Madhyadesika Madhyoddesika And Madhyuddesika

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

Page 1

Madhyadesika, Madhyoddesika and Madhy'uddesika
By J. W. DE JONG*
The Mahāvastu (éd. É. Senart, tome premier, Paris, 1882) begins with a "series of nidānanamaskara-s (pp. 1-2. 12) which Edgerton in his dictionary translated by 'introductory salutations'. This is followed by the following statement: aryamahāsāmghikānām lokottaravādinām madhyadeśikānām pāthena vinayapitakasya mahavastuye ādi. In his introduction Senart rendered this as follows (p. XXI): "Commencement du Mahāvastu, partie du Vinayapitaka, de la recension de la branche des Mahâsâmghikas, dite les Lokottaravadins du Madhyadeça.” J. J. Jones translates: "Here begins the Mahāvastu, which is based on the redaction of the Vinaya Pitaka made by the noble Mahāsānghikās, the Lokottaravādins of the Middle Country" (The Mahāvastu, vol. I, London, 1949, pp. 2–3). In a note Jones remarks that the Middle Country is that part, variously delimited, of central India, which was the birthplace of Buddhism.
In the Prasannapadā (éd. Louis de La Vallée Poussin, Bibliotheca Buddhica IV, St.-Petersburg, 1903-1913) one finds the following reference to the Mahāvastu:
madhyoddeśikās ca mahāvastūpadistabhūmivyavasthayā prathamabhūmisthitam bodhisattvam utpannadarśanamārgam vyācakṣānāḥ samghāntaḥpātinam vyācakşate (p. 489. 1-2).
According to a note the manuscripts have madhyāddesikās. De La Vallée Poussin quotes the Tibetan translation: bar-ma 'don-par byed-pa dag. which he reconstructs into Sanskrit as madhya-pāthaka. Jacques May translates: "Enfin les Madhyadesika, d'après le système des terres enseigné dans le Mahāvastu, affirment que le Bodhisattva de la première terre a produit le chemin de la vision [et] fait partie de la communauté" (Candrakīrti Prasannapadā madhyamakavrtti. Douze chapitres traduits du sanscrit et du tibétain, Paris, 1959, p. 220). Apropos of the reading Madhyadeśikās, May remarks: "Cette leçon paraît préférable à Madhyoddeśikās. Le terme ne semble pas désigner une secte déterminée, mais seulement une localisation géographique. Le tib. a madhyapathaka." In my review of May's work I pointed out that the reading Madhyoddeśika corresponds exactly to Tibetan bar-ma 'don-par byed-pa (IIJ 5, 1961-1962, p. 164). The meaning 'to recite' for uddisati is quite common in Pāli, cf. Critical Pāli Dictionary,
*) This article was first published in the volume in memory of Professor Tucci.