Sacca-kiriya

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The motif of the sacca-kiriyā presumes a natural moral force operating in the world.[1]

Sacca-kiriyā (

Jain
texts.

The sacca-kiriyā presumes a moral force of truth that is operating in the world, and is stronger than gods or humans. Although sacca-kiriyā often refer to characteristics of the Buddha, the Buddhist teaching, and the monastic community, it can also refer to facts with regard to natural phenomena, such as the sun or the moon. Some scholars believe that the effectiveness of a sacca-kiriyā as portrayed in stories depends on virtue and good character, whereas other scholars understand the sacca-kiriyā to be merely about speaking according to facts. Scholars theorize that the sacca-kiriyā is an ancient belief that precedes Buddhism, but was used in Buddhism as a teaching device to explain Buddhist ethics and other teachings. The principles underlying the sacca-kiriyā have also been connected with Mahatma Gandhi's ideal of non-violent resistance, and many other aspects of Asian culture and religious life.

Definition

O great king, is there such a thing in this world as truth, by means of which truth-speakers perform an act of truth?

Milindapañhā 4.1.42, quoted in Thompson 1998[5]

Sacca-kiriyā is a compound noun that derives from the root verb saccikaroti, meaning 'to bring before one's eyes, see face to face, realize, experience, attain'.

Pali: vatthu) for the realization of the sacca-kiriyā,[10] but the ground need not be causally related to it.[15] Sometimes, the sacca-kiriyā is finished with certain symbolic rituals, such as the pouring of water, bathing and putting on new garments, and so forth.[16][11] The sacca-kiriyā is always a formal act.[17] Indologist George Thompson uses the term "performative utterance" as coined by philosopher J. L. Austin, because the sacca-kiriyā manages to realize the statement "in the very uttering".[18]

The Indic sacca-kiriyā is in its essence very similar to oaths that can be found in ancient Indo-European literature. It differs, however, in that the speaker does not necessarily commit to a course of action, but rather expresses a performative utterance, which is immediate and miraculous in nature.[19]

Well-known examples

Relief depicting King Ashoka visiting the Bodhi Tree
Visit of King Ashoka to the Bodhi Tree.

There are many examples in literature and in Asian history of people making a sacca-kiriyā. The most well-known is that of the Buddha himself. On the evening of his

Buddhas in the past, the fire miraculously retreats.[21][11]

A legendary example of a sacca-kiriyā referring to a future act is emperor Ashoka, who vows that by the truth of his intention to support and sustain Buddhism, a dying Bodhi Tree may be saved, which then happens according to his vow.[22][23] Another example raised by Indologist Richard Gombrich is that of the Sri Lankan King Duṭṭhagāmaṇi, who used a sacca-kiriyā in warfare.[24] And more recently, the Buddhist reformer Anagārika Dharmapāla referred to his good intentions for restoring the pilgrimage site Bodh Gaya into Buddhist hands, and resolved that by those intentions help would come in this campaign.[22]

Tradition Name text Speaker Truth referred to in the story Statement made
Theravāda Buddhism
Sivi Jātaka
 King Sivi giving his eyes away "If this saying is true, may the eye be restored!"[25]
Theravāda Buddhism
Milindapañhā
 the courtesan Bindumatī freedom from fondness and contempt towards her clients to cause the great Ganges to flow against the current[26]
Theravāda Buddhism
Paṇḍara Jātaka
 a snake king that an ascetic is deceiving the snake king "If this saying is true, let your head split into seven pieces!"[27]
Theravāda Buddhism
Maccha Jātaka
 a fish never having devoured any other fishes to cause the rain to fall during a drought[28]
Theravāda Buddhism
Kañhadipayana Jātaka
 a mother of a sick child not having loved her husband to have the poison removed from her child's body[29][30]
Mūlasarvāstivāda
 Divyāvadāna Ānanda, disciple of the Buddha the
Triple Gem
is supreme in the world 		to heal and make the body of a maimed man whole again[31][32]
Theravāda Buddhism
 Commentary to the Dhammapada Uttarā not being angry with Sirimā, a courtesan who had a relationship with her husband "If I cherish anger towards her, may this ghee burn me. If not, may it not burn me."[33]
Theravāda Buddhism
 Commentary to the Dhammapada Puṇṇa giving to the monk
Sāriputta
without reserve 		"May I be a partaker of the Dhamma you have yourself beheld"[34]
Theravāda Buddhism
Jātaka
Prince Siddhattha
 to become
enlightened
in the future 		throwing a hairknot in the air and letting it remain stationed there[35]
Vedic and Sanskrit literature
Mahābhārata
 Damayanti her chastity May her real husband reveal himself to her, and the gods disguising as her husband fail to disguise themselves.[36]
Jainism Pārśavanātha Caritra a queen her husband, the king, has practiced charity in mind be able to cross a wild river[37]

Examples of sacca-kiriyā in Indic literature

Motifs and principles

The sacca-kiriyā is a motif found in the stories of the Buddhist

Nāgasena's reply is that King Sivi did not receive divine help, nor is there a physical cause for the healing, but he was healed "by truth alone".[45][5]

Although the sacca-kiriyā usually refers to a past act, sometimes devotees may refer to a future act which they will perform, or a good intention that has not yet been acted upon.

