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AND
 VISION OF WHAT IS THE PATH
AND
 WHAT IS NOT THE PATH
(Maggāmagga-ñāṇadassana-visuddhi-niddesa)
1. [606] The knowledge established by getting to know the path and the not-
path thus, “This is the path, this is not the path,” is called “purification by
knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path.”
2. One who desires to accomplish this should first of all apply himself to the
inductive insight called “comprehension by groups.1” Why? Because knowledge
of what is the path and what is not the path appears in connection with the
appearance of illumination, etc. (XX.105f.) in one who has begun insight. For it
is after illumination, etc., have appeared in one who has already begun insight
that there comes to be knowledge of what is the path and what is not the path.
And comprehension by groups is the beginning of insight. That is why it is set
forth next to the overcoming of doubt. Besides, knowledge of what is the path
and what is not the path arises when “full-understanding as investigation” is
occurring, and full-understanding as investigation comes next to full-
understanding as the known (see XIX.21). So this is also a reason why one who
desires to accomplish this purification by knowledge and vision of what is the
path and what is not the path should first of all apply himself to comprehension
by groups.
[THE THREE KINDS OF FULL-UNDERSTANDING]
3. Here is the exposition: there are three kinds of mundane full-understanding,
that is, full-understanding as the known, full-understanding as investigation,
and full-understanding as abandoning, with reference to which it was said:
“Understanding that is direct-knowledge is knowledge in the sense of being
known. Understanding that is full-understanding is knowledge in the sense of
1. “Comprehension by placing together in groups (totals) the states that are differentiated
into past, future and present is ‘comprehension by groups.’ This, it seems, is the term used
by the inhabitants of Jambudīpa (India). However, insight into states by means of the
method beginning, ‘Any materiality whatever’ (M III 16) is ‘inductive insight.’ This, it seems,
is the term used by the inhabitants of Tambapaṇṇidīpa (Sri Lanka). That is why he said “to
inductive insight called comprehension by groups’” (Vism-mhṭ 778).
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investigating. Understanding that is abandoning is knowledge in the sense of
giving up” (Paṭis I 87).
Herein, the understanding that occurs by observing the specific characteristics
of such and such states thus, “Materiality (rūpa)  has the characteristic of being
molested (ruppana); feeling has the characteristic of being felt,” is called full-
understanding as the known. The understanding consisting in insight with the
general characteristics as its object that occurs in attributing a general
characteristic to those same states in the way beginning, “Materiality is
impermanent, [607] feeling is impermanent” is called full-understanding as
investigation.2 The understanding consisting in insight with the characteristics
as its object that occurs as the abandoning of the perception of permanence, etc.,
in those same states is called full-understanding as abandoning.
4. Herein, the plane of full-understanding as the known extends from the delimitation
of formations (Ch. XVIII) up to the discernment of conditions (Ch. XIX); for in this
interval the penetration of the specific characteristics of states predominates. The
plane of full-understanding as investigation extends from comprehension by groups
up to contemplation of rise and fall (XXI.3f.); for in this interval the penetration of the
general characteristics predominates. The plane of full-understanding as abandoning
extends from contemplation of dissolution onwards (XXI.10); for from there onwards
the seven contemplations that effect the abandoning of the perception of permanence,
etc., predominate thus:
(1)
Contemplating [formations] as impermanent, a man abandons
the perception of permanence.
(2)
Contemplating [them] as painful, he abandons the perception
of pleasure.
(3)
Contemplating [them] as not-self, he abandons the perception
of self.
(4)
Becoming dispassionate, he abandons delighting.
(5)
Causing fading away, he abandons greed.
(6)
Causing cessation, he abandons originating.
(7)
Relinquishing, he abandons grasping (Paṭis I 58).3
2. Tīraṇa could also be rendered by “judging.” On specific and general characteristics
Vism-mhṭ says: “Hardness, touching, etc., as the respective characteristics of earth,
contact, etc., which are observable at all three instants [of arising, presence and
dissolution], are apprehended by their being established as the respective individual
essences of definite materialness. But it is not so with the characteristics of
impermanence, and so on. These are apprehended as though they were attributive
material instances because they have to be apprehended under the respective headings
of dissolution and rise and fall, of oppression, and of insusceptibility to the exercise of
mastery” (Vism-mhṭ 779). See Ch. XXI, note 3.
The “planes” given here in §4 are not quite the same as described in XXII.107.
3. “‘Contemplating as impermanent’ is contemplating, comprehending, formations in
the aspect of impermanence. ‘The perception of permanence’ is the wrong perception
that they are permanent, eternal; the kinds of consciousness associated with wrong
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5.
So, of these three kinds of full-understanding, only full-understanding as
the known has been attained by this meditator as yet, which is because the
delimitation of formations and the discernment of conditions have already been
accomplished; the other two still remain to be attained. Hence it was said above:
“Besides, knowledge of what is the path and what is not the path arises when
full-understanding as investigation is occurring, and full-understanding as
investigation comes next to full-understanding as the known. So this is also a
reason why one who desires to accomplish this purification by knowledge and
vision of what is the path and what is not the path should first of all apply
himself to comprehension by groups” (§2).
[INSIGHT: COMPREHENSION BY GROUPS]
6. Here is the text:
“How is it that understanding of defining past, future and present states by
summarization is knowledge of comprehension?
“Any materiality whatever, whether past, future or present, internal or external,
gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near—he defines all materiality as
impermanent: this is one kind of comprehension. He defines it as painful: this is
one kind of comprehension. He defines it as not-self: this is one kind of
comprehension. Any feeling whatever … Any perception whatever … Any
formations whatever … Any consciousness whatever … He defines all
consciousness as impermanent: … He defines it as not-self: this is one kind of
comprehension. The eye … (etc.) … ageing-and-death, whether past, future or
present, he defines it  as impermanent: this is one kind of comprehension. He
defines it as painful: this is one kind of comprehension. He defines it as not-self:
this is one kind of comprehension.
“Understanding of defining by summarization thus, ‘Materiality, whether
past, future, or present, is impermanent in the sense of destruction, painful in
the sense of terror, not-self in the sense of having no core,’ is knowledge of
comprehension. Understanding of defining by generalization thus, ‘Feeling …
view should be regarded as included under the heading of ‘perception.’ So too with
what follows. ‘Becoming dispassionate’ is seeing formations with dispassion by means
of the contemplation of dispassion induced by the contemplations of impermanence,
and so on. ‘Delighting’ is craving accompanied by happiness. ‘Causing fading away’ is
contemplating in such a way that greed (rāga) for formations does not arise owing to
the causing of greed to fade (virajjana) by the contemplation of fading away
(virāgānupassanā); for one who acts thus is said to abandon greed. ‘Causing cessation’
is contemplating in such a way that, by the contemplation of cessation, formations
cease only, they do not arise in the future through a new becoming; since one who
acts thus is said to abandon the arousing (originating) of formations because of
producing the nature of non-arising. ‘Relinquishing’ is relinquishing in such a way that,
by the contemplation of relinquishment, formations are not grasped anymore; hence
he said, ‘He abandons grasping’; or the meaning is that he relinquishes apprehending
[them] as permanent, and so on” (Vism-mhṭ 780).
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[608] (etc.) … Consciousness … Eye … (etc.) … Ageing-and-death, whether past
…’ is knowledge of comprehension.
“Understanding of defining by summarization thus, ‘Materiality, whether
past, future, or present, is impermanent, formed, dependently arisen, subject to
destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject to cessation,’ is
knowledge of comprehension. Understanding of defining by generalization
thus, ‘Feeling … (etc.) … Consciousness … Eye … (etc.) … Ageing-and-death,
whether past, future, or present, is impermanent, formed, dependently arisen,
subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject to cessation’
is knowledge of comprehension.
“Understanding of defining by summarization thus, ‘With birth as condition
there is ageing-and-death; without birth as condition there is no ageing-and-
death,’ is knowledge of comprehension. Understanding of defining by
generalization thus, ‘In the past and in the future with birth as condition there
is ageing-and-death; without birth as condition there is no ageing-and-death,’
is knowledge of comprehension. Understanding of defining by generalization
thus, ‘With becoming as condition there is birth … With ignorance as condition
there are formations; without ignorance as condition there are no formations,’ is
knowledge of comprehension. Understanding of defining by generalization
thus, ‘In the past and in the future with ignorance as condition there are
formations; without ignorance as condition there are no formations’ is knowledge
of comprehension.
“Knowledge is in the sense of that being known and understanding is in the
sense of the act of understanding that. Hence it was said: ‘Understanding of
defining past, future, and present states by summarization is knowledge of
comprehension’” (Paṭis I 53f.).
9. Herein, the abbreviation, “The eye … (etc.) … Ageing-and-death,” should be
understood to represent the following sets of things elided:
1.
The states that occur in the doors [of consciousness] together
with the doors and the objects.
2.
The five aggregates.
3.
The six doors.
4.
The six objects.
5.
The six kinds of consciousness.
6.
The six kinds of contact.
7.
The six kinds of feeling.
8.
The six kinds of perception.
9.
The six kinds of volition.
10.
The six kinds of craving.
11.
The six kinds of applied thought.
12.
The six kinds of sustained thought.
13.
The six elements.
14.
The ten kasiṇas.
15.
The thirty-two bodily aspects.
16.
The twelve bases.
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17.
The eighteen elements.
18.
The twenty-two faculties.
19.
The three elements.
20.
The nine kinds of becoming.
21.
The four jhānas.
22.
The four measureless states.
23.
The four [immaterial] attainments.
24.
The twelve members of the dependent origination.
10.
For this is said in the Paṭisambhidā in the description of what is to be
directly known: “Bhikkhus, all is to be directly known. And what is all that is to
be directly known? [609] (1) Eye is to be directly known; visible objects are to be
directly known; eye-consciousness … eye-contact … feeling, pleasant or painful
or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, that arises due to eye-contact is also to be directly
known. Ear … Mind … feeling, pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-
pleasant, that arises due to mind-contact is also to be directly known.
11. “(2) Materiality is to be directly known … consciousness is to be directly known.
(3) Eye … mind … (4) Visible objects … mental objects … (5) Eye-consciousness …
mind-consciousness … (6) Eye-contact … mind-contact … (7) Eye-contact-born
feeling … mind-contact-born feeling … (8) Perception of visible objects … perception
of mental objects … (9) Volition regarding visible objects … volition regarding mental
objects … (10) Craving for visible objects … craving for mental objects … (11) Applied
thought about visible objects … applied thought about mental objects … (12)
Sustained thought about visible objects … sustained thought about mental objects
… (13) The earth element … the consciousness element … (14) The earth kasiṇa …
the consciousness kasiṇa … (15) Head hairs … brain … (16) The eye base … the
mental object base … (17) The eye element … the mind-consciousness element …
(18) The eye faculty … the final-knower faculty … (19) The sense-desire element …
the fine-material element … the immaterial element … (20) Sense-desire becoming
… fine-material becoming … immaterial becoming … percipient becoming … non-
percipient becoming … neither percipient nor non-percipient becoming … one-
constituent becoming … four-constituent becoming … five-constituent becoming
… (21) The first jhāna … the fourth jhāna … (22) The mind-deliverance of loving-
kindness … the mind-deliverance of equanimity … (23) The attainment of the base
consisting of boundless space … the attainment of the base consisting of neither
perception nor non-perception … (24) Ignorance is to be directly known … ageing-
and-death is to be directly known” (Paṭis I 5f.).
