There are two major
scholarly
opinions concerning how the Abhidhamma Pitaka came into existence.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-1-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
.
.
" This is a definition adopted by G.
P.
Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, and by Etienne Lamotte, in his Histoire de Bouddhisme indien, p.
1971.
Among the English translations from the Pali Sutras (Pali: sutta; in their collections known as the Nikdyas), C. A. F. Rhys-Davids gives "the advanced teaching of Doctrine" (Dialogues, III, 19. 246); F. L. Woodward gives "extra doctrine" (GradualSayings 1. 276) and "the further doctrine" (Gradual Sayings, V, p. 19, 139 ff); E. M. Hare gives "More-Dhamma" (ibid. 111. 85, IV. 267); and Lord Chalmers gives "quintessential Doctrine" (Further Dialogues 1. 155) and "higher branches of the Doctrine" (ibid. , 1. 133).
Kogen Mizuno gives, as a definition of abhidhamma in his Index to the Pali Canon (Part II, p. 34), the "superior dhamma", the "higher dhamma", and the "most distinguished dhamma".
E. J. Thomas, in his History of Buddhist Thought (p. 159,276) gives "special dhamma" and "further-dhamma" as translations for abhidhamma. T. W. Rhys- Davids defines abhi-dhamma and abhivinaya as "the higher subtleties of the Dhamma and Vinaya".
From the above then we can see that there are two schools of interpretation concerning the meaning of the word abhidhamma, a fact pointed out by I. B. Horner in her article "Abhidhamma Abhivinaya in the First Two Pitakas of the Pali Canon", in Indian Historical Quarterly XII. 3 (Sept. 1941), pp. 291-310. According to Horner, the meaning of the word abhidhamma, in the Pali Canon, "fluctuates" between these two definitions (the non-judgmental "concerning the dhamma", and the judgmental "higher, superior (hence, better) dhamma"), but that in point of fact, these two meanings of the word are not mutually exclusive.
According to Ken Sakurabe, Geiger's definition of abhidhamma ("concerning the dhamma") is correct, whereas the Pali Text Society and I. B. Horner rely overmuch on the traditional interpretations of later Singhalese commentators.
Let us then take a look at the usage of the word abhidhamma as it is used in the Pali Canon of the Theravadins. Following are some examples of these two words, abhidhamma and abhivinaya, used together as a set phrase in the Canon:
1. Vinaya Pipaka, I, p. 64:
Pruden xxxi
? xxxii The Abhidharma
aparehi pi bhikkhave pancah'angehi samannagatena bhikkhuna na upasampa- detabbam, na nissayo databbo, na samanero upattapetabbo: na patibalo hoti antevasim va saddhiviharirh va abhisamacarikaya sikkhaya sikkhapetum, adibrahmacariyikaya sikkhaya vinetum, abkidhamme vineturh, abhivinaya vinetum, uppannam ditthigatam dhammato vivecetum vivecapetum.
"And monks, if a monk is not possessed of five further qualities he should notordain. . . anoviceshouldnotattendhim:ifheisnotcompetenttomakea pupil or one who shares a cell train in the training regarding the fundamentals of conduct, to lead him in the training regarding the fundamentals of the Brahmafaring, to lead him in what pertains to dhamma, to lead him in what pertains to discipline, to discuss or get (another) to discuss, by means of dhamma, a false view that has arisen. . . " (translation by LB. Horner, SBB XIV, p. 84; see also Horner's discussion of abhidhamma, abhivinaya in SBB XIII, Introduction, p. x and following).
This same passage is translated by Rhys-Davids and Oldenburg, SBE, XIII, pp. 184-5):
"And also in other five cases, oh Bhikkhus, a Bhikku should not confer, etc. : when he is not able to train an antevasikaor a saddhiviharika in the precepts of proper conduct, to educate him in the elements of morality, to instruct him in what pertains to the Dhamma, to instruct him in what pertains to the Dhamma a false doctrine that might arise . . . "
In the above text the words are given in the locative case, which in Pali means "with reference to", "pertaining to". Here the word abhidhamma refers to the details of the dhamma (i. e. , Sutra) study, and to the details of Vinaya study. Horner, Rhys-Davids, and Oldenburg all agree in this interpretation.
2. Digha Nikdya, III, 267:
puna ca param avuso bhikkhu dhamma-kamo hoti piya-samudhaharo abhi- dhamme abhivinaye ulara-pamujjo. Yam p'avuso bhikkhu dhamma-kamo hoti . . . pe . . . ulara-pamujjo, ayam pi dhammo natha-karano.
"And furthermore,friends,he loves the doctrine, the utterance of it is dear to him, he finds exceeding joy in the advanced teaching of both Doctrine and Discipline:' (TW. and CAR Rhys-Davids, SBB, XC IV, p. 246; see also footnote 2, where Buddhaghosa's gloss on this passage is given).
In this above example (which is in Av 24, 90, 201, 339) the ideal monk is
? described. Horner feels that two dhammas are spoken of: 1) dhamma-kamo, and 2) abhidhamma and that abhidhamma is used to distinguish it from the first and lower type of dhamma. According to Sakurabe, this is a forced meaning, an interpretation not necessary for an understanding of the passage.
3. Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 472:
arannaken'avuso bhikkhuna abhidhamme abhivinaya yogo karanlyo. Sant'avuso arahnakarh bhikkhum abhidhamme abhivinaye panham pucchi- taro. Sace avuso arannako bhikkhu abhidhamme abhivinaye panham puttho na sampayati tassa bhavanti vattaro:
. . . arannaken'avuso bhikkhuna ye te santa vimokha atikkamma rupe aruppa tattha yogo karanlyo . . . arannaken'avuso bhikkhuna uttarimanussdhamme yogo karanlyo.
"Your reverences, earnest study in Further-Dhamma, in Further- Discipline should be made by a monk who is forest-gone. Your reverences, there are those who will question a monk who is forest-gone on Further- Dhamma and Further-Discipline. If, your reverences, a monk who is forest- gone, on being asked a question on Further-Dhamma, on Further-Discipline, does not succeed in answering it, there will be those who speak about him and say . . .
"Your reverences, earnest study should be made by a monk who is forest- gone concerning those that are the peaceful deliverances and are incorporeal having transcended material shapes . . .
"Your reverences, earnest study in states of further-men would be made by a monk who is forest-gone . . . " (English translation by LB. Horner, Middle Length Sayings, II, p. 145).
Here Horner maintains that since the three accomplishments of the forest- dwelling monk are all put in the locative case {abhidhamme, abhivinaye, yogo . . . ) , abhidharma and abhivinaya refer to superior states of attainment. According to Sakurabe, however, this passage is like the Digha passage (no. 2 above). This occurrence of the terms abhidhamma-abhivinaya is the only place in the Sutras where abhidharma and abhivinaya are ranked together with supernormal states of attainment, but such an explanation as Horner's is not necessary for under- standing the sense of this passage.
3. Abhidhamma alone.
Pruden xxxiii
? xxxiv The Abhtdbarma
There are, to be sure, a number of passages where the word abhidhamma occurs apart from the word abhivinaya.
1. Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 214 gives:
idh'avuso sariputta dve bhikkhu abhidhammakatham kathenti, te anriaman- nam pafiham pucchanti, anfiamannassa panham puttha vissajjenti no ca samcadenti, dhammi ca nesam katha pavattanl hoti.
"In this connection, reverend Sariputta, two monks are talking on further dhamma', they ask one another questions; in answering one another's questions they respond and do not fall, and their talk on dhamma goes forward. "
2. Majjhima Nikdya, II, p. 239:
tasmatiha, bhikkhave, ye vo maya dhamma abhinna desota, seyyathldam: cattaro satipatthana, cattaro sammappadhana, cattaro iddhipada, panc'indri- yana, pance balani, satta bojjhanga, ariyo atthahgiko maggo,--tattha sabbeh'va samaggehi sammodamanehi avivadamanehi sikkhitabbam; tesah ca vo, bhikkhave, samagganam sammodamananam avivadamarianam sikkhatarh, siyamsu dve bhikkhu abhidhamme nanavada.
