Dear Thomas and friends,

thanks for the interesting question and the ensuing discussion. Allow
me to share some thoughts. Thomas, you are probably right to think
that by determining the Buddha's racial identity, we would be able to
construct the appearance of the Buddha, at least superficially, i.e.
based on whatever knowledge we have on the physical features of a
particular race.

However, even within a race, individuals look differently, while they
may share certain genetic features, say black and curly hair, or blue
eyes and pointed nose, for example. The varying characteristics of an
individual make it impossible to reconstruct the Buddha's appearance,
without actually seeing him. And, we know the fact that the Buddha was
cremated after parinibbana, so what remains is relics of him. Perhaps,
I say with some hope, one day genetic scientists would be able to
reconstruct the Buddha's image from a sample of the relic? Perhaps.

From the story of Angulimala, we know that he was a Brahmin before
becoming an outcast. It is unfortunate anyone can end up being an
outcast in those days. It was how the Indian society worked that time.
It is therefore no surprise some self-righteous, egoistic Brahmins
would come along and call the Buddha an outcast, a vasala. The Buddha,
in turn, is the teacher of many Brahmins, such as Sariputta, Maha
Moggallana, Maha Kassapa and Maha Kaccana.

When we talk about varna, we have to be very careful not to confuse
the Indian society of Buddha's time with the complex mind-blogging
Indian caste system of recent times, which has since been abolished by
the Indian constituition. When we refer to the suttas, the Buddha was
making reference to the four-varna system dictated by the Rig-Veda.
This system divided the Indian society into four groups, and people
born into each group have separate social obligations (as a high
priest, a prince, a merchant, or a lowly slave). The fate of a person
is sealed at birth. Whether the system is created by the divine or
man, we know it has more flaws than merits.

As for whether the four varnas refer to people of four different
colors, or four ethnic groups, or four races (as you suggest), we do
not know. The whole idea of Aryan people conquering and dominating the
Dravidians is the result of fairly recent study. The word Aryan was
coined to denote a tribe of people originated from Central Asia and
later migrated and expanded across Europe, Iran and India. For the
purpose of study of Anthropology, such a concept may be needed.
However, a better terminology such as Proto-Indo-European sounds
better. More study is therefore required before we can be certain
about the racial/ethnic composition of the Indian society during
Buddha's time.

One important point to remember is that Buddhism has spread across
Asia without knowing whether the Buddha is an Aryan (or not). Buddhism
has attracted followers across the continent for the Buddha's message
of wisdom and compassion, and his central teachings of the Four Noble
Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and Dependent Origination.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, thomaslaw03 wrote:

I think the hypothesis by E.J.Thomas is highly possible. If the
Buddha's racial appearance was closer to the Indo-Aryans, it was
unlikely being pejoratively called Vasala in a very contemptuous manner.