Outline of the School System at the Time of Nikāya Buddhism from Three Ancient Perspectives

Origins of Secret Mantra • Day Six 06 August 2026 Summary In the current series of teachings, His Holiness the Karmapa covered the original split into the two major schools, Sthaviravāda and Mahāsāṃghika. Beginning with the last session, he has turned to the subsequent development of the various Buddhist sub-schools. Within the Northern Transmission, the main extant source is the Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions (Skt: Samayabhedoparacanacakra ) composed by the Sarvāstivādin master Vasumitra. It states that, following the initial split into Sthaviravāda and Mahāsāṃghika, it was the Mahāsāṃghika which first divided into a number of distinct schools. Later, the Sthaviravāda school underwent a series of divisions of its own, giving rise to various schools as well. The divisions of the Mahāsāṃghika school as seen through the Northern Transmission’s frame of reference were covered in the previous teaching session. The Karmapa then continued by introducing the various Sthaviravāda sub-schools also from the Northen Transmission’s point of view. The three ancient perspectives covered in this teaching session : 1. Sthaviravāda tradition Northern Transmission ( Sarvāstivāda in particular) perspective on the development of the Sthaviravāda school system — documented in Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Tradition and 2. Sthaviravāda (Pāli: Theravāda) tradition Southern Transmission perspective on the development of both the Sthaviravāda and Mahāsāṃghika school systems — evident in Sri Lankan texts: Dīpavaṃsa, Mahāvaṃsa and Buddhaghoṣa’s Commentary on the Points of Controversy 3. Mahāsāṃghika tradition perspective on the development of both the Sthaviravāda and Mahāsāṃghika school systems — presented here in the Sūtra of Śāriputra’s Questions . Sthaviravāda Northern Transmission Accounts: Sthaviravāda Sub-schools How seven divisions of the Sthaviravāda school gave rise to eleven sub-schools [Note: As the source text is preserved in both Chinese and Tibetan, His Holiness provided the corresponding Chinese terminology alongside the Tibetan and Sanskrit terms.] According to the Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions , the Sthaviravāda underwent seven divisions, through which eleven schools were eventually formed, namely: Sthaviravāda — Doctrine of the Elders; Tib: གནས་བརྟན་པའི་སྡེ། — the main branch 1. Haimavata — Himalayan School; Tib: གངས་རི་བའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 雪山部 2. Sarvāstivāda — school of the Doctrine of the Existence of Everything; Tib: ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོད་སྨྲ་བའི་སྡེ ། ; Ch: 說一切有部 , also known as the Hetuvāda or the school of the Doctrine of Causality; Tib : རྒྱུར་སྨྲ་བའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 說因部 3. Vātsīputrīya — School affiliated with Vātsīputra [lit: Son of a Woman from the Vatsa Clan/Region]; Tib : གནས་མའི་བུའི་སྡེ་། ; Ch: 犢子部 4. Dharmottarīya — School affiliated with Dharmottara [lit: Supreme Dharma]; Tib . ཆོས་མཆོག་པའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 法上部 5. Bhadrayānīya — School affiliated with Bhadrayāna [lit: Excellent Vehicle]; Tib . བཟང་པོའི་བུའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 賢胄部 6. Saṃmatīya — Universally Respected School; Tib. ཀུན་གྱིས་བཀུར་བའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 正量部 , [ also known as Saṃmitīya, lit: Of Equal Measure] 7. Ṣaṇṇagarika — School of the Six Cities; Tib: གྲོང་ཁྱེར་དྲུག་པའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 六城部 , also known as Ṣaṇḍagiriya or Forest Mountain School; Tib. ནགས་ཀྱི་རི་བོའི་སྡེ ། ; Ch: 密林山部 8. Mahīśāsaka — School of the Ruler of the Earth; Tib. ས་སྟོན་པའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 化地部 9. Dharmaguptaka — School affiliated with Dharmagupta [lit: Dharma Protector] School; Tib. ཆོས་སྲུང་སྡེ། ; Ch: 法藏部 10. Kāśyapīya — Kāśyapa Lineage School; Tib. འོད་སྲུངས་ཀྱི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 