Vasumitra

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Vasumitra. Teacher of the Sarvāstivāda school of Buddhism who put forward a thesis to defend the school's basic tenet that entities (dharma) exist in the past and future as well as in the present. According to Vasumitra, 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’.