BUDDHIST INSCRIPTIONS

MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION

The history of Buddhism starts with the birth of Buddha Siddharta Gautama in the 6th Century B.C.
Buddhism evolved in the Indian subcontinent and spread through Central Asia, East Asia, and
Southeast Asia. It had reached and affected most of Asia and some parts of Europe at various points
in history. As a result of this Buddhist inscriptions are found in Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Chinese,
Tibetan, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Aramaic and other Indian languages.

During the Buddha’s life, no written records were made of his teaching, as it was passed on by oral
methods. Over the next three hundred years, a group evolved who believed that compassion for all
humanity was an important part of the path to Nibbana, and that the teaching be available to all.
Those who followed the new expanded ideals called themselves Mahayana, meaning the Big Raft,
and referred to those who stayed along traditional teaching as the Hinayana group, meaning small
or lesser raft. With the move to Mahayana Buddhism, it became more like a religion than the original
Theravada Buddhism. Buddhism based on the Theravada model is found today in Sri Lanka, Burma,
Thailand and Cambodia. The Mahayana Buddhism spread to China and from there Japan, Tibet and
Korea. The Theravada group has remained fairly unified, but the Mahayana group divided into
several strands, including Zen and Tantric Buddhism.

Buddhist inscriptions can be broadly found in Buddhist texts/manuscripts and on Buddhist

The highest goal of a Buddhist is to attain Nibbana. Buddhist teachings are geared towards this goal
and their texts have these teachings as their basis. The earliest monuments in India from the
Buddhist period do not represent Buddha’s figures, but describes the teachings of Buddha through
various symbols. The flower of lotus represents the birth of Buddha. The big tree signifies his
enlightenment. The Wheel represents his first sermon. And the Stupa represents his nirvana or
salvation. The footprints and the throne are used to denote his presence.

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MODULE 2

BUDDHIST TEXTS

The Buddhavacana are generally further classified as 1) Sutras, 2) Vinaya, and 3) Abhidharma. These
three texts are sometimes referred to as Tripitaka (Sanskrit) or Tipitaka (Pali). The early forms of
Tripitaka were written on long, narrow leaves, which were sewn together on one side. Bunches of
these were then stored in baskets. The baskets were divided by subject matter.

The first basket, Sutra Pitaka, contained records of Buddha's teachings and sermons on theology and
moral behaviour. The Sanskrit forms of the Sutras are: (a) Sutra: prose discourses, especially short
declarative discourses.(b) Geya: mixed prose and verse discourse. (c) Vyakarana: explanation,
analysis. Discourses in question and answer format. (d) Gatha: verse. (e) Udana: inspired speech. (f)
Ityukta: beginning with 'thus has the Bhagavan said'. (g) Jataka: story of previous life. (h)
Abhutadharma: concerning wonders and miraculous events. (i) Vaipulya: either 'extended
discourses' or 'those giving joy', (j) Nidana: in which the teachings are set within their circumstances
of origin. (k) Avadana: tales of exploits. (l) Upadesha: defined and considered instructions.
Mahayana Buddhism emerged and grew between 150 -100 B.C. With the rise of this sect, new sutras
emerged. The most significant ones are the Lotus Sutra, the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra.

The second basket, Vinaya Pitaka, set out the rules and guidelines for living the monastic life of the
sangha. It focused first on the 227 regulations for monks, which included everything from basic
morality to robe-making. There were additional rules for the nuns, and guidelines for interaction
between the monks and nuns and the monks and the laity. The Vinaya contains some doctrinal
expositions, ritual and liturgical texts, biographical stories, and some elements of the "Jatakas", or
birth stories. Only six complete Vinayas survive: Theravada, written in Pali; Mula-Sarvastivada,
written in Sanskrit, but surviving only in Tibetan translation; Mahasanghika, Sarvastivada,
Mahashasika, and Dharmagupta, originally in Indian languages, but only surviving in Chinese
translations.

The third basket, Abhidharma Pitaka, was a miscellaneous collection of short writings - containing
everything from songs and poetry to stories of Buddha and his previous lives. It grew initially out of
various lists of teachings such as the 37 Bodhipaksika-dharmas or the 37 Factors leading to
Awakening. The Abhidharma literature is chiefly concerned with the analysis of phenomena and the
relationships between them. The Theravada Abhidhamma survives in the Pali Canon. Sarvastivada
Abhidharma, composed in Sanskrit, survives in Chinese and Tibetan traditions.

Tantras are Buddhist texts concerned with elaborate rituals and meditations. The four main classes
of tantras are mentioned below:

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The Kriya tantras focus on ritual actions. Each centre around a particular Buddha or Bodhisattva, and
many are based around dharanis. Carya tantra is a small class of texts that probably emerged after
the 6th century and are entirely centred on the worship of the Buddha Vairocana. Yoga tantras
likewise focus on Vairocana. Anuttara tantras, an advanced class of tantra, focus on mental
transformation and less on ritual actions.

