This paper aims to shed more light on the interrelationship between Buddhism and Jainism in the 7th century (§ 1 and § 6). The starting point of my examination deals with a particular divination event for Xuanzang (602–664) performed by a Jain monk in Nālandā. The relevant records in Xuanzang’s biography (§ 2) and in Kuiji’s biography (§ 3) clearly show that this encounter with the Digaṃbara monk named *Vajhara, who predicted for the Chinese Master a successful return journey, had a significant impact on the latter’s final decision to travel back to China. However, in all of the research on Xuanzang, hardly any attention has thus far been paid to this highly interesting fact. Furthermore, the controversial attitude of Jainism and Buddhism towards the fortune-telling ritual as taught in the respective canonical scriptures of both religions (§ 4) will be pointed out. Finally, the author proposes to demonstrate that the common Chinese perception of Jains as “skilled soothsayers” can probably be traced back to Xuanzang himself, who first introduced the term shan-zhan ni-qian 善占尼乾 “Nirgraṇṭhas as skilled soothsayers” in China (§ 5).
目次
§1. Introduction §2. Huili’s Records of Xuanzang’s Encounter with the Fortune-telling Jain Monk §3. The Reference to the Divinating Nirgraṇṭha in Kuiji’s Biography §4. The Controversial Attitude of Jainism and Buddhism towards Divination §4.1. The Buddha Condemned Various Practices Dealing with Divination §4.2. The Jains Use the Aṅgavidyā as a Guideline for Divination §5. The Chinese Perception of the “Nirgraṇṭhas as Skilled Soothsayers” §6. Conclusion Bibliography
