What Would Be A Good Beginner's Book On Abhidhamma?

[camerata]

From what I've seen on the web there is:

Abhidhamma in Daily Life - Nina Van Gorkom

Abhidhamma Studies - Nyanaponika Thera

and a rather heavy-looking volume by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Any others?

[sabaijai]

From what I've seen on the web there is:

Abhidhamma in Daily Life - Nina Van Gorkom

Abhidhamma Studies - Nyanaponika Thera

and a rather heavy-looking volume by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Any others?

Those are the only ones I know. The Dhamma Study Group website has a lot of reading on the subject, oriented towards beginners, here.

[sabaijai]

For anyone seriously interested in the Abhidhamma perspective, I would recommend attending a DSG study session (or several) with Abhidhamma teacher Khun Sujin Boriharnwan. Her students also maintain a very active Yahoo egroup Audio files of dialogs with Khun Sujin can be found here.

Another book by Nina van Gorkom is Dhamma Study Buddhist Outlook on Daily Life.

Here's an interesting interview with Nina van Gorkom. where she explains the pitfalls of meditation practice from the Abhidhamma perspective.

[garro]

I recently bought A Manual of Abhidhamma by Naranda Maha Thera.

I found it a bit heavy (not weight ) so have put it away for a while.

[Grover]

From what I've seen on the web there is:

Abhidhamma in Daily Life - Nina Van Gorkom

Abhidhamma Studies - Nyanaponika Thera

and a rather heavy-looking volume by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Any others?

I've read

Abhidhamma Studies - Nyanaponika Thera

and a rather heavy-looking volume by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The first one is good but best understood after reading Bhikku Bodhis book, which is excellent. It is a little heavy, but the abhidarma is heavy anyway. ITs not an easy beginners book, its a serious beginners book.

pail definitions are very precise, its a comprehensive introduction, good tables. doubles up as a abhidarmma dictionary

Abhidharmma studies is just a series of essays covering interesting topics but would be more suitable for intermediate students. IMO

Edited March 8, 2007 by Grover

[Grover]

I recently bought A Manual of Abhidhamma by Naranda Maha Thera.

I found it a bit heavy (not weight ) so have put it away for a while.

ive read this book. its not great. doesnt define the terms well enough (so important in abhidarmma studies to know precisely what each of the pali words mean), and the info is not presented well.

dont be turned off by this book, i recommend B. Bodhis book instead

[seonai]

Also try Patticasamutpraba by Buddhadasa Bikkhu.

[Yamantaka]

I have to agree with SabaiJai in that taking a teaching is infinitely more beneficial than reading a book, especially for a beginner. I don't want to sound too ethereal but something different occurs when hearing the teaching rather than reading it. From my experience, the higher the realizations of the teacher, the more specifically s/he can infuse the teaching with what best applies to the students' needs.

[sabaijai]

Just wanted to update the reference to the Dhamma Study Group, which also appears in the pinned 'Guide to temples, etc' topic at the beginning of this forum.

The group meets every Saturday (not Wed as I previously posted) between 2 and 4pm in Thonburi The main focus of the Enlgish-language discussions is the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Dhamma Study & Support Foundation

174/1 Soi Charoen Nakhon 78

Bukkalo, Thonburi, Bangkok 10600

Tel: 0 2468 0239

[email protected]

www.dhammahome.com