The evolution of Buddhist systematics

·期刊原文
The evolution of Buddhist systematics from the Buddha to Vasubandhu

By Jose Pereira and Francis Tiso
Philosophy East and West
Volume 38, number 2
1988 April
P.172-186
(C) by the University of Hawaii Press

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P.172

Of all the founders of world religions, the Buddha
(circa 566-circa 486 B.C.) alone seems to have
presented his teachings systematically, especially
those teachings which he believed were basic to his
religion. At the very start of his career as a
religious teacher, around 531 B.C., he embodied
these teachings in the Four Noble Truths. These
Truths were to provide his disciples with the most
cogent pattern for their own monumental
systematizations of Buddhist doctrine several
centuries later. In presenting his doctrine in terms
of the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha adopted two
methods of systematization, the numerical and the
rational. The numerical method combined concepts in
twos, threes, fours, and so on; no other method
would serve a society habituated to transmitting its
fund of knowledge through memorization rather than
through writing. The enumeration of the Truths as
four provided the basis for an easily memorizable
formula. But more important was the rational method,
where the organizing concepts chosen were kept to a
minimum, with each concept following another in
logical sequence, all forming a pattern with a
certain symmetry and elegance, and capable of
explaining every integrant of the doctrinal complex
without redundance or remainder.

The Four Noble Truths are those of Pain, Origin,
Suppression, and the Way. They provide an insight
into the profound nature of things, and the last of
them, the Way, also reveals how this insight may be
attained. Towards the end of his life, possibly
around 490 B.C., the Buddha thought fit further to
develop and organize his ideas on the Way in what is
known as the Vai`saalii Summary.(1) Here again he
used both the numerical and the rational methods.
The Summary comprises seven topics, which are: (1)
the Four Bases of Self-Possession: (2) the Four
Right Exertions; (3) the Four Bases of Power; (4)
the Five Faculties; (5) the Five Strengths; (6) the
Seven Factors of Enlightenment; and (7) the
Eightfold Way. Here the numerical approach is
definitely predominant, unlike the Four Noble
Truths, where the rational approach prevails. The
basic seven topics are further subdivide into four
in the tirst three cases, into five in the next two,
into seven in the following one, and into eight in
the last case. The classification has a certain
elegance, but from the rational point of view it is
somewhat redundant. For instance, self-possession is
the subject of the first topic, but it is also a
subtopic under the fourth (the Five Faculties) and
the fifth (the Five Strengths). Perhaps because of
this limitation, and also doubtless because of its
complexity, the Vai`saalii Summary, while accepted
by the Buddhist schools, never challenged the Four
Noble Truths for the position of the most
compendious and comprehensive statement of Buddhist
Doctrine.

Systematic thinker though he was, the Buddha
never organized his teaching into a complete system.
As his disciples saw it, the components of this
system were scattered all over the Master's
teachings, which they had reverently com-

P.173

piled into a canon of scriptures (suutra) in the
very first council, at Raajag.rha, in 486 B.C. The
canon established, the disciples proceeded to
organize the doctrine it embodied in a more
systematic way, a "Super-Doctrine" (abhidharma). The
task was a formidable one, and it was threefold. It
required them first to identify the doctrinal topics
or'matrices' (maat.rkaa) constituting Buddhist
belief, and to compile all the Suutra statements
relevant to each topic. Second, they had to develop
a method for critically examining these topics and
statements (the abhidharma analysis) , employing
methodical techniques such as definition, the
grouping of synonyms, and the classification of
principles. Third, they needed to shape a conceptual
pattern which would integrate this ever more vast
and intricate material in a manner that was to be
comprehensive, organic, economical, and elegant.
This task, which in a sense can be said to have been
initiated by the Buddha in his first sermon, was to
take not less than a millenium to realize, attaining
fulfillment only in the monumental summa of
Vasubandhu, the Abhidharmako`sa (Envelope(2) of the
Doctrine of Natures).

Although the basis of this systematic inquiry
was the entire scriptural canon, a particular
emphasis was placed on the Sa^ngiitisuutra
(Scripture of the Proclamation) of the Diigha
Nikaaya (the Long Collection) . This Suutra was
elaborated in a commentary or "arrangement"
(paryaaya) called the Sa^ngiitiparyaaya. In the
analyzing of this work, its matter was divided,
plausibly enough, into practice and theory. Practice
did not invite speculation except insofar as it was
related to theory; it was, in other words,
"nonquestionary" (apra`snaka), and included such
topics as exertion, power, and self-possession
(sm.rti). Theory, on the other hand, was speculative
and "questionary" (sapra`snaka), and could be looked
at in two ways: first, insofar as it concerned
topics that the Buddha himself had discussed, such
as the Four Noble Truths, that were marked by the
Buddha's entire concern only with such knowledge as
was relevant to liberation, to the exclusion of
concepts that would inspire speculation for its own
sake; and second, those topics of a more general
nature which were not, it is true, immediately
relevant to liberation, but nevertheless, in the
firm belief of the Buddha's disciples, provided a
clearer basis for the comprehension of those topics
that were. This basis consisted of an inquiry into
the nature of conditions, such as cause, support,
immediacy, and dominance. Such an evolved and
generalized theory was probably embodied in a text
called Prasthaana (Method) . Thus, the earliest
Abhidharma presumably consisted of these four
sections: the Sa^ngiitiparyaaya, the Apra`snaka, the
Sapra`snaka, and perhaps the Prasthaana.(3)

As the work of systematization progressed, both
methods of classification were further elaborated.
The task of clarifying the Teacher's doctrine was
zealously pursued through endless discussions and
ever-multiplying controversies. From the friction of
opinions there emerged not only greater conceptual
precision, but also sectarian divergence. Taking the
Buddha's Community (Sa^ngha) to have been founded
about 531 B.C., it lasted as an undivided

