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*This list is a simplification. It is likely that the development of Buddhist schools was not linear. |
ThePrajñaptivāda (Sanskrit;traditional Chinese:說假部; ; pinyin:Shuō Jiǎ Bù) was a branch of theMahāsāṃghika, one of theearly Buddhist schools inIndia. The Prajñaptivādins were also known as theBahuśrutīya-Vibhajyavādins.
According toVasumitra, the Prajñaptivāda school is said to have developed as one of several Mahāsāṃghika subschools.[1] They are recorded as having taken up residence in theHimalayas.[2] According toTāranātha, the Prajñaptivādins continued to flourish inMagadha through thePala Empire as late as the 10th century.[3][4]A. K. Warder writes that the Prajñaptivādins were not known to have left Buddhism's original territory (modernNortheast India,Bengal andNepal).[5]
TheSamayabhedhoparacanaćakra records that the doctrines of the Prajñaptivāda school were similar to those of the main Mahāsāṃghika school.[6]
According toAndré Bareau, the namePrajñaptivāda refers to their doctrine that phenomena are the product of conceptualisation (Skt.prajñapti).[7] The Prajñaptivādins distinguished between conventional truth (Skt.saṃvṛti) and ultimate truth (Skt.paramārtha), and between reality (Skt.tattva) and mere concepts (Skt.prajñapti).
Vasumitra writes that the Prajñaptivādins viewed all conditioned phenomena as being mere concepts or notions (Skt.prajñapti), and therefore they were considered to besuffering.[8] Contrary to theSarvāstivādins, the Prajñaptivādins did not view theskandhas or the five elements as suffering.[9] Instead these were viewed as existing merely as nominal entities without any ultimate existence.[10]
The Prajñaptivādins believed that the Noble Path is eternal and immutable, and that it is not possible for it to be lost or destroyed.[11] They also held that the path was not something that could be cultivated through contemplation.[12] However, they believed that the path could be attained through all-knowledge (Skt.sarvajñāna) and the accumulation ofmerit.[13] Whether one meets an untimely death or attains the Noble Path, the Prajñaptivādins viewed all such outcomes as being the result of merit andkarma.[14]
The Prajñaptivādins held that the Buddha's teachings in the variousPiṭakas were nominal (Skt.prajñapti), conventional (Skt.saṃvṛti), and causal (Skt.hetuphala).[15] Therefore, all teachings were viewed by the Prajñaptivādins as being of provisional importance, since they cannot contain the ultimate truth.[16] It has been observed that this view of the Buddha's teachings is very close to the fully developed position of theMahāyāna sūtras.[17][18]
André Bareau considers the origin of theMahāyāna tradition to be in the early Mahāsāṃghika schools, and cites the Bahuśrutīyas and Prajñaptivādins as sub-sects of the Mahāsāṃghika that may have played an important role in bridging the flow of Mahāyāna teachings between the northern and southern Mahāsāṃghika traditions.[19]
The Prajñaptivādins were early articulators of thetwo truths doctrine that is so important to the Mahāyāna, where it is usually found in the relationship between skillful means (Skt.upāya) and wisdom (Skt.prajñā). Ian Charles Harris has noted that the doctrines of the Prajñaptivāda school are indeed similar to the early Mahāyāna view of the two truths.[20]
There is also evidence that the Prajñaptivādins were an influence onNāgārjuna, who is also among the storied promulgators of the two truths doctrine (using some of the same technical terms), and who in hisMūlamadhyamakakārikā only cites one text by name, that being theKātyāyana Gotra Sūtra, of which the Prajñaptivādins were known to be fond.[21]
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