Revisiting Vulture's Peak

In June of this year (2013) I had the good fortune to take a trip to Bodhgaya again. During my stay there I visited the area around Rajgir with the main purpose of visiting Vulture's Peak (Gṛdhrakūṭa) once again. It is a sacred site in Buddhism chiefly because the Buddha himself stayed there for a time, even dwelling in the caves which still remain and are open to the public. The surrounding mountains and valley are protected natural habitats, though Shanti Peace Stūpa atop the mountain built by the Japanese monk Nichidatsu Fujii (my teacher's teacher) is a popular tourist attraction and attracts a lot of visitors who casually discard their litter on the ground. There are also vendors who blast music out of their mobile phones.

Nevertheless, I made my way to Vulture's Peak in the hot sun. As I crossed the bridge leading up there the sky turned gray providing refreshing relief. Reaching the top I was pleased to find myself alone. When I visited in 2011 it was during the cool winter, at which time there were plenty of people around.

Looking out from the top you are given a sight of natural beauty quite rare around India these days:

Vulture's peak is located atop a rocky crag not so far down from the peak of another mountain inside a long valley stretching west to east:

The whole area played a core role in the history of the early sangha and later Buddhist mythology. Many of the formative events of the original sangha happened in this area. I found it quite moving to just sit and survey the area, thinking of all the great figures from the Buddha to all the Nālandā scholars who visited.

The site is not so far south from Nālandā, perhaps a day's walk (or twenty minutes by car). Between the years 399-414 the Chinese pilgrim named Faxian 法顯 (338-c423) traveled throughout South Asia before returning back home. He paid a visit to the area and provides a precious witness account. Modern scholars would be at a great loss had Faxian's journal not survived. When Faxian visited it seems there was no largescale monastery built at Nālandā as yet:

《高僧法顯傳》卷1：「從此西南行一由延到那羅聚落。是舍利弗本生村。舍利弗還於此中般泥洹。即此處起塔。今現在。」(CBETA, T51, no. 2085, p. 862, c7-9)

Going southwest from here one yojana one reaches the village of Nālandā. It is was the birth village of Śāriputra. Śāriputra returned here for his parinirvāṇa. They built a stūpa which is still extant.

It seems possible that the Śāriputra Stūpa presently found at the Nālandā site was rebuilt atop the original site which Faxian is referring to here. A lot of the buildings we can presently see at the Nālandā ruins were built atop older ruins.

Faxian then proceeded a short distance to the valley. The old capital of King Bimbisāra Rājagṛha used to be located inside the valley, with the mountains forming natural defense. The natural barrier was supplemented with additional fortifications which are still extant (assuming these were built during the Magadha Empire):

The need for such defenses suggests a strong concern for war. The geography of the surrounding plains is conducive to rapid troop movement. Judging from the Buddhist accounts, there was a great deal of bloodshed in the period around the Buddha's lifetime.

Later a new Rājagṛha was built just just north of the valley by Ajātaśatru, son of Bimbisāra, which probably more or less corresponds to the present town of Rajgir.

Faxian writes the following:

《高僧法顯傳》卷1：「從此西行一由延到王舍新城。新城者是阿闍世王所造，中有二僧伽藍。出城西門，三百步，阿闍世王得佛一分舍利起塔。高大嚴麗。出城南四里南向入谷至五山裏。五山周圍狀若城郭。即是蓱沙王舊城。城東西可五六里南北七八里。舍利弗目連初見頞鞞處。尼犍子作火坑毒飯請佛處。阿闍世王酒飲黑象欲害佛處。城東北角曲中耆舊於菴婆羅園中起精舍。請佛及千二百五十弟子供養處。今故在。其城中空荒無人住。」(CBETA, T51, no. 2085, p. 862, c9-19)

From here going west one yojana one arrives at the new city of Rājagṛha. The new city was built by King Ajātaśatru. In it there are two saṃghārāma-s [monasteries]. Exiting the city's west gate three-hundred steps King Ajātaśatru obtained a part of the Buddha's relics and built a stūpa. It is tall and stately. Exiting the south of the city, going four li south, one enters into a valley surrounded by five mountains. The surrounding five mountains are akin to outer city walls. This was the old city of King Bimbisāra. East to west the city is about five or six li, and south to north it is seven or eight li. It is the place where Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana first saw Aśvajit. It is the place where the nirgrantha made a fire pit and poisoned rice, and invited the Buddha. It is the place King Ajātaśatru made a black elephant intoxicated with liquor, wanting to harm the Buddha. In the northeast corner of the city the Elder [Jīvaka] built a vihāra in the mango grove, where he invited the Buddha and his thousand two-hundred and fifty disciples in order to make offerings. It is still extant. It is vacant inside the city and nobody lives there.

His use of yojana here is important because we can discern his own understanding of the measurement as we know the general distance between Nālandā and Rājagṛha. According to Google Earth is roughly just under fifteen kilometers. Sometimes in his work his directions and measurements are off, but we can assume he was providing us with the details the locals provided or his best estimates.

Faxian then provides a description of Vulture's Peak:

《高僧法顯傳》卷1：「入谷搏山東南上十五里到耆闍崛山。未至頭三里有石窟南向。佛本於此坐禪。西北三十步復有一石窟。阿難於中坐禪。天魔波旬化作鵰鷲住窟前恐阿難。佛以神足力隔石舒手摩阿難肩。怖即得止。鳥迹手孔今悉在。故曰鵰鷲窟山。窟前有四佛坐處。又諸羅漢各各有石窟坐禪處。動有數百。佛在石室前東西經行。調達於山北嶮巇間橫擲石傷佛足指處。石猶在。佛說法堂已毀壞。止有塼壁基在。其山峯秀端嚴。是五山中最高。」(CBETA, T51, no. 2085, p. 862, c19-29)

Entering the valley and following the mountains southeast and then ascending fifteen li one arrives at Gṛdhrakūṭa. Three li short of the peak there is a cave facing south. The Buddha once sat here in meditation. Thirty steps to the northwest there is another cave. Ānanda sat in it in meditation. The Māra Pāpīyas manifested as a vulture in front of the cave and frightened Ānanda. The Buddha with his supermundane ability parted the stone and stretched out his hand to touch Ānanda's shoulder. His fear was then halted. The bird tracks and hole for the hand are all still extant. Now they call it the "Mountain of the Vulture's Cave". In front of the cave are where four buddhas had sat. Also the arhats each had their own respective caves where they sat in meditation, amounting to several hundred. The Buddha would walk east to west in front of the caves. From among the steep cliffs of the north mountain Devadatta hurled a stone at the Buddha, injuring his toes. The stone is still extant. The hall in which the Buddha taught the Dharma has been destroyed. There are just the brick foundations. The peak of the mountain has is green with vegetation and beautiful. It is the highest of the five mountains.