"Wherefore, monks, those things taught to you by me out of super- knowledge, that is to say the four applications of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of psychic power, the five controlling faculties, the five powers, the seven links in awakening, the ariyan eightfold Way--all together, in harmony and without contention you should train yourselves in each and all of these. But when you, monks, all together, in harmony and without contention have trained yourselves in these, there might be two monks speaking differently about Further-Dhamma" (English translation by LB. Horner, Middle Length Sayings, III, p. 25. )
After the Buddha has taught, through his dhammd-abhinnd (his higher or superior knowledge of the dharma), the thirty-seven faaors of enlightenment, two monks are now depicted as having abhidhamme nanavada, "differing views on abhidhamma," and the other monks should try to settle the contentions of these two. The 37 dhammas so taught are by definition dhamma abhinna, or abhidhamma. Thus the two monks' contentions are regarding these itemized, 37 superior dharmas. This is the opinion of LB. Horner.
Sakurabe points out that the word dhamma is given in the plural whereas
? abhidhamma is given in the singular locative case, so this connection between dhammd-abhinnd and abhidhamma is unnatural. Geiger translates this passage as "zwei Bhikkhu, die uber den dhamma verschiedenes aussagen," and so translates abhidhamme as "concerning the teaching. "
4. Abhidhamma-kathd.
The phrase abhidhamma-kathd occurs some three times in the Pali Canon.
1. Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 214:
idh'avuso sariputta dve bhikkhu abhidhammakatham kathenti, te annamannam panham pucchanti, annamannassa panham puttha vissajjenti no ca samsadenti, dharmmi ca nesam kathd pavattani hoti.
"In this connection, reverend Sariputta, two monks are talking on further dhamma\ they ask one another questions; in answering one another's questions they respond and do not fall, and their talk on dhamma goes forward. "
In this passage the phrase abhidhamma-kathd is followed by the words dhammi. . . kathd . . . So too the following passages from Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 218:
sadhu sadhu sariputta, yatha tarn Moggallano va samma byakaramano byakareyya. Moggallano hi Sariputta dhammakathiko ti.
"It is good, Sariputta, it is good. It is so that Moggallana, in answering you properly, should answer. For, Sariputta, Moggallana is a talker on dhamma" (LB. Horner, Middle Length Sayings, I, p. 270; see also her note on this passage. )
Here we see that anyone who gives a correct, clear account of dhamma is a dhamma-kathiko, a "speaker on dhamma. " But later commentators (namely, Buddhaghosa, in his A si. p. 29) terms a dhamma-kathiko to be an abhidhamma- bhikkhu, a monk who specializes in the study (and teaching) of the abhidhamma.
In another passage (Ariguttara, III, p. 392), a monk who can do abhidhamma- kathd well is to be respected and honored. According to Sakurabe, this refers to one who can preach correctly and well, and the term abhidhamma in this passage as yet has no specific sense of a superior doctrine, but rather just the superior talent of being able to present the dharma well.
In another passage (Anguttara, III, p. 107) an ignorant monk confuses
Pruden xxxv
? xxxvi The Abhidharma
abhidharma-talk, and becomes verbose and long-winded {vedaUa-katha) and, by doing so, pollutes the Dharma and the Vinaya.
5. Traditional Explanations of Abhidhamma.
In the Pali commentarial literature, the word abhidhamma clearly means "a special, superior dharma. " This is seen in some of the words and phrases used by the later Pali commentators in describing the abhidhamma.
In commentaries on the Sutras, the abhidharma is termed uttara-dhamma, "the highest dharma," and abhi-visittha dhamma, "the very distinguished dhamma. "
In commentaries on the Abhidhamma, the words dhamma-atireka (unique dhamma) and abhamma-visesa (distinguished) are used. Abhidhamma is called in the plural vuddhimanto dhamma (the expanded, augmented dhammas), salak- khana-dhamma (unique dharmas), pujita dhamma (dharmas to be honored, worshipped), parichinna dharma (special dharmas), and adhika dhamma (ex- cellent dharmas). Such traditional Pali commentators have influenced the Western translators of the Suttas to see in the word abhidhamma more than it probably originally intended (as Rhys-Davids, Woodward, Hare, Chalmers, et al. )
This understanding was roughly the same in the case of the Sanskrit tradition of Northern Buddhism. In the Chinese translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, (termed the Madhyama Agama in Sanskrit and traditionally held, in Far Eastern Buddhism, to be a Sarvastivadin compilation), we see such phrases as "He discusses the very deep abhidharma," or "He speaks the very profound abhi- dharma . . . " (T 1, p. 450a, p. 634c, p. 688c, and p. 727b which corresponds to Majjhima, I, p. 214). The translation of the phrase abhidharma-katham kathenti ("he speaks abhidharma-talk," as above Majjhima, I, p. 214) is, in the Chinese translation, prefaced by the word "deep" or"profound" (Skt. gambhiram), added by the translator, based on his idea of the Abhidharma as a unique and superior teaching.
6. Abhidhamma in the Mahavibhdsa
The major Sarvastivadin compendium of thought, the Mahavibhdsa (The Great Commentary) gives a full list of synonyms and definitions of the word abhidharma (T. 27, p. 4) recognized by various Sarvastivadin masters, as well as
by masters of various other traditions (the Mahisasakas, the Dharmottaras, the Grammarians, etc. ), which reflea by and large the prevailing traditional definition
? of abhidharma as "a superior teaching"; but in the Mahdvibhdsd's list of definitions, covering some 20 pages in its Chinese translation, the definition "concerning the dharma" appears a large number of times also.
The Abhidharmakoiabhdsyam reflects this approach when, in its analysis of the word abhidharma, it says that abhi means abhimukha, "facing," "with reference to," "in the direction of," "taking something as the object of study or analysis. "
7. The Abhidhamma Pitaka.
From whence then did the third collection of writings, the Third Pitaka, the Abhidhamma Pitaka, arise?
There are two major scholarly opinions concerning how the Abhidhamma Pitaka came into existence.
The first opinion was initially propounded by Taiken Kimura in his book Abidatsuma-ron no kenkyu (A Study of the Abhidharma Sdstras, now vol. VI of the Kimura Taiken Zenshii. ) According to Kimura, abhidharma signified "con- cerning the dharma," and soon referred to discussions centered on the dharmas, their various classifications, itemizations, etc. This discussion was termed abhi- dhamma-kathd (kathd = discussion, debate), and such discussions came to be
collected together to form the Abhidhamma Pitaka. This view is the generally accepted view among Japanese scholars. (For this view in recent Japanese publications, see Bukkyogaku-jiten, edited by Taya, Ocho, and Funabashi, 1955 edition, under the entry abidatsuma, p. 6; and the article "Bukkyo tetsugaku no saisho no tenkai" by Tetsuro Watsuji, in the Wdtsuji Tetsuro Zenshii, vol. 5, p. 311, 344).
The second view was introduced by Geiger (in his Pali Dhamma, p. 118 ff. ) and has been adopted by most Europeans (as A. Bareau, Dhammasangini, traduction annotee, 1951, p. 8 ff. ; Etienne Lamotte, Histoire, p. 197; E. Frauwallner, WZKSO (1964), p. 59; see also Pali Text Society, Pali-English Dictionary, under mdtikd). This opinion holds that the earliest form of what we now call the Abhidhamma Pitaka is seen in what is termed in Pali the mdtikd (Skt: mdtfkd). In the Pali Canon there very frequently occurs (some 18 times) the set phrase: dhammadharo vinayadharo mdtikddharo ("holding, grasping," i. e. "study and recitation of Dhamma, of Vinaya, of Mdtika'). Here there are three distina objeas of study, the Dhamma (the Sutras), the Vinaya, and the Mdtikds, or "summaries".
