The Sautrāntika School: Its origin in Early Buddhism
Prof. Dr. Miroj Sakya S
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
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
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
(5). Prajnaptivadin (also, Prajnaptivadin), (6). Chaityavadin, (7). Aparashaila, and
(8).Uttarashaila.
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
Mahāsamghika, and added to the previous eighteen schools, and then they altogether become twenty schools.
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
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
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.
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
