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*This list is a simplification. It is likely that the development of Buddhist schools was not linear. |
Early Buddhist texts (EBTs),early Buddhist literature orearly Buddhist discourses are parallel texts shared by theearly Buddhist schools. The most widely studied EBT material are the first fourPaliNikayas, as well as the corresponding ChineseĀgamas.[1][2][3][4] However, some scholars have also pointed out that someVinaya material, like thePatimokkhas of the different Buddhist schools, as well as some material from the earliestAbhidharma texts could also be quite early.[5][6]
Besides the large collections inPali and Chinese, there are also fragmentary collections of EBT materials inSanskrit,Khotanese,Tibetan, andGāndhārī. The modern study of earlypre-sectarian Buddhism often relies on comparative scholarship using these various early Buddhist sources.[7]
Various scholars ofBuddhist studies such asRichard Gombrich, Akira Hirakawa, Alexander Wynne, andA. K. Warder hold that Early Buddhist texts contain material that could possibly be traced to the historicalBuddha himself or at least to the early years ofpre-sectarian Buddhism.[8][9][10] According to the Japanese scholar Akira Hirakawa, "any attempt to ascertain the original teachings of the historical Buddha must be based on this literature."[11]
Different genres comprise the Early Buddhist texts, including prose "suttas" (Skt:sūtra, discourses), monastic rules (Vinaya), various forms of verse compositions (such asgāthā andudāna), mixed prose and verse works (geya), and also lists (matika) of monastic rules or doctrinal topics. A large portion of Early Buddhist literature is part of the "sutta" or "sutra" genre, these are usually placed in different collections (calledNikayas orAgamas) and constitute the "Sutta Pitaka" (Skt: Sūtra Pitaka, "Basket of sutras") section of the various early Buddhist Canonical collections calledTripitakas ("Three Baskets"). The suttas generally contain doctrinal, spiritual, and philosophical content.
There are EBTs from various Buddhist schools, especially from the Theravada andSarvāstivāda schools, but also from theDharmaguptaka,Mahāsāṅghika,Mahīśāsaka,Mūlasarvāstivāda, and other texts of uncertain prominence.[12]
According toOskar von Hinüber the main purpose for the composition of the EBTs was to "preserve and to defend an orthodox tradition." He adds that this literary effort was influenced by the Vedic prose of theBrāhmaṇas.[13] As noted byvon Hinüber, these collections also contain the first ever Indian texts to commemorate historical events, such as theMahāparinibbānasuttanta, which recounts the death of the Buddha. The early suttas also almost always open by introducing the geographical location of the event they depict, including ancient place names, always preceded by the phrase "thus have I heard" (evaṃ me sutaṃ).[13]
The textual evidence from various traditions shows that by the 1st century BCE to the fourth century CE, slight differences developed among these parallel documents and that these differences reflected "school affiliation, local traditions, linguistic environment, nonstandardized scripts, or any combination of these factors."[14]
These texts were initially transmitted throughoral methods. According to Marcus Bingenheimer,
After the death of the founder, Buddhist texts were transmitted orally in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects (Prakrits). While the southern tradition eventually settled on one of these dialects, Pāli, as its canonical language, in India and Central Asia Buddhist texts were successively Sanskritized and/or translated into other languages such as Chinese, Tokharian, Khotanese, Sogdian, and Tibetan. Also, new Buddhist texts in India, from at least the third century onward, were directly composed in standard Sanskrit. Manuscripts from the northern tradition, especially those of Central Asian provenance, are therefore often in Prakrit (especially Gāndhārī) or some nonstandard form of Sanskrit, sometimes called Buddhist Sanskrit, an intermediate stage between some Prakrit and standard Sanskrit.[15]
As noted by Mark Allon there are various reasons why these texts are held to have been transmitted orally by modern scholars. These include internal evidence from the texts themselves which indicates that they were to be memorized and recited, the lack of any evidence (whether archeological or internal to the texts) that writing was being used to preserve these texts, and the stylistic features of the texts themselves.[16]
