Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma Bhikkhu KL Dhammjoti 法光 The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong 2015 First Edition: Colombo 2002 Second Revised Edition: Colombo 2004 Third Revised and Enlarged Edition: Hong Kong 2007 Fourth Revised Edition: Hong Kong 2009 Fifth Revised Edition: Hong Kong 2015 Published in Hong Kong by The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong 2015 © Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti All Rights Reserved This publication is sponsored by the Glorious Sun Charity Group, Hong Kong (旭日慈善基金). ISBN: 978-988-99296-5-7 CONTENTS CONTENTS Preface v Abbreviations xi Chapter 1 Abhidharma – Its Origin, Meaning and Function 1 1.1. Origin of the abhidharma 1 1.2. Definitions of abhidharma 8 1.3. The soteriological function of the abhidharma 12 Chapter 2 The Ābhidharmika (/Ābhidhārmika) – Standpoint, Scope and Methodology 17 2.1. Fundamental standpoint of the Ābhidharmikas 17 2.2. Arguments for Abhidharma being buddha-vacana 19 2.3. Scope of study of the Ābhidharmikas 20 2.4. Ābhidharmika methodology for dharma-pravicaya 28 Chapter 3 The Sarvāstivāda School and Its Notion of the Real 63 3.1. History of the Sarvāstivāda 63 3.2. Sarvāstivāda vs. Vibhajyavāda 67 3.3. Proof of the thesis of sarvāstitva in VKŚ, MVŚ and AKB 69 3.4. Sautrāntika critique of the epistemological argument 73 3.5. Notion of the real/existent 74 3.6. The various components of the Sarvāstivāda school 84 Chapter 4 The Abhidharma Treatises of the Sarvāstivāda 93 4.1. Seven canonical treatises 93 4.1.1. Treatises of the earliest period 96 4.1.2. Later, more developed texts 102 4.2. Development of the Sarvāstivāda manuals 116 4.2.1. Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā (MVŚ) 116 4.2.2. Development of the more concise manuals 121 Chapter 5 Sarvāstitva and Temporality 131 5.1. The big debate 131 5.2. Time and temporality 132 i SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA 5.3. The four main theories of the Sarvāstivāda 133 5.4. Comments on the four theories and Frauwallner’s observations 135 5.5. The Vaibhāṣika theory of kāritra 141 5.6. Saṃghabhadra’s theory — an innovation? 147 5.7. Bhāva, svabhāva and the dharma 150 Chapter 6 Theory of Causality I: The Six Causes 161 6.1. The 6 hetu-s, 4 pratyaya-s and 5 phala‑s — their correlation 161 6.2. Special importance of the doctrine of causality for the Sarvāstivāda 164 6.3. Definitions of the six causes 168 6.4. Saṃghabhadra’s defense of simultaneous causation 178 6.5. Explanations in the Yogācāra system 179 6.6. Summary of the notion of the co-existent cause given in the various sources 181 6.7. Doctrinal importance of the co-existent cause for the Sarvāstivāda 182 6.8. Conclusion 186 Chapter 7 Theory of Causality II The Four Conditions and the Five Fruits 191 7.1. Doctrine of the four conditions (pratyaya) 191 7.2. Differences between a cause and a condition 200 7.3. Five fruits (phala) 202 7.4. The ‘grasping’ and ‘giving’ of a fruit 208 Chapter 8 The Category of Matter (rūpa) 213 8.1. General nature and definition of rūpa 213 8.2. Primary and derived matter 219 8.3. ‘Atomic’ theory 226 Chapter 9 The Categories of Thought and Thought-concomitants (citta-caitta) 239 9.1. Definitions of citta, manas and vijñāna 239 9.2. Thought-concomitants (caitta/caitasika) 241 9.3. Development of the theory of caitasika 241 9.4. Sarvāstivāda doctrine of conjunction (saṃprayoga) 254 9.5. Dārṣṭāntika and Sautrāntika Doctrine of successive arising 255 9.6. Difference in functionality between citta and caitta-s 257 9.7. Difference between the first five and the sixth consciousnesses 260 9.8. Original nature of thought 262 ii CONTENTS Chapter 10 Theories of Knowledge 273 10.1. Sarvāstivāda realism: From epistemology to ontology 274 10.2. Various modes of operation of prajñā 279 10.3. Reflexive knowledge and omniscience (sarvajñā) 286 10.4. Prajñā of the Buddha and the two yāna-s 289 10.5. Instrument of perception 295 10.6. Important Sarvāstivāda thought‑concomitants involved in discriminative cognition 300 10.8 Ontological status of the objects of knowledge 302 10.8. Direct perception, ākāra, sākāra-vijñānavāda, nirākāra-jñānavāda and the Sarvāstivāda 304 Chapter 11 The Category of the Conditionings Disjoined from Thought (citta-viprayukta-saṃskāra) 323 11.1. Doctrinal evolution of the category 323 11.2. Definition of conditionings disjoined from thought in later texts 330 11.3. Classic list in AKB 331 Chapter 12 Defilements 361 12.1. The goal of spiritual praxis and the abandonment of defilement 362 12.2. Kleśa and anuśaya as the generic terms for defilement 365 12.3. Other doctrinal terms denoting defilements 375 12.4. Defilements as the root of existence 370 12.5. Ābhidharmika investigation of defilements 372 12.6. Classification of defilements 374 12.7. Relationship