Early History of the Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist Schools

EARLY HISTORY OF THE

SPREAD OF BUDDHISM AND THE

BUDDHIST SCHOOLS

-.

TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE

Sir Asutosh

Mookerjee

'THE CHAMPION OF THE CAUSE OF HIGHER ED UCATION TH E TRUE FRIEND OF SCHOLARS

THE INITIATOR OF THE STUDY OF PALl IN BENGAL THIS HUMBLE WORK IS DEDICATED ' .AS A TOKEN OF THE AUTHOR S DEEP GRATITUDE AND ESTEEM

Early History ,OF THE

SPREAD OF BUDDHISM AND THE

BUDDHIST SCHOOLS

NALINAKSHA

BY

DUTT,

M. A., B. L.

WITH A FOREWORD .

BY

DR. NARENDRA NATH LAW, M. A., B. L., P. R. S.,

RAJESH NEW DELHI

PUBLICATIONS ALLAHABAD

PH. D.

First Indian Kdition't9'3(J' Hublished by M. L. Gupta

R'AJESH PUBLICATIONS; 1 .. Ansari Road, Daryaganj� New Delhi-ll0002

Printed in'lndia at Roopabh Printers, 4{l1S, Vishwas Nagar,

Sb adtlra, Delhi-l1003�

FOREWORD The first porti on of this work analyses the forces that belped

the propagation of Buddh ism in India) and

delineates the

missionary activities of Buddha in detail. There are scholarly biographies of the great Teacher touching incidentally on topics c o nnected with his missionary activities, but a biograpby cannot

give the fullest scope for the presentation of such an account. It

is only a b ook d evoted exclusively to the subject that can do justice to its treatment, and so Mr. D ut t 's work is welcome as a compendium where all information connected with the progress .of Buddha's missionary work is available in a well-ordered form. Such a sketch, the details of which have b een laboriously collected fro m the Buddhist scriptures and arranged in such a way as t o enable one t o see the large masses of details about

Buddha's career i n thei r l ogical and chronological relations as

far as p ossible, has certainly a value in the eye of scholars interested in the h istory of the spread of Buddhism. The attempt on the p ar t of Buddha and his disciples to preach the

doctrines of th,e religion and propagate it far and. \\-ide involved arduous wor k from village to village, and district to district, each locality presenting problems which had to b e s olved as

best as they coul d by br i n g i ng to bear on them the application -of the best qualities of head and heart that the personalities of Buddha and his disciples possessed. These and s im i lar po ints

-can be properly tackle d only in pr o fes sed accounts of the spread

of Buddhism

and

they may not find

not in at

aU

biographies a logical

of Buddha,

where

setting. The degree of

influence of Buddhism at a par ti cul ar centre, the volume of patronage offered to the religion, the nature of c ollisi ons that took place b etween Buddhism and various other rel igions and 'Such like can be treated with adequate justic t o their imp or-

vi tance only in a treatise directly and expressly devot e d to the deli neation of the subject. A detailed delineation of the four principal

schools of

Buddhism including resumes of their doctrines as far as they have been ascertained at present is the object of Book II.

The­

study of either the Pali or the Buddhist Sanskrit literatur e can

give only a partial view of Buddhism, as such literature embodi es.

the beliefs and doctrines of one or two schools of Buddhism which in t ime attained dominan ce in India over the other schools.

The discovery and publication of a large n umber of

works belonging to the Pali and the Buddhist Sanskrit literature­ have brought so much into prominence the tenets and philoso­ phy on one or two schools that one m ay b e misled to think that they constitute the whole of Buddhirm. But there were other schools which had their days of prosperity in India at some time or other in the past, and possessed literature, of which traces. are available in the accounts of Chinese travellers, and in the

Tibetan or Chinese translations of works of some of them. The: SarpmUiya school, for instance, rose to be a dominan t school in the sixth and seventh centuries A. c. in regard to the numberr of adherents and range of propagation.

There are indications,.

again, showing that the sub-schools arising out of the MahasaIi­ ghika school acquired at one time much influence in Southern India.

The followers of e ach of the schools believed that they'

preserved more faithfully than the rest the words of Buddha' and were acting up to their spirit more than others. Each of

the schools professed to preserve intact, or make the nearest approximation to the words and thoughts of the Teacher in and through its lit erature and practices. Each of them is thus,.

as it were, a facet of a dimond contributing its mite to the' totality of the brilliance, and cannot be left out of sight in a

view of the entire diamond.

Mr. Dutt in his sketches of the four principal s chools has taken a stock of the information available at present, enabling a reader to acquaint himself without much labour with what is now known about the schools. The portions of the sketches bearing on the origin, develop­ ment, and activit ies of the schools have been drawn by Mr. Dutt for the first time from the existing materials. The impor t an ce of the knowledg e of details abotlt the schools of Indian B uddhism is aJso realized if w e look a t the:

vii fact t hat it enables us to understand clearly the forms of the religion that were t ransplanted from India to o the r countries. As I have stated elsew here , w hen the missi onar y activities of the B uddhis ts were carried outside India, the sch oo l of Budddism which happened to be the most prominent at, a p artic ular time sent its missionaries for p r opagating it in oth er countries.

The

people of the country where they went looked upon the form of Buddhi s m preached by th e m as the original foem of the

religion and ado p ted i t , zealously p rese rv ing its literature and doctrine s . As an illus tr at i on , I m ention first the Sinhalese. At the t i me when t he Sthaviravada school re a ched the acme of its influence, Ceylon was converted, and as t he result of this c onve rs i o n , the literature of this school has been pre s er ved in

that count r y . Similarily, when under the patronage of Kani s ka , the Sarvastivada school became t he m ost powerful the people of Khotan and Central Asia were converted to Buddhism; for

t his reason, the fragments of m anuscri pt discovered in cou r s e ­ of excavations in those places belong mostly to the Sarvastiva­ dins . The c ase of th e Sa:qlmitiyas is also similar; though no manuscri pts (or their fragments) of this s chool have yet been

dis covered. the people of Campa, so far as has been ascertain­ ed, were first converted to Buddhism by the missionary effo rts of Sarp.mitiy a preacher s ,

when this school prevailed in Indi a

in the sixth o r seventh century A. C. I appreci ate very much the point of view fro m which the author looks at Buddha and his activities. Though he is writing an historical account, in which the c an on s of historical criti­ c i sm should be applied , he is at t h e same time n ot u nm indful

of the fact that he is handling a s ubje ct i nvol vi n g t op ics about which, in the absence of a better alternative, re s pe ctful silence

is welcome instead of barren sc e ptic al criticisms. In co nnection with the great pers onal i tie s like Buddha, there m a y be many things which lie beyond the compre h ensi on of peop l e unacquainted wi th the ways of men in the h i ghe r or the highe s t stages

of spiritual

culture.

A

means of at l east partially

c omp re hending them is through an intimate kn,owl edge of the

a ctions,

capabilities , and lines

o f thought of men actually

advanced in spiritual culture, su pplemented by the per usal of

anthori tati ve works g arne r ing the pa st experience s of p eopl e on the subject, eluc idating its obscure points, or furnishing corro-

viii boration of the known ones.

Attempts are often made by

authors to thrust into narrow m oulds of their own making personalities like Christ and Muhammad, Buddha and Caitanya . The present work i s free from a blemish of this kind.

It i s

also free from another blemish which so o ften tarnishes histori­ par ticular r eligions viz. a dominating pr e ­ conceived n otion that the religion professed by t h e author i s cal monographs on

superior to the r elig ion treated i n the monograph.

This blinds

him to many of the excellences of t h e l atter religion wh ich only a deep s ympathetic insight into it can make patent , and prom­ pts him

to

i nstitut e comparison between the two religions to

exalt the one over the ot her . I hope that Mr: Dutt's work with its many attractive features, some or which have been pointed {mt above, has before it a ca r eer of us e fulness , which will render it a welcome addition to the existing literature on Buddha and his activities. ApriJ, 1925. 96, Amherst Street,

CALCUTTA.

NARENDRA NATH LAW

PREFACE

The perusal of Rev. Edkins' remark s in his Introduction lt� the Chinese Buddhism drew my attention to the subject­ -matter of the first book of this work. The remarks are : "If - the beginnings of the world's religions are very interesting and important subjects of inquiry, their progress and development are not less so. The various causes which operated to aid the -spread of Buddhism if carefully investigated will be a valuable ,contribution to the h istory of humanity." Rev. Edkins had in his mind the whole history of t he spread of Buddhism .in the different parts of the world. As the task is stupendous, I have confined myself only to India and for present, to the -earliest portion of the history. The s ources of my information have been naturally the Vinaya and the Niktiyas suplemented at -times by other Buddhist works. Though there is a great divergence of opinion as to the date -of compilation of the Pali Niktiyas, it is of l ittle importance to -me so far as the treatment of the subject-matter of this work ,is concerned, because the tradition contained in the Nikiiyas i s old and it is upon this tradition that my account has been based. There are indications in the Nikayas showing that the tra­ - dition recorded in them dates back as far as the time of Buddha, to who m are ascribed almost all the discourses embodied in the Collections. The picture of the religious condition of Northern India furnished by the Nikayas has in i t a tinge of great antiquity. 'We find frequent delineations of the state of things that imme­ ·diately preceded the advent of Buddha, or existed. during his Jife-time. We see that Mahavira has established his influence� Makkhali Gosala has placed his order of monks on a firm .

x footing, a host of religio us

sects with their divergent beliefs;

and philosophical theories bas been strugg lin g with one ano ther for recognition as the repositories of truths w hile brahmal)ism, has reached a stage in which reactio n has become a necessity. The n umer ou s parallels in the Nikfiyas indicate that their subject-matter was drawn from an early c ommon s ource.

The'

differences among the Nikayas are n ot s o much i n substance as in f o rm .

reciters

LJPis is

called

(Sum. Vi!. p.

the

due to the fa ct th a t different groups or­

Digh-bhii'!j,akas, Majjhima-bhii'!j,akas, etc.

15) preserved the sacr e d words of Buddha in'

the form which was looked upon by each group as the most suitable for the purpose.

.......

_

The similarity in substance among'

the Nikfiyas of the different groups would not have been s o great as it actua ll y is, i f they had not be en based up on a .

common fo unda ti on , viz., the words of Buddha as far as they

could be preserved in oral tradition .

on the early history of B uddhis m ,

In the existing works

chiefly the biographies of"

Buddha in Pali, Sanskrit and other languages have been utilized,.

the Nikfiyas have not been u tilized to the full to yi e ld the infor­

mati on they co n ta in.

It was for thi s reason that Prof.

Kern'

following Oldenb erg remarked that " after the nar rative of the ­ occurrences in the twentieth rainy season, there is in the hist ory' of the Master an almost c omplete blank.

