The History of Buddhist Thought c11.s3.14

c11.s3.14

The commentary on another Abhidhamma book, the *Dhammasaṅgaṇi*, represents an objector as saying, “why is the *Kathāvatthu* accepted? Was it not fixed by the elder Moggaliputta Tissa more than 218 years after the enlightened Buddha had attained Nirvāṇa? Therefore reject it as being the utterance of a disciple.” Even the authority of a Council was not enough for this objector. The commentator meets this by admitting that the discussion of the doctrines was composed by Tissa following the method given by the Master, but that the list of doctrines discussed was first given by Buddha when he visited the Heaven of the thirty-three gods and taught the doctrine to his mother.