Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
Paramârtha (499-569 A.D.) in his _Life of Vasubandhu_[195] gives an
account of a council generally considered to be the same as that
described by Hsüan Chuang, though the differences in the two versions
are considerable. He says that about five hundred years[196] after the
Buddha's death (_i.e._ between 87 B.C. and 13 A.D. if the Buddha died
487 B.C.) an Indian Arhat called Katyâyanî-putra, who was a monk of
the Sarvâstivâdin school, went to Kipin or Kashmir. There with 500
other Arhats and 500 Bodhisattvas he collected the Abhidharma of the
Sarvâstivâdins and arranged it in eight books called Ka-lan-ta
(Sanskrit _Grantha_) or Kan-tu (Pali _Gantho_). This compilation was
also called Jñâna-prasthâna. He then made a proclamation inviting all
who had heard the Buddha preach to communicate what they remembered.
Many spirits responded and contributed their reminiscences which were
examined by the Council and, when they did not contradict the sûtras
and the Vinaya, were accepted, but otherwise were rejected. The
selected pieces were grouped according to their subject-matter. Those
about wisdom formed the Prajñâ Grantha, and those about meditation the
Dhyâna Grantha and so on. After finishing the eight books they
proceeded to the composition of a commentary or Vibhâshâ and invited
the assistance of Aśvaghosha. When he came to Kashmir, Katyâyanî-putra
expounded the eight books to him and Aśvaghosha put them into literary
form. At the end of twelve years the composition of the commentary was
finished. It consisted of 1,000,000 verses.... Katyâyanî-putra set up
a stone inscribed with this proclamation. "Those who hereafter learn
this law must not go out of Kashmir. No sentence of the eight books,
or of the Vibhâshâ must pass out of the land, lest other schools or
the Mahayana should corrupt the true law." This proclamation was
reported to the king who approved it. The sages of Kashmir had power
over demons and set them to guard the entrance to the country, but we
are told that anyone desirous of learning the law could come to
Kashmir and was in no way interrupted.
There follows a story telling how, despite this prohibition, a native
of Ayodhya succeeded in learning the law in Kashmir and subsequently
teaching it in his native land. Paramârtha's account seems
exaggerated, whereas the prohibition described by Hsüan Chuang is
intelligible. It was forbidden to take the official copies of the law
out of Kashmir, lest heretics should tamper with them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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