飲光部 , also known as Suvarṣaka — Good Year School; Tib: ལོ་བཟང་བའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 善 歲部 11. Sautrāntika — School Established upon Sūtra; Tib. མདོ་སྡེ་སྨྲ་བའི་སྡེ། ; Ch: 經量部 , also known as Saṃkrāntivāda — school of the Doctrine of Transference; Tib: འཕོ་བར་སྨྲ་བའི་སྡེ ། ; Ch: 說轉部 The Development Between three and four hundred years after the Mahāparinirvāṇa, numerous sub-schools developed within the Sthaviravāda tradition. Among these, two principal branches were the Sarvāstivāda and Vātsīputrīya schools. First Split From Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions: The Sthaviravāda remained from some time, and then after it had remained three hundred years [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], because of some debates, it divided into two schools, the Sarvāstivāda (also called the Hetuvāda ) and the old Sthaviravāda , which became known as the Haimavata . 1. The Haimavata School , meaning the Himalayan School , received its name because, after the Sarvāstivāda school separated from it, the remnant of the original Sthaviravādins was said to have dwelled in the Himavat, or Himalayan mountain range. 2. The Sarvāstivāda school, meaning the school of the Doctrine of the Existence of Everything , was the most influential of the Sthaviravāda schools according to Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions , which is a text belonging to the Sarvāstivāda tradition itself. The school maintained that all three times—past, present and future—exist substantially, and that the nature of dharmas (phenomena) is permanent. Thus, the name Do c trine of Existence of Everything means that, according to them, all phenomena exist substantially . Second Split The Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions says: In the third century [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], the Vātsīputrīya became a separate school from the Sarvāstivāda. 3. The Vātsīputrīya school . After separating from the Sarvāstivāda, this school became best known for [its pudgalavāda (personalist) view and] the assertion that there is an ineffable self which is separate from the five aggregates (or, more precisely, a self which is neither different from nor the same as the aggregates ). This assertion made them quite unique among the Buddhist schools. There was a time when Vātsīputrīyas held a strong and enduring influence in ancient India. The school was so called because it was founded by the elder Vātsīputra. Third Split From the Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions: During that [third] century [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], the Dharmottarīya , Bhadrayānīya, Sammitīya and Ṣaṇṇagarika separated from the Vātsīputrīya. 4. The Dharmottarīya school. It was so called because its founder was a monastic named Dharmottara. 5. The Bhadrayānīya school was so called because its founder was a monastic named Bhadrayāna. 6. The Saṃmitīya/Saṃmatīya school, meaning Universally Respected School , was the strongest among these four Vātsīputrīya branches and the primary lineage holders of that school. It was so called because its tenets were widely accepted and respected. 7. The Ṣaṇṇagarika school , meaning the School of the Six Cities, was also known as Ṣaṇḍagiriya or Forest Mountain School . It was so called because the monastic community was said to have lived in forests near the six great cities [Ed: Rājagṛha, Śrāvastī, Sāketa, Kauśāmbī, Campā and Vārāṇasī]. The latter four sub-schools arose as a result of differences concerning the interpretation of a particular verse and consequently separated from the Vātsīputrīya school. Fourth Split The Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions says: Furthermore, during that same third century [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], the Mahīśāsaka school branched out from the Sarvāstivāda school. 