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FOREWORD

           Of the many early Buddhist sects, Sarvãstivãda occupied the most prominent place in popularity and expansion as also in the depth of its philosophical outlook. It retained the orthodoxy of Theravãda and claimed like every other sect to have found out the true philosophical import of the teachings of the Founder of the religion. Its adoption of Sanskrit as the medium of the Tripitaka and philosophical expositions earned the estimation of the Brahmanic logicians, philosophers and commentators. Its doctrines were made the main target of attack (puroapaksa) by Nagarjuna in enunciating his deep and subtle philosophy of sũnyatã. Thus, it is evident that in the pre-Christian era Sarvãstivãda happened to be one of the most important Indian schools of thought.

           Unfortunately, only a few of the original texts of the Sarvãstivãda Tripitaka are available and those also in fragments, but none of the seven valuable Ahhidharma texts have-so far been discovered. The only complete texts upon which we can lay hands for the Sarvãstivãđa doctrines are Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosa and Yasomitra’s Sphutartha on the Kosabhãsya, a manuscript of which (8C. KoSabhãsya) was discovered by Mahã Pandita Rabula Sankrityayana in a Tibetan monastery and is now being published by the K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna.

           Dr Tatia has rendered a signal service to the cause of the Buddhistic studies by putting together all the materials found in the above-mentioned texts, supplementing them by expositions found in theYogabhãsya and the Tattvasamyraha. By his thorough study he has thrown a flood of light on the thesis of the Sarvãsti- vãdins. His presentation of the thesis “sarvam asti” which gave the name Sarvãstivãdin to the sect, is deep, sound and exhaustive.

           It is very difficult to ascertain the exact position of the Sarvãstivãdins for their acceptance of the theory of momentariness (ksanikatva) in the causal series along with the doctrine of “sarvam asti”. What the Sarvãstivădins aimed ati it seems, was to establish the astitva oftrikãla, i. e., of the past and future in the present. In short, it may be said that they upheld the view that the dharmas of the present retain their pastness and futurity, which however are inactive. The phenomenal objects are dynamic in nature; their dynamism is momentary and is governed by the law of the causal series (pratĩtyasamutpanna). The series of causality, they argue, prove their contention that pastness and futurity are co-existent with the present; in other words, the past is not wholly destroyed or extinct and the future is not absolutely unborn and non-existent in the present. Dr Tatia has taken great pains to establish the Sarvãstỉvãda thesis in this brochure of his and has brought out fully the importance and implications of the philosophy of “sarvam asti”.

Nalinaksha Dutt,

M.A., B.L., P.R.S., Ph. D. (Cal.),

D. Litt. (London), F.A.S.,

Quondam Professor of Pali,

Calcutta University

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