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Dharmaguptaka

The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; Chinese: 法藏部; pinyin: Fǎzàng bù) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism, and their Prātimokṣa (monastic rules for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs) are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravāda and the Mūlasarvāstivāda.

Central Asian Buddhist monk teaching a Chinese monk. Bezeklik Caves, 9th–10th century; although Albert von Le Coq (1913) assumed the blue-eyed, red-haired monk was a Tocharian,[1] modern scholarship has identified similar Caucasoid figures of the same cave temple (No. 9) as ethnic Sogdians,[2] an Eastern Iranian people who inhabited Turfan as an ethnic minority community during the phases of Tang Chinese (7th–8th century) and Uyghur rule (9th–13th century).[3]

Etymology

Guptaka means "preserver"[4] and dharma "law, justice, morality", and, most likely, the set of laws of Northern Buddhism.[5]

Doctrinal development

Overview

The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a śrāvaka (śrāvakayāna) and the path of a bodhisattva (bodhisattvayāna) to be separate. A translation and commentary on the Samayabhedoparacanacakra reads:[6]

They say that although the Buddha is part of the Saṃgha, the fruits of giving to the Buddha are especially great, but not so for the Saṃgha. Making offerings to stūpas may result in many extensive benefits. The Buddha and those of the Two Vehicles, although they have one and the same liberation, have followed different noble paths. Those of outer paths (i.e. heretics) cannot obtain the five supernormal powers. The body of an arhat is without outflows. In many other ways, their views are similar to those of the Mahāsāṃghikas.

According to the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, the Dharmaguptakas held that the Four Noble Truths are to be observed simultaneously.

Vasubandhu states that the Dharmaguptakas held, in agreement with Theravada and against Sarvāstivāda, that realization of the four noble truths happens all at once (ekābhisamaya).[7]

The Dharmaguptaka are known to have rejected the authority of the Sarvāstivāda prātimokṣa rules on the grounds that the original teachings of the Buddha had been lost.[8]

Twelve aṅgas

The Dharmaguptaka used a twelvefold division of the Buddhist teachings, which has been found in their Dīrgha Āgama, their Vinaya, and in some Mahāyāna sūtras.[9] These twelve divisions are: sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, udāna, nidāna, jātaka, itivṛttaka, vaipulya, adbhūtadharma, avadāna, and upadeśa.[9]

Appearance and language

Robes

Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated a work which described the color of monastic robes (Skt. kāṣāya) utilized in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi (Chinese: 大比丘三千威儀).[10] Another text translated at a later date, the Śāriputraparipṛcchā, contains a very similar passage with nearly the same information.[10] However, the colors for Dharmaguptaka and Sarvāstivāda are reversed. In the earlier source, the Sarvāstivāda are described as wearing deep red robes, while the Dharmaguptaka are described as wearing black robes.[11] The corresponding passage found in the later Śāriputraparipṛcchā, in contrast, portrays the Sarvāstivāda as wearing black robes and the Dharmaguptaka as wearing deep red robes.[11]

During the Tang dynasty, Chinese Buddhist monastics typically wore grayish-black robes and were even colloquially referred to as Zīyī (Chinese: 緇衣), "those of the black robes."[12] However, the Song dynasty monk Zanning (919–1001 CE) writes that during the earlier Han-Wei period, the Chinese monks typically wore red robes.[13]

According to the Dharmaguptaka vinaya, the robes of monastics should be sewn out of no more than 18 pieces of cloth, and the cloth should be fairly heavy and coarse.[14]

Language

A consensus has grown in scholarship which sees the first wave of Buddhist missionary work as associated with the Gāndhārī language and the Kharoṣṭhī script and tentatively with the Dharmaguptaka sect.[15]: 97  However, there is evidence that other sects and traditions of Buddhism also used Gāndhārī, and further evidence that the Dharmaguptaka sect also used Sanskrit at times:

It is true that most manuscripts in Gāndhārī belong to the Dharmaguptakas, but virtually all schools — inclusive Mahāyāna — used some Gāndhārī. Von Hinüber (1982b and 1983) has pointed out incompletely Sanskritised Gāndhārī words in works heretofore ascribed to the Sarvāstivādins and drew the conclusion that either the sectarian attribution had to be revised, or the tacit dogma "Gāndhārī equals Dharmaguptaka" is wrong. Conversely, Dharmaguptakas also resorted to Sanskrit.[15]: 99 

Starting in the first century of the Common Era, there was a large trend toward a type of Gāndhārī which was heavily Sanskritized.[15]: 99 

History

In Northwest India

The Gandharan Buddhist texts, the earliest Buddhist texts ever discovered, are apparently dedicated to the teachers of the Dharmaguptaka school. They tend to confirm a flourishing of the Dharmaguptaka school in northwestern India around the 1st century CE, with Gāndhārī as the canonical language, and this would explain the subsequent influence of the Dharmaguptakas in Central Asia and then northeastern Asia. According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Dharmaguptaka originated in Aparānta.[16]

According to one scholar, the evidence afforded by the Gandharan Buddhist texts "suggest[s] that the Dharmaguptaka sect achieved early success under their Indo-Scythian supporters in Gandhāra, but that the sect subsequently declined with the rise of the Kuṣāṇa Empire (ca. mid-first to third century A.D.), which gave its patronage to the Sarvāstivāda sect."[17]

In Central Asia

Available evidence indicates that the first Buddhist missions to Khotan were carried out by the Dharmaguptaka sect:[15]: 98 

[T]he Khotan Dharmapada, some orthographical devices of Khotanese and the not yet systematically plotted Gāndhārī loan words in Khotanese betray indisputably that the first missions in Khotan included Dharmaguptakas and used a Kharoṣṭhī-written Gāndhārī. Now all other manuscripts from Khotan, and especially all manuscripts written in Khotanese, belong to the Mahāyāna, are written in the Brāhmī script, and were translated from Sanskrit.

