How sacrosanct is the "source material" of Buddhism?

score:9

Accepted answer

I think there are some very good and apposite questions here. I find I meet two kinds of Buddhists online. Those committed to the idea that the Pāḷi Canon is something like the Bible, the words of the Buddha and thus an ultimate authority. These kind are mostly, but not only, Theravādin Buddhists. To a lesser extent one also sees this kind of ideological commitment from Mādhyamikas about Nāgārjuna as well. The second kind take the opposite view. That the texts are worthless and that apart from the some of the practices that there is nothing worth saving.

There is a kind of middle way. No modern historian treats the Pāḷi Canon as historically accurate any more. Apologetics which argue for the authenticity of the suttas tend to come from establishment figures within one or other Theravādin movement. Thanissaro and Sujato have both written apologetics in recent times for example. But this is what we expect of men who have made a strong commitment to a Buddhist sect (especially one which involves life-long chastity).

However many of the stories in the texts are still of considerable interest for their insights into the historical development of Buddhism and the changes that Buddhist doctrines undergo over time. I am particularly interested in these kinds of changes. And of course some stories are timeless. This is why we preserve and retell stories from the distant past: the Mahābharat in India and the Greek myths in Europe are good examples. Good story telling is timeless and fictional characters no less moving and educative for being unreal.

It's widely acknowledged, by scholars at least, that Buddhism is syncretic from the first evidence we have of it. The earliest records of Buddhism show influence from a number of other cultures not limited to Brahmanism, Jainism, local animistic cults, and Zoroastrianism (the latter discovery is relatively old, my own contribution to the field has been to put the case more systematically). Such syncretism continues throughout the life of Buddhism in India and outside it, right down to the present. With more or less success. Usually the process involves subordinating the assimilated material to Buddhism in some explicit fashion, though sometimes the process is implicit, and often it is transparent to Buddhists (e.g. the Vedic myth in the Agañña Sutta quoted time and again as a "Buddhist" creation story).

That said I think the identity of "Buddhist" is meaningful for many people in many ways. The history of Buddhism is not one in which everyone is a full-time practitioner devoted to awakening. Such people were and will continue to be relatively rare. Most of us aspire to more than we can achieve. This does not invalidate the aspiration or the achievement. Most of us require positive conditions to flourish, and a positive experience of Buddhist community can contribute to that. As such membership of a Buddhist group is a necessary facet of life as a Buddhist for many of us. And part of group membership is conformity to group norms, including taking on the jargon and mythology of the group. Being able to recite popular stories is a mark of membership.

That said I think there is a problem in Buddhism with people not correctly assessing their own limitations. The wide availability of Buddhist texts to lay people with no training in linguistics or critical thinking has led to a glut of uncritical opinions. The internet has only exacerbated the trend. Some of us have very limited experience of living a Buddhist life, but full access to multiple translations of Buddhists texts. With no basis for assessing the value of translations or other sources of information, they tend to be cited indiscriminately (to support views). I notice it is routine in this website to cite Thanissaro's translations, which happen to be the easiest to get hold of because they are online for free. But Thanissaro is an eccentric translator, to say the least. All his translations need to be carefully assessed before being cited - but they never are. I would put Access to Insight on a par with Wikipedia as a source. Use with caution.

It is good to see some hard questions being asked of Buddhists.

Upvote:1

There are a few reasons.

  1. There's the religious aspect. To most Buddhists, Buddhism is a religion and the texts are sacred. They are so sacred, that simply chanting them is believed to bring merit. So you've got people chanting Pali (which they don't understand) in the belief that merely saying the words will bring supernatural benefit.

  2. Even outside of religion people venerate older texts. For instance, people still read the works of Plato today, even though he was wrong about a lot. Schools require reading literature from hundreds of years back, even though there's a lot of excellent literature that's been released since. Others insist on reading original works from authors (like Kant) even though the works are widely acknowledged to be poorly written and even though excellent third party sources exist.

  3. The Buddha was believed to be enlightened, and since he got there, he's seen as the best source of information on that subject. Well certain texts are believed to be closer to his words (e.g.: because they're closer to his time or part of a school that claims it's closer to his vision, etc...) so by their perceived proximity to the source, they are seen as more accurate.

