The History of Buddhist Thought c11.s4.4

c11.s4.4

The real value of the lists is in giving us an approximate view as to what at various periods the various communities were held to be. From this point of view the list in the *Mahāvyutpatti* (275) is one of the most important. It is also of special interest in giving one of the few references in Sanskrit Buddhism to the schools of Ceylon. It is a Sarvāstivādin list, and may have been drawn up in the fifth or sixth century A.D.,¹ but it evidently contains older elements.