''Prakaranapada'' (,

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 ...

: Prakaraṇapāda-śāstra), composed by Vasumitra, 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. The Chinese was 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 ...

as: T26, No. 1542, 阿毘達磨品類足論, 尊者世友造, 三藏法師玄奘奉　詔譯, in 18 fascicles; with another partial translation by Gunabhadra and Bodhiyasa: T26, No. 1541, 眾事分阿毘曇論, 尊者世友造, 宋天竺三藏求那跋陀羅, 共菩提耶舍譯, in 12 fascicles. Its commentary the Panca-vastu-vibhasa (五事毘婆沙論 T 1555) by Dharmatrata, was also translated by

. ''Prakaranapada'' is the major text of the central

Abhidharma The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...

period. It influenced other non-

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 ...

schools, though not in the polarizing manner that the later Jnanaprasthana and Vibhasa texts did. Its format for

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 ...

analysis is used, for example, by the Maha-prajna-paramitopadesa, which also states that the first four chapters were composed by Vasumitra, with the other four chapters by Kasmira arhats.

Yin Shun Yin Shun (印順, ''Yìnshùn''; 5 April 1906 – 4 June 2005) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar in the tradition of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Though he was particularly trained in the Three Treatise school, he was an advocate of the O ...

considers this Vasumitra to be the same Vasumitra who appears in the Mahavibhasa later.

: Study of the Abhidharma, Texts and Commentators of the Sarvāstivāda, (說一切有部為主的論書與論師之研究), Zhengwen Publishing, 1968. pg. 148. This seems to indicate that before the later formalization of Sarvastivada doctrines, the ''Vijnana-kaya'' and ''Prakaranapada'' were perhaps representative of several differing lines of thought, though were only later over-shadowed by the Vibhasa and its orthodoxy. It would be interesting to perhaps trace some of these differences through the likes of Buddhadeva and Dharmatrata, as they are presented in the Vibhasa. ''Prakaranapada'' contains two systems of

classification, one fivefold, the other sevenfold. It was the former fivefold system that later became the standard format, and was important for the establishment of the respective characteristics, nature and functions of the various dharmas, especially the caitasika and citta-viprayukta-dharmas. The sevenfold system bears some similarities to

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� ...

Abhidhamma, and seems to make of categories of dharmas that are all

sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

based. It also expands on the traditional fourfold theory of conditionality, by introducing some 20 types of condition, in paired dharmas. Although these are not the later sixfold classification, this may have opened the door for later innovation.

References

{{Buddhism topics Abhidharma