The Theravāda Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings (Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed to have been taught by the Buddha, though modern scholars date the texts of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka to the 3rd century BCE."Abhidhamma Pitaka." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.Skilling, Peter. “Scriptural Authenticity and the Śrāvaka Schools: An Essay towards an Indian Perspective.” The Eastern Buddhist, vol. 41, no. 2, 2010, pp. 1–47. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44362554. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020. Theravāda traditionally sees itself as the vibhajjavāda ("the teaching of analysis"), which reflects the analytical (vibhajjati) method used by the Buddha and early Buddhists to investigate the nature of the person and other phenomena.Sujato, Bhante (2012), Sects & Sectarianism: The Origins of Buddhist Schools, pp. 108–109.
According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, a modern Theravāda scholar, the Abhidhamma is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation."Bodhi (2000), p. 3.
There are different textual layers of Abhidhamma literature. The earliest Abhidhamma works are found in the Pali Canon. Then there are exegetical works which were composed in Sri Lanka in the 5th century. There are also later sub-commentarial works composed in later historical periods.
Background and sources The primary source for the Abhidhamma is the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, a set of seven texts which form the third "basket" of the Theravāda Tipiṭaka (also known as the Pāli Canon). It is generally accepted by modern scholars that these works began to be composed during the 3rd century BCE.Damien Keown (2004). A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. p. 2. . They therefore cannot be the direct work of the Buddha himself, but of later disciples and scholars."Abhidhamma Pitaka." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
However, according to some scholars like Rupert Gethin, it is possible that some elements found in Abhidhamma, such as the mātikās (lists, matrices of doctrinal terms) are from an earlier date than the books themselves.Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 48 This has been studied by Erich Frauwallner, who argues that there are kernels of early pre-sectarian material in the earliest Abhidhamma texts (such as in the Vibhanga, the Dharmaskandha, and the Śāriputrābhidharma). According to Frauwallner's comparative study, these texts were possibly developed and "constructed from the same material", mainly early mātikās (Sanskrit: mātṛkā) which forms the "ancient core" of early Abhidhamma.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.
The extensive use of mātikā can also be found in some suttas of the Sutta Pitaka, which have been seen as a "proto-abhidhamma" by scholars such as Johannes Bronkhorst and Frauwallner. These suttas include the Saṅgīti Sutta and Dasuttara Sutta, the two last suttas of the Dīgha Nikāya (as well as the Saṅgīti Sūtra and Daśottara Sūtra of the Dīrgha Āgama).Tse-fu Kuan. Abhidhamma Interpretations of “Persons” (puggala): with Particular Reference to the Aṅguttara Nikāya. J Indian Philos (2015) 43:31–60 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 early Abhidhamma type method.
The Khuddaka Nikāya includes a number of Abhidhamma type texts not found in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. One of these is the Paṭisambhidāmagga.Karunadasa (2010), p. 2. Others include the Niddessa, the Nettipakaraṇa and the Peṭakopadesa.
The Sri Lankan branch of the Theravāda school later developed further Abhidhamma texts, including commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā) on the books of the Abhidhamma and special introductory manuals. Major commentaries include the Atthasālinī (a commentary on the Dhammasaṅgaṇī), the Sammohavinodanī (a Vibhaṅga commentary) and the Pañcappakaṇaraṭṭhakathā, a commentary on the other books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka.Karunadasa (2010), p. 2 The Sri Lankan tradition also produced practice manuals, such as Vimuttimagga ("Path of Freedom") c. 1st or 2nd century CE.
The 5th century scholar Buddhaghosa is one of the most influential Abhidhammika of the Theravāda. His Visuddhimagga (a manual on spiritual praxis based on the Vimuttimagga) remains one of the most important Theravāda texts.Nyanamoli (2011), p. xxvii. Chapters XIV to XVII are a kind of summary of the Abhidhamma. His commentaries on the suttas also reflect an Abhidhamma perspective.Karunadasa (2010), p. 3. A further period of medieval Sri Lankan scholarship also produced a series of texts called the sub-commentaries (which are commentaries to the commentaries).
There is also a genre of short introductory manuals to the Abhidhamma, like the 5th century Abhidhammāvatāra. The most influential of these manuals remains the short and succinct Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha of Ācariya Anuruddha. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, this text has remained "the main primer for the study of Abhidhamma used throughout the Theravāda Buddhist world," and various commentaries have been written on it.Bodhi (2000), pp. xxiii–xxiv.
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.Braun, Erik (2013). The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw, p. 63. University of Chicago Press. 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). This commentary, which critiqued an older 12th-century commentary from Sri Lanka (the Abhidhammattha-vibhavini-tika) led to a lively controversy, as different figures debated on Abhidhamma topics.Braun, Erik (2013). The Birth of Insight: Meditation, Modern Buddhism, and the Burmese Monk Ledi Sayadaw, pp. 50–63. University of Chicago Press.
