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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s2.t9: (b) Was Buddha a Jarāyuja or Upapāduka?

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c7.s2.t9

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(b) Was Buddha a Jarāyuja or Upapāduka?

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In order to remove doubt from the minds of the people as to the nature of the birth of so great and meritorious a being as the Bodhisattva in his last existence—a doubt expressed also in the *Lalitavistara*, where a ratnavyūha has been devised for the Bodhisattva's abode in his mother's womb—the *Kośa*² proceeds to show that the Bodhisattvas possess the power of choosing the manner of their birth (upapattivaśitva), and that Śākyamuni chose birth in a womb (jarāyu) with two objects. One was to benefit the Śākya clan and at the same time not to give opportunity to the people to consider him a magician or a god or a demon, and the other was to leave some relics of his body, by worshipping which men and other beings would go to heaven by thousands, or attain deliverance.

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² Kośa, III, 9.

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The Mahāsāṅghikas and their followers³ assert that Śākyamuni was an upapāduka (self-born), and that even his son Rāhula was also an upapāduka, for Bodhisattvas cannot have kāma. They assert that Bodhisattvas are possessed of ‘adhiṣṭhāniki ṛddhi’ (i.e., the power of appearing anywhere and in any form), and that by that power Śākyamuni made a seeming show of his existence in the womb of Māyā. They conceived Buddha as lokottara (transcendental), and Śākyamuni as only a phantom (Nirmāṇakāya). The transcendental Buddha has a rūpakāya which is limitless, everlasting, free from all sāsrava dharmas. He is always in samādhi,¹ never sleeps or dreams, and can know everything in an instant of thought. He knows neither fatigue nor rest, and is ever busy in enlightening sentient beings. His power and his life are limitless. For the benefit of sentient beings he appears at will in any one of the six gatis. Whatever he utters relates to the truth, though people may understand him differently. In short, the Mahāsānghikas conceived Buddha as a totally supermundane being with illimitable powers and knowledge, who never desired to attain Nirvāṇa.²

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³ E.g., the Vetulyakas.

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¹ Cf. Laṅkā., p. 240 : sadā samāhitāś ca tathāgatāḥ.

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² For details see Masuda's Origin and Doctrines of Early Indian Buddhist Schools, Asia Major, vol. II, fasc. I; Anesaki's article in the E.R.E., sv. Docetism (Buddhist); Suzuki's Outlines of Mahāyāna Buddhism, pp. 249-251. See also Kośa, III, 9 referring to Miu., I, pp. 145, 154.

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