The Origin of
Mahᾱyᾱna
Bodhi Journal: 8th Issue (Jun, 2008) -
Early Mahayana Sutras by Scott Quyen Ngo
2012-06-03
Mahᾱyᾱna cannot be considered apart from what
came before it, so let us consider the events prior to the 1st
century B.C.E.
The Buddha was born around 600 B.C.E. After 6
years of arduous seeking, he attained enlightenment at the age of
35. He then devoted the rest of his 45 years for the edification of
beings. Three months after his parinibbᾱna (death and
final release), 500 enlightened monks convened at
Rājagaha,
India, to recite the entire body of his teachings in what is now
known as the 1st Buddhist Council, during which Upāli recited
the Vinaya
Rules [monastic rules] whilst Ānanda recited
the suttas [discourses]. According to Ānanda, before
passing into parinibbᾱna, the Buddha
told him the monastic Order could abolish minor rules if it saw
fit. However, Ānanda was so distraught at the time it did not occur
to him to ask what rules they were. Thus, the leading monk, Ven
Mahᾱkāssapa,
adjudicated the rules should be best left
unchanged.
The 2nd Buddhist Council was held at Vesālī one
hundred years later. Then, due to some unresolved
controversial Vinaya
issues the first schism resulted in
that some monks left to form the Mahāsaṅghika (the traditionalist school were known
as the Sthaviravāda). By the time of the 3rd Buddhist Council,
convened by King Aśoka in the third century B.C.E at
Pāṭaliputra,
there were at least eighteen schools with its own doctrines. The
two dominated schools at the Council were the Vibhajyavādins and
the Sarvāstivādins, the Council favoured the former. Subsequently
King Aśoka sent missionaries to Sri Lanka, led by his son, Ven.
Mahinda, with the teachings of the Vibhajyavādins which later
became known as Theravᾱda.
Some historians regard the
Mahāsaṅghika as the
progenitor of Mahᾱyᾱna. However, modern scholars have shown
that Mahᾱyᾱna did not result from schisms. The schisms that
did occur were the result of Vinaya [monastic
rules] rather than philosophical controversies. Paul Williams
examines an early Mahᾱyᾱna text, the Ajitasena-vyᾱkaraṇa-nirdeśa
Sūtra, finds that it shows no animosity towards
the previous tradition, and points out the very gradual development
of Mahᾱyᾱna. Popular support for
Mahᾱyᾱna cannot be documented until the 4th or
5th century C.E. Furthermore, it seems that monks who lived in the
same monasteries could have different doctrinal biases. Therefore,
it seems Mahᾱyᾱna is not so much as a distinct school of
Buddhism but a different religious motivation.
Mahᾱyᾱna texts were very open to lay religiosity
and women were very much part of the new
Mahᾱyᾱna trend. This led some to believe, and it is
still a view common in Japan, that it originates from a lay
movement. However, modern scholars have shown that although the new
texts are more open to lay people they were still composed by
monks. For example, although the new texts commend the actions of
wise lay Bodhisattvas, they
are still being urged to ordain and leave the lay life behind.
Furthermore, Paul Harrison comments that 'although both men and
women can ride in the Great Vehicle [Mahᾱyᾱna], only men are allowed to drive it'
(Harrison, 1987: 76). Harrison’s paper in 1995 suggests the origin
of Mahᾱyᾱna might have come from forest-dwelling
ascetic monks attempting to return to the ideals of original
Buddhism.[1]
Characteristics of
Mahᾱyᾱna
One distinctive feature of
Mahᾱyᾱna is the advocate of the
Bodhisattva (one who ascribes to become a Buddha) ideal as
opposed to the Śrāvaka
(one who aims to become an
Arhat, an enlightened disciple) ideal. A Buddha has
the capacity to teach and help others to attain enlightenment, but
to become a Buddha takes an infinitely long time and perseverance,
relative to becoming an Arhat. This is one of
the reasons why Mahᾱyᾱnists consider themselves more superior and
altruistic than those who follow the Śrāvaka path, seeking
enlightenment for themselves.
The rise of Mahᾱyᾱna is evidenced in a series of new texts.
Between the 2nd Council and the 1st century C.E. saw the growth of
a number of important Mahᾱyᾱna texts beginning with works like the
Lalitavistara and Mahᾱvastu, which
describe the career of the Buddha in exalted, supra-mundane terms.
However, three very important ‘foundational’
Mahᾱyᾱna texts are: the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharma-puṇḍarika
Sūtra), the Heart
Sūtra (Prajñᾱpᾱramitᾱ
Hṛidaya
Sūtra), and the Laṅkāvatāra
Sūtra.