An important feature that marks the Early Buddhist texts are formal characteristics which reflect their origin as orally transmitted literature such as the use of repetition and rhetorical formulas.[17] Other stylistic features which betray orality include: the use of multiple synonyms, standardized phrases and passages, verse summaries similies, numbered lists, and standard framing narratives.[18]
These stylistic features are in contrast to later works such asMahayana sutras, which contain more elaborate and complex narratives, that would be more difficult to memorize. Also, the EBTs are always historically situated in ancient Indian locales, unlike many later Mahayana works, which depict themselves as being taught by the Buddha in heavenly realms or other supernatural circumstances.[19]
Early Buddhist texts are believed to have been transmitted by lineages ofbhāṇaka, monks who specialized in memorization and recitation of particular collections of texts,[20] until they were eventually recorded in writing after the 1st Century BCE. As noted by Alexander Wynne:
Although there is no evidence for writing before Aśoka, the accuracy of oral transmission should not be underestimated. The Buddhist community was full ofBrahmins who knew that the Vedic educational system had transmitted a mass of difficult texts, verbatim, in an increasingly archaic language, for more than a thousand years. Since the early Buddhists required a different means of oral transmission, for quite different texts, othermnemonic techniques were developed, based on communal chanting (saṅgīti). The texts explicitly state that this method was to be employed, and their actual form shows that it was, on a grand scale.[10]
Some scholars such as Wynne andAnalayo generally hold that these texts were memorized in fixed form, to be recited verbatim (in contrast to other forms of oral literature, such asepic poetry) and that this was affirmed during communal recitations (where there is little room for improvisation), while others argue that they could have been performed in more poetic and improvisational ways (L.S. Cousins,Rupert Gethin) through the use of basic lists or formulas.[21]
The EBTs also show the influence ofVedic texts, including the adoption of certain Vedic poetic metres, as well as forms of organization (using topic and number). EBTs share similar terminology and ideas with Vedic texts.[22] They also share certain metaphors and imagery with texts like theBṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, such as the single salty taste of the ocean (AN 8.157 vs.Bṛhadāraṇyaka 2.4.11).[23]
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Regarding the setting, the EBTs generally depict the world of thesecond urbanisation period, which features small scale towns and villages, and small competing states (themahajanapadas) with a lower level of urbanisation compared to that of theMauryan era.[10] As such, the EBTs depict theGangetic Plain before the rise of theNanda empire, who unified all these small competing states during the 4th century.[24]
They also depictPataliputra as the small village ofPataligama, while it would later become the capital of the Mauryan empire and the largest city in India.[25] They do not mentionAshoka but they mention the Jain leaderMahavira (a.k.a.Nātaputta) as a contemporary of the Buddha.[26]
The EBTs also depict a small scale local economy, during a time before the establishment of the long-distance trading networks, as noted by Brahmali andSujato:
King Pasenadi of Kosala is said to have used kāsi sandalwood (MN 87.28), indicating that even the highest social strata used locally produced luxuries. This situation is perhaps to be expected given the political divisions in North India at the time, which may have complicated long-distance trade.[27]
As noted byvon Hinüber, the omission of any mention of the Mauryas in EBTs such as theMahāparinibbānasuttanta, in contrast to other later Buddhist texts which do mention them, is also evidence of its pre-Mauryan date:
Given the importance of the rise of the Maurya empire even underCandragupta, who is better known for his inclination towards Jainism, one might conjecture that the latest date for the composition of theMahāparinibbānasuttanta, at least for this part of it, is around 350 to 320 BC.[13]
According to Alexander Wynne,
The corresponding pieces of textual material found in the canons of the different sects... 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.[28]
TheEdicts of Ashoka are some of the earliest Indian historical documents and they agree with the EBTs in some respects.
