Introduction to the history of Buddhist Councils and Schools

Introduction

The Buddhist schools that arose after the Buddha’s final Nirvana, are a complex but quite well-studied topic among Buddhist scholars. These studies range from the early 19th century to what we know today. The main problem with the sectarian treatment of Buddhist schools can be formulated as being too one-sided affairs, where it solely relies on a particular text or range of texts from only one school. Each school’s treatment of the ‘other schools’ tenets logically shows some form of bias, as to how they deal with doctrinal points that are controversial to them. In some cases, as will be shown in this series, the treatment of the teachings of other schools borderlines on misrepresentation, in order to refute them with their own doctrine. Every school claimed, in their view and exposition of their tenets, that they held the true version of the teachings and finer points of explanations in their Abhidharma texts and commentaries (sastras).

Besides all these ‘controversies’ and disagreements between the early schools, it is not pointed out often enough, that most early Buddhist schools agreed with each other for the most part. All schools agreed on the core teachings of the Buddha, i.e., the 37 aids to Enlightenment (Pali: bodhipakkhiya dhamma, Sanskrit: bodhipaksiya dharma).

An important note on the differentiation between the usage of the older term Sthavira(vada) and the more commonly known newer term Theravada: in early Buddhist schools, that were not considered orthodox in the sense of how Theravada considers themselves today, it was common for the elders in a school to be called Sthaviras. These were the older, senior monks, who were identified and considered the most learned in that particular school.

Both the word Sthavira and Thera means elder, but for example, during the time of the compilation of the Sarvastivada Mahavibhasa (the great commentary), around the 1st century A.D., the four Sarvastivada masters were referred to as great Sthaviras. This note is particularly important when reading the accounts of the Chinese pilgrims who visited India, where they mention the term Sthavira, and it is not clear which school is being mentioned in a particular location, region, or monastery that they visited.

I am using the word school as a designation for the different sects of early Buddhism, but this has a varying level of interpretation throughout the history of Buddhism. The schools did not start out as full-fledged with their own monasteries and universities all over India. Instead, what started as a group of wandering monks during the time of the Buddha, and became more grouped in early settlements (avasas and aramas) in various locations a century later, eventually became monasteries (lenas), and eventually full-fledged viharas centuries later.

Texts

Buddhism started out as an oral tradition, and the transmission of the teachings of the Buddha were done through recitation of the memorized texts. Only centuries later, were these texts committed to a written form. Various texts from different schools of Buddhism have survived the test of time, that discuss the history of the Buddhist schools, as well as how each school dealt with the doctrinal points of other schools with whom they disagreed.

The Theravada texts are written in Pali, a prakrit vernacular:

The Sarvastivada texts were written in a hybrid form of Sanskrit, also known as Buddhist Sanskrit. Some of them only survived in their Chinese and/or Tibetan translations:

The Sammitiya texts were also written in Buddhist Sanskrit, but some of them only survived in their Chinese and/or Tibetan translations:

An overview

I’ll be covering the most interesting phases of the development of early Buddhism from multiple angles — in relation to Buddhist councils, geologically in Northern and Southern analysis, through the eyes of Chinese pilgrim monks who visited India in the 4th to 7th centuries, and how schools dealt with the doctrines of other schools.

Here’s a nice overview of what we’ll be covering in this series that you can look forward to:

16. The Buddhist Councils according to the 7th Century A.D. Chinese pilgrim Yuan-Chuang

17. Conclusion

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In the next article in this series, we’ll cover the Buddhist councils that were held, who was involved in these councils, when and at what location, and the possible reasons why these councils were needed in history.

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Research References

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