12. Since all this detail is given there it has been abbreviated here. But what is
thus abbreviated includes the supramundane states. These should not be dealt
with at this stage because they are not amenable to comprehension. And as
regards those that are amenable to comprehension a beginning should be made
by comprehending those among them that are obvious to and easily discernible
by the individual [meditator].
[COMPREHENSION BY GROUPS—APPLICATION OF TEXT]
13. Here is the application of the directions dealing with the aggregates: “Any
materiality whatever, (i–iii) whether past, future, or present, (iv–v) internal or
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external, (vi–vii) gross or subtle, (viii–ix) inferior or superior, (x-xi) far or near—
he defines all materiality as impermanent: this is one kind of comprehension.
He defines it as painful: [610] this is one kind of comprehension. He defines it as
not-self: this is one kind of comprehension” (see §6). At this point this bhikkhu
[takes] all materiality, which is described without specifying as “any materiality
whatever,” and having delimited it in the eleven instances, namely, with the past
triad and with the four dyads beginning with the internal dyad, he “defines all
materiality as impermanent,” he comprehends that it is impermanent. How? In the
way stated next. For this is said: “Materiality, whether past, future or present, is
impermanent in the sense of destruction.”
14.
Accordingly, he comprehends the materiality that is past as “impermanent
in the sense of destruction” because it was destroyed in the past and did not reach
this becoming; and he comprehends the materiality that is future as “impermanent
in the sense of destruction” since it will be produced in the next becoming, will be
destroyed there too, and will not pass on to a further becoming; and he
comprehends the materiality that is present as “impermanent in the sense of
destruction”  since it is destroyed here and does not pass beyond. And he
comprehends the materiality that is internal as “impermanent in the sense of
destruction” since it is destroyed as internal and does not pass on to the external
state. And he comprehends the materiality that is external … gross … subtle …
inferior … superior … far … And he comprehends the materiality that is near as
“impermanent in the sense of destruction” since it is destroyed there and does not pass
on to the far state. And all this is impermanent in the sense of destruction. Accordingly,
there is “one kind of comprehension” in this way; but it is effected in eleven ways.
15. And all that [materiality] is “painful in the sense of terror.” In the sense of
terror because of its terrifyingness; for what is impermanent brings terror, as it
does to the deities in the Sīhopama Sutta (S III 84). So this is also painful in the
sense of terror. Accordingly, there is one kind of comprehension in this way too;
but it is effected in eleven ways.
16. And just as it is painful, so too all that [materiality] is “not-self in the sense of
having no core.” In the sense of having no core because of the absence of any core
of self conceived as a self, an abider, a doer, an experiencer, one who is his own
master; for what is impermanent is painful (S III 82), and it is impossible to
escape the impermanence, or the rise and fall and oppression, of self, so how
could it have the state of a doer, and so on? Hence it is said, “Bhikkhus, were
materiality self, it would not lead to affliction” (S III 66), and so on. So this is also
not-self in the sense of having no core. Accordingly, there is one kind of
comprehension in this way too, but it is effected in eleven ways. [611] The same
method applies to feeling, and so on.
17. But what is impermanent is necessarily classed as formed, etc., and so in
order to show the synonyms for that [impermanence], or in order to show how
the attention given to it occurs in different ways, it is restated in the text thus:
“Materiality, whether past, future, or present, is impermanent, formed,
dependently arisen, subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away,
subject to cessation” (§7). The same method applies to feeling, and so on.
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[STRENGTHENING OF COMPREHENSION IN FORTY WAYS]
18.
Now, when the Blessed One was expounding conformity knowledge, he
[asked the question]: “By means of what forty aspects does he acquire liking that
is in conformity? By means of what forty aspects does he enter into the certainty
of rightness?” (P‘8).4 In the answer to it comprehension of impermanence, etc., is
set forth by him analytically in the way beginning: “[Seeing] the five aggregates
as impermanent, as painful, as a disease, a boil, a dart, a calamity, an affliction,
as alien, as disintegrating, as a plague, a disaster, a terror, a menace, as fickle,
perishable, unenduring, as no protection, no shelter, no refuge, as empty, vain,
void, not-self, as a danger, as subject to change, as having no core, as the root of
calamity, as murderous, as due to be annihilated, as subject to cankers, as formed,
as Māra’s bait, as subject to birth, subject to ageing, subject to illness, subject to
death, subject to sorrow, subject to lamentation, subject to despair, subject to
defilement. Seeing the five aggregates as impermanent, he acquires liking that
is in conformity. And seeing that the cessation of the five aggregates is the
permanent Nibbāna, he enters into the certainty of rightness” (Paṭis II 238). So
in order to strengthen that same comprehension of impermanence, pain, and
not-self in the five aggregates, this [meditator] also comprehends these five
aggregates by means of that [kind of comprehension].
19. How does he do it? He does it by means of comprehension as impermanent,
etc., stated specifically as follows: He comprehends each aggregate as impermanent
because of non-endlessness, and because of possession of a beginning and an
end; as painful because of oppression by rise and fall, and because of being the
basis for pain; as a disease because of having to be maintained by conditions, and
because of being the root of disease; as a boil because of being consequent upon
impalement by suffering, because of oozing with the filth of defilements, and
because of being swollen by arising, ripened by ageing, and burst by dissolution;
as  a dart because of producing oppression, because of penetrating inside, and
because of being hard to extract; as a calamity because of having to be condemned,
because of bringing loss, and [612] because of being the basis for calamity; as an
affliction because of restricting freedom, and because of being the foundation for
affliction; as alien because of inability to have mastery exercised over them, and
because of intractability; as disintegrating because of crumbling through sickness,
ageing and death; as a plague because of bringing various kinds of ruin; as a
disaster  because of bringing unforeseen and plentiful adversity, and because of
being the basis for all kinds of terror, and because of being the opposite of the
supreme comfort called the stilling of all suffering; as a menace because of being
bound up with many kinds of adversity, because of being menaced5 by ills, and
because of unfitness, as a menace, to be entertained; as fickle  because of fickle
4. “‘Liking that is in conformity’ is a liking for knowledge that is in conformity with the
attainment of the path. Actually the knowledge itself is the ‘liking’ (khanti) since it likes
(khamati), it endures, defining by going into the individual essence of its objective field.
The ‘certainty of rightness’ is the noble path; for that is called the rightness beginning
with right view and also the certainty of an irreversible trend” (Vism-mhṭ 784).
5. Upasaṭṭhatā—“being menaced;” abstr. noun fr. pp. of upa + saj; not as such in PED.
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insecurity due to sickness, ageing and death, and to the worldly states of gain,
etc.;6 as perishable  because of having the nature of perishing both by violence
and naturally; as unenduring because of collapsing on every occasion7 and because
of lack of solidity; as no protection because of not protecting, and because of
affording no safety; as no shelter because of unfitness to give shelter,8 and because
of not performing the function of a shelter for the unsheltered;9 as no refuge
because of failure to disperse fear10 in those who depend on them; as empty
because of their emptiness of the lastingness, beauty, pleasure and self that are
conceived about them; as vain  because of their emptiness, or because of their
triviality; for what is trivial is called “vain” in the world; as void because devoid
of the state of being an owner, abider, doer, experiencer, director; as not-self because
of itself having no owner, etc.; as danger because of the suffering in the process of
becoming, and because of the danger in suffering or, alternatively, as danger
(ādīnava) because of resemblance to misery (ādīna)11  since “danger” (ādīnava)
means that it is towards misery (ādīna) that it moves (vāti), goes, advances, this
being a term for a wretched man, and the aggregates are wretched too; as subject
to change because of having the nature of change in two ways, that is, through
ageing and through death; as having no core because of feebleness, and because
of decaying soon like sapwood; as the root of calamity because of being the cause
of calamity; as murderous  because of breaking faith like an enemy posing as a
friend; as due to be annihilated because their becoming disappears, and because
their non-becoming comes about; as subject to cankers because of being the
proximate cause for cankers; as formed  because of being formed by causes and
conditions; as Māra’s bait because of being the bait [laid] by the Māra of death
and the Māra of defilement; as subject to birth, to ageing, to illness, and  to death
because of having birth, ageing, illness and death as their nature; as subject to
sorrow, to lamentation and  to despair because of being the cause of sorrow,
lamentation and despair; as subject to defilement because of being the objective
field of the defilements of craving, views and misconduct.
20. Now, there are [613] fifty kinds of contemplation of impermanence here by
taking the following ten in the case of each aggregate: as impermanent, as
disintegrating, as fickle, as perishable, as unenduring, as subject to change, as
having no core, as due to be annihilated, as formed, as subject to death. There are
twenty-five kinds of contemplation of not-self by taking the following five in the
case of each aggregate: as alien, as empty, as vain, as void, as not-self. There are
6. The eight worldly states are: gain and non-gain, fame and non-fame, blame and
praise, and pleasure and pain (D III 160).
7. Avatthā—“occasion”: not in PED.
8. Allīyituṃ—“to give shelter”: not in PED, but see leṇa.
9. Allīnānaṃ—“for the unsheltered”: allīna = pp. of ā + līyati (see note 8 above), the
“un-sheltered.” Not in PED. Not to be confused with allīna = adherent (pp. of ā + līyati,
to stick, to be contiguous); see e.g. XIV.46.
10. Vism-mhṭ has “Jāti-ādi-bhayānaṃ hiṃsanaṃ vidhamanaṃ bhayasāraṇattaṃ,” which
suggests the rendering “because of not being a refuge from fear.”
11. Ádīna—“misery” or “miserable”: not in PED. Ádīna—“misery” or “miserable”:
not in PED.
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one hundred and twenty-five kinds of contemplation of pain by taking the rest
beginning with “as painful, as a disease” in the case of each aggregate.
So when a man comprehends the five aggregates by means of this comprehending
as impermanent, etc., in its two hundred aspects, his comprehending as
impermanent, painful and not-self, which is called “inductive insight,” is
strengthened. These in the first place are the directions for undertaking
comprehension here in accordance with the method given in the texts.
[NINE WAYS OF SHARPENING THE FACULTIES, ETC.
21.
While thus engaged in inductive insight, however, if it does not succeed,
he should sharpen his faculties [of faith, etc.,] in the nine ways stated thus: “The
faculties become sharp in nine ways: (1) he sees only the destruction of arisen
formations; (2) and in that [occupation] he makes sure of working carefully, (3)
he makes sure of working perseveringly, (4) he makes sure of working suitably,
and (5) by apprehending the sign of concentration and (6) by balancing the
enlightenment factors (7) he establishes disregard of body and life, (8) wherein
he overcomes [pain] by renunciation and (9) by not stopping halfway.12 He should
avoid the seven unsuitable things in the way stated in the Description of the
Earth Kasiṇa (IV.34) and cultivate the seven suitable things, and he should
comprehend the material at one time and the immaterial at another.
[COMPREHENSION OF THE MATERIAL]
22.
While comprehending materiality he should see how materiality is
generated,13 that is to say, how this materiality is generated by the four causes
beginning with kamma. Herein, when materiality is being generated in any
being, it is first generated from kamma. For at the actual moment of rebirth-
linking of a child in the womb, first thirty instances of materiality are generated
in the triple continuity, in other words, the decads of physical [heart-]basis, body,
and sex. And those are generated at the actual instant of the rebirth-linking
consciousness’s arising. And as at the instant of its arising, so too at the instant
of its presence and at the instant of its dissolution.14
23.
Herein, the cessation of materiality is slow and its transformation
ponderous, while the cessation of consciousness is swift and its transformation
quick (light); hence it is said, “Bhikkhus, I see no other one thing that is so
quickly transformed as [614] the mind” (A I 10).
