Place: Het Pand, conference centre of Ghent University
摘要
While preserving the earliest teachings of Buddhism, the Aṅguttara Nikāya in the Pali Canon is also closely related to the Abhidharma, supposedly later canonical literature. The Aṅguttara Nikāya is a collection of suttas (Skt. sūtra) that are organized by numbers mentioned in the suttas. Its framework is based on a numerical scheme according to which each successive chapter deals with sets of terms one number more than those dealt with in the preceding chapter. This method of arrangement is similar to that used in constructing the mātṛkās (Pali mātikā), or comprehensive lists of the fundamental doctrinal items, such as those found in the Vibhaṅga, a Theravāda Abhidhamma text, and the Dharmaskandha, a Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma work. Peter Skilling and Collett Cox suggest that some suttas in the Aṅguttara Nikāya contain material that can be identified as belonging to a later stratum, and were composed under the influence of Abhidharma. By contrast, Junjirō Takakusu et al. hold that the Aṅguttara Nikāya can be seen as the source of Abhidharma. This research is an attempt to explore the issues concerning the relationship between the Aṅguttara Nikāya and Abhidharma in terms of history, genre and content.
