|Part of a series on| The Sautrāntika were an early school of
Buddhist philosophy, generally believed to be descended from the
Sthaviravada by way of their immediate parent school, the
Sarvāstivādins. Their name means literally "those who rely upon
the sutras", and indicated their rejection of the Abhidharma
texts of other early Buddhist schools. The Sarvāstivādins
sometimes referred to them as the Dārṣṭāntika school, meaning
"those who utilize the method of examples". This latter name may
have been a pejorative label. It is also possible that the name
'Dārṣṭāntika' identifies a predecessor tradition, or another
related, but distinct, doctrinal position; the exact
relationship between the two terms is unclear. Charles Willemen
identifies the Sautrāntika as a Western branch of the
Sarvāstivādins, active in the Gandhara area, who split from the
Sarvāstivādins sometime before 200 CE, when the Sautrāntika name
emerged. Other scholars are less confidant of a specific
identification for the Sautrāntika; Nobuyoshi Y