Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c33.s3.25

v2.c33.s3.25

Our main sources of information for the doctrines of the Mahāsanghikas and the Lokottaravādins are the *Mahāvastu*, *Kathāvatthu* and works of Vasumitra, Bhavya and Vinītadeva. In the *Mahāvastu*, the doctrines mentioned are essentially Hīnayānic in character, e.g., the four truths,¹ eightfold path,² theory of *pratītyasamutpāda*,³ impermanence of *skandhas*,⁴ non-existence of *ātman*,⁵ theory of *karma*,⁶ the *bodhipakṣiya-dharmas*, *bodhyangas* and so forth. The doctrines of *dharma-śūnyatā*, *trikāya*, the two *āvaraṇas* (*kleśa* and *jñeya*), the essentials of Mahāyānic doctrines receive little attention. The accounts of the four *caryās*,⁷ ten *bhūmis*,⁸ countless Buddhas and their *kṣetras* (spheres) appear more as interpolations than as integral parts of the original text.