Abhidharma
Translations of abhidhamma | |
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English | higher teaching, meta-teaching, about dharmas [phenomena] |
Tibetan | ཆོས་མངོན་པ་མཛོད། |
Tagalog | ᜀᜊᜑᜒᜇᜑᜀᜎᜋᜀ Abahidahaalamaa |
Thai | อภิธรรม (RTGS: aphitham) |
Vietnamese | 阿毗達磨 A-tì-đạt-ma 阿毗達磨 Vi Diệu Pháp |
Glossary of Buddhism |
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The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist sutras. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study.
There are different types of Abhidharma literature. The early canonical Abhidharma works (like the Abhidhamma Pitaka) are not philosophical treatises, but mainly summaries and expositions of early doctrinal lists with their accompanying explanations.[3][4] These texts developed out of early Buddhist lists or matrices (mātṛkās) of key teachings.
Later post-canonical Abhidharma works were written as either large treatises (śāstra), as commentaries (aṭṭhakathā) or as smaller introductory manuals. They are more developed philosophical works which include many innovations and doctrines not found in the canonical Abhidharma.[5]
Abhidharma remains an important field of scholarship among both Theravāda and Mahayana Buddhists.
Definition
The Belgian Indologist
According to Collett Cox, Abhidhamma started as a systematic elaboration of the teachings of the suttas, but later developed independent doctrines.[8] The prominent Western scholar of Abhidharma, Erich Frauwallner has said that these Buddhist systems are "among the major achievements of the classical period of Indian philosophy."[9]
Two interpretations of the term "Abhi-dharma" are common. According to Analayo, the initial meaning of Abhidharma in the earliest texts (such as the Mahāgosiṅga-sutta and its parallels) was simply a discussion concerning the Dharma, or talking about the Dharma. In this sense, abhi has the meaning of "about" or "concerning," and can also be seen in the parallel term abhivinaya (which just means discussions about the vinaya).[10] The other interpretation, where abhi is interpreted as meaning "higher" or "superior" and thus Abhidharma means "higher teaching", seems to have been a later development.[10]
Some in the West have considered the Abhidhamma to be the core of what is referred to as "
Origin and history
Modern scholarship
Modern scholars generally believe that the canonical Abhidharma texts emerged after the time of the Buddha, in around the 3rd century BCE. Therefore, the canonical Abhidharma works are generally claimed by scholars not to represent the words of the Buddha himself, but those of later Buddhists.[3] Peter Skilling describes the Abhidharma literature as "the end-product of several centuries of intellectual endeavor."[6]: 29
The various Vinaya accounts of the compilation of the Buddhist canon after the death of the Buddha offer various sometimes conflicting narratives regarding the canonical status of Abhidharma.[18] While the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya does not speak of an Abhidharma apart from the Sutra Pitaka and the Vinaya Pitaka, the Mahīśāsaka, Theravāda, Dharmaguptaka and Sarvāstivāda Vinayas all provide different accounts which mention that there was some kind of Abhidharma to be learned aside from the Sutras and Vinaya.[19] According to Analayo, "the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya does not explicitly mention the Abhidharma, although it reports that on this occasion Mahākāśyapa recited the mātṛkā(s)."[20] Analayo thinks that this reflects an early stage, when what later became Abhidharma was called the mātṛkās. The term appears in some sutras, such as the Mahāgopālaka-sutta (and its parallel) which says that a learned monk is one who knows the Dharma, Vinaya and the mātṛkās.[21]
The ancient core (the mātṛkās)
Various scholars such as
According to Frauwallner,
The oldest Buddhist tradition has no Abhidharmapitaka but only mātṛkā. What this means is that besides the small number of fundamental doctrinal statements, the Buddha's sermons also contain a quantity of doctrinal concepts. The most suitable form for collecting and preserving these concepts would have been comprehensive lists. Lists of this kind were called mātṛkā, and it was from these lists that the Abhidharma later developed.[28]
The extensive use of mātṛkā can be found in some early Buddhist texts, including the Saṅgīti Sutta and Dasuttara Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya (as well as the Saṅgīti Sūtra and Daśottara Sūtra of the Dīrgha Āgama).[29] Similar lists of numerically arranged doctrinal terms can be found in AN 10.27 and AN 10.28. Tse fu Kuan also argues that certain sutras of the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 3.25, AN 4.87–90, AN 9.42–51) depicts an Abhidhamma style method.[29]
Another sutra which contains a similar list that acts as a doctrinal summary is the Madhyama-āgama “Discourse on Explaining the Spheres” (MĀ 86) which includes a list of thirty one topics to be taught to newly ordained monastics.[30] The last sutra of the Madhyama-āgama, MĀ 222, contains a similar doctrinal summary listing, which combines three lists into one: a list of eight activities, a list of ten mental qualities and practices, and the twelve links of dependent arising.[31] These two do not have any parallels in Pali.