According to Sujato, the MPE 2 (Sārnāth) edict makes use of various EBT specific terms such as: "bhikhusaṁgha, bhikhuni-saṁgha, sāsana, upāsaka, anuposatha, saṁgha bheta, saṁgha samaga (Sāñcī version), cila-thitīka (Sāñcī)."[29]
Sujato also notes that the RE 5 (Kālsī) edict states: “Good deeds are difficult to perform,” “bad acts are easy to commit”, which could be a quote from theUdana (5:8). Likewise, the RE 9 (Girnār) edict states “there is no gift like the gift of the Dhamma”, which could be a quote from the EBTs (seeAN 9:5 orDhp 354).[30]
A. Wynne notes thatMinor Rock Edict #3 mentions some Buddhist texts which have been identified and which might show that at the time ofAshoka (304–232 BCE) these were already fixed.[31] These citations include the "Rāhulāvada", which could refer to theAmbalaṭṭhikā Rāhulovāda Sutta (MN 61).[32]
Some early archeological sites like theBharhut stupa (most visible material dates from the 1st or 2nd century BCE) contain many details from the EBTs such as: the mention of Buddha Gotama and all five past Buddhas of the EBTs, as well as kings Ajātasatru and Pasenadi. Major events from the Buddha's life from the EBTs are mentioned such as his awakening, the first teaching and his death.[33] According to Lüders “… the visit of Ajātasattu [to the Buddha] is depicted even in details exactly according to theSāmaññaphala Sutta,” and “… the representation of the visit of Sakka follows the text of theSakkapañha Sutta.”[34]
Other Indian inscriptions from the 1st and 2nd century CE include terms such asdhamma-kathika,peṭakin, andsuttantika, indicating the existence of a Buddhist literature during this time.[10]
Most modern scholarship has generally focused on the Pāli Nikāyas (which have been fully translated into Western languages) and the Chinese Āgamas (only partially translated). As early as the late 19th century, it was known that the Nikāyas and the Āgamas contain a great number of parallel texts. In 1882, Samuel Beal published hisBuddhist Literature in China, where he wrote:
TheParinibbāna, theBrahmajāla, theSigalovada, theDhammacakka, the Kasi-Bhāradvadja, theMahāmangala; all these I have found and compared with translations from the Pali, and find that in the main they are identical. I do not say literally the same; they differ in minor points, but are identical in plot and all important details. And 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 a Chinese form.[35]
During the 20th century various scholars including Anesaki Masaharu andAkanuma Chizen began critical studies of these correspondences. Probably the most important early works in the comparative study of these two collections are Anesaki'sThe Four Buddhist Āgamas in Chinese – A Concordance of their Parts and of the Corresponding Counterparts in the Pāli Nikāyas and Akanuma'sThe Comparative Catalogue of Chinese Āgamas and Pāli Nikāyas.[36][37]
Over time this comparative study of these parallel Buddhist texts became incorporated into modern scholarship on Buddhism, such as in the work ofEtienne Lamotte (1988), who commented on their close relationship:
However, with the exception of the Mahāyanist interpolations in theEkottara, which are easily discernable, the variations in question [between the Nikāyas and Āgamas] affect hardly anything save the method of expression or the arrangement of the subjects. The doctrinal basis common to the Nikāyas and Āgamas is remarkably uniform. Preserved and transmitted by the schools, the sūtras do not, however, constitute scholastic documents, but are the common heritage of all the sects.[38]
Bhiksu Thich Minh Chau (1918– 2012) conducted a comparative study (1991) of the contents in the TheravadaMajjhima Nikaya and SarvastivadaMadhyama Agama and concluded that despite some differences in technical and practical issues, there was a striking agreement in doctrinal matters.[39] A more recent study byBhikkhu Analayo also agrees with this position. Analayo argues the Majjhima Nikaya and Madhyama Agama contain mostly the same major doctrines.[40]
Recent work has also been done on other more fragmentary materials surviving in Sanskrit, Tibetan, andGandhāran collections. Andrew Glass has compared a small number of Gandhāran sutras with their Tibetan, Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese parallels and concludes that there is a unity in their doctrines, despite some technical differences.[39]
According to some Asian scholars likeYin Shun, Mizuno Kogen and Mun-Keat Choong, the common ancestor of theSamyutta Nikaya and the Samyukta Agama is the basis for the other EBTs.[2]
ThePāli Canon of theTheravada school contains the most complete fully extant collection of EBTs in anIndic language which has survived until today.[41] According to the Theravada tradition, after having been passed down orally, it was first written down in the first century BCE inSri Lanka.[42]
While some scholars such asGregory Schopen are skeptical of the antiquity of the Pali texts, Alexander Wynne notes that:
Canonical fragments are included in the Golden Pāli Text, found in a reliquary from Śrī kṣetra dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century AD; they agree almost exactly with extant Pāli manuscripts. This means that the Pāli Tipiṭaka has been transmitted with a high degree of accuracy for well over 1,500 years. There is no reason why such an accurate transmission should not be projected back a number of centuries, at the least to the period when it was written down in the first century BC, and probably further.[10]
The Early Buddhist material in thePāli Canon mainly consists of the first four PāliNikāyas, thePatimokkha (basic list of monastic rules) and otherVinaya material as well as some parts of theKhuddaka Nikāya (mainlySutta Nipata,Itivuttaka,Dhammapada,Therigatha,Theragatha, and theUdana).[43][44][45]
These texts have been widely translated into Western languages.
