Studies in early Buddhist symbolism and metaphysics : change and continuity in Indian religious and philosophic thought

Abstract

The historical fact that half of Asia has elevated Gotama Buddha to the rank of a god is testimony to the profound impression he created his own generation, which far from fading with time, has, on the contrary, been amplified to such an extent that the miracles and legends attributed to him make it virtually impossible for us to recapture his extraordinary career entirely in its historical perspective. This essay is an attempt to trace the heterogeneous developments in Buddhist art and philosophy in India, during the centuries before the emergence of the Mahayana schools. Although passages from Mahayana works have been cited frequently, it is only to emphasise the change and, at the same time, the continuity in Indian religious and philosophic thought, from the age of the Rg Veda, through that of the Brahmanas and Upanisads, to the period of the Buddhist scriptures. Buddhist art begins about the Second Century B.C. with a well developed set of symbols in its iconography; this art, depicting the various legends and miracles attributed to the Buddha during his last terrestrial existence, as well as scenes from his previous lives (Jatakas), represents the first expression of 'popular' Buddhism. The Buddhists responsible for this form of the religion based on folk-lore, folk forms of piety, and bhakti, and illustrating the worship of the Buddha in aniconic forms such as the stupa, urksa caitya, dharmacakra, etc., did not, however, belong to the Theravada sect, but to sub-sects of that school, and to the mahasamghika. It has also to be borne in mind that this form of 'popular'