nd the
Mahasannipata-sutra, which apparently includes the Suryagarbha and
Candragarbha sutras. All these works were translated into Chinese
about 420 A.D. and must therefore be of respectable antiquity.

Besides the sutras, there are many compositions styled Avadanas or
pious legends.[150] These, though recognized by Mahayanists, do not as
a rule contain expositions of the Sunyata and Dharma-kaya and are not
sharply distinguished from the more imaginative of the Hinayanist
scriptures.[151] But they introduce a multiplicity of Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas and represent Sakyamuni as a superhuman worker of
miracles.

They correspond in many respects to the Pali Vinaya but teach right
conduct not so much by precept as by edifying stories and, like most
Mahayanist works they lay less stress upon monastic discipline than on
unselfish virtue exercised throughout successive existences. There are
a dozen or more collections of Avadanas of which the most important
are the Mahavastu and the Divyavadana. The former[152] is an
encyclopaedic work which contains _inter alia_ a life of Sakyamuni. It
describes itself as belonging to the Lokottaravadins, a section of the
Aryamaha-sanghikas. The Lokottaravadins were an ancient sect,
precursors of the Mahayana rather than a branch of it, and much of the
Mahavastu is parallel to the Pali Canon and may have been composed a
century or two before our era. But other parts seem to belong to the
Gandharan period and the mention of Chinese and Hunnish writing points
to a much later date.[153] If it was originally a Vinaya treatise, it
has been distended out of all recognition by the addition of legends
and anecdotes but it still retains a certain amount of matter found
also in the Pali and Tibetan Vinayas. There were probably several
recensions in which successive additions were made to the original
nucleus. One interpolation is the lengthy and important section called
Dasabhumika, describing the career of a Bodhisattva. It is the only
part of the Mahavastu which can be called definitely Mahayanist. The
rest of the work marks a transitional stage in doctrine, just as its
language is neither Prakrit or Sanskrit but some ancient vernacular
brought into partial conformity with Sanskrit grammar. No Chinese
translation is known.

The Divyavadana[154] is a collection of legends, part of which is
known as the Asokavadana and gives an edifying life of that pious
monarch. This portion was translated into C