Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa | |
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Occupation | Buddhist monk |
Era | 5th century |
Movement | Theravada Buddhism |
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Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian
His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga ("Path of Purification"), a comprehensive summary of older Sinhala commentaries on Theravada teachings and practices. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravada this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of meditation."[4] The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravada scriptures since at least the 12th century CE.[5][6]
He is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravadins as the most important philosopher and commentator of the Theravada,[2][7] but is also criticised for his departures from the canonical texts[citation needed].
Name
The name Buddhaghosa means "Voice of the Buddha" (Buddha+ghosa) in Pali,[8] the language in which Buddhaghosa composed. In Sanskrit, the name would be spelled Buddhaghoṣa (Devanagari बुद्धघोष), but there is no retroflex ṣ sound in Pali, and the name is not found in Sanskrit works.[9]
Biography
Limited reliable information is available about the life of Buddhaghosa. Three primary sources of information exist: short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works; details of his life recorded in the
The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at the time of his actual composition.[7][12] Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Sri Lanka from India and settled in Anuradhapura.[13] Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison.[13]
In the
In Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of Sinhala commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the
Buddhaghosa went on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures.[2] Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhala commentary preserved at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the Bodhi Tree.[16]
The details of the Mahavamsa account cannot readily be verified; while it is generally regarded by Western scholars as having been embellished with legendary events (such as the hiding of Buddhaghosa's text by the gods), in the absence of contradictory evidence it is assumed to be generally accurate.[16] While the Mahavamsa claims that Buddhaghosa was born in northern India near Bodh Gaya, the epilogues to his commentaries make reference to only one location in India as being a place of at least temporary residence: Kanci in southern India.[7] Some scholars thus conclude (among them Oskar von Hinüber and Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera) that Buddhaghosa was actually born in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh[19] and was relocated in later biographies to give him closer ties to the region of the Buddha.[7]
The Buddhaghosuppatti, a later biographical text, is generally regarded by Western scholars as being legend rather than history.[20] It adds to the Mahavamsa tale certain details, such as the identity of Buddhaghosa's parents and his village, as well as several dramatic episodes, such as the conversion of Buddhaghosa's father and Buddhaghosa's role in deciding a legal case.[21] It also explains the eventual loss of the Sinhala originals that Buddhaghosa worked from in creating his Pali commentaries by claiming that Buddhaghosa collected and burnt the original manuscripts once his work was completed.[22]
Commentarial style
Buddhaghosa was reputedly responsible for an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of ancient
Writing style
Method
According to Maria Heim, Buddhaghosa is explicitly clear and systematic regarding his
Regarding his systematic thought, Maria Heim and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad see Buddhaghosa's use of Abhidhamma as part of a phenomenological "contemplative structuring" which is expressed in his writings on Buddhist praxis.[33] They argue that "Buddhaghosa’s use of nāma-rūpa should be seen as the analytic by which he understands how experience is undergone, and not his account of how some reality is structured."[33]
Yogacara influences
Some scholars have argued that Buddhaghosa's writing evinces a strong but unacknowledged
Theory of consciousness
The philosopher
Buddhaghosa is unlike nearly every other Buddhist philosopher in that he discusses episodic memory and knows it as a reliving of experience from one’s personal past; but he blocks any reduction of the phenomenology of temporal experience to the representation of oneself as in the past. The alternative claim that episodic memory is a phenomenon of attention is one he develops with greater sophistication than has been done elsewhere.[37]
Ganeri sees Buddhaghosa's work as being free from a mediational picture of the mind and also free of the Myth of the Given, two views he sees as having been introduced by the Indian philosopher Dignāga.[38]
Meditation
The
The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work.[46] He concludes that Buddhaghosa did not believe that following the practice set forth in the Visuddhimagga will really lead him to Nirvana, basing himself on the postscript (colophon) to the text which states the author hopes to be reborn in heaven and wait until Metteyya (Maitreya) appears to teach the Dharma.[46][note 2] However, according to the Burmese scholar Venerable Pandita, the colophon to the Visuddhimagga is not by Buddhaghosa.[49]
According to Sarah Shaw, "it is unlikely that the meditative tradition could have survived in such a healthy way, if at all, without his detailed lists and exhaustive guidance."
