Informacje o kursie

Course Rationale

Throughout the history of development of Buddhist philosophy and scholaticism, the Abhidharma (Pāli: Abhidhamma) collection of texts sits at the center stage among the Three Baskets (Tripiṭaka) claimed to preserve the deepest terrains of the Buddha’s wisdom. As one of the earliest Abhidharma traditions, the Theravada (Pāli) Abhidhamma aims at comprehensively articulating and analyzing experiential realities and doctrinal points [Dharmā (Pāli: Dhammā)], offering a most systematic, fine-tuning guide for mastering Buddhist philosophy and meditation practice (mental cultivation, bhāvanā) toward liberative insight and realizing the ultimate freedom, the unconditioned Nirvana (Pāḷi: Nibbāna) element.  In modern times the Abhidharma philosophy has increasingly been recognized as carrying principal constituents of Buddhist psychophilosophy in light of its exhaustive system of analysis of the mentality-materiality (nāma-rūpa) operated hand-in-hand with the underlying conception/perception of reality shaped within the framework of conditionality and selflessness.

It was based on these over two millennia Abhidhamma texts that fueled the revitalization of mindfulness cum insight (Vipassanā) meditation in Burma in the early 20^th century. And through the skillful adaptation and popularization by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others in the last three decades, an adapted mindfulness-insight meditation technique has gradually developed and grown into an array of specific mindfulness-based therapies. Today mindfulness-insight meditation has been used in various physical and mental health conditions with voluminous scientific findings backing up their potential benefit.  

$Body CS$'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Despite this, the invaluable inheritance of Theravada Abhidhamma can indeed do much more than being simply a therapeutic domain. It provides a logical premise of ethical living, and a thoroughly practical guideline of applying discriminative wisdom to living skillfully that ultimately lands in happiness here and now, and hereafter.  For that, a good grasp of important Abhidhamma concepts is crucial.  It’s with this aim that this course is introduced and offered at UWest.