The Theravāda Abhidhamma

Its Inquiry into the Nature of Conditioned Reality

By:  Y. Karunadasa

This volume examines the Abhidhamma perspective on the nature of phenomenal existence. It begins with a discussion of the dhamma-theory (the theory of real existents) which provides the ontological foundation for the Abhidhamma philosophy. It then explains the category of the nominal and the conceptual as the Abhidhamma’s answer to the objects of common-sense realism. Among the other topics discussed are the theory of double truth, analysis of mind, theory of cognition, analysis of matter, the nature of time and space, the theory of momentary being, and conditional relations. The volume concludes with an appendix whose main purpose is to examine why the Theravāda came to be known as Vibhajjavāda, ‘the doctrine of analysis’.

Y. Karunadasa, Ph.D. (London), Ph.D. Honoris Causa (Mahamakut), D. Litt. Honoris Causa (Kelaniya), is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Kelaniya and a former Director of its Postgraduate Institute of Pāli and Buddhist Studies. He has taught at the University of London, the University of Toronto, and the University of Calgary. At present he is a Visiting Professor at the University of Hong Kong. Among his published works are The Buddhist Analysis of Matter and Early Buddhist Teachings.