24. For the life-continuum consciousness arises and ceases sixteen times while
one material instant endures. With consciousness the instant of arising, instant
12.
Abyosāna—“not stopping halfway” (another less good reading is accosāna): not
in PED; but it is a negative form of vosāna (q.v.), which is used of Devadatta in the
Vinaya Cūḷavagga ( = It 85) and occurs in this sense at M I 193. Not in CPD.
13.
“First it has to be seen by inference according to the texts. Afterwards it gradually
comes to be seen by personal experience when the knowledge of development gets
stronger” (Vism-mhṭ 790).
14.
“It is first generated from kamma because the temperature-born kinds, etc., are
rooted in that” (Vism-mhṭ 790).
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of presence, and instant of dissolution are equal; but with materiality only the
instants of arising and dissolution are quick like those [of consciousness], while
the instant of its presence is long and lasts while sixteen consciousnesses arise
and cease.
25.
The second life-continuum arises with the prenascent physical [heart-
]basis as its support, which has already reached presence and arose at the
rebirth-linking consciousness’s instant of arising. The third life-continuum
arises with the prenascent physical basis as its support, which has already
reached presence and arose together with that [second life-continuum
consciousness]. The occurrence of consciousness can be understood to happen
in this way throughout life. But in one who is facing death sixteen
consciousnesses arise with a single prenascent physical [heart-]basis as their
support, which has already reached presence.
26.
The materiality that arose at the instant of arising of the rebirth-linking
consciousness ceases along with the sixteenth consciousness after the rebirth-
linking consciousness. That arisen at the instant of presence of the rebirth-linking
consciousness ceases together with the instant of arising of the seventeenth.
That arisen at the instant of its dissolution ceases on arriving at the instant of
presence of the seventeenth.15 It goes on occurring thus for as long as the
recurrence [of births] continues.
Also seventy instances of materiality occur in the same way with the sevenfold
continuity [beginning with the eye decad] of those apparitionally born.
[(A) KAMMA-BORN  MATERIALITY]
27.
Herein, [as regards kamma-born materiality] the analysis should be
understood thus: (1) kamma, (2) what is originated by kamma, (3) what has
kamma as its condition, (4) what is originated by consciousness that has kamma
as its condition, (5) what is originated by nutriment that has kamma as its
condition, (6) what is originated by temperature that has kamma as its condition
(XI.111–14).
28. Herein, (1) kamma is profitable and unprofitable volition. (2) What is originated
by kamma is  the kamma-resultant aggregates and the seventy instances of
materiality beginning with the eye decad. (3) What has kamma as its condition is
the same [as the last] since kamma is the condition that upholds what is
originated by kamma.
29.
(4)  What is originated by consciousness that has kamma as its condition is
materiality originated by kamma-resultant consciousness. (5) What is originated
by nutriment that has kamma as its condition is so called since the nutritive essence
that has reached presence in the instances of materiality originated by kamma
originates a further octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, and the nutritive
essence there that has reached presence also originates a further one, and so it
15. The relationship of the duration of moments of matter and moments of
consciousness is dealt with in greater detail in the Sammohavinodanī (Vibh-a 25f.). See
also Introduction, note 18.
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links up four or five occurrences of octads.     (6) What is originated by temperature that
has kamma as its condition is so called since the kamma-born fire element that has
reached presence originates an octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, which is
temperature-originated, and the temperature in that originates a further octad-with-
nutritive-essence-as eighth, and so it links up four or five occurrences of octads.
This is how the generation of kamma-born materiality in the first place should
be seen. [615]
[(B) CONSCIOUSNESS-BORN  MATERIALITY]
30.
Also as regards the consciousness-born kinds, the analysis should be
understood thus: (1) consciousness, (2) what is originated by consciousness, (3)
what has consciousness as its condition, (4) what is originated by nutriment
that has consciousness as its condition, (5) what is originated by temperature
that has consciousness as its condition.
31. Herein, (1) consciousness is the eighty-nine kinds of consciousness. Among
these:
Consciousnesses thirty-two,
And twenty-six, and nineteen too,
Are reckoned to give birth to matter,
Postures, also intimation;
Sixteen kinds of consciousness
Are reckoned to give birth to none.
As regards the sense sphere, thirty-two consciousnesses, namely, the eight
profitable consciousnesses ((1)–(8)), the twelve unprofitable ((22)–(33)), the ten
functional excluding the mind element ((71)–(80)), and the two direct-knowledge
consciousnesses as profitable and functional, give rise to materiality, to postures,
and to intimation. The twenty-six consciousnesses, namely, the ten of the fine-material
sphere ((9)–(13), (81)–(85)) and the eight of the immaterial sphere ((14)–(17), (86)–
(89)) excluding the resultant [in both cases], and the eight supramundane ((18)–
(21), (66)–(69)), give rise to materiality, to postures but not to intimation. The nineteen
consciousnesses, namely, the ten life-continuum consciousnesses in the sense sphere
((41)–(49), (56)), the five in the fine-material sphere ((57)–(61)), the three mind elements
((39), (55), (70)), and the one resultant mind-consciousness element without root-
cause and accompanied by joy (40), give rise to materiality only, not to postures or to
intimation. The sixteen consciousnesses, namely, the two sets of five consciousnesses
((34)–(38), (50)–(54)), the rebirth-linking consciousness of all beings, the death
consciousness of those whose cankers are destroyed, and the four immaterial
resultant consciousnesses ((62)–(65)) do not give rise to materiality or to postures or
to intimation. And those herein that do give rise to materiality do not do so at the
instant of their presence or at the instant of their dissolution, for consciousness is
weak then. But it is strong at the instant of arising. Consequently it originates
materiality then with the prenascent physical basis as its support.
32. (2) What is originated by consciousness is the three other immaterial aggregates
and the seventeenfold materiality, namely, the sound ennead, bodily intimation,
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verbal intimation, the space element, lightness, malleability, wieldiness, growth,
and continuity.
(3) What has consciousness as its condition is the materiality of fourfold origination
stated thus: “Postnascent states of consciousness and consciousness-
concomitants are a condition, as postnascence condition, for this prenascent
body” (Paṭṭh I 5).
33. (4) What is originated by nutriment that has consciousness as its condition: the
nutritive essence that has reached presence in consciousness-originated material
instances originates a further octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, and thus
links up two or three occurrences of octads.
34. (5) What is originated by temperature that has consciousness as its condition: the
consciousness-originated temperature that has [616] reached presence originates
a further octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, and thus links up two or three
occurrences.
This is how the generation of consciousness-born materiality should be seen.
[(C) NUTRIMENT-BORN  MATERIALITY]
35.
Also as regards the nutriment-born kinds, the analysis should be
understood thus: (1) nutriment, (2) what is originated by nutriment, (3) what has
nutriment as its condition, (4) what is originated by nutriment that has nutriment
as its condition, (5) what is originated by temperature that has nutriment as its
condition.
36. Herein, (1) nutriment is physical nutriment. (2) What is originated by nutriment
is the fourteenfold materiality, namely, (i–viii) that of the octad-with-nutritive-
essence-as-eighth originated by nutritive essence that has reached presence by
obtaining as its condition kamma-born materiality that is clung to (kammically
acquired) and basing itself on that,16 and (ix) space element, (x–xiv) lightness,
malleability, wieldiness, growth, and continuity.
(3) What has nutriment as its condition is the materiality of fourfold origination
stated thus: “Physical nutriment is a condition, as nutriment condition, for this
body” (Paṭṭh I 5).
37.
(4) What is originated by nutriment that has nutriment as its condition: the
nutritive essence that has reached presence in nutriment-originated material
instances originates a further octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth and the
nutritive essence in that octad originates a further octad, and thus links up the
occurrence of octads ten or twelve times. Nutriment taken on one day sustains
16. “‘By obtaining as its condition kamma-born materiality that is clung-to’: by this he
points out that external un-clung-to nutritive essence does not perform the function
of nourishing materiality. He said ‘and basing itself on that’ meaning that its obtaining of
a condition is owing to its being supported by what is kamma-born. And ‘clung-to’ is
specifically mentioned in order to rule out any question of there being a ‘kamma-
born’ method for ‘materiality originated by consciousness that has kamma as its
condition’ just because it happens to be rooted in kamma [There is no such method]”
(Vism-mhṭ 793f.).
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for as long as seven days; but divine nutritive essence sustains for as long as one
or two months. The nutriment taken by a mother originates materiality by
pervading the body of the child [in gestation]. Also nutriment smeared on the body
originates materiality. Kamma-born nutriment is a name for nutriment that is clung
to. That also originates materiality when it has reached presence. And the nutritive
essence in it originates a further octad. Thus it links up four or five occurrences.
38.
(5) What is originated by temperature that has nutriment as its condition:
nutriment-originated fire element that has reached presence originates an octad-
with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth that is thus temperature-originated. Here this
nutriment is a condition for nutriment-originated material instances as their
progenitor. It is a condition for the rest as support, nutriment, presence, and
non-disappearance.
This is how the generation of nutriment-born materiality should be seen.
[(D) TEMPERATURE-BORN  MATERIALITY]
39.
Also as regards the temperature-born kinds, the analysis should be
understood thus: (1) temperature, (2) what is originated by temperature, (3) what
has temperature as its condition, (4) what is originated by temperature that has
temperature as its condition, (5) what is originated by nutriment that has
temperature as its condition.
40. Herein, (1) temperature is  the fire element of fourfold origination; but it is
twofold as hot temperature and cold temperature. (2) What is originated by
temperature: the temperature of fourfold origination that has reached presence by
obtaining a clung-to condition originates materiality in the body. [617] That
materiality is fifteenfold, namely, sound ennead, space element, lightness,
malleability, wieldiness, growth, continuity. (3) What has temperature as its condition
is so  called since temperature is a condition for the occurrence and for the
destruction of materiality of fourfold origination.
41. (4) What is originated by temperature that has temperature as its condition:  the
temperature-originated fire element that has reached presence originates a further
octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, and the temperature in that octad
originates a further octad. Thus temperature-originated materiality both goes
on occurring for a long period and also maintains itself as well in what is not
clung to.17
42.
(5) What is originated by nutriment that has temperature as its condition:  the
temperature-originated nutritive essence that has reached presence originates a
further octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, and the nutritive essence in that
originates a further one, thus it links up ten or twelve occurrences of octads.
Herein, this temperature is a condition for temperature-originated material
instances as their progenitor. It is a condition for the rest as support, presence,
and non-disappearance.
17. “What is intended is head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, callosities, warts, etc.,
which are separate from the flesh in a living body; otherwise a corpse, and so on”
(Vism-mhṭ 795).
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This is how the generation of temperature-born materiality should be seen.
One who sees the generation of materiality thus is said to “comprehend the
material at one time” (§21).18
[COMPREHENSION OF THE IMMATERIAL]
43. And just as one who is comprehending the material should see the generation
of the material, so too one who is comprehending the immaterial should see the
generation of the immaterial. And that is through the eighty-one mundane arisings
of consciousness, that is to say, it is by kamma accumulated in a previous becoming
that this immaterial [mentality] is generated. And in the first place it is generated as
[one of] the nineteen kinds of arisings of consciousness as rebirth-linking (XVII.130).
But the modes in which it is generated should be understood according to the
method given in the Description of the Dependent Origination (XVII.134f.). That
same [nineteenfold arising of consciousness is generated] as life-continuum as
well, starting from the consciousness next to rebirth-linking consciousness, and as
death consciousness at the termination of the life span. And when it is of the sense
sphere, and the object in the six doors is a vivid one, it is also generated as registration.
