INTRODUCTION:

The name of the founder of what is known in the West as Buddhism was Prince Siddhatha Gotama and he was born in Lumbini Park in the neighborhood of Kapilavatthu, now known as Padaris in the district of modern Nepal about 623 years before the Christian era. To mark the spot as the birth place of the greatest teacher of mankind, and as a token of his reverence for him, the Emperor Asoka in 239 B.C. erected a pillar bearing the inscription. ‘Here was the Enlightened One born.’The word ‘Buddha’ means ‘awakened’, or ‘Enlightened One’ and is not a name but a title of honor bestowed on the sage Gotama who attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree at Boddhagaya in India at the age of thirty-five.

Having attained Buddhahood, the supreme state of perfection, he devoted the remainder of his precious life to serving humanity, both by example and precept, without any personal motive whatsoever. During his active life the Buddha made many converts, high and low, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, brahmans and chandalas, ascetics and householders, robbers and cannibals, nobles and peasants, men and women from all classes and conditions became his countless disciples, both ordained and lay people. The ministry of forty-five years, the Buddha served the welfare and happiness of the world and he passed into Nibbana at the ripe age of eighty.

The First Council

According to Pali traditional recorded in canonical and non-canonical literature, three Councils were held to draw up the canonical texts and the creed in their pure form.On the seventh day after the Buddha had passed away, Venerable Mahakassapa who was head of the Sangha, decided to hold convocation to establish the authoritative teachings of the Buddha. They then held a great council at Rajagaha under the patronage of King Ajatasattu, and the Buddhist canon was collected and recited in chants.There was seldom dissension over doctrinal matters, but the Council was necessitated by the pious determination of the disciples of the Buddha to preserve the purity of His teaching.

It is asserted in Cullavagga that Ven.Mahakassapa was not present when the Buddha passed away at Kusinara. While he was proceeding from Pava to Kasunara with a large retinue, the news of the decease of the Master was brought to him by a naked ascetic of the Ajivaka sect. it is recorded that a monk called Subhadda exhorted the monks, who were vociferous in their lamentations, to refrain from expressing grief, and called upon them to think the occasion a good riddance. Since they were treated as so many schoolboys by the master, who often admonished them for their unbecoming conduct, they would now be free to do as they thought fit without hindrance. This irreverent remark filled the Ven.Mahakassapa with alarm for the future safety and purity of the Dhamma preached by the Master. Ven.Mahakassapa also had other reasons for anxiety as pointed out in the Mahavamsa. He received the garment of the Master as a token of authority equal to that of the Master and was determined to fulfill the Master’s command to establish the Noble Truth. The remark of Subhadda was a clear indication of the necessity of convening a Council for the fulfillment of this noble objective.

The Second Council

During the first century after the demise of the Buddha, there was only one schism among Buddhists, but at the end of the first century during the reign of King Kalasoka a community of monks called Vajjiattemptedto introduce ten new points (dasavatthu)into the discipline of the Sangha, pronouncing them to be allowable to the Sangha.It is recorded in the Cullavagga that the monks of the Vajji country were in the habit of practicing the ten points. The ten points were described in the Cullavagga.

Ven.Yasa, the head of the Sangha declared these practices to be illegal and immoral in the extreme. He openly declared these practices to be unlawful. The assembly of the Sangha was led by Ven.Sabbakami and the Ten Points were put one by one and they were declared unlawful. The questions were stated again and the same decision was arrived at in the full assembly of the council. Finally, a group of monks led by Vijjinhad another council which was attended by ten thousand monks. It was called the Great Council (Mahasangiti) and formed the Mahasanghika-the Great Community. It resulted in a schism in the Order of the Sangha.

The Third Council

In the 3^rd century B.C. during the time of Emperor Asoka, the Third Council was held to discuss the differences of opinion among the monks of different schools. The occasion for the third council was supplied by the need to establish the purity of the Canon which had been imperiled by the rise of different sects and their rival claims, teachings and practices. Ven. Moggaliputtatissa who is reputed to have converted the Emperor to the Buddhist faith, was pained to observe the corrupt practices that had crept into the Brotherhood and the heretical doctrines preached by sectarian of various descriptions. He succeeded in subduing the heresies and expelling the sectarians from the Order of the Sangha. The most significant outcome of the Council was that he restored the true faith and at the end of the Council, Ven.Moggali-puttatissa compiled a treatise called Kathavatthu refuting the heretical, false views and theories held by some sects. The teaching approved and accepted by this Council was known as Sathaviravada or Vibhajjavada or Theravada.

