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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t11: Contributions of Sarvāstivāda to Mahāyāna

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c5.s2.t11

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Contributions of Sarvāstivāda to Mahāyāna

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The Sarvāstivādins had two Kāya conceptions,³ *viz.*, rūpakāya and dharmakāya, but these did not bear any Mahāyānic sense, though their conception of dharmakāya helped the Yogācārins in the formation of their conception of the same (=svasambhogakāya). The Sarvāstivādins are also responsible for the addition of a fourth term, śūnya, to the usual trio, *viz.*, duḥkha, anitya, and anātma, though the word conveyed no Mahāyānic meaning as it connoted no other sense than anātma.¹

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³ See *infra*: Chapter III (b): The Doctrine of Kāya.

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¹ *Lal. Vis.*, p. 419; *Divyā.*, pp. 266, 367: anitya, duḥkha, śūnya, anātma. See *Kośa*, VI, p. 163 and VII, pp. 31 f. where śūnya is explained as being devoid of ātman, puruṣa, and so forth.

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But the most important doctrine of the Sarvāstivādins, which, I believe, led to the development of Mahāyāna, is their extreme *Astitvavāda* (the theory of the actual existence of elements composing a being). We may say that Mahāyāna is a continuation of the Buddhological speculations of the Mahāsānghikas and their offshoots, and a revolt against the *Astitvavāda* of the Sarvāstivādins—a dogma which appeared to the Mahāyānists as an utter distortion of Buddha’s teachings.² It was this revolt which resulted in the other extreme, the establishment of *Dharmaśūnyatā* (non-existence of everything whatsoever) as the real teaching of Buddha.

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² It will be observed that the remarks of Nāgārjuna and other early Mahāyāna writers are mostly directed against the realism of the Sarvāstivādins. The *Madhyamakāvatāra* cannot help admitting that the Hinayānists also teach śūnyatā as much as the Mahāyānists do (see *Le Muséon*, Vol. VIII, p. 271) but in the general attack of the Mahāyānists against the Hinayānists, they hold the latter as *Aśūnyavādins* evidently keeping the Sarvāstivādins in mind.

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The third contribution made by the Hinayānists, specially by the Sarvāstivādins, is the exposition or analysis of skandhas, dhātus, āyatanas, āryasatyas, aṅgas of the pratītyasamutpāda, and so forth.³ The Mahāyānists incorporated them in their works *in toto*, although they relegated them to the domain of *Saṃvṛti* or Parikalpita-Paratantra, admitting, however, their utility as being indispensable to Bodhisattvas in arriving at the Paramārtha or Pariniṣpanna truth.⁴

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³ That the Mahāyānists incorporated mostly the Sarvāstivāda expositions and analyses may be asserted in view of the fact that the *Prajñāpāramitās* mention many terms, which are not very common in Pāli suttas, *e.g.*, Paryavasthāna, Saṃgrahavastu, Dvādaśāṅga (instead of Navāṅga).

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⁴ See *infra*: Chapter III (d).

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