Indian Philosophy

The Case of the Sārasaṅgaha : Reflections on the Reuse of Texts in Medieval Sinhalese Pāli Literature Abstract The Sārasaṅgaha is a Pāli text of XIIth–XIIIth century by the Sinhalese monk Siddhattha Thera. Its themes include the aspiration to become a Buddha, shrines, meditation, theories on rain, wind, gender and more. The main body consists of citations from the Nikāyas, the Jātakas, the Visuddhimagga and above all, from commentarial literature. By analysing the way the Sārasaṅgaha refers to and establishes a dialogue with the quoted works, this paper promotes a new assessment of the cultural and textual tendencies that influenced the development of Buddhist literature especially in the Middle Ages. In particular, the analysis of this text and the quotations of which it is composed reveals the importance of commentarial literature, a literary genre that only recently has attracted the attention of Pāli scholars.

Observations on the Use of Quotations in Sanskrit Dharmanibandhas Abstract This article examines some of the strategies adopted by the authors of Sanskrit law digests (Dharmanibandhas) in dealing with quotations. Given the peculiar nature of the Nibandhas, which in the majority of cases are almost exclusively made of quotations from authoritative texts (chiefly Dharmasūtras, Dharmaśāstras and Purāṇas), citations are here not only a method to support a viewpoint, but constitute the very core of the text. In order to narrow the topic, the analysis has been restricted to a sub-category of the Dharmanibandha genre, i.e. the so called dānanibandhas, the digests specialized on the rules for gifting. Given their chronological distribution, these texts can be considered representative of the tendencies emerging in this branch of literature. The focus will lie both on the general rules and conventions accepted by the various Nibandha authors (nibandhakāras), and on concrete examples of the different methods applied while quoting from the same texts. Particular attention will be given to the methodological statements detected in these works, like the incipit of Lakṣmīdhara’s Kṛtyakalpataru (first half of the twelfth century) and that of Ballālasena’s Dānasāgara (second half of the twelfth century).

Text Re-use in Early Tibetan Epistemological Treatises Abstract This paper examines the modalities and mechanism of text-use pertaining to Indian and Tibetan material in a selection of Tibetan Buddhist epistemological treatises written between the eleventh and the thirteenth century. It pays special attention to a remarkable feature of this corpus: the phenomenon of “repeat,” that is, the unacknowledged integration of earlier material by an author within his own composition. This feature reveals an intellectual continuity in the tradition, and is found even for authors who claim a rupture from their predecessors. Regarding acknowledged text re-use in the form of quotations, I consider which factors condition the identification of the source (via the title of the text and/or name of the author) or the lack thereof, and what role quotations play for the respective authors. In particular, I discuss whether any inference can be drawn, from the presence or absence of quotations, about an author’s knowledge of the corresponding source.

Quotations in Vedic Literature: Is the Changing of a Mantra a Stylistic Device or the Degeneration of a “Beautiful Mind?” Abstract Many stanzas of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā are re-used in the liturgical literature, that is, mainly in the Saṃhitās of the Yajurveda and in the Brāhmaṇas. Most of them are quoted precisely and they are apportioned in each different rite; yet, there are quite a few cases in which some variations have been adopted and the material of the sourcetext has been manipulated. As to the cultural development that resulted in such a use of the hymns, one of the most intriguing question is whether it was a mere redactional enterprise, or if a clear intention guided the choices that the creators of the liturgies have taken, and eventually how deep was the consciousness of the brāhmaṇical redactors as for the poetic elements of the material they were dealing with. In order to approach this question, I decided to focus on a specific aspect that this issue entails, namely the different ways with which the Ṛgvedic verses are integrated in the texts. Thus, the present paper aims at analysing various modalities of re-use and at examining their functions. The final part of the article takes into consideration some instances of quotations’ marks.

The Creative Erudition of Chapaṭa Saddhammajotipāla, a 15th-Century Grammarian and Philosopher from Burma Abstract This paper focuses on the scholastic technique of the Theravāda scholar-monk Chapaṭa Saddhammajotipāla (Burma, fifteenth century CE). Chapaṭa is the author of several scholastic treatises in Pāli, the most voluminous of which is the Suttaniddesa, a commentary on the Pāli grammar of Kaccāyana (ca. sixth to seventh century CE). I offer a general introduction to the Pāli grammatical tradition and especially to the Pāli grammatical tradition of Burma, together with an introduction to the life and works of Chapaṭa. I also offer the first annotated translation of a passage from the Suttaniddesa and in this way I show how the scholastic technique of Chapaṭa is based on a precise (and sometimes fastidious) use of quotations, mainly from other Pāli or Sanskrit grammatical texts, but also from Buddhist literature. I finally give a preliminary assessment of typology and purpose of every different type of quotation. Although this paper consists mainly of preliminary work, it is the first essay entirely devoted to the Suttaniddesa, which is one of the most important grammatical works in the Theravāda tradition.

