Jump to content

Mahāvastu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part ofa serieson
EarlyBuddhism
Scriptures
Early sangha
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
Early Buddhist schools

TheMahāvastu(Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story" ) is a canonical text of theMahāsāṃghikaLokottaravādaschool of Early Buddhismwhich was originally part of the school'sVinaya pitaka.[1][2]TheMahāvastuis a composite multi-lifehagiographyof the BuddhaShakyamuni.Its numerous textual layers are held by scholars to have been compiled between the 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE.[3][4][5]

TheMahāvastuwas first published in the West in aneditio princepsbyÉmile Senartbetween 1882 and 1897.[6]This edition is in a language which has been termedBuddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.[7]

Overview

[edit]

Content

[edit]

The text is a composite one which includes past life narratives, stories of previousBuddhas,stories ofGautama Buddha's final life, embeddedearly Buddhist sutrasand two prologues (nidānas).[8][6]Over half of the text is composed ofJātakaandAvadānatales, accounts of the earlier lives of theBuddhaand otherbodhisattvas.[3]

TheMahāvastuopens with two prologues (nidānas), theNidānanamaskāras(dating to around the 3rd century CE) and theNidānavastu(c. 1st century CE).[6]

Four sections of theMahāvastucontain texts of theBahubuddhaka sūtragenre. This includes abahubuddhasūtrain chapter XXI of Jones' translation, Volume III and Chapter V in Jones Volume I. TheBahubuddhakasūtrasaresutraswhich contain narratives of past Buddhas and these narratives often served as sources for Buddhist doctrines relating to the bodhisattva path.[6]Parallel examples ofBahubuddhakasūtrashave been found inGandharan Buddhist text collections.[9][6]One of these manuscripts dates to the 1st century BCE. Another parallelBahubuddhaka sūtrais the Chinese translationFo benxing ji jing(Taisho 190).[6]

TheMahāvastu's Jātaka tales are similar to those of thePali Canonalthough significant differences exist in terms of the tales' details. Other parts of theMahāvastuhave more direct parallels in the Pali Canon including from theDigha Nikaya(DN19,Mahāgovinda Sutta), theMajjhima Nikaya(MN26,Ariyapariyesana Sutta;and, MN 36,Mahasaccaka Sutta), theKhuddakapātha,theDhammapada(ch. 8,Sahassa Vagga;and, ch. 25,Bhikkhu Vagga), theSutta Nipata(Sn1.3,Khaggavisāṇa Sutta;Sn 3.1,Pabbajjā Sutta;and, Sn 3.2,Padhāna Sutta), theVimanavatthuand theBuddhavaṃsa.[10]

The more recent layer of theMahāvastuis theDaśabhūmika,a text which contains teachings on a scheme of bodhisattvabhūmis(stages). According to Vincent Tournier, this text was grafted into theMahāvastu(which itself does not contain any teaching on bodhisattva stages) during the last period of textual formation (ca. 4-6th centuries CE).[6]TheDaśabhūmikaseems to have originally been considered an appendix or supplement (parivāra, parisara) which later made its way into theMahāvastuitself. A similar case occurred with the secondAvalokitasūtrawhich shows similarities withMahayana scriptures.[6]

Buddhology

[edit]

TheMahāvastuis considered a primary source for the notion of a transcendent (lokottara) Buddha, common to allMahāsāṃghikaschools. According to theMahāvastu,over the course of many lives, the once-human-bornBuddhadeveloped 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 "suppresskarma."[11]

In spite of this school affiliation however, 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 thePali Canon,since the more docetic and transcendent ideas common to theLokottaravādaare not widely present in the text.[12]

TheNidānanamaskārasprologue introduced the doctrine of the fourfold "phases" of the bodhisattva's career.[6]According to this doctrine, the four stages (caryās)of the bodhisattva path are:[13]

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

English translations

[edit]
  • Jones, J.J. (trans.) (1949–56).The Mahāvastu(3 vols.) inSacred Books of the Buddhists.London: Luzac & Co.vol. 1,vol. 2,vol. 3

References

[edit]
  1. ^Keown 2013,p. 117.
  2. ^Tournier 2012,pp. 89–90.
  3. ^abThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 1998.
  4. ^"Mahāvastu" (2008).
  5. ^Jones (1949), p. xi, writes: ""... theMahāvastuis not the composition of a single author written in a well-defined period of time. Rather, it is a compilation which may have been begun in the second century B.C., but which was not completed until the third or fourth century A.D. "
  6. ^abcdefghiTournier 2017
  7. ^Jones (1949), pp. x–xi.
  8. ^Tournier 2012
  9. ^Salomon, Richard.New Biographies of the Buddha in Gāndhārī (Studies in Gāndhārī Manuscripts 3)Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume: 44, 2021, Pages: 355-401. DOI: 10.2143/JIABS.44.0.3290296
  10. ^Regarding the Dhammapada parallels, see Ānandajoti (2007), "Introduction," where Ānandajoti writes:
    Of the incomplete parallels, two chapters from yet another Dharmapada have been preserved in the Mahāvastu, one of the earliest of the Sanskritised Prakrit texts; one of the chapters is named as the Sahasravarga, and appears to be the whole of the chapter; the other is a selection that comes from an unnamed Bhikṣuvarga.
    From"Ancient Buddhist Texts".See also; ch. 8,"Sahassavagga",and ch. 25,"Bhikkhuvagga"
  11. ^Williams 2007,pp. 18–19.
  12. ^Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula (1978).A Critical study of the Mahāvastu.pp. 70-79. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass.
  13. ^Drewes, David,Mahāyāna Sūtras and Opening of the Bodhisattva Path,Paper presented at the XVIII the IABS Congress, Toronto 2017, Updated 2019.

Sources

[edit]
  • Jones, J.J. (trans.) (1949–56).The Mahāvastu(3 vols.) inSacred Books of the Buddhists.London: Luzac & Co.volume1volume 2volume 3
  • Keown, Damien(2013),The Encyclopedia of Buddhism,Routledge,ISBN9781136985881
  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1998),Mahāvastu,Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Ānandajoti Bhikkhu (2007).A Comparative Edition of the Dhammapada.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 (2012),"The Mahāvastu and the Vinayapiṭaka of the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādins"(PDF),Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University (ARIRIAB)(15)
  • Tournier, Vincent (2017),La formation du Mahāvastu et la mise en place des conceptions relatives à la carrière du bodhisattva[English Abstract],Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient (Monographies, n° 195).
  • Williams, Paul(2007),Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations,London:Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-02537-9
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mahāvastu&oldid=1229087082"