra-nama-dhara'f!z-sutra circulated and
was known in Ceylon in the 9th century A.D. This, in fact, would
seem to be the chief significance of the identification.
It could, of course, be argued that the dhiiraTJz may have circu-
lated independently, but that is difficult to maintain since we know
from Amoghavajra's Chinese translation that already by the mid-
8th Cenutry the dharaTJz was an integral part of the sutra. More-
over, if we allow for a gap of even fifty to a hundred years between
the date of the composition of the sutra and Amoghavajra's trans-
lation, that would mean that the dhiirary,z was a part of the sutra
already by the 7th century, or at least two hundred years before
the Abhayagiriya tablets were written. Finally, it is fairly clear from
Mudiyanse's remarks that these inscriptions were somehow associ-
ated with a stfipa, the Northern dagaba, at Abhayagiriya, and it is
102
only if we assume a knowledge of the sutm as a whole - not just of
the dhamry/i - that we are able to account for this association (cf.
below).
A summary of the contents of this sutm might be of ~ o m e
interest since, in spite of Waley's and Williams' attempts
8
to show
that the presence of dhamry/is cannot be taken as evidence of "Tan-
trism," this idea still persists. Here it should be noted that my
summary is based on the Tibetan translation found in Peking Vol.
11, no. 508, 112-2-2 to 114-4-7.
The text opens with the Buddha dwelling in Magadha, in the
*Vimal-arama. A Brahmin named *Vimalaprabha comes to him
and invites him to come to his house for the next day's meal. The
Buddha consents by remaining silent and the Brahmin returns
home to begin the preparations. At the appointed hour the Brah-
min returns to accompany the Buddha to his house and they set
off with the usual flashing of lights and general hubbub which
seems always to mark a Buddha's movements. On their way they
come upon "a large old stupa that was dilapidated and overgrown
with weeds, was covered with grass and branches and rubble and
looked, in fact, like a heap of rubbish. But when the Buddha
approached it, that old stupa ... began to glow brightly all around
and multi-colored rays of glowing light shot forth. And from that
heap of rubbish and rubble a voice of approbation came forth: 'It
is good. It is good, 0 Sakyamuni, etc.' " (112-4-5 to 7). The Bud-
dha prostrates himself before the stupa, circumambulates it, and
presents it with his own garment. He weeps, then smiles, and
Vajrapal).i asks the reason for this. The Buddha says that there is a
particular text (chos kyi rnam grangs), which he names, and that
wherever this text is, there also are hundreds of millions of Tatha-
gatas, unspeakably many relics of Tathagatas, the 84,000 pieces of
Dharma, etc. (112-5-7ff.) - the Buddha, of course, is speaking
about the Sarvatathagatadhi0thilna-sutm. Having only heard the
name of the text, some in the assembly "obtained the fruit of the
Stream-winner, some Arhatship, etc." Vajrapal).i then says that if
"through only hearing the name of this text" such things are ob- .
tained, what great merit would be obtained by "one who respects
and honors and makes much of it" (113-2-lff.). The Buddha
then gives a series of statements indicating that acts undertaken in
regard to this text, having it copied, performing puja to it with
flowers and incense, etc., result in merit equal to that of ninety-
103
nine hundreds of millions of Tathagatas, or to that resulting from
doing puja to such a number of Buddhas.
The nagas, devas, etc. then say that this broken down stupa,
"since it shows great marvels of marvels, must have great pOwer
indeed." This is followed by an interesting interchange between
Vajrapal).i and the Buddha. The former asks how this stupa that
has become a heap of rubble can be renewed. The latter responds
by saying that "this is not a heap of rubble. This, in. fact, is a great
stupa of the precious things made from the seven precious sub-
stances." He goes on to explain that the visible decline of the stupas
takes place "through the maturation of the results of the acts of
beings becoming apparent" (sems can rnams kyi las kyi 'bras bu rnam
par smin pa ston pas nub par 'gyur gyi, 113-3-7) and that the decline
in merit of beings will increase "in the last time, in the last period,"
and that this is the reason why he wept.
Vajrapal).i then says "If, 0 Blessed One, someone made a copy
of this text and put it into a stupa, what root of merit would be
produced?" The Buddha answers by saying that "if someone made
a copy of it and put it into a stupa, that stupa would become a stupa
of the relics of the "essence" of vajra of all Tathiigatas ( ... de de
bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi rdo rje'i snying po'i ring bsrel gyi mchod rten
du 'gyur ro), it would become a stupa of ninety nine millions of
Tathagatas, etc. (113-4-5ff.), and that if someone did puja to that
stupa he would become "irreversible" from awakening, be freed
from rebirths in the hells, be protected from malignant nagas,
frost, hail, poison, animals, and disease and sickness. The same
benefits would result if the text were put into an image. At the end
of this discussion Vajrapal).i says: "0 Blessed One, how could this
text come to have such superior qualities? And the Blessed One
said: 'It is the Dhara'Y}'i of the Seal of the Casket of the Relics and
the Concealed Essence of the Empowerment of All Tathiigatas (de
bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi byin gyis brlabs kyi snying po gsang ba ring
bsrel gyi za ma tog gi phyag rgya'i gzungs yin te I). This is the power,
Vajrapal).i, which therefore empowers such superior qualities
(114-2-6)." Vajrapal).i then asks for the text of that dhiira'Y}'i, and
the Buddha responds by reciting exactly the same text as is found
on six of the eight "Dharal).l Stones from Abhayagiriya." After the
dhara'Y}'i is recited all the Tathagatas in the ten directions give their
approval, the old stupa is visibly transformed, and the text ends in
typical sutra fashion.
104
There is therefore nothing at all "Tantric" about our text ifby
"Tantric" we mean that phase of Buddhist doctrinal development
which is characterized by an emphasis on the central function of
. the guru as religious preceptor; by sets - usually graded - of
specific initiations; by esotericism of doctrine, language and
organization; and by a strong emphasis on the realization of the
goal through highly structured ritual and meditative techniques.
If "Tantric" is to be used to refer to something other than this,
then the term must be dearly defined and its boundries must be
dearly drawn. Otherwise the term is meaningless and quite cer-
tainly misleading.
As a matter of fact, the doctrinal affiliation of the Sarvatatha-
appears to be quite distinct from "Tantra" as I would
define it. It is in doctrine affiliated rather with texts like the Sad-
dharmapu1Jtj,arzka and the Suvar1Japrabhiisottama, texts in which "the
text or book as a source of sacred power" is a fundamental preoc-
cupation. This preoccupation, though little studied, is a clear char-
acteristic of much of early and middle Mahayana sidra literature.
9
Still, within this larger category the affiliation of the Sarvatathiiga-
can be a little more precisely stated.
One of the central themes of the is
expressed in the passage which says "If, 0 Vajrapapi, someone
made a copy of this text and put it into a stupa that stupa would
become a stupa of the relics of the essence of vajra of all Tathiigatas
... It would become a stupa of ninety-nine millions of Tathiigatas as
numerous as the seeds of the sesame (lag na rdo rje gang zhig chos kyi
rnam grangs 'di bris te / mchod rten gyi nang du bzhag pa de de bzhin
gshegs pa thams cad kyi rdo rje'i snying po'i ring bsrel gyi mchod rten du
'gyur ro ... de bzhin gshegs pa til gyi gang bu snyed dgu bcu rtsa dgu'i
mchod rten du 'gyur ro, Pek. Vol. 11, no. 508, 113-4-Sf.). This
passage, and a number of other characteristics, marks the Sarva-
.as only one example of a clearly identifiable
genre of "dhiira1J'i sutras, " the central theme of which is succinctly
expressed in the title of another, very short example of the same
genre. The title in question is Mchod rten gcig btab na bye ba btab par
'gyur pa'i gzungs, "The Dhara1Jz by which, If One Establishes a Sin-
gle Stupa, He Establishes Ten Million" (Pek. Vol. 6, no. 140, 152-
2-2 to 3-2; Vol. 11, no. 546, 168-4-8 to 5-8). Almost exactly the
same phrase is found - here not as a title, but in the body of the
text - in the Sarvaprajiiiintapiiramitiisiddhicaitya-dhiira1Jz: gzan yang
105
rig pa chen mo'i sngags 'dis btab na mchod rten gcig btab na yang bye ba
btab par 'gyur TO: "Moreover, if this mantra of the mahavidya were to
be recited, and if he were to establish a single stupa, then [in effect]
ten million stupas would be established"; but then the text immedi-
ately adds an interesting twist: rig pa chen mo 'dis ma btab na bye ba
btab kyang gcig dang 'dra bar 'gyur ro, "But if this mahavidya is not
recited, although he establishes ten million [stupas], it would be as
if he established only one" (Pek. Vol. 11, no. 509, 115-3-7).
The basic idea that is being expressed here is repeated, re-
phrased and developed in a number of texts similar to the Sarva-
Not only does the recurrence of this idea estab-
lish the thematic unity of this group of texts and mark them as
members of a specific genre; we can also note that archaeological
and epigraphical evidence clearly establishes that this group of
texts had a very widespread distribution throughout the Buddhist
world and a marked impact on actual Buddhist practice.
We have seen, for example, that the text of the dhara1Jl of the
was engraved on some stones somehow
connected with a stupa in 9th-century Ceylon. We also know that
the same text was inserted into the hollow bricks of an old stt"ipa in
Hangchow in the 10th century, and that yet another printing of
our text appears to have been put inside a large number of mina-
ture stupas made, again in the 10th century, and discovered in
Chekiang.
lo
The same sort of evidence exists for other examples
of this genre. The Rasmivimalavisuddhaprabha-dhara1Jl (Pek. Vol. 7,
no. 218), another text of this group, was deposited in a stupa as
early as 751 A.D. in southeast Korea, I I and the Empress Shotoku
in about 770 A.D. had a "million" copies of the same text printed
and put into a "million" minature stupas which she then had dis-
tributed all over Japan.
12
Yet another example of this genre, the

yasamayavilokita-dhara1Jl (Pek. Vol. 7, no. 206), is found in the
famous polyglot inscription of Chu-yung-kuan, which is inscribed
on what seems to have been the base of a shipa.
13
Even in India
itself we find epigraphical evidence of our genre. Here we might
cite the text found in "The Cuttack Museum Stone Inscription"
and on at least some of the hundreds of terracotta tablets found at
Nalanda in the cores ofa large number of votive sttlpas.
14
That this
text belongs to our genre is already clear from the passage that
reads: yalJ kascid va va upasako va ... ima'l!l dha-
106
ra1Jzrrt likhitva 'bhyarrttararrt prak-?ipya caityarrt kari-?yati / tenaikena
caityena krtena lak-?arrt tathagatacaityanarrt krtarrt bhavati. It is put
beyond any real doubt when we note that the Cuttack Museum
. inscription and the Nalanda tablets contain - as I will show in
some detaIl. in the near future - slightly different versions of a
text preserved in the Kanjur under the title Bodhigarbhalarrtkara-
lak-?a-dhara1Ji(Pek. Vol. 6, no. 139, 150-1-1 to This text
is, in fact, an extract taken from a larger work with a very similar
title, the (Tohoku no. 508),
which has all the characteristics that define our group.IS
If, then, the identification of the text on the "Dhara!).l Stones
from Abhayagiriya" is to be able to help us understand something
about the kind of Mahayana that was current in 9th Century Cey-
lon, at least two things must be done. First, that textinust be
placed alongside other texts of a similar kind or genre. Secondly,
we must make some attempt to understand the place of this genre
in Buddhist literature and doctrine as a whole. For the moment,
however, I can offer these notes only as a first tentative step to-
wards doing both.
NOTES
1. The researching and writing of this paper were made possible by a grant
from the Translations Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Here too I would like to thank Dr. Akira Yuyama and the Staff of the Reiyukai
Library for having so kindly sent me Tibetan materials when I was living in
Wyoming, and Professor Luis O. Gomez for having read this paper and having
shared with me a number of valuable observations.
2. See especially H. Bechert, "Mahayana Literature in Sri Lanka: The Early
Phase," Prajiiiipiiramitii and Related Systems: Studies in Honor of Edward COllIe, ed. L.
Lancaster & L.O. G6mez (Berkeley: 1977) 361-68.
3. Nandasena Mudiyanse, Mahayana Monuments in Ceylon (Colombo: 1967)
99-105. For the discovery Mudiyanse cites the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon,
Annual Report 1940-45, p. 41, which is not available to me (p.99). The existence of
these "tablets" has occasionally been cited elsewhere in the literature as an indica-
tion of the presence of "Tantric teachings" in Ceylon: P.E.E. Fernando, "Tantric
Influence on the Sculptures at Gal Vihara, Polonnaruva, "University of Ceylon
Review, 18 (1960), 65; R.A.L.H. Gunawardana, "Buddhist Nikayas in Mediaeval
Ceylon, "The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, 9 (1966), 65; etc.
4. Mudiyanse, pp. 102-03; note that for some reason Dr. Mudiyanse prints
a number of obvious compounds as if they were two or more separate words.
5. Mudiyanse, p. 100.
107
6. F. A. Bischoff, Der Kanjur und seine Koloplwne, Bd. I (Bloomington: 1968)
94; 239--40; ].W. de Jong, "Notes it propos des colophons du Kanjur," ].W. de
Jong, Buddhist Studies, ed. G. Schopen (Berkeley: 1979) 168 (no. 100) 172 (no. 138).
7. P. Demieville, H. Durt, and A. Seidel, Repertoire du canon bouddhique sino-
japonais, edition de TaishO, Fascicule annexe du Hobogirin, de"uxieme edition revisee et
augmentee (Tokyo: 1978) 92; L.R. Lancaster & Sung-bae Park, The Korean Bud-
dhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue (Berkeley: 1979) 381 (Klll3), 427(KI287).
8. A. Waley, A Catalogue of Paintings Recovered from Tun-Huang by Sir Aurel
Stein (London: 1931) xiii-xiv;]. Williams, "The Iconography of Khotanese Paint-
ing," East and West 23 (1973)115.
9. cf. G. Schopen, "The Phrase 'sa prthiv1pradeSas caityabhuto bhavet' in
the Vajracchedika: Notes on the Cult of the Book in Mahayana," Indo-Iranian
Journal 17 (1975) 147-81.
10. L. Giles, "Chinese Printing in the Tenth Century," Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1925) 513-15; T.E. Carter, The Invention
of Printing in China and its Spread Westward, second edition, revised by L. Carring-
ton Goodrich (New York: 1955) 73-74; S. Edgren, "The Printed DhararlI-Sutra of
A.D.956," Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 44 (1972)
141--46.
11. L. Carrington Goodrich, "Printing - A New Discovery," Journal of the
Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 7 (1967) 39--41; "Printing: Preliminary
Report on a New Discovery," Technology and Culture 8 (1967) 376-78.
12. Carter, The Invention of Printing in China, 46-53;{B. Hickman, "A Note
on the Hyakumanto Dharal)i," 1vlonumenta Nipponica 30 (1975) 87-93.
