Who or What Created the World? Bhāviveka’s Arguments Against the Hindu Concept of Īśvara

• Published in: International journal of Buddhist thought & culture 2019, 29(1), , pp.29-51
• Main Author: ECKEL, Malcolm David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 불교학
• ISSN: 1598-7914
• DOI: 10.16893/IJBTC.2019.06.29.1.29

In his commentary on the first verse of Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikāḥ, Bhāviveka discusses the Hindu concept of īśvara or “Lord” as one of several “no-causes” (ahetu) that allegedly have created the world. By “no-cause” he means that, while the Lord may exist, but he is not performing the action of creating the world. In this sense, the Lord is like a woman who is “no-wife” or a son who is “no-son.” They may exist, but they do not perform the actions that are appropriate to these particular social roles. Basing his argument on a verse in the Mahābhārata that speaks bitterly of the injustice of the Lord, Bhāviveka argues that a Lord who is capricious and cruel could not have created a world that is orderly and just. Instead, he proposes that, from a conventional point of view (saṃvṛtyāpi), the world is created not by a Lord, but by karma. Bhāviveka develops this argument further in two places in his own independent work, The Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way (madhyamaka-hṛdaya-kārikāḥ), and in its commentary The Flame of Reason (Tarkajvālā). In his further elaboration of the argument, he gives a vivid account of what he considers the moral inadequacies of the Lord in Hindu mythology, focusing not only on the terrifying and destructive aspects of Śiva as Rudra, but also on the morally questionable aspects of Viṣṇu as Kṛṣṇa the cowherd who destroys demons and seduces other men’s wives. In the process, Bhāviveka gives us a distinctive and lively picture of the perennial conflict between Hindus and Buddhists about the role of the Lord in the creation of the world. KCI Citation Count: 0