Gregory Schopen - The Learned Monk As A Comic Figure: On Reading A Buddhist Vinaya As Indian Literature
Gregory Schopen - The Learned Monk As A Comic Figure: On Reading A Buddhist Vinaya As Indian Literature
1007/s10781-007-9019-3
The learned monk as a comic gure: on reading a Buddhist Vinaya as Indian literature
Gregory Schopen
Abstract The difculties involved in identifying, appreciating, and understanding the intentional humor of other people far removed in time and culture are well known, and arenot surprisinglyencountered in reading Buddhist vinaya or monastic texts written in relatively early India. This is particularly so, perhaps, because the expectation may well be that such texts were not intended to be funny, and the assertion that some were would seem to require some demonstration. But if it is conceded, or fully acknowledged, that Buddhist monastic literature written in India was rst of all Indian literature, then Indian literature and literary or aesthetic theory may provide the tools for at least one such demonstrationIndian literature, after all, encompasses several genres (the farce and the satire) which were certainly intended to be humorous, and Indian aesthetics explicitly recognizes the comedic. Using these resources might at least allow us to see how some vinaya passages, which appear to make fun of certain kinds of learned monks, might have been read by their Indian audience. Keywords Vinaya Indian literature Indian humor Buddhist humor
Almost any discussion of Indian Buddhist humor will encounterand sooner rather than latersome very weighty matters. In part, of course, this is because an Indian Buddhist humor is rst of all, by denition, Indianin fact probably far more Indian than Buddhistand India has a large, sophisticated, and technical literature devoted to aesthetics and literary criticism in which
G. Schopen (&) Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 900951540, USA e-mail: [email protected]
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the comedic (hasya) is a recognized and theorized component (rasa).1 Its dramatic literature in particular, moreover, gives a prominent place to a stock comic gurethe vidusaka or buffoonwho has given rise to a good deal : of learned discussion, both ancient and modern,2 and that same literature has preservedalthough possibly poorlya signicant number of farces (prahasana) and satires (bhana).3 Indeed, as Richard Salomon has put it, : satirical touches are found often enough, even in the great [Indian] classics, and he cites with approval A.K. Warders claim of a ourishing tradition of satire in ancient and medieval kavya.4 But humor, it seems, could also be in classical Indiaas elsewheresubversive, even dangerous, and appears to have elicited on the part of at least some elites some unease or ambivalence. At least that is suggested by the legend at the end of the Na:tyaastra which explains how s the drama came down to the earth, and why Bharatas sons, or those associated with the drama, are u s dras. No sooner, it seems, had Bharatas sons gained knowledge of the Na:tyaveda then they began to annoy everyone with farces devoted to comedy (sarvalokam prahasanair vadhanto hasyasamrayaih). Still : :s : _ worse, they produced a work that caricatured the Rsis (rsnam nyangakaranam), : : : : : : : and the latter, being deeply offended, did what the easily offended :rsis and gurus : always do: they cursed them, as a result of which the drama ended up on earth and they ended up as u s dras.5 But in spite of their complexities, technicalities, and nuances these Indian literary and sastric materials may be critical for understanding Indian Buddhist humor, rst because they are Indian, and second because they are much closer in both time and culture than we are to our Buddhist texts: they tell us what writers and theorists closeor at least closerin time and culture to our Buddhist texts thought would be funny. They provide, in other words, at least one possible solutionhowever partial or approximateto an otherwise intractable problem that is repeatedly encountered in the study of other peoples humor. Very recently, and in specic regard to Buddhist vinaya, Oskar von Hinuber has nicely put a persistent problem, met again and again, in almost any discussion of the humor of other people more or less removed in time and culture from the discussant:
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See the old Sharma (1941). More recent worke.g., Siegal (1987)has largely tried to side-step the more technical, serious literature on humor (see Gerows (1989a) review of Siegal) perhaps because it isnt very funny.
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For sources on the vidusaka see Siegal (1987, pp. 467468), to which might be added the : scattered references to the vidusaka in Bansat-Boudon (1992) and the discussion of this gure : from a broadly comparative point-of-view in Otto (2001, esp., pp. 218223), who resists what she calls a considerable resistance among some Sanskrit scholars to the idea of the vidusaka as a court jester. See also the paper by Gerow (2001). See Devi (1995), De (1959); Schokker (1966, pp. 3964) and Janaki (1973). Salomon (1983); esp. 11, quoting Warder (1972, p. 167).
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Ghosh (19561967, Ch. 36); Nagar (19811984, Ch. 36)It is interesting to note that one of the very rare references to drama in canonical Palipointed out long ago in Wijesekera (1941)also seems to take aim at prahasanas and to suggest that those natas, actors, who make people laugh : end up in hell; see Samyutta-nikaya iv 306308. :
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it is mostly extremely difcult to guess, what was felt to be humorous or hilarious in ancient texts such as the Buddhist canon or its commentaries, which were both composed in a cultural environment largely lost to us. Consequently, many paragraphs which we are inclined to read with a smile today, may have been a deadly serious matter to those, who originally wrote them down.6 The point here could hardly be better posed, and yet we may be able to do something other than just guess, especially if it be allowed that Indian Buddhist literatures are in fact that: Indian and literature. Neither attribute is, however, commonly recognized or brought to the fore, and those familiar only with the Pali Vinaya might well be disinclined to call it, for example, literature. But the case is very different in regard to another Buddhist monastic code, and was so from early on. Sylvain Levi, the great French Indological polymath, knew very well both Sanskrit literaturehis rst major published work was the still cited Le theatre indienand the Buddhist Mulasarvastivada-vinaya, the vinaya we will be dealing with here. When he characterized the latterand he did so several timesthe emphasis was overwhelmingly on its literary qualities, not its technical or doctrinal aspects, and his comparisons were almost always with Indian literary works. He said, for example: crit avec art, m^le et brouille tous les genres; Ce Vinaya monstrueux, e e textes a conter de longues ` les prescriptions ont souvent lair de simples pre `res, he ques, comiques, fabuleuses, romanesques7 ro histoires familie He also described the hypothetical author of this Vinaya, and, by extension, the work itself, as follows: Un ecrivain dont la fougue verbale et limagination surabondante evoquent le souvenir de Rabelais, et du meilleur de Rabelais, a pris pretexte des recits ternes et desseches qui se repetaient dans les couvents ` a lappui des prescriptions de la discipline ecclesiastique, pour en tirer une succession de contes qui veulent ^tre ediants, mais qui sont surtout e ` amusants, pittoresques ou emouvants a souhait. Le Vinaya des ` Mulasarvastivadins est une espece de Brhatkatha a lusage des moines. ` : But nally, and perhaps most surprising to some, he called the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya, without any hesitation, un des chefs-doeuvre de la litterature sanscrite8not be it noted, a masterpiece of Buddhist literature, but, in effect, of Indian literature.
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von Hinuber (2006, p. 29). See much the same point, expressed more broadly, in Gerow (2001, p. 169). Levi (19081909, p. 78).
8 Levi (1932, p. 23). It is impressive in the extreme to note that Levi knew this Vinaya largely through its Chinese translation, with its attendant problems, and in Sanskrit only through the deliberate abridgements of its narratives, often very clumsily carried out found now in the Divyavadana (see Bailey, 1950, pp. 166167)of the Sanskrit manuscript of it from Gilgit he knew only a few leaves. It is also worth noting that Levis impact on the study of religion generally is slowly being recognized; see on his inuence on Mauss, Fournier (1994), and Strenski (1996).
