What anomosity? (On Mr. Malaiya's comments)

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Dear Prof. Deshpande,

 

Buddha opposition to Sanskrit is in the Vinaya text,

Culavagga V, 33.139:

 

<<<

Cf. the Vinaya passage where the bhikkhus Yamalo and Tekula

asked the Buddha:

 

Etarahi bhante bhikkhú nánánámá nánágottá ... te sakáya

niruttiyá buddhavacanam dúsenti. Handa mayam buddhavacanam

chandaso áropemá ti.

 

'Nowadays, lord, monks of many names, from many clans ... are

corrupting the Buddha's word in its own language. Why should we not

formulate the Buddha's word in Sanskrit verses?'

 

-- which the Buddha forbade and made the rule:

 

Na bhikkave buddhavacanam chandaso áropetabbam. Yo áropeyya

ápatti dukkatassa. Anujánámi bhikkhave sakáya niruttiyá buddhavacanam

pariyápunitun ti. (Vin. Cúlavagga V, 33.139)

 

'The Buddha's word, monks, is not to be formulated in Sanskrit

verses. Whoever so formulates it commits an offence of wrongdoing.

I enjoin that the Buddha's word primarily be studied in its own

language.'

 

Saka-nirutti is Mágadhi, the Buddha's own language. Sakkata Sanskrit.

>>>

(Source:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/9366/marg2.htm#1)

 

------------

 

Yamalo is shyAmala, what is the Sanskrit equivalent of Tekula?

 

 

In the gaNDavyUha sUtra, there is a cluster of places when

the merchant boy Sudana goes to meet his kalyanamitra teachers,

in South India (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra). This can be

shown south indian texts, toponyms. The southern most

Kalyanamitra site is Potalaka near the sea, the Potiyil-Malaya.

oTTakkUttar, the Chola court poet has written a poem

on the occasion him becoming the Poet Laureate (Kavichakravarti)

in front of the Chola king. Ottakkuttar flatters the

King that the honors an ordinary poet received that day is

only fit for Tamil gurus of ancient times. He lists 5 such,

the Saiva saint njAnasambandhar, Skanda-Murukan, the Potiyil

muni Agastya, PadmapANi Avalokita and Siva himself.

Note that Tamil saiva/vaishnava books tell Agastya learnt

Tamil from Skanda or Siva, while Buddhist grammars tell

it's Avalokitezvara teaching to Agastya.

 

The Pallava sculptures of Avalokitezvara and Dakshinamurti

(both of them have Potiyil-Malaya residence) have the

yajnopavIta. These Pallava avalokita/dakshinamurti

sculptures influenced the creation of Avalokita bronzes

in Ceylon (8th cnetury).

 

While the earliest Avalokita bronzes found in Sri Lanka

wear the sacred thread yajnopavItam, slowly the subsequent

Avalokita statues lose this brahminical feature so common

to Pallava sculptures of Shiva or Avalokita. Does the

removal of yajnopavita indicate the Lankan Buddhist refusal

to accept Hindu ideals? The Pallava influnece on Lankan

Mahayana sculpture is well described in:

 

Holt, John,

Buddha in the crown : Avalokite´svara in the Buddhist

traditions of Sri Lanka

New York : Oxford University Press, 1991.

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan

 

 

 

> > At 11:35 PM 09/12/2002 +0000, Yashwant Malaiya wrote:

> > > It is very widely believed that there was animosity

> > > between Buddhist monks and brahmins.

> > >

> > > It would be interesting to investigate the origin of this view.

>

> >

> INDOLOGY, Luis Gonzalez-Reimann <reimann@U...> wrote:

> > The post below, from 6 years ago, might be of interest to

> > those following this discussion.

> >

> > Luis González-Reimann

> >

> >

> > INDOLOGY

> > Wed, 8 May 1996 08:30:05 -0400 (EDT)

> > Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@u...>

> > Early Buddhist rejection of the Vedas

> >

> >

> > The clearest evidence from the early Buddhist texts

> >for the rejection of the Vedas, not just of the caste of the

> >Brahmans or their sacrifices, is found in the TevijjaSutta

> >of the Diighanikaaya among other sources. It specifically

> > refers not only to the three Vedas, but to a number of

> > specific Vedas and their Shaakhaas: [...]

>

INDOLOGY, "naga_ganesan" <naga_ganesan@h...> wrote:

> Kogen Mizuno, Buddhist sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission,

> Kosei publishing, Tokyo, 1995, p. 27

>

> "Shakyamuni, who wanted his teachings to reach all classes

>of society equally, thought that the lower classes should be

>the focus for his ministry and therefore preached his teaching

>in Magadhi, the everyday language of the common people, so that

>even the lower classes could understand him. The popularity of

>Buddhism can thus be understood, for on hearing his teaching,

> not only nobles, ministers, and Brahmins but also the untouchables,

>who had never before been offered religious instruction, took

>refuge in the Buddha.

>

>

> Two Brahman brothers named Yameru and Tekula, impressed

>by Shakyamuni's preaching, became Buddhist monks. Believing

>that preaching the precious teaching in the coarse Magadhi

>marred the dignity of Buddhism, they asked Shakyamuni to

>preach in the inflected, sonorous Vedic Sanskrit of the Brahmanic

>scriptures. Shakyamuni, who cherished the hope of bringing his

>teaching to all classes, admonished them, saying that anyone who

>preached Buddhism ion Vedic Sanskrit would be punished."

>

> What is the Sutra/Sutta name in which the Buddha goes for the

> local vernacular instead of Vedic Sanskrit?

>

> Thanks,

> N. Ganesan