Editing Sarvastivada (section)

==Origination and history==
[[File:Mathura Katra fragment A-66.jpg|thumb|Fragment of a Buddha stele in the name of a "[[Northern Satraps|Kshatrapa]] lady" named Naṃda ([[File:Mathura Katra fragment A-66 inscription 'Namdaye Kshatrapa'.jpg|70px]] ''Naṃdaye Kshatrapa''), from the [[Art of Mathura]].<ref name="PDM122"/><ref>For a modern image see Figure 9 in {{cite journal |last1=Myer |first1=Prudence R. |title=Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from Mathurā |journal=Artibus Asiae |date=1986 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=121–123 |doi=10.2307/3249969 |issn=0004-3648|jstor=3249969 }}</ref><ref name="Mathura Inscriptions">{{cite book |last1=Lüders |first1=Heinrich |title=Mathura Inscriptions |date=1960 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.108369/page/n37 31]–32 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.108369}}</ref> The stele is dedicated to the [[Bodhisattva]] "for the welfare and happiness of all sentient beings for the acceptance of the Sarvastivadas". [[Northern Satraps]] period, 1st century CE.<ref name="PDM122">{{cite journal |last1=Myer |first1=Prudence R. |title=Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from Mathurā |journal=Artibus Asiae |date=1986 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=111–113 |doi=10.2307/3249969 |issn=0004-3648|jstor=3249969 }}</ref><ref name="Mathura Inscriptions"/>]]
[[File:Kalawan copper-plate inscription of the year 134.jpg|thumb|Copper-plate inscription mentioning the Sarvastivadas, in the year 134 of the [[Azes era]], i.e. 84 CE, [[Kalawan]], [[Taxila]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sastri |first1=Hirananda |title=Epigraphia Indica vol.21 |date=1931 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.9580/page/n365 259] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.9580}}</ref>]]

=== Early history ===
According to Charles Prebish, "there is a great deal of mystery surrounding the rise and early development of the Sarvāstivādin school."<ref name="Buddhism 1975. pg 42-432">''Buddhism: A Modern Perspective''. Charles S. Prebish. Penn State Press: 1975. {{ISBN|0-271-01195-5}} pg 42-43</ref> According to Dhammajoti, "its presence, as well as that of its rival — the [[Vibhajyavāda]] lineage — in the time of Emperor Aśoka is beyond doubt. Since Aśoka's reign is around 268–232 B.C.E., this means that at least by the middle of the 3rd century B.C.E., it had already developed into a distinct school."<ref>Dhammajoti (2009), p. 55.</ref>

In Central Asia, several Buddhist monastic groups were historically prevalent. According to some accounts, the Sarvāstivādins emerged from the [[Sthavira nikāya]], a small group of conservatives, who split from the reformist majority Mahāsāṃghikas at the Second Buddhist council. According to this account, they were expelled from Magadha, and moved to northwestern India where they developed into the Sarvāstivādin school.<ref name="Buddhism 1975. pg 42-432"/>

A number of scholars have identified three distinct major phases of missionary activity seen in the history of [[Buddhism in Central Asia]], which are associated with respectively the [[Dharmaguptaka]], Sarvāstivāda, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda,<ref>Cox, Dessein & Willemen, 1998, p. 126</ref> and the origins of the Sarvāstivāda have also been related to [[Ashoka]] sending [[Majjhantika]] (Sanskrit: [[Madhyāntika]]) on a mission to [[Gandhara]], which had an early presence of the Sarvāstivāda.<ref name="Buddhism 1975. pg 42-432"/> The Sarvāstivādins in turn are believed to have given rise to the [[Mulasarvastivada|Mūlasarvāstivāda]] sect, although the relationship between these two groups has not yet been fully determined. According to Prebish, "this episode corresponds well with one Sarvāstivādin tradition stating that Madhyantika converted the city of Kasmir, which seems to have close ties with Gandhara."<ref name="Buddhism 1975. pg 42-432"/>

A third tradition says that a community of Sarvāstivādin monks was established at [[Mathura]] by the patriarch [[Upagupta]].<ref name="Buddhism 1975. pg 42-432"/> In the Sarvāstivādin tradition [[Upagupta]] is said to have been the fifth patriarch after Mahākaśyapa, Ānanda, Madhyāntika, and Śāṇakavāsin, and in the Ch'an tradition he is regarded as the fourth.