For a peri od of 23·

years, a summary of Buddha's proceedings is wanting, altho­ ugh vari ous incidents may be h eld to fall within that period'"

(Manual. p. 38).

It is true that it is n ot possible to dr aw up,

an account of Buddha's activities for the last 23 years of his . career, . arranging the in cidents year by year, but nevertheless

the utilization of the information contained in the Nikfiyas: can make it possible to present a sketch which may be useful . in various ways.

Book II of the present work has been devoted t o the treat-­ ment of the four s chools of Buddhism that came into being within. about f our centuries after Buddh a 's parinirvfina and were alive­

up to the end of the medieaval period.

The materials available'

for an acc ount of the origin and developmen t of thes e sch ools,

including their ten ets and philosophical views do n o t e n abl e ­ one to satisfy his curi osi ty about all their d etail s , bu t they can

well be utilized for the drawing up of a sketch which can

convey a clear idea of all the four schools with the distinguish-

xi ing features of each of them.

To make this sketch richer in'

details, it is necessary to have access to the store of informa­ tion contained in the hitherto unused Chinese and Tibe tan translations of the works of these schools. It is a matter for regret that I could not complete this volume· during the life-time of the great man Sir Asutosh Mookherji

who initiated the study of Pali in B engal, infused. into me as he did into so many others a desire for historical re sear­ ches, and pointed o ut to me the importance of spade-work, in the vast unworked field of Buddhism.

My labour wou1d

have been amply repaid if this volume could have elicited fronl, him single word of appreciation. No l e s s is my debt of grati­

tude to Dr. Narendra Nath Law a silent but nevertheless an

ardent and untiring worker in the field of historical resear­ ches.

It is from him that I have got the training for carrying.

on historical investigations on

scientific lines, and it is he

who has guided me most patiently, almost at every step, to keep me away from the quicksands that best

the onward course of'

students of history. He has laid me under a further obligation

by

writing

Calcutta the light.

a

foreword to

this book, and including it in his

Oriental Series, without which it cou1 9. not have seen· My bearty thanks are due to Dr.

B. M. Barua who

has encouraged me in various ways in the course of my labours and has given me occasionally suggestions. B. L.,

for his

Lastly,

tbe benefit of his valuable'

I must thank my friend Mr. N. C. Pau1

keen active interest in

work and Mr. Nirmal Chandra like help in diverse ways.

Ba rua

,

,.

the progress of this B.

A., for his brother­

I also take tbis opportun i ty of

expressing my gratitude to Mr. R. N. Seal, B. A. for piloting. this book through the press with promptitude.

CALCUTTA, 1925

NALINAKSHA DUTTA..

CONTENTS

Foreword Preface Book I-Early History of the Spread of Buddhism

1

The Internal Forces i n the Spread of Buddhism

2

The External Forces in the Spread

)

of Buddhism

15-

3

Magadha

45·

4

Kosal a

70

5

The Democracies

84-

6

Other Eastern Countries

92.

7

Western and Northern Countries

99·

Book II-Schools of Buddhism

8

The Evolutions of the Schools of Buddhism

109'

9

Mahasanghika School

124-

10

Theravada School

137

11

Sarvastivada School

146·

12

Sammitiya School

163·

Index

167"

BOOK I

Spread of Buddhism (Mainly based

on

the Nikayas)

1 The Internal Forces in the Spread of Buddhis1l1

The rise of B u ddh i sm took pJace at an epoch when not' only

India but also Greece, Persia and Chi n a were experiencing a stir in religious matters through the advent of Rise of Buddhism in an epoch of religious awakening'

Socrates with his distinguished pupils and c on­ temporary philosophers in Greece, of Zoroaster in Persia, and of Lao-tse and Confucius in China.

In

India

the

elaboration of the bdihmat:lic

sacrifices accompained with the killing of hun..

dreds of vi c ti ms had alre ad y run a long course

in the beginning of the sixth century B.C., growing into a highly complex system of ritualism, the details of which failed to command the faith of many a Hindu who began to question whether, after all, the offerings to the gods, with their laborious construction of altars and collection of numberless requisites, recitations of mantras, chanting of hymns, expiation of errors

in t he rituals, really achieved the o bj ec ts for which they were performed, and whether, after all , they were worth the time, energy, and expenses that were involved in their performance7 The sacrifices were believed, if rightly performed, as able to secure for them wealth, health, long life and strength, the good will and good grace of the gods in this world, and happiness in the other world. But the dubious among them began to question within themselves whether there was not the chance of this

belief being wrongly based. Side by side with the elaborate

s ac ri fices performed by the householders, there were prescribed shortened forms of them,

or even mere cogitation of

the

S u preme, unaccompanied with any rituals for the viinaprasthas

SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

2

and the yatis. If these latter were rj gh t in the pursuit of the

course pres c ribed for them, could not a s i mi l ar course suited to the masses, but devoid of, or acc ompanied only

with very

s im ple rituals, be prescribed for the householders? v iews, more or less developed and opposed to the of t he

BrillunaTJas and specially

Similar

karmakil1Jr/a

to th e cruel slaying o f animals in

the sacrifices, were a l r eady in the aIr b e fore Buddha a r ose to preach his doctrines.1 Brahma1).ism allowed various shades of philosophic and religious views t o grow up within its fold

without ta ki n g obj ec tion to their existence within its limits.

But th e key t o the rece ption of this tole r ation lay in the fact that the dissentient vie w, side by side with its opposition to one or

more brahmaI;ic doctrines, sh o w ed its allegiance to one or

more of t he ultimate fundamental ten et s of BrahmaI)ism such

as the affiliation to the Vedas, belief in their authority, worship

of any of the brahma1).ic go d s as such, recognition of the authority of the brahma1).as, or com p l i a n ce with the caste-system.

It is only when we keep this in view that we can understand how

the sects like Carvakas or Sailkhyas could hold to their doc­ trines and yet continue to be re cogni zed by the brahma1)as

as orthodox. The e l as ticit y of Brahma1).ism was, no doubt, a source of its strength, and the exist ence of th is toleration that

admitted of the tether, by which a sect was ti ed to its peg, to be dra wn and drawn a way to long distance without sever ance ,

was the cause by which B rahma1).ism

could

grow into a ramified

religion, as wide as the Indian continent. But there was a limit to the d e g ree to which the heres y of its views could be carried by a brahmal).ic sect as such. This limit was crossed by Buddha, who sto od up as a rock to st o p the flow of the re ligion in

order to d i rect the fai th s of the people along channels of his own. not

He preached that religious truths lay not in the sacrifices ,

,

in the Vedas which prescribed these sacrifices, not in the

worship of th e many de ities of the brah m a�ic pantheon, not in

the ob s er vance of the caste-rules, not in the magical pract ices

of the Atharva Veda, not in the extreme forms of self-mortifica­ tions, and not, in short, in the many other pet beliefs and practices that came as c o ro ll ar ies to an all egiance to the bases

of brahma1).ic faiths, but in s e lf culture (culminating in Arhat-

1. See Dr. n.M. Barua,Pre-Buddhfstic Indian Philosophy.

pp.

193-94.

INTERNAL FORCES

3

shi p which constitutes the k e y s t o n e of Buddhism. 1 B u dd h a s v i ews agai nst sacrifices and the rites or acts 'involved in them have been expre ss ed in no uncertain terms throughout his s ayings. Against the mem oris i ng of B uddha's. the Vedic mantra and their fruitless repeti t ions t o "Vl. ews agamst . . . retam th e m In memory, he tauntlllgly remarked .sacrifices: that the bdihmal)as were nothing but the repeaters of the hymns composed by the ancient sages such as Atthuka, Vam a k a, Vamadeva, Ve s s a mitt a e tc2• He als o disparaged the sacrifices in v o lving needless expenses and payments of heavy fees3 to brahmal)as who, by dint of their craftiness, made them the means of procuring wealth for themselves4• The rituals were .me aningless o p eration s so minutely but mechanically complied with by the sacrifici·ng brahma1). as 5 intending to keep their "Superstitions cl ien ts under a p erpetual and unquestioning tutelage . In the Ptiyfisi Suttanta,6 Kumara Kassapa an immediate discip le of Buddha i nstructs Prince Payasi that the celebration ()f s acrifice s without cruelty inv ol ved in the killing of victims is a degr ee better than the celebration t h e r e o f acc om p anied with the perpetratio n of that cruelty. A s imilar view is expressed by Buddha in the Ku(adanta Sutta7 'where menti on is made of sets i !:·of ri t ual s to which toleration can be shewn in the ascending . order in which they are arranged: sacrifice in which living �. cre atu res are slaughtered; b ett er than this is the o n e performed (with only ghee,oil, butter, honey and s ugar; b et ter s till than this is charity, specially t h at extended t o hol y men; b etter l\again is the buil din g of mon asteries; and better than this is the i iobservance of moral precepts; and the best of all is the sacrifice i Jof the four-fold m ed i t ati o n S In short, Buddha condemns the .f :

'

-

'

,

,

'\

:'.

j!I t

.•

\


arted and e x p l a i ne d to the initiated or rather t o­ t he sotaparmas. Thus t h e Buddhists fr o m the l owest grade to the highest did not feel e mbarrassed by the weight o f d octri n es . and practices t o o difficult fo r their yet l i m i ted u nderstand i n g: cre eds .

­

or thei r u ndevel oped po wers of for titude and devoti o n . (b) B u dd h ism

had

i n it a l a rge e l ement o f catholic sp i r i t3 :

which appealed to even attack ano t h er rel igion B uddhism. Catholicity of the religion.

from

the members of other religions. To · as a whole was n ever s an ct i on ed by B uddha h a d t o tecruit hi s c onv er ts

other

rel igions;

he

n ever

disparaged,

them might have bel onged, thou gh, of cours e , he' showed at times that parti cular doctrines o r p racti c es o f that rel igion were wrong, er ro n eo us o r unwo rt hy of b e ing any

particular

.

religion to which

any of

,

the gradual course of training in Buddhism (imasmim dhammavi-' · naye anupubbasikkhii anuplibbakiriyii anliplibbapakipadii) see Majjh . Nik. ,_ 1 For

Ill. pp. 2·4.

2 Digh . Nik. , I, p. 148; Vinaya. I, 7, 5- 6; VI. 36, 5; Oldenbergs's Buddha' (Hoey's translation). p. 1 86.

3 Majjlt , Nik . , I, p . 523-'l1a ca saddhamma okkasana na paradhamma­ vambhana (one should neither extol his own religion nor d isparage other religions); Aug. Nik., I, p. 27.

