Introducing Abhidhamma by Ven Dhammasami Lesson 3

Introducing Abhidhamma by Ven Dhammasami Lesson 3
Hosted online by The Buddhist Society during lockdown
8th October 2020

The teachings of the Buddha were codified by his followers into three baskets or 'pitakas'. The Abhidhamma Pitaka consists of a minute analysis of mind and matter into their ultimate elements. This gives insight into the teachings of impermanence and no-self (anicca and anatta). By giving an ethical basis to mental states, it shows how suffering (dukkha) arises and how it can be brought to an end.

Lesson 3. How the Abhidhamma analyses the Three Roots of Negative Emotion, greed, hatred and delusion (further study of the mind through the cetasikas)

This lecture will discuss how the Abhidhamma attempts to understand the ‘three poisons’ (greed, hatred and delusion) through their associate functions.

Suggested reading is similar to Lecture Two.

Bodhi, Bhikkhu. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma. Chapter II.
Van Gorkom, Nina. Cetasikas, London, Zolag, 1999.
Karunadasa, Y.. The Theravada Abhidhamma: Its Inquiry into the Nature of Conditioned Reality, Centre for Buddhist Studies, Hong Kong University, 2014. Chapters VII, VIII, IX, pp. 103-144.
Jacobs, Beth. The Original Buddhist Psychology: What the Abhidhamma Tells Us about How We Think, Feel, and Experience Life, California, North Atlantic Books, 2017. Chapter VI.