Wow, it’s been a few months since I last posted an update here. Since then, Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the Ekottarika Āgama have been released at Dharma Pearls, which nearly completes the Book of Ones. (There’s still a few difficult chapters full of obscure names of disciples to translate and release to complete it.)
Let me take some time here to summarize the contents of these chapters.
Chapter 11: The Non-Returner
Chapter 11 is titled “The Non-Returner” after the initial four sūtras on the subject. Most of this chapter has parallels in Pali sources.
| Ekottarika, Ch. 11 | Pali Parallel |
|---|---|
| 1. The Non-Returner | Iti 1 Greed |
| 2. The Non-Returner (2) | Iti 2 Hate |
| 3. The Non-Returner (3) | Iti 3 Delusion |
| 4. The Non-Returner (4) | (Iti 1-6) |
| 5. Heart | AN 1.21-30 Useless |
| 6. Heart (2) | AN 1.21-30 Useless |
| 7. Alms | SN 17.11-12 Golden/Silver Bowl |
| 8. Alms (2) | SN 17.11-12 Golden/Silver Bowl |
| 9. Devadatta | ? |
| 10. Devadatta (2) | ? |
EĀ 11.1-4 The Non-Returner
The first four sūtras are in the Itivuttaka format: The Buddha identifies a single thing that, if given up, results in becoming a non-returner. A summary verse then restates the prose sūtra. In the Theravāda Itivuttaka, the first six suttas identify greed, hate, delusion, anger, disdain, and conceit. Here, the first three are the same three poisons, but the fourth is stinginess. It would seem logical to assume the first three sūtras may predate the others, since the three poisons were considered the basic roots that give rise the rest of the defilements when combined in different ways.
EĀ 11.5-6 Heart
The next two sūtras are similar to the suttas we find in AN 1.21-30, which make a distinction between a mind when developed and undeveloped. In Pali, the keyword is bhāvita, meaning “developed or cultivated.” The corresponding keyword in EĀ (降伏) means to “control, defeat, master,” giving an impression of a “wild vs. tamed” distinction. In AN, this idea has been expanded into a full chapter of ten suttas.
EĀ 11.7-8 Alms
The next pair of sūtras are a similar case. Here, they appear to be the inspiration for SN 17.11-20, which creates ten suttas that simply add specific valuable things to a common template. That template is a bit more terse than the one we find here in EĀ, but they are very close in wording. The Buddha tells the monks that he has noticed when a monk has become corrupted by an obsession for material gain, so much so that they begin lying to the assembly. Presumably, he means during the regular pratimokṣa assemblies when monks declare their faults.
It’s worth mentioning that SN 17 is remarkable in that it has the same concluding format that occurs throughout EĀ. In these usually concise conclusions, the Buddha gives some advice and enjoins his audience to train themselves according to it. This must have been an old sūtra format that’s been largely lost in the Theravāda canon. Or perhaps the Theravādins imported a few examples of it from other sources. In any case, SN 17 is the only part of their present day canon that has this format as a policy. Otherwise, it’s a rare occurrence.
EĀ 11.9-10 Devadatta
These two sūtras appear to depict events immediately following Devadatta’s failed attempt to overthrow the Buddha. In the first sūtra, the Buddha denounces Devadatta and predicts that he’ll spend an eon in Hell for his evil deeds. In the next sūtra, a monk who was apparently one of Devadatta’s followers is confronted by the Buddha for doubting his previous declaration. I have yet to find a clear parallel for these sūtras, though I suspect one probably exists among the various stories found in the Vinaya literature. In any case, though, it’s of interest to note that SN 17.31-36 all take up the same topic of Devadatta’s misdeeds and corruption. It’s probably not an accident that EĀ 11.7-8 precede these sūtras and that their parallels (SN 17.11-20) precede the Devadatta suttas in SN 17.
The Disordering of Chapters 12 and 13
With Chapter 12 and 13 in EĀ, we reach a point at which it becomes difficult to avoid the conclusion that some sort of disorder has taken place after the initial Chinese translation. It’s been fairly well documented by Palumbo in his book studying the history of EĀ’s translation that there were at least three editions that existed at one time or another, the Taisho edition being the one that survived to the present day. Daoan, the Chinese monk who was the head of the translation team, wrote several prefaces that have survived giving us some details about what happened. One of things he mentions in the preface attached to EĀ is that, in the initial recitation by Dharmanandi, about half the uddāna verses had been forgotten. So, it isn’t surprising that some chapters have no uddāna verse, but it doesn’t explain the situation here, where an uddāna verse spans two chapters. It would seem that some additions or rearrangements have taken place.
