The Abhidhamma Pitaka is the third pitaka , or basket, of the Tipitaka (Pali; Sanskrit: Tripitaka), the canon of Buddhism. It contains commentaries on the other two pitakas and consists of seven sections as follow:

1. Dhamma Sangani (enumeration of qualities).
2. Vibhanga (exposition).
3. Katha Vatthu (bases of opinion).
4. Puggala Pannatti (on individuals).
5. Dhatu Katha (on relations of moral dispositions).
6. Yamaka (the pairs, that is, of ethical states).
7. Patthana (evolution of ethical states).

These have all been published in romanized Pali by the Pali Text Society, and have been translated into English as well. Scholars date these works from about 400 BC to about 250 BC, the first being the oldest and the third the latest of the seven.

The word dhamma (Sanskrit: dharma) has a variety of meanings, which can include "custom", "natural law", or "religious teachings", and abhidhamma is that which underlies or support dhamma. The Abhidhamma Pitaka expands, classifies, systematizes, and draws corollaries from the ethical doctrines laid down in the preceding collections.

Abhidamma can also refer to similar texts from schools other than Theravada. The only complete set of these that still exists concerns psychological ethics and was composed in Sanskrit by the Sarvastivadins, produced no later than the first century CE. Although the original Indian texts are lost, Chinese translations still exist.

See also

• shastra
• Sutta Pitaka
• Vinaya Pitaka

References

• Buddhist Psychology, Caroline Rhys Davids , (London, 1900)
• "On the Abhidhamma books of the Sarvastivadins", by Professor Takakusu, in Journal of the Pali Text Society, 1905.