Second Buddhist council - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Second Buddhist council

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Second Buddhist council took place approximately one hundred years after the Buddha's parinirva. Virtually all scholars agree that the second council was a historical event.[1] Traditions regarding the Second Council are confusing and ambiguous, but it is agreed that the overall result was the first schism in the Sagha , between the Sthaviras and the Mahsghikas, although it is not agreed upon by all what the cause of this split was.[2]

Early Buddhism
Scriptures
Gandhran texts gamas Pali Canon

Contents
1 Modern scholarship 1.1 Mahdeva legend 1.2 Addition of Vinaya rules 1.3 Vinaya antiquity 2 Theravadin account 3 See also 4 References 5 External links
First Sangha Mahsghika Ekavyvahrika Lokottaravda Bahurutya Prajaptivda Caitika Sthaviravda Mahsaka Dharmaguptaka Kyapya Sarvstivda Vibhajyavda Theravda

Councils
1st Council 2nd Council 3rd Council 4th Council

Schools

Modern scholarship
Mahdeva legend

According to the Theravadin account, the Second Council occurred in Vail. Its purpose was to adjudicate on ten points which amounted to minor infringements of the Vinaya, such as handling money and eating after midday.[3] The council was convened, and an elder rendered a verdict condemning the ten points, after which the council was closed.[4] According to this account, some 35 years later at Paliputra, there was another meeting over five points held view talk edit (//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Early_Buddhism&action=edit) by a figure named Mahdeva.[5] These five points were essentially regarding doctrines of the fallibility and imperfection of arhats, which were opposed by some.[6] In this account, the majority (Mahsagha) sided with Mahdeva, and the minority (Sthaviras) were opposed to it, thus causing a split in the Sagha.[7] However, the Samayabhedoparacanacakra records that Mahdeva was a completely different figure who was the founder of the Caitika sect over 100 years later.[8][9] Some scholars have concluded that an association of "Mahdeva" with the first schism was a later sectarian interpolation.[10] Paul Williams and Jan Nattier write, "Mahdeva has nothing to do with the primary schism between the Mahsghikas and Sthaviras, emerging in a historical period considerably later than previously supposed, and taking his place in the sectarian movement by instigating an internal schism within the already existing Mahsghika school."[11]

Addition of Vinaya rules

Under the influence of materials from the Theravda school, some modern historians have tended to see the Mahsghikas as a lax, breakaway group. However, the account by the Mahsghika school itself saw the Sthaviras as being the breakaway group which was attempting to modify the original Vinaya.[12] Skilton has suggested that the problems of contradictory accounts are solved by the Mahsghika ariputraparipcch, which is the earliest surviving account of the schism.[13] In this account, the council was convened at Paliputra over matters of vinaya, and it is explained that the schism resulted from the majority (Mahsagha) refusing to accept the addition of rules to the Vinaya by the minority (Sthaviras).[14] Regarding this matter, L.S. Cousins writes, "The Mahsghikas were essentially a conservative party resisting a reformist attempt to tighten discipline. The likelihood is that they were initially a larger body, representing the mass of the community, the mahsaga."[15] The ariputraparipcch contains an account in which an old monk rearranges and augments the traditional Vinaya, consequently causing dissention among the monks that required the king's arbitration and eventually precipitating the first schism.[16] Scholars have generally agreed that the matter of dispute was indeed a matter of vinaya, and have noted that the account of the Mahsghikas is bolstered by the vinaya texts themselves, as vinayas associated with the Sthaviras do contain more rules than those of the

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Second Buddhist council - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Mahsghika Vinaya.[17] For example, the Mahsghika Prtimoka has 67 rules in the aika-dharma section, while the Sthavira version has 75 rules.[18]

Vinaya antiquity
Modern scholarship is generally in agreement that the Mahsghika Vinaya is the olde st.[19][20] This agrees well with the views of the Chinese monk Faxian, who travelled to India in order to procure the Mahsghika Vinaya, which was regarded as the original.[21] According to Andrew Skilton, future scholars may determine that a study of the Mahsghika school will contribute to a better understanding of the early Dharma-Vinaya than the Theravda school.[22]

Theravadin account
According to the traditional Theravadin account, the dispute arose over the 'Ten Points.' This is a reference to claims of some monks breaking ten rules, some of which were considered major. The specific ten points were: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Storing salt in a horn. Eating after midday. Eating once and then going again to a village for alms. Holding the Uposatha Ceremony with monks dwelling in the same locality. Carrying out official acts when the assembly was incomplete. Following a certain practice because it was done by one's tutor or teacher. Eating sour milk after one had his midday meal. Consuming strong drink before it had been fermented. Using a rug which was not the proper size. Using gold and silver.

The key issue was the use of 'gold and silver', which is an Indic idiom that includes any kind of money. The monks of Vesali had taken to wandering for alms with the specific goal of collecting money, to which the visiting monk Yasa objected. Some of the other points are also important, for example point 6, which would allow monks to not follow the Vinaya on any point which their teacher did not follow or practice. This behaviour was noted, became an issue and caused a major controversy. The monastic Sangha is structured so that all actions and decisions must be unanimously agreed upon through consensus. Since the monks accused of breaking these ten rules refused to be reprimanded or acknowledge fault, the Sangha was unable to resolve this dispute in any other way than by convening the Second Buddhist Council. Some of the Ten Points were against minor (dukkata or sekhiya) rules. Before the Buddha's Parinibbna he told Ven. Ananda that the community may (unanimously) relinquish the minor rules of the Vinaya but at the First Buddhist Council there was uncertainty about which rules he was referring to and it was unanimously decided to keep the Vinaya as it was during the Buddha's lifetime. However, 100 years later some monks felt that certain rules could be relaxed. The Second Buddhist Council made the unanimous decision not to relax any of the rules, and censured the behaviour of the monks who were accused of violating the ten points.

See also
Buddhist councils First Buddhist council Third Buddhist council Fourth Buddhist council Fifth Buddhist council Sixth Buddhist council

References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. ^ "Buddhist council." Encyclopdia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopdia Britannica, 2008. ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 47 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 47 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 47 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 47 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 47 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 47 ^ Bhikku Sujato. Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools. 2006. p. 78 ^ Walser, Joseph. Ngrjuna in Context: Mahyna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. pp. 49-50 ^ Walser, Joseph. Ngrjuna in Context: Mahyna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 50 ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 2. 2005. p. 188

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12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 64 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 48 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 48 ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 2. 2005. p. 190 ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 2. 2005. p. 189 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 48 ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 2. 2005. p. 190 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 48 ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 2. 2005. p. 189 ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 2. 2005. p. 189 ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 64

External links
Bhikkhu Sujato. Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools (http://sites.google.com/site/sectsandsectarianism /SSlulu11.pdf?attredirects=0) Theravadin account of the Second Council: part 1 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe20/sbe20120.htm) and part 2 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe20/sbe20121.htm) . Account of the Second Council from the Mahavamsa (http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chap004.html)

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