A core strategy in the Abhidhamma revolves around slicing experience into its smallest building blocks—much like peeling back an onion to reach its core. Reality gets parsed into four “ultimate” categories (paramattha dhammas): mental events (citta), accompanying mental qualities (cetasikas), physical phenomena (rūpa), and Nibbāna. These aren’t abstract labels but precise pointers to what actually arises and passes away in each moment of awareness.

Enumeration and tabulation play starring roles. The Dhamma Saṅgaṇī opens with a systematic census of all mental and material phenomena. From there, the Vibhaṅga dissects each class—say, wholesome versus unwholesome states—illustrating their characteristics, functions and roots in crisp detail. Next, the Dhātukathā weaves these elements into cross-referenced matrices, revealing how, for example, sight and seeing-consciousness interlock within the six sense fields.

Conditional analysis takes center stage in the Paṭṭhāna, a standout text that maps out twenty-four modes of causal relations. In today’s psychological jargon, it almost reads like a flowchart of mind-body interactions—right down to how attention sparks feeling, which in turn sways perception. Each link in the Twelvefold Chain (paṭicca-samuppāda) then shows how ignorance can set in motion a domino effect ending in suffering, or how wisdom can reverse the tide.

Aggregate (khandha), sense-base (āyatana) and element (dhātu) frameworks act like filters, enabling a clear-eyed look at experience from different angles. Picture a modern scientific instrument with interchangeable lenses—that’s the Abhidhamma’s approach. Even today, some mindfulness-based therapies draw on these categories, echoing neuroscientists’ attempts at mapping emotional states with fMRI.

Finally, person-types (puggalappaññatti) offer a pragmatic classification of temperaments—altruistic, drive-oriented or contemplative—without reifying a self. It’s a bit like profiling working styles in a thriving start-up: insights inform practice but never become a rigid identity.

By juggling enumeration, conditional matrices and layered taxonomies, the Abhidhamma builds a toolkit for anyone keen to explore consciousness with the precision of a scientist and the compassion of a seasoned teacher.