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(Indriya-sacca-niddesa)

[A. DESCRIPTION OF THE FACULTIES]

1. [491] The “faculties” listed next to the elements (XIV.32) are the twenty-two
faculties, namely, eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty,
mind faculty, femininity faculty, masculinity faculty, life faculty, [bodily] pleasure
faculty, [bodily] pain faculty, [mental] joy faculty, [mental] grief faculty, equanimity
faculty, faith faculty, energy faculty, mindfulness faculty, concentration faculty,
understanding faculty, “I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown” faculty, final-
knowledge faculty, final-knower faculty.

Herein:

(l) As to meaning, (2) character and so on,
(3) Order, (4) divided and undivided,
(5) Likewise function, and (6) also plane—
The exposition should be known.

3. 1. Herein, firstly, the meaning of eye, etc., is explained in the way beginning:
“It relishes (cakkhati), thus it is an eye (cakkhu)” (XV.3). But as regards the last
three, the first is called the “I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown” faculty because
it arises in the initial stage [of the stream-entry path moment] in one who has
entered on the way thus “I shall come to know the deathless state, or the Dhamma
of the Four (Noble) Truths, not known,”1 and because it carries the meaning of
faculty (rulership). The second of them is called the final-knowledge faculty
because of knowing finally, and because it carries the meaning of faculty. The
third is called the final-knower faculty because it arises in one who has destroyed
cankers, who possesses final knowledge, and whose task of getting to know the
four truths is finished, and because it carries the meaning of faculty.

4. But what is this meaning of faculty (rulership—indriyattha) that they have?
(a) The meaning of being the mark of a ruler (inda) is the meaning of faculty
(rulership). (b) The meaning of being taught by a ruler is the meaning of faculty,
(c) The meaning of being seen by a ruler is the meaning of faculty, (d) The
meaning of having been prepared by a ruler is the meaning of faculty, (e) The

“In the noble path moment’s initial stage” (Vism-mhṭ 519).

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meaning of having been fostered by a ruler is the meaning of faculty.2 And all
that applies here in one instance or another.

The Blessed One, Fully Enlightened, is a ruler (inda) because of supreme

lordship. And so is kamma, profitable and unprofitable; for no one has lordship
over the kinds of kamma. So here, the faculties (indriya), [492] which are created
by kamma, are the mark of profitable and unprofitable kamma. And since they are
prepared by it, they are faculties in the sense of (a) being the mark of a ruler and (d)
in the sense of having been prepared by a ruler. But since they have also been
correctly made evident and disclosed by the Blessed One, they are all faculties
(b) in the sense of being taught by a ruler and (c) in the sense of being seen by a ruler.
And since some of them were cultivated by the Blessed One, Ruler of Sages, in his
cultivation of domain and some in his cultivation of development, they are faculties
(e) in the sense of being fostered by a ruler.

Furthermore, they are faculties (rulership) in the sense of lordship called

predominance. For predominance of the eye, etc., is implied in the occurrence of
eye-consciousness, etc., because of the (consciousness’) keenness when that
[faculty] is keen and slowness when it is slow.

This, firstly, is the exposition as to meaning.

7. 2. As to character and so on: the meaning is that the exposition of the eye and
so on should be known according to characteristic, function, manifestation,
proximate cause, and so on. But these characteristics, etc., of theirs are given
above in the Description of the Aggregates (XIV.37ff.). For the four beginning
with the understanding faculty are simply non-delusion as to meaning. The
rest are each given there as such.

3. As to order: this too is only order of teaching (see XIV.211). Herein, the

noble plane [which is the stage of stream-entry, etc.] is attained through the full-
understanding of internal states, and so the eye faculty and the rest included in
the selfhood are taught first. Then the femininity faculty and masculinity faculty,
to show on what account that selfhood is called “woman” or “man.” Next, the
life faculty, to make it known that although that selfhood is twofold, still its
existence is bound up with the life faculty. Next the [bodily-] pleasure faculty,
etc., to make it known that there is no remission of these feelings as long as that
[selfhood] continues, and that all feeling is [ultimately] suffering. Next, the faith
faculty, etc., to show the way, since these things are to be developed in order to
make that [suffering] cease. Next, the “I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown”
faculty to show that the way is not sterile, since it is through this way that this
state is first manifested in oneself. Next, the final-knowledge faculty, because it is
the fruit of the last-mentioned faculty and so must be developed after it. Next, the
final-knower faculty, the supreme reward, is taught last to make it known that it

The words siṭṭha (prepared—sajjita, uppādita Vism-mhṭ 520), and juṭṭha

(fostered—sevita, Vism-mhṭ 520) are not in PED. The Pali is: indaliṅgaṭṭho indriyaṭṭho,
indadesitaṭṭho indriyaṭṭho, indadiṭṭhaṭṭho indriyaṭṭho, indasiṭṭhaṭṭho indriyaṭṭho,
indajuṭṭhaṭṭho indriyaṭṭho; cf. Pāṇini V 2,93: Indriyam indraliṅgam indradºåṭam
indrasºåṭam indrajuåṭam indradattam iti vā.

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is attained by development, and that when it is attained there is nothing more to
be done. This is the order here. [493]

9. 4. As to divided and undivided: here there is only division of the life faculty; for
that is twofold as the material-life faculty and the immaterial-life faculty. There is
no division of the others.

This is how the exposition should be known here as to divided and undivided.

10.

5. As to function: what is the faculties’ function? Firstly, because of the words

“The eye base is a condition, as faculty condition, for the eye-consciousness
element and for the states associated therewith” (Paṭṭh 1.5) the eye faculty’s
function is to cause by its own keenness, slowness, etc., the occurrence of eye-
consciousness and associated states, etc., in a mode parallel to its own,3 which is
called their keenness, slowness, etc., this function being accomplishable through
the state of faculty condition. So too in the case of the ear, nose, tongue, and body.
But the function of the mind faculty is to make conascent states subject to its own
mastery. That of the life faculty is to maintain conascent states. That of the
femininity faculty and the masculinity faculty is to allot the modes of the mark,
sign, work and ways of women and men. That of the faculties of pleasure, pain,
joy, and grief is to govern conascent states and impart their own particular mode
of grossness to those states. That of the equanimity faculty is to impart to them
the mode of quiet, superiority and neutrality. That of the faculties of faith, etc., is
to overcome opposition and to impart to associated states the mode of confidence
and so on. That of the “I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown” faculty is both to
abandon three fetters and to confront associated states with the abandonment of
them. That of the final-knowledge faculty is both to attenuate and abandon
respectively lust, ill will, etc., and to subject conascent states to its own mastery.
That of the final-knower faculty is both to abandon endeavour in all functions
and to condition associated states by confronting them with the Deathless.

This is how the exposition should be known here as to function.

11.

6. As to plane: the faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, femininity,

masculinity, pleasure, pain, and grief are of the sense sphere only. The mind
faculty, life faculty, and equanimity faculty, and the faculties of faith, energy,
mindfulness, concentration, and understanding are included in the four planes.
The joy faculty is included in three planes, namely, sense sphere, fine-material
sphere, and supramundane. The last three are supramundane only. This is how
the exposition should be known here as to plane.

The monk who knows the urgent need
To keep the faculties restrained
By fully understanding them
Will make an end of suffering.

12. This is the section of the detailed explanation dealing with the faculties.

Anuvattāpana—“causing occurrence parallel to”: not in PED; not in CPD.

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[B. DESCRIPTION OF THE TRUTHS]

13. [494] The “truths” next to that (XIV.32) are the Four Noble Truths; that is to
say, the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the
noble truth of the cessation of suffering, the noble truth of the way leading to the
cessation of suffering.

14.

Herein:

(1) As to class, and (2) derivation,
(3) Division by character, et cetera,
(4) As to meaning, (5) tracing out meaning,
And likewise (6) neither less nor more,
(7) As to order, (8) as to expounding
Birth and so on, (9) knowledge’s function,
(10) As to division of the content,
(11) As to a simile, and (12) tetrad,
(13) As to void, (14) singlefold and so on,
(15) Similar and dissimilar—
Thus should be known the exposition
By those who know the teaching’s order.

15.

1. Herein, as to class: the meanings of [the truths of] suffering, etc., are

analyzed as four in each case that are “real, not unreal, not otherwise” (S V 435)
and must be penetrated by those penetrating suffering, etc., according as it is
said: “Suffering’s meaning of oppressing, meaning of being formed, meaning
of burning, meaning of changing, these are suffering’s four meanings of
suffering, which are real, not unreal, not otherwise. Origin’s meaning of
accumulating, meaning of source, meaning of bondage, meaning of impeding
… Cessation’s meaning of escape, meaning of seclusion, meaning of being
unformed, meaning of deathlessness … The path’s meaning of outlet, meaning
of cause, meaning of seeing, meaning of predominance, these are the path’s
meanings of path, which are real, not unreal, not otherwise” (Paṭis II 104; cf.
Paṭis I 19). Likewise, “Suffering’s meaning of oppressing, meaning of being
formed, meaning of burning, meaning of change, are its meaning of penetration
to” (cf. Paṭis I 118), and so on. So suffering, etc., should be understood according
to the four meanings analyzed in each case.

16.

2. As to derivation, 3. division by character, et cetera: here, however, firstly “as to

derivation” [of the word dukkha (suffering):] the word du (“bad”) is met with in
the sense of vile (kucchita); for they call a vile child a du-putta (“bad child”). The
word kham (“-ness”), however is met with in the sense of empty (tuccha), for they
call empty space “kham.” And the first truth is vile because it is the haunt of
many dangers, and it is empty because it is devoid of the lastingness, beauty,
pleasure, and self conceived by rash people. So it is called dukkhaṃ (“badness”
= suffering, pain), because of vileness and emptiness. [495]

17.

