king's sin. The saint ruled that where there is no wilful intention, there is no sin, and, accordingly, absolved Asoka, whom be instructed fully in the truth.
The king commanded that all the priests in India, without exception, should be assembled, and taking his seat by the side "of his spiritual director, examined each priest individually as to his faith. The saint decided that the doctrine of the Vaibâdyavâdin school was the true primitive teaching of the master, and all dissenters were expelled, to the number of sixty thousand[1]. A thousand orthodox priests of holy character were then selected to form a convocation or Council. To these assembled priests, Tishya, son of Moggali, recited the treatise called Kathâvatthu in order to dissipate doubts on points of faith[2]. The Council, following the procedure of the First Council at Râagriha and the Second Council at Vaiszili, recited
- ↑ Mahâvaṁsa, ch. v. The classifications of the Buddhist schools vary much. I-tsing (pp. xxiii, 7) says that all Ceylon belonged to the Ârya-stharira nikâya, which had three subdivisions. Tibetan authorities (Rockhill, pp. 187 seqq.) make two main divisions of Buddhists, Stharira, (ii) Mahâisanghika. The Sarvâstivâdin school was a subdivision of the Sthavira, and the Vaibdâdyarâdin was a sect of the Sarvâstivâdin. The Vaibâdyavâdin sect again was subdivided into four sections, Mahîśâka,Dharmaguptakapp, Tanmaśatiya, and Kâśyapiya. This explains how Fa-hien was able to obtain in Ceylon a copy of the Vinaya according to the Mahîśâka school (ch. xl).The legends have probably been much influenced by sectarian bias.
- ↑ Turnour's translation is corrected by Wijesinha.
