Earliest usage of "rope or snake" allegory in Buddhist literature?
score:4
For all I know, the simile may come from generic Indian religious tradition and not specifically from Buddhism. For example, here are some quotes from Upanidhads:
Nirvana Upanishad (~ 100 BCE - 100 CE) :
- The phenomenal world is impermanent as it is produced [from Brahman which alone is real]; it is similar to a world seen in a dream and an [illusory] elephant in the sky; similarly, the cluster of things such as the body is perceived by a network of a multitude of delusions and it is fancied to exist as a serpent in a rope.
(Wikipedia:) The composition date or author of Nirvana Upanishad is unknown, but its sutra-style suggests that it originated in the sutra text period (final centuries of the 1st-millennium BC), before it was compiled and classified as an Upanishad. This text was likely composed in the centuries around the start of common era.
Tejobindu Upanishad (~ 100 BCE - 300 CE):
- If a man is bitten by a rope mistaken for a snake, then mundane existence may be. If a blazing fire is extinguished by a golden arrow, then the world is.
(Wikipedia:) [...] Eliade's suggestion places these in the final centuries of BCE or early centuries of the CE. [...] Gavin Flood dates the Tejobindu text, along with other Yoga Upanishads, to be probably from the 100 BCE to 300 CE period.
More of these quotes can be found in Advaita Vedanta mail list archives.
And then somewhere around 310-390 CE we see it used by the Yogacara founder Asanga in his Mahayanasamgraha:
How is this entry into Concept-Only made and what is it like? [...] One enters in the same way that one identifies a rope which seems in the darkness to be a snake. Since it does not exist, the snake seen in the rope is an illusion. Those who have recognized that it does not exist reject the notion of snake and keep the notion of rope. But the rope itself, if reduced to its subtle elements, is an illusion itself, for it has color, smell, taste and tactile as specific characteristics.
Thus, when any reality has been denied to the six types of mental words which appear as phoneme or as thing - just as the notion of snake is abandoned by means of the notion of rope - the notion of Concept-Only underlying the mental words should be abandoned by means of the notion of the absolute nature, just as the notion of rope is abandoned by means of the notion of color, etc.
Since Asanga was originally a brahmin before converting to Buddhism, I wouldn't be surprised if he took this simile from one of the Upanishads and repurposed for Yogacara.
There is also this Sanskrit version of Cittavisuddhiprakarana by Aryadeva (~200-300 CE), but I was not able to find a translation:
sarpabuddhiryathā rajjau rajjudṛṣṭau nivartate|
sarpabuddhiḥ punastatra naiva syādiha janmani||68||sattvabuddhistathātrāpi vajrajñānānnivartate|
na bhāvaḥ sambhavettatra dagdhabīja ivāṅkuraḥ||69||
Also, this simile appears in Abhidharma Mahavibhasa Sastra which would date it around 150CE: 薩迦耶見計我我所。於勝義中無我我所。如人見繩謂是蛇。 'The satkāyadṛṣṭi thinks about the self and that which belongs to the self; but according to higher truth, there is no self. As for example, a person sees a rope and calls it a snake' (T 1545 (XXVII) 36a18-19)
Upvote:-1
It's good not to mistake origin from other sects with that of the Sublime Buddha and his Sangha of disciples. Even more worse is it to approve something adopted for the sake of copy.
Even if story bearing like children, such talks have effects and cut one more off the right track.
Downvote, of course, may satisfy one shortly... so feel free if wishing for harm and misfortune...
[Note that this isn't given for stacks, exchange, other world-bindung trades, nor for pseudo liberalism, but for an escape from this wheel]
Upvote:0
Nagarjuna definitely used the metaphor of mistaking rope for a snake as in "If their view of emptiness is wrong, those of little intelligence will be hurt. Like handling a snake in the wrong way, or casting a spell in the wrong way."Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika)
Also it is clear from an article on The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) website on Nagarjuna that the metaphor was already well established in Hinduism. "The stock examples used in Indian (in context Indian includes Hindu) texts are seeing a rope and mistaking it as a snake, or seeing conch in the sand and mistaking it as silver."
