Abhidharma (Sanskrit) or Abhidhamma (Pāli) are ancient (3rd century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras, according to schematic classifications. The Abhidhamma works do not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or abstract and systematic lists.
According to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Abhidhamma started as an elaboration of the teachings of the suttas, but later developed independent doctrines.
The literal translation of the term Abhidharma is unclear. Two possibilities are most commonly given:
- abhi - higher or special + dharma- teaching, philosophy, thus making Abhidharma the "higher teachings"
- abhi - about + dharma of the teaching, translating it instead as "about the teaching" or even "metateaching".
In the West, the Abhidhamma has generally been considered the core of what is referred to as "Buddhist Psychology".
Read more about Abhidharma: Theravāda Abhidhamma, Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, Mahāyāna Yogācāra Abhidharma, East Asian and Tibetan Abhidharma