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The Literary Abhidhamma Text: Anuruddha's Manual of Defining Mind and Matter
(Nāmarūpapariccheda) and the Production of Pali Commentarial Literature in South India

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Kerr, Sean Michael

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2020

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 The Literary Abhidhamma Text: Anuruddha's Manual of Defining Mind and Matter
(Namarupapariccheda) and the Production of Pali Commentarial Literature in South India

By

Sean M. Kerr

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

South and Southeast Asian Studies

in the

Graduate Division

of the

University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor Alexander von Rospatt, Chair

Professor Robert P. Goldman

Professor Robert H. Sharf

Fall 2020
 ABSTRACT

This dissertation is a study of the ancillary works of the well-known but little understood
Pali commentator and Abhidhamma scholar, Anuruddha. Anuruddha's Manual of Defining
Mind & Matter (namarupapariccheda) and Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma
Ultimates (paramatthavinicchaya) are counted among the “sleeping texts” of the Pali
commentarial tradition (texts not included in standard curricula, and therefore neglected).
Anuruddha's well-studied synopsis of the subject matter of the commentarial-era
Abhidhamma tradition, the Compendium of Topics of the Abhidhamma
(abhidhammatthasangaha), widely known under its English title, A Comprehensive
Manual of Abhidhamma, came to be regarded as the classic handbook of the orthodox
Theravadin Abhidhamma system. His lesser-known works, however, curiously fell into
obscurity and came to be all but forgotten. In addition to shedding new and interesting
light on the Compendium of Topics of the Abhidhamma (abhidhammatthasangaha), these
overlooked works reveal another side of the famous author – one as invested in the poetry
of his doctrinal expositions as in the terse, unembellished clarity for which he is better
remembered. Anuruddha's poetic abhidhamma treatises provide us a glimpse of a little-
known early strand of Mahavihara-affiliated commentarial literature infusing the
exegetical project with creative and poetic vision. In this dissertation I examine this genre,
the literary abhidhamma text, and reconsider the historical context of the production of
Pali exegetical literature in South India. This dissertation presents translation and analysis
of major sections of Anuruddha's two minor works, the Manual of Discerning Mind &
Matter (namarupapariccheda) and the Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates
(paramatthavinicchaya) and queries the significance and extent of influence of the South
Indian Pali exegetes' peripheral localization (with respect to the Mahavihara-based
interpretive tradition) on the formation of the Theravada commentarial tradition as we
know it.

1
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS i

INTRODUCTION [gantharambhakatha] iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xxii

PART I

CHAPTER 1: Contested Contexts..........................................................................1

On the Historiography of Anuruddha and the Production of Pali Commentarial
Literature in South India [The Complicated Backstory]

Sec. I...................................................................................................................2
▪ Neglected Texts and a Vanished Genre: the literary or aesthetic Abhidhamma text
▪ The Enigmatic Figure, Anuruddha 2
▪ Lost in the Interstices: Anuruddha's historical context and the loss of a regional
legacy 3
Sec. II..................................................................................................................9
▪ The "Alankarification" of Objects of Prestige 9
• Rethinking Ornaments Like Buddhaghosa 12

CHAPTER 2: Anuruddha's Works & The Literary Abhidhamma Text.................28

Expanding or Contracting Doctrinal Compendia?: toward a relative chronology
[Weddings]

Sec. I...................................................................................................................28
▪ Is it possible to determine a relative chronology of the three works? 29
▪ The Hermeneutics of "Sara" ("heartwood, essential core") 38
▪ The Climate of Orthodoxy 39
Sec. II..................................................................................................................44
▪ Multiple Iterations of Subject Matter & A Literary Treatment of Familiar
Doctrinal Topics: The Example of Dependent Origination 44
• The Manual of Discerning (namarupapariccheda) version 44
• The Compendium of Topics (abhidhammatthasangaha) version 57
• The Decisive Treatment (paramatthavinicchaya) version 66
Sec. III.................................................................................................................66
▪ The Path and the Content of Insight 66
• Vibhavana: the Concept Underpinning the Dramatization of the Path 66

i
 • The Dramatization of the Path 69
• Path Theory and the Evolution of Abhidhamma Thought and Literature 70
• The Disjunction between Paramattha-theory (dhamma theory framework) and
Path Theory (seven visuddhis and content of insight framework) 73
• The synthesis of the path from the disparate parts present in the Yuganaddha-
sutta and the exegesis of this in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) 75
• The Place of Path-theory within Abhidhammic Structures of Understanding77
• A Counterpoint to the Theravadin Fixing of the Path: the Saundarananda's
Account of Samatha Preceded by Vipassana as a Normative, Alternate
Formulation of the Path 79
◦ The Path to Liberation as Depicted in Asvaghosa's Saundarananda, Ch.
XVII 79
• Anuruddha's Caveat (regarding the Path of Purification (Vism)) 82
• The Evolution of the Insight Knowledges 84

CHAPTER 3: The Modeling of Insight [A Divorce and Its Aftermath].................92

Sec. I...................................................................................................................92
▪ The Hermeneutics of Path (magga) and Path-progress (paṭipatti) 92
• In Pursuit of Contact: Early Buddhism's Indexical Orientation
Situating path-progress within an early Buddhist hermeneutic 95
▪ The Kalingabodhi Jataka
An emic articulation of the early tradition's indexical orientation 97
▪ Vestiges of the Buddha
The centrality of index in early Buddhism 99
▪ Corresponding Disinterest in Icon and Symbol 102
▪ The Indexical Orientation in Path Literature 104
Sec. II..................................................................................................................105
▪ The Evolution of the Path 105
▪ The Divorce of Samatha & Vipassana 109
▪ The Theorization of Insight 116
Sec. III................................................................................................................119
▪ The Literary Depiction of the Path in Anuruddha 119
▪ The Prelude to Undertaking Cultivation 126
▪ The Literary Treatment of the Insight Knowledges 139

PART II

CHAPTER 4: Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning Mind & Matter......................168

Namarupapariccheda, chs. 8-13 [The Feast]

The Section on the Cultivation of Tranquility (samatha-bhavana-vibhaga)......174

▪ Chapter 8: Meditation devices and cultivation of the perception of foulness

ii
 (kasiṇasubhavibhago) 174
▪ Chapter 9: The Ten Recollections (dasanussativibhago) 212
▪ Chapter 10: The Remaining Objects (sesakammaṭṭhanavibhago) 257

The Section on Insight (vipassana-vibhaga)......................................................292

▪ Chapter 11: Vipassana (vipassanavibhago) 292
▪ Chapter 12: The Ten Stages (dasavatthavibhago) 318
▪ Chapter 13: The Resultant Fruits (nissandaphalavibhago) 347

CHAPTER 5: Anuruddha's Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates....362

Paramatthavinicchaya, "Nibbana" Section (chs. 23-26)

The Section on Nibbana (nibbana-vibhaga).......................................................364

▪ Chapter 23: The Account of the Purification of the Roots 364
▪ Chapter 24: The Account of the Purifications Entaling Apprehension 371
▪ Chapter 25: The Account of the Growth of Insight 377
▪ Chapter 26: The Account of the Purification of Emergence 387

ABBREVIATIONS 394

BIBLIOGRAPHY 395

iii
 INTRODUCTION

[gantharambhakatha]

This dissertation extends the findings of my Master's research, which focused on

Anuruddha's other minor treatise, the Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates
(paramatthaviniccaya). At the heart of this research was, initially, simply this fascinating text, a
somewhat neglected minor abhidhamma manual about which one finds only a few stray
comments in scholarly literature, for the most part acknowledging the fluidity of its language and
its apparent literary merit1 or addressing its intriguing ascription of South Indian authorship.2
Looking into the text, I found that the quality and refinement of the language was indeed very
special, and its ascription of South Indian authorship indeed intriguing, and it was these qualities
that first attracted my attention.
As I began my study of the Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates (hereafter:
Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)), I quickly found that a text like it, and in particular this text, could
not be read in isolation. As the culminator of a tradition, Anuruddha stood on the shoulders of all
those who came before him. Though his dating is a vexed issue, his sources and precedents are
very clear. In addition to the theoretical body of work of the giants of the commentarial
tradition,3 the immediately relevant sources were Anuruddha's own compositions. Time and
again it became apparent: the language of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) was so finely
wrought, oblique, and complex, that without the help of a precise parallel it often proved next to
impossible to unravel its beautiful but difficult verses. Fortunately, I discovered, parallels
abounded. This was the first real breakthrough of the research, in fact, realizing the extent to
which Anuruddha's three texts parallel each other and recapitulate, flesh out, or condense each
other. The three texts read closely in parallel, and indeed must be read in parallel, in order to be
thoroughly understood. This was a welcome discovery, of course, but quite suddenly I found
myself having necessarily to work not with one text in isolation, but with all three in parallel.
This finding has also led to the first principle of the research, a sort of initial working hypothesis:
Anuruddha's works must be read as a whole. To understand any one text, one must read, in
parallel, all three. So, in this way, this research also grew to become a manifesto for considering
the collected works of Anuruddha.
Anuruddha's masterpiece – or, perhaps this is the wrong word, since it is by no means his
finest work – the Compendium of Topics of the Abhidhamma (abhidhammatthasangaha,
hereafter Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)), came to substantially overshadow his remaining
works, in time. It quickly became a classic of the genre, as manuscript evidence confirms,

1 Norman 1983, 152, echoing Malalasekera 1928, 173-174; Karunadasa 2010, 20, presenting a single verse of the
Manual of Discerning Mind & Matter (Namar-p) on the theme of analysis and synthesis (bheda and sangaha) --
the sole published verse of this work in translation to date.
2 Paranavitana 1959, Gunawardhana, 1979 & 1967; Schalk 2002.
3 And in particular: Buddhaghosa's Path of Purification (visuddhi-magga) and its predecessor, the Path of
Discrimination (paṭisambhida-magga), and Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma
(abhidhammavatara).

iv
suggesting that in curricular sense, if not a canonical one (to use Justin McDaniel's terms),4 or in
terms of a practical canon (to use Anne Blackburn's term),5 the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-
s) came to far outweigh its predecessors in importance, so that, with the exception perhaps only
of the Path of Purification, it quickly became -- and for centuries, remained – one of the most
studied, most used texts of Theravada learning. (One might think of the case of colonial
Myanmar and Erik Braun's work which traces Ledi Sayadaw's deployment of the text and
propagation of lay Abhidhamma organizations and the tremendous repercussions this had, in
Braun's assessment, in laying the groundwork for the lay meditation movement (Braun 2008).) It
is illustrative in this regard that for most Theravada Buddhists today, the study of the
Abhidhamma and the study of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) are very nearly one and the
same.
The light shed on the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) by the Anuruddha's other works -- and
in particular by the Manual of Defining Mind and Matter (namarupapariccheda, hereafter:
Manual of Defining (Namar-p)) -- was invaluable, and indeed proved very significant. I argued
in my thesis that the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) reads, in fact, like a condensation of the
larger, more extensive work that, to all appearances, preceded it: the Manual of Defining Mind
and Matter (Namar-p).
But the remarkable thing was that, unlike the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), the
Manual of Defining (Namar-p), as well as the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), were literary and
poetic works, privileging form and beauty over schematic simplicity. While the Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s) superseded the other works, and has endured in its popularity as the most
concise, and convenient Abhidhamma treatise historically available, the Manual of Defining
(Namar-p) and Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) reveal another face of Anuruddha. Surprisingly, he
was not the rigorous, dry scholastic that we have come to expect of Abhidhamma scholars; he
was also very much a poet.
It is obvious, of course, that the drive to make poetry out of Abhidhamma did not endure
for long; just as Anuruddha's other two works were eventually eclipsed by his Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s), so the schematic and skeletal presentation of the Abhidhamma eventually
bested the aesthetically-driven project – of this we have no doubt. But this idea of the aesthetic
abhidhamma text fascinated me – was it a fluke, something unique to these solitary texts, or to
Anuruddha? or did it have a precedent? And, as it turned out, it did – a very clear one.
Buddhadatta, the fifth century, South Indian contemporary of Buddhaghosa -- who's
quaintly remembered by tradition as having passed the torch of the commentarial project on to
him at a fateful mid-sea encounter while returning by ship to his native South India at precisely
the moment Buddhaghosa was on his way to Sri Lanka to begin his career -- is also,
significantly, remembered in very flowery terms as a great poet. He is hailed in his colophons not
only as a parama-veyyakaraṇa, “a supreme commentator”, but as a kavivara-vasabha a “bull
among the finest of poets”, who paramakavijanahadayapadumavanavikasanakara “causes the
hearts of the highest poets to bloom, among people, like the sun causes the lotuses to bloom in
the forest”, and from whose mouth there is a paramaratikaravaramadhuravacanuggara “a
gushing forth of the sweetest of utterances that bring the highest of pleasures”.6 A difficult

4 McDaniel 2009.
5 Blackburn 1999.
6 Vin-vn, colophon.

v
reputation to live up to, perhaps, but Buddhadatta managed to. His poetic vision fully infuses his
Introduction to the Abhidhamma (abhidhammavatara) (hereafter: Introduction (Abhidh-av)), one
of the earliest and most extensive of the Abhidhamma manuals, and leaves no doubt that he saw
his project saliently as a creative and aesthetic endeavor as much as a so-called “scholastic” one.
In the colophon to the Introduction (Abhidh-av), he states explicitly: madhurakkharasaṃyutto,
attho yasma pakasito | tasma hitatthakamena, katabbo ettha adaro || “since its meaning is
revealed conjoined with sweet syllables, it is worthy of respect by one who is desirous of benefit
and welfare” (Abhidh-av colophon, v. 1407). His verses are unique in the Pali corpus; or rather
they would be, if not for Anuruddha.
Historically, there may not be much truth in the remembered encounter of the two great
early commentators, Buddhadatta and Buddhaghosa, in which, unable to complete the vast
project he had initiated, Buddhadatta had entrusted the holy mission to write the commentaries to
the fledgling Buddhaghosa. The parable is nevertheless revealing for what it captures: namely
the essence of two very distinct commentarial attitudes and approaches embodied in the two
figures – on the one hand, a creative, poetic project, which was fueled by the creative impulse of
the virtuoso, heavy with the mark of his hand and idiosyncratic artistry; and on the other, a
creativity-bereft, transparent to the point of utter self-effacement, project of compilation,
systematization, and translation – far removed from aesthetic concerns. As reflected in the
parable, the creative poetic mode was short-lived and provided only initial impetus; and the latter
mode, which quintessentially characterizes Buddhaghosa's style, became quickly ascendant and
established the norm.
In another revealing monastic tradition, Anuruddha was Buddhadatta's contemporary and
rival. They are remembered – perhaps rather inaccurately – as having been co-residents under the
same teacher, in the same South Indian monastery (Bodhi & Rewata 1993). They competed in
their published works to best each other at poetry. So a second argument of my project is that we
witness in the figure of Anuruddha the resurfacing or continuation of this unique and distinctly
poetic mode of the commentarial tradition – Abhidhamma as material for a primarily aesthetic
project. The mark of Buddhadatta's influence is clear in Anuruddha's works. The Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) shares its first line with Buddhadatta's Introduction (Abhidh-av), and he, too,
composed his Abhidhamma treatises heavily embellished with poetic features. Interestingly, the
tradition seems aware on some level of this linkage in its historically improbable association of
the two teachers. Much as in the parable of Buddhadatta and Buddhaghosa, the story reveals not
historical reality but abiding thematic association.
Just as among Anuruddha's works, the one composed in a self-effacing, unembellished,
bullet-list style prevailed, while the others were allotted peripheral importance and eventually
drifted into obscurity, within the larger commentarial project, the aesthetic project that
Buddhadatta and Anuruddha in his poetic mode together embody – though as old, apparently, as
the commentarial project itself – was soon eclipsed by the more orthodox approach. Its lighter
touch was perhaps privileged at a time when innovation was more and more shunned in the face
of an influx of new ideas and philosophical developments, and the admixture of new or
extraneous elements of doctrine or interpretation was feared and heavily guarded against.
This raised for me a third tier that required investigation, namely, the historical context of
the Pali commentators and their presence in the specifically South Indian locale regarded as
Buddhaghosa's place of intermittent residence, Buddhadatta and Dhammapala's homeland, and

vi
Anuruddha's place of birth. It became more and more apparent how very much of the
commentarial and especially Abhidhamma tradition, contrary to expectation, was rooted in South
India. A vast amount, if not the bulk of the commentarial tier of the Pali literature, though never
losing sight of the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura as its focal-point, was composed by authors of
South Indian provenance, and much of it moreover in South India. This raised a number of
questions about the role and significance of South India – its curious centrality, despite its
peripheral localization with respect to the Mahavihara interpretive tradition's center in distant
Anuradhapura – in the production of the Pali commentarial literature.
Persistent hints suggest that the rigid lines of demarcation between national and religious
communities as we receive them today were rather differently arrayed in the era of the Pali
commentators. We have striking evidence of an intimate and sustained interaction and mutual
influence between coastal South Indian and Sri Lankan polities. Many of the most illustrious of
the Pali commentators were residents of South India: the great initiators of the project,
Buddhaghosa and Buddhadatta; the South Indian acariya, Ananda, who some generations later
initiated the project's next tier;7 Jotipala, who responded to many of his views;8 and
Dhammapala, his more illustrious successor, who completed the remainder of the commentaries
on the canonical books, and continued to spearhead the sub-commentarial production. Sometime
after him came Anuruddha; and after him Kassapa, all the way into the 13th century. This is not
to mention the Pali grammarians active in South India such as Buddhappiya, whose project of
grammatical codification was in certain respects akin to the South Indian commentator's
Abhidhammic project. All these lived and undertook the production of Pali commentarial
literature in South India, and maintained close ties to the Mahavihara based in Anuradhapura.
Pali studies clearly flourished in their South Indian locale in some capacity over a very long
period -- from at least the 5th to at least the 13th centuries (evidently the longest of anywhere in
India -- and the literary production there on the part of this community of scholars was
tremendous.
Buddhadatta leaves for us picturesque and stereotypic images of his work there in an
idyllic South Indian monastery in his colophons (generally dated to between the 5th and 6th
centuries):

kavīrajalasampata-paripūtamahītale,
kavīrapaṭṭane ramme, nananarinarakule,
karite kaṇhadasena, saṇhavacena sadhuna,
vihare vividhakara-carupakaragopure,
chayasalilasampanne, dassanīye manorame,
hatadujjanasambadhe, pavivekasukhe sive,
vasata buddhavaṃsassa, maya saṃvaṇṇana kata.

On earth made pure by the lapping of the waters of the Kaveri, in the delightful Kavirapaṭṭana,
bustling with men and women of all kinds,
in the monastery built by the good, soft-spoken Kaṇhadasa, with its high walls and

7 With his Root Commentary in the Abhidhamma (abhidhamma-mulabhasa), the first of the sub-commentaries.
8 In his Subcommentary on the Abhidhamma (abhidhamma-anuṭika) cf. Cousins 2011 Abhidhamma Studies I:
Jotipala and the Abhidhamma Anuṭīka, 3.

vii
towers made charming with manifold forms,
replete with shade and water, lovely and delighting, the disturbance of bad people
removed, affording the pleasure of solitude, an auspicious abode -
residing therein in the supremely cool eastern wing, I made this commentary...
(buddhavaṃsaṭṭhakatha colophon).9

By the 13th century, the South Indian thera-s were renowned for the breadth and quality
of their learning. Famed as kalikalasahicca-sabbannupaṇdita, “scholars with comprehensive
knowledge of the current age's literature”,10 the Coliya monks (that is, the thera-s residing in the
South Indian Cola kingdom), had apparently become a highly regarded prestige group,11 and
were even called upon at least once to purify the sangha in Sri Lanka.12
Woven into their exegeses, the works of the South Indian Pali acariya-s provide
occasional glimpses of a fascinating multilingual, intertextual tradition. Commentators cite the
Sinhala Commentaries (sihalaṭṭhakatha-s), sometimes side by side with the Commentaries of
the Andhra-s (andhakaṭṭhakatha-s), as key points of reference. Dhammapala refers to the
writings of Bhartrhari13 in one of his commentaries. In one of the most interesting tokens of
evidence suggestive of real Tamil-Pali interaction and even mutual influence, Kassapa in his 13th
century Vinaya handbook (the Vimativinodanī) makes reference to a conceptual error in the
local understanding of the Vinaya perpetuated in times past in Damilaraṭṭha (Tamilakam) by the
monk Nagasena. Remarkably, Nagasena, he tells, us, had rendered a well-known Pali narrative
into a lyric poem, or kappiyam (Pali kabba, Sk. kavya), in Tamil - the Kuṇṭalakeci-viruttam –
now lost, but still remembered as one of the five great masterpieces of the genre in classical
Tamil literature. He goes on to mention that the confusion generated in Damilaraṭṭha through
this damilakabba was only able be resolved much later by the illustrious, near contemporaneous
South Indian Thera, Buddhappiya.
I would like to highlight the importance of this commentarial reference; it is one of the
few concrete pieces of evidence that suggest a two-way interaction between the Pali acariya-s
and the local Tamil literary culture, indicating not only one thera's involvement in the project of
literary production in Tamil, but also, conversely, other Pali thera-s' being influenced by such
doctrines expressed in Tamil literary works. On this point Kassapa is explicit: tan ca kabbaṃ
nissaya imaṃ bhinnaladdhikamataṃ idha vibhajjavadimate sammissaṃ ciraṃ pavattittha. taṃ
pana paccha acariyabuddhappiya-mahatherena bahirabbharikaṃ diṭṭhijalaṃ vighaṭetva idha
parisuddhaṃsasanaṃ patiṭṭhapentena sodhitam, (Vmv I 118). “Based on that kavya, opinions of
differing sectarian affiliation became mixed into the views of the vibhajjavadi-s here (ie, in
Damilaraṭṭha), and the confusion continued for a long time until Buddhappiya was later able to
purify the teachings and re-establish them here in their pure form”. Though relating this history
from his 13th century standpoint, the events and milieu it describes pertain to previous
generations and longstanding relationships in the region.
The term in this passage for differing sectarian affiliation was bhinnaladdhika, apparently

9 cf. Introduction (Abhidh-av) 1409-1412 and Vin-vn 3168-3171 and the discussion of these interrelated
colophons at Hinuber 1996 §328, Dimitrov 2016, 246-258, and Schalk 2002, 389 & 410-412.
10 Cv 82:3, cited in Schalk 2002 p. 528.
11 Monius 2001, 191-200, and assessment in Shalk 2002, 528-533.
12 Cv 82, vv. 11-15.
13 HPL §365.

viii
reserved for monks of differing doctrinal viewpoint or perhaps sectarian affiliation. Kassapa
refers to Nagasena disparagingly as “a certain bhinnaladdhika thera”, and the characterization
suggests the co-existence of multiple, competing schools of Buddhism in South India at the time.
He identifies himself and the Tamil Thera, Buddhappiya, who later corrected the
misunderstandings perpetuated by Nagasena, as Vibhajjavadi-s, and qualifies the views he
characterizes as “bhinnaladdhika” as those “pertaining to the monks of Abhayagiri etc.
affiliation” (Vmv I 118).14 But lest we dismiss this Tamil kavya off-handedly as the work of a
different school, and therefore of little influence or relevance, Kassapa goes on to lament for us
the tendency of such erroneous views to creep into the domain of the vibhajjavadi-s
(vibhajjavadimaṇdalaṃ) and defile the Buddha's teachings even up to today (yavajjattana)
through the carelessness of certain thera-s whose writings “are mixed with their own thought”
(attano matiya saṃsanditva), “not knowing that such views had been deemed heretical by the
authors of the gaṇṭhipada-s (gaṇṭhipadakarakadihi ``paravado’’ ti ajanantehi) (that is, the ṭika-s
and anuṭika-s) etc. The passage thus shows us that even across ostensible linguistic and sectarian
lines of division, monks were in continuous conversation while struggling to remain separate.
Kassapa vividly evokes for us the tension of the desire to safeguard the vibhajjavadi-s against
the defilement of foreign views ('ma anne pi vibhajjavadino ayaṃ laddhi dusesi’). The defiled
views occurring in the Tamil kavya include the claim that drinking alcohol is not unwholesome
if one is unaware of the fact that one is drinking alcohol; opposing representations of the range
and limits of the Buddha's omniscience; and that the conventional category of individual
(puggala), was one of the divisions of the abhidhamma paramattha-s, of equal ontological status
with those of citta, cetasika, and the rest. Kassapa tells us that Nagasena had composed his
literary work in Tamil for a polemical purpose: “for the sake of demonstrating the methodology
of crushing the doctrines of others” (paravadamathananaya-dassanatthaṃ). Due to the
incorporation of such fallacious views (karaṇabhasehi) as these, the work resulted in the
beguiling of the vibhajjavadi monks in Damilaraṭṭha, reparations for which were only able to be
made much later by the Mahathera Buddhappiya (Vmv I 117-118; cf. von Hinuber, HPL §338).
So, in the intellectually conservative climate of the Theravada Pali commentators'
community in South India into which Kassapa gives us a peek, it comes as no surprise that our

14 evaṃ gahaṇam eva hi vibhajjavadīmatanusaraṃ. yaṃ pana ``janitva pivantasseva akusala’’ nti gahaṇaṃ, taṃ
bhinnaladdhikanaṃ abhayagirikadīnameva \Ne I 102/ mataṃ, taṃ pana gaṇṭhipadakarakadīhi ``paravado’’ ti
ajanantehi attano matiya saṃsanditvalikhitaṃ vibhajjavadīmaṇḍalampi pavisitva yavajjatana sasanaṃ dūseti,
purapi kira__imasmimpi damilaraṭṭhe_ koci bhinnaladdhiko nagaseno nama thero
kuṇḍalakesīvatthuṃparavadamathananayadassanatthaṃ damilakabbarūpena karento ``imaṃ surapanassa
janitvava pivaneakusalanayaṃ, aññañca desakaladibhedena anantampi ñeyyaṃ sabbaññutaññaṇaṃ
salakkhaṇavasenevañatuṃ na sakkoti ñaṇena paricchinnattena ñeyyassa anantattahanippasangato.
aniccadisamaññalakkhaṇavasenevapana ñatuṃ sakkotī’’ ti ca, ``paramatthadhammesu namarūpantiadibhedo viya
puggaladisammutipivisuṃ vatthubhedo eva’’ ti ca evamadikaṃ bahuṃ viparītatthanayaṃ kabbakarassa
kavinoupadisitva tasmiṃ pabandhe karaṇabhasehi satiṃ sammohetva pabandhapesi, tañca kabbaṃnissaya imaṃ
bhinnaladdhikamataṃ idha vibhajjavadīmate \Be I 118/ sammissaṃ ciraṃ pavattittha. taṃ pana paccha
acariyabuddhappiyamahatherena bahirabbharikaṃ diṭṭhijalaṃ vighaṭetva idha parisuddhaṃsasanaṃ
patiṭṭhapentena sodhitampi __saratthadīpaniya_ (Sp-ṭ parajikakaṇḍaII 42) vinayaṭīkaya surapanassa
sacittakapakkheyeva cittaṃ akusalanti samatthanavacanaṃnissaya kehici vipallattacittehi puna ukkhittasiraṃ
jataṃ, tañca mahatherehi vinicchinitvagarayhavadaṃ katva madditva laddhigahake ca bhikkhū viyojetva
dhammena vinayena satthusasanenacireneva vūpasamitaṃ. tenevettha mayaṃ evaṃ vittharato idaṃ
paṭikkhipimha ``ma aññepivibhajjavadino ayaṃ laddhi dūsesī’’ ti. tasma idha vuttani avuttani ca karaṇanisuṭṭhu
sallakkhetva yatha agamavirodho na hoti, tatha attho gahetabbo (Vmv I 117-118).

ix
texts almost invariably take the care to insist at their outset that they have been composed in
accord with the interpretive tradition of the nearby Mahavihara at Anuradhapura
(mahaviharavaṇṇananaya). Anuruddha's Manual of Defining (Namar-p), for instance, begins:
namarupaparicchedaṃ pavakkhami samasato / mahaviharavasinaṃ, vaṇṇananayanissitaṃ, “I
will expound in brief the (Manual of) Defining Mind and Matter, based on the explanatory
methodology (vaṇṇananaya) of the residents of the Mahavihara”15. Whether in Lanka or South
India, the Pali commentators took the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura as their fixed point of
reference for their interpretive tradition.
A third claim that emerged in my research was that the key to South India's centrality to
the commentarial project lay precisely in its peripherality. The Mahavihara functioned from an
early time as the center-point of the vibhajjavadi orthodoxy, in relation to which we can imagine
the thera-s in South India would have been positioned somewhat as satellite communities. As
such they would have both lacked access to the authoritative commentaries, the sihalaṭṭhakatha-
s, which, like the gaṇṭhipada-s of a later age referred to by Kassapa, recorded which views had
been deemed authentic and which heretical according to the contemporaneous regulators of the
tradition, and as a corollary they also would have been more concerned about establishing their
orthodoxy. This would likely have been an issue of ongoing anxiety, and it is likely this that
contributed to the Coliya thera-s' eventual fame, for it was in their mastery of the abstruse details
of the orthodoxy that they displayed their immunity to local and competing views, and their
enduring connection to the Mahavihara.
We can assume that their peripheral position would have also made them more
susceptible to influence by other traditions and current developments taking place at large in
India. That it was these monks of the hinterlands of the Mahavihara orthodoxy who were most
invested in the Pali commentarial project is not, then, altogether surprising, for the commentarial
project began as one of translation of the Mahavihara's Sinhala commentaries (sihalaṭṭhakatha-
s), so as to make them accessible to the larger Theravada transregional community16. That this
project was initially undertaken, in large part, by monks who formed part of that wider
community, rather than by the monks of Lanka themselves (who would have presumably already
had access to the commentaries in their Sīhala language of composition) is also quite
appropriate.
It seems to me that this fact has not been much emphasized in presentations of the
development of Pali literature though, which often represent the situation as one of internal
development at the hands of a naturalized virtuoso (I mean Buddhaghosa), rather than as a
project initiated and executed by the larger trans-regional community for its own benefit. This
transition, in which the South Indian thera-s played a key role, thus marks the moment that Pali
became a true lingua franca and productive literary language for an emerging Mahavihara-
centered transregional Theravada community.
This point brought me to the outermost tier of my developing research. This had to do
with the issue of the historiography itself, or rather the conspicuous lack of it in the case of the
South Indian thera-s, and the critical role played by their locale as a productive site for the
development of the Pali corpus. Peter Schalk, whose monumental work in two volumes,
Buddhism among Tamils in Pre-Colonial Tamilakam and Ilam, was a key reference for my

15 Manual of Defining (Namar-p) v. 2

16 cf. Buddhghosa's introduction to the Aṭṭhasalinī, discussed below.

x
incipient work, broke new ground by attempting to write this important, forgotten chapter of
history. However, he frequently mentions the lamentable fact that almost no one on either the
Tamil or Buddhist side of the contemporary communities was ever very interested or
enthusiastic about his research.17 In fact, one finds that this history has been actively overlooked.
The most obvious reason for this is that the past it evokes challenges the neat dichotomies of
contemporary nationalist and religious agendas, and in many cases amounts to a subtle assault
on identity. We should not find it surprising then that it is not a well-known story, though the
facts of it are for the most part in plain sight and available to anyone who cares to look. Recent
scholarship has been pointing this out with increasing frequency, and Schalk, Monius,
Vijayalakshmy, von Hinuber, Skilling, and others have noted the central, yet little investigated
role played by South India in the development of the Pali corpus and suggested the need for
further investigation in this area. This is a gap in the historical record – perhaps an intentional
one – from which Anuruddha reaches out to us. In a climate of active forgetting, it is all the
more reason to highlight histories and figures such as his, which serve to challenge established
lines of division rather than reify them. One thing I've become aware of more and more, inspired
perhaps by Amitav Ghosh, is that it is also essential to address the reasons for the neglect of such
histories as this, in addition to seeking to recover them.18
One significant question in which this contemporary reluctance to acknowledge South
Indian contribution to the Theravada patrimony becomes relevant is in the hypothesis of multiple
Anuruddhas, and differing authorship of the three texts, variously construed.19 Since A.P.
Buddhadatta's 1960 edition of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) prepared for the PTS, scholars
have regularly distinguished between the South Indian and Ceylonese Anuruddha. This is owing
to the geographical details pertaining to both places presented in the texts' colophons, mirrored in
the later bibliographic chronicles, some of which remember him as pertaining to Sri Lanka, and
some to South India. The colophons make reference to both places, that of the Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) however stating specifically that Anuruddha was born in Kaverinagara in the
kingdom of Kañci and resided in tambaraṭṭha, the early cola and South Indian Theravada
heartland. Since at least the time of Buddhadatta's assessment, scholars have regularly divided
the works haphazardly and between two authors. The discomfort with single authorship appears
to have at its heart a geographical tension. Closely reading the texts and discovering their internal
consistency and intimate interrelation, I can only conclude that this multiple Anuruddha theory is
symptomatic of this discomfort in acknowledging South Indian authorship of such a classic of
Pali literature as the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), which is intertwined with issues of
identity, cultural property, and prestige, and relies on contemporary assumptions of cultural
separateness and incommensurability that did not apply at the time.
This, in brief, was the broad scope of the initial project and remains the foundation of the
current study. Regarding Anuruddha's works themselves (the texts that prompted the research
and still very much remain at its heart): an initial goal of the study was to attempt to determine
the internal relationships of the texts and establish a relative chronology of their composition. In
this I concluded that the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) read like a “tertiary product”, relative to the
17 Schalk 2002, 12.
18 Ghosh 1988.
19 This is, in the final analysis, justified with reference to distinguishing the Anuruddha of the Sanskrit
Anuruddhasataka from the author of the Pali treatises -- but it is unjustified in the case of the author of the Pali
treatises.

xi
other two texts: a complex, tightly wrought reformulation, next to which the Manual of Defining
(Namar-p) appeared comparatively “raw” and verbose, overflowing as it does with rich,
metaphor-laden descriptions that meander in simple language without any hurry and sometimes
repeat themselves in part or whole. The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), for its part, bears a
close structural affinity with the Manual of Defining (Namar-p), excising its descriptive and
metaphorical content but for the most part faithfully preserving its extracted expository points,
one after another, with schematic clarity. This yielded the relative chronology: Manual of
Defining (Namar-p) --> Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) --> Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) -- a
hypothesis that has continued to prove reasonable and forms an assumption of the present
research.
For the expansion of the project into its current phase, I have shifted my focus from
the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) to the Manual of Defining (Namar-p). This seemed like a
necessary step owing to the realization of the extent to which the Decisive Treatment (Pm-
vn) is predicated on, and essentially a reformulation of, the extensive treatment of the
Manual of Defining (Namar-p). As an entirely derivative work, deciphering and
understanding the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) demanded the study of the collected works as
a whole. As a first step in that direction, I present a translation of the Manual of Defining
(Namar-p)'s latter half, expounding the path of practice, and trace more closely the contours
of the minor works' relationship to the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s). In the earliest
stages of the research, it became clear that the Manual of Defining (Namar-p) provided the
larger context for that very well known work, and the charting that relationship would be a
worthwhile endeavor. While in my early research I approached their relationship largely
from the angle of stylistic and formal considerations and at a microscopic level, the larger
structures of the subject matter of the two works are also intimately related and have
rewarded analysis in this study.
This dissertation is accordingly divided in two parts, Part II presenting annotated
translation and analysis of Anuruddha's Manual of Defining Mind and Matter (Namar-p),
chs. 8-13, constituting the latter half of the work, and of his Decisive Treatment of the
Abhidhamma Ultimates (Pm-vn), chs. 23-26, presenting parallel material.
In the first section of the dissertation, chs. 1-3, I attempt to situate Anuruddha's
project 1) historically, 2) by way of genre, and 3) by way of content, probing its unique
presentation of the Buddhist path of practice, made possible by the novel genre, the literary
Abhidhamma text.
In chapter one, I reconsider the historical circumstances of Pali literary production in
South India and the Mahavihara at the hands of aspiring exegetes visiting insular Sri Lanka
on educational pilgrimages in a project of recovery of an authoritative interpretive tradition,
at a time when views proliferated and questions of authoritative interpretation loomed large.
In chapter two, I examine Anuruddha's collected works, interrogating their internal
relationships, their relationship to Pali literature, writ-large, and abhidhamma literature in
particular, and the uniquely literary mode of treatment that characterizes them, in an effort to
situate the literary abhidhamma text as a genre. I consider the formative influence exerted by
dynamics of orthodoxy on the formation of such a genre and survey the treatment of
dependent origination and the path of practice across Anuruddha's three works. This samples
the works' parallel treatments of the given materials, in an attempt to define a literary mode

xii
of treatment of doctrinal material and what becomes possible in such a literary mode of
treatment.
In chapter three, I interrogate the evolving hermeneutics of the path between the early
tradition and its reception in the era of fully-formed commentarial thought of which
Anuruddha formed a part, and seek to uncover and understand the telltale marks of
disjunction between the two. In this context I present analysis of key sections of the Manual
of Defining (Namar-p)'s presentation of the path, in their uniquely literary mode.
Part II, comprising chapters four and five, presents the texts examined in the
preceding chapters in full, chapter four presenting translation and analysis of the Manual of
Defining Mind and Matter (Namar-p), and chapter five of the parallel material from the
Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates (Pm-vn).

Paradigms of Scholarship on Abhidhamma Literature

A word must be said with regard to the constellation of scholarly paradigms

pertaining to the study of Theravada Abhidhamma with reference to which this study situates
itself. One such foundational paradigm for the purposes of this study is the historical
development of the literary and philosophical tradition: literary history in the service of a
history of ideas. The earliest tiers of development of abhidhammic thought and literature
have been addressed by Frauwallner 1964 and surveyed in brief by Jaini and Buswell 1979,
and more recently by Analayo 2014. Seminal studies of foundational developments in non-
Theravada contexts have been undertaken by De la Vallée Poussin 1923, Schmithausen
1987, von Rospatt 1995, and Dhammajoti 2009. This dissertation is less concerned with the
earliest phases of development and formation of abhidhammic thought and literature than it
is with the many post-canonical developments gradually incorporated into the layers of
supplementation that formed around these canonical texts. It is likewise concerned with
developments primarily in Theravada layers of supplementation. It is the evolving paradigms
reflected in these outer layers that mediate the understanding of the earlier, canonical texts
and thought as received into the hands of the receptive tradition represented by the exegetes
of the Pali commentarial tradition -- beginning with the Path of Discrimination
(paṭisambhidamagga, hereafter Patis-m), which represents the inception of the strand of path
literature and the theorization of insight that this dissertation investigates, and
Buddhaghosa's continuation of this project with the Path of Purification (visuddhimagga,
hereafter Vism), and extending up to Anuruddha and his works -- that are of immediate
interest to this dissertation. Key to this project is the understanding that the receptive
tradition itself is in a continuous process of updating and forming additional layers of such
supplementation: like a pearl, the innermost layers can only be approached via the outer; and
layers may differ considerably (Walters 1999). This dissertation is concerned with
scrutinizing the line of development from the earlier to the latter tiers of the literature, and
tracing this in broad strokes, highlighting additions and modifications of earlier thought at
the hands of the receptive tradition in its many layers across time -- inasmuch as these help
us understand important developments in the interpretive tradition as it was received by
Anuruddha. It is the marks of disjunction and this process of updating that are of especial
interest to this research. They are our primary clues in the ongoing quest to gain clearer

xiii
understanding of subtle transformations in paradigms of Buddhist thought occurring
gradually over time and for the most part unacknowledged by the tradition itself, which
generally avers absolute fidelity to its earlier strata -- even when shades of difference of
more than superficial or rhetorical nature are quite clear upon inspection.
The traditionalist paradigm of Theravada abhidhamma scholarship is in many ways
the object of study of the paradigm of historical development and must be reckoned with in
scholarly inquiry. It generally disavows change (though in many ways acknowledging it,
often losing sight of this as well, and, with it, the polyvocality, nuance and sophistication of
its own tradition). To its detriment, the traditionalist paradigm does not typically take
account of textual sources outside the bounds of its own orthodoxy (in this case Theravada).
In doing so, it remains blind to many aspects of its own tradition which are only revealed in
the light of comparison with non-Theravada sources. We have been afforded invaluable
access to Anuruddha's works as viewed through the traditionalist paradigm through: U
Narada's early translation of Anuruddha's Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) in English
(1956); Bodhi and U Rewata's authoritative updating and exposition of this (1993); Gethin &
Wijeratne's translation of Sumangala's twelfth century commentary on it (2002); Cousins'
unpacking of various aspects of the post-canonical interpretive tradition (e.g. 1996 & 2011),
Ledi Sayadaw and, to a lesser extent, Mahasi Sayadaw's early modern continuation of this
exegetical project in Pali and Burmese (in many ways the last living tier of the Pali
commentarial tradition),20 and Braun's recent scholarship on the context of this critical last
tier of development and the influential mass-meditation movement it birthed (Braun 2013),
yielding insight meditation in the form in which it is recognizable today.21
Ingrid Jordt's scholarship on the mass meditation movement in Myanmar (Jordt
2007), undertaken from an anthropological perspective, and in certain respects from within
the traditionalist paradigm, portrays the contemporary incarnation of this paradigm as
applied to Theravada insight meditation: that is, as enabling practitioners to "verify via
experience the penultimate truths of the Buddha's teachings" (paraphrased)22 as encapsulated
in the texts of the Theravada abhidhamma. Her work is exemplary of the intimate association
of insight meditation and the abhidhamma in particular as its theoretical framework
frequently encountered today, each legitimizing the claims to authority of the other, and is
instructive of the need to engage the traditionalist paradigm but not be limited by its

20 Ledi Sayadaw, e.g. Paramatthadipani, comm. on Sumangala's comm. on the Conpendium of Topics (Abhidh-s),
published originally in 1900, Rangoon; Mahasi Sayadaw, e.g., Progress of Insight, in English and Pali, published
in 1950.
21 Asserting direct linkage between the lay-oriented, vipassana mass meditation movement that emerged in
Myanmar and Ledi Sayadaw's purported project of advocating meditation originally and primarily as a means of
facilitating textual insight in an attempt to specifically bolster and preserve abhidhammic learning as a mode of
resistance in the face of the threat to the Buddhist sasana posed by colonialism in Myanmar (Braun 2013).
22 Jordt writes: "the concordance between vipassana meditation and the Abhidhamma has become a form of first-
person verification of the texts for the laity" (Jordt 2007, 64); "The belief that laity can gain insight into the most
difficult and penultimate insights of the Buddha's teachings through meditation and not through study of the
scriptures has meant that a new source of verification for the teachings has arisen outside scriptural orthodoxy.
To be sure, meditative insights are verified against the texts, but they nevertheless remain an independent source
of the truth of the Buddha's teachings and the universal law of dhamma. In this sense, the laity have laid claim to
the penultimate understandings of the teachings without either renouncing the world or studying the scriptures"
(Jordt 2007, 84).

xiv
premises.23 An important corrective to the mode of engagement represented by Jordt's work
is obtained in the seminal work of Sharf on the rhetoric of experience in Buddhist
modernism (Sharf 1995), which challenged the claim that meditative experiences could be
taken as transparently verifying doctrinal truth-claims, independent of interpretation. In
Sharf's analysis, the rhetoric of experience that characterizes contemporary approaches to
Buddhist meditation could have little more than rhetorical value -- experience being
inherently non-communicable and non-transparent, and therefore inherently mediated by
interpretation and interpretive claims as to what it represents. And so, accordingly, we we
should perhaps not be too surprised if we see doctrinal formulations changing over time, and
continuing, in practitioners' accounts, to be verified through experience. The importance of
this point for approaching the development of Theravada meditation theory and of
abhidhammic thought over time cannot be overstressed.
A second important corrective, this time to the extremely influential work of Braun,
with its particular unpacking of the social and historical dimensions of the traditionalist
perspective in modern times, can be obtained in the work of Stuart [Stuart, Insight in
Perspective (forthcoming)]. The veracity of Braun's claims regarding the foundational
linkage of Abhidhamma and insight meditation, with meditation propounded in the service
of textual learning, and the origin of this linkage to a specific moment in recent history has
been called into question in the forthcoming work of Stuart, who gathers ample evidence that
casts doubt on Braun's account. Stuart probes in particular the claims that lay engagement of
insight meditation was unprecedented before the modern era, and its associated narrative that
Ledi Sayadaw's primary motivation in propagating lay engagement in insight meditation
was, as per Braun, in the service of bolstering widespread abhidhammic learning, construing
meditation primarily as, in Ledi Sayadaw's perspective, a skillful means of facilitating
textual understanding (and textual learning as a means of bolstering the sasana against
colonial incursion) (Braun 2008). It is important to keep in mind that Braun's account is not
the final word on the origins of insight and there remains much to be said on the topic.24
One last important corrective to the traditionalist paradigm's approach to
abhidhammic learning is obtained in the monumental, vastly learned scholarship of Y.
Karunadasa (especially Karunadasa 2010), who combines unparalleled mastery of the
Theravada abhidhamma canonical and exegetical corpus in all its strata with a comparative
approach that also engages parallel, non-theravada traditions of abhidharma. Karunadasa's
rich and fruitful dialogue with Dhammajoti and ongoing investigations into Sarvastivada and
Theravada abhidhamma in parallel, highlighting the cross-pollination of divergent currents
of evolving abhidhammic thought, and the implicit underlying questions from which they
stem, represents a paradigm of examining the cross-currents of abhidhamma as a history of
ideas. This paradigm, unlike an approach that remains limited to the doctrine of a single
school or system of thought, attempts to unearth the implicit questions suggested by the
divergent doctrinal positions of distinct schools of abhidhamma, which formed their
backdrop and fueled the ongoing debate. In the light of such underlying, common questions,
23 A more neutral anthropological overview of the early transnational foundations of the lay meditation movement
originating in Myanmar and spreading in the mid-twentieth century throughout the Southeast Asian Buddhist
world can be obtained in Tambiah 1984.
24 The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s own colophon identifying its initiator as a layperson, for example, sits
ill at ease with Braun's paradigm.

