[Buddha-l] A Different Take on Devadatta

[jkirk]

Thanks Katherine for looking these up...I'm just adding some
comments below to selected quotations of interest to me and I
hope maybe to some others.... Joanna
============================

KM:
Devadatta
"Son of the Sākiyan Suppabuddha (maternal uncle of the Buddha)
and his wife Amitā. He had a sister Bhaddakaccānā, who married
Prince Siddhattha."  

JK: Hmmmm--She was either a cousin-sister or a half-sister (from
another wife of the B's maternal uncle)--since he could not have
even imagined marrying her if she was a "real" sister .
----------
KM: "It was at this time that Devadatta incited Ajātasattu to
kill his father, Bimbisāra, while he himself prepared to kill the
Buddha. (The Ap.ii.300f explains that all these plans of
Devadatta to harm the Buddha were the result of the Buddha's
previous evil deeds)."

JK: comparable to in the MKA, Yashodharaa says that the trials
inflicted on her by Devadatta were the result of her past karma,
and so she had to suffer them. The fact that the texts like to
relate that D.'s attacks on the Buddha were based on the B.'s
past karma, to me support the idea of the psychoanalysts'
repetition compulsion, as well as the commoness of sibling
rivalry as a structural feature of familial life.
-------
MK: "When Devadatta discovered what had happened, hot blood came
from his mouth, and for nine months he lay grievously ill. (The
Vinaya account omits the kicking, but it is mentioned in
DhA.i.143 and in J.i.491). "
 
JK: In the MKA Devadatta reacts so violently to failure and/or
being stymied in his evil plans that he has attacks that sound to
me like epilepsy! First cousin-marriage is known to increase the
probabilities of bearing defective progeny. However, also worth
noting--cross-cousin marriage was often represented as marriage
to first cousins when in fact it was to 1st cousins once removed,
or to 2d or even 3d cousins, reducing the probabilities of birth
defects.
------------- 
MK: "The Jātaka Commentary contains numerous stories showing that
Devadatta's enmity towards the Buddha was not confined to this
life. It had existed during many kappas, and though sometimes he
was foiled in his attempts to harm the Bodhisatta, in many cases
he succeeded in working his will. The beginning of this enmity,
which increased with time, is described in the Serivānija
Jātaka."

JK:  This 'status quo ante' enmity idea, refreshing itself
through many rebirths, not changing or moving on, the eternal
return of a neurosis--strikes me as supporting in its own way the
psychoanalysts' views of the repetition compulsion. 
-----------------
MK: "In the Dhamma Jātaka, Devadatta is spoken of as having been
the very incarnation of unrighteousness..."  
JK: In this instance, a motif such as Devadatta as abstract value
or entity becomes a template for the kind of structural analysis
Levi-Strauss wrote about.
--------------
MK: "It is stated (E.g., Mil.410) that in spite of the great
hatred shown by Devadatta towards him, the Buddha did not
harbour, on his part, one single feeling of ill-will."

Here we can take another look at the Buddha being quoted above
where he doesn't call Devadatta personally a "lickspittle", but
says,
""Not even to Sāriputta or Moggallāna would I hand over the
Order, and would I then to thee, vile one, to be vomited like
spittle?"  He is referring to what would happen to the order
under Devadatta, not to Devadatta himself as a vomit spittle.

But I translations vary.

Cheers, Joanna

============================

Plenty of material describing Devadatta as wicked here:
 
http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/d/devadatta.htm
 
Katherine


      
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