Table Of ContentSarvāstivāda Abhidharma
Sarvāstivāda
Abhidharma
Bhikkhu KL Dhammjoti 法光
Centre of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Hong Kong
2009
First Edition: Colombo 2002
Second Revised Edition: Colombo 2004
Third Revised and Enlarged Edition: Hong Kong 2007
Fourth Revised Edition: Hong Kong 2009
Published in Hong Kong by
Centre of Buddhist Studies
The University of Hong Kong
2009
© Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti
All Rights Reserved.
This publication is sponsored by
the Li Chong Yuet Ming Buddhist Studies Fund
of the Li Ka Shing Foundation.
ISBN: 978-988-99296-5-7
CONTENTS
Preface v
Abbreviations x
Chapter 1 Abhidharma – Its Origin, Meaning and Function 1
1.1. Origin of the abhidharma 1
1.2. Definitions of abhidharma 6
1.3. The soteriological function of the abhidharma 10
Chapter 2 The Ābhidharmika – Standpoint, Scope and Methodology 15
2.1. Fundamental standpoint of the Ābhidharmikas 15
2.2. Arguments for Ābhidharmikas being buddha-vacana 16
2.3. Scope of study of the Ābhidharmikas 18
2.4. Ābhidharmikas methodology for dharma-pravicaya 25
Chapter 3 The Sarvāstivāda School and Its Notion of the Real 55
3.1. History of the Sarvāstivāda 55
3.2. Sarvāstivāda vs. Vibhajyavāda 59
3.3. Proof of the thesis of sarvāstitva in the VKŚ, MVŚ and AKB 61
3.4. Sautrāntika critique of the epistemological argument 63
3.5. Notion of the real/existent 65
3.6. The various components of the Sarvāstivāda school 73
Chapter 4 The Abhidharma Treatises of the Sarvāstivāda 83
4.1. Seven canonical treatises 83
4.1.1. Treatises of the earliest period 85
4.1.2. Later, more developed texts 91
4.2. Development of the Sarvāstivāda manuals 103
4.2.1. Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā (MVŚ) 103
4.2.2. Development of the more concise manuals 108
Chapter 5 Sarvāstitva and Temporality 117
5.1. The big debate 117
5.2. Time and temporality 118
5.3. The four main theories of the Sarvāstivāda 119
5.4. Comments on the four theories and Frauwallner’s observations 120
5.5. The Vaibhāṣika theory of kāritra 126
SarvāStivāda abhidharma
5.6. Saṃghabhadra’s theory — an innovation? 131
5.7. Bhāva, svabhāva and the dharma 134
Chapter 6 Theory of Causality I: The Six Causes 143
6.1. The 6 hetu‑s, 4 pratyaya‑s and 5 phala‑s — their correlation 143
6.2. Special importance of the doctrine of causality for the Sarvāstivāda 145
6.3. Definitions of the six causes 149
6.4. Saṃghabhadra’s defense of simultaneous causation 157
6.5. Explanations in the Yogācāra system 159
6.6. Summary of the notion of the co‑existent cause given in the various
sources 160
6.7. Doctrinal importance of the co‑existent cause for the Sarvāstivāda 161
6.8. Conclusion 164
Chapter 7 Theory of Causality II
The Four Conditions and the Five Fruits 169
7.1. Doctrine of the four conditions (pratyaya) 169
7.2. Differences between a cause and a condition 176
7.3. Five fruits (phala) 177
7.4. The ‘grasping’ and ‘giving’ of a fruit 183
Chapter 8 The Category of Matter (rūpa) 187
8.1. General nature and definition of rūpa 187
8.2. Primary and derived matter 192
8.3. ‘Atomic’ theory 198
Chapter 9 The Categories of Thought and
Thought-concomitants (citta-caitta) 211
9.1. Definitions of citta, manas and vijñāna 211
9.2. Thought‑concomitants (caitta/caitasika) 212
9.3. Development of the theory of caitasika 213
9.4. Sarvāstivāda doctrine of conjunction (saṃprayoga) 225
9.5. Dārṣṭāntika and Sautrāntika Doctrine of successive arising 225
9.6. Difference in functionality between citta and caitta‑s 227
9.7. Difference between the first five and the sixth consciousnesses 229
9.8. Original nature of thought 232
Chapter 10 Theories of Knowledge 241
10.1. Sarvāstivāda realism: From epistemology to ontology 241
10.2. Various modes of operation of prajñā 246
10.3. Reflexive knowledge and omniscience (sarvajñā) 252
10.4. Prajñā of the Buddha and the two yāna‑s 256
10.5. Instrument of perception 260
ii
ContentS
10.6. Important Sarvāstivāda thought‑concomitants involved in
discriminative cognition 265
10.7. Ontological status of the objects of knowledge 266
10.8. Direct perception, ākāra, sākāra-vijñānavāda, nirākāra-jñānavāda
and the Sarvāstivāda 269
Chapter 11 The Category of the Conditionings Disjoined from Thought
(citta-viprayukta-saṃskāra) 285
11.1. Doctrinal evolution of the category 285
11.2. Definition of conditionings disjoined from thought in later texts 291
11.3. Classic list in the AKB 292
Chapter 12 Defilements 321
12.1. The goal of spiritual praxis and the abandonment of defilement 322
12.2. Kleśa and anuśaya as the generic terms for defilement 324
12.3. Other doctrinal terms denoting defilements 326
12.4. Defilements as the root of existence 329
12.5. Ābhidharmika investigation of defilements 331
12.6. Classification of defilements 333
12.7. Relationship between defilements and the mind 339
12.8. Operation of the defilements 342
12.9. Abandonment of defilements 345
12.10. Traces (vāsanā) of the defilements and distinction between
the wisdom of a Buddha and of an arhat 357
Chapter 13 The Doctrine of Karma 369
13.1. Meaning and general nature of karma 369
13.2. Classification of karma 374
13.3. Informative (vijñapti) and non‑informative (avijñapti) karma 375
13.4. Definition and intrinsic nature of informative and non‑informative karma 376
13.5. Non‑information as restraint, non‑restraint and
neither‑restraint‑nor‑non‑restraint 382
13.6. Paths of karma (karma-patha) 386
13.7. Rationale for the doctrine of non‑informative karma 387
13.8. Role of the non‑informative in the process of karmic retribution 389
