Chapter VI CONCLUSION

In the conclusion of this thesis, a summary of the preceding chapters is presented. The observations by the researcher are made from four perspectives in this chapter:

VI.1. A summary of the previous chapters and concluding remarks

The Buddha says: ―Whoever sees dependent origination sees the ; whoever sees the dharma sees dependent origination.‖252 Dependent Origination (pratītya-samutpāda) is an important religious aspect of the Buddha‘s enlightenment. When the five monks heard the Buddha‘s preach, his first sermon and heard about the , they saw the dharma and realized the pratītya-samutpāda. The term dharma comes from the root ‗dhṛ‘ which means ‗to hold or keep‘. From that root ancient up to now, the meaning of this term does not change. It thus was applied to the ideas and norms that maintained the social and moral order. Besides, the dharma is known as good, virtue, and truth, from ancient times in India the term ‗dharma‘ was used to refer to the customs and duties observed by people, in other words, to the social order. In , the term dharma not only described with all these meanings

252 ―Yo paṭiccasamuppādaṃ passati so dhammaṃ passati; yo dhammaṃ passati so paṭiccasamuppādaṃ passatīti.‖ Mn. i. 191. Mahāhatthipadopamasutta (tr.) PTS. reprint 2004, Vol. 1, p. 237.

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but also described doctrines (Buddha‘s teachings) in Sūtra-piṭaka, events, phenomena, everything as well as states operates of body, matter (rūpa) and mind, mental (, caitta) in -piṭaka.

The nature of dharma is emptiness (śūnyatā), dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda), (anitya), suffering (duḥkha) and no- self (). The Buddha, Dharma (Buddha‘s teachings), and the Saṅgha (community of believers) is the Three Jewels () to which Buddhists go for . The term dharma in the plural is used to describe the interrelated elements that create the empirical world. Firstly, dharma, which is described in Buddhist terms are the teachings of the Buddha, duty, law, doctrine and things, events, phenomena, everything. At the same time it refers to the truth or to nirvāṇa that is shown through the teaching of the Buddha. Secondly, meaning of dharma occurs when the term is used in the sense of cause (hetu), as in good or evil . The third meaning of dharma is ‗characteristic‘ (guṇa or laskṣana). And finally, the dharma used as meaning ‗thing‘ is peculiar to Buddhism. The dharma in the Buddha‘s teachings realized in his enlightenment is included in this usage. When the Buddha realized enlightenment, he is understood nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is truth and real existence. In the sense that it really exists, nirvāṇa is included as a dharma. Generally speaking, in Buddhism, the number of dharma is not fixed. Nor is the term dharma limited to just the basic elements of existence. Buddhism tried to explain individual existence through theories about dharmas and thus saw their existence as reduced to physical and mental dharmas. These dharmas were not substantial, eternally existing entities. They arose through dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda-dharma).

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In , objects and individuals as they appear to us are not considered dharmas. Rather, dharmas are the fundamental existents of which phenomena (such as objects and individuals) are composed. For example, the five aggregates () of which a person is composed (form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness) are considered to be dharma. However, the aggregates of form (rūpa) and mental phenomena (saṃskāra) can be further classified and subdivided into additional dharmas. Rūpa refers to both the body and material objects. For the body, five dharmas referring to the five senses are listed: eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. Here the body refers to the basis of tactile sensations. Since this category includes all parts of the body, it is equivalent to the physical body. The other sense organs, such as the eye, all have the physical body as their base. Because it was felt that the physiological and mental aspects of the physical body could be explained through these five sense organs (), they were considered to be dharmas.

The dharma related to the mind was included in the category of mental formations (saṃskāra) when categorized according to the five aggregates. Such dharmas as act of attention (manaskāra), intellect (mati), and (smṛti) were also listed in this group. Attitudes such as belief (śraddhā) and assiduous striving (vīrya) were treated as having the power to influence the mind and thus were considered in this group. Defilements (kleśa) such as lust (rāga), hatred (pratigha), pride (māna), doubt (vicikitsā), and wrong views (dṛṣṭi) were dharmas. In addition, thirst (tṛṣṇā) and ignorance (avidyā) were considered to be dharmas because they had specific powers over the mind that could be distinguished from the powers of other dharmas. The identities of a number of different dharmas were determined using this type of

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reasoning. In some of the later passages in the Āgamas, dharmas were classified according to the five aggregates (skandhas), the twelve bases (āyatanas), and the eighteen elements (dhātus).

