Cross Currents in Early Buddhism

Abstract

Buddhism, during the age of Asoka, was characterised by If. reassessment of the meaning, significance, implications and pre!>uppositions of the trad it ional Buddhist ideas. Diverse hypotheses were advanced to elucidate and harmonise them internally within the context of Buddhist thought as also with the ideas which were then current in the general intellectual milieu of the times. The Katnii),attnu is the leading document of this age. anage when repeated scbisms had rent the original unity of Buddhism and produced an atmosphere seething with many-sided reflection s, doctrinal debates and controversies. It presents a broad cross-section of Buddhist thought in an ag! of critical transition when some of the conflicts and obscurities latent in the earlier doctrines emerged openly and when in the course of their dis· cussion ground was prepared for future development. The Kathiil'atthu, thus, presents a watershed in the development of" Buddhist thought. Before the emergence of the controversies, recorded in this text, Buddhism still presented, more or less, an ecumenical aspect. but not long aflerwards the beginnings of the Mahayana are clearly traceable. The Kathiil'atthu, thus, is a magnum opus for any reconstruction of the history of early Buddhism, especially for understanding the figurative transition from the earlier historical forms to the later developed systems. Despite the importance of Kathavaithu, liUle work bas, ho\\evcr, been done so far to understand and elucidate its admittedly difficult ar.d often obscure, even enigmatic, contents. A.c. Taylor brought out the first Roman edition of the text as published by the Pali Text Society, london in two volumes. respectively in the years 1894 and 1897. The learned society, again. did great service to the Buddhist studies, by publishing . the English translation of the text in the year 1915 completed by S.Z. Auog and Mrs. C.A,F. Rhys Davids. In 1961,. Bhiksu lagdish Kashyap edited the text in Niigari characters,.. published in the Nalanda: Devanagari Pa:li Series. Buddhaghosa's commentary (Aflhakathii) on the Kathlivatihu, was edited by J .P. Minayetf and was published in JPTS 1889. B.C. Law translated this commentary into English in the year 1940. Owing to the -endeavour of the translators some welcome light has certainly -been thrown on the difficult text. Still its obscurities continue to require explanation. Tn fact the tran slators have often rendered the original quite literally and have glossed over the obscurities many a times. Scholars like W. Wassilieff, Max Wal/eser, Louis de La Vallee Poussin, J. Masuda, Andre Bareau, Nalinaksha Dutt, etc. , have brought to light similar controversies from other Buddhist texts not traceable in their originals. They, however, appear to have largely contented themselves with recording the theses professed by the different ·sects. Thus. although, some amount of material has been made available for the study of Katluivatthu still no comprehensive attempt has been made to analyse the world of thought presented in it. The present work is a modest attempt to proceed in that direction. The Kat"hiiva{lhu undoubtedly forms thefons el origo of our study , yet. with a view to pre~enting a fuller account of the cross cu rrents in earlv Buddhism almost all relevant sources have been tapped in extenso, such as, other P5.1i canonical and non·canonical works, treatises of Va~umitra, Bhavya and Vinitadeva on eighteen Budihist sects, Chine~e travellers' accou nts, extant works of the Buddhist sects etc. The present work seeks to elucidate the doctrines of th ~ early Buddni:;t sects, as presented in the Kat1uivaiihu in the light of the historical development of Buddhist thought and its wider milieu. Jt not only seeks to analyse the originl.! significance of the points discussed but to connect them hi stori cally with specific tendencies in the growth p f the Buddhist faith , practice and organ isation. It further seeks to correlate Buddhist develop ments with si milar developments in other contemporary ~hools. The work is substantially based on my Ph.D. thesis entitled. "Doctrinal Controversies in Early Buddhism" approved by the Univer:;ity of Rajasthan, Jaipur in 1968. The work is di\-jd e-d into three sections containing eleven chapters in all. Section A. "Genesis and Growth of Controversies" comprises ·the fi rst two chaplers. Chapter I, "Katluivatthu and its Contraver~ i es" deals with the nature and place of Kathavatthu in the Buddh ist Canon wherein it has been shown that the tenets and doctrines attributed to the different early Buddhist sects and doctrinal controversies arising therefrom, as recorded in this text, should be taken to belong generally to the' age of Asoka. We have also ana lysed the philosophical and religious issues that were under constant debate from pre-Buddhist Ii mes in the background of which the Buddha delivered his own gospel leaving some gaps pregnant with pos~ibilities of disputes and ·controversies to ari se in future. The chapter is appended with a brief accoun t of Ihe methodology of debate employed in the Kathiif'atthu in particu lar and in that age in general. In Chapter II. " Growth and Ramification of the Early Buddhist Sects and Schools". an attempt has been made to anal yse the origin. growt h, stratiftcation and affiliation of the different sects.