Buddha Abhidhamma - Ultimate Science - BuddhaNet

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the course of Abhidhamma examinations held every year
throughout Myanmar by the ministry of Religious Affairs.
The present book, entitled THE ESSENCE OF BUDDHA ABHIDHAMMA,
further elaborates the subject-matter presented in ‘Abhidhammattha
saïgaha’ in a simple and systematic manner with certain collaboration
with scientific views and practical aspects. It is written
more or less in the form which is used by the author as lecture
guides in conducting Abhidhamma short courses.
The courses prove to be very successful. So the reader will
find this book to be thoroughly clarified and interesting to study
the essential facts of Abhidhamma.
Abhidhamma is really the golden knowledge which will help
one to discard wrong views and to acquire the right view for
one’s total liberation from all miseries.
Realities
There are two kinds of realities—apparent and ultimate.
Apparent reality is the ordinary conventional truth or the
commonly accepted truth (sammuti-sacca). It is called pa¤¤atti in
Abhidhamma.
Ultimate reality is the ultimate truth (paramattha-sacca). It is
called paramattha in Abhidhamma.
In basic science we learn about the apparent depth of an object
in water. The apparent depth is shallower than the real depth. It
appears to be the true depth due to the deviation of light rays on
passing from a denser medium (water) to a lighter medium (air).
So if a fisherman throws a spear at a fish where he sees it under
water, the spear will not hit the fish, because the fish is not really
there.
In the same way pa¤¤attis or the apparent realities, though
they seem to exist, do not really exist. What are the pa¤¤attis?