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CasteandBuddhistPhilosophyContinuityofSome BuddhistArgumentsagainsttheRealistInterpretationof SocialDenominations1stEditionVincentEltschinger DigitalInstantDownload
Author(s):VincentEltschinger
ISBN(s):9788120835597,812083559X
Edition:1st
FileDetails:PDF,30.48MB
Year:2015
Language:english
CASTE AND BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
ContinuityofSomeBuddhistArguments againstthe RealistInterpretationofSocialDenominations
BUDDHIST TRADITION SERIES
VOLUME 60
GeneralEditor
ERNST STEINKELLNER
Joint General Editor
ALEXANDER VON ROSPATT
Founder Editor
LATE ALEX WAYMAN
Editorial Advisory Board
KATsumr MIMAKr
LokesH CHANDRA
MicHAEL HAHN
CASTE AND BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Continuity of Some Buddhist Arguments against the Realist Interpretation of Social Denominations
VINCENT ELTSCHINGER
Tr. from French toEnglish by RAYNALD PREVEREAU in collaboration with the author
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED ¢ DELHI
Reprint : Delhi, 2015
First Edition: Delhi, 2012
First Published in French, 2000 by Arbeitskreis fur Tibetische und Buddhistiche Studien, Vienna as Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, No. 47
© VINCENT ELTSCHINGER
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN: 978-81-208-3559-7
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS
41 U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007
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Contents
EitoRSsFOTEWOTTrisaisvspierosstmairethatsattsrai
PrefacetotheEnglishtranslation...............
PrefacetotheFrenchoriginal.................
Chapter 1-Canonical antecedents
1.1OutlineofaBuddhistexplanation...........
1.2Biologicalarguments:animalandplantspecies
1.3Genealogicalarguments.................
1.4Unstablebrahmanity..to.oebeLadsonanmmsie
Chapter 2-Dharmakirti and his successors
2.1BeforeandaroundDharmakirti............
20%Introduction.>toRN AAdasaiwid
2.1.1.1 Vasubandhu against the homogeneous character(sabhagata/nikayasabhaga)
2.1.1.2 Aryadeva and Candrakirti ............
2.1.1.3DharmapalaandtheBrahmanicusurpation
2.1.2Dharmakirtiandthereformulationofthe 513101dLoteCDrems or A
2.1.2.1 Internal explanation: the theory of exclusion(Epona).boventaRpSE
2.1.2.2Externalexplanation:Kumarilaandthe principleofvedamalatva................
2.2 Context and problematic of Dharmakirti's 31 EL (2) Ee ES I A AR A i
2.3Dharmakirtiagainsttheclass(jati)........
2:31 Immediate context. ihe. abn SHAR SHURE
and Buddhist philosophy
2.3.2 The argument 233 Dptasioniale
2.3.4 Conclusioh/s- Ih brfolicled Drs tons vb ogi oo gs 115
2.4 On the perceptibility of class WIaLE)S Swany o0 Ne 116
24.1 RimErtey. ARR A ir 116
AZ Dharm SVL 123
2.4.5 Prajidkaragupta. . ............ 127
2.5 Post-Dharmakirtian developments of the Argunentation yo. st Tan aR oT 137
2.5.1 Biological and genealogical arguments: a | 138
2.5.2 The “true Brahmins”: substitution of the paradigm of brahmanity. . ........ 140
2.5.3 Activity (kriya) and sacraments (samskara). . .. 143
2.5.4 Lineage (gotra) and genealogy isle stoaiall ¥ 146
2.5.5 Superior capacities of Brahmins. . ...... 153
2.5.6 Conclusions... THEI bouots baw soiled 3 154
Chapter 3 = Conclusions i...» ddiubool 5 157
Bibliography and abbreviations. ....... ... 177
HHMDES 0 I on Cr WET ETRE
Editors’ foreword
TherigorousdenialbytheBuddhaandhisfollowersofthe Brahmanicideaofcastesasanaturalfactisawell-knowndetail inthelonghistoryofthestudyofIndia’ssocialstructuresand theirideologicalbackground.Fromearlycanonicaltextstolater philosophicalliterature,thisdenialisregularlyattested.The earlyBuddhistpositionsandrefutationshavebeenextensively documented, beginning with the seminal study by Richard Fick (German:Kiel1897,English:Varanasi1972).However,withthe exception of P. L. Barua, who presents early arguments against caste as a fact of nature, the study of these positions has focussed on the social and historical data they may provide. Until now,thelatersystematicandpost-systematicdevelopmentsin Buddhistphilosophicaltraditionshavenotbeentakenintoconsideration.Itisthesethatarethefocusofthisvolume.
