DELHEY, Martin

Martin Delhey

English

1050001202802831488

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  Martin Delhey: “Vakkali: A New Interpretation of His Suicide.” In: Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies 13 (2009). 67-108. Correction In the last paragraph on p. 81 of this article I write with reference to EĀ 642c8-10: “ … Vakkali does not only himself recognize that he is not yet released, but afterwards a narrator’s voice stresses the fact that Vakkali at this point of time was completely ignorant of the fundamental Buddhist truths and of the operations of karman.”  Accordingly, I summarize this passage on p. 107 with the words: “narrator stresses Vakkali's ignorance.”  Unfortunately, this interpretation of the text passage is wrong. The Chinese wording clearly suggests that the narrator here refers to the ignorance of Vakkali's attendant, who provides him with a knife or sword (cp. n. 22), rather than to Vakkali himself. I am unable to explain why this fact escaped my attention while I was writing the article. I only noticed my misinterpretation on the occasion of a comparison of my own draft translation of the sūtra with the draft of Bhikkhu Anālayo's rendering. Anālayo's preliminary translation contained the correct interpretation of the passage in question.  However, I do not see any reason to change my conclusion that the Ekottar(ik)āgama version of Vakkali's suicide is an exegetical recension. The assumption that the inappropriateness of his suicide is stressed even in this passage probably still holds true. It is, however, also clear that it is especially another, even more problematic aspect that is dealt with here: The attendant provides Vakkali with the means to commit suicide, although the active involvement in the suicide of another person has been criticized with particular emphasis in early Buddhism.  

Vakkali: A New Interpretation of His Suicide  [with Errata]

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Vakkali: A New Interpretation of His Suicide [with Errata]

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