xv
divergent doctrines are seen more clearly to represent competing answers to these
underlying, unstated questions, which can only be inferred, and which are thus revealed as
even more important than the alternative proposed answers to such questions (assuming the
form of competing doctrinal positions) for understanding the evolution of the tradition
through time. Karunadasa's comparative approach represents the most fruitful approach to
abhidhamma as an object of scholarly inquiry thus far encountered. It is this approach that is
taken as the ideal for the purposes of this research. Unearthing the underlying questions that
fueled the debate proves the more interesting project in comparison with merely learning the
doctrine of a given school as catechism or received truth in isolation (an approach akin to
that caricatured in the suttas as idam eva saccaṃ; mogham annaṃ, "Only this is truth; all
else is vain"). Karunadasa's refined comparative approach seeks to identify the questions
behind the alternate doctrinal positions and reconstruct a history of issues of inquiry fueling
philosophical divergences of opinion. It reveals a very interesting and important history of
thought -- that of the questions, doubts, and burning philosophical issues that prompted
disagreement and divergence of hermeneutic paradigms and fueled the branching and
evolving of the various traditions. This dialogical, comparative approach to abhidhamma,
considering that broader tradition as an ongoing debate across schools and composed of
multiple voices provides essential context for the understanding of Theravada abhidhammic
positions and their development across time. Karunadasa's approach is self-consciously
cross-traditional, and philosophically sophisticated, looking at the various
abhidhamma/abhidharma traditions as evolving and competing paradigms in continuous
dialog with one another, the Theravada paradigm one among these. It thus approaches
Theravada not as a static object of initial, perfect revelation, but as a changing, evolving,
historically situated interpretative tradition. Its attempt to unearth the questions behind the
abhidhammic doctrinal positions that represent competing answers to these underlying,
unstated questions is a major feature of the paradigm this study adopts. Unearthing the
questions behind competing doctrinal positions cross-traditionally becomes the more
interesting project and reveals better than any other approach the issues that fueled the
internal development of the tradition.
These three important corrective provisos to prominent scholarly paradigms of
approach to abhidhammic materials heavily inform this study: 1) regarding the purportedly
intrinsic relationship between abhidhamma and meditation, and the representation of the
latter as essentially providing a means of 'verifying' the former, here represented by the
perspective depicted in Jordt's work and corrected by Sharf's position that meditative
experiences interpreted through the lens of abhidhammic categories and the abhidhammic
conceptual framework of path progress are nevertheless interpreted; 2) the now hegemonic
account of the forging of this association between abhidhamma and insight meditation
offered by Braun and corrected by Stuart, suggesting that the narrative of the birth of
widespread lay engagement of insight meditation and the underlying motivations of this
project cannot be as decisively pinpointed and reduced as has been claimed -- that there is
more to the picture and deeper roots yet to come to light; and 3) the traditional unwillingness
to overstep the bounds of orthodoxy in Theravada circles and take into account non-
Theravada sources comparatively in the study of Theravada abhidhamma, represented by the
exegetical tradition and the scholarship that has afforded us access to it and interpreted it as a

xvi
self-contained doctrinal system, as if it were independent of those parallel and alternate
abhidharmic systems, only upon comparison with which the underlying questions to which
their respective doctrines constitute competing answers and solutions can be discerned --
importantly corrected by scholarship such as Karunadasa's, which approaches abhidhamma
from beyond the confines of any one tradition, so to shed important light on the
corresponding developments in each.
Chapter One takes up the question of the background of South Indian production of
Pali commentarial literature, which is unfortunately entangled in identity politics to an extent
that has obscured much of the story of the Pali commentarial era. Various scholars have
pointed out the lacunae in the existing understanding of the period and region, and the
formative but still little understood role it played in the Theravada tradition and especially
the production of the classical literature of the Pali exegetical tradition.25 As Skilling plainly
states it:

Part of the problem may lie with the lacuna in sources for the history of Buddhism of
south India. The Theravada that we know today had an important presence in south
India, at least in several coastal centers, and the evidence suggests that the Mahavihara
philosophical and hermeneutical heritage is a south Indian–Sri Lankan phenomenon
rather than, as presented in later periods after the eclipse of south Indian Buddhism,
exclusively Lankan.26

Shalk and Monius have attempted to fill in many details of this gap in their groundbreaking
work pertaining to the reception of Buddhism in Tamil culture (Shalk 2002; Monius 2001).
This research shares with them the intent to call attention to this glaring gap in our
understanding of the formative period of the Theravada tradition as it developed not only in
insular Sri Lanka, but importantly in coastal South India as well, at the hands of many of the
most famous exegetes of the Pali commentarial tradition (Anuruddha among them). It
extends their project in its focus on the need to reconceptualize from the ground up our
understanding of the Pali commentarial era and its key sites and dynamics of unfolding. It is
oriented however toward the Theravada rather than Tamil perspective on this important
shared history -- that constitutes an important chapter in Theravada heritage -- and its
acknowledgement (or not) in Theravada sources. This research also therefore attempts to call
attention to the culprit ultimately responsible for the effacement of this rich history -- the
obfuscating and distorting influence of nationalist historiography -- an assessment it shares
with the work of historians Sree Padma and John Holt (Sree Padma 2009).
The work of scholars like Tambiah (1992), his pupil, Seneviratne (1999), and
Bartholomeusz (2002) has vividly traced the assent of ethnoreligious identity that manifested
as a new engagement of Buddhism in the political sphere in the late colonial period and
increasingly exclusivistic politics combined with vehement anti-Tamil sentiment in the
postcolonial period. A.P. Buddhadatta's critical, about-face assessment that the Anuruddha
identified in the colophon of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) as being born in South India

25 e.g., Von Hinuber 1996, §109, §128, §207, §211, §227, §272, §298, §§306-307, §329, §341, §§348-350, §354,
§356, §§365-366, §371, §386, §449; Skilling 2009, 70
26 Skilling 2009, 70.

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could not be the same as the celebrated Anuruddha, author of the Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s),27 who was assumed to be Sinhalese, came in the wake of several momentous
developments that may well have had bearing on this change in position: independence
(1948), the ascent Dharmapala's re-envisioning of the role of the monk as an active force in
social and political spheres in Sinhalese society (end of the nineteenth century until the
1930's)28 -- which influenced even figures known for their universalizing tendencies such as
Walpola Rahula, who published an uncharacteristic manifesto for the same in his Heritage
of the Bhikkhu in 1946,29 -- and the celebrated archaeologist Paranavitana's 1959
problematization of the geography of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s colophon
(attempting to attribute it to the Malay peninsula), in an attempt to highlight indigenous and,
importantly, pre-colonial trans-national networks. Chapter one of this dissertation re-reads
some of the classical sources on the history of Pali literature, Malalasekere 1928 and
Adikaram 1953, with these dynamics in mind, and the unintentional perpetuation of certain
of their assumptions by western scholars who base themselves upon their assessments
(Norman 1983, Warder 1983). The paradigm of approach taken on this history and these
sources accords perhaps most with that Anderson 2006 (first. ed. 1983) and Bailey and
Mabbett 2006, who plumbed literary and historical sources so skillfully for sociological
detail in their classic study, Sociology of Early Buddhism (2006), and determined that it was
indeed on the periphery and in fleeting historical moments of cultural encounter that
Buddhism flourished most and was most able to embody its originary spirit as it spread
through India and Southeast Asia in a widening sphere of influence; that within a generation
or three of becoming the dominant cultural influence in any given region, it became subject
to the forces of routinization and came to closely resemble the heavy-handed cousin from
which it had originally sought to distinguish itself, Brahmanism.30
Chapter two turns the spotlight onto issues of genre, as these determine (and
potentially limit) our understanding of abhidhamma literature and Anuruddha's project, and
makes the case for expanding our paradigm of abhidhammic literature in order to
accommodate the somewhat unique genre of the literary abhidhamma text. Anuruddha's
collected works are examined comparatively, in an attempt to understand their internal
relationships. Did his multiple reworkings of abhidhammic subject matter represent
successive elaborations of his material, or what his project one of summarizing and
condensing? If so, to what end? This chapter builds on the assessments of Frauwallner
(original German published in 1964) with reference to the internal constraints of the earliest
abhidhammic literature, and the way these determined the form the abhidhammic corpus
took, and Griffiths' classic study of commentarial literature as a genre (Griffiths 1999),
which, as a product of scripture-based reading practices heavily determined by orthodoxy
and deference to canonical texts, was more oriented toward strategies of summary, digest,
compendium, synopsis, and other derivative forms of commentarial composition than we
may at first glance realize. Griffiths' paradigm of derivative literary production that
innovates under the guise of preserving, repackaging, and not diverging helps shed light on
27 Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) completed by A.P. Buddhadatta in 1960, though not published until 1985 in JPTS X
(1985).
28 Seneviratne 1999, 25-48.
29 Originally published in Sri Lanka in 1946; discussed in Seneviratne 1999, 42.
30 Bailey & Mabbett 2006, 176-177.

xviii
Anuruddha's literary project and the relationship between his three texts, as well as their
relationship to key texts of reference that precede them. In Anuruddha's innovations with
regard to form, we are obliged to attempt to define a new genre, the self-consciously literary
abhidhammic text, which served to a purpose of display of mastery, perhaps accruing to the
commentators situated on the periphery with reference to the center of the Mahavihara
interpretive tradition based in Anuradhapura, and conferring much-coveted legitimation. We
observe the phenomenon of the literary abhidhamma text undertaken primarily by
commentators alligned with the periphery, in fact, with Buddhadatta's, Anuruddha's, and
allied works31 as the primary representatives of the genre.
This chapter addresses the question of what constitutes the literariness of the literary
abhidhamma text and attempts to locate it especially in Anuruddha's "vibhavana" mode of
treatment, as a commentarial sub-genre of particular relevance, here, noting the general
structure of Anuruddha's treatment of topics in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) as:
uddesa (intial exposition) -- niddesa (detailed exposition) -- vibhavana (clarifying
illustration, in the form of Anruddha's characteristic "modeling" of the realization of the
subject matter being depicted) -- arahatta-nikuṭa (the trope of the "climax of liberation":
culminating in liberation, where applicable, or taking the form of a vipassana-oriented
appendix, foreshadowing this, when not).
The other question of genre explored in this chapter is that of the gradual
development and incorporation of the Mahavihara interpretive tradition's account of the path
of practice and the so-called "Path-literature" that articulated this, which had its origins
somewhat tangentially to the Abhidhammic corpus proper, but was gradually incorporated
within it. For this we take as reference primarily the synoptic perspectives of Jain and
Buswell (1979) and Cousins (1996) in localizing the origins of the theorization of insight
meditation and the evolving Theravada model of the path to liberation in unaffiliated
"magga" literature, including the Path of Discrimination (paṭisambhida-magga) and Path of
Liberation/Purification (vimutti- and visuddhi-magga-s). We see the fully synthesized path
theory that this literature gradually produced appearing with mixed genre affiliation in early
treatises (such as those of Buddhadatta), but gradually incorporated into the core
abhidhamma subject matter. We witness over the course of Anuruddha's works this
transition and incorporation in process, with the path theory initially treated separately, but
by the time of his last work, the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), incorporated wholly within the
rubric of the four abhidhamma-paramattha-s (the abhidhamma "ultimates", i.e., mind,
mental concomitants, matter, and nibbana), as the detailed treatment of the ultimate,
"nibbana" (as constituting the path to this). In this we see the full incorporation of the
Theravada path theory, conceptually, within the 'canon' of abhidhammic subject matter. We
witness also, perhaps, in these minor structural refinements the gradual changing of the
tradition and its established hermeneutic structures, generally deemed unchanging, inasmuch
as this is betokened by the gradual shifting of its understanding of this material and its place
within them, taking place before our very eyes.
Chapter three explores the path as it is depicted in Anuruddha's Manual of Defining
Mind & Matter (Namar-p), in which the fully developed path theory of the Mahavihara
interpretive tradition as it was received by Anuruddha is modeled with exceptional

31 e.g. the saccasankhepa, attributed to Dhammapala or Jotipala (both South Indian).

xix
immediacy owing to its uniquely pronounced literary character. The potentialities of a
literary mode of presentation of the abhidhammic path theory are explored as they manifest
in Anuruddha's modeling of insight and path progress. This chapter additionally attempts to
bring Theravada material into the purview of the existing scholarly discussion of Buddhist
hermeneutics that has taken place in the scholarship of e.g. Lamotte (1949), Thurman
(1978), Lopez (1988), and others (e.g. Jaini & Buswell in Potter 1979; Bond in Lopez 1988)
primarily with reference to evolving and competing hermeneutic paradigms represented in
Mahayana sources. Here this discussion is extended to include a Theravada perspective. This
both allows us to re-examine developments that took place in Theravada meditation theory
as representative of hermeneutic paradigms in shift, and affords us a valuable perspective on
the diversely formulated paradigms of Buddhist hermeneutics acknowledged in this dialog as
representing essentially differing positions in the evolving abhidhamma debate discussed
above. Changes in abhidhammic paradigms correspond historically to changes in Buddhism
(and the formation of new schools and new hermeneutic paradigms); developments in the
evolving collective of Buddhist thought are seen to represent essentially developments in the
ongoing abhidharma dialog taking place across Buddhist traditions. Examination of the
Theravada precursors of the robust Buddhist tradition of hermeneutics that has been
identified in scholarly discussion reveals that Buddhist abhidharma is Buddhist hermeneutics
and hermeneutic models such as those discussed in the above scholarship represent an
internal history of ideas, mapping developments of abhidharmic debate amidst evolving
hermeneutical paradigms. This chapter also explores one key hermeneutic development that
we observe taking place at a formative period in the Theravada exegetical tradition which
had major implications for Theravada theorization of meditation and path-progress: that of
the dichotomization of tranquility and insight, which in exegetical treatment became
sequential and hierarchically ordered and increasingly 'divorced' from one another,
conceptually. In an effort to contextualize Anuruddha's depiction of the path and the
conceptual structures that underlie it, the chapter explores the changing conceptualization of
meditation in the exegetical tradition as it demonstrably shifted over time, and the scholarly
debates, old and newly renewed, over what these shifts represent (Analayo 2016; Arbel 2016
& 2017). Traces of the theorization of the bodhisattva path in Anruddha's depiction of the
pre-requisites of the practice of meditation (bhavana) in the terminology he employs (e.g.,
upaya, "means", ajjhasaya, "intention" or "mental disposition") replicate terminology in
non-Theravada paradigms and suggest a leveling process at work beneath the surface.
In this way, chapters 1-3 explore two key "weddings" (those of abhidhamma subject
matter as it was wedded to a robust, literary, aesthetic style of treatment, and the Mahavihara
interpretive tradition's theorization of the path as it was wedded into abhidhammic subject
matter (ch. 2); a "divorce" (that of tranquillity and insight in commentarial exegetical
developments, perhaps initially formal in origin but developing into a deeper, more
substantive divorcing of insight from the jhana-s in their most fundamental
conceptualization) (ch.3); and "a complicated backstory" (ch. 1) -- followed by a "feast" in
the form of Part II's texts.
Part II turns to the texts themselves in order to attempt to answer (or at least more fully
situate) the many questions that this research's line of inquiry has explored, and presents for the
first time in English translation substantial parallel sections of Anuruddha's Manual of Defining

xx
Mind and Matter (Namar-p), and his Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates (Pm-vn).
Chapter four presents chs. 8-13 of the Manual of Defining Mind and Matter (Namar-p),
representing his treatment of paṭipatti, "practice" cum "path-progress" -- in contrast to the
paramattha material (treating the "abhidhamma ultimates") -- under the two headings of
samatha-bhavana, the cultivation of calm, and vipassana-bhavana, the cultivation of insight.
Chapter five presents the corresponding subject matter of the Decisive Treatment of the
Abhidhamma Ultimates (Pm-vn), chs. 23-26, presenting the path of serenity and insight now as
firmly embedded within the paramattha-s model, as the content of the ultimate, nibbana. This
material is introduced and discussed in detailed section by section introductions and bear out the
themes of the foregoing discussion in the chapters of Part I; no further conclusion has been
appended, the literary translations presented serving as the logical conclusion to this dissertation
in two parts, based on these texts and the critical analysis leading up to them.

xxi
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My dissertation research received support from countless sources. Thanks first and
foremost to my patient committee for their encouragement and support, without which it would
have been impossible to complete the task: to Alexander von Rospatt, my wonderful advisor; to
Robert Goldman, in awe of whom I took up Sanskrit; and to Robert Sharf, who disabused me of
many false perceptions along the way.
The journey of this project has been far-flung, and I wish to thank the many people and
institutions who have generously hosted it. Thanks to the French Institute of Pondicherry; to the
Department of Pali at Pune University; and to the Vipassana Research Institute in Mumbai. The
initial phase of my research is greatly indebted to these three institutions, bouncing back and
forth between which it took place. A special thanks to the Bodhagaya Vipassana Centre in
Bodhgaya, and the Vipassana Araṇya in Rajasthan, which kindly hosted the most critical (and
magical) phase of my translation work. I could not think of more ideal conditions in which to
immerse myself in Anuruddha's words and thought. Thanks to Nalanda University for some truly
memorable days of my life. A special thanks also to Shan State Buddhist University, which is a
paradise for Buddhist Studies, if there ever was one. Memories of your idyllic library terrace and
the daily rainbows that grace your skies still fill my heart. Deep thanks, finally, to Dharma
Realm Buddhist University, which has patiently hosted the final days (quite a few of them, as it
turned out) of my project, and has given its unstinting support and encouragement as it has
slowly come to realization.
To speak of institutions is perhaps to overlook the far more important individuals who
make them up, who are the real objects of my thanks and remembrance when I refer to the above
collectives. If you form a part of one of the institutions mentioned, you can be sure it is to you I
am referring when I write this.
There is one individual I must thank by name, owing to the exceptional extent of his
contribution to the project: countless thanks to Prof. Mahesh Deokar of Pune University for
reading chapters eight and nine of Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) with me in
painstaking (and greatly edifying) detail. I will never cease to be inspired by your incredible
mastery of Pali or the example you set for those like myself fortunate enough to work with you. I
aspire to both your knowledge and your kindness, your panna and your karuṇa. Heartfelt thanks
also to my guru-bhais, Aleix Ruiz-Falques, Mattia Salvini, and Daniel Stuart, for helping me
discover my brand of scholarship.
Thanks to many others who shall remain unnamed.

In the words of Anuruddha:

nāmarūpaparicchedo, antarāyaṃ vinā yathā,

niṭṭhito 'yaṃ tathā loke, niṭṭhant' ajjhāsayā subhā.

Just as the Manual of Discerning Mind and Matter

xxii
has come to its conclusion without hindrance,
just so may wholesome aspirations in the world
all be fulfilled.

xxiii
 PART I

Chapter I
Contested Contexts
On the Historiography of Anuruddha and the Production of Pali Commentarial Literature in
South India

[The Complicated Backstory]

Section I.
Neglected Texts and a Vanished Genre: the literary or aesthetic Abhidhamma text

There is hardly another text in the Pali corpus that has been so assiduously studied as
Anuruddha's Compendium of Topics of the Abhidhamma (abhidhammatthasangaha). For more
than a thousand years, since the time of its composition, the text has functioned as the Theravada
world's textbook for the study of what it deems the pinnacle and quintessence of the Buddha's
teachings, the Theravada Abhidhamma. It is without a doubt the pinnacle of one strand of the
Pali commentarial tradition long in the making: that of its systematization of abhidhammic
thought. From abhidhammic doctrine's shadowy inception in the canonical works of the
Abhidhamma piṭaka, to its developing forms in the early scholastic tradition, this strand of
thought became pervasive in the commentaries and subcommentarial literature that defined the
Mahavihara interpretive tradition in the wake of Buddhaghosa, its touch evident even on the
handling of the most disparate details of the canonical texts on which the latter-day
commentators comment (even those who never commented on Abhidhamma materials).
Anuruddha's famous treatise, in a sense, crystalizes this tradition.
Ironically, however, with time, the brilliance of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)
came to obscure the many works that it outshined. The allied literature of the genre of which it
formed a part (and with them Anuruddha's own remaining works) gradually fell into neglect
owing to its success. The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) eclipsed Anuruddha's other works,
the Manual of Defining Mind and Matter (Namar-p) and Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma
Ultimates (Pm-vn) -- and with them an entire genre that represented a unique strand of the Pali
commentarial tradition: one attempting literary and aesthetic reformulation of the by now fixed
abhidhammic doctrinal material. It is this genre the vanishing of which this study takes as its
starting-point.
This chapter addresses scholarship to date on Anuruddha's works and context. It
addresses the contested identity of Anuruddha and the splitting of his figure into two separate
authors, one South Indian and one Sri Lankan. This chapter negotiates the handling of
Anuruddha and takes the artificial splitting of this figure as symptomatic of deeper "shadow
lines" (Ghosh 1988) that run through the constitution of Theravada identity, and which we
knowingly or unknowingly inherit as scholars of Theravada materials. It sets out to complicate
our conception of Theravada as (at an early stage) essentially [Sri] Lankan and to rethink our
conventional understanding of Theravada in the light of what we know of Pali literary production
in South India. The chapter takes up, as emblematic of this literature, the works of the South

1
Indian Pali acariya Anuruddha: the author well known for his classic summation of the topics of
the Theravada Abhidhamma, the Compendium of Topics of the Abhidhamma
(abhidhammatthasangaha), but also the author of a number of other, lesser-known works that
not only complement, but also exceed this standard classic in breadth and literary quality. In this
chapter I set out to contextualize Anuruddha's aesthetic works with reference to one another and
to the wider corpus commentarial literature, and especially that portion of it produced in, or in
association with South India. I query the circumstances of the production of such works of
Mahavihara affiliation in this relatively peripheral locale and hazard an assessment of the extent
of the influence of this intrinsic peripherality on the development of a trans-regional, Pali-
medium, specifically Theravada identity in the commentarial period. I aminterested to highlight
the many ways Anuruddha as a figure exceeds the neat dichotomies of national, religious,
linguistic, and institutional affiliation that overshadow the historiography of this literature, and to
problematize the resultant marginalization of the distinct regional legacy it represents, lost sight
of in the interstices of nationalist and ethno-religious historiography -- if not virtually banished
from awareness.

The Enigmatic Figure, Anuruddha

The foremost luminary of the literary abhidhamma text fared little better than the genre
itself. Despite the great fame of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), its author, Anuruddha,
has remained an enigma to scholarship. Typically regarded as Sri Lankan, despite an attribution
in the colophon of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) of birth in South India, popular and scholarly
representations of Anuruddha are fraught with the same divisiveness that characterizes the
contemporary social sphere. The figure that we think of as Anuruddha transgresses multiple
boundaries: of genre, language, regional and doctrinal affiliation -- the splitting of this figure
replicating lines of contemporary ethno-religious divide.
Traditionally, Anuruddha is regarded as the author of four texts: the Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s); the closely-related Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) and Decisive Treatment
(Pm-vn); as well as the Sanskrit poetic work known as Anuruddha's Hundred Verses (the
anuruddhasataka). The proposition of single authorship traditionally made is admittedly
problematic, transgressing multiple key boundaries. The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) is an
unembellished doctrinal treatise; the other works are poetic; three of the works are in Pali and
make reference to the Mahavihara, while the Anuruddhasataka is composed in ornate Sanskrit
and refers to its author, Anuruddha, as a chief incumbent of an Abhayagiri-affiliated branch of
the great monasteries of Anuradhapura (the uttaramulavihara, Anu-s v. 101). As for his dating,
while traditionally aligned with very early figures such as Buddhadatta and Jotipala, Anuruddha
has on the other hand also been often represented as pertaining to the commentarial era's latter
phase, presented by many scholars as very nearly contemporaneous with his commentators, on
the cusp of the Polonnaruwa era. And, bearing the burden of perceived transgression perhaps
most of all, Anuruddha has been accorded roots in both South India and [Sri] Lanka. As a single
figure, Anuruddha encompasses a number of incommensurable spheres of belonging, proving
impossible to reconcile with respect to these, and yet equally difficult to plausibly divide. In his
stubborn ambiguity and deeply-felt transgression, like a rorschach blot, he reveals more of his
interpreters than of himself.

2
Lost in the Interstices: Anuruddha's historical context and the loss of a regional legacy
A rich regional legacy has evidently been lost sight of, over time, slipping through the
cracks amidst the persistent attempts to split this complex figure, as it were – and with it, all
possibility of understanding Anuruddha's context. The story of the burgeoning transregional
Theravada community's periphery, with its vibrant activity in coastal South India and indelible
contributions to Pali literature -- and the key role it almost certainly played in the initiation and
flourishing of the Pali commentarial era (which can be called a Renaissance without
exaggeration) and the development of what we have come to know as Theravada – has been lost.
As the memory of it faded, so did the understanding of Anuruddha. Historiography has most
often proceeded through the lens of the above-mentioned divisions, its many assumptions about
incommensurable realms of belonging replicating and reifying contemporary lines of division.
The question of Anuruddha's identity and dating posing such difficult, perhaps even
insurmountable, problems, the four works attributed to Anuruddha have given rise to various
theories of authorship. Scholars have in general had difficulty accepting the disparate
biographical details available to us as adding up to a coherent whole, some regarding him as a
single figure, the author of all four, and some regarding the texts attributed to him as written by
as many as three separate Anuruddhas. However, rather than carefully considered theories, most
of the available accounts represent repetition of earlier accounts' best guesses.
G.P. Malalasekera, in his 1928 History of Pali Literature, represented the view of
unproblematized single-authorship of all four texts (which is also the traditional view, though
Malalasekera adjusted the dating to try to make it work) -- positing the popular cusp-of-the-
twelfth century dating on the basis of the assumption that the Sanskrit Anuruddha's Hundred
Verses (anuruddhasataka) on the one hand required a suitably late date, while the absence of any
ostensible markers of affiliation to the Polonnaruwa era in the works' colophons, on the other
hand, necessitated a sufficiently early date (pre-Parakkamabahu and unification of the sangha).
The end of the eleventh century was for him the point in history that could bridge these two
extremes (Malalasekera 1928, 169). A.P. Buddhadatta, editor of the Roman PTS editions (Ee) of
the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) as well as the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), took this
similarly unitary view of authorship at the time of publication of the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) in 1912 (though acknowledging that some regarded the author of the Sanskrit work
attributed to him as separate),32 but reversed his position decades later, in 1960, after preparation
of his edition of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), shortly before his death.33 Though citing a
stylistic difference to bolster his position that there must be two Anuruddhas (the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) having ornate finial verses at the end of each chapter, in contrast to the
absence of these in the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)), and pointing out a potential instance of
doctrinal divergence in the case of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn),34 the main criterion for his
change in position, however, by his own account, was that of national affiliation:

32
JPTS 1913-14, 4, on the basis of its mention of affiliation to the uttaramūla monastery, in contrast to the other
works' statements of allegiance to the Mahavihara tradition.
33
Published posthumously in JPTS 1985, 157. Buddhadatta died in 1962.
34
A va clause in the account of the cognitive process noted already by Sumangala in the 12th century without
however giving cause for concern about authorship, rather pointing to such discrepancies having been present
even among the dīgha vs. majjhima bhaṇaka traditions. (Could this discrepancy among the bhaṇaka schools and
the time of its resolution in the ṭika literature be used to date the Pm-vn?) (JPTS 1985, 158).

3
 “In the colophon of the Pm-vn it is clearly stated that it was compiled by an Elder
Anuruddha, who was born at Kaveri (Kavīra) in the province of Kanjiveram (Kañcipura:
in South India) and lived in a town called Tanja or Raja in the country of Tamba. So there
is no dispute about this author. [...] The author of the Abhidh-s lived in a vihara named
Mūlasoma which is supposed to be situated in Ceylon. The compiler of the
Namarūpapariccheda has stated that Mahavihara in Ceylon should prosper in future. So
both of these appear to have lived in Ceylon, while the author of the present work lived in
India or, as Dr. S. Paranavitana points out, at Tamralingam in Malay Peninsular.”35

That the issue of nationality should have loomed large in the intervening years should perhaps be
no surprise, given the independence struggles of the intervening decades and strong assertion of
a politically charged, exclusivistic, ethnically Sinhalese Buddhist identity in the process.
National and cultural property had become a charged issue, and Anuruddha now seemed to have
competing claims of possession upon him. As mentioned by Buddhadatta, the question of
Anuruddha's ultimate affiliation had also recently been raised by the famous archaeologist
Paranavitana, who conjectured in a 1959 article that the uncertain city of “Tañja” in
“Tambaraṭṭha,” mentioned as the place Anuruddha was residing when the Decisive Treatment
(Pm-vn) was composed, might refer to the Tamralinga / Tambalinga locale in the Malay
Peninsula – an idea later debunked by R.A.L.H. Gunawardana in a 1967 article reconsidering the
connections between Sri Lanka and Malaysia posited by Paravitana.36 Gunawardana himself goes
on to advance the theory that the city “Tañja” in question, might well refer to a "Southern
Tañjai" on the banks of the river Vaikai, distinct from Tañjavur, the capital of the medieval
Colas. His assessment unfortunately takes for granted Malalasekera's dating of Anuruddha to the
beginning of the 12th century (predicated on the assumption that the author of the Sanskrit poem
and the abhidhamma treatises were one and the same) and is therefore not conclusive (later
revised in his 1985 publication Robe and Plough).37
As can be seen, much discomfort now centered on the question of national affiliation,
even that of subjects who lived and died long prior to the nation-state's appearance.
Paranavitana's scholarship perhaps reflected the preoccupation with this question, and
Anuruddha (as author of the widely revered Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) had unwittingly
become an object of prestige subject to feelings of national patrimony that were challenged by
the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s colophon's details regarding Anuruddha's place of birth. The
suggestion that he could be understood as belonging to South India rather than Ceylon evidently
proved such an issue of vexation to Buddhadatta in his later years that he would feel moved to
write somewhat disdainfully of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) and its author in his introduction
to the difficult work that he had laboriously edited in the twilight of his life: whereas the
Anuruddha of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) and Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) was
“an erudite person who was able to state a fact clearly and precisely in a few words,” the
Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), lacking variation in meter, had a structure that was “not very
attractive” by comparison (this by way of supporting evidence, the main criterion, as already
stated, being that of belonging to South India rather than Ceylon) – “So I conclude that the
35
JPTS 1985, 157.
36
Gunawardana 1967, 13-17.
37
Gunawardana 1967, 13.

4
author of the present work is different from Anuruddhacariya, the author of the former two
manuals.”38 This hasty conclusion, ill-reasoned as it may have been, marked the twin
Anuruddhas' inauspicious birth – one regarded skeptically, and as an outsider, one an object of
prestige now elevated to the status of national regalia and incontrovertibly Ceylonese. We will
see this splitting of Anuruddha's figure echoing uncritically through later historiographers'
accounts down to the present day.
The Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s colophon (nigamanakatha)39 refers in highly laudatory
manner to the Elder Anuruddha, wise scholar of great learning, of unimpeded fame, who was
born into a family of stature in the fine city of Kavira (i.e., kaveripaṭṭinam, the prosperous port-
city capital of the early Colas) in the wealthy kingdom of Kancivara (i.e. Kañcipura or
Kañcivara, capital of the Pallavas) – who had deep knowledge of the subject matter of the
abhidhamma ultimates (paramattha-s) and had written the treatise, the Paramatthavinicchaya,
expounding the ultimates without admixture (of other doctrines) based on the way of exposition
(vacanamagga) of the residents of the Mahavihara, while resident in Tamba country in the city
named Tanja, requested to do so there by Sanghavisiṭṭha. We may note the details troublesome
to Buddhadatta – the unambiguous attribution of an origin to Anuruddha in the famous early
South Indian port-city known in Pali as Kaveripaṭṭana or Kavīrapaṭṭana, and his residence at “the
city having the name Tañja” in the Tamba region at the time of the work's composition. We may
also note however that the colophon, not written by Anuruddha himself, regards him as an
established scholar and well-known authority, playing on his name “Anuruddha” with the epithet
“a-niruddha-yasassī” “who had fame that knew no bounds,” the unusual compound sanjatabhuta
not meaning simply “born” but literally “who came into being, born into a good family in said
city” -- seemingly pointing out the roots of this well-known “wise scholar of great learning,”
from the vantage point of his latter-day repute. This is not the praise of a heretofore unknown
minor scholar who wrote a single work, the present work his first.
There is much geography in the colophon, and this requires a bit of unpacking. The birth-
place in question, Kavīra- or Kaveri-paṭṭana, is the Pali rendering of the illustrious port-capital of
the early Colas, Pūm-Pukar, or Kaverip-pūm-paṭṭinam, celebrated in early Tamil Cankam
literature (e.g. Cilappatikaram, Maṇimekalai, etc.) as a prosperous and bustling hub of maritime
trade, frequented by foreign traders and diverse religious cultures. The city is memorialized in an
early Tamil Cankam work of the ten-idylls (Pattupaṭṭu) collection (1st -2nd CE), the Paṭṭinap-
palai, as a thriving hub of affluence and maritime trade, and the launching ground for the early
Colas' maritime conquests.40 The Jain and Buddhist epics, the Cilappatikaram and Maṇimekalai,
are set in the city and paint vivid pictures of a rich and fluid cosmopolitan culture there. The
Maṇimekalai memorializes pilgrimage to an island shrine from which Buddhist understanding is
brought back to the mainland; living Buddhist renunciants and illustrious teachers; as well as the
visit of representatives of the kingdom of Java to acquire Buddha relics.
With the decline of the early Colas (by 3rd cent. CE) and subsequent ascendance of the
38
JPTS 1985, 157-158
39
1141. seṭṭhe kañcivare raṭṭhe, kaverinagare vare / kule sañjatabhūtena, bahussutena ñaṇina,
1142. anuruddhena therena, aniruddhayasassina / tambaraṭṭhe vasantena, nagare tañjanamake;
1143. tattha sanghavisiṭṭhena, yacitena anakulaṃ / mahaviharavasīnaṃ, vacanamagganissitaṃ,
1144. paramatthaṃ pakasentaṃ, paramatthavinicchayaṃ / pakaraṇaṃ kataṃ tena, paramatth-atthavedina ti. (iti
anuruddhacariyena racito paramatthavinicchayo niṭṭhito.)
40
Schalk 2002, 57-58.

5
prakrit-favoring Pallava dynasty (4th to 9th centuries CE, famed for the Pallava-grantha script
found across Southeast Asia), the seat of power shifted to the Pallavas' capital in Kañcipura, and
Kaveripaṭṭana remained on the periphery of Pallava dominion. The coastal regions of the Kaveri
delta from the 4th to 7th centuries were under the control of the Kalabhra dynasty, about which
very little is known, except for the fact that it patronized heterodox religious cultures (including
Buddhism, Jainism, and Ajīvikism) and was viewed as inimical by Brahmanism41 until the
Pallavas expanded their dominion to incorporate this area, including Kaveripaṭṭana, by ~650
CE.42 The period in the wake of the early Colas and before the expansion of the Pallavas is
remembered in South Indian historiography as the “Kalabhra interregnum” and largely written
off as a South Indian dark age. In the historian Neelakantha Shastri's classic characterization:

After the close of the Sangam epoch, from about a.d. 300 to a.d. 600, there is an almost
total lack of information regarding occurrences in the Tamil land. Some time about a.d.
300 or a little later the whole country was upset by the predatory activities of the
Kalabhras who are described as evil rulers who overthrew numberless chieftains
(adhirajar) of the land and got a stranglehold on the country.43

It is noteworthy however that this period also coincides with the flourishing of the Pali
commentarial era in precisely this region, giving us cause to question this aggressively negative
characterization of it. The effacement of this period in historiography, due, to a considerable
extent, to brahminical antipathy to it and the traditional casting of the Kalabhras as wicked
outsiders, is a major stumbling block for the study of the context of the South Indian production
of Pali commentarial literature, with which it appears to be intimately related. In fact, the only
king of the dynasty to whom reference remains has been gleaned precisely from the colophon of
one of the early South Indian Pali commentators, Buddhadatta, who refers at the end of his
Vinaya treatise, the Vinayavinicchaya, to patronage by an Accuta-vikkanta44 of the Kalabhra
dynasty, the work being “commenced and concluded while the immortal Accuta Vikkanta, pride
of the Kalabhra clan, was governing the land.”45 It is also noteworthy that in the same breath,
however, Buddhadatta lavishes praise on the prosperous Cola country in which he composed his
work, in the beautiful monastery of Veṇhudasa in the prosperous “Bhūtamangala,”46 on the banks
41
Schalk 2002, 445: “Kavirippumpaṭṭinam developed as a Buddhist center in the 4th century AD in the Cola
country.”
42
Schalk 2002, 839.
43
Nilakanta Sastri 1958, 4.
44
von Hinuber, HPL §329. His name actually being taken as Accuta Accuta-vikkanta in the vinayavinicchaya's
commentary, rather than a play on his name in homage. This, pace Schalk, who takes the repetition as name play,
seems to be corroborated by the Tamil sources adduced in establishment of the king's identity, which evidently
cite him as Accuta, and as Accutakalappalan (cited by Schalk at Schalk 2002, 411).
45
Vin-vn v.3179: “[this work, the Vinayavinicchaya] accutaccutavikkante, kalambakulanandane / mahiṃ
samanusasante, araddho ca samapito.” The identification of this king was established already in 1929 with
reference to two corroborating Tamil sources provening respectively from the 17th or 18th century and the 11th-
12th century, as discussed by Schalk at Schalk 2002, 411 with reference to the work of Raghava Aiyangar M.
1929, “The Kalabhras in South India” in Journal of Indian History 8,1 pp. 74-80.
46
The location of Bhūtamangala is unclear. It was linked by ASI to a village Pūtamankalam south of Nakapaṭṭinam
(even introducing the erroneous spelling Buddhamangalam to substatiate the claim), as early as ASI field reports
of 1964-65 [Ahichchatra, Indian Archaeology Review 1964-1965, p.23] as discussed and refuted in Schalk 2002,

6
of the Kaveri river, endowed with every requirement and surrounded by birds, lotuses and
coconut palms, and free of any disturbance. He characterizes the setting as “the navel of the
wealthy Cola kingdom,” apparently (and very interestingly, in connection with Neelakantha
Shastri's characterization) understanding a continuity with the Colas, under this king, rather than
a radical break from them.47
We may note that the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s colophon conspicuously mirrors
Buddhadatta's phrasing, but adapts its seṭṭhassa colaraṭṭhassa “of the wealthy Cola Kingdom” to
seṭṭhe kancivare raṭṭhe “in the wealthy kingdom of Kañci.”48 We can only assume that this was
intended in earnest. Kaveripaṭṭana being incorporated into the Pallava sphere of dominion, with
its seat in Kañci, only from ~650 CE, and being again disassociated from it with the rise of the
imperial Colas based in their new capital, Tañjavūr, and the end of the Pallava period by the
middle of the 9th century, we appear to have a plausible window for the dating of the Pm-vn.49 I
am inclined to agree with the position that R.A.L.H. Gunawardana took in his later work that this
would seem to suggest a late Pallava-period timeframe, when Kaveripaṭṭana was still associated
with Kañci, prior to the re-ascendance of the Colas in the 9th century and the severing of that
connection.50 In fact, in later Pali texts, we find Kaveripaṭṭana referred to not as kancivare raṭṭhe
kaveripaṭṭana, “Kaveripaṭṭana in the Kingdom of Kañcivara,” but as colaraṭṭhe kaveripaṭṭana,
“Kaveripaṭṭana in the Cola Kingdom.”51
Of “the city, Tañja by name”, and the “Tamba country” in which Anuruddha resided
323-324. The geography of such a hinterland location does not match with either the characterization of being on
the Kaveri river or the representation of the place as the navel of the Cola kingdom, which would imply a more
central location, either Uraiyur (also on the Kaveri, the early Colas' chief city, and supposed to have bene
Buddhadatta's birthplace [assuming uragapura = uraiyūr, an identification approved of by Schalk 2002, 388] or
Kaveripaṭṭinam itself (given the nearly identical descriptions in the colophons of the Vin-vn, describing the
Bhūtamangala monastery built by Veṇhudasa, and that of the Abhidh-av, describing the monastery in
Kaveripaṭṭana built by Kaṇhadasa, and assuming, with Hinūber 2006 §328, that Kaṇhadasa and Veṇhudasa
might be referring to the same individual.)
47
Vin-vn-ṭ even understands Accuta Accuta-vikkanta as a Cola king himself: kalambhakulavaṃsajate
accutaccutavikkantaname colarajini __mahiṃ_ colaraṭṭhaṃ __samanusasante_ “when the Cola king Accuta
Accutavikkanta, born in the lineage of the Kalambha ( = Kalabhra) clan, was ruling the earth, that is, the Cola
kingdom.”
48
Vin-vn v. 3168 seṭṭhassa colaraṭṭhassa, nabhibhūte nirakule / sabbassa pana lokassa, game sampiṇḍite viya.
49
cf. Schalk 514: The Colar suffered a political eclipse from the beginning of the Pallava period. They returned to
power when King Vijayalaya took Tañcavūr in about the middle of the 9th century. Their empire under Parantaka
I (907-955) included, of course the Cola heartland from the pre-Pallava period in the Kaviri delta with Pukar [ie
Kaveripaṭṭana], Tañcavūr, Nakapaṭṭinam, and Uraiyūr as the centers. Also cf. Nilakanta Sastri 1958, 5: “The rise
of the imperial Cholas of the line of Vijayalaya may be dated from the middle of the ninth century a.d. As they
emerged from their obscurity, they soon displaced the remnants of Pallava power to the north of their capital
Tanjore, and subdued the Pandya and Chera countries in the south and invaded Ceylon.” For the beginning of
Pallava presence in Kaveripaṭṭana: The toponym pallavanīccuram [the site of the Buddhist monastery of
Kaveripaṭṭana obstendibly described in Buddhadatta's Abhidh-av colophon – Schalk 2002, 434] can be traced to
the 7th century when Campantar nayanar sang a hymn [tevaram] to a temple at “kavirippūmpaṭṭina's
pallavanīccuram” At that time the influence from Pallava rule was also felt in the traditional homeland of the
Colas” (Schalk 2002, 433).
50
RALH Gunawardhana 1979, p. 266: "This statement seems to suggest that the Pm-vn was written at a time when
the town of kavīra was still under the control of the Pallavas. If this is so, the work has to be assigned to the ninth
century or an earlier period."
51
rasavahinī / sahassavatthuppakaraṇa, which belong to the 11th century.

7
while he wrote his Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), still less can be said with certainty. We know
that the learned monk Dhammakitti, who authored the first part of the Cūlavaṃsa, extending the
Mahavaṃsa's account up to the reign of Parakkamabahu I, is remembered in the Cūlavaṃsa's
account as having been brought from Tambaraṭṭha by Parakkamabahu II in the 13th century, after
bringing many monks from “Colamaharaṭṭha,” and having heard about him (presumably from
them?).52 It is unclear in the text if there Tambaraṭṭha is intended as a subset of Colamaharaṭṭha
(which is entirely plausible) or as separate from it.53 Tamba country is mentioned in connection
with the Colas; the Jinalankara by Buddharakkhita refers in its colophon to coliyatambaraṭṭha;
Paranavitana wanted Tambaraṭṭha to be equivalent with Tambalinga and thus in Malay region
but this view was subsequently scrutinized and dismissed by Gunawardana (Gunawardana 1967,
13). If Anuruddha was indeed writing before the imperial Cola period (i.e., prior to the last half
of the 9th century), marked by the ascendance of the Colas from their new capital in Tañjavūr --
which they seized from the Muttaraiyar dynasty ruling there from the sixth century, who were
known, like the Kalabhras, to have patronized heterodox religions54 -- this would certainly
explain the absence of a direct reference to the Colas in connection with the region, here. But it
does not preclude the possibility of his residence in that city or its environs (no doubt a growing
center of power and patronage) prior to its capture by the Colas. The Decisive Treatment (Pm-
vn)'s colophon's nagare tanjanamake indeed makes sense as a Pali rendering of the name Tañja-
v-ūr, the word representing a compound of Tamil ūr “city,” and “Tañjai,” the old name of that
city. The colophon's unusual phrasing, “the city having the name 'Tañja'” is quite reasonable as a
rendering in Pali of the Tamil.55 The rise of the Imperial Colas who would later seize the city and
develop it as their capital may have obliterated all traces of pre-Saivite religious culture there.

