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Ānanda
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Attending to the Buddha
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Attending to the Buddha
left|thumb |18th-century Burmese sculpture of Ānanda |alt=Wooden sculpture of monk sitting in a mermaid pose, reclining |upright
In the first twenty years of the Buddha's ministry, the Buddha had several personal attendants. However, after these twenty years, when the Buddha was aged 55, the Buddha announced that he had need for a permanent attendant. The Buddha had been growing older, and his previous attendants had not done their job very well. Initially, several of the Buddha's foremost disciples responded to his request, but the Buddha did not accept them. All the while Ānanda remained quiet. When he was asked why, he said that the Buddha would know best whom to choose, upon which the Buddha responded by choosing Ānanda. Ānanda agreed to take on the position, on the condition that he did not receive any material benefits from the Buddha. Accepting such benefits would open him up to criticism that he chose the position because of ulterior motives. He also requested that the Buddha allow him to accept invitations on his behalf, allow him to ask questions about his doctrine, and repeat any teaching that the Buddha had taught in Ānanda's absence. These requests would help people trust Ānanda and show that the Buddha was sympathetic to his attendant. Furthermore, Ānanda considered these the real advantages of being an attendant, which is why he requested them.
The Buddha agreed to Ānanda's conditions, and Ānanda became the Buddha's attendant, accompanying the Buddha on most of his wanderings. Ānanda took care of the Buddha's daily practical needs, by doing things such as bringing water and cleaning the Buddha's dwelling place. He is depicted as observant and devoted, even guarding the dwelling place at night. Ānanda takes the part of interlocutor in many of the recorded dialogues. He tended the Buddha for a total of 25 years, a duty which entailed much work. His relationship with the Buddha is depicted as warm and trusting: when the Buddha grew ill, Ānanda had a sympathetic illness; when the Buddha grew older, Ānanda kept taking care of him with devotion.
Ānanda sometimes literally risked his life for his teacher. At one time, the rebellious monk Devadatta tried to kill the Buddha by having a drunk and wild elephant released in the Buddha's presence. Ānanda stepped in front of the Buddha to protect him. When the Buddha told him to move, he refused, although normally he always obeyed the Buddha. Through a supernatural accomplishment (; ) the Buddha then moved Ānanda aside and subdued the elephant, by touching it and speaking to it with loving-kindness.
Ānanda often acted as an intermediary and secretary, passing on messages from the Buddha, informing the Buddha of news, invitations, or the needs of lay people, and advising lay people who wanted to provide gifts to the saṅgha. At one time, Mahāpajāpatī, the Buddha's foster-mother, requested to offer robes for personal use for the Buddha. She said that even though she had raised the Buddha in his youth, she never gave anything in person to the young prince; she now wished to do so. The Buddha initially insisted that she give the robe to the community as a whole rather than to be attached to his person. However, Ānanda interceded and mediated, suggesting that the Buddha had better accept the robe. Eventually the Buddha did, but not without pointing out to Ānanda that good deeds like giving should always be done for the sake of the action itself, not for the sake of the person.
thumb |Sculpture of Ānanda from Wat Khao Rup Chang, Songkhla, Thailand |alt=Sculpture of a monk with East Asian traits, holding an alms bowl. |upright
The texts say that the Buddha sometimes asked Ānanda to substitute for him as teacher, and was often praised by the Buddha for his teachings. Ānanda was often given important teaching roles, such as regularly teaching Queen Mallikā, Queen Sāmāvatī, () and other people from the ruling class. Once Ānanda taught a number of King Udena ()'s concubines. They were so impressed by Ānanda's teaching, that they gave him five hundred robes, which Ānanda accepted. Having heard about this, King Udena criticized Ānanda for being greedy; Ānanda responded by explaining how every single robe was carefully used, reused and recycled by the monastic community, prompting the king to offer another five hundred robes. Ānanda also had a role in the Buddha's visit to Vesālī. In this story, the Buddha taught the well-known text Ratana Sutta to Ānanda, which Ānanda then recited in Vesālī, ridding the city from illness, drought and evil spirits in the process. Another well-known passage in which the Buddha taught Ānanda is the passage about spiritual friendship (). In this passage, Ānanda stated that spiritual friendship is half of the holy life; the Buddha corrected Ānanda, stating that such friendship is the entire holy life. In summary, Ānanda worked as an assistant, intermediary and a mouthpiece, helping the Buddha in many ways, and learning his teachings in the process.
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Ānanda
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Resisting temptations
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Resisting temptations
Ānanda was attractive in appearance. A Pāli account related that a bhikkhunī (nun) became enamored with Ānanda, and pretended to be ill to have Ānanda visit her. When she realized the error of her ways, she confessed her mistakes to Ānanda. Other accounts relate that a low-caste woman called Prakṛti (also known in China as ) fell in love with Ānanda, and persuaded her mother Mātaṅgī to use a black magic spell to enchant him. This succeeded, and Ānanda was lured into her house, but came to his senses and called upon the help of the Buddha. The Buddha then taught Prakṛti to reflect on the repulsive qualities of the human body, and eventually Prakṛti was ordained as a bhikkhunī, giving up her attachment for Ānanda. In an East Asian version of the story in the Śūraṃgamasūtra, the Buddha sent Mañjuśrī to help Ānanda, who used recitation to counter the magic charm. The Buddha then continued by teaching Ānanda and other listeners about the Buddha nature.
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Ānanda
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Establishing the nun's order
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Establishing the nun's order
thumb|8th-century Chinese limestone sculpture of Ānanda|alt=Colored limestone sculpture of monk holding an unidentified object|upright
In the role of mediator between the Buddha and the lay communities, Ānanda sometimes made suggestions to the Buddha for amendments in the monastic discipline. Most importantly, the early texts attribute the inclusion of women in the early saṅgha (monastic order) to Ānanda. Fifteen years after the Buddha's enlightenment, his foster mother Mahāpajāpatī came to see him to ask him to be ordained as the first Buddhist bhikkhunī. Initially, the Buddha refused this. Five years later, Mahāpajāpatī came to request the Buddha again, this time with a following of other Sākiya women, including the Buddha's former wife Yasodharā (). They had walked , looked dirty, tired and depressed, and Ānanda felt pity for them. Ānanda therefore confirmed with the Buddha whether women could become enlightened as well. Although the Buddha conceded this, he did not allow the Sākiya women to be ordained yet. Ānanda then discussed with the Buddha how Mahāpajāpatī took care of him during his childhood, after the death of his real mother. Ānanda also mentioned that previous Buddhas had also ordained bhikkhunīs. In the end, the Buddha allowed the Sākiya women to be ordained, being the start of the bhikkhunī order. Ānanda had Mahāpajāpati ordained by her acceptance of a set of rules, set by the Buddha. These came to be known as the garudhamma, and they describe the subordinate relation of the bhikkhunī community to that of the bhikkhus or monks. Scholar of Asian religions Reiko Ohnuma argues that the debt the Buddha had toward his foster-mother Mahāpajāpati may have been the main reason for his concessions with regard to the establishment of a bhikkhunī order.
Many scholars interpret this account to mean that the Buddha was reluctant in allowing women to be ordained, and that Ānanda successfully persuaded the Buddha to change his mind. For example, Indologist and translator I.B. Horner wrote that "this is the only instance of his [the Buddha] being over-persuaded in argument". However, some scholars interpret the Buddha's initial refusal rather as a test of resolve, following a widespread pattern in the Pāli Canon and in monastic procedure of repeating a request three times before final acceptance. Some also argue that the Buddha was believed by Buddhists to be omniscient, and therefore is unlikely to have been depicted as changing his mind. Other scholars argue that other passages in the texts indicate the Buddha intended all along to establish a bhikkhunī order. Regardless, during the acceptance of women into the monastic order, the Buddha told Ānanda that the Buddha's Dispensation would last shorter because of this. At the time, the Buddhist monastic order consisted of wandering celibate males, without many monastic institutions. Allowing women to join the Buddhist celibate life might have led to dissension, as well as temptation between the sexes. The garudhamma, however, were meant to fix these problems, and prevent the dispensation from being curtailed.upright|thumb |The early texts attribute the inclusion of women in the early monastic order to Ānanda. |alt=Taiwanese nun|left
There are some chronological discrepancies in the traditional account of the setting up of the bhikkhunī order. According to the Pāli and Mahīśasaka textual traditions, the bhikkhunī order was set up five years after the Buddha's enlightenment, but, according to most textual traditions, Ānanda only became attendant twenty years after the Buddha's enlightenment. Furthermore, Mahāpajāpati was the Buddha's foster mother, and must therefore have been considerably older than him. However, after the bhikkhunī order was established, Mahāpajāpati still had many audiences with the Buddha, as reported in Pāli and Chinese Early Buddhist Texts. Because of this and other reasons, it could be inferred that establishment of the bhikkhunī order actually took place early in the Buddha's ministry. If this is the case, Ānanda's role in establishing the order becomes less likely. Some scholars therefore interpret the names in the account, such as Ānanda and Mahāpajāpati, as symbols, representing groups rather than specific individuals.
According to the texts, Ānanda's role in founding the bhikkhunī order made him popular with the bhikkhunī community. Ānanda often taught bhikkhunīs, often encouraged women to ordain, and when he was criticized by the monk Mahākassapa, several bhikkhunīs tried to defend him. According to Indologist Oskar von Hinüber, Ānanda's pro-bhikkhunī attitude may well be the reason why there was frequent discussion between Ānanda and Mahākassapa, eventually leading Mahākasapa to charge Ānanda with several offenses during the First Buddhist Council. Von Hinüber further argues that the establishment of the bhikkhunī order may have well been initiated by Ānanda the Buddha's death, and the introduction of Mahāpajāpati as the person requesting to do so is merely a literary device to connect the ordination of women with the person of the Buddha, through his foster mother. Von Hinüber concludes this based on several patterns in the early texts, including the apparent distance between the Buddha and the bhikkhunī order, and the frequent discussions and differences of opinion that take place between Ānanda and Mahākassapa. Some scholars have seen merits in von Hinüber's argument with regard to the pro- and anti-factions, but as of 2017, no definitive evidence has been found for the theory of establishment of the bhikkhuni order after the Buddha's death. Buddhist studies scholar Bhikkhu Anālayo has responded to most of von Hinuber's arguments, writing: "Besides requiring too many assumptions, this hypothesis conflicts with nearly 'all the evidence preserved in the texts together'", arguing that it was monastic discipline that created a distance between the Buddha and the bhikkhunīs, and even so, there were many places in the early texts where the Buddha did address bhikkhunīs directly.
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Ānanda
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The Buddha's death
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The Buddha's death
thumb |upright |Sculpture at Vulture Peak, Rajgir, India, depicting the Buddha consoling Ānanda |alt=Sculpture of the Buddha holding hand on head monk at the right side of the Buddha, the latter monk smiling Despite his long association with and close proximity to the Buddha, the texts describe that Ānanda had not become enlightened yet. Because of that, a fellow monk Udāyī () ridiculed Ānanda. However, the Buddha reprimanded Udāyī in response, saying that Ānanda would certainly be enlightened in this life.
