Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia

Rebirth Traditions and the Lineages of Gotama: A Study in Theravāda Buddhology

Rebirth Traditions and the Lineages of Gotama: A Study in Therava −da Buddhology Frank E. Reynolds Buddhism, particularly in its Theravâda form, has often been presented as a religion in which mythology plays an insignificant role. The central Theravâda doctrines that affirm codependent origination as the basis for the coming-into-existence of worldly phenomena, the law of karmic reward and retribution as the regulating principle that determines the destinies of sentient beings, and the ineffability of the soteriological goal have all—so the argument goes—relegated mythic modes of expression to a secondary level. This argument has a certain plausibility since the character of Theravâda teachings has, in fact, inhibited the development of certain kinds of mythology that have been prominent in more theistically oriented religions . For example, mythology associated with the gods in Theravâda Buddhism is far less developed than the parallel mythology in Hinduism. But the argument for the secondary role of mythology in the Theravâda context ignores the indisputable fact that the mythically constructed biography of the Buddha has, from the very beginning, played a fundamental role in the structure and dynamics of Theravâda religion.1 The mythically constructed biography of the Buddha, which has never been considered by Theravâdins to be in conflict with any of the central 19 20  Frank E. Reynolds teachings of the religion,2 includes three interdependent and broadly overlapping components. The first component consists of mythic stories that trace the various lineages which culminate in the birth and life of the “historical ” Buddha. The second component consists of accounts of events in the life of Gotama from the time of his descent from the Tusita heaven (his birth), through his Enlightenment at Bodh Gayâ, to his Parinibbâna (his death) at Kusinârâ. The third consists of stories that recount the fate of his teachings and his relics, often in the context of a sacred history composed by a particular segment of the Buddhist community.3 In the present essay I single out for attention the first of the three aspects of the Buddha biography. In so doing, I focus my discussion on various accounts of the three basic lineages that have established the background in relation to which the story of the “historical” life and the “extended” life of Gotama have traditionally been told.4 The Ja –taka Lineage The Buddha’s jâtaka lineage refers to the lineage that is constituted by a certain kind of stories of events, or of a series of events, that took place in his previous lives. In these events or series of events, the future Buddha is usually—though not always—the protagonist. In contrast to some other kinds of rebirth stories (discussed below), he carries on his action in a context where he has no contact with a Buddha or any other significant “field of merit.” For the most part the future Buddha, who appears as an animal, as a human being, or (very occasionally) as a god, acts in a manner appropriate to the situation, and in so doing cultivates one of the virtues that will be manifest, in its fully developed form, when he attains his final rebirth as Gotama.5 The jâtaka tradition in Buddhism is very ancient, extending back—in all probability—to the lifetime of the “historical” Buddha himself (somewhere between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C.E.). Certainly in the earliest strata of Buddhist texts that we possess, the foundations for the jâtaka tradition are laid. For example, the basic legitimating charter for the jâtaka tradition is found in the Suttapiπaka—a “canonical” Theravâda collection of sermons attributed to the Buddha. In these Suttapiπaka texts, the Buddha reports that he has succeeded, through the first of the three accomplishments that marked his accession to Buddhahood, in remembering all of his previous lives.6 In the context of the Enlightenment accounts, this attainment constitutes the first component in the breakthrough experience through which the Buddha claimed to transcend reality as it is ordinarily constituted. But, in addition to this specifically soteriological dimension, the Buddha’s asser- tion that he had attained a full knowledge of his previous lives provided a firm epistemological basis for the credibility of references to previous lives that he had supposedly lived, and of accounts of particular incidents in which he had supposedly been involved. The...