Abhidharmadipa with Vibhasaprabha Vrutti

Author(s): P S Jaini
Publisher: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute

Page 82

Sautrantika and Abhidharmika 62 Their main contention must have been against the manner in which their opponents sought to establish it. The Abhidharmikas not only claimed authenticity for their own Abhidharma works but also superiority over the Sutras--the words of the Buddha, and consequently over the Sautrantikas.? They claimed for their works the exclusive title of 'paramarthadesana", relegating the Sutras to the realm of vyavahara. They accepted the Sutra formulas of the dharmas but presented them with significant changes, as for instance the panchangikamagga, the ekadasangika-patichcha-samuppada or the panchakajhana. In the interpretation of formulas they made additions of dharmas which were most probably not warranted by the Sutras. For instance, the inclusion of the asamkhata-dhatu in the nama-khandha and in the dhammayatana. They extended the scope of terms, as for instance of the vinnana or sparsa in the patichcha-samuppada formula, or of the dhamma and altha in the formula of patisambhidhas. They invented new dharmas as, for instance the haduya-vatthu or such kinds of the rupaskandha as lahuta, muduta etc., not treated in the Suttas. The Suttas speak of only six kinds of vinnanas. The 89 classes of vinnanas (as iliustrated in the Dhammasangani) are found only in the Abhidhamma. The Suttas describe the sankhara-khandha as six kinds of chetana, but the Abhidhamma enumerates fifty dhammas under the term sankhara, The classification of these sankharas into sabba-chitta-sadharana and such other groups is also found only in the Abhidharma, and especially in the commentaries. The theory of chitta-vithi suggested in the Vibhanga was also fully developed only in the Atthakathas. These new formulas, novel interpretations and latter additions introduced by the Abhidharmikas might have been unwelcome to the early Sautrantikas, the contemporaries of the Pali Abhidhamma. This is proved by their sustained opposition to the inflated list of categories formulated by the Vaibhashika school. The Theravadins had included only the chaitasika dharmas in the arskara skandha, but the Vaibhashikas added See Dhs A. I. 72.