The History of Buddhist Thought c21.6

c21.6

The most important developments of doctrine which took place between the time of Asoka and the beginning of the Christian era were concerned with the nature of a Buddha. It was also within this period that the new metaphysical speculations must have begun, but these form a separate problem. The chief schools that have to be considered in connection with the new buddhological doctrines are the Theravādins, the Mahāsanghikas, and the Sarvāstivādins. Of these the Sarvāstivādins are the most important. Their chief seat was at Mathurā, but they extended up to the northwest as far as Kashmir. They broke up into schools, all closely related, and their differences appear to have been mainly due to the development of slightly varying traditions in the separate centres of their activity. The Theravādins, so far as they are known in India, must have existed in Magadha, and probably also along the route to the south past Kosambī (the capital of the Vatsas or Vaṃsas), and Ujjenī. The Mahāsanghikas also existed in Magadha, but when we come down to the historical period, we find the holders of their doctrines established in South India. Mr. Matsumoto treats the Sarvāstivādins as a mere branch of the Theravādins, and it is certain that at some period this must have been the case. But separation by mere extent of distance made independent growth inevitable. Their study of Abhidharma was systematized in their own compositions, and they developed the rest of their Scriptures independently in their Vinaya legends and avadānas. It is here that we find the new doctrines appearing which were to transform the older ideal of arahatship, and were to form the central motive for later theories concerning Buddhas and aspirants to Buddhahood. The Mahāsanghikas developed another side of buddhology which led to a kind of docetism.