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Author: Collett A.
Tags: philosophy religion buddhism culture women's history buddhist culture
ISBN: 978-0-19-932604-4
Year: 2014
Text
Women in Early Indian Buddhism
SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH SERIES EDITOR Martha Selby A Publication Series of The University of Texas South Asia Institute and Oxford University Press THE EARLY UPANISADS Annotated Text and Translation Patrick Olivelle BETWEEN THE EMPIRES Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE Patrick Olivelle INDIAN EPIGRAPHY A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other IndoAryan Languages Richard Salomon MANAGING MONKS Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism Jonathan A. Silk A DICTIONARY OF OLD MARATHI S. G. Tulpule and Anne Feldhaus DONORS, DEVOTEES, AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu Leslie C. Orr JIMUTAVAHANA’S DAYABHAGA The Hindu Law of Inheritance in Bengal Edited and Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Ludo Rocher A PORTRAIT OF THE HINDUS Balthazar Solvyns & the European Image of India 1740-1824 Robert L. Hardgrave MANU’S CODE OF LAW A Critical Edition and Translation of the Manava-Dharmasastra Patrick Olivelle NECTAR GAZE AND POISON BREATH An Analysis and Translation of the Rajasthani Oral Narrative of Devnarayan Aditya Malik SIVA IN TROUBLE Festivals and Rituals at the Pasupatinatha Temple of Deopatan Axel Michaels A PRIEST’S GUIDE FOR THE GREAT FESTIVAL Aghorasiva’s Mahotsavavidhi Richard H. Davis DHARMA Its Early History in Law, Religion, and Narrative Alf Hiltebeitel POETRY OF KINGS The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India Allison Busch THE RISE OF A FOLK GOD Viṭṭhal of Pandharpur Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere Translated by Anne Feldhaus WOMEN IN EARLY INDIAN BUDDHISM Comparative Textual Studies Edited by Alice Collett
Women in Early Indian Buddhism Comparative Textual Studies z Edited by ALICE COLLETT 1
1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 © Oxford University Press 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Women in early Indian Buddhism : comparative textual studies / [edited by] Alice Collett. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978–0–19–932604–4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Women in Buddhism—Comparative studies. 2. Buddhism—India—History. 3. Buddhism—Sacred books. 4. Buddhist literature—History and criticism. I. Collett, Alice, editor of compilation. BQ4570.W6W64 2013 294.3082’0934—dc23 2013004852 9780199326044 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Contents Contributors vii A Note on Non-English Words x Abbreviations xi Introduction—alice collett 1 1. The Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts: Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī and the Order of Nuns in a Gandhāran Version of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra—ingo strauch 17 2. The British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments: Behind the Birch Bark Curtain—timothy lenz 46 3. Pāli Vinaya: Reconceptualizing Female Sexuality in Early Buddhism—alice collett 62 4. Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya: The Intersection of Womanly Virtue and Buddhist Asceticism—amy paris langenberg 80 5. Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama: Outstanding Bhikkhunīs in the Ekottarika-āgama—bhikkhu anālayo 97 6. Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama: Defying Māra—Bhikkhunīs in the Saṃyukta-āgama—bhikkhu anālayo 116 7. Therīgāthā: Nandā, Female Sibling of Gotama Buddha—alice collett 140 8. Apadāna: Therī-apadāna: Wives of the Saints: Marriage and Kamma in the Path to Arahantship—jonathan s. walters 160
vi Contents 9. Avadānaśataka: The Role of Brahmanical Marriage in a Buddhist Text—karen muldoon-hules 192 10. Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya: Women in Medieval South Asian Buddhist Societies—ranjini obeyesekere 221 Bibliography 247 Index 267
Contributors Bhikkhu Anālayo completed a Ph.D. on the Satipaṭṭhanasutta at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000 and a habilitation research through a comparative study of the Majjhima-nikāya in the light of its Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan parallels at the University of Marburg in 2007. At present he is a professor of Buddhist Studies at the Sri Lanka International Academy in Pallekele. He teaches at the Center for Buddhist Studies of the University of Hamburg and researches at the Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan. His main research area is early Buddhism and in particular the topics “Chinese Āgamas,” “Meditation,” and “Women in Buddhism.” Alice Collett is currently a Fellow of the Arts and Humanities Council of Great Britain (AHRC) and Lecturer at York St John University. She received her M.A. from the University of Bristol in 1999 and her Ph.D. from Cardiff University in 2004. Since then she has worked in different universities in North America and the United Kingdom and published several articles on women in early Indian Buddhism, including two that look at reception history and review the modern scholarly debate on the subject. She is currently working on a monograph entitled Pāli Biographies of Buddhist Nuns, for which she is in receipt of an Arts and Humanities Research Council award. Amy Paris Langenberg is Instructor of Religion at Auburn University, where she also teaches in the Women’s Studies Program. She holds a 2008 Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Columbia University and has taught at Brown University, Brandeis University, and Dartmouth College. Her research interests include Buddhist law, the intersection of aesthetics and religion, Buddhism and medicine, and the gender history of Indian Buddhism. She is currently working on a project concerning Indian Buddhist understandings, ritualization, and critiques of human fertility.
viii Contributors Timothy Lenz is an Acting Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington, working on the Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project, headed by Richard Salomon. He received a B.A. in Music and Religion from Western Michigan University (1979), pursued Asian Studies at the University of Michigan (1980–1987) and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Washington (1994, 1999). His main research interests are in Sanskrit and Prakrit language and literature, narrative traditions, Gandhāran Buddhist language and literature, and canon formation and transmission. He is the author of A New Version of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada and a Collection of Previous Birth Stories: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 16 + 25, Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 3 (2003) and Gandhāran Avadānas: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 1–3 and 21 and Supplementary Fragments A–C, Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 6 (2010). Karen Muldoon-Hules finished her Ph.D. in Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2011. Her research focuses on north Indian Buddhist narrative literature and the interaction of Buddhism and Hinduism in classical India, particularly with regard to women and marriage. She is currently a visiting lecturer for UCLA and an instructor for UCLA Extension. Ranjini Obeyesekere obtained her Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Washington, Seattle, taught in the English Departments at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and after moving to the United States, at the University of California, San Diego. For the last ten years she was a Lecturer in Anthropology at Princeton University where she taught courses in South Asian Literature and Culture. She has published extensively in foreign and local journals, and has translated Sinhala prose and poetry for anthologies. Her published books include: A Treasure in the Forest and Other Stories, 1969; Sinhala Writing and the New Critics, 1974; A Grief Ago, 1991; Jewels of the Doctrine: Translations from the Saddharmaratnāvaliya, 1991; Sri Lankan Theatre in a Time of Terror: Political Satire in a Permitted Space, 1999; and Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnāvaliya, 2001. She is presently editor of a translation of the 14th-century text of the Sinhala Jataka Stories of which the first volume of two hundred stories is complete and awaiting publication. Now retired, she lives in Kandy and Manhattan.
Contributors ix Ingo Strauch (Lausanne) is Professor for Sanskrit and Buddhist Studies at the University of Lausanne. He studied Indology and Iranian Languages at Humboldt University Berlin, Moscow State University, and at Freie Universität Berlin, where he also received his Ph.D. degree (2000) and his habilitation (2011). His research focuses on the history and culture of Buddhism in South Asia, ancient and early medieval Indian history and Indian epigraphy. Since 2005 he has been working on early Buddhist manuscripts from Gandhāra. Jonathan S. Walters is Professor of Religion, George Hudson Ball Endowed Chair of Humanities, and currently Director of Global Studies at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, USA. He earned his B.A. in History and Religion at Bowdoin College (1983) and his A.M. (1986) and Ph.D. (1992) in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Prior to his appointment at Whitman he taught Pāli at Northwestern University (1987–88) and the University of Chicago (1989–90), and Comparative Religions at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (1990–91). He is the author of The History of Kelaniya (1996), Finding Buddhists in Global History (1998), and more than twenty book chapters and journal articles on various periods and issues in Indian and Sri Lankan Buddhist history and culture, in addition to numerous reviews, encyclopedia entries, and special projects. He is also the co-author (with Ronald Inden and Daud Ali) of Querying the Medieval: Texts and the History of Practices in South Asia (2000) and the co-editor (with John Holt and Jacob Kinnard) of Constituting Communities: Theravāda Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia (2003). He is currently translating the Pāli Apadāna into English verse, which will be the first-ever complete translation of this important canonical text into a Western language.
A Note on Non-English Words within this volume, with the exception of names and titles, nonEnglish words from the Indo-Aryan language group used in the text have been standardized to either Sanskrit or Pāli. Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 9 have been standardized to Sanskrit, and the remainder to Pāli. When a nonEnglish word appears in the plural, it is italicized, as is standard practice, but with a non-italicized -s to follow—for example, therīs. When nonEnglish words are used with other English grammatical conventions (-ic, -ship, etc.), the word appears with diacritical marks but without italics— for example, dharmaśāstric, arahantship.
Abbreviations AN AN-a Ap. Avś Be BJTS BL Ce D DĀ DN Dhp-a Divy DS EĀ GS It-a MĀ MBh MDh MN Mp MŚS Ps PTS Q SĀ SĀ2 Se Aṅguttara-nikāya Aṅguttara-nikāya commentary Apadāna Avadānaśataka Burmese edition Buddha Jayanti Tripiṭaka Series British Library Ceylonese edition Derge edition Dirgha-āgama (T 1) Dīgha-nikāya Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā Divyāvadāna Dharmasūtra Ekottarika-āgama (T 125) Gṛhyasūtra Ittivuttaka-aṭṭhakathā Madhyama-āgama (T 26) Mahābhārata Mānava Dharmśāstra Majjhima-nikāya Manorathapūraṇī Mānava-Śrauta-Sūtra Papañcasūdanī Pali Text Society Peking edition Saṃyukta-āgama (T 99) ‘other’ Saṃyukta-āgama (T 100) Siamese edition
xii Skt. SHT Sn SN Sp Spk SR ŚSG T Tha Thī Thī-a Vin. Vism. Abbreviations Sanskrit Sanskrithandschriften aus den Turfanfunden Sutta-nipāta Saṃyutta-nikāya Samantapāsādikā Sāratthappakāsinī Saddharmaratnāvaliya Śrāvakabhūmi Study Group Taishō (CBETA) Theragāthā Therīgāthā Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā Vinayapiṭaka Visuddhimagga
Women in Early Indian Buddhism
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Introduction Alice Collett Like a lion [ freed] from a cage she will achieve Awakening.1 the path of practice as taught in ancient India by Gotama Buddha was, as far as the evidence allows us to judge, a path open to both women and men. The texts of early Indian Buddhism indicate to us that women were both lay followers of the Buddha and were also granted the right to ordain and become nuns.2 Not only this, but they also report that certain women were conferred the privilege to ordain other women, while others were known as influential teachers of men and women alike and, as the inscriptional evidence bears out, considered qualified as experts in certain aspects of Gotama’s dhamma. While all of this has come to be accepted by modern Buddhist studies scholarship, it is imperative that we bear in mind that, in actuality, for this to occur within an ancient religion practiced within traditional societies is really quite extraordinary. This is apparent especially if we bear in mind the continued problems, experienced by practitioners of many religions today, involved in challenging instilled norms and practices and conferring the status of any high office upon women. In previous articles on women in Buddhism, I have discussed the history of modern scholarship on the topic (Collett 2006a; 2009a). I have argued that, historically, there has been an overemphasis on certain texts, 1. . . . sīho va pañjaraṃ hetvā pāpuṇissati bodhiyaṃ. Yasodharā Ap. at II, 588, v. 56, tr. Walters, chapter 8, page 187. Pāli references appear in this volume with a citation of either one or some of the book/chapter/section/verse numbers, whichever is appropriate, followed by the PTS edition volume and page number. In places in which the text is discussed by name or text number, only the PTS reference is given. 2. The word “nun” is used throughout as a translation of bhikkhunī/bhikṣuṇī and equivalents, and at other times as a translation of therī.
2 women in early indian buddhism which has led to the prevalence of certain misapprehensions about women in early Buddhism. It was through a consideration of this historical scholarly debate that the current project was conceived. My desire was to bring together, in one collection, studies of a variety of Buddhist texts from early Indian Buddhism to reiterate and reinforce a point I made in an earlier article: that the simple fact that there is such a plethora of texts from early Indian Buddhism in which women figure centrally should in itself speak volumes. While I do not want to ignore the fact that there are negative conceptualizations of and attitudes toward women expressed in early Buddhist texts, neither do I want to occlude the opposite. For so many texts that concern women—from an ancient religion that existed within traditional societies—to have been composed, collated, and preserved is certainly worthy of note. The simple fact that we have so many named nuns and laywomen in the Buddhist textual record, as well as the preserved biographies of them, surely attests to a relatively positive situation for women. There are some other positive representations of women and female divinities from ancient worlds, for example, the oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang Dynasty period of Chinese history that tell us there were venerated “mother” ancestors, and Indus Valley archeology and texts of the Veda that inform us that in India itself goddesses were venerated. But, with the possible exception of the revering of Egyptian queens, there is no textual record of named women from an ancient civilization that comes close to matching what we have in early Indian Buddhism. Comparative Textual Study The present volume includes chapters in which authors translate and study texts, text fragments, or sections of texts that focus on women in some way or another. Each chapter focuses on a particular text or genre of texts, and the texts studied are either canonical, noncanonical, or commentarial. The aim in providing comparative textual study of this selection of texts is to provide a range of analyses across genres and types of texts—from vinayas, through canonical discourse and poetic verse to narrative apadānas and avadānas and commentarial stories. The volume offers comparative study of texts in five different languages—Gāndhārī, Pāli, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Sinhala. Each chapter is a study and translation, with some chapters focusing more on translation and some more on comparisons between parallel and similar texts, while others are more discursive and thematic.
Introduction 3 A volume of comparative textual study such as this enables us to see certain things. Comparisons between parallel versions of the same sutta, such as in chapter 1, can enable a review of potential differences in local beliefs and practices within different Buddhist communities. The region of Gandhāra is one of the most discussed locations, as it offers not only manuscripts’ fragments but also a rich art history. Further, the region of Greater Gandhāra has been the location of many major archeological excavations that focus on the early historic period in North India.3 In chapter 1, Ingo Strauch presents a new Gāndhārī version of a sutta that features a list of worthy recipients of gifts. A key feature of this new Gāndhārī version of the sutta is the way in which nuns are represented on the fragment. The sutta ends with a list of those who are worthy recipients of gifts, and the Order of nuns is enumerated on this list. In most other versions, the Order of nuns appears only once on the list but in the Gāndhārī version it seems to appear twice. Unfortunately, the key phrase is lost, but as Strauch rightly points out, there is really only one way to read the lacunae. The list of worthy recipients usually begins with the Order of monks headed by the Buddha. This part of the list appears to relate to a period during the lifetime of the Buddha. The next usual items on the list refer to the period following the death of the Buddha, and here the Order of monks and Order of nuns are each listed. However, there are two variations to this list. In the Pāli version, the initial item on the list is “both Orders”—ubhatosaṅghe, rather than the usual monks’ Order headed by the Buddha. In the Gāndhārī this first item is followed by a second, for which only part of the phase exists—this part is “as long as the Tathāgata is living, . . . headed by the Buddha” (tr. Strauch chapter 1, page 38). Strauch has reconstructed this, offering a fill to the lacunae such that the whole phrase reads “as long as the Tathāgata is living, (one gives a gift to the Order of nuns) headed by the Buddha.” This phrase, the Order of nuns headed by the Buddha, is not well attested to in early Buddhist literature, unlike the male version, which is a commonplace phrase. Therefore, the Gāndhārī fragment is an important find, as it proffers a phrase about the nuns’ Order not known elsewhere. It 3. Writing in the early nineties, Fussman notes that, due to Marshall’s extensive excavations of Taxila between 1913 and 1934, and various other more recent digs, Taxila is “the town in ancient India we know the best” (1993, 83). Kenoyer, more recently, surveys some of the archeological projects completed since then—at Charsada, Gor Khutree-Peshawar, and Hund, Attock district, as well as one outside Greater Gandhāra, in Akra, Bannu District (2006, 33–49).
4 women in early indian buddhism is not possible to know what the original to the list looked like; however, what is strikingly clear from this evidence is that the extant Gāndhārī version puts a more positive gloss on the nuns’ position within the early community than do the versions of the list extant in other traditions. As well as potentially enabling us to identify regional differences in relation to how women are perceived, revered, included, excluded, or have some agency in the redaction process, comparative textual study also engenders the possibility for consideration of differences between the early Buddhist schools in their view of or attitudes to women. This can be seen in the present volume by the inclusion of two chapters that look at vinaya literature of two different schools. Both chapters begin with some discussion of the structure of the extant nuns’ vinayas of each school, and a considerable difference is revealed between the two. In relation to the Sanskrit vinaya studied in this volume, Amy Langenberg’s first concern is to inform us of the unique characteristics of this Vinaya. She says: The Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottarvāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya is remarkable in that it appears have been edited in order to provide a comprehensive set of rules, principles, and procedures for nuns, easily detachable from the monks’ vinaya (Roth 1970, xxix–xxxii; Hüsken 1997, 202–4). In it, the story of the founding of the nuns’ Order along with an account of the eight grave duties (gurudharmas) are supplied at the beginning of the text as an introduction, just before the nuns’ prātimokṣa (the list of vows taken at higher ordination). In the Pāli and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas, by contrast, these appear much later with the miscellaneous (khandaka) rules. (chapter 4, page 81) The structure of the extant Pāli nuns’ Vinaya has previously been the subject of some discussion. Unlike the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, which can be easily detached from the monks’, the Pāli nuns’ Vinaya follows the monks’ sequentially and includes within it only the rules that do not pertain to both communities. Horner, many years before the publication of Roth’s edition of the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, in her introduction to her translation of the Pāli Vinaya suggests that the nuns’ Suttavibhaṅga may have, at some point, been separate to that of the monks’ ([1942] 2004, 3: xxxi–xxxiii). She insightfully adduces this from two things: first, a surviving fragment of a few lines from a Sarvastivāda Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa, and second, from the inclusion of the indeclinable pi. The Sarvastivāda fragment, published by Finot and
Introduction 5 Huber (1913), “contains only the end of one article and the beginning of another,” but these can be “easily identified” as saṅghādisesa rules for nuns that in the Pāli, as they are also rules for monks, do not appear in the nuns’ section. Horner’s second deduction is equally based upon slight evidence. In the Pāli, the nuns have eight pārājikas, but only four are listed in the nuns’ Suttavibhaṅga as the other four are shared with the monks. However, in what is the first pārājika in the nuns’ section, the word pi (“too, also”) appears in the phrase ayam pi pārājikā hoti, “she too becomes one who is defeated.” The use of pi here suggests that this rule was not initially the first in a list, but followed another, such that the use of “too” was appropriate. Thus Horner suggests that this rule was formerly part of a list, likely in the nuns’ Suttavibhaṅga, of the entire eight pārājikas to which nuns should adhere.4 Whatever was originally the case with the Pāli Vinaya, the extant versions of two texts are organized quite differently. This may well be due to differences in transmission and preservation processes, as well as traditional and/or regional differences. While it is not always possible to associate texts with a specific region, the Mahāsāṅghika school is particularly associated with the region of Magadha, and most especially with Pāṭaliputra, as the Chinese pilgrim Făxiăn brought a manuscript of the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya back to China from Pāṭaliputra, from his travels in Indian in the 5th century ce. This manuscript was translated into Chinese and is believed to be the Chinese text still extant in the canon and translated by Hirakawa into English. The Sanskrit manuscript, however, dates to a later time, the 12th century, although Roth notes that “both the versions are very closely related as far as the content and the sequence of the cases is concerned” (Roth 1970, xll). As well as the comparative textual study within this volume highlighting potential regional or sectarian differences, other chapters illuminate broader themes and issues in relation to women and raise challenges to our understanding of pervasive social constructs. The theme of sexuality is the focus of chapter 3, but also raised and discussed in chapters 2, 6, and 10. This is a topic that has received detailed attention in the past, and as I have noted elsewhere: 4. See the discussion in chapter 3 for more on the question of the structure of the extant Pāli Vinaya, including a review of some other features of the extant bhikkhunīvibhaṅga that support Horner’s argument.
6 women in early indian buddhism A general theory of female sexuality seemingly encased in early Indian Buddhism is advanced along the lines that women are positioned as sexual predators, existing in their tempting and tempestuous forms to lure men away from the good path through their sometimes insatiable sexual appetites. Such a theory is advanced by Gross, in order to critique it, by Sponberg, in order to nuance it, and by Serinity Young, in order to develop it. (Collett 2009a, 108)5 Sponberg’s insightful nuancing of the early Buddhist view of female sexuality, which he delineated based solely on Pāli sources, imbricates a dichotomy by which, on the one hand, an astute awareness of the psychology of male desire is demonstrated, and on the other, a misogynous psychopathology is revealed (Sponberg 1992, 20). In chapter 2 of this volume, Lenz notes that within the Gandhāran avadāna collection, although prostitutes (gaṇikās) do feature on some of the fragments, in a story which tells of male desire we do not find the psychopathology under which women are blamed, but rather an astute awareness of the problem of desire. The translation and study in chapter 6 ventures the female perspective. Here, women are subject to attempted seduction but rebuke all advances in favor of their practice. In chapter 10, by way of contrast, in the later medieval setting, a similar type of psychopathology to that noted by Sponberg can be discerned. In chapter 3, the very notion of women with salacious sexual appetites as the underpinning of the social construct of female sexuality in the early North Indian communities is challenged. Through a study of certain rules of the Pāli Vinaya, which prohibit and prescribe certain behaviors, female and male sexuality is reconceptualized. Another issue raised by the volume is the question of female authorship. This is explored in chapter 8, the subject of which is the Apadāna. In this chapter, Jonathan S. Walters compares the extent to which marriage forms part of the present- and past-life narratives on the monks and nuns who are the subject of the apadānas. In focusing on the emphasis on marriage in certain apadānas of nuns, Walters identifies what he goes so far 5. See Sponberg (1992), Gross (1993) and Young (2004). In the above cited article (Collett 2009a) are references to other works that look at or touch upon aspects of female sexuality (Horner[1930] 1990, Wilson 1996, etc.). Since then, John Powers (2009) has produced a volume on masculinity in early Indian Buddhism, and while his discussion is an important and valuable contribution to a little-studied side of the debate—male sexuality— unfortunately, his views on women in early Indian Buddhism are rather one-sided (see my review, Collett 2010).
Introduction 7 as to call a “feminist edge.”6 Placing the nuns’ apadānas as later than those of the monks, Walters argues, convincingly, that the nuns’ narratives can be read as an insistence that the agency of women be taken seriously. The argument for female authorship has been dealt with skillfully by Blackstone (2000) in relation to the Therīgāthā, and there are, in later works, other indications of this—a woman is said to have handed down the Itivuttaka for example (von Hinüber 1996, 47, It-a I, 29), and a Mahāvihāran nun or nuns have been suggested as possible authors of the Dīpavaṃsa (see Walters 2000, 114). With the inclusion of Walters’s chapter in this volume, the very real possibility for female authorship is evoked again. Related to this question is the question of women being written out of the texts, written in, kept in, ignored at the point of composition or, as in the Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama example in this volume, recorded to prosper more than male counterparts. Horner([1930] 1990, 62) made an appeal for consideration of the possibility, many years ago, that monks edited women out of the Pāli canon, and the evidence such as Strauch’s three versions of the list of worthy recipients reinvigorates such debates. Although certain of the texts studied in this volume can be regionally and temporally located, others are extant as the result of both short- and long-distance transmission and preservation processes. In this volume, we see texts now extant in Sri Lanka and China that are the result of attempted preservation processes, as well as others that are reformulations of older texts, such as the medieval Sinhala Saddharmaratnāvaliya. In comparing attempts at preservation, in the Pāli and Chinese projects, Bhikkhu Anālayo highlights both details and broader structuring that chart between the two, as well as elucidating difference. The comparisons at times demonstrate a striking level of synchronicity between the Chinese and Pāli versions, which appears to attest to the success of the preservation projects of past practitioners and scholars of the tradition, although how we are to understand concord and divergence in the textual record is a tricky business (see below). The comparisons between the Chinese and Pāli also highlight what can happen if a text is left open, such as with the Chinese version of the Ekottarika-āgama, and how additions that favor a particular stance on women might be imbricated into the textual record. 6. This picks up on a theme Walters began developing some years ago (cf. Walters 1994).
8 women in early indian buddhism As well as discussion of attempts at preservation, the volume offers a look at how texts can change over time when the emphasis is on adaptation and reformation, rather than conservation. In the final chapter, Ranjini Obeyesekere considers a text that is at least twice, if not three times, removed from the ancient Indian context. The Saddharmaratnāvaliya is a medieval Sinhala work based upon the Dhammapada commentary and perhaps also some earlier Sinhala commentaries, now lost. In contrast to the motivation to preserve, the author of this text, either wittingly or unwittingly, reformulates the stories of early Buddhist women into a medieval Sri Lankan context. Here, as Obeyesekere illuminates, the stories are retold in a manner that often reveals aspects of medieval Sinhala culture. Acculturation is clearly in evidence, which is in stark contrast to the relative paucity of acculturation revealed in the texts extant through Chinese and Pāli preservation projects. Although comparative textual analyses can provide the opportunity to refresh our understanding of women in early Indian Buddhism, such an enterprise is not without its difficulties. Reading texts as sources of history is highly problematic, and with regard to the Buddhist texts such as those under discussion in this volume, some of the most salient problems are how to interpret similarity and difference. Some of the chapters in the volume deal with parallel or similar versions of texts or sections of texts belonging to different Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions. Some of these chapters, and others, also include assessment of different recensions of a text within one tradition. Across the chapters various analyses of similarity and difference are offered. Strauch assesses difference, in the case study of his chapter, as an indicator of interpolation. Lenz uses parallel and similar versions as reconstruction tools. Anālayo understands similarity between Chinese and Pāli sources as an indication of the success of preservation processes. Karen Muldoon-Hules, looking outside the Buddhist tradition, identifies textual overlap in prescriptions on marriage rites between Buddhism and Brahmanism. A related cautionary note on reading texts is Schopen’s highlighting of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya passage that proffers something of a solution to the perennial problem of fallible human memory (1997). Commenting on oral transmission, the passage from the Kṣudrakavastu prescribes that those who have feeble or imperfect memories can restore lacunae in their knowledge with recourse to stock repository of people and place names. While this is a conscious operation instilled with the knowledge of fallibility, there are other axes at work in transmission, preservation, and adaptation
Introduction 9 processes. Chapter 7 of this volume warns against over-attachment to the extant textual record as an index or representation of historical reality. The potential problems highlighted in relation to the textual record in that chapter suggest that, even though Buddhist traditions understand their records as authentic, we must, at all time, in relation to any text, bear in mind that any facet of any record could be fiction, fantasy, or fabrication. Further, the textual records studied here are about a linguistic expression of religio-social life, and in that articulation the texts are already once removed from historical reality. Thus, texts need to be considered to be borne from what Steven Collins has termed the “imaginaire” (2006), but I prefer to call the “articulated world” of the complex authors. Summary of Chapters Chapter 1 Strauch’s chapter, chapter 1 of the volume, is a translation and study of Fragment 01 of the Bajaur collection. The Bajaur collection is a collection of nineteen birch-bark fragments that were discovered in 1999 in the Bajaur agency of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Fragment 01 is the Gāndhārī version of sūtra known in the Pāli as the Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta (MN 142), which also occurs in the Chinese Madhyama-āgama with a title that corresponds to a Sanskrit title of Gautamīsūtra. As Strauch notes in his chapter, “(o)n the basis of the orthography of the Bajaur version, the reconstructed Gāndhārī title can be established as *Dhakṣinavibhaṃgasutra” (Chapter 1, page 18–19). Strauch assesses the manuscript fragment in relation to both direct and indirect parallels. He provides detailed editions and translations of sections of the manuscript set alongside other versions of the sūtra. Also included is some discussion of the key features of the Gāndhārī version that set it apart from other versions—most notably the new itemization on the list of worthy recipients as discussed above, which is pertinent to the role of the nuns’ community within early Buddhist traditions. Chapter 2 In chapter 2, Timothy Lenz compares British Library fragments of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts with parallel texts. The British Library collection contains seven or eight different scrolls with numbered series of avadāna, which collectively contain approximately fifty-two different stories. Five of
10 women in early indian buddhism these concern women, and it is these five that Lenz provides editions of and translates. These avadānas reveal only a partial story or skeleton account of each of the women, as their author assumes that his readers will be familiar enough with the summarized stories to be able to restore from memory all the rich twists and turns of plot that the summaries lack. Typically, the extant Gandhāran avadānas contained in the British Library collection conclude with an abbreviation formula, such as “Expansion. All should be according to the model” (see for example chapter 2, pages 51, 53 and 54) that expressly directs the reader to flush out the skeleton narrative by means of their own command of Buddhist lore. In his chapter, Lenz compares the Gāndhārī fragments with Sanskrit, Pāli, and Chinese texts, and while noting that there are some parallels, he also notes that in relation to women the fragments only enable us to “sketch faceless women who lack any personality or obvious attributes that would clearly suggest some motive for their inclusion in one or more of the Gandhāran avadāna texts.” Nonetheless, from his survey of these fragments, alongside recourse to the potsherds inscription in which the British Library manuscripts were apparently found, he concludes that the situation for women in Haḍḍa in the first half of the 1st century ce appears to have been a relatively positive one. Chapter 3 The Pāli Vinaya is the subject of chapter 3. In this chapter, I address the topic of female sexuality and present a revalorization of what has come to be understood as a pervasive social construct of female sexuality in early Buddhism as evident formally through, on the whole, Pāli sources. The prevailing view, similar to Brahmanical ideation, understands female sexuality as voracious. Women are conceptualized with a salacious sexual appetite, and portrayed (at worse) as viperous enticers of men, seeking to drag them back, unwilling, from the true path. Through an assessment of the saṅghādisesa rules of the Pāli Vinaya, some of the most elucidating on sex, I argue that differences between the rules for monks and those for nuns reveal divergent sexualities; here it is the monks and men who attempt to pursue, cajole, and manipulate women into having sex with them, rather than the other way around. In the chapter, I concentrate on seven different saṅghādisesa rules to illustrate my point, the most poignant of which—saṅghādisesa no. 4 for monks—is translated. The origin story connected to this rule features the monk Udāyin who, when a beautiful laywoman asks him what she might offer
Introduction 11 in way of dāna, rejects her offer of the usual prerequisites and instead suggests that she offer herself for sex. Chapter 4 Amy Langenberg’s chapter is a study of the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya. Langenberg’s focus in the chapter is on exploring the question of the social identity of Buddhist nuns as expressed in the text, and the way in which nuns appear to occupy a “frontier position at the intersection of two well-established social identities, those of ‘virtuous woman’ and ‘Buddhist ascetic’” (chapter 4, page 85). Langenberg argues that as Buddhist nuns are “social hybrids,” defined neither by their sexuality and fertility nor by relational status to male kin, it was necessary to formulate a social and public identity for them such that they could continue to be considered women of virtue while the same time upholding their renouncer status. She highlights these questions through detailed study and translation of several rules—pācattika dharmas 79 and 84, and bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇakas 15–18 and 31. Pācattika dharma 79 is an intervention in a martial spat between a former husband and wife, now monk and nun, and no. 84 is concerned with the domestic sphere, revealing a situation in which nuns offer to do cleaning, carding, and spinning of raw cotton. These two together, Langenberg notes, forbid nuns from playing the part of wife or domestic worker. Bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇakas 15–18 are concerned with menstruation, and in her elucidation of these rules, Langenberg reveals how the provisions of these rules enable a management of the nuns’ bodily functions such that they continue to appear, to the external community, as pure, unsullied, and spotless. Lastly, bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 31 allows a nun to don the dress of a female householder—that is, to discard the physical indicators of monasticism—only in appropriate circumstances, such as when she considers herself under threat. Chapter 5 This chapter is the first of two that compare Chinese and Pāli sources. In this chapter, Bhikkhu Anālayo focuses on the Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarikaāgama. There are two complete Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama texts extant, one in Pāli and the other in Chinese, although the two versions vary considerably. It has been established for some time that there are several redactions of the text (see Waldschmidt 1980, 169–74) and as noted by scholars previously, the extant Chinese Ekottarika-āgama shows
12 women in early indian buddhism evidence of Mahāyāna influence and includes longer sūtras and sūtras of a composite nature.7 In this volume, Anālayo provides a translation of the lists of preeminent nuns in the Ekottarika-āgama and a comparison between this and the Pāli version. The number of outstanding nuns listed in the Ekottarika-āgama is far greater than in the Pāli. The Ekottarikaāgama records fifty-one preeminent nuns, while the Pāli has only thirteen. Qualities identified, sanctioned, and eulogized range from broad ethical characteristics, through mental ability or agility to teaching and other beneficial activities. As Anālayo notes in his conclusion, the nuns named on each list are each noted as foremost of all nuns, which presupposed that many other nuns also exemplify such noble characteristics. Chapter 6 There is extant a complete version of the Saṃyutta-nikāya in Pāli and two substantial versions in Chinese. As well as this, and some other partial fragments in Chinese, as Glass notes (2007, 26) in his volume on a Gāndhārī fragment from the Senior collection, “we have other sūtras—in sets, individually, or as fragments—belonging to the Saṃyuktāgama class in Sanskrit, Gāndhārī, and Tibetan.”8 In this volume, the bhikṣuṇīsaṃyukta in the complete Saṃyukta-āgama, Taishō 99, is translated. Bingenheimer (2008; 2011) has previously translated the bhikṣuṇīsaṃyukta from the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama, Taishō 100. The short discourses that make up the bhikkhunīsaṃyutta are brief vignettes about nuns in their daily lives. The picture painted of the nuns here is very positive, and as Anālayo comments in his conclusion, in considering the strength of responses to adversity between the genders, “the present set of discourses on challenges to Māra is a clear instance where the bhikkhunīs are presented in a more favorable light than their male counterparts” (chapter 6, page 137). Chapter 7 The focus in this chapter is the relationship between the Therīgāthā and the Pāli narrative biographical tradition. This relationship is explored through an analysis of Therīgāthā verses and biographies of nuns with the name 7. See Allon (2001, 9–22) for a detailed study of extant Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama texts and fragments. 8. See Glass (2007, 26–33) for a detailed discussion of these.
Introduction 13 Nandā. An intimate relationship between the Therīgāthā and subsequent biographies has been long established, and in this chapter I problematize the relationship. The extant Therīgāthā has two sets of verses on nuns called Nandā, and the first verse of each is identical. Beginning with the two sets of verses, I argue that this possible transmission error has been valorized by the tradition, which adheres to the inviolability of the canon, as verses of two historical disciples called Nandā and from this interpretation two accounts, still just discernible, for two separate Nandās have been inaugurated and instilled into the Pāli textual tradition. One Nandā is the female (half-)sibling of Gotama Buddha; the other is the daughter of a Sakyan called Khema. Chapter 8 The subject of this chapter is the Apadāna, a text of biographies (or hagiographies), based on the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā. The Apadāna includes past-life stories, and here we find accounts of women practicing in the Buddhist past. Within the community of each of the previous Buddhas mentioned in the text are female disciples. Thus, women were not only allowed to commit to their practice and ordain within the community of Gotama Buddha, but this also happened during the remote past, during the aeons of previous Buddhas. Within his chapter, Walters takes up this idea—of the text representing an attempt to establish and “write” women into the Buddhist past—as the starting point for his discussion. Due to extant colophons and the content of the Therī-Apadāna, Walters suggests that it was composed in response to the monks’ Therāpadāna. Focusing particularly on the apadānas of two former wives—Bhaddā-Kāpilāni and Yasodharā—Walters argues that the nuns’ narratives attempt to reinsert these women into the past-life narratives of their former husbands, respectively Mahā-Kassapa and Gotama Buddha. Controversially, Walters suggests a possible reading for Yasodharā’s apadāna as “a bold claim that she has enabled the Buddha’s Buddhahood” (chapter 8, page 188). Walters asserts that the content of the nuns’ biographies illuminates an insistence that women are included in the narrative of Buddhist history and practice that forms the bedrock of the monks’ biographies. Chapter 9 This chapter also focuses on marriage. In this chapter, Karen MuldoonHules discusses how “the Brahmanical system of marriage in northern
14 women in early indian buddhism India was widespread, well-entrenched, and at least partially entwined with local customs, making it probably difficult to challenge” (chapter 9, page 212). She sets her discussion around five conversion stories in the Avadānaśataka, in which women, rather than choosing a marriage partner for themselves, chose the Buddha as “bridegroom” and renunciation as their status. Muldoon-Hules highlights how Brahmanical marriage rites were ironically used to facilitate Buddhist female renunciation in a series of stories. This chapter examines the evidence for marital rites in early Buddhism and suggests that Brahmanical marriage rites were used by early Buddhists, as they seem to have been by Jains, and that Buddhist monks participated in but did not officiate at these rites. Concluding with some reflections on why there was so much emphasis in the Avadānaśataka placed on the need for women to evade marriage, Muldoon-Hules situates this discourse within a social milieu in which, due to changes to the āśrama system, there may have been an increased demand for young, fertile brides. Chapter 10 The final chapter of this volume deals with commentarial literature and a later text based upon a commentary. Buddhaghosa compiled commentaries relating to many major works of the Pāli canon, and included in chapter 10 are extracts from and a discussion of a commentary, apparently authored by him, on the well-known Dhammapada. Some of the biographies and stories of women contained within commentaries of Buddhaghosa and other well-known Pāli commentators can be sourced from earlier literature. Some were drawn from the Pāli canon, from the Apadāna, for example, while Buddhaghosa himself says that he relied in part on older Sinhala commentaries, which are no longer extant, as Ranjini Obeyesekere notes. Certain of these commentarial stories about women appeared to capture the imagination of the Sinhalese Buddhists and were used as a basis for narratives within later Sinhala works. In her chapter, Obeyesekere compares the Pāli stories from the Dhammapada commentary with their counterparts in a 13th-century Sinhala text, the Saddharmaratnāvaliya. In this chapter, as noted above, Obeyesekere notes similarities and differences between the texts, composed in different time periods, in different cultural contexts, and with varying agendas. The focus in the Saddharmaratnāvaliya is on adaptation, but Obeyesekere notes that issues such as acknowledgement of female intellect
Introduction 15 and education appear to have remained fairly static between the early and later text. Other issues, such as the option of female seclusion, while evident in early texts, appear to have become antiquated by the medieval period. Elsewhere, in looking at the issue of divorce and remarriage, Obeyesekere discerns a range of possible arrangements evident in the reframing of the narrative topography between the different stages of textual transmission. New Perspectives It is my hope that the present volume provides some fresh perspectives on women in early Indian Buddhism through this standpoint of comparative analysis. In the first two chapters, which deal with material that can be dated and located within a specific region, we have an opportunity to assess potential regional views/attitudes or modalities in relation to women. Although both sets of fragments from both collections represent only a paucity of evidence, from what is extant we can begin to consider that perhaps women faired well in Gandhāran Buddhism. If the Bajaur fragment attests to women writing themselves back into the picture, as can be seen to happen from Walters’s assessment of the nuns’ apadānas, this is significant. Nonetheless, even a more conservative appraisal of the Gandhāran manuscript fragments attests to a positive situation for women, in the articulated world of the texts at least. This relatively positive situation identified in the Gandhāran manuscripts sets the scene for the rest of the volume. Although in the vinaya rules we do come across women who appear to act out a pronounced, and less than healthy, sexuality, within the broad purview of the rules studied in chapter 3, some of the most salient in relation to sexuality, the blanket application of a salacious social construct on female sexuality can be tempered. Continuing in the same vein, of a re-ordering of our understanding of women in early mainstream Buddhism, questions of the need to invent a social identity for nuns emerge and sit alongside texts that establish (and reestablish and maintain through the transmission and preservation process) early nuns as an exalted and revered foundation for the continuing nuns’ saṅgha. Further to this, in both the Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyuktaāgama and the Apadāna, we find discourses and narratives on women who overcome adversity to flourish, and who through their stories then act as exemplars for the community. The majority of the time, we do not know who the authors of our Buddhist corpora are, but implicit in Walters’s
16 women in early indian buddhism assessment, as has been clearly documented by Blackstone previously, the content of some texts dictates that we take seriously the possibility of female authorship and remain prepared to continue to bear in mind the option that women had some agency and control within the composition and transmission process. It is only when we come to consider texts two or three times removed from the early Indian context, in medieval Sri Lanka, that we encounter negative attitudes toward women being expressed. While it cannot be denied that there are misogynist statements and portrayals of women in the texts we associate with early Indian Buddhism, this volume attests to the strength of the opposite—there is a great deal that is positive as well. In the past decades there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of women in early Indian Buddhism. During this period, many articles have been published on the subject, and it has been addressed within a range of books, such as those of Gregory Schopen who, while nuns are not the sole focus of his study, writes prolifically on nuns in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Nonetheless, a work such as the current volume, with its more intent focus on women and nuns in early Indian Buddhism, will hopefully add to the developing array of rich and thought-provoking works on the subject, and with the focus here on the positive within the textual record, lay to rest some of the old assumptions that women in early Indian mainstream Buddhism didn’t fair so well.
1 The Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣ ṭ hıˉ Manuscripts mah āprajāpatī gautamī and the order of nuns in a gandh āran version of the DAKṢ I Ṇ ĀVIBHAṄ GASŪTRA Ingo Strauch the position of women in early Buddhism is closely connected with the question of the existence and role of the nuns’ Order within the fourfold system of the Buddhist community consisting of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Oskar von Hinüber (2008) has recently argued that a nuns’ Order probably did not exist during the Buddha’s lifetime. Von Hinüber says that, if we consider the very rare presence of individual nuns in the suttanta texts and the astonishing absence of any suttanta mentioning the Buddha talking to an individual nun directly and personally, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that during the lifetime of the Buddha the Buddhists had an order of monks only and that is exactly the situation as reflected in the suttantas. (2008, 24) Only few months later, this view was categorically refuted by Anālayo, who criticized von Hinüber’s methodological approach, which is mainly based on the Pāli Nikāya texts. He writes:
18 women in early indian buddhism in order to reach conclusions about the history of early Buddhism, a study of all relevant sources is an indispensable requirement. For conclusions of such significance, attempting a major revision of the history of early Buddhism, it is not possible to restrict one’s research to the four Pāli Nikāyas alone . . . Given that we do not possess archaeological or epigraphic material on the foundation of the order of nuns and thus have to rely entirely on textual records— with all the problems that this entails—it is all the more imperative that the extant textual records are used in as comprehensive a manner as possible. (2008, 114) In order to address this imperative expressed by Anālayo, that the extant textual record be utilized in “as comprehensive a manner as possible,” it is the aim of the present chapter to introduce a new version of a story that is closely connected with the foundation of the nuns’ Order and has been discussed by von Hinüber and Anālayo in the cited studies. This new version is part of the “Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts” being studied in the framework of a project financed by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) at Freie Universität Berlin. This collection of nineteen birch-bark manuscripts was discovered in 1999 in the Bajaur agency of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (former North-Western Frontier Province) of Pakistan. It comprises texts from a wide range of Buddhist genres—including vinaya, āgama and Mahāyāna texts—which can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the first two centuries of the Common Era.1 One of the manuscripts (= BajC 1) contains the hitherto unknown Gāndhārī version of the sūtra, which is known in the Theravāda Pāli canon as Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta (MN 142). The Chinese Madhyama-āgama (T 26) lists this text as no. 180 under the title 瞿曇彌經 qútánmí jīng corresponding to the Sanskrit title Gautamīsūtra. Although both titles were obviously known in various traditions, the present chapter will use the Sanskrit form Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra when referring to the textual tradition of this sūtra in general.2 On the basis of the orthography of 1. For more information regarding the Bajaur Collection see Strauch (2007/8) and Strauch (2008). A more comprehensive evaluation of the contents of the Bajaur Collection in comparison with Buddhist Gāndhārī literature as a whole will soon be available—see Falk and Strauch (forthcoming). 2. For a discussion of the various titles see Anālayo (2011b, 810, fn. 261).
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 19 the Bajaur version, the reconstructed Gāndhārī title can be established as *Dhakṣinavibhaṃgasutra. The sūtra’s connection to the foundation of the Order of nuns is twofold. First, its narrative part refers to Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī, who tries to offer the Buddha a robe. As is well known, the figure of the Buddha’s aunt and foster mother Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī (Pāli Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī) is also closely connected with the foundation of the Order of nuns. The way these two incidents—the robe gift and the foundation of the nuns’ Order— are described is quite similar in both stories and offers a number of opportunities for comparison. The second association of the sūtra with the Order of nuns is found in the dogmatic part of the text. After refusing Mahāprajāpatī’s robe offer, the Buddha presents several lists that categorize and qualify various kinds of gifts—hence the title of the Pāli sutta: dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga, “analysis of offerings.” Among the possible recipients of gifts the Buddha also lists the bhikṣuṇīsaṅgha, “Order of nuns.” This inclusion of the bhikṣuṇīsaṅgha on this list has been a topic of controversy among scholars in the past, even prior to the most recent articles by von Hinüber and Anālayo. In this chapter, I will introduce the Gāndhārī version of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra. The main focus of this chapter will be a comparison of this version with its numerous parallels from other Buddhist traditions, including the Chinese, Tibetan, and Pāli canons. Based on this comparative analysis, I will conclude with an assessment of how this new piece of evidence contributes to the debate on the foundation of the Order of nuns. 1. The manuscript The sūtra is preserved on the obverse of a relatively large birch-bark scroll that is now kept in three different glass frames. Its last line is written on the reverse of the scroll and thus shows that the end of the birch-bark manuscript is completely preserved and that this sūtra was the only text inscribed on it. Another scribe used the empty reverse to add another text in large, carelessly written letters. Although some portions of the original scroll are missing, its state of preservation is generally good (see Fig. 1.1) and allows the reconstruction of large portions of the text. With the help of image processing it is possible to establish the original size of the scroll, which would have been 17.5 cm in width and 70.5 cm in length. The text is written in 80 lines of about 42 akṣaras.
20 women in early indian buddhism figure 1.1 Part of the scroll containing the Gāndhārī version of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra (BajC 1) © The Bajaur Collection Project, Freie Universität Berlin. 2. The structure of the text Unfortunately, the beginning part of the text including the nidāna is lost. Thus we cannot say when and where the reported events took place. The only word of the nidāna portion that survived is bhagavato (§ 0). The next section narrates that the Buddha is approached by Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī, who wants to offer him a robe. Again this passage is preserved only in fragments, but it is obvious that the Buddha refuses this gift and asks Mahāprajāpatī to direct her present to the Buddhist saṅgha as a whole (§ 1).
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 21 After Mahāprajāpatī repeated her request two more times and received the same response, Ānanda intervenes. He reminds the Buddha of the services done by Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī to him and asks him to accept her gift (§ 2.1). Although the Buddha acknowledges these services, he points to his own services done for Mahāprajāpatī and adds a passage that generalizes this reply by listing a number of persons to whom one owes a debt due to their merits for one’s own spiritual biography (§ 2.1 + § 3). This part of the sūtra forms the narrative core of the story. Following this dialogue between the Buddha and Mahāprajāpatī, and the intervention by Ānanda, the Buddha expounds two different lists, which form the dogmatical core of the sūtra and are not particularly closely related to the described event. The first of these lists enumerates fourteen individual offerings, called in the Gāndhārī paḍipogaliga dhakṣina. The list is arranged hierarchically and starts from gifts to animals, classified here as the lowest recipients, and progresses upward in a chain of worthy recipients that culminate in the Tathāgata Samyaksaṃbuddha (§ 4). A parallel list follows that describes the fruits of the respective gifts. This list is arranged in the same sequence, beginning from gifts to animals (§ 5). Both lists of individual offerings are followed by a list of gifts to the Buddhist Order. The Gāndhārī text calls them saṃghagada dhakṣina. Seven different items are mentioned (§ 6). This list is supplemented by a passage that dwells on the merits that are to be expected from the offering of each type of gift (§ 7). The Buddha’s instruction is concluded by a fourfold list, which contains the kinds of purifying a gift (dhakṣinapariśodhi) (§ 8). This is also the topic of the five gāthās, which conclude the whole sūtra (§ 9). The five verses of the Gāndhārī version are by and large identical with those of the Pāli text. If the sūtra is divided into parts, the Gāndhārī version contains the following structural elements: 0. nidāna 1. The Buddha refuses to accept Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī’s gift 2. Ānanda’s intervention 2.1. The service done by Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī 2.2. The service done by the Buddha 3. The persons to whom one owes a debt 4. The fourteen individual gifts 5. The fruits of the fourteen individual gifts 6. The seven gifts directed to the Order 7. The fruits of the seven gifts directed to the Order
22 women in early indian buddhism 8. The four kinds of purifying a gift 9. The gāthās 3. The parallels In general terms, the parallels of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra can be divided into two major groups, which I call direct and indirect parallels. The direct parallels comprise texts that represent complete or incomplete versions of the same text. The indirect parallels consist of different sorts of texts, which show more or less identical textual passages, which are due to a parallelism in content or in structure. A complete survey of the parallels with the exact bibliographical data will be provided in Table 1.1, below.3 Indirect parallels The largest group of indirect parallels is associated with the foundation of the nuns’ Order. This event is not only described in the vinayas of several schools, but is also the subject of an individual sūtra which is usually named Gautamīsūtra and is found in the Pāli Aṅguttara-nikāya (Gotamīsutta) and the Chinese Madhyama-āgama (T 26, no. 116).4 The narrative included in a second independent Chinese translation of a discourse (T 60) is, according to Analāyo, “in most aspects so similar to that of MĀ 116 that it seems safe to conclude that this version stems from a closely related line of transmission” (2011c, 270, fn. 8). The parallel passages in the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra and the texts describing the foundation of the Order of nuns usually cover the initial part (§§ 1–3) of our sūtra.5 The 3. The parallels and their main bibliographical data as well as references to their translations are collected and described in the respective chapter of Anālayo’s outstanding work, “A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya” (2011b, 810–19, 1054). Anālayo’s analysis of the Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta also considers the Gāndhārī version provided by the author in form of a preliminary transliteration. The vinaya parallels are found in Heirman (2001) and Anālayo (2011c). These three works form the basis of the bibliographical survey subsumed in the table, especially with regard to the Chinese and Tibetan parallels. For a comprehensive collection of parallels see now also Chung and Fukita (2011, 153–54). 4. The text of T 26, 116 is translated by Anālayo (2011c, 272–87). 5. The various texts concerning the foundation of the nuns’ order have been analysed by Ann Heirman (2001) and Anālayo (2011c). I want to thank Bhikkhu Anālayo, who generously provided me with the interlinear translations of most of the vinaya passages.
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 23 report of the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (T 1421) occupies a special position among them, in that it incorporates the robe gift into the description of events leading to the foundation of the nuns’ Order, and thus combines both episodes in one narrative thread. This is clearly a secondary development based on the structural parallelism of both narratives. A second group of indirect parallels is related to the so-called Maitreyavyākaraṇa tradition (cf. Lamotte 1988, 699–710). In some of them the intended robe gift of Mahāprajāpatī is reinterpreted within the framework of the prediction of the future Buddha Maitreya. In most of the versions Śākyamuni hands over the robe, which had just been given by Mahāprajāpatī to the saṅgha, to Maitreya.6 The golden robe is perceived here as a sign of his future Buddhahood.7 Among these texts the Maitrisimit deserves special attention.8 Due to the thematic parallelism its Uighur version contains almost the entire Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra including the dogmatical part with the various lists. Direct parallels Two of the direct parallels of our sūtra are part of a Madhyama-āgama or Majjhima-nikāya. The Majjhima-nikāya of the Theravāda canon contains this sūtra under the title Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta in its vibhaṅgavarga section (MN 142).9 The Chinese Madhyama-āgama, which was translated by the Kashmirian monk Gautama Saṅghadeva at the end of the 4th century, calls the same text 瞿曇彌經 qútánmí jīng, corresponding to the Sanskrit Gautamīsūtra (MĀ 180). Currently, scholars attribute the Chinese Madhyama-āgama to the Sarvāstivāda school of Buddhism (cf. Anālayo 2011b, 7, fn. 64. For an opposite view see Chung & Fukita 2011, 13–34). 6. A variant of this Maitreyan version of the robe gift episode is found in the individual discourses T 202 and T 203. Here after the Buddha’s refusal Mahāprajāpatī continues to look for a recipient of her gift among the monks of the saṅgha. Nobody dares to accept it, until Maitreya finally took it (Lamotte 1988, 704; Anālayo 2011b, 812, fn. 268). 7. The works, which contain this story, are listed and shortly described by Lamotte (1988, 702–705). For the role of the robe gift episode in the Maitreyavyākaraṇa context see also Silk (2003, 195–97). 8. As shown by Hüsken (2000, 46, fn. 9) and Anālayo (2008, 106–8), the Maitrisimit account does not refer to the foundation of the Order of nuns, but reports the robe gift episode, which is described in the different versions of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra. 9. The story of Mahāprajāpatī’s robe gift is also referred to in the paracanonical Milindapañha (ed. Trenckner 1962, 240f., tr. Horner 1964, 44–46).
24 women in early indian buddhism The Madhyama-āgama version, however, is not the only Chinese text among the direct parallels. Another Chinese version is preserved as an independent sūtra (T 84). It is said to have been translated between 980 and 1000 by Dānapāla from Uḍḍiyāna (Swat). Its title 分別布施經 (“Sūtra on the division of gifts”) corresponds to the Pāli title of this sūtra (cf. Tsukamoto 1985, 1097).10 A fourth, rather valuable direct parallel is part of Śamathadeva’s commentary on the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, the Upāyikā Abhidharmakośaṭīkā, extant today only in the Tibetan translation of Jayaśrī. According to Schmithausen (1987, 338–343), Śamathadeva’s quotations are more closely related to parallels from Mūlasarvāstivāda texts of the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama than to texts of the Sarvāstivāda Madhyamaāgama. It can therefore be suggested that Śamathadeva quoted from a Madhyama-āgama of the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition (cf. Strauch 2008: 118–119). These parallels from translated canonical collections can be supplemented by two fragments from Sanskrit traditions. The first of them is part of the Berlin Turfan Collection. It consists of a single folio (SHT III 979, Waldschmidt 1971, 241–242). The preserved text, which corresponds to parts of §§ 2 and 3 of the Gāndhārī sūtra, is largely parallel to the version of the Chinese Madhyama-āgama (T 26) and can therefore probably be attributed to the Sarvāstivādins.11 The second Sanskrit version was identified by Peter Skilling among the manuscript fragments of the Schøyen Collection (MS 2379/15, yet unpublished). Again, it consists of only a small part of one folio. Its preserved text corresponds to a later part of the Gāndhārī sūtra, namely to parts of §§ 3–8. The school affiliation of this version is uncertain. It is possible that it belongs to a Mahāsāṅghika(Lokottaravāda) tradition, as the vinaya texts that can be identified among the Schøyen fragments can be attributed to this school (Chung 2002; 2006; Karashima 2000; 2002; 2006). However, the school affiliation of the āgama material from the Schøyen Collection is less clear, although the possibility of a Mahāsāṅghika affiliation cannot be ruled out (Hartmann 2002, 1–2.; 2004, 127). According to this classification, the parallels and their school-affiliation (if uncertain, preceded by *) can be subsumed in the following table (Table 1.1): 10. Both Chinese versions (T 26, 180 and T 84) were translated by Tsukamoto (1985, 1093– 1100). 11. The exact parallel to the Chinese MĀ is: T 26, 722a4–19 (Chung and Fukita 2011, 153).
Table 1.1 The parallels of the Gāndhārī *Dhakṣinavibhaṃgasutra School affiliation Indirect Maitreya Direct Foundation of the Order of nuns Vinaya Non-Vinaya Theravāda Pāli: Vinayavibhaṅga Vin. II 253–256 Pāli: Aṅguttara-nikāya AN 8,51 (Gotamīsutta) = IV 274–279 Mahīśāsaka Chin.: Vinaya (T 1421) 185b19–186a28 Mahāsāṅghika Chin.: Vinaya (T 1425) 471a25–476b11 MahāsāṅghikaLokottaravādins Skt. Bhikṣuṇī-Vinaya ed. Roth (1970, 4–21) Dharmaguptaka Chin.: Vinaya (T 1428) 922c7–923c12 Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika Maitrisimit Uighur: ed. Geng (1988, 191–209), ed. Tekin (1980, 69–70) Tokharian: ed. Xianlin (1998, 169–89) Chin.: Vinaya (T 1435) 293b29–c9, 345b29–c22, 410a10–11 Skt. Bhikṣuṇī-Karmavācanā ed. Schmidt (1993, 242–8) Pāli: Majjhima-nikāya MN 142 (Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta) = III 253–258 *Skt.: Schøyen fragment 2379/15 (unpublished) *Chin.:Madhyamāgama T 26 (no. 116): 瞿曇彌經 qútánmí jīng (Sūtra on Gautamī): 605a8–607b16 *Chin.:Madhyamāgama T 26 (no. 180): 瞿曇彌經 qútánmí jīng (Sūtra on Gautamī): 721c–723a *Skt.: Turfan fragment SHT III 979 ed. Waldschmidt (1971, 241–2) (continued)
Table 1.1 (continued) School affiliation Indirect Maitreya Foundation of the Order of nuns Vinaya Mūlasarvāstivāda (Haimavata?) ? ? Direct Non-Vinaya *Tib.:Śamathadeva: Abhidharmakośaṭīkā D (4094) ju 254a1–257a6 Q (5595) tu 289a8–293a3 Chin.: Vinaya (T 1451) 350b10–351c2 Tib.:Vinaya D 6 da 100a4–104b5 Q 1035 ne 97a7–101b8 Chin.: Vinayamātrkā (T 1463) ̊ 803a22–b24 Chin. T 60 856a6–858a6 佛瞿曇彌記果經 “discourse spoken by the Buddha [in reply to] Gotamī’s declaration regarding the fruits [of recluse-ship]” (Anālayo 2011c, 269, fn. 8) Chin.: T 84分別布施經 “Sūtra on the division of gifts”: 903b–904b
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 27 In order to clarify how the position of the Gāndhārī version fits within these various textual traditions I will next examine two significant passages of the sūtra. The first of them is taken from the narrative part, which has a number of parallels in the vinaya material and can therefore help to evaluate and place the Gāndhārī version within the group of the indirect parallels and also ascertain its relation to the various reports about the foundation of the Order of nuns. The second passage is taken from the dogmatic core of the sūtra and will more precisely define its position among the direct parallels. In the final section of the chapter, to conclude, special attention will be given to an assessment of the delineation of the nuns’ Order in the Gāndhārī version, as compared to other versions of the text. 4. The suˉtra’s narrative: Mahaˉprajaˉpatıˉ ’s request The narrative part of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra and the introductory portion of the ordination story are largely parallel. They share the following elements: 1. Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī approaches the Buddha with a request. This is repeated three times and three times refused by the Buddha. 2. Ānanda intervenes. In the case of the gift of the robe episode the Buddha maintains his position. With regard to the request for ordination he eventually agrees. The argument used by Ānanda to “convince” the Buddha and his highlighting of the “mother service” done by Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī12 is largely identical in all versions, which seem to go back to a common core.13 In the Pāli versions it is expressed with the phrase: 12. This subject has been extensively discussed—on the basis of texts in Indian languages— by Ohnuma (2006). 13. According to the structural analysis provided by Ann Heirman (2001, 279–81) the parallel text portion of the versions of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra and that of the versions of the ordination story as contained in the vinayas and the Gautamīsūtra would correspond to sections (c) “Ānanda acts as a mediator” and (e) “Ānanda refers to the extensive merit of Mahāprajāpatī towards the Buddha. She nursed and raised him.”
28 women in early indian buddhism 1. Ordination story: Cullavagga (Vinaya-piṭaka) bahūpakārā bhante mahāpajāpatī gotamī bhagavato mātucchā āpādikā posikā khīrassa dāyikā bhagavantaṃ janettiyā kālakatāya thaññaṃ pāyesi (Vin II 254–55)14 2. Robe gift episode: Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta (Majjhima-nikāya) bahūpakārā bhante, mahāpajāpatī gotamī bhagavato mātucchā āpādikā posikā khīrassa dāyikā, bhagavantaṃ janettiyā kālakatāya thaññaṃ pāyesi (MN III 253) Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī has been very helpful to the Blessed One, venerable sir. As his mother’s sister, she was his nurse, his foster mother, the one who gave him milk. She suckled the Blessed One, when his own mother died. (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1102) This portion—albeit incompletely preserved—is also part of the Gāndhārī text (§ 2.1): ///(mahaprayava)[di] go[dami] po[ṣi](g̱ a)///(BajC 1, line 7) madu-janitri-kalagada[e] avaia Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī (was) the nurse who nourished (him) when the mother who gave (him) birth had passed away. In most of the parallels, this argument of Ānanda is countered by the Buddha with a reference to his own services to Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī. As noted by Anālayo: According to the main Chinese and Tibetan parallels to the Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta, in reply to his reminder by Ānanda the Buddha explained that he also had benefited Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, as due to him she had gone for refuge and taken the five precepts, was free from doubt in the three jewels, and had acquired insight into the four noble truths. This listing of benefits implies that she had become a stream-enterer. (2011b, 813) 14. Cf. the nearly identical text in the Gotamīsutta of the Aṅguttara-nikāya: bahupakārā, bhante, mahāpajāpatī gotamī bhagavato mātucchā āpādikā posikā, bhagavantaṃ janettiyā kālaṅkatāya thaññaṃ pi (AN IV 276).
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 29 The items included in this list vary in the different texts. Not all the ordination accounts contain this counter-argument of the Buddha. It is therefore possible that this element of the robe gift story was later interpolated into the ordination narrative. If such an interpolation did take place, it does not appear to have been dependent upon school affiliation.15 This portion is only fragmentarily preserved in the Gāndhārī sūtra (§ 2.2). Only the beginning and the reference to the five precepts survive in the preserved part of the manuscript: (ma)[ha]prayavadi godamie bahokaro ta kisa hetu ma[ma]///(panadi) [pa](tadepradi)[vira]da adiṃnadanade prativirada (*kameṣu michacarade prativirada) (mu)[ṣa]vadade pradivirada suramereamajapramati[tha](nade prativirada) (BajC 1, lines 8–10) (And I was) of great service to Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī. Out of what reason? (*It is due to) my (*support) (. . .) (that Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī) refrains from killing living beings, refrains from taking what is not given, (*refrains from misconduct in sensual pleasures), refrains from false speech, refrains from wine, liquor and intoxicants which are the basis of negligence.16 In many of the parallel versions this passage is mirrored by an enumeration of persons to whom one owes a debt. This enumeration takes up the list of the preceding paragraph. In the Pāli Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta the passage is introduced by:17 15. Remarkably, the Pāli versions of the ordination account in the vinaya and in the Gotamīsutta omit this passage. It is also missing in the Chinese vinayas of the Mahāsāṅghikas (T 1425), the Sarvāstivādins (T 1435), and the *Haimavatas (T 1463), in the Tibetan vinaya of the Mūlasarvāstivādins and in the Sanskrit Bhikṣuṇīkarmavācanā of the Sarvāstivādins. As seen in Table 1.2, below, other versions of the Mahāsāṅghikas-(Lokottaravādins) and of the (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādins do contain this passage. I am grateful to Anālayo who checked the Chinese references for me. 16. For sake of coherence the terminology of the translation corresponds to Ñānamoli (2005, 1103). 17. This passage is closely related, but not identical with the list in AN 3,24, where three bahukārā puggalā are enumerated (AN I 123). This parallel, which explicitly refers to attaining stream-entry and full awakening among those acts, which characterize the merits of a bahukāra- puggala-, is a further argument for the lay status of Mahāprajāpatī. As Anālayo says: “From this listing it would seem that, had Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī already reached full awakening by the time of the present discourse, this would merit explicit mentioning” (2011b, 814, fn. 282). Anālayo’s suggestion, that Mahāprajāpatī’s “offering of a robe to the Buddha could find a placing at some point during the time period between her going forth and her attainment of full liberation” (2011b, 815, fn. 282) seems to me less straightforward.
