A History of Early Buddhism

A History of "Early Buddhism"
Author(s): John Ross Carter

Source: Religious Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 263-287
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Rel. Stud. 13, pp. 263-287
JOHN ROSS
CARTER
Assistant Professorof PhilosophyandReligion, ChapelHouwe,ColgateUniversity
A HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
This article has developed in response to a series of observations made over

a decade ago by Wilfred Cantwell Smith in his The Meaning and End of
Religion.' In that work, Smith made the point that the concepts 'religion',
'religions', 'Hinduism' and 'Buddhism' are rather recent, ofWestern origin,
and, in an attempt to understand mankind's religiousness, inadequate.2 In
developing his argument, Smith considered theBuddhist casewith penetrating
insight but, because his thesis was of such comprehensive scope, chose
not to go into a detailed consideration of relevant matters in the Theravada
Buddhist tradition.
In the historical considerations that led Smith to his conclusions, he
considered the Buddhist case in India and noted an absence of the reified
concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism '. He wrote,
Perhaps the most eloquent testimony to the inappropriateness
of the new concept
to that situation and those processes lies in the
['an entity-concept
"religion"']
or not primitive Buddhism was a religion. The
persistent problem of whether
modern West has proven incapable of answering this question.
The early Buddhists
and their neighbours, we may note, were incapable of
asking it.4
The purpose of this article is to show how one might substantiate what
Smith suggested by focusing on the Buddhist case in general, the Theravada
in particular
and
the Sinhalese
Theravada
tradition
specifically.
Western scholars of the Buddhist tradition have not been totally unaware
that the languages of that tradition did not have words representing the
concepts 'religion'5 and 'Buddhism'.6 And now a decade has passed since
1Wilfred
Cantwell
and End of Religion;
Smith,
The Meaning
A New Approach
to the Religious
Traditions of Mankind
(New York: The Macmillan
Company,
I962). This work was
later issued in
a paperback
as a Mentor
edition
Book
(New York: The New American
Library,
I964).
2 Ibid. chapter v.
I896, the following

as is well known (my italics),
uncertain.'
T. W.
4 Ibid. (I962), p. 58; (I964), p. 56.
3 Ibid. chapter iII.
5 In
Rhys
sentences were published:

is not found in languages
Davids,
Buddhism:
Its History
'But what
not related
is meant
by religion? The word,
to our own, and its derivation
is
and Literature,
'American
on the
Lectures
History of Religion, First Series, I894-I895' (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, I896), p. I.
6 See ibid., p. 38, where T. W. Rhys Davids,
to continue
having decided
using the term 'religion'
in the process
to attempt
to broaden
its meaning
in the light of data drawn from other religious
traditions,
says 'But I have considered
it my duty to bring out into as clear a relief as possible
the
points most essential
to a right understanding
of what we [sic] call Buddhism,
and what
the founder
of that religion
called
the Dhamma,
that is the Law, or the Norm.'
In 1903, T. W. Rhys Davids
and
reminded
his
readers
that
'the people
we
now
call Buddhists
(they
did
not
call
themselves
so)
were concerned so exclusively with the Dhamma. . .that their doctrine was called the Dhamma.'
Buddhist India (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1903), p. 294. C. A. F. Rhys Davids, in I932, noted
RES

13
JOHN
264
CARTER
ROSS
Smith reminded us - and this in a compelling way that should lead us not
soon to forget - that Buddhist men and women had lived religiously, had
gone about the process of living life well without conceptualizing that
what they were doing was practising Buddhism.
A student of Sanskrit and Pali will readily recognize the difficulty in
trying to propose words in these languages that would carry the weight of
the concepts religion and Buddhism. Sinhalese Theravrda Buddhists, within
the last two hundred years, I would suggest, have become acquainted,
however vaguely, with the concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' and have
either attempted to coin Sinhalese terms tomatch the concepts or decided
to adopt new terms and/or new meanings first proposed by Westerners,
perhaps by Christian missionaries.
A brief survey of some of the terms most frequently used by Sinhalese to
represent the notions 'religion' and 'Buddhism' should, on the one hand,
demonstrate the degree to which those indigenous terms have tended to
lose precision and, on the other hand, indicate the novelty of the notions
'religion' and 'Buddhism'. Further, this survey might suggest that those
of us who study the Buddhist tradition and attempt to discern the faith of
Buddhist men and women should refrain from imposing upon the data the
concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' without an awareness that these con
cepts were not proposed by Buddhists to represent their understanding and
that these concepts have had a history.
I
The first term I have chosen to consider is bauddha-samaya,or budu-samaya,
a term occasionally found in literary Sinhalese as a counterpart to the
concept 'Buddhism'. This term, formed by the words bauddha/buduand
samaya, carries, through extension, wide connotations. Samaya is the pivot
word in this compound; whatever itsmeaning, it ismodified by the adjective
'Buddhist'. Samaya literally means 'a coming together', and through
extension, the word means 'convention', both in the sense of what is
customary among Buddhists, tenets (mata), opinions (ditthi/d.rsti), teachings
(dharma)and, perhaps, also in the sense of multitude, collectivity, or, better
.1
still, community (samzdha)
If one were to take bauddha-samayaor budu-samayato mean 'the Buddhist
community', although this meaning has not been clearly supported by
frequent and wide ranging evidence, one would be dealing with those men
[she
Buddhist
'the words Buddhism,
of Amiens,
the time of the Treaty
I802, about
that around
came
that bauddha carries the force of 'Buddhist']
knowing
quite well
of English words
is speaking
A Manual
of these terms was settled.'
the spelling
of Buddhism:
into use. It took some time before
For AdvancedStudents(London: The Sheldon Press, I932), p. 5.

(Atthasalini),
57 ff. See The Expositor
of the term samaya occurs at DhsA.
discussion
The Pali Text
(London:
Tin, edited and revised by Mrs Rhys Davids
by Pe Maung
at the end of this article.]
appears
[A list of abbreviations
1958), pp. 76-82.
1A
trans.

vol.
Society,
I,
HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
265
and women who see themselves as forming a community and who have
found community by becoming Buddhists. The difference between bauddha
samayaand 'Buddhism' would be significant; without the former the latter
would not have had a history. Had there not been a community of men
and women who, through their common orientation to each other, to the
world, to life, enabled outsiders to discern a uniform pattern in their views
and behaviour and consequently call them Buddhists, or a community of
men and women who discovered through the teachings of the Buddha a
capacity to participate meaningfully in a common heritage, there would
not have been present before theWestern observer that which first caught
his eye and for which, later, was conceived a generalized classification, a
reified concept 'Buddhism'.
If one were to take bauddha-samayato mean 'Buddhist tenets, doctrines,
opinions, views, teachings', as reflected in the terms mata, di.thiId.rsti,and
one might have a meaning rather close to a frequent use
dhtamma/dharma,
of 'Buddhism', namely 'Buddhist thought'. And one might move further,
through extension inmeaning, to understand samaya as connoting also rites,
institutions, and practices which have been customary among Buddhists.
The antiquity of this latter extension in a compound bauddha-samayaor
budu-samaya is not clear. We have yet to see written the history of this
compound; and Sorata Thera makes no reference to a Sinhalese text when
he glosses budu-samayawith buddhdgama (a compound to which we will
turn later) in his impressive Sinhalese-Sinhalese dictionary, Sri Suma4gala
Sabdakosaya.
It appears that bauddha-samayaor budu-samayaprobably meant something
like 'Buddhist views' or 'Buddhist thought' and subsequently had added
to it the extended meanings of Buddhist rites, institutions, and practices.
In any case, when this compound ismet, one moves closer to grasping its
import when one takes it tomean 'Buddhist thought' in a straightforward
sense or 'Buddhist tradition' in an extended sense.
One might interject that my point thus far is obvious. Of course, one
might contend, there is a significant difference between the concepts
'Buddhist community', 'Buddhist thought', and 'Buddhist tradition', on
the one hand, and 'Buddhism' on the other; the latter ismuch broader in
scope, more comprehensive, and this comprehensiveness is the rationale
for its continued use by those who study also texts, rituals, monastic and
lay institutions, practices, doctrines, and customs. I would reply that
Buddhists have had terms for these latter areas of inquiry, and they have
had them formany centuries. Moreover, Buddhists have considered aspects
in these areas, discussed those aspects, debated them, understood them,
might have discarded a few of them and incorporated others without trying
tomaintain that a particular combination was important because it repre
sented 'Buddhism'; rather, they did so because they found a particular
9-2

JOHN
266
ROSS
CARTER
combination consistent with mutually endorsed tenets, consistent within

their community, and consistent with a tradition, on the one hand, and
the process of living life well, on the other. Apparently Buddhists, for
centuries, never sensed a need for a concept like 'Buddhism' because such
a concept, in its lack of clarity and precision, would have been of assistance
only for those who were not very familiar with what is involved in living
one's life within the Buddhist community and, as an expression of one's
faith, participating actively in that community.
The second term I will consider is sdsana. It occurs both by itself and in
budusasna).In the latter usage,
compounds such as buddhasdsana(buddhas'asana,
in the compound buddhasdsana,the term provides a straightforward meaning,
'instruction, admonition of the Buddha'. Standing by itself, the term
sdsana appears not always unequivocal in itsmeaning. This term, too, has
had a history and it appears that throughout its long history a degree of
reification might have occurred.
Basically the term sdsanameans 'instruction, admonition, message, order'
and this seems to have been a customary meaning in the canonical literature.
A well known verse reads,
Refraining from anything detrimental
Cultivating thatwhich iswholesome
Purifying themind - this is the instruction
[sdsana]of theBuddhas.'
This usage of sdsana is frequently met in conjunction with the terms 'Buddha '2
and satthar, 'teacher '. Of passing interest is the use of sdsana with the
name Gotama.4 Thus far, it should be apparent that sasana represents
neither an equivalent for 'religion' nor 'Buddhism'. Certainly the verse
quoted above would be misrepresented if one were to translate etambuddhdna
sdsanamas 'this is the religion of the Buddhas' or elsewhere satthu sdsanamas
'religion of the Teacher' or Gotamasdsane as 'in the Buddhism of Gotama.'
The term sdsanahas had a history, yet a careful study of its history would
require more space than available here. It seems that in the course of time
the term sdsanacame to designate a patterned or established set of teachings,
systematic injunctions, connoting a system of training.5 This can be noted
in those passages that relate one's 'going forth' into the sdsana,6 that is to
1 It
is possible
that
this verse
comprised
a part
of what
might
have
been
form
an early
of
the
D.II.49. The verse occurs again in the Dhammapada,vs. I83.