The EBTs preserved in theChinese Buddhist canon include theĀgamas, collections of sutras which parallel the Pali Nikāyas in content as well as structure.[46] There are also some differences between the discourses and collections as modern comparative studies has shown, such as omissions of material, additions and shifts in the location of phrases.[46] These various Agamas possibly come down to us from theSarvastivada (the Samyukta andMadhyama Agamas),Dharmaguptaka andKasyayipa schools.[47] TheMahasamghika Vinaya Pitaka also survives in Chinese translation.[48] Some of the Agamas have been translated into English by the Āgama Research Group (ARG) at theDharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts.[49]
The language of these texts is a form ofAncient Chinese termed Buddhist Chinese (fójiào Hànyǔ 佛教漢語) or Buddhist Hybrid Chinese (fójiào hùnhé Hànyǔ 佛教混合漢語) which shows considerablevernacularity. Buddhist Chinese also shows a significant number of elements which derive from the source language, includingcalques and phonological transcriptions.[50] Scholarly analysis of these texts have shown that they were translated fromMiddle IndicPrakrit source languages, with varying degrees ofsanskritisation.[51]
While the other Chinese Agamas are mostly doctrinally consistent with the Pali Nikayas, theEkottara Agama (EA) has been seen by various scholars such as Johannes Bronkhorst andEtienne Lamotte as being influenced by laterMahayana concepts.[52] According to Lamotte, these 'interpolations' are easily discernible.[53] According to Analayo, the most often proposed hypothesis is that the EA derives from theMahasamgika school.[54]
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Modern discoveries of various fragmentary manuscript collections (theGandhāran Buddhist texts) fromPakistan andAfghanistan has contributed significantly to the study of Early Buddhist texts.
Most of these texts are written in theGandhari Language and theKharoṣṭhī script, but some have also been discovered inBactrian.[55] According to Mark Allon, theGandhāran Buddhist texts contain several EBTs which parallel those found in other collections "such as theEkottarikāgama andVana-saṃyutta of theSaṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyuktāgama."[56]
These texts include a parallel to theAnattalakkhana Sutta, possibly belonging to theDharmaguptaka school. A few publications have translated some of these texts.[57]
According to Mark Allon, the most recent major finds include the following collections:[55]
According to Mark Allon, an important recent find is "a substantial portion of a large Sanskrit birch bark manuscript of theDirghagama, the division of the canon containing long discourses, belonging to the (Mula)-Sarvastivada school, which dates to the seventh or eighth centuries AD".[55]
This GilgitDīrgha Āgama contains forty-seven discourses. This includes some sutras not found in Pali at all, like theMāyājāla sutra, theCatuṣpariṣat-sūtra, and theArthavistara-sūtra.[58]
TheArthaviniścaya Sūtra is a composite text which is mainly made up of early Buddhist material organized into an Abhidharma type list.[59]
Sanskrit fragments of different early Buddhist Agamas also survive from various sources, including from the archaeological finds in theTarim Basin and the city ofTurfan. These finds include versions of a SanskritUdanavarga.[60]
Other Sanskrit Agama texts include the (non-Mahayana)Mahāparinirvāṇasutra, and thePratītyasamutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśa.[61]
Various Vinaya texts also survive in Sanskrit, including Vinaya texts from the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya and theMūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.[62]
TheLalitavistara Sūtra, though including much later additions, also includes some EBT parallel passages, including passages on the first sermon at Varanasi.[63]
The first schism among the Buddhist community was between the so-calledSthaviras ("Elders") and theMahāsāṃghika ("Great Community"). Some scholars such as Edward Conze have thus emphasized the importance of EBTs that have parallels in both Sthavira and Mahāsāṅghika sources.[64] However, fewer Mahāsāṃghika texts have survived in comparison to Sthavira material.
