Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c5.s3.t2.1

c5.s3.t2.1

The new Mahāyānic conception of *Śūnyatā* was for the first time propounded in the *Prajñāpāramitās* and therefore we should try to ascertain when the *Prajñāpāramitā* first came into existence. There is the Tibetan tradition that the Pūrvaśailas and Aparaśailas had a *Prajñāpāramitā* in the Prākṛt dialect;² unfortunately no other information about it is forthcoming. Tāranātha tells us that shortly after the time of King Mahāpadma Nanda, a king called Candragupta lived in Oḍivisa (Orissa).³ Mañjuśrī came to his house in the form of a bhikṣu and delivered the Mahāyāna teaching. The Sautrāntikas maintain that this teaching was the *Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā*, while the Tantra school asserts that it was the *Tattvasaṅgraha*.⁴ We may safely dismiss the Tantric tradition in view of the materials that are contained in the *Tattvasaṅgraha*,⁵ and attach importance to the Sautrāntika tradition that the *Aṣṭasāhasrikā* was the earliest text to contain the Mahāyāna teaching. If the contents of the *Aṣṭasāhasrikā*, the *Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā*, and the *Śatasāhasrikā* be compared, it will be seen that the *Aṣṭasāhasrikā* is