[Samudaya (origin):] the word sam (= prefix “con-”) denotes connection, as

in the words samāgama (concourse, coming together), sameta (congregated, gone
together), and so on. The word u denotes rising up, as in the words uppanna
(arisen, uprisen), udita (ascended, gone up), and so on. The word aya4 denotes a

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reason (kāraṇa). And this second truth is the reason for the arising of suffering
when combined with the remaining conditions. So it is called dukkha-samudaya
(the origin of suffering) because it is the reason in combination for the arising of
suffering.

18. [Nirodha  (cessation):] the word ni  denotes absence, and the word rodha, a
prison.5 Now, the third truth is void of all destinies [by rebirth] and so there is no
constraint (rodha) of suffering here reckoned as the prison of the round of rebirths;
or when that cessation has been arrived at, there is no more constraint of suffering
reckoned as the prison of the round of rebirths. And being the opposite of that
prison, it is called dukkha-nirodha  (cessation of suffering). Or alternatively, it is
called “cessation of suffering”  because it is a condition for the cessation of
suffering consisting in non-arising.

19.

[Nirodhagāminī paṭipadā (way leading to cessation):] because the fourth

truth goes (leads) to the cessation of suffering since it confronts that [cessation]
as its object, and being the way to attain cessation of suffering, it is called dukkha-
nirodha-gāminī paṭipadā, the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

20. They are called Noble Truths because the Noble Ones, the Buddhas, etc.,
penetrate them, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, there are these Four Noble
Truths. What four? … These, bhikkhus are the Four Noble Truths” (S V 425). The
Noble Ones penetrate them, therefore they are called Noble Truths.

21.

Besides, the Noble Truths are the Noble One’s Truths, according as it is

said: “Bhikkhus, in the world with its deities, its Māras and its Brahmās, in this
generation with its ascetics and brahmans, with its princes and men, the Perfect
One is the Noble One. That is why they are called Noble Truths” (S V 435). Or
alternatively, they are called Noble Truths because of the nobleness implied by
their discovery, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, it is owing to the correct
discovery of these Four Noble Truths that the Perfect One is called accomplished,
fully enlightened” (S V 433).

22. Besides, the Noble Truths are the Truths that are Noble. To be noble is to be
not unreal; the meaning is, not deceptive, according as it is said: “Bhikkhus,
these Four Noble Truths are real, not unreal, not otherwise that is why they are
called Noble Truths” (S V 435).

This is how the exposition should be known here as to derivation.

23.

3. How as to division by character, et cetera? The truth of suffering has the

characteristic of afflicting. [496] Its function is to burn. It is manifested as
occurrence (as the course of an existence). The truth of origin has the
characteristic of producing. Its function is to prevent interruption. It is manifested
as impediment. The truth of cessation has the characteristic of peace. Its function
is not to die. It is manifested as the signless.6 The truth of the path has the

Aya—“reason”: not in PED in this sense.

Cāraka—“prison”: not in PED in this sense; see XIV.221.

“‘Signless’: being secluded from the sign of the five aggregates, it is taken as

having no graspable entity (aviggaha)” (Vism-mhṭ 525).

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characteristic of an outlet. Its function is to abandon defilements. It is manifested
as emergence. They have, moreover, the respective characteristics of occurrence,
making occur, non-occurrence, and making not occur, and likewise the
characteristics of the formed, craving, the unformed, and seeing. This is how the
exposition should be understood here as to characteristic, et cetera.

24.

4. As to meaning, 5. tracing out the meaning: as to “meaning” firstly, what is

the “meaning of truth” (saccattha)? It is that which, for those who examine it
with the eye of understanding, is not misleading like an illusion, deceptive like
a mirage, or undiscoverable like the self of the sectarians, but is rather the domain
of noble knowledge as the real unmisleading actual state with its aspects of
affliction, production, quiet, and outlet. It is this real unmisleading actualness
that should be understood as the “meaning of truth” just as [heat is] the
characteristic of fire, and just as [it is] in the nature of the world [that things are
subject to birth, ageing and death], according as it is said, “Bhikkhus, this
suffering is real, not unreal, not otherwise” (S V 430), and so on, in detail.

25.

Furthermore:

There is no pain but is affliction.
And naught that is not pain afflicts:
This certainty that it afflicts
Is what is reckoned here as truth.

No other source of pain than craving.
Nor aught that source provides but pain:
This certainty in causing pain
Is why it is considered truth.

There is no peace except Nibbāna

Nibbāna cannot but be peace:
This certainty that it is peace
Is what is reckoned here as truth.

No outlet other than the path.
Nor fails the path to be the outlet:
Its status as the very outlet
Has made it recognized as truth.

This real infallibility.
Which is their true essential core.
Is what the wise declare to be
Truth’s meaning common to all four.

This is how the exposition should be understood as to meaning.

26.

5. How as to tracing out the meaning? This word “truth” (sacca) is met with in

various meanings. In such passages as “Let him speak truth and not be angry”
(Dhp 224) it is verbal truth. In such passages as “Ascetics and brahmans base
themselves on truth” (?) it is the truth of abstinence [from lying]. In such passages
as [497] “Why do they declare diverse truths, the clever talkers that hold forth?”
(Sn 885) it is truth as views. And in such passages as “Truth is one, there is no
second” (Sn 884) it is, as truth in the ultimate sense, both Nibbāna and the path.

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In such passages as “Of the four truths how many are profitable?” (Vibh 112;
Paṭis II 108) it is noble truth. And here too it is proper as noble truth.

This is how the exposition should be understood as to tracing out the meaning.

27. 6. As to neither less nor more: but why are exactly four noble truths stated,
neither less nor more? Because no other exists and because none can be
eliminated. For there is none extra to them, nor can any one of them be eliminated,
according as it is said: “Bhikkhus, that an ascetic or brahman here should come
and say: ‘This is not the truth of suffering, the truth of suffering is another; I
shall set aside this truth of suffering and make known another truth of
suffering’—that is not possible” (?) and so on, and according as it is said:
“Bhikkhus, that any ascetic or brahman should say thus: ‘This is not the first
noble truth of suffering that is taught by the ascetic Gotama; rejecting this first
noble truth of suffering, I shall make known another first noble truth of
suffering’—that is not possible” (S V 428) and so on.

28. Furthermore, when announcing occurrence, [that is, the process of existence,]
the Blessed One announced it with a cause, and he announced non-occurrence
as having a means thereto. So they are stated as four at the most as occurrence
and non-occurrence and the cause of each. Likewise, they are stated as four
since they have to be respectively fully understood, abandoned, realized, and
developed; and also since they are the basis for craving, craving, the cessation of
craving, and the means to the cessation of craving; and also since they are the
reliance [depended upon], the delight in the reliance, removal of the reliance,
and the means to the removal of the reliance.

This is how the exposition should be understood here as to neither less nor

more.

29. 7. As to order, this too is only order of teaching (see XIV.211).  The truth of
suffering is given first since it is easy to understand because of its grossness
and because it is common to all living beings. The truth of origin is given next to
show its cause.  Then the truth of cessation, to make it known that with the
cessation of the cause there is the cessation of the fruit.  The truth of the path
comes last to show the means to achieve that. [498]

30. Or alternatively, he announced the truth of suffering first to instill a sense
of urgency into living beings caught up in the enjoyment of the pleasure of
becoming; and next to that, the truth of origin to make it known that that [suffering]
neither comes about of itself as something not made nor is it due to creation by
an Overlord, etc. (see §85), but that on the contrary it is due to this [cause]; after
that, cessation, to instill comfort by showing the escape to those who seek the
escape from suffering with a sense of urgency because overwhelmed by suffering
with its cause. And after that, the path that leads to cessation, to enable them to
attain cessation. This is how the exposition should be understood here as to
order.

31.

8. As to expounding birth and so on: the exposition should be understood

here in accordance with the expositions of the things beginning with birth
given by the Blessed One when describing the Four Noble Truths, that is to say,

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(i) the twelve things in the description of suffering: “Birth is suffering, ageing is
suffering,7 death is suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are
suffering, association with the unloved is suffering, separation from the loved is
suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering, in short, the five aggregates [as
objects] of clinging are suffering” (Vibh 99); and (ii) the threefold craving in the
description of origin: “That craving which produces further becoming, is
accompanied by delight and greed, delighting in this and that, that is to say,
craving for sense desires, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming”
(Vibh 101); and (iii) Nibbāna, which has one meaning only, in the description of
cessation: “That which is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that
same craving, giving it up, relinquishing it, letting it go, not relying on it” (Vibh
103); and (iv) the eight things in the description of the path: “What is the noble
truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is this Noble Eightfold
Path, that is to say, right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration” (Vibh 104).

[THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING]

[(I) BIRTH]

32.

Now, this word birth (jāti) has many meanings. For in the passage “[He

recollects … ] one birth (jāti), two births” (D I 81) it is becoming. In the passage,
“Visākhā, there is a kind (jāti) of ascetics called Nigaṇṭhas (Jains)” (A I 206) it is
a monastic order. In the passage, “Birth (jāti) is included in two aggregates”
(Dhātuk 15) it is the characteristic of whatever is formed. In the passage, “His
birth is due to the first consciousness arisen, the first cognition manifested, in
the mother’s womb” (Vin I 93) it is rebirth-linking. [499] In the passage “As
soon as he was born (sampatijāta), Ánanda, the Bodhisatta …” (M III 123) it is
parturition. In the passage “One who is not rejected and despised on account of
birth” (A III 152) it is clan. In the passage “Sister, since I was born with the noble
birth” (M II 103) it is the Noble One’s virtue.

