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Abhidharma (Sanskrit) or Abhidhamma (Pāli) are ancient (3rd century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras, according to schematic classifications. The Abhidhamma works do not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or abstract and systematic lists.^[1]

According to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Abhidhamma started as an elaboration of the teachings of the suttas, but later developed independent doctrines.

The literal translation of the term Abhidharma is unclear. Two possibilities are most commonly given:

1. abhi - higher or special + dharma- teaching, philosophy, thus making Abhidharma the "higher teachings"
2. abhi - about + dharma of the teaching, translating it instead as "about the teaching" or even "metateaching".

In the West, the Abhidhamma has generally been considered the core of what is referred to as "Buddhist Psychology".^[2]

Origins [link]

According to the commentarial tradition [link]

In the commentaries of Theravāda Buddhism it was held that the Abhidhamma was not a later addition to the tradition, but rather represented the first, original understanding of the teachings by the Buddha. According to legend, shortly after his awakening the Buddha spent several days in meditation, during which he formulated the Abhidhamma. Later, he traveled to the heavenly realm and taught the Abhidhamma to the divine beings that dwelled there, including his deceased mother Mahāmāyā, who had rearisen as a celestial being. The tradition holds that the Buddha gave daily summaries of the teachings given in the heavenly realm to the monk Śāriputra, who passed them on.^[3]

The Abhidhamma is thus presented as a pure and undiluted form of the teaching that was too difficult for most practitioners of the Buddha's time to grasp. Instead, the Buddha taught by the method related in the various suttas, giving appropriate, immediately applicable teachings as each situation arose, rather than attempting to set forth the Abhidhamma in all its complexity and completeness. Thus, there is a similarity between the traditions of the Adhidhamma and that of the Mahayana, which also claimed to be too difficult for the people living in the Buddha's time.

According to scholars [link]

Scholars generally believe that the Abhidharma emerged after the time of the Buddha, in around the third century BCE. Therefore the seven Abhidhamma works are generally claimed by scholars not to represent the words of the Buddha himself, but those of disciples and scholars.^[1] Factors contributing to its development could have been the growth of monastic centers, the growing support for the Buddhist sangha, and outside influences from other religious groups. Some scholars^{[citation needed]} believe that the Abhidhamma represents an expansion of a set of teachings and categorisations that were employed during the earliest period of Buddhism and later developed and elaborated upon.

As the last major division of the canon, the Abhidhamma works have had a checkered history. They were not accepted as canonical by the Mahasanghika school^[1][4] and several other schools.^[5] Another school included most of the Khuddaka Nikaya within the Abhidhamma Pitaka.^[1] Also, the Pali version of the Abhidhamma is a strictly Theravada collection, and has little in common with the Abhidhamma works recognized by other Buddhist schools.^[6] The Theravadin Abhidhamma is in some respects rather skeletal, with the details not entirely fleshed out. According to Rupert Gethin however, obvious care and ingenuity have gone into its development.^[7]

The various Abhidhamma philosophies of the various early schools have no agreement on doctrine^[8] and belong to the period of 'Divided Buddhism'^[8] (as opposed to Undivided Buddhism). The earliest texts of the Pali Canon (the Sutta Nipata, parts of the Jatakas, and the first four Nikayas of the Suttapitaka) have no mention of (the texts of) the Abhidhamma Pitaka.^[9] The Abhidhamma is also not mentioned at the report of the First Buddhist Council, directly after the death of the Buddha. This report of the first council does mention the existence of the Vinaya and the five Nikayas (of the Suttapitaka).^[10][11]

According to L. S. Cousins, the suttas deal with sequences and processes, while the Abhidhamma describes occasions and events.^[12]

Variety of Abhidhammic teachings and books [link]

Numerous apparently independent and unrelated Abhidharma traditions arose in India, roughly during the period from the 2nd or 3rd Century BCE to the 5th Century CE. The 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang reportedly collected Abhidharma texts from seven different traditions. The various Abhidhammic traditions have very fundamental disagreements with each other. These various Abhidhammic theories were (together with differences in Vinaya) the major cause for the majority of splits in the monastic Sangha, which resulted in the fragmented early Buddhist landscape of the 18 Early Buddhist Schools.

