Dhammaquelle Texts, Talks and Meditations

Abhidhamma

The same teaching, ordered a second time — not as a path, but as a tabulation.

The Abhidhamma does not describe what is to be done, but what is there: it takes every moment of experience apart into its components and enumerates them. Six stages follow the order of the Abhidhammattha-Saṅgaha, the classical guide — from consciousness through its companions to the conditions. Each stage is readable on its own.

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Stage 1 · Why a second map?

Begin here →

Here for the first time?

What is the Abhidhamma?
The third basket of the Pāli canon: seven works that set out the material of the discourses once more, without persons, places and occasions — as an enumeration of the processes themselves.
Does one have to read it?
No. For the path the learning path is enough. This path is for those who want to know how far the analysis goes.
The foreign words
Italics such as cetasika are Pāli; the meaning always stands before it. At the foot of every stage it says where the wording is to be looked up in the canon.

A “stage” orders the material — it is not a ranking and not a stage of realisation.

The unbroken line is the path from stage 1 to stage 6; dashed arcs show which stage additionally builds on an earlier one. Filled dot = finished for now, outline = open; the current stage is highlighted.

Foundations Stages 1–2

  1. Why a second map?

    “Why does the canon analyse the same experience a second time?”

    Finished for now

    The discourses speak to persons in situations. The Abhidhamma takes the same teaching and sets it out without persons and without situations: processes only, enumerated and ordered. This stage explains the difference between designation and what is ultimate, and names the four things that remain standing after this analysis.

    The ultimate paramattha Concept paññatti Consciousness (moment) citta Mental factor cetasika Form, materiality rūpa The unconditioned nibbāna Matrix of headings mātikā

    What these terms mean — Stage 1: Why a second map?
    The ultimate paramattha
    What remains standing when the analysis is done: consciousness, mental factor, materiality, Nibbāna — as against mere designation (paññatti).
    Concept paññatti
    What exists as a designation only — name, shape, person, direction, time. In the Abhidhamma it stands against what is ultimate (paramattha).
    Consciousness (moment) citta
    Consciousness; a single moment of consciousness.
    Mental factor cetasika
    A mental factor that accompanies a citta and colours it (52 of them according to the Abhidhamma).
    Form, materiality rūpa
    The first aggregate: bodily, material form, the four great elements and what is derived from them.
    The unconditioned nibbāna
    The unconditioned; the going out of the fuel.
    Matrix of headings mātikā
    The pairs and triads of terms set out at the front, along which the works of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka work through their material.
    Open stage →

  2. The kinds of consciousness

    “How can consciousness be counted?”

    Finished for now

    The first chapter of the compendium orders consciousness by three questions: in which sphere of existence does it occur? Of what kind is it — wholesome, unwholesome, or neither? And out of which root does it arise? These three grids together yield eighty-nine kinds.

    Consciousness (moment) citta Sphere of consciousness avacara Root hetu Kammically neutral avyākata Wholesome and unwholesome kusala / akusala Mundane / supramundane lokiya / lokuttara

    What these terms mean — Stage 2: The kinds of consciousness
    Consciousness (moment) citta
    Consciousness; a single moment of consciousness.
    Sphere of consciousness avacara
    The sphere a moment of consciousness is at home in: the sense sphere, the fine-material sphere, the immaterial sphere.
    Root hetu
    The six roots that give a moment of consciousness its direction: greed, hate and delusion — and their absence as non-greed, non-hate and non-delusion.
    Kammically neutral avyākata
    In the Abhidhamma: neither wholesome nor unwholesome — resultant consciousness (vipāka) and mere functioning (kiriya). A different sense of the word from avyākata as “the undeclared”.
    Wholesome and unwholesome kusala / akusala
    The basic distinction in action: what leads to well-being and clarity is wholesome (kusala); what increases harm and delusion is unwholesome (akusala). The measure is intention and consequence, not command and prohibition.
    Mundane / supramundane lokiya / lokuttara
    Mundane / supramundane.
    Open stage →

Training of the mind Stages 3–4

  1. The mental factors

    “What besides the cognising is contained in a moment?”

    Finished for now

    Consciousness never comes alone. Fifty-two factors can accompany it: seven in every moment without exception, six occasional ones, fourteen only with unwholesome and twenty-five only with wholesome consciousness. Along with these, the subsidiary questions of the third chapter — through which door, towards which object, on which physical base, with which task.