33. Here it should be regarded as the aggregates that occur from the time of
rebirth-linking up to the exit from the mother’s womb in the case of the womb-
born, and as only the aggregates of rebirth-linking in the case of the rest. But
this is only an indirect treatment. In the direct sense, however, it is the first
manifestation of any aggregates that are manifested in living beings when they
are born anywhere that is called “birth.”

34. Its characteristic is the first genesis in any [sphere of] becoming. Its function
is to consign [to a sphere of becoming]. It is manifested as an emerging here
from a past becoming; or it is manifested as the variedness of suffering.

“Sickness is not included here (as at D II 305 for example) because no particular

person is meant, and there are persons in whom sickness does not arise at all, like the
venerable Bakkula (MN 124); otherwise it may be taken as already included by suffering
itself; for in the ultimate sense sickness is bodily pain conditioned by disturbance of
elements” (Vism-mhṭ 527).

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But why is it suffering? Because it is the basis for many kinds of suffering.8

For there are many kinds of suffering, that is to say, intrinsic suffering (dukkha-
dukkha),9 suffering in change (vipariṇāma-dukkha), and suffering due to
formations (saṅkhāra-dukkha); and then concealed suffering, exposed suffering,
indirect suffering, and direct suffering.

35.

Herein, bodily and mental, painful feeling are called intrinsic suffering

because of their individual essence, their name, and their painfulness. [Bodily
and mental] pleasant feeling are called suffering in change because they are a
cause for the arising of pain when they change (M I 303). Equanimous feeling
and the remaining formations of the three planes are called suffering due to
formations because they are oppressed by rise and fall. Such bodily and mental
affliction as earache, toothache, fever born of lust, fever born of hate, etc., is called
concealed suffering because it can only be known by questioning and because the
infliction is not openly evident; it is also called “unevident suffering.” The
affliction produced by the thirty-two tortures,10 etc., is called exposed suffering
because it can be known without questioning and because the infliction is openly
evident; it is also called “evident suffering.” Except intrinsic suffering, all given
in the exposition of the truth of suffering [in the Vibhaṅga] (Vibh 99) beginning

“The question, “But why is it suffering?” means this: granted firstly that birth in

hell is painful, since hell is unalloyed pain, and that it is painful in the other unhappy
destinies since it is originated by bad kamma; but how is it so in the happy destinies
since it is there originated by kamma that leads to bliss? The answer, “Because it is the
basis for many kinds of suffering”, etc., shows that this birth is not called suffering
because of having suffering as its individual essence—for there is no rebirth-linking
associated with painful feeling—but rather because it is the foundation for suffering”
(Vism-mhṭ 528).

Something must be said here about the words dukkha and sukha, the former being

perhaps the hardest after dhamma to render into English. Dukkha is consistently
rendered by either the vaguer general term “suffering” or by the more specific “[bodily]
pain.” Different, but overlapping, ideas are expressed. The latter needs no explanation;
but “suffering” must be stretched to include the general insecurity of the whole of
experience, of the impermanent world. For this, “uneasiness” would certainly be
preferable (“ill” is sometimes used), but multiplication of renderings is to be avoided
as much as possible; local accuracy is only too often gained at the cost of general
disorientation in a work of this sort, with these very general words capable of sharp
focusing. Again, sukha has been rendered as either “bliss” or “pleasure,” though the
latter does not at all necessarily imply any hedonism construed with sensual pleasure
(kāma). Again, “ease” (in the sense of relief) is in many ways preferable for the first
sense but has not been used for the reason already given.
9.

“Since also what does not have suffering as its individual essence is yet called

suffering indirectly, consequently ‘intrinsic suffering’ (dukkha-dukkha) is said
particularizing what does have suffering as its individual essence, just as in the case of
particularizing ‘concrete matter’” (rūpa-rūpa) (see 14.77) (Vism-mhṭ 528). For these
three kinds see S IV 259.
10. See MN 13 and 129, though it is not clear where the figure “thirty-two” is taken
from.

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with birth are also called indirect suffering because they are the basis for one kind
of suffering or another. But intrinsic suffering is called direct suffering.

36. Herein, this birth is suffering because it is the basis for the suffering in the
states of loss as made evident by the Blessed One by means of a simile in the
Bālapaṇḍita Sutta (M III 165f.), etc., and for the suffering that arises in the happy
destinies in the human world and is classed as “rooted in the descent into the
womb,” and so on. [500]

37. Here the suffering classed as “rooted in the descent into the womb,” and so on,
is this: When this being is born in the mother’s womb, he is not born inside a blue or
red or white lotus, etc., but on the contrary, like a worm in rotting fish, rotting dough,
cesspools, etc., he is born in the belly in a position that is below the receptacle for
undigested food (stomach), above the receptacle for digested food (rectum), between
the belly-lining and the backbone, which is very cramped, quite dark, pervaded by
very fetid draughts redolent of various smells of ordure, and exception-ally
loathsome.11 And on being reborn there, for ten months he undergoes excessive
suffering, being cooked like a pudding in a bag by the heat produced in the mother’s
womb, and steamed like a dumpling of dough, with no bending, stretching, and so
on. So this, firstly, is the suffering rooted in the descent into the womb.

38. When the mother suddenly stumbles or moves or sits down or gets up or
turns round, the extreme suffering he undergoes by being dragged back and
forth and jolted up and down, like a kid fallen into the hands of a drunkard, or
like a snake’s young fallen into the hands of a snake-charmer; and also the
searing pain that he undergoes, as though he had reappeared in the cold hells,
when his mother drinks cold water, and as though deluged by a rain of embers
when she swallows hot rice gruel, rice, etc., and as though undergoing the
torture of the “lye-pickling” (see M I 87), when she swallows anything salty or
acidic, etc.—this is the suffering rooted in gestation.

39. When the mother has an abortion, the pain that arises in him through the
cutting and rending in the place where the pain arises that is not fit to be seen
even by friends and intimates and companions—this is the suffering rooted in
abortion.

40. The pain that arises in him when the mother gives birth, through his being
turned upside-down by the kamma-produced winds [forces] and flung into that
most fearful passage from the womb, like an infernal chasm, and lugged out
through the extremely narrow mouth of the womb, like an elephant through a
keyhole, like a denizen of hell being pounded to pulp by colliding rocks—this is
the suffering rooted in parturition.

11. Pavana—“stench”: not in PED, in this sense. The Sammohavinodanī (Be) reproducing
this passage inserts the word asuci (impurity), lacking in Ee and Ae eds. of Vism.
Kuṇapa is only given the meaning of “corpse or carcass” in PED; but Vism-mhṭ says,
“various ordures (kuṇapa) such as bile, phlegm, pus, blood, excrement, gorge and so
on” (Vism-mhṭ 529). “Whether the mother is [twenty], [thirty], or [forty] years old, it
is ‘as exceptionally loathsome’ as an excrement bucket that has not been washed for a like
number of years” (Vism-mhṭ 529).

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41.

The pain that arises in him after he is born, and his body, which is as

delicate as a tender wound, is taken in the hands, bathed, washed, rubbed with
cloths, etc., and which pain is like being pricked with needle points and gashed
with razor blades, etc.—this is the suffering rooted in venturing outside the
mother’s womb. [501]

42. The pain that arises afterwards during the course of existence in one who
punishes himself, in one who devotes himself to the practice of mortification
and austerity according to the vows of the naked ascetics, in one who starves
through anger, and in one who hangs himself—this is the suffering rooted in
self-violence.

43.

And that arising in one who undergoes flogging, imprisonment, etc., at

the hands of others is the suffering rooted in others’ violence.

So this birth is the basis for all this suffering. Hence this is said:

Now, were no being born in hell again
The pain unbearable of scorching fires
And all the rest would then no footing gain;
Therefore the Sage pronounced that birth is pain.

Many the sorts of pain that beasts endure
When they are flogged with whips and sticks and goads,
Since birth among them does this pain procure,
Birth there is pain: the consequence is sure.

While ghosts know pain in great variety
Through hunger, thirst, wind, sun and what not too,
None, unless born there, knows this misery;
So birth the Sage declares this pain to be.

In the world-interspace, where demons dwell
In searing cold and inspissated gloom,
Is pain requiring birth there for its spell;
So with the birth the pain ensues as well.

The horrible torment a being feels on coming out,
When he has spent long months shut up inside the

mother’s womb—

A hellish tomb of excrement—would never come about
Without rebirth: that birth is pain there is no room for doubt.

But why elaborate? At any time or anywhere
Can there exist a painful state if birth do not precede?
Indeed this Sage so great, when he expounded pain,

took care

First to declare rebirth as pain, the condition needed there.

This, firstly, is the exposition of birth. [502]

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[(II) AGEING]

44.

Ageing is suffering: ageing is twofold; as a characteristic of whatever is

formed, and in the case of a continuity, as the oldness of aggregates included in
a single becoming, which oldness is known as “brokenness” and so on (see M
III 249). The latter is intended here.

But this ageing has as its characteristic the maturing (ripening) of aggregates.

Its function is to lead on to death. It is manifested as the vanishing of youth. It is
suffering because of the suffering due to formations and because it is a basis for
suffering.