52
Cv 82, vv. 11-15
53
Gunawardana reads the cūlavaṃsa reference as implying it to be a separate mission to a destination separate
from Colamaharaṭṭha, but Schalk reads the same (as I am also inclined to do) as implying it as a subset: “we can
presume that tambaraṭṭha was in the Cola country. This is also made clear in the remarkable incident about
Parakkamabahu II (1236-1271, 1236-1270), whose ambition was to purify the insular sangha. To help him he
called on the Coliya bhikkhus from colamaharaṭṭham. Among these were some that lived permanently in
tambaraṭṭham. ... We have to accept what this passage in the Cūlavaṃsa refers to, namely to a cultivation of
Buddhist studies in a limited area called tambaraṭṭham, which probably also included Nakapaṭṭinam and the Pali
Buddhist establishment there” Schalk 202 p 524. Some have regarded Dhammakitti as being from Maramma-
visaya (Myanmar)'s identically named Tambaraṭṭha.
54
It has been proposed that Buddhism flourished under Muttaraiyar and that the Muttaraiyar are to be equated with
the Kalabhras: Krishnan, K. G. “The Muttaraiyar” in Studies in South Indian History and Epigraphy 1. Madras:
New Era Publication, 19. p 138; pp 133-155 (Cited by Schalk 2002, p. 409, note 165 but rejected by Schalk as
indicating no more than that they were tolerated rather than patronized, just as they were by the Pallavas, in
Schalk's analysis. p. 412, cf. Schalk's argument of “pragmatic endurance” by Pallavas of Buddhism, rather than
their sponsorship of it p. 412). Anuruddha as being in Muttaraiyar-era (Pre-Imperial Cola) Tañjavūr and thus a
second Pali commentator associated with this milieu, after Buddhadatta. could however be seen as additional
evidence not considered by Schalk owing to his acceptance of Malalasekera's dating of Anuruddha to the 12 th
century.
55
Gunawardana 1967 discards this “tempting” possibility (13) owing to 1) his reading of the Cūlavaṃsa as
implying that in the 13th century Tambaraṭṭha and Cola country were seen as distinct locales and 2) his
assumption that Anuruddha belonged to the 12th century. Both of these assumptions being most likely mistaken,
this possibility appears even more tempting, and in fact quite reasonable. Unfortunately, of Tanjavur prior to the
imperial Colas, (like the Kalabhras) very little can be said with certainty. Manuscript variant "Raja" for "Tañja"
cited by A.P. Buddhadatta, JPTS X (1985), 157.

8
Section II.
The "Alankārification" of Objects of Prestige56

While the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s place of composition, specified as

“Mūlasoma-” or “Tumūlasoma-vihara” in its colophon, remains of stubbornly undetermined
location,57 the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), as Buddhadatta points out, was to all
appearances composed by Anuruddha while in residence at the Mahavihara. In its closing verses
it lavishes praise on the great monastery, which it calls “the isle of Lanka's crowning grace”
(alankara, literally ornament or adornment), and directs its parting blessings to its lionized
(though not necessarily exclusively Sinhalese58) residents:

paṇḍiccaṃ paramatthesu, pāṭavaṃ paṭipattiyaṃ,

patthayantena bhikkhūnam itthaṃ sugatasāsane, 1853
&
nāmarūpaparicchedam asaṃkiṇṇam anākulaṃ,
kubbatā hitakāmena, sukatena katena me, 1854

And by the meritorious deed that I have done

making the Manual of Discerning Mind & Matter (namarupapariccheda),
free of any admixture or intrusion,
desiring the welfare of the monks in the Buddha's dispensation,
seeking their acquisition of wisdom with regard to the paramattha-s
and aptitude with regard to practice,

mahāmerunibhaṃ gehaṃ, mahācetiyabhūsitaṃ,

mahāvihāram āruḷha-mahābodhimahussavaṃ, 1855
56
Anderson writes of the process initiated in colonial institutions such as the Archaeological Survey of India, and
very much perpetuated in their postcolonial continuations, in which sacred sites were secularized and stripped of
their sanctity and repositioned as "regalia" for the secular state (Anderson 2006 Ch. 10). A similar phenomenon
is alluded to by the phrase "alankarification" (ornamentification), in which an object or figure imbued with
cultural prestige is repositioned as an "alankara" (ornament) of the community -- i.e., transformed into regalia for
an identity.
57
Speculatively regarded (all too analogous, perhaps, to the speculative localization of the temple marking the
birthplace of Rama to beneath the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, in an Indian context) as perhaps beneath a present-
day Hindu temple near Polonnaruwa. The only reference to Tumūlasoma vihara is obtained in a mention of it by
name in the khuddasikha-puraṇaṭīka ( = khuddasikhavinicchaya) and specified there as in “sīhaladvīpe.” The
Khuddasikha puraṇaṭīka author is perhaps Vacissaro; attributed authorship of Mūlasikkha-pṭ in Gv. Its abhinava-
ṭīka was written by Sumangala. The puraṇaṭīka reference is to an insignificant but realistic detail of monastic
practice regarding vinaya regulations on goods belonging to the sangha (and the sale of excess, in the case of
Tumūlasoma vihara) and so lends credence to the view that it writes with knowledge of a genuine Tumūlasoma-
vihara in Lanka, known some time prior to Sumangala: “sīhaladīpe tumūlasomavihare sanghassa pakavattam pi
talapaṇṇaṃ vikkiṇitva karīyati. kasma? na hi tattha paṇṇena attho atthi, sabbe pi iṭṭhakacchanna pasadadayo ti.
evaṃ aññatthapi karīyati eva ti vadanti” (Khuddas-pṭ).
58
Pace Crosby and Skilton 1999, who suggest that the extolling of the commentator Kassapa as a lion "worshipped
on Cola earth" (sihena colavanipujitena) indicates subtle attribution of Sinhalese ethnic identity
(vinayavinicchayaṭīka preface, verse ḍha).

9
 &
alankātuṃ pahontālaṃ, cirakālaṃ tapodhanā,
lankādīpass' alankāraṃ, kalankāpagatālayaṃ. 1856

may they, rich in spiritual wealth, long be fit to grace

this great monastery, the Mahavihara,
adorned by its great stūpa,
an edifice the likeness of great Meru,
with its great festivities for the Mahabodhi, the great tree that rises above it,
the crowning grace of this Lanka isle --
as an abode of men free of all taint.59

While this adequately establishes the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s place of composition,60
it does not necessarily follow, as Buddhadatta suggests, that this Anuruddha therefore belonged
to Ceylon, in contrast to the author of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), who did not. Anuruddha's
praise of the monastery, and aggrandizement of it as lankadipass' alankara, the adornment, or
"crowning grace" of the island of Lanka, need by no means be construed as evidence in favor of
a [Sri] Lankan Anuruddha, as distinct from a posited South Indian counterpart of the same name,
who composed treatises on the same material; we might read this just as naturally as the
hyperbolic praise of a pilgrim from the periphery to the metropole of his religious (and
educational) community, his totalizing notion of the island Lanka and idealization of the
Mahavihara perhaps in origin an imported rather than indigenous one, afforded precisely by a
translocal perspective.61
For the South Indian Pali thera-s, the Mahavihara constituted a fixed point of reference
with which they would have been situated somewhat as satellite communities. As is patently
obvious in their writings, they looked to it as their authority, journeyed there to acquire their own
knowledge and authority, and established their legitimacy with relation to it upon their return.
While it has been acknowledged in passing that, “The majority of the Pali commentators were
either Cola monks or those who had connections with South India,”62 the key role that this likely
played in the Pali commentarial project, both in its initiation and its flourishing, and
consequently in the consolidation of Theravada identity per se that this brought about, has
seldom given the attention it deserves. It remains surprisingly under-acknowledged in
historiography, let alone translated into popular conception, where it stands awkwardly evident
but nevertheless somehow still unassimilated.
The highly "international nature"63 of commentarial-era Theravada has been increasingly
59
Namar-p vv. 1853-1856.
60
Malalasekera for his part rather inexplicably claims that the Namar-p & paramatthavinicchaya were both written
together “while he was residing at Kañcipura in the Tambaraṭṭha” Malalasekera 1928, 142.
61
cf. Anderson 2006, ch 7 for the function of the educational pilgrimage as a key factor in consolidating translocal
identity among the cadres of elite intelligentsia who undertook such pilgrimages in “last wave” colonial contexts.
62
Kathavatthuppakaraṇa-aṭṭhakatha, ed. Jayawickrama, PTS 1979, p. xii. N.B. that the characterization of the early
commentators as Cola would no doubt be somewhat anachronistic (though Buddhadatta evidently considered
himself to be in Cola lands even after the eclipse of the early Colas, and prior to the ascendance of the Imperial
Colas).
63
Crosby & Skilton 1999, 173.

10
highlighted in scholarship. Peter Skilling goes so far as to suggest that South Indian and Sri
Lankan Theravada, at an early stage, should be regarded as a joint phenomenon:

"The Theravada that we know today had an important presence in south India, at least in
several coastal centers, and the evidence suggests that the Mahavihara philosophical and
hermeneutical heritage is a south Indian–Sri Lankan phenomenon rather than, as
presented in later periods after the eclipse of south Indian Buddhism, exclusively
Lankan."64

Who are the main figures of this “important presence” in South India? Of the initiators of the
Pali commentarial project in the early fifth century, Buddhadatta was unambiguously South
Indian, and is remembered as such.65 His more famous contemporary, Buddhaghosa, may or may
not have been, but we know for sure from the colophons of his works that he spent a good deal
of time there; it was from South India that he proceeded to Sri Lanka, and/or to South India that
he returned to complete his project.66 Ananda, after him, was a key figure of the commentarial-
era abhidhamma project, who initiated the sub-commentarial tier of the commentarial corpus
with his Abhidhamma mula-ṭika on Buddhaghosa's commentaries on the canonical books of the
Abhidhamma, as was the less-prominent Jotipala, who directed commentarial response to
Ananda.67 Dhammapala, probably just after them, completed the project initiated by
Buddhaghosa, filling in the remaining gaps in the canonical works (comprising various works of
the khuddaka-nikaya), and continued the subcommentarial project on Buddhaghosa's works.
Anuruddha, though his dating is uncertain, is perhaps the next noteworthy figure of a relative
64
Skilling 2009, 70.
65
As Cousins points out, Buddhadatta's colophons referring to him as both “Tambapaṇṇiya” and as from a
presumably South Indian locale (Uragapura, usually identified with Urayur, the early Cola center on the Kaveri),
is likely indicative of an early period when the name referred to school affiliation rather than geographical
affiliation, before these were viewed as mutually exclusive. “Clearer, perhaps, is the reference to Buddhadatta as
Tambapaṇṇiya in the nigamanas to Utt-vn and Vin-vn. Since Buddhadatta is generally considered to have been
South Indian and certainly wrote there, this poses a problem. The author of Vin-vn-pṭ in the thirteenth century is
aware of this and comments that Tambapaṇṇiya means either ‘born in Tambapaṇṇi’ or ‘known there’ or ‘come
from there’. More probably, these references do indeed evidence a period when the name was current for the
Sinhalese school” such usage being attested in the Vinaya as well (Cousins, Unpublished paper, Tambapaṇṇiya
and Tamrasaṭiya p. 10).
66
Buddhaghosa wrote the Vism during the reign of the Sri Lankan king, Mahanama (r. 406-428 Walters / 409-431
Adikaram). Shortly after Mahanama's reign, Anuradhapura was conquered and ruled successively by six Tamil
kings (reckoned Paṇḍyas) over the next ~25 years. This period brought Theravada literary activity in Pali back to
the mainland – within the life and career of Buddhaghosa himself. The samantapasadika (Vin-a) according to its
colophon was composed in the twentieth year of king Sirinivasa's (twenty-two year) reign ( = Mahanama,
according to Malalasekera 1928, 96). Adikaram, displaying the characteristic ethnic bias responsible for this
history's obscuration while simultaneously admitting that much of Buddhaghosa's opus was evidently carried out
in South India, writes: “The mahavaṃsa tells us that the death of Mahanama was followed by serious political
upheaval and that hardly two years had elapsed since the king's death when Anuradhapura was overrun by Tamil
invaders who ravaged the country, hindered its progress and menaced its religion. As it was usual in times of
trouble the defenders of the faith fled to Rohaṇa and it took more than a quarter of a century before the Sinhalese
regained their freedom and before their religion was again established as in earlier times. In my opinion this was
the chief reason that compelled Buddhaghosa to leave Ceylon before he could complete the writing of Pali
Commentaries [sic] to all the Texts [sic] of the three Piṭakas” (Adikaram 1946, 5).
67
Cousins 2011

11
chronology, appearing perhaps in the 8th or 9th century and significantly reworking the
abhidhammic formulations of Buddhaghosa and Buddhadatta in his stand-alone treatises.
Ananda, author of the upasakajanalankara, announces himself not as South Indian but as
working in exile under Paṇḍiyan patronage in South India.68 The South Indian grammarians,
most conspicuous among them, Buddhappiya/Dīpankara, probably belong to the early 12th
century,69 belong in this listing as well, and Kassapa after him in the 12th/13th century, the last
major Pali commentator of repute known to be working in South India. It is not clear if the
famous chronicler Dhammakitti, author of the first segment of the Mahavaṃsa's continuation in
the form of the Cūlavaṃsa, from Tambaraṭṭha, belongs here as well – but in any case, the
Cūlavaṃsa preserves a striking account of the closing of the era of South Indian production of
Pali commentarial literature with the summoning of reputed coliya bhikkhu-s and Dhammakitti
to revive the sangha at Parakkamabahu I's court in Polonnaruwa in the 12th cent. If it's not clear
from the list, these are some of (indeed most of) the most famous names in Pali literature, an
amazing proportion of them from or based in South India, from the very beginning of the
commentarial period, up to and including its very end.

Rethinking Ornaments Like Buddhaghosa

Although the key contribution of the South Indian Pali commentators to the Pali post-
canonical corpus is for the most part in plain sight and obvious to any who care to look, the
remarkable thing is how few have in fact cared to look -- the importance of the Theravada “south
Indian presence's” contribution to Pali literature being instead curiously disregarded. A case in
point is Buddhaghosa, remembered in his formulaic identificatory tag for his vast and pure
intellect, who was (or perhaps, more pointedly, became) the adornment, or “crowning grace”
(alankara) of the lineage of Mahavihara-resident elders, who were themselves the chief
luminaries in the lineage of the elders70 -- the creme de la creme of the Theravada tradition, as it
were. The tag, added later, is emblematic of the unspoken naturalization of Buddhaghosa, whose
extra-local roots became so obfuscated with time that he came to be remembered in the
Cūlavaṃsa's apocryphal account of his origins (repeated in the buddhaghosuppatti) as being
from “the vicinity of the Bodhi tree”71 – probably indicative, as von Hinuber points out, not
necessarily of North Indian brahminical roots, as the later tradition would hold, but of a desire to
elevate a founding figure's status by imbuing him with an origin suitably close to the heart of
Buddhism,72 and extralocal in the most dignified way, in the face of the eventual oblivion of the

68
HPL §386, trans. Agostini 2015; usually dated to the 11th cent. in coordination with the minor Paṇḍiyan king
Vīrarajendra, said to have ruled 1063-1070, under whom the vīracoliyam was composed by Buddhamitra (but
dateable to the first part of the 13th century according to Kieffer-Pultz, 2015, 632, cited in Falques-Gornall 2019,
425.). The 11th century saw the composition of the famous Tamil Buddhist grammar and poetic treatise, the
Vīracoliyam, and its commentaries, enshrining excerpts of an impressive corpus of Buddhist devotional poetry
from the same period and region and giving some sense of an active contemporaneous religious and literary
culture in Tamil.
69
Gornall 2014, 541, cited in Falques-Gornall 2019.
70
...theravaṃsappadipanaṃ theranaṃ mahaviharavasinaṃ / vaṃsalankarabhutena vipulavisuddha-buddhina...,
concluding many of the works attributed to Buddhaghosa and cited by Gethin as “composed not by him, but at
some point added to works attributed to him,” ibid, p16.
71
cv ch. 37, line 1
72
von Hinuber 2006 p. 102

12
locale of his actual place of origin.73 Speculation about the specific toponym aside, which
occupied early scholarship somewhat inconclusively,74 we may turn attention somewhat more
fruitfully to the facts about Buddhaghosa that we know with more certainty – themselves
revealing enough.
As begrudgingly acknowledged by Adikaram, as far as we can tell, only the Path of
Purification (Vism) and his Vinaya commentary (the samanta-pasadika, Vin-a), were clearly
written in situ at the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura. The remainder (and thus bulk) of
Buddhaghosa’s work appears to have been carried out not at the Mahavihara, but elsewhere: and
to all appearances, very likely in South India. References to Kañcipura (AN-a & by extension
SN-a, referring to the same initiator) and Mayūradūtapaṭṭana (MN-a)75 do not necessarily
represent locales of former residence, prior to arrival on the island (and to which never returned),
but more plausibly indicate the region to which he proceeded after his initial composition of the
Path of Purification (Vism) and Vin-a at the Mahavihara, from his thus comparatively brief
sojourn on the island. This counter-narrative to the normative portrayal of Buddhaghosa is
presented in fact by no other than Adikaram, in his seminal study of the Pali commentarial
corpus for what it revealed about "the state of Buddhism in Ceylon" (Adikaram 1946, with its
original extended title), displaying disdain for the scenario he presents even as he calls attention
to it, pointing out that much of Buddhaghosa's opus was evidently carried out in South India
rather than Ceylon:

“This period seems to have been a troublous one in the political history of Ceylon as is
evidenced by Buddhaghosa's expression of joy at being able to complete his work [the
Vin-a] in one year safely, in a world overwhelmed with dangers. The Mahavaṃsa tells us
that the death of Mahanama was followed by serious political upheaval and that hardly
two years had elapsed since the king's death when Anuradhapura was overrun by Tamil
invaders who ravaged the country, hindered its progress and menaced its religion. As it
was usual in times of trouble the defenders of the faith fled to Rohaṇa and it took more
than a quarter of a century before the Sinhalese regained their freedom and before their
religion was again established as in earlier times. In my opinion this was the chief reason
that compelled Buddhaghosa to leave Ceylon before he could complete the writing of
Pali Commentaries [sic] to all the Texts [sic] of the three Piṭakas.”76

Adikaram's all too evident resentment of the outsiders “who ravaged the country,
hindered its progress and menaced its religion” reveals the sentiment woven deeply into the
historiography of Pali literature, evidently responsible, to a great degree, for the obscuration of
73
Referred to by name solely in the Vism colophon as moraṇḍakheṭa (var. moraṇḍaceṭa, muraṇḍakheṭa,
mudantakheda), of undetermined location.
74
Proposed to be referring to a locale in the vicinity of the Krishna River valley region in todays A.P. where
villages with names of equivalent meanings in Telugu are found (R. Subramaniam and S. P. Nainar,
“Buddhaghosa—His Place of Birth” J.O.R., Madras, Vol. XIX, p. 282, by cited in Nyanamoli 1956, 34).
75
taken as = mayilappūr, together with Mamallapuram ( = Mahabalipuram), the chief Pallava port cities
“sponsored by the Pallava state .... for itinerant and transnational trade” in the interest of urban expansion and in
particular of the Pallavas' capital at Kañci during the Pallava period in which we see Buddhaghosa clearly
operating in this geography. Schalk 2002, 424.
76
Adikaram 1946, 5 (emphasis added by me).

13
this history. Ironically, it would seem that, in this reading, Buddhaghosa should perhaps be
thought of more as a Xuan Zang (or Fa Hien) than as a static, naturalized resident of the
Mahavihara itself (the “ornament” to it that he became, as it were) -- that is, as a pilgrim who
acquired texts from the distant metropole and took them back to his own peripheral locale,
motivated more fundamentally by a desire for what he could bring back and make accessible to
his own community than that which he could contribute abroad (i.e., to the Mahavihara). The
prestige and knowledge acquired in the metropole served primarily to legitimize an extension of
the institution, founded on its prestige and a sense of connection with it, back at home.
Buddhaghosa's motivation, as stated in his prologues, is entirely consistent with this view.
He begins his commentary on the Vinaya (Vin-a) stating that the Mahavihara residents'
commentary, due to its having been being composed in language (vakya) proper to the island of
the Sīhala people (sihaladipaka), is unable to convey meaning to the monks on the mainland
(dipantare) – among whom, we may infer, he counts himself. Therefore he will now undertake
this commentary, one that accords with the methodology (i.e., language) of the Pali scriptures –
that is, which will be comprehensible to all.77 Buddhaghosa's governing interest seems to be in
making an authoritative interpretive corpus accessible to the monks of the periphery. Monks
whose foreignness, it should be noted, he bore no animosity.
The rancor that characterizes Adikaram's above lamentation overshadows the
historiography of this rich literature and period, however, and has proved an unfortunate
stumbling block for the understanding of Anuruddha's context and Pali literary production in
South India.78 As great a scholar as G.P. Malalasekera, describing the narrative circumstances of
the Mahavaṃsa (to which Adikaram was implicitly comparing the chaotic period in the wake of
Mahanama when he wrote, “as it was usual in times of trouble the defenders of the faith fled to
Rohaṇa...”) wrote in his seminal 1928 History of Pali Literature:

"The patriotism of the Sinhalese could not tolerate a foreign invader in their midst. No
government, however just [i.e., the Tamil ruler, Elara's, in Anuradhapura, prior to its re-
conquest by Duṭṭhagamaṇi], if based on alien domination, could placate national feeling
or satisfy national aspirations. Tales of oppression, rumours of supercilious contempt
with which the conquerers treated the country's holiest possessions, reached the Sinhalese
band in their exile. Youths of strength and valor and ardent patriotism flocked to Magama
[Duṭṭhagamaṇi's father), their hearts burning to avenge their country's insults. But the
time was not yet ripe. The old king realized that expulsion of the Tamils was a task of no
small difficulty, and his army and his resources were yet too weak and limited to
undertake the responsibility. But he could help toward that end, so that, when the
propitious day dawned, the hated oppressor would no longer be supreme in the land. With
this in view he gathered round him at his court all the bravest and the strongest of his
subjects. Martial ardour, however, was not his predominant characteristic. It was
77
saṁvaṇṇana sihaladipakena, vakyena esa pana sankhatatta / na kinci atthaṁ abhisambhuṇati, dipantare
bhikkhujanassa yasma; tasma imaṁ palinayanurupaṁ, saṁvaṇṇanaṁ dani samarabhissaṁ. Vin-a arambhakatha
(prologue).
78
cf. Schalk's frequent appeal to the category of xenophobia on both sides, Schalk 2002, 41-51, but especially to a
beefed up colonial period anti-Tamil xenophobia that acquired an additional dimension of racism current among
ethnonationalists "who let themselves be inspired by certain trends in the Mahavaṃsa/Cūlavaṃsa", Schalk 2002,
46.

14
 otherwise with his queen, the noble lady, Vihara-Mahadevī. She was cast in a much more
heroic mould than her husband. The presence of a Tamil usurper on the throne at the
sacred city of Anuradhapura was a humiliation which she resented deeply. Her ardent
faith, too, strengthened her resolve to see the emancipation of her motherland, and, when
the time came, the noble and sagacious woman played no small part in the national
movement to sweep the infidel foe into the sea.

"And the hour produced the man. To the king and queen was born Gamaṇi-Abhaya, who
was to rid Lanka of the Tamil oppression and help her to regain her lost honour."79

The “Mahavaṃsa mentality,” a key topic of the well known study by Tessa
Bartholomeusz, In Defense of Dharma: just-war ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka (2002), has
exerted and continues to exert tremendous power in Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist imagination
(including that of many otherwise excellent Pali scholars), underlying entrenched dynamics of
ethnic identity and conflict today. Though ostensibly recounting events pertaining to the 3rd
century BCE, the Mahavaṃsa has its more proximate origins in the decades immediately
subsequent to Buddhaghosa's sojourn in the island and reflects more tellingly the political
circumstances of its own day, in which the saga of Duṭṭhagamaṇi was set up as a foil to its royal
sponsor. Its own day, as Adikaram said, was the period of political upheaval that evidently
followed closely on the heels of Buddhaghosa's completion of his vinaya commentary (Vin-a),
and many dark days were to follow in its wake. (Though they were hardly to end, as implied by
Adikaram, with the recapture of the capital after bloody war by Dhatusena, and the commission
of the Mahavaṃsa in a bid for legitimation by a sangha now positioned as the handmaid of the
state.) It was very likely the unfavorable circumstances of this turbulent period that pushed the
center of Pali commentarial production to stabler environs on the mainland, insulated from the
corrupting relationship of church and state. Subsequent to the reign of Mahanama, the stability of
whose rule we observe Buddhaghosa praising in the colophon of his commentary on the vinaya
(Vin-a), mentioned as being composed in the 20-21st year of his (twenty-two year) reign, a
succession of six Tamil kings ruled in Anuradhapura over a period of some twenty-five years.80
Power was bloodily wrested from the last of these rulers by Dhatusena (r. 455-473 or 460-47881),
who reclaimed rule from the Tamil rulers and heavily patronized the Mahavihara. He
commissioned the Mahavaṃsa in a bid for legitimation, likening his recent conquest to that of
the hero of bygone days, Duṭṭhagamaṇi, who, according to its narrative, had likewise reclaimed
Anuradhapura from Tamil rule in the name of the “glorification of the sasana” and, in
Bartholomeusz's loaded formulation, the “defense of dharma” (which, as a phrase, came to be
used to justify the most heinous of violence, without violating Buddhist prescriptions of non-
79
Malalasekera 1926 History of Pali Literature, pp. 33-34.
80
Walters 2003 in Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Communities of South and
Southeast Asia, eds. Holt, Kinnard & Walters, pp. 9-40. The king is curiously referred to as Sirinivasa in
Buddhaghosa's colophon, which, though it sounds more like a Vaisṇava name, is equated with Mahanama
[Malalasekera 1928, 80-81], discussed by von Hinuber [CITE]. The six Tamil kings recorded in Mv in Pali as
Paṇdu (429-434); Parinda (434-437); Khudda Parinda (437-452); Tiritira (452), Daṭhiya (452-455); and Pīṭhiya
(455), the first name, Paṇḍu suggesting “remnants of the Paṇṭiya population” displaced by the Pallavas: Schalk
2002, 412.
81
Schalk 2002 Vol. 1, p. 80

15
violence). In its enduring legacy, it famously condones Duṭṭhagamaṇi's (and by extension
Dhatusena's) violence against Tamils, famously represented in a moment of post-slaughter
ethical anxiety as officially condoned by no less than eight arahants, likening the non-Buddhists
killed to animals, the slaying of which had little importance (Mv 25, v. 110).
Perhaps predictably, things did not improve in the wake of Dhatusena's reconquest.
Dhatusena had his sister killed, provoking the wrath of his nephew, who plotted with Kassapa,
Dhatusena's son by a concubine, to overthrow him. Kassapa I (r. 477-497) is remembered as the
patricide king and tortured builder of the exotic mountain-top citadel, Sigiri, who, shifting the
capital there from Anuradhapura, lived on, in the Cūlavaṃsa's evocative account, in paranoid and
heavily fortified luxury without patronizing Buddhism or receiving its support, until Moggallana
I (r. 497-515 / 499-517), Kassapa's brother and rightful heir to the throne, who had fled to South
India upon Kassapa's coup, returned with an army, and reclaimed the throne. The ensuing
centuries (6th – 8th) are represented as difficult times in which Anuradhapura was under Pallava
rule.
In this politically chaotic period in which Theravada saw itself getting embroiled in
political machinations and the legitimation of violence in the name of the defense of dharma and
glorification of the Buddhist sasana, it is no wonder that South India afforded a safe haven for
the peaceful continuation of the Pali commentarial project. The bid for state patronage and what
Jonathan Walters has discussed as the Theravadin control of history82 in the form of the
Mahavaṃsa and its associated ideology quickly backfired and led to repercussions that still echo
down to us today.
We can discern Adikaram's turning around of the history, in line with this tradition, when
he portrays the days in the wake of Mahanama as echoing the circumstances of the Mahavaṃsa's
narrative, as if it were a factual historical account -- whereas, as noted by historians, the
Mahavaṃsa narrative, portraying events in the 3rd century BCE, was in fact fashioned as a foil to
the politics of its day in the 5th century CE.83 It was Dhatusena in the 5th century who had
retreated to Rohaṇa and led a bloody conquest to reclaim the throne in Anuradhapura from its
non-Buddhist South Indian rulers. It was Dhatusena who had had a heroic narrative of times past
fashioned to legitimize the bloody war of reconquest that he had recently concluded, elevating
Duṭṭhagamaṇi to the status of ethnic and religious hero, as a foil to himself. But it was the
Mahavihara that colluded with him in doing so, and now absolved him from wrongdoing, in
putting the statement into the mouths of eight arahants that Duṭṭhagamaṇi's killing of “countless
crores” of non-Buddhists amounted to little more than the killing of animals – and in so doing
legitimized his rule, willingly compromising its own ethical ideals to become the handmaid of
power described in Seneviratne 1999.84 In Adikaram's likening of the circumstances of the period
after Mahanama in which Buddhaghosa worked to the Mahavaṃsa's account, we witness the
now traditional error of conflating a carefully created foil with a genuinely historical precedent.
The circumstances depicted in the Mahavaṃsa reflect more directly the period of its composition
– they “point” much more directly to Buddhaghosa's era than to Duṭṭhagamaṇī's – as a narrative
of the past constructed to legitimize the actions and rule of a contemporary ruler, Dhatusena.
Schalk notes in this regard that “...when we come for example to Mahanama, the
82
Walters 2003 in Constituting Communities, p. 120.
83
Walters 2003 in Constituting Communities; Schalk 2002 Vol. I p. 80
84
Seneviratne 1999, 17-24.

16
compiler of part 1 above [of the Mahavaṃsa and its "Cūlavagga" extensions], we have to
examine the anomalies of his own time to understand the portrayal of a hero from a distant past,
a hero like Duṭṭhagamaṇi. The image of this hero consists of imperatives addressed not to
Duṭṭhagamaṇi's period, but to that of Mahanama" (Schalk 2002 Vol. I p. 80). Schalk understands
Mahanama as a “kingmaker” with a definite political end, who sought to reaffirm the existence
of a Buddhist state, and to endorse leadership for it by a king “of the stature of an Asoka or
Duṭṭhagamaṇi.” Dhatusena, in “reviving the fictitious dynasty of the moriya,” sought to align
himself with Asoka, with these blessings of the Mahavihara sangha, while “his bloody
revengeful killing of the Damila and their collaborators, which preceded his coming to power,
was reminiscent of Duṭṭhagamaṇi”85 – also, however awkwardly, now with full blessings of the
sangha. Schalk notes that combining these two contrasting ideals of Buddhist kingship within a
single figure was not without its tension, giving rise to the awkward fusion of the two in the
Mahavaṃsa's famous episode of Duṭṭhagamaṇi's flirtation with the entertainment of remorse at
having slain so many (Mv 25),86 and the sangha's official exoneration of him and affirmation of
his unimpeded fulfillment of the role (to this extent now somewhat altered) of ideal Buddhist
king.
Buddhaghosa arrived just prior to the tumultuous onset of the period that gave rise to
these transformations – the era that gave birth to the Mahavaṃsa's heroic narrative of bygone
days, its ethnic hero, and deep ethical corruption. We can infer that these were indeed dark days
for Theravada in Sri Lanka, Dhatusena's son Kassapa very soon thereafter murdering his father
and thus depriving Theravada of the patron with whom it had come to this questionable
arrangement of mutual support, cutting off its patronage, and willingly removing the capital from
Anuradhapura to Sigiri. Centuries of instability would follow. It is little wonder if the
torchbearers of the sasana's commentarial renaissance had to seek refuge elsewhere to carry on
their altogether different project without disturbance.
The scar of the era immediately subsequent to Buddhaghosa's period of residence at the
Mahavihara, however, is tenacious: it echoes not only in the angry assertions of the ethno-
nationalist, but also in the less conspicuous assumptions of contemporary scholarship, as well.
One way this manifests is in the willy-nilly attribution of ethnic or national affiliation without
problematization, as conceived through the lens of these established dichotomies that assume
opposition and incommensurability. For example, Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton identify
Kassapa, the last great producer of Pali literature of repute to have lived and worked in South
India -- it would seem into the 13th century87 -- to be “Sri Lankan” on the basis of a
commentarial work (the Vinayavinicchaya-ṭīka by Vacissara) that likens him to a sīho "lion" that
was colavanipūjito "worshipped on Cola soils." Kassapa may have been ethnically this or that,
but does the commentary's metaphorical “lionization” of him necessarily imply Sinhalese
identity?88 These are tenuous grounds indeed for such a decisive conclusion, which may perhaps
simply reify contemporary ethno-national assumptions of division and incommensurability. Does

85
Schalk 2002 Vol. I p. 80.
86
Schalk 2002 Vol. I p. 81.
87
von Hinuber §354. According to Schalk, “the last reference to a coliya monk comes during the period of King
Parakkamabahu IV (1302-1332, 1302-1326). This king invited a mahathera from coladesīyaṃ (Cv 90: 80) to be
his teacher and appointed him a vihara. Schalk 2002 526-527.
88
Referred to elsewhere as Mahakassapasīha Cola, is it perhaps a play on his name?: von Hinuber HPL §330

17
the qualifier "worshipped on Cola soils" necessarily imply that he was famous there, but was not
in fact from there? Is such an assertion to draw out the subtle implications of the text, as implied,
or to read something into it? The undertone of ethnic supremacy is ugly if indeed present in the
image, and even more chilling if actually conjured up and supplied by none other than the
scholars themselves.89
A more subtle example is found in the very commonplace treatment of [Sri] Lanka as
Buddhaghosa's endpoint, and Pali literary production in South India as the minor exception
rather than normative scenario, as in Gethin 2012:

“In what follows I want primarily to consider the sense of Buddhist identity as revealed in
Pali works composed in Lanka (or in some cases perhaps in Southern India) up to the end
of the twelfth century CE, but I shall also make some reference to epigraphical evidence
and consider briefly how Buddhists elsewhere might have perceived the identity of the
Buddhists of Lanka.”90

In this and similar characterizations, the impression of Pali works as belonging to Lanka, even
while being parenthetically complicated, is perpetuated. Southern India is acknowledged but
regarded as a potential minor exception to the rule, rather than the enormous complicating factor
for that “identity of the Buddhists of Lanka” that it deserves to be regarded as. And similarly:

“… the figure of Buddhaghosa, a monk who probably in the early fifth century CE came
from India to reside in the ‘Great Monastery’ – the Mahavihara – in the ancient capital of
Lanka, Anuradhapura”91 --

diplomatically stopping short of adding “Southern” before India, in deference to popular

conception (and sensibilities), even while calling attention to Buddhaghosa's extra-local origins –
but, more pointedly, characterizing Lanka and Anuradhapuram as the endpoint of
Buddhaghosa’s journey (which for the Mahavihara imagination, it very much became), rather
than as the brief sojourn that evidence suggests it was.
My point is that these assumptions have dogged scholarship (even very good scholarship)
more than realized, and may well be responsible for the obfuscation of an entire chapter (and
rather central chapter, indeed) of the history of Pali literature. This missing chapter was written
largely in South India, and gave rise to Anuruddha, one of its foremost products, as much as to
the renaissance that was the Pali commentarial era, per se. Anuruddha in many ways represented
the culmination of this chapter, working centuries later in the same South Indian locale, his
works inspiring a plethora of subcommentary and layer upon layers of supplementation (that
continue until today) which regarded his Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) as the new center of
the Abhidhamma tradition. The discourse around South India and its immense contribution to
Pali literature and the renaissance of the Pali commentarial era needs to be entirely reframed. The
trivializing characterization of it as the minor, or potential, exception, in deference to ethno-

89
Crosby and Skilton 1999 A Note on the date of Mahakassapa, Author of the Mohavicchedanī BEI 17-18 (1999-
2000): 173-179)
90
Gethin 2012, 4.
91
Gethin 2012, 3.

18
national sensibilities and prejudice, is no longer appropriate; it should be accorded the due
weight and causal force it appears to have possessed for the formation of the Pali literary corpus
as it has come down to us today. In losing sight of Anuruddha's origins, and all their
ramifications, we fail to understand the development of the Theravada as we know it. This rich
history must not be surrendered to the distorting interests of ethno-nationalist historiography that
would rewrite the past to its own ends. A figure of prestige like Anuruddha falls victim to the
eagerness of these to lay claim to the prestige of such figures (now rendered “ornaments” for the
identities that they envision), and to forget those elements of them that conflict with their
perspective. Such interests are all too willing to blot out such parts as do not suit their narrative,
and distort others to make them appear to, reworking a rich legacy to serve as propaganda for
much narrower interests.
Whether in the form of Nilakanta Sastri's “dark period marked by the ascendancy of
Buddhism,”92 characterized by a sometimes very literal demonization of the Kalabhras and
wholesale disregard of this period as a mere bracketable disruption in Tamil history,93 or
Adikaram and Malalasekera's lurking sympathies with the Mahavaṃsa mentality and its project
of dehumanization and erasure of Tamil presence within a Buddhist polity now conceived along
ethnic lines, the underlying discomfort that has lead to the effacement of Anuruddha's context
and the consequent splitting of his figure into two irreconcilable variants seems to be the same.
As Sree Padma Holt puts it, describing a key obstacle to the study of Buddhism in Andhra:

“... the nationalist mythology of a pure Buddhist tradition being preserved in various
Buddhist nations led to a refusal to admit the contributions of outside influences such as
those coming from Andhra; if recognized at all, they were considered problematic and or
even repellent.”94

The major influence exerted by the Krishna River Valley on [Sri] Lankan Buddhist heritage --
being in equal measure early, extralocal, and formative -- present a parallel situation to that of
Pali literary production in South India. Holt's observation very much applies to the legacy of
South Indian Pali literary production stemming from Tamil regions as well, perceived through
the occluding lens of nationalist historiography, quite erroneously, I would suggest, as
"outside."95
92
Sastri 1976, 155, quoted at Schalk 2002, 409-410.
93
“[the fact that the Paṇḍiyan as well as Pallava dynasties have inscriptions from end of 6th centuries/7th centuries
independently stating that they had overthrown Kalabhra rulers suggests] ...that the Kalabhra occupation was a
danger which threatened the independence of both the Pandya and the Pallava dynasties and that these powers,
either independently or in co-operation with each other, managed to throw off this incubus before they started on
their long careers of expansion and success...” (Nilakanta Shastri “The Pandyan Kingdom” 1972 p. 48).
94
Sree Padma 2009, Buddhism in the Krishna River Valley of Andhra, 2.
95
Nilakanta Sastri, like Adikaram and Malalasekera, was speaking from a long tradition of literary enmity fostered
by the Tamil Patti [Bhakti] movement. Schalk highlights the “anti-Buddhist xenophobia” in the polemical
devotional writings of key figures of Tamil Patti against the Cinkalar [Sinhalese], and how this can be seen as a
“symmetrical counterpart” to the parallel, converse trend in the Sinhalese vaṃsic tradition: “The confrontation
between them is highlighted in the dispute between Maṇikkavacakar and the Buddhist monk from Ilam
[Lanka]. ... So a political context had already been included in the patti-movement's patriotism, which is explicit
in the writings of Campantar... It was expressed through the anti-Buddhist xenophobia that was revealed by
demonisation of the Cinkala(va)r as the Pallava rulers furthered their territorial ambitions. It is important to see

19
 Scholarship that has addressed Anuruddha has thus been seriously hampered by the shaky
foundations of the prior work on which it rests. In basing their analyses on its assessments,
scholars sometimes unwittingly perpetuate the assumptions that underlie the conclusions it
draws. The splitting of Anuruddha into multiple, incommensurable figures is symptomatic of
these shaky foundations and the distorting effect that this has had on subsequent scholarship's
understanding of Anuruddha and the context of Pali literary production outside of Lanka-dīpa
(the island of Lanka). Schalk's handling of Anuruddha in Shalk 2002 is a notable example of
this. In spite of his critical revisionist stance, Schalk follows Malalasekera's dating and the
echoing of it by subsequent scholars and thus attributes Anuruddha to the cusp of the 12th century
and thus the Cola period as if it were a given. But he also incorporates a tacit splitting of
Anuruddha (unlike Malalasekera), attributing only the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) and Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p) to this South Indian Anuruddha, the object of his interest, evidently
distinguishing him from an implied counterpart, author of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-
s).96 Anuruddha's splitting is one such scholarly and popular consensus that, in the absence of
closer examination of the texts it concerns, has tended to simply be uncritically repeated. It has
been put forward in various permutations (belying its incoherence), with Warder 1970
distinguishing between “Anuruddha of Ceylon” (for Abhidh-s) and “Anuruddha of Kañci” (for
Pm-vn and Namar-p);97 Norman 1983 for his part distancing the Pm-vn's Anuruddha (“someone
born in the town called Kavīra in the state of Kañcipura”) from the Anuruddha of the Namar-p
and Abhidh-s98; as did von Hinuber 1996, referring as a given to the Pm-vn's author as “the
South Indian Anuruddha,” as distinct from the Anuruddha of the other two works, whose name is
only mentioned in the Namar-p;99 Monius 2001 barely touches Anuruddha, but implies that the
author of the Pm-vn and the well-known Abhidhamma commentator “traditionally held to be a
native of Sri Lanka” should be regarded as the same;100 Schalk 2002 somewhat inexplicably
reverts to considering this South Indian Anuruddha “a monk who summarized the Abhidhamma
that this Tamil-patti patriotism was the symmetrical counterpart of an insular Buddhist patriotism of the vaṃsa
tradition that was throughout sectarian and territorial, and that after the 8th century became communal, first on
the basis of language and then during the colonial period additionally on the basis of race” Schalk 2002 427-428.
96
Schalk 2002 pp. 523-24. This configuration is the one that in fact is least tenable, on an actual reading of the
texts; there is no doubt whatsoever that Namar-p and Abhidh-s must be the work the same author. Though
Schalk cites von Hinuber 1996 (p. 163) for the distinction, it is not actually there in his text (which leaves the
question of exact configuration open, other than singling out the Pm-vn as being by “the South Indian
Anuruddha” (§348-350). Malalasekera however gives the impression that both Namar-p and Pm-vn were
composed “at Kañcipura, in the Tambaraṭṭha” (!) Malalasekera 1928, p. 174, and it is this baseless statement that
is evidently followed by Warder 1970, and perhaps Schalk as well (and Monius 2003, for the completely
groundless statement that the Pm-vn colophon refers to Kañcipura as its place of composition, which it clearly
does not, Malalasekera's assertion being simply erroneous as far as these works' colophons are considered).
97
Warder 1970, 529-530
98
Norman 1983, 151-152.
99
HPL §349.
100
Monius suggests that the Pm-vn's colophon associates him with “the South Indian town or monastery where the
text was composed” evidently misreading the colophon's reference to Kavīranagara (which she quotes) as
indicating place of composition rather than place of birth (Monius 2001, p. 123, note 62). She is correct,
however, in noting that Anuruddha is not accorded the marked “Coliya” identity associated more and more with
Imperial Cola period Pali commentators after Buddhadatta and Dhammapala, like Buddhappiya and Kassapa.
Though this could well be taken as indicative of grounds for an earlier dating, she simply refers to him as “the
great eleventh-century commentator” and as reckoned as Sri Lankan (123).

