Sarvastivada

We will be exploring the Abhidharmasamuccaya, a text that belongs to the later development of Buddhism. Early Buddhism is known as Theravadin or Hinayana Buddhism. Later Buddhism is known as Mahayana Buddhism. It has two schools: Madhyamika, the school of the middle way, and Yogacara, the practitioners of yoga. Yoga, in this case, has very little to do with physical dexterity, with how you can twist your arms or fiddle your toes. It is very much related with learning how to meditate properly and relate to one's own mind, with trying to understand the sort of mental states we go through in meditation and so on. The Abhidharmasamuccaya presents that kind of overall structure, in the fullest sense.

Abhidharma Kosa Bhasyam. By Vasubandhu. Leo M. Pruden's landmark translation of Vasubandhu's encyclopedic treatment of the Abhidharma from the French of Louis de La Vallee Poussin is a stunningly meticulous work of scholarship. In the marvelous setting of a high-quality hardcover edition, it displays Professor Pruden's uncompromising dedication to bringing a complete, accurate and well-annotated rendering of the crown jewel of Abhidharma compilations into English.

This volume deals with the Sarvastivada school of Buddhism, the major philosophical school of Hinayana. First a general outline is given of the school's origin in the (Indian) Buddhist synods. Part one ends with a general survey of Sarvastivada literature. In the actual corpus the philosophical texts of Sarvastivada are treated in detail. The organization of the work follows the geographical spread of Sarvastivada. In these parts special emphasis is laid on the Central Asian history of the school, as well as on how the school eventually reached China (Abhidharma and Kosa Schools).