93-555: The Mahāvastu (Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story") is a canonical text of the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism which was originally part of the school's Vinaya pitaka . The Mahāvastu is a composite multi-life hagiography of the Buddha Shakyamuni . Its numerous textual layers are held by scholars to have been compiled between the 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE. The Mahāvastu
186-522: A moment of consciousness (citta) can be aware of itself as well as its intentional object. This doctrine arose out of their understanding of the Buddha's enlightenment which held that in a single moment of mind the Buddha knew all things. The Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra explains the doctrine of self-reflexive awareness as follows: Some allege that the mind ( citta ) and mental activities ( caitta ) can apprehend themselves ( svabhāva ). Schools like Mahāsāṃghika hold
279-494: A much earlier period. Aspects of the Pali Canon, such as what it says about society and South Asian history, are in doubt because the Pali Canon was extensively redacted in the 5th- or 6th-century AD, nearly a thousand years after the death of the Buddha. Further, this redacted Pali Canon of Sri Lanka itself mentions that it was previously redacted towards the end of 1st-century BC. According to Early Buddhism scholar Lars Fogelin,
372-486: A painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine or bathing although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience; and, the ability to "suppress karma ." In spite of this school affiliation however, the Theravadin Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula concludes in his study of the text that its depiction of the Buddha is not that much different than the depiction of
465-539: A relative or conventional (Skt. saṃvṛti ) truth, and the absolute or ultimate (Skt. paramārtha ) truth. For the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism, the final and ultimate meaning of the Buddha's teachings was "beyond words," and words were merely the conventional exposition of the Dharma. K. Venkata Ramanan writes: The credit of having kept alive the emphasis on the ultimacy of the unconditioned reality by drawing attention to
558-461: A single utterance, all of his sayings being true, his physical body being limitless, his power ( prabhāva ) being limitless, the length of his life being limitless, never tiring of enlightening sentient beings and awakening pure faith in them, having no sleep or dreams, no pause in answering a question, and always in meditation ( samādhi ). A doctrine ascribed to the Mahāsāṃghikas is, "The power of
651-451: A study of the Mahāsāṃghika school will contribute to a better understanding of the early Dhamma-Vinaya than the Theravāda school. Regarding the issue with Mahadeva's doctrine, this seems to have been a later doctrinal dispute within the Mahāsāṃghika community (which happened after the schism). The followers of Mahadeva seem to have been the precursors of the southern Mahāsāṃghika sects, like
744-471: A work which describes the color of monastic robes (Skt. kāṣāya ) utilized in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi (Ch. 大比丘三千威儀). Another text translated at a later date, the Śāriputraparipṛcchā , contains a very similar passage corroborating this information. In both sources, the Mahāsāṃghikas are described as wearing yellow robes. The relevant portion of the Śāriputraparipṛcchā reads: The Mahāsāṃghika school diligently study
837-451: Is a Mahasamghika Vinaya work which also provides a history of early Buddhism and its schisms. Some scholars such as Yao and Tse Fu Kuan consider the Ekottara Āgama (Taishō Tripiṭaka 125) to belong to the Mahāsāṃghika school, though this is still up for debate. The Lokānuvartanā sūtra (Chinese: 佛説内藏百寶經, pinyin: fóshuō nèi zàng bǎi bǎo jīng, Taishō Tripiṭaka , Volume 17, text No. 807)
930-695: Is a text preserved in some Sanskrit fragments as well as in Tibetan and Chinese translation. Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During the First Buddhist Council , three months after
1023-533: Is also found among the Mahāsāṃghika tradition, and further evidence of this is given in the Samayabhedoparacanacakra , which describes the doctrines of the Mahāsāṃghikas. These two concepts of contemporaneous bodhisattvas and contemporaneous buddhas were linked in some traditions, and texts such as the Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa use the principle of contemporaneous bodhisattvas to demonstrate
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#17328442901131116-517: Is an internally consistent Pali dialect. The reason for the changes is that some combinations of characters are difficult to write in those scripts. Masefield says records in Thailand state that upon the third re-introduction of Theravada Buddhism into Sri Lanka (The Siyamese Sect), large number of texts were also taken . When monastic ordination died out in Sri Lanka, many texts were lost also. Therefore