45. Ageing is the basis for the bodily and mental suffering that arises owing to
many conditions such as leadenness in all the limbs, decline and warping of the
faculties, vanishing of youth, undermining of strength, loss of memory and
intelligence, contempt on the part of others, and so on.

Hence this is said:

With leadenness in every limb,
With every faculty declining,
With vanishing of youthfulness,
With memory and wit grown dim,

With strength now drained by undermining,
With growing unattractiveness
To wife and family and then
With dotage coming on, what pain

Alike of body and of mind
A mortal must expect to find!
Since ageing all of this will bring,
Ageing is well named suffering.

This is the exposition of ageing.

[(III) DEATH]

46.

Death is suffering: death too is twofold, as a characteristic of the formed,

with reference to which it is said, “Ageing and death are included in the
aggregates” (Dhātuk 15), and as the severing of the connection of the life faculty
included in a single becoming, with reference to which it is said, “So mortals
are in constant fear … that they will die” (Sn 576). The latter is intended here.
Death with birth as its condition, death by violence, death by natural causes, death
from exhaustion of the life span, death from exhaustion of merit, are names for it.

47. It has the characteristic of a fall. Its function is to disjoin. It is manifested as
absence from the destiny [in which there was the rebirth]. It should be understood
as suffering because it is a basis for suffering.

Hence this is said:

Without distinction as they die
Pain grips their minds impartially
When wicked men their foul deeds see

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Or sign of new rebirth, may be.
Also when good men cannot bear
To part from all that they hold dear.
Then bodily pain severs sinews.
Joints and so on, and continues [

503]

Torture unbearable, which racks
All those whose vitals death attacks
With grip that shall no more relax.
Death is the basis of such pain.
And this suffices to explain
Why death the name of pain should gain.

This is the exposition of death.

[(IV) SORROW]

48. As regards sorrow, etc., sorrow is a burning in the mind in one affected by
loss of relatives, and so on. Although in meaning it is the same as grief,
nevertheless it has inner consuming as its characteristic, its function is completely
to consume the mind. It is manifested as continual sorrowing. It is suffering
because it is intrinsic suffering and because it is a basis for suffering. Hence this
is said:

Sorrow is a poisoned dart
That penetrates a being’s heart;
Setting up a burning there
Like burning with a red-hot spear.

This state of mind brings future pain (see XVII.273f.)
Such as disease, and then again
Ageing and death, so one may tell
Where for it is called pain as well.

This is the exposition of sorrow.

[(V) LAMENTATION]

49. Lamentation is verbal clamour on the part of one affected by loss of relatives
and so on. It has crying out as its characteristic. Its function is proclaiming
virtues and vices. It is manifested as tumult. It is suffering because it is a state of
suffering due to formations and because it is a basis for suffering. Hence this is
said:

Now, when a man is struck by sorrows dart and he laments
The pain he is already undergoing he augments
With pain born of dry throat and lips and palate, hard to bear.
And so lamenting too is pain, the Buddha did declare.

This is the exposition of lamentation.

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[(VI) PAIN]

50.

Pain is bodily pain. Its characteristic is the oppression of the body. Its

function is to cause grief in the foolish. It is manifested as bodily affliction. It is
suffering because it is intrinsic suffering, and because it brings mental suffering.
Hence this is said:

Pain distresses bodily.
Thereby distressing mentally again;
So acting fundamentally.
It therefore is especially called pain.

This is the exposition of pain. [

504]

[(VII) GRIEF]

51. Grief is mental pain. Its characteristic is mental oppression. Its function is
to distress the mind. It is manifested as mental affliction. It is suffering because
it is intrinsic suffering, and because it brings bodily suffering. For those who
are gripped by mental pain tear their hair, weep, thump their breasts, and twist
and writhe; they throw themselves upside-down,12 use the knife, swallow poison,
hang themselves with ropes, walk into fires, and undergo many kinds of suffering.
Hence this is said:

Though grief itself distresses mind.
It makes distress of bodily kind occur.
And that is why this mental grief
Is pain, as those that have no grief aver.

This is the exposition of grief.

[(VIII) DESPAIR]

52.

Despair is the same as the humour produced by excessive mental suffering

in one affected by loss of relatives, and so on. Some say that it is one of the states
included in the formations aggregate. Its characteristic is burning of the mind.
Its function is to bemoan. It is manifested as dejection. It is suffering because it is
suffering due to formations, because of the burning of the mind, and because of
bodily dejection. Hence this is said:

So great the pain despair imparts
It burns the heart as with fever’s flame;
The body’s function it impairs
And so despair borrows from pain its name.

This is the exposition of despair.

53. Sorrow is like the cooking [of oil, etc.]13 in a pot over a slow fire. Lamentation
is like its boiling over from the pot when cooking over a quick fire. Despair is like

12. Ee and Ae read uddhapādaṃ (or uddhaṃ pādaṃ) papatanti, but Vibh-a (Be) reads
chinnapapātaṃ papatanti. The former reading is favoured by Vism-mhṭ.
13. Vibh-a (Be) adds telādīnaṃ; not in Ee and Ae texts.

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what remains in the pot after it has boiled over and is unable to do so any more,
going on cooking in the pot till it dries up.

[(IX) ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNLOVED]

54.

Association with the unloved is meeting with disagreeable beings and

formations (inanimate things). Its characteristic is association with the
undesirable. Its function is to distress the mind. It is manifested as a harmful
state. It is suffering because it is a basis for suffering. Hence this is said:

The mere sight of an unloved thing
Brings firstly mental suffering.
And suffering of body too
Through touching it can then ensue.

And we therefore may recognize.
Since meeting the unloved gives rise
To either kind of pain, that
He decided pain its name should be.

This is the exposition of association with the unloved. [505]

[(X) SEPARATION FROM THE LOVED]

55. Separation from the loved is to be parted from agreeable beings and formations
(inanimate things). Its characteristic is dissociation from desirable objects. Its
function is to arouse sorrow. It is manifested as loss. It is suffering because it is
a basis for the suffering of sorrow. Hence this is said:

The dart of sorrow wounds the heart
Of fools who from their wealth must part or kin.
Which roughly should be grounds enough
For counting the loved lost as suffering.

This is the exposition of separation from the loved.

[(XI) NOT TO GET WHAT ONE WANTS]

56. Not to get what one wants: the want itself of some unobtainable object [expressed]
in such passages as “Oh, that we were not subject to birth!” (Vibh 101) is called
suffering since one does not get what is wanted. Its characteristic is the wanting of
an unobtainable object. Its function is to seek that. It is manifested as disappointment.
It is suffering because it is a basis for suffering. Hence this is said:

When beings here expect to gain
Something they build their hopes upon
Which fails them, they are woebegone
With disappointment’s numbing pain.

Thereof the cause is hope they wed
To something they cannot obtain:
“Not to get what one wants is pain”
The Conqueror has therefore said.

This is the exposition of not to get what one wants.

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[(XII) THE FIVE AGGREGATES]

57. In short the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging:

Now, birth and ageing and each thing
Told in describing suffering,
And those not mentioned, could not be
Were there no aggregates for clinging.

Wherefore these aggregates for clinging
Are taken in totality
As pain by Him, the Dhamma’s King,
Who taught the end of suffering.

58. For birth, etc., thus oppress the pentad of aggregates [as objects] of clinging
as fire does fuel, as shooting does a target, as gadflies, flies, etc., do a cow’s body,
as reapers do a field, as village raiders do a Village; and they are generated in
the aggregates as weeds, creepers, etc., are on the ground, as flowers, fruits and
sprouts are on trees.

59.

And the aggregates [as objects] of clinging have birth as their initial

suffering, ageing as their medial suffering, and death as their final suffering. The
suffering due to burning in one who is the victim of the pain that threatens death
is  sorrow. The suffering consisting in crying out by one who is unable to bear
that is lamentation. Next, the suffering consisting in affliction of the body due to
the contact of undesirable tangible data, in other words, disturbance of the
elements, is pain. [506] The suffering oppressing the mind through resistance to
that in ordinary people oppressed by it, is grief.  The suffering consisting in
brooding14 in those dejected by the augmentation of sorrow, etc., is despair.  The
suffering consisting in frustration of wants in those whose hopes are
disappointed is not to get what one wants. So when their various aspects are
examined, the aggregates [as objects] of clinging are themselves suffering.

60.

It is impossible to tell it [all] without remainder, showing each kind of

suffering, even [by going on doing so] for many eons, so the Blessed One said,
“In short the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging are suffering” in order to
show in short how all that suffering is present in any of the five aggregates [as
objects] of clinging in the same way that the taste of the water in the whole ocean
is to be found in a single drop of its water.

This is the exposition of the aggregates [as objects] of clinging. This, firstly, is

the method for the description of suffering.

[THE TRUTH OF THE ORIGIN OF SUFFERING]

61. But in the description of the origin, the expression yāyaṃ taṇhā (that craving
which) = yā ayaṃ taṇhā. [As regards the expression] produces further becoming: it
is a making become again, thus it is “becoming again” (punabbhava); becoming
again is its habit, thus it “produces further becoming” (ponobbhavika). The
expression nandirāgasahagatā (accompanied by concern and greed) = nandirāgena

14. Anutthunana—“brooding”: not in PED = anto nijjhāyana (Vism-mhṭ 532).

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sahagatā; what is meant is that it is identical in meaning with delight and greed.
Concerned with this and that: wherever personality is generated there is concern
with that. The expression that is to say (seyyathidaṃ) is a particle; its meaning is
“which is that.” Craving for sense desires, craving for becoming, craving for non-
becoming will be explained in the Description of Dependent Origination
(XVII.233ff.). Although this is threefold, it should nevertheless be understood as
“the noble truth of the origin of suffering,” taking it as one in the sense of its
generating the truth of suffering.

