Theravadin account

The Second Buddhist Council made the unanimous decision not to relax any of
the rules, and censured the behaviour of the monks who were accused of
violating the ten points.
Modern scholarship
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Modern scholarship
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Modern scholarship
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Modern scholarship
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Modern scholarship
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Modern scholarship
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 Mahadeva

"The sins of Mahadeva“

His father was a wealthy and ambitious trader who had married at a very young age. He often went
away to foreign lands to trade and amass wealth. It is said that Mahadeva had a very pleasant and
radiant face. But he was unfortunate not to get the love of his father during his childhood. In his
teens he committed his first sin, by indulging in an incestuous relationship with his mother.
Mahadeva was frightened of his father coming to know about this relationship and hence
murdered him, thereby committing his second cardinal sin. He then, in order to escape from the
guilt ran away with his mother to a distant land and started life fresh. But there, one day he ran into
an old neighbour who was on a tour to the land that Mahadeva had made his new home. The man
was treated as a guest and was given refuge for a few days in Mahadeva's house. After a few days
the guest started asking questions about Mahadeva's sudden disappearance from his native land.
Mahadeva felt threatened and poisoned the guest, thereby committing his third cardinal sin. Some
years later he began to doubt his mother, for whom he had committed all the murders. When he
found that his mother was involved in a relationship with another man, Mahadeva felt emotionally
wrecked and out of his frustration he murdered his mother thereby committing the fourth cardinal
sin of his life. After this incident Mahadeva found his life meaningless and teetered on the brink of
insanity. He, in fact was about to take his own life when he came to know that a Buddhist monk
with a panacea for sinners had arrived in the town. Mahadeva decided to give his wretched life one
more chance and approached the monk who was camping near Pataliputra. It was at this place that
Mahadeva was ordained as member of the Buddhist sangha.
Mahadeva
Mahadeva
THE FIVE POINTS
THE FIVE POINTS
THE FIVE POINTS
THE FIVE POINTS
THE FIVE POINTS
geographical centers of Sectarian
Buddhist schools

Sarvāstivāda (Red),
Theravāda (Orange),
Mahāsāṃghika (Yellow),
Pudgalavāda (Green),
Dharmaguptaka (Gray).
 Pudgalavāda
• The Pudgalavādins asserted that while there is no ātman, there is a pudgala or
"person", which is neither the same as nor different from the skandhas. The
"person" was their method of accounting for karma, rebirth, and nirvana.
Other schools held that the "person" exists only as a label, a nominal reality.

• Pudgalavādin views were sharply criticized by the Theravada (a record of a

Theravadin attack on the pudgala is found in the Kathavatthu), Sarvastivada,
and the Madhyamaka.

• Étienne Lamotte, using the writings of the Chinese traveler Xuanzang,

asserted that the Saṃmitīya were in all likelihood the most populous non-
Mahayanist sect in India, comprising double the number of the next largest
sect, although scholar L. S. Cousins revised his estimate down to a quarter of
all non-Mahayana monks, still the largest overall.

• They continued to be a presence in India until the end of Indian Buddhism,

but, never having gained a foothold elsewhere, did not continue thereafter.
 Sarvāstivāda
• The Sarvāstivāda enjoyed the patronage of Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE) of
the Kushan dynasty, during which time they were greatly strengthened,
and became one of the dominant sects of Buddhism for the next thousand
years, flourishing throughout Northwest India, Northern India, and Central
Asia

• The Sarvāstivāda argued that all dharmas exist in the past, present and
future, the "three times". Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya states,
"He who affirms the existence of the dharmas of the three time periods
[past, present and future] is held to be a Sarvāstivādin.“

• The Kasmira orthodoxy, the Vaibhāṣikas disappeared in the later part of

the 7th century. Subsequently, the old Gandharan Sarvāstivādins, the non-
Vaibhāṣika Sautrantikas, were named Mūlasarvāstivādins, who then at a
later date went to Tibet.
 Sarvāstivāda
• The complete Sarvāstivāda Vinaya is extant in the Chinese Buddhist canon.
In its early history, the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya was the most common vinaya
tradition in China. However, Chinese Buddhism later settled on
the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.

In the 7th century, Yijing wrote that in eastern China, most people
followed the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, while the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya was
used in earlier times in Guanzhong (the region around Chang'an), and that
the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya was prominent in the Yangzi River area and
further south. The existence of multiple Vinaya lineages throughout China
was criticized by prominent Vinaya masters such as Yijing and Dao'an
(654–717).

In the early 8th century, Daoan gained the support of Emperor Zhongzong
of Tang, and an imperial edict was issued that the saṃgha in China should
use only the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya for ordination.
 Vibhajyavāda

• The word Vibhajyavāda may be parsed into vibhajya, loosely meaning "dividing",
"analyzing" and vāda holding the semantic field: "doctrine", "teachings“

• The Vibhajyavādins rejected the Sarvastivada claim that all dhammas exist in the
past, present and future. Instead, they made a distinction between dhammas that
"exist" and dhammas that do not exist, hence the name "distinctionists." Their
standpoints were formulated
by Moggaliputtatissa in the Kathavatthu, which belongs to the Pali Canon

• The Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra describes the Vibhajyavādins

as being the type of heretics who "make objections, who uphold harmful doctrines
and attack those who follow the authentic Dharma“

• The Mahāsāṃghika saw the Vibhajyavādins as being offshoots from the root
schism in Buddhism, which according to them produced three sects: the Sthaviras,
the Mahāsāṃghikas, and the Vibhajyavādins