Dhammasaṅgaṇī

The book begins with a matika (Pali for "matrix"), which is a list of classifications of dhammas, variously translated as ideas, phenomena, states, patterns etc. The text lacks a nidana, though the commentaries record that attempts were made at creating one that depicted the Buddha preaching the Abhidhamma in one of the heavenly realms. Theravada tradition attributes the Dhammasaṅgaṇī to Sariputra, who is held to have recited the Abhidhamma as part of the sutta texts at the First Buddhist Council, and regards it as one of the canonical teachings that Mahinda brought to Sri Lanka from the empire of Asoka. Its title is abbreviated 'Dhs' in Pāli scholarship.

Format

Following the matika, the main body of the book is in four parts, as follows.

• The first part deals with states of mind, listing and defining factors present in them.
• The second deals with material phenomena, classifying them numerically, by ones, twos etc.
• The third part applies the material in the first two to explaining the classifications in the matika.
• The fourth does likewise, but in a different and sometimes more detailed way, and omitting the sutta method 2-fold classifications. This fourth part is mostly omitted from the old translation, only a few extracts being included. The new translation is complete.

Rhys Davids (1900) divisions of the text are as follows: