A History of Early Buddhism

A History of "Early Buddhism"
Author(s): John Ross Carter

Source: Religious Studies , Sep., 1977, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 263-287
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20005420
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Religious Studies
This content downloaded from

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Rel. Stud. 13, pp. 263-287
JOHN ROSS CARTER

Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Chapel Houwe, Colgate University
A HISTORY OF EARLY BUDDHISM
This article has developed in response to a series of observations made over

a decade ago by Wilfred Cantwell Smith in his The Meaning and End of
Religion.' In that work, Smith made the point that the concepts 'religion',
'religions', 'Hinduism' and 'Buddhism' are rather recent, of Western origin,
and, in an attempt to understand mankind's religiousness, inadequate.2 In
developing his argument, Smith considered the Buddhist case with penetrating
insight but, because his thesis was of such comprehensive scope, chose
not to go into a detailed consideration of relevant matters in the Theravada
Buddhist tradition.
In the historical considerations that led Smith to his conclusions, he
considered the Buddhist case in India and noted an absence of the reified
concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism '. He wrote,
Perhaps the most eloquent testimony to the inappropriateness of the new concept
['an entity-concept "religion"'] to that situation and those processes lies in the
persistent problem of whether or not primitive Buddhism was a religion. The
modern West has proven incapable of answering this question.
The early Buddhists and their neighbours, we may note, were incapable of
asking it.4
The purpose of this article is to show how one might substantiate what
Smith suggested by focusing on the Buddhist case in general, the Theravada
in particular and the Sinhalese Theravada tradition specifically.
Western scholars of the Buddhist tradition have not been totally unaware
that the languages of that tradition did not have words representing the
concepts 'religion'5 and 'Buddhism'.6 And now a decade has passed since
1 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion; A New Approach to the Religious
Traditions of Mankind (New York: The Macmillan Company, I962). This work was later issued in
a paperback edition as a Mentor Book (New York: The New American Library, I964).
2 Ibid. chapter v. 3 Ibid. chapter iII. 4 Ibid. (I962), p. 58; (I964), p. 56.
5 In I896, the following sentences were published: 'But what is meant by religion? The word,
as is well known (my italics), is not found in languages not related to our own, and its derivation is
uncertain.' T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism: Its History and Literature, 'American Lectures on the
History of Religion, First Series, I894-I895' (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, I896), p. I.
6 See ibid., p. 38, where T. W. Rhys Davids, having decided to continue using the term 'religion'
and in the process to attempt to broaden its meaning in the light of data drawn from other religious
traditions, says 'But I have considered it my duty to bring out into as clear a relief as possible the
points most essential to a right understanding of what we [sic] call Buddhism, and what the founder
of that religion called the Dhamma, that is the Law, or the Norm.' In 1903, T. W. Rhys Davids
reminded his readers that 'the people we now call Buddhists (they did not call themselves so)
were concerned so exclusively with the Dhamma. . .that their doctrine was called the Dhamma.'
Buddhist India (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1903), p. 294. C. A. F. Rhys Davids, in I932, noted
9 RES 13

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
264 JOHN ROSS CARTER
Smith reminded us - and this in a compe

soon to forget - that Buddhist men and
gone about the process of living life w
what they were doing was practising Bud
A student of Sanskrit and Pali will read
trying to propose words in these languag
the concepts religion and Buddhism. Sinh
the last two hundred years, I would su
however vaguely, with the concepts 'r
either attempted to coin Sinhalese terms
to adopt new terms and/or new meanin
perhaps by Christian missionaries.
A brief survey of some of the terms mo
represent the notions 'religion' and 'Bud
demonstrate the degree to which those
lose precision and, on the other hand, in
'religion' and 'Buddhism'. Further, this
of us who study the Buddhist tradition a
Buddhist men and women should refrain
concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' with
cepts were not proposed by Buddhists to
that these concepts have had a history.
The first term I have chosen to consider is bauddha-samaya, or budu-sama

a term occasionally found in literary Sinhalese as a counterpart t
concept 'Buddhism'. This term, formed by the words bauddha/budu
samaya, carries, through extension, wide connotations. Samaya is the
word in this compound; whatever its meaning, it is modified by the adject
'Buddhist'. Samaya literally means 'a coming together', and thr
extension, the word means 'convention', both in the sense of wh
customary among Buddhists, tenets (mata), opinions (ditthi/d.rsti), teachi
(dharma) and, perhaps, also in the sense of multitude, collectivity, or, bet
still, community (samzdha) .1
If one were to take bauddha-samaya or budu-samaya to mean 'the Buddh
community', although this meaning has not been clearly support
frequent and wide ranging evidence, one would be dealing with those
that around I802, about the time of the Treaty of Amiens, 'the words Buddhism, Buddh
is speaking of English words knowing quite well that bauddha carries the force of 'Buddhist
into use. It took some time before the spelling of these terms was settled.' A Manual of Budd
For Advanced Students (London: The Sheldon Press, I 932), p. 5.
1 A discussion of the term samaya occurs at DhsA. 57 ff. See The Expositor (Atthasalini),
trans. by Pe Maung Tin, edited and revised by Mrs Rhys Davids (London: The Pali Text S
1958), pp. 76-82. [A list of abbreviations appears at the end of this article.]

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
A HISTORY OF EARLY BUDDHISM 265
and women who see themselves as forming a comm

found community by becoming Buddhists. The differ
samaya and 'Buddhism' would be significant; without
would not have had a history. Had there not been a
and women who, through their common orientation
world, to life, enabled outsiders to discern a uniform
and behaviour and consequently call them Buddhists
men and women who discovered through the teachi
capacity to participate meaningfully in a common h
not have been present before the Western observer th
his eye and for which, later, was conceived a gener
reified concept 'Buddhism'.
If one were to take bauddha-samaya to mean 'Buddh
opinions, views, teachings', as reflected in the terms
dhtamma/dharma, one might have a meaning rather
of 'Buddhism', namely 'Buddhist thought'. And one m
through extension in meaning, to understand samaya as
institutions, and practices which have been customar
The antiquity of this latter extension in a compoun
budu-samaya is not clear. We have yet to see writte
compound; and Sorata Thera makes no reference to
he glosses budu-samaya with buddhdgama (a compou
turn later) in his impressive Sinhalese-Sinhalese dict
Sabdakosaya.
It appears that bauddha-samaya or budu-samaya probably meant something
like 'Buddhist views' or 'Buddhist thought' and subsequently had added
to it the extended meanings of Buddhist rites, institutions, and practices.
In any case, when this compound is met, one moves closer to grasping its
import when one takes it to mean 'Buddhist thought' in a straightforward
sense or 'Buddhist tradition' in an extended sense.
One might interject that my point thus far is obvious. Of course, one
might contend, there is a significant difference between the concepts
'Buddhist community', 'Buddhist thought', and 'Buddhist tradition', on
the one hand, and 'Buddhism' on the other; the latter is much broader in
scope, more comprehensive, and this comprehensiveness is the rationale
for its continued use by those who study also texts, rituals, monastic and
lay institutions, practices, doctrines, and customs. I would reply that
Buddhists have had terms for these latter areas of inquiry, and they have
had them for many centuries. Moreover, Buddhists have considered aspects
in these areas, discussed those aspects, debated them, understood them,
might have discarded a few of them and incorporated others without trying
to maintain that a particular combination was important because it repre
sented 'Buddhism'; rather, they did so because they found a particular
9-2