Pruden xxxvii
? xxxviii The Abhidharma
8. The Matika.
The word matika is used in a variety of contexts. It is used to signify: 1. commentarial literature on the sutras {Pat. 1. 1); 2. the books that go to make up the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Asl. , p. 3); and 3. commentaries not included within the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Vism. p. 536, 546,626, etc).
Generally then, the meaning of matika is: a list of items or words that serve as the object of debate or discussion, the technical terms of the commentarial literature.
Within the Vinaya Pitaka, the word matika is used in the order: Vibhanga, Khanddhaka, Parivara, and Matika, so that here the word means the Patimokkha list of rules, that is, the essential items or rules of the Vinaya, devoid of illustration and elaboration.
So matika with reference to the Suttas and Vinaya has points of similarity:the usage in both contexts signifies a bare, skeletal itemization of words or terms apart from their explanations or elaborations.
In the commentarial literature, then, matika signifies an (earlier) bare-bones list of dharmas, which underwent later elaboration, and the eventual codification of this elaboration developed into the various books of the Pali Abhidhamma Pitaka. In the Vinaya, then, the matika referred to the Pratimokkha list of rules, which matika then led to the elaboration of these rules, the circumstances surrounding their promulgation by the Buddha, the exceptions to the rules, their penalties, etc.
The earliest meaning of the word matika, then, was merely a list. It was only later that the word matika came to mean the Patimokkha rules themselves (the present-day meaning of the word), a change in meaning from "a list" to "the List," a change likewise seen in its further meaning as a list of technical terms, of dharmas, used in abhidharma discussions.
Thus the word matika, as used in Vinaya Pitaka, means a list of essential items (here the Vinaya rules) within the Vinaya Pitaka, when the word is used in the Suttas, it refers to a list of items (a list of dharmas) within the Suttas.
Within the Suttas, the word matika occurs, according to Sakurabe, in only those passages in a later stratum of the Canon, texts which themselves are already close to being abhidharmic texts. Likewise this is the case with the Vinaya Pitaka. the word occurs in its later passages, or in passages that have already assumed a commentarial status. So the list: dhamma-vtnaya-matika could conceivably be translated "the teaching, its monastic rules, and the itemized lists of their contents or essentials. "
? One Japanese scholar even goes to far as to say that the phrase bahussuto dgatdgamo dhammadharo vinayadharo mdtikddharo be interpreted by dgata- dgamo equalling dhamma dharo, and vinaya equalling mdtikd (Egaku Mayeda, in his Gensbi Bukkyo Seiten no Seiritsu-shi kenkyil, p. 194), that is, "the learned dgata-dgamo (understander of the tradition) who is a dhamma-dharo, (and the
learned) upholder of the Vinaya who is an upholder of mdtikd. "
9. Mdtikd and Abhidharma.
There are several passages in the scriptures that do show that the term mdtrkd was seen as synonymous with the word abhidharma.
A. In one text preserved in Chinese translation (T. 24, p. 408b), vol. 40 of the Ksudrakavastu of the Mula-Sarvastivadin Vinaya, it states that after the First Council had finished reciting the Sutras and the Vinaya, Katyayana said, "Persons of later generations will be of little wisdom and of dull faculties; their understanding will be based on the text [of scriptures], and they will not penetrate to its deeper meaning. Now I shall myself recite the Mdtrka, in order that the meanings of the Sutras and the Vinaya will not be lost. " He then recited the 37 components of enlightenment (the bodhyangas, see above, Majj. II. 239), and he then said "Know therefore, this is the Sutra, this is the Vinaya, this is the Abhidharma. " Here then Mdtrkd means the itemized dharmas in the Sutras and the Vinaya,and the identification is made between it and the Abhidharma.
B. The identification is also made in the Kathdvatthu, reputedly the latest work in the Pali Abhidhamma Pitaka, where in the "Journal of the Pali Text Society," 1898, p. 7, Geiger regards this identification as being the original word of the Buddha.
C. This identification is also made in the Asoka-avaddna, the biography of the Emperor Asbka; see its Chinese translation, the O-yii-wang ch'uan, T. 50, p. 113c. D. In the Yogacara's huge encyclopaedic work, the Yogdcarabhumi, vol. 81 (T
30, p. 753b), one of the twelve classes of literature into which all Buddhist literature is divided is upadesa, discussions or debates wherein all the dharmas are correctly analyzed. Here upadesa is otherwise termed mdtrkd or abhidharma. Further, this mdtrkd is an exhaustive and thorough-going analysis (of the dharmas).
From the above, then, we can see that the Mdtikds (or Mdtrkds) performed an important function in the development of the corpus of Buddhist literature, as admitted in traditional Buddhist literature itself.
By itemizing the component parts of the Dharma and the Vinaya, the
Pruden xxxix
? xl The Abhidharma
Mdtrkd did play an important part in the later elaboration which is Abhidharma literature. However, the Abhidharmikas worked on these lists, minutely analyzed the items on these lists, and then proceeded to give long, exhaustive treatises on each item. So the Mdtrkd represents but one aspect of the whole picture of the growth of the Abhidharma.
If the Abhidhamma was merely speaking on the dhamma as some scholars maintain, and if the Mdtikd served as the nucleus of later Abhidhamma elaborations, why, when the literature was codified into a Pitaka, was it named the Abhidhamma Pitaka, and not the Mdtikd Pitaka? It appears then that the Mdtikds did not directly develop into the Abhidharma literature as we now have it.
As Kimura has shown, in the earliest Buddhist Sangha, abhidhamma-katha-- discussion on the dharma--had a direa relationship with the later development of the commentarial literature on the Dhamma, the Abhidhamma commentaries. In the process, there were two tendencies; one: to summarize and to itemize, and two: to analyze and elaborate. This latter tendency came to predominate, and the name for this--abhidhamma--came to be attached permanendy to this new corpus of literature.
10. Abhidharma in the Agamas: the Religion of the Agamas.
There are abhidharmic tendencies in the extant sutras, in Pali as well as in those preserved in Chinese translation. Let us say a few words first, however, about the religion of the early Buddhist canon, the religion of the Agamas.
According to de La Vallee Poussin, all the teachings of the Buddha were not publically given out. Instead, much of the philosophy and the more subtle forms of the teaching were embodied in texts which were reserved for the study of monks in their monasteries; and the Agamas (or Nikdyas), the earliest form of the Buddhist sermons which have been preserved for us, are such philosophical texts as were transmitted from one generation of monks to those of a subsequent generation. Such texts are then the "clericalized" texts, and in these texts we see only a small bit of the popular side of early Buddhism.
Such is the case, to be sure, in any religion, and this is especially so in the case of Indian religions. Any Indian religion has two sides to it: a clerical, well worked- over doctrine, and a popular aspect of the religion, which includes many elements brought over in the mind of the new converts to the religion. But the important point to remember is that the extant literature of any religion is the technical literature used in the monasteries. The real face of early Buddhism in all of its aspects cannot be gotten at only through its literature, but must also be obtained
? through archaeology, art and chronology (Le dogme et la philosophie du Bouddhisme, 1930, Chap. VII). Such a mass Buddhism was the Buddhism that preceeded the canon, "precanonical Buddhism" {Bouddhisme precanonique). Its contents were not only a darsana--a systematic school of Indian philosophy, a consistent world-view--but a faith concerned with spirits and the release of these spirits from the round of birth and death, having, according to scholars, little in common with the doctrines of anitya, andtman, and duhkha so often stressed in the Agamas (see de La Vallee Poussin's Nirvana, 1925, p. 85, 115, 131). The spread of Buddhism was dependent upon its moral teaching, the personality of its founder, its wisdom embodied in memorable sentences and couplets (the Dhammapada or Uddnavarga), coupled with popular animal tales (the Jdtakas) (see The Way to Nirvana, 1917, Chap. V). Buddhism was also closely related to ancient Indian nature worship, the worship of certain trees, and the veneration of snakes.
