Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c36.s3.10

v2.c36.s3.10

³ Before Vibhajjavāda came to refer to a sect, it simply meant one who dealt with the metaphysical problems analytically, from a particular standpoint as opposed to one who solved the problems straight-away (*ekamsavādin*) by a direct answer See *Majjhima*, II, pp 99, 107. cf. EMB., I, p. 124: *Vibhajjavyākaraṇīva* and *Ekamsavyākaraṇīva*. In the *Majjhima*, I, p. 163; *Papañcasūdani*, II, p 171, Buddha declared that he knew *theravāda*, which, according to Buddhaghosa, meant *thirabhāvavāda* (mental steadiness). Though these two terms *Vibhajjavāda* and *Theravāda* were used in the Nikāyas, they did not denote any sect, but we may take them as the source, from which the sectarian name issued later on.