30 women in early indian buddhism 1. yaṃ hi ānanda, puggalo puggalaṃ āgamma buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gato hoti, dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gato hoti, saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gato hoti. Imassānanda, puggalassa iminā puggalena na suppatikāraṃ vadāmi, yadidaṃ abhivādana paccuṭṭhāna-añjalikamma-sāmīcikamma-cīvara-piṇḍapāta-senāsanagilāna-paccaya-bhesajja-parikkhārānuppadānena (MN III 254) When one person, owing to another, has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha, I say that is not easy for the former to repay the latter by paying homage to him, rising up for him, according him reverential salutation and polite services, and by providing robes, almsfood, resting places, and medicinal requisites (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1103). The same phrase is repeated three more times for the following persons: 2. a person who has taken the five precepts 3. a person possessing “unwavering confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha” and “the virtues loved by noble ones” (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1103): buddhe aveccappasādena samannāgato hoti, dhamme aveccappasādena samannāgato hoti, saṅghe aveccappasādena samannāgato hoti, ariyakantehi sīlehi samannāgato hoti. 4. a person without doubt in the four noble truths, that is, “who has become free from doubt about suffering, about the origin of suffering, about the cessation of suffering, and about the way leading to the cessation of suffering” (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1103): dukkhe nikkaṅkho hoti, dukkhasamudaye nikkaṅkho hoti, dukkhanirodhe nikkaṅkho hoti, dukkhanirodhagāminiyā paṭipadāya nikkaṅkho hoti. Again the Gāndhārī scroll does not preserve the whole text, but allows reconstruction of at least its basic shape (§ 3): 3.1. (yo ho anaṃda pugalo) (pu)[ga]l(o) agamo budha janati [dha]ṃ(ma janati saṃgha janati) (*anaṃda tasa pugalasa na sukaro paḍhihato yamida civara-piṃḍavada-śenasano-gilana-pracea-bheṣajo-parikharo 3.2. yo ho anaṃda pugalo pugalo agamo) /// [pano gado] ? ? [anaṃda ta]sa [p](u)[g](alasa na s)u[karo] paḍhihato yamida civara-piṃḍavadaśenasano-gilana-pracea-bheṣajo-parikharo 3.3. yo ho anaṃda pugalo pugalo agamya budho nikaṃkṣo dhaṃmo nika(ṃ)kṣo saṃghe nikaṃkṣo (anaṃda ta)[sa] pugalasa na s(u)[karo] paḍi[ha]to yami(da) civara-piṃḍavado-śenasano-gilana-pracea-bheṣaja-pari[kha](ro)
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 31 3.4. yo ho anaṃda pugalo pugalo agamya) /// yig[i]ra ? ? ? /// (anaṃda tasa) pugalasa na (sukaro paḍihato yam)[i](da) [civara-piṃḍava]doś(e)nasano-gilana-pra[c](e)[a-bhe]ṣaja-parikha[rena] (BajC 1, lines 13–18) 3.1. (Ānanda, when one person,) owing to another, knows the Buddha, (knows the) dharma (and knows the saṅgha,) (*this person, Ānanda, is not easily rejected with regard to robes, almsfood, resting places and medicinal requisites for the sick.) 3.2. (Ānanda, when one person,) owing to another, (. . .) this person, Ānanda, is not easily rejected with regard to robes, almsfood, resting places and medicinal requisites for the sick. 3.3. Ānanda, when one person, owing to another, is without doubt about the Buddha, without doubt about the dharma and without doubt about the saṅgha, this person, (Ānanda), is not easily rejected with regard to robes, almsfood, resting places and medicinal requisites for the sick. 3.4. (Ānanda, when one person, owing to another,) (. . .) this person, (Ānanda), is not easily rejected with regard to robes, almsfood, resting places and medicinal requisites for the sick. As we can see, two of the four elements in the Gāndhārī passage are missing. However, we know from the preceding passage that the five precepts would have been part of this enumeration, thus only one element remains unknown. If we compare this passage of the Gāndhārī version with its direct and indirect parallels we get a list of doctrinal issues, which are part of these various lists: A B C D Three jewels (triratna): Buddha, dharma, saṅgha Five precepts (śīla, śikṣāpada) Four Noble Truths (āryasatya) Five Noble Treasures (āryadhana): śraddhā, śīla, śruta, tyāga, prajñā These Buddhist core doctrines are combined with the following elements: 1 2 3 4 5 6 “knows” ( jānāti) “takes refuge” (śaraṇaṃ gacchati) “has no doubt” (niḥkaṅkṣa-) “has (unwavering) confidence” (Pāli aveccapasādena samannāgata-) “believes in” (abhiprasanna-) other verbal forms
32 women in early indian buddhism An analysis of the texts considering these structural elements yields the following picture (Table 1.2):18 Table 1.2 The list of persons to whom one owns a debt Direct parallels Indirect parallels T 84 Mah-Lok (ed. Roth 1970) A2 A+C3 D6 B A2 B A3 C3 A2 B D6 C1 A1 * Sarv—T 26, sūtra 116 * Sarv—T 26, sūtra 180 A5 A2 A3 C3 T 60 *Mūl—Tibetan D 253 A5 A3 A2 C3 Mūl (T 1451) Sarv—Turfan SHT III 979 A2 B A4 C3 Non-Vinaya Dharmaguptaka (T 1428) Theravāda—Pāli MN 142 A1 *B A3 ? Mahīśāsaka (T 1421) Gāndhārī—Bajaur 1 Vinaya A5 A2 B C1 A1 A2 B C3 A2 A3 C3 D+B A2 A+C3 D6 B From the above tabulation, it is clear that nearly every version has its own structure. All the versions agree in their inclusion of the three jewels (A: triratna) in the list. Most add other items like the five precepts (B: pañcaśīla), the Four Noble Truths (C: āryasatya) and the Five Noble Treasures (D: āryadhana), while others repeat the already mentioned element with other verbal forms. Among the different versions, the three that stem from (Mūla-)Sarvāstivāda sources (bold frame) are the most similar to one another. But even here the texts are not identical. If the Chinese Madhyama-āgama (T 26) does indeed belong to the Sarvāstivāda tradition, it uses a completely different formula in this passage. It is possible that the textual variants represent rather different local or regional traditions than formulae which are characteristic for a specific school.19 18. For the texts which do not contain this passage, see above fn. 15. In T 1421 only one item is mentioned. The treatment of this passage in the Maitrisimit versions differs considerably from that of the other texts and cannot be used for a comparison. 19. As indicated by Chung and Fukita (2011, 154), a part of this passage is quoted in the Karmavibhaṅga 61.6–9 (ed. Kudō 2004, 122). The quotation is introduced by yathā cāha *Bhagavān Dakṣiṇāvibhaṃgasūtre. It refers to triratna + śaraṇaṃ gam- (A 2) and to the
33 Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts On the basis of this evidence alone it is not possible to make any reliable statements about a suggested affiliation of our text to any of these versions or schools. Neither the Dharmaguptaka nor the Mahāsāṅghika parallels as preserved in the vinayas of these schools are especially close to the Gāndhārī text. The versions that most closely relate to, but are not identical with, our Gāndhārī text are the Pāli version and the independent Chinese translation of T 84 (grey shadow). 5. The dogmatical core: The classification of gifts The dogmatical core of the sūtra (§§ 4–7) is only part of the direct parallels and the Uighur version of the Maitrisimit. According to the structure of this part, two groups can be distinguished (see Table 1.3): 7 8 9 6 5 5 7 6 6 4 4 7 7 5 5 8 8 8 8 8 9 B II 9 BI 9 A 9 A 9 B II A Maitrisimit 6 Schøyen fragment 4 T 84 4 * Sarv—T 26, sūtra 180 *Mūl—Tibetan D 253 6 Sarv—Turfan SHT III 979 5 The fourteen individual gifts The fruits of these fourteen individual gifts The seven gifts directed to the Order The fruits of the seven gifts directed to the Order The four kinds of purifying a gift The gāthās Groups TheravādaPāli—MN 142 4 Gāndhārī—Bajaur 1 Table 1.3 The narrative part of the sūtra (§§ 4–9) and its parallels 6 4 4 6 5 5 7 6 4 5 BI A śikṣāpadas (B). The passage and its parallels are discussed by Kudō (2004, 265–6, fn. 40). A nearly identical passage is quoted from a “Dadiṇāṃvibhaṃgasūtra”, probably corrupt for Dakṣiṇāvibhaṃgasūtra (61.5, ed. Kudō 2004, 123).
34 women in early indian buddhism The first group (A) starts the introduction with the enumeration of the seven saṅgha-oriented gifts and continues with the 14 individual gifts. This group consists of the following versions: the Chinese Madhyamaāgama sūtra (T 26, no. 180), the Turfan fragment, and the Tibetan version in Śamathadeva’s commentary. As far as we can judge, these versions most probably belong to the Sarvāstivāda or Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition. Accordingly, this feature can be regarded a peculiarity of this branch of Buddhist textual tradition. The fact that the parallel text of the Maitrisimit shares this sequence might give an indication of its source, which should to be looked for in Sarvāstivāda circles. Our Gāndhārī sūtra obviously belongs to the second group (B), which shows the reverse order of these elements and is shared by all the remaining versions. However, other differences can be observed that allow a further subgrouping: The first of these differences concerns the sequence of elements in the list of individual gifts. As can be seen from the above table, this list occurs twice in the sūtra: the first instance enumerates the gifts, and in the second instance the enumeration is repeated for the sake of specifying the reward that is to be expected from each respective gift. With regard to these two subsequent lists, two subgroups can be distinguished: The first of them (I) starts its enumeration with the highest recipient and continues the subsequent list of rewards in the reverse order. This structure is found in all texts of group A, but it is also found in some texts of group B. The Pāli version begins its list of recipients with the sentence: tathāgate arahante sammāsambuddhe dānaṃ deti, ayaṃ paṭhamā pāṭipuggalikā dakkhiṇā. One gives a gift to the Tathāgata, accomplished and fully enlightened; this is the first kind of personal offering. (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1103) The list ends with: tiracchānagate dānaṃ deti, ayaṃ cuddasamī pāṭipuggalikā dakkhiṇāti. One gives a gift to an animal; this is the fourteenth kind of personal offerings. (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1104) Its second listing—of the rewards—is arranged in the reverse order and begins with:
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 35 tiracchānagate dānaṃ datvā sataguṇā dakkhiṇā pāṭikaṅkhitabbā. By giving a gift to an animal, the offering may be expected to repay a hundredfold. (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1104) This part ends with a gift to a Tathāgata: ko pana vādo tathāgate arahante sammāsambuddheti. What should be said about a giving a gift to a Tathāgata, accomplished and fully enlightened? (tr. Ñānamoli 2005, 1104) The same structure is found in the Sanskrit text, which is preserved on the fragment of the Schøyen Collection. The only texts that show a different order and are therefore to be attributed to subgroup II are the separate Chinese version translated by Dānapāla (T 84) and our Gāndhārī sūtra, which begins its first chain with the lowest recipient: ciric̄anugadasa pracea[dano] deti (BajC 1, line 19) One gives an individual gift to an animal. The last recipient on the list is the highest: (tasa)[g̱ a](da)[sa] (arahadasa samasabu)[dha]sa prac(e)adano det[i] (BajC 1, line 24) One gives an individual gift to the Tathāgata, accomplished and fully enlightened. In the subsequent list of rewards, the text begins again with the lowest recipient: [ciric̄anuga](da)[sa] praceadano dai(ta) [śa]tauno vivao paḍiakṣidave (BajC 1, lines 24–25) Having given an individual gift to an animal, a hundredfold fruition (of the gift) is to be expected. And concludes again with the highest: [ko vana va](vo ta)[sag̱ adasa araha](da)[sa] (samasabudhasa) (BajC 1, line 32)
36 women in early indian buddhism What should be said about a gift to a Tathāgata, accomplished and fully enlightened? Analyzing this comparison on a structural level, the Gāndhārī text is most closely related to the later independent Chinese translation T 84 with whom it shares two distinctive features: the sequence of the listing and the internal sequence of elements. Moreover, to situate these two as structurally close is in general accord with our observations with regard to the narrative part, where T 84 was also among those texts that were particularly close to the Gāndhārī sūtra. This preliminary result might be surprising, but reminds us of the necessity to evaluate the historical authenticity of a version not according to the age of its translation or manuscript evidence. Old features may be hidden in new translations, while new features can show up in an old manuscript. In this case the arrangement of the lists with the individual gifts mentioned first is without doubt an old feature (= Group B). It can be found in all non-Sarvāstivāda versions. The new feature—the rearrangement of the sequence of the individual items— is restricted to only two versions, including the “old” Gāndhārī tradition. But we should not forget that even this tradition stands at the end of a process of textual development, which had already lasted for some centuries. That this peculiar combination of old and new features is preserved as well in the oldest as in the youngest of our textual witnesses might be due to a common school affiliation of both texts. But it cannot be denied that the parallelism may also be caused by the common provenance of both texts and can therefore be characterized as a regional variant. Dānapāla, the 10th-century translator of the Chinese text, came from Swat. Perhaps he utilized in his translation a version that was in use in his home area. If this was the case, it may be the reason this version is closely related to our Gāndhārī text. 6. The seven gifts to the saṅgha and the Order of the nuns In all the versions the enumeration of the individual gifts is either preceded or followed by another list that contains the various kinds of gifts directed to the Buddhist community. The term used for this category is saṅghagatā dakṣiṇā (P. saṅghagatādakkhiṇā, G. saghag̱ ada dhakṣina). The passage has provoked a number of comments with regard to its implications for the history of the nuns’ Order. As already mentioned, von Hinüber briefly discusses Mahāprajāpatī’s robe gift as part of his argument that
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 37 there was no Order of nuns at the time of the Buddha. One of his main pieces of evidence for this is the apparent lack of direct interactions between the Buddha and nuns in the first four nikāyas. The story of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra does not negate von Hinüber’s assertion, since Mahāprajāpatī is introduced here not as a Buddhist nun, but still seems to be a laywoman.20 Nonetheless, the Pāli version of the sūtra enumerates, among the communities that are the recipients of the gifts to the Order, the bhikkhunīsaṅgha—which is clearly a contradiction to the narrative frame, at least if we concede that the tradition according to which the foundation of the Order of nuns goes back to Mahāprajāpatī is true. Von Hinüber wants to explain this paradox by a kind of absentmindedness and refers to L. Schmithausen, who drew his “attention to the remarkable fact that some Chinese versions correctly preserve a most likely older version of the text without any reference to the nuns” (2008, 21, fn. 59).21 However, von Hinüber does not exclude the possibility “that an attentive later redactor removed the bhikkhunīsaṃgha from the text” in these versions (2008, 21–22, fn. 59). The existence, in this sūtra, of Mahāprajāpatī as a laywoman alongside a mention of the Order of nuns does indeed present something of a problem for how we understand the founding of the nuns’ Order, given that the most common and accepted account gives her as the first woman to receive ordination. Another solution with regard to this “anachronism” was brought forward by Liz Williams. She argued that it is either “evidence of the existence of bhikkhunīs before Mahāpajāpatī requested the going forth” or that “this sutta may be an assimilation of one story with another” (2000, 170). This second explanation, which regards the Pāli version “as the outcome of a merger of two originally different texts”, was also favored by Anālayo (2008, 110).22 I want to use this opportunity to introduce here for the first time23 the respective passage of the Gāndhārī 20. Only one version (T 84) calls Mahāprajāpatī a bhikṣuṇī, but it also mentions her as taking only the five precepts. The controversial issue of Mahāprajāpatī’s assumed lay status has been repeatedly discussed by Anālayo, who does not exclude the possibility that the robe gift episode falls within a time after her going forth (2008, 109; 2011b, 814–81). 21. In his criticism of von Hinüber’s article Anālayo rightly points out, that this omission is only true for one particular phrase in the whole passage. Otherwise the Chinese versions “refer repeatedly to the nuns” (2008, 114). 22. For more references with regard to this problem cf. Anālayo (2008, 136, fn. 23 + 24). 23. A short reference to the Gāndhārī version, “where the bhikṣuṇīsaṃgha is almost certainly mentioned”, is given by von Hinüber (2008, 22, fn. 59) on the basis of an oral
38 women in early indian buddhism version of this sūtra and to discuss the role of the bhikṣuṇīsaṅgha in comparison with its parallels. For this purpose I will first cite the text as contained in the Gāndhārī version (in an abbreviated manner). Although it is not completely preserved, its coherent and repetitive structure allows its reconstruction with a high degree of certainty: 6. [satime] anaṃda saṃghagada dhakṣina (. . .) kadara sata 6.1. iśaṃnada tasagado tiṭhaṃti yave budhap[r]amu[hasa] (bh)[ikh](u) (saṃghasa) [da]ṇo deti aya [anaṃ]da paḍhama saṃghag̱ ada dhakṣina (. . .) 6.2. (punavaro anaṃda ta)[sa]g̱ ado tiṭhaṃto yaveto budhapramuhasa (bhikhunisaṃghasa daṇo deti aya anaṃda *dudiya saṃ)[gha]g̱ ada dhakṣina (. . .) 6.3. p(u)navaro anaṃda tasag̱ ade parinivude bhikhusa(ṃ)ghasa dano deti aya [a](naṃda *tatiya) saṃghag̱ ada dhaṃkṣina (. . .) 6.4. punavaro ana(ṃ)da tasa[g̱ a](de parinivude bhikhunisaṃghasa dano deti a)[yaṃ a]naṃda cauṭ́ha saghag̱ ada dhakṣina 6.5. punavaro anaṃda [ta]sag̱ ade pari[nivute]///(da)[n](o) deti ayaṃ anaṃda paṃcama saṃghagada dhaṃkṣina (. . .) 6.6. ///(*tasag̱ ade pariṇivu)[de evam aha etaya bhikhu]saghade agachaṃtu aya ana(ṃ)da ṣaṭha saṃghag̱ a(da dhakṣiṇa 6.7. punavaro anaṃda tasag̱ ade parinivu)[de] etaya bhikhunisaṃghade agachaṃtu ayaṃ sa(tama saṃghag̱ ada dhakṣina)(. . .) (BajC 1, lines 32–50) 6. “Ānanda, there are these seven kinds of gifts directed to the Order . . . Which are these seven? 6.1. Here, Ānanda, as long as the Tathāgata is living, one gives a gift to the Order of monks, headed by the Buddha. This Ānanda, is the first gift directed to the Order . . . 6.2. And again, Ānanda, as long as the Tathāgata is living, (one gives a gift to the Order of nuns), headed by the Buddha. (This, Ānanda, is the second) gift directed to the Order . . . communication with the author. The beginning of this passage and its relation to Pāli parallels from the MN and AN are discussed in Strauch (2007/8, 21–2).
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 39 6.3. And again, Ānanda, if the Tathāgata has passed away, one gives a gift to the Order of monks. This, Ānanda, is the (third) gift directed to the Order . . . 6.4. And again, Ānanda, if the Tathāgata (has passed away, one gives a gift to the Order of the nuns.) This, Ānanda, is the fourth gift directed to the Order. 6.5. And again, Ānanda, if the Tathāgata has passed away, one gives a gift to . . . This, Ānanda, is the fifth gift directed to the Order . . . 6.6. (. . .) if (the Tathāgata) has passed away, one says: May so many from the Order of monks come forward (to receive the gift). This, Ānanda, is the sixth gift directed to the order (. . .) 6.7. (And again, Ānanda, if the Tathāgata) has passed away, (one says): May so many from the Order of nuns come forward (to receive the gift). This is the seventh (gift directed to the order) (. . .).” As we see, the first two items in the list are introduced by the phrase: “as long as the Tathāgata is living”: tasagado tiṭhaṃti yave/(ta)[sa]g̱ ado tiṭhaṃto yaveto. Accordingly, only these two items could signify the order as buddhapramukha “headed by the Buddha.” The remaining five omit this attribute and begin with “when the Tathāgata has passed away”: tasag̱ ade parinivude. The same distinction is met in all other versions, although not always expressed in this explicit way (see Table 1.4). Virtually all of the texts start their enumeration from the perspective of the narrative, that is, during the lifetime of the Buddha. The first item of the Gāndhārī text—including the attributes “as long as the Tathāgata is living” and “Monks’ Order headed by the Buddha”—is matched exactly by the Chinese Madhyama-āgama sūtra (MĀ 180): Gāndhārī *Dhakṣinavibhaṃgasutra: iśaṃnada tasagado tiṭhaṃti yave budhap[r]amu[hasa] (bh)[ikh](u) (saṃghasa) [da]ṇo deti (BajC 1, lines 34–35) Chinese Madhyama-āgama (MĀ 180) 得大廣報。 信族姓男. 族姓女。 佛在世時。 佛為首。 施佛及 比丘。 是謂第一施。 (T 26, 722a22–23) If a believing son or daughter of a good family, while the Buddha is in the world, gives to the Buddha and to the assembly of bhikṣus with the Buddha at its head, that is called the “first group of gifts”. . . . (tr. Tsukamoto 1985:5: 1094)
Table 1.4 The seven gifts to the order in the parallel versions No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Direct Parallels Indirect Gāndhārī Bajaur 1 Pāli Theravāda MN 142 Chin. T 26, 180 (corrupt) Chin. T 84 Tibetan D 253 Maitrisimit (Uighur) Buddha alive Monks’ Order headed by the Buddha Buddha alive *Nuns’ order headed by the Buddha Buddha deceased Monks’ order Buddha deceased *Nuns’ order Buddha deceased *Both orders? (*Buddha alive) Both orders headed by the Buddha Buddha alive Buddha and monks’ order headed by the Buddha 1. Buddha deceased Both orders 2. (*Buddha deceased) Monks’ order 3. (*Buddha deceased) Nuns’ order 4. (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks 5. (*Buddha deceased) Group of nuns (*Buddha alive) Monks’ order in the presence of the Buddha Buddha deceased Monks’ order Monks’ order Headed by the Buddha ??? (*Buddha deceased) Monks’ order ??? Buddha deceased Nuns’ order Buddha deceased Both orders Buddha deceased Itinerant monks (*Buddha deceased) Nuns’ order (*Buddha deceased) Both orders (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks ??? Buddha deceased Itinerant nuns Buddha deceased Itinerant monks and nuns (*Buddha deceased) Group of nuns (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks and nuns (*Buddha deceased) Group of nuns Undisciplined monks gotrabhū, etc. Buddha deceased Group of monks Buddha deceased Group of nuns Buddha deceased Both orders (*Buddha deceased) Monks’ order (*Buddha deceased) Nuns’ order (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks and nuns (*Buddha deceased) Non-vigorous monks Group of monks gotrabhū, etc. (*Buddha deceased) Perfect monks Group of nuns (*Buddha deceased) Nuns’ order (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 41 Other versions, such as the text quoted by Śamathadeva, mention only the attribute buddhapramukha (indicated below in bold print): Śamathadeva (Tibetan) saṅs rgyas la mṅon du phyogs te dge sloṅ gi dge ‘dun la sbyin pa byin na dge ‘dun yon gnas yin no (D 4094 ju 255a) The second class of items is characterized as offerings made after the Buddha’s mahāparinirvāṇa. Again some versions signify these actions or the first of them explicitly with an expression corresponding to Gāndhārī tasag̱ ade parinivude “when the Tathāgata has passed away” (Theravāda MN 142, T 26 (180), T 84). It can therefore be suggested that this binary structure belongs to the original shape of the list. Thus the items on the list can be divided into two sections: 1. Buddha alive 2. Buddha passed away With regard to the actions in the Buddha’s lifetime we observe an important difference between the versions. With the exception of the Gāndhārī version, all texts mention only one item to be placed in the Buddha’s lifetime. Usually this is the “Order of the monks headed by the Buddha.” Only the Pāli version refers to “Both Orders headed by the Buddha.” The Gāndhārī version is the only text in which two entries are introduced by an expression referring to the Buddha’s life. Unfortunately the fragmentary state of the manuscript forces us to reconstruct the second of these entries. But according to the structure of the entire list there is only one reasonable conjecture possible: the preserved text of the manuscript ///[sa] g̱ ado tiṭhaṃto yaveto budhapramuhasa/// has to be reconstructed—as suggested above—as (punavaro anaṃda ta)[sa]g̱ ado tiṭhaṃto yaveto budhapramuhasa (bhikhunisaṃghasa daṇo deti aya anaṃda *dudiya saṃ)[gha] g̱ ada dhakṣina . . .. Therefore, we have only two texts—the Pāli version and the Gāndhārī version—that mention the Order of the nuns during the Buddha’s lifetime. They do this in a way that is both different from each other and different from all other versions. Thus, the majority of the extant texts have only one item listed under the rubric of “Buddha’s lifetime,” and
42 women in early indian buddhism in all cases other than the Pāli this item is the Order of monks. As Schopen’s analysis of different versions of a vinaya passage has shown (1985; 1997, 25–29), we can no longer assume that the simple fact of agreement between the majority of sources attests to antiquity on the part of the passage in question. However, in this case it does seem probable that the version in the majority of texts is the original. The version in T 84, which is otherwise close to the Gāndhārī version, in this instance agrees with the (Mūla-)Sarvāstivāda versions. It could well have been the case, of course, following Schopen’s logic, that the redactive homogenizing of the passage between traditions occurred after the 1st or 2nd century, thus T 84 was altered and our Gāndhārī text was not. However, such an assumption would hold more weight if the two alternative lists in the Pāli and Gāndhārī were identical. In which case, it might seem reasonable to argue for a cross-traditional redaction in all but two cases. Moreover, as the comparative analysis above showed, the texts of the (Mūla-)Sarvāstivāda versions and T 84 belong to completely different branches of transmission and do not show any traces of having ever been subject of any kind of common redaction. Given the available evidence, it is therefore hard to avoid the conclusion that these two texts secondarily introduced this item into a given list by disturbing its internal structure. If we consider all available versions the initial list probably comprised the following items (Table 1.5): Table 1.5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Buddha alive Monks’ Order Buddha deceased Monks’ Order (*Buddha deceased) Nuns’ Order (*Buddha deceased) Both Orders (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks (*Buddha deceased) Group of nuns (*Buddha deceased) Group of monks and nuns
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 43 The Pāli version corrupted this order by replacing the original word “monks’ Order” (bhikṣusaṅgha) by “both Orders” (ubhatosaṅghe). The strategy of the Gāndhārī is different: it introduced an additional item—the nuns’ Order headed by the Buddha during the Buddha’s lifetime—into the list. Consequently it had to skip one of the original items. Which one was left out is difficult to say due to the fragmentary state of the manuscript, but according to the internal logic of the list it seems that the Gāndhārī version skipped the last entry—“group of monks and nuns.” The result of both modifications is the somewhat odd idea of a “nuns’ Order headed by the Buddha” (buddhapramukha- bhikṣuṇīsaṅgha-), which is otherwise unattested in Buddhist literature, at least as far as I am able to ascertain. What can this evidence tell us about the textual history of this passage and its implications for the history of the Order of nuns? The most probable scenario seems to be: the original version of this sūtra contained a list of gifts to the saṅgha, which did not contain any reference to the existence of a nuns’ community during the Buddha’s lifetime. The fact that the list knew the Order of nuns among the communities after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa shows, however, that it was composed after its foundation. Some versions made independent attempts to revise this list and to include the bhikṣuṇīsaṅgha among the communities that were active during the Buddha’s lifetime.24 In revising the list, these versions did not care for its seemingly anachronistic character within the narrative frame of the robe gift episode. Two of the supposedly earliest versions, which are transmitted in Indian languages, show clear traces of this process. If the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra is indeed the result of a merger of different traditions—combining the robe gift story with the various lists of gifts (as assumed by Williams and Anālayo)—this process of revision obviously took place after this merger. The preserved versions of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra clearly show that the lists were already part of the sūtra when the revision was carried out. What are the implications of this scenario for the history of the Order of the nuns? Does it mean that this list contained a kind of “historical 24. A similar explanation was offered by Ñāṇamoli (2005, 1356, fn. 1291): “We might resolve the discrepancy (unnoticed by the commentator) by supposing that the original discourse was later modified after the founding of the Bhikkhunī Saṅgha to bring the latter into the scheme of offerings to the Saṅgha.”
44 women in early indian buddhism memory” about a phase in the history of the Buddhist community, when the Order of the nuns was not yet founded? And did this phase coincide with the lifetime of the Buddha? I see no way to prove such an assumption. Other explanations cannot be ruled out. Thus, it is also possible that the list was from the very beginning composed as a hierarchy—beginning of course with the monks’ Order headed by the Buddha. The expressions referring to the Buddha’s lifetime were in this case mere indicators of the possibility for the monks’ Order to be headed by the Buddha. They would not refer to any historical sequence.25 Of course, in the case of this explanation, we would have to assume that the explicit reference to the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa was originally restricted to the second item in the original list, the monk’s Order after the Buddha’s death, before it was secondarily extended to all of the remaining items. As discussed in chapter four of this volume (see page 102), there are vinaya rules that present a strict hierarchy in terms of offerings to the saṅgha. According to these rules, nuns cannot receive gifts unless or until monks have first received an offering. Further, in preceding passages in all versions of the Dakṣiṇāvibhaṅgasūtra, gift giving is conceptualized under a rubric of hierarchy. It is clear that the order of gift giving and the subsequent rewards of it are intertwined with an awareness of the worthiness of the recipient. However, to extend the importance of hierarchy in gift giving procedures to the present problem remains speculative, and so I leave it open to colleagues who are more familiar with the textual sources on the early history of the Order of nuns to evaluate the strength of this evidence. But the diversity of variants that can be observed in the different canonical versions seem to indicate that the redactors of the canonical traditions already considered this list problematic. If our reconstruction of the original list can be accepted, their discomfort might well have been caused by the missing of the Order of nuns among the communities during the Buddha’s lifetime. In order to harmonize the list with the accepted tradition of the foundation of the nuns’ Order by the Buddha himself, the redactors of the Gāndhārī and the Pāli versions created new versions of this canonical list, each according to their own predilections. The result of this limited comparative analysis of the versions of an early Buddhist āgama sūtra clearly forces us to show extreme caution 25. For this alternative explanation I am indebted to Bhikkhu Anālayo, with whom I had a series of elucidating discussions during the XVIth conference of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, held in Jinshan, New Taipei City, Taiwan in 2011.
Bajaur Collection of Kharoṣṭhı̄ Manuscripts 45 when handling these texts. Repeatedly we face the fact that two of our supposedly most valuable sources of early Buddhist literature—and valuable because they are old witnesses—are characterized by obvious traces of a later revision. Without consulting their parallels in other Buddhist traditions it is quite dangerous to draw any historically reliable conclusions on the basis of the evidence of a single text, even one as old as a Gandhāran sūtra.
2 The British Library Kharoṣ ṭ hˉı Fragments behind the birch bark curtain Timothy Lenz one question that has arisen during the study of the avadāna texts contained in the British Library collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts, namely, “Where are the women in Gandhāran Buddhist texts?,” has opened up an especially interesting avenue of inquiry.1 This question, initially articulated by Sonya Quintanilla, curator of Asian art at the San Diego Museum of Art,2 was raised several years before the recent proliferation of Gāndhārī manuscripts available for examination by experts in the fields of Gāndhārī language and literature.3 Thus when the question was first entertained, the existence of Gandhāran texts especially associated with woman, such as the Bajaur fragment containing a Gāndhārī version of the well-known story about Mahāprajāpatī’s robe gift to the Buddha,4 was little on the minds of scholars examining Gandhāran literary documents. Accordingly no definitive answer was offered when the 1. An early version of this paper was presented at the XVIth conference of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, held in Jinshan, New Taipei City, Taiwan in 2011. 2. This question was posed at the XIVth conference of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, held in London in 2005. 3. For discussion of recent manuscript discoveries, see Mark Allon (2007, 131–41). 4. For a thorough description of the Bajaur collection, see Ingo Strauch (2008, 103–36); for discussion of the Mahāprajāpatī legend, see Strauch’s chapter in this volume (chapter one).
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 47 question was raised. But now, after carefully searching the British Library collection for stories that primarily concern women and after significant research on manuscripts in the British Library collection has been completed, it is possible to shed light on some women, both legendary and historical, who might have made their mark in the Gandhāran Buddhist milieu. The picture that has so far emerged is that women did play a fairly prominent and noble role in Gandhāran Buddhism, at least in the avadāna texts preserved in the British Library collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts and in the pot inscriptions associated with these documents. The now well-known British Library collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts was acquired in 1994 with the generous support of an anonymous benefactor. The collection itself consists of twenty-nine birch bark scrolls containing texts written in Gāndhārī Prakrit using the Kharoṣṭhī script (Salomon 1999, xv). The fragmentary scrolls differ widely in size and condition of preservation, ranging from small pieces to fairly large sections of scrolls as long as two meters (Salomon 1999, 17). The texts that comprise the collection are varied, including sūtras, scholastic commentaries, verses, and, of course, avadānas, the texts that are of immediate concern here (Salomon 1999, 24–39). There are seven or eight fragmentary scrolls in the collection containing avadāna texts. These documents consist of sequentially numbered series of stories that are invariably the second text on scrolls containing two texts. The avadāna texts are located immediately after the conclusion of a primary text such as a sūtra or abhidharma-like commentary, which is indicated by a large circular punctuation mark utilizing the blank space on the recto and continuing on and presumably filling all of the verso (Fig. 2.1). The individual avadānas are unfortunately not extensive narratives such as those found in Sanskrit texts like the Avadānaśataka or the Divyāvadāna.5 Rather, each Gandhāran avadāna is a skeleton story, providing little more than a title or label, the identity of the protagonists, and one or more key scenes that serve to define the plot, provided the reader already knows the story. The seven or eight different scrolls with numbered series of avadānas collectively contain approximately fifty-two individual stories6 of varying 5. See chapter nine of this volume for a study of avadāna stories from the Avadānaśataka. 6. BL Fragment 1 contains 10 (= 1/10), 2/5, 3/3, 4/17, 21/1, Supplementary Fragments/1, 12 + 14/9, and 16 + 25/6. See Timothy Lenz (2003, part II, and 2010) for discussion concerning all the fragments except 4 and 12 + 14, which are currently being editing in collaboration with Jason Neelis.
48 women in early indian buddhism figure 2.1 Transition between the Ekottarikāgama-type sūtra text and a series of avadānas (BL Fragment 12 + 14). © British Library Board (detail of Or.14915. 28). lengths and states of preservation. Five of them clearly concern women, which is nearly 10 percent of the total. Of these, three have parallels in well-known languages, namely, Pāli and Chinese, and two remain unidentified. These five avadānas have no obvious thematic, doctrinal, or topical connection, other than that among them there are two stories about gaṇigas (Skt. gaṇikāḥ) or prostitutes occurring consecutively on one scroll (BL Fragments 12 + 14). However, all the Gandhāran avadānas are clearly linked in space and time and by author. The proposed find spot and age of these Kharoṣṭhī documents are fairly certainly established and are almost universally recognized among Buddhist studies scholars as Gandhāra,7 most likely coming from the vicinity of Haḍḍa (south of Jalalabad; see Fig. 2.2) and dating to approximately the first half of the first century of the Common Era. First-hand accounts of their discovery, as is typical for such antiquities, are nonexistent, but as far as can be determined from hearsay and comparative analysis, the texts were found buried in a pot (Fig. 2.3) in a single location, presumably on the grounds of a Buddhist 7. For a delineation of the boundaries of Gandhāra, see Salomon 1999, 3.
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 49 figure 2.2 Greater Gandhāra. From Richard Salomon, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra, map 1. © British Library Board. figure 2.3 British Library pot D with manuscripts inside. From Richard Salomon, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra, pl. 5. © British Library Board.
50 women in early indian buddhism figure 2.4 Comparison of handwriting: Big Hand on the left; Slanted Hand on the right. © British Library Board (details of Or.14915.33 and 13). monastery (Salomon 1999, 20–22). As for authorship, names are lacking, as is usual for most Buddhist texts, but fortunately in the Gandhāran case unambiguous identification can be attributed by means of handwriting analysis. All but one of the Gandhāran avadāna texts were written by a single scribe whom I have dubbed Big Hand, as his handwriting is characterized, at least to my eyes, by large flowing akṣaras (Fig. 2.4). The other scribe I have dubbed Slanted Hand, because his handwriting is noteworthy for its pronounced slant form top right to bottom left (Fig. 2.4). Big Hand is particularly worthy of note as his seven texts are all of a single genre, namely avadānas, and he can therefore confidently be pigeonholed, as by association can Slanted Hand, as a member of an exclusive subset of monastic functionaries, namely, avadānists (Lenz 1994, 197–215). Because of the unique pedigree of these texts, the images of women in Gandhāran Buddhism that can be extracted from them have the unusual feature of being demonstrably representative of portraits that were known to and transmitted by a specific group of monks in a specific, though unidentified, monastery located somewhere in or near Haḍḍa. Thus, rather than carefully picking stories that will advance one or more of my own theses, I have the luxury here of being able to examine a group of avadānas that were selected in antiquity by monks, by avadānists, who had their own agenda, one that is untainted by my own research goals.
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 51 It is not always clear what the agenda of these avadānists might have been, as their avadānas are often quite brief and frequently fragmentary. Thus, when attempting to use them to draw out images of women, it is more often than not only possible to sketch faceless women who lack any personality or obvious attributes that would clearly suggest some motive for their stories’ inclusion in one or more of the Gandhāran avadāna texts. And this is especially true for the two previously mentioned avadānas concerning gaṇigas, as will be painfully obvious from the translations presented here. The two avadānas concerning prostitutes are drawn from British Library Fragments 12 + 14, a series containing nine avadānas that follows immediately after a triad of sūtras, dubbed the Three Gāndhārī Ekottarikāgama-Type Sūtras by their editor, Mark Allon (2001): Gaṇiga-avadāna 18 89. evo ṣuyadi nagare palaḍipu ? [tr. n.] ? ? /// 90. namo ganiga hovadi ◦ yavi ? ujani[ge] graha///(*vadi) 91. ca la ? ya muchido bh[u]mi parivartadi bhi /// 92. aryadharma praüṇ[idi vistare yas-a]///(*yupamano) [89] Thus it was heard. In the city Pāṭaliputra . . . [90] . . . there was a prostitute . . . by name. At that time, an Ujjaini householder . . . [91] . . . fainted and rolled on the ground. [92] . . . attained the noble dharma. The expansion (*should be) according to the model. Gaṇiga-avadāna 2 93. eva śruyadi [ga]niga [a] ? kṣo ? /// 94. ten[o] suta[ga]lo va matredi agaro [śa] /// 95. yadarthino nimatridago vistaro [ya](*s-a)y(*u) /// [93] Thus it was heard. A prostitute . . . [94] . . . right at the time for sleeping . . . said: “The abode . . .” [95] . . . then the suitor was invited. The expansion (*should be) according to the model. Obviously, these two gaṇiga-avadānas are barely intelligible as they stand, and can be used to do little more than confirm that prostitutes figured 8. Line numbering here and elsewhere, unless noted otherwise, follows that assigned in preliminary transcriptions produced but not previously published by Timothy Lenz and Jason Neelis. The conventions of transcription are those used in the Gandhāran Buddhist Texts series (University of Washington Press), which, as its name suggests, is dedicated to the publication of Gāndhārī materials written in the Kharoṣṭhī script. The gaṇiga-avadānas are currently being edited by Jason Neelis.
52 women in early indian buddhism prominently in Gandhāran Buddhism, much as elsewhere in Buddhist corpora. Nevertheless, it can be hypothesized on the basis of the assertion at the end of the first gaṇiga-avadāna that someone attained the noble dharma (aryadharma praüṇ[idi] = Skt. āryadharmam prāpnoti) and that the Gandhāran gaṇigas partake of the grand tradition of the “benevolent hetaerae”—in good company with Āmrapālī, Padumavatī, and Aḍḍhakāsī— and somehow acted in support of the Buddha’s dharma and were portrayed in a favorable light. In this regard, it is noteworthy that nowhere in the Gandhāran avadānas, at least as far as I can determine, are women directly portrayed as obstacles to the progress of monks. In fact, in the sole avadāna that addresses the negative effects of sexual desire, the apparent lesson to be learned is that a monk himself is responsible for sublimating any lustful tendencies that he may harbor and that a lack of dedication to monastic training will inevitably lead to ill consequences. The legend in question concerns an unnamed disciple of Mahakaṣava (Skt. Mahākaśyapa): Mahakaṣava-avadāna 214. [ra]yagahami ṇagarami aïśpado mahakaśavasaśpasao ? /// 215. /// [pu]trago prio maṇa[vo] kṣati apaḍikulo darśaṇaā tasa ṇacirajadasa pido kalagado /// 216. /// [uva]samada ṇa bahadi śi[kṣa]va〈*de〉ṇo yavi pramatro hodo yavi sakṣiteno evo pramatro /// 217. /// ? ? ṇ. ? gami ramadi so avarakalami giriagrasamayi aramaṇo año ga ? /// 218. /// ? ? [di a] ṇa bahiadi [va]raṇo yavi civaragami liṭhate mad(*o) h(*o)do /// 219. (vi*)///praḍisari [hodo] so gado kaśavasa [va]di tado kaśave dharmadeśaṇo kakarodi /// 220. /// ? + + + + + + + + ? [ma]geṇa ca kici dharm[i]-[ca] ? ? + + +.u .o? /// 221. /// ? kilamehi abhavo aṣo pugalo dharmacakṣu upadaïdo ma[do] /// 222. /// .o ṣavagañaṇo ṇa asti ajanito asamav[a]jito ṣavagaso ñaṇo ṇa vijadi /// 223. (*ṣa)///agoñaṇo vista[re] janidave siyadi ○ traya ◦ ◦ ◦ 3 ◦ ◦ (BL Fragment 4) [214] In the city of Rājagṛha, the venerable Mahakaṣava (*had) a confidant. [215] The boy was dear, charming, patient, pleasant,
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 53 and handsome. But not long after his birth, his father died. [216] (*The boy) did not renounce his ordination, (*but) became careless with his moral vows. In short, he became careless (*with his training). [217] . . . enjoyed. He enjoyed himself at a mountain festival and (*partook of ) other (*pleasures). [218] (*Yet he did not) renounce (*his monastic training). At another time then, he met with misfortune on his monastic robe. He became sexually roused. (*Later), [219] he became remorseful. He went and told Mahakaṣava (*everything). Then (*Maha)kaṣava gave a lesson concerning the teachings of the Buddha. [220] . . . and by the path some dharma . . . [221] . . . because of fatigue, it is not possible for this person to generate the dharma eye. [222] . . . (*And, therefore), the insight of a śrāvaka does not exist. It was not produced. It was not attained. The insight of a śrāvaka is not found. [223] . . . the insight of a śrāvaka. The expansion ought to be known. (*Avadāna) three. 3. Unfortunately, the avadāna ends abruptly, so it is difficult to fathom precisely how to explain what the author had in mind when singling out the “insight of a śrāvaka.” But in any case, the lesson to be learned appears to be quite clear: a monk is responsible for his own actions and women are not a primary cause of his straying from certain monastic vows, even in cases where there might be an alluring prostitute lurking about. Such a conclusion may be a little premature, but as far as can be deduced from the texts available for examination, the Gandhāran avadānists of Haḍḍa generally try to portray women in a favorable light, and this tendency is strongly suggested by three other avadānas contained in the British Library collection. The image of women portrayed in the first of these stories is somewhat out of focus, as the avadāna from which it is drawn is incompletely understood. I have assigned it the English title The Unfortunate Kumariga (Skt. Kumārī), assuming that this is descriptive of its content. The first half of the avadāna is hopelessly obscure due to the poor preservation of the portion of the birch bark scroll containing it. But at about the middle of the text, the plot becomes fathomable, and here it seems that a young woman is repeatedly harassed and beaten: The Unfortunate Kumariga 304. avadano raṣrigae kaḍamahasa/// 305. /// ? [a] ? ? ? ? gramage[h](*i i)st[r]i [ṭ] ? ist[r]i ? ? ///
54 women in early indian buddhism 306. /// .igo ughuṭhago so prucha pruchi〈*da〉go ta goṭhoga/// 307. /// p[r]atige teṇo okṣarige vealido yavi l./// 308. /// ? ? ? go so ṇa śato yavi tena kumariga tado ti ? /// 309. (*pi)///[ḍido] dito brado agado tasa kumariga teṇo tado c[e] vo piḍi///(*do) 310. /// ? d[o] tasa kumariga agado teno taso piḍido ya ? ? ? /// 311. ///+ + + + .u ñaṇaviśeṣa budhaṣa[va]ga [pra] ? ? ? bu ? ? /// 312. (*yasay)///u[pamano] siyadi ○ [cad](*u)d(*a)ś(*a) [10 4 ○] (BL Fragment 4) [305] Avadāna. In [Rājagṛha] . . .9 of Kaḍamaha . . . [306] . . . village . . . the women . . . the women . . . [307] . . . proclaimed. He asked a question. He told him . . . [308] . . . arrived . . . by him [a young woman] was agitated. Up to . . . [309] . . . He was not calm. Up to: “a young woman was struck by him.” [310] . . . harassment was given. (*Her) brother came along. Then the young woman was struck by him and also harassed. [311] (*Up to) . . . (*Then the father) came to the young woman. She was harassed by him. [312] . . . superior knowledge . . . disciples of the Buddha . . . [313] . . . should be according to the model. (*Avadāna) fourteen. 14. This avadāna is obviously not an encomium to the potential of women. But speculating on the basis of the incomplete conclusion in line 312, /// + + + .u ñaṇaviśeṣa budhaṣa[va]ga [pra] ? ? ? bu ? ? ///, which apparently clarified some detail concerning the wisdom of the Buddha’s disciples, it is possible to at least propose that the avadāna constitutes a commentary on the ill effects of treating women poorly. And if this is indeed the case, it is a rather novel avadāna. The last two avadānas to be discussed here concern Puniga (Skt. Pūrṇikā, Pāli Puṇṇā or Puṇṇikā), a servant girl of the well-known householder Anāthapiṇdaka,10 and Aśoka, perhaps the most famous king of India. Unlike the previously mentioned stories, these two legends address themes in a manner that clearly lauds the potential and capability of women, partially justifying my positive interpretations of all of the Gandhāran avadānas concerning women. First, in the legend of Puṇiga, a woman is seen to make a significant contribution to the Buddhist 9. This represents a provisional and uncertain translation of raṣrigae. 10. See Allon (2001, appendix 2) for an edition and study of the Puniga-avadāna.
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 55 community and, second, in the legend of Aśoka, a woman realizes an important Buddhist attainment. Puniga-avadāna 73. puniga avadano vistara ka///(*ryamido) 74. evo śuyadi · anas-apiḍigasa grahavadisa puni[g.] /// 75. da bhagava rayeno p[r]asen[i]g[e]no matriadi budho [na uv](*e) [ch]///(*adi) 76. ya sarv[e]ṣo grahavadino na uv[e]chadi puniga ? ? /// 77. vistare avadano ◦ 1 (BL Frag. 12 + 14) [73] The Puniga Avadāna. The expansion (*is to be done thus) [i.e., according to the summary]. [74] Thus it was heard. Puniga (*was the servant) of the householder Anāthapiṇḍika. [75] . . . the Bhagavat was addressed by King Prasenajit. The Buddha did not consider (*his request) [76] and he did not consider (*the request) of any of the householders. Puniga (*addressed the Buddha) [77] . . . expansion . . . avadāna. (*Avadāna) 1.11 The Gāndhārī avadāna is obscure in its terseness, but since the legend of Puniga is known from several other versions, the skeleton story contained in the Gāndhārī manuscript can be securely expanded. In his Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names, Malalasekara summarizes the version of the legend given in Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the Aṅguttaranikāya, and this story facilitates a complete understanding of the Gāndhārī: On one occasion, when the Buddha was about to set out on a tour, Anāthapiṇḍika and the other chief patrons of the Buddha, loath to lose him for several months, begged him to remain with them. But the Buddha declined this request, and Puṇṇā, seeing Anāthapiṇḍika very dejected and learning the reason, offered to persuade the Buddha to stay. So she approached him and said that she would take the Three Refuges with the Five Precepts if he would postpone 11. The line numbers correspond to those in his Allon’s edition (see n. 17). My transcription follows Allon’s, with the exception of the reconstruction of (*ryamido) in line 73. The translation is my own, differing from Allon’s in minor respects.
56 women in early indian buddhism his tour. The Buddha at once agreed, and Puṇṇā was freed and adopted as Anāthapiṇḍika’s daughter.12 Close comparison of the Gāndhārī with the Pāli leaves little doubt that an expanded version of the Gandhāran avadāna would be more or less the same as the Pāli vignette and accordingly one underlying message of both can be confidently proclaimed: “women have the capacity, and indeed the ability, to be faithful and influential lay devotees.” And here as an aside, I would hazard a guess that the previously mentioned gaṇiga-avadānas would fall under this or a similar rubric, though only subsequent manuscript finds will substantiate such a hypothesis. In any case, the message espoused by both the Pāli and Gāndhārī legends is hardly a surprising or radical one, for the Buddhist tradition lays claim to quite a number of admirable laywomen, Mṛgāramātā (Viśākhā) to name but one. Being a faithful lay devotee is, however, not the pinnacle of Buddhist achievements for either men or women, and the micro portion of the Gandhāran tradition under examination here, namely, the Gandhāran avadānas from Haḍḍa, do not maintain that it is. This is made especially clear in a Gandhāran version of a legend about King Aśoka and the women of his harem: The Avadāna of King Aśoka and the Women of His Harem 223. avadaṇo rayasa aśo[ga]///(sa*) 224. /// ? ? ? ? + + + triśavaṣe ṣamane praviśadi [dharma]deśano te praviṭhe /// 225. /// ? vo ṇa adibaho ṇa adistuo paḍaga atariga ṭhadave pac̄amukho istrige ? /// 12. In Malalasekara 1998, 227–28 (s.v. Puṇṇā Therī); see also Allon (2001, 303–4). The legend as it appears in the Aṅguttara-nikāya commentary (Manorathapūraṇī) is as follows: Rājā Pasenadi-kosalo Anāthapiṇḍiko gahapati Visākhā mahā-upāsikā aññe ca bahujanā Dasabalaṃ nivattetuṃ nāsakkhiṃsu. Anāthapiṇḍiko gahapati “satthāraṃ nivettetuṃ nāsakkhin” ti raho citayamāno sisīdi. Atha naṃ Puṇṇā nāma dāsī disvā “kin nu kho te sāmi na pubbe viya indriyāni vippasannānī” ti pucchi. “Ama Puṇṇe, satthā cārikaṃ pakkanto, tam ahaṃ nivattetuṃ nāsakkhiṃ; na kho pana sakkā jānituṃ puna sīghaṃ āgaccheyya vā na vā, tenāhaṃ cintayamāno nisinno” ti. “Sacāhaṃ Dasabalaṃ nivatteyyaṃ, kiṃ me kareyyāsī” ti. “Bhujjassaṃ taṃ karissāmī” ti. Sā gantvā satthāraṃ vanditvā “nivattatha bhante” ti āha. “Mama nivattanapaccayā tvaṃ kiṃ karissasī” ti. “Tumhe bhante mama parādhīnabhāvaṃ jānātha, aññaṃ kiñci kātuṃ na sakkomi; saraṇesu pana patiṭṭhāya pañcasīlāni rakkhissāmī” ti. “Sādhu sādhu Puṇṇe” ti satthā dhammagāravena ekapadasmiññeva nivatti. Vuttaṃ h’etaṃ: dhammagaru bhikkhāve Tathāgato dhammagāravo ti. Satthā nivattitvā Jetavana-mahāvihāraṃ pāvisi. Mahājano Puṇṇāya sādhukārasahassāni adāsi. Satthā tasmiṃ samāgame dhammaṃ desesi. Caturāsīti pāṇasahassāni amatapānaṃ piviṃsu. Puṇṇā pi seṭṭhinā anuññātā bhikkhunī-upassayaṃ gantvā pabbaji. (AN-a IV, 34–35)
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 57 226. /// [ya]vi ṣamaṇo pra[viṭha] dharma deśayadi spargaṇo varno bhaṣayadi yavi istrega /// 227. /// .o aïkṣa[si] ṇaṇu tado vi cavana dukho bhaviśadi tado dharmadeśana karodi arya /// 228. /// istri(*ga) tasa bhadatasa pade nivaïdo ṇa ca rayaṇeṇo anatago vaca va[do] na ki ? /// 229. /// is[tri]tri rayaṇasa uvasakramato aïgadi ahadi vaśa ? spi ki va ka[hi]vo so aho ? /// 230. /// ci dharmacakṣu uparṇo aha suṭhu aha kṣato me bhavadu istu ṇa [śa]ki [pa]racito ajaṇi[to] /// 231. /// ? g[a] yado kuvaci khaladi añabudho akhalado vistare jaṇidavo sarvo yasay///(*upamaṇo) 232. (*siyadi)///cadure ○ ○ 4 ○ ○ [223] Avadāna. Of King Aśoka . . . [224] . . . a thirty-rain-retreat monk13 entered (*the palace) to give instruction in the dharma. They [the women] entered. [225] A screen that is neither excessively wide nor excessively bulky is to stand in between (*the monk and the women), the women, facing away from the [screen]. . . . [226] Then the monk entered; he taught the dharma. He gave a description of heavenly worlds. Then a woman [227] thought: “This is not the case. Because of that rebirth, there will be suffering.” After that, he [the monk] gave an explanation of the (*Four) Noble (*Truths. Then) [228] the woman threw herself at the feet of the venerable monk. But this was not allowed by the king. (*She) spoke words: “Is there not. . . .” [229] (*Then) the woman went to the king. She saw him and said: “I am not obedient. Just what is to be done?” He said: (*“What has happened?”) [230] (*She said:)“. . . the dharma eye has arisen.” (*He) said: “Excellent.” (*She) said: “Let there be forbearance for me, who does not now have the ability to know the minds of others.” [231] In those cases in which a (*woman) wavers, one awakened to a perfect state of knowledge (*remains) unwavering. The expansion should be known. All (*should be) according to (*the model). [232] (*Avadāna) four. 4. 13. The monk is identified by age in order to emphasize his elderliness against the presumably young age of his female pupils. A thirty-rain-retreat monk would probably not be a temptation to the young maidens in King Aśoka’s harem, and, therefore, Aśoka probably would be confident that his prohibition of contact between the women and the monk preceptor (alluded to in line 228) would not be abrogated.
58 women in early indian buddhism If my provisional translation is generally correct, especially with regard to the conclusion, then this avadāna is noteworthy, especially in light of the conclusion drawn in a parallel version of the legend in the Sūtrālaṅkāra (story 30), preserved in Chinese.14 In the Chinese version, Aśoka’s response to the news that a woman from his harem achieved something significant, śrotāpannā-hood in the Chinese, is considerably different than the one put in his mouth in the Gandhāran version. In the Chinese, Aśoka’s words contain a decided thread of male-centered arrogance: 王聞是已於佛法中倍生敬心。而作是言。嗚呼佛法。大力世尊厭 生死道。嗚呼佛法。有信向者皆得解。何以知之。女人淺智尚 能解悟。過六師故。我今向阿耨多羅調御丈夫坊處生歸依心。南 無救一切眾生大悲者開甘露法。男女長幼等同修行。 若謂女人解 名為淺近者 no. 201 (大莊嚴論經) 286b)15 諸餘深智人 敬尚方能悟 (T 4 When he (*Aśoka) heard (*his concubine), he greatly increased his respect in the teachings of the Buddha and said: “Oh, the teachings of the Buddha. The Tamer of Men, the Bhagavan, detested saṃsāra with great force. Oh, the teachings of the Buddha. Those who approach it with faith, attain deliverance. How does one know this? Because even women whose intelligence is shallow can comprehend it and because it has subdued the six heretical teachers. I now take refuge in the abode of the dharma and in the hero without equal. Homage to the compassionate one who saves all living beings, to the one who has proclaimed the elixir of the dharma with which men and women and elders and youths ought to practice these teachings.” “If someone says that the dharma is shallow because someone says that a woman can understand it, then people with deep profound intelligence will only be able to realize the teaching with great respect . . .”16 14. There are Sanskrit fragments containing some pregnant phrases such as yeṣāṃ su[bh] (*āṣitarasā)yanabrṃhitāni striṇā(*m) = ma[hī]., but due to the poor state of their preservå tion the precise nature of the conclusion in the Sanskrit version remains obscure. See Lüders 1926, 153. 15. A French translation of this story can be found in Huber 1908, 150–57. 16. Thanks go to Lin Qian for improving the translation.
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 59 Though there are only five Gandhāran avadānas concerning women, and of those only two that are understood more or less completely, the image of women that the group of stories as a whole projects appears to me to be quite a favorable one, something that is made especially clear in the legends of Puṇiga and of Aśoka and the women of his harem. And this favorable depiction of women is, interestingly enough, mirrored in inscriptions. There are five water pots (Fig. 2.5) associated with the British Library figure 2.5 British Library pot B with inscription. © British Library Board (cf. Richard Salomon, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra, pls. 24–25; figs. 24–27).
60 women in early indian buddhism collection of manuscripts. Although it is not entirely certain that all five pots came from the same find spot as the manuscripts, this can be surmised on the basis of three points. First, the physical similarity of the pots; second, the fact that one of the pots contained the manuscripts now in the British Library collection (Fig. 2.3); and third, the fact that the pots and manuscripts were acquired as a unit (Salomon 1999, 183–224). The pot inscriptions strongly suggest that women were prominent in the Buddhist community in Haḍḍa as lay donors. Of the five pots, three were donated by women: Vasavadatta, wife of Susoma (pot A); Viratata, wife of Srvahiama (pot C), and Hastadata, wife of Teyavarman (pot E); the inscriptions on the remaining two pots do not specify a donor, one saying only that it is in the possession of the monk Catula, the other that it is in the possession of the Dharmaguptakas: Inscription of Vasavadatta, Wife of Susoma ayaṃ pānaya ghaḍedeyaṃdharme va[sa]vadatae susomabharyae atmanasa arogadakśinae svamiasa suhasomasa saṃmepratyaśae madapi[t] rina saṃmpratya + + + + + + + saṃmepratyaśae mitrañatisa lohitana saṃmepratya[śa]e bhava[tu] This water pot is the pious gift of Vasavadata [Skt. Vāsavadattā], wife of Susoma, for the benefit of her own health. May it be for a proper share on the part of (her) mother and father, for a proper share on the part of [all beings], for a proper share on the part of her friends, kinsmen, and blood relatives (Salomon 1999, 198). Inscription of Viratata, Wife of Srvahiama [a]ya panighaḍa [da]ṇaṃmokh[o] viratatae [srava]hiama-bharae niryateti saṃghecaturdiśe rayagahami acaryaṇam sarvastivatinaṃ k[r]isvatiṇaṃ viryavatinaṃ hetuvatiṇaṃ [.i] + + + + + + [rm.] + + [naṃb.] pratiga This water pot [is] the pious gift of Viratata, wife of Srvahiama; [she] presents [it] to the universal community at Rayagaha (Skt. Rājagṛha), in the possession of the Sarvāstivādin teachers, who teach actions, who teach energy, who teach causation . . . , (who teach karma), . . . (Salomon 1999, 205). Inscription of Hastadata, Wife of Teyavarman aya pa[ni]yaghaḍae hastadatae teyavarmabharyae deyadharma saghe catudiśe atmanasa arogadakṣine tevarmasa aramiyasa bhikuniyae
British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 61 ra[kṣa] ? [ṇi]e sudaṣ-asa sudarśanasa gu[ha]datae ga[śa] ? [pri] ? ? saṃ ? [sa] ? taga[na]sa sakṣe ? ? [va]e sastasatvana da[gha]pacheya bhavatu yine bhra[do puya] This water pot is a pious gift of Hastadata [Hastadattā], wife of Teyavarman, to the universal community, for the benefit of her own health. May it be for the benefit (?) of the monastery attendant (?) Tevarman, of the nun ?, of Sudaṣṇa, of Sudarśana, of Guhadata [Guhadattā], of ?, of ?, of ?, of ?; in short (?), of all beings (?); and in honor of [her] brother (Salomon 1999, 218). Thus, it would seem that in ancient Haḍḍa women were actively deemed capable of attaining the fruits of the Buddha’s teachings (e.g., the dharmacakṣu) and were important and prominent lay supporters of the monastic community. But curiously, the laudable Buddhist potential of women and their important role as donors might not have led to vibrant support for a community of nuns. In the micro world of Buddhist documents from Haḍḍa, nuns are mentioned only once. Hastadata, the aforementioned donor of one of the water pots in the British Library collection (pot E), saw fit to include one nun in the list of recipients mentioned on her donated pot (translated above). But in any case, now that some depictions can be made of laywomen peeking out from behind Haḍḍa’s “birch bark curtain,” the significant role of lay women, if not of nuns, in one area of Gandhāra can be highlighted with both inscriptions and texts in a way that was not possible prior to the recent and prolific expansion of the once meager collection of Gāndhārī literary documents that were available for scholarly inspection (See Salomon 1999, 57–68; see also Allon 2007 131–41).
3 Paˉli Vinaya reconceptualizing female sexuality in early buddhism Alice Collett there are many contradictions expressed about women in the Pāli Canon, the texts of the Theravāda tradition. There are contradictory remarks about women’s nature (itthibhāva), concerning whether women are “weak in wisdom,” “uncontrollable,” and “envious” or, conversely, “wise and virtuous,” or indeed whether male and female nature are of any importance at all.1 There are contradictions expressed in relation to women’s ability both to tread the path outlined by Gotama Buddha and to attain high levels of religious experience.2 There are contradictions expressed in relation to their domestic roles, ranging from, for example, a passage that classifies various types of wives and approves of, among others, the slave-type 1. In the Aṅguttara-nikāya (4.80 at II 82–83), Ānanda asks the Buddha why women do not sit on courts of justice, embark on business, or reach the essence of any deed. The Buddha replies by listing certain negative characteristics of women such as that they are, by nature, weak in wisdom, uncontrollable, greedy, and envious. In the Saṃyutta-nikāya (3.16 at I.86), the Buddha is talking to King Pasenadi when the king hears his wife has given birth to a daughter. The king is disappointed by the news, but the Buddha tells him that women too can be wise and virtuous. The well-known verse attributed to Somā in the Therīgāthā (verses 60–62 at 129–30) raises the question as to whether male and female nature is of any relevance to one treading the path. 2. Many of the Therīgāthā verses contain expressions that suggest the nuns—to whom the verses are attributed—had attained Awakening. Also see the Mahāvacchagotta-sutta (MN 73 at I 491), which reports the Buddha stating that he had far more than 500 arahant nuns and far more than 500 laywomen followers who had become non-returners. The most quoted verse on the topic of women’s inability is the verse connected with Somā (see chapter six of this volume. The verse also appears in the Thī v.60). This assertion that women lack the ability to advance because of their dull intellect is put into the mouth of Māra, who, Anālayo argues in chapter six, may represent “challenges posed by outsiders to members of the Buddhist community.”
Pāli Vinaya 63 of wife, through to acknowledgements that a woman’s duty to serve a man is a form of suffering.3 As well as this, there are contradictions in relation to female sexuality. Although a popular choice of topic for scholarly debate, research on female sexuality in the Pāli Canon has not tended to focus on nuances of the characteristics of female sexuality and female sexual desire as expressed in the texts, but more on female sexuality as expressed in relation to male desire. Often, when female sexuality is referred to in the Pāli Canon, it is commented upon in a male voice; that is, women are depicted as enticers of men, seeking to bait or ensnare them. Such depictions of women occur in the Theragāthā, and in a well-known passage from the Aṅguttara-nikāya: I do not see, Monks, even one other form so enticing, so desirable, so intoxicating, so binding, so infatuating, such a hindrance to winning the supreme peace from bondage than, Monks, the form of a woman. Monks, those who cling to a woman’s form—impassioned, greedy, enslaved, infatuated, attached—they grieve for a long time, besotted by the female form. I do not see, Monks, even one other sound . . . scent . . . taste . . . or touch,4 so enticing, so desirable, so intoxicating, so binding, so infatuating, such a hindrance to winning the supreme peace from bondage than the sound, scent, taste and touch of a woman. Monks, those who clings to the sound, scent, taste and touch of a woman— impassioned, greedy, enslaved, infatuated, attached—they grieve for a long time, besotted by female sound, scent, taste, or touch. Monks, a woman, even when going along, will stop to entice the heart of a man, whether standing, sitting, lying down, laughing, speaking, singing, weeping, stricken, or dying, she will stop to entice the heart of a man. Monks, if it is right to say of anything, “this is wholly a snare of Māra,” then it is right to say this of womankind, “this is wholly a snare of Māra.” (AN 5.55 at III.68–69)5 3. Aṅguttara-nikāya (7.59b at IV.92–93) and Saṃyutta-nikāya (4.37.3 at IV, 239). 4. In the Pāli the passage is repeated four times, once for sound, then scent, taste, and finally touch. 5. This passage is not found in parallel texts to the Aṅguttara-nikāya, so is only extant in the Pāli. Also, the context of this story, leading up to the declaration, is the narrative of a mother and son, both of whom ordain and engage in sexual intercourse with one another. As such, although it is found in a sutta collection, this is a vinaya-type story as it concerns the misbehavior of a monk and nun.
64 women in early indian buddhism Depictions such as these, coupled with less incriminating ones, such as advice that monks should avoid women (DN 16,5.9, II.141), and with the occasional non-Pāli sources, such as Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddhacarita, have led scholars to the conclusion that early Indian—or rather, Pāli—Buddhism has one pervasive view of female sexuality.6 Accordingly, Pāli Buddhism is charged with conceptualizing women with active, voracious sexual appetites contstantly seeking to drag unwilling men back from path. Certainly, such a depiction is the thrust of the above and similar passages. So much is this the nature of woman, according to Aṅguttara-nikāya quotation above, that a woman might even rise up from her deathbed in one last effort to ensnare the heart of a man! However, although it cannot be denied that such passages do exist, they are far from the only depiction of female sexuality in the Pāli literature. Other recent scholarly discussions of female sexuality include considerations of the bhikkhunīsaṃyutta of the Saṃyutta-nikāya (Collett 2009a: 108–12), a Chinese parallel of which is the subject of chapter six of this volume, in which nuns demonstrate that they have gone beyond the affliction of sexual desire. In verses attributed to Āḷavikā, her initial response to an attempted seduction is: Sensual pleasures are like sword stakes, the aggregates the executioner’s block. What you call delight in sensual pleasure has become non-delight for me.7 As in other of the sections of the bhikkhunīsaṃyutta of the Saṃyuttanikāya, this verse is spoken in response to an attempted seduction, by a male, of the nun in question.8 This aspect of female sexuality, as a response to male advances, although evident in the texts of early Indian Buddhism, has received little scholarly attention. While in contrast to what can appear as a pervasive social construct of female sexuality (both within and outside of early Indian Buddhism), evidence can be sought and 6. See the introduction to this volume, pages 5–6, for references to the history of the debate in modern scholarship. 7. Saṃyutta Nikāya (5.1 at I, 128) sattisūlūpamā kāmā khandhāsaṃ adhikuṭṭanā yaṃ tvaṃ kāmaratiṃ brūsi arati mayha. 8. The “man” is Māra, in the guise of a human male.
Pāli Vinaya 65 found that portrays men as sexual predators and women as either passively consenting or trying (and sometimes failing) to repel male advances. Evidence of women as passive and responsive in sexual situations and potential sexual situations can be found in the Pāli Vinaya. The present study of the saṅghādisesa rules in the Pāli Vinaya highlights that the differences between the rules for monks and those for nuns, and the stories behind each rule, indicate different sexual behaviors of monks and nuns and men and women and allude to differences in male and female sexuality. It can be ascertained from a study of these rules that, on the whole, male sexuality is represented as aggressive, potent, and proactive, while female sexuality is passive and responsive. While there are some indications in other sections of the Pāli Vinaya that women did experience sexual desire, such as in the pācittiya rules (3, 4, and 5) on female masturbation, there are less instances of women actively seeking out sex than there are of women responding to the sexual behavior of others. Rather than the rules and origin stories revealing women with voracious sexual appetites who are intent upon as much sexual activity as possible, whenever they can and with whomever they can, it is instead the men’s attempts to persuade, cajole, and manipulate women into sex acts with them that stand out. - Vinaya Saṅghadisesa rules in the Pali Saṅghādisesa rules are the second group of rules in vinaya texts. The first are the pārājikas, the most serious offences by which one is usually permanently expelled from the saṅgha.9 Breach of a saṅghādisesa rules is less serious. The consequences of committing a saṅghādisesa offense is not fixed. If a monk or nun commits such an act, a formal meeting of the saṅgha must take place in order to determine what sort of consequences would be most fitting in each instance. In the Pāli Vinaya nuns have seventeen saṅghādisesa rules, ten of which are specific to them and seven of which are the same as the rules for monks. Monks have thirteen, so not all of theirs apply to the nuns. Of the nuns’ saṅghādisesa rules that- relate to sex acts or sexuality, only one is shared with monks. There are four rules 9. See Clarke (2009a) on a pārājika story missing from the Pāli but in all other extant vinayas. Clarke highlights that inclusion of this story can lead to a different, and lesser, form of punishment for transgression of the first pārājika. According to this story, permanent expulsion from the saṅgha is not the only result of committing the first offense.
