m into four groups or
Nikayas. (_a_) The Arya-Mahasanghika-nikaya. This comprised seven
subdivisions but was apparently the least influential school as it was
not predominant anywhere, though it coexisted with other schools in
most parts. The Lokottaravadins mentioned by Hsuean Chuang as existing
at Bamiyan belonged to it. They held that the Buddha was not subject
to the laws of nature. (_b_) Arya-Sthavira-nikaya. This is the school
to which our Pali Canon belongs. It was predominant in southern India
and Ceylon and was also found in eastern Bengal. (_c_) The
Arya-Mula-sarvastivada-nikaya with four subdivisions. Almost all
belonged to this school in northern India and it was nourishing in
Magadha. (_d_) The Arya-Sammitiya-nikaya with four subdivisions
flourished in Lata and Sindhu. Thus the last three schools were
preponderant in southern, northern and western India respectively. All
were followed in Magadha, no doubt because the holy places and the
University of Nalanda attracted all shades of opinion, and Bengal
seems to have been similarly catholic. This is substantially the same
as Hsuean Chuang's statement except that I-Ching takes a more
favourable view of the position of the Sarvastivada, either because it
was his own school or because its position had really improved.

It would seem that in the estimation of both pilgrims the Maha-and
Hinayana are not schools but modes in which any school can be studied.
The Nikaya[254] or school appears to have been chiefly, though not
exclusively, concerned with the rule of discipline which naturally had
more importance for Buddhist monks than it has for European scholars.
The observances of each Nikaya were laid down in its own recension of
the scriptures which was sometimes oral and sometimes in writing.
Probably all the eighteen schools had separate Vinayas, and to some
extent they had different editions of the other Pitakas, for the
Sarvastivadins had an Abhidharma of their own. But there was no
objection to combining the study of Sarvastivadin literature with the
reading of treatises by Asanga and Vasubandhu[255] or sutras such as
the Lotus, which I-Ching's master read once a day for sixty years.
I-Ching himself seems to regard the two Vehicles as alternative forms
of religion, both excellent in their way, much as a Catholic
theologian might impartially explain the respective advantages of the
active and contemplative lives. "With resolutions rightly formed" he
says "we