Buddhism also came to be changed, especially on its popular level, by virtue of the influence of non-Buddhist religions, through the conversion to Buddhism of many non-Buddhists who brought their own ideas into the company of older believers. Popular Buddhist religion absorbed much of the pan-Indian pantheon of deities. However formal and set its doctrines might have been, most of the believers of Buddhism were but "demi-civilize" or semi-civilized (Bouddhisme, 1909, p. 349 ff. ). Such is also the view of A. B. Keith (Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon, 1923) and C. A. F. Rhys-Davids (Sakya or Buddhist Origins, 1931, p. 431 ff. ).
11. The Agamas and the Nikdyas.
This above view was strongly opposed by Stcherbatsky (The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana, 1927). De La Vallee Poussin would appear to oppose the popular elements of early Buddhism to the scholarly works of later Buddhism: such would imply that there is something essentially different between early Buddhism and Abhidharma Buddhism. Stcherbatsky held that the Buddha was a produa of the philosophical environment of his time, and that he obviously had a well-defined philosophy with its attendant metaphysic.
But even if the set passages and formulas were removed from the Aamas, de La Vallee Poussin and Rhys-Davids cannot say that Buddhism is merely a faith concerned with spirits and immortality. So-called popular Buddhism and "pure" clerical Buddhism cannot be so clearly distinguished one from the other. Yet the Agamas do not give a clear picture of early Buddhism, especially in its popular
Pruden xli
? xlii The Abhidharma
aspects: the Agamas are the traditions (dgama) of a scholarly elite, as de La Vallee Poussin maintains.
The Agamas, literally the "transmitted" (doctrines) were in a sense also Nikdyas (compilations): the transmitted doctrines were collected together, formal- ized, and their vocabulary became technical terms; these terms came to be analyzed through vibhangas (long, explanatory definitions) and niruktas (ety- mologies); these same terms were also organized on the basis of numerical categories or on the basis of similarities (samyukta) into mdtrkds. So the tendencies that led ultimately to a systematic Abhidharma literature led in this same process to the systematization of the Agamas (the traditions) into Nikdyas (formal literary compilations).
In summary, the Agamas are doctrinal compilations from an early stage of Buddhism, and their recensions (Nikdyas) are in a sense Abhidharmic compila- tions and, being largely abhidharmic in tendency, they led ultimately to the growth of the Abhidharma as a separate literary genre.
12. Abhidharmic Tendencies in Extant Agamas: Numerical Categories, Samyuktas, and Vibhangas,
Abhidharmic tendencies, tendencies that led eventually to the growth of a separate literature, can be seen early in some scriptures. The use of numerical categories is one such tendency.
A. The Sangtti-suttanta (the "recited" sutra, Dtgha Nikdya no. 33, vol. Ill, pp. 207-271) lists a variety of items in a list from one to ten (one item, two items, three items . . . ) Dtgha Nikdya no. 34, the Dasuttara-suttanta, lists items in a list from one to ten, but now analyzes them according to various other categories, marking then a further development along abhidharmic lines.
This same tendency is seen in the case of the Anguttara Nikdya (anguttara, "increasing by an item"), which classifies all of the suttas in its collection on the basis of numerical categories: thus all suttas dealing with any group of "four" items are collected together, followed by all suttas dealing with "five" of anything (up to eleven items). This scheme then forms the basis for this one collection of texts, or nikdya.
B. Many other suttas or agamas were joined to one another on the basis of their affinity in subject matter. To be sure, this is not sharply distinguishable from the above numerical classification, but now the items are more meaningfully arranged. Such texts are called samyuktas (Pali: samyuttas) or "conjoined" texts.
? Examples of this tendency are the Sal-dydtana vagga (vagga = section or chapter) in the Majjhima Nikdya, and the Kamma-samyutta vagga in the Majjhima: i. e. , all those texts dealing with the ayatanas were grouped together, as were all those texts dealing with karma.
This too became the guiding principle in the compilation and editing of the
Samyutta Nikdya and parts of the Khuddaka Nikdya.
C. The concept of an expanded commentary (a vibhanga) is best seen in
individual suttas in the Sarhyutta Nikdya and in the Majjhima Nikdya. Many such texts have the word vibhanga in their titles:
Samyutta Nikdya XII. 2: the Vibhangam (II, pp. 2-4), which is an expansion of XII. 1 (desand); XLV. 8, the Vibhango (V. pp. 8-10), which is a commentary on the Noble Eightfold Path; and LI. 20, the Vibhanga (V, pp. 276-281), which is a commentary on the siddhi, or supernormal powers, of a Buddha.
The Majjhima Nikdya has Majj. 135, the Cula-kamma-vibhanga sutta (cula = smaller, lesser) (III, pp. 202-206), which treats of Karma, and is followed by the Mahd-kamma vibhanga-sutta, Majj. 136 (pp. 207-215) which is an elaboration of certain of the former sutta's sections; Majj. 137, the Saldyatana- vibhanga-sutta on the six ayatanas (p. 215-222) and all of its following suttas are vibhangas: Majj. 138, 139, 140 (on the dhdtus), 141, 142. Synonymous with the vibhanga is the word vedalla, which also means "expanded": as the Cula-vedalla- sutta, and the Mahd-vedalla-sutta. The Buddha would give a short sermon, and one of his disciples, such as Katyayana, or the Buddha himself, would elaborate on it; or the disciples would discuss it among themselves, and in this way it would reach its present form.
The dgamas (in their Chinese translations) which have the characteristics of vibhangas can be rather closely identified with these same Suttas extant in Pali: they are largely the same text (especially Majj. 131 to 142, as above), a fact which does not hold for the other dgamas.
Thus abhidharmic tendencies are clearly seen in many texts in both Pali and Chinese, so far advanced in many cases that it is merely a short step to real Abhidhamma literature, as the Samgtti-sutta has led to the Samgtti-parydya. There is in fact very little internal change from abhidharmic dgamas to Abhidhamma works; indeed, greater internal changes have come about in later Abhidharma works at a susequent period, as we shall see below.
13. Sarvdstivddin Agamas.
There are sectarian, Sarvastivadin dgamas, but there must have been some
Pruden xliii
? xliv The Abhidharma
chronological distance between the Sarvastivadin dgamas and those dgamas in their final shape (in the form that we have them today) before the split of the
2 Sarvastivadins from the rest of the Sangha.
Thus early dgamas, non-sectarian in content, led to the growth of sectarian, i. e. , Sarvastivadin dgamas, which in turn led to the growth of Sarvastivadin Abhidharma. So to know the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma, it is important to know the Sarvastivadin dgamas. This however is almost impossible.
In the Abhidharma literature, when for instance the four types of pratyayas (conditions) are mentioned (as in Kosa T. 29, p. 36b, and the Nydya-anusdra, T 29 p. 440a) the reference "as given in the Sutra" is given, and since this particular sutra can be fully reconstructed (as explained below), this one text can be claimed for the Sarvastivadins. However this specific sutra is today not found in any of the extant Pali Canon or in the Chinese translation of the Agamas.
Since the publication, in the latter half of the 18th century, of the scholar- monk Hodo's work, the Kusha-ron Keiko, it has come to be generally agreed upon by scholars that the Madhyama Agama and the Ksudraka Agama, as they presently exist in Chinese translation, are, if not Sarvastivadin in affiliation and editorship, at least very close to it. But as we know from the dgamas quoted in Sarvastivadin Abhidharma works, there was a difference between the Sar- vastivadin dgamas that exist in Chinese and those dgamas that are directly quoted by the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma literature. How great a distance there was, we have no idea.
It is clear further that the Sarvastivadin authors of their Abhidharma literature were clearly aware that there were sutras which claimed various sectarian affiliations and that there were differences among them. In the Koia, phrases like "sutras of the Mahisasakas" (p. 11.
