Browsing by Author "Gamage, A.K."

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Buddhist Perspective towards Other Religions: A Critical Survey Mainly Based on the Early Buddhism
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Gamage, A.K.
This paper examines the Buddhist perspective on other religions with special reference to substantial accounts reflected in the Pāli canon (which is the primary source of the Theravada Buddhism). In addition, canonical exegeses and Sanskrit fragments will also be consulted when necessary. Buddhism is the one of Indic religions; in contrast, Islam belongs to Semitic religions. Although both religions have unique features that should be understood within their own frameworks since they have emerged in considerably different geographical and social backgrounds, it is obvious that they bear a striking resemblance in several aspects. Academically speaking the Buddhist standpoint towards other religions is crucial since it is free from both apologetic and polemic tendencies. Such admonitions occur in multifarious ways in the Pāli canon, and they are worth examining. As we are told [D: I 162], the Buddha categorically accepts the partial similarity (sameti) as well as the dissimilarity (na sameti) of his teaching with those of the others. Thus, the Buddhism does not admit both credulous acceptance (an'abhinanditabbaṃ) and hasty rejection (appaṭikkositabbaṃ) of other religious views [Ibid: I 51] at the first glance. On the contrary, Buddhist teachings advocate us to acquire a meticulous acquaintance (sādhukaṃ uggahetvā) in other religions before involving in a comparative study [Ibid: II 124]; after the acquisition of a substantial familiarity with identical connotations and homologues of those teachings, they should be scrupulously evaluated (saṃsandetabbāni) with the basic principles of one's own religion [DA: II 565]. One should not be led astray by grasping the superficial sense of other religious teachings. The Buddhism is therefore instructs to consult both literal and contextual (pragmatics) meanings and select the most fitting (opāyikatarāni) application (D: III 128) to the context (yuttatarāni) [DAṬ: III 115]. Although a considerable amount of researches are available, which deals with the Buddha's attitude towards other religions, no substantial study is yet available that directly focuses on this issue with reference to the early Buddhism and their commentarial exegeses. Accordingly, this paper seeks to fill that lacuna.
Commentary as a Tool for the Emendation of Canonical Readings: A Critical Survey on Lemmas and their Exegeses in Therīgāthā Aṭṭhakathā
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Gamage, A.K.
This study critically scans the commentarial lemmas and the interpretations in order to reach better emendations of some terms in current Tipitaka editions. The term “lemmas” here stand for the canonical terms that have been quoted for the purpose of interpretation in the commentaries. Most of current academic Buddhist studies, which are conducted in Sri Lanka with reference to the Pali commentaries, can be divided into two categories. The first of those often refers to the Pali commentaries to elucidate the abstruse meaning of canonical readings while the second category takes the commentaries as an isolated source material to investigate the semantic, pragmatic, aesthetic, grammatical and historical aspects of them. However, none of these shows the optimal efficacy of a Pali commentary. This paper proves with substantial evidence the trustworthiness of the use of commentarial exegeses as a substantial tool to rectify the existing contaminated readings of the Pali canon. Significantly, this paper attempts to draw the attention of Buddhist academia to utilize the commentarial exegeses in the process of critical emendation, which enables to enhance the quality of academic Buddhist studies in Sri Lanka. Even though the Pali Canon is available in several editions such as Buddha-Jayanti (Sri Lanka), Chaṭṭhasaṅgīti (Myanmar), and PTS (England), etc., the obvious fact is that each of these editions has its own idiosyncrasy regarding some readings. Sometimes, the same Canonical term is recorded in the aforementioned editions in a different way. For instance, we can pay our attention to a certain term that occurs in Tapokamma-sutta of Saṃyutta-Nikāya. This particular term is recorded in these three editions as vammani, dhammani and ajahmani respectively. In order to minimize these types of anomalies, the commentarial interpretations are of paramount significance. Therefore, one of the major objectives of this study is to systematically evaluate the commentarial exegeses. However, due to the breadth of the scope this paper pays the particular attention on the lemmas and their pertinent interpretations in the Therīgāthā Commentary. It is apparent that all of the existing editions of Therīgāthā have paid satisfactory attention to its commentary. In addition, those who have hitherto translated text have also been considerably influenced by its commentarial exegeses. Some editors have been hasty to reach arbitrary substitutions without a substantial basis. However, many of them have not used this commentary in an optimal manner in order to reach more trustworthy emendations of Therīgāthā. Thus, this paper attempts to fill that gap paying adequate attention to the other parallel canonical, commentarial proof and corresponding Sanskrit accounts.