pdtimokkham.See Mdhapaddnasutta,
2 See, for example,
Thag. vss. 24, I8I, 204, 212, 220. Ud. 57.
3 Bu.M.23;
on
See ThagA.ii.84
on Thag. vs. 220, ThagA.I.85
on A.I.I85.
on Nd.i.i.4o
(on Sn. vs. 775); AA.III.170
Sdpj.I.147
Thag.
vs.
24, SA.In.200.
4 Sn. 933, I084. Nd.I.ii.399 on Sn. 933 glosses sasane Gotamassaby noting
devasdsanearahantasdsane....'
dhasdsanejinasdsanetathdgatasdsane
6 See,
for example,
UdA.
309
on Ud.
57. Note
also
that when
dhamma
is used
See
also
'Gotamasdsanebud
as a designation
as at S.III.96, the commentary (SA.hI.3o6) glosses dhamma as

for the 37 bodhipakkhiyadhammd,
a term designating
is considered
dhammavinaya
and at SA.III.200,
to sila, samddhi,
sdsana is glossed by reference
See also UdA. 309 where
for example,
Thag. vs. i8i.
sdsanadhamma
Teacher.
6
See,

the
sdsana of
and painiid.
the
AHISTORY
OFEARLY
BUDDHISM
267
say entering the monastic order. Sdsana seems also to have reflected in
its usage a self-conscious institutional awareness on the part of Theravada
Buddhists. There are occasions in which the canonical texts speak of a
person accomplishing this or that 'right here' (idh'eva)and the commentarial
tradition frequently understood the emphasis as 'in just this sasana'.l An
interesting process of interpretation can be noted in the commentary on
the Suttanipdtawith regard to the term brahmacarSya
as it occurs in verses 693
and 696. Brahmacariya is a rather complex term but basically it means
'mode of chaste living', 'chaste behaviour', and in a broad sense, 'the
higher life '.2 In verse 693 the phrase under consideration reads 'His mode
of chaste living [brahmacariyam]
will be widespread'. The commentary takes
as
brahmacariya meaning sdsana.3The commentary interprets brahmacariyain
verse 696 as samanadhamma,that is the dhamma for those striving for inner
calm, or following traditional interpretations, duties for bhikkhus.The spatial
reference, 'wide spread' (vitthdrika) together with the notion 'right here'
seem to suggest an awareness of a recognized set of distinctive principles
and practices that readily serve to differentiate the Theravada Buddhist
movement from others. Consider, moreover, a commentarial gloss (Pj.iI.i. I63
on Sn. vs. 87):
thus announcing, expounding, roaring
the lion's roar he both announces
and expounds 'just here in this
sdsanais this dhamma;it is
not so elsewhere'.4 In thisway
it is said 'he announces, he
expounds just here the dhamma'.
Sdsana, although closely identified with established principles and a
system of training prescribed for bhikkhus,was also broad enough to include
laymen, updsakas,and laywomen, updsikds.Consider, for example, a passage
in the Mahdvamsa
in which
one who
has gone
to the Buddha,
Dhamma,
and
Sangha as refuge is considered an updsaka in the sdsanaof Sakyaputta (i.e.,

the Sakyan son, the son of Suddhodana).5And Visaka, preeminent among
the updsikdsis said to have been endowed with faith in the Buddhasdsana,6no
doubt seeing herself as actively engaged in this sdsana.
1 See Pj.I1.ii.59I (on Sn. IO56)where the commentator glosses 'right here' with
sdsana or in just
this sdsana. . ..'
this present
existence'.
See
also Pj.II.ii.433
(on Sn. 536) where
the gloss
'in just this

is 'who,
in
2 Some Sinhalese Buddhists have suggested that brahmacariyaparallels the notion 'religion'.
See Smith, op. cit., note i9, toChapter Three (I962), p. 249, (I964), P. 240.
3 See Pj.II.ii.489 (on Sn. vs. 693).
4 "' idh" eva sdsane ayam dhammo na ito bahiddd'
the path, magga.
ti.' The
commentary
takes dhamma
as both
nibbdna
and
5Mhv.xi.34. This passage is quoted at PfijdV. p. 759. See Mhvt., PP. 307-8.
6 '...budusasnehi s'raddhdvanta
upasikdvarum...." PujdV. p. 365. On the notion of demonstrating
a quality
of faith
in the sasana,
see also Cid.1.54,
vs.
17
'...
so ra-jd pasanno
buddhasasane....'
and
Maradana (Colombo: Anula,

U-I.II.90vs. 36. See Rerukane Candavimala, Paramita Prakaranzaya,
I966), p. 232 where he notes the buddhasdsanais comprised of bhikkpu,bhikpunfs,upasakas,upisikis.

JOHN
268
ROSS
CARTER
At times sdsana is used interchangeably with dhammawhen the latter

means portions of the received teaching' of prescribed practice.2 And sdsana
occurs as a gloss for dhammavinaya,teaching and training.3 Moreover, it is
recorded that a question was raised at the first council whether dhamma, in
this context meaning teaching, or vinaya should be recited first. The vinaya,
itwas decided, was to be recited first because 'when the vinaya is established,
the sdsana is established.'4
The Mahdvamsa,5 the old chronicle of Sri Lanka, provides passages that
suggest a reification of the earlier notion of sdsanaand a tendency to use the
term in close connection with theway of lifeprescribed for those in the Sangha.6
The use of the term sdsana to reflect an awareness of an institutional
understanding of the Sinhalese Buddhist community - monks and laity - is
noted in theMahavamsa when Dutthagamani interprets his conquering the
Tamils (Damila) as a means of bringing glory to the sdsana.7
having reverenced
gone to Tissamah-arama,
Having
[he] said,
the Sangha
'I myself, shall go to the further side of the river
to brighten the sdsana.
Give us, that we might honor them,
bhikkhusto accompany us
For the sight of bhikkhusis both auspicious
and a protection
for us.'
One can infer from this passage that an attempt to drive away a Tamil
army, and in the process slaying a few hundred Tamils and creating a
situation in which many Sinhalese would be slain, was interpreted and
remembered as an act that would bring glory to,make illustrious, brighten,
the sdsana. In this context sdsana clearly does not mean 'order, message,
instruction'. Nor, for thatmatter 'doctrine'. It would be difficult moreover
to maintain
that
sdsana
in this context
meant
the
it seems
buddhasdsana;
that the Buddha's instructions in his considerations about the impending

conflict between Ajatasattu and the Vajjians8 would have been instructive
in Dutthugamani's situation. Further, one might recall the verse noted
above in which the sdsanaof the Buddhas appears diametrically opposed to
the activities of Dutthugamani.9 No, sdsana had, by this time, acquired
a broader, reified, indeed, institutional meaning. Consider another passage :10
1 See Mhbv. p.
73 and also CalU1..89, vs. 70.
2 See the parallel
dhamma'
for 'honors
glosses
and
'delight
in the sasana'
p.
at DAG.
I2 (on
3 As at DAG. p. 29 (on DhpA.s.47) and DAG. p. 37 (on DhpA.s.76).

DhpA.I.I4).
4Mhbv., p. 9I; Sdhs., p. 24.
5 I am aware
correct
title for the entire
is the technically
that the Mahavamsa
of Mahavamsa
divisions
I have kept W. Geiger's
are to the PTS edition
the references
of
are met at every occurrence
6 This,
is not to say such tendencies
of course,
sasana, and four verses later, vs. I14, it
vs. io a king gives an order,
At Czl.s.44,
9 See
above,
p. 266,
the verse
from D.II.49
and Dhp.
but
vs.
I183.
10 CUl.I.38,

since
and C7lavamsa.
the term sasana.
is said he went
8 See D.II.72 if.
7Mhv.xxv.I-3.
forth into the sdsana.
work
VS. 27.
HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
269
Having thoroughly cleared the country

[OfDamilas, Tamils] and having
put the populace at ease
He established
the sdsana, which
was
destroyed by the foreigners,

in its former place.
Professor Geiger, when he came across sdsana in this passage made the
comment, 'P. sdsanam"the doctrine" is used in exactly the same sense as
we speak of "church". He restored the Buddhist church.'" Our concern is
not to take issue with Geiger's comparison by arguing that the notion of
church is considerably different from sdsana.What is important is Geiger's
discernment that sasana was used in a particular way - and one worth
noting - to suggest an institutional meaning. He elsewhere translates sdsana
in a compound sugatasdsananwith 'he reformed the Order of the Perfected
One '.2
Sdsana has undergone a development in meaning, one not entirely
uniform, not always equivocal. In the course of its history and varied
usage sdsanahas developed from a meaning much like institute, in the sense
of authoritative precept or rule, to institute,i.e., institution,in the sense of an
organization promoting the precepts. For some time Sinhalese Buddhists
have been aware of a notion of the decline and disappearance of the sdsana.3
They have addressed this notion by noting that firstly therewill be a decline
and disappearance of persons who follow the precepts and rules and that
subsequently, when all of the texts containing the precepts and rules are
lost and forgotten, the sasanawill have disappeared. In other words, the
institutes, precepts laid down by the Buddha, are the basis of the institute,
the institution promoting those precepts, and when the latter becomes
dissolved and the former are forgotten one can speak of a disappearance of
the institute - sdsana in both meanings.
Now then, can sdsana be translated 'Buddhism'? Hardly. Consider the
awkwardness of the phrase, 'the purifying of themind - this is the Buddhism
of the Buddhas'. And one must allow room for a translation to represent
accurately the use of the term sasanawhen it refers to Nigantha Nataputta,
the leader of the Jain movement.4 Nor would the matter be made clearer
were one to speak of a person undergoing the ceremony which symbolizes
1Wilhelm
Geiger,
Cal. Tr. Part
I, note
I, P. 32. Burlingame
was
also aware
of some
shift
in the
import of sdsanaand chose to translate itwith 'religion' in BuddhistLegends (Cambridge,Massa

chusetts:
Harvard
University
Press,
I921),
I.149,
and
on page
I5I
he
proposed
'the Religion
of the Buddha' for buddhasdsana.

