[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Buddhist Sanskrit literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit) › [Mahāyāna sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra) › [Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka) › [སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo) › [The Ten Bhumis; The Chapter on the Scale of Life; The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas; The Stem Array; The Stem Array](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000) › notes.4.6 # སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པ་ཆ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཤན་ཏ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད notes.4.6 The Ten Bhūmis; The Chapter on the Scale of Life; The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas; The Stem Array; The Stem Array notes.4.6 - **Language:** English ### [notes.4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000.notes.4.6) 6. Osto notes that Etienne Lamotte, Edward Conze, and Nalinaksha Dutt all regard the Mahāsāṃghika as the source of the Mahāyāna tradition. See Osto (2008), 157, n. 5. Paul Williams argues that at least some Mahāyāna sūtras emerged from the Mahāsāṃghika: “There can be no doubt that at least some early Mahāyāna sūtras originated in Mahāsāṃghika circles. In the lokottaravāda supramundane teachings we are getting very close to a teaching well-known in Mahāyāna that the Buddha’s death was also a mere appearance; in reality he remains out of his compassion, helping suffering humanity, and thence the suggestion that for those who are capable of it the highest religious goal should be not to become an Arhat but to take the Bodhisattva vows, embarking themselves on the long path to a supreme and totally superior Buddhahood.” See Williams (2009), 21. This view has been contested by a number of scholars, however, including Paul Harrison, who maintains in his “Searching for the Origins of the Mahāyāna: What Are We Looking For?” that it is impossible to draw a clear connection between the Mahāyāna and a single sect, maintaining instead that the Mahāyāna was a loose set of related movements that cut across Buddhist India. For a fine summary of scholarship concerning the origins of the Mahāyāna, see Osto (2008), 105–16. - [Previous: notes.4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000.notes.4.5) - [Next: notes.4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000.notes.4.7) - [Up: notes.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000.notes.4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000.notes.4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.avatamsaka*bo~en-84000.notes.4.6) · Pramāṇa