Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies Vol. 400, No. 1, December 1991
The Idea of Confession in the Divyavadana
satoshi HIRAOKA
The Divyavaddnh (=Divy.), a collectionof narrative literature of unknowndate, contains much informationwhich sheds light on diverve problemsof IndianBuddhism. Amongthese is the corifession of sin and the destructionof karma. The characteristicphrase which marks the confession of sin, atyayam atyayato dis (to confess a sin as a sin), a phrase found alreadyin the Pali Nikayas,occurs in three separatenarratives of the Divy. I would like to examine these and discuss; the connection bet- weenthe Divy.'s presentation and that in the Pali Nikayas.
[i] Chap. 37 Rudrayanavadana. This chapter deals with the narrative of Rudrayana. He was a king, but just after becoming a believer in Buddhism he gave his place to his son, kklandin, and became a monk renourifcing the world. As a result of devotinghimself to practioe,he beicamean Arhat. But his soil, tempted by bad ministers,sent assassinsto try to kill his father. The assassins, going to Rudrayana,asked him, "If the king ikhaiidinasks us, 'What were the last wordsof my father?,' how shouldwe answer him?" There- upon Rudrayanaspoke to them as follows; dve tvaya anantarye karmani krte yac ca pita jivitad vyaparopito carhan bhiksuh ksinasravas ciram to 'vicau mahaake vavyam atydyarn atyayato desayapy evaitat1) karma tanutvam pariyam paaanam gacced iti/2) "you have committed two deadly karmas, the murder of your father and of a monk who is an Arhat whose impurities have been exhausted. [So] you will have to dwell in the great hell Avici for a long Confess [your] fault as a fault [and] that karma shall shrely grow little, decay, and cone to an end." These were his last words. But since ikhaiidin did not cbhfess his f cult -512- (6) The.Idea of Confession in the Divyavadana (S. HIRAOKA) as instructed by his father, this example does not give us any clue to figure out whether confession is effective or not in destroying bad karma.
[ii] Chap. 1 Kotikarnavadana. This is the story of Kotikarna, who became an Arhat. Born as the son of a rich house-holder, he decided to go to sea. When he went to his mother to bid her farewell, she wept over his departure and said, "Son, when can I next see you alive?" He, thinking that his mother uttered ominous words, said abusively, "Your utterance of such ominous words will lead you to evil states." Then his mother spoke to him as. follows;
putra kliaram to vakkarrna niscaritam atyayam atyayato desaya/ apy evaitat karma tanutvam pariksayam pamyadanam gaccheta/ sa tenatyayam atyayato ksa- mapita/3) "Son, the vocal karma uttered by you is violent. Confess[your] fault as a fault [and] that karma shall surely grow little, decay, and come to an end." He apologizedto her [confessing his] fault as a fault.
After this apology he went to sea. But returning from the sea he was left by his caravan and then strayed off into the world of hungry ghosts. His parents, on the other hand, held a funeral for him, thinking him dead because he did not come back with his caravan. Returning to this world after a long while, he noticed that his parents had held a funeral for him and decided to renounce the world, and was ordained by Mahakatyayana. After that, cutting off all afflictions, he became an Arhat. Then some monks asked the Buddha, "What karma did he do and due to which he saw an evil state (=the world of hungry ghosts)?" The Buddha explained, "Kotikarna, due to his violent words to his mother, saw this evil state." This is the karma he had to exhaust even though he had enough merit to renounce the world and become an Arhat later. This chapter does not explicitly mention the effect of his confession. In other, chapters of the Divy., however, those who.,perform bad karma consisting in using violent words experience much harder fruits. For example in chap. 2 the Pur- -511- The Idea of Confession in the Divyavadana (S. HIRAOKA) (7) navadana, Purna, as a consequence of reviling an attendant of an Arhat in his former life, had to experience birth as the. son of a female slave five hundred times.4). And in. chap. 19 the Jyotiskavadana, the hero, Jyotiska, in. his former life abused a king who understood truth, and because of this he was burnt on firewood five hundred times together with his mother while he was still in her womb.5) Moreover Sahasodgata, in chap. 21 the Sahasodgatasya prakaranavadana, is born as a day laborer five hundred times because he used offensive language toward a Pratyekabuddha in his previous life.6) The comparison with these. cases gives. the impression that in the case of Kotikarna the fruit of his karma is not so hard. The Divy., therefore, seems to admit the effect of confession in this chapter even though the text does not explicitly refer to the effect of-reducing or destroying karma. (or sin).
