an introduction to mahayana buddhism

8/4/2019 An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism

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First published in English in 1922This edition lirst published in 2011

by Routledge2 Park quare, Iilton Park. Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4

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CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGEfNTRODUCTIO : THE DOCTRINALVOLUTI ON OF BUDDHISM

I. EPI TEM LO Y AND L 32II. THE ATURE OF THE AB OLUTE AND

IT RELA nON TO THE UNIVER E 4

III. THE TRlKAY A-THE B DmSTD CTBINE OF THE TRlNITY 75IV. THE ATURE AND POWERS OF BUDDHAHOOD 99

VI. THE WHEEL fLiFE A D THE R ADTO IRVANA 153C NCLU ION: A HORT HI TORYOF BUDDHISM AND THE PR C!PALBUDDHI T SECTS 180APPENDIX: THE . ACRED LiTERATURE OF THE BUDDHI 'TS 215

v


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I TRODUCTIONTHE DOCTRINAL. VOLUTION

OF BUDDHISMBuddhism is divided into two great schools,Mahayana and Hinayana. Both y tem originatedin India but ince the form r pr dominate inChina, Japan, epal, and, in a 1110did form, inTibet and Mongolia while the latter is confinedalmost exclusively to Ceylon, Burma, and Siam,they are often, and rather incorrectly, known asorthem and Southern Buddhism.Mahayana i again divided into urn form d and

refoffi1ed branches, the unreformed branch beingfound all ov r Ea t ll1A ia whil th r form dbranch has its centre in Japan. Roughly, we maycompare these di isions of Buddhism to those ofthe principal Occidental faiths. Hinayana, or thearli rand mor primitiv form of Buddhism,corresponds to Judaism' nreformed Mahayana


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2 Introduction to M ahay ana Buddhi mto Catholicism and Reformed Mahayanato Protestantism.Of recent years, owing to the labours of suchscholars as Spence Hardy, Gogerly Prof. and Mrs.

Rhys-Da ids etc., Hinayana has become more orle s known to the Western world but Mahayanastill awaits ad quate tr atm nt. Different scholarsin dealing with Mahayana have spoken of it as aritualistic and animistic degeneration of Hinayana;as sophistic nihilism as mystic pantheism. Theyha e claimed it to be now monotheistic, nowpolytheistic now atheistic' or finally, they havecont nted th 111 Iv with stating that it i avast mass of contradictory ideas, unassimilatedand undefined.It is obvious that all of these descriptions can

not be true while the historical importance ofthe Mahayana philosophy renders it imperati eto attempt om more conci e int rpr tationof its essential elements, for as Christians faroutnumber Jews so do Mahayanists far outnumberHinayanists: as Christianity has had far moreimportant cultural connections than Judaism,so has Mahayana, at the expense of Hinayana,ineffaceably linked itself with the civilizations ofVast part of Asia; and as the early father of theChristian Church and the schoolmen of the Middle


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Introduction 3ges built up a religious and philosophic system

far more important than th id a xpre d inRabbinic schools, so is Mahayana the outcome ofcenturies of speculati e development, enriched bymaterials from all sources, and expounded by thegr at bulk of the ancient metaphy ician of Indiaand China, while Hinayana has remained far morenarrow and confined in it philo ophic volution.

Indian Thought at the Time ofthe Buddha.Any adequate understanding of Mahayana mustb based upon a comprehension of th tagesof its development, of the processes by whichit differentiated itself from the more primitiveHinayana, of the relation of the latter to pristineBuddhism, and of the place of this pristineBuddhism in Indian thought.Th p riod in which Gautama or Cakyarnuni, th

historical founder of Buddhism, lived (some fiveand a half centurie B.C.) was in many wayaninteresting one. The earlier child-like beliefs of theVedas had dwindled, and the implicit acceptanceof the prime al deities had gr en way at leastamong the ducated cla es, to a keen di cu ion,from a mystico-rationalist point of view of the

ntial probl m f xist nc . It wa th ag of


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4 Introduction to M ahay ana Buddhi mthe formulation of metaphysical systems. Bandsof mendicant t acher w nt fOl1hproclaiming n wsyntheses of knowledge, new outlooks on life.Theselndian philosophers, like their contemporaryOccidental brethren, were primarily concernedwith probl m relating to (I) the nature of ultimatereality> and (II) me hods of ascertaining truth.L-Ju t a the early Gr k philo oph r werdivided into (a) a School of aive Realists (b) a

