Bodhisattva and Past Buddhas in the Mūlasāsanā: Relationship with Literature and Diverse Buddhist Beliefs

Abstract

Mūlasāsanā is a Lanna Buddhist history literature. The first part of the story contains content about Bodhisattvas and many past Buddhas. This content does not appear in the Pali Buddhist history literature of Sri Lanka. This research article therefore aims to study the Bodhisattvas and many past Buddhas by analyzing and comparing to see the relationship with other Buddhist literature and analyzing to see the relationship with Diverse Buddhist beliefs.

The results of the study found that Mūlasāsanā is related to the Pali literature of Sri Lanka, Sotatthaki Maha Nidana, which may have been influenced or shared the same concept with the Buddhist literature of Northern India. And the concept of Bodhisattvas and many past Buddhas is accepted as part of the history of Buddhism. These beliefs may have appeared in Sri Lankan Buddhist culture in Thailand since the Dvaravati period or may have been accepted through the Sri Lankan monks in Lanna.