CHAPTER VII.

BUDDHIST SCHISMS.

1. The sentence of degradation which could be carried out against an individual, was powerless when pronounced against a multitude. The body of schismatic monks who had been degraded amounted to ten thousand: they were refractory, and would not submit; and their secession originated the Mahasanghika heresy, or schism of the "Great Union." In the Tibetan books, the origin of this sect is referred to Kásyapa,† one of the disciples of Buddha; but the account of the Máhawanso is too circumstantial, and the orthodoxy of the great Kasyapa is too well established, for the admission of such an origin. There is indeed an heretical Kásyapa, whom the Chinese call Fu-lanna-Kia-she (Purána Kásyapa ?), "who repudiated all law-who recognised neither prince nor subject, neither father nor son-and who considered void space

Mahawanso, c. xx.

+ Csoma de Koros, in Prinsep's Journal, vii. 143. It is probable that his followers may have been the originators of the Mahá-Sánghika heresy.

G

as the Supreme Being."* But, as it would appear that this Kásyapa was a follower of the Brahmanical Sánkhya philosopher Kapila, it is scarcely possible that he could have been the leader of the MahaSanghika Buddhists.

2. According to the Tibetans, the earliest systems of Buddhism were the Vaibháshika and the Sautrantika, both of which were dogmatical. The followers of the former believed in everything written in the Scriptures, and would not dispute; those of the latter "proved everything on the authority of Scripture, and by argument."

3. The Vaibhúshikas were divided into four principal classes, which bore the names of four of Sákya's disciples: Ráhula, Kásyapa, Kátyáyana, and Upáli. But it seems scarcely possible that these celebrated Buddhist leaders, the companions of Sákya, would have originated any schisms themselves. The more probable conclusion is, that they established schools, each instructing his own individual disciples, but all teaching one common doctrine. That these schools, though all professing the same belief at first, should, after the lapse of time, differ from each other, is but a natural result common to all human beliefs. In this view there seems nothing extraordinary in the

Fo-kwe-ki, c. xvii. n. 21.

+ Csoma, as quoted above.

The Vaibhashikas were named from fa, vi, certainty, and HTT, bháshá, speech; i. e. the dogmatics. The Sautrantikas adhered strictly to the Sutras, or Scriptures, from which they obtained their name.

principal sects of Buddhism being named after four of Sákya's chief disciples.

4. The four schools of the Vaibháshikas were

1st. Ráhula, son of Sákya, a Kshatriya. The Ráhulakas were divided into four sects. They recited the Sutras in Sanskrit, and affirmed the existence of all things. Their religious garb was formed of from nine to twenty-nine narrow strips of cloth. Their distinctive mark was a 66 water-lilyjewel" (utpala-padma) and a tree-leaf, put together

like a nosegay.

2nd. Kásyapa, a Bráhman. His followers, who were divided into six sects, were called "the great community" (Mahasanghika). They recited the Sutras in a corrupt dialect; their religious garb was formed of from three to twenty-three strips of cloth; and they carried a shell as the distinctive mark of their school.

3rd. Kátyáyána, a Vaisya. His followers were divided into three sects; and they recited the Sutras in the vulgar dialect. Their religious garb was formed of from five to twenty-one strips of cloth; and they wore the figure of a wheel as a distinctive mark of their school. They were styled "the class that have a fixed habitation" (query Sthapitaka).

4th. Upáli, a Sudra. His followers were divided into three sects, and they recited the Sutra in the Pisachika language. Their religious garb was formed of from five to twenty-one strips of cloth;

* See Csoma de Köros in Prinsep's Journal, vii. 143.

and bore a sortsika flower as a mark of their school. They were styled "the class honoured by many" (query the Sabbattha schismatics of the Mahawanso; perhaps from sambhram, reverence, respect, and atishay, much.)

5. The Sautrantikas were divided into two sects, the names of which are not given.

6. Altogether, according to the Tibetans, there were eighteen sects of Buddhists; a number which agrees exactly with that of the Máháwanso. But this agreement extends farther than the mere coincidence of numbers; for two out of three names are the same as those of the Máháwanso.

The 1st schism of the Máháwanso is that which followed the silly speech of Subhadra to the assembled Bhikshus, shortly after the death of Buddha. It was immediately suppressed by Maha-Kasyapa at the First Synod; but, as it was listened to by the Sthaviras, it is named the Sthavira, or Thera schism. The 2nd schism is that of the Mahasanghika, which it was the object of the Second Synod to suppress. The 3rd schism was that of the Gokulika, and the 4th was the Ekabbyohárika.

The Gokulika schismatics gave rise to the (5th)

• Mahawanso, p. 21. The derivation of the term Sabbattha is uncertain; but the most probable etymology of Sabba is the Sanskrit Sarvva, "all." The name is of some importance, as it was most probably the original appellation of the Samarkand River, which the Greeks translated by Hoλvrunтos "the muchhonoured."

Pannatti; the (6th) Báhulika ; and the (7th) Chetiya heresies. The last no doubt originated at the great monastic establishment of Chetiyagiri, or Sánchi, near Bhilsa.

From these again proceeded the (8th) Sabbattha and the (9th) Dhammaguttika schisms (which arose simultaneously); and from the Sabbattha proceeded the (10th) Kassapiya schism. Lastly the (11th) Sankantika priesthood gave rise to the Sutta schism.

Six other schisms arose in India during the second century after the death of Buddha; namely the (13th) Hemáwanta; the (14th) Rajagiriya; the (15th) Siddhatiki; the (16th) Eastern and the (17th) Western Seliya; and lastly the (18th) Wadariyá schism.

"Thus there were eighteen inveterate schisms " (including the Théra schism, which was suppressed at the First Synod), of which seventeen arose in the second century after Buddha, or between B. C. 443 and 343. I have been thus particular in enumerating these different secessions from the Buddhist faith, because the very names are of value in pointing out the geographical extension of the religion to the Hemáwanta, or Himálayan region, and to Chetiya, or the present district of Bhilsa.

7. The gradual spread of the Buddhist faith is thus clearly and naturally developed. At Sákya's death in 543 B. C., the influence of his religion was confined to the central provinces of the Ganges, from the neighbourhood of Cawnpore and Agra to the head of the Delta. One hundred years later, at the