The Buddhist Councils — Who, when, where, and why?

Part 3

In the previous post we looked at the first two Buddhist councils that were held right after the Buddha’s pari-Nirvana and 100 years after the Buddha’s passing. Now we’ll be looking at the third and fourth Buddhist councils. The third and fourth councils are considered sectarian councils, meaning they are not acknowledged as valid by the schools that do not claim to have participated in them—so the third ‘Asoka’ council can be considered a Theravada council, and the fourth ‘Kanishka’ council a Sarvastivada one.

Third Buddhist Council

The third Buddhist Council was held at Pataliputra, in the seventeenth year in the reign of King Asoka around 255 B.C.; and was headed by a senior follower, named Moggaliputta-Tissa Thera. During the reign of Asoka, a number of non-orthodox Buddhists had joined the Asokarama monastery.

Because of this, the orthodox monks refused to perform the most important Uposatha ceremony for seven years. King Asoka was not happy about this, as he tried to bring about unity in the community of monks, and assigned one of his ministers to convince the orthodox monks of the Asokarama monastery to perform the Uposatha that year. The assigned minister misunderstood the orders he was given, and beheaded several monks. King Asoka was very upset when he heard what had happened, and went to the elder Moggaliputta Tissa, the most senior monk at present, and asked for advice on the matter. Moggaliputta convinced king Asoka that there had been no wrong-doing on his part, on the ground that he had not shown any deliberate intention in the wrong execution of his order, as it was misunderstood by his minister.

After this had transpired, the next step was to remove all the monks in the Asokarama monastery who did not adhere to the orthodox (vibhajjavada) doctrine. In the presence of Moggaliputta, king Asoka questioned the monks on their various doctrines, and all those holding unorthodox views were expelled from the Order, Moggaliputta decreeing that the orthodox doctrine (vibhajjavada) alone contained the teaching of the Buddha. Later, in association with one thousand arahants, Moggaliputta held the Third Council at Asokarama, with himself the leader of the Council, and compiled the Kathavatthuppakarana, a compilation text that deals with the points of controversy from the unorthodox schools.

The Third Council lasted for nine months, and at the conclusion of the Council, Moggaliputta Tissa Thera sent out orthodox monks to go to the various regions of king Asoka’s large empire, to spread the recited teachings of the Buddha as declared valid at the Third Buddhist Council.

The historical accuracy of the Third Buddhist Council has not always been accepted by Buddhist scholars, but now it is generally accepted that the third Council did take place as a sectarian Theravada council. King Asoka, does not directly refer to the Council, yet some of his archeological pillar and rock edicts inscriptions that have been found, appear to provide evidence. That king Asoka is not directly referring to the third Council may be explained by the suggestion that he was not as closely involved with the proceedings of the Third Council as the Pali tradition has recorded it as in their texts. The main goal of king Asoka, was to not cause another split of the Sangha, but to bring unity among the Buddhist followers.

The account of the Third ‘Asoka’ Council is only to be found in the Pali commentaries (atthakatha) and the Ceylonese chronicles. Even the Cullavagga of the Vinaya pitaka does not mention it. The omission of this Council in non-Theravada sects, shows that this was a sectarian council. Both Chinese pilgrims Yuan Chwang and I-Tsing also do not mention this Asoka Council.

This council is ignored and considered invalid by Northern Buddhism, especially the Sarvastivada school, who’s forerunners were those ‘unorthodox’ monks that were compelled to leave Asokarama monastery. The Sarvastivada moved to Mathura and from thereon out spread to Gandhara and Kashmir later.

The traditional account of the Council may not be completely historical, but the events which led up to the Third Council appear to be. The split between the Sthaviravada and the Mahasamghika that took place in the Second Buddhist Council increased over time until it became untenable for the two schools to share the same location. The points of controversies, as detailed in the Kathavatthu text can be compared with the findings of Vasumitra of the Sarvastivada school and others, which shows that there is a degree of validity in the reality of the disagreements between the schools. After the Second Buddhist Council dealt with the Vinaya rules disagreements, according to the Sthaviravada, it seems like the main driving force for having the Third Council was to refute the tenets of the largest non-Sthaviravada schools.

The Nikaya-sangraha text mentions the Mahasamghika school and shows that they did not pay attention to the treatment of the points of controversy in the Kathavattu, not even the refutations that were addressed towards their tenets. Instead, the Mahasamghika school held their own meeting in Kosambi, and recited and upheld their own collection of the teachings.

Fourth Buddhist Council

The fourth Buddhist Council was also named the ‘king Kanishka’ Council at Jalandhar in Kashmir, and was headed by Vasumitra around 100 A.D.

