On the Characteristics of Person (Pudgala) in Sāṃmitīyanikāyaśāstra

Sāmmitīyanikāyaśāstra has been regarded as a literature representing the position of the so-called Personalists (Pudgalavādins). However, in this literature, not only the opinions of the Personalists, but also various different views and criticisms on the self or person that were passed down to that time appear at once. There are even the contents that criticize the arguments for the existence of the self or person from the standpoints of the ontological selflessness that opposed the Personalists. Therefore, Sāmmitīyanikāyaśāstra should not be regarded as a closed literature that unilaterally puts forward only the Personalists’s position. The open attitude of this literature seems to have anything to do with the fact that Sāmmitīya school was the largest in Indian Buddhism at the time. It is believed that the purpose of this literature was to reveal the original meaning of the teaching of the selflessness by encompassing various arguments about the self or person that had been handed down until then as a wealthy force school. However, this school did not spread outside of India, and there was no literature that clearly revealed their thoughts other than Sāmmitīyanikāyaśāstra. Therefore, modern researches on their position were often dealt with indirectly through literatures criticizing the theories of Personalists, such as Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. In particular, the Korean Buddhist academic communities have had the tendencies to approach the problems of the self or the selflessness through the positions of Sarvāstivāda school or Madhyamika school. Therefore, because the perspectives of other schools were used as the basis for discussion, criticism and refutation on the theories of Personalists tended to be prioritized rather than an objective understanding on these. In this paper, I would like to objectively examine their position through the Personalists’s own literature called Sāmmitīyanikāyaśāstra. According to this study, the criticisms on the Personalists in general attempted by Sarvāstivāda-school or Madhyamika school cannot be properly applied to this literature that specifically reveals the hypothetical characteristics of the self or person. The identification of this part could serve as an opportunity to broaden the overall understanding of Sāmmitīyanikāyaśāstra along with a more complete understanding of the theories of Personalists.