[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

[Artur Karp]

Dear Professor Cousins,

Allow me, please, to retain my opinion re parallel treatment of guilt
ensuing from the participation in organized violence in the Mahavamsa
and Bhagavadgita. Ideas tend to easily cross over the boundaries and
find their expression in different literary (and, broader: art)
genres. An archaic Mahabharata motif is to be found in the
Buddhaghosa's commentary to the Mahaparinibbana-sutta.



And - no, I do not agree that Dutthagamani participated in some
ordinary battle. The text (XXV, 108) says:


Kathannu bhante assāso mama hessati, yena me
Akkhohiṇīmahāsenāghāto kārāpito" iti.

[Geiger] "And thereon the king said again to them: 'How shall there be
any comfort for me, O venerable sirs, since by me was caused the
slaughter of a great host numbering millions?'".

Although akkhohiṇī doesn't mean "millions" (akṣauhiṇī = 218 700), the
number suggested is big enough to justify the use of the word
"slaughter" (ghāta).



In the first verse of XXV, while preparing for war, the king inserts a
relic (of the Buddha) in (the tip of) his spear (kunte dhātuṃ
nidhāpetvā). Not in his shield, not in the breastplate - but in his
spear, which is an offensive weapon.

Could you share your thoughts on this particular use of relics?


With regards,

Artur K.