Among the English translations from the Pali Sutras (Pali: sutta; in their collections known as the Nikdyas), C. A. F. Rhys-Davids gives "the advanced teaching of Doctrine" (Dialogues, III, 19. 246); F. L. Woodward gives "extra doctrine" (GradualSayings 1. 276) and "the further doctrine" (Gradual Sayings, V, p. 19, 139 ff); E. M. Hare gives "More-Dhamma" (ibid. 111. 85, IV. 267); and Lord Chalmers gives "quintessential Doctrine" (Further Dialogues 1. 155) and "higher branches of the Doctrine" (ibid. , 1. 133).
Kogen Mizuno gives, as a definition of abhidhamma in his Index to the Pali Canon (Part II, p. 34), the "superior dhamma", the "higher dhamma", and the "most distinguished dhamma".
E. J. Thomas, in his History of Buddhist Thought (p. 159,276) gives "special dhamma" and "further-dhamma" as translations for abhidhamma. T. W. Rhys- Davids defines abhi-dhamma and abhivinaya as "the higher subtleties of the Dhamma and Vinaya".
From the above then we can see that there are two schools of interpretation concerning the meaning of the word abhidhamma, a fact pointed out by I. B. Horner in her article "Abhidhamma Abhivinaya in the First Two Pitakas of the Pali Canon", in Indian Historical Quarterly XII. 3 (Sept. 1941), pp. 291-310. According to Horner, the meaning of the word abhidhamma, in the Pali Canon, "fluctuates" between these two definitions (the non-judgmental "concerning the dhamma", and the judgmental "higher, superior (hence, better) dhamma"), but that in point of fact, these two meanings of the word are not mutually exclusive.
According to Ken Sakurabe, Geiger's definition of abhidhamma ("concerning the dhamma") is correct, whereas the Pali Text Society and I. B. Horner rely overmuch on the traditional interpretations of later Singhalese commentators.
Let us then take a look at the usage of the word abhidhamma as it is used in the Pali Canon of the Theravadins. Following are some examples of these two words, abhidhamma and abhivinaya, used together as a set phrase in the Canon:
1. Vinaya Pipaka, I, p. 64:
Pruden xxxi
? xxxii The Abhidharma
aparehi pi bhikkhave pancah'angehi samannagatena bhikkhuna na upasampa- detabbam, na nissayo databbo, na samanero upattapetabbo: na patibalo hoti antevasim va saddhiviharirh va abhisamacarikaya sikkhaya sikkhapetum, adibrahmacariyikaya sikkhaya vinetum, abkidhamme vineturh, abhivinaya vinetum, uppannam ditthigatam dhammato vivecetum vivecapetum.
"And monks, if a monk is not possessed of five further qualities he should notordain. . . anoviceshouldnotattendhim:ifheisnotcompetenttomakea pupil or one who shares a cell train in the training regarding the fundamentals of conduct, to lead him in the training regarding the fundamentals of the Brahmafaring, to lead him in what pertains to dhamma, to lead him in what pertains to discipline, to discuss or get (another) to discuss, by means of dhamma, a false view that has arisen. . . " (translation by LB. Horner, SBB XIV, p. 84; see also Horner's discussion of abhidhamma, abhivinaya in SBB XIII, Introduction, p. x and following).
This same passage is translated by Rhys-Davids and Oldenburg, SBE, XIII, pp. 184-5):
"And also in other five cases, oh Bhikkhus, a Bhikku should not confer, etc. : when he is not able to train an antevasikaor a saddhiviharika in the precepts of proper conduct, to educate him in the elements of morality, to instruct him in what pertains to the Dhamma, to instruct him in what pertains to the Dhamma a false doctrine that might arise . . . "
In the above text the words are given in the locative case, which in Pali means "with reference to", "pertaining to". Here the word abhidhamma refers to the details of the dhamma (i. e. , Sutra) study, and to the details of Vinaya study. Horner, Rhys-Davids, and Oldenburg all agree in this interpretation.
2. Digha Nikdya, III, 267:
puna ca param avuso bhikkhu dhamma-kamo hoti piya-samudhaharo abhi- dhamme abhivinaye ulara-pamujjo. Yam p'avuso bhikkhu dhamma-kamo hoti . . . pe . . . ulara-pamujjo, ayam pi dhammo natha-karano.
"And furthermore,friends,he loves the doctrine, the utterance of it is dear to him, he finds exceeding joy in the advanced teaching of both Doctrine and Discipline:' (TW. and CAR Rhys-Davids, SBB, XC IV, p. 246; see also footnote 2, where Buddhaghosa's gloss on this passage is given).
In this above example (which is in Av 24, 90, 201, 339) the ideal monk is
? described. Horner feels that two dhammas are spoken of: 1) dhamma-kamo, and 2) abhidhamma and that abhidhamma is used to distinguish it from the first and lower type of dhamma. According to Sakurabe, this is a forced meaning, an interpretation not necessary for an understanding of the passage.
3. Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 472:
arannaken'avuso bhikkhuna abhidhamme abhivinaya yogo karanlyo. Sant'avuso arahnakarh bhikkhum abhidhamme abhivinaye panham pucchi- taro. Sace avuso arannako bhikkhu abhidhamme abhivinaye panham puttho na sampayati tassa bhavanti vattaro:
. . . arannaken'avuso bhikkhuna ye te santa vimokha atikkamma rupe aruppa tattha yogo karanlyo . . . arannaken'avuso bhikkhuna uttarimanussdhamme yogo karanlyo.
"Your reverences, earnest study in Further-Dhamma, in Further- Discipline should be made by a monk who is forest-gone. Your reverences, there are those who will question a monk who is forest-gone on Further- Dhamma and Further-Discipline. If, your reverences, a monk who is forest- gone, on being asked a question on Further-Dhamma, on Further-Discipline, does not succeed in answering it, there will be those who speak about him and say . . .
"Your reverences, earnest study should be made by a monk who is forest- gone concerning those that are the peaceful deliverances and are incorporeal having transcended material shapes . . .
"Your reverences, earnest study in states of further-men would be made by a monk who is forest-gone . . . " (English translation by LB. Horner, Middle Length Sayings, II, p. 145).
Here Horner maintains that since the three accomplishments of the forest- dwelling monk are all put in the locative case {abhidhamme, abhivinaye, yogo . . . ) , abhidharma and abhivinaya refer to superior states of attainment. According to Sakurabe, however, this passage is like the Digha passage (no. 2 above). This occurrence of the terms abhidhamma-abhivinaya is the only place in the Sutras where abhidharma and abhivinaya are ranked together with supernormal states of attainment, but such an explanation as Horner's is not necessary for under- standing the sense of this passage.
3. Abhidhamma alone.
Pruden xxxiii
? xxxiv The Abhtdbarma
There are, to be sure, a number of passages where the word abhidhamma occurs apart from the word abhivinaya.
1. Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 214 gives:
idh'avuso sariputta dve bhikkhu abhidhammakatham kathenti, te anriaman- nam pafiham pucchanti, anfiamannassa panham puttha vissajjenti no ca samcadenti, dhammi ca nesam katha pavattanl hoti.
"In this connection, reverend Sariputta, two monks are talking on further dhamma', they ask one another questions; in answering one another's questions they respond and do not fall, and their talk on dhamma goes forward. "
2. Majjhima Nikdya, II, p. 239:
tasmatiha, bhikkhave, ye vo maya dhamma abhinna desota, seyyathldam: cattaro satipatthana, cattaro sammappadhana, cattaro iddhipada, panc'indri- yana, pance balani, satta bojjhanga, ariyo atthahgiko maggo,--tattha sabbeh'va samaggehi sammodamanehi avivadamanehi sikkhitabbam; tesah ca vo, bhikkhave, samagganam sammodamananam avivadamarianam sikkhatarh, siyamsu dve bhikkhu abhidhamme nanavada.
