The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism

]>

]>

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism

]>

]>

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism

Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON AND OXFORD

]>

Copyright © 2014 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW

press.princeton.edu

Jacket Photograph: Buddha portrait. © Anna Jurkovska. Courtesy of Shutterstock.

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Princeton dictionary of Buddhism / Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr. ;

with the assistance of Juhn Ahn, J. Wayne Bass, William Chu, Amanda Goodman, Hyoung Seok Ham, Seong-Uk Kim,

Sumi Lee, Patrick Pranke, Andrew Quintman, Gareth Sparham, Maya Stiller, Harumi Ziegler.

pages cm

    Includes bibliographical references.

    ISBN-13: 978-0-691-15786-3 (cloth : alk. paper)

    ISBN-10: 0-691-15786-3 (cloth : alk. paper)   1. Buddhism—Dictionaries.   I. Buswell, Robert E., author, editor of compilation.

II. Lopez, Donald S., 1952- author, editor of compilation.

    BQ130.P75 2013

    294.303—dc23

    2012047585

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond Pro with Myriad Display

Printed on acid-free paper. ∞

Printed in the United States of America

    3   5   7   9   10   8   6   4   2

]>

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Conventions

Transcription Systems

Asian Historical Periods

Timeline of Buddhism

Maps

Cradle of Buddhism

Ancient India

Ancient China

Japan and Korea

Tibet

Routes of Chinese Pilgrims

Mount Sumeru World System (overview)

Mount Sumeru World System (side view)

Entries A–Z

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

List of Lists

Cross-References by Language

Chinese Cross-References

Japanese Cross-References

Korean Cross-References

Pāli Cross-References

Sanskrit Cross-References

Tibetan Cross-References

Tibetan Phonetic Cross-References

Alphabetical List of Entries

]>

Preface

At more than one million words, this is the largest dictionary of Buddhism ever produced in the English language. Yet even at this length, it only begins to represent the full breadth and depth of the Buddhist tradition. Many great dictionaries and glossaries have been produced in Asia over the long history of Buddhism and Buddhist Studies. One thinks immediately of works like the Mahāvyutpatti, the ninth-century Tibetan-Sanskrit lexicon said to have been commissioned by the king of Tibet to serve as a guide for translators of the dharma. It contains 9,565 entries in 283 categories. One of the great achievements of twentieth-century Buddhology was the Bukkyō Daijiten (Encyclopedia of Buddhism), published in ten massive volumes between 1932 and 1964 by the distinguished Japanese scholar Mochizuki Shinkō. Among English-language works, there is William Soothill and Lewis Hodous’s A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, published in 1937, and, from the same year, G. P. Malalasekera’s invaluable Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names. In preparing the present dictionary, we have sought to build upon these classic works in substantial ways.

Apart from the remarkable learning that these earlier works display, two things are noteworthy about them. The first is that they are principally based on a single source language or Buddhist tradition. The second is that they are all at least a half-century old. Many things have changed in the field of Buddhist Studies over the past fifty years, some for the worse, some very much for the better. One looks back in awe at figures like Louis de la Vallée Poussin and his student Msgr. Étienne Lamotte, who were able to use sources in Sanskrit, Pāli, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan with a high level of skill. Today, few scholars have the luxury of time to develop such expertise. Yet this change is not necessarily a sign of the decline of the dharma predicted by the Buddha; from several perspectives, we are now in the golden age of Buddhist Studies. A century ago, scholarship on Buddhism focused on the classical texts of India and, to a much lesser extent, China. Tibetan and Chinese sources were valued largely for the access they provided to Indian texts lost in the original Sanskrit. The Buddhism of Korea was seen as an appendage to the Buddhism of China or as a largely unacknowledged source of the Buddhism of Japan. Beyond the works of the Pāli canon, relatively little was known of the practice of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. All of this has changed for the better over the past half century. There are now many more scholars of Buddhism, there is a much higher level of specialization, and there is a larger body of important scholarship on each of the many Buddhist cultures of Asia. In addition, the number of adherents of Buddhism in the West has grown significantly, with many developing an extensive knowledge of a particular Buddhist tradition, whether or not they hold the academic credentials of a professional Buddhologist. It has been our good fortune to be able to draw upon this expanding body of scholarship in preparing The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

This new dictionary seeks to address the needs of this present age. For the great majority of scholars of Buddhism, who do not command all of the major Buddhist languages, this reference book provides a repository of many of the most important terms used across the traditions, and their rendering in several Buddhist languages. For the college professor who teaches Introduction to Buddhism every year, requiring one to venture beyond one’s particular area of geographical and doctrinal expertise, it provides descriptions of many of the important figures and texts in the major traditions. For the student of Buddhism, whether inside or outside the classroom, it offers information on many fundamental doctrines and practices of the various traditions of the religion. This dictionary is based primarily on six Buddhist languages and their traditions: Sanskrit, Pāli, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Also included, although appearing much less frequently, are terms and proper names in vernacular Burmese, Lao, Mongolian, Sinhalese, Thai, and Vietnamese. The majority of entries fall into three categories: the terminology of Buddhist doctrine and practice, the texts in which those teachings are set forth, and the persons (both human and divine) who wrote those texts or appear in their pages. In addition, there are entries on important places—including monasteries and sacred mountains—as well as on the major schools and sects of the various Buddhist traditions. The vast majority of the main entries are in their original language, although cross-references are sometimes provided to a common English rendering. Unlike many terminological dictionaries, which merely provide a brief listing of meanings with perhaps some of the equivalencies in various Buddhist languages, this work seeks to function as an encyclopedic dictionary. The main entries offer a short essay on the extended meaning and significance of the terms covered, typically in the range of two hundred to six hundred words, but sometimes substantially longer. To offer further assistance in understanding a term or tracing related concepts, an extensive set of internal cross-references (marked in small capital letters) guides the reader to related entries throughout the dictionary. But even with over a million words and five thousand entries, we constantly had to make difficult choices about what to include and how much to say. Given the long history and vast geographical scope of the Buddhist traditions, it is difficult to imagine any dictionary ever being truly comprehensive. Authors also write about what they know (or would like to know); so inevitably the dictionary reflects our own areas of scholarly expertise, academic interests, and judgments about what readers need to learn about the various Buddhist traditions.

Despite the best efforts of the king of Tibet more than a thousand years ago, it has always been difficult for scholars of Buddhism to agree on translations. That difficulty persists in the present work for a variety of reasons, including the different ways that Buddhist scholiasts chose to translate technical terms into their various languages over the centuries, the preferences of the many modern scholars whose works we consulted, and the relative stubbornness of the authors. As a result, there will inevitably be some variation in the renderings of specific Buddhist terminology in the pages that follow. In our main entries, however, we have tried to guide users to the range of possible English translations that have been used to render a term. In addition, a significant effort has been made to provide the original language equivalencies in parentheses so that specialists in those languages can draw their own conclusions as to the appropriate rendering.

