The ''Abhidharmadīpa'' or ''Lamp of Abhidharma'' is an

Abhidharma The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the f ...

text thought to have been authored by

Vasumitra Vasumitra (or Sumitra, according to the ''d'' manuscript of the '' Matsya Purana'') (; died 124 BCE), was the fourth ruler of the Shunga Empire of North India. He was the son of Agnimitra by his queen Dharini and brother or half-brother of Vasujy ...

as a response to

Vasubandhu Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary ...

's Abhidharmakośakārikā. The text consists of verse and prose commentary. It currently survives as an incomplete collection of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

fragments. However, the text is valuable insofar as it confirms the identity of

as author of the Abhidharmakośakārikā.

References

Mahayana texts Abhidharma {{buddhist-text-stub