The Soil of Understanding—Conclusion: Dependent Origination#
1 A. Definition of Dependent Origination#
§1 533/591 517 The turn has now come for the exposition of the dependent origination itself, and the dependently-originated states comprised by the word “etc.,” since these still remain out of the states called the “soil” (bhūmi), of which it was said above, “The states classed as aggregates, bases, elements, faculties, truths, and dependent origination, etc., are the ‘soil’” (XIV.32).
§2 Herein, firstly, it is the states beginning with ignorance that should be understood as dependent origination. For this is said by the Blessed One: “And what is the dependent origination, bhikkhus? With ignorance as condition there are [volitional] formations; with formations as condition, consciousness; with consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality; with mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base; with the sixfold base as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condition, becoming; with becoming as condition, birth; with birth as condition there is ageing-and-death, and sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; thus there is the arising of this whole mass of suffering. This is called the dependent origination, bhikkhus” (S II 1).
§3 Secondly, it is the states beginning with ageing-and-death that should be understood as dependently-originated states. For this is said by the Blessed One: “And what are the dependently-originated states, bhikkhus? Ageing-and-death is impermanent, bhikkhus, formed, dependently originated, subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject to cessation. [1] Birth is impermanent, bhikkhus, … Becoming … Clinging … Craving … Feeling … Contact … The sixfold base … Mentality-materiality … Consciousness … Formations … Ignorance is impermanent, bhikkhus, formed, dependently originated, subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject 534/592 to cessation. These are called the dependently-originated states, bhikkhus” (S II 26). 518
§4 Here is a brief explanation. The states that are conditions should be understood as the dependent origination. The states generated by such and such conditions are dependently-originated states.
§5 How is that to be known? By the Blessed One’s word. For it is precisely those states which are conditions, that with the synonyms beginning with “reality” have been called “dependent origination” by the Blessed One when teaching the dependent origination in the sutta on the Teaching of the Dependent Origination and Dependently-originated States thus:
“And what is dependent origination, bhikkhus?
“With birth as condition, bhikkhus, there is ageing and death. Whether Perfect Ones arise or do not arise, there yet remains that element, relatedness of states, regularity of states, specific conditionally. The Perfect One discovers it, penetrates to it. Having discovered it, penetrated to it, he announces it, teaches it, makes it known, establishes, exposes, expounds, and explains it: ‘See,’ he says, ‘With birth as condition there is ageing and death.’
“With becoming as condition, bhikkhus, there is birth … With ignorance as condition, bhikkhus, there are formations. Whether Perfect Ones arise or do not arise, there yet remains that element, relatedness of states, regularity of states, specific conditionally. The Perfect One discovers it, penetrates to it. Having discovered it, penetrated to it, he announces it, teaches it, makes it known, establishes, exposes, expounds and explains it: ‘See,’ he says, ‘With ignorance as condition there are formations.’
“So, bhikkhus, that herein which is reality, not unreality, not otherness, specific conditionality: that is called dependent origination” (S II 25f.).
Consequently, it should be understood that dependent origination has the characteristic of being the conditions for the states beginning with ageing-and-death. Its function is to continue [the process of] suffering. It is manifested as the wrong path.
§6 Because particular states are produced by particular conditions, neither less nor more, it is called reality (suchness). Because once the conditions have met in combination there is no non-producing, even for an instant, of the states they generate, it is called not unreality (not unsuchness). Because there is no arising of one state with another state’s conditions, it is called not otherness. Because there is a condition, or because there is a total of conditions, for these states beginning with ageing-and-death as already stated, it is called specific conditionality.
§7 Here is the word meaning: idappaccayā (lit. that-conditions) = imesaṃ paccayā (conditions for those); idappaccayā (that-conditions) = idappaccayatā (that-conditionality, conditionality for those, specific conditionality). Or alternatively, idappaccayatā (that-conditionality) = idappaccayānaṃ samūho (the total of that-conditions, total specific conditionality).
§8 535/593 The characteristic must be sought from grammar. Some, in fact, [say that the expression paṭicca samuppāda (dependent origination) is characterized thus:] “having depended (paṭicca), a right (sammā) arising (uppāda), [depending on causes rightly by] disregarding such causes conjectured by sectarians as the Primordial Essence (Prakṛti), World Soul (Puruṣa), and so on.” So what they call dependent origination (paṭicca samuppāda) is a simple arising (uppāda) [for they equate the prefix saṃ only with sammā (rightly) and ignore saṃ (with, con-)]. That is untenable. 519 Why? (1) There is no such sutta; (2) it contradicts suttas; (3) it admits of no profound treatment; and (4) it is ungrammatical.
§9 (1) No sutta describes the dependent origination as simple arising.
(2) Anyone who asserts that dependent origination is of that kind involves himself in conflict with the Padesavihāra Sutta. How? The Newly Enlightened One’s abiding (vihāra) is the bringing of the dependent origination to mind, because, of these words of the Blessed One’s: “Then in the first watch of the night the Blessed One brought to mind the dependent origination in direct and reverse order” [as origination and cessation] (Vin I 1; Ud 2). Now, “padesavihāra” is the abiding (vihāra) in one part (desa) of that, according as it is said, “Bhikkhus, I abode in a part of the abiding in which I abode when I was newly enlightened” (S V 12; Paṭis I 107). And there he abode in the vision of structure of conditions, not in the vision of simple arising, according as it is said, “So I understood feeling with wrong view as its condition, and feeling with right view as its condition, and feeling with wrong thinking as its condition …” (S V 12), all of which should be quoted in full. So anyone who asserts that dependent origination is simple arising involves himself in conflict with the Padesavihāra Sutta.
§10 There is likewise contradiction of the Kaccāna Sutta. For in the Kaccāna Sutta it is said, “When a man sees correctly with right understanding the origination of the world, Kaccāna, he does not say of the world that it is not” (S II 17). And there it is the dependent origination in forward order, not simple arising, that, as the origination of the world from its conditions, is set forth in order to eliminate the annihilation view. For the annihilation view is not eliminated by seeing simple arising; but it is eliminated by seeing the chain of conditions as a chain of fruits following on a chain of conditions. So anyone who asserts that the dependent origination is simple arising involves himself in contradiction of the Kaccāna Sutta.
§11 (3) It admits of no profound treatment: this has been said by the Blessed One, “This dependent origination is profound, Ānanda, and profound it appears” (D II 55; S II 92). And the profundity is fourfold as we shall explain below (XVII.304f.); but there is none of that in simple arising. And this dependent origination is explained [by the teachers] as adorned with the fourfold method (XVII.309); but there is no [need of] any such tetrad of methods in simple arising. So dependent origination is not simple arising, since that admits of no profound treatment.
§12 (4) It is ungrammatical: 520 this word paṭicca (lit. “having depended”; freely “due to,” “dependent”), [being a gerund of the verb paṭi + eti, to go back to], 536/594 establishes a meaning [in a formula of establishment by verb] when it is construed as past with the same subject [as that of the principal verb], as in the sentence “Having depended on (paṭicca = ‘due to’) the eye and visible objects, eye-consciousness arises (uppajjati)” (S II 72). But if it is construed here with the word uppāda (arising), [which is a noun], in a formula of establishment by noun, there is a breach of grammar, because there is no shared subject [as there is in above-quoted sentence], and so it does not establish any meaning al all. So the dependent origination is not simple arising because that is ungrammatical.
§13 Here it might be [argued]: “We shall add the words ‘comes to be’ (hoti) thus: ‘Having depended, arising comes to be’ (paṭicca, samuppādo hoti).” That will not do. Why not? Because there is no instance in which it has been added, and because the fallacy of the arising of an arising follows. For in such passages as “Paṭiccasamuppādaṃ vo bhikkhave desessāmi. Katamo ca bhikkhave paṭiccasamuppādo … Ayaṃ vuccati bhikkhave paṭiccasamuppādo (I shall teach you the dependent origination, bhikkhus. And what is the dependent origination? … This is called the dependent origination, bhikkhus)” (S II 1), the words “comes to be” (hoti) are not added in any single instance. And there is no [such expression as] “arising comes to be”: if there were, it would be tantamount to saying that arising itself had an arising too.
§14 And those are wrong who imagine that specific conditionality (idappaccayatā) is the specific conditions’ [abstract] essence—what is called “abstract essence” being a [particular] mode in ignorance, etc., that acts as cause in the manifestation of formations, etc.—and that the term “dependent origination” is used for an alteration in formations when there is that [particular mode in the way of occurrence of ignorance]. Why are they wrong? Because it is ignorance, etc., themselves that are called causes. For in the following passage it is ignorance, etc., themselves, not their alteration, that are called the causes [of these states]: “Therefore, Ānanda, just this is the cause, this is the source, this is the origin, this is the condition, for ageing-and-death, that is to say, birth … for formations, that is to say, (ignorance)” (D II 57–63—the last clause is not in the Dīgha text). Therefore it is the actual states themselves as conditions that should be understood as “dependent origination.” So what was said above (§4) can be understood as rightly said.
§15 If any notion arises in the guise of a literal interpretation of the term “dependent origination” (paṭicca-samuppāda) to the effect that it is only arising that is stated, it should be got rid of by apprehending the meaning of this expression in the following way. For:
§16 This term “dependent origination,” when applied to the total of states produced from the [total] conditionality, must be taken in two ways. 521 For 537/595 that [total] ought to be arrived at (*paṭicco—*adj.), [2] since when it is arrived at (paṭiyamāno), it leads to [supramundane] welfare and bliss and so the wise [regard] it as worthy to be arrived at (paccetuṃ); and then, when it arises (uppajjamāno), it does so “together with” (saha) and “rightly” (sammā), not singly or causelessly, thus it is a co-arising (samuppādo). Consequently: it is to be arrived at (paṭicco) and it is a co-arising (samuppādo), thus it is dependent origination (paṭicca-samuppāda). Again: it arises as a togetherness (saha), thus it is a co-arising (samuppāda); but it does so having depended (*paṭicca—*ger.) in combination with conditions, not regardless of them. Consequently: it, having depended (paṭicca), is a co-arising (samuppāda), thus in this way also it is dependent origination (paṭicca-samuppāda). And the total of causes is a condition for that [total of states produced from the conditionality], so, because it is a condition for that, this [total of causes] is called, “dependent origination,” using for it the term ordinarily used for its fruit just as in the world molasses, which is a condition for phlegm, is spoken of thus, “Molasses is phlegm,” or just as in the Dispensation the arising of Buddhas, which is a condition for bliss, is spoken of thus, “The arising of Buddhas is bliss” (Dhp 194).
§17 Or alternatively:
§18 This total of causes—indicated severally under the heading of each cause, beginning with ignorance—for the manifestation of formations, etc., is called “dependent” (*paṭicco—*adj.), taking it as “facing, gone to, its counterpart” (paṭimukham ito) owing to the mutual interdependence of the factors in the combination, in the sense both that they produce common fruit and that none can be dispensed with. And it is called a “co-arising” (samuppādo) since it causes the states that occur in unresolved mutual interdependence to arise associatedly. Consequently: it is dependent (paṭicco) and a co-arising (samuppādo), thus in this way also it is dependent origination (paṭicca-samuppāda).
§19 Another method:
§20 538/596 Among the conditions described under the headings of ignorance, etc., the respective conditions that make the [conditionally-arisen] states beginning with formations arise are incapable of making them arise when not mutually dependent and when deficient. Therefore this conditionality by depending (*paṭicca—*ger.) makes states arise (uppādeti) equally and together (samaṃ saha ca), not piecemeal and successively—so it has been termed here thus by the Sage who is skilled in phraseology that conforms to its meaning: it has been accurately termed “dependent origination” (paṭicca samuppāda), is the meaning.
§21 And while so termed:
§22 The first: the word “dependent” (paṭicca) indicates the combination of the conditions, 522 since states in the process of occurring exist in dependence on the combining of their conditions; and it shows that they are not eternal, etc., thus denying the various doctrines of eternalism, no-cause, fictitious-cause, and power-wielder. [3] What purpose indeed would the combining of conditions serve, if things were eternal, or if they occurred without cause, and so on?
§23 The second: the word “origination” (samuppāda) indicates the arising of the states, since these occur when their conditions combine, and it shows how to prevent annihilationism, etc., thus preventing the various doctrines of annihilation [of a soul], nihilism, [“there is no use in giving,” etc.,] and moral-inefficacy-of-action, [“there is no other world,” etc.]; for when states [are seen to] arise again and again, each conditioned by its predecessor, how can the doctrines of annihilationism, nihilism, and moral-inefficacy-of-action be maintained?
§24 The two together: since any given states are produced without interrupting the [cause-fruit] continuity of any given combination of conditions, the whole expression “dependent origination” (paṭicca-samuppāda) represents the middle way, which rejects the doctrines, “He who acts is he who reaps” and “One acts while another reaps” (S II 20), and which is the proper way described thus, “Not insisting on local language and not overriding normal usage” (M III 234). [4]
539/597 This, in the first place, is the meaning of the mere words “dependent origination” (paṭicca-samuppāda).
2 B. Exposition#
2.1 I. Preamble#
§25 Now, in teaching this dependent origination the Blessed One has set forth the text in the way beginning, “With ignorance as condition there are formations” (S II 20). Its meaning should be commented on by one who keeps within the circle of the Vibhajjavādins, [5] who does not misrepresent the teachers, who does not advertise his own standpoint, who does not quarrel with the standpoint of others, who does not distort suttas, who is in agreement with the Vinaya, who looks to the principal authorities (mahāpadesa—D II 123ff.), who illustrates the law (dhamma), who takes up the meaning (attha), repeatedly reverting to that same meaning, describing it in various different ways. [6] And it is inherently difficult to comment on the dependent origination, as the Ancients said:
Therefore, considering that to comment on the dependent origination is impossible except for those who are expert in the texts:
§26 For this has been said by the former teachers:
2.2 II. Brief Exposition#
§27 So as regards the passages that begin: “With ignorance as condition there are formations” (S II 20), to start with:
§28 1. Herein, as different ways of teaching: the Blessed One’s teaching of the dependent origination is fourfold, namely, (i) from the beginning; or (ii) from the middle up to the end; and (iii) from the end; or (iv) from the middle down to the beginning. It is like four creeper-gatherers’ ways of seizing a creeper.
§29 (i) For just as one of four men gathering creepers sees only the root of the creeper first, and after cutting it at the root, he pulls it all out and takes it away and uses it, so the Blessed One teaches the dependent origination from the beginning up to the end thus: “So, bhikkhus, with ignorance as condition there are formations; … with birth as condition ageing-and-death” (M I 261).
§30 (ii) Just as another of the four men sees the middle of the creeper first, and after cutting it in the middle, he pulls out only the upper part and takes it away and uses it, so the Blessed One teaches it from the middle up to the end thus: 541/599 “When he is delighted with, welcomes, remains committed to that feeling, then delight arises in him. Delight in feelings is clinging. With his clinging as condition there is becoming; with becoming as condition, birth” (M I 266).
§31 (iii) Just as another of the four men sees the tip of the creeper first, and seizing the tip, he follows it down to the root and takes all of it away and uses it, so the Blessed One teaches it from the end down to the beginning thus: “‘With birth as condition, ageing-and-death,’ so it was said. But is there ageing-and-death with birth as condition, or not, or how is it here?—There is ageing-and-death with birth as condition, so we think, venerable sir. 524 ‘With becoming as condition, birth,’ so it was said … ‘With ignorance as condition there are formations,’ so it was said. But are there formations with ignorance as condition, or not, or how is it here?—There are formations with ignorance as condition, so we think, venerable sir” (M I 261).
§32 (iv) Just as one of the four men sees only the middle of the creeper first, and after cutting it in the middle and tracing it down as far as the root, he takes it away and uses it, so the Blessed One teaches it from the middle down to the beginning thus: “And these four nutriments, bhikkhus: what is their source? What is their origin? From what are they born? By what are they produced? These four nutriments have craving as their source, craving as their origin, they are born from craving, produced by craving. Craving: what is its source? … Feeling: … Contact: … The sixfold base: … Mentality-materiality: … Consciousness: … Formations: what is their source? … By what are they produced? Formations have ignorance as their source … they are … produced by ignorance” (S II 11f.).
§33 Why does he teach it thus? Because the dependent origination is wholly beneficial and because he has himself acquired elegance in instructing. For the dependent origination is entirely beneficial: starting from any one of the four starting points, it leads only to the penetration of the proper way. And the Blessed One has acquired elegance in instructing: it is because he has done so through possession of the four kinds of perfect confidence and the four discriminations and by achieving the fourfold profundity (§304) that he teaches the Dhamma by various methods.
§34 But it should be recognized, in particular, that (i) when he sees that people susceptible of teaching are confused about the analysis of the causes of the process [of becoming], he employs his teaching of it forwards starting from the beginning in order to show that the process carries on according to its own peculiar laws and for the purpose of showing the order of arising. (iii) And it should be recognized that when he surveys the world as fallen upon trouble in the way stated thus, “This world has fallen upon trouble; it is born, ages, dies, passes away, and reappears” (S II 10), he employs his teaching of it backwards starting from the end in order to show the [laws governing the] various kinds of suffering beginning with ageing and death, which he discovered himself in the early stage of his penetration. And (iv) it should be recognized that he employs his teaching of it backwards from the middle down to the beginning in order to show how the succession of cause and fruit extends back into the past [existence], 542/600 and again forwards from the past, in accordance with his definition of nutriment as the source [of ignorance] (see M I 47f.). And (ii) it should be recognized that he employs his teaching of it forwards from the middle up to the end in order to show how the future [existence] follows on [through rebirth] from arousing in the present causes for [rebirth] in the future.
§35 Of these methods of presentation, that cited here should be understood to be that stated in forward order starting from the beginning in order to show to people susceptible of teaching who are confused about the laws of the process [of becoming] that the process carries on according to its own peculiar laws, 525 and for the purpose of showing the order of arising.
§36 But why is ignorance stated as the beginning here? How then, is ignorance the causeless root-cause of the world like the Primordial Essence of those who assert the existence of a Primordial Essence? It is not causeless. For a cause of ignorance is stated thus, “With the arising of cankers there is the arising of ignorance” (M I 54). But there is a figurative way in which it can be treated as the root cause. What way is that? When it is made to serve as a starting point in an exposition of the round [of becoming].
§37 For the Blessed One gives the exposition of the round with one of two things as the starting point: either ignorance, according as it is said, “No first beginning of ignorance is made known, bhikkhus, before which there was no ignorance, and after which there came to be ignorance. And while it is said thus, bhikkhus, nevertheless it is made known that ignorance has its specific condition” (A V 113); or craving for becoming, according as it is said, “No first beginning of craving for becoming is made known, bhikkhus, before which there was no craving for becoming, and after which there came to be craving for becoming. And while it is said thus, bhikkhus, nevertheless it is made known that craving for becoming has its specific condition” (A V 116).
§38 But why does the Blessed One give the exposition of the round with those two things as starting points? Because they are the outstanding causes of kamma that leads to happy and unhappy destinies.
§39 Ignorance is an outstanding cause of kamma that leads to unhappy destinies. Why? Because, just as when a cow to be slaughtered is in the grip of the torment of burning with fire and belabouring with cudgels, and being crazed with torment, she drinks the hot water although it gives no satisfaction and does her harm, so the ordinary man who is in the grip of ignorance performs kamma of the various kinds beginning with killing living things that leads to unhappy destinies, although it gives no satisfaction because of the burning of defilements and does him harm because it casts him into an unhappy destiny.
§40 But craving for becoming is an outstanding cause of kamma that leads to happy destinies. Why? Because, just as that same cow, through her craving for cold water, starts drinking cold water, which gives satisfaction and allays her torment, so the ordinary man in the grip of craving for becoming performs kamma of the various kinds beginning with abstention from killing living things that leads to happy destinies and gives satisfaction because it is free from the 543/601 burning of defilements and, by bringing him to a happy destiny, allays the torment of suffering [experienced] in the unhappy destinies.
