The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravada Buddhist Theory and Practice: A Reevaluation of the Bodhisattva-Sravaka Opposition

Samuels, Jeffrey

doi:10.2307/1399912

Cited by 14 publications

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“…41 Wangchuk 2007 Jātakas also inspired people who did not wish to become Buddhas themselves, perhaps already at a time when the Bodhisattva ideal did not yet exist; see Walters 1997: 166. 43 Bodhisattvas characterize primarily Mahāyāna (on which below), but not exclusively so; see Samuels 1997;Appleton 2010: 91-108. 44 Nattier 2003: 223, 225, 226.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking about Peace in Ancient India

Bronkhorst¹

2016

Peace in the Ancient World

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Indian history begins, in a certain way, in the third century BCE with the inscriptions of Aśoka. 1 These inscriptions are among the earliest surviving written testimony from the subcontinent. Their contents are surprising, to say the least. They are messages for his subjects from Emperor Aśoka, who calls himself "the beloved of the gods." And they tell us a lot about the emperor himself, especially about his religious and generally moral attitudes. We know from these inscriptions that Aśoka turned to Buddhism at some point in his life, and that he considered himself a lay Buddhist. Not unrelated, but of more immediate interest for our topic, are the regrets that Aśoka expresses about the violence he had perpetrated during the conquest of a region in eastern India, Kalinġa. We find this in the so-called thirteenth Major Rock Edict, extracts of which I present here in the somewhat free rendering of Romila Thapar: When he had been consecrated eight years the Beloved of the Gods, the king Piyadassi, conquered Kalinġa. A hundred and fifty thousand people were deported, a hundred thousand were killed and many times that number perished. … 0002643497.indd 67 12/14/2015 12:04:59 PM Aśoka tries to remedy the situation by promoting the victory of Dharma, which approximately translates "righteous rule, correct behavior." It covers, for Aśoka, a variety of virtues, including generosity, medical care for humans and animals, religious tolerance, and much else. Virtually all his Rock Edicts deal with the propagation of Dharma within and beyond his empire. The thirteenth Major Rock Edict continues: The Beloved of the Gods considers victory by Dharma to be the foremost victory. And moreover the Beloved of the Gods has gained this victory on all his frontiers to a distance of six hundred yojanas [i.e. about 1500 miles], where reigns the Greek king named Antiochus, and beyond the realm of that Antiochus in the lands of the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas, and Alexander; and in the south over the Coḷ as and Pāṇ ḍ yas as far as Ceylon. Likewise here in the imperial territories among the Greeks and the Kambojas, Nābhakas and Nābhapanktis, Bhojas and Pitinikas, Andhras and Pārindas, everywhere the people follow the Beloved of the Gods' instructions in Dharma. Even where the envoys of the Beloved of the Gods have not gone, people hear of his conduct according to the Dharma, his precepts and his instruction in Dharma, and they follow Dharma and will continue to follow it. 3

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking about Peace in Ancient India

Bronkhorst¹

2016

Peace in the Ancient World

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“…172-176. Also relevant are Harrison (1987), Samuels (1997), andSilk (2002). am a sentient being (BCA 8:94).…”

Section: The Overdemandingness Objection In Indian Buddhismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demandingness, Well-Being and the Bodhisattva Path

Harris

2015

SOPHIA

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This paper reconstructs an Indian Buddhist response to the overdemandingness objection, the claim that a moral theory asks too much of its adherents. In the first section, I explain the objection and argue that some Mahāyāna Buddhists, including Śāntideva, face it. In the second section, I survey some possible ways of responding to the objection as a way of situating the Buddhist response alongside contemporary work. In the final section, I draw upon writing by Vasubandhu and Śāntideva in reconstructing a Mahāyāna response to the objection. An essential component of this response is the psychological transformation that the bodhisattva achieves as a result of realizing the nonexistence of the self. This allows him to radically identify his wellbeing with the well-being of others, thereby lessening the tension between self and others upon which the overdemandingness objection usually depends. Emphasizing the attention Mahāyāna authors pay to lessening moral demandingness in this way increases our appreciation of the philosophical sophistication of their moral thought and highlights an important strategy for responding to the overdemandingness objection that has been underdeveloped in contemporary work.

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“…However, this path – the bodhisattvayāna – is not referred to as the ‘Mahāyāna’, and is not conceptualized as a general form of Buddhism (with its own sūtras, doctrines, etc.) to be followed by all (Samuels 1997). Referring to Spiro's ethnographic work on Theravāda Buddhism in Burma, Harrison points out that a small number of Burmese Buddhists have considered themselves to be ‘ hpaya laung (“Embryo Buddhas”), i.e.…”

Section: A Logical ‘Place’ For the Mahāyānamentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the Mahāyāna: Some Historical and Doctrinal Issues

D'Amato

2008

Religion Compass

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Buddhism is often characterized as divided into two forms: Mahāyāna and H?nayāna. But how should this distinction be understood? In this article, I offer the reader a sense of how the contours of the Mahāyāna have been drawn from a historical and doctrinal perspective. I discuss three theories regarding the origins of the Mahāyāna, and elucidate an account of the Mahāyāna from a significant Mahāyāna treatise. I also comment on the use of the terms ‘Mahāyāna’ and ‘H?nayāna’, and conclude with some thoughts on a conundrum regarding the Mahāyāna's own self‐understanding.

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The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravada Buddhist Theory and Practice: A Reevaluation of the Bodhisattva-Sravaka Opposition

Abstract: HTnayana Buddhism. Instead of looking at how this model is appropriated by scholars of Buddhism, I will turn to the writings of three Mahayana Buddhists in which this bifurcation is suggested.

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Thinking about Peace in Ancient India

Thinking about Peace in Ancient India

Demandingness, Well-Being and the Bodhisattva Path

Mapping the Mahāyāna: Some Historical and Doctrinal Issues

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