[Buddha-l] Non-Arising

[JKirkpatrick]

Well............we need to be clear on what is meant by "early". 
The Divyavadana is alleged to have been composed over a long
period between 1st c CE up til the 12th, if memory doesn't fail
me (and too late to go look it up now). These hagiographic tales
are replete with cases of 'instant arhat,' conveyed by proximity
to the Buddha and his discourses, on persons who, it has to be
said, are always presented as morally ready for it. I haven't
come across any tales of the awakening of, say, holy idiots. But
I've not seen Masefield's book either, so I don't know what eras
he considered to be "early Buddhism." 

Joanna





> Peter Masefield has written a whole book on this entitled
'Divine 
> Relevation in Pali Buddhism.' His thesis is that "salvation in
early 
> Buddhism depended upon the saving intervention of the Buddha's 
> grace..."
>
> Bankei

Something else one fails to find even hinted at in any of those
early stories. May Buddha save him from his ignorance...

Dan 

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