A number of scholars have identified three distinct major phases of missionary activities seen in the history of Buddhism in Central Asia, which are associated with the following sects, chronologically:[18]

  1. Dharmagupta
  2. Sarvāstivāda
  3. Mūlasarvāstivāda

In the 7th century CE, Xuanzang and Yijing both recorded that the Dharmaguptakas were located in Oḍḍiyāna and Central Asia, but not in the Indian subcontinent.[8] Yijing grouped the Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, and Kāśyapīya together as sub-sects of the Sarvāstivāda, and stated that these three were not prevalent in the "five parts of India," but were located in the some parts of Oḍḍiyāna, Khotan, and Kucha.[19]

In East Asia

 
Full bhikṣuṇī ordination is common in the Dharmaguptaka lineage. Vesak festival, Taiwan.

The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to areas such as Iran, Central Asia, and China, and they had great success in doing so.[16] Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs. According to A. K. Warder, in some ways the Dharmaguptaka sect can be considered to have survived to the present in those East Asian countries.[20] Warder further writes:[21]

It was the Dharmaguptakas who were the first Buddhists to establish themselves in Central Asia. They appear to have carried out a vast circling movement along the trade routes from Aparānta north-west into Iran and at the same time into Oḍḍiyāna (the Suvastu valley, north of Gandhāra, which became one of their main centres). After establishing themselves as far west as Parthia they followed the "silk route", the east-west axis of Asia, eastwards across Central Asia and on into China, where they effectively established Buddhism in the second and third centuries A.D. The Mahīśāsakas and Kāśyapīyas appear to have followed them across Asia into China. [...] For the earlier period of Chinese Buddhism it was the Dharmaguptakas who constituted the main and most influential school, and even later their Vinaya remained the basis of the discipline there.

During the early period of Chinese Buddhism, the Indian Buddhist sects recognized as important, and whose texts were studied, were the Dharmaguptakas, Mahīśāsakas, Kāśyapīyas, Sarvāstivādins, and the Mahāsāṃghikas.[22]

Between 250 and 255 CE, the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was established in China when Indian monks were invited to help with ordination in China.[23] No full Vinaya had been translated at this time, and only two texts were available: the Dharmaguptaka Karmavācanā for ordination, and the Mahāsāṃghika Prātimokṣa for regulating the life of monks. After the translation of full Vinayas, the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was followed by most monks, but temples often regulated monastic life with other Vinaya texts, such as those of the Mahāsāṃghika, the Mahīśāsaka, or the Sarvāstivāda.[23]

In the 7th century, Yijing wrote that in eastern China, most people followed the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, while the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya was used in earlier times in Guanzhong (the region around Chang'an), and that the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya was prominent in the Yangtze area and further south.[23] In the 7th century, the existence of multiple Vinaya lineages throughout China was criticized by prominent Vinaya masters such as Yijing and Dao An (654–717). In the early 8th century, Dao An gained the support of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and an imperial edict was issued that the sangha in China should use only the Dharmaguptaka vinaya for ordination.[24]

Texts

Gandhāran Buddhist texts

The Gandhāran Buddhist texts (the oldest extant Buddhist manuscripts) are attributed to the Dharmaguptaka sect by Richard Salomon, the leading scholar in the field, and the British Library scrolls "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in Nagarāhāra Afghanistan."[25][26]

Among the Dharmaguptaka Gandhāran Buddhist texts in the Schøyen Collection, is a fragment in the Kharoṣṭhī script referencing the Six Pāramitās, a central practice for bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna doctrine.[27]

Vinaya translation

In the early 5th century CE, Dharmaguptaka Vinaya was translated into Chinese by the Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaśas (佛陀耶舍) of Kashmir. For this translation, Buddhayaśas recited the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya entirely from memory, rather than reading it from a written manuscript.[28] After its translation, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya became the predominant vinaya in Chinese Buddhist monasticism. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, or monastic rules, are still followed today in China, Vietnam and Korea, and its lineage for the ordination of monks and nuns has survived uninterrupted to this day. The name of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in the East Asian tradition is the "Vinaya in Four Parts" (Chinese: 四分律; pinyin: Sìfēn Lǜ), and the equivalent Sanskrit title would be Caturvargika Vinaya.[29] Ordination under the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya only relates to monastic vows and lineage (Vinaya), and does not conflict with the actual Buddhist teachings that one follows (Dharma).

Āgama collections

The Dīrgha Āgama ("Long Discourses," 長阿含經 Cháng Āhán Jīng) (T. 1)[30] corresponds to the Dīgha Nikāya of the Theravada school. A complete version of the Dīrgha Āgama of the Dharmaguptaka sect was translated by Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian (竺佛念) in the Later Qin dynasty, dated to 413 CE. It contains 30 sūtras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin Dīgha Nikāya.

