The Vaibhâ@sikas are identified with the Sarvâstivâdins who according to Dîpava@msa V. 47, as pointed out by Takakusu, branched off from the Mahîs'âsakas, who in their turn had separated from the Theravâda school.
From the Kathâvatthu we know (1) that the Sabbatthivâdins believed that everything existed, (2) that the dawn of right attainment was not a momentary flash of insight but by a gradual process, (3) that consciousness or even samâdhi was nothing but
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[Footnote 1: This account is based on the translation of A@s@tamakos'asthânanibaddha@h pudgolavinis'caya@h, a special appendix to the eighth chapter of Abhidharmakos'a, by Prof Th. Stcherbatsky, Bulletin de l' Académie des Sciences de Russie, 1919.]
[Footnote 2: Professor De la Vallée Poussin has collected some of the points of this doctrine in an article on the Sammitîyas in the E. R.E. He there says that in the Abhidharmakos'avyâkhyâ the Sammitîyas have been identified with the Vâtsîputtrîyas and that many of its texts were admitted by the Vaibhâ@sikas of a later age. Some of their views are as follows: (1) An arhat in possession of nirvâna can fall away; (2) there is an intermediate state between death and rebirth called antarâbhava; (3) merit accrues not only by gift (tyagânvaya) but also by the fact of the actual use and advantage reaped by the man to whom the thing was given (paribhogânvaya pu@nya); (4) not only abstention from evil deeds but a declaration of intention to that end produces merit by itself alone; (5) they believe in a pudgala (soul) as distinct from the skandhas from which it can be said to be either different or non-different. "The pudgala cannot be said to be transitory (anitye) like the skandhas since it transmigrates laying down the burden (skandhas) shouldering a new burden; it cannot be said to be permanent, since it is made of transitory constituents." This pudgala doctrine of the Sammitîyas as sketched by Professor De la Vallée Poussin is not in full agreement with the pudgala doctrine of the Sammitîyas as sketched by Gu@naratna which we have noticed above.]
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a flux and (4) that an arhat (saint) may fall away [Footnote ref 1]. The Sabbatthivâdins or Sarvâstivâdins have a vast Abhidharma literature still existing in Chinese translations which is different from the Abhidharma of the Theravâda school which we have already mentioned [Footnote ref 2]. These are 1. Jñânaprasthâna S'âstra of Kâtyâyanîputtra which passed by the name of Mahâ Vibhâ@sâ from which the Sabbatthivâdins who followed it are called Vaibhâ@sikas [Footnote ref 3]. This work is said to have been given a literary form by As'vagho@sa. 2. Dharmaskandha by S'âriputtra. 3. Dhâtukâya by Pûr@na. 4. Prajñaptis'âstra by Maudgalyâyana. 5. Vijñânakâya by Devak@sema. 6. Sa@ngîtiparyyâya by Sâriputtra and Prakara@napâda by Vasumitra. Vasubandhu (420 A.D.-500 A.D.) wrote a work on the Vaibhâ@sika [Footnote ref 4] system in verses (kârikâ) known as the Abhidharmakos'a, to which he appended a commentary of his own which passes by the name Abhidharma Kos'abhâ@sya in which he pointed out some of the defects of the Vaibhâ@sika school from the Sautrântika point of view [Footnote ref 5]. This work was commented upon by Vasumitra and Gu@namati and later on by Yas'omitra who was himself a Sautrântika and called his work Abhidharmakos'a vyâkhyâ; Sa@nghabhadra a contemporary of Vasubandhu wrote Samayapradipa and Nyâyânusâra (Chinese translations of which are available) on strict Vaibhâ@sika lines. We hear also of other Vaibhâ@sika writers such as Dharmatrâta, Gho@saka, Vasumitra and Bhadanta, the writer of Sa@myuktâbhidharmas'âstra and Mahâvibhâ@sâ. Di@nnâga(480 A.D.), the celebrated logician, a Vaibhâ@sika or a Sautrântika and reputed to be a pupil of Vasubandhu, wrote his famous work Pramâ@nasamuccaya in which he established Buddhist logic and refuted many of the views of Vâtsyâyana the celebrated commentator of the Nyâya sûtras; but we regret
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[Footnote 1: See Mrs Rhys Davids's translation Kathâvatthu, p. xix, and Sections I.6,7; II. 9 and XI. 6.]
[Footnote 2: Mahâvyutpatti gives two names for Sarvâstivâda, viz. Mûlasarvâstivâda and Âryyasarvâstivâda. Itsing (671-695 A.D.) speaks of Âryyamûlasarvâstivâda and Mûlasarvâstivâda. In his time he found it prevailing in Magadha, Guzrat, Sind, S. India, E. India. Takakusu says (P.T.S. 1904-1905) that Paramârtha, in his life of Vasubandhu, says that it was propagated from Kashmere to Middle India by Vasubhadra, who studied it there.]