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Arahant Mahinda- Redactor of Buddhapūjāva in Sinhala Buddhism (With Pali Text, Translation and Analysis) Author: Suwands H.J. Sugunasiri Publisher: Nalanda Publishing Canada (2012) Introduction: When Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka it is evident that Buddhism had been shaped considerably by cultural elements of then India. There is internal evidence in the oldest pali texts for that Hindu religious ideals had made a strong impact on Buddhism which resulted in Buddhism incorporating rites and ceremonies into Buddhist practice. The particular Buddhism introduced by arahant Mahinda also does not seem to be a mere path of wholesome living. Buddhism brought to Sri Lanka by ven Mahinda in the 3rd century B.C. had a place in it for rites and ceremonies intended for worldly achievements. Chronicles Mahāvaṃsa and the Dīpavaṃsa implicitly show that arahant Mahinda was much concerned with introducing Buddhist rites and rituals consistent to indigenous cults of the local people. Relic worship became popular during the days of arahant Mahind himself. Though it is difficult to assure that the present rites in their current form were existent during the days of the introduction of Buddhism it is possible to say the initiation of many rites and rituals took place during that time. Arahant Mahinda- Redactor of Buddhapūjāva in Sinhala Buddhism is an attempt to uncover the ambiguous origins of one of the Buddhist rites. The author, after a critical analysis of the data drawn from the texts, has been brave enough to assure that the Buddhapūjāva has been coming down to the present day without change in its core structure and manner of performance. He supports this idea with the thesis that the well pre-planned structure of Buddhapūjāva cannot be a creation of anyone else except of arahant Mahinda. As far as the reviewer is aware of, Sugunasiri’s work is the first critical academic inquiry into the Buddhapūjāva, a major rite practiced daily in Sri Lankan Buddhist monastic contexts or in lay Buddhist houses. He has taken admirable effort in his work to establish the spiritual intents of the rite historicity of this ritual and to attribute the authorship of the order and text of the current practice of Buddhapūjāva to arahant Mahinda. He has achieved his aim in the research content of the work that consist of two independent essays, the first Buddhapūjāva in Sinhala Buddhism and the second Arahant Mahinda as Redactor of the Buddhapūjāva including the pañca-sīla (Five precepts), aṭṭaṅgika-sīla (Eight Precepts) and dasa-sīla (Ten 1 Precepts) in Sinhala Buddhism. The essays are presented in the book as separate parts with abstracts and table of contents for each except the preface intending for both parts. It is however clear that he was firm in his thesis that it was arhant Mahinda who prepared a standard text of Buddhapūjāva as he says “our research has allowed us to now confidently adduce the authorship to none other than arahant Mahinda (P. 7)” in the first part of the book itself. Approaches Author in his preface to the Book has stated how two chapters came up from his preliminary earnest need to revitalize the overseas Buddhists, especially the young Buddhist generation in the rite providing them with handbook of the rite with Pali text and English translation of the Buddhapūjāva. This project had made him dipping into teaching of the Buddha. The inquiry into Pali texts had resulted in preparing the first part which author believes “a critical textual study as well as an anthropological study” (P. xi) of the ritual which is not beyond truth. The second part according to Sugunasiri was the outgrowth of the knowledge gathered through critical reading of the relevant literature as well as his understanding of the text of Buddhapūjāva to be a well-pre-organized structure. His understanding compelled him to inquire into the possible authorship of the text of the Buddhapūjāva. As the author does not find historical or textual support to trace the beginnings of the Buddhapūjāva in the days of arahant Mahinda he attempts to justify his thesis by emphasizing qualifications of arahant Mahinda to be the author of the Buddhapūjāva text. This unorthodox method is identified by Prof. Berman in his forward to show affinity to historical critical method in which the authors of sacred texts are understood to express their own visions depended time and space. However Berman shows that Sugunasiri’s method notably differs from the fact that he questions “what kind of evidence is there in the Buddhapūjāva itself that will tell us just what kind of qualifications we should be looking for in the redactor or redactors? (P. xx) (the question brings no signs of a particular authority). Buddhapūjāva: essence and practice The first Part of the book is totally dedicated to describe fundamentals of the Buddhist rite of Buddhapūjāva. This is a detailed and comprehensive account of how the Buddhapūjāva is conducted step by step. It brings us knowledge not only about how the involvement of the Buddhist monk and lay devotees take place, the meaning and the spiritual underline of 2 stanzas chanted precepts observed