The Abhidhamma Pitaka (abhidhammapiṭaka) is the last of the three pitakas (Pali for "baskets") constituting thePali Canon, the scriptures of Theravāda Buddhism. The Abhidhamma Pitaka is a detailed scholastic reworking of material appearing in the Suttas, according to schematic classifications. It does not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or enumerated lists. The other two collections are the Sutta Pitaka and the Vinaya Pitaka.
Abhidhamma has been variously described as philosophy, psychology, and metaphysics. L. S. Cousins says that the Abhidhamma methodology looks at things in terms of occasions or events instead of sequences or processes
The compilation of the Buddha’s teachings classified as the Abhidhamma deals with the quintessence of the Doctrine in purely academic terms, without reference to individuals and events. Published in 12 volumes, the Abhidhamma is divided into seven treatises (known by their abbreviations as Saṁ, Vi, Dhā, Pu, Ka, Ya, and Pa) as follows:
1. Saṁ : Dhammasaṅgaṇ ‘Enumeration of Phenomena’
2. Vi : Vibhaṅga ‘The Book of Divisions’
3. Dhā : Dhātukathā ‘Discussion with Reference to the Elements’
4. Pu : Puggalapaññatti ‘Designation of Individuals’
5. Ka : Kathvatthu ‘Points of Controversy’
6. Ya : Yamaka ‘The Book of Pairs’
7. Pa : Paṭṭhāna ‘The Book of Relations’
3. Main article
The Abhidhamma Pitaka consists of seven books:
1. Dhammasaṅgaṇī
The Dhammasaṅganī (Summary of Dharma) is a manual of ethics for monks. It begins with a mātikā (translated as matrix) which lists classifications of dhammas (translated as phenomena, ideas, states, etc.). The mātikā starts with 22 threefold classifications, such as good/bad/unclassified, and then follows with 100 twofold classifications according to the Abhidhamma method. Many of these classifications are not exhaustive, and some are not even exclusive. The mātikā ends with 42 twofold classifications according to the sutta method; these 42 are only used in the Dhammasangani, whereas the other 122 are used in some of the other books as well.
The main body of the Dhammasangani is in four parts. The first part goes through numerous states of mind, listing and defining by lists of synonyms, factors present in the states. The second deals with material form, beginning with its own mātikā, classifying by ones, twos and so on, and explaining afterwards. The third explains the book's mātikā in terms of the first two parts, as does the fourth, by a different method (and omitting the sutta method).
2. Vibhaṅga
The Vibhaṅga (Division or Classification)[1] consists of 18 chapters, each dealing with a different topic. For example, the first chapter deals with the five aggregates. A typical chapter consists of three parts. The first of these parts explains the topic according to the sutta method, often word-for-word as in actual suttas. The second is Abhidhamma explanation, mainly by lists of synonyms as in the Dhammasangani. The third employs questions and answers, based on the mātikā, such as "How many aggregates are good ?
3. Dhātukathā
The Dhātukathā (Discussion of Elements) covers both the matika and various topics, mostly from the Vibhanga, relating them to the 5 aggregates, 12 bases and 18 elements. The first chapter is fairly simple: "In how many aggregates etc. are good dhammas etc. included?" The book progressively works up to more complicated questions: "From how many aggregates etc. are the dhammas dissociated from attention etc. dissociated ?"
4. Puggalapaññatti
The Puggalapaññatti (Designation of Person) starts with its own matika, which begins with some standard lists but then continues with lists of persons grouped numerically from ones to tens. This latter portion of the matika is then explained in the main body of the work. It lists human characteristics encountered on the stages of a Buddhist path. Most of the lists of persons and many of the explanations are also found in the Anguttara Nikaya.
5. Kathavatthu
The Kathavatthu (Points of Controversy) consists of more than two hundred debates on questions of doctrine. The questions are heretical in nature, and are answered in such a way as to refute them. It starts with the question of whether or not a soul exists. It does not identify the participants. The commentary says the debates are between the Theravada and other schools, which it identifies in each case. These identifications are mostly consistent with what is known from other sources about the doctrines of different schools.It is the only portion attributed to a specific author, Moggaliputta.
6. Yamaka
The Yamaka (Pairs) consists of ten chapters, each dealing with a different topic; for example, the first deals with roots. A typical chapter (there are a number of divergences from this pattern) is in three parts. The first part deals with questions of identity: "Is good root root?" "But is root good root?" The entire Yamaka consists of such pairs of converse questions, with their answers. Hence its name, which means pairs. The second part deals with arising: "For someone for whom the form aggregate arises, does the feeling aggregate arise?" The third part deals with understanding: "Does someone who understands the eye base understand the ear base?" In essence, it is dealing with psychological phenomena.
7. Patthana Patthan (Activations or Causes) deals with 24 conditions in relation to the matika: "Good dhamma is related
to good dhamma by root condition", with details and numbers of answers.
Volume 34: (Dhamma) saṅgaṇī. The earlier portion of this volume deals with matrices (mātikā) or summaries of all phenomena (dhamma) organised in sets of three, e.g. things wholesome (kusaladhamma), unwholesome (akusaladhamma), and indeterminate (avyākatadhamma); things past (atītadhamma), future (anāgatadhamma), and present (paccuppannadhamma), etc.; and sets of two, e.g. things conditioned (saïkhatadhamma), and unconditioned (asaṅkhatadhamma); things mundane(lokiyadhamma), and supramundane (lokuttaradhamma), etc.
After this comes the important part of this scripture, which comprises expositions on the first matrices as an example, showing how wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate states are distributed in terms of consciousness (citta), mental factors (cetasika), corporeality (rūpa) and nibbāna. Towards the end of the scripture there are two chapters, each giving brief explanations or definitions of the dhammas in the foregoing matrices until all the 164 matrices are dealt with, yielding two different sorts of definition of the dhammas in the two chapters (though definitions of only 122 matrices are given in the last chapter).
Volume 35: Vibhaṅga. In this volume 18 important topics of the teachings are separately enumerated, analysed and discerned in all aspects, namely the five aggregates, the 12 sense-fields, the 18 elements, the Four Noble Truths, the 22 faculties, the Dependent Origination, the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four paths of accomplishment, the seven enlightenment factors, the eightfold path, the absorptions, the four unbounded states of mind, the five precepts, the four modes of practice, the various types of insight and miscellaneous topics on the unwholesome states. Each section dealing with one of these topics is called the vibhaṅga of that topic, e.g.khandhavibhaṅga, on the five aggregates. Thus there are 18 sections (vibhaṅga) altogether.
Volume 36 comprises two scriptures: Dhātukathā ‘Discussion with Reference to the Elements’, and Puggalapaññatti ‘Designation of Individuals’. In the former, the teachings in the matrices (Mātikā) and other 125 items of dhamma are brought up to see whether each of them can fit into any of the five aggregates, the 12 sense-fields, and the 18 elements. In the latter, definitions are given to designations of individuals according to their virtue. For instance, a Sotāpanna ‘Stream Entrant’ is an individual who has severed the first three fetters.
Volume 37: Kathāvatthu. This treatise was compiled by the Elder Moggalliputtatissa, who presided over the Third Rehearsal, to correct the false views held by the various groups in Buddhism at that time, which had been split into as many as 18 sects. Examples of the false views are that it is possible for an Arahant to retrogress from the Fruit of the Worthy One (arahattaphala); that it is possible for Arahantship to be congenital; that all things are conditional on deeds. There are altogether 219 subjects composed in the form of questions and answers.
Volume 38: Yamaka, Part 1. This volume explains important topics of dhamma to elucidate the meaning and scope and test one’s indepth knowledge of dhamma by means of posing a pair of questions in reverse order of each other (literally, yamaka ‘pair’). For instance, whether all phenomena that are wholesome are wholesome roots, or all phenomena that are wholesome roots are wholesome; whether (all) corporeality are corporeal aggregates, or (all) corporeal aggregates are corporeal; whether (all) sufferings are the truth of suffering, or (all) the truth of suffering is suffering. The topics of dhamma to be explained in this volume are seven in number, namely roots (e.g. kusalamūla), aggregates, sense-fields, elements, truth, compounded things, and latent dispositions. The question pairs as well as their answers and explanations on each topic are known by the name of that topic, e.g. Mūlayamaka, Khandhayamaka. Thus there are altogether seven yamakas.
Volume 39: Yamaka, Part 2. This volume covers questions and answers explaining the teachings in addition to Part 1 with three more topics: Cittayamaka, Dhammayamaka (wholesome, unwholesome and neutral states) and Indriyayamaka, adding up to a total of 10 yamakas.
Volume 40: Paṭṭhāna, Part 1. This treatise explains the 24 factors in detail, showing the interdependence and mutual conditionality of all phenomena in various respects. The phenomena explained are taken from those in the matrices, or summaries, already dealt with in the earlier portion of the Saṅgaṇī though only the first 122 matrices, i.e. the Abhidhamma-màtikà are covered.
