Mahīśāsaka

Mahīśāsaka ( sa, महीशासक; ) is one of the early Buddhist schools according to some records. Its origins may go back to the dispute in the Second Buddhist council. The Dharmaguptaka sect is thought to have branched out from Mahīśāsaka sect toward the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 1st century BCE.

History

There are two general accounts of the circumstances surrounding the origins of the Mahīśāsakas. The Theravādin '' Dipavamsa'' asserts that the Mahīśāsaka sect gave rise to the Sarvāstivāda sect., p. 50 However, both the ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'' and the ''Samayabhedoparacanacakra'' record that the Sarvāstivādins were the older sect out of which the Mahīśāsakas emerged. Buswell and Lopez also state that the Mahīśāsaka was an offshoot of the Sarvāstivādins, but group the school under the ''Vibhajyavāda'', "a broad designation for non-Sarvastivada strands of the Sthaviranikaya," which also included the Kasyapiya.

The Mahīśāsaka sect is thought to have first originated in the Avanti region of India. Their founder was a monk named Purāṇa, who is venerated at length in the Mahīśāsaka vinaya, which is preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon.

From the writings of Xuanzang, the Mahīśāsaka are known to have been active in Kashmir in the 4th century CE. Xuanzang records that Asaṅga, an important Yogācāra master and the elder brother of Vasubandhu, received ordination into the Mahīśāsaka sect. Asaṅga's frameworks for abhidharma writings retained many underlying Mahīśāsaka traits. André Bareau writes:

The Mahīśāsaka are believed to have spread from the Northwest down to Southern India including Nāgārjunakoṇḍā, and even as far as the island of Sri Lanka. According to A. K. Warder, the Indian Mahīśāsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravāda, into which they were later absorbed.

In the 7th century CE, Yijing grouped the Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, and Kāśyapīya together as sub-sects of the Sarvāstivāda, and stated that these three were not prevalent in the "five parts of India," but were located in the some parts of Oḍḍiyāna, the Kingdom of Khotan, and Kucha., p. 19

Appearance

Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated a work which describes the color of monastic robes (Skt. '' kāṣāya'') utilized in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called ''Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi'' (). Another text translated at a later date, the ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'', contains a very similar passage corroborating this information. In both sources, members of the Mahīśāsaka sect are described as wearing blue robes. The relevant portion of the Mahāsāṃghika ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'' reads, "The Mahīśāsaka school practice dhyāna, and penetrate deeply. They wear blue robes."

Doctrines

According to the Mahīśāsakas, the Four Noble Truths were to be meditated upon simultaneously.Potter, Karl. ''The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol. IX: Buddhist philosophy from 350 to 600 AD.'' 2004. p. 106

The Mahīśāsaka sect held that everything exists, but only in the present. They also regarded a gift to the Sangha (Buddhism)">Saṃgha as being more meritorious than one given to the Gautama Buddha">Buddha