Professor Lin Chong-an: A Study of the Compilation of the Āgamas and the Origins of Mahāyāna Scriptures

Selected Buddhist Studies Essays

A Study of the Compilation of the Āgamas and the Origins of Mahāyāna Scriptures

Lin Chong-an (1991)

Abstract

This paper draws on materials from both the Northern and Southern transmissions to examine how the Āgamas changed across different Buddhist councils (saṅgīti) and to trace the origins of Mahāyāna scriptures. The discussion covers the following points:

1. Even within the Buddha's own teachings, proto-forms of the Saṃyukta Āgama and the Ekottara Āgama were already present.

2. The Buddha taught according to the capacities of his audience. In his middle and later years, he organized his teachings into the ninefold division of scripture (navaṅga) or the twelvefold division (dvādaśāṅga).

3. At the Council of Rājagṛha, the Sūtra Piṭaka was compiled first, followed by the Vinaya Piṭaka. The Sūtra Piṭaka, confined to the scope of Śrāvaka teachings — aggregates (skandha), sense bases (āyatana), dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), nutriment (āhāra), truths (satya), and realms (dhātu) — was compiled sequentially into the four Āgamas: Saṃyukta, Madhyama, Dīrgha, and Ekottara.

4. At the Council of Vaiśālī, the Vinaya Piṭaka was compiled first, followed by the Sūtra Piṭaka. The Sūtra Piṭaka was compiled sequentially into five divisions: Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyukta, Ekottara, and the Kṣudraka Piṭaka (Minor Collection).

5. Subsequent disputes over doctrine among Śrāvaka monks led to the formation of the four early schools (ārya-bhakti). Among these, the elders (sthaviras) of the Vātsīputrīya school first compiled the Abhidharma Piṭaka two hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa.

6. At the Council of Pāṭaliputra, the Vinaya, Sūtra, and Abhidharma Piṭakas were compiled in sequence. The Sūtra Piṭaka was arranged into five divisions — Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyukta, Ekottara, and the Kṣudraka Piṭaka — with significant internal reordering of each Āgama, removal of redundancies, and harmonization of wording with the Vinaya handed down through Upāli. This produced the concise style characteristic of the Southern transmission's five Nikāyas.

7. Differences in compilation and transmission lineages gave rise to eight different arrangements of four or five Āgamas. These arrangements also make clear that the Sarvāstivāda school did not belong to the system of elders within the Council of Vaiśālī.

8. The sudden rise and expansion of Mahāyāna Buddhism some four to five hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa was driven by a group of Mahāyāna practitioners.

I. Introduction

The compilation of the Āgamas and the origins of Mahāyāna scriptures have been studied by many scholars, for example, Lü Cheng's An Introduction to Indian Buddhist Thought (Tianhua Publishing, 1982), Yinshun's The Compilation of Early Buddhist Sacred Texts (Zhengwen Publishing, 1981, 3rd edition) and The Origins and Development of Early Mahāyāna Buddhism (Zhengwen Publishing, 1981). Because the materials from the Northern and Southern transmissions differ in many respects, scholars have reached inconsistent conclusions. This paper revisits the question, arguing that the available materials each reflect part of the historical reality and should not be dismissed in favor of any one source. Working through the history of the Buddhist councils and the formation of sectarian divisions in sequence, it draws on the most plausible sources at each stage to trace how the texts evolved. The discussion begins with the proto-form of the Āgamas as seen in the content of the Buddha's teaching, then moves to the four Āgamas from the Council of Rājagṛha and the four Āgamas and Kṣudraka Piṭaka from the Council of Vaiśālī. It then takes up the Vātsīputrīya compilation during the period of doctrinal disputes and the Sūtra Piṭaka contents from the Council of Pāṭaliputra, analyzing the influence of Mahāyāna Vaipulya sūtras and the process by which the eight arrangements of the Āgamas took shape. The transmission lineages of the Āgamas and the internal rearrangements within individual sūtras are discussed next, and the paper closes with a summary of the origins and development of Mahāyāna scriptures.

II. The Content of the Buddha's Teaching and the Proto-form of the Āgamas

After his awakening, the Buddha first turned the wheel of the Four Noble Truths at Vārāṇasī, converting Ājñāta Kauṇḍinya and his four companions. He then converted Yasa and his friends before traveling to the Nairañjanā River to convert the three Kāśyapa brothers — Uruvilvā Kāśyapa, Nadī Kāśyapa, and Gayā Kāśyapa — along with their disciples. From there he went to Kapilavastu, converting Mahākāśyapa, Upāli, Aniruddha, and others. Twenty years after his awakening (at the age of fifty-five), he took Ānanda as his attendant (T32, 36c), and in the year of his parinirvāṇa he converted his final disciple, Subhadda. Over more than forty years of teaching, the Buddha tailored his instruction to each listener's capacity, presenting the Dharma at varying depths. To aid memorization and retention, he sometimes grouped related teachings into categories. For example, the Sūtra on the Places of Instruction in the Madhyama Āgama, Chapter 21 (Longevity King Chapter), records:

Venerable Ānanda addressed him, saying: "Bhagavat! How should I instruct, admonish, and teach these young bhikṣus? How should I expound the Dharma for them?" The Bhagavat replied: "Ānanda, you should expound to the young bhikṣus the 'places' and the 'places of instruction.' If you expound the places and places of instruction for the young bhikṣus, they will find peace, gain strength and joy, their bodies and minds will be free from distress, and they will practice the holy life throughout their lives." Venerable Ānanda, with hands folded in reverence toward the Buddha, said: "Bhagavat, now is precisely the time. Sugata, now is precisely the time. If the Bhagavat were to expound the places and places of instruction for the young bhikṣus, I and the young bhikṣus, having heard them from the Bhagavat, will retain them well." … The Bhagavat said: "Ānanda, in the past I taught you about the five aggregates of clinging: the aggregate of clinging to form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Ānanda, these five aggregates of clinging — you should expound them to the young bhikṣus and instruct them." … "Ānanda, in the past I taught you about the six internal sense bases: the eye base, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind bases. Ānanda, these six internal sense bases — you should expound them to the young bhikṣus and instruct them." … "Ānanda, in the past I taught you about the six external sense bases: the form base, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma bases. Ānanda, these six external sense bases — you should expound them to the young bhikṣus and instruct them." (T1, 562a)

Here the Buddha systematically classifies the teachings into: 1. five aggregates of clinging; 2. six internal sense bases; 3. six external sense bases. The passage continues with: 4. six consciousness groups; 5. six contact groups; 6. six feeling groups; 7. six perception groups; 8. six intention groups; 9. six craving groups; 10. six elements; 11. dependent origination and dharmas produced by dependent origination; 12. four establishments of mindfulness; 13. four right efforts; 14. four bases of spiritual power; 15. four dhyānas; 16. four noble truths; 17. four perceptions; 18. four immeasurables; 19. four formless absorptions; 20. four holy lineages; 21. four fruits of śramaṇa life; 22. five perceptions leading to liberation; 23. five places of liberation; 24. five spiritual faculties; 25. five spiritual powers; 26. five elements of emergence; 27. seven treasures; 28. seven powers; 29. seven factors of awakening; 30. eightfold noble path. The Buddha instructed Ānanda to "expound these to and instruct" the young bhikṣus. This way of organizing the Dharma by thematic category — aggregates (five aggregates of clinging), sense bases (internal and external), and so on — was already present during the Buddha's lifetime and constitutes the prototype of what later became the Saṃyukta Āgama. The Buddha also taught the Dharma using a method of progressive numerical increments. The Ekottara Sūtra in Chapter 9 of the Dīrgha Āgama states:

Thus have I heard: At one time, the Buddha was staying at Śrāvastī, in the Jeta Grove, the park of Anāthapiṇḍada, together with a great assembly of twelve hundred and fifty bhikṣus. Then the Bhagavat addressed the bhikṣus: "I shall expound for you a subtle and wondrous Dharma — its words, whether superior, middling, or inferior, are all truly genuine, pure in meaning and flavor, fully complete in the holy life — namely, the Dharma of the Single Increment. Listen carefully and ponder it well; I shall expound it for you." The bhikṣus received the instruction and listened. The Buddha told the bhikṣus: "The Dharma of the Single Increment refers to one dharma of accomplishment, one dharma of cultivation, one dharma of awakening, one dharma of cessation, and one dharma of realization. What is the one dharma of accomplishment? Not abandoning wholesome dharmas. What is the one dharma of cultivation? Constant mindfulness of the body. What is the one dharma of awakening? Contaminated contact. What is the one dharma of cessation? The conceit of 'I am.' What is the one dharma of realization? Unhindered liberation of mind. Then there are two dharmas of accomplishment, two dharmas of cultivation, two dharmas of awakening, two dharmas of cessation, and two dharmas of realization. What are the two dharmas of accomplishment? Knowledge of shame and knowledge of remorse. What are the two dharmas of cultivation? Serenity and insight. What are the two dharmas of awakening? Name and form. What are the two dharmas of cessation? Ignorance and craving for existence. What are the two dharmas of realization? True knowledge and liberation." (T1, 57b)

