THE IMPORTANCE OF MAGADHA: The Developmental History of the Texts and Languages of Early/Original Buddhism and the ‘baskets’ of Vinaya and Sutra (17th Karmapa’s online Summer teachings 2024, Day One and Two)

“The Buddha gave this advice to the fully ordained monks: “Do not consider the poetic meter/melody to be the most important thing [when reciting the teachings]. My intent is that the meaning does not degenerate. Please speak them in the individual languages that are in accordance with beings and individual traditions of their areas.”

Today for Dakini Day,  I felt compelled to write something about this year’s current online Origin of Secret Mantra Summer 2024 teachings by the supreme. rare and precious guru, 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (commenced on 24th July until the end of August). Although I do not have so much time, as am finishing the pilgrimage articles from China/Tibet (another one coming up soon!), I wanted to write something in particular as an offering to the guru, and for those who enjoy and use my summaries and (generally) unedited transcripts of the 17th Karmapa’s teachings (see here). I have not seen any summaries/transcriptions from other sources.

This year, the 17th Karmapa is continuing his discussion of the Origin of Secret Mantra teachings from 2022, during which he went into extensive detail about the Early/Original Buddhism in terms of the Vedas, and ancient philosophies present in the Indian sub-continent/Gangetic plains before and when Buddha was born,  the Buddha’s life story, enlightenment and passing away, and the formation of the original sangha, Vinaya rules and the First Buddhist Council (compilation of the teachings) in Magadha, India.

Here is my summary and review of the first two days of this year’s teachings (if I have time to write up transcripts I will), in which the 17th Karmapa now focuses on the linguistic and scriptural sources of early/original Buddhism, in terms of what are called the Piṭaka (Baskets), in particular, the Vinaya and Sutra ‘baskets’ (not the tantra one, yet). In particular, the languages that Buddha taught in, as well as the languages of the Buddhist scriptures from the period of the First Council. I learnt a lot listening to these teachings, as I had always assumed that Buddha taught in Pāli and/or Sanskrit, and yet it is more complicated than that. As the 17th Karmapa explained, the Buddha and the First Council may have compiled the teachings in various local dialects and languages in which they were taught and recited. In particular, the language of Magadha, an area of central importance in Buddha’s life and Early Buddhism.

Although the material is a bit ‘dry’ at times (even for a Dharma geek like me!), listening to the 17th Karmapa speak about its importance with clarity for any serious student of Buddha Dharma not only makes it ‘juicy’ but yet again shows the versatility and abilities of the unparalleled activities of the 17th Karmapa. This is the first time in the history of Tibetan Buddhism a major lineage head has given such extensive and detailed teachings and descriptions about the history of Early Buddhism.

On the one hand, the 17th Karmapa is a highly-skilled writer, playwright, environmentalist, poet and painter/artist, and a realised tantric practitioner. On the other hand, someone who has conducted unparalleled scholastic research and given extensive commentaries on various texts by the 8th Karmapa, the Mind-Only school in India and Tibet via his commentary on Vasubandhu’s text Thirty Verses, extensive liberation-stories on Jowo Atisha, and Je Gampopa, Buddhism and vegetarianism, and Vajrayana transmission and practice and examining a teacher according to The Fifty Verses and more.

In terms of intellectual and textual output on original topics as these, there is no parallel in Tibetan Buddhism, or even other traditions of Buddhism. Yet, tragically, as I wrote about here recently too, the 17th Karmapa has been unable to freely travel and teach in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Europe and North America since 2018, giving only online teachings and no public appearances.  Thus, please sign this recent petition (with almost 700 signatures so far) which requests the Indian and Sikkim authorities to speedily resolve this ongoing issue, which is not only a major loss for his followers globally, but also for Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism too.

Here are two video clips I made from the Day One and Day Two teachings.

Music? Heart Sutra (Longer version) in Sanskrit with English subtitles chanted  by Dharmavardhana Jñānagarbha and for the rare and precious guru, Bring Me to Life by Evanescence and Without You I’m Nothing by Placebo.

Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 30th July 2024.

