English
And that is precisely why in ‘the Mahayana sittras and Sastras we find many other terms like ‘Ekayana,’ ‘ Dviydna,’ * Buddhayana,’ and ‘ Bodhisattvayina.’ When the necessity has been to show a doctrinal relation, thei the terms ‘ Ekayina’ and ‘Dviyaina’ have been used in the place of -‘ Mahayana’ and ‘ Hinayana,’ and while the religieux is implied, the terms ‘ Buddhayana,’ or ‘ Bodhi- sativayana’ and ‘ Arhatyana,’ or ‘ Sravakayana’ have been applied in the place of ‘Mahayana’ and ‘ Hinayana’ respectively. All these points will be made clear in course of the subsequent chapters. IT,—-Interrelation underiying between the two. terms — Mahayana and Hinayana as regards subject matter indicated by them. In the previous section, I have already dealt with the terms ‘Mahiydna’ and ‘ Hinayana,’ so far as they indicate a mutual relation of two things in the sense of superiority 1 In his Historical Discourse on Maha&yfina Buddhism, p. 117-121, (In Japanese.) THE TERMS MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA 47 and inferiority, praise and depreciation. At present, our duty is to ascertain the interrelation as regards subject matters indicated by these two terms, and at the same time to try to hit at the right stand-point which can possibly evoke a conception of superiority and inferiority, etc. I should like to say, at once that the terms ‘Mahayana’ and ‘ Hinayana are nothing but expressions’ a relation between two aspects of Buddha’s perception. This point I had the occasion to explicitly discuss in my paper .‘ What is Buddhism ?’’ However, for a right understanding of our present subject matter a short re-statement of the same will be necessary. When Buddha attained Enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree, he understood the reality. of this world in two-fold aspect, viz.:—(i) the peaceful real state of the internal world, (ii) the sorrowful apparent state of this world. There he obtained two different perceptions :— (t) The transcendental truth of the world, and (i) the truth of the apparent world. In other words, when Buddha looked to this world from his enlightened stand point, he at once hada penetration first into the real state of this phenothenal, outward ‘ Sarhsara,’ the chain of cause and effect; and then an introspection to the reality of the internal world, and the way to realize the same. From the stand-point of Buddha’s perception, the former is ‘Phenomenological’ and the latter is ‘Ontolo- gical;’ also the former became ‘ The Doctrine which he preached only according to people’s requirements ;’ while the latter is ‘The Doctrine which expressed his own self- introspectional perception;’ again the former - became ‘The Exoteric’ Doctrine (vyaktopades1)’ and the latter ‘The Esoteric Doctrine (guhyopadesa).’ From the historical point of view again, the former became the Published in the Jownnl of Letters, Calcutta University, Vol. TY, 48 ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM ‘Original Buddhism,’ while the latter, the ‘ Developed Buddhism.’ All these will be clear from the following explanation. From history of Buddhism in India, we know that, after Buddha obtained perfect Enlightenment, he began to preach for the salvation of all human beings. To carry out his purpose, after due deliberation’ he preached for the pretty long period of 45 years (530 B.C.—486 B.C.), beginning from the first sermon at the Deer-Park near Bendres, known as Dhammacakka-pavattna-sutta (the siitra of the Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness), and ending with the teaching embodied in the Mahapari- nibbana-sutta at Kusinéra. During thesé years, as far as history records, he preached and explained only his doctrine of Phenomenological perceptions with the ‘ Four-Noble-Truths’ (catvari-arya-satyani) as its basis, namely (1) ‘Suffering’ (duhkha) by which he used to explain the question of ‘what’ of the apparent world, (2) ‘Its cause’ (duhkha-samudaya by which he used to answer the question of ‘Why’ ‘How’ of the same ‘Samsara,’ (8) ‘Suppression’ (duhkha-nirodha) and (4) ‘The path leading to its final extinction (duhkha- nirodha-marga). Besides these, we have two other formulse embodying Buddha’s instruction: (¢) The three-fold corner stone of Buddhism, namely ‘All is impermanent,’ (sarvam-anityam), ‘All is suffering’ (sarvatn-duhkharh) and ‘All is without self” (sarvari- anatmarn). (i2) The famous term ‘ twelve-linked chain of causation’ (dvadasa-pratitya-samutpada). The former is minute explanation of ‘Duhkha’ and the latter is. a * The tradition of seven weeks’ deliberation after the enlightenment is most satisfactorily explained by the supposition that he was considering carefully the age, the conutry and the capacity of the ordinary people to whom he would haved to minister, and then the best form of presenting the Truth so that all may appreciate. Another reason may be, as has been suggested by others, that he did not find at once the necessary type of disciples who would receive his teachings. THE TERMS MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA 49 minute statement of ‘ Duhkha-samudaya.’ However, the fact that occurs to us is that all throughout his life. the Buddha-never- preached _his Introspectional_ Ontological Doctrine explicitly. The reason of this, in my opinion, is that he always “considered the capacity and the necessity! of the people around him, so that he preached ‘whatever were ttseful and apt to suit the particular condition and: environment, religious, philosophical, and social, of that} age. We should not forget the most important feature of Buddha’s preaching, that he always considered the time, the place, the person, and the totality of these circumstances, whenever, whatever and to whomsoever, he was going to ‘preach, That is why it has been said is the Nikaya :— “Tathagato araham sammiasambuddho’. atthafiin, dhammafihi, mattaift, kalaifit, parisaifid, ....... .., imehi Paficahi dhammchi samannagato Tathagato....-..,: dhammen’eva anuttarath dhamma-cakkam pavatteti ?' “The noble Tathagata, the perfectly Awakened one, knows the sense, the dhamma, the proportion, the time, the assembly.. Endowed with these five quaiities the: Tathagata turns the transcendental, Wheel of the Law according to the Dhamma.” * ea From Brahmanic, Buddhistic and Jaina: sources, “we learn that just at the time of the Buddha or a little before him, in India,” Vedie Aryan domain (which comprised the countries of Kurus, Matsyas, Paiicilas and Siirasenas) in the West, as well as Magadha and its surrounding countries in the East among’ the ‘outlandic or mixed Aryans, differed from one another in social organisation® and environment, religious and philosophical conditions. PANY, p 18h. > Translated hy my friend Mr. Sailendranath Mitra, M.A. > Inthe Prahmanie West, naturally Brahmanas were most powerful in society nmong the four castes and Kgatriyas were subordinate to them, on the other hand 7 50 ‘ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM Of. these factors, those specially relating to different religious:.and philosophical systems are very important for' our consideration to enable us to understand the history of the period. ‘As is known, in every country the religious and philosophical movements create and fashion new social ideas and ideals.. The most remarkable feature in Indian life at. the time of the. Buddha was the existence of various order of teachers both Vedic and un-Vedic with different opinions and views on life. This distinctly helped the progress of thought and development of social life. Both the land of the West as well as that of the East were centres of a series of eminent teachers with their separate systems of thought. - Again the orders of teachers in both the ‘West and the East, represent different groups or schools of thought. These groups may roughly be divided into either Sramanas and - Brahmans or Tapasas and Paribrajakas.' “i' In the West, among the Vedic Aryans, there were two different schools. of cultures. One is the school of ‘Karma’ and another the school of ‘Jiiana.’ The former was ‘propounded and practised only by Brahmana priests ‘who occupied quite an influential position in the Vedic society: at that time and their thought tended only to elaborate sacrificial rituals which, according to them, was the only essential feature of religious life, while the latter on the contrary speculated on religious and philosophical matters. The Ksatriyas.were uppermost in originating and developing this line of thought, though they were busy with. military conquests during the early Vedic in the non-Bréhmanio East, the Kgatriyas held the first position and Brihmanas were under them. Herein lies the essential distinction of the two social systems, See ‘English translation of. Sncial Organisation in North East India in Buddha's Time’ by Richard Fick, published by the Calcutta University, pp. 11.13, A See Dr, B. M. Barua’s Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy, p, 19}, THE TERMS MAHAYANA ANT) HINAYANA 51 period but’ could make. time. for such serious thought during the closing period of the Rig-Veda. Problems like these were uppermost in their mind,—the creator of the world, the existence of a ‘ Universal entity”. (mahatma) and ‘ Individual entities’ (jivitma) as well as the idea of essential unity of both. ‘Therefore, their thought tended in contradistinction with that..of Brahmana priest, to “encourage the subjective mode of attaining truth and living an ascetic life in the forests, practising penance and pursuing a life of inner culture and meditation; . The Upanishadic speculations, as we call them, originated in this period. We should notice here that the Vedie Aryay culture as a whole would appear to be a lay movement; almost all their teachers were married householders..