Bond - Arahant Ideal - Theravada

8/13/2019 Bond - Arahant Ideal - Theravada

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Journal of the American Academy of Religion, LII 2

THE DEVELOPMENT AND ELABORATIONOF THE ARAHANT IDEAL

IN THE THERAVADA BUDDHIST TRADITIONG E O R G E D . BO N D

Since th e nineteenth cen tury , scholars of Buddhism hav e attem ptedto discern an d descr ibe the developm ent of the T herav ada Buddhistt radi t ion as represented in the Pgl i Canon. That the t radi t ion developedseems certain , bu t exactly how this deve lopm ent occurred is diff icult todetermine because no completely reliable criteria for sorting out thevarious strata of material in t he Pali Can on h ave be en dev ised. A previ-ous gen eratio n of Bud dhist scholars tho ug ht that an early Bud dhismcould be identif ied in the Pgli texts through etymological and doctrinalcriteria. As we have pointed out elsewhere 1980 ,how ever, these judg-men ts abou t early Buddhism usually were subjective at best an d heav-ily biased a t wo rst. M urti notes, Th e chronolog ical division of texts in toprimitive a nd later accretion is highly conjectural 23).The fate of former scholars ' attempts to discover how the traditiondevelo ped makes one w ary of ventu ring in to this area . Nevertheless, th equestions at issue he re are too imp orta nt for our understan ding of Bud-dhism for us simply to ignore them. This scholarly reluctance has leftunchallenged a nu m be r of theories abou t the developm ent of th e tradition,theories that seem rather clearly to need correcting. Thus, this articleexamines th e deve lopm ent of a ce ntra l aspect of T he rav ada B udd hism : th earahant ideal arahatta) .W e do not inten d to seek to dif ferent ia te earlyBuddhism from T herav ada, but , ra ther , our l imited intent is to investigateth e way that th e notion of arahant developed wi thin th e Th eravada t radi-t ion. W e shall suggest a prob able course of develo pm ent for this ideal an dcontrast ou r view of this dev elop me nt with th e views of I . B. Ho rner , thescholar whose work on th e subject of th e arahant has stood as thes tandard.George D. Bond is Associate Professor of the History and Literature of Religion at North-western University. He is the author of a recent book, The Word of the Buddha: TheTipitaka and Its Interpretation in Theravada Buddhism Colombo: M. D. Gunasena andCo., 1982). This paper was originally presented at the 1982 Annual Meeting of the AARin New York.In addition to I . B. Horner, others such as Dayal, Johansson, and Warder have briefly


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228 Journal of the American Academy of ReligionTo state our thesis at the outset, the arahant concept seems to have

developed from an ideal readily attainable in this life (ditthe ua dhamme)into an ideal considered remote and impossible to achieve in one or evenmany lifetimes. The evolution of this ideal, in turn, seems to reflect thebasic evolution of the Theravada tradition from a cenobitic tradition to abroadly-based religious tradition, well-established in society.

Since the arahant represents the central ideal of the Theravada tra-dition, the canonical Pali texts contain many and various teachings aboutarahantship. The non-canonical writings of the Theravada tradition addfurther conceptions to this literature on the arahant. All these variouswritings on the arahant, however, seem to fall roughly into three groupsbased upon their views of the ideal; and these views can be arranged ina probable order of their development within the Theravada tradition.2

EARLY CONCEPTIONS OF THE ARAHANT IDEALThe texts in the first group of teachings about the arahant tell of

ordinary people attaining this goal immediately and easily. The mostcommon kinds of texts here are the accounts of the Buddha s early proc-lamations of the dhamma. Suttas such as the Anattalakkhana-Sutta, tellof the Buddha s preaching to his five ascetic companions who becamearahants on the spot after hearing the dhammu (S.III.66f.).Hearing thesupreme truth, the ascetics attained the liberation of the mind and werefreed from the mental barriers to wisdom called iisavas (S.III.68). TheMahiivagga relates a series of similar incidents in the Buddha s earlycareer. The young man Yasa became an arahant when the Buddhaexplained the dhamma to him (Vin.I.16). Then fifty friends of Yasalikewise became arahants while being instructed by the Buddha(Vin.I.20). Another sutta describes the immediate attainment of arahant-ship by one thousand bhikkhus who were present at the Buddha s procla-mation of the Fire Sermon (Adittapariyiiya-Sutta, S.IV.19f.; Vin.I.35).