44. In the course of an existence, eye-consciousness, together with its associated
states, supported by light and caused by attention is generated because the eye is
intact and because visible data have come into focus. For it is actually when a visible
datum has reached presence that it impinges on the eye at the instant of the eye-
sensitivity’s presence. When it has done so, the life-continuum arises and ceases
twice. Next to arise is the functional mind element with that same object,
accomplishing the function of adverting. Next to that, eye-consciousness, which is
the result of profitable or of unprofitable [kamma] and sees that same visible datum.
[618] Next, the resultant mind element, which receives that same visible datum.
Next, the resultant root-causeless mind-consciousness element, which investigates
that same visible datum. Next, the functional mind-consciousness element without
root-cause and accompanied by equanimity, which determines that same visible
datum. Next, [it is generated either] as one from among the profitable ((l)–(8)),
unprofitable ((22)–(33)), or functional ((71) and (73)–(80)) kinds of consciousness
belonging to the sense sphere, either as consciousness accompanied by equanimity
and without root-cause (71),19 or as five or seven impulsions. Next, in the case of
sense-sphere beings, [it is generated] as any of the eleven kinds of registration
consciousness conforming [as to object] with the impulsions. The same applies to
the remaining doors. But in the case of the mind door-exalted consciousnesses also
arise.
This is how the generation of the immaterial should be seen in the case of the
six doors.
18. “When the generation of materiality is seen its dissolution also is seen, and so he
said, ‘One who sees the generation of materiality thus is said to comprehend the material at one
time’ because of the brevity of states’ occurrence; for it is not the seeing of mere
generation that is called comprehension but there must be seeing of rise and fall besides.
So too the apprehending of generation in the other instances” (Vism-mhṭ 795).
19. “This refers to determining” (Vism-mhṭ 795).
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One who sees the generation of the immaterial thus is said to “comprehend
the immaterial at another time” (§21).
45. This is how one [meditator] accomplishes the development of understand-
ing, progressing gradually by comprehending at one time the material and at
another time the immaterial, by attributing the three characteristics to them.
[THE  MATERIAL  SEPTAD]
Another comprehends formations by attributing the three characteristics to
them through the medium of the material septad and the immaterial septad.
46.
Herein, one who comprehends [them] by attributing [the characteristics]
in the following seven ways is said to comprehend by attributing through the
medium of the material septad, that is to say, (1) as taking up and putting down,
(2) as disappearance of what grows old in each stage, (3) as arising from nutriment,
(4) as arising from temperature, (5) as kamma-born, (6) as consciousness-originated,
and (7) as natural materiality. Hence the Ancients said:
“(1) As taking up and putting down,
(2) As growth and decline in every stage,
(3) As nutriment, (4) as temperature,
(5) As kamma, and (6) as consciousness,
(7) As natural materiality—
He sees with seven detailed insights.”
47.
1. Herein, taking up is rebirth-linking. Putting down is death. So the meditator
allots one hundred years for this “taking up” and “putting down” and he
attributes the three characteristics to formations. How? All formations between
these limits are impermanent. Why? Because of the occurrence of rise and fall,
because of change, because of temporariness, and because of preclusion of
permanence. But since arisen formations have arrived at presence, and when
present are afflicted by ageing, and on arriving at ageing are bound to dissolve,
they are therefore painful because of continual oppression, because of being
hard to bear, because of being the basis of suffering, and because of precluding
pleasure. And since no one has any power over arisen formations in the three
instances, “Let them not reach presence”, “Let those that have reached presence
not age,” and “Let those that have reached ageing not dissolve,” and they are
void of the possibility of any power being exercised over them, they are therefore
not-self because void, because ownerless, because unsusceptible to the wielding
of power, and because of precluding a self.20 [619]
20. “No one, not even the Blessed One, has such mastery; for it is impossible for
anyone to alter the three characteristics. The province of supernormal power is simply
the alteration of a state” (Vism-mhṭ 797).
“‘Because of precluding a self’ means because of precluding the self conceived by
those outside the Dispensation; for the non-existence in dhammas of any self as
conceived by outsiders is stated by the words, ‘because void’; but by this expression [it is
stated] that there is no self because there is no such individual essence” (Vism-mhṭ 797).
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48. 2. (a) Having attributed the three characteristics to materiality allotted one
hundred years for the “taking up” and “putting down” thus, he next attributes
them according to disappearance of what grows old in each stage. Herein,
“disappearance of what grows old in each stage” is a name for the disappearance
of the materiality that has grown old during a stage [of life]. The meaning is that
he attributes the three characteristics by means of that.
49. How? He divides that same hundred years up into three stages, that is, the
first stage, the middle stage, and the last stage. Herein, the first thirty-three years
are called the first stage, the next thirty-four years are called the middle stage,
and the next thirty-three years are called the last stage. So after dividing it up
into these three stages, [he attributes the three characteristics thus:] The
materiality occurring in the first stage ceased there without reaching the middle
stage: therefore it is impermanent; what is impermanent is painful; what is
painful is not-self. Also the materiality occurring in the middle stage ceased
there without reaching the last stage: therefore it is impermanent too and painful
and not-self. Also there is no materiality occurring in the thirty-three years of the
last stage that is capable of out-lasting death: therefore that is impermanent too
and painful and not-self. This is how he attributes the three characteristics.
50.
2. (b) Having attributed the three characteristics according to
“disappearance of what grows old in each stage” thus by means of the first
stage, etc., he again attributes the three characteristics according to
“disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of the following ten
decades: the tender decade, the sport decade, the beauty decade, the strength
decade, the understanding decade, the decline decade, the stooping decade, the
bent decade, the dotage decade, and the prone decade.
51. Herein, as to these decades: in the first place, the first ten years of a person
with a hundred years’ life are called the tender decade; for then he is a tender
unsteady child. The next ten years are called the sport decade; for he is very fond
of sport then. The next ten years are called the beauty decade; for his beauty
reaches its full extent then. The next ten years are called the strength decade; for
his strength and power reach their full extent then. The next ten years are called
the understanding decade; for his understanding is well established by then. Even
in one naturally weak in understanding some understanding, it seems, arises at
that time. The next ten years are called the decline decade; for his fondness for
sport and his beauty, strength, and understanding decline then. The next ten
years are called the stooping decade; for his figure [620] stoops forward then. The
next ten years are called the bent decade; for his figure becomes bent like the end
of a plough then. The next ten years are called the dotage decade; for he is doting
then and forgets what he does. The next ten years are called the prone decade; for
a centenarian mostly lies prone.
52.
Herein, in order to attribute the three characteristics according to
“disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of these decades,
the meditator considers thus: The materiality occurring in the first decade ceases
there without reaching the second decade: therefore it is impermanent, painful,
not-self. The materiality occurring in the second decade … the materiality
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occurring in the ninth decade ceases there without reaching the tenth decade;
the materiality occurring in the tenth decade ceases there without reaching the
next becoming: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self. That is how he
attributes the three characteristics.
53. 2. (c) Having attributed the three characteristics according to “disappear-
ance of what grows old in each stage” thus by means of the decades, he again
attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows
old in each stage” by taking that same hundred years in twenty parts of five
years each.
54.
How? He considers thus: The materiality occurring in the first five years
ceases there without reaching the second five years: therefore it is impermanent,
painful, not-self. The materiality occurring in the second five years … in the
third … in the nineteenth five years ceases there without reaching the twentieth
five years. There is no materiality occurring in the twentieth five years that is
capable of outlasting death; therefore that is impermanent too, painful, not-self.
55. 2. (d) Having attributed the three characteristics according to “disappear-
ance of what grows old in each stage” thus by means of the twenty parts, he
again attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what
grows old in each stage” by taking twenty-five parts of four years each. (e) Next,
by taking thirty-three parts of three years each, (f) by taking fifty parts of two
years each, (g) by taking a hundred parts of one year each.
2. (h) Next he attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance
of what grows old in each stage” by means of each of the three seasons, taking
each year in three parts.
56. How? The materiality occurring in the four months of the rains (vassāna)
ceases there without reaching the winter (hemanta). The materiality occurring in
the winter ceases there without reaching the summer (gimha). The materiality
occurring in the summer ceases there without reaching the rains again: therefore
it is impermanent, [621] painful, not-self.
57. 2. (i) Having attributed them thus, he again takes one year in six parts and
attributes the three characteristics to this materiality according to “disappearance
of what grows old in each stage” thus: The materiality occurring in the two
months of the rains (vassāna) ceases there without reaching the autumn (sarada).
The materiality occurring in the autumn … in the winter (hemanta) … in the cool
(sisira) … in the spring (vasanta) … the materiality occurring in the summer
(gimha) ceases there without reaching the rains again: therefore it is impermanent
too, painful, not-self.
58. 2. (j) Having attributed them thus, he next attributes the characteristics by
means of the dark and bright halves of the moon thus: The materiality occurring
in the dark half of the moon ceases there without reaching the bright half; the
materiality occurring in the bright half ceases there without reaching the dark
half: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.
59. 2. (k) Next he attributes the three characteristics by means of night and day
thus: The materiality occurring in the night ceases there without reaching the
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day; the materiality occurring in the day ceases there without reaching the
night: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.
60. 2. (l) Next he attributes the three characteristics by taking that same day in
six parts beginning with the morning thus: The materiality occurring in the
morning ceased there without reaching the noon; the materiality occurring in
the noon … without reaching the evening; the materiality occurring in the
evening … the first watch; the materiality occurring in the first watch … the
middle watch; the materiality occurring in the middle watch ceased there without
reaching the last watch; the materiality occurring in the last watch ceased there
without reaching the morning again: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-
self.
61.
2. (m) Having attributed them thus, he again attributes the three
characteristics to that same materiality by means of moving forward and moving
backward, looking toward and looking away, bending and stretching, thus: The
materiality occurring in the moving forward ceases there without reaching the
moving backward; the materiality occurring in the moving backward … the
looking toward; the materiality occurring in the looking toward … the looking
away; the materiality occurring in the looking away … the bending; the materiality
occurring in the bending ceases there without reaching the stretching: therefore
it is impermanent, painful, not-self (cf. M-a I 260).
62.
2. (n) Next he divides a single footstep into six parts as “lifting up,”
“shifting forward,” “shifting sideways,” “lowering down,” “placing down,”
and “fixing down21.”
63.
Herein,  lifting up is raising the foot from the ground. Shifting forward is
shifting it to the front. Shifting sideways is moving the foot to one side or the other
in seeing a thorn, stump, snake, and so on. Lowering down is letting the foot
down. [622] Placing down is putting the foot on the ground. Fixing down is pressing
the foot on the ground while the other foot is being lifted up.
64. Herein, in the lifting up two elements, the earth element and the water element,
are subordinate22 and sluggish while the other two are predominant and strong.
Likewise in the shifting forward and  shifting sideways. In the lowering down two
elements, the fire element and the air element, are subordinate and sluggish
while the other two are predominant and strong. Likewise in the placing down
and  fixing down.
He attributes the three characteristics to materiality according to
“disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of these six parts
into which he has thus divided it.
65. How? He considers thus: The elements and the kinds of derived materiality
occurring in the lifting up all ceased there without reaching the shifting forward:
therefore they are impermanent, painful, not-self. Likewise those occurring in
21.
Vītiharaṇa—“shifting sideways,” sannikkhepana—“placing down,” and
sannirujjhana—“fixing down,” are not in PED; cf. M-a I 260.
