Dhatukaya (,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Dhātukāya) or Dhatukaya-sastra () is one of the seven Sarvastivada Abhidharma

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

scriptures. ''Dhatukaya'' means "group of elements". It was written by

Purna : Purna is a town with a municipal council in the Parbhani district of Maharashtra, India. Geography Purna is located at . It has an average elevation of . Purna is situated in the Maharashtra state of India. Demographics India census, Purna ...

(according to

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an sources), or Vasumitra (according to Chinese sources; five people named Vasumitra were known to the Chinese sources, but it is not clear which one of these authored ''Dhatukaya''). It was translated into Chinese translated by

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

: T26, No. 1540, 阿毘達磨界身足論, 尊者世友造, 三藏法師玄奘奉　詔譯, in a short 3 fascicles. This comparatively short text bears similarities with the

Pāli Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Therav� ...

Sthaviravada text, the Dhatu-katha, in style and format, though it uses a different

matrika Matrikas (Sanskrit: मातृका (singular), IAST: mātṛkā, lit. "mothers") also called Mataras or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses in Hinduism. The Matrikas are often depicted in a group of seven, the Saptamatrika(s) (Seven Mot ...

. It also bears a close connection with the Prakaranapada, through several items common to both. In its sevenfold division of

dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

s in particular, it does provide, a closer look at the various divisions of dharmas, in particular citta and caitasika, with its conjoined and non-conjoined aspects. As it is not mentioned in the Mahavibhasa, this also suggests it is either a later text, or originally a fragment removed from an earlier text.Venerable Yinshun: Study of the Abhidharma, Texts and Commentators of the

Sarvastivada The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particular ...

, (說一切有部為主的論書與論師之研究), Zhengwen Publishing, 1968. pg. 162

References

{{Buddhism topics Abhidharma