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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t4: Propagation

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c5.s2.t4

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Propagation

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The efforts of the various schools to propagate their particular faith met with success, as is evidenced by the early stone monuments of India. Every school no doubt increased the number of its adherents and we have evidence of this in some of the inscriptions, belonging to a period little later than that with which we are here concerned. These inscriptions are records of gifts made specially to a particular school ³. But along with these we find inscriptions in which no particular sect is mentioned, but gifts are made for the benefit of the saṅgha of the four regions (cāturdiśa saṅgha).¹ This shows clearly that the devotees might have had faith in the tenets of one of the schools but they supported all the schools, i.e., Buddhism in general. As the dates of these inscriptions do not help us much with regard to the period under review, we have to confine ourselves to the scanty evidence yielded by the few works, whose dates of composition might be a little later, but which may be regarded as yielding materials for this period.

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³ E.g. Lüder's List, Nos. 1105, 1107.

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¹ E.g. Lüder's List, Nos. 1099, 1107.

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We have seen from the Nikāyas that early Buddhism was confined to the central belt of India from Aṅga to Avanti, claiming also a few adherents from the distant countries of the north and the south.² The account of the distribution of relics as given in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta in its Pāli and Tibetan versions³ gives a fairly correct idea of the spread of Buddhism towards the beginning of the first period. The people who shared the relics were the Licchavis of Vesālī, Sākyas of Kapilavatthu, Bulis of Allakappa, Koliyas of Rāmagāma, Brāhmaṇas of Veṭhadīpa, Mallas of Pāvā and Kusinārā, Moriyas of Pipphalivana, and the people of Magadha. The places mentioned are all in eastern India. The only place mentioned outside the eastern territory is Gandhārapura where a tooth of Buddha is said to have been enshrined.⁴ This is, as the commentator points out, a later addition; in any case, the people of Gandhārapura did not share in the relics. A further hint about the spread of Buddhism in the first period is furnished by the boundaries of the Majjhima-janapada as given in the Mahāvagga of the Vinaya.⁵ The boundaries are as follows: Kajaṅgala nigama in the east, next to the Mahāsālā forest, the river Sallavatī on the south-east, Setakaṇṇika nigama on the south, Thūna brāhmaṇagāma on the west and Usīra pabbata on the north. According to this account, Avantidakkhiṇāpatha is a paccantima-janapada (border country) and so also the country in the east beyond Kajaṅgala, which is identified with Bhagalpur.² The Divyāvadāna³ preserves this tradition replacing only the eastern boundary Kajaṅgala by Puṇḍravardhana. If Puṇḍravardhana be identified with a place in North Bengal, the Divyāvadāna shows a slight extension of the eastern boundary. The only other name in this account that deserves attention is the Usiradhaja of the Mahāvagga and Usīragiri of the Divyāvadāna. We know of an Usira mountain situated near Mathurā,⁴ and Tāranātha also tells us that Upagupta, the famous monk of Mathurā and preceptor, according to the Sarvāstivāda tradition, of Aśoka, lived there for three years before going to Kashmir after leaving Vārāṇasī.⁵ So it is apparent that Mathurā, a stronghold of the Sarvāstivādins, was included in the Majjhima-janapada.

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² See for details, Early History, etc., pp. 92, 137ff., 155, 169ff; Dr. E. J. Thomas, Life of the Buddha, Map.

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³ Dīgha, II, p. 167; As. Res., XX, p. 316.

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⁴ Dīgha, II, p. 167.

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⁵ Mv., I, p. 197; Jāt., I, 49; Divyā., p. 21.

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² For the identification of the boundaries of the Majjhima-janapada see S. N. Majumdar's Intro. to Cunningham's Geography, p. xliii.

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³ Divyā., p. 21: Puṇḍravardhana on the east; Sarāvatī on the south; Sthūṇopasthūṇaka brāhmaṇagrāmas on the west; and Usīragiri on the north.

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⁴ Watters' Yuan Chwang, I, p. 308.

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⁵ Tāra., pp. 10, 13.

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From the accounts of the Vesāli Council also, as given in the Cullavagga⁶ and in the Vinayas of the Sarvāstivāda and Dharmagupta schools, it seems that the horizon of Buddhism, even at the beginning of the second century after the rise of Buddhism, did not extend far. The geographical information that can be derived from this account is as follows: Yasa, the convener of the orthodox council of Vesāli came from Vesāli to Kosambi, and from Kosambi he sent messengers to the bhikkhus of Pātheyya and Avantidakkhiṇāpatha. Sambhūta Sāṇavāsi was at that time living on the Ahogaṅga mountain where assembled the sixty bhikkhus of Pātheyya and eighty bhikkhus of Avantidakkhiṇāpatha, all observers of Dhutaṅga precepts. Revata, who lived at Soreyya, passing through Saṅkassa, Kaṇṇakujja, Udumbara and Aggalapura, came to Sahajāti. Saḷha of Sahajāti found after deliberation that the Pātheyyaka bhikkhus were right, while the Pācīnaka bhikkhus were wrong. For the settlement of the disputed questions was formed a committee on which Sabbakāmi, Saḷha, Khujjasobhita and Vāsabhagāmika represented the Pācīnakas, and Revata, Sambhūta Sāṇavāsi, Yasa, and Sumana represented the Pātheyyakas. An important fact that should be noticed in this account is the division of monks into two sections, the Pācīnakas and the Pātheyyakas. The Pācīnakas indicated the easterners, of whom the Vesālians were the foremost; to this section belonged Sabbakāmi,¹ a disciple of Ānanda, and Saḷha, a distinguished monk of Sahajāti. The Pātheyyakas were the monks dwelling in Kosambi, Pātheyya and Avantidakkhiṇāpatha; to this section belonged Sambhūta Sāṇavāsi, an important figure in the traditions of both the Theravādins and the Sarvāstivādins, also Revata, an old bhikkhu of Soreyya, and Yasa, famous in connection with the Second Council.²

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¹ Mv., I, p. 197.

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⁶ Cv., XII, i, 7f. See Ind. Ant., 1908, Councils, etc.; Pag Sam Jon Zang, p. viii; for the Mahiśāsaka tradition, see Wassiljew's notes in the App. to Tāra., pp. 289-290.

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¹ According to the *Cv.* (xii, 21) he was then ordained 120 years, *i.e.*, he must have been more than 140 years old. *Pag Sam Jon Zang* (p. 81) refers to his taking part in the Second Council, which was held, according to it, under the auspices of Mahāpadma Nanda.

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² For details, see *I.A.*, 1908.

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