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” ~” Again, in the Amitiyurdhyana-siitra it has been said :— “( my son in the law, thou hast practised the Mahayana doctrine; thou hast understood and believed the highest truth; therefore I now come to meet and welcome thee.” * The above quotations show clearly that the term ‘Mabayana’ has been applied in the sense of * -Ekayana,’ that is to say, it indicates Buddha’s Ontological doctrine. On the other hand, it expresses “other sense also, for example, in the Prajiaparamita-siitra :— “The Bodhisattvas put on the armour of Mahayana, ornamented themselves with Mahayana and lived in the Mahayana.” * Again, in the same Sitra :— “The Bodhisattvayana is the Mahayana.”* Such statements are met with several times in the same Siitras as well as Avatamsaka-siitras.® 1 Tien Bundle, Vol. 2, p. 232, of Chinese Tripitaka. 2? Samadhirdja-sitra, p. I. (B. T. S. Edition). * 8. B. E., Vol. XLTX, Pt. 3, vy. 19v. . * Yuch Bundle, Vol. 7, p. 4a. * Yiich Bundle, Vol. I, p. 18. . + Prajfiaparamits-sfitra ; Yiich Bundle, Vol. 3, pp. 240, 25a, 266, And Avatar. enka-siitra, Vol. J, p. t&e. Tien Bundle, Vol. 2, p. 21l, Vol. 9, 6b. i+ ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM Again, in the Prajfiapiramita-sitra :-— * Those who are learning Mahayana, though possessing human eye, yet are said to be endowed with the eye of Buddha. Since the ‘Mahayana’ has been called ‘Buddbayana.’ ! The above quotation clearly shows that the term ‘Mahayana’ has been sometimes used to signify the term ‘ Buddhayana,’ that is to say, it sometimes expresses Buddha’s Ontological perception on his ‘own personality’ as wel as on ‘human life.’ Our next important discussion is to see how the Mahasanghikas found out the term ‘ Mahayana.’ As we already discussed that when the Buddha obtained the absolute wisdom he realized himself as Buddha having no beginning and no end. At the same time, he, through his perception, could realise that all human beings possessed equal personality. The Maba- sanghikas easily realized this deepest and _ highest perception and manifested it in their doctrines, and at the same time established: “ All human beings possess Bodhisattvahood or Buddhahood.” Here, the very word ‘All’ is the most important one regarding the origination of the term ‘ Mahayana.’ The term ‘ Mahayana’ means the’‘Great Vehicle.’ ‘Then what does the word ‘Great’ signify here? It is the ‘Vehicle’ which can carry all human beings, and has, therefore, been called ‘ Great.’ The word ‘All,’ again, has sometimes been expressed in the Mahayana Sittras, by the term ‘Asarnkhya’ or numberless. . According to the Original form of Buddhism or Hinayana, the cultured men only attained the Arhatship and Pratyeka-Buddhahood, but not all human beings, while, on the contrary, according to Developed or Mahayana Buddhism, all human beings or numberless ' Ia Bundle, Vol. 5, p. 29a of Chinese Tripitaka, HOW THE TERMS WERE COINED 145 beings can equally attain Buddhahood. In other words, through the ‘doctrine’ or ‘ yana,’ ‘all’ or ‘numberless,’ human beings will understand that’ they possess the germ of ‘Buddha-hood.’ And at the same time by the same, ‘all’ or numberless human beings can realize their Buddhahood. Hence Buddha’s’ Introspectional and Ontological doctrine or Developed Buddhism has been termed as ‘ Mahayana’ or ‘great vehicle.’ This idea is clearly expressed in the Astasahasrikaprajfiaparamita- siitra:— se “TARR WAM Bfainaaaaeaiagd ) Agar aerara- fafa wnaqad) ataarquawiaafiaafaatafa srarn- aaan sfaaeaa aug aaa aMaaAdetat wart Wana: wate unaaag ma antaruadaami war- AAT NWA AAA waldq aWaafacenfarea Reaart Saramdewd Fara faa saad ara ent dfaaa | waa wna BWA Aa yet SUT AUT ara sued anfy we woes) saad aadwazara’ ay mafaapere y”? ! “After this had been said the long-lived Subhiti spoke thus to the Lord: O Lord! Mahayana is called the Maha-yana (great vehicle). It is called Mahayana because it will lead gods men and demons, being as spacious as thesky. Just as the sky may be a receptacle for immeasurable and innumerable objects, so also, O Lord, this vehicle (yana) is a receptacle for immense and innumerable sentient beings (sattyas). In this speech, O Lord, the Mahayana is to be understood to be a receptacle for the Bodhisattvas alone: It is not seen whence it comes, whether it goes, and where it stops. Thus O Lord, neither the beginning, nor end, nor middle 4 Bibliotheca Iiidica Edition, p. 34. 