Abhidharma Piṭaka
(Skt., basket of higher doctrine). The last of the three divisions of the corpus of Buddhist canonical literature known as the
Tripiṭaka
(Pāli, Tipiṭaka) or ‘three baskets’. The fact that the Abhidharma is not mentioned in the
sūtras
(where only the first two divisions of
Dharma
and
Vinaya
are referred to) proves that at one time the Abhidharma Piṭaka did not form a separate section of the
canon
. The contents probably had their origin in lists of key terms abstracted from the sūtras known as
mātṛkās
. Only two complete Abhidharma collections have survived, those of the
Theravāda
and ...