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*This list is a simplification. It is likely that the development of Buddhist schools was not linear. |
TheCaitika (Chinese:制多山部 or 制多部) was anearly Buddhist school, a sub-sect of theMahāsāṃghika. They were also known as theCaityaka sect.
The Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains ofSouth India, from which they derived their name.[1] InPali writings, members of this sect and its offshoots were generally referred to as theAndhakas, meaning "ofCoastal Andhra".
The Caitikas branched off from the main Mahāsāṃghika school in the 1st or 2nd century BCE.[2] Epigraphic evidence of the Mahāsāṃghikas in theMathura region dates to the first century BCE, and theŚāriputraparipṛcchā Sūtra dates the formation of the Caitikas to 300 years after the Buddha.[3] However, the ancient Buddhist sites in the lowerKṛṣṇa Valley, includingAmarāvati Stupa,Nāgārjunakoṇḍā andJaggayyapeṭa "can be traced to at least the third century BCE, if not earlier."[4]
The Caitikas gave rise to the Aparaśailas and Uttaraśailas (also called Pūrvaśailas). Together, they comprised an important part of the Mahāsāṃghika located in South India.[3] Two other sub-sects associated with the Caitikas include the Rājagirikas and the Siddhārthikas, both of which emerged from the Andhra region around 300 CE.[5]
The Caitikas are said to have had in their possession the GreatStupa atSanchi.[6] The Great Stūpa was first commissioned byAsoka in the 3rd century BCE and became known as aBuddhist pilgrimage site. In theAjaṇṭā Caves, the only epigraphic reference to an early Buddhist sect is to that of the Caitikas, which is associated with an iconic image in Cave 10.[7] The Mahāsāṃghikas were generally associated with the early veneration of anthropomorphic Buddha images.[7]
WhenXuanzang visitedDhānyakaṭaka, he wrote that the monks of this region were Mahāsāṃghikas, and mentions the Pūrvaśailas specifically.[8] Near Dhānyakaṭaka, he met two Mahāsāṃghikabhikṣus and studied MahāsāṃghikaAbhidharma with them for several months, during which time they also studied various Mahāyānaśāstras together under Xuanzang's direction.[8][9]
The southern Mahāsāṃghika schools such as the Caitikas advocated the ideal of thebodhisattva, thebodhisattvayāna, over that of thearhat orśrāvakayāna, and they viewed arhats as being fallible and still subject to ignorance.[10] The main Caitika school, along with the Aparaśailas and Uttaraśailas, all emphasised the transcendent and supramundane character of the Buddha.
Xuanzang considered the Mahāsāṃghika doctrine of amūlavijñāna ("root consciousness") to be essentially the same as theYogāćāra doctrine of theālāyavijñāna "storehouse consciousness". He also noted that the doctrine of themūlavijñāna was contained in theĀgama of the Mahāsāṃghikas.[11]
A. K. Warder holds that the Mahāyāna "almost certainly" first developed from the southern Mahāsāṃghika schools of the Āndhra region, among monastic communities associated with the Caitikas and their sub-sects.[12]
Anthony Barber and Sree Padma note that "historians of Buddhist thought have been aware for quite some time that such pivotally important Mahayana Buddhist thinkers asNāgārjuna,Dignāga,Ćandrakīrti,Āryadeva, andBhāviveka, among many others, formulated their theories while living in Buddhist communities in Āndhra."[13]
Some early Mahāyāna sūtras reference wealthy female donors and provide evidence that they were developed in the Āndhra region, where the Caitika were predominant. The MahāyānaMahāmegha Sūtra, for example, gives a prophecy about a royal princess of theŚatavāhana dynasty who will live in Āndhra, along the Kṛṣṇa River, in Dhānyakaṭaka, seven hundred years after theparinirvāṇa of the Buddha.[14]
Several scholars such asÉtienne Lamotte, and Alex and Hideko Wayman, associate theĀndhra Ikṣvāku dynasty with patronage of Mahāyāna sūtras.[14] Epigraphic evidence at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa also provides abundant evidence of royal and wealthy female donors.[14]