The Ekottara Āgama ("Incremental Discourses," 增壹阿含經 Zēngyī Āhán Jīng) (T. 125) corresponds to the Anguttara Nikāya of the Theravāda school. It was translated into Chinese by Dharmanandi in 384 CE, and edited by Gautama Saṃghadeva in 398 CE. Some have proposed that the original text for this translation came from the Sarvāstivādins or the Mahāsāṃghikas.[31] However, according to A.K. Warder, the Ekottara Āgama references 250 prātimokṣa rules for monks, which agrees only with the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. He also views some of the doctrine as contradicting tenets of the Mahāsāṃghika school, and states that they agree with Dharmaguptaka views currently known. He therefore concludes that the extant Ekottara Āgama is that of the Dharmaguptakas.[32]

Abhidharma

The Śāriputra Abhidharma Śāstra (舍利弗阿毘曇論 Shèlìfú Āpítán Lùn) (T. 1548) is a complete abhidharma text that is thought to come from the Dharmaguptaka sect. The only complete edition of this text is in Chinese. Sanskrit fragments have been found in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and are now part of the Schøyen Collection (MS 2375/08). These manuscripts are thought to have been part of a monastery library of the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda sect.

Additional piṭakas

The Dharmaguptaka Tripiṭaka is said to have contained two extra sections that were not included by some other schools. These included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a Mantra Piṭaka (咒藏 Zhòu Zàng), also sometimes called a Dhāraṇī Piṭaka.[8] According to the fifth-century Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaśas, the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya into Chinese, the Dharmaguptaka school had assimilated the "Mahāyāna Tripiṭaka" (大乘三藏 Dàchéng Sānzàng).[33]

Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra

The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive of all classical biographies of the Buddha, and is entitled Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra. Various Chinese translations of this text date from between the 3rd and 6th century CE.

Relationship to Mahāyāna

 
Bhikṣus performing a traditional Buddhist ceremony in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China

Kushan era

It is unknown when some members of the Dharmaguptaka school began to accept the Mahāyāna sūtras, but the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa records that Kaniṣka (127-151 CE) of the Kuṣāṇa Empire presided over the establishment of Prajñāpāramitā doctrines in the northwest of India.[34] Tāranātha wrote that in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jālandhra monastery during the time of Kaniṣka, suggesting some institutional strength for Mahāyāna in the northwest during this period.[34] Edward Conze goes further to say that Prajñāpāramitā had great success in the northwest during the Kuṣāṇa period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early Mahāyāna, but not its origin, which he associates with the Mahāsāṃghika branch.[35]

Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra

Jan Nattier writes that available textual evidence suggests that the Mahāyāna Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra circulated in Dharmaguptaka communities during its early history, but a later translation shows evidence that the text later circulated amongst the Sarvāstivādins as well.[36] The Ugraparipṛcchā also mentions a fourfold division of the Buddhist canon which includes a Bodhisattva Piṭaka, and the Dharmaguptaka are known to have had such a collection in their canon.[37] Nattier further describes the type of community depicted in the Ugraparipṛcchā:[38]

... [T]he overall picture that the Ugra presents is quite clear. It describes a monastic community in which scriptures concerning the bodhisattva path were accepted as legitimate canonical texts (and their memorization a viable monastic specialty), but in which only a certain subset of monks were involved in the practices associated with the Bodhisattva Vehicle.

Ratnarāśivyākaraṇa Sūtra

The Mahāyāna Ratnarāśivyākaraṇa Sūtra, which is part of the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra, is believed by some scholars to have a Dharmaguptaka origin or background, due to its specific regulations regarding giving to the Buddha and giving to the Saṃgha.[39]

Prajñāpāramitā sūtras

According to Joseph Walser, there is evidence that the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (25,000 lines) and the Śatasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (100,000 lines) have a connection with the Dharmaguptaka sect, while the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (8000 lines) does not.[40] Instead, Guang Xing assesses the view of the Buddha given in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (8000 lines) as being that of the Mahāsāṃghikas.[41]

Buddhayaśas

The translator Buddhayaśas was a Dharmaguptaka monk who was known to be a Mahāyānist, and he is recorded as having learned both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna treatises. He translated the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the Dīrgha Āgama, and Mahāyāna texts including the Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva Sūtra (虛空藏菩薩經 Xūkōngzàng Púsà Jīng). The preface written by Buddhayaśas for his translation of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states that the Dharmaguptakas had assimilated the Mahāyāna Tripiṭaka.[33]

Buddhist canon

The Dharmaguptakas were said to have had two extra sections in their canon:[8]

  1. Bodhisattva Piṭaka
  2. Mantra Piṭaka or Dhāraṇī Piṭaka

In the 4th century Mahāyāna abhidharma work Abhidharmasamuccaya, Asaṅga refers to the collection which contains the Āgamas as the Śrāvakapiṭaka, and associates it with the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.[42] Asaṅga classifies the Mahāyāna sūtras as belonging to the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, which is designated as the collection of teachings for bodhisattvas.[42]