Although the editors of the Piili Canon provided few chronologicaldistinctions between various texts, the suttas in this first group seem to berecounted as ancient events rather than as the then-prevailing situationvis-i-vis arahantship. From a critical viewpoint, we might say that thesestories represent pious legends or hagiography intended to glorify theBuddha and the first disciples. For the Theravadins, however, thesesuttas conveyed an important belief about arantship: viz., in the time ofinvestigated the concept of the arahant Until Katz s work, however, Horner s book hasbeen the only work exclusively on this topic, and as such it has been very influential.This article complements my earlier chapter on the arahant (t.b.a.). There the focuswas on the nature of arahantship, the characteristics and qualities of the arahant There-fore, we shall not repeat that investigation here. The focus of this article is the develop-ment of the arahant ideal and the path to arahantship. For detailed treatment of thespecific kinds of wisdom and qualities of the arahant see the previous chapter.


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229ond: Arahant Idealthe Buddha some ordinary people became arahants in this very life. Thisrepresents what Theravada held to be the earliest teaching about thearahant ideal.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARAHANT IDEALA second group of teachings about arahantship presents a different

view of the goal. These texts depict arahantship as a distant goal; theyseem to say that it is still possible to attain the goal in one lifetime, butnot easily or immediately. In these texts, the qualitative differencebetween the arahant and the ordinary person, puthu jana, is stressed.The arahant is described as a ~erfected eing who, by virtue of his per-fections, transcends the ordinary plane of existence in almost every way.Because a vast gulf of imperfection separates the puthujjana from thearahant, the immediate or sudden enlightenment described in the earliertexts finds no mention here. This gulf cannot be leaped in one bound,but can be traversed via a gradual path of development. This gradualpath represents the new element in these teachings.

Characteristic of this second group of texts are a number of suttas inthe Pali Nikayas that outline this path of d e ~ e l o ~ m e n t . ~hese pathsuttas recount what is supposed to have been the Buddha's descriptionof the course of development an ordinary person must follow to becomean arahant . By detailing the obstacles on the path and the level of per-fection that arahants attain, these suttas make it clear that arahantship isa difficult goal.

The puthujjana must begin by abandoning completely the house-holder's life, making an irrevocable decision to leave the worldly life.The path suttas then detail three kinds of perfection that the personmust begin to develop: perfection in higher morality (adhisila), perfec-tion in higher concentration or meditation (adhicitta), and perfection inwisdom (adhipaiiiia). Each of these perfections has many facets andpresents formidable obstacles for the puthujjana. Higher morality oradhisila comprises all aspects of life, from the ordinary precepts govern-ing relationships with people to the virtues of nonattachment, extremesimplicity in life-style and control over one's senses.

Higher concentration or meditation (adhicitta) involves perfectingone's mental states and moving toward wisdom. Here the path suttasdescribe the attainment of mindfulness (sati) and concentration (sama-dhi). Perfection in this sense entails conquering the mental imperfectionscalled nivaranas or hindrances. The ordinary person, plagued by thesenivaranas, has sensual desire, ill-will, sloth or torpor, excitement anddoubt; these hindrances must be eliminated in order to progress toward

See, for example D I 47ff ; M.III.33ff; A II 207ff ; and M.I.344ff


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230 Journal of the American Academy of Religionarahantship. When the hindrances have been eliminated one enters thejhiinas, the trance states representing complete samiidhi, concentration.