Pali: patthanā) and usually involves an aim in a future life.[47] Moreover, a sacca-kiriyā can be performed for another person's benefit, for example to heal another person. In this case, the speaker may refer to the other's person virtue, rather than his own. Devotees performing a sacca-kiriyā may also refer to a truthful statement about the Triple Gem.[48][49] An example of this is the statement that the Buddha is born "for the salvation of all beings".[48] In the Buddhist text Ratana Sutta many other examples are given.[50] Lastly, at times, a sacca-kiriya may refer to the reality of certain natural phenomena, such as the sun or moon, or the characteristics of certain places, or simply a factual statement,[51][15] even a failure to do something or a mistake made.[52] In general, however, the effectiveness of the utterance depends on the speaker's truthfulness and the religious merit the speaker possesses.[53][40]

Buddhist tales relate that not only spiritually advanced people can perform a sacca-kiriyā, but also common people, although this is less common in pre-Buddhist

Vedic literature.[54][55] Furthermore, in the literature examples exist of people using a sacca-kiriyā to deceive or curse others, or in other ways act in an anti-social way. Even these people have the power to control the outside environment and people through a sacca-kiriyā.[56][57] Certain people with an immoral reputation in the stories, such as the courtesan Bindumatī, are also depicted as being able to do miracles, based on a truthful statement they make. In the case of the courtesan the truth is that she is "free alike from fawning and contempt" for her clients, regardless of their caste.[58][59] Buddhism scholar Luis Gómez argued that the truth of the courtesan was simply that she never denied being a courtesan.[60]

Scholars are not in agreement what determines the power of the sacca-kiriyā. Judging from the story of courtesan Bindumatī, religion scholar

William Norman Brown, who stressed that the sacca-kiriyā was mostly ethical rather than magical. On the other hand, Indologist Heinrich Lüders stated that the sacca-kiriyā is somewhere "in the middle between oath and magic".[64]

Origins

Symbols of all major religions
According to the Indologist Eugene Burlingame, the sacca-kiriyā derives from a belief found everywhere in the world, that truth has an inherent importance and power in it.[65]

According to Burlingame, the sacca-kiriyā derives from a belief found everywhere in the world, which underlies many forms of religiosity, both of major religions and of

deux ex machina device to facilitate story-telling.[66]

Indologist William Norman Brown argued that the sacca-kiriyā is based on "truth of life, personal integrity, truth in one's personal conduct in its totality, truth in acceptance of responsibilities and fulfillment of them".

Bhagavadgītā.[70][71] This fulfillment implies a high commitment to a virtue or vow and a sense of sacrifice to that end. Zimmer further argued that living one's life in a virtuous way like this, is in itself a sacca-kiriyā.[72]

Thompson and Kong reject Brown's theory, however, both arguing that Brown is applying anachronisms. Kong states that such a belief had not yet developed in Vedic times. Thompson takes issue with the moral nature of Brown's theory.[73] Kong also rejects that the sacca-kiriyā is a fulfillment of duty, and argues that it is more a statement of fact. Kong, as well as Lüders, do concur that as early as the Rig Veda and Atharvaveda, a belief is attested with regard to the efficacy of utterances of truth. Kong does describe the sacca-kiriyā as a pre-Buddhist "old belief". She does not believe it had much to do with fulfillment of duties, however.[74][75] Drawing from textual analysis of Indic and other ancient Indo-European sources, Thompson also argues that the sacca-kiriyā was a pre-Buddhist practice, popular and widespread.[76]

Kong theorizes that the idea of

morality. However, she continues, these are not the actual manifestations of truth: only through the manifestation of truth, i.e. the spoken word that corresponds with facts, can a sacca-kiriyā be accomplished.[77]

With regard to the sacca-kiriyā scholars point out that speaking untruth in early Buddhist ethics was highly condemned, often more so than other vices: in other words, truthful speech was very important to Buddhist ethics.[78][79]

Influence on Asian societies

Practice in religions from India

Aṅgulimāla
charging to kill the Buddha.

