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Gandhran Mahsakas areassociated with the Pure Land

teachings ofAmitbha

Early

Buddhism

Scriptures

Gandhran textsgamas

Pali Canon

Councils

1st Council

2nd Council

3rd Council4th Council

Schools

First Sangha

Mahsghika Ekavyvahrika Lokottaravda Bahurutya Prajaptivda CaitikaSthaviravda Mahsaka Dharmaguptaka Kyapya Sarvstivda Vibhajyavda Theravda

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MahisasakaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mahsaka (Sanskrit; traditional Chinese:; pinyin:Hud B) is one of the early Buddhist

schools according to some records. Its origins may go back to the dispute in the Second Buddhist

Council. The Dharmaguptaka sect is thought to have branched out from Mahsaka sect toward the endof the 2nd or the beginning of the 1st century BCE.

Contents

1 History

2 Appearance

3 Doctrines

4 Works

4.1 Mahsaka Vinaya4.2 Mahyna works

5 Views on women

6 References

7 See also

History

There are two general accounts of the circumstances

surrounding the origins of the Mahsakas. The TheravdinDipavamsa asserts that the Mahsaka sect gave rise to theSarvstivda sect.[1] However, both the riputraparipcchaand the Samayabhedoparacanacakra record that the

Sarvstivdins were the older sect out of which theMahsakas emerged.[2]

The Mahsaka sect is thought to have first originated in theAvanti region of India. Their founder was a monk named

Pura, who is venerated at length in the Mahsaka vinaya,which is preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon.

From the writings of Xuanzang, the Mahsaka are known tohave been active in Kashmir in the 4th century CE.

Xuanzang records that Asaga, an important Yogcramaster and the elder brother of Vasubandhu, received

ordination into the Mahsaka sect. Asaga's frameworks forabhidharma writings retained many underlying Mahsakatraits.[3] Andr Bareau writes:[4]

[It is] sufficiently obvious that Asaga had been aMahsaka when he was a young monk, and that heincorporated a large part of the doctrinal opinionsproper to this school within his own work after he

became a great master of the Mahyna, when hemade up what can be considered as a new and

Mahynist Abhidharma-piaka.

The Mahsaka are believed to have spread from theNorthwest down to Southern India includingNgrjunako, and even as far as the island of Sri Lanka.[5] According to A.K. Warder,the Indian Mahsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravda , into which they were later absorbed.[6]

In the 7th century CE, Yijing grouped the Mahsaka, Dharmaguptaka, and Kyapya together as sub-sects of the Sarvstivda, andstated that these three were not prevalent in the "five parts of India," but were located in the some parts ofOiyna, Khotan, andKucha.[7]

Appearance

Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated a work which describes the color of monastic

hisasaka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahisasaka

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robes (Skt. kya) utitized in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi (Ch.).[8 Another text

translated at a later date, the ariputraparipcch, contains a very similar passage corroborating this information.[9] In both sources,

members of the Mahsaka sect are described as wearing blue robes.[10] The relevant portion of the Mahsghikaariputraparipcch reads, "The Mahsaka school practice dhyna, and penetrate deeply. They wear blue robes."[11]

Doctrines

According to the Mahsakas, the Four Noble Truths were to be meditated upon simultaneously.[12]

The earlier Mahsakas appear to have not held the doctrine of an intermediate state between death and rebirth, but later Mahsakasaccepted this doctrine.[13]

Works

Mahsaka Vinaya

According to A.K. Warder, the Indian Mahsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravda, into which thesemembers were later absorbed.[14] It is known that Faxian obtained a Sanskrit copy of the Mahsaka Vinaya at the Abhayagiri Viharain Sri Lanka, c. 406 CE. The Mahsaka Vinaya was then translated into Chinese in 43 4 CE by Buddhajiva and Zhu Daosheng.[15] Thistranslation of the Mahsaka Vinaya remains extant in the Chinese Buddhist canon as Taish Tripiaka 1421.[16]

