Decoding the Astrological Significance of the Sun in Pāli Buddhist Scriptures: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

doi:10.23058/brcr.2025..15.004

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일반논문

Decoding the Astrological Significance of the Sun in Pāli Buddhist Scriptures: A Cross-Cultural Analysis 빨리 불교 문헌에 나타난 태양의 점성학적 상징 해석: Wonju Kim
김원주; Dongguk University

동국대학교

30 April 2025. pp. 95-118

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Abstract

본 연구는 야바나자타카(Yavanajātaka)에 반영된 그리스, 바빌로니아, 인도 점성술 전통의 다층적 층위에 주목하여, 빨리 문헌속 나타나는 태양의 점성학적 의미를 고찰한다. 특히 태양과 크샤트리야 계급 사이에 나타나는 점성학적 상징체계의 연관성을 중심으로, 빨리 불교 경전에 나타난 태양의 역할과 의미를 분석한다. 태양의 점성학적 상징성과 크샤트리야 정체성 간의 연계를 통해, 본 논문은 빨리 문헌과 광범위한 점성술 체계 간의 의미 연계성과 해석학적 유의성을 탐색한다. 아울러, 빨리어 중심의 초기 불교가 보이는 다양한 점성학적 전통과의 상호작용과 문화적 수용을 살펴봄으로써, 불교가 가진 사회문화적 맥락에 대한 지적 개방성을 본 연구를 통해 밝히고자 한다.

키워드

태양

크샤트리아

바빌로니아 점성술

인도 점성술

야바나자타카

라후

일식

This study examines the astrological importance of the sun in the Pāli texts, focusing on multiple layers of astrological tradition—Greek, Babylonian, and Indian astrology—as seen in the Yavanajātaka. This study highlights the roles and meanings of the sun in Pāli Buddhist texts, particularly on the astrological relationship with the Kshatriya class. Through analysis of the astrological strata on the sun and Kshatriya, this paper explores the contextual parallels in the symbolism of the sun from Pāli Tripiṭaka and its commentaries across different astrological traditions. Furthermore, this study demonstrates early Buddhists’ intellectual openness to their sociocultural environment through interaction with and adaptation to diverse astrological systems.

