Brief History Of Buddhist Studies In Europe And Maerica

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

Page 27

BUDDHIST STUDIES IN THE WEST
Senart's theory was rejected by Hermann Oldenberg (1854-1920) in his Buddha. Sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde, which appeared in 1881. I quote from the second edition (Berlin, 1890) which refers to the second edition of Senart's Légende (Paris, 1882). In a chapter entitled "The character of the tradition. Legend and myth” (Die Beschaffenheit der Tradition. Legende und Mythus), Oldenberg defends the reliability of the canonical Pāli texts. According to him the great majority of the sacred texts were compiled before the council at Vesālī about 380 B. C. These texts were transmitted in Ceylon without undergoing such profound changes as those to which the texts of other schools were subjected. Oldenberg points out that the Pāli texts used by Senart such as the Nidānakathā and the Buddhavamsa are much younger than the canonical texts. He is firmly convinced of the fact that the canonical texts contain a series of positive facts which inform us about the life of the Buddha. Oldenberg is without doubt justified in pointing out that Senart has based his theory on younger texts. However, it is difficult to accept that the Pāli Vinaya and Sutta Pițakas are a reliable source for Buddhism during the first century after Buddha's Parinirvana. Already in 1879 in the introduction to his edition of the Mahāvagga, Oldenberg defended the historicity of the Council at Vesāli and the antiquity of the Vinaya. On this point he never changed his opinion, as one can see from a note, published in 1912, in which he declares that the essential parts of the Vinaya and Sutta Pitakas were compiled before the Council at Vesālī.3
Oldenberg does not deny that the traditions concerning the Buddha contain legendary elements which go back to Vedic times or even further back and which are connected with popular ideas relating to the solar hero, the luminous ex"mple of all earthly heroes (p. 89). However, when Oldenberg relates the life of the Buddha, he does not elaborate on this aspect of the legend of the Buddha. No scholar has accepted in their entirety Senart's theories, but it is interesting to see that even such eminent representatives of what came to be called the Pāli school as Rhys Davids and Oldenberg did not deny that Senart was not completely wrong. Kern's extreme view which even denied the existence of the historical Buddha altogether has not found any followers, but Senart's
3. Cf. Studien zur Geschichte des buddhistischen Kanons, NGGW, 1912, p. 203, no. 5 = Kleine Schriften, Wiesbaden, 1967, p. 1021, n. 5.
81