13. Ed. Chavannes et S. Levi, "Note preliminaire sur l'inscription de Kiu-
Yong Koan,"Journal asiatique (1894) 354-73; Ed. Chavannes," Le sutra de la paroi
occidentale de l'inscription de Kiu-Yong Koan," lVUlanges Charles de Harlez
(Leyde: 1896) 60-81; ]. Murata, ed. Chil-yung-kuan. The Buddhist Arch of the. Four-
teenth Centmy A.D. at the Pass of the Great Wall Northwest of Peking, Vol. I,ll
(Kyoto: 1955-57) [in Japanese with English
14. A. Ghosh, "A Buddhist Tract in a Stone Inscription in the Cuttack
Museum," Epigraphialndica 26 (1941) 171-74.
15. The Bodhima!l{lalalakjila:nkiira-dlu'ira!l! - if that is the correct title - ap-
pears to be preserved only in the Derge and Lhasa Kanjurs, and the version we
now have was translated not from Sanskrit, but from Chinese by an 18th Century
Mongolian named Mgon po skyabs. The original from which the Tibetan transla-
tion was made is entitled P'u t'i ch'ang chung yen 1'0 10 ni ching (TaishO 1008) and is
attributed to Amoghavajra. For some bibliographic remarks on the Tibetan trans-
lation and its translator see ].W. de Jong's review of S. Bira, O"Zolotoj knige" S.
Damdina (Ulan-Bator: 1964), T'oung Pao 54 (1968) 174-75, 178-89.
108
A Report on Buddhism in the
People's Republic of China
by Alan Sponberg
The 33-year history of PRC policy regarding Buddhism can be
divided into three distinct phases: the initial period up to 1966, the
period of the Cultural Revolution, and finally the more recent
period of "readjustment" beginning with the rehabilitation of
Deng Xiaoping
a
in 1977 and the subsequent reintroduction of his
policies of pragmatic development.
The first period was marked especially by the repression of
institutional Buddhism, primarily as a result of the land reforms
that deprived the monasteries of virtually all of their income-pro-
ducing property. This policy forced the closure of all of the small
private hereditary temples and many of the large public monaster-
ies as well. There was, however, another equally significant devel-
opment characterizing this period. In the late 1950's the govern-
ment began to recognize the potential utility of China's Buddhist
heritage in expanding relations with other Buddhist countries.
China's role as the cultural leader of Buddhist Asia became an
aspect of foreign policy and, as a result, a number of historical sites
and monasteries were renovated, and selected groups within the
Buddhist community were fostered as its official representatives.
Buddhism was meant to have an important role in China's policy
of "people's diploIJ).acy."l
The second period, the Cultural Revolution, was a time of
great repression; it may perhaps come to be seen, in retrospect, as
an interregnum, a time of retrenchment. It was a time of uncer-
tain policy from above and a great deal of destruction locally. The
repressions of this period were, moreover, directed increasingly
towards individual Buddhists as well as the few remaining institu-
tions. Even the government-sponsored Buddhist organizations
dropped out of sight. While it was unquestionably a time of great
109
suffering for all of China, it is important to nDte that, after the
initial fury, someof the monasteries did manage to reopen and a
number of Buddhist sites, though by no means all, were saved
from total destruction, in some cases by members of the local
community and in others by units of the People's Liberation Army
deployed at the order of sympathetic officials. A careful study of
this period is not yet possible; however, it appears that some por-
tions of the Buddhist community may have consolidated a base of
both popular and official support even in the midst of this difficult
time.
The third period, which has only just begun, marks; perhaps,
a new opportunity for the Buddhists, one that comes at a crucial
turning point in the survival of the debilitated community. The
pressing questions are whether the community can find some
place in the fabric of the current "pragmatic" New China, and
further, whether it can regenerate itself in time to' avoid a slow
death by attrition. Answers to these questions are by no means
clear as yet, though recent developments raise some possibilities.
The following observations are presented to report on those de-
velopments and also to suggest that this third period has the pros-
pect of being something more than a simple return to the circum-
stances prior to the Cultural Revolution.
In the last three years, with the advent of this recent "read-
justment" period, delegations of Japanese Buddhists have again
become increasingly common in the PRC. In the latter half of
1981 this new phase of the former "people's diplomacy" policy was
taken a step further when, for the first time, two groups of North
American Buddhist practitioners visited a number of Buddhist
monasteries and cultural sites in the PRC.2 At the invitation of the
Zen Studies Society of New York I had the privilege of joining one
of these groups as a historical consultant. We spent five weeks in
the PRC (Oct.-Nov.) traveling under the auspicies of the Chinese
Buddhist Association, the semi-official liaison organization found-
ed in 1953 to coordinate interaction between the PRC government
and the Buddhist community.
Experiencing the rigors of a true pilgrimage, we visited some
20 monasteries in Zhejiang,b Jiangsu,c Henan,d Shaanxi,e Shanxi
f
and Hebei
g
Provinces and also in Shanghai
h
and Beijing.
i
While it
was an arduous itinerary, it was also one that allowed us to observe
Buddhist institutions in a number of different areas, each with its
110
own set of historical and political circumstances. Since many of the
historical sites of interest to the group were also among the cur-
rently active monastic centers of contemporary Chinese Bud-
dhism, we also had an opportunity to observe the present state of
Buddhist practice in the PRC, an opportunity coming just at the
time when the Chinese Buddhist community is experiencing a
number of significant changes under the readjustment of govern-
ment policies following the Cultural Revolution and the downfall
of the Gang of Four.
Space here allows only a brief mention of some of the more
interesting of our findings. Perhaps most striking was the regional
variation present in all of the changes we observed. The eastern
coastal provinces of Zhejiang
b
and Jiangsu
c
were the heartland of
Buddhism in China during the period from the Sung until the
present century. Not surprisingly, it was in these two provinces
that we found monasteries to be the most active and the most
involved with the lay community. In Henan Province,d which in-
cludes, in the area around LuoyangJ sites very important to the
early history of Buddhism in China, we found, on the other hand,
a very different picture. Whereas the monks in the eastern prov-
inces seemed to have regained some significant control of the
monasteries and were generally led by abbots highly respected in
the community, the monasteries in Henan
d
seemed far less vigor-
ous and, to the extent that they had been renovated and reopened,
far more under the direct control of the local cadres. Readjust-
ment appears to be coming more quickly and more easily in some
areas than in others. Specific examples of these generalizations
can be seen in three of the monasteries we visited.
The historically famous and rather remote Guoqing Monas-
teryk on Mt. Tiantai
l
in the eastern hills of Zhejiang
b
is now consid-
ered by many Chinese Buddhists to be one of the two most viable
centers of monastic Buddhism in the PRC.'" The nearest town is
Ningbo,m and it was necessary to travel over eight hours by char-
tered bus from there. After spending the night at a recently
opened hostel in the monastery compound, our group took part in
the 3:30 AM morning service, a daily activity which on this week-
day was attended by most of the 75 monks, some 70-80 lay Bud-
dhists, and a group of 8 nuns on a pilgrimage; Almost all of the lay
devotees appeared to be over 45 or 50 and most had traveled for
some distance to spend one or two days at the monastery. On
III
other days the people would be different, but the numbers were
consistent, in fact, slowly increasing, we vvere told by the monks.
Guoqing Si
k
is certainly not what it was, at some times at least,
in the past, when, resident monks would have numbered in the
hundreds or even thousands. It is hard, of course, to judge the
vitality of a monastic community, but the organization and the
activity we observed did leave a definite impression of persisting
strength. This was particularly evident in the three monks who
served as the heads of the various administrative departments,
middle-aged monks capable of providing the transmission to a
new generation if given the opportunity. For lay Buddhists, on the
other hand, there was no question that, even during a time when
travel is restricted, the pilgrimage to Mt. Tiantai
l
still remains a
viable aspiration.
At the Dinghui Si,n an island monastery on the Yangzi Rivero
in Jiangsu,c we observed part of a week-long session of intensive
practice held for both monks and lay devotees. The session was
conducted by the monastery's highly respected abbot, Mingshan,P
who had just returned from a six-month stay in Hong Kong
where, by local invitation, he had given a series of lectures to the
Buddhist community. He told us that in the past these special
week-long sessions had been held at least twice a year ~ t this mon-
,astery, and that they were now being reinstated. The session we
observed was attended by 60 individuals, some 10 monks and the
rest lay devotees, mostly but not exclusively women. The practice
was Pure Land devotionalism, including a full daily schedule of
group recitation-meditation periods interspersed with sidra chant-
ing and lectures by the abbot. Here again, we found evidence of
vigorous leadership and also of a highly significant degree of mo-
nastic and lay interaction even with regard to training and. prac-
tice. The latter is a relatively recent development in Chinese Bud-
dhism
4
and may be a significant step towards a more lay-based
form of Buddhist institutional organization. It could, in the con-
temporary period, indicate one response to the monasteries' loss
of financial autonomy.
The situation at the Baima Si,q outside of Luoyang in Henan,d
provides an appropriate counterpoint to the two preceding cases.
The Baima Si,q or White Horse Monastery, is also of some q.istori-
cal significance: tradition considers it the first Buddhist monastery
to be established in China, and it was the site of much activity,
112
especially during the pre-Tang period. Primarily because it is con-
sidered China's oldest monastery it was one of the sites chosen for
major renovations underwritten by the government in the late
1950's and early 1960's before the Cultural Revolution. When we
visited the White Horse, however, it was made quite clear that we
were viewing a cultural monument, not a working monastery. We
were led through the restored halls by a member of the local
Cultural Affairs Bureau, and it seemed incidental that we were
followed by several monks who lived in a small building at the rear
. of the compound. Our group was discouraged from chanting in
front of the main Buddha images, something that had been al-
lowed without hesitation in the eastern provinces. Later we were to
stand around crowded into the monks' sleeping room to drink tea
because the Cultural Affairs Bureau who administered the monas-
tery, we were told, would not give the monks permission to host us
in one of the restored halls or in the tea house that was part of the
compound; again very different from the cordial, almost formal,
receptions we had experienced in the eastern monasteries. In
Henan
d
generally there was little evidence of monastic or lay activ-
ity, even though large sums had been spent to renovate the Baima
Si
q
and even more is currently being spent to completely rebuild
the famous Shaolin Monastery,r another site we visited south of
Luoyangj
While local circumstances thus vary considerably, the basic
guidelines in terms of national policy are still set in Beijing. Several
significant changes in this policy have already been implemented
since the beginning of the readjustment period. A number of
monasteries have been reopened; young monks are being or-
dained for the first time since the Hundred Flowers Period in the
latter half of the 1950's; and the Chinese Buddhist Academy has
been reopened, now with several provincial branches.
Holmes Welch has estimated that during the Republican Peri-
od in the first half of this century there were approximately 300
large public monasteries with 20,000 to 25,000 resident monks.
5
Most of these monasteries were closed down during the land re-
forms of the 1950's, and even those that survived into the '60's
were closed at least temporarily during the Cultural Revolution.
The readjustment period has seen the reopening of perhaps 40-50
monasteries, some strictly as cultural museums with no resident
monks at all
6
and others as a varying combination of museum and
113
functioning religious facility. In some areas this relaxation had
already begun in the early 1970's, even in the midst of the latter,
and less severe, days of the Cultural Revolution.
Current policy still recognizes the importance of these institu-
tions to the people's diplomacy efforts in Buddhist Asia, an impor-
tant theme carried over from the late 1950's. Beyond that, a new
and perhaps more important consideration has recently been add-
ed as well: the significance of China's Buddhist heritage to the
rapidly expanding international tourist trade, a major source of
the hard currency necessary to development plans under the Four
Modernizations policy. It is no coincidence that the newly or-
dained younger monks are expected to learn modern foreign lan-
guages, nor that the currently prescribed choice is between J apa-
nese and English.
The Buddhist community no doubt hopes to have the monas-
teries preserved as something more than empty museums. That
they are having some degree of success is indicated by a recent
policy shift which, beginning in 1980, has allowed the ordination
of a number of new monks, most in their early twenties. While no
national figures were available, we. observed at ten monasteries in
the east and in Beijing approximately 90 young monks and heard
reports of perhaps 50 more elsewhere. All of these young monks
have been ordained in slightly more than one year; so even though
the numbers are quite small as yet, it does indicate that the govern-
ment has accepted, for the first time, the need for some new
monks, if only to act as custodians of the expanding number of
museum-monasteries.
Perhaps the most dramatic recent change has been the re-
opening, in Oct. 1980, of the Chinese Buddhist Academy, a na-
tional training seminary for Buddhist monks established by the
Chinese Buddhist Association (CBA) in 1956 but closed down dur-
ing the Cultural Revolution. Of even' more significance is the
opening of several provincial branches of the academy, something
the CBA had sought unsuccessfully for several years prior to the
Cultural Revolution.
7
This is clearly a step beyond simple readjust-
ment, more than just a reversion to the previous status quo.
We visited the main branch of the Academy at the Fayuan Sis
in Beijingi and also one of the new branches at the Lingyan Sit in
Suzhou.
u
Both had 30-40 young monks studying a full-time cur-
114
riculum that included Buddhist doctrine and history.as well as
modern languages (either English or Japanese) and current af-
fairs. After two years at the branch academy or 4 years in Beijing,
the young monks are expected to return to their home monaster-
ies to assume administrative responsibilities. At the Beijing Acaae-
my a graduate program is also provided for some who will study
classical Buddhist languages in order to pursue a career in Bud-
dhist scholarship. Two of these graduate students were recently
sent to Japan to study Pure Land developments there. We were
told that two more branches of the academy are scheduled to open
soon, one in Fujian
v
and the other, which will specialize in Tibetan
Buddhism, in Qinghai Province.
w
All of the above activities have been funded by the govern-
ment, a significant allocation of state funds given the current em-
phasis on pragmatic development. This financial support has un-
questionably been of great benefit to the Buddhist community
following the severity of the previous suppression, which left most
of the monasteries in shambles, from neglect if not from actual
destruction. Still, it underscores, at the same time, one fact that has
not changed significantly during the readjustment period: the loss
of financial autonomy the monasteries suffered even prior to the
Cultural Revolution. There may be some slight improvement on
this front as well,s but it remains the greatest problem the Bud-
dhist community must overcome if its institutions are to see a true
rebirth.
It can indeed be said that the state of Buddhism in the PRC
has improved over the last two years. This remains, however, a
very critical period for the survival of Chinese Buddhism, especial-
ly for the survival of those traditions of practice and philosophical
scholarship that have historically been based in monastic rather
than lay institutions. Most of the capable leaders who remain are
near the end of their careers. The transmission of their knowledge
and understanding to a younger generation is crucial if the t r a d i ~
tion is to continue. This possibility appears now once again to
exist; it remains, however, still far from certain. In light of this,
one further observation from our journey warrants mention: the
government of the People's Republic is aware of international con-
cern for the state of Buddhism in China. During this period of
readjustment the expressed interest of scholars and Buddhist
115
practitIOners outside of China may well be of some help to the
Chinese Buddhist community as it struggles to develop a re-
formed Buddhism compatible with the New China.