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
combination consistent with mutually e

their community, and consistent with
the process of living life well, on the o
centuries, never sensed a need for a con
a concept, in its lack of clarity and preci
only for those who were not very famil
one's life within the Buddhist communi
faith, participating actively in that commu
The second term I will consider is sdsan
compounds such as buddhasdsana (buddhas'a
in the compound buddhasdsana, the term p
'instruction, admonition of the Budd
sdsana appears not always unequivocal in
had a history and it appears that throu
reification might have occurred.
Basically the term sdsana means 'instruc
and this seems to have been a customary m
A well known verse reads,
Refraining from anything detrime
Cultivating that which is wholeso
Purifying the mind - this is the in
[sdsana] of the Buddhas.'
This usage of sdsana is frequently met in c
and satthar, 'teacher '. Of passing inter
name Gotama.4 Thus far, it should be
neither an equivalent for 'religion' no
quoted above would be misrepresented if on
sdsanam as 'this is the religion of the Budd
'religion of the Teacher' or Gotamasdsan
The term sdsana has had a history, yet a c
require more space than available here. I
the term sdsana came to designate a patter
systematic injunctions, connoting a syst
in those passages that relate one's 'going
1 It is possible that this verse comprised a part of w
pdtimokkham. See Mdhapaddnasutta, D.II.49. The verse
2 See, for example, Thag. vss. 24, I8I, 204, 212, 220
3 Bu.M.23; See ThagA.ii.84 on Thag. vs. 220, Thag
Sdpj.I.147 on Nd.i.i.4o (on Sn. vs. 775); AA.III.170 o
4 Sn. 933, I084. Nd.I.ii.399 on Sn. 933 glosses sasan
dhasdsanejinasdsane tathdgatasdsane devasdsane arahantas
6 See, for example, UdA. 309 on Ud. 57. Note also
for the 37 bodhipakkhiyadhammd, as at S.III.96, the
sdsanadhamma and at SA.III.200, dhammavinaya is con
Teacher. See also UdA. 309 where sdsana is glossed by r
6 See, for example, Thag. vs. i8i.

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
say entering the monastic order. Sdsana seems also

its usage a self-conscious institutional awareness on t
Buddhists. There are occasions in which the canon
person accomplishing this or that 'right here' (idh'eva) a
tradition frequently understood the emphasis as 'in
interesting process of interpretation can be noted in
the Suttanipdta with regard to the term brahmacarSya as
and 696. Brahmacariya is a rather complex term but
'mode of chaste living', 'chaste behaviour', and in
higher life '.2 In verse 693 the phrase under consider
of chaste living [brahmacariyam] will be widespread'. Th
brahmacariya as meaning sdsana.3 The commentary inte
verse 696 as samanadhamma, that is the dhamma for tho
calm, or following traditional interpretations, duties for
reference, 'wide spread' (vitthdrika) together with th
seem to suggest an awareness of a recognized set of d
and practices that readily serve to differentiate the
movement from others. Consider, moreover, a comment
on Sn. vs. 87):
thus announcing, expounding, roaring
the lion's roar he both announces
and expounds 'just here in this
sdsana is this dhamma; it is
not so elsewhere'.4 In this way
it is said 'he announces, he
expounds just here the dhamma'.
Sdsana, although closely identified with establish

system of training prescribed for bhikkhus, was also br
laymen, updsakas, and laywomen, updsikds. Consider, fo
in the Mahdvamsa in which one who has gone to the
Sangha as refuge is considered an updsaka in the sdsan
the Sakyan son, the son of Suddhodana).5 And Visak
the updsikds is said to have been endowed with faith in
doubt seeing herself as actively engaged in this sdsana.
1 See Pj.I1.ii.59I (on Sn. IO56) where the commentator glosses 'righ
sdsana or in just this present existence'. See also Pj.II.ii.433 (on Sn. 536)
this sdsana. . ..'
2 Some Sinhalese Buddhists have suggested that brahmacariya para
See Smith, op. cit., note i9, to Chapter Three (I962), p. 249, (I964),
3 See Pj.II.ii.489 (on Sn. vs. 693).
4 "' idh" eva sdsane ayam dhammo na ito bahiddd' ti.' The commentary tak
and the path, magga.
5 Mhv.xi.34. This passage is quoted at PfijdV. p. 759. See Mhvt., PP.
6 '...budusasnehi s'raddhdvanta upasikdvarum...." PujdV. p. 365. On th
a quality of faith in the sasana, see also Cid.1.54, vs. 17 '... so ra-jd p
U-I.II.90 vs. 36. See Rerukane Candavimala, Paramita Prakaranzaya, M
I966), p. 232 where he notes the buddhasdsana is comprised of bhikkpu, bh

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
At times sdsana is used interchangeab

means portions of the received teachin
occurs as a gloss for dhammavinaya, te
recorded that a question was raised at t
this context meaning teaching, or vinaya
it was decided, was to be recited first be
the sdsana is established.'4
The Mahdvamsa,5 the old chronicle o
suggest a reification of the earlier notion
term in close connection with the way of
The use of the term sdsana to reflec
understanding of the Sinhalese Buddhi
noted in the Mahavamsa when Dutthag
Tamils (Damila) as a means of bringing
Having gone to Tissamah-arama, h

the Sangha [he] said,
'I myself, shall go to the further sid
to brighten the sdsana.
Give us, that we might honor them
bhikkhus to accompany us
For the sight of bhikkhus is both aus
and a protection for us.'
One can infer from this passage that

army, and in the process slaying a f
situation in which many Sinhalese w
remembered as an act that would bring g
the sdsana. In this context sdsana clea
instruction'. Nor, for that matter 'doct
to maintain that sdsana in this contex
that the Buddha's instructions in his
conflict between Ajatasattu and the V
in Dutthugamani's situation. Further
above in which the sdsana of the Budd
the activities of Dutthugamani.9 No,
a broader, reified, indeed, institutional m
1 See Mhbv. p. 73 and also CalU1..89, vs. 70.

2 See the parallel glosses for 'honors dhamma'
DhpA.I.I4). 3 As at DAG. p. 29 (on DhpA.s.4
4 Mhbv., p. 9I; Sdhs., p. 24.
5 I am aware that the Mahavamsa is the technicall
the references are to the PTS edition I have kept W
6 This, of course, is not to say such tendencies ar
At Czl.s.44, vs. io a king gives an order, sasana, an
forth into the sdsana. 7 Mhv.x
9 See above, p. 266, the verse from D.II.49 a

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
Having thoroughly cleared the country

