The Initiation Rituals and the brahmacarya in the Upanisads and the Early Buddhist Texts

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  • ウパニシャッドと初期仏典の一接点 --入門・受戒の儀礼とブラフマチャリヤ--
  • ウパニシャッド ト ショキ ブッテン ノ イチ セッテン : ニュウモン ・ ジュカイ ノ ギレイ ト ブラフマチャリヤ

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Abstract

This paper examines the particular similarities between the initiation rituals in the Upanisads and the early Buddhist texts. Around 6-5 BCE in India, the Brahmanical philosophy and rituals developed significantly. In this context, the Brahman scholars in the Upanisads are said to have sought those who knew the then-arising esoteric ideas and rituals, and asked them for initiation in order to learn. They are initiated through a peculiar rite, which is different from the traditional Vedic initiation ritual found since the Atharvaveda through the Grhyasūtras. As those Brahman scholars had already gone through the regular initiation and study, their initiation for learning such esoteric subjects is the "scholars' [repeated] initiation." On the other hand, in the early Buddhist texts, a number of stories include the scenes where people hear the Buddha's preaching and ask him in person to make them his disciples. The style and the significance of this "initiation to the Buddha in person" are quite similar to those of the "scholars' initation" in the Upanisads. These kinds of initiation were performed through a practical and simple rite not by mere beginners but by learned scholars or ascetics who hoped to learn the innovative knowledge.

Journal

  • 人文學報

    人文學報 109 33-102, 2016-07-30

    THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES, KYOTO UNIVERSITY

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