- Mulasarvastivada
-
Early
BuddhismScriptures Councils Schools First Sangha
└ Mahāsāṃghika
├ Ekavyahāraka
├ Lokottaravāda
├ Bahuśrutīya
├ Prajñaptivāda
└ Caitika
└ Sthaviravāda
├ Mahīśāsaka
├ Dharmaguptaka
├ Kāśyapīya
├ Sarvāstivāda
└ Vibhajyavāda
└ Theravāda
The Mūlasarvāstivāda was an early school of Buddhism, developed in India during the 2nd century AD and in decline by the 7th century.[1] Its vinaya lineage has been preserved by Tibetans and Mongolians up to the present, although until recently, only Mulasarvastivadin monks existed - the lineage of the nuns had been lost.Contents
Relationship to the Sarvāstivāda
The relationship of the Mūlasarvāstivāda to the Sarvāstivāda school is a matter of dispute; modern scholars lean towards classifying them as independent.[2] I Ching claimed that they derived their name from being an offshoot of Sarvāstivāda, but Buton Rinchen Drub stated that the name was a homage to Sarvāstivāda as the "root" (mūla) of all Buddhist schools.[3] A number of theories have been posited by academics as to how the two are related, which Bhikkhu Sujato summaries as follows:
The uncertainty around this school has led to a number of hypotheses. Frauwallner’s theory holds that the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is the disciplinary code of an early Buddhist community based in Mathura, which was quite independent in its establishment as a monastic community from the Sarvāstivādins of Kaśmir (although of course this does not mean that they were different in terms of doctrine). Lamotte, opposing Frauwallner, asserts that the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya was a late Kaśmīr compilation made to complete the Sarvāstivādin Vinaya. Warder suggests that the Mūlasarvāstivādins were a later development of the Sarvāstivāda, whose main innovations were literary, the compilation of the large Vinaya and the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra, which kept the early doctrines but brought the style up to date with contemporary literary developments. Enomoto pulls the rug out from all these theories by asserting that Sarvāstivādin and Mūlasarvāstivādin are really the same. Meanwhile, Willemen, Dessein, and Cox have developed the theory that the Sautrantikas, a branch or tendency within the Sarvāstivādin group of schools, emerged in Gandhāra and Bactria around 200 CE. Although they were the earlier group, they temporarily lost ground to the Kaśmīr Vaibhāśika school due to the political influence of Kaṇiṣka. In later years the Sautrantikas became known as Mūlasarvāstivādins and regained the ascendancy. I have elsewhere given my reasons for disagreeing with the theories of Enomoto and Willemen et al. Neither Warder nor Lamotte give sufficient evidence to back up their theories. We are left with Frauwallner’s theory, which in this respect has stood the test of time.[4]
Vinaya lineage
The Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya is one of three surviving vinaya lineages, along with the Dharmaguptaka and Theravāda. The Tibetan Emperor Ralpacan restricted Buddhist ordination to the Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya. As Mongolian Buddhism was introduced from Tibet, Mongolian ordination follows this rule as well.
Its vinaya texts are extant in Tibetan (9th century translation) and Chinese (5th century translation), and to some extent in the original Sanskrit.
References
- ^ Gregory Schopen. Figments and fragments of Māhāyana Buddhism in India. University of Hawaii Press, 2005. pp.76-77.
- ^ Charles Willemen, Bart Dessein, Collett Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist scholasticism. Brill, 1988. p.88.
- ^ Elizabeth Cook. Light of Liberation: A History of Buddhism in India. Dharma Publishing, 1992. p. 237
- ^ Sects & Sectarianism BETA: The origins of Buddhist Schools [1]
Further reading
- History of the Mulasarvastivada Ordination Lineages in Tibet
- YAMAGIWA Nobuyuki. "Recent Studies on Vinaya Manuscripts". Journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 52.1 (2003)
- Satoshi Hiraoka. "The Relation between the Divyavadana and the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya". Journal of Indian Philosophy 26.5 (1998)
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