In The Buddhist Analysis of Matter, renowned scholar Y. Karunadasa interprets the Buddhist view of matter as presented in Theravada Buddhism, based on the Abhidhamma. His comprehensive work draws on both the earlier period containing the seven manuals of the Abhidhamma Pitaka and the later period containing Abhidhammic commentaries, sub-commentaries, and such compendiums as the Abhidhammatthasangaha of Acariya Anuruddha.

In order to bring the subject into a wider perspective, and for more precision, Karunadasa considers the (non-Theravada) Vaibhasika and Sautrantika schools of Buddhism -- two of the leading non-Mahayana schools with whom the Theravadins had much in common, both of which subscribed to a realistic view of existence -- as well as later sources such as the post-canonical commentaries and related literary sources of Theravada Buddhism.

This book gives us the first clear picture of the Buddhist analysis of matter as such. Earlier works on this subject have tended to focus on the broad philosophical implications arising from the Buddhist theory of matter and were based more on earlier sources, such as the Pali canonical texts. The Buddhist Analysis of Matter provides a much-needed micro view of the topic with a detailed examination of the Theravadins' list of rupa-dammas--the ultimate irreducible factors into which material existence is analyzed. It exposes the basic material elements into which the whole of material existence is resolved and explains their interconnection and interdependence on the basis of conditional relations. It concludes with an understanding of the nature and relevance of the Buddhist analysis of matter in the context of Buddhism as a religion.
Buddhist Analysis of Matter, Y. Karunadasa, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 260 pp, $29.95

Y. Karunadasa is Professor Emeritus at the University of Kelaniya and a former director of its Graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of London, the University of Toronto, and the University of Hong Kong, and as the Numata Chair at the University of Calgary. He lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

CONTENTS: Buddhist Analysis of Matter
	FOREWORD BY RICHARD GOMBRICH	ix
	PREFACE	xiii
1.	Introduction	1
2.	Definition of Matter and the Basic Material Factors	11
3.	The Primary Elements	25
4.	The Secondary Elements: Group A	43
5.	The Secondary Elements: Group B	67
6.	Classification of Material Elements	103
7.	Correlation of Material Elements	129
8.	Atomic Clusters	149
9.	Time and Temporality	177
10.	The Ethico-Philosophical Basis of the Buddhist Analysis of Matter	187
	ABBREVIATIONS	201
	NOTES	205
	BIBLIOGRAPHY	235
	INDEX	243
	ABOUT THE AUTHOR	261