Controversies on the Origin of the
Theravada Abhidhamma-pitaka
Bhikkhu Karmananda
Tanchangya Buddhistdoor
Global | 2013-04-19 |
Editor's note: This feature
was first published in the now-retired Bodhi Journal, Issue 6,
December 2007.
The Abhidhamma-pitaka is the third
Basket (pitaka) of
the Theravada
Tipitaka. The Pali term ‘Abhidhamma’ has an ambiguous
meaning, of which two primary meanings given in
the Pali tradition are noteworthy:
1. auxiliary (atireka) doctrines
and
2. exceptional/superior/highest (visesa/vasisaha/uttama) doctrine.
Ven.
Buddhaghosa, the
great Pali commentator, defines the
term ‘Abhidhamma’ as – ‘that which
exceeds and is distinguished from the Dhamma’. Abhidhamma, therefore,
holistically conveys the meaning of ‘special/supplementary
teachings of the Buddha’. Traditionally, the Abhidhamma-pitaka contains seven
books viz.: (i) The Book of Enumeration of Phenomena, (ii) The Book
of Analysis, (iii) The Book of Discussion on Elements, (iv) The
Book of Individual Concepts, (v) The Book of Points of Controversy,
(vi) The Book of Pairs, and (vii) The Book of
Synthesis.
Unlike the unanimously accepted
Sutta-Vinaya-pitakas, the authenticity and authority
of Abhidhamma as direct Words of
the Buddha (Buddha-vacana) remains as a
controversy.
The Theravada orthodoxy, nonetheless, based on
the Atthasalini (Buddhaghosa’s
commentary to the 1st book of Abhidhamma), holds the popular
traditional view that Buddha himself was the
first Abhidhammika, adding that in the
fourth week after His enlightenment, Buddha contemplated the seven
books of the Abhidhamma-pitaka. The
commentary further mentions that prior to his 7th annual rainy
retreats, Buddha, having ascended to
the Tavatimsa heaven, preached
the Abhidhamma at a full stretch of
three months to the gods assembled from ten thousand world systems
headed by his mother goddess Mahamaya Devi. The reason for this is
that in order to have a complete picture of Abhidhamma, it should be taught
unceasingly from the beginning to the end; and only the gods, it is
said, could remain in one position for full three months. Being
human, however, Buddha came down onto earth for
his midday meals leaving behind a self-created image of
himself to continue the session in his absence. While on earth He
met Ven. Sariputta and transmitted
the Abhidhamma to him who in return
taught to his own set of disciples. Subsequently,
the Abhidhamma was retained in an
oral transmission for generations up until the final writing down
of the Tipitaka in Sri
Lanka in the 1st century B.C.
The traditional view, as we
shall see below, has a number of inconsistencies, if not defects,
which hardly correspond with the evidential information we have
in Suttas, Commentaries and
Chronicles about the origin of the Abhidhamma-pitaka.
Firstly,
the Pali commentaries state that one of the conditions
under which Ven. Ananda became Buddha’s chief
attendant was that the latter should repeat to the former what has
been preached to others in his absence. Accordingly, Buddha should
have transmitted the Abhidhamma, preached
in Tavatimsa to Ven. Ananda, not to Ven.
Sariputta. Further, why did Buddha
preach Abhidhamma in Tavatimsa and
not in Tusita where his mother was supposed to have
reborn as a deva?
Secondly while referring to His
teachings, Buddha explicitly said ‘Dhamma and Vinaya (Disciplines)
preached and promulgated by me would be your teacher when I am
gone’. This suggests that if Abhidhamma ever existed in the
first place, Buddha would have mentioned alongside
the Dhamma and Vinaya. The Cullavaggapali of
the Vinaya-pitaka, one of the most
authentic Theravadin texts, records
the proceedings of the first Buddhist council held just three
months after the demise of the Buddha. In that account, quite
surprisingly, there is no mention of the recital of
the Abhidhamma-pitaka. However
‘the three parts of the (Pali) Canon are referred to for
the first time in a late part of the Sutta-vibhanga in
the Vinaya-(pitaka)’. This is followed by
the Sumangalavilasini (the
commentary to the Digha
Nikaya by Ven. Buddhaghosa),which says in its
introduction that the Abhidhamma-pitaka was also
recited alongside the Dhamma and Vinaya-pitakas. This claim is
supported by the Dhiga- and Majjhima-bhanakas of
the Pali Bhanaka tradition.
However,
the Mahavamsa, a
prominent Sri Lankan Pali chronicle, concludes
its introduction to the account of the first Buddhist council
saying ‘Dhamma-vinaya’ was recited (no
mention of Abhidhamma). Nonetheless the fourth
chapter of the same chronicle says that the participants in the
second Buddhist council, held a century after Buddha’s demise,
were ‘Pitakattayadharins’ – a term
suggesting that the participants were ‘Bearers of
the Tipitaka’
(i.e. Sutta,
Vinaya and Abhidhamma).
Further the fifth chapter of
the same chronicle claims that the participants of the third
council, held roughly three hundreds after Buddha’s demise,
were ‘Tipitakas’ a term also
suggesting the participants were ‘Masters of
the Tipitaka’.
