Pre-sectarian Buddhism, also called early Buddhism, the earliest Buddhism, original Buddhism, and primitive Buddhism, is Buddhism as theorized to have existed before the various
Early Buddhist schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geograp ...
developed, around 250 BCE (followed by later
subsects of Buddhism).
The contents and teachings of this pre-sectarian Buddhism must be deduced or re-constructed from the
earliest Buddhist texts, which by themselves are already sectarian. The whole subject remains intensely debated by scholars, not all of whom believe a meaningful reconstruction is possible.
"Early Buddhism" may also be used for considerably later periods.
Name
Various terms are being used to refer to the earliest period of Buddhism:
* "Pre-sectarian Buddhism"
* "Early Buddhism",
* "The earliest Buddhism",
* "Original Buddhism",
* "The Buddhism of the Buddha himself."
* Precanonical Buddhism
* Primitive Buddhism
Some Japanese scholars refer to the subsequent period of the
early Buddhist schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geograp ...
as ''sectarian Buddhism''.
Timespan
Pre-sectarian Buddhism may refer to the earliest Buddhism, the ideas and practices of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
himself. It may also refer to early Buddhism as existing until the first documented split in the
sangha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...
. According to
Lambert Schmithausen
Lambert Schmithausen (born 17 November 1939 in Cologne, Germany)
"On the Problem of the External World in the Ch'eng wei shih lun"
Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies 2005
(''Studia Philologica Buddhica'', Occasional Paper ...
, it is "the canonical period prior to the development of different schools with their different positions."
Contrary to the claim of doctrinal stability, early Buddhism was a dynamic movement. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may have included or incorporated other
Śramaṇic schools of thought, as well as
Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
and
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
ideas and practices.
The period of "Early Buddhism" in the sense of pre-sectarian Buddhism is considered by scholars such as Paul J. Griffiths and Steven Collins to be from the time of the historical Buddha to the reign of
Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
(c. 268 to 232 BCE). The first documented split occurred, according to most scholars, between the
second Buddhist council and the
third Buddhist council
The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BCE at Asokarama in Pataliputra, under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka.
The traditional reason for convening the Third Buddhist Council is reported to have been to rid the Sangha of corruption ...
. Lamotte and Hirakawa both maintain that the first schism in the Buddhist sangha occurred during the reign of Ashoka. According to scholar Collett Cox "most scholars would agree that even though the roots of the earliest recognized groups predate
Aśoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
, their actual separation did not occur until after his death."
The first post-schismatic groups are often stated to be the
Sthavira nikāya and the
Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika ( Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in ...
. Eventually, eighteen different schools came into existence. The later Mahayana schools may have preserved ideas which were abandoned by the "orthodox" Theravada, such as the
Three Bodies doctrine, the idea of consciousness (''
vijñāna
''Vijñāna'' ( sa, विज्ञान) or ''viññāa'' ( pi, विञ्ञाण)As is standard in WP articles, the Pali term ''viññāa'' will be used when discussing the Pali literature, and the Sanskrit word ''vijñāna'' will be used ...
'') as a continuum, and
devotional elements such as the worship of saints.
Earliest Buddhism and the Śramaṇa movement
Pre-sectarian Buddhism was originally one of the
śramaṇic movements. The
time of the Buddha was a time of urbanisation in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and saw the growth of the ''śramaṇas'', wandering
philosophers
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
that had rejected the authority of ''
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
'' and
Brahmanic priesthood, intent on escaping ''
saṃsāra'' through various means, which involved the study of
ascetic practices, and
ethical behavior.
The ''śramaṇas'' gave rise to different religious and philosophical schools, among which pre-sectarian Buddhism itself,
Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
and similar schools of
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
,
Ājīvika
''Ajivika'' (IAST: ) is one of the Āstika and nāstika, ''nāstika'' or "heterodox" schools of Indian philosophy.Natalia Isaeva (1993), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, State University of New York Press, , pages 20-23James Lochtefeld, "Ajivik ...
