The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies v7.c53.2

v7.c53.2

The *Dhātukāya* is traditionally placed as the fifth of the six *pādaśāstras* of the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma canon.¹ Chinese sources ascribe authorship to Vasumitra, although which of the five Vasumitras known to the Chinese tradition this might have been is never clarified.² Sanskrit and Tibetan sources declare Pūrṇa to be the author.³ Baiyu Watanabe, the Japanese scholar who has most carefully studied the text, has noted this discrepancy and finds the ascription to Vasumitra the more credible of the two. Nevertheless, he finally concludes that the text is most probably a composite product of a number of Abhidharmikas, which was then ascribed out of reverence to an earlier, well-known figure.⁴