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Sects & Sectarianism Sects & Sectarianism Also by Bhikkhu Sujato through Santipada A History of Mindfulness How tranquillity worsted insight in the Pali canon Beginnings There comes a time when the world ends… Bhikkhuni Vinaya Studies Research & reflections on monastic discipline for Buddhist nuns A Swift Pair of Messengers Calm and insight in the Buddha’s words Dreams of Bhaddā Sex. Murder. Betrayal. Enlightenment. The story of a Buddhist nun. White Bones Red Rot Black Snakes A Buddhist mythology of the feminine SANTIPADA is a non-profit Buddhist publisher. These and many other works are available in a variety of paper and digital formats. http://santipada.org Sects & Sectarianism The origins of Buddhist schools BHIKKHU SUJATO SANTIPADA SANTIPADA Buddhism as if life matters Originally published by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Education Foundation, Taiwan, 2007. This revised edition published in 2012 by Santipada. Copyright © Bhikkhu Sujato 2007, 2012. Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia You are free to Share​—​to copy, distribute and transmit the work under the follow- ing conditions: Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. With the understanding that: Waiver​—​Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Other Rights​—​In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license: o Your fair dealing or fair use rights; o The author’s moral rights; o Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights. Notice​—​For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. ISBN: 978–1–9218420–8–5 Typeset in Gentium using LuATEX. Cover image kindly made available by Kirk Dunne: http://kirkdunne.com/blog/?attachment_id=135 The Sangha of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis has been made unified. As long as my children and grandchildren shall live, and as long as the sun and the moon shall shine, any bhikkhu or bhikkhuni who divides the Sangha shall be made to wear white clothes and dwell outside the monasteries. What it is my wish? That the unity of the Sangha should last a long time. ​—​King Aśoka, Minor Pillar Edict, Sāñchī Contents Foreword 1 Abstract 7 0.1 The Early Period (BCE) 7 0.2 The Middle Period (CE) 9 0.3 Comparing pre-CE & post-CE evidence 12 0.4 The Mahāvihāravāsins 12 0.5 The Dharmaguptakas 14 0.6 The Mūlasarvāstivādins 15 1 The ‘Unity Edicts’ 17 1.1 Schism & unity 18 1.2 Aśoka & unity 22 1.3 The Third Council 24 1.4 What were the heretics teaching? 26 1.5 Aśoka in the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya? 31 2 The Saints of Vedisa 34 2.1 Gotiputa 36 2.2 Mogaliputa 39 2.3 Vāchiputa 41 3 The Dīpavaṁsa 44 3.1 The heresy of grammar 50 3.2 The Sri Lankan context 54 3.3 Was Buddhaghosa a Theravādin? 59 4 Monster or Saint? 65 4.1 Vasumitra’s Samayabhedoparacanacakra 66 4.2 Bhavya’s Nikāyabhedavibhaṅgavyakhyāna 68 4.3 Śāripūtraparipṛcchā 72 4.4 Xuan-zang’s Records of the Western Lands 78 4.5 Kuei Chi 79 5 Three Sins & Five Theses 80 5.1 Which Mahādeva? 90 5.2 The five heresies 92 5.3 ‘Outflows’ 94 5.4 Dhamma or Vinaya? 99 6 More on the Vibhajjavādins 101 6.1 The Kathāvatthu 103 6.2 Later Mahāvihāravāsin sources 106 6.3 What does ‘Vibhajjavāda’ mean? 108 7 Vibhajjavāda vs. Sarvāstivāda? 113 7.1 The early controversies 115 7.2 What schism? 118 8 Dharmagupta: the Greek missions 120 8.1 Dharmaguptaka & ‘Moggallāna’ 125 8.2 Dhammarakkhita: some other stories 129 8.3 Dharmaguptaka texts & doctrines 130 9 The Mūlasarvāstivādins of Mathura 134 9.1 Mathura in the Suttas 137 9.2 Mathura & schism 139 9.3 Soṇaka & Sāṇaka 141 9.4 The dragons of Kaśmīr 144 A Chronology 150 B Asoka & the First Schism 153 Bibliography 158 Sectarian Views on the Schools Mahāsaṅghika Theravāda Dīpavaṁsa Śāriputraparipṛcchā The Mahāsaṅghika school diligently These 17 sects are schismatic, study the collected Suttas and teach only one sect is non-schismatic. the true meaning, because they are With the non-schismatic sect, the source and the center. They wear there are eighteen in all. yellow robes. Like a great banyan tree, The Dharmaguptaka school master the Theravāda is supreme, the flavor of the true way. They are guides for the benefit of all. Their way The Dispensation of the Conqueror, of expression is special. They wear complete, without lack or excess. red robes. The other sects arose The Sarvāstivāda school quickly gain like thorns on the tree. unobstructed knowledge, for the (Dīpavaṁsa 4.90–91) Dhamma is their guide. They wear black robes. The Kaśyapīya school are diligent and energetic in guarding sentient beings. They wear magnolia robes. The Mahīśāsaka school practice jhana, and penetrate deeply. They wear blue robes. (T24, № 1465, p. 900, c12–18) FOREWORD These two quotes, each from essential texts, highlight two radically different perspectives on the Buddhist schisms.1 Are we to see the emerg- ing schools as a corruption of an originally pure unity, or as unique un- foldings of the potential of the Dhamma? My own belief is that both of these perspectives are likely to contain some truth, and yet neither of them contains the whole truth. 