Paramārtha

Paramārtha, a 6th-century CE Indian monk from Ujjain, unequivocally associates the Dharmaguptaka school with the Mahāyāna, and portrays the Dharmaguptakas as being perhaps the closest to a straightforward Mahāyāna sect.[43]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ von Le Coq, Albert. (1913). Chotscho: Facsimile-Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes, Tafel 19. (Accessed 3 September 2016).
  2. ^ Gasparini, Mariachiara. "A Mathematic Expression of Art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin", in Rudolf G. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds), Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp 134-163. ISSN 2191-6411. See also endnote #32. (Accessed 3 September 2016.)
  3. ^ Hansen, Valerie (2012), The Silk Road: A New History, Oxford University Press, p. 98, ISBN 978-0-19-993921-3.
  4. ^ Guptaka in the Sanskrit Dictionary
  5. ^ Dharma in the Sanskrit Dictionary
  6. ^ 《異部宗輪論述記》:謂佛雖在僧中所攝,然別施佛果大,非僧(果大)。於窣堵波興供養業獲廣大果。佛與二乘解脫雖一,而聖道異。無諸外道能得五通。阿羅漢身皆是無漏。餘義多同大眾部執。
  7. ^ Sujato, Bhante (2012), Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools, Santipada, p. 131, ISBN 9781921842085
  8. ^ a b c d Baruah, Bibhuti. Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 52
  9. ^ a b Williams, Paul. The Origins and Nature of Mahāyāna Buddhism. 2004. p. 184
  10. ^ a b Hino, Shoun. Three Mountains and Seven Rivers. 2004. p. 55
  11. ^ a b Hino, Shoun. Three Mountains and Seven Rivers. 2004. pp. 55-56
  12. ^ Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture. 2003. pp. 89-90
  13. ^ Kieschnick, John. The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography. 1997. p. 29
  14. ^ Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture. 2003. pp. 91-92
  15. ^ a b c d Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter, eds. (2007). The spread of Buddhism. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004158306.
  16. ^ a b Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 278
  17. ^ "The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review article by Enomoto Fumio. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol NS32 Issue I, 2000, pg 161
  18. ^ Willemen, Charles. Dessein, Bart. Cox, Collett. Sarvastivada Buddhist Scholasticism. 1997. p. 126
  19. ^ Yijing. Li Rongxi (translator). Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia. 2000. p. 19
  20. ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 489
  21. ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. pp. 280-281
  22. ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 281
  23. ^ a b c Mohr, Thea; Tsedroen, Jampa, eds. (2010). Dignity & discipline : reviving full ordination for Buddhist nuns. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0861715886., pp. 187-189
  24. ^ pp. 194-195
  25. ^ "The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review article by Enomoto Fumio. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol NS32 Issue I, 2000, pg 160
  26. ^ Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. pg 181
  27. ^ Presenters: Patrick Cabouat and Alain Moreau (2004). "Eurasia Episode III - Gandhara, the Renaissance of Buddhism". Eurasia. Episode 3. 11:20 minutes in. France 5 / NHK / Point du Jour International.
  28. ^ Scharfe, Harmut. Education in Ancient India. 2002. pp. 24-25
  29. ^ Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 3. 2004. p. 209
  30. ^ Muller, Charles. Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, entry on 阿含經[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ Sujato, Bhikkhu. "About the EA". ekottara.googlepages.com. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  32. ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 6
  33. ^ a b Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. pp. 52-53
  34. ^ a b Ray, Reginald. Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations. 1999. p. 410
  35. ^ Ray, Reginald. Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations. 1999. p. 426
  36. ^ Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: Based on the Ugraparipṛcchā, a Mahāyāna Sūtra. 2007. pp. 46-47
  37. ^ Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: Based on the Ugraparipṛcchā, a Mahāyāna Sūtra. 2007. pp. 46
  38. ^ Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: Based on the Ugrapariprccha, a Mahayana Sutra. 2007. pp. 46-47
  39. ^ Silk, Jonathan. The Maharatnakuta Tradition: A Study of the Ratnarasi Sutra. Volume 1. 1994. pp. 253-254
  40. ^ Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2008. p. 6
  41. ^ Guang Xing. The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory. 2004. p. 66
  42. ^ a b Boin-Webb, Sara (tr). Rahula, Walpola (tr). Asanga. Abhidharma Samuccaya: The Compendium of Higher Teaching. 2001. pp. 199-200
  43. ^ Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 52

References

  • Foltz, Richard, Religions of the Silk Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010 ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
  • Heirmann, Ann (2002). Rules for Nuns According to the Dharmaguptakavinaya. Motilal Barnasidass, Delhi. ISBN 81-208-1800-8.
  • Ven. Bhikshuni Wu Yin (2001). Choosing Simplicity. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-155-3.
  • Heirman, Ann (2002). Can We Trace the Early Dharmaguptakas?, T'oung Pao, Second Series 88 (4/5), 396-429  – via JSTOR (subscription required)