He was translating from DhpA.I.5 and DhpA.i.8, respectively.
Walpole Rahula, History of Buddhism in Ceylon (Colombo: Gunasena, I966), p. I04 interprets the
cleansing
of
the sasana,
as mentioned
in the Mahdvamsa
(Culavamsa),
I.39,
vs.
57;
44,
vs. 46,
as
'the purification (sodhana)of the Sasana (religion)....'

2 See his Cul.Tr. Part I, P. 78 (a translation of Cal.s.44.46).
3 See Miln., pp. I33-I34; DA.III.898 (on D.I.I14);
SA.II.2oI-202 (on S.I.224); AA.I.87 ff.;
VbhA., PP. 431-432; ThagA.II.89 (on Thag., vs. 977).
" See M.I.374, line 8.

ROSS
JOHN
270
CARTER
his entering the monastic community as 'going forth into Buddhism'.

Perhaps one might speak of a king going into battle in order to bring
glory to 'Buddhism' and, in other contexts, one protecting 'Buddhism', or
cleansing 'Buddhism', or establishing 'Buddhism' in its former place. Such
understanding is closer to the extended meaning of sdsana but is lacking
in precision not because of the scope of meaning in the term sdsana but,
rather, because of the inherent vagueness of the notion 'Buddhism'. To
bring glory to the sdsana is to create a situation in which the monastic
organization can flourish, the laity can express their loyalty and thereby
make manifest, make illustrious the teachings of theBuddha. By establishing,
cleansing, and protecting the sdsana, one creates the conditions in which
there are neither internal nor external threats of destruction for themonastic
organization and no radical barriers or pressures inhibiting the support
of the laity; one seeks to maintain consistency between the inculcations of
the Buddha and the mode of conduct of the bhikkhuswho are exemplars for
the laity. These dimensions are held in the one term sdsana; they are
relatively obscured by the vague term 'Buddhism'.
In the involved and demanding process of translation, one might adopt
as a working principle the practicability of re-translating into the former
language what has been translated into the latter. This principle would
lead one not to translate sdsanaas 'religion' because, for example, a Sinhalese
Buddhist upon reading the phrase 'the origin and development of sdsana'
would, if he were reading in Sinhalese, wonder what happened to themarker
equivalent to the definite article in English or, if he were reading it in
Pali, anticipate a discussion of the doctrines and organizations in the
Buddhist tradition.
In turning
to the next
phase
in our
study we move
to a consideration
of
the terms most frequently used by Sinhalese Buddhists to represent the

concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' - agama and buddhagama.
Xgama is an old Sanskrit and Pali word. Its basic meaning is 'coming,
approach, arrival' and is used also tomean 'that which has come down to
the present' in the sense of tradition preserved in writing. Through this
extension the term means also 'scripture', 'authoritative text' and further
'established procedure, discipline'.
The manner in which dgama came to be chosen to represent the notion
'religion' is by no means clear. I have not found the word dgama so used
in either canonical, commentarial or medieval Pali texts or classical and
medieval Sinhalese texts. It is difficult to note the period of its first usage
to represent 'religion'; my guess would be in the later part of the eighteenth
century or the early part of the nineteenth.
A cursory
glance
at the contexts
in which
agama
is used
suggests
its being
closely affiliated with a consideration of the authoritative texts or scripture.

One finds in the Dighanikdya a passage in which dgamameans 'traditional

OF
A HISTORY
EARLY
BUDDHISM
27I
texts'.' Later, agama still conveys the meaning of authoritative text or

scripture. In the Dhammapada, vs. 208, the term bahussuta, 'one who has
heard (and remembered) much, i.e., learned one', occurs. The commentary
glosses this term with 'one endowed with knowledge of the authoritative
texts (dgama) '.2 In the commentary on the Vimanavathuone finds the term
meaning 'in the commentaries on the authoritative texts'
dgamatthakathdsu,
or 'in the textual or traditional commentaries'.3 In I886 E. R. Goonaratne,
a provincial administrative assistant4 in Galle, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
under the British reign, chose to translate this compound 'in the Com
mentaries of the religion'.5 However, four years earlier, in I892, Piyaratana
Tissa Thera, in a letterwritten in Sinhalese to Professor T. W. Rhys Davids,
uses the term dgama to mean 'authoritative text, canonical texts '.6 In the
same year Ven. Panifananda, also writing in Sinhalese, mentions an agama
dharmawhich isworthy of respect.7 This writer seems to use this compound
a system
to mean
of teaching
(dharma) that
is based
on canonical
or authori
tative texts (dgama). It is suggestive that approximately forty years after

publishing these letters the editors of the Pali Text Society's Pali-English
Dictionary did not introduce the English term 'religion' into their discussion
of dgama8 and
that at about
the same
time,
in I924,
it is noted
in Charles
Carter's dictionary, A Sinhalese-EnglishDictionary, under the entry dgama,

'generalusage: religious system, religion'.9
I say suggestive firstly because the scholars working on the PTS Dictionary
'read
did not
the term agama a meaning
into'
not
found
in the Pali
sources
consulted and secondly because Carter noticed a disjuncture of sorts between

the traditional meanings of agama and the current usage of the term,
approximately fifty years ago, tomean 'religion'.
Thus far, it is possible to say that by I924 dgamawas used by quite a few
people
in Sri Lanka
1 D.II.124.
to represent
the concept
no gloss
The commentary,
provides
DA.II.566,
under dgama in PTSD,
95a.
2 DhpA.III.272.
on this commentary,
The Sinhalese
glossary
text.
treats agama as authorative
century),
p. 2 clearly
8 VvA., in the Vimdna-Vatthu
edited
by E. R. Goonaratne
the Commentary
Dhammapdla's
Paramattha-Dfpani,
part iv, Being
'religion'.
on
Goonaratne
the term. For

Dahampiyd
other
Atuvd
gives
references
Gatapadaya
see
(tenth
Part 5, I896), p. vii. See

(London:
on the Vimdna-Vatthu,
ed. E. Hardy
(London:
part 5, I901), P. 3.
4 His title at this time was Atapattu
Mudaliyar.
5 E. R. Goonaratne's
translation
of the opening
section of VvA in his edition
of Vv. p. xi.
6 Journal of the Pali Text Society, I892, edited by T. W. Rhys Davids,
p. 21.
7 Ibid. p. 25. It is difficult
to determine
the precise meaning
of this compound
so used approxi
from the context
mately
ninety
years ago. I think the bhikk-hu was working
of pariyattidhamma,
'dhamma
and held
in mind,'
up, learned
i.e., the authoritative
text, since he
of the Pali Text Society
and also because
pariyatti and agama can be
use of the Sinhalese
indefinite
used
than the definite,
form, rather
can be
in which
he wrote
the letter, i.e., to European
explained
by the context
scholars. However,
it is
that dgamadharmaya might
an early attempt
to catch the concept
possible
represent
'religion'.
8 I refer to the I966 reprint, PTSD,
p. 95a. The work was first published
in fascicles
I92I-I925,
was first published
in I922.
and Part ii, fascicle A-O
9 Charles
A Sinhalese-English
Carter,
Dictionary
(Colombo:
Gunasena,
I965), P. 87a. This work
was first published
by the Baptist Missionary
1924. Rev. Carter
died in 19I4.
Society,
was
that
is to be
taken
to the president
The
interchangeably.
writing

JOHN
272
ROSS
CARTER
the reader some idea of how a bilingual Sinhalese could interpret agama
in a Pali text as meaning 'religion' - and this in i886. Where might one
look for this change in meaning which the term agama underwent? I would
suggest, as mentioned above, that Sinhalese Theravada Buddhists have
become acquainted with the concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' and have
either attempted to coin Sinhalese terms tomatch the concepts or decided
to adopt new terms and/or new meanings first proposed by Westerners,
perhaps by Christian missionaries.
In I865, about two decades before Goonaratne presented his readers
with an interpretation of agama in a Pali text as 'religion', there began a
series of debates between representatives of the Buddhist and Christian
communities in Sri Lanka.' Although it is an admirable quality in one's
religious life to take religious truth claims seriously, the debates between
those endorsing the Buddhist side or position (buddhdgamepaksaya, bauddha
paksaya) and those the Christian position (kristiyanipaksaya)represent a period
inwhich there was not only inadequate understanding of the other religious
tradition, but also a deeply entrenched conviction that the one was in
opposition (viruddha) to the other. Manifestly, there was demonstrated no
concern to understand Buddhists or Christians; two monolithic giants had
clashed, the one something called Christianity (kristiydni agama) and the
other something called Buddhism (buddhdgama).
In some of the texts recording these debates2 one notes the occurrence of
dgama meaning
'religion '3 and occasionally in the plural, 'religions '.4
Throughout some of these sources the terms buddhagamaand kristiyani agama
occur frequently.5 So thoroughly reified are the concepts 'religion', 'Bud
dhism', and 'Christianity' that the debaters found it intelligible to speak
of the untrueness of Buddhism6 or the untrueness of the Christian religion
or Christianity,7 the trueness of Buddhism,8 to say that Christianity is a
deceitful religion,9 to attempt to argue that Christianity is not an authentic
religion,10 and tomaintain that Buddhism is a true religion.1'
Some
of
the more
(i866),
Liyangemulle
in Colombo
(I899).
2 See, e.g., Udanvita
Press,
I947).
Gampala
famous
Udanvita
debates
(i866),
were
those
Gampala
held
at Varagoda
Panadura
(I87I),
T.
vadaya ha baddegama vddaya (Vallampitiya:
T. S. Dharmabandu,
vddaya
(Vallampitiya:
(I865),
(1873),
(I865),
Baddegama
and UIrugodavatte
S. Dharmabandu,
Navajivana
Navajivana
Press,
I947).
PdnadurFvddaya (Maradana, Colombo: Lanka Free Press, n.d.), Buddhismand Christianity:Being an

Oral Debate held at Panadura... IntroductionandAnnotations,J. M. Peebles (Colombo, n.d.).
3 See, e.g., Udanvita
vddaya, pp. 5, 7,
I9, 41. Panadure
vddaya, pp.
II, 20. Gampala vddaya, pp.
4 See, e.g., Udanvita vadaya, p. I I, Panadurff vddaya, pp. 24, 8I .
35, 6i, 8i.
5 Udanvita vddaya, pp. I0, I2, 14, 15, I7-24,
the second part of this same volume,
26, 27. Forming
pp.
I, 2, 4,
of Baddegama
vddaya. See this section,
is the account
again,
beginning
with pagination
I, 2, 4-5,
35-41.
Pdnadurff vddaya, pp.
5, i6, i8. Gampala vddaya, pp. 9, II, 12, I4, 21, 22, 25-31,
2I-22,
73, 79-80,
58, 6o, 64, 66, 68-69,
54-56,
i8-I9,
49-51,
40-43,
29, 34-37,
24-25,
7-8, 13-I6,
elsewhere.
and possibly
82-85,
6 Pdnadurff vddaya, pp. 21, 41 (buddhdgamF asatyakama).
7 Ibid. pp. 14, I5, I6, I8 (kristiydni dgamF asatyatdva).
8 Ibid. p.
.satyatdvat ...).
I9 (buddhagami..
10 Ibid. p.
58 (kristiydni dgama sdba dgamak).
9 Ibid. pp. 35, 83 (boru dgamak).