Both Faxian and Xuanzang took the time to detail many of the local legends and myths in the places they visited. Buddhist bards early on naturally formulated these tales based on earlier stories, both fictional and historical (although admittedly that dichotomy is a modern one), and the sites became further sanctified as a result.

The caves mentioned here are still extant. The whole area's geology is conducive to cavern formation. The Jains in ancient times also made use of the area. Vulture's Peak is within easy walking distance of the old and new cities, so it would have been ideal for mendicants living in the caves. Faxian bought necessary items from the nearby town before spending the night at the peak:

《高僧法顯傳》卷1：「法顯於新城中買香華油燈。倩二舊比丘送法顯到耆闍崛山。華香供養然燈續明。慨然悲傷抆淚而言。佛昔於此說首楞嚴。法顯生不值佛。但見遺跡處所而已。即於石窟前誦首楞嚴。停止一宿。還向新城。」(CBETA, T51, no. 2085, p. 862, c29-p. 863, a5)

I went into the new city and bought incense, flowers and oil lamps. I asked two old bhikṣus to take me to the Gṛdhrakūṭa mountain. With flowers and incense offered and burning lamps bright I sadly wept and wiped away the tears saying that the Buddha long ago taught the Śūraṃgama [Samādhi Sūtra] – I could not meet the Buddha in this life, but could only see vestiges. We recited the Śūraṃgama [Samādhi Sūtra] in front of the cave entrance and stayed the night before heading back to the new city.

It is noteworthy here that Faxian “buys” the items. The Chinese verb here mǎi 買 unmistakably means to buy, and not to barter or beg. It seems Buddhist monks in north India, at least in this period, did not object to possessing and using money and/or precious metals. A few centuries later Yijing 義淨 (635-713) also notes how the inheritance system for monks works in India (probably specifically at Nālandā):

《南海寄歸內法傳》卷4：「先問負債囑授及看病人。... 所有券契之物。若能早索得者。即可分之。如不能者。券當貯庫。後時索得充四方僧用。若諸金銀及成未成器貝齒諸錢。並分為三分。一佛陀。二達摩。三僧伽。佛物應修理佛堂及髮爪窣覩波所有破壞。法物寫佛經料理師子座。眾物現前應分。」(CBETA, T54, no. 2125, p. 230, a28-c24)

First of all one should make an inquiry as to whether he had any debts, or he has left a will, and if anyone nursed him while he was ill. ... Those receipts for loans that are claimable at once may be divided right away. If not claimable at once, they should be kept in the monastic treasury, and when the money is reclaimed at a later time, it should be used to replenish the fund of the community of monks from the four quarters. All gold and silver, either wrought articles or unwrought ingots, should be divided into three portions for the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The portion for the Buddha should be spent on repairing the Buddha halls and the stupas containing [the Buddha's] hair and nails, and for mending other dilapidation. The portion for the Dharma is used for copying scriptures and maintaining the lion seat. The portion for the community of monks should be shared by them right away.¹

Yijing also notes that beds inlaid with jewels as well as weapons and armor are to be dealt with as well. That of course begs the question why would a monk possess such items, but nevertheless it seems at least some of the clergy at the time amassed plenty of wealth.

Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664) also visited Vulture's Peak while travelling in India between 633-645. His travel account records the following:

《大唐西域記》卷9：「宮城東北行十四五里，至姞栗陀羅矩吒山(唐言鷲峯，亦謂鷲臺。舊曰耆闍崛山，訛也)。接北山之陽，孤摽特起，既棲鷲鳥，又類高臺，空翠相映，濃淡分色。如來御世垂五十年，多居此山，廣說妙法。頻毘娑羅王為聞法故，興發人徒，自山麓至峯岑，跨谷凌巖，編石為階，廣十餘步，長五六里。中路有二小窣堵波，一謂下乘，即王至此徒行以進；一謂退凡，即簡凡人不令同往。其山頂則東西長，南北狹。臨崖西埵有甎精舍，高廣奇製，東闢其戶，如來在昔多居說法，今作說法之像，量等如來之身。精舍東有長石，如來經行所履也。傍有大石，高丈四五尺，周三十餘步，是提婆達多遙擲擊佛處也。其南崖下有窣堵波，在昔如來於此說《法花經》。精舍南山崖側有大石室，如來在昔於此入定。」(CBETA, T51, no. 2087, p. 921, a20-b7)

Going northeast for fourteen or fifteen li from the palace city, I reached Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain (known in China as the Vulture peak or terrace, and formerly mistranscribed as as Qishejue Mountain). It links with the south side of the North Mountain, protruding all alone to a great height, where vulture's perch, and also resembles a high terrace. The verdurous mountain presents a distinct color in contrast with the sky. During the fifty years of his missionary career, the Tathāgata stayed on this mountain on many occasions to preach the wonderful Dharma.

In order to hear the Buddha's preaching, King Bimbasāra sent men to build a road leading from the foot of the mountain to the summit, more than ten paces wide and five or six li in length, across valleys and over rocks, with stones piled up into steps. There are two small stupas on the way. One is known as the place of alighting, from where the king started to walk on foot to proceed on his way, and the other as the place of preventing ordinary persons from going further [with the king]. The summit is oblong from east to west and narrow from south to north. On the brink of the west side of the precipice is a brick shrine, high and spacious, built in a marvellous style, with its door opening to the east. The Tathāgata preached the Dharma in it many times. Now there is a life-size statue of the Tathāgata in the posture of delivering a sermon.

To the east of the shrine is an oblong stone on which the Tathāgata walked to and fro. Beside it is a great rock fourteen or fifteen feet high and more than thirty paces in circumference. This was the place where Devadatta hurled a stone from a distance to hit the Buddha. To its south and below the cliff was the place where the Tathāgata preached the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka-sūtra in olden times. To the south of the shrine and beside a steep rock is a cave where the Tathāgata sat in meditation in days of yore.²

The caves he describes, like Faxian, are open to the public. I went and sat inside one of them for a bit and discovered some bats were hanging inside, so I cautiously exited.

You can clearly see many centuries of pilgrims have visited the site. The influx of Tibetans in recent times has ensured plenty of stones with carved mantras are left there along with prayer flags strung all around. A lot of the protruding rocks which make for good grips when climbing up the peak are polished from centuries of use, though the site seems to have been forgotten for several centuries after the disappearance of Buddhism from that part of India.

Incidentally, a long tradition of sacred mountains is found in Mahāyāna literature. One noteworthy example is in the Lotus Sūtra where Vulture's Peak is the site of the Buddha's teachings. In chapter sixteen “The Tathāgata's Lifespan” there are the famous verses where the Buddha declares his omnipresence in the world, which is centered at Vulture's Peak. The relevant part reads as follows.

