FumlmaroWatanabe PhilosophyanditsDevelopment . In TheNikayas andAbhidhamma FUMIMAROWATANABE MOTILALBANARSIDASS Delhi0Varanasi0Patna FirstPublished In1983 @MOTILALBANARSIDASS HeadOffice:BungalowRoad.JawabarNagar,Delhi-? Branches:1.Chowk. Varanasi-l(U.P.) 2.A.hal< Rajpath,Patna-4 (Bihar) ISBN: 089581.157 No partof thisbooknlaybe reproduced inanyformwithoutthe permissionof thepublisher. PrintedinIndia By Shantilal Jain.at 8hri Jaine1'l.draPress, A-4S, Naraina,NewDelhi-ll0 028. Published byNarendra Prakash Jain,forMotilai Banarsidass, Delhi110007. TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD PREFACE ABBREVIATIONS PARTITheOriginof AbhidhammaPhilosophy I.Introduction 2.OnthePolysemyof theWord 'Dhamma' 3.TheConceptionof Abhidhamma and its Characteristics 4.Abhidhammaand MiitiM 5.TheSystematization of Miltikiis 0';' theTikasand Dukas5.3 On KhandhiJ.yatanadhiJ.tUj)la,etc.5.6 On Disputable Topics5.13 PARTIIThe Development of the Dialogue Form 6.TheMethod of Progressof aDialogue vii xi xv 3 9 18 37 46 48 53 65 andthe Four PafihabyiJ.karaQas71 7.MetaphysicalQuestions and Tetralemmas88 8.T akkaand'Dhammatakka94 9.Forms of Reasoning andArgument107 10.LogicalArgumentsintheDialogues (Suttas)127 II.Advanced'FormsofQuestionsand Answersin theK athavatthuandthe VijfiiinakiiJ'a154 12.Conclusion209 WORK>CITED212 INDEX219 FOREWORD ProfessorWatanabe's main themeinthisstudyisthedeve-lopmentoflogic,asamethodof thinking orreasoning,inthe Buddhist tradition.Thediscourses and especially dialoguesattri-buted to the Buddha himself are fullof arguments, partly informal and conversational butpartly set out in a systematic way embody-ing logicalprinciples.It should be noted herethat,in order to establish whether thetextsstudiedbelongtotheearliest acces-siblephaseof the Buddhisttradition,ProfessorWatanabehas throughoutcollatedthePali recension with theChinesetrans-lationsfromotherrecensions.Thiscollation shouldgiveus,in theCflSC:ofagreement,texts as currentbefore theschismsofthe 3rdcenturyB.C.whichseparatedtheserecensions.Inthe subsequent periodofthegrowthoftheAbhidhammainthe variousschoolswe findanew stageofstrictlyformalisedargu-mentsanddebates,recordedespecially in thePitli KatMvatthu andtheChinese translationoftheSabbatthiviidaVijfiiinakiiya. Thesetwotextsofthe'Emptiness'Schoolsof the Theravada groupinfactseem tobe basedon recordsofthesamedebates againstthe'Person'Schoolwhichseceded,accordingtothe tradition,in B.C.286. Professo!Watanabefirstseeksthemeaningoftheterm abhidhamma,literally 'about the dhamma', since he rightly supposes that theearliest methods of argumentand reasoningled directly intothesystematicandformalisedexpressioll ofthetexts collectedasabhidhamma.Hisinitialconjectureisthusthat this methodcalled abhidhammaisitselftheearlylogicoftheBud-dhists.This conjectureappears tobe confirmedbythe evidence of the earlier Sutfatexts in whichtheoriginsof themethodcan betraced.Butbeforeinvestigatingthemeaningof theterm abhidhammait isfirstnecessaryto "ci!uifythemeaningofthe simpletermdhamma fromwhich it wasformed;thusdhamma,in whichProfessorWatanabefindsthefourmeanings' t r u t h ' ~ viii) "doctrine','morality'and'principle',formstheactual starting pointof thisstudy. Theinvestigationshowsthatthedialogueform,orasking questions in ordertoelicitacceptableanswers,isfundaIIl:ental, athreadwhichrunsthroughBuddhistphilosophicalanalysis fromthe outset and' throughthe whole period of theelaboration -of abhidhammatexts. Beforestudying the typesofargument usedinthesedialogues in detail,ProfessorWatanabetakes note of adifferentelement jnthe developme-nt of abhidhamma,namely the t,n4tikas,'matrices' rlistsof topicswhichprovideditsconte,nt.Hedistinguishes two maintypes of matika:the'practical' principles of meditation andthe 'theoretical' principleswhich arethe constituentsof the" 'world'and of 'man'.Theformerwere studied syntheticallyby bringingtogethertextsfromthesuttasbearingonthesame