The Therigatha, or 'verses of the elder nuns', is a collection of poems and songs written by the first
Buddhist nuns. It has garnered special attention, because of the growing interest in women's
spirituality. It is one of the earliest known set of religious writings attributed to women.

Although many versions of the texts of the early Buddhist schools exist, the most complete canon to
survive is the Pali Canon of the Theravadic school, which preserved the texts in the Pali language.

Tibetan Buddhism has a unique and special class of texts called terma. These are texts (or ritual
objects, etc.) believed either composed or hidden by tantric masters. They are encoded in the
elements and retrieved, accessed or rediscovered by other tantric masters when appropriate. Some
termas are hidden in caves or similar places, but a few are said to be 'mind termas,' which are
'discovered' in the mind of the terton. Tertons are discoverers of ancient texts. The best known
terma text is the "Tibetan book of the dead", the Bardo thodol.

The oldest Buddhist manuscripts discovered, dating from about the 1st Century, are the Gandharan
Buddhist texts. They were written on birch bark and stored in clay jars and were buried in ancient
monasteries. The collection is composed of a diversity of texts: a Dhammapada, discourses of
Buddha, Avadanas and Purvayogas, commentaries and Abhidharma texts. The manuscripts were
written in Gandhari using the Kharosthi script, and are therefore sometimes also called the Kharosthi
Manuscripts. The Schoyen collection, another well-known Buddhist manuscript collection, consists
of birch bark, palm leaf and vellum manuscripts. They are thought to have been found in the
Bamiyan cave. The collection includes fragments of canonical Suttas, Abhidharma, Vinaya, and
Mahayana texts. Most of these manuscripts are written in the Brahmi scripts, while a small portion is
written in Gandhari/Kharosthi script.

MODULE 3

BUDDHIST TEACHINGS

The texts of Buddhism make sense only by understanding that the ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to
reach Nibbana. Nibbana means literally “extinction”, freedom from desire and thus suffering. It is an

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end not only to suffering and action, but also to the cycle of rebirths. To reach Nibbana one has to
fully comprehend and absorb the so-called “Four Noble Truths”.

1. The First Noble Truth - There is Suffering. Suffering exists and is universally experienced. There are
many kinds of suffering in life - birth, old age, sickness, death, tiredness, association with unpleasant
persons and conditions, separation from beloved ones and pleasant conditions, not getting what one
desires, grief, losing people and things near and dear to one, lamentation, fear, irritation, frustration,
distress. Suffering can be described as conditioned states produced by attachment to these five
aggregates - Matter, Sensations, Perceptions, Mental Formations, and Consciousness.

2. The Second Noble Truth - There is a Cause of Suffering. The principle cause of suffering is the
attachment to desire or craving. These are 3 basic types of desire - (a) desire for sense-pleasures:
manifests itself as wanting to have pleasant experiences: the taste of good food, pleasant sexual
experiences, delightful music; (b) desire to avoid pain - to get rid of the unpleasant experiences in
life: unpleasant sensations, anger, fear, jealousy;(c) desire to become - the ambition that comes with
wanting attainments or recognition or fame.

3. The Third Noble Truth - There is an End to Suffering. Freedom from attachments to the five
aggregates of attachment is the end of suffering.

4. Fourth Noble Truth - There is a Path to the Cessation of Suffering. The end to suffering can be
attained by journeying on the Noble Eightfold Path.

According to Buddhism by following the Noble Eightfold Path one will develop three qualities
required to attain Nibbana:

(a) WISDOM - Wisdom results from perfecting the following qualities: right understanding, right
thoughts, and right speech.

(b) MORALITY - There are 5 basic precepts that Buddhist practitioners undertake: Reverence for Life,
Generosity, Sexual Responsibility, Deep Listening and Loving Speech, Mindful Consumption. In the
context of the Eightfold path, these precepts imply: Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood.

(c) CONCENTRATION - The development of Wisdom and Morality demand a certain training of the
mind (concentration). In the context of the Eightfold path, this training is focused on: Right Effort,
Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration

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The Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of The Four Noble Truths. It consists of the following eight
factors:

1. Right Understanding - Wisdom comes from understanding of the impermanent, non-self nature of
phenomena and that attachment to them leads to suffering.

These are three characteristics of existence: all conditioned phenomena are impermanent, all
conditioned phenomena are not personal, non-self, and attachment to desire for impermanent
phenomena leads to suffering.

2. Right Thoughts - Right Thoughts are threefold: The thoughts of renunciation which are opposed to
sense-pleasures, Kind Thoughts which are opposed to ill-will, Thoughts of harmlessness which are
opposed to cruelty.

3. Right Speech - Specifically, it implies abstaining from: lying, rude and abusive language, speech
that avoids useless chatter and gossip.

