Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems

By Erich Frauwallner (1898 - 1974), translated from the German by Sophie Francis Kidd and under the supervision of Ernst Steinkellner.

247 Pages | Published in 1995 | Softcover | State University of New York | ISBN: 0791427005.

This is a translation of Frauwallner's Abhidarmastudien. It analyzes the literary traditions, doctrinal tendencies, and structural methods of the Buddhist Abhidharma Canon in order to expose the beginnings of systematic philosophical thought in Buddhism. Frauwallner's insights illuminate the path of meditation toward liberation, the development of Buddhist psychology, and the evolution of the Buddhist view of causality and the problem of time. He provides a clear explanation of the gradual development of Buddhist thought from its early doctrinal beginning to some of the most complex and remarkable philosophical edifices in history.

From Chapter I - 'The Earliest Abhidharma' (p. 3):

" The question as to how the system of the Sarvāstivāda originated, the last authoritative summary of which is represented by Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa and Saṃghabhadra's Nyāyānusāra, can be answered - at least as far as the earliest period is concerned - with reference to a wealth of material in the canonical Abhidharma works of this school. Thus, it is with these works that research must begin, and the following essay is an attempt to characterize these works, assign them a place in the overall development, and demonstrate the contribution of each particular work to this development. "