ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters I have argued that the Bodhisatta was taught a form of early Brahminic meditation. To what extent, then, were the teachings of the Buddha influenced by this Brahminic background? Perhaps the Buddha rejected the Brahminic methods of his teachers outright. If so, element meditation and formless meditation would be a ‘nonauthentic intrusion into the Buddhist texts’, as claimed by Bronkhorst.1 But it is also possible that the Buddha allowed, or even recommended, the practice of element meditation and formless meditation. The Ariyapariyesana Sutta suggests that the Buddha taught some sort of meditative practice to the first five disciples.2 But there is no indication of the nature of this practice, and so this passage cannot be used as the criterion by which teachings in the early Buddhist literature could be ascribed to the Buddha. If, however, the Buddha was taught an early Brahminic sort of meditation, and if the early Buddhist literature is as old as I claim (pp. 4-7), then this theory of the Buddha’s intellectual development can be tested on the early texts. We can analyse the teachings on meditation, particularly those that concern formless meditation, and consider if they might be proclamations of a teacher of such a background as we have hitherto suggested.
