Summary: The mātikā are the triads and dyads that structure the Dhammasaṅgaṇī. They are not ornamental headings but the book's governing analytic grid: first the tikamātikā beginning with wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate dhammas, then the dukamātikā beginning with root and non-root dhammas (Dhs 1-66; Dhs 1059ff.).
Canonical locus
The Dhammasaṅgaṇī opens with the triadic matrix. (Dhs 1-3)
Dhs 1-3 (ds1.1:1.1–3.1)
Kusalā dhammā. Akusalā dhammā. Abyākatā dhammā.
It then begins the dyadic matrix with the root-pair. (Dhs 1059, 1078)
Dhs 1059, 1078 (ds1.2:1.1–2.1)
Hetū dhammā. Na hetū dhammā.
Analysis
The mātikā matter because they provide the basic grid through which later Abhidhamma analysis proceeds. (Dhs 1-66; Dhs 1059-1464)
Why the mātikā matter
The mātikā are the Abhidhamma's entry grid. They tell the reader what kinds of dhammas will later be analysed and cross-classified. This is why the first triad — kusala, akusala, abyakata — is so foundational: it supplies the book's first major ethical division. (Dhs 1-3)
Triads and dyads are complementary
The tikamātikā gives threefold classifications, while the dukamātikā adds twofold distinctions such as root/non-root, conditioned/unconditioned, material/non-material, and mundane/supramundane. The later analytical chapters repeatedly work back into this matrix-logic. (Dhs 1-66; Dhs 1059-1100)
Matrix before expansion
Abhidhamma reading is easiest when one first sees the matrix-pattern, not only the later expansions. The mātikā tells the reader what the later detail is detail of. (Dhs 1-66; Dhs 1059-1464)
Textual notes
- The word mātikā is often rendered "matrix" or "table". "Matrix" better captures its role as a classificatory frame that later analysis expands.
- This page is limited to the canonical Dhammasaṅgaṇī usage. Later manuals reorganize the material, but they do not replace the canonical matrix.