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Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c42.s2.t4: Pāramitā-cult

Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c42.s2.t4

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Pāramitā-cult

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The Jātaka-stories, according to the late Buddhist traditions, had in view Bodhisattva’s attainment of perfection¹ in six or ten virtues, viz., (i) liberality (dāna) (ii) righteousness (śīla) (iii) forbearance or endurance (kṣānti) (iv) mental strength (vīrya) (v) mental concentration (dhyāna) and (vi) realisation of the truth (prajñā). The number was latterly raised to ten by the addition of (i) skilfulness in expedients (upāyakauśalya) (ii) vow or resolution (praṇidhāna) (iii) attainment of certain powers (bala) and (iv) knowledge (jñāna).² The above list is to be found in Buddhist-Sanskrit works while the list in the Pāli texts is slightly different. It agrees with five of the above, viz., dāna, sīla, khanti, viriya and paññā. The remaining five are (i) renunciation (nekkhamma), (ii) truthfulness (sacca), (iii) resolution (adhiṭṭhāna), (iv) love (mettā) and (v) equanimity (upekkhā). Of these five, adhiṭṭhāna may be taken as a synonym of praṇidhāna of the supplementary list. The agreement of the two lists in five of the ten pāramitās indicates their comparative antiquity. It seems that the list was not a pre-meditated one. The stories were originally written just to illustrate that the episodes of Buddha's life were not untoward events but the outcome of the deeds of his previous existences. In course of time these stories were multiplied without any definite plan.

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¹ Pāramitā, as suggested by Har Dayal should be derived from ‘parama’ (highest, excellent, extreme). A Bodhisattva makes most extreme exertion or sacrifice for acquiring the virtues of gift, etc.

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² Dr. Har Dayal rightly describes these four as supplementary

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The earliest mention of the six pāramitās is found in the Mahāvastu (iii, p. 226), Lalitavistara (p. 340), and Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (p. 194) while that of ten in the Mahāyāna Sūtrālaṅkāra, Daśabhūmikasūtra, Bodhisattvabhūmi, and Samādhirājasūtra.¹ In the Mahāvastu again, mention of the six pāramitās is few and far between² while the word pāramitā has been used in the ordinary sense (viz. perfection) in compounds like garbhāvakrāntipāramitā³ (the last entrance of the Bodhisattva into the womb), sarvakuśaladharmavaśibhāvapāramitā⁴ (perfect attainment of domain over all good actions) and prajñāpāramitā, (i.e. perfection in Śrāvaka's knowledge).⁵ This shows that

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¹ See Har Dayal, op. cit., p. 167.

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² Mahāvastu, i, p. 214; ii, 296; iii, p. 226.

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³ Mahāvastu, ii, p. 17.

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⁴ Ibid., ii, p. 261.

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⁵ Ibid., iii, p. 67

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pāramitās. See his Bodhisattva Doctrine etc. pp. 167, 168. See also his remarks re. five pāramitās.

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the word ‘pāramitā’ did not carry the meaning attributed to it in the later texts. Like pāramim gato in Pāli, there are several uses of the phrase ‘pāramiprāpta’¹ and ‘paramim gato,’² in the Mahāvastu. In speaking of Bodhisattva’s several attainments, perfection in the six pāramitās³ as a condition precedent to a Bodhisattva’s progress from a lower to a higher bhūmi, is not insisted upon,⁴ as has been done in the Daśabhūmikasūtra.⁵ At the time of composition (2nd century B.C.) of the Mahāvastu,⁶ the doctrine of pāramitā, it seems, was not well developed. Unlike the Mahāvastu, we have in the Lalitavistara, not only frequent references to the six pāramitās, but also eulogistic accounts of the deeds of Bodhisattva for attaining perfection in the six pāramitās.⁷ These gāthās imply wide currency of the Jātaka-stories as also a great popularity of the pāramitā-doctrine.⁸ In the Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā, the six pāramitās are systematically mentioned in the enumeration of Bodhisattva’s attainments, with the rider that these perfections are not to be taken as reals⁹ (paramārtha). Thus, we may say that the doctrine of pāramitā was fully developed before the time of composition of the Lalitavistara and the Aṣṭasāhasrikā, i.e. about 1st century A.D. and after the date of the Mahāvastu, i.e., 2nd century B.C.

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¹ Mahāvastu, i, p. 152.

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² Ibid, i, p. 74, etc.

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³ Ibid., i, p. 133-4.

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⁴ Ibid., i, pp. 89 ff.

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⁵ Cf. Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism etc. (henceforth abbreviated as AMB), pp. 267, 270 f.

