Template:EarlyBuddhism The Mahīśāsaka (Template:Langx; Template:CJKV) is one of the early Buddhist schools according to some records. Its origins may go back to the dispute in the Second Buddhist Council. The Dharmaguptaka sect is thought to have branched out from the Mahīśāsaka sect toward the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 1st century BCE.
History
There are two general accounts of the circumstances surrounding the origins of the Mahīśāsakas. The Theravādin Dīpavaṃsa asserts that the Mahīśāsaka sect gave rise to the Sarvāstivāda sect.[1] However, both the Śāriputraparipṛcchā and the Samayabhedoparacanaćakra record that the Sarvāstivādins were the older sect out of which the Mahīśāsakas emerged.[1] Buswell and Lopez also state that the Mahīśāsaka was an offshoot of the Sarvāstivādins,Template:Sfn but group the school under the Vibhajyavāda, "a broad designation for non-Sarvastivāda strands of the Sthaviranikaya", which also included the Kāśyapīya.Template:Sfn
The Mahīśāsaka sect is thought to have first originated in the Avanti region of India.Template:Cn Their founder was a monk named Purāṇa, who is venerated at length in the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, which is preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon.
From the writings of Xuanzang, the Mahīśāsaka are known to have been active in Kashmir in the 4th century CE. Xuanzang records that Asaṅga, an important Yogācāra master and the elder brother of Vasubandhu, received ordination into the Mahīśāsaka sect. Asaṅga's frameworks for Abhidharma writings retained many underlying Mahīśāsaka traits.[2] André Bareau writes: Template:Quote The Mahīśāsaka are believed to have spread from the Northwest down to Southern India including Nāgārjunakoṇḍā, and even as far as the island of Sri Lanka.[3] According to A. K. Warder, the Indian Mahīśāsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravāda, into which they were later absorbed.[4]
In the 7th century CE, Yijing grouped the Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, and Kāśyapīya together as sub-sects of the Sarvāstivāda, and stated that these three were not prevalent in the "five parts of India", but were located in the some parts of Oḍḍiyāna, the Kingdom of Khotan, and Kucha.[5]
Appearance
Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated a work which describes the color of monastic robes (Skt. kāṣāya) utilised in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi (Template:Zh).Template:Sfn Another text translated at a later date, the Śāriputraparipṛcchā, contains a very similar passage corroborating this information.Template:Sfn In both sources, members of the Mahīśāsaka sect are described as wearing blue robes.Template:Sfn The relevant portion of the Mahāsāṃghika Śāriputraparipṛcchā reads, "The Mahīśāsaka school practice dhyāna, and penetrate deeply. They wear blue robes."[6]
Doctrines
According to the Mahīśāsakas, the Four Noble Truths were to be meditated upon simultaneously.[7]
The Mahīśāsaka sect held that everything exists, but only in the present. They also regarded a gift to the Saṃgha as being more meritorious than one given to the Buddha.[8] They disagreed with the Dharmaguptakas on this point, as the Dharmaguptakas believed that a giving a gift to the Buddha is more meritorious than giving one to the Saṃgha.[8]
The earlier Mahīśāsakas appear to have not held the doctrine of an intermediate state between death and rebirth, but later Mahīśāsakas accepted this doctrine.[7]
Works
Mahīśāsaka Vinaya
The Indian Mahīśāsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravāda, into which these members were later absorbed.[9] It is known that Faxian obtained a Sanskrit copy of the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya at Abhayagiri Vihāra in Sri Lanka, c. 406 CE. The Mahīśāsaka Vinaya was then translated into Chinese in 434 CE by Buddhajiva and Zhu Daosheng.[10] This translation of the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya remains extant in the Chinese Buddhist canon as Taishō Tripiṭaka 1421.[11]
Mahāyāna works
It is believed that the Mahāyāna Infinite Life Sūtra was compiled in the age of the Kushan Empire, in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, by an order of Mahīśāsaka bhikṣus that flourished in the Gandhara region.[12][13] It is likely that the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra owed greatly to the Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this Sūtra there are many elements in common with the Mahāvastu.[14] The earliest of these translations show traces of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language, a Prakrit used in the Northwest India.[15] It is also known that manuscripts in the Kharoṣṭhī script existed in China during this period.[14]
Views on women
The Mahīśāsaka sect believed that it was not possible for women to become buddhas.Template:Sfn In the Nāgadatta Sūtra, the Mahīśāsaka view is criticised in a narrative about a bhikṣuṇī named Nāgadatta. Here, the demon Māra takes the form of her father, and tries to convince her to work toward the lower stage of an arhat, rather than that of a fully enlightened buddha (Template:IAST):Template:Sfn Template:Quote
In her reply, Nāgadatta rejects arhatship as a lower path, saying: Template:Quote
The Mahīśāsaka sect held that there were five obstacles that were laid before women. These are that they may not become a Ćakravartin, Māra king, Śakra king, Brahma king or a Buddha. This Mahīśāsaka view is ascribed to Māra in the Nāgadatta Sūtra of the Sarvāstivādins:Template:Sfn
The Mahīśāsakas believed that women essentially could not change the nature of their minds or physical bodies, and would cause the teachings of Buddhism to decline. Of this, David Kalupahana writes: Template:Quote
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Sarup & Sons(2000). ISBN 978-8176251525, p. 50.
- ↑ Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor. 1984. p. 58.
- ↑ Dutt, Nalinaksha. Buddhist Sects in India. 1998. pp. 122–123
- ↑ Indian Buddhism{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Ltd.(2000). ISBN 978-8120817418, p. 280.
- ↑ Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia: A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research(2000). ISBN 978-1-886439-09-2, p. 19.
- ↑ Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Santi Forest Monastery
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Potter, Karl. The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol. IX: Buddhist Philosophy from 350 to 600 AD. 2004. p. 106.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Willemen, Charles. The Essence of Scholasticism. 2006. p. 17.
- ↑ Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 280.
- ↑ Humanistic Buddhism: A Blueprint for Life{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Buddha's Light(2008). ISBN 978-1932293333, p. 163.
- ↑ The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog (T. 1421)..
- ↑ Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Motilal Banarsidass(1987). ISBN 978-8120802728, p. 205.
- ↑ Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2009). ISBN 978-0415356534, p. 239.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Nakamura, Hajime. Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Biographical Notes. 1999. p. 205.
- ↑ India in Early Central Asia: a Survey of Indian Scripts, Languages and Literatures in Central Asia of the First Millennium A.D.{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1996), p. 15.
Sources
- [{{{url}}} The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism]. Princeton University Press..
- [{{{url}}} Three Mountains and Seven Rivers: Prof. Musashi Tachikawa's felicitation volume]. Motilal Banarsidass..
- [{{{url}}} Buddhist Thought and Ritual]. Paragon House..