ThePavāraṇā Suttaand “liberation in both ways” as against “liberation by wisdom”

Abstract

There are six complete versions of the Pavāraṇ ā Sutta (Pravāraṇ ā Sūtra). The Ekottarika Āgama version (EĀ 32.5) differs significantly from the other five. It contains an episode involving Ānanda, a non-arhat, which is not found in the other five versions. In the five versions other than EĀ 32.5, this Pravāraṇ ā ceremony is depicted as an assembly of arhats, who are endowed with different "liberations". This paper shows that such divergences are correlated with one another and that EĀ 32.5 could be earlier than the other versions. In this connection I elucidate diverse notions of liberation as developed in the textual history and discuss the possibility that sectarian stance on the issue of liberation has a bearing on the inclusion of various types of arhats in the five versions, and their exclusion from EĀ 32.5, whose sectarian affiliation is identified in this study as Mahāsāṃ ghika.

Some Reflections on Translating the Pali Texts: Literary Conventions, Buddhist Thought, Cultural Background and Textual History

“…;Akanuma 1981: 37-39;Bronkhorst 1985: 312-314;Pāsādika 2010: 88-90). I have also argued that this text is most likely to be of Mahāsāṃghika provenance (Kuan 2013a;2013b).…”