On the Relationship of Parinirvā(n)a and Dīrghāgama Reliefs in Gandhāra with the Buddhist Sects
As the result of their increasingly divergent cognition towards the Buddhist vinayas from about the middle of the 4th century BC,.the Buddhist groups was growing split into 18 Hīnayāna sects or schools.The two Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese,Dīrghāgama and Śākyamuni-Buddhacarita,the former was translated into Chinese by Buddhayaśas in 413 CE and the latter by Jńānagupta in 592 CE.It is widely agreed that Dīrghāgama(《长阿含经》)and Śākyamuni-Buddhacarita(《佛本行集经》)are attributed to the school of the Dharmaguptakas.The Dharmaguptakas,a proto-Mahāyāna sect,were prominent in north-western India and neighboring regions of the Iranian world in the early centuries of the Christian era according to the Gāndhārī inscriptions and manuscripts found in Gandhāra.The Dharmaguptakas were still active or popular during a period from 392-559 CE in Gandhāra by Chinese documents.The Buddhist reliefs unearthed in Gandhāra,especially the themes of Nirvana and Dabi,are very closely related to the Chinese translation of Dīrghāgama·Parade Sutra(《长阿含经·游行经》).Viewed from the iconography,the Dharmaguptakas proves to be prevalent in the Gandhāra region.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