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It is, of course, probably obvious that even if one were not inclined to accept Levis characterization of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya as a mas terpieceand many may bestill if his inclusion of it in Indian literature stands, then it would be perfectly legitimateeven necessaryto use in our exegesis of it the canons of Indian literary criticism and the tools it provides. It would also be Indian literaturesecular literaturewith which it should be compared, and which may well provide the most useful parallels. This, at least, is a hypothesis worth exploring, and that is all that can be done here in regard to a series of what appears to be, and what might for the moment be called, doctrinal jokes in the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya. While we might have romantic notions of life in an Indian Buddhist vihara, the authors of Buddhist vinayas did not. For them, it seems, these could be unfriendly places. In the Sayanasanavastu of the Mulasarvastivada 9 vinaya, for example, there is an account of a junior bhiksu (navaka) who, : though ill, was thrown out of his cell (layana) by a more senior bhiksu : (vrddhataraka) when the latter, upon arriving, was assigned the cell, : according to the principle of seniority (yathavrddhikaya), that the sick : bhiksu was occupying. The senior bhiksu in fact left the sick junior bhiksu : : : lying in a pond. Although this senior bhiksudescribed only as nis:thura, : : rough or severeis never actually censured, when Brahmins and householders who came to the vihara are critical of what occurred, the Buddha, in response to that lay criticism, lays down a new rule.10 He says: Therefore, bhiksus, in that case, a residential exemption must be given to : a sick bhiksu! (tasmat tarhi bhiksavo glanasya bhiksor vastupariharo : : : datavyah). That is to say, a monk who is sick or has medical problems : may remain in the cell initially assigned to him, and it is not to be reassigned.11 At this point in the account, we encounter the Venerable Upananda, a member of the notorious Group-of-Six and a learned bhiksu whounlike : most other bhiksus in this, and other vinayasknew the doctrine, and could : quote it, and who, as we will see, knew how to work the system, like all the
The need to avoid lay criticism as the motive for the promulgation of a new ruleor the modication of an old oneis an explanatory trope in this Vinaya, and probably all otherssee Schopen (1997, pp. 218220) and Schopen (2004a, pp. 99100; 154155; 271; 303).
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The key term here is parihara, which I have rendered as exemption in light of both context, which requires something like that sense, and sources like Sircar (1966, pp. 238239). The same termin fact the same compound (vastu-parihara) has been understood differently in Hu-von Hinuber (1994, pp. 215216; 62.1, 62.3). There it is said that vastu-parihara ist bisher nicht belegt and vermutlich ist unser Wort ein Synonym fur Mvy 9056 viharoddeaka (pp. 215216), s but this is an interpretation that may prove difcult to sustain. Both the compound and the passages in the Posadhavastu where it occurs will have to be revisited.Gunaprabha does not use : : the expression vastu-parihara in his treatment of the Sayanasana passage, but the sense of the relevant sutra is clear: nadhyusitam glanenanyasmai layanam: the cell occupied by one who is sick : : [should] not [be assigned] to another; Sankrityayana (1981, 78.21).
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members of this group.12 He, it seems, was not inclined to leave the cell he was occupying. The text continues: When it had been said by the Blessed One: A residential exemption must be given to a sick bhiksu!, the Venerable Upanada, saying : hummm.., remained silent. But when it was said In six or seven days they will assign Bedding and seats, Upananda, having wrapped around his foot a bandage used for sores, remained there. The bhiksus who were the assigners-of-bedding: and-seats, having taken him to be sick, assigned him the cell he already had. When the bedding and seats had been assigned, Upananda took off the bandage used for sores and remained there. But then the bhiksus who : look after the sick [observing that] asked Upananda: Has the Elders (sthavirasya) foot gotten better? And Upananda said: Surely it was said by the Blessed One: All compounded things are impermanent (nanuktam bhagavata : sarvasamskara anitya iti)how then will my ailment be permanent? (tat : kim mama vyadhir nityo bhavisyati). : : The text, of course, goes on, but it is this retort of Upanandaan Elder (sthavira) who can and does quote scripturethat for now is of most interest. The other bhiksusand this is a rst signal to the readerdo not take him seriously, : nor, it seems, should we. They say: Too quickly the Elder has gotten betterhah, it is an imaginary illness (kalpaglana)!, and the Buddha then modies his rule so as to preclude a residential exemption for one feigning an illness.13 In a general way this little sketch might remind the reader of Sanskrit drama of the vidusaka, or buffoon, in Kalidasas Malavikagnimitra who feigns a snake : bite on his thumb and wraps it inof all thingshis sacred thread (yaj~opavta) to n get what he is after.14 The incongruity of this is palpable, and that is the point. Indeed, G.K. Bhat has said of the vidusakathe comic gure par excellence in : Sanskrit literaturethat incongruity is the very essence of his character,15 and, as we will see, Upananda, in fact all the members of the Group-of-Six bhiksus, have a good deal in common with the vidusaka. But there is a bit more : : here as well. Even without specic reference to the vidu: aka, incongruency or s
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In spite of the fact that the Group-of-Six (sad vargika) bhiksus appears to be a prominent : : : presence in all Buddhist vinayas, little work has been done on them, and much of what little has been done is naively historicisticto the references cited in Schopen (2004a, p. 351 n. 11), add Dhirasekera (1970); Schopen (2004b, pp. 176178). For the moment it must sufce to say that although frequently referred toespecially in the secondary literatureas bad, evil, or sinful bhiksus, these gures, as will perhaps become evident in what follows, are far more : complex and interesting than that. They, again, are virtually the only bhiksus who are presented as : knowing the doctrine, and they are, for example, almost always technically correct in their shenanigans.
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Both special privileges for the sick, and malingering to obtain them, are evidenced by several forms of monasticism; see, for example, Crislip (2005, pp. 7076; 8183; 9192).
14 See Gerow (1989b, pp. 290291). For this and other instances where the yaj~opavta is put to n comical use see Bhat (1959, pp. 5960, 127). 15
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inappropriateness (anaucitya) is, according to classical Indian aesthetic theory the trigger (vibhava) of the comedic mood or avor (hasya-rasa)Sharma, for example, says: the real essence of the vibhava of hasya is anaucitya.16 The presentation of incongruency elicitsand is meant tolaughter. It is, of course, impossible to say whether or not the compilers of the Mu lasarvastivada-vinaya knew any of the niceties of the Na:tyaastra, or any of s the specic formulations of the theoreticians. But they could hardly have been unaware of the cultural value placed on incongruency which is formulatednot inventedby the theorists, and there is good evidence, as we will see, that our compilers had knowledge of theatrical playsboth of their composition and productionand, more importantly, of the inclusion in them of comedic episodes meant to trigger laughter. It is, therefore, not likely to have been coincidental that the Vinaya account of Upananda was constructed in such a way as to present a series of stacked incongruencies. There is the incongruency between what Upananda is (an Elder or sthavira), and what he does (feign an illness to keep a better room); the incongruency between the high seriousness of the doctrine he cites, and the low silliness of the contexta not overly clever scam; and the incongruency of citing su in a vinaya contextthis is almost never tra done. But the same incongruencies are also found in a second and in a third example from our vinaya.17 A second instance of the incongruous citation of sutra or doctrine occurs in the _ Vibhanga of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya.18 Here merchants from the north come upon an abandoned vihara where they nd only two old bhiksus (rgan : zhugs = mahallaka) who are temporarily resting there. The merchants want, in effect, to re-endow the vihara and they give the two old bhiksus alms for : three months for sixty bhiksus, alms for the festival of the eighth day, and : the fourteenth day, and the fteenth day, medicine for the sick, the price of robes, etc. Having made this lavish donation, they tell the two old bhiksus : to invite good bhiksus (dge slong bzang po) to re-inhabit the vihara. But the : two old bhiksusand such unnamed mahallakas are repeatedly presented in : this Vinaya as not very bright and easily fooled19are duped by Upananda into inviting him and the Group-of-Six, and the latter in no time eat their way through almost everything. Finally, the monk-in-charge-of-physicalproperties declares: Venerables, the Community now has only requisites for the sick. But in response the Group-of-Six reveal their characteristic mastery of formal Buddhist doctrine. They say:
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Before leaving this rst example, however, it might be worth noting that jokes about impermanence may have had a long shelf-lifesee the oral tale set in the Kandyan Kingdom cited in what Siegal (1987, p. 466) calls The charming, although not entirely convincing, essay, Rahula (1981, pp. 172173). 18 _ Vibhanga, Derge dul ba Cha 184a.1188a.5. All references to Tibetan texts are to The Tibetan Tripitaka. Taipei Edition, ed. A.W. Barber (Taipei: 1991) and will follow the same format: Sanskrit titlesectionvolume letteroriginal folio and line numbers. 19 On mahallakas see Durt (1980)he speaks of their stupidite and betise congenitale. For the equally unattering presentation in Pali sources see von Hinuber (1997). Mahallakas frequentlyas hereappear as the victims of the Group-of-Six in the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya.