One of the momentous results of this Council was the dispatch of missionaries to the different countries of the world for the propagation of the Buddha Sasana. From the edicts of Asoka we know of the various Buddhist missions he sent to far-off countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. It was Ven.Mahinda, the son of Asoka and group were charged with missionary work in the Island of Ceylon. He brought the treatises of the Buddha known as Tipitaka to the Island along with the commentaries that were recited at the Third Council. The texts brought to the Island were preserved until today without losing a page. The texts were written in Pali which was based on the Magadhi language spoken by the Buddha.

Coming of Mahayana

Between the 1^st century B.C to the 1^st century A.C., the two terms Mahayana and Hinayana appeared in the SaddharamaPundarika Sutra, the Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law. About the 2^nd century A.C. Mayayana became clearly defined. Nagarjuna developed the Mahayana philosophy of Sunyata and proved that everything is void (sunna) in a small text called Madhyamika-karika. About the 4^th century A.C., the Mahayanists took a definite stand and only then the terms of Mahayana and Hinayana were introduced.

There is a wide spread belief, particularly in the West, that Theravada they conveniently identify with Hinayana. The terms Hinayana (Small Vehicle) Mahayana (Great Vehicle) are not known to the Theravada PaliLiterature.They are not found in PaliTipitaka or in the commentaries on the Tipitaka. Not even the Pali chronicles of Ceylon. The Pali commentaries mention Vitandavadins, evidently a sect of dissenting Buddhists holding some unorthodox views regarding some points in the teaching of the Buddha. The Vitandavadin and the Theravadin both quote the same authorities and name the suttas of Tipitaka in order to support their positions, the difference being only in the mode of their interpretations. The Mahvamsa (5^th Century A.C) and a commentary on the Abhidhamma refer to Vetulla or Vetulyavadins instead of Vitandavadin.

We learn from the Abhidhamma-Samuccaya, an authoritative Mahayana philosophical text (4^th Century A.C) that the terms Vaitulya and Vaipula are synonymous which definitely referred toMahayana. It is universally accepted by scholars that the terms Hinayana and Mahayana are later inventions. Historically speaking, the Theravad already existed long before these terms came into being. That Theravada considered to be the original teaching of the Buddha.

We must not confuse Hinayana with Theravada because the terms are not synonymous. Theravada Buddhism went to Sri Lanka during the 3^rd century B.C when there was no Mahayana at all. Hinayanaschool developed in India and had an existence independent from the form of Buddhism existing in Sri Lanka

Today there is no Hinayana school in existence anywhere in the world. Therefore, in 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists inaugurated in Colombo, Sri Lanka, unanimously decided that the term Hinayana should be dropped when referring to Buddhism existing today in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

Fundamental teachings

Now a day the terms of Theravada and Mahayana are well known in the history of Buddhism. Either Theravada or Mahayana accepts the fundamental teachings.

1. Both acceptthe Buddha as the teacher.

2. The Four Noble Truths are exactly the same in both schools.

3. The Noble Eightfold Path is exactly the same in both schools.

4. The Paticcasamuppada, the Dependent Origination is the same in both schools.

5. Both rejected the idea of a supreme being who created and governed this world.

6. Both accept Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta, Sila, Samadhi and Panna without any difference.

These are the most important teachings of the Buddha and they are all accepted by both schools without question.

In the history of the succession of schools, it is found that the first schism in the Sangha was followed by a series of schisms leading to the formation of different sub-sects, and in the course of time eleven sub-sects arose out of the Theravada while seven issued from the Mahasanghikas. Later, there appeared other sub-sects. All these brunches appeared one after another in close succession within three or four hundred years after the final passing away of the Buddha.

CONCLUSION:

We come to know that Buddhist schools split after the second Great Council held at Vesali. The schism was due to reformer monks known as Vijji in Vesali. The differences opinion among the monks of more different sects occurred during the time of Emperor Asoka and the false views and theories were settled down at the Sangha assemble called the Third Great Council. From that time onwards the term Vibhajjavada or Theravada came to be used in Buddhist world. Buddhist monks in the above mentioned five countries still follow strictly disciplines laid down by the Master, the Buddha.

REFERENCE:

1. Mahaparinibbanasutta, The Great Passing the Buddha’s Last Days, the Long Discourse of the Buddha, Maurice Walshe, Wisdom Publications, Boston, U.S.A, 1987.

2. Samantapasadika, Department of Religious Affairs, Yangon, Myanmar,1954.

3. Indian Buddhism, A.K. Warder, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1970.

4. 2500 Years of Buddhism, the publications division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India,1956.

5. Gems of Buddhist Wisdom, Buddhist Missionary Society, KualaLumpur, Malaysia,1983.

Received on 21.08.2016 Modified on 10.09.2016

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 4(3): July-Sept., 2016; Page 177-179.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2687.2016.00010.1