Finally, having overcome all these obstacles on the path, the ardentBuddhist must bring to maturity perfect wisdom, adhipafifiii. This per-fection again is complex, involving-in some accounts-six higher wis-doms, abhififitis.4 The most important and highest of these six wisdomsentails elimination of the remaining, subtle, negative mental states callediisavas. Usually reckoned to be four, the tisavas include sensual desire,attachment to existence and rebirth, attachment to views, and ignoranceof the ultimate truth (M.III.36; A.II.210). Only when the iisavas havebeen destroyed does the seeker achieve the liberating wisdom that estab-lishes him as an arahant. Then he can be described in terms of thecanon's stock description of an arahant: The arahant who has destroyedthe tisavas, who has fulfilled, who has done all that had to be done, whohas laid down his burden, who has attained his own goal, who hasdestroyed the fetters of becoming and who having attained right knowl-edge is one who is liberated. 5Although the path suttas never say that this path of perfection can-not be accomplished in one lifetime, they make clear that the goal isdifficult, since it can only be reached by progressing through all of thestages. A sutta in the Anguttara Nikiiya, for example, compares themonk's task in following the path to the farmer's task of planting andpreparing his crop. The farmer cannot demand: Let my crops spring uptoday. Tomorrow let them ear. On the following day let them ripen.For: It is only the due season that make these things happen. So, in thesame way, the monk is said not to be able to demand that the threeperfections be accomplished overnight and the goal be attained immedi-ately, for it is just the due season that releases his mind, as he undergoesthe three-fold training (A.I.239). Other texts complement this picture ofthe gradual path of development by stating that few people were able tocomplete the path and attain the goal. A text in the Samyutta Nikiiya(V.405) declares, Few indeed are those monks who by destroying theiisavas, have for themselves in this life and by their own knowledgeattained the liberation of the mind, the liberation by insight, and abidetherein. In another sut ta, Mahii-Kassapa asks the Buddha-presumablytoward the end of the Buddha's career-why formerly there were fewertraining rules and more arahants but now there are more training rulesand fewer arahants (S.II.223; cf. M.I.444f.). The Buddha explains thatthis situation developed because people had become degenerate and thedhamma had been obscured.

See D.I.77ff.;A.III.16f.;M.I.34ff., tcThis statement occurs frequently in the texts; see D.III.83,97; M I 4f ; S.I.71; A.I.144and elsewhere throughout the PHli Canon.
http:///reader/full/D.III.83http:///reader/full/M.I.4f.;http:///reader/full/M.I.4f.;http:///reader/full/D.III.83


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Bond: Arahan t Ideal 23Th us, this second gr ou p of texts presents a rah an tsh ip as a difficultideal attained by relatively few of those wh o undertook t he m onastic

life. Kassapa's lament about th e scarcity of ar ah an ts provides a rem ark -able contrast to th e teachings in th e first grou p tha t tell of a n abu nd an ceof ar ah an ts at the outset of the B uddha's care er. Araha ntship seems tohave become a remote norm fairly early in the history of the tradition.But although arahantship had become remote and difficult it still repre-sented the goal of the tradition. W hen the goal cam e to be reg arded asthis distant, however, the path became increasingly important for pro-viding a gra du ate d series of stages on the way to arahantsh ip.F U R TH E R D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E P A TH A ND T H E ID E AL

T he third gro up of teachings about arahan tship continues this tre nd ,extending th e conception of the gr adu al path . These texts decla re thatarahants were few and the path long, requiring, i t is said now, morethan one lifetime to co m plete. W ithin t he cano n, this grou p of teachingsis represented by the suttas detailing th e fou r paths (ma ggii) or the fo urnoble persons (ariya puggala). Katz sees these four persons to have beena developm ent from an earlier distinction betw een ad epts (asekha) an dlearners (sekha) (1979:136). W hereas dur ing the earlier period, Buddhistswere content to make only a two-fold distinction between those on theway and those who had reached the goal, at a later period Buddhists feltthe need to distinguish much more carefully between persons followingthe way. These paths or persons denote stages on the gradual path toarahantship, stages that extend th e path into the fu tur e lives of the indi-vidua l. In o ne sutta (A .V .84 f.), th e Bu ddh a teaches th at if a followerpracticed the way he would be destined to spend in fu tur e lives a hun -dred years, a hundred t imes a hundred years, a hundred t imes a thou-sand years, a hundred times a hundred thousand years enjoying thehighest happiness. And he would be a once -retur ner , or a non-re turne ror a strea m -en terer, assured of th e goal.T he standard explanation of the fo ur paths in th e canon describesthem as four stages of the supram undan e pa th (loku ttara m agg a,D .I.156; A.I.233; D .III.10 7; Vism.672-78). W hen one has adv ancedsufficiently on the m undan e path (lokiya), one enters the supram undan eby attaining the path of the stream -enterer (sota patt i m agga) by gaininga glimpse of th e highe r w isdom. Each of th e fou r noble paths leads to afruition (ph ala ) or a com plete atta inm en t of tha t stage of the w ay . Sowhen a person fulfills th e pa th of stre am -en try , he attain s the fru it ofstream-entry w hich carries assurance of becom ing an ar ah an t withinseven more rebirths. Second is the path of once returning (sakadiigiimim ag ga ), the fruit of which assures the Buddhist of becom ing an ar ah an tupon his next rebirth in this wo rld. T h e path of non -return ing (aniigiimi