According to Bhikhu Analayo, another important doctrinal list which appears in the early texts is the "thirty seven qualities that are conducive to awakening" (
Analayo notes that these various lists served a useful purpose in early Buddhism since they served as aids for the memorization and teaching of the doctrine.[34] The use of lists can similarly be seen in Jain literature.[35] The fact that these lists were seen by the early Buddhists as a way to preserve and memorize the doctrine can be seen in the Saṅgīti Sūtra and its various parallels, which mention how the Jain community became divided over matters of doctrine after the death of their leader. The sutta depicts Śāriputra as reciting a list of doctrinal terms and stating that the community will remain "united, unanimous, and in unison we will not dispute" regarding the teaching and also states they will recite together the doctrine.[36] The close connection between the Saṅgīti Sūtra and Abhidharma can be seen in the fact that it became the basis for one of the canonical Abhidharma texts of the Sarvāstivāda school, the Saṅgītiparyāya, which is effectively a commentary on the sutra.
Frauwallner notes that basic fundamental concepts such as the 12
Another related early method is called the "attribute mātṛkā" and refers to lists of terms divided by a dyad or triad of attributes. For example, terms could be grouped into those things that are rūpa (form, physical) or arūpa (formless), saṃskṛtam (constructed) or asaṃskṛtam, and the triad of kuśalam (wholesome), akuśalam (unwholesome) or avyākṛtam (indetermined).[38] An early form of this method can be found in the Dasuttara Sutta.
Development
The explanations of the various elements in these lists also dealt with how these elements were connected (samprayogah) with each other. Over time, the need arose for an overarching way to classify all these terms and doctrinal elements, and the first such framework was to subsume or include (samgraha) all main terms into the schema of the 12 āyatanāni, the 18 dhatāvah and the 5 skandhāh.[39]
Over time, the initial scholastic method of listing and categorizing terms was expanded in order to provide a complete and comprehensive systematization of the doctrine. According to Analayo, the beginning of Abhidharma proper was inspired by the desire "to be as comprehensive as possible, to supplement the directives given in the early discourses for progress on the path with a full picture of all aspects of the path in an attempt to provide a complete map of everything in some way related to the path."[40]
As Frauwallner explains, due to this scholastic impulse, lists grew in size, different mātṛkās were combined with each other to produce new ones, and new concepts and schemas were introduced, such as the differentiation of cittas and caitasikās and new ways of connecting or relating the various elements with each other.[41]
According to Analayo, these various lists were also not presented alone, but included some kind of commentary and explanation which was also part of the oral tradition. Sometimes this commentary included quotations from other sutras, and traces of this can be found in the canonical Abhidharma texts. As time passed, these commentaries and their accompanying lists became inseparable from each other, and the commentaries gained canonical status.[4] Thus, according to Analayo:
just as the combination of the prātimokṣa with its commentary was central for the development of the Vinaya, so too the combination of mātṛkās with a commentary was instrumental in the development of the Abhidharma. Thus the use of a mātṛkā together with its exegesis is a characteristic common to the Abhidharma and the Vinaya, whose expositions often take the form of a commentary on a summary list.[42]
Therefore, the different Buddhist Abhidharma texts were developed over time as Buddhists expanded their analytical methods in different ways. Since this happened in different communities located in different places, they developed in separate doctrinal directions. This divergence was perhaps enhanced by the various schisms in the Buddhist community and also by geographic distance. According to Frauwallner, the period of the development of the canonical Abhidharma works is between 250 and 50 BCE.[43] By the time the different canons began to be written down, the Abhidharma texts of the different schools were substantially different, as can be seen in how different the Theravāda and the Sarvāstivādin canonical Abhidharma texts are. These differences are much more pronounced than among the other canonical collections (Sutras, Agamas and Vinaya). As such, the Abhidharma collections of the various schools are much more unique to each sect.[44] The various Abhidhammic traditions grew to have very fundamental philosophical disagreements with each other (such as on the status of the person, or temporal eternalism). Thus, according to Frauwallner, the different Abhidharma canons contained collections of doctrines which were sometimes unrelated to each other and sometimes contradictory.[45]
These various Abhidhammic theories were (together with differences in
These various Abhidharma works were not accepted by all Indian Buddhist schools as canonical, for example, the