and customs performed. This detailed description is sufficient to flashes signs of the consistency, mental and spiritual settings of many Buddhist rites. It is admirable that the author often has presented data in an analytical way with adequate visions and speculations. He himself been Buddhist by birth, it has been no doubt easy for him to glean all the minuet aspects of the right in practice in his anthropological observations. His basic thesis is that irrespective the sectarian and geographical variations of the rite of Buddhapūjāva, the overall structure of it is universal. He enumerates thirteen items or segments of Buddhapūjāva in its sequential order in progress. Dealing with the spiritual context of the Buddhapūjāva the author inquires into the foundations of a rite of this nature. He points out the faith elements manifested in the discourses of the Pali canon and concludes sentiment of the Buddhapūjāva “may be traced back to the time of the Buddha” (P. 9). He also correctly identifies the Mahāparinibbānasutta in the Dīghanikāya of the Pali canon as a source to show the signs of the origins of Buddhist rites. It is interesting that he show the emotional attachment or devotion element as a part of wholesome state of mind is evident in the Buddhist canon. While holding that the rites of this nature could have been intended for the masses of ordinary follower who did not have interest of liberation from the early days of Buddhism the Buddhapūjāva might have redacted in consistent to the wishes of those many and the basic tenets of Buddhism. The author’s idea presented here is, though Buddhism rejects rites and rituals, simple devotional rituals which are not drawn as ends of spiritual path have a foundation in Buddhism from the early history. The description of the practical context of the Buddhapūjāva gives a basic idea of how Buddhapūjāva is performed and of devotional character of the Buddhapūjāva. The author’s clarity of knowledge of the rite is evident in many contexts. One example is his explanation of the varying character of the ritual and the length the rite may take in different ritualistic contexts such as- funeral rites, sermons and chanting. Another example is the English translation provided in the form of gist. He has correctly understood the practical purpose and the spiritual intent of the Pali phrases chanted in the rite. This is reflected in appropriate titles given for the phrases and segments and in translations to the verses and phrases of homage. Third example may be author’s identification of the compulsory and optional items of the rite. He identifies that the segments given such as Protection and blessings (chanting 3 benedictory discourses and transferring blessing), meditation and sermon at the end are identified as optional. The most important section of part one is the Buddhapūjāva in Critical Detail in which phrases, formulas and stanzas of each and every item of the rite in the text is critically analysed. In this section the author tries to understand the customs of the rite broadly in relation to their etymological, doctrinal and practical, spiritual and psychological dimensions. Thus, this section bear significance we have not come across from any former work inquiring into aspects of rite of Buddhapūjāva. The text he uses a version from Tangalla region in southern Sri Lanka undoubtedly looks an old one as it consist some phrases in Pali which are not commonly used nowadays. For instance, instruction before going for refuge in the process of rite in Pali lingua for the devotees- yamahaṃ vadāmi taṃ vadetha (Repeat what I say) fall in an old tradition of the rite. Another example is the fact that the monks do not join with lay devotees in chanting the formula to adore saṅgha due to the possible level confusion (P. 30) as they themselves belong to that category. In recent history, this avoidance is not existent. These examples not only signify some idea of the time of the text but also authenticity of the same provided. Some of the observations of the author are not only helpful to understand the rite but also tradition and ideals of it. Elaborating on the second precept of five-fold training principles (P. 37) the author remarks that the it is interesting that the second precept is intended not only to make abstain from stealing (cora) but for abstaining for what is not given (adinnādāna). The wordings ‘what is not given’ imply a wide range than stealing. According to the author, “forcing one’s love up on someone who does not have similar feelings” can also be regarded as an attempt to get what is not given. On the other hand, by the arrangement of the precept in this manner by arahant Mahinda it will be easy for the practitioner to have an obvious idea for not pinning after others property. Referring to a particular Pali phrase the monks is used to say after administering five precepts, the author shows it to be a sign of effective communication within the tradition. The particular phrase is “May you live with diligence, having well taken to the three refuge along with Five Precepts (Tisaraṇena saddhiṃ pañcasīlaṃ sādhukaṃ surakkhita katvā appamādena sampādetha) (P. 39). He shows the connection of