Editing Devadatta (section)

=== Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya research ===
According to Andrew Skilton, modern scholarship generally agrees that the [[Mahāsāṃghika]] Vinaya is the oldest extant Buddhist [[Vinaya]].<ref name="autogenerated48">Skilton, Andrew. ''A Concise History of Buddhism.'' 2004. p. 48</ref>

According to [[Reginald Ray]], the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya mentions the figure of Devadatta, but in a way that is different from the vinayas of the [[Sthaviravāda]] branch. According to this study, the earliest Vinaya material common to all sects simply depicts Devadatta as a Buddhist saint who wishes for the monks to live a rigorous lifestyle.<ref>Ray, Reginald (1994). ''Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations''. p. 168. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070727024142/http://www.dharmaocean.org/Portals/0/documents/pubs/Devadatta.pdf A condemned Saint: Devadatta]), used by permission of Oxford University Press</ref> This has led Ray to regard the story of Devadatta as a legend produced by the Sthavira group.<ref>Ray, Reginald (1994). ''Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations''. pp. 169–170. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070727024142/http://www.dharmaocean.org/Portals/0/documents/pubs/Devadatta.pdf A condemned Saint: Devadatta]), used by permission of Oxford University Press</ref>

However, as Bhikkhu Sujato has noted, the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya does indeed contain material depicting Devadatta as a schismatic figure trying to split the [[sangha]] (monastic community). Sujato adds: "The only relevant difference is the grounds he is said to base his attempt on. Whereas the Sthavira Vinayas say he promulgated a set of ‘five points’, by which he tried to enforce an excessively ascetic lifestyle on the monks, the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya omits the five points and attributes a much more comprehensive agenda to him."<ref name=":0">Bhikkhu Sujato (2012), ''[http://santifm.org/santipada/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/WhyDevadattaWasNoSaint.pdf "Why Devadatta Was No Saint, A critique of Reginald Ray’s thesis of the ‘condemned saint’"]'' </ref> Sujato further argues that "The fact that the Devadatta legend, at least the core episodes 13 and 14, is common to all six Vinayas including the Mahāsaṅghika suggests the legend arose among the presectarian community, and in all likelihood harks back to the time of the Buddha himself."<ref name=":0" />