§41 Now, as regards these two states that are starting points in expositions of the process [of becoming], in some instances the Blessed One teaches the Dhamma based on a single one of these states, for instance, 526 “Accordingly, bhikkhus, formations have ignorance as their cause, consciousness has formations as its cause” (S II 31), etc.; likewise, “Bhikkhus, craving increases in one who dwells seeing enjoyment in things productive of clinging; with craving as condition there is clinging” (S II 84), and so on. In some instances he does so based on both, for instance: “So, bhikkhus, for the fool who is hindered by ignorance and tethered by craving there arises this body. Now, this body [with its six internal bases] and externally [the six bases due to] mentality-materiality make a duality. Due to this duality there is contact, as well as the six [pairs of] bases, touched through which the fool feels pleasure and pain” (S II 23f.), and so on.
§42 Of these ways of presentation, that cited here in the form “With ignorance as condition there are formations” should be understood as one based on a single state. This, firstly, is how the exposition should be known “as to different ways of teaching.”
§43 2. As to meaning: as to the meaning of the words “ignorance” and so on. Bodily misconduct, etc., for example, “ought not to be found” (avindiya), in the sense of being unfit to be carried out; the meaning is that it should not be permitted. It finds (vindati) what ought not to be found (avindiya), thus it is ignorance (avijjā). Conversely, good bodily conduct, etc. “ought to be found” (vindiya). It does not find (na vindati) what ought to be found (vindiya), thus it is ignorance (avijjā). Also it prevents knowing (avidita) the meaning of collection in the aggregates, the meaning of actuating in the bases, the meaning of voidness in the elements, the meaning of predominance in the faculties, the meaning of reality in the truths, thus it is ignorance (avijjā). Also it prevents knowing the meaning of suffering, etc., described in four ways as “oppression,” etc. (XVI.15), thus it is ignorance. Through all the kinds of generations, destinies, becoming, stations of consciousness, and abodes of beings in the endless round of rebirths it drives beings on (AntaVIrahite saṃsāre … satte JAvāpeti), thus it is ignorance (avijjā). Amongst women, men, etc., which are in the ultimate sense non-existent, it hurries on (paramatthato AVIJjamānesu itthi-purisādisu JAvati), and amongst the aggregates, etc., which are existent, it does not hurry on (vijjamānesu pi khandhādisu na javati), thus it is ignorance (avijjā). Furthermore, it is ignorance because it conceals the physical bases and objects of eye-consciousness, etc., and the dependent origination and dependently-originated states.
§44 That due to (paṭicca) which fruit comes (eti) is a condition (paccaya). “Due to” (paṭicca) = “not without that”; the meaning is, not dispensing with it. “Comes” (eti) means both “arises” and “occurs.” Furthermore, the meaning of “condition” is the meaning of “help.” It is ignorance and that is a condition, thus it is “ignorance as condition,” whence the phrase “with ignorance as condition.” 544/602 “They form the formed” (S III 87), thus they are formations. Furthermore, formations are twofold, namely, (a) formations with ignorance as condition, and (b) formations given in the texts with the word “formations” (saṅkhāra). Herein, (a) the three, namely, formations of merit, of demerit, and of the imperturbable, and the three, namely, the bodily, the verbal, and the mental formations, which make six, are “formations with ignorance as condition.” And all these are simply mundane profitable and unprofitable volition.
§45 But (b) these four, namely, (i) the formation consisting of the formed (saṅkhata-saṅkhāra), 527 (ii) the formation consisting of the kamma-formed (abhisaṅkhata-saṅkhāra), (iii) the formation consisting in the act of kamma-forming (forming by kamma—abhisaṅkharaṇa-saṅkhāra), and (iv) the formation consisting in momentum (payogābhisaṅkhāra), are the kinds of formations that have come in the texts with the word “formations.”
§46 Herein, (i) all states with conditions, given in such passages as “Formations are impermanent” (S I 158; D II 157), are formations consisting of the formed. (ii) In the Commentaries material and immaterial states of the three planes generated by kamma are called formations consisting of the kamma-formed. These are also included in the passage, “Formations are impermanent.” But there is no instance in the texts where they are found separately. (iii) Profitable and unprofitable volition of the three planes is called the formation consisting in the act of kamma-forming. It is found in the texts in such passages as “Bhikkhus, this man in his ignorance forms the formation of merit” (S II 82). (iv) But it is bodily and mental energy that is called the formation consisting in momentum. This is given in the texts in such passages as “The wheel, having gone as far as the impetus (abhisaṅkhāra) carried it, stood as though it were fixed” (A I 112).
§47 And not only these, but many other kinds of formations are given in the texts with the word “formation” (saṅkhāra), in the way beginning, “When a bhikkhu is attaining the cessation of perception and feeling, friend Visākha, first his verbal formation ceases, then his bodily formation, then his mental formation” (M I 302). But there is no formation among them not included by (i) “formations consisting of the formed.”
§48 What is said next after this in the [rest of the exposition] beginning, “With formations as condition, consciousness” should be understood in the way already stated. But as to those words not yet dealt with: It cognizes (vijānāti), thus it is consciousness (*viññāṇa—*see M I 292). It bends [towards an object] (namati), thus it is mentality (nāma). It is molested (ruppati), thus it is materiality (*rūpa—*see S III 87). It provides a range for the origins (āye tanoti) and it leads on what is actuated (āyatañ ca nayati), thus it is a base (*āyatana—*see XV.4). It touches (phusati), thus it is contact (phassa). It is felt (vedayati), thus it is feeling (*vedanā—*see M I 293). It frets (or it thirsts—paritassati), thus it is craving (taṇhā). It clings (upādiyati), thus it is clinging (upādāna). It becomes (bhavati) and it makes become (bhāvayati), thus it is becoming (bhava). The act of being born is birth. The act of growing old is ageing. By means of it they die, thus it is death. The act of sorrowing is sorrow. The act of lamenting is lamentation. It makes [beings] suffer (dukkhayati), thus it is pain (dukkha); or it consumes in two ways (DVedhā 545/603 *KHAṇati—*see IV.100) by means of [the two moments (khaṇa)] arising and presence, thus it is pain (dukkha). The state of a sad mind (dummana-bhāva) is grief (domanassa). Great misery (bhuso āyāso) is despair (upāyāsa). There is means “is generated.”
§49 And the words “There is” should be construed with all the terms, not only with those beginning with sorrow; for otherwise, when “With ignorance as condition, formations” was said, it would not be evident what they did, but by construing it with the words “There is” (or “there are”), since “ignorance as condition” stands for “it is ignorance and that is a condition,” consequently 528 the defining of the condition and the conditionally-arisen state is effected by the words “with ignorance as condition there are formations.” And so in each instance.
§50 Thus signifies the process described. By that he shows that it is with ignorance, etc., as the causes and not with creation by an Overlord, and so on. Of that: of that aforesaid. Whole: unmixed, entire. Mass of suffering: totality of suffering; not a living being, not pleasure, beauty, and so on. Arising: generating. There is: is brought about.
This is how the exposition should be known here “as to meaning.”
§51 3. As to character, etc.: as to the characteristics of ignorance, etc., that is to say, ignorance has the characteristic of unknowing. Its function is to confuse. It is manifested as concealing. Its proximate cause is cankers. Formations have the characteristic of forming. Their function is to accumulate. [7] They are manifested as volition. Their proximate cause is ignorance. Consciousness has the characteristic of cognizing. Its function is to go before (see Dhp 1). It manifests itself as rebirth-linking. Its proximate cause is formations; or its proximate cause is the physical-basis-cum-object. Mentality (nāma) has the characteristic of bending (namana). Its function is to associate. It is manifested as inseparability of its components, [that is, the three aggregates]. Its proximate cause is consciousness. Materiality (rūpa) has the characteristic of being molested (ruppana). Its function is to be dispersed. It is manifested as [morally] indeterminate. Its proximate cause is consciousness. The sixfold base (saḷāyatana) has the characteristic of actuating (āyatana). Its function is to see, and so on. It is manifested as the state of physical basis and door. Its proximate cause is mentality-materiality. Contact has the characteristic of touching. Its function is impingement. It manifests itself as coincidence [of internal and external base 546/604 and consciousness]. Its proximate cause is the sixfold base. Feeling has the characteristic of experiencing. Its function is to exploit the stimulus of the objective field. It is manifested as pleasure and pain. Its proximate cause is contact. Craving has the characteristic of being a cause [that is, of suffering]. Its function is to delight. It is manifested as insatiability. Its proximate cause is feeling. Clinging has the characteristic of seizing. Its function is not to release. It is manifested as a strong form of craving and as [false] view. Its proximate cause is craving. Becoming has the characteristic of being kamma and kamma-result. Its function is to make become and to become. It is manifested as profitable, unprofitable, and indeterminate. Its proximate cause is clinging. The characteristic of birth, etc., should be understood as stated in the Description of the Truths (XVI.32f.). This is how the exposition should be known here “as to character, etc.”
§52 4. As to singlefold, and so on: here ignorance is singlefold as unknowing, unseeing, delusion, and so on. It is twofold as “no theory” and “wrong theory” (cf. §303); [8] likewise as prompted and unprompted. It is threefold as associated with the three kinds of feeling. It is fourfold as non-penetration of the four truths. It is fivefold as concealing the danger in the five kinds of destinies. 529 It should, however, be understood that all the immaterial factors [of the dependent origination] have a sixfold nature with respect to the [six] doors and objects.
§53 Formations are singlefold as states subject to cankers (Dhs 3), states with the nature of result (Dhs 1), and so on (cf. Vibh 62). [9] They are twofold as profitable and unprofitable; likewise as limited and exalted, inferior and medium, with certainty of wrongness and without certainty. They are threefold as the formation of merit and the rest. They are fourfold as leading to the four kinds of generation. They are fivefold as leading to the five kinds of destiny.
§54 Consciousness is singlefold as mundane (Dhs 3), resultant (Dhs 1), and so on. It is twofold as with root-cause and without root-cause and so on. It is threefold as included in the three kinds of becoming; as associated with the three kinds of feeling; and as having no root-cause, having two root-causes, and having three root-causes. It is fourfold and fivefold [respectively] according to generation and destiny.
§55 Mentality-materiality is singlefold as dependent on consciousness, and as having kamma as its condition. It is twofold as having an object [in the case of mentality], and having no object [in the case of materiality]. It is threefold as 547/605 past, and so on. It is fourfold and fivefold respectively according to generation and destiny.
§56 The sixfold base is singlefold as the place of origin and meeting. It is twofold as sensitivity of primary elements and as consciousness [of the sixth base], and so on. It is threefold as having for its domain [objective fields that are] contiguous, non-contiguous, and neither (see XIV.46). It is fourfold and fivefold respectively as included in the kinds of generation and destiny.
The singlefoldness, etc., of contact, etc., should be understood in this way too.
This is how the exposition should be known here “as to singlefold and so on.”
§57 5. As to defining of the factors: sorrow, etc., are stated here for the purpose of showing that the Wheel of Becoming never halts; for they are produced in the fool who is afflicted by ageing and death, according as it is said: “The untaught ordinary man, bhikkhus, on being touched by painful bodily feeling, sorrows, grieves and laments, beating his breast, he weeps and becomes distraught” (M III 285; S IV 206). And as long as these go on occurring so long does ignorance, and so the Wheel of Becoming renews [its revolution]: “With ignorance as condition there are formations” and so on. That is why the factors of the dependent origination should be understood as twelve by taking those [that is, sorrow, etc.,] along with ageing-and-death as one summarization. This is how the exposition should be known here “as to defining of the factors.”
2.3 III. Detailed Exposition#
§58 This, firstly, is the brief treatment. The following method, however, is in detail.
2.3.1 (1) Ignorance#
According to the Suttanta method 530 ignorance is unknowing about the four instances beginning with suffering. According to the Abhidhamma method it is unknowing about the eight instances [that is to say, the above-mentioned four] together with [the four] beginning with the past; for this is said: “Herein, what is ignorance? It is unknowing about suffering, [unknowing about the origin of suffering, unknowing about the cessation of suffering, unknowing about the way leading to the cessation of suffering], unknowing about the past, unknowing about the future, unknowing about the past and future, unknowing about specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen states” (cf. Dhs §1162).
§59 Herein, while ignorance about any instance that is not the two supra-mundane truths can also arise as object (see §102), nevertheless here it is only intended [subjectively] as concealment. For when [thus] arisen it keeps the truth of suffering concealed, preventing penetration of the true individual function and characteristic of that truth. Likewise, origin, cessation, and the path, bygone five aggregates called the past, coming five aggregates called the future, both of these together called the past and future, and both specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen states together called *specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen states—*all of which it keeps concealed, preventing their true individual 548/606 functions and characteristics being penetrated thus: “This is ignorance, these are formations.” That is why it is said, “It is unknowing about suffering … unknowing about specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen states.”
2.3.2 (2) Formations#
§60 Formations are the six mentioned in brief above thus, “the three, namely, formations of merit, etc., and the three, namely, the bodily formation, etc.” (§44); but in detail here the [first] three formations are twenty-nine volitions, that is to say, the formation of merit consisting of thirteen volitions, counting the eight sense-sphere profitable volitions that occur in giving, in virtue, etc., and the five fine-material profitable volitions that occur in development [of meditation]; then the formation of demerit consisting of the twelve unprofitable volitions that occur in killing living things, etc.; then the formation of the imperturbable consisting in the four profitable volitions associated with the immaterial sphere, which occur in development [of those meditations].
§61 As regards the other three, the bodily formation is bodily volition, the verbal formation is verbal volition, and the mental formation is mental volition. This triad is mentioned in order to show that at the moment of the accumulation of the kamma the formations of merit, etc., occur in these [three] kamma doors. For the eight sense-sphere profitable and twelve unprofitable volitions, making twenty, are the bodily formation when they occur in the body door and produce bodily intimation. Those same volitions 531 are called the verbal formation when they occur in the speech door and produce verbal intimation. But volition connected with direct-knowledge is not included here in these two cases because it is not a condition for [resultant rebirth-linking] consciousness later. And like direct-knowledge volition, so also volition connected with agitation is not included; therefore that too should not be included as a condition for [rebirth-linking] consciousness. However, all these have ignorance as their condition. And all the twenty-nine volitions are the mental formation when they arise in the mind door without originating either kind of intimation. So this triad comes within the first triad, and accordingly, as far as the meaning is concerned, ignorance can be understood as condition simply for formations of merit and so on.
§62 Herein, it might be [asked]: How can it be known that these formations have ignorance as their condition?—By the fact that they exist when ignorance exists. For when unknowing—in other words, ignorance—of suffering, etc., is unabandoned in a man, owing firstly to his unknowing about suffering and about the past, etc., then he believes the suffering of the round of rebirths to be pleasant and he embarks upon the three kinds of formations which are the cause of that very suffering. Owing to his unknowing about suffering’s origin he embarks upon formations that, being subordinated to craving, are actually the cause of suffering, imagining them to be the cause of pleasure. And owing to his unknowing about cessation and the path, he misperceives the cessation of suffering to be in some particular destiny [such as the Brahmā-world] that is not in fact cessation; he misperceives the path to cessation, believing it to consist in sacrifices, mortification for immortality, etc., which are not in fact the path to cessation; and so while aspiring to the cessation of suffering, he embarks upon 549/607 the three kinds of formations in the form of sacrifices, mortification for immortality, and so on.
§63 Furthermore, his non-abandonment of that ignorance about the four truths in particular prevents him from recognizing as suffering the kind of suffering called the fruit of merit, which is fraught with the many dangers beginning with birth, ageing, disease and death, and so he embarks upon the formation of merit classed as bodily, verbal, and mental formations, in order to attain that [kind of suffering], like one desiring celestial nymphs [who jumps over] a cliff. Also, not seeing how that fruit of merit reckoned as pleasure eventually breeds great distress owing to the suffering in its change and that it gives little satisfaction, he embarks upon the formation of merit of the kinds already stated, which is the condition for that very [suffering in change], like a moth that falls into a lamp’s flame, and like the man who wants the drop of honey and licks the honey-smeared knife-edge. Also, not seeing the danger in the indulgence of sense desires, etc., with its results, [wrongly] perceiving pleasure and overcome by defilements, he embarks upon the formation of demerit that occurs in the three doors [of kamma], like a child who plays with filth, and like a man who wants to die and eats poison. Also, unaware of the suffering due to formations and the suffering-in-change [inherent] in kamma-results in the immaterial sphere, owing to the perversion of [wrongly perceiving them as] eternal, etc., he embarks upon the formation of the imperturbable which is a mental formation, like one who has lost his way and takes the road to a goblin city.
§64 So formations exist only when ignorance exists, 532 not when it does not; and that is how it can be known that these formations have ignorance as their condition.
This is said too: “Not knowing, bhikkhus, in ignorance, he forms the formation of merit, forms the formation of demerit, forms the formation of the imperturbable. As soon as a bhikkhu’s ignorance is abandoned and clear vision arisen, bhikkhus, with the fading away of ignorance and the arising of clear vision he does not form even formations of merit” (cf. S II 82).
§65 Here it might be said: “Let us then firstly agree that ignorance is a condition for formations. But it must now be stated for which formations, and in which way it is a condition.”
Here is the reply: “Twenty-four conditions have been stated by the Blessed One as follows.”
2.3.2.1 The 24 conditions#
§66 “(1) Root-cause condition, (2) object condition, (3) predominance condition, (4) proximity condition, (5) contiguity condition, (6) conascence condition, (7) mutuality condition, (8) support condition, (9) decisive-support condition, (10) prenascence condition, (11) postnascence condition, (12) repetition condition, (13) kamma condition, (14) kamma-result condition, (15) nutriment condition, (16) faculty condition, (17) jhāna condition, (18) path condition, (19) association condition, (20) dissociation condition, (21) presence condition, (22) absence 550/608 condition, (23) disappearance condition, (24) non-disappearance condition” (Paṭṭh I 1).
§67 (1) Herein, it is a root-cause and a condition, thus it is root-cause condition. It is by its being a root-cause that it is a condition; what is meant is that it is a condition owing to its status as root-cause. The same method applies in the case of object condition and the rest.
Herein, “cause” (hetu) is a term for a part of a syllogism, for a reason, and for a root. For with the words “proposition” (paṭiññā), “cause” (hetu = middle term), etc., in the world it is a member of a syllogism (vacanāvayava) that is called a cause. But in the Dispensation, in such passages as “Those states that are produced from a cause” (Vin I 40), it is a reason (kāraṇa); and in such passages as “Three profitable [root-] causes, three unprofitable [root-]causes” (Dhs §1053), it is a root (mūla) that is called a cause. The last is intended here.
§68 As to “condition” (paccaya), the word-meaning here is this: It [the fruit] comes from that, depending thereon (paṭicca etasmā eti), thus that is a condition; (paccaya, see note 2) the meaning is, [a state] occurs by not dispensing with that. What is meant is: when a state is indispensable to another state’s presence or arising, the former is a condition for the latter. But as to characteristic, a condition has the characteristic of assisting; for any given state 533 that assists the presence or arising of a given state is called the latter’s condition. The words condition, cause, reason, source, originator, producer, etc., are one in meaning though different in the letter. So, since it is a cause in the sense of a root, and a condition in the sense of assistance, briefly a state that is assistantial in the sense of a root is a [root-]cause condition.
