The Medium Discourses

Chapter 12: The Brahmins

Notes

1. For the source text, cf. T26.1.681c25-2b9. It has no known parallel among Buddhist sources, nor have I found any occurrence of the priest who appears as the Buddha’s interlocutor. However, there is a very similar passage in the Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (@ 3.6.1) in which Gargi questions Yajnavalkya in a very similar way as Agrahana questions the Buddha here in this sūtra. The similarity is difficult to dismiss, but it’s also difficult to determine which might be the original and which was the tradition influenced by it. It could certainly be viewed as a Buddhist response that places Nirvāṇa in the position of Yajnavalkya’s unknowable Brahma. See the notes below for more discussion of this parallel. [back]
2. Agrahana. C. 阿伽羅訶那 (EMC. a-gɪă-la-ha-na = Pr. agrahana or agarahana). The only evidence of the meaning or original Indic word for this transliterated name is the EMC reconstruction and a gloss in the 翻梵語 (@ T2130.54.1014b11). The gloss says that the translit. should be amended to 阿他訶那 and that it meant 无熱 (“no burning”). This would indicate S. adāhana (“not reduced to ashes”). Unfortunately, this seems a case of the glossary compiler being ignorant of the Pr. readings in the original Āgama text and suggesting speculative corrections based on later S.
   Setting this suggestion aside, it also seems plausible that the name could have been S. Āgrahāyaṇa (the name of a month), Agṛhana (“without a house”), or Agarhana (“without reproach”), all of which might resolve to G. agrahana or agarahana. I have adopted Agrahana for this translation, but the exact name in the original remains unclear to me without an Indic parallel or a more plausible gloss of its meaning. [back]
3. In the Upaniṣad parallel, the progression begins: “all this” is pervaded by water, which is pervaded by air, which is pervaded by the sky, which is pervaded by the world of gandharvas, which is pervaded by the world of the sun, which is pervaded by the world of the moon. [back]
4. Paranirmāṇarati. C. 他化樂. The usual name for this heaven was S. paranirmita-vaśavartin. Here, the C. trans. clearly is para (他) nirmāṇa (化) rati (樂), which is the same as the previous heaven with “other” (para, 他) added as a prefix. The meaning would be “Heaven of Pleasures Created by Others.” [back]
5. In the Upaniṣad parallel, the progression continues: The world of the moon is pervaded by the world of the stars, which is pervaded by the world of the gods, which is pervaded by the world of Indra, which is pervaded by the world of Prajāpati, which is pervaded by the world of Brahma.
   Thus, Nirvāṇa in this sūtra stands as the basis beyond Brahma, who is the unknowable deity to Yajnavalkya. Nirvāṇa itself was considered to be an unknowable state by Buddhists, so it also would serve as the parallel to Yajnavalkya’s Brahma in that way. [back]
6. This conclusion is similar to Yajnavalkya’s chiding of Gargi: “Do not, O Gargi, question too much, lest your head should fall off. You are questioning too much about a deity about whom we should not ask too much. Do not ask too much, O Gargi.” [back]
7. completely extinguishes [a person]. C. 滅訖. While this text has no parallels, the verb 滅訖 corresponds to P. parinibbāyati and nibbāyati in MĀ’s parallels to AN 4.23 and MN 140. The trouble is that in English it needs an object that’s being extinguished, so I have inserted “a person.” This is simply for grammatical reasons, not an attempt to draw any profound ontological conclusions about the passage. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 21 August 2024