66 women in early indian buddhism for nuns that specifically relate to sex, although, as is the case with other classes of rules, other of the rules can be applied to or come out of situations relating to sex. For monks there are five saṅghādisesa rules specifically to do with sex. As noted in the introduction to this volume, the extant Pāli Vinaya is structured so that monks’ rules and accompanying stories appear first, and the nuns’ sections follows that. Any rules for nuns that apply to both monks and nuns are not repeated in the nuns’ Suttavibhaṅga. So, for example, in the nuns’ saṅghādisesa section there are only ten rules, as the seven they share with monks are not repeated. As noted by Horner (see the introduction to this volume, page 3–4), the extant structure to the Pāli Vinaya, with the nuns’ rules after those for monks, may not have been the original structure. Horner asserts this on the basis of two pieces of evidence: a fragment of a Tibetan text and the (mis-)placement of the indeclinable pi. Further evidence for her argument comes at the beginning and end of most sections of the extant nuns’ Suttavibhaṅga. With the exception of the first section on pārājikas, each section both begins and ends with a summary line or passage which details the rules to be recited or which have been told.10 For example, the concluding paragraph in the nuns’ pārājika section—concluding the telling of four pārājikas, as the four the nuns share with monks do not appear—the text reads: “Told, Venerable Ones, are the eight offenses involving defeat” (uddiṭṭhā kho ayyāya aṭṭha pārājikā dhammā, Vin. IV, 222). At the beginning of the section on saṅghādisesa rules we find: “Venerable Ones, these seventeen rules come up for recitation” (ime kho pan’ ayyāyo sattarasa saṃghādisesā dhammā uddesaṃ āgacchanti, Vin. IV, 223), and to conclude that section, “Told, Venerable Ones, are the seventeen saṅghādisesa rules” (udditthā kho ayyāyo sattarasa saṃghādisesā dhammā, Vin. IV, 242), when, in fact, only ten rules have been detailed, as the seven that apply to both monks and nuns have not been repeated. In the extant Pāli Vinaya, it is not stated which of the seven missing saṅghādisesa rules for nuns are the seven that they share with monks, but Buddhaghosa does enumerate these in his commentary to the Pāli Vinaya. According to Buddhaghosa, the monks’ saṅghādisesa rules that also apply to nuns are rule number 5 and rules 8–13. Buddhaghosa’s commentary is obviously a late text, but if we compare his classification with the full list of saṅghādisesa rules for nuns in the other extant 10. The opening statement is missing in the pārājika section.
Pāli Vinaya 67 Indic vinaya—the Sanskrit Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, we find almost exactly the same rules listed, although not in the same order.11 Thus, it seems fairly clear which of the saṅghādisesa rules apply to nuns and which do not. Although there are rules to do with sex in other sections of the Pāli Vinaya, the saṅghādisesa rules stand out as those most suitable for analysis. With the exception of the stories connected with the first pārājika, here we find the most comprehensive stories concerned with sex. The first pārājika is problematic in relation to analysis of male and female sexual behavior due to the extant structure of the Pāli Vinaya outlined above. In the monks’ Suttavibhaṅga, there are many supplements to the first pārājika, more so than for any other rule. As this rule is shared between monks and nuns, it is not in the nuns’ Suttavibhaṅga, which is presumably an indication that the stories told in relation to monks should apply equally to nuns. However, such an application is not easy. Many of the supplemental stories involving monks are concerned with sex acts that would be impossible for nuns to perform, as they are concerned with penile penetration of orifices, and so cannot apply to nuns because of the obvious differences in biological makeup. These are concerned with, for example, penetration of animals or human or animal corpses, or of inanimate objects, such as plaster decorations. Therefore it is not easy to exactly ascertain the extent to which the whole section on this rule is being suggested as being applicable to nuns. If it is only generally applicable, this hinders analysis as much as any speculative attempts at detailed comparison. There are also other rules to do with sex and rules that can be understood to relate to sex in other parts of the Vinaya. In these stories, we find instances of what appear to be mutual consent (to the act in question, which is often only implicitly not explicitly about sex) as well as instances of apparent and actual female desire, and also of male desire and sexual aggression. For example, pācittiya rules 11, 12, 13, and 14 are concerned with nuns talking with men on their own and at inappropriate times or in unsuitable places. These rules may relate to sex—that is certainly the 11. The Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya has 19 rather than 17 saṅghādisesa rules. It includes one rule not known in other vinayas, but also misses out one in other lists. It has more than 17 because it has saṅghādisesa 3 (see below) as three separate rules. The saṅghādisesa rules under discussion in this chapter, both those for monks and nuns, appear in either all or almost all other extant vinayas.
68 women in early indian buddhism implication—but sex is not explicitly mentioned in these cases. In pācittiya 14 the intent seems clearest, as in this story Thullanandā dismisses her companion and whispers in the man’s ear. Thus, this could be an example of active female sexual desire, as are the rules on female masturbation (pācittiyas 3, 4, and 5). These rules against activities that would cause sexual arousal and potentially orgasm, such as slapping the vulva or inserting things in the vagina, attest to an active sexuality on the part of some nuns. However, none of these rules nor the amount of them— there are few—attest to a voracious female sexual appetite. There are other rules to do with not keeping company with men on individual occasions or developing ongoing intimate relationships with men, such as pācittiya 36, in which the nun Caṇḍakālī is said to have too close a relationship (saṃsaṭṭhā viharati) with a householder and his son, but in a case such as this sex is not the sole factor in question. Thus, while in other parts of the Pāli Vinaya there are some cases of apparent mutual consent in sexual, romantic, or intimate encounters, as well as indicators of active sexuality in the part of both sexes, the saṅghādisesa rules present a particularly interesting paradigm. In this study I present female sexuality in the saṅghādisesa rules as passive and responsive. It is not my intention to deny female agency or to deny instances and examples of an active and healthy sexuality, but rather instead to proffer an alternative—seen through one set of serious and detailed rules—to what has been a somewhat overarching view of a pernicious and overactive female sexuality. - vinaya Saṅghadisesa rules for monks in the Pali Saṅgha-disesa 3: Not to speak inappropriately about sex This Suttavibhaṅga rule is said to have been made because of Venerable Udāyin. His dwelling was particularly picturesque, and many women came to Anāthapiṇḍika’s park to see it. It was while showing women the toilets that he would speak inappropriately to them about sex, and engagein other reproachable speech. The text does not detail exactly what it is he is supposed to have said and simply recounts that after showing them the toilets, he “spoke in praise and spoke in blame, he begged and implored, asked and inquired, related, exhorted, and abused.”12 It is initially the 12. vaṇṇaṃ pi bhaṇati avaṇṇam pi bhaṇati yācati pi āyācati pi pucchati pi paṭipucchati pi ācikkhati pi anusāsati pi akkosati pi. (Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa 3 at Vin. III, 127).
Pāli Vinaya 69 commentary attached to the extant Suttavibhaṅga that first indicates what he may have said, defining “vulgar words” (duṭṭhullā vācā) as speech connected with toiletry functions and sex and relating his abusive words as, for example, saying “you are defective in sex, . . . you are a deformed woman.”13 Some women laughed at Udāyin when he did this, but others complained. The monks told the Buddha, who scolded Udāyin and made a rule that monks, when filled with desire, should not offend women with vulgar words about sex. The stories in the supplement to this rule give further indication as to the types of things Udāyin might have said. Many of these addenda are concerned with monks making sexual innuendos to women to whom they are attracted. For example, a monk said to a women who was wearing a rough blanket, “is that thick, short hair yours?”14 Similarly, to a woman wearing a newly woven blanket, a monk asked, “is that your matted hair?”15 Other innuendos include, to a woman working in a field, “has there been some sowing?”16 On each occasion the text notes that the women did not understand the innuendo and replied innocently with, for example, “Yes, it is a rough blanket.”17 Each time, the monk expresses remorse at having spoken as he did. This shows that the innuendos were not made accidentally, by a slip of the tongue, but intentionally said to attractive women presumably from salacious motives. Saṅghadisesa 4: Not to try to persuade a woman to engage in sexual intercourse This is perhaps the most illustrative of the rules under discussion on the question of male and female sexuality. Udāyin is again the culprit here, and in this case he speaks inappropriately to a laywoman when she asks him what the monks need and offers the usual donations. He tells her these items are plentiful and that a better offering would be to offer herself to him for sex, as this is hard to come by for monks. The origin story for this rule is as follows: 13. nimittamattāsi . . . itthipaṇḍakāsi (Suttavibhaṅgha saṅghādisesa 3 at Vin. III, 128). 14. kakkasalomaṃ kho te (Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa 4 at Vin. III, 130). 15. ākiṇṇalomaṃ kho te (Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa 4 at Vin. III, 130). 16. vāpitaṃ kho te (Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa 4 at Vin. III, 131). 17. ām’ . . . khārakambalako ‘ti (Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa 4 at Vin. III, 130).
70 women in early indian buddhism At one time the Buddha, the Blessed One, was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika’s park. At that time the venerable Udāyin was dependent on families in Sāvatthī [for alms], and he approached many families. At that time there was a certain woman who was a beautiful, good-looking, lovely widow. Then, the venerable Udāyin, rising in the morning and taking his bowl and robe, he approached that woman’s dwelling, and having approached he sat down on the appointed seat. Then the woman approached the venerable Udāyin; having approached and having greeted the venerable Udāyin she sat down to one side. The venerable Udāyin instructed, roused, enthused, and delighted with talk on dhamma this woman who was seated to his side. Then this woman, delighted with talk on dhamma, said to the venerable Udāyin: “Do say, Venerable One, what [will be] of benefit? We are able to give to the noble one the requisites of robes, alms-bowl, lodgings, and medicines for illness.” “Sister, these are not hard for us to come by, that is, the requisites of robes, alms-bowl, lodgings and medicines for illness. You should give us what is hard to come by.” “What is that, Venerable One?” “Sexual intercourse.” “[Will it be] of benefit, Venerable One?” “[It will be] of benefit, Sister.” “Come, Venerable One”. Entering the inner room, she took off her outer garment and lay back on the bed. Then the venerable Udāyin approached her. Having approached, he said, “Who would touch this foul-smelling wretch?” and he departed spitting. Then this woman became enraged, angry, annoyed and said, “These renouncers, sons of the Sakyan, are without shame, of low morality, liars. They pretend to be dhamma-farers, possessing tranquillity, living a holy life, speakers of the truth, virtuous, of good conduct. Among them, there is no renunciation, no leading of a holy life. Among them, renunciation is lost, the holy life destroyed. Where is renunciation among them? Where is holiness among them? Fallen from renunciation are these, fallen from the holy life. How can the wanderer Udāyin, having himself begged me for sexual intercourse, say ‘Who would touch this foul-smelling wretch?’ and depart spitting? What in me is evil? What in me is foul-smelling? In what am I inferior to whom?” Other women
Pāli Vinaya became enraged, angry, annoyed and said, “These are without shame . . . how can the wanderer Udāyin, having himself begged this one for sexual intercourse, say, ‘Who would touch this foulsmelling wretch?’ and depart spitting. What is evil in her? What is foul-smelling in her? In what is she inferior to whom?” The monks heard these women who were enraged, angry, and annoyed. Those who were modest monks became enraged, angry, annoyed and said: “How can this venerable Udāyin speak in praise of servicing his own desires in the presence of women?” Then these monks told this matter to the Blessed One. Then the Blessed One, for this reason, on this occasion, having the order of monks convened, questioned the venerable Udāyin: “Is it true as said that you, Udāyin, spoke in praise of servicing your own desires in front of women?” “It is true, Blessed One.” The Buddha, the Blessed One, admonished him: “It is not right, foolish man, it is not appropriate, it is not suitable, not worthy of a recluse, not fitting, it is not to be done. How can you, Foolish Man, speak in praise of servicing your own desires in front of women? Is not, Foolish Man, the dhamma taught by me, in various ways, for the destruction of the passions, not for the sake of the passions, taught by me for the sake being without fetters, not for the sake of being bound, taught for the sake of not grasping, not for the sake of grasping? Then, Foolish Man, while the dhamma is being taught by me for passionlessness, you strive after passion, while the dhamma is being taught for the sake of being free from fetters, you strive to be bound to the world, while the dhamma is being taught for the sake of not grasping, you are intent on grasping. Is not, Foolish Man, the dhamma taught by me, in various ways, for the stilling of passion, for freedom from conceit, for the disciplining of thirst, for the uprooting of attachments, for cutting through the rounds of rebirth, for the destruction of craving, for passionlessness, for cessation, for nibbāna? Have I not, Foolish Man, declared in various ways, the abandoning of sensory pleasures, full understanding of the desires, subduing of the thirst for sensory pleasure, uprooting of thoughts of pleasure, calming of the fever of desire? It is not, Foolish Man, for the benefit of unbelievers, nor for the increase of believers. But this is, Foolish Man, disparaging for both unbelievers and believers and for some causes doubt.” 71
72 women in early indian buddhism Then the Blessed One, having admonished the venerable Udāyin in many ways, spoke in disapproval of his difficulty in supporting and maintaining himself, his arrogance, his discontent, his clinging (to defilements), his indolence. He spoke in many ways in praise of supporting and maintaining oneself, contentment, happiness, giving up (the defilements), of being morally scrupulous, of geniality, of the decreasing (of obstructions), of zeal. Having spoken dhamma that is suitable and fitting for monks, he addressed the monks and said: “Monks, I will make known the path of training for monks, that is founded for ten reasons: the excellence of the saṅgha, the comfort of the saṅgha, restraint of malevolent men, for the convenience of well-behaved monks, for the restraint of the āsavas in this world, for the combating of the āsavas in future worlds, for the benefit of nonbelievers and the increase of believers, for the establishing of dhamma, and for the following of the discipline. Thus, monks, this course of training should be set forth: ‘whatever monk, affected by desire, with perverted mind, should speak in praise of servicing one’s own desires in front of women, saying, “Sister, the foremost of honors that a woman can give one like me, virtuous, of good conduct, living the holy life, in this way would be service connected with sexual intercourse.” This is an offense involving a formal meeting of the saṅgha.’ ” In the narrative on the origin of this rule, we can see that, although the laywoman agrees to the monk’s request, they do not then engage in the sexual intercourse. Udāyin has a sudden change of heart when the moment comes, instead turning on the woman and verbally abusing her. This event appears somewhat incongruent, given the foregoing intent of the monk, and is not specified in the rule, which is simply that monks should not manipulate women into having sex with them by telling them that it is the highest gift they can give. However, although not specified in the rule, it is necessary for the making of it. Each of the addenda that follow are about a monk attempting to persuade a woman to have sex with him by making this same claim, that offering sex is an exalted “gift.” But in no case does sex ensue. If it did, of course, the issue at hand would not be the attempted persuasion, but rather the question—dealt with already in the Suttavibhaṅga—of sexual activity, which comes under pārājika offences rather than saṅghādisesa. Thus, Udāyin’s sudden disgust for the woman he had just attempted to seduce, a woman, it would appear, he had
Pāli Vinaya 73 his eye on for some time, helps the narrative polemic reach its goal: to conclude with a rule about manipulation of women by monks swept up by carnal urges. There is no opposite of this rule in the nuns’ saṅghādisesa, a fact which, while an argument ex silencio, suggests that nuns were not in the habit of trying to persuade men to have sex with them. However, accounts of laywomen—but not nuns—who appear to be sexual aggressors do occur in some of the supplemental stories to the first pārājika rule on abstention from sexual intercourse. These stories recount women accosting monks who were sleeping or napping and sexually assaulting them. In two of these instances, it is stated that the woman in question acted in this way because she was of the view that offering sex to monks is the highest gift to offer them. In the first of these two instances, the text reads: Now, at that time, in Rājagaha, there was a female lay disciple called Supabbā, who had faith in the Buddha. She held this view: whoever offers sexual intercourse [to a monk], she gives the highest gift. (Vin. III, 39)18 It would seem, then, from the story of Udāyin above, that the reason certain women were of this view is because the monks were encouraging it. In one other instance, when a group of women sexually assault a sleeping monk, they are said to do so out of desire for sexual gratification. On one other occasion, after sexually assaulting a monk, the woman in question laughs at him. On this occasion, it would appear that the sexual assault was an attempt to humiliate the monk. None of the other recounted episodes specify why it is that women sexually assault or accost the monks. Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain whether the women acted in this way maliciously, to humiliate monks, whether they did so out of sexual desire, or whether they sat on top of the sleeping monks in order to perform sex acts because they believed that to do so was a way to offer monks what they desired. As motive is only mentioned in four of the nine instances recounted, and the latter motive is mentioned more than the others—on two occasions rather than one—a conclusion that the outlined 18. Tena kho samayena rājagahe supabbā nāma upāsikā buddhappasannā hoti, sā evaṃ diṭṭhikā hoti yā methunaṃ dhammaṃ deti sā aggadānaṃ detīti.
74 women in early indian buddhism behavior of the women in question was a result of female sexual appetite would be spurious. Saṅghadisesa 2: Not to engage in bodily contact with a woman This rule is as follows: Whatever monk, affected by desire, with a perverted heart, should come into bodily contact with a woman, holding her hand or holding a braid of her hair, or rubbing against any one or other of her limbs, this is an offense involving a formal meeting of the saṅgha. (Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa 2 at Vin. III, 120). This rule for monks is similar to a pārājika rule for nuns, as follows: Whatever nun, filled with desire, should consent to rubbing, or rubbing against, or taking hold or touching or pressing against a man filled with desire below the collar-bone, above the circle of the knees, she also becomes one who is defeated, she is no longer in communion, being one who touches above the circle of the knee. (Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga pārājika 1 at Vin. IV, 213) It also bears some resemblance to another pārājika rule for nuns, although this one is closer to a pācittiya rule for monks: Whatever nun, filled with desire, for the sake of indulging in that which is not dhamma, should consent to holding the hand of a man filled with desire or should consent to holding the edge of his outer cloak or should stand with or talk to or should go for a rendezvous with or should consent to a man’s approaching (her) or should enter a concealed place or should dispose of the body for such a purpose, she also becomes one who is defeated, she is no longer in communion, being a doer of eight things (Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga pārājika 4 at Vin. IV, 220). As pārājika rules are most severe for women who commit the transgression of intentionally coming into bodily contact with a man for the sake of sexual arousal, that woman is to be, according to the text, permanently
Pāli Vinaya 75 expelled from the saṅgha. However, if a monk acts in the same way the consequences for him are less. A monk is not expelled from the community for such behaviour. Commenting on this situation, scholars such as In Young Chung (1999, 34–7) and Juo-Hsüeh Shih (2000, 172–3) highlight this as testimony to the harsher treatment of women as opposed to men in Buddhist vinayas. In both of the pārājika rules, the causative of the verb sad is used in the optative (sādiyeyye) meaning “to permit, yield, consent.” In the first of the two pārājikās it is used once at the end of the rule, implying that the rule is to be enforced if the nun consents to being touched, caressed, et cetera. In the second of the pārājikās it is used three times: in relation to consenting to hand-holding, to consenting to touching the clothes of another, and consenting to the man approaching her. Conversely, there is no language denoting yielding or consent on the part of the monks, suggesting instead that the monk is the active one in the interaction—not simply one who is permitting or consenting to contact, but rather one who is initiating. Shih notes that this difference, the use of the word meaning “consent” in the nuns’ versions of the rule, is particular to the Pāli. In the vinayas of other schools the word for “consent” does not occur in either monks’ or nuns’ rules; therefore Shih concludes that it is “of no significance” (2000, 214). I have, nevertheless, included mention of it for two reasons: first, because the origin story in relation to this first pārājika rule in the Pāli is concerned with the issue of consent. Although the two protagonists in the story—the nun Sundarīnandā and the builder Sāḷha—fall in love, it is the layman who conspires to get Sundarīnandā alone with him. Her offense is simply that she consents. The second story, however, which is exceptionally brief, is concerned with nuns who act out of their own sexual desire. But the story is little more than a statement that a group of nuns were behaving inappropriately, followed by the ruling. Further, in considering the relevance of the use of the word for “consent,” recent comparative study of vinaya and other literature is suggestive of some differences in relation to views about or portrayals of women between the early schools of Buddhism.19 19. See for example Anālayo (2008) and also his study of a Tibetan version of the story of Dhammadinnā, in which Dhammadinnā herself approaches the Buddha, as opposed to the Pāli version, in which her interlocutor, Visākha, reports their conversation to the Buddha (2011a:17).
76 women in early indian buddhism Saṅghaˉdisesa 5: Not to act as a go-between This saṅghādisesa rule applies to both monks and nuns. Effectively, the rule prohibits monks and nuns from any sort of involvement with sexual and/or romantic unions. Although the rule specifically states that a monk must not act as a go-between “for a woman with a man in mind or a man with a woman in mind” (itthiyā vā purisamatiṃ purissassa vā itthimatiṃ, Vin. III, 138), all the examples given, with the exception of the first, are about men having monks persuade a girl, young woman, or the girl or woman’s family to give the girl or woman to the man or men. That all stories told in relation to this rule are concerned with monks is, again, because this rule is related in the monks Suttavibhaṅga. However, this does not account for why it is almost always women being persuaded into sexual or romantic encounters. In the initial sections, the go-between activities appear as simple misdirected desires to match-make that go wrong. However, following that is a section on men asking a prostitute (vesiyā) to join them in a pleasure grove. She refuses, as she does not know them, until persuaded by the monk to do so. Then follow several sections on monks procuring certain types of women for men, and the whole section ends with some examples of monks going to “examine” women, presumably to see if they will make suitable wives or suitable sexual partners. - Vinaya Saṅghadisesa rules for nuns in the Pali Saṅgha-disesa 3: Not to go to the village alone, cross the river alone, stay away at night alone, stay behind in a group In this nuns’ rule, four specific instances are recounted that lead to a fourfold rule being made. First, an unnamed nun quarrels with other nuns so goes alone to see her relatives in a neighboring village. The issue is with her having gone alone. When the other nuns who have been dispatched to find her come across her they ask if she was violated. She replies that she was not but, nevertheless, a rule is made forbidding nuns to do this due to an apparently strong possibility they will be sexually assaulted if they travel alone. The next section concerns two nuns traveling together and their experience of coercion by a boatman who tells them he cannot take them both across the river at the same time; they must go one at a time. Once separated, each nun is violated. A rule is made that not only must nuns not travel to villages alone, but they must not cross rivers
Pāli Vinaya 77 alone. Third, a man conspires to get alone a certain nun, who is part of a group staying overnight in his village. A rule is made that nuns must not be away from the group overnight. Last, a nun stays behind from a group to defecate. This very temporary separation was enough for her to be accosted and violated, so a rule was made that nuns must not stay behind a group. The form of this rule is different from those discussed so far. With the other rules, in each case the story is concerned with a monk or nun behaving in a way considered inappropriate. In this instance, the obvious culprits are not the nuns who suffered abuse and mistreatment, but rather the men who attempted to seduce, coerce, and manipulate in order to either bring about situations of consensual sex or who sexually assaulted the nuns. A superficial reading of this rule might suggest that, as the nuns are the ones who are admonished for their actions, they are being held responsible for the actions done to them—essentially, being blamed for being sexually assaulted. However, this goes against the grain of the majority of vinaya rules, which deem an action an offense if it is intentionally done. In this rule, nuns are not being admonished for engaging in sex acts, but rather for putting themselves in dangerous or potentially dangerous situations. Other rules in the vinayas are preventative and protective, and a similar rule for monks is found in pācittiya 10. In the story, the monk Anuruddha agrees to sleep on a couch in a woman’s house alone with her, which results in him having to rebuff her advances. The rule is made that monks should not, at night, lie down near a woman. The punishment for transgression of this offense is lighter than for the nuns in the saṅghādisesa rule, but this could be because the consequences of not adhering to the monks’ rule—having to fight off amorous advances—is much less severe than in two of the cases for nuns, which resulted in sexual assault. Although in the pācittiya rule laywomen making sexual advances to monks is attested to again, the nuns’ rule exposes an aggressive, and in two instances violent, male sexuality. This is the first rule specifically concerned with nuns rather than monks, but here we do not see a reversal of the trend identified thus far. So far, monks have acted and women responded, and here the change is not in that sexual dynamic, but only in who is the ordained and who the layperson. Here laymen act, and nuns attempt to respond or are subjected to unwanted events, in two instances being subjected to sexual assault and in the other having to fend off male advances.
78 women in early indian buddhism Saṅghaˉdisesa 5: Not to accept and eat food offered by men who desire her when she is herself filled with desire Saṅghaˉdisesa 6: Not to persuade another nun to accept food from one filled with desire It would appear from these two rules20 that physically attractive nuns were presented with better food offerings on some occasions, simply because men were sexually interested in them. In these two very short sections, nuns are told not to accept food or water for brushing their teeth by anyone who is—obviously, one would assume—sexually attracted to them. Next, they are told not to try to persuade other nuns to accept better food offerings in these situations. Again, with these two rules there are no equivalents for monks. This is perhaps the closest we come to a rule for women equivalent to the monks’ rule prohibiting them from attempting to persuade women to engage in sex with them. But if this rule is seen as the closest equivalent, then a conclusion must be drawn that women do not need to persuade, because men are sexually ready and available, and all the nuns are being regulated against is not encouraging men in instances when they are making their availability known. The nature of these two rules are indicative of a general pattern that can be observed through this analysis of the saṅghādisesa rules of the Pāli Vinaya on sex. Indications within the rules of male and female sexuality are that men are the initiators and sexual aggressors, and women the ones who are, on the whole, propositioned, courted, coerced, manipulated, or assaulted. The two above rules demonstrate again male desire as the initiator of potential sexual situations between men and women. The men are giving some indication to the nuns of their sexual interest, and the rules are concerned with whether the nuns respond or not. In general, within discussion of this set of rules, the parameters are circumscribed around female response to male advances. In none of the instances in the saṅghādisesa are females the sexual initiators or sexual aggressors and men the ones courted, coerced, or manipulated. While this is the case with the rules under discussion, such an indication of the nature of female sexuality is potentially challenged by the above-mentioned addenda to the first pārājika, which describes women sexually assaulting men. However, this potential challenge is tempered by the indications that, in some 20. Saṅghādisesa 5 and 6 have recently been translated by Shih (2000, 99–109).
Pāli Vinaya 79 instances at least, such behavior is again responsive; the women are responding to their perceived idea that offering sex to monks is the highest gift they can give as laywomen. Setting the above rules alongside each other, we can conclude the following: for monks, the basic admonitions are that they should not speak inappropriately to women about sex, try to pursue women to have sex with them, come into bodily contact with a woman, or act as go-betweens in sexual encounters. For nuns, they should not come into bodily contact with a man, put themselves in dangerous situations in which they might be sexually assaulted, respond inappropriately to men who display sexual intent, or act as go-betweens. Thus, in this set of rules the indicators are clear—men actively seek sex and women need to be aware of the potential danger of male sexuality, not encourage it, and ensure they keep themselves out of harm’s way. As mentioned above, in other parts of the Pāli Vinaya there are examples of active and healthy male and female desire, and other examples of mutual consent, but here the case is unequivocal— men are the ones with the more potent and potentially dangerous sexual appetites.
4 Mahaˉsaˉṅghika-Lokottaravaˉda Bhikṣ uṇ ˉı Vinaya the intersection of womanly virtue and buddhist asceticism Amy Paris Langenberg the mahāsāṅghik a-lokot taravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya is one of two complete nuns’ vinayas surviving in an Indic language, the other being the Pāli vinaya, the subject of the preceding chapter in this volume.1 In the 1930s, Rahul Sāṅkṛtyāyana photographed a manuscript of this text, which he dates to the 12th century, at Zhalu monastery in Tibet. After returning to India, he deposited the negatives at the Bihar Research Society in Patna. Gustav Roth (1970) is responsible for producing an excellent edition of this valuable document.2 It includes an account of the eight grave duties, the nuns’ prātimokṣa with commentary, the miscellaneous rules for nuns, and an abbreviated list of the miscellaneous rules for monks, all in the Prakrit-cum-Sanskrit that is characteristic of Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottarvāda texts (Roth 1980, 78–135 and 1972, 211–18). 1. I would like to sincerely thank Bhikkhu Anālayo and Alice Collett for their help with this essay. In addition to detailed and patient editing, Professor Collett contributed a number of substantive clarifications at key places in the text. Any mistakes are, of course, my own. 2. For a complete French translation, see Nolot 1991. Akira Hirakawa (1982) has translated the entire Chinese nuns’ Vinaya of the Mahāsāṅghika school into English. There are many differences in detail between this text and that of the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravādin school, but structurally, the two are very similar. See also J. W. de Jong (1974, 63–70), Hüsken (1997b, 202–37), von Hinüber (1994, 109–22).
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 81 Although their family resemblance is strong, the various Buddhist vinaya traditions also display unique features. The MahāsāṅghikaLokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya is remarkable in that it appears to have been edited in order to provide a comprehensive set of rules, principles, and procedures for nuns, easily detachable from the monks’ vinaya (Roth 1970, xxix–xxxii and Hüsken 1997, 202–4). In it, the story of the founding of the nuns’ Order along with an account of the eight grave duties (gurudharmas) are supplied at the beginning of the text as an introduction, just before the nuns’ prātimokṣa (the list of vows taken at higher ordination). In the Pāli and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas, by contrast, these appear much later with the miscellaneous (khandaka) rules. Ute Hüsken brings to our attention the eight gurudharmas’ priority and contiguity to the prātimokṣa proper in this text, a unique organizational feature that she finds both logical and compelling. She points out that, after all, the eight grave duties are supposed to be “the very first rules formulated for nuns” and are declared “never to be transgressed” (1997b, 203).3 In the MahāsāṅghikaLokottarvāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, moreover, the relevant karmavācanās (formal monastic procedures) are handily collected under each gurudharma. Furthermore, unlike the Pāli Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga (the canonical exposition of the nuns’ pāṭimokkha) that only lists nuns’ rules not shared by the monks, the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya includes the shared rules, though in an extremely abbreviated form.4 Overall, the text exhibits a tendency to rearrange, reconcile, and, as Ute Hüsken observes, “rationalize the material” so as to create a smooth, coherent, logically organized document ideal for recitation and study by nuns (Hüsken 1997b, 228). Perhaps a nun-centered editing program explains another noteworthy feature of the text: its foregrounding of the figure of Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī. Here, after her acceptance of the eight grave duties for nuns, she is invested before her band of nuns with the titles of community eldress (saṅgha-sthavirī), community eminence (saṅgha-mahattarī ), and community leader (saṅgha-pariṇāyikā) (pārājika dharma 1, Roth 1970, §111, 75, and xxxix–xli). When the nuns encounter a difficulty in the Pāli Vinaya, they 3. For instance: ayaṃ gautami bhikṣuṇīnāṃ caturtho guru-dharmo yo bhikṣuṇīhi yāvaj-jīvaṃ satkartavyo yāvad an ati-kramaṇīyo velā-m-iva mahāsamudreṇa. Gurudharma 4 (Roth 1970, §92, 62). 4. See the previous chapter for a discussion of the structure of the Pāli Vinaya.
82 women in early indian buddhism typically report to the monks, who bring the matter to the attention of the Buddha. Although meetings between the Lord Buddha (bhagavān) and Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī do occur in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the monks often play an intermediary role.5 In the MahāsāṅghikaLokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, on the other hand, Mahāprajāpatī maintains her right of access to the Lord, bringing almost all matters of discipline to his attention personally (Roth 1970, xl). This vinaya text differs from others in another significant way: it contains one gurudharma for nuns that does not appear elsewhere, except in the Chinese Mahāsāṅghika Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya (Nolot 1991, 534–35, Roth 1970, xxx–xxxi, Hirakawa 1982, 83–85). By combining the gurudharma that nuns may not admonish monks with another that states that nuns may not rebuke monks, the Lokottaravādins have made room for the new gurudharma while still keeping the total number at eight.6 The additional dharma forbids nuns from accepting donations of food, clothing, and shelter first from lay people who have not yet donated anything to the monks. According to the exposition of the rule, the issue at stake is not the overall amount donated to the monks’ versus the nuns’ community, but simply the order of giving. Thus, the Lord assures Mahāprajāpatī that “If the assembly of nuns causes even as much as one bowl of rice to be offered to the assembly of monks, then, should it accept even hundred-flavor food, this does not constitute a fault.” Similarly, if the nuns cause so much as a bamboo platform or cow-dung hut to be donated to the monks, then should they accept even a bed of white sandalwood or a seven-story monastic building, there is no fault. A. Gurudharma 4 (Roth 1970, §89–92, 61–62) 89. Now how is it, Gautamī, that the nuns’ community must not avail themselves of first-time offerings of food, beds and seats, and housing before the assembly of monks do? Someone who makes a food offering to the nun’s community should be told, “You must do it following the most excellent procedure.” Then if he says, “There is no faith in that for me, no grace,” 5. According to Anālayo, the other vinayas resemble the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya in the number of reported meetings between Mahāprajāpatī and the Buddha (Anālayo 2008, 116–17 n. 59). 6. Nolot (1991, 534–35) points out that this is done by attaching the commentary usually associated with the gurudharma forbidding nuns to abuse monks (ākroṣṭum) to the gurudharma forbidding nuns to admonish monks (vacanapatho).
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya he is to be told, “As for us, we do not accept [this offering].” Now he says, “My mother, my father, a member of my men’s organization, a professional associate, one of my friends, have all previously given [a food offering] to them but I [myself ] have never previously made an offering to the noble ones. Let the noble ones receive [a food offering].” If [in this way] the assembly of nuns causes even as much as one bowl of rice to be offered to the assembly of monks, then, should it accept even one-hundred-flavor food, this does not constitute a fault. 90. Now what about a first offering of beds and seats? Someone who gives bedding and seating to the assembly of nuns should be told, “You must give it following the most excellent procedure.” Then if he says, “There is no faith in that for me, no grace,” he is to be told, “As for us, we do not accept it.” Now he will say, “My mother, my father, a member of my men’s organization, a professional associate, one of my friends, have all previously given [bedding and seating] to them. Let the noble ones receive [bedding and seating].” If [in this way] the assembly of nuns causes even so much as a cot or bamboo platform7 to be given to the assembly of monks then, should it accept beds and seats of white sandalwood, this does not constitute a fault. 91. What about the first offering of a monastic dwelling? Someone who establishes a monastic dwelling for the nun’s assembly should be told, “Establish it following the most excellent procedure.” Then if he says, “There is no faith in that for me, no grace,” he is to be told, “As for us, we do not accept it.” Now he says, “Noble ladies, my mother, my father, a member of my men’s organization, a professional associate, one of my friends, have all previously caused monastic dwellings to be made for them. May the noble ones accept this monastic dwelling.” If [in this way] the assembly of nuns causes even so much as a hut made of cow dung or a pile of rubble to be given to the assembly of monks then, should it accept even a monastic building of seven stories, this does not constitute a fault. 92. If a particular nun having disrespected [the monks] with insults like “dirty monk” or “ignorant monk” or “mean stupid old 7. Roth (1970), §90 antamasato khayu[?]kā maṃcaṃ. Em. antamasato khaṭvā maṃcaṃ. 83
84 women in early indian buddhism man” avails herself of the first-time offerings of food, bedding and seating, and housing before the monks do, she transgresses a grave duty. So, Gautamī, the nuns are to avail themselves of a first-time offering of food, bedding and seating, and monastic dwellings after the monk’s community does so. This, Gautamī, is the fourth grave duty of the nuns, which, for as long as they live, the nuns must faithfully and solemnly execute, honor, respect, and refuse to transgress, just as the great ocean respects the shore. Gurudharma 4 is interesting for reasons beyond its singularity. It is one of many passages in the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya that does not obviously fulfill one of the “ten purposes” (daśārthavaśa) for vinaya listed in the introduction to the Bhikṣu Prātimokṣa Sūtra of the Lokottaravādins.8 It is difficult to see how the sort of ritualized assertion of male priority found in this rule, which is subsequently defanged by casuistry, would engender any of the enumerated benefits. How might it, in reality, unify or increase the merit of the community, chastise the sinful or encourage the virtuous, generate faith in the unfaithful and faithful alike, remove karmic stains and prevent the accumulation of karmic residues in the future, or preserve and propagate the well-explained dharma?9 The issues at stake in gurudharma 4 seem not to be moral, nor what one might term “spiritual,” but rather sociopolitical. While ensuring that they need not actually give up material comforts to monks, this proscription requires nuns to perform a publicly visible ritual act of gift-giving that underlines the higher status of the male community. Nuns are also warned against openly giving vent to any resentments that might arise with respect to the monks’ community. Contemporary scholarship offers additional explanatory frameworks for assessing the meaning and purpose of the vinaya rules for monks and nuns. Rupert Gethin (1998, 91–94) proposes that vinaya is concerned 8. See Tatia (1976, 5.26–6.4), Roth (1979, 321), Prebish (1996b, 48). This list is not unique to the Mahāsāṅghika Lokottaravādin tradition. According to Anālayo, the different vinayas “agree fairly closely on a listing of ten benefits to be expected from the rules” (Personal communication, 3/8/2012). For the ten reasons in the Pāli Vinaya, see page 72 in the previous chapter of this volume. 9. Staying very close to this traditional interpretation, Karma Lekshe Tsomo (1996, 4, 8) suggests that vinaya recitation was for the purpose of “maintain[ing] the standards of behavior and ethical integrity of the order” and also comments on the primacy of śīla as the basis of concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (prajñā).
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 85 with realizing four aims, two of which (promoting the unity of the community and cultivating the spiritual life) concur with the traditional explanation mentioned above. The third and fourth aims he mentions, managing lay-monastic interactions and safe-guarding the community’s reputation, offer more possibilities for interpreting vinaya rules like gurudharma 4. Still, up to this point, many scholarly discussions of lay-monastic interactions, including the one Gethin offers, have focused on the need for Buddhist monks and nuns to be clean and neatly dressed, conduct themselves with dignity, and refrain from offending the laity. Here, I would like to suggest that, important as they are, something beyond unity, spiritual cultivation, etiquette, dignity, and hygiene are at play in certain nuns’ rules. The Lokottaravādin Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya demonstrates an additional concern that is unique to the female monastic community: their occupation of a social location at the intersection of womanly virtue and Buddhist asceticism. Technically, what makes a nun different than an ordinary laywoman can be clearly defined in terms of Buddhist monastic ritual. The glosses for many nuns’ rules inform us that “‘Nun’ means an ordained woman.”10 While fully adequate to the social organization of the ordained community itself, Buddhist ordination may not always have carried monastic women safely past the rocky shoals of public scrutiny. Mari Jyväsjärvi has recently completed an excellent study of rhetoric about female asceticism in the medieval Buddhist commentarial tradition of Guṇaprabha, as compared with a Jain monastic commentary and Brahmanical dharmaśāstra and literary traditions. Jyväsjärvi argues that female ascetics were viewed generally as women of “fragile virtue,” in need of protection, chastening, and oversight. The male community saw themselves as obligated to step in as their guardians.11 Though we address different layers of the textual tradition and somewhat different historical periods, I see the present study as complementing Jyväsjärvi’s insights by suggesting that the social vulnerability of Buddhist nuns (perceived and actual) derived not simply from their public image as unguarded females of questionable virtue, but also more generally from the fact that they were attempting to occupy a frontier position at the intersection of two well-established social identities, those of “virtuous woman” and “Buddhist ascetic.” By all available 10. See, for instance, pācattika dharmas 79 and 84, below. 11. Unpublished thesis, Jyväsjärvi 2011.
86 women in early indian buddhism accounts, virtuous householder women in ancient India were supposed to be submissive to and under the guardianship of male authority. In maturity, virtuous householder women were also, however, required to be fertile and therefore capable of bringing forth sons. The Dharmaśāstra literature indicates that brahmin lawgivers understood female submission to male authority largely in terms of the need to corral and bring to fruition what was perceived as a powerful female sexuality through marriage. Buddhist ascetics were, by contrast, celibate and nonreproducing by definition. If a woman of virtue was thus to be conceived generally as both fertile and under the guardianship of their male relatives; if, indeed, womanly virtue was commonly defined in terms of wifehood; how then was a nun to display both full womanly virtue and celibacy? Buddhist nuns’ occupation of this underarticulated, even paradoxical, social position at the crossroads of female virtue and Buddhist asceticism made them difficult for the laity to understand or accept and challenging for monastic lawyers to legislate. Feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw describes this type of social “intersectionality,” one also experienced by North American women of color (who are both female and non-white) as “a location that resists telling” (1991, 1241). In other words, because Buddhist nuns were social hybrids, they were continuously in danger of disappearing from the social map, their special role and status misunderstood, mistrusted, and overlooked. Many passages in the nuns’ Vinaya assimilate the category of “nun” to, or differentiate it from, specific and identifiable female behaviors or occupations in response to this problem. By legally constructing nunhood out of a patchwork of already familiar social roles for women, the authors of the Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya were able to shore up and more clearly articulate the nebulous social position that Buddhist nuns’ occupied. The selections translated and discussed below are a sampling of the vinaya passages that perform this sort of quilting work. In these examples, we can find evidence of attempts to negotiate a social and public, as well as a “private,” identity for Indian Buddhist nuns, engendered by the need for them to appear as women of virtue at all times while simultaneously upholding and maintaining their renouncer status. In the first example, pācattika dharma 79, it is stated that “Any nun who stands by a monk with fan and water while he eats commits a fault requiring expiation.” While not immediately obvious, this rule and the introductory story related to it reveal a need to enable (former) husbands and wives (or any pairing of monk and nun that might be construed in spousal terms) to conduct themselves appropriately
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 87 in relation to one another. Interestingly, the story is not about sexual temptation. Rather it concerns an old married couple who have together committed themselves formally to the spiritual life. At mealtime, the woman stands by her former husband, fanning him and pouring his water. They squabble and, angered, she overturns the water pot onto his head, beats him with her fan, and abuses him verbally. This scenario leads to the rule. B. Pācattika Dharma 79 (Roth 1970, §193, 216–17) 193. The Lord was staying at Śrāvastī. Gartodara (“Hollow-belly”), Gartodara’s mother, and Gartodara’s father wandered forth from householdership into homelessness. Gartodara’s father and mother wandered forth with the Śākyas, Gartodara among the heterodox groups. Gartodara’s father was eating. Fanning him, Gartodara’s mother stood opposite and held his water pot. He prattled on about various events of the past that were unpleasant to her. She jammed the water pot onto his head, then she hit him about the head with the fan handle. “You ignorant useless spiteful old man!” she said. “You are speaking of things that should not be mentioned!” She was seen by the nuns. They told her, “Don’t do that, noble lady! A member of the superior assembly is not meant to act thus.” She replied, “But just now, this ignorant, unhappy wretch was prattling on about things that shouldn’t be mentioned.” The nuns briefed Mahāprajāpati Gautamī on the matter. [Mahāprajāpati Gautamī told the Lord.]12 The Lord said, “You have done ill, mother of Gartodara. This is not the teaching (dharma), this is not the discipline (vinaya). You stand by this monk with water and fan while he eats. It is not suitable to stand by with fan and water in this way.” The Lord pronounced [the rule] as follows: “Should any nun stand by a monk with fan and water while he eats, she commits a fault requiring expiation.” “Nun” means: an ordained woman. And so forth.13 12. I have supplied this phrase, which has precedence in this vinaya, in order to clarify the transition. 13. This text uses the terms peyālaṃ and pe to indicate ellipses. It is typical of vinaya texts to abbreviate in this way. In this case, the reader is to supply the following phrase: sūpasampannā traivācikena karmaṇā jñapti-caturthena anāghāta-pañcamena samagreṇa saṅghena ubhayataḥ saṅghena iyaṃ bhikṣuṇī (pārājika dharma 1, Roth 1970, §114, 76). This translates as, “One who is well ordained by the entire monastic community, by the twofold monastic community by means of the threefold speech with a formal monastic resolution as the fourth, [and] not struck down as the fifth, this is a nun.”
88 women in early indian buddhism “Monk” means: an ordained man. And so forth. “Eating” means: five courses, or five things mixed, or the like, or any hard or soft food. “Should she stand by with fan and water” means: should she hold his water pot or give air with a fan, it is a fault requiring expiation. Thus the statute is declared. A nun who holds the water pot but does not fan transgresses the monastic discipline. The one who fans but does not hold the water pot transgresses the monastic discipline. One who does both commits a fault requiring expiation. For one who does neither, there is no fault. One nun [attending to] one monk constitutes a fault. If there are many monks, it is not a fault. If she fans any monk who is father or brother to her, it is not a fault. Thus, the Lord said: “Should any nun stand by a monk with fan and water while he eats, she commits a fault requiring expiation.” The commentary informs us that the rule does not apply if a nun wishes to fan and serve her father or brother, or a group of monks collectively. Despite the introductory narrative, it seems likely that a former husband and wife reverting to their customary relationship at mealtime is viewed as a problem for reasons beyond the potential for disagreement and abuse. In any case, nuns’ abusing and scolding monks is proscribed by Gurudharma 3 in the Lokottaravādin Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya. The casuistry associated with this rule also makes it clear that a nun fanning and serving water to monks is not itself the problem since she may legally fan or serve her father, brother, or a group of monks. Sexual tension also is not implicated. The problem seems to come, rather, when the nun behaves in the traditional manner of a wife at mealtime, fanning and pouring water for her actual husband, or a solitary monk who might be “husband material.” This is a problem for nuns and their lawyers because, while nuns should display female virtue, their virtue should not resemble that of a wife.14 This point is somewhat obscured by the way the scene is played for laughs (and it often is in Buddhist vinaya literature) (see Schopen 2007 and Clarke 2009b). Gartodara’s mother does not suffer fools gladly. Though she 14. Several rules for monks also may be aimed at dispelling any marital overtones in monknun interactions. One of the four praṭinideśanīya dharmas (faults to be confessed) found in the Pāli, Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravādin, and Mūlasarvāstivāda Bhikṣu-Prātimokṣas says that monks should gently admonish nuns if they attempt to direct the feeding of monks at laypeople’s houses. Another of the praṭinideśanīya dharmas forbids monks to accept, eat, and enjoy food from the hands of a nun who has begged alms and who is not related to him (Prebish 1996b, 94–95; Oldenberg and Rhys Davids, tr. [1882] 1991, 37).
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 89 performs the ritual functions of a devoted wife, the sincerity of her devotion is clearly (and appropriately—she is a nun, after all) in doubt. She neither defers nor submits nor reveres. In short, she is not feeling like a devoted wife, merely nominally acting like one. This distinction, subtly emphasized by the addition of a bit of rather unsubtle schtick, underlines my point: nuns must not engage in what might be interpreted by fellow nuns, monks, or passing townspeople as wifely behavior. The role of “wife” has no place in their social portfolio. While their subjective states are also of concern, as will eventually be made clear when we turn to an analysis of bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 31, subjectivity is not what is at issue in pācattika dharma 79. The introductory story to pācattika dharma 84 describes a group of nuns who, invited for a meal by the devout laywoman Viśākhā, return the favor by cleaning, carding, and spinning her raw cotton. Viśākhā scolds them, expressing her preference that they behave as specialized religious rather than ordinary women. This scenario leads to the rule: “Should a nun perform work for a householder, it is a transgression requiring expiation.” C. Pācattika Dharma 84 (Roth 1970, §198, 222–23) 84. The Lord was staying at Śrāvastī. Viśākhā, mother of Mṛgāra, invited both communities for a meal. Some nuns, going there early in the morning, said, “Pious lady, since you have invited both communities for a meal, can we perform a service for the pious lady (in return)?” She replied, “What service should the noble ones perform? You explain. You recite. You think deeply. In that way you do me a service.” “But we will also perform this service. After some go to the roof to get the cotton, others will treat it. Some others will tear it off [the husk]. Others will clean it. Some others will separate it. Others will spin it. Then taking the ball of thread, they will approach the pious lady, [saying] ‘Pious lady, a service has been rendered.’” She replied. “That the noble ones would clean or roll or rend or spin cotton is not a service to me. Rather I benefit if you noble ones, having eaten my food, explain and recite [the sūtras] so that you are established in the teachings of the Buddhas.” Now the nuns heard about the concerns of that pious laywoman. The nuns briefed Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī on the matter. [Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī told the Lord.]15 The Lord said, “That is badly done, nuns. 15. peyālaṃ.
90 women in early indian buddhism It is not appropriate to do household services. Therefore: Any nun who performs work for a householder, commits a fault requiring expiation.” “Nun” means: an ordained woman. “Householder” means: someone who lives in a house. “Work” means: if she should spin or clean [cotton] etc., or thresh or grind or cook or sew or perform work of any kind for a householder she commits a fault requiring expiation. Thus the statute is declared. It is not suitable for a nun to perform household work. “But what of the offering of garlands and the wafting of scent?” one said. “That is to be performed jointly by the noble ones.16 If someone causes scent to be ground or jasmine to be bound, it is not a fault. A monk who performs work for a householder also transgresses the monastic discipline.” The Lord spoke in this way. Thus, should a nun perform work for a householder, it is a transgression requiring expiation. In pācattika dharma 79 and pācattika dharma 84 nuns are forbidden to play the parts of wife and domestic worker.17 Elsewhere, they are also forbidden from acting or appearing to act as costumers (bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 6), thread-sellers (bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 30), garland-makers (bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 28), beauticians (bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 25), herbalists (pācattika dharma 82), midwives (bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 32), and brothel madams (bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 7).18 They are encouraged, however, to play certain other roles, some shared by all respectable women, others particular to their status as nun. Gurudharma 4 and pācattika dharma 84 encourage nuns, for instance, to behave as hierarchically subordinate females and learned sūtra reciters respectively. Thus they should in some respects resemble the general populace of womankind in this sociohistorical 16. Roth (1970), §198, 222 āryamiśrakāhi, so obviously just the female noble ones, i.e., the nuns. 17. Pācattika dharma 84 also forbids monks to perform work for a householder, although if a monk does so, this constitutes a minor offense, not a fault requiring expiation. 18. Gregory Schopen notes a Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya rule prohibiting nuns from standing in the door of the nunnery, as this behavior was apparently associated with prostitution. It is at Kṣudrakavastu, Derge ‘dul ba Da 151a.5 (Schopen 2008, 237 n.14). See also Jyväsjärvi (2011, 241). Schopen also notes a series of scenarios in the same vinaya in which the nun Sthūlanandā sets herself up in business as a tavern keeper, brothel madam, and, pimp, resulting in rules regulating such behaviors (Schopen 2009, 259–380).
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 91 milieu, but also behave as learned, erudite, and accomplished practitioners of their tradition. Rules concerning menstruation provide a particularly clear case of the way the architects of Buddhist nunhood employed commonly accepted ritual categories and practices for women in order to carve out a recognizable and respectable social niche for nuns. As celibate women, nuns would have menstruated more frequently than laywomen engaged in the business of pregnancy and lactation. As women who ventured outside of the domicile daily, it would have been more difficult for nuns to retreat to their rooms wearing stained garments as respectable women did during their periods of menstruation.19 Bhikṣuṇī prakīrnaka 15–18 of the Lokottaravādin Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya prescribe a special toiletry item called an āṇicolaka, literally, “a garment [like] an axle-pin” at times of monthly bleeding and legislate the washing of this garment.20 In permitting the use of the āṇicolaka, bhikṣuṇī prakīrnaka 15 provides a hygienic and practical solution to the problem of menstrual mess. It also, by prescribing how far the nuns may insert the item, explicitly guards against nuns’ satisfying their sexual desires.21 D. Bhikṣuṇī Prakīrṇaka 15–18 (Roth 1970, §268–71, 309–10) Pra. 15. 268. The Lord was staying at Śrāvastī. The nuns got their menstrual periods month after month. The blood ruined the bedding and seating. Mahāprajāpati Gautamī briefed the Lord about this matter. “Is it suitable, lord, to wear a cloth shaped like an axle pin (āṇicolaka) for the purpose of protecting the bedding and seating?” The Lord replied, “A cloth shaped like an axle pin is suitable. The one whose period has come and whose blood flows is to wear a cloth shaped like an axle pin, that is, a bundle of scraps. Pushing it in too shallowly is not suitable but neither is pushing it in too deeply in order to dispel the passion of desire. On the contrary, it should be 19. See, for instance, Baudhāyanagṛhyasūtra 1.7.22.1–3. 20. In the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, transgression of the rule prescribing a menstrual garment (Tib. sme gab; Skt. rajaścoḍa) for nuns is a fault requiring expiation (Derge ‘dul ba Ta 20a.5). The rule takes a different form in the Pāli Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha. Here, “A nun who uses the household cloth (āvasathacīvara) without relinquishing it is an offense requiring expiation” (pācittiya 47). 21. Though, realistically, I suspect one would be hard pressed to locate a woman, ancient or modern, who finds feminine hygiene articles erotic.
92 women in early indian buddhism pushed into the wound entrance22 loosely. Whichever nun inserts it too deeply, or too shallowly, in that way slaking her lust, commits a gross sin.” This is said regarding the matter of the cloth shaped like an axle pin. Indian Buddhist menstrual rules also exist within a broader cultural context that ascribes ritual significance to female blood. This broader context is apparent in bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka rules 16–18, which proscribe the washing of nuns’ āṇicolakas at public washing and bathing areas (tīrthas). Pra. 16. 269. The Lord was staying at Śrāvastī. At that time, the nuns were washing their menstrual cloths in the bathing place for women. The women looked upon them with contempt, [saying], “This entire place has been made impure by [their] blood.” [The nuns briefed Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī] on the matter. [Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī told the Lord.]23 The Lord said, “Therefore, it is not suitable to wash menstrual clothes in the women’s washing place. Regarding women’s washing places, a nun who washes her menstrual cloth in the women’s washing place transgresses against monastic discipline.” This is said regarding the women’s washing place. Pra. 17. 270. The Lord was staying at Śrāvastī. The Lord prescribed a moral precept. At that time, the nuns were washing their menstrual cloths in the washing place for men. And so forth.24 A nun who washes her menstrual cloth in the men’s washing place transgresses against monastic discipline. This is said regarding the men’s washing place. Pra. 18. 271. The Lord was staying at Śrāvastī. [The nuns were to wash their menstrual cloths] at the launderer’s washing place [and so forth].25 The Lord said, “Therefore, it is not suitable to wash [your menstrual cloths] at the launderer’s washing place. Rather, having fetched water, they should be washed together in a basin, a pot, an 22. Skt. vraṇamukha. This term refers to the mouth the vagina. 23. pelāyaṃ. 24. pelāyaṃ. Here, the reader is to fill in the complaints of the bathers, and the chain of communication reaching up to the Buddha. 25. Here the reader is supplied with even less information, but the scenario is easily inferred from preceding passages.
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 93 earthen bowl, or a water bucket. There, [all the blood] should be exhausted. If there is an outside water source, [menstrual cloths] should be washed at the place where the water drains. After those scraps are dried, they are to be relinquished until the monthly period comes again. A nun who washes a menstrual cloth in the launderer’s washing place transgresses against monastic discipline.” This is what is said regarding the launderer’s washing place. The rule against washing menstrual cloths in the women’s, men’s, or washermen’s tīrthas is ordained after laypeople complain that the “entire place has been made impure by blood.” Since the relatively small amount of blood involved would not redden an entire stretch of river, this complaint must concern the perceived power of even a small amount of female blood to ritually pollute a body of water. The further rule requiring nuns to wash menstrual cloths at home in basins and pots provides a solution. Thus, by prescribing for nuns protections against menstrual mess that still allow them to circulate normally through the town, and by requiring that nuns respect customs and beliefs surrounding blood pollution when they use public bathing areas, Bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 15–18 ensure that Buddhist nuns can pass in the community as properly observant and responsible menstruators.26 Here, the problem of particular types of female bodily fluids, made worse by ascetic practice, is occluded from public view. In this way, a location for nuns’ virtue is established whereby the monastic female body remains, to all appearances, ritually clean. Bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 31 further demonstrates how the authors and practitioners of Buddhist discipline adapted themselves in complicated ways to the mores surrounding female virtue, modesty, and sexuality in the ancient Indian milieu, taking up and discarding appearances according to a specific vinaya logic. Roth tells us that the beginning of this rule is missing from the manuscript. We can fill in the first few lines from the Chinese Mahāsāṅghika Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, which records that, after the layman Sudinna27 died, his wife Sudinnā entered the religious life. Unfortunately, 26. Other vinaya rules about menstruation were apparently influenced by brāhmaṇa custom. See, for instance, Ute Hüsken’s study (2001) of pācittiya 47 from the Pāli Vinaya. I discuss vinaya menstrual rules more fully in forthcoming works. 27. In other vinayas, Sudinna is the well-known monk whose sexual lapse occasioned the establishment of the first pārājika rule for monks. In the Mahāsāṅghika tradition, he is known as Yaśas (email communication with Anālayo, 3/8/2012).
94 women in early indian buddhism Sudinna’s brother claims levirate rights to her and pursues her through the streets. At the beginning of the passage, she has taken refuge in the home of a wealthy laywoman (Hirakawa 1982, 403).28 E. Bhikṣuṇī Prakīrṇaka 31 (Roth 1970, §283, 316) “I think I will be forced to abandon my state of purity (brahmacarya),” [Sudinnā] said. “By whom?” [the lady] asked. “My husband’s brother is harassing me. He wishes to marry me,” she answered. “Come inside, Mother. We will protect you.” She replied “I will go to the Āryā. The Āryā will protect me.” They attached anklets, affixed earrings, put on bracelets, ornamented her, draped her with red garments, concealed her [under a veil], and surrounded her by four or five female attendants. That man, standing in the doorway, watched them [thinking], “When she comes out, I will grab her.” When he saw her coming out [he thought], “She must be a housewife surrounded by servants. That one is no nun.” Now, when that nun reached [her] place of refuge, she was seen by the [other] nuns. They said, “Āryā, that Sudinnā has run away from [the nunnery].” [Sudinnā] said, “I have not run away. It is just that my husband’s brother wishes to take me away. Fearful of him and desiring protection, I [dressed] in this way.” [Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī briefed the Lord about this matter.]29 The Lord asked about everything. She complied. The Lord said, “You have violated at least the letter of the code of deportment. It is not appropriate to violate the code of deportment. The nun who violates the code of deportment with a mind abandoned and free, becomes not-a-nun. The one who, wishing for protection, violates the code of deportment transgresses the monastic discipline but does not become not-a-nun. A monk who violates the code of deportment with a mind neither abandoned nor free also does not commit a fault.” This was explained regarding violating the code of deportment. The kind woman dresses and adorns Sudinnā as if she were an affluent housewife and surrounds her with servants. In this disguise, she is able to 28. Hirakawa identifies the man in question as Sudinnā’s uncle, but the Zhalu text clearly indicates that he is her husband’s brother or devaro (Skt. devṛ). 29. Here the text reads peyālaṃ yāvat etad eva.
Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya 95 escape from her brother-in-law and make her way safely back to the nunnery. There, she is seen and criticized for abandoning the deportment of a nun. As a result, the Lord issues a rule that a nun who abandons the proper deportment and dress of a nun out of ethical wantonness becomes “not-a-nun” (abhikṣuṇī bhavati). Those who do so only out of a wish for protection do not commit a fault. Here, a nun is permitted to assume a social position that is specifically forbidden for nuns, that of adorned and well-dressed housewife.30 She is allowed to do so, however, only because it is a temporary disguise donned for expedient purposes and not reflective of any unhealthy subjective state. This is not an uncommon situation with regard to vinaya rules. Other roles enjoined upon nuns by the vinaya are likewise essentially surface disguises, designed to safeguard nuns’ public standing, that need not reflect an inner state of being. Examples of such roles include, as seen above, observant menstruator and submissive woman. A nun might, for example, follow aspects of dharmaśāstric menstrual custom, or at least give the appearance of doing so, without subscribing to brāhmaṇa understandings of female blood, female sexuality, and ritual cleanness. Likewise, she might outwardly submit to monks, as was required by both the monks’ community and the greater social environment, without relinquishing her own aspirations to ungendered spiritual perfection. Here we can see the negotiation between public and “private” identity for Buddhist nuns. Because nuns’ public identities are patched together using social behaviors chosen in some situations from those appropriate to women of virtue, and in others from those appropriate to Buddhist renunciates, their outward behavior may not always strictly align with their ascetic goals or values. Other roles recommended for nuns, on the other hand, positively reflect rather than run counter to what we might reasonably assume is a nun’s preferred subjective state. A nun might recite sūtras in the home of a lay supporter, for instance, with all the piety, sincerity, and clarity of purpose appropriate to an aspirant on the Buddhist path. Other roles for nuns are disapproved of in the vinaya though they seem unlikely to reflect or produce subjective states in conflict with the religious life. Examples of these include the roles of herbalist healer or thread spinner. These are censured, I would argue, because, for a variety of complex and historically 30. Bhikṣuṇī prakīrṇaka 4 and 5 (Roth 1970, §258, §259, 303–4). Pācattika dharma 112 forbids nuns to carry umbrellas and wear leather sandals since to be so nicely outfitted might draw criticism from the townspeople (Roth 1970, §226, 257–58).
96 women in early indian buddhism specific reasons, the public display of such skills was deemed unbecoming or weakening to the social fabric of an always vulnerable Buddhist nunhood.31 Still other roles proscribed for nuns both contravene commonly held notions of female virtue and are unlikely to produce spiritually beneficial subjective states. Examples of these include the roles of business tycoon and brothel madam. In conclusion, the cultivation of properly virtuous subjective states was obviously just one of several factors determining which behaviors were to be forbidden to nuns and which permitted. Other factors included, of course, the unity of the saṅgha and the dignity, safety, and health of its members. A further factor, the one brought to light here, involved the need within Buddhist communities to create a public identity for nuns that was readily recognizable and likely to be accepted. In order to do so, nuns and monastic lawyers carefully selected from the behaviors and roles appropriate for virtuous women, excluding those that were deemed unmonastic. In this way, the Buddhist community sought to embolden the outlines of a shadowy social identity, that of Buddhist female ascetic. Indian Buddhist nuns occupied a social position at the crossroads of womanly virtue and female asceticism that, in the words of legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, “resist[ed] telling.” Here, the Mahāsāṅghika Lokottaravādin Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya is read as a record of Buddhist monks and nuns selecting from the roles and functions available to respectable women in order to piece together a public identity for nuns that neither resisted telling nor repelled the donations and good opinion of the laity. Such an analysis allows us to appreciate the vast social intelligence at work in this nun-centered vinaya. It also allows us to recognize its potential usefulness as a guide for Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravādin nuns in their negotiation of a complex and sometimes hostile social environment. 31. All of the major vinayas include prohibitions against nuns and monks practicing and teaching various healing or magical arts, especially for payment. See, for instance, Derge Kangyur ‘dul wa Ta 302b.1–303a.6. See also Pāli Bhikkhunī Vibhaṅga pācittiya 49–50 and Cullavagga V.33.2. The Brahmajāla Sutta from the Pāli Dīgha-nikāya also provides a list of money-making occupations practiced by ascetics and brahmins but forbidden to Buddhist monks. These include various sorts of divination and healing, as well as match-making, Dīgha-nikāya 1.1.21–28.
5 Aṅguttara-nikaˉya/Ekottarika-aˉgama outstanding BHIKKHUNIˉ S in the EKOTTARIKA - A ˉ GAMA Bhikkhu Anaˉlayo in this chapter, I translate and study the list of outstanding bhikkhunīs found in the extant Chinese Ekottarika-āgama, which was translated toward the end of the 4th century of the present era. This Ekottarikaāgama is a counterpart to the Aṅguttara-nikāya preserved in Pāli, both being collections of early Buddhist discourses arranged according to a numerical principle. While the Aṅguttara-nikāya is part of the Theravāda canon, the Ekottarika-āgama is a collection transmitted by a different school, whose precise identity is still a subject of ongoing discussion among scholars.1 The list of outstanding bhikkhunīs is part of a survey of all four assemblies, which comprises bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, male lay followers and female lay followers. Each of these four assemblies is considered an integral and necessary part of a Buddhist community, which is only complete once it possesses all four.2 Overall, the number of outstanding disciples listed in the Ekottarikaāgama is greater than the number in its Aṅguttara-nikāya counterpart. In the case of the bhikkhunīs, the Ekottarika-āgama lists fifty-one outstanding bhikkhunīs, whereas the Aṅguttara-nikāya has thirteen.3 The two listings I am indebted to Alice Collett, Friedrich Grohmann, Shi Kongmu, Giuliana Martini and Ken Su for comments and suggestions on a draft of the present chapter. 1. For a survey of various aspects of the Ekottarika-āgama cf. Anālayo (2009a). 2. On the four assemblies cf. also Anālayo (2010a, 65–72). 3. This difference has already been noted by Skilling (2000, 55).
