A History of Indian Literature v2.c24.2

v2.c24.2

Th. *Foulkes* (Ind. Ant. 19, 1890, p. 122) already gave expression to the conjecture that Buddhaghosa never lived at all, but that the existing commentaries were ascribed to the "Voice of Buddha." V. A. *Smith*, too (Ind. Ant. 34, 1905, p. 185) says, "Personally I do not believe in the existence of Buddhaghosa, 'The Voice of Buddha,' as an historical personage." L. *Finot* (La légende de Buddhaghosa, in Cinquantenaire de l'école pratique des hautes études, Paris 1921, p. 101 ff.) goes further, and attempts to prove that there is no historical foundation for Buddhaghosa's journey from Magadha to Ceylon, and that the commentaries are the work of several Singhalese translators, who have been grouped by tradition around the more or less authentic name of Buddhaghosa. We admit that the accounts of Buddhaghosa which have come down to us are 800 years later than he himself, that they are full of legends, that the accounts of Buddhaghosa's journeys to Burma and Pegu have no sort of historical background, and likewise that some commentaries have been ascribed to him erroneously. However, in the case of Śaṅkara, too, there are only quite legendary so-called "biographies," and many works are ascribed to him, which he could not have written, and yet no one doubts that a philosopher Śaṅkara really existed. At all events the name Buddhaghosa is quite trustworthy, as this name already occurs in inscriptions of Mathurā in the first centuries of the Christian era (*Foulkes*, l. c., p. 105ff.). *Cf.* P. *Pelliot* in T'oung Pao 21, 1922, p. 243 f., and *Pe Maung Tin* in JRAS 1923 265 ff. *Pelliot* (l. c. and BEFEO 4, 149, 412) has pointed out that, at the beginning of the fifth century Fa-hien and Tche-mong made the acquaintance of a Brahman Raivata in Pāṭaliputra, who is possibly identical with Buddhaghosa's teacher. The fact that Buddhaghosa knew the Vedas and was versed in Sāṃkhya and Yoga, lends probability to the tradition that he was originally a Brahman; s. *Maung Tin*, l. c.