Did the Buddha Have a System of Metaphysics?
Author(s): Franklin Edgerton
Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 79, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1959), pp. 81-85
Published by: American Oriental Society
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DID THE BUDDHA HAVE A SYSTEM OF METAPHYSICS?
FRANKLIN EDGERTON
YALE UNIVERSITY
1. Hermann Oldenberg's "Buddha "-more fully, views, even when recent publications are not sig-
" Buddha, sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde" nificantly involved.
-has enjoyed a popularity that could hardly be
matched among books by serious Indological 3. Von Glasenapp is well known as an able and
scholars. It was first published in 1881. At prolific scholar, especially in Indian, including
that time Buddhistic studies in Europe had hardly Buddhist, philosophy and religion. As was to be
emerged from the pioneer stage, and few even expected, his Nachwort is a valuable supplement
of the primary texts had been printed or trans- to Oldenberg. Most of his observationsseem to me
lated. But in the following four decades the judicious and illuminating. I like, for example,
activities of the British Pali Text Society, and of his treatment (pp. 474-6) of duhlcha(Pali dukccha)
many scholars in other countries (including Olden- "suffering," one of the two most prominent and
berg himself), vastly enlarged European knowledge important terms in the oldest stratum of Buddhism.
in the field. In each of six later editions, Olden- The second term is dharma (Pali dhamma), treated
berg thoroughly revised the book, taking conscien- at even greater length on pp. 477-484, but to my
tious account of all important new works and mind not quite so happily (cf. ?13 below).
theories, and giving reasons for his agreement or
disagreement with the latter. The seventh edition 4. In this paper I shall discuss only one question,
appeared in 1920, shortly after Oldenberg's death on which von Glasenappdiffers sharply from Olden-
in March of that year, but incorporated his final berg: whether the Buddha believed and taught
revision. Since then what were called the eighth a complete systematic metaphysics. Oldenberg's
to twelfth editions testified to the wide recognition answer was definitely "no." Von Glasenapp's is
of the book's permanent value; they were in fact "probably yes." On page 498 (top) he speaks of
unaltered reprints of the seventh, according to von "an all-embracing, complete, world-philosophical
Glasenapp (458). system (weltanschauliches System), not merely
fragments of one (Bruchstiicke zu einem sol-
2. The thirteenth edition 1 apparently likewise re- chen);" such a system he here attributes definitely
prints without change the text as Oldenbergleft it, to the Pali Suttapitaka, which is generally accepted
in the edition of 1920. But it also contains, as as containing on the whole the oldest versions of
pages 455-519, a "Nachwort" by Helmuth von Buddhist sacred texts; but he also attributes it
Glasenapp of the University of Tiibingen. This, "probably" (wahrscheinlich) to the Buddha him-
after a brief account of Oldenberg's life and work, self.
contains " additions and supplements " (Nachtriige
und Erganzungen), designed to bring the book up 5. Now no one questions that highly technical
to date, by taking account of the large amount of and abstract metaphysical systems (more than one)
work published since Oldenberg'sdeath. Naturally, were developed among Buddhists of later times,
it also expresses the writer's personal opinions, some centuries after the beginning of the Christian
favorable or unfavorable, on some of Oldenberg's era; nor is it doubtful that at least anticipations,
1 as I should prefer to call them rather than "frag-
Stuttgart, 1958. I have not seen the main text, but
only an offprint of von Glasenapp's Nachwort, kindly sent ments" (Bruchstiicke), of some such systems
me by the author. My references to Oldenberg are to appear in the Suttapitaka as we know it. It is
the pages of the "8th and 9th edition," Stuttgart and
Berlin, 1921; viii + 445 pp. The "13th edition" has a quite possible to argue, not implausibly, that within
slightly smaller format, and about ten more pages, not a very few centuries, perhaps one or two, after the
counting the Nachwort. Buddha's death his followers may have begun to
81
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82 EDGERTON: Did the Buddha Have a System of Metaphysics?
construct such speculative "systems." At least wounded with a poisoned arrow, and his friends
such a view could hardly be disproved. should bring a physician or surgeon to treat him.
