Coming To Be and Passing Away

Abstract

i.The first part of this article surveys the extant Pali references to the Vibhajjav!da and to Vibhajjav!din(s), references which show clearly that the Pali !"k# writers know two distinct but related senses of the word vibhajjav#din.Firstly, it is an epithet for the Buddha, derived from passages in the Sutta-pi"aka, a usage which is found occasionally down to modern times.In another sense, it is a name of the followers of the Buddha and specifically for members of their own school which they believed to most truly represent the undistorted teaching of the founder.This second sense is first found in a late canonical passage and in the D"pava$sa, but continues to be used sporadically down to the thirteenth century, if not later.ii.Inscriptional evidence confirms that the Vibhajjav!dins were part of the Theriya tradition and links them to the Mah!vih!rav!sins and probably to the 'Tambapa##akas'.iii.The relevant doxographic literature on the different schools shows how the different schools are related to one another 2 .iv.The tradition of the missionary activities connected with the early Vibhajjav!dins is re-examined and it is suggested that we should 1 The first version of this paper was presented at the UKABS conference in Bristol in June, 2000.Thanks are due to Rupert Gethin for some useful comments and suggestions.2 On the Buddhist schools in general, see: Bareau 1955;

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