8. The Mahīśāsaka school is traditionally explained as meaning the School of the Ruler [Instructor] of the Earth because its founder was originally a king who later renounced worldly life, went forth as a monastic and realized the truth. The school was so called because he was said to have ruled or protected the earth through Dharma. Fifth Split From the Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions: During that same [third] century [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], from the Mahīśāsaka school—following Master Maudgalyāyana’s teachings—there arose another distinct branch, the Dharmaguptaka school. 9. The Dharmaguptaka school was so called because it was founded by the monk Dharmagupta meaning Dharma Protector or Concealer . Sixth Split The Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions states: During that [third] century [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], another school called the Kāśyapīya school or Good Year [ Suvarṣaka ] school appeared out of the Sarvāstivāda school. 10. The Kāśyapīya school , meaning School Stemming from the Kāśyapa Lineage , was so called because it was founded by a monk who was born into the clan of the ancient sage Kaśyapa . Seventh Split The Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions reads: In the fourth century [after the Mahāparinirvāṇa], another school separated from the Sarvāstivāda school, following the teacher Ānanda*, that was known as the Sautrāntika school or Saṃkrāntivāda . [*The Chinese translation records Ānanda while the Tibetan translation reads Dharmottara] 11. The Sautrāntika , meaning School Established upon Sūtra , was so called because, rather than regarding the Abhidharma as the most reliable source of the teachings, its followers considered the intention and meaning of the sūtras to be authoritative. They primarily relied on listening to the sūtras, contemplating their meaning and putting them into practice. The school was also known as the Saṃkrāntivāda or school of the Doctrine of Transference because they maintained that the seeds of the imprints are transferred from one life to the next. In the Tibetan tradition, we commonly speak of four major philosophical schools: two belonging to the Foundation Vehicle and two belonging to the Mahāyāna. The two Foundation Vehicle schools are the Vaibhāśika (Great Exposition) school and the Sautrāntika (Established upon Sūtra) school. The two Mahāyāna schools are the Mādhyamaka (Middle Way) school and the Cittamātra (Mind-Only) school. The Sautrāntika referred to in this four-school classification is the same Sautrāntika school which originally arose as a sub-school of the Sarvāstivāda. Although it began as a relatively small branch, it subsequently developed into an important school in its own right. Gyalwang Karmapa will discuss its philosophical views in greater detail later in the teachings. Thus, Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions summarises the eleven schools: In this way, the school known as the Sthavira (Elders) is thoroughly classified into eleven types: the Sarvāstivāda school, the Haimavata school, the Vātsīputrīya school, the Dharmottarīya school, the Bhadrayānīya school, the Sammitīya school, the Ṣaṇṇagarika school, the Mahīśāsaka school, the Dharmaguptaka school, the Kāśyapīya school, and the Saṃkrāntika school. Sthaviravāda (Theravāda) Southern Transmission Accounts: The Sub-Schools The Sri Lankan tradition is associated with the Tambapaṇṇīya (Skt: Tāmraparṇīya) [meaning the School of the Copper-Coloured Leaf and it represents the Sri Lankan (Kingdom of Tambapaṇṇī) branch of the Vibhajjavāda ( Doctrine of Analysis ; Skt. Vibhajyavāda)]. It is also known as Tambasāṭiya or the Copper-Coloured Robe School (Skt: Tāmraśāṭiya; Tib: གོས་དམར་བའི་སྡེ་པ། ). The development of the sub-schools according to the Southern Transmission is recounted primarily in the great Sri Lankan historical chronicles, the Dīpavaṃsa ( Chronicle of the Island ) and Mahāvaṃsa ( The Great Chronicle ), as well as in Buddhaghoṣa’s Commentary on the Points of Controversy (Pāli: Kathāvatthu-aṭṭhakathā ) [commentary