NOTES
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Shimano Eido
Roshi and the Board of Directors of the Zen Studies Society for their generous
support of my research.
1. The best treatment of this period and the beginning of the second period
can be found in Buddhism Under Mao (Harvard, 1972), the third volume of Holmes
Welch's study of Buddhism in 20th century China. In the earlier volumes the late
Prof. Welch provided invaluable documentation of a period now largely lost to
further research, a great contribution to Buddhist scholarship.
2. Led by Shimano Eido Roshi of the Zen Studies Society of New York and
by Roshi Phillip Kapleau of the Rochester Zen Center, the two separate groups
were made up of a number of lay practitioners and also two American monks.
Mostly professional people in a number of fields, the participan'ts ranged in age
from the early 20's to late 70's. Both groups have close ties to the Japanese Zen
tradition and saw their visits as a pilgrimage to historical sites important to the
transmission of Buddhism from India to China and, later, from China to Japan.
3. The other that was frequently mentioned by our Buddhist informants
was Tiantong Si,x the monastery where DogenY met Rujing.
z
Neither of these two
monasteries had been officially opened to Western visitors at the time of our trip.
Because of our special status we were given clearance in these two c'ases. We were
unsuccessful, however, in our attempts to reach Putuo Shan
aa
or Wutai Shan
ab
which remain closed, we were told, because of neighboring military installations.
Unofficial comment was that all of the above would soon be accessible, a likelihood
consistent with the new tourism policy.
4. Two of the great monastic Buddhist leaders of the early 20th century,
Xiiyiinac and Yinguangad both advocated more intensive forms of practice for lay
Buddhists, and the latter especially, with his emphasis on Pure Land recitation-
meditation, sought to bring lay devotees into the monastery to practice along with
the monks.
5. The Pmctice of Buddhism (Harvard, 1967), p. 4.
6. We saw examples of this extreme end of the scale at the Shuanglin Si,ae a
small country monastery south of Taiyiian
af
in Shanxi Province,f and at the
Longxing Siag in the village of Dengfeng
ah
near Shijiazhuang
ai
in Hebei Provin-
ce.g At the former we were told by the Archeology Bureau staff there that plans
have been made "to bring in some monks to take charge of the site now that
restoration has been done."
7. The opening of these branch academies has not, to the best of my knowl-
edge, been reported in the West. It is, however, of more significance than the
reopening of the Beijing Academy, which attracted some attention in the Western
116
press. Besides increasing the opportunities for training, the branch academies also
provide a stronger potential base for local organization.
S. One possibility is reestablishing the income derived from performing
services for the dead commissioned by.lay devotees, traditionally a source of
income second only to that from property. After having been expressly forbidden,
these services are again being performed in some areas. At the Yafo Siaj in
Shanghaih we saw services being conducted in the Hall of Rebirth and were told
that the income was kept by the monastery. The scant number pf soul tabiets
presently installed in the hall made it clear, however, that this is as yet an insignifi-
cant source of income. Social pressure against superstitious forms of religious
practice may insure that this remains the case.
Glossary
alij[;
m
m /J'\.'SjZ
y $V1l.
b 1* n
#JftI'*
z
c ifrt::ill 0 tIffi.*,* aa

P
Mifj'*
ab :mill
e q
f!!f '*
ac
f
EP 1(;
r illf!!f,* ad
s
'*
ae it: =ij=

t af
1 u Jii: ag ffi.* j'N
J
v ah
-ml
w
aI

1 x
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117
III. BOOK REVIEWS
Histoire du Cycle De La Naissance etde la Mort, by Yoshiro Imaeda.
Geneva-Paris: Librairie Droz, 1981. ii + 95 + 51 pages of repro-
duced plates of texts.
The caves of Tun H'uang bring us, via Paris, yet another fascinating
piece of Buddhist history. Rare is it to find a piece of historical fact
in the puzzle concerning the introduction of Buddhism' into Tibet;
even more rare is it to find these facts carefully presented, logically
scrutinized, and textually documented. Mr. lniaeda's study of the
Story of the Cycle of Birth and Death (sKye shi 'khor ba'i chos kyi yi ge or
sK_'Ve shi lo rgyus), based on nine manuscripts from Tun H'uang,
certainly manages to accomplish all these aims.
Tibetan historians, both traditional and otherwise, have deter-
mined with a measure of certainty the fact _of the official,introduc-
tion of Buddhism into the land of snows via the courts of the early
kings (chos rgyal). And yet, apart from the fact that it entered, we can
say very little about the process of entrance: the issues that the early
Buddhist "missionaries" faced (both practically and in terms of so-
teriological adaptation). The text which Mr. Imaeda has chosen for
his study is crucial in this regard: it is clearly an attempton the part
of one of these early "missionaries" to tackle what he considered to
be some of the most important issues facing Buddhist doctrine in
Tibet, issues which, if convincingly explained, meant a furtherance
of the conversion of the populace to the new religion, In this sense
the Story deals with pivotal doctrinal points, not so much soteriologi-
cally pivotal to Buddhism as tactically pivotal to the conversion pro-
cess. The text shows the kind of religious questions that interested
8th-century Tibetans, the position of the native religion, and the
Buddhist response. It is for this reason that the Story must be con-
sidered a work of crucial importance.
What are these pivotal points upon which the acceptance of
Buddhism rested? The title itself shows us the principal one: death
and the afterlife. Indeed, the vast portion of the work consists of the
tale of a youth, Rin chen, "son of the gods," who, after his father's
death, sets out in search of an answer to the question "what is one to
do to make him come back to life, and to make it possible to find
him; what is one to do to make him happy and content?" (all transla-
tions from the French my own). Rin chen, like Sudhana in the
Gar.zr!.avyilha, encounters different spiritual teachers who, though
118
-masters of different powers' and accomplishments, are unable to
answer the subtle questions of karma, death, and rebirth. Mr.
Imaeda (pp. 19-31) goes to considerable length to compare Sud-
hana's and Rin chen's exploits, proving conclusively that the author
of the Story was undoubtedly familiar with the Gar;4avyuha. But
whereas Sudhana's 28th teacher is Avalokitesvara, Rin chen's last
kaly(1)lmitra is the Buddha Sakyamuni, who tells him that (1) death
is an inevitable outcome of karma and cannot be remedIed as long as
one is bound in sa1flSara, that even the highest gods must eventually
die; (2) that funeral rites involving cremation, tossing the body in
water, earring it on a trident, saying Brahmanical mantras over it,
sacrificing animals or any other type of heretical (mu steg) rite can in
no way benefit the deceased. In this regard, one practice is men-
tioned that is somewhat baffling. Imaeda translates: "certain people
say that if one practices the 'A-' -gilr-ma (= 'a-gur-ma, singers ?) on it
(the corpse), and that if one realizes the meaning, that that remedies
death" (p. 71) (la las 'a 'gur ma'i chosl nyams blang ni don spy ad nas I shi
ba dila phan zhes zer I -nna obverse). Now to envision 'gur as mgur
(song) is not too difficult, but what about the 'A? Might this be a
reference to the 'A dkar practise of Bon?
Be that as it may, the general message is clear: that any -non-
Buddhist funeral practice, whether shamanistic, Brahmanical or
otherwise, is ineffective. Thus the last message of Sakyamuni (3)
that one should practice only Buddhist dharartis (gzungs-sngags) in
order "to be reborn where one desires ... escaping evil destin-
ies ... the dead are reborn into superior spheres" (p. 73). Though
the main message is straightforward, there are underlying subtleties
in the presentation which make it even more effective. Though Mr.
Imaeda does not dwell on these, I think that they are worth men-
tioning.
(1) The "death of a god" theme, with which the work begins, is
a clear assault, it seems to me, on the native religion, which empha-
sizes the worship of such deities. The statement that these gods (and
therefore the Tibetan god-kings) are not beyond the grip of karma
(and thus mortal), while the Buddha is neither bound by karma nor
subject to death, is an indirect blow to the then Tibetan conception
of perfection and immortality. Indeed, I think it not an exaggera-
tion to say that the death of 'Od bar rgyal, the king, represents the
death of the Tibetan shamanistic complex (of which the god-king
motif is a part); and that Rin chen's quest is as much an implicit
quest for a new religion as it is an explicit search for an answer to his
questions concerning death.
(2) Magic is a central theme throughout this work, as it should
119
be in response to the shamanistic tendencies of 8th-century Tibet-
ans. Thus, all of the great sages whom Rin chen meets are not only
all Buddhists with great powers, capable in some cases of granting
him mystical vision of some Buddhist scenario or,other, but the
Buddha himself is portrayed as the greatest magician of them all.
Sitting in the midst of badhisattvas who are also masters of magic
(byang chub sems dpa' 'phrul ba), he performs miracles that leave poor
Rin chen cringing in the crowd. This, probably more than his
unique knowledge of the subtleties of death and rebirth, is what
would set the Buddha apart from gods and men in the eyes of
shamanistic Tibet. Granted that the point that the author -is trying
to make is just the opposite, i.e., that although magical power is
shared by many, the questions of karma, death and rebirth can only
be answered by the omniscient Buddha; and yet, the author of this
work realized that this point could never fully be driven h o m ~ in the
Tibet of his day unless he made his Buddha the supreme figure in a
hierarchy for which the Tibetans had a feeling. Thus the Buddha
becomes the magician par excellence (a motif with extensive precen-
dent in the Mahayana sutras).
(3) Not only do the Buddhist dharar;fs protect one from unfor-
tunate rebirth (the next best thing considering that death is inescap-
able as long as one remains in sa'lT}sara), but the blessing of the
Three Jewels protects one from gods and demons (lha 'dre). Again,
the author confronts an important issue of his day, viz., supernatu-
ral interference, and gives the Buddhist solution, faith in the tri-
ralna.
As regards the text itself, Mr. Imaeda concludes, rightfully I
think, that it must have been the composition of "a man quite famil-
iar with the Tibetan milieu" (p 80); that it was written circa 800 A.D.
(p. 82); and that he considers it "as a sort of Tibetan apocryphal
sutra" (p. 81). Although the first two points are well founded, I
would take exception with the last. First of all, if I gather correctly,
none of the nine manuscripts call th.e work a sutra (mda). Granted
that the term chas kyi yi ge (by which name it is known) seems to be
one of the early terms translating the Sanskrit word sutra, but it
could also have had a wider meaning encompassing any Dharmic
teaching. What is more, the term la rgyus ("story" or "history") seems
to place it in a category totally different from the sutras, implying
more of a sense of "fiction" or of "historical fiction." It would be
fascinating to determine, based on techniques similar to those em-
ployed in Biblical criticism, whether it is the earlier manuscripts
which are the "stories" and the later ones which are the chas kyi yi ge
(lit., "dharma-words" or "dharma-letters"). If so, it would give us an
120
interesting model for sutrification: from the fiction of story to the
fact of buddhavacanarl}. However, as it stands, I think that the term
"apocryphal sulra" is simply too strong, since it seems to me that
there is substantial doubt whether or not the work was meant to
have been taken as a sutra at all. As regards the fictitious Sanskrit
title Sai gra dar ma de which prefaces one of the manuscripts, its
presence does not imply an attempted siltrification. The farrious text
of the first Pan chen bLa rna, the bLa ma mchod pa, also bears a
Sanskrit title (Guru puja), but has never been passed off as being of
Indian origin, much less the word of the Buddha.
Mr. Imaeda's work is divided into four parts: (1) an introduc-
tion [including an extensive discussion of the manuscripts (pp. 5-
12), a synoptic study (p. 13), and a comparison with the Gat}-f/,avyilha
(pp. 19-31)] (2) the translation of the text (pp. 37-74) [extremely
accurate and readable] (3) the text's relationship to other Tun
H'uang texts especially to the Lha yul du lam bstan pa and the bsN go ba
(pp. 75-82)] and conclusion (pp. 83-85) and finally (4) the manu-
scripts (or portions thereof) (pp. 9 5 ~ 1 4 4 ) .
It is clear from the text that 8th-century Tibetans definitely
suffered from what Tsong kha pa, half a millenium later, would
characterize asa skye bu chung ba complex, the over-preoccupation
with this life, this death, and the better future life. It is the genius of
the author of the Story to have recognized this and to have so inter-
estingly dealt with this attitude in a Buddhist setting. It is the genius
of Mr. Imaeda to have presented this work to us in such an exhaus-
tive and fascinating study.
Jose I. Cabezon
Theravada Meditation: The Buddhist Transformation of Yoga, by Win-
ston King, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,
1980.
In his latest book, Theravada Meditation: The Buddhist Transformation
of Yoga, Winston King seeks to interpret and unravel the relation-
ship of the two components of the Theravada path of meditation,
samatha and vipassana. The Theravada tradition acknowledged,
from a very early period, that tension existed between these two
components, and scholars of Buddhism have long sought to under-
stand just how these two methods of meditation, in many ways so
different in nature, together constitute the path to nibbiina. King's
121
aim, he writes, is to explain "the functional relation between these
elements within the orthodox structure" (p. IS).
King begins his interpretation of the relation of samatha and
vipassana by inquiring about the origins of these two methods. As
indicated by the subtitle of his book, he interprets samatha medita-
tion, the cultivation of the jhanas or concentrative trances, to have
developed from "the Brahmanical-yogic technique of inducing
transic states." That is, samatha meditation represents the Indian
yogic heritage adopted and adapted by the Buddha. The Buddha's
attitude toward this yogic method was one of acceptance-rejection,
for he transformed the yogic heritage by integrating it into his own
distinctive method of wisdom meditation, vipassana.
Having identified the origins of the two methods, King turns to
his main task, explaining the functional and structural relation of
these two methods within the Theravada path of development.
Here King uses the Visuddhimagga and the Vimuttimagga as focal
points for viewing meditation in the Theravada tradition. He clear-
ly delineates the two streams of meditation. The jhanic or yogic
stream is "world recessive" and, like its "yogic parent," has as its
central intention the attainment of a state in which ordinary con-
sciousness totally ceases. In addition, the yogic stream provides a
means of attaining "freedom and power in and over the world." By
contrast, the nibbanic or vipassanic stream of mental development,
is radically "world denying," employing meditation as a means of
attaining "freedom from" the world. Its central intention is to pro-
vide a critique of all experience, and of the self as experiencer, in
terms of truths of impermanence, suffering and no-self. This
stream leads to the moral perfection of the meditator and the ever
fuller realization of nibbana.
