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Ideal for Buddhist scholars

Studies in the Philosophy and Literature of Pali Abhidhammika Buddhism
Author: Aloysius Pieris, s.j.,
Ecumenical Institute for Study and
Dialogue, Colombo

The story of modern studies in Buddhism is one of cooperation among scholars from all over the world. A remarkable character of this genre of studies is that a large number of its practitioners come from non-Buddhist backgrounds.

This stands sharply in contrast with the traditional Buddhist studies in which almost all scholars came from the Buddhist tradition itself. This was true not only of Buddhism but also of all traditions.

It was a rare occurrence in the ancient world that one studied a religion different from one's own. When such an exercise was undertaken it was always for the purpose of finding raw-material for criticism.

Today the development of Buddhist studies as a distinct academic field has produced what is called 'professionals' in the field who are ideally characterized by objectivity in the approach to the subject matter.

One's own personal religious inclinations are believed to have nothing to do with what they study. Although this way of characterization is not without difficulties the general picture remains widely accepted.

Some of the most prominent scholars in contemporary Buddhist studies have been priests belonging to Christian tradition. The best example would be Etienne Lamotte, the Belgian Catholic priest whose entire academic life was dedicated to the study of Buddhism.

In the local context of Sri Lanka too, from the beginning of the 19th century, we have had Christian clergy writing on Buddhism.

Looking from this background Aloysius Pieris, s.j. writing on Buddhism is not necessarily an extraordinary phenomenon. Nevertheless, there are many reasons for celebration.

On the one hand, Fr. Pieris' contribution to Pali Abhidhamma scolasticism, a subject by no means fun to deal with, itself requires admiring.

On the other hand, its implications on comparative religion/philosophy and inter-religious dialogue, things that have been dear to Fr. Peiris throughout his life, deserve to be celebrated by all those who wish for harmony among religions in our society and promotion of inter-religious understanding.

Fr. Pieris just completed his 70th birthday and his friends and admirers dedicated a substantial anthology of academic papers to him in honouring his long commitment to religious and academic goals.

The volume under discussion, here, is in a way a continuation of his birthday celebrations, namely, a gift in Dhamma (dhamma-dana) from him to his readers.

It consists a collection of research papers he has written over a period of time on Abhidhamma, traditionally the third 'basket' in the Buddhist canon.

Fr. Pieris is known in the world as a renowned Christian scholar and a leading liberation theologian who has done yeoman work in establishing what may be called an 'Asian Liberation Theology'.

A remarkable character in him is that he has done quite substantial work in the field of Buddhist studies, too.

His doctoral research in Buddhist studies (for he has another doctorate in Christianity) was on the Pali Commentator called Dhammapala, who comes only next to Budhaghosa in his contribution to the understanding of the word of the Buddha.

The study of commentaries naturally would take Fr. Pieris to what may be described as Buddhist scholarsticism, beset with many technical subtleties like any other such category.

But Fr. Pieris has had a thorough training under well-known Buddhist scholars for a considerable time. He has dedicated his book to Rev.

Fr. Dr. Vito Ferniola, s.j., his Pali teacher, Prof. Dr. V. Varadachcari, his Sanskrit teacher and Prof. D. J. Kalupahana, the last of his teachers in Buddhism.

Fr. Pieris has quite a few more intellectual debts and associations in the field of Buddhism.

As he records them in the preface to the book: his first intellectual encounter with Buddhism was the Ven. Dr. Kotagama Vacissara Thera, the Professor of Buddhist studies at the then Vidyodaya Campus of the Sri Lanka University, who showed him the need to have an empathic understanding of Buddhist experience before he ventured into studying Buddhism deeply.

It is Ven. Nyanaponika's Abhdhamma Studies that served him as the entrance to the vast ocean of abstruse analysis of mind in which he would become an expert in later years.