§69 The intention of [some] teachers is that it establishes the profitable, etc., state in what is profitable, etc., as paddy seeds, etc., do for paddy, etc., and as the colour of gems, etc., do for the lustre of gems, and so on. [10] But if that is so, then [it follows that] the state of root-cause condition does not apply to the kinds of materiality originated by it, for it does not establish any profitableness, etc., in them. Nevertheless, it is a condition for them, for this is said: “Root-causes are a condition, as root-cause condition, for the states associated with a root-cause and for the kinds of materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh I 1). Again, the indeterminateness of root-causeless consciousness is established without it. And the profitableness, etc., of those with root-cause is bound up with wise attention, etc., not with the associated root-causes. And if the profitableness, etc., resided in the associated root-causes as an individual essence, then either the non-greed bound up with the root-cause in the associated states would be only profitable or it would be only indeterminate; but since it can be both, profitableness, etc., in the root-causes must still be sought for, just as in the associated states [such as wise attention, and so on].
§70 But when the root-causes’ sense of root is taken as establishing stableness, rather than as establishing profitableness, etc., there is no contradiction. For states that have obtained a root-cause condition are firm, like trees, and stable; 551/609 but those without root-cause are, like moss [with roots no bigger than] sesame seeds, etc., unstable. So an assistantial state may be understood as a root-cause condition, since it establishes stableness through being of assistance in the sense of a root.
§71 (2) As to the others that follow, a state that assists by being an object is an object condition. Now, there are no states that are not object conditions; for the passage beginning “The visible-data base [is a condition, as object condition,] for the eye-consciousness element” concludes thus: “When any states, as states of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants, arise contingent upon any states, these [latter] states are conditions, as object condition, for those [former] states” (Paṭṭh I 1). [11] For just as a weak man both gets up and stands by hanging on to (ālambitvā) a stick or rope, so states of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants always arise and are present contingent upon visible data, etc., as their object (ārammaṇa = ālambana). Therefore all states that are objects of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants should be understood as object condition. 534
§72 (3) A state that assists in the sense of being foremost is a predominance condition. It is of two kinds as conascent and as object. Herein, because of the passage beginning “Predominance of zeal is a condition, as predominance condition, for states associated with zeal and for the kinds of materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh I 2), it is the four states called zeal, [purity of] consciousness, energy, and inquiry, that should be understood as predominance condition; but not simultaneously, for when consciousness occurs with emphasis on zeal and putting zeal foremost, then it is zeal and not the others that is predominant. So with the rest. But the state, by giving importance to which, immaterial states occur, is their object-predominance. Hence it is said: “When any states, as states of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants, arise by giving importance to any states, these [latter] states are a condition, as predominance condition, for those [former] states” (Paṭṭh I 2).
§73 (4), (5) A state that assists by being proximate is a proximity condition. A state that assists by being contiguous is a contiguity condition. The explanation of this pair of conditions is very diffuse, but substantially it is this: [12] the regular order of consciousness begins thus, mind element is proximate (next) after eye-consciousness, mind-consciousness element is proximate (next) after mind element, and this is established only by each preceding consciousness, not otherwise; consequently, a state that is capable of arousing an appropriate kind 552/610 of consciousness proximate (next) to itself is a proximity condition. Hence it is said: “Proximity condition: eye-consciousness and the states associated therewith are a condition, as proximity condition, for mind element and for the states associated therewith” (Paṭṭh I 2).
§74 (5) Proximity condition is the same as contiguity condition. The difference here is only in the letter, there is none in the meaning; just as in the case of the words “growth” and “continuity” (XIV.66), etc., and as in the case of the “terminology dyad,” “language dyad,” (Dhs §1306) and so on.
§75 The opinion of [certain] teachers [13] is that proximity condition refers to proximity of aim (fruit) and contiguity condition refers to proximity of time. But that is contradicted by such statements as “The profitable [consciousness] belonging to the base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception in one who emerges from cessation is a condition, as contiguity condition, for fruition attainment [consciousness]” (Paṭṭh I 160).
§76 Now, they say in this context that “the ability of states to produce [their fruit] is not diminished, but the influence of meditative development prevents states from arising in proximity.” But that only establishes that there is no proximity of time; and we also say the same, namely, that there is no proximity of time there owing to the influence of development. 535 But since there is no proximity of time, the state of contiguity condition is therefore impossible [according to them] since their belief is that the contiguity condition depends on proximity of time (cf. M-a II 363). Instead of adopting any such misinterpretation, the difference should be treated as residing in the letter only, not in the meaning. How? There is no interval (antara) between them, thus they are proximate (anantara); they are quite without interval because [even the distinction of] co-presence is lacking, thus they are contiguous (samanantara). [14]
§77 (6) A state that, while arising, assists [another state] by making it arise together with itself is a conascence condition, as a lamp is for illumination. With the immaterial aggregates, etc., it is sixfold, according as it is said: “(i) The four immaterial aggregates are a condition, as conascence condition, for each other, (ii) the four great primaries are … for each other; (iii) at the moment of descent into the womb mentality and materiality are … for each other; (iv) states of consciousness and its concomitants are … for the kinds of materiality originated 553/611 by consciousness; (v) the great primaries are … for derived materiality; (vi) material states are sometimes [as at rebirth-linking] a condition, as conascence condition, and sometimes [as in the course of an existence] not a condition as conascence condition, for immaterial states” (Paṭṭh I 3). This refers only to the heart-basis.
§78 (7) A state that assists by means of mutual arousing and consolidating is a mutuality condition, as the three sticks of a tripod give each other consolidating support. With the immaterial aggregates, etc., it is threefold, according as it is said: “The four immaterial aggregates are a condition, as mutuality condition, [for each other]; the four great primaries are a condition, as mutuality condition, [for each other]; at the moment of descent into the womb mentality and materiality are a condition, as mutuality condition, [for each other]” (Paṭṭh I 3).
§79 (8) A state that assists in the mode of foundation and in the mode of support is a support condition, as the earth is for trees, as canvas is for paintings, and so on. It should be understood in the way stated for conascence thus: “The four immaterial aggregates are a condition, as support condition, for each other” (Paṭṭh I 3), but the sixth instance has been set forth in this way here: “The eye base [is a condition, as support condition,] for the eye-consciousness element [and for the states associated therewith]; the ear base … the nose base … the tongue base … the body base is a condition, as support condition, for the body-consciousness element and for the states associated therewith; the materiality with which as their support the mind element and the mind-consciousness element occur is a condition, as support condition, for the mind element, for the mind-consciousness element, and for the states associated therewith” (Paṭṭh I 4).
§80 (9) Decisive-support condition: firstly, here is the word-meaning: 536 it is treated as support, not dispensed with, by its own fruit because [its own fruit’s] existence is dependent on it, thus it is the support. But just as great misery is despair, so great support is decisive support. This is a term for a cogent reason. Consequently, a state that assists by being a cogent reason should be understood as a decisive-support condition.
It is threefold, namely, (a) object-decisive-support, (b) proximate-decisive-support, and (c) natural-decisive-support condition.
§81 (a) Herein, firstly, object-decisive-support condition is set forth without differentiating it from object-predominance in the way beginning: “Having given a gift, having undertaken the precepts of virtue, having done the duties of the Uposatha, a man gives that importance and reviews it; he gives importance to former things well done and reviews them. Having emerged from jhāna, he gives jhāna importance and reviews it. Trainers give importance to change-of-lineage and review it. They give importance to cleansing and review it. [15] Trainers, having emerged from a path, give importance to the path and review it” (Paṭṭh I 165). Herein, the object in giving importance to which consciousness 554/612 and consciousness concomitants arise, is necessarily a cogent one among these objects. So their difference may be understood in this way: object-predominance is in the sense of what is to be given importance to, and object-decisive-support is in the sense of a cogent reason.
§82 (b) Also proximate-decisive-support condition is set forth without differentiating it from the proximity condition in the way beginning, “Any preceding profitable aggregates are a condition, as decisive-support condition, for any succeeding aggregates” (Paṭṭh I 165). But in the exposition there is a distinction, because in the exposition of the schedule (mātikā-nikkhepa) they are given as proximity in the way beginning, “Eye-consciousness element and the states associated therewith are a condition, as proximity condition, for mind element and for the states associated therewith” (Paṭṭh I 2) and as decisive-support in the way beginning, “Any preceding profitable states are a condition as decisive-support condition, for any succeeding profitable states” (Paṭṭh I 4), though it comes to the same thing as regards the meaning. Nevertheless, proximity may be understood as the ability to cause the occurrence of an appropriate conscious arising proximate (next) to itself, and decisive support as the preceding consciousness’s cogency in the arousing of the succeeding consciousnesses.
§83 For while in the cases of root-cause and other such conditions consciousness can arise actually without any of those conditions, there is no arising of consciousness without a proximate consciousness [to precede it], so this is a cogent condition. Their difference, then, may be understood in this way: proximity condition arouses an appropriate consciousness proximate (next) to itself, while proximity-decisive-support condition is a cogent reason.
§84 (c) As to natural-decisive-support: the decisive-support is natural, thus it is a natural-decisive-support. Faith, virtue, etc., produced in, or climate, food, etc., habitual to, one’s own continuity are called natural. Or else, it is a decisive-support by nature, 537 thus it is a natural-decisive-support. The meaning is that it is unmixed with object and proximity. It should be understood as variously divided up in the way beginning: “Natural-decisive-support: with faith as decisive-support a man gives a gift, undertakes the precepts of virtue, does the duties of the Uposatha, arouses jhāna, arouses insight, arouses the path, arouses direct-knowledge, arouses an attainment. With virtue … With learning … With generosity … With understanding as decisive-support a man gives a gift … arouses an attainment. Faith, virtue, learning, generosity, understanding, are conditions, as decisive-support condition, for [the repeated arising of] faith, virtue, learning, generosity, understanding” (Paṭṭh I 165). So these things beginning with faith are natural-decisive-support since they are both natural and decisive-supports in the sense of a cogent reason.
§85 (10) A state that assists by being present, having arisen previously, is a prenascence condition. It is elevenfold as physical basis and object in the five doors, and as the heart-basis, according as it is said: “The eye base is a condition, as prenascence condition, for the eye-consciousness element and for the states associated therewith. The ear base … The nose base … The tongue base … The 555/613 body base … The visible-data base … The sound base … The odour base … The flavour base … The tangible-data base is a condition, as prenascence condition, for the body-consciousness element and for the states associated therewith. The visible-data base … The sound base … The odour base … The flavour base … the tangible data base [is a condition, as prenascence condition,] for the mind element. The materiality with which as their support the mind element and mind-consciousness element occur is a condition, as prenascence condition, for the mind-element and for the states associated therewith, and it is sometimes [as in the course of an existence] a condition, as prenascence condition, sometimes [as at rebirth-linking] not a condition, as prenascence condition, for the mind-consciousness element and for the states associated therewith” (Paṭṭh I 4–5).
§86 (11) An immaterial state that [while present] assists prenascent material states [also present] by consolidating them is a postnascence condition, like the volition of appetite for food, which assists the bodies of vultures’ young. Hence it is said: “Postnascent 538 states of consciousness and its concomitants are a condition, as postnascence condition, for the prenascent [co-present] body” (Paṭṭh I 5).
§87 (12) A state that assists the efficiency and power of the proximate (next) in the sense of repetition is a repetition condition, like repeated application to books and so on. It is threefold as profitable, unprofitable, and functional impulsion; for it is said: “Preceding profitable states are a condition, as repetition condition, for succeeding profitable states … Preceding unprofitable … Preceding functional indeterminate states are a condition, as repetition condition, for succeeding functional indeterminate states” (Paṭṭh I 5).
§88 (13) A state that assists by means of the action called intervening of consciousness is a kamma condition. It is twofold as (a) profitable and unprofitable volition acting from a different time, and (b) as all conascent volition (see Paṭṭh I 172), according as it is said: “Profitable and unprofitable kamma is a condition, as kamma condition, for resultant aggregates and for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed. Conascent volition is a condition, as kamma condition, for associated states and for the kinds of materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh I 5).
§89 (14) A resultant state that, by effortless quiet, assists effortless quiet [in other states] is a kamma-result condition. In the course of an existence it is a condition for states originated by it, and at rebirth-linking for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed, and in both cases for the associated states, according as it is said: “One resultant indeterminate aggregate is a condition, as kamma-result condition, for three aggregates and for the kinds of materiality originated by consciousness … At the moment of rebirth-linking one resultant indeterminate aggregate [is a condition …] for three aggregates … Three aggregates [are a condition …] for one aggregate … Two aggregates are a condition, as kamma-result condition, for two aggregates and for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed. Aggregates are a condition, as kamma-result condition, for the physical basis” (Paṭṭh I 173).
§90 (15) The four kinds of nutriment, which assist material and immaterial states by consolidating them, are nutriment conditions, according as it is said: 556/614 “Physical nutriment is a condition, as nutriment condition, for this body. Immaterial nutriments are conditions, as nutriment condition, for associated states and for the kinds of materiality originated by them” (Paṭṭh I 5). But in the Question Section it is said: “At the moment of rebirth-linking, resultant indeterminate nutriments are conditions, as nutriment condition, for aggregates associated therewith and for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed” (Paṭṭh I 174).
§91 (16) Leaving out the femininity and masculinity faculties, the twenty remaining faculties (see XIV.1), which assist in the sense of predominance, 539 are faculty conditions. Herein, the five, namely, the eye faculty, etc., are conditions only for immaterial states, the rest are conditions for material and immaterial states, according as it is said: “The eye faculty [is a condition, as faculty condition,] for eye-consciousness element [and for the states associated therewith]. The ear faculty … The nose faculty … The tongue faculty … The body faculty is a condition, as faculty condition, for the body-consciousness element and for the states associated therewith. The material life faculty is a condition, as faculty condition, for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed. The immaterial faculties are a condition, as faculty condition, for the states associated therewith and for the kinds of materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh 1, 5–6). But in the Question Section it is said: “At the moment of rebirth-linking resultant indeterminate faculties are a condition, as faculty condition, for associated aggregates and for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed” (Paṭṭh I 175).
§92 (17) All the seven jhāna factors classed as profitable, etc.—leaving out the pair, pleasant and painful feeling, in the case of the two sets of five consciousnesses—which factors assist in the sense of constituting a state of jhāna, are jhāna conditions, according as it is said: “The jhāna factors are a condition, as jhāna condition, for the states associated with jhāna and for the kinds of materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh I 6). But in the Question Section it is said: “At the moment of rebirth-linking, resultant indeterminate jhāna factors are a condition, as jhāna condition, for associated aggregates and for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed” (Paṭṭh I 175).
§93 (18) The twelve path factors classed as profitable, etc., which assist in the sense of an outlet from whatever it may be, are path conditions, according as it is said: “The path factors are a condition, as path condition, for states associated therewith and for the kinds of materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh I 6). But in the Question Section it is said: “At the moment of rebirth-linking, resultant indeterminate path factors are a condition, as path condition, for aggregates associated therewith and for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed” (Paṭṭh I 176).
But these two, namely, jhāna and path conditions, should be understood as inapplicable to the two sets of five consciousnesses and to the consciousnesses without root-cause ((34)–(41), (50)–(56), (70)–(72)).
§94 (19) Immaterial states that assist by the kind of association consisting in having the same physical basis, same object, same arising, same cessation, are 557/615 association conditions, according as it is said: “The four immaterial aggregates are a condition, as association condition, for each other” (Paṭṭh I 6).
§95 (20) Material states that assist immaterial states, and immaterial states that assist material states by not having sameness of physical basis, etc., are dissociation conditions. This is threefold as conascent, postnascent, and prenascent, for this is said: “Conascent profitable aggregates are a condition, as dissociation condition, for the kinds of materiality originated by consciousness. Postnascent 540 profitable [mental] aggregates are a condition, as dissociation condition, for this prenascent body” (Paṭṭh I 176). But in the analysis of the conascent in the indeterminate clause it is said: “At the moment of rebirth-linking, resultant indeterminate aggregates are a condition, as dissociation condition, for the kinds of materiality due to kamma performed. The aggregates are a condition, as dissociation condition, for the physical basis, and the physical basis for the aggregates” (Paṭṭh I 176). But the prenascent should be understood as the eye faculty, etc., and the physical basis, according as it is said: “The prenascent eye base [is a condition, as dissociation condition,] for eye-consciousness … The body base is a condition, as dissociation condition, for body-consciousness. The physical basis [is a condition, as dissociation condition,] for resultant-indeterminate and functional-indeterminate aggregates … The physical basis [is a condition, as dissociation condition,] for profitable aggregates … The physical basis [is a condition, as dissociation condition,] for unprofitable aggregates” (Paṭṭh I 176–177).
§96 (21) A state that, by means of existingness characterized by presence, assists a like state by consolidating it, is a presence condition. A sevenfold summary is laid down for it according to immaterial aggregates, great primaries, mentality-materiality, consciousness and consciousness-concomitants, great primaries, bases, and physical [heart] basis, according as it is said: “The four immaterial aggregates are a condition, as presence condition, for each other. The four great primaries … are … for each other. At the time of descent into the womb mentality and materiality [are a condition, as presence condition,] for each other. States of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants are … for the kinds of materiality originated by consciousness. The four great primaries are … for derived materiality. The eye base is … for the eye-consciousness element [and for the states associated therewith]. The [ear base … nose base … tongue base …] body base is … for the body-consciousness element … The visible-data base [is … for the eye-consciousness element … The sound base … odour base … flavour base …] tangible-data base is a condition, as presence condition, for the body-consciousness element and for the states associated therewith. The visible-data base … The [sound base … odour base … flavour base …] tangible-data base is a condition, as presence condition, for the mind element and for the states associated therewith. The materiality with which as their support the mind element and mind-consciousness element occur is a condition, as presence condition, for the mind element, for the mind-consciousness element, and for the states associated therewith” (Paṭṭh I 6).
§97 558/616 But in the Question Section, after setting forth conascence, prenascence, postnascence, nutriment, and faculty, the description is given first under conascence in the way beginning, “One aggregate is a condition, as presence condition, for three aggregates and for materiality originated thereby” (Paṭṭh I 178). Under prenascence the description is given according to the prenascent eye and so on. Under postnascence the description is given according to postnascent consciousness and consciousness-concomitants as conditions for this body. Under nutriments and faculties [respectively] the description is given thus: “Physical nutriment is a condition, as presence condition, for this body,” 541 and “The material life faculty is a condition, as presence condition, for materiality due to kamma performed” (Paṭṭh I 178). [16]
§98 (22) Immaterial states that, by their ceasing in contiguity [before], assist by giving opportunity to immaterial states that arise proximately (next) after them are absence conditions, according as it is said: “States of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants that have ceased in contiguity are a condition, as absence condition, for present states of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants” (Paṭṭh I 7).
§99 (23) Those same states, because they assist by their disappearance, are a disappearance condition, according as it is said: “States of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants that have disappeared in contiguity are a condition, as disappearance condition, for present states of consciousness and consciousness-concomitants” (Paṭṭh I 7).
§100 (24) The same states that are presence condition, because they assist by their non-disappearance, should be understood as a non-disappearance condition. Or this dyad is stated as an embellishment of teaching to suit the needs of those who are teachable, just as [in the Mātikā of the Dhammasaṅgaṇī] the “dissociated-from-cause dyad” is given after the “causeless dyad.”
2.3.2.2 How Ignorance is a Condition for Formations#
§101 559/617 Now, as regards these twenty-four conditions:
§102 Herein, for those of merit ignorance is a condition in two ways: it is a condition in two ways, namely, as object condition and as decisive-support condition. For ignorance is a condition, as object condition, for formations of merit of the sense sphere at the time of comprehending [by means of insight] ignorance as liable to destruction and fall; and it is likewise for those of the fine-material sphere at the time of knowing a confused mind by means of direct-knowledge consciousness [through penetrating others’ minds, and so on]. But it is a condition, as decisive-support condition, in two cases, that is to say, [for the sense-sphere formation] in one who, for the purpose of surmounting ignorance, fulfils the various instances of sense-sphere merit-making consisting in giving, etc., and [for the fine-material-sphere formation] in one who arouses the fine-material jhānas [for the same purpose]. Likewise in one who effects that merit while aspiring to the delight of sense-sphere becoming and fine-material becoming because he is confused by ignorance.