This sūtra runs from "one dharma of accomplishment, one dharma of cultivation, one dharma of awakening, one dharma of cessation, one dharma of realization" all the way up to "ten dharmas of accomplishment, ten dharmas of cultivation, ten dharmas of awakening, ten dharmas of cessation, ten dharmas of realization." Similarly, in the Sūtra of the Three Categories in Chapter 10 of the Dīrgha Āgama, the Buddha's instruction to the bhikṣus follows the same ekottara format, proceeding from "one dharma leading to an evil destiny, one dharma leading to a good destiny, one dharma leading to nirvāṇa" up to "ten dharmas leading to an evil destiny, ten dharmas leading to a good destiny, ten dharmas leading to nirvāṇa." In his later years, the Buddha asked Śāriputra to teach the bhikṣus, and Śāriputra likewise adopted the ekottara format. The Sūtra of the Great Assembly in Chapter 8 of the Dīrgha Āgama records:

The Bhagavat, having taught the Dharma at length that night, addressed Śāriputra: "Now bhikṣus from all directions have gathered here, all diligent, having cast off sleep. I suffer from back pain and wish to rest for a while. You may now expound the Dharma for the bhikṣus." … Then Śāriputra addressed the bhikṣus: "Here in the city of Pāvā, a Nirgrantha has recently died, and his disciples have split into two factions, constantly disputing and attacking one another. … Bhikṣus, we should now compile the Dharma and the Vinaya, to guard against disputes, so that the holy life may long endure, bringing great benefit and the peace and happiness of gods and humans. Bhikṣus, the Tathāgata has spoken of one true dharma: all beings subsist by means of food. The Tathāgata has also spoken of another single dharma: all beings exist through karma of body and action. This is the one dharma spoken by the Tathāgata; we should compile it together, to guard against disputes, so that the holy life may long endure, bringing great benefit and the peace and happiness of gods and humans. Bhikṣus, the Tathāgata has spoken of two true dharmas: name and form. There are further two dharmas: ignorance and craving." (T1, 49c)

This sūtra runs from "one true dharma" up to "ten true dharmas." After Śāriputra finished, "the Bhagavat approved of what Śāriputra had said, and the bhikṣus, having heard Śāriputra's words, rejoiced and faithfully practiced them." Similarly, in the Daśottara Sūtra in Chapter 9 of the Dīrgha Āgama, the Buddha again asks Śāriputra to teach, and Śāriputra follows the ekottara format, proceeding from "one dharma of accomplishment, one dharma of cultivation, one dharma of awakening, one dharma of cessation, one dharma of decline, one dharma of increase, one dharma difficult to understand, one dharma that arises, one dharma to be known, one dharma to be realized" all the way to "ten dharmas of accomplishment, … ten dharmas to be realized," and at the end this too received the Buddha's approval. This incremental method is easy for beginners to follow and well suited to spreading the Dharma — it constitutes the prototype of what later became the Ekottara Āgama.

Over more than forty years of teaching, the Buddha varied the depth of his instruction according to the capacities of his audience. In his middle and later years, he organized the content of his teachings into either the ninefold or twelvefold division of scripture. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Chapter 3, states:

If there is a bhikṣu whose requisites for sustaining the body are always ample, and who can uphold the precepts he has received, and can roar the lion's roar, extensively expounding the wondrous Dharma — namely, sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, udāna, itivṛttaka, jātaka, vaipulya, adbhūta-dharma — extensively expounding these nine categories of scriptures for the benefit and happiness of all sentient beings. (T12, 383c)

The nine categories listed here correspond to the content of the ninefold division as described in the introduction to the Pāli Samantapāsādikā and the commentary to the Dīgha Nikāya of the Southern transmission. The Northern transmission's Dīrgha Āgama (Dharmaguptaka school), Chapter 3, in the Sūtra of the Journey (Tour Sūtra), states:

Bhikṣus, you should know that I have personally realized this Dharma and manifested it for you: namely, the threaded sūtras, the geya sūtras, the vyākaraṇa sūtras, the gāthā sūtras, the udāna sūtras, the saṃyukta sūtras, the jātaka sūtras, the vaipulya sūtras, the adbhūta sūtras, the nidāna sūtras, the avadāna sūtras, and the upadeśa sūtras. You should receive and retain them well, weigh and distinguish them, and practice them according to the occasion. Why? Because the Tathāgata, not long from now — three months hence — shall enter parinirvāṇa. (T1, 16c)

Here the Northern transmission's Dīrgha Āgama (Dharmaguptaka school) enumerates the twelvefold division. The same twelvefold division appears in the Madhyama Āgama (Sarvāstivāda school), Chapter 1; the Saṃyukta Āgama (Sarvāstivāda), Chapter 41; the Ekottara Āgama, Chapter 21; the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, Chapter 1; and the Sarvāstivāda's Saṃghabhedavastu, Chapter 38. This twelvefold division adds nidāna, avadāna, and upadeśa to the ninefold division.

III. The Council of Rājagṛha

In the year of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Mahākāśyapa, to ensure the long transmission of the Buddha's Dharma and Vinaya, convened the First Council at Rājagṛha. Ānanda first compiled the Sūtra Piṭaka, and then Upāli compiled the Vinaya Piṭaka. An important ancient account of the content and sequence of the Sūtra Piṭaka compilation is preserved in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Chapter 85:

The topical sūtras are the four Āgamas: first, the Saṃyukta Āgama; second, the Madhyama Āgama; third, the Dīrgha Āgama; and fourth, the Ekottara Āgama. The Saṃyukta Āgama is that in which the Bhagavat, with regard to each audience to be taught, expounded teachings corresponding to the Tathāgata and his disciples, corresponding to the aggregates, sense bases, and elements, corresponding to dependent origination, nutriment, and truths [note: "corresponding to the aggregates, sense bases, and elements; corresponding to dependent origination, nutriment, and truths" — according to the Tibetan translation, this should read "corresponding to the aggregates, sense bases, and dependent origination; corresponding to nutriment, truths, elements, and feeling." The latter reading is consistent with what is stated in Chapter 3 of this same treatise (T30, p294a)], corresponding to the establishments of mindfulness, right efforts, bases of spiritual power, faculties, powers, factors of awakening, path factors, mindfulness of breathing, trainings, and purities of conviction, as well as the assembly correspondences expounded in relation to the eight assemblies. Later compilers, in order to ensure the long endurance of the holy teaching, composed udāna verses and arranged them in appropriate sequence. … All these topical corresponding teachings were interwoven and assembled, and therefore it is called the Saṃyukta Āgama. Those same corresponding teachings, expounded again with different features at moderate length, are therefore called the Madhyama Āgama. Those same corresponding teachings, expounded again with different features at greater length, are therefore called the Dīrgha Āgama. Those same corresponding teachings, expounded again through the principle of progressive numerical increments — one, two, three, and so on — are therefore called the Ekottara Āgama. These four have been transmitted from master to disciple down to the present. (T30, p772b)

This section calls the four Āgamas (āgama) "sūtras of matters" (事契经, shì qì jīng), since their content is limited to "all matters"—the skandhas, āyatanas, dependent origination, āhāra, the truths, the foundations of mindfulness, the right exertions, the bases of spiritual power, and so forth. Compiled in order at the Rājagṛha council were the Saṃyuktā Āgama, the Madhyama Āgama, the Dīrgha Āgama, and the Ekottara Āgama. That sequence—Saṃyuktā, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Ekottara—is the most original ordering of the four Āgamas, hereafter called Type 1A. Because early forms of the Saṃyuktā Āgama (such as the earlier-mentioned Āyatana-desanā Sūtra) and of the Ekottara Āgama (such as the earlier-mentioned Ekottara Sūtra) already existed in the World-honored One's lifetime, gathering them at the Rājagṛha council would have been no great difficulty. Sūtras that "preached at moderate length" were sorted into the Madhyama Āgama, while those that "preached at length" went into the Dīrgha Āgama. In this way, with "all matters" as the organizing scope, the four Āgamas came together at the Rājagṛha council. To make them easier to memorize, an uddāna verse was used to list sūtra titles or their essential teachings in summary form. At the council, in addition to sūtras spoken by the Buddha, those spoken by his disciples and approved by the Buddha were also included (for example, the Saṅgīta Sūtra and the Daśottara Sūtra).