[THE TRUTH OF THE CESSATION OF SUFFERING]

62. In the description of the cessation of suffering it is the cessation of the origin
that is stated by the words that which is … of that same craving, and so on. Why is
that? Because the cessation of suffering comes about with the cessation of its
origin. For it is with the cessation of its origin that suffering ceases, not otherwise.
Hence it is said: [507]

“Just as a tree cut down grows up again
While yet its root remains unharmed and sound,
So with the tendency to crave intact
This suffering is ever reproduced” (Dhp 338).

63.

So it is because suffering ceases only through the cessation of its origin

that, when teaching the cessation of suffering, the Blessed One therefore taught
the cessation of the origin. For the Perfect Ones behave like lions.15 When they
make suffering cease and when they teach the cessation of suffering, they deal
with the cause, not the fruit. But the sectarians behave like dogs. When they
make suffering cease and when they teach the cessation of suffering, by teaching
devotion to self-mortification, etc., they deal with the fruit, not the cause. This, in
the first place, is how the motive for teaching the cessation of suffering by means
of the cessation of its origin should be understood.

64. This is the meaning. Of that same craving: of that craving which, it was said,
“produces further becoming,” and which was classed as “craving for sense
desires” and so on. It is the path that is called fading away; for “With the fading
away [of greed] he is liberated” (M I 139) is said. Fading away and cessation is
cessation through fading away. Remainderless fading away and cessation is cessation
through fading away that is remainderless because of eradication of inherent
tendencies. Or alternatively, it is abandoning that is called fading away; and so
the construction here can be regarded as “remainderless fading away,
remainderless cessation.”

65. But as to meaning, all of them are synonyms for Nibbāna. For in the ultimate
sense it is Nibbāna that is called “the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.”

15. “Just as a lion directs his strength against the man who shot the arrow at him,
not against the arrow, so the Buddhas deal with the cause, not with the fruit. But just
as dogs, when struck with a clod, snarl and bite the clod and do not attack the striker,
so the sectarians who want to make suffering cease devote themselves to mutilating
the body, not to causing cessation of defilements” (Vism-mhṭ 533).

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But because craving fades away and ceases on coming to that,16 it is therefore
called “fading away” and “cessation.” And because there comes to be the giving
up, etc., of that [craving] on coming to that [Nibbāna], and since there is not even
one kind of reliance here [to be depended upon] from among the reliances
consisting in the cords of sense desires, etc., it is therefore called giving it up,
relinquishing it, letting it go, not relying on it.

66. It has peace as its characteristic. Its function is not to die; or its function is
to comfort. It is manifested as the signless; or it is manifested as non-
diversification.17

[DISCUSSION ON NIBBÁNA]

67.

[Question 1] Is Nibbāna non-existent because it is unapprehendable, like

the hare’s horn?

16. “‘On coming to that (taṃ āgamma)’: on reaching that Nibbāna by making it the
object” (Vism-mhṭ 533). Ágamma (ger. of āgacchati—to come) is commonly used as an
adverb in the sense of “owing to” (e.g. at M I 119). Here, however, it is taken literally by
the Commentaries and forms an essential part of the ontological proof of the positive
existence of Nibbāna. The Sammohavinodanī (commentary on the Áyatana-Vibhaṅga
Abhidhamma-bhājaniya) refutes the suggestion of a disputant (vitaṇḍavādin) who
asserts that Nibbāna is “mere destruction” (khayamatta). The arguments used are
merely supplementary to those in §69 here, and so are not quoted. The conclusion of
the argument is worth noting, however, because of the emphasis on the words “taṃ
āgamma.” It is this: “It is on coming to Nibbāna that greed, etc., are destroyed. It is the
same Nibbāna that is called ‘destruction of greed, destruction of hate, destruction of
delusion.’ These are just three terms for Nibbāna—When this was said, he asked: You
say ‘On coming to’ (āgamma); from where have you got this ‘on coming to’?—It is got
from the Suttas—Quote the sutta—‘Thus ignorance and craving, on coming to that,
are destroyed in that, are abolished in that, nor does anything anywhere … (evaṃ avijjā
ca taṇhā ca taṃ āgamma tamhi khīṇaṃ tamhi bhaggaṃ na ca kiñci kadāci … ).’ When this was
said, the other was silent.” The quotation has not been traced.
17. Nippapañca (non-diversification) is one of the synonyms for Nibbāna. The word
papañca is commonly used in the Commentaries in the sense (a) of an impediment or
obstacle (Dhp-a I 18), and (b) as a delay, or diffuseness (XVII.73). The sense in which
the word is used in the Suttas is that of diversifying and is best exemplified at M I 111:
“Friends, due to eye and to a visible object eye-consciousness arises. The coincidence
of the three is contact. With contact as condition there is feeling. What a man feels that
he perceives. What he perceives he thinks about. What he thinks about he diversifies
(papañceti). Owing to his having diversified, the evaluation of diversifying perceptions
besets a man with respect to past, future, and present visible objects,” and so on. This
kind of papañca is explained by the Commentaries as “due to craving, pride and
views” (M-a I 25; II 10; II 75, etc.), and it may be taken as the diversifying action, the
choosing and rejecting, the approval and disapproval (M I 65), exercised by craving,
etc., on the bare material supplied by perception and thought. Consequently, though
it is bound up with craving, etc., a false emphasis is given in rendering papañca in
these contexts by “obsession” as is done in PED. Nippapañca as a term for Nibbāna
emphasizes the absence of that.

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[Answer] That is not so, because it is apprehendable by the [right] means. For

it is apprehendable [by some, namely, the nobles ones] by the [right] means, in
other words, by the way that is appropriate to it, [the way of virtue, concentration,
and understanding]; it is like the supramundane consciousness of others, [which
is apprehendable only by certain of the Noble Ones] by means of knowledge of
penetration of others’ minds. Therefore it should not be said that it is non-existent
because unapprehendable; for it should not be said that what the foolish ordinary
man does not apprehend is unapprehendable.

68. Again, it should not be said that Nibbāna does not exist. Why not? Because
it then follows that the way would be futile. [508] For if Nibbāna were non-
existent, then it would follow that the right way, which includes the three
aggregates beginning with virtue and is headed by right understanding, would
be futile. And it is not futile because it does reach Nibbāna.

[Q. 2] But futility of the way does not follow because what is reached is absence,

[that is, absence of the five aggregates consequent upon the cutting off of the
defilements].

[A.] That is not so. Because, though there is absence of past and future

[aggregates], there is nevertheless no reaching of Nibbāna [simply because of
that].

[Q. 3] Then is the absence of present [aggregates] as well Nibbāna?

[A.] That is not so. Because their absence is an impossibility, since if they are

absent their non-presence follows. [Besides, if Nibbāna were absence of present
aggregates too,] that would entail the fault of excluding the arising of the Nibbāna
element with result of past clinging left, at the path moment, which has present
aggregates as its support.

[Q. 4] Then will there be no fault if it is non-presence of defilements [that is

Nibbāna]?

[A.] That is not so. Because it would then follow that the noble path was

meaningless. For if it were so, then, since defilements [can be] non-existent also
before the moment of the noble path, it follows that the noble path would be
meaningless. Consequently that is no reason; [it is unreasonable to say that
Nibbāna is unapprehendable, that it is non-existence, and so on].

69.

[Q. 5] But is not Nibbāna destruction, because of the passage beginning,

“That, friend, which is the destruction of greed … [of hate … of delusion … is
Nibbāna]?” (S IV 251).

[A.] That is not so, because it would follow that Arahantship also was mere

destruction. For that too is described in the [same] way beginning, “That, friend,
which is the destruction of greed … of hate … of delusion … is Arahantship]” (S
IV 252).

And what is more, the fallacy then follows that Nibbāna would be temporary,

etc.; for if it were so, it would follow that Nibbāna would be temporary, have the
characteristic of being formed, and be obtainable regardless of right effort; and
precisely because of its having formed characteristics it would be included in

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the formed, and it would be burning with the fires of greed, etc., and because of
its burning it would follow that it was suffering.

[Q. 6] Is there no fallacy if Nibbāna is that kind of destruction subsequent to

which there is no more occurrence?

[A.] That is not so. Because there is no such kind of destruction. And even if

there were, the aforesaid fallacies would not be avoided.

Also because it would follow that the noble path was Nibbāna. For the noble

path causes the destruction of defects, and that is why it is called “destruction”;
and subsequent to that there is no more occurrence of the defects.

70.

But it is because the kind of destruction called “cessation consisting in

non-arising,” [that is, Nibbāna,] serves figuratively speaking as decisive-support
[for the path] that [Nibbāna] is called “destruction” as a metaphor for it.

[Q. 7] Why is it not stated in its own form?

[A.] Because of its extreme subtlety. And its extreme subtlety is established because

it inclined the Blessed One to inaction, [that is, to not teaching the Dhamma (see M
I 186)] and because a Noble One’s eye is needed to see it (see M I 510).

71. It is not shared by all because it can only be reached by one who is possessed
of the path. And it is uncreated because it has no first beginning.

[Q. 8] Since it is, when the path is, then it is not uncreated.