Various types of dharmas or elements of existence discussed within the abhidharma tradition have been reviewed above. The Sarvāstivāda school classified these dharmas in to five groups: form (rūpa), mind (citta), mental faculties (caitta), forces not concomitant with the mind (citta- viprayukta-saṃskārā), and unconditioned dharma (asaṃskṛta). Later, this classification system explained detail in the Abhidharmakośa. In this text, form, mind, mental faculties, and the force not concomitant with the mind; these four groups are called conditioned dharma (saṃskṛta). The fifth group is unconditioned dharma, which is contrasted with the first four, and the contents of each group of dharmas were definitive determined detail in the Abhidharmakośa, they are as follows: form (rūpa) consists of eleven dharmas, mind (citta) has one dharma, mental faculties (caitta) consists of forty six dharmas, forces not concomitant with the mind (citta-viprayukta- saṃskārā) consists of fourteen dharmas, and unconditioned dharma (asaṃskṛta) consists of three dharmas.

This research is continued with relationship of dharma in the Abhidharmakośa and Yogācāra texts. As we know, is an author of Abhidharmakośa and also as the one who co-founded the Yogācāra system with his brother Asaṅga. Almost all Buddhist scholars know the relation between Abhidharmakośa with Yogācāra (vijñānavāda) that is the development of dharma from 75 dharmas of Abhidharmakośa to 100 dharmas in Yogācāra of Vasubandhu. This is the development throughout stream flow of mind-consciousness from Sarvāstivāda of Hinayāna to Yogācāra of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Additionly, in the

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practical aspects of dharma with religious life should be understood the relevance of the theory of dharma to hetu, pratyaya, and . From this whole discussion, one can know the contribution of the theory of dharma to philosophy and psychology and the path of cultivation (Bhāvanā- mārga) self transformation through the understanding of dharma.

Although Vasubandhu wrote Abhidharmakośa from the point of of Vaibhāṣika, later finding the Vaibhāṣika position unacceptable he wrote his commentary (bhāṣya) on the same Abhidharmakośa from Sautrāntika point of view. Thus, in the Abhidharmakośa sources distinguish seventy-five dharmas in total, consists of seventy-two conditioned dharmas (saṃskṛta) and three unconditioned dharmas (asaṃskṛta), these three are not subject to the law of and so do not pass through the phases of production (), duration (), decay (jarā), and destruction (anityatā) which affects all conditioned phenomena.

Generally speaking, there are three points which we have to take into special consideration with regard to the Abhidharmakośa text. (1) The Abhidharmakośa occupies an important place in the history of the Sarvāstivāda abhidharma literature. (2) It is related to the development of Indian Buddhist thought in Mahāyāna. (3) It has a special meaning as a text book of the fundamental doctrines of Buddhism. With regard to the first point, it may be said that the Abhidharmakośa completely systematized the Sarvāstivāda doctrine. It also marked an advance in Sarvāstivāda doctrine and it introduced Sautrāntika views. Besides, it is also corresponds with exposition of the Pāli abhidhamma in of Theravādins.

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VI.2. The Contribution of the Abhidharmakośa to the Buddhist Philosophy of Dharma

The history of the Buddhist Philosophy was brightly marked by the appearance of the work Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu. The work is an encyclopedia of Buddhist Philosophy and it was written originally from the point of view of the Vaibhāṣika, branch of the Sarvāstivāda school, which was dominant in Kashmir.

Abhidharmakośa is not only mere collection of the important principles and doctrines but also an analysis of dharma in Sūtra-piṭaka and Abhidharma-piṭaka. Especially, in Abhidharma-piṭaka the important principles and doctrines are intertwined in such a way that the teaching of Lord Buddha can easily be explained and explicate. Hence, it could be said that Abhidharmakośa is not a random selection but it is that kind of collection in the Abhidharma-piṭaka, which provides a wide horizon to the Buddha‘s teachings. So it can be said that Vasubandhu‘s Abhidharmakośa is a critical study of Abhidharma-piṭaka.

Abhidharmakośa‟s importance is located in the title itself (treasury house of dharma). The title Abhidharmakośa exhibited light on its content, kośa indicates a systematic compilation. The kośa apparently contains the valuable writing and doctrines of abhidharma. In it Sūtra text is interpreted with a specific point of view. It consists of Cosmology, Biology, Metaphysics, Psychology, Ethics, and Religion. These topics are discussed with a view to comprehend the nature of human being and his action. Especially, the last chapter (the ninth chapter of Abhidharmakośa) treats of the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness (denies a permanent soul) that should be followed by all Buddhist schools. It showed that Vasubandhu was very broad minded and careful in his thought, and he did

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not hesitate to take the tenets of any school other than his own when he found excellent reasoning in them.

