A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s4.25

v2.c19.s4.25

Book V of the Abhidhammapiṭaka, the Kathāvatthu,³ "Subjects of Discourse," is that book which more than all others in the Abhidhammapiṭaka, is of importance from the point of view of the history of Buddhism, and is the only work of the canon which is ascribed to a definite author.⁴ As has already been mentioned above (p. 11 f.) it is said to have been compiled in connection with the Third Council, by Tissa Moggaliputta, the president of the Council. This tradition handed down by the chroniclers of Ceylon has been accepted as historical by prominent scholars, whilst others reject it as being entirely unauthentic.⁵ Now as the Kathāvatthu in its present form is a patch-work,¹ I think it quite possible that Tissa Moggaliputta might have compiled a Kathāvatthu in the 3rd century B. C., but that the work was augmented by additional portions every time a new heresy cropped up.² The work, as we have it at present, and as Buddhaghosa commentated it in the 5th century A. D., consists of 23 sections, each of which contains 8-12 questions and answers, in which the most diverse false views are presented, confuted and rejected. (The commentary tells us which schools taught these false doctrines.) We find such questions as, for instance, the following: