Section 5: Relationships
The four essays in this section have been grouped together because they are concerned with the structure of abhidhamma rather than with analysis of its contents. They may be of particular value in pointing out that abhidhamma is as much concerned with relationships as it is with analysing experience into 'basics'. The section has been placed last as some degree of familiarity with the material presented earlier in the book may be useful to see the relationships described. Familiarity with the details of the thought process (section three) will be useful for the first essay. The second essay is concerned with the operation of cause and effect, a theme elaborated further in the third essay in a description of the relationships between the sense pentad, the jhana factors and feeling. The final essay of this section tries to give an over view of the chapters of the Abhidhammattha-sangaha, regarding them as a whole and tracing a dynamic structure that engages different levels of understanding.