Mahyna works

It is believed that the MahynaLonger Sukhvatvyha Stra was compiled in the age of the Kua Dynasty, in the 1st and 2ndcenturies CE, by an order of Mahsaka bhikus, which flourished in the Gandhra region.[17][18] It is likely that the longerSukhvatvyha owed greatly to the Lokottaravda sect as well for its compilation, and in this stra there are many elements in commonwith theMahvastu.[19] The earliest of these translations show traces of having been translated from the Gndhr language, a prakritused in the Northwest.[20] It is also known that manuscripts in the Kharohscript existed in China during this period.[21]

Views on women

The Mahsaka sect believed that it was not possible for women to become buddhas.[22]

In theNgadatta Stra, the Mahsaka viewis criticized in a narrative about a bhiku named Ngadatta. Here, the demon Mra takes the form of her father, and tries to convinceher to work toward the lower stage of an arhat, rather than that of a fully enlightened buddha (Skt.samyaksabuddha).[23]

Mra therefore took the disguise of Ngadatta's father and said thus to Ngadatta: "Your thought is too serious.Buddhahood is too difficult to attain. It takes a hundred thousand nayutas of kotis of kalpas to become a Buddha. Since few

people attain Buddhahood in this world, why don't you attain Arhatship? For the experience of Arhatship is the same as

that ofnirva; moreover, it is easy to attain Arhatship...."

In her reply, Ngadatta rejects arhatship as a lower path, saying, "A Buddha's wisdom is like empty space of the ten quarters, which canenlighten innumerable people. But an Arhat's wisdom is inferior."

[24]

The Mahsaka sect held that there were five obstacles that were laid before women. These are that they may not become a

cakravartin king, mara king, sakra king, brahma king, or a buddha. This Mahsaka view is ascribed to Mra in the Ngadatta Stra ofthe Sarvstivdins:[25]

Mra said, "I have not even heard that a woman can be reborn as a cakravartin; how can you be reborn as a Buddha? Ittakes too long to attain Buddhahood, why not seek for Arhatship and attain nirva soon?" Ngadatta replied, "I also haveheard that a woman cannot be reborn as a cakravartin, a Sakra, a Brahma, and a Buddha, and yet I shell make the right

effort to transform a woman's body into a man's. For I have heard that those Noble Ones, by the practice of

bodhisattvacarya for a hundred thousand nayutas of kotis of kalpas diligently attain Buddhahood."

The Mahsakas believed that women essentially could not change the nature of theirminds or physical bodies, and would cause theteachings of Buddhism to decline.[26] Of this, David Kalupahana writes, "The Mahsaka prejudice against women is based upon thetraditional view of women. Like some of the other early Buddhist practitioners, they did not trust women, even nuns. This explains why

they restricted nuns' social and religious activities in the sangha. Sometimes they liken the nuns' existence to hail which damages a good

harvest."[27]

References

^ Baruah, Bibhuti.Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 501.


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^ Baruah, Bibhuti.Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 502.

^ Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works Of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor. 1984. p. 583.

^ Rama Karana Sarma.Researches in Indian and Buddhist Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Alex Wayman. 1993. p. 54.

^ Dutt, Nalinaksha.Buddhist Sects in India. 1998. pp. 122-1235.

^ Warder, A.K.Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 2806.

^ Yijing. Li Rongxi (translator).Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia. 2000. p. 197.

^ Hino, Shoun. Three Mountains and Seven Rivers. 2004. p. 558.



^ Bhikku Sujato. Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools. Santi Forest Monastery, 2006. p. i11.

^ Potter, Karl. The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol. IX: Buddhist philosophy from 350 to 600 AD. 2004. p. 10612. ^ Potter, Karl. The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol. IX: Buddhist philosophy from 350 to 600 AD. 2004. p. 10613.

^ Warder, A.K.Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 28014.

^ Hsing Yun.Humanistic Buddhism. 2005. p. 16315.

^The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog (T 1421) (http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k0895.html) ,

http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k0895.html

16.

^ Nakamura, Hajime.Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Biographical Notes. 1999. p. 20517.

^ Williams, Paul.Mahyna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2008. p. 23918.^ Nakamura, Hajime.Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Biographical Notes. 1999. p. 20519.

^ Mukherjee, Bratindra Nath.India in Early Central Asia. 1996. p. 1520.

^ Nakamura, Hajime.Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Biographical Notes. 1999. p. 20521.

^ Kalupahana, David.Buddhist Thought and Ritual. 2001. p. 10922.






See also

Early Buddhist Schools

Schools of Buddhism

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