ABHIDHAMMA, the name of one of the three Pitakas, or
baskets of tradition, into which the Buddhist scriptures
(see BUDDHISM) are divided. It consists of seven works: 1.
Dhamma Sangani (enumeration of qualities). 2. Vibhanga
(exposition). 3. Katha Vatthu (bases of opinion). 4.
Puggala Pannatti (on individuals). 5. Dhatu Katha (on
relations of moral dispositions). 6. Yamaka (the pairs, that
is, of ethical states). 7. Patthana (evolution of ethical
states). These have now been published by the Pah Text
Society. The first has been translated into English, and an
abstract of the third has been published. The approximate
date of these works is probably from about 400 B.C. to
about 250 B.C., the first being the oldest and the third
the latest of the seven. Before the publication of the texts,
when they were known only by hearsay, the term Abhidhamma
was usually rendered "Metaphysics." This is now seen to be
quite erroneous. Dhamma means the doctrine, and Abhidhamma
has a relation to Dhamma similar to that of by-law to
law. It expands, classifies, tabulates, draws corollaries
from the ethical doctrines laid down in the more popular
treatises. There is no metaphysics in it atnall, only
psychological ethics of a peculiarly dry and scholastic kind.
And there is no originality in it; only endless permutations
and combinations of doctrines already known and accepted.
As in the course of centuries the doctrine itself, in certain
schools, varied, it was felt necessary to rewrite these secondary
works. This was first done, so far as is at present known,
by the Sarvastivadins (Realists), who in the century before
and after Christ produced a fresh set of seven Abhidhamma
books. These are lost in India, but still exist in Chinese
translations. The translations have been analysed in a
masterly way by Professor Takakusu in the article mentioned
below, They deal only with psychological ethics. In the
course of further centuries these hooks in turn were superseded
by new treatises; and in one school at least, that of the
Maha-yana (great Vehicle) there was eventually developed a
system of metaphysics. But the word Abhidhamma then fell
out of use in that school, though it is still used in the
schools that continue to follow the original seven books.
See Buddhist Psychology by Caroline Rhys Davids (London, 1900),
translation of the Dhamma Sangani, with valuable introduction;
or the Royal Asiatic Society, 1892, contains an abstract of the
Katha "On the Abhidhamma books of the Sarvastivadins," by
Prof. Takakusu, in Journal of the Pali Text Society, 1905.
(l'. W. R. D.)
