Mahīśāsaka ( sa, महीशासक; ) is one of the
early Buddhist schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographic ...
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 Mahīśāsaka sect toward the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 1st century BCE.
History
There are two general accounts of the circumstances surrounding the origins of the Mahīśāsakas. The
Theravādin
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
''
Dipavamsa'' asserts that the Mahīśāsaka sect gave rise to the
Sarvāstivāda
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...
sect.
[, p. 50] However, both the ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'' and the ''Samayabhedoparacanacakra'' record that the
Sarvāstivādins were the older sect out of which the Mahīśāsakas emerged.
[ Buswell and Lopez also state that the Mahīśāsaka was an offshoot of the Sarvāstivādins, but group the school under the '']Vibhajyavāda
Vibhajyavāda (Sanskrit; Pāli: ''Vibhajjavāda''; ) is a term applied generally to groups of early Buddhists belonging to the Sthavira Nikaya. These various groups are known to have rejected Sarvāstivāda doctrines (especially the doctrine of " ...
'', "a broad designation for non-Sarvastivada strands of the Sthaviranikaya," which also included the Kasyapiya.
The Mahīśāsaka sect is thought to have first originated in the Avanti region of India. Their founder was a monk named Purāṇa, who is venerated at length in the Mahīśāsaka vinaya
The Vinaya (Pali & Sanskrit: विनय) is the division of the Buddhist canon ('' Tripitaka'') containing the rules and procedures that govern the Buddhist Sangha (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). Three parallel Vinaya traditions remai ...
, which is preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon.
From the writings of Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
, the Mahīśāsaka are known to have been active in Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
in the 4th century CE. Xuanzang records that Asaṅga, an important Yogācāra
Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through t ...
master and the elder brother of Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; floruit, fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who ...
, received ordination into the Mahīśāsaka sect. Asaṅga's frameworks for abhidharma
The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the f ...
writings retained many underlying Mahīśāsaka traits. André Bareau
André Bareau (December 31, 1921- March 2, 1993) was a prominent French Buddhologist and a leader in the establishment of the field of Buddhist Studies in the 20th century. He was a professor at the Collège de France from 1971 to 1991 and Direct ...
writes:
The Mahīśāsaka are believed to have spread from the Northwest down to Southern India including Nāgārjunakoṇḍā, and even as far as the island of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. According to A. K. Warder
Anthony Kennedy Warder (8 September 1924 – 8 January 2013) was a British Indologist. His best-known works are ''Introduction to Pali'' (1963), ''Indian Buddhism'' (1970), and the eight-volume ''Indian Kāvya Literature'' (1972–2011).
Life
Wa ...
, the Indian Mahīśāsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravāda
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
, into which they were later absorbed.
In the 7th century CE, Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou ...
grouped the Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, and Kāśyapīya
Kāśyapīya (Sanskrit: काश्यपीय; Pali: ''Kassapiyā'' or ''Kassapikā''; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools in India.
Etymology
The name ''Kāśyapīya'' is believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionar ...
together as sub-sects of the Sarvāstivāda, and stated that these three were not prevalent in the "five parts of India," but were located in the some parts of Oḍḍiyāna
(also: ''Uḍḍiyāna'', ''Uḍḍāyāna'' or ''Udyāna'', Sanskrit: ओड्डियान, उड्डियान, उड्डायान, उद्यान; , , mn, Үржин ''urkhin''), was a small region in early medieval India, ...
, the Kingdom of Khotan
The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was originally sited to ...
, and Kucha
Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t=庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road ...
.[, p. 19]
Appearance
Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthia
Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...
n monk An Shigao
An Shigao (, Korean: An Sego, Japanese: An Seikō, Vietnamese: An Thế Cao) (fl. c. 148-180 CE) was an early Buddhist missionary to China, and the earliest known translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese. According to legend, he was a pri ...
came to China and translated a work which describes the color of monastic robes (Skt. '' kāṣāya'') utilized in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called ''Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi'' (). Another text translated at a later date, the ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'', contains a very similar passage corroborating this information. In both sources, members of the Mahīśāsaka sect are described as wearing blue robes. The relevant portion of the Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika (Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in se ...
''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'' reads, "The Mahīśāsaka school practice dhyāna, and penetrate deeply. They wear blue robes."
Doctrines
According to the Mahīśāsakas, the Four Noble Truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; pi, cattāri ariyasaccāni; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones". Potter,_Karl._''The_Encyclopedia_of_Indian_Philosophies,_Vol._IX:_Buddhist_philosophy_from_350_to_600_AD.''_2004._p._106
The_Mahīśāsaka_sect_held_that_everything_exists,_but_only_in_the_present._They_also_regarded_a_gift_to_the__were_to_be_meditated_upon_simultaneously.Potter,_Karl._''The_Encyclopedia_of_Indian_Philosophies,_Vol._IX:_Buddhist_philosophy_from_350_to_600_AD.''_2004._p._106
The_Mahīśāsaka_sect_held_that_everything_exists,_but_only_in_the_present._They_also_regarded_a_gift_to_the_Sangha_(Buddhism)">Saṃgha_as_being_more_meritorious_than_one_given_to_the__were_to_be_meditated_upon_simultaneously.Potter,_Karl._''The_Encyclopedia_of_Indian_Philosophies,_Vol._IX:_Buddhist_philosophy_from_350_to_600_AD.''_2004._p._106
The_Mahīśāsaka_sect_held_that_everything_exists,_but_only_in_the_present._They_also_regarded_a_gift_to_the_Sangha_(Buddhism)">Saṃgha_as_being_more_meritorious_than_one_given_to_the_Gautama_Buddha">Buddha_
Siddhartha_Gautama,_most_commonly_referred_to_as_the_Buddha,_was_a_śramaṇa,_wandering_ascetic_and_religious_teacher_who_lived_in_South_Asia_during_the_6th_or_5th_century_BCE_and_founded_Buddhism.
According_to_Buddhist_tradition,_he_was_...
.Willemen,_Charles._''The_Essence_of_Scholasticism.''_2006._p._17_They_disagreed_with_the_Dharmaguptakas_on_this_point,_as_the_Dharmaguptakas_believed_that_a_giving_a_gift_to_the_Buddha_is_more_meritorious_than_giving_one_to_the_Saṃgha.
The_earlier_Mahīśāsakas_appear_to_have_not_held_the_doctrine_of_an_bardo.html" "title="Gautama_Buddha.html" "title="Sangha_(Buddhism).html" ;"title="Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Encycl ...
were to be meditated upon simultaneously.
The Mahīśāsaka sect held that everything exists, but only in the present. They also regarded a gift to the Sangha (Buddhism)">Saṃgha as being more meritorious than one given to the Gautama Buddha">Buddha