11 Ibid. p. 83 (buddhdgama satyagamak).

HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
273
It is probable that the use of the terms agama and buddhdgamato represent
'religion' and 'Buddhism' respectively antedates the debates mentioned.
By how many years? I would suggest by about one hundred at most.
Sinhalese Buddhist scholars have been aware of the development of these
terms and the meanings they have acquired. In a splendid Sinhalese
Sinhalese dictionary, W. Sorata lists seven meanings for the term agama
all of which are very old except the last; for agamahe notes kristiydnidharmayal
and provides a symbol which elsewhere he explains 'that is in common
parlance' (kathdvyavaharayehi
eyi) .2
When the reader turns to Sorata's entry for buddhdgamahe finds one
which elsewhere Sorata explains as the dharma
explanation, buddhadharma
of the Buddha, i.e., the eighteen-fold dharmapossessed by the Buddha, and
the dharmataught by the Buddha.3 There is an enormous difference between
buddhagamaon the one hand and buddhadharmaon the other, a difference
not only in history, the latter being very old indeed, but also in attitude,
which the concepts reflected by the two terms represent; the former is
mundane, sectarian, provincial, and the latter is personal, of tremendous
consequence for one's life. Let me provide some examples.
Firstly, turning to booklets written recently for schoolchildren entering
the first grade there are some entitled buddhagamaand one with the term
buddhadharmaya4
being prominent in the title. The opening three sentences
of the text in the beginner's book written by J. Aberuvan read 'Buddhism
is our religion. It is in accordance with Buddhism that we act. There is
nothing of greater value to us than Buddhism.'5 Aberuvan, in his slightly
more advanced book for children, begins a section dealing with reverence
for the triple gems, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, with the following
remark: 'Buddha, Dharma, Sangha are the highest treasure of Buddhists.
Indeed, those are our three gems or triple gem.... '6Now consider how
de Silva, Eratna and Vanigatuniga begin their presentation of the three gems:
'It is (i) our Lord Buddha, (ii)His Dharma, and (iii) the venerable Sangha
that we call the triple gem. This, indeed, is the triple gem of Buddhism. '7
1 Ven.
Pandit
W.
Sorata
Nayaka
Thera,
(Colombo: Anula Press, I963), p. 123b.
Sri
Sumangalasabdakosaya;
Part
2 Ibid. p. XLII.
i,
second
edition
3 Ven.
Pandit W. Sorata
ii (Colombo:
Sri Sumangalasabdakosaya,
Thera,
Part
Anula
Press,
I956), p. 657a.
4 Jayasekara
Aberuvan,
Ihala
Buddhagama;
bdldms'aya
(Colombo:
M. D. Gunasena,
I963).
Jayasekera
Aberuvan,
Tunvana s'refiya (Colombo:
Buddhdgama;
M. D. Gunasena,
S. F. de
I968).
Silva,
E. R. Eratna,
S. Vanigatunga,
Ihala bdldmsaya
Buddhadharmaya;
(Colombo:
Sri Lanka
Prakasaka,
I964). Of course
there are others,
but these three texts might
provide
an adequate
example.
5 Aberuvan,
Buddhdgama,
Ihala bdldms'aya, p. i. (Buddhdgama
ape dgama yi. Apa kafa-yutu karanne
buddhagama anuvayi. Apata buddhdgamata
va.da usas deyak nd.)
6 J. Aberuvan,
tunvana s'reniya (third level), p. i. (BauddhyangF usas ma vastuva budun,
Buddhdgama;
daham, san-gun. E tamd apage ruvan tuna hevat tunuruvana....)
7 de Silva,
J. Eratna,
Vanigatunga,
ihala bdladmsaya, p.
Buddhadharmaya;
I. (Api teruvan yayi
kiyanne (i) apF budu hdmudurivanta.
(ii) unvahansFgF dharmayata yi. (iii) sanghayd vahanseta yi. Me
tamd
buddhagameteruvana.

JOHN
274
ROSS
CARTER
The difference one detects in these approaches is more suggestive than

conclusive. In both cases a young child is introduced to the notion of
'Buddhism', and this quite early and in a formal setting. Yet there is a
difference; in the former a child is made to be self-conscious of an in
stitution and the way in which certain practices are important for that
institution, i.e., 'Buddhism'. In the latter case, a child re-enacts a practice
and ismade to understand that what he has done is an important part of
'Buddhism'. The latter case seems to represent more accurately the way
self-consciousness has developed in the history of the Buddhist tradition.
There was a time in which one would say the three gems without being
aware that this practice was a part of 'Buddhism'. The former represents
the way in which many Sinhalese Buddhists tend to speak about their
religious heritage; there is a radical self-consciousness of a reified 'something',
a system that separates us from others.' When a booklet entitled Buddhdgama
is placed before children a statement is needed to clarify the meaning of
the term. When one entitled Buddhadharmaya is so placed, there is no
apparent need to explain the term at the outset.
Sinhalese Buddhists have been aware of buddhadharma,the Buddha's
teachings about a way of life that could lead one to penetrate that which
he rediscovered, have tried to live their lives according to it, have been
buttressed by it in times of personal anxiety, and have found that it holds
when all else seems to topple. Buddhadharmais for all mankind; the possessive
pronoun in a sentence, 'buddhadharmais our dharma'would be awry.
Let me provide another example that might inform the point. Consider
the following
written
passage
by a well
known
Sinhalese
bhikkhu:
a religion or a philosophy?
It
The question has often been asked: Is Buddhism
it is whatever
remains what
label
does not matter what you call it. Buddhism
you may put on it. The label is immaterial. Even the label 'Buddhism' which we
is of little importance. The name one gives it
give to the teaching of the Buddha
is inessential.2
At first blush this passage appears straightforward, intelligible, if a whit

Platonic. It is a passage that, I suspect, Mr Siripala Lilratna, who trans
lated it and the book in which it occurs into Sinhalese, found rather subtle.
There are terms, he might have thought, that communicate the concepts
'religion' and 'philosophy '.3Yet, the passage has Buddhism and also
'Buddhism' in quotation marks.
1 I find
grade
it disquieting
to something
that
called
the
two booklets
'Buddhism'
rather
by Aberuvan
than
seem
something
to introduce
called
a child
in the first
or
karundva,
'compassion'
aware wherein
become
they
the three gems,
they
that before
they recite in unison
ddnaya, 'gift';
in Sri Lanka.
differ from other children
2Walpola
Gordon
England:
Edition)
the Buddha Taught
(Revised
What
Sri Rahula,
(Bedford,
for aWestern
published
I967), p. 5. This work was originally
edition,
and enlarged
Fraser, Second
in I963,
there was
in French,
later it appeared
and,
years
in 1959. Two
in English,
audience,
that the work appeared
It was not until
edition.
I965, six years after the first publication,
a German
in Sinhalese.
3 I should
point
out
that
the question
Rahula
often
asked
probably
has been more

frequently
HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
275
Mr Lilratna,
probably with the concurrence of the author, chose to
take buddhadharmayaas the key term to represent 'Buddhism' throughout
the book not because they are equivalent but, rather, because buddhadharmaya
comes closer to the awareness on the part of Sinhalese readers of that which
ismost noble in their religious heritage. The thrust of Rahula's book would
have been severely limited, restricted, had his translator taken buddhdgama
for the English term and the concept 'Buddhism'. The Buddha did not
teach 'Buddhism', he taught dharma,and the author would, perhaps, excuse
me were I to say that the title of the Sinhalese translation, Budun vaddla
dharmaya, 'the dharma expounded (divulged?) by the Buddha' is more
germane than the English title, 'What theBuddha Taught'.
To get back to our passage, then, the force of the single quotation marks
together with the word 'label' suggests that somehow the descriptive term
under consideration is inadequate, a mere convenience. The translator
chose the term buddhdgamafor this usage. The key points of the passage
are, therefore:
The question has often been asked: Is Buddhism
[buddhadharmaya] a religion
[agamak, of course the use of buddhdgama previously would have led one to say
buddhdgama is a religion agamak] or a philosophy
[dars'anayak]? It does not matter
it [buddhadharmaya]
what you call it. Buddhism
[budhadharmaya] remains what
is. The label is immaterial. Even the label 'Buddhism'
['buddhdgama'] which we
[apa] give to the teaching of the Buddha
[budunvahansJge dharmayata] is of little
importance. The name one gives it is inessential.'
The 'we' in this passage referred originally toWesterners, and, perhaps,

Sinhalese capable of reading and speaking English. Non-English-reading
Sinhalese are now able to see themselves in this pronoun and consequently
in this activity. The passage is instructive for our purposes because it
demonstrates the way in which the notion 'Buddhism' is inadequate to
catch and communicate the series of intricate, subtle thought patterns of
Sinhalese Buddhists. Obviously the passage as designed for a Sinhalese
audience makes an important point not quite clear in its English original;
whether buddhadharmais called a 'religion' or a 'philosophy' or 'Buddhism'
it is still buddhadharma.
To discuss what is entailed in the concept buddhadharmacertainly would
require more space than allotted here. Western scholars can move nearer
itsmeaning by dropping the use of the term 'Buddhism' when that concept
raised
brief
in
visit,
the West
I heard
than
the
in Sri
Lanka.
question
asked
During
twice,
a
on
three
both
year
occasions
stay
in Sri Lanka,
by
and
recent
school
A bright
children.
young
lecturer at Peradeniya
was stunned when
he was asked, at the close of a talk at a pansala,
whether
buddhadharma was an agama or a darsana. He replied that it was neither
and both. Rahula's
book will probably
continue
to give rise to the question.
In spite of his comments
in the passage
under consideration, he uses the phrase 'according to Buddhist philosophy', ibid.p. 23, which his
translator
takes as bauddha dars'anayata. Walpola
1970 of the work
first published
in Sinhalese,
Budun vaddla dharmaya

Rahula,
I965)
(Colombo:
M. D. Gunasana,
(third edition,
1970), p. 34.
See also p. 31, Bauddha darsanayefor 'in Buddhist Philosophy', English edition, p. 2I.
1 Rahula,
What
the Buddha
Taught,
p. 5; Rahula,
Budun
vaddla dharmaya,
p. 8.

