This paper investigates the role of Abhidharmic teachings in the theory of practice as found in the Yuktiṣaṣṭikāvṛtti. According to the author Candrakīrti, Abhidharmic teachings taught by the Buddha are essential to those who have yet to be freed from the views of non-existence and existence.
On the one hand, the establishment of dependent arising in the three times and the inanimate world as postulated in the Abhidharma tradition will eliminate people’s view of non-existence, which wrongly denies the relation between action and its result, and causes them to accumulate all the unwholesome dharmas. Therefore, due to this role of Abhidharmic teachings, they will avoid experiencing unfavorable rebirths.
On the other hand, based on the teachings of the existence of skandha, āyatana and dhātu, those who have yet to be freed from the view of existence will be able to avoid the fault of the view of emptiness and further proceed to attain the ultimate truth. Due to their recognition of the importance of the cessation of transmigration, they will also easily overcome their attachment to nirvāṇa. In consequence, they will be able to understand emptiness as being freed from both non-existence and existence.
