OVER TWENTY YEARS AGO, I took an Abhidhamma course at my Sri Lankan temple in Los Angeles. After the first class, I thought, “Man, Buddhists really love lists!”
As the weeks went by, my teenage mind was inundated by the five (aggregates), the (consciousness), the different (mental factors ranging from forty-two to fifty-two depending on tradition), the twelve (causes) of dependent origination, and more, including subdivisions involving even lists.