1209-956: Is composed of Jātaka and Avadāna tales, accounts of the earlier lives of the Buddha and other bodhisattvas . The Mahāvastu opens with two prologues ( nidānas ), the Nidānanamaskāras (dating to around the 3rd century CE) and the Nidānavastu (c. 1st century CE). Four sections of the Mahāvastu contain texts of the Bahubuddhaka sūtra genre. This includes a bahubuddhasūtra in chapter XXI of Jones' translation, Volume III and Chapter V in Jones Volume I. The Bahubuddhakasūtras are sutras which contain narratives of past Buddhas and these narratives often served as sources for Buddhist doctrines relating to
1302-469: Is likely that much of the Pali Canon dates back to the time period of the Buddha. They base this on many lines of evidence including the technology described in the canon (apart from the obviously later texts), which matches the technology of his day which was in rapid development; that it doesn't include back written prophecies of the great Buddhist ruler King Ashoka (which Mahayana texts often do) suggesting that it predates his time; that in its descriptions of
1395-759: Is probably the second half of the Nalakasutta (Sn 699–723), and Upatisapasine may correspond to the Sariputtasutta (Sn 955–975). The identification of most of the other titles is less certain, but Schmithausen, following Oldenberg before him, identifies what Asoka calls the Laghulovada with part of a prose text in the Majjhima Nikaya , the Ambalatthika-Rahulovada Sutta (M no. 61). This seems to be evidence that some of these texts were already fixed by
1488-555: Is said to be defiled. But these defilements, not being of the original nature of the mind, are called adventitious." The Kathāvatthu (III, 3) also cites this idea as a thesis of the Andhakas. According to Vasumitra, the Mahāsāṃghikas held that there were nine dharmas (phenomena, realities) which were unconditioned or unconstructed (asaṃskṛta): According to Bart Dessein, the Mohe sengzhi lu (Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya) provides some insight into
1581-527: Is the Samayabhedoparacanacakra ( The Cycle of the Formation of the Schismatic Doctrines , Ch: 異部宗輪論) of Vasumitra (a Sarvāstivāda scholar, c. 2nd century CE), which was translated by Xuanzang . According to this source, some of the key doctrines defended by Indian Mahāsāṃghikas include: The Mahāsāṃghikas advocated the transcendental and supramundane nature of the buddhas and bodhisattvas , and
1674-453: Is traditionally believed by Theravadins that most of the Pali Canon originated from the Buddha and his immediate disciples. According to the scriptures, a council was held shortly after the Buddha's passing to collect and preserve his teachings. The Theravada tradition states that the Canon was recited orally from the 5th century to the first century BC, when it was written down. The memorization
1767-510: Is traditionally described by the Theravada as the Word of the Buddha ( buddhavacana ), though this is not intended in a literal sense, since it includes teachings by disciples. The traditional Theravādin ( Mahavihārin ) interpretation of the Pali Canon is given in a series of commentaries covering nearly the whole Canon, compiled by Buddhaghosa ( fl. 4th–5th century AD) and later monks, mainly on
1860-532: The Abhidhamma Pitaka (literally "beyond the dhamma", "higher dhamma" or "special dhamma", Sanskrit: Abhidharma Pitaka ), is a collection of texts which give a scholastic explanation of Buddhist doctrines particularly about mind, and sometimes referred to as the "systematic philosophy" basket. There are seven books in the Abhidhamma Pitaka: The traditional position is that abhidhamma refers to
1953-693: The Vimanavatthu and the Buddhavaṃsa . The more recent layer of the Mahāvastu is the Daśabhūmika , a text which contains teachings on a scheme of bodhisattva bhūmis (stages). According to Vincent Tournier, this text was grafted into the Mahāvastu (which itself does not contain any teaching on bodhisattva stages) during the last period of textual formation (ca. 4-6th centuries CE). The Daśabhūmika seems to have originally been considered an appendix or supplement (parivāra, parisara) which later made its way into
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#17328442901132046-585: The Buddha and other bodhisattvas . It is considered a primary source for the notion of a transcendent ( ''lokottara'' ) Buddha, who across his countless past lives developed various abilities such as omniscience (sarvajñana), the lack of any need for sleep or food and being born painlessly without the need for intercourse. The text shows strong parallels with the Pali Mahakhandhaka. The Śariputraparipṛcchā ( Shelifu Wen Jing , 舍利弗問經, Taisho 1465, p. 900b), translated into Chinese between 317 and 420,
2139-472: The Fourth Buddhist Council in 29 BC, approximately 454 years after the death of Gautama Buddha . The claim that the texts were "spoken by the Buddha" is meant in this non-literal sense. The existence of the bhanaka tradition existing until later periods, along with other sources, shows that oral tradition continued to exist side by side with written scriptures for many centuries to come. Thus,
