Buddhist Studies: The Journal of The International Association of

THE JOURNAL
OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
BUDDHIST STUDIES
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Roger Jackson
Dept. of Religion
Carleton College
Northfield, MN 55057
USA
EDITORS
Peter N. Gregory
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA
Jikido Takasaki
University of Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Alexander W. Macdonald
Universite de Paris X
Nanterre, France
Robert Thurman
Columbia University
New York, New York, USA
Steven Collins
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Volume 16
Ernst Steinke liner

University of Vienna
Wien, Austria
1993
Number 1
CONTENTS
I. ARTICLES
1. Religion, Kinship and Buddhism: Ambedkar's Vision of a Moral
Community
by Anne M. Blackburn
2.Vasubandhu on samskarapratyayam vijMnam
by Robert Kritzer
24
3. Is It a Crow (P. dhamka) or a Nurse (Skt. dhatri), or Milk (Skt. ksira)

or a Toy-Plough (P. vamka)?
by Stephan H. Levitt
56
II. REVIEW ARTICLE

Issues on the Field of East Asian Buddhist Studies: An Extended Review
of Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese
Thought, ed. Peter N. Gregory (T. Griffith Foulk)
93
III. BOOK REVIEWS

1. Collected Papers, vol. 2, by K. R. Norman (Nirmala Salgado)
183
2. The Dating of the Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen

Buddha, part I, ed. Heinz Bechert (A. K. Narain)
187
3. Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation
of Women, by Padmanabh S. Jaini (Serinity Young)
202
IV. RESEARCH TOOLS

A Bibliography of Buddhist Materials in the Recorded Sound Collection
of the Library of Congress
by Floyd B. Hooker
209
V. NOTES A N D NEWS
IABS Financial Statement, 1991
245
Collected Papers. Vol. 2. by K. R. Norman. London: The Pali

Text Society. 1991. 276 pages
This volume, as its title indicates, is the second volume (of three) of a collection
of papers written by K.R. Norman. It includes twenty-two articles first published
between 1977 and 1983 in selected journals. The articles include Pali etymological
studies that are based in both Jain and Buddhist texts, and treatments of a wide range
of topics, from a translation and critical analysis of the eighth chapter of the
UttarSdhyayana SQtra to an essay on the early history of the Pali Text Society. The
articles are arranged in the order in which they were first published.
In "The Buddha's View of the Devas," Norman indicates that the so called
"problem" of describing Buddhism, with its polytheistic elements, as "nontheistic" only emerges in the endeavors of Western scholars to classify Buddhism.
The problem disappears if one interprets non-theistic to mean "accepting the
existence of devas, but denying them any causal role in the universe" (1). He shows
that "The real problem of Buddhism vis-a-vis the devas was not in accommodating
them into the Buddhist cosmology, but in fitting the eternal gods of the Rgveda into
the system of samsSra" (1). He proceeds to examine critically several Pali Text
Society translations of the SangSrava Sutta one of the two canonical passages on
the subjectand he also discusses the relevant Sinhalese and Burmese manuscripts. Norman shows that the early translations are unsatisfactory because they
do not give the full context of the brahman SangSrava's question to the Buddha:
"kin nu kho, bho Gotama, atthi devS?fl*...",nor do they clarify that the Buddha's
claim that there certainly are devas, ("thanaso me tarn BbSradvSja, viditam
yadidam atthi devS0"') is actually the Buddha's attempt to verify the eternal reality
of the devas; and that this interpretation takes care of the confusion rendered in the
old translations when the questioner first refutes the Buddha's answer and then
accepts it. Norman demonstrates that the words atthi devS should be corrected to
atthi adhidevSin order to render the passage meaningful. The passage would then
show that the Buddha, rather than acknowledging the brahmanical gods to the
brahman SangSrava, was asserting that there were indeed earthly princes (devas)
in addition to beings who were superior to them (adhidevSs)like himself. The
second essay on this topic, "Devas and Adhidevas in Buddhism," examines the
183
184
JIABS VOL. 16 NO. 1
KannakatthaJa Suttathe second of the canonical suttas which illustrate the

