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Courtesy: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-Vasumitra.html
A Dictionary of Buddhism | 2004 | |
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Vasumitra. Doctor of the Sarvāstivāda school of Buddhism who flourished in the 2nd century ce. A native of Gandhāra, he presided over the Council of Kaniṣka. Vasumitra put forward a thesis to defend the basic tenet of the Sarvāstivāda school that entities (dharma) exist in the past and future as well as in the present. According to him, dharmas exist in a noumenal or latent condition in the future until they attain their moment of causal efficacy (karitra) in the present. This marks their entry into a functional relationship with other phenomena. When this moment is past, they once again enter into a noumenal mode which is now described as ‘past’. Vasumitra's theory of temporality was accepted by the school in preference to the contending views of three other philosophers, Dharmatrāta, Ghoṣaka, and Buddhadeva.Copyright