The EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrika (; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools, and is thought to have separated from the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika sect during the reign of Aà Âoka.
TÃÂranÃÂtha viewed the EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas, LokottaravÃÂdins, and Gokulikas as being essentially the same. He even viewed EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrika as being a general term for the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghikas. The EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas, Gokulikas, and LokottaravÃÂdins are the three groups that emerged from the first split in the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika sect. A. K. Warder notes that the EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas were hardly known in later times and may have simply have been considered part of the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika.
The 6th century CE Indian monk ParamÃÂrtha wrote that 200 years after the parinirvÃÂá¹Âa of the Buddha, much of the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika school moved north of RÃÂjagá¹Âha, and were divided over whether the MahÃÂyÃÂna teachings should be incorporated formally into their Tripiá¹Âaka. According to this account, they split into three groups based upon the relative manner and degree to which they accepted the authority of these MahÃÂyÃÂna texts. According to ParamÃÂrtha, the EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas accepted the MahÃÂyÃÂna sà «tras as the words of the Buddha (buddhavacana).
The SamayabhedoparacanaÃÂakra of Vasumitra regards the EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas, Gokulikas, and LokottaravÃÂdins as being doctrinally indistinguishable. According to Vasumitra, 48 theses were held in common by these three MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika sects. Of the 48 special theses attributed by the SamayabhedoparacanaÃÂakra to these sects, 20 points concern the supramundane nature of buddhas and bodhisattvas. According to the SamayabhedoparacanaÃÂakra, these four groups held that the Buddha is able to know all dharmas in a single moment of the mind. Yao Zhihua writes:
The name of the EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas refers to their doctrine that the Buddha speaks with a single and unified transcendent meaning. They emphasised the transcendence of the Buddha, asserting that he was eternally enlightened and essentially non-physical. Just as the words of the Buddha were held to be spoken with one transcendent meaning, the Four Noble Truths were understood to be perfectly realised with one wisdom.
The EkavyÃÂvahÃÂrikas held that sentient beings possessed an originally or fundamentally pure mind, but that it has been encumbered and obscured by suffering. This conception of the nature of the mind as being fundamentally the same as that of the Buddha, has been identified with the MahÃÂyÃÂna doctrines of Buddha-nature and the Buddha's DharmakÃÂya, as well as compared favorably with doctrines in MahÃÂyÃÂna sà «tras such as the Lotus Sà «tra and the '.