The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy and Its Systematic Representation According to Abhidhamma Tradition

The book develops its main argument through a structured analysis of Indian religious development, Buddhist psychology, and Abhidhamma classification. The first part studies early Indian thought through the age of magic, the rise of anthropomorphic polytheism, the problem of God, and the problem of man, positioning Buddhism as a movement away from metaphysical absolutism toward experiential self-understanding. The second part explains psychology and metaphysics in light of the Abhidhamma, contrasting theoretical psychology with Buddhist practical psychology and emphasizing the Abhidhamma’s importance as a disciplined analysis of experience. The third part takes the Four Noble Truths as the starting point and logical frame of Buddhist philosophy, discussing suffering, the cause of suffering, cessation, happiness, the Eightfold Path, and dependent origination. The fourth part examines the fundamental principles of consciousness, including its objects, realms, structure, classification, and relation to different types of spiritually developed persons. The fifth part analyzes the factors of consciousness, including primary, secondary, neutral, and morally decisive mental factors. The sixth part studies the functions of consciousness and the process of perception, including the dynamic nature of consciousness, the problem of matter, and the stages of perceptual cognition. The appendix gives a systematic representation of Abhidhamma psychology through classifications of consciousness, mental factors, roots, objects, concepts, and the psycho-cosmic structure of Buddhism.