印順導師=Ven. Yinshun; 部派佛教=sectarian Buddhism; 三世有=existence in the three periods; 現在有existence in the present; 實體=essence; 作用=function; 曾有=previous existence; 當有=future existence; 薰習=perfuming; 種子=seeds
Ven. Yinshun uses the method of “exploring origins to illustrate change, and selection as a discipline” in his writings on sectarian Buddhist thought. Main works include: Weishi xue tanyuan (A study of the origins of consciousness-only thought), written 1940-44, age 35-39; Yindu zhi Fojiao (Indian Buddhism), written 1942-43, age 37-38; Xingkong xue tanyuan (A study of the origins of ?ūnyatā thought), written 1944-50, age 39-45. As will become evident in this paper, Ven. Yinshun's thought had already matured by this period, and his method of argumentation had been established. Following this period, beginning in 1967-68 (at age 62-63), he wrote and published monographs on each of the main stages of development of Indian Buddhist thought. In 1987-88 (age 82-83), he completed Yindu Fojiao sixiang shi (History of Indian Buddhist thought) as “a conclusion to my research on the development of Indian Buddhist thought.” The main outline of Ven. Yinshun's classification of sectarian divisions is as follows: In his Yindu zhi Fojiao of 1943, he uses the terms “two sects, three divisions, and four schools,” also used in his Weishi xue tanyuan of 1944. In his Shuoyiqieyoubu zhi lunshu yu lunshi zhi yanjiu (A study of Sarvāstivādin treatises and treatise-masters) of 1968, this becomes “two sects, three schools, and four schools,” which is also used in his Chuqi Dasheng Fojiao zhi qiyuan yu kaizhan (The origins and development of early Mahāyāna Buddhism) of 1981. Then, using different criteria for classification, he re-periodizes sectarian Buddhism: 1. 300 BCE: two sects: Mahāsaṃghika and Sthaviravāda (Vinaya issues); 2. 270 BCE: divisions on the basis of doctrine (sects were named for their doctrinal positions); 3. 230 BCE: sects are named after regions and monasteries; 4. 100 BCE: Saṃkrāntivādins are also named on the basis of doctrine (all eighteen sects have been established). Ven. Yinshun, in accordance with his dating the second period (of four) of prajñāpāramitā thought to 50 CE, a time when prajñā was widespread and popular in northern India, demarcates the period from 300 BCE to 50 CE as “the sectarian period of Buddhism.”Ven. Yinshun refers to the Satyasiddhi ?āstra's “Ten Disputes” regarding to the varying theories of sectarian Buddhism, and the main structure of his Yindu Fojiao sixiang shi (A history of Indian Buddhist thought) makes use of the following rubrics: “existence in the three periods and existence in the present,” “seeing the truth in one moment and seeing the truth in stages,” and “pudgala and one mind.” With respect to the sectarian differences regarding “existence in the three periods and existence in the present,” Ven. Yinshun, starting from the “impermanence of saṃkāras” (the phenomena of impermanence in terms of arising and ceasing, and arising and ceasing in terms of momentariness) and the doctrine of non-self, explains how Buddhism establishes the relationship of causes and