2232-410: The Mahāvastu itself. A similar case occurred with the second Avalokitasūtra which shows similarities with Mahayana scriptures . The Mahāvastu is considered a primary source for the notion of a transcendent ( lokottara ) Buddha, common to all Mahāsāṃghika schools. According to the Mahāvastu , over the course of many lives, the once-human-born Buddha developed supramundane abilities including:
2325-606: The Majjhima Nikaya was published by Wisdom Publications in 1995. Translations by Bhikkhu Bodhi of the Samyutta Nikaya and the Anguttara Nikaya were published by Wisdom Publications in 2003 and 2012, respectively. In 2018, new translations of the entirety of the five Nikayas were made freely available on the website suttacentral by the Australian Bhikkhu Sujato , the translations were also released into
2418-514: The Public domain . A Japanese translation of the Canon, edited by Takakusu Junjiro , was published in 65 volumes from 1935 to 1941 as The Mahātripiṭaka of the Southern Tradition (南伝大蔵経 Nanden daizōkyō ). A Chinese translation of the above-mentioned Japanese translation was undertaken between 1990–1998 and thereafter printed under the patronage of Kaoshiung's Yuan Heng Temple. As noted above,
2511-548: The Samayabhedoparacanacakra to the Mahāsāṃghikas (Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, and Kukkuṭika), twenty concern the supramundane nature of buddhas and bodhisattvas. According to the Samayabhedoparacanacakra , these four groups held that the Buddha is able to know all dharmas in a single moment of the mind. Yao Zhihua writes: In their view, the Buddha is equipped with the following supernatural qualities: transcendence ( lokottara ), lack of defilements, all of his utterances preaching his teaching , expounding all his teachings in
2604-691: The Suttanipata . However, some scholars, particularly in Japan, maintain that the Suttanipāta is the earliest of all Buddhist scriptures, followed by the Itivuttaka and Udāna . However, some of the developments in teachings may only reflect changes in teaching that the Buddha himself adopted, during the 45 years that the Buddha was teaching. Scholars generally agree that the early books include some later additions. Aspects of these late additions are or may be from
2697-613: The parinibbana of Gautama Buddha in Rajgir , Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka , and Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka . The Arhats present accepted the recitations, and henceforth, the teachings were preserved orally by the Sangha . The Tipitaka that was transmitted to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Asoka was initially preserved orally and was later written down on palm leaves during
2790-499: The 5th century AD. Gregory Schopen argues that it is not until the 5th to 6th centuries AD that we have any definite evidence about the contents of the Canon. This position was criticized by A. Wynne. Western scholarship suggests that the composition of the Abhidhamma Pitaka likely began around 300 BCE, but may have drawn on an earlier tradition of lists and rubrics known as " matrika ". Traditional accounts include it among
2883-614: The Bodhisattva was subject to the law of karma. If one attained arhathood, he was free of the karmic law; and once the arhat died, he entered nirvāṇa never to return to the world of saṃsāra. But living in the cycle of saṃsāra, the Bodhisattva was bound to the law of karma. In contrast to this school the Mahāsāṃghika held that the Bodhisattva has already sundered karmic bondage and, therefore, is born in durgati out of his own free will, his deep vow ( praṇidhāna ) of salvation. The concept of many bodhisattvas simultaneously working toward buddhahood
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2976-543: The Buddha in the Pali Canon , since the more docetic and transcendent ideas common to the Lokottaravāda are not widely present in the text. The Nidānanamaskāras prologue introduced the doctrine of the fourfold "phases" of the bodhisattva's career. According to this doctrine, the four stages ( caryās) of the bodhisattva path are: Mah%C4%81s%C4%81%E1%B9%83ghika The Mahāsāṃghika ( Brahmi : 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of
3069-425: The Buddha, and that the later teachings were memorized by the Buddha's followers while he was still alive. His thesis is based on study of the processes of the first great council, and the methods for memorization used by the monks, which started during the Buddha's lifetime. It's also based on the capability of a few monks, to this day, to memorize the entire canon. Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali argue that it
3162-603: The Caitikas. The original center of the Mahāsāṃghika sects was Magadha , but they also maintained important centers such as in Mathura and Karli . The Kukkuṭikas were situated in eastern India around Vārāṇasī and Pāṭaliputra and the Bahuśrutīya in Kośala , Andhra, and Gandhara. The Lokottaravāda subschool itself claimed to be of the 'Middle Country', i.e. Ganges Basin region in
3255-454: The Canon consists of three pitakas. Details are given below. For more complete information, see standard references on Pali literature. The first category, the Vinaya Pitaka , is mostly concerned with the rules of the sangha , both monks and nuns . The rules are preceded by stories telling how the Buddha came to lay them down, and followed by explanations and analysis. According to
3348-531: The Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an earlier period." A variety of factors suggest that the early Sri Lankan Buddhists regarded canonical literature as such and transmitted it conservatively. Theravada tradition generally treats the Canon as a whole as originating with the Buddha and his immediate disciples (with the exception of certain, generally Abhidhamma texts, that explicitly refer to events long after his death). Scholars differ in their views regarding
3441-783: The Canon was published in Burma in 1900, in 38 volumes. The following editions of the Pali text of the Canon are readily available in the West: Pali Canon in English Translation , 1895-, in progress, 43 volumes so far, Pali Text Society, Bristol; for details of these and other translations of individual books see the separate articles. In 1994, the then President of the Pali Text Society stated that most of these translations were unsatisfactory. Another former President said in 2003 that most of
3534-453: The Chinese version calls him Bhagavan . This points to the idea that the Buddha was already awakened before descending down to earth. Similarly, the idea that the lifespan of a Buddha is limitless is also based on very ancient ideas. The Mahāparinirvānasūtra states that the Buddha's lifespan is as long as an eon (kalpa) and that he voluntarily chose to give up his life. Another early source for
3627-670: The Great Sangha ", Chinese : 大眾部 ; pinyin : Dà zhòng bù ) was a major division ( nikāya ) of the early Buddhist schools in India . They were one of the two original communities that emerged from the first schism of the original pre-sectarian Buddhist tradition (the other being the Sthavira nikaya ). This schism is traditionally held to have occurred after the Second Buddhist council , which occurred at some point during or after
3720-580: The Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya (Chinese: Mohe Sengqi Lü) translated by Faxian (337–422 CE) contains proto-Mahayana elements and "reflects the nascent formation of the Mahāyāna Dharma teachings." The Mahāvastu (Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story") is the most well known of the Lokottaravāda branch of the Mahāsāṃghika school. It is a preface to their Vinaya Pitaka and contains numerous Jātaka and Avadāna tales, stories of past lives of
3813-468: The Mahāsāṃghika view that a Buddha was a transcendent being is the idea of the thirty-two major marks of a Buddha's body. Furthermore, the Simpsapa sutta states that the Buddha had way more knowledge than what he taught to his disciples. The Mahāsāṃghikas took this further and argued that the Buddha knew the dharmas of innumerable other Buddhas of the ten directions. Of the 48 special theses attributed by
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3906-492: The Pali Canon is found also in the scriptures of other early schools of Buddhism, parts of whose versions are preserved, mainly in Chinese. Many scholars have argued that this shared material can be attributed to the period of Pre-sectarian Buddhism . This is the period before the early schools separated in about the fourth or third century BC. Some scholars see the Pali Canon as expanding and changing from an unknown nucleus. Arguments given for an agnostic attitude include that
3999-439: The Pali Canon of Sri Lanka is a modified Canon and "there is no good reason to assume that Sri Lankan Buddhism resembles Early Buddhism in the mainland, and there are numerous reasons to argue that it does not." Dr. Peter Masefield M.P.T.S. researched a form of Pali known as Indochinese Pali or "Kham Pali". It had been considered a degraded form of Pali, but Masefield states that further examination of texts will probably show it
4092-498: The Pali canon to the Buddha's early followers. Peter Harvey states that "much" of the Pali Canon must derive from the Buddha's teaching, but also that "parts of the Pali Canon clearly originated after the time of the Buddha." A.K. Warder stated that there is no evidence to suggest that the shared teaching of the early schools was formulated by anyone else than the Buddha and his immediate followers. J.W. de Jong said it would be "hypocritical" to assert that we can say nothing about
4185-528: The Sri Lankan Pali Canon had been translated first into Indo-Chinese Pali, and then, at least in part, back again into Pali. One of the edicts of Ashoka , the "Calcutta-Bairat edict", lists several works from the canon which Ashoka considered advantageous. According to Alexander Wynne: The general consensus seems to be that what Asoka calls Munigatha correspond to the Munisutta (Sn 207–221), Moneyasute
4278-519: The absolute teaching, while the suttas are adapted to the hearer. Most scholars describe the abhidhamma as an attempt to systematize the teachings of the suttas: Cousins says that where the suttas think in terms of sequences or processes the abhidhamma thinks in terms of specific events or occasions. The Pali Canon uses many Brahmanical terminology and concepts. For example, the Sundarika Sutta includes an analogy, quoted in several other places in
