The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; ; ) is one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early and Chinese Buddhism, and their Prātimokṣa (monastic rules for bhikkhu and bhikkhuni) are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravada and the Mulasarvastivada.
Etymology
Guptaka means "preserver"
[ "Guptaka" in the Sanskrit Dictionary.] and
dharma "law, justice, morality", and, most likely, the set of laws of Northern Buddhism.
[ "Dharma" in the Sanskrit Dictionary.]
Doctrinal development
Overview
The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a śrāvaka (
śrāvakayāna) and the path of a
bodhisattva (
bodhisattvayāna) to be separate. A translation and commentary on the
Samayabhedoparacanaćakra reads:
[《異部宗輪論述記》：謂佛雖在僧中所攝，然別施佛果大，非僧（果大）。於窣堵波興供養業獲廣大果。佛與二乘解脫雖一，而聖道異。無諸外道能得五通。阿羅漢身皆是無漏。餘義多同大眾部執。]
According to the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, the Dharmaguptakas held that the Four Noble Truths are to be observed simultaneously.
Vasubandhu states that the Dharmaguptakas held, in agreement with Theravāda and against Sarvāstivāda, that realisation of the Four Noble Truths happens all at once ( ekābhisamaya).[.]
The Dharmaguptaka are known to have rejected the authority of the Sarvastivada Prātimokṣa rules on the grounds that the original teachings of the Buddha had been lost.[Baruah, Bibhuti. Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 52.]
Twelve Aṅgas
The Dharmaguptaka used a twelvefold division of the Buddhist teachings, which has been found in their
Dirgha Agama, their
Vinaya, and in some Mahāyāna sūtras.
[Williams, Paul. The Origins and Nature of Mahāyāna Buddhism. 2004. p. 184.] These twelve divisions are:
sutra,
Geya,
Vyākaraṇa,
Gāthā,
Udāna,
Nidana,
Jataka tales,
Itivṛttaka,
Vaipulya,
Adbhūtadharma,
avadana, and
Upadeśa.
Appearance and language
Robes
Between 148 and 170 CE, the
monk
An Shigao came to China and translated a work which described the color of monastic robes (Skt.
kāṣāya) utilised in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called
Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi ().
[Hino, Shoun. Three Mountains and Seven Rivers. 2004. p. 55.] Another text translated at a later date, the
Śāriputraparipṛcchā, contains a very similar passage with nearly the same information.
However, the colors for Dharmaguptaka and
Sarvastivada are reversed. In the earlier source, the Sarvāstivāda are described as wearing deep red robes, while the Dharmaguptaka are described as wearing black robes.
[Hino, Shoun. Three Mountains and Seven Rivers. 2004. pp. 55–56.] The corresponding passage found in the later
Śāriputraparipṛcchā, in contrast, portrays the Sarvāstivāda as wearing black robes and the Dharmaguptaka as wearing deep red robes.
During the Tang dynasty, Chinese Buddhist monastics typically wore grayish-black robes and were even colloquially referred to as Zīyī (), "those of the black robes."[Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture. 2003. pp. 89–90.] However, the Song dynasty monk Zanning (919–1001 CE) writes that during the earlier Han dynasty-Cao Wei period, the Chinese monks typically wore red robes.[Kieschnick, John. The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography. 1997. p. 29.]
According to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the robes of monastics should be sewn out of no more than 18 pieces of cloth, and the cloth should be fairly heavy and coarse.[Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture. 2003. pp. 91–92.]
Language
A consensus has grown in scholarship which sees the first wave of Buddhist missionary work as associated with the Gāndhārī language and the
Kharosthi script and tentatively with the Dharmaguptaka sect.
However, there is evidence that other sects and traditions of Buddhism also used Gāndhārī, and further evidence that the Dharmaguptaka sect also used Sanskrit at times:
Starting in the first century CE, there was a large trend toward a type of Gāndhārī which was heavily Sanskritised.
History
In Northwest India
The Gandharan Buddhist texts, the earliest Buddhist texts ever discovered, are apparently dedicated to the teachers of the Dharmaguptaka school. They tend to confirm a flourishing of the Dharmaguptaka school in
Northwest India around the 1st century CE, with Gāndhārī as the canonical language, and this would explain the subsequent influence of the Dharmaguptakas in
Central Asia and then
East Asia. According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Dharmaguptaka originated in
Aparanta.
[Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 278.]
According to one scholar, the evidence afforded by the Gandharan Buddhist texts "suggests that the Dharmaguptaka sect achieved early success under their Indo-Scythian supporters in Gandhāra, but that the sect subsequently declined with the rise of the Kushan Empire (c. mid-first to third century A.D.), which gave its patronage to the Sarvāstivāda sect."["The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review by Enomoto Fumio. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. NS32 Issue I, 2000, p. 161.]
