1.
Sanchi
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Sanchi the Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, is located on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is 46 km north-east of Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, the Great Stupa at Sanchi is the oldest stone structure in India and was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, the original construction work of this stupa was overseen by Ashoka, whose wife Devi was the daughter of a merchant of nearby Vidisha. Sanchi was also her birthplace as well as the venue of her, in the 1st century BCE, four elaborately carved toranas and a balustrade encircling the entire structure were added. The sanchi stupa built during Mauryan period was made of bricks, the complex flourished until the 11th century. Sanchi is the center of a region with a number of stupas including Satdhara, Morel Khurd, Andher, Mawas, the Great Stupa at Sanchi is the oldest structure and was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, the old stupa was later covered when it was expanded under the Shungas. A pillar of finely polished sandstone was also erected, the bottom part of the pillar still stands. The upper parts of the pillar are placed under a canopy nearby, the pillar has an Ashokan inscription and an inscription in the ornamental Sankha Lipi from the Gupta period. It has been suggested that Pushyamitra may have destroyed the original stupa, the original brick stupa was covered with stone during the Shunga period. During the later rule of the Shunga, the stupa was expanded with stone slabs to almost twice its original size, the dome was flattened near the top and crowned by three superimposed parasols within a square railing. With its many tiers it was a symbol of the dharma, the dome was set on a high circular drum meant for circumambulation, which could be accessed via a double staircase. A second stone pathway at ground level was enclosed by a balustrade with four monumental gateways facing the cardinal directions. The buildings which seem to have been commissioned during the rule of the Shungas are the Second and Third stupas, from the 1st century BCE, the gateways and the balustrade were built and colored, the work being apparently commissioned by the Satavahana. The gateways and toranas are generally dated to the 1st century CE, kharavela in his inscription mentions one Satakarni, who is identified as Satakarni II, who is also identical to the one who inscribed in Sanchi. If this is true, then the dating of Sanchi gateway, although made of stone, they were carved and constructed in the manner of wood and the gateways were covered with narrative sculptures
2.
Caitika
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Caitika was an early Buddhist school, a sub-sect of the Mahāsāṃghika. They were also known as the Caityaka sect, the Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains of South India, from which they derived their name. In Pali writings, members of this sect and its offshoots were generally referred to as the Andhakas, the Caitikas branched off from the main Mahāsāṃghika school in the 1st or 2nd century BCE. Epigraphic evidence of the Mahāsāṃghikas in the Mathura region dates to the first century BCE, however, the ancient Buddhist sites in the lower Kṛṣṇa Valley, including Amarāvati, Nāgārjunakoṇḍā and Jaggayyapeṭa can be traced to at least the third century BCE, if not earlier. The Caitikas gave rise to the Aparaśailas and Uttaraśailas, together, they comprised an important part of the Mahāsāṃghika located in South India. Two other sub-sects associated with the Caitikas include the Rājagirikas and the Siddhārthikas, the Caitikas are said to have had in their possession the Great Stupa at Sanchi. The Great Stūpa was first commissioned by Asoka in the 3rd century BCE, in the Ajaṇṭā Caves, the only epigraphic reference to an early Buddhist sect is to that of the Caitikas, which is associated with an iconic image in Cave 10. The Mahāsāṃghikas were generally associated with the veneration of anthropomorphic Buddha images. When Xuanzang visited Dhānyakaṭaka, he wrote that the monks of this region were Mahāsāṃghikas, the main Caitika school, along with the Aparaśailas and Uttaraśailas, all emphasized the transcendental and supernatural character of the Buddha. Xuanzang considered the Mahāsāṃghika doctrine of a mūlavijñāna to be essentially the same as the Yogacara doctrine of the storehouse consciousness. He also noted that the doctrine of the mūlavijñāna was contained in the āgamas of the Mahāsāṃghikas, some early Mahāyāna sūtras reference wealthy female donors and provide evidence that they were developed in the Āndhra region, where the Caitika were predominant. Several scholars such as Étienne Lamotte, and Alex and Hideko Wayman, epigraphic evidence at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa also provides abundant evidence of royal and wealthy female donors. A number of scholars have proposed that the Mahāyāna Prajñāpāramitā teachings were first developed by the Caitika subsect of the Mahāsāṃghikas and they believe that the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra originated amongst the southern Mahāsāṃghika schools of the Āndhra region, along the Kṛṣṇa River. Guang Xing states, Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā probably developed among the Mahāsāṃghikas in southern India, in the Āndhra country and these Mahāsāṃghikas had two famous monasteries near the Amarāvati and the Dhānyakaṭaka, which gave their names to the schools of the Pūrvaśailas and the Aparaśailas. Each of these schools had a copy of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra in Prakrit, guang Xing also assesses the view of the Buddha given in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra as being that of the Mahāsāṃghikas. Edward Conze estimates that this sūtra originated around 100 BCE, Alex Wayman has outlined eleven points of complete agreement between the Mahāsāṃghikas and the Śrīmālā, along with four major arguments for this association. After its composition, this became the primary scriptural advocate in India for the universal potentiality of Buddhahood. During the same period, Avalokitavrata speaks of the Mahāsāṃghikas using a Great Āgama Piṭaka, which is associated with Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Prajñāparamitā
3.
Buddhist texts
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They can be categorized in a number of ways. These religious texts were written in different languages and scripts. Even after the development of printing, Buddhists preferred to keep to their practices with these texts. The Mahāsāṃghika and the Mūlasarvāstivāda considered both the Buddhas discourses, and of his disciples, to be buddhavacana, a number of different beings such as buddhas, disciples of the buddha, ṛṣis, and devas were considered capable to transmitting buddhavacana. The content of such a discourse was then to be collated with the sūtras, compared with the Vinaya and these texts may then be certified as true buddhavacana by a buddha, a saṃgha, a small group of elders, or one knowledgeable elder. In Theravada Buddhism, the collection of buddhavacana is the Pali Canon. Some scholars believe that some portions of the Pali Canon and Agamas could contain the substance of the historical teachings of the Buddha. In East Asian Buddhism, what is considered buddhavacana is collected in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the most common edition of this is the Taishō Tripiṭaka. Then these sutras may be regarded as buddhavacana. Sometimes texts that are considered commentaries by some are regarded by others as Buddhavacana, in Tibetan Buddhism, what is considered buddhavacana is collected in the Kangyur. The East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist canons always combined Buddhavacana with other literature in their standard collected editions, however, the general view of what is and is not buddhavacana is broadly similar between East Asian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan Kangyur, which belongs to the schools of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, in addition to containing sutras and vinaya. Doctrinal elaborations were preserved in Abhidharma works and later Karikas, as Buddhism spread geographically, these texts were translated into the local language, such as Chinese and Tibetan. The Pali canon was preserved in Sri Lanka where it was first written down in the first century BCE, the Sri Lankan Pali tradition developed extensive commentaries as well as sub-commentaries for the Pali Canon as well as treatises on Abhidhamma. Sutra commentaries and Abhidharma works also exist in Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, important examples of non-canonical Pali texts are the Visuddhimagga, by Buddhaghosa, which is a compendium of Theravada teachings and the Mahavamsa, a historical Sri Lankan chronicle. Sanskrit Buddhist literature later became the dominant tradition in India until the decline of Buddhism in India, around the beginning of the Christian era, a new genre of sutra literature began to be written with a focus on the Bodhisattva idea, commonly known as Mahayana sutras. Many of the Mahayana sutras were written in Sanskrit and then translated into the Tibetan, some 600 Mahayana Sutras have survived in Sanskrit, or in Chinese and/or Tibetan translation. In the Mahayana tradition there are important works termed Shastras, or treatises which attempt to outline the sutra teachings, the works of important Buddhist philosophers like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu and Dharmakirti are generally termed Shastras, and were written in Sanskrit
4.