School of Being and (c) a School of Becoming,so did the Indians di ide themselves into (1) thosewho followed the Vedic hymns and accepted theuniverse at its face value, (2) those who taughtthat the ultimate nature of things i quiescent andchangele s that beyond th realm of fluctuatingphenomena is the realm of the absolute in whichthere is no space and time but only an eternalpresent, and (3) those who taught that change,flux, becoming integration and disintegration,are inherent in the nature of things; that nothing v r r mains th arne for two con ecutivmoments; that eyen the Absolute is ever evolvingand becoming.II.-Consequent upon these differences ofoutlook upon the nature of reality there arose

widel di ergent theories concerning the basisof truth:


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Introduction 5(1) Truth through en e impression. In early

day man in tinctiv ly b liev d in th validity ofhis sense impressions. All things were supposed tobe exactly as we see them, and absolute truth wasto be gained by experience.

(2) Truth through reason. Gradually, how ver,as the limitations of the senses come to be felt,it i recognized that th cea I ss change of thphenomenal world prevents our obtaining aninsight into its nature by means of the senses. Butthe school of Being represented by the Upanishadstaught that man s soul is not of the phenomenal butof the noumenal world, that he might through theexercise of his mental powers, gain a direct insightinto th ultimat nature of reality. This Vedantadoctrine corresponds very closely to certain phasesof Plato s theory of knowledge.

(3) Truth through psychological analysis.-While the Vedantins and Plato were content toaccept the alidity of reason, supported no doubt,by th e ming ab olutivity of mathematic theIndian sch.ool of Becoming came to regard themind not as an independent, unconditioned, andeternal entity ha ing a direct insight into truth, butas a limited caused, confined, and conditionedorganism whose data are of purely relati e alue.cut analysi of th function of consciousn


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6 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi mno doubt aided this conception. and the conflictingnatur of all r a oning em d to upport it. In pitof age-long disputes, no two systems of philosophyagreed and no single rational doctrine could claimuni ersal acceptance.Consequ ntly, only the immediate data of

consciousness could claim assured alidity. Wehav no means of a c rtaining wheth r or notthese data correspond to ultimate reality, or arelogically consistent but of the reality of feelingsqua feelings, there can be no doubt.

Primitive Buddhism.Primitive Buddhism, so far as we call judge itsdoctrines by means of higher criticism of the variousrecensions of the Sutra Pita a, was the supremeexample of the Indian Becoming philosophy.Chang wa th foundation ston on which itmetaphysic rested. he body was considered aliving compl x organism pos essing no self-nature. The nature of the mind was supposed tobe analogous. The percipient consciousness hadno direct insight into truth through a stable andtran cendent r a on but wa a compound effect dby the chain of causality and conditioned byit environm nt.


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Introduction 7Consequently at the outset Buddhism assumed

an agno tic po ition conc rning transc nd ntalproblems. "These problems the Blessed Onehas left unelucidated, has set aside, has rejected-that the world is eternal, that the world is notternal that the world i finite, that the world iinfinite, etc.In a word, Buddhi m in i ted that w can onlydeal with facts and data of wh ich we are immediately

conscious' with states of consciousness; with ananalysis of the emotions' with the uni erse asperceived as opposed to the universe as it i .The doctrines of primitive Buddhism are all in

accordance with thi psychological basis, a mayb seen by examining its theory of the Three Marksand the oUI oble ruths.The Three arks are not doctrines which

are to be accepted on faith or as the result oflogical reasoning but are considered the essentialcharacteristics of life as recognized by every dayp rceptual and emotional xperience.

hey are: "(1) All is impermanent. (2) All issorrowful. (3) All is lacking a self." This last phraserefers not only to the soul, but to the uni erse asa whole. It consists not of simple or self-existingthings, but of complex, caused conditioned things.Th fourth mark irvana, ino Is psychological.