JOHN
276
ROSS
CARTER
does not represent the thinking of Buddhists. Should one want to continue
to use the term 'Buddhism' - admittedly an attractive convenience - in
discussing the contemporary scene in Sri Lanka one should be aware that
this concept came into the thinking of Buddhists rather recently. Further,
even today, 'Buddhism' is handled by Buddhists religiously, conceptually,
on a level more mundane than other concepts, is certainly secondary to
buddhadharma.Let me put it another way. The notion that 'Buddhism' is
'other worldly' has been said before. My point is straightforward;
'Buddhism' is 'this worldly' while buddhadharmais both 'this worldly' and
'other worldly'. The '-ism' represents a category into which several things
in this world are placed and consequently are given some identifiable label
for handling data; '-dharma', the second member of the compound, buddha
dharma, provides the context in which everything in thisworld and beyond
thisworld, conceived and beyond conception, is placed and thereby provides
an intelligible structure for living life well.
In I97I, after months of public discussion led by the All Ceylon Buddhist
Congress, a significant resolve made its way into the basic resolutions
adopted by the Steering and Subjects Committee of the Sri Lanka Constituent
Assembly. I quote the English, which was probably the language in which
the draft was originally written.
RESOLUTIONS
The Republicof Sri Lanka
i. Sri Lanka shall be a Free, Sovereign and Independent
of Sri Lanka shall be a unitary state.
2. The Republic
Republic.
Buddhism
of Sri Lanka, Buddhism,
the religion of the majority
of the
3. In the Republic
it shall be the duty
people, shall be given its rightful place, and accordingly,
while assuring to all religions the
of the State to protect and foster Buddhism,
5 (iv).1
rights granted by Basic Resolution
1 The Ceylon Government
27 February
197I,
No.
I4, I947/3 -Saturday,
Extraordinary,
the right to freedom of thought,
shall have
'Every citizen
5 (iv) reads:
or belief
a religion
to have or to adopt
This
freedom
right shall include
and religion.
or
and
in public
with
others
or in community
either
individually
and freedom,
of his choice,
Ibid.
and
teaching.'
in worship,
practice
or belief
observance,
his religion
to manifest
private,
and
Messrs
J. R. Jayewardene
to the Basic Resolutions,
Amendments
Proposed
p. 102/I0. Under
the words
and be" between
"inviolable
of '(a) the words
the addition
proposed
Senanayake
Dudley
" immedi
and places of worship
"its rites, Ministers
in line 2; (b) the words
" shall be" and "given"
"while
" and before the words
assuring ".' Ibid. p. I02/ iI,Mr
" foster Buddhism
ately after the words
p.
I02/9.
conscience
Basic
Gazette,
Resolution
shall
of Sri Lanka
that the 'Republic
an alternative
resolution,
proposed
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
and Islam'.
Christianity
and foster Buddhism,
Hinduism,
State
but shall protect
be a secular
is probably
is lokdyata, which
'secular'
word used to translate Chelvanayakam's
Ibid. The Sinhalese
See An,du krama
and
'Buddhism'.
terms for 'religion'
than Sinhalese
in this usage,
more
recent,
meant
I97 I, p. 22. The word
lokayata traditionally
30 March
tyaya patraya,
sampidaka mandalaye
the Carvaka
school of materialistic
and has designated
the world'
the mundane,
'having
to do with
thought.

HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
277
Sinhalese have worked with the concepts 'religion' and 'Buddhism' for
over a century; the major debates began in I865 and I866. During this
period we have noted representatives of religious organizations using the
concepts, educators introducing them to beginning schoolchildren, and
now politicians grappling with them. The passage drawn from the Govern
ment Gazette shows the extent theseWestern concepts have been adopted.
There are the terms 'Buddhism' 'religion', and 'religions' and they are
matched in Sinhalese with 'buddhagama'and 'dgama'.1
This is not the place to enter a discussion of the merits of this basic
resolution proposal, however ambiguous the notions 'Buddhism/buddhdgama',
'rightful place/nisitdna', and 'religion/dgama' might be.2 Obviously there
are complex historical factors that have given rise to the situation inwhich
this basic resolution was submitted and, obviously, the issue is delicate.
The important thing to grasp is that our contemporaries in Sri Lanka
seem to be aware of the concepts 'religion', 'Buddhism', and are using
them in their discourse. All this is instructive for students of the Buddhist
tradition.
Firstly, one can discern the manner in which Sinhalese Buddhists have
chosen to utilize the concept 'Buddhism' - they have tended to use it in
a restricted sense to refer to the external, the peripheral characteristics
that have been manifested by a more personal, deeply significant awareness.
scholars
Western
will
do well
to be alert
to this.
In sensing a need to assure a continuing, flourishing presence of the

Sangha, the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and others, not fully aware of
the precise program that would productively relate buddhdgamaand nisitdna,
'rightful place', nevertheless led in the formation of this resolution. They
did not choose another term in place of buddhdgama.They could have tried
to make a break with a trend, somewhat more than a century old, and
propose, instead of the concept buddhagama,buddhadharma
or,more engagingly,
Dharma. But they did not.
I think they made the move they did because they were well aware that
Dharma, rediscovered by the Buddha, provides a foundation for living
religiously, provides an underpinning for an integrative interpretation of
that which underlies the notion of law, on the social level, personal level,
indeed, for the reflective, also the cosmic level. Sinhalese Buddhists are
saying that the rightful place (nisitdna) for buddhadharmais in theminds and
hearts of men and women - and no proposed basic resolution can alter
that, or assure it.
1 See
sampadaka mandalayJ
Andukrama
meheyum hd vipaya kdraka sabhdva visin salakd baldma sandaha
1971.1.17
vana dina dziukrama vyavasthd ka.tayutu dmati idiripat kala mzlikayojand
ke.tumpata (I7 January
1971), p. I1
2A portion of the Sinhalese translation of Mr Chelvanayakam's substitute proposal, noted

above,
n.
I, p. 276,
reads
'bauddhdgama
hindu dgama,
krist'yani
dgama
saha isldm agama'.

JOHN
278
ROSS
CARTER
II
'Buddhism' has been in Sri Lanka for at least a century, perhaps two.
'Early Buddhism' has arrived even later. I have not uncovered data in
Sinhalese treating something called pzurvakdlina-buddhdgama
or for thatmatter
in Pali concerning purima-buddhahgama.
Until rather recently Sinhalese Bud
dhists have tended not to be significantly concerned about 'getting back to'
the early developments in the Buddhist tradition. Western academics took
the lead in this, reflecting in the process a mind setwoven from three strands
in theWestern intellectual heritage: a 'backward' look of the Renaissance,
an 'origin and development' fixation issuing from the notion of evolution,
epitomized by Darwin, and an interpretation foisted upon the Reformation
period by scholars of later generations. These strands became closely meshed
and led historians to label a multiplicity of phenomena 'Buddhism', sub
sequently to attempt to 'get back to' its origin, and even to cut away
tradition in a quest for the historical Gotama. Approximately four hundred
years stood between the birth of Martin Luther and the founding of the
prestigious Pali Text Society in London, a society devoted to the publication
of texts recording events believed to have occurred approximately four
hundred years before Julius Caesar. In this light a fascination with the
early period of the Buddhist tradition was understandable. The label
'Buddhism' was probably first given by men in the field, so to speak, who
saw a variety of externals, rites, beliefs, institutions, and practices, and
sought to impose unity. Academics, men and women of outstanding ability,
turned to the task of understanding this 'something', i.e., 'Buddhism' and
to do this they thought they had first to 'leap-frog' two thousand years of
tradition,
at a beginning,
to begin
which
they chose
to be the life of Gotama
in the sixth to fifth centuries B.C., and to start tracing subsequent developments.
Sinhalese Buddhists had been starting by hearing the Jdtaka tales, stories
of the former lives of the Buddha, and the Dhammapada, while discerning
the support provided by refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
They had begun a process of probing Dhamma, Dharma, while academics
and other authors, much more recently, have been interested in handling
'Buddhism'.
'Buddhism'
has
had
a history
in the West.
I suspect
that
the earliest
label applied by Westerners to the activities of Buddhist men and women

in Sri Lanka took the form of 'Religion of Budu' or the like and it is
possible that this type of label might be found in records dating from the
period ofDutch occupation (seventeenth to eighteenth centuries), possibly even
from the time of the Portuguese presence (sixteenth to seventeenth centuries).
1797, one year
after
the Dutch
were
by
the
British, 'Budun', understood as 'the name of one of the Ceylonese Gods....
'
By
1 I refer
to the third edition
expelled
of the Encyclopaedia
from Sri Lanka
Britannica,
vol.
3, 762b.

