An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c8.s2.t2: B. The Mahāyāna.

An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c8.s2.t2

Language: English

B. The Mahāyāna.

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§ 123. These movements, coupled with new ideas and practices which had been gaining ground in the old sects for two centuries, found their culmination in the creation of a new Buddhism called the Mahāyāna, or great vehicle, in contrast with the old Buddhism, which was depreciated as the Hīnayāna, or small vehicle.¹ The Mahāyāna is, on one side, the acute Hinduizing of Buddhism, the on the other, the humanizing of the old discipline, so as to make Buddhism more suitable for the cultured Indian layman and for the men of many races now crowding into the community. The rise of this system is probably to be placed in the reign of Kanishka (perhaps A.D. 78-123), towards the end of the first and the beginning of the second century; for all tradition points to that time, and many Mahāyāna texts were translated into Chinese before A. D. 170.¹

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¹ It is probable that Hīnayāna was originally used with reference to Arhatship, the mode of individual salvation, as opposed to Bodhisattvaship, the plan for the salvation of many.

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¹ Nanjio, Cols. 381-3.

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The vast literature created by the Mahāyāna does not survive as a definite Canon in the original tongues. Portions of it have been found in Nepal² and fragments elsewhere; but for our knowledge of the mass of the books we have to have recourse to the Chinese³ and Tibetan⁴ Canons.

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² See especially Mitra, *Nepalese Buddhist Literature*.

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³ Bunyiu Nanjio, *A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka*.

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⁴ *ERE*. VII. 785, 789; Feer, *Analyse du Kandjour*, Annales du Musée Guimet, II.

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a. The Full Mahāyāna.

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§ 124. There are two distinct Mahāyāna systems to be recognized at this time. The first may be called the full Mahāyāna, as it contains all the features of the new Buddhism. They may be summed up under three heads:

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A. Devotion. Mahayanists recognize that there are innumerable Buddhas, each in his own world, and innumerable Bodhisattvas, the most advanced of which live in the heavens. Buddhas and advanced Bodhisattvas are fit objects of devotion, and devotion brings its rich rewards. One result of this change was that the Buddhas, though they were still thought of as being in nirvāṇa, were regarded as responding in some way to the devotion showered upon them. Their personality and activity consequently became more distinct, until they were thought of almost like Hindu gods. We must recognize here a distinct change in the conception of nirvāṇa.⁵ Thus in that most orthodox Mahāyāna book, the *Saddharma Puṇḍarīka*, Gautama is made almost an eternal being of omnipotent power, who from time to time descends to earth, like Viṣṇu, to be born in the world of the living. Similarly those Bodhisattvas who are drawing near the stage of final enlightenment are now regarded as mighty divinities living in the heavens, helping men, and actually declining to enter nirvāṇa in order that they may help men the more.

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⁵ Thomas, *Buddhist Scriptures*, 15.

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The Mahayanists created a showy worship, with processions, music, and incense; and a rich liturgy was prepared for each Buddha. The monks took charge of the cult; so that the old chaitya became a temple and the monk a priest.

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B. The Bodhisattva Life.¹

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¹ Poussin, *ERE.* art. ‘Bodhisattva’, and VIII. 33 f.; *Opinions*, 275 ff.

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The monk of the Hīnayāna sought to become an *arhat*, a man who, by a life of asceticism and meditation in obedience to the precepts of the Buddha, has reached the nirvāṇa of the extinction of all desire; but he regarded himself as a mere pupil, following the directions of the omniscient Buddha, and never dreamt of becoming a Buddha himself. The Mahāyāna now declared that, to reach real release, it was necessary to acquire the perfections and the omniscience of the Buddhas, and that, though the upward struggle would take an incalculable number of ages, the goal was within the reach of every human being. Each person, man or woman, was therefore exhorted to take at once the vow to become a Buddha; and the assurance was given that the power of that vow was sufficient to bear them through the innumerable births and serious sufferings which lay before them. If they began a life of active benevolence, and sought to rouse within themselves the desire to save all creatures, they would pass through the ten stages (*bhūmis*) of the career. Since the end was certain, each person who took the vow at once became a Bodhisattva, one destined to become a Buddha. The influence of the Jātakas, which contain narratives of numerous acts of incredible self-sacrifice done by Gautama in his earlier births, is very manifest in the new conception. Since Gautama was believed to have lived as a householder for countless lives, celibacy was not a necessary element of the discipline. Neophyte Bodhisattvas, both men and women, were encouraged to marry, but they were allowed to acquire merit by living the monastic life for a time, if they cared to do so. On the other hand, the Mahāyāna prohibited the eating of flesh.