EXTERNAL FORCES

fol lowe d . be m ad e

27

again, held the view that g i fts should

B u ddha,

by th e Buddhists to the d e se r vi ng members of a l l,

otner r eligious orders and n ot to the B u d d h i s ts al one1. He per­ m itte d a Jaina hous ehol der after his conv ers i o n to B uddhism to cont i n u e his c har i ty to the Jai n a monks winning thereby the admirat i o n of the members of o ther s ects2• In the Majjhima' Nikaya3 he is re c orde d to have s ai d that a particul ar Ajlvaka. was reborn in h e ave n by v ir t u e of h i s being a kamma vadin (i . e . a b eliever in the

law

of

Karma),

i n di c at i n g that the cl aim

of

a

non-Buddhist

t o h e ave n was n ot denied by Buddha m erely because he was n o t a B u dd h i s t . He hel d i n h i gh r espect the ' bdi h m al} as who led t r u l y moral l i fe4• T h e s p i r i t o f toleratio n is

n o doubt a p r ev a i l i n g fe at ure of the r el i gi ous life of India bu t. y et it s h o u l d be said to the cre d i t of B ud dh is m t h at it was p r a c ti s ed by the r el i g i o n i n a m o r e th orough-going manner t h an perhaps a ny other conte m porary r e l i gion of India. (c) The B ud dhist scriptures do n ot fur n i s h us with very many instances in w h ich the B u d d hi s t p reachers had t o be ten a­ cious i n the prosecut i on of th e ir works o f conver­ Persever� ance of the preachers .

sion i n regard to pa r t i c u l ar individulas w h o were­ hard to be convinced ; for the general t re nd of the

insta nc es is rather t h e other way, viz. the follo wers.

of other pe r s u asi o ns were eager to e m b race Buddhis m and

m issio n ar i es are few a n d far

therefore pre s e n te d little d iffic ulty to t.he B uddhist in t he i r conversion. The examples i n point

between but yet they show cleary the zeal which a n i m a te d so me'

of t�e B uddhist p reachers i n p ro p a g at i n g their faith . It is men­ tioned i n the Divyavadana5 that Purl}a resolved to ca r ry o n. his miss i onary w ork! among the ruffians of S rol].a para nt ak a even at the risk of his l i fe, This elicited the

ad miration of

Buddha

w h o spoke t o him in the fol l owing term s , 'pufl).a, you a r e ' end o we d wi th p ati e nce (k�antisaurabhena) and a fit a n d proper person to l ive am o n g the S roI).a parantakas. G o PiirI).a, fr e e' those who wish t o b e fre ed , rescue t ho s e to b e rescued, console'

t h o se to be co ns ol ed ,

1

Ang. Nik., III, 5 7,

and 1.

emancipate th ose to be eman cipa t e d . ,.

2 Vinaya, VI, 32; Ang. Nik.;

IV,

p . 1 85.

3 Majjh, Nik., I, p . 483 .

4 Sutta Nipiita, BrlihmalJ.a.dhammika Sutta.

5

D ivya.Jlada.na

p. 39; Mahiivastu, I. p. 245.

28 'The-

SPREAD OF BUDDHI S M

Nfilindapmlha1 relates the account o f Rohana v i s i t i ng the

h ouse of Nagasen a's father conti nually for seven years a n d ien months with th e object o f convert ing N agasena. The visits were made from a time before the birth of N:1gasena in the m idst of taunts and i ns u l ts h u rl ed at him. The v i s i ts inspite o f

th e unfavo urable circu mstances ult i m ately s erved t o concil iate 'the parents of Nagasena who was then converted to B uddhism. The Ma/ziiJ'a1?2Sa2 has a s imilar account but the pers ons men­ t ioned i n it are different. It is d i ffi cult to state h ow far the narratives are based 0;1 actual i n cidents, but the fac t that the narrat i ves th e ms elves d i d not appear as u n couth to t he writers ·of t he two a foresaid books is i tsel f a p r o o f that such persev erance of the B uddhist preachers i n the work o f c onversi o n was 110t ,quite an unusua l t h i n g in those d ay s

(d) Man y

are of

.

Buddha hi mself avoided

that

opi n i on

..entering i n t o discuss i on s with others , and d iscouraged those o f his d i s c i p l e s w h o entered i n t o d iscussions o n rel ig i o u s matters ,in the cou rse o f their preaching a n d w a n dering. S uc h opin ion

is not who l ly correct.

There are passages i n t h e Budd h ist

· scriptures which l end col o u r t o the afo resaid view but we have to go deeper to get at the true state of things. To cite one o r two such p assag es : H e i s said to have declared that his dhamma is not to be grasped by

condemn e d

t he

mere l ogic

sram a1)as

and

(atakkiivacara)3

brah rna1)as

hair-splitting d isputation s saying, 'Issu e has been

you , you a re d efeated ,

set to

disentangl e yoursel f if you

can '

work

wh o

an d h e t o ok t o

j oin ed

against

t o clear y our views,

(aropito te viido, niggahuo'si.

Cara l'ildappamokkhilya, nibbethehi vii

sace pahositi).4 from

such

passages , it is not right to j ump t o the concl usion

Dis putation that B uddha condemned or prohibi ted the indispensable in the spread of a h o l d ing of all d isputati ons on r eligious matters. religion,' In fact, the Digha Nikilya5 has a passage which Buddhism was no exception may mislead one into the opinio n that al l ; to it. d isputations were d i :: c o ura ged b y Bu ddha but an

fact only such d iscussions as

those poi nted

1 A1ilindapafiha, pp. Sff'.

2 A1ahiivarp.sa, pp. 41 -43. 3 Dfgh. Nik., T, p. 1 2 (Dial. of Buddha Vol . II, p. 26). 4 Digh. Nik., I, p. 8 (Ibid., p. 1 5), : Digtl. Nik., It Brahmajiila Sulfa.

out ab ove

29 -

EXTERNAL FORCES

were meant to b e av o i d e d . Th e correct con struction shou ld­

t her e fo r e

be

this

elici tat i on o f t ru t h

t h at

as

the

d ispu t ants

th e ir

sh ould

and n ot

object

h av e

the

the

obscu­

rat ion of same by the us e and c o u n t e r - u s e of wo rd s which serve ' o n ly to myst ify. The bhikkhus should hav e love of truth a n d nothi n g bu t t h e truth . Th e d e fe at of the op p o n e n t in a wordy fight is but a wa y of sel f-assert i o n wh i ch c o n t r i b ut es to self­ c o n c eit and lowe rs the reby th e i n ner m a n fro m the s p i r i tual stand poin t. It was d isputation of s uch a ch a r a c t e r that Buddha cond e m n e d .

S uch v e r ba l passages

at arms

o ften to ok p l a ce

'

regarding points which can n e v e r be d ecided by d is putatio n .

S uch subj ects a r e the indeterminabl e p roblems w h i c h can not be' so l v e d by d is p u tat i o n but m ay, if at al l , b e r ea l i ze d in the'

h ighest st age s of dhyana. The fee lin g s and real izati ons during. th e pr o s ecuti o n of dhyana c an n o t b e felt o r real ized by those who have n o t had the experiences pe rs o n al ly and hence the wide '

gulf that h as always existed between the tw o cl ass es of m e n

.

Words intended to d escribe the experiences ap pear me a n i n gles s

.

o r unt rt;.e to the Jay p e op l e who t h i nk that argum entation o n

the lines approved by logic can take them to the highes t truths . It was in view of this g u l f between the t wo clas s e s of men that

t he Hin du His asked their lay fol lo w e r s to fol lo w the Hindu

scriptures w ith o ut qu e s ti o ni n g them, all owing, of cours e, the ­ conflict b e tw e en two or more pas s a g es on a point to be removed by the meth o d s p r e s c ri b ed therefo r .

Hence it wou ld , I thin k, be­

apparent that Bud dh a was not unreasonable in what he said,

and it is wide of the truth t o suppose that he enjoined the ' b hikk h u s t o avoid all vain di sput at i o n s

.

It sllould also b e kept in m i nd that the st ate of the country

at the ti m e of Buddha was not such as could permit a missionary t o keep clear 'of disputation.

One of the esse ntial works of a

miss io nary is to convince his audie n ce, and thi s

is hardly

possible if a rgu me ntati on is g iv e n a wi d e berth. At the time of' Buddha, a cc o u n ts are available of brahmalJ.a and non-brabma1J,a .

heads of r el igio ns , w a n de ri n g about over the whole of e a s t e rn India, sometimes with their numerous disci p l es , and holdin g .

disputations with the heads o f the rival s ects t o a sse r t thei r influence

and

paribbajakas

incre ase

their

fo llowing.

The r e

were t h e

­

who wandered a b o u t with their minds open for the

recep ti o n of religious l i gh t wherever avai lable. The lay people'

30

S PREAD O F BUDJ:>HISM

:also l i k ed to hear d isputat ions as indicated by the ir s etting up of kutUhala-salas (halls for people in quest of truths) o r parib­

hajakaramas i n d i fferent places where the w an der in g teachers

may res ide and hol d controvers ies w i th c onvenience and some­

times in the midst o f a l arge gathering composed of men

'flocking to the place fro m the neighb ouring l oc a l i ties . The

people fel t proud if a good m any religious teachers v is i t e d their

.kutrihalasalas or paribbajakarams.1 R afe r ence s are available in

plenty in the B uddhist works showing that it was o ften stated

at the d is p uta tions that t h e defeated teacher with his foll owers

would r el i n qu is h his own doctrines and embrace those of the

wi nner. These d e fec ts in disputations were a fruitful source for the enl isti n g of conver ts to the many d o ctrines and religions th at prevailed in the cou ntry at the t i me and the teachers vie d ,a n d struggled with o n e a nother for gettin g t h e largest following for leadin g them to th� highest spi r i tual goal. The discussions among the teachers of the rival sects ind icate that they had to

be well-g rounded not only in the rules by which the disputation

'Was guided and the argumentation was rendered free fro m

fallacies, but al so i n the doctrines of the v arious opponents who

had to be faced, over and above their o wn s chool of tenets an d practices wi th their phil os ophical bases, if any. In view of these

facts, it is incorrect to h o l d that B u ddha l aid down a prohibi­ tion for e nte ri n g i nt o re l ig i ous controversies. He himself has

'been described in several places in t he Buddhis t works as a master of the tenets and pr actices of the h eretical sects. A l arg e Dumber of his disciples was recruited either as the result o f

def�ats suffered by the opponents o r fro m among the followers '" of the :birahtnal,lic and the her,etical teacbers convinoed of the ' �uperiorl:ty ,Qf , the' doctrines propounded to them. H is discus­ ' So1}.adal�9a Kiitadanta, siOJas , , " with Upali, Sakuludayi, Vekh anassa , Ass alayana and a bost of othe·rs are i1);s tan;ces ,m 'which . he argued out his ()wn views and convincea hi's' ,adv�rl

-saries at the end. The victories thus gained in large ri:umh�is b:i

Sarzz . Nik, . I V, p, 1 1 3 .

Rockhill's

Life of the Buddha) p . 74.

Burlinga me's Buddhist Legends, I, p. 84.

SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

40

Last but n ot the least was the support obtained by Buddha from the various clans of the perio d!. Inspite of the fact that MahaVlra had already been in the field and obtained a footing among the clans, Buddha was fairly successful in his missionary activities. It was not very difficult for Buddha to win over the Sakyas because he himself was of the clan. Anuruddha, KimbiIa, Bhagu, Ananda, Devedatta, Nanda, Upali an d many other Sakyas joined the order at Buddha's request. Under the leader.. ship of Mahapajapati Gotmi2, many Sakyan ladies al so followed the example of the Sakyan youths and joined the order leading to the g row th of the order of nuns.

Next to the Sakyas , the Licchavis and the Mallas came under the i nfluence of B uddha's teaching. The Liccha-

B uddha paid three visits to Vesali, the city of

vis and the MaUas.

the Licchavis,

and by his preachings brought

home to the them charm of Buddhism. He converted many ,d istinguished

members of the clan and obtained from 1hem gifts of cetiyas. 3 His work among the Mal Ias was also 'successful . It was perhaps as a token of favour to the faithful Mallas that Buddha selected K usina r a, a upavana within their .country, a s a su itable pl ace for his mahiiparinibbiina.4

Buddha's mission ary activity a m o ng

'The Bhag-

the

gas and the 'KoIiyas.

KoJ iyas

was

the

Bha ggas

and

not perhaps s o successful

as among the previously stated clans. Buddha visited three n ig ama s of the Koliyas, and Anand a

one, but there i s a remarkable paucity i n the number of the ,converts mentioned as hailing from those places .s Still less :successful was Buddha's religious mission to the Bhaggas. The ·only pl ace that was visited by Buddha was the Bhesakal avana ,deer-park near SUIp.sumaragiri and the persons won over were .Nakul a's parents an d Bodhirajakumara6• We do not hear of other clans comin g under the influence of 'Buddhism except in the statement of the

.suttanta that the Bulis of

Mahliparinibblina

Al1akappa and th e Moriyas of

V. S.B.E. , XIX, pp. 226-227

1 For detailed treatment, see infra.

2 Majjh . Nik. , I, p. 462; .3 DiTt. Nik., II, p. 102. 4 Ibid"

.

II, p. 1 69.

5 Kakkarapattal11 , Haliddavasanal11 , Uttaral11 , and Sapug.am '

6 Majjh. Nik., II, p. 91 .

41

EXTERNAL FORCES

-Pjpphalivana al o n g with the clans already menti o ned clai me d

-,B uddha's relics for e r ect ing s tiipas ill tbeir respective countries. Thus we see that Buddhism owed muc h of i ts expansion to ' Buddha's abili ty in s ecuring sy m p a t hy and patronage of ki n gs , "n o bles, and c l ans , who i n many cases had already been sup­ -portin g other r elig ions . Thou gh lat er in the field , B udd h i s m c oul d suppl an t at times tbe other rel i gions , u ltimately m on o-

-

po l i sing the sympathy and support of s o me of the m agnates. Th e p ar t played by women1 in the s pread of B ud d h is m can­ ' n ot b e i gnor ed or brushed as i de as of l itt le importance. On :many occasio ns it was th ro u gh their influen ce t h at wh ole famil ies ix. 'Pa rt pJayed by ladies in -th e spread '·of BUddhism.

w ere

co nv e rt ed to

Buddh ism .

Visakha

and

A mba p a lI, for instan ce, rend ere d s ig n al services

to the sangha by their munificen t gifts an d the former's work was m ore valu ab l e becau s e she be­

came the means of convers ion of aU the members

of her fath er- i n law's family from lai nism t o Buddhi s m . Anatha­ "pi:t:lhtkkhus that they should offer due res pect to the Sangha­ . pitara or Sa�gha pariniiyaka (the head of the parish) who are bhikkhus of' .

l ong

standing and experience for the well�being of this sangha. Childers in his PaIi Dictionary (s .v. sangha) says that a Sanghatthera

is usuallY ,elected as the President of . an assembly. He cities of instance, Kassapa . the then Satighatthera· was the President of the first council. He· also points out that a .Sanghatth era is not always t h e one who is the­ Longest ordained for Sabbakamin who was the longes t upasampanna' bhikkhu was not 'he President of the Second Council . See also A lig Nlk . ,. IV, 2 1 .. V . p , 353. J

2

Ailg. Nik.- I xiv, 1.

INTRODUCTION

1 13

eyes (dibba-cakkhuktinam). (iv) Maha k a s s ap a , the foremost of the follo w ers of dh ZZta precepts(dh utavtidiin am).

(v) PU1,11,1a M an tani putt a , the foremost of the preachers of

dhamma (dhammakatlzikiinam).

(vi) Mahakaccayana, th e foremost of the expositors (sailkh it­

tena bhiisitam vitthiirena attharrz vibhajjanantanam) .

(vii) Rahula, th e foremost o f the student s

(sikkhiiktimiinam).

(viii) R evata Khadiravan iya, the fore m os t of

the forest­

recluses (iirafifiikiinam).

(ix) Ananda. the foremost of the vastly learned (bahusstl'ta­

nam) ; and

(x) UpaJi, the foremost of the masters of

Vinaya (vinayadh­

ariinam),

Buddha used to observe the mental proclivities of the pers on to whom he imparted a religiou s l esson a n d selected a discourse

that appeal ed t o him mos t . He followed the s ame course , while prescribing to his disciples their duties for the attainment of

arahathood. He a ls o indirectly pointed out to his disciples the

preceptor m ost suited to each in view of bis peculiar m ental

leanings. This pr act i ce led to the grouping of students aroun d a teacher or his direct disciples; hence the remark made by Buddha that

"dhiituso satta sa1!lsanden ti samenti"l on the

principle that

l i ke draws l i k e . In t he Majjhima Nikiiya2, we r ead of ten chief theras, viz.

Sariputta, M oggal ana, Mahiikotthita, etc. , each

having ten to forty disciples under their tuition. Buddha on a

certain occasion pointed out that the group of bhikkhus formed round each of these theras was possessed of th e same special

qual ific atio n s th at characterised the thera himse1f. Thus the

b hi kkhus accompanying S ariputta were mahapafifiiivanta, those

accom pan y i ng Mahamoggalana were mah iddhikii, those accom­

panyin g Mahakass appa w ere dh iltaviida,

those accom pany ing

Devadatta were s infully inclined (piipicchii) and so on3• Yuan

Chwang noticed about a thousand years later that on auspicious days the Abbidhammikas worshipped Sariputra, the Vinayists. Upali, the S ramaJ}eras Rahula, the Siitraists Pur1fa Mai trayal).i-

1 Saf!l . Nik. , II, p . 157. 2 Majjh. Nik., III, p. 1 1 8. 3 Sat'{Z . Nik., II, p P. 1 l 5, 156.

1 14

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

'Putra, the Samadhists MahamoggaUina, the bhikkhunls Ananda, the M ahayanists Mafijusri and other Bodhisattvas1. In the first four classes of bhikkhus, the aforesaid affinity between them and their leaders is obvious . In the n ext three clas s es , the affinity existed all the same though it may n ot be apparent on

the fac e of it. For the Samadhists followed Mahamoggalana because he was the master o f iddhi par excellence which could

be obtained only through samiidhi, and the bhikkhunis followed Anan da because to him the order of nuns owed its origin . The M ahay anists d o not come within our purview at present. The principal points of resembl ance between the followers and their preceptors wer e the ties that bound them together but these were the points which con stituted the features by which the

chief quali ties of the preceptors were d istinguished. These dis­

tinctions among them did n ot lie in any differences of d o ctrines which they p ro fe ss ed but in the degrees of proficiency attained

. by each, in p articular directions of Buddhistic sadhana. But the divisions though not proceeding from radical differences in



and the corollaries i ss ui n g therefrom . Prof. Takakusu h as ably

s h o wn in his arti cle o n 'Docetism'5 the way i n which t h e ideal izin g process was carri e d o n by the B u d dh i s t s , g i v in g rise

t o the b el i ef of t h e M ahasanghikas and o th e rs that B u d dha was ' lokottara (s up e r h u m a n ) and had n o wo rl d l y attribut es (siisrava dharmas) , and the m ortal being p o pu l ar l y known as Saky a G au t a m a w as required only for !okiinuvartana (confo rm i n g to

worl d l y

ways) for the benefit of this w orld . The c oro ll ar i es

b ased on this be l i ef are that Buddh a )s omnipotent, speaks

truths and n othing b ut truths; His r 'fipa- kliya (physical body), l i fe , e nergy, and

powers are limitless . He is always s el f po ss e ss ed and in samli:dhi (trance)6. Th e m o s t important d o ct r i n e that -

­

res u l t e d i n t h is w ay J ay iu the theory of the B o d hi s attv a s . The

M ah as a n gh i k a s by ideal izing Buddh a had to m ake r oom for

a

class of b e ings called the B o d b i sat tv as who by passing throu g h various tria l s and by m ak i n g i m m en s e s el f-sacrifices r ose to h ig her stages of Bodhis attvahood. Th e s e acts are class ified as. the

four caryiis (practices ) 7, th e ten bhumis (stages)8 an d t h e six

piiramis.9 It was thes e B o dhisattvas \\'bo could attain Bud d h a­

hood in course of ti me. The B odbisattvas in the various b ir ths were believed to be born with ou t passing th r ou gh t h e e mb ry o n i c � tages . They c o ul d not entertain fe e l i n gs o f e n m ity and hatred t vihirrzsasG1pjfiii and l'yiipiidasarrzjiili) and were above s ensu al d e s i r es kiimasG1pjiia) . In conformity with this belief they su ppo s e d 1 Mahavastu, II, p. 3 63 ; III, 65, 66, 1 68.

2 Ibid. , p p .

� 48-49

; Vinaya , I , pp. 1-2.

3 Ibid , III, pp. 257, 408 ; see supra, pp. 47, 48. 4 See R. Kimura's D e ve loped Doctrines etc. p. 27. 5 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. IV.

6 Mahiivastu, I. pp . 1 67-69 ; II, pp. 147, 220; Calcutta University Jo urnal

of Letters, I . pp. 7ff.

7 Viz., prakrticaryii.

prafl:idhiinacarrYii� anu!omacayii, and anivartan-

cary'a. - Mahiivastu, I, pp. 46ff,

8 lYlahiivastu. T, pp. 77ff' 9 Ib id.• Ill, p . 226.

.

