Bringing the Dharma Home
The Buddha’s Return to Kapilavastu in the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.33093Keywords:
Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya, Vinayavibhaṅga, Śuddhodana, family, monasticismAbstract
This chapter explores the Buddha’s relationship with his family after his awakening, as related in the monastic law code of the Mulasarvastivadins, the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya. It concentrates on the account of the Buddha’s return to his family seat, Kapilavastu, contained in the Vinayavibhanga, the part of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya that analyses individual monastic offences. We encounter a very human Buddha who devotes great care to the conversion of his father, King Suddhodana, and to the spiritual progress of his kinsfolk, the Sakyas. At the same time, this Buddha is a glorious superhuman being who makes judicious use of his miraculous powers, always in the service of his kith and kin. In this episode, the compilers of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya combine their task of legislating for the sangha with a didactic agenda which puts forward the Buddha as the exemplar of the good son and the good monk living a simple life. They craft a sophisticated narrative that is both memorable and entertaining.
References
Barber, A.W., ed. 1991. The Tibetan Tripitaka. Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc.
Borgland, Jens W. 2018. “Devadatta and the Extracurricular Ascetic Practices: Some Highlights from the Story of the First Buddhist schism as Told in the Samghabhedavastu of the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya.” In Reading Slowly: A Festschrift for Jens E. Braarvig, edited by L. Edzard et al., 89–114. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvck-q4dr.10
Buswell Jr., Robert E. and Donald S. Lopez Jr. 2014. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400848058
Clarke, Shayne. 2014. Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Clarke, Shayne. 2015. “Vinayas.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. I: Literature and Languages, edited by Jonathan Silk et al, 60–87. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.21313/hawaii/9780824836474.001.0001
Dantinne, Jean. 1991. Les Qualités de l’Ascète (dhutaguna): Étude sémantique et doctrinale. Bruxelles: Thanh-Long.
Edgerton, Franklin. 2004 [1953]. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Vol. II. Dictionary. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Feer, Léon. 1883. Fragments extraits du Kandjour (= Annales du Musée Guimet, V). Paris: Ernest Leroux.
Finnegan, Diana. 2009. “‘For the Sake of Women, Too’: Ethics and Gender in the Narratives of the ‘Mulasarvastivada Vinaya’” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin Madison.
Frauwallner, E. 1956. The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature. Roma: Is.M.E.O.
Gaffney, Sean. 2018. sKyes pa rabs kyi glen gzi (Jatakanidana): A Critical Edition Based on Six Editions of the Tibetan bKa’ ’gyur. Vol. I. Oxford, NZ: Indica et Buddhica.
Gnoli, Raniero, ed. 1977–1978. The Gilgit Manuscript of the “Sanghabhedavastu”: Being the 17th and Last Section of the Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadin. 2 vols. Roma: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
Heckman, Annie. 2023. Reassembling Discipline: Bu ston Rin chen grub’s Collection of Incidents Involving Nuns from the Vinaya (’Dul ba dge slong ma’i gleng ’bum). Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto.
Hinüber, Oskar von. 2000 [1996]. A Handbook of Pali literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Horner, I.B., trans., 1982–1993 [1938–1966]. The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-Pitaka) 6 vols. Oxford: Pali Text Society.
Jayawickrama, N.A., trans., 2002 [1990]. The Story of Gotama Buddha: The Nidana-katha of the Jatakatthakatha. Oxford: Pali Text Society.
Jones, J.J., trans., 1956. The Mahavastu. Translated from the Buddhist Sanskrit. Vol. III. London: Luzac and Company.
Kieffer-Pülz, Petra. 2014. “What the Vinayas Can Tell Us about Law.” In Buddhism and Law: An Introduction, edited by Rebecca Redwood French and Mark A. Nathan, 46–62. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139044134.005
Marciniak, Katarzyna, ed., 2019. The Mahavastu: A New Edition. Vol. III. Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University.
McGovern, Nathan Michael. 2013. “Buddhists, Brahmans, and Buddhist Brahmans: Negotiating Identities in Indian Antiquity.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Kloppenborg, Ria, trans., 1973. The Sutra on the Foundation of the Buddhist Order (Catusparisatsutra). Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004669475
Liu, Cuilan. 2013. “Noble or Evil: The Sadvargika Monks Reconsidered.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 66(2): 179–195. https://doi.org/10.1556/AOrient.66.2013.2.4
Ohnuma, Reiko. 2007. Head, Eyes, Flesh, and Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/ohnu13708
Oldenberg, Hermann, ed., 1997–2006 [1879–1883]. The Vinaya Pitakam. 5 vols. Oxford: The Pali Text Society.
Olivelle, Patrick. 2003. “The Renouncer Tradition.” In The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, edited by Gavin Flood. 271–287. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470998694.ch13
Pachow, W. 2007 [1955]. A Comparative Study of the Pratimoksa: on the Basis of its Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali Versions. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Panglung, Jampa Losang. 1981. Die Erzählstoffe des Mulasarvastivada-Vinaya analysiert auf Grund der tibetischen Übersetzung. Tokyo: Reiyukai Library.
Prebish, Charles S. 1994. A Survey of Vinaya Literature. Taipei: Jin Luen Publishing House.
Ray, Reginald A. 1994. Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roach, Susan. 2020. “‘The Qualities of the Purified’: Attitudes towards the dhutagunas in the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, SOAS, University of London.
Rockhill, W. Woodville. 1884. The Life of the Buddha and the Early History of his Order. London: Trübner and Co.
Sasson, Vanessa R. 2018 [2021]. Yasodhara and the Buddha. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Schiefner, F. Anton von. 1882. Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources. Translated by W.R.S. Ralston. London: George Routledge and Sons.
Schopen, Gregory. 2018. “On Monks and Emergencies: The Brahmanical Principle of Apad in a Buddhist Monastic Code.” In Reading Slowly: A Festschrift for Jens E. Braarvig, edited by L. Edzard et al. 375–391. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvck-q4dr.30
———. 2019. “The Business Model of a Buddhist Monasticism: Acquiring Productive Assets.” Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 2(2): 217–249. https://doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.02.02.08
———. 2000. “Hierarchy and Housing in a Buddhist Monastic Code: A Translation of the Sanskrit Text of the Sayanasanavastu of the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya. Part One.” Buddhist Literature 2: 92–196.
Shaw, Sarah, trans. 2006. The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Shiri, Yael. 2020. “The Sakyas in the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya as a Trope of Buddhist Self-Representation in Dialogue with the Religious ‘Other’.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, SOAS, University of London.
———. 2022. “The Sakyas as Gautamas: Monastic Self-Representation in the Mulasarvastivadavinaya.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 45: 291–341.
Strong, John. 1997. “A Family Quest: The Buddha, Yasodhara, and Rahula in the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya.” In Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia, edited by Juliane Schober. 113–128. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Strong, John and Vincent Tournier. 2019. “Sakyamuni: South Asia.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. II: Lives, edited by Jonathan Silk et al. 3–38. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824864217-006
Tournier, Vincent. 2017. La formation du Mahavastu et la mise en place des conceptions relatives à la carrière du bodhisattva. Paris: École française d‘Extrême-Orient.
Wille, Klaus. 1990. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung des Vinayavastu der Mulasarvastivadin. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
