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Buddha's Prolongation of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

The belief in immortality and the immeasurable life-span of a single existence is found in the earliest records of the Indian religions. The general trend of the Vedas, the epics, and the Purāṇas is towards immortalizing their devatās and deities. The avatāras of the Hindu Godhead, in spite of their earthly existence, were considered free from the laws of birth and death. In their case these incidents were spoken of as mere appearances, since such beings were but devices of the immortal God to work among mortals.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1958

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References

page 546 note 1 sa tena karmaṇā sūndḥ, prītas tasmai varam dadau nākāma-maraṇaṃ tāta bhaviṡyati taveti ha. na te prabhavitā mṛtyur yāvad icchasi jīvitum svena kāmena martyo’ si nākāmas tvaṃ, kathañcana. Mahābhārata, I, 94, 75–6 (Southern rescension, ed. P. P. S. Shastri). Also, tad dṛṣṭvā duṣkaraṃ karma kṛtaṃ Bhīṣmeṇa Śantanuḥ. svacchanda-maraṇaṃ tasmai dadau tuṣṭaḥ pitā svayam. Mahābhārata, I, 94, 94 (Poona edition).

page 546 note 2 For other traditions on this point, see E. Obermiller (tr.), History of Buddhism by Bu-ston, II, p. 70.

page 547 note 1 Will (chanda), effort (vārya), thought (citta), and investigation (vāmāṃsā), each united to earnest thought.

page 547 note 2 The Pali-English dictionary (PTS) takes the word kappāvasesaṃ to mean ‘(for) the rest of the kappa’. But as Professor Edgerton has shown, this word probably means ‘more than a kalpa’. See BHSD, 173.

page 547 note 3 Tathāgatassa kho Ānanda, cattāro iddhipādā bhāvitā … Ānanda, Tathāgato kappam vā tiṭṭheyya, kappāvasesaṃ vā. Dīgha-nikāya, XVI, 3, 3 …; cf. yasya kasyaci catvāra ṛddhipādā āsevitā … ākāṃkṣamāṇaḥ sa kalpaṃ vā tiṣṭhet kalpāvaśeṥaṃ vā. Tathāgatasyānanda … ākāṃkṣamāṇas Tathāgataḥ kalpaṃ vā tiṣṭhet kalpāvaśeṣaṃ vā. Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, ed. E. Waldschmidt, p. 204.

page 547 note 4 Atha kho bhagavā Cāpāle cetiye sato sampajāno āyu-saṃkhāraṃ ossajji. Dīgha-nikāya, XVI, 3, 9.

page 547 note 5 For the use of this expression, see Stcherbatsky, The central conception of Buddhism.

page 547 note 6 There is no mention of Supriya in the Pali version.

page 547 note 7 Both versions contain an identical account of the conversion of this parivrājaka.

page 547 note 8 Yannv aham tadrūpān ṛddhyabhisaṃskārān abhisaṃskuryāṃ yathā samāhite citte jīvitasaṃskārān adhiṣṭhāyāyuḥ-saṃskārān utsṛjeyam. Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, p. 210. Also Divyāvadāna, p. 203.

page 547 note 9 Maraṇa-vaśitva-jñāpanārtham … traimāsyam eva nordhvaṃ vineyakāryābhāvāt …. Yaśomitra, Abhidharma-kośa-vyākhyā, p. 105.

page 548 note 1 Ettha ca Icappaṃ ti āyukappaṃ, tasmiṃ tasmiṃ kāle yaṃ manussānaṃ āyuppamānaṃ hoti taṃ paripuṇṇaṃ karonto tiṭṭtheyya, kappāvasesaṃ ti: ‘appam vā bhiyyo’ ti vuttavassasatato atirekam vā. Sumangalavilāsinī, Vol. II, p. 554.

page 548 note 2 Iddhibalena samannāgato kappaṃ tittheyyā'ti? āmantā. iddhimayiko so āyu, … sā gati … so attabhāvapaṭilabho ti? na hevaṃ vattabbe …. Kathāvatthu, XI, 5.