Keywords

Sun

Kshatriya

Babylonianastrology

Indianastrology

Yavanajātaka

Rāhu

References

YJ Yavanajātaka
Sn Sutta Nipāta
T Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經.. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠顺次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡辺海旭. Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō kankōkai, 1924-1932. Chinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association (CBETA) edition.
Saddharma-smṛty-upasthāna-sūtra 正法念處經 T17, no. 721.
Aṅguttara Nikāya II, ed. by Warder, A. K., London: Pali Text Society, 1976.
Aitareya Āraṇyaka, ed. by Keith, Arthur Berriedale, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909.
Atharvaveda, ed. by Lanman, Charles Rockwell, Translated with a Critical and Exegetical Commentary. First Half: Books I to VII, Second Half: Books VIII to XIX. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1905.
Chāndogya Upaniṣad, ed. by Swahānanda, Swāmī, Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1956.
Dhammapada Aṭṭhakathā I, III, ed. Norman, H. C., London: Pali Text Society, 1970.
Dīgha Nikāya I, III, ed. by Rhys Davids, T, W., and J. E. Carpenter, London: Pali Text Society, 1966-1976.
Jātaka I, III, ed. by Fausbøll V., London: Pali Text Society, 1962-1963.
Mahāniddesa, ed. by La Vallée Poussin; L. de, and E. J. Thomas, London: Pali Text Society, 1978.
Milindapañha, ed. by Trenckner. V., London: Pali Text Society, 1986.
Paṭisambhidāmagga I, ed. by Taylor, Arnold C., London: Pali Text Society, 1979.
Rigveda, ed. by Wilson, H. H., Bangalore: The Bangalore Printing & Publishing co., 1850.
Saṃyutta Nikāya I, ed. by Feer, M. Leon, Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1991.
Sāratthappakāsinī I, ed. Woodward, F.L., London: Pali Text Society, 1977.
Sumaṅgala Vilasini II, ed. by Carpenter, J. E., T. W. R. Davids, and W. Stede, London: Pali Text Society, 1971.
Sutta Nipāta, ed. by Andersen, D., and H. Smith, London: Pali Text Society, 1913.
Therīgāthā Aṭṭhakathā, ed. by Pruitt, W., Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1988.
Vinaya I, II, ed. by Oldenberg, H., Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1995-1997.
Yavanajātaka I, ed. by Pingree, David, London and Massachusetts: Harvard University press, Cambridge University press, 1978.
Al-Rawi, F. N. H., and A. R. George. 2006. Tablets from the Sippar Library XIII: “Enūma Anu Ellil’ XX.” Iraq 68, 23-57.
10.1017/S0021088900001157
Bodhi, Bhikkhu. 2000. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, Translated from the Pāli by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Vol. 1, Boston: Wisdom Publications.
___. 2017. The Suttanipāta: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha’s Discourses, Together with Its Commentaries : Paramatthajotikā II and Excerpts from the Niddesa. Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications.
Bronkhorst, Johannes. 2011. Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
10.1163/ej.9789004201408.i-294
___. 2020. India’s Past Reconsidered. In At the Shores of the Sky, Edited by Paul W. Kroll, and Jonathan A. Silk, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 12-22.
10.1163/9789004438200_004
Brown, David. 2018. The Interactions of Ancient Astral Science. Bremen: Hempen Verlag.
Chenet, François. 1985. “Karma and Astrology: An Unrecognized Aspect of Indian Anthropology.” Diogenes. 33 (129), 101-26.
10.1177/039219218503312906
Falk, Harry. 2001. “The Yuga of Sphujiddhvaja and the Era of the Kuṣâṇas.” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 7, 121-36.
Fincke, Jeanette C. 2014. “The Seventh Tablet of the Rikis Gerri Series of Enūma Anu Enlil.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 66 (1), 129-48.
10.5615/jcunestud.66.2014.0129
Hunger, Hermann. 1999. Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia. Handbook of Oriental Studies. The Near and Middle East 44, Leiden; Boston: Brill.
Kotyk, Jeffrey. 2017. Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty. Ph.D. dissertation/thesis, Leiden Univesity, The Netherlands, September 7.
___. 2022. “Astronomy and Calendrical Science in Early Mikkyō in Japan: Challenges and Adaptations.” Religions 13 (5), 458.
10.3390/rel13050458
Long, A. A. 2006. From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279128.001.0001
Mak, Bill M. 2013a. “The Date and Nature of Sphujidhvaja’s Yavanajātaka Reconsidered in the Light of Some Newly Discovered Materials.” History of Science in South Asia 1, 1-20.
10.18732/H2RP4T
___. 2013b. “The Transmission of Greek Astral Science into India Reconsidered - Critical Remarks on the Contents and the Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Yavanajātaka”. History of Science in South Asia 1, 1-20.
___. 2015a. “Indian ‘Jyotiṣa’ Through the Lens of Chinese Buddist Canon.” Journal of Oriental Studies 48 (1), 1-19.
___. 2015b. “The Transmission of Buddhist Astral Science from India to East Asia - The Gandharan and Central Asian Connections.” Historia Scientiarum 24-2, 59-75.
McGovern, Nathan. 2013. Buddhists, Brahmans, and Buddhist Brahmans: Negotiating Identities in Indian Antiquity, Ph.D. dissertation/thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, March.
___. 2016. “On the Origins of the 32 Marks of a Great Man.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 39, 207-247.
Perera, L. P. N. 1979. “An Analysis of the Sela Sutta of the Sutta-Nipāta.” Buddhist Studies Review 4 (3), 66-70.
10.1558/bsrv.v4i3.13929
Pingree, David. 1963. “Astronomy and Astrology in India and Iran.” Isis 54 (2), 229-46.
10.1086/349703
___. 1978. “Indian Astronomy.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 122 (6), 361-64.
___. 2014. “Indian Influence on Sasanian and Early Islamic Astronomy and Astrology.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 104 (3), 273-281.
___. 1997. From Astral Omens to Astrology: From Babylon to Bīkāner, Istituto italiano per l’Africa et l’Oriente.
Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F., trans. 1917. The Book of the Kindred Sayings, Vol. 1. Oxford: Pali Text Society.
___. 1931. Sakya Or Buddhist Origins, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner.
Steele, John M. 2000. “Eclipse Prediction in Mesopotamia.” Archive for History of Exact Sciences 54 (5), 421-54.
10.1007/s004070050007
Strong, John. 1992. The Legend and Cult of Upagupta: Sanskrit Buddhism in North India and Southeast Asia, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Tang, Quan, and Anjing Qu. 2018. A Comparison of Chinese and Indian Solar Theories in the Sui and Early Tang Periods (Seventh-Eighth Centuries c.e.). Journal for the History of Astronomy 49 (4): 472-95.
10.1177/0021828618808876
Whitehead, Alfred North. 1929. Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, New York: The Free Press.
Yano, Michio. 2004. “Planet Worship in Ancient India.” In Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honor of David Pingree. Edited by Jan P. Hogendijk, Kim Plofker, Michio Yano, and Charles Burnett, Leiden: Brill, 331-48.
10.1163/9789047412441_015
阪本（後藤）純子. 2018. 「ヴェーダ祭式Upavasathaと仏教Uposatha「布薩」：梗概」, 『日本印度学仏教学会』, 印度學佛教學研究, 66 (2), 974-968.
熊谷孝司. 2005. 「占術文献における予兆に対する鎮静法について」, 『印度學佛教學研究』, 日本印度学仏教学会, 53 (2), 934-930.
麥文彪・上田真啓. 2019. 「仏国暦象編』におけるインド天文学について」, 『天と地の科学』, 臨川書店, 441-457.
矢野道雄. 1997. 「ラーフラ（羅喉羅）の命名と釈尊の出家」, 『佛教大学総合研究所』, 佛教大学総合研究所紀要 4 (4), 17-34.