4. Right Action - It is action that: preserves and does not destroy life, action that takes only what is
freely given, action that does not steal, sexual action that originates in kindness and respect and
avoids sexual transgressions.

5. Right Livelihood - Right Livelihood means earning one's living in a way that is not harmful to
others. These five kinds of trades should be avoided by a lay disciple: trade in deadly weapons, trade
in animals for slaughter, trade in slavery/exploitation, trade in intoxicants, and trade in
poisons/drugs.

6. Right Effort - The endeavour to discard evil that has already arisen, the endeavour to prevent the
arising of un-risen evil, the endeavour to develop that good which has already arisen, the endeavour
to promote that good which has not already arisen.

7. Right Mindfulness - Mindfulness with regard to body, mindfulness with regard to feeling,
mindfulness with regard to mind, and mindfulness with regard to mental objects

8. Right Concentration - Meditation means the gradual process of training the mind to focus on a
single object and to remain fixed upon the object without wavering.

MODULE 4

BUDDHIST MONUMENTS

The stupa is commonly found in many Buddhist influenced architectural works around the world. It
was originally a simple mound of mud or clay to cover relics of the Buddha. His remains were
cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight stupas with two further stupas encasing the
urn and the embers. Emperor Asoka had the original stupas opened and the remains were

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distributed among the several thousand stupas he had built. Thus, the importance of a stupa
changed from being a funerary monument to being an object of veneration. All stupas contain a
treasury filled with various objects. Small offerings called Tsa-Tsas fill a major part of the treasury. A
very important element in every Stupa is the Tree of Life. It is a wooden pole covered with gems and
thousands of mantras, and placed in the central channel of the stupa.

In India, the famous Buddhist inscriptions are the monuments erected by Emperor Ashoka marking
the significant sites in the life of Buddha in the 300-200 B.C. Stupas and edicts on stone remain at
Sanchi, Sarnath and Mathura. Some of the stupas have networks of walls containing the hub spokes
and rim of a wheel, while others contained interior walls in a swastika shape. The wheel represents
the sun, time, and Buddhist law. The swastika stands for the cosmic dance around a fixed centre and
guards against evil.

The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders
and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas
of modern-day India, Nepal and Pakistan and represent the first tangible evidence of Buddhism. The
edicts describe in detail the first wide expansion of Buddhism. Ashoka's beliefs in the Buddhist
concept of dharma and his efforts to develop the dharma throughout his kingdom are described in
them. Although Buddhism and Buddha are mentioned, the focus is on social and moral precepts,
than specific religious practices or the philosophy of Buddhism. The inscriptions revolve around a
few recurring themes - Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism, the description of his efforts to spread
Buddhism, his moral and religious precepts, and his social and animal welfare programme. There are
nineteen surviving pillars with inscriptions of which the most celebrated and well known is the one
with the lion capital at Sarnath. There are four lions seated back to back. The inscriptions are in
Prakrit – Punjabi, Ujjeni and Magadhi dialects. This lion capital of Ashoka from Sarnath has been
adopted as the National Emblem of India and the wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base was placed
onto the centre of the National Flag of India.

The pagoda is a tomb-like structure where sacred relics could be kept safe and venerated. The
original dome-shaped structure of the stupa from India was gradually fused together with the design
of ancient Chinese towers to form the shape of the Chinese pagoda. The image of the Shakyamuni
Buddha in the abhaya mudra is noticeable in some Chinese pagodas. Buddhist iconography is also
part of the symbolism of the pagoda. The oldest extant fully wooden pagoda standing in China today
is the Pagoda of Fugong Temple in Shanxi Province, built in the 11th century during the Song
Dynasty.

Narrative paintings on the walls of caves in Ajanta and Dunhuang, China by Buddhist monks and
pilgrims in the 5th to 8th Century A.D. provide a rich tapestry of popular stories of the period. One of
the caves in Dunhuang has the first known printed book in the world and other examples of Chinese
paintings on silk. The text is that of the Diamond Sutra, and the first sheet in the scroll has an added
distinction. It is the world's first printed illustration, depicting an enthroned Buddha surrounded by

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holy attendants. The paintings are mostly of figures from Buddhist mythology and are intended to be
used as banners.

Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji area of Japan reflect the age of the Buddhist influence in Japan.
The structures include some of the oldest extant wooden buildings in the world from the 7th to the
8th Centuries.

Borobudur is a 9th Century Mahayana Buddhist monument from Indonesia. It is built as a single
stupa, representing the Buddhist cosmology and the nature of the mind. The monument is a shrine
to Buddha and a place of pilgrimage. Borobudur has many statues of various Buddhas. The cross-
legged statues are seated in a lotus. At a glance, all the Buddha statues appear similar, but there are
subtle differences among them in the mudras or the position of the hands. There are five groups of
mudras: North, East, South, West and Zenith, which represent the five cardinal compass points
according to Mahayana Buddhism.