Heart of the Abhidharma
Heart of the Abhidharma, The
阿毘曇心論 (Skt Abhidharma-hridaya-shastra; Chin A-p’i-t’an-hsin-lun; Jpn Abidon-shin-ron )
A 250-verse compendium of the abhidharma doctrine of the Sarvastivada school, written in the third century by Dharmashri (also known as Dharmashreshthin) and translated into Chinese in 384 by Samghadeva. Dharmashri, a scholar of the Sarvastivada school, was from the Tukhara kingdom. The Heart of the Abhidharma is an abridgment of the doctrinal teachings contained in the massive Great Commentary on the Abhidharma, one of the basic texts of the Sarvastivadins. The Sarvastivada school first compiled The Treatise on the Source of Wisdom and six other doctrinal texts to clarify its fundamental tenets, and later produced The Great Commentary on the Abhidharma as a comprehensive survey and compilation of studies concerning its doctrine. The production of The Heart of the Abhidharma followed.