Abhidhammic Perspectives on Non-Violence: A Cognitive Approach to Peace-Building

Abstract

In today's conflict-filled world, peace-building efforts often emphasize external negotiations and structural reforms while neglecting the inner mental states that sustain violence. Drawing on early Buddhist psychology, this paper argues that the Abhidhamma offers a profound cognitive framework for understanding how unwholesome mental factors — greed (lobha), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha) — fuel individual and collective conflict. Using qualitative textual analysis of sources such as the Dhammasaṅgaṇī and Abhidhammattha Sangaha, the paper finds that transforming harmful mental patterns through mindfulness (sati), loving-kindness meditation (mettā bhāvanā) and right speech (sammā-vācā) can lay a practical foundation for non-violence.