This book represents more than twelve years of effort. Donald Lopez initiated the project with the assistance of several of his graduate students at the University of Michigan, many of whom have now gone on to receive their degrees and be appointed to university positions. Around that time, Robert Buswell asked Lopez to serve as one of the editors of his two-volume Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Macmillan Reference, 2004). When that project was completed, Lopez invited Buswell to join him as coauthor of the dictionary project, an offer he enthusiastically accepted, bringing with him his own team of graduate students from UCLA. In dividing up responsibilities for the dictionary, Buswell took principal charge of entries on mainstream Buddhist concepts, Indian abhidharma, and East Asian Buddhism; Lopez took principal charge of entries on Mahāyāna Buddhism in India, Buddhist tantra, and Tibetan Buddhism. Once drafts of the respective sections were complete, we exchanged files to review each other’s sections. Over the last seven years, we were in touch almost daily on one or another aspect of the project as we expanded upon and edited each other’s drafts, making this a collaborative project in the best sense of the term. Graduate students at both the University of Michigan and UCLA assisted in gathering materials for the dictionary, preparing initial drafts, and tracing the multiple cross-references to Asian language terms. This project would have been impossible without their unstinting assistance and extraordinary commitment; we are grateful to each of them. Those graduate students and colleagues who made particularly extensive contributions to the dictionary are listed on the title page.

In addition to its more than five thousand main entries, this volume also contains a number of reference tools. Because the various historical periods and dynasties of India, China, Korea, and Japan appear repeatedly in the entries, historical chronologies of the Buddhist periods of those four countries have been provided. In order to compare what events were occurring across the Buddhist world at any given time, we have provided a timeline of Buddhism. Eight maps are provided, showing regions of the Buddhist world and of the traditional Buddhist cosmology. We have also included a List of Lists. Anyone with the slightest familiarity with Buddhism has been struck by the Buddhist propensity for making lists of almost anything. The Mahāvyutpatti is in fact organized not alphabetically but by list, including such familiar lists as the four noble truths, the twelve links of dependent origination, and the thirty-two major marks of the Buddha, as well as less familiar lists, such as various kinds of grain (twenty items) and types of ornaments (sixty-four items). Here we have endeavored to include several of the most important lists, beginning with the one vehicle and ending with the one hundred dharmas of the Yogācāra school. After some discussion, we decided to forgo listing the 84,000 afflictions and their 84,000 antidotes.

]>

Acknowledgments

Our first debt of gratitude is to the several generations of scholars of Buddhism around the world whose research we have mined shamelessly in the course of preparing our entries. We are unable to mention them by name, but those who remain during the present lifetime will recognize the fruits of their research as they read the entries. In addition to our collaborators listed on the title page, we would like to thank the following graduate students and colleagues, each of whom assisted with some of the myriad details of such a massive project: Wesley Borton, Bonnie Brereton, Tyler Cann, Caleb Carter, Mui-fong Choi, Shayne Clarke, Jacob Dalton, Martino Dibeltulo, Alexander Gardner, Heng Yi fashi (Chi Chen Ho), Anna Johnson, Min Ku Kim, Youme Kim, Alison Melnick, Karen Muldoon-Hules, Cuong Tu Nguyen, Aaron Proffitt, Cedar Bough Saeji, and Sherin Wing. In addition, we would like to thank our long-suffering colleagues: William Bodiford, Gregory Schopen, Natasha Heller, Stephanie Jamison, and Jennifer Jung-Kim at UCLA, and Madhav Deshpande, Luis Gómez, Robert Sharf, and James Robson, now or formerly at the University of Michigan. The map of Tibet was designed by Tsering Wangyal Shawa; the map of Japan and Korea was designed by Maya Stiller; all other maps were designed by Trevor Weltman. Christina Lee Buswell also provided invaluable assistance with preparing the lists of language cross-references.

Financial support for the project was provided by the Numata Fund in Buddhist Studies and the 14th Dalai Lama Fund in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies; the UCLA Academic Senate Faculty Research Grant Program; the UCLA International Institute; the University of Michigan Institute for the Study of Buddhist Traditions; and the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. A generous supplemental grant to help complete the project was provided by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai (America).

]>

Conventions

No single language crosses all of the linguistic and cultural boundaries of the Buddhist tradition. However, in order to present Buddhist terms that are used across this diverse expanse, it is convenient to employ a single linguistic vocabulary. For this reason European and North American scholars have, over the last century, come to use Sanskrit as the lingua franca of the academic discipline of Buddhist Studies. Following this scholarly convention we have used Sanskrit, and often Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit forms, in our main entry headings for the majority of Indic-origin terms that appear across the Buddhist traditions. Pāli, Tibetan, or Chinese terms are occasionally used where that form is more commonly known in Western writings on Buddhism. We have attempted to avoid unattested Sanskrit equivalents for terms in Pāli and other Middle Indic languages, generally marking any hypothetical forms with an asterisk. These main entry headings are accompanied by cognate forms in Pāli, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (abbreviated as P., T., C., J., and K., respectively), followed by the Sinographs (viz., Chinese characters) commonly used in the East Asian traditions. For those Indian terms that are known only or principally in the Pāli tradition, the main entry heading is listed in Pāli (e.g., bhavaṅga). Terms used across the East Asian traditions are typically listed by their Chinese pronunciation with Japanese and Korean cross-references, with occasional Japanese or Korean headings for terms that are especially important in those traditions. Tibetan terms are in Tibetan, with Sanskrit or Chinese cognates where relevant. In order that the reader may trace a standard term through any of the languages we cover in the dictionary, we also provide cross-references to each of the other languages at the end of the volume in a section called Cross-References by Language. In both the main entries and the Cross-References by Language, words have been alphabetized without consideration of diacritical marks and word breaks.

Book titles are generally given in the language of original provenance, e.g., Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, in Sanskrit, with cross-references to Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean; Dasheng qixin lun, in Chinese, with cross-references to a putative Sanskrit reconstruction of the title, and Japanese and Korean. We also include some main entries to indigenous terms, book titles, personal names, or place names in other Asian languages, e.g.: Burmese, Thai, Lao, Nepalese, Sinhalese, Mongolian, and Vietnamese.

To reduce the amount of capitalization in the dictionary, as a general rule we capitalize only:

proper names: e.g., of historical figures, specific buddhas, bodhisattvas, and divinities;

historical schools: Madhyamaka, Mūlasarvāstivāda, Huayan zong, but not hīnayāna, ekayāna, tathāgatagarbha;

titles of books: e.g., Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra, Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra;

terrestrial place names: e.g., Jambudvīpa, Śrāvastī, Turfan, but not celestial realms (e.g., tuṣita), infernal realms (avīci), or ideal realms (sukhāvatī).

East Asian monks, especially those in the Chan, Sŏn, Zen, and Thiền schools, often use multiple names throughout their careers, e.g., ordination name, cognomen, toponym (e.g., the mountains, monasteries, hermitages, or regions where they dwelled), posthumous or funerary name, and honorary names and titles conferred by a monarch. Commonly, these monks are listed in their genealogical lineages by a four-Sinograph name, which gives this alternate name first, typically followed by their ordination name: e.g., Linji Yixuan (hermitage name + ordination name), Dongshan Liangjie (mountain name + ordination name), Pojo Chinul (posthumous name/official title + ordination name). The main entries for these monks are found under this common four-Sinograph lineage name, with a blind cross-reference in the main body of the dictionary for their two-Sinograph ordination name; e.g.: Congshen. (C) (從諗). See ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN.

