Early Buddhist schools

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Part of a series on
Early Buddhism
Scriptures Early Buddhist Texts (EBT) Tripiṭaka Nikayas Āgamas Gandhāran EBTs Prātimokṣa Abhidharma Jatakas Avadanas Mahāvastu Śālistamba Sūtra Tibetan EBTs in the Kangyur
Early sangha Gautama Buddha Sāriputta Mahāmoggallāna Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Mahakasyapa Ānanda Upāli Mahākātyāyana Devadatta Anāthapiṇḍika
Pre-sectarian Buddhism Kingdom of Magadha Ashoka Moggaliputtatissa Buddhist councils
Early Buddhist schools Pre-sectarian Buddhism Mahāsāṃghika Ekavyāvahārika Lokottaravāda Gokulika Bahuśrutīya Prajñaptivāda Caitika (Haimavata) Sthaviras Pudgalavada Vātsīputrīya Saṃmitīya Sarvāstivāda (Haimavata) (Kāśyapīya) (Mahīśāsaka) (Dharmaguptaka) Sautrāntika Mulasarvastivada Vaibhāṣika Vibhajyavāda Theravāda (Kāśyapīya) (Mahīśāsaka) (Dharmaguptaka)
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The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separation of groups of monks. The original saṅgha split into the first early schools (generally believed to be the Sthavira and the Mahāsāṃghika) during or after the reign of Aśoka.^[1] Later, these first early sects were further divided into schools such as the Sarvāstivādins, the Dharmaguptakas, and the Vibhajyavādins, eventually proliferating into—according to traditional accounts—18 (or, less-commonly, 20) different schools.^[2]

The textual material shared by the early schools is often termed the early Buddhist texts and these are an important source for understanding their doctrinal similarities and differences.