Justification for the new texts is the
belief in continuing revelation. Many of the important
Mahᾱyᾱna texts were believed to have been related by
Maitreya the future Buddha and other celestial
Bodhisattvas or preserved among the serpent gods of the
underworld until their discovery by Mahᾱyᾱna masters such as
Nᾱgᾱrjuna. It would have been likely that these
new texts received critical comments from ‘traditional’ Buddhists.
Indeed, perhaps as a reaction to accusations by the previous
tradition, Mahᾱyᾱna authors adopted the use of the pejorative
term 'Hīnayāna’ which refers to the Śrāvaka path, perhaps
at the time was directed at the most influential school, the
Sarvāstivādins, whom are now extinct. The term
Hīnayāna should not be used nowadays for reasons that it
is both a depreciative and historically incorrect term to apply to
any existing Buddhist traditions. We shall now turn to important
doctrinal tenets found in the ‘foundational’
Mahᾱyᾱna texts.
The Lotus
Sūtra is an extremely
important text in Mahᾱyᾱna Buddhism. It has a wide influence in India,
China, Japan and Vietnam. The important themes in this
sūtra are compassion and skilful means which are two
of the most important concepts in Mahᾱyᾱna Buddhism. By means of various parables
the Lotus Sūtra tells us that out of compassion the Buddhas
appear and pass away on earth when in fact they are eternal and
supramundane. Thus, the historical Buddha Śhākyamuni was just an
apparition created by the heavenly transcendental Buddha for the
purpose of enlightening sentient beings.
The Heart
[Perfection of Wisdom] Sūtra
takes up another important concept
in Mahᾱyᾱna Buddhism, the ‘perfection of wisdom’, that is
to say the transformation of wisdom into the ‘perfection of
wisdom’. This reflects the ultimate reality and is characterised by
emptiness (śūnyatā). ‘Ordinary
wisdom’ allows us to realise that reality is made up of individual
components but perfection of
wisdom allows us to see
that even these individual components are ‘empty’ because they have
no ultimate existence as they are dependent upon the things that
condition them. We can see this in everything around us. The dew
drops, stars, bubbles and lighting are the more obvious examples
but if we perceive and contemplate correctly, we would find that
without exception everything that exists does so because of
conditions. Thus, nothing inherently exists, or putting it another
way, all that exists is empty (of inherent
existence).
The third ‘foundational’
Mahᾱyᾱna text, the Laṅkāvatāra
Sūtra, tells us that what all we can know and
experience in Saṃsāra [Conditioned
existence] is the mind. This Sūtra forms the
canonical foundation of the Cittamᾱtra [Mind-Only] school. According to the
Laṅkāvatāra
Sūtra, our inability to free ourselves from
discriminating between object and subject causes us to undergo
births and rebirths, and enlightenment is only attained by freeing
ourselves from this dualistic discrimination. The
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
also tells us that the mind is
intrinsically pure, but discrimination defiles it. This is similar
to impurities found in gold ore, which have to be removed to reveal
the brightness and shining nature of gold. This means that the
minds of beings are intrinsically pure, and all have the potential
for Buddhahood. This appealing concept may partly explain the
popularity of Mahᾱyᾱna. To sum up, the main features in
Mahᾱyᾱna Buddhism are:
1. The advocate of the Bodhisattva ideal
2. Compassion
3. Skilful means
4. The supra-mundane nature of the
Buddhas
5. Emptiness (Śūnyatā)
6. Saṃsāra results from
false discrimination
7. The universality appeal – all beings
have the potential for Buddhahood.
Mahᾱyᾱna
and ‘Early’ Buddhism
What appeared above might seem a far cry
from ‘Early’ [what came before Mahᾱyᾱna] Buddhism. As innovative as they seem,
yet all the important concepts can be traced back to Early
Buddhism.
In Early Buddhism, the Jᾱtakas [stories of
the Buddha’s former lives] give us inspiring examples of the trials
and forbearance of the Bodhisattva. There
are over 500 stories of the Buddha’s former lives in the
Jᾱtakas, each
provide a moving and inspiring moral lesson of how the power of
good overcomes evil and the importance of integrity over fame and
fortune. It is therefore not surprising that the
Bodhisattva ideal came to be highly
extolled.
Early
Buddhism also extols the systemic cultivation of the
Brahmaviharᾱ [Divine Abiding]
which entails developing loving kindness (mettletter-spacing: 0.65pt;
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