The author offers a detailed analysis of the arguments against the Brahmanic “naturalization of caste,” as propounded by Dharmakirti (ca. 600 CE) and his successors up to Prajiiakaragupta (ca. 800 CE), and in the process pays close attention to their historical context as exemplified by the writings of Aryadeva, Vasubandhu, Dharmapila, and Candrakirti. The first section provides a survey of the canonical material in relevant Pali Suttas and subsequent Avadana and Jataka literature. This introduces the reader to the sources for the arguments concerning caste, both against caste as a natural fact and for caste as an outcome of social conventions. Arguing from biological and genealogical standpoints, and pointing to the instability of brahmanity as a social category, these early materials reject that “brahmanity” is a natural given. While it is evident that one objective of these early sources was to proselytize, the attempts to systematize the Buddha's teachings in the different scholastic Abhidharmas were in the main intent on doctrinal clarifications within the various Buddhist groups. The question whether castes are a natural given rather than a social construct was
Caste and Buddhist philosophy
only of marginal interest. In the sixth and seventh centuries, however, with Dharmapala and Dharmakirti and his contempo- rary Candrakirti Buddhist scholasticism increasingly con- fronted non-Buddhist traditions. As a result Buddhist polemics against the innateness of caste were provided with a more rig- orous philosophical foundation. Dharmakirti in particular “was the first to move the polemic to the level of epistemology and ontology” (p. 59). This transformed the traditional reasoning into strict arguments formed in terms of the standards Dhar- makirti had shaped in his ontology, epistemology and logic.
The main part of the book presents the final stage in the evo- lution of polemics against the “naturalization” of caste in the sense of “any attempt to include caste among the things that do not depend or proceed exclusively from human thought and arbitrary conventions, i.e, to consider caste as agreeing with nature’ and not merely with people’s social and linguistic habits” (p. xix). This section focuses on the arguments of Dharmakirti. These are set into the context of pre- and post-Dharmakirtian Buddhist voices, including Vasubandhu, Aryadeva, Candrakirti, Dharmapala, Dharmakirti’s commentators Sakyabuddhi, Karnakagomin and Prajiiakaragupta, as well as Santaraksita and Kamalasila. Representing the Brahmanic opposition, the Mimamsa- ka Kumarila was in all likelihood Dharmakirti’s main opponent for his arguments concerning the perceptibility of distinct classes. Internally, Dharmakirti's arguments are found in the context of his explanations concerning nominalistic ontology and linguistic theory. This is because he does not separate the problem of caste from that of universals in general.
Throughout the volume, these steps are carefully attested with clear translations and textual documentation. Wrapping up the results of his study, the author's conclusions draw a succinct picture of the Buddhist position on caste, gained through the broader understanding of the historical and social facts and changes that took place during the periods these documents were created. Moreover, in considering the validity of his study for present-day India, the author ventures the opinion that “the
Editors’ foreword ix vastmajorityofpointsraisedintheBuddhistargumentations remain a burning question, even today” (p. 175).
Alexander von Rospatt ErnstSteinkellner
Austrian Academy of Sciences University of California Vienna Berkeley