Summary/Review of first two sessions of 17th Karmapa’s Summer teachings

Day One: the importance of history, outline of the topics and different periods of the development of Buddhist teachings and schools and the characteristics of Early Buddhism 

On Day One, the Karmapa spoke about the importance of knowing the history of their lineage and teachings, not only in the traditional way, but also in terms of contemporary research and scholars. He explained that even though many Tibetans are very interested in modern views have strong opinions about various topics, very few of them actually do research on these topics themselves and that Tibetans should not think about their own language and culture as being ‘backwards’ either. There is a danger that Tibetan themselves may be then included in the list of people/cultures that have destroyed the teachings.  He then gave a summary of the previous two years Summer teachings and a list of the topics he would discuss in this year’s teachings.

There are three main topics. The first topic is that of Early/Original Buddhism, which has three sub-topics (two of which have already been explained in previous years) and the third has within it seven sub-topics:

Early/Original Buddhism

1. The creation sangha, discipline and the formation of the monasteries (already explained)

2. The First Council and compilation of the Buddha’s teachings (already explained)

3. The Scriptures of Early/Original Buddhism:

• • Early Buddhism and its dates
  • The Development of the Scriptures of Early Buddhism, including the Sutras, Vinaya, The Language of the Councils
  • Points in Early buddhism related to Secret Mantra
  • Buddhism after the parinirvana
  • Second Council and the split into the different schools
  • Buddhism at the time of Ashoka and the Third Council
  • Dates of Buddha’s Parinirvana

Period of Nikaya (schools) Buddhism and the Eighteen Original Schools

The second main topic is period of Nikaya Buddhism and the Eighteen Original Schools (in terms of the Tibetan explanation) this is how they explain the schism in the sangha). This is the period they call Nikaya Buddhism (Nikaya means school).

Spread of Mahayana Buddhism

The meaning of ‘Early/original Buddhism’

The 17th Karmapa then explained what is meant by ‘early’ or ‘original’ Buddhism (Tib: dod-mai nang-ten གདོད་མའི་ནང་བསྟན་), and what are its characteristics.  According to a Japanese scholar, early Buddhism refers to the original/initial spread of Buddhism in India. There are different eras and features of how Buddhism developed, so the first is Early Buddhism, the second is Nikaya Buddhism, following that there is the spread of Mahayana (earlier and later). The early Mahayana period was when the Hinayana and Mahayana co-existed, the late Mahayana period is when there was also the spread of the Secret Mantra teachings. So Early Buddhism can be referred to as when the Shakyamuni began teaching the Dharma up until 200 years after his parinirvana and there was a split in the Buddhist schools. Or alternatively until the time of King Ashoka, who was born over 200 years after the Buddha’s parinirvana.

During that period there was not a huge amount of change in the teachings and so they are called original or early Buddhism. Some scholars divide Early Buddhism into two different parts:

1) When the Buddha and disciples were alive and the Dharma he taught was considered flawless (foundational early Buddhism).

2) When Buddha and his disciples were no longer alive until the split into different schools (narrower era of Early Buddhism).

However, the 17th Karmapa explained, most of the texts we have came from after the time of the Nikaya (schools) Buddhism. So it is difficult to say what exactly the teachings of Early Buddhism were. Most scholars did not distinguish between these eras though and just called it Early Buddhism, unlike several Japanese scholars who split it into different eras.

The First Council and compilation of Sutras and Vinaya

The 17th Karmapa then went on to discuss the First Council and the reasons for holding it in Rajgir with 500 Arhats who gathered and compiled (or gave a group recitation) of all the Buddha’s teachings in his lifetime.  There are some scholars who doubt there was a First Council, but we can say in some form there was a collection of compilation of the teachings. Most scholars say there were three Piṭakas (baskets), there were the Sutras (recited mainly by Ananda), and the Vinaya (recited mainly by Upāli) and the basket of the Abhidharma was recited much later than those two.

At that time, everyone had to memorise the Sutra and Vinaya teachings, there was no written form of it, and these students had the dharani of a photgraphic memory, like they were recording a tape. However, not everyone had a perfect memory so they compiled the Sutras, which were short, concise versions of the teachings. They also made gata/verses as these were often easier to memorise. And within the Sutras and Verses they did add little bits of explanation. They then created longer texts where they combined the Sutras and Verses, and these are called Expositions of the Dharma. Then there appeared very long Sutras. Sutra also means a thread, which means it has a vast meaning that was condensed into a few words, like small beads being strung on a thread.