After the closing of the various Buddhist canons, Abhidharma texts continued to be composed, but now they were either commentaries on the canonical texts (like the Pali Aṭṭhakathās and the Mahāvibhāṣa), or independent treatises ('śāstra') in their own right.[49] In these post-canonical texts, further doctrinal developments and innovations can be found. As Noa Ronkin writes, "post-canonical Abhidharma texts became complex philosophical treatises employing sophisticated methods of argumentation and independent investigations that resulted in doctrinal conclusions quite far removed from their canonical antecedents."[5] As Frauwallner writes, these later works were attempts to build truly complete philosophical systems out of the various canonical Abhidharma texts.[50]
Some of these texts surpassed the canonical Abhidharma in influence and popularity, becoming the orthodox summas of their particular schools' Abhidharma. Two exegetical texts, both from the 5th century, stand above the rest as the most influential. The work of
In the modern era, only the Abhidharmas of the Sarvāstivādins and the Theravādins have survived as complete collections, each consisting of seven books with accompanying commentarial literature. A small number of other Abhidharma texts are preserved in the Chinese canon and also in Sanskrit fragments, such as the Śāriputra Abhidharma Śāstra of the Dharmaguptaka school and various texts from the Pudgalavada tradition.[52][53] These different traditions have some similarities, suggesting either interaction between groups or some common ground antedating the separation of the schools.[54]
Traditional views
In the
According to their tradition,
The Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika held that the Buddha and his disciples taught the Abhidharma, but that it was scattered throughout the canon. Only after his death was the Abhidharma compiled systematically by his elder disciples and was recited by Ananda at the first Buddhist council.[56]
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The Abhidharma texts' field of inquiry extends to the entire
Dhamma theory
The "base upon which the entire [Abhidhamma] system rests" is the 'dhamma theory' and this theory 'penetrated all the early schools'.[59] For the Abhidharmikas, the ultimate components of existence, the elementary constituents of experience were called dhammas (Pali: dhammas). This concept has been variously translated as "factors" (Collett Cox), "psychic characteristics" (Bronkhorst),[60] "phenomena" (Nyanaponika) and "psycho-physical events" (Ronkin).
The
The conventional reality of substantial objects and persons is merely a conceptual construct imputed by the mind on a flux of dhammas.[63] However, dhammas are never seen as individually separate entities, but are always dependently conditioned by other dhammas in a stream of momentary constellations of dhammas, constantly coming into being and vanishing, always in flux. Perception and thinking is then seen as a combination of various dhammas. Cittas (awareness events) are never experienced on their own, but are always intentional and hence accompanied by various mental factors (cetasikas), in a constantly flowing stream of experience occurrences.[64]
Human experience is thus explained by a series of dynamic processes and their patterns of relationships with each other. Buddhist Abhidhamma philosophers then sought to explain all experience by creating lists and matrices (matikas) of these dhammas, which varied by school. The four categories of dhammas in the Theravada Abhidhamma are:[65]
- Citta(Mind, Consciousness, awareness)
- Cetasika (mental factors, mental events, associated mentality), there are 52 types
- Rūpa — (physical occurrences, material form), 28 types
- Nibbāna — (Extinction, cessation). This dhamma is unconditioned [16] it neither arises nor ceases due to causal interaction.
The Sarvastivada Abhidharma also used these, along with a fifth category: "factors dissociated from thought" (cittaviprayuktasaṃskāra). The Sarvastivadas also included three dharmas in the fourth "unconditioned" category instead of just one, the dharma of space and two states of cessation.
The Abhidharma project was thus to provide a completely exhaustive account of every possible type of conscious experience in terms of its constituent factors and their relations. The Theravada tradition holds that there were 82 types of possible dhammas – 82 types of occurrences in the experiential world, while the general Sarvastivada tradition eventually enumerated 75 dharma types.[66]
For the Abhidharmikas,
As the Indian Buddhist Vasubandhu writes: "Anything the idea of which does not occur upon division or upon mental analysis, such as an object like a pot, that is a 'conceptual fiction'. The ultimately real is otherwise."[67] For Vasubandhu then, something is not the ultimately real if it 'disappears under analysis', but is merely conventional.
The ultimate goal of the Abhidharma is Nirvana and hence the Abhidharmikas systematized dhammas into those which are skillful (kusala), purify the mind and lead to liberation, and those which are unskillful and do not. The Abhidharma then has a soteriological purpose, first and foremost and its goal is to support Buddhist practice and meditation. By carefully watching the coming and going of dhammas, and being able to identify which ones are wholesome and to be cultivated, and which ones are unwholesome and to be abandoned, the Buddhist meditator makes use of the Abhidharma as a schema to liberate his mind and realize that all experiences are impermanent, not-self, unsatisfactory and therefore not to be clung to.