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Since, Venerables, as long as the ve skandhas which are the basis of clinging to existence (pa~copadanaskandha)20 persist, so long are we n always sick. The medicine for the sick should also then be eaten! (tshe dang ldan pa dag ji srid du nye bar len pai phung po lnga tsho ba de srid du bdag cag rtag tu nad pa yin pas na bai sman de yang bzao) However incongruous or even outrageous this may seem, this is not the only instance in this account where doctrine or su is cited. Earlier, in fact, when one tra of the mahallakas who has come to the Jetavana vihara to invite bhiksus to the re : endowed vihara, and has told Upananda about it, Upananda wants to corner the invitation for the Group-of-Six and exclude others. He says to the mahallaka: Since we six men each have a following of ten [i.e., we make up the right number], we will come out of compassion for you. The mahallaka, however, wants rst to go and pay homage to the Buddha, but Upananda is worried that if he did so he might tell other bhiksus about the re-endowed vihara, and so says to him: : Have you not heard it said, mahallaka, a god is one Who moves about in mind, not one who moves about in body?21 Then he immediately cites as the word of the Buddha22 what can hardly be anything other than a variant version or translation of the rst part of a verse on the preeminence and mobility of mind (citta), found now, for example, at Udanavarga XXXI.23 and 24, and Dhammapada I.1 and 2,23 grabs the mahallaka by the neck, forces him to bow right where he is and say Homage to the Buddha, etc. from there. Once again the incongruity or inappropriateness (anaucitya), the trigger (vibhava)according to Indian literary theoristsof laughter, is unmistak able. As in our rst text, there is here the incongruity between what an obviously learned bhiksuin fact the same bhiksusays, and the reason he : : says it, the incongruity between the citation of both formal doctrine and sutra for the purpose of fooling an old mahallaka and lling his belly. In the rst instance cited from this text the technicality of the doctrinal language is particularly incongruous in its setting: the expression pa~copadanaskandha, n while perfectly suited to an abhidharma astra makes little sense in a vinaya s discussion of when to eat what. There is also the further incongruityor seeming incongruityof a learned Buddhist bhiksu, already identied as an : Elder, who is a glutton perfectly capable of eating everything in sight. But here there is a further and quite specic link with the comedic in classical Indian literature, especially its dramatic literature.
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While strictly speaking probably not quotations, gnomic utterances of this sort are scattered throughout this Vinaya, often as editorial insertions; see Schopen (2000, pp. 157158: V.1). A _ similar statement occurs as an insertion at Sanghabhedavastu, Gnoli (1977, 186.23): vacasa mahpatnam samrddhyati, cittena devanam, cittotpadena tatha samrddhyati dhyayinam sarvam iti. : : : : : 22 bcom ldan das kyis kyangzhes gsungs kyis. 23 Bernhard (1965 XXX.2324); von Hinuber and Norman (1995, I.12). The use of this verse here is, of course, equally incongruous to the action or context.
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The vidusaka or buffoon has already been referred to more than once in : a general way. But this stock character in a large class of Indian dramas has some specic and largely consistent characteristics which mark him as the comic gure par excellence. And that Upananda and others of the Group-ofSix were likewise intended or perceived as comic gures may be suggested by the fact that they too are marked by mostthough not allof the same characteristics. Certainly one of the most pronounced of these shared characteristics is the glaring gluttony, greediness, and fondness for ne food of the vidusaka and members of the Group-of-Six, especially Upananda. : In his old but still useful survey of the vidu: aka in classical Indian drama G.K. s Bhat starts his chapter on food and drink by saying: But the dramatists have shown the Vidusaka, as a Brahmin, to be very fond of food, and, after citing : numerous examples, he says: It appears from these descriptions that the Bra hmana Vidusaka is not only very fond of food but is particularly partial to : : sweets and loves the smell of seasoned preparations. Indeed, Bhat describes the vidu: aka in the Pratij~ayaugandharayana this way: He displays the charn s : acteristic greed of a seasoned glutton for his gift of food, and admires the smell of his own belching!24 This greed for the gift of food, of course, often gets the vidu: aka in trouble, one example of which may be cited from the Avimaraka of s Bha who Warder places in the 2nd Century C.E.25 It is a particularly useful sa, example both because it reveals the gluttony and greed shared by Upananda and the vidu: aka, and because it reveals another characteristic of the vidu: aka s s which Upananda most denitely does not have, and this difference may well point to a particularly Buddhist twist on their use of comedic gures. In the second act of the Avimaraka the vidu: aka not only gives what Warder s describes as a ridiculous description of the sunset, which reminds him of various kinds of food,26 but in his perpetual quest for nice dinners, has a disastrous encounter with a clever maid in the Kings household who is bored and decides to have some fun at his expense. She pretends to be looking for a Brahmin. Jester: What is it, Candrika? Maid: I am looking, Sir, for a Brahmin. Jester: What do you want a Brahmin for? Maid: What do you think? Why, to ask him to dinner. Jester: But what am I, Lady, a Buddhist monk? Maid: Oh, but you dont know the scriptures. Jester: How can you say I dont know the scriptures? Just listen. Theres a treatise on drama called Ra yana. I learnt up ve verses of that in less than a year.27 ma :
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Bhat (1959, pp. 67; 68; 197); see, more recently, Shulman (1985, pp. 157158) and Siegal (1987, pp. 199200). Warder (1990, p. 264, 943); see also Masson (1970, pp. 326).
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Warder (1990, p. 296, 1002). Sastr (1912, 157); the translation here is from Woolner and Sarup (1985, Vol. 2, p. 71)What Woolner and Sarup translate as But what am I, Lady, a Buddhist Monk? is bhodi aham ko : samanao (bhavati aham kah ramanakah), but that gures who are called ramanakas are to be s : : : s : : : identied as Buddhist monks is far from sure, and the question needs to be revisited.
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After this remarkable show of learningI trust that even Buddhist scholars will know that the Ramayana is not a work on dramahe claims also to be : able to read, but when the maid asks him to read the word on her signet ring he cannot and claims: This word is not in my book, Lady. She, however, sees her chance and asks to see his ring. Yes, he says, look at mine; its a beauty. She takes it, distracts him by saying the prince is coming, and runs away. He, of course, is left without both his ring and the dinner. He says, in partstill in Woolners and Sarups old translationI knew what she was, the pick-pockets slut, and then I let myself de diddled by relying on that dinner. That the vidusakathe comic gure par excellence in classical Indian : dramahas much in common with Upananda in particular will be clear _ from our Vibhanga text alone. Upanandas dominant concern there is with food. It is for more food that he cites the doctrine. But even before that food is his focus. When, for example, Upananda and the Group-of-Six arrive at the newly re-endowed vihara and get a look at its plenty, they realize right away that since the mahallaka who brought them there was genuinely abstemious he would not think to give the rst class food, and they engineer the appointment of an epicure monk (lto dun can = ahara grdhra, rasa-grdhra) to distribute the food who would distribute every day : : to the Community the eighteen kinds of soft foods, various and sundry fatty sauces, and well prepared drinks. That, like the vidu: aka, Upananda was s sometimes diddled as a result of his obsession with food, and that this obsession was a dening and very long standing component of his personality, are both, perhaps, no better suggested than in a little account of one of his previous births: In a past time, bhiksus, there were two viharas on opposite banks of a : river, one for bhiksus who obtain their meals from the Community, : the other for bhiksus who beg. There was also a dog who recognized : the sound of the gand of each vihara.28 When he heard the sound : : of the gand he went to the vihara of those who obtain their meals :: from the Community and the bhiksus gave him the leftovers from : their bowls. Having eaten that he then went to the vihara of those who beg, and after he had also eaten the leftovers there, he wandered around at will. And so it went until on one occasion an unexpected donation fell to those who beg and they sounded their gand rst. When the gand dog : : : : heard it he began to swim across the river. But when he was half way across the gand in the vihara of those who obtain their meals from the : : Community also sounded. Torn in two directions, he tried to turn around, but the current carried him far down stream and he lost out on both meals.