《妙法蓮華經》卷5〈16 如來壽量品〉：

時我及眾僧，　　俱出靈鷲山，

我時語眾生：　　『常在此不滅，

以方便力故，　　現有滅不滅。』

餘國有眾生，　　恭敬信樂者，

我復於彼中，　　為說無上法。

汝等不聞此，　　但謂我滅度。

我見諸眾生，　　沒在於苦惱，

故不為現身，　　令其生渴仰，

因其心戀慕，　　乃出為說法。
神通力如是，　　於阿僧祇劫，

常在靈鷲山，　　及餘諸住處。

(CBETA, T09, no. 262, p. 43, b24-c5)

At that time I and the sangha will emerge from Vulture's Peak,
I will then say to beings: I am always here, not perishing.
With the power of skilful means I thus manifest perishing and not perishing.
In other lands there are beings, reverent and faithful.
It is there that I teach the unexcelled Dharma.
You all do not hear this, only thinking I have passed away.
I see beings drowning in suffering.
Thus I do not manifest myself, to make them thirst.
When their minds are longing, I then emerge and teach the Dharma.
Supermundane powers like this, for an asaṃkhya kalpa,
I am always present at Vulture's Peak and other dwelling places.

Countless other works highlight the sacred quality of the mountain. This tradition of orienting holy sites on mountains was emulated in China as well. Mt. Wutai came to be associated with Mañjuśrī in the pan-Buddhist world (Indian monks and not just the Chinese in ancient times acknowledged the mountain as Mañjuśrī's earthly abode).

I always find it interesting to compare these ancient accounts to what is presently extant. In an earlier post Revisiting Ancient Buddhist India we looked at some period accounts of Kushinagar, Kapilavastu and Lumbini. When you visit these places and know this history, the whole experience is far more enriching. I also feel it is a way of connecting to past figures in a spiritual sense. When I read the works of Faxian and Xuanzang, for example, I am always reminded of the same places we visited, albeit in different centuries.

------

Footnotes:

1 English translation by Li Rongxi. See Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia (Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000), 157-161.

2 English translation by Li Rongxi. See The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions (Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1996), 270-271.

Rome, Persia, China and Indian Buddhism

Discussion of classical Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the first millennium has generally been done within the geographical limits of the Indosphere stretching from what is now Afghanistan down through to Sri Lanka. While Buddhism in the early centuries did expand outside this region to areas like Central Asia and China, Buddhism as a major institution and civilization was in the 3rd century still largely limited to the subcontinent and Persian borderlands. However, the fortunes of Buddhism in the second through fourth centuries CE have to be understood within a greater geopolitical context stretching from the Roman Empire across Asia to China. The prosperity and misfortunes that Buddhism experienced in India were in fact intricately tied to international trade and commerce.

Giovanni Verardi in his recent work Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India explains how Buddhism in India established an “open society” across the subcontinent which was effectively an urban pro-trade social model in contrast to the competing Brahman agrarian model based on caste. Whereas the sangha was dependent on and intimately connected to commercial activities and the merchant classes for funding and protection, the Brahmans sought to secure an alternative agrarian order which provided them with supreme authority, even over kṣatriya kings. Such competing social models inevitably led to conflict.

One might even describe it as class warfare. In the traditional caste system a merchant is given a lower position, so it is unsurprising that they might support Buddhism which rejected a preordained social order, and moreover provided merchants with prestigious status as benefactors as well as the opportunity for spiritual attainment. It was also in the interests of some kṣatriya kings to favour Buddhism as they could emulate the cakravartin ideal and increase their power base through taxation of merchants, whereas in the orthodox Vedic model they were supposed to give gifts of cattle and tax-free land to Brahmans, as well as act as caretaker of a throne with the real political power being held by the Brahman priests.

The well-being and sustainability of Buddhism in India in this period effectively rested on trade, which in India was part of a larger pan-Eurasian network stretching from Rome to China. In this period Buddhism had already changed into a highly organized Vinaya-based monastic model. It grew increasingly complex by assembling an extensive written canon that needed to be continually physically reproduced. It further came to have sophisticated artistic traditions. All of this required resources and people plus continual investments to maintain everything. The monastic model in India was parasitic on the economy. It generally consumed resources and did not produce much in the way of agricultural products or commodities, though it did function in the tertiary sector of the economy. Buddhist institutions often operated money lending and storage services. All things considered, Buddhism was a capital intensive religion, much as it largely still is in most of Asia. Predictably, any disruption to capital inputs naturally undermined the religion, which indeed is what happened.

It is interesting to consider how the political developments and plagues that occurred in such distant lands could have impacted Buddhism on the subcontinent in such a deep way, though we have only to think of the so-called Silk Road to the north and transoceanic trade to the south which kept goods, bullion and coinage in circulation around Eurasia. The trade between India and China is widely understood in Buddhist circles, though the relations between Rome and India are less known. Romila Thapar explains the significance of the trade:

Roman historian Pliny complained of the trade with the east being a serious drain on the income of Rome, to the extent of 550 million sesterces each year, of which at least a fifth went to India. Imports from India were largely luxury articles - spices, jewels, textiles, ivories and animals (apes, parrots and peacocks) for the amusement of the Roman patrician and his family. It was therefore thought that the balance of trade was in favour of India. But recently it has been argued that even if Pliny's figure is correct, customs dues and taxes on the imports from the east into Roman Egypt were high enough to compensate for the drain of money in the initial outlay for this trade. It has also been argued that Tiberius and later Pliny, both of whom complained about the drain of Roman wealth to India, may have been more concerned about making a moral judgement on Roman patrician society with its display of wealth, and therefore used the trade to underline the point. Nevertheless, it was a profitable trade for the merchants and chiefs of the Indian peninsula.¹

The peak of Buddhist power in India occurred during flourishing trade with Rome but also the era of foreign rule over the subcontinent by the Kuṣāṇa dynasty (1st-3rd centuries CE):

The foreign dynasties that from the first century BC to the second century AD ruled over a considerable part of India could not make themselves into 'national' dynasties, and allowed Buddhism, and also neo-Brahmanical movements, to grow. The case of Kaniṣka I is particularly interesting. Under his reign (second quarter of the second century AD), Indian Buddhism reached, as documented by the imposing building activity and the iconographic output, its greatest economic power and territorial expansion.²

Gold coin of Kaniṣka I with Buddha image.