Buddha's view of devas. Norman shows that once again adhi has been mistaken
for atthi and that the text becomes more meaningful when this rendering is
presented. He concludes that in these two suttas, the Buddha asserted the existence
of both earthly princes (devas) and superior beings (adhi devas), who are both
subject to rebirth. The two articles are significant not just in clarifying the
mispercepuons that arise in previous translationsbut also in illustrating the
importance of recognizing the nature of devas and adhidevas for Buddhism as a
whole.
In "Atta* in the AlagaddOpama-sutta," Norman examines the six wrong views
on attS in this text. He shows that, contrary to the views of some scholars such as
E.J. Thomas and R. Gombrich, Buddhism was acquainted with the Upanishadic
notion of the world soul. This is clearly evident in the Alagaddupama Sutta since
in proving that what is anicea and dukkha cannot be attS the Buddha must refer
to an assumed knowledge of the Upanishadic atman which is both nitya and sukkha.
He substantiates this view by showing that both a Jain text and the Anattalakkhanasutta
provide very similar arguments denying the existence of the Upanishadic Stman,
knowledge of which these texts must presuppose. He shows that while the Buddha
might not specifically deny the existence of attS'm the Pali canon, the Buddha did
deny the existence of a permanent individual self. This article is a useful one not
only because it questions and corrects previously held notions concerning the
Buddha's views on atta\ but also because it renders the significance of attrelevant
to the broader context of the meaning of paticca-samuppSda.
The essay "Dhammapada 97: a Misunderstood Paradox" is significant because
it explains the double meaning of saddho in this little understood verse in the
Dhammapada. While Erghart's translation of the verse indicates that one who is
without faith (assaddho) is an uttamaporiso, later translators have refrained from
this usual translation of assaddho because of the confusion it brings to the context
of the verse. Norman shows that there is an important difference between "to have
faith in" andfor lack of direct experience"to take some one's word for
something." While both may be considered accurate renderings of saddahati, it is
the verse itself that indicates that faith is not necessary, but there is a question as
to whether the reference is to faith in the necessity of faith, as opposed to direct
knowledge. Norman shows that, like assaddho, the other adjectives in the verse
have double meanings, a "good" one and a "bad" one. He suggests that the bad
meanings were lost by the time this pre-Buddhist verse was included in the
Buddhist collection. Norman's insights into a single riddle-like verse of the
Dhammapada points to the likelihood that other similarly paradoxical verses
should be examined for possible double-entendres.
The essay "The Pratyeka-Buddha in Buddhism and Jainism" is a philological
examination of the term pratyeka. Norman shows that the concept of the
pratyekabuddha is pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain. He demonstrates that both the terms
patteya/pacceka may be derived from pratyaya buddha. Since pratyaya has the
REVIEWS
185
sense of nimitta, this could refer to a buddha who was awakened by an external
cause as opposed to those buddhas who were self-awakened. Norman discusses the
assimilation of the pratyeka-buddha conception into Buddhism and Jainism and
suggests that it was originally borrowed from another sect and then used to fill in
the gap between buddha and savaka. His examination sheds light on a new meaning
of the concept of the pratyeka-buddha, who is not just an individual buddha, but
originally was considered as a buddha who was enlightened in a certain way.
In "Four Etymologies of the Sabhiya Sutta," Norman considers the etymologies of the four words viriyava, ariya, kusala and ajaniya to determine the history
of the sutta. He maintains that it was originally composed in a Prakrit and by means
of a comparison with Tibetan texts indicates that the Sutta tradition was quite
different from the commentarial tradition. He suggests that a study of the Sabhiya
Sutta and its commentary across traditions shows evidence of a commentarial
tradition that may have crossed sectarian boundaries. He urges caution in using
metrical analysis alone to determine the dating of a text, since in the case of the
Sabhiya Sutta this is obviously misleading.
In "Magadhisms in the Kathavatthu" Norman examines the nominative and
vocative singular masculine "e" forms in the atthakathas and in the KathSvatthu.
He indicates that these forms were known and recognized by Buddhaghosa. He
demonstrates that the language of the KathSvatthu and the Eastern Ashokan
inscriptions share affinities and indicates that the KathSvatthu was first uttered in
Magadha. He suggests that the close relationship between the language of the
KathSvatthu and Sinhalese arose from the colonisation of Ceylon by people from
Eastern India and that is likely that the "e" forms of the KathSvatthu are due to the
influence of Magadhi, rather than Sanskrit or Prakrit.
The volume includes four essays on the Ashokan pillars. In "Middle IndoAryan Studies XII" Norman examines recensions of the Ashokan edicts in order
to ascertain the procedure for the transmission of exemplars. He shows that the
majority of Ashokan inscriptions are based on just two "master" exemplars. In the
"Notes on the so-called the Queen's Edict of Ashoka," he provides a new and
corrected version of the inscriptions and shows that the main purpose of this edict
was to give instruction about the accounting procedure involved concerning gifts
made by the second queen. In "Ashokan Sil5-thambas and dhamma-thambas," he
emphasizes the importance of discerning the difference between the two types of
pillars. He shows that Ashokan inscriptions give no indication that stone pillars did
not exist before his time and thatin the light of the paucity of evidence available
to the linguistthe art historian and the archeologist may be helpful. In "Notes on
The Ahraura Version of Ashoka's First Minor Rock Edict," Norman discusses the
unusual words buddhasc salile, "the body of the Buddha," found in this version
only, and also discusses the numerals 256 which are missing form this version, but
appear in most others. He shows that a particular sentence in the edict including
these discrepancies was misread by the scribe, who made conjectures and added
his own meanings when he inscribed the edict. Thus Norman's philological critique
clarifies the significance of miswritten aksaras and presents a clarification of this
186
JIABS VOL. 16 NO. 1
otherwise misunderstood edict.

