向智
Theravāda traditionally promotes itself as the "Vibhajjavāda" "teaching of analysis" and as the heirs to the Buddha's analytical method. Expanding this model, Theravāda Abhidhamma scholasticism concerned itself with analyzing "ultimate truth" ("paramattha-sacca") which it sees as being composed of "all possible" dhammas and their relationships. The central theory of the Abhidhamma is thus known as the "dhamma theory". "Dhamma" has been translated as "factors" (Collett Cox), "psychic characteristics" (Bronkhorst), "psycho-physical events" (Noa Ronkin) and "phenomena" (Nyanaponika Thera).