Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s7.20

c6.s7.20

Then, after some time when Buddha had some disciples with more developed mental powers, the ontological doctrines found in the *Prajñāpāramitās* and such other works were preached. Both the traditions support the view that both the forms of teaching were delivered by Buddha within the space of forty years. The Tibetan traditions go further and state that Śākyamuni delivered his instructions on the *Prajñāpāramitā* sixteen years after the attainment of bodhi, i.e., in the fifty-first year of his age while he was dwelling on the Gṛdhrakūṭa mountain, and add that they were compiled by Kāśyapa.¹ Any one who examines the style of writing and the nature of the doctrinal and other matters discussed in the *Gaṇḍavyūha*, an old treatise of the *Avataṃsaka* class, can have little doubt about the posteriority of this class of literature not only to the Hīnayāna *Āgamas* or the *Nikāyas*, but also to the *Prajñāpāramitās*. Considering, for instance, the conception of the lokadhātus or the account of the existence of Buddhism in the south of India as found in the *Gaṇḍavyūha*, its composition cannot but be relegated to a time much later than the *Prajñāpāramitās*.²