Attributed works
The
Tipitaka | Buddhaghosa's commentary | ||
---|---|---|---|
from the Vinaya Pitaka
|
Vinaya (general) | Samantapasadika | |
Patimokkha |
Kankhavitarani | ||
from the Sutta Pitaka
|
Digha Nikaya
|
Sumangalavilasini | |
Majjhima Nikaya
|
Papañcasudani | ||
Samyutta Nikaya
|
Saratthappakasini | ||
Anguttara Nikaya
|
Manorathapurani | ||
from the Khuddaka Nikaya
|
Khuddakapatha |
Paramatthajotika (I) | |
Dhammapada | Dhammapada-atthakatha | ||
Sutta Nipata | Paramatthajotika (II), Suttanipata-atthakatha | ||
Jataka
|
Jatakatthavannana, Jataka-atthakatha | ||
from the Abhidhamma Pitaka
|
Dhammasangani |
Atthasālinī | |
Vibhanga |
Sammohavinodani | ||
Dhatukatha
|
Pañcappakaranatthakatha | ||
Puggalapaññatti
| |||
Kathavatthu
| |||
Yamaka | |||
Patthana
|
While traditional accounts list Buddhaghosa as the author of all of these works, some scholars hold that only the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the first four Nikayas as Buddhaghosa's work.[55] Meanwhile, Maria Heim holds that Buddhaghosa is the author of the commentaries on the first four Nikayas, the Samantapasadika, the Paramatthajotika, the Visuddhimagga and the three commentaries on the books of the Abhidhamma.[56]
Maria Heim also notes that some scholars hold that Buddaghosa was the head of a team of scholars and translators, and that this is not an unlikely scenario.[57]
Influence and legacy
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In the 12th century, the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) monk Sāriputta Thera became the leading scholar of the Theravada following the reunification of the Sri Lankan (Sinhala) monastic community by King Parakramabahu I.[5] Sariputta incorporated many of the works of Buddhaghosa into his own interpretations.[5] In subsequent years, many monks from Theravada traditions in Southeast Asia sought ordination or re-ordination in Sri Lanka because of the reputation of the Sri Lankan (Sinhala) Mahavihara lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship.[5] The result was the spread of the teachings of the Mahavihara tradition — and thus Buddhaghosa — throughout the Theravada world.[5] Buddhaghosa's commentaries thereby became the standard method by which the Theravada scriptures were understood, establishing Buddhaghosa as the definitive interpreter of Theravada doctrine.[17]
In later years, Buddhaghosa's fame and influence inspired various accolades. His life story was recorded, in an expanded and likely exaggerated form, in a Pali chronicle known as the Buddhaghosuppatti, or "The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa".
Finally, Buddhaghosa's works likely played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the
According to Maria Heim, he is "one of the greatest minds in the history of Buddhism" and British philosopher Jonardon Ganeri considers Buddhaghosa "a true innovator, a pioneer, and a creative thinker."[62][63] Yet, according to Buddhadasa, Buddhaghosa was influenced by Hindu thought, and the uncritical respect for the Visuddhimagga has even hindered the practice of authentic Buddhism.[64][65]
Notes
- ^ See also Bronkhorst (1993), Two Traditions of Meditation in ancient India; Wynne (2007), The Origin of Buddhist Meditation; and Polak (2011), Reexaming Jhana
- ^ Devotion to Metteya was common in South Asia from early in the Buddhist era, and is believed to have been particularly popular during Buddhaghosa's era.[47][48]
References
- ^ (Hinüber 1996, p. 103) is more specific, estimating dates for Buddhaghosa of 370–450 CE based on the Mahavamsa and other sources. Following the Mahavamsa, (Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxvi) places Buddhaghosa's arrival as coming during the reign of King Mahanama, between 412 and 434 CE.
- ^ a b c d Strong 2004, p. 75.
- ^ Gethin, Rupert, Was Buddhaghosa a Theravādin? Buddhist Identity in the Pali Commentariesand Chronicles, 2012.
- ^ a b c Shaw 2006, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e (Crosby 2004, p. 837)
- ^ Gombrich 2012, p. 51.
- ^ a b c d e (Hinüber 1996, p. 102)
- ^ Rhys Davids & Stede, 1921-25, Pali-English Dictionary, Pali Text Society.
- ^ "Sanskrit Dictionary". Retrieved July 23, 2016.
- ^ a b Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxviii.
- ^ Gray 1892.
- ^ (Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxix)
- ^ a b Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxix-xxx.
- ^ a b c Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxiv.
- ^ Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxii.
- ^ a b c d Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxv.
- ^ a b c Strong 2004, p. 76.
- ^ Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxc.
- ^ "Amaravati to retain its slice of history | Hyderabad News - Times of India". The Times of India. 20 April 2016.
- ^ a b Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxix.
- ^ Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxvii-xxxviii.
- ^ Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxviii.
- S2CID 162298602.
- S2CID 177287397.
- JSTOR 1397003.
- ^ Heim 2013, p. 7.
