The Spread of Buddhism

42 bart dessein

would be that their interpretation of the  rst turning of the wheel of

the doctrine belongs to a stage of doctrinal development that predates

the moment the “ ve monks” were introduced into the accounts.

This interpretation, however, is contradicted by the fact that the

Mahsghika Ekottargama does not locate the  rst sermon under the

bodhi tree, but in Vras. This fact demands another interpretation

of the Sarvstivda and Mahsghika controversy. According to the

Sarvstivdins, the Mahsghikas also claim that “all words of the

Buddha are the wheel of the doctrine”. If we take into account that

it is only gradually that a difference came to be seen between arhat-

ship of a disciple and of the Buddha, it is very well possible that it

is this evolution that explains the difference in opinion between the

Sarvstivdins and the Mahsghikas. The Sarvstivdins came to

accentuate the difference in quality of arhat-ship between a disciple

and the Buddha, hereby claiming that it is only the Buddha who can

make someone else awaken to the Buddhist path. This explains why

the event that made Kau inya awaken to the path was seen as the

 rst turning of the wheel of the doctrine. The Mahsghikas are

known to have demoted the position of an arhat and to have ascribed

supramundane characteristics to the Buddha. This tendency became

very dominant around the period the *Abhidharmamahvibhstra

was compiled, that is, the period of Vaibh

ika dominance. It is thus

very well possible that we have to interpret the Vaibh

ika claim that,

according to the Mahsghikas, “all words of the Buddha are the

wheel of the doctrine”, in connection to the other supramundane

characteristics that became ascribed to the Buddha and to the nature

of his words. It may have been an awareness of this Mahsghika

tendency which diverges from their own interpretation, that made the

Sarvstivdins replace the Mahsghika claim that the  rst sermon

was held in the Deer Park in Vras with the claim that, according

to the Mahsghikas, the  rst sermon was held under the bodhi tree.

With the view that the wheel of the doctrine can only be said to have

been set turning when someone is converted, they could thus reproach

the Mahsghikas, since no one was converted under the bodhi tree.

This Sarvstivda claim is further justi ed by the fact that the account

in the Ekottargama does not mention the  ve monks.

Heirman_f3a_15-48.indd 42 3/13/2007 11:21:19 AM