RAS question
The Second Buddhist Council at Vaishali (383 BCE) was held to:
Correct answer: (B) Resolve disputes over Vinaya (monastic rules) leading to the first schism.
The Second Buddhist Council at Vaishali was convened to settle disputes over Vinaya discipline, especially ten minor rules, and its outcome led to the Sthavira-Mahasanghika schism.
Explanation
The Second Buddhist Council was not a literary or missionary exercise; it was a disciplinary council. eGyanKosh places it about 100 years after the Buddha's death, around 383 BCE, at Vaishali, under King Kalasoka, with Sabakami as chair. Its purpose was to address disputes over interpretations and laxity in monastic discipline, especially ten minor rules. Monks of Vaishali were accused of violating these Vinaya points, including accepting gold and silver, and the council declared such practices invalid. The dispute did not end there. Monks who rejected the decision formed the Mahasanghika line, while the stricter elders were associated with Sthavira or Sthaviravada.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The council was a meeting on monastic discipline, not an exercise to write narrative literature such as the Jataka tales.
- (C) The formal compilation and addition of the Abhidhamma Pitaka belong to the Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra, not the Second Council at Vaishali.
- (D) The Vaishali council is described as resolving internal Vinaya disputes within the Sangha, not as a mission to spread Buddhism outside India.
Concept
This tests the Buddhist councils under Ancient Indian History: place, chronology, purpose, and doctrinal consequences. RAS repeats it because the councils connect religious organisation, monastic discipline, and the later sectarian evolution of Buddhism.