Abhidharmas

Abhidharmas refers to a corpus of Buddhist scholastic literature that seeks to analyze experience into its most fundamental constituents, or dharmas. Produced by multiple early Indian Buddhist schools and later developed in East Asian and Tibetan traditions, the Abhidharma texts aim to present a precise, systematized account of phenomena—mental and physical—and their interrelations. The tradition distinguishes ultimate phenomena (dharmas) from conventional descriptions and uses this analysis to explain how experience arises, persists, and ceases.

A central method of the Abhidharmas is to catalog and define the basic constituents of experience, often divided into mental factors (cetasikas) and physical phenomena (rupas), and to explain their conditional relations and causal connections. The literature emphasizes impermanence, dependence on causes and conditions, and how mental factors contribute to cognition, ethics, and liberation. Different schools proposed varying classifications and numbers of dharmas, leading to diverse systems of analysis, while sharing the goal of clarifying the dynamics of mind and phenomena for scholarly and meditative purposes.

Key texts and figures vary by tradition. In Theravāda Buddhism, the Abhidhamma Pitaka presents a structured analysis of dhammas and their interactions. In the Sarvāstivāda and related schools, Abhidharma writings expanded on the ontological status and analysis of dharmas. Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa and its commentaries became influential in Mahāyāna Abhidharma, while Asanga’s Abhidharmasamuccaya helped disseminate Abhidharma ideas in East Asia. The tradition also influenced Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, contributing to metaphysical, epistemological, and contemplative debates.

Today, Abhidharma studies remain a major area in Buddhist philosophy and comparative religion, informing both historical scholarship and contemporary practice.