4371-720: The basis of earlier materials now lost. Subcommentaries were written afterward, commenting further on the Canon and its commentaries. The traditional Theravādin interpretation is summarized in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga . A spokesman for the Buddha Sasana Council of Burma states that the Canon contains everything needed to show the path to nirvāna ; the commentaries and subcommentaries sometimes include much speculative matter, but are faithful to its teachings and often give very illuminating illustrations. In Sri Lanka and Thailand , "official" Buddhism has in large part adopted
4464-461: The bodhisattva path. Parallel examples of Bahubuddhakasūtras have been found in Gandharan Buddhist text collections. One of these manuscripts dates to the 1st century BCE. Another parallel Bahubuddhaka sūtra is the Chinese translation Fo benxing ji jing (Taisho 190). The Mahāvastu 's Jātaka tales are similar to those of the Pali Canon although significant differences exist in terms of
4557-577: The canon is traditionally known as the Tipiṭaka ("three baskets"). The three pitakas are as follows: The Vinaya Pitaka and the Sutta Pitaka are remarkably similar to the works of the early Buddhist schools, often termed Early Buddhist Texts . The Abhidhamma Pitaka, however, is a strictly Theravada collection and has little in common with the Abhidhamma works recognized by other Buddhist schools. The Canon
4650-457: The canon was composed soon after Buddha's paranirvana, but after a period of free improvisation, and then the core teachings were preserved nearly verbatim by memory. Hajime Nakamura writes that while nothing can be definitively attributed to Gautama as a historical figure, some sayings or phrases must derive from him. Most scholars agree there was a rough body of sacred literature that an early community maintained and transmitted. Much of
4743-418: The collected sūtras and teach the true meaning, because they are the source and the center. They wear yellow robes. The lower part of the yellow robe was pulled tightly to the left. According to Dudjom Rinpoche from the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism , the robes of fully ordained Mahāsāṃghika monastics were to be sewn out of more than seven sections, but no more than twenty-three sections. The symbols sewn on
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#17328442901134836-417: The countless buddhas of the ten directions." It is also stated, "All buddhas have one body, the body of the Dharma." In the view of Mahāsāṃghikas, advanced bodhisattvas have severed the bonds of karma , and are born out of their own free will into lower states of existence (Skt. durgati ) in order to help liberate other sentient beings. As described by Akira Hirakawa: The Sarvāstivādin also taught that
4929-521: The early Mahāsāṃghikas rejected the abhidharmic developments that occurred within Sarvāstivāda circles. As is the case with their Vinayapiṭaka, also their Sutrapiṭaka seems to have consisted of five parts ( āgama ): * Dīrghāgama ,* Madhyamāgama ,* Saṃyuktāgama , * Ekottarāgama and * Kṣudrakāgama . Dessein also mentions that the school probably also had a Bodhisattvapiṭaka, which included material that "in all likelihood consisted of texts that formed part of
5022-549: The early development of the bodhisattva path as an alternative career to that of the arhant, perhaps serving as a foundation for the later developments of the bodhisattva doctrine". According to Zhihua Yao, the following Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya texts are extant in Chinese: Mahāsāṃghika bhiksuni-vinaya , Pratimoksa-sutra , Sphutartha Srighanacarasamgrahatika, Abhisamacarika-Dharma and the Mahavastu . Zhan Ru also notes that
5115-590: The essential real Buddha was equated with the Dharmakāya . The Mahāsāṃghika Lokānuvartanā sūtra makes numerous supramundane claims about the Buddha, including that: Like the Mahāyāna traditions, the Mahāsāṃghikas held the doctrine of the existence of many contemporaneous buddhas throughout the ten directions. In the Mahāsāṃghika Lokānuvartana Sūtra , it is stated, "The Buddha knows all the dharmas of
5208-428: The evidence for the Buddha's teachings dates from long after his death. Some scholars of later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism say that little or nothing goes back to the Buddha. Ronald Davidson has little confidence that much, if any, of surviving Buddhist scripture is actually the word of the historical Buddha. Geoffrey Samuel says the Pali Canon largely derives from the work of Buddhaghosa and his colleagues in
5301-413: The evidence suggests that only parts of the Canon ever enjoyed wide currency, and that non-canonical works were sometimes much more widely used; the details varied from place to place. Rupert Gethin suggests that the whole of Buddhist history may be regarded as a working out of the implications of the early scriptures. According to a late part of the Pali Canon, the Buddha taught the three pitakas. It
5394-583: The fallibility of arhats . Xing also notes that the Acchariyābbhūtasutta of the Majjhimanikāya along with its Chinese Madhyamāgama parallel version is the most prominent evidence for the ancient source of the Mahāsāṃghika view of the Buddha. The sutra mentions various miracles performed by the Buddha before his birth and after. While the Pāli sutta uses the term bodhisattva for the Buddha before his birth,
