The Research of Buddha S Biographies Literature

（76） Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 66, No. 3, March 2018

The Research of Buddha’s Biographies Literature

WANG Lina

Buddha’s biographies literature is one of the most important subjects of Buddhist studies conducted by Western scholars. Japanese Buddhist scholars have paid attention to the Buddha’s biographies literature since one hundred years ago, giving many papers on Buddha’s biographies literature, which are quite significant and impressive.1) Chinese scholars put forward different academic views on what is the Buddha’s biographies literature and Buddhist literature. How did the Śākyamuni Buddha become the supernatural god who has the supernatural powers? What influences did Buddha’s Biographies Literature af- fect on the development of the Mahāyāna Buddhism? The Buddha’s Biographies of the Kṣudraka The Kṣudraka of the Pāli Buddhist scriptures consists of fifteen canons which record what the disciples of the Buddha said. The text of the Kṣudraka is complex in content.2) There are a lot of narrative contents in the Kṣudraka. The contents of these narratives mainly concentrate in the Suttanipāta 経集, Theragāthā 長老偈, Therigāthā 長老尼偈, and several other Buddhist scriptures. Buddha’s biographies of the Kṣudraka mainly concentrate in the Suttanipāta and Buddhavaṃsa. The Suttanipāta’s Mahāvagga briefly describes the Buddha’s birth, monk, practice, and enlightenment of the deeds. The Nārāyaṇasūtra 那羅迦経 describes the Buddha, who was born in Lumbini and Ṛṣi Asita, who predicts that the new born prince of the Śākya clan will become the Buddha. He persuades his nephew to follow the Buddha. The Suttanipāta plainly depicts the Buddha. There are no excessive exaggerations in the Suttanipāta. For example, the Suttanipāta describes the face of the Buddha having a warm flame that looks like a flame. The Chujiangjing 出家経 contains some stories of the Buddha who went to the Rajgir. He begged alms in the country of Magadha 摩揭陀国, and then met with the band of the king of King Bimbisāra 頻婆娑羅王. The Abhiyuktasūtra 精勤経 tells us that the Buddha in the Nairañjanā river attained enlightenment, became the Buddha, subdued Māra, defeating his craving, afflictions, hunger, and other eights. This part of the Buddha’s biographies do not have the story of Māra who send maidens to the Buddha with a view to

― 1050 ― The Research of Buddha’s Biographies Literature (Wang) （77） seducing him. This is not the beginning of the Buddha in the common white elephant rein- carnation, birth with the lotus. He was born through the right ribs of the Māyā. The Buddhavaṃsa 仏種姓 focuses on the Buddha’s Biographies. The first twenty-five concentrate mainly on narrating twenty-four Buddhas living before the Śākyamuni Buddha; only the twenty-sixth Buddha of Śākyamuni. The contents of Kṣudraka can be summarized as the birth of the Bodhisattva who attains enlightenments, subdues Māra, instructs monks, and plays the role of the teacher of kings. The rituals of these contents also appear in the later Buddha’s Biographies. The Kṣudraka does not contain the elements of epic poetry, which mostly record the parts of the Buddha’s life and lack complete storylines. The style of the Buddha’s biographies literature is divided into two types: gāthā (verse) and gadya (prose). The former is older than the latter. It is likely that the compilers of the Buddha’s biographies literature employed a verse style so that audiences could easily recite the biographies of the Buddha and recount them to others. The Kṣudraka has the embryon- ic form of the Buddha’s biographies. The Buddha is the first guru. The image of Buddha contains divine elements.3) The Buddha’s Biographies of the Vinaya There are many interesting stories in the Vinaya. Chapters one through three of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya are devoted to the Buddha’s biographies. They trace the ancestry of the Śākya clan and record the birth of the prince bearing the thirty two marks. Moreover, they tells us that the prince shaved off his hair, drank the honey offered by a layperson, and then taught the Five Monks, the dragon king, and his daughter. In this version of the Buddha’s biographies, the Śākyamuni Buddha neither marries, nor has a son. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and the Mahīśaka Vinaya narrate the history of Śākya clan handed down from generation to generation, which seems to be influenced by the Pañcalakṣaṇa (“five distinguishing marks”) of the Theogony and patri- archal lineage of the purāṇas.4) It is noteworthy that the Buddha’s biographies of the Mahīśaka Vinaya narrate the account of the observation of four sights. The outline of this version is given as follows: The prince, seeing voluptuous women in the Court, feels dis- gust with them and then rides away. He has an interview with King Bimbisāra and then attains enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. The dragon king protects the Buddha against the attack of a swarm of mosquitoes. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and the Mahīśaka Vinaya do not tell us that the Buddha was born from the right side of his mother. All the ladies and ministers felt extremely sad when they heard that the prince had become a monk. The

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Buddha’s biographies found in the Mahīśaka Vinaya are quite similar to those found in the Buddhacarita. It is to be noted that some of the Buddha’s biographies whose originals have not come down to us are extant in Chinese translation. The Taiziruiyinbenqijing 瑞応本起経 is the biography of the Buddha that begins with his past lives in which he makes a vow to attain enlightenment.