In Central Asia
Available evidence indicates that the first Buddhist missions to Khotan were carried out by the Dharmaguptaka sect:
A number of scholars have identified three distinct major phases of missionary activities seen in the history of Buddhism in Central Asia, which are associated with the following sects, chronologically:[Willemen, Charles. Dessein, Bart. Cox, Collett. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. 1997. p. 126.]
-
Dharmagupta
-
Sarvastivada
-
Mulasarvastivada
In the 7th century, Xuanzang and Yijing both recorded that the Dharmaguptakas were located in Oddiyana and Central Asia, but not in the Indian subcontinent.[Yijing. Li Rongxi (translator). Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia. 2000. p. 19.]
In East Asia
The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to areas such as
Iran,
Central Asia, and China, and they had great success in doing so.
Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs. According to A. K. Warder, in some ways the Dharmaguptaka sect can be considered to have survived to the present in those East Asian countries.
[Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 489.] Warder further writes:
[Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. pp. 280–281.]
During the early period of Chinese Buddhism, the Indian Buddhist sects recognised as important, and whose texts were studied, were the Dharmaguptakas, Mahīśāsakas, Kāśyapīyas, Sarvāstivādins, and the Mahāsāṃghikas.[Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 281.]
Between 250 and 255 CE, the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was established in China when Indian monks were invited to help with ordination in China.[, pp. 187–189.]
In the 7th century, Yijing wrote that in eastern China, most people followed the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, while the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya was used in earlier times in Guanzhong (the region around Chang'an), and that the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya was prominent in the Yangtze area and further south.[pp. 194–195.]
Texts
Gandhāran Buddhist texts
The Gandhāran Buddhist texts (the oldest extant Buddhist manuscripts) are attributed to the Dharmaguptaka sect by Richard Salomon, the leading scholar in the field, and the British Library scrolls "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in Nagarāhāra Afghanistan."
["The Discovery of 'the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts'" Review by Enomoto Fumio. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. NS32 Issue I, 2000, p. 160.][Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. p. 181.]
Among the Dharmaguptaka Gandhāran Buddhist texts in the Schøyen Collection, is a fragment in the Kharoṣṭhī script referencing the Six Pāramitās, a central practice for bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna doctrine.
Vinaya translation
In the early 5th century CE, Dharmaguptaka
Vinaya was translated into
Chinese language by the Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaśas (佛陀耶舍) of
Kashmir. For this translation, Buddhayaśas recited the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya entirely from memory, rather than reading it from a written manuscript.
[Scharfe, Harmut. Education in Ancient India. 2002. pp. 24–25.] After its translation, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya became the predominant vinaya in Chinese Buddhist monasticism. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, or monastic rules, are still followed today in China, Vietnam and Korea, and its lineage for the ordination of monks and nuns has survived uninterrupted to this day. The name of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in the East Asian tradition is the "Vinaya in Four Parts" (), and the equivalent Sanskrit title would be
Caturvargika Vinaya.
[Williams, Jane, and Williams, Paul. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 3. 2004. p. 209.] Ordination under the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya only relates to monastic vows and lineage (
Vinaya), and does not conflict with the actual Buddhist teachings that one follows (
Dharma).
Āgama collections
The
Dīrgha Āgama ("Long Discourses," 長阿含經
Cháng Āhán Jīng) (T. 1)
[Muller, Charles. Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, Entry on 阿含經.] corresponds to the
Digha Nikaya of the Theravāda school. A complete version of the
Dīrgha Āgama of the Dharmaguptaka sect was translated by Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian (竺佛念) in the
Later Qin dynasty, dated to 413 CE. It contains 30 sūtras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravādin
Dīgha Nikāya.
The Ekottara Agama ("Incremental Discourses," 增壹阿含經 Zēngyī Āhán Jīng) (T. 125) corresponds to the Anguttara Nikaya of the Theravāda school. It was translated into Chinese by Dharmanandi in 384 CE, and edited by Gautama Saṃghadeva in 398 CE. Some have proposed that the original text for this translation came from the Sarvāstivādins or the Mahāsāṃghikas.[Warder, A. K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 6.]
Abhidharma
The
Śāriputra Abhidharma Śāstra (舍利弗阿毘曇論
Shèlìfú Āpítán Lùn) (T. 1548) is a complete
Abhidharma text that is thought to come from the Dharmaguptaka sect. The only complete edition of this text is in Chinese. Sanskrit fragments have been found in
Bamiyan,
Afghanistan, and are now part of the Schøyen Collection (MS 2375/08). These manuscripts are thought to have been part of a monastery library of the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda sect.