,
Ajñana and
Cārvāka were the most important, and also to popular concepts in all major
Indian religions
Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...
such as ''saṃsāra'' (endless cycle of birth and death) and ''
moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
'' (liberation from that cycle). Nevertheless, despite the success that these wandering philosophers and ascetics had obtained by spreading ideas and concepts that would soon be accepted by all
religions of India
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions; namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. The preamble of Indian co ...
, the
orthodox schools of
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (20 ...
(''āstika'') opposed to śramaṇic schools of thought and refuted their doctrines as "heterodox" (''nāstika''), because they refused to accept the
epistemic authority of ''
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
''.
The ideas of ''saṃsāra'', ''karma'' and rebirth show a development of thought in Indian religions: from the idea of single existence, at the end of which one was judged and punished and rewarded for one's deeds, or ''karma''; to multiple existences with reward or punishment in an endless series of existences; and then attempts to gain release from this endless series. This release was the central aim of the Śramaṇa movement.
Vedic rituals, which aimed at entrance into heaven, may have played a role in this development: the realisation that those rituals did not lead to an everlasting liberation led to the search for other means.
Scholarship and methodology
Earliest Buddhism can only be deduced from the various Buddhist canons now extant, which are all already sectarian collections. As such any reconstruction is tentative. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the
Theravadin
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During th ...
, the surviving portions of the scriptures of
Sarvastivada
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...
,
Mulasarvastivada,
Mahīśāsaka,
Dharmaguptaka and other schools, and the Chinese
āgamas and other surviving portions of other early canons (such as the
Gandharan texts
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...
). Early proto-Mahayana texts which contain nearly identical material to that of the Pali Canon such as the
Salistamba Sutra
The ''Śālistamba Sūtra'' (rice stalk or rice sapling sūtra) is an early Buddhist text that shows a few unique features which indicate a turn to the early Mahayana. It thus has been considered one of the first Mahayana sutras. According to N. ...
are also further evidence.
The beginning of this comparative study began in the 19th century,
Samuel Beal
Samuel Beal (27 November 1825, in Devonport, Devon – 20 August 1889, in Greens Norton, Northamptonshire) was an Oriental scholar, and the first Englishman to translate directly from the Chinese the early records of Buddhism, thus illuminatin ...
published comparative translations of the Pali
patimokkha and the Chinese
Dharmaguptaka pratimoksa (1859), showing they were virtually identical. He followed this up with comparisons between the Chinese sutras and the Pali suttas in 1882, accurately predicting that "when the Vinaya and Āgama collections are thoroughly examined, I can have little doubt we shall find most if not all the Pali Suttas in Chinese form." In the following decades various scholars continued to produce a series of comparative studies, such as Anesaki, Akanuma (who composed a complete catalogue of parallels),
Yin Shun and
Thich Minh Chau. These studies, as well as recent work by
Analayo
Bhikkhu Anālayo is a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk), scholar, and meditation teacher. He was born in Germany in 1962, and went forth in 1995 in Sri Lanka. He is best known for his comparative studies of Early Buddhist Texts as preserved by the variou ...
, Marcus Bingenheimer and Mun-keat Choong, have shown that the essential doctrinal content of the Pali
Majjhima and
Samyutta Nikayas and the Chinese Madhyama and Samyukta Agamas is mostly the same, (with, as Analayo notes, "occasional divergence in details").
According to scholars such as
Rupert Gethin
Rupert Mark Lovell Gethin (born 1957, in Edinburgh) is Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and codirector of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, and (since 2003) president of ...
and
Peter Harvey
Peter Michael St Clair Harvey (16 September 19442 March 2013) was an Australian journalist and broadcaster. Harvey was a long-serving correspondent and contributor with the Nine Network from 1975 to 2013.
Career
Harvey studied his journalism c ...
, the oldest recorded teachings are contained in the first four
Nikayas of the
Sutta Pitaka and their various parallels in other languages, together with the main body of monastic rules, which survive in the various versions of the
patimokkha. Scholars have also claimed that there is a core within this core, referring to some poems and phrases which seem to be the oldest parts of the Sutta Pitaka.