A HISTORY
OF EARLY
BUDDHISM
279
was known toWesterners as recorded in the EncyclopaediaBritannica. In this

same encyclopaedia, typically suited as are all encyclopaedias for the
presentation of knowledge through categories, one does not note a separate
entry, BUDDHISM,until the ninth edition (I876, Vol. IV, 424-438).'
However, the term 'Buddhism' does occur in a discussion under the entry
BUDDHAOR BUDDHUin the seventh edition (I842, Vol. v, 637a) and again
in the eighth edition (i854, Vol. V, 724a).
Fifteen years after Napoleon I was defeated at Leipzig, there was pub
lished in this German city, in i828, one of the earliest books dealing with
'Buddhism '.2 In the same year, in London, appeared a small book on
'Buddhism' with data drawn from Nepal3 and, one year later, another
dealing with the case in Ceylon4 and within sixteen years French readers
could consult an introduction to 'Buddhism' in India.5 Then came a work
drawing attention to the studies of 'Buddhism'6 followed by a manual
'Buddhism'7 and a study of 'Buddhism' including its founder and literature.8
About the time Abraham Lincoln was developing the Emancipation
Proclamation, a Sinhalese gentleman, James de Alwis, was putting the
finishing touches to his book, Buddhism: Its Origin, History and Doctrines, its
scriptures, and their language, the Pali (Colombo, I862/I863). This work
represents one of the first attempts by a Sinhalese author to publish a book
on 'Buddhism' in English. A Russian author joined the ranks of those
who wrote on 'Buddhism'9 and in I877, Professor T. W. Rhys Davids, who
was to play an important role in developing the study of the Theravada
Buddhist tradition, saw his book on 'Buddhism' published.'0 By the close
of the nineteenth century work on 'Buddhism' was underway in Ceylon"
1 See
the parallel
note
by Wildred
C. Smith
(I962),
op. cit., under
note
36 on Chapter
Three,
p. 253.
2
der gnostischtheosophischen
Isaac Jacob Schmidt,
Ueber die Verwandtschaft
Lehren mit den Religions
systemen des Orients, vorzaglich dem Buddhaismus
(Leipzig,
loc. cit.
i828). See Smith,
3 Brian
Houghton
Sketch of Buddhism, derivedfrom theBauddha Scriptures ofNAepal (London:
Hodgson,
J. L. Cox,
I828).
4 Edward
and Doctrine of Buddhism,
Upham,
The History
popularly
illustrated; with notices of the
Kappooism, or Demon worship, and of theBali, or planetary incantations of Ceylon (London: R. Ackermann,
I829).
5 E. Burnouf,
Introduction a l'histoire du buddhisme indien (Paris: Imprimerie
Royale,
I844). Note
in 1831 Jean Jacques Bochinger
wrote
a book entitled
La vie contemplative, ascetique et monastique
chez les Indous et chez les peuples bouddhistes (Strasbourg,
I83I), and the way he chose a title to reflect
a way of life among people.
6 Felix Neven,
De l'etat prisent des etudes sur le Bouddhisme et de leur application (Gand,
I846).
7 Robert
Spence
A Manual
Hardy,
in its Modern
of Buddhism
Development;
translated
from
that
Sinhalese MSS.
8 Felix
Neve,
(London, I853).
Le Bouddhisme,
son fondateur
et ses ecritures (Paris,
1853) .
9 See V. Vassilief (Vasily Pavolovich Vasil'ev), Der Buddhismus, seine Dogmen, Geschichteund
aus dem Russischen
Literature...
iibersetzt (St Petersburg,
I86o). This work was also translated
into
as Le Bouddhisme,
French
ses dogmes, san histoire et sa littirature, traduit du russe par M. G. A. La
Comme (Paris, I865).

10 T. W.
Rhys
Davids,
Buddhism:
Being
a Sketch of
the Life
and Teachings
of Gautama
the Buddha
(London, 1877).
11Reginald Stephen Copleston, Buddhism,primitiveandpresent inMagadha and in Ceylon (London,
I892).

JOHN
280
ROSS
CARTER
and elsewhere; in Germany,' in England,2 in theUnited States,3 in France,4

and in Italy.5 And by I907, works on 'Buddhism' were being published
in Scotland,6 Calcutta,7 and Madras,8 and a Japanese Buddhist used
'Buddhism' in the title of a study published in English.9 'Buddhism' had
gone around the world.
A living, dynamic, comprehensive religious tradition of bewildering variety
and stunning complexity, capable of providing sustaining support for an
insider, a Buddhist, presented an intellectual challenge of enormous pro
portions to outsiders. The response by outsiders was a process of conceptu
alization that led to the introduction of a term representing a generalized
classification or characterization, 'Buddhism', and this process tended toward
reification. Now that a reified concept, 'Buddhism', was on the scene
authors began to do things with it. It could be put into translations,1 its
essence could be discussed,11 its quintessence sought,12 its heart disclosed,13 and
spirit made known.14And the quest for a core continued, not always in
accord; what one scholar considered the central conception of 'Buddhism'15
another considered a view contrary to its central philosophy.16
How have Westerners tended to handle 'Buddhism'? Three general
procedures have emerged: (i) a study of Buddhist schools, i.e., Mahayana,
or Hinayana, or Theravada Buddhism;17 (2) a study demarcated by geo
graphical setting, i.e., Northern or Southern Buddhism, or Buddhism in
1 Joseph Dahlmann, NAirvdna.Eine Studiezur Vorgeschichte
desBuddhismus(Berlin, I896).
2 T. W. Rhys Davids,
Sons,
G. P. Putnam's
Its History and Literature (London:
Buddhism.
3 H. C. Warren,
Oriental
Harvard
Massachusetts:
in Translations
(Cambridge,
Buddhism
3,
vol.
1896).
Series,
I896).
4 J. L. Sawyer, Buddhismepopulaire (Paris, 1897).

5 Paulo Emilio
I898).
Buddhismo
Pavolini,
(Milano,
6 A. Lillie,
Henry
in William
and Buddhism'
'Buddha
T. & T. Clark,
I900).
Makers
(Edinburgh:
Oliphant,
editor,
The World's
Epoch
7Manmathanatha Datta, Buddha: his life, his teaching,his order, togetherwith the history of the
I9OI).
of Indian Literature,
for the Resuscitation
Society
(Calcutta:
Buddhism
and Co.,
I907).
Varadachari
Srinivasa
(Madras:
The Essence of Buddhism
8 P. Lakshmi-Narasu,
9 Daisetz
Luzac
and Co.,
2907).
Buddhism
(London:
Outlines of Mahayand
Teitaro
Suzuki,
1IWarren,
op. cit.
Its
Buddhism:
Conze,
Julius Dietrich]
[Eberhard
11 Lakshmi-Narasu,
op. cit. See also Edward
I951).
(Oxford: Bruno Cassirer,
Essence and Development
Samaya
Sinhala
.A Lecture etc. (Colombo:
12 Bhikkhu
The Quintessence of Buddhism...
Ndnatiloka,
Press, I923).
13Kenneth James Saunders, The Heart of Buddhism: an anthologyof Buddhist verse(London: Oxford
19 I5).
Press,
University
14 Hari-Simha
Gauda,
The Spirit of Buddhism:
being an examination
of the life of thefounder of Buddhism,
his religionandphilosophy(London: Luzac, I929).

15Theodor Ippolitovich Shcherbatsky, The CentralConceptionof Buddhism and theMeaning of the
Word
'Dharma'
(London:
RAS
of Great
Britain
and
Ireland,
2923).
16T. R. V. Muirti, The CentralPhilosophyof Buddhism:A Studyof theMddhyamikaSystem (London:

& Unwin,
Allen
I955).
George
See
the scope of their work.
has been used to demarcate
17 For some, the term 'Pali Buddhism'
Press, 2900); Carl Seidenstuecker,
American
Baptist Mission
(Rangoon:
H. H. Tilbe, Pali Buddhism
The Ethics of Pali
S. Tachibana,
and note
I9II);
in tYbersetzungen
(Breslau,
Pali-Buddhismus
The Psychology of Perception
in
Ph.D.
thesis,
Buddhism
[Oxford
1922]; E. R. de S. Sarathchandra,
Ph.D.
thesis,
I948].
[London,
Pali Buddhism, with special reference to the theory of Bhavanga

HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
28I
India, Tibet, China, Japan and so on; (3) general or particular historical,
topical studies.
The historical approach to the study of the Buddhist tradition has tended
to be the one most frequently adopted byWesterners. Of particular interest
is the patent penchant for discerning the origin of the Buddhist tradition.
As early as I847 this quest for origins had begun' and by no means did it
cease.2 Yet, in spite of a drive for origins and a broadly based interest in
'origin and development',3 Western scholarship tended to move in a
direction focusing on the early period of the Buddhist tradition. This focus
seems to have been most prominent among those sclholarswho worked in
Pali and Sanskrit sources. Or, conversely, because of this focus or interest,
scholars turned to Pali and Sanskrit sources.
While scholars of theMahayana movement have published studies dealing
with almost every century through which that movement entered and every
country in which it flourished, the focus of investigations, within the last
century in theWest, dealing with the Theravada has been directed toward
the early period of this movement. The study of the Theravada tradition
tended to be a study of something called 'Early Buddhism'. Not a great
deal has been done in the history of the Theravada and less is being done
about the situation of the Theravada Buddhist tradition of today.
In the case of Sri Lanka, and perhaps that of Burma and Thailand,
whereas Christian missionaries and British civil servants introduced the
Buddhist tradition to the West as they understood it at the time and
setting in which they wrote a century or so ago, it has been the task and
accomplishment of cultural and social anthropologists to reintroduce the
contemporary religious scene in these countries in which the Theravada is
prevalent. Experts in the Study of Religion, Historians of Religion, Com
parative Religion specialists and Buddhologists have tended to confine their
studies to the distant past, to something called 'Early Buddhism'.
1 J. Bird, Historical Researches on the Origin and Principles of the Bauddha and jaina Religions
(Bombay:
Mission
American
Press,
1847). See also de Alwis,
op. cit.
2 Leon de Milloue,
Le Bouddhisme dans lemonde. Origine-dogmas-histoire
.... (Paris, 1893); H. Olden
berg, Die Lehre der Upanishaden
und die Anfange
des Buddhismus
(G6ttingen,
I915); C. A. F. Rhys
Davids,
(London:
Kegan
Paul,
1931); and the same author's What was
Sakya; or Buddhists Origins
the Original Gospel in Buddhism?
(London:
Epworth
Press,
1938); Govind
Chandra
Pande,
Studies in
the Origins of Buddhism
I957) .
of Allahabad,
(Allahabad:
University
3 See T. W. Rhys Davids,
Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Some Points
in the History of Indian Buddhism
and Norgate,
(London: Williams
and note, A. J. Dadson,
i88I);
Evolution
and Its Bearing
on Religions
(London,
I9OI); J. Buchan,
The First Things:
Studies in the
Embryologyof Religion (Edinburgh, I902); K. D. Doyle, The Real Origin of Religion (London, 1902);
The Evolution of Religions
F. Bierer,
I906); A. E. Crawley,
(New York: Putnam's,
Origin and Function
of Religion
(London,
I907); R. Kreglinger,
gtudes sur l'origine et la developpement de la vie religieuse
note the way
(Bruxelles,
in which
the following
I919). Now
works
reflect a common
orientation.
R. Kimura,
and Developed Doctrines
The Original
of Indian Buddhism,
in Charts
(Calcutta,
I920);
E. W. Hopkins,
Origin and Evolution of Religion
(New Haven,
1923); G. F. Moore,
The Birth and
Growth of Religion (Edinburgh, I923); A. Churchward, Origin and Evolutionof Religion (London:
Allen and Unwin, 1924); Jean Przyluski, 'Origin and Development of Buddhism', The Journal of
TheologicalStudies [October, 1934].