§103 And for the next in many ways: it is a condition for formations of demerit in many ways. How? As object condition at the time of the arising of greed, etc., contingent upon ignorance; as object-predominance and object-decisive-support respectively at the times of giving importance [to ignorance] and enjoying [it]; as decisive-support in one who, being confused by ignorance and unaware of danger, kills living things, etc.; as proximity, contiguity, proximity-decisive-support, repetition, absence, and disappearance, for the second impulsion and those that follow; as root-cause, conascence, mutuality, support, association, presence, and non-disappearance, in one doing anything unprofitable. It is thus a condition in many ways.
§104 But for the last kind only once: 542 it is reckoned as a condition in one way, namely, as decisive-support condition only, for formations of the imperturbable. But its relation as decisive-support condition should be understood as stated under formations of merit.
2.3.2.3 No Single Fruit from Single Cause#
§105 Here it may be asked: But how is this? Is ignorance the only condition for formations, or are there other conditions? What is the position here? For firstly, if it is the only one, there follows the assertion of a single cause; [17] but then if there are others, the description of it as a single cause, namely, “With ignorance as 560/618 condition there are formations,” is incorrect—It is not incorrect. Why not? Here is the reason:
§106 Here there is no single or multiple fruit of any kind from a single cause, nor a single fruit from multiple causes, but only multiple fruit from multiple causes. So from multiple causes, in other words, from temperature, earth, seed, and moisture, is seen to arise a multiple fruit, in other words, the shoot, which has visible form, odour, taste, and so on. But one representative cause and fruit given in this way, “With ignorance as condition there are formations; with formations as condition, consciousness,” have a meaning and a use.
§107 For the Blessed One employs one representative cause and fruit when it is suitable for the sake of elegance in instruction and to suit the idiosyncrasies of those susceptible of being taught. And he does so in some instances because it is a basic factor, and in some instances because it is the most obvious, and in some instances because it is not common to all.
In the passage “With contact as condition, feeling” (M I 261) he mentions a single cause and fruit because they are basic factors. For contact is the basic cause of feeling since the kinds of feeling are defined according to the kinds of contact [as “eye-contact-born feeling” and so on], and feeling is contact’s basic fruit since contact is defined according to the kinds of feeling [that it produces]. He mentions a single cause in the passage “Disease due to phlegm” (A V 110) because that is the most obvious. For here what is obvious is the phlegm, not the kamma, etc., [mentioned later in the same sutta]. He mentions a single cause in the passage “Bhikkhus, any states whatever that are unprofitable are all rooted in unwise attention” (cf. S V 91) because it is not common to all. For unwise attention to unprofitable things is not common to all [states] in the way that, say, physical basis and object are common to all.
§108 Consequently, although other causes of formations such as physical basis and object, conascent states, etc., are actually existent, still ignorance may be understood as the representative cause of formations [firstly] because it is the basic factor as the cause of other causes of formations such as craving, etc., as it is said: “Craving increases in one who dwells seeing enjoyment” (S II 84), and “With the arising of ignorance there is the arising of cankers” (M I 55); and again because it is the most obvious, “Not knowing, bhikkhus, in ignorance, he forms the formation of merit” (cf. S II 82); and lastly because it is not common to all. 543 So the use of one representative cause and fruit should in each instance be understood according to this explanation of it. [18]
§109 Here it may be said: “We admit that. But ignorance is reprehensible and has entirely undesirable fruit. How then can it rightly be a condition for formations of merit and of the imperturbable? Sugarcane does not grow from [bitter] nimba 561/619 seeds.” Why should it not be right? For in the world [that is, even among thinkers outside the Dispensation it is recognized that]
§110 It is established in the world that when states have a condition, it may be opposed or unopposed to them as to presence, individual essence, function, and so on. For a preceding consciousness is a condition, opposed as to presence, for the succeeding consciousness; and the preceding training is a condition likewise for the plying of crafts, etc., which take place subsequently. Kamma is a condition, opposed as to individual essence, for materiality; and so are milk, etc., for curds, and so on. Light is a condition, opposed as to function, for eye-consciousness; and so are molasses, etc., for intoxicants, and so on. But eye-cum-visible-data, etc., are respectively a condition, unopposed as to presence, for eye-consciousness, and so on. And the first impulsion, and those that follow, are a condition, unopposed as to individual essence and function, for the impulsions that follow them. And just as conditions operate as opposed and unopposed, so also they operate as like and unlike. Materiality—for example, temperature and nutriment—is a condition for materiality: the like for the like. And so are paddy seeds, etc., for paddy crops, and so on. The material is a condition for the immaterial, and so is the immaterial for the material: the unlike for the like. And so are ox hair and ram’s hair, horns, curd, and sesame flour, etc., respectively for dabba grass, reeds, bhūtanaka grass, and so on. [19] And those states for which these are the opposed and unopposed, like and unlike, conditions are not the results of these states as well.
§111 So although this ignorance has entirely undesirable fruit for its result and is reprehensible in its individual essence, yet it should be understood as a condition, opposed or unopposed and like or unlike as the case may be, as to presence, function, and individual essence, for all these formations of merit, etc. And its state as a condition has already been given in the way beginning, “For when unknowing—in other words, ignorance—of suffering, etc., is unabandoned in a man, owing firstly to his unknowing about suffering and about the past, etc., then be believes the suffering of the round of rebirths to be pleasant 562/620 and he embarks upon the three kinds of formations, which are the cause of that very suffering” (§62).
§112 Moreover, there is this way of explanation as well:
§113 But how does a man who is confused about these things perform these three kinds of formations? Firstly, when he is confused about death, instead of taking death thus, “Death in every case is break-up of aggregates,” he figures that it is a [lasting] being that dies, that it is a [lasting] being’s transmigration to another incarnation, and so on.
§114 When he is confused about reappearance, instead of taking rebirth thus, “Birth in every case is manifestation of aggregates,” he figures that it is a lasting being’s manifestation in a new body.
§115 When he is confused about the round of rebirths, instead of taking the round of rebirths as pictured thus:
he figures that it is a lasting being that goes from this world to another world, that comes from another world to this world.
§116 When he is confused about the characteristics of formations, instead of apprehending their specific and general characteristics, he figures that formations are self, belong to a self, are lasting, pleasant, beautiful.
§117 When he is confused about dependently-arisen states, instead of taking the occurrence of formations to be due to ignorance, etc., he figures that it is a self that knows or does not know, that acts and causes action, that appears in rebirth-linking, and he figures that atoms, an Overlord, etc., shape its body in the various states of the embryo and endow it with faculties, and that when it has been endowed with faculties it touches, feels, craves, clings, and endeavours, and that it becomes anew in the next becoming; or he figures thus, “All beings … [are] moulded by fate, coincidence and nature” (D I 53).
§118 Thus he figures, blinded by ignorance. He is like a blind man who wanders about the earth, encountering now right and now wrong paths, now heights and now hollows, now even and now uneven ground, and so he forms formations now of merit, now of demerit, now imperturbable.
§119 Hence this is said:
This is the detailed explanation of the clause, “With ignorance as condition there are formations.” 545
2.3.3 (3) Consciousness#
2.3.3.1 1. Kinds of Mundane Resultant Consciousness#
§120 In the clause, with formations as condition, consciousness, consciousness is sixfold as eye-consciousness, and so on. Herein, eye-consciousness is twofold, namely, profitable [kamma-]resultant and unprofitable [kamma-]resultant (see Table II for bracketed numbers that follow). Likewise ear-, nose-, tongue-, and body-consciousness ((34)–(38) and (50)–(54)). But mind-consciousness is twenty-two-fold, namely, the two profitable and unprofitable resultant mind elements ((39) and (55)), the three root-causeless mind-consciousness elements ((40), (41) and (56)), the eight sense-sphere resultant consciousnesses with root-cause ((42)–(49)), the five of the fine-material sphere ((57)–(61)), and the four of the immaterial sphere ((62)–(65)). So all the thirty-two mundane resultant consciousnesses ((34)–(65)) are included by these six kinds of consciousness. But the supramundane kinds do not belong to the exposition of the round [of becoming], and so they are not included.
§121 Here it may be asked: “But how is it to be known that this consciousness of the kind stated actually has formations as its condition?”—Because there is no kamma-result when there is no stored-up kamma. For this consciousness is kamma-result, and kamma-result does not arise in the absence of stored-up kamma. If it did, then all kinds of kamma-resultant consciousnesses would arise in all kinds of beings, and they do not do so. This is how it should be known that such consciousness has formations as its condition.
§122 But which kind of consciousness has which kind of formations as its condition?
Firstly, the following sixteen kinds arise with the sense-sphere formation of merit as condition: the five profitable resultants beginning with eye-consciousness ((34)–(38)), and in the case of mind-consciousness one kind of mind element (39) and two kinds of mind-consciousness element ((40)–(41)), 564/622 and the eight kinds of sense-sphere resultant ((42)–(49)), according as it is said: “Owing to profitable kamma of the sense sphere having been performed, stored up, resultant eye-consciousness” (Dhs §431), “ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-consciousness” (Dhs §443), “resultant mind element arises” (Dhs §455), “mind-consciousness element accompanied by joy arises” (Dhs §469), “mind-consciousness element accompanied by equanimity arises” (Dhs §484), “accompanied by joy and associated with knowledge … accompanied by joy, associated with knowledge and prompted … accompanied by joy and dissociated from knowledge … accompanied by joy, dissociated from knowledge and prompted … accompanied by equanimity and associated with knowledge … accompanied by equanimity, associated with knowledge and prompted … accompanied by equanimity and dissociated from knowledge … accompanied by equanimity, dissociated from knowledge and prompted” (Dhs §498).
§123 There are five kinds of resultant fine-material-sphere consciousness ((57)–(61)) with the fine-material-sphere formation of merit as condition, according as it is said: “Owing to that same profitable kamma of the fine-material sphere having been performed, stored up, [by the development of that same profitable jhāna,] 546 secluded from sense desires … he enters upon and dwells in the resultant first jhāna … fifth jhāna” (Dhs §499).
§124 There are seven kinds of consciousness with the formation of demerit as condition: the five unprofitable resultants beginning with eye-consciousness ((50)–(54)), one mind element (55), and one mind-consciousness element (56), according as it is said: “Because of unprofitable kamma having been performed and stored up, resultant eye-consciousness has arisen … ear-… nose-… tongue-… body-consciousness has arisen” (Dhs §556), “resultant mind element” (Dhs §562), “resultant mind-consciousness element has arisen” (Dhs §564).
§125 There are four kinds of immaterial resultant consciousness ((62)–(65)) with the formation of the imperturbable as condition, according as it is said: “Owing to that same profitable kamma of the immaterial sphere having been performed, stored up [by the development of that same profitable immaterial jhāna, with the abandoning of bodily pleasure and pain … he enters upon and dwells in the resultant fourth jhāna, which,] with the complete surmounting of perceptions of material form … is accompanied by the base consisting of boundless space” (Dhs §501), “accompanied by the base consisting of boundless consciousness” (Dhs §502), “accompanied by the base consisting of nothingness” (Dhs §503), “accompanied by the base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception” (Dhs §504).
§126 After knowing what kind of consciousness has what formations as its condition, one should now understand how it occurs as follows.
2.3.3.2 2. The Occurrence of Resultant Consciousness#
Now, this resultant consciousness all occurs in two ways, namely, (a) in the course of an individual existence (or continuity), and (b) at the rebirth-linking [moment].
Herein, there are the two fivefold consciousnesses ((34)–(38) and (50)–(54)), two mind elements ((39) and (55)), and root-causeless mind-consciousness 565/623 element accompanied by joy (40), that is, thirteen which occur only in the course of an existence in the five-constituent kind of becoming. [20] The remaining nineteen occur in the three kinds of becoming, either in the course of an existence or at rebirth-linking, as appropriate. How?
[2a. In the Course of an Existence]
§127 Firstly, in one who has been reborn by means of either profitable-result or unprofitable result: according as his faculties mature, so the five profitable-resultant eye-, etc., consciousnesses occur accomplishing the respective functions of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching ((d)–(h)), contingent respectively upon a desirable or desirable-neutral visible datum, etc., as object that has come into the focus of the eye, etc., and having the sensitivity of the eye, etc., as [material] support. And likewise the five unprofitable-resultant consciousnesses; the only difference being this, that the visible data, etc., as object for these are undesirable or undesirable-neutral. And these ten are invariable as to their door, object, physical basis, and position [in the cognitive series], and invariable as to their functions.
§128 After that, next to the profitable-resultant eye-, etc., consciousness, the profitable-resultant mind element (39) occurs accomplishing the function of receiving (i), contingent upon the same object as that of the former, and having the heart-basis as support. 547 And next after the unprofitable-resultant eye-, etc., consciousness, the unprofitable-resultant mind element (55) occurs likewise. But these two, while variable as to door and object, are invariable as to physical basis and position, and invariable as to function.
§129 Then next to the profitable-resultant mind element, the root-causeless mind-consciousness element accompanied by joy (40) occurs accomplishing the function of investigation (j), contingent upon the same object as that of the mind element, and having the heart-basis as support. And when the object is a vivid one in any of the six doors belonging to sense-sphere beings, usually at the end of impulsions associated with greed it holds up the [renewal of the] course of the life-continuum (b) by occurring either once or twice as registration (m), having the same object as that apprehended by the impulsions—so it is said in the Majjhima Commentary. [21] But in the Abhidhamma Commentary two turns of consciousness have been handed down with respect to registration. This consciousness has two names, “registration” (*tad-ārammaṇa—*lit. having that object that the preceding impulsions had) and “aftermath life-continuum” (*piṭṭhi-bhavaṅga—*see XIV.122). It is variable as to door and object, it is invariable as to physical basis, and it is variable as to position and function. 566/624 This, in the first place, it should be understood, is how thirteen kinds of consciousness occur only in the course of an individual existence in the five-constituent kind of becoming.
§130 As to the remaining nineteen ((41)–(49) and (56)–(65)), there is none that does not occur as a rebirth-linking (a) appropriate to it (see §133). But in the course of an individual existence, firstly, two, namely, profitable-resultant and unprofitable-resultant root-causeless mind-consciousness elements ((41) and (56)) occur accomplishing four functions, that is to say, the function of investigating in the five doors (j) next after profitable-resultant and unprofitable-resultant mind element, the function of registration (m) in the six doors in the way already stated, the function of life-continuum (b) that continues after rebirth-linking given by themselves, as long as there is no thought-arising to interrupt the life-continuum, and lastly the function of death (n) at the end [of the course of an existence]. And so these two are invariable as to [possession of heart-] basis, and variable as to door, object, position, and function.
§131 The eight sense-sphere consciousnesses with root-cause ((42)–(49)) occur accomplishing three functions, namely, the function of registration (m) in the six doors in the way already stated, the function of life-continuum (b) after rebirth-linking given by themselves, as long as there is no thought-arising to interrupt the life-continuum, and lastly the function of death (n) at the end. And they are invariable as to [possession of heart-] basis, and variable as to door, position, and function.
§132 The five fine-material consciousnesses ((57)–(61)) and the four immaterial consciousnesses ((62)–(65)) occur accomplishing two functions, namely, the function of life-continuum (b) that continues after rebirth-linking given by themselves, as long as there is no thought-arising to interrupt the life-continuum, and the function of death (n) at the end. As regards these, those of the fine-material sphere are invariable as to [possession of heart-]basis and as to their object, and they are variable as to position and function, while the others occur invariably without [heart-] basis, and they are invariable as to object, and variable as to position and function.
This, in the first place, is how the thirty-twofold resultant consciousness occurs in the course of an individual existence with formations as condition. And there [in the course of an existence] these several formations are conditions, as kamma condition and decisive-support condition, for this [thirty-twofold resultant consciousness]. 548
[2b. At Rebirth-Linking]
§133 But what was said above, namely, “as to the remaining nineteen, there is none that does not occur as a rebirth-linking appropriate to it” (§130), is hard to understand since it is too brief. Hence, in order to show the details it may be asked: (i) How many kinds of rebirth-linking are there? (ii) How many kinds of rebirth-linking consciousness? (iii) Where and by what means does rebirth-linking come about? (iv) What does rebirth-linking [consciousness] have as its object?
§134 567/625 (i) Including the rebirth-linking of non-percipient beings there are twenty kinds of rebirth-linking.
(ii) There are nineteen kinds of rebirth-linking consciousnesses, as already described.
(iii) Herein, rebirth-linking by means of the unprofitable-resultant root-causeless mind-consciousness element (56) comes about in the states of loss. Rebirth-linking by means of the profitable-resultant (41) comes about in the human world among those blind from birth, born deaf, born mad, born drivelling (see M I 20; M-a I 118), the sexless, and so on. Rebirth-linking by means of the eight principal resultant consciousnesses with root-cause ((42)–(49)) comes about among deities of the sense sphere and the meritorious among men. That by means of the five fine-material resultant kinds comes about in the fine-material Brahmā-world. That by means of the four immaterial-sphere resultant kinds comes about in the immaterial world. So rebirth-linking [consciousness] conforms to the means by which, and the place in which, it comes about.
(iv) Briefly, rebirth-linking [consciousness] has three kinds of objects, namely, past, present, and not-so-classifiable (see Ch. III, n. 32). Non-percipient rebirth-linking [consciousness] has no object.
§135 Herein, in the base consisting of boundless consciousness and the base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception, the object of rebirth-linking is past. That of the ten kinds of sense-sphere rebirth-linking is past or present. That of the rest is not-so-classifiable. But while the rebirth-linking consciousness occurs thus with three kinds of objects, the death consciousness, next to which it occurs, has only a past or a not-so-classifiable object, there being no death consciousness with a present object. Consequently, it should be understood how it occurs in the happy destinies and the unhappy destinies as follows, that is to say, how rebirth-linking consciousness with one of three kinds of objects occurs next to death consciousness with one of two kinds of objects.
[From happy to unhappy destiny]
§136 [From happy to unhappy destiny.] For example, firstly in the case of a person in the happy destinies of the sense-sphere who is an evildoer, when he is lying on his deathbed, his evil kamma according as it has been stored up, or its sign, comes into focus in the mind door. For it is said, “Then [the evil deeds that he did in the past] … cover him [and overspread him and envelop him]” (M III 164), and so on. Then next to the cognitive series of impulsions ending in registration [22] that arose contingent upon that [kamma or its sign], death consciousness arises making the life-continuum’s objective field its object. When it has ceased, rebirth-linking consciousness arises contingent upon that same kamma or kamma sign that had come into focus, and it does so located in the unhappy destiny, being driven there by the force of defilements that have not been cut off. 549 This is the kind of rebirth-linking that has a past object and comes next to death consciousness with a past object.
§137 568/626 In another’s case, owing to kamma of the kind already described, there comes into focus at the mind door at the time of death the sign of the unhappy destinies with the appearance of fire and flames, etc., in the hells, and so on. [23] So when the life-continuum has twice arisen and ceased, three sorts of cognitive-series consciousness arise contingent upon that object, namely, the one adverting, impulsions numbering five because of the slowing down due to the nearness of death, and two registrations. After that, one death consciousness arises making the life-continuum’s objective field its object. At this point eleven consciousnesses have elapsed. Then, having that same object, which has a life span of the remaining five conscious moments, his rebirth-linking consciousness arises. This is the kind of rebirth-linking that has a present object and comes next to death with a past object.
