The Vinayas of the Sarvāstivādin, Dharmaguptaka, Mahīśāsaka, Pāli, Mūlasarvāstivādin, and Mahāsāṃghika schools all derive their Skandhaka section from a single, comprehensive literary work created in the first half of the 4th century BCE. This foundational text, which predates the Aśokan missions, was not a mere collection of rules but a grandly conceived narrative that embedded the monastic precepts within a biography of the Buddha, framing their promulgation as responses to specific events in his life from his early career to his death. The author of this work drew upon earlier traditions, including existing rules, commentaries on the Prātimokṣa, and Sūtra texts, which he adapted into his biographical framework, adding accounts of the first councils and a list of teachers to bestow Vedic-style authority on the text. This finding implies that the basis for many later biographies of the Buddha and early church histories is not a direct historical record but this 4th-century BCE literary creation, rendering much of what was considered authentic tradition a later, legendary construction designed to establish authority.