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232 Journal of the American Academy of Religionmagga), the en ultim te stage, guarantees one who attains its fruit thathe will be reborn in a heavenly realm or pure abode and there willreach arahantship. Arahantship, of course, stands as the fourth path, or,more properly, the fourth fruition, the completion of the supramundanepath and the flowing into Nibbiina.The distinction between the mundane path of ordinary folk and thesupramundane path of the four noble persons is based upon perfection inthe three trainings: ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom (sila,sumadhi, pafifiii). The texts spell out the criteria for attaining the fourpaths and four fruitions, and, although some variation can be found inthese descriptions, the criteria always represent progress in the areas cov-ered by the three trainings, progress primarily in eliminating the factorsthat block wisdom. The most common explanation recurring in the suttasdifferentiates the four paths by reference to the mental fetters (samyo-janiini, e.g. , D.I.156f.; D.III.132; M.I.34-36). The stage of stream-entryis said to be reached by destroying the first three fetters: the illusion ofself (sakkaya di4thi); doubt (vicikicchii); and belief in good works andand rituals (silabbata paramasa). Progressing to a higher stage, the once-returner not only eliminates the three fetters but also reduces lust, hatredand delusion (riiga, dosa, moha). The non-returner has conquered all ofthe first five, or lower fetters-the three above plus sensual desire (kiima-riiga) and ill will (vyapada). Reaching the highest stage and the culmina-tion of the way in arahantship requires, on this explanation, destroyingthe five remaining, or higher, fetters: desire for material existence (rapariiga), desire for immaterial existence (arapa raga), conceit (mima), rest-lessness (uddhacca) and ignorance (avi ja).Other texts distinguish the four paths on the basis of the perfectionof other factors. The Mahii-Satipatthana Sutta declares that a personwho perfected the four foundations of mindfulness would either becomea non-returner or an arahant (D.II.314f.).Perfection of the five faculties(indriyani)-faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and insight-isdescribed by other texts as the means for ascending the four stages(S.V.2OOff.).Still another version teaches that to join the supramundanepath as a stream-enterer, a person must perfect four qualities: faith inBuddha, Dhamma, and Sangha; plus the virtue that comes from themoral trainings (S.V.375f.).

The descriptions of the four paths with their complex criteria foradvancement reinforce the idea that arahantship is a distant goal. Insome texts the four paths are even subdivided into a number of interme-diate stages. The stage of stream-entry is said to e subdivided into threegrades and that of the non-returner into five (Pu.37f.; A.I.233; A.II.133).The Petakopadesa describes these intermediate stages as appropriate tovarious kinds of learners (sekhii) (30). Because of their differing abilities,people progress through the stages at differing rates. Very intelligent


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233ond: Arahant Idealpeople, having become stream-enterers, reach the goal in one morereb irth; thus they are called single-seeders (ek abija) . People who arenot quite so intelligent require two or three rebirths into good families(kolamkola) before completing the stream . People who ar e only guid-able , however, need seven reb ir ths to fu lfill the pa th ( ~ . 3 0 f . ) . ~he samekinds of difference s in ab ilities ar e said to acc ount for t he five gra des ofnon-returners an d th e nine kinds of ar ah an ts (P:32). These texts teachthat the entire way with its many stages is difficult, for not only werea ra h an ts few b ut few beings stood on th e higher levels of this path aswell. One sutta describes the four paths in reverse order declaring, feware th e ara ha nt s and more num erous the once-returners; an d finally, feware the once-returners, more num erous th e stream-enterers (S.V.407f.).Despite th e difficulty of th e path , how ever, the schem e of th e fourpaths or noble persons has significance because it offers hope to thosewho are on the way but have not yet reached arahantship. Instead ofsimply offering the two options, pu thu jja na or ara h an t, the tradit iondeveloped a whole series of interm edia te stages along the gra dua l path.As I. B. H orn er wro te, Those wh o have progressed w ell ar e not rankedmerely as non-arahans but are assigned a definite status on the way(1936:206). Not reaching the goal in this life need not be a source ofdisappointment, for a person could look forward to continuing his prog-ress in future lives. The stream-enterer, for example, could be certainboth that he would not be reborn in an inferior state, i .e., as an anim al, aghost or in hell, and that he would have the opportunity and ability toreach enlightenment in fu ture rebirths (A .III.211).Nathan Katz observesthat th e four paths and fou r fruitions can be seen as a chart ofBuddhistically-understood spiritual grow th (1979:136).

The commentarial literature of the Theravada tradition providesm any good examples of wha t we ar e describing as the third phase in theinterpretation of arahan tship. T he comm entaries expounded th e fourpaths an d elaborated upon the requirem ents a nd the gradations of them(Vism.672ff.). These works also lengthened the grad ual p ath in otherways. Just as th e form ula of th e fo ur paths or fou r noble personsextended the gradual path into the future, so the Pali commentariesprojected the gradual path into the past as well. The commentaries tothe Therigatha and th e Th era gath a, fo r instance, provide not only thelife story of each fam ous ar ah an t bu t also an ac count of the previouslives of these a r a h a n t ~ . ~ach arahant is said to have begun the path ofKatz (1979:141-50) regards the single-seeder (ekabiji) and the clan to clan(Kolamkola) as forms of the Once Returner; the Petakopadesa, the Puggalapafiitatti andother texts, however, place these two under the category of Stream Enterer (P.30f.;Pu.37-40).For details on these previous lives of arahants see my The Problem of Sainthood inthe Theravada Tradition.


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234 Journal of the American Academy of Religiondevelopment countless aeons ago while he or she was still living ashouseholder. In these previous lives the arahants-to-be advanced towardtheir future attainment of the goal by perfecting their ethical conduct(sila) and performing meritorious deeds. Maha Kassapa, for example, issaid to have earned merit by feeding five hundred Pacceka buddhasduring one of his previous lifetimes (Thag.A.12lf.).Other arahants per-fected their generosity and compassion by building Buddhist monasteriesand temples. The female arahant, Kh e m ~ , ttained her favorable rebirthby giving gifts to an exalted elder and by donating land and buildings tothe Sangha (Thig.A.126f.).Similarly, the seven daughters of King Kiki ofKBsi built seven monasteries for the Buddha, and because of the meritfrom this gift they all became arahants in subsequent lives (Thig.A.17).In general the commentaries relate that the great saints progressedtoward arahantship by heaping up merit of age-enduring efficacy inthis and that rebirth. When this past dimension is added to the path,the present life appears to be only a small part of an immense existentialprocess coming out of the past and running on into the future.The commentarial literature also stressed that this protracted, grad-ual path was difficult. Buddhaghosa's view of the path was laid out in hisgreat work, the Visuddhimagga. Buddhaghosa's purpose in the Visud-dhimagga was to explain in detail the course one must follow to reachperfection. His account reveals the complexity of the path as it wastransmitted by the commentarial teachers of his day. As Buddhaghosaunderstood it, the path to purification comprised seven difficult stages(satta visuddhi) that one must master en route to enlightenment. Weappreciate the length and complexity of the gradual path as it wasunderstood by Buddhaghosa when we see that he held the first six stages,the accounts of which require twenty-one chapters in the Visuddhi-magga, to be still on the mundane path, whereas the first stage of thesupramundane path, the path of the stream-enterer, was not attaineduntil one reached the seventh stage of purification. On this view, evenstream-entry was a remote goal lying relatively near the end of animmensely long gradual path.For the commentators, the path had become central and arahantship aremote but controlling ideal. This distance is reflected in the fact that thecommentaries speak of great arahants of the past but do not mention anycontemporary arahants (see Horner, 1936:105). Buddhaghosa says thatfew people reach the advanced stages of the path because only one in ahundred or a thousand is able to reach even the intermediate stages and ofthose who attain that much, only one in a hundred or a thousand pro-gresses further (Vism.375).Thus, from a belief that arahantship was attainable in this very life,the Theravada tradition came to regard arahantship as a distant ideallying at the end of the gradual path of development that an individual


