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A History of Pali Literature v1.c8: Chapter III. Pāli Counterparts of the Seven Abhidhamma Treatises of the Sarvāstivāda School

A History of Pāli Literature v1.c8

Language
English

Contents

Chapter III. Pāli Counterparts of the Seven Abhidhamma Treatises of the Sarvāstivāda School

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The Sarvāstivāda School of Buddhism recognises and holds as authoritative seven Abhidhamma treatises which have nothing in common with the seven texts of the Pāli Abhidhamma Piṭaka except as to their total number. All these seven treatises, called padas, are preserved in Chinese translations and are altogether lost in their original. The Indian originals of these treatises, so far as one can ascertain, were written in Sanskrit. In the Sarvāstivāda set of seven treatises, the highest place in importance is accorded to the Jñānaprasthāna shāstra of Kātyāyaniputra in the same way that in the Pāli set similar importance is attached to the seventh book called the Paṭṭhāna or Mahāpakaraṇa or the great treatise. For the parallels to the Sarvāstivāda treatises the Pāli Abhidhamma Piṭaka is not certainly the place to make the search. Strangely enough, the available Pāli counterparts of all these treatises are embodied in the Sutta Piṭaka and pass as suttanta texts. On a careful examination of the contents of these Pāli counterparts it appears, however, that they represent a step in advance from the general bulk of the suttas and as a matter of fact form a link of transition between the Pāli suttas and the Abhidhamma books.

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The principal Abhidhamma treatise of the Sarvāstivāda school is, as noted above, Kātyāyaniputra’s Jñānaprasthāna Śāstra to which there are six supplements called ‘Padas’. The seven Abhidhamma works are as follows:—

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(1) Jñānaprasthāna by Āryakātyāyaniputra.—The author is one of the famous Sarvāstivāda teachers and lived in Kashmere three hundred years after the parinibbāna of the Buddha. The work was translated into Chinese in 383 A.D., by a Kashmiriin monk named Gautama Saṃghadeva. The second word of the title Prasthāna corresponds to Paṭṭhāna in Pāli. Hence Kern was led to believe that the two works were probably related to each other. Dr. Barua has tried to convince us with some cogent reasons that although the arrangements of topics differ, the topics treated of in the Jñānaprasthāna Shāstra and the Pāli Paṭisambhidāmagga are almost the same. The final decision of this point is to be waited for till we have the complete English translation of the Chinese version of the Jñānaprasthāna Shāstra to enable us to make a thorough comparison between the contents of the two texts.

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The whole work is divided into eight books. The first book deals with the Lokuttara-dhamma-vaggo, Ñāna-vaggo, Puggala-vaggo, Ahirikānotappa-vaggo, Rūpa-vaggo, Anattha-vaggo, Cetanā-vaggo, and a vaggo on love and reverence. In the Lokuttara-dhamma-vaggo the following questions are raised : what is the Lokuttara-dhamma?—to what category does it belong? Why is it the highest in the world? In this vaggo the relation of the Lokuttara-dhamma to twenty-two Sakkāya-diṭṭhis is also discussed. In the Ñāna-vaggo, the cause of knowledge, memory, doubt, six causes of stupidity by the Buddha, cessation of the causes, etc., are discussed at length. In the Puggala-vaggo the question at issue is how many of the twelve Paṭiccasamuppādas¹ belong to the past, present, and future Puggala. It also deals with the question of final liberation. The Ahirikānotappa-vaggo deals with ahirikā (shamelessness), anottappa (fearlessness of sinning), akusalamūla (the increasing demerits), etc. In the Rūpa-vaggo it is said that the rūpadhamma going through birth and death is impermanent. The Anattha-vaggo says that all the practices of austerity are in vain, for the things desired cannot be secured. The Cetanā-vaggo deals with thinking, reflecting, awakening (vitakka), observing (vicāra), unsettled mind (uddhacca), ignorance (avijjā), arrogance (māna), hardness of heart, etc.