22. Omatta—“subordinate”: not in PED.
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the shifting forward … the shifting sideways; those occurring in the shifting
sideways … the lowering down; those occurring in the lowering down … the
placing down; those occurring in the placing down cease there without reaching
the fixing down; thus formations keep breaking up, like crackling sesame seeds
put into a hot pan; wherever they arise, there they cease stage by stage, section
by section, term by term, each without reaching the next part: therefore they are
impermanent, painful, not-self.
66.
When he sees formations stage by stage with insight thus, his
comprehension of materiality has become subtle. Here is a simile for its subtlety.
A border dweller, it seems, who was familiar with torches of wood and grass,
etc., but had never seen a lamp before, came to a city. Seeing a lamp burning in
the market, he asked a man, “I say, what is that lovely thing called?”—“What is
lovely about that? It is called a lamp. Where it goes to when its oil and wick are
used up no one knows.” Another told him, “That is crudely put; for the flame in
each third portion of the wick as it gradually burns up ceases there without
reaching the other parts.” Other told him, “That is crudely put too; for the flame
in each inch, in each half-inch, in each thread, in each strand, will cease without
reaching the other strands; but the flame cannot appear without a strand.”
67.
[623] Herein, the meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to
materiality delimited by the hundred years as “taking up” and “putting down”
is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “Where it goes when its oil and wick
are used up no one knows.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics
according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” to the materiality
delimited by the third part of the hundred years is like the man’s knowledge
stated thus, “The flame in each third portion of the wick ceases without reaching
the other parts.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to
materiality delimited by the periods of ten, five, four, three, two years, one year, is
like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each inch will cease without
reaching the others.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to
materiality delimited by the four-month and two-month periods by classing the
year as threefold and sixfold respectively according to the seasons is like the
man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each half-inch will cease without
reaching the others.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to
materiality delimited by means of the dark and bright halves of the moon, by
means of night and day, and by means of morning, etc., taking one night and
day in six parts, is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each
thread will cease without reaching the others.” The meditator’s attribution of
the three characteristics to materiality delimited by means of each part, namely,
“moving forward,” etc., and “lifting up,” etc., is like the man’s knowledge stated
thus, “The flame in each strand will cease without reaching the others.”
68.
3–6.  Having in various ways thus attributed the three characteristics to
materiality according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage,” he
analyzes that same materiality and divides it into four portions as “arising from
nutriment,” etc., and he again attributes the three characteristics to each portion.
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3. Herein, materiality arising from nutriment becomes evident to him through
hunger and its satisfaction. For materiality that is originated when one is hungry
is parched and stale, and it is as ugly and disfigured as a parched stump, as a
crow perching in a charcoal pit. That originated when hunger is satisfied is
plump, fresh, tender, smooth and soft to touch. Discerning that, he attributes the
three characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring when hunger is satisfied
ceases there without reaching the time when one is hungry; therefore it is
impermanent, painful, not-self.
69.
4. That arising from temperature becomes evident through cool and heat. For
materiality that is originated when it is hot is parched, stale and ugly. [624]
Materiality originated by cool temperature is plump, fresh, tender, smooth, and
soft to touch. Discerning that, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus:
The materiality occurring when it is hot ceases there without reaching the time
when it is cool. The materiality occurring when it is cool ceases there without
reaching the time when it is hot: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.
70. 5. The kamma-born becomes evident through the sense doors, that is, the base [of
consciousness]. For in the case of the eye door there are thirty material instances
with decads of the eye, the body, and sex; but with the twenty-four instances originated
by temperature, consciousness, and nutriment, [that is to say, three bare octads,]
which are their support, there are fifty-four. Likewise in the case of the doors of the
ear, nose, and tongue. In the case of the body door there are forty-four with the
decads of body and sex and the instances originated by temperature, and so on. In
the case of the mind door there are fifty-four, too, with the decads of the heart-basis,
the body, and sex, and those instances originated by the temperature, and so on.
Discerning all that materiality, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The
materiality occurring in the eye door ceases there without reaching the ear door; the
materiality occurring in the ear door … the nose door; the materiality occurring in
the nose door … the tongue door; the materiality occurring in the tongue door … the
body door; the materiality occurring in the body door ceases there without reaching
the mind door: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.
71. 6. The consciousness-originated becomes evident through [the behaviour
of] one who is joyful or grieved. For the materiality arisen at the time when he is
joyful is smooth, tender, fresh and soft to touch. That arisen at the time when he
is grieved is parched, stale and ugly. Discerning that, he attributes the three
characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring at the time when one is joyful
ceases there without reaching the time when one is grieved; the materiality
occurring at the time when one is grieved ceases there without reaching the time
when one is joyful: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.
72.
When he discerns consciousness-originated materiality and attributes the
three characteristics to it in this way, this meaning becomes evident to him:
Life, person, pleasure, pain just these alone
Join in one conscious moment that flicks by.
Gods, though they live for four-and-eighty thousand
Eons, are not the same for two such moments. [625]
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Ceased aggregates of those dead or alive
Are all alike, gone never to return;
And those that break up meanwhile, and in future,
Have traits no different from those ceased before.
No [world is] born if [consciousness is] not
Produced; when that is present, then it lives;
When consciousness dissolves, the world is dead:
The highest sense this concept will allow.
No store of broken states, no future stock;
Those born balance like seeds on needle points.
Breakup of states is foredoomed at their birth;
Those present decay, unmingled with those past.
They come from nowhere, break up, nowhere go;
Flash in and out, as lightning in the sky23 (Nidd I 42).
73. 7. Having attributed the three characteristics to that arising from nutriment,
etc., he again attributes the three characteristics to natural materiality. Natural
materiality is a name for external materiality that is not bound up with faculties
and arises along with the eon of world expansion, for example, iron, copper, tin,
lead, gold, silver, pearl, gem, beryl, conch shell, marble, coral, ruby, opal, soil,
stone, rock, grass, tree, creeper, and so on (see Vibh 83). That becomes evident to
him by means of an asoka-tree shoot.
74.
For that to begin with is pale pink; then in two or three days it becomes
dense red, again in two or three days it becomes dull red, next [brown,] the
colour of a tender [mango] shoot; next, the colour of a growing shoot; next, the
colour of pale leaves; next, the colour of dark green leaves. After it has become the
colour of dark green leaves, as it follows out the successive stages of such material
continuity, it eventually becomes withered foliage, and at the end of the year it
breaks loose from its stem and falls off.
75.
Discerning that, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The
materiality occurring when it is pale pink ceases there without reaching the
time when it is dense red; the materiality occurring when it is dense red … dull
red; the materiality occurring when it is dull red … the colour of a tender [mango]
shoot; the materiality occurring when it is the colour of a tender [mango] shoot
… the colour of a growing shoot; the materiality occurring when it is the colour
of a growing shoot … the colour of pale green leaves; the materiality occurring
23. This verse is quoted twice in the Mahāniddesa (Nidd I 42 & 118). For Vism-mhṭ’s
comment see Ch. VIII, note 11. Vism-mhṭ and the Sinhalese translation have been
taken as guides in rendering this rather difficult verse. There is another stanza in the
Niddesa not quoted here:
“… this concept will allow.
States happen as their tendencies dictate;
And they are modelled by desire; their stream
Uninterruptedly flows ever on
Conditioned by the sixfold base of contact.
No store of broken states …”
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when it is the colour of pale green leaves … the colour of dark green leaves; the
materiality occurring when it is the colour of dark green leaves … the time when
it is withered foliage; the materiality occurring when it is withered foliage ceases
there without [626] reaching the time when it breaks loose from its stem and
falls off: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.
He comprehends all natural materiality in this way.
This is how, firstly, he comprehends formations by attributing the three
characteristics to them by means of the material septad.
[THE  IMMATERIAL  SEPTAD]
76. The headings of what was called above “the immaterial septad” are these:
(1) by groups, (2) by pairs, (3) by moments, (4) by series, (5) by removal of [false]
view, (6) by abolition of conceit, (7) by ending of attachment.
77. 1. Herein, by groups means the states belonging to the contact pentad.24 How?
Here, “he comprehends by groups” [means that] a bhikkhu considers thus: The
states belonging to the contact pentad arising in the comprehending of head hairs
as “impermanent, painful, not-self”; the states belonging to the contact pentad
arising in the comprehending of body hairs as … in the contemplation of brain as
“impermanent, painful, not-self”—all these states disintegrate section by section,
term by term, like crackling sesame seeds put into a hot pan, each without reaching
the next: therefore they are impermanent, painful, not-self. This, firstly, is the method
according to the Discourse on Purification.25
78. According to the Discourse on the Noble Ones’ Heritages, however, he is
said to “comprehend by groups” when by means of a subsequent consciousness
he comprehends as “impermanent, painful, not-self” that consciousness which
occurred [comprehending] materiality as “impermanent, painful, not-self” in
the seven instances of the material septad given above. As this method is more
suitable we shall therefore confine ourselves to it in explaining the rest.
79. 2. By pairs: after the bhikkhu has comprehended as “impermanent, painful,
not-self” the materiality of the “taking up and putting down” (§46f.), he
comprehends that consciousness [with which he was comprehending the
materiality] too as “impermanent, painful, not-self” by means of a subsequent
consciousness. After he has comprehended as “impermanent, painful, not-self”
the materiality of the “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” and that
“arising from nutriment,” “arising from temperature,” “kamma-born,”
“consciousness-originated” and “natural,” he comprehends that consciousness
too as “impermanent, painful, not-self” by means of a subsequent consciousness.
In this way he is said to comprehend by pairs.
24. The “contact pentad” (phassa-pañcamaka) is a term used for the first five things
listed in Dhs §1, that is, contact, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness, which
are invariably present whenever there is consciousness.
25. The “Discourse on Purification” (visuddhi-kathā) and the “Discourse on the Noble
Ones’ Heritages” (ariyavaṃsa-kathā) are presumably names of chapters in the old
Sinhalese commentaries no longer extant.
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80. 3. By moments: after the bhikkhu has comprehended as “impermanent, pain-
ful, not-self” the materiality of the “taking up and putting down,” he comprehends
that first consciousness [with which he was comprehending the materiality] as
“impermanent, painful, not-self” by means of a second consciousness, and that
second consciousness by means of a third, and the third by means of a fourth, and
the fourth by means of a fifth, and that too he comprehends as “impermanent,
painful, not-self.” After he has comprehended as “impermanent, painful, not-self”
the materiality of “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” and that “aris-
ing from nutriment,” “arising from temperature,” [627] “kamma-born,” “conscious-
ness-originated” and “natural,” he comprehends that first consciousness as “im-
permanent, painful, not-self” by means of a second consciousness, and that second
consciousness by means of a third, and the third by means of a fourth, and the
fourth by means of a fifth, and that too he comprehends as “impermanent, painful,
not-self.” Comprehending thus four [consciousnesses] from each discerning of
materiality he is said to comprehend by moments.
81.
4. By series: after he has comprehended as “impermanent, painful, not-
self” the materiality of the “taking up and putting down,” he comprehends that
first consciousness as “impermanent, painful, not-self” by means of a second
consciousness, and the second by means of a third, and the third by means of a
fourth … and the tenth by means of an eleventh, and that too he comprehends as
“impermanent, painful, not-self.” After he has comprehended as “impermanent,
painful, not-self” the materiality of the “disappearance of what grows old in
each stage” and that “arising from nutriment,” “arising from temperature,”
“kamma-born,” “consciousness-originated” and “natural,” he comprehends
that consciousness as “impermanent, painful, not-self” by means of a second
consciousness, and the second by means of a third, … and the tenth by means of
an eleventh, and that too he comprehends as “impermanent, painful, not-self.”
