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摩訶毘可羅

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Mahāvihāra

Senses:

  • 'Great Monastery' , (T 2085.51.865b13). At T 2087.51.934a17 摩訶毘訶羅 is used instead. Faxian, 法顯 describes the cremation of an arhat at the Mahāvihāra and says that 3,000 monks lived at the monastery (T 2085.51.865b13). The Mahāvihāra was one of the two main Theravāda or Theriya (Skt. Sthavira, 上座) monasteries and monastic sects 部 in the capital city of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka 師子國 alongside the Abhayagiri Vihāra 無畏山 (or 阿跋耶祇釐). Almost all of the Pali literature—the Tipiṭaka, commentaries and subcommentaries—that currently exist, were transmitted through and/or composed by monks of the Mahāvihāra lineage. The Abhayagiri school with most of its literature disappeared in the 12th century, and only the Mahāvihāra school remains until the present day. The great Theravāda commentator Buddhaghoṣa lived at the Mahāvihāra in the fifth century CE. The ruins of the Mahāvihāra and the Abhayagirivihāra and their great cetiya can be seen at the UNESCO world heritage site at Anuradhapura.

    Xuanzang 玄奘 mentions two groups or sections (部 nikāya) of monks in Sri Lanka 僧伽羅國, who practice the "Mahāyāna-Sthavira-Nikāya teachings,"  大乘上座部法: (2) The group of the Great Monastery residents, mahāvihāravāsin nikāya, 摩訶毘訶羅住部, "who rejected the Great Vehicle and practiced the lesser teachings,"  斥大乘，習小教. (2) The group of the Abhayagiri monastery residents, abhayagirivihāravāsin nikāya, 阿跋耶祇釐住部, "who studied both Vehicles and propagated the Tipiṭaka,"  學兼二乘, 弘演三藏; (T 2087.51.934a15–18).

    See also Akira Hirakawa, A History of Indian Buddhism , 1990, pp. 256–58, and p. 244. According to Hirakawa, Xuanzang only referred to 'Mahāyāna Theravādins' in connection with the Sri Lankan Theravāda school, probably the Abhayagirivāsins, and used 'Hīnayāna' with reference to other schools.

    [Nyanatusita; source(s): T2085]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4288a

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    Entry created: 2021-12-29