[Of Damilas, Tamils] and having
put the populace at ease
He established the sdsana, which was
destroyed by the foreigners,
in its former place.
Professor Geiger, when he came across sdsana in

comment, 'P. sdsanam "the doctrine" is used in ex
we speak of "church". He restored the Buddhist c
not to take issue with Geiger's comparison by arg
church is considerably different from sdsana. What i
discernment that sasana was used in a particula
noting - to suggest an institutional meaning. He els
in a compound sugatasdsanan with 'he reformed th
One '.2
Sdsana has undergone a development in meaning, one not entirely
uniform, not always equivocal. In the course of its history and varied
usage sdsana has developed from a meaning much like institute, in the sense
of authoritative precept or rule, to institute, i.e., institution, in the sense of an
organization promoting the precepts. For some time Sinhalese Buddhists
have been aware of a notion of the decline and disappearance of the sdsana.3
They have addressed this notion by noting that firstly there will be a decline
and disappearance of persons who follow the precepts and rules and that
subsequently, when all of the texts containing the precepts and rules are
lost and forgotten, the sasana will have disappeared. In other words, the
institutes, precepts laid down by the Buddha, are the basis of the institute,
the institution promoting those precepts, and when the latter becomes
dissolved and the former are forgotten one can speak of a disappearance of
the institute - sdsana in both meanings.
Now then, can sdsana be translated 'Buddhism'? Hardly. Consider the
awkwardness of the phrase, 'the purifying of the mind - this is the Buddhism
of the Buddhas'. And one must allow room for a translation to represent
accurately the use of the term sasana when it refers to Nigantha Nataputta,
the leader of the Jain movement.4 Nor would the matter be made clearer
were one to speak of a person undergoing the ceremony which symbolizes
1 Wilhelm Geiger, Cal. Tr. Part I, note I, P. 32. Burlingame was also aware of some shift in the
import of sdsana and chose to translate it with 'religion' in Buddhist Legends (Cambridge, Massa
chusetts: Harvard University Press, I921), I.149, and on page I5I he proposed 'the Religion
of the Buddha' for buddhasdsana. He was translating from DhpA.I.5 and DhpA.i.8, respectively.
Walpole Rahula, History of Buddhism in Ceylon (Colombo: Gunasena, I966), p. I04 interprets the
cleansing of the sasana, as mentioned in the Mahdvamsa (Culavamsa), I.39, vs. 57; 44, vs. 46, as
'the purification (sodhana) of the Sasana (religion)....'
2 See his Cul.Tr. Part I, P. 78 (a translation of Cal.s.44.46).
3 See Miln., pp. I33-I34; DA.III.898 (on D.I.I14); SA.II.2oI-202 (on S.I.224); AA.I.87 ff.;
VbhA., PP. 431-432; ThagA.II.89 (on Thag., vs. 977).
" See M.I.374, line 8.

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
his entering the monastic community a

Perhaps one might speak of a king goin
glory to 'Buddhism' and, in other contexts
cleansing 'Buddhism', or establishing 'Bud
understanding is closer to the extended m
in precision not because of the scope of m
rather, because of the inherent vagueness
bring glory to the sdsana is to create a si
organization can flourish, the laity can ex
make manifest, make illustrious the teaching
cleansing, and protecting the sdsana, one
there are neither internal nor external threa
organization and no radical barriers or pr
of the laity; one seeks to maintain consist
the Buddha and the mode of conduct of the
the laity. These dimensions are held in
relatively obscured by the vague term 'Bu
In the involved and demanding process of
as a working principle the practicability o
language what has been translated into
lead one not to translate sdsana as 'religion
Buddhist upon reading the phrase 'the ori
would, if he were reading in Sinhalese, wond
equivalent to the definite article in Engli
Pali, anticipate a discussion of the doct
Buddhist tradition.
In turning to the next phase in our stud
the terms most frequently used by Sinha
concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' - agama
Xgama is an old Sanskrit and Pali word.
approach, arrival' and is used also to mean
the present' in the sense of tradition pre
extension the term means also 'scripture',
'established procedure, discipline'.
The manner in which dgama came to be
'religion' is by no means clear. I have not
in either canonical, commentarial or med
medieval Sinhalese texts. It is difficult to
to represent 'religion'; my guess would be in
century or the early part of the nineteenth.
A cursory glance at the contexts in which
closely affiliated with a consideration of the
One finds in the Dighanikdya a passage in

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
A HISTORY OF EARLY BUDDHISM 27I
texts'.' Later, agama still conveys the meaning of auth

scripture. In the Dhammapada, vs. 208, the term bahu
heard (and remembered) much, i.e., learned one', occurs
glosses this term with 'one endowed with knowledge of
texts (dgama) '.2 In the commentary on the Vimanavathu o
dgamatthakathdsu, meaning 'in the commentaries on the a
or 'in the textual or traditional commentaries'.3 In I886
a provincial administrative assistant4 in Galle, Ceylo
under the British reign, chose to translate this com
mentaries of the religion'.5 However, four years earlier
Tissa Thera, in a letter written in Sinhalese to Professor
uses the term dgama to mean 'authoritative text, canon
same year Ven. Panifananda, also writing in Sinhalese,
dharma which is worthy of respect.7 This writer seems to
to mean a system of teaching (dharma) that is based on
tative texts (dgama). It is suggestive that approximately
publishing these letters the editors of the Pali Text So
Dictionary did not introduce the English term 'religion' int
of dgama8 and that at about the same time, in I924, it
Carter's dictionary, A Sinhalese-English Dictionary, unde
'general usage: religious system, religion'.9
I say suggestive firstly because the scholars working on
did not 'read into' the term agama a meaning not found
consulted and secondly because Carter noticed a disjuncture
the traditional meanings of agama and the current us
approximately fifty years ago, to mean 'religion'.
Thus far, it is possible to say that by I924 dgama was
people in Sri Lanka to represent the concept 'religion'.
1 D.II.124. The commentary, DA.II.566, provides no gloss on the term. F
under dgama in PTSD, 95a.
2 DhpA.III.272. The Sinhalese glossary on this commentary, Dahampiyd
century), p. 2 clearly treats agama as authorative text.
8 VvA., in the Vimdna-Vatthu edited by E. R. Goonaratne (London:
Dhammapdla's Paramattha-Dfpani, part iv, Being the Commentary on the Vim
(London: part 5, I901), P. 3.
4 His title at this time was Atapattu Mudaliyar.
5 E. R. Goonaratne's translation of the opening section of VvA in his edi
6 Journal of the Pali Text Society, I892, edited by T. W. Rhys Davids, p.
7 Ibid. p. 25. It is difficult to determine the precise meaning of this co
mately ninety years ago. I think the bhikk-hu was working from the con
'dhamma that is to be taken up, learned and held in mind,' i.e., the au
was writing to the president of the Pali Text Society and also because par
used interchangeably. The use of the Sinhalese indefinite form, rather th
explained by the context in which he wrote the letter, i.e., to Europea
possible that dgamadharmaya might represent an early attempt to catch t
8 I refer to the I966 reprint, PTSD, p. 95a. The work was first publishe
and Part ii, fascicle A-O was first published in I922.
9 Charles Carter, A Sinhalese-English Dictionary (Colombo: Gunasena,
was first published by the Baptist Missionary Society, 1924. Rev. Carter

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
the reader some idea of how a bilingual

in a Pali text as meaning 'religion' - and
look for this change in meaning which t
suggest, as mentioned above, that Sin
become acquainted with the concepts '
either attempted to coin Sinhalese terms
to adopt new terms and/or new meanin
perhaps by Christian missionaries.
In I865, about two decades before Go
with an interpretation of agama in a Pa
series of debates between representativ
communities in Sri Lanka.' Although i
religious life to take religious truth clai
those endorsing the Buddhist side or positi
paksaya) and those the Christian position (k
in which there was not only inadequate un
tradition, but also a deeply entrenche
opposition (viruddha) to the other. Manif
concern to understand Buddhists or Chr
clashed, the one something called Chris
other something called Buddhism (buddh
In some of the texts recording these de
dgama meaning 'religion '3 and occasi
Throughout some of these sources the term
occur frequently.5 So thoroughly reifie
dhism', and 'Christianity' that the debat
of the untrueness of Buddhism6 or the u
or Christianity,7 the trueness of Buddh
deceitful religion,9 to attempt to argue t
religion,10 and to maintain that Buddhism
Some of the more famous debates were those h
Liyangemulle (i866), Udanvita (i866), Gampala (I8
in Colombo (I899).
2 See, e.g., Udanvita vadaya ha baddegama vddaya (V
Press, I947). Gampala vddaya (Vallampitiya: T. S
PdnadurF vddaya (Maradana, Colombo: Lanka Free Pre
Oral Debate held at Panadura... Introduction and Annot
3 See, e.g., Udanvita vddaya, pp. II, 20. Gampala vd
35, 6i, 8i. 4 See, e.g., Udanvita vadaya, p. I I, Pan
5 Udanvita vddaya, pp. I0, I2, 14, 15, I7-24, 26, 27. Fo
with pagination beginning again, is the account of Ba
5, i6, i8. Gampala vddaya, pp. 9, II, 12, I4, 21, 22, 25
7-8, 13-I6, i8-I9, 2I-22, 24-25, 29, 34-37, 40-43, 49-5
82-85, and possibly elsewhere.
6 Pdnadurff vddaya, pp. 21, 41 (buddhdgamF asatyakama
7 Ibid. pp. 14, I5, I6, I8 (kristiydni dgamF asatyatdva)
8 Ibid. p. I9 (buddhagami.. . satyatdvat ...). 9
10 Ibid. p. 58 (kristiydni dgama sdba dgamak). 11