The Pāli Mahā-parinibbāna Sutta related the last year-long trip the Buddha took with Ānanda from Rājagaha () to the small town of Kusinārā () before the Buddha died there. Before reaching Kusinārā, the Buddha spent the retreat during the monsoon (, ) in Veḷugāma (), getting out of the Vesālī area which suffered from famine. Here, the eighty-year old Buddha expressed his wish to speak to the saṅgha once more. The Buddha had grown seriously ill in Vesālī, much to the concern of some of his disciples. Ānanda understood that the Buddha wished to leave final instructions before his death. The Buddha stated, however, that he had already taught everything needed, without withholding anything secret as a teacher with a "closed fist" would. He also impressed upon Ānanda that he did not think the saṅgha should be reliant too much on a leader, not even himself. He then continued with the well-known statement to take his teaching as a refuge, and oneself as a refuge, without relying on any other refuge, also after he would be gone. Bareau argued that this is one of the most ancient parts of the text, found in slight variation in five early textual traditions:
The same text contains an account in which the Buddha, at numerous occasions, gave a hint that he could prolong his life to a full eon through a supernatural accomplishment, but this was a power that he would have to be to exercise. Ānanda was distracted, however, and did not take the hint. Later, Ānanda did make the request, but the Buddha replied that it was already too late, as he would die soon. Māra, the Buddhist personification of evil, had visited the Buddha, and the Buddha had decided to die in three months. When Ānanda heard this, he wept. The Buddha consoled him, however, pointing out that Ānanda had been a great attendant, being sensitive to the needs of different people. If he was earnest in his efforts, he would attain enlightenment soon. He then pointed out to Ānanda that all conditioned things are impermanent: all people must die.
thumb|East Javanese relief depicting the Buddha in his final days, and Ānanda |alt=Metal relief |upright=1.3
In the final days of the Buddha's life, the Buddha traveled to Kusinārā. The Buddha had Ānanda prepare a place for lying down between two sal trees, the same type of tree under which the mother of the Buddha gave birth. The Buddha then had Ānanda invite the Malla clan from Kusinārā to pay their final respects. Having returned, Ānanda asked the Buddha what should be done with his body after his death, and he replied that it should be cremated, giving detailed instructions on how this should be done. Since the Buddha prohibited Ānanda from being involved himself, but rather had him instruct the Mallas to perform the rituals, these instructions have by many scholars been interpreted as a prohibition that monastics should not be involved in funerals or worship of stūpas (structures with relics). Buddhist studies scholar Gregory Schopen has pointed out, however, that this prohibition only held for Ānanda, and only with regard to the Buddha's funeral ceremony. It has also been shown that the instructions on the funeral are quite late in origin, in both composition and insertion into the text, and are not found in parallel texts, apart from the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta. Ānanda then continued by asking how devotees should honor the Buddha after his death. The Buddha responded by listing four important places in his life that people could pay their respects to, which later became the four main places of Buddhist pilgrimage. Before the Buddha died, Ānanda recommended the Buddha to move to a more meaningful city instead, but the Buddha pointed out that the town was once a great capital. Ānanda then asked who will be next teacher after the Buddha would be gone, but the Buddha replied that his teaching and discipline would be the teacher instead. This meant that decisions should be made by reaching consensus within the saṅgha, and more generally, that now the time had come for the Buddhist monastics and devotees to take the Buddhist texts as authority, now that the Buddha was dying.
The Buddha gave several instructions before his death, including a directive that his former charioteer Channa () be shunned by his fellow monks, to humble his pride. In his final moments, the Buddha asked if anyone had any questions they wished to pose to him, as a final chance to allay any doubts. When no-one responded, Ānanda expressed joy that all of the Buddha's disciples present had attained a level beyond doubts about the Buddha's teaching. However, the Buddha pointed out that Ānanda spoke out of faith and not out of meditative insighta final reproach. The Buddha added that, of all the five hundred monks that are surrounding him now, even the "latest" or "most backward" () had attained the initial stage of sotapanna. Meant as an encouragement, the Buddha was referring to Ānanda. During the Buddha's final Nirvana, Anuruddha was able to use his meditative powers to understand which stages the Buddha underwent before attaining final Nirvana. However, Ānanda was unable to do so, indicating his lesser spiritual maturity. After the Buddha's death, Ānanda recited several verses, expressing a sense of urgency (), deeply moved by the events and their bearing: "Terrible was the quaking, men's hair stood on end, / When the all-accomplished Buddha passed away."
Shortly after the council, Ānanda brought the message with regard to the Buddha's directive to Channa personally. Channa was humbled and changed his ways, attained enlightenment, and the penalty was withdrawn by the saṅgha. Ānanda traveled to Sāvatthī (), where he was met with a sad populace, who he consoled with teachings on impermanence. After that, Ānanda went to the quarters of the Buddha and went through the motions of the routine he formerly performed when the Buddha was still alive, such as preparing water and cleaning the quarters. He then saluted and talked to the quarters as though the Buddha was still there. The Pāli commentaries state that Ānanda did this out of devotion, but also because he was "not yet free from the passions".
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Ānanda
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The First Council
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The First Council
thumb |upright=1 |According to Buddhist texts, the First Buddhist Council was held in Rājagaha. |alt=Stupa, located at present-day Rajgir, at that time called Rajagaha
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Ānanda
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Ban
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Ban
According to the texts, the First Buddhist Council was held in Rājagaha. In the first vassa after the Buddha had died, the presiding monk Mahākassapa () called upon Ānanda to recite the discourses he had heard, as a representative on this council. There was a rule issued that only enlightened disciples (arahants) were allowed to attend the council, to prevent mental afflictions from clouding the disciples' memories. Ānanda had, however, not attained enlightenment yet, in contrast with the rest of the council, consisting of 499 arahants. Mahākassapa therefore did not allow Ānanda to attend yet. Although he knew that Ānanda's presence in the council was required, he did not want to be biased by allowing an exception to the rule. The Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition adds that Mahākassapa initially allowed Ānanda to join as a sort of servant assisting during the council, but then was forced to remove him when the disciple Anuruddha saw that Ānanda was not yet enlightened.
Ānanda felt humiliated, but was prompted to focus his efforts to reach enlightenment before the council started. The Mūlasarvāstivāda texts add that he felt motivated when he remembered the Buddha's words that he should be his own refuge, and when he was consoled and advised by Anuruddha and Vajjiputta, the latter being his attendant. On the night before the event, he tried hard to attain enlightenment. After a while, Ānanda took a break and decided to lie down for a rest. He then attained enlightenment right there, right then, halfway between standing and lying down. Thus, Ānanda was known as the disciple who attained awakening "in none of the four traditional poses" (walking, standing, sitting, or lying down). The next morning, to prove his enlightenment, Ānanda performed a supernatural accomplishment by diving into the earth and appearing on his seat at the council (or, according to some sources, by flying through the air). Scholars such as Buddhologist André Bareau and scholar of religion Ellison Banks Findly have been skeptical about many details in this account, including the number of participants on the council, and the account of Ānanda's enlightenment just before the council. Regardless, today, the story of Ānanda's struggle on the evening before the council is still told among Buddhists as a piece of advice in the practice of meditation: neither to give up, nor to interpret the practice too rigidly.
thumb|260px|Jetavana temple in Rājagṛiha, India. Wall painting depicting the First Buddhist Council, during which Ānanda is said to have pronounced the formula:"evaṃ me sutaṃ" (Thus have I heard.) as an introduction to each of the Buddha's discourses that he recited from memory.
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Ānanda
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Recitations
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Recitations
The First Council began when Ānanda was consulted to recite the discourses and to determine which were authentic and which were not. Mahākassapa asked of each discourse that Ānanda listed where, when, and to whom it was given, and at the end of this, the assembly agreed that Ānanda's memories and recitations were correct, after which the discourse collection (, ) was considered finalized and closed. Ānanda therefore played a crucial role in this council, and texts claim he remembered 84,000 teaching topics, among which 82,000 taught by the Buddha and another 2,000 taught by disciples. Many early Buddhist discourses started with the words "Thus have I heard" (, ), which according to most Buddhist traditions, were Ānanda's words, indicating that he, as the person reporting the text (), had first-hand experience and did not add anything to it. Thus, the discourses Ānanda remembered later became the collection of discourses of the Canon, and according to the Haimavāta, Dharmaguptaka and Sarvāstivāda textual traditions (and implicitly, post-canonical Pāli chronicles), the collection of Abhidhamma (Abhidhamma Piṭaka) as well. Scholar of religion Ronald Davidson notes, however, that this is not preceded by any account of Ānanda learning Abhidhamma. According to some later Mahāyāna accounts, Ānanda also assisted in reciting Mahāyāna texts, held in a different place in Rājagaha, but in the same time period. The Pāli commentaries state that after the council, when the tasks for recitation and memorizing the texts were divided, Ānanda and his pupils were given the task to remember the Dīgha Nikāya.
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Ānanda
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Charges
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Charges
During the same council, Ānanda was charged for an offense by members of the saṅgha for having enabled women to join the monastic order. Besides this, he was charged for having forgotten to request the Buddha to specify which offenses of monastic discipline could be disregarded; for having stepped on the Buddha's robe; for having allowed women to honor the Buddha's body after his death, which was not properly dressed, and during which his body was sullied by their tears; and for having failed to ask the Buddha to continue to live on. Ānanda did not acknowledge these as offenses, but he conceded to do a formal confession anyway, "... in faith of the opinion of the venerable elder monks"Ānanda wanted to prevent disruption in the saṅgha. With regard to having women ordained, Ānanda answered that he had done this with great effort, because Mahāpajāpati was the Buddha's foster-mother who had long provided for him. With regard to not requesting the Buddha to continue to live, many textual traditions have Ānanda respond by saying he was distracted by Māra, though one early Chinese text has Ānanda reply he did not request the Buddha to prolong his life, for fear that this would interfere with the next Buddha Maitreya's ministry.
According to the Pāli tradition, the charges were laid after Ānanda had become enlightened and done all the recitations; but the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition has it that the charges were laid before Ānanda became enlightened and started the recitations. In this version, when Ānanda heard that he was banned from the council, he objected that he had not done anything that went against the teaching and discipline of the Buddha. Mahākassapa then listed seven charges to counter Ānanda's objection. The charges were similar to the five given in Pāli. Other textual traditions list slightly different charges, amounting to a combined total of eleven charges, some of which are only mentioned in one or two textual traditions. Considering that an enlightened disciple was seen to have overcome all faults, it seems more likely that the charges were laid before Ānanda's attainment than after.
Indologists von Hinüber and Jean Przyluski argue that the account of Ānanda being charged with offenses during the council indicate tensions between competing early Buddhist schools, i.e. schools that emphasized the discourses (, ) and schools that emphasized monastic discipline. These differences have affected the scriptures of each tradition: e.g. the Pāli and Mahīśāsaka textual traditions portray a Mahākassapa that is more critical of Ānanda than that the Sarvāstivāda tradition depicts him, reflecting a preference for discipline above discourse on the part of the former traditions, and a preference for discourse for the latter. Another example is the recitations during the First Council. The Pāli texts state that Upāli, the person who was responsible for the recitation of the monastic discipline, recited Ānanda does: again, monastic discipline above discourse. Analyzing six recensions of different textual traditions of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta extensively, Bareau distinguished two layers in the text, an older and a newer one, the former belonging to the compilers that emphasized discourse, the latter to the ones that emphasized discipline; the former emphasizing the figure of Ānanda, the latter Mahākassapa. He further argued that the passage on Māra obstructing the Buddha was inserted in the fourth century BCE, and that Ānanda was blamed for Māra's doing by inserting the passage of Ānanda's forgetfulness in the third century BCE. The passage in which the Buddha was ill and reminded Ānanda to be his own refuge, on the other hand, Bareau regarded as very ancient, pre-dating the passages blaming Māra and Ānanda. In conclusion, Bareau, Przyluski and Horner argued that the offenses Ānanda were charged with were a later interpolation. Findly disagrees, however, because the account in the texts of monastic discipline fits in with the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta and with Ānanda's character as generally depicted in the texts.
