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A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha
This modern translation of the Abhidhammattha Sangaha (Manual of Abhidhamma) offers an introduction to Buddhism's fundamental philosophical psychology. Originally written in the 11th or 12th century, the Sangaha has served as the key to wisdom held in the Abhidhamma. Concisely surveyed are Abhidhamma's central themes, including states of consciousness and mental factors, the functions and processes of the mind, the material world, dependent arising, and the methods and stages of meditation. This presents an exact translation of the Sangaha alongside the original Pali text. A detailed, explanatory guide with more than 40 charts and tables lead readers through the complexities of Adhidhamma.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Bhikkhu Bodhi
96 books273 followersBhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk from New York City. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944, he obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College (1966) and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School (1972).
Drawn to Buddhism in his early 20s, after completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the late Ven. Ananda Maitreya, the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk of recent times.
He was appointed editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (in Sri Lanka) in 1984 and its president in 1988. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor, including the Buddha — A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (co-translated with Ven. Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1995), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha — a New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya (2000), and In the Buddha’s Words (2005).
In May 2000 he gave the keynote address at the United Nations on its first official celebration of Vesak (the day of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing away). He returned to the U.S. in 2002. He currently resides at Chuang Yen Monastery and teaches there and at Bodhi Monastery. He is currently the chairman of Yin Shun Foundation.
Drawn to Buddhism in his early 20s, after completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the late Ven. Ananda Maitreya, the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk of recent times.
He was appointed editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (in Sri Lanka) in 1984 and its president in 1988. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor, including the Buddha — A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (co-translated with Ven. Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1995), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha — a New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya (2000), and In the Buddha’s Words (2005).
In May 2000 he gave the keynote address at the United Nations on its first official celebration of Vesak (the day of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing away). He returned to the U.S. in 2002. He currently resides at Chuang Yen Monastery and teaches there and at Bodhi Monastery. He is currently the chairman of Yin Shun Foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 22, 2013
The Abhidhammattha Sangaha is one of the crown jewels of Pali Buddhist literature. It aims, no more, no less, than to offer a detailed account of human consciousness and experience, allowing the practitioner to distinguish, moment by moment, the wholesome from the unwholesome in his own mind. This clear knowing allows one to develop wholesome qualities and destroy unwholesome qualities. This cleansing process, called citta-vishuddhi (purification of mind) in the Pali tradition, ends in the complete "cooling" (Nibbana) of the fires of lust, hate and delusion.
Read it, reflect on it and experience the meaning of it in your own mind and body!
Read it, reflect on it and experience the meaning of it in your own mind and body!
April 24, 2024
Ācariya Anuruddha's Saṅgaha is in essence an ancient relational database which attempts to comprehend all of the objects of insight collected and systematized within the enormous basket of texts known as the Abhidhamma. It consists of little more than lists arranged in relation to other lists, always declaring the total number of objects in the resulting matrix, like the result of a relational database query. While purely textual, the source material yields immediately to tabulation, and the editors have included many useful tables. They have also included guided explanations of most every topic referenced in the Saṅgaha. This copious editorial material is the saving grace for the modern reader, rescuing a text that would otherwise remain profoundly obscure. It has the side effect of providing concise explanatory material for a great many technical concepts that one encounters in other texts. While it is a prodigious feat, I'm sure the editors would be the first to admit that it is grossly insufficient to confer clear understanding to the average reader of these broad and deep topics on its own.
The great advantage of the Saṅgaha's (and its source texts') approach lies in the delicate subtlety of the phenomena which are its objects. Descartes' application of mathematical ideas to the Cartesian plane was transformative because subtle ideas can only be grasped through the patterns formed by their mutual relations. Even in the suttas there is a great emphasis on lists of terms, which are transposed and compared over and over in various permutations. It is easy for a modern reader to imagine this is merely some literary fashion or artifact of oral transmission. But in fact it is a masterful way of energetically preserving the core meanings of the teaching and insulating them from the vagaries of time and translation. When we learn a second language, we acquire vocabulary which we imagine we can map cleanly on to that of our native language. Even if we know this is not the case in reality, it is the default and automatic position of our cognitive process, steeped in our native linguistic framework and habits. It is only through an enormous amount of exposure to words in combination and context that we discover how the true meanings are far more nuanced, divergent, and represent matrices of signification that may not be reduced to simple 1:1 relations. The Buddha's lists and their permutations carefully conserve a meaning, clear but not obvious, which transcends any language. The systematic approach of the Abhidhamma uncovers the grammar of this endeavor so that we can become sensitive to its purpose and results.
But like any presentation of grammar, the system itself cannot substitute for the vitality of the language in process. The attempt to conform the phenomenon to an analytical structure yields oddities and exceptions (even when disavowed or dissolved by dissection). The real measure of the practice is a recognition grasped by the wise, not conformation to the pedantry of the grammarian. For this reason, such a manual can be of great utility to the practitioner with an analytical bent, but care must be taken not to reify the system itself and allow it to become an obsctruction.
Aside:
While the sequence of the text is consistent with its analytic frame of development, I found it counter intuitive. The physicist might choose to develop a description of the universe beginning with quarks and atoms due to aesthetic or analytical concerns, but the practical history of experiment and inquiry begins with gross objects of experience: the falling apple, the burning fire, the visible stars. The Saṅgaha begins with cittas and cetasikas: the quarks and atoms of the mental universe. I think this is the rare book that may actually benefit from being read literally "backwards and forwards." The practitioner will find much more familiar material in the later Compendia on Categories and Meditation Subjects, but the Compendium on Conditionality sandwiched between them was totally impenetrable for me. In any case, I think there is no escaping frequent cross-reference if the novice is to attain any benefit.