Jataka tales
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The Jātaka tales are a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. The future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a god, in Theravada Buddhism, the Jātakas are a textual division of the Pāli Canon, included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka. The term Jātaka may also refer to a commentary on this book. The Jātakas were originally amongst the earliest Buddhist literature, with metrical analysis methods dating their average contents to around the 4th century BCE. The Mahāsāṃghika Caitika sects from the region took the Jātakas as canonical literature and are known to have rejected some of the Theravāda Jātakas which dated past the time of King Ashoka. The Caitikas claimed that their own Jātakas represented the original collection before the Buddhist tradition split into various lineages, according to A. K. Warder, the Jātakas are the precursors to the various legendary biographies of the Buddha, which were composed at later dates. Although many Jātakas were written from a period, which describe previous lives of the Buddha. The Jātaka-Mālā of Arya Śura in Sanskrit gives 34 Jātaka stories, at the Ajanta Caves, Jātaka scenes are inscribed with quotes from Arya Shura, with script datable to sixth century. It had already translated into Chinese in 434 CE. Borobudur contains depictions of all 34 Jatakas from Jataka Mala, the Theravāda Jātakas comprise 547 poems, arranged roughly by increasing number of verses. According to Professor von Hinüber, only the last 50 were intended to be intelligible by themselves, the commentary gives stories in prose that it claims provide the context for the verses, and it is these stories that are of interest to folklorists. Many of the stories and motifs found in the Jātaka such as the Rabbit in the Moon of the Śaśajātaka, are found in other languages. Many of the stories and motifs being translations from the Pali, at the Mahathupa in Sri Lanka all 550 Jataka tales were represented inside of the reliquary chamber. Reliquaries often depict the Jataka tales, many stupas in northern India are said to mark locations from the Jātaka tales, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang reported several of these. A stupa in Puskaravati marks where Syama fulfilled his duty to his blind parents. Nearby the ascetic Ekasrnga was seduced by a beautiful woman, in Mangalura Ksantivadin submitted to mutilation by a king. At Hadda Mountain a young Brahmin sacrificed himself to learn a half verse of the dharma, at Sarvadattaan an incarnation sold himself for ransom to make offerings to a Brahmin. Faxian describes the four great stupas as being adorned with precious substances, at one site king Sibi sacrifices his flesh to ransom a dove from a hawk
5.
First Buddhist council
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The First Buddhist council was convened just after the Buddhas passing away in 483 BCE. A council of 500 Arahats was held at Rajgir to agree the contents of the Dhamma, ananda recited the Suttas, such that each begins, ‘Thus have I heard’. The monk Upali recited the Vinaya, Buddhist councils Second Buddhist council Third Buddhist council Fourth Buddhist councils Fifth Buddhist council Sixth Buddhist council Harvey, Peter. An Introduction to Buddhism, Teachings, History and Practices
6.
Third Buddhist council
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The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BCE at Asokarama in Pataliputra, supposedly under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka. This is however disputed, as mention of the council never appears in the Edicts of Ashoka, the traditional reason for convening the Third Buddhist Council is reported to have been to rid the Sangha of corruption and bogus monks who held heretical views. It was presided over by the elder monk Moggaliputta-Tissa and one thousand monks participated in the Council, the council is recognized and known to both the Theravada and Mahayana schools, though its importance is central only to the Theravada. The account of the background to the Third Council is as follows, at first he paid only token homage to the Dhamma and the Sangha and also supported members of other religious sects as his father had done before him. However, all changed when he met the pious novice-monk Nigrodha who preached him Appamada-vagga verses from the Dhammapada. Thereafter he ceased supporting other groups and his interest in. He used his enormous wealth to build, it is said, eighty-four thousand pagodas and viharas and his son Mahinda and his daughter Sanghamitta were ordained and admitted to the Sangha. Eventually, his generosity was to cause problems within the Sangha. Large numbers of faithless, greedy men espousing wrong views tried to join the order but were deemed unfit for ordination, despite this they seized the chance to exploit the Emperors generosity for their own ends and donned robes and joined the order without having been ordained properly. Consequently, respect for the Sangha diminished, when this came to light some of the genuine monks refused to hold the prescribed purification or Uposatha ceremony in the company of the corrupt, heretical monks. When the Emperor heard about this he sought to rectify the situation, however, the Emperor had given the minister no specific orders as to what means were to be used to carry out his command. The monks refused to obey and hold the ceremony in the company of their false, the horrified minister stopped the slaughter and fled the hall and reported back to the Emperor. Asoka was deeply grieved and upset by what had happened and blamed himself for the killings and he sought Thera Moggaliputta Tissas counsel. He proposed that the heretical monks be expelled from the order, so it was that in the seventeenth year of the Emperors reign the Third Council was called. The Emperor himself questioned monks from a number of monasteries about the teachings of the Buddha and those who held wrong views were exposed and expelled from the Sangha immediately. In this way the Bhikkhu Sangha was purged of heretics and bogus bhikkhus and this book consists of twenty-three chapters, and is a collection of discussions on the points of controversy. It gives refutations of the views held by various Buddhist sects on matters philosophical. The Kathavatthu is the fifth of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, however, the historicity of this has been questioned, as the account preserved in the San Jian Lu Pi Po Sho, although otherwise almost identical, does not mention the Kathavatthu
7.
Fourth Buddhist council
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Fourth Buddhist Council is the name of two separate Buddhist council meetings. The first one was held in the 1st century BCE, in Sri Lanka, in this fourth Buddhist council the Theravadin Pali Canon was for the first time committed to writing, on palm leaves. The second one was held by the Sarvastivada school, in Kashmir around the 1st century CE, after the Council, palm-leaf manuscripts containing the completed Canon were taken to other countries such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The Fourth Buddhist Council of the Sarvastivada tradition is said to have been convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka, the Fourth Council of Kashmir is not recognized as authoritative for the Theravadins, reports of this council can be found in scriptures which were kept in the Mahayana tradition. The Mahayana tradition based some of its scriptures on the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma texts, the main fruit of this Council was the vast commentary known as the Mahāvibhāṣā, an extensive compendium and reference work on a portion of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma. Scholars believe that it was also around this time that a significant change was made in the language of the Sarvāstivādin canon, for this reason, all major Buddhist scholars in India thereafter wrote their commentaries and treatises in Sanskrit. Buddhist councils First Buddhist council Second Buddhist council Third Buddhist council Fifth Buddhist council Sixth Buddhist council Buswell, Robert, Lopez, Donald S
8.
