The History of Buddhist Thought c16.36

c16.36

The introduction of the terms attavāda, attadiṭṭhi, implies a new point of view : it was the self conceived as something more than the self of direct experience. Such a doctrine did arise among the Buddhists, but not by attempting to introduce ātmavāda. They never thought of calling this something the ātman, but started from a fresh point of view, and spoke of the individual (puggala, Skt. pudgala). This doctrine (pudgalavāda) is the first of the rejected doctrines in the Kathāvatthu : that the individual exists in the sense of being real or true in the highest sense. The commentator attributes the theory to the Vātsīputrīyas and the Sammitiyas, and to followers of non-Buddhist schools. The holders of the doctrine tried to be orthodox for, as it was explained, they held an ātman called pudgala, which was different and not different from the skandhas (Bodhicaryāv., ix, 60 com.). The Abhidharmakośa devotes a whole chapter to its refutation.