The origin and devleopment of the Abhidhamma extended over a considerable period of gradual and systematic historical evolution. The traditional claim, shared alike by the Theravādins and the Sarvāstivādins ascribed the Abhidhamma, both in regard to its historical origin as well as in regard to its literary form, to the Buddha himself. The Aṭṭhasalīni of the Theravādins, which describes the Buddha as the first Abhidhammika, goes to the length of claiming that the seven treatises of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka were themselves uttered by the Buddha. According to them, the Abhbidhamma was inspired by the earnest aspiration for enlightenment, matured through five hundred and fifty births, realized by Buddha at the foot of the Bodhi tree, in the month of Vesākha. It was reflected upon by the omniscient Buddha while he was on the seat of enlightenment during his weeks stay at the Jewelled Mansion. It was taught in heaven, that is in the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods. It was received by the gods and it was studied by the venerable seekers after perfection as well as by the virtuous worldly folk. It is the word of the Buddha and it has been handed down by the succession of teachers and their pupils. Through Sāriputta it has been successively handed down by Bhaddaji, Sobhita, Moggaliputta, Revata and others up to the time of the Third Council and thereafter by their pupils. Through the traditional succession in India it was brought to the island of Ceylon by Mahinda. It is generally accepted that the Abhidhamma originated and developed out of the Dhamma. The term Dhamma in its normative aspect bears the widest meaning and comprises the entire teaching of doctrine. The Dhamma was capable of being understood and grasped only by the wise especially because of the fact that the greater part of the Dhamma was taught in a free style. The rich and varied contents of the suttas as the word of the Buddha gradually grew into a religion and philosophy professed by an increasing number of people. The richness of the philosophical content of the Buddha's discourses allowed the possibility of divergence of opinion even among the Buddhist monks themselves. That this was actually so is indicated by the early history of the emergence of the Buddhist schools. This process was probably accelerated after the council of Vesālī, which was exclusively devoted to the discussion of ten points of monastic discipline. It was at the council of Pātaliputta, during Asoka's reign, that controversial points were settled and incorporated in the canonical texts under the name Kathāvatthuppakarana. The differences came to be more exaggerated when each school held its own closed sessions to decide the import of the doctrine. The earlier life of settled monasticism and the life of leisure thus secured induced the monks to engage themselves in philosophical and literary pursuits and the geographical isolation of the monasteries resulted in the growth of independent schools of thought. This explains at once many of the disparities between the various schools in regard to the Abhidhamma. In view of the differences among the schools on the subject of the Abhbidhamma each felt the need for the compilation of a separate piṭaka for the special and elaborated doctrine. Even from the point of view of literature, we see the contrast between the Dhamma and Abhidhamma. We can therefore say that while the Dhamma belongs to the period of undivided Buddhism of the earliest days, the Abhidhamma belongs to the period of divided Buddhism. From its very inception and throughout the medieval and modern periods, the Abhidhamma evolved and developed in the isolation of the separate schools.
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