5487-533: The first schism and the creation of the Mahāsāṃghika as a separate community is 116 years after the Buddha's nirvana. Some Buddhist historical sources mention that the cause for schism was a dispute over vinaya (monastic rule), mainly the desire of certain Sthaviras (elders) to add extra rules to make the vinaya more rigorous. Other sources, especially Sthavira sources like those of the Sarvastivada school, argue that
5580-505: The following view: It is the nature of awareness ( jñāna ) and so forth to apprehend, thus awareness can apprehend itself as well as others. This is like a lamp that can illuminate itself and others owing to its nature ( svabhāva ) of luminosity. Some Mahāsāṃghikas also held that the mind's nature ( cittasvabhāva ) is fundamentally pure ( mulavisuddha ), but it can be contaminated by adventitious defilements. Vasumitra's Nikayabheda-dharmamati-chakra-sastra also discusses this theory, and cites
5673-604: The format of this school's textual canon. They appear to have had a Vinaya in five parts, an Abhidharmapiṭaka , and a Sutrapiṭaka : Of these texts, their Vinaya was translated into Chinese by Buddhabhadra and Faxian between 416 and 418 CE in the Daochang Monastery in Nanjing, capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In this text, their Abhidharma is defined as "the sūtrānta in nine parts" ( navāṅga ). This suggests that
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#17328442901135766-432: The interpretations of Western scholars. Although the Canon has existed in written form for two millennia, its earlier oral nature has not been forgotten in Buddhist practice: memorization and recitation remain common. Among frequently recited texts are the Paritta . Even lay people usually know at least a few short texts by heart and recite them regularly; this is considered a form of meditation, at least if one understands
5859-447: The language of the kingdom of Magadhi as spoken by the Buddha, linguists have identified Pali as being more closely related to other prakrit languages of western India, and found substantial incompatibilities with the few preserved examples of Magadhi and other north-eastern prakrit languages. Linguistic research suggests that the teachings of the Buddha may have been recorded in an eastern Indian language originally, and transposed into
5952-418: The main cause was a doctrinal issue. They blame a figure named Mahadeva with arguing for five divisive points, four of which see arhatship as a lesser kind of spiritual attainment (which still has ignorance and desire). Andrew Skilton has suggested that the problems of contradictory accounts about the first schism are solved by the Mahāsāṃghika Śāriputraparipṛcchā , which is the earliest surviving account of
6045-405: The matter of dispute was indeed a matter of vinaya, and have noted that the account of the Mahāsāṃghikas is bolstered by the vinaya texts themselves, as vinayas associated with the Sthaviras do contain more rules than those of the Mahāsāṃghika vinaya. Modern scholarship therefore generally agrees that the Mahāsāṃghika vinaya is the oldest. According to Skilton, future historians may determine that
6138-421: The meaning. Monks are of course expected to know quite a bit more (see Dhammapada below for an example). A Burmese monk named Vicittasara even learned the entire Canon by heart for the Sixth Council (again according to the usual Theravada numbering). The relation of the scriptures to Buddhism as it actually exists among ordinary monks and lay people is, as with other major religious traditions, problematic:
6231-424: The necessity of contemporaneous buddhas throughout the ten directions. It is thought that the doctrine of contemporaneous buddhas was already old and well established by the time of early Mahāyāna texts such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra , due to the clear presumptions of this doctrine. The Mahāsāṃghikas held that the teachings of the Buddha were to be understood as having two principal levels of truth:
6324-416: The non-substantiality of the basic elements of existence ( dharma - śūnyatā ) belongs to the Mahāsāṃghikas. Every branch of these clearly drew the distinction between the mundane and the ultimate, came to emphasize the non-ultimacy of the mundane and thus facilitated the fixing of attention on the ultimate. Some Mahāsāṃghikas held a theory of self-awareness or self-cognition ( svasaṃvedana ) which held that
6417-399: The north of India. The Mahāsāṃghikas and the Lokottaravāda subschool also had centres in the Gandhara region. The Ekavyāvahārika are not known from later times. The Caitika branch was based in the Coastal Andhra region and especially at Amarāvati and Nāgārjunakoṇḍā . This Caitika branch included the Pūrvaśailas, Aparaśailas, Rājagirikas, and the Siddhārthikas. Finally, Madhyadesa
