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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t5: Traditions of Ācariyaparamparā

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c5.s2.t5

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Traditions of Ācariyaparamparā

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The traditions of the second council as preserved by the Theravādins and the Sarvāstivādins are the same,³ and as far as the succession of monks is concerned, there is also no disagreement. The Theravādins only refer to Sambhūta Sāṇavāsi as a member of the committee of the second council, while the Sarvāstivādins speak of him as the patriarch who succeeded Ānanda. The two traditions bifurcate after the second council, one speaking of the Asokan Council under the leadership of Moggaliputta Tissa, while the other ignores it, speaking of Upagupta as the religious adviser of Asoka, and dwelling at length on the Kaniskan Council at Jalandhara instead of the Asokan Council. This divergence of tradition is significant, and henceforth the history of Buddhism is no longer the history of one form of Buddhism but of many, principally of the three schools, Theravāda, Sarvāstivāda, and Mahāsānghika.¹ The Theravāda is pre-eminently a Vinaya school,² and though the Tibetan tradition ascribes to Kaccāyana its leadership,³ we may notice that Upāli as the compiler of the Vinaya was highly venerated by the Theravādins, and his connection with the Asokan Council is established through his disciples. It should be observed that though the Theravādins speak of the line of disciples (*ācariyaparamparā*) from Upāli or Sāriputta, there is no idea of patriarchal succession. In the *Majjhima Nikāya*⁴ it is expressly stated that in the Buddhist Sangha there is no recognised head. The Tibetan and Chinese traditions have, in fact, given currency to the idea of patriarchal succession. The *Atthasālinī* also gives us a list of ācariyas of the Abhidhammikas, tracing it from Sāriputta, which, however, is not worth credence.⁵ The traditions of the Theravādins and the Sarvāstivādins about the ācariyaparamparā of the first two centuries may be combined thus:—

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³ *I.A.*, 1908, pp. 4 ff; 89 ff.

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¹ Tāranātha (p. 44) refers also to Sthavira Vatsa who introduced the Ātmaka theory. He adds that Dhitika, who succeeded Upagupta, convened a council in the Puskarinī vihāra (of Maru Land) to suppress the Ātmaka theory of Vatsa and succeeded to convince the followers of Vatsa and, ultimately, the teacher himself of the untenability of the theory. This legend evidently refers to the Vātsīputrīyas or the Vajjiputtakas, from whom sprang the Sāmmitīyas who attained prominence during the rule of Harṣavardhana. See *Early History etc.*, pp. 297 ff.

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² *Early History etc.*, p. 211; Watters, *Yuan Chwang*, I, p. 302 referring to the Vinayists, (*i.e.*, the Theravadins) as worshipping Upāli.

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³ Wassiljew, *op. cit.*, p. 295., Eitel, *Handbook etc.*

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⁴ *Majjhima*, Sutta 108; see also Dutt, *Early Buddhist Monachism*, pp. 141 f.

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⁵ *Attha.*, p. 32: Ācariyaparamparā: Sāriputtathero Bhaddaji Sobhito Piyajāli Piyapālo Piyadassi Kosiyaputto Siggavo Sandeho Moggaliputto Visudatto Dhammiyo Dāsako Sonako Revato ti. (Then in Ceylon) Mahindo Iddhiyo Uttiyo Bhaddanāmo ca Sambalo.

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Mahākassapa Ananda Sāṇavāsika (teacher of Śrāvastī and its neighbourhood) Upagupta (Tirhut-Mathura: Religious adviser of Aśoka according to the Sarvāstivāda tradition) Dhitika (Converted at Mathura, visited or lived in Kasmir, Tukhāra, Kāmarūpa, and Mālava. His contemporary and converts were Menander and Hermaios) Sāriputta Bhaddaji Sobhita Madhyāntika (Benares-Usīra, and then teacher of Kasmir) Upāli Dāsaka (Vesali) Sonaka (Rājagaha) Siggava (Pāṭaliputra) Moggaliputta Tissa (Pāṭaliputra: Religious adviser of Asoka according to the Theravāda tradition) Nāgasena of Milindapañha (if Mināra of Tāranātha= Milinda of the Pāli text)

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As I have already remarked, we must not take ācariya-paramparā as patriarchal succession, nor should we attempt to calculate the duration of abbotship on the basis of an average period, as is usually done in connection with kings, for the Buddhist saints were generally long-lived, and there was no custom of a disciple succeeding his teacher. Moreover the ordination of disciples could have happened in the earliest or the latest part of a teacher's life. According to Tāranātha, Madhyāntika was ordained by Ānanda shortly before his death;¹ hence it is quite possible that he was a contemporary of both Sāṇavāsī and Upagupta, or of Dāsaka, Soṇaka, Siggava, and Moggaliputta. Reading the tradition in this way, and also observing the names of places, which were the centres of activity of the various bhikkhus, we may say that after the Council of Vesālī, the Sarvāstivādins attained more and more popularity and spread towards the north, having two important centres, one at Mathura with Upagupta as the chief teacher, and the other in Kasmir with Madhyāntika as the chief, the two centres having later on coalesced under the leadership of Dhitika, who, it seems, greatly extended the horizon of influence of the Sarvāstivāda school by pushing it eastward to Kāmarūpa, westward to Mālava, and north-westward to Tukhāra, the realm of Mināra and Imhasa. The Theravādins retained their seat in Magadha all along with a branch at Ujjeni, founded by Mahākaccāyana. Mahinda and Saṅghamittā,¹ it seems, were closely connected with the Ujjeni branch of the Theravāda school and propagated the same in Ceylon.

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¹ Tāra., p. 9.

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¹ It is noteworthy that with the ordination of Mahinda are associated the names of Majjhantika (very probably of Kasmir fame) and Mahādeva, the propagator of Buddhism in Mahiṣamaṇḍala along with Moggaliputta. See also *Early History* etc., pp. 260 ff.

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