The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies v7.c48: Mahāniddesa

The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies v7.c48

Language: English

Mahāniddesa

The *Mahāniddesa* is an Abhidharma-style commentary on the *Aṭṭhakavagga* of the *Suttanipāta*. Its structure is determined by that of the *Aṭṭhakavagga*, which it follows closely by *sutta* and verse. (The *Aṭṭhakavagga* consists of verses 766-975 of the *Suttanipāta* and is divided into sixteen *suttas*.) Along with the *Cūḷaniddesa*, which comments on portions of the *Pārāyanavagga* of the *Suttanipāta*, the *Mahāniddesa* constitutes the eleventh text of the Pali canon's *Khuddakanikāya*. The *Niddesa* is the only explicitly commentarial text included in the Pali canon. Reflecting this unusual status, although most of the canonical texts are regarded as the Buddha's words (*buddhavacana*), the *Niddesa* is attributed by the Theravāda tradition to the Buddha's leading disciple, Sāriputta. As a commentary the *Niddesa* is quite old, while as a canonical text it is relatively late. Thus it provides a valuable glimpse into a crucial time within the historical development of Theravāda Buddhist thought—a time when Abhidharma types of analysis were being developed and were taking hold within the Buddhist traditions.

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Scholars have paid very little attention to the *Mahāniddesa* itself. Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike have used it primarily as a reference work for interpreting the *Aṭṭhakavagga*. Buddhaghoṣa utilized it in writing his *Suttanipāta* commentary, the *Paramatthajotikā* II. Modern scholars tend to consult it on difficult *Aṭṭhakavagga* passages and point out its divergence from the original text's intent on passages that are easier to interpret. The *Mahāniddesa*’s peculiar style encourages this rather piecemeal use; it is considerably more difficult to read on its own than other Theravāda commentaries. The bulk of it is hardly prose at all, consisting as it does of lists of synonyms (glosses, Pali: *niddesa*, Sanskrit: *nirdeśa*) for particular words in the *Aṭṭhakavagga* verses. Although its repetitious application of these strings of synonyms gives the impression that the *Mahāniddesa* offers a simplistic and rather tedious commentary on an exciting, beautifully poetic work, a closer examination reveals that this admittedly dry text achieves a wide range of creative complexity within its standardized glossing form. Due to its peculiar style and commentarial structure, I shall offer a general description of this voluminous text, rather than a summary that follows the order of the text itself.

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References throughout are to the Pali Text Society edition: Mahāniddesa, edited by L. de la Vallee Poussin and E.J. Thomas, 2 parts (London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press for the Pali Text Society, 1916-17; reprint edited in one volume, London: Pali Text Society, 1978). The text has not been translated.

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The Mahāniddesa's comments on the occurrences of the terms "suddhi" ("purity") and "santi" ("peace") in the Aṭṭhakavagga exemplify the range of commentarial innovation exhibited by this text within the limits of the glossing format. At one exteme, the Mahāniddesa has subhi- for suddhi- at 910, which is a scribal rather than a doctrinal divergence. On the same level, by glossing the phrase "passāmi suddham" ("I see the purified") with: "passāmi suddham, dakkhāmi suddham, olokemi suddham, nijjhāyāmi suddham, upaparikkhāmi suddham" the gloss on 788 reveals nothing new about the term suddha.

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At the simplest level of actual commentary, the Mahāniddesa begins to supplement the Aṭṭhakavagga's terms with vocabulary of its own by offering strings of synonyms that begin with a word from the Aṭṭhakavagga but often conclude with terms far removed from that original word. The Mahāniddesa usually has more than one of these stock definitions for any one term, and its application of one or the other in particular instances can further indicate its underlying interpretation of the passages in question. The Mahāniddesa employs two strings of synonyms for "suddhi": (1) "suddhi, visuddhi, parisuddhi, vodāta, pariyodāta" and (2) "suddhi, visuddhi, parisuddhi, mutti, vimutti, parimutti". In seven instances the glosses of "suddhi" consist entirely of one or the other of these two formulas.

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At the next level of increasing commentarial innovation, many glosses utilize one of the stock synonym strings as the basis for a slightly more complex explanation. Often the text builds on the basic formula by compounding the synonyms with other terms. For example, the gloss on 891 defines suddhi as: "suddhimagga, visuddhimagga, parisuddhimagga, vodātamagga, pariyodātamagga". In this way the text extends the connotation of "purity" (suddhi) in this particular context to include the path to purity.