Upvote:0
The allegory of the rope being mistaken for a snake is indeed widespread in Buddhist literature, and is found in Zen literature. Most interesting is that this allegory comes from the Skeptic School of ancient Greece, dating to Carneades (214-129 BCE).
More post
- 📝 Should Buddhists avoid Amazon and Starbucks out of concerns about tax avoidance?
- 📝 What are the canonical definitions of common terms used in the context of satipaṭṭhāna from the Tripitaka or related literature
- 📝 whether tripitak talk about marananusati or maranassati?
- 📝 3 marks of existence
- 📝 Does DN2 and MN36 provide an irrefutable statement on the fact of rebirth?
- 📝 Should I always put another person's interest before mine?
- 📝 Two unconditioned dhammas?
- 📝 Meditation practise methods/techniques
- 📝 Someone told me Buddha copied almost everything from Brahmanism, how accurate is that?
- 📝 Is Buddhism the Way of Truth?
- 📝 That "Electric Feel" body sensation during meditation
- 📝 Getting Started
- 📝 Does an Arahant accumulate kamma in his/her life?
- 📝 When did Shakyamuni became buddha?
- 📝 💚Did the Buddha cover colorblindness in his teachings?
- 📝 Difference between "mythology" and historical "facts"?
- 📝 Methods of Modern Meditation Masters
- 📝 Lending a friend money,and not getting it back
- 📝 What is the meaning of uppajjati versus upapajjati?
- 📝 Was the Buddha harsh?
- 📝 Samatha meditation feels a space at the top of the head?
- 📝 Are these translations of the Sutta Nipata correct?
- 📝 Are there different experiences of equanimity?
- 📝 To ordain in the west or in Asia?
- 📝 Help finding “Breath Energy” as described by Thanissaro Bhikku
- 📝 All sentient beings?
- 📝 Is the emptiness of final nirvana an illusion?
- 📝 The experience of silence
- 📝 Who or what is observing
- 📝 If a buddhist had the opportunity to stop the holocaust by killing hitler, should he or she do it?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Earliest usage of "rope or snake" allegory in Buddhist literature?
- 📝 When were the earliest Buddhist writings created
- 📝 If a buddhist should not kill a mouse living in their home, what justification do they have to rid themselves of a parasite such tapeworms
- 📝 When were women first welcomed into Buddhist orders?
- 📝 How can I assess the quality of a local Buddhist group?
- 📝 Can or should a Buddhist defend themselves physically?
- 📝 Is a belief in rebirth a necessity for Buddhist practice?
- 📝 Why isn't there a Buddhist Bible?
- 📝 What are the common buddhist practices to eliminate sleepiness?
- 📝 As a Buddhist with a Muslim family, community, and background... how do you integrate/cope?
- 📝 Have any Buddhist thinkers responded to the critique of the Brahma Sutras?
- 📝 Should a Buddhist feel offended by misuses of Buddha's name or image?
- 📝 Why are Buddhist concepts so difficult?
- 📝 Is there a story or a mentioning about masturbation in the Buddhist teachings?
- 📝 Should a Buddhist have Children?
- 📝 Why is Buddha almost treated like a God in most Buddhist traditions?
- 📝 Buddhist view on Art and being an Artist
- 📝 Attachment is a poison. Why is attachment to the Buddha and to Buddhist philosophy not a problem?
- 📝 What is the difference between relative and absolute truth in Buddhist philosophy?
- 📝 Buddhist (Theravada) cure for "Insecurity"?
- 📝 Should Buddhist teachers get rich?
- 📝 What does Buddhism literature and tradition say about transgender folks?
- 📝 Isn't Buddhist insight practice more scientific than the so-called scientific method?
- 📝 What is the Interpretation of Parimukham in the context of Buddhist Meditation?
- 📝 How to overcome Depression with Buddhist teachings
- 📝 Anapanasati Buddhist meditation
- 📝 Should a Buddhist advocate the learning of a martial art?
- 📝 Could someone provide a list of all Buddhist schools?
- 📝 Software programming/Art and Buddhist Practice - Pursuing creative activity
- 📝 Which is the Buddhist holy book? Where can it be read?