The table below shows the situation in the Taisho edition:
| EĀ Sūtra | Parallel | C. 13 Uddāna |
|---|---|---|
| 12.1 The Abodes of Mindfulness | MN 10 | |
| 12.2 Spitefulness | - | |
| 12.3 The Most Honored | - | |
| 12.4 Watching over the Sick | - | |
| 12.5 Praise and Slander | (SN 16.5) | |
| 12.6 Senior Years | (SN 16.5) | |
| 12.7 Devadatta | (SN 17.35-36) | 7:1 |
| 12.8 Devadatta (2) | (SN 17.35-36) | 7:2 |
| 12.9 Skin | SN 17.28 | 7:3 |
| 12.10 Śrīla | - | 7:4 |
| 13.1 Surādha | - | |
| 13.2 Enjoyment of Desires | - | |
| 13.3 Nāḷijaṅgha | MN 87 | 7:5 |
| 13.4 Nakula | SN 22.1 | |
| 13.5 Sundarī | MN 7 | 7:6 |
| 13.6 Good Deeds | SN 11.16 | 7:7 |
| 13.7 Śakra Lord of Gods | - | 7:8 |
It seems likely, at the very least, that 12.7-10 belong with 13.3 and 13.5-7 to form a chapter of eight sūtras. The open question this leaves us with is whether some or all of the other sūtras were inserted later by a redactor (Saṅghadeva and Chu Fonian being the likely suspects). If sūtras were added later, the redactor apparently wasn’t paying attention to the uddāna verse.
Overall, it’s a fascinating example of how the disordering of Buddhist sūtra collections happened in ancient times. But we don’t have enough historical details to fully reconstruct the original, either. It’s a frustrating situation.
Chapter 12: The Single-Entry Path
EĀ 12.1
This is a parallel to MN 10, the famous sūtra on the four abodes of mindfulness. It’s provenance is unknown to us as yet (as far as I know), for it bears only a general resemblance to MN 10 and the Sarvāstivāda parallel, MĀ 98. Regardless, it gives us a window into an earlier stage of this sūtra’s development when compared to the other parallels. It would appear, for instance, that the mindfulness of body became an important rubric under which a plethora of contemplative practices collected in later eras, and this is reflected especially in MĀ 98 but also in MN 10. On the other hand, the mindfulness of feeling underwent no expansion at all in MN 10, but it did in MĀ 98. The Mindfulness of Mind shows the pattern of commonality at the beginning and end of the three versions, with diverse items in the middle. The Mindfulness of Dharma has only the factors of awakening in common between the parallels, suggesting that perhaps it was a late addition to the abodes. Or perhaps it was very simple in the beginning, and each school expanded it in their own way.
The place of this sūtra at the start of Chapter 12 is incongruent with the rest of the chapter, but we’ve seen this before in EĀ. It would seem that these headline insertions took place before the Āgama was translated to Chinese.
EĀ 12.2-3
These two sūtras lack parallels, but they represent examples of old templates that have already occurred in previous chapters. EĀ 12.2 is a “one thing” sūtra, but it doesn’t have the concluding verse we’d expect of an Itivuttaka-style sūtra. In this case, spitefulness is singled out as detrimental to the religious life. EĀ 12.3 is another “one person” sūtra. Here, the Buddha says that a Buddha is the one person appearing in the world who is the most honored field of merit.
EĀ 12.4
This sūtra is one that’s difficult to categorize. It appears to praise taking care of sick people as an act of charity that yield great merits. The Chinese is a bit difficult to parse, but it appears to equate the charity of taking care of the sick with the Dharma charity of the Buddha’s decision to teach people who are spiritually sick. I think this places it in a genre of early bodhisattva teachings that encourage both disciples and laypeople to emulate the Buddha’s compassion.
EĀ 12.5-6
This pair of sūtras praise a set of ascetic practices for which Mahākāśyapa is held up as an exemplar. In the first sūtra, the Buddha praises these practices and then tells the monks to practice them the way Mahākāśyapa does. The next sūtra relates an encounter between Mahākāśyapa and the Buddha in which the Buddha tells his elderly disciple that he can stop practicing the asceticism of forest dwelling. Kāśyapa refuses, and in this version says that doing so would make him a solitary buddha.
EĀ 12.7-8
Now another pair of Devadatta sūtras follows. The first is a “profit is a serious thing” sūtra that uses the corruption of Devadatta by Ajātaśatru’s almsgiving as an example. It includes the detail of Devadatta getting five hundred kettles of food that’s also in SN 17.36. It’s also notable for referring to Ajātaśatru as “Pararuci,” which was attested in a few other Chinese sources.
EĀ 12.8 depicts an incident in which Devadatta is heard teaching moral nihilism to a crowd of people (i.e., that good and evil does not exist). When it’s reported to the Buddha, he denounces him as a fool. This appears to follow the events related in EĀ 11.9-10, as Devadatta’s claim makes sense as a response to the Buddha’s denouncing his evil acts in 11.9.
EĀ 12.9-10
These two sūtras continue the theme of profit being a corrupting influence. The first is parallel to SN 17.28, where profit is likened to a rope that cuts through skin down to the bone (which is a kind of torture we find in Buddhist descriptions of Hell). The next sūtra uses the example of a monk named Śrīla, who apparently because of greed disrobed and took up a profession that involved killing many beings.