The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Tillman Vetter, the comparison of the oldest extant texts "does not just simply lead to the oldest nucleus of the doctrine." At best, it leads to
According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies. Because of this, scholars such as
Edward Conze
Edward Conze, born Eberhard Julius Dietrich Conze (1904–1979) was a scholar of Marxism and Buddhism, known primarily for his commentaries and translations of the Prajñāpāramitā literature.
Biography
Conze's parents, Dr. Ernst Conze (1872 ...
and
A.K. Warder have argued that only the material which is common to both the
Sthavira and the
Mahasamghika canons can be seen as the most authentic, since they were the first communities after the first schism. The problem is that there is little material surviving from the Mahasamghika school. However, what we do have, such as the Mahasamghika
pratimoksha and
vinaya, is mostly consistent in doctrine with the Sthavira texts. Other Mahasamghika sources are the
Mahavastu and (possibly) the
Śālistamba Sūtra, both of which also contains phrases and doctrines that are found in the Sthavira canons.
Further exemplary studies are the study on descriptions of "liberating insight" by Lambert Schmithausen, the overview of early Buddhism by Tilmann Vetter, the philological work on the four truths by K.R. Norman, the textual studies by Richard Gombrich, and the research on early meditation methods by
Johannes Bronkhorst.
Scholarly positions
According to
Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished regarding the possibility to extract the earliest Buddhism from the
Early Buddhist Texts
Early Buddhist texts (EBTs), early Buddhist literature or early Buddhist discourses are parallel texts shared by the early Buddhist schools. The most widely studied EBT material are the first four Pali Nikayas, as well as the corresponding Chines ...
:
# "Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"
# "
Skepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...
with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"
# "Cautious optimism in this respect."
Optimism regarding the early Buddhist texts
In his history of Indian Buddhism (1988),
Etienne Lamotte argues that while it "is impossible to say with certainty" what the doctrine of the historical Buddha was, "it is nonetheless a fact that, in order to appreciate early Buddhism, the only valid evidence - or indication - which we possess is the basic agreement between the Nikayas on the one hand and the Agamas on the other".
Likewise,
Hajime Nakamura writes in his ''Indian Buddhism'', that "there is no word that can be traced with unquestionable authority to Gotama Sakyamuni as a historical personage, although there must be some sayings or phrases derived from him". Nakamura adds that scholars must critically search the early scriptures for the oldest layer of material to find the "original Buddhism". Nakamura held that some of the earliest material were the ''
gatha
''Gāthā'' is a Sanskrit term for 'song' or 'verse', especially referring to any poetic metre which is used in legends, and is not part of the Vedas but peculiar to either Epic Sanskrit or to Prakrit. The word is originally derived from the Sansk ...
s'' (verses) found in the
Suttanipata
The ' () is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.
Sections
The ''Sutta Nipāta'' is divided into five sections:
Uraga Vagga ("The Chapter on the Serpent")
Cūla Vagg ...
, as well as the Sagatha-vagga of the Samyutta-Nikaya, the Itivuttakas and the Udanas. These texts use less of the doctrinal material that is developed in other texts, are more likely to promote wilderness solitude over communal living and use terminology which is similar to Jain ideas.
British indologist
Rupert Gethin
Rupert Mark Lovell Gethin (born 1957, in Edinburgh) is Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and codirector of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, and (since 2003) president of ...
writes that "it is extremely likely" that at least some of the suttas in the four main Nikāyas "are among the oldest surviving Buddhist texts and contain material that goes back directly to the Buddha." Gethin agrees with Lamotte that the doctrinal basis of the Pali Nikayas and Chinese Agamas is "remarkably uniform" and "constitute the common ancient heritage of Buddhism."
Richard Gombrich
Richard Francis Gombrich (; born 17 July 1937) is a British Indologist and scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Buddhist studies. He was the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1976 to 2004. He is currently Founder-Presiden ...
agrees that the four Nikāyas and the main body of monastic rules present "such originality, intelligence, grandeur and—most relevantly—coherence, that it is hard to see it as a composite work" and thus concludes that it is the work of one genius, even if he agrees that when it comes to the Buddha's biography "we know next to nothing".
Peter Harvey
Peter Michael St Clair Harvey (16 September 19442 March 2013) was an Australian journalist and broadcaster. Harvey was a long-serving correspondent and contributor with the Nine Network from 1975 to 2013.
Career
Harvey studied his journalism c ...
affirms that the four older Nikāyas preserve an "early common stock" which "must derive from his
he Buddha’steachings" because the overall harmony of the texts suggest a single authorship, even while other parts of the Pali canon clearly originated later.
The British indologist
A. K. Warder
Anthony Kennedy Warder (8 September 1924 – 8 January 2013) was a British Indology, Indologist. His best-known works are ''Introduction to Pali'' (1963), ''Indian Buddhism'' (1970), and the eight-volume ''Indian Kāvya Literature'' (1972–2011) ...
writes that "we are on safe ground only with those texts the authenticity of which is admitted by all schools of buddhism (including the
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
, who admit the authenticity of the early canons as well as their own texts) not with texts only accepted by certain schools." Warder adds that when the extant material of the Tipitakas of the
early Buddhist schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geograp ...
is examined "we find an agreement which is substantial, though not complete" and that there is a central body of sutras "which is so similar in all known versions that we must accept these as so many recensions of the same original texts."
Alexander Wynne has also argued for the historical authenticity of the early buddhist texts (contra skeptics like
Gregory Schopen
Gregory Schopen is Professor of Buddhist Studies at University of California, Los Angeles. He received his B.A. majoring in American literature from Black Hills State College, M.A. in history of religions from McMaster University in Ontario, Cana ...
) based on the internal textual evidence found inside them as well as archaeological and inscriptional evidence.
As noted by T.W. Rhys Davids, Wynne points out the pali texts depict a pre-Asokan north India and he also cites KR Norman who argues that they show no Sinhalese prakrit additions.
Reviewing the literature by figures such as Frauwallner, Wynne argues that the pali suttas reached Sri Lanka by 250 BCE and that they preserved certain details about fifth century north India (such as that
Uddaka Rāmaputta
Uddaka Rāmaputta (Pāli; sa, Udraka Rāmaputra) was a sage and teacher of meditation identified by the Buddhist tradition as one of the teachers of Gautama Buddha. 'Rāmaputta' means 'son of Rāma', who may have been his father or spiritual te ...
lived near
Rajagrha
Rajgir, meaning "The City of Kings," is a historic town in the district of Nalanda in Bihar, India. As the ancient seat and capital of the Haryanka dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Brihadratha dynasty and the Mauryan Empire, as well as the ...
).
Wynne concludes:
The corresponding pieces of textual material found in the canons of the different sects – especially the literature of the Pāli school, which was more isolated than the others – probably go back to pre-sectarian times. It is unlikely that these correspondences could have been produced by the joint endeavour of different Buddhist sects, for such an undertaking would have required organisation on a scale which was simply inconceivable in the ancient world. We must conclude that a careful examination of early Buddhist literature can reveal aspects of the pre-Aśokan history of Indian Buddhism.
Pessimism
One of the early Western skeptics was French indologist
Émile Senart
Émile Charles Marie Senart (26 March 1847 – 21 February 1928) was a French Indologist.Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). "Senard, Emile", in: Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN ...
, who argued in his ''Essai sur la legende du Buddha'' (1875) that the legends of Buddha's life were derived from pre-Buddhist myths of
solar deities
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...
.
The late
Edward Conze
Edward Conze, born Eberhard Julius Dietrich Conze (1904–1979) was a scholar of Marxism and Buddhism, known primarily for his commentaries and translations of the Prajñāpāramitā literature.