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Ānanda
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Historicity
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Historicity
Tradition states that the First Council lasted for seven months. Scholars doubt, however, whether the entire canon was really recited during the First Council, because the early texts contain different accounts on important subjects such as meditation. It may be, though, that early versions were recited of what is now known as the Vinaya-piṭaka and Sutta-piṭaka. Nevertheless, many scholars, from the late 19th century onward, have considered the historicity of the First Council improbable. Some scholars, such as orientalists Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and D.P. Minayeff, thought there must have been assemblies after the Buddha's death, but considered only the main characters and some events before or after the First Council historical. Other scholars, such as Bareau and Indologist Hermann Oldenberg, considered it likely that the account of the First Council was written after the Second Council, and based on that of the Second, since there were not any major problems to solve after the Buddha's death, or any other need to organize the First Council. Much material in the accounts, and even more so in the more developed later accounts, deal with Ānanda as the unsullied intermediary who passes on the legitimate teaching of the Buddha. On the other hand, archaeologist Louis Finot, Indologist E. E. Obermiller and to some extent Indologist Nalinaksha Dutt thought the account of the First Council was authentic, because of the correspondences between the Pāli texts and the Sanskrit traditions. Indologist Richard Gombrich, following Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali's arguments, states that "it makes good sense to believe ... that large parts of the Pali Canon do preserve for us the Buddha-vacana, 'the Buddha's words', transmitted to us via his disciple Ānanda and the First Council".
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Ānanda
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Role and character
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Role and character
Ānanda was recognized as one of the most important disciples of the Buddha. In the lists of the disciples given in the Aṅguttara Nikāya and Saṃyutta Nikāya, each of the disciples is declared to be foremost in some quality. Ānanda is mentioned more often than any other disciple: he is named foremost in conduct, in attention to others, in power of memory, in erudition and in resoluteness. Ānanda was the subject of a sermon of praise delivered by the Buddha just before the Buddha's death, as described in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta: it is a sermon about a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others. In the texts he is depicted as compassionate in his relations with lay people, a compassion he learnt from the Buddha. The Buddha relays that both monastics and lay people were pleased to see Ānanda, and were pleased to hear him recite and teach the Buddha's teaching. Moreover, Ānanda was known for his organizational skills, assisting the Buddha with secretary-like duties. In many ways, Ānanda did not only serve the personal needs of the Buddha, but also the needs of the still young, growing institute of the saṅgha.
Moreover, because of his ability to remember the many teachings of the Buddha, he is described as foremost in "having heard much" (, Sanskrit: , ). Ānanda was known for his exceptional memory, which is essential in helping him to remember the Buddha's teachings. He also taught other disciples to memorize Buddhist doctrine. For these reasons, Ānanda became known as the "Treasurer of the Dhamma" (, Sanskrit: ), Dhamma (Sanskrit: ) referring to the doctrine of the Buddha. Being the person who had accompanied the Buddha throughout a great part of his life, Ānanda was in many ways the living memory of the Buddha, without which the saṅgha would be much worse off. Besides his memory skills, Ānanda also stood out in that, as the Buddha's cousin, he dared to ask the Buddha direct questions. For example, after the death of Mahāvira and the depicted subsequent conflicts among the Jain community, Ānanda asked the Buddha how such problems could be prevented after the Buddha's death. However, Findly argues that Ānanda's duty to memorize the Buddha's teachings accurately and without distortion, was "both a gift and a burden". Ānanda was able to remember many discourses verbatim, but this also went hand-in-hand with a habit of not reflecting on those teachings, being afraid that reflection might distort the teachings as he heard them. At multiple occasions, Ānanda was warned by other disciples that he should spend less time on conversing to lay people, and more time on his own practice. Even though Ānanda regularly practiced meditation for long hours, he was less experienced in meditative concentration than other leading disciples. Thus, judgment of Ānanda's character depends on whether one judges his accomplishments as a monk or his accomplishments as an attendant, and person memorizing the discourses.
left|thumb |East Javanese relief of Ānanda, depicted weeping |alt=Monk in forest rubbing in his eye. |upright=1.2
From a literary and didactic point of view, Ānanda often functioned as a kind of foil in the texts, being an unenlightened disciple attending to an enlightened Buddha. Because the run-of the-mill person could identify with Ānanda, the Buddha could through Ānanda convey his teachings to the mass easily. Ānanda's character was in many ways a contradiction to that of the Buddha: being unenlightened and someone who made mistakes. At the same time, however, he was completely devoted to service to the Buddha. The Buddha is depicted in the early texts as both a father and a teacher to Ānanda, stern but compassionate. Ānanda was very fond of and attached to the Buddha, willing to give his life for him. He mourned the deaths of both the Buddha and Sāriputta, with whom he enjoyed a close friendship: in both cases Ānanda was very shocked. Ānanda's faith in the Buddha, however, constituted more of a faith in a person, especially the Buddha's person, as opposed to faith in the Buddha's teaching. This is a pattern which comes back in the accounts which lead to the offenses Ānanda was charged with during the First Council. Moreover, Ānanda's weaknesses described in the texts were that he was sometimes slow-witted and lacked mindfulness, which became noticeable because of his role as attendant to the Buddha: this involved minor matters like deportment, but also more important matters, such as ordaining a man with no future as a pupil, or disturbing the Buddha at the wrong time. For example, one time Mahākassapa chastised Ānanda in strong words, criticizing the fact that Ānanda was travelling with a large following of young monks who appeared untrained and who had built up a bad reputation. In another episode described in a Sarvāstivāda text, Ānanda is the only disciple who was willing to teach psychic powers to Devadatta, who later would use these in an attempt to destroy the Buddha. According to a Mahīśāsaka text, however, when Devadatta had turned against the Buddha, Ānanda was not persuaded by him, and voted against him in a formal meeting. Ānanda's late spiritual growth is much discussed in Buddhist texts, and the general conclusion is that Ānanda was slower than other disciples due to his worldly attachments and his attachment to the person of the Buddha, both of which were rooted in his mediating work between the Buddha and the lay communities.
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Ānanda
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Passing on the teaching
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Passing on the teaching
After the Buddha's death, some sources say Ānanda stayed mostly in the West of India, in the area of Kosambī (), where he taught most of his pupils. Other sources say he stayed in the monastery at Veḷuvana (). Several pupils of Ānanda became well-known in their own right. According to post-canonical Sanskrit sources such as the Divyavadāna and the Aśokavadāna, before the Buddha's death, the Buddha confided to Ānanda that the latter's student Majjhantika () would travel to Udyāna, Kashmir, to bring the teaching of the Buddha there. Mahākassapa made a prediction that later would come true that another of Ānanda's future pupils, Sāṇavāsī (), would make many gifts to the saṅgha at Mathurā, during a feast held from profits of successful business. After this event, Ānanda would successfully persuade Sāṇavāsī to become ordained and be his pupil. Ānanda later persuaded Sāṇavāsī by pointing out that the latter had now made many material gifts, but had not given "the gift of the Dhamma". When asked for explanation, Ānanda replied that Sāṇavāsī would give the gift of Dhamma by becoming ordained as a monk, which was reason enough for Sāṇavāsī to make the decision to get ordained.
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Ānanda
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Death and relics
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Death and relics
thumb |Partially recovered Indian bas-relief depicting the death of Ānanda. The traditional Buddhist accounts relate that he attained final Nirvana in mid-air above the river Rohīni, leaving relics for followers on both sides of the river.|alt=Relief with monk meditating at the right, and on the left, half of a skeleton, a kneeling crowned figure and a second figure holding a parasol above the crowned figure |upright=1.5
Though no Early Buddhist Text provides a date for Ānanda's death, according to the Chinese pilgrim monk Faxian (337422 CE), Ānanda went on to live 120 years. Following the later timeline, however, Ānanda may have lived to 7585 years. Buddhist studies scholar L. S. Cousins dated Ānanda's death twenty years after the Buddha's.
Ānanda was teaching till the end of his life. According to Mūlasarvāstivāda sources, Ānanda heard a young monk recite a verse incorrectly, and advised him. When the monk reported this to his teacher, the latter objected that "Ānanda has grown old and his memory is impaired ..." This prompted Ānanda to attain final Nirvana. He passed on the "custody of the [Buddha's] doctrine" to his pupil Sāṇavāsī and left for the river Ganges. However, according to Pāli sources, when Ānanda was about to die, he decided to spend his final moments in Vesālī instead, and traveled to the river Rohīni. The Mūlasarvāstivāda version expands and says that before reaching the river, he met with a seer called Majjhantika (following the prediction earlier) and five hundred of his followers, who converted to Buddhism. Some sources add that Ānanda passed the Buddha's message on to him. When Ānanda was crossing the river, he was followed by King Ajātasattu (), who wanted to witness his death and was interested in his remains as relics. Ānanda had once promised Ajāsattu that he would let him know when he would die, and accordingly, Ānanda had informed him. On the other side of the river, however, a group of Licchavis from Vesālī awaited him for the same reason. In the Pāli, there were also two parties interested, but the two parties were the Sākiyan and the Koliyan clans instead. Ānanda realized that his death on either side of the river could anger one of the parties involved. Through a supernatural accomplishment, he therefore surged into the air to levitate and meditate in mid-air, making his body go up in fire, with his relics landing on both banks of the river, or in some versions of the account, splitting in four parts. In this way, Ānanda had pleased all the parties involved. In some other versions of the account, including the Mūlasarvāstivāda version, his death took place on a barge in the middle of the river, however, instead of in mid-air. The remains were divided in two, following the wishes of Ānanda.
Majjhantika later successfully carried out the mission following the Buddha's prediction. The latter's pupil Upagupta was described to be the teacher of King Aśoka (3rd century BCE). Together with four or five other pupils of Ānanda, Sāṇavāsī and Majjhantika formed the majority of the Second Council, with Majjhantika being Ānanda's last pupil. Post-canonical Pāli sources add that Sāṇavāsī had a leading role in the Third Buddhist Council as well. Although little is historically certain, Cousins thought it likely at least one of the leading figures on the Second Council was a pupil of Ānanda, as nearly all the textual traditions mention a connection with Ānanda.
Ajāsattu is said to have built a stūpa on top of the Ānanda's relics, at the river Rohīni, or according to some sources, the Ganges; the Licchavis had also built a stūpa at their side of the river. The Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang (60264 CE) later visited stūpas on both sides of the river Rohīni. Faxian also reported having visited stūpas dedicated to Ānanda at the river Rohīni, but also in Mathurā. Moreover, according to the Mūlasarvāstivāda version of the Saṃyukta Āgama, King Aśoka visited and made the most lavish offerings he ever made to a stūpa: He explained to his ministers that he did this because "[t]he body of the Tathāgata is the body of dharma(s), pure in nature. He [Ānanda] was able to retain it/them all; for this reason the offerings [to him] surpass [all others]"body of dharma here referred to the Buddha's teachings as a whole.
