Pudgalavada, Pudgalavāda, Pudgalavāda, Pudgalavādin: 2 definitions

Introduction:

Pudgalavada means something in Buddhism, Pali. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Buddhism

General definition (in Buddhism)

[«previous next»] — Pudgalavada in Buddhism glossary
Source: Scribd: The Literature of the Pudgalavadins

Personalism (pudgalavāda) was a remarkable aspect of ancient Buddhism. Buddhist in origins and inspiration, it was, in fact a markedly original doctrinal deviation -and engendered an important community that lasted more than ten centuries, from the century B.C. to the ninth or tenth century A.D.

The Personalist sect consisted of the mother sect, the Vātsīputrīya, and four sub-sexts:

  1. Sāṃmitīya
  2. Dharmottarīya,
  3. Bhadrayānīya and
  4. Ṣaṇṇagirika

These sects had a great number of monks and monasteries, and doctrinal influence on both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna.

The pudgala can de designated in three ways:

  1. The pudgala designated by the bases (āsrayaprajñaptapudgala),
  2. the pudgala designated by transmigration (saṇkramaprajñaptapudgala) and
  3. the pudgala designated by cessation (nirodhaprajñapatapudgala).
Source: WikiPedia: Buddhism

The Pudgalavāda or "Personalist" school of Buddhism broke off from the orthodox Sthaviravāda (elders) school around 280 BCE. The Pudgalavādins asserted that, while there is no ātman, there is a pudgala or "person", which is neither the same as nor different from the skandhas. The "person" was their method of accounting for karma, rebirth, and nirvana. Other schools held that the "person" exists only as a label, a nominal reality.

Among the most prominent of the Pudgalavādin schools were the Sammitiya.

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