Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c30.23

v2.c30.23

Tāranātha as well as Bu-ston speak of the successor of Nanda as his son Mahāpadma, who, they state, was devoted to Buddhism and furnished the monks at Kusumapura with all their necessities of life.⁶ They further state that Vararuci and Pāṇini, who were his father’s ministers, continued to be his ministers, but Vararuci was hated and ultimately killed by him. As an atonement for the sin of killing a brāhmaṇa, 24 monasteries were erected by him. During his reign, Tāranātha states, Sthiramati, a disciple of Nāga,¹ caused further divisions in the Saṅgha by propagating his teacher’s propositions.