98 women in early indian buddhism have eleven bhikkhunīs in common.4 Another listing of eminent disciples in a discourse preserved in Chinese translation and a reference to such a listing in a fragment preserved in Uighur both speak of fifteen outstanding bhikkhunīs, headed by Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī.5 Thus, although these two texts refer to slightly more outstanding bhikkhunīs than are found in the Pāli, they do not come anywhere near the long listing given in the Ekottarikaāgama, which is by far the longest extant list of distinguished bhikkhunīs. The purpose of according preeminence to a particular bhikkhunī, instances of which are also found in other texts, such as the Avadānaśataka,6 appears to be to arouse inspiration. The Naḷakapāna-sutta of the Majjhimanikāya and a parallel found in the Madhyama-āgama preserved in Chinese translation explain why the Buddha would declare the level of rebirth of some disciples who had passed away. The two versions agree that the Buddha made such a declaration in order to inspire other disciples, a principle the texts apply to each of the four assemblies. In the case of bhikkhunīs, for example, the two versions describe how a bhikkhunī might hear the Buddha’s declaration that another bhikkhunī, whom she may have personally met or else have heard about, passed away as an arahant. On hearing the Buddha’s declaration, this bhikkhunī might reflect on the qualities of the other bhikkhunī, on her morality and her wisdom, et cetera, and thus be inspired to follow her example.7 The same holds in the case of hearing that a bhikkhunī passed away as a non-returner, as a once-returner, or as a stream-enterer. In each case, another bhikkhunī reflects on the qualities of the deceased bhikkhunī and thereby gains the inspiration required to progress toward the same goal. The same principle of inspiration occurs in other passages, in which the Buddha presents two of his disciples from each of the four assemblies as the models for other disciples to emulate. In the case of the bhikkhunīs, according to two Pāli discourses and a Chinese parallel, a bhikkhunī should 4. The following two bhikkhunīs are not mentioned in the Ekottarika-āgama listing: the bhikkhunī Nandā, who is reckoned foremost among those engaging in meditation ( jhāyīnaṃ), AN 1.14.5 at I 25,23, and the bhikkhunī Sigālamātā (Be: Siṅgālamātā), foremost among those of resolute faith or confidence (saddhādhimuttānaṃ), AN 1.14.5 at I 25,31. Although the latter is absent from the Ekottarika-āgama listing, a reference to Sīgālakamāta (following the identification in Akanuma [1930] 1994, 614) appears in another listing of eminent bhikkhunīs, found in T 126 at T II 833c20, where she is reckoned outstanding for having gone forth out of faith, aspiring to [the attainment] of great fruits. See chapter seven of this present volume for a discussion of the bhikkhunī Nandā. 5. T 126 at T II 833c8 and von Gabain (1954, 55). 6. For a study of outstanding bhikkhunīs in Mūlasarvāstivāda literature cf. Skilling (2001). 7. MN 68 at I 466,10 and MĀ 77 at T I 545c29.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 99 aspire to be like Khemā or Uppalavaṇṇā.8 A Sanskrit fragment counterpart to one of these Pāli discourses differs inasmuch as it presents Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī and Uppalavaṇṇā as the models for other bhikkhunīs.9 Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, Khemā, and Uppalavaṇṇā are also the first three bhikkhunīs mentioned in the Aṅguttara-nikāya listing of outstanding bhikkhunīs as well as in its Ekottarika-āgama counterpart, a position that would similarly reflect their eminence in the early Buddhist community. Translation and study The list of outstanding bhikkhunīs in the Ekottarika-āgama falls into five sections. In what follows, I translate these,10 with a brief study following each section. Chapter five on bhikkhunıˉ s in the Ekottarika-agama , [Part] One (1) Among my [ordained] disciples,11 the foremost of those bhikkhunīs who have gone forth to train for a long time and are thus respected 8. SN 17.24 at II 236,15, its parallel EĀ 9.2 at T II 562b21, and AN 2.12.2 at I 88,16. The Mahāvastu, Senart (1882a, 251,21), lists Kṣemā and Utpalavarṇā as the two chief female monastic disciples of the Buddha. 9. Tripāṭhī (1995, 198 [28, Z2]), parallel to AN 2.12.2. 10. The translated text is EĀ 5.1 to 5.5 at T II 558c20 to 559c7, which was previously translated into French by Huyen-vi (1987). In my translation, I have at times followed what seem to be preferable readings found in a recapitulation of the list of eminent bhikkhunīs in T 2040 at T L 12a13 to 12c5. In order to facilitate comparing my translation with the Pāli parallel, I use Pāli terminology in the translation and throughout the article, without thereby intending to take a position on the original language of the Ekottarika-āgama or on Pāli terminology being in principle preferable. In the notes to my study I do not attempt to cover information provided in Pāli commentarial literature, or in the Pāli Apadāna collection. Information on bhikkhunīs that includes Theravāda commentarial literature can be found in other chapters in this volume, as well as s.v. in Malalasekera 1937/1995 and 1938/1998; for a translation of the commentary on the list of eminent bhikkhunīs in the Aṅguttara-nikāya cf. Bode 1893; a rendering of the commentary on the Therīgāthā can be found in Pruitt 1998/1999; cf. also Murcott 1991. 11. The translators of the lists in the Ekottarika-āgama introduce foremost bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs in one way and foremost lay disciples in another. In the case of monastics, the formulation uses a rendering of śrāvaka, while the expression employed for laity would correspond to śiṣya, although both Chinese terms can be translated as “disciple.” In order to honor the distinction that the Ekottarika-āgama translator(s) apparently endeavored to make by using two different terms, I add “[ordained]” to the “disciple” in the present case, intending this to stand in contrast to the “[lay] disciple” used in the subsequent part of the listing of eminent disciples, which is, however, no longer part of the extract translated here.
100 (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) women in early indian buddhism by the king of the country is the bhikkhunī called Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī;12 . . . of those who are wise and intelligent is the bhikkhunī called Khemā;13 . . . of those who excel in supernatural powers, being able to summon divine beings, is the bhikkhunī called Uppalavaṇṇā; . . . of those who undertake ascetic practices, the eleven restraints, is the bhikkhunī called Kisāgotamī; . . . of those [possessing] the divine eye, having supremely unobstructed vision, is the bhikkhunī called Sakulā; . . . of those who, sitting in meditation, enter concentration with a mind that is not scattered, is the bhikkhunī called Sāmā; . . . of those who analyze the meaning, widely teaching the development of the path, is the bhikkhunī called Padumarañjanā; . . . of those who respectfully uphold the disciplinary rules without infraction is the bhikkhunī called Paṭācārā; . . . of those who have irreversibly attained liberation by faith is the bhikkhunī called [Bhadda]kaccānā; . . . of those who have attained the four analytical knowledges, being without timidity in the heart, is the bhikkhunī called Vijayā.14 12. The names of the bhikkhunīs in the Ekottarika-āgama are at times difficult to reconstruct. When translating an Indic original into Chinese, a proper name was often represented by Chinese characters that at the time of translation more or less approximated the sound of the Indic original. Alternately, at times, parts of the name or even the whole name were instead translated. The final result of this can occasionally be rather puzzling. This difficulty combines with the fact that proper names generally do not fare too well in orally transmitted texts, unless they refer to particularly well-known individuals. This is the case not only for personal proper names, but also for locations, etc. Hence the proper names in my translation of the Ekottarika-āgama list of outstanding bhikkhunīs are at times just tentative reconstructions and should not be taken to represent certain biographical data. For ease of cross-reference, in my translation I have introduced a number for each bhikkhunī, which is not found in the original. Here and below, I list the bases for my identifications of the names of the bhikkhunīs in order of reliability, beginning with the fairly certain identifications given in the Fóguāng edition of the Madhyama-āgama. In the case of the names of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī (1), Khemā (2), Uppalavaṇṇā (3), Kisāgotamī (4), Sakulā (5), Sāmā (6), Paṭācārā (8) and [Bhadda]kaccānā (9) I follow the indications given in the Fóguāng edition (for (9) Huyen-vi 1987: 47 instead suggests Kātyāyanī, cf. also note 29 below), for Vijayā (10) I follow Huyen-vi 1987: 47 (here and elsewhere, I replace Huyen-vi’s Sanskrit reconstructions with Pāli proper names). In the case of Padumarañjanā (7), the first two characters employed are the standard rendering of paduº in paduma, while the following three characters could be rendering a term like rañjana. 13. Here and below, the abbreviations are found in the original. 14. Here and below, the names of the bhikkhunīs are repeated, at times in an abbreviated fashion, at the end of each part in a summary verse (uddāna), which I have not translated.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 101 Study of Part One The Aṅguttara-nikāya list of outstanding bhikkhunīs agrees with the Ekottarika-āgama version that Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī (1) was foremost for being of long standing, although without mentioning that she was respected by the king.15 The reference to the longevity of her discipleship is reminiscent of the well-known story of how she requested permission from the Buddha for women to go forth and then eventually came to be the first bhikkhunī. In other words, behind her eminence in this respect stands not only the regard traditionally afforded in Buddhist monastic circles to those who have been ordained for a long time, but also her role in having requested the Buddha to start an order of bhikkhunīs in the first place.16 The two listings agree that Khemā (2) was foremost in wisdom.17 Her fame for being wise is also recorded in another Pāli discourse, in which she replies to the questions posed by a king regarding the destiny of a fully awakened one, a tathāgata.18 The eminence of Uppalavaṇṇā (3) in regard to supernatural powers is another point of agreement between the two lists.19 A famous tale related to her supernatural abilities describes how she transformed herself into a universal monarch in order to move easily to the front of a large crowd and receive the Buddha, who was returning 15. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,18: rattaññūnaṃ. T 126 at T II 833c10 indicates that she had gone forth long ago from a royal clan, without mentioning her being respected by the king. A detailed study of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī can be found in Dash 2008; for stanzas attributed to her cf. Thī 157–62. 16. A comparative study of the different canonical accounts of this event can be found in Anālayo (2011c). A critical review of the suggestion by Williams (2000, 170) that Buddhist nuns were in existence before Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī went forth—which would imply that she could not be reckoned foremost in being of long standing—can be found in Anālayo (2008, 108–10). 17. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,19 indicates that Khemā was foremost among those who are of great wisdom, mahāpaññānaṃ, a rank similarly accorded to her in the Avadānaśataka (Speyer 1970, 50,9), which additionally also mentions her eloquence; a reference already noted in Skilling (2001, 143). 18. In the introductory narration, SN 44.1 at IV 374,24 reports her being famous for her wisdom and eloquence; for a study of Khemā cf. Krey (2010). 19. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,20: iddhimantānaṃ (Be and Ce: iddhimantīnaṃ); stanzas attributed to her can be found in Thī 224–35, her being challenged by Māra is reported in SN 5.5 at I 131,26, SĀ 1201 at T II 326c26 and SĀ2 217 at T II 454b20. On Utpalavarṇā in the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition cf. Silk (2009, 137–63).
102 women in early indian buddhism from a long sojourn in heaven.20 This tale is significant insofar as it seems to challenge the belief that women by nature cannot fulfill the position of a wheel-turning king.21 The list of eminent bhikkhunīs in the Aṅguttara-nikāya presents Kisāgotamī (4), whom it mentions as the twelfth in its listing, as foremost for wearing coarse robes,22 whereas according to the Ekottarika-āgama presentation she was outstanding in respect to ascetic practices in general, specified as comprising eleven types of restraints.23 Such ascetic practices could involve wearing only rag robes, but could also include begging for food; living at the root of a tree, in a cemetery, in an open place, et cetera; or not lying down to sleep, but maintaining the sitting posture instead.24 The two listings agree that Sakulā (5), found as the eighth bhikkhunī in the Aṅguttara-nikāya list, was foremost among those possessing the divine eye,25 with the Ekottarika-āgama adding that she was supreme in 20. This tale can be found in the same Ekottarika-āgama collection, EĀ 36.5 at T II 707c4, and in its commentary T 1507 at T XXV 37c29; cf. also, e.g., the Divyāvadāna (Cowell 1886, 401,24) or SĀ 604 at T II 169c25; for further references cf. Lamotte ([1949] 1981, 634 n. 1). Bapat (1950, 42) in note 10 to his translation of a version of this tale in the Chinese counterpart to the commentary on the Aṭṭhakavagga, T 198 at T IV 185c9, notes that in Thī 229 Uppalavaṇṇā proclaims to have magically created a four-horsed chariot and paid homage at the Buddha’s feet. It is possible that this stanza could reflect a similar narrative; cf. also Young (2004, 194), although Dhp-a III 211,21 (cf. also Mp I 356,13) only reports that at an earlier moment in the narrative she volunteered to transform herself into a wheel-turning king, which the Buddha declined. 21. Cf. Strong (2010, 974); for a study of this stipulation cf. Anālayo (2009c). The *Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra, T 1509 at T XXV 137a13, in fact indicates that she transformed herself into a wheel-turning king “wishing to get rid of the bad reputation of women” (my translation differs from Lamotte ([1949] 1981, 636: “pour dissimuler son sexe mal famé”), which could be read as a challenge to the notion that women are unable to be wheel-turning kings. 22. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,30: lūkacīvaradharānaṃ; stanzas attributed to her can be found in Thī 213–23, her being challenged by Māra is reported in SN 5.3 at I 130,9, SĀ 1200 at T II 326b29, and SĀ2 216 at T II 454a27. 23. Another reference to eleven types of ascetic practices can be found in EĀ 49.2 at T II 795a26; cf. also EĀ 49.3 at T II 795c10 (which has a variant reading referring to twelve instead). The listing of outstanding bhikkhus, EĀ 4.2 at T II 557b8, speaks of twelve types (already noted in Boucher [2008, 191 n. 8]). On variations in such listings cf. also Bapat (1937), Ganguly (1989, 21–23), Dantinne (1991, 24–30), and Ray (1994, 293–323). 24. AN 5.182–86 at III 219,25; for the last type of ascetic practice a parallel can be found in SHT III 820 bB3 (Waldschmidt 1971, 37). 25. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,25: dibbacakkhukānaṃ (Be gives her name as Bakulā); stanzas attributed to her can be found in Thī 97–101, where stanza Thī 100 explicitly indicates that she had well developed, sādhu bhāvitaṃ, this clairvoyant ability.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 103 unobstructed vision. The notion of a divine eye represents the ability, gained after mastery of the four absorptions, of seeing the passing away and rebirth of other living beings in accordance with their former deeds. This is one out of three higher knowledges that, according to the canonical texts, the Buddha attained during the night of his awakening.26 A bhikkhunī by the name of Sāmā (6) is not mentioned in the Aṅguttaranikāya list, although the same name is known from the Therīgāthā.27 The Aṅguttara-nikāya describes Paṭācārā (8), whom it presents at the fourth bhikkhunī in its list, as foremost among those who uphold the discipline.28 This appears to have the sense of remembering the code of discipline, while in the Ekottarika-āgama version her eminence in this respect is upholding the disciplinary rules without infraction; that is, scrupulously observing them. The list in the Aṅguttara-nikāya has Bhaddakaccānā (9) as its eleventh bhikkhunī, reckoned outstanding for having attained great supernormal knowledges,29 whereas the Ekottarika-āgama listing highlights her having attained liberation by faith.30 The notion of supernormal knowledges refers to a range of abilities based on mastery of the four absorptions. Such abilities are usually listed as six: supernatural powers (levitation, etc.), divine ear (hearing sounds at a great distance), telepathic knowledge of the minds of others, recollection of one’s own past lives, the divine eye, and the attainment of full liberation through the destruction of the influxes (āsava). Liberation by faith designates a stream-enterer, a once-returner, or a non-returner, who by dint of their realization possess unshakeable faith (or confidence) in the Buddha.31 26. MN 36 at I 248,19 and EĀ 31.8 at T II 672a6. 27. Two different bhikkhunīs by the name of Sāmā are mentioned as the authors of Thī 37–38 and Thī 39–41. 28. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,21: vinayadharānaṃ; stanzas attributed to her can be found in Thī 112–16; she is also frequently mentioned in stanzas by other bhikkhunīs, on which see, e.g., Thī 119, Thī 125, and Thī 178. 29. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,29: mahābhiññappattānaṃ. Notably, AN 1.14.7 at I 26,24 lists the lay woman Kātiyānī as foremost among female lay disciples for her faith, thus corresponding to the alternative rendering suggested by Huyen-vi (1987, 47) for the Chinese characters used for the present case; cf. note 12 above. 30. The reference to being liberated by faith reminds of the quality associated with Sigālamātā in AN 1.14.5 at I 25,31; cf. note 4 above. 31. MN 70 at I 478,32 and MĀ 195 at T I 751c23.
104 women in early indian buddhism A bhikkhunī by the name of Vijayā (10) is not mentioned in the Aṅguttara-nikāya list of outstanding bhikkhunīs, although a bhikkhunī by this name occurs elsewhere in the Pāli canon.32 Her eminence in regard to the four analytical knowledges refers to a particular type of knowledge, paṭisambhidā, which is to know the meaning or sense of things as well as the principle or dharma that underlies them, as well as knowing the [proper use of ] language and having [ability in] in eloquence in regard to these.33 [Part] Two (11) Among my [ordained] disciples, the foremost of those bhikkhunīs who recollect their own past lives for innumerable aeons is the bhikkhunī called Bhaddhākapilānī;34 (12) . . . of those who are of upright countenance and thus respected and liked by the people is the bhikkhunī called Himajātā; (13) . . . of those who convert outsiders, establishing them in the right teaching, is the bhikkhunī called Soṇā; (14) . . . of those who analyze the meaning, widely discoursing on divisions and parts [of the teaching], is the bhikkhunī called Dhammadinnā; (15) . . . of those who are not ashamed of wearing rough robes is the bhikkhunī called Uttarā; 32. A bhikkhunī by the name of Vijayā occurs in SN 5.4 at I 130,26 and its parallels SĀ 1204 at T II 327c17 and SĀ2 220 at T II 455b3; stanzas attributed to Vijayā can be found at Thī 169–74. 33. AN 4.173 at II 160,21 reports Sāriputta’s attainment of the four paṭisambhidās. According to AN 5.86 at III 113,12, other bhikkhus will highly esteem a bhikkhu who possesses five qualities, four of which are the paṭisambhidās. AN 5.95 at III 120,1 indicates that a bhikkhu will quickly attain the highest if he is endowed with five qualities, which again include the four paṭisambhidās. These passages reflect the high regard in which the four analytical knowledges were held. 34. In this second part, for Bhaddhākapilānī (11), Soṇā (13), Dhammadinnā (14), Jentī (17) and Dantikā (18) I follow the indications given in the Fóguāng edition, for Uttarā (15) and Pabhā (16) I follow Huyen-vi 1987: 48, who differs from the above in suggesting Sūrā for (13) and Dattā for (18). In the case of (12), I follow an indication given in T 2130 at T LIV 1001c5 that this name translates the terms “snow” and “birth.” The rendering employed for (19) could stand for Devadinnā (or else Devadattā). Judging from Akanuma 1930/1994: 214, the characters for (20) could intend Gopī or Gopikā, a name also found as no. 1071 in a list of Buddhist disciples in the Mahāvyutpatti, Sakaki 1926: 82, although not given in the Chinese characters used in the present instance; for other renderings of Gopī cf. also Peri 1918: 9 note 2.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 105 (16) . . . of those who have calm senses, being always with unification of the mind, is the bhikkhunī called Pabhā; (17) . . . of those who wear the robes in an orderly manner, always according to the instructions of the dharma, is the bhikkhunī called Jentī; (18) . . . of those who are able to discuss in various ways without doubt or hesitation is the bhikkhunī called Danti[kā]; (19) . . . of those who compose stanzas in praise of the virtues of the Tathāgata is the bhikkhunī called Devadinnā; (20) . . . of those who are widely learned, but in their kindness reach out to even the most inferior, is the bhikkhunī called Gopī.35 Study of Part Two The list of outstanding bhikkhunīs in the Aṅguttara-nikāya agrees with its Ekottarika-āgama parallel that Bhaddhākapilānī (11) was foremost among those who recollect past lives, differing only in mentioning her in the tenth position in its list.36 As mentioned above, recollection of one’s own past lives is a supernormal knowledge whose acquisition is based on having cultivated the four absorptions. Similar to the divine eye, this is also one of the three higher knowledges that the Buddha is reported to have attained on the night of his awakening. The two listings differ in regard to Soṇā (13). The Pāli version, which presents her as the seventh bhikkhunī in its list, records her as foremost among those who are energetic,37 whereas the Chinese list speaks of her converting outsiders and establishing them in the right teaching. In the case of Dhammadinnā (14), the fifth bhikkhunī in the Pāli list, the two versions agree in mentioning her capability as a teacher.38 Her 35. The rendering of her quality is based on a variant reading. 36. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,27: pubbenivāsaṃ anussarantīnaṃ (Be and Ce give her name as Bhaddākāpilānī); stanzas attributed to her can be found in Thī 63–66, with stanza 65 explicitly mentioning her attainment of the three higher knowledges (and thus implicitly of recollection of past lives). 37. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,24: āraddhaviriyānaṃ (Be: āraddhavīriyānaṃ); stanzas attributed to her can be found in Thī 102–6. 38. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,22 qualifies Dhammadinnā as foremost among speakers on the dharma, dhammakathikānaṃ. T 126 at T II 833c17 similarly highlights her ability to well expound the sublime dharma. A stanza attributed to her can be found in Thī 12.
106 women in early indian buddhism ability in this respect is documented in another discourse, in which she replies to a series of questions regarding several profound aspects of the dharma. On being informed about her exposition, the Buddha declared her answers so apt that he would have explained the matter in just the same way himself.39 The remaining bhikkhunī s in this part of the Ekottarika-āgama list of outstanding bhikkhunī s are not mentioned in the Aṅguttaranikāya version. Bhikkhunī s by the name of Uttarā (15), Jentī (17), and Dantikā (18) are, however, known as authors of stanzas in the Therīgāthā . 40 Regarding the qualities of the bhikkhunīs mentioned in this section, the reference to the calm senses possessed by Pabhā (16) reflects the importance of sense-restraint as a basis for the gaining of deeper levels of concentration, a recurrent theme in the standard descriptions of the gradual path to liberation. Jentī’s wearing of the robes in an orderly manner expresses a quality esteemed among monastics, whose dignified conduct serves as an inspiration to those who happen to meet them.41 Praising the qualities of the Buddha (19) and thereby giving poetic expression to the regard the disciples would have felt for their teacher is another quality highly valued in the discourses. The Ekottarika-āgama listing of outstanding bhikkhus reckons the illustrious poet Vaṅgīsa as foremost in this respect.42 39. MN 44 at I 304,34, MĀ 210 at T I 790a29 and D 4094 ju 11a4 or Q 5595 tu 12a8. A translation of the Tibetan version with a comparative study can be found in Anālayo (2011a), cf. also Foley (1894) and Krey (2010). 40. The name Uttarā is mentioned as the author(s) of Thī 15 and Thī 175–81, a bhikkhunī by the name of Jentī is given as the author of Thī 21–22 (Be and Ce: Jentā, Se: Jantā), and a bhikkhunī by the name of Dantikā as the author of Thī 48–50. 41. AN 8.10 at IV 169,6 and its parallel MĀ 122 at T I 611b4 indicate that a genuine bhikkhu is expected to wear his robes well, so much so that evil bhikkhus will imitate such behavior in order not to be detected. The expression used to describe Jentī’s way of wearing robes recurs in the Dharmaguptaka vinaya as part of a description of another bhikkhunī whose awe-inspiring behavior arouses joyful inspiration in the mind of an onlooker, T 1428 at T XXII 768b12. 42. EĀ 4.3 at T II 557b22. AN 1.14.2 at I 24,21 reckons him foremost among those of impromptu delivery. A collection of his poems can be found in the Vaṅgīsasaṃyutta, SN 8.1–11 at I 185–96, with counterparts in SĀ 1208–1219 at T II 329a–32b and SĀ² 224–30, SĀ² 250 and SĀ² 252–53 at T II 456b–62c; cf. also Th 1209–79. A long series of verses praising the Buddha, spoken by the freshly converted lay disciple Upāli in front of his former teacher, the leader of the Jains, can be found in MN 56 at I 386,3, with a Sanskrit parallel in Waldschmidt (1979) and a Chinese parallel in MĀ 133 at T I 632b6; cf. also von Hinüber (1982).
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 107 [Part] Three (21) Among my [ordained] disciples, the foremost of those bhikkhunīs who are always in secluded quiet places, instead of living among people, is the bhikkhunī called Abhayā;43 (22) . . . of those who beg alms [even when] physically ill, without choosing between rich and poor [donors], is the bhikkhunī called Visākhā; (23) . . . of those who sit alone in a single place, without moving at all, is the bhikkhunī called Bhaddapālā; (24) . . . of those who wander everywhere, begging [alms] among a range of people, is the bhikkhunī called Manoharī; (25) . . . of those who quickly accomplish the fruits of the path, without in the course of that [encountering any] obstruction, is the bhikkhunī called Damā; (26) . . . of those who keep to the three [main] robes, never being separate from them, is the bhikkhunī called Sudamā; (27) . . . of those who always sit at the root of a tree with an unmoving mind is the bhikkhunī called Līnā; (28) . . . of those who always live out in the open, without caring for a cover, is the bhikkhunī called Satā; (29) . . . of those who delight in empty and secluded places, not in being among people, is the bhikkhunī called Upacālā; (30) . . . of those who continually sit on a grass mat, without [even] putting a cloth on it, is the bhikkhunī called Vinā; (31) . . . of those who, wearing rag robes, go to beg [alms from houses] in the proper order, is the bhikkhunī called Anopamā.44 Study of Part Three None of the bhikkhunīs in this third part appear in the Aṅguttara-nikāya list of outstanding bhikkhunīs, although bhikkhunīs by the name of Abhayā 43. In this third part, for Abhayā (21), Visākhā (22), and Anopamā (31) I follow the indications given in the Fóguāng edition; for Bhaddapālā (23), Damā (25), and Sudamā (26) I follow Huyen-vi (1987, 49). In the case of (24), (29), and (30), the characters employed suggest the possibility that the respective names could have been Manoharī, Upacālā, and Vinā. My rendering of (27) follows an alternative spelling of her name found in T 2040 at T L 12b10. My rendering of (28) is based on the indication in Soothill and Hodous ([1937] 2000, 370) that the character couplet renders śāṭhya, corresponding to saṭha in Pāli. Since this results in a rather improbable name, perhaps the original could have been something like Satā (from smṛ). 44. The rendering of her going begging is based on a variant reading.
108 women in early indian buddhism (21), Visākhā (22), Upacālā (29), and Anopamā (31) have verses attributed to them in the Therīgāthā.45 Several of the qualities of the bhikkhunīs in this section are related to secluded and ascetic conduct, following the ideal of the monastic life depicted in the early discourses. Thus Abhayā (21) stands out for keeping away from contact with people and living in seclusion, which according to the Mahāsuññatasutta and its Chinese and Tibetan parallels is an important requirement for being able to develop deeper levels of concentration and attain liberation.46 Most of the other qualities are self-explanatory. Keeping to only three robes (26), wearing rag robes (31), and living out in the open (28) are ascetic practices. The notion of not being separate from one’s robes (26) relates to a vinaya regulation, according to which a monastic should not be apart from his or her set of robes at dawn.47 Begging food in order (31) refers to the practice of begging at each house in turn on the road one has taken,48 not leaving out 45. A bhikkhunī by the name of Abhayā is mentioned as the author of Thī 35–36; a bhikkhunī by the name of Visākhā as the author of Thī 13; a bhikkhunī by the name of Upacālā as the author of Thī 189–195; and a bhikkhunī by the name of Anopamā as the author of Thī 151– 156. Upacāla also occurs in SN 5.7 at I 133,6 and the parallels SĀ 1206 at T II 328b17 and SĀ2 222 at T II 455c24. 46. MN 122 at III 110,16, MĀ 191 at T I 738a19 and the Tibetan version in Skilling (1994, 194,12). 47. The corresponding rule can be found in the Dharmaguptaka vinaya, T 1428 at T XXII 727c7, translated in Heirman (2002, 441); cf. also the Dharmaguptaka bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa, T 1431 at T XXII 1033c4, as well as in the Mahīśāsaka vinaya, T 1421 at T XXII 83a21; cf. also the Mahīśāsaka bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa, T 1423 at T XXII 208c2, and in the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, T 1443 at T XXIII 944b4, cf. also the Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa, T 1455 at T XXIV 510c10. In the case of the Mahāsāṅghika vinaya and the Sarvāstivāda vinaya, the bhikṣuṇī vibhaṅgas do not give the corresponding rule in full, as the text should be supplied from the same regulation for bhikkhus; cf. the survey in Hirakawa (1982, 194 n. 4). Thus the Sanskrit manuscript of the Lokottaravāda Mahāsāṅghika bhikṣuṇī vinaya in Roth (1970, 165,2), translated in Nolot (1991, 159), gives only an abbreviated reference; cf. also the indication given in the Chinese version, T 1425 at T XXII 524b8. The Sarvāstivāda bhikṣuṇī vinaya, T 1435 at T XXIII 313b5, begins its section on the niḥsargika pācittika rules with an explanation by the translator; cf. Waldschmidt (1926, 104), that the rules observed also by bhikkhus are not given explicitly. In the case of these two vinayas, however, a translation of the bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa is extant in Chinese, which gives the rule in full, cf. T 1427 at T XXII 558b22 for the Mahāsāṅghika version and T 1437 at T XXIII 481c3 for the Sarvāstivāda version. In the case of the Theravāda vinaya, according to the explanation given in Sp IV 919,10 (cf. Hüsken 1997a, 135 n. 108), the text should be supplemented from the corresponding rules for bhikkhus, which in this particular case can be found in Vin III 198,22. For a translation of the different bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣas cf. Kabilsingh (1998), with a comparative study in Kabilsingh (1984). 48. See, for example, the reference to sapadānacārī in Sn 65, where the practice is combined with not being greedy for flavors and not being mentally bound to families.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 109 any dwelling in anticipation that one might not receive food or might be given only low-quality alms. [Part] Four (32) Among my [ordained] disciples, the foremost of those bhikkhunīs who delight in [staying] in abandoned cemeteries is the bhikkhunī called Uttamā; (33) . . . of those who dwell much in benevolence, thinking of [all] forms of life with empathy, is the bhikkhunī called Candā; (34) . . . of those who have compassion for living beings that have not yet reached the path is the bhikkhunī called Somā; (35) . . . of those who joyfully attain the path, aspiring to reaching it completely, is the bhikkhunī called Mātalī; (36) . . . of those who are restrained during all activities, with the mind not straying away, is the bhikkhunī called Kālakā; (37) . . . of those who keep to emptiness and hold on to vacuity, understanding that there is nothing [substantial in the world], is the bhikkhunī called Devasu[tā]; (38) . . . of those whose heart delights in signlessness and in the eradication of all attachments is the bhikkhunī called Suriyapabhā;49 (39) . . . of those who cultivate wishlessness, with their mind always [willing] to help [others] everywhere, is the bhikkhunī called Manāpā; (40) . . . of those who are free from doubt in regard to all teachings, limitlessly delivering people, is the bhikkhunī called Vimadā; (41) . . . of those who are able to explain widely the meaning and analyze profound teachings is the bhikkhunī called Samantapabhāsā. Study of Part Four The bhikkhunīs in this fourth part do not recur in the Aṅguttara-nikāya list of outstanding bhikkhunīs. However, bhikkhunīs by the name of Uttamā (32), Candā (33), and Somā (34) are mentioned as authors of stanzas in the Therīgāthā,50 49. The original actually speaks of the absence of perceptions, instead of the absence of signs. The two terms are, however, frequently confused with each other in Chinese translations, so that the appropriate rendering has to be decided in each case based on the context. For a survey of examples cf. Anālayo (2011b, 274 n. 54). On signlessness cf. the study by Harvey (1986). 50. Two different bhikkhunīs by the name of Uttamā are mentioned as the authors of Thī 42–44 and 45–47 respectively, stanzas attributed to Candā can be found in Thī 122–126, and stanzas attributed to Somā in Thī 60–62.
110 women in early indian buddhism with Somā also featuring in a discourse in the Saṃyutta-nikāya and its Chinese parallels.51 The present section begins with a bhikkhunī outstanding for dwelling in cemeteries (32), one of the ascetic practices. The references to emptiness (37), signlessness (38), and wishlessness (39) correspond to three ways of concentrating the mind so as to reach the deathless.52 The same three are the types of contact a meditator is said to experience on emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling,53 a particularly profound meditative attainment. [Part] Five (42) Among my [ordained] disciples, the foremost of those bhikkhunīs who cherish patience in their heart, just like the earth tolerating [anything], is the bhikkhunī called Dhammadhī; (43) . . . of those who are able to teach and transform people, inducing them to make gifts to the monastic community of utensils, beds, and seats is the bhikkhunī called Suyamā;54 (44) . . . of those who have a mind that is always calm, not generating agitated perceptions, is the bhikkhunī called Indajā; (45) . . . of those who never tire of contemplating the teachings with understanding is the bhikkhunī called Nāgī; (46) . . . of those who have a strong and courageous mind, without being polluted by attachment, is the bhikkhunī called Kuṇālā; (47) . . . of those who enter concentration on water, totally turning [things] into moisture, is the bhikkhunī called Vasu; 51. SN 5.2 at I 129,14 and its parallels SĀ 1199 at T II 326a28 and SĀ2 215 at T II 454a5 report Somā being challenged by Māra. The Avadānaśataka reckons Somā to be outstanding in learnedness (Speyer [1909] 1970, 22,4); for a study of the bhikkhunī Somā cf. Collett (2009b). 52. SN 43.4 at IV 360,13. 53. MN 44 at I 302,22, although the parallel versions MĀ 211 at T I 792a19 and D 4094 ju 9a6 or Q 5595 tu 10a8 instead list imperturbable contact, nothingness contact, and signless contact. 54. My rendering follows T 2040 at T L 12b26. The passage in the Ekottarika-āgama mentions Suyamā twice, first as foremost for her ability to teach and transform people, inducing them to make gifts to the monastic community, and then a second time as foremost among those who prepare beds and seats. As this double reference stands in contrast to the pattern observed throughout and the preparation of beds and seats also does not seem to fit the context too well, it seems safe to assume that the Ekottarika-āgama presentation has been affected by some textual error, either during transmission or else at the time of translation.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 111 (48) . . . of those who enter concentration on fire, fully illuminating anything, is the bhikkhunī called Candī;55 (49) . . . of those who contemplate impurity and analyze dependent arising is the bhikkhunī called Cāpā; (50) . . . of those who support people, giving them what is lacking, is the bhikkhunī called Sukkā; (51) Among my [ordained] disciples who attain final realization, the foremost of those bhikkhunīs is the bhikkhunī called Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā.56 Study of Part Five Of the bhikkhunīs mentioned in this final part, the bhikkhunīs Cāpā (49) and Sukkā (50) are recorded as authors of stanzas in the Therīgāthā, the bhikkhunī Sukkā is also mentioned elsewhere in the Pāli discourses.57 The last of the bhikkhunīs in this section is the only one that is also referred to in the list of outstanding bhikkhunīs in the Aṅguttara-nikāya, which indicates that Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā (51), who is mentioned as the ninth bhikkhunī in its list, was foremost among those who are of quick realization.58 The illustration of the patience of Dhammadhī (42) as being comparable to the earth parallels an image used in another discourse, where the chief disciple Sāriputta is wrongly accused of an offence by another bhikkhu. In reply, he proclaims that his mind is free from any resentment, being humble and patient like the earth, which does not react even when various impure substances are thrown on it, such as excrement, urine, spittle, et cetera.59 55. My rendering follows T 2040 at T L 12c2. 56. My rendering of her quality follows T 2040 at T L 12c5; the passage in the Ekottarikaāgama appears to have suffered from a textual loss. 57. Cāpā is mentioned as the author of Thī 291–311 and Sukkā as the author of Thī 54–56. A bhikkhunī by the name of Sukkā occurs in SN 10.9 at I 212,21 and again in SN 10.10 at I 213,1, with a parallel in SĀ 1327 at T II 365a25 and in SĀ2 327 at T II 483b27; cf. also Roth (1970, 111,2). 58. AN 1.14.5 at I 25,25: khippābhiññānaṃ. A bhikkhunī by the name Bhaddā who is outstanding for quick realization is also mentioned in T 126 at T II 833c23. Stanzas attributed to Bhaddā, the former Jain, can be found in Thī 107–11. 59. AN 9.11 at IV 374,25 and MĀ 24 at T I 453a18.
112 women in early indian buddhism Concentration on water (47) and on fire (48) refer to kasiṇa meditation. The original meaning of the term kasiṇa is a “totality,” although in the course of time the expression came to connote the devices employed for developing a perception of totality.60 The basic principle employed in such forms of meditation is that a particular object—which could be a color or an element like earth, water, fire, et cetera—is made the sole object of one’s attention until the mind becomes totally immersed in this object to the exclusion of anything else. Concentration developed in this way is held to yield some degree of mastery over the respective element. Contemplation of impurity is one of the exercises given in the Satipaṭṭhānasutta and its parallels for the development of mindfulness of the body.61 The undertaking of such contemplation requires reviewing the anatomical constitution of the body in terms of its hair, nails, teeth, et cetera. The purpose of this exercise is to act as an antidote to conceit and to sensual desire. Conclusion Looking back on this survey of outstanding bhikkhunīs, the acknowledgement that Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī (1) is considered outstanding in regard to having gone forth for a long time obviously implies that she was foremost among several bhikkhunīs that were of long standing, and this same principle holds throughout the listing. Thus each of the bhikkhunīs in the above listing should not be considered an exceptional case, where a single bhikkhunī has a particular quality or ability. Rather, a bhikkhunī would only be declared foremost in some respect if at the same time there were other bhikkhunīs who had similar qualities or engaged in comparable conduct. Viewed from this perspective, then, the listing of outstanding bhikkhunīs is a survey of qualities and modes of behavior that were held to be to some degree common among a number of the early Buddhist bhikkhunīs. The net result of applying this perspective gives a rather impressive survey of the broad variety of areas in which bhikkhunīs apparently engaged. These can conveniently be organized under the three headings of morality, concentration, and wisdom, a basic scaffolding of central 60. In fact one item in listings of kasiṇas is the consciousness-kasiṇa; cf., e.g., AN 10.26 at V 47,16 and its parallels MĀ 215 at T I 800b7 and SĀ 549 at T II 143a25, an experience of totality corresponding to the second of the four immaterial attainments, which, however, is not easily related to the employment of a physical device; cf. also Anālayo (2009b). 61. MN 10 at I 57,13, MĀ 98 at T I 583b4, and EĀ 12.1 at T II 568a17.
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama 113 importance in early Buddhism. In addition to these three, a fourth category that emerges from the list of outstanding bhikkhunīs is activity for the benefit of others. Although from an early Buddhist perspective developing morality, concentration, and wisdom inevitably benefits others as well, the early discourses do also emphasize the need of engaging actively for the benefit of others, which is in turn an integral part of one’s advancing on the path to liberation.62 Under the heading of morality and strict conduct, bhikkhunīs are on record for: – – – – – – – – – – – – – upholding the disciplinary rules without infraction (8); keeping to the three [main] robes, never being separate from them (26); wearing the robes in an orderly manner (17); not being ashamed of wearing rough robes (15); wearing rag robes, begging in order (31); wandering everywhere begging [alms] among a range of people (24); begging alms without choosing between rich and poor (22); continually sitting on a grass mat, without [even] putting a cloth on it (30); always being in secluded quiet places instead of living among people (21); delighting in empty and secluded places, not in being among people (29); always living out in the open without caring for a cover (28); undertaking ascetic practices (4); and delighting in [staying] in abandoned cemeteries (32). In relation to the development of mental tranquility and the powers and abilities that, according to early Buddhism, are possible based on the development of concentration, bhikkhunīs appear to have been proficient in the following ways: – – – – entering concentration with a mind that is not scattered (6); being restrained during all activities, with the mind not straying (36); having calm senses, always being with unification of the mind (16); sitting alone in a single place without moving at all (23); 62. Cf. also Anālayo (2010b).
114 – – – – – – – – – – women in early indian buddhism always sitting at the root of a tree with an unmoving mind (27); having a mind that is calm, without agitated perceptions (44); dwelling much in benevolence and empathy (33); having compassion for living beings (34); cherishing patience in the heart, just like the earth tolerating [anything] (42); entering concentration on water (47); entering concentration on fire (48); having supernatural powers (3); recollecting past lives (11); and possessing the divine eye (5). In regard to the gain of insight and the development of wisdom, bhikkhunīs are reported to have possessed the following qualities: – – – – – – – – – – – – – – being widely learned and kind (20); being wise and intelligent (2); analyzing the meaning, widely discoursing on the teaching (14); contemplating the teachings with understanding (45); being liberated by faith (9); having a strong and courageous mind, without being polluted by attachment (46); having acquired the four analytical knowledges (10); joyfully attaining the path, aspiring to reach it completely (35); quickly accomplishing the fruits of the path (25); contemplating impurity and analyzing dependent arising (49); cultivating wishlessness (39); delighting in signlessness and in the eradication of all attachments (38); keeping to emptiness and holding on to vacuity (37); and attaining final realization (51). When it comes to benefiting others and engaging in teaching activities, bhikkhunīs are described as engaging in the following activities: – – – – supporting people, giving them what is lacking (50); composing stanzas in praise of the virtues of the Tathāgata (19); discussing in various ways without hesitation (18); converting outsiders, establishing them in the right teaching (13);
Aṅguttara-nikāya/Ekottarika-āgama – – – – – 115 being of upright countenance, being respected and liked by the people (12); teaching and transforming people (43); being free from doubt, delivering people without limits (40); widely teaching the development of the path (7); and widely explaining the meaning of and analyzing profound teachings (41). In sum, it seems there is hardly a praiseworthy quality or activity left in which bhikkhunīs were not proficient.63 In this way, the list of outstanding bhikkhunīs in the Ekottarika-āgama does seem to accomplish its purpose: providing a source of inspiration for bhikkhunīs of later generations, who on coming to know of these different fields of excellence of bhikkhunīs in the past might develop the inner confidence and dedication to emulate their predecessors. 63. Notably, the list in the Ekottarika-āgama does not yet exhaust the type of qualities in which according to tradition nuns excelled; for a study of Kacaṅgalā/Kajaṅgalā, reckoned foremost as a sūtrāntavibhāgakartrī, cf. Collett (forthcoming, chapter 1).
6 Saṃ yutta-nikaˉya/Saṃ yukta-aˉgama defying maˉra— BHIKKHUNIˉ s in the SAṂ YUKTA - A ˉ GAMA Bhikkhu Anaˉlayo Introduction in the present chapter, I translate and study a set of ten discourses, found in the Saṃyukta-āgama preserved in Chinese translation (Taishō no. 99), in which bhikkhunīs are the main protagonists. This Saṃyuktaāgama appears to stem from a Mūlasarvāstivāda line of transmission and was translated into Chinese in the 5th century of the present era, based on a manuscript that perhaps came from Sri Lanka to China (Glass 2010; cf. also Anālayo 2010c, 67–69.). The ten discourses translated in the present chapter have counterparts in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta of the Pāli canon, transmitted by the Theravāda tradition, as well as in another Saṃyukta-āgama (Taishō no. 100) that has been partially preserved in Chinese translation and whose school-affiliation is at present still a matter of discussion.1 In what follows, I briefly examine the significance of Māra, who makes his appearance in each of the ten translated discourses, challenging the bhikkhunīs in their practice. Traditional exegesis recognizes several I am indebted to Rod Bucknell, Shi Kongmu, and Giuliana Martini for comments and suggestions. 1. Recent contributions are Bingenheimer (2011, 23–44) and Bucknell (2011); both argue in favor of attributing T 100 to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 117 aspects of Māra.2 Thus Māra may have a symbolic significance, representing the five aggregates (affected) by clinging;3 or else Māra can be a god (devaputta), believed to be dwelling in the highest heaven of the sensual realm,4 whose role is to act as an antagonist to the Buddha and his disciples. In this role, Māra tends to advocate enjoyment of sensual pleasures instead of renunciation, or else he challenges the Buddha’s attainment of awakening. In spite of a considerable body of scholarly literature on Māra,5 the significance of the challenges posed by Māra requires clarification. According to a recurrent interpretation of episodes in which Māra acts as a challenger, it is assumed that he acts out inner uncertainties or defilements of those he challenges. Recourse to a few select examples can demonstrate the continuity of this mode of interpretation throughout the history of Buddhist studies. When Māra challenges a bhikkhunī or even the Buddha, according to Barua (1915, 203–4) this means that the bhikkhunī had a “momentary weakness”; in fact “even Lord Buddha had his moments of gloom or weariness which invaded him in the midst of his spiritual work.” In a study of the psychological implications of awakening, Johansson (1969, 129) 2. A frequently found presentation distinguishes four aspects of Māra: defilements, aggregates, a god, and death. This is found, for example, in EĀ 52.7 at T II 827a21, the Lalitavistara (Lefmann 1902, 224,18), the Mahāvastu (Senart 1897, 281,7), and the Śrāvakabhūmi (ŚSG 2007, 262,3 and T 1579 at T XXX 447c17). Five aspects are instead mentioned in Vism 211,7, which adds karmic formations to the above four, a fivefold reckoning found also, for example, in T 732 at T XVII 530c12. 3. SN 23.11 at III 195,4 and its parallel SĀ 124 at T II 40b25. 4. According to Ps I 34,1, Māra lives in the paranimmittavasavattidevaloka, which is also indicated in the Yogācārabhūmi (Bhattacharya 1957, 75,7); cf. also DĀ 30 at T I 115a28, according to which his palace is between this highest heaven of the sensual realm and the Brahmā world, and EĀ 43.5 at T II 760b3, which confirms that Māra is indeed supreme in the sensual realm. 5. Cf., e.g., Oldenberg ([1881] 1961, 286–90), Senart (1882b, 166–87), Windisch (1895), Oldenberg (1899), Barua (1915), de La Vallée Poussin (1915), Przyluski (1927), Law ([1931] 2004), Dayal ([1932] 1970, 306–17), Thomas ([1933] 2004, 145–47), Malalasekera ([1938] 1998, 611–20), Foucher (1949, 151–54 and 156–60), Rao (1954), Wayman (1959, 112–25), Ling (1962), Boyd (1971), Jayatilleke (1973, 36–38), Boyd (1975, 73–133), Haldar (1977, 153–57), Bloss (1978), Rahula (1978, 108–14 and 177–80), Verclas (1978, 50–74), Southwold (1985, 135–37), Bareau (1986), Falk (1987), Seo (1987), Guruge ([1988] 1997), Clark (1994, 2–37) and 46–93, Wilson (1996, 33–37), Yoshiko (1996, 32–33), Wikramagamage (1997), Hamilton (2000, 207–10), Marasinghe (2002), Batchelor (2004, 17–28), Kinnard (2004), Radich (2007, 198–201), Werner (2008, 20–28), Choong (2009, 40–42), and Bingenheimer (2011, 113–16).
118 women in early indian buddhism concludes that when “arahants are tempted . . . by Māra,” this means that “although their conscious life perhaps was completely purified, the deeper and unconscious layers in their personality were not so. Some traces of the old desires and insecurities were still there and found their outlet in the only way still permitted to them: projected as external appearances.” In a recent study of the “devil” in Buddhist thought, Batchelor (2004, 20–1) sees Māra “as a metaphoric way of describing Buddha’s own inner life,” “Mara’s tireless efforts to undermine Buddha by accusing him of insincerity, self-deception . . . are ways of describing the doubts within Buddha’s own mind.” In sum, according to Batchelor (2004, 28) Māra “is really Gotama’s own conflicted humanity.” Yet, the notion that the Buddha still had doubts about whether his claim to awakening was a case of self-deception is difficult to reconcile with the way the early discourses depict him elsewhere. Thus, for example, qualities of the Buddha reckoned by tradition to be intrepidities (vesārajja) are precisely his total certainty of having indeed awakened and destroyed the influxes.6 Moreover, some of the challenges by Māra in the early discourses involve actions such as changing himself into an ox and walking close to the begging bowls of a group of bhikkhus, in order to distract them from listening to a talk given by the Buddha.7 At the time of a previous Buddha, the Māra who lived during that period is on record for hitting an arahant bhikkhu so that the bhikkhu’s head started bleeding.8 It would be difficult to arrive at meaningful interpretations of such instances as mere symbolic enactments of inner defilements or uncertainties, all the more in the last mentioned instance, since according to the early discourses in the case of an arahant any defilement or fear would not be there in the first place.9 Contrary to what appears to be a common opinion among Buddhist scholars, it seems to me that in early Buddhist texts Māra is not invariably meant to be personifying defilements of the person he challenges. Instead, 6. For a survey of sources that refer to these four intrepidities cf. Anālayo (2011b, 109–13). 7. SN 4.16 at I 112,15 and its parallel SĀ 1102 at T II 290a16. 8. While according to MN 50 at I 336,33 Māra took possession of a boy to perform this deed, according to the parallels MĀ 131 at T I 622a7, T 66 at T I 866a7 and T 67 at T I 868a11 Māra was himself the perpetrator of the action. 9. DN 29 at III 133,23 and its parallel DĀ 17 at T I 75b18 indicate that an arahant is beyond fear and any other defilement.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 119 he can personify challenges posed by outsiders to members of the Buddhist community. Outsiders may indeed have had doubts about the Buddha’s awakening or tried to tempt an arahant, even going so far as to attack an arahant physically. In this way, contemporary prejudices and other problems the Buddha’s disciples had to face are interpreted as the work of Māra. The didactic function of such interpretation would be to provide an example of how such challenges should be faced by showing the way the Buddha and his arahant disciples dealt with Māra.10 Interpreting an external threat or challenge as the work of Māra in this way inculcates the proper attitude, which is to remain balanced by recognizing what is happening as a challenge to one’s mental equipoise, instead of reacting to it. This is precisely the way an arahant would act in such a situation, in fact arahants do not fail to recognize Māra, no matter how well he may have disguised himself. In the set of ten discourses translated below,11 Māra can be seen to impersonate attitudes of contempt and derision toward women who have fully embarked on a spiritual life. Translation [Connected Discourses on Bhikkhunıˉ s] (1) [Āḷāvikā] Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. At that time, there was a bhikkhunī, Āḷāvikā, who was staying in a community of bhikkhunīs in the Rājakārāma 12 10. Other scholars have reached similar conclusions, for example Kloppenborg (1995, 154) comments that Māra “can be regarded as an exponent of stereotypes that existed in . . . society.” Abeynayake (2003, 3), commenting on the Somā incident, notes that Māra’s challenge “is nothing but the condemnation that the society had towards women during this period.” In relation to the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta in general, Witanachchi (2009, 750) explains that these episodes are probably representative of “actual problems Buddhist nuns had to face from pleasure-seeking males.” 11. The translated section ranges from T II 325c16 to 329a22, with counterparts in the Pāli Saṃyutta-nikāya, SN I 128,1 to 135,26 (corresponding to pages 281 to 297 in Somaratne’s new edition of the Sagātha-vagga) translated by Bodhi (2000, 221–30), and in the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama (T 100), T II 453b28 to 456b20, translated by Bingenheimer (2011, 151–81). For ease of comparison, in my translation I employ Pāli terminology, without thereby intending to take a position on the original language of the Saṃyukta-āgama manuscript used for translation, which according to de Jong (1981, 108) would have been Sanskrit. 12. SĀ 1198, parallel to SN 5.1 and SĀ2 214. In my translation I have numbered the discourses, with the present one counted as the first of the set of ten, and added the name of the respective bhikkhunī as a title, neither of which are found in the original.
120 women in early indian buddhism in Sāvatthī.13 In the morning, bhikkhunī Āḷāvikā put on her robes, took her bowl and entered the town of Sāvatthī to beg for alms. Having finished her meal, she returned to the monastery, put away her robe and bowl, washed her feet, took her sitting mat, placed it over her right shoulder and entered the Andhavana to sit in meditation.14 Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The recluse Gotama is now staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. He has a disciple, the bhikkhunī Āḷāvikā, who is staying in a community of bhikkhunīs in the Rājakārāma in Sāvatthī. In the morning, she has put on her robes, taken her bowl, and entered the town of Sāvatthī to beg for alms. Having finished her meal, she has returned to the monastery, put away her robe and bowl, washed her feet, taken her sitting mat, placed it over her right shoulder and entered the Andhavana to sit in meditation. I shall now approach and disturb her.”15 He then transformed himself into a youth of handsome appearance and went to that bhikkhunī.16 He said to the bhikkhunī: “Lady, where do you want to go?” 13. The Rājakārāma is not mentioned explicitly in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta or the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama, although it is mentioned in a sutta quotation paralleling SĀ 1202, found in Śamathadeva’s commentary on the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, D 4094 nyu 82a2 or Q 5595 thu 128a3: rgyal po’i dge slong ma’i dbyar khang. In other Pāli discourses the Rājakārāma features as the venue of a teaching given by the Buddha to a large congregation of bhikkhunīs, SN 55.11 at V 360,15, and as the location where a group of bhikkhunīs, on having received teachings from the monk Nandaka, reach high realization, MN 146 at III 271,4; for a comparative study of this teaching and the realizations reached by the bhikkhunīs cf. Anālayo (2010c). 14. The standard description in the discourses in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta does not mention a return to the monastery, putting away bowl and robe, washing the feet, and taking the sitting mat, but directly continues with the respective bhikkhunī approaching the Andhavana. The discourses in the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama (T 100) have such a depiction, although in a shorter form. Without mentioning a return to the monastery, only cleaning the bowl and going to the Andhavana are described. The Tibetan parallel to SĀ 1202, D 4094 nyu 82a3 or Q 5595 thu 128a4, is closer to the pericope found in the fully preserved Saṃyukta-āgama (T 99), as besides washing the bowl this version also mentions putting away bowl and robe as well as taking the sitting mat. The sitting mat is regularly mentioned elsewhere in Āgama discourses, but often absent from Pāli parallels; cf. Minh Chau ([1964] 1991, 29) and Anālayo (2011b, 20). 15. Māra’s reflection is not reported in the discourses in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta. The discourses in the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama (T 100) and the Tibetan parallel to SĀ 1202, D 4094 nyu 82a4 or Q 5595 thu 128a5, however, report his reflection, which repeats the introductory narration. 16. A transformation of Māra into a youth is not mentioned in the discourses in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta. The discourses in the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama (T 100) and the Tibetan parallel to SĀ 1202, D 4094 nyu 82a5 or Q 5595 thu 128a8, however, do mention such a transformation.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 121 The bhikkhunī replied: “Friend, I am going to a secluded place.”17 Then Māra, the Evil One, spoke in verse: [326a] “In the world there is no escape. Of what use is searching for seclusion? Return to partaking of and consuming the five sense pleasures, so that you do not later come to have regrets!” Then the bhikkhunī Āḷāvikā thought: “Who is this, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?”18 Then she had the thought in her mind: “This certainly is the evil Māra wanting to confound me.” Having realized this, she spoke in verse: “In the world there is an escape, I have come to know it for myself. Mean and evil Māra, you do not know that path. Just like being harmed with sharp knives, like this are the five sense pleasures. Just like flesh-cutting torture,19 such is the dukkha of the aggregates [affected] by clinging. Such is what you have just spoken about, partaking of and delighting in the five sense pleasures. Therefore I cannot delight in that condition, which is to be greatly feared.20 Separated from all rejoicing and delight, having completely relinquished the great darkness [of ignorance], by having realized cessation, 17. This question and answer exchange is not found in SN 5.1, which instead directly continues from the introductory narrative section to the stanza spoken by Māra. A similar exchange occurs in SĀ2 214 at T II 453c6. 18. The bhikkhunīs in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta and in the partially preserved Saṃyuktaāgama (T 100) only wonder whether the speaker of the stanzas is a human or a non-human, without reflecting upon whether this person might want to seduce them. 19. The translation is based on a variant reading. 20. Instead of fear, mentioned also in SĀ2 214 at T II 453c19, SN 5.1 at SN I 128,25 just speaks of a lack of delight, arati.
122 women in early indian buddhism I dwell in peace, established in seclusion from the influxes (āsava).21 I recognize you, evil Māra, you have been discovered, make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “That bhikkhunī Āḷāvikā has understood my intentions.” Worried, sad and unhappy he then vanished and was seen no more. (2) [Somā] Thus have I heard. . . . [Māra] said to the bhikkhunī: “Lady, where do you want to go?” The bhikkhunī replied: “Friend, I am going to a secluded place.”23 Then Māra, the Evil One, spoke in verse: [326b] 22 “The state wherein seers dwell, this states is very difficult to attain. One with [just] two finger wisdom is unable to attain that state.” Then the bhikkhunī Somā thought: “Who is this, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Then, having considered it, certainty of knowledge arose in her and she knew: “This is the evil Māra who has come wanting to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “[Once] the mind has entered a [concentrative] attainment, what has a female appearance to do with that? 21. This last set of stanzas, which with slight variations is spoken by each bhikkhunī as a declaration of having reached full awakening, is without a counterpart in the discourses in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta. A comparable declaration is found, however, at the end of the stanzas spoken by the bhikkhunīs in the discourses in the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama (T 100). 22. SĀ 1199, parallel to SN 5.2 and SĀ2 215. Here and below I have abbreviated the introductory narration, which follows the pattern established in relation to bhikkhunī Āḷāvikā, i.e., the bhikkhunī in question goes begging, etc., and eventually enters the Andhavana, followed by Māra reflecting that the bhikkhunī in question has gone begging, etc., and entered the Andhavana, deciding that he will approach to disturb her and transforming himself into a handsome youth for this purpose. 23. This question and answer exchange is not found in SN 5.2, which instead directly continues from the introductory narrative section to the stanza spoken by Māra. A similar exchange occurs in SĀ2 215 at T II 454a2.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 123 If knowledge has arisen, the unsurpassable state will be reached. [But] if in regard to the perception of being a ‘man’ or a ‘woman,’ the mind has not reached complete separation, then such a one will speak like you, Māra, You should go and speak to such a one. Separated from all dukkha, having entirely relinquished the darkness [of ignorance], having attained and realized cessation, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Somā has understood my intentions.” Harboring sadness and regret within, he then vanished and was seen no more. Thus have I heard . . . 24 (3) [Kisāgotamī] [Māra] said in verse: “Why are you, having lost your child, weeping and with sad and worried face [326c] sitting alone under a tree? Are you searching for a man?” Then the bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī thought: “Who is this, [trying] to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is he scheming to seduce me?” Then, having considered it, certainty of knowledge arose in her: “Māra, the Evil One, has come [trying] to flirt with me.” She then spoke in verse: “Without limit are the sons, who all have died and been lost.25 This, then, is the end of men [for me], I have gone beyond [the attraction of ] men’s external appearance. 24. SĀ 1200, parallel to SN 5.3 and SĀ2 216. 25. No reference to the countless sons who have died is found in the parallel versions.
124 women in early indian buddhism Not troubled, not sad or worried, I have done what should be done in the Buddha’s dispensation. Separated from all craving and dukkha, having entirely relinquished the darkness [of ignorance], I have realized cessation, I dwell in peace and at ease, with the influxes eradicated. I recognize you, evil Māra, now make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī has understood my intentions.” Being worried and sad, afflicted and annoyed, he then vanished and was seen no more. Thus have I heard . . . 26 (4) [Uppalavaṇṇā] [Māra] said in verse: “What a beautiful flowering sālā tree under which you have come to stay, alone, without a companion, are you not afraid of evil men?” Then the bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā thought: “Who is this person, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Then, having considered it, [327a] she realized: “This is certainly the evil Māra. The Evil One wants to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “Even if there were a hundred thousand men, all scheming to seduce me, just like you, evil Māra, coming to where I am, they could not [even] stir a hair of mine, I am not afraid of you, evil Māra.” Māra spoke again in verse: “I will now enter your belly, and stay hidden inside, 26. SĀ 1201, parallel to SN 5.5 and SĀ2 217.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 125 or stay between your eye-brows, you will not be able to see me.”27 Then the bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā spoke again in verse: “My mind has great might, having well cultivated the supernatural powers, Being liberated from the great bondage, I do not fear you, evil Māra. I have vomited out the three stains (mala) which are the root of fear. Being established in the state of fearlessness I do not fear Māra’s army.28 In regard to all craving and rejoicing, I am completely separated from the darkness [of ignorance], having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, you should make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā has understood my intentions.” Harboring sadness and worry within, he then vanished and was seen no more. Thus have I heard . . . 29 (5) [Selā] [327b] [Māra] said in verse: “How has this being been born? Who is its creator? 27. In SN 5.5 at I 132,11 (cf. also Thī 232) it is Uppalavaṇṇā who threatens that she will get into Māra’s belly. SĀ2 217 at T II 454b28 agrees with SĀ 1201 that this threat was made by Māra; cf. also the discussion below. 28. This set of stanzas has no counterpart in SN 5.5, although a comparable set can be found in SĀ2 217. 29. SĀ 1202, parallel to SN 5.10 and SĀ2 218; cf. also Enomoto (1994, 42) and D 4094 nyu 82a1 or Q 5595 thu 128a2. In the present case, a confusion of names appears to have happened, as the stanzas associated in SĀ 1202, SĀ2 218 and D 4094 or Q 5595 with Selā are instead spoken by Vajirā in SN 5.10.
126 women in early indian buddhism Whence has this being arisen? Where will it go?” Then the bhikkhunī Selā thought: “Who is this person, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Then, having considered it, the realization arose: “This is the evil Māra, wanting to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “Your speaking of the existence of a being, this, then, is [just] evil Māra’s view. There is only a collection of empty aggregates,30 there is no being [as such]. Just as when the various parts are assembled, the world calls it a chariot, [so] in dependence on the combination of the aggregates there is the appellation: ‘a being.’ The arising of that [being] is then [just] the arising of dukkha, its persistence is then also [just] the persistence of dukkha. Nothing else arises but dukkha, dukkha arises and dukkha itself ceases. Having relinquished all craving and dukkha, I am completely separated from the darkness [of ignorance], having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, therefore make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Selā has understood my intentions.” Harboring sadness and sorrow within, he then vanished and was seen no more. 30. Vetter (2000, 157) suggests that the Chinese character employed in the present instance, which usually renders the term “aggregates,” might rather be referring to “formations,” in keeping with the Pāli and Sanskrit parallels. I have decided not to follow his reasonable suggestion, as saṃskāra is not found among the equivalents listed for this character in Hirakawa (1997, 1214), hence it seems safer to me to stick to the original and translate as “aggregates.”
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 127 (6) [Vīrā] Thus have I heard . . . 31 [Māra] said in verse: [327c] “How has this bodily shape been created? Who is its creator? Whence has this bodily shape arisen? Where will this bodily shape go?” Bhikkhunī Vīrā thought: “Who is this person, coming to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Considering like this, she then gained the realization: “This is the evil Māra, wanting to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “This bodily shape is not self-created nor is it created by another. It has arisen through the conjunction of conditions, and by the dissolution of conditions it will then be obliterated. Just as any seed in the world arises in dependence on the great earth, [and grows] in dependence on earth, water, fire, and wind,32 so it is also with the aggregates, elements, and sense-spheres. Through the coming together of conditions they arise, and through being separated from those conditions they will therefore be obliterated. I have relinquished all craving and dukkha, I am completely separated from the darkness [of ignorance], having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. Evil Māra, I know [who] you are, make yourself disappear and go!” 31. SĀ 1203, parallel to SN 5.9 and SĀ2 219. Corresponding to the confusion of names in the previous discourse, in the present case the stanzas associated with a nun by the name of Vīrā in SĀ 1203 and SĀ2 219 are spoken by Selā in SN 5.9. On Vīrā and Vajirā cf. Bingenheimer (2011, 156–59). 32. SN 5.9 at I 134,26 instead mentions the essence of the earth and moisture as the conditions for the growth of a seed. SĀ2 219 at T II 455a23 mentions just the earth, which Bingenheimer (2011, 173 n. 46) suggests to be due to a loss of text.
128 women in early indian buddhism Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Vīrā has understood my intentions.” Giving rise to great sadness and sorrow, he then vanished and was seen no more. (7) [Vijayā] Thus have I heard . . . [Māra] said in verse: 33 “Now you are young, I am also young. Let us, in this place, perform the five types of music,34 and enjoy ourselves together! Of what use is this meditative musing?”35 [328a] Then the bhikkhunī Vijayā thought: “Who is this person, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Having considered like this, she then gained the realization: “This is Māra, the Evil One, wanting to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “Singing, dancing, doing various kinds of performances, all sorts of enjoyments, I now grant them all to you, I have no need of them.36 With the quietude of extinction rightly experienced, I take the five sense pleasures of even gods, or of humans and give them all [to you], I have no need of them.37 Having relinquished all rejoicing and delight, 33. SĀ 1204, parallel to SN 5.4 and SĀ2 220. 34. The five types of music stand for music performed with five different instruments; cf., e.g., Spk I 191,24. 35. A reference to meditative musing is not found in the parallels. 36. In SN 5.4 at I 131,9 Vijāyā instead expresses her disinterest in the objects of the five senses. SĀ2 220 at T II 455b17 mentions singing and dancing together with the five sensual pleasures. 37. SN 5.4 at I 131,11 instead continues with a set of stanzas on being repelled by the putrid nature of the body.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 129 I am completely separated from the darkness [of ignorance], by having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, you should make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Vijayā has understood my intentions.” Harboring sadness and sorrow within, he then vanished and was seen no more. Thus have I heard . . . 38 (8) [Cālā] [Māra] said in verse: “Understand that to experience birth is delightful, having been born one partakes of the experience of the five sense pleasures. Whose teaching did you receive that made you weary of birth?”39 Then the bhikkhunī Cālā thought: “Who is this person, wanting to frighten me? [328b] Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” [She understood: “This is the evil Māra],40 who has come here wanting to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “For those who are born, there certainly will be death, to be born is therefore just to experience all [kinds] of dukkha. It is being whipped by vexations and dukkha, all of which exists in dependence on birth. One should eradicate all dukkha and transcend all births. With the eye of wisdom [one should] contemplate the noble truths, the teaching that has been proclaimed by the Sage: Dukkha and the arising of dukkha, 38. SĀ 1205, parallel to SN 5.6 and SĀ2 221; cf. also Enomoto (1994, 43). 39. While SĀ2 221 proceeds similarly, in SN 5.6 at I 132,22 Māra first asks Cālā what she does not approve of. She replies that she does not approve of birth. This initial conversation fits the context well, explaining why Māra would take up the theme of being weary of birth. 40. The text supplemented in square brackets appears to have been lost.
130 women in early indian buddhism cessation and being separated from all dukkha, cultivation of the eightfold right path to peace and ease, which inclines to nibbāna.41 The impartial teaching of the Great Teacher, in that teaching I delight. Because I understand that teaching, I no longer delight in experiencing birth. Being separated from all craving and rejoicing, having completely relinquished the darkness [of ignorance], by having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, you should make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Cālā knows my intention.” Harboring sadness and sorrow within, he then vanished and was seen no more. Thus have I heard . . . 42 (9) [Upacālā] [Māra] said in verse: “In the Heaven of the Thirty-three, [or in] higher ones, in the Yāma and Tusita [heavens], [328c] in the Nimmānarati and the Para[nimmita]vasavattin [heavens], aspire to attain rebirth there!” Bhikkhunī Upacālā thought: “Who is this person, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Considering on her own she realized: “This is certainly the evil Māra, wanting to confound me.” She promptly spoke in verse: “In the Heaven of the Thirty-three, [or in] higher ones, in the Yāma and Tusita [heavens], in the Nimmānarati and the Para[nimmita]vasavattin [heavens], all these types of heavens, [or] higher ones, 41. Instead of this and the next set of stanzas, in SN 5.6 at SN I 133,1 Cālā indicates that beings of the form and formless realm come back to existence because of not having understood cessation. 42. SĀ 1206, parallel to SN 5.7 and SĀ2 222.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 131 are not separated from existence and from being a product of formations,43 therefore they are in Māra’s power.44 The whole world is entirely a collection of various formations.45 The whole world is entirely of a shakeable nature. The whole world is afflicted by fire, constantly ablaze. The whole world has become entirely enveloped in smoke and dust. The imperturbable and unshakeable, which is not cultivated or approached by worldlings, which does not accord with Māra’s inclinations, this is the place to be enjoyed. Being separated from all craving and dukkha, having completely relinquished the darkness [of ignorance], by having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, therefore make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Upacālā has understood my intentions.” Being sad and sorrowful within, he then vanished and was seen no more. (10) [Sīsupacālā] Thus have I heard . . . [329a] [Māra] said: “Lady, in what method do you delight?”47 The bhikkhunī replied: “I do not delight in anything!” 46 43. SN 5.7 at I 133,15 instead indicates that all these celestial beings are still bound by the bondage of sensuality, while SĀ2 222 at T II 456a12 points out that they have not yet separated themselves from the view of self. 44. On Māra’s power over the different heavenly realms of the sensual field cf. also note 4 above. 45. For parallels to these stanzas cf. Chung (2008, 229). 46. SĀ 1207, parallel to SN 5.8 and SĀ2 223; cf. also SHT VI 1399, Bechert and Wille (1989, 118), and SHT X 4236, Wille (2008, 331). 47. In SN 5.8 at I 133,27 Māra inquires what creed she approves, while in SĀ2 223 at T II 456b3 he wants to know which of the ninety-six methods she prefers; on the count of ninetysix heretical teachings cf. Deeg (2005, 310 n. 1512).
