NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN EARLY BUDDHISM S. Dhammika Nature and the Environment in Early Buddhism © S Dhammika, 2015 First published in Singapore by Buddha Dhamma !andala So"iety #ll rights reserved$ No part of this book "an be reprodu"ed &ithout &ri'en permission of the author$ (ermission &ill be granted on re)uest$ Table of Contents (re%a"e ********************$ i For&ard ********************$ ii Nature and the Environment as Depi"ted in the (+,i -ipi.aka **********$$ 1 Flora and Fauna in the (+ḷi -ipi.aka ***** /2 !edi"al (lants in the (+ḷi -ipi.aka and their 0ses ************* 112 (+,i 3English 4lossary ************ 15/ #bbreviations ****************$ 155 Sele"t Bibliography *************$$ 201 Preface 6n 2000 6 spent a &eek in the forest around 7amui in Bihar$ #lthough badly degraded in parts and unsafe in others be"ause o% bandits, the forest and its &ildlife are still relatively inta"t$ 8is short so9ourn o:ered a rare glimpse o% 6ndia;s natural environment that &ould have been %amiliar to the Buddha but &hi"h has no& almost "ompletely disappeared$ 6 sa& nilghi, troops o% languar, the )uills o% a por"upine, the glorious Butea superba in full bloom, a pea"o"k and its mates and numerous other birds. #t nearly every turn 6 &as reminded o% the Buddha;s descriptions o% the forest and o% some o% the bu"oli" poetry in the 7+taka$ 6t &as durin these %e& pleasant days that 6 "on"eived the idea o% &ritin somethin about nature and the environment as depi"ted in the P+,i Tipi.aka. 6 &ould like to thank (ro%$ ($ D$ (remasiri, (ro%$ <$ =$ Norman and Dr$ #lexander ?ynne, all o% &ho helped me in various &ays &ith this book$ 6 must also thank #nanda9oti Bhikkhu &ho read through several dra@s o% the book makin numerous "orre"tions and suggestions and bringin my a'ention to things I had missed. This book &ould probably not have seen the light o% day &ithout his help$ Finally 6 must also express my gratitude to Dr$ S$ <$ 7ain, former Dire"tor o% the Botani"al Survey o% 6ndia, &ho took a great interest in my resear"h and o:ered me mu"h en"ouragement. i ii Foreword 8e first a'empt to identify the plants in the -ipi.aka &as made by =obert Bhilders in his A Dictionary of the Pali Language o% 11C2$ Bhilders gave about 125 plant names and provided the Dinnaean nomen"lature for most o% these$ Ho&ever, more than hal% these names are from (+,i &orks "omposed in Sri Danka and are not mentioned in the -ipi.aka itsel%$ =hys Davids and Stede;s Pali English Dictionary published bet&een 1521325, in"ludes about F20 (+,i plant names &ith the botani"al names for about a third o% these$ 6n"luded also are about 115 animal names o% &hi"h only eight in"lude the Goologi"al names. 6t is un"lear &hat authority =hys Davids and Stede used for the nomen"lature they did give but they seem to have relied heavily on Monier3?illiam’s Sanskrit English Dictionary$ 6n her translation o% the Hinaya (i.aka published bet&een 15/1 and 1522, 6$ B$ Horner tried to identify the various medi"al plants mentioned in that &ork and in her subse)uent 15C5 translation o% the Buddhavaṃsa, she identified the various trees asso"iated &ith the 21 Buddhas and other plants. 6n this first translation, Horner seems for the most part to have follo&ed =hys Davids but &here not she ave her reasons for pre%errin a di:erent identiA"ation$ In the Buddhavaṃsa she follo&ed 4eorge Du"e &ho in turn must have relied on the Burmese sayadaws &hom, it &ould seem likely, &ere not familiar &ith plants endemi" to northern India. Studies in the flora and fauna in Sanskrit literature are very e>tensive, espe"ially so in the "ase o% flora be"ause o% the interest in ayuvedi" medi"ine$ #s many Sanskrit names have (+,i e)uivalents su"h studies are relevant to the present book and I have consulted as mu"h o% this resear"h as 6 have been able too$ Modern 6ndian "ollo)uial names for "ertain plants and animals like&ise have proven helpful in makin some identiA"ations, although 6 have kept in mind <laus <ar'unen;s "omment that these are ‘to be used with caution;. # thorough "ompilation o% material on flora, fauna and the environment from the P+,i Tipi.aka is more than justified. Despite bein a ri"h sour"e o% information on these sub9e"ts 6ndian scholars have iii largely ignored (+,i literature$ 6n their "ontributions to the magisterial History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Ci!ili"ation series, =a9an and Sridhar use a &ide range o% religious and se"ular literature but have only three brie% re%eren"es to (+,i "anoni"al or post3"anoni"al &orks. 4hosh and Sen;s study o% botany in the post3Hedi" period for A Concise History of Science in India utiliGe no (+,i material$ Many other examples of this negle"t could be given. 