Abhidharma / Higher Knowledge / Phenomenology; 阿毘達磨, 論藏; Tibetan: ཆོས་མངོན་པ, མངོན་པ (cho ngon pa); Wylie: chos mngon pa, mngon pa; Sanskrit: Abhidharma;

Abhidharma means meta teaching or transcending principles.  It is the third of the Three Pitakas (Sutra, Vinaya and Adhidharma).  It is a collection of ancient Buddhist texts that are summaries, abstracts, systematic classification and lists of material that appear in Sutras.

It presents a comprehensive and technical classification of all phenomena, breaking down experience into its fundamental constituents such as the five aggregates, twelve sense bases, and eighteen elements. The Abhidharma literature provides a detailed map of the mind, its mental factors, and the laws of causality governing mental and physical processes. Its study is essential for understanding the nature of existence, the stages of the path, and the precise workings of karma. While initially developed within early Buddhist traditions, the Abhidharma framework was further refined in Mahayana schools, with Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Abhidharma becoming the definitive reference text studied in Tibetan monastic universities.

論藏是佛教三藏(經藏、律藏、論藏)之一，主要作為佛教教義的注解、解釋、分別經藏的分析方法。

它以詳細且具高度技術性的分類方式解析一切現象，將經驗世界拆解為五蘊、十二處、十八界等基本構成要素。阿毘達磨文獻提供了詳盡的心識地圖，涵蓋心王、心所法以及身心運作的因果法則。研習此學有助於理解存在的本質、修道的次第，以及業力運作的精確機制。此學門最初發展於早期佛教各部派，後經大乘學派進一步深化，其中世親所造《俱舍論》被藏傳佛教寺院大學列為根本論典。