KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Buddhist doctrine was formalized   in the three Councils held after the death of the Buddha. The first Council was held at Rajgir under King Ajatasattu (492 to 460 BC) three months after the death of the Buddha.  A major part of the Sutta and Vinaya pitaka were decided at this Council.

Second council was at Vaisali, under King Kalasoka (395 – 367 BC)   hundred years after death of Buddha, This council met to discuss disputes regarding Vinaya rules. By this time, new schools of Buddhism had developed.   These breakaway groups were present at this Council. Their first set of disagreements was on how to interpret the Vinaya rules.  Then they went on to doctrinal differences. 

The Third Council was Pataliputra, under Dharmasoka (268 – 232 BC). This was a very Important Council. The Theravada canon which we have today was decided at this Council. At this Council too, there were differences of opinion between the various Buddhist schools.  The Sarvastivada and Mahasanghika schools attending this Council later helped to develop Mahayana.

There are three major Buddhist canons, Pali Tripitaka, Tibetan Tripitaka and the Mahayana texts. Each Buddhist canon is a series of distinct texts.  Pali Tripitaka consists of Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidamma Pitaka. Several sections of the Sutta Pitaka are of high literary value.

The Pali canon was the best preserved, most complete and nearest to the original, said Guruge. The Buddhist texts of the other schools, found in fragments, quotations and translations confirm this. The Vinaya texts of the Sarvastivada School preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translations confirm the antiquity of the Vinaya pitaka.

The rigidity of the Theravada school, the sheltered existence it enjoyed under royal patronage in  India and Sri Lanka, the writing down of it in Sri Lanka   and the unbroken tradition of learning maintained in monasteries in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and  Cambodia had  helped  Theravada to keep the Buddha word in its purity, said Guruge.

 The Pali canon    also provides information on the Buddha. The oldest version of the life of the Buddha, possibly, is found in the Mahavagga .This is one of the most readable parts of the Canon, too.  Digha nikaya provides information which can be used to reconstruct the life of the Buddha, also the contemporary political social and religious history of India.  Cullavagga speaks of the First and Second Councils.

Buddhism branched into different schools of Buddhism. But the fundamental doctrines of these different Buddhist schools were similar. They remained faithful to the original teachings. The core of all these canons is identical.  Even the divergences reveal development from a common base. Buddhist texts scattered all over Asia, preserved over time, show common elements. This similarity helps to establish the antiquity and reliability of the contents, observed Guruge.

The Sarvastivada and Mahasanghika schools which had attended the Third Council   were the breakaway groups which later developed into Mahayana. By first century Mahasanghika school had its centers in Mathura, India and Afghanistan. The Sarvastivadins were active in Kashmir.

Kushan emperor Kanishka I (120-144) favoured Sarvastivada school. The Kushan Empire included Northern India and Afghanistan. Kushan gave royal patronage to Sarvastivada .There were many adherents and this was a period of spectacular progress.

Initially, Mahayana and Theravada seem to have run parallel to each other in India. Four philosophical schools of Buddhism   arose in India in the 7^th century AD. They were Vaibhasika and Sautrantika schools   (Theravada) and the Madhyamika and Yogacara schools (Mahayana).  These four philosophical schools represented an age of great intellectual activity among the Buddhist of India, said Guruge.

Madhyamika school was funded by Nagarjuna.  its centre was Nalanda. Through Nalanda, Madhyamika school exerted enormous influence in Mahayana.  Nagarjuna’s chief disciple was Aryadeva. Aryadeva succeeded Nagarjuna as head of the Madhyamika school of thought and also became the head of Nalanda University. Aryadeva was from Sri Lanka . These Madhyamikas were prolific writers  . Both Nagarjuna and Aryadeva wrote reams, said Guruge.

The leader of the Yogachara school was Dharmapala. He was succeeded by  Silabadhra.  Hiuen Tsang studied under Silabadhra at Nalanda. He  translated many Yogacara texts to Chinese.  There was also Chandragomin, who knew philosophy, medicine, architecture, grammar, and wrote on them.  He had  lived for short periods in Sri Lanka and Tibet.