]>

Transcription Systems

The dictionary uses the standard Romanization systems for East Asian languages: viz., pinyin for Chinese (rather than the now-superseded Wade-Giles system that most pre-1990s scholarship on Chinese Buddhism used), Revised Hepburn for Japanese, and McCune-Reischauer for Korean, with the transcriptions in some cases modified slightly to conform more closely to the Chinese parsing of compounds. While this dictionary was being compiled, the Korean government unveiled its latest iteration of a Revised Romanization system, but that system is still rarely used in academic writing in the West and its acceptance is uncertain; we therefore chose to employ McCune-Reischauer for this edition of the dictionary.

For Tibetan, the dictionary uses the standard Wylie system of transliteration, with words alphabetized by the first letter, regardless of whether it is the root letter. Tibetan does not have a standard system for rendering words phonetically. For Tibetan terms that appear as main entries, a phonetic approximation has been placed in parentheses following the Wylie transliteration. In addition, a separate listing of Tibetan pronunciations has been provided in the Cross-References by Language, where readers may look up phonetic renderings in order to find the Wylie transliteration used in the main entries.

Unlike Tibetan, where there are generally standard translations for Indian terms, in the East Asian tradition there are a plethora of alternate Sinographic renderings, including both translations and transcriptions (i.e., using the Chinese characters purely for their phonetic value to render Sanskrit or Middle Indic terms). We obviously could not include all possible renderings and have typically chosen one or at most two of the most common, e.g., one translation and one transcription. In addition, in Tibet and China, translations of Indian terms and texts were often given in abbreviated forms. We have attempted to provide the full form in most cases, using the abbreviation when it is the better known version of the term or text.

As a general rule, we provide multiple language equivalencies only for terms that were traditionally known in the other languages. For this reason, many late tantric terms known only in India and Tibet will not have East Asian equivalents (even though equivalents were in some cases created in the twentieth century); Chinese texts not translated into Tibetan will give only Japanese and Korean equivalencies; Japanese and Korean figures and texts not generally known in China will have only Japanese and Korean transcriptions, and so forth.

]>

Asian Historical Periods

Indian Historical Periods

Chinese Historical Periods

Korean Historical Periods

Japanese Historical Periods

]>

Timeline of Buddhism

]>

Maps

]>

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism

]>

A. The first vowel and letter in the Sanskrit alphabet. The phoneme a is thought to be the source of all other phonemes and its corresponding letter the origin of all other letters. As the basis of both the Sanskrit phonemic system and the written alphabet, the letter a thus comes to be invested with mystical significance as the source of truth, nondifferentiation, and emptiness (ŚŪNYATĀ), or even of the universe as a whole. The PRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀSARVATATHĀGATAMĀTĀ-EKĀKṢARĀ, the shortest of the perfection of wisdom scriptures, also describes how the entirety of the perfection of wisdom is subsumed by this one letter. The letter in the Sanskrit SIDDHAM alphabet gained special significance within the esoteric Buddhist traditions in Japan (MIKKYŌ), such as Shingon (see SHINGONSHŪ), which considered it to be the seed (BĪJA) of MAHĀVAIROCANA, the central divinity of esoteric Buddhism, and used it in a distinctive type of meditation called AJIKAN (contemplation of the letter ‘a’). The letter a, which is said to be originally uncreated (AJI HONPUSHŌ), is interpreted to be the essence of all phenomena in the universe and the DHARMAKĀYA of the buddha Mahāvairocana. In the East Asian CHAN traditions, the letter a is also sometimes understood to represent the buddha-nature (FOXING, S. BUDDHADHĀTU) of all sentient beings.

abhabbaṭṭhāna. (S. *abhavyasthāna; T. *mi rung ba’i gnas; C. buwei; J. fui; K. purwi 不爲). In Pāli, condition of being incapable or impossibility; referring to nine immoral acts or inadequacies of character that an ARHAT is incapable of performing or possessing. Because he has destroyed the four ĀSRAVA, or contaminants—of sensuality (KĀMA), becoming (BHAVA), ignorance (AVIDYĀ), and wrong views (DṚṢṬI)—he is rendered forever incapable of engaging in the following acts: (1) deliberately killing any living being; (2) theft; (3) sexual intercourse; (4) deliberately lying; (5) accumulating personal possessions for sensual indulgence, as would a layperson; or performing wrong actions prompted by (6) attachment; (7) hatred; (8) stupidity; or (9) fear.

ābhāsvaracitta. In Sanskrit, mind of clear light. See PRABHĀSVARACITTA.

ābhāsvarāloka. (P. ābhassaraloka; T. ’od gsal ba; C. jiguangjing tian/guangyintian; J. gokukōjōten/kōonten; K. kŭkkwangjŏng ch’ŏn/kwangŭmch’ŏn 極光淨天/光音天). In Sanskrit, the heaven of radiant light (in Chinese, the name is also parsed as the heaven of radiant sound), the highest of the three heavens associated with the second concentration (DHYĀNA) of the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPADHĀTU). As the BRAHMĀ divinities dwelling in this realm perpetually experience this profound state of meditation, they are described as subsisting on bliss (PRĪTI) and abiding in ease (SUKHA). Their bodies radiate light in all directions like lightning or like flames from a torch. While the bodies of the divinities of this realm are uniform, their perceptions are diverse, and there is no assurance that they will not be reborn in a lower realm of existence after their death. At the beginning of a world cycle, when the physical world (BHĀJANALOKA) of the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU) has not yet been formed, and at the end of a world cycle when that physical world has been destroyed, many beings are reborn into the ābhāsvarāloka. A BODHISATTVA is never reborn in the immaterial realm (ĀRŪPYADHĀTU) even if he has achieved meditative states consistent with that realm, but he may be reborn in the ābhāsvarāloka. The Buddha once disabused a Brahmā god dwelling in that realm of the mistaken view that he was eternal. This god, whose name was Baka, had been the first living being born in the ābhāsvarāloka after a period of world dissolution, and presumed that no one had existed before him. When the divinities (DEVA) of the ābhāsvarāloka are first reborn in the realm of human beings (MANUṢYA), they may retain their divine attributes for a time, being spontaneously generated rather than born viviparously, and possessing bodies made from subtle materiality rather than gross matter. However, as time passes and they take on the physical and mental characteristics of ordinary human beings, they lose their luminosity, develop sexual characteristics, and come to subsist on solid foods.

abhayadāna. (T. mi ’jigs pa sbyin pa; C. wuwei [bu]shi/shi wuwei; J. mui[fu]se/semui; K. muoe[bo]si/si muoe 無畏[布]施/施無畏). In Sanskrit, the gift of fearlessness; said to be one of the expanded list of three (sometimes four) forms of giving/gifts (DĀNA), along with the gift of dharma (DHARMADĀNA) and the gift of material goods (ĀMIṢADĀNA). This particular type of gift is typically offered by BODHISATTVAs, whose encouragement, consolation, teaching of the dharma, and so forth relieve the fears, worries, and tribulations of the beneficiary. The common Buddhist practice of purchasing animals from butchers in order to save them from slaughter (see FANGSHENG) is considered to be a form of abhayadāna.