4. The Vaiśālī Council

A century after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the vinaya-holder Yaśas convened seven hundred monks at Vaiśālī: Sabbakāma and others of the Ānanda lineage, Vaggamukha and others of the Aniruddha lineage, and Sonaka and others of the Upāli lineage. Because the gathering was prompted by a dispute over which rules should be relaxed and which strictly maintained, the Vinaya Piṭaka was compiled first, followed by the Sūtra Piṭaka. In its wake, the assembly split into two vinaya lineages: the Sthavira lineage within the assembly and the Mahāsāṃghika lineage outside it. Within the assembly, the Sthavira lineage re-ordered the sequence of precepts and upheld the non-permissibility of minor rules. The Mahāsāṃghika lineage outside the assembly kept the original order of precepts; some branches permitted the minor rules (such as the Mahāsāṃghikas), while others did not (such as the Sarvāstivādins). Beyond re-ordering the precepts, the Sthavira lineage also re-arranged the sequence of the four Āgamas in the Sūtra Piṭaka and compiled a new Kṣudraka Piṭaka (corresponding to the southern transmission's Khuddaka Nikāya). Volume 30 of the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, from the Mahīśāsaka branch of the Sthavira lineage, states:

"These are long sūtras; gathered into one collection, they are called the Dīrgha Āgama. These are neither long nor short; gathered into one collection, they are called the Madhyama Āgama. These are miscellaneous teachings addressed to bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās, devas, and goddesses; gathered into one collection, they are called the Saṃyuktā Āgama. These progress from one dharma to eleven dharmas; gathered into one collection, they are called the Ekottara Āgama. The remaining miscellaneous teachings, gathered into one collection, are called the Kṣudraka. Together these are termed the Sūtra Piṭaka." (T22, p. 191a)

This passage presents the Sūtra Piṭaka's order—Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyuktā, Ekottara, and Kṣudraka—as the content and sequence established at the Rājagṛha council. In fact, this order was re-arranged at the second council and replaced the Rājagṛha sequence of Saṃyuktā, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Ekottara. One important school that arose from the Vaiśālī council was the Mahīśāsaka, which did not take part in the later Pāṭaliputra council. The passage shows that the original Rājagṛha sequence of "Saṃyuktā, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Ekottara" was re-arranged to "Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyuktā, Ekottara," and that the "miscellaneous teachings" not collected at the first council were brought together into a fifth collection, the Kṣudraka (the southern transmission's Khuddaka Nikāya).

Thus, at the second Vaiśālī council, the Sūtra Piṭaka assumed the sequence "Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyuktā, Ekottara, Kṣudraka," hereafter called Type 2A. The "Kṣudraka" here corresponds to the southern transmission's Khuddaka Nikāya.

What of the Mahāsāṃghika lineage outside the assembly? These outsiders continued to follow the four Āgamas (without the Kṣudraka), and their varied traditions can be summarized as follows:

(1) In the Āyodhyā region of central India, the four Āgamas of Type 1A—"Saṃyuktā, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Ekottara"—were still observed. This tradition passed down to the later Asaṅga and served as the basis for the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra (Asaṅga received the teachings from Maitreya at Āyodhyā).

(2) Elsewhere in central India, the four Āgamas followed the order "Saṃyuktā, Dīrgha, Madhyama, Ekottara," hereafter called Type 1B. This was personally attested by the later Yijing. Volume 39 of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Kṣudraka-vastu states:

"Sūtras connected with the five skandhas are established through the skandha section; those connected with the six āyatanas and eighteen dhātus, through the āyatana-dhātu section; those connected with dependent origination and the holy truths are established as dependent origination; those spoken by śrāvakas are established in the śrāvaka section; those spoken by the Buddha are established in the Buddha section; those connected with the foundations of mindfulness, right exertions, bases of spiritual power, faculties, powers, awakening factors, and limbs of the path are established in the holy-path section; sūtras connected with verses (gāthā) are termed the Saṃyuktā Āgama. Sūtras taught at length are the Dīrgha Āgama. Sūtras taught at moderate length are the Madhyama Āgama. Sūtras stating one matter, two matters, up to ten matters are the Ekottara Āgama." (T30, p. 772c)

So within the Mūlasarvāstivāda of central India, the order of the Madhyama and Dīrgha Āgamas was slightly adjusted to form Type 1B.

(3) The northern transmission's Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, lower fascicle, states:

"Mahākāśyapa then chose forty arhats from the assembly. From Ānanda they received the four Āgamas: first the Madhyama Āgama, second the Dīrgha Āgama, third the Ekottara Āgama, and fourth the Saṃyuktā Āgama." (T1, p. 191a)

Here the Saṃyuktā Āgama from the original compilation is moved to the end, producing "Madhyama, Dīrgha, Ekottara, Saṃyuktā," designated Type 1C.

(4) Other members of the assembly outside it, who emphasized the Ekottara Āgama, swapped the Ekottara and Saṃyuktā Āgamas. This system has close ties with the Mahāyāna. Volume 2 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Śāstra states:

"From the Cakravartin Sūtra up to the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, four Āgamas were compiled: the Ekottara Āgama, Madhyama Āgama, Dīrgha Āgama, and Saṃyuktā Āgama—this is what is called the Sūtra Piṭaka." (T25, p. 69c)

Similarly, the Mahāyānavatāra, upper fascicle, states:

"Taking the Ekottara Āgama, Madhyama Āgama, Dīrgha Āgama, and Saṃyuktā Āgama, comprising a hundred thousand verses, as one Piṭaka." (T32, p. 36c)

Both these Mahāyāna treatises present the sequence "Ekottara, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Saṃyuktā" for the four Āgamas, hereafter called Type 1D.

(5) The Vrjī monks outside the assembly who took part in the disciplinary dispute—disciples of the Śāriputra and Rāhula lineages—belonged to the Ārya Vātsīputrīya branch of the Mahāsāṃghika lineage. Those of the Upāli lineage who supported relaxing the minor rules, including Jyotiṣṭha of the Upāli line, belonged to the Mahāsāṃghika branch proper. In their shared Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya, volume 32, it is said:

"All dharma-texts with long passages were gathered as the Dīrgha Āgama; those with moderate passages, as the Madhyama Āgama; those with miscellaneous passages, as the Saṃyuktā Āgama—namely, miscellaneous regarding faculties, powers, awakening factors, and the path—such miscellaneous teachings are termed Saṃyuktā. Those incrementing from one to two to three, up to a hundred, gathered by their numerical categories, are the Ekottara Āgama. The Kṣudraka refers to verses and sūtras such as pratyekabuddhas and arhats reciting their own past deeds and conditions; such sūtras and gāthā collections are called the Kṣudraka."

The Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya also says:

"From whom was this Dharma heard? From the Venerable Daolì: the Vinaya, Abhidharma, Saṃyuktā Āgama, Ekottara Āgama, Madhyama Āgama, and Dīrgha Āgama." (T22, p. 491c)

The first passage presents the order of the four Āgamas as "Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyuktā, Ekottara," with a fifth Kṣudraka—clearly influenced by the Sthavira assembly's Type 2A. The second passage lists the four Āgamas as "Saṃyuktā, Ekottara, Madhyama, Dīrgha"—Type 1E, in which the Ekottara is moved up from its place in Type 1A.

From these citations it is clear that after the second Vaiśālī council, the transmissions of the four-Āgama sequence—within the assembly and outside it—fell into six patterns: Types 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, and 2A. The latter five all derive from the original Type 1A: Types 1B, 1C, 1D, and 1E are only slight rearrangements and contain no Kṣudraka, whereas Type 2A underwent a major rearrangement through the Vaiśālī council and does include the Kṣudraka.