===Kushan era===
[[File:Dharmarajika_stupa_taxila.jpg|thumb|right|A Kushan era votive [[stupa]] from [[Mohra Muradu]], [[Taxila]], where Sarvāstivāda groups are known to have lived by the end of the first century BCE<ref>Cox, Dessein & Willemen, 1998, p. 103</ref>]]
The Sarvāstivāda enjoyed the patronage of [[Kanishka]] (c. 127–150 CE) emperor of the [[Kushan Empire]], during which time they were greatly strengthened, and became one of the dominant sects of Buddhism in north India for centuries, flourishing throughout Northwest India, North India, and [[Central Asia]].

When the Sarvāstivāda school held a synod in Kashmir during the reign of [[Kanishka II]] (c. 158–176), the most important Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma text, the ''Astagrantha'' of Katyayaniputra was rewritten and revised in Sanskrit. This revised text was now known as [[Jnanaprasthana|''Jñānaprasthāna'']] ("Course of Knowledge"). Though the Gandharan ''Astagrantha'' had many vibhaṣas (commentaries), the new [[Kashmir]]i ''Jñānaprasthāna'' had a Sanskrit ''[[Mahavibhasa|Mahāvibhaṣa]],'' compiled by the Kashmir Sarvāstivāda synod.<ref name=":13">Westerhoff, 2018, p. 61.</ref> The ''Jñānaprasthāna'' and its Mahāvibhaṣa, were then declared to be the new orthodoxy by Kashmiris, who called themselves Vaibhāṣikas.
[[File:Dharmarajika_stupa,Taxila.jpg|thumb|The [[Dharmarajika Stupa]] and monastery ruins, a major Buddhist site in [[Taxila]], one of the capitals of the Kushan empire]]
This new Vaibhāṣika orthodoxy, however, was not readily accepted by all Sarvāstivādins. Some "Western masters" from Gandhara and Bactria had divergent views which disagreed with the new Kashmiri orthodoxy. These disagreements can be seen in post-''Mahāvibhaṣa'' works, such as the *[[Tattvasiddhi|''Tattvasiddhi-Śāstra'']]  (成實論), the *''Abhidharmahṛday''a (T no. 1550) and its commentaries (T no. 1551, no. 1552), the ''[[Abhidharmakośakārikā]]'' of Vasubandhu and its commentaries (who critiqued some orthodox views), and the *''Nyāyānusāra'' (Ny) of master [[Saṃghabhadra]] (ca fifth century CE) who formulated the most robust Vaibhāṣika response to the new criticisms.<ref>Dhammajoti (2009), p. 57.</ref>

===Tarim Basin===
When the Chinese pilgrim [[Xuanzang]] visited [[Kucha]] in the [[Tarim Basin]] in 630 CE, he received the favours of Suvarṇadeva, the son and successor of [[Suvarnapushpa|Suvarṇapuṣpa]], the non-[[Mahayana]] Buddhist king of Kucha.<ref>{{cite book |last = Grousset |first = René |author-link = René Grousset |title = The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia |url = https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou |url-access = registration |access-date = 20 November 2016 |year = 1970 |publisher = Rutgers University Press |location = New Brunswick, NJ |isbn = 978-0-8135-1304-1 |page=99}}</ref> Xuanzang described in many details the characteristics of Kucha, and probably visited the [[Kizil Caves]].<ref name="DCW">{{cite web |last1=Waugh |first1=Daniel (Historian, University of Washington) |title=Kizil |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/religion/buddhism/tarim/kizil.html |website=depts.washington.edu |publisher=Washington University |access-date=30 December 2020}}</ref> Of the religion of the people of Kucha, he says that they were Sarvastivadins:<ref name="SB">{{cite book |last1=Beal |first1=Samuel |title=Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World : Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 629) |year=2000 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-24469-5 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmISY_Z7bEgC&pg=PA19 |language=en}}, also available in: {{cite web |title=Kingdom of K'iu-chi (Kucha or Kuche) [Chapter 2] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/buddhist-records-of-the-western-world-xuanzang/d/doc220147.html#note-e-86576 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |access-date=30 December 2020 |date=27 June 2018}}</ref><br>
{{blockquote|There are about one hundred convents (saṅghārāmas) in this country, with five thousand and more disciples. These belong to the [[Hinayana|Little Vehicle]] of the school of the Sarvāstivādas (Shwo-yih-tsai-yu-po). Their doctrine (teaching of Sūtras) and their rules of discipline (principles of the Vinaya) are like those of India, and those who read them use the same (originals).|Xuanzang, on the religion of Kucha.<ref name="SB"/>}}