以此浄心三明洞照．所謂宿命明外心明漏尽明，如瑞応本起中説5)

The second chapter of the Taiziruiyinbenqijing is devoted to the depiction of the Buddha who gained supernatural powers. Curiously enough, this depiction, which is not found in the Mahīśaka Vinaya, occurs in the second chapter of the Taiziruiyinbenqijing. It is reasonable to assume that the Mahīśaka Vinaya was written in the first century AD, for it gives the account of why the discipline appeared. Consideration of this fact makes it reasonable to suppose that The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and the Mahīśaka Vinaya are older than the other Vinayas. The Mahāskandha of the Pāli Vinaya records that the prince, having attain enlightenment, became the Buddha and then taught the five monks and others. It gives the Ten Complete Precepts 十眾受具 and belongs to the Vibhajyavāda school 分別説系. We can find the Buddha’s biographies in the Śīlaskandha. Chapters one through two of the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya 十誦律, which are devoted to the account of Devadatta who schemes to murder the Śākyamuni Buddha 雑誦調達事一, 二, contains the Buddha’s biographies. The Sarvāstivāda Vinaya tells us that circumstance compelled the Buddha to eat fodder during the journey. We cannot find the Buddha’s biography in the Mahāsaṃghika Vinaya. It is, however, noteworthy that it provides background to the discipline established by the Buddha (制戒), where we can see the legends of the Buddha. According to the standard of the Buddha’s biographies, the Mahāsaṃghika Vinaya belongs to a later period beyond doubt.6) The Buddha’s biographies of the Vinaya are written in a simple style. They do not contain elements of rhetorical embellishment. Their style is characterized by the use of gadya and interlocutory gāthā 問答体偈頌. The Buddha’s biographies of the Vinaya seem not to be written by laypeople. There are no complete and coherent Buddha’s biographies. “These stories are not sub-coherent and narrative the Buddha’s biographies.”7) The Buddha’s biographies of the Vinaya are the important source of the later Buddha’s biographies. In ancient China, the biographies of monks are written by the lawyers, which is likely to be affected

― 1052 ― The Research of Buddha’s Biographies Literature (Wang) （79） by the Buddha’s biographies of the Vinaya. The Buddha’s Biographies of the sūtras The Buddha’s biographies of sūtras are rich in content. The Mahāvastu 大事, which belongs to the Mahāsaṃghika Lokottaravāda (説出世部) school, is currently regarded as the earliest biographies of the Buddha. The Lokottaravādins, who regard the Buddha as a supernatural god, advocate the worship of the Buddha. The Mahāvastu, which mainly describes the life of the Bodhisattvas who lived before other ancient Buddhas, seems to be a collection of the legends of the Buddha. The Buddha’s biographies of the Four Āgamas contains the stories of the Seven Buddhas of the Past. They tell us that the Buddha, born from the right rib of his mother, gazed at the sky and the ground, and then taught laypeople. The Buddha’s biographies of the Mahapadana Sutta (Dabenjing 大本経) are written in a mixture of gāthā and gadya. The Youxingjing 遊行経 of the Dīghāgama contains the story of the Seven Buddhas of the Past including the Śākyamuni Buddha. This sūtra recounts that the Buddha saw one who suffered an illness, one who was aged, one who was dead, and one who became a religious mendicant and that a large number of stūpas in which the relics of the Buddha were in- stalled were built. The Dvādaśaviharaṇa-sūtra 十二遊経 of the Dīrghāgama is a brief biography of the Buddha. It is characterized by the use of gadya and sketches the life of the Śākyamuni Buddha. In this version, we find the description concerning a killer priest who, using soil and blood, makes portraits and other things, which is peculiar to this version. It is likely that this description is affected by the Brahmanism that advocates worship. The Ruiyingbenqijing 瑞応本起経, which belongs to the Mahīśaka school, contains two chapters devoted to the Buddha’s biographies. This version recounts that the Śākyamuni Buddha, having attained enlightenment, worked various divine miracles. There is a considerable dif- ference between the Buddha’s biographies of the Zhonbenqijing 中本起経 and those of others. This version of the Buddha’s biographies recounts that the Śākyamuni Buddha gave his first sermon 初転法輪 to his disciples beginning with Bimbisāra, Maudgalyāyana, and King Prasenajit, who became the important laypeople of the early saṃgha. It contains the story of the Buddha who ate horse feed as his food when he spent three months with the Brahmin ruler Agnidatta with 500 monks. It is one of his ten sufferings. As the Buddha’s biographies sūtras, the Puyaojing 普曜経 is very important. It is trans- lated by the Dharmarakṣa of the Western Jin in 308. It is the masterpiece of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. It spread widely in the Han Dynasty. Five chapters of the Buddhacaritasaṃgraha-

