Vibhajjavada
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Vibhajjavāda (Pāli) or Vibhajyavāda (Sanskrit), is an umbrella classification for Buddhist denominations that promote analysis as a primary tool for developing insight. The Vibhajjavadins are claimed to have seen themselves as orthodox Sthaviras. The word Vibhajjavāda can be broken into Vibhajja, loosely meaning "analysis", and vāda meaning "doctrine" or "teachings". Hence, the term "Vibhajjavāda" can mean "the doctrine of analysis". This doctrine says that the first step to insight has to be achieved by the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith.
The Third Buddhist Council, under the leadership of Moggaliputta Tissa had adopted this analytical approach. Some sub-division of Sthavira school which practices this approach, was regroup and termed as the followers of Vibhajjavāda. The followers of Vibhajjavāda comprised the ancestors of the Mahīśāsaka (P: Mahiṃsāsaka), the Kāśyapīya (P: Kassapiya), the Dharmaguptaka (P: Dhammaguttaka) and the Tāmraparnīya (P: Tambapanniya). The latter group were the ancestors of Śri Lankan Theravāda.
According to Sinhalese tradition, Buddhism under the name of Vibhajjavāda was first brought to Sri Lanka by Mahinda in 246 BCE, who is believed to be the son of Emperor Asoka and is said to have brought with him the Pāli Canon. Those excluded from or not participating in this Vibhajjavāda group were the Mahāsānghikas, as well as the ancestors of the Sarvāstivāda and the Sammitīya schools, who were regarded as heretical by the Vibhajjavadins according to the Kathavatthu, a work ascribed to Moggaliputta Tissa.
The Theravāda descendants of this school claim that Vibhajjavāda represents doctrinal orthodoxy, however, proponents of this approach, under its Sanskrit name of Vibhajyāvada, are frequently mentioned in the Sarvāstivādin Mahā-vibhāsa, where they are viewed as the type of heretics who "make objections, who uphold harmful doctrines and attack those who follow the authentic Dharma". This characterization was a response to the methodology and type of arguments recorded in the Kathavatthu, where Sarvāstivādin doctrines are refute point by point.
Further reading
Lance Cousins, "On the Vibhajjavādins", Buddhist Studies Review 18, 2 (2001)
