Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

Tattha vuttābhidhammatthā, catudhā paramatthato.
Cittaṃ cetasikaṃ rūpaṃ, nibbānamiti sabbathā.

The phenomena that are spoken of in the Abhidhamma are fourfold,
Referring to ultimate realities in every way:
These are mental states (consciousness), mental concomitants,
matter and Nibbāna.

The history of the first council does not mention the Abhidhamma. It refers to Venerable Upāli as the declarer of the Vinaya and Venerable Ānanda as the expositor of the Sutta Piṭaka.¹ It is said that the Abhidhamma was finally included in the Tipiṭaka during the third council (about 247 BC). This late date for inclusion seems to be supported by distinctively different terminology and elucidation from what is found in the Sutta Piṭaka.

According to Buddhist lore the Buddha analysed the content of the Abhidhamma directly after his full enlightenment. This is described for example in the Udana commentary or the Dhammasaṅgaṇī-aṭṭhakathā. Directly after the Buddha gained full enlightenment and had fully comprehended and realized the Paṭiccasamuppāda,² the commentary describes that the Buddha then dwelled another six weeks around and in the vicinity of the Bodhi tree. During the fourth week he settled at a spot north of the Bodhi tree which devas had created.³ This location was named ‘house of the gems’ (ratanagharaṃ) and here the Buddha meditated and contemplated the whole of the Abhidhamma, realizing the causality of the entire universe; how mind and matter interrelate and how mind is a condition for mind (nāmaṃ nāmassa); how mind is a condition for mind and matter (nāmaṃ nāmarūpinaṃ); how mind is a condition for matter (nāmaṃ rūpassa); how matter is a condition for mind (rūpaṃ nāmassa); how mind and matter are a condition for mind (nāmarūpāni nāmassa) and further how mind and matter are a condition for mind and matter (nāmarūpāni nāmarūpānaṃ).⁴

It is also said that the Buddha, prior to his seventh rains retreat, ascended to the sphere of the thirty-three gods (tāvatiṃsa-devaloka) where queen Maya, his birth mother, dwelled. There he then expounded the whole of the Abhidhamma to an audience of devas including her. With their intellectual capacity to rapidly comprehend with sharp and keen minds, they easily understood such a delicate and subtle teaching and were able to listen to the entire elucidation of the Abhidhamma in one sitting, which lasted three months! While returning for meals to the Bhumi loka,⁵ the Buddha then summarized his teaching to the Venerable Sāriputta. Sāriputta had the ability to grasp it,⁶ reformulate it and then teach it to his 500 followers so it could be maintained. Thus the whole of the Abhidhamma was handed down to respective disciples⁷ until the third council, where it was finally included in the canon and later written down.

The question of whether these teachings thus collected are indeed based on the exposition of the Buddha directly, has been discussed in manifold ways. It has to be noted that most scholars agree that the Abhidhamma Piṭaka is a late development inside the Pāli Canon — a systematization and complementation of doctrines found in much simpler form in the Sutta Piṭaka. They ascribe to the origin story of ‘the displacement into heaven as a wise move’⁸ to sanctify the Abhidhamma as coming directly from the Buddha himself. The Abhidhamma is understood as a ‘fascinating analysis of the stream of consciousness.’ It is an unrivalled analysis of the workings of mind and matter and ‘one of the most amazing productions of the human mind that has ever been elaborated’.⁹

The term Abhidhamma is found – even so rarely – in the Sutta Piṭaka. The occurrences there lead to another, more scientific and logical theory about the origin of the Abhidhamma teaching. At times one can find the term used in the following example: ‘talk about the higher teaching’ (abhidhammakathaṃ) from the Mahāgosiṅgasuttaṃ.¹⁰ Here a group of elders visit Venerable Sāriputto and each one praises the pleasant atmosphere of the Gosiṅga forest from his own perspective.¹¹ When it was the turn of the Venerable Mahāmoggallāna he refers to two monks continuously engaged in suitable discussion about the ‘higher Dhamma’, and when questioning each other, would not stumble nor falter and their talk would always flow along deeply in accordance to the Dhamma; then they would illuminate the Gosiṅga forest.

Idhāvuso sāriputta, dve bhikkhū abhidhammakathaṃ kathenti, te aññamaññaṃ pañhaṃ pucchanti, aññamaññassa pañhaṃ puṭṭhā vissajjenti,¹² no ca saṃsādenti,¹³ dhammī ca nesaṃ kathā pavattinī hoti. Evarūpena kho, āvuso sāriputta, bhikkhunā gosiṅgasālavanaṃ sobheyyā’ti.