[A.] That is not so, because it is not arousable by the path; it is only reachable,

not arousable, by the path; that is why it is uncreated. It is because it is uncreated
that it is free from ageing and death. It is because of the absence of its creation
and of its ageing and death that it is permanent. [509]

72. [Q. 9] Then it follows that Nibbāna, too, has the kind of permanence [claimed]
of the atom and so on.

[A.] That is not so. Because of the absence of any cause [that brings about its

arising].

[Q. 10] Because Nibbāna has permanence, then, these [that is, the atom, etc.]

are permanent as well.

[A.] That is not so. Because [in that proposition] the characteristic of [logical]

cause does not arise. [In other words, to say that Nibbāna is permanent is not to
assert a reason why the atom, etc., should be permanent]

[Q. 11] Then they are permanent because of the absence of their arising, as

Nibbāna is.

[A.] That is not so. Because the atom and so on have not been established as facts.

73. The aforesaid logical reasoning proves that only this [that is, Nibbāna] is
permanent [precisely because it is uncreated]; and it is immaterial because it
transcends the individual essence of matter.

The Buddhas’ goal is one and has no plurality. But this [single goal, Nibbāna,]

is firstly called with result of past clinging left since it is made known together
with the [aggregates resulting from past] clinging still remaining [during the
Arahant’s life], being thus made known in terms of the stilling of defilement

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and the remaining [result of past] clinging that are present in one who has
reached it by means of development. But [secondly, it is called without result of
past clinging left] since after the last consciousness of the Arahant, who has
abandoned arousing [future aggregates] and so prevented kamma from giving
result in a future [existence], there is no further arising of aggregates of existence,
and those already arisen have disappeared. So the [result of past] clinging that
remained is non-existent; and it is in terms of this non-existence, in the sense
that “there is no [result of past] clinging here” that that [same goal is called]
without result of past clinging left (see It 38).

74.

Because it can be arrived at by distinction of knowledge that succeeds

through untiring perseverance, and because it is the word of the Omniscient
One, Nibbāna is not non-existent as regards individual essence in the ultimate
sense; for this is said: “Bhikkhus, there is an unborn, an unbecome, an unmade,
an unformed” (It 37; Ud 80).18

18.

This discussion falls under three headings: Questions one to four refute the

assertion that Nibbāna is mythical and non-existent; questions five to seven refute the
assertion that Nibbāna is “mere destruction;” (further argued in the Sammohavinodanī—
Vibh-a 51f.) the remaining questions deal with the proof that only Nibbāna (and not
the atom, etc.,) is permanent because uncreated.

The Paramatthamañjūsā (Vism-mhṭ) covers the subject at great length and reinforces

the arguments given here with much syllogistic reasoning. However, only the following
paragraph will be quoted here, which is reproduced in the commentaries to Ud 80 and
It 37. (The last sentence marked ** appears only in the Udāna Commentary. Readings
vary considerably):

“Now, in the ultimate sense the existingness of the Nibbāna-element has been

demonstrated by the Fully Enlightened One, compassionate for the whole world, by
many sutta passages such as ‘Dhammas without condition,’ ‘Unformed dhammas’
(see Dhs 2), ‘Bhikkhus, there is that base (sphere) where neither earth … ’ (Ud 80),
‘This state is very hard to see, that is to say, the stilling of all formations, the relinquishing
of all substance of becoming’ (D II 36; M I 167), ‘Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the
unformed and the way leading to the unformed’ (S IV 362), and so on, and in this
sutta, ‘Bhikkhus, there is an unborn …” (It 87; Ud 80). So even if the wise trust
completely in the Dispensation and have no doubts, though they may not yet have had
direct perception of it, nevertheless there are persons who come to understand through
another’s guidance (reading paraneyya-buddhino); and the intention here is that this
logical reasoning under the heading of deduction (niddhāraṇa) should be for the purpose
of removing their doubts.

“Just as it is owing to full-understanding (reading yathā pariññeyyatāya) that from

the sense desires and from materiality, etc (reading rūpādīnaṃ), that have something
beyond them, there is made known an escape [from them] that is their opposite and
whose individual essence is devoid of them, so there must exist an escape that is the
opposite of, and whose individual essence is devoid of, all formed dhammas, all of
which have the aforesaid individual essence (reading evaṃ taṃ-sabhāvānaṃ), and it is
this escape that is the unformed element.

“Besides, insight knowledge, which has formed dhammas as its object, and also

conformity knowledge, abandon the defilements with the abandoning consisting in
substitution of opposites, being unable to abandon them with the abandoning

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This is the section of the definition dealing with the description of the cessation

of suffering.

[THE TRUTH OF THE WAY]

75. In the description of the way leading to the cessation of suffering eight things
are given. Though they have, of course, already been explained as to meaning in
the Description of the Aggregates, still we shall deal with them here in order to
remain aware of the difference between them when they occur in a single moment
[on the occasion of the path].

76.

Briefly (see XXII.31 for details), when a meditator is progressing towards

the penetration of the four truths, his eye of understanding with Nibbāna as its
object eliminates the inherent tendency to ignorance, and that is right view. It has
right seeing as its characteristic. Its function is to reveal elements. It is manifested
as the abolition of the darkness of ignorance.

77.

When he possesses such view, his directing of the mind on to Nibbāna,

which [directing] is associated with that [right view], abolishes wrong thinking,
and that is right thinking. Its characteristic is right directing of the mind on to [its
object]. Its function is to bring about absorption [of the path consciousness in
Nibbāna as object]. It is manifested as the abandoning of wrong thinking.

78.

And when he sees and thinks thus, his abstinence from wrong speech,

which abstinence is associated with that [right view], abolishes bad verbal

consisting in cutting off. Likewise, the kind of knowledge that has conventional truth
(sammuti-sacca) [that is, concepts] as its object, in the first jhāna, etc., abandons the
defilements only with the abandoning consisting in suppression, not by cutting them
off. So, because the kind of knowledge that has formed dhammas as its object and that
which has conventional truth as its object are both incapable of abandoning defilements
by cutting them off, there must [consequently] exist an object for the noble-path-
knowledge that effects their abandonment by cutting them off, [which object must be]
of a kind opposite to both. And it is this that is the unformed element.

“Likewise, the words, ‘Bhikkhus, there is an unborn, an unbecome, an unmade, an

unformed’ and so on, which demonstrate the existingness of Nibbāna in the ultimate
sense, are not misleading because they are spoken by the Blessed One, like the words,
‘All formations are impermanent, all formations are painful, all dhammas (states) are
not self’ (Dhp 277–79; A I 286, etc.).

“Likewise, in certain instances as regards scope, the word ‘Nibbāna’ has the correct

ultimate meaning for its scope [precisely] because of the existence of its use as a mere
metaphor—like the word ‘lion’ (see Ch. XV, note 12, for the word lion). *Or alternatively,
the unformed element exists in the ultimate sense also, because its individual essence
is the opposite of, is free from, that of the other kind [of element such as] the earth
element and feeling*” (Vism-mhṭ 534–40). The Pali of the last two paragraphs is taken
to read thus:

“Tathā ‘atthi bhikkhave ajātaṃ abhūtaṃ akataṃ asaṅkhatan’ ti idaṃ nibbāna-padassa

paramatthato atthibhāva-jotakaṃ vacanaṃ aviparītatthaṃ bhagavatā kathitattā; yaṃ hi bhagavatā
bhāsitaṃ taṃ aviparitatthaṃ yathā taṃ ‘sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā sabbe
dhammā anattā’ ti.

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conduct, [510] and that is called right speech. It has the characteristic of
embracing.19 Its function is to abstain. It is manifested as the abandoning of
wrong speech.

79.

When he abstains thus, his abstinence from killing living things, which

abstinence is associated with that [right view], cuts off wrong action, and that is
called right action. It has the characteristic of originating.20 Its function is to
abstain. It is manifested as the abandoning of wrong action.

80. When his right speech and right action are purified, his abstinence from
wrong livelihood, which abstinence is associated with that, [right view] cuts off
scheming, etc., and that is called right livelihood. It has the characteristic of
cleansing.21 Its function is to bring about the occurrence of a proper livelihood.
It is manifested as the abandoning of wrong livelihood.

81.

When he is established on that plane of virtue called right speech, right

action, and right livelihood, his energy, which is in conformity and associated
with that [right view], cuts off idleness, and that is called right effort. It has the
characteristic of exerting. Its function is the non-arousing of unprofitable things,
and so on. It is manifested as the abandoning of wrong effort.

82. When he exerts himself thus, the non-forgetfulness in his mind, which is
associated with that [right view], shakes off wrong mindfulness, and that is
called right mindfulness. It has the characteristic of establishing.22 Its function is
not to forget. It is manifested as the abandoning of wrong mindfulness.