External links

    dharmaguptaka, sanskrit, धर, मग, तक, chinese, 法藏部, pinyin, fǎzàng, eighteen, twenty, early, buddhist, schools, depending, source, they, said, have, originated, from, another, sect, mahīśāsakas, prominent, role, early, central, asian, chinese, buddhism, their, . The Dharmaguptaka Sanskrit धर मग प तक Chinese 法藏部 pinyin Fǎzang bu are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools depending on the source They are said to have originated from another sect the Mahisasakas The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism and their Pratimokṣa monastic rules for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇis are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day including China Vietnam Korea and Japan as well as the Philippines They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages along with that of the Theravada and the Mulasarvastivada Central Asian Buddhist monk teaching a Chinese monk Bezeklik Caves 9th 10th century although Albert von Le Coq 1913 assumed the blue eyed red haired monk was a Tocharian 1 modern scholarship has identified similar Caucasoid figures of the same cave temple No 9 as ethnic Sogdians 2 an Eastern Iranian people who inhabited Turfan as an ethnic minority community during the phases of Tang Chinese 7th 8th century and Uyghur rule 9th 13th century 3 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Doctrinal development 2 1 Overview 2 2 Twelve aṅgas 3 Appearance and language 3 1 Robes 3 2 Language 4 History 4 1 In Northwest India 4 2 In Central Asia 4 3 In East Asia 5 Texts 5 1 Gandharan Buddhist texts 5 2 Vinaya translation 5 3 Agama collections 5 4 Abhidharma 5 5 Additional piṭakas 5 6 Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sutra 6 Relationship to Mahayana 6 1 Kushan era 6 2 Ugraparipṛccha Sutra 6 3 Ratnarasivyakaraṇa Sutra 6 4 Prajnaparamita sutras 6 5 Buddhayasas 6 6 Buddhist canon 6 7 Paramartha 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External linksEtymology EditGuptaka means preserver 4 and dharma law justice morality and most likely the set of laws of Northern Buddhism 5 Doctrinal development EditOverview Edit The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a sravaka sravakayana and the path of a bodhisattva bodhisattvayana to be separate A translation and commentary on the Samayabhedoparacanacakra reads 6 They say that although the Buddha is part of the Saṃgha the fruits of giving to the Buddha are especially great but not so for the Saṃgha Making offerings to stupas may result in many extensive benefits The Buddha and those of the Two Vehicles although they have one and the same liberation have followed different noble paths Those of outer paths i e heretics cannot obtain the five supernormal powers The body of an arhat is without outflows In many other ways their views are similar to those of the Mahasaṃghikas According to the Abhidharma Mahavibhaṣa Sastra the Dharmaguptakas held that the Four Noble Truths are to be observed simultaneously Vasubandhu states that the Dharmaguptakas held in agreement with Theravada and against Sarvastivada that realization of the four noble truths happens all at once ekabhisamaya 7 The Dharmaguptaka are known to have rejected the authority of the Sarvastivada pratimokṣa rules on the grounds that the original teachings of the Buddha had been lost 8 Twelve aṅgas Edit The Dharmaguptaka used a twelvefold division of the Buddhist teachings which has been found in their Dirgha Agama their Vinaya and in some Mahayana sutras 9 These twelve divisions are sutra geya vyakaraṇa gatha udana nidana jataka itivṛttaka vaipulya adbhutadharma avadana and upadesa 9 Appearance and language EditRobes Edit Between 148 and 170 CE the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated a work which described the color of monastic robes Skt kaṣaya utilized in five major Indian Buddhist sects called Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi Chinese 大比丘三千威儀 10 Another text translated at a later date the Sariputraparipṛccha contains a very similar passage with nearly the same information 10 However the colors for Dharmaguptaka and Sarvastivada are reversed In the earlier source the Sarvastivada are described as wearing deep red robes while the Dharmaguptaka are described as wearing black robes 11 The corresponding passage found in the later Sariputraparipṛccha in contrast portrays the Sarvastivada as wearing black robes and the Dharmaguptaka as wearing deep red robes 11 During the Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monastics typically wore grayish black robes and were even colloquially referred to as Ziyi Chinese 緇衣 those of the black robes 12 However the Song dynasty monk Zanning 919 1001 CE writes that during the earlier Han Wei period the Chinese monks typically wore red robes 13 According to the Dharmaguptaka vinaya the robes of monastics should be sewn out of no more than 18 pieces of cloth and the cloth should be fairly heavy and coarse 14 Language Edit A consensus has grown in scholarship which sees the first wave of Buddhist missionary work as associated with the Gandhari language and the Kharoṣṭhi script and tentatively with the Dharmaguptaka sect 15 97 However there is evidence that other sects and traditions of Buddhism also used Gandhari and further evidence that the Dharmaguptaka sect also used Sanskrit at times It is true that most manuscripts in Gandhari belong to the Dharmaguptakas but virtually all schools inclusive Mahayana used some Gandhari Von Hinuber 1982b and 1983 has pointed out incompletely Sanskritised Gandhari words in works heretofore ascribed to the Sarvastivadins and drew the conclusion that either the sectarian attribution had to be revised or the tacit dogma Gandhari equals Dharmaguptaka is wrong Conversely Dharmaguptakas also resorted to Sanskrit 15 99 Starting in the first century of the Common Era there was a large trend toward a type of Gandhari which was heavily Sanskritized 15 99 History EditIn Northwest India Edit The Gandharan Buddhist texts the earliest