King classifies the traditional Theravada meditation subjects
into three groups: low-level subjects preliminary to all higher prac-
tice; jhanic subjects that actualize the yogic stream; and, finally,
distinctively Buddhist or nibbanically-oriented subjects. Since all
three kinds of meditation subjects have been woven together to
form the path of development as set forth by Buddaghosa and the
Theravada tradition, King's task is to explain the logic behind this
tapestry of meditation methods. His clear and accurate explanation
of the relationships among these methods represents the heart of
his book. He sorts out these relationships by noting that Theravada
meditation has two scales of values stemming from the two streams
of meditation, the yogic and nibbanic, but in the complete system of
Theravada meditation thenibbanic values are dominant and con-
trolling. The jhanic or yogic meditation subjects, while still evaluat-
122
ed as important in their own right, have been contextualized by the
nibbanic goals. Although in developing the path, the meditator at
first practices jhanic meditation for its "world recessive" ends, yet
finally, jhana is important to the meditator because it prepares the
mind' for vipassana meditation and the realization of nibbana. "What-
ever use may be made of yogic Ghanic) attainments, they must be
subservient to this end" (p. 16).
The author concludes his explanation of the classical Thera-
vada path of meditation with a chapter on nirodha-samapatti, the
attainment of cessation. He regards this state as "the true child of
the full union of (Buddhist) insight and (yogic) peaceful abidings."
The two somewhat disparate streams of meditation finally flow to-
gether in this attainment, which thus represents the highest goal of
the Theravadin meditator. "The Buddhist scriptures and medita-
tion manuals," he writes, "leave no ,doubt as to the absolute ultimacy
of this experience in either of the two series of meditational attain-
ments." (103) Nirodha-samapatti represents, he argues, "here-and
now Nibbana."
King concludes the book with an interesting survey of contem-
porary Theravada meditation practices in Burma.
In dissecting and analyzing the. components of Theravada
meditation, King has performed useful service for students and
scholars of Buddhism alike. His analysis is precise and his explana-
tion of the jhanic and vipassanic streams insightful. But if Professor
King's study provides many answers, it also raises some questions
which we would note here in order to indicate the direction we must
go in building up the fine foundation King has provided. First,
more work must be done to establish the historical antecedents of
jhanic meditation. King refers to it as descended from a yogic or
proto-yogic method, but many more questions remain to be an-
swered about the relation of this proto-yogic tradition to both Bud-
dhism and the Second, nirodha-samapatti requires more
investigation before we conclude that it represents the highest goal
of the tradition. For example, how do we reconcile the facts that (1)
Theravada holds that some arahants attain nibbana without develop-
ingjhanic meditation and yet (2) only arahants who have completed
both the jhanic and vipassanic streams are said to be eligible for
nirodha-samapatti (Vism. p. 702)? The "absolute ultimacy" of nirodha-
samapatti is perhaps not so unambiguous in the meditation manuals
as King argues. Finally, in discussing the relationships between sa-
madhi and panna, the author does not explain the place of sati,
mindfulness. Although referring to texts about sati, he does not
integrate sati into the fabric of the elements. We mention this be-
123
cause sati seems to serve as a key mediating factor between samiidhi
and panna. Mindfulness functions on a low level to provide a spring-
board into samiidhi, and yet it also is present in the highest jhiina and
leads into vipassanii.
In sum, Theraviida Meditation is an important book. It is prob-
ably the best book currently available for guiding students into the
complexities of Theravada meditation methodology, and should
find a permanent place in the scholar's library beside works such as
Nyanaponika Thera's The Heart of Buddhist Meditation.
George D. Bond
Chinese Buddhism: Aspects of Interaction and Reinterpretation, by W.
Pachow. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc., 1980. xiv
+ 260 pp.
Dr. W. Pachow is a Chinese Buddhist scholar whose life and career
have spanned China, Ceylon and India. This book is a collection of
eleven essays previously published over more than thirty years in
various journals. Regrettably the articles on "Indian Buddhism"
meant for a more comprehensive volume have been withdrawn for
economic reasons (p. xiv), so that perhaps the preamble to this
"Aspects of Interaction and Reinterpretation" might be lost to the
interested reader. Since it consists of separate essays, the collection
will be more useful as a reference than as what the title might
suggest to some hopefuls: a classroom text. The depth of treatment
also varies from the more introductory to the more specialized,
which explains somewhat the uneven quality. The Introduction
suggests (pp. xii-xiii) a grouping of the essays under five groups.
The initial set of three, dealing with Ch'an (Zen) includes two
introductory essays on Bodhidharma and Zen, the Spirit of Zen.
They suffice for most teaching purposes but might be regarded as
somewhat dated by some specialists' standards. The third, "A Bud-
dhist Discourse on Meditation from Tun-huang" (pp. 35-53) is a
translation of the Hsiu-hsin yao-lun, attributed to the fifth patriarch
Hung-jen, using Stein no. 2669, 2558 and 4046. This corresponds
to Taisho Daizokyo no. 2011, in vol. 48, pp. 377a-379b, under a
different title. Since this is probably the one key text associated with
Hung-jen, this English translation will figure as the only available
one-until John McRae (Yale) issues his from his current doctoral
dissertation.
124
Group Two consists of two loosely related essays, one dealing
with the Lao-tzu hua-hu (civilizing the barbarians) theory and the
other "A Study of The Dolled Record." Again, the first one is an
interesting lead into that long Buddho-Taoist controversy" over the
relativt: primacy of their founders but it is the second one that
would intrigue more the specialists. It concerns the Chung-shen tien-
chi, "Dotted Record" and the number of dots entered at a specific
date by which the parinin)ii1JLl date of the Buddha might be pin-
pointed. Takak1.1su had argued for 975 dots in the year 489 A.C.,
which places the pariniroii1JLl in 486 B.C. (p. 70). By disputing the
actual numbers of dots (entered on a yearly basis) at the time of the
Chinese report, and citing other supportive evidence, Pac how set
the pariniroii1JLl date in 483 B.C. instead (p. 80). This is a technical
but richly informative study.
Group Three, with four essays, marks the major portion of the
book. The first two, "Buddhism and Its Relation to Chinese Reli-
gions" and "The Development of Tripit(lka-Translations in China,"
are relatively short and cover their topics tersely. The third article,
which appears in ajournal of the University of Hongkong (1979) is
a keen review of-as its title says-'-"The Controversy over the Im-
mortality of the Soul in Chinese Buddhism." The advantage of this
treatment over earlier ones in English is the greater attention paid
to the Indian prehistory of this shen or soul issue. Although I shall
add my friendly amendment in the samejournal,joumal of Oriental
Studies (forthcoming 1982), this piece by Pachow is a stimulating foil
to any further reflection on this age-old controversy. For those
steeped in things more than purely Buddhological, the last essay in
this group, "A Study of the Philosophical and Religious Elements in
the Red Chamber Dream" is much welcomed. TheHung-lou-meng, also
known as the Story of the Stone, is indispensable for understanding
the lebenswelt of the Chinese. The specialized field known as "Red
Studies" has long unearthed and catalogued various elements in the
masterpiece, religion included. However, it sometimes takes a reli-
gionist fully to appreciate and interpret the collected items, as this
piece has done.
Group Four consists of two essays dealing with ancient Sino-
Ceylonese relations and Buddhist missionaries to Southeast Asia
and the Far East. These are short pieces that offer a handy cata-
logue of the key figures involved, and reflect Dr. Pachow's role in
that intercultural exchange.
The nature' of journal articles is lack of uniformity; the publica-
tion, the audiance, the level of specialization often dictate the con-
tents and the methods employed. They are, as we all know, also
125
hard to track down. The collection of articles here in Chinese Bud-
dhism by Dr. Pachow is a welcome corrective. The range and style of
coverage might alienate some but should prove highly rewarding
for many. The book includes Chinese glossaries and an index.
Whalen W. Lai
Buddhism and Society in Southeast Asia, by Donald K Swearer. in Rob-
ert McDermott, series ed., Focus on Hinduism and Buddhism. Ch'!lTI-
bersburg, Pa.: Anima Books, 1981. 82 p. Bibliography, 2 Appendi-
ces, Notes, Glossary.
As part of a series of guides to audio-visual materials and compan-
ion introductory texts on Hinduism and Buddhism, this volume
"stands on its own as an introduction to Buddhism in the context of
Southeast Asian social and political institutions" (p. iv). The author's
stated aim is to analyze Theravada Buddhism within the cultures of
Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, specifically in Burma, Thailand and
Laos. The religion is discussed from three well-chosen perspectives:
the traditional village; the ancient kingdom and the modern nation
state; the modern city and town. The overall plan of the essay is
excellent. The discussion contains a good deal of valuable informa-
tion, along with useful suggestions about audio-visual materials re-
lated to the points covered. While the essay is a useful introduction
to the topic, it is not completely successful.
The village perspective is explored well in chapter one; useful
points are made and illustrations are well chosen, although differ-
ences among the four countries are somewhat understated. In
chapter two, the importance of the relationship between religion
and the state is discussed; one section focuses on the use of religion
to legitimatize authority. Borobudur, Angkor and Pagan are cited
as examples, but that Pagan alone was built by Theravada Bud-
dhists is also understated, and the exact significance of the other
societies is not thoroughly enough explored for an introductory
text. Space constraints may be partly to blame, but one is left with
the uneasy feeling that the existence of films or slides has too
strongly influenced the selection of points to be covered here.
Chapter three is a treatment of some responses of clergy and laity to
modernization and the dimensions of the problem are well illustrat-
ed. Here, however, one questions the appropriateness of focusing
126
on the Thai monk Kitthivuddho in an introductory essay. Discus-
sion of this hightly controversial monk, and the author's judge-
ments regarding him, would be more appropriate elsewhere.
There are also other problems, one of which is particularly
surprising in a series emphasizing visual materials: of eleven photo-.
graphs included in the text only four are identified by location; the
reader must guess about the rest. Misspellings and typographical
errors mar the text. For example, the name of the religion under
study is misspelled several times, and the names of two Buddhist
holy days appear incorrectly. Nor are the explanations free of jar-
gon; at one point, for example, three holy days are compared, in
some way, to the triple gem of Buddhism, but the wording used
obscures the point almost completely. The examples cited here are
not, unfortunately, isolated ones.
In an introductory text, particularly in one so brief, precision is
essential; that this text lacks precision is regrettable, since there is
much good material here. The flaws are doubly unfortunate, since
careful editing, or even simple proofreading, could have eliminated
many of them.
Robert J. Bickner
Tantra in Tibet, The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra and The Yoga of
Tibet, The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra - 2 and 3, by Tsong-ka-
pa; Introduced by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama; trans-
lated & edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. Nos. 3 and 4 in The Wisdom of
Tibet Series. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1977 & 1981. 252
pages and xii + 274 pages. Appendices, Glossaries, Bibliographies,
Indexes.
Tantra, in spite of increased scholarship on the subject, remains
little understood. Certainly, everyone knows by now that the six
yogas of Naropa are tantric; that Milarepa and other siddhas were
tantric practitioners, and that deities like Kalacakra, Cakrasarpvara,
and Guhyasamaja are also involved. The level of sophistication is
greater than in the days when tantra was a synonym for lunacy and a
. justification for the bizarre behavior of would-be converts to Bud-
dhism. Still, after over a hundred years of research - albeit by only
a: few - few people when asked what tantra is can actually respond
with a simple answer and follow up with sound reasoning. Still
fewer can respond when asked about the three lower tantra classes,
127
kriya, car)'a and yoga. Most of what people know about tanlm pertains
only to the highest class, anuttam yoga, and its subdivisions.
This problem is not new. Even tantric practitioners have had a
difficult time answering. Ever since the practice began, people who
cared to debate have debated about what it is they or others were
doing, what distinguished the practices from non-tantric practices
and what distinguished one practice from another within the sys-
tem. Even people who were not debaters criticized other people's
tantric practices for not being correct. The Ktilacakra warns that
yoga is not an excuse for playing with women, getting drunk and
frolicking every night in cemeteries (Chap. 2, Verse 117).
Confronted with a mass of different ideas, the Tibetans at-
tempted to sort things out, and, in time, the problems involved in
defining what was what reached a more manageable level. By the
time of Tsong Kha pa, several explanations of the tantm classes had
been written down. (Some of these are listed in this book's bibliogra-
phy.) Hence, when Tsong Kha pa began his Great Exposition of Secret
Mantm there was a foundation on which to build.
Tsong Kha pa's work is one of the most detailed I've seen on
any Buddhist subject and certainly is the most influential work on
tantm in Tibet, if only because his lineage has the greatest number
of adherents. Jeffrey Hopkins' translation project of this work is
therefore to be welcomed. Although it will be years before the pro-
ject is complete, the first three parts of Tsong Kha pa's Sngags Rim
Chen Mo are now out, in two volumes. Part One is published in
Tantra in Tibet and parts 2 and 3 as The Yoga of Tibet.
In these sections, Tsong Kha pa introduces us to different
views of tantm and gives his own view as to what makes tantradiffer-
ent from siUra. The defining characteristic of tantm as opposed to
siUra lies not in the wisdom or knowledge of emptiness generated in
the disciple but in the means used to become an ii1ya and a Buddha.
The principal difference in means lies not in using sense objects or
visualizations but in the practice of deity yoga, i.e., the imagining of
oneself as the deity during practice.
This definition contradicts some earlier ones and is still not
universally accepted. The main disagreements are over (a) whether
or not there is a difference in the wisdom aspect and (b) whether or
not there is deity yoga in kriya tantra. The former is a question that
goes back to pre-tantric times, when it was debated whether the
emptiness cognized by an arhat was the same as that of an ihya
bodhisattva. It was the position of the Prasangikas that emptiness
was emptiness and that it was the same for both HYnayana and
Mahayana saints. Tsong Kha pa accepts this and projects the argu-
128
ments into the dispute on tantra. According to the present Dalai
Lama, this dispute between schools is only semantic regarding tan-
tra. The followers of Tsong Kha pa make a distinction between the
consciousness that cognizes emptiness and some ot.hers that do not.
Therefore, according to the Dalai Lama, while consciousness be-
comes subtler and subtler in tantra there is no change in its object of
cognition, emptiness. For someone else there is a change in empti-
ness because there is no distinction made between consciousness
and the object. The difference is purely semantic, says the Dalai
Lama, because the distinction made by Tsong Kha pa and those
who agree with him is recognized to be purely verbal, for the pur-
poses of discussion. In experience, the two are not experienced as
dual.
This disagreement is discussed in Tantra in Tibet both in the text
of Tsong Kha pa and in the Dalai Lama's commentary (pp. 55-56).
The second disagreement is also brought out in Tantra in Tibet, and
is further refined in Yoga of Tibet.
Is there deity yoga in kriya tantra? Those who say no quote texts
that say there isn't, mainly texts on anuttara yoga tantra. Those that
say there is quote texts that say there is. In the latter case, the texts
quoted are from the kriya class, but the vast majority of texts in the
kriya class do not explicitly mention deity yoga.
