Tagged: Ariyapariyesanā-sutta
Pages with this tag
Anālayo - Brahmā's Invitation (2011)
1In early Buddhist texts, the god Brahmā is incorporated through "inclusivism," being either satirized as a deluded creator or depicted as a subordinate protector of the Dharma. The most prominent example of this protector role is the story from the Pāli Ariyapariyesanā-sutta where Brahmā persuades the hesitant, newly-awakened Buddha to teach. This article highlights that this famous episode is completely absent from a parallel version of the discourse in the Chinese Madhyama-āgama. By comparing these texts and noting a similar pattern of absence in other parallel accounts, the analysis concludes that the story of Brahmā's intervention is likely a later addition to the tradition, rather than an original element that was subsequently lost. Therefore, this pivotal narrative, widely found in later texts and art, may not have been part of the earliest autobiographical account of the Buddha's awakening.
Anālayo - The Buddha's Awakening (2021)
2A comparative study of early Buddhist texts suggests that differing accounts of the Buddha's awakening do not represent competing theories of realization, but rather evolving methods of describing a single, non-conceptual event. The author argues that the awakening was a direct, non-conceptual breakthrough to the experience of Nirvana, which is fundamentally beyond words.
Bamford - The Uses of Philology - A Case Study in Popularising Buddhism (2015)
3This paper critiques the use of a philologically unsound translation of a Buddhist text within UK public policy discourse, specifically by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in its "Spiritualise" report. The author, Geoffrey Bamford, traces a popularised quote about "ground" and "place" to Stephen Batchelor's idiosyncratic translation of the Ariyapariyesanāsutta, which misinterprets the Pali word *ālaya* (clinging/attachment) as "place" and the common word *ṭhāna* (state/fact) as "ground." This error creates an existentialist concept of a "groundless ground" that is alien to the apophatic nature of the Pali canon. Bamford argues that while the popularisation is inaccurate, its influence demonstrates a significant Western appetite for Buddhist ideas, suggesting that the very aspects of Buddhism that challenge ingrained cultural habits of thought are precisely what make it appealing, even when misunderstood.