Derek Cameron wrote:

> "Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism"
>
> That's certainly an eyebrow-raising title! :-)

Yes, isn't it; but it is, after all, only a title and, at that, one not chosen by
its author, though all too many reviewers have concerned themselves solely with
reviewing the title, rather than the contents of the book.

The book is simply the publication of a doctoral thesis, submitted under the title
of "Thus they once heard--oral initiation in the Pali Nikayas", published over 25
years ago, when young scholars had to accept titles that publishers deemed
"commercial".

> Would either of you care to give a 1-line summary of where exactly we
> find Divine revelation in Pali Buddhism?

Why a "1-line summary" ? Why not buy the book and read it--it only costs $14.00
from Amazon--and then form your own considered opinion ?

But if you can bear with a rather longer summary, here is the one which appears on
the book jacket:

"This work seeks to show that the earliest texts of the Pali Canon, compiled by the
Buddha’s contemporaries immediately following his death, reveal that in his own day
the Buddha and his mission were regarded quite differently to the manner in which
they are presented today. For far from being seen as one teaching a means to
liberation open to all to follow, he was instead regarded - as is still the typical
Indian guru - as one imparting liberating teachings only to those few whom he deemed
capable of benefiting therefrom.

Such teachings were imparted through an oral progressive revelation, culminating in
a vision of the goal, nirvana, being communicated to the convert, as a result of
which the latter was not only severed from his past karma, both good and bad, but
also spiritually reborn onto the supermundane path which, since it prevented further
accumulation of karma, guaranteed attainment of liberation from rebirth.

To those deemed incapable of such attainment, a totally different teaching was
given, encouraging the accumulation of good karma through cultic acts of charity to
the Buddha and his chosen few, who now claimed to represent the true seat of the
Vedic sacrifice and to be those through whom that sacrifice could alone acquire
efficacy".

As the above extract demonstrates, the word "divine" denotes simply nibbaana, and I
think all will agree that there are numerous instances in the texts in which the
Buddha is portrayed as revealing nibbaana to his converts.

Peter Masefield.