Abhayadattaśrī. (T. Mi ’jigs pa sbyin pa dpal). Indian author of the early twelfth century to whom the text of tantric hagiographies entitled *CATURAŚĪTISIDDHAPRAVṚTTI (Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas) is ascribed. According to the colophon of this work, the author is known as the great guru from Campara in India.

Abhayagiri. A Sri Lankan monastery built at the capital of ANURĀDHAPURA in first century BCE. The monastery was constructed for the elder Mahātissa by the Sinhala king VAṬṬAGĀMAṆI ABHAYA in gratitude for the monk’s assistance during the king’s political exile and his struggle for the throne. According to medieval Pāli historical chronicles, Mahātissa was said to have been unrestrained and base in his behavior, which eventually prompted the monks of the MAHĀVIHĀRA to pass an act of banishment (PRAVRĀJANĪYAKARMAN, P. pabbājanīyakamma) against him. Mahātissa thereafter conducted ecclesiastical ceremonies (SAṂGHAKARMAN, P. saṅghakamma) separately, and the Abhayagiri fraternity eventually seceded from the Mahāvihāra as a separate order of Sri Lankan Buddhism. The Abhayagiri flourished during the eleventh century, but, with the abandonment of Anurādhapura in the thirteenth century, ceased to exist as an active center. The site is today known for the massive Abhayagiri Thūpa (STŪPA), one of the largest in Sri Lanka, which was rediscovered deep in a forest at the end of the nineteenth century.

Abhayākaragupta. (T. ’Jigs med ’byung gnas sbas pa) (d. c. 1125). Indian tantric Buddhist master who was born into a brāhmaṇa family in either Orissa or northeast India near Bengal. Sources vary regarding his dates of birth and death, although most agree that he was a contemporary of the Pāla king Rāmapāla, who began his reign during the final quarter of the eleventh century. Abhayākaragupta became a Buddhist monk in response to a prophetic vision and trained extensively in the esoteric practices of TANTRA, while nevertheless maintaining his monastic discipline (VINAYA). Abhayākaragupta was active at the monastic university of VIKRAMAŚĪLA in Bihar and became renowned as both a scholar and a teacher. He was a prolific author, composing treatises in numerous fields of Buddhist doctrine, including monastic discipline and philosophy as well as tantric ritual practice and iconography. Many Sanskrit manuscripts of his works have been preserved in India, Nepal, and Tibet, and his writings were influential both in India and among Newari Buddhists in Nepal. Translations of his works into Tibetan were begun under his supervision, and more than two dozen are preserved in the Tibetan canon. To date, Abhayākaragupta’s writings best known in the West are his treatises on tantric iconography, the Vajrāvalī and Niṣpannayogāvalī, and his syncretistic ABHIDHARMA treatise Munimatālaṃkāra.

abhayamudrā. (T. mi ’jigs pa’i phyag rgya; C. shiwuwei yin; J. semuiin; K. simuoe in 施無畏印). In Sanskrit, the gesture of fearlessness or gesture of protection; also sometimes called the gesture of granting refuge. This gesture (MUDRĀ) is typically formed with the palm of the right hand facing outward at shoulder height and the fingers pointing up, although both hands may simultaneously be raised in this posture in a double abhayamudrā. Occasionally, the index, second, or third finger touches the thumb, with the remaining fingers extended upward. This gesture is associated with ŚĀKYAMUNI Buddha immediately following his enlightenment, and standing buddha images will often be depicted with this mudrā, portraying a sense of the security, serenity, and compassion that derive from enlightenment. This gesture is also commonly associated with AMOGHASIDDHI.

Abheda. (T. Mi phyed pa). One of the sixteen elders or senior ARHATs in the Tibetan enumeration. See ṢOḌAŚASTHAVIRA.

abhibhvāyatana. (P. abhibhāyatana; T. zil gyis gnon pa’i skye mched; C. shengchu; J. shōsho; K. sŭngch’ŏ 勝處). In Sanskrit, sphere of sovereignty or station of mastery; eight stages of transcendence over the sense spheres (ĀYATANA), which are conducive to the development of meditative absorption (DHYĀNA). By recognizing from various standpoints that material forms are external, one trains oneself to let go of attachments to material objects and focus exclusively on the meditation subject. The standard list of eight is as follows. When one perceives forms internally (viz., on one’s own person), one sees forms external to oneself that are (1) limited and beautiful or ugly (viz., pure and impure colors) or (2) unlimited, and beautiful or ugly, and masters them so that one is aware that one knows and sees them; when one does not perceive forms internally, one sees external forms that are (3) limited or (4) unlimited. When one does not perceive forms internally, one sees external forms that are (5) blue, (6) yellow, (7) red, or (8) white and masters them so that one is aware that one knows and sees them. In the Pāli meditative literature, the earth and the color devices (KASIṆA) are said to be especially conducive to developing these spheres of sovereignty. Progress through these spheres weans the mind from its attraction to the sensuous realm (KĀMADHĀTU) and thus encourages the advertence toward the four meditative absorptions (DHYĀNA; RŪPĀVACARADHYĀNA) associated with the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPADHĀTU), wherein the mind becomes temporarily immune to sensory input and wholly absorbed in its chosen object of meditation.

abhicāra. [alt. abhicara] (T. mngon spyod). In Sanskrit, magic or wrathful action; in ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA, the fourth of the four activities (CATURKARMAN) of the Buddhist tantric adept. Abhicāra is broken down into māraṇa killing, mohana enchanting, stambhana paralyzing, vidveṣaṇa rendering harm through animosity, uccāṭana removing or driving away, and vaśīkaraṇa subduing. After initiation (ABHIṢEKA), adepts who keep their tantric commitments (SAMAYA) properly and reach the requisite yogic level are empowered to use four sorts of enlightened activity, as appropriate: these four types of activities are (1) those that are pacifying (S. ŚĀNTICĀRA); (2) those that increase prosperity, life span, etc. (PAUṢṬIKA), when necessary for the spread of the doctrine; (3) those that subjugate or tame (S. VAŚĪKARAṆA) the unruly; and finally (4) those that are violent or drastic measures (abhicāra) such as war, when the situation requires it. In the MAÑJUŚRĪNĀMASAṂGĪTI, Cānakya, Candragupta’s minister, is said to have used abhicāra against his enemies, and because of this misuse of tantric power was condemned to suffer the consequences in hell. Throughout the history of Buddhist tantra, the justification of violence by invoking the category of abhicāra has been a contentious issue. PADMASAMBHAVA is said to have tamed the unruly spirits of Tibet, sometimes violently, with his magical powers, and the violent acts that RWA LO TSĀ BA in the eleventh century countenanced against those who criticized his practices are justified by categorizing them as abhicāra.

Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha. In Pāli, Summary of the Meaning of Abhidharma; a synoptic manual of Pāli ABHIDHARMA written by the Sri Lankan monk ANURUDDHA (d.u.), abbot of the Mūlasoma Vihāra in Polonnaruwa, sometime between the eighth and twelfth centuries CE, but most probably around the turn of the eleventh century. (Burmese tradition instead dates the text to the first century BCE.) The terse Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha Has been used for centuries as an introductory primer for the study of abhidharma in the monasteries of Sri Lanka and the THERAVĀDA countries of Southeast Asia; indeed, no other abhidharma text has received more scholarly attention within the tradition, especially in Burma, where this primer has been the object of multiple commentaries and vernacular translations. The Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha includes nine major sections, which provide a systematic overview of Pāli Buddhist doctrine. Anuruddha summarizes the exegeses appearing in BUDDHAGHOSA’s VISUDDHIMAGGA, though the two works could hardly be more different: where the Visuddhimagga offers an exhaustive exegesis of THERAVĀDA abhidharma accompanied by a plethora of historical and mythical detail, the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha is little more than a list of topics, like a bare table of contents. Especially noteworthy in the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha is its analysis of fifty-two mental concomitants (CETASIKA), in distinction to the forty-six listed in SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA and the ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA. There is one major Pāli commentary to the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha still extant, the Porāṇaṭīkā, which is attributed to Vimalabuddhi (d.u.). The Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha appears in the Pali Text Society’s English translation series as Compendium of Philosophy.

Abhidhammāvatāra. In Pāli, Introduction to Abhidhamma; a primer of Pāli ABHIDHAMMA attributed to BUDDHADATTA (c. fifth century CE), who is said to have been contemporaneous with the premier Pāli scholiast BUDDHAGHOSA; some legends go so far as to suggest that the two ABHIDHAMMIKAS might even have met. The book was written in south India and is the oldest of the noncanonical Pāli works on abhidhamma. It offers a systematic scholastic outline of abhidhamma, divided into twenty-four chapters called niddesas (S. nirdeśa; expositions), and displays many affinities with Buddhaghosa’s VISUDDHIMAGGA. These chapters include coverage of the mind (CITTA) and mental concomitants (CETASIKA), the various types of concentration (SAMĀDHI), the types of knowledge (JÑĀNA) associated with enlightenment, and the process of purification (visuddhi, S. VIŚUDDHI). The work is written in a mixture of prose and verse.

abhidhammika. [alt. Ābhidhammika]. In Pāli, specialist in the ABHIDHAMMA; scholarly monks who specialized in study of the abhidhamma (S. ABHIDHARMA) section of the Buddhist canon. In the Pāli tradition, particular importance has long been attached to the study of abhidharma. The AṬṬHASĀLINĪ says that the first ABHIDHAMMIKA was the Buddha himself, and the abhidhammikas were presumed to be the most competent exponents of the teachings of the religion. Among the Buddha’s immediate disciples, the premier abhidhammika was Sāriputta (S. ŚĀRIPUTRA), who was renowned for his systematic grasp of the dharma. Monastic families of abhidhamma specialists were known as abhidhammikagaṇa, and they passed down through the generations their own scholastic interpretations of Buddhist doctrine, interpretations that sometimes differed from those offered by specialists in the scriptures (P. sutta; S. SŪTRA) or disciplinary rules (VINAYA) . In medieval Sri Lanka, the highest awards within the Buddhist order were granted to monks who specialized in this branch of study, rather than to experts in the scriptures or disciplinary rules. Special festivals were held in honor of the abhidhamma, which involved the recital of important texts and the granting of awards to participants. In contemporary Myanmar (Burma), where the study of abhidhamma continues to be highly esteemed, the seventh book of the Pāli ABHIDHARMAPIṬAKA, the PAṬṬHĀNA (Conditions), is regularly recited in festivals that the Burmese call pathan pwe. Pathan pwe are marathon recitations that go on for days, conducted by invited abhidhammikas who are particularly well versed in the Paṭṭhāna, the text that is the focus of the festival. The pathan pwe serves a function similar to that of PARITTA recitations, in that it is believed to ward off baleful influences, but its main designated purpose is to forestall the decline and disappearance of the Buddha’s dispensation (P. sāsana; S. ŚĀSANA). The Theravāda tradition considers the Paṭṭhāna to be the Buddha’s most profound exposition of ultimate truth (P. paramatthasacca; S. PARAMĀRTHASATYA), and according to the Pāli commentaries, the Paṭṭhāna is the first constituent of the Buddha’s dispensation that will disappear from the world as the religion faces its inevitable decline. The abhidhammikas’ marathon recitations of the Paṭṭhāna, therefore, help to ward off the eventual demise of the Buddhist religion. This practice speaks of a THERAVĀDA orientation in favor of scholarship that goes back well over a thousand years. Since at least the time of BUDDHAGHOSA (c. fifth century CE), the life of scholarship (P. PARIYATTI), rather than that of meditation or contemplation (P. PAṬIPATTI), has been the preferred vocational path within Pāli Buddhist monasticism. Monks who devoted themselves exclusively to meditation were often portrayed as persons who lacked the capacity to master the intricacies of Pāli scholarship. Even so, meditation was always recommended as the principal means by which one could bring scriptural knowledge to maturity, either through awakening or the realization (P. paṭivedha; S. PRATIVEDHA) of Buddhist truths. See also ĀBHIDHARMIKA.

Abhidhānappadīpikā. A Pāli dictionary of synonyms attributed to the twelfth-century Sinhalese scholar–monk Moggallāna, which, in style and method, is similar to the Sanskrit lexicon the Amarakośa. The text is arranged into three sections, dealing with celestial, terrestrial, and miscellaneous topics. The three sections are further subdivided into various chapters, each composed of groups of synonyms arranged in verse for ease of memorization. For example, the first section of the thesaurus includes 179 different entries, each of which offers multiple entries: e.g., thirty-two different epithets for the Buddha and forty-six synonyms for nibbāna (S. NIRVĀṆA). The second section has six different chapters, which include twenty-four synonyms for a house, ten for man, fifteen for woman, etc. The third section has four chapters on miscellaneous topics. A Sinhalese paraphrase and commentary on this dictionary were produced in Sri Lanka by Caturaṅgabala (d.u.), while a Burmese commentary was composed by Ñāṇāvāsa (d.u.) in the fourteenth century during the reign of King Kittisīhasūra (c. 1351); a Burmese vernacular translation was subsequently made during the eighteenth century.

Abhidhānottaratantra. [alt. Avadānastotratantra] (T. Mngon par brjod pa’i rgyud bla ma). In Sanskrit, Continuation of the Explanation [of the CAKRASAṂVARATANTRA]; an Indian text describing the invocation of numerous tantric deities together with their seed syllables (BĪJA) and ritual meditations. The work was originally translated into Tibetan and edited by ATIŚA DĪPAṂKARAŚRĪJÑĀNA and RIN CHEN BZANG PO in the eleventh century.