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
It is probable that the use of the terms agama and budd

'religion' and 'Buddhism' respectively antedates the d
By how many years? I would suggest by about one hu
Sinhalese Buddhist scholars have been aware of the d
terms and the meanings they have acquired. In a
Sinhalese dictionary, W. Sorata lists seven meanings
all of which are very old except the last; for agama he not
and provides a symbol which elsewhere he explain
parlance' (kathdvyavaharayehi eyi) .2
When the reader turns to Sorata's entry for buddh
explanation, buddhadharma which elsewhere Sorata ex
of the Buddha, i.e., the eighteen-fold dharma possesse
the dharma taught by the Buddha.3 There is an enormou
buddhagama on the one hand and buddhadharma on th
not only in history, the latter being very old indeed,
which the concepts reflected by the two terms repr
mundane, sectarian, provincial, and the latter is pers
consequence for one's life. Let me provide some exam
Firstly, turning to booklets written recently for sch
the first grade there are some entitled buddhagama an
buddhadharmaya4 being prominent in the title. The open
of the text in the beginner's book written by J. Abe
is our religion. It is in accordance with Buddhism th
nothing of greater value to us than Buddhism.'5 Aber
more advanced book for children, begins a section de
for the triple gems, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
remark: 'Buddha, Dharma, Sangha are the highest tr
Indeed, those are our three gems or triple gem....
de Silva, Eratna and Vanigatuniga begin their presentatio
'It is (i) our Lord Buddha, (ii) His Dharma, and (iii) th
that we call the triple gem. This, indeed, is the triple
1 Ven. Pandit W. Sorata Nayaka Thera, Sri Sumangalasabdakosay

(Colombo: Anula Press, I963), p. 123b. 2 Ibid. p. XLII.
3 Ven. Pandit W. Sorata Thera, Sri Sumangalasabdakosaya, Part i
I956), p. 657a.
4 Jayasekara Aberuvan, Buddhagama; Ihala bdldms'aya (Colomb
Jayasekera Aberuvan, Buddhdgama; Tunvana s'refiya (Colombo: M. D
Silva, E. R. Eratna, S. Vanigatunga, Buddhadharmaya; Ihala bdldm
Prakasaka, I964). Of course there are others, but these three texts m
example.
5 Aberuvan, Buddhdgama, Ihala bdldms'aya, p. i. (Buddhdgama ape dgama
buddhagama anuvayi. Apata buddhdgamata va.da usas deyak nd.)
6 J. Aberuvan, Buddhdgama; tunvana s'reniya (third level), p. i. (Bauddhya
daham, san-gun. E tamd apage ruvan tuna hevat tunuruvana....)
7 de Silva, J. Eratna, Vanigatunga, Buddhadharmaya; ihala bdladmsa
kiyanne (i) apF budu hdmudurivanta. (ii) unvahansFgF dharmayata yi. (iii) san
buddhagame teruvana.

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
The difference one detects in these app

conclusive. In both cases a young child
'Buddhism', and this quite early and in a
difference; in the former a child is m
stitution and the way in which certain p
institution, i.e., 'Buddhism'. In the latter
and is made to understand that what he
'Buddhism'. The latter case seems to repr
self-consciousness has developed in the hi
There was a time in which one would say
aware that this practice was a part of 'B
the way in which many Sinhalese Budd
religious heritage; there is a radical self-con
a system that separates us from others.' Wh
is placed before children a statement is
the term. When one entitled Buddhadh
apparent need to explain the term at the
Sinhalese Buddhists have been aware o
teachings about a way of life that could
he rediscovered, have tried to live their
buttressed by it in times of personal anx
when all else seems to topple. Buddhadharma
pronoun in a sentence, 'buddhadharma is our
Let me provide another example that mi
the following passage written by a well kno
The question has often been asked: Is Buddh
does not matter what you call it. Buddhism
you may put on it. The label is immaterial.
give to the teaching of the Buddha is of littl
is inessential.2
At first blush this passage appears straig
Platonic. It is a passage that, I suspect,
lated it and the book in which it occurs in
There are terms, he might have thought
'religion' and 'philosophy '.3 Yet, the
'Buddhism' in quotation marks.
1 I find it disquieting that the two booklets by Aber
grade to something called 'Buddhism' rather than so
ddnaya, 'gift'; that before they recite in unison the th
differ from other children in Sri Lanka.
2 Walpola Sri Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (Re
Fraser, Second and enlarged edition, I967), p. 5. This w
audience, in English, in 1959. Two years later it ap
a German edition. It was not until I965, six years after
in Sinhalese.
3 I should point out that the question Rahula often asked probably has been more frequently

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
Mr Lilratna, probably with the concurrence of th

take buddhadharmaya as the key term to represent 'Bu
the book not because they are equivalent but, rather, beca
comes closer to the awareness on the part of Sinhalese rea
is most noble in their religious heritage. The thrust of
have been severely limited, restricted, had his translato
for the English term and the concept 'Buddhism'. T
teach 'Buddhism', he taught dharma, and the author wo
me were I to say that the title of the Sinhalese transl
dharmaya, 'the dharma expounded (divulged?) by th
germane than the English title, 'What the Buddha Taught'
To get back to our passage, then, the force of the sin
together with the word 'label' suggests that somehow
under consideration is inadequate, a mere convenien
chose the term buddhdgama for this usage. The key po
are, therefore:
The question has often been asked: Is Buddhism [buddha
[agamak, of course the use of buddhdgama previously would
buddhdgama is a religion agamak] or a philosophy [dars'anayak]?
what you call it. Buddhism [budhadharmaya] remains what i
is. The label is immaterial. Even the label 'Buddhism' ['bud
[apa] give to the teaching of the Buddha [budunvahansJge dh
importance. The name one gives it is inessential.'
The 'we' in this passage referred originally to Wester
Sinhalese capable of reading and speaking English. Non
Sinhalese are now able to see themselves in this pronou
in this activity. The passage is instructive for our
demonstrates the way in which the notion 'Buddhis
catch and communicate the series of intricate, subtle t
Sinhalese Buddhists. Obviously the passage as design
audience makes an important point not quite clear in it
whether buddhadharma is called a 'religion' or a 'philoso
it is still buddhadharma.
To discuss what is entailed in the concept buddhadhar
require more space than allotted here. Western schola
its meaning by dropping the use of the term 'Buddhism
raised in the West than in Sri Lanka. During a three year stay in
brief visit, I heard the question asked twice, on both occasions by sc
young lecturer at Peradeniya was stunned when he was asked, at the clos
whether buddhadharma was an agama or a darsana. He replied that it was
book will probably continue to give rise to the question. In spite of his c
under consideration, he uses the phrase 'according to Buddhist philosoph
translator takes as bauddha dars'anayata. Walpola Rahula, Budun vaddla d
1970 of the work first published in Sinhalese, I965) (Colombo: M. D
See also p. 31, Bauddha darsanaye for 'in Buddhist Philosophy', English ed
1 Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, p. 5; Rahula, Budun vaddla dharmaya