The trade throughout Kuṣāṇa territories was heavily influenced by Rome as well. Thapar notes that “the gold coins of the Kushanas followed the Roman weight standard, partly to ensure that they would be used as legal tender in areas familiar with Roman trade. The imitation of particular coins probably had more to do with the continuity of a medium of exchange than with fashion.”³ Furthermore, “products that were in demand in Roman markets were exchanged mainly for Roman coins. The frequency of hoards of such coins in the Deccan and south India point to its being a trade of some substance. Most of the coins are of earlier Roman Emperors, such as Augustus and Tiberius, the debased coins of Nero not being thought worthy of hoarding.”⁴

While Kaniṣka and the Kuṣāṇa dynasty were not strictly Buddhist, they did support the sangha. Their trade policies also fostered favorable conditions in which Buddhist institutions thrived. The well-being of Buddhism partially relied on Indian trade with Rome. It is thus unsurprising that “once the conditions created by Kuṣāṇa rule dissolved, and the imposing building activity and impressive amount of artistic output in key-cities like Mathurā and in Buddhist sanctuaries came to a halt, India, besides being de-urbanised, appeared as an iconic desert.”⁵

Any disruption of international trade would have undermined Buddhist institutions, and this is precisely what happened. It was not just declining trade with Rome, but also China. Again, Verardi:

There is little doubt that the closing down of the open society of the Buddhists and the resulting weakening of the religion of Dharma coincides with the fall in international trading activities, and in particular with the much decreased demand for Indian goods from Rome. Kuṣāṇa currency, circulating over a vast territory, had been linked to the Roman currency system. The collapse of the Han dynasty in China (AD 221) contributed to changing the picture in Central Asia. By that time, we observe a change in the Indian landscape, namely, a rapid process of de-urbanisation. It is every archaeologist's experience that even in the case of continuous human occupation, post-Kuṣāṇa levels display much poorer building techniques and reuse of earlier building material. A great number of small and large towns were abandoned in the third century, and in certain areas, as is shown by territorial surveys, the collapse of a whole network of roads and small settlements, which had been kept functioning by Buddhist monasteries, is observable. This process was probably aggravated by the collapse of the trading activity with the West that followed St Cyprian's plague of the years AD 251-66, which is an important component of the 'crisis of the third century' in the Roman Empire.⁶

I would add that prior to St Cyprian's plague, there had been another plague starting a century prior which severely damaged the Roman economy and significantly decreased the population: the Antonine plague which reached the empire in 165. Within a few years it had annihilated a sizable portion of tax payers in Egypt alone, which was also the bread basket of the empire. There were further outbreaks of plague in 172, 174, 175, 179, 182 and 189, and thereafter again in the 250s and 260s. During the Fayum area of Egypt during the Antonine plague the tax base dropped 33-44%. Other areas saw declines up to 93%, though some of that would have been as a result of flight.

One estimate states up to 10% of the empire's total population perished, though alternative estimates would suggest upwards of 30% might have died, which would have been comparable to the Black Death in western Europe between 1347-80. This occurred when the empire was already under enormous demographic-structural stress. Sociopolitical instability and the subsequent endemic civil war of the third century prevented population recovery and only contributed to the slow downfall of Rome over the following two centuries.⁷ All of this no doubt contributed to the currency debasement of the later empire, which is illustrated in the following chart:⁸

Under Domitian (reigned 81-96) the silver content of the denarius was 3.28 grams, but by the end of the following century the silver equivalent had fallen to just 2 grams. By 272 the denarius only had 2.5% silver in it. By the time St Cyprian's plague hit in 251, the Roman empire was already suffering critical financial problems, which contributed to the fall in international trading activities.

Verardi also rightfully notes another contributing factor in that decline: the collapse of the Han dynasty in around 220 CE. The Han Dynasty is divded into the western or former Han (206-9 BCE) and the later or eastern Han (25-220 CE). It was during the latter that important local changes unfolded which inevitably reduced China's contribution to the aforementioned pan-Eurasian trade network which Indian Buddhism depended on. 

Emperor Guangwu 光武帝 (reigned 25-57 CE) abandoned an earlier offensive strategy along the north frontier against the Xiongnu (barbarian horsemen), who subsequently increasingly engaged in profitable raiding. Populations fled to the south leaving many areas depopulated. Nomads had to be settled in abandoned regions to fend off the Xiongnu. Between 2-140 CE the formally registered population in the north-west dropped by 70%, while the population in the south increased as much as 100% in some regions.

Despite the defeat of the Xiongnu confederation in the 80s, the Xianbei and Qiang tribes replaced them and continued causing trouble for the Han court. Rebellions occurred and provinces were abandoned. In 143 official salaries were reduced and the court had to start borrowing money, demonstrating severe financial problems. In the end the last Han emperor abdicated to warlord Cao Cao's son in 220, marking the end of a nominally unified Chinese empire and the beginning of a ghastly period of perpetual war and instability.⁹ All this meant a sharp decline in Chinese exports and imports.

One other important factor in the decline of international trade that Verardi does not mention was the collapse of the Parthian empire. Parthia incidentally had a role to play in the aforementioned plague outbreak of 165. The Romans had taken the Parthian cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, but suffered an outbreak of what was probably smallpox which they brought back to the empire with them when they retreated.

The semi-successful Roman invasion illustrates the exhaustion of the Parthian state which “often fought or frequently had to fight wars on two fronts, for in addition to the Seleucids and Romans in the west they had great adversaries in the east, such as the Greco-Bactrians, the Kushans who succeeded them, the Sakas, the Alans and other peoples of Central Asia. In the long run these conflicts overtaxed both the military and the economic strength of the Parthian empire.”¹⁰

Incidentally, the rise of the Sasanians also saw an end to major Buddhist and Brahman activities in Persia. As we can gather from the inscriptions of the priest Kartīr (on the Kabah of Zartusht dating from c.290 CE), Zoroastrianism became the official religion of the Sasanians in 224 CE (this is contested by some modern scholars however: see Gignoux, 1984). The šaman-s (śramaṇa-s) were no longer welcome it seems,¹¹ though at times Buddhism was still tolerated, which was maybe a friendly gesture to certain subjugated peoples of the empire:

However dominant Zoroastrianism was under the Sassanians and whatever exclusivistic and even fanatical tendencies it showed, Buddhism seems to also have been tolerated at times. Even more than tolerance was present if one considers some coins of governor Peroz (242–252 AD) and of king Hormizd (256–264 AD), which depict them as paying homage to the Buddha.¹²

These developments more or less put an end to the westward expansion of Buddhism, but also quite possibly economic support which would have come from benefactors within the Persian heartlands. Firstly it should be noted that only a few decades before we see the first known reference in the west to mention the Buddhists (and Jains): Clement of Alexandria (c.150-215),¹³ so Buddhism, or at least knowledge of it, had made its way to the Roman world prior to its prohibition under the Sasanians. Another very curious fact which reveals notable Buddhist culture in Persia is the existence of Buddhist terminology in Manichaean theology:

No Buddhist texts in Parthian are extant, but their existence can been inferred from the presence of Buddhist and Indian terms in the Manichaean Parthian theological vocabulary from the earliest texts onwards (3rd–4th century BC). These terms show that the Manichaeans developed their apologetics in a Buddhist milieu.¹⁴

We might surmise that Buddhism in Persia, albeit a minority religion, still could have played a role in trade, but also functioned as another major benefactor to Buddhist civilization both in the Indosphere and Persia. This might not seem so unreasonable when we consider how later institutions like Nālandā received sponsorship from lands as far away as Java. The frontiers of Persia and the Indosphere also had plenty of Buddhist peoples, such as Bactria.