on Kathāvatthu by Mogaliputta-Tissa, one of the 7 books of the Pāli Abhidarma ]. [Note: As these sources are written in Pāli, the Pāli forms of relevant names and terms are given below alongside their Sanskrit and Tibetan equivalents.] Differences Between the Northern and Southern Transmissions The accounts preserved in these Southern Transmission sources differ in several important respects from the account found in Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions which represents the Northern Transmission, particularly the Sarvāstivāda. Vasumitra was a monk of the Sarvāstivāda school and, accordingly, his account reflects the perspective of the Sarvāstivāda tradition, that is, the Northern Transmission. Thus, the chronology, causes and circumstances of the divisions, development of the individual schools, and their subsequent systematisation differ from the accounts preserved in the Southern Transmission sources. The Southern Transmission texts assert that some schools already separated in the centuries preceding Emperor Aśoka’s reign, while more branches emerged following his reign. Altogether, these sources recognise eighteen schools: the two original schools, Sthaviravāda and Mahāsāṃghika, and sixteen subsequent sub-schools. The recognition of the two original schools is generally consistent with the Northern Transmission account. However, the identification and development of the sixteen sub-schools differ between the two accounts. There is also an important difference in how the two traditions identify the continuation of the original Sthaviravāda lineage. In Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions — reflecting the Sarvāstivāda perspective — the Sarvāstivāda is presented as the true Sthaviravāda tradition in continuum, and as the principal lineage holder and most important of the Sthaviravāda schools. In the Southern Transmission, by contrast, the Tambapaṇṇīya/Vibhajjavāda school is regarded as the continuation of the original Sthaviravāda lineage — while the schools within the Northern transmission are understood as the Sthaviravāda sub-schools. Sthaviravāda Southern Transmission Accounts: Mahāsāṃghika Sub-schools Both the Northern and Southern Transmissions agree that the Mahāsāṃghika was the first of the two original schools to divide into sub-schools. According to the Southern Transmission account, there were six Mahāsāṃghika schools in total, including the original Mahāsāṃghika school. The Dīpavaṃsa records the successive divisions as follows: v. 39. Those who held the Great Council (the Mahāsaṃgīti) were the first schismatics; in imitation of them many heretics arose. v. 40. Afterwards a schism occurred in that (new school); the Gokulika and Ekabyohāra bhikkhus formed two divisions. v. 41. Afterwards two schisms took place amongst the Gokulikas : the Bahussutaka and the Paññatti bhikkhus formed two divisions. v. 42. And opposing these were the Cetiyas, (another) division of the Mahāsaṅgītikas… Branching of the Mahāsāṃghika: 1. Mahāsāṃghika — School of the Great Assembly; Pāli: Mahāsaṅghika; Tib: ཕལ་ཆེན་པའི་སྡེ་པ། — the primary branch 2. Kaukkuṭika — Kukkuṭa [lit: Rooster] Lineage School; Tib: བྱ་གག་རིས་ ( རིགས་ ) ཀྱི་སྡེ། ; Pāli: Gokulika [lit: School of the Cow-Lineage]; Tib: བ་གླང་གནས། 3. Ekavyāvahārika — Single Designation School; Pāli: Ekabyohāra ; Tib: ཐ་སྙད་གཅིག་པའི་སྡེ། 4. Bahuśrutīya — School of the Well-learned; Pāli: Bahussutaka ; Tib: མང་དུ་ཐོས་པའི་སྡེ། 5. Prajñaptivāda — Doctrine of Designations School; Pāli: Paññattivāda ; Tib: བཏགས་པར་སྨྲ་བའི་སྡེ་པ། 6. Caitika — Stūpa School; Pāli: Cetiya-vāda ; Tib: མཆོད་རྟེན་པའི་སྡེ་པ། Sthaviravāda Southern Transmission Accounts: Sthaviravāda Sub-schools The accounts of the divisions within the Sthaviravāda are considerably more complex. According to the Southern sources, eleven sub-schools eventually split from the original Sthaviravāda, resulting in twelve schools in total, including the original Sthaviravāda. The Dīpavaṃsa records the divisions like this: v. 45. In the orthodox school