Buddhist texts ever discovered are apparently dedicated to the teachers of the Dharmaguptaka school They tend to confirm a flourishing of the Dharmaguptaka school in northwestern India around the 1st century CE with Gandhari as the canonical language and this would explain the subsequent influence of the Dharmaguptakas in Central Asia and then northeastern Asia According to Buddhist scholar A K Warder the Dharmaguptaka originated in Aparanta 16 According to one scholar the evidence afforded by the Gandharan Buddhist texts suggest s that the Dharmaguptaka sect achieved early success under their Indo Scythian supporters in Gandhara but that the sect subsequently declined with the rise of the Kuṣaṇa Empire ca mid first to third century A D which gave its patronage to the Sarvastivada sect 17 In Central Asia Edit Available evidence indicates that the first Buddhist missions to Khotan were carried out by the Dharmaguptaka sect 15 98 T he Khotan Dharmapada some orthographical devices of Khotanese and the not yet systematically plotted Gandhari loan words in Khotanese betray indisputably that the first missions in Khotan included Dharmaguptakas and used a Kharoṣṭhi written Gandhari Now all other manuscripts from Khotan and especially all manuscripts written in Khotanese belong to the Mahayana are written in the Brahmi script and were translated from Sanskrit A number of scholars have identified three distinct major phases of missionary activities seen in the history of Buddhism in Central Asia which are associated with the following sects chronologically 18 Dharmagupta Sarvastivada MulasarvastivadaIn the 7th century CE Xuanzang and Yijing both recorded that the Dharmaguptakas were located in Oḍḍiyana and Central Asia but not in the Indian subcontinent 8 Yijing grouped the Mahisasaka Dharmaguptaka and Kasyapiya together as sub sects of the Sarvastivada and stated that these three were not prevalent in the five parts of India but were located in the some parts of Oḍḍiyana Khotan and Kucha 19 In East Asia Edit Full bhikṣuṇi ordination is common in the Dharmaguptaka lineage Vesak festival Taiwan The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India to areas such as Iran Central Asia and China and they had great success in doing so 16 Therefore most countries which adopted Buddhism from China also adopted the Dharmaguptaka vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇis According to A K Warder in some ways the Dharmaguptaka sect can be considered to have survived to the present in those East Asian countries 20 Warder further writes 21 It was the Dharmaguptakas who were the first Buddhists to establish themselves in Central Asia They appear to have carried out a vast circling movement along the trade routes from Aparanta north west into Iran and at the same time into Oḍḍiyana the Suvastu valley north of Gandhara which became one of their main centres After establishing themselves as far west as Parthia they followed the silk route the east west axis of Asia eastwards across Central Asia and on into China where they effectively established Buddhism in the second and third centuries A D The Mahisasakas and Kasyapiyas appear to have followed them across Asia into China For the earlier period of Chinese Buddhism it was the Dharmaguptakas who constituted the main and most influential school and even later their Vinaya remained the basis of the discipline there During the early period of Chinese Buddhism the Indian Buddhist sects recognized as important and whose texts were studied were the Dharmaguptakas Mahisasakas Kasyapiyas Sarvastivadins and the Mahasaṃghikas 22 Between 250 and 255 CE the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was established in China when Indian monks were invited to help with ordination in China 23 No full Vinaya had been translated at this time and only two texts were available the Dharmaguptaka Karmavacana for ordination and the Mahasaṃghika Pratimokṣa for regulating the life of monks After the translation of full Vinayas the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was followed by most monks but temples often regulated monastic life with other Vinaya texts such as those of the Mahasaṃghika the Mahisasaka or the Sarvastivada 23 In the 7th century Yijing wrote that in eastern China most people followed the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya while the Mahasaṃghika Vinaya was used in earlier times in Guanzhong the region around Chang an and that the Sarvastivada Vinaya was prominent in the Yangtze area and further south 23 In the 7th century the existence of multiple Vinaya lineages throughout China was criticized by prominent Vinaya masters such as Yijing and Dao An 654 717 In the early 8th century Dao An gained the support of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and an imperial edict was issued that the sangha in China should use only the Dharmaguptaka vinaya for ordination 24 Texts EditGandharan Buddhist texts Edit The Gandharan Buddhist texts the oldest extant Buddhist manuscripts are attributed to the Dharmaguptaka sect by Richard Salomon the leading scholar in the field and the British Library scrolls represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in Nagarahara Afghanistan 25 26 Among the Dharmaguptaka Gandharan Buddhist texts in the Schoyen Collection is a fragment in the Kharoṣṭhi script referencing the Six Paramitas a central practice for bodhisattvas in Mahayana doctrine 27 Vinaya translation Edit In the early 5th century CE Dharmaguptaka Vinaya was translated into Chinese by the Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayasas 佛陀耶舍 of Kashmir For this translation Buddhayasas recited the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya entirely from memory rather than reading it from a written manuscript 28 After its translation the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya became the predominant vinaya in Chinese Buddhist monasticism The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya or monastic rules are still followed today