Synonyms
Definition
The Theravāda Abhidhamma as a fully integrated framework of philosophy, psychology, and ethics.
Introduction
What is known as the Theravāda Abhidhamma could be understood as a systematic elaboration, from the perspectives of the Theravādins, of the original teachings of the Buddha. And it is very likely that all early Buddhist schools had their own Abhidharma treatises embodying the particular perspectives they had adopted in elaborating what the Buddha taught. Some of these treatises are now irretrievably lost. However, the Chinese Tripiṭaka has preserved to this day canonical books belonging to two other Abhidharma systems. One is the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma with its seven treatises. The other is the Śāriputrābhidharmaśāstra which some modern scholars attribute to the Dharmaguptaka School.
As to the Theravāda Abhidhamma, there is historical evidence to suggest that as a formal doctrinal systematization it emerged after the...
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Karunadasa, Y. (2017). Abhidharma (Theravāda). In: Sarao, K.T.S., Long, J.D. (eds) Buddhism and Jainism. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0852-2_42
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