Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c29.205

v2.c29.205

Bahulikā, Bāhulikā.—A heretical sect among the Buddhists, an offshoot of Gokulikā.¹ The Dīpavaṃsa² calls the adherents of this sect Bahusuttakā. According to Tibetan sources³ they derived their name from their teacher, Bahuśrutiya. In addition to the five propositions held by the Mahāsaṅghikas, they considered it as a fundamental doctrine that there is no mode of life leading to real salvation, that the truth of suffering is the Noble Truth, that to perceive the suffering of the saṃskāras is to enter perfect purity, that there is no way of seeing the misery of suffering and the misery of change; the Saṅgha is but subject to worldly laws and conditions, arahants acquire the doctrine of others, there is a rightly preached way and a right entry into samāpatti.⁴