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Document Details : Title: The Concept of manomaya in Early Buddhism and Upaniṣads Subtitle: A Study with Particular Reference to the Pāli Sīlakkhandhavagga Author(s): DE NOTARIIS, Bryan Journal: Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 42 Date: 2019 Pages: 47-81 DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.42.0.3287477 Abstract : In this paper, I will analyse the concept of manomaya, a term which could be translated as 'mind-made' or 'made of mind'. This concept appears within Buddhist texts in many contexts, such as in the Sāmaññaphalasutta, where the meditator creates a mind-made body (manomayakāya) before becoming able to perform psychic powers (iddhi) and higher knowledges (abhiññā), or in the Brahmajālasutta where there are beings who inhabit the Realm of Radiance (Ābhassara), whose bodies are mind-made. This analysis will be a comparison between the references concerning the concept found in the Upaniṣads with those found mainly in the Sīlakkhandhavagga, the first part of the Dīghanikāya. The analysis will be conducted through a detailed study of some characteristics of the notion of manomaya, which seem to be shared by both Upaniṣadic and Sīlakkhandhavagga texts. The first characteristic of manomaya is its centrality, meaning that the term appears as an element centrally located in some lists and an intermediate attainment on the meditation path. It will be possible to also observe the feature of centrality of the manomaya concept in the Buddhist cosmological and psychological system. The second characteristic is the connection of the concept of manomaya with the notion of 'self/body/trunk' (ātman) expressed in the Upaniṣads and earlier Vedic texts and its Buddhist counterpart: anattan, namely the denial of the existence of an attan (= ātman). The characteristic of brightness or luminosity will be considered as well. This idea appears in the Upaniṣads often when manomaya is connected with the ātman, whereas in the Buddhist context, the characteristic of brightness appears in connection with the embodiment of certain beings in the Realm of Radiance. Last but not least, it will be observed whether manomaya may be connected with the atmosphere (antalikkha). All these references highlight that within the Sīlakkhandhavagga the concept of manomaya is close to the same concept that appears in the Upaniṣads. |
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