In Early Buddhist Texts, Ānanda had reached final Nirvana and would no longer be reborn. But, in contrast with the early texts, according to the Mahāyāna Lotus Sūtra, Ānanda would be born as a Buddha in the future. He would accomplish this slower than the present Buddha, Gotama Buddha, had accomplished this, because Ānanda aspired to becoming a Buddha by applying "great learning". Because of this long trajectory and great efforts, however, his enlightenment would be extraordinary and with great splendor.
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Ānanda
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Legacy
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Legacy
thumb|alt=Temple with Buddha image, flanked by Ānanda and Mahākassapa |In Mahāyāna iconography, Ānanda is often depicted flanking the Buddha at the right side, together with Mahākassapa at the left. |upright=1.4
Ānanda is depicted as an eloquent speaker, who often taught about the self and about meditation. There are numerous Buddhist texts attributed to Ānanda, including the Atthakanāgara Sutta, about meditation methods to attain Nirvana; a version of the Bhaddekaratta Sutta (, ), about living in the present moment; the Sekha Sutta, about the higher training of a disciple of the Buddha; the Subha Suttanta, about the practices the Buddha inspired others to follow. In the Gopaka-Mogallānasutta, a conversation took place between Ānanda, the brahmin Gopaka-Mogallāna and the minister Vassakara, the latter being the highest official of the Magadha region. During this conversation, which occurred shortly after the Buddha's death, Vassakara asked whether it was decided yet who would succeed the Buddha. Ānanda replied that no such successor had been appointed, but that the Buddhist community took the Buddha's teaching and discipline as a refuge instead. Furthermore, the saṅgha did not have the Buddha as a master anymore, but they would honor those monks who were virtuous and trustworthy. Besides these suttas, a section of the Theragāthā is attributed to Ānanda. Even in the texts attributed to the Buddha himself, Ānanda is sometimes depicted giving a name to a particular text, or suggesting a simile to the Buddha to use in his teachings.
In East Asian Buddhism, Ānanda is considered one of the ten principal disciples. In many Indian Sanskrit and East Asian texts, Ānanda is considered the second patriarch of the lineage which transmitted the teaching of the Buddha, with Mahākassapa being the first and Majjhantika or Saṇavāsī being the third. There is an account dating back from the Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda textual traditions which states that before Mahākassapa died, he bestowed the Buddha's teaching on Ānanda as a formal passing on of authority, telling Ānanda to pass the teaching on to Ānanda's pupil Saṇavāsī. Later, just before Ānanda died, he did as Mahākassapa had told him to. Buddhist studies scholars Akira Hirakawa and Bibhuti Baruah have expressed skepticism about the teacherstudent relationship between Mahākassapa and Ānanda, arguing that there was discord between the two, as indicated in the early texts. Regardless, it is clear from the texts that a relationship of transmission of teachings is meant, as opposed to an upajjhāyastudent relationship in a lineage of ordination: no source indicates Mahākassapa was Ānanda's upajjhāya. In Mahāyāna iconography, Ānanda is often depicted flanking the Buddha at the right side, together with Mahākassapa at the left. In Theravāda iconography, however, Ānanda is usually not depicted in this manner, and the motif of transmission of the Dhamma through a list of patriarchs is not found in Pāli sources.
thumb |upright |8th9th century Chinese painting, depicting two monks dressed in robes made of pieces. Pāli tradition has it that Ānanda designed the Buddhist monk's robe, based on the structure of rice fields.|alt=Painting with two monks, one with Central Asian traits, holding his index finger against his thumb; one with East Asian traits, holding his hands folded in front.
Because Ānanda was instrumental in founding the bhikkhunī community, he has been honored by bhikkhunīs for this throughout Buddhist history. The earliest traces of this can be found in the writings of Faxian and Xuan Zang, who reported that bhikkhunīs made offerings to a stūpa in Ānanda's honor during celebrations and observance days. On a similar note, in 5th6th-century China and 10th-century Japan, Buddhist texts were composed recommending women to uphold the semi-monastic eight precepts in honor and gratitude of Ānanda. In Japan, this was done through the format of a penance ritual called keka (). By the 13th century, in Japan a cult-like interest for Ānanda had developed in a number of convents, in which images and stūpas were used and ceremonies were held in his honor. Presently, opinion among scholars is divided as to whether Ānanda's cult among bhikkhunīs was an expression of their dependence on male monastic tradition, or the opposite, an expression of their legitimacy and independence.
Pāli Vinaya texts attribute the design of the Buddhist monk's robe to Ānanda. As Buddhism prospered, more laypeople started to donate expensive cloth for robes, which put the monks at risk for theft. To decrease its commercial value, monks therefore cut up the cloth offered, before they sew a robe from it. The Buddha asked Ānanda to think of a model for a Buddhist robe, made from small pieces of cloth. Ānanda designed a standard robe model, based on the rice fields of Magadha, which were divided in sections by banks of earth. Another tradition that is connected to Ānanda is paritta recitation. Theravāda Buddhists explain that the custom of sprinkling water during paritta chanting originates in Ānanda's visit to Vesālī, when he recited the Ratana Sutta and sprinkled water from his alms bowl. A third tradition sometimes attributed to Ānanda is the use of Bodhi trees in Buddhism. It is described in the text Kāliṅgabodhi Jātaka that Ānanda planted a Bodhi tree as a symbol of the Buddha's enlightenment, to give people the chance to pay their respects to the Buddha. This tree and shrine came to be known as the Ānanda Bodhi Tree, said to have grown from a seed from the original Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha is depicted to have attained enlightenment. Many of this type of Bodhi Tree shrines in Southeast Asia were erected following this example. Presently, the Ānanda Bodhi Tree is sometimes identified with a tree at the ruins of Jetavana, Sāvatthi, based on the records of Faxian.
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Ānanda
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In art
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In art
Between 1856 and 1858 Richard Wagner wrote a draft for an opera libretto based on the legend about Ānanda and the low-caste girl Prakṛti. He left only a fragmentary prose sketch of a work to be called Die Sieger, but the topic inspired his later opera Parsifal. Furthermore, the draft was used by composer Jonathan Harvey in his 2007 opera Wagner Dream. In Wagner's version of the legend, which he based on orientalist Eugène Burnouf's translations, the magical spell of Prakṛti's mother does not work on Ānanda, and Prakṛti turns to the Buddha to explain her desires for Ānanda. The Buddha replies that a union between Prakṛti and Ānanda is possible, but Prakṛti must agree to the Buddha's conditions. Prakṛti agrees, and it is revealed that the Buddha means something else than she does: he asks Prakṛti to ordain as a bhikkhunī, and live the celibate life as a kind of sister to Ānanda. At first, Prakṛti weeps in dismay, but after the Buddha explains that her current situation is a result of karma from her previous life, she understands and rejoices in the life of a bhikkhunī. Apart from the spiritual themes, Wagner also addresses the faults of the caste system by having the Buddha criticize it.
Drawing from Schopenhauer's philosophy, Wagner contrasts desire-driven salvation and true spiritual salvation: by seeking deliverance through the person she loves, Prakṛti only affirms her will to live (), which is blocking her from attaining deliverance. By being ordained as a bhikkhunī she strives for her spiritual salvation instead. Thus, the early Buddhist account of Mahāpajāpati's ordination is replaced by that of Prakṛti. According to Wagner, by allowing Prakṛti to become ordained, the Buddha also completes his own aim in life: "[H]e regards his existence in the world, whose aim was to benefit all beings, as completed, since he had become able to offer deliverancewithout mediationalso to woman."
The same legend of Ānanda and Prakṛti was made into a short prose play by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, called Chandalika. Chandalika deals with the themes of spiritual conflict, caste and social equality, and contains a strong critique of Indian society. Just like in the traditional account, Prakṛti falls in love with Ānanda, after he gives her self-esteem by accepting a gift of water from her. Prakṛti's mother casts a spell to enchant Ānanda. In Tagore's play, however, Prakṛti later regrets what she has done and has the spell revoked.
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Ānanda
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References
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References
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Ānanda
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Notes
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Notes
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Ānanda
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Citations
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Citations
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Ānanda
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Sources
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Sources
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Ānanda
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External links
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External links
Talk about Ānanda given by Singaporean Buddhist teacher Sylvia Bay, in 2008
Ānanda: Guardian of the Dhamma by Hellmuth Hecker, accounts from the Pāli Canon, archived from the original on 26 September 2018
Category:Foremost disciples of Gautama Buddha
Category:Family of Gautama Buddha
Category:Arhats
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Buddhist councils
Category:5th-century BC Buddhist monks
Category:Buddhist patriarchs
Category:Shakyas
Category:Year of death uncertain
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Ānanda
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Table of Content
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short description, Name, Accounts, Previous lives, Early life, Attending to the Buddha, Resisting temptations, Establishing the nun's order, The Buddha's death, The First Council, Ban, Recitations, Charges, Historicity, Role and character, Passing on the teaching, Death and relics, Legacy, In art, References, Notes, Citations, Sources, External links
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Anaxagoras
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Short description
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Anaxagoras (; , Anaxagóras, "lord of the assembly"; 500 – 428 BC) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. In later life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus.
Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras introduced the concept of Nous (Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force. He also gave several novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including the notion of panspermia, that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, and also attempted to explain rainbows and meteors. He also speculated that the sun might be just another star.
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Anaxagoras
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Biography
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Biography
Anaxagoras was born in the town of Clazomenae in the early 5th century BC, where he may have been born into an aristocratic family. He arrived at Athens, either shortly after the Persian war (in which he may have fought on the Persian side), or at some point when he was a bit older, around 456 BC. While at Athens, he became close with the Athenian statesman Pericles. According to Diogenes Laërtius and Plutarch, in later life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus; the charges may have been political, owing to his association with Pericles, if they were not fabricated by later ancient biographers. According to Laërtius, Pericles spoke in defense of Anaxagoras at his trial, . Even so, Anaxagoras was forced to retire from Athens to Lampsacus in Troad (433). He died there around the year 428. Citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his memory and observed the anniversary of his death for many years. They placed over his grave the following inscription: Here Anaxagoras, who in his quest of truth scaled heaven itself, is laid to rest.
Additionally, in his honor, the annual celebration known as the Anaxagoreia was established.
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Anaxagoras
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Philosophy
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Philosophy
Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation was never caused by an absolute presence of a particular ingredient, but rather by its relative preponderance over the other ingredients; in his words, "each one is... most manifestly those things of which there are the most in it". He introduced the concept of nous (cosmic mind) as an ordering force, which moved and separated the original mixture, which was homogeneous or nearly so.
Anaxagoras brought philosophy and the spirit of scientific inquiry from Ionia to Athens. According to Anaxagoras, all things have existed in some way from the beginning, but originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined throughout the universe. All things existed in this mass but in a confused and indistinguishable form. There was an infinite number of homogeneous parts () as well as heterogeneous ones.
