Buddhism in India

Transitoriness and Transformations 101

bhikkus and samanas about the affairs of their kingdoms, this was

never developed into a collective and organised practice. One result

was that when kings sought administrators, clerks and councillors

from among the educated, they tended to turn to householding

Brahmans, whose tradition did provide for ‘services’ to specific

households.

The Three ‘Ways’ of Buddhism

At the level of doctrine, the main Buddhist forms are those of

Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. There were radical differences

among the three forms, but there were also significantly varied

philosophical ‘schools’ within each.

Theravada Buddhism is usually taken as the early, classical form

of Buddhism which consolidated itself after the death of the

Buddha, in two major councils, the first at Rajgriha immediately

after the mahaparinibbana, and the second 60–100 years later at

Vaishali. The second council records a dispute over loosening the

rules of the Bhikku Sangha. After this more splits and dissensions

are recorded. The Mahasanghikas, who were later to develop into

the Mahayana, trace a council held in Pataliputra in which there

was dispute over the theses of a bhikku named Mahadeva; the

orthodox then came to be called ‘Theravada’, taking the name

from the term for ‘elders’ often used to refer to the most venerable

bhikkus (Skilton 1994: 47–49). The dissenters gradually began

calling themselves ‘Mahayana’ or the Great Vehicle to distinguish

themselves from ‘Hinayana (Theravada)’, the Little Vehicle. Two

important later councils were associated with the great Buddhist

kings, one held under Asoka at Pataliputra around 250 BC, and

one under Kanishka, when monks of the Theravada-associated

Sarvastivadin school compiled their canon and codified their

doctrine (ibid.: 55–57).

The first Mahayana sutras began to make their appearance as

early as the 1st century BCE, though the term itself appears only

from about the fourth century CE. Only about the 6th century

is there epigraphic evidence for extensive lay patronage of a self-

conscious ‘Mahayana’ movement (ibid.: 96). There were apparently

regional specificities. In Maharashtra, for example, the cave evidence

indicates that Theravada Buddhism was dominant in the early

It is quite likely that paintings similar to those at Ajanta were made
in caves or on walls in monasteries elsewhere. While most com-
mentators take the voluptuous court ladies depicted at Ajanta as
indication that these were painted for lay visitors and traders, not for
the monks themselves, there are still questions about sublimated
sexuality in the Sangha.
As noted earlier, the Sangha provided food, clothing, shelter and
medicine; this is described in several of the suttas, notably the
Pasadika Suttanta. Though other samanas might accuse the
bhikkhus of being ‘addicted and devoted to a life of pleasure’,
(Digha Nikaya 3, 1921: 121–22), the purpose of assuring basic
material requirements was to make possible a life of untroubled
meditation and spiritual advance. Rejection of the asceticism of
other samanas was not by itself an excuse for luxury. Nevertheless,
unnecessary luxury in at least some cases may have come with the
later development of the Sangha, funded as it was by royalty and
rich merchants.
Gradually, danaor gifts came to be seen as the core of the
relationship between the Sangha and lay followers. Donors who
were rewarded with promises of a good birth in future lives
financed the building of the great stupas, sculpture, caves and viha-
ras. Gifts were increasingly expressed in terms of luxury goods.
These were also mentioned in the Jatakas and known as the ‘seven
jewels’, usually identified as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal or
quartz, pearl, red coral, and agate or coral (see Liu 1994: 93–94).
These were crucial commodities in the trade between India and
China, and so Liu argues that Buddhism played a major role not
only in giving impetus to commerce, but also in influencing what was
traded. The stress on gifts, however, represented a departure from
seeing righteous behaviour as the major duty of householders; the
famous Sigalavada Suttantahad made no mention of a proportion
of income to be given in donations!
Finally, there was perhaps one more drawback of Buddhist
monasticism. Although the early Buddhist Sangha was much more
democratic in its functioning than other monastic traditions, it
lacked the social service (or political) orientation of many Christian
monastic orders. The Sangha had no ‘orders’ which could have
furnished teachers, nurses or administrators and councillors with
guidelines. Although much of Buddhist literature shows a tradition
of kings as well as wealthy householders seeking the advice of

100 Buddhism in India