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
does not represent the thinking of Bu

to use the term 'Buddhism' - admitte
discussing the contemporary scene in
this concept came into the thinking of
even today, 'Buddhism' is handled by
on a level more mundane than other c
buddhadharma. Let me put it another
'other worldly' has been said befor
'Buddhism' is 'this worldly' while budd
'other worldly'. The '-ism' represents a
in this world are placed and consequen
for handling data; '-dharma', the secon
dharma, provides the context in which
this world, conceived and beyond conce
an intelligible structure for living life w
In I 97I, after months of public discus
Congress, a significant resolve made
adopted by the Steering and Subjects Com
Assembly. I quote the English, which
the draft was originally written.
RESOLUTIONS
The Republic of Sri Lanka
i. Sri Lanka shall be a Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic.
2. The Republic of Sri Lanka shall be a unitary state.
Buddhism
3. In the Republic of Sri Lanka, Buddhism, the religion of the majority of the
people, shall be given its rightful place, and accordingly, it shall be the duty
of the State to protect and foster Buddhism, while assuring to all religions the
rights granted by Basic Resolution 5 (iv).1
1 The Ceylon Government Gazette, Extraordinary, No. I4, I947/3 -Saturday, 27 February 197I,
p. I02/9. Basic Resolution 5 (iv) reads: 'Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief
of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.' Ibid.
p. 102/I0. Under Proposed Amendments to the Basic Resolutions, Messrs J. R. Jayewardene and
Dudley Senanayake proposed the addition of '(a) the words "inviolable and be" between the words
" shall be" and "given" in line 2; (b) the words "its rites, Ministers and places of worship " immedi
ately after the words " foster Buddhism " and before the words " while assuring ".' Ibid. p. I 02/ i I, Mr
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam proposed an alternative resolution, that the 'Republic of Sri Lanka shall
be a secular State but shall protect and foster Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam'.
Ibid. The Sinhalese word used to translate Chelvanayakam's 'secular' is lokdyata, which is probably
more recent, in this usage, than Sinhalese terms for 'religion' and 'Buddhism'. See An,du krama
sampidaka mandalaye tyaya patraya, 30 March I 97 I, p. 22. The word lokayata traditionally meant
'having to do with the mundane, the world' and has designated the Carvaka school of materialistic
thought.

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
Sinhalese have worked with the concepts 'religion' a

over a century; the major debates began in I865 an
period we have noted representatives of religious org
concepts, educators introducing them to beginning s
now politicians grappling with them. The passage draw
ment Gazette shows the extent these Western concept
There are the terms 'Buddhism' 'religion', and 'rel
matched in Sinhalese with 'buddhagama' and 'dgama'.1
This is not the place to enter a discussion of the me
resolution proposal, however ambiguous the notions ' Bud
'rightful place/nisitdna', and 'religion/dgama' might
are complex historical factors that have given rise to t
this basic resolution was submitted and, obviously, t
The important thing to grasp is that our contemp
seem to be aware of the concepts 'religion', 'Buddh
them in their discourse. All this is instructive for studen
tradition.
Firstly, one can discern the manner in which Sinhalese Buddhists have
chosen to utilize the concept 'Buddhism' - they have tended to use it in
a restricted sense to refer to the external, the peripheral characteristics
that have been manifested by a more personal, deeply significant awareness.
Western scholars will do well to be alert to this.
In sensing a need to assure a continuing, flourishing presence of the
Sangha, the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and others, not fully aware of
the precise program that would productively relate buddhdgama and nisitdna,
'rightful place', nevertheless led in the formation of this resolution. They
did not choose another term in place of buddhdgama. They could have tried
to make a break with a trend, somewhat more than a century old, and
propose, instead of the concept buddhagama, buddhadharma or, more engagingly,
Dharma. But they did not.
I think they made the move they did because they were well aware that
Dharma, rediscovered by the Buddha, provides a foundation for living
religiously, provides an underpinning for an integrative interpretation of
that which underlies the notion of law, on the social level, personal level,
indeed, for the reflective, also the cosmic level. Sinhalese Buddhists are
saying that the rightful place (nisitdna) for buddhadharma is in the minds and
hearts of men and women - and no proposed basic resolution can alter
that, or assure it.
1 See Andukrama sampadaka mandalayJ meheyum hd vipaya kdraka sabhdva visin salakd baldma sandaha
1971.1.17 vana dina dziukrama vyavasthd ka.tayutu dmati idiripat kala mzlikayojand ke.tumpata (I7 January
1971), p. I1
2 A portion of the Sinhalese translation of Mr Chelvanayakam's substitute proposal, noted
above, n. I, p. 276, reads 'bauddhdgama hindu dgama, krist'yani dgama saha isldm agama'.

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
II
'Buddhism' has been in Sri Lanka for at least a century,

'Early Buddhism' has arrived even later. I have not unco
Sinhalese treating something called pzurvakdlina-buddhdgama or
in Pali concerning purima-buddhahgama. Until rather recently
dhists have tended not to be significantly concerned about 'g
the early developments in the Buddhist tradition. Western
the lead in this, reflecting in the process a mind set woven fro
in the Western intellectual heritage: a 'backward' look of th
an 'origin and development' fixation issuing from the notio
epitomized by Darwin, and an interpretation foisted upon th
period by scholars of later generations. These strands became
and led historians to label a multiplicity of phenomena 'Bu
sequently to attempt to 'get back to' its origin, and eve
tradition in a quest for the historical Gotama. Approximately
years stood between the birth of Martin Luther and the fo
prestigious Pali Text Society in London, a society devoted to
of texts recording events believed to have occurred approx
hundred years before Julius Caesar. In this light a fascinat
early period of the Buddhist tradition was understanda
'Buddhism' was probably first given by men in the field, so
saw a variety of externals, rites, beliefs, institutions, and
sought to impose unity. Academics, men and women of outst
turned to the task of understanding this 'something', i.e., 'B
to do this they thought they had first to 'leap-frog' two th
tradition, to begin at a beginning, which they chose to be the l
in the sixth to fifth centuries B.C., and to start tracing subsequen
Sinhalese Buddhists had been starting by hearing the Jdtak
of the former lives of the Buddha, and the Dhammapada, w
the support provided by refuge in the Buddha, Dhamm
They had begun a process of probing Dhamma, Dharma, wh
and other authors, much more recently, have been interes
'Buddhism'.
'Buddhism' has had a history in the West. I suspect tha
label applied by Westerners to the activities of Buddhist m
in Sri Lanka took the form of 'Religion of Budu' or the
possible that this type of label might be found in records d
period of Dutch occupation (seventeenth to eighteenth centuries
from the time of the Portuguese presence (sixteenth to sevente
By 1797, one year after the Dutch were expelled from Sr
British, 'Budun', understood as 'the name of one of the Ceyl
1 I refer to the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 3, 762b