The spread of Buddhism in Gandhara and Kashmir, can be traced in both Pali and Sanskrit traditions, where the monk Madhyantika was responsible for the spread of Buddhism in these two regions. Madhyantika was Ananda’s disciple, and is recognized as a prominent teacher by the Sarvastivada school. The Chinese pilgrim Yuan Chwang confirms that Madhyantika taught Sarvastivada Buddhism in Kashmir, who explains that king Asoka not only sent Buddhist monks to Kashmir but also built monasteries there.

Taranatha, the 16th century historian, starts out his story about the Fourth Council with the conversion of king Simha of Kashmir to Buddhism. The story goes, that king Simha became an arhat and his name after ordination was Sudarsana. He taught the religion in Kashmir. At that time, Kanishka was the king of Jalandhara. He heard of Sudarsana and came to Kashmir to listen to his Buddhist teachings.

The Buddhist Sangha as a whole had been divided into eighteen schools around the country. The Venerable Parsva had come to Kashmir from the east, and advised king Kanishka to collect all the monks at Kundalavana monastery (in Kashmir). Five hundred Arhats, five hundred Bodhisattvas and five hundred Panditas (not stream-enterers) took part in the Council. An attempt was made to reconcile the conflicting opinions of the different schools and settle once more the Vinaya, Sutra and Abhidharma texts.

The existence of a class of monks called Bodhisattvas at the time of the Fourth Council is indicative of traces of Mahayana. The Divyavadana mentions the existence of a class of monks called bodhisattva-jatika, along with a side-note that they were not looked upon with favor by the Hinayanists. Three days after the first ordination according to the rules of conduct (pratimoksa), the monks partake in a special ordination according to the Brahmajala-sutra and enter the Bodhisattva path.

Bu-ston, the Tibetan historian, gives an account that is similar, adding that “after reciting the texts, it was agreed upon that the eighteen schools’ tenets were all considered the teachings of the Buddha.” This acknowledgement must have been one of the main reasons why this council is ignored and considered invalid by Southern Buddhism of the Theravada school.

The Chinese seventh century A.D. pilgrim Yuan Chwang’s account is essentially the same. He attributes the session of the Council to the confusion that Kanishka had, while listening to the conflicting interpretation of Buddha’s teachings as given by the representatives of the different schools. Parsva explained to the king the cause of his confusion and advised him to hold a Council in order to bring together the varying interpretations of the various schools that were present.

Yuan Chwang adds that in this Council several commentaries on the Sutra, Vinaya and Abhidharma were written and called the Upadesa-sastras and Vibhasa-sastras, in which the original texts and their different interpretations were discussed. King Kanishka, records Yuan Chwang, had all the texts committed onto copper plates, enclosed in stone-boxes for longevity, and deposited them in a stupa made especially for the purpose of preserving these texts.

Paramartha, in his ‘Life of Vasubandhu’, refers to the Fourth Council, and writes that Katyayaniputra went to Kipin (Kashmir) and there, with the co-operation of 500 Arhats and 500 Bodhisattvas, arranged the Sarvastivada Abhidharma texts in eight sections, such as: prajna, dhyana, etc., and called it jnana-prasthana-sutra. A commentary was written on the same and was called Vibhasa. He then sent for Asvaghosa, who was residing at Sravasti and requested him to give the Vibhasa texts a proper literary shape.

By the expression Vibhasa-sastra, Paramartha refers to the Sarvastivada Abhidharma texts, while Yuan Chwang refers to the Abhidharma as well as the Sutra and Vinaya texts, the commentaries on Sutras being only distinguished as Upadesa and not as Vibhasa Sastras.

In the next article, the general history of Buddhist schools according to the ‘Northern Buddhists’ of the Sarvastivada school will be discussed.

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Pictures From Cross-Cultural Influences in the Early Buddhist Art of Ladakh

Pictures From Pixabay

Pictures From Sharda, Neelum Valley Pakistan

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• Introduction to the history of Buddhist Councils and Schools-Part 1
• The Buddhist Councils — Who, when, where, and why?Part 2

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• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 1
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 2
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 3
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 4
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 5
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 6
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 7
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 8
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 9
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 10
• The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path-The Two Preliminary Stages-Part 11

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• The Deathless In Buddhism
• The "Timeless" Teaching-Being Beyond Temporality

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• The Nine Successive Cessations In buddhist Meditations - Part 1
• The Nine Successive Cessations In buddhist Meditations - Part 2
• The Nine Successive Cessations In buddhist Meditations - Part 3

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• The Twelve Links Of Dependent Origination

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• THINGS to DEVELOP and THINGS to AVOID

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• The First Noble Truth
• The Second Noble Truth
• The Third Noble Truth
• The Fourth Noble Truth

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• 10 Fold Path Series

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• EATING MEAT — WHY THE BUDDHA WAS NOT A VEGETARIAN

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