§138 In another’s case, at the time of death there comes into focus in one of the five doors an inferior object that is a cause of greed, and so on. When a series of consciousnesses up to determining have arisen in due succession, there arise impulsions numbering five because of slowing down due to the nearness of death, and two registrations. After that, one death consciousness arises making the life-continuum’s objective field its object. At this point fifteen consciousnesses have elapsed, namely, two life-continuums, one each adverting, seeing, receiving, investigating and determining, five impulsions, two registrations, and one death consciousness. Then, having that same object, which has a life span of the remaining one conscious moment, his rebirth-linking consciousness arises. This also is the kind of rebirth-linking that has a present object and comes next to a death consciousness with a past object.
This, firstly, is how rebirth-linking in an unhappy destiny with past and present objects occurs next to death consciousness in a happy destiny with a past object.
[From unhappy to happy destiny]
§139 [From unhappy to happy destiny.] In the case of one in an unhappy destiny who has stored up blameless kamma all should be understood in the same way, substituting the bright for the dark side thus: His good kamma, [according as it has been stored up], or its sign, comes into focus in the mind door [and continuing] in the way already stated.
This is how rebirth-linking occurs in a happy destiny with past and present objects next to death consciousness in an unhappy destiny with a past object.
[From happy to happy destiny]
§140 [From happy to happy destiny.] In the case of one in a happy destiny who has stored up blameless kamma, when he is lying on his death-bed, his blameless kamma according as it has been stored up, or its sign, comes into focus in the mind door. For it is said, “Then [the good deeds he did in the past] … cover him [and overspread him and envelop him]” (M III 171), and so on. And that applies only in the case of one who has stored up blameless sense-sphere kamma. 550 But in the case of one who has stored up kamma of the exalted spheres only the sign of the kamma comes into focus. Then next to the cognitive series of 569/627 impulsions ending in registration, or of simple impulsions, that arose contingent upon that [kamma or its sign], death consciousness arises making the life-continuum’s objective field its object. When it has ceased, rebirth-linking consciousness arises contingent upon that same kamma or sign of kamma that had come into focus, and it does so located in the happy destiny, being driven there by the force of defilements that have not been cut off. This is the kind of rebirth-linking that has a past or a not-so-classifiable object and comes next to death consciousness with a past object.
§141 In another’s case, owing to blameless sense-sphere kamma, there comes into focus in the mind door at the time of death the sign of a happy destiny, in other words, the appearance of the mother’s womb [24] in the case of the human world or the appearance of pleasure groves, divine palaces, wishing trees, etc., in the case of the divine world. His rebirth-linking consciousness arises next to the death consciousness in the order shown for the sign of an unhappy destiny. This is the kind of rebirth-linking that has a present object and comes next to death consciousness with a past object.
§142 In another’s case, relatives present [objects to him] at the five sense doors, such as a visible datum as object, perhaps flowers, garlands, flags, banners, etc., saying, “This is being offered to the Blessed One for your sake, dear, set your mind at rest”; or a sound as object, perhaps, preaching of the Dhamma, offerings of music, etc.; or an odour as object, perhaps incense, scents, perfumes, etc.; or a taste as object, perhaps honey, molasses, etc., saying, “Taste this, dear, it is a gift to be given for your sake”; or a tangible datum as object, perhaps Chinese silk, silk of Somāra, saying, “Touch this, dear, it is a gift to be given for your sake.” Now, when that visible datum, or whatever it may be, as object has come into focus for him and the consciousnesses ending in determining have arisen in due succession, there arise in him impulsions numbering five because of slowing down due to the nearness of death, and two registrations; after that, one death consciousness, making the life-continuum’s objective field its object. At the end of that, having that same object, which lasts only a single conscious moment, rebirth-linking consciousness arises. This also is the kind of rebirth-linking with a present object and comes next to a death consciousness with a past object.
§143 But in the case of another who is in a happy destiny and has obtained exalted [consciousness] through earth-kasiṇa jhāna, etc., at the time of his death 570/628 there comes into focus at the mind door the sense-sphere profitable kamma or the sign of the kamma or the sign of the destiny, or else the sign of the earth kasiṇa, etc., or else the exalted consciousness, 551 or else there comes into focus a superior object of the eye or ear that is a cause for profitable rebirth. When the consciousnesses ending in determining have arisen in due succession, there arise in him impulsions numbering five because of slowing down due to the nearness of death. But in those who belong to an exalted destiny there is no registration. So the one death consciousness arises next to the impulsion and making the life-continuum’s objective field its object. At the end of that, rebirth-linking consciousness arises located in one of the happy destinies of the sense sphere or exalted sphere, and having as its object whichever one among the aforesaid objects has appeared. This is the kind of rebirth-linking with a past, present, or not-so-classifiable object next to death consciousness in a happy destiny with a not-so-classifiable object.
§144 Rebirth-linking next to immaterial-sphere death should be understood in this way too. This is how rebirth-linking occurs with a past, present, or not-so-classifiable object next to death consciousness in a happy destiny with a past or not-so-classifiable object.
[From unhappy to unhappy destiny]
§145 [From unhappy to unhappy destiny.] In the case of one in an unhappy destiny who is an evil-doer, that kamma, or its sign, or the sign of the destiny, comes into focus in the mind door, or in the five doors, as the object that is the cause for the unprofitable rebirth. Then his rebirth-linking consciousness arises in due succession at the end of the death consciousness and located in the unhappy destiny and with one of those objects as its object. This is how rebirth-linking occurs with a past or present object next to death in an unhappy destiny with a past object.
[How Kamma is a Condition]
§146 Up to this point there has been shown the occurrence of the nineteenfold consciousness as rebirth-linking. Also all this [is further classified; for]
§147 When this nineteenfold kamma-resultant consciousness occurs thus in rebirth-linking, it does so by means of kamma in two ways; for according to the way in which the kamma that generates it occurs, the kamma can be its condition both as kamma condition acting from a different time and as decisive-support condition, since this is said: “Profitable … [and] unprofitable kamma is a condition, as decisive-support condition, for [its] result” (Paṭṭh I 167, 169).
§148 It should be understood that when it occurs thus, its double class, etc., is mixed and not, and it is still further classified.
For example: though this [type of consciousness] occurs in one way only as rebirth-linking, still it is twofold as divided into mixed and unmixed with 571/629 materiality; 552 it is threefold as divided according to sense-desire, fine-material, and immaterial becoming (M I 50); it is fourfold as egg-born, womb-born, putrescence-(moisture-) born, and of apparitional generation (M I 73); it is fivefold according to destiny (M I 73); it is sevenfold according to the stations of consciousness (D III 253), and it is eightfold according to the abodes of beings [excluding non-percipient beings] (see D III 263).
§149 Herein:
§150 The mixed is double, sexed and not: that rebirth-linking consciousness, which, leaving aside the immaterial becoming, arises here mixed with materiality, is twofold as “with sex” and “without sex,” [25] because it arises in the fine-material sphere without the sex called femininity faculty and masculinity faculty, and because—leaving aside the rebirth-linking of one born as a eunuch—it arises in the sense-sphere becoming together with that [twofold] sex.
And that with sex is double too: there also that with sex is twofold because it arises in association with either the female or the male sex.
§151 The least decads the first has got respectively are three or two: together with the rebirth-linking consciousness that is mixed with materiality and comes first in the pair “mixed and unmixed,” there arise, at the least, the two decads (see 18.5f.) of physical basis and body, or else the three decads of physical basis, body, and sex. There is no reducing the materiality below that.
§152 But when that minimal amount arises in the two kinds of generation termed egg-born and womb-born, it amounts to no more than a drop of cream of ghee on a single fibre of new-born [kid’s] wool, and it is known as the “embryo in the first stage” (S I 206).
§153 Herein, how the different kinds of generation come about may be understood according to the kind of destiny. For as regards these:
§154 Herein, by the words with deities it should be understood that, as in hell and among deities—excepting earth deities—so also among the ghosts consumed with thirst, the first three kinds of generation are not found; for they are apparitional only. But in the remaining three kinds of destiny, in other words, among animals, ghosts and human beings, and among the earth deities excepted above, there are all four kinds of generation.
§156 Firstly, among the fine-material Brahmās of apparitional generation there arise together with rebirth-linking consciousness thirty and also nine material instances 553 with the four groups, namely, the decads of the eye, ear, and physical basis, and the ennead of life. But leaving the fine-material Brahmās aside, among the others of apparitional generation and those of the moisture-born generation there are seventy instances of materiality at the most with the decads of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, physical basis and sex. And these are invariably to be found among deities [of the sense sphere]. Now, the group of material states comprising the ten material instances, namely, colour, odour, flavour, nutritive essence, and the four primary elements, with eye sensitivity and life, are called the “eye decad.” The remaining [groups of material states] should be understood in the same way.
§157 At the least, thirty material instances arise with the decads of the tongue, body, and physical basis, in those who are blind from birth, deaf, noseless, [26] and sexless. Between the most and the least, the allotment should be understood according as appropriate.
§158 After knowing this, again:
§159 The meaning is this: there is rebirth-linking that is twofold as mixed and unmixed [with materiality], and there is the death consciousness next before it, and their unlikeness and likeness according to these aggregates, etc., must be known. How?
§160 Sometimes, next to a four-aggregate immaterial death there is a four-aggregate rebirth-linking having a like object; sometimes there is an exalted rebirth-linking with an internal object next to an unexalted death with an external object. This, firstly, is the method in the case of the immaterial planes.
Sometimes there is a five-aggregate sense-sphere rebirth-linking next to a four-aggregate immaterial death. Sometimes there is a four-aggregate immaterial rebirth-linking next to a five-aggregate sense-sphere death or fine-material-sphere death. Thus there is rebirth-linking with a present object [27] next to a death with a past object, there is rebirth-linking in a certain unhappy destiny next to death in a 573/631 certain happy destiny, there is rebirth-linking with root-cause next to root-causeless death, there is triple-root-cause rebirth-linking next to double-root-cause death, there is rebirth-linking accompanied by joy next to death accompanied by equanimity, there is rebirth-linking with happiness next to death without happiness, there is rebirth-linking with applied thought next to death without applied thought, there is rebirth-linking with sustained thought next to death without sustained thought, there is rebirth-linking with applied and sustained thought next to death without applied and sustained thought.
In this way they can be coupled together by opposites as appropriate.
§162 So it is a mere material and immaterial state, arising when it has obtained its conditions, that is spoken of, saying that it comes into the next becoming; it is not a lasting being, 554 not a soul. And it has neither transmigrated from the past becoming nor yet is it manifested here without cause from that.
§163 We shall explain this by the normal process of human death and rebirth-linking. When in the past becoming a man near to a natural or violent death is unable to bear the onset of the unbearable daggers of the [painful] feelings that end in death as they sever the ligatures of the joints in all the limbs, his body gradually withers like a green palm leaf lying in the glare of the sun, and when the faculties of the eye, etc., have ceased and the body faculty, mind faculty, and life faculty remain on in the heart-basis alone, then consciousness, which has as its support the heart-basis still remaining at that moment, either occurs contingent upon some kamma classed as “weighty,” “repeated,” performed “near” [to death] or previously, [28] in other words, the formation that has obtained the remaining conditions, or contingent upon the objective field made to appear by that kamma, in other words, the sign of the kamma or sign of the destiny. [29] And while it is occurring thus, because craving and ignorance have not been abandoned, craving pushes it and the conascent formations fling it forward [30] 574/632 on to that objective field, the dangers in which are concealed by ignorance. And while, as a continuous process, [31] it is being pushed by craving and flung forward by formations, it abandons its former support, like a man who crosses a river by hanging on to a rope tied to a tree on the near bank, and, whether or not it gets a further support originated by kamma, it occurs by means of the conditions consisting only in object condition, and so on.
§164 The former of these [two states of consciousness] is called “death” (cuti) because of falling (cavana), and the latter is called “rebirth-linking” (paṭisandhi) because of linking (paṭisandhāna) across the gap separating the beginning of the next becoming. But it should be understood that it has neither come here from the previous becoming nor has it become manifest without the kamma, the formations, the pushing, the objective field, etc., as cause.
§166 And here let the illustration of this consciousness be such things as an echo, a light, a seal impression, a looking-glass image, for the fact of its not coming here from the previous becoming and for the fact that it arises owing to causes that are included in past becomings. For just as an echo, a light, a seal impression, and a shadow have respectively sound, etc., as their cause and come into being without going elsewhere, so also this consciousness.
§167 And with a stream of continuity there is neither identity nor otherness. For if there were absolute identity in a stream of continuity, there would be no forming of curd from milk. And yet if there were absolute otherness, the curd would not be derived from the milk. And so too with all causally arisen things. And if that were so there would be an end to all worldly usage, which is hardly desirable. So neither absolute identity nor absolute otherness should be assumed here. 555
§168 Here it might be asked: “If no transmigration is manifested, then after the cessation of the aggregates in this human person, that fruit could be another person’s or due to other [kamma], since the kamma that is the condition for the fruit does not pass on there [to where the fruit is]? And whose is the fruit since there is no experiencer? Therefore this formulation seems to be unsatisfactory.”
§169 Here is the reply:
§170 When a fruit arises in a single continuity, it is neither another’s nor from other [kamma] because absolute identity and absolute otherness are excluded [32] there. The formative processes of seeds establish the meaning of this. For once the formative processes of a mango seed, etc., have been set afoot, when the particular fruit arises in the continuity of the seed’s [growth], later on owing to the obtaining of conditions, it does so neither as the fruit of other seeds nor from other formative processes as condition; and those seeds or formative processes do not themselves pass on to the place where the fruit is. This is the analogy here. And the meaning can also be understood from the fact that the arts, crafts, medicine, etc., learnt in youth give their fruit later on in maturity.
§171 Now, it was also asked, “Whose is the fruit, since there is no experiencer?” Herein:
§172 Just as it is simply owing to the arising of tree fruits, which are one part of the phenomena called a tree, that it is said “The tree fruits” or “The tree has fruited,” so it is simply owing to the arising of the fruit consisting of the pleasure and pain called experience, which is one part of the aggregates called “deities” and “human beings,” that it is said “A deity or a human being experiences or feels pleasure or pain.” There is therefore no need at all here for a superfluous experiencer.
§173 But it may be said: “That may be so; but then these formations must be the conditions for the fruit either when they are present or when they are not present, and if it is when they are present, their result must come about only at the moment of their occurrence; but if it is when they are not present, they must bear fruit constantly both before and after their occurrence.” It can be replied:
§174 Formations are conditions for their own fruit because they have been performed, not because of presence or non-presence, according as it is said: 556 “Due to profitable kamma of the sense sphere having been performed, stored up [in the past], resultant eye-consciousness arises [in the present]” (Dhs §431), and so on. Having become conditions for their own fruit according to 576/634 their capacity, they do not again bear fruit since the result has already ripened. And in explaining the meaning of this the analogy of the agent, etc., should be understood. For just as in the world when someone becomes an agent with the aim of completing some business or other, and he buys goods, say, or obtains a loan, it is simply the fact of his performing the transaction that is the condition for completing that business, not the transaction’s actual presence or non-presence; and after the completion of the business he has no further liability. Why not? Because the business has been completed. So it is because they have been performed that formations are conditions for their own fruit, and they do not bear fruit after they have already given fruit according to their capacity.
Up to this point the occurrence, with formations as condition, of rebirth-linking consciousness that occurs in the two ways as mixed and unmixed [with materiality] has been illustrated.
2.3.3.3 3. How Formations are a Condition for Consciousness#
§175 Now, in order to eliminate confusion about all these thirty-two kinds of resultant consciousness:
§176 Herein, the three kinds of becoming, the four kinds of generation, the five kinds of destiny, the seven stations of consciousness, and the nine abodes of beings are what are called “The kinds of becoming and the rest.” The meaning is that it should be recognized for what kinds of resultant consciousness these [formations] are conditions in rebirth-linking and in the course of an individual existence, and in what way they are conditions in the various kinds of becoming and so on.
§177 Herein, firstly as regard the formation of merit: the formation of merit comprising the eight volitions of the sense sphere ((1)–(8)) is a condition in two ways, as kamma condition acting from a different time and as decisive-support condition, equally for all the nine kinds of resultant consciousness ((41)–(49)) in rebirth-linking in a happy destiny in the sense-sphere becoming. That formation comprising the five profitable volitions of the fine-material sphere ((9)–(13)) [is a condition] in like manner for the five kinds of rebirth-linking in the fine-material becoming ((57)–(61)).
§178 That of the sense sphere divided up as aforesaid is a condition in two ways, as aforesaid, for seven kinds of limited [-sphere] resultant consciousness ((34)–(40))—excluding the root-causeless mind-consciousness element accompanied by equanimity (41)—in the course of an existence, but not in rebirth-linking, in the happy destinies in the sense-sphere becoming. And that same formation is a condition likewise for five kinds of resultant consciousness ((34), (35), (39)–(41)) in the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking, in the fine-material becoming. It is a condition likewise for eight kinds of limited [-sphere] 577/635 resultant consciousness ((34)–(41)) in the course of existence, not in rebirth-linking, in the unhappy destinies in the sense-sphere becoming. 557 For then it is a condition [for such profitable-resultant consciousness occurring] in hell encountering a desirable object [on such occasions] as the Elder Mahā Moggallāna’s visits to hell, and so on. But among animals and powerful ghosts too a desirable object is obtained [through the same condition].
§179 This eightfold formation of merit is also a condition likewise for sixteen kinds of profitable-resultant consciousness in the course of an existence ((34)–(41)) and in rebirth-linking ((42)–(49)) in the happy destinies in the sense-sphere becoming. It is also a condition equally for all ten kinds of resultant consciousness in the course of an existence ((34), (35), (39)–(41)) and in rebirth-linking ((57)–(61)) in the fine-material becoming.
§180 The formation of demerit, comprising the twelve unprofitable volitions ((22)–(33)), is a condition likewise in the unhappy destinies in the sense-sphere becoming for one kind of consciousness in rebirth-linking (56), not in the course of an existence; also for six kinds in the course of an existence ((50)–(55)), not in rebirth-linking; and for all the seven kinds partly in the course of an existence and partly in rebirth-linking. And in the happy destinies in the sense-sphere becoming it is a condition likewise for those same seven kinds in the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking. In the fine-material becoming it is a condition likewise for four kinds of resultant consciousness ((50)–(51), (55), (56)) in the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking. Then it is a condition for [Brahmās’] seeing undesirable visible data and hearing undesirable sounds that are in the sense sphere: there are no undesirable visible data, etc., in the Brahmā-world itself; and likewise in the divine world of the sense sphere. [33]
§181 The formation of the imperturbable is a condition likewise for four kinds of resultant consciousness ((62)–(65)) in the course of an existence and in rebirth-linking in the immaterial becoming.
This, firstly, is how it should be understood what kinds of resultant consciousness these formations are conditions for in rebirth-linking and in the [three] kinds of becoming, and in what way they are conditions. And it should also be understood in the same way of the kinds of generation and so on.
§182 Here is a statement of the bare headings starting from the beginning. Of these [three kinds of] formations, firstly the formation of merit, when giving rebirth-linking, produces the whole of its result in two of the kinds of becoming; likewise in the four kinds of generation beginning with the egg-born, in two of the kinds of destiny, in other words, the divine and the human; in four of the stations of consciousness, [the human, and the planes of the first, second and third jhānas,] described thus, “Different in body and different in perception … different in body and same in perception … same in body and different in perception … same in body and same in perception …;” (D III 253) and in only 578/636 four of the abodes of beings, because in the abode of non-percipient beings it only forms materiality. Therefore it is a condition in the way already stated for twenty-one kinds of resultant consciousness in these two kinds of becoming, four kinds of generation, two kinds of destiny, four stations of consciousness, and four abodes of beings according as they are produced in rebirth-linking ((41)–(49), (57)–(61)) 558 and the course of an existence ((34)–(41)), as appropriate.