Setting aside such speculation, Parthia in its later years suffered chronic civil strife, a devastating epidemic of smallpox and repeated wars with foreign powers including the Romans, which enabled the rise of the Sasanians (reigned from 224-650 CE). The leader Ardašir went on to capture parts of Armenia, northwest Arabia and the western provinces of the Kuṣāṇa empire. The latter came to be ruled by Sasanian princes. Thereafter he turned west and secured Roman border towns and besieiged Hatra. This predictably led to war with the Romans. We might imagine that the fall of the Parthians and the subsequent wars both on the western and eastern borders of Persia led to decreased trade given the conflict. The Sasanians also had to fend off the nomads from the north, which likewise became a problem for powers in Europe and East Asia.

To summarize, in the third century we see the Roman empire increasingly crippled politically and financially as well as the end of the Kuṣāṇa, Parthian and Han states. The geopolitical situation on the Eurasian continent was largely quite unstable from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is therefore easy to understand why such a decline in international trade occurred and how it undermined the sustainability of institutionalized Buddhism which had come to be in many ways an extension of the Indian mercantile system. 

Buddhist monasteries in India often provided storage and money lending services in urban areas, which facilitated commercial activities and no doubt encouraged increased patronage from the merchant classes which aligned their own interests with that of the sangha. This was ultimately the undoing of Indian Buddhism for a time, though it did recover but not without suffering hard times, both in terms economic support and a shifting religious atmosphere which saw increasing hostility from forms of Neo-Brahmanism.

The hard times that Buddhism increasingly faced is further reflected later on in the epigraphical record as well. Schopen has examined the relevant inscriptions extensively, which Boucher summarizes stating, “When the Mahāyāna does begin to appear on the scene in Indian Buddhist inscriptions, roughly around the fourth or fifth century, the Mainstream schools increasingly cease to be found epigraphically as recipients of substantial patronage.”¹⁵ This likely more reflects the final collapse of the Roman empire and the consequential decrease in coinage in India, but such a decline can already be traced back to the second and third centuries.

As mentioned above, within India as well Buddhism was under increasing pressure from rival religious Neo-Brahmanistic movements, which contrary to former orthodoxy started portraying the divine in art, a practice they probably adopted from the Buddhists. They furthermore developed popular practices that substantially deviated from the orthodox Vedic norm, but unlike the Buddhists they never challenged the caste system. By the fifth century when the Chinese monk Faxian 法顯 (338-c423) visited India, Buddhism was still present and in some regions thriving, but had undergone a few centuries of hardship and decreased support as epigraphical evidence suggests with respect to sponsorship.

Some Mahāyāna sūtras from those hard times take on a particularly pessimistic tone, speaking of how the end of Buddhism is near, such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Later on the Arthaśāstra from the Gupta dynasty (320-550 CE) takes on a clearly anti-śramaṇa stance. Nevertheless, following the collapse of the Guptas the stage was set for the empowerment of Mahāyāna traditions across north India which prior to that had often been a despised movement. We looked at this in an earlier post 5th Century India: a Turning Point in Buddhist History.

Bodhisattva head. Gandhāra.

The development of Buddhism in India has to be understood in this greater geopolitical context. It is simply not enough to limit one's framework to the Indosphere. This might seem rather daunting, but in reality to understand the historical development of Indian Buddhism, one must understand the greater Eurasian history. The major events in Europe, Persia and China often had an impact on the development of Buddhism on the subcontinent. The famous Graeco-Buddhist artwork from Gandhāra, the descendents of Alexander's men, is one immediately apparent example, but in terms of philosophy and the arcane as well there are distant influences at work as well, most notably in Buddhist Astrology.

We will discuss some these subjects in greater detail in future posts.

------

Footnotes:

1 Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India From the Origins to AD 1300 (London, England: Penguin Books Ltd, 2002), 242-243.

2 Giovanni Veraridi, Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India (New Delhi, India: Manohar, 2011), 91.

3 Romila Thapar, 253.

4 Ibid., 242.

5 Giovanni Verardi, 107.

6 Ibid., 106.

7 Peter Turchin and Sergey A. Nefedov, Secular Cycles (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009), 233-235.

8 Ibid., 221.

9 See Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires Qin and Han (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 24-29.

10 See Encyclopedia Iranica Online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-index

11 http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/buddhism-i

12 Erik Seldeslachts in "Greece: The Final Frontier" in Handbook of Oriental Studies The Spread of Buddhism, edited by Ann Heirman and Stephan Peter Bumbacher (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 143.

13 Giovanni Verardi, 77.

14 Xavier Tremblay in "The Spread of Buddhism in Serindia" in Handbook of Oriental Studies The Spread of Buddhism, edited by Ann Heirman and Stephan Peter Bumbacher (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 80.

15 Daniel Boucher, “Dharmaraksa and the Transmission of Buddhism to China” in Asia Major, Volume 19, part 1/2,2006, 37.

Indian National Museum

The National Museum in New Delhi hosts a wide collection of items from India's vast past. This was my third time visiting the museum and like before the rickshaw driver had no idea where the place was and had to ask directions. It was quiet again, even on a Saturday, which leads me to wonder if Indians generally don't take much interest in the museum. This is quite unlike Japan, for example, where on a weekend the Tokyo National Museum is usually crowded.

Over the last few years I've started reading ancient Indian history and what strikes me is the lack of certainty about key points in India's past history. For instance, was Aśoka really Buddhist? What is the approximate date for the Arthaśāstra? Was the Gupta Dynasty intolerant of non-Vedic religious traditions? Was classical Indian astronomy largely learnt from Hellenic sources? Many of these questions are still debated. Ancient India before Muslim rule basically did not keep histories, which was quite unlike the Roman and Chinese worlds where great efforts were made in producing and reproducing histories of their respective civilizations. Scholars of ancient India see the travel accounts of Chinese pilgrims like Faxian (338-c423) and Xuanzang (602–664) as indispensable in reconstructing the history of India in those centuries, and these were just travel accounts written by foreigners.

Nevertheless, ancient India produced many works of art in durable materials like stone, which have survived the centuries and are on display in museums. I would like to show some of the photos I took at the museum. Please click the images for a larger view.

The Indus Valley Civilization (3300-1300 BCE) was the earlier civilization that existed before the authors of the Vedas arrived in India. They seem to have produced a script (the Indus Script), which remains undeciphered. In this image we see a seal with the script.