282
JOHN
ROSS
CARTER
By I876 at the latest, 'Early Buddhism'1 in contrast to 'Later Buddhism',

was in print in the West and by i88i readers in the West met a title
depicting a direction in which a great deal of scholarly energy was to
move; the title was 'Buddha and Early Buddhism'.2 Some chose to speak
of what they discerned in this period as 'Primitive Buddhism ', or 'Ancient
Buddhism',4 but it was probably Professor T. W. Rhys Davids who was
most influential in bringing into full view the notion of and scholarly
interest in 'Early Buddhism'.5 Since the second decade of this century the
West has been treated to a scintillating variety of investigations and an
enormous amount of productivity in scholarship dealing with aspects of
the early Buddhist tradition: monasticism,6 the spread of 'Buddhism ',7 the
role of women, 8 geography,9 caste,10scriptures,11a concept of becoming,12 and
the notion of' man perfected ',13jurisprudence,'4 psycho-ethical philosophy,15
aspects ofmovement,16 dhamma,17
causality,18psychological attitude,19 poetry,20
1 I refer
fifty years
IV, 432 a. This was

Edition
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
(I876),
to the Ninth
and B. H. Houghton,
op. cit. ['Buddhaismus']
the works
of I. J. Schmidt,
after
nearly
op. cit.
['Buddhism'] were published, i.e., in I828. And note that 'Buddhism' occurred in the Seventh
of
Edition
V, 724a.
the Encyclopaedia
Britannica
(I842),
v,
637a,
and
again
in the Eighth
Edition
(1854),
2Arthur Lillie, Buddha andEarly Buddhism (London: Trubner and Co., i88i).
3 Elizabeth A. Read, PrimitiveBuddhism: ItsOrigin and Teachings(Chicago: Scott and Foresman,
See
I896).
also Reginald
Stephen
Copleston,
Primitive
Buddhism,
and Present
in Magadha
and
in
Ceylon (London: Longmans, Green, I892).

4 G.
Way
de Lorenzo,
India e Buddhismo
antico (Bari,
I904). See also L. de La Vallee
of Salvation
(Cambridge:
toNirvena:
Six Lectures on Ancient Buddhism as a Discipline
The
Poussin,
Cambridge
University Press, 1917).

5 T. W. Rhys Davids,
Early Buddhism
6 Sukumara
Datta
Dutt],
[Sukumar
its Growth and Development',
(London:
Archibald
Constable
and Early
'The Vinayapitakam
and Co.,
Buddhist
I908).
Monasticism
in
Journal of theDepartmentof Letters,Calcutta University, No. x,
Kegan
Paul,
I924).
B.C.
(London:
6oo B.C.-ioo
1923; Early Buddhist Monachism,
Datta
[Dutt], Early History of the Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist
7Nalinaksha
Luzac
and Co.,
1925).
Schools
(London:
8 I. B.Horner, WomenunderPrimitiveBuddhism:Laywomen
andAlmswomen(London:Routledge, 1930).
9 Vimala-Charana
Laha
[B. C. Law],
Geography
of Early
Buddhism
(London:
Kegan
Paul,
Trench, Trubner, I932).

10 Vimala-Charana
in an
Caste in Early Buddhism
published
(Guernsey,
1934) originally
Laha,
later The Middle Way, vol. viii,
I933.
in England,
article by the same title in Buddhism
11 E. J. Thomas,
Paul,
Early Buddhist Scriptures (London: Kegan
I935).
12 I. B. Horner,
of Becoming
The Indian Historical
Quarterly,
in Early Buddhism',
'An Aspect
June
1936), pp. 282-6.
vol. xii, no. 2 (Calcutta,
13 I. B. Horner,
The Early Buddhist Theory of Man Perfected: A Study of theArahan (London: Williams
and Norgate,
1936).
14 D. N. Bhagavata,
(Poona,
1939).
Theravada Vinaya-Laws
Early Buddhist jurisprudence:
15 J. Kashyap,
(Sarnath:
Philosophy of Early Buddhism
The Abhidhamma Philosophy: The Psycho-Ethical
1942, I943).
Bodhi
2 vols.,
Maha
Society,
16 I. B. Horner,
Artibus Asiae, vol. X/2,
in Early Buddhism,'
1947,
of Movement
'Some Aspects
pp. I38-4I.
17 I. B. Horner,
Artibus Asiae, vol. xi, 1/2, I948, pp. I I5-23.
Dhamma',
'Early Buddhist
18W. S. Karunaratne,
in Early
of Causality
Theravada
of the Theory
'The Development
'A Critical
of London,
J. Kalupahana,
1956. See also David
Ph.D. Thesis, University
Buddhism',
and the
as embodied
in the Pali Nikayas
of Causality
Theory
of the Early Buddhist
Analysis
of London,
Ph.D. Thesis, University
I967.
Chinese
Agamas',
19 Anagarika
Attitude
The Psychological
Philosophy...
Brahmacari
of Early Buddhist
Govinda,
Rider
(London:
20 I. B. Horner,
and Company,
I96I).
ed., Early Buddhist Poetry; An Anthology
(Colombo:
Ananda
Semage,

I963).
HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
283
epistemology,' the general background,2 and relationships between systems,3

the notion that knowledge has to do with salvation,4 kingship,5 the view
of the state,6 and the doctrine of karma.7
In a sense, 'early' has come to designate a particular form of 'Buddhism',
a form that theoretically can be differentiated, analyzed, 'approached', and
debated.8 When one speaks of 'Early Buddhism' as, in some sense, a
'Buddhism' distinct from 'Mahayana Buddhism', 'Theravada Buddhism',
'Indian Buddhism', 'Burmese Buddhism', 'Sinhalese Buddhism' and so
forth, it is usually the case that one has in mind a system of doctrines,
practices, institutions, and the like. In this view, one aspect of study
has been taken for granted and another overlooked or not adequately
stressed. One thing that was not present in early Buddhism is the notion
'Early Buddhism', yet the presence of this notion has been assumed. One
thing that has been overlooked or not adequately stressed in this early
period is persons.One certainly misrepresents the fact when it is suggested
'Buddhism said' or 'Early Buddhism says, believes, represents, provides,
demonstrates, disagrees, endorses, maintains'. Only quite recently has
'Buddhism' done anything - more recently still has 'Early Buddhism'.
Persons have been doing these things, have done them in the past in India,
are doing them today.
If we will turn the flank, if we will recognize that history is also, and
primarily, the activity of persons, we can clarify anew the task of the
historian, to represent accurately the thoughts, motives, and aspirations
of the persons who caused the events, responded to them or forgot them in
that period or place under investigation. It has been often said, 'Mahinda
brought Buddhism to Ceylon'. If he did, he did not know it. He probably
thought he was sharing a way of life that provided support in a process
leading to transcendence, a process of transcending; he called it Dhamma.
Further, even a cursory glance at some of the suttas from which he is said
to have preached would demonstrate a 'Buddhism' quite foreign to
I
Kulatissa
Unwin,
Nanda
Jayatilleke,
Early Buddhist
Theory of Knowledge
(London:
George
Allen
and
i963).
2 J. W.
'The Background
de Jong,
of Early Buddhism',
of Indian and Buddhist Studies
journal
I964), pp. 34-7.
(Tokyo:
xii, no. L, January
3 A. K. Warder,
'On
the Relationship
Between
Early
Buddhism
and Other
Contemporary
Systems',
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, xviii,
I965, pp. 43-63;
see also Kashi N.
Upadhyaya,
Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita
(Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass,
I97I).
4 Donald
Swearer,
as Salvation:
A Study
'Knowledge
of Early Buddhism',
Ph.D.
Thesis,
Princeton University,
I965.
5 B. G. Gokhale,
'Early Buddhist
Kingship',
I966/ I967, pp. 23-36.
journal of Asian Studies, xxvi,
6 B. G. Gokhale,
'The Early Buddhist
View
of the Statp',
journal of the American Oriental Society,
vol. LXXXIX, no. 4, Oct.-Dec.
I969, pp. 73I-8.
7James
P. McDermott,
'Developments
in the Early Buddhist
of Kamma/Karma',
Concepts
Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton University, I97I.
8 Note
the title of Frank Reynolds'
timely bibliographical
essay,
'From Philology
to Anthro
pology:
A Bibliographal
Essay on Works
to Early, Theravada
Related
and Sinhalese
Buddhism',
in B. L. Smith,
ed., The Two Wheels of Dhamma:
Essays on the Theravada Tradition
in India and Ceylon
(Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: American Academy of Religion,
1972).

JOHN
284
ROSS
CARTER
'Buddhism' as generally understood in theWest. 'Buddhism' did not come to

Ceylon until the eighteenth or nineteenth century and within a century of
its coming, it had became known around the globe.
It is not difficult to discern the contributions to the Buddhist tradition
by Westerners,' those who saw themselves as Buddhists and those who did
not. Of significance is the fact that Westerners, past and present, to the
degree that they study the Buddhist Tradition, regardless of whether or
not they see themselves as Buddhists, have been and are participating in
that tradition, and more dramatically so to the extent to which the results
of their investigations are made known to Buddhists.
Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka have had a self-consciousness of their
religious community for a longer time and to a more pervasive degree than
has the Christian tradition in theWest. The Academic tradition, developed
in the West, is only recently developing a comparable self-consciousness.
Academics who study the Theravada tradition are, by the nature of their
work, participating in the Theravada tradition and the method of their
approach to their study, the results of their investigations, and the manner
in which they report their findings and provide interpretations have had
and might continue to have significant ramifications in this religious tradition
in Sri Lanka.
Where, for example, might one turn to find a serious, sustained scholarly
study in book length written by either aWestern or a Sinhalese Buddhist
scholar dealing with the significance of the Sangha for the laity today in
Sri Lanka;
the
for that matter,
or,
a total world
view,
if any;
role of women;
the relevance
of scripture
the place of caste in

or the authoritative
text; the freeing qualitative dimension of the notion of becoming; the

importance of the concept of release as a fulfilment of human potential;
clinical and pastoral psychology; contemporary philosophical discussions
among Sinhalese philosophers on causality, epistemology; sensitive, probing
interpretations of Buddhist and Hindu understanding of religious living, by
a Buddhist about the Hindu case or by a Hindu concerning the Buddhist;
what Buddhists are thinking about the notions of the 'State', jurisprudence;
what poetry is being written, novels lauded, plays being applauded by
Sinhalese
Buddhists?
in which
Lanka
know
but where
'Early Buddhism',
would
We
a great deal about

the notion
of karma in
can one find a scholarly
study of karma that
tell one the way Sinhalese Buddhists today are viewing the world
we
received
live,
a world
a staggering
in which
blow
that portion
of mankind
a
recent
by
insurgency?
living
in Sri
1 See, William Peiris, The WesternContributiontoBuddhism (Delhi: Molital Banarsidass, 1973).

