Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c2.6

c2.6

In fact, Mahāyāna is sometimes allied to Tāntrism; it has sometimes sanctioned the marriage of monks and the overthrow of the ancient Buddhist institution. It cannot be denied that from the beginning it had a tendency to place the lay-supporters on the side of, if not above, the monks. But you show well that the Mahāyānic disciplinary initiatives at the earliest stage were very modest; the purpose was satisfied by adding a certain number of new rules to the ancient Vinaya (the avoidance of meat and so forth) and by increasing the rigour of some precepts. The scale of values is modified; it is believed that the preaching of the Law and service to others are more precious than the exercises which are of personal utility and certain ancient rules, though favourable to Arhatism—“no possession, no anxiety”—were no longer regarded as obligatory. The progress was generally slow but it was pursued without any harm. “The upholders of the more rigorous discipline should not be blamed, the upholders of the less rigorous are also blameless.” Devadatta, the Abbé Tempête of the history of Buddhism, did not play an important rôle in this history. As concerns the doctrines, it cannot be conceived that Vasubandhu on adopting the doctrine of Tathatā had to quit his sect for entering into a sect of the Mahāyānists. Where are the sects of the Mahāyānists, and by which names should they be known? There are only eighteen sects, all of which were represented in the assemblage of scholars of Nālandā. Can it be doubted that the communities of the Sthaviras practised the cult of relics? However, according to the definite views found in the Dīgha, the cult of relics concerns the laity and not the monks, whose endeavour should be exclusively confined to the supermundane.