Sanjaya Belatthaputta

The Views of Six Samana in the Pali Canon
(based on the Sāmaññaphala Sutta1)
Question: "Is it possible to point out the fruit of the
contemplative life, visible in the here and now?"1
samaṇa view (diṭṭhi)
Pūraṇa
Kassapa		 Amoralism: denies any reward or
punishment for either good or bad deeds.
Makkhali
Gosāla		 Fatalism: we are powerless;
suffering is pre-destined.
Ajita
Kesakambalī		 Materialism:
with death, all is annihilated.
Pakudha
Kaccāyana		 Eternalism: Matter, pleasure, pain and
the soul are eternal and do not interact.
Nigaṇṭha
Nātaputta		 Restraint: be endowed with, cleansed by
and suffused with the avoidance of all evil.2
Sañjaya
Belaṭṭhaputta		 Agnosticism: "I don't think so. I don't think in
that way or otherwise. I don't think not or not not."

Suspension of judgement.

Notes: 1. DN 2 (Thanissaro, 1997; Walshe, 1995, pp. 91-109).
2. DN-a (Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi, 1995, pp. 1258-59, n. 585).

Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta (literally, "Sanjaya of the Belattha clan") was an Indian ascetic teacher who lived around the 6th or 5th century BCE, contemporaneous with Mahavira and the Buddha.

In the Pali literature, Sanjaya's teachings have been characterized as "evasive"[1] or "agnostic."[2] Hecker (1994) contextualizes it as "a kind of dialectical existentialism" in juxtaposition to the popular materialist views of the day (for instance, typified by the ascetic teacher Ajita Kesakambalī.)[3] For example, in the Samannaphala Sutta (DN 2), Sanjaya is recorded as saying:

'If you ask me if there exists another world [after death], if I thought that there exists another world, would I declare that to you? I don't think so. I don't think in that way. I don't think otherwise. I don't think not. I don't think not not. If you asked me if there isn't another world... both is and isn't... neither is nor isn't... if there are beings who transmigrate... if there aren't... both are and aren't... neither are nor aren't... if the Tathagata exists after death... doesn't... both... neither exists nor exists after death, would I declare that to you? I don't think so. I don't think in that way. I don't think otherwise. I don't think not. I don't think not not.'[4]

In the Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1), Sanjaya's views are deemed to be amaravikkhepavad, "a theory of eel-wrigglers."[5]

Sanjaya was the first teacher of the future Buddha's future two great disciples, Maha-Moggallana and Sariputta. These two future arahants ultimately left Sanjaya's tutelage as it did not address their unresolved desire to end ultimate suffering.[6]

In Jaina literature, Sanjaya is identified as a Jaina sage (Skt., muni). It is believed that he was influenced by Jaina doctrine although Jaina philosophers were critical of Sanjaya.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Thanissaro (1997)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bhaskar (1972).
  3. ↑ Hecker (1994). Particularly regarding Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, see Chapter 2, "The Years of Wandering and Spiritual Search."
  4. ↑ Thanissaro (1997).
  5. ↑ Cited in Bhaskar (1972).
  6. ↑ Hecker (1994).

Sources