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Channa's Suicide in the Saṃyukta-Āgama

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Channa's Suicide in the Saṃyukta-Āgama BSRV 27.2 (2010) 125–137 Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (print) 0256-2897 doi: 10.1558/bsrv.v27i2.125 Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (online) 1747-9681 Channa’s Suicide in the Saṃyukta-āgama ANĀLAYO CENTER FOR BUDDHIST STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG AND DHARMA DRUM BUDDHIST COLLEGE, TAIWAN ABSTRACT The present article offers a translation of the Saṃyukta-āgama parallel to the Channa-sutta of the Saṃyutta-nikāya, which describes the events surrounding the suicide of a monk who might have been an arahant. Keywords Saṃyukta-āgama, comparative studies, suicide, Arahant, Channa Introduction The theme of suicide,1 in particular the question whether an arahant could delib- erately end his or her own life, is a topic often discussed mainly based on the material found in the Pāli canon. In order to make available some of the relevant canonical material extant in Chinese, with the present article I translate and discuss the perspective afforded by the Saṃyukta-āgama preserved in Chinese translation on the case of Channa’s suicide. In what follows, I first translate the Saṃyukta-āgama discourse, presumably the (Mūla-)Sarvāstivāda version of Channa’s suicide, 2 and then examine its presentation of this event. 1. The present article builds on an earlier survey of some of the more general aspects of the theme of suicide, based on Pāli sources, in Anālayo (2007a); and on a brief study of the theme of death in early Buddhism in Anālayo (2007b). 2. On the school affiliation of the Saṃyukta-āgama cf. Lü (1963, 242); Waldschmidt (1980, 136); Mayeda (1985, 99); Enomoto (1986, 23); Schmithausen (1987, 306); Choong (2000, 6 note 18); Hiraoka (2000); Harrison (2002, 1); Bucknell (2006, 685); and Glass (2010). © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011, 1 Chelsea Manor Studios, Flood Street, London SW3 5SR 126 Channa’s Suicide in the Saṃyukta-āgama Translation3 [Discourse to Channa]4 1. Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was staying at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels’ Feeding Place. 2. At this time, the venerable Channa, who was staying in Pāvārika’s Mango Grove at Nālanda,5 was seriously ill. 3. Then, the venerable Sāriputta heard that the venerable Channa, who was staying in Pāvārika’s Mango Grove at Nālanda, was seriously ill. Having heard this, he said to the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita:6 ‘Venerable friend, did you know that the venerable Channa, who is staying in Pāvārika’s Mango Grove at Nālanda, is seriously ill? We should go together to see him’. The venerable Mahākoṭṭhita accepted [the suggestion] by remaining silent.7 4. Then, the venerable Sāriputta and the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita together approached Pāvārika’s Mango Grove at Nālanda and went to the hut where the venerable Channa was staying. On seeing from afar the venerable Sāriputta and the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita, the venerable Channa wanted to get up from the bed on which he was resting. The venerable Sāriputta said to the venerable Channa: ‘You should just not get up!’.8 The venerable Sāriputta and the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita sat on another seat and asked the venerable Channa: ‘How is it, venerable Channa, is your affliction bearable, is it getting worse or better?’ ... as( above described in full in the discourse to Khema).9 3. The translated section ranges from T II 347b14 to 348b1. For ease of comparison, I adopt the paragraph numbering used in the English translation of MN 144 in Ñāṇamoli ([1995] 2005, 1114–1116); the translation of SN 35.87 in Bodhi (2000, 1164–1167) does not use paragraph numbering. For the same reason of facilitating comparison, I employ Pāli terminology (except for anglicized terms like ‘Dharma’), without thereby intending to take a position on the origi- nal language of the Saṃyukta-āgama, which according to de Jong (1981, 108) would in fact have been in Sanskrit. 4. SĀ 1266 does not have a title. Akanuma ([1929] 1990, 112) suggests the name of its main pro- tagonist, 闡陀, as a title, which I have followed. 闡陀 could in principle be rendering Chanda, Chandaka or Channa, cf. Akanuma ([1930] 1994, 128); on the different Channas known in the Theravāda tradition cf. also Malalasekera ([1937] 1995, 923f). The Saṃyutta-nikāya counter- part, SN 35.87 at SN IV 55,28, has the title Channa-sutta; whereas the Majjhima-nikāya version of the same discourse, MN 144 at MN III 266,ult., gives the title as Channovāda-sutta. 