Suppose this man said: 'I will not have this arrow
6. But it does seem to me possible to prove that removed or the wound treated until I find out all
the Buddha himself had no interest whatever in about the man who shot me, his name, caste, size,
such things. personal appearance, and residence, and also the
exact nature of the materials used in making the
7. The Buddha's attitude to abstract, philosophical arrow, the bow-string, and the bow.' Would not
speculation seems to me made crystal clear in a such a man die of the poisoned wound before he
number of passages from old Pali texts. Perhaps found the answers to all these idle and irrelevant
the clearest is one which I shall now summarize questions ? In the same way the Buddha's doctrine
briefly. It is the 63d sermon of the Majjhima of the religious life does not depend on the nature
Nikaya, a part of the Suttapitaka, and is entitled of the world or the nature of the soul, or on what
the "lesser Maluikya Suttanta." In it a monk will become of the Buddha after his death. What-
named Malufikyaputta is reported to have come to ever the nature of the world or of the soul may be,
the Buddha and complained that the Buddha had there still remains mundane existence, which is
not elucidated certain questions which seemed to suffering, and the elimination of which it is my
him important, namely these: Is the world eternal business to teach. I have not elucidated the matters
or not? Is is finite (in space) or infinite?2 Are you refer to because they are unprofitable, they do
soul and body identical or different? Does the not concern the fundamentals of religion, and do
Perfected (Buddha) exist after death, or not? Or not lead to nirvana. What I have elucidated is
does he both exist and not exist, or neither exist only that which does profit, which does concern the
nor not exist after death?3 Unless the Buddha fundamentals of religion, and which does lead to
answers these questions, or says that he doesn't nirvana, namely this: the truth of suffering, the
know the answers, Malufikyaputta says frankly cause of suffering, the release from suffering, and
that he cannot continue to adhere to the Buddhist the way to the release from suffering."
order.
10. Von Glasenapp (508) argues that this and
8. In reply, the Buddha first asks: "Did I promise similar passages (for it is by no means isolated)
to explain these matters when I invited you to " have only pedagogical aims;" the Buddha, he
lead the religious life with me? Or did you say says, thinks Malufikyaputta incapable of under-
you would follow my religion on condition that standing his philosophy, and for this reason de-
I should explain these matters?" "No sir," the clines to explain it to him. Now there is no doubt
monk admits. that at times, even in the Pali canon and much
oftener in the later works of northern Buddhism,
9. Then the Buddha tells a most striking and the Buddha is represented as preaching in sim-
effective parable: " Suppose (he says) a man were pler terms to the common run of people, reserving
the supposedly most profound part of his gospel
2 antavd . . .
anantavd; according to von Glasenapp for the intellectual elite, who alone, he is said to
(507) "hat sie (zeitlich) ein Ende oder kein Ende." have thought, could understand those parts. But
He would distinguish these terms from the preceding
sassato . . . asassato (" ewig oder nicht ewig") by the I find it hard to read that motive (which, by the
ingenious assumption that the (a)sassato pair refers to way, seems to me too arrogant and pretentious to
the belief (or disbelief) in a world-BEGINNING, (an)antavd fit the simple, human, mild, and courteous nature
to that in a world-END. The commentary on this passage of the Buddha as revealed in some of the oldest
ignores the words; but other Pali comms. render anan- into the sermon I have just summarized,
tava(t) by apariyanto sabbagato, and antava(t) by sapa-
texts)
riyanto, parivatumo, paricchinnapamdno, na sabbagato,
because it says in the plainest possible words that
which seem to be clearly spatial terms. Further, asassato the speculative, metaphysical questions put by
seems clearly to include the meaning "not lasting, sub- Malufikyaputta are simply irrelevant to all the
ject to coming to an end; " it is not merely "beginning- Buddha's teaching. And also for another reason,
less." See Critical Pali Dict. s. vv., pp. 153a, 247b, 504a.