of the Theras [Skt: Sthaviras ] again a schism occurred: the Mahiṁsāsaka and Vajjiputtaka bhikkhus formed two sections. v. 46. In the school of the Vajjiputtakas four sections arose, viz.: the Dhammuttarikas , Bhaddayānikas , Channagārikas and Sammitis . v. 47. In later times two divisions arose among the Mahiṁsāsakas : the Sabbatthivāda and Dhammagutta bhikkhus formed two divisions. v. 48. The Sabbatthivādas and Kassapikas, the Kassapikas and Saṅkantikas , and subsequently another section, the Suttavādas , separated themselves in their turn. Two schools separated from the Sthaviravāda [Pāli: Theravāda ] 1. Mahīśāsaka — Pāli: Mahiṁsāsaka 2. Vātsīputrīya — Pāli: Vajjiputtaka Four schools separated from the Vātsīputrīya 3. Dharmottarīya — Pāli: Dhammuttariya 4. Bhadrayānīya — Pāli: Bhaddayānika 5. Ṣaṇṇagārika — Pāli: Channagārika 6. Sammitīya — Pāli: Sammitiya Two schools separated from the Mahīśāsaka This point marks an important difference from the Northern Transmission. In Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions , the Mahīśāsaka is presented as having split from the Sarvāstivāda. The Southern Transmission gives the opposite genealogy: the Sarvāstivāda is presented as a later branch of the Mahīśāsaka, making it a sub-school of a sub-school. 7. Dharmaguptaka — Pāli: Dhammaguttaka 8. Sarvāstivāda — Pāli: Sabbatthivāda One school separated from the Sarvāstivāda 9. Kāśyapīya — Pāli: Kassapika One school separated from the Kāśyapīya 10. Saṃkrāntivāda — Pāli: Saṅkantika One school separated from the Saṃkrāntivāda 11. Sautrāntika — Pāli: Suttavāda Main Points of Difference Between the Southern and Northern Accounts The Northern Transmission, as documented by Vasumitra’s Wheel Distinguishing the Differences Between the Scriptural Traditions , presents the Sarvāstivāda as the principal branch of the Sthaviravāda tradition . The Southern Transmission, as represented by the Mahāvaṃsa and Dīpavaṃsa , instead describes the Sarvāstivāda as a branch that arose from the Mahīśāsaka . From the perspective of the Southern account, therefore, the Sarvāstivāda is a later (minor) sub-school rather than the principal continuation of the original Sthaviravāda. The Tambapaṇṇīya/Vibhajjavāda tradition that became established in Sri Lanka regards itself as preserving the original lineage of the School of the Doctrine of the Elders ( Sthaviravāda ; Pāli: Theravāda ). In the Tibetan tradition, the Mūlasarvāstivāda ( Root Sarvāstivāda ) is regarded as the continuation of the Sthaviravāda lineage. The designation Mūla , meaning “root,” is traditionally understood as indicating its status as the root or foundational lineage. The Karmapa then cautioned that the modern scholars, however, generally do not accept such claims to represent the single, historically “true” continuation of the original Sthaviravāda. They point out that such claims may reflect the perspectives and sectarian affiliations of the traditions themselves and are not necessarily substantiated by independent historical evidence. All things considered, in the Tibetan tradition, the Mūlasarvāstivāda is regarded as an authentic continuation of the Sthaviravāda lineage, while the Tambapaṇṇīya tradition of Sri Lanka likewise regards itself as the authentic upholders of that lineage. That is the core difference. Sthaviravāda Southern Transmission Accounts: The Seventeen “External” Schools According to the Mahāvihāra Tradition In addition to the “early” eighteen schools described above — namely, the two original schools, Sthaviravāda and Mahāsāṃghika, together with their eleven Sthaviravāda and five Mahāsāṃghika offshoots — the Southern Transmission sources, particularly those associated with the Mahāvihāra tradition, also describe a group of Buddhist schools, referred to as the “later schools” or the “eighteen external schools”. v. 51. Seventeen are the heretical sects, and there is one orthodox sect; together with the orthodox sect they are eighteen at all. v. 52. The most excellent Theravāda which resembles a large banyan tree, is