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The gand sometimes, but probably incorrectly, translated as gongwas the instrument that : : was beaten to summon the bhiksus for a list of specic occasions; for references see Schopen : (2004a, p. 277, n. 11).
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What do you think, bhiksus? He who was that gand dog was at that time, : : : on that occasion, this very same Upananda.29 Finallyas we will shortly seewhen a clever dramatist wished to satirize Upananda and the Group-of-Six he did so by revealing their obsession with food and eating. Although it is true that in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist literature Buddhist bhiksus have a reputation for being preoccupied with ne food and : not a few have been said to have died from over eating,30 still this tendency is particularly pronounced in Upananda, and although much more could be said of this and other traits of Upananda, enough has probably already been said to establish the essential similarity between the gures of the vidusaka in clas: sical Indian drama and the gure of Upananda. But since there is no doubt at all that the gure of the greedy, gluttonous Brahmin who says and does incongruous things was intended to provoke laughter, it would seem disingenuous in the extreme to suggest that the gure of a greedy, gluttonous bhiksu who did the same was not. Both were cut from the same cloth or built : on the same armature. Both, it would seem, would have had the same cultural reception. There is, however, at least one apparently signicant difference between the brahmanical vidusaka and the Buddhist bhiksu. : : Even if the observation would have to be repeatedly nuanced or qualied in the specic instances, it is probably safe to say in a general way that the playwrights of classical India intended their vidusakas to appear stupid and : ignorant. Bhat says: He is generally called a mahabrahmana, the phrase : indicatingcontrary to what we might have thoughta stupid and ignorant Brahmin, and the vidusaka in the Avimaraka, for an example, already cited, : is a Brahmin who cannot read a word and has no idea what is in the Ramayana.31 Obviously these authors were poking fun at brahmanical pre : tense. The Buddhist bhiksu Upananda, on the other hand, while he might : sometimes appear stupid, is never represented as ignorant. In fact he and other members of the Group-of-Six are virtually the only bhiksus in this : Vinaya who appear to know the doctrine, and who can, and do, cite it. This, of course, is a signicant difference and must mean that if the play-wrights were poking fun at ignorant Brahmins, Buddhist authors were poking fun at learned bhiksus. If the vidusaka was considered comical, so too was the learned : : Buddhist bhiksu. Someif not a great dealof this may eventually be : traceable to a not entirely harmonious relationship between sutradharas
29
Sayanasanavastu, Gnoli (1977, 41.13). Identifying a learned bhiksueven in a past lifewith a : shiftless dog greedy for leftovers (see Footnote 67) was almost certainly not meant to be attering.
Granoff (1998, esp. pp. 56, 60, 66, 69, 70, 72, 90); Upananda himself dies as a result of his greed and of drinking too much ghee or claried butter (ghrta) at one time; see the account of his death : in the Cvaravastu, Dutt (1942, pp. 117.8118.11).
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Bhat (1959, p. 163, n. 23); see also Shulman (1985, pp. 160161, 170, n. 68), on mahabrahmana. :
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(those who preserved the sutras) and vinayadharas (those who preserved the vinaya)certainly there are signs of strain or ambivalence between the two groups in this Vinaya.32 But for now it must at least be noted that the view of (some) learned bhiksus as silly that we have, and will, see here is the : product of those who compiled the vinaya. A third and here nal instance in the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya of a doctrinal joke (or to put it more ponderously nowthe citation of doctrine in an incongruous context meant to elicit laughter) might be cited _ from the Vibhanga. This joke in fact is repeated three times in three separate but very similar accounts of local ladies visiting the Jetavana monastery as a part of their garden tours. These texts explicitly say that the Buddhist vihara was regularly included in such pleasure tours: It was the usual practice (dharmata) of the wives of the Brahmins and householders who lived in Sravast, when they went out to the gardens (udyana), to enter the Jetavana and view the vihara33 Since too it was the usual practice (dharmata) of the Group-of-Six to always hang around the entrance to the Jetavana,34 these ladies were met by the Venerable Udayin wearing only his ashy underclothes. After Upananda, Udayin is probably the most strongly sketched and individualized member of the Group-of-Six, and Upanandas pronounced proclivity for food is easily matched by the Venerable Udayins interest in women. Helike all the Group-of-Six made it his business to know everything about everybody, and the text says: And because there was not a single person living in the six great cities whose caste, gotra, lineage, name, appearance, occupation or livelihood the group-of-six did not know, or had not observed or heard about or learned or determined, the Venerable Udayin, seeing that large group of the wives of Brahmins and householders even from some distance, said, when he had seen them: Welcome, mother of so-and-so, wife of soand-so, woman of so-and-so, daughter of so-and-so, sister of so-and-so,
For a good example of competition for resources between such groups see the passage in the Adhikaranavastu where sutrantikas, vinayadharas, and matrkadharas advance conicting claims to : : be the true dharmadharas or dharmabhanakasGnoli (1977, 71.1). For one pole of the : ambivalence toward learned monks see the passage in the Koambakavastu where individuals who s are called sutradharas, vinayadharas and matrkadharas are described as troublesome (vyad a) : : and pugnacious (vikranta) and end up arguing about the Indian equivalent of toilet paperDutt (1977, 173.5178.1); for the other pole see Posadhavastu Hu-von Hinuber (1994, pp. : 354356, 63.1-.3) (where the term vastuparihara occurs again) and Uttaragrantha, Derge Pa 151a.5152b.3 wherenot without some resistancespecial privileges are accorded to learned bhiksus. : 33 _ Vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ca 206a.2, 215a.5; and 221a.3. On this and other associations of the Buddhist vihara and the Indian garden see Schopen (2007).
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acaritam sad vargikanam aunyam jetavanadvaram anyataranyatarena sad vargikenaKarmavastu, s : : : : : : : : : : Dutt (1942, 199.13); also at Ksudrakavastu, Derge dul ba Tha 101b.4, 232a.7; Cvaravastu, Dutt : (1942, 99.2); and a large number of other places.
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welcome! Why is it that you, like the moon, appear only after a long time?35 The ladiesto abbreviate muchask to be shown around the Jetavana and Udayin obliges them, making pious talk, including several quotations. When he has shown them the Gandhakut, the residence of the Buddha, and the : residences of the various Elders, they end up at his, which is described thus: the oor of his vihara had been polished with bean powders, some of the wall decorated, bedding and seats of the best part of calfs hide were arranged, ten bottles lled with drink, together with cups, had been set out, and there were pitchers lled with all sorts of beverages (Ca 209a.3). He invites them in foras it werea drink, but they ask to hear the Dharma. Again Udayin obliges, but as he was teaching the Dharma so he became more and more aroused so he began more and more to caress their limbs and other parts of their bodies those who he got a hold of irted with him, ran around, necked, played, prattled, laughed and fooled around. The others left and when outside were contemptuous, critical and complained. They said to the other bhiksus: : Noble Ones, those limbs and parts of our bodies that even a husband would not stroke, those the Noble One Udayin has stroked! If our parents or sisters-in-law were to hear of this they would not even allow us to see the Jetavana, let alone to come here (Ca 209b.7). When the other women had left, the text continues: Then Udayin himself came out of his vihara still laughing, and when the other bhiksus saw him they said: Why after having done such an : unbecoming thing are you, Venerable Udayin, laughing? To which he cheekily responds: What? Have I been drinking liquor or eating onions?36 Venerable, have you done that too? What else have I done? The wives of many brahmins and householders have made complaints and left. Udayin said: Venerables, thats the way blackguards areWhen one does not teach even a single verse of four lines [of Dharma] to those full of jealousy they complain about one who teaches others!
