Compendium of Philosophy

The work begins with an introductory essay that frames the Abhidhammattha-Saṅgaha as a concise exposition of Buddhist philosophy from a psychological standpoint, especially through the analysis of mind and mental processes. The main body proceeds through the core architecture of Abhidhamma. It studies consciousness and its classifications, then examines the mental properties or concomitants that arise with consciousness. It explains processes of thought, including how cognition operates through sense experience and mental activity. It then turns to consciousness not subject to process, including realms of existence, rebirth, karma, death, and the stream of becoming. The work further analyzes matter and Nibbāna, treating material qualities, their origins, groupings, and the unconditioned goal of liberation. Later sections classify doctrinal categories, including evil, mixed categories, and factors related to enlightenment. The final part studies relations, especially the law of conditional happening, the structure of correlation, mind and body as mutually related, and conceptual designation. Through this progression, the book presents Abhidhamma as an analytical system that explains experience, ethical causality, mental purification, and the path toward Nibbāna.