BANNER OF THE ARAHANTS

Chapter IV 

The Sangha and the Spread of Buddhism

[continued 1]

Here is a chart showing the classification of the Basket of Discipline and the Basket of Discourses as we have them now:-    

Vinaya-Pitaka[5] - Basket of Discipline    

1. Analysis of Bhikkus’ Rules	Bhikkhu Vibhanga	Divided into rules, their origins
2. Analysis of Bhikkhuni’s Rules	Bhikkhuni Vibhanga	and analysis.
3. The Great Chapter	Mahā Vagga	Divided into sections on different
4. The Lesser Chapter	Chulla Vagga	subjects, including one on Nuns.
5. The Parivāra, a summary and classification, may have been added at this council, or the second one.

   

Sutta-Pitaka[6] - Basket of the Doctrine or Discourses  

Digha Nikāya	1. Silakhandha V.	13 suttas	Long Discourses, Dialogues of the Buddha
	2. Maha Vagga	10 suttas
	3. Pathika Vagga	11 suttas
Majjhima Nikāya	1. Mula-pannasaka	50 suttas
	2. Majjhima-pann.	50 suttas
	3. Upari-pannasa.	52 suttas
Samyutta Nikāya	1. Sagatha Vagga	271 sut.	Related Discourse. (7762) or Kindred Sayings, divided into 56 groups (samyuttas) of subjects
	2. Nidana  Vagga	286 sut.
	3. Khandhavara V.	671 sut.
	4. Salayatana  V.	412 sut.
	5. Mahavara Vagga	611 sut.
Anguttara Nikāya	1. Eka Nipata		Numerical Discourses (9557) or Gradual Sayings, divided into 11 books of (nipatas) of 'The Ones', 'The Twos’…‘The Elevens’.
	2. Duka Nipata
	3. Tika Nipata
	4. Catukka Nipata
	5. Pancaka Nipata
	6. Cakka Nipata
	7. Sattaka Nipata
	8. Atthaka Nipata
	9. Navaka Nipata
	10. Dasaka Nipata
	11. Ekadasaka Nipata
Kuddaka Nikāya	1. Khuddaka Patha	9 short parts	Minor Readings
	2. Dhammapada	423 verses	Path of Truth
	3. Udana		Inspired Utterances
	4. Itivuttaka	112 short parts	Sayings
	5. Sutta Nipata	5 books	Book of Discourses
	6. Vimana Vathu	83	Storys  of Heav. Mansions
	7. Peta Vathu	51	Story of Ghosts
	8. Theragatha	107	Verses of the Elder Monks
	9. Therigatha	73	Verses of the Elder Nuns
	10. Jataka	547	Birthstories
	11. Maha Nidesa		Analytic Explanation
	Cula Nidesa		Commentary of Sutta Nipāta
	12.Pathisambhida Magga	30 Discourses	The Path of Discrimination
	13. Apadana 1, Apadana 2		Legends, great deeds of arahats and also nuns
	14. Buddha Vamsa		Lineage of 24 former Buddhas
	15. Cariya Pitaka	35 verses (Jatakas)	The Basket of Good Conduct

According to the traditional Commentaries to the Buddha-word, which were written down in Pali about the year one thousand Buddhist Era, though of much earlier origin, another collection called Abhidhamma, a philosophical and psychological treatment of Dhamma, was also classified at this Council. But though this is claimed by the Commentaries, the record of the Council in the Vinaya mentions only the Dhamma and the Vinaya as having been the subject of deliberation. Even the seven Abhidhamma books themselves make no mention of their origin, only the Commentaries informing us that the Buddha has spoken them. This is a controversial matter and cannot now be decided one way or the other. It has become a tradition to speak of the Tipitaka, the Three Baskets including the Abhidhamma as the third part of the Buddha-word. It is these Three Baskets, which are often called the Pali Canon in the West.

 

When the business of recitation and classification had been concluded venerable Ananda said that the Buddha before his Parinibbāna had allowed the abolishment of the „minor and lesser rules“. But he had not been mindful enough to ask which were these rules. Then the assembly expressed various opinions on this matter at which venerable Maha-Kassapa spoke these words: ‘Let the Sangha hear me, friends; there are certain of our training rules that involve laymen, by which laymen know what is allowed to Bhikkhus who are sons of the Sakiyans and what is not. If we abolish these minor and lesser rules, there will be those who say, „The Training Rule proclaimed by the Samana Gotama to his disciples existed only for the period ending with his cremation: they kept his training rules as long as he was present; but now that he has finally attained Nibbāna they have given up keeping his training rules“. If it seems proper to the Sangha, let not what is undeclared be declared, and let not what is declared be abolished; let the Sangha proceed according to the training rules as they have been declared“[7] (Vinaya Pit. Cv. Kh II). This motion was accepted by the Council and is the ruling still in Theravada countries, being the reason why the Sangha in those lands has changed least in its form and still preserves the original teachings and practices of the Buddha.

