Hellmuth Hecker’s book on Similes and his case for EBTs

I am reading “Similes of the Buddha” by Hellmuth Hecker and I was intrigued by the Introduction, where he talks about the significance of similes for the authenticity of Buddhist texts. The book is freely available at the Open Buddhist University, https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/monographs/similes-of-the-buddha_hecker, I am pasting a few relevant paragraphs (all emphases are mine) and questions related to them.

… That is why the similes are not just embellishments or interesting folkloristic additions or concessions to human superficiality, but one of the principal means to show the unity of the inner and the outer, of the world and the psyche. Viewed from this perspective, similes turn out to be one of the core teaching elements for the understanding of the mental character of phenomena.

The authenticity of the texts can be measured by the quantity and significance of similes. One of the characteristics of many post-classic Buddhist texts is the total absence of similes. This absence contributes to the dryness and dullness of the Abhidhamma works. Studying these texts, one could get the impression that, in contrast to the discourses (suttas), the authors had no understanding of the unity of the inner and outer and therefore were unable to create similes.

One exception seems to be the Milindapañhá (“Questions ofKing Milinda”), written in about 100 CE, which almost flows over with new similes. These similes, however, are not always of high quality. Sometimes shallow or unclear images are used, obscuring problems that were explained by the Buddha with
clear and powerful similes. There are few gold-nuggets, comparable to the original rich similes in the suttas, for example, the Simile of the Archer, which is Simile 42 in this book. Nevertheless, the Milindapañhá shows that an abundance of similes is not a guarantee for the profoundness of a later Buddhist text, though the absence of similes is a sure indication for being distant from the Buddha.

In the Buddhist literature of even later times the content of similes is meagre. Where they appear, especially in the colourful, long Maháyána texts, they mostly disappoint in comparison with the original canonical texts. They are rather playful and more literary ornaments than guides to the realization of reality. Nevertheless, wherever the knowledge of the simile-like nature of things is taken seriously, substantial similes can be found again here and there, for example in the early Chinese Chan tradition. Later, however, this tradition froze the similes into lifeless koans.

What do forum members who are interested in such issues make of this argument?
Are there any counter examples anyone knows?

Is it possible that similes were created and used more often mostly in the early period, until the teachings were not that widespread, and eventually when they were common knowledge, there wasn’t much need to keep inventing and inserting similes?
Just throwing some questions and ideas out there.

I looked at Bhante Sujato and Venerable Brahmali’s Authenticity of Early Buddhist Texts and it does mention this book but I am looking to see if there are other studies or arguments about similes.

:pray:t5:

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I recently read a study about the ‘fortified city’-simile. The study shows how it is flexibly used in the suttas, mainly in comparison with a Gandhari parallel text. It is quite an interesting study to read about how this simile specifically was used.

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This topic sounds really interesting, thanks for posting. I’ll look into Hecker’s book and the ‘fortified city-simile’.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.
Have you read Analayo’s “Excursion’s into the Thought-world of the Pali-Discourses”? (Volume 1: From Craving to Liberation; Volume 2: From Grasping to Emptiness)
He explores key concepts/terms such as craving, ill-will, yoniso manasikara etc. and one way he does this is by addressing the corresponding similes or sets of similes in the Canon.

It begs the question whether he uses criteria in order to judge the richness or powerfulness of certain similes or if he is judging them from a personal standpoint.

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Having been forced to learn Milindapañha while staying at a monastery, I have to agree with author’s statement.

Thanks for the book recommendation.

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I don’t think so. In my ignorant opinion, I’d say that similes are powerful devices to easily put oneself in situation that not just makes you easily to understand how to apply the teachings (teachings that go against your habit and inner desires), but also helps a big deal in auto suggesting oneself into properly practicing such teachings.

Try to repeat a simile several times, for at least 15 minutes, for several days in a row. Not mere recitation, but mentally seeing the scene and putting yourself as the protagonist, i.e.: being the man being sawed by bandits, the man carrying the boiling oil pot, being the post of the tied animals… Such simile is going to be imprinted in your mind, whatever your mind likes it or not. This kind of imprint helps a big deal, at least for those who are not well established in continuous sati, as they are harder to forget and to ignore than the usual wordly instructions and explanations.

In my case, I am a beginner, this kind of visualization helps me a lot in setting and directing all the mind to practice properly. Not just that, it has allowed me to improve my practice way more than any of the explanations about what is the practice and how should be performed I’ve read so far.

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What I also find interesting is similes that are referenced in the suttas themselves. So for example in one sutta the simile of the saw is referenced. Likely the listeners immediately knew what this meant.

Also there is the Sumedhātherīgāthā, thig16.1, many similes are referenced here, it would be interesting to trace them all.

Remember the grass, sticks, and leaves,
Remember the one-eyed turtle and the yoke with a hole,
Remember the danger of gharials!

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Thanks Danny! I got the Fortified City paper, will read it over the next few days.

The entire Introduction is well worth a read, I didn’t want to paste all of it but he does lay out general arguments. I have those books by Venerable Analayo, I have skimmed through them, but their books tend to be very dense, takes a while to get through.

Interesting! I had no idea some monasteries had that in their “syllabus”. Was it just to study or for Recitation as well? I should leave it be… it will take us off topic.

I am not questioning usefulness of similes, nor is the author. This is about their copious presence and almost complete absence in texts, or it could even be in recitation when it was a purely oral tradition.

