A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1Dasgupta, Surendranath
Religion
A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1
Dasgupta, Surendranath
Hindu philosophy; India -- Religion
certain schools, of the Mahâsa@nghikas, Lokottaravâdins,
Ekavyavahârikas, Kakkulikas, Prajñaptivâdins and Sarvâstivâdins, but
these accounts deal more with subsidiary matters of little philosophical
importance. Some of the points of interest are (1) that the
Mahâsa@nghikas were said to believe that the body was filled with
mind (_citta_) which was represented as sitting, (2) that the
Prajñaptivâdins held that there was no agent in man, that there was
no untimely death, for it was caused by the previous deeds of man,
(3) that the Sarvâstivâdins believed that everything existed. From
the discussions found in the _Kathâvatthu_ also we may know the
views of some of the schools on some points which are not always
devoid of philosophical interest. But there is nothing to be found
by which we can properly know the philosophy of these schools. It
is quite possible however that these so-called schools of Buddhism
were not so many different systems but only differed from one
another on some points of dogma or practice which were considered
as being of sufficient interest to them, but which to us now
appear to be quite trifling. But as we do not know any of their
literatures, it is better not to make any unwarrantable surmises.
These schools are however not very important for a history of later
Indian Philosophy, for none of them are even referred to in any
of the systems of Hindu thought. The only schools of Buddhism
with which other schools of philosophical thought came in direct
contact, are the Sarvâstivâdins including the Sautrântikas and
the Vaibhâ@sikas, the Yogâcâra or the Vijñânavâdins and the
Mâdhyamikas or the S'ûnyavâdins. We do not know which of the
diverse smaller schools were taken up into these four great schools,
the Sautrântika, Vaibhâ@sika, Yogâcâra and the Mâdhyamika
schools. But as these schools were most important in relation
to the development of the different systems in Hindu thought,
it is best that we should set ourselves to gather what we can
about these systems of Buddhistic thought.
When the Hindu writers refer to the Buddhist doctrine in
general terms such as "the Buddhists say" without calling them
the Vijñânavâdins or the Yogâcâras and the S'ûnyavâdins,
they often refer to the Sarvûstivûdins by which they mean
both the Sautrûntikas and the Vaibhû@sikas, ignoring the difference
that exists between these two schools. It is well to
mention that there is hardly any evidence to prove that the
Hindu writers were acquainted with the Theravûda doctrines
114
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