Mahavastu

Mahavastu, also written Maha-vastu, is a Buddhist text that belongs to early Indian Buddhist literature. It is not part of the Theravada Pali Canon, but it survives in multiple versions in Sanskrit and in Chinese and Tibetan translations. The text is commonly associated with the Lokottaravāda school and is often regarded by modern scholars as a narrative collection, sometimes described as apocryphal relative to other canonical sutras.

The Mahavastu presents a biography of the Buddha Gotama, emphasizing his previous lives as a Bodhisattva and his journeys across the world. It weaves together Jataka-like birth stories, miraculous episodes, and cosmological elements to illustrate the Bodhisattva path and the transmission of Buddhist teachings. The work blends biographical material with doctrinal passages and moral exempla, highlighting how the Buddha’s life and deeds serve as a vehicle for illustrating universal Buddhist truths.

Date and provenance: scholars generally place the composition in the early centuries of the Christian era, drawing on earlier Buddhist storytelling traditions. The surviving versions reflect cross-cultural transmission along routes such as the Silk Road, reaching Central and East Asia. The text is valued for its insight into how Buddhist communities expanded the Buddha’s life story and integrated it with narratives of heroism, renunciation, and cosmic significance.

Manuscripts and influence: the Mahavastu is preserved in Chinese translation in the Buddhist canon, and in Tibetan and Sanskrit manuscripts used by scholars today. It has influenced later Buddhist literature, including jataka collections and hagiographic writings, and is widely studied for its narrative style, cosmology, and the development of the Bodhisattva ideal.