2 If we reflect on the issues that divided the schools, we find much that is reminiscent of contemporary Buddhist dialogue. It is a shame that the complex and profound history of Buddhist thought is reduced to the facile dismissal of other schools simply because they disagree with the interpre- tation of one’s own chosen party. As much as we would like to imagine that all the answers are wrapped up, the nature of philosophy is such that the basic issues that generated schools of thought remain, and reappear in varied guises in discussions within the school itself. 3 For example, the Mahāsaṅghika’s basic thesis was the transcendental nature of the Buddha. We might regard some of the extremes of this view with amusement​—​such as the idea that dirt never clings to the Buddha’s body, but he washes it in conformity with everyday usage​—​but it address a genuine Buddhist concern: how do we conceive of the nature of Buddha- hood, so intensely human yet so totally beyond our lives of anxiety and fear? This is a live issue within Theravāda Buddhism even today. While the official (read ‘rationalist, modernist, middle class’) position is that 1 The Śāriputraparipṛcchā’s claims about the robe colors of the various schools need not be taken literally. 2 Sects & Sectarianism the Buddha was ‘just’ a perfected human, the devotional perspective of ordinary Theravādins sees him as something quite other. 4 Similarly, the Sarvāstivādins taught a philosophical realism that tended to treat external objects as ‘existing’ in and of themselves, so that even an abstract relation like ‘possession’ comes to be considered as a real sub- stance.This comes across as naïve, but in shaping their philosophy they show a consciousness of a fundamental problem of metaphysics: if we al- low the ‘existence’ of one thing it becomes difficult to deny the existence of everything. So the Sarvāstivādins considered that the past and the future ‘exist’ in exactly the same sense as the present. The Sarvāstivādins were perfectly aware that this appeared to flaunt the fundamental Buddhist axiom of impermanence. But they were trying to explain impermanence based not on ontology, but on causal efficacy: the present ‘exists’ just as the past and future ‘exist’, but the present is distinguished in that it is operative or functional. To invoke a modern analogy, compare this with the buttons on the word processing document I’m typing; they all ‘exist’, but only become operative when I hover the cursor above them: that mo- ment is the ‘present’. We may question the exact formulation of this idea, but we should do so as the Sarvāstivādins themselves did, that is, within a Buddhist context, seeking the best way to articulate Buddhist truths. We would need to address the same question faced by the Sarvāstivādins: if all is impermanent, what is there that connects the past, future, and present? This question is much more than an abstract musing.In a devotional reli- gion like Buddhism, it is crucial in forming our emotional attitude towards our beloved Teacher, so present in our consciousness, yet so remote in time.Theravādins, despite the stern official doctrine of radical momentari- ness, still popularly treat the Buddha as somehow still existing, resulting in an uneasy dichotomy between the official and the popular perspectives. The Sarvāstivādin approach would allow a less fractured understanding throughout the community, which might be one reason behind its extraor- dinary success in ancient India. 5 As another example, the Puggalavādins took their stand on the thesis that there exists a ‘person’ who is neither identical with nor separate from the five aggregates that make up our empirical reality. This ‘person’ is indescribable, but is not the ‘self’ of the non-Buddhist theorists. It is this Foreword 3 ‘person’ which experiences the fruit of kamma and which attains libera- tion.The Puggalavādins were not blind to the difficulties in reconciling this theory with the teaching of ‘not-self’. Quite the opposite; their main philosophical efforts went into a sophisticated articulation of how the ‘person’ was in fact the correct understanding of ‘not-self’.
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