Vaibhāṣika

The Vaibhāṣika was an early Buddhist subschool formed by adherents of the Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra, comprising the orthodox Kasmiri branch of the Sarvāstivāda school. The Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivāda, which had by far the most "comprehensive edifice of doctrinal systematics" of the early Buddhist schools, was widely influential in India and beyond.

The school was originally of a mystical nature, later developing into more materialistic concerns with a focus upon Materialism and 'existent phenomena' (Tibetan: yod-pa). The key tenets of this school are "that no mental concept can be formed except through direct contact between the mind, via the senses, such as sight, touch, taste, etc., and external objects".

Berzin (2007) elaborates this further:

Vaibhashika asserts sensory nonconceptual cognition of an object through direct contact with it, without the medium of a mental aspect of the object. Because of that, when something made of parts is validly known, the cognition must simultaneously also take as its objects the parts on which the object depends.

Vaibhashika or Vaibhasika (Sanskrit). (Tibetan: bye-brag smra-ba).

Berzin (2007) discusses and contextualises Vaibhashika in relation to the eighteen Hinayana schools, the Sautrantika, the Sarvastivada:

Within the eighteen Hinayana schools, the Vaibhashika and Sautrantika belong to Sarvastivada (thams-cad yod-par smra-ba), a Sanskrit tradition, different from the Pali Theravada tradition (gnas-brtan smra-ba). The Tibetan lineage of monastic vows comes from another of its sub-schools, Mula-sarvastivada (gzhi thams-cad yod-par smra-ba).

Nava Vihara and Vaibhashika have entwined histories. Nava Vihara emphasized the primary study of the Vaibhashika abhidharma, admitting only monks who had already composed texts related to the topic.

Mipham (1846–1912), discusses the Vaibhashika school in his purport to Verse 3 of Śāntarakṣita's Madhyamākalaṃkāra, an extract of this discussion rendered into English by the Padmakara Translation Group (2005: p. 165) follows:

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