5. According to SN 35.87 at SN IV 55,31, he was staying at Mount Vulture Peak, together with Sāriputta and Mahācunda. 6. In SN 35.87 at SN IV 56,1, the other monk whom Sāriputta invites to come along to visit Channa is Mahācunda. 7. SN 35.87 at SN IV 56,5 reports that the other monk (Mahācunda) verbalizes his agreement. 8. A description of Channa trying to get up to receive his visitors is not found in SN 35.87. Simi- lar descriptions are a recurrent feature in other Pāli discourses, cf. e.g. SN 22.87 at SN III 120,2; SN 22.88 at SN III 125,4; SN 35.74 at SN IV 46,13; SN 35.75 at SN IV 47,ult.; AN 6.56 at AN III 379,16; though in these instances such an action is undertaken by a sick monk to express his respect towards the Buddha who is arriving, not towards a fellow monk. 9. This type of abbreviation (cf. in more detail Anālayo [2010, 6 note 10]) indicates that the three similes for illustrating the condition of a sick person should be supplemented from SĀ 103 at T II 29c16. These three similes illustrate the pain experienced by the diseased person with the examples of a strong man who tightens a rope around the head of a weak person, a butcher © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011 Anālayo 127 5. The venerable Channa said: ‘My body is ill now, extremely painful so that it is difficult to bear, the disease that has manifested is getting worse, not bet- ter. I just wish to take a knife and kill myself, [since] I do not enjoy living in pain’.10 6. The venerable Sāriputta said [347c]: ‘Venerable Channa, you should make an effort, do not harm yourself. While you are [still] in the world, I will come to take care of you. If you lack anything,11 I shall supply you with medicine in accordance with the Dharma. If you do not have anyone to attend to your sickness, I will certainly attend on you in conformity with your wishes, not contrary to your wishes’. 7. Channa replied: ‘I am provided for. The Brahmins and householders of Nālanda are looking after me, I do not lack anything [regarding] robes, blankets, beverages, food, bedding and medicine. I have myself disciples who, [while] living the holy life, look after my illness in accordance with my wishes, not contrary to my wishes. Yet my disease oppresses this body with extreme pain that is difficult to bear. I just wish to kill myself, [since] I do not delight in a life of pain’.12 8. Sāriputta said: ‘I will now ask you, you may answer me in accordance with what you think.13 Channa, the eye, eye-consciousness and the form cognized through the eye — could these be a self, [or] be distinct from a self [in the sense of being owned by it],14 or exist [within a self], or else [could a self] exist [within them]?’.15 Channa replied: ‘No’. 9. The venerable Sāriputta asked again: ‘Channa, the ear ... nose ... tongue ... body ... mind, mind-consciousness and the mind-objects cognized through mind-consciousness — could these be a self, [or] be distinct from a self [in who carves up the belly of a cow, and two strong men who roast a weak person over a fire. In addition to these three, SN 35.87 at SN IV 56,17 describes a strong man cleaving someone’s head with a sharp sword. 10. In SN 35.87 at SN IV 57,6, Channa explains that he does not wish to live. 11. SN 35.87 at SN IV 57,10 reports Sāriputta also offering to supply Channa with food. 12. Instead of indicating that he does not delight in a life of pain, in SN 35.87 at SN IV 57,23 Channa mentions that he has served the teacher in an agreeable way and concludes by proclaiming that his using the knife will be blameless; cf. below note 22. 13. In SN 35.87 at SN IV 57,28, Sāriputta first asks permission to put his questions. 14. The supplementation of ‘[in the sense of being owned by it]’ suggests itself from SĀ 109 at T II 34b20, where the question 云何見色異我 , ‘how is form regarded as distinct from self?’, receives the reply 見色是我所, ‘[by] regarding form as “this is mine”’; cf. also the next note. 15. SĀ 1266 at T II 347c10: 是我, 異我, 相在. Choong (2000, 59) explains that this cryptic formu- lation functions in the Saṃyukta-āgama as the counterpart to the three-part Pāli set phrase etaṃ mama, eso ‘ham asmi, eso me attā ti, ‘this is mine, this I am, this is my self’, found in the present case in SN 35.87 at SN IV 58,3. As Choong notes, the same formulation also parallels a four-part Pāli set phrase where a self is regarded as identical with an aggregate, as possess- ing an aggregate, as containing an aggregate, or as itself being within the aggregate. In the case of Saṃyukta-āgama passages paralleling this four-part formula, 相在 covers the last two alternatives, as can be seen e.g.
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