An epistle to a friend: a literal translation of the Suhllekha
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
Inter-commentarial Discrepancies & Theravada Confraternity: A Critical Scrutiny on assāsa & passāsa Exegesis in Pali Commentaries
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
As the Pali commentators vehemently insist, at the very outset of the Atthakatha-s, the Theravada tradition is endowed pristine judgments and uncontroversial exegeses regarding the word of the Buddha. Even though those commentators claim in this manner, some topsy-turvy exegeses can be obviously seen in some Pali commentaries. So also, though the Theravada tradition itself claims about its uniformity and uncontroversial nature, Pali commentarial accounts reveal the fact that some subdivisions of this tradition held different opinions about some concepts and some of them have offered diverse interpretations for some terms existing in the Pali canon. According to the modern and common usage, assāsa means 'inhalation' and passāsa means 'exhalation.' assāsa and passāsa appear in Sanskrit, respectively as āshvāsa and prashvāsa. Monier Williams and V.S. Apte render āshvāsa as 'taking breath' and 'recovering breath' respectively. Interestingly, Monier Williams again renders prashvāsa as 'inhale.' Pali-English dictionary also translates the first term as 'exhale' whole the second term as 'inhale.' When we examine Pali exegetical literature, it is manifest that there was an identical connotation for these terms among Sutta-commentarial tradition and Vinaya-commentarial tradition. That is to say, these two Buddhist masters had totally opposite idea about the meaning of these two terms. As venerable Buddhaghosa records in the Visuddhimagga, assāsa is the wind issuing out; passāsa is the wind entering in” is said in the Vinaya Commentaries. But in the Suttanta Commentaries it is given in the opposite Sense. This shows that the early connotations of these two terms uses among the Vinaya commentarial tradition were quite different; debatable thus it is of worth exploring. This paper, critically discusses the more archaic and accurate meanings of assāsa and passāsa attempting to reach a reliable conclusion for the emergence of such a discrepancy scanning all available source materials related to the academic Buddhist studies such as Pali canonical accounts, Commentarial exegeses, Sub-commentarial (Tika) occurrences, Vedic and Upanishad texts, Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources, Sanskrit/ Pali lexicons will also examined when necessary.
Is the Animal-cry Supportive to Attain Nibbāna? An Appraisal Mainly Based on the Pali Canon
(University of Kelaniya, 2012) Gamage, A.K.
