Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s2.t5.10

c5.s2.t5.10

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.