    Mental factor cetasika Universal mental factors sabbacittasādhāraṇa Unwholesome mental factors akusala-cetasika Beautiful mental factors sobhana-cetasika Feeling vedanā Object ārammaṇa Door dvāra Physical base vatthu Function kicca

    What these terms mean — Stage 3: The mental factors
    Mental factor cetasika
    A mental factor that accompanies a citta and colours it (52 of them according to the Abhidhamma).
    Universal mental factors sabbacittasādhāraṇa
    The seven factors present in every moment of consciousness without exception — from contact through to one-pointedness.
    Unwholesome mental factors akusala-cetasika
    The fourteen factors that accompany unwholesome consciousness only — delusion, shamelessness, restlessness, greed, hate and others.
    Beautiful mental factors sobhana-cetasika
    The twenty-five factors that accompany wholesome consciousness only — faith, mindfulness, moral shame, non-greed and others.
    Feeling vedanā
    The second aggregate: the feeling tone of every experience — pleasant, unpleasant, neutral.
    Object ārammaṇa
    What a moment of consciousness turns towards: something seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, or thought.
    Door dvāra
    The six entrances of experience: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and the mind itself.
    Physical base vatthu
    The place in the body at which a moment of consciousness arises: the five sense organs and the heart base.
    Function kicca
    The role a moment of consciousness fills within a process — seeing (dassana), receiving (sampaṭicchana), investigating (santīraṇa), determining (voṭṭhabbana), taking a position (javana), registering (tadārammaṇa).
    Open stage →

  2. The course of an act of cognising

    “What happens between the stimulus and what I notice of it?”

    Finished for now

    A single sense impression is not processed in one moment but in a fixed series of moments, each of which has its own task. This stage goes through the series, shows the place at which kamma is formed, and treats the moments outside every series: rebirth, the resting state, death.

    Cognitive process citta-vīthi Process-freed consciousness vīthimutta Rebirth-linking paṭisandhi Death consciousness cuti Function kicca Door dvāra Plane of existence bhūmi

    What these terms mean — Stage 4: The course of an act of cognising
    Cognitive process citta-vīthi
    The ordered succession of single moments by which one sense impression is taken in. An ordering of the commentaries, not of the canon.
    Process-freed consciousness vīthimutta
    Moments outside any process: rebirth-linking, the life-continuum, and death consciousness.
    Rebirth-linking paṭisandhi
    The first moment of consciousness of a life, following directly on the last moment of the life before.
    Death consciousness cuti
    The last moment of consciousness of a life.
    Function kicca
    The role a moment of consciousness fills within a process — seeing (dassana), receiving (sampaṭicchana), investigating (santīraṇa), determining (voṭṭhabbana), taking a position (javana), registering (tadārammaṇa).
    Door dvāra
    The six entrances of experience: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and the mind itself.
    Plane of existence bhūmi
    The thirty-one planes in which rebirth takes place: four planes of misery, the sense sphere, sixteen fine-material and four immaterial planes.
    Open stage →

Advanced teaching Stages 5–6

  1. Materiality and the great lists

    “What does “body” mean if you do not describe it as a thing?”

    Finished for now

    The sixth chapter analyses the material into twenty-eight kinds and sets the unconditioned over against it; the seventh orders the whole material of the teaching into lists — the unwholesome, the mixed, the factors of awakening, and last a scheme into which everything falls.

    Form, materiality rūpa The four great elements mahābhūta Derived materiality upādā-rūpa Material group rūpa-kalāpa The unconditioned nibbāna Aggregate khandha Sense base āyatana

    What these terms mean — Stage 5: Materiality and the great lists
    Form, materiality rūpa
    The first aggregate: bodily, material form, the four great elements and what is derived from them.
    The four great elements mahābhūta
    Solidity, cohesion, heat and motion — four ways in which anything material is experienced at all.
    Derived materiality upādā-rūpa
    The twenty-four kinds of materiality that rest upon the four great elements — sense organs, sex, nutriment and others.
    Material group rūpa-kalāpa
    Materiality never occurs singly but in smallest bundles that cannot be divided any further.
    The unconditioned nibbāna
    The unconditioned; the going out of the fuel.
    Aggregate khandha
    Aggregate (rūpa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, viññāṇa).
    Sense base āyatana
    Sense base (six internal, six external).
    Open stage →

  2. Conditions and practice

    “In how many ways can one thing condition another — and where does the whole scheme lead?”

    Finished for now

    The eighth chapter lays two presentations of dependent arising side by side: the familiar chain of the discourses and the twenty-four kinds of condition of the Paṭṭhāna. The ninth does not close the work with a theory but with the foundations of practice — concentration, insight, and what both run towards.

