The
Abhidhamma Pitaka
The seven books of the Abhidhamma
Pitaka, the third division of the Tipitaka, offer an extraordinarily
detailed analysis of the basic principles governing the behavior
of mental and physical processes. Whereas the Sutta and Vinaya Pitakas
are characterized by their practical teachings regarding the Buddhist
path to Awakening, the Abhidhamma Pitaka presents an almost scientific
analysis of the underpinnings of that very path. In Abhidhamma philosophy
the familiar psycho-physical universe (our world of "trees"
and "rocks," "I" and "you") is reduced
to a complex -- but comprehensible -- web of impersonal phenomena
arising and passing at an inconceivably rapid pace from moment to
moment, according to clearly-defined natural laws.
The Abhidhamma Pitaka is divided
into seven books, although it is the first (Dhammasangani) and last
(Patthana) that together form the essence of the Abhidhamma teachings.
The seven books are:
- Dhammasangani ("Enumeration of Phenomena")
- This book enumerates all
the paramattha dhamma (ultimate realities) to be found
in the world. According to one such enumeration these amount
to:
- Vibhanga ("The Book of Treatises")
- This book continues the
analysis of the Dhammasangani, here in the form of a catechism.
- Dhatukatha ("Discussion with Reference to
the Elements")
- A reiteration of the foregoing,
in the form of questions and answers.
- Puggalapaññatti ("Description of Individuals").
- Somewhat out of place in
the Abhidhamma Pitaka, this book contains descriptions of
a number of personality-types.
- Kathavatthu ("Points of Controversy")
- Another odd inclusion in
the Abhidhamma, this book contains questions and answers
that were compiled by Moggaliputta Tissa in the 3rd century
BCE, in order to help clarify points of controversy that
existed between the various "Hinayana" schools
of Buddhism at the time.
- Yamaka ("The Book of Pairs")
- This book is a logical analysis
of many concepts presented in the earlier books. In the
words of Mrs. Rhys Davids, an eminent 20th century Pali
scholar, the ten chapters of the Yamaka amount to little
more than "ten valleys of dry bones."
- Patthana ("The Book of Relations")
- . This book, by far the
longest single volume in the Tipitaka (over 6,000 pages
long in the Siamese edition), describes the 24 paccayas, or laws of conditionality, through which the
dhammas interact. These laws, when applied
in every possible permutation with the dhammas
described in the Dhammasangani, give rise to all knowable
experience.
|
