Papers by Bhikkhu Anālayo
Journal of Buddhist Studies, 2023
This article examines selected aspects of the Saṃyutta-nikāya in critical dialogue with proposals... more This article examines selected aspects of the Saṃyutta-nikāya in critical dialogue with proposals by Eviatar Shulman. Based on exploring the awakening insights attributed to the Buddha in this collection, closer inspection of relevant discourses shows that the indubitable centrality of the Buddha does not function solely to highlight his extraordinary nature or to serve as a form of recollecting him, nor is his smile invested with cosmic significance in early Buddhist thought or even the Pāli commentaries. In an appendix to this article, the critical dialogue with Eviatar Shulman continues in relation to his theory of a ‘play of formulas.’
Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Survey of Reviews, 2023
This article surveys selected observations offered in several reviews of the monograph Superiorit... more This article surveys selected observations offered in several reviews of the monograph Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective (2021).
Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, 2024
This article studies selected references to orality and writing in the Prajñāpāramitā text transl... more This article studies selected references to orality and writing in the Prajñāpāramitā text translated by Lokakṣema and extant as Taishō entry 224 under the title. The concern of the study is to explore what such references convey regarding emic expectations of how members of the audience will be engaging with this text.
Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, 2024
The present article surveys selected examples from the Madhyama-āgama extant in Chinese translati... more The present article surveys selected examples from the Madhyama-āgama extant in Chinese translation of a particular feature of repetition, which takes the form of a statement or quality being increased or augmented with each instance of being repeated, thereby creating a crescendo effect. Similar occurrences of such "crescendo repetitions" have been identified by Harrison (2022) in some Mahāyāna sūtras, in particular in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā. Closer examination shows that instances of this pattern are not examples of the play of formulas proposed by Shulman (2021b).
Buddhist Studies Review, 2016
This article offers a critical reply to the proposal by Arbel (in Buddhist Studies Review 32(2), ... more This article offers a critical reply to the proposal by Arbel (in Buddhist Studies Review 32(2), 2015) that the attainment of the first absorption has in itself a liberating function in the early Buddhist path to awakening.
The parallels are MĀ 161 at T I 685a-690a and T 76 at T I 883b-886a. MĀ 161 and T 76 agree with M... more The parallels are MĀ 161 at T I 685a-690a and T 76 at T I 883b-886a. MĀ 161 and T 76 agree with MN 91 on the location and on taking the name of the Brahmin Brahmāyu as their title (梵摩經 or 梵 摩 渝 經
The present paper offers a survey of some features of the Madhyama-āgama, based on a comparison w... more The present paper offers a survey of some features of the Madhyama-āgama, based on a comparison with its extant parallels. After taking up matters related to the structure of the Madhyama-āgama collection, selected passages from Madhyama-āgama discourses will be examined in order to show the importance of placing the different versions of a discourse, preserved in Chinese and Pāli (and at times also in Sanskrit or Tibetan) side by side, in order to ascertain the implications of certain passages and to avoid being misled by transmission or translation errors.
The present article provides an annotated translation of the Tibetan parallel to the Cūḷavedalla-... more The present article provides an annotated translation of the Tibetan parallel to the Cūḷavedalla-sutta of the Majjhima-nikāya, preserved in Śamathadeva's commentary on the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. This is followed by a brief study of the significance of the discourse and the way it presents bhikṣuṇī Dharmadinnā.
e present article begins by surveying the role of the ancient Indian god Brahmā in the early Bud... more e present article begins by surveying the role of the ancient Indian god Brahmā in the early Buddhist discourses as exemplifying a tendency referred to in academic research as "inclusivism". A prominent instance of this tendency can be found in the Ariyapariyesanā-sutta of the Pāli canon, which reports that Brahmā intervened to persuade the recently awakened Buddha to teach. is episode is absent from a Madhyama-āgama parallel to the Ariyapariyesanā-sutta, of which I provide a partial translation. e translation is followed by a brief evaluation of this difference between the two parallel records of the events surrounding the Buddha's awakening.
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Papers by Bhikkhu Anālayo