177.188.64.29 on Wedf:ffff on Thu, 01 Jan 1976 12:34:56 UTC
was known to Westerners as recorded in the Encyclopaedia

same encyclopaedia, typically suited as are all ency
presentation of knowledge through categories, one does
entry, BUDDHISM, until the ninth edition (I876, V
However, the term 'Buddhism' does occur in a discussi
BUDDHA OR BUDDHU in the seventh edition (I842, Vol
in the eighth edition (i854, Vol. V, 724a).
Fifteen years after Napoleon I was defeated at Leipzi
lished in this German city, in i828, one of the earliest
'Buddhism '.2 In the same year, in London, appeare
'Buddhism' with data drawn from Nepal3 and, one ye
dealing with the case in Ceylon4 and within sixteen ye
could consult an introduction to 'Buddhism' in India.5
drawing attention to the studies of 'Buddhism'6 fol
'Buddhism'7 and a study of 'Buddhism' including its found
About the time Abraham Lincoln was developing t
Proclamation, a Sinhalese gentleman, James de Alwi
finishing touches to his book, Buddhism: Its Origin, Histor
scriptures, and their language, the Pali (Colombo, I 86
represents one of the first attempts by a Sinhalese author
on 'Buddhism' in English. A Russian author joined t
who wrote on 'Buddhism'9 and in I877, Professor T. W
was to play an important role in developing the study
Buddhist tradition, saw his book on 'Buddhism' publish
of the nineteenth century work on 'Buddhism' was un
1 See the parallel note by Wildred C. Smith (I962), op. cit., under not
p. 253.
2 Isaac Jacob Schmidt, Ueber die Verwandtschaft der gnostischtheosophischen Lehren mit den Religions
systemen des Orients, vorzaglich dem Buddhaismus (Leipzig, i828). See Smith, loc. cit.
3 Brian Houghton Hodgson, Sketch of Buddhism, derivedfrom the Bauddha Scriptures of NAepal (London:
J. L. Cox, I828).
4 Edward Upham, The History and Doctrine of Buddhism, popularly illustrated; with notices of the
Kappooism, or Demon worship, and of the Bali, or planetary incantations of Ceylon (London: R. Ackermann,
I829).
5 E. Burnouf, Introduction a l'histoire du buddhisme indien (Paris: Imprimerie Royale, I844). Note
that in 1831 Jean Jacques Bochinger wrote a book entitled La vie contemplative, ascetique et monastique
chez les Indous et chez les peuples bouddhistes (Strasbourg, I83I), and the way he chose a title to reflect
a way of life among people.
6 Felix Neven, De l'etat prisent des etudes sur le Bouddhisme et de leur application (Gand, I846).
7 Robert Spence Hardy, A Manual of Buddhism in its Modern Development; translated from
Sinhalese MSS. (London, I853).
8 Felix Neve, Le Bouddhisme, son fondateur et ses ecritures (Paris, 1853) .
9 See V. Vassilief (Vasily Pavolovich Vasil'ev), Der Buddhismus, seine Dogmen, Geschichte und
Literature... aus dem Russischen iibersetzt (St Petersburg, I86o). This work was also translated into
French as Le Bouddhisme, ses dogmes, san histoire et sa littirature, traduit du russe par M. G. A. La
Comme (Paris, I865).
10 T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism: Being a Sketch of the Life and Teachings of Gautama the Buddha
(London, 1877).
11 Reginald Stephen Copleston, Buddhism, primitive and present in Magadha and in Ceylon (London,
I 892).

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
and elsewhere; in Germany,' in England

and in Italy.5 And by I907, works o
in Scotland,6 Calcutta,7 and Madras
'Buddhism' in the title of a study pub
gone around the world.
A living, dynamic, comprehensive religi
and stunning complexity, capable of p
insider, a Buddhist, presented an inte
portions to outsiders. The response by
alization that led to the introduction o
classification or characterization, 'Budd
reification. Now that a reified conc
authors began to do things with it. It
essence could be discussed,11 its quintessen
spirit made known.14 And the quest f
accord; what one scholar considered th
another considered a view contrary to
How have Westerners tended to h
procedures have emerged: (i) a study o
or Hinayana, or Theravada Buddhism
graphical setting, i.e., Northern or So
1 Joseph Dahlmann, NAirvdna. Eine Studie zur Vorge

2 T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism. Its History and L
3 H. C. Warren, Buddhism in Translations (Cambr
vol. 3, I896).
4 J. L. Sawyer, Buddhisme populaire (Paris, 1897).
5 Paulo Emilio Pavolini, Buddhismo (Milano, I898
6 A. Lillie, 'Buddha and Buddhism' in William
Makers (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, I900).
7Manmathanatha Datta, Buddha: his life, his teachi
Buddhism (Calcutta: Society for the Resuscitation
8 P. Lakshmi-Narasu, The Essence of Buddhism (
9 Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayand B
1I Warren, op. cit.
11 Lakshmi-Narasu, op. cit. See also Edward [Ebe
Essence and Development (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, I
12 Bhikkhu Ndnatiloka, The Quintessence of Buddh
Press, I923).
13 Kenneth James Saunders, The Heart of Buddhism:
University Press, 19 I 5).
14 Hari-Simha Gauda, The Spirit of Buddhism: being an e
his religion and philosophy (London: Luzac, I929).
15 Theodor Ippolitovich Shcherbatsky, The Central C
Word 'Dharma' (London: RAS of Great Britain an
16 T. R. V. Muirti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhis
George Allen & Unwin, I955).
17 For some, the term 'Pali Buddhism' has been us
H. H. Tilbe, Pali Buddhism (Rangoon: American Ba
Pali-Buddhismus in tYbersetzungen (Breslau, I9
Buddhism [Oxford Ph.D. thesis, 1922]; E. R. de S. S
Pali Buddhism, with special reference to the theory of

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
A HISTORY OF EARLY BUDDHISM 28I
India, Tibet, China, Japan and so on; (3) general or

topical studies.
The historical approach to the study of the Buddhis
to be the one most frequently adopted by Westerners. O
is the patent penchant for discerning the origin of t
As early as I847 this quest for origins had begun' an
cease.2 Yet, in spite of a drive for origins and a bro
'origin and development',3 Western scholarship t
direction focusing on the early period of the Buddhis
seems to have been most prominent among those scl
Pali and Sanskrit sources. Or, conversely, because of t
scholars turned to Pali and Sanskrit sources.
While scholars of the Mahayana movement have pub
with almost every century through which that moveme
country in which it flourished, the focus of investig
century in the West, dealing with the Theravada has
the early period of this movement. The study of th
tended to be a study of something called 'Early Bud
deal has been done in the history of the Theravada
about the situation of the Theravada Buddhist traditi
In the case of Sri Lanka, and perhaps that of Bu
whereas Christian missionaries and British civil serv
Buddhist tradition to the West as they understoo
setting in which they wrote a century or so ago, it
accomplishment of cultural and social anthropologis
contemporary religious scene in these countries in w
prevalent. Experts in the Study of Religion, Histori
parative Religion specialists and Buddhologists have te
studies to the distant past, to something called 'Early
1 J. Bird, Historical Researches on the Origin and Principles of the Bauddha
American Mission Press, 1847). See also de Alwis, op. cit.
2 Leon de Milloue, Le Bouddhisme dans le monde. Origine-dogmas-histoir
berg, Die Lehre der Upanishaden und die Anfange des Buddhismus (G6
Davids, Sakya; or Buddhists Origins (London: Kegan Paul, 1931); and
the Original Gospel in Buddhism? (London: Epworth Press, 1938); Govin
the Origins of Buddhism (Allahabad: University of Allahabad, I 957) .
3 See T. W. Rhys Davids, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion
in the History of Indian Buddhism (London: Williams and Norgate, i8
Evolution and Its Bearing on Religions (London, I9OI); J. Buchan, The F
Embryology of Religion (Edinburgh, I902); K. D. Doyle, The Real Origi
F. Bierer, The Evolution of Religions (New York: Putnam's, I 906); A. E.
of Religion (London, I907); R. Kreglinger, gtudes sur l'origine et la deve
(Bruxelles, I919). Now note the way in which the following works ref
R. Kimura, The Original and Developed Doctrines of Indian Buddhism
E. W. Hopkins, Origin and Evolution of Religion (New Haven, 1923);
Growth of Religion (Edinburgh, I923); A. Churchward, Origin and Evo
Allen and Unwin, 1924); Jean Przyluski, 'Origin and Development of
Theological Studies [October, 1934].

