Dialogue in Early South Asian Religions by Patton Laurie L. Black Brian & Laurie Patton

Author:Patton, Laurie L.,Black, Brian & Laurie Patton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2015-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Conservatism

Several elements of the Prajñāpāramitā texts mentioned thus far seem to imply a level of religious conservatism despite their radical doctrinal message. One possible example of this conservatism may be found in the absence of bodhisattvas mentioned in the beginning of the Aa. This absence of bodhisattvas may well be an attempt to align the Aa more closely to the traditional sūtras, which make no mention of bodhisattvas. One might be tempted to infer that this absence is due to the fact that the Aa is one of the earliest Mahayāna sūtras. However, as Jan Nattier has pointed out, in the two earliest Chinese translation of the Aa (late second century CE, and mid-third century CE), bodhisattvas are mentioned in the introduction.68 Only in one of the translations by Xuanzang several centuries later do we find a Chinese version similar to the surviving Sanskrit version.69 I would like to suggest that if this absence of bodhisattvas is indicative of conservatism, the evidence found in the Chinese translations suggest that this conservatism endured throughout the centuries in India, becoming more entrenched over time. Also, as mentioned above, the Perfection of Wisdom texts seem to imply that some of the Buddha’s disciples were actually crypto-bodhisattvas. This implication rather than assertion of bodhisattva status may also be a sign of their conservative nature. Less conservative Mahāyāna sūtras disregard the disciples, or as in the case of the Gaavyūha, detail the conversion of certain disciples to the Mahāyāna, thereby asserting their status as bodhisattvas outright.

As mentioned above, MacQueen sees Subhūti’s statement in the beginning of the Aa concerning inspired speech (pratibhāna) as constituting the words of the Buddha (buddhavacana) as a means by which the sūtra legitimates its own religious authority. This strategy is significant in that it employs speech acts and preserves the dialogical style of the oral discourses found in the earlier mainstream traditions, thereby suggesting a stylistic conservatism of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras. In this regard, MacQueen’s concluding statement in his study of inspired speech in early Mahāyāna is worth quoting: ‘of all the attempts made in early Mahāyāna to open the tradition to the recognition of new revelation without changing the essentials of the religion, that of the Perfection of Wisdom school is surely one of the most impressive’.70 As mentioned above, this stylistic conservatism may have been employed to soften the blow of the radical nature of the texts’ philosophical message.

As a whole, the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras’ use of sermons and dialogues, representing a literary style that is closer to mainstream Indian Buddhism in its recreation of oral discourse, is a more conservative solution to the problem of legitimacy than the more radical approach employing visionary accounts such as those found in the Gaavyūha-sūtra. This type of stylistic distinction would allow us to begin to plot Mahāyāna sūtras based on a continuum of conservative to more radical responses to issues of authority and legitimation. Note that such distinctions are not necessarily diachronic developments within the Indian Buddhist tradition, but may represent synchronic choices within different Buddhist communities existing in the Indian subcontinent.

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