It would be possible to go on comprehending it in this way with serial insight
even for a whole day. But both the material meditation subject and the immaterial
meditation subject become familiar when the comprehending is taken as far as
the tenth consciousness. That is why it is said26 that it can be stopped at the
tenth. It is when he comprehends in this way that he is said to comprehend by
series.
82.
5. By removal of [false] view, 6. by abolition of conceit, 7. by ending of attachment:
there is no individual method for any of these three. But when he has discerned
this materiality as described above and this immateriality as described here,
then he sees that there is no living being over and above the material and the
immaterial. As soon as he no longer sees a being, the perception of a being is
removed. When he discerns formations with consciousness from which
perception of a being has been removed, then [false] view does not arise in him.
When [false] view does not arise in him, then [false] view is said to be removed.
When he discerns formations with consciousness from which [false] view
has been removed, then conceit does not arise in him. When conceit does not
26. “Said in the Discourse on the Noble Ones’ Heritages” (Vism-mhṭ 804).
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arise, conceit is said to be abolished. When he discerns formations with
consciousness from which conceit has been abolished, then craving does not
arise in him. When craving does not arise in him, attachment is said to be ended.
This firstly is what is said in the Discourse on Purification.
83. But in the Discourse on the Noble Ones’ Heritages, after setting forth the
headings thus: “As removal of [false] view, as abolition of conceit, as ending of
attachment,” the following method is set forth: “There is no removal of [false]
view in one who takes it thus, ‘I see with insight, my insight’; [628] there is
removal of [false] view in one who takes it thus, ‘Only formations see formations
with insight, comprehend, define, discern, and delimit them.’ There is no abolition
of conceit in one who takes it thus, ‘I see thoroughly with insight, I see well with
insight’; there is abolition of conceit in one who takes it thus, ‘Only formations see
formations with insight, comprehend, define, discern, and delimit them.’ There is
no ending of attachment in one who is pleased with insight thus, ‘I am able to see
with insight’; there is ending of attachment in one who takes it thus, ‘Only formations
see formations with insight, comprehend, define, discern, and delimit them.’
84. “There is removal of [false] view in one who sees thus: ‘If formations were
self, it would be right to take them as self; but being not-self they are taken as self.
Therefore they are not-self in the sense of no power being exercisable over them;
they are impermanent in the sense of non-existence after having come to be; they
are painful in the sense of oppression by rise and fall.’
85.
“There is abolition of conceit in one who sees thus: ‘If formations were
permanent, it would be right to take them as permanent; but being impermanent
they are taken as permanent. Therefore they are impermanent in the sense of
non-existence after having come to be; they are painful in the sense of
oppression by rise and fall; they are not-self in the sense of no power being
exercisable over them.’
86. “There is ending of attachment in one who sees thus: ‘If formations were
pleasant, it would be right to take them as pleasant; but being painful they are
taken as pleasant. Therefore they are painful in the sense of oppression by rise
and fall; they are impermanent in the sense of non-existence after having come
to be; they are not-self in the sense of no power being exercisable over them.’
“Thus there comes to be the removal of [false] view in one who sees formations
as not-self; there comes to be the abolishing of conceit in one who sees them as
impermanent; there comes to be the ending of attachment in one who sees them
as painful. So this insight is valid in each instance.”
88.
This is how he comprehends formations by attributing the three
characteristics to them by means of the immaterial septad.
At this stage both the material meditation subject and the immaterial meditation
subject have become familiar to him.
[THE EIGHTEEN PRINCIPAL INSIGHTS]
89. Having thus become familiar with the material and immaterial meditation
subjects, and so having penetrated here already a part of those eighteen principal
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insights27 which are later on to be attained in all their aspects by means of full-
understanding as abandoning starting with contemplation of dissolution, he
consequently abandons things opposed [to what he has already penetrated].
90.
Eighteen principal insights is a term for understanding that consists in the
kinds of insight beginning with contemplation of impermanence. Now, as
regards these: (1) One who develops the contemplation of impermanence
abandons the perception of permanence, (2) one who develops the contemplation
of pain [629] abandons the perception of pleasure, (3) one who develops the
contemplation of not-self abandons the perception of self, (4) one who develops
the contemplation of dispassion abandons delighting, (5) one who develops the
contemplation of fading away abandons greed, (6) one who develops the
contemplation of cessation abandons origination, (7) one who develops the
contemplation of relinquishment abandons grasping, (8) one who develops the
contemplation of destruction abandons the perception of compactness, (9) one
who develops the contemplation of fall [of formations] abandons accumulation
[of kamma], (10) one who develops the contemplation of change abandons the
perception of lastingness, (11) one who develops the contemplation of the signless
abandons the sign, (12) one who develops the contemplation of the desireless
abandons desire, (13) one who develops the contemplation of voidness abandons
misinterpreting (insistence), (14) one who develops the insight into states that is
higher understanding abandons misinterpreting (insistence) due to grasping
at a core, (15) one who develops correct knowledge and vision abandons
misinterpreting (insistence) due to confusion, (16) one who develops the
contemplation of danger abandons misinterpreting (insistence) due to reliance,
(17) one who develops the contemplation of reflection abandons non-reflection,
(18) one who develops the contemplation of turning away abandons
misinterpreting (insistence) due to bondage (see Paṭis I 32f.).28
27.
The first seven of the eighteen principal insights are known as the “seven
contemplations”; see 20.4. Further descriptions are given in XXII.113f.
28.
For Vism-mhṭ’s comments on the first seven see note 3 to this chapter.
‘Contemplation of destruction’ is the contemplation of the momentary dissolution of
formations. ‘Perception of compactness’ is the assumption of unity in a continuity or
mass or function or object. ‘Contemplation of destruction’ is contemplation of non-
existence after having been, they say. Contemplation of destruction is the
understanding by means of which he resolves the compact into its elements and sees
that it is impermanent in the sense of destruction. Its completion starts with
contemplation of dissolution, and so there is abandoning of perception of compactness
then, but before that there is not, because it has not been completed. (9) The seeing of
the dissolution of formations both by actual experience and by inference and the
directing of attention to their cessation, in other words, their dissolution, is contemplation
of fall; through it accumulation [of kamma] is abandoned; his consciousness does not
incline with craving to the occurrence of that [aggregate-process of existence] for the
purpose of which one accumulates [kamma]. (10) Seeing change in the two ways
through aging and through death in what is born, or seeing another essence subsequent
to the delimitation of such and such [an essence supervening] in what was discerned
by means of the material septad, and so on, is ‘contemplation of change’; by its means he
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91. Now the meditator has seen formations by means of the three characteristics
beginning with impermanence, and so he has therefore already penetrated
among these eighteen insights the contemplations of impermanence, pain, and
not-self. And then (1) the contemplation of impermanence and (11) the
contemplation of the signless are one in meaning and different only in the letter,
and so are (2) the contemplation of pain and (12) the contemplation of the
desireless, and so are (3) the contemplation of not-self and (13) the contemplation
of voidness (see Paṭis II 63). Consequently these have been penetrated by him as
well. But (14) insight into states that is higher understanding is all kinds of
insight, and (15) correct knowledge and vision is included in purification by
overcoming doubt (Ch. XIX). Consequently, these two have been penetrated by
him as well. As to the remaining kinds of insight, some have been penetrated
and some not. We shall deal with them below.29
abandons the ‘perception of lastingness,’ the assumption of stability. (11)–(13) The three
beginning with ‘contemplation of the signless’ are the same as the three beginning with
contemplation of impermanence. (11) ‘The sign’ is the mere appearance of formations
as if graspable entities, which is due to the individualization of particular functions
and which, owing to perception of unity in continuity and in mass, is assumed to be
temporarily enduring or permanent. (12) ‘Desire’ is longing for pleasure, or it is desire
consisting in greed, and so on; it means inclinationto formations owing to craving.
(13) ‘Misinterpreting’ is misinterpreting as self. It is owing to their opposing the ‘sign,’
etc., that the contemplations of impermanence, etc., are called by the names of ‘signless,’
etc.; so they should be regarded as opposed to the apprehension of a sign, etc., just as
they are to the perception of permanence, and so on. (14) Insight that occurs by
knowing an object consisting of a visible datum, etc., and by seeing the dissolution of
the consciousness that had that visible datum, etc., as its object, and by apprehending
voidness through the dissolution thus, ‘Only formations dissolve, there is nothing
beyond the death of formations,’ is the higher understanding, and that is insight into
states, thus it is ‘insight into states that is higher understanding’; by its means he abandons
the view accompanied by craving that is the misinterpretation occurring as grasping
at a permanent core, and so on. (15) ‘Correct knowledge and vision’ is a term for the
seeing of mentality-materiality with its conditions; by its means he abandons the
‘misinterpreting due to confusion’ that begins thus, ‘Was I in the past?’ (M I 8) and that
begins thus, ‘Thus the world is created by an Overlord’ (?). (16) The knowledge
consisting in the seeing of danger in all kinds of becomings, etc., which has arisen
owing to the appearance of terror is ‘contemplation of danger’; by its means he abandons
the craving occurring as ‘misinterpreting due to reliance’ because he does not see any
reliance or support. (17) The knowledge of reflection that is the means to deliverance
from formations is ‘contemplation of reflection’; by its means he abandons the ignorance
that is ‘non-reflection’ on impermanence, etc., and is opposed to reflection on them.
(18) Equanimity about formations and conformity knowledge are ‘contemplation of
turning away’; for owing to it the mind retreats and recoils from all formations, like a
water drop on a lotus leaf, so by its means he abandons the ‘misinterpretation due to
bondage,’ which is the occurrence of the defilements consisting of the fetters of sense
desire, and so on. (Vism-mh 806f.)
29.
See XXII.113f. “When (1) the contemplation of impermanence is established,
then the contemplations of (6) cessation, (8) destruction, (9) fall, and (10) change are
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92.
For it was with reference only to what has already been penetrated that
it was said above: “having thus become familiar with the material and
immaterial meditation subjects, and so having penetrated here already a part
of those eighteen principal insights, which are later on to be attained in all
their aspects by means of full understanding as abandoning starting with
contemplation of dissolution, he consequently abandons things opposed [to
what he has already penetrated]” (§89).
[KNOWLEDGE OF RISE AND FALL—I]
93. Having purified his knowledge in this way by abandoning the perceptions
of permanence, etc., which oppose the contemplations of impermanence, etc., he
passes on from comprehension knowledge and begins the task of attaining that
of contemplation of rise and fall, which is expressed thus: “Understanding
[630] of contemplating present states’ change is knowledge of contemplation of
rise and fall” (Paṭis I 1), and which comes next after comprehension knowledge.
94. When he does so, he does it first in brief. Here is the text: “How is it that
understanding of contemplating present states’ change is knowledge of
contemplation of rise and fall? Present materiality is born [materiality]; the
characteristic of its generation is rise, the characteristic of its change is fall, the
contemplation is knowledge. Present feeling … perception … formations …
consciousness … eye … (etc.) … Present becoming is born [becoming]; the
characteristic of its generation is rise, the characteristic of its change is fall, the
contemplation is knowledge” (Paṭis I 54).30
95.
In accordance with the method of this text he sees the characteristic of
generation, the birth, the arising, the aspect of renewal, of born materiality, as “rise,”
and he sees its characteristic of change, its destruction, its dissolution, as “fall.”
partly established. When (2) the contemplation of pain is established, then the
contemplations of (4) dispassion and (16) danger are partly established. And when (3)
the contemplation of not-self is established, then the rest are partly established”
(Vism-mhṭ 807).