The Ārya Sthavira schools (Mahīśāsaka, Tāmraparṇīya, Dharmaguptaka, Haimavata, and so on) all broadly conform to Type 2A and include the Kṣudraka—this is the result of the Vaiśālī council. By contrast, the Sarvāstivāda consistently maintained only the four Āgamas without the Kṣudraka. From this one can also see that the Sarvāstivāda does not belong to the Ārya Sthavira schools and did not participate in the Vaiśālī council.

5. The Dharma Controversy, the Vātsa Compilation, and the Pāṭaliputra Council

Beginning in the 137th year after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Bhadra proclaimed the "Five Points," criticizing that the śrāvaka arhat had not attained ultimate realization. He was supported by the elder Nāga (this elder is not the bhikṣu Nāgasena), by the elder Kenyi, and by groups of monks. Combined with the doctrinal differences between the various schools, this led to a proliferation of sects. Those taking part in the controversy included disciples of the Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda lineages, the Śāriputra and Rāhula lineages, the Upāli lineage, and the Kātyāyana lineage. In the 200th year after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the elder Kauṣṭhika first compiled an Abhidharma Piṭaka, gathering the Śāriputra Abhidharma to consolidate the doctrinal position of his own school, collectively called the "Ārya Vātsīputrīya." Among the four Ārya schools formed during this period of doctrinal controversy, the Ārya Sthavira belonged to the Sthavira vinaya lineage (those who modified the sequence of precepts); the Ārya Vātsīputrīya, Ārya Mahāsāṃghika, and Ārya Sarvāstivāda belonged to the Mahāsāṃghika vinaya lineage (those who did not modify the sequence of precepts).

In the 218th year after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Aśoka was consecrated and ascended the throne. Thereafter the Dharma flourished greatly, and the leading figures of the various schools gathered at Pāṭaliputra. Differences in understanding led to a fresh doctrinal controversy, and on the counsel of Moggaliputa Tissa, Aśoka dispatched the eminent monks of each faction, together with their followers, to spread the Dharma in the borderlands. Moggaliputa Tissa also convened a Tripiṭaka compilation at Pāṭaliputra, compiling in order the Vinaya Piṭaka, the Sūtra Piṭaka, and the Abhidharma Piṭaka. On the order of the Sūtra Piṭaka compilation, volume 1 of the Samantapāsādikā states:

"Beginning with the Brahmajāla Sūtra, forty-four sūtras are wholly included in the Dīrgha Āgama. Beginning with the Khemā-bhāṇaka, two hundred fifty-two sūtras are wholly included in the Madhyama Āgama. Beginning with the Ugra-paripṛcchā, seven thousand seven hundred sixty-two sūtras are wholly included in the Saṃyuktā. Beginning with the Śata-bhāṇaka, nine thousand five hundred fifty-seven sūtras are wholly included in the Ekottara. The Dhammapada, Udāna, Itivuttaka, Nivāpa, Vimānavatthu, Petavatthu, Theragāthā, Therīgāthā, Jātaka, Niddesa, Paṭisambhidā, Buddhavaṃsa, and sundry others—wherever they are used in the Piṭaka, are divided into fourteen sections and wholly included in the Kṣudraka. This is called the Sūtra Piṭaka." (T24, p. 676a)

The content and sequence described here are, in fact, the content and sequence of the Sūtra Piṭaka at the Pāṭaliputra council. The Tāmraparṇīya Sūtra Piṭaka listed is, in order: "Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyuktā, Ekottara, Kṣudraka"—identical to the Sūtra Piṭaka sequence at the second Vaiśālī council, constituting Type 2A. In today's southern transmission's Pāli Sūtra Piṭaka, the Dīgha Nikāya contains 34 sūtras, the Majjhima Nikāya contains 152, the Saṃyutta Nikāya contains 2,298 (internally divided into the Sagāthāvagga, Nidānavagga, Khandhavagga, Āyatanavagga, and Mahāvagga), the Aṅguttara Nikāya contains 2,291, and the Khuddaka Nikāya contains fifteen collections (Khuddakapāṭha, Dhammapada, Udāna, Itivuttaka, Suttanipāta, Vimānavatthu, Petavatthu, Theragāthā, Therīgāthā, Jātaka, Niddesa, Paṭisambhidāmagga, Apadāna, Buddhavaṃsa, Cariyāpiṭaka). The list of sections roughly corresponds to the Samantapāsādikā, though the numbers of sūtras differ.

The Dharmaguptaka, also part of the Ārya Sthavira vinaya lineage, follows this sequence for its Sūtra Piṭaka. Volume 54 of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states:

"All long sūtras are gathered as the Dīrgha Āgama. All medium sūtras, as the Madhyama Āgama. Those from one matter to ten matters, from ten to eleven matters, form the Ekottara. Sūtras connected with bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās, devas, Śakra, Māra, and Brahmā are gathered as the Saṃyuktā Āgama. Sūtras such as the Jātaka, Itivuttaka, Sudharmāvatāra, Vaipulya, Adbhūta, Avadāna, Upadeśa, Padārtha, Pārāyaṇa, miscellaneous difficult sūtras, and holy-verse sūtras, gathered thus, form the Kṣudraka." (T22, p. 968b)

Here the Dharmaguptaka Sūtra Piṭaka contains the Kṣudraka, forming five Āgamas in all. The Saṃyuktā and Ekottara of Type 2A are swapped, yielding "Dīrgha, Madhyama, Ekottara, Saṃyuktā, Kṣudraka," designated Type 2B. Similarly, volume 3 of the Vinayamātṛkā, from the Haimavata branch of the Ārya Sthavira vinaya lineage, states:

"Sūtras in the various scriptures that correspond to the Dīrgha Āgama are gathered as the Dīrgha Āgama. Sūtras that correspond to the Madhyama Āgama are gathered as the Madhyama Āgama. Those that increment from one, two, three, four up to eleven are gathered as the Ekottara Āgama. Sūtras corresponding to bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, Śakra, various devas, and Brahmā are gathered as the Saṃyuktā Āgama. Dhammapada, Itivuttaka, Pārāyaṇa, and the various sūtras spoken by the Tathāgata—from sūtras down to the Upadeśa—those corresponding to the Kṣudraka are gathered as the Kṣudraka. These five collections together are called the Sūtra Piṭaka." (T24, p. 818b)

The Haimavata school here is also type 2B, and it too includes a Kṣudraka collection—so all five Āgamas are accounted for. The Record of the Dharma Spoken by Nandimitra (《难提蜜多罗所说法住记》), which appeared eight hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, likewise states:

Moreover, there is a Tripiṭaka of the Śrāvakas, namely the Sūtra Piṭaka, the Vinaya Piṭaka, and the Abhidharma Piṭaka. There are the Āgamas: the Dīrghāgama, Madhyamāgama, Ekottarāgama, Saṃyuktāgama, and the Miscellaneous (Kṣudrakāgama). (T49, p14a)

This too is type 2B, and it falls within the Sūtra Piṭaka of the "Śrāvaka Tripiṭaka." Taken together, the quotations above show that within the Ārya-Sthavira lineage, every school possesses five Āgamas.

At the Pāṭaliputra Compilation, the ordering of precepts within the Vinaya Piṭaka was also modified. Dharmaguptaka, Mahīśāsaka, and Mahinda all accepted the revised Vinaya, so the Dharmaguptaka, Haimavata, and Tambapaṇṇiya schools they led are very close to one another in Vinaya content. In the transmission of the Sūtra Piṭaka, however, Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka belong to the Mahākāśyapa–Ānanda lineage, while Mahinda belongs to the Upāli line. After the Pāṭaliputra Compilation, Dharmaguptaka traveled to Aparānta to teach the Dharma, and Mahīśāsaka went to the foothills of the Himalayas. Both preserved the content of the original four Āgamas. Mahinda, by contrast, went to Laṅkā. He based his Sūtra Piṭaka on the compilation organized by Moggaliputta Tissa, rearranged the order of individual sūtras within the four Āgamas, merged duplicates where possible, and pruned what could be spared. In this way the southern transmission took on its distinctive appearance.