§183 The formation of demerit as rebirth-linking ripens in the sense-sphere becoming only, in the four kinds of generation, in the remaining three destinies, in the one station of consciousness described thus “different in body and same in perception” (D III 253), and in the one corresponding abode of beings. Therefore it is a condition in the way already stated for seven kinds of resultant consciousness in one kind of becoming, in four kinds of generation, in three kinds of destiny, in one station of consciousness, and in one abode of beings, both in rebirth-linking (56) and in the course of an existence ((50)–(56)).
§184 The formation of the imperturbable as rebirth-linking ripens in the immaterial becoming, in the apparitional kind of generation only, in the divine destiny only, in the three stations of consciousness beginning with the base consisting of boundless space, and in the four abodes of beings beginning with the base consisting of boundless space ((62)–(65)). Therefore it is a condition in the way already stated for the four kinds of consciousness in one kind of becoming, in one kind of generation, in one kind of destiny, in three stations of consciousness, and in four abodes of beings, both in rebirth-linking and in the course of becoming. [34]
§185 This is how:
This is the detailed explanation of the clause, “With formations as condition, consciousness.”
2.3.4 (4) Mentality-Materiality#
§186 For the clause, “With consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality”:
§187 1. By analysis of mind and matter: here “mind” (*nāma—*mentality) is the three aggregates, that is, feeling, perception, and formations, because of their bending (namana) on to the object. “Matter” (*rūpa—*materiality) is the four great primary elements and the materiality derived [by clinging] from the four great primaries. Their analysis is given in the Description of the Aggregates (XIV.34f., 125f.). This, in the first place, is how the exposition of mentality-materiality should be known “by analysis.”
§188 2. By occurrence in becoming, et cetera: excepting one abode of beings, [that is, the non-percipient,] mentality occurs in all the kinds of becoming, generation, destiny, and station of consciousness, and in the remaining abodes of beings. Materiality occurs in two kinds of becoming, four kinds of generation, five destinies, the first four stations of consciousness, and the first five abodes of beings.
§189 Now, when this mentality-materiality occurs thus, 559 then in the case of sexless embryos and the egg-born, at the moment of their rebirth-linking there are manifested as materiality two organic continuities, that is, the two decads of physical basis and body, and also the three immaterial aggregates. So in their case there are in detail these twenty-three states, namely, twenty states as concrete matter and three immaterial aggregates, which should be understood as “mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition.” But omitting repetitions, [35] and so cancelling nine material instances (see 11.88) from one of the organic continuities, fourteen states remain.
By adding the sex decad for those possessed of sex [before making the above cancellation] there are thirty-three. And omitting repetitions and so cancelling eighteen material instances [nine each] from two of the organic continuities, in this case fifteen states remain.
§190 At the moment of rebirth-linking of those of Brahmā’s Retinue, among apparitionally born beings, four organic continuities are manifested as materiality, that is, the decads of eye, ear, and physical basis, and the ennead of the life faculty, and three immaterial aggregates. So in their case in detail these 580/638 forty-two states, namely, thirty-nine states as concrete materiality and three immaterial aggregates, should be understood as “mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition.” But omitting repetitions and so cancelling twenty-seven instances of materiality [nine each] from three of the organic continuities, fifteen states remain.
§191 In the sense-sphere becoming, seven organic continuities are manifested as materiality, and also three immaterial aggregates at the moment of rebirth-linking of the remaining kinds of apparitionally born or of the moisture-born possessing sex and matured sense bases. So in their case in detail these seventy-three states, namely, seventy instances of concrete materiality and three immaterial aggregates, should be understood as “mentality-materiality with formations as condition.” But omitting repetitions and so cancelling fifty-four material instances [nine each] from six of the organic continuities, nineteen states remain.
This is the maximum. But at minimum the computation of “mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition” in the rebirth-linking of those who lack such and such an organic continuity can be understood in brief and detail by reducing it appropriately. [The blind, for instance, lack the eye decad.]
§192 For mentality-materiality immaterial beings have only the three [mental] aggregates; while non-percipient beings have only the life-faculty ennead, and that represents materiality.
§193 In the course of an existence, in all places where materiality occurs there is manifested the temperature-originated bare [material] octad, which is due [initially] to the temperature that occurred together with the rebirth-linking consciousness at the moment of its presence. [36] Rebirth-linking consciousness does not originate materiality. For, just as a man who is falling into a chasm cannot support another, so it, too, is unable to originate materiality because of its weakness, which is due to the weakness of the physical basis. But from the first life-continuum after the rebirth-linking consciousness onwards, 560 the bare octad originated by consciousness appears. And at the time when sound becomes manifest there is the sound ennead due both to temperature occurring after the moment of rebirth-linking and to consciousness.
§194 The bare octad originated by nutriment appears in beings in the womb who live on matter consisting of physical nutriment as soon as their body is suffused by nutriment swallowed by the mother; for it is said:
And it appears in apparitionally born beings as soon as they first swallow the spittle that has come into their own mouths. 581/639 So, with the twenty-six [material instances] consisting of the bare octad originated by nutriment, and of the, at most, two [sound] enneads originated respectively by temperature and consciousness, and also with the already-mentioned seventy kamma-originated instances (§191) that arise three times in each conscious moment [at the instants of arising, presence, and dissolution], there are thus ninety-six material instances; and with the three immaterial aggregates there is thus a total of ninety-nine states.
§195 Or because sound is not regularly present since it is only sometimes manifested, subtracting it therefore as twofold [being temperature-originated and consciousness-originated], there are these ninety-seven states to be understood as “mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition” in all beings, according as it happens to be produced. For whether these beings are sleeping or idling or eating or drinking, these states keep on occurring in them day and night with consciousness as condition. And we shall explain later how they have consciousness as their condition (see §200ff.).
§196 Now, although this kamma-born materiality is the first to find a footing in the several kinds of becoming, generation, destiny, station of consciousness, and abode of beings, it is nevertheless unable to carry on without being consolidated by materiality of triple origination [by consciousness, temperature, and nutriment], nor can that of triple origination do so without being consolidated by the former. But when they thus give consolidating support to each other, they can stand up without falling, like sheaves of reeds propped together on all four sides, even though battered by the wind, and like [boats with] broken floats [37] that have found a support, even though battered by waves somewhere in mid-ocean, and they can last one year, two years … a hundred years, until those beings’ life span or their merit is exhausted.
This is how the exposition should be understood here “by occurrence in becoming, etc.”
§197 3. By inclusion: now there is (a) the simple mentality with consciousness as condition in both the course of an existence and rebirth-linking in the immaterial sphere, and in the course of an existence in the five-constituent becoming, and (b) the simple materiality with consciousness as condition in both cases among the non-percipient, and in the course of an existence in the five-constituent becoming, and (c) the [combined] mentality-materiality 561 with consciousness as condition in both cases in the five-constituent becoming. All that mentality and materiality and mentality-materiality should be understood as “mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition,” including them under mentality-materiality according to the method that allows any one part to represent any remaining one of its kind. [38]
§198 582/640 Is this correct in view of the absence of consciousness in non-percipient beings?—It is not incorrect. For:
§199 The consciousness that is the cause of mentality-materiality is reckoned to be twofold classed as resultant and not resultant. And since in the case of non-percipient beings materiality is originated by kamma, it has as its condition kamma-formation consciousness that occurred in the five-constituent becoming. This applies also to the kamma-originated materiality arising in the course of an existence in the five-constituent becoming at the moment of profitable or any other consciousness. So this is correct.
This is how the exposition can also be known here “by inclusion.”
§200 4. By manner of condition: here:
§201 Rebirth-linking or some other kind of resultant consciousness is a condition in nine ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, association, kamma-result, nutriment, faculty, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, either at rebirth-linking or in the course of an existence, for that mentality called resultant, whether mixed with materiality or not. At rebirth-linking it is a condition in nine ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, kamma-result, nutriment, faculty, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the materiality of the physical [heart-] basis. It is a condition in eight ways, namely, as the above conditions omitting the mutuality condition, for materiality other than the materiality of the physical basis.
Kamma-formation consciousness is a condition in one way only, as decisive-support condition, for the materiality of non-percipient beings, or for the kamma-born materiality in the five-constituent becoming, according to the Suttanta method.
All the remaining kinds of consciousness from the time of the first life-continuum [consciousness following rebirth-linking] onwards should be understood as a condition for some kind of mentality-materiality as appropriate. But since the whole contents of the Paṭṭhāna must be cited in order to show how it acts in detail, we do not undertake that.
§202 Here it may be asked: “But how is it to be known 562 that the mentality-materiality of rebirth-linking has consciousness as its condition?” From the 583/641 suttas and from logic. For in the suttas it is established in many places that feeling, etc., have consciousness as condition in the way beginning, “States with parallel occurrence through consciousness” (Dhs §1522). But as to logic:
Whether consciousness likes it or not, [certain] material instances are seen to arise in conformity with it. And the unseen is inferred from the seen. So it can be known, by means of the consciousness-born materiality that is seen, that consciousness is also a condition for the unseen materiality of rebirth-linking. For it is said in the Paṭṭhāna that, like the consciousness-originated, also the kamma-originated has consciousness as its condition (see Paṭṭh I 172–173).
This is how the exposition should be known “by manner of condition.”
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality.”
2.3.5 (5) The Sixfold Base#
§203 As to the clause “With mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base”:
§204 In the case of the mentality-materiality that is here a condition for the sixfold base, mentality is the three aggregates beginning with feeling, while materiality should be understood as that included in one’s own continuity stated thus “primaries and the rest are ‘matter’,” that is to say, the four primaries, six physical bases, and life faculty, [since they are conditioning factors] invariably. But this mentality and this materiality and this mentality-materiality, each one representing the rest as “mentality-materiality,” should be understood as a condition for the sixfold base consisting of the sixth base and the sixfold base each one representing the rest as the “sixfold base.” Why? Because in the immaterial becoming there is only mentality as a condition, and that is a condition only for the sixth base, [namely, the mind base,] not for any other. For it is said in the Vibhaṅga, “With mentality as condition, the sixth base” (Vibh 179).
§205 Here it may be asked: “But how is it to be known that mentality-materiality is a condition for the sixfold base?” Because the latter exists when mentality-materiality exists. For a given base exists when a given kind of mentality and materiality exists, not otherwise. But the way in which the one comes to exist when the other does will be explained below in the section dealing with how it is a condition. 563 Therefore:
§206 Herein what follows illustrates the meaning.
2.3.5.1 1. Mentality as Condition#
§207 How? In rebirth-linking, firstly, mentality is a condition in seven ways at the minimum, as conascence, mutuality, support, association, kamma-result, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the sixth base. Some mentality, however, is a condition, as root-cause condition [that is, greed, etc.,] and some as nutriment condition [that is, contact and mental volition]. So it is also a condition in other ways. It is by the [two latter] that the maximum and minimum should be understood. In the course of an existence, too, resultant mentality is a condition as already stated. But the other [non-resultant] kind is a condition in six ways at minimum, as the aforesaid conditions except for kamma-result condition. Some, however, are a condition, as root-cause condition, and some as nutriment condition. So it is also a condition in other ways. It is by these that the maximum and minimum should be understood.
§209 Besides the immaterial states, also in the five-constituent becoming that resultant mentality, in association with the heart-basis, is a condition in seven ways at the minimum for the sixth, the mind base, in the same way as was said with respect to the immaterial states. But in association with the four primary elements, it is a condition in six ways, as conascence, support, kamma-result, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the other five beginning with the eye base. Some, however, are a condition as root-cause condition, and some as nutriment condition. It is by these that the maximum and minimum should be understood.
§211 For, as in rebirth-linking, so also in the course of an existence in the five-constituent becoming, resultant mentality is a condition in the seven ways at minimum for the resultant sixth base. But non-resultant mentality is a condition in six ways at minimum for the non-resultant sixth base, leaving out kamma-result condition. The maximum and minimum should be understood in the way already stated.
§213 Again, in the course of an existence, the other resultant mentality, which has as its physical basis the eye sensitivity, etc., is a condition in four ways, as postnascence, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the rest of the five beginning with the eye base. And as the resultant, so also the non-resultant is explained; therefore [the mentality] classed as profitable, etc., should be understood as their condition in four ways.
This, firstly, is how it should be understood what bases mentality alone is a condition for in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence, and how it is a condition.
2.3.5.2 2. Materiality as Condition#
§215 As to matter, the materiality of the physical [heart-] basis is a condition in rebirth-linking in six ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the sixth, the mind base. But the four primaries are in general, that is to say, in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence, conditions in four ways, as conascence, support, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for any of the five bases beginning with the eye, whenever they arise.
§216 Life and in lifetime food as well. Conditions five in threefold way; These five, the sixth in sixfold way; Basis, the sixth in fivefold way.
§217 But in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence the material life [faculty] is a condition in three ways, as presence, non-disappearance, and faculty conditions, for these five beginning with the eye. Nutriment too is a condition in three ways, as presence, non-disappearance, and nutriment conditions, and that is so in the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking, and applies when the bodies of beings subsisting on nutriment are suffused with the nutriment. In the course of an existence, not in rebirth-linking, those five bases beginning with the eye are conditions in six ways, as support, prenascence, faculty, dissociation, presence and non-disappearance conditions, for [that part of] the sixth, the mind base, comprising eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, and body-consciousness. But in the course of an existence, not at rebirth-linking, the materiality of the [heart-] 586/644 basis is a condition in five ways, as support, prenascence, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the remaining mind base apart from the five consciousnesses. This is how it should be understood what bases materiality alone is a condition for in rebirth-linking and in the course of an existence, and how it is a condition. 565
2.3.5.3 3. Mentality-Materiality as Condition#
§219 For example, firstly, in rebirth-linking in the five-constituent becoming, the mentality-materiality, in other words, the trio of aggregates with the materiality of the [heart-] basis, is a condition, as conascence, mutuality, support, kamma-result, association, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, etc., for the sixth, the mind base. This is merely the heading; but since it can all be construed in the way already stated, the detail is not given here.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base.”
2.3.6 (6) Contact#
§220 As to the clause “With the sixfold base as condition, contact”:
§221 Briefly, with the clause “With the sixfold base as condition, contact,” there are only the six kinds beginning with eye-contact, that is to say, eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, and mind-contact. But in detail the five profitable resultant and the five unprofitable resultant beginning with eye-contact make ten; the rest, which are associated with the twenty-two kinds of mundane resultant consciousness, make twenty-two. So all these come to thirty-two ((34)–(65)), like the consciousness with formations as condition given above.
§222 But as to the sixfold base that is a condition for this thirty-twofold contact. Herein:
§223 Herein, firstly, there are those who take this to be an exposition of the occurrence of what is clung to, [that is, kammically-acquired aggregates,] and they maintain that the conditioning [bases] and the conditionally-arisen [contact] are only what is included in one’s own continuity. They take any one part to 587/645 represent any remaining one of its kind, since the condition for contact in the immaterial states is the sixth base [only], according to the text “With the sixth base as condition, contact” (Vibh 179), and elsewhere it is the sixfold base inclusively. So they have it that “sixfold base” means the internal [five] beginning with the eye plus the sixth (mind) base. For that sixth base and that sixfold base are styled “sixfold base.” But there are those who maintain that it is only the conditionally-arisen [contact] that is contained in a single continuity, while the conditioning [bases] are contained in separate [that is, past] continuities as well. They maintain that all and any such bases are a condition for contact, and they include also the [six] external ones. So they have it that “sixfold base” means the same internal [five] plus the sixth plus the external ones beginning with visible data. For that sixth base and that [partial] sixfold base and the sixfold base along with these [external ones] each representing the rest 566 are styled sixfold base too.
§224 Here it may be asked: “One kind of contact does not derive from all the bases, nor all the kinds of contact from one base. And yet ‘With the sixfold base as condition, contact’ is said in the singular. Why is that?”
§225 Here is the answer: It is true that neither is one derived from all nor all from one. However, one is derived from many. For eye-contact is derived from the eye base, from the visible-data base, from the mind base reckoned as eye-consciousness, and from the mental-datum base consisting of the remaining associated states. And each case should be construed as appropriate in this way. Therefore:
Though stated in the singular: the meaning is, by this statement in the singular that “With the sixfold base as condition, contact,” it is pointed out by the Blessed One (Tādin) that contact, which is of one kind, comes into being from many bases.
2.3.6.1 How the Sixfold Base is a Condition for Contact#
§226 But as regards these bases:
§227 Here is the explanation: firstly, the five consisting of the eye base, etc., are conditions in six ways, as support, prenascence, faculty, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for contact classed in five ways as eye-contact, and so on. After that, the single resultant mind base is a condition in nine ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, result, nutriment, faculty, association, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the variously-classed 588/646 resultant mind contact. But in the case of the external bases, the visible-data base is a condition in four ways, as object, prenascence, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for eye-contact. Likewise the sound base, etc., respectively for ear-contact, and so on. But these and mental data as object are conditions likewise, and as object condition too, for mind-contact, so “the external six as contact’s conditionality according to each case we fix.”
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With the sixfold base as condition, contact.”
2.3.7 (7) Feeling#
§228 As to the clause “With contact as condition, feeling”:
§229 In the analysis of this clause [in the Vibhaṅga] only six kinds of feeling according to door are given thus, “Eye-contact-born feeling, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-contact-born feeling” (Vibh 136). 567 Still, when classed according to association with the eighty-nine kinds of consciousness, they are “at nine and eighty sorts assessed.”
§231 Herein, in the five doors contact beginning with eye-contact is a condition in eight ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, result, nutriment, association, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the five kinds of feeling that have respectively eye sensitivity, etc., as their physical basis. But that contact beginning with eye-contact is a condition in one way only, as decisive-support condition, for the rest of resultant feeling in the sense sphere occurring in each door as receiving, investigation and registration.
§232 In the mind door in the same way: the contact called conascent mind-contact is also a condition in the same eight ways for sense-sphere resultant feeling occurring as registration in the mind door, and so also for the kinds of resultant feeling in the three planes occurring with rebirth-linking, life-continuum and death. But the mind-contact associated with mind-door adverting is a condition in one way only, as decisive-support condition, for the kinds of feeling that occur in the mind door as registration in the sense sphere.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With contact as condition, feeling.”
2.3.8 (8) Craving#
§233 589/647 As regards the clause “With feeling as condition, craving”:
§234 Six kinds of craving are shown in the analysis of this clause [in the Vibhaṅga] as “visible-data craving, sound, odour, flavour, tangible-data, and mental-data craving” (Vibh 136), called after their objects, as a son is called after his father “banker’s son,” “brahman’s son.” Each of these six kinds of craving is reckoned threefold according to its mode of occurrence as craving for sense desires, craving for becoming, or craving for non-becoming.
§235 When visible-data craving occurs enjoying with sense-desire enjoyment a visible datum as object that has come into the focus of the eye, it is called craving for sense desires. But when [that same visible-data craving] occurs along with the eternity view that assumes that same object to be lasting and eternal, 568 it is called craving for becoming; for it is the greed accompanying the eternity view that is called craving for becoming. When it occurs along with the annihilation view that assumes that same object to break up and be destroyed, it is called craving for non-becoming; for it is the greed accompanying the annihilation view that is called craving for non-becoming. So also in the case of craving for sounds, and so on.
These amount to eighteen kinds of craving. The eighteen with respect to one’s own visible data (one’s own appearance), etc., and eighteen with respect to external [visible data (another’s appearance), etc.,] together make thirty-six kinds. Thirty-six in the past, thirty-six in the future, and thirty-six in the present, make one-hundred-and-eight kinds of craving. When these are reduced again, they should be understood to amount to the six kinds only with visible data, etc., as object; and these, to three only, as craving for sense desires, and so on.
§236 Out of selfish affection for feeling after taking pleasure in it when it arises through a visible datum as object, etc., these beings accord much honour to painters, musicians, perfumers, cooks, weavers, distillers of elixirs, [39] physicians, etc., who furnish respectively visible data as object, etc., just as out of affection for a child they reward the child’s nurse after taking pleasure in the child. That is why it should be understood that these three kinds of craving have feeling as their condition.