"Wherefore, monks, those things taught to you by me out of super- knowledge, that is to say the four applications of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of psychic power, the five controlling faculties, the five powers, the seven links in awakening, the ariyan eightfold Way--all together, in harmony and without contention you should train yourselves in each and all of these. But when you, monks, all together, in harmony and without contention have trained yourselves in these, there might be two monks speaking differently about Further-Dhamma" (English translation by LB. Horner, Middle Length Sayings, III, p. 25. )
After the Buddha has taught, through his dhammd-abhinnd (his higher or superior knowledge of the dharma), the thirty-seven faaors of enlightenment, two monks are now depicted as having abhidhamme nanavada, "differing views on abhidhamma," and the other monks should try to settle the contentions of these two. The 37 dhammas so taught are by definition dhamma abhinna, or abhidhamma. Thus the two monks' contentions are regarding these itemized, 37 superior dharmas. This is the opinion of LB. Horner.
Sakurabe points out that the word dhamma is given in the plural whereas
? abhidhamma is given in the singular locative case, so this connection between dhammd-abhinnd and abhidhamma is unnatural. Geiger translates this passage as "zwei Bhikkhu, die uber den dhamma verschiedenes aussagen," and so translates abhidhamme as "concerning the teaching. "
4. Abhidhamma-kathd.
The phrase abhidhamma-kathd occurs some three times in the Pali Canon.
1. Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 214:
idh'avuso sariputta dve bhikkhu abhidhammakatham kathenti, te annamannam panham pucchanti, annamannassa panham puttha vissajjenti no ca samsadenti, dharmmi ca nesam kathd pavattani hoti.
"In this connection, reverend Sariputta, two monks are talking on further dhamma\ they ask one another questions; in answering one another's questions they respond and do not fall, and their talk on dhamma goes forward. "
In this passage the phrase abhidhamma-kathd is followed by the words dhammi. . . kathd . . . So too the following passages from Majjhima Nikdya, I, p. 218:
sadhu sadhu sariputta, yatha tarn Moggallano va samma byakaramano byakareyya. Moggallano hi Sariputta dhammakathiko ti.
"It is good, Sariputta, it is good. It is so that Moggallana, in answering you properly, should answer. For, Sariputta, Moggallana is a talker on dhamma" (LB. Horner, Middle Length Sayings, I, p. 270; see also her note on this passage. )
Here we see that anyone who gives a correct, clear account of dhamma is a dhamma-kathiko, a "speaker on dhamma. " But later commentators (namely, Buddhaghosa, in his A si. p. 29) terms a dhamma-kathiko to be an abhidhamma- bhikkhu, a monk who specializes in the study (and teaching) of the abhidhamma.
In another passage (Ariguttara, III, p. 392), a monk who can do abhidhamma- kathd well is to be respected and honored. According to Sakurabe, this refers to one who can preach correctly and well, and the term abhidhamma in this passage as yet has no specific sense of a superior doctrine, but rather just the superior talent of being able to present the dharma well.
In another passage (Anguttara, III, p. 107) an ignorant monk confuses
Pruden xxxv
? xxxvi The Abhidharma
abhidharma-talk, and becomes verbose and long-winded {vedaUa-katha) and, by doing so, pollutes the Dharma and the Vinaya.
5. Traditional Explanations of Abhidhamma.
In the Pali commentarial literature, the word abhidhamma clearly means "a special, superior dharma. " This is seen in some of the words and phrases used by the later Pali commentators in describing the abhidhamma.
In commentaries on the Sutras, the abhidharma is termed uttara-dhamma, "the highest dharma," and abhi-visittha dhamma, "the very distinguished dhamma. "
In commentaries on the Abhidhamma, the words dhamma-atireka (unique dhamma) and abhamma-visesa (distinguished) are used. Abhidhamma is called in the plural vuddhimanto dhamma (the expanded, augmented dhammas), salak- khana-dhamma (unique dharmas), pujita dhamma (dharmas to be honored, worshipped), parichinna dharma (special dharmas), and adhika dhamma (ex- cellent dharmas). Such traditional Pali commentators have influenced the Western translators of the Suttas to see in the word abhidhamma more than it probably originally intended (as Rhys-Davids, Woodward, Hare, Chalmers, et al. )
This understanding was roughly the same in the case of the Sanskrit tradition of Northern Buddhism. In the Chinese translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, (termed the Madhyama Agama in Sanskrit and traditionally held, in Far Eastern Buddhism, to be a Sarvastivadin compilation), we see such phrases as "He discusses the very deep abhidharma," or "He speaks the very profound abhi- dharma . . . " (T 1, p. 450a, p. 634c, p. 688c, and p. 727b which corresponds to Majjhima, I, p. 214). The translation of the phrase abhidharma-katham kathenti ("he speaks abhidharma-talk," as above Majjhima, I, p. 214) is, in the Chinese translation, prefaced by the word "deep" or"profound" (Skt. gambhiram), added by the translator, based on his idea of the Abhidharma as a unique and superior teaching.
6. Abhidhamma in the Mahavibhdsa
The major Sarvastivadin compendium of thought, the Mahavibhdsa (The Great Commentary) gives a full list of synonyms and definitions of the word abhidharma (T. 27, p. 4) recognized by various Sarvastivadin masters, as well as
by masters of various other traditions (the Mahisasakas, the Dharmottaras, the Grammarians, etc. ), which reflea by and large the prevailing traditional definition
? of abhidharma as "a superior teaching"; but in the Mahdvibhdsd's list of definitions, covering some 20 pages in its Chinese translation, the definition "concerning the dharma" appears a large number of times also.
The Abhidharmakoiabhdsyam reflects this approach when, in its analysis of the word abhidharma, it says that abhi means abhimukha, "facing," "with reference to," "in the direction of," "taking something as the object of study or analysis. "
7. The Abhidhamma Pitaka.
From whence then did the third collection of writings, the Third Pitaka, the Abhidhamma Pitaka, arise?
There are two major scholarly opinions concerning how the Abhidhamma Pitaka came into existence.
The first opinion was initially propounded by Taiken Kimura in his book Abidatsuma-ron no kenkyu (A Study of the Abhidharma Sdstras, now vol. VI of the Kimura Taiken Zenshii. ) According to Kimura, abhidharma signified "con- cerning the dharma," and soon referred to discussions centered on the dharmas, their various classifications, itemizations, etc. This discussion was termed abhi- dhamma-kathd (kathd = discussion, debate), and such discussions came to be
collected together to form the Abhidhamma Pitaka. This view is the generally accepted view among Japanese scholars. (For this view in recent Japanese publications, see Bukkyogaku-jiten, edited by Taya, Ocho, and Funabashi, 1955 edition, under the entry abidatsuma, p. 6; and the article "Bukkyo tetsugaku no saisho no tenkai" by Tetsuro Watsuji, in the Wdtsuji Tetsuro Zenshii, vol. 5, p. 311, 344).
The second view was introduced by Geiger (in his Pali Dhamma, p. 118 ff. ) and has been adopted by most Europeans (as A. Bareau, Dhammasangini, traduction annotee, 1951, p. 8 ff. ; Etienne Lamotte, Histoire, p. 197; E. Frauwallner, WZKSO (1964), p. 59; see also Pali Text Society, Pali-English Dictionary, under mdtikd). This opinion holds that the earliest form of what we now call the Abhidhamma Pitaka is seen in what is termed in Pali the mdtikd (Skt: mdtfkd). In the Pali Canon there very frequently occurs (some 18 times) the set phrase: dhammadharo vinayadharo mdtikddharo ("holding, grasping," i. e. "study and recitation of Dhamma, of Vinaya, of Mdtika'). Here there are three distina objeas of study, the Dhamma (the Sutras), the Vinaya, and the Mdtikds, or "summaries".