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C. The Mahāyāna Philosophy of Vacuity.¹ The early denial of the existence of the ego and the Sautrāntika doctrine, that the ego consists of an endless series of infinitesimal moments, led to the formulation of the doctrine that there is no real existence, that all things are but appearance, and are in truth empty. This is the famous doctrine of śūnyatā, Vacuity. The young Bodhisattva cannot see the truth of this doctrine, but in the course of his progress to Buddhahood he will come to realize it; for it is the sum of the wisdom of all the Buddhas.

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¹ ERE. art. ‘Madhyamaka’.

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§ 125. A large literature was produced by this school during our period. Amongst these works is one of the greatest of Buddhist books, the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka,² ‘The Lotus’, or, as we should say, ‘The Rose of the True Religion’. The book probably appeared towards the end of the first or the beginning of the second century,³ but six of the chapters of the work as it has come down to us (xxi-xxvi) are of later origin. The original work contains the whole Mahāyāna system. The most noteworthy element is the way in which Gautama the Buddha is represented. According to the old teaching, he has gone to nirvāṇa and can no longer have any relations with the world of men. Here he is represented practically as an omnipotent God, whose life is limitless before and after, in whose hands are the universe and all creatures, who dwells continually in infinite glory. It is true he also teaches the Buddha-laws, but his birth, life, teaching, and death are but an appearance, and his passing away into nirvāṇa is but a device to lead men to accept the Buddha-laws. The influence of the Vedānta and of the Gītā are very prominent here. The conception of Kṛṣṇa-Viṣṇu as the Supreme is adapted to Buddhist conceptions. Many of the titles are borrowed unchanged, Supreme Spirit, Self-existent, Great Father, World-Father, Ruler of the Triple World, Creator, Destroyer, Physician. He is Everlasting, All-knowing, All-seeing. He wields magic power, *māyā*, which he uses in sport, *līlā*. He is repeatedly born in the world of the living. When men become unbelieving, he appears in this world to save. Yet, although Buddha in the *Lotus* is practically the Supreme, the language is so carefully guarded throughout that Prof. Poussin can say, ‘There is not a single word in the *Lotus* which is not capable of an orthodox, i. e. “atheist” interpretation.’¹ The work had large influence in India, whence it passed to China and Japan, and later to Nepal. It is the most popular of all Buddhist books in Japan to-day.

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² ERE. art. ‘Lotus of True Law’; Winternitz, II. i. 230-8; Kern, SBE. xxi.

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³ Winternitz puts it about A. D. 200; Poussin in the first century, Opinions, 259.

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¹ *ERE.* VIII. 145.

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§ 126. The philosophic doctrine of Vacuity was taught in a large number of books, short and long, called the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras,² i.e. ‘the sūtras of the wisdom-perfections’ of the Buddhas. Of these the *Daśasāhasrika Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra*,³ i.e. the ‘Ten-thousand-line Sūtra’, belongs to our period. This work also describes the ten stages (*bhūmis*) of the Bodhisattva career. The chapter called *Daśabhūmika*⁴ interpolated into the *Mahāvastu* probably comes from this time also.

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² Nanjio, cols. 1 to 8; *ERE.* IV. 838; VIII. 235.

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³ Nanjio, col. 381; also no. 5.

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⁴ See § 119.

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§ 127. Aśvaghosha⁵ was born of Brāhman parents, but became a Buddhist, first of the Sarvāstivādin school, but finally of the Mahāyāna. His splendid genius proved of signal service to Buddhism; for he is a most notable figure in Sanskrit literature, and one of the greatest of the predecessors of Kālidāsa. He was equally distinguished in epic, dramatic, and lyric poetry. His greatest work is the *Buddhacharita*, an epic poem on the life of Buddha. Part of it is lost, yet enough remains to show his genius and his art. In its delineation of the life and work of the Buddha, it scarcely goes beyond the Pāli Canon, but in freshness and power it stands altogether on another level, the work of a true poet. A second epic, the *Saundarānanda-Kāvya*, which deals with a number of scenes and incidents connected with the life of Buddha, also survives. The *Sūtrālaṃkāra*, of which a Chinese version and a few fragments in Sanskrit are extant, is a collection of avadānas, i.e. Buddhist legends told in mingled prose and verse, the style in common use then for artistic romances. A large number of these stories are old, many are new, but all are graced and heightened by Aśvaghosha’s charm. There are two philosophical works ascribed to him, the *Vajrasūchī*, i.e. the ‘Diamond-needle’, and the *Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra*, the ‘Mahāyāna-faith-awakening Treatise’, but serious doubts as to his authorship of both works still remain.