The great advantage of the Saṅgaha's (and its source texts') approach lies in the delicate subtlety of the phenomena which are its objects. Descartes' application of mathematical ideas to the Cartesian plane was transformative because subtle ideas can only be grasped through the patterns formed by their mutual relations. Even in the suttas there is a great emphasis on lists of terms, which are transposed and compared over and over in various permutations. It is easy for a modern reader to imagine this is merely some literary fashion or artifact of oral transmission. But in fact it is a masterful way of energetically preserving the core meanings of the teaching and insulating them from the vagaries of time and translation. When we learn a second language, we acquire vocabulary which we imagine we can map cleanly on to that of our native language. Even if we know this is not the case in reality, it is the default and automatic position of our cognitive process, steeped in our native linguistic framework and habits. It is only through an enormous amount of exposure to words in combination and context that we discover how the true meanings are far more nuanced, divergent, and represent matrices of signification that may not be reduced to simple 1:1 relations. The Buddha's lists and their permutations carefully conserve a meaning, clear but not obvious, which transcends any language. The systematic approach of the Abhidhamma uncovers the grammar of this endeavor so that we can become sensitive to its purpose and results.
But like any presentation of grammar, the system itself cannot substitute for the vitality of the language in process. The attempt to conform the phenomenon to an analytical structure yields oddities and exceptions (even when disavowed or dissolved by dissection). The real measure of the practice is a recognition grasped by the wise, not conformation to the pedantry of the grammarian. For this reason, such a manual can be of great utility to the practitioner with an analytical bent, but care must be taken not to reify the system itself and allow it to become an obsctruction.
Aside:
While the sequence of the text is consistent with its analytic frame of development, I found it counter intuitive. The physicist might choose to develop a description of the universe beginning with quarks and atoms due to aesthetic or analytical concerns, but the practical history of experiment and inquiry begins with gross objects of experience: the falling apple, the burning fire, the visible stars. The Saṅgaha begins with cittas and cetasikas: the quarks and atoms of the mental universe. I think this is the rare book that may actually benefit from being read literally "backwards and forwards." The practitioner will find much more familiar material in the later Compendia on Categories and Meditation Subjects, but the Compendium on Conditionality sandwiched between them was totally impenetrable for me. In any case, I think there is no escaping frequent cross-reference if the novice is to attain any benefit.
August 31, 2018
This book exhaustively documents the key points of the technical and specific documentation of consciousness which constitutes the Abhidharma system of Theravada Buddhism. Bikkhu Bodhi provides terse commentary to explicate the even more terse source text, and include transliterated Pāli language to reference the source material directly. Since Abhidharma is the foundation of later Yogācāra and other Mahāyāna epistemology, reading this book is a great way for scholars and serious practitioners to get a sense of the sophisticated base of early buddhist thought.
February 19, 2018
Where to start?
This book was my introduction to the Abhidhamma, and all of the wonderful deep insights it holds. A true breakdown of the mechanics of consciousness. Bhikku Bodhi did an excellent job in helping the reader understand the subtle nuances of the translation from the original Pali texts. 10/10 Would definitely recommend this to any serious student of the Buddha's teaching!
This book was my introduction to the Abhidhamma, and all of the wonderful deep insights it holds. A true breakdown of the mechanics of consciousness. Bhikku Bodhi did an excellent job in helping the reader understand the subtle nuances of the translation from the original Pali texts. 10/10 Would definitely recommend this to any serious student of the Buddha's teaching!
June 16, 2019
Excellent explanation of the Abhidhamma, still got me reeling with all those lists and tables, though. My teacher recommends to read this book before embarking on the journey inside of discerning the ultimate realities.
December 17, 2018
A fine explainer for a dry topic. We who don't speak Pali or live the holy life have a lot to thank Bhikkhu Bodhi for.
Read
March 31, 2020Just great.
March 18, 2014
This book is very clearly written and very logical, but the logic it uses is one of its own. Much of what this book had to say was information that I had came across either through studying of Kant or information I had came across on my own. Some things, like the descriptions of cosmic days and years, or the descriptions of the tiniest allotments of time, seem to come out of nowhere and have no use. The discussions of heavens and Gods, and things of that sort, seem to be complete nonsense. All that aside, it is a book I appreciate a lot and think would benefit those interested in psychology and metaphysics.
May 18, 2016
Comprehensive Abhidhamma manual with incredibly helpful commentary
For anyone serious about understanding Abhidhamma but daunted by the volume and complexity of the literature, this is an incredibly helpful guide to understanding the material.
I cannot say I've memorized every list and pored over ever detail, but the summary sections for each have helped me begin to grasp the contents of each element.
For anyone serious about understanding Abhidhamma but daunted by the volume and complexity of the literature, this is an incredibly helpful guide to understanding the material.
I cannot say I've memorized every list and pored over ever detail, but the summary sections for each have helped me begin to grasp the contents of each element.
October 17, 2022
a determination of wisdom
is conscious continuum that ebbs and tides as...birth and its release which occur in due sequence, here is pointed-out its amplitude and undulation whos finality is only expressed in... corporealness... in its mental-material accord. consciousness 101 if you "will"
is conscious continuum that ebbs and tides as...birth and its release which occur in due sequence, here is pointed-out its amplitude and undulation whos finality is only expressed in... corporealness... in its mental-material accord. consciousness 101 if you "will"
April 1, 2015
Wonderful summary of Theravada Abhidhamma.
March 28, 2025
An intense, thorough overview of the Buddhist Abhidharma teachings for the serious student.
January 19, 2023
As someone learning Pali, I appreciated the original Pali included with the translation and the detailed explanatory notes.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews