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The '''Seven treatises of Abhidharma''' (Tib. མངོན་པ་སྡེ་བདུན་, ''ngönpa dé dün'', [[Wyl.]] ''mngon pa sde bdun'') — according to the [[Vaibhashika]] school the seven treatises of [[Abhidharma]] were first spoken in sections by the [[Buddha]] in various lands and to various individuals. Later, seven [[arhat]]s collected them into treatises. They assert these Abhidharma treatises to be the [[Word of the Buddha]]. However, the [[Sautrantika]] or 'Followers of Sutra' and all higher schools consider these texts to be composed by the seven arhats and classify them as [[Shastra|treatises]].

The Vaibhashika contend that if you do not posit these abhidharma texts as Word of the Buddha, then the [[three pitakas]] wouldn't be complete. But the Sautrantikas reply that this is not the case, since the abhidharma pitaka is found within the [[Sutra]] and [[Vinaya]] texts, and so it is not necessary to have some separate texts to qualify as a pitaka. The Sautrantikas assert that these texts cannot be the Word of the Buddha, because in these texts things like [[space]] and [[uncompounded]] things are claimed to be substantially established (Wyl. ''rdzas su grub pa''). This is contrary to logic and the Buddha would never have said anything illogical.

The seven treatises are:
*Jnanaprasthana (Skt. ''Jñānaprasthāna'') by Katyayanaputra (Wyl. ''ye shes la 'jug ka t+ya'i bus'')
*Prakaranapada  (Skt. ''Prakaraṇapāda'') by Vasumitra (Wyl. ''rab tu dbye ba dbyig bshes kyis'')
*Vijnanakaya (Skt. ''Vijñānakāya'') by Devakṣema (or Devaśarman) (Wyl. ''rnam shes tshogs ni lha skyid kyis'')
*Dharmaskandha (Skt.) by [[Shariputra]] or by Maudgalyayana according to Chinese sources (Wyl. ''chos kyi phung po shA ri'i bus'')
*Prajnapti-sastra (Skt.) by [[Maudgalyayana]] or by Katyayana according to Chinese sources (Wyl. ''gdags pa'i bstan bcos mo'u 'gal bus'')
*Dhatukaya (Skt.) by Vasumitra or Purna (Wyl. ''khams kyis tshogs ni gang pos byas'')
*Sangitiparyaya (Skt.) by Mahākauṣṭhila or by Shariputra according to Chinese sources (Wyl. ''yang dag 'gro ba'i rnam grangs ni / gsum po che yis byas zhes grags'')

Although it is said that the ''Jnanaprasthana''  is considered the central text and the other six subsidiary, this might have been a later development. All seven texts were summarized in the ''[[Mahavibhasha]]''. [[Vasubandhu]] then studied this text and summarized its content in his famous ''[[Treasury of Abhidharma]]''. 

All seven texts can be found in Chinese translation, most of them translated by [[Xuanzang]]. In the Tibetan [[Kangyur]], only parts of the ''Prajnapti sastra'' can be found translated into Tibetan.

[[Category:Enumerations]]
[[Category:07-Seven]]
[[Category:Abhidharma]]
[[Category:Canon]]
[[Category:Texts]]