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Mid-term Paper: Fall Semester 2015

Subject: REL 645 # Indian Buddhism
Presented to: Prof. Dr. Miroj Sakya
Student Name: Pisit Maneewong
Student ID: 11400056
Submitted on: October 12, 2015
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The Sautrāntika School: Its origin in Early Buddhism

1. Introduction

The purpose of this Mid-term paper is to present about the Sautrāntika School and Its

origin in Early Buddhism. When I talked about early Buddhism, I mentioned about the time

after the Buddha passed away, and started from that period to the fourth council that the Sangha

has conflicted on the opinions about the practice and philosophical issues, especially concerning

the interpretation about the Abhidharma doctrine, which probably caused the different idea

which lead to the differing schools and different ideas.1

There were four main Buddhist schools in early Buddhism after Buddha passed away;

(1).Vaibhāṣika, (2). Sautrāntika, (3). Yogācāra and (4). Mādhyamika. The Vibhāṣika and

Sautrāntika School belong to Hinayāna(Theravāda), Yogācāra and Mādhyamika represent to

Mahāyāna. Look like Sautrāntika School is supposedly more progressive and more concerned

with the Buddha‟s teachings than other schools.

This mid-term paper I would really like to study more about this Sautrāntika School.

Therefore, this paper is focused on the Sautrāntika School only. First of all, I would like to

1
Lamotte, Etienne. History of Indian Buddhism: from the origins to the Saka era. ouvain-la- euve
Universit catholique de ouvain, nstitut orientaliste. . pp.517-548
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present the history of Sautrāntika, its origin and development. Later I would to present about the

principle doctrine of Sautrāntika and the conclusion.

2. The History of Sautrāntika School

The historical background of the Sautrāntika is not known clearly from the sources, Some

Scholar said that Sautrantika separated from the Sarvastivada before Christian era in the first

century, and this school seems to be arising against the Sarvātivāda.2

As we have learned that Sautrāntika literally means "those who rely upon the sutras", and

they reject the Abhidharma of other early Buddhist schools. The words “Sautrāntika” is the

Sansakrit term which similarly to the Pali “Suttantika” (Sutta+Antika) has the same primary

meaning that “One who is expert in the S tras” 3, Some Buddhist Scholar explained that the

name of Sautrāntika means "the end of the sutras" which means the Buddha's final word on

things, no more than that.

In the Early Indian Buddhism, the Sautrāntika School is the branch of the Sarvāstivāda

School. The Beginning the Sautrāntika School starts from the time of Vasubandhu period in the

fifth century.

Dr. Akira Hirakawa4 explained that the eighteen schools were arisen after the Buddha

passed away. One hundred years after the Buddha passed away; the first separations were

occurred in the Sangha and they separated into two groups, they are the Mahāsāṃghika and

Sthaviravāda. One hundred years later, eight schools were split out from the Mahāsāṃghika

School; they were (1). Ekavyavaharika, (2). Lokottaravada, (3). Kaukkutika, (4). Bahushrutiya,
2
Bronkhorst, Johannes. Buddhist teaching in India. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009), p.108-109
3
Williams, Paul and Tribe, Anthony. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian
Tradition. (London; New York: Rutledge. 2000), p. 118
4
Hirakawa, Akira, and Paul Groner. A history of Indian Buddhism r āk a uni t ar a ā āna.
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990), p.112
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(5). Prajnaptivadin (also, Prajnaptivadin), (6). Chaityavadin, (7). Aparashaila, and

(8).Uttarashaila.

The picture below shows the Schools of the Mahāsamghika lineage. 5

After Buddha passed away two hundred years; Sarvastivāda was broken away from

Sthaviravāda School and later gave rise into nine branches.

The nine branches were the (1).Vatsiputriya, (2).Mahishasaka, (3).Kashyapiya,

(4).Sautrāntika, (5).Dharmottara, (6).Bhadrayaniya, (7).Sammatiya, (8).Shannagarika, and

(9).Dharmagupta.