in China Vietnam and Korea and its lineage for the ordination of monks and nuns has survived uninterrupted to this day The name of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in the East Asian tradition is the Vinaya in Four Parts Chinese 四分律 pinyin Sifen Lǜ and the equivalent Sanskrit title would be Caturvargika Vinaya 29 Ordination under the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya only relates to monastic vows and lineage Vinaya and does not conflict with the actual Buddhist teachings that one follows Dharma Agama collections Edit The Dirgha Agama Long Discourses 長阿含經 Chang Ahan Jing T 1 30 corresponds to the Digha Nikaya of the Theravada school A complete version of the Dirgha Agama of the Dharmaguptaka sect was translated by Buddhayasas and Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 in the Later Qin dynasty dated to 413 CE It contains 30 sutras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin Digha Nikaya The Ekottara Agama Incremental Discourses 增壹阿含經 Zengyi Ahan Jing T 125 corresponds to the Anguttara Nikaya of the Theravada school It was translated into Chinese by Dharmanandi in 384 CE and edited by Gautama Saṃghadeva in 398 CE Some have proposed that the original text for this translation came from the Sarvastivadins or the Mahasaṃghikas 31 However according to A K Warder the Ekottara Agama references 250 pratimokṣa rules for monks which agrees only with the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya He also views some of the doctrine as contradicting tenets of the Mahasaṃghika school and states that they agree with Dharmaguptaka views currently known He therefore concludes that the extant Ekottara Agama is that of the Dharmaguptakas 32 Abhidharma Edit The Sariputra Abhidharma Sastra 舍利弗阿毘曇論 Shelifu Apitan Lun T 1548 is a complete abhidharma text that is thought to come from the Dharmaguptaka sect The only complete edition of this text is in Chinese Sanskrit fragments have been found in Bamiyan Afghanistan and are now part of the Schoyen Collection MS 2375 08 These manuscripts are thought to have been part of a monastery library of the Mahasaṃghika Lokottaravada sect Additional piṭakas Edit The Dharmaguptaka Tripiṭaka is said to have contained two extra sections that were not included by some other schools These included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a Mantra Piṭaka 咒藏 Zhou Zang also sometimes called a Dharaṇi Piṭaka 8 According to the fifth century Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayasas the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya into Chinese the Dharmaguptaka school had assimilated the Mahayana Tripiṭaka 大乘三藏 Dacheng Sanzang 33 Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sutra Edit The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive of all classical biographies of the Buddha and is entitled Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sutra Various Chinese translations of this text date from between the 3rd and 6th century CE Relationship to Mahayana Edit Bhikṣus performing a traditional Buddhist ceremony in Hangzhou Zhejiang province ChinaKushan era Edit It is unknown when some members of the Dharmaguptaka school began to accept the Mahayana sutras but the Manjusrimulakalpa records that Kaniṣka 127 151 CE of the Kuṣaṇa Empire presided over the establishment of Prajnaparamita doctrines in the northwest of India 34 Taranatha wrote that in this region 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jalandhra monastery during the time of Kaniṣka suggesting some institutional strength for Mahayana in the northwest during this period 34 Edward Conze goes further to say that Prajnaparamita had great success in the northwest during the Kuṣaṇa period and may have been the fortress and hearth of early Mahayana but not its origin which he associates with the Mahasaṃghika branch 35 Ugraparipṛccha Sutra Edit Jan Nattier writes that available textual evidence suggests that the Mahayana Ugraparipṛccha Sutra circulated in Dharmaguptaka communities during its early history but a later translation shows evidence that the text later circulated amongst the Sarvastivadins as well 36 The Ugraparipṛccha also mentions a fourfold division of the Buddhist canon which includes a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and the Dharmaguptaka are known to have had such a collection in their canon 37 Nattier further describes the type of community depicted in the Ugraparipṛccha 38 T he overall picture that the Ugra presents is quite clear It describes a monastic community in which scriptures concerning the bodhisattva path were accepted as legitimate canonical texts and their memorization a viable monastic specialty but in which only a certain subset of monks were involved in the practices associated with the Bodhisattva Vehicle Ratnarasivyakaraṇa Sutra Edit The Mahayana Ratnarasivyakaraṇa Sutra which is part of the Maharatnakuṭa Sutra is believed by some scholars to have a Dharmaguptaka origin or background due to its specific regulations regarding giving to the Buddha and giving to the Saṃgha 39 Prajnaparamita sutras Edit According to Joseph Walser there is evidence that the Pancaviṃsatisahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra 25 000 lines and the Satasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra 100 000 lines have a connection with the Dharmaguptaka sect while the Aṣṭasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra 8000 lines does not 40 Instead Guang Xing assesses the view of the Buddha given in the Aṣṭasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra 8000 lines as being that of the Mahasaṃghikas 41 Buddhayasas Edit The translator Buddhayasas was a Dharmaguptaka monk who was known to be a Mahayanist and he is recorded as having learned both Hinayana and Mahayana treatises He translated the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya the Dirgha Agama and Mahayana texts including the Akasagarbha Bodhisattva Sutra 虛空藏菩薩經 Xukōngzang Pusa Jing The preface written by Buddhayasas