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
By I876 at the latest, 'Early Buddhism

was in print in the West and by i8
depicting a direction in which a gre
move; the title was 'Buddha and Earl
of what they discerned in this period a
Buddhism',4 but it was probably Pro
most influential in bringing into fu
interest in 'Early Buddhism'.5 Since th
West has been treated to a scintillati
enormous amount of productivity in
the early Buddhist tradition: monastic
role of women, 8 geography,9 caste,10 scr
the notion of' man perfected ',13 jurispr
aspects of movement,16 dhamma,17 causali
1 I refer to the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopaed
fifty years after the works of I. J. Schmidt, op. c
['Buddhism'] were published, i.e., in I828. And n
Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (I842), v,
V, 724a.
2 Arthur Lillie, Buddha and Early Buddhism (London: Trubner and Co., i88i).
3 Elizabeth A. Read, Primitive Buddhism: Its Origin and Teachings (Chicago: Scott and Foresman,
I896). See also Reginald Stephen Copleston, Buddhism, Primitive and Present in Magadha and in
Ceylon (London: Longmans, Green, I892).
4 G. de Lorenzo, India e Buddhismo antico (Bari, I904). See also L. de La Vallee Poussin, The
Way to Nirvena: Six Lectures on Ancient Buddhism as a Discipline of Salvation (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1917).
5 T. W. Rhys Davids, Early Buddhism (London: Archibald Constable and Co., I908).
6 Sukumara Datta [Sukumar Dutt], 'The Vinayapitakam and Early Buddhist Monasticism in
its Growth and Development', Journal of the Department of Letters, Calcutta University, No. x,
1923; Early Buddhist Monachism, 6oo B.C.-ioo B.C. (London: Kegan Paul, I924).
7Nalinaksha Datta [Dutt], Early History of the Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist Schools (London:
Luzac and Co., 1925).
8 I. B. Horner, Women underPrimitiveBuddhism:Laywomen andAlmswomen (London: Routledge, 1930).
9 Vimala-Charana Laha [B. C. Law], Geography of Early Buddhism (London: Kegan Paul,
Trench, Trubner, I932).
10 Vimala-Charana Laha, Caste in Early Buddhism (Guernsey, 1934) originally published in an
article by the same title in Buddhism in England, later The Middle Way, vol. viii, I933.
11 E. J. Thomas, Early Buddhist Scriptures (London: Kegan Paul, I935).
12 I. B. Horner, 'An Aspect of Becoming in Early Buddhism', The Indian Historical Quarterly,
vol. xii, no. 2 (Calcutta, June 1936), pp. 282-6.
13 I. B. Horner, The Early Buddhist Theory of Man Perfected: A Study of the Arahan (London: Williams
and Norgate, 1936).
14 D. N. Bhagavata, Early Buddhist jurisprudence: Theravada Vinaya-Laws (Poona, 1939).
15 J. Kashyap, The Abhidhamma Philosophy: The Psycho-Ethical Philosophy of Early Buddhism (Sarnath:
Maha Bodhi Society, 2 vols., 1942, I943).
16 I. B. Horner, 'Some Aspects of Movement in Early Buddhism,' Artibus Asiae, vol. X/2, 1947,
pp. I38-4I.
17 I. B. Horner, 'Early Buddhist Dhamma', Artibus Asiae, vol. xi, 1/2, I 948, pp. I I 5-23.
18 W. S. Karunaratne, 'The Development of the Theory of Causality in Early Theravada
Buddhism', Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, 1956. See also David J. Kalupahana, 'A Critical
Analysis of the Early Buddhist Theory of Causality as embodied in the Pali Nikayas and the
Chinese Agamas', Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, I967.
19 Anagarika Brahmacari Govinda, The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy...
(London: Rider and Company, I96I).
20 I. B. Horner, ed., Early Buddhist Poetry; An Anthology (Colombo: Ananda Semage, I963).

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
epistemology,' the general background,2 and relationship

the notion that knowledge has to do with salvation,
of the state,6 and the doctrine of karma.7
In a sense, 'early' has come to designate a particular
a form that theoretically can be differentiated, analy
debated.8 When one speaks of 'Early Buddhism' a
'Buddhism' distinct from 'Mahayana Buddhism', 'The
'Indian Buddhism', 'Burmese Buddhism', 'Sinhales
forth, it is usually the case that one has in mind a s
practices, institutions, and the like. In this view,
has been taken for granted and another overlook
stressed. One thing that was not present in early Bu
'Early Buddhism', yet the presence of this notion h
thing that has been overlooked or not adequately str
period is persons. One certainly misrepresents the fac
'Buddhism said' or 'Early Buddhism says, believes, re
demonstrates, disagrees, endorses, maintains'. Onl
'Buddhism' done anything - more recently still h
Persons have been doing these things, have done them
are doing them today.
If we will turn the flank, if we will recognize that
primarily, the activity of persons, we can clarify an
historian, to represent accurately the thoughts, mot
of the persons who caused the events, responded to th
that period or place under investigation. It has been
brought Buddhism to Ceylon'. If he did, he did not k
thought he was sharing a way of life that provided
leading to transcendence, a process of transcending; h
Further, even a cursory glance at some of the suttas
to have preached would demonstrate a 'Buddhism
I Kulatissa Nanda Jayatilleke, Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge
Unwin, i963).
2 J. W. de Jong, 'The Background of Early Buddhism', journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies
(Tokyo: xii, no. L, January I 964), pp. 34-7.
3 A. K. Warder, 'On the Relationship Between Early Buddhism and Other Contemporary
Systems', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, xviii, I965, pp. 43-63; see also Kashi N.
Upadhyaya, Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, I97I).
4 Donald Swearer, 'Knowledge as Salvation: A Study of Early Buddhism', Ph.D. Thesis,
Princeton University, I965.
5 B. G. Gokhale, 'Early Buddhist Kingship', journal of Asian Studies, xxvi, I966/ I967, pp. 23-36.
6 B. G. Gokhale, 'The Early Buddhist View of the Statp', journal of the American Oriental Society,
vol. LXXXIX, no. 4, Oct.-Dec. I969, pp. 73I-8.
7James P. McDermott, 'Developments in the Early Buddhist Concepts of Kamma/Karma',
Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton University, I97I.
8 Note the title of Frank Reynolds' timely bibliographical essay, 'From Philology to Anthro
pology: A Bibliographal Essay on Works Related to Early, Theravada and Sinhalese Buddhism',
in B. L. Smith, ed., The Two Wheels of Dhamma: Essays on the Theravada Tradition in India and Ceylon
(Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: American Academy of Religion, 1972).

