Re: Abhidharma tracts on dependent origination

Bhante,

Thank you, it's much appreciated.  I'm not a language scholar, but if I can
help to set up some kind of online repository for the group, I'd be happy
to.  Maybe a private wiki would work?

Anjali,

Yuttadhammo
On Apr 3, 2013 9:26 AM, "Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi" <venbodhi@...>
wrote:

> **
>
>
> Dear Ven. Yuttadhammo,
>
> I finished a draft translation of the chapter on dependent origination (DO)
> from the Dharmaskandha-a book of the Sarvastivada Abhidharma Pitaka-and
> have
> almost finished a draft translation of the chapter on DO from the
> *Sariputrabhidharma Sastra (abbrev. SAS), which is generally believed to
> have been a canonical Abhidharma treatise of the Dharmaguptakas, who
> flourished in Gandhara. The exegetical principles of both treatises in
> their
> treatment of DO closely correspond with the Pali commentaries, though they
> develop details in quite different ways. These two treatises are much less
> "Abhidharmic" in flavor than the Visuddhimagga, even less so than the
> Abhidhamma-bhajaniya of the Vibhanga, chapter 6. They are still attempting
> to explain the standard formula for DO against the background of the sutras
> rather than in the light of a distinctly "Abhidhamma system," as both
> Vibhanga, 6.2 and Visuddhimagga chapter 17 do.
>
> Neither treatise applies a full scheme of conditional relations to the
> links
> between the factors in the way that the Visuddhimagga does. This is hardly
> surprising since it seems that when these tracts were written, a
> full-fledged system of conditions had not yet reached finality. However, In
> a few paragraphs of its chapter on DO, SAS tries to apply its conditions to
> dependent origination. SAS uses a scheme of ten conditions, which have
> counterparts among the twenty-four paccayas of the Patthana system. It
> might
> even be maintained that SAS offers us a fossilized version of the Patthana
> system while it was still in process of formation. For example, SAS has one
> condition that might be rendered in Pali as janaka-paccaya. This,
> apparently, was subdivided by the Pali Abhidhammikas into three conditions:
> sahajaata, purejaata, and pacchajaata (or perhaps four, if
> anyamanya-paccaya
> is added), thus adding to the total in the Patthana.
>
> As an appendix, I made a draft translation of the SAS section on the ten
> pratyayas, which is probably the treatise's counterpart to the
> Paccaya-niddesa of the Patthana. But some of the explanations here strike
> me
> as odd, and I don't know how to handle them. I'm not sure whether this is
> because my understanding of conditionality has been too strongly influenced
> by the Patthana system or because I simply am not reading the Chinese text
> correctly. The Chinese translation of the Sariputrabhidharma Sastra, the
> only one we have, seems to use an almost idiosyncratic style and
> terminology. Even a few Chinese pundits I questioned about it answered with
> uncertainty.
>
> I still have to line up the different treatments of dependent origination
> in
> these tracts and investigate their mutual relationships. The version in the
> Pali Vibhanga, chapter 6, Suttanta-bhajaniya, seems to be the earliest, the
> least detailed, and the closest to the Nikayas. But the Vibhanga's chapter
> 6, Abhidhamma-bhajaniya, seems to be the latest and the furthest removed
> from the sutras. Here dependent origination is being explored from a
> different angle, from the unique standpoint of the Theriya Abhidhamma
> system, whereas the other three (Dharmaskandha, SAS, and Madhyamaka Sastra)
> are still trying to explore DO as intended in the sutras.
>
> I could use the help of someone with more expertise in these works to
> answer
> questions and perhaps even check my drafts. If any of the members of this
> group are acquainted with the style of Chinese used in Abhidharma
> translations, please let me know. I would also like help with passages in
> the Prasannapada chapter on dependent origination. This is Candrakirti's
> commentary to Mula-madhyamika-karikas, chap. 26, but it is in the current
> of
> "mainstream Buddhism" and has nothing (or not much) distinctly Mahayanistic
> about it. I don't want to flood the airwaves of this discussion group with
> non-Pali queries. Perhaps I can make these files available to interested
> readers through Dropbox? Or is there a better utility that allows back and
> forth comments?
>
> With metta,
>
> Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
> Chuang Yen Monastery
> 2020 Route 301
> Carmel NY 10512
> U.S.A.
>
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>
> 
>


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