Chapter 14 Karma and the Nature of its Retribution 409
14.1. Karmic retribution as a middle‑way doctrine 409
14.2. Six causes affecting the gravity of a karma 409
14.3. Determinate and indeterminate karma 411
14.4. A karma that has been done, and one that has been accumulated 413
14.5. Projecting and completing karma‑s 417
14.6. Karma in terms of pratītya-samutpāda 418
iii
SarvāStivāda abhidharma
14.7. Past karma of the arhat‑s and the Buddha 423
14.8. Man’s karma and his environment, and collective karma 425
Chapter 15 The Path of Spiritual Progress 433
15.1. Doctrine of gradual enlightenment 433
15.2. Preliminaries for the preparatory stage 435
15.3. Different stages of the path 440
15.4. Direct realization (abhisamaya), path of insight
(darśana-mārga) and stream entry (srotaāpatti) 451
15.5. Non‑retrogressibility of stream‑entry 459
15.6. Path of cultivation (bhāvanā-mārga) 460
15.7. Attainment of the four fruits of the spiritual life 462
15.8. Out‑of‑sequence attainments 463
15.9. Retrogressibility of an arhat 463
Chapter 16 The Unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) Dharma-s 471
16.1. Three unconditioned dharma‑s of the Sarvāstivāda 471
16.2. Cessation through deliberation 474
16.3. Cessation independent of deliberation 485
16.4. Space 491
Select Bibliography 501
Glossary 511
Index 550
iv
PrefaCe
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
As stated in my preface to the first edition published in 2002, this book was
originally intended as an outline of the Sarvāstivāda doctrines. It mainly
grew out of the outlines and notes that I have given in the past years to my
students at the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University
of Kelaniya. Some of these outlines were also distributed to students at the
Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary when I served there
as the Numata Professor of Buddhist Thought in winter, 2002. In response
to the need of my students, I had also been elaborating on different parts of
these outlines and notes at different times. The result was this book which
now comes to be entitled “Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma”.
Chapter Five on “Sarvāstitva and Temporality” was adapted from an essay
of mine which was first included in the appendix of my Entrance to the
Supreme Doctrine (Colombo, 1998) as “The Theory of Sarvāstitva”, and
subsequently slightly revised and published as “Sarvāstitva and Temporality:
The Vaibhāṣika Defence” in the Journal of the Postgraduate of Pali and
Buddhist Studies, vol. I, 1999.
If some chapters appear more terse and succinct compared to others, it was
because the original outlines were used at different times with somewhat
different emphases for the different classes, and were not planned as a single
project from the beginning. I would have liked to postpone and elaborate
further on these outlines in the little leisure that I have, to improve on the
material presented herein. However, in view of the fact that there is hardly
any book available in English dealing comprehensively with the doctrines of
the Sarvāstivāda, I have decided to bring out this publication at this juncture,
in spite of its many imperfections. I look forward to the not too distant future
when I shall be able to find sufficient time to offer a more carefully revised
edition for the students of Abhidharma who I hope will find this book useful
v
Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma
for their studies. In the past several years of my teaching, I have also discussed
various Abhidharma controversies; and some of these discussions have been
published in academic journals. It is my belief that these controversies can
offer us much insight into the abhidharma thought system as a whole, and help
us importantly to gain a proper perspective of the development in Buddhist
thought in general – the period of the Abhidharma schools being one of the
most creative phases of this development in India. I have, however, with
one or two limited exception, refrained from incorporating these discussions
into this book as most of them are rather lengthy. It is my intention to have
them summarized and integrated in a book form to be published as a sequel
to the present book on another occasion.
I suggest that this book be used together with my Entrance to the Supreme
Doctrine to which I have referred quite frequently. However, readers should
take note that I have in this present publication changed some of my earlier
rendering of the Sanskrit technical terms; a notable example is ‘activity’(作
用 zuo yong) for kārita and funtion (功能 gong neng) for vṛtti, vyāpāra, etc.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to Professor
Y. Karunadasa for his constant encouragement to my Abhidharma studies,
and moral support in my times of difficulties in Sri Lanka. I am also grateful
to Venerable Bhikṣuṇī Chun Yi for spending several sleepless night carefully
going through the entire proof of this book excepting the last chapter; to
Venerable Dhammapāla for proof‑reading part of the book; and to Venerable
Bangladesh Bhaddiya Tanchangya for generating the index, and checking
through again part of the final proof. Venerable Bangladesh Assaji Tanchangya
and Mr. W. Sugath Chandra must also be thanked for helping at the final stage
of the preparatory work.
In this second edition, I have added a chapter (10) on the theories of knowledge
of the Sarvāstivāda and the Sautrāntika. Some minor adjustments have also been
made in a few places. I must thank my disciples, Ven. Bhaddiya Tanchangya,
vi
