上座部

[lang id =1028]他毘梨典部; [lang id =1028]他鞞羅部 Sthavirāḥ; Sthaviranikāya; or Āryasthāvirāḥ. The school of the presiding elder, or elders. The two earliest sections of Buddhism were this (which developed into the Mahāsthavirāḥ) and the Mahāsānghikāḥ or [lang id =1028]大衆部. At first they were not considered to be different schools, the [lang id =1028]上座部 merely representing the intimate and older disciples of Śākyamuni and the [lang id =1028]大衆 being the rest. It is said that a century later under Mahādeva [lang id =1028]大天 a difference of opinion arose on certain doctrines. Three divisions are named as resulting, viz. Mahāvihāravāsinaḥ, Jetavanīyāḥ, and Abhayagiri-vāsinaḥ. These were in Ceylon. In course of time the eighteen Hīnayāna sects were developed. From the time of Aśoka four principal schools are counted as prevailing: Mahāsāṅghika, Sthavira, Mūlasarvāstivda, and Saṁmitīya. The following is a list of the eleven sects reckoned as of the [lang id =1028]上座部: [lang id =1028]說一切有部; [lang id =1028]雪山; [lang id =1028]犢子; [lang id =1028]法上; [lang id =1028]賢冑; [lang id =1028]正量; [lang id =1028]密林山; [lang id =1028]化地; [lang id =1028]法藏; [lang id =1028]飮光; and [lang id =1028]經量部. The Sthaviravādin is reputed as nearest to early Buddhism in its tenets, though it is said to have changed the basis of Buddhism from an agnostic system to a realistic philosophy.