Svabhāva
The Abhidharmikas often used the term
According to Peter Harvey, the Theravadin view of dharmas was that "'They are dhammas because they uphold their own nature [sabhaava]. They are dhammas because they are upheld by conditions or they are upheld according to their own nature' (Asl.39). Here 'own-nature' would mean characteristic nature, which is not something inherent in a dhamma as a separate ultimate reality, but arise due to the supporting conditions both of other dhammas and previous occurrences of that dhamma."[69]
The
Svabhava in the early Abhidhamma texts was then not a term which meant ontological independence, metaphysical essence or underlying substance, but simply referred to their characteristics, which are dependent on other conditions and qualities. According to Ronkin: "In the early Sarvāstivāda exegetical texts, then, svabhāva is used as an atemporal, invariable criterion determining what a dharma is, not necessarily that a dharma exists. The concern here is primarily with what makes categorial types of dharma unique, rather than with the ontological status of dharmas."[64] However, in the later Sarvastivada texts, like the Mahavibhasa, the term svabhava began to be defined more ontologically as the really existing “intrinsic nature” specifying individual dharmas.[64]
The Sautrantika school accepted the doctrine of svabhāva as referring to the distinctive or main characteristic of a dharma, but rejected the view that they exist in all three times .[73] The Buddhist philosopher Dharmakirti uses the concept of svabhāva, though he interprets it as being based on causal powers. For Dharmakirti, the essential nature (or ‘nature-svabhāva’) is:
“The arising of an effect that is inferred by way of a causal complex is characterized as a svabhāva of that causal complex, because [the capacity for] the effect’s production does not depend on anything else.” [74]
Other early Buddhist schools did not accept the svabhava concept, instead positing a kind of nominalism or conceptualism (prajñaptivada). This view was widespread among the Mahasamghika Nikaya. One school was even called "Prajñaptivada" because of their denial of the ultimate reality of all dharmas and their view that all dharmas are characterized by prajñapti (provisional designation or fictitious construction). Another school called the Vainasikas also held that all dharmas were without svabhava.[75] According to Paramārtha (499–569), another school, the Ekavyavahārikas held "that both the mundane and the supramundane factors [dharmas] are merely nominal (prajñapti). They therefore claimed that all factors have no real essence, and that hence the same name applies to all [dharmas]."[76] This helps to explain their name as “Ekavyavahārika” (those who propound the single meaning). Paramārtha also notes that the Lokottaravāda school held "that the mundane factors have arisen from perversion (viparyāsa) and are only nominal (prajñapti)." However, in contrast to the other schools, they also held that the supramundane dharmas (nirvana etc.) were not nominal but real.[76]
This view that dharmas are empty or void is also found in the Lokānuvartana-sūtra (‘The Sutra of Conformity with the World’,
Causality and dependent origination
Another important project for the Abhidharmikas was to outline a theory of causality, especially of how momentary dharmas relate to each other through causes and conditions.
The Sarvastivadin analysis focused on six causes (hetu), four conditions (pratyaya) and five effects (phala). According to
- Efficient cause (karana-hetu) – dharma A, causes dharma B
- Homogeneous cause (sabhäga-hetu) – dharma A(1) causes another dharma A(2)
- Universal cause (sarvatraga-hetu) – a homogeneous cause, pertaining only to defiled dharmas
- Retribution cause (vipäka-hetu) – leads to karmic retribution
- Co-existent cause (sahabhu-hetu) – a cause which arises from the mutuality of all dharmas, a 'simultaneous causality.'
- Conjoined cause (samprayuktaka-hetu)
In the
- Momentary (ksanika) causation, as when all twelve moments of the chain are realized in a single moment of action
- Serial (sambandhika) causation, in which dependent origination is viewed in reference to the relationship between cause and effect
- Static (avasthika) causation, in which dependent origination involves twelve distinct periods of the five aggregates
- Prolonged (prakarsika) causation, in which that sequence of causation occurs over three lifetimes
The Sarvastivada Vibhasa-sastrins accepted only static dependent origination[80]
The last book of the Pali Abhidhamma, the
The
Temporality
A prominent argument between the Abhidharmikas was on the
"Those who hold 'all exists' — the past, the present and the future — belong to the Sarvāstivāda. Those, on the other hand, who hold that some exist, viz., the present and the past karma that has not given fruit but not those that have given fruit or the future, are followers of the Vibhajyaväda."[75]
Vasubandhu initially wrote in favor of Sarvāstivāda, and later critiqued this position. The Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika also held an atomistic conception of time which divided time into discrete indivisible moments (kṣaṇa) and saw all events as lasting only for a minute instant (and yet also existing in all three times).[64]
