Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka's classification of Buddhist shrines revisited

The Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka is a frequently referenced early Pali text that offers a categorization of Buddhist shrines and their worship.[i] It is particularly noteworthy since it enumerates three distinct categories of Buddhist sacred buildings known as cetiya (Skt.: caitya), which are supposedly approved by the Buddha himself. The three types of cetiya are as follows: sārīrika-cetiya, also known as dhatu[ka]cetiya to enshrine bodily relics; cetiya connected to an item or place worn by the Buddha, like the seat of Enlightenment beneath the bodhi tree or the tree itself (pāribhogika-cetiya); and a third type — “indicative,” dedicatory or commemorative shrine known as uddesika-cetiya, which is possibly dedicated to or commemorate a particular event associated with the Buddha/Bodhisattva’s activities.

This text is a rare instance in which the Buddha himself sanctions his own worship, the other famous instance being the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta and its versions, including, and notably, those preserved in Chinese which will be very useful later in my discussion of the uddesika-cetiya.[ii] As I will show, the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta proves very helpful for our understanding of that third set of shrines.

The discussion of the three types of shrines comes up in the introductory part of the Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka preceding the telling of the main story of the past about a king called Kāliṅga when devotees ask Ananda about the lack of a specific spot to leave offerings of flowers and wreaths at Jetavana when the Buddha is away on a trip and is not physically present at the monastery. I.e., it raises the critical issue of the proper ways to venerate the Buddha when he is gone – either away on a trip (as in the story) or gone from the world after his final passing (parinirvāṇa). The Buddha then instructs Ananda that a shrine with bodily relics (sārīrika-cetiya) cannot be made while the Buddha is still alive and that the only shrine which can be worshiped both during the lifetime of the/a Buddha and after his parinirvāṇa is the pāribhogika-cetiya, giving as a specific example the bodhi tree at Bodhgaya. After this instruction, Ananda proceeds to plant a “fruit” taken from the original tree near the entrance of Jetavana, where a shrine is built around it, to enable a place for people to leave offerings for the Buddha while he is away.

As to the third category, the Buddha seems to say it is unsuitable or “inappropriate” and that it depends on “imagination only.”[iii] That is to say, by exclusion, it is not connected with something tangible the Buddha owned or used and had physical contact with, nor is it a relic of his physical body.

The Buddha does not explain why the uddesika-cetiya is “inappropriate” or what it means to rely solely on recollection or imagination. As a result, the uddesika-cetiya's meaning is not entirely evident, and many people have given different readings and interpretations of the passage, making it uncertain and even contentious, which has led to very differing interpretations as to the meaning.

It is also important to note that according to a later traditional commentarial text, this third type of shrine is also associated with “representations” of the Buddha (buddhapaṭimā).[iv] Nevertheless, I will suggest that, although significant, the suggested interpretation of uddesika-cetiya—an image of the Buddha or a shrine bearing an image of the Buddha—is perhaps not wholly accurate or rather that it may have meant something different at an earlier point in time, particularly prior to the development of the first anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha's body. In fact, I would suggest that the meaning of this type of shrine was fluid and developed over time and that several different types of shrines were or can be included under the uddesika-cetiya umbrella.

In this paper, I revisit the three kinds of cetiya from the Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka, suggest a new interpretation for the uddesika-cetiya category, and discuss the three types of cetiya connections with different modes of pilgrimage.

This new interpretation is important as it will contest the notion that the Kāliṅgabodhi jātaka is a record of an understanding that the uddesika-cetiya is somehow inferior to the other two types of shrines – an interpretation that seems to be predominant among scholars.

Even though the text is preserved in Pali, the implications of the text are deep and far reaching as they relate to an important part of the transmission of Buddhism and are relevant to all Buddhist traditions across all periods of time.

[i] Ja 479, Ja.iv.228 (PTS 4.232–4.236) Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births Book 13 Terasanipāta Ambavagga. For a translation in English see Edward Byles Cowell, ed. The Jātaka: Or, Stories of the Buddha's Former Births. Vol. 4. (Cambridge: University Press, 1901), 142-148.

[ii] In addition to the sutta version found in The Dīrgha-āgama (DN16), the three Chinese versions of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta I am consulting are T. 5 (CBETA, T01, no. 5); T. 6 (CBETA, T01, no. 6); and T.7 (CBETA, T01, no. 7). I am also consulting the Chinese translation of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya-kṣudrakavastu 根本說一切有部毘奈耶雜事 T24 No. 1451 (CBETA, T24, no. 1451); and the Sanskrit MPS (Waldschmidt, Das Mahaparinirvanasutra).

[iii] The translation by W.H.D. Rouse goes “No, Ananda, not a body-shrine; that kind is made when a Buddha enters Nirvana. A shrine of memorial is improper because the connection depends on the imagination only. But the great bo-tree used by the Buddhas is fit for a shrine, be they alive or be they dead.” See E.B. Cowell, The Jātaka, 142.

[iv] The Commentary to the Treasure-store Discourse or Nidhikaṇḍasutta of the Khuddakapāṭha (KhpA 222).