P.174

body for a little over 180 years, up to 349 B.C.,
when, at the Third Council, the first to be held in
the imperial capital, Paa.taliputra, it broke up
into the Sthavira (Presbyter) and Mahaasa^ngha
(Great Community) sects. One of the problems
discussed was the impeccability of the Arhat, the
Sthaviras maintaining that he is impeccable, the
Mahaasaa^nghikas that he is not. Further splits
occurred within these two main bodies. In 237 B.C.,
at the Fourth Council, the second to be held at
Pa.taliputra, the Sthaviravaada itself broke up into
the orthodox Sthaviravaada and the Sarvaastivaada
(Omnirealism). The problem at issue was whether the
phenomena constituting the flux of reality were real
in all their forms, past, present, and future, or
whether only the present forms are real. The
orthodox Sthaviras "distinguished" (vibhajya)
between present phenomena, which they declared were
real, from past and future ones, which they held to
be unreal. They came to be termed Distinctionists
(Vibhajyavaadins); their opponents, on the other
hand, maintained that "all is real" (sarvam asti),
past, present, and future; they came to be called
Omnirealists (Sarvaastivaadin). From this sectarian
discord still other sects pullulated, some of them
eclectic, taking some features from Vibhajyavaada
and others from Sarvaastivaada. Among them were the
Mahii`saasakas (Earth-Instructor Sect), probably of
the Mahi.sa country in the northern Deccan.
Vasubandhu's elder brother Asa^nga seems at first to
have belonged to this group. The sect agreed with
the Sthaviras about the Arhat's impeccability, and
with the Sarvaastivaadins on the nature of space;
the Sthaviras affirmed that space is a
"conditioned'' (sa^msk.rta) phenomenon, but the
Sarvaastivaadins declared that it was "unconditioned"
(asa^mtsk.rta), just as Nirvaa.na itself is.

Most, if not all, the Buddhist sects had their
Abhidharma, but the most complicated was that of the
Sthaviras and the Sarvaastivaadins; it was truly a
luxuriant frondescence of topics and methods which
they claimed had grown from the two lean roots (the
Suutra and the Vinaya Pi.takas) of the canon of
scripture. But some later thinkers viewed this
proliferation of ideas with skepticism, holding that
much of it could hardly find support in the Buddha's
word as conserved in the Scripture (suutra). As far
as they were concerned, the Suutra was where the
authority of the Buddha came to an end (anta), and
did not extend to the Abhidharma; they thus called
themselves Sautraantikas (Scripturalists or
Canonicalists). It is to this school that Vasubandhu
gave his sympathies before he converted to
Mahaayaana. The Sautraantikas transformed many of
the Abhidharma categories from reality (dravyasat)
to concept (praj~naptisat), thus preparing the way
for the reduction of all of them into a kind of
ontological voidness (`suunyataa). This process came
to a head in the `Suunyavaada (Vacuism) or
Maadhyamika (Mediatism) of the great Naagaarjuna,
who, borrowing dialectical devices such as the
tetralemma (catu.skanaya) from the Abhidharma
itself, systematically demolished its categories so
that from among their rubble the Four Noble Truths
would stand out in all their magnificence. And some
of

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Vasubandhu's adversaries, not implausibly, accused
him of secretly sympathizing with Naagaarjuna's
doctrines.(4)

One of them was the anonymous Vaibhaa.sika
author (perhaps Sa^nghabhadra or one of his pupils)
of the Lamp of Abhidharma (Abhidharmadiipa). This
writer accused Vasubandhu of having entered the
portals of the Mahaayaana scriptures--for having
accepted, in his words, the "impossible doctrine of
Emptiness" (ayoga`suunyataavaada) propounded in
those scriptures, according to which nothing exists,
past, present, and future.(5) Our author evidently
believed that the Sautraantika thesis that nothing
exists, past and future, necessarily entailed the
affirmation that nothing present exists as well. But
Vasubandhu himself did not think so, for he
explicitly disclaims any affiliation to the
Maadhyamika doctrine.(6)

Both Vasubandhu and Naagaarjuna have a common
goal: that of demolishing the realist categories of
the Vaibhaa.sikas. Why, then, does Vasubandhu not
make use of Naagaarjuna's dialectic, which realizes
this aim at least as effectively as Vasubandhu's
own?

The reason is that, in Vasubandhu's time, the
doctrine of Naagaarjuna had fallen into disrepute.
This doctrine was held to be contained exclusively
in Naagaarjuna's greatest work, the Basic Mnemonic
Verses on Mediatism (Muulamaadhyamikakaarikaa) ,
where Naagaarjuna had been concerned mainly with
establishing the doctrine of Emptiness
(`suunyavaada). The critics saw in this nothing but
a dialectical exercise in negation, leading to an
overemphasis on the theoretical Wisdom (praj~naa),
to the detriment of its practical complement, Means
(upaaya) . These critics, overwhelmed by
Naagaarjuna's great work, and unable to appreciate
the many-sidedness of his genius, forgot that
Naagaarjuna had also treated of upaaya in another of
his works, the Necklace of Jewels (Ratnaavalii),(7)
thus balancing the insight (vipa`syanaa) connected
with praj~naa with the calming (`samatha) immanent
in upaaya. Asa^nga, Vasubandhu's own brother,
created an alternative system,(8) the Yogaacaara,
which, in his belief, restored upaaya to its
rightful place of honor in the Mahaayaana.
Vasubandhu obviously did not wish to be linked in
any way with the older, discredited system.(9)

Thus, the older schools of Buddhist thought,
including the two great Abhidharma traditions. the
Sthaviravaada and the Sarvaastivaada, could continue
their task of systematization, without being
overwhelmed, for the time being at least. by
Naagaarjuna's thought. Of these two schools, the
Sthaviravaada can be said to have excelled in
analytical acumen (in Abhidharma analysis) and the
Sarvaastivaada in synthetic vision. In the work of
the Sautraantika Vasubandhu, both qualities come
together. The chief texts of the Sthaviravaada
Abhidharma are ten in all, seven of which are
included in the Ahhidharma Pi.taka itself. All these
books can roughly be classified into five types,
each type developing a specific aspect of the total
Abhidharma system. First there is the basic text,
the Vihha^nga, which brings together the Apra`snaka
and the Sapra`snaka treatises.