The first volume of Paṭṭhāna explains the meaning of the 24 factors, providing background information before delving into the main subject of the volume, namely anuloma-tika-paṭṭhāna. It explains the mutual conditionality of all phenomena in the group-of-three matrices through the 24 factors; e.g. how wholesome states are conditions for wholesome states through inducement conditions, how wholesome states are conditions for unwholesome states through inducement conditions, how unwholesome states are conditions for wholesome states through inducement conditions, how wholesome states are conditions for unwholesome states through object conditions, etc. etc. This volume provides the explanations in regular order, rather than in negative order; hence the term anulomapaṭṭhāna (anuloma ‘regular’).
Volume 41: Paṭṭhāna, Part 2, Anuloma-tika-paṭṭhàna (cont.). This volume further explains the mutual conditionality of all phenomena in the group-of-three matrices as a continuation of volume 40; e.g. past states are conditions for present states through object conditions (as grief arises when one contemplates the impermanence, suffering and selflessness of visual forms and sounds that are gone and past), etc.
Volume 42: Paṭṭhāna, Part 3, Anuloma-duka-paṭṭhāna. This volume explains the mutual conditionality of all phenomena in the group-of-two matrices; e.g. how mundane states are conditions for supramundane states through object conditions (as when visible forms are conditions for eye-consciousness), etc.
Volume 43: Paṭṭhāna, Part 4, Anuloma-duka-paṭṭhāna (cont.)
Volume 44: Paṭṭhāna, Part 5. This volume is still on Anulomapaṭṭhāna, but explains the mutual conditionality of all phenomena in the matrices across different groups. It comprises Anuloma-duka-tikapaṭṭhāna, relating phenomena in the group-of-two matrices (dukamātikā) to those in the group-of-three matrices (tika-mātikā); e.g. how wholesome states that are supramundane are conditions for wholesome. states that are mundane through predominance conditions; Anuloma-tikaduka- Paṭṭhāna, relating phenomena in the group-of-three matrices (tika-mātikā) to those in the group-of-two matrices (duka- mātikā); Anulomatika- tika-paṭṭhāna, relating phenomena in the group-of-three matrices (tika- mātikā to different groups of phenomena also in the group-of-three matrices (tika- mātikā); e.g. how past wholesome states are conditions for present unwholesome states; and Anuloma-duka-duka- Paṭṭhāna, relatingphenomena in the group-of-two matrices (duka- mātikā) to different groups of phenomena also in the group-of-two matrices (duka- mātikā), e.g. the group of mundane and supramundane states to the group of conditioned things and the Unconditioned.
Volume 45: Paṭṭhāna, Part 6. This volume deals with paccanīya Paṭṭhāna. It explains the mutual conditionality of all phenomena, just as in the previous volumes, but in a negative way. The divisions are as follows: paccanãya-Paṭṭhāna, i.e. paccanīya (negative) + paccanīya (negative); e.g. how non-wholesome states arise from non-wholesome states through root conditions; anuloma-paccanīya- Paṭṭhāna, i.e. anuloma (regular) + paccanīya (negative); e.g. how non-supramundane states arise from mundane states through root conditions; and paccanīyānuloma Paṭṭhāna, i.e. paccanīya (negative) + anuloma (regular); e.g. how unwholesome states arise from non-wholesome states through root conditions. In each of the three models, explanations are given using phenomena in the group-of-three matrices, followed by those in the group-of-two, and then across the groups, i.e. the group-of-two to the group-of-three, the group-of-three to the group-of-two, the group-ofthree to the group-of-three, and the group-of-two to the group-of-two, until all are covered. Therefore, each model is further divided into tika-, duka-, duka-tika-, tika-duka-, tika-tika-, and duka-duka-, respectively (the full forms are: paccanīya-tika-Paṭṭhāna, paccanīyaduka-paṭṭhāna, paccanīya-duka-tika- Paṭṭhāna, etc., to be concluded with paccanīyānuloma-duka-duka-Paṭṭhāna).
In the Paṭṭhāna, fairly detailed explications are given only in the earlier volumes, while in the later volumes merely bare outlines can be found, thereby leaving it for those who have already grasped the line of thought to elaborate for themselves. Part 6, in particular, gives the briefest accounts of all. Even so, it comprises six tomes or some 3,320 printed pages. Had detailed explanations been all provided, the number of volumes would have multiplied. Hence this scripture is known as Mahàpakaraõa, literally meaning ‘great scripture’, both in size and in significance.
According to the commentators, the Pali Canon comprises 84,000 units of teaching (dhammakkhandha), of which 21,000 units belong to the Vinayapiṭaka, 21,000 units to the Suttantapiṭaka, and the remaining 42,000 units to the Abhidhammapiṭaka.
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