6510-472: The nucleus of the Buddhist teachings in the Pali Canon may derive from Gautama Buddha himself, but that part of it also was developed after the Buddha by his early followers. Richard Gombrich says that the main preachings of the Buddha (as in the Vinaya and Sutta Pitaka ) are coherent and cogent, and must be the work of a single person: the Buddha himself, not a committee of followers after his death. Other scholars are more cautious, and attribute part of
6603-415: The origin of the Mahāsāṃghikas to the Second Buddhist council . Traditions regarding the Second Council are confusing and ambiguous, but it is agreed that the overall result was the first schism in the Sangha between the Sthavira nikāya and the Mahāsāṃghika nikāya, although it is not agreed upon by all what the cause of this split was. According to Jan Nattier and Charles S. Prebish, the best date for
6696-453: The origin of the Pali Canon, but generally believe that the Canon includes several strata of relatively early and late texts, but with little consensus regarding the relative dating of different sections of the Canon or which texts belong to which era. Prayudh Payutto argues that the Pali Canon represents the teachings of the Buddha essentially unchanged apart from minor modifications. He argues that it also incorporates teachings that precede
6789-449: The patronage of King Vattagamani . Textual fragments of similar teachings have been found in the agama of other major Buddhist schools in India. They were, however, written down in various Prakrits other than Pali as well as Sanskrit . Some of those were later translated into Chinese (earliest dating to the late 4th century AD). The surviving Sri Lankan version is the most complete, but
6882-508: The political geography it presents India at the time of Buddha, which changed soon after his death; that it has no mention of places in South India, which would have been well known to Indians not long after Buddha's death; and various other lines of evidence dating the material back to his time. The views of scholars concerning the authorship of the Pali Canon can be grouped into three categories: Several scholars of early Buddhism argue that
6975-522: The reign of Kalashoka . The Mahāsāṃghika nikāya developed into numerous sects which spread throughout ancient India . Some scholars think that the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya ( monastic rule ) represents the oldest Buddhist monastic source. While the Mahāsāṃghika tradition is no longer in existence, many scholars look to the Mahāsāṃghika tradition as an early source for some ideas that were later adopted by Mahāyāna Buddhism . Some of these ideas include
7068-694: The robes were the endless knot (Skt. śrīvatsa ) and the conch shell (Skt. śaṅkha ), two of the Eight Auspicious Signs in Buddhism. The Tibetan historian Buton Rinchen Drub (1290–1364) wrote that the Mahāsāṃghikas used Prākrit , the Sarvāstivādins Sanskrit, the Sthaviravādins used Paiśācī and the Saṃmitīya used Apabhraṃśa . An important source for the doctrines of the Mahāsāṃghika
7161-511: The schism. In this account, the council was convened at Pāṭaliputra over matters of vinaya , and it is explained that the schism resulted from the majority (Mahāsaṃgha) refusing to accept the addition of rules to the Vinaya by a smaller group of elders (Sthaviras). The Mahāsāṃghikas therefore saw the Sthaviras as being a breakaway group which was attempting to modify the original Vinaya and to make it more strict. Scholars have generally agreed that
7254-412: The so-called writing down of the scriptures was only the beginning of a new form of tradition, and the innovation was likely opposed by the more conservative monks. As with many other innovations, it was only after some time that it was generally accepted. Therefore, it was much later that the records of this event were transformed into an account of a "council" (sangayana or sangiti ) which was held under
7347-538: The stories, the rules were devised on an ad hoc basis as the Buddha encountered various behavioral problems or disputes among his followers. This pitaka can be divided into three parts: The second category is the Sutta Pitaka (literally "basket of threads", or of "the well spoken"; Sanskrit: Sutra Pitaka , following the former meaning) which consists primarily of accounts of the Buddha's teachings. The Sutta Pitaka has five subdivisions, or nikayas : The third category,
7440-433: The sutra passage which the Mahāsāṃghikas drew on to defend it. The passage is quoted by Vasumitra as: The self-nature of the mind ( cittasvabhāva ) is luminous ( prabhāsvara ). It is the adventitious impurities ( āgantukopakleśa ) that defile it. The self substance of the mind is eternally pure. The commentary to Vasumitra by Kuiji adds the following: "It is because afflictions ( kleśa) are produced which soil it that it
7533-676: The tales' details. Other parts of the Mahāvastu have more direct parallels in the Pali Canon including from the Digha Nikaya ( DN 19, Mahāgovinda Sutta ), the Majjhima Nikaya ( MN 26, Ariyapariyesana Sutta ; and, MN 36, Mahasaccaka Sutta ), the Khuddakapātha , the Dhammapada (ch. 8, Sahassa Vagga ; and, ch. 25, Bhikkhu Vagga ), the Sutta Nipata ( Sn 1.3, Khaggavisā ṇ a Sutta ; Sn 3.1, Pabbajjā Sutta ; and, Sn 3.2, Padhāna Sutta ),