20
in two works called Paramatthavinicchaya and Namarūpapariccheda” -- without explaining his
rationale for leaving out the most famous work attributed to him (the Abhidh-s) – whether he,
too, understands there to be a Sri Lankan counterpart separate from this specifically South Indian
Anuruddha whom he discusses, as evidently implied. The issue, as so often, is not even
problematized; it is simply asserted on the basis of prior assertions.101
As for the Sanskrit Anuruddha's Hundred Verses (anuruddhasataka), Bechert 1979
suggests a late 13th-14th century dating of this on the basis of style, in contrast to the Anuruddha
of the Abhidh-s, whom he takes to be much earlier.102 Von Hinuber reiterates his assessment,
noting that Anuruddha's dating is “uncertain (10th /11th century),” but that “the author of the
Sanskrit Anuruddha-sataka is certainly a different person.”103 Most scholars have continued to
echo Malalasekera's 1928 proposal of a c. ~1100 date for Anuruddha (author of the Pali
treatises), even though this rests very explicitly on the assumption of single authorship of all four
texts (which the same scholars generally dismiss) -- a date suitably early to warrant absence of
reference to Parakkamabahu in any of the colophons, and suitably late to justify composition in
Sanskrit and association with the Uttaramūla-nikaya, with which the Anuruddhasataka's
composer mentions affiliation104 – therefore just antedating the era of Parakkamabahu. If we
discount authorship of the Sanskrit Anuruddha's Hundred Verses (anuruddhasataka) by one and
the same Anuruddha (as, I think, we should105), then this dating loses its foundation and falls
apart. But while most scholars have indeed rejected the possibility of the Anuruddha of the Pali
treatises having also composed a Sanskrit verse devotional work of non-Mahavihara affiliation,
they have for the most part retained the dating (which therefore loses all justification) – both
Schalk 2002 and Gunawardana 1967 took this dating as a given for their historical arguments.
Only Gethin & Wijeratne 2002 and Gunawardana 1979 have stood apart in reconsidering the
issue and determining, in the case of Gunawardana, that the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)
colophon would seem indicative of a Pallava-period timeframe;106 and in Gethin and Wijeratne's
case, that there is no reason not to consider an earlier date for Anuruddha, as his works are
invariably paired with and commented upon alongside Buddhadatta's, and other early authorities.
This, Gethin surmises, indicates that the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) must have been well-
established by the 12th century, when it was commented upon by Sumangala, already in the
wake of an earlier puraṇa-ṭika of uncertain date and subsequent Sinhalese paraphrase by his
101
Schalk 2002 pp. 523-24.
102
Bechert 1979b, 26. Also cf. D'Alwis 1870, 168-171, and Rybiakova 2019 unpublished M.A. thesis.
103
von Hinuber 1999 HPL §345 & §350
104
Anu-s v.101.
105
Comparison in particular of the poem's section on the qualities of the Buddha traditionally included in
buddhanussati (recollection of the buddha: iti pi so bhagava, etc., Anuruddhasataka vv. 62-71) reveals a totally
different handling from the Buddhanussati section of Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning (Namar-p ch. 9, vv.
1101-1119). Given Anuruddha's propensity to refine his treatments rather than to wholly recreate them, this is
for me enough to dismiss the likelihood of single authorship. A provisional translation of the Anuruddhasataka
can be consulted in Rybiakova 2019.
106
"This statement seems to suggest that the Pm-vn was written at a time when the town of kavīra was still under
the control of the Pallavas. If this is so, the work has to be assigned to the ninth century or an earlier period"
(Gunawardana 1979 p. 266). Cited in rejoinder by Schalk without explanation: “...the fact that he lived in the
Kingdom of Kañci does not place him in the Pallava period” Schalk 2002, 524, without explaining the rationale
for his rejection or getting into the question of theramifications of the toponyms Tañja or Tambaraṭṭha in the
Cola period.

21
teacher.107 We may note in support of Gethin's observation that Sumangala quotes Anuruddha's
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) as well as the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) directly in his
commentary on Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av), introducing his
quotes of Anuruddha's works consistently with the phrase “ten' ahu poraṇa” (“Therefore the
teachers of old (poraṇa) have said:...”).108 This would seemingly suggest a good deal more
temporal distance between Sumangala in the 12th century and Anuruddha, represented by him as
a "teacher of old") than a dating of Anuruddha to the very same century would permit. Gethin
also calls attention to a debate referred to by Sumangala between Anuruddha and the teacher
Jotipala (dated to the 6th or 7th century).109 Noting this suggestive but unfortunately inconclusive
detail,110 Gethin observes that “there would seem to be no a priori reason why the
Abhidhammatthasangaha could not have been composed in the late sixth or early seventh
century”.111
While the final dating of Anuruddha remains unfortunately inconclusive (the strongest
evidence pointing, in my opinion, to a window of 650-850 CE), it is perhaps more important to
recognize that as a figure Anuruddha challenges many of our common assumptions about
mutually exclusive spheres of belonging – not only national and ethno-religious (the history he
evokes being claimed neither by the South Indian Hindu nor Sinhalese Buddhist community, and
clearly recognizable as neither Indian nor Sri Lankan, as we are accustomed to thinking of them),
but also of doctrinal orthodoxy and institutional affiliation (Mahavihara vs. Abhayagiri),
language (can an authority on Pali Abhidhamma also compose a Sanskrit devotional poem?), and
genre (that is, is his project one of abhidhammic scholasticism or a literary and aesthetic one?).
As a figure, Anuruddha thus flouts many neat divisions of our own contemporary ideological
investment. But rather than try to emend this complicated identity and force it to conform to
established conventions, I would rather put the uncertainty and anxiety around Anuruddha at the
foreground of the study. It is due to this that understanding of his works and context – and the
larger context, of immense importance, in which he participated – has been lost, slipping very
nearly beyond the realm of the retrievable. The figure of Anuruddha transgresses and in so doing
reveals and problematizes many of the lurking assumptions and crude dichotomies that we've
inherited. His complicated, contradictory figure is valuable as something of a blank slate,
revelatory of many of our own assumptions as scholars and parties laying claim to him in part or
whole. Recovery of his story may well entail having to make some alterations to our own.
The Theravada that we know today clearly had a presence of some considerable

107
Gethin & Wijeratne 2002, xv. Commented on for the third time: Sumangala's commentary on the Abhidh-s
representing the abhinava-ṭīka, both a puraṇa-ṭīka of uncertain date and authorship, attributed to nava
Vimalabuddhi, and Sinhalese paraphrase by Sariputta, a.k.a Mahasami, his teacher, having already been
produced prior to Sumangala's time (also cf. Malalasekere 1928 PLC 142).
108
In the Abhidh-av-ṭ: ten' ahu poraṇa - "kalopadhippayoganaṃ, gatiya ca yatharahaṃ / sampattiñ ca vipattiñ ca,
kammamagamma paccatī" ti = Namar-p 457; and ten' ahu poraṇa - "attha yassanusarena, viññayanti tato paraṃ /
sayaṃ paññatti viññeyya, lokasanketanimmita" ti = Abhidh-s 8.43 (Abhidh-av-ṭ).
109
Plausibly dated by Cousins 2011 to ~600 CE and posited to be author of the abhidhamma-anuṭīka
(subcommentary on Ananda's abhidhamma-mūlaṭīka, itself a sub-commentary on Buddhaghosa's commentaries
on the canonical books of the Abhidhammapiṭaka).
110
Unfortunately rendered even more inconclusive owing to a variant reading in the editions, which don't
unanimously read "Jotipala".
111
Gethin & Wijeratne 2002, xiv.

22
importance – one might even say "roots" – in South India (at the very least in several coastal
centers -- the degree to which these were isolated enclaves vs. institutions deeply rooted in their
South Indian cultural environs remains unclear) and there is growing consensus in scholarship
that, as pointed out by Skilling 2009, all evidence suggests that the philosophical and
hermeneutical heritage of the Mahavihara is a South Indian–Sri Lankan phenomenon rather than,
as presented in later periods after the eclipse of South Indian Buddhism, exclusively Lankan.112
As early as the 3rd century CE, we have concrete evidence of the Mahavihara's sphere of
influence having expanded well beyond the confines of the island. A glimpse of the impressive
reach of the early imagined religious community looking toward the Mahavihara of
Anuradhapura is obtained in a pair of donor inscriptions dated to the 3rd century CE113 in the
Krishna River Valley region of today's Telangana & Andhra Pradesh at Nagarjuṇakoṇḍa:

sidhaṃ acariyanaṃ theriyanaṃ vibhajavadanaṃ

kasmiragaṃdharayavanavanavasataṃbapaṃnidipapasadakanaṃ | mahaviharavasinaṃ
navagasathusasanaathavyajanavinicchayavisaradanaṃ ariyavasapaveṇidharanaṃ | vihare
bhagavato padasaṃghaḍa|ni|patiṭhapito savasatanaṃ hitasukhathanaya ti |

In Cousins' Pali "chaya",114 standardizing the orthography according to Pali conventions

(stemming from only slightly later and underscoring the impressive fact that apart from early
script limitations and orthographic conventions there is very little making it anything other than
Pali – thus making it potentially some of the earliest and indeed only inscriptional Pali in
existence after the gamut of dialects represented in the Asokan inscriptions):

siddhaṃ! acariyanaṃ theriyanaṃ vibhajjavadanaṃ kasmira-gandhara-yavana-vanavasa-

taṃbapaṇṇidīpa-pasadakanaṃ | mahaviharavasīnaṃ navanga-satthu-s̄ asana-attha-
vyañjana-vinicchaya-visaradanaṃ ariya-vaṃsa-paveṇi-dhăranaṃ | vihare bhagavato
pada-saṃghaṭani patiṭṭhapita sabba-sattanaṃ hita-sukh-atthanaya ti115

-- dedicating, with a wish for the welfare and happiness of all beings, the donation of a Buddha
footprint image in the monastery “of the vibhajjavadin acariyas of the Thera tradition” who are
“upholders of the tradition of the line of noble ones, talented in the exegesis of the meaning and
the form of its expression of the nine-limbed collection of the teacher's teachings116 of the
Mahavihara residents, who have inspired faith in Kashmir, Gandhara, Yavana, and Vanavasa
(Mysore region), as well as the island of Tambapaṇṇi (= Lanka)." A second, similar inscription
112
Skilling 2009, 70.
113
the latter dated to 254 CE, Schalk 2002, 314.
114
In the bilingual dramas of classical Sanskrit, Prakrit dialogs are conventionally followed by a Sanskrit "chaya"
("shadow"), sanskritizing the Prakrit lines so as to make them intelligible to monolingual Sanskrit students.
115
As pointed out by Cousins, this is virtually Pali, and thus represents some of the earliest and in fact only
inscriptional Pali that we have. Cousins, unpublished paper, Tambapaṇṇiya and Tamrasaṭiya, pp. 9-10. [Created:
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Last Saved: 13/7/02 2:34 PM Version14] & Cousins 2001, ON THE
VIBHAJJAVADINS: The Mahīsasaka, Dhammaguttaka, Kassapīya and Tambapaṇṇiya branches of the ancient
Theriyas pp. 144-145
116
As the corpus of the Buddha's teachings was referred to prior to, and for some time simultaneously with, its
systematization into three collections (piṭaka-s).

23
with an even more ample list refers to donations to the "Tambapaṇṇaka Theriya acariyas of
[ellipsis]" (the Tambapaṇṇaka teachers of [...] of the Thera tradition) “who have inspired faith in
Kasmira-Gaṃdhara-Chīna-Chilata-Tosali-Avaraṃta-Vaṃga-Vanavasi-Yava[na]-Da[mila-
Pa]lura- and Tambapaṃṇi-dīpa” as well as to a "Sīhala vihara", a monastic residence for monks
from Sri Lanka (EI XX 22f)117 at the same site. The inscriptions seem to indicate that by the
middle of 3rd century CE, the Mahavihara residents were reputed trans-regionally for the
exegetical tradition they maintained attached to their recension of the Pali canon. This testament
to the early translocal renown of the Mahavihara interpretive tradition may go quite far in
helping to situate Buddhaghosa's pilgrimage to the island a century later in quest of this
knowledge, in hopes of rendering it accessible to the wider community perhaps adumbrated in
the Nagarjuṇakoṇḍa donative inscriptions that had by his time come to regard it as an authority
of great repute. As Cousins points out, Buddhaghosa's colophon to the Path of Purification
(Vism) very much echoes the language of these inscriptions, elogizing its initiator, Sanghapala,
as vibhajjavadiseṭṭhanaṃ theriyanaṃ yasassinaṃ / mahaviharavasinaṃ vaṃsajassa vibhavino /
“the wise [Sanghapala] of the lineage of the famous Mahavihara residents, foremost of the
vibhajjavadins of the Thera tradition.”118
The close material connections between the early Buddhist cultures of the Krishna River
Valley (Amaravatī and Nagarjuṇakoṇḍa) and Sri Lanka have been well-documented by the
pathbreaking research of Ulrich von Schoeder 1990,119 which showed that the earliest Sri Lankan
artistic and sculptural tradition was in fact heavily derived from the South Indian material culture
of the Krishna River Valley -- pieces of sculpture made of the region's unique, milky green
limestone actually being imported from there in large quantities (cf. Holt and Sree Padma 2008,
calling attention to von Schroeder's work), and essentially giving rise to the classical Sri Lankan
sculptural tradition – thus “refut[ing] claims made by Sri Lankan nationalist scholars that the
Buddha image originated in Sri Lanka.120 These fascinating revelations speak to an even earlier
phase of transregional interaction than the focus of this study.121 In the literary record, we know
that the so-called Andhaka aṭṭhakatha, the “commentary of the Andhra monks,” was a cognate

117
Second Apsidal Temple Inscription F, Vogel, Epigraphia Indica, vol. XX (1929-1930), 22-23. Chilata = kirata;
Tosali = Kalinga; Avaraṃta = aparanta (Maharasṭra). Schalk takes issue with Vogel's reconstruction of Da[mila-
Pa]lura, indicating supposedly Tamil regions, and suggests an alternative reading of the inscription that
understands it not as a donation to Tambapaṇṇka monks of the Thera tradition who converted or inspired
confidence (pasadakanaṃ, which I have rendered “inspired faith”) to all these regions, but as a recording a gift
“as a favour to the confidence-inspiring monks fraternities from Tambapaṃṇi (and additionally) as a favour to
the (confidence-producing) acariyas from Kashmir... etc.” Schalk 2002 315. This is clearly not tenable either
grammatically or on comparison with the parallel inscription cited above which mentions the Mahaviharavasins
explicitly, whose interpretive tradition did garner the admiration of far-flung regions.
118
Cousins 2001 pp. 145-146
119
Emphatically highlighted for its immense ramifications by John and Sree Padma Holt in Sree Padma and Holt,
2008.
120
Sree Padma 2008, 5.
121
Schalk 2002 notes in this connection that “The influence from the former region [“the Krsṇa area”] on the latter
leading to an establishment of Buddhism in Tamilakam in the 4 th century nobody denies” 316. Interestingly, a
Buddha footprint image in this same limestone was also recovered from the Kaveripaṭṭana Pallavanīccuram site
presumed to be that mentioned in colophons such as Buddhadatta's, dated according to its stratum to the 4 th – 5th
century and constituting the earliest attestation of Krsṇa River Valley -- Kaveri Delta regional interaction: Schalk
2002 pp. 442-443.

24
commentarial tradition -- now lost, but frequently referred to in Pali literature and consulted in
South India -- with which the early Sri Lankan commentarial corpus heavily interacted. The
interaction with Tamil regions was, if anything, even more intimate and longer-lasting.122
We observe awareness of the remarkably "international" nature of the early Theravada
community, perhaps, in caricatured narrative reflections such as vaṃsa literature's latter-day
tropes of flying delegations of arahants from distant lands (many of them the very ones
mentioned in the Nagarjunakoṇḍa inscription) who visit for key moments that require Buddhist
state pageantry, as for example to pay homage to the Mahavihara's stūpa at its inauguration (as
described in Mahavaṃsa, Thūpavaṃsa, and similar accounts). We witnessing perhaps in these
tropes anachronistic reflections of a consciousness of a transregional Theravada identity centered
on the Mahavihara, fancifully projecting a Theravada brand of Mahavihara-centered
cosmopolitanism.
I suggest that it is in this light that we should view the lavish praise of the Mahavihara
enshrined in Anuruddha's works (and especially the colophon of the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p). Whether in Sri Lanka or their South Indian coastal enclaves in the Kaveri delta
region, the Pali commentators took the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura as their fixed point of
reference, for the textual and interpretive tradition to which they saw themselves as belonging.
Our texts almost invariably take care to insist at their outset that they have been composed in
accord with the Mahavihara interpretive tradition (mahavihara-vaṇṇana-naya). Anuruddha's
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), for instance, begins:

namarupaparicchedaṃ pavakkhami samasato / mahaviharavasinaṃ,

vaṇṇananayanissitaṃ.
“I will expound in brief the Defining of Mind and Matter / based on the explanatory
methodology of the residents of the Mahavihara” (Namar-p v. 2).

Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av) ends asserting that it is:

nikayantaraladdhihi, asammisso anakulo / mahaviharavasinaṃ, vacanamagganissito /

“unmixed with, unconfounded, with views pertaining to other sects / grounded in the
expository mode of the residents of the Mahavihara (Abhidh-av 1406).

In directing his closing blessings to the residents of the Mahavihara (in the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p, colophon)), Anuruddha expresses his wishes to bolster the sasana at the
Mahavihara interpretive tradition's celebrated heart, and, perhaps, to earn a place for himself
within its hallowed lineage:

so 'yaṃ vijjāvimokkhā ca, hadayesu vibhāvinaṃ,

vallabhattam adhiṭṭhāya, sāsane 'ttha gavesinaṃ; 1851
manogatatamuddhaṃsī, raviraṃsī 'va paṇḍito,
dassetu ciram ālokaṃ, saddhammaratanālaye. 1852123

122
123
vijjāvimokkhā: vijja vimokkha Ee; vijjavimokkha Be
sāsane 'ttha gavesinaṃ: sasanattha-gavesinaṃ Ee; sasanettha gavesinaṃ Be

25
 And because of its [i.e. the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s] being dear
to seekers in the sasana, here,
who are discerning with regard to the varieties of consciousness,
on account of final emancipation by understanding,
may the man of wisdom long shed light
with rays like the sun's,
scattering the darkness in people's minds,
in this abode of the jewel of the true teachings.124

Though South Indianness at some point came to be regarded as a disqualifying factor for being
regarded as a suitable “adornment” of the Mahavihara, Anuruddha's bid to join the noble lineage
of the residents of the Mahavihara was evidently successful. His wish that his work be dear to
them and bring about liberation so that they continue to shine there articulates the wish of the
periphery to be fused in spirit with the center. The same sentiment is articulated in the colophon
of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), little understood for its elliptical brevity I think, when
Anuruddha says:

punnena tena vipulena tumūlasomaṃ, dhannādhivāsaṃ uditoditam āyugantaṃ;

pannāvadātaguṇasobhitalajjibhikkhū, mannantu punnavibhavodayamangalāya.

By that extensive merit (of writing the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)), may the
modest monks [of Tumūlasoma monastery], resplendent with good virtues purified by
wisdom, esteem Tumūlasoma as a habitation of the fortunate, risen to eminence through
it [i.e., the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s, being] risen to eminence, till the end of
the age, for the auspiciousness of merit and prosperity's arising.125

I believe Sumangala in his authoritative commentary unfortunately misreads the loaded

but oblique uditoditaṃ (as simply “accantappasiddha” "exceedingly renowned" -- rather than as
referring obliquely to the monastery as being "risen" -- i.e., elevated, uplifted -- by virtue of it --
i.e., the Compendium's -- being risen to celebrity, i.e, becoming well-known and studied,
uplifting those who study it). Subsequent translators have followed his lead, failing to appreciate
that the it is analogous to the sentiment expressed at the closing of the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p colophon) (simply applied now to the Tumūlasoma vihara, the Compendium's place of
composition, in place of the Mahavihara where the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) was
composed.
Anuruddha was successful in becoming an integral part of the lineage that his works so
uplifted and indeed became so dear to -- to such an extent that his roots and the fact of him ever
having been anything but a part of it became effaced. Anuruddha is emblematic of this bridging:
child of a transregional community, his roots utterly (and perhaps appropriately) lost sight of. He
went on to become one of the Mahavihara interpretive tradition's most celebrated and widely

manogatatamuddhaṃsī: manoratha-tam'uddhaṃsī Ee; manogata-tam'uddhaṃsī Be

124
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) colophon, vv. 1851-1852.
125
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), colophon.

26
circulated transregional figures. His own roots, when uncovered and seen for what they are, are
revealed to be, themselves, appropriately transregional.
The South Indian Pali scholars' peripheral localization with regard to the Mahavihara may
well have been a key, overlooked factor in the development of the Pali commentarial project, and
perhaps its very inception. This project, which began of its own admission as one of translation
of the Mahavihara's commentarial corpus from the island's vernacular into a language accessible
to members of the translocal community, would quite fittingly have been initially undertaken by
members of that transregional community itself, for its own benefit. The resurrection of Pali as a
language of fresh, commentarial era composition needn't necessarily be regarded as an act of
conservative reentrenchment in the language of canonical authority, to the end of asserting its
own superior orthodoxy, under the pressure of competition with a more cosmopolitan institution,
the Abhayagiri monastery -- a thesis that Walters 2003 develops with regard to the earliest
vaṃsic literature in Pali126 -- but rather, somewhat more appropriately, I think, as a natural
outgrowth of the demands of its own burgeoning cosmopolitanism and transregional nature. The
South Indian thera-s who took the Mahavihara's interpretive tradition as their frame of reference
thus perhaps played an important role in the emergence of the Mahavihara's own brand of Pali-
oriented cosmopolitanism, the resulting literary vehicle accessible to the widening community,
unlike the local language of the corpus's original composition, but at the same time alternative to
and safely insulated from the corrupting influences of Sanskritic cosmopolitanism.
The veritable renaissance of Pali that it entailed, yoking the dying language of the
received canonical texts to new compositional purpose, and in the process reinfusing it with life
as a resurrected lingua franca for a transregional Theravada identity in the process of
consolidation, may have begun as one of translation, compilation, and systematization, but
rapidly developed in some hands into a new literary experiment, as well. It is to one delightful
product of this experiment and its complicated backstory, the literary abhidhamma text, that I
now turn.

126
Walters 2003, 200.

27
 Chapter II
Anuruddha's Works & The Literary Abhidhamma Text
Expanding or Contracting Doctrinal Compendia?: toward a relative chronology

[Weddings]

Section I.
One of the remarkable things about Anuruddha's three texts is that they are essentially
recastings of the same doctrinal material. In order to understand Anuruddha's project and the
context that gave rise to it, it is important to reflect on why this should be so. The Compendium
of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s content and style are well known: like a table of contents, it is succinct to
the point of being impenetrable without supplemental explanation; it eschews metaphor and
poetic elaboration, unless they serve a mnemonic purpose or as a concluding flourish; and it
freely relies on prose and itemized list in preference to verse, to the pragmatic end of condensing
a huge amount of abhidhammic thought into brief, synoptic form. It is very much, as its name
suggests, a compendium of the “subject matter” (attha) of the abhidhamma (and thus rendered
by Gethin & Wijeratne 2002 as “Summary of the Topics of Abhidhamma”). The Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), by contrast, is relaxed and prolific: it is written entirely in verse, and
treats its (nearly identical) subject matter with great ease – evidently to a different end –
elaborating freely and poetically, with frequent flights of great inspiration and poetic fancy. It
dramatically crescendos as it portrays its doctrinal content unfolding in the form of musings and
realizations within the mind of the model practitioner. It doubles back upon itself and treats
doctrinal concepts already expounded, where appropriate; it ends each chapter with an ornate
flourish, for dramatic effect, in diverse and complex meters. It is entirely in verse and what lists
it features must fit into verse-form and sequential flow – or their every item may not be
enumerated in full (referred to rather by -adi (etc.), to be supplied by reference to the Path of
Purification (Vism), or simply by assumed familiarity with the doctrine it refers to). The Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p) prefers literary integrity to schematic comprehensiveness: its aim is one
of synthesis and condensation, rather than reference-work like comprehensiveness. The Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn), for its part, is dense in its language, and heavily refined, its formulations
often exceedingly complex. Like the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), and unlike the Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p), it eschews metaphor to a large extent, incorporating these only
sparingly, but exhibits considerable literary artifice in its use of refined and sonorous language. It
is elegant, often to the point of being difficult to decipher. It is paradoxically both spare and yet
somehow profuse, stylistically, doing away with the diverse meters of ostentatious finial verses,
but retaining a certain ostentatiousness in the very musicality and complexity of its language. Its
content follows that of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) and Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s) very closely,127 and it is often only with reference to their more straightforward,
comparatively less polished formulations that its artful and sophisticated verses' meanings can be

127
It also takes the first verse of its opening section from Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-
av) (Pm-vn v. 2 = Abhidh-av v. 8), suggesting the extent of influence this work in particular may have had on the
Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn).

28
pinned down with certainty.
Regardless of their stylistic differences, all three works cover the four abhidhamma
'ultimates' (paramattha-s): 1) citta (consciousness), 2) cetasika (mental concomitants), 3) rupa
(matter), and 4) nibbana),128 as well as pannatti (conceptual realities in contrast to ultimate
realities); core doctrinal formulations (aggregates and sense-spheres, dependent origination and
noble truths, etc., classed in the Path of Purification (Vism) as the bhumidhamma, 'foundational
doctrines', or, in Naṇamoli's poetic rendering, “the soil of understanding”,129 and models of the
path of practice culminating in liberating insight.
This raises questions about the texts' apparent redundancy, as well as their internal
relations. Read in isolation, a given text (even the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)) provides
only partial understanding of Anuruddha's full treatment of any given topic. Being essentially
reformulations of the same basic doctrinal subject matter, the three texts mutually clarify and
shed light on one another. The commentators understood this, and freely incorporated details
elaborated in one text to elucidate points of another in their exegeses.130 Why would Anuruddha
have written the same material three times, in differing forms? Is it possible to determine a
relative chronology of the three works? Should we assume that the briefest treatment was his
starting point, and the more extensive treatments represent successive elaborations of this
material? In what lies the literariness of the literary abhidhamma text? And perhaps most
pressingly, what gave rise to the literary abhidhamma text and what are the ramifications of this
for our understanding of it as a genre? In this chapter I will attempt to answer these questions in
an effort to advance our understanding of the curious, little-known genre of the literary
abhidhamma text: its source and scope, and Anuruddha's untranslated works as arguably its
foremost and most classic specimens.

Is it possible to determine a relative chronology of the three works?

Upon close reading, it is certainly possible to determine a relative chronology of
Anuruddha's three works. I will treat this question in two parts: 1) Should the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) be taken as prior or subsequent to the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)?
-- and, by extension, since the content they expound is essentially the same, should the Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p) be seen as a subsequent expansion of the Compendium of Topics
128
An ontological distinction: between dhamma-s (constituents of experience) felt in some sense by the Theravada
strand of abhidhamma to have legitimate existence (including nibbana), in contrast to those possessed of merely
conceptual reality with no corresponding ontological basis (cf. pannatti).
129
Naṇamoli 2010 (orig. ed. 1956), 439: ch. XIV §32. These doctrines as the ground or soil out of which
understanding arises are an important component of the elaborate conceptual metaphor (Lakoff 1980) employed
in the Vism as a structuring device in which wisdom (panna) as a tree grows from the soil of these foundational
doctrines (the bhūmi-dhamma), with virtue and concentration as its two roots, the stages of sanctification and
attainments as its fruits, and the remaining stages of purification representing the development of wisdom via the
cultivation (bhavana) of samatha, "tranquility" and vipassana, "insight", which develops through the “stages”
(avattha: Namar-p ch. 12) of the nine or ten “insight knowledges” (vipassana-naṇani) as the tree's "trunk"
(sarira). All this subject matter is enumerated in roughly the order of the tree, from the ground to the fruits (sila
and samadhi, virtue and wisdom, however, having already been treated in full).
130
A striking example of this is Sumangala's paraphrasing of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) vv. 769-774 in
his commentary on the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), missed by Gethin/Wijesekere in their translation
(Gethin & Wijeratne 2002, 292) for lack of familiarity with the parallel subject matter of the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p).

29
(Abhidh-s)? Or should the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), with which we are already
familiar, be seen as a condensation of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)? This is the larger
question that looms over these considerations, upon which the settling of a relative chronology
will allow us to reflect, as well as reveal certain key implications for how we should understand
the commentarial era's abhidhamma project.
The content of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) is well known so I will not
summarize it here other than to call attention to elements of its structure that may seem
enigmatic, even incoherent – and rightly so (when read in isolation). Remarking on Compendium
of Topics (Abhidh-s), chapter six, comprising an extensive treatment of matter (rupa) followed
by an exceedingly brief treatment of nibbana, Lance Cousins addresses the elephant in the room
when he comments on the oddity of this juxtaposition: “it seems anomalous that rupa should
come next, and even more odd that this should be followed by nibbana.”131 Similarly with regard
to chapter eight's appending of a discussion of pannatti (concept or designation, referring to
things that have a mere conceptual existence rather than ultimate, encompassing both words and
their referents, signifier and signified) – essentially a Theravada theory of signs and
representation) onto the heels of its exposition of dependent origination and the twenty-four
abhidhamma conditional relations (paccaya-s), Cousins comments: “Also included in this
chapter is an account of concepts (pannatti), which again seems anomalous.”132 These are indeed
two striking anomalies in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s structuring of its subject
matter, which beg for explanation.
We may partially account for the proximity of nibbana to rupa with reference to the
classic expository rubric of the abhidhamma paramattha-s, the ultimately existent things,
enumerated as citta, cetasika, rupa, and nibbana (the first three reckoned sankhata-dhamma,
“conditioned dhamma-s; the last reckoned the asankhata-dhamma, “the unconditioned
dhamma”). The authors of the post-canonical abhidhamma treatises, starting with Buddhadatta
(Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av)), for the most part structured their expositions
according to this sequence and Anuruddha follows suit (cf. Pm-vn v. 2, borrowing, in fact,
Buddhadatta's opening verse enumerating these as the primary subject matter of the abhidhamma
(Abhidh-av v. 8)). In contrast to things whose referents could be considered to have ultimate
existence (paramattha-s), stood the essential correlate of things the referents of which had only
conceptual existence (pannatt-attha-s), or pannatti (concepts), a distinction the abhidhamma
tradition became increasingly fixated on in its project of treating things exclusively from an
ultimate standpoint (in marked contrast to the relative absence of this concern in the suttas).133
Anuruddha's “definitive” treatment (vinicchaya) of the abhidhamma paramatthas in his
Definitive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates (Pm-vn) subsumes the entirety of its subject

131
Cousins in Rowlands 1982, 94.
132
Cousins in Rowlands 1982, 95.
133
Cousins points out in this regard: “It is interesting that originally the abhidhamma does not mention concepts: all
objects of the mind are dhamma and the description of what would be concepts is ‘that which is not to be
classified as matter or mind’. The term pan̄n̄atti itself is probably a later introduction” (Cousins 1982, 95). The
ascendence of the term would seem to correspond to the developing hermeneutic discourse of nītattha/neyyattha,
Skt. nītartha/neyartha, and the issue of reliance on interpretable statements (couched in relative, conventional
language) vs. definitive statements (couched in ultimate, abhidharmic terms). The discourse of pannatti, and its
inclusion as an essential appendix to the abhidhamma ultimates in Theravada abhidhamma is very much a
reflection of this developing discourse across Buddhist schools and how it manifested in Theravada thought.

30
matter into these four categories (the abhidhamma ultimates), plus a treatment of pannatti as an
appendix, evidently felt by his time to be an essential element of the discourse on the ultimates.
We may infer that for the abhidhamma commentators, it was perhaps the contrast between the
two categories of conceptual vs. ultimate that rendered the category “ultimate” meaningful; its
inclusion with them was therefore felt by his time to be necessary and natural.134 In the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) however, this basic underlying structure of citta-cetasika-
rupa-nibbana + pannatti is encountered in a somewhat more expanded form, with bracketed
expositions of functions and processes governing citta-s and cetasika-s intervening between the
treatments of cetasika and rupa in the form of independent chapters, and core doctrinal concepts
such as the aggregates and sense-spheres, noble truths, dependent origination, and the paṭṭhana
relations likewise treated as independent chapters, inserted before pannatti. A final section
subsequent to pannatti, the work's concluding chapter, treats meditative cultivation (bhavana) as
an independent topic, comprising expositions of samatha and vipassana. In the Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) we will ultimately see this subject matter elegantly subsumed within the
treatment of the last abhidhamma-paramattha, nibbana, prior to the pannatti appendix.

In Cousins' summary of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s chapter by chapter subject

matter:

1. Consciousness
2. Mental factors
3. Miscellaneous section (including feeling, roots and functions)
4. Thought processes
5. Process-freed chapter (including the law of kamma, and death and rebirth)
6. Matter and nibbana
7. Abhidhamma categories
8. Relations: dependent origination, causal relations, concepts
9. Meditation practice135

The abhidhamma ultimates and pannatti have been included in bold and topical pairings
that appear anomalous and beg for explanation have been included in italics. There is no
ostensible rationale for pairing matter and nibbana in a single chapter, or the treatment of
dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppada) and its abhidhammic refinement in the form of the
twenty-four paṭṭhana-paccayas along with a discussion of pannatti. Despite attempts to find
meaning in these juxtapositions, I would claim that these are, as they very much appear, apples
and oranges, and that to find a viable explanation for these odd juxtapositions (on the part of an
author famed for his skill at synthesis and concise, meaningful summary) we must look
elsewhere. We must look to the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p).
The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s seventh chapter is entitled the “sabbasangaha”
134
And a mark of a changing paradigm. It may also be noted that if my interpretation is correct, this is primarily a
linguistic distinction concerned with the existence (or not) of the referent of a word as signifier, and signals a
governing concern with philosophy of language and signs. This governing concern is clearly evident in the
treatments of pannatti, but not usually recognized as equally informing the idea of “the ultimates.” I would
suggest that it does.
135
(Cousins in Rowlands 1982, 97)

31
("the compendium of 'all'") and purports to be extremely grand in its scope, treating all the major
doctrinal formulations of early Buddhism. It includes in a single chapter treatments of the
aggregates, sense-spheres, and (18) elements, the four noble truths, dependent origination, and
the paṭṭhana-paccaya-s,136 as well as a treatment of pannatti at its conclusion. If we seek the
rationale for a single chapter so grand in its scope (far beyond such suttas as relate the concept of
“the all” to the five aggregates and/or six sense-spheres (e.g. SN 35.23-24), or for instance the
dhammanupassana sections of satipaṭṭhana treatments, which bring together many such
categories, neither of which, however, this extensive), we can in fact find one. For this we must
look to the opening chapters of the Path of Purification (Vism)'s “panna” section (comprising
chs. XIV, XV, XVI & XVII, and including treatments of aggregates (XIV); bases and elements
(XV); faculties and truths (XVI); and dependent origination (XVII)). Here we find a treatment of
these core doctrines collectively as the “bhumi” ("ground") in which panna ("wisdom") grows,
comprising a key element of the Path of Purification (Vism)'s second major structuring metaphor
(in addition to the well-known “seven stages,” derived from the rathavinita-sutta of the Middle-
length Discourses, MN 24), mapping the image of a growing tree onto the development of
wisdom. In this mapping, the purifications of sila ("virtue") and citta ("consciousness" i.e.,
samadhi, the training of concentration) are likened to the “two roots” of this developing tree, and
the remaining purifications, pertaining to panna, to its trunk. The fruits of practice in the form of
attainments and the stages of liberation are likened to its fruits in the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p)'s final chapter. It is with reference to this metaphor that foundational doctrinal
formulations become “the soil in which wisdom grows” -- study of this doctrinal material being
enjoined after fulfillment of the first two purifications as an expedient to the growth of panna
(Vism XIV 32: one who is perfecting these should first fortify his knowledge by learning and
questioning about those things that are the “soil” after he has perfected the two purifications that
are the “roots,” then he can develop the five purifications that are the “trunk”.137 Anuruddha
alludes frequently to these doctrinal items collectively as the “bhumi-dhamma", "ground
dhammas", the objects and doctrines with reference to which insight is cultivated – an allusion
that points directly to this usage in the Path of Purification (Vism) (Vism XIV 32).138 In the Path
of Purification (Vism), this doctrinal material functions as a key transitional point to its stage by
stage treatment of the development of wisdom (comprising the latter five of the Vism's seven
stages), occurring between the samadhi and panna sections. In Anuruddha, we find it
repositioned to function as a segue from his treatment of the abhidhamma ultimates (paramattha-
s), now reframed as “pariyatti” ("theoretical knowledge"), to his treatment of samatha and
vipassana together, framed in contrast to this as “paṭipatti” ("practical knowledge") (Namar-p v.
1853). The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s seventh chapter, its "Section on the
sabbasangaha" (sabbasangahavibhaga), embodies this segue between theory and practice,
turning from the enumeration of the constitutive factors of mind and matter in isolation
undertaken in preceding chapters to a mode of analysis “encompassing all” of those, acclaimed

136
The twenty-four causal relations (paccaya-s) that derive from the paṭṭhana-pali, the last book of the
abhidhamnma-piṭaka.
137
Naṇamoli 2010, 439.
138
Buddhadatta also follows this usage, referring to the "aggregates, and so forth" as the dhammas that "become the
ground" (bhumibhuta): khandhadisu hi dhammesu, bhumibhutesu yogina / uggahadivasenettha, katva paricayaṃ
pana (Abhidh-av 1192).

32
by Anuruddha as the unexcelled “essential core in hand” of abhidhamma monks:

tesaṃ dāni pavakkhāmi, sabbasangāhikaṃ nayaṃ;

ābhidhammikabhikkhūnaṃ, hatthasāram anuttaraṃ. 619

I shall now expound

the analytical methodology encompassing all of those –
the peerless heartwood in hand (i.e., presumably, the precious essence of the teaching in a
nutshell)139
of abhidhamma monks.

If we examine the sabbasangaha's content, we find it corresponds almost precisely to subject

matter spanning the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s seventh and eight chapters:

Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) contents (partial):

chapter
7. Compendium of Categories
◦ Unwholesome; Mixed categories (including faculties); the thirty-seven factors
pertaining to awakening;
◦ the “sabba-sangaha”: aggregates; sense-spheres; elements; the four noble truths
8. Compendium of Conditionality
◦ Dependent Origination; categories of exegetical analysis; the twenty-four
conditional relations
◦ Pannatti: atthapannatti (concept as referent) and namapannatti (concept as word)

Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) contents (partial):

7. The Section on the “sabba-sangaha”, including:

▪ aggregates, sense-spheres & elements
▪ the four noble truths
▪ dependent origination
▪ dependent origination in its circular form as the bhava-cakka "wheel of
existence"140
▪ the twenty-four paṭṭhana paccaya-s
▪ pannatti

139
Also an allusion, it would seem, to Buddhadatta's use of the same phrase in his opening verses of the
Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av): abhidhammikabhikkhunaṃ, hatthasaram anuttaraṃ /
pavakkhami samasena, taṃ suṇatha samahita (Abhidh-av v. 7) "I shall now declare in brief the peerless
heartwood in hand (hatthasara) of the abhidhamma monks; hear that, with well concentrated minds". One might
expect h' atthasaraṃ, but the form seems to be in earnest.
140
The Path of Purification (Vism) has the bhavacakka as the conclusion of its dependent origination section
(twenty-four paccaya-s are treated in passing in connection with the “sankhara-paccaya” link of dependent
origination). More on this below.

33
 We can see that in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), the “sabbasangaha” is greatly
reduced in scope, including only the aggregates, sense-spheres, and elements, and the four noble
truths as something of an appendix to these; dependent origination and the twenty-four paṭṭhana-
paccayas have been treated as a separate “compendium on conditionality” (paccaya-sangaha),
entirely independent of the sabbasangaha. The topical order has nevertheless been retained,
keeping the treatment of pannatti following the twenty-four paṭṭhana paccaya-s as the closing of
the abhidhamma ultimates section. The continuity in content between the Path of Purification
(Vism)'s treatment of the doctrinal elements of the "soil of understanding" (bhumidhamma) and
the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s sabbasangaha suggests that this was the more coherent
and prior formulation, including all the major synthetic doctrinal formulations of nama and rūpa
in relation to each other, subsequently modified in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) by
breaking this grand and very cumbersome (requiring more than 250 verses) treatment into two
independent chapters rather than one. Telling in this regard is the inclusion of a treatment of the
bhavacakka (wheel of existence) at the conclusion of the Path of Purification (Vism)'s treatment
of dependent origination, which we find preserved in a corresponding extensive treatment of the
wheel of existence in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), but stripped down to a merely
vestigial (but still recognizable) form in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s).141 The
sabbasangaha chapter in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), comprising in origin a treatment
of the bhumi-dhamma very grand in scope (thus justifying the name "sabbasangaha") was
accordingly lauded in very grand terms as:

yaṃ dhammaṃ dhammarājā niyatikam142 abhisambodhimaggena buddhā,

katvā kaṇḍambamūle paramam143 anupamaṃ pāṭihīraṃ khaṇena,
pātvākā tattha144 patvā puravaragaṇam ullopalāvaṇṇaraṃsī,145
tatth' ādāy' atthasāraṃ kathitam aticiraṃ ṭhātu pāṭhānukūlaṃ. 879

iti nāmarūpaparicchede sabbasangahavibhāgo nāma sattamo paricchedo.

niṭṭhito ca nāmarūpaparicchede sabbathā pi abhidhammaparamatthavibhāgo.

The immutable dhamma that the Dhamma King

awakened to by supreme awakening's path
and revealed,
having arrived before the host of deities in heaven,
in an instant, clad in streaming rays of colored light,
141
Unlike the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), the twenty-four paṭṭhana paccaya-s are treated in passing in the
Path of Purification (Vism) during its exegesis of the sankhara-paccaya (volitional formations) link of
dependent origination.
142
niyatikam: niyatitam, var. niyatikam (Ee); niratikam (Be).

143
paramam: paramam, var. asamam (Ee); paramam (Be).
144
pātvākā tattha: patvakasittha (Ee); patvaka tattha (Be).
145
ullopalāvaṇṇaraṃsī: ullopalavaṇṇaraṃsī (Ee); ullapalavaṇṇaraṃsi (Be). (?) < ullumpati = ullumpana / ullopana
"merciful, benevolent". The long a has no justification. The form appears to be corrupt and the translation is
conjectural in the absence of a clear meaning.

34
 having performed a miracle incomparably supreme
at the Kaṇḍamba mango tree --
having taken the heartwood/essence (sara) of the subject matter spoken there,
[and summarized it here]
may it endure, amenable to study, even longer.

Thus concludes the seventh chapter in the Manual of Discerning Mind & Matter, named
"The Section on the sabbasangaha".
And [with this] the section on the abhidhamma-paramattha-s in the Manual of
Discerning Mind & Matter is also complete.

