Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

Mahāvastu – 25
Inferno as well as his sojourn in the world of beasts and the world of
Pretas, the Asūras, and various kinds of deities. For in the Pāḷi
tradition also Moggallāna is a saint who roams through heaven and
hell and all the worlds. However, the Rājavaṁśa or the History of
the Kings to whose dynasty Śākyamuni belonged begins entirely
after the fashion of the Purāṇas with an account of the creation (1,
338 ff.) The sprit of the Purāṇas is also breathed by the Jātaka (1, 283
ff.), in which a Ṛṣi named Rakṣita who is the Bodhisattva, attains to
such miraculous powers as an ascetic that he touches the sun and the
moon with his hand. The spirit of the Purāṇas is very similar to that
of the Mahāyāna and many of the stories in the Mahāvastu betray
the same partiality for the phantasmagorial – astounding sorcerers to
perform the miracles of saints, so peculiar to the Mahāyāna texts. To
this class belongs “the Story of the Umbrella” (Chattravastu I, 253
ff.) After the Buddha had freed the city of Śrāvastī of a terrible
plague caused by Yakṣas, gods or spirits hold up umbrellas over the
Buddha to do him honour. The latter however with his usual
compassionateness makes one Buddha to appear under each umbrella
by virtue of his supernatural powers so that each god believes that
the Buddha is seated under his own umbrella. [17]
More Mahāyāna Affinities
And, although the Mahāvastu belongs to the Hīnayāna and has
contacts with much which may or actually does occur in the Pāḷi
texts of the Theravādis, it embodies a good deal which makes an
approach to the Mahāyāna. Thus, for instance, we find in the first
volume (1, 63-193) a large section on the ten Bhūmis or places which
a Bodhisattva has to go through and the description of the virtues
which he must possess in each of the ten stages. In this section has