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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s2.t8: Hīnayānic Speculations: (a) Whether Rūpakāya is Vipākaja?

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c7.s2.t8

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Hīnayānic Speculations: (a) Whether Rūpakāya is Vipākaja?

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The *Kośa* maintains that the *rūpakāya* of Buddha endowed with the major and minor signs is the result of the excellent karmas of his previous lives. According to it, even the Buddhas cannot escape the effects of their karma. The schism created by Devadatta in the *saṅgha* is attributed to a deed in one of the previous lives of Śākyamuni. The *Vyākhyā* and the *Vibhāṣā* explain that it happened to Śākyamuni only, and not to the other Buddhas, because in one of his former lives he sowed dissension among the disciples of an ascetic, possessed of five *abhijñās*.³ The Buddhas enjoy or suffer the effects of karma is also maintained by the *Divyāvadāna*⁴ and the *Majjhima Nikāya*.⁵ The *Divyāvadāna* refers to a saying of Śākyamuni that even the Jinas themselves are not free from their karmas, while the *Majjhima Nikāya* says that a Tathāgata performs good deeds in his previous lives, and as a result of these he enjoys in the present, pure and pleasant sensations (vedanā) only. Tradition says that when Buddha was hurt by the splinter of stone thrown by Devadatta, he said that ninety-one kalpas ago he had hurt a person by a spear, as the result of which evil deed, he now received a wound.

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³ *Kośa*, VII, 34, p. 8 fn., 84; IV, 102, p. 212 fn. 2.

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⁴ *Divyā.*, p. 416.

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⁵ *Majjhima*, III, p. 227.

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The *Milindapañha*, however, takes a different view of this matter. Admitting that Devadatta created a schism in the saṅgha, it says that as the schism was not created by any act of Buddha's own and as it was caused by an external influence, it should not be said that Buddha as the result of his *karma* had a divided assembly (bhejjapariso). In a similar way it explains away the wound or the illnesses from which Buddha suffered. First it asserts that Buddha attained omniscience after uprooting all roots of evil (akusalamūlas); so he could not have any more sufferings through *karma*. It then says that apart from *karma* there are other causes like the three humours, seasons, etc., which produce vedanā (feelings). According to it, the wound that Buddha received was due to an opakammika (accidental) cause and his illnesses to causes other than *karma*.¹

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¹ Mil., pp. 134f.

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