Abhidhamma Studies: Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time [Paperback]

Nyaponika Thera (Author), Bhikkhu Bodhi (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

The Abhidhamma expounds a revolutionary system of philosophical psychology rooted in the twin Buddhist insights of selflessness and dependent origination. In keeping with the liberative thrust of early Buddhism, this system organizes the entire spectrum of human consciousness around the two poles of Buddhist doctrine—bondage and liberation—the starting point and the final goal. It thereby maps out, with remarkable rigor and precision, the inner landscape of the mind to be crossed through the practical work of Buddhist meditation. In this book of groundbreaking essays, Venerable Nyanaponika Thera, one of our age's foremost exponents of Theravada Buddhism, penetrates the Abhidhamma to make its principles intelligible to the thoughtful reader of today. Innovative and rich in insights, this book does not merely open up new avenues in the academic study of early Buddhism. By treating the Abhidhamma as a fountainhead of inspiration for philosophical and psychological inquiry, it demonstrates the continuing relevance of Buddhist thought to our most astute contemporary efforts to understand the elusive yet so intimate nature of the mind.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications; 4 edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861711351
• ISBN-13: 978-0861711352
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, surprisingly enjoyable and practical., February 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Memphis, Tennesse, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abhidhamma Studies: Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time (Paperback)

Although my own practice centers around the Mahayana teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, recently I have found it very helpful to spend some time studying and practicing the older, more original approaches from the early days of the Buddhist tradition. In that regard, this small gem of a book has been quite a find! It deals, as the subtitle says, with "Buddhist explorations of consciousness and time" through a historical and philosophical account of the third set of the Buddha's teachings, the "basket" of wisdom. Although the subject matter is rigorously discussed from a philosophical standpoint, the book is anything but dry philosophy. Here, in enjoyable and fairly straightforward language, the author brings alive the fundamental Buddhist analytical and synthetical approaches for understanding of the nature of reality, and yet makes this potentially academic study reverberate wonderfully into such practical areas as the need for pure moral discipline, as well as pointing the way to more effective training in meditative tranquility and insight. I think this is one to keep on the bookshelf and re-read and study again from time to time as one's practice deepens, and it will also serve undoubtedly for me as a starting off point for a wealth of further studies, contemplations and meditations.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best book on Early Buddhist notions of self and mind., September 28, 2001

By 

James Ryan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abhidhamma Studies: Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time (Paperback)

Nyanaponika introduces Early Buddhist philosophical psychology in detail. He shows that the common and superficial understanding of the Buddhist theory of self - according to which the theory is a mere list of the parts of a self - is wrong and overlooks the Abhidhamma (probably because it is an abstruse section of the Buddhist canon). The theory includes an often overlooked but sophisticated and plausible description of functional relations amongst the parts of a self, and Nyanaponika shows this with astonishing vivacity. This shows that the Early Buddhist theory was an early scientific psychology of a functionalist sort: a monumental acheivement in human intellectual history. All the while, he skilfully shows how the theory is logically connected with the Buddhist notion of psychological self-refinement and nirvana. Still, Nyanaponika and the Abhidhamma ideas he explains seem at times to rely on a dubious empirical method: the introspections of ancient Buddhist masters (which may have included the Buddha himself) who wrote the Abhidhamma texts. As a consequence, some of the descriptions of the parts of the self and their functions seem vague or implausible. Also, although Nyanaponika is good at explaining the philosophical as well as the psychological, one might have liked a bit more discussion of the structure of what appears to be an underlying Buddhist argument that there is no self. The book is of interest to philosophers and psychologists.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not self, February 16, 2011

By 

Jim W. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Abhidhamma Studies: Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time (Paperback)

The Abhidhamma is a survey of the realms of consciousness together with those concommittents that precede and accompany consciousnes. This book offers a view of that landscape of consciousness in a voice different from Bhikku Bodhi's translation of "a Compendium Manual of Abhidhamma", giving a greater sensibility for this truth than I began with. It also helps illuminate the Suttas. As there is no self, much of the mechanics of my idiosyncratic persona I attributed to selfhood can be extrapolated through understanding this compendium of thought. Well worth the price and the time to read it.