Theravada Abhidhamma

Greetings!

Does anyone have some good references to lesson #9, Theory of Causation? This one is tripping me up a bit, as it seems to be making the topic of dependent arising more complex. Maybe this is to account for the other theories within the Abhidhamma framework? Any additional reading materials would be appreciated.

Cheers!

-PHIL

Pls, specify the difficult part

Dear Phil
Which part of it is difficult for you? If you specify it, I probably could find something useful. Otherwise the topic is very extended and contains various aspects of the dependent co-arising doctrine.

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What is the motivation?

Hi Karmachoephel,

Thanks for your offer. I think what I'm struggling with is simply the motivation to develop the theory of causation literature. We already have good information and doctrines from Early Buddhism including Anatta, Paticcasumupadda, and Karma. Why create more complex descriptions and such? I think I have an okay understanding of the information, I'm just missing the motivation.

Cheers!

-PHIL

Philosophical tradition

I’ve got your point. In fact, many tenets of Buddhism (at least early Buddhism) seem to be simple descriptions of everyday realities from the viewpoint of Buddhism. However, there has been a tendency for preoccupation with sophisticated and detailed philosophical discussions in the philosophical circles of ancient India. So undoubtedly, later Buddhist philosophers started such debates according to the common traditions of that era and gradually developed a complex philosophical system. The tradition of dividing the universe into systematically arranged ontological entities is not something unique to Buddhism and we can easily observe it within other traditions including Samkhiya and etc. Whether such “taxonomy” is part of the core teachings of Buddha is debatable, and although according to the Pali scriptures, Buddha himself uses such ontological entities in his teachings he uses them in a more practical way to explain soteriologically useful concepts. There are many sources which is useful in studying philosophical concepts of Buddhism, including Paul Williams works, “the Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism” and Stcherbatsky’s famous work Buddhist Logic, however, one should keep in mind that no work is perfect and the possibility of the occurrence of misconceptions in them cannot be excluded. I should add a disclaimer to this: what is said is only my opinion and not necessarily true.

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Thanks

Many thanks for your opinion and insight into the development of the literature. It has helped to ease my mind.

-PHIL