Tsong Kha pa says deity yoga is there implicitly, because of
what kriya practitioners attempt to do and because certain anuttara
yoga texts imply such. Mainly, though, Tsong Kha pa says that deity
yoga exists in kriya tantra because some kriya tantras and their com-
mentaries affirm it. These tantras, the Susiddhi, Dhyanottara, Vaj-
r o p ! ~ a , etc., purport to be general kriya tantras, not connected with a
particular deity as such but outlining the method of practice of the
other specific kriya tantras. Since the outlines contain deity yoga, the
right way to practice the others is through deity yoga. Contrary
viewpoints expressed in the anuttara tantras refer only to people who
cannot practice deity yoga for one reason or another.
The Yoga of Tibet proceeds to outline in detail the practices
involved with knya and carya tantras down to what mantras and what
mudras to use at what times. Hence, the book is extremely beneficial
to anyone wanting to practice kriya and carya tantra.
The only drawback to the book is the writing of the translator.
It is awkward, and being so, it detracts. It is very precise and one can
see the concern for faithfulness to the text. However, even when
Professor Hopkins writes iri his own words, it reads like he is trans-
lating Tibetan. This is lamentable.
However, I appreciate the difficulties faced in translating and
129
do not wish to belabor the point. It is minor, and the book is too
important to let this discourage one from reading it.
Todd Fenner
130
IV. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Asoka And Buddhism - A Reexamination:
Presidential Address Given on the
Occasion of the
Fourth Conference of the lABS
Madison, Wisconsin, August, 1980*
by A.L. Basham
It is generally agreed that Asoka was among the great kings of the
world, and indeed many would say that he was the most noble and
altruistic ruler the world has known. Moreover, he is the only pre-
Muslim ruler of India whose name is familiar to non-specialists in
the West. His great fame in the English-speaking world seems to
have been mainly due to H. G. Wells, whose Outline of History was
almost compulsory reading for intelligent teen-agers in the 1920s
and '30s, since it was the work of a progressive writer who then
enjoyed great prestige, and was one of the earliest general histor-
ies of mankind to give reasonable coverage to the history of the
civilizations of Asia. Wells emphasized Asoka as a ruler far ahead
of his time, with a vision of perpetual peace throughout the
world.!
In fact, when all is said, we know very little about Asoka's
personality and motives. We have, admittedly, a number of fairly
brief documents from his hand, but these are intended to project
his public image, and do not show us the real man with the intima-
cy with which we know, for example, Akbar, thanks to the writings
of both his friends and his critics, and to the accounts of foreign
131
travelers. Our knowledge of Asoka, such as it is, depends on three
main sources.
The first of these sources, and the most authoritative, is the
series of inscriptions, the so-called Edicts of Asoka,2 many of
which are not really edicts at all. Some, indeed, are imperial com-
mands, and seem to have a legislative character, but others are
rather general pronouncements of policy and normative recom-
mendations to his subjects, a form of propaganda representing an
early form of the posters to be seen in almost every country in the
world at the present time, urging us to save energy, preserve the
environment, and throw our litter into the trash-bin. These docu-
ments have the advantage that they form the only literature on
Asoka which is strictly contemporary with the emperor himself,
and they appear to represent his own words.
Our second source is the Theravada tradition, preserved in
the chronicles of Sri Lanka.
3
These texts record legends about
Asoka's early life and his conversion to Buddhism, but their pri-
mary interest in Asoka is due to the fact that it was through his
intervention that Buddhism was brought to the island and estab-
lished itself there.
The third source is the Afokavadana,3 preserved in the Bud-
dhist Sanskrit text Divyavadana
4
and also existing in Chinese ver-
sions. The various versions were studied by Przyluski, in whose
remarkable monograph, La legende de l'emperiur Ar;oka,5 it is shown
that a cycle of stories about Asoka, on which this text is based,
probably existed well before the Christian era and was compiled
for the first time at Pataliputra, in the Kukkutarama Monastery,
which had been much favored by the emperor.
6
A few other sources, such as the records of Chinese pilgrims,7
the Rajatarangini of Kalhar,ta,8 and the Purar;,as,9 tell us a little
more about Asoka, but they are later than the main documents,
and there is not much of importance that we can gather from
them that is not to be found in the earlier sources.
One of the most remarkable features about these three
sources, when we compare one with another, is that they have very
little in common. The highest common factor of the three is mere-
ly that Asoka was a mighty Indian ruler, whose capital was Pat ali-
putra and who adopted a new and enlightened policy as a result of
his conversion to Buddhism. Almost everything else is missing in
one source or another. The Kalinga war, which, according to the
132
13th Rock Edict, was the main factor in Asoka's conversion to
Buddhism, is not mentioned either in the Theravada tradition or
in the Asokavadana, which, since it was transmitted mainly in Ma-
hayana circles, we shall refer to as the Mahayana tradition, though
it was not originally a Mahayana work. Asoka's own account of his
remorse, incidentally, is so striking that it is hard to believe that it
. made no impression on the compilers of the stories in the two
Buddhist traditions. Yet nothing like it is mentioned in either.
This is particularly surprising in the case of the Asokiivadana, since
this tradition grew up in northern India, at the time when Asoka's
own inscriptions were still easily intelligible. One would expect the
com pilers of this cycle of legends to have recorded the story of the
Kalinga war and Asoka's repentance and embroidered it with
many supernatural incidents. Instead, they ignored it. From the
point of view of the Mahayana source, Asoka was converted from
his former evil ways not by the horrors of war, but by the patience
under torture of a Buddhist monk.
10
The Theravada tradition, on
the other hand, ascribes his conversion to a seven year old sa-
man:era named Nigoha.
11
As further examples of unexpected
omissions we may cite the absence of any reference to the Third
Council at Pataliputra in the Edicts or in the Mahayana tradition,
together with the sequel of this Council, the sending out of mis-
sionaries and the conversion of Sri Lanka. These events are men-
tioned only in the Theravada tradition, while the rather discredit-
able account of Asoka's old age and death is found only in that of
the Mahayana.
12
Of the three sources it is obvious that the most important, at
least from the point of view of the historian, is the first, the Edicts.
We are justified in believing that these represent the words of
Asoka himself. They do not necessarily reflect his inmost
thoughts, but at least they show us what he wanted his subjects to
believe about him. Moreover, from them we can gather something
about the state of affairs in his empire, and his relations with
Buddhism.
In the 1st Minor Rock Edict, which is generally thought to be
the oldest of the series, Asoka tells us that he had openly embraced
Buddhism some three and a half years previously, but that a year
before he had "approached the.sangha," and had exerted himself
more strenuously in the faith, so that the gods, who for a long time
had not associated with men, were now mixing freely with them.
13
133
The passage bristles with obscurities, and each version of the text
differs somewhat from every other. At its face value this inscrip_
tion shows us that Asoka was a man of his time; believing implicitly
in the existence of supernatural beings who showed their satisfac-
tion with men by descending to earth and manifesting themselves
to them. On the other hand one is tempted to associate this pas-
sage, and a similar one in the 4th Rock Edict, which speaks of
heavenly manifestations such as divine chariots and balls of fire,14
with certain passages in the Arthasastra, 15 where the king is advised
to allow himself to be seen associating with persons disguised as
gods, and otherwise to produce fraudulent supernatural phenom-
ena, in order to strengthen his prestige. We cannot be sure that
Asoka did not himself descend to such cheap means of propagan-
da, but our overall impression of him is of an honest and sincere
man, who, for all his love of Dhamma, would not propagate it by
fraud, and we can only give him the benefit of the doubt.
This is believed to be Asoka's first propaganda pronounce-
ment, and one asks why he did not begin more impressively and
dramatically, telling his subjects at the outset about his remorse for
the Kalinga war in the moving terms of the 13th Rock Edict. We
can offer no answer to this question, except to suggest that either
Asoka's feelings about Dhamma became even more intense and
emotional as time went on, or his expertise as a propagandist
increased with the years. Certainly the two Minor Rock Edicts
cannot have been very effective as propaganda in favor of the new
policy.
The main body of the series consists of the fourteen Major
Rock Edicts, which show a rather different personality. Here
Asoka is more peremptory and authoritarian in his commands,
and at the same time more confident of the success of the policy of
government by Dhamma. The very first edict commences with a
stern command - "Here no living creature is to be slaughtered
for sacrifice."I!) Thus Asoka's first concern appears to have been
for ahirJ7Sii and vegetarianism. The figure of 100,000 animals,
which he declares were formerly slaughtered daily for the palace
kitchens, is quite incredible, unless it includes such creatures as
small fish, and this casts some doubt on the estimates in the 13th
Rock Edict of the number of people affected by the Kalinga war.
17
A proneness to exaggeration in number and quantity is to be
134
noticed in many ancient Indian sources, including the Buddhist
scriptures.
In the 2nd Rock Edict Asoka records his social services in the
form of the provision of medical aid for men and a n i m a l ~ and
improved facilities for travelers. IS Here he first shows his ecu-
menical attitude, for he declares that these services have been
inaugurated not only among his own subjects but also in the Tamil
kingdoms of the South as far as Tambapaqmi (Sri Lanka?), and in
the lands of the Greek king Antiochus and the neighbors of Antio-
chus. The passage suggests an early version of modern programs
of aid to developing countries, and one wonders whether it was at
all effective outside the limits of the Mauryan empire. This refer-
ence to Antiochus and his neighbors links up with the better
known passage in the 13th Rock Edict,19 where we are told that
victories of Dhamma have already been won in the West. Through
these victories of Dhamma Asoka had conquered Antiochus, Ptol-
emy, Antigonus, Magas and Alexander, all the most important
kings of the Hellenistic world. As far as we can gather from the
inscriptions he was ignorant of the very existence of China. In any
case, if we consider the geopolitical condition of the world in the
middle of the third century B.C., it is clear that Asoka was the most
powerful ruler of his time, and he seems to have been well aware
of the fact.
Nowhere in his edicts does Asoka use the word cakravartin,
which suggests that in his day it was not very well known, or he
would have certainly claimed to be such a charismatic ruler. The
occurrence of this word in certain obviously late passages of the
Pali canon, such as the Cakkavatti-s'ihanada-sutta of the D'igha-ni-
kaya,20 seems to be a post-Asokan reflection of Asoka's regime. In
this sutta the ideal cakravartin follows a policy very like that of
Asoka, and he conquers the world without fighting, as Asoka be-
lieved he was doing. We suggest that this text was composed soon
after Asoka's reign, to warn his successors ofthe evil results which
would follow if they abandoned his policy of Dhamma. In any case,
the 2nd and 13th Rock Edicts give ample proof that Asoka had not
abandoned his imperial ambitions, and that he looked upon him-
self as the moral emperor of the world.
On the other hand, sources from classical Europe give us no
information on Asoka's conquests through Dhamma. It is notewor-
135
thy that in Greek and Latin texts there are several references to
Asoka's grandfather Candragupta, under the name Sandrocot_
tus,21 and there is one to his father Bindusara, under the other-
wise unknown name Amitrochates,22 but there are no references
whatever to Asoka himself. If Asoka really sent missions to the
courts of the ambitious Greek kings, urging them to accept his
moral leadership and adopt the policy of Dlwmma, they must have
made so small an impression that no contemporary author
thought fit to record them.
Yet, from the 13th Rock Edict, it is very clear that some kind
of positive action was taken:
And this is the victory that the Devanarrtpiya considers most
important, namely victory through Dhamma. And that has in-
deed been won by the Devanarrtpiya here and on all the fron-
tiers, even 600 yojanas distant, where are Antiochus the Greek
king and the four kings beyond that Antiochus ... [Here fol-
low the four Greek names, and a list of peoples on Asoka's
frontiers.] Even where the messagers of the Devanarrtpiya do
not go, they hear of the Devanarrtpiya's practice, ordinances
and injunctions of Dhamma, and they follow Dhamma.
23
Asoka could hardly have convinced himself of his own impor-
tance internationally unless a mission or missions of some kind
had been sent to the Greek kings, and to other smaller kingdoms
and tribes, and had presented documents in which Asoka ex-
plained his new policy and urged all rulers to follow it. Since there
is no reference to such a mission in any classical source, and the
very name of Asoka was apparently unknown in the West, we must
presume that his attempts at winning over the Greek kings result-
ed in failure. Yet he states firmly and categorically that his mis-
sions have been successful. He has conquered Antiochus and the
other Greek kings through Dhamma.
From this, assuming that at least one mission was actually sent,
we are compelled to accept one of two assumptions. Either Asoka
knew the real facts but concealed them from his subjects, giving
the impression that the policy of Dhamma had been much more
successful than was in fact the case; or the mission, inspired by
sycophantic courtiers, gave a false account of its activities. Occa-
sional travelers and envoys, coming to Pataliputra from the West,
might also have been persuaded to give false accounts of condi-
136
tions in their homelands to the emperor, so that he imagined that
he had brought about a striking change in the Hellenistic world.
The whole tenor of the inscriptions gives the impression that
Asoka was thoroughly honest and intensely sincere. Probably,
therefore, he fully believed that his missions had been thoroughly
successful. When, in the Separate Kalinga Edict,24 he says save
rnunise paja mama we must not overlook the fact that the word praja
has political overtones, and, as well as meaning "children and de-
scendants," may also mean "subjects." In this passage it is obvious
that Asoka's primary meaning is "All men are my children," but
the secondary meaning should not be forgotten. He seems to have
seen himself as the paterfarnilias of an immense extended family,
comprising every creature on earth.
Other examples of Asoka's exaggerated confidence in the suc-
cess of his new policy are not hard to find. Weare told that Asoka's
descendents would continue to promote the policy of Dharnrna
even up to the end of the kalpa.
25
The conviction that the policy of
Dharnrna had changed the morals and conduct of the world seems
even stronger in the Pillar Edicts, promulgated in the 26th and
27th years of Asoka's reign. In the 7th Pillar Edict he looks back on
his career as a reformer with considerable complacency. His offi-
cers are all busily enforcing the new policy and the people are follow-
ing it obediently. It will last for as long as the moon and sun.
26
The most remarkable evidence of Asoka's complacency comes
from the brief Kandahar Edicts in Greek and Aramaic, which tell
us explicitly that the fishermen of the king have ceased to fish and
the hunters have stopped hunting, and all goes well throughout
the kingdom.
27
The fact that the inscription opens with the state-
ment that Asoka commenced issuing his edicts when he had been
consecrated for ten years might give the impression that this is an
early inscription, but we believe that it is later than the Pillar
Edicts, and belongs to the last years of his reign, for in the 5th
Pillar Edict Asoka bans only the killing of certain species of ani-
mals and forbids hunting and fishing only on a few days of the
year. The fishermen and hunters referred to in the Kandahar
Edict are unlikely to be gamekeepers and beaters in the royal
hunting parks and reserved forests, but rather professional hunt-
ers and fishers who ranged the forested and waste land (viv'ita) and
were permitted to hunt or fish in return for a share of their bag or
catch. All the forest and waste of the kingdom was in theory the
137
property of the king, and the fishermen and hunters of the king
referred to in the Kandahar Inscription probably included all the
professional hunters and fishermen in the kingdom, who were in
much the same theoretical position as the share-croppers who
worked much of the royal demesne.
