Thirty_Years_of_Buddhist_studies,Conze

More documents

Recommendations

Info

BUDDHIST SAVIOURS jn the interest of terminological precision the Sanskrit terms j[corresponding to "save 11 and "saviour" must first be ascertained. When the Baptists of Serampore translated the New Testament in 1808, they used trana for "salvation 11 and tratur for "saviour 11 , the root being TRAI, to protect* Just so the Bactrian coins had translated soier as tratm* Monier Williams's A Dictionary of English and Sanskrit (1851) gives further equivalents derived from the roots raksh, pat, gup, to guard, defend, protect, in cs. to carry across ((nis) tar^ka, etc.), uddhri, to extricate and muc, to liberate ({pari)m0kshaka). In addition we may mention natha, helper, protector and Parana, refuge. In fact, however, Buddhist terminology has no exact equivalent to the Christian conception of a "saviour 11 . H. A. Jaeschke in his Tibetan-English Dictionary tells us that in Tibet Protestant missionaries used skyabs-mgon (iarana + natha) for "Saviour, Redeemer, Christ* 1 , whereas Catholics seem to prefer Uu-pa-po, from blu-ba, to redeem (a pawn, pledge, or security). Neither of these words was ever used by Btiddhists, as the dictionaries of Das and Lokesh Chandra make quite clear. It will be best to first describe the Buddhist beliefs about "saviours" in the actual words of the texts themselves. In many ways they are so similar to Christian views that missionaries have often seen them as a counterfeit gospel deliberately created by the Devil to deceive the faithful. At the same time, when the exact words of the originals are'faithfully rendered into English it becomes obvious that there are no precise equivalents to the key terms, that the finer shades of meaning and the emotional flavours and overtones differ throughout, that much of this teaching must seem strange to Christians and that in fact the logic behind it is at variance with all the basic presuppositions of Christianity. From the very start we must be careful to eschew such loaded words as
34 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies worship, prayer, sin, love, eternal or supernatural, and instead use more neutral terms such as revere (= to regard with extreme respect), vow, evil, devotion, deathless and supernormal, and we must also distrust any description of the Buddhist doctrine which, without many qualifications, attributes to the saviours "grace", "mercy" or "forgiveness". i. The famous twenty-fourth chapter of the Lotus of the Good Law 1 contains all the main ingredients of our theme. There we read that all those beings "who experience sufferings will, on hearing the name of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva, the great being, be set free (paritnucyeran) from their ills". What they have to do is " to learn" (grahana) his name and to "bear it in mind" (dhdrayati), to "invoke" or "implore" him (dkrandam kuryuh), to "pay homage" to him, to "recollect" (smarato) and to " revere" him (pujayati). " Think of him (smarathd), think of him, without hesitation, / Of Avalokitesvara, the being so pure! / In death, disaster and calamity, / He is the saviour, refuge and resort (trdnu bhoti saranam pardyanatn)." The "merit" derived from bearing in mind his name, or of even once paying homage to him, is " immeasurable" and lasts through many aeons. Avalokitesvara is "endowed with inconceivable virtues". For aeons he has " purified his Vow (pranidhdna)". Great "might" {prabhdva) is attributed to him, and much is made of his miraculous, psychic and magical powers (maha-rddhika f vikurvana-prdtihdrya, mdyopama-samddhi). "He has reached perfection in wonderworking power (rddhibala), I He is trained in abundant (vipula) cognition and skill in means." He "gives fearlessness to frightened beings", he is their "saviour" (trdtaru) and "destroys all sorrow, fear and ill". There is, however, nothing unique about Avalokitesvara, and he does no more than all Bodhisattvas are bidden to do. In the Prajndpdramitd, for instance, we read: Desirous of the welfare of the world with its gods, men and asuras, desirous to benefit it, to make it happy, to make it secure, the Bodhisattva, when he has seen those ills which afflict beings on the plane of Samsara, produces an attitude of mind (cittotpdda) in which he reflects: "Having crossed over (ttrna), we shall help across 1 Saddharmapundavtka-sutram, ed. U. Wogihara and C. Tsuchida (1958), 362-74.
Page 2 and 3: THIRTY YEARS of BUDDHIST STUDIES Se
Page 4 and 5: Other books by Edward Conze: BUDDHI
Page 6: Acknowledgments vii The Perfection
Page 9 and 10: Foreword When teaching recently for
Page 11 and 12: xii Foreword are Mile, de Mallmann'
Page 13 and 14: 2 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 21 and 22: io Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 43: 32 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 49 and 50: MAHAYANA BUDDHISM Introduction e wo
Page 59 and 60: 58 THirTy Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 95 and 96:
94 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 97 and 98:
96 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 99 and 100:
g8 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 101 and 102:
ioo Thirty Years of Buddhist Studie
Page 103 and 104:
102 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studie
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
i io Thirty Years of Buddhist Studi
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
n6 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies
Page 119 and 120:
ii8 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studie
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
ARAMBANA
Page 129:
Page 134:
pRAnidHANASAMAdHi. dHARANFs
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
140 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studte
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
THE PRAJNAPARAMITA-HRDAYA SUTRA p P
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
THE COMPOSITION OF THE ASTASAHASRIK
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
i8o Thirty Years of Buddhist Studie
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
196 Thirty Years 0/ Buddhist Studie
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY AND ITS EUROPEA
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
2i6 Thirty Years of Buddhist Studws
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
232 Thirty Years of Buddhist Shdies
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269:
ciTTAvaRaNa
Page 272 and 273:
SaKTi soto AKASa
show all

Thirty_Years_of_Buddhist_studies,Conze

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?