Theravadins also held a theory of momentariness (Khāṇavāda), but it was less ontological than Sarvāstivāda and more focused on the psychological aspects of time. The Theravada divided every dhamma into three different instants of origination (uppādakkhaṇa), endurance (ṭhitikkhaṇa) and cessation (bhaṅgakkhaṇa). They also held that only mental events were momentary, material events could endure for longer.[64]
Rebirth and personal identity
A key problem which the Abhidharmikas wished to tackle was the question of how rebirth and karma works if there is
This problem was also taken up by a group of Buddhist schools termed the
The Sarvastivadin Abhidharmikas also developed the novel idea of an intermediate state between death and the next rebirth. The Purvasaila, Sammitiya, Vatsiputriya, and later Mahisasaka schools accepted this view, while the Theravadins, Vibhajyavada, Mahasanghika, and the Sariputrabhidharmasastra of the Dharmaguptakas rejected it.[84]
Atomism
Some Abhidharmikas such as the Sarvastivadins also defended an
"An atom (paramänu) is the smallest rüpa. It cannot be cut, broken, penetrated; it cannot be taken up, abandoned, ridden on, stepped on, struck or dragged. It is neither long nor short, square nor round, regular nor irregular, convex nor concave. It has no smaller parts; it cannot be decomposed, cannot be seen, heard, smelled, touched. It is thus that the paramänu is said to be the finest (sarva-süksma) of all rüpas."[86]
Theravāda Abhidhamma
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The Abhidhamma Piṭaka is the third pitaka, or basket, of the Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripiṭaka), the canon of the Theravāda school. It consists of seven sections or books. There are also three Abhidhamma type texts which are found in the Khuddaka Nikāya (‘Minor Collection’): Paṭisambhidāmagga, Nettipakaraṇa and the Peṭakopadesa.
The Abhidhamma Piṭaka, like the rest of the Theravāda
In addition to the canonical Abhidharma, Pali literature includes a variety of Abhidhamma commentaries and introductory manuals written after the compilation of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. These post-canonical texts attempted to expand and further clarify the analysis presented in the Abhidhamma.[88][89]
The most influential of these commentaries are those of
Sri Lankan Theravādins also composed shorter introductory manuals to the Abhidhamma. The most popular and widely used of these remains the
Abhidhamma remains a living tradition in Theravāda nations today and modern Abhidhamma works continue to be written in modern languages such as Burmese and Sinhala. Abhidhamma studies are particularly stressed in Myanmar, where it has been the primary subject of study since around the 17th century.[90] One of the most important figures in modern Myanmar Buddhism, Ledi Sayadaw (1846–1923), was well known for his writings on Abhidhamma (especially his commentary on the Abhidhammatthasangaha, called the Paramatthadipanitika).[91]
Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma
The most influential Indian Abhidharma tradition was that of the
Like the Theravada Abhidharma, the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma Pitaka also consists of seven texts, but they are quite different works, unlike the Sarvāstivāda
Despite numerous variations and doctrinal disagreements within the tradition, most Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣikas were united in their acceptance of the doctrine of "sarvāstitva" (all exists), which says that all phenomena in the three times (past, present and future) can be said to exist.[95] Another defining Vaibhāṣika doctrine was that of simultaneous causation (sahabhū-hetu).
In addition to the core Vaibhāṣika Abhidharma literature, a variety of expository texts or treatises were written to serve as overviews and introductions to the Abhidharma. The oldest one of these was the Abhidharma-hṛdaya-sastra (The Heart of Abhidharma), by the Tocharian Dharmasresthin, (c. 1st. century B.C.). This text became the model for most of the later treatises.[92]
The most influential of these treatises however, is certainly the
The most mature and refined form of Vaibhāṣika philosophy can be seen in the work of master Saṃghabhadra (ca fifth century CE), "undoubtedly one of the most brilliant Abhidharma masters in India".[96] His two main works, the *Nyāyānusāra (Shun zhengli lun 順正理論) and the *Abhidharmasamayapradīpikā (Apidamo xian zong lun 阿毘達磨顯宗論), are key sources of late Vaibhāṣika Abhidharma.[96]
Other Abhidharma traditions
The
Several Pudgalavada Abhidharma type texts also survive in Chinese, such as the Traidharmakasastra (Taisho no. 1506 pp. 15c-30a) and the Sammatiyanikayasastra. These texts contain traditional Abhidharma type lists and doctrines, but they also attempt to expound and defend the unique Pudgalavada doctrine of the "person" (pudgala).[97][52]
Many Abhidharma texts have been lost- likely more than have survived.
According to some sources, abhidharma was not accepted as canonical by the
Tattvasiddhi Śāstra
The
Various Buddhist schools sprang to life, such as the school based on the three Mādhyamaka śāstras, the school based on the Abhidharmakośa, and the school based on the Satyasiddhi Śāstra. These all vied with each other, producing many wondrous offshoots, each giving rise to its own theoretical system.