136

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

,th a t RahuJa was self-born (aupapliduka) as Bodhisattv as could 1710t be subj ect to klimal. The attainments of Sakya Gautama were regard ed by them :as the ideal to be kept in view by every Bud dhist, for accord ing t o them it was for the enlightenment of worldly beings that the lokottara

Buddha a d opted the human fo rm t o en able

p eople to imitate his exam ples and u l ti m ately attain Bud d ha­ 'h ood.

a b out

the schism

between the Mahasalighikas and the Theravadins.

A ccording

It was this poi n t which brou gh t

t o the latter, the summum bonum of a B ud dhist shoul d be ,arahathood a n d n o t Buddhahood as it is exceedingly rare t h at a

Buddha appears in the world.

I t is possible for the B ud dh ists

to become arahats in l arge numbers but ,d ifficult for them to attain Bu ddhah o o d .

it IS exceedingly

The Mahasangh ikas

believed i n the plurality of B uddhas, as wil l be evid enced from

the first line of the

Mahii vastu2 and accord ing to them the

summum bonum of a Bud d hist should be Buddhahood and not

.arahathood.

In accordance with this princi pl e as a l s o for other

reasons stated previously t.h ey did not l o ok u pon the pos i t i on o f an arahat a s the highest stage of sanctification. 3

It was the MahasaIighikas who originated the ' w o rship of ,caitya and favoured that great rel igious merit could be acqu ired by even a single circumambulation of a s t upa4•

Traces of

:st upa wors h ip are also found in the PaI i works but as such worshi p is no t in consonance with the principles of the

Therav adin s , it seems that in l ater times the former b orrowed

it from the Mahasalighikas.

1 Mahiivastu, I, p. 1 53. 2 Mahiivastu, I , p. 1 ; III, p. 229.

3 See supra, pp. 232, 233. ff.

4 Mahiivastu,. II pp. 362

10 " " The Theravada School

I

d o not w i sh t o reiterate the points that

h av e

already been

found out after labori ous res earches by Pa I i schol ars and published in their works . I wish here to confine mys elf only -to certain po ints about the language o r d ialect used by the Theravadins in the ir l it e r atu r e . Before proceed ing to the t a sk , I w a n t to p o i n t o u t t hat t h e Therava d i n s were otherwise known :as the Vibhajjavadin s a n d w h e r ever w e s ee refer ences to the latter, they can be a ppl i e d to the form er without any feeling of , d oubt. Dr. 01 denb erg was uncertain as to the i d en t it y of the · two names and the cl asses t h ey denote, but after comparison , of the lists of schools supplied b y the No r t hern and Southern Buddhist s ources, h e fo und out that Vibhajjavada w as but .another n am e of Theravada.1 This conclusion find s corrobo­ rat i o n in the Ceylone s e chronicl es which state the very same '.thing. There would have been no room for this doubt if he had noticed that in t he Majjhima Nikliya, Buddha decl ares bimself to b e a vibhajjavlidin and not an ekarrtsavadin, indicating 'that h is method of teaching was anal ytic and not synthetic.2 Again in the same Nikaya, Buddha on hear ing the doctrines of .Alara KaHima and Rudraka Ramaputra s a y s that h e p ossesses a b e t ter knowledge than those teachers because he knows the . ftanavada as wel l as t he theravada.3 Th es e two references go to 'p rove that the d octrine represented by the Pfili s criptures was -Theravfida. It was also c a ll e d Vi b hajjav a d a owing to the 1 Oldenberg's Intro, to the Vinaya Pi{aka, I, p. xlii.

2 Majjh, Nik., II, pp. 99, 1 97. 3 Ibid, I, p. 1 63 .

138

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

dhamma

particular mode of teaching the

\ Profs . ,

ad opted by the palists ..

Kern, Rhys Davids and others have endorsed the view

that the whol e Pali literature

represents the ten ets of t h e­

Tho ugh much h a s b e e n sai d b y scholars

Theravad a school.

regarding the d o ctrine and l i t erature of the Theravadins Vibhajjavadins, noth ing has been d efi nitely stated

alias

as t o th e

pos iti o n of the Pali language i n relati on t o B u ddhist l iteratu r e . M any a tough problem in h i s hist ory o f Bud d hism c a n b e ­ history of Buddh ist scho ol s , viz. , the­

s olved b y studying the

original J a nguage of the Tripitaka and t h e time a n d p l a ce of o rigin of the Pali language .

Vinaya,l

The passage o ccurri n g in the

" Anujanami bhikkhave saka niruttiyii Buddhavacanam

priyiipwlitum" (1

permit,

0 bhikkhu s , t o le arn th e w o rd s o f "

Buddha in one's own dialect) carries a very great weight i n regard t o our present subject.

I t i s st ate d b y Wass i lj e w and"

Csoma Korosi2 on the stren gth of Sarvastivadins recited their ' su t ra

Tibetan so u rces t11 a t the ­

on emancipation' (pratimok,fa'

s zUra) in S an sk rit, the Sarp.mitiyas in Apabhral11s a, the M a ha­

sanghikas in a corrupt d i a l ect (a p r a k rt) an d the Sthavi r a Of'

Theravadins in Paisaci. in the M ahiil'yutpatti grammar.3

These four dial ects are also m e n t io ned!

while enumerati n g

The Sanskrit m anuscript

the subje cts

Vimalaprabha4 of

mediaeval peri od contains a remark t hat the written in 96 countries in 96 l anguages.5

of a the­

Pitakas were

The m anuscript gives.

i n detail the names of the coun tries, and the l anguage curre nt

in each of them.

It also rec ords a tradition that s oon after t he ­

death o f B udd h a, the o f the three yanas

Sangitikiirakas

in

book-form.

wrote d own th e doctrine­

Under

the directi on of

(tathiigata-niyamena), they pres erved the three pi(akas; in the Magadha· bhii�a, the Sutriintas in Silldhubhii�ll, the­ Piiramitlis in Sanskrit, the Mantras and Tantras in Sanskrit, Prakrt, ApabhraT{lsa and uncultured Sabaradi mlecchabhata and' Tathagata

1 Vinaya, CV., v. 3 3 , 1 .

2 Wassiljew, Buddhismus, PP. 264. 295; Csoma Vol. VII, p . 1 42.

Kor6si i n J.A .S.B. ,.

3 Mahiivyutpatti, p. 64. 4 MS , No. 4727 mentioned in the Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit-. Manuscripts in the Government Collection, A . S .R , Vol . J, p. 77. 5 The numbe r 96 seems to be a rough way of ind icating � large:

number.

139'

THE THERA VADA S CHOOL

so forth.

The manuscript further menti ons that the Buddhis ts" did n ot pay m uch att ention t o Sanskrit regarding m etres and

gra mmatical rules, indicating thereby that it had in v i e w the ' mixed dial ect (giithii as it is usuall y term ed) used in s o m e of th e

'

B ud dhist Sanskrit b o ok s l i k e the Lalitavistara, M ahii lJastu, etc. The above statements of Indian writers of o l d have an eviden­

tiary value as w ill b e s een presently. Scholars like Stein, . Gr unwedel , L e Coq, Leu m an n , Hoernle, Sylvain Levi by thej r ' unflinching zeal i n the search

of manu s cripts in C entral Asi a

have b ro ugh t t o l i gh t many things confirmin g t h e ass ertions of "

t h e media eval writer s. These s cholars have saved fro m etern al o bl i vi on remn ants of manus cripts in s o many J an guag e s as Sanskrit,

Prakrt,

Eastern Iranian .

Prakrt

Kuchean, Khotanese , Some

of

Proto�Tib etan

an d

t h e fragments of Sanskrit an d

manuscripts as als o a few discover e d in Nepal have ·

thei r counterparts in the

Pali

pitakas . 1

Among them are fou n d

almost c o mplete p o r ti o n s o f t h e pitakas , e,g. , t h e S anskrit , versions of the Udiinavarga and the Priit imok�a S zura, and t h e

P r aI HoernIe, op. cit., pp. 356-376. 3 Vinaya

Pitaka (ed . by Oldenberg), lntro . , p. xxxvii .

.4 Asiatic Researches, Vol . xx.

5 Wassiljew, Der Buddhisl1lUS, p. 96.

1 5 5�

THE S ARVASTIV ADA SCHOOL

of the Ti betan m anuscript .

The significance

of this p icture '

from our point o f view lies i n this that Sar i p u t ta and Rahula , were the s pecial objects of w orsh ip

of the Sarvastivadins.

Ra hula, a d is ciple of S a ri put ta has b e e n m entione d by Chin ese­

authori t i e s as the founder of the Sarvastivad a sch o ol l .

It also ·

appe a rs from a passage in the manus crip t that the Tibetan ren dering was m ad e by an inhabitant o f K as h m i r who was a foll ower of the Vaib ha�ik a s chool

which is n oth ing but a

va ri a nt appellation of the S arvastiva d a .

Thus, w e s e e that t h e Sarvastivad i n s h a d a compl ete Vinaya ' in all its divi s i o n s , viz. . sutra3, and

(3) (5)

(1)

Vinaya- vastu2,

Vinaya-vibhiiga4,

(4)

analy s i s of the Ti b etan

Vinaya

Pratimoksa ·

Vinaya- ksudraka· vastu5"

Prof.

Vinaya- uttara-gran tha6•

(2)

Csoma

Korosi's

furn i shes details of the first

part of the book only, i . e . , the Vinaya-vastu. By way of illustrati on of the degree of si milarity and d is­ similarity existing between th e Tibetan a n d Pali versions of the ' Vin aya, I give here a rough sketch of the infe re n c e s th at m a y

be d rawn fro m a comparison o f the

part o f the Vinaya, viz . , the

t w o versions

Vinaya- vastu.

at the outset that throughout the particular events are taken u p by

of the fi rst

I should mention

Vinaya, we s e e as a rul e that

B u d dha as the s ubjects of '

anecdotes p ointing t o a m oral, which has b een reduced by him

into rules for the guidance of his disciples; and thus the Vinaya ' n a t urally divides i tself i nto t w o portio n s , o n e giving the anec- ·

d otes and the other the rules, t hough ,

of course , the former

are in every cas e fol l owed by th ose of the l atter t o which they

ap per tai ned . In the tw o versi ons

of the

Vinaya

the re i s v ery little- ­

disagreement as t o t b e rule s but it is found that the s ame rul e · has been el icited from different anecdotes.

As for example, in

the P a li version, the rule that a pers o n c a nn o t

b e ordained �

unless he has obtained the perm ission of his parents has

been

1 Eite] , Handbook 0/ Chinese Buddhism, vs. Rahula. cr. Hoernle • . 166. 2 Corresp onding with the Mahiivagga of the Pali Vinaya-pitaka. 3 & 4 Corresponding with the Sutta-vibhatiga of the Pali Vinaya-pitaka '

op. ci t., p .

(including Patimokkha).