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235ond: Arahant Idealhad to ascend over th e course of m an y lifetimes. Although on e mightquarrel about the specific texts we have included in the three groups, thegene ral patt ern of develop me nt posited her e seems unden iable an d clear.It is improbable, for example, that the tradition first held the views de-scribed in gr ou p two-that th e pat h was long an d arahants few-andthen somehow develo ped th e views of grou p one-that ara han tship wasan immediate goal with saints abounding. Likewise it seems unlikelytha t the conception of ara han tship an d the path reflected in the thirdgroup p receded tha t of the second gro up where th e path was neither aslong nor as com plex.Therefore, we would argue for this general process as a descriptionof Th erav ada 's dev elop m ent of th e con cep t of araha ntsh ip. This patte rnof deve lopm ent can be su pp orte d, we believe, not only by exam ining theintern al logic of th e doc trines, but also by co nsidering t h e sociologicalcontext in which the tradition developed. Before citing those arguments,how ever, we m ust consider an im po rtant, opposing view of this processof development.I. B. HORNER'S INTERPRETATION O F TH E DEVELOPMEN T O F

ARAHANTSHIPW e refer, of course, to the view set forth by I . B. Horner in herbook, T he Early Buddhist Theory of M a n Perfected: Stud y of theArahan (1936). O ne of th e few scholars to inv estigate this subject, MissHorner gave the world a remarkable exposition of the arahant ideal . Toa great extent we ac cept h er conclusions regarding th e natu re of ara-hantship in th e canon a nd w e cannot but a dm ire the de pth of her schol-arship an d mastery of th e texts; we disagree co mp letely, however, w ith

he r notion of th e dev elop m ent of th e arahant ideal in the Theravadatradition. Since her book has been regarded as the standard work on thesubject, our differences seem w orth noting he re.Ho rner contends that the earliest me aning of the arahant in theBuddhist tradition, the Buddha's intention in this teaching, was that ofa m an growing u p to perfection as he ran on an d fared o n, his though t,word and deed becoming finer and purer in each new rebirth(1934:786). She declares that a great Te acher would not have seen per-fection as realizable un der p hysical conditions, but would hav e heldthat arahantship m ean t a state of infinite becom ing, a kind of gra du alpath of perfection without end (1934:786). T h e arahant she maintains,was regarded as having some bourn beyond, when this life was overwhich fit in with th e essentially India n belief in th e runn ing on an dfar ing on of beings (1934:796 ).T o explain th e developm ent of th e doctrine of th e arahant Horneremploys th e notions-developed by he r m ento r, C A. F . Rhys Davids-of


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236 Journal of the American Academy of ReligionSiikya and monastic Buddhism. According to these notions, the develop-ment of the Buddhism reflected in the Pgli Canon should be seen as havinghad two major periods: a pure, early period under the Buddha and a laterperiod that reflects the views and tenets of the monks who lived two orthree centuries after Gotama's death (1934:785). As a theory of the devel-opment of the tradition, these two periods seem reasonable and in keepingwith what we know of the history of Buddhism. As Horner employs thetheory, however, there is one additional premise implicit: she believes thatduring the second of these ~er iodshe monks perverted and distorted theoriginal intention of the religion. She refers to the mass of depraved, evilbhikkhus who figure so largely in the Vinaya, and who are accountable forthe framing of the rules (1936:114). In this view she reflects the work of CA. F. Rhys Davids, who wrote that with regard to the P ~ l iexts, We haveto get rid of the notion, if we have it, that in them we are reading what thefirst Sakyans said or would have said (387). The texts as we have themtoday represent, she contended, the altered ideals of the monk and mon-astic distortions of the original teachings 4 , 105).Thus, with reference to the development of the arahant idea, Hornermaintains that monastic Buddhism completely changed the original mean-ing. From a state of infinite becoming, infinite perfecting, arahantshipcame to mean a state to be won in this very life, a state of cessation ratherthan becoming. Under monastic Buddhism this goal of arahantship, ofperfection to be won here and now, was the goal held up to every zealousbhikkhu and bhikkuni (1934:786). The four paths (ariyii maggii), wereemployed in this development not for holding out the hope of a number ofrebirths, but holding out the hope of limiting the number of rebirths in thisworld to a few more (seven at most), to one more, or to not one more(1936:209-10). Instead of indicating a gradual path to be followed overcountless rebirths, the four paths and arahantship came to be seen as imme-diate goals to be realized in this physical existence. She continues: Theway, in a word, was no longer for becoming but for shrinking. This ishardly a view that would have been propounded by any great teacher(1936:210). Or again: Man's supreme destiny, the utmost which he couldever achieve for himself was shrivelled and confined to that which he couldachieve here and now in this, the last of his opportunities (1936:311).This interpretation of the development of the notion of arahantshipwithin the Theravada tradition clearly runs counter to the interpretationwe have proposed above. She sees the gradual path to have been theoriginal idea with arahantship here and now (ditthe va dhamme) to bethe later idea developed by the tradition. With all respect for I. B. Hor-ner and her scholarship, we suggest that her view represents a misinter-pretation stemming from false presuppositions imposed on the material.The major false presupposition is that Siikya, or early Buddhism,held views radically different from those of later Buddhism, views that