P.176

Second are the texts that classify and analyze the
Abhidharma's principles, the Dhaatukathaa
(Discussion of Substances) , the Dhammasa^nga.ni
(List of Natures) , the Pa.t.thana (Method, a
treatise on conditionality) , and the Yamaka
(Pairing, a tract on the clarification of
expressions) . Third, there were the polemical
treatises: the Kathaavatthu (Matter for Discussion)
and the Puggalapa~n~natti (Information on the
Person) . All these books are included in the
Abhidharmapi.taka; those described in what follows
here are not.(10)

The fourth item in the Sthaviravaada Abhidharma
is a treatise on the path to liberation, the
Pa.tisambhidaamagga (Way of Comprehension). Fifth
and last are the two texts providing patterns for
synthesis, the Pe.takopade`sa (Instruction on the
Traditions of the Scriptures) and the
Nettippakara.na (Book of the Guide), which is no
more than a rewriting of the Pe.takopade`sa. The
most significant of these books from the point of
view of systematization are the Dhammasa^nga.nii,
the Pa.t.thana, the Kathaavatthu, and the
Pe.takopade`sa. The Dhammasa^nga.ni is the first
extensive attempt (fourth century B.C.?) to classify
reality as viewed by the Buddhists. A hundred
principles are listed which, along with their
synonyms, amount to about two hundred. All these
principles, except Nirvaa.na, are declared to
originate through conditions. Closely related to the
Dhammasa^nga.ni is the Pa.t.thana, said to be the
work of Mogaliputta Tissa, a contemporary of the
great emperor ASoka (reigned 268-232 B.C.). It is an
exhaustive analysis of the conditional relation,
indeed of conditionality itself, under the headings
of one hundred dyads and twenty-two triads. The
dyads and triads are combined into six categories
and analyzed according to a tetralemmatic formula.
The Kathaavatthu defends two hundred and more
propositions against unorthodox Buddhist schools. It
is the earliest known Indian philosophical work
which proceeds on the basis of logical techniques,
such as those of definition, distribution of terms,
classification, and relationship between
propositions as biconditionals or ponentials, and
quantifications.(11) Here, too, another kind of
tetralemma is employed. As for the Pe.takopade`sa,
its significance will be discussed below.

The Sarvaastivaada Abhidharma may originally
have been composed of two basic texts, the
Sa^ngiitiparyaaya and the Dharmaskandha (Nature
Component); a text on the classification of reality,
the Dhaatukaaya (Corpus of Substances) ; and a
polemical text, the Vij~naanakaaya (Corpus of
Knowledge). After the Paa.taliputra Council of 237,
which separated Sthaviravaada from Sarvaastivaada,
this core was further elaborated. The Dhaatukaaya
was enlarged, supposedly by Puur.na or Vasumitra,
and a new classification of reality was proposed,
comprising Form (ruupa) , Mind (citta) , Mental
Phenomena (caitasika) , Nonmental Phenomena
(cittaviprayukta) , and the Unconditioned
(asa^msk.rta). The Vij~naanakaaya was also enlarged,
presumably by Deva`sarman or Devak.sema. Newly added
was the systematic treatise of Kaatyaayaniiputra,
the J~naanaprasthaana (Method of Knowledge), the
basic formulary of Sarvaastivaada systematics, to
be discussed presently; a treatise on cosmology and
moral action, the Praj~napti-

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`saastra (Science of Information), attributed to
Maudgalyaayana; and, finally, a compilation of
miscellaneous Abhidharma problems, the
Prakara.napada (Chapter of Discussions), said to
have been the work of Vasumitra I.

Most of these works deal with the analytical
aspect of system building, known as Abhidharma
analysis. However, four of these texts formulate the
synthetic aspect, by proposing conceptual patterns,
relatively brief in themselves, but which are
rigorously applicable to the doctrine in all its
multifarious amplitude. The cogency of such patterns
is enhanced by the qualities of simplicity, economy,
and elegance. These four texts are the
Pe.takopade`sa, Kaatyaayaniiputra's J~naanaprasthaana,
Dharma`srii's Abhidharmasaara (or Abhidharmah.rdaya),
and Vasubandhu's Abhidharmako`sa.

The pattern adopted by the Pe.takopade`sa may be
called the Threefold Scheme. It consists of an
organization of tetrads, triads, and dyads, each
made up of pairs of opposites; the tetrads are then
reduced to the triads and the triads to the dyads.
The tetrads consist of the Four Errors and their
opposites: seeking permanence/impermanence in the
impermanent; happiness/unhappiness in unhappiness;
soul/nonsoul in nonsoul; and beauty/ugliness in
ugliness. The triad pairs are desire/nondesire;
aversion/nonaversion; and delusion/ nondelusion.
Finally, the dyads are passion/passionlessness and
ignorance/ knowledge. This scheme has rigor and a
certain elegance, but it is far from simple and is
arguably redundant. It was not adopted in the final
Sthaviravaada (that is, Theravaada) synthesis by
Buddhagho.sa, who employed instead the scheme of the
Threefold Discipline (tri`sik.saa), which itself is
a summary classification of the contents of the
Fourth Noble Truth.

