Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c8.6

v1.c8.6

⁴ A notion has been made widely current by some of the modern scholars that the ostensible object of the *Brahmajālasutta* is to give a bird's-eye view of the non-Buddhistic opinions. This notion is wholly wrong, for the *Brahmajālasutta* has no presumption of that kind. (Cf. *Samantapāsādikā*, pp. 60-61; *Majjhima*, I, p. 40: *attavāda* and *lokavāda*; II, pp. 233-8; *Visuddhimagga*, pp. 443, 587; *Mahābodhi*, 1933, pp. 166 ff.; E. J. Thomas, *Life of Buddha*, p. 19). The doctrine of the six *titthiyas*, (see chap. IV) not to speak of the *Upaniṣadic* thoughts, are beyond the purview of the *Sutta*. Its main object is to draw up a list of the possible theories about the world and the soul that might haunt the minds of the monks who, by meditating according to the Buddhist path of meditation, acquired certain powers but did not reach the highest state. The so-called sixty-two views are really a systematic exposition of the experiences of a Buddhist monk and have very little to do with the then existing non-Buddhistic opinions. There may be a few agreements between some of the sixty-two views and the philo-