What the Buddha Felt

: A Study of Vedanā in Early Buddhism

Abstract

In this dissertation I explore the concept of vedanā (‘feeling’) in the early Buddhist texts, primarily those preserved in Pali. I argue that some recent attempts at understanding vedanā have relied too heavily on modern psychological models, leading to reductive views that exclude from it the emotions of happiness and sadness, misplacing the line that separates feelings from evaluations, and obscuring how vedanā makes sense fully in the context of Buddhist doctrine and ethics. I also defend that pīti (joy) is roughly synonymous with somanassa (happiness), and therefore can be treated as a feeling in the early discourses. This reveals a hedonic curve—going first to pleasant feelings, then to neutral ones—common across all major formulas and models of progress to awakening, suggesting that, from the affective-hedonic viewpoint of vedanā, the early Pali discourses present a consistent theory of liberation. I explore how these early texts use the motivational aspect of feelings to help practitioners advance towards liberation, by sublimating the natural turning away from the unpleasant into renunciation, and the natural pursuit of pleasure into seeking what is good and skilful. On this basis, they encourage practitioners to derive satisfaction from the disappearance of unskilful behaviours and mental factors, then to extend this capacity to access meditative states, and to delight in simplifying phenomenal experience even more. A consistent vedanā transformation underlies early Buddhist soteriology, which emerges as a form of refined hedonism.

Date of Award	18 Jun 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Sponsors	Khyentse Foundation & The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation
Supervisor	Rupert M L Gethin (Supervisor), Rita E M Langer (Supervisor) & Benedetta Lomi (Supervisor)