The concept of dharma in Abhidharmakośa not only describes every phenomenon in the world, but also describes states of physiological activity of human. It is pointed out earlier that Vasubandhu wanted to make a human life happy. Similarly, it is also pointed out that Vasubandhu‘s analysis of suffering and nirvāṇa revolves around the nature of a human, the nature of external world and man‘s knowledge of the external world. Vasubandhu believed that the proper understanding of the nature of dharma will lead to nirvāṇa. Now the problem is how do we relate the nature of dharma with the nature of human, with the nature of external world and with man‘s knowledge of the external world? Vasubandhu solved this issue by elaborating the nature of dharma in his Abhidharmakośa.

We have discussed the phenomena of dharma in the Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu, viz., that of feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), consciousness (vijñāna) and impression (saṃskāra), and we have tried to study them, in so far as it is permissible, from the standpoint of modern psychology, including experimental psychology and ―depth‖ psychology and physical. It is pointed out again that the study of the Abhidharmakośa is a basic and complete exposition of the philosophy of Buddhism. It is concerned not only with the above four internal phenomena, vedanā, saṃjña, vijñāna, and saṃskāra called (composition); but also with a fifth phenomena as well called rūpa skandha, which is the external phenomena.

Thus, the Buddhist philosophy is concerned with all the five aggregates (pañcaskandhas), and according to it, as we should recall, the

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skandhas are not mere elements or components, but each of them is a composition or formation made up of all the elements. The entire world is thus made up of these compositions, classed, for our convenience, into the internal and external, or as the compositions of nāma (name) and rūpa (form). As studies of psychology, we have pursued so far the study of the internal phenomena (nāma); but the rūpa skandha also, as the kośa describes it, is not without concern for us. For the kośa is a deal with the four categories of matter, life, mind and individual as rūpa, jīvita, and pudgala respectively. These categories are discussed in relation to their birth (jāti), duration (sthiti), decay (jarā) and impermanence (anityatā) or emptiness (śūnyatā). Each of these categories is held to be a composite pattern of various psychophysical potential units as dharma or real a technical term which has to be carefully apprehended by all studies of the kośa. Each of these categories again is a relative composition of the past, present and future possibilities. So the kośa presents each category in its elementary phase as a composition of dharma in its complexity as a skandha; in its ethical nature as ārya-pudgala; and in its momentary existence as a synthesis of the past, present and future.

The development of principles and thoughts of Mahāyāna has close relation with the Abhidharmakośa system and the Vijñaptimātratā philosophy, one of the two main philosophical systems of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. From the Sautrāntika‟s point of view, Abhidharmakośa is regarded as a bridge between Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna. In this way, the Abhidharmakośa presents itself as an introduction to or a forerunner of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. It was the first time in the Buddhist philosophical thought that the Buddhist Psychology and Cosmology were systematized by the system of the 75 dharmas in the Abhidharmakośa. Afterwards,

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based on it (this system of dharmas), the theory of the 100 dharmas of the Vijñānavāda came into existence. We can learn far more from the Abhidharmakośa with its commentary about the doctrine of ancient Buddhist Schools than other works.

Understanding of dharma in the Abhidharmakośa is the only door of entrance to the philosophy of Hīnayāna and background to the study of the philosophy of Mahāyāna. The Abhidharmakośa is a repository of the principal abhidharma works of the Sarvāstivādins. It has systematized and given a definite form to establish the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma-piṭaka.

Therefore, the researcher has chosen the Abhidharmakośa as the main source of this research because this is the fundamental text of Sarvāstivāda, which held as the supreme authority by the orthodox Sarvāstivādins. This text is in effect an encyclopedia of ancient Buddhist doctrines held by the various Abhidharma schools as well Buddhist masters. For this reason, the researcher makes every effort to carefully study numerous lengthy passages from it, which in itself is hopefully a humble contribution of this thesis. An analysis of the very rich content in these two texts (kārikā and bhāṣya) pertaining to meditative praxis serves to confirm hypothesis that Abhidharma is intertwined with meditative praxis for a research into which the Abhidharmakośa in particular as well as other abhidharma works the valuable source books.