The Chéngshí School taught a progression of twenty-seven stations for cultivating realization, based upon the teachings of this text. They took Harivarman as its founder in India, and
Mahāyāna Abhidharma
Another complete system of Abhidharma thought is elaborated in certain works of the
Main
- Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (Treatise on the Foundation for Yoga Practitioners). A compendium of doctrine and Buddhist meditation, with a strong influence from the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma.[113]
- Abhidharma-samuccaya ("Compendium of Abhidharma") by Asanga. It mainly discusses traditional Abhidharma concepts, with a few Mahāyāna elements added. According to Frauwallner, this text is based on the Abhidharma of the Mahīśāsaka tradition.[114]
- Abhidharma-samuccaya-bhasyam, a commentary on the work above, possibly by Sthiramati.[115]
- Abhidharmamahāyānasūtra
- Mahāyānasaṃgraha. This is a true compendium of Mahāyāna (Yogācāra) Abhidharma by Asanga. Its main sources are the Abhidharmamahāyānasūtra, and the Yogācārabhūmi.[111]
- Mahāyānasaṃgraha-bhāṣya, by Vasubandhu, a commentary on the work above.
- Vijñapti-mātratā-siddhi, Ch. Cheng Weishi Lun ("Discourse on the Perfection of Consciousness-only") by Xuanzang – a commentary on Vasubandhu's Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā ("Thirty Verses")
- Cheng weishi lun shuji, a commentary on the above, by Xuanzang's student Kuiji.
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 thought (vijñapti) alone is ultimately "real."
Yogācārins developed an Abhidharma literature set within a Mahāyāna framework.[116] John Keenan, who has translated the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra into English, writes:[117]
The Yogācāra masters inherited the
Prajñāpāramitātexts. However, they did not reject the validity of theoretical Abhidharma. Rather they attempted to construct a critical understanding of the consciousness that underlies all meaning, both mystical and theoretical. Their focus was on doctrine, but as it flowed from the practice of meditative centering (yoga), rather than as it was understood in acts of conceptual apprehension.
Prajñāpāramitā texts
The Prajñāpāramitā sutras and associated literature are influenced by Abhidharma. These texts make use of Abhidharma categories (like the dharma theory), and adopt them or critique them in different ways. Thus, according to Johannes Bronkhorst, the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, "only makes sense against the historical background of the Abhidharma."[118]
According to Edward Conze, the Prajñāpāramitā sutras were meant to be a criticism of the view held by some of the Abhidharmikas which saw dharmas as real.[119] Conze also notes that the later Prajñāpāramitā sutras have been expanded by the insertion of various doctrinal Abhidharma lists.[120]
There is also plenty of Abhidharma material (mainly Sarvāstivāda) in the
The Abhisamayālaṅkāra ("Ornament of/for Realization[s]") also includes numerous Abhidharma type listings, and according to Karl Brunnholzl, "may be considered as a kind of highly formalized mahāyāna abhidharma presentation of the path and realization (similar to chapters five to eight of the Abhidharmakosa, which are frequently quoted in the AA commentaries)."[122]
See also
- Buddhist texts
-
- Tipitaka
- Abhidhamma Pitaka
- Sutta Pitaka
- Vinaya Pitaka
- Buddhist concepts
-
- Pratitya-samutpada
- Skandha
References
- ISBN 1-928706-02-9.
- ^ Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, p. 90. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b c d The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2008). "Abhidhamma Pitaka". Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ a b Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," pp. 79–83. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ a b Ronkin, Noa, "Abhidharma", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
- ^ JSTOR 44362554. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 74
- ^ Cox 2003, pp. 1–7
- ^ Sophie Francis Kidd, translator; Ernst Steinkellner, editor; Erich Frauwallner; Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems
- ^ a b Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," pp. 70–71. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ See, for instance, Rhys Davids (1900), Trungpa (1975) and Goleman (2004).
- ^ Nyanaponika, Abhidhamma studies, page 35
- ^ Lusthaus, Dan; Buddhist Phenomenology – A philosophical investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the cheng wei-shih lun, page 4.
- ^ Ronkin, Noa; Early Buddhist metaphysics
- ^ Inada, Kenneth K; The metaphysics of Buddhist experience and the Whiteheadian encounter, Philosophy East and West Vol. 25/1975.10 P.465-487 (C) by the University of Hawaii Press
- ^ a b Bodhi, A comprehensive manual of Abhidhamma, page 3.
- ^ "Pali oral literature", in Buddhist Studies, ed Denwood and Piatigorski, Curzon, London, 1982/3
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," pp. 16–17. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," pp. 17–19. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 20. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 21. Hamburg University Press.
- ISSN 0336-1519.
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- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. pp. 18, 100.
- ^ Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1998, page 48
- ISBN 0-02-865719-5.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 3.