between defilements and the mind 381 12.8. Operation of the defilements 384 12.9. Abandonment of defilements 388 12.10. Traces (vāsanā) of the defilements and distinction between the wisdom of a Buddha and of an arhat 402 Chapter 13 The Doctrine of Karma 415 13.1. Meaning and general nature of karma 415 13.2. Classification of karma 420 13.3. Informative (vijñapti) and non-informative (avijñapti) karma 421 13.4. Definition and intrinsic nature of informative and non-informative karma 423 13.5. Non-information as restraint, non-restraint and neither-restraint-nor-non-restraint 430 13.6. Paths of karma (karma-patha) 434 13.7. Rationale for the doctrine of non-informative karma 435 13.8. Role of the non-informative in the process of karmic retribution 438 iii SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA Chapter 14 Karma and the Nature of its Retribution 459 14.1. Karmic retribution as a Middle Way doctrine 459 14.2. Six causes affecting the gravity of a karma 459 14.3. Determinate and indeterminate karma 461 14.4. A karma that has been done, and one that has been accumulated 463 14.5. Projecting and completing karma-s 468 14.6. Karma in terms of pratītya-samutpāda 469 14.7. Past karma of the arhat-s and the Buddha 475 14.8. Man’s karma and his environment, and collective karma 477 Chapter 15 The Path of Spiritual Progress 485 15.1. Doctrine of gradual enlightenment 485 15.2. Preliminaries for the preparatory stage 487 15.3. Different stages of the path 493 15.4. Direct realization (abhisamaya), path of vision (darśana-mārga) and stream entry (srotaāpatti) 509 15.5. Non-retrogressibility of stream-entry 519 15.6. Path of cultivation (bhāvanā-mārga) 519 15.7. Attainment of the four fruits of the spiritual life 521 15.8. Out‑of‑sequence attainments 522 15.9. Retrogressibility of an arhat 523 Chapter 16 The Unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) Dharma-s 531 16.1. Three unconditioned dharma‑s of the Sarvāstivāda 531 16.2. Cessation through deliberation 535 16.3. Cessation independent of deliberation 547 16.4. Space 554 Select Bibliography 565 Glossary 581 Index 621 iv PREFACE PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION As stated in my preface to the first edition published in 2002, this book was originally intended as an outline of the Sarvāstivāda doctrines. It mainly grew out of the outlines and notes that I have given in the past years to my students at the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya. Some of these outlines were also distributed to students at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary when I served there as the Numata Professor of Buddhist Thought in winter, 2002. In response to the need of my students, I had also been elaborating on different parts of these outlines and notes at different times. The result was this book which now comes to be entitled “Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma”. Chapter Five on “Sarvāstitva and temporality” was adapted from an essay of mine which was first included in the appendix of my Entrance to the Supreme Doctrine (Colombo, 1998) as “The Theory of Sarvāstitva”, and subsequently slightly revised and published as “Sarvāstitva and Temporality: The Vaibhāṣika Defence” in the Journal of the Postgraduate of Pali and Buddhist Studies, vol. I, 1999. If some chapters appear more terse and succinct compared to others, it was because the original outlines were used at different times with somewhat different emphases for the different classes, and were not planned as a single project from the beginning. I would have liked to postpone and elaborate further on these outlines in the little leisure that I have, to improve on the material presented herein. However, in view of the fact that there is hardly any book available in English dealing comprehensively with the doctrines of the Sarvāstivāda, I have decided to bring out this publication at this juncture, in spite of its many imperfections. I look forward to the not too distant future when I shall be able to find sufficient time to offer a more carefully revised edition for the students of Abhidharma who I hope will find this book useful for their studies. In the past several years of my teaching, I have also discussed various Abhidharma controversies; and some of these discussions have been published in academic journals. It is my belief that these controversies can offer us much insight into the abhidharma thought system as a whole, and help us importantly to gain a proper perspective of the development in Buddhist thought in general – the period of the Abhidharma schools being one of the most creative phases of this development in India. I have, however, with one or two limited exception, refrained from incorporating these discussions into this book as most of them are rather lengthy.