The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), then, has retained the terminology

(“sabbasangaha”) but considerably reduced its scope, in the process rendering it less worthy of
the name, and making the resultant juxtaposition of dependent origination and the paṭṭhana
paccaya-s with pannatti appear to lack justification. On comparison with the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), the reason for the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s seemingly
anomalous subject order becomes clear: its seventh and eighth chapters are evidently a product
of revision, reworking a previously more extensive structure: that of the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p)'s long sabbasangaha, broken now into two parts.
The question of the anomalous placement of the treatment of nibbana remains
(awkwardly appended, as it is, to the chapter on matter). We see the exposition of nibbana
handled differently in each of Anuruddha's works. In the Path of Purification (Vism) it is treated
in connection with the third noble truth. The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) follows suit. It is
referred to in passing in the sabba-sangaha chapter as “apaccaya” (that which has no condition
on which it depends for its existence) (Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) v. 621), and somewhat
more extensively in the exposition of the third noble truth (Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) vv.
714-715). As a separate topic of treatment framed as a substantial exposition of the fourth
abhidhamma ultimate, however, it has no ostensible separate treatment. In the Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s), by contrast, we find a small section, fixing this omission, in its logical place,
following the exposition of the third abhidhamma ultimate, matter (rupa). While this solved the
problem of omission of nibbana as a topic in the methodical exposition of the abhidhamma
ultimates, it introduced the oddity of being appended to the rupa chapter, presumably since it
was too brief a section to warrant constituting a separate chapter in its own right.
What these emendations and adjustments perhaps betray, resolving certain problems even
as they create others, is the pursuit of a more perfect order. Anuruddha's condensation and
systematization of the abhidhamma doctrinal material, and his incorporation of the evolving
Theravada path theory into this, as an integral part of it, was an evolving project. It was being
modified and improved upon with each iteration. With the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), he
would arrive at most condensed and refined form yet, subsuming the entirety of practice, in the
form of his treatment of the seven stages of insight, within the treatment of “nibbana” as an
abhidhamma ultimate. This evidently had the logical appeal of culminating in the attainment of
nibbana, and provided substance with which to flesh out the scanty subject matter for exposition
of the last ultimate.
This postulated process of revision also reveals the ultimately derivative nature of the

35
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s). Though it is Anuruddha's smallest and most concise work, it
is not his first; it condenses the subject matter of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p). Whereas
the sabba-sangaha section of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) is appropriately
comprehensive, corresponding directly to the Path of Purification (Vism)'s treatment of
foundational doctrinal items grounded in which insight arises (plus pannatti), thus truly
representing an all-encompassing treatment, the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s
sabbasangaha has been reduced to a cursory treatment of aggregates, sense-spheres, elements,
and the four noble truths, without any explanation of why the term "sabba-sangaha" should
apply to this group.
The incorporation of verses in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) that appear to
derive from the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) in identical or slightly reworked and condensed
form, often framed by "'ti" but without attribution, is entirely coherent with the understanding of
the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) as a condensation of an earlier, more extensive work of
the same author that results from the above analysis. In the case of such verses, Anuruddha is
evidently quoting himself. He incorporates verses from the larger, more extensive treatment that
serves as his major framework, and which, with the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), he
condenses and presents in brief.
The emphasis on form and re-arrangement is significant and will be returned to as
symptomatic of the constraints of orthodoxy. The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s purpose
was enumeration in brief of doctrinal material treated elsewhere in detail, as well as
comprehensiveness of that brief enumeration (filling in the gaps of the "-adi"-s (etc.), as it were).
It was also demonstrably oriented toward mnemonics: providing means of systematic retention
of that which was enumerated, much as a rehearsal of pre-determined content, in the style of
catechism. The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), by contrast, has no mnemonic verses and is not
concerned with comprehensiveness of enumeration. While it likewise condenses (the path-theory
of the Path of Purification (Vism), in the case of its second half), it does not do so it catechistic
style.
Anuruddha's major project, then, is seen to be one of condensation: whether in the case of
his condensation of the abhidhammic subject matter comprising his treatment of the abhidhamma
ultimates in the first half of his Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), or the Path of Purification
(Vism)'s theorization of path-progress in its second half, or of his own prior synthesis of these
into an even more condensed form, amenable to study and memorization, in his Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s). His works may reasonably be considered a specimen of summary literature,
in part, we may suppose, with a purpose of display: showcasing a virtuoso's expertise in the
service of the establishment of regional authority, a representative of the periphery staking a
claim to legitimation from the center, demonstrating fluency in its language (cf. Noli Me
Tangere, the Spanish masterpiece penned by the Filipino virtuoso, José Rizal (1888), showcasing
his fluency in the language and learning of the metropole and in so doing accruing its authority
to himself, a member of the periphery, and establishing a place for himself and his region within
it). The concluding verses of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s colophon, directing their
blessings toward the lauded residents of the Mahavihara stake a similar claim a place in its
venerable tradition. As Anuruddha was naturalized within the Mahavihara tradition, much as
Buddhaghosa had been before him, he could turn to a more pragmatic and pedagogical end with
the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), helping others to assimilate the vast material of which he

36
had successfully displayed such mastery in his prior work.
Paul Griffiths, defining commentary as a genre, identifies three major criteria that a work
must satisfy to warrant classification as commentary. It must be in some sense a “metawork”,
being in direct relation to another work that is present in some way within in, whether by
quotation, paraphrase, or summary. The traces pointing to the work with which the commentary
is in relation must moreover be quite dominant within it. Finally, its structure must be given to it
by that work.146 Anuruddha's works (and in particular his treatment of the path) satisfy these
criteria not only with reference to the Path of Purification (Vism), but, surprisingly, also with
reference to each other. Anuruddha's subsequent works function in large part as a form of
autocommentary: in Griffiths' terms, "digest", or “auto-digest”, of his prior works:
“Commentaries whose objects are present in them principally by direct quotation I call either
interpretations or reproductions. And those whose objects are evident in them principally by
summary or paraphrase I call digests.”147 The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) primarily
summarizes the expository doctrinal content of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), at times
even punctuating its summary with direct (or slightly adapted) quotations.148 The Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s) is scattered with verses deriving from the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)
that reveal the underlying work it summarizes, which serves as its framework. If the Path of
Purification (Vism) may be taken as representative of commentary in an expanding mode (taken
to an utmost extreme, even, representing itself as an elaboration of the two verses cited at its
beginning), the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) may be regarded as an example of
commentary in a contracting, condensing mode – not only of abhidhammic thought and the Path
of Purification (Vism)'s path-theory, but more immediately of Anuruddha's own initial expansive
treatment of this (in the form of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)). The Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s)'s removal of literary and figurative elements from its corresponding,
schematic treatment of the same material is a condensing form of commentary (though very
often also supplying missing doctrinal elements to a clarificatory end), applied to his own work.
When a digest is of an author's own work, it may be considered, in Griffith's terminology, “auto-
digest”.149 Both are metaworks, subsuming and containing, and being framed upon their objects
of interpretation.

146
Griffiths 1999, 81.
147
Griffiths 1999, 86.
148
For example, Abhidh-s IX, §42, enumerating the abhinna-s: <42> abhiñña ca nama -- iddhividhaṃ dibbasotaṃ,
paracittavijanana / pubbenivasanussati, dibbacakkhū 'ti pañcadha -- condensing Namar-p 1485-1486: iddhividha
dibbasota, cetopariyajanana / pubbenivasanussati, dibbacakkhu tathapara (1485). cetosamadhinissaṭṭha,
pañcabhiñña pakasita / rūpavacaradhamma 'va, pañcamajjhana-bhūmika (1486). Or: Abhidh-s VIII §43 defining
pannatti: vacīghosanusarena, sotaviññaṇavīthiya. pavatthanantaruppanna-manodvarassa gocara. attha
yassanusarena, viññayanti tato paraṃ. sa 'yaṃ paññatti viññeyya, lokasanketanimmita -- condensing Namar-p
872-875: vacīghosanusarena, sotaviññaṇavīthiya / pavattanantaruppanna-manodvarassa gocara (872). attha
yassanusarena, viññayanti tato paraṃ / sammata ca sabhava ca, pubbasanketabhagino (873). ya 'yaṃ
valambaṇakaravisese paṭidissati / vedanadivacīghosaṃ, sabhavanugacetaso (874). sa 'yaṃ paññatti viññeyya,
lokasanketanimmita / vacīviññattisahito, saddo eva 'ti kecana. Or: Abhidh-s IX, §53 listing the ten corruptions of
insight (vipassanupakkilesa): obhaso pīti passaddhi, adhimokkho ca paggaho / sukhaṃ ñaṇam upaṭṭhanam
upekkha ca nikanti ce 'ti (Abhidh-s 9.53) = Namar-p v. 1679: (identical, but without the quotative 'ti at the end:
obhaso pīti passaddhi, adhimokkho ca paggaho / sukhaṃ ñaṇam upaṭṭhanam upekkha ca nikanti ca.
149
Griffiths 1999, 86.

37
The Hermeneutics of Sara
The hermeneutics of “sara” (“heartwood”; “essential core”, or “essence”) permeate
Anuruddha's work and the literary project that gave rise to it. Anuruddha describes his work
numerous times as distilling the sara from the expansive teachings of the Buddha and making it
available to the reader in condensed form through his works. He frequently characterizes his
project as being of such a nature in his ornate end-verses that conclude and frame his chapters.
He imagines his work, for example, as a raft on which the wise reader may plunge as he wish
into the ocean of the teacher's teachings and bring back treasures of “sara” to fill the coffers of
his heart:

bahunayavinibandhaṃ kullam etaṃ gahetvā,

jinavacanasamuddaṃ kāmam ogayha dhīrā.
hitasakalasamatthaṃ vatthusāraṃ haritvā,
hadaya-ratanagabbhaṃ sādhu sampūrayanti. 327

Men of steadfast wisdom, taking hold

of this [Manual of Discerning Mind and Matter] as a raft,
assembled of its many analytical methodologies,
set out as they wish upon the sea of the all-conquering Buddha's words --
and laying hold of treasures of their essence (sara)
capable of bringing every welfare,
fill up the coffers of their hearts
with them, as well they should.

He asserts that what he says echoes and preserves what was said by the Buddha when he taught
the Abhidhamma in Tavatiṃsa heaven, rephrasing this sentiment numerous times as taking the
attha-sara from what was said and reformulating this so that it may long endure amenable to
study:

itthaṃ pan' ettha vimalena vibhāvanatthaṃ,

dhammaṃ sudhammam upagamma surādhivāsaṃ,
rūpaṃ arūpasavibhāgasalakkhaṇaṃ taṃ,
vuttaṃ pavuttam abhidhammanaye mayā pi. 615

And thus the dhamma spoken by the taintless Buddha in this way
for the purpose of making it clear (vibhavana)
when he approached the Sudhamma (hall), the gods' abode,
[and spoke on] matter (rupa, the subject of this section), with its counterpart, the
immaterial, and its characteristics,
according to the abhidhammic method --
(all that) has been stated here by me.

cf.:
tatth' aday' atthasaraṃ kathitam aticiraṃ ṭhatu paṭhanukulaṃ, "having taken the

38
heartwood/essence of the subject matter spoken there, (and rephrased it here, with the wish:) may
it endure, amenable to study, even longer" (Namar-p v. 879), and the sabbasangaha as the
"hattasaram anuttaram", "the peerless heartwood/essence in hand" of the abhidhamma monks
(Namar-p v. 619, translated above).

The hermeneutics of sara permeating Anuruddha's project point to extracting and

condensing, preserving, and clothing in new form – a new, more succinct form, more easily
accessible than the voluminous “ocean” of material it summarizes and condenses, such that it
could be held within in the hand and retained within the heart. In contrast to the pedagogical
purpose of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s form of (auto-)digest, with prose clarity and
mnemonic verses at the end of each chapter for ease of memorization of the content it condenses,
focused, essentially, on providing a means of retaining the subject-matter of the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) exhibits a literary or aesthetic
interest in its handling of the work it summarizes: it is digest to an aesthetic end.
While the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s form and purpose appears straightforward,
that of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) requires further interrogation in order to understand.
Why was the “sara” it distilled in brief from the Path of Purification (Vism)'s voluminous, prose
treatment clothed in versified, poetic form? What informed the choice to artfully “sing” its
doctrine, as it were, rather than engage it philosophically, elaborating and developing its ideas, as
took place in other traditions of abhidharma evolving in parallel?

The Climate of Orthodoxy

Griffiths once again provides a useful hint for our understanding of this commentatorial
choice with his discussion of the pre-determination of religious readers' choices, when it comes
to what to read: “For most religious readers, the choice of what to read religiously is made based
upon the authoritative curricular decisions of an institution of religious learning—and made
without the fact that they are being made coming to consciousness.150 Fidelity to the norms and
strictures of the tradition, as a marker of affiliation, was a key governing force for the Pali
commentators. Griffiths highlights the constraints of sectarian affiliation, and identity, in the
creating of which institutions of religious learning such as the Mahavihara are governed by
dynamics of deference to orthodoxy and specific delimitations of authority. The literary
abhidhamma works' self conscious assertion of affiliation and conformity to the Mahavihara
interpretive tradition, as seen in the commentators from Buddhaghosa, on, and equally in
Buddhadatta and Anuruddha, carried with it an obligation of fidelity to the pre-determined
choices of interpretation and subject matter it entailed.
Buddhaghosa and his fellow initiators of the Pali commentarial era had journeyed to Sri
Lanka in pursuit of an authoritative interpretive tradition, and found it preserved in the
commentatorial corpus of the Mahavihara. They proceeded to compile, edit, summarize, and
translate the Mahavihara interpretive tradition into the authoritative Pali texts of the Pali
commentarial corpus, with which authority they then proceeded to firmly align themselves.
Fidelity to the specified interpretive tradition was deeply central to their project. Fidelity was
also a key aspect of the hermeneutics of “sara”, asserting not only condensation of the
voluminous original, but faithfulness to its content. The form, though different, betrayed no
150
Griffiths 99, 65.

39
change in substance. As Anuruddha asserts, “that which was stated (by the Buddha) has been
(re)stated by me, too” (vuttaṃ pavuttaṃ abhidhammanaye maya pi (Namar-p 615)).
Fidelity to the original, in the hermeneutics of sara, and to the interpretive tradition in the
dynamics of institutional affiliation, blended and became one in the eyes of the tradition. The
result was a curious dynamic of orthodoxy that permitted playing with the form, but not the
content, of the doctrinal subject matter it transmitted.
We know that vibhajjavadi-maṇdala (the "circle of the vibhajjavadins", referred to by
Buddhaghosa (Vism XVII §25)), later known as Theravada was a self-consciously conservative
tradition, as reflected in the mahapadesa-s151 and the perhaps quite formative crisis
commemorated by the Kathavathu, in many ways the keystone of the self-consciously
Theravadin abhidhamma tradition and its assertion of orthodoxy. It was the attempt to sort out
the proliferating competing claims as to the interpretation of the Buddha's teachings and
determine which were faithful to the original that characterized the Asokan-era Buddhism that
had laid the foundation for the Mahavihara – and especially its abhidhamma. It was this
“vibhajjavadi” interpretive tradition that Buddhaghosa had travelled to Sri Lanka to recover,
amidst the thicket of proliferating views in which the world had become hopelessly entangled.
He framed his grand synthesis of the Mahavihara aṭṭhakatha tradition on the issue of
disentangling a tangle (anto jaṭa, bahi jaṭa, jaṭaya jaṭita paja) – asking ko vijaṭaye jataṃ? who
could disentangle it? in the verse on which he hinged the entirety of the exposition that was the
Path of Purification (Vism) (Vism I, §1). The Mahavihara interpretative tradition (and the Path
of Purification (Vism) as emblematic of its interpretive stances) was seemingly Buddhaghosa's
answer to the uncertainty and proliferation of competing claims as to the details of interpretation
of the Buddha's teachings. The Path of Purification (Vism), and the commentarial tradition of
which it was emblematic, was a clamping down; an appeal to the authority of an interpretive
tradition that claimed fidelity to an earlier stratum of the tradition, that had since then lost its
bearings and its certainty with regard to authoritative interpretation. Commenting on the
interpretation of dependent origination, Buddhaghosa says:

ya panayaṃ bhagavata paṭiccasamuppadaṃ desentena “avijjapaccaya

sankhara”tiadina nayena nikkhitta tanti, tassa atthasaṃvaṇṇanaṃ karontena
vibhajjavadimaṇdalaṃ otaritva acariye anabbhacikkhantena sakasamayaṃ
avokkamantena parasamayaṃ anayuhantena suttaṃ appaṭibahantena vinayaṃ
anulomentena mahapadese olokentena dhammaṃ dipentena atthaṃ sangahentena
tamevatthaṃ punar avattetva aparehi pi pariyayantarehi niddisantena ca yasma
atthasaṃvaṇṇana katabba hoti, pakatiya pi ca dukkara 'va paṭiccasamuppadassa
atthasaṃvaṇṇana.

“Its meaning should be commented on by one who keeps within the circle of the
Vibhajjavadins, who does not misrepresent the teachers, who does not advertise his own
standpoint, who does not quarrel with the standpoint of others, who does not distort
suttas, who is in agreement with the Vinaya, who looks to the principal authorities
(mahapadesa—DN 16, catumahapadesakatha), who illustrates the law (dhamma), who
takes up the meaning (attha), repeatedly reverting to that same meaning, describing it in
151
The injections on textual authority as represented in the Mahaparinibbanasutta (DN 16, catumahapadesakatha).

40
 various different ways”.152

We observe care for not misrepresenting the teachers within the “vibhajjavadimaṇḍala” precisely
because of the need for ability in condensing the subject matter of the teaching and then again
unpacking it again, and expounding it (without alteration of meaning) in other ways, revealing
considerably anxiety around the topics of interpretation, condensing and re-expansion of subject
matter, and alteration of form with preservation of meaning (dhammaṃ dipentena, atthaṃ
sangahentena, tam ev' atthaṃ punar avattetva, aparehi pi pariyayantarehi niddisantena).
The well-known Path of Purification (Vism) narrative of Tipiṭaka-cūla-Abhaya-thera
reveals concern for mastery of and self-conscious adherence to one's distinctive interpretive
tradition. It valorizes this above even mastery of the three piṭaka-s, dramatically depicting the
elder Tipiṭaka-cūla-Abhaya as sounding the drum to announce his intent to demonstrate his
mastery of all three piṭaka-s in public recitation, but being barred from doing so by the elders of
his community until he could likewise demonstrate mastery of their interpretive tradition.153
According to the story in its telling, moreover, it was not necessarily even an issue of knowing
vs. not knowing the correct interpretation of the meaning, but of being able to confidently
identify a particular interpretative stance among a range of interpretations as that pertaining to
one's own school, in contrast to others'. Sectarian identity as determined by interpretative stance
was highly valorized.154
Buddhadatta concludes multiple of his works with words of precaution, urging readers
not to grasp the meaning incorrectly, should flaws in manuscript transmission obscure the
carefully-crafted form:

vinnāsakkamato vā pi, pubbāparavasena vā,

yadi akkharabandhe vā, ayuttaṃ viya dissati, 3166

If anything seemingly improper should appear

in the order of the composition,
or by way of what precedes and what comes after,
or the joining of its syllables,

taṃ tathā na gahetabbaṃ, gahetabbam adosato.

mayā upaparikkhitvā, katattā pana sabbaso. 3167

it should not be grasped like that;

it should be grasped without flaw:
for it has been composed
scrutinized most thoroughly by me.155

It is in such a context of extreme concern for the preservation of meaning that the “formal
152
Vism XVII §25, trans. Naṇamoli.
153
Vism III, §§53-55.
154
Vism III, §53.
155
Vin-vn colophon. cf. also Abhidh-av colophon vv. 1403-1405 for the identical sentiment expressed there.

41
scholasticism” we observe as characterizing Anuruddha's works and project makes sense, with
its willingness (even enthusiasm) to produce infinite variation of form, but extreme anxiety
around alteration of content. The claim of the virtuoso was of being able to reclothe pre-
determined content in new form *while preserving the essential meaning*, giving rise to the
literary abhidhamma text as a genre of repackaging and performance of fixed content in
changing, novel form.156 For Buddhadatta and Anuruddha, it was evidently preferable to “sing”
doctrine – to fix it in meter and beautified, embellished mode of presentation – rather than
philosophically elaborate it. To change the content would nullify the purpose, and undermine
their authority based, as it was, on a claim to mastery of and absolute fidelity to the interpretation
and views of the tradition deemed orthodox. Condensing and expanding of these was a skill, and
it was the demonstration of virtuosity in this that was heavily valorized within the commentarial
era's interpretive tradition as we witness it in Anuruddha's works. This led simultaneously to
genres of commentary expanding meaning (aṭṭhakatha) and condensing it (sangaha and
handbooks).
Contrary to its ostensible claims (but at the same time implicit in them), the Theravada
abhidhamma represented one perspective in a larger abhidhamma debate that was in fact the
internal dialogue of an evolving hermeneutical tradition with a plurality of positions on common
questions. Considered in isolation by Theravadins, the Theravada perspective represented the
ultimate position on questions of ontology raised by teachings in the suttas (and for the
Mahavihara, it represented exactly that: the approved interpretative stances on issues of
abhidhammic debate) but read comparatively, the various schools of Abhidhamma are revealed
as different voices in a larger, evolving conversation on issues of interpretation of key
abhidhammic import.157 Nagarjuna's position of dharma-nairatmya (the selflessness of dharmas)
that underpinned a wide-reaching philosophy of sunyata and Perfection of Wisdom literature)
was precisely an abhidhammic position, logically extending the notion of pudgala-nairatmya
(the selflessness of the individual) that an earlier tier of the abhidhammic debate was focused
upon, and grew directly out of this dialog, on which it was firmly founded. Vinnaṇavada was
likewise a position arrived at on a foundation of Sarvastivadin abhidharma and notions such as
prapti that had to be developed on the basis of essentially abhidhammic positions such as the
traikalya (tritemporal) existence of dharmas, and alayavijnana (storehouse-consciousness),
which extended the sthaviravadin notion of bhavanga.158 Developments in this ongoing
abhidharmic debate were developments in Buddhism. The abhidhamma positions can only be
understood when read comparatively, as only this reveals the underlying questions that the
156
Frauwallner defines scholasticism in the context of Indian philosophy as “a form of philosophizing that does not
start out from a direct perception of things but is based instead on given concepts which it develops into a
system. However, in terms of content, nothing new is created. It remains the same, merely being considered from
continually new aspects and presented in ever new forms.” He characterizes this particular brand of
scholasticism as formal scholasticism to emphasize its imperative to innovate form while ostensibly not altering
content. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems, p. 15.
157
I am speaking historically and not suggesting that the various schools were always directly cognizant of and
responding directly to each others' positions. The questions that they were contemplating and to which they were
responding were generally issues of common concern and it was these that in many ways united them as the
unseen thread connecting their respective responses.
158
Cf. Gethin 1994, 31, citing Cousins 1981, 22, and Schmithausen 1987, vol. I, 1-7: "As Lance Cousins and
Lambert Schmithausen have pointed out, Vasubandhu cites the notion of bhavanga-vijnana of the Sinhalese
school (Tamraparṇīya-nikaya) as a forerunner of the alaya-vijnana."

42
various positions, as proposed answers, are grappling with. It is these key questions that moved
the Buddhist interpretive tradition forward. And this movement charts the evolution of the
Buddhist hermeneutic tradition. It is a world of competing accounts and parallel interpretive
universes that very much resembles the parallel universes increasingly observed in Mahayana
thought – this, too, perhaps a product of the milieu of abhidharmic debate.
Within this broad conversation, the Mahavihara gave its stamp of approval to only one
voice – its own, a single universe – and reframed what was essentially a conversation on
common underlying questions as a monologue. The Mahavihara's answers were reframed as one-
side revelation, stemming directly from the Buddha. In the process, the underlying questions
were obfuscated and gradually lost sight of, leaving a body of doctrine that appeared deceptively
certain, fixed, and final.159 The multifarious positions of the remembered era of "the eighteen
schools" prior to Asoka, the crisis of uncertainty that gave rise to the Kathavatthu, and serious
counterpositions such as Nagarjuṇa's, the Sarvastivada Abhidhamma's, and emerging Yogacara's
represented a long period of growing uncertainty with regard to how the early texts could and
should be interpreted; how exactly the philosophical positions that underpinned them should be
construed. One response to this uncertainty was to seek an authoritative commentarial tradition
perceived as preserving an earlier unity, simplicity, and coherence – and above all the lost
“correct” interpretation – which led exegetes in South India like Buddhaghosa and Buddhadatta,
Dhammapala, and Anuruddha, to seek to recuperate a corpus of authoritative interpretive
literature. In Sri Lanka's Mahavihara they did make such a claim to an official interpretive
tradition that retained in local language the accounts of elders stretching back to the Buddha
(including both the interpretations of anonymous “poraṇa” – either 'teachers of old' or authors of
the old commentary ('puraṇa') – as well as named acariya-s of renown of prior centuries who
were instrumental in preserving these authoritative accounts).
By the time of Anuruddha, we encounter the interpretive tradition as essentially closed,
and its 'sara' as unambiguously determined. What was valued was the skill that Buddhoghosa
alludes to when he describes the ideals of exegesis as suttaṃ appaṭibahantena, vinayaṃ
anulomentena, mahapadese olokentena, dhammaṃ dipentena, atthaṃ sangahentena, tam' ev'
atthaṃ punar avattetva aparehi pi pariyayantarehi niddisantena “not departing from the suttas,
conforming to the vinaya, keeping the mahapadesa-s (canonically determined standards of
authority cf. DN 16) in view” – and while doing so, “explaining the dhamma”, on the one hand,
“condensing its meaning / subject matter (attha)”, and on the other, “making it return” and
“expounding it in various other ways, as well”.
It was this ideal and this intellectual climate that gave rise to the literary abhidhamma
genre, with its willingness to play with form and display mastery of content by explaining it in
various artful ways without altering its essential substance. There was an extreme openness to
alteration of form and an extreme closedness to alteration of meaning. Anuruddha puts these
skills – the skillset of an era of commentary and summary literature – on full display in his
multiple reformulations of the subject matter of the Mahavihara's abhidhammic thought, in
pursuit of a more perfect form.

159
For instance, Theravada kalapa theory has been shown to have extended and adapted the ideas of Vaibhasika
atomic theory (Karunadasa 1967, 156 and ch. 8 on the sources of Theravada atomic theory in general).

43
Section II.
Multiple Iterations of Subject Matter & A Literary Treatment of Familiar Doctrinal
Topics:
The Example of Dependent Origination

Anuruddha treats dependent origination three times across his three extant works. I will
now proceed to examine Anuruddha's aesthetic treatment of dependent origination comparatively
across these and suggest that his aesthetic elaboration of it metaphorically for dramatic effect in
its circular “bhavacakka” form,160 and the shattering of this by insight, exemplifies the heart of
his project (and that of the distinctive strand of South Indian Pali literary production of which it
formed part). This was the aestheticized or literary rendering of the Abhidhamma of the
Mahavihara interpretive tradition as a clothing of old meanings in new forms. A comparative
reading of Anuruddha's treatments across his three works suggests a relative chronology of them
that gives pride of place to the literary and aesthetic as foundational and originary to
Anuruddha's project, and bears out the interpretation of Anuruddha's works described above as
successively condensing the works they base themselves on, taking the form of digest or auto-
digest.
We find dependent origination treated in its circular “bhavacakka” formulation in all
three of Anuruddha's works. In contrast to the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), in which
dependent origination is treated very succinctly and schematically at VIII, §4-13, with only a
poetic flourish at the end evocative of bhavacakka imagery (one of the only metaphors preserved
in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)) it is elaborated very extensively in poetic form in the
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s sabba-sangaha section (Namar-p ch. 7, vv. 720-796) as part
of its exposition of the bhumidhamma-s ("ground" or "foundational" doctrines, as discussed
above), preceding treatment of the bhavana (meditative cultivation) and paṭipatti (path-progress)
that takes place with reference to these.

The Manual of Discerning (Nāmar-p) version

The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) version, in addition to being the most extensive, is
the most aestheticized treatment among the three, expounding dependent origination in a
distinctly literary mode. It thus furnishes a good example of familiar doctrinal material treated in
a distinctly literary mode. It does include a factor-by-factor exposition of the links of dependent
origination that includes abhidhammic features – citing, for example, the number of varieties of
consciousness that can constitute vinnaṇa in the form of paṭisandhivinnaṇa “relinking
consciousness” at rebirth (29), versus as “pavattavinnaṇa”, in consciousness's ongoing
occurrence (32) in the link vinnaṇapaccaya namarupaṃ:

160
Linking dependent origination's last links to the origination of asava-s, including ignorance, and thus linking the
end of dependent origination to its beginning with avijja-paccaya sankhara -- volitional formations arising from
that ignorance as their condition. The mise-en-abyme effect of this circularity lent itself to poetic (and well
known visual) elaboration to dramatic effect. Textually, Buddhaghosa's inclusion of an account of it in his
treatment of dependent origination in the Path of Purification (Vism) (Vism XVII, §§273-314) in discussion of
the claim that ignorance proceeds from sorrow, [lamentation, pain, unhappiness, and despair] being "proven" or
"established" (siddha: Vism XVII, §275), may constitute its first appearance in Pali sources, most likely
signaling a leveling process and extra-Theravada developments.

44
 ekūnavīsatividhaṃ, paṭisandhikkhaṇe tathā,
pavatte dvattiṃsavidhaṃ, _vinnāṇaṃ_ pākamānasaṃ. 738

Consciousness, a resultant consciousness

of twenty-nine varieties at the moment of re-linking
and likewise
of thirty-two varieties in ongoing occurrence.

However, even though couched in abhidhammic rhetoric, details such as this are seemingly more
of a nod toward abhidhamma than full-fledged abhidhammic treatment. It is not the exhaustive
abhidhammic exposition – which would require much more detail, and perhaps be hampered by
the exclusively verse format, the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) being a wholly verse
composition, unlike Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av), mixing prose
and verse to a pragmatic as well as literary end, or Anuruddha's own Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s), primarily in prose, most verses serving an organizational or mnemonic purpose. In
fact, I will suggest that Anuruddha's primary project here is something other than doctrinal
exposition: as we will see, it is an altogether more literary project that uses doctrinal material to
an aesthetic and performative end.
Anuruddha in fact asks us to disregard for the time being the twenty-four paṭṭhana
paccaya-s, which are elaborated separately (in the subsequent, much less aestheticized
“paṭṭhananayasangaha” section, vv. 797-850), and do not obtain treatment here (vv. 729-730),
as they do in the corresponding place in the Path of Purification (Vism) – rather to be concerned
for the moment only with the “tabbhavabhavi” character of the paccaya-s (“having their
existence owing to the existence of that”) (v. 730), which he will now proceed to treat – and,
simultaneously, poetically embellish.
He thus proceeds quickly from itemized definitions of the factors to verses describing
their hetu vs. phala character, reflecting in a manner that can only be described as "poetically" on
the circularity of present results of past causes acting themselves as causes for future effects –
taṇha, for example, an act that is result (of avijja) as well as cause (of further fruits) – and
linking this circularity dramatically with the notion of saṃsara:

saṃsārass' eva vuttā 'yaṃ, paccayānaṃ paramparā,

paṭiccasamuppādo 'ti, tato tebhūmako mato. 755

This sequence of causal conditions

called “dependent origination”
is said to be [the sequence of causal conditions] of saṃsara itself
and is thus considered to encompass all three levels of existence (viz. kama, rupa, and
arupa).

. baddhā 'vijjāṇḍakosena, vijjādibhedavajjitā,

vimuttirasam appattā, bhavataṇhāpipāsitā, 756

Bound by the egg-shell of ignorance

45
 in the absence of its breaking by understanding (vijja),
thirsting with craving for renewed existence (bhavataṇha),
not yet attained to the taste of liberation,

abhisankhārabhāvena, paṭibandhati santati;

tathābhisankhatā pāka-bhāvāya parivattati. 757

its sequence binds,

in its aspect of conditioning;
but, so too, as that conditioned, to
resultant aspect it turns round.

. vipākā puna kammāni, pākāni puna kammato;

icc' evaṃ pariyāyena, saṃsāro 'yaṃ pavattati. 758

From result again follow actions;

and, again, results from act;
and it's in such a revolving manner, thus,
that this saṃsara proceeds.

Anuruddha proceeds to an analysis in reverse order – starting with jara, maraṇaṃ, etc.
depending upon birth (jati) and describing how each factor rests on its immediately prior one as
the essential condition upon which it depends for its existence (and without which it could not
arise) (this analysis referring to the factors' “tabbhavabhavi” character in commentarial usage;
illustrating how the factors depend, for their own existence, on the existence of something else.
Unlike the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), this treatment incorporates metaphors, a
major feature of Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning (Namar-p). For example: jati's dependence
on bhava (e.g., bhavapaccaya jati) like a sprout arisen from a seed, being obtained in a
corresponding form of existence:

sā 'vopapattisankhātā, jāti kammabhavoditā,

ankuro viya bījamhā, tattha tatthopalabbhati. 769

That birth, reckoned reaching (a given form of existence) in rebirth,

is arisen from gestation (bhava) of one's kamma,
and is obtained there where it is,
like a sprout is, from its seed.

sampayogānusayato, upādānappatiṭṭhitā,
āyūhanti ca kammāni, ākaḍḍhantopapattikaṃ. 770

And beings pursue karma-producing actions [kammabhava]

based upon their clinging,
and draw their form of birth [upapattibhava] unto themselves

46
 whether in association [in the case of upapattibhava] or latent association with it [in the
case of kammabhava].

Beings are described as taṇhasnehapipasita “made thirsty by thirst's moistness” (more

on this not immediately transparent metaphor below), owing to which they tighten their hold on
things liable to be clung to, describing upadana's dependence for its existence on taṇha [taṇha-
paccaya upadanaṃ]:

upādāniyadhammesu, taṇhāsnehapipāsitā,
daḷhī-kubbant' upādānaṃ, piyarūpābhinandino. 771

And made thirsty by thirst's moistness

for the things to which they cling,
delighting in their pleasant form
they tighten their hold (upadana) on them.

And as observing the relish (assadanupassino) in things felt, describing taṇha depending on
vedana (vedanapaccaya taṇha):

vedanīyesu dhammesu, assādam anupassato,

vedanāpaccayā taṇhā, samuṭṭhāya pavaḍḍhati. 772

And for one observing relish (assada)

in the things he feels,
craving, with sensation, its condition,
originates and grows.

And making contact with the field (gocara) of each sense, describing vedana as depending on
contact (phassa):

iṭṭhāniṭṭhan ca majjhattaṃ, phusantā pana gocaraṃ,

vedenti vedanaṃ nāma, nāphusantā kudācanaṃ. 773

And making contact with the field [of each sense-sphere]

– [an object that's] desirable or undesirable, or neutral –
they feel what's called sensation,
not not contacting, ever.

phusat' ālambaṇan c'eso, saḷāyatanasambhave;

dvārābhāve kuto tassa, samuppatti bhavissati. 774

And this [i.e., phassa, “contact”)] contacts an object,

with the six sense-spheres come into being;
whence would it have arising,

47
 in the absence of [the sense spheres'] doors?

Anuruddha's poetic treatment had an afterlife. As mentioned previously, Sumangala

weaves the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s distinctive poetic formulations wholesale into his
explanations of the corresponding subject matter in his commentary on the Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s). Text in bold represents text of this passage of the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) being quoted verbatim or virtually verbatim by the commentator Sumangala in his
exegesis of Anuruddha's exposition of dependent origination in the Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s), in his famous twelfth commentary on it, the abhidhammatthavibhavini:

phasso ca saḷāyatanasambhave yeva ārammaṇaṃ phusati. na hi dvārābhāve tass'

uppatti siya ti salayatanapaccaya phasso. iṭṭhāniṭṭhamajjhattan ca ārammaṇaṃ
phusanto yeva vedanaṃ vedayati, no aññatha ti phassapaccaya vedana. vedanīyesu ca
dhammesu assādānupassino vedanāhetukā taṇhā samuṭṭhātī 'ti vedanapaccaya taṇha.
taṇhāsinehapipāsitā yeva ca upādāniyesu dhammesu upādāya daḷhabhāvāya
saṃvattanti. taṇhaya hi rūpādīni assādetvā assādetvā kamesu pātabyataṃ apajjantī 'ti
taṇha kamupadanassa paccayo. tatha rūpadibhedegadhito "natthi dinnan" 'tyadina
micchadassanaṃ saṃsarato muccitukamo asuddhimagge suddhimaggaparamasaṃ,
khandhesu attattaniyagahabhūtaṃ attavadadassanadvayañ ca gaṇhati, tasma
diṭṭhupadadīnam pi paccayo 'ti taṇhapaccaya upadanaṃ. yatharahaṃ
sampayogānusayavasena upādānapatiṭṭhitā yeva satta kammāyūhanāya saṃvattantī
'ti upadanaṃ bhavassa paccayo. upapattibhavasankhātā ca jāti kammabhavahetukā
yeva. bījato ankuro viya tattha tattha samupalabbhatī 'ti bhavo jatiya paccayo
nama.161

And contact, only upon “there being origination of the six-fold sense sphere”, “touches
an object”; for: “the arising of it” could not be “in the absence of the sense-doors”
(774).... And only “contacting an object, desirable, undesirable, or neutral”, does one feel
sensation; not otherwise (773)... And for one “observing the relish in the things he feels”,
craving, “which has sensation as its cause”, arises (772)... And only people “made thirsty
by thirst's [thirst-inciting] moisture” lead to [upadana's] “state of being strong”, having
clung to objects of clinging; for having relished “visible forms” and so forth again and
again on account of taṇha, they come to the state of wanting to drink amongst the objects
of the senses (771)... [ ... ] Only beings “established in their clinging by way of
association or latent association,” as appropriate, lead to the pursuit of karma-producing
action (770)... And birth, “reckoned upapatti-bhava”, has kamma-bhava only as its cause:
“Like a sprout from its seed, it is obtained wherever that is” (769)...

The commentators realized that Anuruddha's works had to be read together – that the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) had its existence 'based on the existence' of the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) – and they freely incorporated the fuller explanations found in the Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p) into their exegesis of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), tacitly
acknowledging this fact. Losing sight of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s
161
Abhidh-s-av-ṭ 8. 4 (paccayaparicchedavaṇṇana), commenting on Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) VIII, §4.

48
“tabbhavabhavi” nature, and the underlying metaphors deriving from the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) being freely drawn upon by Sumangala in his exposition, however, we find even such
excellent scholars as Gethin and Wijeratne rendering the middle phrase in the above (“And only
people 'made thirsty by thirst's [thirst-inciting] moisture',” etc.), a clear allusion to Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) v. 771, as:

“And that same craving, attachment, and thirst in becoming firm lead to the grasping of
dhammas that are the object of grasping, for when, as a result of craving, one repeatedly
enjoys visible objects, etc., they reach the condition of needing to be guarded (patavyata);
hence craving is the causal condition for sense-desire grasping.”162

The exposition's derivation from the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) has gone unnoticed,
resulting in the taking of the curious phrase taṇhasinehapipasita as a dvanda compound rather
than as a direct quote of a metaphor deriving from a poetic elaboration of dependent origination
(at Namar-p v. 771), and patavyata as relating to the “safe-guarding” of hoarded material
objects, rather than to this governing metaphor, in the curious but entirely metaphorically
coherent sense of “drinking” among the objects of the senses.
We can pinpoint the source for our metaphors and, as in so many instances, shed light on
Anuruddha's (and after him Sumangala's) intended meaning, if we look to the corresponding
content and its treatment in the Path of Purification (Vism). The Path of Purification (Vism)
includes two complete sequences of metaphors for each link between two respective factors at
the conclusion of its treatment of dependent origination in its “wheel of being” or bhavacakka
formulation (also reproduced in Buddhaghosa's Vibh-a). I include these here in full for the
illustration it provides of Anuruddha's selective and creative redeployment of Path of
Purification (Vism) expository material:

Sequence one: the blind man

yasma pan' ettha salakkhaṇasamaññalakkhaṇavasena dhammanaṃ adassanato andho

viya avijjā. andhassa upakkhalanaṃ viya avijjapaccaya sankhara. upakkhalitassa
patanaṃ viya sankharapaccaya viññaṇaṃ. patitassa gaṇḍapātubhāvo viya
viññaṇapaccaya namarūpaṃ. gaṇḍabhedapīḷakā viya namarūpapaccaya salayatanaṃ.
gaṇḍapīḷakāghaṭṭanaṃ viya salayatanapaccaya phasso. ghaṭṭanadukkhaṃ viya
phassapaccaya vedana, dukkhassa paṭikārābhilāso viya vedanapaccaya taṇha.
paṭikarabhilasena asappāyaggahaṇaṃ viya taṇhapaccaya upadanaṃ.
upādiṇṇaasappāyālepanaṃ viya upadanapaccaya bhavo. asappayalepanena
gaṇḍavikārapātubhāvo viya bhavapaccaya jati. gaṇḍavikārato gaṇḍabhedo viya
jatipaccaya jaramaraṇaṃ.163

To systematize Naṇamoli's 1975 translation of this passage,164 ignorance is:

162
Sumangala's Vibhavinī, trans. Gethin & Wijeratne, p. 292. Italics added by me.
163
Vism bhavacakkakatha: Vism XVII, §303.
164
“[As to similes:] ignorance is like a blind man because there is no seeing states according to their specific and
general characteristics; formations with ignorance as condition are like the blind man’s stumbling; consciousness

49
1. avijja (ignorance): like a blind man;
avijja → 2. sankhara (sankharas): like the blind man’s stumbling;
→ 3. vinnana (consciousness): like the stumbler’s falling;
→ 4. namarupam (mind and matter): like the appearance of a tumour on the fallen man;
→ 5. salayatanam (the six sense doors): like a gathering that makes the tumour burst;
→ 6. phasso (contact): like hitting the gathering in the tumour;
→ 7. vedana (sensation): like the pain due to the blow;
→ 8. tanha (craving): like longing for a remedy;
→ 9. upadanam (clinging): like seizing what is unsuitable through longing for a remedy;
→ 10. bhavo (continued existence): like applying the unsuitable remedy seized;
→ 11. jāti (birth): like the appearance of a change [for the worse] in the tumor owing to the
application of the unsuitable remedy;
→ 12. jara, maraṇaṃ, (aging, death) etc.: like the bursting of the tumor after the change.

Sequence two: a series of loosely connected metaphors

yasma va panettha avijja appaṭipattimicchapaṭipattibhavena satte abhibhavati paṭalaṃ

viya akkhīni. tadabhibhūto ca balo punabbhavikehi sankharehi attanaṃ veṭheti
kosakārakimi viya kosappadesehi. sankharapariggahitaṃ viññaṇaṃ gatīsu patiṭṭhaṃ
labhati pariṇāyakapariggahito viya rājakumāro rajje. upapattinimittaparikappanato
viññaṇaṃ paṭisandhiyaṃ anekappakaraṃ namarūpaṃ abhinibbatteti māyākāro viya
māyaṃ. namarūpe patiṭṭhitaṃ salayatanaṃ vuddhiṃ virūlhiṃ vepullaṃ papuṇati
subhūmiyaṃ patiṭṭhito vanappagumbo viya. ayatanaghaṭṭanato phasso jayati
araṇisahitābhimanthanato aggi viya. phassena phuṭṭhassa vedana patubhavati agginā
phuṭṭhassa dāho viya. vedayamanassa taṇha pavaḍḍhati loṇūdakaṃ pivato pipāsā
viya. tasito bhavesu abhilasaṃ karoti pipāsito viya pānīye. tadassupadanaṃ, upadanena
bhavaṃ upadiyati āmisalobhena maccho baḷisaṃ viya. bhave sati jati hoti bīje sati
ankuro viya. jatassa avassaṃ jaramaraṇaṃ uppannassa rukkhassa patanaṃ viya.
tasma evaṃ _upamāhi_petaṃ bhavacakkaṃ viññatabbaṃ yatharahaṃ.165

In Naṇamoli's translation (again, systematized for ease of reading):

Or again,
1. ignorance here as “no theory” and “wrong theory” befogs beings as a cataract does the eyes;

with formations as condition is like the stumbler’s falling; mentality-materiality with consciousness as condition
is like the appearance of a tumour on the fallen man; the sixfold base with mentality-materiality as condition is
like a gathering that makes the tumour burst; contact with the sixfold base as condition is like hitting the
gathering in the tumour; feeling with contact as condition is like the pain due to the blow; craving with feeling as
condition is like longing for a remedy; clinging with craving as condition is like seizing what is unsuitable
through longing for a remedy; becoming with clinging as condition is like applying the unsuitable remedy
seized; birth with becoming as condition is like the appearance of a change [for the worse] in the tumour owing
to the application of the unsuitable remedy; and ageing-and-death with birth as condition is like the bursting of
the tumour after the change” (tr. Naṇamoli 1976 [First BPS Pariyatti edition, 1999, 600-601]).
165
also Vism XVII, §303.

50
2. the fool befogged by it involves himself in formations that produce further becoming, as a
cocoon-spinning caterpillar does with the strands of the cocoon;
3. consciousness guided by formations establishes itself in the destinies, as a prince guided by a
minister establishes himself on a throne;
4. [death] consciousness conjecturing about the sign of rebirth generates mentality-materiality in
its various aspects in rebirth-linking, as a magician does an illusion;
5. the sixfold base planted in mentality-materiality reaches growth, increase and fulfilment, as a
forest thicket does planted in good soil;
6. contact is born from the impingement of the bases, as fire is born from the rubbing together
of fire sticks;
7. feeling is manifested in one touched by contact, as burning is in one touched by fire;
8. craving increases in one who feels, as thirst does in one who drinks salt water;
9. one who is parched [with craving] conceives longing for the kinds of becoming, as a thirsty
man does for drinks; that is his clinging;
10. by clinging he clings to becoming as a fish does to the hook through greed for the bait;
11. when there is becoming there is birth, as when there is a seed there is a shoot; and
12.death is certain for one who is born, as falling down is for a tree that has grown up.
So this Wheel of Becoming should be known thus “as to similes” too in whichever way is
appropriate.166

In this second sequence:

6. contact is born from the impingement of the bases, as fire is born from the rubbing
together of fire sticks;
7. feeling is manifested in one touched by contact, as burning is in one touched by fire;
8. craving increases in one who feels, as thirst does in one who drinks salt water;
9. one who is parched [with craving] conceives longing for the kinds of becoming, as a
thirsty man does for drinks; that is his clinging;
10. by clinging he clings to becoming as a fish does to the hook through greed for the bait;
11. when there is becoming there is birth, as when there is a seed there is a shoot; and
12. death is certain for one who is born, as falling down is for a tree that has grown up.

