________________ 28 Introduction of the secret charms ( = Vajrapani), Maitreya and others. The sravakas were not the chief compilers of our (Mahayanist) canon, since the latter is not accessible to them." . Haribhadra also in his Aaa. repudiates the Hinayanist claim of authenticity by pointing out the invalidity of their mahapadesas. He says : "There is no concordance between different versions of the Sutra and Vinaya Pitakas. . The dharmata established in one school is not identical with that of the other schools. With the eighteen different schools and their separate versions of three Pitakas, it is improper to hold the mahapadesa as a standard for judging the authenticity of the words of the Buddha.? The same view is held by santideva, the author of the Bodhicharyavatara. Prajnakaramati, in his Panjika on this work goes a step further. He rejects the Buddha-vachana-lakshana propounded by the Hinayana schools and puts forward his valid difinition:a "This then is the universal characteristic of the Buddha-vachana as preached in the Adhyasaya-samchodanasutra : "Moreover, O Maitreya, by four causes the word of the Buddhas may be recognised. What four-? (1)0 Maitreya, it refers to truth, not to untruth; (2) to doctrine, not to the non-doctrine; (3) it lessens sin, not increases it; (4) it shows the advantages of nirvana, does not indicate those of continued rebirth,...When someone, O Maitreya, utters or shall utter a word endowed with these four qualities, the believing young men and women will produce the idea of Buddha, of Master; they will hear this Law as he preaches. Why ? Anya thing, Maitreya, that is well said is a word of Buddha."8 This passage reminds us of the Buddha's preaching to Gotami quoted above. The Hinayanistic attitude towards the Buddha-vachana is well summed up in Emperor Asoka's 1 Aag. pp. 260-1. Vide Adv. p. 197, n. 7. 2 B. Panjika, IX. 43-44. Vide Adv. p. 197. n. 7. 3 Ibid. Also see Lamotte's Le Traite de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nagarjuna, I, pp. 81-2, notes.