Biography
Conze's parents, Dr. Ernst Conze (1872 ...
held that there was an "absence of hard facts" regarding the first period of Buddhism and regarding the teachings of the Buddha, "none of His sayings is preserved in its original form." Since we only possess a small fraction of the Buddhist literature that must have circulated during the early period, Conze held that all the scholarly attempts to reconstruct the 'original' teachings were "all mere guesswork" because "that which we have may have been composed at any time during the first 500 years" and "there is no objective criterion which would allow us to single out those elements in the record which go back to the Buddha Himself." Conze argues that comparative study using the sources of different schools could give us some knowledge of the pre-sectarian period doctrine, but he adds that such knowledge might not take us to the earliest period after the Buddha's nirvana, which is a period that is "shrouded in mystery and to which we cannot penetrate."
Japanese Buddhologist Kogen Mizuno argues in his "Buddhist Sutras" (1982) that the material we possess may not contain the actual words of the Buddha because "they were not recorded as he spoke", but compiled after his death and also because they do not survive in the original language (some form of
Magadhi Prakrit) but "transmitted in other Indic languages of later periods, and without doubt conscious and unconscious changes in the Buddha's words were made during several centuries of oral transmission." Mizuno does note that Pali is the oldest of these, but it is still different from old Magadhi and it is from a different region (Western India).
Ronald M. Davidson, a scholar of
tantric Buddhism
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...
, while acknowledging that most scholars agree that the early community maintained and transmitted a rough body of sacred literature, writes that "we have little confidence that much, if any, of surviving Buddhist scripture is actually the word of the historical Buddha." His view is that:
More persuasively, the Buddhist order in India might be considered the greatest scriptural composition community in human history. Given the extraordinary extent of the material passing at any one time under rubric of the “word of the Buddha,” we might simply pause and acknowledge that Indian Buddhists were extraordinarily facile litterateurs.
The American scholar
Gregory Schopen
Gregory Schopen is Professor of Buddhist Studies at University of California, Los Angeles. He received his B.A. majoring in American literature from Black Hills State College, M.A. in history of religions from McMaster University in Ontario, Cana ...
holds that "we cannot know anything definite about the actual doctrinal content of the nikäya/ägama literature much before the fourth century C.E." Schopen is very critical of modern Buddhist studies because of its preference for literary evidence that "in most cases cannot actually be dated and that survives only in very recent manuscript traditions" that have been "heavily edited" and were intended as normative not historical accounts. Schopen believes that the preference for texts over
archeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
is a mistake and that it is Buddhist epigraphy which are the earliest written sources. Regarding the textual sources, Schopen holds that even the oldest sources such as the Pali canon, "cannot be taken back further than the last quarter of the first century B.C.E, the date of the Alu-vihāra redaction," but that actually it is not until the 5th or 6th centuries CE "that we can know anything definite about the actual contents of this canon." He notes that references to ''Tipitaka'' and ''Nikaya'' date from much later periods than the Asokan era (such as
Kaniska's reign). Only a few texts have been identified in
Asoka's edicts (such as his Bhabra Edict), but these are all short verse texts and are nothing like the suttas of the first and second Nikayas. Schopen concludes that it is only "from the end of the fourth century, that some of the doctrinal content of Hinayana canonical literature can finally be definitely dated and actually verified."
Regarding the view of comparative critical scholars that agreement between the different sectarian texts points to a common early source, Schopen counters that since this kind of higher criticism is already being done on texts which belong to "uniformly late stages of the literary tradition." Schopen believes instead that the agreement was produced by the sharing of literature and ideas between the different sects at a later date. Schopen defines this position as:
If all known versions of a text or passage agree, that text or passage is probably late; that is, it probably represents the results of the conflation and gradual leveling and harmonization of earlier existing traditions.
Citing Bareau and Wassilieff, he holds that it is just as likely that textual agreement among the different canons was produced by parallel development and contact between the different Indian traditions.
Schayer's view of an alternate tradition
A separate stance has been taken by Polish scholar
Stanislaw Schayer Stanislaw Schayer (born May 8, 1899 in Sędziszów, Poland, died December 1, 1941 in Otwock, Poland) was a linguist, Indologist, philosopher, professor at the University of Warsaw. In 1922, he founded, and was the first director, of the Institute of ...
, who argued in the 1930s that the Nikayas preserve elements of an archaic form of Buddhism which is close to Brahmanical beliefs, and survived in the
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
tradition.