---

India's next major adoption of script and sculpture came in the Maurya Dynasty (322-185 BCE). Alexander the Great died in 323, and it is understood that many Persians fled his conquests, including artisans who found employment in the Maurya court. It was also in this period that the Brāhmī script, modelled on Aramaic or Phoenician, was used by Aśoka (304-232 BCE) for his edicts. It is notable that Megasthenes (350-290 BCE), a Greek who stayed in India, had remarked that writing did not exist in India. Quite possibly both writing and advanced sculpture techniques were introduced into India through Persia, though scholars might contest this. In any case, India was heavily influenced by both Persians and Greek in the centuries that followed Alexander's conquests, which is most explicit in the following piece.

---

This piece is dated to the second century CE and is from Gandhāra, a region which occupied what is now northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. The Gāndhārī language, much like their art, reveals deep Hellenic influences. For instance, the word stratego is found in it:

bhrada vaga stratego puyaite viyayamitro ya avacaraya maduspasa bhaidata puyita

"brother, the Commander Vaga is honored, and Viyayamitra
( = Vijayamitra), [former] King of Avaca. (His) mother's sister,
Bhaidata (BhagTdatta?) is honored."

(See p108 in "The Indravarman (Avaca) Casket Inscription Reconsidered: Further Evidence for Canonical Passages in Buddhist Inscriptions").

The artistic influences reveal a direct Hellenic genesis. It is generally thought that the first representations of the Buddha came as a result of Greek or Greek-influenced artists who possibly modelled the Buddha's image after Apollo. This piece to the left, a bodhisattva head, is from the third century CE, a mature period of sculpture.

---

The Buddhists were rather innovative in representing their holy figures. Orthodox proponents of the Vedas found the idea of representing their own divine figures as offensive and distasteful. It was only after the Buddhists started crafting such images and neo-Brahmanistic movements arose (those revolving around the Bhagavat Gita, Upaniṣads, and worshippers of Śiva or Viṣṇu) that Brahman society came to endorse iconography. On the left we see Lakṣmaṇa disfiguring Sūrpanakhā, a scene from the Rāmāyaṇa. It is from the Gupta Dynasty period (320 to 550 CE), fifth century CE. Uttar Pradesh.

---

The museum also has some relics of the Buddha himself. The Royal Thai government gave them to the India. They were contained in two capsules and date to the fifth or fourth centuries BCE. They are presently kept on display with a sign asking visitors not to make offerings. It would seem reasonable to have them in a temple somewhere, but given that these were bestowed upon a secular government, it might prove impossible to have them housed anywhere else.

---

Other exquisite pieces are on display such as this image of a young woman playing ball. It dates from the eleventh century. Throughout much of ancient India it seems men and women wore scant clothing while going bare chested. Given the heat of Indian summers this indeed would have made sense. I believe Buddhist monks and nuns would have been more modestly dressed than common folk given that, as a rule established in the Vinaya, they must wear several pieces of cloth and cover their chests.

---

Buddhist pieces also depict romantic scenes. The following from the Āyāga Frieze, which depicts scenes from the Buddha's life and from the Jātakas, shows an amorous couple (third century CE). This sort of thing is seen elsewhere, such as at Nālandā (see Dhammika Bhante's blog post here).

---

There are also pieces from Central Asia in the public collection. This piece is from the third to fourth centuries CE. It resembles a Greco-Roman fresco. Here we see the Buddha with a moustache, which is a common feature on images from Gandhāra. He is accompanied by six monks, one of which is on the right.

---

There are many superb late period (post-tenth century) pieces on display. In the lobby of the museum there is an image of Sarasvatī, the goddess of knowledge, music, arts and sciences. It dates to the twelfth century, Rajasthan.

---

The Jain tradition likewise produced many icons. This piece is of the twenty-second Jain Tīrthaṅkara, called Neminatha. It dates to the eleventh century CE, Rajasthan. It is perhaps easy to mistake Jain images as Buddhist. Generally, Jain saints are depicted bare chested with their genitals exposed, hence it is easy to differentiate them from clothed buddhas or bodhisattvas.

---

Finally, there are more relatively recent pieces of art on display. This one caught my eye. It is entitled "Rani Budhawati Hunting Tigers
Kotah, Rajasthan" (circa 1760-70).

---

The National Museum is Delhi is worth visiting if you have the opportunity to do so. Fortunately it is a museum which allows, for a fee, visitors to use their cameras to photograph anything they wish. It is located near India Gate between Rajpath and Janpath, so when visiting the core of New Delhi it is easy to access. Be sure to bring a friend.

Buddhism and Time

"One Time, One Meeting"

The concept of time is a rich subject of discussion that produced countless metaphysical theories in ancient India. Buddhists likewise joined into the discussion and in due time it seems this attracted the criticism of figures like Nāgārjuna and his later students who refuted any possibility of a substantially existent time. Here I want to take a brief look at how time was divided into two types by Nāgārjuna and expand on the significance of the two concepts. Outside of Buddhism there were of course many alternative heterodox ideas, such as time being a causal agent responsible for the creation and destruction of phenomena. Nāgārjuna sought to refute the theories of both his fellow Buddhists (namely the Sarvāstivāda) and heterodox schools. Curiously, one refuted heterodox concept of time came to be adopted into the Kālacakra Tantra, which is what will consider at the end.

According to the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Upadeśa 大智度論 (MPU) there are two types of time.

《大智度論》卷1〈1 序品〉：「天竺說「時」名有二種：一名迦羅，二名三摩耶」(CBETA, T25, no. 1509, p. 65, b5-6)

In India there are said to be two types of time. The first is called kāla. The second is called samaya.

Now, before we examine these two terms I should say something about the MPU. Said text is attributed to Nāgārjuna. It was translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva (344-413) near the end of his life. As Arakawa Shintaro's study reveals there are fragments of the text in Tangut (I suspect they would be a translation of the Chinese), but otherwise the complete text only remains extant in Classical Chinese translation.

There is an ongoing discussion about whether Nāgārjuna was the true author of it or not, but there is no unanimous consensus on the matter. Kumārajīva as a translator was known to add material and edit his translations to make them more readable, which his contemporaries at the time noted with his edition of Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā 中論 (MMK). Jizang 吉藏 (549–623) in his commentary on the MMK cites a source which states Kumārajīva would "cut away redundancy and make up for any deficiencies."¹ He likely took the same approach with the MPU. This would help to explain peculiar parts of the text such as mentioning “India” 天竺. If it was a completely faithful translation of an Indian text, presumably the Indian author would have been addressing an Indian audience and hence would have had no need to specify “India”. Consequently, while it is not a completely faithful translation of the source text, we cannot confidently deny Nāgārjuna as the author.² Here I assume he was the author despite Kumārajīva's editing.

Now, among the many definitions of the term kāla in Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary we find several relevant definitions:

“a fixed or right point of time , a space of time , time (in general)”

“the proper time or season for”

“occasion, circumstance”

“meal-time”

“time (as leading to events , the causes of which are imperceptible to the mind of man), destiny, fate”

“time (as destroying all things) , death , time of death (often personified and represented with the attributes of yama, regent of the dead , or even identified with him: hence kālam- √i or kālaṃ- √kṛ , " to die " ”

In Chinese the term is understood as “real time” 實時. It refers to specific demarcated portions of time, mostly notably for the purposes of the Vinaya where midday marks the point of time where a bhikṣu must not eat anything until dawn the following day (more specifically when the lines on the palm of one's hand become visible). 