5 Corresponding with the Cullavagga.

6 Corresponding with the Pariviira.

' 1 56

S CHOOLS O F BUDDHISM

, educed from the ordination of Rahul a, w h o had not

taken his

the Sa rvas tivada v e r s i on appears the ' s am e rule b ut t h e o c c a s i on is d ifferen tly s t a t e d , viz. , a young ' man leaves his h o me secretly and joins the order without t h e ' moth er's consentl.

In

: kno wledge of his par ents.

It 1TIly be al so be m e n ti o n e d as a disti nctive feature of t h e

Vi naya that it is more diffuse at ' places than the Pali vers ion . A n oth er d i s tinction lies in the " fact that certa in points o ccurr i ng in the former are altogether : absent in the l at ter. In l e a f 1 95 of the second volume o f t h e Sarvas t i v5.da vers ion of the

Vinaya · vastu, reference h a s been made t o the a b s trac t m edita-

to excess b y t h e p ri e st s of t he S akya cl an , and expla­ n at ions given of the terms relating thereto. In leaf 20 o f the s am e vol ume five s o r ts of gha1}tis, (plates o f metals) are me ntion e d as required at the t i me of p r ayer and the r e c i t at i o � of t h e Pratimoi k�a. The fourth vol u me of t h i s book contains 470 leaves in which a co mpl e te l ife of B udd h a has been given embodying accounts � b eg i n n i ng with the origin of the S akya race and ending w ith Devadata's (Lhas·byin) efforts to inj ure Budd ha and cause d ivi­ sions among his discipl es. The s ubj e c t s of the third volume , are not found in the Pali Vinaya, b ut appear in its Sutta-pi{aka. Thus, t he Sarvastivadins m ixe d up the Surra and Vinaya whil e r th e Theravadins kept them separate. The belief current up to now that the one is a red action of th e other is baseless . B oth have come from a c o mm o n source, and reason of development l t i o n carried

·

·

in d ifferent centres, minor accretions have grown round them

in their exterior. The com m onness of t h e , names of place s, where the v ar i o us scenes3 mentioned i n the Vinaya are laid, s u p p orts the above i n ference while t h e m enti on < of K ashmir in c o n n ect i o n w ith its conversion to Buddhism · found only in t h e Sarvastivada version on speaks a good deal li n favou r of the aforesaid pr o b a b il it y of t h e existence of a ·

creating differences

1 Vinaya. r, p. 83.

2 Asiatic Researches, Vol. xx, leaf 115 of the Tibetan Dulva. 3 Such as Rajag�ha. Sravasti , Saketa, Varal}.asi, Vaisali, and Campa•

•

Aslatic Researches, Vol. xx, p.

44.

THE SARVASTlVADA SCHOOL

1 51 '

close connection between th is school an d Kashmirl. Yuan Chwang informs us that the Sarvastivadins of s ome ­ place s allowed the use of the three kinds of pure flesh and the drink of grape syrup as beverage, which was contrary to the principles of Mahayanism of which h e was an adherent. In · the Vinaya of the Sarvastivadins as well as of the The r a'l,'ad i n s the eating of meat with s o me restrictions was all owed by the orthodox2• The Sarvastivadins had a peculiar m od e of wear­ ing and colouring their r obes not app r oved by the followers of several s chools3. It is the Abhidharma l iterature of the Sarvastivada scho ol ' that deserves special attention. Prof. Takakusu h as rendered valuable s ervice by furnishing us with the con· ­ (3) Abhidharma. tents of the s even abhidharm a books at present unique and pres erved in Chinese traslat ions4• The number of books in this collection is just the same is in that of the Theravadins, the difference being that the latter c ollection consists of s even independent works while the former 1 Some points of agree ment between the two versions

:

Vinaya- vast14 '

Vol. I, lea ves 1 -1 93 contain the subject of entering into the religious order -Pravra-jita-vastu corresponding with Mahiikhandhaka pa{hama of the

PaH Vinaya, Vol . I, p. 98 .

Leaves 193-357 contain " the description of the confession or sel f- -

emendation ,

and

general supplication'"

corresponding w ith

Uposatha-khandlzaka. Leaves 3 57-378

Vas3a" corresponding with Vassu­

" on passing the

paniiyika-khandhaka fatiya (Vinaya, I,

(Ib id. p. ,

the Fali .

p. 1 58) and PaviirarJa-khal1dhaka '

178).

Leaves 37 8-404 (end of the vo1 .) and leaves t-10 (of the next vo1 .) " on

the subject of leather and skin" corresponEiing with Cammakkhandhakam · pafkamam. (Ibid. , p. I, 1 98). The second volume of the Dulva contains the chapter on medicaments ·

(leaves 1 1 -78) and garments of priests (leaves 78 if.) corresponding with Blzesajjakkhandhakam (1, p. 251) and

Katlzi l1akkhandhakam and Civarak­

khandhakam ( Ibid. , p p . 265-3 1 0),

2 Watters' Yuan Chwang, I, PP'� 53', 60 ; Korosi's analysis in the ' Asiatic Researches, Vol . xx, p . 67 and Vinaya, lvtahiil'agga, vi, 3 1 , 14. The admissibility of grape-syrup as a drink 'given by Watters.

IS

foun d only in a quotation ·

See Watters, op. cit. pp. 237 if.

3 Watters, op . cit., I, pp. 1 50 iF. Takakusu, I-tsing. 4 "The Abhidha rma Literature of the Sarvistiva:dins" by Prof

•.

Takakusu i n J. P. T. S., 1904-5,. pp. 67-14� s e e also h i s article on the ' Sarva:stiva:dins in E. R.E., x i .

158

SCHOOLS OF BUD DHISM

, of one principal treatise the Jiianaprasthiina Szltra of Ka t y ay a ni­ JPutra with its six padas or s upplementsl• They are,(1) Sangiti-paryaya of Mahakau �thiIa, (2) Dhtitu· kaya of Piir1}.a, (3) PrajFiap ti-sarii of Maudgalyayana. (4) Dharma-skandha of S aripu t r a , ( 5 ) Vijfiana-kiiya of Devasarman, and ' (6) Prakara1Ja -p iida of Vasumitra, Prof. Takakusu on a c omparison of the Abhi d har m a works - of the two schools com es to the conclusion that the " two sets have no real connection." Though there is n o apparent connec­ , tion b etween the two sets, yet i t is cl e arly n oticeable that m ost of the subjects treated in the two sets are found in the SUlra­ .pi[aka but t h e mode o f treatment in one is different from that of the other. The first pada reveals a close rel ation of the Ab h i­ dharma works o f the Sarvastivadins t o the S uttas of the Th e r a­ vad in s. Prof. Takakusu hints that the first pado, SaFlgiti- paryaya, · has been modelled on the Saizgiti-suttanta of the Dighu-Nikaya2• He rema rks that " the contents of the ones , twos, threes, etc. ·{in the suttanta and paryaya) are usu ally different." But it should be pointe d out that the contents do agree w i t h one another except that the instances of ones, twos, threes, etc . , as . given in t he Pali text exceed greatly in number t ho se of the other .as explained bel ow 3• 1 J. P. T.S., 1904·5, pp. 74ft'. 2 Digh., Nik. , III, Suttan ta No . xxxiii.

3 E.g. (1) S ect i on on Eka-dharmas ;-

All beings live on food, etc. ,-Ta kak usu's con t ents . Sabbe satta aharaUh itika. Sabbe satta sankhiira!{hitika. (Digh. Nik" Vol. III, p. 21 1) . .(2) 'Se ct io n on Dvi -dharmas :Mind and matter-(Takakusu),

Nama-riipa -( Digh. Nik.).

Means for e ntering into meditation and coming out of meditation, etc. corresponding with Nos. i an d ix of the SangUi Suttanta, I, 9. The Suttanta enumerates 33 Dvi­

dharmas. ;(3) Sect i on on Tri-dharmas : -

Prof. Takakusu's l ist can be identified with the fon owing n u mb er s of the Suttanta, i , i i . iii, v, vi, xi, xxvi, xxviii, xxxvi, xxxvii, Iviii; except the three lipattivyu!!hiinas. In the

1 59

THE SARVASTlVADA SCHOOL

If a text

its pithy b a ld n e s s be c o n s i de r ed an i den t i ca l topic presented at length of details, t h e n the Piida should b e

on account of

,·earlier than an o the r on with much elabo ration r e gar d e d a s an te r i o r in a ge t o the SUttanta. The s tatement of :P rof. Takakusu g ivin g an e arl i e r origin to the Suttanta c a nn ot His next fro m this s t an d po i n t be r e ga r d e d as u n i mpe achab l e '[eroar k that t h e w o rk was compiled after the council of Ve s a l i which was hel d ch i efl y for su ppressing the ten th e s e s of th e Vajj ian bhikkhus," ba s e d on a p a ss a ge of th e Pada referring to the V ajja n bhikkhus of Pava , d o e s not rest on a s ound basis. Mr. W ogihara was right i n rend ering t h e passage to t h e effect that it was Nigal::ttha N atapu tt a of Pav8., and n ot t h e Vajj ia n 'bJ ikhkus1 Th e Vajjianbhikkhus, a g ain were in habi t a n ts of Vesali and 110t of Pa va, the res i d en ts of which pl ace, l1 amely the Mall as, 'were partly fol l o w e r s of Niga1)tha Nataputta and p a r t ly of 'Bu dd ha, The object of S a ri p u tt a in p u tt i n g the dharma as the 's ummation of a few metaphysical and reli g i ous t r u t h s for its fol­ -lowers was to avert th e d an ger of a s pl i t in th e Bu d d h i st church ;as h ad happened i n the Jaina sangha just at that thne.2 The cl o s e -correspondence be twe e n the Suttanta and th e Prayaya specially ·in t he ir introductory and concluding passage shows that one -is based upon t he other and that the author is the same for 'both . Prof. Takakusu p re ferr e d the t ra di ti on which ascribed �h e au thorshi p to Mahakausthila but the concidence of the other tradition (ascribing i t to Sariputta) with that of the Satigiti :Suttan ta leads us to infer that S a r i p ut ta was the author of the 'work. The fou r th Piida, the Dharma-skandha, is said in the col o " iPhon to its C h i nes e translation to be "the m ost important o f .

"

­

,

former list, the total number is 3 6 whereas i n the Suttallta, it is 60. (4)

Section on Catur-dharmas :-

Prof. Takakusu gives us only 7 fours out of the total 21 fours ; 5 of the fours correspond with the following numbers of the Suttanta i, ii, vi, xv, xlvii ; the number

of fours in the

latter is 50. In this way all the ten dharmas can be traced but it will be noticed that the Suttanta list

Piida list. 1 J.P. T.S., 1904-5, p. 99, fn.

