Dr. R.  Banerjee (Chinese and Central Asian Scholar) Dr. R.  Banerjee

 

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LITERATURE - PALI

R. Banerjee

 

Khuddaka Nikaya (the collection of the smaller pieces) is the fifth Nikaya of the Suttapitaka. It is sometimes classed with the Abhidhammapitaka. It contains the most important works of Buddhist poetry. The sixteen books constituting the Khuddaka Nikaya are as follows.
  1. Khuddakapatha;
  2. Dhammapada (containing the sublime teachings of the Buddha);
  3. Udana;
  4. Itivuttaka;
  5. Sutta Nipata;
  6. Vimanavatthu;
  7. Petavatthu;
  8. Theragatha;
  9. Therigatha;
  10. Jatakas;
  11. Mahaniddesa;
  12. Chullaniddasa;
  13. Patisambhidamagga;
  14. Apadana;
  15. Buddhavamsa;
  16. Chariya-pitaka.

Abhidhamma pitaka is the collection of the philosophical teachings of the Buddha, the teachings which are profound, deep and subtle in nature. It is called a basket of higher expositions or 'a basket of transcendental doctrine'.

The language of the Abhidhamma is purely scientific, i.e., objective and impersonal, and contains no such words as 'I', 'We', 'He', 'She', etc. Here everything is expressed in terms of 'Khandha'.

To Rhys Davids Abhidhamma is not a systematic philosophy, but merely a supplement to the dhamma. The works contained in this pitaka discuss ethics, psychology or theory of knowledge. Abhidhamma pitaka is comprised of seven texts as follows: 

  • Dhammasangani, 
  • Vibanga,
  • Dhatukatha,
  • Puggalapannatti,
  • Kathavatthu,
  • Yamaka and 
  • Patthana.

Dhammasangini, a psychological work, contains a detailed 'enumeration of psychical phenomena'. If falls into three divisions:

An analysis of consciousness (chitta) and its concomitant mental factors (chetasika);

An analysis of corporeality (rupa);

A summary in which all phenomena of existence are brought under 122 categories (matika) in groups of three.

Vibhanga means 'differentiation. It is divided into three parts :

  1. Sutta explanation,
  2. Abhidhamma explanation and
  3. summary in question and answer form.

Dhatukatha is the third book of the Abhidhammapitaka, 'discourse on the elements'. It is a short book of 14 chapters and deals with various psychic phenomena and their mutual relations in questions and answers. 

Puggalapannatti is the fourth book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, which means "description of human individuals"; it resembles Anguttara Nikaya in style and consists of ten chapters in which various types of individuals (puggala) are discussed with similes and comparisons.

Kathavatthu is the most important book in the Abhidhamma. This work was compiled by the venerable Moggaliputta Tissa, who presided over the Third Council, in order to uproot all points of controversy regarding Buddhadhamma. There are 23 chapters dealing with some 216 controversies in the form of dialogues in a logical method. Each chapter contains eight to twelve questions and answers by means of which the most diverse false views are presented, refuted and rejected.

Yamaka (the book of double questions) clears up all ambiguities and distortions which may creep into the doctrines of Abhidhamma. It is rather a work on applied logic.

Patthana is a gigantic work which, together with Dhammasangani, constitutes the quintessence of the Buddhist philosophy. The entire work deals with the investigation of the 24 kinds of relationships.

The non-canonical or extra-canonical Pali literature falls into three historical periods. The first period extends from about the beginning of the Christian era to the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. The second period extends from the 5th century to 11th century, and the third begins with the 12th century. The literature of the first period consists of some classical works of which only a few now survive. To this period belong Nettipakarana, Petakopadesa and Milinda Panha. Nettipakarana is 'the book of guidance'. Petakopadesa is the 'Instruction on the Tipitakas'. According to tradition they were composed by Maha Kacchayana, a prominent disciple of the Buddha.

Milinda Panha or 'the questions of Milinda' written in the style of suttas, contains a dialogue between the Indo-Greek king Menander (in Pali, Milinda) and the Thera Nagasena which throw a flood of light on certain important points of Buddhism. It was composed probably during the 1st century A.D.