8 Von to be mentioned in ?16 below. I agree with Olden-
Glasenapp (507) ingeniously identifies each of
these alternative speculative views with opinions held by berg (317) : "We must take this clear rejection
various Indian sectarian philosophies. See ?16 below. of the question, which recurs not infrequently in
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EDGERTON: Did the Buddha Have a System of Metaphysics? 83
the sacred texts, as it is given. It needs no more than two millennia; it has generally seemed
explanation, and resists finicky attempts to explain to them all, as it did to the Buddha, that it needed
it away." no speculative defense. And his practical morality,
like Gandhi's, was not felt to require a meta-
11. Von Glasenapp offers essentially two argu-
physics. It may indeed be true that many later
ments, if I understand him, in support of what followers of the Buddha, because they forgot or
I am afraid Oldenberg would have called his
ignored the lesson he taught in the Malunkya Sut-
"Deutelei" of this passage and others like it. One tanta and elsewhere, were stimulated by the specu-
is purely theoretical, and is expressed on pp. 479- lations of other (chiefly brahman) sects to set up
480: " Only Buddhism [among Indian religious their own metaphysical systems. There is a close
and philosophical systems] seemed [to the scholars
parallel to this in the Buddhist use of language.
whose view he combats] to say nothing about ulti- The Buddha ordered his followers to repeat and
mate, irreducible elements of reality, but to be teach his words in spoken vernaculars only, in the
content with declaring that everything in this
languages used by ordinary men, and specifically
world is transitory, without permanent self or soul, forbade them to use the learned brahmanical San-
and characterized by suffering. It was therefore skrit (or " Vedic," chandas). But it was not many
assumed [by such scholars, who included Olden- centuries before they began to violate this injunc-
berg] that Buddhism was not based on any meta- tion, in imitation of the brahmans.5
physical conception at all, but was nothing but a
practical way of salvation, and rejected all phi- 13. Von Glasenapp's other argument is that cer-
losophical speculations. This view was a priori tain words and expressions which he regards as
not probable; a doctrine which wanted to compete "metaphysical," which occur in the Pali canon
with other systems must also have provided answers and some of which are used in later, systematic
to many metaphysical questions, if it wanted to Buddhist philosophies in ways which may indeed
stand up against them in discussion, and to pro- justify that term, must go back "in essence" or
vide a foundation for its ethics." "in principle" to the Buddha, though he often
admits extensive later modifications. He devotes
12. I see no reason to believe that the Buddha much attention to the term dharma
had any desire to compete polemically with other and to the (Pali dhamma)
Buddhist negation of the "self" or
sects, any more than Gandhi had (see ?15 below). "soul." In
Adherents of other sects are reported to have of these general I prefer Oldenberg'streatment
subjects In BHS Dictionary
visited him (there is no report of his seeking them s. v. 2 dharma (288 ff.). I my
(4), p. 276b, have given my under-
out); he is said to have received them courteously, of the characteristically Buddhist use of
and answered their questions about his views with standing
dharma, "state of existence, condition of being."
gentle simplicity. That, like Gandhi, he felt no It does not seem to me
need for metaphysics, "as a foundation for his in the oldest particularly "metaphysical"
texts, even of Northern Buddhism;
ethics" or for any other reason, seems to me proved we need not consider
here the schematic phi-
by his own words as I have quoted them. Von losophies of Vasubandhu and his like. The best
Glasenapp's "a priori" argument would have had brief statement I know is still that of
no force for him. His ethics were founded on the Oldenberg
(289-290): "(The Buddhist world-outlook) takes
doctrine of karma and rebirth, which was self- as a fact the stir of
evident to him, as it has been to most Hindus for becoming (or occurring; die
Bewegung des Geschehens), which is governed by
" Sie bedarf keine Deutung und vertragt keine Deu- immutable principles. If one wanted, not at all
telei." Another similar passages is translated by Olden- in strict accordwith Buddhism's own mental habits,
berg on 229f.; on 230 he remarks: " Kurz und klar deuten to pick out the Absolute in this domain of the
diese Worte darauf hin, was die Lehre Buddhas sein will one could only identify it as the sovereign
und was zu sein sie nicht beansprucht, vielmehr auf das
finite,
nachdriicklichste ablehnt. Sie will nicht eine Philosophie
cosmic law of causality." That is, all states of
sein . . . Die Gedankenkreise der Spekulation, die in being (dharmas) were caused by something else,
bunter Vielgestaltigkeit die indischen Schulen erfiillt, and are constantly causing or changing into some-
. . . erscheinen ihm [the Buddhist] nur als '. . . eine
Fessel der Meinungen, voll Leid, voll Verderblichkeit. 5 See
my Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar, ??1.7-13,
. ,,?~:
pp. 1-2; and ??1.33 ff., pp. 4 ff.