35 _ Vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ca 206a.4Here the Group-of-Six have a characteristic of another stock gure in Indian drama who is often comic, the vita, the parasite or rogue. The vita is the : : stock speaker in a bhana and Warder describes him this way: The parasite is expert in polite and : quick-witted conversation and attery and so lubricates social intercourse. It is his business to know everything that is going on in society; (1972, p. 13, 30). This gure has received much less attention. 36
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Then the other bhiksus said: But did you establish them in the truth? : To which Udayin delivers his doctrinal explanation: But surely, if one begins to mature their senses (indriya) they will in time also come to see the truths! (je de dag gi dbang po yongs su smin par bya ba brtsams na mthar gyis dben pa yang mthong bar gyur ro / -Ca 210a.7) In any number of other contexts, of course, Udayins statement would be perfectly good doctrinethere would be general agreement that maturing faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration and wisdomraddha, vrya, smrti, s : samadhi, and praj~a, one list of the indriyaswould lead to seeing the truths. n But Udayins statement here is completely out of context, incongruous, and depends entirely on a lesa, a double meaning, one of the most common of s : Indian rhetorical devices. He is punning on the term indriya, which, of course, could also refer to the physical senses, and thereby turning a doctrinal statement into a joke about his actions. It is also well to keep in mind that we are dealing with a Buddhist text herea text almost certainly written by a Buddhist bhiksu meant for other bhiksus, and repeated at least three times in : : this Vinaya. This is especially so since the portrait here of the learned monkhis fancy underwear, his inveterate busybodiness, well appointed quarters and his lecheryas well as the rhetorical tomfoolery found here is precisely the sort of thing that is also found in non-Buddhist sources that were certainly intended to poke fun at these men. In the Mattavilasa, the well known farce (prahasana) attributed to the Pallava King Mahendravarman (7th Cent. C.E.), for example, the Buddhist charactercalled a akyas bhiksuis himself made to exclaim about favors (anugraha) ordained for : the Community of his Bhiksus by the Buddha: living in palatial residences : (prasada), sleeping on beds with well-made mattresses, having food in the morning, tasty drinks in the afternoon the wearing of ne robes. Given these favors he goes on to wonder how it was possible that there were no rules permitting women and alcohol, How is it, he wonders, that the Omniscient One overlooked these? (ahava kaham savva~~o edam na peknn : : : khadi), and he concludes that such rules were blotted out in the Pitaka : books by mean-minded and dried up old Elders.37 In the still later Agamad ambara of Bhatta Jayanta (9th/10th cent. C.E.), when the main : :: character rst sees the Buddhist vihara he says: O what a charming monas tery (aho viharasya ramanyakam), but then almost immediately adds: : : Clearly this is not a seminary for ascetics, this is a royal [pleasure] garden! (na khalu tapasvijanamathikasthanam idam rajodyanam etat). Then, while he : and the boy who is with him secretly observe the behavior of the Buddhist
37
Text and translationsall but the lastare cited from Lockwood and Bhat (1981, pp. 4245)this was the only edition available to me; see also the more recent translation in Lorenzen (2000). Tieken, for example, says that Mahendravarman Is authorship of the Mattavila is exceptionally well sa documented; Tieken (1993, n. 19).
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bhiksus as they began to eat, the following observationssomewhat abbre: viated hereare made: Boy: Sir there is more! Look, here are buxom maidservants ready to serve the food, and catching the eyes of the monks with their irtatious glances! And here some drink is being served in a spotless jar. Graduate [Snataka]: There is wine here masquerading as fruit juice Boy: Sir, look, look, this monk although thirsty is not so much drinking the beverage. with his tongue as he is drinking with his eyes the candid face of the maidservants. Graduate: That will do, we have seen the monastic discipline of the passionfree [vtaraganam aramasamacarah] : s : Boy: Living in pleasure gardens [ujyana], with drink and food both easy to obtain, : untroubled by restrictions: lucky are those who become Buddhists.38 A nal example here of this sort of thing which occurs in non-Buddhist _ sources, and one that involves a lesa as good as that found in the Vibhanga, s : can be cited from the Padmaprabhrtaka attributed to Sudraka. Here a : Buddhist Bhiksuagain called a akyabhiksuis seen hurrying out of the s : : courtyard of a courtesan (veyanganad drutataram abhiniskramati). When s _ : asked what he is up to he says: sampratam viharad agacchamti, which on the : : surface should meanas Loman translates itI am just coming from the monastery. The fact that he isnt is obvious, but he is not lying eithervihara can, of course, mean monastery, but it also means sport, play, pleasure, what used to be called dallying, and a place where one does all of that. In case the audience missed the pun, Sudraka has the speaker of the monologue say bhutartham jane viharalatam bhadantasya: I know the real s : : sense of the virtuousness of the Reverends vihara. The verbal gymnastics, however, do not end here. The bhiksu claims to have been consoling with the : words of the Buddha (buddhavacana) a whore named, interestingly enough, _ Samghadasika, Little Slave of the Sangha, whose mother had died. The : speaker of the monologue does not buy this and the bhiksu says: But excuse : me, Sir,surely one must develop kind thoughts (prasannacitta) towards all _ living beings! The response to whichnot unlike in our Vibhanga textis: Because your reverence is always so kind, you will indeed attain parinirvana : by taking care of your craving [i.e., by consoling prostitutes] (sthane nityaprasanno bhadantah trsnacchedena parinirvanam prapsyasi).39 : : : : :: This small sampling should sufce to show that the kind of representations of certain kinds of Buddhist bhiksusand especially of the Group-of-Sixfound : in the Mu lasarvastivada-vinaya is found as well in Indian secular literature. But this observation has at least two important correlates. First of all, the secular sources cited here are of a particular kind: the Mattavilasa is a farce (prahasana), the Agamad ambara is a satirical college-drama, and the Padmaprabhrtaka is : : a bhana or comic monologue. By virtue of their genre alone, then, there is no :
38 39
For the Agamad ambara both text and translation are cited from Dezso (2005, pp. 5455; 5859). : The text and some of the translation here are cited from Loman (1956, pp. 36 ( 234), 62).
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doubt at all that these works were intended to provoke laughter, and that the character sketches they contain were meant to be, and were considered, funny. But given the basic similarity between these sketches and those of Upananda and Udayin in our Vinaya, it would, again, be disingenuous to maintain that while the former were intended to provoke laughter, the latter were not. A second correlate is even broader in its implications and concerns not just the history of Buddhist literature, but the history of Indian literature as a whole. It will have been noticed that none of the examples cited here from secular literature is particularly early. Indeed it is not easy to place either the extant prahasanas or the extant bhanas early in the history of Sanskrit drama. The : Mattavilasa is the earliest prahasana that has come down to us,40 but dates only to the 7th century C.E., and while Warder would assign the Padmaprabhrtaka to the 3rd century, Schokker can nd arguments for either the : 3rd/4th or 5th/6th centuries.41 The Agamad ambara is later still. But if Gnoli is : right in placing the compilation of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya in the times of Kaniska (and the chances seem good that he is),42 and if Falk is right : in putting the beginning of the Kusan era in the early 2nd Century C.E. (and : the chances for this too are good),43 and if nally, the comedicsome might prefer satiricalcharacter of the sketches of Buddhist bhiksus in this Vinaya : is acknowledged, then it can at least be said that the kind of comedic or satirical sketches of Buddhist bhiksus found in extant Indian secular literature : are in fact attested even earlier in Buddhist sources themselves, and the possibility of these Buddhist sources having had a signicant inuence on both the prahasana and bhana becomes very real. : What to call these sketches, or how precisely to characterize them, remains, however, an open question. This might be especially so in regard to the role of the citation or quotation of doctrine in them: are such citations making fun of doctrine, or parodying it, or satirizing certain kinds of bhiksus? Here too a : glance at Indian secular literature might prove useful.
