  Nominalism is primarily associated with a specific philosophical  position adopted by Buddhist philosophers of the  logico-epistemological tradition concerning the ontological status of universals. However, long before the development of Buddhist  Nominalism, Buddhist philosophers had adopted what might be properly  termed as a nominalist stance in regards to the nature of composite  entities, including persons. Thus, discussions about the ontological  status of the various elements of experience in the early Abhidharma  traditions were already framed by the distinction between things  that existed substantively (dravyasat) versus those that had only nominal or conventional existence (prajñaptisat).