Sthavira nikāya
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The Sthavira nikāya (Sanskrit "Sect of the Elders";
Scholarly views
Origin
The Sthavira nikāya was one of the
The Mahāsāṃghika Śāriputraparipṛcchā, a text written to justify this school's departure from the disciplinary code of the elder monks, asserts that the council was convened at Pāṭaliputra over matters of vinaya, and it is explained that the schism resulted from the majority (Mahāsaṃgha) refusing to accept the addition of rules to the Vinaya by the minority (Sthaviras).[3] The Mahāsāṃghikas therefore saw the Sthaviras as being a breakaway group which was attempting to modify the original Vinaya.[4]
Scholars have generally agreed that the matter of dispute was indeed a matter of vinaya, and have noted that the account of the Mahāsāṃghikas is bolstered by the vinaya texts themselves, as vinayas associated with the Sthaviras do contain more rules than those of the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya.[3] Modern scholarship therefore generally agrees that the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya is the oldest.[3] According to Skilton, future scholars may determine that a study of the Mahāsāṃghika school will contribute to a better understanding of the early Dhamma-Vinaya than the Theravada school.[4]
Language
The Tibetan historian
Legacy
The Sthaviras later divided into other schools such as:
- Sarvāstivāda
- Vatsīputrīya
- Vibhajyavāda (Pali: Vibhajjavāda)
The Vibhajyavāda branch gave rise to a number of schools such as:[6]
- Mahīśāsaka
- Dharmaguptaka
- Kāśyapīya
- Tāmraparnīya, later called "Theravāda"
Relationship to Theravāda
Scholarly accounts
The Theravāda school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia has identified itself exclusively with the Sthaviras, as the Pali word thera is equivalent to the Sanskrit sthavira.[7] This has led early Western historians to assume that the two parties are identical.[7] However, this is not the case, and by the time of Ashoka, the Sthavira sect had split into the Sammitīya Pudgalavada, Sarvāstivāda, and the Vibhajyavāda schools.[7]
The Vibhajyavāda school is believed to have split into other schools as well, such as the Mahīśāsaka school and the ancestor of the Theravada school.[7] According to Damien Keown, there is no historical evidence that the Theravada school arose until around two centuries after the Great Schism which occurred at the Third Council.[8]
Theravādin accounts
Starting with the
- These 17 sects are schismatic,
- only one is non-schismatic.
- With the non-schismatic sect,
- there are eighteen in all.
- Like a great banyan tree,
- the Theravāda is supreme,
- The Dispensation of the Conqueror,
- complete, without lack or excess.
- The other sects arose
- like thorns on the tree.
- — Dīpavaṃsa, 4.90–91[11]
According to the Mahāvaṃsa, a Theravādin source, after the
Bhante Sujato explains the relationship between the Sthavira sect and the Theravāda:
The term sthavira (meaning "elder") is the Sanskrit version of the term better known today in its Pali version thera, as in Theravāda, the "Teaching of the Elders." The original Sthaviras, however, are by no means identical with the modern school called Theravāda. Rather, the Sthaviras are the ancestor of a group of related schools, one of which is the Theravāda.[12]
See also
References
- Citations
- ^ Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pg. 89-90.
- ^ Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pg. 89-90.
- ^ a b c Skilton 2004, p. 48.
- ^ a b Skilton 2004, p. 64.
- ^ Yao 2012, p. 9.
- ^ Sujato 2006, p. 61.
- ^ a b c d Skilton 2004, p. 66-67.
- ^ Keown 2003, p. 279-280.
- ^ a b Morgan 2010, p. 113.
- ^ a b c Williams 2004, p. 56-57.
- ^ Sujato 2006, p. i.
- ^ Sujato, Bhante. "Why Devadatta Was No Saint".
- Bibliography
- Hirakawa, Akira; Groner, Paul (1998), A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 9788120809550
- Dutt, Nalinaksha (2007), Buddhist Sects in India, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120804289
- ISBN 978-0198605607
- Morgan, Diane (2010), Essential Buddhism: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice, ISBN 978-0313384523
- Skilton, Andrew (2004), A Concise History of Buddhism, Windhorse Publications, ISBN 978-0904766929
- Sujato, Bhante (2006), Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools, Santi Forest Monastery
- ISBN 978-0415332262
- Yao, Zhihua (2012), The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition, ISBN 978-0415544382