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At an even higher level of innovative complexity, the Mahāniddesa begins many glosses with a standard formula and then introduces an explanatory passage that, unlike the synonym strings, consists entirely of material external to the Aṭṭhakavagga, having no particular term connecting it directly with that original text. Further, the *Mahāniddesa* utilizes these passages themselves as stock expositions, to be plugged into explanations as they are needed. For example, the gloss on 824 begins by defining “*suddhi*” with the “*suddhi* . . . *parimutti*” list and then it explains the phrase “*Idh’eva suddhi iti*” (“Just this is purity”) with a passage that the *Mahāniddesa* will use repeatedly in other contexts. This passage enumerates ten statements that deluded persons proclaim as the only truth, including opinions concerning the nature of the world (as eternal, ephemeral, finite, infinite), of the soul/life-principle (as identical to the body or other than the body), and of the ultimate fate of the Buddha (after death the Buddha is, is not, both is and is not, neither is nor is not). These are, of course, the famous metaphysical issues. Other Pali texts depict the Buddha as refusing to explain.

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In another example of this relatively complex level of commentarial creativity, the comment on the second line of 824 develops the meaning of *suddhi* in a slightly different way. The line in question states that nonideal persons do not say *visuddhi* is in other dharmas. The *Mahāniddesa* paraphrases it as follows:

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Having set aside [i.e. excepting] their own teacher, dharma-preaching, group, view, way, path, they disparage [etc.] all other dogmas (thus): “that teacher is not omniscient, dharma is not well-taught, group is not well-practised, view is not good, way is not well-attained, path is not leading-out; there is neither *suddhi* nor *visuddhi* . . . nor *parimutti* from (i.e. because of) that; low, inferior (etc.) (persons) are not purified (*sujjhanti*, . . . *parimuccanti*) from that”, thus they say, preach [etc.].

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This gloss includes the second stock definition of *suddhi*, but it also offers a more innovative illustration of the term in the ‘That teacher is not omniscient . . . path is not leading-out’ statement. Since this gloss utilizes more than a simple string of synonyms and since, in turn, the commentary applies this more creative passage repeatedly in a variety of settings, this comment provides another example of an innovative explanation used by the *Mahāniddesa* in a set manner.

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Another type of complex glossing explanation that incorporates a stereotypical string of synonyms is illustrated by the gloss of “*santi*” (peace) compounded with “*pada*” in 915 as:

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*Santi* is, in one aspect, peace, the state of peace (*santipada*), that deathless *nibbāna* which is quieting of all conditionings, eradication of all limitations (*upādhi*), destruction of thirst, dispassion, cessation, *nibbāna*.

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As the phrase "in one aspect" implies, there is more to this definition. A quotation from another (Pali Buddhist) text follows. Here, and in all similar instances, the Mahāniddesa introduces the quotation with the phrase "Thus it was spoken by the Bhagavant" (vuttaṃ h'etaṃ bhagavatā). (The editors of the Pali Text Society edition have located the sources of most of these passages and they provide cross-references in the notes.) The quotation concludes with a string of synonyms for "santi" which relates loosely to the "first aspect" of this gloss, namely "the state of (-pada) peace (santi-), shelter (tāna-), protection (leṇa-), refuge (saraṇa-), the fearless (abhaya-), the eternal (accuta-), the deathless (amata-), nibbāna-". We find this string of synonyms in the Mahāniddessa's gloss of "santi" in 845, as well.

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The gloss on 784, which verse contains the first instance of the term "santi" in the Aṭṭhakavagga, exemplifies the Mahāniddesa's highest level of innovation. This line presents a challenge to the word-by-word commentator because while overall the Aṭṭhakavagga treats santi as an undeniably ideal condition, this line implies that in some cases it can be less than ideal:

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Of whom there are designed, defined,
preferred, unclean dharmas,
What good result he sees in himself,
he is dependent on that santi-with-unsteady-basis.

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The Mahāniddesa reconciles this somewhat derogatory use of the term "santi" with Aṭṭhakavagga's usual unmitigated praise for santi by delineating three santis: (1) "accantasanti, that deathless liberation which is the quietening of all conditionings, eradication of all limitations, destruction of thirst, nonattachment, cessation, nibbāna" (as in the "first aspect" of the verse 915 gloss of santi mentioned above); (2) tadaṅgasanti, the calming of a series of negative factors at the eight successive levels of concentration-meditative attainment; and (3) sammutisanti, the sixty-two false views (diṭṭhigata)" (the text does not enumerate these). Here the Mahāniddesa, by attributing secondary and tertiary meaning to one word, explains the Aṭṭhakavagga verse on two levels. On the level of the individual term "santi", this gloss reflects a complexity inherent in the original text's vocabulary. But it goes beyond the obvious implication in this particular line that sometimes calm is not dependable. In connecting the idea of an unsteady calm with elaborate descriptions of three types of calm (from the most to the least valuable), the commentary elucidates the meaning of the entire verse.

