Brief History Of Buddhist Studies In Europe And Maerica

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

Page 30

THE EASTERN BUDDHIST
tion and study of the Chinese sources by Jean Przyluski in 1926–192811 and by Marcel Hofinger in 194612 has not put an end to the debate as can be seen from recent studies.13
The introduction of Oldenberg's Buddha contains a chapter entitled "Indian pantheism and pessimism before Buddha,” in which he studies the relations between Brahmanism and Buddhism. Oldenberg discovered in the older Upanişads ideas which are closely related to Buddhist ideas. Quoting BAU IV. 4.12 ātmānam ced vijānīyāt ayam asmīti puruṣaḥ, kim icchan kasya kāmāya śarīram anusamjvaret (If a man should well understand the Self, saying 'I am It'—seeking after what, for desire of what, should he crave after the body?--tr. Edgerton, The Beginnings of Indian Philosophy, 1965, p. 163), Oldenberg pointed to the similarity with Buddhist ideas about desire, nescience and the abolition of suffering through knowledge (Buddha, 2. Auflage, 1890, p. 53). Special attention was paid by Oldenberg to the Kathaka-Upanişad, in which text, pre-buddhist according to him, the Buddhist Satan Māra figures in the form of mrtyu ‘Death’. Oldenberg believed that the Buddhists had probably not known the brahmanical texts but, nevertheless, he did not hesitate to state that Buddhism had not only inherited from Brahmanism many of its important dogmas but also the mood of religious thought and sentiments (op. cit., p. 54). Since 1881 much has been written on the relations between the Upanisads and Buddhism, but without clear results. In 1925 in a preface to a new edition of his Bouddhisme, which was first published in 1909, La Vallée Poussin remarked that on the relations between the Upanişads and ancient Buddhism arbitrary judgments were given (p. vii: "Sur les rapports des Upanishads et du vieux Bouddhisme, on s'en tient à des opinions arbitraires"). La Vallée Poussin does not pronounce himself on this problem and in his Le dogme et la philosophie du bouddhisme which
11 Le concile de Rājagrba. Introduction à l'histoire des canons et des sectes bouddhiques, Paris, 1926–1928.
12 Étude sur le concile de Vaisāli, Louvain, 1946.
13 For instance: Paul Demiéville, A propos du concile de Vaiśālī, T'oung Pao, XL, 1951, pp. 239-296; Erich Frauwallner, Die buddhistischen Konzile, ZD MG, 102, 1952, pp. 240 261; A. Bareau, Les premiers conciles bouddhiques, Paris, 1955; Étienne Lamotte, Histoire du bouddhisme indien, I, Louvain, 1958, pp. 136-154, 297–300; L. Alsdorf, Aśokas SchismenEdikt und das Dritte Konzil, 117, III, 1959, pp. 161-174; H. Bechert, Aśokas "SchismenEdikt” und der Begriff Sanghabheda, WzKSO, V, 1961, pp. 18-52.