Upvote:5

Buddhist scriptures are not as sacrosanct as in the way the Quran is where the Quran is divinely guaranteed to be incorruptible till the end of time and cannot be questioned. However, at the same time, there is a distinction between what is Buddhavacana (words of the Buddha) and what isn't. The Buddha's own stand on this matter is reflected in the Kalama Sutta where he says about discerning teachings:

"So, as I said, Kalamas: 'Don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, "This contemplative is our teacher." When you know for yourselves that, "These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness" — then you should enter & remain in them.'

It appears that Buddhists of the Theravada tradition do take the Tipitaka and especially the Buddha's teachings in the Sutta Pitaka very seriously for study, while Buddhists of some other traditions, especially Zen, may focus more on practice, rather than conceptual study. But this is not to say that the Zen practitioner does not have any scriptural study whatsoever.

From the perspective of syncretism, Buddhism is not as syncretic as Hinduism but is more syncretic than Christianity or Islam. Hinduism has soaked up very diverse and even conflicting schools of thought and modes of worship, under its vast umbrella, as long as the Vedas, Brahman, karma and reincarnation are not rejected. On the other hand, Islam and Christianity are intolerant, sometimes even violently, to those who diverge from the mainstream.

Buddhism of the times after the Buddha's parinibbana, on the other hand, takes the middle path of practising syncretism to the extent that sectarianism is tolerated, but within a minimum boundary of framework. You can take a look at the situation of sectarianism among the Early Buddhist Schools and of course the later traditions of Mahayana and Vajrayana. During the time of the Buddha of course, creating schisms was strongly reprimanded and is a reason for expulsion from the sangha, showing the Buddha's own preference for the sangha to remain united under the same dhamma and vinaya.

I mentioned that there are different preferences to practice and conceptual study, different sects etc. and also different sets of canons between traditions, but there is definitely a minimum boundary of framework by which any teachings, texts or sects are accepted as coming under Buddhism. Falling outside this boundary means definite rejection. This is analogous to the Christian Nicene Creed or Islam's Five Pillars of Practice and Six Pillars of Faith.

  • The Four Noble Truths
  • The Noble Eightfold Path
  • The Triple Gem
  • The Three Marks of Existence
  • Dependent Origination
  • Kamma and Rebirth

The Buddha's own stand on the matter is found in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta:

the Blessed One said, "In any doctrine & discipline where the noble eightfold path is not found, no contemplative of the first... second... third... fourth order [stream-winner, once-returner, non-returner, or arahant] is found. But in any doctrine & discipline where the noble eightfold path is found, contemplatives of the first... second... third... fourth order are found. The noble eightfold path is found in this doctrine & discipline, and right here there are contemplatives of the first... second... third... fourth order. Other teachings are empty of knowledgeable contemplatives. And if the monks dwell rightly, this world will not be empty of arahants."

The Noble Eightfold Path is like a summary that contains the whole boundary of framework for the "right teachings" and the Buddha is fine with other doctrines and disciplines, taught by others, as long as it is compliant with the Noble Eightfold Path. And as far as I can see, the main traditions of Buddhism are definitely compliant, though appearing divergent on the details of concepts and practice.

In fact, if I were to reduce the doctrinal framework to the bare minimum, it would be:

  • The Four Noble Truths
  • The Three Marks of Existence
  • Dependent Origination
  • Kamma

When we compare Buddhism to other traditions of India (Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism), it is clear that anatta separates them from Buddhism. But anatta is common between the various Buddhist traditions.

Upvote:7

Contrary to popular misapprehension, Buddhism is not a cult of "source material". It is not actually the case that the point of Buddha's message has been lost, and now generations after generations of practitioners try to deduce it from texts.

Buddhism is a living tradition, that at large has never lost the path. Sure, there were some misunderstandings here and there over the centuries, small and large. In fact, every student goes through the phase of gross confusion, until they hopefully see the light.

As any area of human activity, such as politics or academia, Buddhism has layers, and if you explore the populations of practicing representatives, you will always find a wide gamut of sophistication, from the most superficial to the most profound.

All this is to say that the texts are not alpha and omega, interpretation and application are. The texts do have their place though:

  1. They create a structure, the game rules, within which the practice may take place, and
  2. They dress the naked truth in some feathers to make it more presentable to a normal human practitioner. There is some charm in the ancient mystique, don't you find?

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