the phrase mentioned with another phrases the conducting monk is used to say before administering five precepts“With your permission bhante (venerable sir), I beseech that the discipline of the three 4 refugees along with five precepts be administered to us (okāsa, mayaṃ bhante, tisaraṇena saddhiṃ pañcasīlaṃ yācāmi anuggahaṃ katvā sīlaṃ detha no bhante) (P. 28). The author says, the latter phrase might have been said by an educated devotee to request the conducting monk. Immediately after the second phrase is said the devotees say Thus, the former phrase said by monk signifies a summary statement at the end of the segment of administering precepts. The summery statement with its phrase ‘May you live with diligence (appamādena sampādetha)’ has a relevance to the last word of the Buddha occurring in the Mahāpariṇibbānasutta as the same phrase is included in the last instruction of the Buddha to his disciples. It also seems that this statement ironically highlight the importance of going in refuge and observing five precepts. While offerings to Buddha and adorations are concerned with merit making the devotee is implicitly reminded of the most important aspect of progressing religious life. In the Aṅguttaranikāya it is said that eight causes- seeking in refuge in Buddha, dhamma (doctrine) and saṅgha (desciples) together with training in Five Precepts as the way to progress the path of both merits (Puñña) and skillfulness (kusala) bringing happiness and comforts (puññābhisandā kusalābhisandā sukhassāhārā sovaggikā sukhavipākā…)1 The reviewer cannot miss a touching explanation of Sugunasiri where he elaborates on Transference of Merits (puññānumodanā) with its actual doctrinal base and spiritual significance. This segment of the rite comes after varieties of offerings in the rite. At this level, the devotee has come to a stage in which his emotional feelings are much heightened by the reflection on Buddha, dhamma and saṅgha, homage and offerings and thereby made much merits. At this level a devotee not only wishes one’s own comforts and happiness as a result of the accumulated merits but also the transfers the merits to others for their well-being and happiness. Sharing merits with others according to Buddhist tradition brings added merits. This is what we call charity of sharing merits (Pattidāna). The charity is an antidote to greed. When one wishes others happiness and comforts psychological base of the individual in that stage is called ‘altruistic joy’ (muditā) which is considered to be one of the four cardinal virtues in Buddhist tradition. This is, the author says, “psychological gain and a meritorious advantage” (P. 58). The language the author uses to describe ritualistic aspect is clear and simple. The way how the author describes the outward customs of the rite, the symbolical or philosophical 5 underline together with his analysis of the customs is so intelligible. In necessary contexts, he adds Sinhala equivalents of technical terms and of other important words and phrases to the English translation. Following quotations drawn from two contexts reflect the nature of language the author uses. The first quotation is from ‘offering of light’.- “Next is the pahan pūjāva (padīpa pūjā) ‘The offering of light’. This homage clearly draws upon the Buddh’s very awakening experience when he proclaimed, ‘a light was born, an eye was born’ (āloko udapādi, cakkhuṃ udapādi). Light clearly stands for the Buddha himself, the homage line seeing him as ‘the light of three worlds’ (tilokadīpaṃ) (P. 54). I will also quote his description of ‘Food Offering’. “The dāna (āhāra pūjā) ‘Food Offering’, made up of offerings, is, as noted, offered only at the morning and noon services. Thus, while a pre-noon offering includes both solids and liquids the evening offering is limited to a ‘medicinal drink’ (gilanpasa, P. gilānapaccaya). The forth and the last sub-chapter of the first part of the book ‘Analytical schema of the Buddhapūjāva: A symbolical understanding’ is the culmination of the growth of the discussion of the function and meaning of the rite. Though the sub-chapter is meant for Symbolical understanding in terms of an analytical schema, it is quite clear that the segment is rather an attempt to look into the rite from spiritual perspective. Here Sugunasiri points out four virtues of Buddhism are established by the enthusiastic practitioner of Buddhapūjāva, they are: devotion (saddhā), self-discipline (sīla), social good (atthacariyā) and liberation (mokkha). The third is described to be achieve by transferring of merits. Looking into the idea of the custom of transferring merits, the reviewer suggests that atthacariyā may be translated rather as ‘acting for others’ wellbeing’ (in more restricted sense) rather than social good (which is broader). The fourth is understood as the establishment of foundation of the path of liberation called sīla (self-descipline) as sīla is understood as the foundation of the path of liberation. The author’s idea here, as it can be understood by looking at the text of the Buddhapūjāva given in the Appendix I (P. 200 ff), is that these four virtues were the underline ethical principles of the text of the Buddhapūjāva