vibhaga

Vibhaga is a Sanskrit term meaning division, part, section, or category. It derives from vi- ‘apart’ and bhaga ‘part’ and denotes a separation into distinct components within a larger whole. The word occurs across Indian religious and philosophical literature to indicate the classification or organization of material, topics, or ideas into defined parts. In many contexts it functions as a generic label for a text’s structure or for the scheme by which knowledge is arranged.

In Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions, vibhaga is used to describe the partition of a system of thought, ritual, or doctrine into discrete sections. In Theravada Buddhism, the term Vibhanga (often transliterated as vibhaga) is the title of the second book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, known as The Book of Analysis or The Book of Division. It presents systematic classifications of dhammas (phenomena), mental factors, and other elements to show their interrelations and conditionality.

The usage of vibhaga extends to grammar and literature as well, where it may indicate the division of a text into chapters or the categorization of material within a treatise. Transliteration varies by tradition, with vibhaga and vibhanga both encountered in Sanskrit and Pali sources. Overall, vibhaga remains a general term for any formal partition or categorization within a larger corpus.

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