Lokottaravāda

The Lokottaravāda (Sanskrit, लोकोत्तरवाद; traditional Chinese: 說出世部; ; pinyin: Shuō Chūshì Bù) was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others, and was a subgroup which emerged from the Mahāsāṃghika.

[2] The 6th century CE Indian monk Paramārtha wrote that 200 years after the parinirvāṇa of the Buddha, much of the Mahāsāṃghika school moved north of Rājagṛha, and were divided over whether the Mahayana teachings should be incorporated formally into their Tripiṭaka.

[3] According to this account, they split into three groups based upon the relative manner and degree to which they accepted the authority of these Mahayana texts.

The Mahāvastu is a biography of the Buddha which attributes itself to the Lokottaravādins, and appears to have been an extended section of their vinaya recension.

[6] Some scholars believe that the Mahayana Infinite Life Sutra was compiled in the era of the Kushan Empire, the first and second centuries CE, by an order of Mahīśāsaka monastics that flourished in Gandhara.

[7][8] However, it is likely that the longer Infinite Life Sutra owes greatly to the Lokottaravādins as well for its compilation: in this sūtra, there are many elements in common with the Mahāvastu.

[9] The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited a Lokottaravāda vihara in the 7th century CE at Bamyan (modern Afghanistan); this monastery site has since been rediscovered by archaeologists.

[17] The Lokottaravāda school upheld the Mahāsāṃghika view of the supramundane nature of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and the imperfection and fallibility of arhats.

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.