On the Buddha’s Use of Some Brahmanical Motifs in Pali Texts

Brett Shults

Abstract

Many Pali texts portray the Buddha in the act of expressing his teachings through Brahmanical motifs. They are “Brahmanical” motifs because for readers today they are visible in Brahmanical texts, even if we cannot be sure how composers of Pali texts came to use such motifs. The aim of this paper is to consider and hopefully to advance our understanding of how some of the same motifs are used in Brahmanical and Pali texts.