Tagged: Mahāvihāra
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Collins - On The Very Idea Of The Pali Canon (1990)
1Steven Collins argues that the Pali Canon should not be seen as the pre-existing foundation of Theravāda Buddhism, but rather as a product created by the Mahāvihāra monastic lineage in Ceylon during the first millennium A.D. as a strategy for legitimation. This development was driven by a rivalry with the competing Abhayagiri monastery, which accepted a wider range of scriptures. The Mahāvihāra monks established their authority by creating a closed, exclusive list of texts defined as the historical "Buddha's Word" (`buddhavacana`), committing these texts and their commentaries to writing, standardizing their interpretation through figures like Buddhaghosa, and authoring historical chronicles (`vamsa`) to construct a singular, legitimate line of succession. Collins concludes that while the *idea* of a fixed canon was ideologically crucial for establishing this orthodoxy, in practice, the religious life of Theravāda cultures has always drawn from a much broader selection of canonical and non-canonical works, making the concept of the canon more significant than its specific textual contents.
Skilling - The Advent of Theravāda Buddhism to Mainland South-east Asia (1997)
2Based on Pāli inscriptions from the 5th to 8th centuries CE found in the Pyu kingdom of Śrikṣetra (Burma) and the Mon kingdom of Dvāravatī (Siam), this paper argues for the predominance of Theravāda Buddhism in mainland Southeast Asia during the first millennium. The evidence lies in both the Pāli language of the epigraphs—a strong indicator of the Theravādin school—and their content, which includes specifically Theravādin recensions of canonical texts, Abhidhamma fragments, and non-canonical works like the Visuddhimagga. While establishing a Theravādin presence, the author finds it futile to trace its origins directly to either the Mahāvihāra or Abhayagiri schools of Ceylon due to a lack of conclusive evidence. Instead, the paper posits that this Buddhism evolved independently, influenced by various regions of India and developing a unique "local genius" seen in distinctive art and architecture. This flourishing Buddhist culture was not replicated in early Cambodia, where Brahmanism remained dominant and similar epigraphic and archaeological evidence is absent.