Early Buddhist schools
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The original saṅgha split into the first early schools a significant number of years after the passing away of Gautama Buddha. According to scholar Collett Cox most scholars would agree that even though the roots of the earliest recognized groups predate Aśoka, their actual separation did not occur until after his death. Later, these first early schools split into divisions such as the Sarvāstivādins and the Dharmaguptakas. In fact, there are several overlapping lists of 18 schools preserved in the Buddhist tradition, totaling about twice as many and it is thought likely that the number is merely conventional. According to the scriptures, three months after the passing of Gautama Buddha, the first council was held at Rajagaha by some of his disciples who had attained arahantship, the accounts of the council in the scriptures of the schools differ as to what was actually recited there. Some scholars deny that the first council took place. The Second Buddhist council took place one hundred years after Gautama Buddhas parinirvāṇa. Virtually all scholars agree that the council was a historical event. The textual sources agree that the first split was between the Sthaviravāda and the Mahāsāṃghika, however, after this initial division, more were to follow. Some modern scholars argue that the first split occurred in the period between the second and third councils, and was probably about monastic discipline. However, only two ancient sources place the first schism before Aśoka, and none attribute the schism to a dispute on Vinaya practice. Tradition largely holds that Buddhism split into 18 schools, but different sources give different lists of them, and scholars conclude that the number is merely conventional. Theravādin sources state that, in the 3rd century BCE, a council was convened under the patronage of Aśoka. Some scholars argue there are certain implausible features of the Theravādin account which imply that the third council was ahistorical. The remainder consider it a purely Theravāda-Vibhajjavāda council, the Sthavira school had, by the time of Aśoka, divided into three sub-schools, doctrinally speaking, but these did not become separate monastic orders until later. According to the Theravādin account, this council was convened primarily for the purpose of establishing an official orthodoxy, at the council, small groups raised questions about the specifics of the vinaya and the interpretation of doctrine. The chairman of the council, Moggaliputta Tissa, compiled a book, the Kathavatthu, the council sided with Moggaliputta and his version of Buddhism as orthodox, it was then adopted by Emperor Aśoka as his empires official religion. In Pali, this school of thought was termed Vibhajjavāda, literally thesis of a distinction, the distinction involved was as to the existence of phenomena in the past, future and present
9.
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
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Pre-sectarian Buddhism, also called early Buddhism, the earliest Buddhism, and original Buddhism, is the Buddhism that existed before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. Some of the contents and teachings of this pre-sectarian Buddhism may be deduced from the earliest Buddhist texts, various terms are being used to refer to the earliest period of Buddhism, Pre-sectarian Buddhism Early Buddhism, The earliest Buddhism, Original Buddhism, The Buddhism of the Buddha himself. Precanonical Buddhism Some Japanese scholars refer to the subsequent period of the early Buddhist schools as sectarian Buddhism, Pre-sectarian Buddhism may refer to the earliest Buddhism, the ideas and practices of Gautama Buddha himself. It may also refer to early Buddhism as existing until about one hundred years after the Parinirvana of the Buddha, contrary to the claim of doctrinal stability, early Buddhism was a dynamic movement. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may have included or incorporated other Śramaṇic schools of thought, as well as Vedic and Jain ideas, the first documented split occurred, according to most scholars, between the second Buddhist council and the third Buddhist council. The first post-schismatic groups are stated to be the Sthaviravada. Eventually, eighteen different schools came into existence, Pre-sectarian Buddhism was originally one of the Śramaṇa movements. The time of the Buddha was a time of urbanisation in India and this release was the central aim of the Śramaṇa movements. The oldest recorded teachings are the texts of the four main nikayas of the Sutta Pitaka, together with the body of monastic rules. Scholars have also claimed there is a core within this core, referring to some poems. The reliability of sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Tillman Vetter, the comparison of the oldest extant texts does not just simply lead to the oldest nucleus of the doctrine. A Sthavira canon dating from c.270 B. C. when the activities during Asokas reign as well as dogmatic disputes had not yet created divisions within the Shtavira tradition. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies. Exemplary studies are the study on descriptions of liberating insight by Lambert Schmithausen, the overview of early Buddhism by Tilmann Vetter, Norman, the textual studies by Richard Gombrich, and the research on early meditation methods by Johannes Bronkhorst. A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight, the Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of dhyana. There is a tradition that stresses attaining insight as the means to awakening, but it has also incorporated the yogic tradition, as reflected in the use of jhana, which is rejected in other sutras as not achieving the final result of liberation. The problem was famously voiced in 1936 by Louis de La Vallee Poussin, in his text Musila et Narada and this problem has been elaborated by several well-known scholars, including Tilman Vetter, Johannes Bronkhorst, and Richard Gombrich
10.
Gokulika
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The Kukkuṭika were an early Buddhist school which descended from the Mahāsāṃghika. It is likely that the name Kukkuṭika or Kukkulika originated from the Kukkuṭrārāma monastery at Pāṭaliputra, there were numerous variations of this name, such as Kukkuṭika, Kukkulika, Kaukkuṭika, Kaurukullaka, and Gokulika. The name Gokulika means Cinder, and refers to the doctrine that all conditioned phenomena necessarily involve suffering, the Samayabhedoparacanacakra of Vasumitra regards the Ekavyāvahārika, Kukkuṭika, and Lokottaravāda 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 bodhisattvas. According to the Samayabhedoparacanacakra, these four groups held that the Buddha is able to know all dharmas in a moment of the mind. The Bahuśrutīya and Prajñaptivāda are thought to have split from the Kukkuṭikas in the late 3rd century BCE, the Kukkuṭikas seem to have remained in eastern India, and remained strongest in the area around Vārāṇasī. The 6th century CE Indian monk Paramārtha associates the initial composition and he wrote that the Mahāsāṃghikas initially split into three groups based upon the relative manner and degree to which they accepted the authority of Mahāyāna teachings. In the early 5th century CE, the Chinese monk Faxian procured a copy of the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya from a monastery in Pāṭaliputra that he describes as Mahāyāna. The Kukkuṭikas were a Mahāsāṃghika sect known to exist in Pāṭaliputra, according to Tāranātha, this school disappeared between the 4th century and 9th century CE. In his eighth-century account of the various contemporary Buddhist sects, Vinitadeva does not mention Kukkuṭika and it is possible that this sect had merged completely into Mahāyāna Buddhism by this time
11.
