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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
10
www.kobatirth.org
BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
liberality to the Buddhist monks was carried to such an excess towards the end of his life that his grandson Sampadi1 who was in charge of his treasury refused to carry out his commands and even reduced his food to a myrobalan, half of which was the last gift made by him to the Buddhist Sangha.
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
Through the activities of the Sarvästivādins, Kashmir became a centre of Buddhist philosophical studies and was, according to Taranatha also the scene of the activities of Vatsa, the propounder of the Atmaka theory (pudgalavāda) and the founder of the Vätsiputriya or Sammitiya school. The monk Vatsa taught that the pudgala (individuality) persists through the innumerable existences of an individual and ceases only on his attainment of Nirvāṇa.”
Buddhism and Naga beliefs
In spite of all the patronage of Aśoka and the glorious accounts of the popularity of Buddhism in Kashmir, the fact remains that Buddhism had to face a strong opposition in the country from the established belief in Naga-worship. Without adverting to the antiquity of the Naga-worship it may safely be stated that Naga beliefs were quite common in India when Buddhism made its appearance and that is the reason why the legend of Nāgas and their conversion by Buddha occur occasionally in the Buddhist texts. In Ceylon, Java, and Indo-China Naga-worship was no less in vogue, and Buddhism could not help incorporating into itself some of the local beliefs in order to secure a footing in these distant countries. Kashmir was avowedly a land of Naga-worship. Its two main
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1 Divya., p. 430. Tib.
Vasavadatta, but it may also be Dhanada or Sampadi.
2 Schiefner, p. 44.
3 See my paper on the Doctrines of the Sammitiya School in the IHQ., XV, PP. 90 ff.
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