The Pudgalavāda (Sanskrit: "Personalism"; Pali: Puggalavāda; Chinese: 補特伽羅論者; pinyin: Bǔtèjiāluō Lùnzhě; Vietnamese: Bổ-đặc-già-la Luận giả) was a Buddhist philosophical view and also refers to a group of Nikāya Buddhist schools (mainly known as Vātsīputrīyas) that arose from the Sthavira Nikāya. The school is believed to have been founded by the elder Vātsīputra in the third century BCE. They were a widely influential school in India and became particularly popular during the reign of emperor Harshavadana (606–647 CE). Harsha's sister Rajyasri was said to have joined the school as a nun. According to Dan Lusthaus, they were "one of the most popular mainstream Buddhist sects in India for more than a thousand years".
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Pudgalavāda in the context of Early Buddhist schools
The early Buddhist schools refers to the Indian Buddhist "doctrinal schools" or "schools of thought" (Sanskrit: vāda) which arose out of the early unified Buddhist monastic community (Saṅgha) due to various schisms in the history of Indian Buddhism. The various splits and divisions were caused by differences in interpretations of the monastic rule (Vinaya), doctrinal differences and also due to simple geographical separation as Buddhism spread throughout the Indian subcontinent.
The early Buddhist community initially split into two main Nikāyas (monastic groups, divisions): the Sthavira ("Elders"), and the Mahāsāṃghika ("Great Community"). This initial split occurred either during the reign of Aśoka (c. 268-232 BCE) or shortly after (historians disagree on the matter).
View the full Wikipedia page for Early Buddhist schools