..续本文上一页s a further development of esoteric Yoga from the school of eternal-reality idealism. If one tried to follow the course of development of Buddhism as outlined above, one would have no difficulty tracing the evolution of the vast persity of scriptures and doctrines held sacred by the many schools.

　　(2) Doctrinally, Buddhism was just Buddhism at first and there was no sectarian difference. It did not pide into the Sravakayana and Bodhisattvayana until about the beginning of the Christian era. Then in the scriptures of the Bodhisattvayana we begin to see the pision of Hinayana and Mahayana.

　　In the second and third centuries scriptures of eternal-reality idealism started to appear in the Bodhisattvayana. In such Sutras were first seen the terms "noumenon, Sunya and Madhya"; and "Hina-, Maha- and Eka-yana." These scriptures of later date laid special emphasis on the achievement of Buddhahood, and were thus also classified as Buddhayana.

　　At the beginning of the fifth century, another “yana”, the Dharaniyana, sprung into existence from the noumenal school of Buddhism. This school classified all Buddha Dharma into the Tripitaka, the Paramita Pitaka (including everything of the exoteric schools), and the Dharani Pitaka. It also categorised the Dharma according to practice as: Catvri-satyani, Paramita, and greed-ingrained.

　　These classification are indicative of the persification and development of Buddhism and are consistent with the schematic three periods of historical development proposed by the late Venerable Tai Hsu. The latter were as follows:

　　First 500 years after Buddha”s demise — Hinayana in vogue with Mahayana in the background. The Pali Tripitaka are representative of the Buddhism of this period.

　　Second 500 years — Mahayana to the fore with Hinayana attendant. The Chinese Tripitaka reflects the development of Buddhism in this period.

　　Third 500 years — Tantric Buddhism took the lead, leaving the exoteric school in its wake. The Tibetan Tripitaka is the fruit of this period.

　　Chinese Buddhism — from which Japanese Buddhism derives is representative of the Buddhism of the second 500 years, i.e. it is founded mainly on Bodhisattvayana, which links the earlier Sravakayana and the later Buddhayana. It therefore effectively ties Buddhist history together.

　　As it plays such a pivotal role in the historical development of the Buddha-dharma, the Chinese Tripitaka deserves the special attention of all those concerned with the present development of world Buddhism. It is my humble opinion that only in the study of the Chinese Tripitaka can the contents of Buddhism be fully and totally understood. The Chinese Tripitaka offers the following:

　　(a) Agamas: All four Agamas belong to the Bhava pision. The Madhyamagama and Samyuktagama were translated from the texts of the Sravastivada school while the Dirghagama and Ekottaragama were translated from those of the Mahasamghika or Vibbajyavada schools. Though admittedly it does not contain a complete set of the sutras of any single school, (the Pali Tripitaka does present a more complete set), a textual conglomeration of many schools does have its merits (The Tibetan Tripitaka contains no Agama at all).

　　(b) Vinayas: The Tibetan Tripitaka contains only the new rules of the Tamrasatiya sect, while the Chinese Vinaya contains all the following:

　　(i) The Mahasamghika Vinaya of the Mahasamghika school.

　　(ii) The five pisions of the Mahisasaka Vinaya, the four pisions of the Dharmagupta Vinaya, the pratimoksa of Mahadasyapiyah, and the Sudarsana Vinaya of Tamrasatiya. All these are rules of the Vibbajyavada school.

　　(iii) The old Sravastivada Vinaya and the new Mulasarvasti vadanikaya Vinaya, both of the Sarvastivada school.

　　(iv) The Twenty-Two-Points-Of-Elucidation Sastras of the Sammatiya sect of…

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