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Concept
Theravāda Abhidhamma
Summary
The Theravāda Abhidhamma is 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. 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.
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."
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.
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. They therefore cannot be the direct work of the Buddha himself, but of later disciples and scholars.
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. 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.
Official source
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