| This dissertation traces regional philosophy in religious texts, namely the Kan&dotbelow;va Satapatha Brahman&dotbelow;a and the Suttanipata. Receiving the Vedas in the East, Yajnavalkya and the Vajasaneyins enlivened earlier Vedic concepts and augmented Vedic propensities for asceticism. The region of Kosala flourished during the lifetime of Sakyamuni Buddha, and as a result, the Kanva School formed an important part of the cultural milieu in which the historical Buddha lived. The Suttanipata depicts the Buddha as knowledgeable in Vedic practices and lore and as interacting with brahman&dotbelow;as, arguably both before and after a separate Buddhist identity formed. Considering this background, the relationship between late Vedic and early Buddhist thought must be reassessed. Because value is acquired and erased when concepts circulate, the Buddha's teaching in the Suttanipata can be considered a philosophical project to create new concepts and to translate practices that respond to a changing milieu.;Through a close analysis of Yajnavalkya's interpretation of the agnihotra and Savitri r&dotbelow;k as related to cognitive processes, this study uncovers the metaphysical meaning of philosophical concepts, such as svar, va´ja, dhi´, and praja, etc. In particular, the dissertation demonstrates that Yajnavalkya's concept of karma (rite) in the Kan&dotbelow;va Satapatha Brahman&dotbelow;a implies what is called karmic retribution. Vedic concepts for the unmanifest govern the idea of karmic retribution and the goal of becoming cognizant of the inflow of unmanifest energy in conscious cognition. The Buddha again revitalizes these concepts when teaching a brahman&dotbelow;a audience in the Suttanipata. The Buddhist concepts of upadhi, asava, crossing over to the far shore, and the serpent shedding his skin enliven earlier Vedic philosophy, which was expressed in systems of conceptual metaphors. In this way, Kosalan philosophy in the Kan&dotbelow;va Satapatha Brahman&dotbelow;a and the Suttanipata advances theories of causality and two modes of knowing---one karmically conditioned by past actions ( sam&dotbelow;jn`a/sann), and the other a direct knowing (prajnana/panna) unmediated by karmic retribution. |