In a story about the disciple

Aṅgulimāla, he performs a sacca-kiriyā to help a woman deliver a baby safely. The words recorded in the story have become one of the paritta recitations,[80][81] still chanted today for pregnant women.[82][83] This example shows that the power of truth can still be invoked later, "even when the person who first set the truth in motion has left the scene". The blessing of Aṅgulimāla is believed to be a means to tap into Aṅgulimāla's power. Just like the Aṅgulimāla Sutta, the Ratana Sutta and other parittas are therefore still chanted today, as part of blessings given on special occasions. These texts will usually contain phrases typical for a truth-command in a sacca-kiriyā, followed by a wish for the listeners.[12]

Kong argues that the worship of relics in the early centuries of Buddhist history was based on the principle of sacca-kiriyā. Thus,

living beings can be invoked again by Pure Land devotees today.[85][86] They can do so by calling Amitābha's name, because "his Name is the Vow".[87]

impermanence
of the flowers on the one hand (a natural phenomenon), and based on the power of the accumulated merit on the other hand. Kong adds to that,

Though the verse of offering flowers is recited in front of an image of the Buddha, it is not a prayer to the Buddha. Rather, it is an aspiration that is uttered on the basis of the belief in the power of truth utterance.[88]

Kong concludes that the teachings on the efficacy of

self by an example of a sacca-kiriyā performed by a thief.[94]

Gandhian philosophy

Scholars have further linked the concept of sacca-kiriyā to

Sanskrit: satyāgraha), literally meaning 'strict adherence to truth'.[95][96][note 2] Satyāgraha, as Zimmer states, was based on Gandhi's "love of truth and dharma",[98] and scholars argue that non-violence was Gandhi's sacca-kiriyā, which defined his satyāgraha.[99][100] Gandhi scholar Veena Howard does point out, however, that Gandhi's satyāgraha was a political community ideal, and was not limited to the individual as in the accounts of sacca-kiriyā. Furthermore, in Gandhi's satyāgraha, the divine will played an important role, whereas in the traditional sacca-kiriyā this was not the case. Nevertheless, Gandhi's concept of God was abstract and impersonal, and with regard to the sacca-kiriyā, religion scholar Arvind Sharma notes that Gandhi equated God with truth, or even placed truth above God, and morality above the metaphysical.[101][96]

Brown argued that the idea of the sacca-kiriyā has not only influenced

Satyaṃ eva jayate, meaning 'Truth alone conquers', originating from the Muṇḍaka Upaniśad.[102]

Other applications

Painting of Chinese monk walking with a large backpack
Xuanzang (602–664 CE)

Sacca-kiriyās may have been used as a device to prove someone's innocence or truthfulness during an ordeal, as has been recorded in ancient Indian epics and classical dramas. This involved entering into a fire, and it was believed the innocent would survive the ordeal by the power of their truthfulness, expressed through a sacca-kiriyā.[103] However, in a Jain story relating a fire-ordeal, the accused survives by admitting her wrongdoing, rather than her innocence.[104] Brown did not think that such ordeals were actual sacca-kiriyā, though, as such passages merely teach "the widespread belief that Truth protects the righteous".[99]

Other applications of the sacca-kiriyā have also been observed. A sacca-kiriyā is inscribed at the gateway of the first

Xuan Zang (602–664 CE).[106]

The motif of the sacca-kiriyā continues to feature in South-Asian literature, up until recent centuries.[107] For example, Asian Studies scholar Keller Kimbrough writes that 18th-century Japanese poems contain statements very similar to a sacca-kiriya. Sometimes used to conjure rain and alleviate drought, it was believed that such poetry had to be written with an honest intention to be effective.[108]

Apart from applications in religions that date from India, it has also been suggested some Zorastrianist texts can be explained as forms of sacca-kiriyā.[109]

