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Prajñaptivāda
The Prajñaptivāda (Sanskrit; ) was a branch of the Mahāsāṃghika, one of the early Buddhist schools in India. The Prajñaptivādins were also known as the '' Bahuśrutīya-Vibhajyavādins''. History According to Vasumitra, the Prajñaptivāda school is said to have developed as one of several Mahāsāṃghika subschools. They are recorded as having taken up residence in the Himalayas. According to Tāranātha, the Prajñaptivādins continued to flourish in Magadha through the Pala Empire as late as the 10th century CE. A. K. Warder writes that the Prajñaptivādins were not known to have left Buddhism's original territory (modern Northeast India, Bengal and Nepal). Doctrines and teachings The ''Samayabhedhoparacanacakra'' records that the doctrines of the Prajñaptivāda school were similar to those of the main Mahāsāṃghika school. Prajñapti According to André Bareau, the name ''Prajñaptivāda'' refers to their doctrine that phenomena are the product of concep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 geographical separation of groups of monks. The original saṅgha split into the first early schools (generally believed to be the Sthavira nikāya and the Mahāsāṃghika) during or after the reign of Aśoka. Later, these first early schools were further divided into schools such as the Sarvāstivādins, the Dharmaguptakas, and the Vibhajyavāda, and ended up numbering 18 or 20 schools according to traditional accounts. The textual material shared by the early schools is often termed the Early Buddhist Texts and these are an important source for understanding their doctrinal similarities and differences. Formation and development The first council According to the scriptures ('' Cullavagga'' XI.1 ff), three months after the parin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 several ways to represent an older redaction overall. Many scholars also look to the Mahāsāṃghika branch for the initial development of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Location The original center of the Mahāsāṃghika sect was in Magadha, but they also maintained important centers such as in Mathura and Karli. The Kukkuṭikas were situated in eastern India around Vārāṇasī and Pāṭaliputra and the Bahuśrutīya in Kośala, Andhra, and Gandhara. The Lokottaravāda subschool itself claimed to be of the 'Middle Country', i.e. Ganges Basin region in the north of India. The Mahāsāṃghikas and the Lokottaravāda subschool also had centres in the Gandhara region.The Ekavyāvahārika are not known from later times. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schools Of Buddhism
The schools of Buddhism are the various institutional and doctrinal divisions of Buddhism that have existed from ancient times up to the present. The classification and nature of various doctrinal, philosophical or cultural facets of the schools of Buddhism is vague and has been interpreted in many different ways, often due to the sheer number (perhaps thousands) of different sects, subsects, movements, etc. that have made up or currently make up the whole of Buddhist traditions. The sectarian and conceptual divisions of Buddhist thought are part of the modern framework of Buddhist studies, as well as comparative religion in Asia. From a largely English-language standpoint, and to some extent in most of Western academia, Buddhism is separated into two groups: Theravāda, literally "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching," and Mahāyāna, literally the "Great Vehicle." The most common classification among scholars is threefold: Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jan Westerhoff considers him to be "one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Asian philosophy." Nāgārjuna is widely considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka (centrism, middle-way) school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement. His '' Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (Root Verses on Madhyamaka, or MMK) is the most important text on the madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today. History Background India in the first and second centuries CE was politically divided into various states, including the Kushan Empire and the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two Truths Doctrine
The Buddhist doctrine of the two truths (Sanskrit: ''dvasatya,'' ) differentiates between two levels of '' satya'' (Sanskrit; Pali: ''sacca''; word meaning "truth" or "reality") in the teaching of the Śākyamuni Buddha: the "conventional" or "provisional" ('' saṁvṛti'') truth, and the "ultimate" (''paramārtha'') truth. The exact meaning varies between the various Buddhist schools and traditions. The best known interpretation is from the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, whose founder was the Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nāgārjuna. For Nāgārjuna, the two truths are ''epistemological truths''. The phenomenal world is accorded a provisional existence. The character of the phenomenal world is declared to be neither real nor unreal, but logically indeterminable. Ultimately, all phenomena are empty (''śūnyatā'') of an inherent self or essence due to the non-existence of the self (''anattā''), but exist depending on other phenomena (''pratītyasamutpā ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan lang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikaya Buddhism