The eight schools that came from the Mahāsamghika School, plus the ten schools which

derived from Sarvastivāda and its nine branches, all schools mixed together become to the

eighteen schools. Then plus the original two schools, which are Sarvastivāda and

5
Hirakawa, Akira, and Paul Groner. Ibid., p.113
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Mahāsamghika, and added to the previous eighteen schools, and then they altogether become

twenty schools.
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3. The Principle doctrine of Sautrāntika School

Dr. Hajime Nakamura6 writes “T Sautrāntika d ni d t aut rit Ab id ar a and

admitted only that of the S tras.” Sautrāntikas sometime was called Dārstāntika which means the

exemplifiers in English. They were called „Sautrāntika‟ because they presented the theory mainly

in certainly on the Buddha‟s Sūtras without following explanatory works (śāstras). They were

called „Dārstāntika‟ (The Exemplifiers or those who apply and utilize the method of examples)

because they taught all doctrines by all means of the examples. This is not to say that the

Sautrāntika refuse all the Abhidharma doctrines, but Sautrāntika just considered only sūtra to be

the real teachings of the Buddha. That‟s why the Sautrāntika emphasized the authority of the

sutra doctrine over the Abhidharma which they saw Abhidharma as the work of later disciples

and not the real Buddha-Vacana (The words of the Buddha).

To summarize the principle doctrine of Sautrāntika are as followings;-

. Sautrāntika accepts the external objects (Bahyā-rtha) and the mind (the classification of
Dharmas into 45).

2. Sautrāntika provides the theory of momentariness (kṣaṇabhaṅguravāda), they believed

that the ultimate truth which functions was only in the present, the past has already ceased to
exist and the future has not arisen yet. Everything is happening at the present time.

3. Sautrāntika accepts the theory of Self-apperception (svasaṃvedana).7

6
Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes. (Japan: Kufs
Publication,1980), p.129
7
https://www.academia.edu/8634512/Essentials_of_Sautrantika_Philosophy
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CONCLUSION

The Sautrāntika School is one of the four great schools in early Buddhism. There were

(1).Vaibhāṣika, (2).Sautrāntika, (3).Yogācāra and (4). Mādhyamika. Even though the Sautrāntika

School was accepted only the Sūtra , it doesn't mean Sautrāntika reject all Abhidharma doctrine,

but they said that Abhidharma is not necessarily in Buddha-vacana (the word of Buddha)

because they claim that all the contents of Abhidharma are absorbed in the Sūtras and later

composed by the Buddha‟s disciples.

Lastly, I do not claim this is a comprehensive paper on Sautrāntika School. This mid-term

paper may not give each and every detail of the Sautrāntika School which is so vast but there are

many aspects of the Sautrāntika School which have definitely tried to bring out in as simpler

and clearer manner as possible I can. I do hope that I will carry out much more comprehensive

and detailed study on this topic in the future.

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Bibliography

Books

Bronkhorst, Johannes. Buddhist teaching in India. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009.

Conze, Edward. Buddhist thought in India: three phases of Buddhist philosophy. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: University of Michigan Press.1967.

oyala, r rāma. A history of Indian Buddhism. Meerut: Kusumanjali Prakashan.1987.

Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes.Japan: Kufs

publication,1980.

Hirakawa, Akira, and Paul Groner. A history of Indian Buddhism: r āk a uni t ar

a ā āna. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990.

Kalupahana, David J. Buddhist philosophy: a historical analysis. Honolulu: University Press of

Hawaii. 1976.

Lamotte, Etienne. History of Indian Buddhism: from the origins to the Saka era. ouvain-la-
euve Universit catholique de ouvain, nstitut orientaliste. .

Williams, Paul and Tribe, Anthony. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian
Tradition. London; New York: Rutledge. 2000.

Xing, Guang. The concept of the Buddha: its evolution from early Budd is t t trikā a
theory.London: Routledge Curzon. 2005

Websites

http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Sautrantika_school Retrieved on
Oct.1, 2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Buddhist_schools Retrieved on Oct.2, 2015

https://www.academia.edu/8634512/Essentials_of_Sautrantika_Philosophy Retrieved on Oct.7, 2015