Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s2.t8.1

c7.s2.t8.1

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.