Brief History Of Buddhist Studies In Europe And Maerica

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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BUDDHIST STUDIES IN THE WEST
at that time. He relied upon such texts as the Nidānakathā and the Buddhavamsa and its commentary. Senart studied in detail the conception of the cakravartin and his seven ratna and that of the Mahāpurusa and his marks. In this way the Buddha was considered by him as the solar hero, the Mahapurusa, the Cakravartin. Before his birth he is the supreme god. He descends from heaven as a luminous god. His mother, Māyā, represents the sovereign creative power and is at the same time the goddess of the atmospheric mist. She dies but survives as Prajāpati, creating and nourishing the universe and its god. In this way Senart explains all twelve episodes of his life. He characterizes his method as historical mythology as distinct from comparative mythology. The latter method was very popular in the nineteenth century and tended to assimilate gods and mythological figures to naturalistic phenomena as the sun, the clouds, lightning, etc. It will be sufficient to mention in
onnection the names of Adalbert Kuhn, author of Die Herabkunft des Feuers und der Göttertranke, Berlin (1859) and of Max Müller, Essay on Comparative Mythology, London (1856); Lectures on the Science of Language, London (1861– 1864). Senart's merit consists in the fact that he-although influenced by the naturalistic mythology of his time in the first place tried to explain the myth of the Buddha as a product of India and its religious concepts. In this regard his attitude is in marked contrast to that of Kern in his book on the history of Buddhism in India, which was first published in two volumes in Dutch in 1882 and 1884. A German edition appeared in the same years, translated from Dutch by Hermann Jacobi: Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte in Indien (Leipzig, 18821884). Almost twenty years later a French translation was published (Histoire du Bouddhisme dans l'Inde, Paris, 1901-1903). In the first volume Kern related first the life of the Buddha according to Pāli and Sanskrit sources--or according to Southern and Northern sources, as one used to say at that time. His main sources are the same as those used by Senart: the Nidānakathā and the Lalitavistara (cf. Vol. I, p. 18, n. 2). After having retold the legend of the Buddha in great detail, Kern arrives at his interpretation. Like Senart he considers the Buddha to be a solar god. However, Kern is much more astronomical in his exegesis than Senart. The twelve nidāna are the twelve months of the year. The six heretical teachers are the planets. His first predication takes place in midsummer. For this reason the Middle Way is its theme. Kern never hesitates in his identifications with stars, planets and constellations. Senart's system of
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