- ^ a b Tse-fu Kuan. Abhidhamma Interpretations of “Persons” (puggala): with Particular Reference to the Aṅguttara Nikāya. J Indian Philos (2015) 43:31–60 DOI 10.1007/s10781-014-9228-5
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 41. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 48. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 15. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 49. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 24. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 27. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 31. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ a b Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 4.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 5.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 6.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 168. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. pp. 9–11.
- ^ Anālayo (2014) "The Dawn of Abhidharma," p. 83. Hamburg University Press.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. pp. 124–125.
- ^ "Buddhism." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 127.
- ^ Gethin, Rupert, 1998: The Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Dutt 1978, p. 58
- ^ "several schools rejected the authority of Abhidharma and claimed that Abhidharma treatises were composed by fallible, human teachers." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004), page 2. (A similar statement can be found on pages 112 and 756.)
- ^ Gethin, Rupert (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism, p. 55. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 130.
- ^ Gethin, Rupert (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism, pp. 55 – 56. Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b Thích, Thiện Châu, Boin-Webb, Sara (1999). The literature of the Personalists of early Buddhism, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
- ^ "Abhidharma – Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia".
- ^ Cox 2003, p. 2
- ^ Pine 2004, pg. 12
- ^ Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 82
- ^ Gethin, Rupert (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism, pp. 48–49. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Poussin, Louis de La Vallee (fr. trans.); Sangpo, Gelong Lodro (eng. trans.) (2012) Abhidharmakośa-Bhāṣya of Vasubandhu Vol. II. pp. 1200. Motilal Banarsidass. Delhi. ISBN 978-81-208-3609-9
- ^ Karunadasa 1996, p. 7.
- ^ Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 121.
- ^ Karunadasa 1996, p. Ch.I.
- ^ Karunadasa 1996, p. Introduction.
- ^ Bodhi, A comprehensive manual of Abhidhamma, page 3.
- ^ a b c d e f Ronkin, Noa, "Abhidharma", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/abhidharma/>.
- ^ Ven. Rewata Dhamma, Process of Consciousness and Matter: The Philosophical Psychology of Buddhism, chapter 1
- ^ K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page 24
- ^ Siderits, Buddhism as philosophy, 112.
- ^ K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page 25
- ^ Harvey, in his excellent INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM, page 87 wrote:
- ^ a b Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu (trans), Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga, Buddhist Publication Society, 1991, p 668.
- ^ K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page32
- ^ K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page 187-188.
- ^ Burton, David (1999). Emptiness Appraised: A Critical Study of Nāgārjuna's Philosophy, p. 113.
- ^ Christian Coseru, "Consciousness and Causality: Dharmakīrti Against Physicalism" in "Birgit Kellner, Patrick McAllister, Horst Lasic, Sara McClintock (eds.) (2020) Reverberations of Dharmakīrti‘s Philosophy, Proceedings of the Fifth International Dharmakīrti Conference Heidelberg August 26 to 30, 2014" p. 21.
- ^ a b K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page 66
- ^ a b Dessein, Bart (2009). The Mahāsāṃghikas and the Origin of Mahayana Buddhism: Evidence Provided in the *Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣāśāstra. The Eastern Buddhist 40/1&2: 25–61. The Eastern Buddhist Society.
- ^ Guang Xing. The Lokānuvartana-sūtra Taisho No.807 (T17,751b12-753c23) Translated into Chinese by Lokaksema. Journal of Buddhist Studies, VolI V, 2006.
- ^ Dhammajoti, K.L. Sarvastivada Abhidharma, page 183.
- ^ Dhammajoti, K.L. Sarvastivada Abhidharma, page 189-.
- ^ a b Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 114
- ^ Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 96
- ^ Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 97
- ^ a b Priestley, Leonard; Pudgalavada Buddhist Philosophy; Internet Encyclopedia of philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/pudgalav/
- ^ Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, page 115
- ^ K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page 259
- ^ K. L. Dhammajoti, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, page 260
- ^ Kalupahana, David; A history of Buddhist philosophy, continuities and discontinuities, page 206.
- ^ Gethin 1998, p. 205.
- ^ ANKUR BARUA, THE LITERATURE OF THERAVADA ABHIDHAMMA, The Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong
- ^ Braun, Erik (2013). The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw, p. 63. University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Braun, Erik (2013). The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw, pp. 50–63. University of Chicago Press.
- ^ a b Willemen, Charles; Dessein, Bart; Cox, Collett. Sarvastivada Buddhist Scholasticism, Handbuch der Orientalistik. Zweite Abteilung. Indien. Brill, 1998
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor). Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. pp. 18, 100.