The pattern adopted by Kaatyaayaniiputra(12) may
be called the Eightfold Scheme. It consists of eight
chapters which follow each other in soritic fashion.
They are: (1) the Diversity of Things
(sa^nkiir.navi.saya); (2) Bonds (sa^myojana); (3)
Knowledge (j~naana): (4) Action (karma); (5) the
Great Elements (mahaabhuuta) ; (6) the Faculties
(indriya); (7) Concentration (samaadhi); (8) Views
(d.r.s.ti). The logic of the sequence is as follows:
the knowledge of the miscellaneous phenomena that
make up our experience (chapter 1)gives rise to
bonds (chapter 2); these bonds are destroyed by
knowledge (chapter 3), but that knowledge can on1y
be achieved by freedom from action (chapter 4),
which itself is caused by the four great elements
(chapter 5). These elements are combined in their
highest fashion in the faculties (chapter 6), which
cannot be purified except through concentration
(chapter 7). When purified, one attains freedom from
false views (chapter 8) and, consequently,
liberation. Of course, there is a logical
concatenation of ideas here, but still no
simplicity. Around 100 A.D., the J~naanaprasthaana
was elaborately analyzed by Paar`sva and Vasumitra II
in a work called the Mahaavibhaa.saa (Great
Commentary). It was the embodiment of the official
Sarvaastivaada position, and hence all orthodox
Sarvaastivaadins would be called Vaibhaa.sikas. A
systematization of Vaibhaa.sika thought was what
Vasubandhu had in mind when he set out to compose
his Abhidharmako`sa.

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This long travail of systematization made it
clear to Buddhist thinkers that there was no better
scheme for organizing the vast and intricate corpus
of tenets that had evolved from the Buddha's
teaching than the Fourfold Scheme (as we may call
it) proposed by the Buddha himself, the Four Noble
Truths. Between A.D. 100 and 200,(13) Dharma`srii
composed his Abhidharmah.rdaya or Abhidharmasaara
(Essence of Abhidharma, or Essence of the Doctrine
of Natures), where he classified his chapters under
the Four Noble Truths,(14) as the following scheme
discloses:

1. Truth of Pain

Chapter 1. Dhaatu, Substances
Chapter 2. Sa^mskaara, Formations

2. Truth of Origin

Chapter 3. Karma, Actions
Chapter 4. Anu`saya, Latencies or Passional Nuclei

3. Truth of Suppression

Chapter 5. AArya, The Noble Ones

4. Truth of the Way

Chapter 6. J~naana, Knowledge
Chapter 7. Samaadhi, Reflections

Appendices
Chapter 8. Suutra, Scriptures
Chapter 9. Prakiir.na, Miscellaneous
Chapter 10. Kathaa, Debate

The method of organization here developed by
Dharma`srii was basically that followed by
Vasubandhu in his Abhidharmako`sa.(15) The principal
defect of Dharma`srii's method, from the point of
view of systematic and compact arrangement, is the
redundancy of its last three chapters, where much of
what was discussed in the main body of the work is
repeated and elaborated. Vasubandhu elaborated his
topics only in the places assigned to them in the
overall scheme. His own work is not free from
redundancy, but that is not due to confused
thinking. Rather, Vasubandhu wished to accommodate
long hallowed but frequently repetitive
classifications to his own more structured and
economical method of thought. Furthermore, he
extended Dharma`srii's arrangement by adding
chapters on the cosmos (loka) and on "The
Ascertainment of the Person" (pudgalavini`scaya).
The correspondence of Dharma`srii's and Vasubandhu's
works can be appreciated in the accompanying scheme.

Correspondence of Dharma`srii's and Vasubandhu's works

Four Noble Truths Common Chapter Dharma`srii Vasubandhu

1. Pain Dhaatu (D1/V1 ) *
Sa^mskaara (2) Indriya (2)
Loka (3)
2. Origin Karma (D3/V4)
Anu`saya (D4/V5)

P.179

3. Suppression AArya/
Pudgalamaarga
(D5/V6)
4. Way J~naana
(D6/V7)
Samaadhi
Samaapatti (D7/
V8)
Supplements Pudgalavini`scaya (9)

Suutra(8)
Sa^myukta (9)
Kathaa(10)

*V = Vasubandhu chapter; D = Dharma`srii chapter

Dharma`Srii's originality lies not only in his
establishing a concord between methodically
coordinated though bewilderingly complex categories
with the Four Noble Truths, the ultimate generators
of those very categories and of their complexity,
but also in his suggesting a new organizing
principle, an ontological one, based on a concept of
reality. The Four Noble Truths, on the other hand,
are soteriological; they emphasize a method of
salvation or of healing. However, as the Buddha's
disciples had acquired the conviction that this
healing could not be accomplished without a
knowledge of ontological concepts like Natures
(dharma) , Components (skandha) , and Substances
(dravya) , there was a need to discover an
ontological scheme in accord with the soteriological
one of the Truths. Dharma`srii suggested the
following tripartite scheme of reality: as such; as
phenomenal or conditioned (sa^ms.rkta) ; and as
transcendental or unconditioned (asa^msk.rta):

1. Reality as Such
Chapter 1. Substance(dhaatu)
2. Phenomenal Reality
Chapter 2. Formations (sa^mskaara)
Chapter 3. Actions (karma)
Chapter 4. Passional Nuclei (anu`saya)
3. Transcendental Reality
Chapter 5. The Noble Ones (aarya)
Chapter 6. Knowledge (j~naana)
Chapter 7. Reflections (samaadhi)

Vasubandhu made this new structure more
articulate by adding the chapter on "The
Ascertainment of the Person, "where he demonstrated
the truth of the Non-Soul Doctrine (anaatmavaada),
believed by the Buddhists to constitute the essence
of reality on all levels. The following is a
synopsis of the structure of Vasubandhu's work:

P.180

1. Reality as Such
The Truth of Pain
Chapter 1. Substances(dhaatu)
The Constituents of Reality
Chapter 2. Faculties (indriya)
The Functions of Reality

