Tagged: Ṛgveda
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Jurewicz- Playing with Fire (2000)
1In her analysis, Joanna Jurewicz posits that the Buddhist law of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) is a polemical reinterpretation of Vedic cosmogony, which shares a similar structure and even specific concepts but is stripped of its positive value by the Buddhist doctrine of no-self (anattā). The twelve links of the Buddhist chain are shown to parallel stages of Vedic creation, where concepts like *avidyā* (ignorance) and *saṃskāra* (volition) mirror the Creator's initial state and subsequent will, and later links like *nāmarūpa* (name-and-form) and the sense bases (*ṣaḍāyatana*) map onto the *ātman's* differentiation into the cognized world. The central Vedic metaphor of a creative, divine fire (Agni) is deliberately inverted, with its "thirst" to create becoming the destructive fire of craving (*tṛṣṇā*) and its need for fuel becoming clinging (*upādāna*). By systematically removing the *ātman* as the divine agent, the Buddha reframes the entire desirable Vedic creative process as a meaningless and absurd chain of events that inevitably culminates in suffering through becoming, birth, and death (*bhava, jāti, jarāmaraṇa*).
Shults - A Note on Refuge in Vedic and Pāli Texts (2016)
2This article explores the concept of refuge (*śaraṇa*/*saraṇa*) by tracing its development from Vedic to Pāli Buddhist texts, arguing that while the motif of a "triple refuge" existed in the *Ṛgveda* and later Vedic literature, it was primarily a ritualistic or protective formula for seeking shelter from gods like Indra. In contrast, early Buddhism repurposed this concept, imbuing it with a profound, personal, and transformative significance. Citing Pāli narratives such as those of Sumanā, Ubbirī, and Aṅgulimāla, the author demonstrates that for Buddhists, "going for refuge" was not merely a formal act but a pivotal "change of heart" marking a dramatic discontinuity in one's life, linked to inner realization, overcoming suffering, and renouncing a sinful past. This shift from a functional, ritualistic notion to an experience of profound personal conversion represents the key Buddhist innovation on the pre-existing Vedic motif.
Bronkhorst, Johannes - Greater Magadha, Brill (2007)
3In *Greater Magadha*, Johannes Bronkhorst posits the existence of a distinct cultural sphere in early India, located east of the traditional Brahmanical heartland, which was the cradle of religious movements such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Ājīvikism. This culture was defined by a unique spiritual ideology centered on the belief in rebirth and karmic retribution, as well as by features like round funerary mounds (stūpas), a distinct medical tradition, and a cyclical conception of time. Bronkhorst argues that these concepts were foreign to the Vedic-Brahmanical culture to its west, which only gradually absorbed them over a long period of cultural interaction. This process is traced through Brahmanical texts that reveal varied reactions - hesitant acceptance and adaptation in the Upaniṣads and the Mahābhārata, long-term disregard by the Mīmāṃsā school, and outright rejection by the Cārvākas, whom he identifies as a Brahmanical school. A central part of the thesis involves a chronological re-evaluation of late-Vedic literature, which Bronkhorst, using evidence from grammarians like Pāṇini, argues is much later than traditionally held and was composed contemporaneously with this cultural amalgamation.