for his translation of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states that the Dharmaguptakas had assimilated the Mahayana Tripiṭaka 33 Buddhist canon Edit The Dharmaguptakas were said to have had two extra sections in their canon 8 Bodhisattva Piṭaka Mantra Piṭaka or Dharaṇi PiṭakaIn the 4th century Mahayana abhidharma work Abhidharmasamuccaya Asaṅga refers to the collection which contains the Agamas as the Sravakapiṭaka and associates it with the sravakas and pratyekabuddhas 42 Asaṅga classifies the Mahayana sutras as belonging to the Bodhisattvapiṭaka which is designated as the collection of teachings for bodhisattvas 42 Paramartha Edit Paramartha a 6th century CE Indian monk from Ujjain unequivocally associates the Dharmaguptaka school with the Mahayana and portrays the Dharmaguptakas as being perhaps the closest to a straightforward Mahayana sect 43 See also EditBuddhism in Central Asia Schools of Buddhism Silk Road transmission of BuddhismNotes Edit von Le Coq Albert 1913 Chotscho Facsimile Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Koniglich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost Turkistan Berlin Dietrich Reimer Ernst Vohsen im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Koniglichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler Institutes Tafel 19 Accessed 3 September 2016 Gasparini Mariachiara A Mathematic Expression of Art Sino Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin in Rudolf G Wagner and Monica Juneja eds Transcultural Studies Ruprecht Karls Universitat Heidelberg No 1 2014 pp 134 163 ISSN 2191 6411 See also endnote 32 Accessed 3 September 2016 Hansen Valerie 2012 The Silk Road A New History Oxford University Press p 98 ISBN 978 0 19 993921 3 Guptaka in the Sanskrit Dictionary Dharma in the Sanskrit Dictionary 異部宗輪論述記 謂佛雖在僧中所攝 然別施佛果大 非僧 果大 於窣堵波興供養業獲廣大果 佛與二乘解脫雖一 而聖道異 無諸外道能得五通 阿羅漢身皆是無漏 餘義多同大眾部執 Sujato Bhante 2012 Sects amp Sectarianism The Origins of Buddhist Schools Santipada p 131 ISBN 9781921842085 a b c d Baruah Bibhuti Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism 2008 p 52 a b Williams Paul The Origins and Nature of Mahayana Buddhism 2004 p 184 a b Hino Shoun Three Mountains and Seven Rivers 2004 p 55 a b Hino Shoun Three Mountains and Seven Rivers 2004 pp 55 56 Kieschnick John The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture 2003 pp 89 90 Kieschnick John The Eminent Monk Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography 1997 p 29 Kieschnick John The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture 2003 pp 91 92 a b c d Heirman Ann Bumbacher Stephan Peter eds 2007 The spread of Buddhism Leiden Brill ISBN 978 9004158306 a b Warder A K Indian Buddhism 2000 p 278 The Discovery of the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts Review article by Enomoto Fumio The Eastern Buddhist Vol NS32 Issue I 2000 pg 161 Willemen Charles Dessein Bart Cox Collett Sarvastivada Buddhist Scholasticism 1997 p 126 Yijing Li Rongxi translator Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia 2000 p 19 Warder A K Indian Buddhism 2000 p 489 Warder A K Indian Buddhism 2000 pp 280 281 Warder A K Indian Buddhism 2000 p 281 a b c Mohr Thea Tsedroen Jampa eds 2010 Dignity amp discipline reviving full ordination for Buddhist nuns Boston Wisdom Publications ISBN 978 0861715886 pp 187 189 pp 194 195 The Discovery of the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts Review article by Enomoto Fumio The Eastern Buddhist Vol NS32 Issue I 2000 pg 160 Richard Salomon Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara The British Library Kharosthi Fragments with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard Seattle University of Washington Press London The British Library 1999 pg 181 Presenters Patrick Cabouat and Alain Moreau 2004 Eurasia Episode III Gandhara the Renaissance of Buddhism Eurasia Episode 3 11 20 minutes in France 5 NHK Point du Jour International Scharfe Harmut Education in Ancient India 2002 pp 24 25 Williams Jane and Williams Paul Buddhism Critical Concepts in Religious Studies Volume 3 2004 p 209 Muller Charles Digital Dictionary of Buddhism entry on 阿含經 permanent dead link Sujato Bhikkhu About the EA ekottara googlepages com Retrieved 2013 02 11 Warder A K Indian Buddhism 2000 p 6 a b Walser Joseph Nagarjuna in Context Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture 2005 pp 52 53 a b Ray Reginald Buddhist Saints in India A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations 1999 p 410 Ray Reginald Buddhist Saints in India A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations 1999 p 426 Nattier Jan A Few Good Men Based on the Ugraparipṛccha a Mahayana Sutra 2007 pp 46 47 Nattier Jan A Few Good Men Based on the Ugraparipṛccha a Mahayana Sutra 2007 pp 46 Nattier Jan A Few Good Men Based on the Ugrapariprccha a Mahayana Sutra 2007 pp 46 47 Silk Jonathan The Maharatnakuta Tradition A Study of the Ratnarasi Sutra Volume 1 1994 pp 253 254 Williams Paul Mahayana Buddhism The Doctrinal Foundations 2008 p 6 Guang Xing The Concept of the Buddha Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory 2004 p 66 a b Boin Webb Sara tr Rahula Walpola tr Asanga Abhidharma Samuccaya The Compendium of Higher Teaching 2001 pp 199 200 Walser Joseph Nagarjuna in Context Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture 2005 p 52References EditFoltz Richard Religions of the Silk Road Palgrave Macmillan 2nd edition 2010 ISBN 978 0 230 62125 1 Heirmann Ann 2002 Rules for Nuns According to the Dharmaguptakavinaya Motilal Barnasidass Delhi ISBN 81 208 1800 8 Ven Bhikshuni Wu Yin 2001 Choosing Simplicity Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1 55939 155 3 Heirman Ann 2002 Can We Trace the Early Dharmaguptakas T oung Pao Second Series 88 4 5 396 429 via JSTOR subscription required External links EditThe Gandharan texts and the Dharmaguptaka Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dharmaguptaka amp oldid 1151236022, wikipedia, wiki, book, 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