2. Phenomenal Reality
Chapter 3. Cosmos (loka)
Forms of Phenomenal Reality
The Truth of Origin
Chapter 4. Actions (karma)
Causes of Phenomenal Reality
Chapter 5. Passional Nuclei or Latencies (anu`saya)
Conditions of Phenomenal Reality
3. Transcendental Reality
The Truth of Suppression
Chapter 6. The Paths of the Noble (pudgalamaarga)
The Truth of the Way
Chapter 7. Knowledge (j~naana)
Causes of Liberation
Chapter 8. Concentration (samaapatti)
Conditions of Liberation

4. Essence of Reality: Non-Soul
Chapter 9. Ascertainment of the person (pudgalavini`scaya)

Dharma`srii's work had two important
commentaries, those of Upa`saanta and of
Dharmatraata, Like Dharma`srii, their authors seem to
have belonged to Gaandhaara, where a different
school of thought prevailed from that of adjoining
Kashmir, in which region the elaborate
Mahaavibhaa.saa`saastra had been compiled by
Paar`sva and Vasumitra II. Vasubandhu, himself from
Gaandhaara, professed to follow the school of Kashmir.
Upa`saanta, who is dated by some scholars to around
A.D. 300, was the author of the
Abhidharmah.rdayasuutra (Discourse on the Essence of
the Doctrine of Natures), surviving today only in
Chinese translation.(16) Dharmatraata, who appears
to have lived between A.D. 350 and 400, wrote a
commentary which may have been entitled the
Mi`srakaabhidharmah.rdayasuutra (Verse and Prose
Discourse on the Essence of the Doctrine of
Natures), a work in eleven chapters and 349 verses,
also available only in Chinese translation.(17)
Dharmatraata combined the two elements--Dharma`sii's
architectonics with Paar`sva's and Upa`saanta's
elaborate classificatory detail, Gaandhaaran and
Kashmiri, respectively--thus preparing the way for
the greater homogenization of those elements in
Vasubandhu's monumental opus, where the schools of
Gaandhaara and Kashmir were finally synthesized. The
following is a summary of its main topics, with an
attempt to emphasize the concatenation between them.
A profounder investigation(18) of the work than we
have been able to undertake will undoubtedly
disclose the symmetry and architectonics of
Vasubandhu's structure more clearly.

P.181

Chapter 1. Substances(dhaatu)

(1) Natures (verses 1-3) , Abhidharma is
primarily a doctrine of Natures (dharma). Passions
(kle`sa) or Defilements move the world through the
ocean of transmigration. These passions cannot be
extinguished without a knowledge of the Natures.

(2) Two kinds of Natures (verses 4-6). These
Natures are Unconditioned (asa^msk.rta) and
Conditioned (sa^msk.rta).

(3) Two kinds of Conditioned Natures (verses
7-17) . Conditioned Natures are uncontaminated
(anaasrava) and contaminated (aasrava).

(4) Constituents of Conditioned Natures,
principally Substances (verses 18-28). Conditioned
Natures of the contaminated kind have a triad of
constituents: The Five Components (skandha), the
Twelve Receptacles (aayatana), and the Eighteen
Substances (dhaatu). The Five Components are Form
(ruupa), Sensation (vedanaa). Notion (sa^mj~naa),
Volition (cetanaa), and Cognition (vij~naana). The
Twelve Receptacles are the Six Organs: eye, ear,
nose, tongue, skin, and mind; and their six;
corresponding Cognitions are: the visual, the
auditory, the olfactory, the gustative, the tactile,
and the mental. The Eighteen Substances consist of
the Six Organs and the Six Cognitions, and also of
the six corresponding objects of cognition: the
visible, the audible, the olfactory, the gustative,
the tactile, and the mental.

(5) Characteristics of Substances (verses
29-48). These Substances possess the most complex
characteristics, which are basically three:
substantial, cognitional, and material. Examples of
the substantial kind are subsistence (dravya) and
momentariness (k.sa.nika) ; examples of the
cognitional are object orientation (saalambana) and
object nonappropriation (anupaatta); and examples of
the material are divisibility (chidyate) and
flammability (dahyate). These Substances are living
beings, and as such have two aspects, an active and
dominant (indriya) one, comprising its faculties,
and a passive and concurrent one, comprising the
objects controlled and dominated by those faculties.

Chapter 2. Faculties (indriya)

(1) Faculties (verses 1-21). The faculties or
Dominators (indriya) are thus specific to living
beings. They constitute them as thinking and
sexually differentiated; they assure their duration,
promote their pollution, and facilitate their
purification. There are in all twenty-two Faculties.

(2) Constituents of the Faculties (verse 22).
They are formed out of molecules
(sa^nghaatapari.naama), the most subtle of matter's
aggregates.

(3) Mind, the superfaculty, and its associated
acts (verses 23-24). The Faculties are primarily
supports of thought (cittaa`sraya), products of
mind--itself a sort of superfaculty which dominates
all the other Faculties and their objects. Mind
originates along with Associated Mental Acts or
Natures (caittadharmas), which are forty-six in
number.

(4) Acts dissociated from Mind (verses 35-48).
There are other Natures, however, which participate
in the immateriality of the Mental States, but are
nevertheless dissociated from the Mind; they are the
Dissociated (quasi-Mental) Acts or Natures
(cittaviprayuktadharma) and are fourteen in number.

(5) Contingent Nature of the Faculties (verses
49-73). These Natures are not eternal, but originate
in time; their origin is attended by a triad of
factors: sextuple causes (hetu), quintuple results
(phala), and quadruple conditions (pratyaya).

Chapter 3. Cosmos (loka)

(1) Location of living beings (verses 1-3). So
constituted and caused, living beings are
distributed through the three Spheres of existence:
the Desire

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Sphere (kaamadhaatu), the Form Sphere (ruupadhaatu),
and the Formless Sphere (aaruupyadhaatu).