HISTORY
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
285
III
History is in process - past tense, past perfect, and present tense.

In the past, a person in Sri Lanka could find meaning in his life, a sense
of belonging, support in the face of challenge, propriety in behaviour and,
through this, an awareness of coherence in living life by becoming Buddhist.
Recently, this comprehensive orientation ismuch more difficult to attain.
'Buddhism' is becoming the standard jargon; all the manifold fluidity of
a dynamic, comprehensive way of life is becoming a -vague 'it', has been
separated, isolated, looked at, put out there in space and time, so to speak,
almost as an extended thing on a post-Cartesian scale, has become a 'one
over against others', and hence one reads of 'Buddhism and Society' or
'Buddhism, State and Society'.' Where does a Sinhalese Buddhist look for
a coherent view now either lost or in decline? The point is that he now
needs to lookwhereas formerly he was confronted.He is now expected to
look here to find something that might help him in something else there,
to look in what is seen as one aspect of his life for answers to questions
raised in another. This is all very Western; it represents a view of the
world probably less than one-fifth as old as the Buddhist tradition and
yet a view that seems to have carried the day.
Until rather recently, Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka had not been
much concerned with 'Buddhism'; they had made their concern the
teachings of the Buddha and the well-being of the community of those who
followed his teaching in the hope of penetrating through it to that which
he rediscovered. Westerners have contributed a reified concept and have
sought to explain not the history of that concept but the history of that
divergent entity that was believed to have existed. As a consequence,
Theravada
Buddhists
in Sri Lanka
have
tended
to endorse
both
the con
cepts and the reverse chronological orientation, both 'Buddhism' and

'Early Buddhism'.
If aWestern scholar of the Theravada tradition in India and Sri Lanka
chooses to continue using the terms 'religion', 'Buddhism', and 'Early
Buddhism', he should at least be aware that he will be imposing a burden
on a translator were he tomake his research known to non-English reading
Sinhalese. 'Religion' as a system of rites, institutions and practices could
be translated, and this only within the last two hundred years, by 'dgama'.
He should be prepared to have term the 'religion' in a phrase like 'deeper
religion', or 'a person filled with religion' translated by either sraddhdva,
'faith' or bhaktiya, 'devotion'. Jgama cannot carry the weight; it just will
not do.
Were a scholar to continue to use 'Buddhism' he would, were he to
1Heinz Bechert, Buddhismus,Staat undGesellschaft in denLanderndes Theravdda-Buddhismus,
Band
XVII/I-3, der Schriften des Institute furAsienkunde inHamburg (Berlin: xvii/i, Alfred Metzner
Verlag, I966) (Wiesbaden: XVII/2-3, Otto Harrassowitz, I967, I973).

JOHN
286
ROSS
CARTER
write about the early period of the tradition in India, be working with
a conceptual anachronism. Further, should he decide to hold the concept
'Buddhism' primary in his consideration he should be aware, at least, that
in the minds of Sinhalese Buddhists there are other, more precise terms,
concepts: sampraddya,'tradition', also dgama in this sense, sasana, 'instruction,
'Buddhist thought',
institution', bauddhasamaya, 'Buddhist community',
'way'
and so on. He
buddhadharma,
magga
or
mdrgaya,
'Buddhist tradition',
should also be aware that a Sinhalese Buddhist would readily detect a sig
nificant difference in meaning between buddhdgamaand buddhadharmaya,a
difference almost as profound as that between 'Christmas' and 'Xmas'
for one not really knowing the meaning of the Greek letter in the latter
term.
Those of us who make it our business to study the Theravada tradition
which, of course, assumes the study of Theravada Buddhists, should attempt
to see the world as Theravada Buddhists have and are viewing it. This
means that we become aware that Theravada Buddhists have only rather
recently seen 'Buddhism', or looked for 'Early Buddhism'. They have
continued to see more than this, have seen themselves a part of more than
this, within more of this, and this seeing enables them to see themselves
as insiders. For an outsider who attempts to catch their views, how they
have continued in history, to understand them, a study of 'Buddhism' is
not good enough. Further, a study of 'Early Buddhism' aids little in under
standing how Buddhists saw themselves during the lifetime of the Buddha
and fifty years thereafter and, obviously, it is of little assistance in under
standing
what
Sinhalese
Buddhists
are
thinking
today
about
how
to live
life well.
ABBREVIATIONS
issued by the
refer to the standard editions
for Pali Texts
The abbreviations
texts
entries are given for Sinhalese
Pali Text Society. Complete
bibliographical
and for English translations.
A.
AA.
Bu.
Culi.
Cuil. Tr.
D.
DA.
DAG.
Dhp.
DhpA.
DhsA.
The Aniguttara-nikaya
on the Aniguttara-nikdya
the commentary
Manorathapfiranf:
The Buddhavamsa
The Culavamsa
Culavamsa: Being theMore Recent Part of theMahdvamsa, 2 vols. translated
into English by C. M. Rick
by Wilhelm
Geiger, and from the German
Information Department,
I953
mers, Colombo: The Ceylon Government
The Digha-nikdya
The Sumafigala-vildsind: the commentary on theDigha-nikdya
Vimalakirti
Dahampiya Attuva Gatapadaya. Edited by Mada-Uyangoda
Sominda Thera, Colombo: M. D. Gunasena,
I967
Thera and Nahinne
The Dhammapada
The Commentary on theDhammapada: Dhammmapadatthakathd
on the Dhammasanganm
The Atthasdlini: the commentary

HISTORY
M.
Mhbv
Mhv.
Majjhima-nikaya
TheMahd-Bodhi-Vamsa
TheMahdvamsa
OF
EARLY
BUDDHISM
287
on the Mahavamsa
Mhvt.
Vamsatthappakdsini:
Miln.
TheMilindapanho
Nd. i
Niddesa
Pj.II
PTSD
Being Paramatthajotikd
II
Sutta-NipataCommentary;
ThePali Text Society'sPali-EnglishDictionary
P ujaV.
S.
SA.
Sdhs.
Sdpj.
Sn.
Thag.
the commentary
I: Mahaniddesa,
Pa]jdvalEya. Edited
vol.
by KiriallMe Nhnavimala
Thera,
Colombo:
M. D.
Gunasena & Co., I965

The Sanyutta-nikaya
Sdrattha-ppakdsini:
the commentary on the Samyutta-nikdya
Saddhammasamgaha
the commentary on theMahdniddesa
Saddhamma-Pajjotikd:
Sutta-Nipdta
The Thera- and Therd-gdthd: part
I, Theragathd
ThagA. Paramattha-Dipani
the commentary on the Thera
Theragdthd-Atthakatha:
gdthd
Ud.
Uddna
UdA.
Paramattha-Dipani
VbhA.
Vv.
Samoha-vinodani
Abhidhamma-Pitaka
Vibhangatthakatha
The Vimdna-Vatthu
VvA.
Dhammapdla's Paramattha-Dipani,
Vimana- Vatthu
Uddnatthakatha:
the commentary
part
IV, Being
on the Udana
the Commentary

on the

A History of Early Buddhism

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A History of Early Buddhism

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A History of "Early Buddhism"

Author(s): John Ross Carter

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

Rel. Stud. 13, pp. 263-287

Assistant Professorof PhilosophyandReligion, ChapelHouwe,ColgateUniversity

This article has developed in response to a series of observations made over

I896, the following

4 Ibid. (I962), p. 58; (I964), p. 56.

3 Ibid. chapter iII.

sentences were published:

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

For AdvancedStudents(London: The Sheldon Press, I932), p. 5.

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

combination consistent with mutually endorsed tenets, consistent within

D.II.49. The verse occurs again in the Dhammapada,vs. I83.

as at S.III.96, the commentary (SA.hI.3o6) glosses dhamma as

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

Sangha as refuge is considered an updsaka in the sdsanaof Sakyaputta (i.e.,

(on Sn. 536) where

'in just this

see also Cid.1.54,

Maradana (Colombo: Anula,

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

At times sdsana is used interchangeably with dhammawhen the latter

that the Buddha's instructions in his considerations about the impending

3 As at DAG. p. 29 (on DhpA.s.47) and DAG. p. 37 (on DhpA.s.76).

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

8 See D.II.72 if.

forth into the sdsana.

Having thoroughly cleared the country

destroyed by the foreigners,

Cal. Tr. Part

import of sdsanaand chose to translate itwith 'religion' in BuddhistLegends (Cambridge,Massa

of the Buddha' for buddhasdsana.

'the purification (sodhana)of the Sasana (religion)....'

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his entering the monastic community as 'going forth into Buddhism'.

the terms most frequently used by Sinhalese Buddhists to represent the

closely affiliated with a consideration of the authoritative texts or scripture.

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texts'.' Later, agama still conveys the meaning of authoritative text or

tative texts (dgama). It is suggestive that approximately forty years after

Carter's dictionary, A Sinhalese-EnglishDictionary, under the entry dgama,

the term agama a meaning

consulted and secondly because Carter noticed a disjuncture of sorts between

the term. For

Part 5, I896), p. vii. See

This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

PdnadurFvddaya (Maradana, Colombo: Lanka Free Press, n.d.), Buddhismand Christianity:Being an

9 Ibid. pp. 35, 83 (boru dgamak).

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(Colombo: Anula Press, I963), p. 123b.

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The difference one detects in these approaches is more suggestive than

At first blush this passage appears straightforward, intelligible, if a whit

has been more

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The 'we' in this passage referred originally toWesterners, and, perhaps,

Budun vaddla dharmaya

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This content downloaded from 203.112.205.196 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:00:15 AM

In sensing a need to assure a continuing, flourishing presence of the

2A portion of the Sinhalese translation of Mr Chelvanayakam's substitute proposal, noted