Theravada Abhidhamma
[2][3] Theravāda traditionally sees itself as the vibhajjavāda ("the teaching of analysis"), which reflects the analytical (vibhajjati) method used by the Buddha and early Buddhists to investigate the nature of the person and other phenomena.
[4] According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, a modern Theravāda scholar, the Abhidhamma is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation.
[8] However, according to some scholars like Rupert Gethin, it is possible that some elements found in Abhidhamma, such as the mātikās (lists, matrices of doctrinal terms) are from an earlier date than the books themselves.
[9][10] This has been studied by Erich Frauwallner, who argues that there are kernels of early pre-sectarian material in the earliest Abhidhamma texts (such as in the Vibhanga, the Dharmaskandha, and the Śāriputrābhidharma).
Religion portal In the Pāli Nikayas, the Buddha teaches through a method in which experience is explained using various conceptual groupings of physical and mental processes, which are called "dhammā".
Examples of lists of dhammas taught by the Buddha in the Nikayas include the twelve sense 'spheres' (ayatana), the five aggregates (khandha) and the eighteen elements of cognition (dhatu).
[20] Expanding these various models, the Pāli Abhidhamma concerned itself with providing a finer and more exhaustive understanding of all phenomenal experience by explaining, analyzing and classifying all dhammas and their relationships.
[22] "Dhammā" has been translated as "factors" (Collett Cox), "psychic characteristics" (Bronkhorst), "psycho-physical events" (Noa Ronkin) and "phenomena" (Nyanaponika Thera).
[25][26] Noa Ronkin defines dhammas as "the constituents of sentient experience; the irreducible ‘building blocks’ that make up one's world, albeit they are not static mental contents and certainly not substances.
For example, the sub-commentary to the Dīgha Nikāya says that "the erroneous grasping of the principle of plurality is due to the undue emphasis on the radical separateness (accanta-bheda) of the dhammas.
"[40] Similarly, Noa Ronkin argues that in Theravāda Abhidhamma, "sabhāva is predominantly used for the sake of determining the dhammas’ individuality, not their existential status".
[42] Thus, while in Theravāda Abhidhamma, dhammas are the ultimate constituents of experience, they are not seen as substances (attena), essences or independent particulars, since they are empty (suñña) of a self (attā) and conditioned.
[46] Ronkin does note however that later Theravāda sub-commentaries (ṭīkā) do show a doctrinal shift towards ontological realism from the earlier epistemic and practical concerns.
To answer this, Ābhidhammikas resorted to the nominalist theory of paññatti (concepts, designations) as a way to explain such basic universal categories as unity, identity, time and space.
[52] Also, the Niruttipatha Sutta states that the division of time into past, present and future are "three pathways of expression (nirutti), designation (adhivacana), and concept-making (paññatti).
"[56] It is only in deep meditation that one is said to transcend conceptuality and gain direct insight into the dhammas themselves, seeing them as empty (suñña) and impersonal (nissatta, nijjīva).
[60]Therefore, in Abhidhamma, when a situation is explained in terms of what cannot be empirically analyzed further into smaller components with different characteristics (lakkhana) that explanation is paramattha-sacca (ultimate truth), and when it is explained in terms of what is analyzable further due to being dependent on the mind's synthesizing function (i.e. paññatti), that explanation is sammuti-sacca (truth by convention), which exists in a relative or conventional sense due to mental conception (attha-paññatti) and linguistic construction (nama-paññatti).
"[62] The suttas do not define the nature of nibbāna in a technical and philosophical sense, but focus on explaining it psychologically and through metaphor as the 'blowing out' of greed, hatred and delusion and remain ambiguous about its metaphysical status.
[69] In this sense, early Buddhism and Theravāda Abhidhamma, avoids both idealism or materialism, as well as any kind of dualism that sees mind and body as totally separate.
The most well known is that of the six "doors" which correspond to the five physical faculties, namely: the consciousnesses associated with the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, as well as mind-consciousness (mano-viññana).
[78] The Paṭṭhāna does not give a specific organ or location for this basis, instead defining the base of the mind consciousness as "whatever materiality on which mental activity depends."
[80] Though in one sense, consciousness (citta) has the single characteristic of knowing or awareness of an object, it can be classified into various types depending on the various ways it arises as combined with different mental factors (cetasikas).
[92] Orthodox Theravāda's position on the nature of the physical (rūpa) is that it is one of the two main dependently originated processes of a person (as part of the mind-body complex called nama-rūpa).
"[105]Thus, in the Theravāda Abhidhamma, time is mainly a conceptual construct, specifically it is a concept-as-name (nāma-paññatti) and does not exist in a real sense since it is a notion based on the continuous flow of phenomena.
[106] The same is also true of space (ākasa) which is described as a nominal (anipphanna) existent, which strictly speaking it is not material, nor an actual dhamma, but is simply the absence of matter.
[109] The early Theravādins who compiled the Kathāvatthu rejected the doctrine of momentariness (Skt: kṣāṇavāda, Pāli: khaṇavāda) upheld by other Buddhist Abhidharma schools like the Sarvāstivāda.
[111] According to Noa Ronkin, early Theravādins (in the Abhidhamma Pitaka) did use the term "moment" (khaṇa) as a simple expression for a "short while", "the dimension of which is not fixed but may be determined by the context".
This view was defended by some Buddhist schools, like the Andhakas, which apparently held that a single unit of consciousness could last for as long as a day (referring particularly to a deep state of meditation).
According to Theravāda Buddhism, no temporal beginning is discernable and thus, the Abhidhamma doctrine of conditionality "dissociates itself from all cosmological causal theories which seek to trace the absolute origin of the world-process from some kind of uncaused trans-empirical reality.
[125] The Visuddhimagga analyzes the practice of the Buddhist path as divided into three main aspects: Sīla (ethics or discipline); 2) Samādhi (concentration achieved through meditation); 3) Pañña (spiritual understanding, wisdom).
