The Scriptures narrate that towards the end of his life, at the age of 79 years, the Buddha came to Rajagriha (modern Rajgir) to spend his final rain retreat in the Veluvana Vihara, and Devadatta, Gotama’s cousin, still professing himself as a Buddhist, asked permission to found a new Order under his own leadership, the rules of which would be more stringent than those adopted by Gautama. The refusal of this is said to have determined him to break with Buddhism altogether, and to found a new religion of his own.
What Devadatta demanded of the Buddha was: (a) Stricter rules which he advocated. These were, that the mendicants should live in the open air, and not close to towns; (b) should dress in cast-off rags; (c) should beg for their food from door to door (that is never accept invitations, or food sent to the Viharas); (c) and should not eat meat; Gautama answered that his precepts could be kept in any place, and that he had no objections to such members of the Order who wished to do so keeping stricter rules, but they were not necessary, and could not be kept at all by the young and the delicate; as to food, the members of the Order might eat whatever was customary in the countries where they were, so long as they eat without indulgence of the appetite. It was possible to become holy at the foot of a tree, or in a house; in cast-off clothes, or in clothes given by laymen; whilst abstaining from flesh, or whilst using it. To establish one uniform law would be a hindrance in the way of those who were seeking Nirvana; and it was to show men the way to Nirvana which was his sole aim. Devadatta upon this returned to his own Vihara (that had been built for him by King Ajatsattru) and founded a new and stricter order, which gradually grew in numbers.
It would appear that Devadatta and his followers, demanding the strictest form of asceticism, rejected Gotama, on account of the latter’s persistent advocacy of the Middle Way, even attempted to assassinate him and failing which, they turned to the Tathagatas, the previous Buddhas, to whom Gotama possibly referred in general terms from time to time as teachers of the ancient doctrine of Selflessness, and to whom in course of time specific names were given.
From Fa Hian we learn that in the fifth century CE, the followers of Devadatta, established near Sravasti a Vihara where they rejected Gotama and reverenced the three previous Buddhas and especially Kasyapa Buddha, who was declared to be the latest in line. Thus Devadatta evidently secured important and lasting support among the more conservative Buddhist merchants (who came from other countries via the Silk Route) who still held to the Hindu ideals of the strictest asceticism as the true road to ultimate bliss, and turned their thoughts to the past, real or imaginary, and were largely responsible for the reintroduction of the sanctions of Samsara and Rebirth.
It is noticeable that in the Ceylonese ‘Kamma-vaca’ the Four Reliance are so stated that the strict form, exactly as demanded by Devadatta, appears first in each case, and the allowable ‘exceptions’ as in the Middle Way follow. The Kamma-vaca rules are very ancient and may have been drawn from India at the time of the conversion of Ceylon during the reign of Asoka.
A century after the Maha-parinirvana of Gotama, the Sangha split into eighteen individual Schools – out of these one is not sure how many followed Devadatta’s path. Nor is one sure as to what happened to this sect in India. But many Scholars do believe that via the trade routes, the Devadatta Sangha migrated to other countries where their philosophy was accepted. It is also widely believed by a number of ‘Research Scholars’ that the images that we claim to be of Gautama Buddha, could in reality be images of Devadatta (financed by members of his Sangha), who are creating magnificent temples globally. In many cases, Monasteries are not aware that the Sangha donating money to them is actually keeping the philosophy and image of Devadatta alive.
This subject is meant to be an open debate for which we invite Scholars and members of the Buddhist societies to give their view on the subject.