Mahayana Buddhism 1 st Buddhist council 5 th

Mahayana Buddhism

1 st Buddhist council 5 th century BCE (543– 542 BCE ) Immediately after the Buddha’s Parinibbana Rājagṛha/king Ajāthaśatru Subhadra To unify the Saṃgha Mahākāśyapa

Ānanda: Sutra/Dhrama Upali: Vinaya 500 Arahants Bhikkhus Why was not any Bhikkhuni invited? And why not the lay people who got arahantship already? Purāṇa

2 nd Buddhist council 4 th century BCE 100 years later Vaisālī It concerned the allegation that certain monks at Vaisālī permitted ten unlawful practices considering that they are minor rules. Revata: President Questioned by Sarvagāmin

It was convened to resolve a dispute over the 'Ten Points/Inappropriate behaviors: Storing salt in a horn. Eating after midday. Eating once and then going again to a village for alms. Holding the Uposatha Ceremony with monks dwelling in the same locality. Carrying out official acts when the assembly was incomplete. Following a certain practice because it was done by one's tutor or teacher. Eating sour milk after one had his midday meal. Consuming strong drink before it had been fermented. Using a rug which was not the proper size. Using gold and silver.

Sthaviravada Mahāsaṅghika

The second meeting of this period Took place some 37 years later at Pāṭaliputra Mahādeva, who maintained five theses concerning the arahant, viz. (1) That the Arhat could be subject to temptation, (2) might have a residue of ignorance, (3) have doubts, (4) gain knowledge through another’s knowledge (5) and enter upon the Supramundance path by means of an exclamation such as Dukkha or possibly even fall away from the path.

The Magadha king, Mahāpadma Nanda was asked to convence a council. He decided to adjudicate by measuring the size of the respective parties Greater number in favor of Mahādeva’s points. Mahāsaṅgha, the ‘greater community’ (483 BCE) Acariyavadins

The Sthaviras, the elders Scholars suggest that the first schism (Saṅghabheda) took place on the basis of differences only over Vinaya, and not over matters of doctrine. Mahāsaṅgha itself split into two over the status of the arhat.

As the number of members grew, the institutional organization increased its complexity, monks expanded and elaborated both doctrine and disciplinary codes, created new textual genres, developed new forms of disciplines, and eventually divided into a number of different schools

Third Buddhist council 250 BCE at Pataliputra Asoka Moggaliputta-Tissa The objective of the council was to purify the Saṅgha Kathavatthu refuting the heretical, false views and theories

Mahāyāna (between the 1 st century BCE and the 1 st century AD) Bodhisattvayāna Does not occur in the Indian inscription untill the fifth or sixth century. Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra (Lotus) Goal: Samyaksaṃbuddha Mahāyāna Buddhism flourished and spread during the dynasty of the Guptas (4 th-6 th century).

Hinayāna, early Buddhism Yijing (7 th century CE): Those who venerate the bodhisattvas and read the Mahayana sūtras are called the Mahāyānists, while those who do not perform these are called the Hīnayānists.

Xuanzang (7 th century): the monks of the Mahāvihara as the "Hīnayāna Sthaviras", and the monks of the Abhayagiri Vihara as the "Mahāyāna Sthaviras. The Mahāvihāravāsins reject the Mahāyāna and practice the Hīnayāna, while the Abhayagirivihāravāsins study both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna teachings and propagate the Tipitaka.

Mahāyāna school Mādhyamaka school : Nāgārjuna (2 nd Century A. D. ) Sunyata - everything is Void 4 th Century: Asanga and Vasubandhu Yogācāra school