Second Buddhist council

Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Second Buddhist Council was a meeting of Buddhist monks at Vaishali (Pali: Vesāli, in present-day Bihar), held about 100 years after the Buddha's death. It was called during the reign of King Kalashoka and presided over by the monk Sabakami, to settle a quarrel about the Vinaya (the rules of monastic life).

It matters because it led to the first big split in the sangha, into the Sthaviravadins ("followers of the elders") and the Mahasanghikas ("members of the great community"). Later Buddhist schools grew out of these two groups.

Explanation

Background: why a council was needed

• The Buddha taught only by speaking. Nothing was written down while he was alive.
• His followers memorised his words and repeated them together. Memory was the only way to store them.
• With no written rule-book, monks in different places slowly began to follow the rules in different ways.
• About a century after the Buddha's death, the monks of Vaishali (called the Vajjian monks in tradition) relaxed several rules.
• The best-known example is accepting gold and silver as gifts. The Vinaya forbade this.

• Tradition counts ten points on which they had loosened the rules.

• Senior monks from other areas objected, so a council was called at Vaishali to decide who was right.

How the council worked

• Place: Vaishali (Vesāli).
• Patron: King Kalashoka, a ruler of the Shishunaga dynasty of Magadha.
• President: Sabakami (also spelt Sabbakami), a senior monk.
• Method: senior monks went through the disputed practices one by one and checked each against the Vinaya as it had been remembered and recited.
• Decision: the council rejected the relaxed practices and upheld the stricter rules.

Results: the first split in the sangha

• The majority did not accept the decision.
• The monks who wanted the stricter, older rules became the Sthaviravadins (Sthavira = "elder").

• The larger group, who wanted more flexible rules, became the Mahasanghikas.

• This was the first schism (formal split) in Buddhism.

• What came later:
• The Sthavira line later led to Theravada. The Pali canon is the Theravada canon and the oldest complete canon in Buddhism [2].

• Many historians see the Mahasanghikas, with their more open views, as one of the roots of later Mahayana ideas. This link is debated.

• The council shows that Buddhism was a living tradition that changed, not one fixed text. It was kept alive by an oral tradition of group chanting that still survives in Theravada Buddhism [1].

Time, place and evidence

• When: about 100 years after the Buddha's death. It is traditionally dated to c. 383 BCE, but this date depends on when the Buddha died, which is itself uncertain (c. fifth–fourth century BCE).
• Where: Vaishali (Vesāli), in present-day Bihar. It was an important early centre of Buddhism.
• Key people:
• Kalashoka, Shishunaga king of Magadha (patron)
• Sabakami (president)

• the Vajjian monks of Vaishali, whose practices were challenged

• How we know:

• Accounts in the Vinaya Pitaka, the "basket" of rules for those who joined the sangha.
• The Sri Lankan Pali chronicles: the Dīpavaṁsa ("chronicle of the island", c. 4th century CE) and the Mahāvaṁsa ("great chronicle", 5th or 6th century CE, probably by the monk Mahānāma) [4].
• All these texts were written down centuries after the event. The Pali canon was first written in Sri Lanka, probably in the 1st century BCE [2][3]. The details (such as the "ten points") are therefore tradition, not eyewitness record. Northern Buddhist texts tell the story slightly differently.

Don't confuse with

• First Buddhist Council: held at Rajagriha (Rajgir) soon after the Buddha's death, under King Ajatashatru, presided over by Mahakassapa. It compiled the Buddha's teachings. The Second Council was at Vaishali, about a century later, and dealt with a dispute over rules. Note: NCERT says the teachings were compiled by a council of "elders" at Vesāli, so read the question closely to see which council it means.
• Third Buddhist Council: held at Pataliputra under Ashoka, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa. It came after the split, not before it.
• Fourth Buddhist Council: the gathering in Sri Lanka where the Pali canon was first written down, probably in the 1st century BCE [2][3]. Another tradition places a Fourth Council in Kashmir under Kanishka. Neither has anything to do with Vaishali.
• Sthaviravadins vs Theravada: the Sthaviravadins were the "elders" group formed at the time of the Second Council. Theravada is the later school that grew from this line.

Prelims Hooks

• Second Buddhist Council: Vaishali, about 100 years after the Buddha's death, king Kalashoka (Shishunaga dynasty), president Sabakami.
• Cause: a dispute over Vinaya rules, such as monks of Vaishali accepting gold and silver.
• Result: the first split in the sangha, into Sthaviravadins and Mahasanghikas.
• Chronological order of councils: Rajagriha (Ajatashatru) → Vaishali (Kalashoka) → Pataliputra (Ashoka) → Fourth Council (Sri Lanka, Pali canon written down, probably 1st century BCE [2][3]; Kashmir under Kanishka in another tradition).
• Trap: Vaishali was the venue of the second council, not the first. The first was at Rajagriha.
• The Vinaya Pitaka is the basket of monastic rules, and it was the subject of the Vaishali dispute. The Abhidhamma Pitaka deals with philosophy.

Mains Points

• An oral tradition needs regular checking. Teachings that live only in memory drift over time. Councils like the one at Vaishali were the sangha's way of agreeing on one shared version. This explains why the Pali canon records what a community agreed to remember, written down three to four hundred years later [2][3].
• Splits as growth, not just decline. The break between Sthaviravadins and Mahasanghikas started the "sects" of early Buddhism. Over time these led to Theravada, and probably contributed to Mahayana. Different groups carried Buddhism into different regions and languages: Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. Useful for GS-I questions on continuity and change in Indian religions.
• Royal patronage and religion. Each council had a royal patron (Ajatashatru, Kalashoka, Ashoka). This shows how Magadhan rulers supported the sangha, and how state support helped decide which traditions and texts survived.

Related concepts

• Tipitaka
• Vinaya Pitaka
• Sutta Pitaka
• Abhidhamma Pitaka
• Abhidhamma Divas
• Pali
• Pali classical language
• Buddhist councils
• First Buddhist council
• Sthaviravada and Mahasanghika

Read more

• Preserving the traditions: texts and transmission