132 women in early indian buddhism Then Māra, the Evil One, said in verse: “What council did you receive, that you shaved your head and became a recluse? You wear yellow robes on your body and have the marks of one who has gone forth, [yet] you do not delight in any method— you dwell [just] preserving your stupidity.” Then the bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā thought: “Who is this person, wanting to frighten me? Is he a human or is he a non-human? Is this person scheming to seduce me?” Having considered like this, she then realized: “Māra, the Evil One, wants to confound me.” She then spoke in verse: “All paths outside of this teaching, are entangled in views. Being bound by any view one is always in Māra’s power. Yet, there has arisen, in the Sakyan clan, a naturally endowed and incomparable great teacher, who is able to subdue all Māra’s enmity and who will not be subdued by him. Purified and entirely liberated, with the eye of the path he contemplated all, with complete knowledge knowing all, the supreme victor, separated from all influxes. He, then, is my great teacher, I delight only in his teaching. Having entered his teaching, I attained the aloofness of the quietude of cessation. Being separated from all craving and rejoicing, having completely relinquished the darkness [of ignorance], by having realized the quietude of extinction, I dwell in peace, established in the eradication of the influxes. I recognize you, evil Māra, thus make yourself disappear and go!” Then Māra, the Evil One, thought: “The bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā has understood my intentions.” Harboring sadness and sorrow within, he then vanished and was seen no more.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 133 Study A comparison of the above-translated discourses with their Pāli counterparts brings to light relatively few major differences. One such difference concerns names, as the stanzas associated in the Pāli version with Vajirā are spoken in the parallel versions by Selā, and those spoken in the Pāli version by Selā are attributed to a bhikkhunī by the name of Vīrā in the parallels.48 Another difference is that the stanzas spoken in the Saṃyukta-āgama by each bhikkhunī at the end of their reply to Māra make it clear that they are all fully awakened. While comparable stanzas are not found in the Pāli version, several bhikkhunīs in this collection nevertheless give clear indications of the high level of their realization.49 The present difference thus does not seem to imply a major divergence on the spiritual status of these ten bhikkhunīs. Another noteworthy difference is that, according to the Pāli account, Uppalavaṇṇā threatens to enter Māra’s belly. Apart from the fact that it is not clear if Māra was believed to have a digestive system, it seems rather odd for a bhikkhunī to threaten that she will enter someone else’s belly. According to the parallel versions, it is rather Māra who makes this threat.50 For Māra such an action is more easily conceivable, as another discourse reports that he got into the belly of an arahant bhikkhu.51 Hence it seems that the Pāli version has probably suffered an error in transmission, and that the original sense was indeed that Māra threatened to get 48. Cf. notes 29 and 31 above. 49. In SN 5.2 at I 129,26 Somā indirectly indicates that she has no longer any notion of an I, asmi, which would imply her realization of full awakening. According to SN 5.3 at I 130,23, Kisagotamī dwells free from the influxes, viharāmi anāsavā, a standard reference to arahantship. SN 5.4 at I 131,12 records that Vijayā has uprooted sensual craving, kāmataṇhā, and is also free from the darkness of ignorance in relation to the peaceful attainments. If this is an indication that she has also gone beyond desire for the immaterial, arūpa-rāga, she would have realized full awakening. In SN 5.5 at I 132,14 Uppalavaṇṇā indicates that she is free from all bondages, sabbabandhanamuttāmhi, hence she has also reached arahantship. In fact, according to Ling (1962, 49) “there is the theme, running through the Pāli Canon, that it is primarily the Buddha, and besides him, only the Arahats, who can discern Māra at all.” This further supports the impression that the bhikkhunīs mentioned in the Saṃyutta-nikāya and the Saṃyukta-āgama were all arahants, as all of them without fail recognize Māra. 50. Cf. note 27 above. 51. MN 50 at I 332,4 and its parallels MĀ 131 at T I 620b11, T 66 at T I 864b7 and T 67 at T I 867a7 report that Māra entered the belly of Mahāmoggallāna, but was immediately recognized. According to T 5 at T I 165a12, on yet another occasion Māra entered Ānanda’s belly; the text does not mention that Ānanda recognized Māra.
134 women in early indian buddhism into Uppalavaṇṇā’s belly. This also accords better with the overall attitude maintained by the bhikkhunīs, who do not react to being threatened by threatening back, but instead remain equanimous and unimpressed by whatever Māra does. The challenges posed by Māra cover several distinct themes. A particularly prominent theme is sensuality, evident in Māra’s invitation to “consume” the five sense pleasures (1) and in his recommendation to rejoice in rebirth as a way to partake of the five sense pleasures (8) or of the pleasure of the sense-sphere heavens (9). Pertaining to the same theme of sensuality is the presumption that a woman who is alone must be wishing for a man (3), the threat posed to a lone bhikkhunī by a man with evil intentions, evidently of a sexual type (4), and the invitation to enjoy herself with a young male to the accompaniment of music (7). The topic of sexual threat is in fact a theme that forms an undercurrent in the entire set of ten discourses, where a male approaches a bhikkhunī who is all alone by herself in a forest. This much is evident in the recurrent reflection by each bhikkhunī in the Saṃyukta-āgama whether the speaker might be scheming to seduce them. Other challenges have a more doctrinal slant, such as in cases in which two bhikkhunīs refute Māra’s views about a truly existing being or “bodily shape” (5 and 6). Also related to the doctrinal sphere is the idea of delighting in some outside teaching (10). Moreover, one case questions the spiritual abilities of women (2). The main themes of Māra’s challenges are thus: (a) sensuality: – enjoying sensual pleasures: Āḷāvikā (1) – sorrow about loss of children and wishing for a man: Kisāgotamī (3) – fear of men with evil intentions: Uppalavaṇṇā (4) – enjoying herself with a young male: Vijayā (7) – rejoicing in rebirth: Cālā (8) and Upacālā (9) (b) doctrinal challenges: – belief in a truly existing being or “bodily shape”: Selā (5) and Vīrā (6) – delight in another teaching: Sīsupacālā (10) (c) women’s abilities: – inability of women to gain awakening: Somā (2) Some of these challenges voiced by Māra appear to be specifically directed at the bhikkhunī he has decided to approach. Thus in the case of
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 135 Kisāgotamī (3), the reference to her being sad on having lost her child seems to reflect awareness of the tale of her bereavement when her son passed away.52 As her verses make clear, any concern with children or a male partner is something she has forever left behind. Similarly, the challenge Māra poses to Uppalavaṇṇā (4) appears to be related to the story of her being raped when dwelling alone in a forest.53 Her reply makes it clear that even the horrible experience of being violated does not traumatize an arahant bhikkhunī. It is noteworthy that the present set of discourses contains three instances where Māra overtly acts as a sexual aggressor, by insinuating that withdrawal into solitude implies looking for a man (3), by in one instance even apparently insinuating rape (4), and by inviting the bhikkhunī to enjoy herself with him (7). This sets a remarkable contrast to sexual aggression by Māra’s daughters, of which in the whole Māra-saṃyutta and its parallels there is just one single instance, when Māra’s daughters unsuccessfully try to tempt the recently awakened Buddha.54 This makes it clear that early Buddhism does not unilaterally consider females as Māra’s forces who lure innocent males into sexual desire. Instead, as the present set of discourses plainly shows, it is the male Māra—and by definition only a male can be Māra55—who stands for sensual temptation and sexual aggression, while those who are disinterested in sex are females. This finding provides an important corrective to a mode of presentation current among some scholars. For example, Lang (1986, 69) holds that “the pattern of identifying women with sensual desire . . . occurs with depressing regularity throughout the androcentric literature of early Buddhism.” According to Sarao (1989, 56) “to ancient Indian Buddhism all women were daughters of Māra.” In a similar vein, Wilson (1996, 36) 52. Thī-a I 169,10; cf. also, e.g., T 212 at T IV 618b12. 53. Cf., e.g., the Mahīśāsaka and Theravāda vinayas, T 1421 at T XXII 25b27 and Vin III 35,1. 54. SN 4.25 at I 124,23 and its parallels SHT V 1441 R, Sander and Waldschmidt (1985, 257), SĀ 1092 at T II 287a1 and SĀ 31 at T II 383c2; cf. also the Lalitavistara, Lefmann (1902, 378,14), and the Mahāvastu, Senart (1897, 282,4). 55. For a comparative study of the dictum according to which only men can occupy certain positions, one of them being Māra, cf. Anālayo (2009c).
136 women in early indian buddhism speaks of a “tendency to cast all human women in the role of Māra’s daughters . . . women are essentially minions of Māra.”56 The circumstance of many discourses being addressed to a male monastic audience, simply because bhikkhus regularly accompanied the Buddha during his journeys, makes it natural that these discourses feature recurrent references to female attraction as Māra’s bait. This, however, needs to be placed into perspective with the help of the Māra-saṃyutta and Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta, which reflect a different mode of presentation. Taking all discourses in these two collections into account, a single case of female sexual advance stands against three cases of male sexual advance, one of which is combined with an open threat. These discourses reflect another perception of the relationship between gender and sexual aggression: the more frequent case of a sexual advance is coming from the male side.57 As already pointed out by Collett (2009a, 111–2), in such instances, “far from women being themselves the snare of Māra, instead . . . Māra is representative of male sexuality, which is positioned as a potential danger for the women he approaches.” Overall, then, just “as the female form is seen as a snare of Māra for men, so a sexual male is a snare of Māra for women.” Notably in one instance in the Māra-saṃyutta male Māra approaches a group of bhikkhus with the challenge that they should enjoy sensual pleasures instead of living the life of one gone forth.58 In this case the advance and its rebuttal are both by males, further corroborating that there is no unilateral bias against women as the sole agent of sexual temptation and 56. Wilson (1996, 36) supports her conclusion by referring to a statement in AN 5.55 at III 68,28, according to which womankind is entirely a snare of Māra. When evaluating this statement, it needs to be taken into account that according to the preceding narration a mother and her son ordained as Buddhist monastics and then had sex with each other; cf. also Silk (2009, 126–7). Thus the statement needs to be considered as a response to the event that precedes it in the discourse. Moreover, this discourse is without any known parallel in Chinese, Sanskrit, or Tibetan. Instead of taking such isolated passages out of context as representing the early Buddhist evaluation of women, I think it would be preferable to build an assessment of the early Buddhist attitude toward women on a broad range of sources that are extant in parallel versions and that are evaluated within their narrative context. As Collett (2006a, 82) points out, “Wilson rather overemphasizes the negative portrayals of women she finds and essentially extrapolates from her sources to construct an overarching view of women in early and medieval Buddhism that is one-sided and unbalanced.” 57. On this topic cf. also the revealing findings by Collett in chapter three of the present volume. The same holds also for the Therīgāthā, where Rajapakse (1992, 71) notes that, contrary to the stereotype according to which “women figure . . . as seductresses bent on luring away male recluses from their spiritual strivings,” the stanzas spoken by the Therīs present “men as seducers.” 58. SN 4.21 at SN I 117,23 and its parallel SĀ 1099 at T II 289a16.
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 137 that Māra, his daughters, and his baits simply stand for sensual desire in general, independent of gender. In line with this corrective, something else of note can be gathered from the present set of ten episodes, where each bhikkhunī immediately recognizes Māra and sends him away. A telling juxtaposition emerges once the present set is compared to cases where Māra challenges bhikkhus. The Māra-saṃyutta reports that several bhikkhus are not able to recognize Māra and need the Buddha’s personal intervention to deal with the situation. For example, in the above-mentioned story where Māra transforms himself into an ox and starts walking close to their begging bowls, the bhikkhus fail to recognize him.59 He is thus successful in distracting them from listening to the talk given by the Buddha. Again, in the instance where Māra tempts a group of bhikkhus with the suggestion that they should enjoy sensual pleasures, although they are able to give a fitting reply, they fail to recognize him.60 The same pattern, with the bhikkhus unable to recognize Māra, recurs in another two cases.61 Thus some male monastics were evidently depicted as not being able to handle Māra on their own in the way their monastic sisters did. In contrast, not a single bhikkhunī is on record for having failed to recognize Māra or for having been unable to dispatch him singlehandedly with a self-confident rebuttal. This obviously reflects the situation that these bhikkhunīs are arahants, whereas some of their male colleagues had evidently not yet reached the same level of perfection. Nevertheless it is worthy of note that, in contrast to the way some scholars see the representation of females in early Buddhist literature, the present set of discourses on challenges by Māra is a clear instance where the bhikkhunīs are presented in a more favorable light than their male counterparts. 59. Cf. note 7 above. 60. Cf. note 58 above. 61. The first instance involves a group of bhikkhus, the second a single bhikkhu. In both cases, the Pāli versions SN 4.17 at I 113,14 and SN 4.22 at I 119,14 report that Māra makes a frightful noise, whereas according to their parallels SĀ 1103 at T II 290b2 and SĀ 1100 at T II 289b26 he creates a frightening appearance. In each of these cases the bhikkhu(s) fail to recognize him. Not all bhikkhus, however, are unable to recognize Māra. In the abovementioned case of Māra getting into the belly of an arahant bhikkhu (cf. note 51 above), the bhikkhu immediately recognizes Māra. Another case is a tale that involves the bhikkhu Nanda, who on being addressed by Māra recognizes him; cf. EĀ 16.1 at T II 578c22.
138 women in early indian buddhism Regarding the topic of gender in the present set of discourses, the case of Somā (2) is particularly noteworthy, since to my knowledge this is the only instance among the early discourses were the ability of women to reach awakening is put into question. Needless to say, the dictum that a woman cannot be a Buddha is different, as this only implies that there will not be a female Buddha, presumably because in the ancient Indian setting a woman teacher would have stood less chance of being taken serious than a male.62 No such considerations apply to the attainment of full awakening as an arahant. Hence the present instance is unique in voicing this prejudice regarding women’s abilities to realize arahantship. Somā’s self-confident reaction to the derogatory remark about a woman’s two-finger wit—apparently a pun on women’s use of two fingers when doing household chores63—has been quoted repeatedly in writings about the role of women in early Buddhism.64 Due to the way Māra’s challenges are often interpreted, however, and also since in the Pāli version Somā’s status as an arahant is not as explicit as in the Chinese parallels, the significance of Somā’s exchange with Māra has not always been fully appreciated. The prejudice voiced by Māra does not imply that Somā had any doubt about women’s ability to gain awakening. Having already reached full awakening, how could there be any doubt about her own ability to reach it? Instead of reflecting Somā’s uncertainties, the point made by the present episode is that, from an early Buddhist perspective, doubting women’s ability to reach awakening is so foolish that it can only be the work of Māra.65 62. Cf. in more detail Anālayo (2009c, 162–3). 63. This may have been a popular saying, as it recurs in a different context in the Mahāvastu, Senart (1897, 391,19 and 392,13); cf. also Gokhale (1976, 104), Kloppenborg (1995, 154), Bodhi (2000, 425 n. 336), Abeynayake (2003, 3) and Collett (2009b, 99 n. 7). 64. Just to mention a few examples: Horner ([1930] 1990, 164), Dhirasekara (1967, 157), Church (1975, 57), Lang (1986, 77), Bancroft (1987, 82), Kusumā ([1987] 2010, 26), Jootla (1988, 44), Falk (1989, 161), Sponberg (1992, 9), Kloppenborg (1995, 154), Rajapakse (1995, 13), Devaraja (1999, 67), Harris (1999, 60), Harvey ([2000] 2005, 359); Abeynayake (2003, 3), Faure (2003, 120), Bentor (2008, 126), Anālayo (2009c, 137), Choubey (2009, 6), Collett (2009b, 99) and Anālayo (2010a, 74). 65. Horner ([1930] 1990, 165) notes “that a woman could be represented as making such an utterance is a proof that the old life of Hinduism in which women were regarded merely as child-bearers and as commodities was . . . not passing entirely unquestioned.” Rajapakse (1995, 13 n. 14) comments that “it is interesting to note that the doubts in question are raised by Māra . . . who thus assumes the role of a ‘male chauvinist’ in this setting.”
Saṃyutta-nikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama 139 That disbelief in women’s ability to reach awakening was considered a foolish idea can also be seen in a verse in the Apadāna collection, according to which the Buddha told Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī that she should make a display of her supernatural abilities to remove the erroneous views of those who doubt that women can gain realization: “In order to dispel the view of those fools who have doubts about women’s full realization of the dhamma perform a supernatural feat, Gotamī.”66 66 Ap. 17.79 at II 535,24: thīnaṃ dhammābhisamaye, ye bālā vimatiṃ gatā, tesaṃ diṭṭhipahānatthaṃ, iddhiṃ dassehi gotami, which continues by describing the miracles she performed.
7 Therıˉgaˉthaˉ nandaˉ, female sibling of gotama buddha Alice Collett the therīgāthā is a text that has received a great deal of attention within modern scholarship since its first publication in English in 1909 by C. A. F. Rhys Davids. However, one aspect of the text that has not been the subject of detailed study is its relationship to subsequent biographical accounts of the nuns who are the apparent authors of the verses within it. There are two main sets of sources that contain biographical prose and verse narratives of these early Buddhist nuns: first, the Apadāna, a text dated to the post-Asokan era and likely composed in India, and second, certain texts of the commentarial tradition of Sri Lanka, composed some centuries later. The Apadāna, being closest in date and geographical location to the Therīgāthā, provides the most fertile ground for comparison and can stand as representative of the biographical tradition as the reconstituted biographies in the later commentaries appear to have been sourced from the accounts in the Apadāna. Although the relationship between the Therīgāthā and the section of the Apadāna on women has not undergone thorough examination previously, the relationship between, more broadly, the Therāgāthā, Therīgāthā, and entire Apadāna has been commented upon by several scholars. Warder, for example, suggests that the biographies of the monks in the Therā-Apadāna are “almost a commentary on the Therāgāthā.”1 Bechert (1958, 14), commenting on both the Therāgāthā and Therīgāthā, assigned the Apadāna collection as “pre-birth 1. Warder, introduction to Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli’s translation of The Path of Discrimination (1982, xxxviii).
Therīgāthā 141 stories” of the monks and nuns of the Therāgāthā and Therīgāthā. Von Hinüber (1996, 61) calls the Apadāna “a supplement” to the Therāgāthā and Therīgāthā, while Norman suggests it is “almost an appendix to the Therīgāthā and Therāgāthā, since it connects together the past and present lives of the theras and therīs” (1983, 89). Evidently, there is a close connection between the two texts, although it is not the case that all the same monks and nuns appear in both, as Norman notes: [The Apadāna] . . . includes many theras who do not appear in the Therāgāthā, and does not include all the therīs who are in the Therīgāthā. On the other hand, there is an Apadāna for Yasodharā, although there is no poem or her in the Therīgāthā. (1983, 90) Cutler, looking for the origin of the collection, suggests that the Apadāna was likely complied from the existing canon overall, given that “[s]nippets of biographical information and stories” concerning the monks and nuns can be found throughout the Pāli canon (1994, 25). However, this does presuppose that the authors had access to the entire (oral) canon. In this chapter I want to attempt to reinforce the view that the Therīgāthā verses form the basis of the narrative life accounts of the Apadāna, especially in instances in which little or no other biographical information is available. Assessing the extant textual evidence, it appears that the verses were the main inspiration for the biographies in the majority of cases. With regard to the extant versions of the Therīgāthā and Apadāna, two particular relationships are immediately evident: first, that some of the Therīgāthā verses contain actual biographical information that is part of the Apadāna biography, and second (and this much more often), that the verses spoken are reflections of those who have experienced the predicaments detailed in the biography. That is, the verses appear as (often) first-hand accounts of responses to the events described in the biographies. By way of exemplifying this, we can consider some of Kisāgotamī’s verses. Kisāgotamī’s well-known story is the story of the mustard seed. Following the death of her son, the birth of whom had caused favor for her among her in-laws, Kisāgotamī was overcome with grief. She refused to let go of the small cadaver, continuing to cradle the body in her arms. She was advised to go and see Gotama, who asked her to collect a mustard seed from any house in which the family had not experienced the grief of loss, and not being able to find a house that had been spared this powerful human experience proved a successful teaching for her. In her Therīgāthā verses, Kisāgotamī laments the suffering experienced by women as wives and mothers:
142 women in early indian buddhism The state of women has been said to be painful by the charioteer of men who are to be tamed; even the state of being a cowife is painful; some, having given birth once, even cut their throats; some tender ones take poisons; reborn as murderers in hell, both suffer misfortunes. (v. 216–17)2 To add a few other brief examples, in her verses Aḍḍakāsī talks of her experiences as a prostitute, which is the core of her biography; Bhaddā Kāpilāni speaks of Kassapa, her husband in many previous lives whom she followed into the order, and Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī mentions Māyā, her sister and cowife according to numerous accounts. In many ways this relationship of the verses as a core part of the biography appears to have been a successful one, such that, some two thousand years later, in the extant literature the relationship remains firmly discernible in many cases, although with some notable exceptions.3 One case in which the relationship appears to waver is that of the nun Nandā. The Therīgāthā has two sets of verses apparently authored by nuns called Nandā, although the first verse of each set is identical: “See the body, Nandā, diseased, impure, putrid. Devote the mind, collected and one-pointed, to contemplation of this impurity. And develop the signless, cast out the latent tendency to conceit. Then, by the full understanding of conceit, you will wander, at peace.” (v. 19–20)4 “See the body, Nandā, diseased, impure, putrid. Devote the mind, collected and one-pointed, to contemplation of this impurity. 2. Dukkho itthibhāvo akkhāto purisadammasārathinā, sapattikaṃ pi dukkhaṃ appekaccā sakiṃ vijātāyo. Gale apakantanti sukhumāliniyo visāni khādanti, janamārakamajjhagatā ubho pi byasanāni anubhonti. See Collett’s chapter on Paṭācārā in Pāli Biographies of Buddhist Nuns for a discussion of certain problems with Kisāgotamī’s Therīgāthā verses (Collett, forthcoming). All translations in this chapter are my own, but I have also made use of and at times based my translations upon the published translations of Norman (1966), Pruitt (1999), and Burlingame ([1921] 1995). 3. Some other exceptional cases, ones in which the relationship between the Therīgāthā verses and Apadāna biographies are less obvious, are Sumedhā and Isidāsī. Both of these two have long sets of verses attributed to them in the Therīgāthā, forty verses in the case of Isidāsī and seventy-five in the case of Sumedhā. Isidāsī has no apadāna, but instead a long biographical account is told in her forty verses, and Sumedhā’s two stories are each very different from one another. See Collett (2011, 218–20) for more on Sumedhā. 4. Āturaṃ asuciṃ pūtiṃ passa Nande samussayaṃ, asubhāya cittaṃ bhāvehi ekaggaṃ susamāhitaṃ. Animittañ ca bhāvehi mānānusayam ujjaha, tato mānābhisamayā upasantā carissasi (Thī 125).
Therīgāthā 143 As this is, so is that; as that is, so is this. It emits a putrid, vile smell, it is what fools delight in.” Looking at it in this way, not relaxing day or night, then analyzing it by my own wisdom, I saw. Thoroughly, with diligent examination, I saw this body as it really was, inside and out. Then I became disgusted with the body, and I was disinterested internally. Vigilant, unfettered, I am at peace, stilled. (v. 82–86)5 The verses appear in different places in the extant text, as the extant Therīgāthā is structured according to length, so that paired verses are in the second section and sets of four in the fourth. There are several possible reasons as to why these two sets of verses exist within the Therīgāthā. First, a reason is suggested by an addenda in the extant text itself. Included directly after verses 19 and 20 in the PTS edition is the phrase, “Thus, the Blessed One often advised the novice Nandā with these verses” (itthaṃ sudaṃ bhagavā nandaṃ sikkhamānaṃ imāhi gāthāhi abhiṇhaṃ ovadati) (Thī 125). Perhaps then, the second set of verses are simply a second incident of the Buddha tutoring Nandā? Another possible, if not probable, reason is transmission error. The resounding evidence from recent studies of early manuscripts is that different versions of the same text can vary considerably. For example, the number and order of verses can change or verses can be found in one chapter in one version and another chapter in another.6 Thus, it could easily be surmised that the existence of two sets of verses apparently spoken by a female disciple named Nandā with an identical first verse could be explained away as having originally been one set of verses spoken by one eponymous nun. A third but less obvious answer from a scholarly perspective is that the verses pertain to two different nuns, both of whom were called Nandā. This appears to have been the explanation favored by the tradition, such that 5. Āturaṃ asuciṃ pūtiṃ passa Nande samussayaṃ, asubhāya cittaṃ bhāvehi ekaggaṃ susamāhitaṃ. Yathā idaṃ tathā etaṃ yathā etaṃ tathā idaṃ, duggandhaṃ pūtikaṃ vāti bālānaṃ abhinanditaṃ. Evaṃ etaṃ avekkhantī rattindivam atanditā, tato sakāya paññāya abhinibbijja dakkhisaṃ. Tassā me appamattāya vicinantiyā yoniso, yathābhūtaṃ ayaṃ kāyo diṭṭho santarabāhiro. Atha nibbind’ ahaṃ kāye ajjhattañ ca virajj’ ahaṃ, appamattā visaṃyuttā upasanta mhi nibbutā (Thī 132). 6. For some examples of this, see chapters one and two of this volume. Also, see n. 13 below for an example of the typical sorts of changes seen.
144 women in early indian buddhism certain biographical texts produced subsequent to the Therīgāthā speak of two different Nandās. However, and interestingly given the similar content of the verses in the Therīgāthā, these two Nandās do not appear, from the textual evidence, to have attained fully separate status, but appear to have remained somewhat conjoined. The separation into two is most firmly established in terms of lineage and family history: one Nandā is the daughter of King Suddhodana and Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī and thus a (half-)sister to the Buddha, while the other is also a Sakyan by birth, but the daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan.7 The separation is incomplete in terms of ownership of Therīgāthā verses, that is, there is not a clear affixation of one Nandā to one set of verses and the other woman to the other. Further, the separation appears to potentially have, at one time, been full in relation to biography—it is possible to discern two potentially different biographies for the two—but this was rescinded in later texts. Finally, there is a partial separation in terms of name, but again, this is not substantive. There is no extant text that contains more than two accounts of nuns called Nandā, although the two Nandās in the various texts do not have the same name (see Table 7.1). There are four other names associated with these female Nandās—Sundarīnandā, Abhirūpanandā, Rūpanandā, and (Nandā) Janapadakalyāṇī—and in some cases, a mixture of these names is used. Each of these four other names refer to the outstanding beauty of the women in question, as does the name Nandā itself.8 To the extent that it is possible to identify two different Nandās in the texts, Abhirūpanandā is the daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan, and she became one of the harem 7. The notion of a child that shares one parent with their sibling being termed a half-brother or half-sister only occurs in some patterns of kinship relations. In the Buddhist literature, Nandā and her brother, male Nanda, are simply said to be brother and sister to the Buddha. According to Dravidian kinship networks, the children of sisters should not be termed cousins but rather brothers and sisters (Trautmann 1981) 8. Nandā can be rendered as “Delightful One,” which appears to be the meaning here, as she brings delight by her beauty. Sundarīnandā, Abhirūpanandā and Rūpanandā can be rendered as “Beautiful Nandā,” with the latter two including some implication of possession of a beautiful figure, and Janapadakalyāṇī as “the beauty of the district,” with the implication that she was the most beautiful. Most of the biographical accounts underline the relationship between the physical beauty of the protagonist and the name, saying, for example, “she was known as Abhirūpanandā because of the excessive beauty of her own body, she was beautiful, pleasing to look at, lovely” (sā attabhāvassa ativiya rūpasobhaggappattiyā abhirūpā dassanīyā pāsādikā abhirūpanandā tveva paññāyittha, Thī-a II.1 at 24).
Therīgāthā 145 women in the court/palace of the bodhisatta.9 Nandā (with various other names) is the daughter of Suddhodana and Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, and her biography is the story of obsession with beauty. In what follows I will examine the biographies of Nandā that appear sourced from the Therīgāthā verses and attempt to illustrate the partial separation within the biographical tradition into two discreet Nandās and then the subsequent recapitulation into one. The texts I will use are two of the known recensions of the Apadāna, Dhammapāla’s commentary on the Therīgāthā, the Aṅguttaranikāya commentary (Manorathapūraṇī) (and the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā (Table 7.1).10 Textual Evidence Apadāna I contains biographies of two female Nandās, Abhirūpanandā and Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī; however, the biographies of each of them, in the extant version, tell essentially the same story. This is a story that came to be the narrative center of the biography of the female Nandā in almost all other versions. The very same story has also come to be the narrative center of the biography of another nun, Khemā, who is better known than Nandā.11 The story is essentially one of obsession with beauty. The protagonist (Nandā or Khemā) appeared lovely at birth and grew to be an exquisitely beautiful woman. Intoxicated with her own physical beauty, she avoided the Buddha, knowing that he disparaged those interested in sensual beauty, seeing it as a meaningless preoccupation. However, by 9. The texts of the Pāli tradition do not mention the royal connection in the earliest life stories of the Buddha, although Aśvaghoṣa does. This is true of most other traditions, apart from the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, which talks of more than sixty thousand wives. According to Strong, only the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya develops the harem women scene (see Strong 1997, 114–15, and on the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, p.124 n. 2). 10. A third recension of the Apadāna was used by the authors/compliers of Paramatthajotikā II. I will call the Apadāna that exists in what appears to be a complete form “Apadāna I” and the sections that exist within the Therīgāthā commentary “Apadāna II.” See chapter eight of this volume. 11. For more on Khemā, see the chapter in Collett (forthcoming). In the Pāli tradition, this is the usual story of Khemā, but there is a different account of her in the Avadānaśataka, a text connected to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition. The story of obsession with beauty fits better with Nandā’s Therīgāthā verses, which are an admonition against such folly. Khemā’s Therīgāthā verses appear as a conversation between lovers, although in the Samyuttanikāya/Saṃyukta-āgama they are conceived as a conversation between Māra and Khemā/ Kṣemā, and his attempts to seduce her (see chapter five of this volume).
Table 7.1 Nandā in the Pāli Texts Nandā Abhirūpanandā AṅguttaraNikāya Therīgāthā Distinguished in meditation 2 sets of verses on the diseased and impure body, 19–20, 82–86 Apadāna Therīgāthā commentary Manorathapūraṇī Daughter of Mahāpajāpatī, also called Rūpanandā & Janapadakalyāṇī, beauty story connected with meditation. Daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan, beauty story, Thī v. 82–86 Dhammapala section—Daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan, beauty story, Thī v.19–20. Apadāna section—born in the Sakyan family, in harem, different story. Dhammapadaaṭṭhakathā
Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī Sundarīnandā Janapadakalyāṇī Rūpanandā Wife of Nanda, the brother of the Buddha Daughter to Suddhodana, sister of Buddha, beauty story, Thī v. 82–84, Dhammapāla section—Sister to the Buddha, beauty story (says—see Abhirūpanandā story), connected to meditation, Thī v. 82–84. Apadāna section—the story of Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī from the Ap. Sister to the Buddha, beauty story
148 women in early indian buddhism one way or another, eventually she meets Gotama and he, knowing about her obsession, performs a miracle to teach her about the impermanence of physical beauty. The Buddha conjures up an apparition before her, a beautiful woman more exquisite then herself, then, by one means or another, causes the apparition to turn old, ugly, deformed, or a mixture of these. In each instance of the telling of narrative, for both Khemā and Nandā, this apparition and its subsequent subversion have the desired effect and cause the disciple to see the errors of her thinking. Sometimes the event causes the disciple to experience a profound religious shift and attain the status of an arahant, and on other occasions the experience appears to prime the candidate for arahant status, which follows soon afterward with the help of a further teaching. This basic story arc is followed in both of the Apadāna I biographies of Abhirūpanandā and Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī; however, the two versions of it are entirely different in their detail. Apadaˉna I Abhirūpanandā The biography of Abhirūpanandā begins in the era of Buddha Vipassī. At that time, Abhirūpanandā is born in Bandhumati, into a rich and prosperous (iddhe phīte) family.12 Among her own kinsmen and others, she was known for her beauty (surūpa). She worshiped Buddha Vipassī and then, journeying on through the worlds of gods and men, she was born in her last existence inKapilavatthu as the daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan. Even at birth, she was beautiful (abhirūpa) and so was called Nandā, and as she grew into a young women she maintained her beautiful form (rūpavaṇṇa). Having been advised to go forth as a member of the Sakyan clan and become a disciple of the Buddha, she did so, apparently out of respect for her family. However, having gone forth, knowing the Buddha was disparaging of beauty, she did not go to see him. She was eventually led into his presence, and he made appear a woman as beautiful as a heavenly nymph, who then turned old and died in front of her eyes. The Buddha spoke to her, and she replied, in verses almost identical to the second set of verses in the Therīgāthā: 12. See Collett (forthcoming, chapter on Paṭācārā) for a discussion of the importance of family status and wealth in the biographies of early Buddhist women.
Therīgāthā 149 “See the body, Nandā, diseased, impure, putrid, oozing, and dripping, it is what fools long for. Devote the mind, collected and one-pointed, to contemplation of this impurity. As this is, so is that; as that is, so is this.” Looking at it in this way, not relaxing day or night, then analyzing it by my own wisdom, I dwelt. Thoroughly, with diligent examination, I saw this body as it really was, inside and out. Then I became disgusted with the body, and I was disinterested internally. Vigilant, unfettered, I am at peace, stilled.13 The concluding verses recount that she mastered the supernormal powers, including the divine ear and divine eye, and had knowledge of previous births. Essentially, she was Awakened, having “done the Buddha’s teaching.” Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī The biography of Abhirūpanandā in Apadāna I is not a lengthy one, being only twenty-five verses long. The biography of Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī is just over twice that, being fifty-four verses in total. This second Apadāna biography of a female Nandā stands out among the other biographies in the text as the style is particularly poetic. There are other occasions of these sorts of poetic style within Apadāna I, but these stylistic features are more abundant in the biography of Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī than is generally the case.14 The biography begins during the era of Buddha Padumuttara. At the time of Buddha Padumuttara, Nandā was born in Haṃsavatī in the family of a wealthy merchant. She heard an exposition by the Buddha that she describes as “undying, of the greatest sweetness, making 13. Apadāna I omits the second line of verse 83 in the Thī—duggandhaṃ pūtikaṃ vāti bālānaṃ abhinanditaṃ—and instead has a different second half to the first verse (no. 15)—uggharantam paggharantaṃ bālānaṃ abhipatthitaṃ. Although the two lines are in different places, they say very similar things. Two other changes in Lilley’s edition are the replacement of dakkhisaṃ with vacchasi and vicintantiyā with vincinant’ idha. 14. The biography begins during the time of Buddha Padumuttara; however, instead of the much more typical single verse stating this, there are six verses devoted to extolling the many virtues of this lineal Buddha: “One hundred thousand eons ago, a leader was born, the conqueror named Padumuttara, who had reached perfection. He advised, offered instruction to all beings, was brilliant, skilled in teaching, a Buddha, who enabled many people to cross over. Sympathetic, compassionate, desiring the welfare of all beings, he established adherents of other sects who came to him in the five precepts. His emptiness was undisturbed by those adherents, and it was ornamented by the arahants, unique ones having
150 women in early indian buddhism known the highest good” (amataṃ paramassādaṃ paramattha-nivedakaṃ Ap. II 572), and as a result of that offered a gift and then requested to become the foremost of nuns who are meditators. The content of the biography differs here from other accounts. In instances such as this, it is much more often the case that the request from the disciple to become a preeminent nun in the future is preempted by the Buddha in question conferring the same position on a nun in his own community of committed female disciples. This is the case for, for example, Paṭācārā, Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā, Khemā, Kisāgotamī to name but a few. For Nandā, Padumuttara then, as typical, predicts that she will attain that position in the future under Gotama Buddha. Following this, Nandā journeys on through the worlds of gods and men, as again is typical of the narrative accounts in the text. During these sojourns in various realms, she is said to rule as chief queen to both gods and men, which is not unusual and is a role she has in common with others whose biographies are told in the Apadāna. In her last existence, she is born in Kapilavatthu, in the family of Gotama, the daughter of King Suddhodana, so thus a sister to the Buddha-to-be.15 Once again, as she was beautiful she was called Nandā, and it was said of her that she was the most beautiful of all the young women in Kapilavatthu, with the exception of Yasodharā.16 Her mother urged her to go forth, as her elder brother was foremost of the three worlds (tilokaggo), her middle brother (the male Nanda) was an arahant, and she alone was left as a laywoman. Her mother said: mastery. He was fifty-eight ratana tall; the great sage had the appearance of a golden flower garland, possessing the thirty-two excellent marks. His lifespan lasted one hundred thousand years, and while he remained, he enabled many people to cross over.” (Padumuttara nāma jino sabbadhammāna pāragū, ito satasahassamhi kappe uppajji nāyako. Ovādako viññāpako tārako sabbapāṇinaṃ, desanākusalo buddho tāresi janataṃ bahuṃ. Anukampako kāruṇiko hitesī sabbapāṇinaṃ, sampatte titthiye sabbe pañcasīle patiṭṭhapi. Evaṃ nirākulaṃ āsi suññataṃ titthiyehi ca, vicittaṃ arahantehi vasībhūtehi tādihi. Ratanān’ aṭṭhapaññāsaṃ uggato so mahāmuṇi kañcanagghiyasaṅkāso battiṃsavaralakkhaṇo. Vassasahasahassāni āyu tiṭṭhati tāvade, tāvatā tiṭṭhamāno so tāresi janataṃ bahuṃ) (Ap. II 572) If this set of verses is compared to the first verse of Abhirūpanandā’s biography—“Ninety-one eons ago, the leader Vipassī was born, beautiful leader, wise in all phenomena” (ekanavute ito kappe vipassī nāma nāyako uppajji cārunayano sabbadhammesu cakkumā, Ap. II 608)—the difference is evident. Abhirūpanandā’s preface is more typical of the text overall, and the general style overall is more telegraphic than poetic, but that is only a generalization, as there are other examples of the stylistic features evident here. 15. This account does mention her mother, but does not specify who her mother is, as others do (see below). 16. This caveat, of course, complicates her eponymous accolade as Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī if it is taken to imply she is the most beautiful in the district.
Therīgāthā 151 O Child, you were born in the Sakyan family. You are the younger sister of the Buddha. How can you remain at home being without Nanda?17 Her mother implores Nandā to renounce, telling her that her youth and beauty will end in old age and disease before too long, and that to be preoccupied with these is a pointless endeavor. At her mother’s request, Nandā does go forth, but she remains unconvinced in her mind. The Buddha sees that Nandā remains intoxicated with youth and beauty, and here he performs the miracle that converts her. However, here again the wording is entirely different from the other account in Apadāna I. The Buddha makes the stunning beauty appear before her eyes, and Nandā is again transfixed. However, in this version Nandā speaks to the apparition, in words that would be more fitting as a discourse between lovers. Nandā first asks the woman her family, name, and clan, and then suggests she come hither so that Nandā may rest her head on the woman’s lap. This she does, and while they are enjoying their intimacy the apparition falls asleep. Then, a forbidding spider falls upon the apparition’s forehead. This causes a boil to quickly develop and then burst, oozing pus and blood. Further, her mouth begins secreting impurities, which have a rotten stench about them, causing swelling and discoloration, and she also begins to excrete bodily pus and to tremble. This pus-ridden ghoul then spoke to Nandā, complaining of being afflicted by misery and in pain. Nandā asks her: Where is the opening of your mouth? Where is your long nose? Where has you mouth gone with its excellent dark red lips? Where is your face shaped like the moon? Where has you neck that is shaped like a couch shell gone? Your ears like waving swings have lost their color. Your breasts are like dried up buds, burst open and producing the foul smell of a festering corpse.18 17. Sākiyamhi kule jātā putte buddhānujā tuvaṃ, nandena pi vinā bhūtā agāre kiṃ na acchasi (Ap. II 574). 18. Kuhiṃ vadanasobhan te, kuhiṃ te tuṅganāsikā? Tambabimbavaroṭṭhan te vadanaṃ te kuhiṃ gataṃ? Kuhiṃ sasiṃ nibhaṃ vattaṃ, kambugīvā kuhiṃ gatā? Dolālolā ca te kaṇṇā vevaṇṇaṃ samupāgatā. Makulakhārakākārā kalasā va payodharā, pabhinnā pūtikuṇapā duṭṭhagandhitvam āgatā (Ap. II 575. Two emendations of Lilley—dolālolā for dolālocā and makulakhārakākārā for makulakhārak’ ākārā)
152 women in early indian buddhism In this section of Nandā’s biography we can see some linguistic features that suggest this account is one that exemplifies Norman’s comment about the text overall that it “did not undergo the usual editing procedure” visible in extant Pāli texts (1983, 92). Usually, as well, a more discursive, poetical style such as this would be considered likely a later interpolation. However, as suggested by Collett Cox in her recent study of British Library fragments 20 and 23, it may well be the case that the more formalized sections of Pāli (and other) texts might not have been a product of the oral period, but instead a formalization of an earlier, more discursive style.19 Following her poetic contemplation of the astonishing rescinding of beauty, Nandā continues: You, with narrow waist and wide hips, have become full of impurities, like sinful ones lead off to a slaughterhouse. O beauty is not eternal! All this putrid smell produced by the body is frightful. It is as loathsome as a cemetery in which the foolish delight.20 Nandā has seen through her false views; she has understood that beauty does not last and only fools are intoxicated with it. Following these verses, the Buddha speaks to Nandā and again here we find the same second set of verses from the Therīgāthā, as was the case with the biography of Abhirūpanandā. The verses in this case are identical to Therīgāthā verses 82–84, but verses 85 and 86 are absent. Hearing these verses, Nandā attained the status of arahant and in the usual telegraphic style of Apadāna I then recounted that “whenever I sit, I am always given over to meditation” (yattha yattha nisinnā ‘haṃ tadā jhānaparāyanā Ap. II 576) so the Buddha placed her as foremost of female disciples who are meditators. Apadaˉna II Apadāna II, the other recension of sections of the Apadāna preserved and contained within Dhammapāla’s commentary on the Therīgāthā, does not 19. Collett Cox, unpublished conference paper entitled “Formalized Scholasticism: Fragments 20 and 23 in the British Library Collection of Gāndhārī Manuscripts,” delivered at the XVIth Congress of the International Association for Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Jinshan, New Taipei City, Taiwan, June 2011. 20. Vedimajjhā puthussoṇī sūṇā ‘va nītakibbisā, jātā abhejjabharitā. Aho rūpam asassataṃ. Sabbaṃ sarīrasañjātaṃ pūtigandhaṃ bhayānakaṃ, susānam iva jegucchaṃ ramante yattha bālisā (Ap. II 575. Em. abhejja to amejjha, following Cone 2001, 226).
Therīgāthā 153 proffer its own names for its two extant accounts. The accounts are included under the names Dhammapāla gives for the two women— Abhirūpanandā and Sundarīnandā, although for the latter he says her name was initially Nandā. The Apadāna II verse narrative included in Dhammpāla under the name Sundarīnandā is the same as those in Apadāna I on Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī. However, although those listed under the name Abhirūpanandā in Apadāna II share the name with the biography in Apadāna I, the biographical account is almost entirely different. Abhirūpanandā There are twenty-five verses included in the Apadāna II that are said to be the Apadāna verses of Abhirūpanandā, but in fact only verses 20–22 are the same as the Apadāna I account of Abhirūpanandā, and these three verses (on attainment of certain powers, such as the divine eye) are a standard set of verses that appear in identical and similar form in many other of the Therī-Apadāna accounts.21 The narrative of these twenty-five verses does not provide much biographical content, but does tell us that Abhirūpanandā was born previously (although it does not state this is during the era of Buddha Vipassī) in Bandhumati and was the wife of a khattiya king, Bandhumā. One day, while sitting and quietly reflecting, Abhirūpanandā becomes aware that she had not herself done any good deeds that might lead to a better rebirth and that, in fact, instead, at death, she will “go to a hell that is extremely hot, terrible, of horrible appearance, completely pitiless.”22 Thereupon, she resolves to do some good and asks her husband, the king, to give her a recluse whom she could feed. Having filled the bowl of the recluse with the most excellent food, she covers the bowl with cloth worth a thousand coins and offers it. This virtuous deed serves her well in further births. At death she journeys on among the worlds of gods and men, becoming chief queen to both thousands of deva kings and, in the human realm, equally thousands of wheel-turning monarchs. In the present existence, she is born into the Sakyan family, and becames the “foremost of a thousand women of the son of Suddhodana” (nārīsahassapāmokkhā suddhodhanasutass’ ahaṃ, Thī-a 25), which could be 21. See for example, Dhammadinnā’s verses 32–33 (Ap. II 569), Sakulā’s verses 28–29 (Ap. II 571), Uppaladāyikā’s verses 20–22 (Ap. II 603), Sigālamātā’s verses 25–27 (Ap. II 605) Aḍḍakāsikā’s verses 11–13 (Ap. II 611), and Puṇṇikā’s verses 14–16 (Ap. II 612). Two other verses in Abhirūpanandā’s biography in Apadāna II (1–3) are the same as verses attributed to Ekapiṇḍadāyikā in Apadāna I (verses 1–3, Ap. II 515–16). 22. Mahābhitāpaṃ kaṭukaṃ ghorarūpaṃ sudāruṇaṃ, nirayaṃ nūna gacchāmi . . . (Thī-a II.1 at 25)
154 women in early indian buddhism a reference to her being a chief consort in the bodhisatta’s harem. The next verse then tells that she went forth because she was disenchanted with household life, but does not connect this to the previous verse about her relationship with the Buddha-to-be. The remaining verses essentially tell of all the good that came out of her gift to the recluse: receipt of immeasurable nuns requisites, no rebirth into places of misery, only ever being born into deva or human realms, and in exalted families, and only experiencing pleasure. The final verses conclude by noting her mastery of the supernormal powers, including attainments of the divine eye and ear, and her attainment of Awakening. Therıˉgaˉthaˉ commentary Abhirūpanandā Although this Apadāna II account of Abhirūpanandā is quite different than the usual story of Nandā, Dhammapāla, in his section on Abhirūpanandā in his commentary, retells the more usual story of obsession with beauty. This lack of concord between Dhammapāla’s version and the one in Apadāna II that sits alongside it is not too unusual, appearing at several other points throughout the text. Norman has already noted that this lack of concord raises the question as to whether the Apadāna II excerpts were added into Dhammapāla’s commentary at some later date (1983, 135). In the section on Abhirūpanandā, the Apadāna II excerpt comes at the end, but in other cases, such as for example, that of Mittā (Thī-a II.7 at 34), if the Apadāna II excerpt is removed, Dhammapāla’s narrative flows easily and appears unbroken. However, Dhammapāla was certainly aware of the Apadāna as, at the end of his commentary (Thī-a 269), he notes that one way of classifying nuns is by whether they have an apadāna or not. In comparing Dhammapāla’s account with that of Apadāna II, it can be seen that he maintains the lineal and family details said to be those of Abhirūpanandā in Apadāna I and Apadāna II, that she was the daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan, but other than that he renders no other concurring details.23 23. It might seem tenable to speculate that the reason for this could be that Dhammapāla sought to downplay any suggestion of the Buddha-to-be delighting in concubines of his court. But such an argument would be easily subverted by a quick check of Dhammapāla’s biographies of other nuns whose stories are not told in the Apadāna. Several of the nuns he provides accounts of, otherwise little known nuns, are said to have been concubines in the Bodhisatta’s royal court (see the accounts of the two nuns named Tissā, the second of which includes mention of several other nuns, Thī-a I.4 at 11–12).
Therīgāthā 155 According to Dhammapāla, Abhirūpanandā was born during the era of Buddha Vipassī into the family of a wealthy merchant, in the town of Bandhumati She followed the teaching of Vipassī, and at death, journeyed on through various existences. During the era of Gotama Buddha, she was born as the daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan in Kapilavatthu. She was named Nandā because of her beauty and known as Abhirūpanandā because of the beauty of her physical form. Thus far, Dhammapāla’s narrative repeats the account attributed to Abhirūpanandā in the Apadāna I. At this juncture, Dhammapāla diverges. He recounts that, on the eve of Abhirūpanandā’s marriage to the Sakyan Varabhūta, her husband-to-be died and so her parents reluctantly had her go forth. In the Apadāna I account, Abhirūpanandā goes forth essentially because she is a member of the Sakyan clan, which is —not, in that account, a particularly convincing reason. The concord between the two versions is that Abhirūpanandā was herself reluctant to go forth on each occasion, as she was intoxicated with her own beauty. In both versions, she avoids the Buddha knowing he finds fault with beauty, but eventually does see him, in this case because the Buddha ordains it by asking Mahāpajāpatī to instruct all the nuns to go and see him in turn. He requested this simply so that Abhirūpanandā could have an audience with him, but when her turn came, she sent someone else in her place. This attempt to avoid him failed, and she was ordered to go and see him in the end. Again, the Buddha causes the apparition to appear then shrivel up in front of her eyes, and this brings forth a religious experience for her (saṃvegaṃ uppādetvā, Thī-a II.1 at 24). At this, the Buddha utters Therīgāthā verses 19 and 20 to Abhirūpanandā. Sundarīnandā With regard to Therīgāthā verses 82–86, attributed to the other Nandā, Dhammapāla comments on them in his section on Sundarīnandā. According to Dhammapāla’s commentary, Sundarīnandā was born during the era of Buddha Padumuttara into a good family in the town of Haṃsavatī. She heard Buddha Padumuttara place a nun as foremost of those women who meditate and she aspired to that position. She journeyed on and in the era of Gotama was born into his own Sakyan family. She was named Nandā, came to be called Sundarīnandā because of the beauty of her form (rūpasampattiyā), and was known as the beauty of the district (janapadakalyāṇī).24 The next section notes that, although she 24. This connection to a beautiful form is more often stated in relation to Abhirūpanandā.
156 women in early indian buddhism could light up an entire room with the radiance of her body, Yasodharā shone brighter than she.25 The next paragraph lists events that occurred following the Awakening of the Buddha, which culminated in Nandā going forth. First, her brother Nanda and Rāhula went forth, then her father Suddhodana attained final release (parinibbuta), then Mahāpajāpatī and Rāhula’s mother went forth, and so she pondered on the fact that all of her family had renounced the world to follow the world-honoured one. Deciding there was no point in her remaining within the household life without her family, she too went forth but because of love for her relatives (ñātisinehena), not because she was instilled with faith or confidence in the teachings. Then follows the story of the apparition, although Dhammapāla does not repeat it in full, but refers the reader back to the prior story of Abhirūpanandā. However, he notes, there is a difference here: Sundarīnandā saw the form of the woman overcome by old age, and her mind was turned toward meditation. Seeing her ability to reflect upon and contemplate impermanence, misery and non-self, the Buddha taught her about the impermanence of the body with verses 82–84, and as a consequence she attained entry into the stream. Then follows the Apadāna I account of Nandā Janapadakalyāṇī, at the end of which Dhammapāla comments that Sundarīnandā attained arahantship, and reflecting upon her attainments, she uttered Therīgāthā verses 85–86. Aṅguttara-nikaˉya commentary The Manorathapūraṇī, which contains narrative biographies of the nuns noted in the Aṅguttara-nikāya as distinguished in one quality or another,26 includes a biographical account of the nun Nandā, distinguished according to the Aṅguttara-nikāya for her meditative ability. In this account, she is called not only Nandā, but also Rūpanandā and Janapadakalyāṇī. She is said to be the daughter of Mahāpajāpatī, born before the Buddha-to-be and so again is his sister. The story here is very similar to that of Dhammapāla’s commentary on Sundarīnandā. All the activities of her family are listed; Nanda and Rāhula joined the Order, Suddhodana has died, and Mahāpajāpatī and Rāhula’s mother have gone forth. She is left alone again 25. Pruitt notes that the Burmese and Sinhalese editions suggest this passage was a later addition (Pruitt 1999, 107 n6). 26. See chapter five in this volume.
Therīgāthā 157 and so decides to go forth, and then follows the story of her obsession with her beauty and the Buddha’s apparition. Both end with a quotation of a Dhammapada verse, although only the beginning of the verse is recorded in the Manorathapūraṇī. One noteworthy difference is that the Manorathapūraṇī does not recount the story in full, as Dhammapāla does, instead referencing an earlier telling of it. However, here the other version referenced is the story of Khemā. Dhammapada commentary Janapadakalyāṇī Rūpanandā Finally, the Dhammapada commentary includes a story of a nun called Janapadakalyāṇī Rūpanandā. The verse that this story is a comment upon is the same verse as noted above, one that is repeated in both the Manorathapūraṇī and in Dhammapāla’s commentary on the Therīgāthā. It is a city made of bones, plastered with flesh and blood Where lodge old age and death and pride and deceit.27 The verse, from the chapter in the Dhammapada on old age, teaches that the body is a mere collection of bones, flesh, and blood, and thus the story of Nandā and the Buddha is a fitting story to illustrate this. The story in the Dhammapada commentary begins with Janapadakalyāṇī reflecting on that fact that her entire family has renounced the world. The Buddha she calls her eldest brother, and she mentions her mother having gone forth, but in this case does not name her. She does not mention her brother Nanda, but instead reflects upon that fact that her husband has become a monk. In another story in the Dhammapada commentary, Nanda, the brother of the Buddha, is married to a Janapadakalyāṇī, which is perhaps a confusion of their more usual relationship of brother and sister. She decides to become a nun out of love for her family, and once ordained comes to be known as Rūpanandā because of her outstanding beauty. The same story as above, of her meeting with the Buddha, follows,with some added detail on the moment of the “death” of the apparition: 27. Aṭṭhīnaṃ nagaraṃ kataṃ maṃsalohitalepanaṃ, yattha jarā ca maccu ca māno makkho ca ohito ti (Dhp-a 11.4 at III 118, Thī-a V.4 at 80, Mp 364).
158 women in early indian buddhism Suddenly, her body began to bloat, from its nine openings oozed lumps of pus and worms. Crows and other animals gathered and tore at the carcass.28 The Buddha then gives her the teaching similar to Therīgāthā verses 82–83, and she attains the fruit of conversion.29 At the conclusion of the story, the text reverts to calling her Nandā, although she has been Janapadakalyāṇī at the beginning and Rūpanandā for the most part. Conclusion To conclude, let us summarize the above. As per the table on pages 146–7, if we trace evidence for Nandās through the textual record in the trajectory we assume to be early to late, we find the first texts speak of a Nandā distinguished in her skill in meditation, with verses attributed to her that prefigure the beauty story in the Therīgāthā. In Apadāna I we find the two Nandās with different lineal descent—the daughter of Khemaka the Sakyan and the half-sister of Gotama. Here, however, is the same life account for both—the beauty story. It is only in Apadāna II, now only extant in the Therīgāthā commentary, that there remains evidence of a separate biography, although this does not have much content. The text composed by Dhammapāla himself provides accounts of both the daughter of Khemaka and the daughter of Suddhodana, but in the two cases the biography is the same. In the Manorathapūraṇī we find again Gotama’s sister and the beauty story and finally in the Dhammapada commentary a Nandā who is a wife to Nanda, brother to Gotama, and another Nandā who is his female sibling. With the exception of the account of Abhirūpanandā in Apadāna II, all other biographical accounts of Nandā can be traced back to the two sets of verses in the Therīgāthā. Although this is the case in the extant literature, it does appear that biographies of nuns called Nandā have not remained static through their history within the manuscripttradition. It appears to 28. . . . yeva uddhumātakabhāvaṃ āpajji navahi vaṇamukhehi pubbavaṭṭiyo c’ eva puḷavā ca pagghariṃsu kākādayo sannipatitvā vilumpiṃsu (Dhp-a 11.5 at III 117). 29. Āturaṃ asuciṃ pūtiṃ passa nande samussayaṃ uggharantaṃ paggharantaṃ bālānaṃ abhipatthitaṃ. Yathā idaṃ tathā etaṃ yathā etaṃ tathā idaṃ dhātuyo suññato passa mā lokaṃ punar āgami bhave chandaṃ virājetvā upasantā carissasī (Dhp-a 11.5 at III 117).
Therīgāthā 159 be the case that there was some attempt within the textual tradition to establish historical accounts of the two female disciples called Nandā, although this was only partially successful. Perhaps this lack of success was in part due to the enterprise being spun on the shaky foundations of transmission error. If, indeed, as would be the scholarly perspective, the two sets of verses exist as a result of the fallibility of the transmission process, the subsequent quest within the textual tradition to establish two from one falters in this case on content—the content of the verses being identical, maintaining a second story with little scriptural/historical basis thus proved too problematic in the end.
8 Apadaˉna: Therıˉ-apadaˉna wives of the saints: marriage and in the path to arahantship KAMMA Jonathan S. Walters Introduction the apadāna is an early post-Asokan (ca. 2nd–1st century bce) collection of hagiographical texts in Pāli verse, which is included in the Khuddakanikāya of the Pāli Tipiṭaka as perhaps the latest and final addition to that canon.1 It opens with brief, putative autobiographies of the Buddha (Buddhāpadāna) and of the Paccekabuddhas, unnamed men who in the past achieved Buddhahood without teaching and establishing a religious community (Paccekabuddhāpadāna). But the bulk of the collection narrates the lives of monks (Therāpadāna) and nuns (Therī-apadāna) who became saints (arahants) in the dispensation (sāsana) of the historical Buddha. These too are presented as autobiographical (or more precisely, “autohagiographical”) 1. This chapter has been composed as part of a larger project to translate the entire Apadāna into English, which at this writing (2012) I am pursuing with the generous support of sabbatical leave from Whitman College, and for which I express my gratitude. The Apadāna is the only text of the vast Pāli Tipiṭaka that remains untranslated into a Western language, though portions of it have appeared in various publications, including my own (Walters 1995). It figures centrally in Walters (1990); Walters (1994); Walters (1997); Walters (2003). For fuller studies of the entire text than I am able to provide or engage here, see also Bechert (1958); Cutler (1994). All translations of the Apadāna in this chapter are my own, and I provide them in English verse approximating the meter of the original Pāli due to my conviction that these texts were meant for rhythmic performance. Filler words, odd alternate forms, repetitious phrases, fudged grammar, and so forth in the text betray the centrality of metrical composition to the original authors and editors, and so I have followed suit. While my translations aim to be literal ones, in small ways I have taken poetic license in order to meet the daunting challenge of making the Pāli meter work in modern English. In this chapter I have not reproduced the critical apparatus that indicates those junctures, but the interested reader can find it in the scholarly version of the full translation, which will be available for free at www.whitman.edu/Penrose once it is completed. Cf. also notes 3, 5, and 7, below.
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 161 narratives, in which each monk or nun explains, in the first person, the process that led to his or her achievement of arahantship. Some of these men and women are well known from other (often earlier) sources, but the majority of them are known only to Apadāna. This majority is listed therein as personifications of meritorious deeds (with names like “Lamp-Giver” or “Foot-Worshiper”) rather than being assigned names of historical individuals believed to have played important roles in the early Buddhist community.2 In their apadānas particularly, but even in those of the otherwise famous monks and nuns, Apadāna often merely alludes to, or even fails altogether to mention, certain details. The sorts of details of the present/final life that might be expected of a biographical or hagiographical narrative and that, in the case of the famous monks and nuns, are known from other sources are often absent. Instead, in all cases, apadānas narrate the process leading to arahantship (or in the case of the Buddha, Buddhahood) as the result primarily of meritorious deeds performed in previous lives, during the times of previous Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas. Thus in a typical apadāna a monk or nun begins by describing the meritorious deed he or she performed during the time of a previous Buddha, details the subsequent happy rebirths (both human and divine) experienced as results of that deed, and concludes by portraying his or her present-life arahantship as the culmination of that same kammic trajectory. In other work (Walters 1997) I have interpreted this focus on pieties performed during previous lives in light of the expansion of the Buddhist community after the 3rd century bce. The earlier texts in the Pāli canon had certainly established by then the expectation that good deeds performed by laypeople and less advanced monks and nuns would result in good rebirths among people and in various heavens. However, the achievement of arahantship—which entails the end of all rebirth, nibbāna—was narrated as the exclusive domain of advanced monks and nuns, whose intellectual penetration and meditative effort produced that religious goal. Ordinary people could look forward to future lives as advanced monks and nuns, during which they too could pursue arahantship. But the sorts of religious activities that they typically performed in the present life (and which most Theravāda Buddhists still typically perform today)—giving alms; building temples and monuments; worshiping bodhi trees, thūpas, and similar reminders of the Buddha; adopting special moral codes during full moon day celebrations; listening to sermons—were not explicitly 2. Waldschmidt identifies this method of “naming” in a manuscript colophon from Central Asia, whereby a key event of a story takes the place of the name in the colophon (1980).
162 women in early indian buddhism linked to that eventual goal. This limitation became problematic when, after the advent of Asoka Maurya in the 3rd century bce, whole populations came to embrace the Buddha’s religion. It then became vital to provide religious paradigms that laypeople and less advanced monks and nuns could emulate and thereby progress toward the soteriological goal of nirvana. The authors of Apadāna overcame this limitation with the remarkable insight that if the present-life biographies of the arahants serve as appropriate paradigms for advanced monks and nuns, then their previous-life biographies, when they too were ordinary men and women, must serve as appropriate paradigms for less-advanced people. By doing now what the arahants did then, the Apadāna assures its audience, one can expect in the future to achieve the same release from suffering and rebirth that the arahants achieved as a result of having done those pious deeds. Apadāna’s great contribution here was to draw an explicit link between pieties performed in the present life and the achievement of arahantship during a future one. To make this revelation Apadāna provides biographical details of the previous lives of the arahants that sometimes are and always seem extensive especially in light of the short shrift given their present-life biographies. In most cases Apadāna provides names, occupations, places of residence, dates (either the name of the previous Buddha, or the number of aeons ago during which he lived), descriptions of the piety performed, and more or less detailed accounts of the intermediate human and divine results each arahant experienced prior to the present life. Because the collection is also very large (it narrates the apadānas of some 5503 male and 40 female arahants), the result of this variation in 3. The Pali Text Society edition of Apadāna (Lilley 1925–27) includes 547 apadānas of males (theras); the Buddha Jayanti Tripiṭaka Series Apadāna (Vajirajñāṇa et al., 1961–1983) includes 559; the commentary (Godakumbura 1954) includes 561. The PTS and BJTS editions agree in relating 40 apadānas of females, though there are some reasons to believe that the collection once contained additional nuns’ apadānas (see Collett 2011, 210). While I have not taken on the monumental project of constructing a critical edition of the text (for a model of which see Cutler 1997), my translation does take into account the variance in readings between the PTS and BJTS editions. Where they disagree, the critical apparatus (see n. 1) indicates the disagreement in a footnote and indicates why I have chosen one over the other; where one edition includes verses not found in the other, I translate them anyway at the appropriate juncture, double-numbering each verse according to both the PTS and the BJTS reckonings so that readers can track the differences in the two editions. This too I refrain from reproducing in the present chapter, for reasons of space, and I encourage the interested reader to pursue it via the critical apparatus supplied in the scholarly version of the complete translation online. In the present instance I have found it sufficient to refer only to the PTS edition, which will be most accessible to readers of English. I number the verses only according to the PTS edition, and accordingly also adopt the occasionally archaic transliteration system which the PTS edition also employs, notably the use of “ŋ” for the now-more-common “ṃ” to denote the anusvāra.
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 163 detail is a vast catalog of efficacious pieties coupled with an almost universal appeal. People in all walks of life, castes, occupations, and regions, young and old, male and female—even animals and supernatural beings—could find a homologue among the previous lives of the arahants. Put differently, Apadāna embraced the whole of society and offered it a vast number of possible pieties that could be performed to effect future arahantship. Yet for all this interest to address the real lives of ordinary people by detailing the previous-life biographies that the arahants are believed to have recalled, the apadānas ascribed to male arahants—constituting the bulk of the whole Apadāna collection—curiously have virtually nothing to say about marriage and previous-life spouses. Marriage is not one of the categories of biographical detail provided in the monks’ past-life stories, let alone in the present-life ones, and the wives of these saints thus remain almost entirely unmentioned and unnamed.4 Reading the Therāpadāna one might well conclude that there were no women at all behind these great men. This is curious because marriage is an institution that centrally defines lay life and distinguishes it from monastic existence. Even though these stories all narrate the eventual escape from such worldly bonds, in many or most cases that escape itself presumably would have involved certain struggles. These would have included the struggle to give up the pleasures of marriage, as well as struggles with abandoned spouses, and such struggles in turn would have been highly relevant to the audience of laypeople and still-struggling monks and nuns addressed by these texts. Interestingly, husbands and wives do figure 4. The only clear exception to this statement which I have found is in the apadāna of one Khomadāyaka Thera (“Cloth Provider,” #30; Ap. I:80, v. 1) who is made to say: In the city Bandhumatī I [lived as] a trader back then. In that way supporting [my] wife (dāraŋ) I planted the seeds of [great] wealth. There are a number of additional instances in which the becoming-arahants refer more generally to “friends, family, and relatives” whom they gathered together to perform their root pieties, as a collective agent which presumably included their wives and other women. We know from inscriptions that women were included in many such group pieties during the historical period of Apadāna’s composition (see below, n. 13), and women surely are intended to be among its audience (and presumably were included among its authors, on which see my next note). But the fact that this phrase specifically fails to mention wives is really a case-in-point, as becomes explicit in Bhaddā-Kāpilāni-apadāna’s refusal to let MahāKassapa-apadāna get away with it (see below, section 2).
