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{{Short description|6th-century BCE Indian ascetic teacher}}{{use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}{{use Indian English|date=May 2017}}

factoids

{{PaliCanonSamanaViews}}Sañjaya Belatthiputra (Pali: {{IAST|Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta}}; Sanskrit: Sañjaya Vairatiputra; literally, "Sañjaya of the Belattha clan"), was an Indian ascetic philosopher who lived around the 7th-6th century BC in the region of Magadha. He was contemporaneous with Mahavira, Makkhali Gosala, Ajita Kesakambali and the Buddha, and was a proponent of the ajñana school of thought.Chakravarty (2021).

Teacher

Sanjaya is thought to be the first teacher of the future Buddha's future two great disciples, Maha-Moggallana and Sariputta. Both of them were followers of a person named Sanjaya Parabajjaka (Sanjaya the wanderer). Historically, Sanjaya Parabajjaka is considered to be same as Sanjaya Belatthiputta by many scholars. These two future arahants ultimately left Sanjaya's tutelage as it did not address their unresolved desire to end ultimate suffering.Hecker (1994). Sanjaya Parabajjaka also had a follower named Suppiya, and so was Tattvalabdha, a minister at the court of King Ajatashatru.

Thought

Hecker (1994) contextualizes Sanjaya's thought as "a kind of dialectical existentialism" in juxtaposition to the popular materialist views of the day (for instance, typified by the ascetic teacher Ajita Kesakambalī.)Hecker (1994). Particularly regarding {{IAST|Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta}}, see Chapter 2, "The Years of Wandering and Spiritual Search." Chakravarty (2021) expounds that Sanjaya navigated clashes of ideas and disputes by steadfastly withholding judgments, especially concerning metaphysical and ethical debates. He crafted a methodical five-fold response, as a means to abstain from adopting positions on any philosophical viewpoint. Chakravarty terms Sanjaya's systematic approach in Sanskrit as amarakathananilambana. Chakravarty (2021).In the Samannaphala Sutta (DN 2), Sanjaya is recorded as saying:

Commentary

In the Pali literature, Sanjaya's teachings have been characterized as "evasive"Thanissaro (1997) or "agnostic".Bhaskar (1972). In the Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1), Sanjaya's views are deemed to be amaravikkhepavada, "endless equivocation" or "a theory of eel-wrigglers."Cited in Bhaskar (1972).In Jaina literature, Sanjaya is identified as a Jaina sage (Skt., muni). It is believed that he was influenced by Jaina doctrine although Jaina philosophers were critical of Sanjaya.

See also

• Ajñana
• Shramana

Notes

Sources

• Bhaskar, Bhagchandra Jain (1972). Jainism in Buddhist Literature. Alok Prakashan: Nagpur. Available on-line atweblink
• Chakravarty, Anish (2021). Sañjaya’s Ajñānavāda and MahāvÄ«ra’s Anekāntavāda: From Agnosticism to Pluralism in K.M. Pathak (ed.) Quietism, Agnosticism and Mysticism: Mapping the Philosophical Discourse of the East and the West. Singapore: Springer Nature. {{ISBN|978-981-16-3222-8}}.
• Hecker, Hellmuth (1994). Maha-Moggallana (BPS Wheel 263). Available on-line atweblink
• Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2001). The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-072-X}}.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life (DN 2). Available on-line atweblink
• Walshe, Maurice O'Connell (trans.) (1995). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the DÄ«gha Nikāya. Somerville: Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-103-3}}.

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