It seems that the Sutta Piṭaka uses this term only when referring to a similar situation, i.e., Bhikkhus being engaged in a more systematic talk about the Dhamma. Over a period of time such talks seem to have become more organised, structured and theoretical. Then finally the set of books as collected in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka became included in the Pāli Canon.¹⁴

It has already been pointed out that the Abhidhamma-exposition describes in abstract terms all possible states, their conditioning, interrelation and their effects in all possible realities. Materiality-mentality is shown in its cause, its effect along with the conditioning forces.

The Abhidhamma dispels the notion of any ‘self’, ‘I’ or ‘mine’. With its detailed analyses of the constant flow of mental states, the change and different position and function of the mental concomitants relating to different cittas, an illusion of self cannot be pertained. It is here, with the detailed analysis and dissection of the notion of self, that warrants caution for the serious meditator who wants to progress on the path. Although the Abhidhamma teaching is no doubt inspiring and motivating — being a clear teaching of anatta — its study entails the danger of turning it into a mere theoretical, analytical and intellectual exercise if not based in personal experience. With this in mind, inspiration gained from its teachings will be profitable and supportive.

The Abhidhamma teaching can be subdivided into the analytical classification as presented in the first Piṭakas, especially the Dhammasaṅgaṇīpāḷi, Vibhaṅgapāḷi and Dhātukathāpāḷi while the last and most complex Piṭaka, the Paṭṭhānapāḷi, presents the detailed analyses of the multifaceted interrelation and conditioned origination of all phenomena.

The first book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, the Dhammasaṅgaṇī, enumerates and categorizes all possible states of mind and matter. It subdivides all phenomena under ultimate realities of mind and matter, arranging them under the classification as presented in what is called mātikā. A mātikā may be understood as a ‘table of contents’, an ‘outline’, a ‘schedule’, a ‘register’, a ‘mould’, a ‘concise register’ and is usually translated as ‘matrix’. Literally the term mātikā can be derived from māta + ikā (mother + ika), a suffix denoting the sense of ‘belonging to’. Therefore, mātikā could be seen as something that belongs to a mother. And quite rightly so, as a mother may give birth to many children, these may produce grandchildren and great grandchildren and so forth; a mātikā in the sense of the Abhidhamma from one basic triplet produces many derivations. Thus, for example, the eight in the Noble Eightfold Path can be further divided by taking each constituent and providing further analyses.¹⁵

The Dhammasaṅgaṇīpāḷi thus evolves a list of concepts that are assembled into 22 groups of three (threefold classification) and 100 groups of two (twofold classification), respectively called duka (du + ka) and tika (ti + ka).

They depict the thus subdivided universe from various different angles and arrange these into a logical all-inclusive order preparing for more detailed analyses. The chosen examples portrayed in the Side-by-Side table of this lesson are based on more familiar vocabulary to give a slight idea of the mātikā arrangement. The numbers in the first column refer to the selected samples with the sequential number out of 22 for the tikā or the sequential number out of 100 for the dukā. For the complete list of these terms the reader may refer to the opening section of the Dhammasaṅgaṇīpāḷi, the Mātikā.

The first Tikamātikā provides the base for all the following lessons in this chapter. It describes

kusalā dhamma (wholesome phenomena), akusalā dhammā (unwholesome phenomena), and abyākatā dhammā (neutral, indeterminate phenomena).

Kusalā dhammā refers to wholesome phenomena or states of mind that derive wholesome results. They are accompanied or based on one or more of the three wholesome roots (generosity or non-greed, goodwill or loving kindness and wisdom or non-delusion) which are the opposites of the unwholesome roots (alobha, adosa and amoha).

Akusalā dhammā refers to unwholesome phenomena or states of mind that produce unwholesome results. They are accompanied or based on one or more of the three unwholesome roots of craving or greed (raga, lobha), aversion or hatred (dosa, paṭigha) and delusion (moha).

Abyākatā dhammā are described as¹⁶ neutral phenomena, that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome in themselves nor do they manifest by way of an effect. It is a collective expression for kiriya and vipāka. Such states are by themselves neutral; thus, their result will be neither unwholesome nor wholesome but are the results of unwholesome or wholesome phenomena with no further kammic effect. While kiriya is the resultant state of either wholesome or unwholesome states of mind, it is merely a functional citta.

This first Tikamātikā comprises special importance in the suborder and analyses of the categories and the typology of the mental states and likewise the mental concomitants, as will be seen in the next lessons. In the same way, the essential first book of the Paṭṭhānapāḷi follows the order set by seven formative questions in regards to these three ‘qualities’ that are asked in the Paccayānulomaṃ, which are later replied to and enumerated in the respective analytical sections.¹⁷