The Abhidharma 223to a continuously present (but still always changing) underlying
state of mind, which the Sautrantikas and later the Y ogacarins
tended to do, the Theravadins refer it to a continually interven-
ing state of mind.^21
As a footnote to this discussion of Abhidharina problems, I
should mention the theory of one more Buddhist school, the
Pudgalavadins or 'those who affirm the existence of the person'.
Their ideas seem to have been formed in the context of early
Abhidharma discussions of the undetermined questions, karma
and rebirth, the unconditioned, and the nature of conscious-
ness.22 To some extent the 'person' of the Pudgalavadins might
be seen as performing an analogous functidn to 'possession',
seeds, or bhavmiga. While other schools accused them of having
smuggled in an atman or 'self', they vigorously denied that their
person was a 'self': it cannot be said to be the same or different
from the five aggregates; it is not susceptible to annihilation
nor is it eternal; in fact it is strictly ineffable (avaktavya). The
writings of the Pudgalavadins themselves hardly survive and
our knowledge of their ideas is largely based on the refutations
of other schools.^23 Although the affirmation of the person can
hardly be regarded as characteristic of mainstream Buddhist
thought, it is associated particularly with the Vinaya lineage
named after the monk Vatsiputra, the Vatsiputriya-Sammatiyas.
Ac<:ording to the Chinese pilgrim Hsiian-tsang who visited India
in the seventh century, around a quarter of the monks in India
belonged to this school. Of course, that a monk had been or-
dained into a particular ordination lineage need not have meant
that he automatically subscribed to the doctrinal positions asso-
ciated with that ordination lineage. Not all monks. ordained
as Sammatiyas need have been pudgalaviidins, just as not all
Sarvastivadin monks need necessarily have been sarviistivadins.
This last point is aptly illustrated by the fact that the contem-
porary Tibetan monks are ordained in the tradition of the
Miilasarvastivadins (a sub-school of the ancient Sarvastivada),
yet none would subscribe to the view that dharmas exist in the
three times.