We can see that we have here, in links 8-9, the critical ingredients for Anuruddha's curious
metaphor, taṇhasnehapipasita (v. 771), likening the increasing of craving on the basis of sense-
stimulus to the increase of thirst in one who drinks loṇodakaṃ ("salt water"). We can also see in
link 11, that between becoming and birth, the source of Anuruddha's ankuro viya bijamha
(sprout from seed) metaphor (v. 769), likening this to a sprout arising there where the seed is
sown.
Like Gethin and Wijeratne here, most scholars have missed the critical significance of
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) for understanding the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s). The
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), as discussed above, can itself be regarded as summary
literature, selectively condensing material from the extensive treatment of the Path of
Purification (Vism). (This applies especially to its latter half, focused on the path of practice.) It
166
Path of Purification (Vism) trans. Naṇamoli, 1976 [first BPS Pariyatti edition, 1999, 604-605])

51
follows the Path of Purification (Vism) quite closely – though not comprehensively. We can be
fairly sure, however, that Anuruddha is selectively incorporating his metaphors from this very
passage. But Anuruddha's "summary" is summary of a very particular kind: selecting its doctrine
from the massive compendium of the Path of Purification (Vism) and reformulating it with
attention to its aesthetic value, and the coherence of the resulting product as an independent
aesthetic work. It may be regarded as a variety of "aesthetic digest" (selective rather than
comprehensive in its strategy of summarization). As a highly aestheticized form of digest,
illustrative analogies and metaphors (of which the Path of Purification (Vism) is chalk-full) hold
a place of privilege in process of selection. The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) is likewise
summary literature: not, like the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), deriving directly from the
Path of Purification (Vism), but via the prior aestheticized formulations of the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p). The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) represents essentially a summary
of Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), stripped of its literary elements: a point by point summary
of its doctrine (its "sara"), almost entirely derivative of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p).
While we are accustomed to the stripped-down version of the abhidhamma, the literary,
aestheticized version appears strange and unfamiliar to us. What place did metaphor and literary
elements have in an abhidhammic genre? Weren't they entirely extraneous, and therefore
secondary, temporally as well as in importance? This doubt stands irreconciled with how
originary the literary impulse was to the commentarial era's project of abhidhammic summary
literature. Anuruddha's aesthetic works present another face of abhidhamma, and of the
commentarial project. Anuruddha and Buddhadatta before him participated in this project,
inventing the literary or aesthetic abhidhamma text, a project of aesthetic reformulation of
doctrine that represented a short-lived literary experiment in the era of South Indian production
of Pali commentarial literature – one which stemmed in fact from its very inception, emerging
serendipitously from the milieu of an imperative of orthodoxy combined with the creative
impetus and aspirations to virtuosity of the commentarial era and its producers who aligned
themselves with the Mahavihara. It was in many ways a renaissance: of fresh, Pali language
composition, energy, enthusiasm, and the recovery of the corpus of commentarial literature of
the Mahavihara interpretive tradition, with which the talented South Indian exegetes on the
periphery in coastal South India, undertaking educational pilgrimages to the Mahavihara, were
eager to display their expertise and fidelity to their intellectual tradition of choice, in an era of
flourishing literary culture. These factors combined to produce the literary monuments of formal
scholasticism with their characteristic concern for saying nothing new, but saying in new ways,
with endless variation. Buddhadatta was unanimously remembered by the tradition in the
colophons appended to his works as kavi (poet), in addition to commentator (veyyakaraṇa) and
took pride in rendering commentarial source material into a refined and highly embellished,
literary form – proclaiming his Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av) to be madhuraṃ
"sweet" [and] mativaddhanaṃ "stimulating thought"167 and that: madhurakkharasaṃyutto, attho
yasma pakasito / tasma hitatthakamena, katabbo ettha adaro, “one desirous of [beings'] benefit
and welfare should have respect for it / since its subject matter is expounded conjoined with
sweet syllables”.168 This aesthetic orientation is under-appreciated as the initial spirit and primary
impetus of the endeavor of the minor abhidhamma treatises, and sheds light on Anuruddha's
167
Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av preface), v. 4.
168
Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av colophon), v. 1407.

52
project, recasting essentially the same doctrinal material at least three times, as a bid for
authority on the part of members of periphery, displaying their virtuosity at expressing the
orthodox content in ever new ways, without changing a syllable of the meaning, so to speak.
These creative reformulations could of course dramatize and embellish their content so as
to make it more accessible to understanding, both cognitively as well as viscerally.
To return to Anuruddha's poetic treatment of the tabbhavabhavi nature of dependent
origination: arriving via each of the above links back to ignorance (avijja), Anuruddha continues:
as long as this ignorance is present, the chain of dependent origination proceeds in its forward
order, conforming to and perpetuating the round of rebirth:

avijjāyānusayite, paṭivedhavirodhite,
vaṭṭānugatasantāne, paṭisandhiphalāvahe, 778

Accompanied by latent ignorance

and prevented from the penetration [of the truths],
when the sequence goes according to the round [in its forward-order],
conferring the fruit of rebirth,

pākadhammā sabhāvena, pavattanti hi cetanā;

avijjāpaccayā honti, sankhārā 'ti tato matā. 779

volitions occur
as its results by nature:
therefore sankhara-s are regarded
as having ignorance as their condition.

Ignorance is therefore likened to the “ridgepole” (kuṭa) that supports the chain in its entirety.
And if, by penetration of the truths, it is broken, the entire round unfolds:

paṭividdhesu saccesu, paccayānaṃ paramparā,

vighātīyati sabbā 'pi, tato vaṭṭaṃ vivaṭṭati. 780

The truths being penetrated,

the chain of causal conditions
is struck apart in whole;
from that the round unfolds.

iccāvijjāvirodhena, tassā vaṭṭappavattiyā;

sanghātanikabhāvena, avijjā kūṭasammatā. 781

Thus, by virtue of the round's occurrence due to it,

– due to ignorance's non-obstruction –
and by virtue of its acting as the main supporting factor,
ignorance is considered the highest point on which it rests (lit. its 'ridge-pole').

53
 Normally, however, for those whose minds are continuously oppressed by the blows of
old age and death, giving rise to stupefaction, that ignorance just grows, and the round remains
bound and unbroken, turning on itself like a wheel:

jarāmaraṇasanghāṭa-paṭipīḷitacetasaṃ,
klesamucchāparetānaṃ, sā cāvijjā pavaḍḍhati. 782

And, for those whose minds are constantly oppressed

by the blows of growing old and dying,
overcome by the defilements' stupefaction
that ignorance but grows.

icc' ābaddham avicchedaṃ, idappaccayamaṇḍalaṃ,

cakkanemisamāvaṭṭaṃ, kamena parivattati. 783

Thus bound and unbreaking,

the circle of causality
turning round on itself like the circumference of a wheel,
revolves according to its sequence.

Having arrived at the full-fledged “bhavacakka” formulation of dependent origination, uniting its
end to its beginning, and revealing in dramatic, literary evocation a resulting “circle of causality”
that's now visually as well as logically “bound and unbreaking”, the revelation that has just
emerged in literary form is simultaneously attributed to the Buddha. He revealed the truth of this
situation – “the revelation of that round” (vaṭṭa):

vaṭṭassa dvādasangassa, tassa tebhūmakassa tu,

dukkhakkhandhassa dassesi, nissandena nidassanaṃ. 784

He revealed the revelation

of that round, that “mass of suffering”
encompassing the triple world,
with its twelve factors – and its certain fruit:

sokan ca paridevan ca, tathā dukkhan ca kāyikaṃ;

domanassam upāyāsaṃ, nānābyasanasambhavaṃ. 785

sorrow, and lamentation,

and so too physical pain –
and sadness, and despair:
the fount of the vicissitudes of life.

Anuruddha does not stop here. He subjects the metaphoric formulation of dependent origination,

54
now clearly defined, to further metaphorical elaboration: portraying this wheel as mounted on
chariot of personal existence, (attabhavabhavaratha), circling out of control through the three
realms of existence, like a mechanical device freed from the hands.

icc' āturam aniccan taṃ, mahopaddavasankulaṃ,

bahupaklesupassaṭṭhaṃ, dukkham etan 'ti piṇḍitaṃ. 786

Such is it, afflicted and inconstant,

with great calamities athrong,
plagued by many defilements,
lumped together as “this is suffering” --

icc' evaṃ pancupādānakkhandhabheditasangaho,

attabhāvabhavaratho, hatthamuttaṃ 'va yantakaṃ. 787

and thus is the composite that's divided

as five aggregates of clinging,
the empirical individual's vehicle of existence,
like a mechanical device freed from the hands.169

gatiṭṭhitinivāsesu, saṃsaranto nirantaraṃ;

cakken' etena yātī 'ti, bhavacakkam idaṃ mataṃ. 788

circling ceaselessly
amongst the halting-places of the destinations of rebirth.
And this is held to be the “wheel of being” –
the wheel by which it goes.

Breaking through shell of ignorance (cf. v. 756) and knocking it off course, vijja is represented
as the insight knowledges, betokening the end of ignorance and beginning of “the round's
unfolding” (vivaṭṭa), taking it “off-track” (also vivaṭṭa):

avijjāṇḍaṃ padāletvā, paṭivedhappavattiyā,

paccayappaccayuppannā, supaṭṭhanti sabhāvato. 789

Having shattered the shell of ignorance

with the occurrence of penetration [of the truths],
the causal conditions and the things that arise from those conditions
present themselves according to their nature.

aniccā dukkhanattā ca, bhangavanto bhayāvahā;

sādīnavā 'ti sankhāya, vivaṭṭam abhitiṭṭhati. 790

169
Note: yantakaṃ: "reins"?: a meaning attested in Buddhist Sanskrit usage in Lalitavistara. But: yantraputrika
“marionette”: “a mechanism”? (i.e. machine on autopilot?) or reigns "slipped from the hand"?

55
 Having reckoned them as impermanent, painful, and not-self,
as prone to dissolution, bringing fear,
and full of danger,
the unfolding of the round, off track, stands forward.

The pivotal vijja that accomplished this is characterized as the stages of insight: seeing the causal
conditions and the factors arising from those conditions (paccaya-paccayuppanna) as anicca,
dukkha, and anatta – and thence bhangavanta, bhayavaha, sadinava, more or less recapitulating
the stages of insight (vipassana-naṇani) to be treated subsequently and bringing them into
relationship with dependent origination as one of the “bhumi-dhamma” with reference to which
it emerges. With this seeing of things as they are, according to their true nature (perceiving these
underlying characteristics rather than observing the “assada” (relish) in them, cf. 772) one's
taṇha, and the entirety of its latent underlying (anusaya), comes to an end:

tato sānusayā taṇhā, nirujjhati punabbhave;

santānaratiyābhāvā, na pakkhandati sandhiyaṃ. 791

From that, craving with all its latent stock,

for renewed existence ends;
and from the absence of satisfaction with the continuation,
it does not leap into junction [with rebirth];

aviruḷhikabhāvena, tattha vaṭṭavirodhite.

abhisankhārabhāvena, na pavattanti cetanā. 792

the round obstructed there,

with its state of non-development,
volitions don't occur
with their conditioning aspect,

paṭisandhipavattī 'pi, na janenti bhavantare.

icc' āvijjānirodhena, niruddhā kammacetanā. 793

and do not produce

the relinking and occurrence [of consciousness] in new life;
an so, with ignorance's ending,
karmically-productive volitions also end.

paccayatthanirodhena, sankhārānaṃ nirodhato,

vinnāṇaṃ janakābhāvā, niruddham iti vuccati. 794

From the ending of volitional formations,

with the end of that which serves as its condition,

56
 consciousness, in the absence of its maker,
is said to end.

vinnāṇādinirodhā ca, nāmarūpādikaṃ tathā,

dukkhakkhandhass' imass' evaṃ, nirodho 'ti pavuccati. 795

And from the end of consciousness, etc.,

mind and matter, etc. likewise [end];
and thus, it's said, this mass of suffering
has its end.

Anuruddha's tibhavaratha chariot metaphor, with which he connects and expands the
bhavacakka metaphor, also derives from the Visuddhimagga, but from elsewhere in it: its source
is the Buddhanussati section, playing on the meaning of the word arahaṃ as “aranaṃ hatatta pi
arahaṃ”, “due to the spokes' being struck” and elaborating the twelve nidana-s (causal links) of
dependent origination as the spokes of the wheel of rebirth (saṃsaracakka), having ignorance as
its hub and birth, old age, etc. as its rim, mounted on the chariot of existence in the three worlds
(tibhavaratha).170 Anuruddha's specification of the vijja that breaks the wheel as the insight
knowledges in place of its Visuddhimagga counterpart's naṇapharasu, “axe of wisdom”171 or
nanasi, “sword of wisdom”172 is novel and skillfully accommodates his exposition of dependent
origination within the larger context of his treatment of the insight knowledges that is to follow,
framed now as the wisdom that accomplishes the metaphorical breaking of this “bound and
unbreaking” wheel173 and setting of the chariot off-course.

The bhavacakka metaphor provides us a prime example of verses that occur in parallel
across all three texts (specifically, vv. 782-83 above), and a close examination of them reveals a
consistent pattern of relationships.

The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) version

Unlike in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s extensive, poetic treatment, the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) expounds dependent origination briskly, enumerating its links
and the various modes of their analysis.174 These are expounded as doctrinal givens, the elements
that comprise the above merely enumerated, rather than walking us through the logic of the
teaching in drawn-out, dramatized form, as in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p).
The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), as mentioned, now and then incorporates verses
from the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) into its doctrinal exposition, where appropriate,
sometimes verbatim, sometimes with minor variation. If quoted verbatim, they are often
punctuated by a concluding “'ti” to show their provenance from outside the work: they are indeed

170
Vism VII §7-8; §22.
171
Vism VII §7.
172
Vism VII §22.
173
Namar-p, v. 783.
174
Dependent origination's “three time spans, twelve factors, twenty aspects, three junctures, four groups, three
rounds, and two root causes” cf. Abhidh-s VIII, §5.

57
being quoted, “imported”, as it were, rather than composed. If we turn to the Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s)'s handling of the end of its exposition of dependent origination, we find that a
key pair of verses from the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s dramatized account has been
preserved. The bhavacakka metaphor is reconfigured as a concluding verse flourish to the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s schematic exposition, preserving an element of the fuller
treatment's poetry, metaphor, and drama. Though not altogether intact – as with other key verses,
their poetry has survived, but they have been removed (though not beyond recognition) from the
elaborate metaphorical framework of which they form the culmination.

Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) VIII, §13 thus represents a reworking of Manual of

Discerning (Namar-p) vv. 782-83.175 We can note, first of all, an unusual transition into verse,
sliding gradually into meter, as it were. He begins in prose:

Avijjātaṇhāvasena dve mūlāni ca veditabbāni:

And two roots (of it) should be recognized, by way of ignorance and craving –

13. tesam eva ca mūlānaṃ, nirodhena nirujjhati.

(Transitioning to meter:) ...and with those roots' cessation, it too ceases.

jarāmaraṇamucchaya, pīḷitānam abhiṇhaso,

āsavānaṃ samuppādā, avijjā ca pavattati.

And ignorance occurs

owing to the asava-s arising
for those repeatedly oppressed
by old age and dying's stupefaction.

vaṭṭam ābandham icc' evaṃ, tebhūmakam anādikaṃ,

paṭiccasamuppādo 'ti, paṭṭhapesi mahāmuni.

The great sage set forth

the round that's thus bound fast,
encompassing the triple world, without beginning,
as “dependent origination”.176

The first striking element of this passage is its gradual transition from prose to verse. The texts
slips slowly into verse, rather than abruptly – an extra half-verse segue to the verses having
evidently been added by Anuruddha while adapting them. The first line is not metrical, but the
line that follows closely upon it and provides logical closure to it (tesam eva ca mulanaṃ) is, and
is written as if it were the second line of a standard vatta meter verse. (However, it occurs
175
Please consult in the immediately preceding section.
176
Abhidh-s VIII, §13.

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nowhere else but here, to my knowledge.) The next verse corresponds to Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) 782.

(With syntax slightly rearranged in the translation so as to correspond more precisely to the
parallel Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) formulation:)

jarāmaraṇasanghāṭa-paṭipīḷitacetasaṃ,
klesamucchāparetānaṃ, sā cāvijjā pavaḍḍhati. 782

And that ignorance but grows,

for those overcome by the defilements' stupefaction,
their minds oppressed
by the blows of growing old and dying.

The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) varies in certain minor respects, attributing the muccha,
“stupefaction”, now to the jara and maraṇa themselves, rather than the kilesa-s (thus eliminating
the figurative “blows” (sanghaṭa) of aging and death), the reference to kilesa-s in turn being
substituted now by reference to the production of asava-s. The verb pavattati (“occurs”) likewise
replaces the more figurative pavaddhati (“grows”). Most notably, however, while the verse
preserves the significant linking of the last and first links of the paṭiccasamuppada to form a
continuous circle, this metaphor, except to the extent that it is implied by this conceptual linking,
is not developed further into a full-blown poetic evocation of the bhavacakka as we have it in the
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), and its source, the Path of Purification (Vism).
It is however, very much implied in the more neutral term, vaṭṭa (“course / round”), that
occurs in the following verse, and the characterization of this as abandha (“bound fast”, var.
abaddha, with same meaning), recalling the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s immediately
subsequent verses:

icc' ābaddham avicchedaṃ, idappaccayamaṇḍalaṃ,

cakkanemisamāvaṭṭaṃ, kamena parivattati. 783

Thus bound and unbreaking,

the circle of causality
turning round on itself like the circumference of a wheel,
revolves according to its sequence.

vaṭṭassa dvādasangassa, tassa tebhūmakassa tu,

dukkhakkhandhassa dassesi, nissandena nidassanaṃ. 784

He revealed the revelation

of that round, that “mass of suffering”
encompassing the triple world,
with its twelve factors -- and its certain fruit:

59
The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) verse fuses elements of Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)
vv. 783 and 784 condensing these to form a succinct composite, retaining the circular
reformulation of paṭiccasamuppada, now rendered a vaṭṭa, but refraining from developing it into
the full-fledged, prominent bhavacakka image seen above – let alone associated with the
tibhavaratha of the empirical individual, to extend the metaphor further. The incorporation of the
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) verses into the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) is most
striking for what it excludes from the original passage from which they are clearly derived. The
verses derive from Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) but have been stripped of the majority of
their dramatic elaboration – though not to a point beyond recognition.

The Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) version:

If we turn to our Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) passage, we find, again, a formulation that
appears to derive directly from these passages, but exhibits additional signs of reworking.
Interestingly, its reworking appears to take both the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) and the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s reworking of this into account as the basis for its own
modifications.

jarāmaraṇasokādi-pīḷitānam abhiṇhaso,
āsavānaṃ samuppādā, avijjā ca pavattati. 969

And ignorance occurs,

due to the origination of asava-s
[on the part] of those repeatedly oppressed
by aging and dying, grief, and so forth.

avijjāpaccayā honti, sankhārā 'pi yathā pure;

baddhāvicchedam icc' evaṃ, bhavacakkam anādikaṃ. 970

From the condition ignorance,

there come about sankhara-s, as well, [and so on,] as before:
thus bound and unbreaking,
it is the beginningless wheel of existence (bhavacakka).

This passage is significant because it 1) re-incorporates the metaphorical content of the

Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) version, taking it, in fact, for granted, but 2) also incorporates,
where applicable, many of the modifications to the verses introduced in their Compendium of
Topics (Abhidh-s) versions, thus suggesting that while the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)
evidently preceded the composition of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), the Pm-vn was
composed subsequent to the both. This supports the proposed relative order of composition of
the texts as Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) → Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) → Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) .

The three key verses in parallel reveal a pattern of relationships that is encountered again
and again reading the three texts in parallel, suggesting their relative order of composition. The

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first verse of the Decisive Treatment (pm-vn) passage closely echoes the verse not as it occurs in
the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), but in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s). The only
difference is the substitution of the phrase sokadi for the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s
mucchaya, and the re-compounding of the entire resulting phrase with the following pilitanaṃ.
The Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s inclusion of the word abhiṇhaso (“repeatedly”), the
verb pavattati (“occurs”) in place of pavaddhati (“grows”), and its attribution of ignorance to the
origination of the asava-s on account of constant old age and death, rather than to the more
generic kilesa-s in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), point to the Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s) as its immediate source and predecessor. If we compare all three versions side by
side, we can get a sense of the evolution of the verse in its various formulations over the relative
chronology that I posit:

jaramaraṇasanghaṭapaṭipilitacetasaṃ / klesamucchaparetanaṃ, sa cavijja pavaddhati (Namar-

p).
jaramaraṇamucchaya, pilitanam abhiṇhaso / asavanaṃ samuppada, avijja ca pavattati (Abhidh-
s).
jaramaraṇasokadipilitanam abhiṇhaso / asavanaṃ samuppada, avijja ca pavattati (Pm-vn).

Correspondence by pada:
Manual of Discerning (Namar- Compendium of Topics Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)
p) (Abhidh-s)
jarāmaraṇasanghāṭa- jarāmaraṇamucchāya jarāmaraṇasokādi-
paṭipīḷitacetasaṃ, pīḷitānam abhiṇhaso, pīḷitānam abhiṇhaso,
klesamucchāparetānaṃ āsavānaṃ samuppādā āsavānaṃ samuppādā
sā cāvijjā pavaḍḍhati. avijjā ca pavattati. avijjā ca pavattati.

The innovations occurring in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) formulation are thus
preserved in the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn): a pattern that hold consistent across such parallels.
While the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) and Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) in general
bear a closer structural affinity with each other, in matters of successive refinement of key verses
that occur across all three texts, the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) consistently maintains the
modifications as found in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) versions (and often including
additional minor refinements of its own, such as sokadi- in place of -mucchaya, above). Thus we
can observe here, for example, the initial transposition of the word muccha from pada c of the
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) formulation to pada a of the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)
version, and the eventual dropping of it completely in the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) version.
The Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) verses are thus the product of gradual and extensive refinement,
often demonstrating considerable complexity (viz. the choice to re-compound pada-s a & b) and
read very much as a tertiary product of gradual refinement.
The order of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s verses moreover presuppose the

61
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) as the text's more immediate precedent. The Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn)'s immediately subsequent verse – avijjapaccaya honti, sankhara 'pi yatha
pure / baddhavicchedam icc' evaṃ, bhavacakkam anadikaṃ (970) – echoes part of the
consecutive Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) verse – vaṭṭam abandham icc' evaṃ,
tebhumakam anadikaṃ – in its icc' evam and ̣ anadikaṃ (this last an attribute that does not occur
at all in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) passage). Though this be the case, it replaces the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s generic attribute, tebhumakaṃ, with the specific
bhavacakka, thus reverting to the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s original metaphor from the
genericized “vaṭṭa”, and proceeds in its following verses to elaborate this very much in line with
the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p):

taṇhāvijjānābhikaṃ taṃ, jarāmaraṇanemikaṃ;

sesākārādighaṭikaṃ, tibhavā-rathayojitaṃ. 971

With craving and ignorance as its center,

old age and death as its circumference,
and the remaining aspects, etc., as its spokes,
it is joined to the chariot of existence in three worlds;

The Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) thus develops the metaphor in full (albeit with
characteristic density and succinctness), mapping its various elements thoroughly: desire and
ignorance are the wheel's center (lit. “nave”; aging and death are its circumference (lit. “rim”);
the remaining aspects of paṭiccasamuppada are its spokes; and, most significantly of all, it is
joined to the chariot of the becoming in the three realms of existence (tibhavarathayojitaṃ),
impelling it forward. Two things are noteworthy in this formulation. One, the inclusion of taṇha
along with avijja as the wheel's axis: in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), we are simply told
that avijja is the paṭiccasamuppada's “kuṭa” (ridge-pole), before the cakka metaphor is
developed – and thus I take it to be a general usage, not specifically related to the metaphor,
hence my figurative rendering “the highest point on which it rests” (v. 781). The reference to
taṇha and avijja, however, seems to recall the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s immediately
prior reference to dependent origination's dve mulani, “two roots”, with the cessation of which,
it, too, ceases completely (segue to Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) VIII, §13). The Path of
Purification (Vism) provides two alternate mappings of the saṃsaracakka metaphor (detailed in
its rhetorical exegesis of the word arahaṃ under the heading “aranaṃ hatatta 'ti araha”, at Vism
VII, §7-8), but with this inclusion Anuruddha's version corresponds to neither, and has the
clearest precedent for its formulation in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), itself. This again
suggests the Pm-vn's being subsequent to both the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) and
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), but closer to the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) than to
the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p). The second noteworthy element is the awkward
substitution of tibhava-ratha for the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s attabhavabhavaratha (v.
787), shifting the mapping of the chariot from the becoming of the empirical individual
(attabhava) to the three forms of becoming corresponding to the three realms of existence
(tibhava, viz. kama-bhava, rupa-bhava, and arupa-bhava, sense-sphere becoming, form-sphere
becoming, and formless-sphere becoming) – and producing an inadmissible compound

62
corresponding to the Path of Purification (Vism)'s tibhavaratha (Vism VII, §7), but again
reverting to the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s prior formulation of the metaphor, including
this bhavaratha, re-rendered, now somewhat awkwardly, as tibhava-ratha.

There follows enumeration of the categories of its exegetical exposition. The Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) concludes its exposition of dependent origination:

paṭiccasamuppādo 'yaṃ, paccayākāranāmato,

sankhepato ca vitthārā, vividhākārabhedato. 974

This dependent origination,

is [reckoned] in brief according to the names
of its conditions' aspect, and in full
by way of the analysis of its multifarious aspects.

janeti paccayuppanne, avijjādipavattiyā;

avijjādinirodhena, nirodheti ca sabbathā. 975

It produces the things arisen from its conditions

due to the occurrence of ignorance, and so forth;
and with the cessation of ignorance and so forth,
it causes them to cease, entirely.

paccayappaccayuppanna-vasen' eva pavattati,

saṃsāro 'yan 'ti ekacce, pariggaṇhanti paccaye. 976

There are some who understand the conditions saying

that by virtue of (each) condition
and that arisen from (each) condition, alone
does this saṃsara proceed.

It comments that some adduce an analysis of the twenty-four paṭṭhana-paccaya-s at this point,
but, unlike the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), which follows its exposition of dependent
origination with a thorough treatment of these (its paṭṭhananayasangaha), the Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) refrains from expounding these (v. 977).

To conclude this survey of the literary modality of Abhidhamma across Anuruddha's

three texts, it warrants noting that comparison suggests a relative chronology of composition of
the three texts that gives primacy, somewhat surprisingly, to the literary project (rather than the
strictly doctrinal one that he is better known for). We can reasonably conclude based on a close
reading of parallels across the three texts such as those discussed above that the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) is prior to the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), and the Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) subsequent to both -- thus yielding the relative chronology stated above:
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) → Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) → Decisive Treatment

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(Pm-vn). Anuruddha's initial rendition of the material was thus his most literary and poetic
version. Subsequent iterations actually stripped away these literary elements to produce a
synoptic doctrinal compendium to all appearances independent, but revealed (in parallel passages
such as this, which retain features of the earlier, more robust treatment) upon closer examination
to be derivative of the earlier literary treatment. Interestingly, Anuruddha continued to refine his
treatment, in structure and form, re-incorporating in the process elements of the earlier, more
expansive treatment, but making improvements in the structuring of the material and continuing
to polish the language, in pursuit of a more perfect form.

What does the treatment of doctrine in a literary mode permit? In the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), Anuruddha is to all appearances particularly interested in depicting
realization of doctrinal subject matter in a narrative way. His accounts vividly evoke the
realization of the doctrinal content they treat and we witness it unfolding before us in dramatized
form. This is especially prominent in the latter half of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p),
dedicated to practice and the development of insight, modeling its paradigmatic unfolding. In the
case of dependent origination, just prior to the treatment of practice, we witness a modeling of
insight into doctrine that sets the stage for the arising of insight proper, contextualizing it
explicitly as the vijja (wisdom) that counteracts avijja (ignorance) and changes dependent
origination's course, breaking its unbreakable viscious circle. Dependent origination, along with
the other core doctrinal elements such as the aggregates, sense-spheres, and elements, and the
four noble truths (the other elements of the “sabba-sangaha”) are treated as the “ground of
insight” (panna-bhumi), with reference to which it will arise. The comprehension of these key
“ground-factors” (bhumi-dhamma) is thus modeled much as the subsequent unfolding of insight
per se. In the example of dependent origination, readers witness in dramatic form the nested
interlinking of the factors; the bound and unbreaking fastness of the wheel, and the cosmic
proportions of its aimless, automated cycling through saṃsara, the round of rebirth. We witness
how the contemplation of those very factors (realizing them as impermanent etc. Namar-p 790)
constitutes the piercing of the shell of ignorance [Namar-p 789], and the shattering of the wheel,
as its metaphorical spokes are broken one by one [Namar-p 795]. The growth of wisdom from
the panna-bhumi, as it emerges in contemplation of the doctrinal elements treated, that constitute
its “ground” (the bhumi-dhamma), is modeled for the reader, rendering core doctrines more as a
series of paradigmatic realizations in the process of unfolding than as static, doctrinal givens, as
they appear in a non-literary mode of treatment.
The exposition of dependent origination in its metaphorical, “bhavacakka” formulation is
situated in the Path of Purification (Vism) at the critical juncture between the theory and practice
of wisdom, where doctrine, once expounded and thoroughly understood, according to the logic
of the metaphor, can become the fertile ground that gives birth to the tender shoot of wisdom, as
the aspects of reality it depicts are discerned and contemplated. The Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p)'s treatment of dependent origination models this transition, its exposition of doctrine
continuously transforming into literary evocation of the realization of the truths it depicts. The
doctrine expounded thus becomes the fertile ground for its arising. The arising of insight within
the ground of doctrine is portrayed as an epiphany; Anuruddha's literary exposition of doctrinal
content is in many ways a literary evocation of epiphany after epiphany, its content consistently
being treated from the dramatized, first-person perspective of realization of the truths it depicts.

64
 This is, moreover, a contemplation we can do as we read. The realization in the process
of its codification in literary form becomes highly standardized and the result is the fixed series
of paradigmatic realizations that come down to us today. In the Path of Purification (Vism)'s
positioning of the foundational doctrinal elements as the “grounds of insight”, we witness
perhaps a transition in conceptualization from doctrine as paradigmatic outcome of insight to
doctrine as source of paradigmatic insight. Doctrinal truths, rather than the lived elements of
experience to which the doctrines ostensibly point, become the object of meditation; we observe
in this, it would seem, a shift on the part of the receptive tradition from a basic orientation toward
the contemplation of experience to an orientation toward the contemplation of received doctrinal
models of experience.
Literary evocations of the process of realization such as we observe in Anruddha's
treatment of the stages of insight (which we see here being brought by him into dependent
origination as well) also become a “modeling” of religious experience. This raises an interesting
question: do these works then function as a normative blueprint for the pursuit of the realizations
they describe? Or does their narrativization of realization to some extent effectively replace
practice, as the realization of Buddhist truths and penetration of Buddhist doctrine gets
narrativized, and practice more rigidly standardized, even replaced by their idealized models?
Realization is something we can witness unfolding as a precise narrative construction in
Anuruddha's texts, and with its narrativization, we may well be witnessing its now more
standardized form becoming a fixed (perhaps even stagnant?) feature of the Theravada
imaginaire, in the Mahavihara's ever more clearly crystalized imagining of it. How scholastic
were our poets of “formal scholasticism”? We may rightly wonder, reading the vivid descriptions
of Theravada normative realization that they have left us in works such as Anuruddha's whether
the locus of insight has shifted from the experience analyzed in doctrine, to the doctrinal
formulations themselves? Is the "ground of insight" the aggregates etc., understood as experience
charted by doctrine, or precious doctrinal truths enshrined in received scriptural formulations,
necessitating contemplation and penetration by understanding?
The literary modeling of the normative realization of doctrinal matter, however
understood, was an essential part of the short-lived commentarial genre of the literary
abhidhamma text, designed to convey a taste of the realizations it depicted. This uniquely literary
mode of abhidhamma was eventually eclipsed by a more bare-bones doctrinal approach to this
material, dispensing with such modeling (and perhaps by virtue of this very omission more
amenable to personal engagement), which Anuruddha is better known for -- indeed, of which he
is considered the foremost exponent. But Anuruddha's project was, in its inception, an aesthetic
and literary one, if the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) is any indication. Its literary recastings
of received doctrinal material, within the constraints of orthodoxy constituted a unique singing of
doctrine: a rehearsing and modeling of its paradigmatic, gradual realization, rather than a
philosophical enterprise. Its function was on the one hand the vividly textured evocation of
pardigmatic realization, and on the other, by virtue of this the virtuosic “display” of mastery of
the orthodox material. The creative impulse behind both of these aims is strongly in the Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p). The literary abhidhamma text, a literary and aesthetic doctrinal project,
can be considered a natural product of Anuruddha's context. It represents the other face of
Anuruddha: lesser known, but one unquestionably his own.

65
Section III.
The Path and the Content of Insight

Anuruddha's treatment of the path and the content of insight is unique in its streamlined,
highly dramatized, literary mode of treatment. (Streamlined with respect to the voluminous
account of the Path of Purification (Vism); highly dramatized with respect to Buddhadatta's
Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av); and distinctly literary with respect to his own
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s).) In Anuruddha's dramatization of the path, modeling the
doctrinal content it expounds as realizations in progress, and its sequentially arising insights as
epiphanies, we witness a paradigm of progressive development and the content of insight
becoming fixed. Anuruddha's vivid dramatization of this paradigm represented (and very much
contributed to) the fixing of the Mahavihara's conceptualization of wisdom: its scope, its content,
and the process of its development. The clarity and rich detail with which this paradigm was
presented, however, belies the fact that this final synthesis of the path was the product of a long
evolution, standing somewhat at variance with the canonical depictions of realization it
purported to correspond to and faithfully represent (just in greater detail). It also must be borne
in mind that the place of this fully elaborated theorization of path-progress within the
abhidhammic subject matter still remained somewhat unclear, and was still in the process of
being worked out. Anuruddha's treatment represented a culmination of the evolution of the
theorization of the path, a fixing of its insight's content, and an ongoing effort to settle the place
of the path theory within the inherited structures of Abhidhammic thought. This section will
address the way it did so.

Vibhavana: the Concept Underpinning the Dramatization of the Path

As discussed above, much of Anuruddha's project hinged on the condensation and

distillation of the "essential core" or "essence" (sara) of the doctrinal material he treats. The
continuous reclothing of this in new and changing form produced his treatises, as multiple
iterations of essentially the same material, embellished to differing degrees. Anuruddha's literary
project also hinged on a particular, optional mode of commentarial style, which he used to great
effect. That style is is perhaps best captured by the term “vibhavana”: “making clear or
apparent”, which Anuruddha uses frequently, carrying connotations of conceptualizing clearly
and explaining, depicting, imagining, or portraying clearly. The word and its associated forms
are used by Anuruddha to express the idea of clarity as to how the topic at hand should be
understood:

tad aniccā khayaṭṭhena, dukkhā nāma bhayaṭṭhato,

anattāsārakaṭṭhena, sankhārā ti vibhavayam, 1658

So, understanding [becoming clear / making clear to himself] that as conditioned things
they are unlasting, in the sense of coming to an end,
suffering, in the sense of being a danger,
and not self, in the sense of having no substantial core...

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 vipassanānayam imam uttamaṃ subhaṃ,
nidassitaṃ jinavacanānusārato,
vibhavayam manasi hitāvahaṃ paraṃ,
nirāmayaṃ padam anupāpuṇissati. 1641

Understanding this most auspicious methodology of insight

presented here as per the victorious Buddha's words
one will reach the highest foothold, bereft of all affliction,
that brings wellbeing supreme within one's heart.

Associated forms vibhavita and vibhuta occur in the sense of “understood” or “made clear”, and
“become apparent”. Perspicacious men of wisdom in possession of such clarity and
understanding are referred to (frequently) as vibhavin-s, ones who possess such understanding.
Most relevantly of all, perhaps, Anuruddha frames his own grand dramatization of the ten stages
of insight (Namar-p ch. 12), in which the insight knowledges are modeled from a vivid, first-
person perspective in their paradigmatic unfolding, with a striking first-person assertion that
aptly encapsulates his literary project: “I [will now] explain or make apparent” (and for
Anuruddha, this meant vividly dramatizing) the ten stages of the development of insight:

iti bhāvetukāmassa, vibhavemi yathākkamaṃ,

dasāvatthāvibhāgena, samādāya yathākkamaṃ. 1649

And so, for one who wishes to develop them like this,
having undertaken each, according to their order,
I shall explain them in their sequence,
by way of their division in ten stages....

He again refers to his treatment as a vibhavana, in concluding it (1790).

itthaṃ vibhattaparipākavibhāvanāyaṃ,
buddhānubuddhaparibhāvitabhāvanāyaṃ.
paccuddhareti bhavasāgarapāragāmī,
maggo mahesi-guṇasāgarapāragāmī. 1790

Meditative cultivation being fully cultivated

and realized in the footsteps of the Buddha's realization,
the understanding (vibhavana) of the ripening
to maturity of which is charted thus,
the path uplifts, betaking to the far shore
of the ocean of great seekers' virtues
and leading to the far shore of the ocean of rebirths.

Vibhavana for the Pali commentators seems to have represented a certain mode of
exegesis, entailing a particular style of clarification. Buddhaghosa, in describing the duty of a

67
commentator with regard to the texts of the three piṭaka-s,177 writes "thus, all three of these
[piṭaka-s], the vinaya, etc., must be known by him (evam ete tayo pi vinayadayo neyya); and
having thus come to know them, he, additionally, for the sake of becoming skillful in many ways
with regard to those same pitaka-s (evaṃ natva ca puna pi tesu yeva piṭakesu
nanappakarakosallatthaṃ ---):

desanasasanakathabhedaṃ tesu yatharahaṃ,

sikkhappahanagambhirabhavan ca paridipaye;
pariyattibhedaṃ sampattiṃ, vipattin capi yaṃ yahiṃ,
papuṇati yatha bhikkhu, tam pi sabbaṃ vibhavaye.

"should shed light on their classification into teachings, instructions, and accounts, as
appropriate,
and on the trainings, the abandonings, and their profundity;
and he should also make clear (vibhavaye) the classification of theoretical knowledge
(pariyatti) -- how a monk comes to success, as well as failure, in whatever regard -- all
this as well".

"This, in that regard" Buddhaghosa tells us, referring to the commentary he is about to undertake,
"is a paridipana (shedding of light) as well as a vibhavana (making it clear) (tatrayaṃ
paridipana vibhavana ca).178

vibhavana/vibhavana179 was thus a primary aim for the commentators and this usage occurs in
Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), Path of Purification (Vism), and Introduction to the
Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av), as well as across commentarial literature. Vibhayitva (having
clarified) is glossed as vibhutaṃ katva (having made clear, apparent) in the Mahaniddesa.180
In the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), the vibhavana strategy is predominant.
Generally, Anuruddha begins his treatments with a synoptic overview of the various sub-topics
the treatment will comprise (the uddesa, "initial exposition" of a topic, surveying its various parts
in brief). He then proceeds to treat each of these in detail, item by item (the "niddesa", "detailed
exposition" of each sub-topic), and then -- especially in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) --
includes a robust vibhavana section, a clarifying portrayal of the material under exposition as
though its content were in the process of being realized from a first person perspective. This
dramatizing vibhavana section is evidently viewed as optional elaboration of the material being
treated; it is very prominent in the the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), and completely absent
in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s). It is here that Anuruddha displays his literary skills
and poetically "models" the realization of the doctrinal content he is treating. The vibhavana is

177
In the introduction to his commentary on the dīghanikaya, the sumangalavilasinī (DN-a nidanakatha))
178
DN-a nidanakatha.
179
Buddhaghosa uses the term in the feminine, but as far as I can discern, it is used in the masculine in Anuruddha's
works, in the cases it occurs as a noun.
180
katama javanapañña? … rūpaṃ atītanagatapaccuppannaṃ aniccaṃ khayaṭṭhena, dukkhaṃ bhayaṭṭhena, anatta
asarakaṭṭhena 'ti tulayitva tirayitva vibhavayitva vibhutaṃ katva rūpanirodhe nibbane khippaṃ javatī 'ti ---
javanapañña. (Mahaniddesa, javanapanna pericope).

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the dramatization. Where applicable, Anuruddha brings his topics to conclusion in the attainment
of liberation, following the trope of "culminating in nibbana" that commonly structures sutta
literature. This often manifests in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) as the curious inclusion
of a brief vipassana (insight)-oriented appendix (lacking, however, any such dramatization),
even in the items of his chapters treating samatha (tranquility), prior to the substantive treatment
of vipassana. The absence of a dramatized vibhavana treatment distinguishes these brief codae
from his treatment of the subject, proper.

The Dramatization of the Path

Anuruddha's treatment of the path of practice in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)
dramatizes the path – the product of a long evolution – in its final form. The doctrinal material in
question, which represents essentially a condensation of the Path of Purification (Vism)'s seven
stages of purification, the ten insight knowledges as embedded in these stages, and a central
crisis of establishing what, in practice, constitutes “path”, and what does not, is treated three
times in parallel across Anuruddha's three treatises. It occupies more than half the content of the
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), chs. 8-13, its latter half, comprising two sections on samatha
and vipassana (the samatha-vibhaga and vipassana-vibhaga), together constituting a treatment
of paṭipatti in contrast to the preceding treatment of abhidhamma theoretical matter. This
corresponds to the subject matter of the final chapter (ch. 9) of the Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s), as its so-called kammaṭṭhana-vibhaga ("section on meditation objects") positioned as
something of an independent appendix to the treatment of the theoretical abhidhammic matter in
the preceding chapters (broadly covering the four abhidhamma-paramattha-s, core doctrine, and
pannatti). Finally, it corresponds to the nibbana-vibhaga of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)
(chs. 23-26), constituting the final section of its exposition of the paramattha-s, prior to a
concluding treatment of pannatti, positioned as an appendix to this grand treatment. The Manual
of Discerning (Namar-p) is the most expansive, descriptive and narrativized treatment of the
material; again, the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) strips it of the majority of these literary
and aesthetic elements and the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) restores a degree of poeticness, now
reflected in the exceptional refinement of language and structure, rather than in metaphor and
profuseness of imagery, such as we find in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p). We can observe
that way the the "path material" is incorporated into the abhidhammic subject matter changes
across the texts, and can infer that we are observing across the three iterations the settling of the
path theory's place within inherited doctrinal structures of understanding and the pursuit of a
more perfect form with respect to the final systematization this.
The place of the evolving path theory was by no means settled in commentarial thought.
Though constituting a key topic of exegetical reflection over centuries, the tradition was
ambivalent about whether this strand of literature pertained to sutta, abhidhamma, or vinaya, or
was an independent subject of theorization. The status of the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)
was ambiguous, being attributed to the Sutta-piṭaka by reciters of the Majjhima-nikaya, but to the
Abhidhamma-piṭaka by reciters of the Majjhima-nikaya181 and was considered canonical in
Myanmar, but para-canonical in Srī Lanka. The Path of Purification (Vism) was regarded as an
independent treatise. We find one of the earliest treatments of the path-theory material
remarkably constituting the last chapter of Buddhadatta's vinaya treatise, the The Decisive
181
As related in DN-a, summarized by Jaini & Buswell 1979 in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. VII, 97.

69
Treatment of the Vinaya (vinayavinicchaya) (Vin-vn vv. 3125—3165, its “kammaṭṭhana-
bhavana-vidhana-katha”). There were thus precedents for considering path-theory the domain of
alternatively sutta, abhidhamma, as well as vinaya, and, for a time, the question was evidently by
no means settled.
With Anuruddha, perhaps, we witness the eventual settling of the question, the
theorization of the path being integrated or reintegrated into the abhidhammic subject matter
alongside which it had evolved -- no doubt from a common source, but evidently along a
different trajectory. Where it fit in among that subject matter was another issue, and one that
Anuruddha was evidently grappling with.

Path Theory and the Evolution of Abhidhamma Thought and Literature:

Jaini and Buswell (1979) postulate three stages in the early development of Abhidhamma
thought and literature. The first stage entailed the systematization of the teachings of the suttas
into doctrinal lists, such as the bodhipakkhiya-dhamma, all the dhamma-s “on the side” of
awakening, which furnished the initial abhidhamma comprehensive summary lists or matika-s.
In the second stage, such lists were collected and collated, and their constituents expanded in the
expository style of the Vibhanga (the second of the canonical books of the abhidhamma pitaka),
expanding the lists of the Dhammasangaṇi (the first book) with detailed analysis. The functions
of "collection and expansion characterize the vibhanga-sūtras, which constitute the second stage
in the development of the Abhidharma” (83). A third stage can be discerned in suttas that consist
of “elaborations made by his main disciples, such as Sariputta or Mahakaccayana, to a bare
outline of doctrine (uddesa) made by the Buddha” such as the Sangīti- or Dasuttara- suttas." "It
was such summaries of the doctrine that eventually came to be called "abhidharma" (84) and
“which mark the start of Abhidharma literature proper” (83).
In addition to the latter-day projects of commentary (aṭṭhakatha) and sub-commentary
(mula-ṭika, ṭika, and anuṭika), a parallel early tier of semi-canonical, “quasi abhidhamma texts”
(97) such as the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), framed as exegesis of these, developed. The
core of the Paṭis-m for example ostensibly framed as a hypothetical commentary of the
Dasuttara-sutta (97), and likely composed around the same time as the Dhammasangaṇi (98).
This early abhidhammic splinter exegetical strand entailed further synthesis, as well as
conceptual expansion, of abhidhammic thought:

Its purpose [was] to illustrate in great detail the ways in which comprehension takes place as
an adept progresses along the path: that is, what occurs as a person comes to understand the
Buddha's teachings. Thirty separate "treatises" on specific types of understanding are
included in the book, such as the meaning of action, the enlightenment factors, insight, and
liberation. Its outline of the types of 'discrimination' required for progress on the path will
find its greatest elaborations later in the Visuddhimagga and Abhidhammavatara.”182

Lance Cousins has also called attention to the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) as the earliest
source for the theorization of insight.183
This incipient project of mapping the types of 'discrimination' (panna) that progress on
182
Jaini & Buswell 1979 in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. VII, 98.)
183
Cousins 1996, 35.