40 41
Warder (1977, pp. 5, 1160; 37, 1218); Schokker (1966, p. 31), (cf. the caution expressed in Loman, 1956, p. 12). Here epigraphical usage might prove useful. The title in the Padmaprabhrtaka that Loman translates as Buddhist mendicant is akyabhiksu. But this title does s : : not occur in Indian inscriptions until the 4th century C.E., and not commonly until the 5th/6th centuries (see Schopen, 2005a, pp. 223246, esp. 237an extremely isolated possible exception might be an inscription from Satdhara, one of the group of sites around Sanci, which Agrawal ~ reads as sakiya bhikhuniya pemutaka, and translates as the gift of a female Sakya monk, Premamitra (?); Agrawal (1997, p. 414); His reading, however, is problematic in a number of ways and cannot be conrmed since no photo or rubbing is provided.) This usage would seem to render Warders dating doubtful, and would seem to point towards Schokkers latest date (note that the author of the Padmaprabhrtaka also uses the title akyabhiksuk in Lomans 21.22). It is s : : also worth adding that if akyabhiksu was a title used specically by that group of groups which we s : call the Mahayanaand that still does not seem an unreasonable interpretationthen it would seem that those secular literary works that use this title are not referring to Buddhist bhiksus as a whole, but to a specic sub-group, and that they therefore may provide us another : little window on the social reception of the Mahayana in India. Gnoli (1977, xviiixxiii); see also most recently Schopen (2005a, pp. 7576). Falk (2001).
42 43
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Salomon, for example, has said that the kind of parody that could be involved in our Vinaya passagesthe imitation of sacred texts with a specically satirical intentis rather unusual in Sanskrit,44 and while this certainly seems to be so, something of the sort seems to occur already in the Ubhayabhisarika attributed to a Vararuci, which Warder says is probably the earliest Indian play now available intact,45 and is a bhana or satirical : monologue. Here, early on, there is a tart exchange between the vita : or rogue, the traditional speaker in a bhana, and a supposed : : VaisesikanunDe describes her as a Buddhist Parivrajika of question : able morals, quoting Vaisesika and Samkhya philosophy, but while she cer: : tainly quotes Vaisesika and Samkhya philosophy, there is no reason at all to : take her as a Buddhist.46 The exchange between them is a clever bit of repartee, full of sexual innuendos and unremitting punning, that exploits the double meanings of the key technical vocabulary of both philosophical systems, but it comes off at in translation.47 Sufce it to say that the punning off technical doctrinal terms found herethough far more extendedis exactly of the same sort as that found in retorts of both Upananda and Udayin. Whether this is best called a parody of these doctrines, however, remains unsure, and the same issue arises in regard to another work at the other end of the chronological spectrum. It has been noted more than once that the Kashmiri Ksemendra (11th : Cent.) has reworked several verses of the Bhagavad Gta in his satirical Deopadea.48 Since Richard Salomon has already nicely set out these verses s s from the Gta with Ksemendras reworkings we need only cite one example.49 : This particular example involves a simile that is found as well in Buddhist sources.50 Gta v. 10 says
44 45 46
Warder (1990, p. 346, 1101). : Supposed Vaisesikanun are Warders words; for De see (1959, p. 15). In his characterization we have a problem similar to the one stated in n. 27 above: the tendency to identify any female gure in Indian literature who is called a parivrajika, or something like it, as a Buddhist needs also to be revisited.
47 See, for example, the translation in the unfortunately titled Ghosh (1975) Part I, 911 and notes (he renders parivrajika simply as itinerant female reclusesee previous note), Part II, 6.14 7.16Venkatacharya and Warder (1967) was not available to me, but see Warder (1990, p. 348, 1106). 48
Salomon (1983, p. 26); Sato (1994, p. 15, n. 3)Ksemendra also does much the same sort of : thing with verses from the Gta in his Kalavilasa, another of his satirical works; see Vasudeva (2005, pp. 361 (G4.39), 362 (G6.4), 363 (G6.7, G6.16, G6.17))Shulman sees what must surely be a self-conscious parody of the opening chapter of the Bhagavadgta in the Epic itself in the Vira:taparvan (1985, p. 262), but van Buitenen is less sure (1978, p. 15).
49
The texts are cited from Salomon with one small correction. Note that in this particular example of Ksemendras use of the Gta the idea he expresses is not a new one. Shulman, for example, says : of the prostitutes lack of feeling and attachmentgiving referencesas many passages tell us, this triumph over attachment makes the veya rather like the dispassionate yogin or sannyasin, s and then addsseeing, perhaps, what Ksemendra had seen before himthat this seems almost a : textbook example of the Gtas goal of detached worldly action; (1985, pp. 308, 309). See, for example, Lamotte (1981).
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_ : brahmany adhaya karmani sangam tyaktva karoti yah/ lipyate na sa pa: : : pena padmapatram ivambhasa // He who acts after directing the fruit of his actions onto Brahma, after giving up attachment, he is not touched by what is bad, like a lotus leaf by water // Ksemendra takes over the second line of this almost entirely, changing only na : sa papena into yan na ragena, substituting passion for what is bad. But he : supplies a completely different rst line: moksagami mano manye veyaya ratisamgame/ lipyate yan na ragena s : : : padmapatram ivambhasa // (III.28) I think the mind of a whore is on its way to salvation when she is making love Since it is not touched by passion, like a lotus leaf by water // Ksemendra does very much the same sort of thing with three other verses, and : Salomon says: It is typical of Ksemendras playful and irreverent style that he : chooses to satirize villains, skinints, and whores, with parodies not only of sacred texts, but even of the most revered of them all, the Bhagavad Gta. Butas we have seenhe also immediately adds: Parody of this sortthat is to say, imitation of sacred texts with a specically satirical intentis rather unusual in Sanskrit51 But while this last remark must remain true in general terms, we have already seen something like this imitation of sacred texts with : a specically satirical intent in the Ubhayabhisarikaif, that is, Vaisesika and Samkhya formal doctrine be considered sacred. More importantly, however, : it is not easy to avoid the observation that what Ksemendra was doing in the : 11th century looks very much like what the compilers of the Mulasarvastivada vinaya had already donealso in Sanskritlong before. While they were not aiming at villains, skinints and whores, but rather at a certain type of learned bhiksu, these Buddhist authors do indeed appear to have used central : doctrines from sacred textssarvasamskara anitya itiwith a specically : satirical intent. It is in fact possible that Ksemendra knew this vinaya,52 but : even if that cannot be conclusively demonstrated it would seem once again clear that including the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya in the history of Sanskrit literatureas Levi suggested we doand reading each in light of the other, will prove protable for both.
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That he knew Buddhist narrative literature is, of course, certain given his Bodhisattvavadana kalpalata, and although his exact sources have not been determined, there is little doubt that the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya was a major repository of such narrative material (see Panglung, 1981, esp. 209210 for a table of avadanas found in both the Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata and this Vinaya, and this table is not complete), and it appears to have been well known to a signicant number of Kashmiris who participated in its translation into Tibetan a century or two before Ksemendra : (see Naudou, 1968, pp. 8688). Earlier still, in the second half of the 8th century, at least one Chinese pilgrim monk was able to study the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya in Kashmir (Levi and Chavannes, 1895); etc.