28
Thus Asoka believed that
the fishermen and hunters of his kingdom had accepted his new
policy, either voluntarily or by compulsion, and had given up their
old professions. This is intrinsically very unlikely, and most of his
subjects must have known that hunting and fishing were still going
on. In fact Asoka proclaims to the world not so much the success
of his policy as his own naIvete and credulity. The inscription
suggests that, now an old and tired man, he had fallen into the
hands of crooked courtiers and counsellors who deliberately con-
cealed the truth from him. He had lost almost all contac( with
reality and had no clear idea about the true state of his kingdom.
The Minor Pillar Edicts, must be, with the Kandahar Edict,
among Asoka's final pronouncements, since many of them OCcur
below the main series of Major Pillar Edicts. They confirm the
Mahayana tradition that towards the end of his reign Asoka be-
came even more deeply interested in the affairs of the Buddhist
sangha. Among these short inscriptions there occurs an ordinance,
in three surviving versions (Sarnath, Kosambi and Sanchi),29 stat-
ing that the sangha should remain united for as long as the sun and
moon endure, and that if any monk or nun should try to divide it,
the local mahamattas are to ensure that he or she is expelled from
the Order. It is noteworthy that here it is the government officials,
and not the senior monks, who are instructed to root out heretics .
. Asoka's last surviving public pronouncement may have been
the so-called Queen's Edict, which occurs only once, at the bottom
of the inscribed portion of the Allahabad Pillar. In it Asoka in-
structs the mahamattas to ensure that all religious gifts made by
Karuvaki, the second queen and mother of Tivara, are recorded
to her credit.
30
One wonders what can have been the motive in
engraving such a trivial pronouncement, which had no direct rela-
tion to the policy of Dhamma at all. In any case, it is clear that
Karuvaki, no doubt annoyed because her benevolence had not
been duly recognized, had considerable influence with the emper-
or. The implications of this edict are to some extent confirmed by
Mahayana tradition, which tells us that in his later years Asoka fell
under the influence of his second queen, who tried to destroy the
138
sacred Bodhi tree at Gaya and who brought about the blinding of
his favorite son Kunala. The name of this queen, has
nothing in common with that of the queen of the edict, but it is
, possible that they are the same, since in ancient India members of
royal families were by various appellations.
32
In any case,
tWO of our main sources agree on two important points: (1) that
Asoka's interest in the sangha increased as time went on and (2)
that in his later life he came much under the influence of his
womenfolk.
The last story about Asoka in the Mahayana tradition tells us
that at the end of his reign he became so involved with the Bud-
dhist sangha and squandered so much wealth upon it that he was
virtually deposed in a palace COUp.33 We have no definite evidence
to confirm this, except that Asoka's inscriptions suggest that to-
wards the end of his reign he played a much more direct part in
the affairs of the sangha than he had formerly. The story in the
Asokiivadiina, though obviously worked over to bring out the Bud-
dhist moral of the vanity and transience of earthly glory, is not
intrinsically improbable. Moreover, especially if we agree with
Przyluski on the antiquity of the cycle of stories,34 it is hardly likely
that such a tale would have arisen if it had been commoiI know-
ledge that Asoka had died while in full command of his kingdom.
Thus, if we are compelled to give a general judgement on
Asoka and his regime, we must conclude that, though he was a
very good man, he was not altogether a good king. Carried away
by his new faith he increasingly lost touch with reality, until ulti-
mately he was dethroned, and the great Mauryan empire broke
up, largely as a result of his intensely moral but thoroughly unreal-
istic convictions. In India itself, except in Buddhist circles, he was
soon forgotten, a mere name in the Pural).ic king-lists. The strong
central control of the Mauryas soon gave way to quasi-feudal con-
ditions under the Surigas, and regimes of this type, in various
forms, were usual for the next two thousand years. Asoka almost
passed into oblivion until the nineteenth century, when his inscrip-
tions, were deciphered.
Nevertheless, it is certain that, despite his failures, Asoka did
have an important effect on later generations, mainly thanks to his
support for Buddhism. Although literary evidence may suggest
the contrary, it seems that before Asoka Buddhism was a compara-
tively unimportant feature in the religious life of India. Little or
139
no faith can be placed on the accounts in the Buddhist scriptures
of very large numbers of monks, nuns and lay followers during
the Buddha's lifetime. Between the parinirvii'f}a and the time of
Asoka we have but scanty evidence of what was happening to
Buddhism. Archaeological evidence is virtually lacking, but after
Asoka it is abundant, There is a tradition, maintained by both
Theravada and Mahayana, of a council of Vesali one hundred
years after the Master's death. The Katha Upani:;ad,35 generally
agreed to be pre-Mauryan, contains passages which suggest some
contact with Buddhist ideas. Possible influence is even stronger in
the case of the Maitri Upanisad,36 but that text is evidently the latest
of the thirteen early and we believe it to be post-Maur-
yan.
37
Other than these, there is little positive evidence as to the
state of Buddhism before Asoka.
One of our main reasons for believing that Buddism was a
comparatively minor factor in the religious life of India before
Asoka is that the older J aina scriptures, though they may mention
Buddhism very occasionally, do not appear to look on the Buddha
and Buddhism as serious rivals to Mahavira ;:tndJainism. From the
point of view of the J ainas their most dangerous rivals were Gosala
and the Ajivikas. In the Pali texts the situation is similar. Refer-
ences to Mahavira (under the name Niggantha Nataputta) and
J ainism certainly occur, but they are considerably fewer than those
to Gosala and the Ajivikas. These facts suggest that in the fifth and
fourth centuries B.C. the Ajivikas were the strongest of the sra-
ma'f}a sects.
Further indications of the comparative insignificance of Bud-
dhism before Asoka can be found in the stories of the Asokiivadiina
itself, confirmed by other sources. After his conversion Asoka is
said to have broken open seven of the stupas containing the ashes
of the Buddha, to have divided the fragments of bone and ash into
84,000 minute portions, and to have sent these to all parts of his
empire, to be interred under new stupas.
38
Stupas said to have been
founded by Asoka were numerous in the days of the Chinese
travelers, but they mention few pre-Asokan stupas, except for
those traditionally raised in the Tarai area by the tribes who
shared the ashes of the Buddha's funeral pyre. It seems that the
cult of the stupa in Buddhism began in this area, the scene of the
Master's birth and death. Evidently even before the reign of Asoka
the Buddhists were strong enough here to take over the stUpa of
140
some long-dead saint or hero, whom they identified as a former
Buddha, Konagamana.
39
Our impression is that before Asoka this was the main center
of Buddhism, and that elsewhere it may have been comparatively
uninfluential; but no doubt monasteries and Buddhist communi-
ties already existed in the sacred sites of Gaya and Sarnath and in
the larger centers of population. We may assume that with the
development of Pataliputra as a large city, perhaps then the larg-
est city in the world, a Buddhist monastery or two were established
there, as the traditions confirm. It seems, reading between the
lines of the various accounts, that the monks of the local monaster-
ies gained the confidence of the young Asoka, and gradually at-
tracted him towards Buddhism. The Kalinga war finalized his con-
verSlOn.
It is not wholly clear what form of Buddhism Asoka believed
in, but it is evident that it was different from any form existing
nowadays. It was certainly not the modern rationalist Buddhism of
intellectual Theravada, neither was it the quasi-theistic Buddhism
of Mahayana and Tantrism. We have no evidence, moreover, in
the inscriptions of even rudimentary forms of the profound Ma-
hayana metaphysical systems of later times; but Asoka's reference
to his "going forth to Sambodhi" in the 8th Rock Edict may indi-
cate the very beginning of the concept of the bodhisattva.
4o
The
inscriptions contain no reference whatever to nirviilJa, and we
must conclude that, if the monks had already elaborated the doc-
trine of nirviilJa, either Asoka did not know of it or, more likely, he
considered it too abstruse to mention in his public pronounce-
ments.
The Bairat Edict, the only one specifically addressed to the
sangha, shows that the formula of the Triple Jewel (triratna) was
already used by the Buddhists as a confession of faith.
41
The same
document shows that some kind of a canon already existed,
though the identification of the seven scriptural passages listed is
far from certain. Moreover it is evident that, at the time of the
promulgation of this edict, Asoka's attitude towards the Buddhist
Order was thoroughly erastian. After greeting the monks and
expressing his faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the sangha,
Asoka declares: "Whatever, sirs, has been spoken by the Lord
Buddha was well said, but I now propose to state passages indicat-
ed by me, in order that the true Dhamma may last long." Then,
141
after enumerating the seven chosen passages, he goes on to say
that he desires that as many monks, nuns and layfolk as possible
should listen to these passages and meditate upon them. No doubt
in choosing the seven passages Asoka was advised by a senior
monk, but that a mere layman should have the temerity to instruct
the Buddhist clergy on what texts they should study cannot but
have aroused irritation. Probably few monks acted on Asoka's
instructions in this matter.
The Minor Pillar Edicts, ordering the mahamattas to ensure
that dissident or heretical monks should be expelled from their
monasteries, have already been mentioned. They give even stron-
ger evidence of Asoka's erastianism. The Sarnath version of this
edict seems to show that a copy of it was sent to every significant
Buddhist monastery in the land, and that the mahamattas were
required to attend the monastic ritual on each uposatha day, in
order to ensure that the king's orders were understood and car-
ried out. Asoka's precedent in making himself the virtual head of
the church was followed by many Buddhist kings of later times.
Indeed, Buddhism has flourished most vigorously under those
kings who have taken most interest in it. Buddhist kings, following
the advice of senior monks, have in the past regularly acted as
arbiters of orthodoxy. These three Minor Pillar Edicts are the
ancestors of the katikavatas of the pious rulers of Sri Lanka, who
from time to time took it upon themselves to purge the sangha of
heresies and malpractices.
Though Asoka's noble vision of a world at peace, with himself
and his descendants as its moral leaders, never materialized, it is
wrong to suggest that his regime had no effect whatever on later
history. For over twenty years the people of India were subjected
to constant propaganda in favor of non-violence, vegetarianism,
and moral behavior. This cannot have been completely without
effect. When we compare the India described by Megasthenes
with that of Fa-hsien, we note that striking changes took place in
the seven hundred years dividing the days of the two travelers. In
the time of Candra Gupta II, if we are to believe Fa-hsien,41 the
death penalty had been abolished and vegetarianism was almost
universal, at least among the higher classes. The urbanity and
mildness of Gupta administration contrasts strikingly with the
stern efficiency of the Mauryas, as described by Megasthenes. Aso-
ka's reforms must have been partly responsible for these changes.
142
Moreover, even though Asoka's mIssIonary actIvItles in the
realms of the five Greek kings were apparently completely futile,
the numerous missionary monks listed in the Theravada tradition,
as going forth to various lands and regions after the Council of
Pataliputra, may have had some success; and we may be sure that
at least one of the victories of Dhamma that Asoka claimed to have
won was in a sense real and lasting. There is ample confirmation,
mainly of an archaeological nature, of the statements of the chron-
icles of Sri Lanka that the island was converted to Buddhism in the
time of Asoka. Whether or not the main missionary campaign was
led by Asoka's son Mahinda, the fact that Buddhism virtually be-
gan in Sri Lanka in the latter part of the reign of Asoka is certain.
Through Asoka a new faith, after over two centuries of prepara-
tion, commenced its long and successful career as one of the great
religions of the world.
*Editor's note: Owing to a broken arm, Prof. Basham was unable
to complete the footnotes to his address, which, in any case, are
not essential to his discussion.
143
V. Notes and News
A Report on the 4th Conference of the
lABS,
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI,.
U.S.A.
August 7-9, 1981
The 4th conference of the International Association of Buddhist
Studies, sponsored by the Department of S9'uth Asian Studies of
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, opened at 1 :30 P.M.
on Friday, August 7, 1981, in the heart of the U.W. campus in
Madison. The President of the Conference was Professor A.L.
Basham, who, having retired from the Australian National Uni-
versity, had been teaching at the University of New Mexico in
Albuquerque, and at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
His Presidential Address is presented elsewhere in this issue. The
Opening Session of the Conference was inaugurated by Professor
E. David Cronon, Dean of the College of Letters and Science at the
University of Wisconsin, who has been very helpful to the lABS
from the time of its foundation. Professor Cronon's Inaugural
Address was followed by the remarks of other good friends of the
lABS: Professor Manindra K. Verma, Chairman of the Depart-
ment of South Asian Studies, who gave the Welcoming Address,
and Professor Bardwell Smith, head of the Asian Studies Program
at Carleton College, who acted as General Secretary during the
absence of Professor A.K. Narain the previous year.
The opening to the 4th Conference coincided with the first
days of an air traffic controllers' strike in the U.S., which inter-
fered greatly with all air travel; however, we were glad to find that
most of our anticipated participants were able to get to Madison in
time. From August 7 through 9, over 100 people, representing 17
144
countries, participated in the various panels and presentations. On
Friday evening, the first night of the three-day event, after an All-
Conference Dinner characterized by much animated t a l ~ , mem-
. bers were treated to an autio-visual presentation on the Kalacakra
Initiation re.cently given in Madison by His Holiness the XIVth
Dalai Lama of Tibet. Professor Geshe Sopa, one of the main spon-
sors of the initiation, provided a clear and lively explanation of the
rare and ornate Tibetan Buddhist ceremony. On Saturday eve-
ning, following a slide lecture by Professor John Huntington of
the Ohio State University Department of Art entitled "Art
Brought to Western Tibet and Ladakh by Rin-chen bZang-po and
Ansa as Found in the AI-Chi Monastery Buildings of the 11 th
Century," participants were taken by car-pool to a dinner recep-
tion at the home of Professor A.K. Narain, General Secreatry of
the lABS, and treated to a feast of Indian, Nepali and Tibetan
food. Throughout the Conference, participants were able to view
a photographic exhibition of Buddhist art by Professors John and
Susan Huntington entitled "The Lotus in Full Bloom," which was
on display in the lounge where coffee breaks were taken, On Sun-
day, the last day of the Conference, all participants were invited to
visit the grounds where the Kalacakra initiation had taken place,
to view the site and meet with Geshe Sopa for afternoon tea.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directo1"S of the JABS, 4th Conference,
Madison, Wisconsin USA, August 8, J98J
The meeting was opened by Professor A.L. Basham, Chairperson,
lABS. Professor Basham invited the General Secretary to give his annual
report.
