Studien zur Literatur des Theravada Buddhismus, I: Entstehung und Aufbau der Jataka-Sammlung; II: Das Patimokkhasutta der Theravadin. Seine Gestalt und seine Entstehungsgeschichte.

• Author: Rocher, Ludo
• Position: Book Review

Studien zur Literatur des Theravada Buddhismus, I: Entstehung und Aufbau der Jataka-Sammlung; II: Das Patimokkhasutta der Theravadin. Seine Gestalt und seine Entstehungsgeschichte. By OSKAR VON HINUBER. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Geistes- und Sozialwis-senschaftliche Klasse, 1998, Nr. 7; 1999, Nr. 6. Stuttgart: STEINER. Pp. vi + 223; iv + 98. DM 84; 44.

Oskar von Hinuber relentlessly pursues his studies on Theravada Buddhist literature. In a new three-volume series, the first two fascicles of which are here being reviewed, he raises three questions which could not be treated in detail in his Handbook of Pali Literature (1996). At the same time, he announces from the start that the subject matter of the present series in turn raises questions that must await treatment in future studies (1998: viii).

Different from earlier Jataka studies, which were concerned either with the style of the texts (Oldenberg) or with the interrelation between Jatakas among themselves and with other literary genres (Luders), von Hinuber (cf. Handbook, 54-58) concentrates on the development of the form of the Jatakas, "form" meaning "das feste Gerust ... das ein jedes Jataka umschliesst" (1998: 3). The goal of the first fascicle is to examine the specific form of the Jatakatthavannana (Handbook, 131-32) and to compare it with the form of Jatakas in other Buddhist schools. The author starts from the observation that the wording at the beginning of and in the transitions between the five vatthus (paccuppannavatthu, atitavatthu, gatha, veyyakarana, and samodhana) of each Jataka in the Jatakatthavannana is rigorously fixed. However, in the work of the redactor responsible for this uniform arrangement there are elements--occasionally explicit statements, more often cross-references--that allow us to penetrate into the otherwise unknown earlier history of the collection.

In the two main chapters (II and III) the author, in his own words, guides the reader through "ausgedehnte ode Materialwusten" in search of "eine Oase des Erkenntnisfortschrits" (1998: 5). However, unlike in real deserts, von Hinuber clearly marks the highways and by-ways by means of divisions and subdivisions (up to six digits: e.g., II.1.2.1.1.1-10). Chapter II examines the structure of the Jatakas, both as individual texts and as a collection. Chapter III, "the prehistory of the Jataka collection," deals successively with references to Jatakas in the commentaries...