30.
“The interpreting of rise and fall must be done on a state that is present according
to continuity or present according to instant but not on one that is past or future,
which is why ‘of present states’ is said” (Vism-mhṭ 808). “Present materiality is called
born materiality; it is included in the trio of instants [of arising, presence and
dissolution], is what is meant. But that is hard to discern at the start, so the interpreting
by insight should be done by means of presence according to continuity” (Vism-mhṭ
808). For the elision represented by “… (etc.) …” see XX.9. In this case, however, the
last two members of the dependent origination are left out. “Although states
possessed of aging-and-death are mentioned under the heading of birth and of aging-
and-death in comprehension by groups, etc., nevertheless here in the description of
knowledge of rise and fall, if it were said ‘present birth is born; the characteristic of its
generation is rise, the characteristic of its change is fall,’ etc., it would be tantamount to
an affirmation and approval of the proposition that birth and aging-and-death were
possessed of birth and of aging-and-death. So the text ends with ‘becoming’ in order
to avoid that” (Vism-mhṭ 808).
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96.
He understands thus: “There is no heap or store of unarisen mentality-
materiality [existing] prior to its arising. When it arises, it does not come from
any heap or store; and when it ceases, it does not go in any direction. There is
nowhere any depository in the way of a heap or store or hoard of what has
ceased. But just as there is no store, prior to its arising, of the sound that arises
when a lute is played, nor does it come from any store when it arises, nor does it
go in any direction when it ceases, nor does it persist as a store when it has
ceased (cf. S IV 197), but on the contrary, not having been, it is brought into being
owing to the lute, the lute’s neck, and the man’s appropriate effort, and having
been, it vanishes—so too all material and immaterial states, not having been, are
brought into being, and having been, they vanish.”
97.
Having given attention to rise and fall in brief thus, he again [does so in
detail according to condition and instant by seeing those characteristics] as
given in the exposition of that same knowledge of rise and fall thus: “(1) He sees
the rise of the materiality aggregate in the sense of conditioned arising thus:
With the arising of ignorance there is the arising of materiality; (2) … with the
arising of craving … (3) … with the arising of kamma … (4) he sees the rise of the
materiality aggregate in the sense of conditioned arising thus: With the arising
of nutriment there is the arising of materiality; (5) one who sees the characteristic
of generation sees the rise of the materiality aggregate. One who sees the rise of
the materiality aggregate sees these five characteristics.
“(1) He sees the fall of the materiality aggregate in the sense of conditioned
cessation thus: With the cessation of ignorance there is the cessation of materiality;
(2) … with the cessation of craving … (3) … with the cessation of kamma … (4) he
sees the fall of the materiality aggregate in the sense of conditioned cessation
thus: With the cessation of nutriment there is the cessation of materiality; [631]
(5) one who sees the characteristic of change sees the fall of the materiality
aggregate. One who sees the fall of the materiality aggregate sees these five
characteristics” (Paṭis I 55f.).
Likewise: “(1) He sees the rise of the feeling aggregate in the sense of
conditioned arising thus: With the arising of ignorance there is the arising of
feeling; (2) … with the arising of craving … (3) … with the arising of kamma …
(4) he sees the rise of the feeling aggregate in the sense of conditioned arising
thus: With the arising of contact there is the arising of feeling; (5) one who sees
the characteristic of generation sees the rise of the feeling aggregate. One who
sees the rise of the feeling aggregate sees those five characteristics.
“(1) He sees the fall of the feeling aggregate in the sense of conditioned
cessation thus: With the cessation of ignorance there is the cessation of feeling;
(2) … with the cessation of craving … (3) … with the cessation of kamma … (4) he
sees the fall of the feeling aggregate in the sense of conditioned cessation thus:
With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of feeling; (5) one who sees
the characteristic of change sees the fall of the feeling aggregate. One who sees
the fall of the feeling aggregate sees these five characteristics” (Paṭis I 55f.).
And as in the case of the feeling aggregate, [that is, substituting “contact” for
the “nutriment” in the case of materiality,] so for the perception and formations
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aggregates. So also for the consciousness aggregate with this difference, that for
the phrases containing “contact” there are substituted “with the arising of
mentality-materiality” and “with the cessation of mentality-materiality.”
So there are fifty characteristics stated with the ten in the case of each aggregate
by seeing rise and fall, by means of which he gives attention in detail according
to condition and according to instant (moment) in this way: “The rise of materiality
is thus; its fall is thus; so it rises, so it falls.”
98.
As he does so his knowledge becomes clearer thus: “So, it seems, these
states, not having been, are brought into being; having been, they vanish.”
When he thus sees rise and fall in the two ways, according to condition and
according to instant, the several truths, aspects of the dependent origination,
methods, and characteristics become evident to him.
99. When he sees the arising of aggregates with the arising of ignorance and
the cessation of aggregates with the cessation of ignorance, this is his seeing of
rise and fall according to condition. When he sees the rise and fall of aggregates
by seeing the characteristic of generation and the characteristic of change, this
is his seeing of rise and fall according to instant. For it is only at the instant of
arising that there is the characteristic of generation, and only at the instant of
dissolution that there is the characteristic of change.
100. So when he sees rise and fall in the two ways, according to condition and
according to instant thus, the truth of origination becomes evident to him through
seeing rise according to condition owing to his discovery of the progenitor. [632]
The truth of suffering becomes evident to him through seeing rise according to
instant owing to his discovery of the suffering due to birth. The truth of cessation
becomes evident to him through seeing fall according to condition owing to his
discovery of the non-arising of things produced by conditions when their conditions
do not arise. The truth of suffering becomes evident to him too through seeing fall
according to instant owing to his discovery of the suffering due to death. And his
seeing of rise and fall becomes evident to him as the truth of the path thus: “This is
the mundane path” owing to abolition of confusion about it.
101. The dependent origination in forward order becomes evident to him through
seeing rise according to condition owing to his discovery that “When this exists,
that comes to be” (M I 262). The dependent origination in reverse order becomes
evident to him through seeing fall according to condition owing to his discovery
that “When this does not exist, that does not come to be” (M I 264). Dependently-
arisen states become evident to him through seeing rise and fall according to
instant owing to his discovery of the characteristic of the formed; for the things
possessed of rise and fall are formed and conditionally arisen.
102. The method of identity becomes evident to him through seeing rise according
to condition owing to his discovery of unbroken continuity in the connection of
cause with fruit. Then he more thoroughly abandons the annihilation view. The
method of diversity becomes evident to him through seeing rise according to instant
owing to his discovery that each [state] is new [as it arises]. Then he more thoroughly
abandons the eternity view. The method of uninterestedness becomes evident to
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him through seeing rise and fall according to condition owing to his discovery of
the inability of states to have mastery exercised over them. Then he more thoroughly
abandons the self view. The method of ineluctable regularity becomes evident to
him through seeing rise according to condition owing to his discovery of the arising
of the fruit when the suitable conditions are there. Then he more thoroughly abandons
the moral-inefficacy-of-action view.
103. The  characteristic  of not-self becomes evident to him through seeing rise
according to condition owing to his discovery that states have no curiosity and
that their existence depends upon conditions. The characteristic of impermanence
becomes evident to him through seeing rise and fall according to instant owing
to his discovery of non-existence after having been and owing to his discovery
that they are secluded from past and future. The characteristic of pain becomes
evident to him [through that] too owing to his discovery of oppression by rise
and fall. And the characteristic of individual essence becomes evident to him
[through that] too owing to his discovery of delimitation [of states] by rise and
fall.31 And in the characteristic of individual essence the temporariness of the
characteristic of what is formed becomes evident to him [through that] too owing
to his discovery of the non-existence of fall at the instant of rise and the non-
existence of rise at the instant of fall.32
104. When the several truths, aspects of the dependent origination, methods, and
characteristics have become evident to him thus, then formations appear to him as
perpetually renewed: “So these states, it seems, being previously unarisen, critic,
and being arisen, they cease.” [633] And they are not only perpetually renewed, but
they are also short-lived like dew-drops at sunrise (A IV 137), like a bubble on water
(S III 14 I), like a line drawn on water (A IV 137), like a mustard seed on an awl’s point
(Nidd I 42), like a lightning flash (Nidd I 43). And they appear without core, like a
conjuring trick (S III 141), like a mirage (Dhp 46), like a dream (Sn 807), like the circle
of a whirling firebrand (source untraced), like a goblin city (source untraced), like
froth (Dhp 46), like a plantain trunk (S III 142), and so on.
At this point he has attained tender insight-knowledge called contemplation of
rise and fall, which has become established by penetrating the fifty characteristics
in this manner: “Only what is subject to fall arises; and to be arisen necessitates
fall.” With the attainment of this he is known as a “beginner of insight.”
[THE TEN IMPERFECTIONS OF INSIGHT]
105.
Now, when he is a beginner of insight with this tender insight, ten
imperfections of insight arise in him. For imperfections of insight do not arise
either in a noble disciple who has reached penetration [of the truths] or in persons
31. “With the seeing of rise and fall not only the characteristics of impermanence
and pain become evident, but also the characteristics, in other words, the individual
essences, of earth, contact, etc., termed hardness, touching, etc., respectively, become
clearly evident and discrete (avacchinna) in their individual essences” (Vism-mhṭ 814).
32. “The inclusion of only rise and fall here is because this kind of knowledge occurs
as seeing only rise and fall, not because of non-existence of the instant of presence”
(Vism-mhṭ 814). See Introduction, note 18.
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erring in virtue, neglectful of their meditation subject and idlers. They arise only
in a clansman who keeps to the right course, devotes himself continuously [to
his meditation subject] and is a beginner of insight. But what are these ten
imperfections? They are: (1) illumination, (2) knowledge, (3) rapturous happiness,
(4) tranquillity, (5) bliss (pleasure), (6) resolution, (7) exertion, (8) assurance, (9)
equanimity, and (10) attachment.
106. For this is said: “How does the mind come to be seized by agitation about
higher states? When a man is bringing [formations] to mind as impermanent,
illumination arises in him. He adverts to the illumination thus, ‘Illumination is
a [Noble One’s] state.’33 The distraction due to that is agitation. When his mind
is seized by that agitation, he does not understand correctly [their] appearance
as impermanent, he does not understand correctly [their] appearance as painful,
he does not understand correctly [their] appearance as not-self.
“Likewise, when he is bringing [formations] to mind as impermanent,
knowledge arises in him … happiness … tranquillity … bliss … resolution …
exertion … establishment … equanimity … attachment arises in him. He adverts
to the attachment thus, ‘Attachment is a [Noble One’s] state.’ The distraction due
to that is agitation. When his mind is seized by that agitation, he does not
correctly understand [their] appearance as impermanent, [634] he does not
correctly understand [their] appearance as painful, he does not correctly
understand [their] appearance as not-self” (Paṭis II 100).
107. 1.  Herein, illumination is illumination due to insight.34 When it arises, the
meditator thinks, “Such illumination never arose in me before. I have surely reached
the path, reached fruition;” thus he takes what is not the path to be the path and
what is not fruition to be fruition. When he takes what is not the path to be the path
33. “He adverts to it as Nibbāna or as the path or as fruition” (Vism-mhṭ 816). “The
agitation, the distraction, that occurs about whether or not the illumination, etc., are
noble states is ‘agitation about higher states’” (Vism-mhṭ 815). In this connection Vism-
mhṭ quotes the following text: “Friends, any bhikkhu or bhikkhunī who declares the
attainment of Arahantship in my presence has always arrived there by four paths or
by one of them. What four? Here, friends, a bhikkhu develops insight preceded by
serenity. While he is developing insight preceded by serenity the path is born in him.
