The Connected Discourses of the Buddha

by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  98 Yaṃ kiñci vedayitaṃ taṃ dukkhasmiṃ. See 36:11 (IV 216,20-217,3).

  99 Spk: Internal deliverance (ajjhattaṃ vimokkho): he attained arahantship while comprehending the internal formations. Spk refers here to a fourfold distinction in how the path emerges, found also at Vism 661-62 (Ppn 21:84-85).Spk: The taints do not flow within me (āsavā nānussavanti): The three taints, the taint of sensuality, etc., do not flow through the six sense doors towards the six sense objects, i.e., they do not arise in me. And I do not despise myself (attānañ ca nāvajānāmi): by this the abandoning of self-contempt (omāna) is indicated. C.Rh.D, at KS 2:40, has misunderstood this expression, rendering it “and I admit no (immutable) soul.”

  100 Pubbe appaṭisaṃviditaṃ. Spk: “I had not previously known or understood, ‘He will ask me this.’ His hesitancy was for the purpose of finding out the Teacher’s intention.”The past participle appaṭisaṃvidita suggests the Skt noun pratisaṃvid, counterpart of Pāli paṭisambhidā, the analytical knowledges in which Sāriputta excelled.

  101 Spk: That element of the Dhamma (sā dhammadhātu): Here, “element of the Dhamma” is the knowledge of a disciple’s perfection, which is capable of seeing the principle of conditionality without obscuration (paccayākārassa vivaṭabhāvadassanasamatthaṃ sāvakapāramīñāṇaṃ).

  102 Dhamme ñāṇa. Spk explains the Dhamma here as the Four Noble Truths (catusaccadhamma) or path knowledge (maggañāṇadhamma ).

  103 Iminā dhammena diṭṭhena viditena akālikena pattena pariyogāḷhena. Note that the string of participles here corresponds exactly to the terms used in the standard description of one who has gained “the vision of the Dhamma” (dhammacakkhu): diṭṭhadhammo, pattadhammo, viditadhammo, pariyogāḷhadhammo (“seen the Dhamma, attained the Dhamma, understood the Dhamma, fathomed the Dhamma,” e.g., at DN I 110,14-15). This implies that the Dhamma which the stream-enterer has seen is dependent origination, an inference additionally confirmed by the closing passage of the present sutta.Spk here treats akālikena as an independent adjective qualifying dhammena and explains it to mean that the path yields its fruit immediately after it is penetrated, without passage of time (kiñci kālaṃ anatikkamitvā paṭivedhānantaraṃ yeva phaladāyakena). However, in commenting on 42:11 (IV 328,21-22), where the same statement is found, Spk explains akālikena as an adverb of manner used in apposition to pattena (see IV, n. 352). I understand akālikena in the present passage in exactly the same way; otherwise it is difficult to see why it should be included amidst a string of past participles. Moreover, since the word here characterizes the relationship between temporal events like birth and aging, the common rendering of it as “timeless” is not entirely satisfactory. The desired sense in this context is “not involving the passage of time,” i.e., immediate, which qualifies the knowledge of the conditional relationship between the factors, not the factors themselves. The point is that this knowledge is a matter of direct “ocular” experience rather than of reasoning and inference.

  104 Anvaye ñāṇa. Spk: The knowledge (that follows) as a consequence of the knowledge of the principle; this is a name for reviewing knowledge (see n. 68). It is not possible to apply the method to the past and future by means of the dhamma of the four truths or the dhamma of path knowledge, but when the four paths have been penetrated by path knowledge, reviewing knowledge subsequently occurs, and one applies the method by means of that.This explanation is difficult to square with the account of reviewing knowledge at Vism 676 and elsewhere as knowledge of the path and fruit attained, the defilements abandoned, those remaining, and Nibbāna. What is meant here, rather, is an inference extended to past and future, based on the immediate discernment of the conditionality operative between any given pair of factors.

  The following paragraph is also at 12:27, 28. Spk says that the arahant’s (prior) plane of traineeship (khīṇāsavassa sekhabhūmi) is being discussed, on which Spk-pṭ remarks: the moment of the supreme path (aggamaggakhaṇa).