6n tryin to identi%y the flora and fauna in (+,i literature 6 "hose not to rely on my prede"essors so as to avoid perpetuatin any mistakes they might have made, and only looked at their &orks a@er havin finished my o&n$ 6n some "ases 6 found that 6 had "ome to the same "on"lusions as them although in other "ases 6 had not$ Ln many o""asions 6 was unable to identify a plant or animal but found that =hys Davids, Horner, et"$ had done so, although 6 "ould find no 9ustiA"ation for their con"lusions. It should be pointed out ho&ever, that the identity o% many plants and animals mentioned in an"ient 6ndian literature is very "on9e"tural$ #s 4$ 7$ !eulenbeld has sho&n, there is &ide disagreement amongst scholars as to &hi"h Sanskrit plant name "an be identified &ith &hi"h plant and this "omment is e)ually valid for (+,i$ 6 have no doubt made some mistakes. My hope is that in the future someone &ill be able to "orre"t these mistakes and also fill in the many gaps I have le@. S$ Dhammika iv Nature and the Environment as Depicted in the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka There are 2F00 species of Ash in 7ambudMpa, F500 species of birds and 2F00 species of beasts. There are 10000 species of trees, 1000 species o% rass, CF0 types o% medicinal herbs and F/ types of aromati" plants. D!ādaśaviharaṇa S&tra* 8e Buddha &as born in and spent his &hole life in &hat &as then "alled the Middle Dand, N(ajjhi(a*desaO, the broad fertile plains surroundin the 4anges and Pamuna rivers. #@er his passin his tea"hings &ere commi'ed to memory and later "ompiled into &hat is no& kno&n as the (+,i -ipi.aka, the sa"red scriptures o% the 8eravada school o% Buddhism. 8e age o% the -ipi.aka is problemati" but the "ore material in the Su'a (i.aka probably dates from bet&een the 5th and /th "enturies BBE$ 8e e>"eption to this are some o% the books in the <huddaka Nik+ya, parti"ularly the 7+taka$ Most o% the verses Ng#th#O o% the 7+taka, the only part "onsidered "anoni"al, are probably about the same age as the Hinaya (i.aka NFth to /rd "enturies BBEO$ 8e prose stories Nat+ta !a,huO are some&hat later and the Kintrodu"tion; Nnid#na*kath#O, the Kstory o% the present; Npaccuppanna*!a,huO and the K"onne"tion; Nsa(odhānaO are later still, although exa"tly ho& late is diQ"ult to say$ #ll these parts o% the 7+taka &ill be used in this study$ 8e 7+taka also refle"t a kno&ledge o% a &ider geographi"al area than do the Su'a and Hinaya (i.akas and in"lude &hat is no& lo&er 4hara&al and <umaon and the desert regions o% =a9asthan$ ?hile the bulk o% the -ipi.aka is "on"erned &ith the Buddha;s tea"hings, it nonetheless "ontains a great deal o% in"idental information about the so"ial, e"onomi", "ultural and politi"al life o% the Buddha;s time$ * Shi er you jing, 《佛说十二游经》Taisho edition of the Chinese Tripiṭ aka, T4n195,p147. The name is a re-construction of the Sūtra’s original Sanskrit name. 1 6t also tells us mu"h about the natural environment o% an"ient northern 6ndia and ho& people &ere influen"ed by and related to it$ 4ivin a broad overvie& o% this environment the Buddha said that Kfe& in number are pleasant parks, forests, stret"hes o% land and lakes, &hile more numerous are the steep rugged pla"es, un"rossable rivers, dense thi"kets o% scrub and thorns and ina""essible mountains’ (#$6,/5O. 1. Climate and the Seasons 8e seasons and the flora and fauna found in any area is determined to a large extent by the "limate and the soil and the -ipi.aka "ontains information about both$ Northern 6ndia has three seasons 3 summer Ngi(hānaO, the rainy season N!ass#naO and &inter Nhe(antaO$ Durin the summer (mid3!ar"h to mid37ulyO, temperatures can et as hi h as F/ R$ 8e trees flo&er and loose their leaves &hile hot &inds blo& dirt and dust into the air NS$H,321O$ Durin the rainy season or monsoon Nmid3 7uly to mid3NovemberO the temperature drops to about 20 R and as mu"h as 20 cm.