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Metaphor and Pedagogy in Early Buddhist Literature

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Metaphor and Pedagogy in Early Buddhist Literature Metaphor and Pedagogy in Early Buddhist Literature: An Edition and Study of Two Sūtras from the Senior Collection of Gāndhārī Manuscripts Joseph Marino A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: Richard Salomon, Chair Collett Cox Christian Novetzke Timothy Lenz Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Asian Languages and Literature ©Copyright 2017 Joseph Marino University of Washington Abstract Metaphor and Pedagogy in Early Buddhist Literature: An Edition and Study of Two Sūtras from the Senior Collection of Gāndhārī Manuscripts Joseph Marino Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Richard Salomon Department of Asian Languages and Literature This dissertation examines the role of metaphorical language in early Buddhist literature through the lens of two previously unpublished Gāndhārī sūtras on a manuscript from the Robert Senior Collection. At the microscopic level, I offer an edition, translation, and textual analysis of a Buddhist manuscript containing two Saṃyuktāgama-type sūtras written in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script. I study the writing and language of the manuscript in sections on paleography, orthography, phonology, and morphology. I then offer extensive text notes making sense of the sūtras and comparing them with parallel texts in Pāli, Sanskrit, and Chinese. At the telescopic level, I study the pedagogical and rhetorical functions of metaphorical language, broadly conceived, in early Buddhist literature, particularly through the lens of two evocative similes that are the central motifs of the Gāndhārī sūtras under consideration. The first simile compares a well-defended fortress to a mindful practitioner, while the second compares bodies of people born in hell to a red-hot iron ball. Additionally, I examine a metaphor that compares hell, and also existence in saṃsāra, to a "great conflagration." Through this analysis, I show that the Gāndhārī similes and metaphor allude to wide-reaching networks of imagery found throughout early Buddhist literature that enhance our interpretation of the Gāndhārī sūtras. Moreover, they illustrate a common didactic strategy, a kind of "pedagogy of metaphor," that was used to engage the imaginations of traditional audiences and convey complex Buddhist teachings. Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. ix Dedication ................................................................................................................................ xi List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xii Transcriptional Conventions ................................................................................................. xvi Part I: Metaphor and Pedagogy ................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Gandhāran Buddhist Manuscripts ................................................................................. 1 1.2. Scope of the Dissertation ............................................................................................... 3 1.3. Zooming In: Robert Senior Manuscript 20 ................................................................... 6 1.4. Zooming Out: Metaphor in Early Buddhist Literature.................................................. 8 1.4.1. Metaphor and Pedagogy .......................................................................................... 8 1.4.2. Metaphor and Soteriology ..................................................................................... 12 1.4.3. Metaphor and Intertextuality ................................................................................. 14 1.5. Range of Literature ...................................................................................................... 16 1.6. Structure of the Dissertation ........................................................................................ 16 Chapter 2: The Simile of the Fortified City ........................................................................... 19 2.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 19 2.2. Imagining the City ....................................................................................................... 21 2.3. Examples of the Simile ................................................................................................ 23 2.3.1 City-as-nirvāṇa ....................................................................................................... 24 i 2.3.2 City-as-body ........................................................................................................... 28 2.3.3. City-as-Dharma ..................................................................................................... 31 2.4. New Evidence from a Gāndhārī Version ..................................................................... 39 2.5. Incendiary Cats ............................................................................................................ 41 2.6 Conclusion: Similes and the Construction of Buddhist Texts ...................................... 45 Chapter 3: The Great Conflagration Hell ............................................................................... 49 3.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 49 3.2. Buddhist Hells .............................................................................................................. 51 3.3. The Great Conflagration Sūtra .................................................................................... 61 3.4. The Great Conflagration Hell ...................................................................................... 64 3.4.1. Mahaparaḍaha as Metaphor .................................................................................. 65 3.4.2. The Fire, the Fall, and the Darkness: Early Conceptions of Hell? ....................... 66 3.4.3. Mahaparaḍaha as Pratāpana .................................................................................. 69 3.4.4. Mahaparaḍaha as Mahāniraya/Avīcī ..................................................................... 70 3.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 72 Chapter 4: The Simile of Red-Hot Iron Ball .......................................................................... 74 4.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 74 4.2. Eating the Red-Hot Iron Ball ....................................................................................... 75 4.3. RHIB and Other Tortures in Earthly Punishment ....................................................... 82 4.4. Conclusion: Discipline, Punishment, and Liberation .................................................. 89 Part II: Robert Senior Manuscript 20 ..................................................................................... 96 Chapter 5: Physical Description of the Manuscript .............................................................. 96 Chapter 6: Paleography and Orthography ............................................................................ 103 ii 6.1. Paleography ................................................................................................................ 103 6.2. Orthography ............................................................................................................... 106 6.3. Errors and Corrections ............................................................................................... 108 6.3.1. Haplography ........................................................................................................ 108 6.3.2. Corrections .......................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 7: Phonology ........................................................................................................... 110 7.0. General Remarks ........................................................................................................ 110 7.1. Vowels........................................................................................................................ 110 7.1.1. Initial Vowels ...................................................................................................... 111 7.1.2. Medial Vowels .................................................................................................... 112 7.1.3. Developments of Old Indo-Aryan r̥ .................................................................... 115 7.1.4. Reductions ........................................................................................................... 115 7.2. Consonants ................................................................................................................
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