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It seems clear that the gist of the *Mahāniddesa*’s comment is that the *dharmas* referred to in the first two lines of this verse are the sixty-two false views and a calm based on self-perceived accomplishment in these is a calm with unsteady basis. Thus in this instance the commentary introduces elaborate schemes that are foreign to the original text, but the interpretation seems closer to the original significance of the verse than a stereotypical string of synonyms for the isolated word “*santi*” would be.

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The *Mahāniddesa* has various ways of applying and building on the basic formulas it uses. It will often apply one stereotypical string of synonyms and/or one stock passage in defining more than one word. For instance, we find the “*tāna, leṇa, saraṇa, accuta, amata, nibbāna*” formula that the *Mahāniddesa* used to explain “*santi*” in 915 and 845 as the gloss of *khema* in 896. The gloss at 809 combines that formula with the “*deathless nibbāna*, ... cessation, *nibbāna*” passage to define *khema*, as well.

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In the case of some words, the *Mahāniddesa* reiterates a stock definition verbatim every time it explains the term. Yet such definitions can be quite complex. The *Mahāniddesa* treats the term “*muni*” this way. Since this stock gloss exemplifies the stylistic and doctrinal complexity of the *Mahāniddesa*’s commentarial analysis at its best, it will be useful to present a summary of it here. This exposition begins with a formulaic definition of sagacity (*mona*) as that awareness (*ñāṇa*) which is:

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wisdom, knowledge, investigation, investigation into *dharma*, discernment, discrimination, erudition, proficiency, skill, criticism, thought, examination, understanding, intelligence, leading to (insight), insight, comprehension, goad? (Pali *patodo*), wisdom, wisdom-faculty, wisdom-power, art of wisdom, palace of wisdom, light of wisdom, splendor of wisdom, lustre of wisdom, jewel of wisdom, nondelusion, investigation into *dharma*, right-view.

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The gloss explains that one endowed with this awareness, attained to silence, is a sage (*muni*). Next the commentary delineates aspects or types of sagacity (*moneyya*): of body, speech and mind. Bodily sagacity consists of:

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abandoning of both the three kinds of body misbehavior and the three kinds of body right-behavior; knowledge, comprehension of body; the path having comprehension; abandoning of desire and passion for the body; cessation of body-conditionings and attainment of the fourth concentration-meditative state (*jhāna*).

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Sagacity of speech is basically the same formula, substituting "speech" for "body" and second concentration-meditative state for the fourth. The definition of mental sagacity follows the same pattern, using "mind" instead of "body" or "speech" with reference to the misbehavior and right-behavior, "thought" with the remaining phrases, and ending with "attainment of cessation of identification and feeling".

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Next the gloss quotes Itivuttaka III, II, VI and VII, which adds that the sage is without intoxicants and is called "one having abandoned all" and "one cleansed of evil". Reverting to its own material, the commentary lists and defines six types of sage, all of whom are endowed with these three factors of sageliness:

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householder sages (householders having visible signs of having known the teaching), non-householder sages (ones gone forth having visible signs of having known the teaching), trainee sages (the seven trainees), non-trainee sages (arahant), individual sages (paccekabuddhas), and sages' sages (tathāgatas, arahants, sammāsambuddhas).

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Then the gloss cites, first, Dhammapada 268-69 to the effect that it is not silence (mona) that makes one a sage, but rather wise taking up of right (varam) and avoiding of evils (pāpāni) in the world, and second, Suttanipāta 527 which attributes becoming a sage to knowledge of what is and is not, of what is inner and outer in the world, and to having passed beyond the snare of attachment.

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Thus this one stock definition, reiterated by the Mahāniddesa every time "muni" occurs in Aṭṭhakavagga, includes a string of synonyms for the sagacity a sage has attained; a description of three aspects of sagacity; three quotations from other Pali texts to illustrate the meaning of the term; and its own list of six types of sages. It draws on a plethora of terms and categories entirely foreign to the Aṭṭhakavagga: the faculties; powers; three kinds of right behavior (and three of wrong) specifically with reference to body, speech, and mind; the idea of path; conditionings; the four concentration-meditative states and the four higher concentration-meditative states; intoxicants; distinctions among householders and nonhouseholders and the seven trainees and perfected beings; those enlightened for themselves (paccekabuddhas) and those rightly enlightened (sammāsambuddhas); perfected beings; and tathāgatas. Finally, it couples a later Suttanipāta description of knowledge that has a definite metaphysical ring to it (knowledge of what is and is not, is inner and outer in the world)—far beyond the scope of the Aṭṭhakavagga's epistemological vocabulary—with that original text’s typical, simple depiction of the ideal as having passed beyond attachment.