  105 Spk: The knowledge of the stability of the Dhamma (dhammaṭṭhitiñāṇa ) is the knowledge of the principle of conditionality. For the principle of conditionality is called “the stability of the Dhamma” because it is the cause for the continued occurrence of phenomena (pavattiṭṭhitikāraṇattā); the knowledge of it is “the knowledge of the stability of the Dhamma.” This is a designation for just this sixfold knowledge.I render dhammaṭṭhitatā (at 12:20; n. 51) “stableness of the Dhamma” and dhammaṭṭhiti “stability of the Dhamma.” The latter also occurs at 12:70 (II 124,10). The two seem to be effectively synonymous.

  The knowledge that this knowledge too is subject to destruction is called by Spk “counter-insight into insight” (vipassanā-paṭivipassanā), i.e., insight into the dissolution of the very act of insight knowledge that had just cognized the dissolution of the primary object. See Vism 641-42 (Ppn 21:11-13), where, however, the expression vipassanāpaṭivipassanā does not occur.

  106 Kassa ca pan’ idaṃ jarāmaraṇaṃ. This question, and the following ones moulded on the same pattern, presuppose the reality of a self and thus, like the questions at 12:12, must be rejected by the Buddha as invalid. Spk: Even though the question, “What is aging-and-death?” is properly formulated, because it is combined with the question, “For whom is there aging-and-death?” —which implicitly affirms belief in a being (sattūpaladdhi-vāda )—the entire question becomes wrongly formulated. This is like a dish of delicious food served on a golden platter, on top of which a small lump of excrement is placed: all the food becomes inedible and must be discarded.

  107 Spk: The living of the holy life (brahmacariyavāsa) is the living of the noble path. One who holds the view “the soul and the body are the same” (taṃ jīvaṃ taṃ sarīraṃ) holds that the soul and the body are annihilated together (at death). For one who holds this, the annihilationist view follows, for he holds that “a being is annihilated.” Now this noble path arises to stop and eradicate the round of existence. But on the annihilationist view the round ceases even without the development of the path, and thus the development of the path becomes purposeless. In the second case, one holding the view “the soul is one thing, the body another” (aññaṃ jīvaṃ aññaṃ sarīraṃ) holds that the body alone is annihilated here, while the soul goes about freely like a bird released from a cage. This view is eternalism. But if there were even one formation that is permanent, stable, and eternal, the noble path would not be able to bring the round to an end; thus again the development of the path would be purposeless.

  108 I read with Be: yāni ’ssa tāni visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni kānici kānici. Se is almost the same, but the orthography in Ee is very unsatisfactory. Spk explains that the three nouns are all synonyms for wrong view. This is called a contortion (visūkāyika) because it is an obstruction to oneself, being like a spike (visūkam iva; Spk-pṭ: = kaṇṭaka, a thorn) in the sense that it punctures right view (sammādiṭṭhiyā vinivijjhanaṭṭhena). It is a manoeuvre (visevita) because it fails to conform to right view but instead runs contrary to it; and a vacillation (vipphandita) because of grasping now annihilationism, now eternalism.Spk takes visūkāyika to be related to sūci, needle, but it would be difficult to justify this derivation by the actual use of the term. The three synonyms also occur at 4:24 (I 123,30-31) and MN I 234,19-20; at MN I 446,12-13 they describe the behaviour of an untrained horse.

  109 Spk glosses tālāvatthukatāni as tālavatthu viya katāni, “made like a palm-base,” and explains: “Made like a palm with cut-off head (i.e., a palm stump) in the sense of never growing again; and made like a place for the support of a palm after it has been extricated along with its root” (puna aviruhaṇaṭṭhena matthakacchinnatālo viya samūlaṃ tālaṃ uddharitvā tassa patiṭṭhitaṭṭhānaṃ viya ca katāni). Spk-pṭ first accepts the original reading tālāvatthu (lit. “palm-nonbase”) as it stands and explains: “The palm itself is the ‘palm-non-base’ because it is not a base for leaves, flowers, fruit, and sprout
s. But some read tālavatthukatāni, which means: ‘made like a palm because of being without a base.’”

  110 Spk: Since there actually is no self, there is nothing belonging to self; thus he says, “It is not yours” (na tumhākaṃ). And since there is no self of others, he says, “Neither does it belong to others” (na pi aññesaṃ). See too 22:33 and 35:101.

