Post on “Vedās Originated With Buddha Kassapa’s Teachings”

I was thinking the same thing. Buddha Kassapa apparently lived for about 16,000 years. Considering that humans these days only live for a 100 years (if you’re lucky), the humans in Kassapa’s time should’ve been a lot different than us. So I would think their languages would be different too.

The following quote comes from lawsofthenature.com

Q. What language do they speak in heavens and hells?A. Pali, the universal language, spoken by every past Buddha and will speak by every future Buddha.

• I don’t know if there is a solid proof to this statement.

1. All Buddhās teach in the Māgadhi language. 

• Māgadhi= “maga” + “adhi” where “maga” is “path” and “adhi” means “superior.” 
• Thus, it means the language used to explain the “Noble Path.” 
• That is also the “language” of the Brahmas. Of course, there is no spoken language in Brahma realms. However, that is the “natural way” they communicate via thoughts.
• When “Brahmakayika humans” first populate the Earth, they also don’t have dense bodies and thus do not “speak to each other.” They use the same “language,” and when they gradually acquire dense bodies, Māgadhi becomes a spoken language.
• Pāli is derived from Māgadhi, and Sinhala is derived from Pāli. As I mentioned before, all the terms in Paticca Samuppada are the same in the Sinhala language as in Pāli.
• Tipiṭaka was written in Pāli with Sinhala script. Pāli is a version of Māghadhi suitable for writing down oral discourses in a summary form suitable for transmission.

2. In the “Mahāpadāna Sutta (DN 14),” Buddha Gotama provides the lifetimes of humans (lifetimes of the physical bodies, not the duration of human bhava“). 

• As stated where I linked to above, it varies from 80,000 years (Vipassī Buddha’s time) to around 100 years (Gotama Buddha’s time.) It is expected to increase again by the time Buddha Maitreya appears on this Earth (last Buddha on this Earth.)
• The environment for a given Buddha adjusts naturally; those are details we cannot expect to understand. I guess languages evolve to become Māgadhi , at least in the region where a Buddha is to be born.
• Just like the lifetimes, many things move up and down with the passage of time. 

3. Regarding: “Q. What language do they speak in heavens and hells? A. Pali,..”

• That is not correct. We don’t know how communication happens in Deva realms or hells (apayas). I don’t think animals have “languages.” They have limited capabilities for communication.

In any case, those are issues that are not critical to cultivating the Noble Path.

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Waisaka, Jittananto, pathfinder, Yash RS, dosakkhayo

In the post, under #9:

The Pāli words like kamma, Nibbāna, Paṭicca Samuppāda were made “more impressive-sounding” by mostly adding the “r” sound.

Is “Maitreya” Sanskrit? Google says it is, and that “Metteyya” is Pali.  Don’t know how reliable Google is on this, but “Metteyya” does “look” Pali.

And in the same light, I suppose that “Siddhartha” is Sanskrit?

Thanks,
Lang

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Jittananto

You are right, Lang.

• The “Cakkavatti Sutta (DN 26)” describes the coming of the Buddha Metteyya. 
• So, Maitreya is indeed the “Sanskritized” word.

Also, “Siddhartha” could be Sanskrit for “Siddhattha.” I will look into it later.

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Jittananto

I looked into the “Siddhartha”/“Siddhattha” issue. 

• I was unable to find a reference in the Tipitaka for either one!
• I never thought about this before because Prince Siddhatta’s early life is well known. I wonder where that account is in Tipitaka.

Does that mean humans in South Asia survived for a billion years through the wars, pandemic, asteroid impact, etc?

Yes. This means there has been a continuous line of humans in South Asia, from Buddha Kassapa to Buddha Gotama.

• The geography may have changed somewhat, but as stated in #6 of the post, “The Buddha provides a similar account in the “Vepullapabbatta Sutta (SN 15.20).” He describes how a particular mountain had three different names and heights during the times of each Buddha.”

Also, note that even if most of the human population is wiped out (that could have happened before Buddha Kassapa), even a relatively few surviving humans can “regenerate” or “build back” the human population over time since most of those who died in a calamity would stay in the human gandhabba state.

Nature is confusing. I’m just gonna focus on the concepts.

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dosakkhayo

Yes. That is a good idea.

• There is no end to seeking answers to such questions. One could waste a lifetime doing that.
• This is why the Buddha said, “I teach you about suffering and how to overcome suffering and nothing else.”
• That is why he refused to answer some questions.

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Jittananto, taryal, taryal

A Google search showed the Pali name Siddhatta Gotama for the Sanskrit Siddhartha Gautama.

I’d like to share an experience from a long time ago that I found interesting, although it is an “off Dhamma topic”.

More than 10 years ago I met someone from Nepal with the last name Shakya. He knew that I was Buddhist, so he shared with me that his parents and grandparents told him that his family descended from the Shakya clan of the Buddha himself  (he also quipped that there wasn’t a bone of enlightenment in him).

I was curious to do a search and found this article from way back:

The Shakya Clan in India: A Rediscovered Heritage

I know that in our PD community we have different views about where the Buddha actually lived. I personally believe that the Buddha lived in India — was born in Lumbini, attained buddhahood at Bodh Gaya, turned the wheel of Dhamma at Sarnath, parinibba at Kusinārā — so the geography in the article made sense to me; but that’s a side note. Regardless, it was nice to to read about a group of people rediscovering their heritage and turning to Buddha Dhamma, whether or not they are truly the Shakya people of the Buddha’s clan.

Best,
Lang

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Jittananto