In such contexts, nimitta and anubyañjana are almost always treated as parallel synonyms. The separation of the two, with the instrumental anubyañjanaso, is found only at MN 124:20–25.1 and other late texts.

A schism in the Saṅgha is regarded as a heinous crime resulting in lower rebirth. It is a legal term in the Vinaya, which requires that a group of monastics who are maliciously promulgating what is against the Dhamma and Vinaya, carry out an uposatha procedure aiming to divide the Saṅgha.