The MPU denies that time has any ultimate existence and goes on to refute the suggestion that it does, much like the MMK. It does however posit that “real time” in the context of the Vinaya is real only in the conventional mundane sense (世界中實). This is in reference to the two truths: ultimate (paramārtha-satya) and conventional (saṃvṛti-satya). In the former there are no phenomena to be perceived. The latter is common reality as it is perceived by ordinary beings and hence we can speak of “real time” as it relates to common perceptions.

Kāla is also understood by one heterodox school and the late-period Kālacakra Tantra as being the causal genesis of the production and destruction of phenomena (consider the last dictionary definition above). We will consider this shortly.

The term samaya refers to the sense of time specified in sūtras and śāstras. Sūtras generally start with ekasminsamaye (“at one time”). Monier-Williams defines it as “appointed or proper time, right moment for doing anything ..., opportunity ,occasion ,time , season”. In Chinese it is understood as “false time” 假時 in contrast to “real time”. The notion behind ekasminsamaye is explained as follows in the MPU:

《大智度論》卷1〈1 序品〉：「隨世俗故有一時無有咎。若畫泥木等作天像，念天故禮拜無咎。說「一時」亦如是，雖實無一時，隨俗說一時，無咎。」(CBETA, T25, no. 1509, p. 64, c13-16)

According to mundane convention there is no fault with there being “one time”. There is no fault if with paint, clay or wood one makes an image of a deity, and in recollecting the deity thus pays respects. To speak of “one time” is also like this. Although there really is no “one time”, there is no fault in speaking of “one time” according to mundane conventions.

What is unique is that there is soteriological function to samaya. According to the MPU, samaya is used instead of kāla in order to eliminate views. The former is nebulous and does not make specific reference to a definite span of time. The latter is definitive and more importantly associated with heterodox philosophy. Here the paradigm from the Prajñāpāramitā literature is evident. The interpretation here posits that the Buddha's aim was to have beings eliminate attachment to views and this would include reified notions of time, hence the wide use of samaya in sūtras and few examples of kāla as the MPU suggests is a result of the Buddha's express intent. In other words, indefinite time is used for the edification of beings – more importantly, it is out of the concern that beings will generate wrong views on the matter of time. This is a key concern of the MPU and MMK. It is in direct response to heterodox assertions that time is permanent and the causal genesis of all phenomena. The MPU cites two different arguments suggesting a true existence of time:

《大智度論》卷1〈1 序品〉：

「有人言：「一切天地好醜皆以時為因，如《時經》中偈說：

　「『時來眾生熟，　　時至則催促，

　　時能覺悟人，　　是故時為因。

　　世界如車輪，　　時變如轉輪，

　　人亦如車輪，　　或上而或下。』」

更有人言：「雖天地好醜一切物非時所作，然時是不變因，是實有。時法細故，不可見、不可知、以華果等果故可知有時。往年今年，久近遲疾，見此相，雖不見時，可知有時。何以故？見果知有因故。以是故有時法，時法不壞故常。」」(CBETA, T25, no. 1509, p. 65, b10-21)

Some say, “The cause for all agreeable and disagreeable things in heaven and earth is time. As the verses of the Time Scripture state:

Time comes and beings mature,

Time arrives and they hasten,

Time can awaken people,

For this reason time is the cause.

The world is like a chariot wheel,

Passing of time is akin to the wheel turning,

People are also like the chariot wheel,

Some rise and some descend.”

Some also say, “Although all agreeable and disagreeable things in heaven and earth are not produced by time, time is a static cause and truly existent. The phenomenon of time is subtle and thus cannot be seen and cannot be [directly] known. We can know that time exists because of the result of flowers and fruits. The past year and the present year, distant and close, slow and fast – seeing these characteristics we can know that time exists although we do not see time. Why? It is because in seeing the result we know that there is a cause. Thus the phenomenon of time exists. The phenomenon of time is indestructible and thus permanent.”

I was initially perplexed as to who this was referring to, but in reference to this the Edo period Japanese Shingon monk Donjaku 曇寂  (1674-1742) in his Sub-commentary on the Commentary on the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra 大日經住心品疏私記 cites Āryadeva's description of the twenty theories on nirvāṇa by twenty externalist and Hīnayāna schools. Number seventeen is described as follows:

《提婆菩薩釋楞伽經中外道小乘涅槃論》卷1：「問曰。何等外道說諸物皆是時作名涅槃。答曰。第十七外道時散論師作如是說。時熟一切大。時作一切物。時散一切物。是故我論中說。如被百箭射時不到不死。時到則小草觸即死。一切物時生。一切物時熟。一切物時滅。時不可過。是故時論師說。時是常生一切物。名涅槃因。」(CBETA, T32, no. 1640, p. 158, a10-16)。

Question – Which of the externalists teach that all things are produced by time and that this is called nirvāṇa?

Answer – The seventeenth externalist proponent of time dispersal teaches as follows. “Time matures all elements. Time creates all things. Time disperses all things. For this reason in my theory we say that if shot with a hundred arrows you would not die if time had not arrived. When time arrives, you would die immediately if touched by a small blade of grass. Time produces all things. Time matures all things. Time destroys all things. Time cannot be passed over.” For this reason the proponent of time teaches that time constantly produces all things. It is called the cause for nirvāṇa.

Zhanran 湛然 (711-782) also affirms the aforementioned verses in the MPU as being heterodox and moreover the soteriological function of these two types of time as follows.

《法華文句記》卷1〈釋序品〉：「是故外人計時為實。而說偈云。時來眾生熟。時去則催促。時能覺悟人。是故時為因。故須破邪說三摩耶。故今文中以實時示內生善。假時破外斷惡。」(CBETA, T34, no. 1719, p. 162, b1-4)

Thus the externalist conceives of time as real. In verse they state, “Time comes and beings mature. Time goes³ and they hasten. Time can awaken people. For this reason time is the cause.” Thus there is a need to refute error and teach samaya. Hence now in the text here real time reveals the inner production of virtue [i.e., the Buddhist Vinaya] while false time refutes externalists while severing away evil.

We need to bear in mind it was not only heterodox schools which reified time. Jizang also goes on to explain how the Buddhist Dārṣṭāntika (associated with the Sautrāntika) and Sarvāstivāda proponents likewise reified time in their respective theories as a substantive entity, which he notes the MMK sets out to “greatly disrupt” and refute. In his extensive commentary on the MMK he explains as follows.