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Bond: Arahant Ideal 239with opportunity for their further development, for their ~oss ibleachievement of arahantship, after the cessation of this earthlife(1936:256). On our model these ~ a t h san be seen as a logical develop-ment; on her model, however, she must say that the four paths wereearlier than the developed arahant ideal but the monks failed to see thecontradiction.With reference to the textual evidence, probability seems to restwith the view that arahantshi~ eveloped from an early notion of imme-diate enlightenment to a later notion of very gradual enlightenment.When we consider the ~ a t huttas, the suttas describing the four paths,and the detailed descriptions of the gradual path in the commentariesand the Visuddhimagga, we can say that it simply was not the case thatunder monastic Buddhism this goal of arahantship, of perfection to bewon here and now, was the goal held up to every zealous bhikkhu(monk) and bhikkhuni (nun) (1934:786). On the contrary, as we haveseen, the later texts describe the ~ a t ho arahantship as long and difficult,not something to be won here and now. The later the text, e.g., the com-mentarial literature, the longer the path and the fewer the arahants.Finally, a second kind of reason that can be given for this view, inaddition to the textual, is the contextual. Mary Douglas observes thatanthropologists habitually interpret changes in beliefs and values by ref-erence to changes in the social institutions and ecological systems(1982:lZ). With regard to the Buddhist tradition, we should be able tosuggest possible changes in the institutional structures and the socialcontext that explain or at least support our views about the developmentof beliefs such as arahantship. Although Horner's interpretation doesprovide an explanation of the context of development-the shift fromSskya to monastic Buddhism-her view of the development is skewedby unnecessary presuppositions as we noted above. The interpretation wehave suggested has plausibility if we recognize that the Theravada tradi-tion developed from a monastic sect into a religion with a firm footholdin society. In a monastically oriented tradition, an emphasis uponrenouncing the world and achieving enlightenment in this life wouldmake sense. But as the social base of the tradition became broader, therewould have been a need for goals and means of salvation open to themonks and laity who were involved in society, viz., a gradual path. Thehouseholders, especially, required a way of participating in the traditionand found it in the teachings about the great works of merit performedby arahants during previous lives as lay persons.This seems to be the context in which the development of the notionof arahantship took place. The shift in emphasis from arahantship itselfto a gradual path of perfection stretching over many lifetimes representsa shift that would have been congenial to the laity's participation in thetradition. An interesting sutta supports this interpretation by showing


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240 Journal of the American Academy of Religionthat even the four paths were at times construed to offer hope to thelaity. In the Samyut ta Nikaya V.375f.) we read that the Buddhadeclared to his monks that Sarakani, a not very pious layman, hadbecome a stream enterer inasmuch as he had for a long time affirmedthe threefold refuge of Buddha, D h a m m a and Sangha. The text pro-claims that even the great Sal trees could become stream enterers if theycould understand the D h a m m a . Other texts also state that lay personsattained one of the four paths A.III.212; A.V.86).To put the contextual argument another way, we can ask who in theBuddhist context held the early and later views of arahantship. Hereagain we see that the development would have been toward a gradualpath as a view that provided a place for the laity and for village bhik-khus who served the laity in the tradition. The placing of arahantship inthe distant future, at the end of a long series of rebirths in this and otherworlds, would be consistent with the needs of a popular religion to stressmundane goals and rewards rather than supramundane perfections. Thedevelopment of the arahant ideal was concomitant with the develop-ment of the tradition in its social context.