prepared by arahant Mahinda for the masses of ordinary devotees. Above four virtues are symbolised respectively to major portions of a traditional Sri Lankan stūpa- the Foundation, the relic-chamber, the square and the pinnacle (P. 85). The belief of the Buddhist of the traditional Sri Lankan stūpa with its gradual reduction of the girth to the zero at the end of the pinnacle is that it symbolizes the reduction of individual’s impurities in 6 the practice and thereby the culmination of wisdom. Thus the author tries to put the rite of Buddhapūjāva as equal as any other practice leading to liberation of nibbāna. However, we do not see a logical base for the four qualities to equate with different features of the stūpa to symbolize liberation path while other essential more advanced virtues such as concentration (samādhi) are not found in the authors list. And also we do not see clear reasons why atthacariyā which is not an essential quality enumerated among the virtues leading to liberation was added here. This symbolical representation has caused the author to add a phrase as ‘Symbolical Understanding’ to the section. This symbolical equation does not seem to the main discussion of the first part of the book. The first part provides us with a clear picture of the nature and function of the Buddhist rite of Buddhapūjāva. With the exception of ‘A Symbolic Representation of the buddhapūjāva (D. 2) of the last sub-chapter, the rest of the contents of the first part has something to tell us about this rite. The first part is intended to be complementary to the second part in which the Buddhapūjāva in its present complicated form together with sīla-trio (three set of preceptspañca-sīla (Five precepts), aṭṭaṅgika-sīla (Eight Precepts) and dasa-sīla (Ten Precepts) is drawn as a redaction of arahant Mahinda. The reviewer, however, suggest that the second part by no means progressive to the first part of the book. Errors and areas of Potential Improvement Immediately after dealing with first part of the book, the reviewer has moved to discuss errors and areas of potential improvement without any evaluation of the second part. Therefore, here we will first deal with the second part and move on to the areas of improvement of the first part later. The reviewer’s cursory reference to the second part at the end of last segment of the review will give the overall idea of the second part of the book. . The second part of the book, as we have understood the content of it, has not produced any new reliable knowledge of the subject. The author, we may say, has taken a vain effort to establish that the text of the Buddhapūjāva together with sīla component was a redaction by arahant Mahinda. The conclusion of the author may be put as- ‘the text of the Buddhapūjāva “no mere haphazard listing, but well-thought out, sophisticated spiritual tool” (P. xxiii) so it must be arahant Mahinda in the Buddhist history who is most qualified to produce it. The whole discussion to build up this thesis suffers a lack of strong evidence. So the author has applied some ill-suited methodology with pseudo arguments. This does not mean that 7 arahant Mahinda has not contributed to introduce rites of the nature of Buddhapūjāva. What it means is that author is trying to prove something ambiguous due to lack of evidence. The reviewer has below pointed out some of the major issues in the methods and arguments of the second part. 1. The author is hasty to conclude in the first section of the second part that there was no in India a ritual of Buddhapūjāva as it exists today in Sri Lanka merely because he does not find any information in Buddhist canon, art-works or in the records of Chinese pilgrims. 2. Then he finds no satisfactory information relating to the Buddhapūjāva in Sri Lankan accounts in the second section but here he firmly believes that the rite has come down from the days of the arahant Mahinda in its current form. The reviewer finds it contradictory to believe that the Buddhapūjāva did not existed in India in the current form as there in no information and it existed in Sri Lanka in its current form while again there is scarcity of information. 3. The reviewer again does not see any sound logical grounds for the author to hold that the Buddhapūjāva was prepared and introduced in its present form by venerable Mahinda merely because the text of the rite looks so well-planned and the speculation that arahant Mahinda could be the only person to create it. It is no doubt that arahant Mahinda had enough strengths to inspire Sri Lankan indigenous people for Buddhism. But we do not find sufficient materials to come to the conclusion that the author here has come to. 4. The author has not taken any effort to make an observation to identify that the language of the Pali text of the Buddhapūjāva was as old as the pali in the days of venerable Mahinda. The reviewer has the doubt whether arahant Mahinda could have written the Buddhapūjāva-text in Pali while he himself had taught commentaries to cannon in local language to make Buddhism more intelligible. And also it may be questioned if we can assure that some of the customs such as worship to statues of the Buddha (Buddharūpaṃ) actually