It is not clear whether the terms Sautrāntika and Dārṣṭântika are positive and negative designations for the same group, different names for the same group at different periods, or terms for two different groups. The *Vibhāṣā refers to Dārṣṭântika theories more than eighty times. It does not mention Sautrāntika, but many of the positions that it attributes to Dārṣṭântika are attributed to Sautrāntika by Vasubandhu 世親 in the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya 倶舍論. In the *Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, Harivarman espouses many of the Dārṣṭântika positions mentioned in the *Vibhāṣā although he refers to neither Dārṣṭântika nor Sautrāntika by name. Vasubandhu uses the term Dārṣṭântika far less frequently than Sautrāntika, and, while he approves of the doctrines that he attributes to Sautrāntika, he disapproves of those he attributes to Dārṣṭântika. The commentators on the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, on the other hand, tend to view Sautrāntika and Dārṣṭântika as essentially synonymous.

References

Cox, Collett. 1995. Disputed Dharmas: Early Buddhist Theories on Existence with an Annotated Translation of the Section on Factors Dissociated from Thought from Saṃghabhadra's Nyāyânusāra. Tokyo:  International Institute of Buddhist Studies. Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph series XI

Katō Junshō 加藤純章. 1989. Kyōryōbu no kenkyū 経量部の研究 (Étude sur les Sautrāntika). Tokyo:  Shunjūsha.

Kritzer, Robert. 2003. General Introduction [to the issue of the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies on Sautrāntika]. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 26.2 : 201-224.

Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元. 1930. “Hiyushi to Jōjitsuron 譬喩師と成實論 .”  Komazawa daigaku Bukkyō Gakkai nenpo 1 : 134-156.