THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY INDIAN BUDDHISM 61ern branch of the trade route: Kashgar, Aksu, Kucha, and Karashahr. From
there, they influenced the early spread ofBuddhism into China.
Although the Sarvastivadins took their name from their philosophic views
on time and being, their primary role in Buddhist history was to nourish the
doctrine of the piframitif (perfections), which became a cornerstone of the
Mahayana. The Bodhisattva, they said, fulfills six perfections: generosity,
virtue, patience, vigor, dhyaana, and discernment. These qualities are fre-
quently commended in the Sutras, but they become perfections only when
fully developed. The Jitakas, illustrated in the art of the second century B.C.E.,
relate how Gautama in his former lives fulfilled each perfection. For example,
in one life he was an ascetic staying in the pleasure grove of a dissolute king of
Benares. One day the king entered with a flock of female dancers, and when
he fell into a drunken sleep the women wandered off and discovered the as-
cetic. On awakening, the ruler was enraged to find his women gathered round
the mendicant and listening to his sermon. Asking the Bodhisattva what doc-
trine he professed, he was told k~ifnti (patience). So the king summoned his
executioner, had the Bodhisattva severely flogged, then asked, "What do you
profess?" The answer was still "patience." So the king had his victim's hands
and feet cut off, then his nose and ears. To the end, the Bodhisattva professed
patience and felt no anger whatsoever. Earth, however, ran out of patience. As
the tyrant was leaving his pleasure grove, the ground opened beneath his feet
and threw him to the lowest hell.
Other tales exemplified the other perfections. These popular tales urged
the listeners to imitate the Bodhisattva, but painted his virtues in such ex-
treme terms that they make the bodhisattva course seem more a superhuman
marvel than a practical guide to life. Only with the Mahayana Sutras were
people urged to become bodhisattvas themselves.3.2.4 The Sautrantikas and Later Schools
At an uncertain date-perhaps three centuries after the Parinirvar;ta, perhaps
during the second century C.E. (see Section 4.4)-the Sautrantikas split off
from the Sarvastivadins. This group was so called because they denied the
scriptural authority of the Abhidharma and acknowledged only the Sutrantas
(= Sutras) as their guides. Nonetheless, in the process of defending their views
against those of the Abhidharma schools, they contributed much to the devel-
opment of Abhidharma thought, furnishing the Mahayana both with critiques
of Sarvastivadin doctrine and with key concepts. On the one hand, they pro-
vided telling arguments against the Sarvastivadin teaching that past and future
dharmas really exist, holding that, if this were true, conditioned things would
last forever, which is an impossibility. On the other hand, they proposed sev-
eral positive doctrines to supplant the Sarvastivadin thesis, chief among them
being their explanation of karma, whereby every intentional deed leaves seeds
that carry effects latent in the personality stream until their time comes for
fruition. This doctrine later played a major role in Yogacara thought (see Sec-
tion 4.3).