  111 Spk: It is old kamma (purāṇam idaṃ kammaṃ): This body is not actually old kamma, but because it is produced by old kamma it is spoken of in terms of its condition. It should be seen as generated (abhisaṅkhata), in that it is made by conditions; as fashioned by volition (abhisañcetayita), in that it is based on volition, rooted in volition; and as something to be felt (vedaniya), in that it is a basis for what is to be felt [Spkpṭ: because it is a basis and object of feeling].See too 35:146, where the same idea is extended to the six internal sense bases. To reflect upon the body in terms of dependent origination, one considers that this body can be subsumed under “form” in the compound “name-and-form.” One then reflects that name-and-form comes into being with consciousness, i.e., the rebirth-consciousness, as a conascent condition, and that both consciousness and name-and-form originate from the volitional formations, i.e., the kammic activities of the preceding existence. Thus the theme of this sutta ties up with the three that immediately follow.

  112 Spk: Here, the phrase one intends (ceteti) includes all wholesome and unwholesome volition of the three planes; one plans (pakappeti), the mental fabrications of craving and views (taṇhādiṭṭhikappā) in the eight cittas accompanied by greed [Spk-pṭ: the fabrications of views occur only in the four cittas associated with views]; and whatever one has a tendency towards (anuseti) implies the underlying tendencies (anusaya) under the headings of conascence and decisive-support conditions for the twelve (unwholesome) volitions. (On the twelve unwholesome cittas, see CMA 1:4-7.)This becomes a basis (ārammaṇam etaṃ hoti): These various states such as volition become a condition; for here the word ārammaṇa is intended as condition (paccaya; that is, here ārammaṇa does not signify an object of consciousness, the usual meaning in the Abhidhamma). For the maintenance of consciousness (viññāṇassa ṭhitiyā): for the purpose of maintaining the kammic consciousness. When there is this condition, there is a support for the establishing of consciousness (patiṭṭhā viññāṇassa hoti), i.e., for the establishing of that kammic consciousness [Spk-pṭ: it has a capacity to yield fruit in one’s mental continuum]. When that (kammic) consciousness is established and has come to growth (tasmiṃ patiṭṭhite viññāṇe ... virūḷhe): when, having impelled kamma, it has grown, produced roots, through its ability to precipitate rebirth, there is the production of future renewed existence, i.e., production consisting in renewed existence.

  Cp. 12:64 and 22:53-54 below. AN I 223-24 explains the process of renewed existence in similar terms (see n. 24). I see the verbs ceteti and pakappeti as allusions to saṅkhārā (which, as kammic activities, are expressive of cetanā—see AN III 415,7-8). Anuseti clearly refers to the anusaya or underlying tendencies, which include avijjānusaya, the underlying tendency to ignorance (= ignorance in the usual formula of dependent origination) and rāgānusaya, the underlying tendency to lust (= craving in the usual formula). The way they maintain consciousness is thus no different from the way the volitional formations, fueled by ignorance and craving, serve as the condition for consciousness: together, they underlie the flow of consciousness, infuse it with kammic potentials for renewed existence, and project it into a new existence, thereby initiating the process that will culminate in birth. I am not in full agreement with Spk in taking the viññāṇa that is “maintained” and “established” as the kammic consciousness. I interpret it simply as the ongoing process of consciousness, including both the kammically active and resultant phases. At 22:53-54 the other four aggregates are spoken of as the ārammaṇa and patiṭṭhā of viññāṇa, but I am doubtful that this application will work here. To use the categories of the Abhidhamma, it seems that in this sutta the terms ārammaṇa and patiṭṭhā denote the decisive-support condition (upanissayapaccaya) for consciousness, while in the two suttas in the Khandhasaṃyutta they denote the conascence and support conditions (sahajātapaccaya, nissayapaccaya).

  I use “volition” as a rendering for cetanā but “intends” for the corresponding verb ceteti; I use “intention” for the unrelated noun saṅkappa. I justify this apparent inconsistency on the ground that in Pāli the verb saṅkappeti (corresponding to saṅkappa) occurs very rarely (if at all), while English lacks a simple verb corresponding to “volition.” “A support for the establishing of consciousness” renders patiṭṭhā viññāṇassa. I find that “established” works consistently better as a rendering for the participle patiṭṭhita, but “support” for the noun patiṭṭhā, so to bridge the participle and the noun in the present passage (and at 22:53, 54) I have coined this compound expression.