83. When his mind is thus guarded by supreme mindfulness, the unification
of mind, which is associated with that [right view], abolishes wrong
concentration, and that is called right concentration. It has the characteristic of

“Tathā nibbāna-saddo katthaci (pi) visaye yathābhūta-paramatthavisayo upacāravuttimatta-

sabhāvato (pi) seyyathā pi sīha-saddo. *Atha vā atth’eva paramatthato asaṅkhata-dhātu itaraṃ
tabbiparītavimutta-sabhāvattā seyyathā pi pathavī-dhātu vedanā vā ti.”*

The discussion is summarized and additional arguments are added in the

Abhidhammāvatāra. The later Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha appears to have shelved the
problem. It may be noted that in the whole of this discussion (particularly in the
answer to Q. 4) no mention is made of the abandoning of the inherent tendencies
(anusaya) in the attainment of Nibbāna (see, e.g., MN 64; S II 66). For derivations of the
word “Nibbāna” see VIII.247 and note 72.
19. “Right speech has as its individual essence the embracing of associated states
through affectionateness because it is the opposite of false speech and the other
kinds, which, being rough owing to their respective functions of deceiving, etc., do not
embrace” (Vism-mhṭ 541).
20. “Bodily work (kāyika-kriyā) originates (sets up) whatever has to be done. And that
originating (setting up) is itself a combining, so the abstinence called right action is
said to have originating as its individual essence. Or it is the picking up of associated
states which is the causing of them to be originated, on the part of bodily work, like
the picking up of a burden” (Vism-mhṭ 541).
21. “The purification of a living being or of associated states is ‘cleansing’” (Vism-
mhṭ 541).
22. Viniddhunana—“shaking off”: not in PED, (but see under dhunāti); cf. II.11.

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non-distraction. Its function is to concentrate. It is manifested as the abandoning
of wrong concentration.

This is the method in the description of the way leading to the cessation of

suffering.

This is how the exposition should be understood here as to defining birth

and so on.

[GENERAL]

84.

9. As to knowledge’s function (see §14): the exposition should be understood

according to knowledge of the truths. For knowledge of the truths is twofold,
namely, knowledge as idea and knowledge as penetration (cf. S V 431f; also
XXII.92ff.). Herein, knowledge as idea is mundane and occurs through hearsay,
etc., about cessation and the path. Knowledge consisting in penetration, which
is supramundane, penetrates the four truths as its function by making cessation
its object, according as it is said, “Bhikkhus, he who sees suffering sees also the
origin of suffering, sees also the cessation of suffering, sees also the way leading
to the cessation of suffering” (S V 437), and it should be repeated thus of all [four
truths]. But its function will be made clear in the purification by knowledge and
vision (XXII.92f.). [511]

85.

When this knowledge is mundane, then, occurring as the overcoming of

obsessions, the knowledge of suffering therein forestalls the [false] view of
individuality; the knowledge of origin forestalls the annihilation view; the
knowledge of cessation forestalls the eternity view; the knowledge of the path
forestalls the moral-inefficacy-of-action view. Or alternatively, the knowledge of
suffering forestalls wrong theories of fruit, in other words, [seeing] lastingness,
beauty, pleasure, and self in the aggregates, which are devoid of lastingness,
beauty, pleasure, and self; and knowledge of origin forestalls wrong theories of
cause that occur as finding a reason where there is none, such as “The world
occurs owing to an Overlord, a Basic Principle, Time, Nature (Individual
Essence),” etc.;23 the knowledge of cessation forestalls such wrong theories of

23. “Those who hold that there is an Overlord (Omnipotent Being) as reason say,
‘An Overlord (issara) makes the world occur, prepares it, halts, it, disposes of it.’ Those
who hold that there is a Basic Principle as reason say, ‘The world is manifested from
out of a Basic Principle (padhāna), and it is reabsorbed in that again.’ Those who hold
the theory of Time say:

Time it is that creates beings,
Disposes of this generation;
Time watches over those who sleep;
To outstrip Time is hard indeed.

Those who hold the theory of Nature (sabhāva—individual essence) say, ‘The world

appears and disappears (sambhoti vibhoti ca) just because of its nature (individual
essence), like the sharp nature (essence) of thorns, like the roundness of wood-apples
(kabiṭṭha = Feronia elephantum), like the variedness of wild beasts, birds, snakes, and so
on.’ The word, ‘etc.’ refers to those who preach fatalism and say, ‘The occurrence of
the world is due to atoms. All is due to causes effected in the past. The world is

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cessation as taking final release to be in the immaterial world, in a World Apex
(Shrine), etc.; and the path knowledge forestalls wrong theories of means that
occur by taking to be the way of purification what is not the way of purification
and consists in devotion to indulgence in the pleasures of sense desire and in
self-mortification. Hence this is said:

As long as a man is vague about the world.
About its origin, about its ceasing.
About the means that lead to its cessation.
So long he cannot recognize the truths.

This is how the exposition should be understood here as to knowledge’s

function.

86. 10. As to division of content: all states excepting craving and states free from
cankers are included in the truth of suffering. The thirty-six modes of behaviour
of craving24 are included in the truth of origin. The truth of cessation is unmixed.
As regards the truth of the path: the heading of right view includes the fourth road
to power consisting in inquiry, the understanding faculty, the understanding
power, and the investigation-of-states enlightenment factor. The term right thinking
includes the three kinds of applied thought beginning with that of renunciation
(D III 215). The term right speech includes the four kinds of good verbal conduct
(A II 131). The term right action includes the three kinds of good bodily conduct
(cf. M I 287). The heading right livelihood includes fewness of wishes and
contentment. Or all these [three] constitute the virtue loved by Noble Ones, and
the virtue loved by Noble Ones has to be embraced by the hand of faith;

determined, like drilled gems threaded on an unbroken string. There is no doing by
a man’; and to those who preach chance: It is by chance that they occur,

By chance as well that they do not;
Pleasure and pain are due to chance,
This generation [lives] by chance;
and to those who preach liberation by chance.

“‘Taking final release to be in the immaterial world” like that of Rāmudaka, Áḷāra (see

MN 26), etc., or ‘in a World Apex (World Shrine—lokathūpika)’ like that of the Nigaṇṭhas
(Jains). And by the word, ‘etc.’ are included also the preachers of ‘Nibbāna here and
now’ as the self’s establishment in its own self when it has become dissociated from
the qualities (guṇa) owing to the non-occurrence of the Basic Principle (padhāna, Skr.
pradhāna—see the Sāṃkhya system), and being in the same world as, in the presence
of, or in union with, Brahmā” (Vism-mhṭ 543).
24. “The ‘thirty-six modes of behaviour of craving’ are the three, craving for sense desires,
for becoming, and for non-becoming, in the cases of each one of the twelve internal-
external bases; or they are those given in the Khuddakavatthu-Vibhaṅga (Vibh 391
and 396), leaving out the three periods of time, for with those they come to one
hundred and eight” (Vism-mhṭ 544). “‘Thoughts of renunciation, etc.’: in the mundane
moment they are the three separately, that is, non-greed, loving kindness, and
compassion; they are given as one at the path moment, owing to the cutting off of
greed, ill will and cruelty” (Vism-mhṭ 544).

“‘Consciousness concentration (citta-samādhi)’ is the road to power consisting of

[purity of] consciousness, they say” (Vism-mhṭ 544).

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consequently the faith faculty, the faith power, and the road to power consisting
in zeal are included because of the presence of these [three]. The term right effort
includes fourfold right endeavour, the energy faculty, energy power, and energy
enlightenment factor. The term right mindfulness includes the fourfold foundation
of mindfulness, the mindfulness faculty, the mindfulness power, and the
mindfulness enlightenment factor. The term right concentration includes the three
kinds of concentration beginning with that accompanied by applied and
sustained thought (D III 219), consciousness concentration, the concentration
faculty, [512] the concentration power, and the enlightenment factors of
happiness, tranquillity, concentration, and equanimity.

This is how the exposition should be understood as to division of content.

87. 11. As to simile: The truth of suffering should be regarded as a burden, the
truth of origin as the taking up of the burden, the truth of cessation as the
putting down of the burden, the truth of the path as the means to putting down
the burden (see S III 26), The truth of suffering is like a disease, the truth of origin
is like the cause of the disease, the truth of cessation is like the cure of the disease,
and the truth of the path is like the medicine. Or the truth of suffering is like a
famine, the truth of origin is like a drought, the truth of cessation is like plenty,
and the truth of the path is like timely rain.

Furthermore, these truths can be understood in this way by applying these

similes: enmity, the cause of the enmity, the removal of the enmity, and the means
to remove the enmity; a poison tree, the tree’s root, the cutting of the root, and the
means to cut the root; fear, the cause of fear, freedom from fear, and the means to
attain it; the hither shore, the great flood, the further shore, and the effort to reach it.

This is how the exposition should be understood as to simile.

88. 12. As to tetrad: (a) there is suffering that is not noble truth, (b) there is noble
truth that is not suffering, (c) there is what is both suffering and noble truth, and
(d) there is what is neither suffering nor noble truth. So also with origin and the rest.

89. Herein, (a) though states associated with the path and the fruits of asceticism
are suffering since they are suffering due to formations (see §35) because of the
words, “What is impermanent is painful” (S II 53; III 22), still they are not the noble
truth [of suffering], (b) Cessation is a noble truth but it is not suffering, (c) The other
two noble truths can be suffering because they are impermanent, but they are not so
in the real sense of that for the full-understanding of which (see §28) the life of
purity is lived under the Blessed One. The five aggregates [as objects] of clinging,
except craving, are in all aspects both suffering and noble truth. [513] (d) The states
associated with the path and the fruits of asceticism are neither suffering in the real
sense of that for the full-understanding of which the life of purity is lived under the
Blessed One, nor are they noble truth. Origin, etc., should also be construed in the
corresponding way. This is how the exposition should be understood here as to tetrad.

90. 13. As to void, singlefold, and so on: firstly, as to void: in the ultimate sense all
the truths should be understood as void because of the absence of (i) any
experiencer, (ii) any doer, (iii) anyone who is extinguished, and (iv) any goer.
Hence this is said:

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For there is suffering, but none who suffers;
Doing exists although there is no door.
Extinction is but no extinguished person;
Although there is a path, there is no goer.