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In its explanations of the *Aṭṭhakavagga*’s words and phrases, the *Mahāniddesa* reveals the ways in which the Theravāda tradition had developed between the time of the early texts and the time when the canon was nearing completion. In contrast with the *Aṭṭhakavagga*, the *Mahāniddesa* utilizes vocabulary with reference to the goal, ideal persons, and ethical prescriptions that appears to have been introduced, developed, and standardized in the period between the two texts, such as (deathless) liberation, cessation, nonattachment, noble, stream-enterer . . . perfected being (the four paths and four fruits), *dharma*, those enlightened for themselves, enlightened disciples, those rightly enlightened, *tathāgatas*, ignorance, thirst, wrong views, moral precepts and vows, defilements, conditionings, limitations, and the five constituents of desire. In addition, the commentary reveals a much more developed metaphysical-cosmological scheme, as it couches its interpretations in terms of birth, lineage, rebirth, birth, old age and death, self-nature, elements, faculties, and occasionally aggregates. As for the practice, the *Aṭṭhakavagga*’s relatively simple prescriptions to do good, avoid evil, and refrain from criticizing and arguing with others, are fully elaborated by the *Mahāniddesa*. The commentary speaks of a clearly delineated path (*patha, mārga*), from an impure, nonideal state (*saṃsāra*) characterized by frustration and death, through various meditative states and accomplishments (the concentration-meditative states, cessation of identification and feeling, mindfulness, and insight), to that deathless liberation which is the quietening of all conditionings, eradication of all limitations, destruction of thirst, nonattachment, cessation, liberation. This latter formula epitomizes the doctrinal transformation of the Theravāda during the canonical period, as we find no part of it in the *Aṭṭhakavagga*, and yet it is all standard Theravāda doctrine, clearly well developed and familiar by the time of the writing of the *Mahāniddesa*.

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The *Mahāniddesa* offers a developed conceptual scheme that reflects the teachings of the Theravāda Buddhism of its own time, rather than the teachings of the *Aṭṭhakavagga* itself. The explanations that purport to render a vague idea more accurate, or a loose description precise, tend to alter the original teaching somewhat. In some respects, the *Mahāniddesa* is quite consistent with the *Aṭṭhakavagga*—for example, it retains the treatment of the ideal goal as entirely anthropocentric. But in other cases disagreements either between the original text and the accepted developed teachings of the *Mahāniddesa*’s time or between particular verses in the *Aṭṭhakavagga* itself, force the commentary to alter the original teaching quite radically.

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Both of these types of modifications of the connotation of Aṭṭhakavagga verses provide fascinating material to the historian of religion. By examining particular instances of this common commentarial phenomenon, one can trace the development of religious tradition. The Mahāniddesa reveals the doctrinal history of the Theravāda as it expands earlier, simpler ideas into complex metaphysical hierarchies of epistemology, ontology, and soteriology. It also must resolve certain ambiguities and outright conflicts in the original text, precisely because the Aṭṭhakavagga is identified as the very words of the Buddha.

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The glossing method of textual exposition ideally presents one consistent definition for each occurrence of a word or phrase in a text, regardless of the term's various conceptual contexts within that text. At the same time, a gloss, no matter how stereotypical, remains a kind of commentary; it purports to explain a text and cannot do so accurately if it ignores shifts in the basic meaning of particular words or phrases. Thus the Mahāniddesa also introduces complex conceptual hierarchies as a means of resolving problematic differences within the Aṭṭhakavagga itself. For instance, in its innovative definition of "santi" as three types of peace (see above re: santi at 784), the Mahāniddesa explains why the Aṭṭhakavagga sometimes regards santi as a positive trait or accomplishment and at other times it clearly denounces it. It gives similar treatment to instances within the Aṭṭhakavagga's criticisms of selfishly defending one's own opinion or view, wherein words for knowledge and teaching are used in an unusual derogatory sense.

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The overall impact of the Mahāniddesa is to bring the Aṭṭhakavagga into line with late canonical Theravāda Buddhism. It interprets that early text in a manner consistent with the highly elaborate abhidharma categories and hierarchies of its own era. Remarkably, it does this within the confines of a rather limited commentarial format: the gloss. While it is by no means the only example of early Theravāda Buddhist abhidharma, its focus on one particular early Buddhist text renders it a valuable tool in tracing the doctrinal development of early Buddhism. This value is increased by the fact—as a canonical text itself—there is a major post-canonical commentary on it, the Saddhammappajjotikā. Combined with Buddhaghoṣa's commentary on the Suttanipāta, the Saddhammappajjotikā provides a third valuable layer of literary source mateial for tracing this doctrinal history.

Cites (6)

Dhammapada — Pāli
Mahāniddesa — Pāli
Cūḷaniddesa — Pāli
Suttanipāta — Pāli
Itivuttaka — Pāli
Khuddakanikāya — Pāli