abhidharma. (P. abhidhamma; T. chos mngon pa; C. apidamo/duifa; J. abidatsuma/taihō; K. abidalma/taebŏp 阿毘達磨/對法). In Sanskrit, abhidharma is a prepositional compound composed of abhi- + dharma. The compound is typically glossed with abhi being interpreted as equivalent to uttama and meaning highest or advanced DHARMA (viz., doctrines or teachings), or abhi meaning pertaining to the dharma. The SARVĀSTIVĀDA Sanskrit tradition typically follows the latter etymology, while the THERAVĀDA Pāli tradition prefers the former, as in BUDDHAGHOSA’s gloss of the term meaning either special dharma or supplementary dharma. These definitions suggest that abhidharma was conceived as a precise (P. nippariyāya), definitive (PARAMĀRTHA) assessment of the dharma that was presented in its discursive (P. sappariyāya), conventional (SAṂVṚTI) form in the SŪTRAS. Where the sūtras offered more subjective presentations of the dharma, drawing on worldly parlance, simile, metaphor, and personal anecdote in order to appeal to their specific audiences, the abhidharma provided an objective, impersonal, and highly technical description of the specific characteristics of reality and the causal processes governing production and cessation. There are two divergent theories for the emergence of the abhidharma as a separate genre of Buddhist literature. In one theory, accepted by most Western scholars, the abhidharma is thought to have evolved out of the matrices (S. MĀTṚKĀ; P. mātikā), or numerical lists of dharmas, that were used as mnemonic devices for organizing the teachings of the Buddha systematically. Such treatments of dharma are found even in the sūtra literature and are probably an inevitable by-product of the oral quality of early Buddhist textual transmission. A second theory, favored by Japanese scholars, is that abhidharma evolved from catechistic discussions (abhidharmakathā) in which a dialogic format was used to clarify problematic issues in doctrine. The dialogic style also appears prominently in the sūtras where, for example, the Buddha might give a brief statement of doctrine (uddeśa; P. uddesa) whose meaning had to be drawn out through exegesis (NIRDEŚA; P. niddesa); indeed, MAHĀKĀTYĀYANA, one of the ten major disciples of the Buddha, was noted for his skill in such explications. This same style was prominent enough in the sūtras even to be listed as one of the nine or twelve genres of Buddhist literature (specifically, VYĀKARAṆA; P. veyyākaraṇa). According to tradition, the Buddha first taught the abhidharma to his mother MAHĀMĀYĀ, who had died shortly after his birth and been reborn as a god in TUṢITA heaven. He met her in the heaven of the thirty-three (TRĀYASTRIṂŚA), where he expounded the abhidharma to her and the other divinities there, repeating those teachings to ŚĀRIPUTRA when he descended each day to go on his alms-round. Śāriputra was renowned as a master of the abhidharma. Abhidharma primarily sets forth the training in higher wisdom (ADHIPRAJÑĀŚIKṢĀ) and involves both analytical and synthetic modes of doctrinal exegesis. The body of scholastic literature that developed from this exegetical style was compiled into the ABHIDHARMAPIṬAKA, one of the three principal sections of the Buddhist canon, or TRIPIṬAKA, along with sūtra and VINAYA, and is concerned primarily with scholastic discussions on epistemology, cosmology, psychology, KARMAN, rebirth, and the constituents of the process of enlightenment and the path (MĀRGA) to salvation. (In the MAHĀYĀNA tradition, this abhidharmapiṭaka is sometimes redefined as a broader treatise basket, or *ŚĀSTRAPIṬAKA.)

Abhidharmadharmaskandha[pādaśāstra]. (C. Apidamo fayun zu lun; J. Abidatsuma hōunsokuron; K. Abidalma pŏbon chok non 阿毘達磨法蘊足論). See DHARMASKANDHA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA].

Abhidharmadhātukāya[pādaśāstra]. (C. Apidamo jieshen zu lun; J. Abidatsuma kaishinsokuron; K. Abidalma kyesin chok non 阿毘達磨界身足論). See DHĀTUKĀYA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA].

Abhidharmadīpa. In Sanskrit, Lamp of ABHIDHARMA; an Indian scholastic treatise probably composed between 450 and 550 CE. Only fragments of the treatise (sixty-two of 150 folios) are extant; these were discovered in Tibet in 1937. The treatise is composed of two parts—the Abhidharmadīpa, written in verse (kārikā), and a prose autocommentary, the Vibhāṣāprabhāvṛtti—both of which were probably composed by the same anonymous author. The author, who refers to himself merely as the Dīpakāra ("author of the Dīpa") may be Vimalamitra (d.u.), an otherwise-unknown disciple of SAṂGHABHADRA. The structure of the text is modeled on that of the influential ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA, and almost half of the kārikā verses included in the Abhidharmadīpa are virtually identical to those found in the Abhidharmakośa. Although borrowing freely from the Kośa, the Dīpakāra launches a harsh critique of VASUBANDHU’s (whom he calls the Kośakāra, or "author of the Kośa") Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, from the standpoint of SARVĀSTIVĀDA abhidharma. Vasubandhu is criticized for the SAUTRĀNTIKA tendencies betrayed in his doctrinal analyses and also for being a Mahāyānist adherent of the teachings of the three natures (TRISVABHĀVA). As such, the Abhidharmadīpa’s author seems to have been a follower of SAṂGHABHADRA’s *NYĀYĀNUSĀRA, and the text helps to clarify the positions of Saṃghabhadra and the orthodox VAIBHĀṢIKAs. The Dīpakāra shares the latter’s concern with providing both a systematic exegesis of abhidharma theory and a vigorous polemical defense of Sarvāstivāda doctrinal positions. Since it presents theories of other thinkers not covered in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, the Abhidharmadīpa serves as an important source for studying the history of Indian abhidharma. For example, in his discussion of the eponymous Sarvāstivāda position that everything exists throughout all three time periods (TRIKĀLA) of past, present, and future, the Dīpakāra also critiques three rival positions: the VIBHAJYAVĀDA and Dārṣṭāntikas, who maintain that only part exists (viz., the present); the Vaitulika and Ayogaśūnyatāvāda, who say that nothing exists; and the PUDGALAVĀDA, who presume that existence is indeterminate (AVYĀKṚTA).

*Abhidharmahṛdaya. (C. Apitan xin lun; J. Abidon shinron; K. Abidam sim non 阿毘曇心論). In Sanskrit, Heart of ABHIDHARMA; one of the first attempts at a systematic presentation of abhidharma according to the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school; the treatise is attributed to Dharmaśreṣṭhin (Fasheng, c. 130 BCE), who hailed from the GANDHĀRA region of Central Asia. The text is no longer extant in Sanskrit but survives only in a Chinese translation made sometime during the fourth century (alt. 376, 391) by Saṃghadeva and LUSHAN HUIYUAN. The treatise functions essentially as a handbook for meditative development, focusing on ways of overcoming the negative proclivities of mind (ANUŚAYA) and developing correct knowledge (JÑĀNA). The meditative training outlined in the treatise focuses on the four absorptions (DHYĀNA) and on two practical techniques for developing concentration: mindfulness of breathing (ĀNĀPĀNASMṚTI) and the contemplation of impurity (AŚUBHABHĀVANĀ). The text is also one of the first to distinguish the path of vision (DARŚANAMĀRGA), which involves the initial insight into the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, and the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA), which eliminates all the remaining proclivities so that the adept may experience the stage of the worthy one (ARHAT).

Abhidharmajñānaprasthāna. (C. Apidamo fazhi lun; J. Abidatsuma hotchiron; K. Abidalma palchi non 阿毘達磨發智論). See JÑĀNAPRASTHĀNA.

Abhidharmakośa. See ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA.

Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. (T. Chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi bshad pa; C. Apidamo jushe lun; J. Abidatsuma kusharon; K. Abidalma kusa non 阿毘達磨倶舎論). In Sanskrit, A Treasury of ABHIDHARMA, with Commentary; an influential scholastic treatise attributed to VASUBANDHU (c. fourth or fifth century CE). The Abhidharmakośabhāṣya consists of two texts: the root text of the Abhidharmakośa, composed in verse (kārikā), and its prose autocommentary (bhāṣya); this dual verse-prose structure comes to be emblematic of later SARVĀSTIVĀDA abhidharma literature. As the title suggests, the work is mainly concerned with abhidharma theory as it was explicated in the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀṢĀ, the principal scholastic treatise of the VAIBHĀṢIKAĀBHIDHARMIKAs in the Sarvāstivāda school. In comparison to the Mahāvibhāṣā, however, the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya presents a more systematic overview of Sarvāstivāda positions. At various points in his expositions, Vasubandhu criticizes the Sarvāstivāda doctrine from the standpoint of the more progressive SAUTRĀNTIKA offshoot of the Sarvāstivāda school, which elicited a spirited response from later Sarvāstivāda–Vaibhāṣika scholars, such as SAṂGHABHADRA in his *NYĀYĀNUSĀRA. The Abhidharmakośabhāṣya has thus served as an invaluable tool in the study of the history of the later MAINSTREAM BUDDHIST SCHOOLS. The Sanskrit texts of both the kārikā and the bhāṣya were lost for centuries before being rediscovered in Tibet in 1934 and 1936, respectively. Two Chinese translations, by XUANZANG and PARAMĀRTHA, and one Tibetan translation of the work are extant. The Kośa is primarily concerned with a detailed elucidation of the polysemous term DHARMA, the causes (HETU) and conditions (PRATYAYA) that lead to continued rebirth in SAṂSĀRA, and the soteriological stages of the path (MĀRGA) leading to enlightenment. The treatise is divided into eight major chapters, called kośasthānas. (1) Dhātunirdeśa, Exposition on the Elements, divides dharmas into various categories, such as tainted (SĀSRAVA) and untainted (ANĀSRAVA), or compounded (SAṂSKṚTA) and uncompounded (ASAṂSKṚTA), and discusses the standard Buddhist classifications of the five aggregates (SKANDHA), twelve sense fields (ĀYATANA), and eighteen elements (DHĀTU). This chapter also includes extensive discussion of the theory of the four great elements (MAHĀBHŪTA) that constitute materiality (RŪPA) and the Buddhist theory of atoms or particles (PARAMĀṆU). (2) Indriyanirdeśa, Exposition on the Faculties, discusses a fivefold classification of dharmas into materiality (rūpa), thought (CITTA), mental concomitants (CAITTA), forces dissociated from thought (CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA), and the uncompounded (ASAṂSKṚTA). This chapter also has extensive discussions of the six causes (HETU), the four conditions (PRATYAYA), and the five effects or fruitions (PHALA). (3) Lokanirdeśa, Exposition on the Cosmos, describes the formation and structure of a world system (LOKA), the different types of sentient beings, the various levels of existence, and the principle of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA) that governs the process of rebirth, which is discussed here in connection with the three time periods (TRIKĀLA) of past, present, and future. (4) Karmanirdeśa, Exposition on Action, discusses the different types of action (KARMAN), including the peculiar type of action associated with unmanifest materiality (AVIJÑAPTIRŪPA). The ten wholesome and unwholesome paths of action (KUŚALA-KARMAPATHA and AKUŚALA-KARMAPATHA) also receive a lengthy description. (5) Anuśayanirdeśa, Exposition on the Proclivities, treats the ninety-eight types of ANUŚAYA in relation to their sources and qualities and the relationship between the anuśayas and other categories of unwholesome qualities, such as afflictions (KLEŚA), contaminants (ĀSRAVA), floods (OGHA), and yokes (yoga). (6) Mārgapudgalanirdeśa, Exposition on the Path and the [Noble] Persons, outlines how either insight into the four noble truths and carefully following a series of soteriological steps can remove defilements and transform the ordinary person into one of the noble persons (ĀRYAPUDGALA). (7) Jñānanirdeśa, Exposition on Knowledge, offers a detailed account of the ten types of knowledge and the distinctive attributes of noble persons and buddhas. (8) Samāpattinirdeśa, Exposition on Attainment, discusses different categories of concentration (SAMĀDHI) and the attainments (SAMĀPATTI) that result from their perfection. (9) Appended to this main body is a ninth section, an independent treatise titled the Pudgalanirdeśa, Exposition of the Notion of a Person. Here, Vasubandhu offers a detailed critique of the theory of the self, scrutinizing both the Buddhist PUDGALAVĀDA/VĀTSĪPUTRĪYA heresy of the inexpressible (avācya) person (PUDGALA) being conventionally real and Brahmanical theories of a perduring soul (ĀTMAN). Numerous commentaries to the Kośa, such as those composed by VASUMITRA, YAŚOMITRA, STHIRAMATI, and Pūrṇavardhana, attest to its continuing influence in Indian Buddhist thought. The Kośa was also the object of vigorous study in the scholastic traditions of East Asia and Tibet, which produced many indigenous commentaries on the text and its doctrinal positions.

Abhidharmakośavyākhyā Sphuṭārthā. See SPHUṬĀRTHĀ ABHIDHARMAKOŚAVYĀKHYĀ.

Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣā. (T. Chos mngon pa bye brag bshad pa chen po; C. Apidamo dapiposha lun; J. Abidatsuma daibibasharon; K. Abidalma taebibasa non 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論). In Sanskrit, Great Exegesis of ABHIDHARMA, also commonly known as Mahāvibhāṣā; a massive VAIBHĀṢIKA treatise on SARVĀSTIVĀDA abhidharma translated into Chinese by the scholar–pilgrim XUANZANG and his translation bureau between 656 and 659 at XIMINGSI in the Tang capital of Chang’an. Although no Sanskrit version of this text is extant, earlier Chinese translations by Buddhavarman and others survive, albeit only in (equally massive) fragments. The complete Sanskrit text of the recension that Xuanzang used was in 100,000 Ślokas; his translation was in 200 rolls, making it one of the largest single works in the Buddhist canon. According to the account in Xuanzang’s DA TANG XIYU JI, four hundred years after the Buddha’s PARINIRVĀṆA, King KANIṢKA gathered five hundred ARHATs to recite the Buddhist canon (TRIPIṬAKA). The ABHIDHARMAPIṬAKA of this canon, which is associated with the Sarvāstivāda school, is said to have been redacted during this council (see COUNCIL, FOURTH). The central abhidharma treatise of the Sarvāstivāda school is KĀTYĀYANĪPUTRA’s JÑĀNAPRASTHĀNA, and the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣā purports to offer a comprehensive overview of varying views on the meaning of that seminal text by the five hundred arhats who were in attendance at the convocation. The comments of four major ĀBHIDHARMIKAs (Ghoṣa, DHARMATRĀTA, VASUMITRA, and Buddhadeva) are interwoven into the Mahāvibhāṣā’s contextual analysis of Kātyāyanīputra’s material from the Jñānaprasthāna, making the text a veritable encyclopedia of contemporary Buddhist scholasticism. Since the Mahāvibhāṣā also purports to be a commentary on the central text of the Sarvāstivāda school, it therefore offers a comprehensive picture of the development of Sarvāstivāda thought after the compilation of the Jñānaprasthāna. The Mahāvibhāṣā is divided into eight sections (grantha) and several chapters (varga), which systematically follow the eight sections and forty-three chapters of the Jñānaprasthāna in presenting its explication. Coverage of each topic begins with an overview of varying interpretations found in different Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, detailed coverage of the positions of the four major Sarvāstivāda Ābhidharmikas, and finally the definitive judgment of the compilers, the Kāśmīri followers of KātyāyanĪputra, who call themselves the Vibhāṣāśāstrins. The Mahāvibhāṣā was the major influence on the systematic scholastic elaboration of Sarvāstivāda doctrine that appears (though with occasional intrusions from the positions of the Sarvāstivāda’s more-progressive SAUTRĀNTIKA offshoot) in VASUBANDHU’s influential ABHIDHARMAKOŚABHĀṢYA, which itself elicited a spirited response from later Sarvāstivāda–Vaibhāṣika scholars, such as SAṂGHABHADRA in his *NYĀYĀNUSĀRA. The Mahāvibhāṣa was not translated into Tibetan until the twentieth century, when a translation entitled Bye brag bshad mdzod chen mo was made at the Sino-Tibetan Institute by the Chinese monk FAZUN between 1946 and 1949. He presented a copy of the manuscript to the young fourteenth DALAI LAMA on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Beijing in 1954, but it is not known whether it is still extant.