Information

Publisher :불교의례문화연구소
Publisher(Ko) :불교의례문화연구소
Journal Title :Intangible Culture
Journal Title(Ko) :무형문화연구
Volume : 15
Pages :95-118
DOI :https://doi.org/10.23058/brcr.2025..15.004

[1] YJ Yavanajātaka

[2] Sn Sutta Nipāta

[3] T Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經.. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠顺次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡辺海旭. Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō kankōkai, 1924-1932. Chinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association (CBETA) edition.

[4] Saddharma-smṛty-upasthāna-sūtra 正法念處經 T17, no. 721.

[5] Aṅguttara Nikāya II, ed. by Warder, A. K., London: Pali Text Society, 1976.

[6] Aitareya Āraṇyaka, ed. by Keith, Arthur Berriedale, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909.

[7] Atharvaveda, ed. by Lanman, Charles Rockwell, Translated with a Critical and Exegetical Commentary. First Half: Books I to VII, Second Half: Books VIII to XIX. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1905.

[8] Chāndogya Upaniṣad, ed. by Swahānanda, Swāmī, Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1956.

[9] Dhammapada Aṭṭhakathā I, III, ed. Norman, H. C., London: Pali Text Society, 1970.

[10] Dīgha Nikāya I, III, ed. by Rhys Davids, T, W., and J. E. Carpenter, London: Pali Text Society, 1966-1976.

[11] Jātaka I, III, ed. by Fausbøll V., London: Pali Text Society, 1962-1963.

[12] Mahāniddesa, ed. by La Vallée Poussin; L. de, and E. J. Thomas, London: Pali Text Society, 1978.

[13] Milindapañha, ed. by Trenckner. V., London: Pali Text Society, 1986.

[14] Paṭisambhidāmagga I, ed. by Taylor, Arnold C., London: Pali Text Society, 1979.

[15] Rigveda, ed. by Wilson, H. H., Bangalore: The Bangalore Printing & Publishing co., 1850.

[16] Saṃyutta Nikāya I, ed. by Feer, M. Leon, Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1991.

[17] Sāratthappakāsinī I, ed. Woodward, F.L., London: Pali Text Society, 1977.

[18] Sumaṅgala Vilasini II, ed. by Carpenter, J. E., T. W. R. Davids, and W. Stede, London: Pali Text Society, 1971.

[19] Sutta Nipāta, ed. by Andersen, D., and H. Smith, London: Pali Text Society, 1913.

[20] Therīgāthā Aṭṭhakathā, ed. by Pruitt, W., Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1988.

[21] Vinaya I, II, ed. by Oldenberg, H., Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1995-1997.

[22] Yavanajātaka I, ed. by Pingree, David, London and Massachusetts: Harvard University press, Cambridge University press, 1978.

[23] Al-Rawi, F. N. H., and A. R. George. 2006. Tablets from the Sippar Library XIII: “Enūma Anu Ellil’ XX.” Iraq 68, 23-57.
10.1017/S0021088900001157

[24] Bodhi, Bhikkhu. 2000. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, Translated from the Pāli by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Vol. 1, Boston: Wisdom Publications.

[25] ___. 2017. The Suttanipāta: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha’s Discourses, Together with Its Commentaries : Paramatthajotikā II and Excerpts from the Niddesa. Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications.

[26] Bronkhorst, Johannes. 2011. Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
10.1163/ej.9789004201408.i-294

[27] ___. 2020. India’s Past Reconsidered. In At the Shores of the Sky, Edited by Paul W. Kroll, and Jonathan A. Silk, Leiden; Boston: Brill, 12-22.
10.1163/9789004438200_004

[28] Brown, David. 2018. The Interactions of Ancient Astral Science. Bremen: Hempen Verlag.

[29] Chenet, François. 1985. “Karma and Astrology: An Unrecognized Aspect of Indian Anthropology.” Diogenes. 33 (129), 101-26.
10.1177/039219218503312906

[30] Falk, Harry. 2001. “The Yuga of Sphujiddhvaja and the Era of the Kuṣâṇas.” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 7, 121-36.

