Tagged: Upaka
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Hinüber - The Buddha As A Historical Person (2019)
1In response to claims that the Buddha was not a historical person, Oskar von Hinüber argues for his historicity by analyzing early Pāli texts for archaic elements and genuine memories. He posits that details contradicting later, more mythological biographies are unlikely to be inventions and may represent a historical core. Evidence includes the Aśokan inscription confirming Lumbinī as the Buddha's birthplace; textual accounts of his father as a working farmer rather than a king; and a description of his parents weeping as he left home, which conflicts with later narratives. A key example is the Buddha's failure to impress the Ājīvika Upaka, an embarrassing episode for the tradition, whose antiquity is supported by archaic linguistic forms and its subsequent alteration or omission in later texts. Further evidence from the *Mahāparinibbānasuttanta*, such as the obscure name of the Buddha's last meal (*sūkaramaddava*) and moments of human frailty, also suggest the preservation of authentic details from the life of a real person.
6. Pañcavaggiyakathā (The Account of the Group of Five)
2After realising his first two choices for teaching the Dhamma had passed away, the Buddha (Bhagavā) decided to teach the group of five ascetics who had previously attended him. Journeying to Bārāṇasī, he encountered Upaka, to whom he declared his supreme enlightenment and status as a teacherless Arahant. The five ascetics were initially skeptical of the Buddha, whom they perceived as having reverted to luxury, but he convinced them of his attainment. He then delivered his first discourse, "Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion," teaching them the Middle Way (`Majjhimā Paṭipadā`) which avoids the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification, and the Four Realisations (`caturāriyasaccāni`): suffering, its origin in craving, its cessation, and the path to its cessation: `Ariyo Aṭṭhaṅgiko Maggo` (the Noble Eightfold Path). Koṇḍañña was the first to gain the `dhammacakkhu` (insight into the Dhamma), understanding that whatever is subject to origination is subject to cessation, followed by the other four, all of whom were then ordained. Subsequently, the Buddha taught them the second discourse - the doctrine of anattā (not-self) in relation to the `pañcupādānakkhandhā` or Five Collections (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness), leading to all five ascetics achieving liberation as Arahants.