Different Schools of Buddhism Dr. Sweta Assistant Professor Department of History Jamuni Lal College ,Hajipur Important Buddhist Writers A)Asvaghosha :Author of the ‘Buddhacharita’ in Sanskrit. Contemporary of Kanishka . He was a poet ,dramatist ,musician ,scholar ,and debater. B)Nagarjuna :He is considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka School of Mahayana Buddhism.He was a friend and contemporary of Satvahana King Gautamiputra of Andhra. C)Asanga or Vasubandhu :Two brothers who flourished in the Punjab region in the 4th century CE .Asanga was the most important teacher of Yogachara or Vjinanavada school founded by his guru ,Maitreyanath. Vasubandhu’s greatest work ,Abhidharmokosa ,is still considered an important encyclopaedia of Buddhism D)Buddhaghosha :He lived in the 5th century and was a great Pali scholar .His best known work is the Visuddhimagga ‘Path of Purification’. E)Dinnaga :The Last mighty intellectual of the 5th century so well known as the founder of the Buddhist logic. F)Dharmakirti :He lived in the 7th century AD ;and was another great Buddhist logician ,a subtle Philosophical thinker and 2 dialectician. Hinayan Mahayan Vajrayana A)Literally means A)Literally means A)Literally means ‘the Lesser Path’ ‘The Greater Path’. ‘Vehicle of Thunderbolt’ and Theravada The terms Mahayana or ‘Diamond Vehicle’ is signifies ‘Doctrine and Hinayana were also referred to as : of the Elders’. given by the Mantrayana,Tantrayana Mahayana School. , Tantric ,Or Esoteric Buddhism . It marks the transition from Mahayana speculative thought to the enactment of Buddhist ideas in Individual life . 3 Hinayana Mahayana Vajrayana B)It is considered B)It is the It was a form of Buddhism the orthodox heterodox school which appeared in eastern school and to be of Buddhist India in the eighth century Truer to Gautama Philosophy .It and was finally established Buddha’s originated later in Tibet in the 11th century , teachings than than Hinayana .It as a result of a mission sent Mahayana . has 2 chief from the area Vajrayana Theravada was Philosophical monastery of vikramshila . the original schools :the The ‘Two truths Doctrine’ is school of Madhyamika and the central concept of the Buddhist Yogachara . Vajrayana Practice Path and Philosophy . lays down the Philosophical basis for it’s methods . 4 Hinayana Mahayana Vajrayana C)It’s C)It’s The Vajrayana text use a highly scriptures are scriptures are symbolic language ‘samdhya- in Pali ,the in Sanskrit ,the bhasa’ or Twilight languege that language of language .Vajrayana attempts Buddha taught Indian to recapture the ellightmant in scholasticism . experience of the historical Buddha. 5 Thank Yo 6.