Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c8.s5.2

c8.s5.2

The difference between the Sautrāntika and the Vaibhāṣika lies in their view of cognition of external phenomena. The Vaibhāṣikas hold that all external things are known through perception. The Sautrāntikas argue that external things are known only through *anumāna* (inference). The Vaibhāṣika developed as a branch of Sarvāstivādin school under the Hīnayāna. They upheld the simultaneous existence of the past, present and future, the Sautrāntikas differed with them. The Sarvāstivādins also propounded the atomic theory of creation. Accordingly, the *paramāṇu* (atom) is the basic unit of the matter. It is imperceptible. A combination of seven *paramāṇus* makes an *aṇu* and an *aṇu* is perceptible. This theory of *paramāṇu* is criticized by the other Buddhists — the Vijñānavādins on one hand and the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika system on the other. The proponents of *paramāṇu*-theory as per the tenets of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika systems hold that *paramāṇus* can exclude each other as they possess magnitude and actuality.²⁹ Both of these — the Sarvāsivādins and the theorists of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika — are contested by the Vijñānavādins who ask whether an atom is united with another atom partially or wholly, showing impossibility of both alternatives. An atom being indivisible cannot unite with another.