 

So it is due to the wisdom of the Arahants in that Council and to the diligence of successive generations of Bhikkhus that the Dhamma has been transmitted to us today. But for their great efforts there would be no teachings of the Buddha remaining, for who could have preserved them? Only the Sangha had the freedom and time to pass on this great body of teaching. Out of gratitude to them many passages and lines in Buddhist devotion are respectfully chanted, such as: „I revere that Noble group who are perfectly purified“.

 

Only five hundred Arahants attended the Council but there were at that time tens of thousands of Bhikkhus, some of them also with great followings. We have a picture of one of these Teacher-monks in a little incident recorded at the end of the account of this Council. Venerable Pūrana came to the Council-elders when they had finished. He was asked, „Friend Pūrana, the Dhamma-Vinaya have been rehearsed by the elders. Do you support that rehearsal?“ His rather cryptic reply was, „Friends, the Dhamma-Vinaya have been well rehearsed by the elders I, however, shall remember them as I heard them from the Blessed One’s own lips“.

 

Here is the beginning of the many slightly differing Buddhist traditions, which were later found in India. The Buddha had already allowed Bhikkhus to learn his teaching in their own dialects[8], a fact which could easily make for varying traditions in course of time; no doubt with the slow communications of those days and the Sangha spread far and wide this tendency would be increased. But variation in the texts (the original meaning of the word Pali) established by that First Council would be more difficult since large numbers of Teacher-monks, some of them Noble Ones, know them by heart.

 

There follows a period of one hundred years about which we have very little information. We have to picture Bhikkhus steadily spreading out from the Middle Country into the surrounding areas. Already in the days of the Buddha we find venerable Mahā-Kaccāna in North central India, in the area where the famous stupas of Sanchi are found. But he had difficulty to assemble ten Bhikkhus there for an Acceptance ceremony and only managed it after three years. Then the story of venerable Punna, who went on the long journey to Sunaparanta and who was such a successful Dhammadūta, will be told at the end of this chapter. The Buddha himself taught as far West as the country of the Kurus which was around New Delhi, while he had at least one pupil, Bāhiya Dāruciriya, who heard about him as far away as Bombay. So even in the Buddha time Bhikkhus were travelling far afield.

 

The Second Council was held one hundred years after the first. It is known as the council of the seven hundred since that number of Arahants participated. The reason for calling it was the wrong Vinaya practices of the Vajji Bhikkhus in Vesāli. They had started to practise Vinaya in ways, which would be comfortable for themselves, and the stricter Bhikkhus saw that this could easily lead the Sangha into decline. What did they do? The most important things are as follows. They ate after noon, so long as the shadow cast by the sun was not past the meridian by more than two finger breadths. The Buddha laid down that the Bhikkhu’s food must be finished by midday. He could eat more than once in the period from dawn to that time but he must have finished his food when the shadow cast by the sun is shortest. Without such a rule and with the strength of attachment people have to food, some Bhikkhus would have taken afternoon tea, dinner and supper too! So this lengthening of two mealtimes was a danger - and showed lack of restraint and contentment. In large monasteries the Vajjian Bhikkhus said that it was allowable for different groups of Bhikkhus to do the Uposatha ceremony - which is confession of offences followed by the recitation of the 227 rules of the Pātimokkha, separately and in different places. This ceremony, which is held on each Full Moon and Now Moon day, the Buddha said must be attended by all the Bhikkhus in a monastery. To do as the Vajjians would only encourage the formation of parties and sectarian differences. The Vajjians also allowed official acts of the Sangha to be carried out in the absence of some Bhikkhus who resided within the boundary of the monastery, expecting that they would agree afterwards. This is also a dangerous practice probably leading to contentions. The Buddha had laid down that Bhikkhus who could not be present, for instance, at the Uposatha or an Acceptance ceremony, could send their consent by way of another Bhikkhu. Again, the Vajjian Bhikkhus stated that one could do things, proper or improper, taking one’s Teacher as one’s example. The Buddha never agreed to ‘blindly following a guru’ - which is typically an Indian trait; he told people to question even his own actions to see whether the influence of greed, aversion and delusion could be seen in them. One’s Teacher should be followed therefore when he practises according to Dhamma but if he does things contrary to Dhamma then, respectfully, he could be advised what it would be better to do. The last of the Vajjian Bhikkhus’ practices was to accept gold and silver - meaning money. This is a great danger for a Bhikkhu as he is then in the same position with sense-pleasures as the layperson. He will be able, apparently, ‘to buy happiness’. By making it an offence for a Bhikkhu to possess or handle money the Buddha has pointed to the real source of happiness, a mind purified through meditation: not one scattered through indulgence in sensual pleasures. These are some of the Vajjians ten wrong practices.