REFERENCESThe PSli Canon and Commentaries are referred to by volume andpage of the standard PTS editions; abbreviations and publication dataare given below.

Angu ttara NikayaA. Ed. by R. Morris and E. Hardy. 6 vols. London: P ~ l i extSociety, 1885-1910.Bond, George D.1980 Th erav ada Buddhism a nd th e Aims of B uddhist Studies.Chapter four in Studies in the History of Buddhismedit ed by A. K. Nara in, pp. 43-65. Delhi: B. P. PublishingCorporation.1982 Th e Wo rd of the Buddha: The Tipitaka and I ts In terpre-ta t ion in Theravada Buddhism. Colombo: Gunasena andCompany.

t.b.a. Th e Problem of 'Sainthood' in the Th era vad a BuddhistTradition . To be published in Sainthood in World Reli-gions edited by G . Bond an d R. Kieckhefer. Berkeley: Uni-versity of California Press, forthcoming.BuddhaghosaVism. Visuddhimugga. E d. by C . A. F Rhys Davids. 2 vols. Lon-do n: P.T.S., 1920-21.


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Dayal, Har1970D igha N i k ~ y aD .Douglas, Mary1970

1982

Horner, I. B.19341936

Jayatilleke, K. N.1963

Bond: Arahant Ideal

The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Originally p ublished 1932.Ed. by T . W . Rhys Davids and T . E. Ca rpenter. 3 vols.Lon don: P.T.S., 1889-1903.Natural Symbols: Explorations i n Cosmo logy. London:Barrie an d Rockliff. T he Cresset Press."T he Effects of Mo dernizaton on Religious Ch ang e." Dae-dalus (W inter): 1-19."The Four Ways and the Four Fruits in PHli Buddhism."Indian Historical Quurterly 10:785-96.Th e Early Budd hist Theory of M an Pe rfected: A Stu dy ofthe Arahan. London: Williams and N orgate, Lt d.Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge. London: GeorgeAllen and Unwin.

Johansson, Rune E. A.1970

Katz, Nathan1979

1982Majjhima Nikgya

M.M urti, T. R. V .1955PetakopadesaP.PuggalapannattiPu.Rahula, W alpola1956

Th e Psychology of N irvana. New York: Anchor Books.Th e Concept of the Arahant in the Sutta Pitka, W i t h Ref-erence to the Bodhisattva and the Mahiisiddha. TempleUniversity: Ph.D. Dissertation.Buddhist Images of Human Perfection. Delhi: MotilalBanarsidass.

Ed. by R. Chalmers and V . Tre nck ner. 3 vols. London :P.T .S., 1888-99.The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. London: GeorgeAllen and Unwin.Ed. by A. Barua. London: P.T.S., 1949.Ed. by R. Morris. London : P.T.S., 1883.History of B uddh ism in C eylon: the Anuradhapura Pe-riod. Colombo: M. D . Gunasena and Co.

Rhys Davids, C . A. F .1931 Siikya or Buddhist Origins. London: Kegan Paul, Trench,Triibner and Co.


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4 J ou rna l of t h e Am e r i c a n A c a d e m y of R e li g ionSamyutta NikayaS. Ed . by Leon Feer. vols. London: P.T.S., 1894-98.Swearer, D onald K.197 3 Control an d Freed om : T he Structu re of Buddhist Med ita-tion in the Pali Suttas. Philosophy East and West23/4:435-55.Tam biah, S. J.1970 Budd hism and Spirit Cults in North east Thailand. C a m -bridge: Cambridge University Press.1976 Wo rld Conqueror and Wo rld Renouncer. New York: Ca m-bridge University Press.Thera-theri-gathaThg. Ed . by H . Oldenberg and R Pischel. London: P.T.S., 1883 .Theragatha AtthakathaThag.A. Paramatthadipani V . Ed . by F . L. W oodw ard. 3 vols. Lon-don: P.T.S., 1940-59.Therigatha AtthakathaThig.A. Paramatthadipani VI . Ed. by E . Miiller. London: P.T.S.,1893.Vinaya PitakaVin. Ed . by H . Olden berg . 5 vols. London: P.T.S., 1879-83.Warder, A. K.1970 Indian Buddhism. De lhi: M otilal Banarsidass.

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