The treasury of Abhidharma.
The Abhidharmakośa — "Treasury of Abhidharma" — is Vasubandhu's systematic account of Sarvāstivāda scholastic Buddhism, six hundred root verses with his own prose commentary, sharpened throughout by Sautrāntika objections. Preserved in full in Xuánzàng's Chinese translation, it remains the standard entry point into Abhidharma study across every East Asian Buddhist school. This page is the entrance for reading it chapter by chapter, fascicle by fascicle.
How to read this collection
The structure below is complete: all nine chapters and all thirty fascicles of Xuánzàng's translation, mapped out using the traditional mnemonic verse that generations of students have memorized to keep the chapters and fascicle counts straight.
Ru-Yi's own plain-English translation and study notes are now complete across all thirty fascicles, from the opening chapter on the elements through the closing verses of Chapter 9's Refutation of the Self — see below for the full table of contents.
What each essay will include
- A plain-English translation, made fresh from Xuánzàng's Chinese.
- Key Sanskrit and Chinese technical terms, explained once and used consistently.
- Where a passage is disputed, a note on the Sarvāstivāda position and Vasubandhu's own Sautrāntika reply.
- Questions for reflection or class discussion.
A note on sources. This translation is made directly from the Chinese text in the Taishō canon (大正藏 T1558, vol. 29), which is in the public domain. The only complete modern English version — Leo Pruden's translation of Louis de La Vallée Poussin's French Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam (Asian Humanities Press, 1988–91) — is still under copyright and is not reproduced here; readers who want a full English edition today should seek that book out directly. Likewise, Chinese commentaries such as Yen-pei's (演培) 俱舍論頌講記 are consulted for context but not quoted at length.
The Nine Chapters
Traditionally remembered by the verse 界二根五世間五,業六隨三賢聖四,智二定二破我一 — "Elements two, Faculties five, World five; Karma six, Latencies three, Noble Persons four; Knowledge two, Attainments two, Refuting the Self one" — which gives the fascicle count for each chapter.
Read by Fascicle
The table of contents for the full translation, thirty fascicles long. Every fascicle now links to Ru-Yi's own plain-English essay and translation.