Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c14.s3.t3: Paribbājakas of Kosala
Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c14.s3.t3
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Paribbājakas of Kosala
v1.c14.s3.t3.1
Like other countries, Kosala had also many paribbāja-kārāmas¹⁰ the most frequented of which was the one provided by queen Mallikā at Sāvatthi.¹¹ Buddha and his disciples, and even sometimes, his lay-disciples¹² visited these ārāmas, eagerly heard the views of these paribbājakas, and expressed their disapproval of those views if they thought it necessary to do so. There were also occasions when the paribbājakas approached Buddha for removing their doubts. As the result of these interviews we hear of paribbājakas like V e k h a n a s s a¹³ and Poṭṭhapāda¹ becoming lay-devotees of Buddha. The former had a talk with him on parama-vaṇṇa, kāmaguṇa, and lack of knowledge about the ultimates among certain teachers, while the latter discussed with him several topics, e.g. perception (saññā) and its cessation (nirodha), distinction between perception (saññā) and knowledge (ñāṇa), different soul-theories and so forth. Channo did not find much difference between his views and those of Ānanda regarding the removal of rāga, dosa and moha.² The high estimation in which Buddha was held by some of the paribbājakas is evident from the reply given by Pilotika to Jānussoṇi’s query about Buddha’s erudition, “Whom am I to judge of the knowledge of Samaṇa Gotama, who am I to be able to praise him; he is the praised of the praiseworthy, the best of gods, of men; whoever approaches him for disputation whether he be a brāhmaṇa, khattiya, gahapati or samaṇa-paṇḍita, he comes back satisfied with the exposition of his dhamma.”³ From these remarks it need not be supposed that Buddha had an unqualified success among the paribbājakas as there were many members of the class who would never recognise the excellences of the religion.
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¹⁰ Aṅguttara, IV, p. 378; V, p. 48 “aññatitthiyānaṃ paribbājakānaṃ ārāmo”
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¹¹ Majjhima, II, p. 22 “Samayappavādaka tindukācīro ekasālako Mallikāya ārāmo”
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¹² Ibid., II, p. 23.
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¹³ Ibid., II, p. 40. He was the founder of a brāhmaṇical paribbājaka order.
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¹ Digha, I, p. 178. See also Buddhistic Studies, pp. 101, 108-9.
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² Aṅguttara, I, p. 215.
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³ Majjhima, I, p. 175.
Cites (3)
- Dīghanikāya — Pāli
- Majjhimanikāya — Pāli
- Aṅguttaranikāya — Pāli