by Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia, 2009)
This is the Tengyur’s main section on Metaphysics (ཆོས་མངོན་པ་, chos mngon pa, abhidharma). In total, eighteen Abhidharma commentaries in eleven volumes are included in the Degé Tengyur (D.4115-D.4132). Zhuchen classifies all of these works within the Hīnayāna tradition, regardless of when they were composed.
The first three titles (D.4115-D.4117) deal respectively with cosmology, the life of the Buddha, and karma, and are attributed to Maudgalyāyana and claimed to be part the corpus of the Sarvāstivāda (ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོད་པར་སྨྲ་བ་, thams cad yod par smra ba) School.
The next ten works (D.4118-D.4127) comprise the heart of the Abhidharma tradition as it was understood in Tibet, namely Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Metaphysics (ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་མཛོད་, chos mngon pa’i mdzod, abhidharmakośa) and its commentaries. Note that, as elsewhere, the Tibetan canons provide a verse text of the Treasury first (D.4118), and then the commentary of Vasubandhu (D.4119). Fully six commentaries follow (D.4120-D.4125), making the Treasury of Metaphysics one of the most commented upon works in the canon.
The fifth-century figure Skandhika’s Introduction to Abhidharma and its commentary (D.4126-D.4127) mark the end of the scholastic presentations of Abhidharma thought, though five works related to Abhidharma (D.4128-D.4132) can be found in the next section.
Literature: Karl H. Potter, ed., Buddhist Philosophy from 100 to 350 A.D, Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies vol. 8 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1999).