page 549 note 1 Ko panettha iddhimato viseso, nanu aniddhimā pi āyukappaṃ tittheyyā ti? ayaṃ viseso, iddhimā hi … akālamaraṇaṃ nivāretuṃ sakhoti, aniddhimato etaṃ balaṃ natthi. Kathāvatthuaṭṭhakathā, XI, 5.

page 549 note 2 ‘Kappāvasesaṃ vā’ ti temāsaparicchedo ca bhaṇito. so ca pana kappo ayukappo vuccati…. vijjati ca taṃ mahārāja iddhibalaṃ bhagavato … anatthiko mahārāja bhagavā sabbabhavehi …. Milindapañha, pp. 141–2.

page 549 note 3 Mahāsīvatthero panāha: Buddhānaṃ aṭṭhāne gajjitaṃ nāma natthi … idaṃ bhaddakappam eva tiṭṭheyya …. Evaṃ vutte 'pi so pana: ruccati, āyukappo ti idam eva Aṭṭhakathāyaṃ niyāmitaṃVol. II, pp. 554–5.

page 549 note 4 The commentary on this section of the Cullavagga makes no reference to this point.

page 550 note 1 L. de la Vallée Poussin, L'Abhidharma-kośa de Vnsubandhu, ch. n, kā. 10.

page 550 note 2 The original MS of this work was discovered in Tibet by Pandit Rāhula Sānkṛtyāyana, in the year 1937. It has been edited by the author of this article and will soon be published by the K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna, in their Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series.

page 551 note 1 ‘Samādhibalena karmajaṃ jīvitāvedhaṃ nirvartyāyuḥ saṃskārādhiṣṭhānajam, āyur na vipākaḥ’ iti Kośakāraḥ. tatra kim uttaram iti? na tatrāvaśyam uttaraṃ vaktavyam, yasmān naitat sūtre 'vatarati, vinaye na saṃdṛśyate, dharmatāṃ ca vilomayati …. tathāpi tu yuktimad uttaram ucyate. yadi Bhagavān samādhibalena svecchayāpūrvaṃ sattvaṃ … utpādayet, svātmano vā jīvitam anākṣiptaṃ prāk-karmabhir yogabalenāksipet, tato Buddho Bhagavān Nārāyaṇī-kṛtaḥ syāt, apūrva-sattvanirmāṇāt. sa ca kāruṇikatvān naiva parinirvāyāt … tasmād Vaitulika-śāstra-praveśa-dvāram ārabdhaṃ tena bhadantenety adhyupekṣyam etat. Abhidharmadīpa vṛtti, kā. 138.

page 551 note 2 Mahāvastu, I, p. 169.

page 551 note 3 ‘Although they could suppress the working of karma, the conquerors let it become manifest and conceal their sovereign power. This is mere conformity with the world’ (trans, by J. J. Jones, The Mahāvastu, Vol. I, p. 133). For other similar doctrines of the Lokottaravādins, see J. Masuda, ‘Origin and doctrines of early Indian Buddhist schools’, Asia Major, II, 1925.

page 551 note 4 Ākāṃkṣann Ānanda, Tathāgata eka-piṇḍa-pātena kalpaṃ vā tiṣṭhet, kalpaśataṃ vā, … tato vottari tiṣṭhet, na ca Tathāgatasyendriyāṇy upanaśyeyur na mukhavarṇsyānyathātvaṃ bhaven nāpi chavivarṇa upahanyeta. Sukhâvatî-vyûha (Anecdota Oxoniensia. Aryan Series, Vol. I, Pt. 2), 1883, p. 4.

page 552 note 1 For a full exposition of this topic, see T. R. V. Murti: The central philosophy of Buddhism, 284 ff.

page 552 note 2 Nirvāṇabhūmiṃ cupadarśayāmi vinayārthasattvāna vadāmy upāyaṃ na cāpi nirvāmy ahutasmi kāle ihaiva co dharmu prākāśayāmi. Chapter xv (Tathāgatāyuāpramānaparivarta), p. 323. Also cf. Na Buddhaḥ parinirvāti dharmo 'ntarhīyate na ca, sattvānām paripākāya nirvāṇaṃ tūpadarśayet. (Quoted in the Abhisamayālaṃkārāloka, p. 132.) For several views on this topic, see Bu-ston, n, pp. 67 ff.