The Origin and development of Mahayana Buddhism

Introduction

The division of Buddhism can be traced back to the time of the Second Council, a century after the Buddha, when the Sangha began to split into two groups of monks. One came to be called Theravadins and the other, Mahasanghikas. By the time of King Asoka in the third century B.E. there had arisen out of the two eighteen different sects: eleven out of the Theravada and seven out of the Mahasanghikas. Before talking about the schism I want to show the social background how Buddhism came to exist and the dominated society emphasizing specially on Caste system. Anyway this background would be in short as follows:

Brahmana Tradition	Sramana Tradition
	I)  Religions Organized under Famous Teachers
	1.   Buddhism – Siddhattha Gotama the Buddha
	2.   Jainism – Jainamahavira
	3.   Akiryavada – Puranakassapa, Ajitakesakambala &            PakhudhakaccAyana
	4.   Ajivakism – Makkaligosāla
	5.   Samsayavāda - Sañjayabellattiputta
	II)  Religious Groups
	Ajelaka
	Etasataka
	Jaţila
	Ajīvaka
	III) Thinkers who rejected the teachings of any Religion
	IV) Cārvaka
Brahmana Tradition		Sramana Tradition
Accepting the creator God and creation            theory		Neither accepts creator God nor creation theory
Accepting caste system		Reject caste system
Accepting the sacrifice (yajña) as main religious practice		Reject the sacrifice (yajña) and accept spiritual progress
Accepting Veda Literature as highest truth		Reject the authority of Veda and accept the perception as highest truth
One idea on highest truth and one final goal with Mahābrahma		Many ideas and practices on the highest truth many final goal
Recommends household religious practice (agarīkapaţīpadā)		Recommends homeless life for religious practice (anagarīkapaţīpadā)
Suppress the woman kind		Accept quality of genders

Main Characteristic of the two Traditions can come to conclusion when we study the biography of the Gautama Buddha. When prince Siddhartha was born, the major religion in that society was Brahmanism; it had already a long history in India. By that time, Brahmanism had passed nearly fourteen centuries from its early beginning. Brahmanism was not only the major religion but also the major cultural force. The vision of life, ideas of thought, ethics of daily and social life, aims and objectives of life and even the form of language they spoke were decided by the major concept of Brahmin teachings.

Because of the creation theory caste system, supremacy of men and the domination of the priest the Brahmanism was the religion of the minority of upper class people. The majority poor and innocent masses including the women had to undergo serious difficulties. The Brahmanic sacrifice was expensive, destructive, bring nothing to society and their social principles which were unjust provoked the people to think for alternatives. But the domination of powerful minority was never over throne in political or economic sense therefore dis-revolution occurred in religious arena. As a result, the emergence of Sramana tradition took place. Buddhism is one of the main religious philosophies that belong to the Sramana tradition in the 6^th century B.C.

The sciences of schism

Prince Siddharta was born in 623 BC. In 594BC He attained the fully enlightenment which we call as Buddha. In 574BC first vinaya rule was propagated on the bad act done by Venerable Sudinna. So after that Sudinna perhaps had developed a group combining his personal friends. Then we see the cha vaggiya monks and many other monks that we see in Vinaya pitaka who were often forward to break the rules and regulations. And seems like they developed a community but it was unknown to all.

The incident of divisions between Dhammadhara and Vinayadhara because this is even the lay devotees got separated and it was a very big fight even Buddha himself could not stop it. So finally Buddha had leave to a secluded area. Another incident is that when the first Buddhist council was held there was a senior monk who was absent from the council and when he returned to the community he was told about the council and he immediately rejected it and said “I have heard the teachings of the Buddha with my own ears so I will follow according to it” so with all these three points I have shown would some time be the reason for the schism which was coming up to be a separation within the dispensation.

According to Ceylonese chronology a hundred years after the death of the Buddha a second council was held at vesali and this led to a schism between sthavira and Mahayana for the ten unlawful demands of the vajjian bhikkhus.

The Tax monks were defeated but they remained stubborn and later held their own council with a bigger number of bhikkhus breaking away from the Sthavira and as according to Vinaya explanation this one of the Sanghabheda so it is a clear explanation for schism.   

Actually the council was held mainly to discuss about the five points brought out by a senior monk Mahadeva. The five points were accepted by the majority so they were known as Mahasanghika and the people who rejected them were known a Sthaviravadins. Therefore some scholars have doubt about it because it was held mainly to discuss about the five factors said by a senior monk Mahadeva. Some scholars have doubt about it because it was held mainly to discuss about the five factors said by a senior monk Mahadeva.

The five factors said by a senior monk Mahadeva are as follows:

1. An Arahat is able to be seduced by another. This means He can have erotic dreams.

2. An Arahant can be subject to ignorance.

3. An Arahant may have doubt.

4. An Arahant may be instructed by another person.

5. Entry into the Buddhist way may be accompanied by a sound. (Still confusing)

Professor bechert and Gombrich 1984 say that it is due to lay devotees influences.

“During the first five centuries of its history, Buddhism progressed considerably never the less, it had to face both external and internal difficulties because of the divergent tendencies which formed at the heart of the community. Some monks questioned the authenticity of the early scriptures and claimed to add new texts to them. Others learned towards a more lax interpretation of the rules governing their life, the scholastic treatises, continuously increasing in number became more and more discrepant. Finally and above all the laity considering the monks privileges to be excessive tried to win equal religious rights for themselves”

An important and widely accepted case for considerable lay influence on the rise of the Mahayana Buddhism was published in an article by Akira Hirakawa in 1963. Hirakawa wanted to give equal rights to both lay people and renounciated members to an identifiable order of Bodhisattva. And therefore it is mentioned that Mahayana was the result of organized and influence activity by the lay people.

Its development

When we talk about the development of Mahayana Buddhism, we have to talk about Nagar juna because Nagar juna and his principal Aryadeva are credited with founding the Madhyamaka School. Nagarjuna is referred to the second Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism because he discovered the prajnaparamita sutras long after Buddha's demise. We have two nagar juna in Mahayana Buddhism here we mean 2^nd century nagarjuna not the tantric nagarjuna. Later On Madhyamaka School was divided into eighteen schools and sub-schools and became one of the biggest schools in Mahayana Buddhism. Then around the second century CE, commentaries were written on the sutras by such renowned theoreticians as Nagarjuna and others. Nagarjuna systematized the doctrine of emptiness through such works as The Middle Treatise, Treatise on the Great Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom and Discourse on the Ten Stages, thus creating the foundation for Mahayana ideology. Because of this accomplishment, Nagarjuna is revered as the founder of many Mahayana sects in both China and Japan, and often is referred to as the father of eight sects. Nagarjuna’s successors focused most of their research on The Middle Treatise therefore their lineage became known as the Middle Way School.

According to Nagar juna the concept of the essence seems to undergo a subtle shift in meaning in the Madhyamaka. It self existence comes to signify generally inherent existence in the sense of independent real existence. For X to have inherent existence is for X to exist in its own right. Nagar Juna tells us this in Madhyamaka School:

“The original of inherent existence from causes and conditions is illogical, since inherent existence originated from causes and conditions would thereby become contingent. How could there be contingent inherent existence, for inherent existence is not contingent, nor is it dependent on another being.”[1]

In East Asia the Madhyamaka was generally known as the “three Treatise School” after the three Indic texts which served as the poor texts for this tradition in Sino Japanese Buddhism. These treatises were translated into Chinese by the great translator Kumarajiva who may be said to have established the Madhyamaka tradition in china.

While the Theravada is an intellectual religion that requires personal self-effort, the Mahayana believes in salvation through faith and devotion. In the Theravada the Buddha is a discoverer who points out the Path, but in the Mahayana he becomes a saviour by whose grace beings can hope to be redeemed. The emphasis of the Theravada is on wisdom and practical insight as the key virtue on the path of self-reliance towards the ideal state of being an Arahant. The Mahayana stress is on compassion, the key virtue of the Bodhisattvas, the ideal persons who vow to save all beings and work for the good of suffering beings. Moreover, the Mahayana takes much interest in philosophical speculation and ritualism, while the original doctrine of the Theravada regards these as useless.[2]

Later on in the fourth century, other prominent scholars appeared, including Asanga and Vasubandhu, who established the consciousness only ideology and worked to further promote Mahayana Buddhism. Successors to their lineage became known as the Consciousness Only school, which, together with the Middle Way School, formed two Buddhist centers of higher learning, thus strengthening the influence of academic Buddhism.

In the sixth century, however, Buddhism began to lean toward the esoteric and the occult. Local Hindu influence also became so powerful that Buddhism was eventually absorbed into the Hindu religion. Moreover, Islam began to spread into India in about the 11^th Century, at which time Muslim aggression caused many monks, nuns, and priests to flee India for safe havens in Nepal and Tibet.

The form of Buddhism which flourished under King Asoka was the Theravada. As this form spread to the south, it is also called the Southern School of Buddhism. The other, the Mahasanghikas, later developed into the Mahayana, the term the later Mahasanghikas call themselves. The Mahayana prevails in northern countries: Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea, Mongolia and Japan, and is, therefore, known also as the Northern School. The Mahayanists call the Theravada the Hinayana, meaning the lesser vehicle of salvation in contrast to their own Mahayana, which means the greater vehicle. But the Southern School prefers to be known as the Theravada, the "Teaching of the Elders," which is a more accurate and nonprejudicial term.[3]

Followers of Islam destroyed Buddhist monasteries and slaughtered the priests and nuns living in them. Finally, in 1203 CE, Bikuramasila Monastery, the only remaining bastion of Indian Buddhism, succumbed to an overwhelming Muslim onslaught, which marked the extinction of Buddhism in India.

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[1] Nagarjuna 1977, VV. 1-2.

[2] Arjanyai, The Origin of Mahayana Buddhism, www.articlesbase.com, 2009. 

[3] Arjanyai, The Origin of Mahayana Buddhism, www.articlesbase.com, 2009.