The basic argument of Sarvastivada Buddhism is that we are all made up of mental and physical atomic constituents; called "dharmas". The dharmas are also not permanent entities. As soon as one arises, it is extinguished and replaced with a new dharma for both the mental dharmas and the physical dharmas. Also, our karma is connected to these dharmas. If I, for example, commit an action with an evil, neutral, or good intention then my dharmas will sooner-or-later react in an unpleasant, neutral, or pleasant way.

It seems that if this were to be true, then morality would have objectivity to it, and it seems that it would also imply free will. We may ask why would the atoms/physical dharmas respond in this way based upon someone’s moral intentions? We must not forget that there are also mental dharmas, so it seems that the atoms of our bodies react in pleasant or unpleasant ways to good and evil because the mental dharmas that make up our minds know right from wrong, and inevitably have some sense of moral reasoning. Therefore, it seems that Sarvastivada Buddhism has a psychological and atomic understanding for objective morality.