We Are All Ābhidharmika s: Troubling a Genre Distinction in Buddhist Intellectual History

Abstract: In this article, I expand a conception of the Abhidharma by analyzing two encyclopedic Buddhist yoga texts written in Sanskrit. I argue that "the Teaching on Setting up Awareness of the True Dharma(s)" ( Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna ) and "the Teaching on Setting up Awareness of the Body" (* Kāyasmṛtyupasthāna ) exemplify the thickening of Buddhist Dharma that occurred historically as soteriological, scholastic, and cross-tradition dialogical projects developed, particularly in the early centuries of the Common Era. I draw attention to several passages from the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna depicting life in the Heaven of the Thirty-three. I argue that these materials demonstrate how the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna 's depiction of Abhidharma knowledge—as the property of the deities of the Heaven of the Thirty-three among others—can be associated with an aspirational outlook that implicitly prescribes deity-like practices for the human world. I focus on integral aspects of the representation of Abhidharma teachings in the text, but give additional emphasis to what the text evinces about developing cultures of ritual practice. I suggest that such representations disclose significant developments at a dynamic moment in the history of Buddhist thought and practice.