ut a code of discipline was necessary for large
monasteries and the code of the Sarvastivadins enjoyed general esteem
in Central Asia and China.

Three stages in the history of Indian Buddhism are marked by the names
of Asvaghosha, Nagarjuna and the two brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu.
It would be easier to give a precise description of its development if
we were sure which of the works ascribed to these worthies are
authentic, but it seems that Asvaghosha represents an ornate and
transitional phase of the older schools leading to Mahayanism, whereas
Nagarjuna is connected with the Prajna-paramita and the nihilistic
philosophy described in the preceding chapter. Asanga was the founder
of the later and more scholastic system called Yogacara and is also
associated with a series of revelations said to have been made by
Maitreya.

As mentioned above, tradition makes Asvaghosha,[203] one of the most
brilliant among Sanskrit writers, live at the court of Kanishka[204]
and according to some accounts he was given to the Kushans as part of
a war indemnity. The tradition[205] is confirmed by the style and
contents of his poems and it has been noted by Foucher that his
treatment of legends is in remarkable accord with their artistic
presentment in the Gandharan sculptures. Also fragmentary manuscripts
of his dramas discovered in Central Asia appear to date from the
Kushan epoch. Asvaghosha's rank as a poet depends chiefly on his
Buddhacarita, or life of the Buddha up to the time of his
enlightenment. It is the earliest example of a Kavya, usually
translated as artificial epic, but here literary skill is subservient
to the theme and does not, as too often in later works, overwhelm it.
The Buddha is its hero, as Rama of the Ramayana, and it sings the
events of his earlier life in a fine flow of elaborate but impassioned
language. Another of his poems,[206] discovered only a few years ago,
treats of the conversion of Nanda, the Buddha's half-brother.

Various other works are ascribed to Asvaghosha and for the history of
Buddhism it is of great interest to decide whether he was really the
author of _The Awakening of Faith_. This skilful exposition of a
difficult theme is worthy of the writer of the Buddhacarita but other
reasons make his authorship doubtful, for the theology of the work may
be described as the full-blown flower of Mahayanism untainted by
Tantrism. It includes the doctrines of Bhuta-tathata, Alaya-vijnana,
Tathagata