| As the Sa?gha gradually grew over the next | | | | Sa?gha started to accumulate an Abhidharma, a |
| century a dispute arose regarding ten points of | | | | collection of philosophical texts. Early sources for |
| discipline. A Second Buddhist Council (said in the | | | | these probably existed in the time of the Buddha |
| scriptures to have taken place 100 years after | | | | as simple lists. However, as time went on and |
| the Buddha's death) was held to resolve the | | | | Buddhism spread further, the (perceived) |
| points at dispute. The result was that all the | | | | teachings of the Buddha were formalized in a |
| monks agreed that those 10 practices were | | | | more systematic manner in a new Pitaka: the |
| unallowed according to Vinaya. | | | | Abhidhamma Pitaka. Some modern academics |
| At some period after the Second Council | | | | refer to it as Abhidhamma Buddhism. |
| however, the Sangha began to break into | | | | Interestingly, in the opinion of some scholars, the |
| separate factions. The various accounts differ as | | | | Mahasanghika school did not have an Abhidhamma |
| to when the actual schisms occurred: according to | | | | Pitaka, which agrees with their statement that |
| the Dipavamsa of the Pali tradition, they started | | | | they did not want to add to the Buddha's |
| immediately after the Second Council; the | | | | teachings. But according to Chinese pilgrims Fa |
| Puggalavada tradition places it in 137 AN; the | | | | Xian (5th century CE) and Yuan Chwang (7th |
| Sarvastivada tradition of Vasumitra says it was in | | | | century CE), they had procured a copy of |
| the time of Asoka; and the Mahasanghika tradition | | | | Abhidhamma which belonged to the Mahasanghika |
| places it much later, nearly 100 BCE. | | | | School. |
| The Asokan edicts, our only contemporary | | | | Buddhism may have spread only slowly in India |
| sources, state that 'the Sangha has been made | | | | until the time of the Mauryan emperor |
| unified'. This apparently refers to a dispute such | | | | Aśoka the Great, who was a public |
| as that described in the account of the Third | | | | supporter of the religion. The support of |
| Buddhist Council at Pataliputta. This concerns the | | | | Aśoka and his descendants led to the |
| expulsion of non-Buddhist heretics from the | | | | construction of more Buddhist religious memorials |
| Sangha, and does not speak of a schism. | | | | (stupas) and to efforts to spread Buddhism |
| These schisms occurred within the traditions of | | | | throughout the enlarged Maurya empire and even |
| Early Buddhism, at a time when the Mahayana | | | | into neighboring lands – particularly to |
| movement either did not exist at all, or only | | | | the Iranian-speaking regions of Afghanistan and |
| existed as a current of thought not yet identified | | | | Central Asia, beyond the Mauryas' northwest |
| with a separate school. | | | | border, and to the island of Sri Lanka south of |
| The root schism was between the Sthaviras and | | | | India. These two missions, in opposite directions, |
| the Mahasa?ghikas. The fortunate survival of | | | | would ultimately lead, in the first case to the |
| accounts from both sides of the dispute reveals | | | | spread of Buddhism into China, and in the second |
| disparate traditions. The Sthavira group offers | | | | case, to the emergence of Theravada Buddhism |
| two quite distinct reasons for the schism. The | | | | and its spread from Sri Lanka to the coastal lands |
| Dipavamsa of the Theravada says that the losing | | | | of Southeast Asia. |
| party in the Second Council dispute broke away in | | | | This period marks the first known spread of |
| protest and formed the Mahasanghika. This | | | | Buddhism beyond India. According to the edicts of |
| contradicts the Mahasanghikas' own vinaya, which | | | | Aśoka, emissaries were sent to various |
| shows them as on the same, winning side. On the | | | | countries west of India in order to spread |
| other hand, the northern lineages, including the | | | | "Dhamma", particularly in eastern provinces of the |
| Sarvastivada and Puggalavada (both branches of | | | | neighboring Seleucid Empire, and even farther to |
| the ancient Sthaviras) attribute the Mahasa?ghika | | | | Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. This led, |
| schism to the '5 points' that erode the status of | | | | a century later, to the emergence of |
| the arahant. For their part, the Mahasa?ghikas | | | | Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs in the |
| argued that the Sthaviras were trying to expand | | | | Indo-Greek Kingdom, and to the development of |
| the Vinaya; they may also have challenged what | | | | the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. During this |
| they perceived to be excessive claims or | | | | period Buddhism was exposed to a variety of |
| inhumanly high criteria for Arhatship. Both parties, | | | | influences, from Persian and Greek civilization, and |
| therefore, appealed to tradition. The Sthaviras | | | | from changing trends in non-Buddhist Indian |
| gave rise to several schools, one of which was | | | | religions – themselves influenced by |
| the Theravada school. | | | | Buddhism. |
| Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each | | | | |