Two notable Pali chronicles composed in Lanka during the period are Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa. Dipavamsa gives an account of the Buddha's visit to Lanka. It describes also several other interesting topics, such as the first two Buddhist Councils, the rise of various Buddhist sects, the reign of Asoka, mahinda's visit to Ceylon., colonisation of Lanka by Vijaya, etc. Mahavamsa is an ornate kavya and has many topics in common with Dipavamsa.

The second remarkable period of non-canonical Pali literature is characterised by commentaries which were composed on the Tipitaka and which were based on the Ceylonese Atthakatha. Buddhaghosa is the greatest figure in commentary literature. He wrote extensive commentaries on almost all the books of the Tipitaka except a few books of the Khuddaka Nikaya.

The chief contribution of the Acharya, however, was his monumental work, Visuddhimmagga, the path of purification, which serves as an encyclopaedia, of the entire Buddhavachana, very lucidly written in the style of Abhidhamma.

Along with this class of literature is to be considered Acharya Buddhadatta's a commentaries on Madhuratthapakasini Vinaya-vinaya Vinicchaya, a compenidium of the Vinaya in Pali verse and several other works of merit.

Another prolific commentator was Dhammapala who wrote a commentary called Paramatthadipani on these parts of the Khuddaka Nikaya not commented on by Buddhagatha i.e., the Udana, Itivuttaka, Vimana and also sub-commentaries on Nettipakarana and several other works.

At the time of King Parakkamababu I (1153-1186) there was a great literary activity in Ceylon. During his rule Thera Mahakassapa is said to have held a Council with the purpose of providing tikas in the Magadha language to the Atthakathas particularly of Buddhaghosa. The following is the list of the tikas constituting the important Pali works of the third period.

Saratthadipani on the Samantapasadika, Pathama-Saratthamanjusa on the Sumangalavilasini, Dutiya-Saratthamanjusa on the Papanchasudani, Tatiya-Saratthamanjusa on the Saratthappakasini, Chatuttha-Saratthamanjusa on the Manorathapurani, Pathama-Pavamatthappakasini on the Atthasilini, Dutiya-Paramatthappakasini on the Sammohavinodini and Tatiya-Parammatthoppakasini on the Panchappakavanatthakatha.

In this period several other works were also written by different authors on similar subjects. All these works exercised considerable influence on the literature of the period and the Jataka literature would not have been what it is without these texts.

A stated above, the Pali literature is predominantly religious and philosophical and comprises the canon, the commentaries, the digests of Buddhist philosophy and like. The first deviation is the chronicle literature (vansa). There had been at a later period, an effort to produce some creative literature in Pali, the result was the composition of some poems - all, of course, with a strong religious preoccupation. In this genre mention may be made of Anagatavansa, Telakatahagatha, Jinalankara, jincharita, Pajjamadhu, Rasvahini, Dathavamsa and Buddhalankara. These works, though written by competent Pali scholars, could not reach the level of true kavya, due to the fact that these authors were more eager to highlight the character and teachings of the Master than to create real poetry. They did display their ability to handle intricate figures of speech and complicated meters but it all ended in conspicuous imitation of contemporary Sanskrit works. The only branch of literature where Pali authors displayed their originality was grammar, though this branch developed in Pali at a later stage. Till the time of the celebrated commentator, Buddhaghosa, Sanskrit grammars of Panini and of the Katantra school were used for commentarial purposes. The first Pali grammar was written by Kachchayana. The other important schools of Pali grammar are those of Muggalana and Saddaniti. The authors of the first two were the Sri Lankan Buddhist teachers and the third was written by Aggavansa, a Buddhist monk from Burma. Many commentaries and super-commentaries were written on these three grammars. There is only one important work on poetics and rhetoric - Subodhalankara by Sangharakhita. There is also one work on prosody by the same author. There is also one dictionary (kosha): Abhidhanappadipika of Moggalana. As a matter of fact, it is a thesaurus of synonyms and antonyms. 

The literary Pali has never been used for writing inscriptions in the main land of India but there are quite a number of good Pali inscriptions in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

B. C. Law, A History of Pali Literature, Vols. I and II (Calcutta, 1933);

Maurice Winternitz, A History of Indian Literature, Vol. II (Delhi, 1977);

Sri Acharya Buddharakkhita, Pali Language and Literature (Bangalore, 1977);

Wilhelm Geiger, Pali Literature and Language (Delhi, 1978);

P. V. Bapat, 25000 Years of Buddhism (Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi, 1956).

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