See also

Notes

  1. Sanskrit: satya.[2][4]
  2. Gandhi was not familiar with the term sacca-kiriyā.[97]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Harvey 1993, p. 68.
  2. ^ a b Burlingame 1917, p. 434.
  3. ^ Kong 2006, p. 149.
  4. ^ Brown 1972, p. 252.
  5. ^ a b Thompson 1998, p. 128.
  6. OCLC 922899496
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  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-470-65877-2. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 16 March 2015.
  8. ^ a b Thompson 1997, p. 142.
  9. ^ Brown 1968, p. 171.
  10. ^ a b Harvey 1993, p. 69.
  11. ^ a b c d e Burlingame 1917, p. 432.
  12. ^ a b Kong 2006, pp. 66–72, 81.
  13. ^ Harvey 1993, pp. 68–9, 73.
  14. ^ a b c Burlingame 1917, p. 430.
  15. ^ a b Gómez 2000, p. 16.
  16. ^ Harvey 1993, p. 70.
  17. ^ Burlingame 1917, pp. 432, 434.
  18. ^ Thompson 1998, p. 126.
  19. ^ Thompson 1998, pp. 141–3.
  20. ^ Hara 2009, p. 270.
  21. ^ a b Kariyawasam 2003, pp. 590–1.
  22. ^ a b c Harvey 1993, p. 71.
  23. ^ Kariyawasam 2003, p. 591.
  24. ^ Kong 2006, p. 289.
  25. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 81–2, 152.
  26. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 103–4.
  27. ^ Kong 2006, p. 108.
  28. ^ Kong 2006, p. 109.
  29. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 111–2.
  30. ^ Brown 1972, pp. 257–8.
  31. ^ Kong 2006, p. 121.
  32. ^ Brown 1972, pp. 255–6.
  33. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 136–8.
  34. ^ a b Kong 2006, p. 167.
  35. ^ Kong 2006, p. 140.
  36. ^ Brown 1972, p. 255.
  37. ^ Brown 1972, p. 258.
  38. ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4
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  39. ^ Harvey 1993, p. 67.
  40. ^
    doi:10.3406/arch.2012.4342
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  41. ^ Harvey 1993, pp. 70, 72.
  42. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 142–3.
  43. ^ Kariyawasam 2003, p. 590.
  44. ^ Thompson 1998, p. 127.
  45. ^ Burlingame 1917, pp. 437–8.
  46. ^ Kong 2006, p. 14.
  47. ^ Kong 2006, p. 179.
  48. ^ a b Harvey 1993, pp. 71–2.
  49. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 63–4, 121.
  50. ^ Kong 2006, p. 64.
  51. ^ Kong 2006, p. 11.
  52. ^ Harvey 1993, pp. 67, 73.
  53. ^ Kariyawasam 2003, p. 589.
  54. ISBN 978-0-521-89986-4
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  55. ^ Howard 2013, p. 56.
  56. ^ Burlingame 1917, p. 431.
  57. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 10–1, 153.
  58. ^ Burlingame 1917, p. 440.
  59. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 7, 12, 103–4.
  60. ^ Gómez 2000, p. 17.
  61. ^ Eckel 2001, p. 68.
  62. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 184–5, 188.
  63. ^ Thompson 1998, pp. 129–30, 145.
  64. ^ Thompson 1998, p. 140: "... zwischen Eid und Zauber die Mitte haltend."
  65. ^ Burlingame 1917, pp. 434–5.
  66. ^ Burlingame 1917, pp. 434–5, 437.
  67. ^ Kong 2006, p. 8.
  68. ^ Brown 1972, p. 260.
  69. ^ Brown 1968, p. 173.
  70. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 8–10, 101, 103–5.
  71. ^ Howard 2013, p. 52.
  72. ^ Howard 2013, pp. 52–3.
  73. ^ Thompson 1998, p. 129.
  74. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 10, 31, 92–3, 107–13, 139.
  75. JSTOR 27860228
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  76. ^ Thompson 1998, p. 133.
  77. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 40–1, 51, 53, 63, 191–4, 209.
  78. ^ Appleton 2013, pp. 31–2.
  79. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 169–71.
  80. ISBN 978-1-4384-3251-9. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 16 March 2015.
  81. ISBN 978-0-691-15786-3
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  82. ^ Appleton 2013, p. 141.
  83. ^ Eckel 2001, pp. 67–8.
  84. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 285–91.
  85. ^ Eckel 2001, pp. 68–9.
  86. ^ Gómez 2000, pp. 15–6.
  87. ^ Gómez 2000, p. 19.
  88. ^ a b Kong 2006, pp. 61–3.
  89. ^ Caillat, C. (2003). "Gleanings from a Comparative Reading of Early Canonical Buddhist and Jaina Texts". Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. 26 (1): 41.
  90. ^ Kekki, Maria (2010). Curses, Truth and the Coming of Maitreya - Lanna Inscriptions as Objects of Power (PDF). Magic and Buddhism in Southeast Asia: A Critical Reassessment of the Field. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 February 2018.
  91. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 61, 136–9, 146, 204–9, 267.
  92. ^ Brown 1968, pp. 175–6.
  93. S2CID 170241941
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  94. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 134–6.
  95. ^ Howard 2013, p. 55.
  96. ^
    doi:10.1080/00856408708723092
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  97. S2CID 170087873
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  98. ^ Howard 2013, p. 54.
  99. ^ a b Brown 1972, p. 267.
  100. ^ Kong 2006, pp. 113–4.
  101. ^ Howard 2013, pp. 52, 55–6.
  102. ^ Brown 1972, p. 268.
  103. ^ Hara 2009, pp. 253–4, 260.
  104. ^ Kong 2006, p. 12.
  105. ^ Kong 2006, p. 141.
  106. ^ Witzel, M. (1987). "The case of the shattered head". In Wezler, Inge (ed.). Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik. pp. 397, 407–8, 415.
  107. ^ Brown 1968, p. 176.
  108. JSTOR 30233775
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  109. JSTOR 600326
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References

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