“As it is said in a Sutra”: Freedom and Variation in Quotations from the Buddhist Scriptures in Early Bka’-gdams-pa literature Abstract The phyi dar or ‛later dissemination’ of Buddhism in Tibet is known to be a crucial formative period of Tibetan Buddhism; yet, many questions still wait to be answered: How did Tibetan Buddhist teachers of this time approach the Buddhist scriptures? Did they quote from books or from memory? Did they study Buddhism through original Sūtras or exegetical literature? To what degree was the text of the scriptures fixed and standardised before the Bka’ ’gyur and the Bstan ’gyur were compiled? In search for some answers to questions such as these, the present article focuses on the gzhung pa or ‛scriptural tradition” of the Bka’-gdams-pa school of Tibetan Buddhism. Their works contain quotations from the Indian Buddhist scriptures that sometimes differ markedly from the mainstream editions of the Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur. There are several possible explanations for such discrepancies: The Tibetan authors might be quoting a different Tibetan translation that was later discarded by the redactors of the Tibetan canon; they might be quoting from a secondary source such as a commentary or Buddhist anthology; or they might be quoting from memory, changing the text either deliberately or by accident. Giving examples from works of the early Bka’-gdams-pa masters this article discusses how textual deviations from the canonical versions can be explained. It will thereby provide insights into the way the Indian Buddhist scriptures were studied and transmitted in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition around the 11th–13th centuries.

To Borrow or not to Borrow? Some Remarks on vaibhavīyanarasiṃhakalpa of Sātvatasaṃhitā Abstract Some remarks on the possible methods of composing saṃhitās as hinted in chosen texts belonging to the Pāñcarātra school are presented in “Sect. 1”. In “Sect. 2,” the content and the structure of the Sātvatasaṃhitā andĪśvarasaṃhitā are compared. In fact, both texts are independent works even though in the light of some Pāñcarātrika texts they are considered to be mutually linked, the latter being considered a “commentary” of the former. In “Sect. 3,” the initiation (dīkṣā) as found in both texts is outlined. In “Sect. 4”, I focus on the re-use of the portions concerning dīkṣā: although the redactor of the Īśvarasaṃhitā borrowed almost all the Sātvatasaṃhitā’s chapters on initiation, he dealt in a very different way with the practice called vaibhavīyanarasiṃhakalpa that in the context of the latter text plays the role of a unique preliminary purification. Strikingly, the Sātvatasaṃhitā’s redactor re-used the initial verses describing the vaibhavīyanarasiṃhakalpa, putting them into other contexts, not necessarily connected to the issue of initiation, whereas he totally omitted its impressive section concerning magical powers (siddhi).

Quotatives Indicating Quotations in Pāli Commentarial Literature, I Iti/ti and Quotatives with Vuttaṃ Abstract This article deals with quotatives–overt marks that indicate quotations–consisting in iti/ti or containing vuttaṃ which are used in Pāli commentarial literature to signal the occurrence of a quotation. We distinguish two types, namely, “general quotatives” and “individual quotatives”. The former are universally valid. They are widely acknowledged and used in various text corpora over several centuries. The latter are defined by an author solely for usage in his commentary. In the first part of our contribution we describe the implications connected with the usage of quotatives, and depict the specific problems which may arise when a text including “individual quotatives” is tacitly borrowed. In the second part we present some of the most common “general quotatives” formed with the words iti/ti and vuttaṃ (ti vuttaṃ, tena or ten’ eva vuttaṃ; vuttañ c’/h’ or vuttam pi c’/h’ etaṃ, and vuttañ ca/hi). We aim at pointing out in which text layers a quotative is applied, for which text layers it is used, when it was in and when out of fashion.

Re-use in the Art Field: The Iconography of Yakṣī Abstract The focus of this research is the re-use of the Yakṣī image. The study of the evolution of a certain iconography induces one to face the problem of re-use in correlation to the transmission of images in time, and of their survival or transformation in historical and cultural environments different from the original ones. In fact, every different time period formulates its new iconography but above all it takes up again pre-existing images: these may be “revived” and, hence, may be rediscovered after an oblivion, or they may have “survived” either maintaining their original aspect or having suffered modifications. In the figurative domain re-use is often used as an explicit quotation in order to assert a new ideology, a new ruler, or a new religion. In this article we investigate the different aspects of the mechanism of re-use of the iconography of Yakṣī focusing, in the end, on the case-study of Cenna Keśava Temple at Beḷūr.

Some Problems Concerning Textual Reuses in the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa , with a Discussion of the Quotation from Saraha’s Dohākośagīti Abstract The aim of the present study is to shed light on why the citation taken from Saraha’s Dohākośagīti and occurring in the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa, chapter 7, opens the door to some fundamental reflections concerning the authority and the “nature” of this latter text. On the basis of a historical and doctrinal analysis, here a new interpretation is put forward, according to which the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa should be considered a tenth century CE handbook, written by some unknown Buddhist teacher perhaps as a manual for his lessons. The primary purpose of this teacher seems to have been the discussion—in the light of textual sources compiled up to this time—of the doctrinal and philosophical perspectives contained in the sixth century CE Bhāviveka’s Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā and Tarkajvālā. The Madhyamakaratnapradīpa could have been composed on the basis of notes written down for the benefit of this teacher’s students. Moreover, the analysis of the general style and quotes or references of the text, on the one hand, compared with the passage containing the quote from Saraha, on the other hand, lead us to take seriously into consideration the possibility that the citation borrowed from the Dohākośagīti could have been embedded into the text a little after its composition, by someone different from its original author.