Pruden xxxvii
? xxxviii The Abhidharma
8. The Matika.
The word matika is used in a variety of contexts. It is used to signify: 1. commentarial literature on the sutras {Pat. 1. 1); 2. the books that go to make up the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Asl. , p. 3); and 3. commentaries not included within the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Vism. p. 536, 546,626, etc).
Generally then, the meaning of matika is: a list of items or words that serve as the object of debate or discussion, the technical terms of the commentarial literature.
Within the Vinaya Pitaka, the word matika is used in the order: Vibhanga, Khanddhaka, Parivara, and Matika, so that here the word means the Patimokkha list of rules, that is, the essential items or rules of the Vinaya, devoid of illustration and elaboration.
So matika with reference to the Suttas and Vinaya has points of similarity:the usage in both contexts signifies a bare, skeletal itemization of words or terms apart from their explanations or elaborations.
In the commentarial literature, then, matika signifies an (earlier) bare-bones list of dharmas, which underwent later elaboration, and the eventual codification of this elaboration developed into the various books of the Pali Abhidhamma Pitaka. In the Vinaya, then, the matika referred to the Pratimokkha list of rules, which matika then led to the elaboration of these rules, the circumstances surrounding their promulgation by the Buddha, the exceptions to the rules, their penalties, etc.
The earliest meaning of the word matika, then, was merely a list. It was only later that the word matika came to mean the Patimokkha rules themselves (the present-day meaning of the word), a change in meaning from "a list" to "the List," a change likewise seen in its further meaning as a list of technical terms, of dharmas, used in abhidharma discussions.
Thus the word matika, as used in Vinaya Pitaka, means a list of essential items (here the Vinaya rules) within the Vinaya Pitaka, when the word is used in the Suttas, it refers to a list of items (a list of dharmas) within the Suttas.
Within the Suttas, the word matika occurs, according to Sakurabe, in only those passages in a later stratum of the Canon, texts which themselves are already close to being abhidharmic texts. Likewise this is the case with the Vinaya Pitaka. the word occurs in its later passages, or in passages that have already assumed a commentarial status. So the list: dhamma-vtnaya-matika could conceivably be translated "the teaching, its monastic rules, and the itemized lists of their contents or essentials. "
? One Japanese scholar even goes to far as to say that the phrase bahussuto dgatdgamo dhammadharo vinayadharo mdtikddharo be interpreted by dgata- dgamo equalling dhamma dharo, and vinaya equalling mdtikd (Egaku Mayeda, in his Gensbi Bukkyo Seiten no Seiritsu-shi kenkyil, p. 194), that is, "the learned dgata-dgamo (understander of the tradition) who is a dhamma-dharo, (and the
learned) upholder of the Vinaya who is an upholder of mdtikd. "
9. Mdtikd and Abhidharma.
There are several passages in the scriptures that do show that the term mdtrkd was seen as synonymous with the word abhidharma.
A. In one text preserved in Chinese translation (T. 24, p. 408b), vol. 40 of the Ksudrakavastu of the Mula-Sarvastivadin Vinaya, it states that after the First Council had finished reciting the Sutras and the Vinaya, Katyayana said, "Persons of later generations will be of little wisdom and of dull faculties; their understanding will be based on the text [of scriptures], and they will not penetrate to its deeper meaning. Now I shall myself recite the Mdtrka, in order that the meanings of the Sutras and the Vinaya will not be lost. " He then recited the 37 components of enlightenment (the bodhyangas, see above, Majj. II. 239), and he then said "Know therefore, this is the Sutra, this is the Vinaya, this is the Abhidharma. " Here then Mdtrkd means the itemized dharmas in the Sutras and the Vinaya,and the identification is made between it and the Abhidharma.
B. The identification is also made in the Kathdvatthu, reputedly the latest work in the Pali Abhidhamma Pitaka, where in the "Journal of the Pali Text Society," 1898, p. 7, Geiger regards this identification as being the original word of the Buddha.
C. This identification is also made in the Asoka-avaddna, the biography of the Emperor Asbka; see its Chinese translation, the O-yii-wang ch'uan, T. 50, p. 113c. D. In the Yogacara's huge encyclopaedic work, the Yogdcarabhumi, vol. 81 (T
30, p. 753b), one of the twelve classes of literature into which all Buddhist literature is divided is upadesa, discussions or debates wherein all the dharmas are correctly analyzed. Here upadesa is otherwise termed mdtrkd or abhidharma. Further, this mdtrkd is an exhaustive and thorough-going analysis (of the dharmas).
From the above, then, we can see that the Mdtikds (or Mdtrkds) performed an important function in the development of the corpus of Buddhist literature, as admitted in traditional Buddhist literature itself.
By itemizing the component parts of the Dharma and the Vinaya, the
Pruden xxxix
? xl The Abhidharma
Mdtrkd did play an important part in the later elaboration which is Abhidharma literature. However, the Abhidharmikas worked on these lists, minutely analyzed the items on these lists, and then proceeded to give long, exhaustive treatises on each item. So the Mdtrkd represents but one aspect of the whole picture of the growth of the Abhidharma.
If the Abhidhamma was merely speaking on the dhamma as some scholars maintain, and if the Mdtikd served as the nucleus of later Abhidhamma elaborations, why, when the literature was codified into a Pitaka, was it named the Abhidhamma Pitaka, and not the Mdtikd Pitaka? It appears then that the Mdtikds did not directly develop into the Abhidharma literature as we now have it.
As Kimura has shown, in the earliest Buddhist Sangha, abhidhamma-katha-- discussion on the dharma--had a direa relationship with the later development of the commentarial literature on the Dhamma, the Abhidhamma commentaries. In the process, there were two tendencies; one: to summarize and to itemize, and two: to analyze and elaborate. This latter tendency came to predominate, and the name for this--abhidhamma--came to be attached permanendy to this new corpus of literature.
10. Abhidharma in the Agamas: the Religion of the Agamas.
There are abhidharmic tendencies in the extant sutras, in Pali as well as in those preserved in Chinese translation. Let us say a few words first, however, about the religion of the early Buddhist canon, the religion of the Agamas.
According to de La Vallee Poussin, all the teachings of the Buddha were not publically given out. Instead, much of the philosophy and the more subtle forms of the teaching were embodied in texts which were reserved for the study of monks in their monasteries; and the Agamas (or Nikdyas), the earliest form of the Buddhist sermons which have been preserved for us, are such philosophical texts as were transmitted from one generation of monks to those of a subsequent generation. Such texts are then the "clericalized" texts, and in these texts we see only a small bit of the popular side of early Buddhism.
Such is the case, to be sure, in any religion, and this is especially so in the case of Indian religions. Any Indian religion has two sides to it: a clerical, well worked- over doctrine, and a popular aspect of the religion, which includes many elements brought over in the mind of the new converts to the religion. But the important point to remember is that the extant literature of any religion is the technical literature used in the monasteries. The real face of early Buddhism in all of its aspects cannot be gotten at only through its literature, but must also be obtained
? through archaeology, art and chronology (Le dogme et la philosophie du Bouddhisme, 1930, Chap. VII). Such a mass Buddhism was the Buddhism that preceeded the canon, "precanonical Buddhism" {Bouddhisme precanonique). Its contents were not only a darsana--a systematic school of Indian philosophy, a consistent world-view--but a faith concerned with spirits and the release of these spirits from the round of birth and death, having, according to scholars, little in common with the doctrines of anitya, andtman, and duhkha so often stressed in the Agamas (see de La Vallee Poussin's Nirvana, 1925, p. 85, 115, 131). The spread of Buddhism was dependent upon its moral teaching, the personality of its founder, its wisdom embodied in memorable sentences and couplets (the Dhammapada or Uddnavarga), coupled with popular animal tales (the Jdtakas) (see The Way to Nirvana, 1917, Chap. V). Buddhism was also closely related to ancient Indian nature worship, the worship of certain trees, and the veneration of snakes.