[iii] Chap. 2 Purnavadana. Another example of confession is seen in the former story of Purna in which he was a beadle of a monastery. Once he reviled an acolyte of an Arhat, saying "You damn son of a slave woman!" The Arhat, hearing his words, admonished him against abusing the acolyte. The Buddha explained the incident as follows;
kharam to vakkarma niscaritam atyayam atyayato desayapy evaitat karma tanutvam pariksayam paryadanam gacched iti/ tenatyayam atyayato desitam/ yat tena naraka upapadya dasiputrena bhavitavyam tan narake nopapannah Panca to janmasatani dasyah kuksav upapannah/ yavad etarhi api carame bhave dasya. eva kuksav upapannah/7) "[The Arhat said,] 'the vocal karma uttered by you is violent. Confess [your] fault as a fault [and] that karma shall surely grow little, decay, and come to an end.' He confessed [his] fault as a fault. Although he was supposed to be reborn in hell and [moreover] reborn as the son of a female slave five hundred times, he was not reborn in hell because of this [confession]. However he was reborn as the son of a female slave five hundred times. Up to this time, which is his last existence, he has been reborn only as the son of a female slave [hav- -510- (8) The Idea of Confession in the Divyavadana (S. HIRAOKA) ing no other types. of birth]."
Even though the Arhat states "Confess [your] fault as a fault [and] that karma.shall surely grow little, decay, and come to an end," the complete destruction of karma by confession does not come about. The confession, however, does destroyy the karma that would have led Puri a to hell. It is notable that this, example clearly states that karma can be destroyed, be- cause, the Divy. emphasizes in so many places that karma, once made, never perishes before it brings about its fruit.8) There seems to be a big logical contradiction between the two ideas.
An expression of the cliche of confession similar to that found in the Divy. "atyayczm tyayato is" is already seen in many places in the Nikayas. When Kotatsu Fujita examined the original words for "sin" or "crime" in early Buddhism, he discussed several words including atyaya
(Pali: accaya), and pointed. out that in contrast to the word apattj which means to violate precepts, and refers only to the sin of monks, atyayo has widerr meanings such as sin, crime, and fault, and is used both in cases of monks and of lay disciples.9) In the Nikayas accaya is often used in cliches.10) For example the Sara tnaphala-sutta gives the cliche of con- fession with accaya. Here Ajatasattu, who killed his father, confesses his sin to the Buddha as follows; accayo mam bhante accagama yatha balam yatha mulham yatha akusalam so ham pitaram dhammikam dhammarajanam issariyassa karana jivita voropesim. tassa me bhante bhagava accayam accayato patiganhatu ayatim samvaraya ti.11) "Reverend One, a sin overcame me as [it overcomes] the foolish, the infatuated,
[and] the evil. Since I have deprived my righteous father, the Dharma-king, of life for the sake of rulership, Reverend One, may the Blessed One accept this sin of mine as a sin, in order that it may be restrained in the future.
In response to his request the Buddha states the following cliche:
yato ca kho tvammmaharaja accayam accayato disva yathadhammam pa fikarosi tan to mayam patiganhama. vuddhi h esa maharaja ariyassa vinaye yo accayam accayato disva yathadhammam patikaroti ayatim samvaram apajjatiti12) -509- The Idea of Confession in the Divyavadana (S. HIRAOKA) (9) "And, great King, since you expiated rightly, acknowledging [your] sin as a sin, we accept your [sin]. For great king, expiating rightly, having acknowledged [one's] sin as a sin and restraining [oneself] in the future, is prosperity in the Discipline of the noble." The Nikayas provide us with many examples of confession. with the cliche underlined above,13) and it is clear that