statue from a Buddhist monastery in
Afghanistan, a region where the Lokottaravāda were known to be prominent.
Overview It is likely that the Lokottaravādins had no major doctrinal distinctions to distinguish them as different from Mahāsāṃghika, but that the difference was instead a geographic one.
Tāranātha viewed the Ekavyāvahārikas, Lokottaravādins, and Gokulikas as being essentially the same. He even viewed Ekavyāvahārika as being a general term for the Mahāsaṃghikas. The earlier
Samayabhedoparacanaćakra of Vasumitra also regards the Ekavyāvahārikas, Gokulikas, and Lokottaravādins as being doctrinally indistinguishable.
Emptiness The Lokottaravādins asserted that there are no real things in the world except two kinds of emptiness (Skt.
śūnyatā), that is, the emptiness of a self (Skt. ) and the emptiness of phenomena (Skt. ). This two-fold view of emptiness is also a distinguishing characteristic of Mahāyāna.
Buddhas and bodhisattvas According to Vasumitra, 48 theses were held in common by these three Mahāsāṃghika sects. Of the 48 special theses attributed by the
Samayabhedoparacanaćakra to these sects, 20 points concern the supramundane nature of
buddhas and
bodhisattvas. According to the
Samayabhedoparacanaćakra, these four groups held that the Buddha is able to know all
dharmas in a single moment of the mind. The
Buddha is viewed as transcendent (Skt.
lokottara) and his life and physical manifestation are mere appearance. The Lokottaravāda school upheld the Mahāsāṃghika view of the supramundane nature of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and the imperfection and fallibility of
arhats.
Bodhisattva Path The Lokottaravādin
Mahāvastu speaks of Buddhism as consisting of the
Three Vehicles, and includes specific instructions regarding the Bodhisattva Path and the practices of bodhisattvas. From the
Mahāvastu, we know that the Lokottaravādins had a conception of a bodhisattva's progress toward enlightenment as consisting of ten grounds, or
bhūmis, as required for Mahāyāna bodhisattvas. These bhūmis described in the
Mahāvastu are similar to those in the Mahāyāna
Ten Stages Sūtra, but the names of these stages seem to differ somewhat. in his
Pure Land,
Sukhāvatī Buddha-fields From the
Mahāvastu, it is evident that the Lokottaravādins also held that there were innumerable
Pure Lands (Skt. '''' "buddha-fields"), throughout which there are innumerable buddhas and innumerable tenth-ground bodhisattvas who will become buddhas. Each is said to lead limitless sentient beings to liberation, yet the number of sentient beings remains essentially infinite.
Equality of buddhas In the
Mahāvastu, there are some Lokottaravādin accounts of the nature of buddhas which have strong parallels to those in Mahāyāna sūtras. In one section, a multitude of
devas are described as putting up sunshades in honor of the Buddha, who in turn shows himself sitting beneath each and every one. Each deva believes himself to be particularly honored, unaware of the fictitious character of his own buddha, who is no different from the others he sees. This has a parallel with an account in the
Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra. In this text, the Buddha appears simultaneously on a vast number of lion-thrones prepared by various
devas, but each deva sees only the Buddha that is sitting on his own throne. At the appropriate moment, all the buddhas are revealed to the devas, and one asks which is real – his own Buddha, or all the others. In the
Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra, the Buddha's answer is ultimately that they are all equal, because the nature of buddhas is not apart from all phenomena.
Future buddhas In the
Mahāvastu, the future buddha
Maitreya is mentioned a number of times, and the text states that he will be just one of the one thousand buddhas who are destined to appear in the future following Gautama Buddha. The Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda view is contrasted with that of the
Theravāda, which holds that five buddhas are destined to follow Gautama. ==See also==