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84 EDGERTON: Did the Buddha Have a System of Metaphysics?
thing else again; nothing mundane abides. And was characteristic of the beginning of Buddhist
I think Oldenbergwas very wise in warning us that history, and that only in later times Ceylonese
to call even this an "Absolute" is to depart from monks created and substituted the Pali canon's
Buddhist ways of thinking. It is, in short, a too simpler conception of the Buddha, which, though
"metaphysical" expression. in part also encrusted with miracles, is after all
fundamentally human." 6 Very pertinently he ob-
14. Even less impressive seems to me the impor- serves in the same passage that in our own day a
tance which von Glasenapp attaches to the compli- semi-deification of Mahatma Gandhi (one of the
cated Buddhist "cosmography and cosmic history" simplest, most modest, and least pretentious of
(498), which he thinks implies a systematic men) began to take place even before his death,
metaphysics, and which he blames Oldenberg for and is still going on under our very eyes; and that
slighting. He summarizes it (498-505) in a form the like has happened with other religious leaders,
"based exclusively on the Suttapitaka" (498), and in India and elsewhere. I wish von Glasenapp had
concludes with the statement that while later
applied the same cool and sensible reasoning to
Buddhist literature expands the theory, "the con- the question of the Buddha and metaphysics. To
ception of the whole thing is certainly old, and me, at least, it would seem also "an inversion of
there is no reason for believing that it could not natural development" to attribute a metaphysical
go back to the Buddha, at least in its main idea" system to the Buddha, which would then, in my
(505). My comment would be, first, that most of opinion, make it necessary to assume that such
it seems to me much more mythical (and fantas- texts as the Maluikya Suttanta were later crea-
tically so) than "metaphysical" in character; and tions of " Ceylonese monks," who for some strange
secondly, that it seems at least as possible to believe reason wanted to deny to the Buddha the meta-
that it did not go back to the Buddha as that it physical system he is supposed to have originally
did (much more possible to my feeling). It makes held. Gandhi, too, had no interest in speculation,
the impression of general relationship with the a fact which appears not to have seriously handi-
cosmologies of the Hindu Puranas (in spirit, not capped the power of his religious appeal, though
in specific details), and seems to be a sort of thing various other religions and philosophies, not only
which the Buddha of the Malufikya Suttanta, if Indian but (in his case) also foreign in origin,
he had heard of it, would unhesitatingly have were as active in his day as they were in the
dismissed as "unprofitable, not concerning the Buddha's. Like the Buddha, he felt that he did
fundamentals of religion, and not leading to not need to dispute with them; he was content,
nirvana." without polemics, to set forth his religious teachings
in the simplest possible way. The human Buddha,
15. The question of which elements in the Bud-
which von Glasenapp so sensibly discovers in the
dhist canonical texts truly represent what the
oldest elements of the sacred tradition, was, I
Buddha himself taught is an extremely difficult
think, surely as indifferent to metaphysics as he
one, and in the last analysis must be largely sub- was untouched by supernaturalism.
jective. I suppose no one would dispute this. The
same, I take it, could be said of the relation of the 16. Finally, to revert for a moment to von Glase-
New Testament, as a whole, to the actual teachings
napp's suggestion (?10 above) that when the Bud-
of the historic Jesus. But in an earlier part of dha refused to discuss metaphysical questions, it
his "Nachwort" (468-9), von Glasenapp has some was only because he considered his interlocutors
very sensible remarks, in which he defends Olden- intellectually incapable of understanding them:
berg's general attitude on this point, which was, this seems peculiarly unlikely in the case of such
that the simplest, most human-sounding, and least a monk as Malufikyaputta, whose questions clearly
miraculous traits of the sacred stories have the indicate a good deal of familiarity with such
best chance of being the oldest, and of representing matters. Indeed, if von Glasenapp himself is right
the Buddha's own teachings. Some earlier scholars
(cf. footnote 3 above), the questions put by this
criticized Oldenberg for this. Von Glasenapp monk would refer specifically to metaphysical views
justly replies that "it would be an inversion of held by definite religious and philosophic sects of
natural development to assume that a superhuman,
deified Buddha (as we find him later represented) 6
Paraphrased freely from p. 469 top.