Buddhism also came to be changed, especially on its popular level, by virtue of the influence of non-Buddhist religions, through the conversion to Buddhism of many non-Buddhists who brought their own ideas into the company of older believers. Popular Buddhist religion absorbed much of the pan-Indian pantheon of deities. However formal and set its doctrines might have been, most of the believers of Buddhism were but "demi-civilize" or semi-civilized (Bouddhisme, 1909, p. 349 ff. ). Such is also the view of A. B. Keith (Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon, 1923) and C. A. F. Rhys-Davids (Sakya or Buddhist Origins, 1931, p. 431 ff. ).
11. The Agamas and the Nikdyas.
This above view was strongly opposed by Stcherbatsky (The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana, 1927). De La Vallee Poussin would appear to oppose the popular elements of early Buddhism to the scholarly works of later Buddhism: such would imply that there is something essentially different between early Buddhism and Abhidharma Buddhism. Stcherbatsky held that the Buddha was a produa of the philosophical environment of his time, and that he obviously had a well-defined philosophy with its attendant metaphysic.
But even if the set passages and formulas were removed from the Aamas, de La Vallee Poussin and Rhys-Davids cannot say that Buddhism is merely a faith concerned with spirits and immortality. So-called popular Buddhism and "pure" clerical Buddhism cannot be so clearly distinguished one from the other. Yet the Agamas do not give a clear picture of early Buddhism, especially in its popular
Pruden xli
? xlii The Abhidharma
aspects: the Agamas are the traditions (dgama) of a scholarly elite, as de La Vallee Poussin maintains.
The Agamas, literally the "transmitted" (doctrines) were in a sense also Nikdyas (compilations): the transmitted doctrines were collected together, formal- ized, and their vocabulary became technical terms; these terms came to be analyzed through vibhangas (long, explanatory definitions) and niruktas (ety- mologies); these same terms were also organized on the basis of numerical categories or on the basis of similarities (samyukta) into mdtrkds. So the tendencies that led ultimately to a systematic Abhidharma literature led in this same process to the systematization of the Agamas (the traditions) into Nikdyas (formal literary compilations).
In summary, the Agamas are doctrinal compilations from an early stage of Buddhism, and their recensions (Nikdyas) are in a sense Abhidharmic compila- tions and, being largely abhidharmic in tendency, they led ultimately to the growth of the Abhidharma as a separate literary genre.
12. Abhidharmic Tendencies in Extant Agamas: Numerical Categories, Samyuktas, and Vibhangas,
Abhidharmic tendencies, tendencies that led eventually to the growth of a separate literature, can be seen early in some scriptures. The use of numerical categories is one such tendency.
A. The Sangtti-suttanta (the "recited" sutra, Dtgha Nikdya no. 33, vol. Ill, pp. 207-271) lists a variety of items in a list from one to ten (one item, two items, three items . . . ) Dtgha Nikdya no. 34, the Dasuttara-suttanta, lists items in a list from one to ten, but now analyzes them according to various other categories, marking then a further development along abhidharmic lines.
This same tendency is seen in the case of the Anguttara Nikdya (anguttara, "increasing by an item"), which classifies all of the suttas in its collection on the basis of numerical categories: thus all suttas dealing with any group of "four" items are collected together, followed by all suttas dealing with "five" of anything (up to eleven items). This scheme then forms the basis for this one collection of texts, or nikdya.
B. Many other suttas or agamas were joined to one another on the basis of their affinity in subject matter. To be sure, this is not sharply distinguishable from the above numerical classification, but now the items are more meaningfully arranged. Such texts are called samyuktas (Pali: samyuttas) or "conjoined" texts.
? Examples of this tendency are the Sal-dydtana vagga (vagga = section or chapter) in the Majjhima Nikdya, and the Kamma-samyutta vagga in the Majjhima: i. e. , all those texts dealing with the ayatanas were grouped together, as were all those texts dealing with karma.
This too became the guiding principle in the compilation and editing of the
Samyutta Nikdya and parts of the Khuddaka Nikdya.
C. The concept of an expanded commentary (a vibhanga) is best seen in
individual suttas in the Sarhyutta Nikdya and in the Majjhima Nikdya. Many such texts have the word vibhanga in their titles:
Samyutta Nikdya XII. 2: the Vibhangam (II, pp. 2-4), which is an expansion of XII. 1 (desand); XLV. 8, the Vibhango (V. pp. 8-10), which is a commentary on the Noble Eightfold Path; and LI. 20, the Vibhanga (V, pp. 276-281), which is a commentary on the siddhi, or supernormal powers, of a Buddha.
The Majjhima Nikdya has Majj. 135, the Cula-kamma-vibhanga sutta (cula = smaller, lesser) (III, pp. 202-206), which treats of Karma, and is followed by the Mahd-kamma vibhanga-sutta, Majj. 136 (pp. 207-215) which is an elaboration of certain of the former sutta's sections; Majj. 137, the Saldyatana- vibhanga-sutta on the six ayatanas (p. 215-222) and all of its following suttas are vibhangas: Majj. 138, 139, 140 (on the dhdtus), 141, 142. Synonymous with the vibhanga is the word vedalla, which also means "expanded": as the Cula-vedalla- sutta, and the Mahd-vedalla-sutta. The Buddha would give a short sermon, and one of his disciples, such as Katyayana, or the Buddha himself, would elaborate on it; or the disciples would discuss it among themselves, and in this way it would reach its present form.
The dgamas (in their Chinese translations) which have the characteristics of vibhangas can be rather closely identified with these same Suttas extant in Pali: they are largely the same text (especially Majj. 131 to 142, as above), a fact which does not hold for the other dgamas.
Thus abhidharmic tendencies are clearly seen in many texts in both Pali and Chinese, so far advanced in many cases that it is merely a short step to real Abhidhamma literature, as the Samgtti-sutta has led to the Samgtti-parydya. There is in fact very little internal change from abhidharmic dgamas to Abhidhamma works; indeed, greater internal changes have come about in later Abhidharma works at a susequent period, as we shall see below.
13. Sarvdstivddin Agamas.
There are sectarian, Sarvastivadin dgamas, but there must have been some
Pruden xliii
? xliv The Abhidharma
chronological distance between the Sarvastivadin dgamas and those dgamas in their final shape (in the form that we have them today) before the split of the
2 Sarvastivadins from the rest of the Sangha.
Thus early dgamas, non-sectarian in content, led to the growth of sectarian, i. e. , Sarvastivadin dgamas, which in turn led to the growth of Sarvastivadin Abhidharma. So to know the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma, it is important to know the Sarvastivadin dgamas. This however is almost impossible.
In the Abhidharma literature, when for instance the four types of pratyayas (conditions) are mentioned (as in Kosa T. 29, p. 36b, and the Nydya-anusdra, T 29 p. 440a) the reference "as given in the Sutra" is given, and since this particular sutra can be fully reconstructed (as explained below), this one text can be claimed for the Sarvastivadins. However this specific sutra is today not found in any of the extant Pali Canon or in the Chinese translation of the Agamas.
Since the publication, in the latter half of the 18th century, of the scholar- monk Hodo's work, the Kusha-ron Keiko, it has come to be generally agreed upon by scholars that the Madhyama Agama and the Ksudraka Agama, as they presently exist in Chinese translation, are, if not Sarvastivadin in affiliation and editorship, at least very close to it. But as we know from the dgamas quoted in Sarvastivadin Abhidharma works, there was a difference between the Sar- vastivadin dgamas that exist in Chinese and those dgamas that are directly quoted by the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma literature. How great a distance there was, we have no idea.
It is clear further that the Sarvastivadin authors of their Abhidharma literature were clearly aware that there were sutras which claimed various sectarian affiliations and that there were differences among them. In the Koia, phrases like "sutras of the Mahisasakas" (p. 11.
