Seven treatises of Abhidharma

The Seven treatises of abhidharma (Tib. མངོན་པ་སྡེ་བདུན་; 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 arhats 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 treatises.

The seven treatises are:

• Jnanaprasthana (Skt. Jñānaprasthāna) by Katyayana
• Prakaranapada (Skt. Prakaraṇapāda) by Vasumitra
• Vijnanakaya (Skt. Vijñānakāya) by Devakṣema
• Dharmaskandha (Skt.) by Shariputra
• Prajnaptisastra (Skt.) by Maudgalyayana
• Dhatukaya (Skt.) by Vasumitra
• Sangitiparyaya (Skt.) Mahākauṣṭhila

All seven texts were summarized in the Mahavibhasha. Vasubandhu then studied this text and summarized it's content in his famous Treasury of Abhidharma.