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Was early Buddhism a revolt against Brahman ritualism and the Upani.sadic philosophy? Or was its opposition confined to the former, while it accepted its main ideas from the latter? For unspecified reason(s), since the beginning of Paali researches, it has been taken for granted that as far as the relationship between early Buddhism and the Upani.sads was concerned, these were the only possible alternatives. What obliges us thus to limit ourselves has never been adequately discussed. A moment's reflection, however, will convince us that secondary or derivative evidence, its usefulness notwithstanding, is not enough without a corroboration from the primary sources. The main question, therefore, should be: Do we have reliable evidence from the Paali Canon and other early texts which lends support to either alternative?

　　 This paper proposes to examine the issue of relating early Buddhism to the Upani.sads one way or the other, questioning the fashionable view that early Buddhism was indebted to the Upani.sads for its fundamental tenets.

I
Let us make it clear at the outset that the term "Upani.sadic philosophy" is not being used to denote the exact words contained in the extant Upani.sadic texts. There is no reason to think that these very texts were available to the Buddha and his followers. Pointing out the absence of references to actual Upani.sadic passages will be at best inconclusive negative evidence. By "Upani.sadic philosophy" we mean only the peculiarly Upani.sadic ideas, values, and modes of thinking. These include: there is a spiritual ultimate reality underlying the phenomenal world, known as Brahman or AAtman; the individual soul is essentially one with this reality; we are in bondage due to the ignorance of our true nature; and, finally, we can, and should, try to win liberation by attaining true insight. The Upani.sads, as the name suggests, are esoteric and mystical in their values and mode of thinking. They subscribe to the doctrine of moral retribution (karman) in the field of ethics. Whether the Paali Canon was in any way in fluenced by the Upani.sads really ought to be determined by evidence concerning its acquaintance with the Upani.sadic tenets mentioned above.

　　 Another stipulation concerns the anteriority of the Upani.sads and their similarity in certain aspects with early Buddhism. There cannot be much doubt that the oldest and most important Upani.sads -- the B.rhadaara.nyaka, the Chaandogya, and the Aitereya, in particular -- were pre-Buddhistic, though not in their finally redacted form. Similarly, it is quite obvious that both the Upani.sads and early Buddhism believed in the undesirability of worldly exis-

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tence and sought emancipation from it, both shared a faith in moral retribution, and neither had much respect for priestly rites and rituals. These considerations have always strengthened the feeling that early Buddhism was influenced by, or indebted to, the Upani.sads.

II
The Buddha's (supposed) indebtedness to the Upani.sads is affirmed by some scholars, while other scholars appear keen to establish the "supremacy" of the Upani.sads, using this indebtedness as a supporting argument. Monier Monier Williams believes that "the Buddha, like all Indians, was by nature a metaphysician. He had great sympathy with the philosophy of the Upani.sads." [1] Nevertheless, the Buddha denied the reality of soul because "it is obvious that to believe in the ultimate merging of man's personal spirit in One Impersonal Spirit, is virtually to deny the ultimate existence of any human spirit at all." [2] Albrecht F. Weber is more specific: "This teaching [Buddhism] contains, in itself, absolutely nothing new; on the contrary, it is entirely identical with the corresponding Brahmanical doctrines; only the fashion in which Buddha proclaimed and disseminated it was something novel and unwonted." [3] A. B. Keith has fixed the "lower limit" of the date of the Upani.sads on the basis of his conjecture that "Buddhism accepts from the Upani.sads the doctrines of transmigration and pessimism." [4]

　　 Coming to the other group, comprising chiefly Indian scholars, we find Ramchandra D. Ranade trying to trace the "sources of Buddhism" in the Upani.sads, asking us to remember "that the end of the Upanishadic period and the beginning of the Buddhistic period are contemporaneous, and that the one gradually and imperceptibly merges into the other." [5] It is his contention that "all the main rudiments of Buddhism are present in embryo the Upanishads." [6] T. M. P. Mahadevan is also of the same opinion: "It is no exaggeration to say that the Upani.sads constitute the basic springs of Indian thought and culture. They have inspired not only the orthodox sys-

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1. Buddhism in Its Connexion with Braahmanism and Hinduuism, and Its Contrast with Christianity. 26 ed. (Indian reprint ed., Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1964), pp. 104-105.