The aims of this paper are to examine and figure out the supportiveness of animal cries in order to acquire one’s spiritual progress. A remarkable amount of scholastic issues have already been put forward by modern Buddhist scholarship with regard to environmental awareness, especially of flora and fauna for the spiritual progress of the human beings. Nonetheless, no substantial literary piece has yet been issued that pays adequate attention to the effectiveness of animal cries for one’s spiritual attainment as reflected in the Pali canon. Accordingly, this paper will present the Buddhist standpoint of animal cries especially with regard to their progressive/positive influence on the human psyche. However, due to the extensiveness of its scope, this study is delimited to the accounts of Theragāthā in the Pali canon. Similarly, a selected amount of Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources also will be scanned in support of this issue. The Buddha, as we see in many accounts of the Pali canon, encourages his disciples who attained their ultimate liberation, i.e. nibbāna, to perform a tremendous service to society and become ideal social beings. However, as we are told by many substantial discourses of the Buddha, the common society is of a quantity of certain obstructive nature to acquire one’s final liberation. Thus, the Buddha insisted that a monk should temporarily shun society and should stay in one of three specific circumstances until he or she acquires the final goal of Buddhism. The first, out of these three specific circumstances refers to the forest while the second also represents a module of the forest, i.e. the treefoot (rukkha-mūla).The main reasons for the inappropriateness of the common society in order to reach spiritual progress are irrelevant association complexity. Furthermore, society is corrupted with noise and hustle and bustle whereas the forest, as Buddhism mentions, is of fewer sounds and noises (appa-sadda and appa-nigghosa) and the breeze in the forest that we breathe is not polluted due to the activities of the people (vijana-vāta). However, very significantly, an adequate amount of Pali canonical evidence categorically speaks of the helpfulness of animal cries for the person’s spiritual development. It can be deemed that, the Buddha seeing the utility of this factor, has persuaded his disciples to go to the forest to build up their mental culture, i.e. bhāvanā. At the first sight, one may think that the Buddha instructed his disciples to delight in forest life since it is extremely calm and quiet. However, perhaps, the forest maybe more noisy than a township since the former often consists of the variety of sounds such as the rustling sound of the wind that blows through the leaves, falling and twisting sounds of trees, etc. Especially various animal cries such as the lion’s roar, elephant’s trumpet, tiger’s growl, crow’s caw, peacock’s scream etc. are highly strident in the forest. Yet, the Buddha nowhere mentioned these sounds as disturbances for one’s concentration. On the contrary, as the Buddha and his disciples insist, those sounds are extremely instrumental in order to attain the final liberation. Besides, Pali commentaries, as the most trustworthy hermeneutic source material for the Pali canon, provide a mass of elaborations to prove the aforementioned idea.
Literal meaning & context: An Examination of Pali Commentarial Interpretations
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
mantā: Gerund or Instrumental?, A critical survey of Theravada commentarial exegeses
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
The term mantā has wide attestations in the Pali canon. Nonetheless, the precise meaning of this term still remains to be discovered. It sometimes occurs as an isolated term while it is also used as a precedent of compounds. However, Pali commentarial exegeses that have been provided by the Theravada fraternity for this term are not satisfactory. It is clear that the Pali commentators felt an uncertainty about the exact meaning of this term. Accordingly, they have commented on this term in two ways in the Pali commentaries. Out of those, the most popular interpretation for mantā is 'mantā means wisdom.' As this translation suggests, mantā is a synonym for wisdom. It should be noted that this interpretation has been manipulated by Mahaniddesa, a canonical commentator. However, in Sanskrit literature and in Prakrit literature, a corresponding term is untraceable. Thus, it is not unjustifiable to reach a conjecture that the aforementioned interpretation is a new import to the commentarial literature done by Pali exegetes. In other words, it is an 'ahistorical' interpretation. In accordance with the second interpretation for mantā, it is an absolutive gerund. Most of the scholars who have translated this term into English have been influenced by the first interpretation. This paper critically discusses the more archaic and accurate meanings of mantā attempting to reach a reliable conclusion for the emergence of such a discrepancy even in some Pali canonical texts, scanning all available source materials related to Buddhist studies such as Pali canonical accounts, Prakrit attestations, commentarial exegeses, Sub-commentarial (Tikā) occurrences, Vedic and Upanishad texts, and Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources. Sanskrit/ Pali and Prakit lexicons will also be examined when necessary.
Old Prakrit characteristics in Tipimaka Pali: a brief survey
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
patta-kkhandha: A Semantic Study on a Contentious Word in Early Buddhism
(University of Kelaniya, 2012) Gamage, A.K.