According to the Mahavamsa’s and some other
authentic texts like Cullavaggapali’s accounts, it’s
much justifiable to assume that the recitation or perhaps the
formation of the Abhidhamma-pitaka probably took
place after the first Buddhist council.
Bhikkhu KL Dhammajoti,
referring to the Abhidhamma-pitaka as the last of
the Tipitaka, says, without coming
to a specific conclusion regarding the origin
of Abhidhamma,
‘this very probably reflects the historical fact that
the Abhidharma texts were evolved
and compiled as a pitaka later than the other
two’. Here if it was so, then it was also logical to conclude that
the Vinaya-pitaka was composed later
than the Sutta-pitaka for, the former
position comes after the latter. But from the ongoing discussion we
are aware that the Sutta- and
the Vinaya-pitakas were recited
almost simultaneously at the first Buddhist council. It was only a
matter of naming the pitakas rather than determining
their respective origins by their traditional sequence.
Frauwallner is one of the few
scholars who say that the ‘Abhidhamma-pitaka originated
between 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD’. This date, to a large
extent, is contradictory because the Atthakathas and
the Vatsakathas have it that the Abhidhamma-pitaka came to an end
after Ven. Moggallaputta Tissa, the president of the third
council, composed and compiled the last book of
the Abhidhamma-pitaka immediately
after the council and that the whole of the Pali Tipitaka together with its
commentaries was committed to writing in the first century B.C.
Accordingly, the full Abhidhamma-pitaka was already
extant one century before the date given
by Frauwallner as the origin of the Abhidhamma-pitaka.
Thus the modern scholarship is
yet to arrive at a unanimous conclusion on the origin of
the Abhidhamma-pitaka. What the
modern scholars like Hinuber could suggest is that
‘the Abhidhamma-pitaka is
considerably younger than both Sutta- and Vinaya-pitakas’. Hence, the modern
scholarship concludes that Abhidhamma was a gradual
development, interpretation, further elaboration, organization and
systematization of the teachings found in the Sutta-pitaka. Terms
like ‘abhidhamme’ often
alongside ‘abhivinaye’ occur in
the Sutta- and Vinaya-pitakas,but this particular
term does not necessarily mean the form of
standardized Abdhidhamma we have today.
However since some suttas have the characteristics
of Abhidhamma we shall see some of
them below so to determine how far it’s logical to say
that Abhidhamma has its origin in
the Sutta-pitaka.
The Mahagosihgasutta of
the Majjhima Nikaya refers to monks like
Venerables Sariputta, Mahakassapa, Moggallana and so
on engaged in ‘abhidhammakatha’ in the form of
questioning and answering.
Similarly we
find ‘vedalla-katha’ – also a
question and answering session on doctrinal issues either between
the Buddha and disciples or among the disciples themselves.
Accordingly the Mahavedallsutta and Calavedallasuttaof Majjhima
Nikaya are a testament to this
category.
Further in
the Suttanta we also
find ‘Vibhanga (exposition)-methodological
teachings in brief and summarized manner which are to be further
elaborated on either by Buddha himself or by a proficient
disciple.
Apart from these, the most
important of the Abhidhammic style teachings
found in the suttanta are
the ‘mitikas’–
meaning (as defined by Bhikkhu KL Dhammajoti) ‘a matrix in
the form of a list summarily enumerating topics to be elaborated
upon’. Long lists of such mitikas can be found
in suttas like Sangitisutta and Dasuttarasutta of
the Digha
Nikaya. Accordingly these mitikas are the basis of all the
seven texts of the present day Abhidhamma-pitaka.
Thus mitikas found in
the Suttanta are considered to have
served as a major basis for the development and origin of
the Abhidhamma-pitaka. This is
further pushed forward by the fact that ‘…in the ancient triple
designations given to the specialists of the Buddhist Canon
– vinaya-dharas,
sutta-dharas, (and) mitika-dharas’ were mentioned in
stead of abhidhamma-dharas for the last
one. So it’s highly logical that Abhidhamma could have resulted
from the further elaboration and systematization of
such mitika-type
teachings already found in the Suttanta and to a lesser extent
the Vinaya-pitaka.
Given the highly technical, profound and penetrative teachings
contained in the Abhidhamma-pi?aka, often
said to be the philosophical, psychological & ethical teachings
of the Buddha, it, (the Abhidhamma-pitaka)
is unmistakably the genius work produced by enlightened persons or
person, a Buddha or a person equal to Buddha. This is supported
by Narada when
he says, ‘whoever the great author or authors of
the Abhidhammamay
have been, it has to be admitted that he or they had intellectual
genius comparable only to that of the Buddha’. Even
though Abhidhamma is
said to surpass the Suttanta, the vohra-vacana,
it is certainly not suggested that one is inferior or superior to
the other. Both differs only in the scope of exposition and method
but both have the enlightenment potentiality – the door
to nibbana, for Buddha’s teachings have only one
taste – the taste of nibbana, the apex of Buddhist
spiritual practice.