《中觀論疏》卷8〈19 時品〉：「所言時者外道有二師。一云。時體常。但為萬物作於了因。不生諸法故非生因。次云。別有時體。是無常法。能為萬化作生殺因。故偈云。時來眾生就。時去則摧促。是故時為因。佛法中亦有二師。一者譬喻部云。別有時體。非色非心。體是常而法是無常。但法於是時中行。如人從房至房。如物從器至器。婆沙云。為止此說，明法即是時，法無常，時即無常。辨因法假名時，離法無別時。三世之時雖無別體。而時中之法則決定不無。薩婆多部中有四大師。立三世不同。」(CBETA, T42, no. 1824, p. 130, c1-12)

In respect to time, there are two externalist proponents. One states that the essence of time is permanent. Myriad phenomena just produce the cause for awareness [i.e., the cause for awareness of time as stated in MPU quote above; jñāpaka-hetu?]. It does not produce phenomena, hence it is not the generative cause. Another states that there is particular essence to time. It is an impermanent phenomenon. The “killing cause” is produced for myriad manifestations [phenomena]. Thus the verse states, “Time comes and beings mature. Time goes and they hasten. Time can awaken people. For this reason time is the cause.”

In Buddhadharma there are also two proponents.

The first are the Dārṣṭāntika which state that there is a separate essence to time. It is neither material (rupa) nor mental. The essence is permanent, but the phenomena are impermanent. Phenomena are only active in time, like when a person goes from one room to another, or when an object is transferred from one vessel to another. The Vibhāṣā states, “In order to refute this theory it is explained that phenomena are time. As phenomena are impermanent their time is impermanent.” This recognizes time as a conventional appellation [prajñapti] resulting from phenomena. There is no separate form of time apart from phenomena. While the three periods of time have no distinct essence, the phenomena within time itself are definitely not non-existent.

The Sarvāstivāda school although has four great proponents. They establish that the three periods of time are different. …

Here we are informed about externalist and Śrāvakayāna schools which see time as being substantial and truly existent. This is problematic for the Madhyamaka project, in India and elsewhere, which sought to refute any possibility of anything at all having substantial existence (svabhava). Again, time is permitted to have a conventional function and existence, though any postulate beyond this will be rejected.

Incidentally, for a recent thesis on Jizang's ideas on time see Ernest Brewster's work entitled “Timeand Liberation in the Three-Treatise Master Jizang's Mādhyamika Thought”.

Interestingly, the definition of kāla in the Kālacakra literature is remarkably different from how Nāgārjuna in the MPU understood it, but more remarkable is how the former absorbs aspects of what the latter rejects. Vesna Wallace in her work The Inner Kālacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual provides an explanation of an idea that is quite akin to what is cited in the MPU above:

In this tantric system, the term "wheel of time" (kāla-cakra) designates the dynamic and nondual nature of a single reality that manifests primarily in two ways—the conventional (saṃvṛti) and the ultimate (paramārtha). The conventional reality itself appears in two ways—the individual (adhyātma) and the individual's environment (bāhya), the macrocosmic and microcosmic aspects of that single reality. With regard to the external aspect of conventional reality, the term "wheel of time" refers to the passage of days, month, and years in the cycle of time. The Vimalaprabhā defines time (kāla) as a circle of twelve solar mansions or zodiacs (rāśi-cakra). The unit day-and-night (aho-rātra) is also called "time."

With regard to the individual, the "wheel of time" denotes a circulation of prāṇas within the wheel of the nāḍīs in the body. In view of the close interrelatedness of these two aspects of conventional reality, the "wheel of time" also designates a circulation (cakra) of twenty-one thousand and six hundred pairs of inhalations and exhalations, which takes place in the course of a day-and-night called "time."

Even though the cosmos ultimately neither arises nor ceases, conventionally, the entire cosmos, with its three worlds, is said to arise and cease due to the power of time. More specifically, this is said to occur due to the union of the time of origination and the time of destruction. It is stated in the Ādibuddhatantra:

Time brings forth phenomena, and time always destroys phenomena, for time is the

Bhagavān, vajrī, who has the nature of a day and a night.

In accordance with the classification of the mind, a day is the sun, uterine blood,

and vulva; a night is the moon, semen, and male sexual organ. Their union is Kālacakra, the supreme bliss (mahā-sukha).

This indeed sounds like the heterodox theory cited in the MPU. The difference between the aforementioned externalist theory of kāla and the Kālacakra Tantra is perhaps that whereas the former sees causal time as being ultimately real and substantial, the latter only sees causal time as conventionally real, much like how Nāgārjuna in the MPU above posits that kāla functions only as conventionally real. The bhikṣus might not eat after midday, and hence kāla serves an expedient function. Likewise it seems in the Kālacakra literature the aspect of causal time being the creator and destroyer of phenomena is merely a means to an end, and not a view to cling to. Vesna Wallace explains the ultimate aspect of the Kālacakra as follows:

With regard to the ultimate reality, the "wheel of time" indicates the nonduality of two facets of a single reality—namely, wisdom (prajñā), or emptiness (śūnyatā), and method (upāya), or compassion (karuṇā). The word "time" refers to the gnosis of imperishable bliss (akṣara-sukha-jñāna), which is a method consisting of compassion; and the word "wheel" designates wisdom consisting of emptiness. Their unity is the Buddha Kalacakra.⁴

Kālacakra Maṇḍala

This degree of syncretism is remarkable, though not unusual for Kālacakra literature. As John Newman in his article (see here) “Islam in the Kālacakra Tantra” explains the“Kālacakra tantra syncretism is unusually obvious and is even self-conscious - the tantra makes little effort to disguise its borrowings from the Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, and Jaina traditions. The basic structure of the Kālacakra system is itself non-Buddhist: the Kālacakra uses the ancient idea of the homology of the macrocosm and the microcosm as the foundation of its soteriology.”⁵

Much like how Nāgārjuna granted a practical function to kāla, the Kālacakra literature as a form of expedient means employs what was a heterodox vision of time as well as other non-Buddhist ideas into its soteriological framework, the whole intent of which is to enable rapid liberation from saṃsāra. In other words, time is put to good use for the purposes of liberation.

There could be much more said about the concept of time, especially in respect to how it was conceived in the Śrāvakayāna schools. We might discuss that in a later post.

------  

Footnotes:

1 《中觀論疏》卷1：「法師裁而裨之者。法師即羅什也。裁其煩重裨其乖闕。」(CBETA, T42, no. 1824, p. 5, a21-22)

2 Curiously the citations of the MMK in the MPU are different from how Kumārajīva rendered them in his complete translation of the MMK. See the following: http://hdl.handle.net/2261/2002.

3 The character qu 去 here is different from zhi 至 in the MPU.

4 Vesna A. Wallace, The Inner Kālacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001), 92-93.

5 John Newman, “Islam in the Kālacakra Tantra” in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 21, no. 2 (1998): 313.