The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas

The present paper is focused on a couple of apparently contradictory Buddhacarita (Bcar) passages. On the one hand, there is the attribution of the pre-classical pattern of constituting kings in the sacrificial arena, implying a cyclical exchange between asceticism and warrior sovereignty, to Buddh...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	Tiziana Pontillo
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ksiegarnia Akademicka Publishing 2021
Materias:	Aśvaghoṣa history of asceticism pre-reformed sovereignty Buddhist/brahmanical debate sūkṣma dharma Indo-Iranian languages and literature PK1-9601 Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania PL1-8844
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1c9dc9847d064677bd0baebf2993979f
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:1c9dc9847d064677bd0baebf2993979f
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1c9dc9847d064677bd0baebf2993979f2021-11-27T12:53:19ZThe Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas10.12797/CIS.15.2013.15.021732-09172449-8696https://doaj.org/article/1c9dc9847d064677bd0baebf2993979f2021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.akademicka.pl/cis/article/view/1543https://doaj.org/toc/1732-0917https://doaj.org/toc/2449-8696 The present paper is focused on a couple of apparently contradictory Buddhacarita (Bcar) passages. On the one hand, there is the attribution of the pre-classical pattern of constituting kings in the sacrificial arena, implying a cyclical exchange between asceticism and warrior sovereignty, to Buddha’s father and his ancestors, who possibly ignore the varṇāśrama system. On the other, King Śuddhodana himself wishes that his son would not choose asceticism as a permanent way of life, i.e., that he adheres to the ordered succession of āśramas, in accordance with the brahmanical inclusivistic varṇāśrama system. The interpretation proposed here consists in assuming a specific Aśvaghoṣa intellectual reading of the potential relation between Buddhist and brahmanic dharma, based on a shared past, denoted by the expression sūkṣma dharma. The poetic allusion to this epic expression might have denoted an uncertain common dharma path which was to be overpassed by both parts, respectively by means of the true Buddhist dharma, and through the brahmanical śrauta reform. The two questioned verses are assumed to be a further fragment of the history of the brahmanic-Buddhist debate dating back to the Itihāsa and Mahākāvya age reconstructed by Hiltebeitel over these last ten years. Tiziana PontilloKsiegarnia Akademicka PublishingarticleAśvaghoṣahistory of asceticismpre-reformed sovereigntyBuddhist/brahmanical debatesūkṣma dharmaIndo-Iranian languages and literaturePK1-9601Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, OceaniaPL1-8844ENCracow Indological Studies, Vol 15 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Aśvaghoṣa history of asceticism pre-reformed sovereignty Buddhist/brahmanical debate sūkṣma dharma Indo-Iranian languages and literature PK1-9601 Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania PL1-8844
spellingShingle	Aśvaghoṣa history of asceticism pre-reformed sovereignty Buddhist/brahmanical debate sūkṣma dharma Indo-Iranian languages and literature PK1-9601 Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania PL1-8844 Tiziana Pontillo The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas
description	The present paper is focused on a couple of apparently contradictory Buddhacarita (Bcar) passages. On the one hand, there is the attribution of the pre-classical pattern of constituting kings in the sacrificial arena, implying a cyclical exchange between asceticism and warrior sovereignty, to Buddha’s father and his ancestors, who possibly ignore the varṇāśrama system. On the other, King Śuddhodana himself wishes that his son would not choose asceticism as a permanent way of life, i.e., that he adheres to the ordered succession of āśramas, in accordance with the brahmanical inclusivistic varṇāśrama system. The interpretation proposed here consists in assuming a specific Aśvaghoṣa intellectual reading of the potential relation between Buddhist and brahmanic dharma, based on a shared past, denoted by the expression sūkṣma dharma. The poetic allusion to this epic expression might have denoted an uncertain common dharma path which was to be overpassed by both parts, respectively by means of the true Buddhist dharma, and through the brahmanical śrauta reform. The two questioned verses are assumed to be a further fragment of the history of the brahmanic-Buddhist debate dating back to the Itihāsa and Mahākāvya age reconstructed by Hiltebeitel over these last ten years.
format	article
author	Tiziana Pontillo
author_facet	Tiziana Pontillo
author_sort	Tiziana Pontillo
title	The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas
title_short	The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas
title_full	The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas
title_fullStr	The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas
title_full_unstemmed	The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas
title_sort	debate on asceticism as a permanent choice of life: some late clues from mahākāvyas
publisher	Ksiegarnia Akademicka Publishing
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1c9dc9847d064677bd0baebf2993979f
work_keys_str_mv	AT tizianapontillo thedebateonasceticismasapermanentchoiceoflifesomelatecluesfrommahakavyas AT tizianapontillo debateonasceticismasapermanentchoiceoflifesomelatecluesfrommahakavyas
_version_	1718408971249778688

The Debate on Asceticism as a Permanent Choice of Life: Some Late Clues from Mahākāvyas

Ejemplares similares