Outside the Pāṭaliputra council, the Sarvāstivāda and certain Mahāsaṃghika branches belonging to the Ānanda lineage tended to transmit the canon according to one of the types 1A, 1B, 1C, or 1D. The Sarvāstivāda branch carried from Madhyāntika to Kaśmīr, for instance, swapped the Dīrghāgama and Saṃyuktāgama of type 1D, producing the four-Āgama sequence "Ekottara, Madhyama, Saṃyukta, Dīrgha"—now designated type 1F. The Śābādīvini Vibhāṣā (《萨婆多毗尼毗婆沙》), juan 1, puts it this way:

For the benefit of devas and humans, the Buddha preached according to circumstances and had it compiled as the Ekottara, which is what those who exhort and convert practice. For beings of sharp faculties, he preached profound meanings, called the Madhyama, which is what those who seek learning practice. He preached various samādhi-related dharmas, which is the Saṃyukta, practiced by those who engage in seated meditation. To refute heterodox teachers, there is the Dīrgha. (T23, p503c)

Some Mahāsaṃghika branches transmitted the Sūtra Piṭaka as type 1D—again through the Mahākāśyapa–Ānanda system. A representative figure of the Aśokan era who moved to South India is Mahādeva (大天, 摩诃提婆). The Fenbie Gongde Lun (《分别功德论》), juan 1, says:

The principal sūtras are divided into four sections by meaning. Where passages are mixed in content and meaning, one should arrange them according to events and principles, with greater and lesser teachings placed in sequence. First comes the Ekottara; next, called the Madhyama; the third, the Dīrgha; the fourth, the Saṃyukta.... The so-called Kṣudraka Piṭaka is not spoken by a single person: some parts are spoken by the Buddha, some by his disciples, some are praises chanted by devas, and some recount the past lives of bodhisattvas through three asaṃkhyeyas. Its content and meaning are manifold, exceeding the Tripiṭaka—hence it is called the Kṣudraka Piṭaka.... Only Mahādeva alone is a great being (mahāsattva); all the rest are of lesser caliber.... The teachings of the six pāramitās belong entirely to the Bodhisattva Piṭaka, and should not be mingled with the Tripiṭaka.... Ānanda entrusted the Ekottarāgama to Uttara (优多罗).... Uttara's disciple, called Suprabuddha (善觉), received the Ekottara from his teacher, having mastered eleven items, whereupon Uttara passed into parinirvāṇa. The Tripiṭaka currently found in foreign lands is entirely that which Suprabuddha transmitted, passed from teacher to disciple without interruption to the present day. (T25, p32a)

The passage presents four Āgamas in the order Ekottara, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Saṃyukta, alongside an additional "Kṣudraka Piṭaka" and a "Bodhisattva Piṭaka," and singles out Mahādeva for praise—a clearly Mahāsaṃghika tradition. One important line of Sūtra Piṭaka transmission runs: 1. Mahākāśyapa–Ānanda; 2. Uttara; 3. Suprabuddha. The "Kṣudraka Piṭaka" here is not the same as the southern Khuddaka Nikāya, because its "content and meaning are manifold, exceeding the Tripiṭaka." The same holds for the Zhuanji San Zang Ji Za Zang Zhuan (《撰集三藏及杂藏传》), also of type 1D, which states:

The sūtras are divided into four parts, called the Āgamas: the Ekottara, Madhyama, Dīrgha, and Saṃyukta.... The Kṣudraka [contains] many past-life accounts and stories of [bodhisattva] births; it differs from the Āgamas and is therefore called the Kṣudraka Piṭaka. The dharmas of the Kṣudraka Piṭaka praise the bodhisattva's births; the meanings contained here exceed those of the Tripiṭaka. (T33, p3a)

Here again, alongside the four Āgamas of "Ekottara, Madhyama, Dīrgha, Saṃyukta," a "Kṣudraka Piṭaka" is set apart to glorify the bodhisattva. This Kṣudraka is not folded into the four Āgamas, nor is it the same as the Sthavira school's Khuddaka Nikāya. So the overall sequencing of the Āgamas after the Pāṭaliputra Compilation—differing from sect to sect—gave rise to eight types in all: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 2A, and 2B. The first six evolved from the First Rājagṛha Compilation; the latter two were introduced through the further adjustments of the Second Vaiśālī Compilation.

VI. The Transmission of the Āgamas and Internal Reordering of Their Sūtras

The Saṃyuktāgama (杂阿含) and Madhyamāgama that survive in the northern transmission are Sarvāstivāda texts; the Dīrghāgama belongs to the Dharmaguptaka; and the Ekottarāgama to the Mahāsaṃghika. All four trace back through the Ānanda lineage. The opening generations of each transmission look like this:

• Sarvāstivāda: 1. Mahākāśyapa–Ānanda; 2. [unnamed]; 3. [unnamed]; 4. name missing; 5. Madhyāntika.
• Dharmaguptaka: 1. Mahākāśyapa–Ānanda; 2. Sarvakāma, Sumati, Revata, Kuṇḍavaiśāḍika, Yaśas (耶舍), and Sannaphasvāda; 3. [unnamed]; 4. [unnamed]; 5. name missing; 6. Dharmaguptaka.
• Mahāsaṃghika (Caitika, 制多山部): 1. Mahākāśyapa–Ānanda; 2. Uttara; 3. Suprabuddha; 4. name missing; 5. Mahādeva.

In the Vinaya transmission, Dharmaguptaka belongs to Sonaka's branch of the Upāli line, while Mahādeva belongs to Ṣaṇḍilāpiṭaka's branch—the former representing the in-council Vinaya lineage of the Vaiśālī Compilation, the latter the lineage outside the council.

The five Pali Nikāyas of the southern transmission belong to the Tambapaṇṇiya school of the Sthaviras. The Sūtra Piṭaka was recited by Ānanda, but after the Pāṭaliputra Compilation it came under the influence of the following Upāli line: 1. Upāli; 2. Dāsaka (大象拘/陀娑婆罗); 3. Sonaka; 4. Siggava and Candavajja; 5. Moggaliputta Tissa; 6. Mahinda. A few words on each figure: Upāli was an early disciple of the Buddha after his enlightenment, strict in observance of the precepts and widely praised; he retained an enormous amount of the sūtras and Vinaya in memory. So at the Rājagṛha Compilation, once Ānanda had recited the Sūtra Piṭaka, Upāli recited the Vinaya. Within the Vinaya, alongside the circumstances prompting each rule, many of the same episodes were also recited, though with briefer exposition. Ānanda, a disciple from the Buddha's "middle and later periods" and foremost in broad learning, recited the Sūtra Piṭaka. The two men simply had different habits of mind in retaining the texts—Ānanda gravitated toward detail, Upāli toward concision, a reflection of their very different backgrounds. The Buddha taught students according to their capacities, opening the Dharma in deeper or shallower, fuller or terser forms to different individuals; as a result, the sūtras and Vinaya passages the disciples retained came to differ in subtle ways. The Mahāvibhāṣā (《大毗婆沙论》), juan 24, records that in order to reach beings of every disposition, the Buddha expounded pratītyasamutpāda in onefold, twofold, threefold, fourfold, and even up to elevenfold and twelvefold formulations (T27, p122a). Once this principle is grasped, the differences between the southern and northern Āgamas become intelligible. One key lies in the contrast between the two reciters: Upāli's preference for brevity drew him to passages from the Buddha's earlier and middle periods; Ānanda's taste for thoroughness drew him to those from the middle and later periods. In the middle period the Buddha organized his teachings into the ninefold division, and in the later period into the twelvefold division. Though Ānanda used the twelvefold scheme as his standard when compiling, he did not exclude ninefold formulations; Upāli, by contrast, took the ninefold scheme as his framework. That is the root of the northern-southern divergence. At the Vaiśālī Compilation, the presiding elder belonged to the Ānanda branch. At the Pāṭaliputra Compilation, Moggaliputta Tissa of the Upāli branch presided, rearranging both Piṭakas and bringing the sūtras into closer alignment with the Vinaya.

The northern Saṃyuktāgama Sūtra (《杂阿含经》) contains 1,362 sūtras as it stands today (according to the Taishō Tripiṭaka—though sūtras 604, 640, and 641 are Aśoka sūtras mistakenly inserted by later editors); the Madhyamāgama (《中阿含经》) contains 222; the Ekottarāgama (《增一阿含经》) runs from one dharma up to eleven, totaling 472; and the Dīrghāgama (《长阿含经》) contains 30. Each of these four Āgamas was transmitted through disciples of the Ānanda lineage. The Saṃyuktāgama and Madhyamāgama were held by the Sarvāstivāda, which did not take part in either the Vaiśālī or the Pāṭaliputra Compilation; consequently, the order of sūtras within them has not been substantially disturbed, and their content and arrangement still preserve much of the shape they had at the First Compilation at Rājagṛha. The Ekottarāgama, likewise transmitted by the Mahāsaṃghika from outside the council, did not undergo the later reordering either, and it too retains a great deal of its original form.