It certainly would be! I completely agree and that was the point of my other post in watercooler section about doing such analyses now because we can with a lot more ease than before.
The rest of the book is about which similes go with which concepts. That is also an interesting aspect to look at.
Doing a parallel study with Chinese Āgamās would be a huge project, but worth it in my opinion.

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The Fortified City-paper is also about this. It seems similes were used as a creative device, to be adapted to the specific instance. The Fortified City is, if I remember correctly, used in three different instances. In each case a different aspect/concept is brought forth. That’s why it also good to check the parallels, usually they bring to light some extra layer in the simile (this you will also find in the paper).

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I read the introduction and I like his hands-on approach in the light of the scarce research.

I’m not sure this follows, though. It sounds a bit circular to me but I’m waiting for more input on that matter.

There is an index of the similes in the suttas at the end of Hecker’s book. There are many cross-references to be found.

And maybe I’m blind but is there any reference to Mrs. Rhys research that he cites in the introduction? A book title or something? Would be nice to look into that!

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Yeah that was the reason I made this thread; the claim that authenticity of the texts can be measured by the quantity and significance of the similes is a bit of a reach; there are many other factors as well obviously. But my impression is that it is not made as a scholastic conclusion, more as a plea based on a lot of examples— a plea to study them carefully.

For those readers who didn’t read the Introduction, here is the quote:

In the whole of the Pali canon there are about a thousand of
them. Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids counted 568 concepts for which
similes are used in the Canon, and mentions, for example, that
water is the most used of the four elements, and of animals the
elephant is most used
.

I also didn’t notice a reference being given explicitly. I will look through the book again to see because in those two lines the estimate jumps from 568 to a thousand!

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A group of laity asked for a 3 day course on Milindapanha and I just happened to stay at the monastery at the time. When the abbot teaches, you have to join in, sigh, so… Anyway, it started off with a bang, the genesis of Milindapanha, how King Milinda was so clever that 500 arahants couldn’t deal with him and so they had to go up to heaven, etc. With this sort of opening, I quickly lost interest. Gomaya is how I would describe that story. Please excuse my language.

There is no fixed syllabus, but the abbot seems like Milindapanha since then. I don’t because I’m skeptical by nature and I found flaws with some of the similes.

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I continue to benefit from reflecting on the many similes in the suttas and keep finding new ways of looking at them. I also think this advice from Ajahn Jayasaro (From Heart and Hand Volume 2) is wise:

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I really like those handwritten notes! I used to save them as and when they came out! :grin: Luckily, they got made into books.

This is good advice, but if we stick with the principal nikāyās and āgamās, implicitly we are dealing with wise utterances, on the whole.

I think the simile serve many important roles. First, they are a bridge between rational thought and insight because their visual imagery often allows us to understand concepts without requiring as much rationalization. In this way, I often find them very useful during meditation: bringing to mind as simile and letting my calmed mind interpret it. As I try to move into deeper states of meditation, I find the four metaphors for the jhanas to be very helpful, for example.Second, they facilitate the understanding of Buddhism across different languages because many of the images are shared across humanity. We may argue about the translation of a specific word in Pali , but when we hear a simile about an elephant or a snake, that brings to mind Certain mental concepts that are timeless and allow the Buddhist teachings to be understandable even thousands of years later, In a different language.

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I think I found it - not in Hecker’s book but in the Pali Text Society Journal. It’s called “Similes in the Nikayas” (1906-7)
It’s and index (freely available as a PDF on the website) if anyone is interested. Index is to be taken literally here. What she does is listing every simile in the Canon by alphabetically enumerating the correspondent Pali word as an entry over 100 pages :astonished: :face_with_monocle: It’s not about the simile’s content.

Back to Hecker. This really is a find!! Lately, I have been thinking about how to have another go at the teachings that suits my sieve-like memory. And this should really do the trick. The illustrations on the Open Buddhist University- website accompanying the “Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts”-course are really cute! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Unsupported statement of fact: the number and quality of similes can be used to ascertain the ‘authenticity of texts.’

Aesthetic Opinion: the Abhidhamma’s are ‘dry and dull’ because they lack similes.

Unsupported Aesthetic Opinion: the Milindapañhá’s similes are ‘not always of the highest quality.’

Unsupported statement of fact: ‘the absence of similes is a sure indication for being distant from the Buddha.’

Unsupported Aesthetic Opinion: similes in long Maháyána disappoint in comparison with ‘canonical texts.’

Not very convincing in my unsupported aesthetic opinion :joy: :pray:

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Thanks! That is awesome! Nice sleuthing! I will get the reference from them.

The illustrations on the Open Buddhist University- website accompanying the “Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts”-course are really cute!

You can thank our forum member Venerable @Khemarato.bhikkhu for that! He is the one who has created that wonderful site, one of those rare places that lives up to its name.

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Apart from the book itself, if you want to search for similes, a simple first step is to search for seyyathāpi. A lot of similes begin with this word.

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Interesting!

I’ll also make a plug here for the Comprehensive Index of Pali Suttas. Similes are indexed in “both directions,” meaning that if you look up “anger” you can find all the similes for anger. In theory they should be grouped under the subhead “like x”. Then in the other direction you can look under “fire” and see all the “simile for x”. So in theory by doing a page search for “like” and “simile for” you could get to all of them.

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Ah yes of course! Thank you for the plug! It is the perfect tool to begin studying this systematically. :pray:t5:

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