topics.Thelatter were studiedanalyticallybymakingdichot-omies(onthebasisoftheprincipleofcontradiction), trichotomies(of contrariesandtheneutralpositionbetween them)andvariousother classifications.The extantabhidhamma texts are showntohavebeenconstructedbyapplyingthese methodsof investigation. After reviewingaselection of the'I somewhat informal methods of argument foundinthesuttas,ProfessorWatanabe inChapter 11takesupthe strictly formalised debates of the Kalhavatthuand Vijfiiinakiiya.Here atruly 'formallogic'isfirstfoundinthe Buddhist tradition.The partial agreement of these two texts,of schools which separated during the reign of the Emperor Asoka, appears to confirm the3rd centuryB.C.astheperiodofthe originofaformallogic out of the practice of aformaldebate withstrictrulesofprocedure.Themostvaluablepartof Professor Watanabe's study ishisfull account of theVijiiiinakqya versionof thedebatesagainstthe'Person'(Vajjiputtakaor Vatsiputriya)School,whichhadnotsofar been adequately analysed and compared withthe Kalkavalllm record. ProfessorWatanabearrivesatthelogicallystimulating conclusion thatthe' Buddha'sphilosophy is basedonthemode ofnegation,isanavoidanceofdogmatism,characterised1,y ix ) 'completely negative thinking'.This, he argues,isthe modeor waywhichleadstofreedomandhumanism.It hasbeen a pleasure to work withProfessorWatanabeontheseproblems andwelookforwardtomanymorefruitsof hisnegative thinking. February 1982A.K. Warder PREFACE It is saidthattenyearsisanepoch.Itacitlyunderstandthis as awarning that at least duringten yearssomething remarkable mustbedonewithrespecttolearning.Itisalmostadecade IcompletedthedoctoralcoursesoftheDepartmentof Sanskritand.IndianStudies attheUniversity of Toronto.In the meantime,Imadeslowprogressinmy studyonaccountof my heartvalves'operationin July,1973.Forme,fifteenortwenty yearsmaybeneeded inordertomake an epoch inlearning.Or nomatterhowsufficienttime is,it mightbeimpossibleforme tomakeit.ButIthinkitisimportanttospendalifetimein learning. Onreflection,itwasProfessor,E.Mayeda of AichiGakuin Universityin Nagoya,JapanwhofirstintroducedtoJapan ProfessorA.K.Warder'sfascinatingaswellasextremely valuablestudyof themetresinthePitliCanon,entitledPali Mttrt-A ContributiontotheHistoryof IndianLiterature,and afterward,myuncle,S.Hanayama,ProfessorEmeritusof TokyoUniversityinformedmethatProfessorA.K. Warder teachesattheUniversityofTorontoandaffordedmethe occasiontogoabroadforstudy.ThenIbecamehisstudent therebecauseofmywishtocarryonresearchesunderhim. Itwas1965.Inote,in thatinthespringof1966 ProfessorE.Mayedawasfirstinvitedasavisitingprofessor fromJapantotheUniversityofTorontobyProfessorA.K. Warder.Iamdeeply.gratefultobothProfessorE.Mayeda andEmeritusProfessorS.Hanayamaforcultivatingthe opportunity tomeet Professor A.K.Warder. AsagraduatestudentoftheUniversityof Toronto,Iwas muchinfluencedbyProfessorA.K.Warder'slectureson linguistics,philosophyandliterature,especiallyon selections fromthePiiliCanonandonAbhidhammaphilosophy,sinceI wasveryinterestedin suchsubjectmatterswhenenrolledasa graduatestudentatRyukokuUniversityinKyoto, Japan.I (xii thereforedecidedtomakeaspecialstudyoftheNikiiyasand Abhidhamma,andafterobtaining theM.A.degreeand goingon tothePh.D.. coursesof the Department of Sanskrit andIndian StudiesattheUniversityofToronto,Iworkedthroughthe literatureonthesubjects under him forvery long.HereIwish toexpressmy deepestobligationstoProfessor A. K.Warder for criticallyreadingmythesisandtirelesslymakinginvaluable suggestions. Iwasalsogivenmuchusefulinformation andhelpfuladvice intheirclassesand ininformaldiscussionsby myother teachers: ProfessorT.VenkatacharyaoftheUniversityofToronto,Dr. H.SaddhatissaoftheBritishMahabodhi Society,whowas a visitingprofessorof theUniversity ofTorontoatthat time, Dr. J.W.CrichtonwhowasthenaprofessoroftheDepartment ofPhilosophyattheU{liversityof