Whether the Dīrghāgama transmitted by the Dharmaguptaka has had its internal order rearranged is best answered by looking at how this school came into being. At the Second Vaiśālī Compilation, the in-council Sthavira Vinaya lineage was formed, drawing together some disciples of the Ānanda, Upāli, and Aniruddha branches. What the Vaiśālī council did was change the ordering of the four Āgamas to "Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyukta, Ekottara" and produce a "Kṣudraka Piṭaka"; the individual sūtras within each Āgama, however, were left in place. By the time of the Pāṭaliputra Compilation, certain Ānanda-branch disciples within the Sthavira Vinaya lineage held back from this council and went on to form the Mahīśāsaka; others took part—Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka among them. The Upāli-branch disciple Mahinda also joined. Under the leadership of these three, the Dharmaguptaka, Haimavata, and Tambapaṇṇiya schools were respectively formed. After the Pāṭaliputra Compilation, Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka accepted the reordering of precepts decided at the council (giving rise respectively to the Four-Part Vinaya 四分律 and the Vinayamātṛkā 毗尼母律). On the sūtra side, however, they held to their own Ānanda-branch Āgamas and did not rearrange the sūtras within them. The Dīrghāgama transmitted by the Dharmaguptaka therefore still preserves much of the ordering of the First Rājagṛha Compilation.

In short, the northern Saṃyuktāgama, Madhyamāgama, Ekottarāgama, and Dīrghāgama have accumulated small additions and omissions in wording over the long course of their transmission, but in content and order they still preserve much of their original form. The number of sūtras in each Āgama may have shifted at one time or another, but their overall arrangement has not changed materially. The southern Tambapaṇṇiya school tells a different story: Mahinda, a disciple in the lineage of Moggaliputta Tissa, received the sūtras and Vinaya after Tissa had presided over the Pāṭaliputra Compilation. Tissa successively compiled the Vinaya, Sūtra, and Abhidharma Piṭakas; in the Vinaya he reordered the precepts, and in the Sūtra Piṭaka he reclassified the numerous individual sūtras across the four Āgamas, rearranging them extensively by subject. The resulting ordering differs sharply from what had previously been held by other schools. After the Pāṭaliputra Compilation, Mahinda embraced this comprehensive reorganization of both Piṭakas carried out by Moggaliputta Tissa of the Upāli line, and the Āgamas he carried south to Laṅkā came to differ profoundly in their internal order from the northern recensions (see, for example, the Chinese-Pali comparative table appended to the "Āgama Section" of the Foguang Da Zangjing 《佛光大藏经》). With this background in place, we can turn to the internal reordering within each school's Āgamas.

(1) At the Rājagṛha Compilation, the scope of the sūtra collection was already confined to topics such as the skandhas, āyatanas, pratītyasamutpāda, āhāra, the truths, and smṛtyupasthāna. The Saṃyuktāgama was compiled first, followed by the Madhyamāgama, Dīrghāgama, and Ekottarāgama. To help readers keep hold of the sequence, udāna-gāthās (嗢柁南颂) were composed, summarizing sūtra titles and meanings. Verses that sum up the meanings in this way give rise to mātṛkā (本母/摩呾理迦). The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra (《瑜伽师地论》), juan 85, explains:

When one speaks of the mātṛkā of the sūtras: in order to discriminate the sūtras spoken, cited, praised, and esteemed by the Tathāgata, as well as those of the former sages—just as a word's meaning is unclear without its mātṛkā, so the meaning of sūtras not encompassed by mātṛkā is obscure and unclear. The opposite case clarifies the meaning. Hence it is called mātṛkā. (T30, p773a)

Because the mātṛkā of the Saṃyuktāgama are preserved in juan 85 through 99 of the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, we can still trace the content and arrangement of the original Saṃyuktāgama, and so see how it was later rearranged.

(2) The overall content and arrangement of the Saṃyuktāgama, as reflected in the mātṛkā of the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, is summed up in the following master udāna-gāthās (T30, p773a):

• A1 — dhātus, saṃkṣepa, deśanā, saṃjñā, saṃskāra; kṣipra, pratipatti, hetu, prahāṇa, aṅga; dvau pīṇḍau, jñāna, adhiṣṭhāna, vivāda; alobha, alpaiśanya, praveśa.
• A2 — prathama vyavasthā, jñānena tulyam, samatā, ādi; antya jñeyam vairāgyādi.
• A3 — hetu-sabhāgatādi; kevala-karma-pratyayādi; uttama-rāgādi; cara-antya-sthitādi.
• A4 — vyavasthā-dvau satyādi; sparśa-pratyayādi; nirodha-āhārādi; antya yukti-siddhādi.
• A5 — samudāya-ādi prabhāva-ādi; vedanā-ādi paryanta.
• A6 — smṛtyupasthāna-samyakprahāṇa; ṛddhipāda-indriya-bala; bodhyaṅga-mārga-aṅga-smṛti; śaikṣa-pratisaṃyukta antyam.

A1 covers the Skandha-saṃyukta; A2 and A3, the Āyatana-saṃyukta; A4, the Pratītyasamutpāda-, Āhāra-, and Satya-saṃyukta; A5, the Dhātu- and Vedanā-saṃyukta; and A6, the Bodhipakṣya-saṃyukta, comprising smṛtyupasthāna, samyakprahāṇa, ṛddhipāda, indriya, bala, bodhyaṅga, mārga-aṅga, smṛti, śaikṣa, and pratisaṃyukta. Even from the master gāthās alone it's clear that the Saṃyuktāgama was put together in the order of skandhas, āyatanas, pratītyasamutpāda, and so on. Each master gāthā is in turn broken into "specific udāna-gāthās" (别嗢柁南) that spell out its contents; the master verse A1, for instance, unfolds through eleven specific verses.

(3) The master verse A1 of the Skandha-saṃyukta has the following eleven specific verses:

a. Definition of the realm, fruit of prior observation; the foolish mark of impermanence and its fixed boundary; the two progressive stages to be known; neither annihilation nor permanence, defilement and purity.

b. The fruit of the concise teaching ultimately falls into enumerated categories; the threefold omniscient wisdom that cuts the fetters and grants liberation; the spoken verses on views, pride, defilement, and purity; the four abandonments and three perfections.

c. The eye of folly toward form and action, the mark of victory; the nine wisdoms free of delusion and the stages of higher attainment; the three aspects of practice distinguished through self-view; the three concluding sections on the aggregates, characteristics of dharmas, and so forth, treated at length.

d. Swift penetration into the realm of self-realizing wisdom; contentment with the round of becoming, following the current; discerning the marks of knowledge and cessation, establishing food for the path as its counter; and the category of the Teacher's deeds, treated at length thereafter.

e. The victory of the two wisdoms through their cause; the five positions of the ordinary person; the two kinds of distinction in views; regarding these, the Noble Teaching is one and the same.

f. The real and manifest exposition of the branches of cessation; the unequaled teaching on the conditions of action; the four kinds of beings; the four paths and five ultimate [attainments].

g. The summary by section in two parts and their three distinguishing features; resolve that cuts the flow of saṃsāra and the nature of existence; the impurity of the unwholesome and the purity of the wholesome; and the distinction between teachers of true and false Dharma.

h. The two wisdoms and their matters; the transformation of practices such as pleasure; sūtras taught upon request and without request; the two kinds of nirvāṇa.

i. The sprout of dispute, the great defilement of views, the single vehicle of training, and the four fears; among true and false teaching, the difference in recollection of past abodes.

j. The marks of one without aversion and without desire; the clear questions and answers; hindrances, marvels, and absence of cause; the ruin of delusion whether pure or defiled, treated last.

k. The three records of contentment and such; the grounds of doubt and delusion about teachings resembling the true Dharma; the Master's record on questions left undeclared and the decline [of the Dharma]; the three views of external fullness and the ordinary person's marks, concluding the section.

These eleven individual stanzas are the doctrinal outline for the "Aggregates Section." Likewise, the "Sense Sphere Section" has eight individual stanzas, the "Dependent Origination, Food, and Truths Sections" have six, the "Realms and Feeling Sections" have four, and the "Factors of Enlightenment Section" has twelve.

