The Dhammasaṅgaṇī (

Pāli Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

; ), also known as the ''Dhammasaṅgaha'', is a Buddhist scripture, part of the

Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During th ...

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

Buddhism. It is the first of the seven texts of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The book begins with a ''matika'' (

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

for "matrix"), which is a list of classifications of

dhamma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for ''d ...

s, variously translated as ideas, phenomena, states, patterns etc. The text lacks a

nidana ''Nidāna'' () is a Sanskrit and Pali word that means "cause, motivation or occasion" depending on the context. The word is derived from the Sanskrit prefix ''ni-'' (; "down", "into") plus the root ''dā'' (; "to bind"), forming the verb ''nidā'' ( ...

, though the commentaries record that attempts were made at creating one that depicted the Buddha preaching the Abhidhamma in one of the heavenly realms.

tradition attributes the Dhammasaṅgaṇī to Sariputra, who is held to have recited the Abhidhamma as part of the sutta texts at the

First Buddhist Council __NOTOC__ The First Buddhist council was a gathering of senior monks of the Buddhist order convened just after Gautama Buddha's death, which according to Buddhist tradition was c. 483 BCE, though most modern scholars place it around 400 BCE. T ...

, and regards it as one of the canonical teachings that Mahinda brought to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

from the empire of

Asoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

. Its title is abbreviated 'Dhs' in

scholarship.

Format

Following the ''matika'', the main body of the book is in four parts, as follows. * The first part deals with states of mind, listing and defining factors present in them. * The second deals with material phenomena, classifying them numerically, by ones, twos etc. * The third part applies the material in the first two to explaining the classifications in the matika. * The fourth does likewise, but in a different and sometimes more detailed way, and omitting the sutta method 2-fold classifications. This fourth part is mostly omitted from the old translation, only a few extracts being included. The new translation is complete. Rhys Davids (1900) divisions of the text are as follows:

Translations

Several English translations are available, including: * ''The Dhammasangani'', edited by Edward Müller, 1885, published for the Pali Text Society, by H. Frowde in London * ''A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics'', tr

C. A. F. Rhys Davids Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids (1857–1942) was a British writer and translator. She made a contribution to economics before becoming widely known as an editor, translator, and interpreter of Buddhist texts in the Pāli language. She was ...

, Royal Asiatic Society, 1900; reprinted with corrections,

Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The Pā ...

, Bristol *''Dhammasaṅgaṇī: Enumeration of the Ultimate Realities'', tr U Kyaw Khine, Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sasana, Rangoon, ?1996; reprinted by Sri Satguru Pubns, Delhi, 2 volumes

References

External links

Books for sale of the Dhammasangani (HTML)
{{Buddhism topics Abhidhamma Pitaka Theravada Buddhist texts

Format

Translations

See also

References

External links