The work of arrangement, the segregation of like from unlike, and the summation of the whole into totals of the same name, was the work of Mind or Reason (). Mind is no less unlimited than the chaotic mass, but it stood pure and independent, a thing of finer texture, alike in all its manifestations and everywhere the same. This subtle agent, possessed of all knowledge and power, is especially seen ruling all life forms. Its first appearance, and the only manifestation of it which Anaxagoras describes, is Motion. It gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts.
Decrease and growth represent a new aggregation () and disruption (). However, the original intermixture of things is never wholly overcome. Each thing contains parts of other things or heterogeneous elements, and is what it is only on account of the preponderance of certain homogeneous parts which constitute its character. Out of this process arise the things we see in this world.
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Anaxagoras
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Astronomy
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Astronomy
Plutarch says "Anaxagoras is said to have predicted that if the heavenly bodies should be loosened by some slip or shake, one of them might be torn away, and might plunge and fall to earth."
His observations of the celestial bodies and the fall of meteorites led him to form new theories of the universal order, and to the prediction of the impact of meteorites. According to Pliny, he was credited with predicting the fall of the meteorite in 467. He was the first to give a correct explanation of eclipses, and was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including the claims that the Sun is a mass of red-hot metal, that the Moon is earthy, and that the stars are fiery stones. He thought that the Earth was flat and floated supported by 'strong' air under it, and that disturbances in this air sometimes caused earthquakes. He introduced the notion of panspermia, that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere.
He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the Sun, which he described as a mass of blazing metal, larger than the Peloponnese; he also said that the Moon had mountains, and he believed that it was inhabited. The heavenly bodies, he asserted, were masses of stone torn from the Earth and ignited by rapid rotation. His theories about eclipses, the Sun, and Moon may well have been based on observations of the eclipse of 463 BC, which was visible in Greece.
Anaxagoras was one of the first to assert that the Moon reflected sunlight and did not produce light by itself; a statement translated as “the sun induces the moon with brightness” was found in his writings.
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Anaxagoras
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Mathematics
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Mathematics
According to Plutarch in his work On exile, Anaxagoras is the first Greek to attempt the problem of squaring the circle, a problem he worked on while in prison.
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Anaxagoras
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Legacy
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Legacy
thumb|Anaxagoras (1636) by Jusepe de Ribera
Anaxagoras wrote a book of philosophy, but only fragments of the first part of this have survived, through preservation in the work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th century AD.
Anaxagoras's book was reportedly available for a drachma in the Athenian marketplace. It was certainly known to Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, based on the contents of their surviving plays, and possibly to Aeschylus as well, based on the testimony of Seneca. However, although Anaxagoras almost certainly lived in Athens during the lifetime of Socrates (born 470 BC), there is no evidence that they ever met. In the Phaedo, Plato portrays Socrates saying of Anaxagoras as a young man: 'I eagerly acquired his books and read them as quickly as I could'. However, Socrates goes on to describe his later disillusionment with his philosophy. Anaxagoras is also mentioned by Socrates during his trial in Plato's Apology.
He is also mentioned in Seneca's Natural Questions (Book 4B, originally Book 3: On Clouds, Hail, Snow). It reads: "Why should I too allow myself the same liberty as Anaxagoras allowed himself?"
The Roman author Valerius Maximus preserves a different tradition; Anaxagoras, coming home from a long voyage, found his property in ruin, and said: "If this had not perished, I would have"—a sentence described by Valerius as being "possessed of sought-after wisdom".
Dante Alighieri places Anaxagoras in the First Circle of Hell (Limbo) in his Divine Comedy (Inferno, Canto IV, line 137).
Chapter 5 in Book II of De Docta Ignorantia (1440) by Nicholas of Cusa is dedicated to the truth of the sentence "Each thing is in each thing" which he attributes to Anaxagoras.
Anaxagoras appears as a character in the second Act of Faust, Part II by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Friedrich Nietzsche also frequently mentions Anaxagoras in the later chapters of his book entitled Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks. He speaks fondly of Anaxagoras's nous, and defends the idea by claiming philosophers had "failed to recognize the meaning of Anaxagoras's [nous] ..." and believed that it was "perfectly sufficient for his insight to have found a motion which is capable of
creating visible order in a thoroughly mixed chaos, by means of a simple continuous action." Nietzsche believes it is essential to understand Anaxagoras's nous as a sort of act of free will, not determined by any previous action before.
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Anaxagoras
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See also
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See also
Anaxagoras (crater) on the Moon
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Anaxagoras
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Notes
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Notes
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Anaxagoras
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Footnotes
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Footnotes
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Anaxagoras
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Citations
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Citations
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Anaxagoras
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References
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References
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Anaxagoras
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Ancient testimony
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Ancient testimony
In the Diels-Kranz numbering for testimony and fragments of Pre-Socratic philosophy, Anaxagoras is catalogued as number 59.
The most recent edition of this catalogue is
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Anaxagoras
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Biography
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Biography
A1.
A3.
A5.
A12.
A13.
A15.
A16.
A17.
A18.
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Anaxagoras
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Writings
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Writings
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Anaxagoras
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Doctrines
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Doctrines
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Anaxagoras
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Fragments
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Fragments
B1.
B2.
B3.
B4.
B5.
B6.
B7.
B8.
B9.
B10.
B11.
B12.
B13.
B14.
B15.
B16.
B17.
B18.
B21.
B21a.
B21b.
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Anaxagoras
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Translations of the fragments
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Translations of the fragments
Sider, David (ed.), The Fragments of Anaxagoras, with introduction, text, and commentary, Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag, 2005.
Kirk G. S.; Raven, J. E. and Schofield, M. (1983) The Presocratic Philosophers: a critical history with a selection of texts (2nd ed.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ; originally authored by Kirk and Raven and published in 1957
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Anaxagoras
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Sources
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Sources
Burnet J. (1892). Early Greek Philosophy A. & C. Black, London, , and subsequent editions, 2003 edition published by Kessinger, Whitefish, Montana,
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Anaxagoras
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Further reading
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Further reading
Bakalis Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing, Victoria, BC.,
Barnes J. (1979). The Presocratic Philosophers, Routledge, London, , and editions of 1982, 1996 and 2006
Gershenson, Daniel E. and Greenberg, Daniel A. (1964) Anaxagoras and the birth of physics, Blaisdell Publishing Co., New York,
Graham, Daniel W. (1999). "Empedocles and Anaxagoras: Responses to Parmenides" Chapter 8 of Long, A. A. (1999) The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 159–180,
Taylor, C. C. W. (ed.) (1997). Routledge History of Philosophy: From the Beginning to Plato, Vol. I, pp. 192–225,
Teodorsson, Sven-Tage (1982). Anaxagoras' Theory of Matter. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Göteborg, Sweden,
Torrijos-Castrillejo, David (2014) Anaxágoras y su recepción en Aristóteles. Romae: EDUSC,
Zeller, A. (1881). A History of Greek Philosophy: From the Earliest Period to the Time of Socrates, Vol. II, translated by S. F. Alleyne, pp. 321–394
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Anaxagoras
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External links
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External links
Anaxagoras entry by Michael Patzia in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Translation and Commentary from John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy.
Category:500s BC births
Category:420s BC deaths
Category:5th-century BC Greek philosophers
Category:Ancient Greek physicists
Category:Ancient Greeks from the Achaemenid Empire
Category:Ancient Greek philosophers of mind
Category:Ancient Greek metaphysicians
Category:Characters in the Divine Comedy
Category:Metic philosophers in Classical Athens
Category:Military personnel of the Achaemenid Empire
Category:Natural philosophers
Category:People from Clazomenae
Category:Philosophers of ancient Ionia
Category:Pluralist philosophers
Category:5th-century BC Greek mathematicians
Category:Greek exiles
Category:Ancient Greeks accused of sacrilege
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Anaxagoras
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Table of Content
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Short description, Biography, Philosophy, Astronomy, Mathematics, Legacy, See also, Notes, Footnotes, Citations, References, Ancient testimony, Biography, Writings, Doctrines, Fragments, Translations of the fragments, Sources, Further reading, External links
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Anaxarchus
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'''Anaxarchus'''
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Anaxarchus (; ; c. 380 – c. 320 BC) was a Greek philosopher of the school of Democritus. Together with Pyrrho, he accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia. The reports of his philosophical views suggest that he was a forerunner of the Greek skeptics.
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Anaxarchus
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Life
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Life
Anaxarchus was born at Abdera in Thrace. He was the companion and friend of Alexander the Great in his Asiatic campaigns. His relationship with Alexander, however, was ambiguous, owing to contradictory sources. Some paint Anarxchus as a flatterer, among them Plutarch, who tells a story that at Bactra, in 327 BC in a debate with Callisthenes, Anaxarchus advised all to worship Alexander as a god even during his lifetime. In contrast, others paint Anaxarchus as scathingly ironic towards the monarch. According to Diogenes Laertius, in response to Alexander's claim to have been the son of Zeus-Ammon, Anaxarchus pointed to his bleeding wound and remarked, "See the blood of a mortal, not ichor, such as flows from the veins of the immortal gods."Diogenes Laertius, Lives, ix. 60
When Alexander was trying to show that he was divine so that the Greeks would perform proskynesis to him, Anaxarchus said that Alexander could "more justly be considered a god than Dionysus or Heracles" (Arrian, 104)
Diogenes Laertius says that Anaxarchus earned the enmity of Nicocreon, the tyrant of Cyprus, with an inappropriate joke against tyrants in a banquet in Tyre in 331 BC. Later, when Anaxarchus was forced to land in Cyprus against his will, Nicocreon ordered him to be pounded to death in a mortar. The philosopher endured this torture with fortitude, taunting the king with, "just pound the bag of Anaxarchus, you do not pound Anaxarchus". When Nicocreon threatened to cut out his tongue, Anaxarchus himself bit it out and spat it in his face.Diogenes Laertius, Lives, ix. 58
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Anaxarchus
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Philosophy
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Philosophy
Very little is known about his philosophical views. It is thought that he represents a link between the atomism of Democritus, and the skepticism of his own apprentice Pyrrho. He also shares ethical traits with the Cynic and Cyrenaic schools.Pajón Leyra, I. (2019). Anaxarco de Abdera: Adiaphoria y criterio de verdad en el umbral de la época helenística. Archai 27
Anaxarchus is said to have studied under Diogenes of Smyrna, who in turn studied under Metrodorus of Chios, who used to declare that he knew nothing, not even the fact that he knew nothing. According to Sextus Empiricus, Anaxarchus "compared existing things to a scene-painting and supposed them to resemble the impressions experienced in sleep or madness."Sextus Empiricus, Against the Logicians, 7.88. It was under the influence of Anaxarchus that Pyrrho is said to have adopted "a most noble philosophy, . . . taking the form of agnosticism and suspension of judgement."Diogenes Laertius, Lives, ix. 61 Anaxarchus is said to have praised Pyrrho's "indifference and sang-froid."Diogenes Laertius, Lives, ix. 63 He is said to have possessed "fortitude and contentment in life," which earned him the epithet eudaimonikos ("fortunate").
His skepticism seems to have been pragmatical, postulating that against the uncertainty of existence, the only viable stance is to pursue happiness or eudaimonia, for which it is necessary to cultivate indifference or adiaphora. According to him, the effort to differentiate truth from falseness through the senses is both useless and detrimental to happiness.
He wrote a work named About the Monarchs. In it, he spouses that knowledge is useless without the ability to know when to speak and what to say in every occasion.
