introduction 5
appears to have been assimilated into similar Hindu traditions. Only
in a restricted and secluded region of Nepal the Indian Mahyna
survived as a synthesis of the Madhyamaka Mantrayna of the twelfth
century and of Tibetan Buddhism.
* * *The territorial expansion and geographical dispersion of the Buddhist
community invoked different interpretations of the monastic discipline
as well as of the doctrine. The wheel of the dharma was truly turned
over and over again. But when did it start to turn and what does it tell?
Does it concern the eightfold noble path, as the Sarvstivdins claim,
or are all words of the Buddha equally included in it, as sustained by
the Mahsghikas, a school that came into being at the rst schism of
the Buddhist community? Or is it the four noble truths, or the path of
vision, two early interpretations, as pointed out by Bart Dessein in his
discussion on the wheel of the doctrine. Already in the rst centuries
of the spread of Buddhism, these questions were the central topic of
many philosophical texts. Related to this, was the discussion on the
rst turning of the wheel. According to several vinaya (monastic) and
abhidharma (doctrinal) texts, the wheel started to turn at the enlighten-
ment of Kau inya, one of the ve monks to whom the Buddha is
said to have explained his doctrine in the Deer Park at Vras. It
was the rst enlightenment caused by the turning of the wheel that was
set in motion by the Buddha himself. This opinion, however, is again
not shared by the Mahsghikas, who claim that the wheel started
to turn under the bodhi tree at the moment that the Buddha gave a
sermon to a few merchants who passed by. As shown by Bart Dessein,
it is probably in the latter sense that we have to understand the claim
of the Mahsghikas that all the words of the Buddha are included
in the wheel of the doctrine: all that he said to the merchants was set
in motion as the wheel of the doctrine started to turn.
* * *In the north, Buddhism spread to the Central Asian regions, where it
encountered many diverse populations such as the Greek descendants
of Alexander the Great, the Bactrians, the Sogdians, the Parthians, the
Sassanians, and the akas.
In her contribution on Buddhism in Gandhra, Siglinde Dietz points
out that the rst Buddhist presence in Central Asia must have come
from the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, probably during the