Nāmarūpa (literally “name and form”) is widely known as a Buddhist term used to denote the the five “groups” (P. khandhas, Sk. skandhas) of which the individual is said to consist and also appears in the formula of “dependent origination” (P. paṭiccasamuppāda, Sk. pratītyasmutpāda). Less well known is the fact that nāmarūpa is also found in the early Upaniṣads. This book explores the connection between the “pre-Buddhist” nāmarūpa and its Buddhist interpretation as the five khandas. The range of texts analysed in this work is particularly broad. The first part of the book considers the relationship between nāman and rūpa in early Vedic texts—such as the Ṛgveda and the Atharvaveda—before discussing the different ways in which nāmarūpa is used in the Upaniṣads. The second part of the book is devoted to nāmarūpa in the Pali Canon and deals extensively with the passages that seem to predate the systematisation of the skandha-theory and the formula of dependent origination in the Abhidharma—for instance those presenting a nine- or a ten-member version of the paṭiccasamuppāda. The author furthers our understanding of nāmarūpa by not only offering a well-grounded analysis of the gradual development of the concept , but also by alerting us to the pitfalls of conflating modern notions of names, language and individuality with those in early Buddhist texts and the Upaniṣads.
Liudmila Olalde graduated in German Philology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She pursued her studies at the University of Heidelberg and received a Master’s degree in Classical Indology and German Philology in 2010. At present she works as a research associate at the department for Buddhist Studies at the University of Heidelberg.
Table of Contents