  113 Spk: This refers to a moment when there is no occurrence of [wholesome and unwholesome] volition of the three planes, and no occurrence of the mental fabrications of craving and views. But one still has a tendency: by this the underlying tendencies are included because they have not been abandoned here in the resultants of the three planes, in the limited functional states (the five-door adverting and mind-door adverting cittas), and in form. As long as the underlying tendencies exist, they become a condition for the kammic consciousness, for there is no way to prevent its arising.Spk-pṭ: This second section is stated to show that wholesome and unwholesome kamma capable of producing rebirth is accumulated in the preliminary portion (of the path of practice), and that even without planning (through craving and views), the volitions of insight meditation in a meditator who has seen the dangers in existence are still conditioned by the underlying tendencies and are capable of generating rebirth. It is also stated to show that even when wholesome and unwholesome states are not occurring there is still an establishing of kammic consciousness with underlying defilements as condition; for so long as these have not been abandoned they lie latent in the existing resultants of the three planes, etc.

  114 Spk: When one does not intend, etc.: By the first phrase (“does not intend”) he shows that the wholesome and unwholesome volitions pertaining to the three planes have ceased; by the second (“does not plan”), that the craving and views in the eight cittas (accompanied by greed) have ceased; by the third (“does not have a tendency”), that the underlying tendencies lying latent in the aforesaid states have ceased. What is being discussed here? The function of the path of arahantship (arahattamaggassa kiccaṃ). It can also be interpreted as the arahant’s doing of his task (khīṇāsavassa kiccakaraṇaṃ) and the nine supramundane states (navalokuttaradhammā; i.e., the four paths, their fruits, and Nibbāna).Spk-pṭ: In this third section the function of the path of arahantship is discussed because that path completely stops the production of the underlying tendencies. The “arahant’s doing of his task” can be said because of the exclusion of feeling, etc. (meaning unclear). The nine supramundane states can be said because the underlying tendencies are extirpated by the series of paths, and the fruits follow immediately upon the paths, and Nibbāna is the object of both.

  I understand the “unestablished consciousness” (appatiṭṭhita viññāṇa) here to mean a consciousness without the prospect of a future rebirth through the propulsive power of ignorance, craving, and the volitional formations. The arahant is said to expire with consciousness “unestablished,” as at 4:23 and 22:87.

  115 Nāmarūpassa avakkanti. See 12:12, where the production of future renewed existence is placed between consciousness and the six sense bases. Taken in conjunction, the two suttas imply that the “descent of name-and-form” and the “production of future renewed existence” are interchangeable (this in spite of the commentarial predilection for always seeing the latter as kammically active existence). Spk states that there is a “link” (sandhi) between consciousness and name-and-form; thus on this interpretati
on consciousness denotes the kammically generative consciousness of the previous existence, name-and-form the beginning of the present existence. It seems to me, however, more likely that viññāṇa straddles both the past life and the present life, as the principle of personal continuity.

  116 Spk: Inclination (nati) is craving, called “inclination” in the sense of inclining (namanaṭṭhena) towards pleasant forms, etc. There is coming and going (āgatigati): there is a going of consciousness by way of rebirth towards what has come up (at death), presenting itself as kamma or the sign of kamma or the sign of future destiny. (The allusion is to the three objects of the last conscious process preceding death; see CMA 5:35-37.) There is passing away, passing from here, and being reborn, rebirth there.

  117 Cp. the “teaching of the Blessed One” recited by Mahācunda at 35:87 (IV 59,10-14).

  118 The sutta is also at 55:28 and at AN V 182-84. Spk glosses bhayāni verāni as volitions (bringing) fear and enmity (bhayaveracetanāyo). Spk-pṭ: The destruction of life and so forth are fearful and dreadful both for the perpetrator and for the victim; they are productive of fear and enmity, which are to be feared.The self-assured declaration of stream-entry is also at 55:8-10. The stream-enterer is exempt from the prospect of rebirth in the lower realms; he is fixed in destiny (niyata), as he cannot take more than seven rebirths, all in the human or celestial realms; and he has enlightenment as his destination (sambodhiparāyaṇa), as he will necessarily attain the enlightenment of arahantship.