One important source for Mahāsāṃghika EBTs is theMahāvastu ("Great Event"). This is a mythic life of the Buddha which includes many legendary tales but also includes various EBTs parallels.[65]
There are also fragments of the Mahāparinirvāṇa and Caṁgi (Pali: Caṅki) sutras of the Mahāsāṃghika dating to the 3rd–4th century.[66]
TheŚālistamba Sūtra (rice stalk sūtra) is an early Buddhist text which has been tied to the Mahāsāṃghika school, it contains many parallel passages to the Pali suttas. As noted by N. Ross Reat, this text is in general agreement with the basic doctrines of the Sthavira EBTs such asdependent origination, the "middle way" between eternalism and annihilationism, the "five aggregates", the "three unwholesome roots", thefour noble truths, and thenoble eightfold path.[67]
There are also various Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya texts which contain early material, including theirPrātimokṣa monastic code, which is almost identical with Sthavira pātimokkhas.[68]
The ChineseEkottara Āgama (增壹阿含經; pinyin:zēngyī-ahánjīng) has been attributed to the Mahāsāṃghikas by various scholars, though this attribution remains uncertain.[69]
The variousAbhidharma texts and collections (Pitakas) are considered by scholars to be (mostly) later material (3rd century BCE onwards) and thus are not EBTs.[70] In spite of the relative lateness of the Abhidharma works, according to scholars likeErich Frauwallner, there are kernels of early pre-sectarian material in the earliest layer of the Abhidharma literature, such as in theTheravadaVibhanga, theDharmaskandha of theSarvastivada, and theŚāriputrābhidharma of theDharmaguptaka school. According to Frauwallner's comparative study, these texts were possibly developed and "constructed from the same material", mainly early Buddhist doctrinal lists (Pali:mātikā, Sanskrit:mātṛkā) which forms the "ancient core" of early Abhidharma.[6]
Some narrative texts which discuss the past lives of the Buddha and other figures, mainly theJatakas andAvadanas, could also be considered early Buddhist texts. According to Peter Skilling, the Jataka genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."[71] Sarah Shaw writes that the earliest part of the Pali Jātakas, the verse portions, are "considered amongst the very earliest part of the Pali tradition and date from the fifth century BCE."[72] "Jataka" appears as part of an ancient schema of Buddhist literature called the nine genres of the Buddha's teaching (navaṅga-buddhasāsana), and depictions of them appear in earlyIndian art and inscriptions (as early as the second century B.C.E.) seen in sites such asSanchi andBharhut.[73][74][75] According to Martin Straube, while these narratives cannot be dated in a precise manner, "the fact that many narratives are passed on in almost identical form within the canons of the different schools shows that they date back to the time before theschisms between the schools took place."[76] According toA. K. Warder, jātakas are the precursors to the various legendary biographies of the Buddha, which were composed at later dates.[77]
There are various EBTs collected in the TibetanKangyur. Peter Skilling has published English translations of these texts in his two volume "Mahasutras" (Pāli Text Society, 1994). According to84000.co, a site of Tibetan Canon translations, the DegéKangyur catalogue states that sutras Toh 287-359 of the General Sutra section are "Śrāvakayāna" works "probably extracted from the Āgamas of theMūlasarvāstivāda".
Another important source of early Buddhist material in the Tibetan canon are numerous quotations by Śamathadeva in hisAbhidharmakośopāyikā-ṭīkā (Derge no. 4094 / Peking no. 5595), a commentary to theAbhidharmakosha. Some of this material is available in English translation by Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā.[78]
Mahayana treatises also sometimes quote EBTs. According toEtienne Lamotte, theDà zhìdù lùn cites "about a hundred sūtras of theLesser Vehicle; the majority are borrowed from the Āgama collections."[79] The massiveYogācārabhūmi-Śāstra contains a section titledVastusaṃgrahaṇī (Compendium of Themes) which includes summaries of key topics found in each sutra of theSamyukta-āgama, as well as the topics of theVinaya and doctrinal lists (Mātṛka).[80]
Numerous sutra quotations by authors ofSautrantika treatises are also a source of EBT fragments. The Sautrantika school was known for focusing on using examples from and references to EBT sutras. These works include Kumaralata'sDrstantapankti, theAbhidharmamrtara-sasastra attributed to Ghosaka, theAbhidharmavatara-sastra attributed to Skandhila and theTattvasiddhi of Harivarman.[81]
The Tibetan canon also includes a large Mūlasarvāstivāda text calledThe Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma (Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna, Toh 287). This text contains some EBT passages, including a section on mindfulness of the body (ch. 5), a section on the ten paths of wholesome action (ch. 1) and a passage (in ch. 2) which is similar to the Discourse on Distinguishing the Six Elements (Saddhatuvibhangasutra, MA 162) according to Daniel Malinowski Stuart. There are also further passages in chapter two describing the contemplation of impurity, loving-kindness and pratityasamutpada.[82]
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