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BRONKHORST : A note on Patanjali and the Buddhists
249
Annals BORI, LXXV (1994)
The Buddhist texts that have come down to us do indeed contain a very similar notion. The Dharma, i.e. the truth preached by the Buddha, is here described as "auspicious in the beginnlog, in the middle and in the end ", in Pali: adikalyana, majjhekalyāna, pariyosanakalyana, in Sanskrit: adau kalyana, madhye kalyana, paryavasāne kalyana. We find this expression very frequently in the Pali Buddhist texts, especially in the Vinaya and Sutta Pițakas. The expression has been preserved in Sanskrit in the Mahaparinirvana sūtes, the Dasortarasgira, the Nidānasamyukta, and elsewhete, Soveral of these texts in Sanskrit belonged most probably to the Sarvästivadins.
It is of course not possible to prove that Patañjali adaptod tho Buddhist notion of the Dharma as "auspicious in the beginning, in the middle and in the end" to arrive at his notion of " sciences which have something auspicious in the beginning, in the middle and in the end". It constitutes however a possibility. As such it might be considered to add some weight, if ever so little, to the arguments produced earlier in support of Búddhist influence on Patañjali's Mahābhāsya.
In this connection it will be appropriate to draw once again attention ta another case, where Patañjali's Mahābhasya and early Buddhist literatura pantain very similar passages. Mbh II p. 120, 1.20-21 (on P. 3. 2. 115) contains the following sentences
" Alternatively, there are people who do not perceive the present. For oxample : Sakatyana from among the grammarians, while sitting at the sido of tho carriage-road, did not perceive a group of carts that passed by."
Buddhist literature contains a similar episode in the Mahaparinirvanasitra and its parallels. Here a certain Arāda Kalama is stated to have had such an experience, or rather non-experience. He described the event in the following words":
Even though conscious and awake I did not hear the sound of five hundred carts passing by."
"It is of course tempting to assume that Patanjali was acquainted with the Sarvästivāda Makāparinirvanasūtra. This aloae might then be held to account both for his story about $ākajāyana and for his mention of "sciences which have something auspicious in the beginning, in the middle and in the end". This conclusion should not, however, be drawn rashly. The story of Sakațāyana in particular has some aspects which might be held to plead against direct borrowing from the Buddhist Mahāparinirvanasatra,
It is not impossible that the story of Arāļa Kalama is not a Buddhist invention. Arāda Kalama is presented as a non-Buddhist teacher, and this may very well be correct. It is therefore conceivable that similar stories were current in non-Buddhist circles, and Patañjali may therefore have heard somo such story from non-Buddhists.
The name Śākajāyana poses another problem. It means "descendant of Sakata " (by P. 4. 1.99). But sakata is also the word for cart' used in Patañjali's remark. This may not be coincidence. A more or less floating story about carts may have been attributed to Sakatāyana because of his name. If that is true, it is harder to believe that Patañjali was here influenced by the episode about Arāda kālāma in the Mahaparinir vānasūtra. Unless, of course we assume that Patañjali made up the story about Sakarāyana under the influence of the Buddhist texts with which he supposedly was acquainted.
A third case to be considered is constituted by the following two phrases in the Mahābhāsya : gunasamdrāvo dravyam (Mbh II p. 336 1.26) and gunasamudāyo dravyam (Mbh II p. 200 1. 137.), which do not appear to express the opinion of Patañjali. The notion of material objects as collections of qualities existed both in Sarvāstivada and in Samkhya. Since there are no indications whatsoever that Patañjali was acquainted with the Samkhya philosophy, we are, once again, confronted with an indication that he may have been influenced by the Servāstivādins.
If the cases just discussed cannot prove beyond doubt that Patañjali himself know this or that Buddhist text, or any Buddhist text for that matter, they do lend support to the view that Patañjali underwent, perhaps indirectly, Buddhist influence. Together with the evidence presented in my Three Problems pertaining to the Mahabhasya, they allow us, as it seems to me, to consider Buddhist influence on Patañjali a probable proposition.
# See the Pau Tipitakam Concordancs, part VI, by F. L. Woodward and E. M. Hue. . London: Pili Text Society, 1954, p. 316, $. v. adikalyana, for references to the PAU
canon. See the Sanskrit Wörterbuch der buddhistischen Texte aus den Turfen-Funden (ed. Heinz Bechert), 4. Lieferung, Göttingen; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1981, D. 249-50, S. v. adi. Hinaber, 1985: 69-70, 71-73 (Nidānasamyukta; Mahaparinirvanasura): Pisidika, 1985: 185, with reference to an article by J. W. de Jong (Dasottarasitra)
Sec Bronkhorst, 1993 : 79, with n. 3. 6 Mb II p. 120, 1. 20-23 : athava bhavati vai kasold api wartawinkan
nopalabhata / tad yatha / vaiyakarannan sakayano rathamargo alinah sakatasartham yandans nopalebhe 4P8 28. 18: manji dhans. Sasino jogram ninaujais pancanan kawa aanai Pyatilramamanar Mahlam |.
! Bronkhorst, 1994: esp. p. 317f.
32 Annak IRORTI.