Sarvastivada
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The Sarvāstivāda were an early school of Buddhism that held to the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the three times. Vasubandhus Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya states, He who affirms the existence of the dharmas of the three time periods is held to be a Sarvāstivādin, the Sarvāstivādins were one of the most influential Buddhist monastic groups, flourishing throughout Northwest India, Northern India, and Central Asia. The Sarvāstivādins are believed to have given rise to the Mūlasarvāstivāda sect, Sarvāstivāda is a Sanskrit term that can be glossed as, the theory of all exists. This equates perfectly with the Chinese term, Shuōyīqièyǒu bù, which is literally the sect that speaks of the existence of everything, as used by Xuanzang, according to some accounts, the Sarvāstivādins emerged from the Sthavira nikāya. Regarding the origins of the Sarvāstivāda, Charles Prebish writes, There is a deal of mystery surrounding the rise. On the other hand, we have the attempts of several scholars to ascribe the rise of the school to one of Asoka’s missions—that sending Majjhantika to Gandhara, an early seat of the school. This episode corresponds well with one Sarvāstivādin tradition stating that Madhyantika converted the city of Kasmir, still another tradition established a community of Sarvāstivādin monks at Mathura, founded by the patriarch Upagupta. Be that as it may, until the reign of King Kanishka, around the turn of the Christian era, the Sarvāstivāda enjoyed the patronage of Kanishka, during which time they were greatly strengthened, and became one of the dominant sects of Buddhism for the next thousand years. In Central Asia, several Buddhist monastic groups were historically prevalent, another text translated at a later date, the Śāriputraparipṛcchā, contains a very similar passage with nearly the same information. In the earlier source, the Sarvāstivāda are described as wearing red robes. However, in the passage found in the later Śāriputraparipṛcchā, the Sarvāstivāda are described as wearing black robes. In traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, which follow the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the Tibetan historian Buton Rinchen Drub wrote that the Mahāsāṃghikas used Prākrit, the Sarvāstivādins used Sanskrit, the Sthavira nikāya used Paiśācī, and the Saṃmitīya used Apabhraṃśa. The Sarvāstivāda comprised two subschools, the Vaibhāṣika and the Sautrāntika, pioneering work on the subject was undertaken by Ch. Willemen in 1975, and more recently in 2006 and in 2008 in the Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies. The Vaibhāṣika was formed by adherents of the Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra, comprising the orthodox Kasmiri branch of the Sarvāstivāda school, the Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda, which had by far the most comprehensive edifice of doctrinal systematics of the early Buddhist schools, was widely influential in India and beyond. In contrast to the Vaibhāṣikas, the Sautrāntika Sarvāstivādins did not uphold the Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra, the name Sautrāntika means those who uphold the sūtras. According to the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, the Sautrāntikas held the doctrine that there may be many contemporaneous buddhas. Some people say that to take refuge in the Buddha is to take refuge in the body of the Tathāgata and it is explained that the body, born of father and mother, is composed of defiled dharmas, and therefore is not a source of refuge. The refuge is the Buddhas fully accomplished qualities which comprise bodhi, Warder, the Sarvāstivādins held the same position as the Mahāsāṃghika branch regarding arhats, considering them to be imperfect and fallible
12.
Dharmaguptaka
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The Dharmaguptaka are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas and they are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravāda and the Mūlasarvāstivāda. Guptaka means preserver and dharma, law, justice, morality and most likely, the Dharmaguptaka doctrine is characterized by an understanding of the Buddha as separate from the Sangha so that his teaching is superior to the one given by arhats. They also emphasise the merit of devotion to stūpas, which often had pictorial representation of the stories Buddhas previous lives as bodhisattvas as portrayed in the Jataka tales, the Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a śrāvaka and the path of a bodhisattva to be separate. Making offerings to stūpas may result in many extensive benefits, the Buddha and those of the Two Vehicles, although they have one and the same liberation, have followed different noble paths. Those of outer paths cannot obtain the five supernormal powers, the body of an arhat is without outflows. In many other ways, their views are similar to those of the Mahāsāṃghikas, According to the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, the Dharmaguptakas held that the Four Noble Truths are to be observed simultaneously. The Dharmaguptaka are known to have rejected the authority of the Sarvāstivāda prātimokṣa rules on the grounds that the teachings of the Buddha had been lost. The Dharmaguptaka used a unique twelvefold division of the Buddhist teachings, which has found in their Dīrgha Āgama, their Vinaya. These twelve divisions are, sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, udāna, nidāna, jātaka, itivṛttaka, vaipulya, adbhūtadharma, avadāna, another text translated at a later date, the Śāriputraparipṛcchā, contains a very similar passage with nearly the same information. However, the colors for Dharmaguptaka and Sarvāstivāda are reversed, in the earlier source, the Sarvāstivāda are described as wearing deep red robes, while the Dharmaguptaka are described as wearing black robes. The corresponding passage found in the later Śāriputraparipṛcchā, in contrast, portrays the Sarvāstivāda as wearing black robes, during the Tang dynasty, Chinese Buddhist monastics typically wore grayish-black robes and were even colloquially referred to as Zīyī, those of the black robes. However, the Song dynasty monk Zanning writes that during the earlier Han-Wei period, According to the Dharmaguptaka vinaya, the robes of monastics should be sewn out of no more than 18 pieces of cloth, and the cloth should be fairly heavy and coarse. Conversely, Dharmaguptakas also resorted to Sanskrit, from personal name, This is a redirect from an individuals personal name to an article titled with the subjects professional stage name, pen name, or other better known moniker. This redirect leads to the title in accordance with the conventions for common names, it may help writing. It is not necessary to replace these redirected links with a piped link and this is in accord with Wikipedias biography of living persons policy, which applies to all Wikipedia pages, to include redirects. Use this rcat only on redirects that are in Wikipedias main-article namespace, if the redirect title is the subjects birth name, use instead. Starting in the first century of the era, there was a large trend toward a type of Gāndhārī which was heavily Sanskritized
13.
Mulasarvastivada
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The Mūlasarvāstivāda was one of the early Buddhist schools of India. The origins of the Mūlasarvāstivāda and their relationship to the Sarvāstivāda sect still remain largely unknown, the continuity of the Mūlasarvāstivāda monastic order remains in Tibetan Buddhism, although until recently, only Mūlasarvāstivādin bhikṣus existed, the bhikṣuṇī order had never been introduced. The relationship of the Mūlasarvāstivāda to the Sarvāstivāda school is a matter of dispute, yijing claimed that they derived their name from being an offshoot of Sarvāstivāda, but Buton Rinchen Drub stated that the name was a homage to Sarvāstivāda as the root of all Buddhist schools. A number of theories have been posited by academics as to how the two are related, which Bhikkhu Sujato summaries as follows, The uncertainty around this school has led to a number of hypotheses. Lamotte, opposing Frauwallner, asserts that the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya was a late Kaśmīr compilation made to complete the Sarvāstivādin Vinaya, Enomoto pulls the rug out from all these theories by asserting that Sarvāstivādin and Mūlasarvāstivādin are really the same. Meanwhile, Willemen, Dessein, and Cox have developed the theory that the Sautrantikas, although they were the earlier group, they temporarily lost ground to the Kaśmīr Vaibhāśika school due to the political influence of Kaṇiṣka. In later years the Sautrantikas became known as Mūlasarvāstivādins and regained the ascendancy, I have elsewhere given my reasons for disagreeing with the theories of Enomoto and Willemen et al. Neither Warder nor Lamotte give sufficient evidence to back up their theories and we are left with Frauwallners theory, which in this respect has stood the test of time. According to Gregory Schopen, the Mūlasarvāstivāda developed during the 2nd century CE, the Mūlasarvāstivāda were prevalent at times throughout Central Asia due to missionary activities performed in the region. Yijing stayed in Śrīvijaya for six to seven years, during which time he studied Sanskrit, yijing states that the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya was almost universally adopted in this area. He writes that the subjects studied, as well as the rules and ceremonies, were essentially the same in this region as they were in India. Yijing described these islands as generally Hīnayāna in orientation, but writes that the Melayu Kingdom included Mahāyāna teachings such as Asaṅgas Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya is one of three surviving vinaya lineages, along with the Dharmaguptaka and Theravāda. The Tibetan Emperor Ralpacan restricted Buddhist ordination to the Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya, as Mongolian Buddhism was introduced from Tibet, Mongolian ordination follows this rule as well. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is extant in Tibetan and Chinese, and to some extent in the original Sanskrit, journal of Indian and Buddhist studies 52, 339-333 Satoshi Hiraoka. The Relation between the Divyavadana and the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya, journal of Indian Philosophy 26, 419-434
14.
