The Kukkuṭika (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
; ) were an
early Buddhist school which descended from 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 ...
.
Etymology
It is likely that the name ''Kukkuṭika'' or ''Kukkulika'' originated from the Kukkuṭrārāma monastery at
Pāṭaliputra, which was an early centre for the Mahāsāṃghikas.
There were numerous variations of this name, such as ''Kukkuṭika'', ''Kukkulika'', ''Kaukkuṭika'', ''Kaurukullaka'', and ''Gokulika''.
The name ''Gokulika'' means "
cinder
Cinder is an alternate term for scoria.
Cinder or Cinders may also refer to:
In computing
*Cinder (programming library), a C++ programming library for visualization
*Cinder, OpenStack's block storage component
* Cyber Insider Threat, CINDER, a ...
", and refers to the doctrine that all conditioned phenomena necessarily involve
suffering, and that they are like an "inferno of ashes."
Doctrines
The ''Samayabhedoparacanacakra'' of Vasumitra regards the
Ekavyāvahārika, Kukkuṭika, and
Lokottaravāda
The Lokottaravāda (Sanskrit, लोकोत्तरवाद; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others, and was a subgroup which emerged from the Mahāsā ...
as being doctrinally indistinguishable. According to Vasumitra, 48 theses were held in common by these three Mahāsāṃghika sects. Of these 48 special theses, 20 points concern the supramundane nature of
buddhas and
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
s. According to the ''Samayabhedoparacanacakra'', these four groups held that the Buddha is able to know all ''
dharmas'' in a single moment of the mind. Yao Zhihua writes:
History
The Kukkuṭika sect is believed to have split from the main Mahāsāṃghika sect during the reign of
Aśoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
utilising early Buddha chronology, and the late second century BCE utilising late Buddha chronology. The
Bahuśrutīya
Bahuśrutīya (Sanskrit) was one of the early Buddhist schools, according to early sources such as Vasumitra, the ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'', and other sources, and was a sub-group which emerged from the Mahāsāṃghika sect.
Etymology
The nam ...
and
Prajñaptivāda are thought to have split from the Kukkuṭikas in the late third or second century BCE. The Kukkuṭikas seem to have remained in eastern India, and remained strongest in the area around
Vārāṇasī.
The sixth-century Indian monk
Paramārtha associates the initial composition and acceptance of
Mahāyāna sūtras with the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism. He wrote that the Mahāsāṃghikas initially split into three groups based upon the relative manner and degree to which they accepted the authority of
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
teachings. Paramārtha states that at this time, the Kukkuṭika sect did not accept the Mahāyāna sūtras as ''
buddhavacana
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
'' ("words of the Buddha"), while the Lokottaravāda sect and the Ekavyāvahārika sect did accept the Mahāyāna sūtras as ''buddhavacana''.
In the early fifth century, the Chinese monk
Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
procured a copy of the Mahāsāṃghika
vinaya from a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...
in Pāṭaliputra that he describes as "Mahāyāna". The Kukkuṭikas were a Mahāsāṃghika sect known to exist in Pāṭaliputra, even having alternate names linking them to the Kukkuṭrārāma monastery there.
According to
Tāranātha, this school disappeared between the fourth and ninth centuries. In his eighth-century account of the various contemporary Buddhist sects, Vinitadeva does not mention Kukkuṭika. It is possible that this sect had merged completely into Mahāyāna Buddhism by this time.
[Baruah, Bibhuti. ''Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism.'' 2008. p. 47]
See also
*
Schools of Buddhism
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kukkutika
Nikaya schools
Mahāsāṃghika
Early Buddhist schools