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
'Buddhism' as generally understood in the

Ceylon until the eighteenth or nineteenth
its coming, it had became known around
It is not difficult to discern the contrib
by Westerners,' those who saw themselve
not. Of significance is the fact that Wes
degree that they study the Buddhist Tra
not they see themselves as Buddhists, ha
that tradition, and more dramatically so t
of their investigations are made known to
Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka have h
religious community for a longer time an
has the Christian tradition in the West. T
in the West, is only recently developing
Academics who study the Theravada trad
work, participating in the Theravada tra
approach to their study, the results of th
in which they report their findings and
and might continue to have significant ram
in Sri Lanka.
Where, for example, might one turn to f
study in book length written by either a
scholar dealing with the significance of
Sri Lanka; or, for that matter, the role
a total world view, if any; the relevance
text; the freeing qualitative dimension
importance of the concept of release as a
clinical and pastoral psychology; contemp
among Sinhalese philosophers on causality
interpretations of Buddhist and Hindu un
a Buddhist about the Hindu case or by a
what Buddhists are thinking about the no
what poetry is being written, novels l
Sinhalese Buddhists? We know a great de
'Early Buddhism', but where can one find
would tell one the way Sinhalese Buddhis
in which we live, a world in which that p
Lanka received a staggering blow by a rec
1 See, William Peiris, The Western Contribution to Bu

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
III
History is in process - past tense, past perfect, and present tense

In the past, a person in Sri Lanka could find meaning in hi
of belonging, support in the face of challenge, propriety in b
through this, an awareness of coherence in living life by becom
Recently, this comprehensive orientation is much more diffi
'Buddhism' is becoming the standard jargon; all the manifo
a dynamic, comprehensive way of life is becoming a -vague
separated, isolated, looked at, put out there in space and time
almost as an extended thing on a post-Cartesian scale, has b
over against others', and hence one reads of 'Buddhism an
'Buddhism, State and Society'.' Where does a Sinhalese Budd
a coherent view now either lost or in decline? The point is
needs to look whereas formerly he was confronted. He is no
look here to find something that might help him in somethi
to look in what is seen as one aspect of his life for answers
raised in another. This is all very Western; it represents a
world probably less than one-fifth as old as the Buddhist tr
yet a view that seems to have carried the day.
Until rather recently, Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka h
much concerned with 'Buddhism'; they had made their
teachings of the Buddha and the well-being of the community o
followed his teaching in the hope of penetrating through it
he rediscovered. Westerners have contributed a reified conc
sought to explain not the history of that concept but the hi
divergent entity that was believed to have existed. As a
Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka have tended to endorse
cepts and the reverse chronological orientation, both 'Bu
'Early Buddhism'.
If a Western scholar of the Theravada tradition in India a
chooses to continue using the terms 'religion', 'Buddhism
Buddhism', he should at least be aware that he will be impos
on a translator were he to make his research known to non-E
Sinhalese. 'Religion' as a system of rites, institutions and pr
be translated, and this only within the last two hundred year
He should be prepared to have term the 'religion' in a phras
religion', or 'a person filled with religion' translated by eith
'faith' or bhaktiya, 'devotion'. Jgama cannot carry the weigh
not do.
Were a scholar to continue to use 'Buddhism' he would, were he to
1 Heinz Bechert, Buddhismus, Staat und Gesellschaft in den Landern des Theravdda-Buddhismus, Band
XVII/I-3, der Schriften des Institute fur Asienkunde in Hamburg (Berlin: xvii/i, Alfred Metzner
Verlag, I966) (Wiesbaden: XVII/2-3, Otto Harrassowitz, I967, I973).

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
write about the early period of the trad

a conceptual anachronism. Further, shou
'Buddhism' primary in his consideration
in the minds of Sinhalese Buddhists ther
concepts: sampraddya, 'tradition', also dgam
institution', bauddhasamaya, 'Buddhist c
'Buddhist tradition', buddhadharma, magg
should also be aware that a Sinhalese Bud
nificant difference in meaning between bud
difference almost as profound as that
for one not really knowing the meaning
term.
Those of us who make it our business to study the Theravada tradition
which, of course, assumes the study of Theravada Buddhists, should attempt
to see the world as Theravada Buddhists have and are viewing it. This
means that we become aware that Theravada Buddhists have only rather
recently seen 'Buddhism', or looked for 'Early Buddhism'. They have
continued to see more than this, have seen themselves a part of more than
this, within more of this, and this seeing enables them to see themselves
as insiders. For an outsider who attempts to catch their views, how they
have continued in history, to understand them, a study of 'Buddhism' is
not good enough. Further, a study of 'Early Buddhism' aids little in under
standing how Buddhists saw themselves during the lifetime of the Buddha
and fifty years thereafter and, obviously, it is of little assistance in under
standing what Sinhalese Buddhists are thinking today about how to live
life well.
ABBREVIATIONS
The abbreviations for Pali Texts refer to the standard editions issued
Pali Text Society. Complete bibliographical entries are given for Sinhales
and for English translations.
A. The Aniguttara-nikaya
AA. Manorathapfiranf: the commentary on the Aniguttara-nikdya
Bu. The Buddhavamsa
Culi. The Culavamsa
Cuil. Tr. Culavamsa: Being the More Recent Part of the Mahdvamsa, 2 vols. tran
by Wilhelm Geiger, and from the German into English by C. M.
mers, Colombo: The Ceylon Government Information Department
D. The Digha-nikdya
DA. The Sumafigala-vildsind: the commentary on the Digha-nikdya
DAG. Dahampiya Attuva Gatapadaya. Edited by Mada-Uyangoda Vima
Thera and Nahinne Sominda Thera, Colombo: M. D. Gunasena
Dhp. The Dhammapada
DhpA. The Commentary on the Dhammapada: Dhammmapadatthakathd
DhsA. The Atthasdlini: the commentary on the Dhammasanganm

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC
M. Majjhima-nikaya
Mhbv The Mahd-Bodhi- Vamsa
Mhv. The Mahdvamsa
Mhvt. Vamsatthappakdsini: the commentary on the Mah
Miln. The Milindapanho
Nd. i Niddesa I: Mahaniddesa, vol. I
Pj.II Sutta-Nipata Commentary; Being Paramatthajotikd I
PTSD The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary
P ujaV. Pa]jdvalEya. Edited by KiriallMe Nhnavimala T
Gunasena & Co., I965
S. The Sanyutta-nikaya
SA. Sdrattha-ppakdsini: the commentary on the Samyutta
Sdhs. Saddhammasamgaha
Sdpj. Saddhamma-Pajjotikd: the commentary on the Mah
Sn. Sutta-Nipdta
Thag. The Thera- and Therd-gdthd: part I, Theragathd
ThagA. Paramattha-Dipani Theragdthd-Atthakatha: the com
gdthd
Ud. Uddna
UdA. Paramattha-Dipani Uddnatthakatha: the commentary on the Udana
VbhA. Samoha-vinodani Abhidhamma-Pitaka Vibhangatthakatha
Vv. The Vimdna-Vatthu
VvA. Dhammapdla's Paramattha-Dipani, part IV, Being the Commentary on th
Vimana- Vatthu

177.188.64.29 on Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:59:18 UTC

A History of Early Buddhism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

A History of Early Buddhism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A History of "Early Buddhism"

Author(s): John Ross Carter

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20005420

This content downloaded from

JOHN ROSS CARTER