the following description in chap. 33 of the Divy. is derived from the cliche in the Nikayas. Here the story runs this way: Prakrti from the matanga caste, who. fell in love with Ananda, was troubling . him by persistently approaching him. The Buddha could not look on this incident with indifference and ordained her through skillful means. After becoming a nun, she confessed her fault of calling Ananda "husband" as follows; atyayo me bhagavann atyayo me sugata/ yatha bala yatha mudha yathavyakta yathakusaka duhprajnajatiya yaham anandam bhiksum svamivadena samudacarsarn saham bhadantatyayam atyayatah pasyami/ atyayam atyayato drstva desayamy atyayam atyayata aviskaromi ayatyam samvaram apadye 'tas tasya mama bhagavan atyayam atyayato janatu pratigrhnatu anukampam upadaya/14) "[It is] my fault, Blessed One, [it is] my fault, Sugata. I am foolish by nature. I, who addressed the monk Ananda with the word 'husband,' acknowledge [my] fault as a fault, Reverend One. Acknowledging [my] fault as a fault, I confess [my] fault as a fault and make it visible. I will take moral restraint for the future. Therefore may the Blessed One recognize and accept [my] fault as a fault, out of compassion." This examination shows that the cliche of confession in the Divy. "atyayam atyayato )dig" can be found in the Nikayas, too. However, the new phrase "etat karma tanutvam pariksayam paryadanarn gacchet," which does not appear in the Nikayas at least in the present context, seems to be an addition to an earlier formula in order to make explictit the Divy.'s emphasis on the connection between karma and. confession. Thus the pattern in the Divy. which explicitly connects atyaya with karman, namely atyayam atyayato desayapy evaitat karma, appears to be an innovation or an extention of the expression which we find in the Nikayas., in which it is not explicitly stated that accaya is kamma, although this idea seems to -508- (10) The Idea of Confession in the Divyavadana (S. HIRAOKA) ebe implied.
1) Cowell & Neil read defayamy etat. But see Divy. p. 570. 24, p. 5. 5, and p. 55. 1. 2) Divy, pp. 567. 27-568. 1 ; See p. 570. 21-25. 3) Ibid. p. 5. 4-7. 4) Ibid. pp. 54. 27-55. 5. 5) Ibid. p. 289. 11-14. 6) Ibid. p. 313. 26-29. 7) Ibid. pp. 54. 27-55. 5. 8) See Divy. p. 54. 1ff, p. 131. 7ff, p. 191. 11ff, p. 282. 10ff, p. 311. 12ff, p. 464. 11f, p. 504. 19ff, p. 532. 23ff, p. 538. 11ff, p. 539. 28ff, p. 541. 9ff, p. 581. 26ff, p. 584. 13ff. 9) Kotatsu Fujita 藤 田 宏 達, 'Genshi-bukkyo ni okeru aku no kannen'「 原 始 仏 教 に
お け る 悪 の 観 念 」(The Concept of Evil in Early Buddhism), Bukkyo shiso 2 akac 『仏 教 考 想2悪 』edited by Bukkyo-shiso-kenkyukai仏 教 思 想 研 究 会, Kyoto: Hei- rakuji shoten 平 楽 寺 書 店, 1976, pp. 115-156, esp. pp. 143-145. 10) The word atyaya (Pali: accaya) is often used with Vdis (or drs) from the texts of early Buddhism. Examples of accaya used with Vdis (or drs) in the Nikayas are as follows; (a) accayam accayato Jdis: SN. I, p. 239. 16; SN. I, p. 239. 24; AN. I, p. 237. 11 & 15; Vin. I, p. 314. 23. b) accayam accayato drs: SN. I, p 239. 26-7; AN. I, p. 59. 15; AN. I, p. 103. 9; AN. I, p. 103. 15. (c) accayam /dis: SN. I, p. 24. 22; SN. I, p. 239. 30; AN. I, p. 59. 15-6; AN. I, p. 103. 10-11; Ap. p. 46. 14, p. 549. 18, p. 549. 28. (d) accayam dri: Ja. VI, p. 299. 8. 11) DN I, p. 85. 15-19. 12) Ibid. p. 85. 22-26. 13) See DN. III, p. 55. 5-15; MN. I, p. 438. 23-29 & p. 439. 16-20; MN. III, pp. 246. 33-247. 10; SN. I, p. 24. 14-17; SN. II, p. 127. 26-30 & p. 128. 22-26; SN. II, p. 205. 10-26; AN. I, pp. 237. 35-238. 15; AN. II, p. 146. 27-36; AN. IV, p. 377. 16-27; Vin. II, p. 126. 9-20; Vin. II, p. 192. 12-22; Vin. IV, pp. 18. 33-19. 4. 14) Divy. p. 617. 17-23. (I used the Divyavadana edited by E. B. Cowell & R. A. Neil, Cambridge, 1886, and the PTS editions for Pali texts. I am grateful to my 畏 友Mr. J. Silk for his suggestions.)
-507-