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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t3: Incorporation of Pāramis in the Doctrines of the Theravādins

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c5.s2.t3

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Incorporation of Pāramis in the Doctrines of the Theravādins

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One can easily observe the type of literature that was intended for inclusion under at least two of these headings. It consisted more of anecdotes, stories, parables and so forth than of the actual doctrines of Buddhism. They were incorporated into the Buddhist literature in the garb of Pūrvānusmṛtis, and the chief object was to popularise Buddhism and to show that they were meant as much for the benefit of the masses as for the selected few who could retire from the world. This is an innovation which the earliest orthodox school, the Theravādins, had to make reluctantly under the pressure of circumstances. Their early literature was ignorant of the pāramitās,² and much later, when they spoke of pāramis it was only to inspire faith in the minds of the people and not to set an example to incite them to fulfil the pāramis. The attitude of the Sarvāstivādins and the Mahāsānghikas, however, was different. They did not diminish in the least the extreme difficulty of the task of fulfilling the pāramitās, but they did not discourage people from the endeavour. Not only to inspire faith, but also to encourage people in the performance of *dāna*, *śīla*, *kṣānti*, *vīrya*, *dhyāna* and *prajñā*, they invented story after story and associated them not only with the life of Buddha but also with the lives of persons who attained prominence in the history of the Buddhist faith.

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² The omission of the Pāramis in the Dasuttara and Saṅgīti suttantas of the Dīgha is significant. The word ‘pāramippatto’ (*Majjhima*, III, p. 28) is sometimes found in the sense of perfection but not in the technical sense of six or ten pāramis.

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The Theravādins, it will be observed, speak of ten pāramis, viz., dāna, sīla, nekkhamma, paññā, viriya, khanti, sacca, adhiṭṭhāna, mettā, and upekkhā. Throughout the Sanskrit literature, whether Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna, earlier or later, the pāramitās are mentioned as six¹. It is in the Daśabhūmika-sūtra² that we first find mention of ten pāramitās, adding the following four to the usual six,—Upāyakauśalya, Praṇidhāna, Bala, and Jñāna. If we compare the three lists, it is evident that the conception of six pāramitās was the oldest. The Theravādins added to it Nekkhamma, Sacca, Adhiṭṭhāna, Mettā, and Upekkhā, and dropped Dhyāna. Apparently this list lacks a system,³ for the last two Mettā and Upekkhā are the two of the four brahmavihāras and have to be practised by all Arhats to perfection, while Sacca may easily be included in Sīla. Of the other two, Adhiṭṭhāna is to form a resolution (which in the case of Sumedha only was to become a Buddha) and to carry it out at any cost. It corresponds to Praṇidhāna of the Mahāyānists.⁴ The Nekkhamma pārami, i.e., retirement from the household life, was emphasised by the Theravādins, and, in fact, formed one of the chief features of the doctrines of this school, while it was let alone by the Mahāsānghikas and the Sarvāstivādins. The Mahāyānists also gave to Nekkhamma a superior place, but they did not make it imperative upon every being to retire in order to derive the benefits of the religion.

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¹ Divyā., pp. 95, 127, 490; Lal. Vis., pp. 345, 474; Sata., p. 242.

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² Daśa., pp. 63, 72, 81, 94. Cf. Mvyut. 34.

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³ Cf. Prof. La Vallée Poussin's remark in the E.R.E., sv. Bodhisattva.

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⁴ See Infra, ch. IV; for four kinds of Adhiṭṭhāna, see Mvyut., 80 and P.T.S. Dict.; Adhiṭṭhāna in the Mahāvamsa, ch. XVII, śl. 46.

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One of the main reasons for the differential treatment of the Pāramitās by the three schools is that the Theravādins rejected the idea of any being aspiring to Buddhahood, while the other two regarded the probability of a being becoming Buddha as a very rare event. In the Divyāvadāna,⁵ we find passages in which it is said that after the delivery of a discourse, some beings were established in the Truth, some in one of the four stages of sanctification, some developed aspiration for the attainment of Śrāvakabodhi or Pratyekabodhi, and some for Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. Remarks like these are significant and show that the Sarvāstivādins, to which school the Divyāvadāna belongs, ¹ were not as conservative as the Theravādins. The Mahāsānghikas, as is well-known, were the first to bring about this change in the angle of vision. They were the precursors of Mahāyāna, and hence, it is hardly necessary to adduce reasons why the practice of Pāramitās should form an integral part of their doctrines. So the introduction and formulation of the Pāramitās were due originally either to the Mahāsānghikas or the Sarvāstivādins and were adopted later on in a modified form by the Theravādins.

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⁵ Divyā., pp. 226, 271, 368, 469, 476, 478, 495, 569.

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¹ Csoma Kőrösi, As. Res., XX; Speyer, Intro. to the Ava. S.

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Closely connected with the Pāramitās are the Jātakas and the Avadānas, and consequently the Bharaut and Sanchi sculptures. All the three schools put forth their best efforts in propaganda, but it is still an open question as to which of the three schools inspired the origin of the famous stone monuments. Attempts have been made by many scholars ² to identify the sculptural representations of Jātakas, and many have been traced in the Jātakaṭṭhavaṇṇanā, but still the identifications are not all beyond doubt, and it is not improbable that a better elucidation of these sculptures will be found in the huge literature of Avadānas which are still in manuscript.

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² Of whom Cunningham, Oldenberg, Barua, Charpentier may be mentioned.

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