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⁵ *ERE.* art. ‘Aśvaghosha’; *SBE.* xlix; Winternitz, II. i. 201; H.P. Śāstrī, *JASB.* 1909, 47; Nanjio, col. 369.

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§ 128. Nāgārjuna,¹ a Brāhman convert, who became the greatest authority on Mahāyāna Buddhism, is regarded as a younger contemporary of Aśvaghosha in Buddhist tradition; and modern scholars are inclined to place his activity in the latter half of the second century. His chief service was to think out the new doctrine of Vacuity. In those days a philosopher embodied his teaching in a series of aphorisms, either in prose (*sūtras*) or in verse (*kārikās*), and expounded them in a commentary. Nāgārjuna’s work is in verse, and, as the system is called the middle teaching, Mādhyamaka, the book is known as the *Mādhyamaka-kārikās*. The system is called Mādhyamaka because its leading idea, ‘All things are empty’, takes the middle course between existence and non-existence. Two distinct kinds of truth must be recognized, apparent truth, *saṃvṛitisatya*, and real truth, *paramārthasatya*.² The world appears to be real, but the appearance is an illusion, as empty as a dream; yet we must live in it and in practice take it as real. The actual truth, that all things are empty, seems to us to be folly, but it is the final truth of the world; and when we rise to the wisdom of the Buddhas, we shall see its truth. Thus we need not hope to find the truth by intellectual activity, but must strive to hear the silence which is neither affirmation nor denial. Thus the Mādhyamaka philosopher has no system; he has only a method. The doctrine is thus a guarded nihilism, a faith in the emptiness of all things which does not profess to see the truth of what it believes, but holds hard by its faith, while it frankly lives on that which it declares to be illusion. The early Prajñā texts, and a number of other works are said to be by Nāgārjuna. An extraordinary mass of legends gathered round his head.

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¹ Winternitz, II. i. 250-4; *ERE*. IV. 838; VIII. 235, 336.

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² Poussin, *Opinions*, 189 *n.* 1.

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b. The Paradise Mahāyāna.

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§ 129. The second type of Mahāyāna doctrine is of a much simpler nature and may be described as the Paradise Mahāyāna.¹ It does not trouble to teach the doctrine of Vacuity, nor does it impose on its followers the long ages of discipline which are required for the career of the Bodhisattva. Every person may easily make certain of being born in his next birth in the Western Paradise, where under the fostering care of a great Buddha named Amitābha he will live for ever in joy and will reach final perfection. One of the chief texts of this school, the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha,² or ‘Description of the Land of Bliss’, was translated into Chinese before A.D. 170, and thus belongs to our period. In this book we hear of many hundred thousands of millions of Buddhas, and amongst them of one named Amitābha, ‘measureless light’, who lives and reigns in Sukhāvatī, a Paradise of glory and bliss far away to the West, beyond the limits of the world where Gautama lives. When this new Buddha was but a monk, he vowed and toiled for this Western Paradise, and prayed that he might never obtain the highest perfect knowledge, unless it should be possible for all creatures to be born in that Land of Bliss and there reach perfection, wisdom, perfect joy, and release. All has now been realized. Amitābha reigns in the wonderful land of bliss, and whoever struggles forward, seeking to make good karma, praying faithfully, worshipping Amitābha with deep devotional feeling, and uttering his name, will be born in that Western Paradise and will live in bliss for ever. A very large part of the book is given to descriptions of the beauties and pleasures of Sukhāvatī.

Cites (10)

Mahāvastu — Sanskrit
Saundarananda — Aśvaghoṣa, Sanskrit
*Buddhacarita — Sanskrit
Daśabhūmikasūtra — Sanskrit
Daśasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā — Sanskrit
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā — Nāgārjuna, Sanskrit
Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra — Sanskrit
Bhagavadgītā — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra — Sanskrit
Vajrasūci (Siddhācārya Ghoshapāda) — Siddhācārya Ghoshapāda, Sanskrit