In the modern era, only the Abhidharmas of the Sarvāstivādins and the Theravādins have survived intact, each consisting of seven books, with the addition of the Sariputra Abhidharma. The Theravāda Abhidharma, the Abhidhamma Pitaka (discussed below), is preserved in Pāli, while the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma is mostly preserved only in Chinese - the (likely Sanskrit) original texts having been lost, though some Tibetan texts are still extant.

A small number of other Abhidharma texts of unknown origin are preserved in translation in the Chinese canon. These different traditions have some similarities, suggesting either interaction between groups or some common ground antedating the separation of the schools.^[13]

Theravāda Abhidhamma [link]

The Abhidhamma Pitaka is the third pitaka, or basket, of the Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripiṭaka), the canon of the Theravada school of Buddhism. It consists of seven sections or books:

1. Dhammasangani ('Enumeration of Factors') - Describes the fundamental phenomena (dhamma) which constitute human experience.
2. Vibhanga ('Analysis') - An analysis of various topics by a variety of methods, including catechism, using material from the Dhammasangani.
3. Dhatukatha ('Discussion of Elements') - Some interrelations between various items from the first two books, formulated as sets of questions and answers.
4. Puggalapannatti ('Descriptions of Individuals') - An enumeration of the qualities of certain different 'personality types'. These types were believed to be useful in formulating teachings to which an individual would respond positively.
5. Kathavatthu ('Points of Controversy') - A collection of debates on points of doctrine, traditionally said to have been compiled by Moggaliputta Tissa at the Buddhist Council sponsored by King Ashoka, which took place in the Third Century, BCE.
6. Yamaka ('The Pairs') - Deals with various questions relating to interrelations within various lists of items; here the items belong to the same list, whereas in the Dhātukathā they are in different lists.
7. Patthana ('Foundational Conditions' or 'Relations') - The laws of interaction by which the dhammas described in the Dhammasangani operate.

The Theravāda Abhidhamma, like the rest of the Tipitaka, was orally transmitted until the first century BC. Due to famines and constant wars, the monks responsible for recording the oral tradition felt that there was a risk of portions of the canon being lost so the Abhidhamma was written down for the first time along with the rest of the Canon.

These have all been published in romanized Pali by the Pali Text Society, and most have been translated into English as well. Some scholars date the seven Pali Abhidhamma books from about 400 BCE to about 250 BCE, the first book being the oldest of the seven and the fifth being the newest. Additional post-canonical texts composed in the following centuries attempted to further clarify the analysis presented in the Abhidhamma texts. The best known of such texts are the Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosa and the Abhidhammatthasangaha of Anuruddha.

Early Western translators of the Pāli canon found the Abhidhamma Pitaka the least interesting of the three sections of the Tipiṭaka. Caroline Rhys Davids, a Pāli scholar and the wife of Pali Text Society founder T. W. Rhys Davids, famously described the ten chapters of the Yamaka as "ten valleys of dry bones".^[14] As a result this Abhidhammic aspect of Buddhism was little studied in the West until the latter half of the 20th Century. Interest in the Abhidhamma has grown in the West as better scholarship on Buddhist philosophy has gradually revealed more information about its origins and significance.

Within the Theravāda tradition the prominence of the Abhidhamma has varied considerably from country to country with Burma (Myanmar) placing the most emphasis on the study of the Abhidhamma.

Theravada commentaries [link]

In addition to the canonical Abhidharma, a variety of commentaries or manuals were written to serve as introductions to the Abhidharma. The best known commentaries in the Theravada tradition are:^[15]

• Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa - a comprehensive manual that contains much of the Theravada Abhidharma
• Abhidhammāvatāra (Introduction to Abhidharma) by Buddhadatta - a direct introduction to the Theravada Abhidharma
• Abhidhammatthasangaha (Compendium of the Topics of the Abhidharma) by Anuruddha - the most commonly used introductory manual in the contemporary Theravada tradition.
• Atthasālinī (The Expositor) by Buddhaghosa - explains the meaning of terms that occur in the Dhammasangani

Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma [link]

The Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma also consists of seven texts. However, comparison of the content of the Sarvāstivāda texts with that of the Theravāda Abhidhamma reveals that it is unlikely that this indicates that one textual tradition originated from the other. In particular, the Theravāda Abhidharma contains two texts (the Katha Vatthu and Puggala Pannatti) that some consider entirely out of place in an Abhidharma collection.

