Reply To: Lokuttara kusala citta done with avijja?

#52781
Lal
Keymaster

I have explained the following in recent discussions and posts. It is good to summarize:

1. The Sutta Pitaka (and the Vinaya Pitaka) are entirely self-consistent.

  • However, one must be able to interpret the meanings of certain Pali words depending on the context. For example, in many cases, phassa, vedana, sankhara, cetana refer to samphassa, “samphassa-ja-vedana”, abhisankhara, sancetana.

2. The Buddha explained the Abhidhamma framework in summary to Ven. Sariputta. The material in the Abhidhamma Pitaka was not taught to the general public during the Buddha’s time. It took over two hundred years of the combined effort of the bhikkus of Ven. Sariputta’s lineage to complete the Abhidhamma Pitaka

  • While most of the material in the Abhidhamma Pitaka is self-consistent and compatible with the Sutta Pitaka, there are contradictions in the “Paticcasamuppada Vibhanga” that I discussed above.
  • In addition, one book in the Abhidhamma Pitaka seems to be missing (the one with analysis on hadaya vatthu and pasada rupa.) However, a Commentary on the Abhidhamma (translated into English by Bhikkhu Bodhi) has survived. Thus, we can “fill in gaps.”

3. In summary, we must always prefer the Sutta Pitaka (with the understanding that certain words must be interpreted based on the context, as I pointed out in #1 above.) 

  • While certain sections of the Abhidhamma Pitaka seem to have issues, it provides a good and self-consistent picture of Buddha Dhamma, starting with the fundamentals. Specific “knotty issues” in the Sutta Pitaka (including the issue with the correct interpretation of certain words pointed out in #1 above) can be easily resolved with Abhidhamma. The background of Abhidhamma is in “Abhidhamma – Introduction.”
  • We are lucky to have enough material remaining intact to resolve any issues. We must remember that the Tipitaka was orally transmitted for about 500 years before it was written down. Even that material was slowly getting lost when English civil servants in Sri Lanka started collecting pieces of the Tipitaka scattered over numerous temples in Sri Lanka. We may have lost even more material if it wasn’t for their efforts. I have described these issues in the “Historical Background” section. It takes an effort to understand the historical background over 2500 years.
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