Re: Why did other early schools alter the Canon?
interesting example:
in MN 140,
https://lucid24.org/mn/mn140/index.html#
16 – (conclusion: Pukkusāti wants to ordain)
16.2 – (he get gored by a bull)
16.4 – (Buddha announces he was reborn in pure abodes as non returner)
In the agama version, MA 162
https://lucid24.org/agama/ma/bdk/v3/index.html
he attains the dharma eye (stream entry)
and doesn't die.
My guess?
The theravada ending was made up, much like angulimala was probably made up or exaggerated to make a more dramatic story and symbol for redemption (one can still become an arhat after killing 1000 people in this life).
Getting gored to death by a cow just when you met the Buddha and had the opportunity to become an arhant easily, is probably made up to make the point that death can come at any time, we have to practice every moment.
I didn't read MA 162 slowly, carefully, in detail, I just scanned it quickly and saw in broad strokes, it seems to match all the parts of MN 140 pretty closely.
If the MN 140 version fatality for our hero was true, it's quite a memorable and unique event, it would be hard to forget and confuse with just being a stream enterer at the conclusion (MA 162). I can't see how the agama school would forget such a memorable event, so either the text got lost, truncated, or abbreviated in a way they lost the details in the reconstruction.
in MN 140,
https://lucid24.org/mn/mn140/index.html#
16 – (conclusion: Pukkusāti wants to ordain)
16.2 – (he get gored by a bull)
16.4 – (Buddha announces he was reborn in pure abodes as non returner)
In the agama version, MA 162
https://lucid24.org/agama/ma/bdk/v3/index.html
he attains the dharma eye (stream entry)
and doesn't die.
My guess?
The theravada ending was made up, much like angulimala was probably made up or exaggerated to make a more dramatic story and symbol for redemption (one can still become an arhat after killing 1000 people in this life).
Getting gored to death by a cow just when you met the Buddha and had the opportunity to become an arhant easily, is probably made up to make the point that death can come at any time, we have to practice every moment.
I didn't read MA 162 slowly, carefully, in detail, I just scanned it quickly and saw in broad strokes, it seems to match all the parts of MN 140 pretty closely.
If the MN 140 version fatality for our hero was true, it's quite a memorable and unique event, it would be hard to forget and confuse with just being a stream enterer at the conclusion (MA 162). I can't see how the agama school would forget such a memorable event, so either the text got lost, truncated, or abbreviated in a way they lost the details in the reconstruction.
No comments:
Post a Comment