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of the elements of a life was also denied. In truth the "living being" is only a conventional name for a set of constantly changing elements [Footnote ref 1]. The only book of the Sammitiyas known to us and that by name only is the _Sammitiyas'astra_ translated into Chinese between 350 A.D. to 431 A.D.; the original Sanskrit works are however probably lost [Footnote ref 2]. The Vaibha@sikas are identified with the Sarvastivadins who according to _Dipava@msa_ V. 47, as pointed out by Takakusu, branched off from the Mahis'asakas, who in their turn had separated from the Theravada school. From the _Kathavatthu_ we know (1) that the Sabbatthivadins believed that everything existed, (2) that the dawn of right attainment was not a momentary flash of insight but by a gradual process, (3) that consciousness or even samadhi was nothing but ________________________________________________________________________ [Footnote 1: This account is based on the translation of _A@s@tamakos'asthananibaddha@h pudgolavinis'caya@h_, a special appendix to the eighth chapter of Abhidharmakos'a, by Prof Th. Stcherbatsky, _Bulletin de l' Academie des Sciences de Russie_, 1919.] [Footnote 2: Professor De la Vallee Poussin has collected some of the points of this doctrine in an article on the Sammitiyas in the _E. R.E._ He there says that in the _Abhidharmakos'avyakhya_ the Sammitiyas have been identified with the Vatsiputtriyas and that many of its texts were admitted by the Vaibha@sikas of a later age. Some of their views are as follows: (1) An arhat in possession of nirvana can fall away; (2) there is an intermediate state between death and rebirth called _antarabhava_; (3) merit accrues not only by gift (_tyaganvaya_) but also by the fact of the actual use and advantage reaped by the man to whom the thing was given (_paribhoganvaya pu@nya_); (4) not only abstention from evil deeds but a declaration of intention to that end produces merit by itself alone; (5) they believe in a pudgala (soul) as distinct from the skandhas from which it can be said to be either different or non-different. "The pudgala cannot be said to be transitory (_anitye_) like the skandhas since it transmigrates laying down the burden (_skandhas_) shouldering a new burden; it cannot be said to be permanent, since it is made of transitory constituents." This pudgala doctrine of the Sammitiyas as sketched by Professor De la Vallee Poussin is not in full agreement wi
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