A number of scholars have proposed that the MahāyānaPrajñāpāramitā teachings were first developed by the Caitika subsect of the Mahāsāṃghikas. They believe that theAṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra originated amongst the southern Mahāsāṃghika schools of the Āndhra region, along theKṛṣṇa River.[15] Guang Xing states, "Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā probably developed among the Mahāsāṃghikas in Southern India, in the Āndhra country, on the Kṛṣṇa River."[16] These Mahāsāṃghikas had two famous monasteries near the Amarāvati and the Dhānyakaṭaka, which gave their names to the schools of the Pūrvaśailas and the Aparaśailas.[15] Each of these schools had a copy of theAṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra inPrakrit.[15] Guang Xing also assesses the view of the Buddha given in theAṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra as being that of the Mahāsāṃghikas.[15]Edward Conze estimates that this Sūtra originated around 100 BCE.[15]
Brian Edward Brown, a specialist in Tathāgatagarbha doctrines, writes that it has been determined that the composition of theŚrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra occurred during the Āndhra Ikṣvāku dynasty in the 3rd century CE as a product of the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region (i.e. the Caitika schools).[17]Alex Wayman has outlined eleven points of complete agreement between the Mahāsāṃghikas and theŚrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, along with four major arguments for this association.[18] After its composition, this text became the primary scriptural advocate in India for the universal potentiality ofBuddhahood.[19] Anthony Barber also associates the earlier development of theTathāgatagarbha Sūtra with the Mahāsāṃghikas, and concludes that the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region were responsible for the inception of the Tathāgatagarbha doctrine.[20]
In the 6th century CE, Bhāviveka speaks of the Siddhārthikas using a Vidyādhāra Piṭaka, and the Aparaśailas and Uttaraśailas (Pūrvaśailas) both using a Bodhisattva Piṭaka, implying collections of Mahāyāna texts within these Caitika schools.[21] During the same period, Avalokitavrata speaks of the Mahāsāṃghikas using a Great Āgama Piṭaka, which is then associated with Mahāyāna sūtras such as thePrajñāparamitā and theTen Stages Sūtra.[22] Avalokitavrata also states that Mahāyāna sūtras such as thePrajñāparamitā were recited by the Aparaśailas and the Pūrvaśailas.[23]
According to the Theravādin textNikāyasaṅgraha, the large Mahāyāna collection called theMahāratnakūṭa Sūtra (Taishō Tripiṭaka No. 310) was composed by the "Andhakas", meaning the Caitika schools of the Āndhra region.[24][25] This collection includes theŚrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, theLonger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, theAkṣobhyavyūha Sūtra, a long text called theBodhisattva Piṭaka, and others.[26] TheMahāratnakūṭa collection totals 49 Mahāyāna sūtras, divided into 120 fascicles in the Chinese translation.[27]
In theMahāvihāra tradition of theTheravāda school,Buddhaghoṣa grouped the Caitika schools in the Āndhra region, such as the Rājagirikas and the Siddhārthikas, as the "Andhakas".[1] Works such as theKathāvatthu show that Mahāvihāra polemics were directed overwhelmingly at these "Andhakas" in India.[28]
The Caitika schools rejected the post-Asokan texts that were in use by theAnuradhapura Maha Viharaya tradition such as theParivāra, the six books ofAbhidharma, thePaṭisambhidāmagga, theNiddesa, someJātakas, someGāthās, and so on.[29] For example, the Caitikas claimed that their own Jātakas represented the original collection before the Buddhist tradition split into various lineages.[30]
One dispute recorded in theKathāvatthu between the Mahāvihāravasins and the Andhakas was a fundamental matter concerning the interpretation of the Buddha's teachings. The Andhakas are said to have held that the Buddha's actions and speech were supramundane, but some may only perceive the conventional or mundane interpretation. For the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism, the ultimate meaning of the Buddha's teachings was "beyond words", and words were merely a conventional exposition of the Dharma. The Theravāda Mahāvihāravasins, in contrast, argued that literal interpretations of the Buddha's teachings were best.[31]
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