 

The Council met and condemned them all, showing that they were offences under various headings in the Vinaya. Also, the Dhamma and Vinaya were rehearsed again and a few late discourses, given by different Bhikkhus after the Great Parinibbāna, must have been added on this occasion. Possibly small books in the Minor Collection like the Lineage of the Buddhas (Buddhavamsa) and the Collection of Ways of Practice (Cariyapitaka) were also added at this time. And two non-canonical works[9], which are manuals to guide one in composing commentaries perhaps, come from this period. These books contain quotations of the Buddha-word, which cannot now be traced in the Pali Canon. Here, it seems, some discourses have been lost but where and how we shall probably never know.

 

A great assembly of Bhikkhus must have been attracted to the town of Vesāli by the presence of so many Arahants in solemn assembly. Among them the decisions of these enlightened senior Bhikkhus did not go unchallenged. We read in the Chronicles of Sri Lanka that the Vajjian Bhikkhus and their supporters, out of their conceit, did not accept the decisions of the Arahants and decided to hold their own meeting, the Great Assembly, calling themselves the ‘Great Assemblists’ (Mahāsanghikas). By doing so they became guilty of causing the first great schism in the Sangha. To cause schism is not only to burden oneself with a serious offence (see under the thirteen offences entailing initial and subsequent meeting of the Sangha, in Chapter III) but also is among the heaviest kinds of evil kamma that can be made.[10] The immediate result of splitting the Sangha is to be born without fail in one’s next life in hell.

 

And in an effort to besmirch the purity of the Arahants and the original tradition they represented, the rebel party’s account of the proceedings (not in Pali) omitted all mention of their deficiencies in Vinaya but discussed instead some supposed deficiencies in the Arahants!

 

The Chronicle of the Island (of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavamsa) says this about them: „The Bhikkhus of the Great Assembly made a reversed teaching. They broke up the original collection (of the Buddha-word) and made another collection. They put the Sutta collected in one place elsewhere. They broke up the sense and the doctrine in the Five Collections“.

 

Scholars considering the evidence found in early Mahāsanghika texts are now aware that it is from the party of the Great Assembly (mahāsanghika) that Mahāyāna, the Great Vehicle, grew up. This matter however belongs to the history of Buddhist thought, so we must leave it here. It remains only to say that the schismatics, as so often seen in other religions, were themselves rent by schisms until Buddhist authors could talk of the eighteen schools of the disciples (sāvaka).

 

The doctrinal differences in many cases were not very great as can be seen from the Book of Discussions (Kathāvatthu)[11] in the Theravada Abhidhamma. It is unlikely that these many minor points, or the minor variants in discipline among the different schools will have made much impact upon lay people. Most of these matters will have been of interest only to the more scholastic Bhikkhus. One suspects that many Bhikkhus with more practical interests will have taken little or no part in these polemics, the sort of wrangling of which the Buddha had never approved. He had condemned the holding of views and opinions, which are only another extension of the ego, but this is exactly what many later generations of Indian Buddhists did. Much of it is politely called „Buddhist Philosophy“ these days. This only made for weakness when the Dhamma was eventually confronted with the new strength of the Brahmins and later, the violence of marauding Muslims.

 

So if one thinks of ‘Buddhist sects’, the sectarianism was confined to the Bhikkhus, lay people generally being supporters of any good Teacher-Bhikkhu, whatever his ‘sect’. And even amongst these Bhikkhus in spite of the differences there was undoubtedly much contact and many friendships, for Buddhists rarely lost sight of the Buddha’s teaching on the importance of loving-kindness.

 

The Bhikkhus of all these groups headed by the original teaching, now called Theravada, the Doctrine of the Elders, continued to spread the Dhamma from the time of the Second until the Third Council.