Silabadhra was followed by Dharmakirti , also a disciple of Dharmapala. Dharmakirthi’s contribution to science of logic was  highly regarded and the Yogachara school  made a         great impact on Buddhist logic, said Guruge. The contribution made by the two Mahayana schools to the development of logic in India was enormous.

Mahayana did not develop  through violent dissensions, disagreements or conflicts as in the case of Christianity. It was gradual. It started with an overlap.  In the Kushan empire, both Theravada and Mahayana were accepted .

 When Hiuen Tsang went to India in 7 AD, he found  54,500 monks  who were both Mahayana and Hinayana. There was also another 32000 who were  Mahayana and 96,000 Hinayana.  in Sri Lanka too, the original intention, in my view, was  to start with an  overlap. That is why Jetavana was placed inside the Mahavihara.

The concept of Buddha hood  differed in Mahayana. Mahayana gave Buddha supernatural powers and miracles. There  was a pantheon of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, including the    five  Dhyani Buddhas. Bodhisattvas ranked almost as gods. The most  popular  bodhisatvas were Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, Vajrapani,  and Samantabadra.

Worship of  stupas,  Buddha statues , Buddha relics and the   Bo tree  had begun long before   Mahayana. Buddha himself approved the building  of chaityas to enshrine relics.  But   it is Mahayana that  gave supremacy to these external forms of worship. Ceremonies such as taking images and  relics in procession  became  elaborate and popular. This was very different to the simple practices of the early  Buddhists who placed greater emphasis on Dana, Sila and Bhavana. But eventually, these Mahayana practices  were  accepted into the puritanical  Theravada as well. There is a great deal of Mahayana in the Theravada practices in Sri Lanka .

Mahayana  used Sanskrit as the medium of communication. There was a substantial Buddhist Sanskrit literature, such as Lalitavistara  and many Mahayana writers such as Asvaghosa, (2 cent AD).  But most  Sanskrit     Mahayana texts are in  fragments today. Most of the information is  taken from Chinese and Tibetan translations.

Mahayana  training differed from Theravada.  Mahayana   included a wide variety of non-Buddhist subjects  such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics. Monks were trained  to be disputants. Dialectics and logic  were emphasized.

Mahayana  set  up large institutions, where scholars from various parts of India as well as neighboring countries could attend. The most prominent were Nalanda in  Bihar and Valabhi in Gujarat. Chinese monks studied there  and recorded their impressions.

Chinese monk Hiuen Tsang ( 602-664)studied for five years at Nalanda. His account showed that Nalanda was a fully fledged University with various faculties, admission and examination procedure, libraries and lecture halls.  Chinese monk I-Tsing (635-713) studied at Vallabhi for five years. Vallabhi provided training in secular subjects . The course was 2-3 duration. The names of exceptional  graduates were engraved on gates. The government recruited  Vallabhi graduates for employment.  

There was also Vikramasila  and Odantapuri, both in  present day Bihar and both established in the 8^th  century . Odantapuri was considered second  only to Nalanda. In Vikramasila, admission was gained  through participating in a debate. The degree awarded  was that of Pandita. these institutions were destroyed by the Muslim rulers arriving in India  in the 12 century.

Mahayana doctrine was firmly established  in China and Tibet.  There was a direct route from Gandhara to China. Mahayana went along this route to China.  In 5^th century AD, Kumarajiva translated Mahayana  texts to Chinese. Chinese and Tibetan translations  are found even  when the original Sanskrit versions of Mahayana doctrine  have disappeared.

The third school of Buddhism which rose to importance was that of Tantra or Vajrayana Buddhism. This   arose in 8^th century  AD in Bihar and Bengal.  Tantric Buddhism included sex , mysticism, and magical cults. It had prayer wheels, recitations like ‘Om padme hum’  and the Mandala  illustration.  The central figure was the Buddha Vairocana. Vajrayana Buddhism  became entrenched in Nepal, Tibet , Mongolia and other Himalayan kingdoms.  ( continued)