Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c8.65

c8.65

The conception of Viññāṇa in the first of this second group of lines deserves to be noted; it is, so strongly reminiscent of the Upaniṣads. That in such a viññāṇa “Prapañcopaśama” should be sought, is easily intelligible. Now comes the last line which is not only unnecessary but flatly contradicts what precedes. And the situation is in no wise mitigated by the fact that the last line is in itself not late, since it occurs in verse 6 in the “Ajitamāṇavapucchā (Sn. Pārāyaṇavaggo).²² There the meaning of Viññāṇa is different.²³ It is true that both these meanings of Viññāṇa—transcendental and phenomenal—are probably equally ancient. Buddha himself perhaps used the term ambiguously. But that the two usages should be juxtaposed in such a manner as to lead to the appearance of a flagrant contradiction is more than suspicious. The best explanation seems to be that the last line is a corrective appendix added by one for whom Viññāṇa had a purely phenomenal meaning.