Mahāvastu

The ''Mahāvastu'' (Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story") is a canonical text of the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism which was originally part of the school's Vinaya pitaka. The ''Mahāvastu'' is a composite multi-life hagiography of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Its numerous textual layers are held by scholars to have been compiled between the 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE."Mahāvastu" (2008).
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The ''Mahāvastu'' was first published in the West in an ''editio princeps'' by Émile Senart between 1882 and 1897.Tournier 2017 This edition is in a language which has been termed Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.

Overview

Content

The text is a composite one which includes past life narratives, stories of previous Buddhas, stories of Gautama Buddha's final life, embedded early Buddhist sutras and two prologues ( nidānas).Tournier 2012 Over half of the text is composed of Jātaka and Avadāna tales, accounts of the earlier lives of the Buddha and other bodhisattvas.

The ''Mahāvastu'' opens with two prologues (''nidānas''), the ''Nidānanamaskāras'' (dating to around the 3rd century CE) and the ''Nidānavastu'' (c. 1st century CE).

Four sections of the ''Mahāvastu'' contain texts of the ''Bahubuddhaka sūtra'' genre. This includes a ''bahubuddhasūtra'' in chapter XXI of Jones' translation, Volume III and Chapter V in Jones Volume I. The ''Bahubuddhakasūtras'' are sutras which contain narratives of past Buddhas and these narratives often served as sources for Buddhist doctrines relating to the bodhisattva path. Parallel examples of ''Bahubuddhakasūtras'' have been found in Gandharan Buddhist text collections. One of these manuscripts dates to the 1st century BCE. Another parallel ''Bahubuddhaka sūtra'' is the Chinese translation ''Fo benxing ji jing'' (Taisho 190).

The ''Mahāvastu'''s Jātaka tales are similar to those of the Pali Canon although significant differences exist in terms of the tales' details. Other parts of the ''Mahāvastu'' have more direct parallels in the Pali Canon including from the Digha Nikaya ( DN 19, ''Mahāgovinda Sutta''), the Majjhima Nikaya ( MN 26, ''Ariyapariyesana Sutta''; and, MN 36, ''Mahasaccaka Sutta''), the Khuddakapātha, the Dhammapada (ch. 8, ''Sahassa Vagga''; and, ch. 25, ''Bhikkhu Vagga''), the Sutta Nipata ( Sn 1.3, ''Khaggavisāa Sutta''; Sn 3.1, ''Pabbajjā Sutta''; and, Sn 3.2, ''Padhāna Sutta''), the '' Vimanavatthu'' and the ''Buddhavaṃsa''.

The more recent layer of the ''Mahāvastu'' is the ''Daśabhūmika'', a text which contains teachings on a scheme of bodhisattva bhūmis (stages). According to Vincent Tournier, this text was grafted into the ''Mahāvastu'' (which itself does not contain any teaching on bodhisattva stages) during the last period of textual formation (ca. 4-6th centuries CE). The ''Daśabhūmika'' seems to have originally been considered an appendix or supplement (parivāra, parisara) which later made its way into the ''Mahāvastu'' itself. A similar case occurred with the second ''Avalokitasūtra'' which shows similarities with Mahayana scriptures.

Buddhology

The ''Mahāvastu'' is considered a primary source for the notion of a transcendent (''lokottara'') Buddha, common to all Mahāsāṃghika schools. According to the ''Mahāvastu'', over the course of many lives, the once-human-born Buddha developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine or bathing although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience; and, the ability to "suppress ''karma''."

In spite of this school affiliation however, the Theravadin Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula concludes in his study of the text that its depiction of the Buddha is not that much different than the depiction of the Buddha in the Pali Canon, since the more docetic and transcendent ideas common to the Lokottaravāda are not widely present in the text.Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula (1978). ''A Critical study of the Mahāvastu''. pp. 70-79. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass.

The ''Nidānanamaskāras'' prologue introduced the doctrine of the fourfold "phases" of the bodhisattva's career. According to this doctrine, the four stages (''caryās)'' of the bodhisattva path are:Drewes, David,
Mahāyāna Sūtras and Opening of the Bodhisattva Path
', Paper presented at the XVIII the IABS Congress, Toronto 2017, Updated 2019.

# Natural (''prakṛti''-''caryā''), one first plants the roots of merit in front of a Buddha to attain Buddhahood.
# Resolution (''praṇidhāna-caryā''), one makes their first resolution to attain Buddhahood in the presence of a Buddha.
# Continuing (''anuloma-caryā''), one continues to practice until one meets a Buddha who confirms one's future Buddhahood.
# Irreversible (''anivartana-caryā''), at this stage, one cannot fall back.

English translations

* Jones, J.J. (trans.) (1949–56). ''The Mahāvastu'' (3 vols.) in ''Sacred Books of the Buddhists''. London: Luzac & Co
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3

References

Sources

* Jones, J.J. (trans.) (1949–56). ''The Mahāvastu'' (3 vols.) in ''Sacred Books of the Buddhists''. London: Luzac & Co
volume1volume 2volume 3
*
*
* Ānandajoti Bhikkhu (2007)

U. of Peradeniya. Retrieved 25 Nov 2008 from "Ancient Buddhist Texts"
* J.K. Nariman (1923)
Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism
Bombay: Indian Book Depot; pp. 11–18
*
* Tournier, Vincent (2017)
''La formation du Mahāvastu et la mise en place des conceptions relatives à la carrière du bodhisattva'' [English Abstract
/nowiki>">nglish Abstract">''La formation du Mahāvastu et la mise en place des conceptions relatives à la carrière du bodhisattva'' [English Abstract
/nowiki> Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient (Monographies, n° 195).
*

External links

* J. J. Jones (1949)
''The Mahavastu'' (English translation)
including footnotes and glossary (wisdomlib.org)

by Dr. A. B. Keith, D.C.L., D.Litt.

by B.C. Law

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahavastu
Early Buddhist texts
Jataka tales
Life of Gautama Buddha