As noted by Alexander Wynne, Schayer drew on passages "in which "consciousness" (
viññana) seems to be the ultimate reality or substratum (e.g. A I.10), as well as the Saddhatu Sutra, which is not found in any canonical source but is cited in other Buddhist texts." According to Schayer, contrary to popular opinion, the Theravada and Mahayana traditions may be "divergent, but equally reliable records of a pre-canonical Buddhism which is now lost forever."
[ The Mahayana tradition may have preserved a very old, "pre-Canonical" tradition, which was largely, but not completely, left out of the Theravada-canon. Schayer searched in the early texts for ideas that contradict the dominant doctrinal positions of the early canon. According to Schayer, these ideas have
Regamy has identified four points which are central to Schayer's reconstruction of precanonical Buddhism:
# The Buddha was considered as an extraordinary being, in whom ultimate reality was embodied, and who was an incarnation of the mythical figure of the tathagata;
# The Buddha's disciples were attracted to his spiritual charisma and supernatural authority;
# Nirvana was conceived as the attainment of immortality, and the gaining of a deathless sphere from which there would be no falling back. This nirvana, as a transmundane reality or state, is incarnated in the person of the Buddha;
# Nirvana can be reached because it already dwells as the inmost "consciousness" of the human being. It is a consciousness which is not subject to birth and death.
According to Ray, Schayer has shown a second doctrinal position alongside that of the more dominant tradition, one likely to be of at least equivalent, if not of greater, antiquity.
According to ]Edward Conze
Edward Conze, born Eberhard Julius Dietrich Conze (1904–1979) was a scholar of Marxism and Buddhism, known primarily for his commentaries and translations of the Prajñāpāramitā literature.
Biography
Conze's parents, Dr. Ernst Conze (1872 ...
, Schayer's views are "merely a tentative hypothesis" and that it is also possible that these ideas later entered Buddhism, as a concession to "popular demand, just as the lower goal of birth in heaven (''svarga
Svarga (), also known as Indraloka and Svargaloka, is the celestial abode of the devas in Hinduism. Svarga is one of the seven higher lokas ( esoteric planes) in Hindu cosmology. Svarga is often translated as heaven, though it is regarded to b ...
'') was admitted side by side with Nirvana." Conze thought that both were equally possible.
Teachings of earliest Buddhism
The ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
The ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'' (Pali; Sanskrit: ''Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra''; English: ''The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Dharma Sutta'' or ''Promulgation of the Law Sutta'') is a Buddhist text that is considered by Buddhists t ...
'' is regarded by the Buddhist tradition as the first discourse of the Buddha. Scholars have noted some persistent problems with this view. Originally the text may only have pointed at "the middle way" as being the core of the Buddha's teaching, which pointed to the practice of ''dhyana
Dhyana may refer to:
Meditative practices in Indian religions
* Dhyana in Buddhism (Pāli: ''jhāna'')
* Dhyana in Hinduism
* Jain Dhyāna, see Jain meditation
Other
*''Dhyana'', a work by British composer John Tavener (1944-2013)
* ''Dhyana'' ...
''. This basic term may have been extended with descriptions of the eightfold path
The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.
The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: ...
, itself a condensation of a longer sequence. Some scholars believe that under pressure from developments in Indian religiosity, which began to see "liberating insight" as the essence of ''moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
'', the four noble truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; pi, cattāri ariyasaccāni; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones".,_'' _were_then_added_as_a_description_of_the_Buddha's_"liberating_insight".
_Death,_rebirth_and_''karma''
According_to_Tilmann_Vetter,_the_Buddha_at_first_sought_"the_deathless"_(''amata/amrta''),_which_is_concerned_with_the_here_and_now._According_to_Edward_Conze_
Edward_Conze,_born_Eberhard_Julius_Dietrich_Conze_(1904–1979)_was_a_scholar_of_Marxism_and_Buddhism,_known_primarily_for_his_commentaries_and_translations_of_the_Prajñāpāramitā_literature.
_Biography
Conze's_parents,_Dr._Ernst_Conze_(1872_...