VI.3. Advantages and challenges in the research of the topic

As is normal with most research done within a specific timeframe, this work necessarily has its own difficulties. Firstly, due to the lack of other early Buddhist sources, the work is focused mainly on the source. Meanwhile, most of Sanskrit source is lost, the majority of the works of

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Sarvāstivāda in Sanskrit are translated again from Chinese books. The Chinese Āgamas are also studied as an additional source to substitute the lost Indian texts of other Buddhist schools. Secondly, even though the work attempts to investigate thoroughly the early Buddhist sources, there is still early Buddhist material - especially the fragmentary manuscripts - which is currently not accessible. This needs to be left for future studies. Thirdly, as stated above, the work takes almost exclusively the philosophy embedded in the Sanskrit Canon as being representative of early Buddhist thought. The reason for this is the high degree of correspondence between the early texts of different schools, which suggests the authenticity of the teaching recorded in the Sanskrit Canon, as well as the evidence indicating its early date that may go as far as the pre-sectarian period. Further studies may perfect this interpretation of early Buddhist dharma through the full supplement of philosophy embedded in other early . Finally, as the issues in question are complex, the clarifications in this work would certainly appear insufficient in certain respects. In that regard, future studies may help to fill in the gaps, left by the present study.

In addition, this research heighlights consequence of the studies done by studying the text employment of the information provided in the Sanskrit Canon. Further research may help to construct a more complete picture regarding dharma in Abhidharmakośa with the information provided in the sarvāstivādin texts of other early Buddhist schools.

The researcher in the present thesis have selected the Sarvāstivāda school for the obvious reason that it was the school that had exerted the greatest influence on the development of not only the Abhidharma schools as a whole, but also on the Mahāyāna tradition. In spite of the historical importance of the Sarvāstivāda school, up to now only a comparatively

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very small number of full-scale researches on its doctrines and history have appeared in Western languages. The reason is twofold: (1) Most of the school‘s Canonical as well as commentarial texts are now extant only in classical Chinese, therefore it is inaccessible to most Western scholars. (2) Most Buddhist scholars are unaware of or simply overlook the fact that these texts contain a huge amount of material on dharma practices.

VI.4. Some proposesd for further research

The topic is hoped that, which this study could serve to encourage others to appreciate the Abhidharma teachings as primarily a study just like teachings in the Sūtra and the . This should enable us to acquire a correct perspective in the understanding of the development of Abhidharma in Indian Buddhist history. It is further hoped that humble attempt of the researcher could inspire other more competent scholars to pay more attention to the Abhidharmakośa and research more deeply into it for a better understanding of the ancient doctrines and methods of spiritual praxis preserved in the tradition of Sarvāstivāda school.

The researcher hopes that this thesis has provided yet another vindication of the position of Vasubandhu and his works as well as others that doctrinal elaboration in the Buddhist system. Many other aspects of the dharma still await thorough research, these include:

- A critical study of practising the dharma in Vijñānavāda - A critical study of practising the dharma in modern society - A comparative study of the concepts of the 75 dharmas and 100 dharmas in Hinayāna (Sarvāstivāda) with Mahāyāna (Vijñānavāda) Buddhism. - A study of relationship of dharma in the Abhidharmakośa and Yogācāra texts etc.

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Through the entire topic, we have observed that the concept of dharma in Abhidharmakośa not only describes every phenomenon in the world, but also describes states of physiological activity of human being. Therefore, understanding of the 75 dharmas in Abhidharmakośa is the process of analyzing the evolution of the physical and human psychology. However, the existence and lose of dharma are based upon the nature of dharma in Buddha‘s teachings are emptiness (śūnyatā), dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda), impermanence (anitya), suffering (duḥkha) and no-self (anātman). The appearance (existence) or disappearance (not existence) is followed four principles of life, which are related to their birth (jāti), duration (sthiti), decay (jarā) and impermanence (anityatā). Consequently, if we recognize the nature of dharma in Buddha‘s teachings, practice and apply them to the modern society, we will get more welfare and happiness in this life as well as in the next life.

My utmost wishes that this thesis might stimulate and encourage its readers into pursuing such further aspects of the dharma. Finally, I cited Buddha‘s message which he gave from his heart to all the people in the world. I think it is appropriate, especially in this era, when all suffering or happiness, peace or conflicts are caused in human beings by their mind. With pure thoughts, good speech, and right action, we can bring peace and happiness in the world. This is presented in as follows:

Mano pubbaṅgamā dhammā, mano seṭṭhā manomayā

Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā

Tato naṁ dukkhamanveti, cakkaṁ‟va vahato padaṁ ||1||

Mano pubbaṅgamā dhammā, manoseṭṭhā manomayā

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Manasā ce pasannena, bhāsati vā karoti vā

Tato naṁ sukhamanveti, chāyā‟va anapāyinī. ||2||253

(Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind- wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.)

253 Dhp. (kārikā 1 &2), pp. 41-42.

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