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8 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi mBy means of contemplation certain forms ofSamadhi, trance or c ta y w r xp ri nc d.Magnify the experience consider it permanent,associate with it the abolition of SOlTOW sin, andignorance, and the theory of irvana is formulatedfor it must b r membered that originally Nirvanais purely a state of mind.The o-called four obl Truth are d riv dfrom the same basic ideas. Transformed from

an ancient Indian medical rune, they are :-( 1)Suffering exists. (2) The cause of suffering isdesire (and ignorance). (3) There is a possibleend of suffering- irvana. (4) This end may beachieved by following the Noble Eight-fold Path,which consist of (a) right knowledge (b) rightaspiration (c) right speech, (d) right conduct, (e)right means of li elihood (f) right endeavour, (g)right mindfulness, and (h) right meditation.The first and third "truths' (suffering andirvana) are the same as the second and fourthmark ." Th fourth (the path to irvana) i purelya point of ethics and does not at present concernus. The second (the cause of sufferi.ng) is the mostimportant, and contains the seed of a very completephenomenology for at a very early stage' suffering'became, in his instance, synonymous with life, andthi 'truth" wa uppo d to xpIain th origin of


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Introduction 9the experienced world-the experienced universe,1 t it b not d for arly Buddhi 111 had no int r tinthe origin of the external universe.Primitive Buddhism though agnostic wasprobably realistically inclined. It belie ed thatth re i an ext mal univ r clo ely corre pondingto our sense-data but it realized that in its presentform the world a we It 1 ubj ctiv , the r ultof the percipient consciousnes {vijiuina) actedupon by external stimuli.The theory of the origin, awakening, and

development of the Vijfiana is explained in theobscure Pratiya amutpiida, or the t, elve-linkedchain of causation. This, though differentlyxplained by the various school of Buddhism,always consists of:-(1) Ignorance.(2) Action.(3)(4)(5)(6) Contact.(7) Sensation.(8) Cra ing.(9) Attachment.(10) B coming.

Consciousness.am and Form.he Senses.


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10 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi m(11) Birth.(12) Old ag ,di as and d ath.

The origin of the percipient consciousness isignorance and desire. Without these the individualconsciou ue s would di integrat , and though thexperienced universe cannot exist withou object itqualJy cannot xi t without ubject. Con quentlywhen an Arhat (one who has attained irvana)dies, the experienced world for that person comesto an end.It will be seen from this that there is a close

connection between cause and effect. Thislaw Buddhism call Karma, and is one of thefundamental featur s of the Buddhist faith. Amongthe innumerable divisions of Karma we findthe following:-

-Another such threefold classification is:-1. Th S d. (Eetu).2. Environment or attendant circum tance .

(Pratyaya).3. he result or fruit. (Phala).


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Intr duct ion 13essential point is that in practice it has abandonedth agno tici m of th arlier faith and d p ndingupon the fidelity of sense impressions proceededto systematize objective phenomena. Thus, forexample, it accepted, in a somewhat modifiedform, th ancient co mography of India, withits geography, astronomy, and account of theint gration and di int gration of th material (i. e.,external) universe. Where primitive Buddhism hadignored, the Sthaviravadins denied the existenceof an Absolute, Those problems which the earlyBuddhists has rejected as being irrelevant wereansv ered by the Stha ira adins, even though theanswers were relegated to the body of relative, aopposed to absolut , truth. The latter consistedonly of such doctrines as the three marks and thefour noble truths.One of the most important steps to be taken was

the analysis of the parts of being, approached in thefirst place from the psychological point of view.Early Buddhi 111 had taught that in tead of an egoentity the personality consisted of five constituentparts (skandha), viz. :-Rupa (Form, i.e., thebody)' Vedanii (sensation or feeling); 'amjha(conception) amskara (here meaning variousmental qualities)' and Vijhana (consciousness).Th Sthaviravadin divid d Form, th mat rial


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14 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi mworld, into 27 or 28 parts; Sensation into 3 or 5;Cone ption into 6; Mental Qualiti into 52- andConsciousness into 89 parts.These divisions were the result of introspectiveanalysis, but they were considered absolute andfinal. Th e everal divi ions constituted thunchanging elements of existence from which allphenom na ar compounded. Buddhi m wa thutransformed from an agnostic and posi tivist system,concerned only with suffering and the alleviationof suffering, into a realistic and materialisticphilosophy, though the transformation wa gradualand could hardly ha e been recognized at thetime, for early Buddhi m permitted the analy iof subjctive state and the elem nts of xistencof the Sthaviravadins were enunciated by merelysubdividing the di isions of early Buddhism, whilemaintaining the subjecti e or psychological pointof view.The Sarvastivadins are to the Sthaviravadinswhat thBuddhism.

