Sarvastivada

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Sarvāstivāda ( Sanskrit : सर्वास्तिवाद sarvāstivāda ; Tibetan : thams cad yod par smra ba ) is the name of a school of early Indian Buddhism belonging to the branch of Sthaviravāda , which emerged after the 3rd Council of Pataliputta (today Patna) around 253 BC. . Chr due and disagreements. a. about the understanding of the Abhidhamma / Abhidharma from the school of Vibhajjavada , today Theravada . The Sarvāstivāda was the most important of the so-called Hinayana schools of early Buddhism and was particularly widespread in central and northwest India (today Pakistan), with its effects also extending to Indonesia, China, Tibet and Japan. He also made a significant contribution to the emergence and development of Mahayana . The school was severely weakened with the Islamic conquest of Central Asia and India in the 11th century and eventually went under.

Teaching texts / sources

The school of Sarvāstivāda had its own Sanskrit version of the Buddha's discourses (Sutra-Pitaka), which deviated from the Pali canon , as well as its own Sanskrit version of the Abhidharma, which, like the Theravada version of the Pali -Abhidhamma, was also composed as a whole Seven books existed, however, showed considerable deviations in content from the Pali writings:

  1. Sangitiparyaya
  2. Dharmaskandha
  3. Prajnaptisastra
  4. Dhatukaya
  5. Vijnanakaya
  6. Prakaranapada
  7. Jnanaprasthana

It found its final form in the Abhidharmakosha ("Treasury of Abhidharma"), a compendium compiled by Vasubandhu in the 5th century AD. All of the Sarvastivada writings are now only fragmentarily preserved in Sanskrit, but most of them are in Tibetan and Chinese translations.

There are also two from the 1st century BC. Commentaries on Abhidharma that emerged from the point of view of Sarvāstivāda and were used as models by Vasubandhu: the Vibhasha (for example: "detailed explanation") and the Mahavibhasha ("large detailed explanation" on Jnanaprasthana ), which gave the followers of Sarvastivada their nickname "Vaibhashika" brought in.

The Sarvāstivādin of Mathurā called themselves Mulāsarvāstivāda (Tibetan: gzhi thams cad yod par smra ba ). Their further developed teaching represents a transition between Hina and Mahayan Buddhism.

philosophy

As part of their epistemology , the Sarvāstivādin devoted themselves to an extensive analysis of the basic building blocks of reality, the factors of existence ( skandhas ), presented in the Abhidharma literature . In their view it was possible to perceive all the factors of existence immediately and directly (bahya-pratyaksha). Accordingly, they advocated pluralistic realism and distinguished four stages that those factors go through in the process of transience: emergence (jati), existence (sthiti), decay (jarata) and destruction (vyaya).

Since the existence of the factors of existence lasted for several moments due to these transitional phases, they had to exist through the past, present and future (hence the name 'Sarvāstivāda': Sanskrit sarvam asti = everything exists). Certain conditions, the Sarvāstivādin argued, that have arisen in the past are preconditions for the present state, and the conditions that meet in the present determine the course of the future. Actions ( karma ) produce their respective effects - the fruits (phala) of those actions that preceded them in time. The Sarvāstivādin illustrated this with the metaphor of a stone resting quietly on a mountain peak. In this position he corresponds to a future dharma . When the stone starts to move and rolls down the mountain, it becomes a present dharma. Having come to rest at the foot of the mountain, it has become a bygone dharma.

According to the deliberations of the Sarvāstivādin, there had to be a direct causal connection between the factors of existence of the three periods of time, and they attached this connection to the permanent self-existence (svabhava), which they ascribed to the factors of existence. According to this view, the factors that exist eternally in their essence change from a state of latency to a manifestation through the karmically conditioned activation in order to constitute the human horizon of experience and the things of the world. After the bond, which the factors of existence have entered into for a certain time, falls apart again, the factors do not disappear completely, but always remain in their potentiality until they are activated again. In Sarvāstivāda, redemption means analogously that none of the factors of existence are activated any more - the flow of life (bhavanga) of the redeemed comes to a standstill, is transferred into a permanent state of rest. This state corresponds to "static nirvana ", which is one of the three unconditioned (asamskrta) factors of existence that are listed in the Sarvastivada in addition to the conditioned factors of existence: active nirvana (apratishthita-nirvana), static nirvana (pratishthita-nirvana) and space (akasha ).

In Sarvāstivāda, every factor of existence has its inherent property (svalakshana), which distinguishes it from other factors. The seed that grows into a tree has a characteristic feature in its function as a cause that connects it with this and only this effect. The ability to produce a certain effect is thus already inherent in the cause.

literature

  • Abhidharma Kosha Bhashyam 4 vols, Vasubandhu, translated into English by Leo Pruden (based on Louis de la Vallée Poussin's French translation), Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley, 1988-90.
  • L'Abhidharmakosa de Vasubandhu , traduit et annoté par Louis de la Vallée Poussin, Paul Geuthner, Paris, 1923–1931 vol.1 (PDF; 18.8 MB) vol.2 (PDF; 16.1 MB) vol.3 ( PDF; 18.7 MB) vol.4 (PDF; 22.2 MB) vol.5 (PDF; 17.2 MB) vol.6 Internet Archive (PDF; 14.7 MB)
  • Nakamura, Hajime. Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Bibliographical Notes. Motilal Banarsidass 1996, ISBN 8120802721 .
  • Warder, AK Indian Buddhism. Motilal Banarsidass 2000, ISBN 8120817419 .
  • Baruah, Bibhuti. Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. Sarup & Son 2008. ISBN 8176251526
  • Willemen, Charles, Dessein, Bart, Cox, Collett. Sarvastivada Buddhist Scholasticism. Brill 1997. ISBN 9004102310

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