エクリチュールとしての大乗仏典
Mahayana Buddhist sutras as a form of writing (écriture)
2024-06-19 21:00:00
The original Buddhist scriptures of Shakyamuni are primarily composed in spoken language (parole), whereas Mahayana scriptures are composed in written language (écriture).
From this, a theory has been proposed that the Mahayana Buddhist community was formed after the creation of the Mahayana scriptures.
This is because it is generally considered that cultural gatherings of people usually form around pre-established written concepts, with individuals who agree with those concepts coming together.
In this way, the Mahayana Buddhist community was established, and as a result of the activities of this community, new Mahayana scriptures were created as new products. This process is thought to have continued for several hundred years.
By the way, why did scriptures written in écriture suddenly appear?
It is hypothesized that in the community of practitioners who were following the original Buddhist scriptures, multiple Buddhas appeared at the same time. These Buddhas might have attempted to compile their insights in a policy committee-like manner, resulting in the presentation of scriptures written in écriture. (For this reason, the names of individual Buddhas who wrote them might not be recorded in the Mahayana scriptures—perhaps they couldn’t be written down.)
As a result, the practice of a single Buddha speaking the Dharma and it being simply recorded no longer continued. Instead, it is presumed that Mahayana scriptures were systematically compiled by multiple Buddhas or multiple scholars, leading to most Mahayana scriptures being written using écriture.
In other words, unlike the original Buddhist scriptures from the time of Shakyamuni, which were spoken informally and somewhat randomly, the Mahayana scriptures were created as literary works, composed with consideration of chapter (section) structure from the beginning, based on similarities in length and content.
As a result, the Mahayana scriptures took on a somewhat systematic form, and highly narrative content was adopted to make the doctrine of expedient means, a significant characteristic of Mahayana Buddhism, easier for the general public to understand.
Furthermore, it seemed like attempts were made to analyze the mechanism of enlightenment (= nirvana) and logically demonstrate its scholarly basis.
Furthermore, as the écriture nature of the Mahayana scriptures expanded beyond limits, there appeared seemingly absurd stories and treatises utilizing imagination, leading to the creation of apocryphal texts.
At this point, Buddhist scriptures began to exhibit a mixture of good and bad elements. However, regardless of what was written on paper, the fundamental mechanism of enlightenment (= nirvana) itself remained unchanged from the time of Shakyamuni.
What is important is the fact that the opportunity for enlightenment is brought about by "phrases of the Dharma" in parole. This means that, encompassing the original Buddhist scriptures, Mahayana scriptures, and other Buddhist texts, the core of enlightenment (= nirvana) lies in parole.
As long as this is not lost sight of, no matter which Buddhist scriptures a practitioner seeks guidance from in their practice, they will eventually attain enlightenment (= nirvana) certainly.
In other words, those who earnestly seek to know the truth and remain vigilant will gradually accumulate merit and eventually become enlightened.
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