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A nal text from the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya that might be cited here could serve as a kind of summary of several issues raised so far. At the very least it might provide clear proof that the compilers of this Vinaya were familiar with the composition and production of Indian dramas. Indeed, the details this little text provides would seem to suggest a familiarity with Indian theater at a relatively early stage of its development. It would also seem to conrm from an even stronger angle that the type of learned bhiksu represented by the : Group-of-Six was in fact an object of ridicule, and that presentations of them were intended and perceived to be comicthe comic interlude in the performance described in this text is, again, entirely taken up with actions of two members of the group. Like the second and third examples of the citation of doctrine in incongruous contexts cited above, the text here at issue comes from the _ Vibhanga,53 but unlike them it has been easily available in one form or another for a very long time. Already in 1877 Anton von Schiefner had translated the Tibetan translation of the text into German as one of what he titled Indische Erzahlungen, and this was quickly translated into English (1882) by W.R.S. Ralston, in a collection of these, that he much less fortunately titled Tibetan Tales, with Derived from Indian Sources only as a sub-title that was frequently omitted in citationit is worth repeating, therefore, that these are not Tibetan, but Indian tales, and that the whole would have been more accurately titled Tales from the Mulasarvastivada vinaya, since all but a few of the translations are from it.54 Only 8 years after Ralstonand referring to it Sylvain Levi then published a detailed paraphrase of the text in French.55 The rst part of the text gives an account of two local nagarajas in Rajagrha : who were inadvertently expelled from his kingdom by Bimbisara, when he mistook them for impudent householders. Their departure had, of course, disastrous consequencessprings, lakes, and pools dried up, the crops failedbut when Bimbisara was informed of their true identity by the Buddha and, realizing what he had done, tried to get the naga kings to return, they agreed to do so only if he built a temple (lha khang = devakula) for each, and established a festival for them which would be held every 6 months. Bimbisara did both and thus arose the festival of the Naga Kings Giri and Valguka (giri-valguka-yatra), these being the names of the two nagarajas. This was an important festival in the Mu lasarvastivada-vinaya that is referred _ _ to not just here in the Vibhanga, but also in the Bhiksun-vibhanga and the : :
53 54
According to Panglung (1981, p. 255), von Schiefners translation rst appeared in Bulletin de lAcademie Imperiale des Sciences de St.-Petersbourg 13 (1877)I have not seen this. For the English translation see Ralston (1882, pp. 236246). 55 Levi (1890, pp. 5456).
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Pravrajya and Bhaisajya-vastus,56 and its origin taleat least as it is told here : _ in the Vibhangawould seem to reect an attempt on the part of the compilers to associate it with the Buddha and the Buddhist community. If so, it would seem to represent another instance of the inclusion or co-option of local spirits by a community of Buddhist bhiksus.57 But to pursue this would lead us : too far aeld, and here it need only be kept in mind that the drama which we are about to meetand its comic interludewere written and staged on the occasion of this festival, and this alone is of some interest. The narrative fact that the drama we have to do with was presented on the occasion of a festival is in full conformity with what is known about the production of plays in early India. Warder, for example, says: the prologues of plays often name a festival for which they were performed, and it is clear that the primary function of the drama in ancient and medieval India was this social one and that on the frequent festival occasions every city in India and many towns and villages enjoyed performances of plays.58 Viewed from the point-of-view of the performers, who made their living from such plays, at least part of the reason for this is obvious: festivals would provide a large _ audience. Indeed, our Vibhanga text says: When the festival (dus ston) took place there (in Rajagrha), then a crowd of large groups of people from the six : great cities assembled and congregated together.59 _ A second narrative fact in the Vibhanga is also in conformity with what is found elsewhere. The text says that on one occasion when the festival of the Naga Kings Giri and Valguka was taking place in Rajagrha an actor from : the south went therethe Tibetan text has gar mkhan, an attested translation of nata, and a similar text in the Avadanaataka dealing with the same festival s : has daksinapathan natacarya agatah.60 But Levi has already pointed out that : : : : le sud est la patrie classique des comediens, dans les textes bouddhiques et dans nombre de prologues [of secular dramas].61 Once the nata has arrived at Rajagrha at the time of the festival the text : : says he thought to himself:
56
_ Bhiksun-vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ta 244a.5; Pravrajyavastu, Vogel and Wille (1984), esp. 303 : : (fol. 7v.8, .9); Bhaisajyavastu, Derge dul ba Kha 8a.4also at Speyer (19061909, 24.6); Vina: : yasamgraha of Visesamitra, Derge, bstan gyur, dul ba Nu 231b.7In both von Schiefner/Ralston : and Levi the names appear as Girika and Sundara, which needs to be corrected in light of the now available Sanskrit. Schopen (2002). Warder (1972, p. 13, 29).
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_ Vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ja 224b.1though little studied, there is also a cycle or series of more explicitly Buddhist festivals frequently referred to in this Vinaya, and large crowds are commonly mentioned in regard to them as well; for the moment see Schopen (2005a, pp. 130, 132135); Schopen (2005b), esp. pp. 299300 and n. 5; 304 and n. 21; 308. 60 _ Speyer, Avadana$ ataka ii 24.7; likewise Bhiksun-vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ta 244a.5: gar mkhan c : : gyi slob dpon chen po zhig ongs te/.In what follows I use the term nata since the gure in : question is more than just an actor. 61 Levi (1890, p. 55).
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Is there a way by which both this crowd of large groups of people would be delighted (mngon par dga ba = abhi-nandthe goal, in effect, of all drama), and a handsome prot would also be made? Having thought thus he considered further: If a panegyric (bsngags = praasti) of a distinguished man (skyes bu gtso bo = punnaga) were to be s treated, then both this crowd of large groups of people would be delighted, and a handsome prot would also be made. But since the great majority of that crowd of large groups of people was then well disposed toward the Blessed One, that nata considered still further: Since, indeed, the world : together with the gods is well disposed toward the Blessed One, and since, if a panegyric of the Buddha, the Blessed One, would be treated both the large crowd would be delighted, and a handsome prot made, a panegyric of the Buddha, the Blessed One, should be treated. (Ja 224b.2) Having determined what, in effect, would be a suitable topic for his play, the nata : was, however, still not able to present it because, it seems, there was no drama on that theme, or he at least did not have such in his repertoire, and had therefore to go to the bhiksus to collect material on the details of the biography of the : Buddha to compose one for the occasion. Our text, then, might well be reecting a situation very like that postulated by Warder for the early history of Sanskrit drama: The companies of actors in ancient times had playwrights attached to them to prepare plays as needed, or the producer himself might have arranged plays on stories well known to the actors. The early productions were probably ephemeral and it was presumably only later that xed texts began to be handed down and to be permanently recorded in book form.62 Indeed, a reference later in our text to a second play leaves something of the same impression: when the Group-of-Six want to put on a play that will best the one the nata is about to compose, they too have no text and they must go : to the Group-of-Twelve, a group of clever bhiksuns of the same character as : : the Group-of-Six, and ask them for help. They say: Sisters, tell us whatever you remember from that drama (na:taka) which we produced named The Blessed One Undertaking the Practice of the Bodhisattva as Kuru ( dong nas smras pa / sring mo dag bdag cag gis bcom ldan das byang chub sems dpai spyod pa la jug pa na sgra mi snyan zhes bya bai gar thabs byas pa gang yin pa de las cung zad ci dran pa bgroo zhes).63 The text here is, of course, open to more than one interpretation: von Schiefner/Ralstonand Levi, presumably following themhave understood the text to be saying that the play on Kuru was composed or produced by the bhiksuns themselves, and although : :
62
_ Warder (1972, p. 54, 121); and note that in both the Avadanaataka and Bhiksun-vibhanga s : : (n. 60) it is not a nata who arrives but a natacarya, a producer (?). : : 63 _ Vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ja 228b.7Other references to this drama are unknown, at least to me, and even its subject matter is unclear. It could be connected with an account like that contained in the Pali Vidhurapand ita-jataka (no. 545), but that is just a guess. ::
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this ignores the pronoun bdag cag gis (we) that appears to be the subject of the verb byas pa (produced), it would t with the narrative fact that the nata : also had to get his materialas will be clear in a momentfrom a leading member of the Group-of-Twelve Bhiksuns. But however it be read, the : : passage would seem again to reect a period in which dramas were ephemeral, or at least did not yet circulate in xed texts. The nata, in any case, having determined to present a play on the subject of the : Buddha approaches each of the Group-of-Six in turn, asking for details on a long list of events in the Buddhas life. But every member of the group who is asked asks in return what he intends to do with it, and when told by the nata that he will : compose a drama, they say: Wretch! We are to make a show of the Teacher for you?! Say no more, and get out of here!. He then goes to the Group-of-Twelve andin what is almost certainly a swipe at such bhiksunsSthulananda, who is : : the very rst one he approaches, rst asks if he will pay her (kho mo la bca bai rin sbyin nam/). Then, when he agrees, she tells him all the detail in accordance with what is said in the Abhiniskramana-su (mngon par byung bai mdo las tra : : rgya cher ji skad gsungs pa bzhin thams cad rgyas par bstan to). Sthula nandalike several members of the Group-of-Sixis described as very learned (bahuruta), one who knows the Tripitaka (tripita), and as possessed of smooth s : : and unfettered eloquence (yuktamuktapratibhana).64 The text then says that the nata, after having obtained his material from : Sthulananda, composed a play, but did not stop there with the edifying material she had supplied. He thought to himself: While I will be able with this to increase the good disposition65 of those of this large crowd who are already well disposed, is there some means by which the undisposed might give rise to a good disposition? Having so thought, he, hotly resenting (snying na ba = hrdaya-paridahana) the : Group-of-Six Bhiksus, and wanting to pay them back, began to contin: ually follow them around.