Theravada
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Theravāda is a branch of Buddhism that uses the Buddhas teaching preserved in the Pāli Canon as its doctrinal core. The Pali canon is the only complete Buddhist canon which survives in a classical Indic Language, Pali, another feature of Theravada is that it tends to be very conservative about matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. As a distinct sect, Theravada Buddhism developed in Sri Lanka, Theravada also includes a rich diversity of traditions and practices that have developed over its long history of interactions with varying cultures and religious communities. It is the dominant form of religion in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is practiced by minority groups in Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Vietnam. In addition, the diaspora of all of these groups as well as converts around the world practice Theravāda Buddhism, contemporary expressions include Buddhist modernism, the Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest Tradition. The name Theravāda comes from the ancestral Sthāvirīya, one of the early Buddhist schools, according to its own accounts, the Theravāda school is fundamentally derived from the Vibhajjavāda doctrine of analysis grouping, which was a division of the Sthāvirīya. Significantly, the Sthāviras in turn comprise three sub-nikāyas, the Jetavanīyas, the Abhayagirivāsins, and the Mahāvihāravāsins, according to Damien Keown, there is no historical evidence that the Theravāda school arose until around two centuries after the Great Schism which occurred at the Third Council. These teachings were known as the Vibhajjavada, emperor Ashoka is supposed to have assisted in purifying the sangha by expelling monks who failed to agree to the terms of Third Council. The elder monk Moggaliputta-Tissa was at the head of the Third council and compiled the Kathavatthu, later, the Vibhajjavādins in turn is said to have split into four groups, the Mahīśāsaka, Kāśyapīya, Dharmaguptaka, and the Tāmraparṇīya. The Theravāda is said to be descended from the Tāmraparṇīya sect, the most distinctive features of this phase and virtually the only contemporary historical material, are the numerous Brahmi inscriptions associated with these caves. They record gifts to the sangha, significantly by householders and chiefs rather than by kings, the Buddhist religion itself does not seem to have established undisputed authority until the reigns of Dutthagamani and Vattagamani. The first records of Buddha images come from the reign of king Vasabha, in the 7th century, the Chinese pilgrim monks Xuanzang and Yijing refer to the Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka as Shàngzuòbù, corresponding to the Sanskrit Sthavira nikāya and Pali Thera Nikāya. Yijing writes, In Sri Lanka the Sthavira school alone flourishes, the school has been using the name Theravāda for itself in a written form since at least the 4th century, about one thousand years after the Buddhas death, when the term appears in the Dīpavaṁsa. According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Theravāda, spread rapidly south from Avanti into Maharashtra and Andhra and down to the Chola country, as well as Sri Lanka. According to Richard Gombrich this is the earliest record we have of Buddhist scriptures being committed to writing anywhere, the Theravada Pali texts which have survived are derived from the Mahavihara of Anuradhapura, the ancient Sri Lankan capital. Later developments included the formation and recording of the Theravada commentary literature, the Theravada tradition records that even during the early days of Mahinda, there was already a tradition of Indian commentaries on the scriptures. Of great importance to the tradition is the work of the great Theravada scholastic Buddhaghosa. Buddhaghosa wrote in Pali, and after him, most Sri Lankan Buddhist scholastics did as well and this allowed the Sri Lankan tradition to become more international through a lingua franca so as to converse with monks in India and later Southeast Asia
15.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
16.
Sangha
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Sangha is a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning association, assembly, company or community and most commonly refers in Buddhism to the monastic community of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. These communities are referred to as the bhikkhu-sangha or bhikkhuni-sangha. As a separate category, those who have attained any of the four stages of enlightenment, according to the Theravada school, the term sangha does not refer to the community of sāvakas nor the community of Buddhists as a whole. In a glossary of Buddhist terms, Richard Robinson et al. define Sangha as, the two meanings overlap but are not necessarily identical. Some members of the ideal Sangha are not ordained, some monastics have yet to acquire the Dharma-eye, the Sangha is the third of the Three Jewels in Buddhism. Due to the temptations and vicissitudes of life in the world, monastic life is considered to provide the safest and most suitable environment for advancing toward enlightenment, in Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha each are described as having certain characteristics. These characteristics are chanted either on a daily basis and/or on Uposatha days, the Sangha also fulfils the function of preserving the Buddha’s original teachings and of providing spiritual support for the Buddhist lay-community. The Sangha has historically assumed responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the doctrine as well as the translation and propagation of the teachings of the Buddha. Between midday and the day, a strict life of scripture study, chanting, meditation. Transgression of rules carries penalties ranging from confession to permanent expulsion from the Sangha, saichō, the founder of the Japanese school of Tendai, decided to reduce the number of rules down to about 60 based on the Bodhisattva Precepts. The Order of Interbeing, established in 1964 and associated with the Plum Village movement, has fourteen precepts observed by all monastics and they were written by Thích Nhất Hạnh. In practice, they often have a few personal possessions. Traditionally, Buddhist monks, nuns, and novices eschew ordinary clothes, originally the robes were sewn together from rags and stained with earth or other available dyes. A Buddhist monk is a bhikkhu in Pali, Sanskrit bhikṣu while a nun is a bhikkhuni, Sanskrit bhikṣuṇī. An emphasis on working for food is attributed to additional training guidelines laid down by a Chan Buddhist master, Baizhang Huaihai, notably the phrase, the idea that all Buddhists, especially Sangha members, practice vegetarianism is a Western misperception. In the Pali Canon the Buddha rejected a suggestion by Devadatta to impose vegetarianism on the Sangha, according to the Pali Texts, the Buddha ate meat as long as the animal was not killed specifically for him. Consequently, the Theravada tradition does not practice vegetarianism, although an individual may do so as his or her personal choice. On this question Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions vary depending on their interpretation of their scriptures, in some Mahayana sutras, meat eating is strongly discouraged and it is stated that the Buddha did not eat meat
17.
