Professor N. A.de S. Amaratunga Posted on October 2nd, 2019
As Buddha had seen by experience that life is Anithya, Dukka, Anathma” (impermanent, sorrow, no
Professor N. A.de S. Amaratunga Posted on October 2nd, 2019
As Buddha had seen by experience that life is Anithya, Dukka, Anathma” (impermanent, sorrow, no-self) and as he did not want to believe what he could not perceive with his senses, he had to fight against the two extreme metaphysical views that were present in his time; the theory of a permanent self and the theory of nihilism or annihilation. In Kaccayanagotta sutta (Samyuttanikaya) Budda had said; Everything exists – this Kaccayana is one extreme. Everything does not exist – this is the second extreme. Kaccayana without approaching both these extremes Tathagata preaches the doctrine through the middle.” Then he went on to preach the Paticcasamuppadaya (Dependent Coorigination). Buddha had also rejected another metaphysical view that attempted to introduce transcendentalism (lokuthara) into Nirvana, Buddha-hood and Arahath-hood. However, after Buddha’s Parinirvana” these views continued to be propagated and it had an impact on his disciples and Sanga. Consequently within the Sanga community itself dissenting views of permanence, nihilism substantialism,and also transcendentalism, took root and caused rupture and formation of breakaway groups. In addition to these internal conflicts there were other philosophies such as Brahmanism that were on the ascendancy. Thus there was a need for Buddhist philosophers to come forward and meet these challenges from time to time.
Soon after Buddha’s parinirvana” the younger monks, saddened by the demise of their beloved teacher and also perhaps influenced by other religions and philosophies, started to make the historical Buddha a larger than life being and built stupas and monuments in his memory. They attempted to make Buddha a transcendental phenomenon. The elder monks resisted these developments but the trend among the younger monks continued to grow in strength. In an attempt to rid the Dhamma of these impurities and also to formulate a system to preserve the Dhamma the first Dhamma Sangayanava” was held three months after Buddha’s demise by the older monks. This caused the first rupture of the Sanga. The Sthavira” group consisting of elder monks was formed. Theravada (Elders’ School) the oldest of the existing schools is considered to be the descendant of Sthavira”. The other breakaway group may have later developed into Mahayana and its branches.
Theravada could not continue without dissension and internal conflict. The same disruptive forces that promoted substantialist and nihilistic views continued to plague it. As a result the second Dhamma Sangayanava” was held about seventy years after Buddha parinirvana”. During this period Buddhism had undergone much decay due to lack of royal sponsorship. Further due to the challenge mounted by opponents of the theory of Anathma”, particularly regarding the question of responsibility in the operation of the theory of Karma” various ideas were introduced by groups of monks. This resulted in the formation of further breakaway groups such as Puggalavadins” who said there is a puggala” (person) in addition to the panchaskandya” (five aggregates) which could take responsibility for karma” ; Sarvasthivadins” who attempted to get over the problem by introducing a permanent element called Svabhava” into the formula of being; and Sauthanthrika” who advocated a nihilist approach through their Kshana Vadaya”. In addition to these challenges Brahmanism was in the ascendancy.
King Dharmasoka in the 3rd Century BC was planning to propagate the Dhamma by sending Dhammaduta” to foreign countries. He wanted to hold a council before he undertook this task to make sure that the Dhamma thus spread would be free of flaws and consequently the Third Dhamma Sangayanawa” was held. The Third Dhamma Sangayanava was conducted by Venerable Moggaliputha-tissa who delivered the sermon called Kathawattu” (Points of Controversy) which is included in the Pali Tripitaka. The venerable monk had at this council refuted the three major flaws that had crept into the Dhamma ; puggalavada”, sabbatthavada” (realism) and lokuttaravada” (transcendentalism).What was his method of argument? To refute transcendentalism he showed that Buddha was a normal human being who was born, lived and died naturally by referring to historical events and suttas where Buddha had begun the preaching in the first person language. Venerable Moggalliputha-tissa’s argument against Puggalavada” (Personalism) and Sabbatthavada” (Realism) was to show that there is no ultimately real person who exists under all circumstances. He first asks