had come into being by the time of arahant Mahinda. There is evidence in the commentaries for that the statue was slowly accepted credited as an object of worship in Sri Lankan Theravada tradition. There is a large number of stanzas written to adore relics in Pali which are not oft-used in the 8 rite. The case being such we cannot also assure that the text given by the author to be the standard text of the Buddhapūjāva that existed for centuries in the history. With that we come to the first chapter again. There are considerable amount of errors and shortcomings that should be corrected in a next edition of the book. We will note is the most obvious ones. It is a wrong view that Sri Lankan monks chose Pali over Sinhala, the local language under the instructions of venerable Buddhaghosa, the commentator. Accounts of the Buddhaghosa in the chronicles as well as in the introductory verses in the commentaries show that how Buddhaghosa respected and paved his obedience to the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka. The reviewer has shown two main reasons in a work written in Sinhala why Sri Lankan monks employed a south Indian monk in the project. One reason is that it could not be done by Sri Lankan monks as it was not easy to avoid the accusation of being partial. This was because all the monks in Sri Lanka belonged to one or the other pupilary tradition of memorizing the texts called (bhāṇakas) whose interpretations in some contexts contradicted to those of others. So they had difficulty to surpass the interpretations of their own tradition. The second reason was the method of writing commentaries was excelled in South Indian centers of Buddhism and the monks in South Indian centres of Buddhism were much aware of scholastic developments of Buddhist thought. The knowledge of the improvement of Indian Buddhist thought without doubt was an essential requisite in the project. The author has not made any inquiry into whether phrases related to personal offerings in Sinhala (P. 58) might have been included later or they might have been in the then Sinhala language in the past. Although a definite conclusion is not possible, some reference to such matters enhances the academic quality of the book. The etymology given to saddhā (faith) in the book (P. 75) seems haphazard. The division of the word as as sat+dhā is not convenient to available reliable sources2 that correctly present the Buddhist meaning of the word. He has not given the source he used to reveal the etymological meaning of the word. In this kind of controversial contexts it is necessary to indicate the particular sources used by the author. Buddhism has not used some of the popular Indian words in their original old Vedic meaning. This understanding is necessary to understand Buddhist texts. The author might have been much consistent in giving foot notes and preparing bibliography to preserve the academic standards of the book. Some of the books in the list of sources seem 9 totally irrelevant to the subject the author is dealing with. He has mixed the methods such as Harvard Style, Chicago Style and Standard British Style in the lists of references. It is good to give different types of sources separately. The sub section ‘Mahinda, Asoka and Adam Smyth on the page number 188 does not bring any support to the arguments and conclusion of the second part of the book. There are errors in giving Diacritical Marks to non English words as well. For instance, ghaṇtā (P. 13) should be put as ghaṇthā, Bo maluwa (P. 14) as Bomaḷuva, Dutugæmunu (P. 15- footnote) as Duṭugämunu. Other noted errors are- Collectivity (P. 30) should be collectively. The sentence gilanpasa is the sinhalized gilānapaccaya does not give a clear meaning. It looks correct to put it as gilanpasa is derived from Pali term gilānapaccaya. Collection of two articles in the book has prevented the author from looking into Buddhapūjāva from many different perspectives. It looks like the first part of the book has lots of potentials to develop it to see into Buddhist rituals from many dimensions. The last subsections of the second part of the book – ‘Sinhala Buddhapūjāva as the culmination of a process’ and ‘Some methodological concluding remarks’, could be much supportive for the author to do this. Conclusion The book disserves appreciation as it gives reliable description of a Buddhist rite which may be useful for any researcher in the subject. Thus the first part of the book is of much significance. Second part of the book however does not seem properly executed piece of work. The unorthodox method author applies in the second part has prevented the author from coming to a strong conclusion with plausible authorship of text of Buddhapūjāva. Finally, strong thesis is entertained with the support of less strong speculations. As it has been pointed out above there is much to do in the book to enhance its academic quality and thereby to label this work as a Sourcebook. 1 The Aṅguttaranikāya (PTS) IV. 245 2 Davids, Rhys T.W. and William Stede, Pali English Dictionary, Orient Book Reprint Cooperation: New Delhi, 1975. 675 and Nyanaponika, Buddhist Dictionary, Buddhist Publication Society: Kandy, 1980. 189 10