The availability of early Buddhist sources in multifarious languages such as Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese enables the researcher to acquire comparative knowledge of Buddhism. One of the outstanding benefits of comparing these sources in academic Buddhist studies is to figure out some scribal errors in a particular Buddhist tradition in terms of the corresponding sources that have been preserved in another Buddhist tradition. This paper elucidates the utility of non-Pali Buddhist sources in the process of tracing the earliest accurate forms of some terms in the Pali canon with particular reference to patta-kkhandha (PK hereafter). Besides, the Pali commentarial exegeses and Vedic sources also will be scanned in necessary places concerning this term. Nigrodho paribbājako tuṇhībhūto maṅkubhūto pattakkhandho adhomukho pajjhāyanto appaṭibhāno nisīdi—D III 53. This passage appears elsewhere in the Pali canon with the exception of the proper name. e.g. M I 132, Ibid, I 233, 258, Ibid, II 154, Ibid, III 298, S I 124, A I 186, Ibid, III 57. In some cases, the same stereotypical passage appears also in plural. See: D III 57, M I 334, A V 188-91, V II 78, Ibid, III 162, wherein this term occurs as patta-kkhandhā. PK together with a typical set of terms as a stereotypical passage occurs in many places of the Pali canon in order to reveal one’s embarrassment or discomfiture. This term has two units as patta and khandha. Apparently, khandha means in this context ‘shoulders’ yet the exact meaning of patta is quite ambiguous. However, patta may express at least three meanings, namely, [one who] attained (derived from Skt. Prāpta), a bowl (derived from Skt. Pātra), a leaf (derived from Skt. Patra). Interestingly, none of these meanings yields a satisfactory sense to the context. That is to say, literal renderings depend on these three meanings as ‘attained shoulders’, ‘leaf-shouldered’ and ‘bowl-likeshoulders’ adding a sort of absurdity. PED (406) notes this inappropriateness of the meaning, thus remarking as ‘we may have to deal with an old misspelling for panna (=pa+ nam bent down, put down), which explanation would suit the sense better than any other’. Horner translates this term as “shoulders drooped” (1954, p. 170) and Rhys David as “hunch back” (1921, p. 48). Obviously, these scholars have been influenced by the Pali commentarial exegeses (DA III 841, MA II 104) on PK. Nonetheless, they seem to have not been paid attention to parallel occurrences in the Pali canon and Buddhist Sanskrit equivalents. Accordingly, attempts will be made in this paper to discern the most trustworthy term for PK depending on substantial proof. In the light of parallel readings, which appear in the Pāli canon, we can factually point out that the term panna-kkhandha, makes better sense in the context, thus it is a more appropriate term. Pāli exegetical literature also supports the replacement of the latter term for PK.
Preservation & contamination: A critical examination on Ariyadhamma-sutta of Anguttara-nikāya IV 145
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
Ariyadhamma sutta is the seventh discourse of the Samana-vagga (the chapter for monks) of the Anguttara-nikāya. Since this discourse has been exceedingly abbreviated due to the redactors' intervention, the entire idea from Ariyadhamma sutta has to be comprehended in comparison with the preceding discourses of the same chapter. Consequently, even though the Samana-vagga consists of eight discourses, with the exception of the first and last, the rest is complicated. The first discourse of this chapter speaks of seven unwholesome concomitants that should be broken by one who is apt for the honorific appellation 'bhikkhu'. In other words, the first discourse provides a religious etymology for bhikkhu. All the subsequent discourses of this chapter consistently mention the same unwholesome concomitants that should be eradicated by one who becomes worthy for the honorific appellations samaņa, brāhmaņa, sotthiya, nahātaka, ariya and arahā respectively. As venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi remarks 'these terms are purely pedagogical ant not etymologically cogent. Significantly, each of these discourses mentions the reason one becomes worthy enough for aforesaid honorific appellations. For instance, the crux of the second and third discourses as follows: bhinnattā bhikkhu hoti; through the breaking of (seven unwholesome concomitants) one becomes a bhikkhu, samitattā samaņo hoti; through the appeasement of (seven unwholesome concomitants) one becomes a samaņo. It is clear that all of these discourses speak of seven unwholesome factors that should be eliminated by one who wishes to get each honorific appellation mentioned above. Interestingly, Ariyadhamma sutta, as the Sinhalese Tipitaka edition (i.e. Buddha-jayanti) reads arahattā ariyo hoti; through the deserving of (seven unwholesome concomitants) one becomes an ariya. The meaning of this discourse is controversial, since it suggests the necessity of seven unwholesome factors to get the honorific appellation ariya. Especially, the term arahattā is totally questionable. Pali Text Society's edition reads this term as arȋhatattā, while the Burmese edition makes an arbitrary substitution of ārakattā. The Siamese tradition, has totally omitted this discourse from their edition. Accordingly, this paper attempts a critical analysis of this term.