2 Digh, Nik. , Vol. II I, p. 210.

is much

longer than the

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

1 60

the Abhidharma works, and the fo un t ai n*h e ad of the Sarva sti­ vada system."

The subjects treated contain n othi n g which can

be claimed by the Sarvastivada as its o wn.

They constitute the'

e s s en ce of Buddhism a nd if the cl a i m of the Sarvastivadins be

admitted , that of the Theravadins of a s imi l ar nature cannot b e'

denied a n equal force on the same gro und . It i s only natural that,

as Pr of.

Takakusu po ints out, the Sangiti* Parpiiya s h o u l d often

qu ote this bock, traversing as they d o the same groun d1 . Thirteen secti ons, again, of the above book are found in.

the seventh sec tion of the Prakara1'}a pada, " discussions on

one t hou s and quest i un " 2, the author of which is V a s u mi t r a .. I think that as Vasumi tra was a Sarvastivadin, th e s ectiolF was meant to be a su p p l e m ent discussing the ex p o s iti on emb o·' died in the Dharma-skandlza.

The co mposition of t he second pada, Dhiitukaya, i s attri­ buted to ei ther Vasu mitra or Piin.1a accordi n g to d i ffe ren t tradi­ tions. Preference should be given to the former tradition in view of the fact that th is Pada is only e n l arged treatment of the topics contai ned in section 4 of the Prakara1'}a-pada of Vasumitra. The fifth Pada, Vijnana-kapa, is said to have been the work

of Deva-sarman, an arahat of ViSok a (near Kausa mbi)

wh o·

lived some time before the 5 th century after Bud dha ' parinir.. viina. Yuan Chwang informs us that Deva-sarman refuted t he

views of Moginlin (MoggaUin a) who denied the reali ty of past.

and future3, one of the chief principles of the Sarvastivada doctrine. This remark of Yuan Chwang finds support in the: fact that the first section of this pada records the o pini on of Maudgalyana ab o ut padgalas, in driyas, etc, the next section, contaning interalia a discussion of the theory of pudgala4 (soul) . Th is w or k was highly appreciated by the Vaib hasikas who· gave it a canonical p o s iti on which was denied to it by the' Sautrantikas5•

The third Padr, Prajfjapti-sara, 6 gives a n account of the

1 J.P. T. S . , 1 904- 5, p. 1 15.

2 Ibid. , p . 1 06.

3 Watters, Yuan Chwang , I, p . 3 73 . 4 J. P.T. S . , 1904-5, p . 1 08. 5 Watters, op. cit., p. 374. 6 J.P.T.S. , 1904-5.

THE

SARVASTIVADA SCHOOL

1 61

life of B ud dha , and its auth or sh ip has been ascribed t o Maha­ Maudgaly a yana. The Sarvastivadin s, as stated already, were like the Thera­ vadins, a conservative school of the Htnayana. They held aI­ most the same vi ews as the Therava dins are

Doctrines

believed in the non-existence of s o ul, imperma­

nence of ll1aterial composites, the law of karma, and nirvii'f}a a s "the cessation of passions (klesas) t o be attaine d by transcen­ d ental knowledge"l. Their views about the human life and the universe w ere also similar to

those o f the Therevadins . Their

chief exponent Katy ayan1putra

in his Jfiiina-pras tlziina.-siltra

accepts in every d eta il "the theory o f the five skandhas th e

twelve liyatanas, the eighteen dhlitus, the twe1ve�linked chain of causation, t h e three world s (klima, rupa, and arupa dhlitu), the four c l as se s

of birth (ancJaja, samsvedaja, jariiyuja, and aupapa­

duka) and the four cycles antarakalpa, mahakalp a, siiriikalpa,. and sunyakalda)" 2. The only difference between the doctrine s

.

of the S arvastivadins and tho se of the Theravadins lies jn this. that the former admitted the reality of the elements (skandlzas) that compo s e a being as against the l atter's view o f their un­ reality.

Both the schools admitted the continual flux of ele­

ments or in other words the monetary existence (ksu'f} ikp tra) o f every one l o oked upon the e lelnents of the past as di sappearing to give rise to the present and the present as giving rise to the

future, while the other believed that the elements of the past

�

underwent changes to

devel op into the present an d the pre­

sent devel oped into the future . In short, t he S arvastivadins. admi�ted the reality of elements as existing in all times, - past,

present and future. On a ccount of their belief iIl t he

astitWl:

th e ory of elements, they have analysed the 111aterial c omposites int o various classes of e1ements which they have enumerated in

connection with the exp o siti on of their phi l osophy3. It a ppe ars from

the Lalitavistara,

a treatise originally

belo ng

to the

Saravastiv a dins, that the theory of paticcasamuppiida (chain of

causation) found

much fav our' with this school a n d parti·-

1 Yamakami Sogen's Systems of Buddhistic Thought, p. 165. 2 Ibid. , p . 178. 3 F or the analysis , see Sogen, op. cit. pp. 1 19ff. and Kimura's Original! and Developed Doctrines etc. pp. 12 ff.

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

Cularly for proving impermanence and soullessness of beings In Buddhological speculations, the Sarvastivadins looked upon Buddha as a man possessing divine attributes as opposed t o the Mahasanghikas who believed Buddha to have had b ut an ill­ llsory existence in this world.l

.

1 See ante, pp. 245, 246.

The Slmmitiya School •

The Sarp.mitiyas were one of the four

principal schools of

Bud d his m . They became the most influential and wi de-spread by th e time of Yuan Chwan g . This was

patronage that it c o uld secure fro m

mainly d ue to the

the em peror H ar �avar dh ana

whose sister Rajyasri was a bhikkhuI).i of this

to this perio d ,

sch o ol .

Previous

the history of the school was not s o eventful . Only its 'pudgala- theory' d re w forth v eh e m e nt criticisms from

the

adherents of other sch o ols, an d was taken up by the

Kath iivatthu as the fir st que sti on to be refuted by argu m e nt s

fav ouring the Theravada standpoint. According to the tradition preserved in the Bhinna-nikliya­

dharma-cakra-slistra1 by V a su mi t ra, this school ori ginated in Time of

emergence

�:htg;I,

the third century after Bud dha's parinibbiif}li. It

b ran che d off from the Vatsiputriyas for which it was at times called the Vat si putri ya Sa11lmit iy as2 • The notice taken of it s doctrines by the

Kathlivatthu indicates that the sch o ol existed in Asoka's time. The next early evi dence as to the exi stence of this school is

furnished by the inscripti on of the early Gupta period disco­

vered at S arn ath .

school

This in scri pti on als o shows that the firs

that prevailed at Samath was that of the Theravadins.

It was suppl a nte d by the Sarvastivad ins at about 300 A. D. About a century afterwards this sch o ol again was ousted by the

S a1llmit iyas who continued till the time of Yuan Chwang3• The

Sii1ll mitiyas could not prosper in the p re - Chr i stia n era but they gr a dually attained i mp o rtance in Northern India

d urin g the

Gupta p eriod reaching climax in the reign of Harsavardhana. From the figures s up p H e d by

Yuan

Chwa�g regarding the

number of S a11lm itIya monks in various p l ac e s, it will be seen

that though they resided in Ahicchatra, Sankassa , Hayamukha, 1 Translated

letters, I, p. 2.

from Chinese by Prof. 1. Masuda in the C. U. Journal of

2 E. R.E., XI, p. 1 68 . 3 Day aram

Sahnrs

Ep. Indica, VIII, p. 172.

Catalogue

of the

Museum at Saranath, p. 30;,

1 64

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM

Visoka, Benares, Karnasuvarna etc., they had their predomin­ ance in Malwa, Si nd ! and the neighbouring places, such as,

Anandapura

,

A-tien-p 'o, Pi-to-shih-Io and A-fan-tu. The name:

Avantaka applied to the Sa:qlmHiya school by Vasumitra shows . that its centre in Northern Av anti 1. e . Malwa must h ave been. very important2 • The ascription of the origin of this Gchoo! Mahakaccayana, the fam ous mis sionary of Avant!, als o shows

that it must have had some connection with Malwa at the time· of its emergence. The Sa:qlmitIyas according to the Tibetan tradition, posses-· sed a pitaka in the Apabhramsa dialect. Modern phi lolog i sts hold that the S auraseni-Apabhra.qJ.sa which pre­ Language and litera­ vail ed in Malwa and Gujarat was the standard ture of the school.

Apabl1rarpsa dialecct and that it was different from the pure S auraseni. It was here that the:

Jaina texts now ex i sting in the Apabhrarpsa d ialect were written ..

It is very probable that the Sammitiyas, who had a pitaka

of their own handed down orally from generation to generation,

committe d it to writing when they flourished in the Gupta.. period , using as their medium the dialect prevalent in the place i.e. the Apabhra:q1sa.

The statement that Yuan Chwang carried to China fifteen. treatises of this schoo13 shows that it had a literature of its own. I-tsing observes that it h ad a sep arate

is not mentioned in tell s us that thi s

Nanjio's

Vinaya, b ut it. Incidentally he­

Catalogue.

Vinaya had rules regulating the use of the-

. undergarment, girdle, remedies and beds by the members of the sect ill a way peculiar to itself4• The only treatise that is­

expressly mentioned as belong ing to this school in Nanjio's.

Catalogue

and now existing in Chinese translation

Sii1(lmiliya-siistra

or

Sii1!Zmitiya-nikiiya-siistra

is

the­

conta i ning

the

tenets of the sects. Most of the passages cited in the

Kathiivatthu

1 The number of Sa:qtmitiya bhikkus in Malwa and Sind was 20,000)

and 1 0,000 respectively.

2 Rockh ill, Life of

.Buddhismus, p . 85.

the Buddha, pp.

3 Watters, Yuan Chwang. I, pp. 20, 2 1 .

4 Takakusu, I-tsing, pp. 7 , 66, 1 40.

5 E. R. E. , Vol . XI.

1 82. 1 9 4 ;

Wassiljew,

Def'l"

THE SARVASTIVADA SCHOOL

1 65

�as giving the view of the Sarpmit'Iya sch o ol have been found to be identical with passages on the subject in the Pal i Sutta-pitaka. From this it

seems

probable that the

Sutta-pitaka

of the

Sarpmitiiyas was a redaction of the original pitaka fr01n which the Pa li pitaka has been derived. For information regarding the doctri nes of the SaJ.1lmiti.ya sch o o l , we have now t o depend upon works belonging to the -ri v al schools of the Theravadins and S arvastiadins, viz., the Kath iivatthu, the A bhidharmako�avypakhyii, and the Vijn ana- kiiya

Doctrines

siistral • The

only

remarkable

Sar.p.mitiyas is that regardi ng the

doctrine

of the

nature

of the

'pudgala'. They admitte d the impermane nce of material com­ p osites but a t the same time held the view th at there was an

·entity which should be distinguished from the five skan dhas but which c o uld not exist independently of those skan dhas. This

entity corre s ponds to what is cal led soul in Hindu phil o s o phy but very different fro m it, as it i n their o pinion ceased to exist when the five skandhas came to an end. It served as the carrier of

the five

skandhas

through births and re-births of beings as the

Sa..rp.mitiya s hel d that there is an antariibhii va i. e. an intermediate

-state between the death of a being and its re-birth2• They agreed

with the S arvastivadins and the Mahasanghikas in ho lding that

. the

stage

of an araha! is not immune from a fall to a lower

:stage th=tt the spiritual progress of

a

convert is always gradual.

