A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t2.1

v2.c19.s6.t2.1

One of the most important works which still belongs to the old school of the Hīnayāna is the Mahāvastu² or Mahāvastu-Avadāna.³ The work calls itself a book "of the Vinayapiṭaka according to the text of the Lokottaravādins of the Mahāsāṅghikas." The Mahāsāṅghikas, *i.e.*, the adherents of the Mahāsāṅgha, "the great community," are according to unanimous tradition, the earliest schismatics. Among the sections into which they are subdivided, we find the Lokottaravādins, *i.e.*, those according to whose doctrine the Buddhas are "exalted above the world" (lokottara) and adapt themselves to worldly life only externally.¹ The biography of the Buddha, which is the chief content of the Mahāvastu, quite agrees with this doctrine, for it is profusely adorned with miracles. In this respect, to be sure, it differs little from those texts of the Pāli Canon which deal with the life of the Buddha. In both cases we hear of miracles accompanying the conception, birth and enlightenment, and the first conversions of the Buddha. The Mahāvastu agrees with the Nidāna-Kathā in that it treats the life of the Buddha in three sections.² The first of these begins with the life of the Bodhisattva at the time of Buddha Dīpaṅkara (I, 193 ff.) and tells of his existences at the times of the other former Buddhas. The second section (II, 1 ff.) introduces us to the heaven of the Tuṣita gods, where the Bodhisattva, there reborn, determines to attain rebirth in the womb of Queen Māyā, and tells of the miracles of the conception and birth of the prince, his departure from his home, his conflicts with Māra and the enlightenment which he finally attains under the Bodhi tree. Lastly, the third section (in Vol. III), agreeing in its main features with the Mahāvagga of the Vinayapiṭaka,¹ relates the history of the first conversions and the rise of the monastic community. This, too, is the reason why the Mahāvastu claims to belong to the Vinayapiṭaka, though apart from a few remarks on admission into the order, it contains next to nothing about the Vinaya, the rules of the Order. It corresponds to that part of the Vinayapiṭaka which tells the history of the rise of the Order.²