In the preface Fr. Pieris describes an encounter with Fr. Etienne Lamotte, referred to earlier. Fr. Pieris went to see him in order to get some guidance in choosing a topic for his doctoral research and what he had in his mind was a comparative study between the Buddhist canon and the Bible.

Fr. Lamotte's response to this plea for guidance was: "How can you compare what you know with what you don't?" and this question surely has exerted a great influence on the academic future of Fr. Pieris.

Following this advice coming from one of the leading Buddhist scholars in the world, Fr. Pieris himself became an expert in Buddhism. According to Fr. Pieris, Lamotte "had mastered the art of blending scientific rigour with reverential empathy in the study of other religions".

Looking at the career of Fr. Pieris we can see that these words uttered by him with reference to Fr. Etienne Lamotte hold equally true of himself.

The aftermath of the conversation with Fr. Lamotte was the decision to study the Pali exegetical literature deeply. Describing his intellectual development within the Buddhist tradition Fr. Pieris says:

....I devoted almost all my time to the reading of these scholastic writings, always keeping the canonical texts in sight. Thus Lamotte's idea of "plunging" into the Pali Buddhist literature became the first step in my research program.

It was thanks to this "immersion" (or Baptism, to use its exact Greek equivalent) in the waters of Buddhist thought that I began to acquire an ever growing familiarity with the voluminous works of Pali exegetes, with their mentality, their methods and even their mannerisms (p.xiii-xiv).

This in fact is the ideal foundation for research. The added significance of this dedication is that a committed member of one religious tradition, is venturing to study a religious tradition which is not one's own.

Inter-religious studies are fraught with difficulties. Such studies involving Buddhism and Christianity in the context of Sri Lanka are fraught with even more difficulties, among which emotional and sentimental difficulties prompted by historical misgivings play a keyrole.

In such a situation as this it is of paramount importance that one build credibility within the particular academic community. I think, this is the most remarkable virtue in Fr. Pieris.

It makes him one among the Theravada scholars who are accepted by the academic community as worthy of approaching in order to learn the tradition. Beside its academic significance, I think this is living inter-religious dialogue at its best!

As we know, Fr. Pieris has done substantial contribution to inter-religious dialogue and understanding both through precept and practice.

But this is not the context for me to go into details of this valuable aspect of his public life. Let me turn back to his academic contribution in the field of Buddhist studies.

The subject matter in the chapters of the present work covers Buddhist psychology, ethics and epistemology.

The expertise unravelled from page to page is on the Pali exegetical literature and in it too, special (not exclusive) attention is given to one particular commentator, namely, Dhammapala (Badaratitthavasi) considered second only to Buddhaghosa.

The commentarial tradition is by no means easy. it is even more difficult to master it - which is what Fr. Pieris has done, as revealed in these chapters. His contribution to understanding Pali exegetical exposition in general and Acariya Dhammapala in particular in his own words is as follows:

A careful reader of these pages, therefore, should not be surprised to notice an articulation of hitherto unknown semantic nuances of already known Pali Buddhist terms; a decoding of certain technical terms that have not entered the existing Pali lexicons and also a certain temerity on my part in suggesting amendments to the textual readings in the existing (PTS and other) Editions of Pali literature and even offering alternative renderings of certain key passages completely at variance with the renderings given by eminent translators (Geiger, Horner, Tin, Nanamoli) all of whom, nonetheless, I esteem as pioneers on whose scholarly labour my own research heavily depended (p.xiv).

These words challenging the received wisdom and existing knowledge should serve as examples of ideal research work worthy of being emulated by all those who would want venture into Buddhist studies to make it their future academic career.

Fr. Pieris has not yet published his doctoral dissertation specializing on Dhammapala. This makes us still helpless in this very important aspect of Pali exegetical literature. The present volume remedies this deficiency to a considerable extent.

In this book, the very first chapter deals with the historical problem of determining who really was the Dhammapala who wrote commentaries to the books in the Khudddakanikaya to which Buddhaghosa had not written commentaries and who wrote sub-commentaries to the latter's main works.