Chapter 13: Profit
EĀ 13.1-2
The “profit is a serious thing” theme continues. In EĀ 13.1, the example of a monk named Surādha is used. This monk was a virtuous forest-dweller like Mahākāśyapa until he became corrupted by the lavish meals served to him by a king. He eventually disrobed and became a butcher of cattle. This name is given to Devadatta’s teacher in EĀ 49.9, but nothing more is said about him there.
EĀ 13.2 is a “cease one thing” sūtra. If the enjoyment of desires is ceased, then the Buddha will bear witness to a monk’s spiritual penetration (presumably referring to the ṛddhis and/or vidyās).
EĀ 13.3
This sūtra is another significant parallel, this time to MN 87. This sūtra is from a genre of avadāna stories that take a layperson as the main character encountering situations that test their faith. Often, this involves debating with non-Buddhists or dealing with skepticism. This story depicts Queen Mālikā coping with a false rumor that makes the Buddha look foolish and having to convince King Prasenajit that it’s not true. This version doesn’t vary much from MN 87, consisting of three episodes: The Buddha encountering a man distraught at having lost his son who spreads a false rumor about him, Queen Mālikā’s messenger being taught by the Buddha, and the Queen’s conversion of the King to the Buddha’s teaching.
The biggest difference here is that Mālikā is praised both by the King and the Buddha. Such praise is entirely lacking in MN 87, which mysteriously ends without a proper conclusion and leaves the King looking like the hero of the story. One is left wondering why.
EĀ 13.4
This sūtra is parallel to SN 22.1. The main character is an elderly layman who is suffering serious illnesses that cause him a great deal of suffering. The Buddha tells him not to rely on the body for his happiness and that people who do are foolish. He should focus on keeping his mind healthy despite the body’s pains. The man decides to ask Śāriputra for a more in depth explanation of this. Śāriputra teaches him to detach from the five aggregates by refusing to identify with them in any way. In this way, the mind can remain happy even as the body deteriorates in old age. Unfortunately, the Chinese translation itself has suffered a fair amount of deterioration, but it analyzes the selflessness of the aggregates with sets of wrong views similar to those found in SN 22.1.
EĀ 13.5
This sūtra is parallel to MN 7, the Simile of the Cloth. This sūtra is important mainly in listing out a large group of mental defilements, which was presumably meant to be comprehensive. In the EĀ version, they are called defiling bonds, and there are 21 of them instead of 13. There’s a large amount of variation in the list from one version to the next when I compare all the parallels, indicating that it was a point of distinction between the schools of Buddhism. The EĀ version is problematic in that the list contains many synonyms that ordinarily mean the same thing, but here they translate technical terms for similar defilements. Without some way to distinguish them, such as a commentary or glossary, it’s impossible to discern the underlying Indic terms precisely.
EĀ 13.6-7
Both of these sūtras depict Śakra the Lord of Gods coming to ask questions. The first sūtra is parallel to SN 11.16, one of the Sagātha suttas. The EĀ version has more than double the number of verses compared to SN, but the content isn’t significantly different. Śakra asks the Buddha which practitioners are the best to give alms. The Buddha replies that it’s the eight ranks of the Saṅgha (the four trainees and four adepts).
The next sūtra, EĀ 13.7, is interesting in that the arhat Subhūti is the main character. Subhūti was made famous by the Prajñāpāramitā writers who chose him as the disciple who understands their teaching (as opposed to Śāriputra, who is more associated with early Abhidharma). Outside of this literature, however, Subhūti is a somewhat obscure character in extant early Buddhist sources.
Here, Subhūti enters a deep meditative trance to solve the problem of severe physical pain that he suffers as a result of old age. Śakra decides to pay Subhūti a visit because of this and sends Pañcaśikha as his messenger to announce his arrival to Subhūti. The centerpiece of the sūtra are the lyrics that Pañcaśikha sings in order to rouse Subhūti from his samādhi. When he wakes, Śakra asks him how his physical pain arose and how it was ceased, to which Subhūti says it’s the result of dependent origination. One needs to apply the right antidote to counteract it and stop the things that give rise to it.
There is a notable passage reminiscent of the Diamond Sūtra which negates a series of concepts that could be taken for a self like a sentient being, person, life, or soul. While we associate it with the Diamond Sūtra today, it was likely an EBT refutation of the personalists (i.e., the “Pudgalavādins”) that happens to not occur in Theravāda suttas (that I know of).
Chapter 14: The Five Precepts
After the previous chapter’s longer sūtras, Chapter 14 settles back into a simple set of ten sūtras dedicated to the five precepts. Each precept is taken up by a pair of sūtras: One says that breaking the precept leads to rebirth in the lower existences of Hell, hungry ghosts, and animals, the next says that keeping the precept brings the merits of humans and gods as well as the attainment of Nirvāṇa. This template is repeated for each precept. I’m not aware of a direct parallel in Pali sources.
That covers what’s been added at Dharma Pearls since April. Thanks to everyone who’s been following this project for the past few years as well as newcomers as well as the generous supporters and interested Dharma friends who make it possible.