Abhidharmahṛdaya
Abhidharmahṛdaya (C. Apitan xin lun 阿毘曇心論), or "Heart of Abhidharma," is an early attempt at a "systematic presentation of abhidharma according to the Sarvāstivāda school."[1]
The treatise is attributed to Dharmaśreṣṭhin, who was from the Gandharan region of Central Asia.[1]
This text is no longer extant in Sanskrit, but survives in Chinese translation.[1] Four fasc.; T 1550.[2]
The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism states:
- A Sarvâstivāda Abhidharma work in 250 stanzas by *Dharmaśrī 法勝 (also reconstructed *Dharmaśreṣṭhin, *Dharmôttara). Translated by Saṃghadeva and Huiyuan (334–416) in 391 on Mt. Lu 廬山. Huiyuan wrote a preface to the text.
- An anonymous preface in Sengyouʼs Chu sanzang ji ji 出三藏記集 T 2145 records that Dao'an originally asked Kumārabuddhi 鳩摩羅佛提 to translate the text, but Kumārabuddhi turned out not to have the necessary expertise (Willemen xi-xii). It appears that a Tibetan version of the work may once have existed, but it is lost (Willemen xii), as is the Sanskrit.[2]
Erich Frauwallner regards this text as our oldest evidence for Sarvâstivāda doctrine; cited in Charles Willemen, Bart Dessein and Collett Cox, Sarvâstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 124 n. 454. However, Willemen, Dessein and Cox report that modern scholars usually consider the Abhidharmasāra contemporaneous with or immediately prior to Vibh, 174–175.[2]
Translation
- Charles Willemen, The Essence of Metaphysics (Abhidharmahṛdaya), Publications de l'Institut Belge des Hautes Études Bouddhiques, Serie 'Études des Textes' No. 4 (Brussells: 1975).[2]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. Abhidharmahṛdaya
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3
阿毘曇心論, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