164 women in early indian buddhism regularly in the roughly contemporary, parallel jātaka stories of the Buddha’s previous lives, in which many of the “rebirth precursors,” to borrow Frank Reynolds’ (1991) salubrious phrase, of the famous arahants also play roles. Husbands and wives also figure in various ways in the this-lifefocused biographical accounts of the famous monks and nuns found in earlier canonical texts such as the Pāli vinaya and the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā. Indeed, it appears from a close reading of the parallel Therī-apadāna that this elision of wives from the monks’ apadānas troubled some Buddhists of the day, too. While still not given the prominence we might expect, marriage plays a number of interesting roles in the nuns’ apadānas. There, marriage is one of the details of previous, intermediate, and even present lives that the authors regularly are concerned to relate. In two of the nuns’ apadānas in particular—that of Bhaddā-Kāpilāni Therī (“Auspicious Woman of the Kapila Clan,” #27), this-life wife of the arahant Mahā-Kassapa, and that of Yasodharā Therī (“Famous,” #28), this-life wife of the Buddha himself—we are provided in-depth reflections on the role of marriage in the kammic trajectory that leads from root piety to arahantship. Thus we can note at the outset that concern with marriage was gendered. So it behooves us to examine that concern for the insight it might provide into the larger gendered contexts of the historical period during which, and for which, Apadāna was composed. This chapter therefore proceeds by exploring in Section 1 the generalized concern with marriage evinced in the Therī-apadāna accounts, and interpreting it vis-à-vis the absence thereof in the Therāpadāna. It then nuances that examination through close attention to the apadānas of Bhaddā-Kāpilāni (Section 2) and Yasodharā (Section 3). It concludes by returning to the collection as a whole and the gendered differences between those apadānas written about (and presumably by) men, and those written about (and presumably by) women.5 5. The strongest argument for female authorship of Therī-apadāna—and not of Therāpadāna—is a qualitative one: the nuns’ apadānas reflect women’s experience in very distinct ways (see Walters 1994; Collett 2011). The Therī-Apadāna not only focuses on women as its main subject but also narrates a world in which goddesses, laywomen, and female attendants replace the gods, laymen, and male attendants who usually figure in the monks’ apadānas. But the authorship of the text—even its date and region of composition— remain open questions for future work. Cf also n. 1 above and n. 7 below.
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 165 1. Marriage in the Therıˉ-apadāna The Therāpadāna constitutes about two-thirds of the whole Apadāna collection. Generalizations about even this portion of the Apadāna are difficult because it contains such a variety of texts. The individual apadānas of the monks range in size from just a few verses to well over two hundred. In some only a single root piety under a single previous Buddha is mentioned, but in others the becoming-arahants perform pieties during a succession of Buddha eras. Some apadānas pursue literary interests that sometimes digress from the soteriological focus of the genre,6 and the poetic quality of individual apadānas likewise varies greatly. It is thus likely that the collection represents the work of multiple authors.7 Yet there are certain conventions in Therāpadāna which create a sense of consistency amidst all this variation. For example, with a few exceptions all of the monks’ apadānas conclude with this formulaic statement of arahantship: The four analytical modes, and these eight deliverances, six special knowledges mastered, [I have] done what the Buddha taught!8 6. For example, the apadāna of the Buddha’s chief disciple Sāriputta Thera (#1; Ap. I:15–31) opens with a minutely detailed description of the flora, fauna and geography of his hermitage during a previous life as the ascetic Saruci (v. 1–33), followed by a lengthy passage describing the virtues of his students during that time (v. 35–65). It also contains two beautiful, extended speeches in which Saruci praises the knowledge of Buddha Anomadassī (v. 77–92) and then, reborn as Sāriputta, he praises the Buddha Gotama (v. 159–208). The apadāna of Upāli Thera (#6; Ap. I:37–48) is similarly rich with extended metaphors describing the virtues of the Buddha and his followers, and the positive effect discipleship had upon Upāli, which seem more a display of poetic skill than a necessary detail of the kammic trajectory. 7. The tradition, which maintains that these verses were actually spoken by the monks to whom they are ascribed, would lead us to believe that there were more than five hundred authors of just the Therāpadāna. 8. Beginning with #371 (Pattipupphiya Thera, who is #374 in the BJTS edition) the manuscripts conclude almost all the texts in Therāpadāna with a fuller three-verse refrain that prefaces the main formula quoted here with two additional verses. There is some variation in the first twenty or so subsequent apadānas, which sometimes invert the order of the two prefaced verses, and in some instances the text substitutes a different two feet (“All my outflows are exhausted”) for “Like elephants . . . without constraint.” But the “inverted version” (below) becomes the consistent reading for all the rest of the Therāpadāna and for all of the Therī-apadāna:
166 women in early indian buddhism This is followed by an equally formulaic colophon that “thus indeed Venerable [so-and-so] Thera spoke these verses. The apadāna of [so-and-so] Thera is finished.” As well as this formulaic conclusion, various verses and especially individual feet of verses recur over and over throughout the texts, similarly creating a sense of consistency. Most notably, many of the famous monks are said to have received a prediction of their future arahantship from a previous Buddha, and multiple-verse parts of that narrative are also shared, verbatim, across numerous apadānas. Buddhas are regularly referred to in strings of epithets that likewise are shared across the texts, as are the dates (in numbers of aeons ago that they lived) ascribed to the previous Buddhas. I begin with this structural introduction to the Therāpadāna in order to suggest that the brief sections attributed to the Buddha (Buddhāpadāna) and to the Paccekabuddhas (Paccekabuddhāpadāna), as well as the section attributed to the nuns (Therī-apadāna), are fruitfully interpreted as subsequent additions to an original core of texts about the male arahants. Buddhāpadāna follows none of these conventions of the monks’ apadānas, being in fact a very unique text not only for Apadāna but for the whole Theravāda tradition (it is described in detail below). Paccekabuddhāpadāna similarly is lacking these same conventions, being as it consists mostly of [My] defilements are [now] burnt up; all [new] existence is destroyed. Like elephants with broken chains, I am living without constraint. Being in the Best Buddha’s midst was a very good thing for me. The three knowledges are attained; [I have] done what the Buddha taught! The four analytical modes, and these eight deliverances, six special knowledges mastered, [I have] done what the Buddha taught. It would thus appear that this full three-verse refrain was being worked out and played with during the composition of the texts prior to about #390 of Therāpadāna (although the BJTS manuscripts also add the [non-inverted] full version to some of the first ten monks’ apadānas). The fact that Therī-apadāna consistently employs this finalized “inverted version” of the three-verse refrain may be taken to confirm the point suggested below, namely that Therī-apadāna’s composition was subsequent to that of Therāpadāna, i.e., to the working out of the three-verse refrain. The four paṭisambhidās or analytical modes, eight vimokkhas or deliverances, and six abhiññās or special knowledges are generalized attainments of arahants well known in the earlier canonical texts.
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 167 the much earlier Padhāna-sutta of Sutta-nipāta.9 These two would have been added to the core in order to contextualize the monks’ apadānas, which all involve meeting the Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas during previous lives. The narratives in Therī-apadāna on the other hand do follow most of the conventions found in the monks’ apadānas. They do conclude with the formulaic statement of arahantship and the colophon,10 share whole verses and especially individual feet of verses with each other and with the texts of Therāpadāna—in the case of the famous nuns they also share the narrative in which a previous Buddha predicts their future arahantship— employ the same epithets for Buddhas (exhibiting the same interest in their deployment), and follow the same dating scheme of the previous Buddhas. Yet there are various reasons to consider Therī-apadāna a subsequent addition as well. It is much shorter, containing less than a tenth of the number of individual apadānas, and only about one-fifth as many verses as are found in Therāpadāna. The manuscripts used by the Pali Text Society editor conclude Therāpadāna with a colophon suggesting that the nuns’ apadānas were at some stage not included in the collection.11 Further, the 13th-century commentary, Visuddhajanavilāsinī, likewise concludes after the Therāpadāna without mention of the nuns’ biographies. Beyond these structural considerations, two stylistic divergences similarly suggest separate and subsequent authorship. One of them is a consistent concern to flesh out the biographical situations of the female arahants, during previous as well as present/final lives, with richer detail than is found in any of the monks’ apadānas. The other is a sort of “feminist edge” that can be discerned in many of the nuns’ biographies, as though they were responding to an already existent text about males (cf. Walters 1994). The inclusion of details about marriage intersects both these stylistic divergences, which I therefore proceed now to describe more fully. 9. This is SN 3.2, a brief sutta in which Māra (Death) approaches the Bodhisatta during the six years of severe asceticism he undertook prior to attaining Buddhahood. Māra points to his emaciation and similar bodily suffering as a reason to give up the quest, then departs when this ploy fails to undermine the Bodhisatta’s determination. 10. See, however, n. 8, above: their consistent employment of the finalized, “inverted version” of the three-verse refrain may confirm that they are later/separate compositions. 11. Ettāvatā Buddhâpadānañ ca Paccekabuddhâpadānañ ca Therâpadānañ ca samattā ti. Nibbānapaccayo hotu. “To this extent the apadānas of the Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and Theras are finished. Let it be the foundation for nibbāna!” (Ap. I:511).
168 women in early indian buddhism Many of the Therī-apadāna references to marriage are merely off hand ones that establish biographical context for the main story. Thus both Ekapiṇḍadāyikā Therī (“One Ball [of Food] Donor,” #6) and Uppaladāyikā Therī (“Lotus Donor,” #33) open by naming a king from the past and indicating that “I was the wife of that king” (tassa rañño ahaŋ bhariyā). This wife, reflecting on her failure to perform any meritorious deeds, and thereby her consequent destiny for rebirth in hell, asks her husband to provide her with a monk to whom to give alms (Ap. II:515–16, v. 1–4; Ap. II:601, v. 1–5). In each of the two narratives, the wife is granted this opportunity and proceeds to perform the root piety that eventuates her arahantship. Similarly, Uppalavaṇṇā Therī (“Lotus-Colored,” #19) relates that in one of her intermediate births she, “having been the chief queen of the king of Benares” (kāsirañño mahesī ‘haŋ hutvā), gave birth to no fewer than 500 royal sons. In their youth, while sporting in the water, they all become Paccekabuddhas after seeing fallen lotus leaves. Bereft of them she dies in grief, but reborn in the next life, while providing alms to eight Paccekabuddhas, she remembers her former sons and in her maternal love milk then flows from her breasts (Ap. II:555, v. 58–62). In her present/final life Paṭācārā Therī (“Wanderer in a Cloth,” #20) marries a commoner (naraŋ janapadaŋ, “a man of the countryside”) and goes off with him against the wishes of her opulent parents. When she is pregnant with her second child, however, she sets out to visit her parents, carrying the first-born with her. Her husband, displeased, chases after her, but when he reaches her a terrible storm arises. Going off to build a shelter, he is killed by a serpent. Grieving and beset with labor pains she crosses a river and gives birth, but when she then goes back across the river to retrieve her elder son the infant is carried off by an osprey, while the older boy is swept away in the current of the river. She then returns to her home only to discover that her parents and siblings have all died and are being cremated together at that very moment. Thereupon meeting the Buddha, she is quickly able to grasp his teaching that sons, parents, and relatives offer no protection against suffering and attains arahantship (Ap. II:558–59, v. 22–35). Kisā-Gotamī Therī (“Lean Gotamī,” #22) is likewise born in a millionaire’s clan during her present/final life, but her own family is destitute. She marries into a well-off family (gatā . . . sadhanaŋ kulaŋ) but other than her husband (patiŋ ṭhapetvā) the rest of them despise her poverty until she gives birth to a son, upon which she is muchbeloved. When, however, the son then dies she goes mad with grief and wanders about with the corpse in hand, trying to find a medicine to revive
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 169 him. She finally meets the Buddha who famously tells her that he can bring the son back to life with a white mustard seed obtained from a home that has experienced no death. Going from home to home she eventually comes to understand death’s terrible universality, and like Paṭācāra makes this realization the foundation for her own arahantship (Ap. II:565–66, v. 19–25). Dhammadinnā Therī (“Given by Dhamma,” #23) “goes to another family” (parakulaŋ gantvā) and lives happily until her husband (sāmiko) hears the dhamma and becomes a non-returner; she then also goes forth and becomes an arahant (Ap. II:569, v. 24–26). Like her, Sonā Therī (“Cleansed,” #26) “goes to a husband’s family” (gantvā patikulaŋ) and gives birth to ten sons, but when to her displeasure they all renounce the world along with their father, she tracks them to the monastery where they are staying. Meeting a nun who instructs her in the nature of suffering, she quickly achieves arahantship (Ap. II:577, v. 10–17). In each of the foregoing examples, the fact of marriage is a necessary contextualizing detail, in the absence of which the main story could not be narrated. This no doubt reflects a historical situation in which a grown woman’s status was largely defined by her husband (and after his death, her sons), just as an unmarried girl’s status was largely defined by her father and other male relatives.12 Marriage (or birth) to powerful men largely determined the power of women. Alice Collett (2011) has persuasively argued that a central goal of the Therī-apadāna narratives was “to establish a female past for the [Buddhist] tradition” in which, we know from inscriptional and archaeological evidence, women did play significant roles as nuns and lay donors.13 Given that historical situation, it 12. It is important to recognize that some of the nuns’ apadānas refer to fathers and other male relatives as a contextualizing detail that functions much like marriage does in the foregoing examples. This is especially clear in the repeated narrative about the seven daughters of Kikī the King of Kāsi (Benares) studied by Alice Collett (2011). They—including several of the nuns just mentioned (Uppalavaṇṇā, Paṭācārā, Kisā-Gotamī, and Dhammadinnā)— were sisters (during the time of the previous Buddha Kassapa) who, refused permission by their father to become nuns, nevertheless remained in the home unmarried and devoted themselves to performing meritorious deeds. In Therī-apadāna a number of other nuns similarly perform their root pieties “while tagging along with father,” e.g., Sigālaka-mātā Therī (#34; Ap. II:603, v.3) and Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī (#17; Ap. II:537, v. 97). This displacement of woman’s agency onto her husband and other male relatives was formalized in the classical law books of Brahmanism (dharmaśāstras), which maintained that marriage was the single and definitive life-cycle ritual (saṃskāra) for women. See the next chapter of this volume, chapter nine, for a discussion of some Brahmanical notions of marriage. 13. For a discussion see Walters (1994, esp. p. 371 and references provided in the notes there); cf. Walters (1997, esp. p. 186, n. 42).
170 women in early indian buddhism should come as no surprise that this past was often established on the basis of a given woman’s marriage (or parentage). The necessity of marriage to establish this female past becomes especially apparent when we consider another category of marriage references found in the Therī-apadāna. The text contains a stock claim made by many of the individual female arahants that during her intermediate lives she “was fixed in the chief queen’s place” (mahesittaŋ akārayiŋ) of a certain number of kings of the gods, and likewise of a certain number of human kings, some of whom usually are specified to have been wheel-turning (cakkavatti, Skt. cakravarti) monarchs.14 This claim is best understood in light of the parallel Buddhist history constructed in Therāpadāna. Here a great number of male arahants, using parallel stock phraseology, claim the obverse. During their intermediate lives they were kings of the gods and wheel-turning or lesser human kings some specified number of times (usually bearing personal names reflective of the root piety that led them into those exalted stations).15 This sovereign achievement is sometimes included among the predictions that the previous Buddhas make of them. The history of divine and human rulership thus constructed—which is populated by becoming-arahants and fuelled by the good kamma of their root pieties—opens an obvious space for female counterparts because divine as well as human kings famously enjoy superior (and oftentimes numerous) wives.16 Sometimes the previous Buddha’s prediction specifies, as in the case of Sāriputta (“Sāri’s Son”) Thera, that: 14. This stock claim recurs in the apadānas of Sumedhā Therī (“Wise” #1); Tīṇinaḷamālikā Therī (“Three Reed Garland-er” #5); Ekapiṇḍadāyikā Therī (“One Ball [of Food] Donor”), #6; Kaṭacchubhikkhadāyikā Therī (“A Spoonful of Begged-for Food Donor” #7); Sattuppalamālikāya Therī (“Seven Blue Lotus Flower-er”, #8); Pañcadīpikā Therī (“Five Lamps” #9); Udakadāyikā Therī (“Water Donor”, #10); Ekūposathikā Therī (“One Full Moon Observance”, #11); Ekāsanadāyikā Therī (“One Seat Donor” #14); Pañcadīpadāyikā Therī (“Five-Lamps Donor” #15); Sālamālikā Therī (“Sal Garland-er” #16); Khemā Therī (“Peace” #18); Bhaddā-Kuṇḍalakesā Therī (“Auspicious Curly-Hair” #21); Nandā or Janapadakalyāṇi Therī (“Joy” or “Beauty of the Countryside” #25); Uppaladāyikā Therī (“Lotus Donor”, #33). Several more nuns, including Bhaddā-Kāpilāni Therī (#27) and Yasodharā Therī (#28), who are discussed in the next two sections, also claim to have been married to human and/or divine kings without however employing this stock phraseology. 15. This theme, in one variation or another, is found in virtually all the monks’ apadānas, even those which are only a few verses long (and in which, therefore, this claim becomes the most salient biographical detail provided). I leave off listing them here for considerations of space. 16. For a provocative examination of just how seriously human kings’ superior sexuality was taken see Ali 2004.
171 Apadāna: Therī-apadāna Women numbering sixteen thousand, ladies who’re all-ornamented with varied clothes and jewelry and wearing earrings made of gems with long eyelashes, lovely smiles and slim waists, pleasant to look at will ceaselessly surround this one; that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (Ap. I:22, v.106–7)17 And the wheel-turning monarchs are regularly introduced with the epithet “possessor of the seven gems” (sattaratanasampanno), among which the “woman gem” (itthiratana, Skt. strīratna) was reckoned an especially significant one.18 But none of the texts of the Therāpadāna draws the obvious (and marvelous) conclusion, namely that the superb female consorts of such becoming-arahant god-kings and human-kings were (and in the context of the day, are) themselves becoming-arahant god-queens and human-queens. Only in Therī-apadāna does this possibility becomes explicit. In its opening verses, Sumedhā Therī (“Wise,” #1) states that “being the chief queen of one who possessed the seven gems, I was the womangem” (Lilley II:512, v. 3: sattaratanassa mahesī itthiratanaŋ ahaŋ bhaviŋ). As Therī-apadāna proceeds to enumerate the vast number of times that particular nuns were chief queens of god-kings and human-kings, it repopulates Therāpadāna’s universal history with the women who later became arahants in the dispensation of Gotama Buddha. This establishes further place for women in the Buddhist past and likely proved especially poignant to those in the Apadāna’s audience who were themselves Buddhist queens. The necessity of marriage that I have been discussing certainly points to the dependence of Buddhist queens on Buddhist kings. This is the case whether we are talking about legendary queens in a constructed Buddhist past or real ones in a then-present Buddhist audience. But as John Strong 17. Virtually identical (future) pleasures are predicted of Upāli Thera (#6, Ap. I:40, v. 38–39) and Upavāna Thera (#22, Ap. I:73, v. 40–41). Additional prediction sequences too numerous to detail here assure the becoming-arahant of more generalized pleasures in heaven. 18. The other six gems of a wheel-turning monarch were his wheel (cakka, sometimes understood to mean the chariot, and sometimes a more symbolic representation of his power), elephant, horse, gem, steward (or wealth), and advisor.
172 women in early indian buddhism (2003) has provocatively suggested in his study of “Buddhist Queenship,” dependence was only one-third of the case. In his reading of the story of Asoka Maurya’s queen, Asandhimittā, Buddhist queens and kings were also to some extent interdependent: possessing the “seven gems” made marriage a requirement for the cakkavattin kings too. Also, we know from inscriptional evidence that Buddhist and later non-Buddhist kings relied upon their queens to perform Buddhist pieties for them (cf. Walters 2000, 110–11; Walters 2008, 174–77, 179). More important, according to Strong, Buddhist queens were also to some extent independent. We start to see what I have dubbed the “feminist edge” in Therī-apadāna when we remember that these women became queens of divine and human kings not because of those males, but because of the root pieties that they themselves performed during their own previous lives. This point is made explicit in the way Bhaddā-Kuṇḍalakesā Therī’s apadāna (#21) presents the generalized attainment: In whichever place I’m reborn, as a result of that kamma I was fixed in the chief queen’s place of kings in this and that [heaven]. Fallen from there, among humans, I was fixed in the chief queen’s place of kings who turned the wheel [of Law] as too of kings in [their] circles.19 (Ap. II:561, v. 11–12) The repetition of these two verses in the apadāna of Nandā (Janapadakalyāṇi) Therī (#25) adds emphasis to its explicit revelation that one becomes a Buddhist queen through one’s own meritorious kamma. Many of the additional Therī-apadāna passages about being the chief queen of so many kings of gods and cakkavattins nuance this point. The stock claim is phrased in such a way as to emphasize that these exalted marriages during the intermediate lives were about female, in addition to male, power. Thus Ekapiṇḍadāyikā Therī (#6) states: 19. That is, kings whose underlordship to world-conquering emperors was enacted through their participation in his imperial circle (rājamaṇḍalā), on which see especially Inden (1981); Inden (2000). For its playing out in the ancient and medieval Sri Lankan Buddhist kingdoms that preserved the Apadāna see Walters (2000); Walters (2008).
173 Apadāna: Therī-apadāna I was fixed in the chief queen’s place of thirty kings among the gods. Whatever my mind wishes for comes into being as desired.20 I was fixed in the chief queen’s place of twenty kings who turned the wheel. With accumulated [merit] I transmigrated through lifetimes. (Ap. II:516, v. 8–9) Similarly, the previous Buddha Tissa predicts of the becoming-arahant Kaṭacchubhikkhadāyikā Therī (#7) that: Giving this spoonful of begged food, you will go to Tāvatiṃsa.21 You’ll be fixed in the chief queen’s place of thirty-six kings of the gods. You’ll be fixed in the chief queen’s place of fifty kings who turn the wheel. Everything your mind may wish for you will receive [it] every day. Having enjoyed [great] happiness you will go forth possessionless. Destroying all [your] defilements, you’ll reach nibbāna, undefiled. (Ap. II:517, v. 3–5) In a stronger statement still, Sattuppalamālikāya Therī (#8) claims: I was fixed in the chief queen’s place of seventy kings of the gods. Everywhere a female ruler I transmigrated life to life. I was fixed in the chief queen’s place 20. These same two feet are repeated in the same context in the apadāna of Sālamālikā Therī (#16; Ap. II:529, v. 4). 21. The highest heaven.
174 women in early indian buddhism of sixty-three wheel-turning kings. They all conform to my [wishes]; I’m she whose words are listened to. (Ap. II:518, v. 11–12) The rulership of the queens, and the good kamma that produced it, was their own. Many of the individual nuns’ apadānas also stipulate that Buddhist queens enjoyed many pleasures, including being happy, being wealthy, being attended upon by others, and enjoying fabulous heavenly mansions. These were likewise their own, experienced independently of their royal husbands. Strong’s threefold analysis of the Buddhist queen as simultaneously dependent, interdependent, and independent helps us make sense of the complexity found in the apadānas of the two most famous wives of saints, Bhaddā-Kāpilāni and Yasodharā. Both of them were likewise chief queens to their present-life husbands (Mahā-Kassapa and the Buddha, respectively) when the latter were enjoying their intermediate lives as divine and human kings. In the apadānas of those therīs, too, we see ways in which they were dependent on their husbands, but also ways in which they and their husbands were interdependent, and an insistence that in some ways they were independent of their husbands. I turn to these detailed pictures of kammic marriage in the following two sections. But I conclude this section by pointing to a final apadāna in which this “edgy” independence of wives from their husbands is especially clear, that of Bhaddā-Kuṇḍalakesā Therī (#21). Though not a queen, in her present life Bhaddā-Kuṇḍalakesā was the daughter of an opulent millionaire. Becoming infatuated with a thief she sees being led for execution, she soon marries him after her father purchases his freedom. She lives as his “trustworthy, very loving and friendly” wife but “that enemy, being greedy for [her] valuable ornaments,” leads her to a mountain precipice on the pretense of performing a sacrifice. In fact, he intends to murder her. Discerning his plan she attempts to save her life by offering him her finery freely and lowering herself to the status of “bed-slave” (mañca-dāsī). But then he replies: Take it off, o beautiful one, [and] do not feel a lot of grief; I am unable to accept wealth that I did not kill to get.
175 Apadāna: Therī-apadāna For as long as I remember since I attained to puberty I’ve accepted no other one more beloved than you [to me]. (Ap. II:562, v. 28–29) She quickly devises a ruse to get him to the edge of the cliff, then throws him into the precipice, reveling: The man is not the one who’s wise in every single circumstance; paying attention here and there the woman is the one who’s wise. The man is not the one who’s wise in every single circumstance; quickly thinking strategically the woman is the one who’s wise. (Ap. II:562, v. 31–32) 2. Bhadda-Kāpilāni as the wife of a saint Bhaddā-Kāpilāni Therī (“Auspicious Woman of the Kapila Clan” #27) of the Therī-apadāna (Ap. II:578–84, 70 verses), was the this-life wife of one of the Buddha’s chief disciples, the arahant Mahā-Kassapa (“Great Kassapa”) Thera. Mahā-Kassapa was reckoned the male member of the early community most advanced in austere practices, and his own apadāna appears as #3 in the Therāpadāna (Ap. I:33–35, 22 verses). In this section of the chapter I compare the apadānas of husband and wife because together they allow me to further illustrate a number of the general themes introduced in the previous section, and because BhaddaKāpilāni’s apadāna provides a particularly detailed account of the intersection of marriage and kamma in the trajectory from root piety to arahantship. Mahā-Kassapa’s apadāna is typical of the Therāpadāna. It is completely silent about Mahā-Kassapa’s marriages, but in his case this is particularly jarring because, as we shall see, their multi-life conjugality figures so centrally in the apadāna of his wife. The husband’s comparatively brief apadāna opens with a description of his root piety: building a splendid
176 women in early indian buddhism thūpa for the departed Padumuttara Buddha (100,000 aeons ago) in concert with his “family and friends” (v. 1–6). This is followed by thirteen verses (v. 7–19) detailing the heavenly mansion he enjoyed among the gods; the worldly palace he enjoyed as the cakkavattin named Ubbiddha 60,000 aeons ago (during which aeon he was a cakkavattin, presumably by the same name, “fully thirty times”); and the great city Rammaka that those cakkavattins ruled. The text concludes with the briefest allusion to his present/final life: Having lived there and having left I returned to the world of gods. In this, my final existence, I’m born in an accomplished clan. Born into a brahmin family I had a massive heap of gems. Eight hundred million [worth of ] gold abandoned, I renounced [the world]. The four analytical modes, and these eight deliverances, six special knowledges mastered, [I have] done what the Buddha taught! (v. 20–22) The wife’s apadāna also opens in the time of Padumuttara, but it tells the back-story to the building of the thūpa then. At that time, Mahā-Kassapa was then named Videha, a leading millionaire with many gems in the city of Haṃsavatī. One time, along with his servants, he went to hear Padumuttara Buddha preach and on that occasion the Buddha praised the disciple who was foremost in the practice of austerities. The millionaire served the Buddha alms for a week then aspired to attain that state himself, making everyone in his retinue smile. At that very instant Padumuttara Buddha predicted the future arising of Gotama Buddha and the millionaire’s rebirth as Kassapa, who would indeed be foremost among the disciples who practice austerities. Gladdened by that he then lovingly served Padumuttara Buddha the rest of his life (v. 1–9). Only then does the Buddha pass away (v. 10) and: When that World-Chief reached nibbāna assembling [his] kinsmen and friends to do pūjā to the Teacher
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 177 with them [Videha] had constructed a thūpa that was made of gems rising up seven leagues [in height] which blazed forth just as does the sun; like a regal sal tree in bloom. (v. 11–12) The wife’s apadāna here unmistakably refers to the opening of her husband’s apadāna by mentioning the detail that he acted in concert with his family and friends; it even borrows the imagery of blazing like the sun or a blooming sal (Vateria acuminata) tree from the husband’s apadāna. But as though all the details of the back-story weren’t enough, Bhaddā-Kāpilāni then proceeds to describe the thūpa itself in far greater detail than even Mahā-Kassapa’s somewhat elaborate (for these texts) account. Her apadāna supplies, in nine verses, a description of the thūpa’s architectural features and the rituals that, she says, her husband performed there for the rest of his life (v. 13–21). Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna proceeds to describe a series of additional root pieties performed by her husband during previous lives: 1. As a Brahmin living in Bandhumatī who gave Vipassi Buddha (91,000 aeons ago) a cloak (v. 24–30). 2. As a “ruler of the earth” in Benares who gave costly alms and various gold objects to eight Paccekabuddhas (v. 30–35). 3. As one of three brothers in a happy landholding family outside the Benares gates who gave alms to a Paccekabuddha (v. 35–41). 4. As a sage named Sumitta, again in the region of Benares, who gave an unspecified number of Paccekabuddhas a[nother] cloak (v. 47–48). 5. As a member of the Koliya clan in the Kingdom of Kāsi (Benares) who with 500 kinsmen served 500 Paccekabuddhas alms for three months then gifted them all with monastic robes (v. 49–51). 6. As a king named Nanda whose specific piety is unmentioned (v. 52). 7. As the world-ruling King Brahmadatta who personally served 500 Paccekabuddhas (v. 53–55). Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna further provides details of Mahā-Kassapa’s present/final life, including his given name, birthplace, and parentage (v. 56), and the details of his arahantship (which occurs when he is moved at the sight of a crow devouring some creature, v. 59). None of these details—not even a reference to the austere practices for which he is best known—is found in Mahā-Kassapa’s own apadāna.
178 women in early indian buddhism On first blush the subject of the wife’s apadāna is thus actually the husband, but the interest of the text goes beyond mere reportage of biographical details about Mahā-Kassapa. Throughout this narrative, BhaddāKāpilāni gently but consistently is inserted into the rich kammic biography thus produced of her husband: There was then in Haṃsavatī a leader known as Videha, a millionaire with many gems; I was the wife of him [back then]. (v. 2) Along with that millionaire I, as long as I lived [also] did those merit-filled deeds thoroughly; [and] with [him] I [had] good rebirths. Experiencing happiness both as a human and a god, I was reborn along with him, like a shadow with the body. (v. 22–23) And at that time, of the same mind, I was his brahmin woman [wife] . . . (v. 26) . . . he spoke these [words] to me [just then]: “Approve of this great good kamma, the cloak given to the Buddha.” Then clasping hands together I, well-satisfied, did [then] approve: “Husband, this cloak is gifted well to Best Buddha, the Neutral One.” (v. 28–29) I was the chief queen of that [king], supreme in his troupe of women. I was extremely dear to him due to past love for [my] husband. (v. 31) . . . I gave that very almsgiving with the Kāsi king [way] back then. (v. 35) I was [the Sage Sumitta’s] wife, happy, joyful and [much] beloved . . . (v. 48) [I] too sharing in that merit approving of that great alms gift . . . (v. 49) I was the [Koliyan’s] wife then following [his] path of merit . . . (v. 51)
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 179 . . . I was [King Nanda’s] chief queen [then]; my every desire was fulfilled. (v. 52) . . . dwelling in the royal garden I [too] worshiped those Gone-Out Ones. (v. 54) My father having adorned me with a thick golden ornament gave me to the wise Kassapa who’d avoided desire for me. (v. 58) When wise [Kassapa] had renounced I followed him in renouncing . . . . (v. 61) Though many of these passages are indicative of her dependence on her husband—“like his shadow”—Bhaddā-Kāpilāni clearly takes this to be a good thing: After not a very long time I achieved the arahant-state. O! Being the “beautiful friend”22 of the resplendent Kassapa! (v. 63) And as with the Buddhist queens discussed in the previous section, dependence is not the end of the story here. Many of the passages just quoted are suggestive of the interdependence of husband and wife, who perform these pious deeds together. The brahmin who gives Vipassi Buddha a cloak seems to need his wife’s approval (which she gives). Also, it takes but a small stretch of the imagination to realize that the wife would have been integral to any of these pieties: the duties of a wife would include organizing things, cooking the food, and sewing and then replacing the cloak that had been given away.23 In Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s account of Mahā-Kassapa’s almsgiving to a Paccekabuddha, when he was one of three landholding brothers (v. 35–41), we get 22. Kalyāṇa-mittā is a term the Buddha uses in the suttas to indicate the sort of companion who enables, encourages, and entwines one in meritorious things. It is juxtaposed with the “ugly (akalyāṇa) friend” who enables, encourages, and entwines one in demeritorious things. 23. Such domestic service is an especially prominent theme in Yasodharā Therī’s apadāna, discussed in the next section.
180 women in early indian buddhism a particularly rich glimpse into what must indeed have been the complex inner-workings of a household committed to performing acts of merit. The eldest brother (who is Mahā-Kassapa’s rebirth precursor) is away from the house when the Paccekabuddha comes for alms. The youngest brother offers the Paccekabuddha his eldest brother’s portion of food. When the eldest returns and his wife (Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s rebirth precursor) tells him what has happened, he “does not rejoice about that almsgiving” (nābhinandittha so dānaŋ), so the wife takes the food back from the Paccekabuddha and gives it to her husband. When he then gives it back to the Paccekabuddha himself, the wife is enraged.24 She retrieves the bowl for a second time, throws away the food, fills it up with mud, and then gives it once again to the Paccekabuddha! But when she then notices the Paccekabuddha’s equanimity—he has remained unmoved by the whole scene, and accepts the bowl of mud without any difference from the way he accepted the home-cooked meal—she has a change of heart. She takes back the bowl for a third time, cleanses and perfumes it, fills it with clarified butter (ghata, ghee) and offers it to him with proper reverence (sakkāraŋ adaŋ). This restores to the whole household the meritoriousness of giving alms to a Paccekabuddha, which means that in that instance, anyway, Kassapa’s rebirth precursor, in several ways, would not have made merit except for the actions of his wife. This interdependence of husband and wife becomes explicit at two points near the end of Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna. Here the syntax of the text, otherwise narrated in the third person, with first person interjections, suddenly shifts to the second person plural: 24. The text does not specify why that makes her so angry (ruṭṭhā); it assumes that its audience will immediately understand the reason. I imagine something like this: the husband expresses his displeasure in terms that implicate the wife—“I come home for lunch and there’s nothing for me to eat”—so she does something unthinkable in the context of Apadāna (and Theravāda Buddhist culture), taking alms back from a Buddha so her husband can eat the food himself. When he then turns around and gives the food back to the Buddha again, he reveals that his intention was not to get fed, but rather to earn the merit for himself. (He is responding to what may have already been a tense situation, if the initial return of the food struck him as an already-angry insult on the part of his wife, perhaps because she made a sarcastic comment, “Fear not, here’s your lunch”). The wife, who presumably cooked the meal in the first place, has now been chastised for a lapse in her domestic responsibility. She has turned a merit-making (puñña-kamma) opportunity into an act of demerit (pāpa-kamma) in order to rectify that lapse, only to realize that the real lapse was in her husband’s greediness for merit even at her expense. So she would have had plenty of cause to become enraged, especially if the return of the food had already been a volley in a marital spat.
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 181 Both of us having built thūpas, going forth [renouncing the world] experienced the boundless states [and] then we went to Brahma’s world. (v. 55) Seeing the dangers in the world we both [went forth] as renouncers. We are now free of defilements; tamed, cooled off, gone to nibbāna. (v. 67) Though in Mahā-Kassapa’s apadāna his kammic trajectory involves only himself, in Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna the story is about a team effort; her husband’s kammic trajectory is intimately interlinked with her own. The support, approval, work, and co-participation she provides her husband, life after life, enables both of them to progress toward their eventual arahantship. Being his wives she enriches his lives, paralleling the way in which the wife’s apadāna enriches the husband’s by adding numerous bare-bones details and fleshing them out with human texture, struggle, and humor. In this concern with the human texture of the details, and with finding women a place in an otherwise all-male Buddhist history, Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna is as typical of Therī-apadāna as is MahāKassapa’s of Therāpadāna. Finally, in the denouement of the story about the bowl of mud we catch a glimpse of the wife’s independence from her husband, too. The almsgiving, in the end, is entirely her own doing, and produces kammic results accordingly. For several verses Mahā-Kassapa uncharacteristically disappears from the narrative, which is explicitly only about Bhaddā-Kāpilāni: In whichever place I’m reborn, because [I gave] alms I’m gorgeous; through [giving] Buddha tasteless food my breath has a horrible stench. Again when Buddha Kassapa’s thūpa was being completed, delighted, I [then] gave [for it] an excellent tile made of gold. Through four lifetimes having applied scented [substances] to that tile every one of [my] limbs was freed from the defect of bad odor.
182 women in early indian buddhism Having made seven thousand bowls [each adorned] with the seven gems and filled with clarified butter, placing [in them] a thousand wicks with a mind that was very pleased I proceeded to light [them all] and laid them out in seven rows to do pūjā to the world’s lord and at that time especially I was the merit-receiver . . . . (v. 42–47) In light of this, we can understand that even when she was following after her husband it was she who gave alms, she who approved of the cloak, she who followed after him, she who worshipped the Paccekabuddhas. Accordingly, Mahā-Kassapa also disappears in the narrative of her own arahantship (v. 61–63). Ultimately, these are all her deeds, not his. 3. Yasodharā as the wife of a saint The female arahant’s interdependence with, and independence from, even a saintly husband like Mahā-Kassapa is even clearer in the other text of the Therī-apadāna that takes up the intersection of marriage and kamma as a central theme, namely the apadāna of Yasodharā Therī, this-life wife of the Buddha (#28, Ap. II:584–90).25 Like Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna, Yasodharā’s autohagiography also provides biographical details not found in the parallel apadāna of her husband (the Buddhāpadāna). The most notable absent detail is the very fact that he was, after all, married to her throughout that kammic biography. In providing these details, the Therīapadāna forcefully inserts Yasodharā into that biography and makes explicit that she was integral to the Buddha’s eventual Buddhahood (interdependence). Further, her apadāna asserts that through her own merit-making, service, and final/present life religious practice she became 25. The discussion which follows is based on the Pali Text Society edition, and rather than attempting to exhaust the story of Yasodharā it merely highlights those passages most relevant to our discussion of marriage and kamma. For fuller accounts the interested reader should certainly consult Sally Mellick Cutler’s (1997) ground-breaking critical edition, translation, and study of the Pāli text, as well as Ranjini Obeyesekere’s (2009) excellent translation and study of two medieval Sinhala retellings of it. For a non-Theravādin parallel see also Strong (1997).
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 183 a fully liberated arahant in her own right (independence). Following the format of the previous section, I begin with a synopsis of the husband’s apadāna then proceed with a close study of the wife’s, exploring the ways in which it responds to the absences in the former, and thereby furthers the Apadānic reflection upon the role of marriage in the kammic trajectory from root piety to arahantship. There are actually two separate texts bearing the name Buddhāpadāna (or Buddhāpadāniya). One is the first section of the whole work (Ap. I:1–6). The other is tucked away as #387 of Therāpadāna (Ap. I:299–301). Here its thirty-three verses are titled “The Rags of Previous Kamma” [Pubbakamma-piloti] even though its colophon, and the absence of the otherwiseuniversal concluding refrain, make clear that this is an apadāna of the Buddha, not of one of the theras per se.26 Both of these apadānas are highly creative, unique in the whole collection and the wider tradition, and also, especially in the case of “The Rags of Previous Kamma,” very controversial (Walters 1990). The Buddhāpadāna proper is even more silent about expected biographical details than the apadāna of Mahā-Kassapa. It mentions no names at all and, except for his perfection of the ten precepts over numerous lives (v. 73–75), it does not even allude to the well-known stories of the Buddha’s previous lives (jātaka). Except for a brief mention of the “twofold raying miracle” (yamakā raŋsivāhanā, v. 65) it likewise does not even allude to that most famous of Buddhist biographies, the this-life biography of the Buddha. Rather, it opens with an extraordinarily detailed account of the root piety (v. 1–48), followed by a general description of the pleasures enjoyed as ruler of gods and of men in the intermediate lives (v. 49–62) and a homiletic conclusion that eulogizes Buddhahood and encourages reader-listeners to take the Buddhas as models for their own practice (v. 63–77). Here the root piety is not actually performed; it is merely an act of the imagination that reads more like a Tibetan sādhana than a kammic biography. The Buddha, during a previous life, constructs a vast, elaborately described palace and populates it with all the Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and disciples of Buddhas of the past and present, who then engage each other in discussion and display their various powers. The pleasant results in the intermediate lives involve no specific names or 26. As already mentioned in Section 1, the Buddhāpadāna proper also does not follow this standard convention of the monks’ apadānas.
184 women in early indian buddhism numbers of kings, but merely a general depiction of the pleasures divine and human kings receive by “just stretching out [their] hand” (v. 52–61). These pleasures include, detailed in a series of repetitious verses, savory foods, fabulous precious gemstones, clothes of various sorts, divine foods, all gemstones, all perfumes, all vehicles, all garlands, all ornaments, all maidens, granulated sugar, and all solid foodstuffs. The final eulogy, like the visualization of the palace, appears surprisingly Mahāyānistic in its invitation to reader-listeners to perfect the ten perfections (of a Buddha) themselves, and to marvel in the unfathomableness of Buddhahood (which is itself the root piety performed by the Buddha).27 The other, “disguised” Buddhāpadāna, “The Rags of Previous Kamma,” does, conversely, allude by name and event to specific previous lives and especially to the final/present life of the Buddha. After a prologue indicating that these verses were preached by the Buddha to the whole community of monks (nuns are not mentioned) at the mythic Lake Anotatta (Skt. Anavatapta, v. 1–3), it details twelve incidents in the life of the Buddha and describes the kammic cloth from which that “rag” remained (v. 4–31). These are not however the positive acts and happy intermediate lives we would expect from an apadāna. Rather, the twelve incidents from this life are all comparatively bad things that befell the Buddha: physical ailments, slander, attacks from his wicked cousin Devadatta, and the six years of extreme asceticism he endured prior to becoming Buddha. The acts of which these were the remaining “rags” were all of a depraved and evil sort, mostly known nowhere else in the vast Theravāda literature on the Buddha’s previous lives. The intermediate lives they produce entail countless aeons the Buddha’s rebirth precursors spent “roasting in hell” and suffering on earth. The text concludes with a pithy statement of his turn to merit-making and eventual Awakening (v. 32) and a reiteration of the context in which he declared the text (v. 33). While both these texts are worthy of further comment, the point for us to notice here is that marriage plays no role in either of them. The closest we come is in the mention of maidens in Buddhāpadāna (v. 59) and the 27. Buddhāpadāna also resonates with Mahāyāna Buddhist texts in referring to Buddhas in the plural, including multiple Buddhas in a single time-space; in its somewhat cryptic references to “Buddha-fields” (buddhakhetta = Skt. buddhakṣetra); and in the fact that like a Mahāyāna sūtra the mere hearing of it is productive of Buddhahood, given that what one hears and imagines is precisely what the Buddha himself imagined as he set out on the path toward Awakening.
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 185 stories of the slanderers Sundarī and Ciñcamānavikā, who both accuse the Buddha of having impregnated them in “The Rags of Previous Kamma” (v. 9, 14). Here too, this absence even of a mention of marriage is particularly apparent given its centrality to the apadāna of his wife, Yasodharā. Yasodharā’s apadāna is also a remarkable one, with a complex literary structure. Unlike most apadānas, but closely paralleling that of the Buddha’s stepmother Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī (#17; see Walters 1994; Walters 1995), it begins with a prologue (v. 1–25). 28 On the day of her final passing into nibbāna (death), she tells the Buddha that her time has come: I’m seventy-eight years old now, the last of old age has arrived; I’m reporting to the Great Sage: I’ve attained [sainthood] in a cave. Old age has ripened for me [now]; verily my life’s a trifle. Giving all you up I will go: my refuge is made in myself. In the final days of old age, death breaks [the body into bits]; today at nighttime, Great Hero, I shall achieve my nibbāna. Where there’s no birth, no growing old, nor sickness and death, O Great Sage, I’m going to the [great] city29 [which,] unconditioned, has no death. (v. 3–6) She asks that any lapse in their long transmigration together be forgiven, to which he replies: 28. Sinhala editions such as Vajirajñāṇa et al., 1961–1983 IIa (1983):158, v. 952–57 provide six verses at the beginning of the text which are not found in the Lilley/PTS edition. The PTS edition begins (Ap. II:584, v. 1) at what corresponds to the seventh verse (v. 958) of the Sinhala/BJTS edition. The six extra verses spell out that, as with Gotamī, Yasodharā came to the realization of the time of death by reasoning it out for herself, then went to report it to the Buddha. The PTS begins as it were in media res, with Yasodharā at the head of 500 nuns on her way to report the realization to the Buddha. 29. That is, nibbāna.
186 women in early indian buddhism Put on a show of miracles to disciples of my teaching; let all doubt be cut off [thereby] in all the teaching’s assemblies. (v. 9) She proceeds to thus demonstrate her achievements with great spectacle (v. 10–24). Then, in that same context, she declares her actual apadāna (v. 25–87), concluding (v. 85–87) with the standard “inverted” three-verse refrain. The core section of her autohagiography contains three distinct movements, each of which constitutes a “mini-apadāna” in its own right. In the first (v. 25–40) Yasodharā addresses the Buddha directly, in the second person, referring to him in the vocative “O Great Sage” (mahāmune) or “O Great Hero” (mahāvīra). She recalls all the service she provided to him over the “tens of billions of lives” she gave to an equal number of his rebirth precursors, as their wives and attendants. She spells out this service in considerable detail— waiting upon him, cooking for him, dressing and undressing for him, giving up everything for him to acquire merit (including money, treasure, villages, small towns, fields, sons, daughters, elephants, horses, cows, slaves, slave girls, and all the wealth he gave her). All of this is portrayed as being done “for your sake” without distress despite all the suffering it admittedly entailed. The second mini-apadāna (v. 41–62) recalls a moment in the time of Dīpāṅkara Buddha (some 100,000 regular aeons plus four incalculable aeons ago) when the Bodhisatta (future Buddha, Skt. bodhisattva), then reborn as the ascetic Sumedha, made his initial vow to become a Buddha and received his first prediction of its future realization. This famous narrative, absent from both the Buddha’s own apadānas (and so, in the Apadāna, supplied only here), is however told from Yasodharā’s perspective: she was then a maiden named Sumittā. Seeing Sumedha in the crowd assembled to honor Dīpāṅkara Buddha, and immediately smitten with him, she gives him five of the eight handfuls of the flowers she is carrying, retaining three handfuls for herself, with the aspirations that as a result of them offering her flowers to the Buddha together she should “always know [Sumedha]” (v. 49). He takes the flowers and offers them to the Buddha “for the sake of knowing [Yasodharā]” (v. 50) and after predicting Sumedha’s future Buddhahood The Great Sage named Dīpāṅkara predicted [too] that my kamma
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 187 would for numberless aeons hence be exalted, that Sage So Great: “She will be a like-minded [wife], with kamma and conduct like [yours]; through this kamma she’ll be loving for your [own] sake, O Great Rishi. Nice looking and much beloved, desirable, speaking sweet words, she will be a loving woman, [and] an heir among [your] doctrines. Just as husbands are protecting the goods that they accumulate so this one likewise will protect [all] the things that are most wholesome. Compassionate for [future] you, she will fulfill the perfections. Like a lion [freed] from a cage she will achieve Awakening.” (v. 52–56) Thrilled at his words, she dedicates her future lives to Sumedha, then finally is born a Sākyan and becomes the chief woman of his harem when he has been born as Prince Siddhattha (v. 57–62). The third “mini-apadāna” (v. 63–87) returns to the topic of the first: service. In a speech addressed (to the Buddha? the Buddha’s father? someone in the text’s audience?) in the vocative “O Great King” (mahārāja), Yasodharā details the mind-boggling numbers of Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and arahants to whom she provided vast almsgivings (mahādānaŋ pavattayiŋ). These are reckoned finally in the hundreds of thousands of billions and are proof of her repeated claim that “[her] service (adhikāraŋ) was constant” across that vast swathe of cosmic time: Thus every day I practiced dhamma for those who practiced dhamma; a doer of dhamma I am at ease, in this world and the next one. (v. 80) Here the text once again returns to her final/present life, her renunciation, and her achievement of arahantship, concluding with the standard refrain (v. 81–87).
188 women in early indian buddhism Unlike Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna, that of Yasodharā really adds only one salient detail to the biography of her husband, namely that throughout his lives, starting with the birth as Sumedha, she was his wife. This successive remarriage in each rebirth is something she intends and vows; it is predicted of her from the very beginning, but she makes it happen herself, through those tens of billions of lifetimes of suffering and serving as the Bodhisatta’s wife. Thus the repeated claim that she did this all for the Buddha’s sake appears less an indication of her dependence and subservience than a bold claim that she has enabled the Buddha’s Buddhahood. For it was after all through all those lifetimes of worshiping previous Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and disciples of Buddhas with her that the Buddha became Buddha at all. This would indicate the sort of “interdependence” Strong isolates among Buddhist queens. Bolder still, we can read Yasodharā’s apadāna to mean that she, rather than her husband, was in some ways the actual agent of his Buddhahood. She gives him the flowers for the worship that first puts Sumedha on the path to Buddhahood, and even presents herself (in the quotation above, v. 50) as the reason he worshiped that Buddha (i.e., became a Bodhisatta) in the first place. Moreover, she does all the cooking, serving, giving, abandoning, suffering, and experiencing that constitute his own progress toward that goal. In her apadāna, the verbs are all in the first person, and large portions of the text do not even mention the Buddha except as the one to whom all of this is being declared. Remembering that the whole poem is set in the context of the wife declaring to the Buddha that on the basis of her own exalted religious achievements she is now leaving him forever for nibbāna, this reading can be taken as an indication that the thrust of the text is primarily not even interdependence, but rather the independence that Strong says Buddhist queens likewise enjoyed. Yasodharā’s all-seeing ability to discern by herself the circumstances of her final passing, one of the six special knowledges (chaḷ-abhiññā) that are among the attributes of arahants signaled in the universal Apadāna refrain, exemplifies this independence from her husband. She need not depend on him to foresee this, but foresees it by herself. Adding to the richness and force of Yasodharā’s apadāna is the fact that, reminiscent of the apadāna of her husband, it is followed by three additional apadānas in the collection (#29–31, Ap. II:591–97) that are all closely connected to Yasodharā. These are ascribed not to individuals but to large groups of female arahants who constitute Yasodharā’s retinue. In previous lives (and the first part of the final/present life) all these women were co-wives living in the harem. Now, like her, they are all nuns in the
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 189 early community who have attained the highest goal. Their apadānas— constructed largely on the basis of verses or parts of verses found in Yasodharā’s apadāna—completely parallel hers. Thus the apadāna of “The 10,000 Nuns Headed Up by Yasodharā” (#29) has them all, during the time of Dīpāṅkara Buddha, vow to be (and receive a prediction that they will be) the perpetual wives of the ascetic Sumedha. This is fulfilled up to and including their co-birth as beautiful women in the Buddha’s clan who then join his harem and who renounce and attain arahantship in unison with Yasodharā. The apadāna of “The 18,000 Nuns Headed Up by Yasodharā” (#30) makes them even more exact, mirror-images of Yasodharā, reproducing the text of her first two “mini-apadānas” verbatim, except for minor changes (such as tweaking the first person pronouns and verbs from the singular to the plural). All 18,000 of these women approach the Buddha along with Yasodharā, and declare to him in unison that they too will now pass away. Like the first 10,000 their perpetual wifeship for his sake was the fulfillment of a vow and prediction during the time of Dīpāṅkara Buddha. They are even made to say “We are Yasodharās, Great Sage,” in the passages where she identifies herself to the Buddha as part of her/their spectacular miracle show! The third group, “18,000 Kṣatriyan Maidens Headed Up by Yasodharā” (#31), declare with a lot less fanfare (and in a brief twelve verses) that they were also women of the inner chambers, born together after serving alms “for [Buddha’s] sake” during previous lives, who thereafter renounced and became arahants. Taken together, these additional texts amplify the anyway strong message of Yasodharā’s own apadāna that marriage is a kammic matter that can extend over many lifetimes. Like Yasodharā herself, these parallel women all serve the Buddha both actually and metaphorically, wanting for themselves what he wants them to do (whether formerly, in terms of eroticism and political power, or presently, in terms of Buddhist accomplishments and religious power). In performing this service they collectively enable him to pursue his own Awakening, and even drive that process themselves. These texts contribute to the general Therī-apadāna project of finding space for women in Buddhist history, and find them a very wide space indeed: all 46,000 of these “Yasodharās” aspired to and achieved the station of “Buddha’s wife.”30 Like the special rankings in the monastic 30. In making this station a widespread achievement of religious women the texts call to mind—despite a very different cultural setting—the widespread claim among medieval Christian nuns and mystics, even some males, to be the “brides of Christ.”
190 women in early indian buddhism community (Mahā-Kassapa as foremost among those who practice austerities) this is here generalized as a station to which numerous women can aspire among future Buddhas. While the numbers seem fantastic, we must recall the Indian expectation that at least kings, in the heavens as well as on earth, should indeed have vast numbers of wives. According to Yasodharā’s apadāna (v. 11) there were in fact many more women in the becoming-Buddha’s harem—a total of 100,096—than became arahants and sang these apadānas. In recalling that so many women followed in Yasodharā’s footsteps these texts also redress the general imbalance between male and female apadānas. If we take the numbers seriously, we must conclude that even though there are significantly more male than female apadānas, in fact the female arahants recorded in Apadāna as members of the early Buddhist community vastly outnumber their male counterparts. Conclusion: wives of the saints in the Apadāna If nothing else, the great variety of Therī-apadāna references to marriage makes clear that despite (or perhaps even because of ) the Therāpadāna silence about the topic, some Buddhists—those who wrote about women, who were presumably women themselves—considered marriage an integral dimension of the kammic trajectory from root piety to arahantship. Following Alice Collett I have suggested that this concern with marriage was part and parcel of the project to establish a place for women in Buddhist history. At least for the women whose apadānas we have reviewed— and presumably also for many of the historical women who heard them recited as members of the text’s audience—marriage was a centrally important institution through which women found such place. By linking marriage with the kammic trajectory that leads to arahantship, the Apadāna was able to insert many of its female subjects into the otherwise all-male history it constructed and thereby to address the historical females as well as the males who read or listened to these poems. In the process emerges a sort of sacralization of the institution, which like rebirth turns out not merely to be opposed to, but rather to be an important stage in the path that leads to Awakening. The nuns’ apadānas do, to an extent, reinforce the dependence upon and subservience to husbands enjoined upon wives by the larger culture. However, they simultaneously empower women with the knowledge that their husbands’ kammic trajectories are
Apadāna: Therī-apadāna 191 intertwined with their own and that they enjoy a degree of independence in which, even while married, they can pursue their own arahantship and can act as driving forces in the progress their husbands, and others, may make. Yet at the end of her long kammic biography, it is important to underline, Yasodharā, like Bhaddā-Kāpilāni and each of the previous-life wives of the saints, human and divine, ultimately left her husband behind to realize her own Awakening. Arahantship entails the end of all ties to the world, even the world of the gods, and marriage in particular is an institution that finally must be transcended in order to become a monk or nun who can reach the end of the long, gradual path to Awakening that I have dubbed “the kammic trajectory.” In the Therī-apadāna no less than Therāpadāna, this is the central point. Though the former rebuts the latter by reflecting so widely on the important roles played by marriage during the earlier stages of that path, it agrees in taking the end point as the main point in each and every autohagiography it contains. The standard refrain encapsulates the real focus of each of the monks’ and nuns’ apadānas, namely his or her arahantship. The Apadāna provides all that rich biographical detail, with such poetic flourish, only in the service of narrating the final achievement of nibbāna. And as much as the Therī-apadāna weaves marriage into the kammic trajectories of all the saints, males as well as females, it also contains plenty of narratives of past lives as well as present lives of nuns in which marriage is not involved. These include the shared narrative of the seven sisters who explicitly resist marriage despite remaining in the house so that they can dedicate themselves independently and completely to religious activity (Collett 2011). However important it may be in some cases, in others marriage certainly is not a necessary condition of sainthood. But for the authors of the Therī-apadāna, and the wives who heard it recited, it was important to recognize that marriage does not preclude sainthood, either. In the early stages of the path, marriage can even be a positive soteriological force.
9 Avadaˉnaśataka the role of brahmanical marriage in a buddhist text Karen Muldoon-Hules Introduction the avadānaśataka is a Sanskrit collection of Buddhist stories that was redacted in North India sometime during the first five hundred years of the Common Era.1 The broad geographical distribution of its extent versions, ranging from early fragments found near Bamiyan in Afghanistan to a number of later complete manuscripts located in Nepal, attests to its wide circulation and enduring popularity. In addition, variants of the Avadānaśataka’s stories appeared in at least six other North Indian Buddhist narrative collections, and some also appear in the voluminous northern Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya. The Avadānaśataka is organized into ten chapters, or vargas, of ten stories each, for a total of exactly one hundred avadānas. The term avadāna originally seems to have meant a portion of something offered in a Vedic sacrifice, but underwent a shift in meaning over the centuries and perhaps as it moved between traditions, coming to 1. On the dating of the Avś see, most recently, Demoto Mitsuyo (1998), and her article on the fragments in the Schøyen Collection (Demoto 2006, 207–44). She suggests the original redaction of the Sanskrit Avadānaśataka took place sometime between the 2nd and the early 6th centuries ce. Demoto’s argument for a new terminus ad quem rests primarily on her proposed redating of the Chinese Avadānaśataka, the Zhuan ji bai yuan jing (撰集百緣經, T 200), from the 3rd century ce to the mid-5th to late 6th century ce (2006, 209–12). The 2nd-century terminus a quo for the Sanskrit Avś is based on the dīnāra mentioned in the 83rd avadāna and was suggested by the editor of the editio princeps (Speyer 1902–9, I, xv).
Avadānaśataka 193 mean a “heroic deed” or “heroic story” in the Buddhist context.2 This article focuses on the sometimes surprising use of Brahmanical marital forms in the 8th varga. Avoiding the altar The 8th varga of the Avadānaśataka could be called the “women’s chapter” or the “nuns’ chapter” since its stories center on women who become nuns and then arhats. Only a few other women’s stories appear here and there in this collection. The most striking feature of the 8th varga of the Avadānaśataka is the use of Brahmanical marriage rites and norms in five stories, Avś 71, 73, 76, 77, and 79, shown in Table 9.1 below. These five stories seem to form a fairly cohesive subset. As the table indicates, there appears to be some symmetry to the distribution of these stories. Each half of the varga has one of the svayaṃvara stories plus a pair of stories sharing a similar motif, if we consider Avadānaśataka 72 as well. Avadānaśataka 72 may also have been influenced by Brahmanical marital norms although this is less certain. A closer look at these six stories may suggest some reasons for the redactor’s apparent preoccupation with marriage. Suprabhā and Kāśisundarī Two of these stories are built around a Brahmanical premarital ceremony called a svayaṃvara or “self-choice” ceremony, in which a girl selects her own bridegroom, however circumscribed that choice may actually have been. In these two nearly identical tales, a merchant’s daughter named Suprabhā (Avś 71) and a princess named Kāśisundarī (Avś 76) each present the Buddha as their chosen “bridegroom” at a svayaṃvara by arriving in a chariot decked with the Buddhist monastic color, carrying a portrait of 2. Speculation on the exact meaning and the origin of the term avadāna has generated a considerable amount of scholarly discussion. Edgerton did not hazard a guess, just noting that the precise meaning was “much disputed” (Edgerton 1953 [1998], II:72). In the preface to his translation of the Avś, Feer lamented the difficulty in defining it, a difficulty he felt Asian Buddhists suffered from as well ([1891] 1979, ix.). Speyer argued that the word avadāna was derived from the root ava √dā in the sense of “to cut off ” or “to select” (1902–9, ii, Preface, II–IV). This accords very well, for example, with the use of avadāna in Gobhila GS (1, 8, 5–12, 18) where it represents a piece of the sacrificial offering that is cut off. In terms of later Buddhist usage, Winternitz defined avadāna as “a great religious or moral deed” or the “history” of such ([1912] 1987, 244). Summaries of the scholarly discussion on the origin and meaning of avadāna can be found in Sharma (1985, lxi–lxiii).
194 women in early indian buddhism Table 9.1 Marital Motifs in the 8th Varga of the Avadānaśataka Avś Title Key Theme/Element 71 Suprabhā, a merchant’s daughter Supriyā, Anāthapiṇḍada’s daughter Śuklā, the white-clad girl Somā, the female scholar Kuvalayā, the dancer Kāśikasundarī, a princess of Kāśī Muktā, Anāthapiṇḍada’s daughter-in-law Kacaṅgalā, the slave Kṣemā, King Prasenajit’s daughter Virūpā, King Prasenajit’s ugly daughter Svayaṃvara 1 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Precocious spirituality 1 Precocious spirituality 2 Learning, memory & high social status Beauty transformed into ugliness Svayaṃvara 2 Marriage alliance 1 Ignorance & slavery Marriage alliance 2 Ugliness transformed into beauty the Buddha, and announcing him as her choice before all the assembled suitors. As I have argued elsewhere (Muldoon-Hules, forthcoming), these actions echo steps of the Brahmanical svayaṃvara, and the use of the chariot (ratha) also evokes the Brahmanical wedding ceremony. The redactor of the Avadānaśataka seems to be cleverly subverting a well-known Brahmanical marital convention—and a common literary motif of this period—to make a dramatically framed case for Buddhist female renunciation: a girl who can choose her own husband should be able to choose to renounce. It is important to note here that none of the Brahmanical law codes of this period recognized the svayaṃvara as a marriage in its own right. In fact, in Brahmanical literary sources of the period, a svayaṃvara was typically followed by a full wedding ceremony, as in the case of Indumatī’s marriage to Prince Aja in Kālidāsa’s kāvya, the Raghuvaṃśa (Devadhar [1981–84] 1993, II:122–24, 7.18–28). Similarly, Draupadī’s svayaṃvara and inadvertent betrothal to the five Pāndava brothers in the Mahābhārata—a self-styled “fifth Veda” (Fitzgerald 1980) and hence a religious text as well as a literary masterpiece—is followed by five separate weddings, one for
Avadānaśataka 195 each brother (I: 186–90).3 The lone exception to this constant coupling of a svayaṃvara to a wedding seems to be Bhīṣma’s inclusion of the svayaṃvara in his somewhat self-serving list of marriages as he abducts three girls from their svayaṃvara in the Mahābhārata (I: 96.8–14),4 an inclusion at odds with both other literary sources and the lists of marriages given in the legal literature of the era. At the same time, the Mahābhārata offers one somewhat parallel case to Avadānaśataka 71 and 76’s use of the svayaṃvara in Madhavī’s choice of the forest as her bridegroom at her svayaṃvara over an impressive array of suitors. The forest, in this case, represents a celibate, spiritual life. Significantly, this comes after Madhavī’s four marriages and four sons, all carried out in the service of a brahmin’s wild quest for the perfect gift for his guru and all made possible by her conveniently renewable virginity (V.104–21, especially v. 112–18).5 Like the forest in Madhavī’s story, the presentation of the Buddha as a chosen bridegroom at the svayaṃvaras of Suprabhā and Kāśisundarī in Avadānaśataka 71 and 76 also represents a choice quite the opposite of marriage, a celibate life as a Buddhist nun. Unlike Madhavī, however, neither Suprabhā nor Kāśisundarī will marry or have a child. Thus, while Madhavī had fulfilled the marital and procreative imperatives that Brahmanical Hinduism6 presented as a woman’s dharma, Suprabhā and Kāśisundarī completely sidestep any engagement with those imperatives.7 3. This unusual situation is presented in the text as a mistake made by their mother, Kuntī, when she, without looking, instructs Arjuna to share the results of his day’s work equally with his brothers as usual. She is taken aback when she discovers the reward is a girl but cannot take back her words. The result is a rare case of polyandrous marriage in this source. All Mahābhārata citations follow the critical edition (Sukthankar et al. 1927–71). 4. H. P. Schmidt noted that this was a “passage that is clearly tendentious” (1987, 87). See also Sternbach (1951, 89–93). Unlike the legal sources, the Āśvalāyana Gṛhyasūtra, and most scholars, Sternbach gives eleven forms of marriage and includes two forms of svayaṃvara on the list. However, his inclusion of the svayaṃvara seems untenable for the reasons stated above. 5. See Jamison (1996, 208–10); Dasgupta (2000). This parallel is discussed in more detail in Muldoon-Hules (forthcoming). 6. “Brahmanical Hinduism” or “Brahmanism” herein refers to pre-Purāṇic Hinduism, the strands of Hinduism active between roughly 100–600 ce. 7. Neither marriage nor procreation were part of the early Buddhist paradigm for ideal practice, despite the care taken in the biographies of the Buddha to portray him as fulfilling these essentially Hindu imperatives. That care, reflected in sources such as Aśvaghoṣa’s 2ndcentury-CE Buddhacarita, reflects some of the same tension between Brahmanical marriage and Buddhist renunciation that we see in these stories of the 8th varga. On the other hand, none of the stories in the 7th varga of the Avś, which gives stories of men who renounce, show any tension or concern about marriage, suggesting that the tension at the time of the redaction of the text centered on female renunciation.
196 women in early indian buddhism Oddly, in Avadānaśataka 71 and 76, the catalyst for the girl’s choice to renounce is not any overt spirituality on her part but rather her father’s dilemma when faced with a horde of suitors all vying for the girl’s hand in marriage. Each father fears making enemies of the rejected suitors, the sons of powerful men, as expressed in Avadānaśataka 71: Then, besieged by them, her father, having put his cheek in his hand, sat there depressed, saying, “If I give her to any one of them, the others will become my enemies.”8 Fear of retaliation seems to be the keynote here, and this resonates with the violent attack Draupadī’s rejected suitors launch on her father and brother after her svayaṃvara in the Mahābhārata (I.180.1–10).9 A similar attack on Indumatī and her new husband Aja in the Raghuvaṃśa as the newlyweds leave her father’s city and protection suggests that such fears were neither unfounded nor unfamiliar, at least as literary themes (Devadhar [1981–84] 1993, II:126–33, 7.34–66).10 In Avadānaśataka 71 and 76, the attacks and their outcomes take on a Buddhist flavor, and the agent who responds is not male, as in the Brahmanical texts, but female: each girl confronts her angry suitors and performs pratihāryas (magical feats) to demonstrate her spiritual attainment and convince them she is unfit for marriage. On another level, this focus on the father’s dilemma may have been an attempt to make sense of what would not have been normal action in these circumstances, given two factors: first, the pressure to marry girls 8. Tatas tair upadrūyamāṇaḥ pitā cāsyāḥ kare kapolaṃ dattvā cintāparo vyavasthitaḥ, yady ekasmai dāsyāmi anye me amitrā bhaviṣyantīti (Speyer 1902–9, ii, 16.6–.7). According to Hiraoka, this phrase kare kapolam dattvā cintāparo vyavasthitaḥ “having put his head in his hands, sat there depressed,” occurs twice in the Divyāvadāna, four times in the extant Sanskrit portion of the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, and six times in the Avś (2002, 158). However, this does not include numerous other occurrences of this trope in the complete Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, extant now in Tibetan translation only. See Schopen (2000, 158–59, n. V.4), for a list of these and a discussion of this hand-to-cheek pose in Indian art and drama. It seems that the redactor of the 8th varga was taking a set phrase and inserting it into a new context, a beleaguered father unable to choose a suitor out of the pack clamoring for his daughter’s hand. 9. There is a strong element of interclass tension in this particular attack since the angry kings specifically take issue with a brahmin (the disguised Arjuna) entering the vīryaśulka contest in this svayaṃvara, which they see as a kṣatriya event. 10. It is ironic that, in the Raghuvaṃśa, the rejected suitors have enjoyed the hospitality of the bride’s family and the wedding feasts for several days prior to this attack.
Avadānaśataka 197 off by the start of their menses in the Brahmanical context lest the father incur the sin of brūṇahatya or “embryo-killing,” and, second, the strategic use of the kanyādāna (“gift of a girl”) marriage as a form of marital alliance to strengthen a man’s connections in his community or region. However, neither of these factors are directly referenced in Avadānaśataka 71 and 76. It is unclear, also, whether Buddhist fathers would have been concerned about a Brahmanical sin, but it is notable that neither Suprabhā nor Kāśisundarī seem to come from households clearly marked as Buddhist. In fact, in the 8th varga, only one girl, Supriyā (Avś 72), belongs to what might be termed a “Buddhist household.”11 On the other hand, as we will see, two other stories do address the issue of marital alliance in this varga. In any case, it seems the redactor needed a rationale to justify a father who supported his daughter’s wish to renounce and that the fear of retaliation from rejected suitors provided a convincing one since he12 deploys it again in two other stories in this same chapter (Avś 73 and 77) with almost identical wording. This gives us a total of four stories in the 8th chapter with the motif of the fearful father, all located in this subset that focuses on Brahmanical marital forms and norms. This rationale of the fear of retaliation by vengeful suitors seems to be otherwise quite rare in Buddhist texts. I have only found one appearance of this rationale in a Pāli story of this period although that same story appears in two texts. In the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā and the Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā, the father of the famous Uppalavaṇṇā finds himself overwhelmed with suitors asking for her hand. While more economical in wording, this Pāli passage is very similar to the Sanskrit phrasing of the four Avadānaśataka stories. In the Avadānaśataka stories, however, 11. If we take the term “Buddhist household” to mean an exclusive family commitment to Buddhism, such a commitment is evident only in the story of Supriyā (Avś 72), the daughter of the exemplary layman, Anāthapiṇḍada. In the stories in the 8th varga that focus on a tension between marriage and female renunciation or feature early renunciation, some of the girls’ households seem to be non-Buddhist, as in Avś 73 and possibly 79 and 80, or possibly hybrid in their religious identification. 12. We know very little about who redacted the 8th varga or the Avś except that the primary audience repeatedly and directly addressed in these stories consists of monks, suggesting a monastic redactor or perhaps a committee of monks. Whether any nuns might have been involved is unknown. Hence, the male singular used herein for the redactor merely stands for an unknown person or persons of either sex, albeit someone with considerable knowledge of marital customs and rites.
198 women in early indian buddhism the girls propose the solution of renunciation to solve their fathers’ problem, whereas in the Pāli story, the father, out of fear, urges Uppalavaṇṇā to renounce while the girl herself plays a far more passive role.13 Thus, the most significant difference is that the agency attributed to the girls in the northern Avadānaśataka is assigned instead to Uppalavaṇṇā’s father in the Pāli texts that describe this incident. This makes the agency attributed to the young women of the 8th chapter of the Avadānaśataka all the more remarkable, but whether it was meant to portray an existing and realizable independence for young women in northern India or merely to model an idealized course of behavior is debatable. Supriyā and Śuklā The second pair of stories in our subgroup is comprised of Avadānaśataka 72 and 73, which are linked by a theme of precocious spirituality. In Avadānaśataka 72, Supriyā, the daughter of the exemplary Buddhist layman, Anāthapiṇḍada [= Anāthapiṇḍika], speaks at birth, making her family fear that she is a demon. She convinces her grandmother of her innocence by exhorting her family to make donations to the Buddha. It is, therefore, unsurprising when Supriyā asks for and receives permission to enter the nunnery at the age of seven. This is the only specific age for female renunciation given in the 8th varga, and seven may not be an arbitrary choice since Mānava Dharmaśāstra 9:94 stipulates, “A 30-year-old 13. See Dhammpada-aṭṭhakathā. 1992, 1993, 2007 [1906-15], vol. 2, 48–49. A very similar version of this story is told in the Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā (Thī-a XV.1 at 177), but this is actually one of two different stories about Uppalavaṇṇā’s going-forth. A second story of Uppalavaṇṇā’s renunciation, a story of marriage and double incest, follows the Apadāna verses included in this commentary in the Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā (Thī-a XI.1 at 188.23– 190.5). Silk compared this second story to a much more elaborate tale about Utpalavarṇā in the Vinaya-vibhaṅga of the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, a tale that he translates in full (2009, 139–56). For another translation of the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya story of Utpalavarṇā’s last life, see von Schiefner ([1882] 1926, 206–15). On the other hand, the Therī-Apadāna verses about Uppalavaṇṇā’s renunciation seem to give her more agency in both Lilley’s edition (#19, Ap. II, 556) and the Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā (Thī-a XI.1 at 187.48–49). In these, she states that she was much sought after for marriage, but went forth instead. However, these two accounts provide no detail of the actual moment of decision and so do not directly contradict the story of her father’s proposing renuuciation as a solution to the suitor dilemma. The Bhikkhunī-samyutta does not deal with Uppalavaṇṇā’s renunciation, focusing instead on her defeat of Māra. My remarks on her lack of agency are confined to the particular incident described above and in no way meant to undercut this nun’s generally assertive character.
Avadānaśataka 199 man should marry a charming girl of 12 years or an 18-year-old, a girl of 8 years—sooner if his fulfilling the Law would suffer.”14 Is it a coincidence that Supriyā renounces at seven and eight is the youngest specific age for girls to marry that is mentioned in this law code of the early centuries ce,15 one which quickly became the most quoted legal text of the first millennium?16 Perhaps. After all, girls going forth at this age are not unknown in Pāli sources,17 and in Avadānaśataka 82 and 8418 we have two stories about boys who renounce at seven, so Supriyā’s entering the nunnery at seven may have simply been a conventional choice for the redactor of the text. However, Supriyā’s avadāna also makes no mention of suitors, suggesting that she is renouncing before the normal marital age. In contrast, suitors for the girl’s hand appear in all of 14. Triṃśad varṣo vahet kanyāṃ hṛdyāṃ dvādaśavārṣikīm, tryaṣṭavarṣo “ṣṭavarṣāṃ vā dharme sīdati satvaraḥ” (Olivelle 2005, 763–64, tr. 194). The use of the MDh as representative of the Brahmanical legal literature of the time here is due to restrictions on space and is in no way an attempt to oversimplify a rich and complex legal and cultural landscape. 15. After extensive research on this and other early law codes, Olivelle has presented a strong argument for a date of 2nd–3rd centuries CE for the redaction of the MDh (2005, 20–25). 16. The influence of the MDh is evident not only in the dharmaśāstras that immediately follow it and the surviving nine commentaries written on it, but also in the subsequent medieval Nibandhas that continue to regard the MDh as the authority on dharma (Olivelle 2005, 66–70). 17. For Pāli examples of girls renouncing at seven, see the verses for Pañcadīpikā and Ekūposathikā in the Therī-Apadāna (9, Ap. II, 520.18, 11, Ap. II 523.16) and for Uttamā and Selā in the Apadāna and the Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā (Thī-a 46.16, 62.18). The age of seven is much younger than the stipulated age in the ordination texts. For unmarried women, a required question at ordination is whether the candidate for ordination is twenty years of age, an age that would have ensured the candidate was well past what appears to be the normal age for marriage in the Avś. The wording of the question for married women is unclear as to whether it refers to the candidate being at least twelve years of age or married for twelve years. For discussions of female ordination age in the vinaya texts of a number of Buddhist traditions, see Shih (2000, 479–96), and Kieffer-Pülz (2005); von Hinüber (2008, 222–27) focuses on the Pāli evidence. The meaning of the discrepancy between the vinaya sources and the Avś is unclear. 18. Speyer (1902–9, ii, 68.9 and 79.6). In the first instance, after many stillbirths, a desperate couple promises their next baby to the monk Aniruddha if the child lives. When a boy is born, Aniruddha gives him monastic robes and wishes him long life. The parents fulfill their promise by giving him the boy at age seven. Avś 84, on the other hand, features a motif also found in the Śuklā story (Avś 73), in which a son of King Prasenajit is born with robes of the monastic color. Since he has the memory of his past lives, he soon asks about the whereabouts of the Buddha and his main disciples. When the king invites the monks to receive a meal at his house and brings the infant to see the Buddha, the Buddha wishes him good health, and the baby responds, hailing him as “Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha.” The princeling renounces at seven, giving us another case of precocious spirituality.
200 women in early indian buddhism the other stories in this subgroup, signaling that those girls had all reached the usual age for marriage.19 So it seems that Avadānaśataka 72 models an early renunciation—before marriage would have been an issue—by a spiritually advanced girl from the only clearly Buddhist family in the 8th varga. In Avadānaśataka 73, the other story featuring precocious spirituality, Śuklā is an only child born to an apparently infertile couple after her father has offered numerous sacrifices to all the gods. Her family is thoroughly Brahmanical in its religious practices, and the Buddhist text delivers a stock condemnation of her father’s ritual choices, one that appears seven times altogether in the Avadānaśataka, as well as in other northern sources.20 Moreover, just before her birth, her father threatens to turn both wife and child out of the house if the baby is not male, as would have been his legal right after a certain number of years under Brahmanical 19. In the Brahmanical context, the presence of suitors was an important factor in calculating the number of occurrences of bhrūṇahatyā, according to the Dharmasūtra of Baudhāyana 4.1.12–13: If a man does not give his daughter in marriage within three years after she has reached puberty, he undoubtedly incurs a guilt equal to that of performing an abortion. That is the case if there is no suitor; but if there are suitors, then he incurs that guilt each time. Manu has declared that he becomes guilty of a grevious sin causing loss of caste at each of her menstrual periods. (tr. Olivelle 1999, 228) See also the Dharmasūtra of Vāsiṣṭha 17.71 and Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra I.64. Therefore the appearance of suitors in these stories would signal the clock was running, and the father was under considerable pressure to fulfill his duty in time. The designated period varied between three months and three years after the appearance of her menses, depending on the law code used. Moreover, if a father could not arrange a marriage within the stipulated time, he would lose whatever benefit he might have gained from an advantageous marriage since his daughter would be free to arrange her own marriage. The range of penances prescribed for bhrūṇahatyā is discussed in Sternbach (1967, 30–57). A detailed discussion of the father’s responsibilities for arranging a marriage for his daughter in the Brahmanical context can be found in Jamison (1996, 237–40). See also Schmidt (1987, 76–109); Sternbach (1965–1967, 385–387). For a fuller discussion of bhrūṇahatya in relation to Avś 71 and 76, see MuldoonHules (forthcoming). 20. Everything in this section of Avś 73 from taking a wife of a suitable family through the condemnation of Śuklā’s father’s sacrifices to the gods comprises a series of stereotyped passages that also occur multiple times in the Divyāvadāna and the extant Sanskrit Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya (cf. Hiraoka 2002, 157–59). The frequent occurrence of this stock condemnation of other people’s practices in the Avś, Divyāvadāna and Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya suggests there was a perceived need to discourage such practices in the Buddhist community. In the Avś, the redactor criticizes such actions as mistaken since birth is due to three conditions: love, timing, and the presence of a gandharva. For a discussion of the association of gandharvas with birth, see Wijesekera (1994, 175–212). See also Fitfield (2008, 30 and 95–96 [re Avś 3]); Collett (2006b, 155–85).
Avadānaśataka 201 law.21 Only Śuklā’s miraculous birth fully clad in pure white saves them from this fate, and the girl is named for this white clothing, which grows with her yet never grows dirty. Later, when Śuklā’s father, besieged by suitors, fears retaliation from the rejected ones, she offers to renounce and he readily accepts. Yet without the evidence of precocious spirituality and purity symbolized by the white clothes, her father’s acceptance would probably have seemed strange to an audience in the first millennium ce. According to the Brahmanical law codes of the time, a female only-child was a putrikā, a “female son,” whose son would inherit her father’s property and conduct rituals for her father and his ancestors instead of for the boy’s biological father, as attested by Mānava Dharmaśāstra 9:136–37 and 9:139: When a daughter, whether she is appointed or not, bears a son by a man of equal status—by that son his maternal grandfather becomes a man who has a son’s son, and the latter shall offer him the riceball and inherit his property. (v. 136) Through a son a man gains the worlds; through a son’s son he obtains eternal life; but through the son’s grandson he attains the crest of the sun. (v. 137) .... The world does not acknowledge any difference between a son’s son and a daughter’s son, for a daughter’s son also rescues him in the hereafter, just like a son’s son. (v. 139)22 The importance accorded to a putrikā and her son in this passage, and also in Gautama Dharmasūtra 28:18–19, may explain why a dual justification (precocious spirituality and the fear of alienating powerful suitors) is given in Avadānaśataka 73. Indeed, in Śuklā’s story the suitors obligingly disappear, in sharp contrast to the suitors in Avadānaśataka 71, 76, and 77, our other three occurrences of the trope of the fearful father. In Suklā’s story, 21. For example, MDh 9:81 provides for superseding a barren wife in the eighth year and a wife who bears only daughters in the eleventh (Olivelle 2005, 761, tr. 194). 22. Akṛtā vā kṛtā vāpi yaṃ vindet sadṛśātsutam, pautrī mātāmahastena dadyātpiṇḍaṃ hared dhanam. Putreṇa lokāñjayati pautreṇānantyamaśrute, atha putrasya pautreṇa bradhnasyāpnoti viṣṭapam . . . Pautradauhitrayor loke viśeṣo nopapadyate, dauhitro’pi hy amutrainaṃ saṃtārayati pautravat (Olivelle 2005, 771–72, tr. 197).
202 women in early indian buddhism the suitors’ quiet withdrawal may reflect the standard warnings in the law codes against marrying a brotherless girl who might be a putrikā, exemplified in Gautama Dharmasūtra 28:20; Mānava Dharmaśāstra 3:11; and Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra I.53.23 Avadānaśataka 72 and 73, then, could be said to model uncomplicated early renunciation by spiritually precocious girls who come from two types of families, Buddhist and Brahmanical. Muktā and Kṣemā The third and final pair consists of Avadānaśataka 77 and 79, the stories of Muktā and Kṣemā. Both invoke the convention of the marriage alliance, not only the political version that is familiar to all students of early Indian history but also the mundane version used to unite two families for their mutual economic and social benefit. In Avadānaśataka 77, Muktā offers to renounce to solve her father’s fear about choosing a suitor, giving us the fourth occurrence of this new trope, but what happens next is unique to this story: Muktā’s most ardent suitor is so smitten with her that his father, the Buddhist layman, Anāthapiṇḍada, intercedes on his behalf.24 Anāthapiṇḍada’s chief argument in pushing for his son’s marriage to the reluctant Muktā is that a mutually beneficial marriage alliance will result from it: “Let the girl Muktā be bestowed upon my son. In this way, an alliance will be made and there will be lifelong happiness.”25 Muktā agrees, but only on the condition that she and her new husband both renounce. Anāthapiṇḍada’s son accepts her condition, and they do just this. In Avadānaśataka 77, then, we have another model that twists the institution of Brahmanical marriage to Buddhist ends: a girl can marry and immediately renounce with her new husband without entering into married life. Furthermore, this new model resonates with several rules in the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya that govern how husbands and wives may interact after entering the Order. Indeed, the vinaya stories associated with these rules suggest that the real innovation here may be the relative youth and inexperience of Muktā and her groom. 23. In addition, Śāṅkhyāyana Gṛhyasūtra I, 15, 16 (echoed in Pāraskara Gṛhyasūtra I, 8, 18) suggests that a hundred cows and a chariot should be given to a father who has only daughters when marrying one of them (Oldenberg [1886] 1964, 39, 285). One commentator, Nārāyaṇa, states that this payment is “to destroy the guilt brought about by marrying a girl who has no brother” (quoted in ibid., 39, n.1). 24. Hence this young man is a brother of the girl Supriyā, the heroine of Avś 72. 25. Dīyatāṃ muktā dārikā mama putrāya, evaṃ kṛtaṃsāmbandhikaṃ yāvajjīvasukhyaṃ kṛtaṃ ca bhaviṣyatīti (Speyer 1902–9, ii, 37.8–.9).
Avadānaśataka 203 In a new book on the family in Buddhism, Clarke (2014, 230–65) discusses a number of vinaya stories involving joint renunciation by married couples, pointing out, The authors/redactors of Buddhist monastic law codes seem to have envisioned the formal maintenance of marital ties not only between monastics and their lay spouses, but also between married monks and nuns. Although aware of legal provisions for the dissolution of marriage, Buddhist jurists seem not to have required monks or nuns thereby to dissolve their marriages. Rather, the canonical lawyers negotiated the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behavior for married monastic couples. (2014, 193) Thus it seems that couples that renounced together were not entirely rare in the vinayas, but most of them seem to have led a full, conjugal life together before entering the Order, and some may have been elderly. 26 The sole exception here is one of the monastic couples discussed by Walters in the previous chapter, Mahākāśyapa and Kapilabhadrā. In the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, these two are said to have lived together but maintained celibacy without lustful impulses for over twelve years after a marriage arranged to please their parents. Their secular marriage lasts until his parents die, and then both go forth, although Bhaddā initially enters a non-Buddhist order before joining her husband in the Buddhist saṅgha.27 In addition, the Pāli biographies of Dhammadinnā provide a 26. In a 2010 article, Schopen examines several Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya stories with a narrative trope that typically precedes an old man joining the order in which he laments his poverty and lack of relatives to support him, a pattern that is relatively common in such stories about male renunciation, noting: All these men are not young people, but mature men of considerable years and domestic experience, with, in the main, probably limited formal education, and yet this is only a very small sampling of what is found in this Vinaya. In the first examples cited here the men in question are very old, at or even beyond the end of their productive years, and one cannot help but be reminded of the classical description of the men who become renouncers in the āśrama system: these men become Buddhist monks when they are unable or too old to do anything else. (2010, 128) While some of these men left wives behind when they renounced, Clarke’s research suggests that elderly joint renunciation would not have been a problem even if his stories of married monastics do not specifically identify their protagonists as elderly. 27. Clarke (2014, 260–261). For a translation of the Tibetan version of their story, see von Schiefner ([1882] 1926, 186–205).
204 women in early indian buddhism second example of joint renunciation. Dhammadinnā’s husband, after some years of wedded bliss, abruptly tells her he is leaving home to join the Buddhists and offers her the house, but she tartly rejects this bit of largesse and obtains his permission to become a Buddhist nun.28 In the light of this material, it seems that the Muktā avadāna (Avś 77) was innovative in its portrayal of marriage for the express purpose of renouncing and of a young bride who goes forth with her husband immediately after the wedding. This timing would, in theory, have forestalled the consummation of the marriage since newlyweds were supposed to live together chastely for at least three days after the wedding before having intercourse according to a number of the gṛhysūtras, the Brahmanical manuals for domestic rites.29 Indeed, some gṛhysūtras advocated waiting as long as a year before having intercourse. Muktā’s wedding thus undercuts the ritual and procreative purposes of Brahmanical marriage. Nevertheless, her story implicitly promises that a marital alliance will continue to benefit the families even after the joint renunciation of the newlyweds, underscoring the value placed on even ordinary marital alliances. Kṣemā’s case in Avadānaśataka 79 differs significantly from Muktā’s, despite the appearance of the marriage-alliance motif in both stories. In Avadānaśataka 79, a marriage alliance contracted at Kṣemā’s birth between her father, King Prasenajit, and the neighboring king, Brahmadatta, leads to the cessation of hostilities between the two kingdoms. This fits the definition of the suvarṇa saṃdhi or “golden treaty” given in Kauṭilīya 28. For Dhammadinnā, see Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā (Thī-a I.12 at 15–19), Dhammapadaaṭṭhakathā (xxvi.38 at III, 336–38) and Manorathapurāṇī (I, 360), as well as Apadāna (Ap. II, 567–69, esp. v. 24–26). This emphasis on obtaining the husband’s permission reflects the vinaya rules requiring this. In the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa, the relevant rules are Pāyantika 85, which stipulates permission of her bdag bo (or po), a word that could be understood as “owner” or “guardian” (Tsomo 1996, 110, 167) or “husband” (Rockhill 1884, 180), and Saṅghāvaśeṣa/Saṅghādisēra 10, which receives very different translations in Tsomo (1996, 85) and Rockhill (1884, 15). The Pāli vinaya’s Bhikkhunī Pācittiya 80 (Vin. III, 394–95) stipulates permission of parents and husband. In the Mahāsāṅghika and the Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda vinayas, the corresponding rule is Bhikṣuṇī Saṅghātiśeṣa 7 (Mahāsāṅghika: Hirakawa 1982, 150–52; Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda: Nolot 1991, 124–27; Roth 1970, 135–37). In the Dharmagupta vinaya, see Pāyantika 134 (Tsomo 1996, 55). In addition, specific questions are asked in the ordination ceremony for nuns to ascertain if the appropriate people have given consent (Hirakawa 1982, 60; Roth 1970, 32; Wijayaratna 2001, 34). It seems the nunnery could not risk being a haven for wives fleeing their husbands. 29. For detailed citations, see the notes for the steps in Brahmanical weddings given later in this article, particularly those for steps 11 and 12.
Avadānaśataka 205 Arthaśāstra 7.3.29.30 When Kṣemā, whose name means “peace,” later converts to Buddhism and asks for permission to become a nun, her father refuses because the alliance and the peace it produced depend on her marrying Brahmadatta’s son, Kṣemaṅkara (“Peacemaker”). He claims that only her betrothed can grant such permission, a claim that may have some validity given the Mānava Dharmaśāstra’s treatment of betrothal in its section on contract law.31 When Kṣemā finds out that her father has secretly summoned Brahmadatta and his son for a hasty wedding, she implores the Buddha for help. The Buddha secretly appears and instructs her to the point of her developing ṛddhi (“supernatural or magical power,” Edgerton [1953] 1998, ii, 151b). During the wedding, at the key moment of the pānigraha when the groom takes the bride’s hand, Kṣemā rises into the air “like a goose king on extended wing”32 and—like Suprabhā and Kāśisundarī in our two svayaṃvara stories—works prātihāryas (magical feats) that finally convince everyone that she is truly unsuited to marriage. Thus, while Muktā’s marriage alliance in Avadānaśataka 77 facilitates her becoming a nun, Kṣemā’s marriage alliance poses a major hurdle that she can and must learn to overcome. Brahmanical marriage in the Avadaˉnaśataka Why was the redactor of this northern text so preoccupied with depicting girls avoiding connubial entanglement that he devoted fully half of the stories in the 8th varga of the Avadānaśataka to this topic? A number of scholars, including Law (1926), Gross (1990, 116–120) and Young (2004, 85),33 have noted that marriage in early Indian Buddhism was conducted using local rites. In the case of North India during the first millennium ce, this would most likely have meant using Brahmanical marital rites and forms. 30. Kangle ([1965–72] 1992–2003, I, 172, tr. II, 329). 31. MDh 9:71 forbids giving a girl in marriage who is already betrothed to anyone else (Olivelle 2005, 759, tr. 193). 32. vitatapakṣa iva haṃsarājo (Speyer 1902–9, ii, 49.6–.7). 33. In complete opposition to these scholars, A. K. Sur, in his ethnographic survey of Indian marital customs, asserted that there was a distinct but simple Buddhist rite of marriage in ancient times (1973, 52–53). However, his statements appear to have been based on jātaka texts though little actual evidence was given. Some decades later, Gombrich and Obeyesekere researched the origins of so-called “traditional Buddhist” wedding rites in presentday Sri Lanka, but were unable to trace them back to any ancient antecedents. They concluded that these rites were actually modern innovations (Gombrich and Obeyesekere 1998, 265–67).
206 women in early indian buddhism Unfortunately, little documentation has been published to date on the marriage rites used in early Buddhism, and what has been published has relied almost exclusively on Pāli sources that may not accurately represent the North Indian context in which the Avadānaśataka was redacted. For example, Law, in a brief article on marriage in the early Buddhist context, observed that Buddhists made only limited use of Brahmanical marriage forms, but his evidence was drawn entirely from Pāli texts, apart from a passing reference to a 10th-century text by Kṣemendra. Therefore, the wedding described in the Kṣemā avadāna (Avś 79) provides some useful evidence for the use of Brahmanical marriage rites in North Indian Buddhist literature: yāvat saptame divase vivāhakāle saṃprāpte pratyupasthite rājakumāre anekajanaśatasahāye vedīmadhyagatāyāṃ brāhmaṇena purohitena lājā ghṛtasarpiṣānupradattāḥ | tato dārakadārikāhastasaṃśleṣaṇe kriyamāṇe kṣemā paśyatām anekeṣāṃ prāṇiśatasahasrāṇāṃ vitatapakṣa iva haṃsarājo gaganatalam abhiruhya vicitrāṇi prātihāryāṇi vidarśayitum ārabdhā tato rājā prasenajit kauśalo rājā ca brahmadattaḥ kṣemaṅkaraś ca rājakumāro ‘nye ca kutūhalābhyāgatāḥ sattvā vismayam upagatāḥ pādayor nipatya vijñāpayitum ārabdhāḥ | marṣaya bhagini ya ete tvayā dharmāḥ sākṣāt kṛtā, asthānam etad yat tvaṃ kāmān paribhuñjīthā iti (Speyer 1902–9, ii, 49.4–10) On the seventh day when the time for the wedding came, after the prince had arrived with many people and a hundred companions, and she had gone to the middle of the altar, the brahmin royal chaplain offered fried grains with sprinkled ghee. Then, when the joining of the hands of the young man and young woman was being performed, while many hundreds of thousands of beings were watching, Kṣemā, having risen up into the vault of the sky like a goose king on extended wing, began to display various magical feats. Then King Prasenjit of Kauśala and King Brahmadatta and Prince Kṣemaṅkara and other beings whose wonder was aroused, were amazed, and having fallen at her feet, began to entreat her: “Forgive us, sister! Since these dharmas have been realized by you, it is impossible that you should enjoy desire.” This description fits closely with gṛhyasūtra descriptions for proper kanyādāna (“gift of a girl”) weddings. In the gṛhyasūtras, wedding
Avadānaśataka 207 ceremonies were built around homa (fire) sacrifices officiated by a brahmin priest, which involved oblations to Agni, the fire god, as the traditional witness to the marriage. This Brahmanical wedding ceremony took place in two, or sometimes three, separate locations. A large part of the rite was conducted at the bride’s home and the celebrants would move midway through the ritual to the groom’s new house or his family home, depending on where the new couple would reside. The order of ritual steps varies somewhat from one gṛhyasūtra to another, but all or almost all of the gṛhyasūtras surveyed for this study include the following steps, many of which are accompanied by Vedic recitations: 1. In the ceremony at the bride’s house, the groom offers oblations to the sacrificial fire, with bride seated behind him and touching him. 2. The groom grasps the hands of bride (pāṇigraha/pāṇigrahaṇa). 3. The bride is made to tread on a stone. 4. The bride, standing, sacrifices fried grains into the fire. 5. The groom and bride circumambulate the fire, keeping their right sides to it. 6. After repeating steps 3–5 several times, the bride and groom take seven steps together. 7. The couple are wiped and/or sprinkled on their heads with consecrated water by the ācārya conducting the ceremony or by the water pot carrier. 8. Fees are distributed to the brahmin who officiated and gifts made to other local worthies. 9. The groom has the bride mount the chariot or wagon for the trip to his house, taking the nuptial fire with them. 10. The new couple view the polestar together. 11. The newlyweds spend a minimum of three nights cohabitating in chastity. 12. On the day they break chastity, the husband makes oblations to the fire and various deities, and they then have intercourse for the first time.34 34. See Śāṅkhāyana GS, I, 12, 11–13 to 18, 1–5; Āśvalāyana GS I, 7, 3 to 8, 10–11; Pāraskara GS I, 5, 1–12 to 11, 1–6; Khādira GS I, 3, 7–16 to 4, 12–14 (Oldenberg [1886] 1964, 34–44, 167–71, 279–89, and 380–85); Gobhila GS 2, 1, 19–26 to 5, 1–10; Hiraṅyakeśin GS I, 6, 19, 4–8 to 7, 25, 4; and Āpastamba GS 2, 4, 9–10 to 3, 8, 10–11 (Oldenberg [1892] 1964, 44–52, 187–200, and 259–68).
208 women in early indian buddhism Kṣemā’s wedding ceremony in Avadānaśataka 79 is, first of all, a homa sacrifice with offerings made to the fire representing Agni.35 Second, the officiant is a brahmin priest, and third, the wedding is interrupted at what turns out to be a crucial moment, the pāṇigraha or pāṇigrahaṇa, the moment when the groom takes the bride’s hand.36 Several of the gṛhyasūtras describe in detail exactly how this should be done in order to specify the kind of offspring desired from this union.37 The pāṇigraha is therefore an iconic moment, full of sexual and procreative significance, so it seems no accident that Kṣemā’s wedding is interrupted at this key point. In fact, the same strategic interruption of a wedding occurs in a number of other stories in northern Indian Buddhist sources, including two stories in the 35. See, for example, Śāṅkhāyana GS I, 5, 2 (Oldenberg [1886] 1964, 20), which lists a wedding as one of five occasions for making offerings to the fire. 36. References in the gṛhyasūtras that use the pāṇigraha[ṇa] as emblematic of the whole marriage ritual include Śāṅkhāyana GS 1, 5, 5; Āśvalāyana GS I, 9, 1–2; Pāraskara GS I, 4, 5–7; and Gobhila GS 1, 1, 8 and 20. In all of these sources, the pāṇigraha[ṇa] is a climatic moment rather than the formal conclusion of the rite. In dealing with the grounds for litigation with respect to the cancellation of a sale or purchase, MDh 8:227 asserts: “The ritual formulas of marriage are a sure sign that she is the wife, and learned men should recognize that they reach their completion at the seventh step” (tr. Olivelle 2005, 179, and see 317, n. 8.227; and 704). The seventh step for the MDh was the conclusion of the transfer or gift of the girl; however, it should be noted that this statement occurs in the section concerned with contracts, in the context of discussing penalties for violations of marriage contracts. Nevertheless, this statement may partly explain the primacy given to the seven steps in later medieval and modern discussions of marriage, which generally accord the MDh pride of place among the law codes. A more detailed discussion of marriage occurs in Ch. 3 of the MDh. 37. See, for example, Āśvalāyana GS I, 7, 3–5 (Oldenberg [1886] 1964, 167–68), where grasping the thumb of the bride’s hand with the palm side up indicates a desire for male offspring, while taking the other fingers meant female offspring were desired, and grasping both the thumb and the hand with the back of the hand held up meant both male and female offspring. Some of the other gṛhyasūtras offer different associations between grasping the hand and procreation. See Hiraṅyakeśin GS 1, 6, 20, 1–2 (Oldenberg [1892] 1964, 189–90) and Āpastamba GS 2, 4, 11–15 (ibid., 259). MDh 3:43–44 adds some unusual varṇa specifications into this moment: “The consecratory rite of taking the hand in marriage is prescribed only for brides of equal class. The following should be recognized as the procedure for the rite of marriage when brides are of unequal class. When marrying an upper-class man, a Kṣatriya bride should take hold of an arrow, a Vaiśya bride a goad, and a Śūdra bride the hem of his garment” (tr. Olivelle 2005, 110). The gṛhyasūtras surveyed for this study seem to have no such provisions, but Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra I.62 echoes the MDh in stipulating the arrow and the goad for women marrying men of a higher class (Stenzler 1970, Sanskrit 10 and German 9; Goodall 1996, 303). However, this is hardly surprising since the author of the Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra relies quite heavily on the MDh. Another indicator of the iconic nature of this moment is the range of vocabulary derived from it. These lexical items included words for “marriage” (pāṇigrahaṇa-saṃskāra or simply pāṇigraha), “groom” (pāṇigrāhavat, pāṇigrahītṛ), and “bride” (pāṇigṛhītā/-tī), among others (Monier-Williams [1899] 2002, 615b).
Avadānaśataka 209 Karmaśataka (Feer 1901, 266–69), as well as in the Dharmadinnā/ Dharmadattā avadāna in the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, where the intended wedding is virtually reduced to that moment. Nor are examples lacking in non-Buddhist literature, for one of the young heroes in Daṇḍin’s Dasakumāracarita interrupts a wedding at this very point in order to slay the groom and claim the bride as his own (Kale 1925, 101.14–102.4).38 The depiction of the Brahmanical marriage rite in the Kṣemā avadāna (Avś 79) is strikingly similar to the depiction of the marriage of Śākyamuni and Yaśodhāra in three Gandhāran reliefs discussed by Verardi (1994). Like Kṣemā’s wedding, these reliefs show a homa sacrifice officiated by a brahmin priest, and two of the three reliefs seem to show the pāṇigraha rather than the circumambulation of the fire suggested by Verardi. Hence Avadānaśataka 79 and the art historical evidence confirm that the Brahmanical homa-style wedding ceremony was known in northwest Indian Buddhist communities. Furthermore, Avadānaśataka 79 suggests that these same Brahmanical rites may have been used in early North Indian Buddhist communities, depending on how we view Prasenajit’s religious affiliation. Interestingly, this seems to have also been the case for at least some Jain communities in this period.39 38. Recent studies suggest Daṇḍin lived in the late 7th–early 8th century ce. While he is primarily associated with the Tamil Nadu region of South India, he was forced into exile for twelve years, traveling extensively during that time, according to a surviving section of his Avantisundarī[kathā] (Onians 2005, 24–25). Kale placed Daṇḍin a little earlier, ca. 550–650 ce, but leaned toward 650 (Kale 1925, xx–xxi). Given the influence achieved by Daṇḍin’s Kāvyādarśa, it might not be surprising if his novel had begun to influence northern narrative literature, at least by the time of Demoto’s hypothetical revision of the Avś around the 8th century ce. However, for now it is difficult to say what impact Daṇḍin’s work may have had on this particular story. 39. In his discussion of marriage as a Jain Śarīrasaṃskāra, Sangave (1956, 143–45) gives a list of eight forms of marriage: brāhma, daiva, ārṣa, prājāpatya, āsura, gāndharva, rākṣasa, and paiśāca, based on the Jaina Vivāha Paddhati. The titles match those given in the MDh and other Brahmanical sources, and the Jain definitions of the forms closely overlap the Brahmanical definitions. Moreover, Jain ācāryas also labelled the first four forms of marriage as lawful primarily because, Sangave reports, “such marriages are contracted with the mutual consent of the parents of the bride and the bridegroom and the bride is given by her father as a gift to the bridegroom . . .” (ibid., 145). In other words, the notion of the kanyādāna as the ideal form of marriage found in the Brahmanical context carried over into the Jain context. As to when these forms were adopted, Sangave notes: The Jaina sacred books that prescribe these ceremonies [i.e., the Jain saṃskāras] are not very old. The Digaṁbara’s Ādi-purāṇa was written in the ninth century A.D. and Āchāra-dinakara was written in Saṁvat year 1468 [A.D. 942]. Thus as the ceremonies are prescribed sufficiently late, it is likely that the Jaina ceremonies might have been designed after the Hindu ceremonies. Whatever might be in theory, in practice at least the Jaina ceremonies look like the Hindu ceremonies. (1956, 267)
210 women in early indian buddhism Brahmanical marriage rites as normative? A concommitant question remains: Why did Buddhists not try to develop their own marriage rites? A common explanation, though by no means the only one, is that Buddhists were only interested in pursuing mokṣa and nirvāṇa. Gross attributes this lack of a separate Buddhist marriage rite to several factors: First, “a typical Buddhist avoidance of unnecessary theory, dogma, ritual, or regulations”; second, a blanket precept against sexual misconduct, which Gross argues obviated the need for detailed rules about marriage; and third, an emphasis on renunciation as the primary path to spiritual achievement (1990, 116–20; the quotation occurs on 117). However, there may have been another factor at work that has not yet been considered. A survey of eight key Brahmanical sources for this period shows that the Brahmanical system of six or eight forms of marriage was remarkably stable across the legal sources available during the classical period, as shown in the chart below:40 In the sources surveyed and listed in Table 9.2, the marriage forms show only slight variations in nomenclature,41 definition, and the designation of Moreover, these were not the only Hindu marital customs adopted by the Jains since, according to Sangave, in Ādi Purāṇa 16.247, Jinasena advocated the anuloma rule for marriages and Jains later followed some of the same exogamous restrictions as Hindus (1956, 154–61). However, there seems to have been little exploration of these issues in the early Jain context so far, apart from Sangave’s study, and further research is needed. 40. Sources: Āśvalāyana GS 1, 6, 1–8; Kauṭīlya Arthaśāstra 3.2.1–9; Āpastamba DS 2.11.17– 2.12.4; Gautama DS 4.6–15; Baudhāyana DS 1.20.1–16;Vasiṣṭha DS 1.28–38; MDh 3:20–34; and Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra I.58–61. The Āśvalāyana GS is unusual in that most gṛhyasūtras do not give a list of forms. While dating these documents is difficult, after detailed studies of the four dharmasūtras and of the MDh, Olivelle has suggested the following schema: Āpastamba Dharmasūtra c. beginning of the 3rd cen. bce. Gautama Dharmasūtra c. mid-3rd cen. bce. Proto-Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra c. mid-2nd cen. bce. Vāsiṣṭha Dharmasūtra 1st cen. bce–1st cen. ce. Mānava Dharmaśāstra 2nd–3rd cen. ce. (Olivelle 1999, xxviii–xxxiv; Olivelle 2005, 20–25). Despite its association with the south of India today, Olivelle would place the initial redaction of the Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra in the north of India, along with the rest of the Dharmasūtras cited above and the Mānava Dharmaśāstra. 41. Only two sources show any variation in the nomenclature for these marital forms and that is minor. The relatively late Vāsiṣṭha Dharmasūtra refers to the āsura marriage as the mānuṣa marriage and the rākṣasa form as the kṣatriya form; the latter is a logical variation, given the repeated association of the rākṣasa form with the kṣatriya class. The Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra, the latest source among those surveyed for this study, renames the prajāpatya form kāya and defines the paiśāca form slightly differently as an abduction carried out by deception rather than a rape. Nevertheless, the definitions for the other marriage forms do not vary in any substantial way.
Source Āśvalāyana Gṛhyasūtra Kauṭīlya Arthaśāstra Āpastamba Dharmasūtra Gautama Dharmasūtra Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra Vāsiṣṭha Dharmasūtra Mānava Dharmaśāstra Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra Marital Form Table 9.2 Marriage Forms in Brahmanical Sources brāhma daiva ārṣa prājāpatya gāndharva āsura rākṣasa paiśāca X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
212 women in early indian buddhism “proper” or “acceptable” forms of marriage. The nomenclature is derived from the style of wedding, not the status of the union itself, and in this they differ significantly from the lists of women in Buddhist vinayas, which classifies them partly in terms of the type of wedding and partly by the type of union contracted, the last of which is tatkṣaṇikā “[a mate] for a few moments,” and clearly a paid transaction.42 Whether the marital forms given number six or eight, the sources listed in Table 9.2 all regard the first half of their lists (i.e., those to the left of the grey dividing line in Table 9.2) as preferred forms of marriage while those on the second half of the list (those to the right of the dividing line) were presented as undesirable. Thus the brāhma, daiva, ārṣa, and prājāpatya forms—all marriages in which the father formally gave the girl to another man—were deemed proper kanyādāna (“gift of a girl”) marriages that conferred on the bride the status of a patnī, a ritually empowered wife who could assist her husband in carrying out his Brahmanical ritual obligations (Jamison 1996, 30–31). In contrast, the marital forms in the second half of the list do not confer this status. These latter forms included the unions called gāndharva (a union of two lovers without parental involvement), āsura (payment of a bride-price), rākṣasa (abduction marriage), and paiśāca (rape of an insensible girl, which is condemned by all sources). Regardless of their lower status, these four nevertheless were recognized as marriages; thus, a female rape victim could be considered wed, protecting her reputation in the community somewhat and conferring legitimacy on any offspring that resulted from the rape. In addition, some gṛhyasūtras advocated incorporating local customs in conducting Brahmanical wedding rites.43 The sum total of this evidence suggests that, even before the beginning of the Common Era, the Brahmanical system of marriage in northern India was widespread, well entrenched, and at least partially entwined with local customs, making it probably difficult to challenge. Buddhist monks and Brahmanical marriage Rather than fight the system, Buddhists in early North India seemed to have opted to find a place within it that suited their own purposes. 42. For a discussion of these lists, see Clarke (forthcoming, 224–26). 43. Āśvalāyana GS I, 7, 1 (Oldenberg [1886] 1964, 167); Pāraskara GS 1, 8, 11–13 (ibid., 285); Āpastamba GS I, 2, 12–15 (Oldenberg [1892] 1964, 255).
Avadānaśataka 213 Schopen observed that, according to various vinayas, Buddhist monks were required to play a role in certain life-cycle rites, including weddings: More than once recently it has again been suggested that Buddhist monks had little or no role in life-cycle ceremonies in early India. I do not know on what evidence these suggestions are based, but it does not seem that it could be the Pāli texts. In fact, Buddhist vinaya texts in Pāli, Sanskrit, and what Roth calls “Prākrit-cum-Sanskrit” seem to suggest quite otherwise. They seem to suggest and assume that monks regularly had a role in such ceremonies and that their ritual presence and performance at such ceremonies was of some importance. Most passages, indeed, employ language that suggests “obligation” (karaṇīya). (1997, 72) As Schopen goes on to demonstrate, evidence from the Pāli, Mūlasarvāstivāda and Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda vinayas show that Buddhist monks were expected to attend certain life-cycle events if summoned by a upāsaka or upāsikā, a devout layfollower. The Vassupanāyikakhandhaka in the Pāli vinaya gives an example of how and why an upāsaka might summon a monk, even out of the rain retreat: This is a case, monks, where a dwelling place for an Order comes to have been built by a layfollower. If he should send a messenger to monks, saying: “Let the reverend sirs come. I want to give a gift, and to hear dhamma, and to see the monks”, you should go, monks, if you are sent for and if the business can be done in seven days, but not if you are not sent for.44 The Pāli vinaya goes on to stipulate a wide variety of other events that monks must attend if summoned, two of which directly concern our discussion here: This is the case, monks, where a dwelling comes to have been built by a layfollower for himself . . . or there comes to be his son’s marriage, or there comes to be his daughter’s marriage, or he becomes ill, or he speaks a well known discourse. If he should send a messenger to monks, saying: . . . “Let the reverend sirs come. 44. Vin. I, 139, tr. Horner Vol. IV [1951] 1962, 186, quoted in Schopen (1997, 73).
214 women in early indian buddhism I want to give a gift, and to hear dhamma, and to see the monks”, you should go, monks, if you are sent for and if the business can be done in seven days, but not if you are not sent for.45 The first Pāli vinaya passage quoted above focuses on the obligation to accept donations from the devout laity and to teach dhamma in exchange, while the second passage suggests contexts for such donations. Notice that the formula of the invitation and the lay follower’s expectation do not change with the occasion. In the case of marriage, at least, such an invitation would seem to correspond to the gifts required to be made to brahmins at or after Brahmanical weddings, as attested to by the gṛhyasūtras (see no. 8 in the list of wedding steps above). These gift recipients do not have to be present at the ceremony itself. Thus, it seems that Buddhist monks could be included within the preexisting structure of Brahmanical weddings, with only a substitution of guests to be honored with donations.46 An analogous list of obligations, couched in similar language, can be found in the corresponding Varṣāvastu in the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, but Schopen notes that “[i]t does not list all of the same occasions, however, referring explicitly only to marriage and serious, if not terminal, illness” (Schopen 1997, 76). Clearly, then, marriages of upāsakas or their family members brought important invitations for monastic saṅghas in both Sri Lanka and North India. Moreover, the Abhisamācārikā of the MahāsāṅghikaLokottaravāda school gives—along with detailed directions for etiquette at such events—specific verses for assigning the reward (i.e., merit) of a meal or food donation given in connection with births, deaths, marriages, and housewarmings in lay households (Singh and Minowa 1988, 91–94, tr. 126–29).47 For each of these four occasions, the text sets forth both 45. Vin. I, 140, tr. Horner Vol. IV, [1951] 1962, 186 also quoted in part in Schopen (1997, 74). 46. Such a substitution calls to mind chapter 26 of the Pāli Dhammapada, which redefines a “brahmin” as, essentially, a Buddhist monk. This and other attempts to redefine a “brahmin” in terms of actions and not mere birth may have been crucial in getting donations redirected to Buddhist monks in ceremonies like weddings. 47. See also Schopen (1997, 78–79). In the Abhisamācārikā’s introduction to these dedicatory verses, the list of possible reasons for the offering of a meal is longer and includes family gatherings and separations, illness, [invitations to?] the king’s palace, or misfortune, plus meals offered by outgoing monks and food donations made to individual monks. However, no verses are provided to dedicate the merit for these occasions, suggesting they may have been less frequent. The text also stipulates that upon the receipt of any invitation, effort has to be expended to make sure the invitation is real and not a trap or a ruse (Singh and Minowa 1988, 88–90, tr. 122–24).
Avadānaśataka 215 inappropriate and appropriate verses. The verses for assigning the benefit of a meal donated in connection with a wedding are: Atha dāni vevāhikaṃ bhavati, nāyam dakṣiṇā ādiśitavyā Nagnā nadī anodakā nagnaṃ rāṣṭraṃ arājakaṃ Istrīpi vidhavā nagnā sacesyā daśa bhrātaro Nāyam evaṃ dakṣiṇā ādiśitavyā Atha khalu dakṣiṇā ādiśitavyā Istrīpi peśalā bhavatu śraddhā bhavatu pativratānugā Śilavati yogasampannā samyagdṛṣṭi ca yā iha Puruṣo pi peśalo bhavatu śraddho bhavatu vratānugo Śilavāṃ tyāgasampanno samyagdṛṣṭi ca yo iha. Ubhau śraddhāya sampannā ubhau śilehi saṃvṛtā Ubhau puṇyāni kṛtvāna samaśilavratā ubhau. Vidhinā devalokastu modantu kāmakāmino. Tām eva bhāryā careyā yā asyā śilehi saṃvṛtā Asatiṃ parivarjeyā mārgaṃ pratibhayaṃ yathā Evam dakṣiṇā ādiśitavyā.48 This passage might be translated as: Now if it is related to a wedding, the reward should not be assigned:49 Naked is a river without water, naked is a kingdom without a king, Naked is a woman without a husband,50 even if she has ten brothers. The reward should not be assigned in this way. On the contrary, the reward should be assigned: May the woman be pleasant, devout, and a loyal companion to her husband, Well-behaved, accomplished in her work, and a holder of right views. May the man be pleasant, devout, and a loyal companion, 48. Singh and Minowa (1988, 92–93). See also Jinananda (1969, 19–20) and Prasad (1984, 46, n. 3 and 47, n. 1). According to Prasad, the verse that is not to be recited can be found in the Jātaka-aṭṭhakathā in the commentary on the Ucchana Jātaka, while the verses that should be recited instead appear in Cowell and Francis (1895–1913, Vol. III, Pt. I, 214 [1984, 46–47]). 49. Two commentaries on the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya extant in Tibetan explicitly state that the phrase dakṣiṇā[m] ā √diś means “assign the reward (i.e., the fruit of the merit)” in similar texts in that tradition (Schopen 2004, 41–42, n. 48). The same reading seems appropriate here. 50. Reading this as two parts, vi + dhava, but vidhavā can be translated as “widow.”
216 women in early indian buddhism Well-behaved, accomplished in [giving] gifts, and a holder of right views. Both are accomplished in faith, both are guarded in their behavior, Both have made merit, just as both have made a vow of [good] behavior. By this method51 may they be happy from following their desire [and attain] the world of the gods. Only the wife who is restrained in her behavior should be coupled with. An unchaste wife should be avoided like a perilous road. In this way the reward should be assigned.52 It is interesting that, according to these verses, marriage—if properly practiced—is said to produce exactly the same results as those promised in Mānava Dharmaśāstra 3:79 and other Brahmanical sources: happiness and heaven. Furthermore, all the evidence presented above from the Pāli vinaya, the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya, and the Abhisamācārikā, indicates that the role of monks was limited to receiving donations of meals in connection with the weddings of upāsakas’ children and assigning the reward of the donation to the new couple. Nothing in this evidence suggests that monks ever officiated at the wedding rite itself.53 Yet, clearly 51. The term vidhi could also mean “law,” “means,” “act,” or even “rite,” etc. (Monier-Williams 1899 [2002], 968b). 52. The translation here is mine, but see also Singh and Minowa (1988, 127) and Prasad (1984, 46–47). Prasad points out that there appear to be no similar verses for assigning merit after a meal given in connection with a marriage in the Pāli vinaya, raising the question of exactly what Buddhist monks did for this occasion in the premodern Sri Lankan context (ibid., 219–20). 53. Gombrich and Obeyesekere could find no evidence of monks playing any role in Sri Lanka weddings before the 1980s (1988, 265–67). In fact, there were strong feelings against having monks at such a ceremony: The majority of Sinhalese Buddhists still find it strange for a monk to appear at a wedding at all, let alone take any part in the formal proceedings. A monk is traditionally associated with sterility or even with death, so that the mere sight of one is—or used to be—inauspicious in a secular context; for example, to see a monk as one sets out on a journey is a bad omen. By the same token weddings are always held on secular premises. However, now it is gradually becoming popular to have monks recite pirit, the allpurpose rite of blessing, at middle-class weddings. It does not conflict with traditional practice for the bride or groom or both to make merit before the wedding by inviting monks to recite pirit and accept alms—though we suspect that even this is a relatively modern custom. However, it is decidedly innovative to have monks recite pirit at the wedding itself. (1988, 265)
Avadānaśataka 217 monastic attendance at meals offered in connection with weddings was deemed important enough to warrant breaking the rain retreat for up to seven days and required careful thought as to etiquette. Thus, Buddhist monks’ activities in connection with weddings as documented in these sources seem to fit within the Brahmanical marital system rather than challenging it, and to represent a redirection of some wedding donations from the traditional recipients, brahmins, to Buddhist monks. Conclusion The Buddhist use of Brahmanical marriage rites may have brought with it some unwanted baggage in the form of Brahmanical marital laws and customs. As noted above, there are three possible examples of unstated adherence to Brahmanical marital laws in the 8th varga of the Avadānaśataka. First, the stipulation of seven as the age of renunciation for Ānathapiṇḍada’s daughter in Avadānaśataka 72 happens to be one year shy of the earliest specified age for a girl to marry in the Mānava Dharmaśāstra, though seven is also mentioned in two other Avadānaśataka stories as an age at which some boys renounced and in some Pāli texts for girls. Second, Muktā and her groom renounce immediately after the wedding ceremony in Avadānaśataka 77 and therefore probably before the consummation of the marriage, according to the timing specified in several of the gṛyhasūtras. Third, the repeated motif of the father who fears making enemies of rejected suitors, which resonates with attacks on families and couples in the Mahābhārata and the Raghuvaṃśa. Fourth, we have the strategic interruption of the wedding at the paṇigraha in Kṣemā’s tale, which mirrors an interrupted wedding in the Dasakumāracarita and several other Buddhist tales. Set side by side, these four elements suggest that Brahmanical marital customs and perhaps marital laws continued to exert some force within Buddhist communities of North India. Similarly, the redactor’s condemnation of the Brahmanical sacrifices offered by Śuklā’s father to secure the birth of a son in Avadānaśataka 73 suggests the Gombrich and Obeyesekere also discuss one secular official who had interpolated Buddhist elements into the upper-class weddings he conducted, claiming that he was following the example of Siddhārtha and Yaśodharā’s wedding (1988, 269–71). This is ironic since the Bodhisattva’s wedding would have followed Brahmanical and/or local precedents, and, as the art historical evidence discussed by Verardi shows, Siddhārtha’s wedding was certainly envisioned as a Brahmanical ceremony in Gandhāran Buddhist communities. The same was probably true elsewhere.
218 women in early indian buddhism use of Brahmanical customs was not limited to marriage as there is little need to condemn something which would not occur in the community.54 Yet, more than this, the very position of marriage as the cornerstone of the Brahmanical ritual system may have been problematic in Buddhist use of Brahmanical marital forms. The Brahmanical tradition required a man to be married to perform even basic household rites and the rites necessary to care for his ancestors. His ritual fires were kindled at his marriage, and they died when his patnī died, for the man had lost an essential ritual partner as discussed by Jamison (1996, 31).55 The loss of a patnī, therefore, rendered a man incapable of performing his ritual obligations, and Mānava Dharmaśāstra 5:168 urged widowers to remarry quickly in order to reestablish their ritual fires. In addition, several significant socioreligious changes in the Brahmanical context during the classical period seem likely to have intensified the demand for brides, and these might explain some of the urgency with which the redactor puts his case for youthful female renunciation. Olivelle’s research on the āśrama system has shown that the early system of four equally valid lifelong career paths (āśramas) for men underwent two significant changes during the classical period. First, around the beginning of the Common Era, the four āśramas were reconfigured into a sequence of life stages (1993, 131).56 This change is amply reflected in the Mānava Dharmaśāstra, which relegated brahmacārya (studenthood) to a man’s youth and limited the saṃnyāsin (“renouncer”) phase to the very end of his life.57 Meanwhile, the third of the original four life paths, the 54. Along the same lines, see Freiberger (1998) on three ways in which certain Pāli texts reinterpreted brahmanical sacrifice in order to bring it into line with Buddhist priorities. 55. See also Mānava Śrautasūtra (1961–63, vol. 1, 182 and vol. 2, 247). MDh 5:167 specifies that the wife be cremated “with [her husband’s] sacred fire and sacrificial implements” (dāhayedagnnihotreṇa yajñapātraisca dharmaviti, tr. Olivelle 2005, 147). 56. The notion of dividing a male’s life into stages also appears in earlier literature not associated with the āśrama system, like the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (Olivelle 1993, 132). 57. MDh 3:1–2 gives a duration of 9, 18, or 36 years for as an appropriate period of study for a youth, after which he should marry. Meanwhile, MDh 6:33 stipulates that a man should become an ascetic wanderer during the last quarter of his life but, according to MDh 6:35, “[o]nly after he has paid his three debts . . .” (tr. Olivelle 2005, 150). The emphasis in the MDh is on performing the four stages consecutively, as is quite clear from MDh 6:87–88. Meanwhile MDh 6:89–90 assert once again the superiority of the householder over the other three āśramas. MDh 6:86 and 6:94–95 also seem to undercut the renouncer āśrama by offering a comfortable alternative for an elderly man to stay at home and follow certain practices, which he terms vedasaṃnyāsika: “. . . retiring from all ritual activities, being self-controlled, and reciting the Veda, he should live at ease under the care of his son” (tr. Olivelle 2005, 153).
Avadānaśataka 219 vānaprastha or “forest hermit” āśrama, seems to have all but disappeared by the time the Mānava Dharmaśāstra was redacted (Olivelle 1993, 236). The net result was that men who followed the āśrama system were now supposed to spend the bulk of their lives as a gṛhastha, a married “householder.”58 The second major change to the āśrama system was a significant broadening of its reach as the reconfigured āśramas became linked with the varṇa system. Originally intended for a small subset of men in the brahmin class, the new sequential āśrama system gradually became the life paradigm to be followed by all men in the top three varṇas or “classes.” Only śūdras, the lowest class, were excluded (Olivelle 1993, 24–27). For example, some statements in the sixth chapter of the Mānava Dharmaśāstra (e.g. 6:1, 6:37, and 6:91) indicate that twice-born men, those of the top three classes, could follow all four of the now sequential āśramas, but statements like Mānava Dharmaśāstra 6:88, 6:93, and 6:97 still seem to reserve the highest attainments for brahmins who do this.59 On the other hand, the authors of the Mahābhārata know of the four āśramas and use them as the yardstick against which kṣatriya actions are measured. In book 12, this new sequential order of the āśramas is invoked to counter Yudhiṣṭhira’s desire to abdicate his newly won throne and renounce early. However, the Mahābhārata outside of the Śāntiparvan does not consistently follow this view (Olivelle 1993, 149–50, 153–55). According to Olivelle, the first text to explicitly link the classes to the āśramas is the Vaikhānasa Smārtasūtra (c. 5th century ce), which stipulates: For the Brāhman there are four orders, for the Kṣatriya the first three, for the Vaiśya only the first two. They who belong to the orders are the following four: the Veda-student, the householder, the hermit, the ascetic.60 58. Of course, this change would have had greatest force within the mainstream of Brahmanical society, and less outside of the mainstream where the āśramas seem to have continued, in at least some groups, as separate life paths. Buddhists and Jains, for example, did not employ the āśrama vocabulary (Olivelle [1993] 2004, 25), and both continued to view ascetic renunciation as a separate life path. This, however, does not rule out the possibility of their being aware of the āśrama system or affected indirectly by changes in it, particularly where marriageable women were concerned. There was no parallel institutionalized system for women in the Vedic or Brahmanical traditions that provided a path to renunciation. 59. For MDh Chapter 6, see Olivelle (2005, 594–612, tr. 148–53). 60. Vaikhānasa Dharmasūtra 8.1 (Caland 1982, 184). The same correlation between varṇa and āśrama is repeated in section 8.9b in the same source (ibid., 192).
220 women in early indian buddhism Whether this text is summarizing a situation already happening on the ground or is introducing a new idea is unclear. Nonetheless, according to this paradigm, the āśramas common to all three of the top classes are limited to Vedic studenthood and married householder. Given the reduced length of studenthood indicated for non-brahmin twice-born, the āśrama of the married householder would have been the longest life stage for kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, especially for the latter class. The evidence of the 8th varga of the Avadānaśataka demonstrates that Brahmanical marital norms and forms played a significant role in the lives of young women in North Indian Buddhist communities and suggests they posed an obstacle to Buddhist female renunciation during the first five hundred years ce, the period of the probable redaction of the Avadānaśataka. The restructuring and broadening of the āśrama system during this period and its linkage to the varṇa system seem likely to have placed a renewed emphasis on marriage and increased or strengthened the Brahmanical demand for brides. Interestingly, Jamison (2006, 191–214) has reported a sharp increase in anti-nun rhetoric in key Brahmanical sources of this period, which supports the idea of increased tension between Buddhist female renunciation and the Brahmanical need for brides. These factors may explain, in large part, why the emphasis of fully half of the stories in the 8th varga of the Avadānaśataka seems to be on modeling ways for young women to enter the Buddhist Order before they wed, an emphasis not found in the Pāli texts of this same period.61 61. In fact, only one story out of the ten in this chapter models the renunciation of an older woman, Avś 78, and she, as the Buddha’s former mother in five hundred previous lives, is clearly a unique case. See Durt (2005) and Muldoon-Hules (2009).
10 Dhammapada-aṭ ṭ hakathaˉ/ Saddharmaratnaˉvaliya women in medieval south asian buddhist societies Ranjini Obeyesekere in this chapter, I intend here to look at certain aspects of women’s lives as revealed in the stories from the Sinhala Saddharmaratnāvaliya.1 With this text we have here a rare chance to contextualize our inferences to a particular period, because this Sinhala text has been clearly identified as the work of the 13th-century monk named Dharmasena who claims authorship in the body of the text itself. In a colophon to his text the author states that his work is a translation of an earlier work, the Pāli Dhammapadaaṭṭhakathā, believed by scholars to date from the 5th century ce. We thus have two texts—translations or transformations—of the same stories, but almost eight centuries apart. What is of even greater interest is that the author of the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā has a colophon to his text that states that his work is in turn a translation of an even earlier Sinhala text found in Sri Lanka. I quote the relevant passage that refers to the earlier version on which the 5th-century Pāli Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā was based: “A subtle commentary thereon has been handed down from generation to generation in the island of Ceylon. But because it is 1. My translations are from the Sinhala edition of the Saddharmaratnāvaliya of Dharmasena Thera, edited by the monk Kirielle Ghanavimala Thera. SR references are to page numbers in this edition.
222 women in early indian buddhism composed in the dialect of the island, it is of no profit or advantage to foreigners. It might perhaps conduce to the welfare of all mankind.” This was the wish expressed to me by the Elder Kumāra Kassapa, self-conquered, living in tranquillity, steadfast in resolve. His earnest wish was made to me because of his desire that the Good Law might endure. Therefore I will discard this dialect and its diffuse idiom and translate the work into the pleasing language of the Sacred Texts.2 The 4th to 6th centuries, during which many of the Pāli commentaries of the Pāli canon were written, was a period when monks from South India, such as Buddhaghosa, the apparent author of the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā, came to the major monasteries in Sri Lanka, famed for their Buddhist scholarship. There they learned the Sinhala language and translated into Pāli many Buddhist commentarial texts, composed by generations of erudite Sinhala monks. The original collection of these stories in Sinhala that were translated into Pāli thus dates back to a period prior to the 5th century ce. Sadly, over the centuries, especially after the 10th century ce, these early Buddhist texts in Sinhala were gradually lost, destroyed by wars, periods of neglect, or the vicissitudes of time.3 Then in the 13th century, during a period of Buddhist revival, several of these lost commentaries were translated back into Sinhala from the Pāli. In relation to this, the author of the 13th-century Sinhala “translation” of the Pāli text thus states: We have abandoned the strict Pali method and taken only the themes in composing this work. It may have faults and stylistic shortcomings, but [you the reader should] ignore them. Be like swans that separate milk from water even though the milk and water be mixed together; or like those who acquire learning and skills even from a teacher of low status, because it is with the acquisition of knowledge 2. Paramparābhatā tassa nipuṇā atthavaṇṇanā yā tambapaṇṇīdīpamhi dīpabhāsāya saṇṭhitā. Na sādhayati sesānaṃ hitasampadaṃ, appevanāma sādheyye sabbalokassa sā hitaṃ. Iti āsiṃsamānenena samacārinā kumārakassapenāhaṃ thherena thiracetasā. Saddhammaṭṭhitikāmena sakkaccaṃ abhiyācito, taṃ bhāsaṃ ativitthāragataṃ ca vacanakkamaṃ. Dhp-a I.1, tr. Burlingame [1921] 2009, 145 (correction from Burlingame sp. subtile > sublte). 3. The absence of literary works for this period is accepted by literary historians as being due to these factors.
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 223 that he is concerned. So consider only its usefulness, and apply the healing slave of the Saddharmaratnāvaliya to remove the hazy film of delusion that clouds the Eye of Wisdom . . . and go happily and with clear vision along the highway of Right Actions to the city of nirvana.4 We therefore have two versions of stories that claim to be from the same text, but which belong to two (perhaps three) different periods, that are retold by two monks working in two very different language traditions. The first is a succinct Pāli shorn of excessive ornamentation, and the other is in the “diffuse idiom,” with extended metaphors and imagery that characterized works in Sinhala. Yet they are retellings of the same stories. The fact that the texts can be dated gives us material that can provide insights into the social world of women in early Buddhist Sri Lanka. It also enables us to potentially discern the norms and values that conditioned the fabric of the stories prior to or around the 5th century ce, the transformations that might have occurred as they were retold in Pāli by an Indian Buddhist monk for a wider Indian readership, and also still further changes when retranslated back into the world of 13th-century Sri Lanka. In this chapter, I intend specifically to look at references in the two texts to norms that conditioned social institutions such as marriage, divorce, the education, role, and status of women and the transformations, if any, that may have occurred between the periods of composition of the two extant texts, nearly eight centuries apart. I conclude the chapter with some reflections on how the values expressed and reinterpreted in the texts permeate into 20th-century Buddhist Sri Lankan society, and continue to affect Buddhist women practicing today. Buddhist monasticism had become strongly institutionalized in Sri Lanka between the 3rd and 10th centuries ce. The two major monastic complexes, the Mahāvihāra and Abhayagiri, attracted Buddhist scholars and monks from India, China, and other Buddhist countries, who studied 4. Pāli krama maga hära artha pamaṇak gena apa kalāvū prabandhayehi krama vilanghanādī adu väḍi ätat, ē nosalakā, pän saha kiri musu vūvat kiri pamanak tōrā häragannā hansayan men da, śāstra dannavungē jāti aḍuvūvat ungē taram nosalakā, śāstra pamaṇak salakā śāstra ugannavun men, prayōjana pamaṇak sitā nuvaṇa nämati äs hi mōha nämati paṭalaya väsi akusal mahā valaṭa väda nivan purayaṭa gosin tubū kusal maha vata nodaknavun, saddharmaratnāvali nämati behedin mōha nämati paṭalaya näti koṭa, nuvaṇäsa ańduru hära, kusal maha vataṭa nivan purayaṭa suvayen yā yutu. SR 2, tr. Obeyesekere (1991, xii).
224 women in early indian buddhism texts and Buddhist commentaries and translated them into many languages.5 The period between the 10th and 13th centuries, however, was punctuated by South Indian conquests and rule by Kālinga, Chōla, and Pāndyan kings. The influence of Hinduism where the Mānava Dharmaśāstra had begun to hold sway must no doubt have left its impact on the society and culture of Buddhist Sri Lanka during that period. Is this reflected in the content and manner of the telling and retelling of these stories? The 13th-century Saddharmaratnāvaliya was written at a time of Buddhist revival that followed the periods of South Indian wars. Texts destroyed during the South Indian conquests were rewritten or translated back from the Pāli. Ironically, since Buddhism still flourished in many parts of South India during this period, when one South Indian power attacked and destroyed the Sri Lankan monasteries, as with Māgha of Kālinga, it was monks from another South Indian state, such as the Chōla kingdom, who were invited by Sinhala kings to reintroduce lost texts back to Sri Lanka. Many commentarial texts were written or rewritten during this period, probably including the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā, as well as other such as the Jātaka-aṭṭhakathā. Text such as these, which use stories to illustrate aspects of Buddhist doctrine, can potentially provide an interesting reflection of the social worlds of the translators and the shifts that occurred over time. I plan to deal in this chapter with issues that center around women, and so I have decided to confine myself to stories from the two texts—the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā and Saddharmaratnāvaliya—that have women as central characters.6 I shall focus on a few important themes: women in their relationship to parents; to husbands; women as cowives; as courtesans; and as nuns. I begin with the story of Kuṇḍalakēsī (Pāli Kuṇḍalakesā) whose biography in the Therī-Apadāna has been mentioned by Walters in chapter eight of this volume.7 The story of her, in both the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā and 5. See von Hinüber (1996, 100–53) and Norman (1983, 118–37) for a discussion of commentators working within this commentarial tradition, such as Buddhaghosa. (On Buddhaghosa specifically see von Hinüber [102–3] and Norman [1983, 120–30]). 6. These stories appear both in Burlingame’s English translation of the Dhammapada Commentary (3 vols. [1921] 1995–2009) and in my translations from the Saddharmaratnāvaliya (1991) and (2001). 7. The basic story arc of Kuṇḍalakēsī remains fairly static between the Apadāna version, and the two versions under discussion here.
