ABSTRACT
The Buddhist genesis story is very ancient, being found in the Pāli scriptures besides the northern Buddhist accounts. It is mentioned in all three branches of Buddhist scriptures, Sūtra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma. A Sanskrit version entitled Rājavaṃśa (royal lineage) exists in the Mahā- vastu. In the Abhidharma literature the account is given in the description of vivarta (differentiation of the beings due to evolution of the inferior worlds) as contrasted with saṃvarta (consubstantiation of the beings due to dissolution of the inferior worlds). At least in later Buddhist accounts, the legend does not have the importance that the Biblical Genesis has in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Our treatment suggests that in the earliest Buddhism it may well have had a much greater importance than it had later on.