    Condition paccaya Dependent arising paṭiccasamuppāda Concept paññatti Meditation subject kammaṭṭhāna Immersion samādhi Wisdom paññā

    What these terms mean — Stage 6: Conditions and practice
    Condition paccaya
    The way in which one thing carries another. The Paṭṭhāna sets out twenty-four such ways.
    Dependent arising paṭiccasamuppāda
    Dependent arising; the twelve conditionally linked links, without a self running through them.
    Concept paññatti
    What exists as a designation only — name, shape, person, direction, time. In the Abhidhamma it stands against what is ultimate (paramattha).
    Meditation subject kammaṭṭhāna
    The subject one works with in practice; the training in concentration knows forty of them.
    Immersion samādhi
    One-pointed collectedness of mind.
    Wisdom paññā
    Wisdom, the liberating insight into the three characteristics.
    Open stage →

For looking things up

Abhidhamma

The library of this site holds all seven works of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka in their Pāli wording, with the Dhammasaṅgaṇī and three parts of the Paṭṭhāna in German as well. The Pāli can be searched through the Dhamma search, together with the old commentaries; where each work can be read stands below. In German, two works of Nyanatiloka introduce them: the Führer durch den Abhidhamma-Piṭaka and the Handbuch der buddhistischen Philosophie. Not needed to begin.

The learning path

The first way through the teaching — from the opening question to awakening, in the language of the discourses. It remains the entry; this page is a supplement to it, not its replacement.

The six stages order the material for study — they replace neither your own practice nor qualified guidance.

The seven works — where they are to be read

Two of the seven works are held in the library of this site — the Dhammasaṅgaṇī in full, the Paṭṭhāna in three parts, under the permission granted by the Abhidhamma-Förderverein on 10 August 2026. The others stand where the people who translated them have made them accessible — and that is where this overview leads. The Pāli wording of all seven is searchable through this site’s Dhamma search. For the learning path they are quoted, not copied out: passages with the place given.

  • Dhammasaṅgaṇī — Enumeration of phenomena

    The basic list: which states of consciousness are there, and which factors occur together in them?

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 21 parts
    German
    Santuṭṭho Bhikkhu (palikanon.com, 7 pages, some 94,000 words) · Ñāṇapoṇika Thera (dhammaquelle.ch, all 21 parts)
    English
    C. A. F. Rhys Davids (19 of the 21 parts) · Bhikkhu Sujato (3 of the 21 parts)

  • Vibhaṅga — The analysis

    Eighteen subjects — aggregates, sense fields, elements, truths — each worked through three times over: after the discourses, after the Abhidhamma, and in question and answer.

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 18 parts
    German
    Santuṭṭho Bhikkhu (palikanon.com, 20 pages, some 170,000 words)
    English
    U Thittila (all 18 parts)

  • Dhātukathā — Discussion of the elements

    Fourteen lines of questioning with which every term of the teaching can be tested against the aggregates, sense fields and elements: in what is it contained, in what not, with what does it occur together?

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 19 parts
    German
    Santuṭṭho Bhikkhu (palikanon.com, 10 pages, some 49,000 words)
    English
    U Nārada (all 19 parts)

  • Puggalapaññatti — Description of persons

    The only one of the seven works that speaks of human beings again — as an enumeration of types, ordered by numbers as in the Numbered Discourses.

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 20 parts
    German
    Santuṭṭho Bhikkhu (palikanon.com, one page, some 40,000 words) · Nyanatiloka (SuttaCentral, 10 of the 20 parts, in part)
    English
    B. C. Law (all 20 parts)

  • Kathāvatthu — Points of controversy

    Two hundred and nineteen doctrinal disputes of the early schools, each conducted as a cross-examination — the youngest of the seven works and the only one with a named author.

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 219 parts
    German
    No German translation exists — confirmed by the Abhidhamma-Förderverein e.V. (10 August 2026).
    English
    S. Z. Aung and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (all 219 parts)

  • Yamaka — The pairs

    Every question is put twice, forwards and backwards — “are all A also B? are all B also A?” — so that no blurred assignment is left standing.

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 77 parts
    German
    No German translation exists — confirmed by the Abhidhamma-Förderverein e.V. (10 August 2026).
    English
    U Nārada (41 of the 77 parts) · U Nandamedhā (27 of the 77 parts) · U Kumārābhivaṁsa (9 of the 77 parts)

  • Paṭṭhāna — The web of conditions

    Twenty-four kinds of condition, applied to all the combinations of the preceding works — the most extensive book of the canon, and the one towards which the whole analysis runs.

    Pāli
    SuttaCentral — complete Pāli text, 728 parts
    German
    Ayya Agganyani (dhammaquelle.ch, 3 of the 728 parts, extracts only)
    English
    U Nārada (23 of the 728 parts) · Agganyani (1 of the 728 parts)

Why do the others stand only as references? The German renderings of the remaining books are the work of Santuṭṭho Bhikkhu and carry the express reservation that they were “made available exclusively to the website palikanon.com, free of charge”; downloading and storage in electronic systems are excluded there. A reference honours that condition; a copy would not. The Dhammasaṅgaṇī and the three Paṭṭhāna parts, by contrast, are held here — under the permission granted by the Abhidhamma-Förderverein e.V. on 10 August 2026. State of the entries: 2026-08-08.