 

This took place in the reign of the great Buddhist Emperor Asoka (reigned 325-288 BC). By this time it seems that differences in the Sangha were irreconcilable for the Third Council consisted of Bhikkhus only from Theravada. The position was that the Theravada Sangha had become famous for its purity of teaching and practice and so had many wealthy patrons. The monasteries they erected were splendid in construction and the comforts, which Bhikkhus could enjoy, still without breaking the Vinaya, were ample. With good robes, food, shelter and medicine provided by devoted followers, it is not surprising that the wrong sort of people were attracted and many became Bhikkhus. Once they wore in robes some of them began to display and propagate their wrong views so that eventually there was such disharmony in the Sangha that it was no longer possible to hold the Uposatha ceremony. This went on for several years until venerable Moggaliputta Tissa, an Arahant, came to the notice of the Emperor. He asked the venerable Arahant what should be done about the discord and was told that if a meeting of the Sangha was held then a purification of its members could be instituted. He told the Emperor to enquire from each Bhikkhu what philosophical method the Buddha had practised and upheld. Any who stated that he was an eternalist (believing in an eternal soul) or an annihilationist (declaring that death is followed by nothing) or other such positions were to be politely but firmly handed a pair of white cloths with the invitation to disrobe themselves. Only those Bhikkhus who said that the Buddha was an analyst, a proclaimer of an analytical way (vibhajjavādi), were to continue as Bhikkhus. We do not know how this sorting out of the Bhikkhus was organised but the Great Chronicle (of Sri Lanka, the Mahāvamsa) tells us that large numbers of Bhikkhus were disrobed. Presumably this refers only to people masquerading as Theravada Bhikkhus but maybe this purification of the Sangha also affected some of the other schools, which would also have agreed that the Buddha was a Vibhajjavādin.

 

When the Sangha was again in harmony, the Uposatha ceremony was held and the Dhamma-Vinaya rehearsed as it had been in the two previous councils. In this council certainly the Abhidhamma was completed since venerable Moggaliputta Tissa added to it the Kathāvatthu or Book of Discussions, already mentioned.

 

Emperor Asoka was not yet satisfied that he had done as much as he could do to support the Buddha-dhamma so he requested that a number of groups of Bhikkhus be sent in different directions both inside and outside his frontiers. He would see that they had adequate support and protection while they should teach Dhamma to all the peoples in his empire and to the various nations on his frontiers and beyond. The Emperor states in his edicts engraved on stone that such parties proceeded to the furthest points of the Maurya state and beyond to Sri Lanka in the south, to the Golden Land in the east (perhaps Burma or peninsular Thailand), to the Indo-Greek kingdoms on his north-west frontier and also to the Hellenized lands of the far west - Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Epirus and Macedonia. Regarding this latter expedition, the first Buddhist mission to the West, we do not know how it fared so far away from India though Christian writers have recorded the presence in Alexandria (Egypt) of Bhikkhus before the Christianization programme that followed Constantine.

 

The group sent to Sri Lanka was very successful for the mission was headed by the Emperor’s son, the Arahant Mahinda, who was able to teach and lead to the Three Refuges the Sinhalese monarch,, Devanampiya-tissa. Thereafter, Sri Lanka was the island of Dhamma (Dhammadīpa) and the fortress in which was preserved the original teachings of the Buddha under the name, Theravāda or Doctrine of the Elders. This was forgotten in large parts of India where speculation, metaphysics and logic combined with a taste for mystical experiences which were not properly understood, provided the basis for all sorts of Buddhist schools. As time went on those departed further and further from the Buddha’s genuine teachings.

 

We are not sure what happened to the group sent to the Golden Land or exactly where it was they went to. No Buddhist remains from the period of the Emperor Asoka have yet been found in either Burma or Thailand (as far as the writer is aware), but this does not mean that they do not exist. The Buddhist custom of continually rebuilding monasteries and temples on the same site means that the later buildings obscure the former, so Asokan remains may yet be found. In Burma of course, the revered Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon is held to go back even beyond Asokan days - to the Buddha-time when the merchants Tapussa and Bhallika, the first people to give food to the Buddha after his Enlightenment and the first Buddhists, received from him some hair from his head which they enshrined in their own country. This history, like that of the Buddha’s three visits to Sri Lanka, still needs to be confirmed.

 

However, the general result of the Emperor’s efforts to stimulate Dhammadūta work cannot be doubted. His royal support must have been of great value and given many the chance to hear Dhamma who otherwise would not have known of it. But it goes too far to state, as some authors have done, that it was due to the Emperor that Buddhism began to spread, as though it had not been spread before by Bhikkhus! The Dhamma would have spread anyway due to its universal appeal: it did not have to wait for an emperor before it could spread! But the fact that so powerful a king advocated the Dhamma would have lent it prestige in the eyes of other kings and princes.

