Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.1

v2.c35.s3.1

At the outset, it should be pointed out that the wide popularity of the Sarvāstivāda has put into shade all other schools, and that, particularly, for its propagation all over Northern India and in countries outside India, like Central Asia and China. Its origin should be placed some time after the Mahīśāsakas and the Mahāsaṅghikas. There is no doubt that it branched off from the Mahīśāsakas and not from the Theravādins directly as stated by Vasumitra and other writers of later days. These Sarvāstivādins should be distinguished from the Mūlasarvāstivādins,¹ who probably modified certain doctrines of the Sarvāstivādins, as also from the Vaibhāṣikas, in which name this school was latterly known from the time of Kaniṣka.²