- ^ Ñāṇamoli, 1999, Introduction p. xxxvii
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 54.
- ^ Heim 2018, p. 5-6.
- ^ a b Heim 2018, p. 9.
- ^ Heim 2018, p. 13.
- ^ Heim 2018, p. 14.
- ^ a b Heim, Ram-Prasad, In a Double Way: Nāma-rūpa in Buddhaghosa’s Phenomenology, Philosophy East and West, University of Hawai'i Press.
- ISBN 0700711864pg 106 n 30
- ^ Kalupahana 1994.
- ^ Ganeri, 2018, 32.
- ^ a b c Ganeri, 2018, 31.
- ^ Ganeri, 2018, 34.
- ^ Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
- ISBN 9781921842108
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 117.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 136.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 137.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 137-138.
- ISBN 9781921842108
- ^ a b The Broken Buddha by S. Dhammika, see p.13 of 80
- ^ Sponberg 2004, p. 737–738.
- ^ "Maitreya (Buddhism) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Retrieved 2009-01-28.
- ^ Ven. Pandita (2018). The Authorship of the Vinaya and Abhidhamma Commentaries: A Response to von Hinüber. Journal of Buddhist ethics 25:269-332. University of Kelaniya.
- ^ Buswell 2004, p. 889.
- ^ Buswell 2004, p. 890.
- ^ McMahan 2008, p. 189.
- ^ (Hinüber 1996, p. 103)
- ^ Table based on (Bullitt 2002) For translations see Atthakatha
- ^ For instance, regarding the Khuddha Nikaya commentaries, (Hinüber 1996, pp. 130–1) writes:
- Neither Pj [Paramattha-jotika] I nor Pj II can be dated, not even in relation to each other, except that both presuppose Buddhaghosa. In spite of the 'Buddhaghosa colophon' added to both commentaries ... no immediate relation to Buddhaghosa can be recognized.... Both Ja [Jataka-atthavannana] and Dhp-a [Dhammapada-atthakatha] are traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa, an assumption which has been rightly questioned by modern research....
- ^ Heim 2018, p. 19.
- ^ Heim 2013, p. 9.
- ^ (Pranke 2004, p. 574)
- ^ a b Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxvii.
- ^ Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxvii-xxviii.
- ^ Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxxix-x.
- ^ Heim 2013, p. 4.
- ^ Ganeri, 2018, p. 30.
- ^ S. Payulpitack (1991), Buddhadasa and His Interpretation of Buddhism
- ^ Buddhadasa, Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination
Sources
- ISBN 1-928706-01-0
- Bullitt, John T. (2002), Beyond the Tipitaka: A Field Guide to Post-canonical Pali Literature, archived from the original on 2009-05-09, retrieved 2009-04-07
- Buswell, Robert, ed. (2004), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, MacMillan
- Crosby, Kate (2004), "Theravada", in Buswell, Robert E. Jr. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 836–841, ISBN 0-02-865910-4
- Ganeri, Jonardon (2017), Attention, Not Self, Oxford University Press
- Gombrich, Richard F. (12 November 2012). Buddhist Precept & Practice. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-15623-6.
- Gray, James, trans. (1892), Buddhaghosuppatti or the Historical Romance of the Rise and Career of Buddhaghosa, London: Luzac
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Heim, Maria (2013), The Forerunner of All Things: Buddhaghosa on Mind, Intention, and Agency, USA: OUP USA
- Heim, Maria (2018), Voice of the Buddha: Buddhaghosa on the Immeasurable Words, Oxford University Press
- Hinüber, Oskar von (1996), A Handbook of Pali Literature, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 81-215-0778-2
- Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
- McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195183276
- Pranke, Patrick A. (2004), "Myanmar", in Buswell, Robert E. Jr. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 574–577, ISBN 0-02-865910-4
- Rogers, Henry Thomas, trans. (1870): Buddhaghosha's Parables / translated from Burmese. With an Introduction, containing Buddha's Dhammapada, or "Path of Virtue" / transl. from Pâli by F. Max Müller, London: Trübner.
- Shankman, Richard (2008), The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, Shambhala
- Shaw, Sarah (2006), Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from the Pali Canon, Routledge
- Sponberg, Alan (2004), "Maitreya", in Buswell, Robert E. Jr. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 0-02-865910-4
- ISBN 0-02-865910-4
Further reading
- Law, Bimala Charan (1923). The life and work of Buddhaghosa, Calcutta, Thacker, Spink.
- Pe Maung Tin (1922). The path of purity; being a translation of Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagg. London, Published for the Pali Text Society by Oxford University Press.
External links