64 _ Vibhanga, Derge dul ba Ja 226b.6227a.6It is both telling and entirely consistent with what has been seen so far that those bhiksus and bhiksuns who are characterized as very learned and as : : : Tripitaka masters are, more often than not, also the ones who are the object of ambivalence, : criticism, or satire. 65 The Tibetan here and below is dad pa, which is probably translating prasada or raddha, as it s frequently does elsewhere. von Schiefner/Ralston translate this as faith, Levi as foi, but that seems unsuitable here: the nata is not trying to convert the crowds or preach to them, but to win : their approval and thereby his fee. Cf., for example, the sutradharas remark in the Ratnavali at the end of the nand: aye. avarjitani sakalasamajikanam manamsti me nicayah, which Lehot translates: s : : : ` Oh! La salle entiere est davance conquise, sans doute! (Lehot, 1933, 3.8), and Kale as: Ah! I am quite sure, the minds of all the spectators have been won over (or favorably disposed towards us) (Kale, 1921, p. 118). The audiences interest obviously had to be captured. Even more to the point, Sastr (1964, I.4.16) says of traveling players: kulava cagantavah preksanakam esam das s : : : :: dyuh / dvitye hani tebhyah puja niyatam labheran / tato yatharaddham esam daranam utsargo va/: s s : : : : : Visiting players also come and give an audition for them, and on the second day they are rewarded with a xed fee. Then they may give a performance or be dismissed, according to their reception [yatharaddham] (Doniger and Kakar, 2002, p. 19). s
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Once the Venerable Chanda, although he had nished eating his meal and made an end of it, when he obtained some particularly nice food and drink and wanted to eat it, he, washing his hands, and having formally accepted the particularly nice food and drink, squatted in front of the Venerable Udayin while he was still eating his meal, and said: Might the Venerable Udayin please consider: I, the bhiksu named Chanda, after : eating my meal, making an end of it, completing it, and being nished, have obtained more food and drink and, since I want to eat it, might you make it surplus (krtatirikta) and present it to me? Udayin, having eaten : two or three little bites of it, said: Since it is made yours, now go away! When the nata saw this he thought; With this I will be able to make : those who are undisposed well disposed as well. (Ja 227a.6-b.3) Notice rst of all here that when composing his drama the nata relied for his : main theme on traditional, even textual material, but for what will be specically identied as its comic interlude he turned to direct observation. Notice too, that for that interlude he focused on the behavior of members of the Group-of-Six, particularly on a characteristic they share with the vidusaka : of classical drama: Chandas obsession with food and his gluttony. Notice, nally, that even though it does not fully come across in translation, or without some knowledge of vinaya technicalities, the redactors here have already cleverly satirized elements of the vinaya itself: although asking, in effect, for help in getting around a Pratimoksa rule (the 34th payantika which makes it : an offence to eat anything that has not been made surplus, akrtatirikta, after : one has nished his meal), Chandas posture (squatting) and formulaic, patterned speech (e.g., declaring his name), as well as his very polite diction all mimic the set from of a whole series of formal vinaya rituals (e.g. an individuals request for ordination).66 On top of all this it is very likely that it would be hard for an Indian audience not to see in this scene the request by one person for another to turn particularly nice food and drink into ucchis:ta, leftovers, making them impure and highly polluting.67 The : incongruity, the cultural silliness of this, it might have been understood, would have particularly recommended this scene to the nata for his purposes, and : those purposes were explicitly comedic. His drama now complete, the nata set up a canopy (bla re bres te = : vitanavitata),68 sounded his drum, and put on his performance. At some point in itthe text is not clear, but it may have been after the main performancehe introduced a theatrical or reworked version of the behavior of the bhiksus : belonging to the Group-of-Six that he had observed:
66 67
For convenience sake see Schopen (2004c), esp. pp. 232, 236, 238.
See, for example, Olivelle (1998), reprinted in Olivelle (2005, pp. 217245); esp. pp. 236237 and copious references there. An interesting detailthere is obviously no theater here. For a recent paper on the frustrating question of whether or not there were theaters in early India see Moacanin (2003).
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One actor was made to appear as Udayin, another actor as Chanda. Then, when he had lled a claybowl with ashes (thal ba = bhasman) and put two or three lumps of sugar on top of them, while squatting in front of the actor appearing as Udayin who was eating his meal, the other actor said: Might the Reverend Udayin please consider: I the bhiksu : named Chanda, after eating my meal, making an end of it, completing it, and being nished, have obtained more food and drink and, since I want to eat it too, might you make it surplus and present it to me? The actor appearing as Udayin, when he had taken the two or three lumps of sugar from it and eaten them, dumped the ashes from the bowl on the head of the actor appearing as Chanda and said; Since it is made yours, now go away! And that entire crowd of large groups of people burst out with roars of laughter Ha Ha! (ha ha zhes gad moi sgra chen po phyung ste). Those who were undisposed, having become increasingly well disposed, said: Brillianta crazy trick has been played! Brillianta crazy trick has been played! (e mao smyon thabs byas so / e mao smyon thabs so zhes zer zhingvon Schiefner/Ralston: saying it was a mad prank; Levi: declara que cetait une bouffonnerie folle). And the nata made a handsome prot (Ja 228a.3-.7). : It is probably not difcult to see what, narratively, is going on here, and not easy to disagree with Levis description when he says that after the nata had : observed the interaction between Udayin and Chanda il resolut damuser ` le public a leurs depens, and il transporta lincident et les personages sur la ` scene, en forme de farce.69 Although not explicitly called a farce, it is surely that. It involves the same sort of high jinks between religious gures as, for example, the Mattavilasa, which itself also involves a bowl of food and a Buddhist bhiksu, and was obviously meant to poke fun. But there are differ: _ ences too, and they are striking: the Vibhanga text was almost certainly written centuries before the Mattavilasa, and although it too is poking fun at Buddhist bhiksus, it, unlike the Mattavilasa, was almost certainly written by a bhiksu. : : Once again it appears that the classical Indian farce or religious satire might well have had its roots in Buddhist vinaya. More pertinent perhaps to our particular purposes, however, is the _ facthistorical, not narrativethat when the author of the Vibhanga had to provide his nata with a comic subject he chose the behavior of the Group-of-Six. : He did so, presumably, because hethe Buddhist bhiksu authorhimself : thought that the actions of this group of learned bhiksus were funny, and that : they would be perceived as such by any audience. Indeed, to judge by the reaction he attributed to the natas audience, they must have been considered : absolutely hilarious. It is, of course, not necessary to assert that a single author _ wrote not only our Vibhanga text, but all of those that have been cited here dealing with the incongruous doings of the Group-of-Six, in order to maintain _ that this Vibhanga text is as close as we are likely to get to a contemporary witness to the reaction to these tales in their own context. And that, after all, is
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what we have been looking for all along. The only thing that might be funnier, perhaps, is the lugubrious labor it takes today to establish this. The joke, indeed, may be on usit is those who quote texts and doctrine, it seems, who come off looking ridiculous.
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