Sanjaya Belatthiputta

The views of six samaṇa in the Pāli Canon
(based on the Buddhist text Sāmaññaphala Sutta1)
Śramaṇa view (diṭṭhi)1
Pūraṇa
Kassapa		 Amoralism: denies any reward or
punishment for either good or bad deeds.
Makkhali
Gosāla
(Ajivika)		 Fatalism: we are powerless;
suffering is pre-destined.
Ajita
Kesakambalī		 Materialism:
with death, all is annihilated.
Pakudha
Kaccāyana		 Sassatavada (Eternalism):
Matter, pleasure, pain and the soul are eternal and
do not interact.
Nigaṇṭha
Nātaputta
(Jainism)		 Restraint: be endowed with, cleansed by
and suffused with the avoidance of all evil.2
Sañjaya
Belaṭṭhiputta		 Agnosticism: "I don't think so. I don't think in that
way or otherwise. I don't think not or not not."
Suspension of judgement.
Notes: 1. DN 2 (Thanissaro, 1997; Walshe, 1995, pp. 91-109).
2. DN-a (Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi, 1995, pp. 1258-59, n. 585).

Sanjaya Belatthiputta (Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta; literally, "Sanjaya of the Belattha clan") was an Indian ascetic teacher who lived around the 6th or 5th century BCE, contemporaneous with Mahavira and the Buddha, and was a proponent of ajñana school of thought.

In the Pali literature, Sanjaya's teachings have been characterized as "evasive"[1] or "agnostic."[2] Hecker (1994) contextualizes it as "a kind of dialectical existentialism" in juxtaposition to the popular materialist views of the day (for instance, typified by the ascetic teacher Ajita Kesakambalī.)[3] For example, in the Samannaphala Sutta (DN 2), Sanjaya is recorded as saying:

'If you ask me if there exists another world [after death], if I thought that there exists another world, would I declare that to you? I don't think so. I don't think in that way. I don't think otherwise. I don't think not. I don't think not not. If you asked me if there isn't another world... both is and isn't... neither is nor isn't... if there are beings who transmigrate... if there aren't... both are and aren't... neither are nor aren't... if the Tathagata exists after death... doesn't... both... neither exists nor exists after death, would I declare that to you? I don't think so. I don't think in that way. I don't think otherwise. I don't think not. I don't think not not.'[4]

In the Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1), Sanjaya's views are deemed to be amaravikkhepavad, "a theory of eel-wrigglers."[5]

Sanjaya was the first teacher of the future Buddha's future two great disciples, Maha-Moggallana and Sariputta. These two future arahants ultimately left Sanjaya's tutelage as it did not address their unresolved desire to end ultimate suffering.[6]

In Jaina literature, Sanjaya is identified as a Jaina sage (Skt., muni). It is believed that he was influenced by Jaina doctrine although Jaina philosophers were critical of Sanjaya.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Thanissaro (1997)
  2. 1 2 Bhaskar (1972).
  3. ↑ Hecker (1994). Particularly regarding Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, see Chapter 2, "The Years of Wandering and Spiritual Search."
  4. ↑ Thanissaro (1997).
  5. ↑ Cited in Bhaskar (1972).
  6. ↑ Hecker (1994).

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.