[Buddha-l] Dharmapala

Sun Jul 18 10:58:56 MDT 2010

Hi Stan

I'm unclear on what you mean by "this not [being] a response" to something Richard said. 
What do you mean by "this"?  Your point here doesn't seem to refer to what I posted about kings. Anyway, I'm not a Bible scholar, nor have I read Origen. 

Why not post your comment to the list. It seems to be replete with Bible scholars. 
_________________________________

Joanna,

 Might this not be a response to Richard's assertion that he didn't find in Buddhist texts the sorts of violence depicted in the Bible?  As a tangential question, do you think Origen's introduction of an explicit spiritual sense to scriptural exegesis places the blblical scenes of battle, betrayal, mercy, etc. in a more acceptable light to those who find their literal sense at least puzzling?

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: JKirkpatrick <jkirk at spro.net>
To: 'Buddhist discussion forum' <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Sun, Jul 18, 2010 11:33 am
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Dharmapala

Artur,

What, pray tell, is your *point*, at this point?  

Everybody knows that kings do as they please to ensure their power and glory, 

that they boast and kill with impunity while denigrating their enemies. Kings 

and propagandists of nationalism (e.g., the Mahavamsa), rhetorically reducing 

enemies to pasus or worse, is par for the course.  

It's already been pointed out that this text is not a teaching text. I would add 

that it is also a nationalistic spin text.

Joanna K.

____________________________

More on people-as-cattle --- in the Ceylonese "Great Chronicle".

Mahavamsa XXXVI, on the rule of Ilanaga (38-44 AD ?).

[Geiger] "As he had heard there the Kapi-jataka from the great thera, the 

preacher of jatakas, named Mahäpaduma, who dwelt in the (vihara) called 

Tuladhara, he, being won to faith in the Bodhisatta, restored the Nagamahavihara 

and gave it the extension of a hundred unbent bows in length, and he enlarged 

the thüpa even to what it has been (since then); moreover, he made the 

Tissa-tank and the tank called Dura.

When the king had raised an army he marched to battle; when the Lambakannas 

heard this they also prepared themselves for battle. Near the gate of 

Kapallakkhanda on the field of Hankarapitthi was waged the battle between the 

two (armies) that brought destruction to both.

Since their bodies were exhausted by the sea-journey, the king's men yielded 

their ground, therefore the king proclaimed his name and pressed forward. 

Terrified thereat the Lambakannas threw themselves down upon their belly, and 

they hewed off their heads and heaped them up high as the nave of the (king's) 

waggon-wheel, and when this had come to pass three times the king, from pity, 

said: 'Slay them not, but take them captive living.'

When then the king had come into the capital as victor in battle and had raised 

the parasol (of sovereignty) he went to a festival at the Tissa-tank.' And when 

he, fully arrayed in his ornaments and armour, had withdrawn from the 

watersports and reflected on the good-fortune that he had attained, and thought 

of the Lambakannas who had opposed his progress, he was wroth and commanded that 

they be yoked two and two behind one another to his car, and thus did he enter 

the city in front of them. Halting on the threshold of the palace the king gave 

the command: 'Here on this threshold, soldiers, strike off their heads.' 'These 

are but oxen yoked to thy chariot, O lord of chariots; therefore let their horns 

and hoofs be struck off,' thus admonished by his mother the king recalled (the 

order) to behead them and commanded that their nose and toes be cut off. "

30

Mahāpadumanāmassa tattha jātakabhāṇino

Tulādhāravhavāsissa mahātherassa santike

31

Kapijātakaṃ sutvāna bodhisatte pasādavā

Nāgamahāvihāraṃ so jiyāmuttadhanussataṃ

32

Katvā kāresi; thūpañca vaḍḍhāpesi yathāṭhitaṃ.

Tissavāpiñca kāresi, tathā dūravhavāpikaṃ.

33

So gahetvā balaṃ rājā yuddhāya abhinikkhami.

Taṃ sutvā lambakaṇṇā ca yuddhāya abhisaṃyutā

34

Kapallakkhaṇḍadvāramhi khette hiṅkārapiṭṭhike Yuddhaṃ ubhinnaṃ vattittha 

añaññamaññaviheṭhanaṃ.

35

Nāvākilantadehattā posā sīdantī rājino;

Rājā nāmaṃ sāvayitvā sayaṃ pāvisi tena so.

36

Tena bhītā lambakaṇṇā sayiṃsu udarena; so Tesaṃ sisāni chinditvā rathanābhisamaṃ 

karī.

37

Tikkhattumevantu kate karuṇāya mahīpati

"Amāretvā'va gaṇhātha jīvagāha"nti abruvī.

38

Tato vijitasaṅgāmo puraṃ āgamma bhūpati

Chattaṃ ussāpayitvāna tissavāpichaṇaṃ agā.

39

Jalakīḷāya uggantvā sumaṇḍitapasādhito

Attano sirisampattiṃ disvā tassantarāyike.

40

Lambakaṇṇe saritvāna kuddho so yojayī rathe; Yugaparamparā tesaṃ purato pāvisī 

puraṃ.

41

Mahāvatthussa ummāre ṭhatvā rājāṇapesi so "Imesaṃ sīhamummāre asmiṃ chindatha 

bho" iti,

42

"Goṇā ete rathe yuttā tava honti rathesabha; Siṅgaṃ khurañca etesaṃ chedāpaya 

tato"iti, Mātuyā atha saññatto sisacchedaṃ nivāriya

43

Nāsañca pādaṅguṭṭhañca tesaṃ rājā achedayi.

Goṇā ete rathe yuttā tava honti rathesabha - "These are but oxen yoked to thy 

chariot, O lord of chariots".

This time the enemies are not foreigners, the Lambakannas -  rivals to power, 

but co-Buddhists. And some time before the battle with them (after which the 

king's warriors "hewed off their heads and heaped them up high as the nave of 

the (king's) waggon-wheel") the king listens to a sermon based on the 

Mahākapijātaka, and, under its impression, he is "won to faith in the 

Bodhisatta"

Regards,

Artur K.

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