Zhen Liu
Fudan University, Shanghai (China)
This study focuses on the 20th sūtra of Dīrghāgama – Kāyabhāvanā, “Development of the Body”. The sūtra is mainly about a debate between the Buddha and a Jaina disciple, Sātyaki, about kāyabhāvanā, “development of the body”, and cittabhāvanā, “development of the mind”. In the second part of the sūtra, which is essential, part of the Buddha’s vita is inserted. This part concerns his asceticism, a kind of kāyabhāvanā, before he acquired enlightenment. This part also corresponds to the theme of the Sanskrit text. This story, being told by the Buddha himself in first-person narration, includes his unsuccessful praxis following Ārāḍa Kālāma and Udraka Rāmaputra, his solitary meditation, fasting and the way to attain enlightenment after abandoning asceticism.
(Presented in the International Conference on Buddhist Studies: Buddha's Biography – Buddhist Legends, 18-19 July 2015, Le Meridien Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Department of Thai, Faculty of Arts, The Pali and Sanskrit Section, Department of Eastern Languages, Faculty of Arts and Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University)