 

We have mentioned already some examples of Dhammadūta work from the days of the Buddha. Here, as a conclusion to this chapter, is the story of one Bhikkhu from the Buddha-time.

 

            „Thus have I heard: At one time the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthi at the Jeta Grove, Anāthapindika’s monastery. Then venerable Punna, emerging from solitary meditation towards evening, approached the Lord, bowed down to him and sat down nearby. Sitting there he spoke thus to the Lord: „It would be good, revered sir, if the Lord would exhort me briefly so that having heard Dhamma from the Lord, I might live alone, remote, diligent, ardent and aspiring“.

 

            „Punna, there are forms cognisable by the eye, sounds cognisable by the ear, smells cognisable by the nose, tastes cognisable by the tongue, touches cognisable by the body, mental factors cognisable by the mind, all of which are agreeable, pleasant, enticing, connected with sense-pleasures, alluring. If a Bhikkhu delights in them, welcomes them and persists in clinging to them then because of this, attachment arises in him. From the arising of attachment there is the arising of dukkha, thus I declare, Punna. But if a Bhikkhu does not delight in them, does not welcome them, does not persist in clinging to them then, because of this, attachment ceases in him. From the cessation of attachment there is the cessation of dukkha, thus I declare, Punna.

            And in what district will you stay now that you have been briefly exhorted by me?“

            „There is a district called Sunaparanta - I shall stay there, Lord“.

            „The people of Sunaparanta are fierce and rough, Punna. If they revile and abuse you, how will it be for you there?“

            „If they revile and abuse me, revered sir, it will be like this for me there - (I shall think) ‘Good indeed are the people of Sunaparanta, very good are the Sunaparanta people, in that they do not give me blows with their hands’. In this case, Lord, it will be like this for me, like this, Wellfarer“.

            „But if they do give you blows with their hands, how will it be with you there?“

            „If they give me blows with their hands … (I shall think), ‘Good indeed are the people of Sunaparanta in that they do not give me blows with clods of earth’.“

            „But if they do give you blows with clods of earth … ?“

            „If they give me blows with clods of earth … I shall think, ‘Good indeed are the people of Sunaparanta in that they do not strike me with a stick’.“

            „But if they do strike you with a stick … ?“

            „If they strike me with a stick … I shall think, ‘Good indeed are the people of Sunaparanta in that they do not stab me with a dagger’.“

            „But if they do stab you with a dagger … ?“

            „If they stab me with a dagger … I shall think, ‘Good indeed are the people of Sunaparanta in that they do not deprive me of life with a sharp dagger’.“

            „But if they do deprive you of life with a sharp dagger … ?“

            „If they stab me with a sharp dagger and deprive me of life … I shall think, ‘There are disciples of the Lord who when tormented by and disgusted with the body (as when severely diseased) look around for a weapon (to take their own lives). I have come upon this dagger without looking round for it’. In this case, Lord, it will be like this for me, like this, Wellfarer“.              I

            „Good, Punna, it is good! You will be able to live in the Sunaparanta district since you have such calm and tranquillity. Now you should do whatever you think it is proper to do“.

 

Then venerable Punna gladdened by and rejoicing in the Exalted One’s words, rising from his seat, bowed down to the Lord, circumambulated him keeping him on the right, set in order his lodging and taking his bowl and robes, set off on his journey to Sunaparanta. Journeying by stages he gradually approached Sunaparanta. While he was there, venerable Punna stayed in that district among the people and during the Rains he brought into (the Dhamma) about five hundred laymen and five hundred laywomen. During the Rains, also, he realised the Three Knowledges. After a time venerable Punna attained Final Nibbāna.

 

When this had happened, many Bhikkhus approached the Lord, bowed down and sat down nearby. Sitting there they spoke thus to the Lord: „Revered Sir, that young man of excellent family who was briefly exhorted by the Lord, has died. What is his born, what is his future state?“

„Punna was wise, Bhikkhus. He followed Dhamma according to Dhamma. He did not harass me with (senseless) queries on Dhamma. Punna has attained Final Nibbāna“.

 

Thus spoke the Lord. Delighted, those Bhikkhus rejoiced in the Exalted One’s words.“

 

(Middle Length Collection, Discourse 145. The Exhortation to Punna)

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