What does Mahavastu mean in Sanskrit?
Mahavastu is Sanskrit for "Great Event" or "Great Story." It is a canonical text of the Mahasanghika Lokottaravada school of Early Buddhism, originally part of that school's Vinaya pitaka.
Questions about Mahāvastu
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When was the Mahavastu composed?
The Mahavastu was not composed at a single time. Scholars date its numerous textual layers to a span from the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE, with the most recent additions, including the Dasabhumika, placed in roughly the 4th through 6th centuries CE.
Who published the first Western edition of the Mahavastu?
Emile Senart published the first Western edition of the Mahavastu, known as the editio princeps, between 1882 and 1897. It was written in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.
What is the Mahavastu about?
The Mahavastu is a multi-life hagiography of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Over half of the text consists of Jataka and Avadana tales, accounts of the earlier lives of the Buddha and other bodhisattvas, alongside embedded sutras, stories of previous Buddhas, and two prologues.
What are the four bodhisattva stages described in the Mahavastu?
The Nidānanamaskāras prologue of the Mahavastu describes four stages of the bodhisattva path: the natural phase of planting roots of merit, the resolution phase of making a formal vow, the continuing phase of practice until a Buddha confirms future Buddhahood, and the irreversible phase from which one cannot fall back.
How does the Mahavastu depict the Buddha's nature?
The Mahavastu presents the Buddha as a transcendent, or lokottara, figure who developed supramundane abilities across many lives, including a painless birth, omniscience, and freedom from physical needs. However, scholar Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula concluded that the text's actual depiction of the Buddha is not dramatically different from that found in the Pali Canon.