1p 146 ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM of the Mahayana is perceptible. This vehicle (yana), ‘O Lord, is of equal dimensions throughout, It is for these reasons that the Mahayana is called Mahayana. “ Creat vehicle.” - Exactly the same statement is found in the Dasa- -sihasrika-prajiaparamita-sitra in Chinese translation.' Thus, at last Mahasanghikas coined the term ‘Mahayana’ for themselves in order to show their doctrinal superiority, and at the same time they found out, in the same process, the term ‘ Hinayana’ for their opponents to indicate their inferiority. ence the terms ‘Mahayana’ and ‘ Iinayana’ came into use. Our next question is as to when these terms came into being? As we discussed above, the term ‘ Ekayana’ came to he used, at first, after the separation of the -*‘ Mahadsanghikas’ from the Sthaviras. The next term ‘ Bodhisattvayana’ or ‘ Buddhayana’ was found out about the time when the first separation took place in the Mahasanghika_school within two hundred years after Buddha’s Parinirvana. According to me, the term ‘Mahayana’ was coined d_ just cater: ‘ Buddhayana ’ or ‘ Bodhisattvayana ’ came to be used. But we should bear in mind that the indication of the term ‘Mahayana’ at that time was different from that of its later use. That is to say, at first it was used in the place of the term ‘Ekayana’ as well as the term ‘ Buddhayadna’ and thus we find, for example, in the Saddharma-pundarika-siitra stated :— “In like manner, Kasyapa, is there but one vehicle, viz., ., Mahayana: there is no second vehicle, and no third.” * ' Here the term ‘Mahayana’ is used in the place of Ekayana.” 1 Yiich Bundle, Vol. 8, p. U1, of Chinese Tripitaka. 28. B.E., Vol. XXI, p. 129. HOW THE TERMS WERE COINED? 147 In the same Stitra :— “These ones may be said to be those who, éoveting the vehicle, fly from the triple world. Therefore, they are called Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas.”! Here the term ‘ Mahayana ’ is used in the place ‘ Bodhisattvayina.’ Again, in the same Siitra :— ; “The Tathagata, the Arhat,.........considering that he possesses great wealth of knowledge, . power, and absence of hesitation, and that all beings are his children, © leads them by no other vehicle than the Buddha-vehicle to full development.” * . Here, the term ‘ Buddhayaina’ means ‘ Mahayana.’ The above quotations show clearly that the term ‘ Maha- yina’ did not signify any comparison. However, in the later Mahayana Siitras, the term ‘ Mahayana’ has been used in comparison with the term ‘ Hinayana.’ For example, in the Suvikrintavikrami-paripricché of the Prajiiipairamita-sitra which is regarded to be a much later work, it is said :— a? “Tt indicates the supreme way for the men of ‘ Maha- yina’and does not preach the way of the Sravakas as well as Pratyeka Buddhas. It indicates the way of the Srivakas so far as the men who are practising the Hinayana are concerned and shows the Great way to men who desire to conduct the Mahayana.” ® Again, in the Avatathsaka-siitra :— “Perpetually give up the Hinayana and desire earnestly the Mahayana.” * 1 8. B. E., Vol. XXI, p. 80. > Ibid, p. Bl. * Yiich Bundle, Vol. 8, p. 67. And the same expression can be found in the same Bundle and the same Vol., p. 68a, of Chinese Tripitaka. * Tien Bundle, Vol. 9, p. 5b. 148 ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM Again, in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-siitra :— “Desire all people to light the light of Mahayana and put down the light of Hinayana.”’' Such comparison of the terms ‘ Mahiyaina’ and ‘ Hinayina’ was vigorously pushed forward at the time of Nagarjuna and later on. I shall make this point clear in the next chapter. 1 In Bundle, Vol. 5, p. 77a, of Chinese Tripitaka. PART I CHAPTER I ‘The different applications of the terms ‘ Mahayana’ and * Hinayaina’ in the two periods of the making of Mahayana Buddhism (or Mahayana siitra period) and of Mahayana teachers (or Mahayana school period). In the first part, we have made a historical study of the terms ‘Mahayina’ and ‘Hinayaina’ from various points of view and thereby we have sought to indicate the line of the Original Mahayana Buddhism as well as its gradual manifestation. In this part, we are going to discuss varied applica- tions of the terms ‘Mahayana’ and ‘ Hinayana’ at different times by the many teachers of manifold Mahayana schools. Roughly the period runs from the beginning of the second century A.D. to the seventh century A.D. In other words from the time of Asva- ghosa I, down to the teachers of the Nalanda period. But before we enter into this question we have at first one thing to discuss here which is of vital importance regarding the subject matter of our present inquiry. We should note here the different implications of the terms ‘ Mahayana ’ and ‘ Hinayana’ at the respective time of the Mahayana Sitra and Mahayana school periods. In the Mahayana Siitra period (or as I designate it Mahayina manifesting period) we find the term ‘ Mahayana’ mainly used in the sense of ‘ disclosing or unfolding one’s own real doctrines,’ having not the least indication of ‘rejecting the other doctrines.’ At the same time the terms ‘ Mahayana’ in relation to that of 150 ORIGIN OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM ‘Hinayina’ indicates only the relation of Buddha's Ontological and Phenomenvlogival perceptions respec- tively.