The substance of the 'ast two works is found in Prof. Stcherba tsky's Soul Theory of the Buddhi3tS and Yamakami Sogen's Systems of Buddhis­ itie Thought. 2 E. R. E. , Xl, p p. 1 68ff. For details ab out the psychological views of th is school, see Mrs. Rhys Davids' Points o/the Controversy, Intro., pp 1

..

xviii , xix.

Index Abhaya, 85

Ambattha, 3 4, 3 5

Abhayaraj akumara, 30,39

Anan d a, 1 7, 47, 48, 48, 5 6 60" 8 6 , 92, 9 3, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 ff

46n, 46, 47, 53

abhidhamma, 1 1 9, 1 23 ; Sar­ vastvadin, 1 1 3ff

training of, 59

Anathapindik a, 49, 50, 54, 55 ,. 57, 60, 6 3 , 64, spread of

a dhidhammika, 1 1 4, 1 1 5

Abhidharmako�avyakhya , 1 46, 1 65

B ud dhism in Kosala helped

by, 54

acariya, 5 1

Andhakavinda, 56, 73

Acariyaavda, 132

Andhavana, 83 Aliga, 48 ; Buddha's activities.

Acelakassapa, 5 1

in, 84, 8 5 ; religious condi-

adesana, Agamas.

(Nikayas),

1 40,

141

Suttanta,

tion of 8 4, 8 5, Vinaya rules. framed in, 86-7

AnguIimala,

agatagama, 1 1 5 Agganna

:

Buddhist

cosmology in 54

conversion

47"

48 Aniyata, 8 3

Aggika-bharadvaja 62) 63

Afijanavana, at Saketa, 8 3

Aggivessana, 32

Anuruddha, 3 8 , 84, 92, 1 1 3 ;

ahirpsa doctrine, 56, 1 5 Ajatasattu, 76, 7 7, 8 8, 8 9n, 48, 52, 54,

Ajitakesakambalim, 42, 45

training of, 93

a pabhrarpsa, 123, 1 27

Apana, 84

Aparanta, 92, 93, 94

Ajivika, 3 3 , 47, 74

Aparaseliyas, 1 1 2

Alavi, 9 1

arahat, position of 1 1 2, 1 1 4

Ambalatthika, 72 AmbapaJi, 3 8 , 39, 77, 87

arahathood and Buddhahood,. 1 23, 24

168

SCHOOLS

OF

BUDDHISM

a ragiri, 3 9

arafifiakiitikas, 47 ascetic

practices,

Bud dha's

attitude towards, 1 2, 1 3n

Bimbisara.

54

Bodhirajakum ara,

Asibandhakaputtagama!).I, 4 1 ,

Mahinda's connexion with, Therav adins

patro­

nized by, 1 1 9

of

the

brahmaJ;las

conversi on

o f,

63, 65, 67-68, 83, 8 1 , 82,

89

90, 9 1 Buddha and, 1 8, 42-44 whether

Assaji, 57

superior to k§atriyas, 6

'AssaIayana, 45 Assapura, 94

brahma!).a

Atthaka, 2, 9 austerites

and

In

ritualism

Buddhism, 1 1 8- 1 1 9 Avantaka, another

name

of

Sarpmitlya, 1 6 1

Avant!, 47, 76,

nda's

89

ff ; Mahi-

connexion,

with,

1 45, 46

73

brahmaI).ic faith , bases o f, 2

bra hroaI).i sm, toleratio n o f, 2-3 two m ain

bases

Buddha's

oppo siti on

2ff

Bhadda, K apilani, 1 45, 146 Bhaddavaggiya

y ouths,

101,

1 19 n

on

5ff ;

sacrifices, 3 3 ; o n magical practices, 8 ; 011 self-morti­ and ·

ascetic

practices 8 . brahmalfas and

1 03 ; Buddha

Bhaggava, a p aribbaj aka,

151

2, 1 9, 42- 3, 62-8 ; Jainas and, 44-47, and four non­

brahmaI).ical teachers and,

47 if; first converts of 87ff ;

Bhag u, 45, 63

67

first converts of,

bhalfakas, ii, 1 1 5

Bhar ukaccha,

to

distinguished

on ca ste -s y stem

fications

among 1 52

a

of, 6-7

Buddha, personality of 3-4, 1 3

Benaras, 47 See Kasi

Bhaggsa, 49,

Ko salan,

b rahmalfa, 82

Belatthaputta, See Sanjaya

Bhaddiya, 8 9,

vil lages ,

7 1 ; Magadhan , 62; Sakyan

Brahm a yu,

B avari, 89, 92

Bhaljika,

55, 49, 52, 8 5

bodhisattra, theory o f 1 24

Asoka, 1 8, 20, 25, 1 23, 1 24

1 16 ;

47,

3 4, 4 1 , 43-44, 46,

Bhaggas, 3 8 , 8 1

Asita, 95

.

BhikkhU!).i-patom okkha, 1 5 1 -2

72

BhesakaIavana, near surpsum-

8 7 ; dis­

p utations allowed by,

26-7

missi onary idea, o f 25, 8 1 ;

works on the life of, 1 8 8

INDEX

·Buddhahood and arahathood,

1 24 . B uddhism, internal forces the spread o f, 4ff,

in

external

in the spread of, 1 3 if ; attraction of, 1 1 -4, a proselytising religion , 22 ff ; patronized by, 3 1 ff ; catholic spirit of, 2 4 2 5 ; gradual course of training forces

-

in, 23-24, nationality in I l -

1 2, a cause of decline of, 1 8

:Buddhist sangha,

leader

of,

1 02 ; n o supreme headship in, 1 1 0-1 1 2 ; unity in 1 1 0, I I I ; how differences sett­

led in, 1 1 1 - 1 1 '2

Bulis of Allakappa, 3 8 - Campa, 84, 8 5 Ca1). t;I a Pajj ota o f Avanti, 3 5,

90 teacher,

35, 69 'Capala cetiya of Vesali, 8 1 Caste system, Buddha on, 6 ff Catuma, 74 ' Cave-dwellings

tion .led

to, 27- 8,

3 1 -2,

no

in. 3 1 -2 meth o d s em­ ployed for , 24 Corapap ata 49 and cosmol ogy, Buddhist Brahmal).ic, 5-6 council of Kani�ka, 1 3 1 -3 2 Cunda Kammaraputta, 8 5 Dabba Mallaputta, 46, 85, 1 1 4 stigm a

,

Dakkhi1).agiri . 44, 63 Dal.l t;Iakappaka, 1 69

Devadah a, 72

Devadatta, 3 5, 42, 49, 52, 1 1 2,

1 22, 1 4 0 ; training of, 53 dhammakathikas, 1 1 5 ff Dharmaskandha of the Sarv a stivadins, 1 40, 1 4 1 dhuta prece pts, 1 1 9 dhutavadas, 94 dhyana, experiences of, 27-8 dialectical differences, a factor -

' Caityavadins, 1 26

' Cafiki, a brahmana .

1 69

at Rajagaha,

49 ' Cedi, 94

, cetiyas at Vesali, 8 6 - Ceylon, Mahinda's connexion with 1 3 1 -2 Cifica-manavika, 6 7 -conversion, evangelical method of, 21 , defeat in disputa..

for the origin of schools,

118 disciples, Buddhism preached

by, 20ff ; grouping of, 1 1 31 15

discourses, four ways of deli­ vering, 28

Dighatap assi ,

a Jaina monk,

Dighanakha,

a

22, 46, 53

paribbajaka,

50- 1 disputation allowed by Bud­ dha, 27 ff ; essential for a

missionary, 27-8 an

il lu­

stration

COD-

of

29- 30 ;

1 70

SCHOOLS OF BUDDHIS M

version of the vanquished in, 32-3 dissensions in the sangha, Buddha's apprehension for. 1 1 6ff; occurring in Buddha's life-time, 1 1 8ff ; remedies suggested by Buddha to avoid, 1 1 6ff ; of Devadatta, 122-23 eka:qlsavad in,

1 27- 1 28 Ekan�ila, a brahmalJ.a village, 42, 63 Ekottaragama, 1 24 Esukaari, 3 1 foot-wear, use of, 90 Garyaha, 82 Gaya, 45, 4 6 Gayastsa, 45, 60, 1 22 Ghotamukha brahmalJ.a, 36

1 5,

Gijjhakutapabbata, 46 G omatakandara, 46 G osingasa!avana, 86 Home of PaisaCi, Mahinda's connexion with, 1 3 2�5

Icchanangala, 72 Indasalaguha, 43 initiation, rules of, 50- 1 , 75-6 Isigilipasse KalaSlla , 49 Isipatana, a centre of Buddhism, 90, 9 1 Jaina laity, conversion of, 25, 63 Janusso.lJ.i, 67, 69, 70 Jatakas, 1 67-68

Jatilas, 29, 32, 49 ; c onversion. of, 5 1 -2 Jetavana, 82 Jivaka, 37, 6 1 , 62 ; ambavana. of, 52 1 45,. Jnanaprasthana Siitra, 1 47 KajaugaJa in Angn, 84, 85,. 86 Kalakarama of Saketa, 83 Kalasoka, 1 2 1 KaIIavalamuttagama, 45, 52,. 63, 6 4 Kammassadhamma, 9 6 Kanhayanas, origin of 29 Kaniska, 24 council of, 1 34: 1 35, Sarvastivadins patro-� nized by 1 34 Kannakujja, 93 Kantakivana of Saketa, 27 Kapilvatthu, BUddha's visit to 5 1 , 65. 67, 73-4 Karnasuvarna, 122 Kasi, Buddhism in, 8 6; brahmanic culture in, 86) Kasmir, 1 7, 1 45 Kassapas, 27 Kathina ceremony, 82 Katyayaniputra, 149 Khanumata, 43 Khema, queen of Bimbsara-,. 97, 97 Khomadu ssa, 7 5 Kimbila, 37, 5 1 ; training of�. 52

171

INDEX

Koliyas, 3 6 , 8 4, 82; Buddha among, 8 9 of

Buddhism into, 65-6 ; bra­

Jainisln

;

84-85

among,

Kosala, 3 5 ; introduction

Brahma�ism