"The Dialects in Which the Buddha Preached" is a slightly revised version of
"The Language in Which the Buddha Taught." These essays discuss the wellknown Vinaya passage concerning the proposed translation of the Buddha's words.
Norman sets out to explain two problems: 1) Why, though they knew the difference
between the two languages, PSli was referred to as Magadhi by the missionaries
to Ceylon, and 2) Whether Buddhaghosa's sources, which say that the Buddha
spoke Magadhi, are correct. He shows that since PSli, the language of the canon,
was akin to MSgadhi, Buddhaghosa probably called the language of the canon
MSgadhiand hence also the language of the Buddha.
The Pali text society has added a useful index of references to Old and Middle
Indo-Aryan words used in the volume and inserted the pagination of the original
versions in addition to cross references to other articles by Norman on similar
subjects. However, apart from these alterations in the presentation of the papers
since theirfirstappearance, there has been no effort made to reorganize the papers
in any useful way. For example, several of these articles may be grouped according
to subject matter, such as the four articles on the Ashokan edicts, the three articles
on Pali etymologies and the two articles on the Buddha's view of the devas. While
the cross-references do serve as a useful guide to the reader who wishes to pursue
a study of Norman's views on a particular topic, it might have been even more
helpful if in doing so s/he were not obliged to search within and across the volumes
of Norman's collected essays. Nevertheless, credit must be given to the Pali Text
society for the work it has done in collecting and re-presenting these essays which
originally appeared in a large number of journals.
The publication of this volume and its two companion volumes will be useful
not just in providing easy accessibility to Norman's numerous philological studies
on PSli and Middle Indo-Aryan Studies, but also in reminding scholars that
retranslations of the Pali texts are long overdue.
Nirmala S. Salgado

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

Ernst Steinke liner

3. Is It a Crow (P. dhamka) or a Nurse (Skt. dhatri), or Milk (Skt. ksira)

II. REVIEW ARTICLE

III. BOOK REVIEWS

2. The Dating of the Historical Buddha. Die Datierung des Historischen

IV. RESEARCH TOOLS

Collected Papers. Vol. 2. by K. R. Norman. London: The Pali

JIABS VOL. 16 NO. 1

KannakatthaJa Suttathe second of the canonical suttas which illustrate the

JIABS VOL. 16 NO. 1

otherwise misunderstood edict.

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