Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam, Volume III

Volume III occupies a pivotal position within the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. The earlier volumes analyse the constituents of experience, faculties, cosmology and karma; this volume turns directly to the mechanisms that bind sentient beings to saṃsāra and the practical means by which those mechanisms are dismantled. The treatment of the anuśayas provides a sophisticated Buddhist model of latent psychological conditioning. Defilements are not merely occasional emotions but deeply embedded tendencies shaped by attachment, cognition, habitual responses and erroneous views. Their abandonment therefore requires both direct insight and sustained meditative cultivation. The chapter on the path integrates doctrinal classification with a highly structured account of spiritual development. It is especially valuable for research into early Buddhist soteriology, Sarvāstivāda theories of liberation, the Four Noble Truths, stages of sanctity and the relationship between meditative experience and philosophical knowledge. Principal subjects include: - The nature of the Buddhist path - The Four Noble Truths - The path of preliminary practices - The three forms of wisdom - Mindfulness of breathing - Foundations of mindfulness - Heat, summit, patience and supreme worldly dharmas - The path of seeing - The sixteen mental moments - Stream-enterer, once-returner and non-returner - The path of meditation - The unimpeded and liberating paths - The path beyond training - Arhats and their classifications - The thirty-seven factors conducive to awakening - The four paths and four fruits - Liberation, detachment and perfect knowledge