― 1053 ― （80） The Research of Buddha’s Biographies Literature (Wang) sūtra 仏本行集経 ascribed to Dhammarakkhita are devoted to the Buddha’s biographies. They tell us that the Śākyamuni Buddha made offerings, was born under the Bodhi tree, and learned skills at home. This version of the Buddha’s biographies contains a large number of jātaka and avadāna stories. The Lalitavistara is written in a mixture of gāthā and gadya. The basic contents of this work is similar to those of the Puyaojing and the Fangguangdazhuangyanjing 方広大荘厳経．At the end of Mahāyāna sūtras, they emphasize the importance of the accumulation of merit. “It has no more folk literature color than Pāli Buddhist literature. They are designed to promote religious beliefs and to satisfy the liter- ary needs of the upper classes. Such sūtras are full of rhetoric and fancy fancies.”8) The Mahāsammata-rāja 衆許摩訶帝経 is the Buddha’s biographies of the Sarvāstivādins 説一切有部. Only the Chinese translation of this work is extant. The contents of the Mahāsammata-rāja are the same as those of nine chapters of the Saṃghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya 根本説一切有部律破僧事．We find brief biographies of the Buddha in the Dvādaśaviharaṇa-sūtra. They tell us that the Buddha became a monk and then attained enlightenment. “The Mahāyāna Buddhism laypersons regarded the Śākyamuni Buddha as the eternal God. There is no beginning and end.”9) The Buddha’s biographies of the Puyaojing such as the Buddha’s image far beyond the ordinary monks. He can do anything, having countless supernatural universe. It has a lot of magic exaggeration. In the Puyaojing, the Buddha is described as one who is endowed with omnipotence and supernatural power. We can find many rhetorical exaggerations in the Puyaojing. A large variety of figures of speech, such as metaphor, exaggeration, and parallelism are employed in this work. It depicts many scenes, characters, psychology, and movements with colorful words. Conclusion A large number of the Buddha’s biographies are extant in Buddhist sūtras. We can find a clear tendency towards the deification of the Buddha in the Buddha’s biographies preserved in the Kṣudraka. There are magnificent descriptions of the Buddha in the Vinaya. It extols the birth of the Buddha and his supernatural power. Different versions of the Buddha’s biographies are preserved in Buddhist schools 部派 that have different view of the Buddha. While the Buddha’s biographies written in an early period have a clear preference for the use of gāthā, those written in a later period for the use of gadya. A typical example of the former is the Buddhacarita. It is interesting to note that, in later periods, large parts of

― 1054 ― The Research of Buddha’s Biographies Literature (Wang) （81） the Buddha’s biographies came to be devoted to the detailed description of the Buddha. The Śākyamuni Buddha is regarded as a great sage and a person of morals. In the later period, the Buddha came to be described as the god of the universe. Also worthy of attention is that some Buddhist schools attached a great importance to having faith in the Śākyamuni.

Notes

1) See Wang 2014. 2) See Dong 2011, 370. 3) Guo 1990, 79. 4) See Xu 2011, 38 and Ji 1991, 170. 5) 弥沙塞部和醯五分律 T22, 102c. 6) Akira Hirakawa believes that the Dashi 大事 related the Vinaya. The Buddha’s biographies of the Vinaya are quite similar to the Tongdielü. So the Buddha’s biographies of the Dashi come from the Sengqilü 僧祇律 as the Buddha’s biographies. So he had a conclusion that there is the Buddha’s biographies look like the skandhas 大犍度 in the Sengqilü. Yin shun denies this view. See Yin 2009, 291–291. Hirakawa 1960. 7) See Yin 2009, 292. 8) See Ji 1991, 194. 9) See Ji 1991, 199.

Bibliography

Ji xianlin 季羨林. 1991. Yindugudaiwenxueshi 印度古代文學史. Peking: Beijing University Press. Yin shun 印顺. 2009. Yuanshifojiaoshengdianzhijicheng 原始佛教圣典之集成. Peking: Zhong Hua Book Company. Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. 1960. Ritsuzō no kenkyū 律蔵の研究. Tokyo: Sankibo Buddhist Book Store. Deng Dianchen 鄧殿臣, trans. 2011. Zhanglaoji zhanglaoniji 長老偈長老尼偈. He Fei: Huang shan Book Company. Jin Kemu 金克木. 1999. Fanzhuluji jia fanyuwenxueshi 梵竺廬集 (甲) 梵語文學史. Jiang Xi: Jiangxi Education Press. Wang Lina. 2014. “Discussion on the Re- search History of Buddhist Biographic Literature and Related Issues.” The World Religious Cultures 3: 94–98.

(Project supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China: “Buddhism and Silk Road in Tang Dynasty in Changan” 中國國家基金專案: 國家社科基金重點專案 “唐代長安佛教與絲綢之路” [15AZJ003]).

Key words Kṣudraka, Buddha’s Biographies Literature, Buddhacarita (Researcher, Peking University National Library of China)

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