Sarvastivada

The Sarvāstivāda (Sanskrit: 𑀲𑀭𑁆𑀯𑀸𑀲𑁆𑀢𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤; Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, romanized: Sabbatthivāda Chinese: 說一切有部; pinyin: Shuōyīqièyǒu Bù; Japanese: せついっさいうぶ; Korean: 설일체유부; Vietnamese: Nhất thiết hữu bộ; Thai: สรวาสติวาท; Sinhala: සර්වාස්තිවාද) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE). It was particularly known as an Abhidharma tradition, with a unique set of seven canonical Abhidharma texts.

The Sarvāstivādins were one of the most influential Buddhist monastic groups, flourishing throughout North India, especially Kashmir and Central Asia, until the 7th century CE. The orthodox Kashmiri branch of the school composed the large and encyclopedic Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra around the time of the reign of Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE). Because of this, orthodox Sarvāstivādins who upheld the doctrines in the Mahāvibhāṣa were called Vaibhāṣikas.

There have been debates about the exact chronology of the Sarvastivādin emergence from the Sthavira Nikāya. According to the Theravādin Dīpavaṃsa, the Sarvāstivādins coalesced out of the older Mahīśāsaka school, but the Śāriputraparipṛcchā and the Samayabhedoparacanaćakra state the opposite (i.e., that the Mahīśāsaka emerged from the Sarvāstivāda, rather). The Sarvāstivādins are believed to have given rise to the Mūlasarvāstivāda and Sautrāntika schools, although the relationship between these groups has not yet been fully determined. It has been suggested that some yogic Sarvāstivādins, under early Mahāyāna influence, gave rise to Yogācāra, one of the most important and influential traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

Theravāda Buddhists have, at times, tendered accusations that the Sarvāstivādins were heavily influenced by the non-Buddhist Sāṅkhya school of philosophy. Nevertheless, the important Buddhist philosopher Aśvaghoṣa, who may have been associated with Sarvāstivāda, states—in his influential Buddhacaritam—that Āḷāra Kālāma, the first of the young Buddha's teachers, followed an archaic form of Sāṅkhya.