The books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka were translated into English in the 20th century and published by the Pāli Text Society. The translators were C. A. F. Rhys Davids (Dhammasaṅgaṇī, Kathāvatthu), U Thittila (Vibhaṅga), U Narada (Dhātukathā, Paṭṭhāna), B.C. Law (Puggalapaññatti).
Dhamma theory In the Pāli Nikayas, the Buddha teaches through a method in which experience is explained using various conceptual groupings of physical and mental processes, which are called "dhammā". Examples of lists of dhammas taught by the Buddha in the Nikayas include the twelve sense 'spheres' (ayatana), the five aggregates (khandha) and the eighteen elements of cognition (dhatu).Karunadasa (2010), pp. xi, 17. Expanding these various models, the Pāli Abhidhamma concerned itself with providing a finer and more exhaustive understanding of all phenomenal experience by explaining, analyzing and classifying all dhammas and their relationships.Karunadasa (2010), p. 19. According to Y. Karunadasa, for the Abhidhamma, dhammas are "the basic factors into which all things can be resolved" and "elementary constituents, the ultimate realities behind manifest phenomena."Karunadasa (2010), p. 15. This "Dhamma theory" is the central theory or cornerstone of the Pāli Abhidhamma.Y. Karunadasa, The Dhamma Theory Philosophical Cornerstone of the Abhidhamma, Buddhist Publication Society Kandy, Sri LankaRonkin, Noa (2011). Early Buddhist Metaphysics: The Making of a Philosophical Tradition (Routledge curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism), p. 2. According to various scholars of Abhidhamma, the main point of this theory is to provide a useful schema for meditative contemplation and insight into the nature of phenomena.
"Dhammā" has been translated as "factors" (Collett Cox), "psychic characteristics" (Bronkhorst), "psycho-physical events" (Noa Ronkin) and "phenomena" (Nyanaponika Thera).Potter, Buswell, Jaini; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume VII Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 AD, p. 121.Crosby, Kate (2013), Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity, p. 2. Noa Ronkin defines dhammas as "the constituents of sentient experience; the irreducible ‘building blocks’ that make up one's world, albeit they are not static mental contents and certainly not substances."Ronkin, Noa; Early Buddhist Metaphysics, p. 41.
According to Karunadasa, a dhamma, which can be translated as "a 'principle' or 'element' (dhamma)", is "those items that result when the process of analysis is taken to its ultimate limits". However, this does not mean that they have an independent existence, for it is "only for the purposes of description" that they are postulated.Karunadasa, Y. Buddhist Analysis of Matter, p. 14. They are also said to be not-self (anatta) and thus empty (suññā).Karunadasa (2010), p. 9.
After all, dhammas are interconnected and interdependent in various relationships. Thus, the Pali Abhidhamma is not a type of pluralism, since it relies on both analysis (bheda) and synthesis (sangaha). According to Karunadasa, this "has enabled it to transcend the binary opposition between pluralism (sabbam puthuttam) and monism (sabbam ekattam), or as one Pāli commentary says, the binary opposition between the principle of plurality (nānatta-naya) and the principle of unity (ekatta-naya)."Karunadasa (2010), p. 8.
That the Pali Abhidhamma sought to avoid both absolute pluralism and monism can be seen in various commentarial statements that warn against a one-sided focus or grasping on the principle of plurality (nānattta-naya). For example, the sub-commentary to the Dīgha Nikāya says that "the erroneous grasping of the principle of plurality is due to the undue emphasis on the radical separateness (accanta-bheda) of the dhammas."Karunadasa (2010), p. 21.
Likewise, dhammas "are not fractions of a whole indicating an absolute unity" or manifestations of a single metaphysical substratum, since this would be the opposite error, a one-sided focus on the principle of unity. Instead, they are simply a "multiplicity of inter-connected but distinguishable co-ordinate factors." This is said to correspond to the idea that the Buddha's teaching is an ontological middle way between various extremes, such as absolute existence and non-existence, or radical plurality and absolute monism.Karunadasa (2010), p. 22.
While dhammas are said to be distinguishable (vibhāgavanta) from each other, they are said to arise together in clusters due to their inseparability (samsatthatā, avinibhogatā). This principle can also be seen in the suttas (see: Mahāvedalla Sutta,) which state that some dhammas are said to be blended (samsattha) in such a way that they cannot be separated out.Karunadasa (2010), p. 43. The fact that dhammas always arise together is also connected to their conditional dependence on each other. In the Abhidhamma, nothing arises without a cause, from a single cause or as a single effect. Therefore, in Abhidhamma "it is always the case that a plurality of conditions gives rise to a plurality of effects. Applied to the dhamma theory this means that a multiplicity of dhammas brings about a multiplicity of other dhammas."Karunadasa (2010), p. 45.
Their nature and characteristics