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 225 the Saddharmaratnāvaliya, introduces an extraordinarily beautiful young woman of sixteen. After noting her age, the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā inserts an interesting parenthetical comment with a slightly negative implication: When women reach this age they burn and long for men.8 The Saddharmaratnāvaliya, several centuries later, introduces a somewhat more tolerant note: Young women of that age are intoxicated with their youth and so are sexually attracted to men. To prevent any loose behavior her parents shut her up in a room at the topmost floor of a seven-storied palace with only a serving maid to attend on her. It was as if she was imprisoned for being born beautiful.9 The 13th-century Sinhala monk’s implicit criticism of the practice perhaps suggests that the custom of confining young women to such seclusion, which may have been accepted in early medieval India and Sri Lanka, especially among the wealthy, was no longer operative by the 13th-century in Sri Lanka. Many of the stories do however refer to this practice of confining young women to the top floors of seven-storied buildings. One wonders whether, over time, it had become merely a literary trope. The content of several of these stories indicate that such confinement, even when it existed, did not prevent young women from falling in love and eloping. Paṭācārā, though confined like the others, fell in love with a young man of the household and eloped with him (Obeyesekere 2001, 126). Likewise the rich merchant’s daughter saw the hunter Kukkutamitta (Pāli Kukkuṭamitta) from her top story apartment, fell in love with him, and secretly ran away following his cart as he left the city (Dhp-a II.217, Obeyesekere 2001, 667). 8. Tasmi ca vaye ṭhitā nāriyo purisajjhāsaya honti purisalolā. Dhp-a II.217, tr. Burlingame ([1921]1995, 2:227). 9. Ē vayasa pirī siṭi sthrīhuda yavvana madayen mat heyin puruṣayan kerehi lolkam attōya. Unge demavpiyōda un mityācārayen navatanu nisā eka kellaka meyaṭa pāvā dīlā sat mal māligāvē uda mālē śrī yahan gabaḍāvaka rūpatva upannāta pāṭopayaṭa sira geyaka lūva sē lūha. SR 595, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 117).
226 women in early indian buddhism Similarly, Kuṇḍalakēsī, though confined to a top floor room, as with her biography in the Apadāna, sees from her window a thief being taken for execution, falls in love with him, and wants none other for a husband. She takes to her bed and rejects all food. The rejection of food is a powerful symbolic gesture in South Asian societies even today. The response from those around is equally predictable. They will make every effort to prevent a person from “fasting to death.” The extension of this to the political arena as with Gandhi’s fasts and with the more recent fast of Harare against political corruption in India indicate the continuing power of this symbolic act. As the story goes, Kuṇḍalakēsī’s parents try to do everything to dissuade her: “Dear child . . . do you think we intend to keep you confined in the house now that you have reached maturity? We will find you a husband suited to you in birth and status.” “I do not want anyone else. If I don’t get this man I shall die,” [the daughter replied].10 When all persuasion fails, the father secretly sent a thousand gold coins to the executioner with the message, “Take this money and do not kill the man. Release him and send him to us.” The executioner agreed, sent the man to the nobleman, killed another in his place and informed the king, “I have executed the thief.”11 The cavalier attitude of the executioner who kills another in his place is stated without comment, suggesting that such actions were common and so did not even register as morally wrong. The daughter is then given in marriage to the released thief. Thereafter she does everything in her power to try to win his affection: 10. Putanḍa, e sē sitannē häyida? Mumba vardaṇa va siṭiyavun heyin geyi tabā gena hińdumōda? Jāti ādin sari samāna tänakaṭa pāvā diya hakkäyi” kivūya. “Anik kavurunut nokämättēya. Mun noladot miyamī.” SR 595, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 118). 11. Ēē soru maranṭa gena yana tänättavunṭa masū dahasak sorā yavā, “telē hära gena tulū nomarā apaṭa evanu mänavayi” kiyā yävūya. Eyit givisa ū siṭānanṭa häralā anikaku marā piyā “soru marā pīmhäyi” rajjuruvanṭa kivūya. SR 595, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 118).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 227 From then on, in order to win his affection, the young woman would adorn herself in all her jewelry, prepare his meals herself, feed him, give him drinks, wash his hair and bathe him.12 The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā merely says: She resolved to win the favor of her husband; and from that time on, adorned in all her adornments she prepared her husband’s meals with her own hand.13 Both texts imply that cooking the meals herself is not what a woman from a wealthy family would normally do. It is a special act of abnegation on Kuṇḍalakēsī’s part in order to win the husband’s affection. The Saddharmaratnāvaliya with its more detailed description adds to this a note of excess, suggesting that the woman in her infatuation subjects herself to doing very menial tasks, ones not expected of a woman of noble birth. The husband however is not won over and is determined to kill her and rob her of her ornaments. His cruelty and cold indifference come out in the sparse harsh words in which he tells her of his decision to kill her. She begs for her life in every way she knows, but fails to move him. Kuṇḍalakēsī’s slow reversal from a state of complete and abject infatuation to one of cold cunning is brilliantly described and made completely understandable. She now takes control: The noblewoman thought, “This fellow’s plan is truly wicked. Intelligence after all is intended to be put to use. It is not there just to be consumed. Therefore irrespective of what I may have thought or done in the past let me now unflinchingly do to him what I must.”14 12. Situ duyaniyot evak paṭan ohu sit ganṭa savbharaṇa lā särahī gena tumūma ō haṭa bat mālu pisati. Kavati. Povati. Isa sodāvati. Nāvati. SR 595, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 118). 13. Sā tato paṭṭhāya sāmikaṃ ārādhessāmī ti sabbābharaṇapaṭimaṇḍitā sayam eva tassa yāguādīni saṃvidahati. Dhp-a II.218, tr. Burlingame ([1921]1995, 2:228). 14. Siṭu duvaniyo sitannō, “mūgē kaṭayutak itā napuru niyāya. Nuvaṇa nam äti vannā pala hā gena kanṭa novat prayōjana nisā vūva. Ādi kumak sitā kumak kelem namut taṭat kalamanā deya dän tarayē karami sitāla . . .” SR p.597, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 120).
228 women in early indian buddhism Using her sharp intelligence she tricks him, pushes him down the cliff, and kills him. The deity residing on the rock applauds her action saying: It is not men who always have the best stratagems. In certain situations women too know what to do.15 The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā has a similar stanza of applause in verse by the deity. However, the monk translator of the 13th-century Saddharmaratnāvaliya, no doubt aware of the need to ameliorate the enormity of the act of killing by one who was later to become an arahant, adds a rationalization not found in the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā version: The young woman hurled the robber down from the rock with the help of his enemy his own bad karma, and herself escaped death by the grace of her friend, her own good karma.16 While the earlier killing by the executioner is told without moral comment by both authors, in this latter killing, the 13th-century author feels constrained to shift the blame off Kuṇḍalakēsī. He therefore brings in the kamma argument, making the man merely the victim of his own bad kamma. The issue of moral culpability for a killing is again raised by the monks at the assembly hall at the end of the story. There the monks said: Kuṇḍalakēsī did not hear much of a sermon and yet she has become an arahat. Besides she fought and overcame a robber. The Buddha answers saying: Do not say I preached too little or too much . . . That stanza is blessed if by hearing it human beings attain nirvana.17 15. Häma tänadīma pirimin upades daniti näta. Samahara tänaka gänuda upades daniti” kīyēya. SR 597, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 121). 16. Siṭuduvaniyō da sorugē akusal nämati saturat sahāya koṭa gena soru galin helāla, tamangē kusal nämati mitrayānan sahāya koṭa gena tumū gälavi gena siṭannā hu. SR 597, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 121). 17. Kundalakēsin äsu baṇakut bohō noveyi. Etakudu vūvat rahat vūya. Ek soraku hāt yuddha koṭa uyit paradavā avu yayi . . . buduhu väḍa. . . . “mā desū baṇa madekäyi kiyat bohōvakäyi kiyat nokiyava . . . yam katāvak asā satvayo nivan dakit nam ē ma yahapata.” SR 600, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 124).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 229 Kuṇḍalakēsī becoming an arahant is explained as the result of hearing the Buddha’s doctrine. The moral implications of the killing are not touched upon. From the point where Kuṇḍalakēsī reverses her role of victim and takes control of her life, her brilliant intellect guides her every move. She decides not to go back home as no one will believe her husband tried to kill her, nor understand why she had to kill him. She sheds all her jewelry, realizing it would be dangerous to wear it or carry it, and wanders alone in the forest until she comes to a nunnery, which she joins. There she is told she can follow the path of meditation or decide on the study of texts. Knowing her own propensities she chooses the study of texts and quickly learns all there is to learn. The nuns, realizing they have no more to teach her, and aware of her powerful yearning for yet more knowledge, send her out into the world as a wandering ascetic nun. She soon becomes famous throughout Dambadiva18 for her enormous erudition and her sharp debating skills. The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā states: No one was able to match question and answer with her; in fact such a reputation did she acquire that whenever men heard the announcement, “Here comes the Nun of the Rose Apple” they would run away.19 The Saddharmaratnāvaliya elaborates further: She travelled all over the land engaging in debates with whomever she met. She encountered no one who could defeat her in a debate. Men living in those areas fled the moment they heard the wandering female ascetic was approaching, afraid of her very name.20 Both texts over a time span of almost eight centuries have no inhibitions about the fact that a woman of enormous intelligence and learning routed monks and men in debate. Her being a woman was not an issue. Neither 18. This is the Sinhala term for India. 19. Tāya saddhiṃ kathetuṃ samattho nāma na hoti ito jambuparibbājikā āgacchatī ti sutvā va manussā palāyanti. Dhp-a II.223, tr. Burlingame ([1921]1995, 2:230). 20. Eyin nikma, duṭu duṭu kenakun hā vāda keremin ävidati. Un hā vāda kaṭagena kenek samba nuvūya. Ē ē täna minissu jambu-parivrājikāvō etī basak äsū kalama ungē namaṭama duru bā palā yeti. SR 598, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 122).
230 women in early indian buddhism text adds comment or qualification to this part of her story. One might therefore infer that both in the early period and in the medieval period, Buddhism not only provided a space for women to acquire learning, but also the freedom to display that knowledge in public debate and argument. For a nun to travel the length and breadth of the land alone was also not an issue. There are innumerable references in other stories in the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā and Saddharmaratnāvaliya to the learning that women had acquired. The brahmin mother of Māgandi in the story of Udēnī (Pāli Udeni) is more learned than her brahmin husband. She sees the footprint of the Buddha and immediately reads the signs. The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā text states: Now the brahmin’s wife was familiar with the three Vedas including the verses relating to signs. So she repeated the verses relating to signs, considering carefully the signs borne by the footprint before her. Finally she said, “Brahmin, this is no footprint of one who follows the five Lusts.” So saying she pronounced the following stanzas: “The footprint of a lustful man will be squatty That of a wicked man, violently pressed down Of one infatuate the footprint will be shuffling This is the sort of footprint made by one who has rolled back the veil of passion.” Then said the Brahmin to her, “Wife, you are always seeing crocodiles in the water vessel and thieves hiding in the house. Be still.” She insists, “Brahmin, you may say what you like but this is no footprint of one who follows the five lusts.”21 The Saddharmaratnāvaliya author keeps the argument between the husband and wife as in the Pāli but introduces a misogynist diatribe into the 21. Brāhmaṇī salakkhaṇamantānaṃ tiṇṇaṃ vedānaṃ paguṇatāya lakkhaṇamante parivattetvā padalakkhaṇaṃ upadhāretvā nayidaṃ brāhmaṇa pañcakāmaguṇasevino padaṃ ti vatvā imaṃ gātham āha: rattassa hi ukkhuṭikaṃ padaṃ bhave duṭṭhassa hoti sahasānupīlitaṃ mūḷhassa hoti avakaḍḍhitaṃ padaṃ vivattacchadassa idaṃīdisaṃ padan ti Atha naṃ brāhmaṇo evam āha: bhoti tvaṃ udakapātiyaṃ kumbhīle gehamajjhe ca pana core vissamante passanasīlā tuṇī hohī ti. Brāhmaṇa yaṃ icchasi taṃ vadehi nayidaṃ pañcakāmaguṇasevino padaṃ ti. Dhp-a I.201, tr. Burlingame ([1921]2009, 1:276).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 231 translation of the verse. The impurities of the human body are often the subject of contemplation by Buddhists during meditation. They are seen as being subject to transience and decay and thus part of the human condition. Here the monk author describes them as specifically female impurities. What is more he has a woman say it. It is as if the monk has no problem accepting the woman’s superior learning and education but it is female sexuality that he berates. I quote the Saddharmaratnāvaliya author’s rendering of the perfectly innocuous Pāli verse from the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā: Since she was well learned in the three vēdasand the science of signs, she recognized the markings on the footprint and said, “Brahmin, what are you saying? This is not the footprint of one who will ever pollute himself by laying his chest on that lump of flesh called a “woman’s breast”. Nor is it the footprint of a lustful one who will bring his face to touch a woman’s mouth, that toilet full of impurities such as spittle, and her body with its thirty-two kinds of filth. What is the use of saying more? This is definitely not the footprint of one who seeks the pleasures of the five senses.”22 When the brahmin tries to belittle the woman’s learning, the wife firmly puts him down, saying: Look here, brahmin, you have been born into the brahmin caste and yet without the smallest iota of knowledge of the sciences you insist on saying only what you wish. Whatever you may say, I say that this is not the footprint of one who seeks to indulge in the pleasures of the five senses.23 Here again is a woman who has acquired learning and is completely confident of her knowledge. She refuses to be silenced by a husband she 22. Bämiṇi piyavara balā piyā tamā vedatrayehi kela pämiṇi bävin hā lakṣana mantra dannā heyin hā piyavara salakuṇu balā, ‘Bamuṇa, tō kumak kiyayi da? Mē gänunge tana nämati mas ganḍuvehi tamangē laya paharavā apavitra karaṇa kenekun ebū piyavarak noveyi. Detis kuṇu koṭasakin yuktavū gähäniyagē bol kela nämati asūci pirunu muka nämäti väsikilyaṭa tamangē muhuna yomu karaṇa kāmātura kenekunge piyavarek noveti. Bohōkoṭa deḍīmen kimda? Ekāntayen paňca kāma sēvanaya karaṇa kenekungē piyavarek noveti. SR 231, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 54). 23. Hembala bamuṇa, tā bamuṇa kulayehi ipadat me pamaṇa śāstra mātrayak pavā dannā nokala tā kämättekma kīya. Tō kumak kīyayi namut mē paňcakāmi guṇayan sēvanaya karaṇa keṇekungē piyavarek nove mayi’ kī va. SR 231, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 55).
232 women in early indian buddhism knows to be unlearned. Both texts accept the woman’s superior learning as a given fact in the story, which suggests that during this long period, at least in the South Asian Buddhist world, learning was not confined to males. It is perhaps this same tradition that continued into the 20th century in Sri Lanka. As soon as educational opportunities opened up with the government’s scheme of “free education” after independence from Britain, even in rural areas parents readily educated both male and female children. By the mid-20th century women moved rapidly into all universities and professions and rose to high office in almost every sector. They had equal pay as men doing the same job and did not have to contend with the glass ceiling that so many women in other parts of the world had to face.24 The only area in Sri Lanka where education did not readily penetrate was in the plantation sector, where Indian indentured labor brought in by colonial powers for work on the tea estates did not have the same opportunities or the same incentives to educate their female children. Perhaps both their dire economic straits and some of the cultural constraints they carried over from Hindu India further inhibited the move toward female education. Another feature that comes up again and again in these stories is the question of parental responsibilities and duties toward daughters. In both texts, it is accepted that parents had a duty to find suitable husbands for their daughters when they came of marriageable age. In doing so the happiness of the daughter was an important consideration. In the story of Ghōṣaka (Pāli Ghosaka) and his adopted daughter Sāmāvatī there is a reference to the responsibilities of a father, even toward an adopted daughter (Obeyesekere 2001, 42). On a day of city festivities, Sāmāvatī, accompanied by her five hundred women, went across the palace court to bathe in the river. King Udēnī stood at his window, saw her, fell in love with her, and sent word to the noble merchant Ghōṣaka that he send his daughter to his harem. Ghosaka refuses, saying: “Your majesty we householders do not give our young girls for fear people will say they are abused and maltreated.” Angered by the 24. See the works of Goonesekere (e.g., 1990), Kiribamuna (e.g., 1999) and the work done under the auspices of the Sri Lankan Centre for Women’s Research (http://www.cenwor.lk).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 233 treasurer’s reply the king caused the treasurer’s house to be sealed and the treasurer and his wife to be seized and turned out of doors.25 Here is a reference to a father’s refusal to give his daughter even to a king for fear she will be abused and maltreated. The author of the Saddharmaratnāvaliya is more explicit: “I will not give our daughter in bondage,” replied the merchant. “If you ask for what reason it is that according to the customs of our farmer caste we do not expose our female children to feel ashamed and made the subject of peoples’ disparaging remarks. Therefore fearing the scornful words of others I will not give my daughter,” he said. At these words the king was enraged, ordered the nobleman’s house sealed and sent the nobleman and his wife out of their home.26 Ghōṣaka, though a nobleman, in the Sri Lankan context, would belong to the govikula or “farmer caste.” Unlike in India, in Buddhist Sri Lanka, where the brahmins have no superior status, nobles came from the farmer caste, respected as the highest in the land. Only the kings were considered of a higher caste as they claimed to be khattiya. To give a daughter, even to a king to be part of the harem, would be considered an indignity by wealthy nobles of the farmer caste. Parents had a responsibility to see that their daughters were not abused, maltreated, or placed in an inferior position. This is the reason for the adopted father’s refusal. However, there is an interesting turn when Sāmāvatī arrives and finds the parents expelled from their house: “What does this mean dear father?” “Dear daughter, the king sent for you for his harem: and when we refused, saying ‘We do not give our daughters in bondage,’ he caused the house to be sealed and us to be turned out of doors.” 25. Mayaṃ gahapatika nāma kumārikānaṃ heṭhetvā viheṭhetvā kathana-bhayena na dema devā ti. Rājā kujjhitvā gehaṃ lañchāpetvā seṭṭhiñ ca bhariyañ c’assa hatthe gahetvā bahi kārāpesi. Dhp-a I.191, tr. Burlingame ([1921] 2009, 1:269). 26. Apagē diyaniyō pāvā nodemha. Kumak piṇisadäyi yata hot, apa govingē cāritra nam apagē gähänu daruvanṭa nindā koṭa vehesa kiyan basaṭa lajjā ätiyamha. Esē heyin nindā basaṭa bayen nodemhäyi. E pavat asā rajjuruvo kipī siṭānangē geya as obbavā siṭānan hā ämbeniyan pamanak gen piṭatkara vūya. SR 222, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 45).
234 women in early indian buddhism “Dear father, you made a great mistake. When one who is king commands, you should not say ‘We do not give.’ You should rather say, ‘If you will take our daughter with her retinue we will give her to you.’”27 The father agrees to her wishes and the king then conducts Sāmāvatī and her retinue to the palace and confers on her the status of chief consort. A subtle distinction is being made here. Not being a woman of the khattiya caste, if Sāmāvatī went to the king without her retinue she would be just another member of the harem and have no status. But if she is accepted with her retinue of “ladies in waiting,” then her status is that of a consort of the king. Sāmāvatī, with her usual intelligence and practical good sense, as displayed on an earlier occasion (in the matter of the arrangements at the alms hall), comes up now with a practical solution to the problem facing her adopted parents. The father readily accepts the daughter’s advice and does as instructed, just as he had done on the earlier occasion. In the story of Uttarā, her father, the nobleman Bahudhana: . . . is reluctant to give his daughter to the noble merchant Sumana’s son, because he was not a follower of the Buddha while his daughter had already attained the Path and the Fruits and was fully committed to her faith.28 Sumana, the wealthy nobleman, kept pressing him on the grounds of their past close associations. Though the nobleman Bahudhana at first was reluctant, anticipating future unhappiness for his daughter, when many pleaded with him and gave many reasons, he finally gave his daughter in marriage to Sumana’s son. When Uttarā moved to a non-Buddhist 27. Mē kimdäyi vicārā. “Hembā put. Rajjuruvō topa tamange antappurayaṭa kändavā evūha. Ē asā apa, “apigē daruvan pāvā nodemhäyi kīmha. Eheyin rajjuruvō apa geya as obbavā apat gen piṭataṭa lavā pū yäyi,” kīha. E pavat asā Sāmavati ‘rajjuruvan kī bas nogivisse napura. Idin kiyatot “magē diyaniyan ovun pirivara hā samaga gannā sēk vī nam demyī” kiyā yutuyäyi kīvā. SR 223, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 46). 28. Bahudhana siṭāno da sumana siṭānange putaṇuvan sädä näti heyin hā tamangē diyaniyan mārga gata vu acala śraddhāvehi pihiṭi heyin unṭa saraṇa denṭa mäli vu ha. SR 880, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 194).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 235 household where she had no chance to engage in any Buddhist activities she was very unhappy and sent a message to her father thus: On the grounds of making a marriage why have you put me in this prison? If you intended to do this, no matter that I was your daughter, it were better if you had branded me and sold me, because in a buyer one does not check whether he is a devotee.29 This is a powerful critique by a daughter of a father’s failure in his duties as a parent. The passage suggests that in the medieval world in situations where marriages were arranged, parents had a duty not just to find suitable husbands for their daughters but also to ensure that the daughters were happy in the marriage. Such duties and expectations are referred to in several stories and were very likely the norm in the early medieval world. Until relatively recent times, in the central hill country of Sri Lanka where neither dowry nor bride price were a custom, parents either married their daughters to cross-cousins whom they knew well as they were close kinsmen or used third parties to investigate the background and character of the families into which they married their daughters. The happiness of the daughter was a strong consideration, and if unhappy in her marriage she had the right to return to the parental home. This is unlike the situation that developed in Hindu India over time, where arranged marriages became a much harsher imposition on the woman and her happiness in the marriage was seldom an issue that was given consideration. In the story of Uttarā, the father is very upset when he gets his daughter’s message. His earlier hesitations and fears seem to have been justified. He then sent 15,000 gold coins and said: Child, listen to me. There is a courtesan named Sirimā in this city. She charges a thousand gold coins a day for her services. Send her the 15,000, bring her and give her to your husband to perform the duties of a wife. During those fifteen days, you engage in Acts of Merit.30 29. Saraṇa piṭa lālā mesē vu hirageyaka lūyē häyi däyi? Melesa karaṇa kala dū kam kuma vūvat vikiṇā hära gannavun mithyādruṣtikayäyi niyama näti heyin sanak gasā piyā vikiṇīmama yahapata. SR 883, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 195). 30. Puta, hembā mē nuvara sirimā nam veśyā duvak äta. Ō tomō davas patā peheṇaya piṇisa masu dahasak häragannīya. Tela pasalos dahasa oba yavālā ä genvāgeṇa pasalos davasaṭa siṭu putrayanṭa ä pāvādī taman pin kala mänavayi kīha. SR 884, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 195).
236 women in early indian buddhism Again the father’s solution to secure the happiness of his daughter is not unlike that of Kuṇḍalakēsī’s father. Here again money is used, this time to obtain the services of a courtesan. Courtesans, we know, were an accepted part of South Asian society and served many people in many different ways. The father’s suggestion and the daughter taking it up as a solution to her immediate problem demonstrates just how accepted their role was in the society of the time. The 13th-century text states: Uttarā had Sirimā come and said, “Friend, take these 15,000 gold coins, and spend fifteen days ministering as a wife to our wealthy nobleman.”31 There is no specific mention that the nobleman is her husband but the use of the phrase “our wealthy nobleman” carries a hint of it. Such an arrangement was a monetary temporary arrangement that was perhaps not at all unusual in the society of that time, and so had none of the overtones of prostitution or illicit sex. Again, in the story of the Elder Sunderasamuddha (Pāli Sundarasamudda) (Obeyesekere 2001, 213), the parents hire a courtesan to seduce their son who has now become a monk. In return, they promise to make the courtesan his bride if she succeeds in bringing him back to a lay life. There is no moral opprobrium attached either to the parents who hire the courtesan or to the courtesan who takes on the task. It is the monk’s near capitulation to sexual desire that is a matter of concern in the manner in which the story is told, as it undermines the monk’s commitment to the Order and his chance of attaining nirvana. In this story he is saved by the intervention of the Buddha. It is perhaps the Buddhist stress on parental responsibility to ensure the happiness of a daughter in marriage that made divorce a much easier arrangement among Buddhist Sri Lankans in medieval times. It was the practice prior to colonial contact and continued in the hill country even after British rule was established and the Roman Dutch Law introduced to replace the traditional laws of the land, that a woman had the right to return to her parental home if she was unhappy in her marriage. Not only did the parents and family accept her back, but if she chose not to return 31. Uttaravōda Sirimāvan genvāgena ‘yeheli, mē pasalos dahasak vitara masuran hära gena pasalos davasak apage siṭu putrayāṇanṭa pādaparicārikā vāvayi. SR 884, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 195).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 237 to her husband, the marriage, after a specific period, was considered terminated and both parties were free to marry again. In the story of Kāṇa, this practice is described: She was about to return to her husband after a visit to her mother. Not wanting her to return empty-handed her mother prepared honey cakes. However on four successive occasions four monks came begging for alms and each time the honey cakes that had been prepared were given as alms to the monks. Because Kāṇa’s departure was thus delayed, her husband took another wife.32 Kāṇa is angry at the monks whose alms rounds delayed her return to her husband and so resulted in her broken marriage. In the story, she makes the monastics well aware of her displeasure; she rants and raves at them. Interestingly, however, she does not blame her husband. Thus the implication is that the husband was well within his rights to consider the marriage over as she had not returned from her visit to her parental home within the customary amount of time. Finally she too is later married again to a nobleman of good repute who “[t]ook her to his home and gave her charge of all his wealth” (Obeyesekere 2001, 114). The 5th-century Pāli text gives even more weight to the practice. It is described there as a precept set down by the Buddha: . . . in accordance with the precept laid down by the teacher in such cases, Kāṇa’s husband had taken to himself another wife.33 What is stated as a precept laid down by the teacher in the 5th-century Pāli translation of the Sinhala text was very likely an accepted way of life in pre-5th-century-ce Buddhist Sri Lanka as it was in during the 13th century. It would appear that the practice has a long history in Buddhist Sri Lanka. Even today, the practice continues as the accepted form of divorce for those who live in the central hill country of Sri Lanka. It has even been incorporated as part of the divorce law for that region. If the textual origin 32. Kāṇa nam vū upāsikāva samanangē oba yanni, sisatin nogiya mänā vē däyi mäṇiyan idikala kavum, sataravārayakin kätiva satara namakaṭa dun kalhi, kāṇāvange gaman kal yana heyin rakṣā kala samaṇan anik ambu kenek genā kalhi . . . SR 543, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 113). 33. Satthārā tasmiṃ vatthusmiṃ sikkhāpade paññatte . . . Dhp-a II.149, tr. Burlingame (1995, 2:190).
238 women in early indian buddhism of this practice was the earlier, now lost, Sinhala commentary, as the practice seems to find a natural home on the island of dhamma (dhammadīpa), it may have been the case that Buddhaghosa, the Indian monk, felt it necessary to explain the probably unfamiliar practice to his Indian readers as a “[p]recept laid down by the teacher.” Marriage, in Sri Lanka, was never considered a sacrament until recent postcolonial influences brought about considerable transformations. Prior to the period of colonial rule, monks played no role in marriages; it was purely a simple secular arrangement between families that was accepted by society without need for legislation. Thus divorce was an equally simple arrangement. Registration of marriages was introduced only after colonial contact in the 19th century.34 Prior to that, neither religion nor the state were involved in any part of the martial process. Both marriage and divorce were secular, flexible processes, giving women considerable rights and options. This is quite unlike what took place in Brahmanical/Hindu India, as discussed by Muldoon-Hules in the previous chapter, where the influential dharmaśāstras came into operation and took their hold over the subcontinent. While in early and medieval Sri Lanka arranged marriages were the norm, especially among the wealthier classes, these stories in the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā and Saddharmaratnāvaliya relate many instance of women falling in love and taking control of their own lives. That was the case with Kuṇḍalakēsī who obtained the man of her choice, and did everything she could to try to win the robber’s affection until he tried to kill her. She escaped and from then on let her intellect rule her life. Beautiful Paṭācārā was also confined to an apartment in the top floor of a seven-storied mansion in order to prevent any misconduct. In spite of this she became intimate with a young man of her own household. When her parents were about to give her in marriage to another, she tells the young man: If you love me, before I go there, take me now to any place you wish.35 He agrees and they elope. Again, Vāsuladattā in the story of King Udēnī is told to learn a mantra from the king. To prevent any possible sexual attraction occurring between 34. Even today according to the law of the land those who reside in the central provinces also known as the Kandyan area can, if they choose, marry under what is termed “Kandyan law”. 35. Idin mā kerehi prēmayek ät nam oba noyan tek, dänma mā kändavā gena kämati tänakaṭa yavayi” kivuya. SR 633, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 126).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 239 the two young people, she is asked to sit behind a curtain and told that the king is a leper. Conversely, with the same intention in mind, Udēnī is told that the princess is a hunchback. One day, though he recited the formula again and again, Vāsuladattā kept repeating it incorrectly. King Udēnī became impatient and shouted at her: “You good for nothing hunchback have your lips and tongue become lifeless?” . . . At that the princess equally angry said, “You leper, what was that you said? Do you dare label someone like me a hunchback?” and she pulled aside the curtain. The two stared at each other and realized the truth of the situation. They knew the king had deceived them because he feared they would be attracted to each other. They were powerfully attracted and instantly made love behind that very curtain. From that point on the lessons ended.36 While most of the stories deal with nuclear families, the practice of having cowives, especially for kings, was not unusual. In addition to the women of his harem, King Udēnī had three queens: Sāmāvatī (from a farmer caste); Vāsuladattā (the daughter of a king and so of a khattiya caste); and Māgandi (the daughter of a brahmin). However, once accepted as queens and consorts, there do not seem to have been any status differences between them. Each queen had her own apartments, and according to the story the king divided his time equally between them. Since Māgandi had on a former occasion vowed vengeance on the Buddha for his rejection of her, and Sāmāvatī by contrast was an ardent follower of the Buddha, a tension develops between the two wives. Unable to exact her revenge upon the Buddha, Māgandi instead turns her anger on Sāmāvatī and tries to alienate her from the king: In those days the king used to visit Sāmāvatī, Vāsuladattā, and Māgandi in turn, spending seven days in each one’s apartments. 36. Udēni rajjuruvo kipī,’ embala duṣṭa kuda, tīgē diva saha detola bol va giyada? . . . Ē asā bisavu kipī “embla śevata kuṣṭhaya, tā kiyannē kimekda? Apa sē vūvot kudun kerehi ätulat hu däyi?” kadaturāva osavā ovunovun balā ovunovunge svarūpa vicārā, tat vū paridden däna, rajjuruvo apa dedenā ovunovun hā viśvāsa veti yana bhayin valahā kī vanhayi niścaya koṭa ovunovun kerehi anurāgha ätiva javanikāva atulehi dīma ovunovun ha sahāvāsaya kalaha. Etan paṭan mantra iganvīma näti viya. SR 227, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 49).
240 women in early indian buddhism Magandi, figuring that the king was due to visit Sāmāvatī the next day or the day after, asked her uncle to bring her a cobra that had medicinal preparations rubbed on his fangs to neutralize the poison. She kept the snake with her.37 She then slips it into the king’s musical instrument and when it surfaces in Sāmāvatī’s apartment, Māgandi accuses Sāmāvatī of a plot to kill the king. These cowives have much more zeal in the stories than do women in the harems. Thus these stories indicate a clear distinction between “consorts” of the king who had the status of queens and women of the harem, the queens being more powerful and agentive, as are the Indian queens discussed by Walters in chapter eight. While cowives are mainly found among the wealthy, on occasion as in the Saddharmaratnāvaliya story of the demoness Kāli (Obeyesekere 1991, 98) a member of a poorer farmer family could also take on a cowife, in this case because the first wife was barren. The subtly nuanced, complex, and pragmatic pressures that condition marriage arrangements in medieval Sri Lanka are well described in the Kāli story. A widowed mother sees her son overburdened by his responsibilities and thinks that though she cannot relieve him of all his chores, were she to arrange a marriage for him at least he could leave the household chores to his wife and take a little rest himself: So one day she said, “Son shall I arrange a marriage for you?” “Mother I don’t want that. Let us not introduce any such complication. I will care for you as long as I live.” “Son, don’t say that. How can I be happy when I see you work so hard?”38 Finally he gives in to her demands but when she is about to choose a wife for him he sends her to the home “of one of his choice.” Unfortunately the 37. E samayehi rajjuruvō sāmāvatiya, vāsuladattāya, māgandīya yana tun denāge prāsāda tunehi murayen mura tabā gena ekī ekī murayehi sat sat davasa veseti. E kalhi māgandi tomō seṭa hō aniddā hō rajjuruvō sāmāvatīn gē prāsādayaṭa yeti niyama däna tamāge kudāpiyāṭa kiyā yavā dalehi avusada galvā visa nätikala nayeku genvā gena tabāgata. SR 244, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 68). 38. Ek davasak, “puta topaṭa saraṇak genävut nila karamō däyi?” vicālōya. ohu ē asā, “mäniyan vahansa ē nokämättemi. Ese vū avulak kara no la divi pamaṇinma mama muba vahansēṭa upasthāna keremi.” . . . “Puta, esē nokiyava. Topa geyi daḍa ganna duk duṭu kalaṭa ma sitaṭa säpa noveyi.” SR 101, tr. Obeyesekere (2001, 98).
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 241 young woman he chose as a wife is barren. As they lived thus, childless, the mother again tries to persuade her son to take a cowife. She argues that one needs a child to continue one’s lineage and provide for one in old age. She asks him if she is to arrange a cowife for him. The son again refuses. The barren wife hears the discussion and thinks that while a son may twice or thrice refuse a parent’s request, as it is wrong to disobey, it is likely that her husband will eventually agree. Were he to marry someone of his choice and were they to have a child, then she reflects she might then be relegated to servant status. So she decides to select a cowife herself. She persuades the family of a young woman by saying: “I’m a barren woman. If your daughter gives birth to a son she will be mistress of the family wealth. What use is wealth to me a barren woman?” Thus like a figure disguised, thinking one thing but saying otherwise she obtained their consent and gave her to her husband.39 At this point the Saddharmaratnāvaliya author has a long discourse on the subject of deceit. As in the story of Māgandi where the author introduces a diatribe against women, here too the Saddharmaratnāvaliya author, interpolating a digression on the topic of deceit, introduces a not-untypical misogynist monkish aside that associates deceit mainly with women: Deceit breeds in sin just as good needs knowledge to flourish. Besides, since deceit is itself vile and needs to associate with vileness, it associates with vile women, because deceit itself resides to a great extent in women.40 The transaction in the story between the wife and the cowife is not unlike that of Uttarā and the courtesan discussed previously. The wife makes a purely pragmatic decision in selecting a cowife for her husband. However, 39. Mama vańda yemi. Mubagē duvaṇiyō daru keṇekun laddū nam ū sampataṭa himiveti. Mā vańda kulu tänätiyaṭa sampatin kam kimdäyi” ves bańda pānā ruvak men sitin ekak sitā vūvat basin elesak kiyā givisvā gena, samuṇanṭa pāvā dīlā . . . tr. Obeyesekere (1991, 171). 40. Māyāva nam akusal viṣayaṭa kusal viṣayehi praňgnāva sē vuvamanā bävin hā nävata ē māyāva tamā nikruṣṭa bävin nikuṣṭa bajanaya karaṇa lesata guṇen nikruṣṭa vū strīin ma bajanaya kalak men strīin kerehima bohō koṭa pavatnā heyin . . . SR 102, tr. Obeyesekere (1991, 99).
242 women in early indian buddhism tensions caused by jealousy develop on the part of the wife toward the cowife when the latter becomes pregnant, just as the courtesan became jealous of Uttarā and tried to throw hot oil on her. In the Kāli story this conflict between the two wives is played out over several births in saṃsāra and finally resolved only through the intervention of the Buddha and a long-term reconciliation based upon his advice. Even in the case of the cowives of King Udēni, although the king divided his time equally between them, and seems to have shown no preferences, tensions caused by extraneous factors, such as Māgandi’s sworn enmity to the Buddha and Sāmāvatī’s total acceptance of him, result in conflicts. Thus while it was perhaps socially acceptable in medieval South Asian society to have cowives, the stories suggest that such relationships were generally fraught with tension and were the exception rather than the norm. In the many stories that center on the lives of women in the Saddharmaratnāvaliya, very few deal with situations between cowives. It was perhaps a practice no doubt adopted for pragmatic reasons, but not one that was popularly followed. Similarly, while polygamy was never a general practice in Sri Lanka in the society at large, polyandry, for very practical, often economic, reasons, was fairly common especially among peasant communities. The establishment of an order of nuns was one of the most important factors in the emancipation of women in South Asian Buddhist societies. The early poems of the Pāli canon, the Therīgāthā, discussed earlier in this volume, reiterate the sense of liberation that came with the chance for women to leave the life of the household, a choice that Indian society had up until this point likely given only to men. The women in the stories of the Saddharmaratnāvaliya again and again make this choice. For Kuṇḍalakēsī it led to an enormous expansion of her intellectual world. For Utpalavarṇa, born so beautiful that when she came of age every prince in Dambadiva came asking for her hand, it was a way out. Her father, realizing that if he to give her in marriage to one, he would have to face the enmity of the rest, decided to ask her to join the monastic order, a choice she readily agreed to. For Paṭācārā who lost husband, children, parents, and siblings in disaster upon disaster, joining the order of nuns brought her relief from her overpowering grief and finally a sense of equanimity. However, not all the women in these Saddharmaratnāvaliya stories become nuns. Some, like Sāmāvatī, become followers of the Buddha and learn to exercise enormous compassion even toward those who perform acts of enmity toward them. Others like Visākhā become ardent lay followers of
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 243 the Buddha and spend their lives engaged in acts of merit. Likewise, the courtesan Sirimā becomes a follower of the Buddha and spends her wealth in gifts to the saṅgha. And even while she is a benevolent and generous lay donor, we are not told that she gives up her profession. But for almost all of them their lives are changed dramatically and even those who do not become nuns bring to their lives and worlds a new sense of liberation. As noted by Collett in the introduction to this volume, the fact that the Therīgāthā and related texts like the Apadāna and others discussed in this volume were considered important enough to be included in the Pāli canon and handed down from generation to generation suggests the important role played by nuns within some early Buddhist communities. These texts also attest to the enormous respect with which they were treated. Important women for the tradition, women like Prajāpati Gōtami and Yasōdharā, both discussed in some detail in this volume, were never raised to the status of deities but were always considered very human women, who by their human efforts had achieved the same status of arahant, as had their counterparts, the monks. The status and position given to women in the texts studied in this volume, as in the early medieval Buddhist world, was clearly subject to many shifts and changes over the centuries. While, as this volume demonstrates, much that is recorded within the central texts of the early tradition is notably positive, this is not always the case, as the anti-feminist asides in many of the stories of the 13th-century Saddharmaratnāvaliya demonstrate. To conclude with some reflections on how textual stories can and have impacted upon the lives of real women, let us now turn to a consideration of the place of women in modern Buddhist Sri Lanka. In the 20th century, the egalitarian thrust for education among Sri Lankan women came from rural sections of society, still steeped in early traditional Buddhist norms that encouraged education for both males and females. When, in the 1950s and ’60s the state engineered free education system and the new language policies opened access to university education, it was women from the less privileged classes that flooded the universities. It was they who moved rapidly into the professions and the administrative services in the country. By contrast, women from among the wealthier westernized elites, coming from regions exposed to several centuries of colonial rule, that had absorbed some of the puritan Victorian values of their British peers, were at first hesitant to educate themselves in public universities. Thus these women, on the whole, lived more restricted and secluded lives than their rural counterparts.
244 women in early indian buddhism Modern Sri Lanka seems today to be facing a complete reversal of this earlier situation. While the women of the westernized elite classes and English-educated wealthier sections of society now enjoy enormous freedom in their personal, sexual, and professional lives, the very sectors in society that made the biggest gains in the mid-20th century seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Women from the middle and lower middle classes, especially in the upwardly mobile sections of society, seem now to be clamping down on women working and on the freedoms that come with an independent income. Divorce is no longer a simple secular option for most of the country now under Roman Dutch law. Today, a new Puritanism has arrived. Places of Buddhist worship that never exercised a dress code for worshipers, now insist that women cover their arms and wear long garments when entering important Buddhist shrines like the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Several young women I know, though educated and even professionally qualified, once married were not allowed by their husbands to work—a decision that they readily accept. In the universities today, there are hardly any women undergraduates who run for office in the student societies. Such societies are once again male dominated. Women are not expected to or encouraged to contest for such office. This was not the case in the fifties and sixties, when women enthusiastically contested elections in the universities and in parliamentary elections. Similarly, while Sri Lanka had the world’s first woman prime minister in the 1960s, the percentage of women in parliament today is miniscule. Further, within Sri Lankan society at large violence against women and abuse seems to be increasing. The high incidence of alcohol consumption among the male population seems to be one reason for this abuse. The large-scale migrations of females for domestic employment in the Middle East has resulted in broken homes, incest, and other forms of violence against young women and female children. Have the long years of war and the militarization of Sri Lankan society, with its huge young army, ushered in new patriarchal attitudes and norms into the very fabric of the social and family lives of the younger generations? Many young women today marry army personnel. Is the disciplined patriarchy of military life spilling over into the domestic arena? It is the wives of soldiers that are the first to be told that they should not work as their husbands can support them. There remains a large workforce of women in the poorer segments of society, who might be employed in garment factories, go abroad for employment as domestics, or be employed
Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā/Saddharmaratnāvaliya 245 in lower levels of bureaucracy. However, the middle and lower middle classes of society seem to favor restrictions on women’s freedom as a matter of asserting status. Even young women who were happily employed and earning have given up their jobs when they marry and accepted a more restricted lifestyle, which now is becoming generally considered to be a mark of a superior social status. Is the absence of women in present-day Sri Lanka willing to stand for elected office, whether in student societies or in the parliament and local government institutions, a sign of the increasing violence and animosity that has taken control of these institutions and society in general? Is it a new fear of harassment, with the breakdown of the rule of law, where those whose duty it is to protect and serve instead are involved in the proliferation of arms, which has spread a culture of fear and impunity that has slowly pushed women out of their space and deprived them of the freedom that early Buddhist societies experienced? Or is it a return to a certain Puritanism and patriarchy now seen as a nationalist and Buddhist way of life, as opposed to the permissive westernized values that have come with globalization and the media? I have merely raised these questions. It is an important area for feminist Buddhist scholars to research because such trends have seriously undermined the liberal ethos that early Buddhism provided for women and that was reflected in the texts that have been discussed in this volume.
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Index age, 36, 48, 57, 198–200, 217, 225, 242 old, 151, 156–7, 185, 241 aggregates, 64, 117, 121, 126–7 Allon, 12, 54–6, 61 alms, 70, 107, 113, 120, 161, 168, 177, 180–2, 189, 216, 237 almsfood, 30–1 Anālayo, 8, 12, 18–19, 22–3, 26, 28–9, 37, 43, 62, 82, 98, 101–2, 112–13, 120, 138 Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park, 68, 70, 119–20 Ancient Buddhist Scrolls, 49, 59 Andhavana, 120, 122 Aṅguttara-nikāya, v, xi, 25, 28, 62–3, 98, 100, 101–3, 105, 107, 109, 111, 113, 115, 156 apadāna, v, xi, 6–7, 13–15, 140–2, 145–56, 158, 161–7, 169–75, 177, 179–91, 199, 204, 226 apparition, 148, 151, 155–7 arahant, 99, 118–19, 133, 137–8, 148–50, 162–3, 166, 169, 171, 182, 187–90, 228–9 becoming-, 163, 165, 170–1 arahantship, v, x, 133, 138, 161–4, 166–9, 175, 177, 183, 187, 189–91 ascetic practices, 93, 102, 108, 110 Aśoka, 54–5, 57–9 assemblies, 39, 98–9 attachments, 71, 109–10, 114 avadāna, 2, 9–10, 47–8, 50–8, 193 Avadānaśataka, vi, 14, 47, 99, 101, 145, 193–209, 213, 215, 217, 219–20 avadānists, 50–1 awakening, 1, 29, 103, 105, 117–18, 122, 133–4, 138–9, 156, 184, 187, 189–91 axle pin, 91–2 Bajaur Collection, 9, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 46 Batchelor, 117–18 beauty, 144–8, 151–2, 154–5, 157, 194 beauty story, 146–7, 158 bedding, 83–4, 91 beds, 70, 82–3, 110, 226 begging, 102, 107–8, 113, 122, 237 believers, 71–2 Benares, 168–9, 177 Bhaddā-Kāpilāni, 13, 164, 174, 177–9, 181–2, 191 Bhaddā-Kāpilāni’s apadāna, 177, 180–1 bhikkhu, 98, 100, 104, 106, 108, 111, 118, 136–7
268 Index bhikkhunī, v, 12, 37, 98–100, 101–17, 119–22, 131, 133–5, 137 Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta, 116, 119–22 Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, v, 4, 11, 67, 81–7, 89, 91, 93, 95 Bingenheimer, 12, 116–17, 119, 127 biographical accounts, 144, 153, 156, 158 biographies, 13–14, 140–2, 144–5, 148–50, 153, 158, 167, 182, 188, 195, 224, 226 present-life, 162 birth, 28, 53, 104, 129–30, 141, 144–5, 148, 153, 168–9, 185, 188, 198, 200, 214, 241–2 blood, 91–3, 151, 157 Bodhisatta, 145, 167, 186, 188 body, 74, 93, 112, 117, 128, 132, 141–4, 149, 152, 156–8, 178, 185, 231 bowl, 70, 120, 153, 180, 182 Brahmanical marriage, vi, 202, 204–5 Brahmanical marriage and Buddhist renunciation, 195 Brahmanical marriage rites, 14, 193, 209–10, 217 brahmin, 96, 177, 179, 196, 207, 214, 217, 219, 230–1, 233, 239 bridegroom, 14, 193, 195, 209 brides, 207–9, 212, 216, 218, 220, 236 British Library Kharoṣṭhī fragments, v, viii, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61 Buddha, 3, 19–21, 26–31, 37–44, 53–6, 101–3, 117–20, 136–9, 147–52, 155–8, 164–9, 182–90, 242–3 Buddha Padumuttara, 155 time of, 149 Buddha-to-be, 150, 154, 156 Buddha Vipassī, 148, 153, 155 Buddhaghosa, 14, 66, 222, 224, 238 Buddhaghosa’s commentary, 55, 66 Buddhahood, 23, 167, 184, 186, 188 Buddhāpadāna, 166, 182–4 Buddha’s declaration, 99 Buddha’s disciples, 54, 119 Buddha’s lifetime, 41, 43–4 Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, 43–4 Buddhism, iv, vii–viii, 1, 8, 64, 75, 197, 203, 205, 224, 230 Buddhist asceticism, v, 85–6 Buddhist ascetics, 11, 85–6 Buddhist commentarial texts, 222 Buddhist community, 3, 36, 44, 62, 96, 98, 119, 161, 200 early, 100, 190 Buddhist context, 193 Buddhist female renunciation, 14, 194, 220 Buddhist history, 13, 189–90 Buddhist household, 197 Buddhist manuscripts, ix Buddhist marriage rite, 210 Buddhist monks, 14, 85, 96, 203, 213–14, 216–17 Buddhist monks and Brahmanical marriage, 212 Buddhist nuns, vii, 11, 85–6, 93, 95, 101 Buddhist Order, 21, 220 Buddhist queens, 171–2, 174, 179, 188 Buddhist saṅgha, 20, 203 Buddhist Sri Lanka, 224, 233, 237 Buddhist traditions, 8–9, 19, 45, 56, 199 Buddhist women, viii, 223 cakkavattin, 172, 176 Cālā, 129–30, 134 castes, farmer, 233, 239 Chinese translation, 99, 109, 116 classes, 66, 208, 219–20 Collett, Alice, ii, iv–v, vii, 1, 62, 98, 140, 169 colophon, 161, 167, 183 commentary, 14, 24, 34, 47, 54, 66, 69, 82, 100, 102, 140, 154, 198–9, 215 communities, 4, 9, 13, 15, 37, 43–4, 55, 61, 75, 82, 84–5, 89, 93, 95, 119–20
Index concentration, 84, 106, 108, 110–13 consent, 74–5, 241 consenting, 65, 75 contact, bodily, 74, 79 courtesans, 224, 235–6, 241–2 cowife, 142, 240–2 cowives, 188, 224, 239–40, 242 craving, 71, 124–7, 130–2 Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta, 9, 18, 22, 25, 28 daughter, 13, 39, 62, 135–7, 144, 150, 156, 169, 174, 186, 197–8, 200–2, 226, 232–6, 239 adopted, 232 daughter’s son, 201 death, 3, 117, 129, 141, 153, 155, 157, 167, 169, 185, 214, 216 defilements, 72, 117–18, 166, 173, 181 delight, 64, 107, 109, 121, 128, 130–2, 134, 144 dhamma, 30, 70–2, 74, 139, 169, 187, 213–14, 238 Dhammadinnā, 75, 104–5, 169, 204 Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā, 8, 14, 145, 157–8, 197, 222, 224–5, 227–8, 230–1, 238 Dhammapāla, 154–8 Dhammapāla’s commentary, 145, 152, 154–7 dharma, ii, 31, 53, 56–8, 87, 104–6, 199, 206 dharmasūtras, 210 Dīpāṅkara Buddha, 186, 189 disciples, 54, 73, 99–100, 103–4, 106–7, 109–10, 117, 120, 148, 150, 176, 186, 199 disciples of Buddhas, 183, 188 discourses, 14–15, 22, 99, 106, 110, 111, 116, 119–20, 122, 134, 136, 151 divine, 161, 170, 172, 174, 191 divine eye, 102–3, 105, 114, 149, 153–4 269 divorce, 15, 223, 236–8, 244 donations, 69, 96, 198, 214, 216 donors, ii, 60–1, 107, 168–70, 243 dukkha, 121, 123–4, 126–7, 129–31 duties, 179, 200, 232, 235, 245 grave, 4, 81, 84 earth, 111–12, 127, 184, 190 Ekottarika-āgama, v, xi, 7, 12, 98, 100, 101–3, 105, 107, 110–11, 113, 115 Ekottarika-āgama listing, 99 eminence, 100, 101, 103–4 eminent bhikkhunī, 99–100, 102 era of Buddha Vipassī, 148, 153, 155 Evil, 120–6, 128–32 evil Māra, 121–7, 129–32 families, 39, 70, 108, 141, 148–51, 155–7, 163, 168, 177, 198, 200, 202–4, 217, 235–6, 238 father, 53–4, 60, 83, 88, 169, 174, 179, 196–8, 200–2, 204–5, 209, 212, 217, 226, 232–5 fault, 82–3, 86–8, 90–1, 94–5, 155, 222 fear, 118, 121, 125, 134, 196, 198, 201, 217, 233, 235, 245 female authorship, 6–7, 16, 164 female children, 232–3, 244 female sexuality, 6, 10, 15, 63–5, 69, 78, 86, 95, 231 five sense pleasures, 121, 128, 134 flowers, 186, 188 followers, 1, 98, 165, 234, 242–3 food, 78, 82–4, 88–9, 102, 108–9, 168, 170, 179–80, 226 first-time offerings of, 82, 84 footprint, 230–1 forest, viii, 134–5, 195, 229 Gandhāra, 3, 48–9, 59, 61 Gandhāran avadāna, 48, 52, 54, 56 Gandhāran avadāna texts, 10, 50–1
270 Index Gandhāran Buddhism, 15, 47, 50, 52 Gandhāran Buddhist texts, viii, 46, 51 gaṇiga-avadānas, 51–2, 56 Gartodara’s father, 87 Gartodara’s mother, 87–8 Gautamī, 25, 82, 84 gems, 171, 176–8, 182 gifts, 3, 19–23, 27, 33–40, 43–4, 72, 110, 150, 154, 197, 206–9, 212–14, 216, 243 highest, 72–3, 79 individual, 21, 33–6 list of, 21, 43 pious, 60–1 recipients of, 3, 214 girls, 76, 193–202, 205–6, 208, 212, 217 gods, 150, 164, 170, 172–3, 176, 183, 191, 200, 216 gold coins, 226, 235–6 Gopī, 104–5 Gotama Buddha, 1, 13, 62, 140, 150, 155, 171, 176 grasping, 71, 208 Great Sage, 150, 185–6, 189 gṛhyasūtras, 195, 202, 206–8, 211–12, 214 grief, viii, 141, 168, 174 gurudharma, 4, 81–2, 84–5, 88, 90 Haḍḍa, 10, 48, 50, 56, 61 harem, 56, 58–9, 144, 146, 187–9, 232–4, 239–40 heavens, 102, 130, 171–2, 190, 216 home, 93–5, 168–9, 180, 204, 218, 229, 233, 237, 240 parental, 235–7 householder, 55, 68, 89–90, 218–19, 232 human kings, 170, 172, 174, 184 husband, 11, 86–8, 163–4, 168–9, 174–5, 177–82, 187–8, 190–1, 202–4, 215, 226–7, 229–31, 235–7, 241, 244 interdependence of, 179–80 ignorance, 121, 123–7, 129–33 illness, 70, 214 impurities, 111–12, 114, 142, 149, 152, 231 inscriptions, ii, 59–61, 163 intelligence, 58, 227, 229, 234 intentions, 68, 122–6, 128–32, 180, 239 intercourse, sexual, 63, 69–73 Janapadakalyāṇī, 144, 146–7, 155–8 kamma, v, 170, 172, 174–5, 178, 182, 186–7 kammic trajectory, 161, 164–5, 181, 183, 190–1 Kāśisundarī, 193, 195, 197, 205 Khemā, 100, 101, 145, 148, 150 Khemaka, daughter of, 144, 148, 154–5, 158 killing, 29, 228–9 kings, ii, 57, 62, 101, 153, 168, 170, 172–3, 177–8, 184, 190, 199, 215, 233–4, 238–40 wheel-turning, 102, 174 Kisāgotamī, 102, 123, 134–5, 141, 150 knowledge, 8, 57, 103–5, 122–3, 138, 149, 165–6, 190, 197, 222, 229–31, 241 analytical, 104, 114, 165–6, 176 Kuṇḍalakēsī, 224, 226–9, 238, 242 Lamotte, 23, 102 laywoman, 37, 69, 72 laywomen, 2, 56, 73, 79, 91, 164 learning, 55, 194, 222, 229–30, 232 legends, 52, 54–6, 58–9 Lenz, Timothy, 8, 10, 50 liberation, 29, 103, 106, 108, 113, 242–3 life final/present, 182, 184, 187–8 present, 161–2 present/final, 161, 168, 176–7
Index Madhyama-āgama, 23–4, 99 Māgandi, 230, 239, 241 Mahā-Kassapa, 174–8, 181–3, 190 Mahābhārata, 194–6, 217, 219 Mahāpajāpatī, 37, 146, 155–6 Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, 28–9, 99–100, 101, 112, 139, 142, 144–5 Mahāprajāpatī, 20–1, 23, 27, 29, 37, 82 Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī, v, 19–21, 27–9, 81–2, 89, 92, 94 Mahāsāṅghikas, 25, 29 Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, 184 Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, 23, 108, 145 Majjhima-nikāya, vii, 22–3, 25, 28 Mānava Dharmaśāstra, 198, 201–2, 210, 216–19, 224 Manorathapūraṇī, 56, 145, 156–8 manuscripts, 3, 5, 18–19, 29, 41, 43, 46–7, 49, 55, 60, 93, 116, 152 Māra, 12, 62, 64, 101–2, 110, 116–38, 145, 167, 198 early Buddhist texts, 118 snare of, 63, 136 work of, 119, 138 Māra’s daughters, 136 marriage, v, viii, 13–14, 163–5, 168–72, 182, 184–5, 189–91, 193–200, 203–10, 212, 214, 216–18, 234–8, 240 marriage alliance, 194, 202, 204 marriage forms, 210 meals, 89, 120, 180, 199, 214–17, 227 mealtime, 87–8 medicinal requisites, 30–1 meditation, vii, 99, 112, 120, 146–7, 152, 156, 158, 229, 231 menstrual cloths, 92–3 merchant’s daughter, 193–4, 225 merit, 27, 29, 84, 173, 178, 180, 186, 214–16, 235, 243 mind, 1, 9, 16, 46, 53, 57, 76, 94, 103, 105–6, 109–14, 118, 121–3, 142, 173 271 monastery, 50, 120, 169, 222 monastic discipline, 88, 90, 92–4 monastic dwellings, 83–4 monks, 3–7, 10–11, 38–42, 57, 63–9, 71–9, 81–4, 86–90, 93–6, 140–1, 163–8, 213–14, 216, 222–4, 236–8 assembly of, 82–3 famous, 161, 164, 166 group of, 43, 50, 88 stories recount women accosting, 73 thirty-rain-retreat, 57 Monks’ Order, 39, 40, 42 deceased, 42 mother, 28, 60, 63, 83, 87, 89, 94, 136, 141, 150, 157, 195, 220, 237, 240–1 Muktā, 194, 202, 204, 217 Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, 8, 16, 82, 91, 108, 145, 196, 198, 202–3, 209, 214–16 music, viii, 128, 134 Ñānamoli, 28–30, 34–5 Nanda, 151, 156–8 Nandā, v, 13, 99, 140, 142–5, 147–53, 155–6, 158–9, 170, 172 noble truths, 28, 30–2, 129 Norman, K. R., 141–2, 152, 154, 224 nunnery, 90, 94–5, 198–9, 204, 229 nuns, 3–7, 9–13, 15–16, 18–19, 22–3, 36–44, 64–8, 73–9, 81–2, 84–96, 140–4, 154–6, 161–4, 169–71, 242–3 assembly of, 82–3 forbidding, 76, 82 group of, 75, 89 lists, 81 preeminent, 12 Obeyesekere, Ranjini, 8, 14, 205, 217, 223, 225–9, 231–41 occupations, 85–6, 162–3 offense, 66, 72, 74–5, 77, 91 offerings, 41, 43–4, 208
272 Index Oldenberg, Herman, 117, 202, 207–8, 212 Olivelle, Patrick, 199–201, 205, 208, 210, 218–19 order, 3–4, 6, 18–19, 21–3, 25–7, 33, 35–44, 81–2, 91, 96, 99–100, 165–7, 202–3, 207–9, 218–19 non-Buddhist, 203 Order of monks, 3, 38–9, 42–3, 71 Order of monks and Order of nuns, 3 Order of nuns, v, 3, 18–19, 22–3, 25–7, 37–9, 43–4, 242 outstanding bhikkhunīs, 98–100, 101, 104, 106–7, 109, 112 list of, 98, 111, 113, 115 pācattika dharma, 11, 85–7, 89–90, 95 Paccekabuddhāpadāna, 166 Paccekabuddhas, 161, 166–8, 177, 180, 182–3, 187–8 pācittiya, 68, 77, 91, 93 Pāli texts, 21, 182, 198, 206, 213, 217–18, 220, 222, 237 Pāli Vinaya, v, 4–6, 10, 62–3, 65–9, 71, 73, 75, 77–9, 81, 93, 164, 213, 216 pāṇigraha, 208–9 pārājikas, 5, 65–7, 73–5 parallels, 2, 8, 10, 19, 22, 24, 27–9, 33, 38, 45, 99–100, 111–12, 122–5, 127–31 direct, 22–4, 27, 32–3 indirect, 9, 22–3, 27, 31–2 parents, 144, 155, 168, 199, 203–4, 209, 224–5, 232–3, 235–6, 238, 242 passions, 71, 91, 230 path, v, 1, 6, 10, 53, 62, 64, 72, 107, 109, 113–15, 121, 132, 178, 190–1 paṭisambhidā, 104, 166 peace, 122–7, 129–32, 142–3, 149, 170, 205 pieties, 95, 161–2, 165, 177, 179 pots, 48, 60–1, 92–3 prātimokṣa, 4, 81 precepts, five, 28–32, 37, 55, 149 previous Buddhas, 13, 118, 161–2, 166–7, 170, 188 Previous kamma, 183–5 prostitutes, 6, 48, 51, 76, 142 Puniga, 54–5 putrikā, 201–2 queens, 172, 174, 239–40 chief, 150, 153, 168, 171–2, 174, 178–9 qútánmí jīng, 18, 23, 25 Raghuvaṃśa, 194, 196, 217 realization, 103, 111, 120, 126–8, 133, 139, 169, 185–6 rebirth, 57, 71, 99, 103, 130, 134, 153–4, 161–2, 168, 178, 188, 190 recluse, 71, 132, 153–4 redactor, 37, 44, 193–4, 196–7, 199–200, 205, 218 refuge, 28, 30, 55, 58, 94, 185 relatives, male, 86, 169 renunciation, 14, 70, 117, 187, 198, 210, 217, 219–20 requiring expiation, 86–91 robe gift episode, 23, 28, 37, 43 robes, 19–20, 23, 29–31, 70, 104–8, 113, 120, 199 root pieties, 163–4, 168–70, 172, 175, 183–4, 190 Roth, Gustav, 4–5, 25, 81–4, 87, 89–91, 93–5, 111, 204, 213 rules, 4–6, 10–11, 15, 44, 65–9, 72–9, 81–2, 84–93, 95, 108, 150, 202, 204, 219, 224 disciplinary, 103, 113 Rūpanandā, 144, 146–7, 156–8 Saddharmaratnāvaliya, viii, 8, 14, 223–5, 227–30, 233, 238, 242–3
Index Saddharmaratnāvaliya stories, 240, 242 saints, v, 163, 174–5, 182, 190–1 Sakyan, 13, 70, 144, 146, 148, 154–5, 158 Salomon, 47–8, 50, 60–1 Saṃyukta-āgama, v, 116, 133–4 Saṃyutta-nikāya, v, 12, 62–4, 110 saṅgha, 15, 23, 30–1, 34, 43–4, 65, 72, 74–5, 96, 243 saṅghādisesa rules, 5, 10, 65–8, 77–8 Sarvāstivāda versions, 42, 108 Sarvāstivādins, 24, 29 Sāvatthī, 70, 119–20 Schopen, Gregory, 8, 88, 90, 196, 203, 213–15 Schøyen Collection, 24, 35 scrolls, 9, 19–20, 30, 47–8 seats, 82–3, 110 Selā, 125, 127, 133–4, 199 sensuality, 131, 134 sex, 10–11, 65–9, 72–3, 78–9, 135–6, 197 sex acts, 65, 67, 73, 77 sexual aggression, 67, 135–6 sexuality, male, 6, 65, 77, 79, 136 signlessness, 109–10, 114 Sinhala, 2, 222–3 Sinhalese Buddhists, 14, 216 sisters, 70, 72, 142, 144, 147, 150, 156–7, 169, 191, 206 sons, 63, 68, 70, 86, 123, 136, 141, 153, 168–9, 186, 195–6, 201–2, 217–18, 240–1 Sponberg, Alan, 6, 138 Sri Lanka, vii–ix, 140, 216, 222–5, 232, 238, 242, 244 stories, 8–9, 14–15, 47–8, 53–5, 58–9, 65–7, 75–7, 141–2, 145–7, 156–8, 181–2, 193, 197–205, 222–6, 235–43 commentarial, 2, 14 five, 193 introductory, 86, 89 ordination, 27–8 origin, 10, 65, 69, 75 273 past-life, 13, 163 second, 75, 159, 198 skeleton, 47, 55 supplemental, 67, 73 svayaṃvara, 193, 205 well-known, 46, 101, 141, 183 women’s, 193 Strauch, Ingo, 3, 7–9, 18, 24, 38, 46 Suddhodana, 145, 147, 153, 156, 158 suitors, 51, 195–7, 199–202 rejected, 196–7, 217 Sumedha, 186–8 Sundarīnandā, 75, 144, 153, 155–6 Suprabhā, 193–5, 197, 205 Supriyā, 194, 197–9 sūtra, 9, 12, 18–19, 21–7, 29, 32–8, 43–4, 47, 51, 89, 95 Suttavibhaṅga, 4–5, 66–7, 72 Suttavibhaṅga saṅghādisesa, 68–9, 74 svayaṃvara, 193–6 Tathāgata, 3, 34–6, 38–9, 41, 101, 105, 114, 199 teacher, 1, 105–6, 176, 222, 237–8 teachings, 12, 53, 58, 87, 89, 96, 104, 109–10, 114–15, 120, 129–30, 132, 134, 148–9, 155–6 texts avadāna, 46–7 canonical, ix, 103, 164, 166 Therāpadāna, 163–7, 170–1, 175, 181, 183, 191 Theravāda Buddhism, ix therī, x, 1, 56, 136, 141, 168, 170, 172, 174 Therī-apadāna, v, 13, 161, 163–7, 169–73, 175, 177, 179, 181–3, 185, 187, 189, 191, 199, 224 Therīgāthā, v, 7, 12–13, 62, 100, 111, 136, 140–6, 148–9, 151–3, 155, 157–9, 242–3 Therīgāthā verses, 12, 62, 141, 144–5, 152, 155, 158
274 Index thūpas, 161, 176–7, 181 transgression, 65, 74, 77, 89–91 Udāyin, 69, 71–3 venerable, 68, 70–2 Udēnī, King, 232, 238–9 Uppalavaṇṇā, 100, 101, 124–5, 133–5, 169, 198 Uttarā, 104, 106, 234, 236, 241–2 Vāsuladattā, 238–9 vinaya, 2, 4, 18, 22, 25–7, 29, 33, 65, 67–8, 75–7, 81–2, 84, 86–7, 95–6, 203–4 vinaya rules, 15, 44, 77, 84, 93, 95, 204 vinaya stories, 202–3 vinaya texts, 24, 65, 82, 87, 199 Vipassi Buddha, 177, 179 virtue, 85–6, 88, 93, 96 women of, 11, 86, 95 Visākhā, 56, 107–8, 242 Walters, Jonathan S., ix, 1, 6–7, 13, 15, 17, 161, 164, 167, 169, 172, 183, 185, 203, 224, 240 washing, 91–2, 120 water, 78, 86–8, 93, 110, 112, 114, 127, 168, 215, 222 water pot, 60–1, 87–8 weddings, 194–5, 204–6, 208–9, 212–17 wife, 11, 62–3, 88–90, 153, 158, 168, 174–5, 177–80, 182–3, 187–8, 200–1, 230–1, 233, 235–7, 240–2 devoted, 89 this-life, 164, 175, 182 wife of Susoma, 60 wives, v, 13, 62, 86, 141, 145, 163–4, 170, 174, 181, 186, 190–1, 202, 239, 242 women, 7, 54–5, 57–8, 63–4, 69–70, 72–4, 76–7, 86–7, 138, 175, 215, 227, 229, 231–2, 234–6 barren, 241 faceless, 10, 51 image of, 50–1, 53, 59 marriageable, 219 portrayals of, 16, 75 virtuous householder, 86