Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.t4.31

v2.c35.s3.t4.31

ABHIDHARMA: The Abhidharma literature of the Sarvāstivādins is fairly extensive. Apart from the well-known seven texts belonging to this school and the famous Vibhāṣā-śāstras of the Vaibhāṣikas, this school had to its credit a few other philosophical works written by Vasubandhu, Saṃghabhadra, Dharmatrāta and Dharmottara. None of these valuable works are available in original Sanskrit except the *Abhidharmakośa-vyākhyā* of Yaśomitra. The *Vyākhyā* is no doubt a mine of information and contains most of the philosophical topics discussed in the Abhidharma literature of the Sarvāstivādins. It may also be regarded as a quintessence of the seven Abhidharma texts. For a general idea of the several texts at the present moment, we shall have to depend on the valuable analysis of the Chinese translations of the texts made by Prof. Takakusu in the *J.P.T.S.*, 1904-5 and the notes left by Prof. Louis de la Vallée Poussin in his introduction to the French translation of the *Abhidharmakośa*. With the publication of the *Vyākhyā* it has become possible to comprehend the terms and nomenclatures suggested by Takakusu on the basis of the Chinese renderings and form a better idea of the contents of the texts. The seven texts claimed by the Sarvāstivādins as constituting their original Abhidharmapiṭaka are as follows¹:—