Chinese language
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Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six languages of the United Nations. The written form of the language, based on the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese is the spoken language and official in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also influential in Guangdong province and much of Guangxi, dialects of Southern Min, part of the Min group, are widely spoken in southern Fujian, with notable variants also spoken in neighboring Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Hakka also has a diaspora in Taiwan and southeast Asia. Shanghainese and other Wu varieties are prominent in the lower Yangtze region of eastern China, Chinese can be traced back to a hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty, as the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have sought to promulgate a unified standard. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, in addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach, and are often also sensitive border zones. Without a secure reconstruction of proto-Sino-Tibetan, the structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, the earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BCE in the late Shang dynasty
18.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
19.
Vinaya
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The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the sangha or monastic community of Buddhism based on the canonical texts called the Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Gautama Buddha can be divided into two categories, Dharma doctrine and Vinaya discipline. Extant vinaya texts include those of the Theravada, the Kāśyapīya, the Mahāsāṃghika, the Mahīśāsaka, the Dharmaguptaka, the Sarvāstivāda, at the heart of the Vinaya is a set of rules known as Patimokkha in Pāli and Prātimokṣa in Sanskrit. The Vinaya was orally passed down from the Buddha to his disciples, eventually, numerous different Vinayas arose in Buddhism, based upon geographical or cultural differences and the different schools of Buddhism that developed. Three of these are still in use, Theravadin, Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptakin, the Vinayas are the same in substance and have only minor differences. The Prātimokṣa is traditionally a section of the Vinaya, the Theravada Vinaya is preserved in the Pāli Canon in the Vinaya Piṭaka. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is preserved in both the Tibetan Buddhist canon in the Kangyur, in a Chinese edition, and in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript. As the nuns died out in all areas of the Theravada school, traditionally womens roles as renunciates were limited to taking eight or ten Precepts. Such women appears as maechi in Thai Buddhism, dasa sil mata in Sri Lanka, thilashin in Burma, some schools in Japan technically follow this, but many monks there are married, which can be considered a violation of the rules. Other Japanese monks follow the Bodhisattva Precepts only, which was excerpted from the Mahāyāna version of Brahmajālasutra, and the Bodhisattva Precepts contains two parts of precepts, for lay and clergy. According to Chinese Buddhist tradition, one who wants to observe the Bodhisattva Precepts for clergy, must observe the Ten Precepts and High Ordination first. Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Ladakh and other follow the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. In addition to these rules, there are many supplementary ones. The Buddha constantly reminds his hearers that it is the spirit of the rules that counts, on the other hand, the rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying life, and provide a perfect springboard for the higher attainments. Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as islands unto themselves, in this sense, living life as the vinaya prescribes it is, as one scholar puts it, more than merely a means to an end, it is very nearly the end in itself. Surrounding the rules is a range of texts, some of these explain the origins of the rules - it is possible to trace the development of the rules from responses to specific situations or actions to a general codification. There are also a number of texts that are more general statements about Buddhist doctrine, or that give biographical details of some of the great disciples. Other sections detail how the rules are to be applied, how breaches are to be dealt with and it is thought that originally there were no rules and the Buddha and his disciples just lived in harmony when they were together
20.
Redaction
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Redaction is a form of editing in which multiple source texts are combined and altered slightly to make a single document. Often this is a method of collecting a series of writings on a theme and creating a definitive. For example, originally classified documents released under freedom of information legislation may have sensitive information redacted in this way and this usage is discussed in the article on an alternative name for this practice, sanitization. On occasion, the performing the redaction add brief elements of their own. Sometimes the source texts are interlaced, particularly when discussing closely related details, things, redactional processes are documented in numerous disciplines, including ancient literary works and biblical studies. Much has been written on the role of redaction in creating meaning for texts in various formats
21.
Mahayana
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Mahayana is one of two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. The Buddhist tradition of Vajrayana is sometimes classified as a part of Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva who has accomplished this goal is called a samyaksaṃbuddha, or fully enlightened Buddha. A samyaksaṃbuddha can establish the Dharma and lead disciples to enlightenment, Mahayana Buddhists teach that enlightenment can be attained in a single lifetime, and this can be accomplished even by a layperson. The Mahāyāna tradition is the largest major tradition of Buddhism existing today, with 53. 2% of practitioners, major traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism today include Chan Buddhism, Korean Seon, Japanese Zen, Pure Land Buddhism, and Nichiren Buddhism. It may also include the Vajrayana traditions of Tiantai, Tendai, Shingon Buddhism, and Tibetan Buddhism, according to Jan Nattier, the term Mahāyāna was originally an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayāna — the vehicle of a bodhisattva seeking buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. The term Mahāyāna was therefore formed independently at a date as a synonym for the path. The earliest Mahāyāna texts often use the term Mahāyāna as a synonym for Bodhisattvayāna, the presumed dichotomy between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna can be deceptive, as the two terms were not actually formed in relation to one another in the same era. Among the earliest and most important references to the term Mahāyāna are those that occur in the Lotus Sūtra dating between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. Seishi Karashima has suggested that the term first used in an earlier Gandhāri Prakrit version of the Lotus Sūtra was not the term mahāyāna, the origins of Mahāyāna are still not completely understood. The earliest Western views of Mahāyāna assumed that it existed as a school in competition with the so-called Hīnayāna schools. The earliest textual evidence of Mahāyāna comes from sūtras originating around the beginning of the common era. There is also no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a formal school or sect of Buddhism, but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals. Membership in these nikāyas, or monastic sects, continues today with the Dharmaguptaka nikāya in East Asia, therefore, Mahāyāna was never a separate rival sect of the early schools. Paul Harrison clarifies that while monastic Mahāyānists belonged to a nikāya, from Chinese monks visiting India, we now know that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks in India often lived in the same monasteries side by side. Those who venerate the bodhisattvas and read the Mahayana sūtras are called the Mahāyānists, much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts. These Mahāyāna teachings were first propagated into China by Lokakṣema, the first translator of Mahāyāna sūtras into Chinese during the 2nd century CE. Guang Xing states, Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā probably developed among the Mahāsāṃghikas in southern India, in the Āndhra country, warder believes that the Mahāyāna originated in the south of India and almost certainly in the Āndhra country. They note that the ancient Buddhist sites in the lower Kṛṣṇa Valley, including Amaravati, Nāgārjunakoṇḍā and Jaggayyapeṭa can be traced to at least the third century BCE, akira Hirakawa notes the evidence suggests that many Early Mahayana scriptures originated in South India
22.
Magadha
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Magadha is a region in the Indian state of Bihar and formed one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas of ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges, its first capital was Rajagriha, Rajagriha was initially known as Girivrijja and later came to be known as so during the reign of Ajatashatru. Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal with the conquest of Licchavi and Anga, respectively, followed by much of eastern Uttar Pradesh and it is also mentioned in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. A state of Magadha is recorded in Vedic texts much earlier in time than 600 BCE, the earliest reference to the Magadha people occurs in the Atharvaveda, where they are found listed along with the Angas, Gandharis and Mujavats. Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism and these empires saw advancements in ancient Indias science, mathematics, astronomy, religion, and philosophy and were considered the Golden Age of India. The Magadha kingdom included republican communities such as the community of Rajakumara, villages had their own assemblies under their local chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions, the kingdom of the Magadha roughly corresponds to the modern districts of Patna, Jehanabad, Nalanda, Aurangabad, Nawadah and Gaya in southern Bihar, and parts of Bengal in the east. It was bounded on the north by the river Ganges, on the east by the river Champa, on the south by the Vindhya Range and this region of Greater Magadha had a culture and religious beliefs of its own that predates Hinduism. Much of the second took place here from c.500 BCE onwards and it was here that Jainism became strong. The importance of Magadhas culture can be seen in that Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism adopted some of its features, most significantly a belief in rebirth, there is little certain information available on the early rulers of Magadha. The most important sources are the Buddhist Pāli Canon, the Jain Agamas, based on these sources, it appears that Magadha was ruled by the Haryanka dynasty for some 200 years, c.600 BCE –413 BCE. Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, lived much of his life in Magadha kingdom and he attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath and the first Buddhist council was held in Rajgriha. The Hindu Mahabharata calls Brihadratha the first ruler of Magadha, King Bimbisara of the Haryanka dynasty led an active and expansive policy, conquering Anga in what is now West Bengal. The death of King Bimbisara was at the hands of his son, King Pasenadi, king of neighbouring Kosala and brother-in-law of King Bimbisara, promptly retook the gift of the Kashi province. Accounts differ slightly as to the cause of King Ajatashatrus war with the Licchavi and it appears that Ajatashatru sent a minister to the area who for three years worked to undermine the unity of the Licchavis. To launch his attack across the Ganges River, Ajatashatru built a fort at the town of Pataliputra, torn by disagreements the Licchavis fought with Ajatashatru. It took fifteen years for Ajatashatru to defeat them, Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru used two new weapons, a catapult, and a covered chariot with swinging mace that has been compared to a modern tank. Pataliputra began to grow as a center of commerce and became the capital of Magadha after Ajatashatrus death, the Haryanka dynasty was overthrown by the Shishunaga dynasty
23.
Mathura
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Mathura is a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately 50 kilometres north of Agra, and 145 kilometres south-east of Delhi, about 11 kilometres from the town of Vrindavan and it is the administrative centre of Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient period, Mathura was a hub, located at the junction of important caravan routes. The 2011 census of India estimated the population of Mathura to be 441,894, Mathura is believed to be the birthplace of Krishna which is located at the centre of Braj or Brij-bhoomi, called Shri Krishna Janma-Bhoomi, literally, Lord Krishnas birthplace. It is one of the seven cities considered holy by Hindus, the Keshav Dev Temple was built in ancient times on the site of Krishnas birthplace. Mathura was the capital of the Surasena Kingdom, ruled by Kansa the maternal uncle of Krishna, Mathura has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India. Mathura has an ancient history and also homeland and birthplace of Krishna who was born in Yadu dynasty, according to the Archaeological Survey of India plaque at the Mathura Museum, the city is mentioned in the oldest Indian epic, the Ramayana. In the epic, the Ikshwaku prince Shatrughna slays a demon called Lavanasura, afterwards, the place came to be known as Madhuvan as it was thickly wooded, then Madhupura and later Mathura. In the 6th century BCE Mathura became the capital of the Surasena mahajanapada, the city was later ruled by the Maurya empire. Megasthenes, writing in the early 3rd century BCE, mentions Mathura as a city under the name Μέθορα. It seems it never was under the control of the following Shunga dynasty as not a single archaeological remain of a Shunga presence were ever found in Mathura. However, this corresponds to the presence of the native Mitra dynasty, in Mathura. After a period of rule, Mathura was conquered by the Indo-Scythians during the 1st century BCE. The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the Northern Satraps, as opposed to the Western Satraps ruling in Gujarat, mathuran art and culture reached its zenith under the Kushan dynasty which had Mathura as one of their capitals, the other being Purushapura. The city was sacked and many of its temples destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 CE and again by Sikandar Lodhi, sikander Lodhi earned the epithet of Butt Shikan, the Destroyer of Hindu deities. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, built the Shahi-Eidgah Mosque during his rule, in 2016,24 people including 2 police officers were killed in the Jawahar Bagh clash, when the police tried to evict a large number of squatters from the public park. Mathura is located at 27. 28°N77. 41°E /27.28,77.41 and it has an average elevation of 174 metres. The 2011 census of India estimates the population of Mathura to be 441,894, males account for 54% and females for 46% of this population
24.
Varanasi
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The spiritual capital of India, it is the holiest of the seven sacred cities in Hinduism and Jainism, and played an important role in the development of Buddhism. Varanasi lies along National Highway 2, which connects it to Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra, and Delhi, Varanasi is also one of 72 districts in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. At the time of the 2011 census, there were a total 8 blocks and 1329 villages in this district, Varanasi grew as an important industrial centre, famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture. Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism here around 528 BC when he gave his first sermon, The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma, at nearby Sarnath. The citys religious importance continued to grow in the 8th century, Tulsidas wrote his epic poem on Ramas life called Ram Charit Manas in Varanasi. Several other major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir, Guru Nanak Dev visited Varanasi for Shivratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism. The kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, silk weaving, carpets and crafts and tourism employ a significant number of the local population, as do the Diesel Locomotive Works and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. Varanasi Hospital was established in 1964, Varanasi has been a cultural centre of North India for several thousand years, and is closely associated with the Ganges. Hindus believe that death in the city will bring salvation, making it a centre for pilgrimage. The city is known worldwide for its ghats, embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions. Of particular note are the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Panchganga Ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat and the Harishchandra Ghat, the last two being where Hindus cremate their dead. The Ramnagar Fort, near the bank of the Ganges, was built in the 18th century in the Mughal style of architecture with carved balconies, open courtyards. Among the estimated 23,000 temples in Varanasi are Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, the Kashi Naresh is the chief cultural patron of Varanasi, and an essential part of all religious celebrations. One of Asias largest residential universities is Banaras Hindu University, the Hindi-language nationalist newspaper, Aj, was first published in 1920. The old city is located on the shores of the Ganges, bounded by Varuna. The name was used by pilgrims dating from Buddhas days. Hindu religious texts use many epithets to refer to Varanasi, such as Kāśikā, Avimukta, Ānandavana, according to legend, Varanasi was founded by the god Shiva. It is regarded as one of seven cities which can provide Moksha, Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Gayā, Kāśi, Kañchi, Avantikā
25.