A probe on the concept of pragmatic communication of the Buddha
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Dhammaratana himi, I.; Rajapaksha, S.; Gamage, A.K.
A Redaction-Critical Study of Petavatthu
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Gamage, A.K.
Applying the methods of Biblical criticism particularly Redaction criticism this paper presents a redaction-critical study of Petavatthu-pāḷi (the seventh book of Khuddakanikāya in the Pāli canon). While doctrinal, chronological and philological aspects of the Petavatthu have been studied so far, the method of Redaction Criticism has not been employed in studying this text. This paper attempts to fill that lacuna. Redaction Criticism is meant to detect the redactor’s or editor’s intervention in an author’s original work. The two terms ‘editor’ and ‘redactor’ are used synonymously in this paper while the term ‘author’ refers to the creator of the original work. The redactor intends to facilitate the reader’s comprehension of the text by ‘filling in the blanks’ or adding material that would allegedly interconnect disparate statements in the original text. As specialists in Redaction Criticism assert, such seams or stitches, though meant to clarify the original text, might end up interrupting its flow. Modelling on John 3 and Mark 16, the interventions of the redactors (saṅgītikārā) in the Petavatthu-pāḷi, is examined. The commentary on the Petavatthu is also consulted as a possible aid to detect the editorial interventions.
Topsy-turvy Exegeses & Theravada Confraternity: A Critical Examination of DA?s Interpretation on appa-rajakkha
(Culture, Globalization and the Developing World, 2nd ICSS, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
The term apparajakkha that often occurs together with maharajakkha in the Pali canon is one of debatably interpreted terms in the commentaries i.e. Atthakath?-s). This term that uses as an adjective to specify the people who are under the garb of the ignorance, however has a wider usage in the Sutta collection of the Pali canon. As the Pali commentaries of which the critical editorship has been ascribed to venerable Buddhaghosa, typically interpret, the components or subunits this term has to be disjoined as appa+raja+ and akkha. The first term means 'less' or 'a little' and the raja basically stands for two meanings, namely, 'dust' and 'defilements.' And, the last term, i.e. akkha means 'eye.' Thus, in accordance with the understanding of the Theravada confraternity, this term literally means 'the people who has little dust in their eyes.' Interestingly, many western Buddhist scholars who translated Pali canon into English under the supervision of the Pali Text Society (PTS) have considered the aforesaid Theravada analysis as a trustworthy exegesis. For example, professor Rhys Davids translated this term as 'Beings whose eyes were nearly free from dust' while Miss Horner renders it as 'Beings with little dust in their eyes'. Nonetheless, it is manifest that this interpretation provided by the Theravada confraternity, is incorrect when we examine the gradual evolution and etymology of apparajakkha. As the Theravada tradition opines Sanskrit 'ksha' always appears in Pali as 'kkha.' That is to say, the Theravada tradition seems to have recognized akkha as a Pali representation of Sanskrit aksha (eye). However, in this context, 'akkha' has nothing to do with 'eye' and the accurate disjoining of this term should be known as appa+raja+kkha. The suffix 'ka' that abundantly occurs with the nouns to denote the 'possession of a quality' that belong to the Mano-group, appears in Pali as 'kkha.' Therefore, the term '[alpa+]rajas+ka' occurs in the Pali canon as '[appa]+raja+kkha' keeping the same amount of syllables protecting the law of morae. This paper, provides a substantial and more trustworthy rendering for '?rajakkha' scanning the inaccuracy of the Theravada exegesis provided for this term. In order to reach to a sophisticated conclusion, Pali canonical accounts, sub-commentarial (Tika) occurrences, Vedic and Upanishad texts and Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources will also examined when necessary.
