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Abhidharma
Sign in to saveThe Abhidharma (lit. "about the dharma") refers to a class of Buddhist texts, the first of which date from the 3rd century BCE. Abhidharma texts contain detailed scholastic presentations of Buddhist doctrine, including doctrines that appear in canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. "Abhidharma" also refers to the scholastic method itself, and the knowledge (prajña) that this method is said to study and cultivate.
Article
24 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Origin and history
- Modern scholarship
- The ancient core (the ''mātṛkās'')
- Development
- Traditional views
- Doctrine
- Dhamma theory{{anchor|Dharma_theory}}
- Svabhāva
- Causality and dependent origination
- Temporality
- Rebirth and personal identity
- Atomism
- Theravāda Abhidhamma
- Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma
- Other Abhidharma traditions
- ''Tattvasiddhi Śāstra''
- Mahāyāna Abhidharma
- ''Prajñāpāramitā'' texts
- See also
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
The Abhidharma (lit. "about the dharma") refers to a class of Buddhist texts, the first of which date from the 3rd century BCE. Abhidharma texts contain detailed scholastic presentations of Buddhist doctrine, including doctrines that appear in canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. "Abhidharma" also refers to the scholastic method itself, and the knowledge (prajña) that this method is said to study and cultivate.
Bhikkhu Bodhi calls Abhidharma "an abstract and highly technical systemization of the [Buddhist] doctrine," which is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation." According to Peter Harvey, the Abhidharma method seeks "to avoid the inexactitudes of colloquial conventional language, as is sometimes found in the Suttas, and state everything in psycho-philosophically exact language." In this sense, it is an attempt to best express the Buddhist view of "ultimate reality" (paramārtha-satya).