General Secretary's annual report, by Professor A.K. Narain:
The General Secretary reported that he was away most of the
year; thus Professor Bardwell Smith was the Pro Tern General
Secretary and Professor N arain expressed his thanks to him for
seeing the lABS through the year. He requested Professor Smith
to present a report after him,' He also expressed his appreciation
for the work of Rena Haggarty during his absence in India. The
General Secretary then informed the meeting that the lABS mem-
145
bership now consists of the following categories:
Members of the lABS from Asia and Australia 106
Members of the lABS from North and South Americas 214
Members of the lABS from Europe 46
(Note: From this total of 366 members, 330 ~ r e considered to
be in good standing, that is, they have paid their dues up to at least
1980. These figures have been adjusted since the General Secre-
tary gave hi3 report to present more recent data, since many mem-
bers joined and brought their dues up-to-date after August, 1981,
when the report was given. The figures here presented reflect the
lABS membership as of December, 1981.)
The General Secretary then gave a survey of the state of the
lABS and the possibilities of future conferences, informing the
members about invitation letters from the People's Republic of
China as well as from Taiwan. He also informed the Board mem-
bers that the next election of officers of the lABS would be held by
mail, and asked Professor Bardwell Smith, General Secretary Pro
Tern, to provide detailed information.
The General Secretary Pro Tem's report, by Professor Bardwell Smith:
Professor Smith, after presenting a general survey of lABS
activities during the previous year supplementing the information
given by Professor Narain, informed the Board that the revised
By-Laws and Constitution as authorized for action by the last
meeting of the Board of Directors c;luring the 3rd Conference held
in Winnipeg, Canada, and as approved by the Board of Directors
by mail before this meeting in Madison, is now ready for distribu-
tion to the lABS membership. (The newly revised Constitution is
printed in this issue of the Journal.) The new Constitution now
specifies that the Board of Directors consist of a body of 15 offi-
cers with particular functions: 1 Chairperson, 3 Vice-Chairper-
sons, 1 General Secretary and Editor-in-Chief, 3 Regional Secre-
taries, 1 Treasurer, and 6 Editors of the Journal of JABS. Besides
these officers, 10 persons are to be elected to the Board as mem-
bers at large. These newly elected officers and members at large
are to serve four-year terms. Professor Smith spoke of the next
general mailing to members of the lABS, which would concern
the election of officers under the newly approved Constitution.
146
Professor Smith also elaborated on the plans announced earli-
er for the 5th Conference of the lABS, to be held at Oxford
University from August 16-21, 1982. He informed the meeting
that Professor Richard Gombrich of the Oriental Institute at Ox-
ford University is arranging the Conference, and that the Presi-
dent will be the Venerable Dr. Walpola Rahula. A number of
panels have already been planned, e.g., History of Tibetan Bud-
dhism, Theravada Anthropology, Buddhist Art, Pali Philological
Studies, and Indian Mahayana Philosophy. There will also be
open slots for those who wish to organize panels. He informed the
meeting of the possibility of holding some future Conference in
Beijing, if not in 1983, perhaps later. Since there is no obligation
to hold annual meetings of the lABS, he mentioned that it is
possible that in the near future meetings might be held every two
or three years. .
Treasurer's report, by Dr. Beatrice D. Miller:
Dr. Miller informed the Board of Directors that the current
report is the first Treasurer's report that covers a complete year,
and asked them to make adequate compensation when comparing
it with previous reports. She noted that expenses have risen sharp-
ly, but that the lABS seems to be solvent, although not affluent.
The full report is as follows:
TREASURER'S REPORT, FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
(From 811 0/80 - 8/05/81)
CURRENT ASSETS: CURRENT LIABILITIES:
Checking Account: $868.39 Balance due
JIABS IV, #1 $1700.00
Business Savings: $5569.56 Estimate,
JIABS IV, #2 $3500.00
I-year Golden: $2407.05 4th Conference: $1960.00**
TOTAL: $8945.00 TOTAL: $7160.00
147
INCOME: EXPENSES:
Dues, subscrip- CODA Press, Thomson-Shore,
tions, conference JIABS, balance, Vol. III, #2
fees $8367.22 and Vol. IV #1 $6566.77
Interest on accts.: Badger Office Supplies $76.96
Business etx. $377.28 Xeroxing $84.00
Contribution $500.00 Haggarty $324.50
TOTAL $9244.50* Typewriter repair $5.54
BALANCE ON HAND: Telephone $19.88
(8/10/80) $7315.06 Postage $112.00
GRAND TOTAL: $16559.56 Winnipeg Conference
Less expenses $7614.56 (Treasurer's expenses) $374.49
Bank charges (bounced
checks, exchange, etc.) $50.49
TOTAL ON HAND: $8945.00 TOTAL $7614.56
(8/05/81)
MEMBERSHIP PAYMENT DlSTRIB UTION (Excluding Life and Founder
Members):
1980 1981 1982 1983
Full: 211 125 17 2+
Student: 8 6 1
Library subs: 15 13
Institution: 47 11
New Life memberships: 3 1
* Income: $9244.50. This figure excludes 161,762 collected by the Reiyukai
Library Director, Dr. Akira Yuyama, as East Asian representative of the lABS.
This figure also excludes frozen Rupee account's Rs. 3804.00 +.
** Liabilities: Figure includes $104.00 mistakenly sent to the lABS for room
reservations. A break-down of the Conference expenses is as follows:
Room reservations $104.00
Booklet program $514.00
Foldersltags $177.00
Stamp (for tags) $20.00
Reception $300.00
Coffee, etc., breaks $600.00
Student Help $25.00
Secretary overtime $100.00
Lodging, Chairperson $100.00
Audiovisual rental $20.00
TOTAL $1960.00
This figure may rise if insufficient dinner tickets are purchased.
148
Resolutions passed by the Board of Directors:
1) The Board of Directors of the lABS shall appoint its three Regional
Secretaries to form an advisory committee to look into the matter of the
. revival of the Bibliographie Bouddhique and meet with members of the
North American Buddhist Society to discuss the project jointly. Since
Professor Louis Gomez is the head of the NABS and is also the lABS
Regional Secretary for the Americas, he may be asked to act as the lias on
between the two organizations.
2) The deaths of two outstanding members of the lABS, Professor
Holmes H. Welch from Harvard University, and Ms. lsaline Bleu
Horner, London, are mourned.
3) Professor Hajime Nakamura of the Eastern Institute, in Japan, and
Professor T. R. V. Murti, ofVaranasi, India are to be elected as Honorary
Fellows of the lABS.
4) No action is felt necessary on a letter from Luis G6mez, Head of the
North American Buddhist Society, asking if the NABS could be the Na-.
tional representative of the lABS, in view of the fact that the lABS consti-
tution does not allow affiliation with an existing organization.
5) The General Secretary may use his discretion when requests are made
for copies of the lABS membership list.
Minutes of the General Business lvleeting of the lABS, 4th Conference, Madison,
Wisconsin USA, August 9,1981
The meeting was chaired by the President of the 4th Conference,
Professor A.L. Basham of the Australian National University. Professor
Basham requested Professor A.K. Narain to give the General Secretary's
Report. The General Secretary restated the information he had given at
the meeting of the Board of Directors, thanking the members of the
Board for their support and cooperation. He also spoke on the updated
membership and the need to increase the number of both individual and
institutional members, the possibilities for future conferences of the
lABS, and changes in the Constitution that had been approved by the
Board of Directors. Before asking Professor Bardwell Smith, General
Secretary Pro Tern, to read his report, Professor Narain thanked all the
people who had given valuable assistance in preparing for the confer-
ence: Professor Manindra K. Verma; the lABS officers and 4th Confer-
ence Program Committee; the Secretarial staff of the Department of
South Asian Studies, especially MaryNutter and Judy Patterson; the staff
at CODA Press; the staffs of both Lowell Hall and the Wisconsin Center;
those who prepared and gave special presentations during the confer-
ence: Ed Bastian, John Davenport, Marilyn Groves, Beth Solomon, John
149
Huntington, Geshe Sopa, Sumitra Suwannabha, and Tenzing Trinley;
and all the volunteers who served the Conference in innumerable ways:
David Ackley, Dave Dillon, Nancy Douglas, Kathy Erndhl, Peter Fenner,
Paul Griffiths, Tony Hanson-Barber, Roger Jackson, John Makransky,
Demmie McGinley, Janina Morgalla, Krishna Pradnan, Joan Raducha,
Shih Heng Ching, Beth Simon, Paul Swanson, Cindy Talbot, Gautam
Vajracharya, andJay Weil; and finally the General Secretary thanked the
participants themselves who actually made the conference a success.
Report of the General Secretary, Pro Tem. by Bardwell Smith:
Professor Smith summarized his statements given at the meeting of
the Board of Directors, informing the general membership about the
details on the revised Constitution of the lABS, the election of officers
scheduled to be held by mail in the late fall of 1981, and the elaborated
plans for the 5th Conference to be held in Oxford in August of 1982.
Finally, he announced the selection of two new Honorary Fellows of the
lABS: Hajime Nakamura of Tokyo, and T.R.V. Murti, ofVaranasi, rais-
ing the number to the stipulated limit of fifteen.
Treasurer's Report, by Dr. Beatrice D. Miller:
Forewarning the general membership that the report would be the
first Treasurer's Report that covered a full year, causing a big difference
to exist when compared with the previous reports, Dr. Miller summarized
the official report that appears earlier in this item of Notes and News.
Regional Secretary's Report, by Luis Gomez, Americas (given by Bardwell Smith):
In the absence of Professor Gomez, the report was given by Professor
Bardwell Smith, who had been corresponding in previous months with
Professor Gomez about the two matters on the agenda. First discussed
was the possible preparation and publication of a Bibliography of Bud-
dhism that would fill the gap left by the disappearance of the Bibliographie
Bouddhique. Professor Smith informed the meeting that the costs of such
a venture would be enormous, so that the current proposal was for a
catalogue of publications with limited scope and clearly defined focus,
excluding the following items systematically: 1) book reviews, 2) non-
scholarly publications on Buddhism, and 3) abstracts and reprints of the
works listed, unless the author or publisher submitted an entry. The
following works would be systematically listed: 1) critical editions and
150
translations of classical Buddhist works. 2) monographs (including serials,
e.g., Abhandlungen, Melanges, etc.), and 3) papers in Festschriften and
major journals. This bibliography would seek to provide a listing of con-
temporary or recent publications before attempting to cover the years
that were left unlisted by the demise of Bibliographie Bouddhique. The fipst
period to be reviewed could be 1975-1980, which would then be followed
by quinquennial bibliographies. This bibliography would be published
with a word-processor, and camera-ready copy. To further reduce costs,
effort would be made to enlist volunteer scholars. Professor Smith con-
cluded on this point by noting that the lABS has encouraged the North
American Society for Buddhist Studies, of which Professor Luis Gomez is
the President, to take the initiative in this project, and has promised that
the lABS will keep in touch with that organization on this important
development.
The second item on the agenda was another matter about which the
lABS and the NASBS have been in communication: the possible affili-
ation of the NASBS with the lABS. Professor Smith pointed out that
Article 9 of the lABS Constitution, which encourages the development of
national branches, discourages affiliation with any other organization in a
formal sense, concluding that the lABS is not disposed toward a formal
affiliation with the NASBS, but would benefit greatly from the continued
constructive cooperation between the two groups.
Regional Secretary's Report, by Akira Yuyama, Asia:
Dr. Yuyama informed the meeting that new members were needed
to join the lABS from Asian countries, but that it is more difficult to
establish efficient communication networks between the South, South-
east, and East Asian countries and J apari as compared to the USA and
Europe. To help solve the problem, Dr. Yuyama announced that he is in
the process of setting up liaison officers for lABS members living in that
region of the world.
Regional Secretary's Report, by Erik Zurcher, Europe (given by Heinz Bechert):
Speaking for Professor Zurcher, Professor Bechert informed the
general meeting that although European membership in the lABS has
been increasing steadily, there still are some countries not represented in
the organization. He noted that at present, the most important European
activity is the preparation for the 5th Conference of the lABS to be held
in Oxford, England, in August of 1982. Expressing hope that in the
151
future, more information and reviews on books published in European
languages would be included the issues of the J oumal, Professor Bechert
concluded by saying that although no regional associations have been
formed in Europe yet, perhaps there would be such occurences in the
future, when regional conferences may be held in Europe, if lABS con-
ferences are held every two or three years.
Discussion from the floor:
Participants brought up several points, such as:
1. Concern for increasing the number of Eastern European lABS
members, such as from Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, etc.
2. News about the Critical Piili Dictionm) has been scarce. Professor
N arain noted that the J oumal will carry news as it reaches us from Profes-
sor Kenneth Norman.
3. The possibility of a panel at the 5th Conference in Oxford to
report on all projects such as the C1"itical Piili Dictionm), etc. Professor
Bardwell Smith agreed to organize this panel.
4. Scholars often are not able to attend the lABS Conferences be-
cause they can't find the means, especially those in economically develop-
ing countries. It was asked if the lABS could finance such cases, and
Professor Narain pointed out that the lABS does not have the funds to
support them either, noting that the lABS would support applications for
travel grants, etc., to national and international agencies.
152
Rena Haggarty
Assistant Secretary, lABS
Constitution and By-Laws
of the International Association
of Buddhist Studies
ARTICLE I
Preamble
After more than a century of modern scholarship, Buddhist Studies has
acquired the status of an independent discipline. Scholars from various disciplines
have participated in its development. By now the quality and quantity of interest
has grown to such an extent that it is felt necessary to organize an "Association"
devoted to the promotion and strengthening of the field of Buddhist Studies. To
date there have been no such organizations committed purely to the intellectual
and scholarly treatment of Buddhism.
Scholars from various disciplines, such as philosophy, religion, history, soci-
ology, anthropology, art, archaeology and psychology, who have been deeply
involved with Buddhist Studies frequently feel isolated or too specialized when
they are confined to the forums of their home disciplines. As an interdisciplinary
concern, it is important now to have a Buddhist Studies forum in the form of this
"Association". Success of such an enterprise will depend upon the cooperation
and support of concerned scholars throughout the world.
ARTICLE II
Name and Location
The name of this organization shall be "The International Association of
Buddhist Studies, Inc." hereafter to be called the "lABS." It shall be located in the
Department of South Asian Studies of the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Wisconsin, USA, unless otherwise decided by the membership at the recommen-
dation of the Board of Directors of the lABS.
ARTICLE III
Objectives
The objectives of the organization shall be:
a) To promote the study of Buddhism, past and present, in all its aspects all over
the world.
b) To promote intellectual interest in, and academic organization for, the devel-
opment of Buddhist Studies.
c) To encourage the growth of interdisciplinary studies related to Buddhism, and
153
to help stimulate interest in obscure and lesser known aspects of Buddhism, as
well as strengthening specialization in areas of present attraction.
d) To plan the preparation of tools of study and research.
e) To plan and encourage publications of original sources and translations.
) To publish a research periodical and other, occasional, publications.
g) To hold periodic international conferences.
h) To encourage and coordinate holding of national conferences.
i) To affiliate national branches of the Association, and to help coordinate their
activities.
j) To promote the cause of peace, understanding, friendliness, and tolerance.
