Mahāvastu


The Mahāvastu is a text of the Lokottaravāda school of Early Buddhism. It describes itself as being a historical preface to the Buddhist monastic codes. Over half of the text is composed of Jātaka and Avadāna tales, accounts of the earlier lives of the Buddha and other bodhisattvas.
The Mahāvastu contains prose and verse written in mixed Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. It is believed to have been compiled between the 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE.

Pali Canon parallels

The Mahāvastu's Jātaka tales are similar to those of the Pali Canon although significant differences exist in terms of the tales' details. Other parts of the Mahāvastu have more direct parallels in the Pali Canon including from the Digha Nikaya, the Majjhima Nikaya, the Khuddakapātha, the Dhammapada, the Sutta Nipata, the Vimanavatthu and the Buddhavaṃsa.

Mahayana themes

The Mahāvastu is considered a primary source for the notion of a transcendent Buddha, common to all Mahāsāṃghika schools. According to the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, the once-human-born Buddha developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine or bathing although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience; and, the ability to "suppress karma."

English translations