Buddha Abhidhamma - Ultimate Science - BuddhaNet

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as putting out the fire on one’s head when one’s head is on fire
and as removing the spear and treating the wound on one’s chest
when the chest is impaled by a spear.
The study of Abhidhamma furnishes one with the right view
that ‘I’ or ‘atta’ does not exist and what really exist in man are
citta, cetasikas and råpa. Understanding the mental states can help
one to control one’s temperament and to avoid unwholesome
mental states, thus reducing mental tension and curing many
mental diseases.
When one understands that the volition (cetanà), that direct
one’s action, speech and thought, bear kammic properties which
cause rebirth and shape the destiny of beings, one becomes mindful
to avoid unwholesome volition.
Furthermore, when one understands the causal relations
described in Abhidhamma, one can get rid of all wrong views and
hold a correct understanding of what is going on in the world.
When one decides to follow the Noble Eightfold Path to free
oneself from all miseries, one begins with the right view and
develops sãla (morality), samàdhi (concentration) and pa¤¤a
(wisdom) step by step. In so doing one has to undertake samathavipassanà
(tranquility and insight) meditation and try to observe
how the cittas, cetasikas and råpas are functioning, how they are
being produced incessantly, how the causal relations really work
and, in short, how all the phenomena described in Abhidhamma
really take place.
So the ultimate analysis in Abhidhamma is not for the pleasure
of reading nor for the sake of knowledge alone; it is also to be
scrutinized by the samàdhi-mind in order to develop insight
wisdom leading to the path and its fruition (magga and phala).