Or alternatively:

So void of lastingness, and beauty, pleasure, self,
Is the first pair, and void of self the deathless state,
And void of lastingness, of pleasure and of self
Is the path too; for such is voidness in these four.

91. Or three are void of cessation, and cessation is void of the other three. Or the
cause is void of the result, because of the absence of suffering in the origin, and
of cessation in the path; the cause is not gravid with its fruit like the Primordial
Essence of those who assert the existence of Primordial Essence. And the result
is void of the cause owing to the absence of inherence of the origin in suffering
and of the path in cessation; the fruit of a cause does not have its cause inherent
in it, like the two atoms, etc., of those who assert inherence. Hence this is said:

Here three are of cessation void;
Cessation void, too, of these three;
The cause of its effect is void,
Void also of its cause the effect must be.

This, in the first place, is how the exposition should be understood as to

void.25 [514]

92. 14. As to singlefold and so on: and here all suffering is of one kind as the state
of occurrence. It is of two kinds as mentality-materiality. It is of three kinds as

25. It may be noted in passing that the word anattā (not-self) is never applied directly to
Nibbāna in the Suttas (and Abhidhamma), or in Bhante Buddhaghosa’s commentaries
(Cf. Ch. XXI, note 4, where Vism-mhṭ is quoted explaining the scope of applicability of the
“three characteristics”). The argument introduced here that, since attā (self) is a non-
existent myth, therefore Nibbāna (the unformed dhamma, the truth of cessation) is void of
self (atta-suñña) is taken up in the Saddhammappakāsinī (Hewavitarne Ce, p. 464):

All dhammas whether grouped together
In three ways, two ways, or one way,
Are void: thus here in this dispensation
Do those who know voidness make their comment.

“How so? Firstly, all mundane dhammas are void of lastingness, beauty, pleasure,

and self because they are destitute of lastingness, beauty, pleasure, and self. Path and
fruition dhammas are void of lastingness, pleasure, and self, because they are destitute
of lastingness, pleasure, and self. Nibbāna dhammas (pl.) are void of self because of
the non-existence (abhāva) of self. [Secondly,] formed dhammas, both mundane and
supramundane, are all void of a [permanent] living being (satta) because of the non-
existence of [such] a living being of any sort whatever. The unformed dhamma (sing.)
is void of formations because of the non-existence (abhāva: or absence) of those
formations too. [Thirdly,] all dhammas formed and unformed are void of self because
of the non-existence of any person (puggala) called ‘self’ (attā).”

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divided into rebirth-process becoming in the sense sphere, fine-material sphere,
and immaterial sphere. It is of four kinds classed according to the four nutriments.
It is of five kinds classed according to the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging.

93. Also origin is of one kind as making occur. It is of two kinds as associated
and not associated with [false] view. It is of three kinds as craving for sense
desires, craving for becoming, and craving for non-becoming. It is of four kinds
as abandonable by the four paths. It is of five kinds classed as delight in materiality,
and so on. It is of six kinds classed as the six groups of craving.

94. Also cessation is of one kind being the unformed element. But indirectly it is
of two kinds as “with result of past clinging left” and as “without result of past
clinging left”;26 and of three kinds as the stilling of the three kinds of becoming;
and of four kinds as approachable by the four paths; and of five kinds as the
subsiding of the five kinds of delight; and of six kinds classed according to the
destruction of the six groups of craving.

95. Also the path is of one kind as what should be developed. It is of two kinds
classed according to serenity and insight, or classed according to seeing and
developing. It is of three kinds classed according to the three aggregates; for the
[path], being selective, is included by the three aggregates, which are
comprehensive, as a city is by a kingdom, according as it is said: “The three
aggregates are not included in the Noble Eightfold Path, friend Visākha, but the
Noble Eightfold Path is included by the three aggregates. Any right speech, any
right action, any right livelihood: these are included in the virtue aggregate.
Any right effort, any right mindfulness, any right concentration: these are
included in the concentration aggregate. Any right view, any right thinking:
these are included in the understanding aggregate” (M I 301).

96. For here the three beginning with right speech are virtue and so they are
included in the virtue aggregate, being of the same kind. For although in the text
the description is given in the locative case as “in the virtue aggregate,” still the
meaning should be understood according to the instrumental case [that is, “by
the virtue aggregate.”]

As to the three beginning with right effort, concentration cannot of its own

nature cause absorption through unification on the object; but with energy
accomplishing its function of exerting and mindfulness accomplishing its
function of preventing wobbling, it can do so.

97. Here is a simile: three friends, [thinking,] “We will celebrate the festival,”
entered a park. Then one saw a champak tree in full blossom, but he could not
reach the flowers by raising his hand. The second bent down for the first to climb

26. “It is clung-to (upādiyati) by the kinds of clinging (upādāna), thus it is ‘result-of-
past-clinging’ (upādi): this is the pentad of aggregates [as objects] of clinging. Taking
Nibbāna, which is the escape from that, as its stilling, its quieting, since there is
remainder of it up till the last consciousness [of the Arahant], after which there is no
remainder of it, the Nibbāna element is thus conventionally spoken of in two ways as
‘with result of past clinging left’ (sa-upādi-sesa) and ‘without result of past clinging left’
(an-upādi-sesa)” (Vism-mhṭ 547).

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on his back. But although standing on the other’s back, he still could not pick
them because of his unsteadiness. [515] Then the third offered his shoulder [as
support]. So standing on the back of the one and supporting himself on the
other’s shoulder, he picked as many flowers as he wanted and after adorning
himself, he went and enjoyed the festival. And so it is with this.

98.

For the three states beginning with right effort, which are born together,

are like the three friends who enter the park together. The object is like the
champak tree in full blossom. Concentration, which cannot of its own nature
bring about absorption by unification on the object, is like the man who could
not pick the flower by raising his arm. Effort is like the companion who bent
down, giving his back to mount upon. Mindfulness is like the friend who stood
by, giving his shoulder for support. Just as standing on the back of the one and
supporting himself on the other’s shoulder he could pick as many flowers as he
wanted, so too, when energy accomplishes its function of exerting and when
mindfulness accomplishes its function of preventing wobbling, with the help so
obtained concentration can bring about absorption by unification on the object.
So here in the concentration aggregate it is only concentration that is included
as of the same kind. But effort and mindfulness are included because of their
action [in assisting].

99.

Also as regards right view and right thinking, understanding cannot of

its own nature define an object as impermanent, painful, not-self. But with
applied thought giving [assistance] by repeatedly hitting [the object] it can.

100.

How? Just as a money changer, having a coin placed in his hand and

being desirous of looking at it on all sides equally, cannot turn it over with the
power of his eye only, but by turning it over with his fingers he is able to look at it
on all sides, similarly understanding cannot of its own nature define an object
as impermanent and so on. But [assisted] by applied thought with its
characteristic of directing the mind on to [the object] and its function of striking
and threshing, as it were, hitting and turning over, it can take anything given
and define it. So here in the understanding aggregate it is only right view that is
included as of the same kind. But right thinking is included because of its
action [in assisting].

101.

So the path is included by the three aggregates. Hence it was said that it is

of three kinds classed according to the three aggregates. And it is of four kinds
as the path of stream-entry and so on.

102.

In addition, all the truths are of one kind because they are not unreal, or

because they must be directly known. They are of two kinds as (i and ii) mundane
and (iii and iv) supramundane, or (i, ii, and iv) formed and (iii) unformed. They
are of three kind as (ii) to be abandoned by seeing and development, (iii and iv)
not to be abandoned, and (i) neither to be abandoned nor not to be abandoned.
They are of four kinds classed according to what has to be fully understood, and
so on (see §28).

This is how the exposition should be understood as to singlefold and so on.

[516]

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103.

15. As to similar and dissimilar, all the truths are similar to each other

because they are not unreal, are void of self, and are difficult to penetrate,
according as it is said: “What do you think, Ánanda, which is more difficult to
do, more difficult to perform, that a man should shoot an arrow through a small
keyhole from a distance time after time without missing or that he should
penetrate the tip of a hair split a hundred times with the tip [of a similar hair]?”—
“This is more difficult to do, venerable sir, more difficult to perform, that a man
should penetrate the tip of a hair split a hundred times with the tip [of a similar
hair].”—“They penetrate something more difficult to penetrate than that,
Ánanda, who penetrate correctly thus, ‘This is suffering’ … who penetrate
correctly thus, ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering’” (S V 454).
They are dissimilar when defined according to their individual characteristics.

104.

And the first two are similar since they are profound because hard to

grasp, since they are mundane, and since they are subject to cankers. They are
dissimilar in being divided into fruit and cause, and being respectively to be
fully understood and to be abandoned. And the last two are similar since they
are hard to grasp because profound, since they are supramundane, and since
they are free from cankers. They are dissimilar in being divided into object and
what has an object, and in being respectively to be realized and to be developed.
And the first and third are similar since they come under the heading of result.
They are dissimilar in being formed and unformed. Also the second and fourth
are similar since they come under the heading of cause. They are dissimilar in
being respectively entirely unprofitable and entirely profitable. And the first
and fourth are similar in being formed. They are dissimilar in being mundane
and supramundane. Also the second and the third are similar since they are the
state of neither-trainer-nor-non-trainer (see Vibh 114). They are dissimilar in
being respectively with object and without object.

A man of vision can apply
By suchlike means his talent so
That he among the truths may know
The similar and contrary.

The sixteenth chapter called “The Description of the
Faculties and Truths” in the Treatise on the Development
of Understanding in the Path of Purification composed for
the purpose of gladdening good people.