(4) The northern Saṃyukta Āgama arranges its sūtras according to the overall and individual stanzas given above. In the course of later transmission and translation, some disorder was inevitable, but the order on the whole follows the stanzas, and some passages may well have been rearranged during the centuries of transmission in Kashmir. When we set these stanzas beside the surviving northern Saṃyukta Āgama (which belongs to the Sarvāstivāda school), the following texts were either removed or relocated to the Madhyama Āgama: 1. Mahākarma Vibhaṅga Sūtra (分别大业经); 2. ten sūtras from the "Karma Correspondence Section" (业相应品); 3. [He + Xin] Breaking Sūtra (和＋心破经); 4. Ferrying Sūtra (度经); 5. Nigaṇṭha Sūtra (尼干经); 6. Lesser Emptiness Sūtra (小空经); 7. Greater Emptiness Sūtra (大空经); 8. Discerning the Six Sense Spheres Sūtra (分别六处经); 9. Kṛśā Gautamī Non-Contention Sūtra (拘楼瘦无诤经); 10. Great Cause Sūtra (大因经); 11. Wisdom Sūtra (智经); 12. Seven Chariots Sūtra (七车经); 13. Extinction of the Outflows Sūtra (漏尽经); 14. Elephant's Footprint Analogy Sūtra (象迹喻经); 15. Many Realms Sūtra (多界经); 16. Long Life King Section on Sense Spheres Sūtra (长寿王品说处经); 17. Sūtra on the Fulfillment of Precepts (成就戒经); 18. Lion's Roar Sūtra (师子吼经); 19. Discerning the Six Realms Sūtra (分别六界经); 20. Good Dharmas Sūtra (善法经); 21. Root of All Dharmas Sūtra (诸法本经); 22. Sūtra on Fulfillment of the Holy Life (达梵行经); 23. Anāthapiṇḍika Sūtra (阿奴波经); 24. Sūtra on the Unshakable Pure Path (净不动道经). The Brahmā's Motion Sūtra (梵动经) was moved over to the Dīrgha Āgama.

(5) The southern Saṃyutta Nikāya (相应部) was reshuffled on a large scale at the Pāṭaliputra Council under Moggaliputta Tissa, who cut away repetition wherever he could. As a result, several sūtras originally assigned to the Saṃyukta Āgama — the Lesser Emptiness, Greater Emptiness, Discerning the Six Sense Spheres, Kṛśā Gautamī Non-Contention, Elephant's Footprint Analogy, Many Realms, Lion's Roar, Discerning the Six Realms, and Unshakable Pure Path — were shifted to the Majjhima Nikāya (中部). The Extinction of the Outflows, Great Section on Sense Spheres, Fulfillment of Precepts, Good Dharmas, Root of All Dharmas, Fulfillment of the Holy Life, and Anāthapiṇḍika were moved to the Aṅguttara Nikāya (增支部). The Great Cause Sūtra was placed in the Dīgha Nikāya (长部).

(6) The southern Dīgha Nikāya came into being when the third division of the original Dīrgha Āgama was moved ahead of the first (with the Brahmā's Motion Sūtra and Samaṇaphala Sūtra placed at the very front), and the second division was then rearranged. The numerically structured Ekottara Āgama (增一阿含经) was pulled out entirely. As for the fourth division, the Lokaprajñapti Sūtra (世记经), and the Trisaṃgīti Sūtra (三聚经) within the second division, these were added in later by the Dharmaguptaka school; the southern transmission has no equivalents.

(7) The southern Majjhima Nikāya was formed by moving every text of the numerically-aggregating type out of the original Madhyama Āgama and into the Aṅguttara Nikāya — or deleting them outright — to keep the material from overlapping. Of the original eighteen sections, the first, second, fourth, fifth, tenth, and eleventh lost large portions of their texts through this winnowing. What remained was regrouped by topic (subject matter, speaker, and the like), with sūtras drawn in from the Saṃyukta Āgama and Ekottara Āgama to round out each section. Working from the principle of ten sūtras per section, the final collection settled at fifteen sections.

The southern Aṅguttara Nikāya was compiled following the traditional rule of numerical increment — one, two, three, and so on up through nine. The Khuddaka Nikāya (小部), for its part, took shape when the Miscellaneous Collection (杂藏) put together at the Vaiśālī Council was re-edited and refined. Buddhaghosa held that the four Nikāyas each carry their own flavor: the Dīgha brings auspicious joy, the Majjhima dispels doubt, the Saṃyutta reveals the true meaning, and the Aṅguttara satisfies aspiration. This, however, was Buddhaghosa reading the character of the four Āgamas after Tissa's council — not how they had originally been organized.

(8) At the Pāṭaliputra Council, the Vinaya Piṭaka was compiled first and the Sūtra Piṭaka only afterward, with the requirement that the two be kept as consistent as possible and with the śrāvaka teachings at the center. Moggaliputta Tissa drew his Vinaya lineage from Upāli's tradition, so when he compiled the Vinaya Piṭaka he naturally followed Upāli's recitations. With the Sūtra Piṭaka, he trimmed redundancies and — wherever discrepancies appeared — adjusted the sūtras to match the Vinaya. Because Upāli's memory was strongest for the Buddha's early and middle-period teachings, the sūtra collection chosen at Pāṭaliputra has a somewhat more "archaic" feel in its wording than what Ānanda had retained. This is why the southern transmission took the ninefold classification of teachings (九分教) as its standard and not the twelvefold (十二分教). Once we see this, it becomes clear that the materials of both the southern and northern transmissions deserve to be taken seriously.

(9) Mahinda's lineage received its Vinaya, Sūtra, and Abhidharma Piṭakas primarily through Moggaliputta Tissa. At his ordination, it is true, he took Tissa (a Theravāda elder) as his preceptor (upādhyāya), Mahādeva (a Mahāsāṃghika elder) as his ācārya for the ten precepts, and Madhyāntika (a Sarvāstivāda elder) as his ācārya for the full ordination. What he carried to Sri Lanka, however, came almost entirely from Tissa's Upāli-line tradition. This shows that during the period of the early sectarian divisions, the Vinaya and Sūtra Piṭakas passed down through distinct lines, and what each lineage chose to preserve was shaped by its own perspective.

(10) Shortly after the time of Aśoka, the phrase "those who know the Five Collections" appears on stone edicts, clearly indicating the existence of five collections. The pillars erected in Aśoka's name do not contain the words "five collections" or "four Āgamas" — but that omission is no proof the collections did not yet exist. Aśoka's edicts were meant to encourage people to do good; they had no occasion to name the collections. The various Buddhist schools dispersed across India and its neighbors all preserve the tradition of at least four Āgamas in their Vinaya or Sūtra Piṭakas. The simplest explanation, given the foregoing discussion, is that an initial common compilation took place, after which the teachings spread region by region and the shared inheritance was kept intact. The four Āgamas, on this account, should already have been compiled at the First Council in Rājagṛha. At the Vaiśālī and Pāṭaliputra Councils the order of the four Āgamas was reshuffled, and the "Miscellaneous Collection" was added on, making five. Only with this picture in place can we account for the fact that every school can claim a compilation of the four Āgamas.

(11) Five centuries after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the Sarvāstivāda school compiled its Abhidharma Piṭaka. The Biography of the Master Vasubandhu (《婆薮盘豆法师传》) records:

Kātyāyanīputra, together with various arhats and bodhisattvas, sorted through the material: where a passage did not conflict with the Sūtra or Vinaya, he inscribed it into a treatise; where it did conflict, he set it aside. The passages he kept were grouped by subject matter — passages clarifying wisdom went into the Wisdom Compilation; passages clarifying concentration went into the Concentration Compilation, and so on for the rest. The Eight Compilations came to fifty thousand verses. When these were finished, [Kātyāyanīputra] wished to compose a Vibhāṣā commentary on them. … When Aśvaghoṣa arrived in Kashmir, Kātyāyanīputra explained the Eight Compilations in order; the arhats and bodhisattvas deliberated together, and once the meaning was settled, Aśvaghoṣa set it down in writing. Over twelve years he completed the Vibhāṣā, running to a million verses. Vibhāṣā means "extensive exposition." The work finished, Kātyāyanīputra at once set up a stone inscription: "Henceforth, those who study these teachings may not leave the land of Kashmir; the texts of the Eight Compilations and the Vibhāṣā likewise may not be carried abroad — lest the other schools and the Mahāyāna corrupt this true Dharma." (T50, p189a)

From this we can see how exacting the Sarvāstivāda's standards were for its Abhidharma Piṭaka — and by the same token, it did not lightly tamper with the Sūtra or Vinaya Piṭakas it held. Because the Sarvāstivāda, after the Rājagṛha Council, took no further part in the later councils, its Sūtra Piṭaka has preserved the shape of the sūtras as Ānanda first compiled them. We can confirm this by seeing that the Sarvāstivāda Saṃyukta Āgama matches the synopsis (本母) in scroll eighty-five of the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra. The four Āgamas of Ānanda's lineage that survive in the northern transmission today, in other words, retain a good deal of their earliest form — and we ought not assume, just because a passage differs from the southern recension, that it must have been altered or added later.