*Abhidharmanyāyānusāra. See *NYĀYĀNUSĀRA.

abhidharmapiṭaka. (P. abhidhammapiṭaka; T. chos mngon pa’i sde snod; C. lunzang; J. ronzō; K. nonjang 論藏). The third of the three baskets (PIṬAKA) of the Buddhist canon (TRIPIṬAKA). The abhidharmapiṭaka derives from attempts in the early Buddhist community to elucidate the definitive significance of the teachings of the Buddha, as compiled in the SŪTRAs. Since the Buddha was well known to have adapted his message to fit the predilections and needs of his audience (cf. UPĀYAKAUŚALYA), there inevitably appeared inconsistencies in his teachings that needed to be resolved. The attempts to ferret out the definitive meaning of the BUDDHADHARMA through scholastic interpretation and exegesis eventually led to a new body of texts that ultimately were granted canonical status in their own right. These are the texts of the abhidharmapiṭaka. The earliest of these texts, such as the Pāli VIBHAṄGA and PUGGALAPAÑÑATTI and the SARVĀSTIVĀDA SAṂGĪTIPARYĀYA and DHARMASKANDHA, are structured as commentaries to specific sūtras or portions of sūtras. These materials typically organized the teachings around elaborate doctrinal taxonomies, which were used as mnemonic devices or catechisms. Later texts move beyond individual sūtras to systematize a wide range of doctrinal material, offering ever more complex analytical categorizations and discursive elaborations of the DHARMA. Ultimately, abhidharma texts emerge as a new genre of Buddhist literature in their own right, employing sophisticated philosophical speculation and sometimes even involving polemical attacks on the positions of rival factions within the SAṂGHA. ¶ At least seven schools of Indian Buddhism transmitted their own recensions of abhidharma texts, but only two of these canons are extant in their entirety. The Pāli abhidhammapiṭaka of the THERAVĀDA school, the only recension that survives in an Indian language, includes seven texts (the order of which often differs): (1) DHAMMASAṄGAṆI (Enumeration of Dharmas) examines factors of mentality and materiality (NĀMARŪPA), arranged according to ethical quality; (2) VIBHAṄGA (Analysis) analyzes the aggregates (SKANDHA), conditioned origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA), and meditative development, each treatment culminating in a catechistic series of inquiries; (3) DHĀTUKATHĀ (Discourse on Elements) categorizes all dharmas in terms of the skandhas and sense-fields (ĀYATANA); (4) PUGGALAPAÑÑATTI (Description of Human Types) analyzes different character types in terms of the three afflictions of greed (LOBHA), hatred (DVEṢA), and delusion (MOHA) and various related subcategories; (5) KATHĀVATTHU (Points of Controversy) scrutinizes the views of rival schools of mainstream Buddhism and how they differ from the Theravāda; (6) YAMAKA (Pairs) provides specific denotations of problematic terms through paired comparisons; (7) PAṬṬHĀNA (Conditions) treats extensively the full implications of conditioned origination. ¶ The abhidharmapiṭaka of the SARVĀSTIVĀDA school is extant only in Chinese translation, the definitive versions of which were prepared by XUANZANG’s translation team in the seventh century. It also includes seven texts: (1) SAṂGĪTIPARYĀYA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA] (Discourse on Pronouncements) attributed to either MAHĀKAUṢṬHILA or ŚĀRIPUTRA, a commentary on the Saṃgītisūtra (see SAṄGĪTISUTTA), where śāriputra sets out a series of dharma lists (MĀTṚKĀ), ordered from ones to elevens, to organize the Buddha’s teachings systematically; (2) DHARMASKANDHA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA] (Aggregation of Dharmas), attributed to śāriputra or MAHĀMAUDGALYĀYANA, discusses Buddhist soteriological practices, as well as the afflictions that hinder spiritual progress, drawn primarily from the ĀGAMAs; (3) PRAJÑAPTIBHĀṢYA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA] (Treatise on Designations), attributed to Maudgalyāyana, treats Buddhist cosmology (lokaprajñapti), causes (kāraṇa), and action (KARMAN); (4) DHĀTUKĀYA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA] (Collection on the Elements), attributed to either PŪRṆA or VASUMITRA, discusses the mental concomitants (the meaning of DHĀTU in this treatise) and sets out specific sets of mental factors that are present in all moments of consciousness (viz., the ten MAHĀBHŪMIKA) or all defiled states of mind (viz., the ten KLEŚAMAHĀBHŪMIKA); (5) VIJÑĀNAKĀYA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA] (Collection on Consciousness), attributed to Devaśarman, seeks to prove the veracity of the eponymous Sarvāstivāda position that dharmas exist in all three time periods (TRIKĀLA) of past, present, and future, and the falsity of notions of the person (PUDGALA); it also provides the first listing of the four types of conditions (PRATYAYA); (6) PRAKARAṆA[PĀDAŚĀSTRA] (Exposition), attributed to VASUMITRA, first introduces the categorization of dharmas according to the more developed Sarvāstivāda rubric of RŪPA, CITTA, CAITTA, CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA, and ASAṂSKṚTA dharmas; it also adds a new listing of KUŚALAMAHĀBHŪMIKA, or factors always associated with wholesome states of mind; (7) JÑĀNAPRASTHĀNA (Foundations of Knowledge), attributed to KĀTYĀYANĪPUTRA, an exhaustive survey of Sarvāstivāda dharma theory and the school’s exposition of psychological states, which forms the basis of the massive encyclopedia of Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika abhidharma, the ABHIDHARMAMAHĀVIBHĀṢĀ. In the traditional organization of the seven canonical books of the Sarvāstivāda abhidharmapiṭaka, the JÑĀNAPRASTHĀNA is treated as the body (ŚARĪRA), or central treatise of the canon, with its six feet (pāda), or ancillary treatises (pādaśāstra), listed in the following order: (1)