Topsy-turvy Exegeses & Theravada Confraternity: A Critical Examination of DA‟s Interpretation on appa-rajakkha
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
The term apparajakkha that often occurs together with maharajakkha in the Pali canon is one of debatably interpreted terms in the commentaries i.e. Atthakathā-s). This term that uses as an adjective to specify the people who are under the garb of the ignorance, however has a wider usage in the Sutta collection of the Pali canon. As the Pali commentaries of which the critical editorship has been ascribed to venerable Buddhaghosa, typically interpret, the components or subunits this term has to be disjoined as appa+raja+ and akkha. The first term means 'less' or 'a little' and the raja basically stands for two meanings, namely, 'dust' and 'defilements.' And, the last term, i.e. akkha means 'eye.' Thus, in accordance with the understanding of the Theravada confraternity, this term literally means 'the people who has little dust in their eyes.' Interestingly, many western Buddhist scholars who translated Pali canon into English under the supervision of the Pali Text Society (PTS) have considered the aforesaid Theravada analysis as a trustworthy exegesis. For example, professor Rhys Davids translated this term as 'Beings whose eyes were nearly free from dust' while Miss Horner renders it as 'Beings with little dust in their eyes'. Nonetheless, it is manifest that this interpretation provided by the Theravada confraternity, is incorrect when we examine the gradual evolution and etymology of apparajakkha. As the Theravada tradition opines Sanskrit 'ksha' always appears in Pali as 'kkha.' That is to say, the Theravada tradition seems to have recognized akkha as a Pali representation of Sanskrit aksha (eye). However, in this context, 'akkha' has nothing to do with 'eye' and the accurate disjoining of this term should be known as appa+raja+kkha. The suffix 'ka' that abundantly occurs with the nouns to denote the 'possession of a quality' that belong to the Mano-group, appears in Pali as 'kkha.' Therefore, the term '[alpa+]rajas+ka' occurs in the Pali canon as '[appa]+raja+kkha' keeping the same amount of syllables protecting the law of morae. This paper, provides a substantial and more trustworthy rendering for '–rajakkha' scanning the inaccuracy of the Theravada exegesis provided for this term. In order to reach to a sophisticated conclusion, Pali canonical accounts, sub-commentarial (Tika) occurrences, Vedic and Upanishad texts and Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources will also examined when necessary.
පරමත්ථජොතිකා II: අධ්‍යයනයක්
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2008) Gamage, A.K.
පාලි අට්ඨකථාවෙහි සිංහල අභාසය
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2009) Gamage, A.K.
පාලි සාහිත්‍යයේ ගර්භාවාචක ප්‍රයෝග
(Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2007) Gamage, A.K.
පාලි සාහිත්‍යයේ පණ්ඩිත ශබ්දය පිළිබඳ විමර්ශනයක්
(University of Kelaniya, 2006) Gamage, A.K.
පාලි සාහිත්‍යයේ පණ්ඩිත ශබ්දය පිළිබඳ විමර්ශනයක්
(Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, 2007) Gamage, A.K.
බෞද්ධ නිරුක්තියෙහි උපයෝගීතාව
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2008) Gamage, A.K.