Mahāvastu

The Mahāvastu (Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story") is a text of the Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism.[1] It
describes itself as being a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes (vinaya).[2] Over half of the text is composed of
Jātaka and Avadāna tales, accounts of the earlier lives of the Buddha and other bodhisattvas.[3]

The Mahāvastu contains prose and verse written in mixed Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit.[4] It is believed to have been compiled
between the 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE.[3][5][6]

Contents
Pali Canon parallels
Mahayana themes
English translations
References
Sources
External links

Pali Canon parallels

The Mahāvastu's Jātaka tales are similar to those of the Pali Canon although significant differences exist in terms of the tales'
details. Other parts of the Mahāvastu have more direct parallels in the Pali Canon including from the Digha Nikaya (DN 19,
Mahāgovinda Sutta), the Majjhima Nikaya (MN 26, Ariyapariyesana Sutta; and, MN 36, Mahasaccaka Sutta), the
Khuddakapātha, the Dhammapada (ch. 8, Sahassa Vagga; and, ch. 25, Bhikkhu Vagga), the Sutta Nipata (Sn 1.3, Khaggavisāṇa
Sutta; Sn 3.1, Pabbajjā Sutta; and, Sn 3.2, Padhāna Sutta), the Vimanavatthu and the Buddhavaṃsa.[7]

Mahayana themes
The Mahāvastu is considered a primary source for the notion of a transcendent (lokottara) Buddha, common to all
Mahāsāṃghika schools. According to the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, the once-human-born Buddha developed
supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine or bathing
although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience; and, the ability to "suppress karma."[8]

English translations
Jones, J.J. (trans.) (1949–56). The Mahāvastu (3 vols.) in Sacred Books of the Buddhists. London: Luzac & Co.
vol. 1 (https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksofbud16londuoft), vol. 2 (https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksofb
ud18londuoft), vol. 3 (https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksofbud19londuoft)

References
1. Keown 2013, p. 117.
2. Tournier 2012, pp. 89-90.
 3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 1998.
4. Jones (1949), pp. x–xi.
5. "Mahāvastu" (2008). (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357994/Mahavastu)
6. Jones (1949), p. xi, writes: ""... the Mahāvastu is not the composition of a single author written in a well-defined
period of time. Rather, it is a compilation which may have been begun in the second century B.C., but which was
not completed until the third or fourth century A.D."
7. Regarding the Dhammapada parallels, see Ānandajoti (2007), "Introduction," where Ānandajoti writes:
Of the incomplete parallels, two chapters from yet another Dharmapada have been preserved in the
Mahāvastu, one of the earliest of the Sanskritised Prakrit texts; one of the chapters is named as the
Sahasravarga, and appears to be the whole of the chapter; the other is a selection that comes from an
unnamed Bhikṣuvarga.

From "Ancient Buddhist Texts" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130420052755/http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.n

et/Buddhist-Texts/C3-Comparative-Dhammapada/CD-00-Introduction.htm). See also; ch. 8, "Sahassavagga" (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20130420045249/http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Buddhist-Texts/C3-Comparativ
e-Dhammapada/CD-08-Sahassa.htm), and ch. 25, "Bhikkhuvagga" (https://web.archive.org/web/2013042005285
1/http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Buddhist-Texts/C3-Comparative-Dhammapada/CD-25-Bhikkhu.htm)
8. Williams 2007, pp. 18–19.

Sources
Jones, J.J. (trans.) (1949–56). The Mahāvastu (3 vols.) in Sacred Books of the Buddhists. London: Luzac & Co.
volume1 (https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksofbud16londuoft) volume 2 (https://archive.org/details/sacredboo
ksofbud18londuoft) volume 3 (https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksofbud19londuoft)
Keown, Damien (2013), The Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Routledge, ISBN 9781136985881
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1998), Mahāvastu (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357994/
Mahavastu), Encyclopædia Britannica
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu (2007). A Comparative Edition of the Dhammapada (http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Bu
ddhist-Texts/C3-Comparative-Dhammapada/index.htm). U. of Peradeniya. Retrieved 25 Nov 2008 from "Ancient
Buddhist Texts"
J.K. Nariman (1923), Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism (https://archive.org/stream/literaryhistoryo00nariuoft#
page/10/mode/2up), Bombay: Indian Book Depot; pp. 11–18
Tournier, Vincent (2012), "The Mahāvastu and the Vinayapiṭaka of the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādins" (http://ep
rints.soas.ac.uk/17113/1/Tournier%20Mvu%20Vin%20Lok%20ARIRIAB%20XV%202012.pdf) (PDF), Annual
Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University (ARIRIAB) (15)
Williams, Paul (2007), Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-
02537-9

External links
A Note on the Mahāvastu (https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Reference/A-Summary-of-the-Mahavastu/00-A-
Note-on-the-Mahavastu.htm) by Dr. A. B. Keith, D.C.L., D.Litt.
A Summary of the Mahāvastu (https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Reference/A-Summary-of-the-Mahavastu/i
ndex.htm) by B.C. Law

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mahāvastu&oldid=913879989"

This page was last edited on 3 September 2019, at 20:01 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.