In one way: it is a condition as decisive-support condition only.
§238 Or alternatively:
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With feeling as condition, craving.”
2.3.9 (9) Clinging#
§239 As regards the clause “With craving as condition, clinging”:
§240 Herein, this is the explanation: firstly, there are these four kinds of clinging here, namely, sense-desire clinging, [false-] view clinging, rules-and-vows clinging, and self-doctrine clinging.
§241 1. The analysis of meaning is this: it clings to the kind of sense-desire called sense-desire’s physical object (see Ch. IV, n. 24), thus it is sense-desire clinging. Also, it is sense-desire and it is clinging, thus it is sense-desire clinging. Clinging (upādāna) is firm grasping; for here the prefix upa has the sense of firmness, as in upāyāsa (great misery—see §48) and upakuṭṭha (great pox), [41] and so on. Likewise, it is [false] view and it is clinging, thus it is [false-] view clinging; or, it clings to 591/649 [false] view, thus it is [false-] view clinging; for in [the case of the false view] “The world and self are eternal” (D I 14), etc., it is the latter kind of view that clings to the former. Likewise, it clings to rite and ritual, thus it is rules-and-vows clinging; also, it is rite and ritual and it is clinging, thus it is rules-and-vows clinging; for ox asceticism, ox vows, etc. (see M I 387f.), are themselves kinds of clinging, too, because of the misinterpretation (insistence) that purification comes about in this way. Likewise, they indoctrinate by means of that, thus that is doctrine; they cling by means of that, thus that is clinging. What do they indoctrinate with? What do they cling to? Self. The clinging to doctrines of self is self-doctrine clinging. Or by means of that they cling to a self that is a mere doctrine of self; thus that is self-doctrine clinging. This, firstly, is the “analysis of meaning.”
§242 2. But as regards the brief and full account of states, firstly, in brief sense-desire clinging is called “firmness of craving” since it is said: “Herein, what is sense-desire clinging? That which in the case of sense desires is lust for sense desires, greed for sense desires, delight in sense desires, craving for sense desires, fever of sense desires, infatuation with sense desires, committal to sense desires: that is called sense-desire clinging” (Dhs §1214). “Firmness of craving” is a name for the subsequent craving itself, which has become firm by the influence of previous craving, which acts as its decisive-support condition. But some have said: Craving is the aspiring to an object that one has not yet reached, like a thief’s stretching out his hand in the dark; clinging is the grasping of an object that one has reached, like the thief’s grasping his objective. These states oppose fewness of wishes and contentment and so they are the roots of the suffering due to seeking and guarding (see D II 58f.). The remaining three kinds of clinging are in brief simply [false] view.
§243 In detail, however, sense-desire clinging is the firm state of the craving described above as of one-hundred-and-eight kinds with respect to visible data and so on. [False-] view clinging is the ten-based wrong view, according as it is said: “Herein what is [false-] view clinging? There is no giving, no offering, … [no good and virtuous ascetics and brahmans who have themselves] realized by direct-knowledge and declare this world and the other world: such view as this … such perverse assumption is called [false-]view clinging” (Vibh 375; Dhs §1215). Rules-and-vows clinging is the adherence [to the view that] purification comes through rules and vows, according as it is said: “Herein, what is rules-and-vows clinging? … That purification comes through a rite, that purification comes through a ritual, 570 that purification comes through a rite and ritual: such view as this … such perverse assumption is called rules-and-vows clinging” (Dhs §1216). Self-doctrine clinging is the twenty-based [false] view of individuality, according as it is said: “Herein, what is self-doctrine clinging? Here the untaught ordinary man … untrained in good men’s Dhamma, sees materiality as self … such perverse assumption is called self-doctrine clinging” (Dhs §1217). This is the “brief and full account of states.”
§244 3. As to order: here order is threefold (see XIV.211), that is to say, order of arising, order of abandoning, and order of teaching. Herein, order of arising of 592/650 defilements is not meant literally because there is no first arising of defilements in the beginningless round of rebirths. But in a relative sense it is this: usually in a single becoming the misinterpretation of (insistence on) eternity and annihilation are preceded by the assumption of a self. After that, when a man assumes that this self is eternal, rules-and-vows clinging arises in him for the purpose of purifying the self. And when a man assumes that it breaks up, thus disregarding the next world, sense-desire clinging arises in him. So self-doctrine clinging arises first, and after that, [false-] view clinging, and rules-and-vows clinging or sense-desire clinging. This, then, is their order of arising in one becoming.
§245 And here [false-] view clinging, etc., are abandoned first because they are eliminated by the path of stream-entry. Sense-desire clinging is abandoned later because it is eliminated by the path of Arahantship. This is the order of their abandoning.
§246 Sense-desire clinging, however, is taught first among them because of the breadth of its objective field and because of its obviousness. For it has a broad objective field because it is associated with eight kinds of consciousness ((22)–(29)). The others have a narrow objective field because they are associated with four kinds of consciousness ((22), (23), (26) and (27)). And usually it is sense-desire clinging that is obvious because of this generation’s love of attachment (see M I 167), not so the other kinds. One possessed of sense-desire clinging is much given to display and ceremony (see M I 265) for the purpose of attaining sense desires. [False-] view clinging comes next to the [sense-desire clinging] since that [display and ceremony] is a [false-] view of his. [42] And that is then divided in two as rules-and-vows clinging and self-doctrine clinging. And of these two, rules-and-vows clinging is taught first, being gross, because it can be recognized on seeing [it in the forms of] ox practice and dog practice. And self-doctrine clinging is taught last because of its subtlety. This is the “order of teaching.”
2.3.9.1 How Craving is a Condition for Clinging#
§248 As regards the four kinds of clinging taught in this way, craving for sense desires is a condition in one way, as decisive-support, for the first kind, namely, sense-desire clinging, because it arises in relation to the objective field in which craving delights. But it is a condition in seven ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, association, presence, non-disappearance, and root-cause, or in eight ways, as [those and] decisive-support as well, for the remaining three kinds. And when it is a condition as decisive-support, then it is never conascent.
593/651 This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With craving as condition, clinging.” 571
2.3.10 (10) Becoming (being)#
§249 As to the clause “With clinging as condition, becoming”:
§250 1. As to meaning: Herein, it becomes (bhavati), thus it is becoming (bhava). That is twofold as kamma-process becoming and rebirth-process becoming, according as it is said: “Becoming in two ways: there is kamma-process becoming and there is rebirth-process becoming” (Vibh 137). Herein, the kamma process itself as becoming is “kamma-process becoming”; likewise the rebirth process itself as becoming is “rebirth-process becoming.” And here, rebirth is becoming since it becomes; but just as “The arising of Buddhas is bliss” (Dhp 194) is said because it causes bliss, so too kamma should be understood as “becoming,” using for it the ordinary term for its fruit, since it causes becoming. This, firstly, is how the exposition should be known here “as to meaning.”
§251 2. As to state: firstly, kamma-process becoming in brief is both volition and the states of covetousness, etc., associated with the volition and reckoned as kamma too, according as it is said: “Herein, what is kamma-process becoming? The formation of merit, the formation of demerit, the formation of the imperturbable, either with a small (limited) plane or with a large (exalted) plane: that is called kamma-process becoming. Also all kamma that leads to becoming is called kamma-process becoming” (Vibh 137).
§252 Here the formation of merit is, in terms of states, the thirteen kinds of volition ((1)–(13)), the formation of demerit is the twelve kinds ((22)–(33)), and the formation of the imperturbable is the four kinds ((14)–(17)). So with the words either with a small (limited) plane or with a large (exalted) plane the insignificance or magnitude of these same volitions’ result is expressed here. But with the words also all kamma that leads to becoming the covetousness, etc., associated with volition are expressed.
§253 Rebirth-process becoming briefly is aggregates generated by kamma. It is of nine kinds, according as it is said: “Herein, what is rebirth-process becoming? Sense-desire becoming, fine-material becoming, immaterial becoming, percipient becoming, non-percipient becoming, neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient becoming, one-constituent becoming, 572 four-constituent becoming, five-constituent becoming: this is called rebirth-process becoming” (Vibh 17).
§254 Herein, the kind of becoming called “having sense desires” is sense-desire becoming. Similarly with the fine-material and immaterial kinds of becoming. It is the becoming of those possessed of perception, or there is perception here in becoming, thus it is percipient becoming. The opposite kind is non-percipient becoming. Owing to the absence of gross perception and to the presence of subtle 594/652 perception there is neither perception nor non-perception in that kind of becoming, thus it is neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient becoming. It is becoming constituted out of the materiality aggregate only, thus it is one-constituent becoming, or that kind of becoming has only one constituent, [the materiality aggregate, or dimension,] thus it is one-constituent becoming. And similarly the four-constituent [has the four mental aggregates, or dimensions,] and the five-constituent [has the material and the four mental aggregates, or dimensions].
§255 Herein, sense-desire becoming is five aggregates acquired through kamma (clung to). Likewise the fine-material becoming. Immaterial becoming is four. Percipient becoming is four and five. Non-percipient becoming is one aggregate that is acquired through kamma (clung to). Neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient becoming is four. One-constituent becoming, etc., are respectively one, four, and five aggregates as aggregates that are acquired through kamma (clung to).
This is how the exposition should be known here “as to state.”
§256 3. As to purpose: although formations of merit, etc., are of course dealt with in the same way in the description of becoming and in the description of formations (see Vibh 135, 137), nevertheless the repetition has a purpose. For in the former case it was because it was a condition, as past kamma, for rebirth-linking here [in this becoming], while in the latter case it is because it is a condition, as present kamma, for rebirth-linking in the future [becoming]. Or alternatively, in the former instance, in the passage beginning, “Herein, what is the formation of merit? It is profitable volition of the sense sphere” (Vibh 135), it was only volitions that were called “formations”; but here, with the words “All kamma that leads to becoming” (Vibh 137), the states associated with the volition are also included. And in the former instance it was only such kamma as is a condition for consciousness that was called ‘formations’; but now also that which generates non-percipient becoming is included.
§257 But why so many words? In the clause “With ignorance as condition there are formations,” only profitable and unprofitable states are expressed as the formation of merit, etc.; but in the clause “With clinging as condition, becoming,” profitable and unprofitable and also functional states are expressed because of the inclusion of rebirth-process becoming. So this repetition has a purpose in each case. This is how the exposition should be known “as to purpose here.”
§258 4. As to analysis, synthesis means as to both the analysis and the synthesis of becoming that has clinging as its condition. The kamma with sense-desire clinging as its condition that is performed and generates sense-desire becoming is “kamma-process becoming.” The aggregates generated by that are “rebirth-process becoming”; similarly in the case of fine-material and immaterial becoming. So 573 there are two kinds of sense-desire becoming with sense-desire clinging as condition, included in which are percipient becoming and five-constituent becoming. And there are two kinds of fine-material becoming, included in which are percipient, non-percipient, one-constituent, and five-constituent becoming. And there are two kinds of immaterial becoming, included in which are percipient becoming, neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient 595/653 becoming, and four-constituent becoming. So, together with what is included by them, there are six kinds of becoming with sense-desire clinging as condition. Similarly too with the [three] remaining kinds of clinging as condition. So, as to analysis, there are, together with what is included by them, twenty-four kinds of becoming with clinging as condition.
§259 5. As to synthesis, however, by uniting kamma-process becoming and rebirth-process becoming there is, together with what is included by it, one kind of sense-desire becoming with sense-desire clinging as its condition. Similarly with fine-material and immaterial becoming. So there are three kinds of becoming. And similarly with the remaining [three] kinds of clinging as condition. So by synthesis, there are, together with what is included by them, twelve kinds of becoming with clinging as condition.
§260 Furthermore, without distinction the kamma with clinging as its condition that attains sense-desire becoming is kamma-process becoming. The aggregates generated by that are rebirth-process becoming. Similarly in the fine-material and immaterial becoming. So, together with what is included by them, there are two kinds of sense-desire becoming, two kinds of fine-material becoming, and two kinds of immaterial becoming. So, by synthesis, there are six kinds of becoming by this other method. Or again, without making the division into kamma-process becoming and rebirth-process becoming, there are, together with what is included by them, three kinds of becoming as sense-desire becoming, and so on. Or again, without making the division into sense-desire becoming, etc., there are, together with what is included by them, two kinds of becoming, as kamma-process becoming and rebirth-process becoming. And also without making the division into kamma process and rebirth process there is, according to the words “With clinging as condition, becoming,” only one kind of becoming.
This is how the exposition of becoming with clinging as condition should be known here “as to analysis and synthesis.”
§261 6. Which for which becomes condition means that here the exposition should be known according to what kind of clinging is a condition for what [kind of becoming]. But what is condition for what here? Any kind is a condition for any kind. For the ordinary man is like a madman, and without considering “Is this right or not?” and aspiring by means of any of the kinds of clinging to any of the kinds of becoming, he performs any of the kinds of kamma. Therefore when some say that the fine-material and immaterial kinds of becoming do not come about through rules-and-vows clinging, that should not be accepted: what should be accepted is that all kinds come about through all kinds.
§262 For example, someone thinks in accordance with hearsay or [false] view that sense desires come to be fulfilled in the human world among the great warrior (khattiya) families, etc., and in the six divine worlds of the sense sphere. 574 Misled by listening to wrong doctrine, etc., and imagining that “by this kamma sense desires will come to be fulfilled,” he performs for the purpose of attaining them acts of bodily misconduct, etc., through sense-desire clinging. By fulfilling such misconduct he is reborn in the states of loss. Or he performs acts of bodily misconduct, etc., aspiring to sense desires visible here and now 596/654 and protecting those he has already acquired. By fulfilling such misconduct he is reborn in the states of loss. The kamma that is the cause of rebirth there is kamma-process becoming. The aggregates generated by the kamma are rebirth-process becoming. But percipient becoming and five-constituent becoming are included in that, too.
§263 Another, however, whose knowledge has been intensified by listening to good Dhamma and so on, imagines that “by this kind of kamma sense desires will come to be fulfilled.” He performs acts of bodily good conduct, etc., through sense-desire clinging. By fulfilling such bodily good conduct he is reborn among deities or human beings. The kamma that is the cause of his rebirth there is kamma-process becoming. The aggregates generated by the kamma are rebirth-process becoming. But percipient becoming and five-constituent becoming are included in that, too.
So sense-desire clinging is a condition for sense-desire becoming with its analysis and its synthesis.
§264 Another hears or conjectures that sense desires come to still greater perfection in the fine-material and immaterial kinds of becoming, and through sense-desire clinging he produces the fine-material and immaterial attainments, and in virtue of his attainments he is reborn in the fine-material or immaterial Brahmā-world. The kamma that is the cause of his rebirth there is kamma-process becoming. The aggregates generated by the kamma are rebirth-process becoming. But percipient, non-percipient, neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient, one-constituent, four-constituent, and five-constituent kinds of becoming are included in that, too. Thus sense-desire clinging is a condition for fine-material and immaterial becoming with its analysis and its synthesis.
§265 Another clings to the annihilation view thus: “This self comes to be entirely cut off when it is cut off in the fortunate states of the sense sphere, or in the fine-material or immaterial kinds of becoming,” and he performs kamma to achieve that. His kamma is kamma-process becoming. The aggregates generated by the kamma are rebirth-process becoming. But the percipient, etc., kinds of becoming are included in that too. So [false-]view clinging is a condition for all three, namely, for the sense-desire, fine-material, and immaterial kinds of becoming with their analysis and their synthesis.
§266 Another through self-theory clinging thinks, “This self comes to be blissful, or comes to be free from fever, in the becoming in the fortunate states in the sense sphere or in one or other of the fine-material and immaterial kinds of becoming,” and he performs kamma to achieve that. That kamma of his is kamma-process becoming. The aggregates generated by the kamma are 575 rebirth-process becoming. But the percipient, etc., kinds of becoming are included in that, too. Thus this self-theory clinging is a condition for all the three, namely, becoming with their analysis and their synthesis.
§267 Another [thinks] through rules-and-vows clinging, “This rite and ritual leads him who perfects it to perfect bliss in becoming in the fortunate states of the sense sphere or in the fine-material or immaterial kinds of becoming,” and he performs kamma to achieve that. That kamma of his is kamma-process 597/655 becoming. The aggregates generated by the kamma are rebirth-process becoming. But the percipient, etc., kinds of becoming are included in that, too. So rules-and-vows clinging is a condition for all three, namely, the sense-desire, fine-material and immaterial kinds of becoming with their analysis and their synthesis.
This is how the exposition should be known here according to “which is condition for which.”
2.3.10.1 How Clinging is a Condition for Becoming#
§268 But which is condition for which kind of becoming in what way here?
§269 This clinging, though fourfold, is a condition in only one way as decisive-support condition for becoming both fine-material and immaterial, [that is,] for the profitable kamma in the kamma-process becoming that takes place in sense-desire becoming and for the rebirth-process becoming. It is a condition, as conascence and so on, that is, as conascence, mutuality, support, association, presence, non-disappearance, and root-cause conditions, for the unprofitable kamma-process becoming associated with [the fourfold clinging] itself in the sense-desire becoming. But it is a condition, as decisive-support only, for that which is dissociated.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With clinging as condition, becoming.”
2.3.11 (11)–(12) Birth, Etc.#
§270 As regards the clause “With becoming as condition, birth,” etc., the definition of birth should be understood in the way given in the Description of the Truths (XIV.31ff.)
Only kamma-process becoming is intended here as “becoming”; for it is that, not rebirth-process becoming, which is a condition for birth. But it is a condition in two ways, as kamma condition and as decisive-support condition.
§271 Here it may be asked: “But how is it to be known that becoming is a condition for birth?” Because of the observable difference of inferiority and superiority. For in spite of equality of external circumstances, such as father, mother, seed, blood, nutriment, etc., the difference of inferiority and superiority of beings is observable even in the case of twins. And that fact is not causeless, since it is not present always and in all; 576 nor has it any cause other than kamma-process becoming since there is no other reason in the internal continuity of beings generated by it. Consequently, it has only kamma-process becoming for its cause. And because kamma is the cause of the difference of inferiority and superiority among beings the Blessed One said, “It is kamma that separates beings according to inferiority and superiority” (M III 203). From that it can be known that becoming is a condition for birth.
§272 598/656 And when there is no birth, neither ageing and death nor the states beginning with sorrow come about; but when there is birth, then ageing and death come about, and also the states beginning with sorrow, which are either bound up with ageing and death in a fool who is affected by the painful states called ageing and death, or which are not so bound up in one who is affected by some painful state or other; therefore this birth is a condition for ageing and death and also for sorrow and so on. But it is a condition in one way, as decisive-support type.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause “With becoming as condition, birth.”
3 C. The Wheel of Becoming#
3.1 (i) The Wheel#
§273 Now, here at the end sorrow, etc., are stated. Consequently, the ignorance stated at the beginning of the Wheel of Becoming thus, “With ignorance as condition there are formations,” is established by the sorrow and so on. So it should accordingly be understood that:
§274 But (1) how is ignorance established by sorrow, etc.? (2) How has this Wheel of Becoming no known beginning? (3) How is there no maker or experiencer there? (4) How is it void with twelvefold voidness?
§275 1. Sorrow, grief and despair are inseparable from ignorance; and lamentation is found in one who is deluded. So, firstly, when these are established, ignorance is established. Furthermore, “With the arising of cankers there is the arising of ignorance” (M I 54) is said, and with the arising of cankers these things beginning with sorrow come into being. How?
§276 Firstly, sorrow about separation from sense desires as object has its arising in the canker of sense desire, according as it is said:
and according as it is said:
§277 And all these come about with the arising of the canker of views, according as it is said: “In one who 577 possesses [the view] ‘I am materiality,’ ‘my materiality,’ with the change and transformation of materiality there arise sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair” (S III 3).