(2) States of living beings (verses 4-7). The
inhabitants of these Spheres are linked to the Five
Destinies (gati), the Seven Stages of Cognition
(vij~naanasthiti), and the Nine Abodes of Sentience
(sattvaavaasa).

(3) Births of living beings (verses 8-9). They
undergo four kinds of births: oviparous, membranous,
exudative, and apparitional (upapaaduka).

(4) Intermediary states between lives (verses
10-15). These births are the beginnings of lives
which are connected by intervals between the end of
the previous life and the start of a successive one;
these intervals are known as the Intermediary State
(antaraabhaava).

(5) Conditioned Coproduction, the continuum of
births (verses 18-38). The continuity between these
lives is not underpinned by a permanent substance,
the soul (aatman), but by a continuous process,
Conditioned Coproduction (pratiityasamutpaada).

(6) Food: cause of duration of lives (verses
39-41). Each being that takes birth within this
process has a certain duration, which is rendered
possible by four kinds of food.

(7) Mental Cognitions attendant on the termini
of duration (verses 42-44). The activities occurring
at the beginning and end of this duration and of the
Intermediary State following it are due to mental
Cognition (manovij~naana). They take place in three
types of beings: those predestined to salvation
(sa^myaktvaniyata), to nescience (mithyaatvaniyata),
or to no destiny at all (aniyata).

(8) Situation of living beings, the cosmos
(verses 45-84). These beings are contained within
the cosmos or World Receptacle (bhaajanaloka), which
consists of features like disks, mountains, seas,
continents, purgatories, and heavenly spheres.

(9) Measures of the cosmos (verses 85-102). The
spatial and temporal dimensions of the cosmos are
measurable by units of matter and duration. These
include the four aeons (kalpas); within their span
appear the Buddhas, the Solitary Buddhas, and the
World Emperors (cakravartin) . The aeons are
destroyed by fire, water, wind, and other
calamities, leaving nothing intact except the
topmost heaven.

Chapter 4. Actions (karma)

(1) Actions: causes of the variety of living
beings (verses 1-44). The variety of living beings
in the cosmos is brought into being by various kinds
of action (karma) , itself caused by Volition
(cetanaa). In relation to its cause, action can be
classified doubly, as apprisal (vij~napti) and
nonapprisal (avij~napti); or triply, as corporeal
(kaaya), vocal (vaac), or mental (manas).

(2) Moral character of actions (verses 45-65).
These actions are moral in nature, and as such can
be classified according to their wholesome
(ku`sala), meritorious (pu.nya), definite (niyata),
and chromatic (k.r.s.na`suklaadi) characteristics.

(3) Courses of action (verses 65-95) . The
courses of action are wholesome (ku`salakarmapatha)
or unwholesome (aku`salakarmapatha). The causes of
the course of unwholesome action are three: greed
(lobha), hate (dve.sa), and delusion (moha); the
causes of the course of wholesome action are the
opposite of these three. The courses produce five
effects (phala) in all: the sovereign (adhipati),
the fluxible (ni.syanda) , the retributive or
maturing (vipaaka), the disconnective (visa^myoga),
and the virile (puru.saakaara).

(4) Obstacles to courses of action (verses
96-107). There are also courses of action which
create obstacles (aavara.na) to liberation; they are
the obstacles of action (karmaavara.na), passion
(kle`saavara.na), and retribution (vipaakaavara.na).

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(5) Course of action conducive to enlightenment
(verses 108-127). There is in addition a course of
action that is conducive to enlightenment (bodhi),
and is followed by the Bodhisattva.

Chapter 5. Passional Nuclei or Latencies (anu`saya)

(1) Potentialities or Passional Nuclei and their
classification (verses 1-11). Actions grow out of
roots, nuclei, potentialities, or Latencies
(anu`saya); another name for them is Defilements or
Passions (kle`sa); they may therefore be called
Passional Nuclei. They are basically six, but with
their subdivisions may be as many as ninety-eight.
They are classifiable according to their
psychological proclivities, their situation in the
cosmos, and the means employed for their
abandonment.

(2) Classification of the Nuclei according to
scope (verses 12-18). They are also classifiable
according to the universality or nonuniversality of
their application to particular Substances and
Spheres of Existence; the universally applicable
(sarvaga) are of eleven kinds, the nonuniversally
applicable (asarvaga) of nine.

(3) Classification of fhe Nuclei according to
moral character and range (verses 19-22) .
Furthermore, they can be classified according to
their unwholesome or indeterminate (avyaak.rta)
characteristics, and according to the mode of their
occurrence in each of the Three Spheres of
Existence.

(4) Nuclei as defilements (verses 23-24). The
Nuclei act as Defilements (kle`sa) bringing about
the bondage of individuals to objects; these are of
two kinds, general (saamaanyakle`sa) and particular
(svalak.sa.nakle`sa). Individuals can be bound to
them in the past, present, and future.

(5) Momentary duration of the Nuclei (verses
25-27) . These Nuclei have only a momentary
existence; the doctrine of their existence at all
times, or of their omniexistentiality
(sarvaastivaada), is therefore false.

(6) Bondage of the Nuclei to objects (verses
28-33). The Nuclei are bonded to sixteen types of
objects. The abandonment of these objects does not
entail their total separation from the Nuclei, and
is achieved by a progressive insight into the Four
Noble Truths.

(7) Caused nature of the Nuclei (verses 34-58).
Like all conditioned Natures, these Nuclei are
caused. Their causes can be classified as fourfold
or fivefold. Fourfold as fluxes (aasrava), floods
(ogha) , attachments (yoga) , and cohesions
(upaadaana); and fivefold as fetters (sa^myojana),
bonds (bandhana), quasi-defilements (upakle`sa),
snares (paryaavasthaana), and pollutants (mala).