There was also a division of labour for studying and memorising the Sutras and some the Vinaya. It is difficult to say what are the changes that were made between the Sutra and Vinaya Piṭaka at the time of the First Council and those we have today.

Then, the sangha community split into two main schools, which then also split off into various sub-schools (eighteen in total). The schools had their own Vinaya and Sutra baskets, and these schools spread into Sri Lanka and China. This process took a long time, and so we cannot know the original form of the Sutra and Vinaya ‘baskets’ are the same as we have now. There may be great differences between them.

Day Two: the various languages of oral and scriptural teachings of Early Buddhism

On Day Two, the 17th Karmapa gave an extensive explanation of the languages of the original texts of Early Buddhism, in terms of the traditional explanations and contemporary researchers. The Karmapa explained it was difficult to know the languages used at the First Council.

There are three different ways to determine the languages used for the compilation by the First Council.

1. Language used in the Indian Buddhist scriptures

2. Languages used at the time of the First Council in Magadha, India

3. What languages the Buddha taught the Dharma

1. Language used in the Indian Buddhist scriptures

The Karmapa then explained the various regions in the Indian sub-continent that the four main schools of Buddhism and the languages the scriptures were recited in.  Even though we can say that Pāli is one of the oldest languages used, that does not mean for certain that was the language used during the compilation of the First Council. In terms of the southern transmission, to places like Sri Lanka, if we look at the texts of Buddhagosha, he says that Pali is the local language of Magadha, and thus is the root/mother language of Buddhism.  Because of the long, ancient tradition of Pāli Buddhist texts, the lineage holders of that transmission believe Pāli is the unmistaken language of Buddhism. However, modern scholars say there is a big difference between Pāli (western India) and Magadha language (from central India) and they are not the same. it is also said that Mahundra, who was Ashoka’s son, who brought the scriptures to Sri Lanka and he used his mother tongue.

2. Languages used at the time of the First Council in Magadha, India

Another way is to consider the language used at the time of the First Council, which was held in Magadha. When the Buddha spread the teachings one of the main regions was Magadha and the First Council was held in the capital of Magadha. So many researchers think the First Council was held in the local language of Magadha.

Some scholars even found some Ashokan edicts carved in rocks in Eastern India and they say they was probably a common language used at that time for all the different regions, which may well have been Magadha language in Central and Eastern India.  However, some scholars there was a big time gap between Buddha and Ashoka and also there had big some major changes in Magadha. During the time of Emperor Ashoka, the kingdom of Magadha covered the entire area of the Gangetic plains, when India was unified for the first time it was under the power of a single kingdom of Ashoka. So at that time, it is possible that Magadha became the common language. It is also possible that he taught in a hybrid Magadhi language too.

Sutra and Vinaya Sources regarding the Buddha’s advice not to recite the teachings in the Vedic style

In fact, the 17th Karmapa gave the example of when the Buddha directly chastised and criticised those who try to recite his teachings in the meter and melody of the Vedic chanting without any good reason, stating it should be done in the language of the locals and according to their traditions.Here are the slides given by the 17th Karmapa of the cited sources (in Tibetan) where this ‘story’ can be found:

Here is a short video clip I made of the original Tibetan (with English subtitles) of the 17th Karmapa teaching on that topic from Day Two:

The Sutra Basket according to different transmissions of Agāma and Nikāyā

This was followed by a discussion of the differing presentations of the Early Buddhist Sutra basket teachings of the Nikāyā (Singhalese/Sri Lankan) transmission and Agāma (teachings from Northern India that spread to China) traditions:

On Day Three, the 17th Karmapa went into more detail regarding the texts contained in the baskets of the Sutras and particularly the Vinaya texts, giving detailed lists of them from original Indian Buddhist texts (such as the Dhammapada, the Jataka Tales etc.) and from the Chinese Buddhist translation tradition.  A detailed description of the different extant Vinaya texts and their contents are also provided by the Karmapa (more on that perhaps later).