§278 And as with the arising of the canker of views, so also with the arising of the canker of becoming, according as it is said: “Then whatever deities there are, long-lived, beautiful, blissful, long-resident in grand palaces, when they hear the Perfect One’s teaching of the Dhamma, they feel fear, anxiety and a sense of 599/657 urgency” (S III 85), as in the case of deities harassed by the fear of death on seeing the five signs. [43]
§279 And as with the arising of the canker of becoming, so also with the canker of ignorance, according as it is said: “The fool, bhikkhus, experiences pain and grief here and now in three ways” (M III 163).
Now, these states come about with the arising of cankers, and so when they are established, they establish the cankers which are the cause of ignorance. And when the cankers are established, ignorance is also established because it is present when its condition is present. This, in the first place, is how ignorance, etc., should be understood to be established by sorrow and so on.
§280 2. But when ignorance is established since it is present when its condition is present, and when “with ignorance as condition there are formations; with formations as condition, consciousness,” there is no end to the succession of cause with fruit in this way. Consequently, the Wheel of Becoming with its twelve factors, revolving with the linking of cause and effect, is established as having “no known beginning.”
§281 This being so, are not the words “With ignorance as condition there are formations,” as an exposition of a simple beginning, contradicted?—This is not an exposition of a simple beginning. It is an exposition of a basic state (see §107). For ignorance is the basic state for the three rounds (see §298). It is owing to his seizing ignorance that the fool gets caught in the round of the remaining defilements, in the rounds of kamma, etc., just as it is owing to seizing a snake’s head that the arm gets caught in [the coils of] the rest of the snake’s body. But when the cutting off of ignorance is effected, he is liberated from them just as the arm caught [in the coils] is liberated when the snake’s head is cut off, according as it is said, “With the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance” (S II 1), and so on. So this is an exposition of the basic state whereby there is bondage for him who grasps it, and liberation for him who lets it go: it is not an exposition of a simple beginning.
This is how the Wheel of Becoming should be understood to have no known beginning. 578
§282 3. This Wheel of Becoming consists in the occurrence of formations, etc., with ignorance, etc., as the respective reasons. Therefore it is devoid of a maker supplementary to that, such as a Brahmā conjectured thus, “Brahmā the Great, the Highest, the Creator” (D I 18), to perform the function of maker of the round of rebirths; and it is devoid of any self as an experiencer of pleasure and pain conceived thus, “This self of mine that speaks and feels” (cf. M I 8). This is how it should be understood to be without any maker or experiencer.
§283 4. However, ignorance—and likewise the factors consisting of formations, etc.—is void of lastingness since its nature is to rise and fall, and it is void of beauty since it is defiled and causes defilement, and it is void of pleasure since 600/658 it is oppressed by rise and fall, and it is void of any selfhood susceptible to the wielding of power since it exists in dependence on conditions. Or ignorance—and likewise the factors consisting of formations, etc.—is neither self nor self’s nor in self nor possessed of self. That is why this Wheel of Becoming should be understood thus, “Void with a twelvefold voidness.”
3.2 (ii) The Three Times#
§284 After knowing this, again:
§285 The two things, ignorance and craving, should be understood as the root of this Wheel of Becoming. Of the derivation from the past, ignorance is the root and feeling the end. And of the continuation into the future, craving is the root and ageing-and-death the end. It is twofold in this way.
§286 Herein, the first applies to one whose temperament is [false] view, and the second to one whose temperament is craving. For in the round of rebirths ignorance leads those whose temperament favours [false] view, and craving those whose temperament favours craving. Or the first has the purpose of eliminating the annihilation view because, by the evidence of the fruit, it proves that there is no annihilation of the causes; and the second has the purpose of eliminating the eternity view because it proves the ageing and death of whatever has arisen. Or the first deals with the child in the womb because it illustrates successive occurrence [of the faculties], and the second deals with one apparitionally born because of [their] simultaneous appearance.
§287 The past, the present and the future are its three times. Of these, it should be understood that, according to what is given as such in the texts, the two factors ignorance and formations belong to the past time, the eight beginning with consciousness belong to the present time, and the two, birth and ageing-and-death, belong to the future time. 579
3.3 (iii) Cause and Fruit#
§288 Again, it should be understood thus:
§289 1. Herein, between formations and rebirth-linking consciousness there is one link consisting of cause-fruit. Between feeling and craving there is one link consisting of fruit-cause. And between becoming and birth there is one link consisting of cause-fruit. This is how it should be understood that it has three links with cause, fruit, cause, as first parts.
§290 601/659 2. But there are four sections, which are determined by the beginnings and ends of the links, that is to say, ignorance/ formations is one section; consciousness/mentality-materiality/ sixfold base/contact/feeling is the second; craving/clinging/ becoming is the third; and birth/ageing-and-death is the fourth. This is how it should be understood to have four different sections.
§291 3. Then:
It is according to these twenty spokes called “qualities” that the words its spokes are twenty qualities should be understood.
§292 (a) Herein, [as regards the words] There were five causes in the past, firstly only these two, namely, ignorance and formations, are mentioned. But one who is ignorant hankers, and hankering, clings, and with his clinging as condition there is becoming; therefore craving, clinging and becoming are included as well. Hence it is said: “In the previous kamma-process becoming, there is delusion, which is ignorance; there is accumulation, which is formations; there is attachment, which is craving; there is embracing, which is clinging; there is volition, which is becoming; thus these five things in the previous kamma-process becoming are conditions for rebirth-linking here [in the present becoming]” (Paṭis I 52).
§293 Herein, In the previous kamma-process becoming means in kamma-process becoming done in the previous birth. There is delusion, which is ignorance means that the delusion that there then was about suffering, etc., deluded whereby the man did the kamma, was ignorance. There is accumulation, which is formations means the prior volitions arisen in one who prepares the things necessary for a gift during a month, perhaps, or a year after he has had the thought “I shall give a gift.” 580 But it is the volitions of one who is actually placing the offerings in the recipients’ hands that are called “becoming.” Or alternatively, it is the volition that is accumulation in six of the impulsions of a single adverting that is called “formations,” and the seventh volition is called “becoming.” Or any kind of volition is called “becoming” and the accumulations associated therewith are called “formations.” There is attachment, which is craving means that in one performing kamma, whatever attachment and aspiration there is for its fruit as rebirth-process-becoming is called craving. There is embracing, which is clinging means that the embracing, the grasping, the adherence, which is a condition for kamma-process becoming and occurs thus, “By doing this I shall preserve, or I shall cut off, sense desire in such and such a place,” is called clinging. There is volition, which is becoming means the kind of volition stated already at the end of the [sentence dealing with] accumulation is becoming. This is how the meaning should be understood.
§294 (b) And now there is a fivefold fruit (§291) means what is given in the text beginning with consciousness and ending with feeling, according as it is said: “Here [in the present becoming] there is rebirth-linking, which is consciousness; there is descent [into the womb], which is mentality-materiality; there is sensitivity, which is sense base; there is what is touched, which is contact; there is what is felt, 602/660 which is feeling; thus these five things here in the [present] rebirth-process becoming have their conditions [44] in kamma done in the past” (Paṭis I 52).
§295 Herein, there is rebirth-linking, which is consciousness means that it is what is called “rebirth-linking” because it arises linking the next becoming that is consciousness. There is descent [into the womb], which is mentality-materiality means that it is what consists in the descent of the material and immaterial states into a womb, their arrival and entry as it were, that is mentality-materiality. There is sensitivity, which is sense base: this is said of the five bases beginning with the eye. There is what is touched, which is contact means that it is what is arisen when an object is touched or in the touching of it, that is contact. There is what is felt, which is feeling means that it is what is felt as results [of kamma] that is arisen together with rebirth-linking consciousness, or with the contact that has the sixfold base as its condition, that is feeling. Thus should the meaning be understood.
§296 (c) There are five causes now as well (§291) means craving, and so on. Craving, clinging and becoming are given in the text. But when becoming is included, the formations that precede it or that are associated with it are included too. And by including craving and clinging, the ignorance associated with them, deluded by which a man performs kamma, is included too. So they are five. Hence it is said: “Here [in the present becoming], with the maturing of the bases there is delusion, which is ignorance; there is accumulation, which is formations; there is attachment, which is craving; there is embracing, which is clinging; there is volition, which is becoming; thus these five things here in the [present] kamma-process becoming are conditions for rebirth-linking in the future” (Paṭis I 52). 581 603/661 Herein, the words Here [in the present becoming], with the maturing of the bases point out the delusion existing at the time of the performance of the kamma in one whose bases have matured. The rest is clear.
§297 (d) And in the future fivefold fruit: the five beginning with consciousness. These are expressed by the term “birth.” But “ageing-and-death” is the ageing and the death of these [five] themselves. Hence it is said: “In the future there is rebirth-linking, which is consciousness; there is descent [into the womb], which is mentality-materiality; there is sensitivity, which is sense base; there is what is touched, which is contact; there is what is felt, which is feeling; thus these five things in the future rebirth-process becoming have their condition in kamma done here [in the present becoming]” (Paṭis I 52).
So this [Wheel of Becoming] has twenty spokes with these qualities.
§298 4. With triple round it spins forever (§288): here formations and becoming are the round of kamma. Ignorance, craving and clinging are the round of defilements. Consciousness, mentality-materiality, the sixfold base, contact and feeling are the round of result. So this Wheel of Becoming, having a triple round with these three rounds, should be understood to spin, revolving again and again, forever, for the conditions are not cut off as long as the round of defilements is not cut off.
3.4 (iv) Various#
§299 As it spins thus:
§300 1. Herein, [as to source in the truths:] profitable and unprofitable kamma are stated in the Saccavibhaṅga (Vibh 106f.) without distinction as the origin of suffering, and so formations due to ignorance [stated thus] “With ignorance as condition there are formations” are the second truth with the second truth as source. Consciousness due to formations is the first truth with the second truth as source. The states beginning with mentality-materiality and ending with resultant feeling, due respectively to consciousness, etc., are the first truth with the first truth as source. Craving due to feeling is the second truth with the first truth as source.
Clinging due to craving is the second truth with the second truth as source. Becoming due to clinging is the first and second truths with the second truth as source. Birth due to becoming is the first truth with the second truth as source. Ageing-and-death due to birth is the first truth with the first truth as source. This, in the first place, is how [the Wheel of Becoming] should be known “as to … source in the four truths” in whichever way is appropriate.
§301 2. [As to function:] ignorance confuses beings about physical objects [of sense desire] and is a condition for the manifestation of formations; likewise [kamma-] formations 582 form the formed and are a condition for consciousness; 604/662 consciousness recognizes an object and is a condition for mentality-materiality; mentality-materiality is mutually consolidating and is a condition for the sixfold base; the sixfold base occurs with respect to its own [separate] objective fields and is a condition for contact; contact touches an object and is a condition for feeling; feeling experiences the stimulus of the object and is a condition for craving; craving lusts after lust-arousing things and is a condition for clinging; clinging clings to clinging-arousing things and is a condition for becoming; becoming flings beings into the various kinds of destiny and is a condition for birth; birth gives birth to the aggregates owing to its occurring as their generation and is a condition for ageing-and-death; and ageing-and-death ensures the decay and dissolution of the aggregates and is a condition for the manifestation of the next becoming because it ensures sorrow, etc. [45] So this [Wheel of Becoming] should be known accordingly as occurring in two ways “as to function” in whichever way is appropriate to each of its parts.
§302 3. [As to prevention:] the clause “With ignorance as condition there are formations” prevents seeing a maker; the clause “With formations as condition, consciousness” prevents seeing the transmigration of a self; the clause “With consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality” prevents perception of compactness because it shows the analysis of the basis conjectured to be “self”; and the clauses beginning “With mentality-materiality as condition, the sixfold base” prevent seeing any self that sees, etc., cognizes, touches, feels, craves, clings, becomes, is born, ages and dies. So this Wheel of Becoming should be known “as to prevention” of wrong seeing appropriately in each instance.
§303 4. [As to similes:] ignorance is like a blind man because there is no seeing states according to their specific and general characteristics; formations with ignorance as condition are like the blind man’s stumbling; consciousness with formations as condition is like the stumbler’s falling; mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition is like the appearance of a tumour on the fallen man; the sixfold base with mentality-materiality as condition is like a gathering that makes the tumour burst; contact with the sixfold base as condition is like hitting the gathering in the tumour; feeling with contact as condition is like the pain due to the blow; craving with feeling as condition is like longing for a remedy; clinging with craving as condition is like seizing what is unsuitable through longing for a remedy; 583 becoming with clinging as condition is like applying the unsuitable remedy seized; birth with becoming as condition is like the appearance of a change [for the worse] in the tumour owing to the application of the unsuitable remedy; and ageing-and-death with birth as condition is like the bursting of the tumour after the change.
Or again, ignorance here as “no theory” and “wrong theory” (see §52) befogs beings as a cataract does the eyes; the fool befogged by it involves himself in formations that produce further becoming, as a cocoon-spinning caterpillar does 605/663 with the strands of the cocoon; consciousness guided by formations establishes itself in the destinies, as a prince guided by a minister establishes himself on a throne; [death] consciousness conjecturing about the sign of rebirth generates mentality-materiality in its various aspects in rebirth-linking, as a magician does an illusion; the sixfold base planted in mentality-materiality reaches growth, increase and fulfilment, as a forest thicket does planted in good soil; contact is born from the impingement of the bases, as fire is born from the rubbing together of fire sticks; feeling is manifested in one touched by contact, as burning is in one touched by fire; craving increases in one who feels, as thirst does in one who drinks salt water; one who is parched [with craving] conceives longing for the kinds of becoming, as a thirsty man does for drinks; that is his clinging; by clinging he clings to becoming as a fish does to the hook through greed for the bait; when there is becoming there is birth, as when there is a seed there is a shoot; and death is certain for one who is born, as falling down is for a tree that has grown up.
So this Wheel of Becoming should be known thus “as to similes” too in whichever way is appropriate.
§304 5. [Kinds of profundity:] Now, the Blessed One’s words, “This dependent origination is profound, Ānanda, and profound it appears” (D II 55), refer to profundity (a) of meaning, (b) of law, (c) of teaching, and (d) of penetration. So this Wheel of Becoming should be known “as to the kinds of profundity” in whichever way is appropriate.
§305 (a) Herein, the meaning of ageing-and-death produced and originated with birth as condition is profound owing to difficulty in understanding its origin with birth as condition thus: Neither does ageing-and death not come about from birth, nor, failing birth, does it come about from something else; it arises [only] from birth with precisely that nature [of ageing-and-death]. And the meaning of birth with becoming as condition … and the meaning of formations produced and originated with ignorance as condition are treatable in like manner. That is why this Wheel of Becoming is profound in meaning. This, firstly, is the profundity of meaning here. 584 For it is the fruit of a cause that is called “meaning,” according as it is said, “Knowledge about the fruit of a cause is the discrimination of meaning” (Vibh 293).
§306 (b) The meaning of ignorance as condition for formations is profound since it is difficult to understand in what mode and on what occasion [46] ignorance is a condition for the several formations … The meaning of birth as a condition for ageing-and-death is similarly profound. That is why this Wheel of Becoming is profound in law. This is the profundity of law here. For “law” is a name for cause, according as it is said, “Knowledge about cause is discrimination of law” (Vibh 293).
§307 (c) Then the teaching of this [dependent origination] is profound since it needs to be given in various ways for various reasons, and none but omniscient knowledge gets fully established in it; for in some places in the suttas it is taught in forward order, in some in backward order, in some in forward and 606/664 backward order, in some in forward or in backward order starting from the middle, in some in four sections and three links, in some in three sections and two links, and in some in two sections and one link. That is why this Wheel of Becoming is profound in teaching. This is the profundity of teaching.
§308 (d) Then the individual essences of ignorance, etc., owing to the penetration of which ignorance, etc., are rightly penetrated as to their specific characteristic, are profound since they are difficult to fathom. That is why this Wheel of Becoming is profound in penetration. For here the meaning of ignorance as unknowing and unseeing and non-penetration of the truth is profound; so is the meaning of formations as forming and accumulating with and without greed; so is the meaning of consciousness as void, uninterested, and manifestation of rebirth-linking without transmigration; so is the meaning of mentality-materiality as simultaneous arising, as resolved into components or not, and as bending [on to an object] (namana) and being molested (ruppana); so is the meaning of the sixfold base as predominance, world, door, field, and possession of objective field; so is the meaning of contact as touching, impingement, coincidence, and concurrence; so is the meaning of feeling as the experiencing of the stimulus of an object, as pleasure or pain or neutrality, as soulless, and as what is felt; so is the meaning of craving as a delighting in, as a committal to, as a current, as a bindweed, as a river, as the ocean of craving, and as impossible to fill; so is the meaning of clinging as grasping, seizing, misinterpreting, adhering, and hard to get by; so is the meaning of becoming as accumulating, forming, and flinging into the various kinds of generation, destiny, station, and abode; so is the meaning of birth as birth, coming to birth, descent [into the womb], rebirth, and manifestation; and so is the meaning of ageing-and-birth as destruction, fall, break-up and change. This is profundity of penetration.
§309 6. [As to methods:] Then 585 there are four methods of treating the meaning here. They are (a) the method of identity, (b) the method of diversity, (c) the method of uninterest, [47] and (d) the method of ineluctable regularity. So this Wheel of Becoming should also be known accordingly “as to the kinds of method.” [48]
§310 607/665 (a) Herein, the non-interruption of the continuity in this way, “With ignorance as condition there are formations; with formations as condition, consciousness,” just like a seed’s reaching the state of a tree through the state of the shoot, etc., is called the “method of identity.” One who sees this rightly abandons the annihilation view by understanding the unbrokenness of the continuity that occurs through the linking of cause and fruit. And one who sees it wrongly clings to the eternity view by apprehending identity in the non-interruption of the continuity that occurs through the linking of cause and fruit.
§311 (b) The defining of the individual characteristic of ignorance, etc., is called the “method of diversity.” One who sees this rightly abandons the eternity view by seeing the arising of each new state. And one who sees it wrongly clings to 608/666 the annihilation view by apprehending individual diversity in the events in a single continuity as though it were a broken continuity.
§312 (c) The absence of interestedness on the part of ignorance, such as “Formations must be made to occur by me,” or on the part of formations, such as “Consciousness must be made to occur by us,” and so on, is called the “method of uninterestedness.” One who sees this rightly abandons the self view by understanding the absence of a maker. One who sees it wrongly clings to the moral-inefficacy-of-action view, because he does not perceive that the causative function of ignorance, etc., is established as a law by their respective individual essences.
§313 (d) The production of only formations, etc., respectively and no others with ignorance, etc., as the respective reasons, like that of curd, etc., with milk, etc., as the respective reasons, is called the “method of ineluctable regularity.” One who sees this rightly abandons the no-cause view and the moral-inefficacy-of-action view by understanding how the fruit accords with its condition. One who sees it wrongly by apprehending it as non-production of anything from anything, instead of apprehending the occurrence of the fruit in accordance with its conditions, clings to the no-cause view and to the doctrine of fatalism. So this Wheel of Becoming:
§314 There is no one, even in a dream, who has got out of the fearful round of rebirths, which is ever destroying like a thunderbolt, unless he has severed with the knife of knowledge well whetted on the stone of sublime concentration, this Wheel of Becoming, which offers no footing owing to its great profundity and is hard to get by owing to the maze of many methods. 586
And this has been said by the Blessed One: “This dependent origination is profound, Ānanda, and profound it appears. And, Ānanda, it is through not knowing, through not penetrating it, that this generation has become a tangled skein, a knotted ball of thread, root-matted as a reed bed, and finds no way out of the round of rebirths, with its states of loss, unhappy destinies, … perdition” (D II 55).
Therefore, practicing for his own and others’ benefit and welfare, and abandoning other duties:
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