Das Posadhavastu: Vorschriften fur die buddhistische Beichtfeier im Vinaya der Mulasarvastivadins.

• Author: Rocher, Ludo
• Position: Book Review

By HAIYAN HU-VON HINUBER. Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik, vol. 13. Reinbeck: VERLAG FUR ORIENTALISTISCHE FACHPUBLIKATIONEN, 1994. Pp. xix + 552.

This volume represents a thoroughly revised and expanded version of Haiyan Hu-von Hinuber's 1986 dissertation at the Georg-August Universitat in Gottingen, under the supervision of Heinz Bechert.

The term upavastha appears in early Brahmanical literature (Satapathabrahmana 1.1.1.7-9 and 2.1.4.1-2) in the sense of "day of fasting" (p. 2; I notice that the term appears even once at the samhita level: Kathaka 34.15). The author explains the adoption of the term among Buddhists (posatha with the Sarvastivadins, uposadha or posadha with the Mahasamghika-Lokottaravadins, and uposatha in Pali) as an example of undeniable borrowings from Vedic circles even by Buddhist and other communities which, otherwise, were vehemently opposed to Vedic ritual. In fact, posadha, in the sense of "confession ceremony," "ist einer der altesten und wichtigsten Bestandteile des buddhistischen Gemeindelebens. Sie hat bis heute ihre wesentliche Bedeutung in allen buddhistischen Landern und Gebieten behalten" (p. xiv).

The book is a true vade mecum for anyone interested in the institution of posadha in all its aspects, historical (origin and development of the posadha ceremony, and a critical survey of earlier research), comparative (with other Mulasarvastivada texts, and with parallel versions in other Vinaya schools), lexicographical (with extensive comments on a large number of Sanskrit and Tibetan terms), linguistic (declension, conjugation, and syntax of the language of Mulasarvastivada-Vinayavastu; prakritisms, hypersanskritization, deviations from classical Sanskrit), philological (including paleographical remarks on the Gilgit manuscript), etc. I may warn the reader that it is not an easy book to read...