A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t1.7

v2.c19.s6.t1.7

Fragments of the Prātimokṣa-Sūtra of the Sarvāstivādins, as well as other texts of the Vinayapiṭaka of the Sanskrit Canon, have been found in Central Asia (Eastern Turkestan), and a few in Nepal too. It is also possible to reconstruct the Prātimokṣa-Sūtra from Chinese and Tibetan translations. Both the Sanskrit Canon of the Sarvāstivādins and the Vinayas of the Mahīśāsakas, Dharmaguptas and Mahā-Saṅghikas, show manifold divergences in separate details from the Pāli Canon and from one another, not only as regards the rules of the Prātimokṣa, but also as regards the rules of the Vinaya in general. Nevertheless, the original stock of rules is one and the same.¹ It is in the stories prefaced to the rules in order to relate on what occasion the Buddha proclaimed the rules in question, that the texts show greater divergences. The Mūla-Sarvāstivāda Vinaya contained many legends having reference to the conversion of Kashmir and North-western India to Buddhism.² Some of these legends are also to be found in the Divyāvadāna, which borrowed a large portion of its tales from the Vinayapiṭaka of the Mūla-Sarvāstivāda.¹ The Vinayapiṭaka also includes the Śikṣās and Saṅghakarmans corresponding to the Pāli Sikkhās and Kammavācās, and fragments of these have been brought to light in Central Asia.²