Additional Piṭakas
The Dharmaguptaka
Tripiṭaka is said to have contained two extra sections that were not included by some other schools. These included a
Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a
Mantra Piṭaka (咒藏
Zhòu Zàng), also sometimes called a Dhāraṇī Piṭaka.
According to the fifth-century Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaśas, the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya into Chinese, the Dharmaguptaka school had assimilated the "Mahāyāna Tripiṭaka" (大乘三藏
Dàchéng Sānzàng).
[Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. pp. 52–53.]
Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra
The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive of all classical biographies of the Buddha, and is entitled
Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra. Various Chinese translations of this text date from between the 3rd and 6th century CE.
Relationship to Mahāyāna
Kushan era
It is unknown when some members of the Dharmaguptaka school began to accept the Mahāyāna sūtras, but the
Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa records that
Kanishka (127–151 CE) of the
Kushan Empire presided over the establishment of
Prajnaparamita doctrines in the northwest of India.
[Ray, Reginald. Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations. 1999. p. 410.] Taranatha wrote that in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jālandhra monastery during the time of Kaniṣka, suggesting some institutional strength for Mahāyāna in the northwest during this period.
goes further to say that Prajñāpāramitā had great success in the northwest during the Kuṣāṇa period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early Mahāyāna, but not its origin, which he associates with the Mahāsāṃghika branch.
[Ray, Reginald. Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations. 1999. p. 426.]
Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra
Jan Nattier writes that available textual evidence suggests that the Mahāyāna
Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra circulated in Dharmaguptaka communities during its early history, but a later translation shows evidence that the text later circulated amongst the Sarvāstivādins as well.
[Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: Based on the Ugraparipṛcchā, a Mahāyāna Sūtra. 2007. pp. 46–47.] The
Ugraparipṛcchā also mentions a fourfold division of the Buddhist canon which includes a Bodhisattva Piṭaka, and the Dharmaguptaka are known to have had such a collection in their canon.
[Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: Based on the Ugraparipṛcchā, a Mahāyāna Sūtra. 2007. p. 46.] Nattier further describes the type of community depicted in the
Ugraparipṛcchā:[Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: Based on the Ugrapariprccha, a Mahayana Sutra. 2007. pp. 46–47.]
Ratnarāśivyākaraṇa Sūtra
The Mahāyāna
Ratnarāśivyākaraṇa Sūtra, which is part of the
Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra, is believed by some scholars to have a Dharmaguptaka origin or background, due to its specific regulations regarding giving to the Buddha and giving to the Saṃgha.
[Silk, Jonathan. The Maharatnakuta Tradition: A Study of the Ratnarasi Sutra. Volume 1. 1994. pp. 253–254.]
Prajñāpāramitā sūtras
According to Joseph Walser, there is evidence that the
Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 lines") and the
Śatasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("… in 100,000 lines") have a connection with the Dharmaguptaka sect, while the
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("… in 8000 lines") does not.
[Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2008. p. 6.] Instead, Guang Xing assesses the view of the Buddha given in the
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra as being that of the Mahāsāṃghikas.
[Guang Xing. The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory. 2004. p. 66.]
Buddhayaśas
The translator Buddhayaśas was a Dharmaguptaka monk who was known to be a Mahāyānist, and he is recorded as having learned both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna treatises. He translated the
Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the
Dīrgha Āgama, and Mahāyāna texts including the
Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva Sūtra (虛空藏菩薩經
Xūkōngzàng Púsà Jīng). The preface written by Buddhayaśas for his translation of the
Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states that the Dharmaguptakas had assimilated the Mahāyāna Tripiṭaka.
Buddhist canon
The Dharmaguptakas were said to have had two extra sections in their canon:
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Bodhisattva Piṭaka
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Mantra Piṭaka or Dhāraṇī Piṭaka
In the 4th century Mahāyāna Abhidharma work Abhidharmasamuccaya, Asanga refers to the collection which contains the Āgamas as the Śrāvakapiṭaka, and associates it with the śrāvakas and .[Boin-Webb, Sara (tr). Rahula, Walpola (tr). Asanga. Abhidharma Samuccaya: The Compendium of Higher Teaching. 2001. pp. 199–200.] Asaṅga classifies the Mahāyāna sūtras as belonging to the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, which is designated as the collection of teachings for bodhisattvas.
Paramārtha
Paramartha, a 6th-century CE Indian monk from
Ujjain, unequivocally associates the Dharmaguptaka school with the Mahāyāna, and portrays the Dharmaguptakas as being perhaps the closest to a straightforward Mahāyāna sect.
[Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 52.]
See also
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Buddhism in Central Asia
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Schools of Buddhism
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Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Notes
External links