[31] Fincke, Jeanette C. 2014. “The Seventh Tablet of the Rikis Gerri Series of Enūma Anu Enlil.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 66 (1), 129-48.
10.5615/jcunestud.66.2014.0129

[32] Hunger, Hermann. 1999. Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia. Handbook of Oriental Studies. The Near and Middle East 44, Leiden; Boston: Brill.

[33] Kotyk, Jeffrey. 2017. Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty. Ph.D. dissertation/thesis, Leiden Univesity, The Netherlands, September 7.

[34] ___. 2022. “Astronomy and Calendrical Science in Early Mikkyō in Japan: Challenges and Adaptations.” Religions 13 (5), 458.
10.3390/rel13050458

[35] Long, A. A. 2006. From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279128.001.0001

[36] Mak, Bill M. 2013a. “The Date and Nature of Sphujidhvaja’s Yavanajātaka Reconsidered in the Light of Some Newly Discovered Materials.” History of Science in South Asia 1, 1-20.
10.18732/H2RP4T

[37] ___. 2013b. “The Transmission of Greek Astral Science into India Reconsidered - Critical Remarks on the Contents and the Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Yavanajātaka”. History of Science in South Asia 1, 1-20.

[38] ___. 2015a. “Indian ‘Jyotiṣa’ Through the Lens of Chinese Buddist Canon.” Journal of Oriental Studies 48 (1), 1-19.

[39] ___. 2015b. “The Transmission of Buddhist Astral Science from India to East Asia - The Gandharan and Central Asian Connections.” Historia Scientiarum 24-2, 59-75.

[40] McGovern, Nathan. 2013. Buddhists, Brahmans, and Buddhist Brahmans: Negotiating Identities in Indian Antiquity, Ph.D. dissertation/thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, March.

[41] ___. 2016. “On the Origins of the 32 Marks of a Great Man.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 39, 207-247.

[42] Perera, L. P. N. 1979. “An Analysis of the Sela Sutta of the Sutta-Nipāta.” Buddhist Studies Review 4 (3), 66-70.
10.1558/bsrv.v4i3.13929

[43] Pingree, David. 1963. “Astronomy and Astrology in India and Iran.” Isis 54 (2), 229-46.
10.1086/349703

[44] ___. 1978. “Indian Astronomy.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 122 (6), 361-64.

[45] ___. 2014. “Indian Influence on Sasanian and Early Islamic Astronomy and Astrology.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 104 (3), 273-281.

[46] ___. 1997. From Astral Omens to Astrology: From Babylon to Bīkāner, Istituto italiano per l’Africa et l’Oriente.

[47] Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F., trans. 1917. The Book of the Kindred Sayings, Vol. 1. Oxford: Pali Text Society.

[48] ___. 1931. Sakya Or Buddhist Origins, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner.

[49] Steele, John M. 2000. “Eclipse Prediction in Mesopotamia.” Archive for History of Exact Sciences 54 (5), 421-54.
10.1007/s004070050007

[50] Strong, John. 1992. The Legend and Cult of Upagupta: Sanskrit Buddhism in North India and Southeast Asia, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

[51] Tang, Quan, and Anjing Qu. 2018. A Comparison of Chinese and Indian Solar Theories in the Sui and Early Tang Periods (Seventh-Eighth Centuries c.e.). Journal for the History of Astronomy 49 (4): 472-95.
10.1177/0021828618808876

[52] Whitehead, Alfred North. 1929. Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, New York: The Free Press.

[53] Yano, Michio. 2004. “Planet Worship in Ancient India.” In Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honor of David Pingree. Edited by Jan P. Hogendijk, Kim Plofker, Michio Yano, and Charles Burnett, Leiden: Brill, 331-48.
10.1163/9789047412441_015

[54] 阪本（後藤）純子. 2018. 「ヴェーダ祭式Upavasathaと仏教Uposatha「布薩」：梗概」, 『日本印度学仏教学会』, 印度學佛教學研究, 66 (2), 974-968.

[55] 熊谷孝司. 2005. 「占術文献における予兆に対する鎮静法について」, 『印度學佛教學研究』, 日本印度学仏教学会, 53 (2), 934-930.

[56] 麥文彪・上田真啓. 2019. 「仏国暦象編』におけるインド天文学について」, 『天と地の科学』, 臨川書店, 441-457.

[57] 矢野道雄. 1997. 「ラーフラ（羅喉羅）の命名と釈尊の出家」, 『佛教大学総合研究所』, 佛教大学総合研究所紀要 4 (4), 17-34.

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