Abhidharma-ko?a ??stra

views updated

Abhidharma-kośa Śāstra. A systematic Sarvāstivāda Buddhist treatise composed by (or attributed to) Vasubandhu in the period before he embraced Mahāyāna Buddhism. The work comprises two parts: verse (Abh.k. kārikā) and prose commentary (Abh.k. bhāṣya). As an encyclopaedia of Abhidharma, the work became absolutely central to the tradition of study within Buddhism in subsequent cents.

More From encyclopedia.com