I would like to seriously study the Paṭṭhāna, so I tried reading it in the English translation by the Pāli Text Society, but it is really complicated and I gave up after a short while. Could you recommend some good introductory texts that are easily available? At the moment, I have found the one by P. B. Tan (A Comprehensive Abhidhamma Study of Conditional Relations (Paṭṭhāna), Part I: The seventh book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka), does anyone know it?
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Hi @_betelgeuse
There isn’t generally much discussion about Abhidhamma here, so you might find the following Forum, which is dedicated to Classical Abhidhamma and Commentaries useful: https://classicaltheravada.org/
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Hi Betelgeuse,
A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Bodhi, ed.) contains an accessible section that deals with the 24 paccayas of the Paṭṭhāna (pp. 303–324 in the Pariyatti Press edition; Bodhi (ed.); A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma.pdf). A number of other works are:
- Nina van Gorkom: The Conditionality of Life – An Outline of the Twenty-Four Conditions as Taught in the Abhidhamma (van Gorkom, N.; The Conditionality of Life - An Outline of the Twenty-Four Conditions as Taught in the Abhidhamma.pdf).
- Aggaññāni; Paṭṭhāna – Conditional Relations (Aggaññāni; Paṭṭhāna, Conditional Relations.pdf).
- Nārada; Guide to Conditional Relations (Paṭṭhāna) (Vol. I) (Nārada; Guide to Conditional Relations (Paṭṭhāna) (Vol. I).pdf).
- Nārada; Guide to Conditional Relations (Paṭṭhāna) (Vol. II) (Nārada; Guide to Conditional Relations (Paṭṭhāna) (Vol. II).pdf).
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Bhikkhu Bodhi has a series of lectures from 2018 on Abhidhamma. I haven’t watched them, but are meant to be good and accessible.
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I think the best first book for a serious student is volume I of Ven. Nārada’s Guide. A link to this has already been posted, but it’s to a copy that’s been scanned but not OCR’d.
Here’s a link to a searchable copy:
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The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta WH060.pdf (1.2 MB)
You will never regret reading the above book.
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Hi. If you are open to an untraditional exploration to the Abhidhamma/ Paṭṭhāna, you can try the following book (free download):
https://highermindart.info/?sdm_process_download=1&download_id=2565
I believe it is definitely a clearer way of understanding the subject matter. However it is not an entirely traditional treatment.
You can also try this talk on YouTube: https://youtu.be/V4OLwv1UCTc?si=v1LTD0FfDrjFAUyx