宗派

Sects (of Buddhism). In India, according to Chinese accounts, the two schools of Hīnayāna became divided into twenty sects. Mahāyāna had two main schools, the Mādhyamika, ascribed to Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva about the second century A. D., and the Yogācārya, ascribed to Asaṅga and Vasubandhu in the fourth century A. D. In China thirteen sects were founded:

(1) 倶舍宗 Abhidharma or Kośa sect, representing Hīnayāna, based upon the <Abhidharma-kosa-śāstra> or 倶舍論.

(2) 成實宗 Satyasiddhi sect, based on the 成實論 <Satyasiddhi-śāstra>, tr. by Kumārajīva; no sect corresponds to it in India; in China and Japan it became incorporated in the 三論宗.

(3) 律宗 Vinaya or Discipline sect, based on 十誦律, 四分律, 僧祗律, etc.

(4) 三論宗 The three (sa) śāstra sect, based on the <Mādhyamika-śāstra> 中觀論 of Nāgārjuna, the <Sata-śāstra> 百論 of Āryadeva, and the <Dvādasa-nikāya-śāstra> 十二門論 of Nāgārjuna; this school dates back to the translation of the three (sa) śāstras by Kumārajīva in A. D. 409.

(5) 涅槃宗 Nirvāṇa sect, based upon the <Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra> 涅槃經 tr. by Dharmaraksa in 423; later incorporated in Tiantai, with which it had much in common.

(6) 地論宗 Daśabhūmikā sect, based on Vasubandhu's work on the ten stages of the bodhisattva's path to Buddhahood, tr. by Bodhiruci 508, absorbed by the Avataṃsaka school, infra.

(7) 淨土宗 Pure-land or Sukhāvatī sect, founded in China by Bodhiruci; its doctrine was salvation through faith in Amitābha into the Western Paradise.

(8) 禪宗 (sa) dhyāna, meditative or intuitional sect, attributed to Bodhidharma about A. D. 527, but it existed before he came to China.

(9) 攝論宗, based upon the 攝大乘論 <Mahāyāna-saṃparigraha-śāstra> by Asaṅga, tr. by Paramārtha in 563, subsequently absorbed by the Avataṃsaka sect.

(10) 天台宗 Tiantai, based on the 法華經 <Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra>, or the <Lotus of the Good Law>; it is a consummation of the Mādhyamika tradition.

(11) 華嚴宗 Avataṃsaka sect, based on the <Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra>, or <Gandha-vyūha> 華嚴經 tr. in 418.

(12) 法相宗 Dharmalakṣaṇa sect, established after the return of Xuanzang from India and his trans. of the important Yogācārya works.

(13) 真言宗 Mantra sect, A. D. 716. In Japan twelve sects are named: Sanron, Hossō, Kegon, Kusha, Jōjitsu, Ritsu, Tendai, Shingon; these are known as the ancient sects, the two last being styled mediaeval; there follow the Zen and Jōdo; the remaining two are Shin and Nichiren; at present there are the Hossō, Kegon, Tendai, Shingon, Zen, Jōdo, Shin, and Nichiren sects.