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the path entailed was the seed that eventually gave rise to full-blown treatments of the content
and progress of insight, such as Anuruddha's. Canonical accounts of the path focused on insight's
causal factors, such as sati ("mindfulness"), right effort, etc., which were understood as giving
expression to panna and giving rise to right knowledge and liberation as a product. Anuruddha's
works represent canonical accounts of insight as modeled on a mode of knowing and seeing
(yathabhuta-naṇadassana) that gave rise to disenchantment (nibbida) and the fading away of
craving (viraga), resulting in liberation (Namar-p, vv. 1646-1647). The new mode of description
represented by the developing path literature focused on the content of an evolving insight, as a
process. The eightfold path was the original theorization of the path; when this was reinterpreted
in abhidhammic thought as a description to magga-citta "path consciousness", and thus
significantly reduced in scope (temporally), the long-duration model of the path with which it
was replaced was formulated on quite different terms (samatha and vipassana, sila, samadhi, and
panna, the seven stages and numerous insight knowledges) essentially expanding panna in great
detail as to its content. This replaced the canonical focus on the path's constituent parts; the
dhammas or practices that give rise to it with their respective functions. In the evolving account,
the new project became one of mapping out the content of insight, and the changing of this
through the various stages of its development, rather than on the terms of the eightfold path, the
original limbs of which are essentially actions based on wisdom and giving rise to more wisdom,
rather than a description of wisdom's content. In the new analysis, the three characteristics of all
conditioned things (sankhata-dhamma or simply sankhara-s) (i.e., anicca, dukkha, and anatta,
"impermanent, suffering, and not self"), became the basic ingredients for a description of the
content of wisdom as a narrativized and evolving process, rather than the old ingredients of
actions/practices/dhammas that gave rise to it, causally.
Yathabhutanaṇadassana, nibbida, and viraga (knowing and seeing as it is,
disenchantment, and dispassion) could be expanded as a more finely textured process, sliced
more finely, and mapped out as to content of the evolving understanding they indicated.
Anuruddha calls attention to the underlying framework, mapping the correspondence of the
insight knowledges to the earlier canonical description at the outset of his exposition:

yathābhūtaṃ nāma nāṇattayaṃ sammasanādikaṃ;

bhayādināṇaṃ tividhaṃ, nibbidā 'ti pavuccati. 1646

The three knowledges beginning with contemplation (i.e., sammasana-n̄aṇa)

are called [knowing] "as it is" (yathabhuta);
the three knowledges that start with fear (i.e., bhaya-naṇa)
are said to be "disenchantment" (nibbida);

tathā muncitukāmādi, virāgo 'va catubbidhaṃ; … 1647

and so, the four kinds starting

with desire to let go (muncitukama, i.e., muncitukamyata-naṇa) are just "dispassion"
(viraga).

In the sutta analysis, the "vijja" (knowledge) that constitutes samma-nana (right wisdom)

71
and leads to samma-vimutti (right liberation) at the end of the eightfold path is described as
having its own content, but this is quite a different account: 1. pubbenivasa-naṇa, memory of
one's own past lives; 2. dibbacakkhu and cutupapata-naṇa, divine eye allowing one to see other
beings dying and being reborn in accord with their respective kamma; and 3. asavakkhaya-naṇa,
all craving as well as ignorance, the cause of craving, coming to an end, bringing about the end
of upadana, taking the five aggregates as self. These constitute "tivijja" (the "three knowledges"
associated with the attainment of arahatship) and the account of the content of wisdom that we
obtain in the suttas.
In the revised path of insight, the content of vijja is reconstituted as the insight
knowledges culminating in anuloma, an understanding brought gradually to “conformity” with
the noble truths, effecting stream-entry. This revised path is more in line with sutta accounts such
as that of the anattalakkhaṇasutta (the discourse on the characteristic of not-self (vinaya
mahavagga)) but again, more finely divided; and whereas that culminates in arahatship; this
culminates in sotapatti (stream-entry).
The stages moreover take on a life of their own, since one might suppose that once a
certain understanding has been arrived at, it might remain, but these stages need to be repeated in
full, multiple times, for attainment of the successively higher paths and fruits -- which seems to
suggest that the stages of insight ultimately abrogated to themselves the role of functionality and
causal efficacy that before actions, dhamma-s, or practices such as sati had possessed. The stages
themselves became, to some extent, a sort of liberating practice, replacing, to a certain extent, the
earlier accounts of practices leading to insight as a product (rather than as a process, with its own
trajectory of development), like sati.
On the other hand, the satipaṭṭhana-s and the five aggregates could also be regarded as
co-extensive. Sati itself is an activity of sanna184 and the other aggregates correspond more or
less directly to the four satipaṭṭhana-s.185 Since the object of insight is specified as the five
aggregates, etc., (all lumped together under the umbrella term "sankhara", in the sense of
"conditioned things" in the text, contrasted to nibbana, the unconditioned), the practice of insight
could also be regarded as equatable with the practice of sati. One can see how it could replace it,
as (in origin at least), an account of a similar thing in different terms, providing a rich description
of the content of insight rather than the factors and practices that give rise to it.
It would appear that the revised path-theory's subject matter represented an originally
distinct strand of the exegetical tradition concerned with the theorization of the content of insight
as a process, rather than as a product of given factors or practices. As such, path-theory was not
184
anapana-sati, mindfulness of breathing, for example, is described as one of the "dasa sanna" in the
girimananda-sutta AN X, 60.
185
The dhammas of the satipaṭṭhana analysis thus corresponding to sankhara-s. There are grounds for this
understanding in the interpretive trasition, which cites dhammanupassana as relating to the sanna and sankhara
aggregates: kayanupassanaya va rupakkhandhapariggaho va kathito, vedananupassanaya
vedanakkhandhapariggaho va, cittanupassanaya vinnanakkhandhapariggaho vati idani
sannasankharakkhandhapariggaham pi kathetuṃ ``kathan ca, bhikkhave [, bhikkhu dhammesu dhammanupassi
viharati]’’ tiadim aha: "Or: by observation of body, apprehension of the form-aggregate is stated; by observation
of feeling, apprehension of the feeling aggregate is stated; by observation of mind, apprehension of the
consciousness aggregate is stated; and now, in order to state the apprehension of the aggregates of perception
(sanna) and formations (sankhara-s), he said, “And how, monk, does a monk abide as one who observes
dhammas in dhammas?” (Buddhaghosa's aṭṭhakatha on MN 10, satipaṭṭhanasutta). I differ from this account in
referring sanna to the act of sati itself.

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formulated or articulated within the same conceptual framework as the rest of abhidhammic
thought, which proceeded as an elaboration of the dhamma theory, as discussed by Y.
Karunadasa.186 Path-theory was not strictly affiliated to the abhidhammic doctrinal matter with
which it came to be incorporated. Rather it evolved in parallel with the theorization of the
abhidhamma ultimates and associated doctrine coordinating these, such as cognitive process
(cittavithi) and the paṭṭhana-paccaya-s. The features that exhibit coherence with the
abhidhammic paradigm can be understood as owing to their common origins and to the eventual
reabsorption of path-theory once this was accommodated within the abhidhammic paradigm,
rather than as a natural extension of the theorization of the abhidhamma ultimates and a natural
translation of these into the theorization of practice (as somewhat glibly represented).
We witness in Anuruddha's works perhaps the final stages of this accommodation in
progress, the path-theory material initially treated independently, then in parallel, and ultimately
being subsumed within the abhidhamma ultimate (paramattha-s), under the heading of the
paramattha nibbana. It did indeed provide (much needed) content for an inherently contentless
topic. We see this synthesis ultimately effected in Anuruddha's Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn).

The Disjunction between Paramattha-theory (dhamma theory framework) and Path

Theory (seven visuddhi-s and content of insight framework)
It should not, then, be surprising that something of a disjunction is evident between the
abhidhamma doctrinal matter and the theory of the path. The path theory does not seemingly
fully correspond to the abhidhamma ultimates (paramattha-s) theory: it does not naturally grow
out of it as a coherent extension of its concepts or translation of them into practice; it does not
fully incorporate or reflect that theory; it is not conceptualized or articulated in the same terms.
To what extent, then, does the path theory meet the abhidhamma theory?
To begin with the marks of disjunction: the path of path-theory is the path in its longue
duree form, rather than its abhidhammic reformulation as path consciousness. The Path of
Purification (Vism)'s seven stages furnish the conceptual framework, rather than the dhamma
theory of the abhidhamma-paramattha-s. The paramattha-s are not engaged much within the
domain of practice except as a preliminary discernment of the distinction between nama and
rupa (and the various sub-components of these) that make up conscious experience, prior to the
stages of insight proper (cf. namarupapariccheda-n̄aṇa). There are of course nods toward the
paramattha classification of dhamma-s, in passing (as for example in the definitions of the
factors of paṭiccasamuppada discussed above), but these are cursory, superficial; not central to
the treatment, but rather tangential to it. Their more abhidhammic expansion to the twenty-four
paṭṭhana-paccaya-s is clearly treated as a tangent: included in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-
p), and retained in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) as part of a separate compendium of
conditionality, but left out of the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s exposition of dependent
origination altogether.
Curiously, though it follows an exhaustive analysis of them, the abhidhamma-
paramattha-s are not obviously or centrally engaged within the domain of path-theory. The path
is not articulated as a map of traversing various varieties of consciousness (citta), leading from
the unwholesome to the wholesome, and thence to the transcendental. (The jhana-s could be
considered this, but they are relegated to the realm of samatha in exegetical treatment and not
186
Karunadasa 1996; updated and expanded in Karunadasa 2010: ch. 1.

73
treated as integral in connection with vipassana. They are treated, rather, as an optional precursor
of it, and more and more a parallel mundane trajectory of practice, inessential to liberating
wisdom.) The path is not articulated as a blueprint of cetasika-s for construction of
consciousness conducive to realization. (Though again, to some extent, the jhana-s are
represented in this way, being preceded by the shedding of the five hindrances and traversed in
progression from one to another via the shedding of the relatively grosser jhananga mental
factor, in each case – but again, this is relegated to the domain of samatha and thus represented
as inessential to the path to liberation.) Nowhere in the theory of the path of practice are the
carefully classified varieties of consciousness, mental concomitants, or exhaustively classified
varieties of matter, with its abstruse atomic theory, for example, significantly engaged. (Though
the term “kalapa” does occur in the insight knowledge, kalapato sammasana-n̄aṇa
("contemplative knowledge 'by grouping'", the first of Anuruddha's "ten stages" of insight), it
somewhat remarkably has nothing to do with the kalapa-s pertaining to the abhidhamma
ultimates' theorization of matter.) Rather, the path is articulated as a series of “purifications”,
culminating in a sequence of ten knowledges spanning the latter of these stages.
Though the marks of disjunction are great, certain features of the theorization of the path
are articulated in abhidhammic terms: the constant object of scrutinization and ongoing reflection
in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s depictions of practice, for example, is “sankhara-s”:
not in the “khandha” sense (as one among the aggregates), but in the abhidhammic sense as
referring to the three paramattha-s that are sankhata-dhamma (conditioned phenomena), in
contrast to the unconditioned (asankhata) fourth abhidhamma ultimate (nibbana). Though this
might be viewed, potentially, as a mere superficial, rhetorical feature, rather than intrinsic to the
conceptual framework upon which insight is theorized, we also have the knowledge sankhar-
upekkha ("equanimity toward formations, the ninth stage in Anuruddha's account) as the virtual
culmination of the insight knowledges, again using the term sankhara in its broader,
abhidhammic sense, representing “equanimity toward conditioned phenomena”, as wisdom
approaches the asankhata, rather than toward the volitional formations of sankhara-khandha. It
is also noteworthy that the treatment of the insight knowledges flows directly into citta-vithi
(cognitive process) analysis of “magga-vithi” (cf. Namar-p 1786), the cognitive process that
culminates in path consciousness taking the four truths and thence nibbana as object: the process
of his meditation's (bhavana) “leaping” (pakkhandanti) to the unconditioned, and abandoning
conditioned things (pariccajanti sankhare) in the terminology of the texts (Namar-p 1777).
Was the treatment of the insight knowledges in origin an extended treatment of the
cognitive process of the attainment of nibbana? We know that there was considerable divergence
among early Buddhist schools as to the process of attainment, and this being “gradual” or
“sudden”. The Theravada, somewhat counterintuitively, maintained the “sudden” position,
holding that all four truths were cognized in a single mind-moment, as a unique segue to the
cognition of nibbana, in contradistinction, for example, to the Sarvastivada “gradualist” position
that the truths were cognized progressively, in sixteen sequential aspects (rather than all four
instantaneously).187 Do the Theravada insight knowledges represent a treatment of the precursors
to the sudden cognition of the four truths, in gradualist terms (and thus a defense of its "sudden"
position, clarifying its own position on the precursors of this sudden realization)? Do we observe,
in the theory of the insight knowledges and the path of longue duree, an embedding of the
187
Jaini & Buswell 1979, 94.

74
sequence of insight knowledges within citta-vithi theory that is more significant than it appears,
thus making it more integral to abhidhammic analysis than thought? Was the Theravada
theorization of insight in the specific service of citta-vithi theorization of the realization of the
four truths, and to be understood in the context of this debate? Was the resultant path of insight
knowledges and the cognitive process of path attainment that they flow into the Theravada
account of the same territory covered by the “gradual” realization posited by other schools of
abhidhammic thought? Were the insight knowledges an account of the gradual approach to the
“sudden” realization of the four truths in a single mind moment?
We may also note that in the form of the sequential progression of realization from
anicca → dukkha → anatta, the theory of momentariness, as applicable to the abhidhammic
sankhara-s, has seemingly come to underlie the entire basis of the conceptualization of insight.
That is, the momentariness of the abhidhammically conceived mental and material factors (the
dhamma-s of the dhamma theory) that are swiftly arising and passing becomes the specific basis
of the realization of dukkha (and with it the noble truths) and thence anatta (and with it the end
of the asava-s and liberation). Anatta is implicit already in the abhidhammic paradigm of
experience, represented as an impersonal conglomeration of ephemeral mental and material
factors. Taṇha is reduced to a somewhat secondary status in this paradigm: not inherently
signifying a state of lack, dissatisfaction, and thus tangible experience of suffering, but indirectly
productive of suffering inasmuch as anything desired (including oneself) cannot be retained
(because it is constantly vanishing, and something different constantly arising in its place). The
theory of momentariness seemingly underpins the foregrounding of aniccata as the ultimate
basis for suffering (dukkha). In the revised path-theory, impermanence has replaced craving as
the primary cause of suffering.

The synthesis of the path from the disparate parts present in the Yuganaddha-sutta and
the exegesis of this in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)
It is in the notion of “yuganaddha” (samatha and vipassana developed in tandem, 'yoked
together') that we witness a fully fledged abhidhammic synthesis, in the form of a framing of
insight as applied specifically to the constituent mental and material factors that comprise a
jhanic state, these factors viewed now through the lens of momentariness and leading via this to
the apprehension of dukkha and anatta. We frequently encounter stereotyped examples of this
yuganaddha approach, as for example in the the Vism, where it is represented as the normative
representation of insight:

ayaṃ pana vittharo — idha bhikkhu nirodhaṃ samapajjitukamo katabhattakicco

sudhotahatthapado vivitte okase supaññattamhi asane nisīdati pallankaṃ abhujitva ujuṃ
kayaṃ paṇidhaya parimukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetva, so paṭhamaṃ jhanaṃ samapajjitva,
vuṭṭhaya, tattha sankhare aniccato dukkhato anattato vipassati.188

This is the meaning in full: here, a monk desirous of attaining cessation, having completed his
meal requirement, with hands and feet well washed, sits in a secluded space on a well-prepared
seat. And having crossed his legs and kept his body straight, having caused awareness to be
present directed toward the mouth, he attains the first jhana, and, emerging from it, sees the
188
Vism 2, 23. paññabhavananisaṃsaniddeso, nirodhasamapattikatha.

75
conditioned factors (sankhara-s) therein as impermanent, as suffering, and as not self.

Of the origins of this fully synthesized conceptualization of the path through the lens of
abhidhamma, prior to its integration in the seven-stages framework, we can only note all its
distinct pieces being present in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) and closely corresponding
yuganaddhasutta (AN IV, 170), ascribed to Ananda, which occurs in full within it, and furnishes
the only ostensibly canonical occurrence of the term “yuganaddha”, in the sense of a combined
approach of vipassana hand in hand with samatha, in which, in the Paṭis-m's explanation of this
term, samathavipassana ekarasa honti, yuganaddha honti, annamannaṃ nativattanti ti,
“tranquility and insight are of a single flavor, yoked together, and do not exceed each other”
(Paṭis-m, yuganaddhakatha, suttantaniddeso). It may be noted, however, that there is no
reference to the mechanics of this yoking, or to the dhamma theory in connection with it, in
either the sutta's use of the term or the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s elucidation of it.189 The
conceptually late sutta is tellingly ascribed to a disciple rather than to the Buddha, much as the
third tier suttas described by Buswell and Jaini as marking the inception of fully-fledged
Abhidhamma literature, and occurs in close relationship with the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-
m), where it is cited in full and accompanied by a detailed elucidation.. The sutta assumes a
separation of samatha and vipassana characteristic of post-canonical exegetical thought, and
grapples with the issue of their sequentiality, positing four possible paths (magga) to the
attainment of arahatship (arahattappatti): one, via vipassana preceded by samatha, two, via
samatha preceded by vipassana, three, via samatha and vipassana cultivated in tandem, “yoked
together” (yuganaddha) and, four, via a curious, anomalous trajectory of approach referred to as
the “the mind in the grips of agitation due to mental phenomena” (dhammuddhaccaviggahitaṃ
manasaṃ), described somewhat enigmatically, without elaboration, as a mode of approach to the
attainment of arahatship distinct from the cultivation of samatha and vipassana (either
sequentially or simultaneously), in which, hoti so, avuso, samayo yaṃ taṃ cittaṃ ajjhattam eva
santiṭṭhati sannisidati ekodi hoti samadhiyati. tassa maggo sanjayati, “there is a time, friend,
when the mind settles and composes itself internally, becomes one-pointed, and converges. And
for that person the path arises.”
In addition to its witnessing the developing concept of yuganaddha, and the coordination
of samatha and vipassana, the fourth, rather opaque category, as it is unpacked in the Paṭis-m, is
also of great interest to us, since it describes in effect what becomes known as the central crisis
of “maggamagga-naṇa” (knowledge of what constitutes the path and what does not), pertaining
to the fully synthesized path of insight of the later tradition, in which one or another of ten
distracting phenomena (the so called “vipassanupakkilesa-s” “corruptions of insight”) arise and
hinder progress on the path by sequestering one's attention from arising and passing and
becoming an object of relish. The Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) lists the ten phenomena in
detail as “the phenomenon of light”, “the phenomenon of knowledge”, “the phenomenon of joy,”
etc.,” having adverted to which, there is distraction (vikkhepa), which is agitation (uddhacca),190
189
The Paṭis-m, rather, speaking in terms of sixteen aspects with reference to which they proceed in parallel – as to
object (arammaṇa), as to scope (gocara), as to what they abandon (pahana), etc. (Paṭis-m, yuganaddhakatha,
suttantaniddeso).
190
kathaṃ dhammuddhaccaviggahitamanasaṃ hoti? aniccato manasikaroto obhaso uppajjati, ‘obhaso dhammo’ti
obhasaṃ avajjati, tato vikkhepo uddhaccaṃ. tena uddhaccena viggahitamanaso aniccato upaṭṭhanaṃ
yathabhūtaṃ nappajanati. dukkhato... anattato upaṭṭhanaṃ yathabhūtaṃ nappajanati”. “How is there 'a mind in

76
and portrays the mind settling down in the wake of this distraction, leading to the arising of the
path. While portrayed without elaboration as an enigmatic path of approach to liberation
independent of the cultivation of samatha and vipassana in the sutta, and as a series of ten
phenomena (perhaps internally structured as a sequence) in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m),
in later literature we find the crisis integrated into the normative course of the development of
insight per se, becoming in the Path of Purification (Vism) and Anuruddha's recasting of this, the
“knowledge of what constitutes the path and what does not” (maggamagganaṇavisuddhi). This is
reckoned the fifth of the “purifications” (visuddhi) of the "path of purification" (“visuddhi-
magga”), and occurs as a bracketed subset within udayabbaya-naṇa. Insight is reckoned as
“tender”,191 prior to the crisis, and as coming to maturity (paripakka) only in its wake. This
central crisis thus assumed a pivotal role in the development of insight and was ultimately
rendered part of its normative course of development, rather than remaining the alternate,
atypical approach to arahatship per se, that it is described as in the Yuganaddha-sutta.
The successful resolution of the crisis, with the return to the observation of arising and
passing, marking the maturation of udayabbaya-naṇa, also marked the the beginning of the
formal paṭipada-naṇadassana-visuddhi, the purification that most essentially represented the
“path of insight”, entailing insight's maturation until it is “attained to its peak” (sikkhapatta
vipassana) over, in the Path of Purification (Vism)'s terminology, a sequence of eight
knowledges, the ninth of which marked knowledge finally in perfect conformity with the noble
truths (saccanulomikaṃ naṇaṃ).192 The distinct parts identified above – samatha, vipassana, and
this formative crisis – though semi-autonomous and moveable (emphatically not strictly ordered,
in their earliest occurrences) assumed a fixed form in unified sequence in the fully synthesized
scheme of the path as it comes down to us in Theravada sources.

The Place of Path-theory within Abhidhammic Structures of Understanding

With Anuruddha's works, we see the eventual settling of the question of where this
resulting path-theory and its associated theorization of the progress of insight belonged, as it was
integrated more formally into the abhidhammic thought from which it had sprung and with
which it existed in parallel but not wholly integrated form. It remained to be settled, however,
even for Anuruddha, where it fit within the defined structures of that thought. Chief among these
were the abhidhamma ultimates (paramattha-s) and the evolving body of hermeneutic discourse
centered on the issue of dve saccani (“two truths”) and the question of what had ultimate
(paramattha) ontological status (really existing) as against merely conceptual (pannatti)
existence. Pannatti thus became an early essential appendix to the four abhidhamma-

the grips of agitation owing to phenomena'? For one attending to [an object] as impermanent, light arises. He
turns attention to the light (thinking), “the phenomenon light”. From that there is distraction, agitation. With the
mind gripped by that agitation, he does not discern what presents itself (to his awareness) as it really is, as
impermanent; … as suffering … as not self” (Paṭis-m, yuganaddhakatha, dhammuddhaccavaraniddeso). And
similarly: aniccato manasikaroto ñaṇaṃ uppajjati, pīti uppajjati, passaddhi uppajjati, sukhaṃ uppajjati,
adhimokkho uppajjati, paggaho uppajjati, upaṭṭhanaṃ uppajjati, upekkha uppajjati, nikanti uppajjati “For one
attending to [an object] as impermanent, knowledge arises; … joy arises; … tranquility arises; … pleasure
arises; …(faith's) resolve arises; … (effort's) exertion arises; presence (of awareness) arises; equanimity arises;
attachment (nikanti) arises” (ibid).
191
taruṇavipassana, Vism XX §105
192
Vism XXI §1.

77
paramattha-s (citta, cetasika, rupa, and nibbana). The early centrality of the topic is evidenced
for example in the canonical book, the puggalapannatti, of the abhidhamma piṭaka, evidently
seeking to shed light on the ontological status of the puggala (“individual”) with reference to
canonical sources (deemed by the Theravada to have merely conceptual (pannatta) reality). The
path, however, was affirmed to exist, albeit that the path-farer did not:

dukkham eva hi, na koci dukkhito; karako na, kiriya 'va vijjati.
atthi nibbuti, na nibbuto puma; maggam atthi, gamako na vijjati ’ti.

Only suffering exists; no sufferer is there;

not any actor; only action's found.

Nibbana's quenching's real, but not the man who's quenched;

the path one goes is real; but one who goes it can't be found.193

Path-theory was initially treated as independent of, but ultimately integrated within, this
basic structure of citta, cetasika, rupa, and nibbana + pannatti. In the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p), path-theory was positioned as an account of practice (paṭipatti), entailing an exegesis
of bhavana (meditative cultivation) independent of and subsequent to the account of the
abhidhamma-paramattha-s and pannatti, spread over the preceding chapters. Path--theory was
thus framed as pertaining strictly to the realm of paṭipatti (applied knowledge), in contrast to the
conceptual knowledge (pariyatti) of abhidhammic theorization. The Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) left the treatment of the final paramattha, nibbana, somewhat ambiguous, however,
not dedicating an explicit section to its exegesis. In the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s), this
problem was awkwardly resolved, adding an explicit section for nibbana as a small coda on the
treatment of rupa: thus concluding comprehensive treatment of the four paramattha-s prior to
treating the sabba-sangaha's “bhumi-dhamma” – the aggregates, sense-spheres, and elements,
the four truths, dependent origination – and finally a concluding coda of pannatti. Thus the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s) wraps up its treatment of the citta, cetasika, rupa, and
nibbana + pannatti scheme, evidently now conceived of as a coherent structure, before
undertaking its concluding treatment of the path, as a survey of the forty kammaṭṭhana-s and
vipassana, thus incorporating the theorization of practice and the path again as something of an
appendix. In the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), which may be regarded as Anuruddha's “decisive
treatment” (vinicchaya) of this material (and perhaps for this very reason), we encounter the
path-theory fully integrated into the account of the paramattha-s, framed as an exegesis of
nibbana (presumably since the path is represented as the path to it, and culminates in its
attainment). The body of path-theory was thus ultimately integrated within the rubric of the
abhidhamma ultimates, and in the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), pannatti was accordingly made
an appendix to the entirety of this integrated treatment, concluding the work now as a
supplement to this all-encompassing treatment of the abhidhamma ultimates, the path-theory
now included within this. In terms of the full integration of path-theory within the abhidhamma
paramattha-s scheme, this was perhaps the perfect structure that Anuruddha's successive
iterations were in pursuit of.
193
Anon., quoted at Vism XVI, §90.

78
 The path-theory, as well as its place within existing structures of abhidhammic thought,
was thus a product of evolution. This is evident in the reconfiguration of the curious
"dhammuddhacca-viggahitaṃ manasaṃ" (the "mind in the grips of agitation owing to
phenomena" approach to arahatship) discussed above, represented in the yuganaddhasutta and
its exegesis in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) as an independent path to arahatship, into a
discrete stage occurring along the way (and, it must be said, rather early on) on the path to
stream-entry. It is also evident in the fixing of the order of samatha, vipassana, and this stage,
conspicuously left unfixed and flexible in the yuganaddhasutta, into a basically rigid sequence
samatha → vipassana → [mind in the grips of agitation crisis] → vipassana insight knowledges
sequence (culminating in stream-entry) → the repetition of the insight knowledges sequence in
full for each higher path, culminating in arahatship. That the final scheme was a product of the
gradual evolution of thought and convention within the exegetical tradition also becomes
apparent on consideration of the insight knowledges that constitute the critical culminating
segment of the path. Their number is variously reckoned and we can observe it expanding over
time: they are reckoned as five in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), collapsing several of the
knowledges as known in their latter-day classification; eight, preceded by precursor knowledges
of namarupapariccheda, paccayapariggaha, and kalapato sammasana, and crowned by
anuloma as the “ninth”, in the Path of Purification (Vism); thus referred to as “the eight
knowledges” in the Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av); and variably by Anuruddha as
“the ten stages” of insight in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), but “the nine insight
knowledges” (nava vipassana-naṇani) in Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s).194 In the Decisive
Treatment (Pm-vn) they are called a "succession of ten knowledges (dasanaṇaparampara)" (Pm-
vn 984). With Anuruddha's works, the scheme and its place within existing structures of
abhidhammic thought can be considered to have become finally fixed.

A Counterpoint to the Theravādin Fixing of the Path: the Saundarananda's Account of

Samatha Preceded by Vipassanā as a Normative, Alternate Formulation of the Path
Once this path was fully synthesized, thus, within the exegetical tradition, an account of
samatha preceded by vipassana (such as we find admitted in theory in the yuganaddha-sutta) is
largely effaced in Theravada sources -- samatha, the crisis, and vipassana coming to be regarded
as having an intrinsic and invariable sequential order. It is worth noting that the atypical
sequence (samatha preceded by vipassana) is depicted as entirely normative in an early non-
Theravada source like Asvaghosa's Saundarananda, which describes in its seventeenth chapter
Nanda's trajectory of practice and stage by stage traversing of the Buddhist path. Though the
account is literary, it is almost schematic in its precision and use of technical terminology to
delineate formal stages and thus represents an important early account of a normative modeling
of the path, entirely cognate and comparable with that of the Mahavihara, but distinct in certain
key respects, chiefly among which, its depiction of samatha preceded by vipassana as a
normative path-sequence:

The Path to Liberation as Depicted in Asvaghosa's Saundarananda, Ch. XVII

(amrtadhigamah "The Attaining of the Deathless")

194
cf. also Analayo [CITE] The Dynamics of Theravada Insight Meditation for a discussion of the progressive
development of the insight knowledges

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Synopsis of Stages
Nanda:
1. Sat cross-legged, and straightened body, resolved on attaining liberation
2. Directed attention onto body and collected sense-faculties within himself
3. Mental preparation through mundane knowledge and tranquility
4. Struggled to overcome sense-desire
5. Went (as follows) to tranquility (samaṃ) possessed of a certain degree of liberating
insight (kiṃcid upattacaksuh) (XVII.13):
6. Examined the elements of existence according to their pre-requisites, causes, nature,
attendant sensations, and defects
7. Investigated body in order to see its entire material and immaterial substance
8. Determined it to be impure, impermanent, suffering, and not-self
9. Applied the three characteristics observed in the body (+ sunyata, reckoned four) to the
world, determining it to be impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self (XVII.17-
21)
10. Thereby arrived at the transcendental path (lokottaraṁ vartma) (XVII.22)
11. Engaged in battle with the klesa-s (defilements/afflictions), with the weapons of the
bodhyangas and the 8 elephants of the path-factors
12. With four sati-paṭṭhanas, destroyed the 4 vipallasas
13. With the five powers, destroyed the 5 hindrances
14. With eight Right Path-factors, conquered the 8 wrong path-factors
15. Freed himself of first three fetters and reached the first fruit (i.e., of the first stage
of awakening). (dharmasya purva phala-bhumi) (XVII.27) (the three fetters:
personality-view; doubt; clinging via vows and precepts)
16. Understood four noble truths
17. Faith increased
18. Acquired right view: saw body to be impure and impersonal
19. Attenuated fetters of craving and aversion and attained second fruit
20. Attacked remaining craving with meditation on impure nature of the body
21. Attacked remaining aversion with benevolence
22. Destroyed the roots of evil with three bases of liberation ( = eliminated the two fetters of
craving and aversion)
23. Obtained third fruit, transcending the sphere of kāma-dhātu and rebirth in this
world (XVII.41)
24. Attains first dhyana, secluded from kama-s, with joy and pleasure (and thoughts)
(XVII.41)
25. Saw defect in thoughts and comes out of applied and sustained attention (thoughts)
26. Attains second dhyāna, with joy and pleasure (without thoughts)
27. Saw defect in joy and comes out of joy
28. Attains third dhyāna, with pleasure, fully aware, equanimous and attentive
29. (Pleasure at this stage the highest of all pleasure, therefore called the subha-krtsna
stage)
30. Saw defect in that pleasure’s being subject to alteration; longed for tranquility and

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 freedom from alteration
31. Attained fourth dhyāna, equanimous and aware, devoid of all pleasure and pain
32. (at which stage, due to absence of pleasure and pain, knowledge achieves its aim,
reckoned purification of awareness by equanimity)
33. Dependent on fourth jhāna, pursued arhatship
34. Destroyed five higher fetters
35. Destroyed the seven anusayas (latent afflictions) with seven bodhyangas
36. Destroyed all afflictions and crossed with eightfold boat to far shore of ocean of
suffering (attained fourth fruit, arahatship)

The Saundarananda account depicts Nanda as reaching tranquility by attaining a certain

degree of insight (verse 13). Nanda is depicted as engaging the three characteristics first,
discerning these in an investigation of the body and then applying them to the world. It is at this
point that he attains the first stage of awakening. It then depicts him as continuing to investigate
the nature of the body and attaining the second and third paths and fruits on the basis of this
continued investigation, eliminating the corresponding fetters. (N.B., the Saundarananda does
not portray the successive paths and fruits as pairs attained virtually simultaneously, as in the
Mahavihara interpretive tradition; i.e., it evidently does not reduce “path” to the abhidhammic
"path-consciousness". It does correlate the elimination of fetters to the attainment of the
corresponding fruit, as in Mahavihara sources.) Most significantly, it depicts the first dhyana as
being attained only after the attainment of the third stage of awakening (verses 41-42). The four
dhyana-s are thus depicted as pertaining to the path only after the attainment of anagamita (the
stage of non-returner). The seclusion from kama-s (objects of the senses as objects of desire), cf.
the first jhana pericope, is correlated with the release from rebirth in kamaloka engendered by
non-returner status). Arahatship is attained subsequent to the cultivation of the four dhyana-s,
and pursued on the basis attainment of the fourth dhyana (verse 56). The text makes no mention
of the formless attainments. It does use the same ten fetters (saṃyojana) system and four stages
of awakening, as in Theravada reckoning, and a more or less identical conceptual framework and
technical terminology in all respects (N.B. including sunya along with the three characteristics –
but virtually identical in all other respects with the conceptual framework of Mahavihara usage),
differing only in its modeling of sequence. Such an account stands very much in contrast to the
Mahavihara's depiction of the normative sequencing of the path as it comes down to us in as
crystallized in Anuruddha's works. Asvaghosa's account of the path as we find it modelled in the
Saundarananda's XVIIth chapter is therefore an important counterpoint to the path-theory of the
Theravada exegetical tradition in the form in which it has come down to us. A normative account
of vipassana followed by samatha, and of the jhana-s portrayed as being engaged only in the
wake of attainment of the initial stages of awakening, attained via insight, is largely
unrepresented in Theravada sources in the wake of the path literature of the Path of Purification
(Vism) strand, as Anuruddha receives and systematizes this.195

195
This is not to suggest that these two models were in historical contact; rather, Asvaghosa's model of the path
serves as an important early counterpoint to the hegemonic Theravada depiction of the path in its normative
sequence (samatha followed by vipassana, and the jhana-s as necessarily being cultivated prior to engagement
of insight) as this has come down to us. Asvaghosa's alternate formulation permits us to imagine other
possibilities and question the givenness of the structuring of the path as we know it in Theravada.

81
Anuruddha's Caveat (regarding the Path of Purification (Vism))
Anuruddha does see fit to offer a qualification regarding one point of the Path of
Purification (Vism)'s treatment of the path. This is deferentially framed, as we might expect,
more as a point of clarification than as a forthright modification or contestation of the Path of
Purification (Vism)'s account. Whereas in the Path of Purification (Vism), the first and second
stages of insight (in Anuruddha's reckoning), sammasana-naṇa and udayabbaya-naṇa,
(knowledge deriving from reflection and the knowledge of arising and passing) are treated in the
chapter on maggamaggavisuddhi (the purification of path/not-path), and therefore are typically
reckoned as pertaining to that stage of purification, Anuruddha goes to rather great lengths to
clarify (one could even say, argue) in his overview of the progress and structure of insight with
respect to the path (Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) ch. 11) that these two knowledges pertain
rather to the preceding purification: that of crossing beyond doubt (kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi):

nāmarūpādibhedena, bhūmidhammapariggaho.
vuttā diṭṭhivisuddhī 'ti, attadiṭṭhippahānato. 1525

The apprehending of the dhammas that constitute the ground

by their divisions into mind and matter, and so forth,
is called "the purification of view" (diṭṭhi-visuddhi),
due to (its effecting) the abandoning of self-view.

āhacca paccayuppannā, tathā tabbhāvabhāvino.

pavattantī 'ti sankhāre, passato pana yoniso. 1526

And taking up conditioned things (sankhara-s)

and seeing thoroughly (yoniso) that "They occur
as things arisen from conditions,
and, so, that their existence depends on that of those,

paccayaggāhinī pannā, nāmarūpappavattiyā.

kankhā taranti tāyā 'ti, kankhāvitaraṇā matā. 1527

the wisdom that grasps hold of the conditions

pertaining to the occurrence of mind and matter
is regarded as that 'of crossing beyond doubts' (i.e., as the purification kankhavitaraṇa
visuddhi)
in that, through it, they cross away from doubt.

aniccā dukkhānattā 'ti, paccayāyattavuttito.

sankhipitvā kalāpena, sammasīyanti sankhatā. 1528

And, owing to their mode of springing from conditions,

they're gathered up en masse
and reflected on by group (kalapato),

82
as impermanent and suffering, and not self, conditioned things.

uppādavayabhāvo 'pi, lakkhaṇattayasādhako.

paccayākāram ārabbha, lakkhīyati visesato. 1529

And their state of arising and passing, too,

that is productive of all three characteristics,
is noted to an exceptional extent,
on the basis of their aspect of condition.

tasmā sammasanannāṇaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ.

kankhāvitaraṇāyan tu, sangayhati visuddhiyaṃ. 1530

Therefore (both) "knowledge based upon reflection"

and that of "beholding arising and passing away" (i.e., the first two insight knowledges)
are included, though, within the purification
"crossing beyond doubts".

tattha saṃklesavikkhepaṃ, kummaggaṃ parivajjato.

maggāmaggavisuddhī 'ti, nāṇadassanam īritaṃ. 1531

And, therein, the knowing and beholding

of the yogī who avoids
the false path of defilement and distraction
is called the purification of path-not-path (maggamagganaṇadassanavisuddhi).

tato kathenti akliṭṭhaṃ udayabbayadassanaṃ.

ādiṃ katvā paṭipadā-nāṇadassanasuddhiyaṃ. 1532

And after that, they say, the undefiled

beholding of arising and passing
is made the beginning
in the purification of knowing and beholding the path

paccayapaccayuppanne, yathāvatthuvavatthite.
pahātum īhamānānaṃ, niyyānapaṭipattito. 1533

for those yearning, with their striving, to abandon

the conditions and those things arisen from them,
defined as per their basis,
via path-progress leading out from them –

upaklesavisuddho hi, punadevodayabbayaṃ.

adhiṭṭhahitvā bhangādi-nāṇehi paṭipajjati. 1534

83
 for, one purified of the corruptions,
once again resolves
upon arising and passing
and progresses through the knowledges of dissolution (bhanga), etc.

Anuruddha thus reckons the pivotal "knowledge of arising and passing" (udayabbaya-naṇa) as
spanning three of the seven stages of purification, beginning, owing to its being founded on a
grasping of conditions, in the purification of crossing beyond doubts; being lost sight of in the
formative crisis of the purification of knowledge of what constitutes the path and what does not,
and being returned to in purified form as the beginning of the sequence of insight knowledges
that constitutes the purification of knowing and beholding the path:

Insight knowledges Stages of purification

1. sīlavisuddhi
2. cittavisuddhi
namarūpapariccheda-n̄aṇa 3. diṭṭhivisuddhi
paccayapariggaha-ñaṇa 4. kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi
1. sammasana-ñaṇa
2. udayabbaya-ñaṇa
5. maggamaggañaṇavisuddhi
udayabbaya-ñaṇa (cont.) 6. paṭipadañaṇadassanavisuddhi
3. bhangañaṇa
4. bhayañaṇa
5. adīvanañaṇa
6. nibbidañaṇa
7. muccitukamyata-ñaṇa
8. paṭisankhanupassana-ñaṇa
9. sankharupekkha-ñaṇa
10. anulomañaṇa 7. ñaṇadassanavisuddhi

The Evolution of the Insight Knowledges

Comparison between the the suttas and the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) suggests that
the sequence of insight knowledges was composite, combining elements of multiple sequences
available in the suttas. The standard sutta trajectory of insight was that such as found in the
anattalakkhaṇa-sutta, which could be summarized as anicca → dukkha → anatta → nibbida →
viraga → vimutti (seeing as impermanent → seeing as suffering → seeing as not self →
disenchantment → dispassion → liberation). Another common scheme of progression available

84
in the suttas was samudaya → atthangama → assada → adinava → nissaraṇa (discerning
arising → discerning passing → discerning the "relish" or gratification (in objects of desire) →
discerning the "danger" or degradation → discerning the way out). In the Path of Discrimination
(Paṭis-m)'s originary presentation of the insight knowledges in its opening matika, we find the
segment representing this series of knowledges articulated in five stages, each stage comprising
an element of discerning (panna) and the resultant knowledge produced (naṇa). Thus:

• Discernment pertaining to the grouping together and analytical defining of past, future,
and present factors → knowledge pertaining to reflection;
• Discernment pertaining to the observation of change of presently arisen factors →
knowledge pertaining to the observation of arising and passing;
• Discernment pertaining to the observation of dissolution, having re-evaluatively
considered the object → knowledge pertaining to insight;
• Discernment pertaining to presenting as a source of fear → knowledge pertaining to
danger;
• Discernment with accompaniment of the state of having the desire to let go of them and
re-evaluative consideration of them → knowledge pertaining to the equanimities
toward conditioned phenomena.196

The Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) thus combines elements of both the sutta lists,
incorporating the latter sequence's adinava, as well as a novel perception of bhaya as the variety
of discernment (panna) leading to up to it, and a central, explicitly named, “insight" (vipassana)
growing out of the observation of “dissolution”. It frames the entire sequence abhidhammically
at both sides, beginning as an observation of dhamma-s, first diachronically, and then zooming in
on the presently arising dhamma-s, and concluding with “equanimities” toward these same
dhamma-s, re-evaluatively observed and reframed as sankhara-s, mere “conditioned
phenomena” in contrast to the unconditioned dhamma, nibbana.
The Path to Freedom (vimuttimagga) stays closer to the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-
m), but the Path of Purification (visuddhimagga) flattens its nuances, dropping its distinction of
panna as act of discernment vs. naṇa as resulting product of it,197 making each element a stage
with equal weightage, such that bhaya and adinava are now separate, sequential nana-s, the
nibbida of the earlier sutta formulation that they evidently together represented is resupplied as a
separate, independent "nibbida" stage subsequent to these, and muncitu-kamyata,
paṭisankhanupassana and sankharupekkha are likewise rendered three separate knowledges with
equal weightage. “Vipassana” is generalized to characterize the entire sequence, rather than
corresponding specifically to (or originating in) the knowledge resulting from the observation of
196
5. atītanagatapaccuppannanaṃ dhammanaṃ sankhipitva vavatthane pañña sammasane ñaṇaṃ.
6. paccuppannanaṃ dhammanaṃ vipariṇamanupassane pañña udayabbayanupassane ñaṇaṃ.
7. arammaṇaṃ paṭisankha bhanganupassane pañña vipassane ñaṇaṃ.
8. bhayatupaṭṭhane pañña adīnave ñaṇaṃ.
9. muñcitukamyatapaṭisankhasantiṭṭhana pañña sankharupekkhasu ñaṇaṃ. (Paṭis-m matika §5-9, 1-2)
197
cf. the frequently repeated phrase in the Path of Discrimination (paṭis-m) (which I take as an explanation of this
distinction): "taṃ ñataṭṭhena ñaṇaṃ, pajananaṭṭhena pañña" "That is "knowledge" (naṇa) in the sense of
[something that is] known, and "discernment" (pañña) in the sense of the [act of] discerning [of that]" e.g. Paṭis-
m udayabbayanaṇaniddesa).