Pataliputra
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Pataliputra, adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort near the Ganges river. Extensive archaeological excavations have been made in the vicinity of modern Patna, excavations early in the 20th century around Patna revealed clear evidence of large fortification walls, including reinforcing wooden trusses. The etymology of Pataliputra is unclear, putra means son, and pāţali is a species of rice or the plant Bignonia suaveolens. One traditional etymology holds that the city was named after the plant, another tradition says that Pāṭaliputra means the son of Pāṭali, who was the daughter of Raja Sudarshan. As it was known as Pāṭali-grāma originally, some believe that Pāṭaliputra is a transformation of Pāṭalipura. There is no mention of Pataliputra in written sources prior to the early Buddhist texts, in 303 BCE, Greek historian and ambassador Megasthenes mentioned Pataliputra as a city in his work Indika. The city of Pataliputra was formed by fortification of a village by Haryanka ruler Bimbisara and its central location in north eastern India led rulers of successive dynasties to base their administrative capital here, from the Nandas, Mauryans, Shungas and the Guptas down to the Palas. Situated at the confluence of the Ganges, Gandhaka and Son rivers, Pataliputra formed a water fort and its position helped it dominate the riverine trade of the Indo-Gangetic plains during Magadhas early imperial period. It was a centre of trade and commerce and attracted merchants and intellectuals, such as the famed Chanakya. Jain and Brahmanical sources identify Udayabhadra, son of Ajatashatru, as the king who first established Pataliputra as the capital of Magadha. During the reign of Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, it was one of the worlds largest cities, with a population of 150, 000–400,000. The city is estimated to have had a surface of 25.5 square kilometers, and a circumference of 33.8 kilometers, Pataliputra reached the pinnacle of prosperity when it was the capital of the great Mauryan Emperors, Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka. Arrian, The Indica Strabo in his Geographia adds that the city walls were made of wood and these are thought to be the wooden palisades identified during the excavation of Patna. At the confluence of the Ganges and of another river is situated Palibothra, in length 80 and it is in the shape of a parallelogram, surrounded by a wooden wall pierced with openings through which arrows may be discharged. In front is a ditch, which serves the purpose of defence, in the parks, tame peacocks and pheasants are kept. Aelian, Characteristics of animals Ashokas Palace in Pataliputra and the monument columns everywhere in India were built to imitate the Achaemenid palaces, the architecture of Pataliputras enclosures and the monumental columns of Ashoka had been affected by Persian Achaemenid architecture. The design of the Pataliputra palace capital has been described as Perso-Iionic, with a strong late-archaic Greek stylistic influence, including volute, bead and reel, the city also became a flourishing Buddhist centre boasting a number of important monasteries. It remained the capital of the Gupta dynasty and the Pala Dynasty, the city was largely in ruins when visited by Xuanzang, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders in the 12th century
26.
Kosala
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Kosala was an ancient Indian kingdom, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh. It emerged as a state during the late Vedic period. However, it was weakened by a series of wars with the neighbouring kingdom of Magadha and. The Kosala region had three cities, Ayodhya, Saket and Shravasti, and a number of minor towns as Setavya, Ukattha, Dandakappa, Nalakapana. According to the Puranas and the Ramayana epic, Ayodhya was the capital of Kosala during the reign of Ikshvaku, Shravasti is recorded as the capital of Kosala during the Mahajanapada period, but post-Maurya kings issued their coins from Ayodhya. The mention of Kosala is not found in the early Vedic literature and it is mentioned as a region in the later Vedic texts of the Satapatha Brahmana and the Kalpasutras. In the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas the ruling family of the Kosala kingdom was descended from king Ikshvaku, the Puranas give lists of kings of the Aikhsvaka dynasty from Ikshvaku to Presenajit Dhaka. According to the Ramayana, Rama ruled the Kosala kingdom from his capital, a Buddhist text, the Majjhima Nikaya mentions Buddha as a Kosalan and Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism taught in Kosala. In the time of king Mahakosala, the neighboring kingdom of Kashi had become an integral part of the Kosala kingdom. Mahakosala was succeeded by his son Pasenadi and he was a follower of Buddha. During his absence from the capital, his minister Digha Charayana raised his son Vidudabha Virudhaka to the throne, not much later, the Kosala kingdom was absorbed into its expanding neighbor, the Magadha kingdom. The Ikshvakus were the clan of Kosala. They were defeated by Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty and it is assumed that during the Mauryan reign, Kosala was administratively under the viceroy at Kaushambi. The Sohgaura copper plate inscription, probably issued during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya deals with a famine in Shravasti, the Yuga Purana section of the Garga Samhita mentions about the Yavana invasion and subsequent occupation of Saket during the reign of the last Maurya ruler Brihadratha. The names of a number of rulers of Kosala of the period are known from the square copper coins issued by them. The rulers are, Muladeva, Vayudeva, Vishakhadeva, Dhanadeva, there is no way to know whether king Muladeva of the coins is identifiable with Muladeva, murderer of the Shunga ruler Vasumitra or not. King Dhanadeva of the coins is identified with king Dhanadeva of Ayodhya inscription, in this Sanskrit inscription, King Kaushikiputra Dhanadeva mentions about setting a ketana in memory of his father, Phalgudeva. In this inscription he claimed himself as the sixth in descent from Pushyamitra Shunga, Dhanadeva issued both cast and die-struck coins and both the types have a bull on obverse
27.
Coastal Andhra
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Coastal Andhra, is a region in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. This region was part of Madras State before 1953 and Andhra State from 1953 to 1956. According to the 2011 census, it has an area of 95,442 square kilometres which is 57. 99% of the state area. This area includes the districts of Andhra Pradesh between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, from the northern border with Odisha to south of the delta of the Krishna River. Coastal Andhra has rich agricultural land, owing to the delta of the Godavari, the prosperity of Coastal Andhra can be attributed to its rich agricultural land and an abundant water supply from these two rivers. Rice grown in paddy fields is the crop, with pulses. The fishing industry is important to the region. The state of Andhra emerged to a political power during the reign of Maurya Dynasty, megasthenes mentioned that Andhra was a flourishing empire of the Satavahanas from the times before christ. Coastal Andhra was also ruled by the famous Chalukyas in between the period of the 7th Century and the 10th century CE and this period was followed by the reign of many other dynasties such as the Cholas, the Kakatiyas as well as the Vijayanagar Empire. According to 11th century inscriptions, coastal Andhra is bounded by Mahendragiri mountains, Kalahasti temple, the Gajapati and Ganjam districts of Odisha were granted to the French East India Company around 1752. Later they were transferred by the French to the British, Nellore, which extends as far as Ongole Taluk, was later received from the Nawab of Arcot, under an establishment. Some parts of present-day Nellore and Chitoor were in the hands of Venkatagiri Rajas, the British made an arrangement with the Raja of Venkatagiri in 1802 to claim power in those territories also. The districts of Andhra and Rayalaseema were ceded by the Nizams to the Britishers, Coastal Andhra is located in the eastern region of the state of Andhra Pradesh and comprises nine districts. It borders Rayalaseema region of the state and the states of Telangana, the presence of the Krishna and Godavari River makes the area fertile for irrigation. The coastal line of this region is the second longest in the country, the area had a total population of 34,195,655 as per 2011 Census of India. The main most spoken language is Telugu, Kuchipudi is the classical dance form of the state, which was originated in the Kuchipudi village of Krishna district. Rice is the food in the Kosta cuisine and is usually consumed with a variety of curries. Cuisine of Coastal Andhra is influenced by sea food varieties, Coastal Andhra contains nine districts, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore
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