 The two major sects of the Buddhist religion are Theravada and Mahayana. These sects have a great variety of philosophical formulations, but three of the more influential schools are Abhidharma (Theravada), Madhyamaka (Mahayana), and Yogacara (Mahayana). Each of these schools interprets the key concepts of Buddhism in different ways.   Abhidharma Buddhists  argue that the things that are taken to be independent, persistent selves by common sense (such as particular monks like “Nagasena” and objects like chariots) exist only by convention. However, these conventionally existing entities are ontologically grounded in other, genuinely existing (Skt.)  dharmas  (entities such as instantaneous configurations of matter, or temporary mental states). Although these dharmas are transient and causally dependent on one another, they also possess a self-nature (Skt.   svabhava). 