ARTICLE IV
Membership Provisions
Section 1
The lABS shall consist of Founder Members and members duly elected.
Section 2
Fbunder Members shall be scholars of Buddhist Studies present and partici-
pating in the first meeting to found the lABS (as well as those to whom copies of
the Objectives, Constitution, and By-laws of the lABS were sent during the first
three months of its formation), who exercised their option to pay $150.00 (U.S.) in
ten installments within a period of one year, as an advance to help the lABS
establish a working fund. This shall entitle them to Full Membership for a ten year
period. Subsequently, they shall pay annual dues unless they choose to become
Life Members by paying an additional sum of $150.00 (U.S.).
Section 3
There shall be additional categories of members, as follows:
a) Full Members shall be elected from among scholars of Buddhist Studies so
recognized by the Executive of the lABS. They shall pay an annual member-
ship fee of $20.00 (U.S.) and shall have the right to vote and to be eligible for
various offices in the lABS.
b) Student Members shall be elected from among full-time students at recognized
universities or comparable institutions duly recommended to the lABS. They
shall pay an annual membership fee of $7.50 (U .S.) and shall not have the right
to vote or to hold office in the lABS.
c) Institutional Members shall be libraries, museums, institutions of higher learn-
ing, and other organizations which are acceptable to the Executive of the
lABS. They shall pay an annual membership fee of$35.00 (U.S.) and shall not
have the right to vote or hold office in the lABS.
d) Life Members shall be persons interested in the promotion of the aims of the
lABS who pay the sum of $500.00 (U.S.) to the funds of the lABS in not more
than two installments, not more than twelve months apart.
e) Patrons shall be persons interested in the promotion of the lABS who pay the
sum of $1000.00 (U .S.) to the funds of the lABS in not more than two install-
ments, not more than twelve months apart.
154
t) There shall be Honorary Fellows of the lABS, proposed by the Board of
Directors and approved at General Meetings by at least three-fourths of the
members present. At no time shall there be more than fifteen (15) living
Honorary Fellows. Honorary Fellowship will be a very highly honored posi-
tion, and' shall be selected from among the very senior, emeritus scholars who
have devoted their lives to the cause of Buddhist Studies. Deceased Honorary
Fellows will be listed with their years of Honorary Fellowship status.
g) All Full Members shall receive The Journal of the lABS, and such other publica-
tions as the Executive of the lABS shall determine. They shall be eligible to
participate in the activities of the lABS.
ARTICLE V
Officers
Section I
The general officers of this Association shall be the Chairperson, three Vice
Chairpersons, General Secretary, and Treasurer. They shall be elected at the
General Meeting of the Association or by mail ballot, and shall serve for a term of
four years. They shall also be members of the Board of Directors.
Section 2
There shall be a Conference President whose duty it shall be to preside at
each conference or General Meeting of the lABS. A Conference President shall be
elected at the conclusion of a General Meeting to serve in that capacity until the
next General Meeting. The Conference President shall normally open the Gener-
al Meeting with an address. He shall have the right to attend meetings of the
Executive Committee as a co-opted member with full voting rights.
Section 3
The Chairperson shall be the highest functionary of the Board of Directors
and shall normally hold office for a period of four years. The Chairperson shall
also be the presiding officer of the Board of Directors.
Section 4
In the absence of the Chairperson, one of the three Vice-Chairpersons shall
preside at the meetings of the Board of Directors. When two or more Vice-
Chairpersons are present at a meeting of the Board of Directors in the absence of
the Chairperson, they shall elect one of their number to act as Chairperson for
that meeting.
Section 5
The General Secretary shall keep a record of all meetings of the Association
and of the Board of Directors and shall be in charge of the general administration
of the Association. The General Secretary shall keep and maintain all books,
records, papers, documents belonging to the Association or in any way pertaining
to the business thereof, shall issue notices and bulletins of meetings and other
matters of interest to members, and shall perform all other duties incident to that
155
office or which shall be assigned to the General Secretary. The General Secretary
shall also be the General Secretary of the Board of Directors, and shall coordinate
the activities of the Association in consultation with the three Regional Secretaries.
In the absence of the Chairperson and all of the Vice-Chairpersons the General
Secretary shall preside over meetings of the Board of Directors.
Section 6
The Treasurer shall have charge of the funds of othe lABS and shall receive
all sums due to it, and shall account for such funds to the General Meeting
through the Board of Directors. At the expiration of each financial year, or as
determined by the Board of Directors, the Treasurer shall prepare and submit to
a properly appointed auditor a full statement showing a balance sheet and the
receipts and expenses of the Association for the period in question. The Treasur-
er shall preseilt the said statement, together with the auditor's report relating
thereto, to the General Meeting. Unless the Board of Directors shall otherwise
determine, all checks shall be signed by the Treasurer or by the General Secretary.
Section 7
The three Regional Secretaries, in consultation with the General Secretary,
shall be in charge of the activities of the Association in specific fields and regions
to be determined by the Board of Directors.
Section 8
An Assistant Secretary may be nominated by the General Secretary, if neces-
sary, to assist in the day-to-day office activities of administration and editorial
work.
Section 9
The officers shall perform such other duties as may from time to tim-e be
assigned to them by the Board of Directors, or as may be required by these By-
laws.
ARTICLE VI
Board of Directors
Section 1
There shall be a Board of Directors composed of not more than twenty-five
members as follows;
a) Chairperson
b) Three Vice-Chairpersons
c) Treasurer
d) General Secretary
e) Three Regional Secretaries
f) Six Editors
g) Ten Members at Large
Section 2
If not determined by their term of office as one of the officers of the Associ-
156
ation, ,the term of the members of the Board of Directors shall be four years or
until their successors are elected. They shall be elected at the General Meeting of
the Association or by mail ballot.
Section 3
The Board of Directors shall have general charge of the affairs, finances and
property of the Association, and shall guide and implement the policy of the
lABS. The Board of Directors shall primarily be a policy-making body, and shall
also be the principal body charged with implementing such policies by conducting
the regular administrative functions of the Association.
Section 4
The Board of Directors shall have the power to set up sub-committees as
necessary to further the work of the Association. The recommendations of such
sub-committees shall be put into effect only upon the approval of the Board of
Directors.
Section 5
The Board of Directors shall meet annually or biennially prior to the General
Meeting of members, and at such other times as the Chairperson may direct. It
also may conduct its business by postal correspondence, in which case decisions
shall be made by a simple majority vote.
Section 6
Seven members of the Board of Directors shall constitute a quorum at any
meeting of the Board of Directors.
Section 7
Any vacancy occurring in the Board 'of Directors, including a vacancy created
by an increase in the membership of the Board of Directors, may be filled until the
succeeding annual meeting by the afirmative vote of a majority of the members of
the Board of Directors then in office, although less than a quorum.
Section 8
Any officer who is a member of the Board of Directors may be removed from
his or her office for cause by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE VII
General Meeting of members
Section 1
The General Meeting of the Association shall take place annually or biennial-
ly as the Board of Directors may decide.
Section 2
Twenty-five voting members of the Association shall constitute a quorum at
any General Meeting of the members for transaction of business.
157
ARTICLE VIII
Editorial Committee
Section 1
The Editor-in-Chief, with the help and advice of the members of the Editorial
Board, shall be responsible for the publication of The Journal of the lABS, and for
all other publications of the Association.
Section 2
In addition to the Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board shall consist of six
Editors, each of whom shall be chiefly responsible for editing papers pertaining to
relevant areas and disciplines assigned in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.
Section 3
At its discretion, the Editorial Board may appoint on the recomrriendation of
the Editor-in-Chief an Assistant Editor, to assist the Editor-in-Chief and the Edi-
tors.
Section 4
At its discretion, the Editorial Board may compile a panel of advisors to whom
articles and other matter submitted for publication may be sent for assessment.
The names of such a panel shall be submitted to the Board of Directors for
approval.
Section 5
Working rules regarding copyright of the Association's publications, provi-
sion of offprints to authors, prices for the Association'sJournal and similar matters
shall be drafted by the Editorial Board and approved by the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE IX
Branches of the Association
National and regional branches of the Association shall be formed only with
the approval of the Board of Directors, and their constitutions shall be submitted
to the Board of Directors for approval.
ARTICLE X
Fiscal Year
The fiscal year of the Association shall be the calendar year.
ARTICLE XI
Amendment of By-laws
These By-laws may be amended or new By-laws adopted by a: vote of at least
158
two-thirds of the Board of Directors pr'esent at the annual or biennial meeting or
at any special meeting of the Board of Directors cailed for this purpose, subject to
the approval of the lABS membership at the annual or biennial meeting, pro-
vided that such amendment or new By-law as proposed shall be submitted in
writing to the General Secretary at least twenty-four hours prior to said meeting,
Action of the ,Board of Directors recommending amendments and adoptions of
the By-laws may also be taken by postal correspondence.
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
BUDDHIST STUDIES, INC., JANUARY 1982
CHAIRPERSON:
VICE CHAIRPERSONS:
A. L. Basham (Australia)
Heinz Bechert (West Germany)
Lokesh Chandra (India)
Ismael Quiles (Argentina)
TREASURER: Beatrice Miller (USA)
GENERAL SECRETARY
(EDITOR.INCHIEF): A. K. Narain (India)
REGIONAL
SECRETARIES:
EDITORS:
ADDITONAL
MEMBERS
OF THE BOARD
OF DIRECTORS:
HONORARY
FELLOWS:
LATE HONORARY
FELLOWS:
159
Richard Gombrich (Europe)
Luis Gomez (Americas)
Akira Yuyama (Asia)
L.M. Joshi (India)
Alexander W. Macdonald
(France)
Bardwell Smith (USA)
Richard A. Gard (USA)
Jeffrey Hopkins (USA)
Per Kvaerne (Norway)
Charles Prebish (USA)
Alex Wayman (USA)
P.V. Bapat (India)
Kenneth K.S. Ch'en (USA)
Louis Ligeti (Hungary)
Shoson Miyamoto (Japan)
Gadjin Nagao (Japan)
Nicholas Poppe (USA)
Giuseppe Tucci (Italy)
O.H. de A. Wijesekera
(Sri Lanka)
Ernst Steinkellner (Austria)
J ikido Takasaki (J apan)
Robert Thurman (USA)
Akira Hirakawa (Japan)
Leslie Kawamura (Canada)
Lewis Lancaster (USA)
D. Seyfort Ruegg (USA)
Erik Zurcher (Netherlands)
Sir Harold W. Bailey (U.K.)
V.V. Gokhale (India)
Etienne Lamotte (Belgium)
T.R.V. Murti (India)
Hajime NakaIflUra (Japan)
Walpola Rahula (Sri Lanka)
Ernst Waldschmidt
(West Germany)
Edward Copze (1976-1979) Paul Demieville (1976-1979)
LB. Horner (1976-1981) P.L. Vaidya (1976-1978)
Susumu Yamaguchi (1976-1976)
A. L. Basham
Dept. of Asian Civilizations
Box 4
Australian National Univ.
Canberra
AUSTRALIA
Robert J. Bickner
Dept. of S. Asian Studies
Univ. of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706
George D. Bond
Dept. of Religions
Northwestern Univ.
1940 Sheridan Rd.
Evanston, IL 60201
Jose 1. Cabezon
Dept. of S. Asian Studies
Univ. of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706
E. Todd Fenner
1516 Simpson St.
Madison, WI
Rena Haggarty
Dept. of S. Asian Studies
Univ. of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706
Roger Jackson
Dept. of S. Asian Studies
Univ. of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706
160
CONTRIBUTORS
John P. Keenan
222 Park Ave.
Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Whalen W. Lai
Dept. of Religious Studies
912 Sproul Hall
U niv. of California
Davis, CA 95616
Miriam L. Levering
Dept. of Religion
Oberlin College
Oberlin, OH 44074
Diana Y. Paul
Dept. of Religious Studies
Building 70
Stanford Univ.
Stanford, CA 94305
Gregory Schopen
Dept. of Far Eastern Languages
and Literature
Univ. of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Alan Sponberg
Dept. of Religion
1879 Hall
Princeton Univ.
Princeton, NJ 08544
Kenneth G. Zysk
415 Orchid Dr.
Placentia, CA 92670
GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO JIABS
Article manuscripts, including footnotes, should not exceed approximately 30
pages in length; the original and one clear copy should be submitted. Material
for short p a p e r ~ , inclu0.ing footnotes, should not consist of more than 2,000
words and should be submitted in duplicate. Book reviews should not
ordinarily exceed 1,000 words and items for Notes and News should not
exceed 500 words. Manuscripts should be typed, doublespaced, preferably on
81/2 x 11 bond. Footnotes should be in the style of the MLA and placed at the
end of the manuscript. All publication material should be in English; exceptions
will be permitted in special cases by the Editor-in-Chief .
. " Generally the material for publication should follow the guidelines provided
by the MLA Style Sheet published by the Modern Language Association of
America. But certain aspects of it as well as modifications, as given below, must
be adhered to in preparing the final draft of the material.
"Italics: Italicize all non-English words except proper names; words listed in
Webster's Third New International Dictionary are normally considered to be
English words. Italicize all linguistic citations .
. Parenthesis and Brackets: Use square brackets to enclose editorial or explan-
atory material inserted in a quotation or translation.
Proper Names: Names of Asian origin should be given in standard
transcription (see below) and in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese,
the surname should precede the given name, except where modern writers or
public figures have established known preferences for the romanizations of
their own names. For well-known place names, use the established forms.
Transcription - Sanskrit, Pali and Other South Asian Languages: For
Sanskrit and Pali use the standard system given in A.L. Basham, The Wonder
That Was India, Appendix X; for other South Asian.languages use any available
standard transliteration system which is consistent and intelligible.
Chinese, Japanese, Korean: Chinese characters may be used in consultation
with the Editors in the body of the text but always preceded by the appropriate
romanization: for Chinese use the modified Wade-Giles system as found in
the "List of Syllabic Headings" in the American edition of Mathews' Chinese-
English Dictionary; for Japanese use the system of Kenkyusha's New Japanese-
English Dictionary, but with an apostrophe after syllable-final n before vowels;
for Korean use the system given in McCure-Reischauer, "The Romanization
of the Korean Language", Transactions of the Korean Branch, Royal Asiatic
Society, 29 (1939), 1-55.
Tibetan, Mongolian: For Tibetan use the transcription proposed by T. Wylie,
"A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription", Harvard Journal of Asian
Studies, 22 (1959), 261-7; for Mongolian use the appropriate system from
Antoine Mostaert, Dictionnaire Ordos, 769-809.
Footnotes and bibliographical references: Keep notes to a minimum. All notes
and references should conform to the MLA Style Sheet, pages 16-26; note
especially that the place, publisher and date of publication, within parentheses,
should follow the title, as in, e.g. A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (New
York: Grove Press, Inc., 1959).