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⁶ Winternitz, History of Indian Literature (Cal. Uni.), II, p. 247.

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⁷ Cf. e.g. Lalitavistara (R. L. Mitra's ed.) pp. 38, 60, 185, 188, 199, 212, etc.

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⁸ Cf. e.g. Ibid., p. 60.

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⁹ See e.g. Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, p. 194.

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The practice of *pāramitās* occupies an important place in the Mahāyānic code of discipline. In the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka*,¹ one of the early Mahāyāna texts, it is repeatedly stated that the teaching for the Śrāvakas consisted of the four truths, law of causation, which put an an end to suffering and led to Nirvāṇa, while the teaching for the Bodhisattvas consisted of the practice of *pāramitās*, leading to the highest knowledge or omniscience. In the *Daśabhūmika-Sūtra*, the practice of a particular *pāramitā* is enjoined for the attainment of a particular *bhūmi*.² Thus we see that the *pāramitās* formed one of the fundamentals of the Mahāyānic code of discipline and spiritual progress.

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¹ *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka*, pp. 17 f. 334 f.

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² See AMB., ch. iv: *dāna* in 1st *bhūmi* (p. 259), *śīla* in the 2nd (p. 262), *kṣānti* in the 3rd (p. 267), *vīrya* in the 4th (p. 270), *dhyāna* in the 5th (p. 27) and *prajñā* in the 6th (p. 275).

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The doctrine of *pāramitā* is not mentioned in the early Pāli texts, and was very likely unknown to the early Buddhists.³ The words ‘*pāramiṃ gato* or *pāramippatto*’ (attained perfection) occur in the *Nikāyas*⁴ but nowhere in the Pāli Tripiṭaka, barring the *Khuddakanikāya*, the *pāramitās* are mentioned. The number of *pāramis*, listed in the later Pāli texts, is ten and not six. Dhammapāla, in his commentary on the *Cariyāpiṭaka*, contributes on the ten *pāramis* a long dissertation,⁵ in which he tells us that there were various ways of classifying the *pāramis*. There was also the system of enumerating the *pāramis* as six viz., *dāna-sīla-khanti-viriya-jhāna-paññā*, which is exactly the list as given in the Buddhist-Sanskrit texts. He writes that according to this enumeration, ‘sīla’ includes nekkhama (renunciation) as also sacca (truthfulness), the latter being only an aspect (ekadeso) of sīla; paññā includes ñāṇa while jhāna and paññā together include upekkhā; adhiṭṭhāna he says, is associated with all the six pāramis. Though Dhammapāla was aware of this sixfold classification of pāramis, the Pāli texts usually mention ten and it seems that this list was made out by the Theravādins some time after the currency of the six pāramitās among the sects other than Theravāda. The supplementary four pāramitās of the later Buddhist Sanskrit texts and the Pāli list of ten pāramitās were very likely the products of the same period.

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³ See AMB., p. 12.

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⁴ *Suttanipāta*, vv. 1018, 1020; *Majjhima*, iii, p. 28.

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⁵ *Paramatthadīpanī*, p. 321.

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This doctrine of pāramitā is evidently a later accretion to the fundamental principles of Buddhism, and this took place about the 1st century B.C. Of the several sects that appeared after the Second Council, the Mahāsanghikas and their offshoots, the Andhakas, were the first to deify Buddha and introduce the conception of Bodhisattvas. The object of this group of sects was not only the deification of Buddha but also to find a place for the laity within the religion, to create an interest among the householders in Buddhism. This doctrine of pāramitā was meant primarily for householders; three of the pāramitās were already included in the duties prescribed for the laity, viz., sīla, cāga (= dāna) and paññā.¹ The remaining three pāramitās are kṣānti, vīrya and dhyāna. These, it will be observed, are included in the subsidiary practices prescribed for the laity. The distinction between the pāramitā-practices which made a Bodhisattva and the practices prescribed for the laity is that the former practices had to be carried to the extreme that one can conceive of, while the latter was meant only as a general moral training. The doctrine of *pāramitā* illustrated by the Jātaka stories made a strong appeal to the common-folk, and became instrumental in propagating the religion among the mass. The success of the Mahāsanghikas and their offshoots in increasing their followers led other schools like the Sarvāstivādins and Dharmaguptas, and later the most orthodox of the schools the Theravādins to incorporate this new doctrine into their code, though it was not consistent with their teachings and ideals. The Sarvāstivādins, however, changed their outlook in the altered circumstances of the day, and produced an extensive literature in the shape of *Avadānas* to popularise this new cult.

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¹ The other two are saddhā and suta See above, p. 222-3.

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