Plutarch reports that he told Alexander the Great that there was an infinite number of worlds, causing the latter to become dejected because he had not yet conquered even one.Plutarch's Morals
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Anaxarchus
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References
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References
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Anaxarchus
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External links
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External links
Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers
Category:Abderites
Category:Ancient Greek atomist philosophers
Category:Ancient Thracian Greeks
Category:Hellenistic-era philosophers
Category:Philosophers and tutors of Alexander the Great
Category:Ancient Skeptic philosophers
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Anaxarchus
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Table of Content
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'''Anaxarchus''', Life, Philosophy, References, External links
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Ancyra (planthopper)
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Short description
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Ancyra is a small genus of planthoppers of the family Eurybrachidae and the only genus in the tribe Ancyrini. Species in this genus occur in southeast Asia.
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Ancyra (planthopper)
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Description
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Description
Members of the genus are well known for having a pair of prolonged filaments at the tips of the forewings that arise near a pair of small glossy spots; this creates the impression of a pair of antennae, with corresponding "eyes" (a remarkable case of automimicry). The "false head" effect is further reinforced by the bugs' habit of walking backwards when it detects movement nearby, so as to misdirect predators to strike at its rear, rather than at its actual head.
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Ancyra (planthopper)
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Taxonomy
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Taxonomy
The genus Ancyra was first named in 1845 by Scottish zoologist Adam White. It is the only genus of the tribe Ancyrini (subfamily Platybrachinae, family Eurybrachidae). The type species is Ancyra appendiculata, the species name meaning bearing appendages.
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Ancyra (planthopper)
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Species
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Species
, lists the following seven species in the genus Ancyra:
Ancyra annamensis – Vietnam
Ancyra appendiculata – Myanmar
Ancyra histrionica – Cambodia, Myanmar
Ancyra luangana
Ancyra nigrifrons – Malaysia
Ancyra vicina – Vietnam
Ancyra xiengana
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Ancyra (planthopper)
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References
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References
Category:Fauna of Southeast Asia
Category:Eurybrachidae
Category:Auchenorrhyncha genera
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Ancyra (planthopper)
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Table of Content
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Short description, Description, Taxonomy, Species, References
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Anastasius I
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'''Anastasius I'''
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Anastasius I or Anastasios I may refer to:
Anastasius I Dicorus (–518), Roman emperor
Anastasius I of Antioch (died 599), Patriarch of Antioch
Pope Anastasius I (died 401), pope of Rome
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Anastasius I
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Table of Content
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'''Anastasius I'''
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Anastasius II
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'''Anastasius II'''
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Anastasius II or Anastasios II may refer to:
Pope Anastasius II (died 498), pope
Anastasius II of Antioch (550–609), patriarch of Antioch
Anastasius II of Jerusalem, patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 705–706
Anastasios II (died 719), Byzantine emperor
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Anastasius II
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Table of Content
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'''Anastasius II'''
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Anastasius IV
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#
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redirect Pope Anastasius IV
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Anastasius IV
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Table of Content
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#
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Short description
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus (; ; 320 BC) was a Greek rhetorician and historian. He was one of the teachers of Alexander the Great and accompanied him on his campaigns.
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Family
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Family
His father was named Aristocles (). His nephew (son of his sister), was also named Anaximenes and was a historian.
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Rhetorical works
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Rhetorical works
Anaximenes was a pupil of Diogenes the Cynic and ZoilusD.A. Russell, "Anaximenes (2)," Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed., rev., 2003. and, like his teacher, wrote a work on Homer. As a rhetorician, he was a determined opponent of Isocrates and his school. He is generally regarded as the author of the Rhetoric to Alexander, an Art of Rhetoric included in the traditional corpus of Aristotle's works. Quintilian seems to refer to this work under Anaximenes' name in Institutio Oratoria 3.4.9, as the Italian Renaissance philologist Piero Vettori first recognized. This attribution has, however, been disputed by some scholars.
The hypothesis to Isocrates' Helen mentions that Anaximenes, too, had written a Helen, "though it is more a defense speech (apologia) than an encomium," and concludes that he was "the man who has written about Helen" to whom Isocrates refers (Isoc. Helen 14). Jebb entertained the possibility that this work survives in the form of the Encomium of Helen ascribed to Gorgias: "It appears not improbable that Anaximenes may have been the real author of the work ascribed to Gorgias."R.C. Jebb, The Attic Orators, London, 1893, vol. II, p. 98.
According to Pausanias (6.18.6), Anaximenes was "the first who practised the art of speaking extemporaneously." He also worked as a logographer, having written the speech prosecuting Phryne according to Diodorus Periegetes (quoted by Athenaeus XIII.591e). The "ethical" fragments preserved in Stobaeus' Florilegium may represent "some philosophical book."
According to Suda, no rhetor before Anaximenes had invented improvised speeches.
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Historical works
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Historical works
Anaximenes wrote a history of Greece in twelve books, stretching from the gods' origins to the death of Epaminondas at the Battle of Mantinea (Hellenica, ), and a history of Philip of Macedon (Philippica). He was a favorite of Alexander the Great, whom he accompanied in his Persian campaigns, and wrote a third historical work on Alexander (however, Pausanias 6.18.6 expresses doubt about his authorship of an epic poem on Alexander). He was one of the eight exemplary historiographers included in the Alexandrian canon.
Didymus reports that the work transmitted as speech 11 of Demosthenes (Against the Letter of Philip) could be found in almost identical form in Book 7 of Anaximenes' Philippica, and many scholars regard the work as a historiographic composition by Anaximenes.Raphael Sealey, Demosthenes in His Time, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 239f. The Letter of Philip (speech 12) to which speech 11 seems to respond may also be by Anaximenes, or it may be an authentic letter by Philip, perhaps written with the aid of his advisers. The more ambitious theory of Wilhelm Nitsche, which assigned to Anaximenes a larger part of the Demosthenic corpus (speeches 10-13 and 25, letters 1–4, proems), can be rejected.Jacoby, commentary on Anaximenes in FGrHist.
Anaximenes was hostile to Theopompus, whom he sought to discredit with a libelous parody, Trikaranos, published in Theopompus' style and under his name, attacking Athens, Sparta, and Thebes.J.P. Mahaffy, The Prose Writers from Isocrates to Aristotle, London, 1904, pp. 38-41.
Pausanias wrote: "He imitated the style of Theopompus with perfect accuracy, inscribed his name upon the book and sent it round to the cities. Though Anaximenes was the author of the treatise, hatred of Theopompus grew throughout the length of Greece."
Plutarch criticizes Anaximenes, together with Theopompus and Ephorus, for the "rhetorical effects and grand periods" these historians implausibly gave to men in the midst of urgent battlefield circumstances (Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 803b).
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Saving Lampsacus
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Saving Lampsacus
The people of Lampsacus were pro-Persian, or were suspected of doing so and Alexander was furiously angry, and threatened to do them massive harm. They sent Anaximenes to intercede for them. Alexander knew why he had come, and swore by the gods that he would do the opposite of what he would ask, so Anaximenes said, 'Please do this for me, your majesty: enslave the women and children of Lampsacus, burn their temples, and raze the city to the ground.' Alexander had no way round this clever trick, and since he was bound by his oath he reluctantly pardoned the people of Lampsacus.
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Statue at Olympia
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Statue at Olympia
The people of Lampsacus dedicated a statue of him at Olympia, Greece.
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Editions and translations
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Editions and translations
Art of Rhetoric
edited by Immanuel Bekker, Oxford 1837 (online)
Anaximenis ars rhetorica, L. Spengel (ed.), Leipzig, Vergsbureau, 1847.
Rhetores Graeci, L. Spengel (ed.), Lipsiae, sumptibus et typis B. G. Teubneri, 1853, vol. 1 pp. 169-242.
edited by Manfred Fuhrmann, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Leipzig, 1966, 2nd ed. 2000,
edited by Pierre Chiron, Collection Budé, with French translation, Paris, 2002,
anonymous translation, London, 1686 (online)
translated by E.S. Forster, Oxford, 1924 (online, beginning on p. 231)
Fragments
Karl Müller, appendix to 1846 Didot edition of Arrian, Anabasis et Indica (online)
Felix Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 72, with commentary in German
Ludwig Radermacher, Artium Scriptores, Vienna, 1951, pp. 200–202 (rhetorical fragments only, adding Philodemus' Rhetorica, which accounts for three of the nine fragments printed)
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Notes
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Notes
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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References
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References
Category:Ancient Greek rhetoricians
Category:People from Lampsacus
Category:380s BC births
Category:320 BC deaths
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:Year of death uncertain
Category:4th-century BC Greek historians
Category:4th-century BC Greek poets
Category:Historians who accompanied Alexander the Great
Category:Historians from Hellenistic Anatolia
Category:Philosophers and tutors of Alexander the Great
Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers
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Anaximenes of Lampsacus
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Table of Content
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Short description, Family, Rhetorical works, Historical works, Saving Lampsacus, Statue at Olympia, Editions and translations, Notes, References
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Anastasius
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<!-- {{Infobox given name2
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Anastasius (Latinized) or Anastasios () is a masculine given name of Greek origin derived from the Greek word (anastasis) meaning "resurrection". Its female form is Anastasia (). A diminutive form of Anastasios is Tassos () or Tasos ().
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Anastasius
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People
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People
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Anastasius
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Byzantine emperors
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Byzantine emperors
Anastasius I Dicorus, reign 491–518
Anastasios II (died 719), reign 713–715
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Anastasius
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Popes of Rome
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Popes of Rome
Pope Anastasius I, papacy 399–401
Pope Anastasius II, papacy 496–498
Pope Anastasius III, papacy 911–913
Pope Anastasius IV, papacy 1153–1154
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Anastasius
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Other Christian saints and clergy
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Other Christian saints and clergy
Saint Anastasius, martyr under Nero
Saint Anastasius the Fuller (died 304), martyr and patron saint of fullers and weavers
( 263–11 May 305)
Anastasius of Jerusalem, patriarch of the Church of Jerusalem from 458 to 478
Anastasius of Suppentonia (died 570), abbot
Pope Anastasius of Alexandria, Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria 605–616
Anastasius of Antioch (disambiguation), multiple people
Saint Anastasius of Persia (died 628), Persian martyr
Saint Anastasius of Pavia (died 680), bishop of Pavia
Anastasius of Armenia, successor of Nerses III the Builder as Catholicos of Armenia from 661 to 667
Saint Anastasius Sinaita (fl. 7th century), theologian, Father of the Eastern Orthodox Church, monk, priest, and abbot of the monastery at Mt. Sinai
Anastasius (abbot of Euthymius) (fl. 8th century)
Patriarch Anastasius of Constantinople, Patriarch of Constantinople 730–754
Anastasius Bibliothecarius ( 810–878), librarian of the Church of Rome, scholar and statesman, sometimes identified as an Antipope
Astrik or Saint Anastasius of Pannonhalma, ambassador of Stephen I of Hungary
Anastasius, Cardinal-priest of the title of San Clemente, 1102–c.1125
Anastasius Germonius (1551–1627), Archbishop of Tarantaise and canon lawyer
Anastasius Crimca ( 1550–1629), Moldavian Eastern Orthodox clergyman, calligrapher, illuminator and writer
Anastasius the Melodist (Hymnographer), believed to be a name of three or more melodists, one of whom is believed to have been a contemporary of Rhomanos
Joseph Wenzel Franz Anastasius (1767–1842), Prince of the House of Liechtenstein, priest and general in the Austrian army
Anastasius Hartmann (1803–1886), Capuchin, missionary in India and Titular Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Patna and Bombay
Anastasius Gribanovsky (1873–1965), hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
Anastasios (1929–2025), Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania
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Anastasius
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Politicians and military
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Politicians and military
Anastasios Balkos (1916–1995), Greek politician
Anastasios Charalambis (1862–1949), Greek officer and interim Prime Minister of Greece
Anastasios Dalipis (1896–1949), Greek Army officer and politician
Anastasios Karatasos (1764–1830), Greek military commander during the Greek War of Independence
Anastasios Londos (1791–1856), Greek politician and senator
Anastasios Nerantzis (1944–2021), Greek politician
Anastasios Papaligouras (born 1948), Greek politician
Anastasios Papoulas (1857–1935), Greek general during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922
Anastasios Peponis (1924–2011), Greek politician
Anastasios Polyzoidis (1802–1873), Greek politician and judicial official
Anastasios Tsamados (1774–1825), Greek admiral of the Greek War of Independence
Anastasios Pichion (1836–1913), Greek educator and revolutionary of the Macedonian Struggle
Anastasios Andreou (1877–1947), Cypriot athlete and volunteer in the Greek army for the Greco-Turkish war of 1897
Anastasios Voulgaris (died 1839), Bulgarian-born Greek revolutionary during the Greek War of independence
Anastasios Manakis ( 1790–1864), Greek revolutionary of the Greek War of Independence
Anastasios Christopoulos (1805–1854), Greek lawyer and revolutionary of the Greek War of Independence
Anastasios Mavromichalis (1798–1870), Greek revolutionary of the Greek War of Independence and politician
Anastasios Kourakis (1948–2021), Greek politician, pediatrician and geneticist
Anastasios Mitropoulos (born 1957), Greek footballer and politician
Anastasios Chatzivasileiou (born 1981), Greek politician
Anastasios Giannitsis (born 1944), Greek politician, academic and business executive
Joseph Wenzel Franz Anastasius (1767–1842), Prince of the House of Liechtenstein, priest and general in the Austrian army
Anastasius Fétul (1816–1886), Moldavian and Romanian physician, naturalist, philanthropist and political figure
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Anastasius
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Sports
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Sports
Anastasios Bountouris (born 1955), Greek Olympic medalist in sailing
Anastasios Dimitriadis (born 1997), Greek footballer
Anastasios Lagos (born 1992) Greek footballer
Anastasios Metaxas (1862–1937), Greek sport shooter and architect
Anastasios Rousakis (born 1985), Greek footballer
Anastasios Schizas (born 1977), Greek water polo player
Anastasios Triantafyllou (born 1987), Greek weightlifter
Anastasios Vatistas (born 1945), Greek sailor
Anastasios Chatzigiovanis (born 1997), Greek footballer
Anastasios Gousis (born 1979), Greek sprinter
Anastasios Kritikos (born 1995), Greek footballer
Anastasios Sidiropoulos (born 1979), Greek football referee
Anastasios Bavelas (born 1968), Greek tennis player
Anastasios Anastasopoulos (1915–1981), Greek chess player
Anastasios Theodorakis (1902-unknown), Greek water polo player
Anastasios Gavrilis (born 1952), Greek sailor
Anastasios Kakos (born 1970), Greek football referee
Anastasios Papanastasiou (born 1964), Greek water polo player
Anastasios Vogiatzis (born 1936), Greek sailor
Anastasios Christofileas (born 1988), Greek footballer
Anastasios Karagiozis (born 1997), Greek footballer
Anastasios Andreou (1877–1947), Greek Cypriot athlete and soldier in the Greco-Turkish war of 1897
Anastasios Papachristos (born 1993), Greek footballer
Anastasios Tsiou, Greek Paralympian athlete
Anastasios Tsikaris (born 1966), Greek water polo player
Anastasios Kissas (born 1988), Cypriot footballer
Anastasios Salonidis (born 1979), Greek footballer
Anastasios Pastos (born 1978), Greek footballer
Anastasios Katsabis (born 1973), Greek footballer
Anastasios Papakonstantinou (born 1963), Greek bobsledder
Anastasios Mousidis (1934–2010), Greek wrestler
Anastasios Tselios (born 2002), Greek footballer
Anastasios Bakasetas (born 1993), Greek footballer
Anastasios Sapountzis (born 2002), Greek footballer
Anastasios Dentsas (born 1982), Greek footballer and coach
Anastasios Douvikas (born 1999), Greek footballer
Anastasios Lordos (born 1949), Cypriot sport shooter
Anastasios Donis (born 1996), Greek footballer
Anastasios Triantafyllou (born 1979), Greek footballer
Anastasios Vasiliadis (born 1974), Greek tennis player
Anastasios Kantoutsis (born 1994), Greek footballer
Anastasios Papazoglou (born 1988), Greek footballer
Anastasios Meletidis (born 1999), Greek footballer
Anastasios Karakoutsis (born 1983), Greek footballer
Anastasios Tsoumagas (born 1991), Greek footballer
Anastasios Avlonitis (born 1990), Greek footballer
Anastasios Venetis (born 1980), Greek footballer
Anastasios Antonakis (born 1992), Greek basketball player
Anastasios Karamanos (born 1990), Greek footballer
Anastasios Kyriakos (born 1978), Greek footballer
Anastasios Zarkadas (born 1994), Greek footballer
Anastasios Kritikos (born 1914), Greek footballer
Anastasios Pantos (born 1976), Greek footballer
Anastasios Spyropoulos (born 1995), Greek basketball player
Anastasios Tsokanis (born 1991), Greek footballer
Anastasios Markopoulos (born 1949), Greek basketball player and coach
Anastasios Dimas (born 1988), Greek basketball player
Anastasios Mitropoulos (born 1957), Greek footballer and politician
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Anastasius
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Other people named Anastasius
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Other people named Anastasius
Anastasius the jurist (fl. 5th or 6th century), Roman jurist
Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Moschianus Probus Magnus (fl. 6th century), Byzantine statesman
Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Sabinianus Pompeius (fl. 6th century), Byzantine statesman
Anastasius of Samaria (fl. 6th century), Byzantine official
Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen (1670–1739), German theologian and scholar
Anastasius Fétul (1816–1886), Moldavian and Romanian physician, naturalist, philanthropist and political figure
Anastasius Nordenholz (1862–1953), German-Argentine author
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Anastasius
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Other people named Anastasios
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Other people named Anastasios
Anastasios Michail ( 1675–1722), Greek scholar
Anastasios Koulouriotis (1822–1887), Arvanite Greek writer
Anastasios Tagis (1839–1900), Greek scholar and philological teacher
Anastasios Christomanos (1841–1906), Greek chemist
Anastasios Metaxas (1862–1937), Greek architect and sport shooter
Anastasios Orlandos (1887–1979), Greek archeologist and architect
Anastasios George Leventis (1902–1975), Greek Cypriot businessman
Anastasios Christodoulou (1932–2002), Greek Cypriot university administrator
Anastasios Venetsanopoulos (1941–2014), Greek-Canadian engineer
Anastasios Kyriakides (born 1946), Greek-American businessman
Anastasios Bakirtzis (born 1956), Greek electrical and computer engineer
George Anastasios Magalios (born 1967), Greek-Canadian artist
Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas (born 1972), Greek singer, actor and businessman
Anastasios Isaac (1972–1996), Greek Cypriot refugee murdered during a demonstration
Anastasios Tsonis, Greek-American atmospheric scientist
Anastasios Soulis (born 1987), Swedish actor
Anastasios Nyfadopoulos (born 1992), Greek artist
Anastasios Melis, Greek-American biologist
Anastasios John Kanellopoulos, Greek-American eye surgeon
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Anastasius
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Pseudonym
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Pseudonym
Anton Alexander Graf von Auersperg (1806–1876), Austrian poet who wrote under the pseudonym of Anastasius Grün
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Anastasius
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Other
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Other
Anastasius, a 19th-century novel by Thomas Hope
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Anastasius
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See also
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See also
Anastasia
Anastasio
Anastacio (name)
Category:Given names of Greek language origin
Category:Greek masculine given names
Category:Masculine given names
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Anastasius
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Table of Content
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<!-- {{Infobox given name2
, People, Byzantine emperors, Popes of Rome, Other Christian saints and clergy, Politicians and military, Sports, Other people named Anastasius, Other people named Anastasios, Pseudonym, Other, See also
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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good article
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Anaximenes of Miletus (; ; ) was an Ancient Greek, Pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). He was the last of the three philosophers of the Milesian School, after Thales and Anaximander. These three are regarded by historians as the first philosophers of the Western world. Anaximenes is known for his belief that air is the arche, or the basic element of the universe from which all things are created. Little is known of Anaximenes's life and work, as all of his original texts are lost. Historians and philosophers have reconstructed information about Anaximenes by interpreting texts about him by later writers. All three Milesian philosophers were monists who believed in a single foundational source of everything: Anaximenes believed it to be air, while Thales and Anaximander believed it to be water and an undefined infinity, respectively. It is generally accepted that Anaximenes was instructed by Anaximander, and many of their philosophical ideas are similar. While Anaximenes was the preeminent Milesian philosopher in Ancient Greece, he is often given lower importance than the others in the modern day.
Anaximenes held that air could change into other forms through either rarefaction or condensation. Condensation would make the air denser, turning it into wind, clouds, water, earth, and finally stone. Rarefaction would make the air less dense as it eventually becomes fire. Anaximenes also developed a model of the Earth, describing it as a flat disc floating atop the air while the Sun and stars are also flat and float alongside it. He described the Sun as revolving around the Earth, causing it to be obscured by higher lands during the night. As one of the Milesian philosophers, Anaximenes was one of the earliest figures to develop science. He influenced many of the Pre-Socratic philosophers that succeeded him, such as Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Diogenes of Apollonia, and Xenophanes. He also provided early examples of concepts such as natural science, physical change, and scientific writing.
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Biography
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Biography
Anaximenes was born . Surviving information about the life of Anaximenes is limited, and it comes primarily from what was preserved by Ancient Greek philosophers, particularly Aristotle and Theophrastus. According to Theophrastus, Anaximenes was the son of Eurystratus, an associate of the philosopher Anaximander, and lived in Miletus. Anaximenes is recorded as becoming a student of Anaximander. Anaximenes was likely also taught Homeric epics, Greek mythology, and Orphism, which may have influenced his philosophy through their portrayal of the classical elements. It is considered likely that he and the other Milesian philosophers were wealthy, allowing them to dedicate time to philosophy.
Anaximenes's apparent instructor, Anaximander, was a Milesian philosopher who proposed that apeiron, an undefined and boundless infinity, is the origin of all things. Anaximenes and Anaximander were two of the three Milesian philosophers, along with Thales. These were all philosophers from Miletus who were the first of the Ionian School. As the earliest known figures to have developed theories regarding the material origin of the world without a divine explanation, they are regarded as the first philosophers in the Western world. According to Diogenes Laertius, Anaximenes lived approximately from 585 to 524 BC. Anaximenes is only known to have written one full text, which may have been a response to Anaximander's text On Nature. It was described by Theophrastus as having a "simple and economical Ionic style". Anaximenes died .