Sthaviravadin w re to pnrmtrvhe materialism and realism of the

Sthaviravadins was made more explicit andcategorical; the agnostic and psychological aspectwas largely lost sight of. Buddhism thus becamea definite and rigid philosophic system, instead ofr maining a body of truth which wer ffectiv


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Intr duct ion 15irrespective of metaphysics. A most importantt p wa made wh n th el m nt of xistencwere classified from an external or objective aswell as from a subjective point of iew. The olderor subjective classification was retained (thoughth ubdivisions of each kandha wer omewhatdifferent from those of the Sthaviravadins),but th ubdivision w r r -arrang d in such away as to constitute a complete analysis of theexternal universe.According to the Abhidharma K09a these

elements (or dharma) are 75 in number classifiedin the following way:-

1.Unconditioned Iilements (Asamskritalsharma)or impl lements, so call d because th y do notenter into combinations with other elements. heyare three in number, of which Space or Ether, andir ana are two.2. onditioned Element (. amskrita Dharma),or complex elements so called because they enter

into combination, though th m elve impleand permanent. Their compounds constitute thephenomena of the universe. These elements are 72innumber, divided into :-1. Material elements, 11 in number.2. Mind 1 in numb r.


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16 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi m3. Mental Qualities such as love hate, etc.,

46 in numb r.4. iscellaneous elements such as life decay,etc. 14 in number.

Th e el ment were con id red penn anent andunchanging, as were the eighty odd physicallement of th sci nti ts of a g n ration ago. Intheir present state all phenomena were supposedto be impermanent and unstable but consisted ofstable and unchanging rudiments.

The Transition from Hinayana to Mahayana.In its finished form Hinayana laid great emphasisupon two doctrines. These were:-(1) It isnecessary for all men to strive after Arhatship, orsalvation from the wheel of life and death. Thiswas th r ligiou phas . (2) All ph nom na arunstable compounds of a certain fixed number oftabl elem nt . Thi wa th philo ophic pha e.either one of these doctrines can be said to be

in strict conformity with the principles of earlyBuddhism. As regards the first in HInaY811aadi tinction in kind wa made between the rhat,he who has merely attained i rvana or salvation,and th Buddha who had al 0 attain d uprem


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Intr duct ion 17enlightenment or, more correctly three stages werenunciat d:-(l) Arhatship, or m r alvation;

(2) Pratyeka Buddahood, or private uddhahood,supreme enlightenment for oneself alone' and (3)Buddahood proper, supreme enlightenment gainedin order to teach the world. ccording to Hlnayananot only is there an immense difference betweenach tage but for th av rage man the onlypossible goal is Arhatship; only one out of manymillions may aspire to Pratyeka Buddhahood, andonly one in many cycles may attain Buddhahood.In primitive Buddhism on the other hand, littledistinction, save one of degree, is made betv eenthe Buddha and his illuminated disciple, and thehighe t goal is open to all.As regards the second point, the thorough-going

anitya or impermanency doctrine of prirniti eBuddhism is presumed to apply to all parts of theurn erse. Every thing, e en the component parts ofbeing, are in a perpetual flux or becoming, so thatthe doctrine of a number of fixed and changeleelements, constituting an eternal being, seems adeparture from the original outlook on life. To beconsistent even the dharmas or elements should beconsidered complex, caused, conditioned, subjectto change.


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20 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi madvising those in the battle of life as one who hasjust m rg d victorious him If In MahayanaSiitras, on the other hand, we find a mysteriousand transcendent person far remo ed from thele els of ordinary humanity, who is listened to andwor hipped by countles hordes of beings, celestial,human, and demoniac, who shower flowersupon th age while he perform hi tupendousupernatural deeds. In the Saddharma PundarIkaSutra, for example Cakyamuni sits for long agesin meditation. He is the Supreme Ruler who hashimself led countless thousands to Enlightenmentduring countless ages, and , ho never really diesand who is never really born. The only explanationof this is that Cakyamuni and all the other Buddhas,as well as the Universal Buddha, are one.