He cultivates, develops, repeats that path. As he does so his fetters are abandoned and
his inherent tendencies are brought to an end. Again, friends, a bhikkhu develops
serenity preceded by insight … He develops serenity and insight yoked equally. Again,
friends, a bhikkhu’s mind is seized by agitation about highest states. When that
consciousness settles down internally, becomes steady, unified and concentrated,
then the path is born in him … his inherent tendencies are brought to an end” (A II
157).
34.
“‘Illumination due to insight’ is the luminous materiality originated by insight
consciousness, and that originated by temperature belonging to his own continuity. Of
these, that originated by insight consciousness is bright and is found only in the
meditator’s body. The other kind is independent of his body and spreads all round
over what is capable of being experienced by knowledge. It becomes manifest to him
too, and he sees anything material in the place touched by it” (Vism-mhṭ 816).
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and what is not fruition to be fruition, the course of his insight is interrupted. He
drops his own basic meditation subject and sits just enjoying the illumination.
108. But this illumination arises in one bhikkhu illuminating only as much as
the seat he is sitting on; in another, the interior of his room; in another, the
exterior of his room; in another the whole monastery … a quarter league … a
half league … a league … two leagues … three leagues; in another bhikkhu it
arises making a single light from the earth’s surface up to the Brahmā-world.
But in the Blessed One it arose illuminating the ten-thousandfold world-element.
109.
This story illustrates how it varies. Two elders, it seems, were sitting inside
a room with a double wall at Cittalapabbata. It was the Uposatha of the dark of
the moon that day. All directions were covered by a blanket of cloud, and at night
the four-factored gloom35 prevailed. Then one elder said, “Venerable sir, the
flowers of the five colours on the lion table on the shrine terrace are visible to me
now.” The other said, “What you say is nothing wonderful, friend. Actually the
fishes and turtles in the ocean a league away are visible to me now.”
110. This imperfection of insight usually arises in one who has acquired serenity
and insight. Because the defilements suppressed by the attainments do not manifest
themselves, he thinks, “I am an Arahant,” like the Elder Mahā-Nāga who lived at
Uccavālika, like the Elder Mahā-Datta who lived at Haṅkana, like the Elder Cūḷa-
Sumana who lived in the Nikapenna meditation house at Cittalapabbata.
111. Here is one story as an illustration. The Elder Dhammadinna, it seems, who
lived at Talaṅgara—one of the great ones with cankers destroyed who possessed
the categories of discrimination—was the instructor of a large community of
bhikkhus. One day, as he was sitting in his own daytime quarters, he wondered,
“Has our teacher, the Elder Mahā-Nāga who lives at Uccavālika, [635] brought his
work of asceticism to its conclusion, or not?” He saw that he was still an ordinary
man, and he knew that if he did not go to him, he would die an ordinary man. He
rose up into the air with supernormal power and alighted near the elder, who was
sitting in his daytime quarters. He paid homage to him, doing his duty, and sat
down at one side. To the question, “Why have you come unexpectedly, friend
Dhammadinna?” he replied, “I have come to ask a question, venerable sir.” He was
told, “Ask, friend. If we know, we shall say.” He asked a thousand questions.
112. The elder replied without hesitation to each question. To the remark, “Your
knowledge is very keen, venerable sir; when was this state attained by you?” he
replied, “Sixty years ago, friend.” “Do you practice concentration, venerable sir?”—
“That is not difficult, friend.”—“Then make an elephant, venerable sir.” The elder
made an elephant all white. “Now, venerable sir, make that elephant come straight
at you with his ears outstretched, his tail extended, putting his trunk in his mouth
and making a horrible trumpeting.” The elder did so. Seeing the frightful aspect of
the rapidly approaching elephant, he sprang up and made to run away. Then the
elder with cankers destroyed put out his hand, and catching him by the hem of his
robe, he said, “Venerable sir, is there any timidity in one whose cankers are destroyed?”
35. Caturaṅga-samannāgataṃ tamaṃ—“four-factored gloom” is mentioned also at S-a
I 170, M-a V 16 (c. andhakāra), and Ud-a 66, 304.
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113.
Then he recognized that he was still an ordinary man. He knelt at
Dhammadinna’s feet and said, “Help me, friend Dhammadinna.”—“Venerable
sir, I will help you; that is why I came. Do not worry.” Then he expounded a
meditation subject to him. The elder took the meditation subject and went up on
to the walk, and with the third footstep he reached Arahantship. The elder was
a bhikkhu of hating temperament, it seems. Such bhikkhus waver on account of
illumination.
114. 2. Knowledge is knowledge due to insight. As he is estimating and judging
material and immaterial states perhaps knowledge that is unerring, keen, incisive,
and very sharp arises in him, like a lightning flash.
115.
3. Rapturous happiness is happiness due to insight. Perhaps at that time
the five kinds of happiness, namely, minor happiness, momentary happiness,
showering happiness, uplifting happiness, and pervading (rapturous)
happiness arise in him filling his whole body.
116.
4. Tranquillity is tranquillity due to insight. As he is sitting at that time in
his night or day quarters perhaps [636] there is no fatigue or heaviness or rigidity
or unwieldiness or sickness or crookedness in his body and his mind, but rather
his body and mind are tranquillized, light, malleable, wieldy, quite sharp, and
straight. With his body and mind aided by this tranquillity, etc., he experiences
at that time the superhuman delight with reference to which it is said:
A bhikkhu when his mind is quiet
Retires to an empty place,
And his right insight in the Dhamma
Gives him superhuman delight.
It is because he comprehends
The rise and fall of aggregates
That he finds happiness and joy
And knows it to be deathless (Dhp 373f.).
This is how tranquillity, associated with lightness, etc., arises in him, bringing
about this superhuman delight.
117. 5. Bliss (pleasure) is bliss due to insight. At that time perhaps there arises
in him exceedingly refined bliss (pleasure) flooding his whole body.
118.
6. Resolution is faith. For strong faith arises in him in association with
insight in the form of extreme confidence of consciousness and its concomitants.
119. 7. Exertion is energy. For well-exerted energy, neither too lax nor too strained,
arises in him in association with insight.
120. 8. Assurance (lit. establishment) is mindfulness. For well-established (well-
assured), well-founded mindfulness, which is dug in and as immovable as the
king of mountains, arises in him in association with insight. Whatever subject
he adverts to, consciously reacts to, gives attention to, reviews, appears to him
(he is assured of) owing to mindfulness, which descends into it,36 enters into it,
just as the other world does to one who has the divine eye.
36. Okkhandati—“to descend into”: not in PED; see XXII.34 and M-a I 238.
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121. 9. Equanimity is both equanimity about insight and equanimity in adverting.37
For equanimity about insight, which is neutrality about formations, arises strongly
in him at that time. It is also equanimity in adverting in the mind door. For whatever
the subject he adverts to, his adverting works as incisively and sharply as a lightning
flash, like a red-hot spear plunged into a basket of leaves.
122. 10. Attachment is attachment due to insight. For when his insight is adorned
with illumination, etc., attachment arises in him, which is subtle and peaceful in
aspect, and it relies on (clings to) that insight; and he is not able to discern that
attachment as a defilement. [637]
123. And as in the case of illumination, so too in the case of the other imperfections
that may arise, the meditator thinks thus: “Such knowledge … such rapturous
happiness … tranquillity … bliss … resolution … exertion … assurance …
equanimity … attachment never arose in me before. I have surely reached the path,
reached fruition.” Thus he takes what is not the path to be the path and what is not
fruition to be fruition. When he takes what is not the path to be the path and what is
not fruition to be fruition, the course of his insight is interrupted. He drops his basic
meditation subject and sits just enjoying the attachment.
124.
And here illumination, etc., are called imperfections because they are the
basis for imperfection, not because they are [kammically] unprofitable. But
attachment is both an imperfection and the basis for imperfection.
As basis only they amount to ten; but with the different ways of taking them
they come to thirty.
125.
How? When a man takes it thus, “illumination has arisen in me,” his way
of taking is due to [false] view. When he takes it thus, “How agreeable this
illumination that has arisen is,” his way of taking is due to pride (conceit). When
he relishes the illumination, his way of taking is due to craving. So there are
three ways of taking it in the case of illumination, that is to say, due to [false]
view, to pride (conceit), and to craving. Likewise with the rest. So they come to
thirty with the three ways of taking them. Owing to their influence an unskilful,
unwary meditator wavers and gets distracted about illumination, etc., and he
sees each one of them-illumination and the rest-as “This is mine, this is I, this is
my self” (M I 135). Hence the Ancients said:
He wavers about illumination,
And knowledge, rapturous happiness,
About the tranquilness, the bliss,
Whereby his mind becomes confused;
He wavers about resolution,
Exertion, and assurance, too,
The adverting-equanimity,
And equanimity and attachment (Paṭis II 102).
37. “‘Equanimity about insight’ is neutrality in the investigation of formations owing to the
objective field having been already investigated. But in meaning, when it occurs thus, it is
only neutrality. The volition associated with mind-door adverting is called  ‘equanimity
(upekkhā) in adverting’ because it occurs in adverting as onlooking (ajjhupekkhana)” (Vism-
mhṭ 819).
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126.
But when illumination, etc., arise, a skilful, wary meditator who is endowed
with discretion either defines and examines it with understanding thus: “This
illumination has arisen.38 But it is impermanent, formed, conditionally arisen,
subject to destruction, subject to fall, subject to fading away, subject to cessation.”
Or he thinks: “If illumination were self, it would be right to take it as self; but
being not-self, it is taken as self. Therefore it is not-self in the sense of no power
being exercisable over it; it is impermanent in the sense of non-existence after
having come to be; it is painful in the sense of oppression by rise and fall,” all of
which should be treated in detail according to the method given under the
immaterial septad (§83). And as in the case of illumination, so too with the rest.
127. Having investigated it thus, he sees the illumination as “This is not mine, this
is not I, this is not my self.” [638] He sees knowledge … (etc.) … attachment as “This
is not mine, this is not I, this is not my self.” Seeing thus, he does not waver or vacillate
about the illumination, and so on. Hence the Ancients said:
So when a man of understanding has
Examined these ten things and is now skilled
In agitation about higher states
He no more falls a prey to wavering (Paṭis II 102).
128.
So he unravels this thirtyfold skein of imperfections without falling a
prey to wavering. He defines what is the path and what is not the path thus:
“The states consisting in illumination, etc., are not the path; but it is insight
knowledge that is free from imperfections and keeps to its course that is the
path.”
129.
The knowledge that is established in him by his coming to know the path
and the not-path thus, “This is the path, this is not the path,” should he
understood as the purification by knowledge and vision of what is the path and
what is not the path.
130.
So at this point the defining of three truths has been effected by him.
How? The defining of the truth of suffering has been effected with the defining
of mentality-materiality in the purification of view. The defining of the truth of
origination has been effected with the discerning of conditions in the purification
by overcoming doubt. The defining of the truth of the path has been effected with
the emphasizing of the right path in this purification by knowledge and vision
of what is the path and what is not the path. So the defining of three truths has
been effected firstly by means of mundane knowledge only.
The twentieth chapter called “The Description of
Purification by Knowledge and Vision of What Is the Path
and What is Not the Path” in the Treatise on the
Development of Understanding in the Path of Purification
composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.
38.
Be Vism-mhṭ reads “ayaṃ kho so” instead of the “ayaṃ kho me” in the Ee and Ae
editions.