The term Nikāya Buddhism was coined by Masatoshi Nagatomi as a non-derogatory substitute for Hinayana, meaning the early Buddhist schools. Examples of these groups are pre-sectarian Buddhism and the early Buddhist schools. Some scholars exclude pre-sectarian Buddhism when using the term. The term Theravada refers to Buddhist practices based on these early teachings, as preserved in the Pāli Canon. Etymology ''Nikāya'' is a Pali word meaning "group" or "assemblage", referring to the collection of early Buddhist schools or non-Mahayana schools. In Indian Buddhism Overview Early Buddhism in India is generally divided into various monastic fraternities, or nikāyas. Conventionally numbering eighteen, the actual count varied over time. The doctrinal orientation of each school differed somewhat, as did the number of piṭakas in their canon. An example of this is the Dharmaguptaka, which included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a Dhāraṇī Piṭaka. In the Mahāsāṃghika bra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaccānagotta Sutta
The ''Kaccānagotta Sutta'' is a short, but influential Buddhist text in the Pali Canon (''Saṃyutta Nikāya'' 12.15). A Sanskrit and Chinese (''Saṃyuktāgama'' 301; also a partial quotation in SĀ 262) parallel text is also extant. Although there is considerable agreement across versions, the Sanskrit and Chinese texts are more or less identical to each other and both slightly different from the Pāli version. The Chinese translation was carried out by Guṇabhadra (c. 435-443 CE) as part of a '' Samyuktāgama Sutta'' (雜阿含經) translation project. Guṇabhadra is thought to have had the Sanskrit text brought to China from Sri Lanka. A separate Sanskrit text, also part of the fragmentary ''Saṃyuktāgama'' and dating from the 13th or 14th century, has been preserved. The text is cited in Sanskrit in works by Nāgārjuna and his commentators. Nāgārjuna's citation suggests he had a different version from the extant Sanskrit. The text is also cited in a number of other Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
The ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' ( sa, मूलमध्यमककारिका, ''Root Verses on the Middle Way''), abbreviated as ''MMK'', is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was composed by the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna (approximately around 150 CE).Siderits and Katsura (2013), p. 1. The MMK makes use of reductio arguments to show how ''all'' phenomena ('' dharmas'') are empty of '' svabhava'' (which has been variously translated as essence, own-being, or inherent existence). The MMK is widely regarded as one of the most influential and widely studied texts in the history of Buddhist philosophy. The MMK had a major impact on the subsequent development of Buddhist thought, especially in Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. Background The MMK is the work of Nāgārjuna, an Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher writing in Sanskrit. Very little is known about this figure, including exactly where he lived (somewh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prajñā (Buddhism)
Prajñā (Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा) or paññā (Pāli: पञ्ञा), is a Buddhist term often translated as "wisdom", "intelligence", or "understanding". It is described in Buddhist texts as the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. In the context of Buddhist meditation, it is the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things: ''anicca'' ("impermanence"), '' dukkha'' ("dissatisfaction" or "suffering"), and ''anattā'' ("non-self"). Mahāyāna texts describe it as the understanding of ''śūnyatā'' ("emptiness"). It is part of the Threefold Training in Buddhism, and is one of the ten '' pāramīs'' of Theravāda Buddhism and one of the six Mahāyāna ''pāramitās''. Etymology ''Prajñā'' () is often translated as "wisdom", but according to Buddhist bioethics scholar Damien Keown, it is closer in meaning to "insight", "non-discriminating knowledge", or "intuitive apprehension". * ''jñā'' () can be translated as "consciousness", "knowl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upaya
Upaya (Sanskrit: उपाय, , ''expedient means'', ''pedagogy'') is a term used in Buddhism to refer to an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action "is driven by an incomplete reasoning" about its direction. Upaya is often used with ''kaushalya'' (कौशल्य, "cleverness"), ''upaya-kaushalya'' meaning "skill in means". Upaya-kaushalya is a concept emphasizing that practitioners may use their own specific methods or techniques that fit the situation in order to gain enlightenment. The implication is that even if a technique, view, etc., is not ultimately "true" in the highest sense, it may still be an ''expedient'' practice to perform or view to hold; i.e., it may bring the practitioner closer to the true realization in a similar way. The exercise of skill to which it refers, the ability to adapt one's message to the audience, is of enormous importance in the Pali Canon. The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism notes th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