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EDGERTON: Did the Buddha Have a System of Metaphysics? 85
the time, with which the monk was familiar. If putta to listen intelligently to any instruction the
the Buddha was interested in arguing against such Buddha might care to offer about "ultimate, irre-
views, as von Glasenapp suggests (?11 above), here ducible elements of reality;" and Maluiikyaputta
would seem to have been an ideal occasion for
certainly demonstrated a profound and ardent wish
doing so! Few interlocutors, it would seem, could
have been much better prepared than Malufkya- for such instruction.
ON THE PHONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF SANSKRIT KSAM- 'EARTH,'
RKSA- 'BEAR' AND LIKSA 'NIT'
T. BURROW
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
THE PROBLEM POSEDby such etymological com- represent an IE series of palatal and velar affri-
parisons as Skt. ksam- 'earth': Gk. XOWv and Skt. cates which he writes ks, kc,, gzh, g1,zh. The diffi-
rksa- ' bear' Gr. apKTrohas long exercised the inge- culties of this theory are certainly not less than
nuity of Indo-Europeanists, and so far it cannot those of the theory which it is intended to replace,
be said that a satisfactory solution has been found.1 but it has found a certain measure of support.4
The most commonly accepted theory is that of As was to be expected, the laryngeal theory has
Brugmann which assumed the existence of a series also been called upon to solve this problem, and
of spirants, p, etc., which developed on the one L. Hammerich 5 postulated IE -Hi- as the source
hand to Gk. r, 0, and on the other hand to Skt. s. of Gk. T, 0 Skt. s in these clusters. For this re-
The difficulties about this theory-for instance construction there is, as W. P. Lehmann 6 remarks,
that the hypothetical spirants never appear inde- no evidence.
pendently, or indeed in any other combinations On the other hand F. Specht7 attempted to
except with velars or palatals-have long been explain away all such cases as examples of suffix
apparent, but the theory has been commonly variation, and in his general line he was followed
adopted for lack of anything better, and it is still by me in The Sanskrit Language.8 For instance
finding acceptance in Indo-European handbooks.2 Gk. apKTO7 was analysed as ark-t-os and Skt. rTksa-
In view of the provisional nature of the hy- as rck-s-a-. In the case of initial groups such re-
pothesis it is not surprising that numerous at- constructions as IE tk-s-i-/tk-t-i- (Specht) or
tempts have been made to find an alternative. tks-i-/tks-t-i- (Burrow), by which the root teks-
These attempts fall into two groups. On the one could be compared, were proposed. This type of
hand some alternative Indo-European reconstruc- explanation will do very well in some cases but
tion is sought, and on the other hand attempts are not in others. For instance it is commonly ac-
made to explain the correspondencesin such a way 9
cepted that such is the relationship between Skt.
as to make do with the normally accepted IE pho-
nemes. As an example of the former method there 4E. g. J. Kurylowicz, L'Apophonie en Indo-europeen,
is Benveniste's theory3 that these combinations p. 364; W. S. Allen, Lingua, 7, 128 ff.
6 L. L. Hammerich, Laryngeal before Sonant, Det
For the bibliography of this subject see E. Ben- Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filolo-
veniste, BSL, 38, 139 ff.; E. Schwyzer, Griechische giske Meddelelser 31.3 (Copenhagen, 1948).
6 W. P. Lehmann, Proto-Indo-European Phonology
Grammatik, 1, 326.
2 E. g.
by R. Hauschild in the revised edition of (Austin, 1952), p. 10.
Thumb's Handbuch des Sanskrit, 1, 312 (as "Not- 7F. Specht, Der Ursprung der Indogermanischen
behelfe "). Deklination (Gottingen, 1947 Neudruck), pp. 239 ff.
3Loc. cit. M. Leumann (Glotta, 28, 2, ff.) thought T. Burrow, The Sanskrit Language (London, 1955),
that 'assibilated gutturals' would be a more suitable p. 81.
9 E.
title. g. by Brugmann, Grundriss, II2. 1, 577.
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