TheMahayana Buddhism of India.he religious aspect of ahayana developed sometim imm diately prior to th Chri tian ra but itphilosophical aspect was formulated during theperiod extending from the first to the fifth centuriesA.D. T, 0 main schools came to be differentiated.One wa tlle Madhyamika chool found d byagarjuna and Arya Deva in the first and econd

c nturi .D, Th oth r was th Yogacarya


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Intr duct ion 21school, founded by Asanga and Vasubandhu in thefourth c ntury A.D.The adhyamika school which. was thussome centuries earlier largely devoted itself to

the consideration of the second point on whichMahayana claimed that Hinayana had d partedfrom the original teaching-the question of thexi tence of certain perman nt table elem ntwhich composed the universe. In accepting thisdoctrine, Hinayana as we have said, almostabandoned its spirit of insistence upon changeand becoming, and approached the standpoint ofWestern philosophy, The root instinct of the religionwa too trong, however and in the Madhyamikaphilosophy a return was made to the principl ofeternal transience and impermanence.The basis of this unde eloped Of early Mahayana

is Ciinya (literally emptiness or the Void). Thisdoctrine has been frequently totally misunderstoodin the West and taken to mean the theory of thenon- xi t nee of th univ r or pur Iy ihili ticIdealism. In reality Cunya is simply an insistencethat all things have no self-essence' that theyare compounds, unstable organisms e en intheir elemental stage. The science of the presentgeneration belie es that the supposedly rigidphy ical I 1 1 1 nt ar not n ces arily pennan nt:


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22 Introduction to Mahayana Buddhi mthat they may be broken down . that the elementsmay them elv prov to b compounds po se ingthe essential qualities of transform ation and decay.In like manner the Cunya school supposed that theDharmas (elements) are impermanent and ha eno exi tenc -unto-th m elve ~ that they may bebroken down into parts, parts into sub-parts, ando on t rnally. Accordingly all phenomeria havea reJative as opposed to an absolute existence.All of life was once more reduced to a singleunderlying flux, a stream of existence with aneverlasting becoming.In a word, then, the adlryamika doctrine of

Ciinya is that there is no thing-unto-itself, nothingwith a s If s nc nothing that cannot be brokenup until we reach the great transcendent realitywhich is so absolute that it is wrong to say thatit is or that it is not. This underlying reality-theprinciple of eternal relati ity, non-infinity-permeates all phenomena, allowing expansion,growth and evolution which would otherwibe impossible.It is easy to see that this early and undeveloped

Mahayana idea of the Eternal Flux was the germof the later doctrine of the Absolute. The doctrineof the Madhyamika school, h o v ever v as largelya n gativ on. It r due d all ph nom na to a


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Intr duct ion 23constantly changing stream of life, but concerningth nature of thi tream of lif it t lls u littlor nothing.The next stage of doctrinal development, as foundin the Yogacarya school, , as a ery important oneand r ult d in the formulation of a r ma.rkablycomplete system of idealism. The stream oflife wa uppo ed to be th Es nc of mind, afundamental Mind substance that was permanentand yet ever changing like the ocean. From thisall the elements (and the 75 elements of the earlierschool became 100 ill the Yogacarya doctrine) andtherefore all phenomena are deri ed. Itwas calledthe Alaya Vijhana, repository consciou ne , yet itwas considered to be neither matter nor mind butthe basic energy that was at the root of both.Itis the imperceptible and unknowablenoumenon

behind all phenomena. To quote Kuroda: 'Incontradistinction to the fallacious phenomena ofexistence there is the true Essence of Mind. TheE nc of Mind i the entity without idea andwithout phenomena and is always the same. Itpervades all things and is pure and unchanging ...so it is called Bht7tatathata-petmanent reality. 'It would be easy to exaggerate the importanceof this doctrine and falsely to identify it with mored v lop d y t m , but undoubtedly it ha many


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Appendix 2333. Mi cellaneous Work.

A. Hi torie and Biographi .B. Compilations and Anthologies.

Finally we may add that many Japanese sages wrotecommentarie which have come to be consideredstandard xpositions of the doctrin s of th irown sects.

FINAL NOTE1. Technical terms. For th mo t part, wh reverpractical technical terms hav been reduced to theirSan hit form. Through lack oftyp no distinctionhas been made between cerebral and dental c , etc.,or between the arious classes of nasals. Where noSanskrit form exists the Japanese pronunciation ofth Chin id ograph ha b n mploy d.

2. Authoritie . Owing to the popular nature ofth prent work, I hav f t It it unn c ary to citauthorities, which are dealt with at length in mylarger work now in preparation. This omission islargely due to the fact that the authorities are, forth mo t part, ill Janguag not acce sible to t11general student.

an introduction to mahayana buddhism

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