The History of Buddhist Thought c28.s2.4

c28.s2.4

These nine are also included in an extended list of twelve *angas*, which have been quite arbitrarily called a *Mahāyāna* list. It is given in the *Mahāvyutpatti*, 62, and to the above list it adds *nidāna* and *avadāna* after *udāna*, and at the end *upadeśa*.¹ Also instead of *vedalla* it has *vaipulya*, which is placed after *jātaka*. As the *Mahāvyutpatti* contains much Sarvāstivāda material, it cannot be concluded that the list of twelve *angas* belongs to Mahāyāna. Several Mahāyāna works have lists of less than twelve. The *Lotus*, ii, 44 (p. 45), has a list of nine. So has the *Dharmasangraha* (62), and the *Kāraṇḍa-vyūha* has a list of ten and one of eleven. They all omit *avadāna*, which is a characteristic type of work of the Sarvāstivādins.