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The vaggo on love and reverence deals with respect out of love (pema), respect out of honour (gārava), two sorts of honour (gārava), wealth (dhana), and religion (dhamma), strength of the body, nirvāṇa, the ultimate end, etc. The second book deals with the bond of human passions. It explains demerits (akusalamūla), 3 saṃyojanas (bonds or fetters), 5 views, 9 saṃyojanas, 98 anusayas with their details, scopes, and results; sakadāgāmin (those who come but once) and the germs of passions still left in the Sakadāgāmins. It also deals with moral defilements arising in men from views and from practices, 4 fruits of sāmañña, death and rebirth, and regions having no rebirth. It then explains causes of moral defilements, single cause and double cause; order of various thoughts and thought connected with indriyas; knowledge that can destroy the causes (prahāṇa-parijñā) and realisation of the destruction (nirodha-sākṣātkāra). The third book deals with sekha and asekha; five kinds of views, right and wrong; the knowledge of another's mind (paracittañāṇa); the cultivation of knowledge, and knowledge attained by the ariya-puggalas. The fourth book explains wicked actions, erroneous speech, injury to living beings (hiṃsā), demonstrable and undemonstrable, and actions bearing the selfsame results. The fifth book deals with pure organs (indriyas), conditions of the combination of elements, visible truth and internal products.

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The sixth book explains the twenty-two indriyas, all forms of becoming (bhava), sixteen kinds of touch, primal mind and mind that is primarily produced. It also explains whether the faculties of organs are conditioned by the past. The seventh book deals with all conditions of the past, meditations on causes and conditions in the dhyāna heavens, ten forms of meditation (kasiṇāyatana), eight kinds of knowledge, three forms of samādhi, five states of anāgāmins, and states of the sakadāgāmins. The eighth book deals with (2) Saṅgīti Paryāya by Mahā-Kauṣṭhila. According to the Chinese authorities the work is attributed to Sāriputra himself, but Yasomitra, a Sarvāstivāda teacher, attributes it to Mahā-Kauṣṭhila who was a Sarvāstivāda teacher of great fame. The work was translated into Chinese by Hiuen Tsang in the middle of the 7th century A.D. By an analysis of the work Prof. Takakusu has established its correspondence with the Saṅgīti Sutta of the Dīgha Nikāya. The arrangements in both the works are similar. The order in the Pāli texts, however, is more cumbrous and thus it is evident that the Sarvāstivāda Abhidhamma text is anterior to the Pāli one. This work deals with eka-dharmas (all beings living on food, etc.), dvi-dharmas (mind and matter—nāma-rūpa), tri-dharmas (three akusala-mūlas ; three kusalamūlas ; three duścaritas—kāya, vāk, manas ; three dhātus ; three pudgalas ; three vedanās ; three vidyās, etc.), catur-dharmas (four āryasatyas ; four Śrāmaṇyaphalas ;

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four Smṛtyupasthānas, etc.), pañca-dharmas (five skandhas ; five sorts of attachments to nativity, home, love, luxury, religion ; five balas ; five indriyas ; five gatis ; five nīvaraṇas, etc.), sad-dharmas (six vijñānakāyas ; six vedanākāyas ; six dhātus ; six abhijñās ; six anuttara dharmas, etc.), sapta-dharmas (seven sambodhyaṅgas ; seven anuśayas ; seven dhanas ; seven adhikaraṇasamathadharmas, etc.), aṣṭa-dharmas (eight ārya-mārgas ; eight pudgalas ; eight vimuktis ; eight lokadharmas, etc.), nava-dharmas (nine abodes of beings—sattvāvasas), and dasa-dharmas (ten kṛtsṇāyatanas ; ten aśaikṣa-dharmas).

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¹ Mrs. Rhys Davids has ably discussed this subject in Hastings' Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics.

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(3) Prakaraṇapāda by Sthavira Vasumitra.—Vasumitra was one of the greatest teachers of the Sarvāstivāda school and was a contemporary of Kanishka. This work treats of the five dharmas (rūpa, citta, caittadharma, citta-viprayukta-saṃsdhātu; seven bodhyaṅgas; twenty-two indriyas, twelve āyatanas, five skandhas; and twelve pratītya-samutpādas.

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(7) Prajñapti-śāstra by Ārya Maudgalyāyana.—There is nothing in common with the Pāli Puggala-paññatti but in name. It was translated into Chinese by Hiuen Tsang. In this work instruction about the world (loka-prajñapti) belonging to the Abhidharma-Mahāśāstra is given. This work treats of the seven ratnas of a Cakravarttī king; 32 signs of Buddha and Cakravarttī king; the Buddha’s teaching of three moral defilements—rāga, dveṣa, and moha; tṛṣṇā (love), a great cause of life; causes of drowsiness, arrogance, wickedness, talkativeness, insufficiency in speech, inability in meditation; difference of mental faculties between the Buddha and his disciples; eight causes of rain; cause of a rainy season, etc. These contents go to show that this treatise has a close correspondence with the Pāli Lakkhaṇa Suttanta of the Dīgha Nikāya, Vol. III.

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Published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 38, Great Russell Street, London, W.C. 1, and Printed by P. Knight, Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta.

Cites (7)