'analytical or discriminating doctrine'
is an early name for the original Buddha doctrine, called Theravāda. -
The term
vibhajja-vādī occurs in M.99 and A.X.94, though not in the sense of
a separate school, but as a characteristic of the Buddha himself: "Now, by
blaming what is blamable and praising what is praiseworthy, the Blessed One is a
'discriminating teacher' (vibhajja-vadī) and is not one-sided in his
teaching" (A.X.94).
Buddhaghosa, in the introduction to his Com. on the
Kathāvatthu, says that in Asoka's time, when the Sangha prospered, many
heretics took ordination as Buddhist monks but continued to spread their wrong
doctrines. For purifying the Sangha, Asoka, together with the venerable
Moggaliputtatissa, summoned assembly of the bhikkhus. When each of the assembled
was individually questioned by the king about what the Buddha taught, those who
said that he was an eternalist (sassata-vadī), etc. were expelled. The
genuine bhikkhus replied that the Buddha was a vibhajja-vadī, an
'analyst' or 'discriminating teacher'; and when, on the king's question,
Moggaliputtatissa confirmed that this was the correct view, those monks were
admitted to the Uposatha (q.v.) assembly of the Sangha, and from their midst the
participants of the 3rd Council at Pataliputta were selected. -
See Mahāvamsa,
tr. by Wilh. Geiger, Ch. V, v. 268f.

|