Sthaviranikāya

Template:Clone Template:Early Buddhist Schools The Sthaviranikāya (Sanskrit "Sect of the Elders"; Template:CJKV) was one of the early Buddhist schools. They split from the majority Mahāsāṃghikas at the time of the Second Buddhist council.^[1]

Scholarly views

Origin

The Sthavira nikāya (Sanskrit "Sect of the Elders"; Template:CJKV) was one of the early Buddhist schools. The Sthavira nikāya split away from the majority Mahāsāṃghikas during the Second Buddhist council resulting in the first schism in the Sangha.^[2]

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).Template:Sfn The Mahāsāṃghikas therefore saw the Sthaviras as being a breakaway group which was attempting to modify the original Vinaya.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn Modern scholarship therefore generally agrees that the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya is the oldest.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

Language

The Tibetan historian Buton Rinchen Drub (1290–1364) wrote that the Mahāsāṃghikas used Prakrit, the Sarvāstivādins used Sanskrit, the Sthaviras used Paiśācī, and the Saṃmitīya used Apabhraṃśa.Template:Sfn

Legacy

The Sthaviras later divided into other schools such as:

Sarvāstivāda
Pudgalavāda (or Vatsīputrīya)
Vibhajyavāda (Pali: Vibhajjavāda)

The Vibhajyavāda branch gave rise to a number of schools such as:Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn This has led early Western historians to assume that the two parties are identical.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

Theravādin accounts

Starting with the Dīpavaṃsa chronicle in the 4th century, the Theravādins of the Mahāvihāra in Sri Lanka attempted to identify themselves with the original Sthavira sect.Template:Sfn The Theravādin Dīpavaṃsa clarifies that the name Theravāda refers to the "old" teachings, making no indication that it refers to the Second Council.Template:Sfn Similarly, the name Mahāsāṃghika is in reference to those who follow the original Vinaya of the undivided Saṃgha.Template:Sfn The Dīpavaṃsa chronicle lauds the Theravāda as a "great Template:W" and dismissively portrays the other early Buddhist schools as thorns (kaṇṭaka).Template:Sfn Dīpavaṃsa, 4.90–91 says:

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, 4.90–91Template:Sfn

According to the Mahāvaṃsa, a Theravādin source, after the Second Council was closed those taking the side of junior monks did not accept the verdict but held an assembly of their own attended by ten thousand calling it a Mahasangiti (Great Convocation) from which the school derived its name Mahāsāṃghika. However, such popular explanations of Sthavira and Mahāsāṃghika are generally considered folk etymologies.Template:Sfn

Bhikkhu Sujato explains the relationship between the Sthavira sect and the Theravāda: Template:Quote

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.

Bibliography

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External links

Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools, Santi Forest Monastery, 2006 by Bhikkhu Sujato

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Page is sourced from

www.encyclopediaofbuddhism.org Sthaviranikāya

[1] Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pg. 89-90.

[2] Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pg. 89-90.

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