ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་སྡེ་སྣོད། | Glossary of Terms

A collection of canonical texts with the purpose of presenting the Buddha’s teachings in a precise, systematic, and definitive way, using highly technical and impersonal descriptions and language. There are two traditional definitions of the word abhi-dharma depending on the sense of the prefix abhi-: (1) [teachings] pertaining to (abhi-) the Dharma, and (2) higher or superior (abhi-) Dharma. The second definition may point toward the fact that the mature Abhidharma is a body of Buddhist doctrine as well as a body of literature, not a mere reformulation and systematization of the Buddhist sūtras (see also the definition given in Abhidh-k-bh(P), 2, where Vasubandhu seems to employ both definitions in order to distinguish an ultimate and a conventional meaning of the word abhidharma). The word piṭaka means “basket” but is used in its derived or transferred sense “collection of canonical scriptures.” The piṭakas are usually Vinaya, Sūtra, and Abhidharma.