Mahavibhasa

The Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra is an ancient Buddhist text. It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE.

Vibhāṣā is a Sanskrit term meaning 'compendium', 'treatise' or simply 'explanation', derived from the prefix vi + the verbal root √bhāṣ, 'speak' or 'explain'. Evidence strongly indicates that there were originally many different Vibhāṣa texts, mainly commenting on the Jñānaprasthāna, but also commenting on other Abhidharma texts too. The relationship between all these texts is very complex, as there is mutual influence, and the texts underwent some development from initial inception to completion. The Taisho has three, however, which are compendiums on the Jñānaprasthāna, and its six legs: the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra (T1545), the Abhidharma Vibhāṣā Śāstra (T1546) and the Vibhāṣā Śāstra (T1547).or more on this debate

The tradition of the Mahāvibhāṣa states that it was taught by the Buddha himself, but differs as to the circumstances. It was later Kātyayanīputra who was responsible for the compilation thereof. The Mahā-prajñā-pāramitopadeśa (which actually refers to the Aṣṭaskandha) states that 100 years after the Buddha's demise, there arose doctrinal disputes among the great masters, giving rise to distinctly named schools.

Xuanzang maintained that it was written some three centuries after the Buddha, which would be c. 150 BCE.

Of these three, the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra is considered prominent. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to five hundred arhats, some 600 years after the parinirvāṇa of the Buddha. Its compilation, however, is attributed to a certain Katyāyāniputra. This date and authorship is based on the Chinese translation, also of Xuanzang, and also other historical considerations. It appears in the Taisho in its own volume, due to its huge size: T27, No. 1545, 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論, 五百大阿羅漢等造, 三藏法師玄奘奉　詔譯, in a massive 200 which is larger than the previous Abhidharma texts combined, and a third of the total Abhidharma literature! The Vibhāṣa Śāstra is an older translation, translated by Buddhavarman and Daotai: T28, No. 1546, 阿毘達磨毘婆沙論, 迦旃延子造, 五百羅漢釋, 北涼天竺沙門浮陀跋摩共道泰等譯.

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