SAUTRĀNTIKA Skt.; Hīnayāna school that developed out of the Sarvāstivāda around 150 C.E. As its name indicates, the followers of this school draw their support only from the Sūtra-pitaka and reject the Abhidharma-pitaka of the Sarvāstivāda as well as its “everything is” theory.
The Sautrāntikas posit the existence of a refined consciousness that constitutes the basis of human life and that persists from one rebirth to the next. In contrast to the Vātsīputrīyas, who postulate the existence of an entire “person” that persists from one life to the next, the Sautrāntikas see the consciousness as no more than the bearer of the cycle of existence (sāmsara). Into this consciousness the remaining four skandhas are absorbed at the time of death. This notion of a continuously existing consciousness had a strong influence on the Yogāchāra school.
The theory of the instantaneity of everything existing is very pronounced in the Sautrāntika school. It sees in each existent nothing more than an uninterrupted succession of moments; duration is only a semblance, an illusion that is produced only by the density of succession of individual moments. Nirvāna for the Sautrāntikas is a purely negative spiritual event —it is nonbeing. He who has attained release is annihilated.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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External Links: Branches of Buddhism / Schools of Buddhism / Early Buddhist schools / The eighteen schools / Sarvastivada / Sautrāntika