(8) Disturbances concomitant with the
Defilements (verse 59). The Defilements include the
Five Disturbances (nivara.na), which obstruct
morality (`siila), wisdom (praj~naa), reflection
(samaadhi), and the realization of the Four Noble
Truths.

(9) Abandonment of the Nuclei or Defilements
(verses 60-70). These Passions or Nuclei can be
abandoned through the Paths of Insight
(dar`sanamaarga) and Meditation (bhaavanaamaarga).
The abandonment consists of Oppositions
(pratipak.sa), Disconnections (visa^myoga), and
Comprehensions (parij~naa).

Chapter 6. The Paths of the Noble Ones
(pudgalamaarga)

(1) The two Paths to liberation and the
resultant tranquility (verses 1-13). The Path of
Insight is uncontaminated (anaasrava); it consists
of insight into the Truths. The Path of Meditation
is both uncontaminated and contaminated (aasrava);
the meditations of its practitioners
(bhaavanaadhikaarin) are conducive to tranquility
(`samatha).

(2) Consequences of the tranquility: the Four
Recollections (verses 14-26). When this tranquility
is attained, it is possible to cultivate the Four
Recollections (sm.rtyupasthaana).

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(3) Consequences of the Recollections: the
comprehension of the Truths (verses 27-28). From the
Recollections originate the comprehension of the
Truths (satyaabhisamaya) in sixteen stages.

(4) The followers of the two paths: the Noble
Ones (verses 29-66). The followers of the Paths are
known as the Noble Ones (aaryapudgala); they are
classificable into weak (m.rdu), middling (madhya),
and superior (adhimaatra); the latter class includes
the Solitary Buddha (pratyekabuddha) and the Perfect
Buddha (sa^myaksa^mbuddha).

(5) Goals purused by the Noble Ones:
enlightenment and its auxiliaries (verses 67-72).
The Noble Ones seek enlightenment (bodhi) and the
auxiliaries to its realization (bodhipaksyadharma),
of which there are thirty seven varieties.

(6) Effect of the auxiliaries: serene faith
(verses 73-74). The cultivation of these auxiliaries
produces serene faith (aavetyaprasaada), directed to
the Three Jewels, the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the
Community of the Noble Ones.

(7) The liberation consequent on enlightenment:
its varieties (verses 75-79). Liberation follows on
enlightenment; it is of two kinds, the unconditioned
and the conditioned. Unconditioned Liberation
(asa^msk.rtavimukti) is also known as Comprehensional
Suppression (pratisa^nkhyaanirodha) . Conditioned
Liberation (sa^msk.rtavimukti) is so called because
the means to it are conditioned; it is the
liberation of the Adept (a`saik.sa).

Chapter 7. Knowledges (j~naana)

(1) Certainties coincident with liberation: the
Knowledges (verses 1-27). Liberation is accompanied
by certainties in the minds of the liberated, and
consists of the ten Knowledges (j~naana).

(2) The Extraordinary qualities formed hy the
Knowledges (verses 28-39) . These Knowledges
constitute the extraordinary qualities
(aave.nikadharmas) possessed by the Buddhas, the
Trainees (`saik.sa) , and the Commoners
(p.rthagjana).

(3) Types of extraordinary gualities (verses
40-56). They are the Six Consummate Meditations
(praantako.tikadhyaana) , the Six Supernatural
Aptitudes (abhij~naa) , the Three Recognitions
(vidyaa), and the Three Prodigies (pratihaarya). The
Consummate Meditations are peculiar only to the
Buddhas and the Noble Ones; but the other qualities
are common to the Buddhas, the Noble Ones, and the
Commoners.

(4) Extraordinary qualities in infernal and
human beings (verse 56). Even infernal beings and
some men possess two Supernatural Aptitudes: the
ability to know others' minds and their own previous
existences.

Chapter 8. Concentrations (samaapatti)

(1) Meditations associated with the Knowledges:
Conentrations (verses 1-2). The Knowledges rise out
of mental states, the meditations on which are of
two kinds, the prolonged and the momentary. The
prolonged type are the Concentrations (samaapatti);
the momentary, the Reflections (samaadhi) . The
Concentrations belong to the Formed and the Formless
Spheres. The Form Sphere Concentrations
(ruupadhyaana) are fourfold.

(2) Types of Concentrations. (verses 2-23) .
Fourfold also are the Concentrations of the Formless
Sphere (aaruupyadhyaana) . They are the four
Endlessnesses: the spatial (aakaa`saanantya), the
cognitional (vij~naanaanantya), the nonentitative
(aki~ncanaantya) , and the
nonconscient-noninconscient (naivasa^mj~naanantya).

(3) Types of Reflections (verses 24-28). The
Reflections are threefold: the vacuous
(`suunyataasamaadhi) , the causeless
(animittasamaadhi) , and the desireless
(apra.nihitasamaadhi).

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(4) Effects of the Reflections (verses 29-31).
The Reflections have four effects, the Four
Immeasurables: benevolence (maitri) , compassion
(karu.na), joy (mudita), and equanimity (upek.saa).

(5) Additional triad of meditations (verses
32-38). There is a final triad of meditations: the
Eight Deliverances (vimok.sa), which turn the mind
away from the conditioned; the Eight Stages of
Mastery (abhibhvaayatana) , which facilitate
dominance over one's object of meditation; and the
Ten Total Fields (k.rstnaayatana). or objects of
contemplative absorption, coordinators of a total
species of knowledge.

(6) Conclusion (verse 39). The analysis of
Natures, the main purpose of the book, is now
completed. The Law of the Buddha is the only one
that can make these Natures clearly known and seen.
It is of two kinds, the doctrinal and the practiced;
or, as preached and as realized. As realized, it
will last only a thousand years after the Nirvaa.na
of the Buddha; as preached, it will last longer. An
authentic exposition of it is that of the
Vaibhaa.sikas of Kashmir, followed in the
Abhidharmako`sa.

