Tattvārthā. Sthiramati’s Abhidharmakośaṭīkā, Chapter 1, Part I

This book presents the Diplomatic Edition of the Sanskrit manuscript of the first chapter of Sthiramati's Abhidharmakośaṭīkā Tattvārthā. It has not been found in Sanskrit and has been studied exclusively through poor translations into Tibetan, which have not yielded the desired results. Traditionally, commentary on the Sanskrit text of the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya is based on Yaśomitra's Abhidharmakośavyākhyā Sphuṭārthā, published by Unrai Ogiwara. The Sphuṭārthā is a commentary on the technical terms in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, providing a grammatical explanation of the text. The explanations are brief and concise, primarily reflecting the Sarvāstivāda views. Conversely, the Tattvārthā critically interprets and explains the Sarvāstivāda views from the Sautrāntika standpoint. Consequently, the Tattvārthā is more ideological, philosophical, and challenging to comprehend compared to the Sphuṭārthā, with its complete understanding remaining elusive in the context of the poor Tibetan translations. In the Nyāyānusārinī, Sanghabadra criticizes the Sautrāntika views as expounded in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. However, in the Tattvārthā that we are publishing, we can confirm, in the Sanskrit text, a sentence that refutes Sanghabadra's criticism, which exists only in the Chinese translation. The Tattvārthā is a crucial resource for tracing the controversy between the Sarvāstivāda and the Sautrāntika in the Sanskrit text and elucidating the profound differences in thought.