Toronto,ProfessorH. G. HerzbergeroftheUniversityofToronto,Professor.B.K. Matilal of the University of Toronto, Professor J.D. Dhirasekera whoisnowtheEditor-in-ChiefoftheEncyclopediaof BuddhisminColombo,andmanyotherprofessors.Theyare versedrespectivelyinSanskrit,Pali,Modern Logic,Philosophy ofLanguage,IndianLogic,IndianPhilosophy,andother variousfieldsoflearning.Toallof themIacknowledgewith thanks myindebtedness. Mycordialthanks are likewiseduetomy colleagueand able instructor ProfessorC. D. C. Priestley of the University ofToronto forgivingmehisgoodopinionsandhelpingmeimprovemy Englishstyle. NowadaysIrealizetheweightof thewords'kaf,ydQamitta', whichliterallymean'goodfriend'.Forme,heissometimesa goodadviser and agoodteacher, by whom Iam always brought upinmanywaysinmylife.WhenIlearnthefactthat throughoutthewhole of Buddhism,tomeet agoodfriendor to havegoodfriendsisveryimportant inseekingthetruthandin livingthe bestlife,Iamverygladtohavemet manygood teachersandfriends,bywhom so farIhave beenbrought upin variousrespects.Itisinfactthe'kindhelpofmyteachers, colleagues,andfriendswhichhasenabledmetopresentmy bookinits p ~ e s e n tform. xiii) Finally,Iwouldliketoaddaword ofgratefulacknowledge-mentto my wifeforher constantencouragement.Ibelievethat mylateparentsandtheeldest sonprotectme withblessingsof the Triple Gem. KinkiUniversity HigashiOsaka January1979 F.Watanabe A. AA. adj. D. DAWB. Dh. Dhs. Dpvs. esp. GWG. IRQ. ltv. JPTS. JRAS. Kv. lit. M. MA. Miln. Miln.T. Nd(l) Nd(2) orig. P. Plm. PTS. RA ABBREVIATIONS AngullaTanikaya. AngultaraAtthakatha(Commentary,in Pilli): adjective. Dighanikilya. DeutschenAkadefniederWissenschaften zuBerlin. Dhammapada. Dhammasanga{li. DipavaTflSa. especially GesellschaftderWissenschaftenin GOt-tingen . .Indian HistoricalQuarterly,Calcutta. , [tivuttaka. Journalrif thePali Text Socie!)!,London. Journal rif theRoyalAsiatic Socie!)!,London. Kathavalthu. literally. Majjhimanikaya. MajjhimaAtthakathii(Commentary,in Pilli):Papancasudani. Milindapanha. Milinda-T!kii. Mahiiniddesa. CuJanidtksa. originally. Pilli. Pafisambhidiimagga. PilliTextSociety. Royal AsiaticSociety. S. SA. Samanta. SBB. Skt. Sn. T. Ud. Vhh. Vin. ZDMG. (xvi Samyuttanik4JIa. SamyuttaAllhqkathil(Commentary,in Piili):Siiratthappakiisini Samantapiisiidikil. Sacred Booksof the Buddhists. Sanskrit. Suttanipiita. TiMTaislwEditionof theChineseTripitaka (TaishoShinshu Daizokyo) . Udiina. Vibhanga. Vinaya ZeitschriftderDeutschenMorgenltlndischen Gesellschaft. PARTI THEORIGINOFABHIDHAMMA PHILOSOPHY 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1ItwasasamafJll(striver)philosopherwhoclaimedto havediscoveredtheFourTruths.Hefoundedhisteachings onthem.Hewas,therefore,calledtheBuddha,which isa title,meaning the'enlightened'.To hisdisciples,histeachings werespiritualfood.Andeventoday,theyarefreshgoldin our culturalmeltingpot.Afterhisenlightenment(531 B.C.),' hepreachedvariousdoctrinestopeopleofdifferent spiritual andintellectualcapacities,just asa doctor gives each patient a differenttypeof medicineaccordingtothe natureof theillness. Thisisthemanifestation of hispai/iii1(understanding)and his karuQt'l(compassion).Thisfactcanalsoberealizedfromhis lastdiscourseintheMahdparinihhiInasutta,whichisthework descril>ingthe scenebeforeandafterhisfinalextinction (parinilibiIna);' Monks,thedhammas(doctrines')whichIhavediscovered andtaughtshouldbewelllearnedbyyou,andpractised, 1.We provisionallyadopt566 B.C.asadateforthebirth.537 B.C. fortherenunciation,531B.C.fattheenlightenmentand486B.C.fotthe Bnal extinctionof theBuddba.becausethereisacertaindoubtCollCeming thelifeoEtheBuddha.Ontbis,secA.K.Warder,ltulianBuddhi.tmt'llt edttion), p.44. 2.D.lI,1I9-20.This isavailabletousinseveralreccllIions.Referto T.I,110-30b,1601>-175 c, 176 a-191a, 1911>-207 c, T. 24,127 b-129b and tho Skt.t... publi.hed by E.Waldachmidt in1939,1950and1951. 9.One of themea.ningsof theworddhamma,4doctdneOrftea