- ^ Willemen, Charles; Dessein, Bart; Cox, Collett. Sarvastivada Buddhist Scholasticism, Handbuch der Orientalistik. Zweite Abteilung. Indien. Brill, 1998, page XII
- ^ Dhammajoti (2009) p. 59.
- ^ a b KL Dhammajoti. The Contribution of Saṃghabhadra to Our Understanding of Abhidharma Doctrines, in Bart Dessein and Weijen Teng (ed) "Text, History, and Philosophy Abhidharma across Buddhist Scholastic Traditions."
- ^ Williams, Paul (2005). Buddhism: The early Buddhist schools and doctrinal history; Theravāda doctrine, Volume 2, p. 86. Taylor & Francis.
- ^ "Abhidhamma Pitaka." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
- ^ a b c Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 213
- ^ a b Baruah, Bibhuti. Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 437
- ^ Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. pp. 212–213
- ^ The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog (K 966)
- ^ Lin, Qian. Mind in Dispute: The Section on Mind in Harivarman’s *Tattvasiddhi, p. 23, University of Washington
- ^ Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 52
- ^ Harris, Ian Charles. The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogacara in Indian Mahayana Buddhism. 1991. p. 99
- ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 398
- ^ a b Nan, Huai-Chin. Basic Buddhism: Exploring Buddhism and Zen. 1997. p. 91
- ^ a b Nan, Huai-Chin. Basic Buddhism: Exploring Buddhism and Zen. 1997. p. 90
- ^ Nan, Huai-Chin. Basic Buddhism: Exploring Buddhism and Zen. 1997. p. 112
- ^ Lusthaus, Dan. What is and isn't Yogacara.
- ^ a b Brunnholzl, Karl (2019) trans., A Compendium of the Mahayana: Asanga's Mahayanasamgraha and Its Indian and Tibetan Commentaries (Tsadra), Volume 1, Translator's Introduction. Boulder, Colorado: Snow Lion.
- ^ a b Gethin 1998, p. 207.
- ^ Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor), The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners: The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1 Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, p. 45.
- ^ Frauwallner, Erich. Kidd, Sophie Francis (translator). Steinkellner, Ernst (editor) 1996. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. SUNY Press. p. 144.
- ^ Prahlad Pradhan, "A Note on Abhidharma-samuccaya-bhasya and its Author (Sthiramati?)," J Bihar Res. Society, XXXV, 1949, p. 45.
- ^ Peter Harvey, "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge University Press, 1993, page 106.
- ^ Keenan, John P. (tr). The Scripture on the Explication of the Underlying Meaning. 2000. p. 1
- ^ Bronkhorst Johannes, 2018. Abhidharma in early Mahāyāna, pp. 119–140 dans Harrison Paul (eds.) Setting Out on the Great Way. Essays on Early Mahāyāna Buddhism, Equinox Publ.
- ^ Mäll, Linnart (2005). Studies in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and Other Essays. p. 30. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
- ^ Conze, Edward (1973). The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary, Preface.
- ^ Lamotte, Etienne (French trans.); Karma Migme Chodron (English trans.); The Treatise on the Great Virtue of Wisdom of Nagarjuna – Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra, Vol. III Chapters XXXI–XLII , 2001, pp. 876–877.
- ^ Brunnholzl, Karl (2011). Gone Beyond (Volume 1): The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition, p. 94. Shambhala Publications.
Sources
- Cox, Collett (2003). "Abidharma", in: Buswell, Robert E. ed. Encyclopedia of Buddhism, New York: Macmillan Reference Lib. ISBN 0028657187; pp. 1–7.
- Dutt, Nalinaksha (1978). Buddhist Sects in India, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
- Gethin, Rupert (1998), Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press
- ISBN 0-553-38105-9.
- Horner, I.B. (1963). The book of discipline Vol. V (Cullavagga), London Luzac.
- Red Pine (2004). The Heart Sutra: The Womb of the Buddhas, Shoemaker 7 Hoard. ISBN 1-59376-009-4
- Karunadasa, Y. (1996). "The Dhamma Theory Philosophical Cornerstone of the Abhidhamma" (PDF). bps.lk. Buddhist Publication Society.
- Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. (1914). Buddhist Psychology: An Inquiry into the Analysis and Theory of Mind in Pali Literature, London: G. Bell and Sons.
- Takakusu, J. (1905). "On the Abhidhamma books of the Sarvastivadins", Journal of the Pali Text Society, pp. 67–146
- ISBN 1-57062-764-9.
Further reading
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu, The Dawn of Abhidharma, Hamburg Buddhist Studies 2, Hamburg: Hamburg University Press, 2014
- ISBN 978-1559393898.
External links
- Ronkin, Noa. "Abhidharma". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Abhidharma at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
- 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
- Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind and Body through Abhidhamma
- A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Amazon book link)