APPENDIX: OUTLINE OF DHARMA`SRII'S ABHIDHARMARH.RDAYA

1. Substances(dhaatu)

(1) The need to know the nature of things (verse 1)
(2) The Buddha's knowledge of Natures (verse 2)
(3) Uncontaminated and Contaminated Natures (verses 3-4)
(4) Components, Receptacles, and Substances (verses 5-13)
(5) Essences (verse 14)

2. Formations (sa^mskaara)

(1) Conditions, the origin of everything (verse 15)
(2) Natures associated with the mind and dissociated
from the mind (verses 16-19)
(3) The production of their characteristics or causes and
effects (verses 20-29)
(4) Conditions (verses 30-32)

3. Actions (karma)

(1) Actions (verses 33-39)
(2) Accomplishment of Actions (verses 40-51)
(3) Types of Actions (verses 52-59)
(4) Fruits of Actions (verses 60-64)

4. Latencies (anu`saya)

(1) Kinds of Passions (verses 65-68)
(2) Spheres of Activity (verses 69-70)
(3) Objects of the Passions (verses 71-81)
(4) Sequence of their production (verse 82)
(5) Kinds of Passions, again (verses 83-86)
(6) Associated faculties (verses 87-89)
(7) Quasi-defilements (verses 90-93)
(8) Abandonment of the Passions (verses 94-96)

5. The Noble Ones(aarya)

(1) The notion of the Noble Ones (97)
(2) The Four Recollections (verses 98-100)
(3) The Four Roots of the Wholesome (verses 101-103)
(4) The Path of the Trainee (verses 104-112)
(5) The Path of the Adept (verses 113-122)

6. Knowledges (j~naana)

(1) The Ten Knowledges (verses 123-126)
(2) The Sixteen Aspects of the Truths (verses 127-129)
(3) The attainment of the Knowledges (verses 130-131)

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(4) Their development (verses 132-147)

7.Reflections (samaadhi)

(1) Reflection (verses 148-155)
(2) Qualities associated with the Reflections (verses 158-161)
(3) Conditions and causes of these qualities (verses 162-175)

8. Scriptures (suutra)
9. Miscellany (sa^myukta)
10. Discussion (kathaa)

NOTES

1. A. K. Warder. Indian Buddhism, 2d rev. ed.
(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), chap. 4; cf.
chap. 7 and 9.

2. Ko`sa has been translated previously as
'treasury' or 'compendium', but since the Abhidharma
refers to both pure and defiled dharmas, we are
using a more inclusive word. Cf. Abhidharmako`sa, I,
verses 2 and 4.

3. Warder, Indian Buddhism, pp. 222-224.

4. Stefan Anacker, Seven Works of Vasubandhu
(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984), pp. 2-4. See
also Alex Wayman, Analysis of the Sraavakabhuumi
Manuscript (University of California Publications in
Classical Philology, 1961), p. 24; and P. S. Jaini,
"On the Theory of the Two Vasubandhus," Bulletin of
the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS)
21 (1958): 48-53.

5. P. S. Jaini, in BSOAS, pp. 50-51.

6. L'Abhidharmako`sa de Vasubandhu, Louis De La
Vallee Poussin, trans. (Louvain, 1923-1931;
Bruxelles: Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises,
1971), chap. 9, p. 273.

7. Alex Wayman, "Naagaarjuna: Moralist Reformer
of Buddhism," in Studia Missionalia 34 (1985), p.
87.

8. Ibid. We would like to acknowledge Professor
Wayman's exposition of this problem in the study of
Naagaarjuna and the early history of Mahaayaana
Buddhism.

9. See L'Abhidarmako'sa de Vasubandhu, chap. 9,
p. 273. The Tibetan scholar Tsong Khapa combined the
Maadhyamika and the Yogaacaara perspectives in his
great work, the Lam Rim Chen Mo. See Alex Wayman,
Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1978).

10. Warder, Indian Buddhism, pp. 342-344, 345,
346.

11. Ibid. p. 309.

12. Kaatyaayaniiputra, J~naanaprasthaana, trans,
from Chinese to Sanskrit by Santi Bhiksu Sastri
(Visvabharati: Santiniketan, 1955).

13. Wataru S. Ryose, "The Position of the
Abhidharmah.rdaya in the Historical Development of
Sarvaastivada Thought," Abhidharma Research
Institute [journal] (1986) : 1-16. This has a
detailed examination of the problem of the dates of
Dharma`srii, the Mahavibhasa. Ryujo Ramada argues
that Dharma`srii's Abhidharmah.rdaya is roughly
contemporary with or slightly earlier than the
Mahaavibhaa.sa`saastra, the position we have
adopted.

14. Charles Willemen, trans., The Essence of
Metaphysics: Abhidharmah.rdaya (Bruxelles, 1975), p.
xix.

15. See the table following for a comparison of
the structures of the two works. The Appendix at the
end of this article gives more detail on the
structure of the Abhidharmah.rdaya.

16. Upa`saanta, Abhidharmah.rdaya, 249 verses
and commentary, in Taisho, vol. 28, 833 B; vol. 49,
87 C. Available only in Chinese.

17. Dharmatraata.
Mi`srakaabhidharmah.rdayasuutra, 11 chapters, 349
verses. The text is composed methodically and in
elaborate detail; many of its passages parallel
those of the Mahaavibhaa.sa`saastra. It exerted a
profound influence on the Abhidharmako`sa. A
Gaandhaara resident himself, Dharmatraata was
familiar with the Kashmiri Vaibhaa.sika teachings.
See Taisho, vol. 55, 12 A B.

18. Sukomal Chaudhuri's Analytical Study of the
Abhidharmako`sa (Calcutta, 1976) provided a working
basis for our own outline. His analysis lists
everything (not always accurately) without
disclosing the underlying conceptual structure.