7626-462: The tathāgatas is unlimited, and the life of the buddhas is unlimited." According to Guang Xing, two main aspects of the Buddha can be seen in Mahāsāṃghika teachings: the true Buddha who is omniscient and omnipotent, and the manifested forms through which he liberates sentient beings through his skillful means (Skt. upāya ). For the Mahāsāṃghikas, the historical Gautama Buddha was merely one of these transformation bodies (Skt. nirmāṇakāya ), while
7719-518: The teachings of earliest Buddhism, arguing that "the basic ideas of Buddhism found in the canonical writings could very well have been proclaimed by him [the Buddha], transmitted and developed by his disciples and, finally, codified in fixed formulas." Alex Wynne said that some texts in the Pali Canon may go back to the very beginning of Buddhism, which perhaps include the substance of the Buddha's teaching, and in some cases, maybe even his words. He suggests
7812-483: The texts recited at the First Buddhist Council and attribute differences in form and style to its composition by Sariputra . Opinions differ on what the earliest books of the Canon are. The majority of Western scholars consider the earliest identifiable stratum to be mainly prose works, the Vinaya (excluding the Parivāra) and the first four nikāyas of the Sutta Pitaka, and perhaps also some short verse works such as
7905-624: The time of the reign of Ashoka (304–232 BC), which means that some of the texts carried by the Buddhist missionaries at this time might also have been fixed. According to the Sri Lankan Mahavamsa , the Pali Canon was written down in the reign of King Vattagāmini ( Vaṭṭagāmiṇi ) (1st century BCE) in Sri Lanka , at the Fourth Buddhist council . Most scholars hold that little if anything
7998-426: The translations were done very badly. The style of many translations from the Canon has been criticized as "Buddhist Hybrid English" , a term invented by Paul Griffiths for translations from Sanskrit. He describes it as "deplorable", "comprehensible only to the initiate, written by and for Buddhologists". Selections: see List of Pali Canon anthologies . A translation by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi of
8091-471: The view that the Buddha was a fully transcendent being (term " lokottaravada ", "transcendentalism"), the idea that there are many contemporaneous Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout the universe, the doctrine of the inherent purity and luminosity of the mind ( Skt: prakṛtiś cittasya prabhāsvarā ), the doctrine of reflexive awareness ( svasamvedana ) and the doctrine of prajñapti-matra (absolute nominalism or pure conceptualism). Most sources place
8184-522: The west Indian precursor of Pali sometime before the Asokan era. Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically Theravādin, but is instead the collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey , it contains material which is at odds with later Theravādin orthodoxy. He states that "the Theravādins, then, may have added texts to
8277-489: Was added to the Canon after this, though Schopen questions this. The climate of Theravāda countries is not conducive to the survival of manuscripts. Apart from brief quotations in inscriptions and a two-page fragment from the eighth or ninth century found in Nepal , the oldest manuscripts known are from late in the fifteenth century, and there is not very much from before the eighteenth. The first complete printed edition of
8370-535: Was extensively redacted about 1,000 years after Buddha's death, in the 5th or 6th century CE. The earliest textual fragments of canonical Pali were found in the Pyu city-states in Burma dating only to the mid 5th to mid 6th century CE. The Pāli Canon falls into three general categories, called pitaka (from Pali piṭaka , meaning "basket", referring to the receptacles in which the palm-leaf manuscripts were kept). Thus,
8463-451: Was first published in the West in an editio princeps by Émile Senart between 1882 and 1897. This edition is in a language which has been termed Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit . The text is a composite one which includes past life narratives, stories of previous Buddhas , stories of Gautama Buddha 's final life, embedded early Buddhist sutras and two prologues ( nidānas ). Over half of the text
8556-703: Was home to the Prajñaptivādins . The ancient Buddhist sites in the lower Krishna Valley , including Amarāvati, Nāgārjunakoṇḍā and Jaggayyapeṭa , "can be traced to at least the third century BCE, if not earlier." The cave temples at the Ajaṇṭā Caves , the Ellora Caves , and the Karla Caves are associated with the Mahāsāṃghikas. Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated
8649-627: Was reinforced by regular communal recitations. The tradition holds that only a few later additions were made. The Theravādin pitakas were first written down in Sri Lanka in the Alu Viharaya Temple no earlier than 29–17 BC. The geographic setting of identifiable texts within the Canon generally corresponds to locations in the Ganges region of northeastern India, including the kingdoms of Kosala , Kasi , Vajji , and Magadha . While Theravada tradition has generally regarded Pali as being synonymous with
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