ABHIDHAMMA  , the name of one of the three Pitakas,_ or baskets of tradition, into which the Buddhist scriptures (see

BUDDHISM) are divided . It consists of seven works: 1 . Dhamma Sangani (enumeration of qualities) . 2 . Vibhanga (exposition) . 3 . Kathy Vatthu (bases of opinion) . 4 . Puggala Pannatti (on individuals) . 5 . Dhatu Kathy (on relations of moral dispositions) . 6 .

Yamaka (the pairs, that is, of ethical states) . 7 . Patthana (

evolution of ethical states) . These have now been published by the Pali Text Society . The first has been translated into English, and an abstract of the third has been published . The approximate date of these works is probably from about 400 B.C. to about 250 B.C., the first being the oldest and the third the latest of the seven . Before the publication of the texts, when they were known only by hearsay, the term Abhidlzamma was usually rendered "Metaphysics." This is now seen to be 'quite erroneous . Dhamma means the doctrine, and •Abhidlzamma has a relation to Dhamma similar to that of by-law to law . It expands, classifies, tabulates, draws corollaries from the ethical doctrines laid down in the more popular treatises . There is no metaphysics in it at all, only psychological ethics of a peculiarly dry and scholastic kind . And there is no originality in it; only endless permutations and combinations of doctrines already known and accepted . As in the course of centuries the doctrine itself, in certain schools, varied, it was felt necessary to rewrite these secondary works .

This was first done, so far as is at

present known, by the Sarvastivadins (Realists), who in the century before and after Christ produced a fresh set of seven Abhidlamma books . These are lost India, but still exist in Chinese translations . The translations have been analysed in a masterly way by Professor Takakusu in the article mentioned below . They deal only with psychological ethics . In the course of further centuries these books in turn were superseded by new treatises; and in one school at least,: that of the Maha-yana (great vehicle) there was eventually developed a system of metaphysics . But the word Abhidhamma then fell out of use in that school, though it is stillused in the schools that continue to follow the original seven books . See Buddhist Psychology by Caroline Rhys Davids (London, 1900), a translation of the Dhamma Sangani, with valuable introduction; "Schools of Buddhist Belief," by T . W . Rhys Davids, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1892, contains an abstract of the Kathy Vatthu; "On the Abhidlamma books of the Sarvastivadins," by Prof . Takakusu, in Journal of the Pali Text Society, 1905 . (T . W .

R .