The other nine chapters cover some key controversial themes which make Theravada real Theravada. They cover such abstruse themes as 'Citta, atta and attabhava', 'cakkhu-vinnana as dassanamatta', 'vatthu and dhamma' and 'existence of nibbana' to name a few.

I should not go into the details of the argument in each and every chapter. Each chapter challenges the reader with new interpretations substantiated with textual references, cogently argued and systematically presented.

Every discussion brings out specific elements of Dhammapala's way of understanding the word of the Buddha.

As Fr. Pieris tells us in the preface he has not gone into the task of comparing and contrasting the 'Theravada' found in Dhammapala and the exegetical literature with the Pali canon or with any other later tradition. In other words, the reader is treated to an in-depth study of Pali exegetical literature on its own right.

In all probability Fr. Pieris can be the best living authority on Dhammapala. And perhaps the present volume could be the only volume that deals almost exclusively with Dhammapala's exegeses of the work of the Buddha.

It comes to us as a result of dedicated labour of a man who has devoted a good chunk of his mature academic life for Buddhist studies!

The younger generation of Buddhist scholars may do well if they at least make up their minds to read and understand Fr. Pieris's work! Finally to end this brief introduction to his book, let me quote from Ananda Guruge's forward to the volume:

Modestly titled as "Studies in the Philosophy and Literature of Pali Abhidhammika Buddhism", this initial volume of a forthcoming series merits the serious attention of all Buddhist scholars, whatever be the tradition they specialize in.

- Prof. Asanga Tilakaratne.

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A case for the indigenous peoples of the world

by Afreeha Jawad

If ever there was a blend of anthropology and economics, this is it - 'Globalisation and Indigenous Peoples in Asia' - an academic exercise towards changing the local-global interface.

Being a vivid portrayal of peripheral existence coming off system endorsement - the book, published by SAGE Publishers, New Delhi, is not without a solution in effacing inequality.

Perusing its pages one begins to wonder what the popular view will be of that accuse sociologists of being only critics and not solution-seekers.

This book, containing twelve papers - some of the best in India's intellectual realms - insists on indigenous peoples being brought to the fore, restoring their lost rights, enabling full control of all environmental services - currently the sole prerogative of private individuals. An area of concern is water and the forests - the forest as services provider.

The book considerably aims at a more liberative approach while being accommodative of globalisation. Strange enough unlike in other such exercises, it refrains from the antiglobalisation cry. Instead, a move towards an all-inclusive stakeholdership - not missing out on the marginalised is conspicuous.

All attempts by State forces in modernisation - be it hydro-electric projects, dams, colonisation schemes, national parks, whatever, have dislodged the self-sufficient indigenous people and deprived them their heritage - a status quo seen as most unjustifiable by the presenters and which they see as paving the way for a 'one sided win' all along.

While calling for a more broadbased outlook in system networking, it constantly features the lay out's negative characteristics - a good example being the introduction of a mercantilist or market economy - the accrued benefits enjoyed by only a few at the expense of a well-woven, traditional social welfare system.

The book is a clear indicator of retrospective happenings where the international powers penetrated and dislodged the world's national populace - the same is continued today within the nation state territory to fill external wallets.

The hardworking woman - all part of gender - makes interesting reading while food insecurity and advance sale of labour necessitate pre-ponderance on the part of 'egalitarian criers'.

The presenters indeed are a threat and challenge to structured divisiveness and class differentiation as they present their case in logical style towards recreating the community.

It also disowns the market's hidden hand on which the current global economy is activated and draws the reader's attention to a state and community based mechanism where the varied divisive characteristics including gender will wear out.

The book also spells out how through such innovative process the rise of big men or families with links to the external world - of power and hegemonic control will become extinct if not at least take a back seat.

www.ceylincoproperties.com

www.Pathmaconstruction.com

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