(12) The contrast between the Upāli and Ānanda lineages on the ninefold and twelvefold classifications of teachings can be illustrated by setting the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya beside the Madhyama Āgama. According to scroll 32 of the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya, the transmission of this Vinaya runs: 1. Upāli, 2. Dāsaka, 3. Sonaka, 4. Kittika, 5. Gopaka, 6. Dhamme — an unmistakable Upāli lineage. After the First Council, it underwent no major revisions (at Vaiśālī and Pāṭaliputra it remained with the monks outside the main council). Scroll one records:

(Venerable Śāriputra) said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, while I was sitting alone in absorption, on emerging from that samādhi this thought came to me: what is the cause that the Dharma does not long endure after the Tathāgata's passing? And what is the cause that it does long endure?" The Buddha told Śāriputra: "When a Tathāgata does not extensively expound the sūtras, geya, prophecy, gāthā, udāna, itivṛttaka, jātaka, vaipulya, and adbhutadharma for his disciples — Śāriputra, when a Tathāgata does not lay down precepts for the śrāvakas and does not establish the prātimokṣa — that is why the Dharma does not long endure after his passing. … Śāriputra, because the Tathāgata extensively expounds the nine divisions of the Dharma for his disciples, lays down precepts for the śrāvakas, and establishes the prātimokṣa, that is why the teaching does long endure after his passing." (T22, p227b)

So at the First Council, when Upāli compiled the Vinaya and recited from memory, what came out was "the ninefold division of the teachings." The northern Madhyama Āgama and Saṃyukta Āgama, by contrast, both belong to the Sarvāstivāda tradition, whose lineage runs: 1. Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda; 2. (name lost); 3. (name lost); 4. (name lost); 5. Madhyāntika and Śāṇakavāsin. The Sūtra on Good Dharmas (善法经) at the head of Madhyama Āgama scroll one says:

"What does it mean for a monk to know the Dharma? It means a monk knows the sūtra, geya, prophecy, gāthā (= 口＋他), nidāna, itivṛttaka, jātaka, vaipulya, adbhutadharma, and the explanation of meaning — that is what it means for a monk to know the Dharma." (T1, p421a)

Because the Sarvāstivāda Sūtra Piṭaka descends directly from Ānanda, and because this school does not belong to the Sthavira Vinaya lineage and so did not take part in the Vaiśālī or Pāṭaliputra Councils, its Sūtra Piṭaka changed very little. From the Madhyama and Saṃyukta Āgamas we can see that when Ānanda compiled the Sūtra Piṭaka at the First Council, what he recited was "the twelvefold division of the teachings" — not the ninefold. The Buddha had gathered his teachings into nine categories in the middle period of his ministry and into twelve in the later period; what Upāli and Ānanda retained in memory therefore differs, but both currents trace back to the Buddha's word. At the Pāṭaliputra Council the twelvefold division in the Sūtra Piṭaka was changed to the ninefold to bring it into line with the Vinaya. Among Ānanda-lineage schools like the Sarvāstivāda, the reverse move may have happened at the Kashmir Abhidharma Council — the ninefold in the Vinaya being shifted to the twelvefold to match the Sūtra. Both versions flow from the Buddha's teaching, but distinct lineages and councils produced the differences we now see. The same kind of divergence accounts for the differing southern and northern recensions of the "nine-member" and "twelve-member" versions of dependent origination. As for the differing totals in scripture counts and textual variations between the two transmissions — given the long centuries of oral transmission in India, some addition and loss was bound to occur; but wholesale reworkings are hard to imagine, since any major change would have required the formal consent of the assembled saṅgha at a council.

VII. The Origins and Development of Mahāyāna Scriptures

Once we have a clearer picture of how the śrāvaka scriptures came to be compiled, returning to the Buddha's own lifetime makes it much easier to see where the Mahāyāna sūtras came from and how they spread:

1. Over more than forty years of teaching, the Buddha instructed his listeners according to their capacities. The substance of his teaching was organized into the ninefold division in the middle of his ministry and into the twelvefold division in the later period.

2. To begin with: are Buddhist sūtras limited to words spoken directly by the Buddha? Scroll 13 of the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya says:

"Dharma: what the Buddha spoke, and what the Buddha approved. What the Buddha spoke is what the Buddha himself uttered. What the Buddha approved is what his disciples and others spoke, provided the Buddha endorsed it." (T22, p336a)

Scroll 9 of the Sarvāstivāda Daśavargika Vinaya (《十诵律》) says:

"Dharma may be spoken by the Buddha, or by his disciples, or by the devas, or by the seers, or by emanated beings." (T23, p71b)

The Record of the Abiding of the Dharma Spoken by Nandimitra (《难提蜜多罗所说法住记》) likewise records:

"Within this treasury of the true Dharma, [sūtras] may be spoken by the Buddha, or by bodhisattvas, or by śrāvakas, or by the seers, or by the devas, or by the wise." (T49, p14b)

So Buddhist sūtras are, principally, the Buddha's own words — but the words of his disciples or of the devas, once endorsed by the Buddha, also count. In later compilations, sūtras that the Buddha had not personally endorsed — like the Vaiśākha Sūtra (弊宿经) in Dīrgha Āgama scroll 7 — were nonetheless taken in, provided their content was consistent with the Dharma and precepts. As the teaching continued to unfold, any passage that could be brought into line with the four (or three) Dharma seals was accepted by the saṅgha. The fact that sūtras admit "the speech of seers or devas" (as we see in several passages of the Dīrgha Āgama) is a thread we can trace forward into many Mahāyāna sūtras, and even into the main currents of the later Vajrayāna literature.

3. The Buddha's parinirvāṇa lay four or five centuries behind when Mahāyāna suddenly emerged and began to spread, pushed along by a generation of dedicated Mahāyāna practitioners. The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Parinirvāṇa of Mañjuśrī (《佛说文殊师利般涅槃经》) says:

"Four hundred and fifty years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, [Mañjuśrī] will go to the Snow Mountains, and there expound the twelve divisions of the sūtras for five hundred seers, train and ripen those five hundred seers, and bring them to the stage of non-retrogression." (T14, p480c)

The five hundred seers here are Mahāyāna practitioners cultivating the bodhisattva path. Chapter 13 of Tāranātha's History of Indian Buddhism also records that shortly after the Kashmir Council, five hundred ācāryas arose — among them the venerable Abhidhāruka, Vigatarāgadhruvaprajña, Tivyakaragupta, Rāhulamitra, Jñānapāda, and the great upāsaka Saṅghamitra. Receiving instruction from Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattvas, they passed on Mahāyāna teachings. The western king Lakṣmīśvara — known as the "Horse-Examining King" — built five hundred vihāras, invited these teachers to teach in them, and oversaw the copying of Mahāyāna sūtras on a vast scale (see Tāranātha, History of Indian Buddhism, ch. 13, trans. Wang Yinuan, Buddhist Book Bureau, 1978), and so Mahāyāna was propelled into a broad movement. Two or three generations later came Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva, whose treatises gave Mahāyāna Mādhyamaka thought its definitive form — and from there Mahāyāna teaching spread across India.

4. Most of the lineages that carried Mahāyāna forward belonged to Ānanda's branch of transmission; they gathered their Mahāyāna materials into a separate "Bodhisattva Piṭaka" (菩萨藏) rather than mingling them with the four Āgamas. The coming of the five hundred Mahāyāna practitioners, followed by Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva's exposition of Mādhyamaka, finally allowed Mahāyāna to take hold across India. From the Buddha's own time through the unfolding of Mahāyāna, what we see is a single continuous process of dependent origination, unbroken in its flow.

(Originally published in the Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, Issue 4, 1991; the section on the origins of Mahāyāna has been revised in the present version.)