අභිධර්‍මප්‍රදීපිකා ව්‍යාඛ්‍යාව (ද්විතීය භාගය) - මොරටුවේ මේධානන්ද හිමි 1929.pdf

සම්මොහ විනොදනී නම්වූ විභංගප්‍රකරණ අටුවාවට කරනලද අභිධර්මප්‍රදීපිකා ව්‍යාඛ්‍යාව (ද්විතීය භාගය) යනු අභිධර්ම පිටකයේ විභංග ප්‍රකරණ අටුවාව වන සම්මෝහවිනෝදනිය සඳහා සම්පාදනය කරන ලද සිංහල සන්න/ව්‍යාඛ්‍යා ග්‍රන්ථයකි. මෙහි කතුවරයාණන් වන්නේ පාණදුරේ අභය කරුණාරත්න මුදලින්දාරාමයේ වැඩවිසූ මොරටුවේ ආභිධම්මික මේධානන්දාභිධාන අධිකරණ නායක ස්ථවිරයන් වහන්සේය.

මොරටුවේ ශ්‍රී රංජන මන්දිරයෙහි විසූ ඇම්. ටී. ප්‍රනාන්දු මැතිතුමාගේ ආරාධනයෙන් හා මූල්‍ය පරිත්‍යාගයෙන් මෙම ග්‍රන්ථය සම්පාදනය කොට මුද්‍රණය කරවන ලදී. මූලටීකා, අනුටීකා, මධුටීකා ආදී ටීකා ග්‍රන්ථ සහ බුරුම සන්න ආශ්‍රයෙන් අභිධර්ම පාඨයන් සවිස්තරව විග්‍රහ කරමින් ලියැවුණු මෙම කෘතිය 1929 වර්ෂයේදී කොළඹ මහාබෝධි යන්ත්‍රාලයේ මුද්‍රණය කරවා ප්‍රසිද්ධ කර ඇත.

ABHIDHAMMAPPADĪPIKA. INTRODUCTION.

The Buddhist scripture is divided into three sections (i.e. Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma Pitaka ald Vinaya Pitaka) of which the Abhidhamma Pitaka consists of seven books, viz., Dhammasangani, Vibhanga, Dhatukatha, Puggalapannatti, Kathawatthu, Yamaka and Patthana, which are known as the seven Prakaranas.

At the first Council held immediately after the Lord’s Parinibbana by 500 Arahats headed by Maha Kassapa Thera, Upali Thera and Ananda Thera, the Three Pitakas and their commentaries in the Pali language, were duly recited and rehearsed. In like manner these were recited and rehearsed at the two subsequent Councils held 100 years and 236 years respectively after the Parinibbana.

Not long after the third Council which was held in the reign of Dhammasoka, his son Mahinda Maha Thera brought into Ceylon the Pali commentaries. Upon the admission of the Sinhalese Bhikkhus to the Buddhist Order, Arittha Thera and others of the Sinhalese race translated the Pali commentaries into the Sinhalese language and had them all committed to memory. Later, at Alulena, at present known as Alu Vihara, in Matale District, 500 arahats, under the auspices of the great King Vatta Gamini Abhaya, held a Convocation and reduced the Three Pitakas and the Sinhalese commentaries to writing.

As time went on, there came to exist several Sinhalese commentaries named as Mahapaccariya Atuwawa, so called because the same was composed inside a large raft, Kurundi Atuwawa by reason of its having been composed in a place called Kurundivelli and Maha Atuwawa following the fact that the copy was made at the Maha Vihara. There was also a commentary written in the Andra language known as Andatthakatha.

In course of time the Bhikkhus in India found themselves in seventeen Nikayas or factions. As a result the original Pali commentaries which had come down from mouth to mouth got mixed up with the different views held by these different factions. In consequence thereof, as well as by reason of the non-existence of the texts in writing and also through diverse other causes, the Holy Text fell into decline in India. At the same time, however, it flourished in Ceylon where the Maha Vihara Bhikknus—the pupillary descendants of Mahinda Maha Thera—remained orthodox. Amongst them the Three Pitakas with their Sinhalese commentaries were also available in book form. There were also learned preceptors amongst them highly competent to render correct exposition of the scripture and to make a clean sweep of the heresies introduced by the Bhikkhus of Denanakha and Bhagirinakha sects and by those who held the heretical views known as Vaitulyavada, Vajiriyavada and Ratnakutavada.

At this period the Maha Thera Buddhaghosa, born in Northern India of the Brahmin caste, studied the Dharma—the Buddhist Scripture—and established his competence among his country folk. Later he travelled to Ceylon, and under the guidance of the preceptor Sanghapala Thera, he studied the Three Pitakas in accordance with the instructions of the Maha Vihara fraternity, and under the guidance of the preceptor Buddhamitta Thera, he studied the Sinhalese commentaries, the Maha Atuwawa, Mahapaccariya Atuwawa and Kurundiya Atuwawa. Then he expressed the object of his visit to Ceylon, namely, to translate the Sinhalese commentaries into Pali.

Thereupon the Sinhalese preceptors who were versed in the Three Pitakas and were also able to recite the same from memory, desired to test the fitness of Buddhaghosa, and requested him to write a commentary on a single verse which occurs in the Devatasanyuttaka of the Samyutta Nikaya, namely:—

* “Sile Patitthaya naro sapanno Cittan pannanca bhavayan Atapi nipako Bhikkhu So iman vijataye jatan.”

* The man discreet, on virtue planted firm, In intellect and intuition trained, The brother ardent and discriminant; ‘T’is he may from this tangle disembroil.

In response to this invitation, Buddhaghosa compiled the book known as Visuddhimagga with material picked up by careful research into the entire region of the Three Pitakas.

* The man discreet, on virtue planted firm, In intellect and intuition trained, The brother ardent and discriminant; ‘Tis he may from this tangle disembroil.

This able exposition of the Dhamma provided in itself ample testimony as to his fitness and ability for the task. Therefore the great Theras of Ceylon granted him permission to translate the Sinhalese commentaries into Pali. The trust reposed in Buddhaghosa was duly honoured by him faithfully following the rules of the Maha Vihara Fraternity, and accurately converting into the Pali language the Sinhalese commentaries of the Three Pitakas except a part of the Khuddaka Nikaya.

The commentary called the Samantapasadika in the Vinaya Pitaka was compiled, according to the author (Buddhaghosa), upon the invitation of the Thero Buddhasiri, while residing at Mahapaya (the great mansion) built and placed at the disposal of Buddhaghosa by one Mahanigama Swami, a Sinhalese chief, within the great college associated by the Bhikkhus of the highest and purest discipline, situated to the south of Sri Maha Bodhi Vihara in Mahamegha Park at Anuradhapura in the twentieth year of the reign of King Siriniwasa of Ceylon. Of the rest of the translations two appear to have been written by him while in residence in the same monastery. Upon the invitation of a Thera called Culla Buddhaghosa he wrote the commentaries Atthasalini, Sammohavinodani and Pancappakaranatthakatha on the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Various other Theras of eminence were instrumental in getting Buddhaghosa to write the commentaries Sumangala-Vilasini on the Digha Nikaya, Papancasudani on the Majjhima Nikaya, Manorathapurani on the Anguttara Nikaya, Saratthappakasini on Sanyutta Nikaya, Dhammapadatthakatha on the Dhammapada, Jatakatthakatha on the Jataka series, and Kankhavitarani on the Ubhaya-Patimokkha.

The ground work for the present work, Abhidhammapadipika, is Buddhaghosa’s Sammoha Vinodani, the commentary on the Vibhanga of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Maha Thera Ananda of the Maha Vihara who was versed in the Three Pitakas and their commentaries compiled a subcommentary by the name Mulatika for all the commentaries of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Dhammapala Thera, a commentator who lived in Badaratirtha Vihara in Nagapattana (now known as Nagapatam), came over to Ceylon and compiled commentaries on the books of the Khuddaka Nikaya not commented on by Buddhaghosa and this Dhammapala Thera also wrote an Anutika (a sub-commentary) on the aforesaid Mulatika. One more sub-commentary by the name Madhu-saratthadipani or Madhutika on the same Mulatika was compiled dy Ananda Thera of Maharama in the city of Hansavati in the Ramanna country. A Pali glossary was also written for the same book by one Nanakitti Thera who lived in a vihara known as Panasarama in the same country. A Burmese paraphrase was added by a Burmese Thera. Several other Theras also wrote glossaries and explanatory annotations for the same book.

It would thus appear that this book, Sammoha Vinodani, is enriched by the possession of a number of commentaries such as Mulatika, Anutika. Madhutika, Pali glossaries, Burmese paraphrases etc. However, during the Sitawaka period, the line of the Maha Vihara Fraternity having come to extinction the apprehension of even the accurate meaning of certain words gradually declined, to say nothing of the study of the many commentaries. By reason of there being no Sinhalese work on the subject, the Sammoha Vinodani, the commentary on the Vibhangappakarana, got out of reach of the biginners. Similarly, works of the sort of Mulatika too fell into disuse.

The need which thus arose for the provision of facilities for the study and dissemination of the Pariyatti Sasana—the sacred Dhamma—attracted the pious attention of Mr. M. T Fernando of Sri-Ranjan, Moratuwa, a devout Buddhist and a man of excellent principles. His devotion to the Dhamma prompted him to seek merit by zealous service in the cause of propagation of the same and he offered to bear the cost of printing and publication of a Sacred Book which would lend a fresh impetus to the study and dissemination of the Dhamma. He therefore respectfully invited the author in that behalf, and the author accordingly undertook to compile this book.

In this work, the texts in Mulatika, Anutika and Madhutika have been separately dealt with, with as brief a Sinhalese exposition as would not render the volume cumbersome. Different views appearing in the Burmese paraphrase and certain other books have also been separately explained.

Mr. Fernando has also expressed his desire to defray the cost of printing and publication of the second part of this work.

The author would like here to acknowledge his personal indebtedness to Mr. Fernando for the opportunity he has afforded the author to perform an act of merit which will, he hopes, help him in his struggle for emancipation from the tangle of Sansara.

Moratuwe Medhananda Thera.
Author.

Abhaya Karunaratna Mudalindarama,
Panadure, February, 2472 A. B.
1929 A. C.