Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c41.2

v2.c41.2

It is only in the *Aṭṭhakathās*¹ and the Ceylonese chronicles that we get an acccount of the third Buddhist Council held during the reign of Aśoka. The omission of this Council in the Chinese and Tibetan accounts, in other words, in the texts of the non-Theravāda sects, signifies that it was a sectarian affair, for which it was ignored by all sects except the Theravādins, to be more precise, Theravāda-Vibhajjavāda sect of Ceylon.² It is rather remarkable that Hiuen Tsiang or Itsing also has not referred to it though both have mentioned the names of different sects and the spheres of their influence.³ V. A. Smith (*Early History of India*, 3rd ed., p. 161) dismisses the account of the Ceylonese chronicles as fictitious on account of the fact that it is not mentioned in the Aśokan Pillar edicts. Prof. Kern has doubts about the actual session of the Council, and he thinks that if the Council was at all held, it was only a party meeting. Mrs. Rhys Davids regards the traditional account of the Council as something quite different from what actually took place. In her opinion the Piṭaka was revised by eight monks and not by a thousand, and the expulsion of monks was carried out after the session of the Council. Dr. Thomas is also inclined to take the account of the Council as an invention of the Ceylonese writers.¹ The traditional account of the Council may not be pure history but the circumstances which led to the Council appear to have a historical basis. The breach between the Theravādins and the Mahāsanghikas took place in the Second Buddhist Council,² and it grew wider and wider till it became almost impossible for the two sects to live together in the same Āvāsa. The controversies recorded in the Kathāvatthu have been corroborated by Vasumitra, Bhavya and others,³ hence their authenticity cannot be denied. The main business of the Council was the refutation of the doctrines of the more important non-Theravāda schools from the standpoint of the Theravādins. In the Second Buddhist Council the disciplinary rules only were taken exception by the orthodox party, and in this Council interpretation of the doctrines was challenged. From the Nikāya-saṅgraha we learn that the Mahāsanghikas did not pay heed to the refutations and that they met together at Kosambī to confirm their own views. The refusal of the orthodox monks to hold Uposatha with the unorthodox monks appears to be authentic and was very likely the main cause for the session of the Council. After expelling the unorthodox monks, the Theravādins met together to establish the contentions of the Theravādins, and the result was the compilation of the Kathāvatthu, which might have been slightly smaller in extent than the present text.