Greetings Chris,
Well, as David said, the "17 mind moments" analysis is in the Dhammasangani... the first book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. If you have a copy, you may wish to investigate it.
As you doubtlessly know, the Abhidhammattha Sanghaha translates as "the Compendium of Things contained in the Abhidhamma" (p15). Given your reluctance to accept it as a reference indicative of the teachings of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, do you therefore question that the prominent Abhidhammattha Sanghaha is actually a "compendium of things contained in the Abhidhamma" after all?
If you do, then I can go no further in this discussion because I do not possess copies of any of the books from the Abhidhamma Pitaka.
When Mahayanists composed their doctrines well after the Buddha's parinibbana and considered them to be valuable to mankind, they devised intra-traditional methods of justification for treating their doctrines as the literal word of Buddha. We do not accept their traditional explanations... it is useful to reflect on the reasons that we do not personally accept this self-proclaimed authority, and to ask ourselves if we are applying the same level of critical thought and investigation into the traditional explanations behind Theravada doctrines composed after the Buddha's parinibbana that the authors may have considered a valuable blessing to mankind?
To anyone not relying solely on the intra-tradition justifications, the following facts pose severe risks to the authenticity of the Abhidhamma Pitaka as having been genuinely spoken by the Buddha.
* The non existence of the Theravada Abhidhamma in any tradition outside of Theravada itself. Compare with the Sutta Pitaka and Vinaya Pitaka, which exist (or are at least know to have existed, in varying degrees of completeness) in many languages, across many parts of Asia.
* Other early schools alleging that scholar monks of the Theravada tradition were the authors of the Abhidhamma Pitaka
* The absence of reference to the Abhidhamma Pitaka prior to the 3rd Buddhist Council, 294 years after the Buddha's parinibbana
Even lovers of the Abhidhamma such as venerables Bodhi and Nyanatiloka, who have written instructive texts on the Abhidhamma, when faced with this evidence can not bring themselves to accept the traditional explanation for the origins of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Like these venerables, I do not claim that the Abhidhamma has no value, but my preference in the Dhamma is to follow the words of the Buddha when he spoke as such in the Simsapa Sutta...
SN 56.31 - Simsapa Sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the same way, monks, those things that I have known with direct knowledge but have not taught are far more numerous [than what I have taught]. And why haven't I taught them? Because they are not connected with the goal, do not relate to the rudiments of the holy life, and do not lead to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding. That is why I have not taught them.
So even if the Abhidhamma is a completely faithful systematization of the Buddha's teachings, with not a single new thing added, the Buddha himself says that it is unneccessary in the holy life (let alone the lay life).
Metta,
Retro.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."