The texts of the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma are:

• Sangitiparyaya ('Discourses on Gathering Together')
• Dharmaskandha ('Aggregation of Dharmas')
• Prajnaptisastra ('Treatise on Designations')
• Dhatukaya ('Body of Elements')
• Vijnanakaya ('Body of Consciousness')
• Prakaranapada ('Exposition')
• Jnanaprasthana ('Foundation of Knowledge')

Following these, are the texts that became the authority of the Vaibhāṣika, the Kasmiri Sarvāstivāda Orthodoxy:

• Mahavibhasa ("Great Commentary", on the Jnanaprasthana)

Little research in English has been made in these texts, although all of them are summarized, many in fine detail, in the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol. VII: Abhidharma Buddhism.^[16]

Sarvāstivādan commentaries [link]

In addition to the canonical Sarvāstivādan Abhidharma, a variety of commentaries were written to serve as introductions to the Abhidharma. The best known commentaries belonging to the Sarvāstivādan tradition are:^[15]

• Abhidharmakosha (Treasury of Higher Knowledge) by Vasubandhu - a highly influential commentary in Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism
• Abhidharma-hṛdaya (The Heart of Abhidharma) by Dharmaśrī
• Abhidharmaāmrtaṛasa (The Taste of the Deathless) by Ghoṣaka.

Mahāyāna Yogācāra Abhidharma [link]

In addition to the Theravada and Sarvāstivādan abhidharma traditions, a third complete system of Abhidharma thought is elaborated in certain works of the Mahāyāna Yogācāra tradition, principally in the following commentaries:^[17]

• Abhidharma-samuccaya (Compendium of Abhidharma) by Asanga
• Vijñapti-mātratā-siddhi or Ch’eng-wei-shih lun (Demonstration of the Theory of Mind Only) by Hsüan-tsang’s - a commentary on Vasubandhu’s Triṃśikā (‘Thirty Verses’)

While this Yogācārin Abhidharma is based on the Sarvāstivādin system, it also incorporates aspects of other Abhidharma systems and present a complete Abhidharma in accordance with a Mahāyāna Yogācāra view that the mind (Vijñapti) alone is ultimately ‘real’.^[17]

East Asian and Tibetan Abhidharma [link]

In the traditions derived from Sanskrit Buddhism, such as the Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese, the two main Abhidharma commentaries are:

• Abhidharma-samuccaya (Compendium of Higher Knowledge) - an early Yogacara work
• Abhidharmakosha (Treasury of Higher Knowledge) by Vasubandhu - a synopsis of the Mahavibhasa of the Vaibhāṣika-Sarvastivada tradition, with the addition of Sautrantika perspectives.^[18]

These are both works from approximately 4-5th century India, and are extant in Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan translations, as well as the Sanskrit.

See also [link]

References [link]

Sources [link]

• Cox, Collett (2004). "Abhidhamma," in Robert E. Buswell (ed.), Encyclopedia of Buddhism. NY: McMillan. ISBN 0-02-865910-4.

• Goleman, Daniel (2004). Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. NY: Bantam Dell. ISBN 0-553-38105-9.

• Red Pine. The Heart Sutra: The Womb of the Buddhas (2004) Shoemaker 7 Hoard. ISBN 1-59376-009-4

• Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. ([1900], 2003). Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-Piṭaka, entitled Dhamma-Sangaṇi (Compendium of States or Phenomena). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-4702-9.

• Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. (1914). Buddhist Psychology: An Inquiry into the Analysis and Theory of Mind in Pali Literature.

• Takakusu (1905). "On the Abhidhamma books of the Sarvastivadins", in Journal of the Pali Text Society (1905).

• Trungpa, Chogyam (1975, 2001). Glimpses of Abhidharma: From a Seminar on Buddhist Psychology. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-764-9.

External links [link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Abhidhamma.

• Readable online HTML book of the Dhammasangani (first book of the Abhidhamma).
• www.abhidhamma.org - Numerous books and articles on Abhidhamma by Sujin Boriharnwanaket and others
• www.abhidhamma.com - Abhidhamma the Buddhist Philosophy and Psychology
• BuddhaNet - description of the Abhidhamma
• BuddhaNet - Abhidhamma articles
• Access to Insight - description of the Abhidhamma
• Online excerpt of a well-known book about the Abhidhamma
• Books results for Abdhidhamma search on Internet Archive
• Abhidharma (Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)