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Philosophy
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Philosophy
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Air as the ''arche''
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Air as the arche
What is known about Anaximenes's philosophy is what was preserved by later philosophers, particularly Aristotle and Theophrastus. According to their writings, each philosopher of the Milesian School was a material monist who sought to discover the arche (), or the one, underlying basis of all things. This is generally understood in the context of a substance, though scholars have argued that this may be anachronistic by imposing the Aristotelian notion of substance theory on earlier philosophy. Anaximenes argued that the arche is air. He described several basic elements that he considered to be manifestations of air, sorting them from least dense to most dense: fire, air, wind, clouds, water, earth, and stones. Philosophers have concluded that Anaximenes seems to have based his conclusions on naturally observable phenomena in the water cycle: the processes of rarefaction and condensation. He proposed that each substance is created by condensation to increase the density of air or by rarefaction to decrease it. The rarefaction process described by Anaximenes is often compared to felting.
Temperature was of particular importance to Anaximenes's philosophy, and he developed an early concept of the connection between temperature and density. He believed that expanded air was thinner and therefore hotter while compressed air was thicker and therefore colder—although modern science has found the opposite to be true. He derived this belief from the fact that one's breath is warm when the mouth is wide while it is cold when the air is compressed through the lips.
thumb|left|Anaximenes of Miletus as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)|220px
Anaximenes further applied his concept of air as the arche to other questions. He believed in the physis, or natural world, rather than the theo, or divine world. Anaximenes considered air to be divine in a sense, but he did not associate it with deities or personification. He presented air as the first cause that propelled living systems, giving no indication that air itself was caused by anything. Anaximenes also likened the soul to air, describing it as something that is driven by breath and wills humans to act as they do. These beliefs draw a connection between the soul and the physical world, as they suggest that they are made of the same material, air. From this, Anaximenes suggested that everything, whether it be an individual soul or the entire world, operates under the same principles in which things are held together and guided by the air. In Ancient Greek, the words for wind and for soul shared a common origin.
Anaximenes's philosophy was centered on a theory of change through ongoing cycles, defined by the movement of air. These cycles consisted of opposite forces interacting with and superseding one another. This is most prominently indicated in the weather and the seasons, which alternate between hot and cold, dry and wet, or light and dark. Anaximenes did not believe that any substance could be created or destroyed, only that it could be changed from one form to another. From this belief, he proposed a model in which the qualitative traits of a substance are determined by quantitative factors.
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Cosmology and weather
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Cosmology and weather
thumb|300px|Astrology by the 16th-century Dutch engraver Cornelis Cort has a book labeled "Anaximenes" (bottom left).
Anaximenes believed that the universe was initially made entirely of air and that liquids and solids were then produced from it through condensation. He also used air to explain the nature of the Earth and the surrounding celestial bodies. He believed in a flat Earth that emerged as one of the first things to be condensed from air. This Earth is supported by the pressure of air underneath it to keep it afloat.
Anaximenes considered celestial objects to be those which had separated from the Earth. The philosophers who recorded Anaximenes's ideas disagree as to how he theorized this happened. He may have described them as evaporating or rarifying into fire. He is said to have compared the movement of the Earth, Sun, and stars to leaves floating in the wind, though he is also described as likening the stars to nails embedded in the sky. Some scholars have suggested that Anaximenes may have believed both models by distinguishing between planets and stars, which would make him the first person to do so. While the Sun is described as being a flame, Anaximenes thought it was not composed of rarefied air like the stars, but rather of Earth. According to Pseudo-Plutarch, Anaximenes thought that its burning comes not from its composition, but rather from its rapid motion.
Anaximenes rejected the commonplace idea that the Sun went underneath the Earth, instead saying that it rotated around the Earth. Hippolytus likened it to a hat spinning around a person's head. It's unknown whether this analogy was of Hippolytus's own creation or if it was part of Anaximenes's explanation. This model of the sun's movement has been interpreted in various ways by subsequent philosophers.
Anaximenes also described the causes of other natural phenomena. Like Anaximander, he believed that thunder and lightning occurred when wind emerged after being trapped in a cloud. Earthquakes, he asserted, were the result of alternating drying and wetting of the earth, causing it to undergo a cycle of splitting and swelling. He was the first philosopher to attempt a scientific explanation of rainbows, and the only one to do so until Aristotle. He described them as a reflection of sunlight off of clouds, and he theorized that the various colors were caused by an interaction of light and darkness.
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Milesian context
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Milesian context
Anaximenes's views have been interpreted as reconciling those of his two predecessors, Thales and Anaximander. Air as the arche is a limitless concept, which resembled Anaximander's theory that the arche was the abstract infinite that he called apeiron (, lit. 'unlimited, 'boundless'). At the same time, air as the arche was a defined substance, which resembled the theory of Thales that the arche was water. Anaximenes adopted a similar design of a flat Earth as Thales. Both proposed that the Earth was flat and that it rested on the substance they believed made up all things; Thales described a disc on water, while Anaximenes described a disc on air. His cosmology also did not diverge significantly from the ideas of Anaximander, only changing it so that it reflected his variety of monism.
Anaximenes's philosophy was founded upon that of Anaximander, but tradition holds that he was also critical of his instructor in some areas. Anaximenes also maintained that there must be an empirical explanation for why substances change from one form to another.
Anaximenes and Anaximander were similar in that they are not known to have justified why or how changes in physical things take place the way that they do. Anaximander instead invoked metaphors of justice and retribution to describe change, and he made direct appeals to deities and the divine in support of his beliefs. Anaximenes deviated from Anaximander in both of these ideas.
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Legacy and study
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Legacy and study
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Influence on science and philosophy
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Influence on science and philosophy
thumb|240px|The ruins of Miletus
Anaximenes was the last of the Milesian philosophers, as Miletus was destroyed by attacking Persian forces in 494 BC. Little of his life is known relative to the other Milesian philosophers, Thales and Anaximander. These three philosophers together began what eventually became science in the Western world. In ancient Greece, the ideas of Anaximenes were well regarded in philosophy, popularized by various philosophers such as Diogenes of Apollonia, and had a greater presence than the ideas of his predecessors. The other Milesian philosophers have since overshadowed him in the study of philosophy. Anaximenes was the first philosopher to give an explanation for substances changing from one state to another through a physical process. He may also have been the first philosopher to write in descriptive prose rather than verse, developing a prototype of scientific writing. Only fragments of Anaximenes's writings have been preserved directly, and it is unknown how much these fragments have diverged from the original texts as they were recorded by subsequent authors. Further details of Anaximenes's life and philosophical views are obscure, as none of his work has been preserved, and he is only known through fragments and interpretations of him made by later writers and polemicists. The Anaximenes crater on the Moon is named in his honor.
Early medical practice developed ideas similar to Anaximenes, proposing that air was the basis of health in that it both provides life and carries disease. Anaximenes's conception of air has been likened to the atoms and subatomic particles that make up all substances through their quantitative organization. It has also been compared to the breath of life produced by God in the Old Testament. His understanding of physical properties as quantitative differences that applied at individual and universal scales became foundational ideas in the development of natural science. He was the first philosopher to analogize his philosophy in practical terms, comparing the functions of the world to behaviors that can be observed in common activities. In this manner, he was also the first to liken the function of the individual to that of the world. In this case, likening the breath that defines humans to the air that defines the world. His belief that the same properties governed the world at a human scale and a universal scale was eventually proven by Isaac Newton.
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Subsequent interpretation
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Subsequent interpretation
Some of Anaximenes's writings are referenced during the Hellenistic period, but no record of those documents currently exists. Philosophers such as Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, and Diogenes of Apollonia were all directly influenced by the work of Anaximenes. Diogenes of Apollonia adapted Anaximenes's ideas to the philosophy of Stoicism. The ideas ridiculed in the Aristophanes play The Clouds originated from the ideas of Anaximander and Anaximenes. Philosophers such as Xenophanes later adopted Anaximenes's model of cosmology. Xenophanes's theory that the arche is earth and water has also been interpreted as a response to Anaximenes.
Plato referenced the concept of air as the cause of thought in the Phaedo, rejecting it with the argument that one's physical state does not determine their fate. In the Timaeus, Plato favorably mentions Anaximenes's theory of matter and its seven states from stone to fire. Aristotle was critical of the ideas of Anaximenes. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle characterized Anaximenes and his predecessors as monists, those who believe that all things are composed of a single substance. This description came to be widely accepted in philosophy. Practitioners of Aristotelian philosophy further considered Anaximenes to be a founder of naturalism. After Aristotle, Theophrastus continued the doxography of the Milesian philosophers and other Ionians. He described Anaximenes as a natural philosopher. Other ancient philosophers who analyzed the work of Anaximenes include Simplicius, Aetius, Hippolytus, and Plutarch.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said that Anaximenes was the first philosopher to transfer the ideas of natural philosophy into the philosophy of consciousness. Werner Heisenberg said that the philosophy of Anaximenes caused a setback in scientific understanding, as it moved analysis away from physical properties themselves. Karl Popper suggested that Anaximenes and Anaximander developed a philosophy of rationalist critique, allowing criticism of one's teacher, that was not revived until the Renaissance.
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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References
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References
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Citations
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Citations
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Sources
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Sources
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Further reading
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Further reading
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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External links
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External links
Anaximenes at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Anaximenes of Miletus Life and Work – Fragments and Testimonies by Giannis Stamatellos
Category:6th-century BC Greek philosophers
Category:Ancient Milesians
Category:Philosophers of ancient Ionia
Category:Presocratic philosophers
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Anaximenes of Miletus
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Table of Content
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good article, Biography, Philosophy, Air as the ''arche'', Cosmology and weather, Milesian context, Legacy and study, Influence on science and philosophy, Subsequent interpretation, References, Citations, Sources, Further reading, External links
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Ancus Marcius
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short description
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Ancus Marcius () was the legendary fourth king of Rome, who traditionally reigned 24 years. Upon the death of the previous king, Tullus Hostilius, the Roman Senate appointed an interrex, who in turn called a session of the assembly of the people who elected the new king. Ancus is said to have ruled by waging war as Romulus did, while also promoting peace and religion as Numa Pompilius did.
Ancus Marcius was believed by many Romans to have been the namesake of the Marcii, a plebeian family.Niebuhr, The History of Rome, Volume 1, p. 301
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Ancus Marcius
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Background
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Background
Ancus was the son of Marcius (himself the son of Rome's first pontifex maximus Numa MarciusE. Peruzzi Le origini di Roma I. La famiglia Firenze 1970 p. 142 ff.) and Pompilia (daughter of Numa Pompilius).Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 1:32 Ancus Marcius was thus the grandson of Numa and therefore a Sabine. According to Festus, Marcius was surnamed Ancus because of his crooked arm (ancus signifying "bent" in Latin).
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Ancus Marcius
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First acts as King
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First acts as King
According to Livy, Ancus's first act as king was to order the Pontifex Maximus to copy the text concerning the performance of public ceremonies of religion from the commentaries of Numa Pompilius to be displayed to the public on wooden tablets, so that the rites of religion should no longer be neglected or improperly performed. When Tullus was king, he repealed the Numa-created religious edicts that had been in place before.
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