85
dissolution (bhanganupassane panna, vipassane naṇaṃ).
In the resulting scheme of stages as Anuruddha received and interprets it for us,
overlapping schemes of correspondence are mapped onto the ten stages – yielding an ambivalent
characterization of the characteristics. On the one hand, the knowledges are characterized as a
sequential, experiential penetration of the three characteristics the ten stages an expansion of
these basic three (this underlying structure has been described by Analayo 2017. In Anuruddha's
words (which support this view):

udayabbayabhangesu, pākaṭā hi aniccatā;

bhayādīnavanibbede, dukkhatānattatā tato. 1704

For, in [the knowledges of] arising and passing away and dissolution,
their being impermanent becomes apparent;
in [the knowledges of] fear, danger, and disenchantment,
their being suffering; and, after that, their being not-self.

On the other hand, the earlier sutta scheme of yathabhutanaṇadassanaṃ → nibbida →

viraga, culminating in vimutti and vimutti-naṇadassana, also remains in the background as
structuring the stages (this unnoted by Analayo, but equally relevant to the scheme of the ten
stages in its final structure), yielding the alternate correspondences (mentioned previously):

yathābhūtaṃ nāma nāṇattayaṃ sammasanādikaṃ;

bhayādināṇaṃ tividhaṃ, nibbidā 'ti pavuccati. 1646

The three knowledges beginning with contemplation (sammasana)

are called [knowing] "as it is";
the three knowledges that start with fear (bhaya)
are said to be "disenchantment";

tathā muncitukāmādi, virāgo 'va catubbidhaṃ; … 1647

and so, the four kinds starting

with desire to let go (muncitukama) are just "dispassion".

In that scheme, knowing “as it is” entails seeing all three characteristics, and the
subsequent categories represent the responses of disenchantment and the fading of craving
provoked by such discernment, the end of craving bringing liberation. The ambivalence resulting
from this dual mapping is very much reflected in the ten stages scheme, with, on the one hand,
the three characteristics being represented as progressively penetrated on the basis of the
examination of presently arisen dhamma-s (sammasana-naṇa based on diachronic examination
of dhamma-s, not limited to the presently arisen constituent factors of experience), but, on the
other hand, also to a certain extent representing all three characteristics as already being engaged
in the first stage and equally represented over the course of the successive stages. We note that
the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s division of stages neatly mirrors the essential divisions of

86
both these schemes, with bhaya and adinava (the knowledges of fear and danger) capable of
being read as representing disenchantment (nibbida) or an experiential realization of the
characteristic of dukkha on the basis of a prior grasping of impermanence, and muncitukama,
paṭisankha, and sankharupekkha (the desirability of letting go, re-evaluative reckoning, and
equanimity toward conditioned things) capable of being read in terms of the resultant fading
away of craving, or equally a mounting realization of the characteristic of not-self as one
scrutinizes presently arisen dhamma-s. The new synthesis of the nine or ten formalized
knowledges was very much characterized by the resulting dual-characterization of the place and
role of the three characteristics, to some extent simultaneously present in all the knowledges, but
to some extent sequentially unfolding over the course of them. Bolstered perhaps by this
ambiguity -- the multidimensionality and thus depth it somehow imparted to them -- the insight
knowledges assumed their own life in the Theravada imagination, independent of the three
characteristics or the suttas. We can observe their key centrality in Anruddha's works, where they
serve in all accounts as the culmination of the path he models.
In expanding and superimposing the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s discernments and
the resulting scheme if insight knowledges on the seven stages of purification, additional depth
was obtained, contributing for example the formative crisis of maggamagga-nana (the
knowledge of path/not path), as a discreet stage embedded within the sequence of knowledges.
This added an important and sophisticated element of self-examination and critique to the path as
theorized, admitting the possibility of attachment to the “experiences” and phenomena of
meditation. These were serendipitously framed, in the resulting synthesis, as on the one hand a
hindrance to progress on the path, but on the other a necessary stage of deviation and recovery
that is in fact for genuine progress. In Anuruddha's Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), we witness a
final superimposition: that of embedding path theory within the abhidhamma ultimates
(paramattha-s) rubric (now represented as an integral part of that scheme, and thus, of
"canonical" abhidhammic thought), as constituting the treatment of the paramattha nibbana. In
this final synthesis, the path theory encapsulated in the seven stages framework was naturalized
within the subject matter of abhidhammic thought and reified in Theravada understanding as an
independently existent and valid trajectory (indeed, the trajectory) to the attainment of nibbana,
describing the natural course of path-progress as it objectively occurs. In this way the
compositeness of the sequence and its development over time were obfuscated.
Key traces of the earlier phases of the account, such as the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-
m)'s, remain in Anuruddha's treatment, for example Anuruddha's characterization of vipassana as
stemming from the knowledge of dissolution:

_bhanganāṇaṃ_ tam akkhātaṃ, yena nāṇena passato,

aniccatānudhāvantī, tividhā 'pi vipassanā. 1703

That is declared the “knowledge of dissolution”.

And one seeing with that knowledge
as impermanent has insight
that swiftly follows, of three kinds (viz. pertaining to the three characteristics).198

198
Namar-p 1703.

87
The association of vipassana with the knowledge of dissolution (bhanganaṇa) stems from the
Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s characterization of vipassana as the knowledge resulting from
the observation of dissolution, on regarding the object: “arammaṇaṃ paṭisankha
199
bhanganupassane pañña vipassane ñaṇaṃ”, "Discernment pertaining to the observation of
dissolution, having re-evaluatively considered the object → knowledge pertaining to insight".
This characterization of vipassana as stemming from bhanga is reiterated at the conclusion of his
treatment, in the description of it as having arrived at full maturity, likened, as it were to an
developing fetus taking root in the womb and growing:

iti disvā yathābhūtaṃ, yāva bhangā tato paraṃ.

gaṇhantī bhāvanāgabbhaṃ, paripakkā vipassanā. 1765

And having seen, in this way, as-it-is,

taking root in meditation's womb,
from bhanga(-naṇa), onwards,
his discernment has now reached maturity.

He specifies this inception of vipassana from bhanga, in accord with the Path of Discrimination's
characterization, even as he describes vipassana as beginning, according to later
conceptualization, much prior to this. In fact, he had earlier used the same metaphor to describe
vipassana beginning to develop with reference to the stage of udayabbaya-naṇa in its immature
phase, prior to the arising of the ten corruptions of insight (at which point, in the Path of
Purification (Vism), the practitioner is described as an “araddha-vipassaka” one who has
initiated insight” (Vism XX §105)).

sukhumā nipuṇākārā, khuradhārāgatā viya,

gaṇhantī bhāvanāgabbhaṃ, pavaḍḍhati vipassanā. 1677

subtle and of minutest aspect,

like in a razor's edge,
his discernment, taking hold
in cultivation's womb, begins to grow.

(describing here the earlier stage of udayabbaya-naṇa (knowledge of arising and passing.)
Such dual characterizations reveal the composite nature of the path as it was synthesized,
preserving features of the multiple tiers of development on which Anuruddha's texts rest.

Other key details in Anuruddha's treatment of the knowledges reveal the centrality of the
earliest description, that of the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), even for Anuruddha. For
example, the central reference point that the Path of Discrimination (Patis-m) continues to
constitute is revealed in Anuruddha's characterization of the knowledge of adinava, “danger or
degradation” as taking place with reference, specifically (following the Path of Discrimination
(Paṭis-m)'s account), to five aspects (akara) of conditioned things:
199
Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), matika §7.

88
 itthan ca visapupphaṃ 'va, nānānatthaphalāvahaṃ;
dukkhānubandhasambādhaṃ, ābādhaṃ 'va samuṭṭhitaṃ. 1725

āsīvisaṃ 'va kupitaṃ, ghoraṃ bhayanibandhanaṃ.

asisūnaṃ 'va sārambhaṃ, dukkhāyūhanakaṃ padaṃ 1726

savidāhaparipphanda-pakkabandham iv' odakaṃ;

uppādan ca pavattan ca, nimittāyūhanaṃ tathā, 1727

paṭisandhin ca passantaṃ, _nāṇam ādīnavaṃ_ mataṃ;

tebhūmakesu tenāyam avuddhiṃ paṭivijjhati. 1728

And as such,
the knowledge seeing sankhara-s'
1) arising, 2) occurrence,
3) their cause, 4) their karmically productive activity,
and 5) their re-linking in rebirth

as like the flower of a poison tree,

bringing as its fruit so many kinds of harm;
[or] like an affliction cropping up
with a crowd of pains in tow;

like a deadly snake that's angered,

fierce, entailing danger;
like a violent slaughterhouse,
the site of the karmically productive activity of dukkha;

[or] like the water that's combined with cooking food,

roiling with scorching heat:

the knowledge seeing them like this

is considered the knowledge of danger (adinava).
And with it, this (yogī) penetrates non-arising
among [conditioned things pertaining to] the three worlds (as the site of peace).

The five aspects of conditioned things – in their uppada (arising), pavatta (occurrence), etc. are a
direct reference to the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s elaboration of bhaya/adinava-naṇa
(bhayat'upaṭṭhane panna, adinave naṇaṃ”,200 which characterizes the knowledge of danger
(adinava-naṇa) as seeing these particular five aspects as dukkha. The same passage in the Path
of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) goes on to associate the seeing of the negative counterparts of these
as sukha with “knowledge pertaining to the site of peace” (santi-padaṃ), explaining the
200
Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), matika §7.

89
enigmatic reference to penetrating appreciation of "non-growth" (avuddhi) among the
conditioned things of the three worlds as the corollary knowledge of nibbana as the site of
freedom from such danger:

uppādan ca pavattan ca, nimittaṃ dukkhan ti passati.

āyūhanaṃ paṭisandhiṃ, nāṇaṃ ādīnave idaṃ.

anuppādaṃ appavattaṃ, animittaṃ sukhan ti ca.

anāyūhanaṃ appaṭisandhiṃ, nāṇaṃ santipade idaṃ.

idaṃ ādīnave nāṇaṃ, pancaṭhānesu jāyati.

pancaṭhāne santipade, dasa nāṇe pajānāti.

[Conditioned things'] arising and occurrence,

their cause, their karmically productive activity,
and their re-linking in rebirth -- he sees [all these] as dukkha:
This is [in conditioned things].

Their non-arising, non-occurrence,

the absence of their cause, and their karmically productive activity,
their non-re-linking in rebirth -- he sees [all these] as sukha:
This is knowledge that pertains to the site of peace.

This knowledge of the danger

arises on the basis of these five;
and (the knowledge) pertaining to the site of peace (arises) on the basis of (these other)
five;
making ten the knowledges he knows.201

While Anuruddha's treatment of the path is entirely schematic in the Compendium of

Topics (Abhidh-s) for which he is known, it is descriptive and literary in the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), modeling the paradigmatic realization the stages in a poetic mode, hand
in hand with its exposition of them. The poetics of Anuruddha's literary account of path, using
poetry to richly evoke the forms of understanding being described and thus make them more
accessible to understanding, stand in stark contrast to the professed poetics of Asvaghosa's
Saundarananda (described by him in its epilogue):

ity esa vyupasantaye na rataye moksartha-garbha krtih

srotrṇaṃ grahaṇartham anya-manasaṃ kavyopacarat krta |
yan moksat krtam anyad atra hi maya tat kavya-dharmat krtaṃ
patuṃ tiktam ivausadhaṃ madhuyutaṃ hrdyaṃ kathaṃ syad iti || 18.63

201
Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), adinavanaṇaniddeso. Reading naṇe as acc. pl., in agreement with dasa (in
spite of n̄aṇa's n. gender).

90
This work is for the purpose of allaying, not for exciting, lust. It has the goal of liberation at its
heart.
It's been wrought from poetic figuration for capturing its hearers who are of another mind.
That which has been composed here other than liberation, has been composed in deference to the
laws (dharma) of lyric poems --
[thinking:] how might a bitter medicine be mixed with honey, so as to make it palatable to drink?

prayeṇalokya lokaṃ visayaratiparaṃ moksat pratihataṃ

kavyavyajena tattvaṃ kathitam iha maya moksah param iti |
tad buddhva samikaṃ yat tad avahitam ito grahyaṃ na lalitaṃ
paṃsubhyo dhatu-jebhyo niyatam upakaraṃ camikaram iti || 18.64

Having seen that for the most part people are averse to liberation and hold the pleasures of the
senses highest,
here I've spoken precious truths in kavya's guise, holding liberation to be highest.
Having understood that, let what herein contained pertains to lust's allaying be perceived; not just
its graceful charm;
[thinking:] the fleck of gleaming gold culled from the dusts of ore is what's of use.

The Saundarananda also contains a literary depiction of the path. But with the key
difference that while Asvaghosa represents his use of poetic figuration (kavyopacara) as “for the
sake of listeners... who are of another mind” (18.63), treating the poetic garb in which the
Buddha's teachings are presented very much as the proverbial sugar to make the medicine go
down, Anuruddha uses his poetry much more in earnest, in the service of "vibhavana" -- as a
vehicle to dramatize and in so doing depict the path more clearly. (Ironically, Asvaghosa is
remembered for his poetry, and Anuruddha for his doctrine.) Anuruddha, far from using poetry
to sweeten the taste of a bitter medicine, uses powerful poetic dramatization to vividly manifest
the stages of the path for his audience and make them more accessible to understanding. This
approach yielded a uniquely literary mode of abhidhamma, the power and potential of which can
still be appreciated as it comes down to us in the poetic verses of the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p), not only clothing the "essence" of the doctrinal subject matter he treated in new form,
but in a form that conveyed more of the "gold" that it enshrined than it otherwise could have.

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 Chapter III
The Modeling of Insight

[A Divorce and Its Aftermath]

Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) stands out for its extensive treatment of
path-progress from the perspective of the fully mature Mahavihara interpretive tradition. His
account encompasses and supplements prior accounts like that of the Path of Purification (Vism)
and goes far beyond the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s corresponding treatment in its level
(and mode) of detail. The entirety of the work's second half, more than a thousand verses,
constitutes a detailed and very special treatment of bhavana or paṭipatti (Namar-p v. 880), under
the headings of samatha and vipassana. The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) thus foregrounds
paṭipatti in a remarkable way, expounding the theory of practice and simultaneously depicting
that theory's implementation in rich and profuse detail. The unique product of this literary mode
of treatment, incorporating the vibhavana style of commentary discussed in chapter two and a
creative, aesthetic sensibility that enthusiastically clothed familiar doctrine in beautiful new
form, as applied to the exposition of insight in Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)
was what I refer to as the “modeling of insight”. I consider this a defining feature of Anuruddha's
handling of his material, exemplifying the possibilities of the treatment of the theory of path-
progress in a literary mode. Anuruddha's treatment of path-progress moreover represents the
tradition essentially as it has come down to us today, its literary dramatization of the unfolding of
insight with a model practitioner representing (and contributing to) the final “fixing” of the
theorization of insight and culmination of the Buddhist path as it was classically charted by the
tradition.
In this chapter I discuss the “modeling of insight” as a feature of the work made possible
precisely by the uniquely literary mode that it applies to its abhidhammic subject matter. In order
to contextualize Anuruddha's treatment of the Theravada path-theory, I will first attempt to
situate Anuruddha's representation of “path” and “path-progress” within the hermeneutics of the
early Buddhist interpretive tradition that he inherits. I will then go deeper into the topic of the
gradual change, and evolution of the theorization of meditation touched upon in chapter two, in
the context of the gradually changing hermeneutics of the interpretive tradition. To this end I will
consider the implications of an increasingly differentiated, sequentially and hierarchically
ordered samatha and vipassana (tranquility and insight) -- a dynamic that I will refer to as the
divorcing of samatha and vipassana -- that signaled a major shift in the exegetical tradition's
hermeneutics. Finally I will survey Anuruddha's specific treatment of path progress and the
development of insight as we encounter it in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), examining
two sections of that work in detail; one pertaining to the beginning of the path (the account of the
development of the requisite mental disposition to take up a meditative practice, Namar-p 8, vv.
918-1042), and one pertaining to its end (the trajectory of insight knowledges culminating in the
realization of nibbana, Namar-p 12, vv. 1642-1791).

Section I.
The Hermeneutics of Path (magga) and Path-progress (paṭipatti)

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 For, venerable sir, the Blessed One is the originator of the path unarisen before, the
producer of the path unproduced before, the declarer of the path undeclared before. He is
the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the one skilled in the path. And his
disciples now dwell following that path and become possessed of it afterwards.202

Why, in the first place, is the path depicted as a path? We know that this depiction was
dear to the early tradition, being integral to its most central organizing doctrines. The four noble
truths enshrine within them their new third-option approach to soteriology, avoiding the two
soteriologically fruitless extremities of household-based sensuality and ascetic self-inflicted pain,
as a “path” of eight factors, leading to the four truths' realization. Rod Bucknell in his early
comparative study of the path across its various formulations in the suttas called attention to its
basic structuring as sequential (each path-factor enabling the development of its respectively
subsequent factor), as well as cumulative (all factors together culminating in the jhanic trajectory
of samma samadhi).203 In this last point, his analysis is quite coherent with Tilman Vetter's
subsequent assertion that the essential core of the path was in fact the jhanic trajectory of its
culminating factor, samma samadhi, the other factors being essentially a backing-up account of
its pre-requisite conditions (Vetter 1988). According to Vetter, the path was "middle" not in the
sense of moderation, but in the sense of the discovery of something in the middle (of the two
aforementioned extremes) not usually discerned: non-sensual pleasure; i.e., the four jhana-s
described as constituting this samma samadhi.204 While I do think the points made by both
Bucknell and Vetter are valid and helpful for getting at the early tradition's hermeneutics of the
path, it is worth noting that some of the same suttas on which they base their conclusions (MN
117 Mahacattarisaka in particular) complicate the understanding of the path's structuring as
essentially linear and cumulative inasmuch as they also represent sequentially subsequent factors
“continually running and circling around” (anuparidhavanti anuparivattanti) prior factors:

One makes an effort to abandon wrong view and to enter upon right view: this is one’s
right effort. Mindfully one abandons wrong view, mindfully one enters upon and abides
in right view: this is one’s right mindfulness. Thus these three states run and circle around
right view, that is, right view, right effort, and right mindfulness.205

Complicating details such as this would evidently support a less simplistically linear
understanding of the relationship between the path factors and the import of their culminating in
samadhi, according to the hermeneutics we find embedded in their earliest depictions in Pali
suttas such as this.
With time, however (and perhaps in some measure owing to the intrinsic power of
metaphors to determine how we understand that which we conceptualize by means of them206),
the tradition evidently came to privilege ever more complex but essentially linear and sequential
202
SN 8:7 pavaraṇa, trans. Bodhi.
203
Bucknell 1984, 9-10.
204
Vetter 1988, XXIII-XIV.
205
MN 117 mahacattarisaka-sutta, trans. Bodhi.
206
cf. Lakoff 1980 on the conceptual metaphor.

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formulations of the path. Most prominently: the three trainings, crowned by panna (extrapolated
from the sutta rubric of adhisilasikkha, adhicittasikkha, adhipannasikkha); the seven stages of
purification, arriving like a chariot progressing stage by stage to the threshold of nibbana (a
simile formulated by a disciple in discussion with Sariputta in the minor sutta MN 117,
rathavinitasutta); and ultimately the variously formulated 5, 8, 9, 10, or 16 insight knowledges of
the evolving exegetical tradition. These accounts to some extent usurped the centrality of the
eightfold path in the theorization of path-progress that eventually gained dominance in the
interpretative tradition. The insight-knowledges, originally theorized in the Path of
Discrimination (Paṭis-m) and undergoing a gradual history of elaboration,207 eventually came to
be embedded within the scheme of the seven purifications. Here they were treated as the detailed
content of its culminating stages, as the theorization of insight evolved and gained quasi-
canonical status as the truly liberating trajectory, in place of that of samma samadhi. The
trajectory of insight that this project of theorization elaborated became a path unto itself within
the path, beginning essentially where the path depicted in the suttas ends. (Embedding this within
the seven-stages scheme and representing it as the detailed treatment of a number of the latter
stages of the seven stages scheme perhaps served the function of establishing a needed link to
canonical authority, since the seven stages, unlike the insight knowledges, could claim canonical
roots (by virtue of MN 117)).208 In all cases, the linear quality of the path's stages is stressed in
the latter-day accounts, as is their culminating in insight. We may note the commentarial
tradition's eventual interpretation of the above-quoted Mahacattarisaka statement, with its
apparent imputation of a certain circularity to the path's purportedly linear structure, normalized
at the hands of the interpretive tradition so as to restore linearity to the path factors' sequence
(understanding an implied distinction between an earlier “right view of insight”, and subsequent
“supramundane right view”, so an essential linearity could be re-affirmed in the face of this
statement):

[Quoting the commentary's interpretative position]: "They accompany right view as its
co-existents and precursors. Right effort and right mindfulness are co-existent with
supramundane right view; the right view of insight is the precursor of supramundane
right view."209

The commentarial position essentially implies that any conception of non-sequential co-existence
of the factors as would seem to be implied by the idea of latter factors “continually running and
circling around” earlier factors refers to the co-existence of all eight path factors at the moment
of path consciousness (at the attainment of one of the stages of liberation) and not to any longue-
durée model of the path. According to the interpretive tradition then, the sutta's depiction would
be referring to the single unitary moment of path consciousness. (A very unlikely scenario, since
the concept of path consciousness was the domain of the abhidhammic tradition that had almost
certainly not yet developed at the time of the sutta.) An essentially linear conceptualization of the
path was in this way reaffirmed, and the doubts it raised as to the ultimacy of this understanding

207
Cousins 1996, 35
208
If the Path to Freedom (vimuttimagga) is evidence, this embedding would likely have taken place prior to
Buddhaghosa.
209
Bodhi trans. MN 117 Mahacattarisaka, Note 1104: Bodhi/Naṇamoli 2001, 1328.

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dispelled.
The three trainings' problematic mapping onto the factors of the eightfold path yielded a
similar problem: the path then had to be understood as beginning with the training of wisdom, in
contrast to the usual depiction of the three trainings as normatively beginning with sila when
treated independently (as in the Path of Purification (Vism), where they are represented in a
decidedly linear way). Their perceived misalignment is also symptomatic of this deep-seated
tension between circularity and linearity, the later tradition favoring a more strictly linear
treatment of the path at the expense of its metaphorically dissonant circular features.
It is entirely coherent with such a linear conceptualization of the path that we observe
sattha (“teacher”, as in sattha devamanussanaṃ) being to some extent re-interpreted within the
exegetical tradition as satthavaha (caravan-leader). The Path of Purification (Vism) amplifies
this semantic blend in its etymological word-play210 and the frame-narrative of the first jataka
story, serving, significantly, to frame the entire collection, makes this its central soteriological
metaphor, portraying the Buddha as the supreme caravan-leader of men.211 The Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) reveals the extent to which it inherits this tradition in the way it weaves
these images together, causing one to legitimately wonder whether Anuruddha intends “teacher”
or “caravan leader” when he depicts the Buddha as sattha, characterizing him as:
vimuttipariṇayako (1101) “guide who led the way to liberation” (1101); seṭṭho purisasarathi;
“highest, as the charioteer of men,” (1102); sattha devamanussanaṃ “teacher/caravan-leader of
gods and men” (1102); who maccudheyyavimokkhaya, paṭipadayi paṇino “set beings endowed
with life upon the path / to escape from death's domain” (1104) --

satthavāho mahāyoggo, maggāmaggayugandharo;

sirisattham adhiggayha, vicarittha mahāpathaṃ. 1105

Leader of a caravan most grand,

navigator of the path and the non-path;
having attained his majestic caravan,
he journeyed the great path.

paṭipadayi paṇino “set beings endowed with life upon the path” reveals the semantics (and a key
feature of the underlying hermeneutics) of Anuruddha's “paṭipatti”, which I have accordingly
rendered in a general (one could say etic) sense as "applied knowledge" or “practice”, but in a
specific (and more emic) sense as “path-progress”.

In Pursuit of Contact: Early Buddhism's Indexical Orientation

Situating path-progress within an early Buddhist hermeneutic
There is good reason for understanding early Buddhism as having had what we could call an
“indexical bias”. In a semiotic analysis of early Buddhism's religious culture, we observe a
consistent, conspicuous privileging of signs that would be semiotically classified as "indices"
over those that would be called "icons" or "symbols" (to appeal to C.S. Pierce's threefold

210
Vism VII, exposition of buddhanussati.
211
Ja 1, apaṇṇakajataka.

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classification of the sign, elaborated in semiotic thought.212 In this section I will attempt to
explain what I intend by speaking of an "indexical bias", and why it is important for our
understanding of the early tradition and certain features of the interpretive tradition that
continued to be determined by this down to Anuruddha. In some respects the early tradition and
the interpretive tradition are continuous; but in some respects the interpretive tradition continued
its own arc of development, gradually resulting in the innovation of something novel, as its
conceptualization of the path gradually altered (developing in particular a sharply dichotomized
understanding of samatha vs. vipassana that greatly influenced the theorization of path-progress,
as these were increasingly interpreted as antithetical and mutually exclusive -- a topic to which I
will come).
Paṭipatti, as the interpretive tradition understood it, was the implementation of pariyatti
(the acquisition of knowledge) and culminated in paṭivedha, “penetration” of such second-hand,
acquired knowledge with first-hand experience of its transcendental culmination; the
“breakthrough” of realization crowning practice. The notion of penetration or breakthrough,
inasmuch as it betokens contact, exemplifies the indexical orientation of the early Buddhist
hermeneutical tradition, which used contact as its preferred marker of truly knowing (cf. phrases
like kayena phusati, "touches with body") denoting knowing directly). Seeing was also a variety
of direct contact, and the knowing that the Buddha terms naṇa-dassaṇa “knowing and
beholding” or sakkhi-karaṇa “witnessing” likewise denoted direct, personal knowledge by virtue
of the terms' evocation of immediacy and direct (in this case visual) contact.
The hermeneutics of proximity, contiguity, and touch or direct contact – the “index”, as
semiotically construed -- deeply permeate the early tradition. We can observe an indexical
orientation in text, praxis, and iconography. In the semiotic vocabulary of C. S. Pierce, as an
attempt to class the varieties of sign, icon represented a sign or signifier based on a relationship
of similarity with the signified (for example, a portrait to an individual, or in a Buddhist context,
a buddha image to the Buddha); the index a sign based on a relationship of contiguity (for
example, a footprint or shadow to an individual, or the Bodhi tree to the occasion of the Buddha's
awakening); the symbol a sign based on a relationship determined by established conventions
(for example, a name to an individual, a word to the thing it represents, or the dharma wheel to
the Buddha's dispensation.213
Paṭipatti was understood in terms of the semantics of paṭipajjati “setting out” or
embarking on a path (paṭipada), or making progress on one. Path-faring or path-progress
(paṭipatti) thus led to proximity, and ultimately contact, or breakthrough, to nibbana. Practice
conceived of as a path is an apt representation of the pursuit of direct contact, and by extension
the index itself, as deployed in the early Buddhist system of signification. The concept “path”
metaphorically conveys a structural representation of gradual approximation to contact with an
end-point. Indices are signs based on a relationship of contiguity or contact with that which they
represent. The power of a footstep of the Buddha, the tree under which he sat while attaining
awakening, a markerstone indicating the site where a miraculous event took place, or other
vestiges of his concrete presence, once upon a time, is that they confer access to that moment of
presence which they are bound to and intrinsically in relationship with. Like pilgrimage to such
sites, the Path as a metaphor captures the structure and mechanism of the compelling power of
212
Atkin in Zalta (ed.) 2013.
213
Atkin in Zalta (ed.) 2013.

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the index as a religious object of significance: pilgrims pursue and gravitate toward contact with
such objects, the end-points of their journeys, which by extension confer contact with that with
which such objects are in relationship. The index functions as a pontifex, bridging the pilgrim
and the real object of pursuit, of which the index is a vestige. Like “bridge” in the case of
pontifex, “Path” is a powerful conceptual metaphor that expresses the function of indexicality:
bringing one into contact with that which the index signifies: with the person who left the
footprint, sat beneath the tree, or performed the commemorated feat. Practice conceived of as a
“Path” expresses the early tradition's orientation toward and pursuit of indexicality itself.

The Kālingabodhi Jātaka

An emic articulation of the early tradition's indexical orientation
Early Buddhism in the wake of its founding figure's passing displayed a marked affinity
for the index (and little regard for icon or symbol) as its preferred objects of veneration.
Connection with the now absent but still accessible presence of the Buddha was highly prized
and sought after. Tangible markers of such connection were accorded great value: vestiges,
traces; items of direct contact. We find a clear articulation of the indexical orientation of the
early tradition in its own terms in the frame-narrative of the Kalinga Bodhi Jataka (Ja 479). The
frame story is late and a product of the exegetical tradition, but the values it articulates reflect the
hermeneutics of the early post-Buddha tradition.
The topic of the frame narrative is the inception of the veneration of bodhi trees grown
from the original bodhi tree as stand-ins for the person of the Buddha and reveals much about the
tradition's internal considerations regarding the limits of validity governing objects of veneration
at a remove from the original loci of sanctity that they represent. The frame narrative begins in
Savatthi at the time of the Buddha's residence in the Jetavana monastic complex and recounts an
exchange that sheds light on the internal logic of the Bodhi tree's venerability, and the extent to
which that extends to its replicated counterparts, to the tradition's understanding. Many lay
people of Savatthi, it seems, had come to the monastic complex outside the city to pay homage to
the Buddha, but finding him not currently in residence there, were perplexed as to what to do
with the copious offerings of flowers and garlands they had brought to offer to him. Finding no
better solution, they left them piled in front of the entrance to his kuṭi and departed with
disappointment. When the influential lay supporter of that city, Anathapiṇḍika, caught wind of
their quandary, he inquired of Ananda – couldn't some provision be made for the comfort of
devotees, some site worthy of veneration (pujaniyaṭṭhana) be provided for lay disciples to pay
homage in the Buddha's absence? Ananda, we are told, conveyed the petition to the Buddha,
inquiring as to the kinds of acceptable cetiya (memorial objects of veneration, broadly conceived
here). The narrative depicts the Buddha as explaining that there are three varieties of cetiya: that
of corporeal remains (saririka); that of items of intimate association (paribhogika); and that of an
image or sign referring indirectly to the absent personage (uddissaka). Of these, the cetiya of
bodily relics is only obtainable after the Buddha's bodily passing, while the cetiya of symbolic
reference has no basis (avatthuka) of genuine connection with the individual it refers to,
“because the connection depends on the imagination only”;214 but the great Bodhi tree, intimately
associated with by all the Buddhas (buddhehi paribhutto, i.e., conceived of as a relic of use or

214
Reading with Ee: manamattakena (PTS Ja vol. IV, 228); Be: mamayanamattam eva; trans. Rouse 1901: The
Jataka, Vol. IV.

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intimate association) – that is suitable for employment as a cetiya whether before or after the
Buddha has passed away. So it was that Ananda made the request for a seed of the great Bodhi
tree to be planted at the entrance of the Jetavana monastery to serve as an appropriate surrogate
for veneration in the Blessed One's absence, to which the Buddha, we are told, gave his assent
and approval.
There follows the account of how Ananda dug a hole and prepared the ground, and
requested Mahamoggallana to bring a seed from the original Bodhi tree; and of how
Mahamoggallana gladly complied, rising into the air and flying to the place of the distant Bodhi
tree with the speed of the wind, and caught a ripe fruit in his robe just as it had fallen from the
holy branch, before it could reach the ground. Bringing it back, he offered it to Ananda and
placed in the ground, it immediately sprouted and grew to a majestic height, with broad leaves
and mighty branches, and was honored and paid homage by all present.
But the narrative continues, supplying another important detail. Ananda approached the
Buddha once again, and requested him to make the tree truly venerable and a true likeness of the
Bodhi tree at Gaya, by sitting at its foot and attaining in meditation the attainment that he'd
attained on the night of his awakening there (mahabodhimule samapannasamapatti). The
Buddha, however, objected: there was no place on earth other than the foot of the original Bodhi
tree that could support such an attainment. The Bodhi tree, the throne of Awakening, is at the
navel of the earth; the first place to emerge when the world comes into being, and the last to
vanish as the world is destroyed. Unchangeable, all the Buddhas of all the ages attain awakening
upon that spot. It alone is unshakeable. Then – says Ananda – for the benefit of the people, attain
at the foot of this tree as much as it will bear. The Buddha assented and spent one night beneath
the tree, conditioning it with the bliss of attainment (samapattisukhena) to the extent it could
bear, and thenceforth it became known as “Ananda's Bodhi tree”.
This is only the frame-narrative. (The jataka proper goes on to relate a story over three
generations in a distant past life of Ananda as a mighty world-conquering emperor who
encounters the Bodhi tree and pays homage to it, recognizing its sacredness even in an era
devoid of any Buddha.) But this frame-story tells us something very important about what the
Bodhi tree is for the tradition, and what it's not. It's not a relic such as the bodily relics obtained
after the Buddha's death -- but it's also not a mere icon or symbolic representation of the Buddha,
which is categorically excluded from suitability as a cetiya of any value due to having no real
basis of connection, since the connection is only in the mind. This detail strikes me as very
important. To use the semiotic term, the Bodhi tree is conceived of as an index. As smoke to fire,
or a shadow to its owner, it indicates direct contact with its owner. It is an item of intimate
association, to the extent that it has partaken of, itself, and can therefore in turn confer, contact
with the person of the Buddha. Its validity as a cetiya rests entirely on its being conceived of as
an index. The logic is that of Frazer's principle of "contact or contagion” (identified in his classic
study of magical thinking, Frazer 1890). It is an object of veneration in that it provides a link – a
direct and tangible link – to the presence of the Buddha himself.
This indexical orientation permeated the religious culture of the early Buddhist tradition.
The early tradition took little or no interest in likenesses (icon) or symbolic representation
(symbol). With the founding figure's passing, but so many of his concrete vestiges, like the
Bodhi tree, still within reach, these naturally assumed the key position that they did. In much the
same vein, its scriptures were conceived as representing the words that emerged from the

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Buddha's mouth on specific occasions; its praxis involves pilgrimage to the sites where particular
events were understood to have taken place -- these in turn carefully marked by marker stones to
preserve their identification; its sacred objects are those traces which were in direct contact with
(or simply were, in the case of relics), his physical body. The footprint markerstone
(buddhapada) is the classic marker of the Buddha's presence that, read correctly, conveys this
indexical orientation: once, though long ago, he stood upon this very spot. The Bodhi tree, as
semiotically conceived, is an index of Buddhism's most outstanding moment: that of the
Buddha's defining moment of Awakening.

Vestiges of the Buddha

The centrality of index in early Buddhism
The frame story of the Kalingabodhi jataka articulates a rudimentary theory of religious
representation in emic terms of the early, post-buddha tradition: relics (sarirani) and items of
usage (paribhoga) were legitimate purveyors of a direct connection with the Buddha because
their link was based on contact; icons and/or symbols that merely “indicate” their referent
(uddissaka) (by similarity or convention) were “without any basis” of genuine connection
(avatthuka) because their link was only in the mind. The Bodhi tree at the foot of which he sat
on the night of his enlightenment; the horse upon which he rode, the night of his great departure;
the bowl or robe he used; the footprint that marked the ground on which he stood -- all of these
are objects that had temporary direct connection with the Buddha's physical person. As such, to
secondarily come in contact with these traces -- indices -- was to approximate contact with the
Buddha himself, with whom they had been in contact. Though the fire has burnt down, the
smoke, the embers, so to speak, remained to provide a degree of access to it.
The serial reproduction of the footprint and the Bodhi tree with their reproduction in
iconography transformed the original index into an icon: an icon with a highly indexical
character. The footprint could subtly transform over time into a reproducible image: an iconic
representation of an original index, thus an indexical icon. Any pīpal tree, or iconic
representation of the one with the Bodhi tree's characteristic Asokan enclosure, and stylized seat
of awakening at its base, could represent the Bodhi tree. And it was these images that we see
most prevalently in the early “aniconic” iconography: icons that preserved indexical sensibility
the way early rock-cut cave architecture preserved still earlier wood and bamboo-based
architectural conventions. This perhaps paved the way for further distance and receptivity to
fully abstract, symbolic representation: the dharmacakra, the triratna iconographic figure, the
nandipada or svastika, as serially reproducible symbols of the sasana; of the buddha, his
teaching, and those who had followed in his footsteps and likewise achieved his liberated state,
or averred fidelity to these. -- And eventually, to a fully iconic representation of the Buddha.
“Aniconic” is perhaps not a precise-enough term for this early, still indexically-oriented tradition
of iconography as witnessed in the famous iconographic programs of Barhut and Sañcī. It is
rather an “indexical iconography” or iconography of indices that we should be speaking of. In
the poetic conceit of the convention, it appears to be the relic and by extension its encasing stūpa
(as if transparent, like the early crystal reliquaries) that occupies the position in the images where
we would expect to see the Buddha, but do not: atop the riderless horse; beneath the parasol of
state; sitting on the empty seat of awakening; etc. The relic, as the ultimate index (indexical to
the living Buddha, as his vestiges), stands in for the Buddha. According to the indexical logic of

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the early tradition, it -- unlike a mere pictorial representation of the Buddha -- is legitimately
qualified to do so.
Tambiah uses the phrase “indexical icons” to describe the dual role of amulets and even
sacred biographies, which are replicated likenesses of famous figures even as they transmit the
contact that those likenesses have had with them:

"the iconic and indexical properties of the amulets are recognized as pragmatically effective.
The figures and emblems of the saints, the Buddha, and other beings are indexical icons,
which by existential contact with the monk and by virtue of his impregnating them with
sacred words, purifying them with sacral water, and other similar acts of transference,
embody the monk's virtue and power".215

In much the same way, in the Kalingabodhi jataka, we observed the Buddha being requested by
Ananda to sit beneath the replicated Bodhi tree and bring about a similar state to that which he'd
attained beneath the original bodhi tree, in order to further bolster its indexical qualities.
The canon, or buddhavacana, to appeal to the more emic and revealing term for the
canonized teachings, was likewise imbued with a distinctly indexical mode of representation.
The words of the canonical texts were conceived of as having been spoken directly by the
Buddha, heard in his presence. Ananda, construed by the tradition as their direct witness and
device of preservation, was important for this purpose. The authenticating formula, "evaṃ me
sutaṃ", may be understood in this light as a certification of genuine indexicality, the intention of
which was to assert direct contact with the originally spoken words, imbuing the received texts
with the authority of direct witness and thus genuine relationship to their utterance. Understood
within the hermeneutic of an index-oriented receptive tradition, evaṃ me sutaṃ becomes an
assertion of direct contact with the words about to be quoted or summarized. (Whether quote or
summary, by the logic of this hermeneutic, doesn't make much difference, since both retain their
indexical status.) The canonization of the indexically validated account, its validation by the
councils, and its preservation, word for word, in precise, unaltered form, was likewise important
to vouchsafe the claim to indexicality, its legitimation, and its faithful preservation. The
repetition of Ananda's words by successive councils and generations of monks again yields a
scenario of serial reproduction of an original index: words that indexically express the dhamma
heard directly from the Buddha (by the savakas, those who heard it directly), as summarized or
quoted by Ananda, one of the original hearers. This is thus analogous to the iconic reproduction
of the footprint, the iconization of an oral index. The index of the originally spoken words is
reproduced, evoking them in the present, bringing the speaker and interlocutors into a variety of
contact, via the index, with the moment of their original utterance. Thus at the level of practice,
by this logic, reciting the canonical word becomes the chief means of establishing contact with
the original object that these various indices, as signs, can be understood to signify: the Buddha's
dhamma in its original instances.
Early Buddhism's soteriological goal was also given a distinctly indexical valorization: the
Buddha referred to the disciple who achieved the status of arahattaṃ (arhatship) as his orasa-
putta “bosom son”,216 making recourse to the most primal and embodied form of indexicality
215
Tambiah 1984, 336.
216
DN 27 (agganna-sutta).

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possible: that of physical progeny, the child a living index to its progenitor, as the tree sprung
from a seed of the Bodhi. The conception of the sangha (and by extension the sasana writ-large,
cf. the Mahavaṃsa and allied literature of the vaṃsa chronicle tradition) as an unbroken vaṃsa
“lineage” also reveals indexical reasoning, conceiving of successive generations as preserving
and carrying forward an unbroken chain of contact, stretching back to the person of the Buddha.
Just as each successive segment of bamboo (the etymological and conceptual source of the
“vaṃsa” metaphor) is contiguous to and thus an index of the segment preceding it, likewise each
presently ordained monk was conceived of as being in an indexical relationship to the monk who
ordained him, and so on, stretching back ultimately to the Buddha himself.
The Asokan markerstones and pillars that marked the places of the Buddha's presence and
the sites of key events also served to preserve (or create the effect of) indexicality. Pilgrimage is
a form of religious praxis intrinsically concerned with indexicality, and pilgrimage to such sites
of commemoration -- of birth, enlightenment, teaching, or final passing; residence or visitation;
some key event or specific occasion -- was a mode of religious praxis naturally fostered by the
indexical orientation of the early tradition.217
The stūpa cult, constituting a domesticated center of pilgrimage and participating through
patterns of patronage and festivity in the political and civic life of burgeoning empires218 was
likewise centered on an index as close to the person of the Buddha as could be: his bodily relics
(sarirani). The veneration of these corporeal remains was entirely coherent with the indexical
orientation that underpinned the tradition seeking connection to the presence of the no longer
present Buddha, via the lingering traces of his person still accessible, chief among them his relics
and other indices that facilitated this (or the effect of this). As we saw from the Kalingabodhi
jataka, the Buddha's bodily remains were conceived of as the cetiya par excellence, and Asoka's
dispersal of the relics across South Asia was an indexically-oriented act of tangibly extending
(and by the same token affording access to) the Buddha's sphere of influence (with whose sasana
and prestige his own was inextricably aligned) across the length and breadth of the empire to
which he made claim.
It is in light of the deeply indexical orientation that permeated the tradition, manifesting
in various ways as discussed above, that the path to liberation taken up by followers of the
Buddha needs to be understood. In the suttas, a highly indexical character was already attributed
to the path to liberation (re-)discovered by the Buddha: it was depicted as “an ancient path”
traversed by all prior Buddhas.219 This same path had to be traversed by those who implemented
the Buddha's teachings, which pointed out the way. The Buddhist path of practice was thus
conceived of from early times as following in the Buddha's (and all Buddhas') footsteps. The
practitioner's journey recapitulated the Buddha's. This scenario again presents, now at the level
of praxis, the replication of an original index. “The Buddhist path” can thus also be understood
as analogous to the "indexical icons" illustrated by the image of the replicated footprint –
fostering a form of religious emulation called paṭipatti: replication at an individual level of the
217
cf. DN 16 Mahaparinibbana sutta, catusaṃvejaniyaṭṭhanani (16.29), advocating pilgrimage to these sites: ye hi
keci, ananda, cetiyacarikaṃ ahiṇdanta pasannacitta kalankarissanti, sabbe te kayassa bheda paraṃ maraṇa
sugatiṃ saggaṃ lokaṃ upapajjissanti 'ti, "all those who, wandering on pilgrimage to these sites (memorializing
the places of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, first teaching, and death), will die with a mind full of faith, with
the breaking up of the body, after death, will arrive in rebirth to a heaven world, to a good destination of rebirth".
218
Walters in Schober 1997.
219
puraṇaṃ maggaṃ, SN 12:65 (nagarasutta).

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original soteriological journey made by the teacher.
This bias toward the indexical as the preferred mode of representation of early Buddhism
gradually gave way to symbolic and more typical (non-indexical) modes of iconic representation
of the Buddha (i.e. the Buddha image). This development took centuries and never wholly
eradicated the tradition's earlier indexical orientation, overlaying rather than supplanting the
earlier indexical orientation as the hermeneutics receptive tradition gradually evolved. We can
still see traces of the archaic indexical bias in surviving modes of practice; the impression the
indexical bias made on the tradition indelible. Whether recitation, relic veneration, pilgrimage to
sites of historic significance, or a soteriological framework conceived of as traversing the same
path that he had followed, the markedly indexical character of all these practices is readily
discernible and unites them as products of the tradition's early indexical orientation.

Corresponding Disinterest in Icon and Symbol

The underrepresentation of iconic and symbolic elements in the early tradition is striking,
and highlights the centrality of the index. In the iconographic tradition, as discussed, the Buddha
image was notably absent, the index (in the form of the relic enshrined within the stūpa)
occupying its place. Favored images in iconography were in fact highly indexical or simply
representations of indices: the bodhi tree, the footprint, the dharma wheel as symbolically
indicative of the moment of the first teaching and beginning of the sasana – but most saliently of
the dharma as it has come down to us today.
The dharma wheel was perhaps one of the only genuine symbols, in a technical sense,
favored by the early tradition. The lack of an interpretative tradition seeking or elaborating
profound meaning in its symbolism is telling: the tradition was not at all symbolically oriented.
The dharma wheel as a symbol was not conceived of as an object for contemplation, expressive
of some complex truth. Despite the centrality of the dharma wheel, every indication suggests that
its original context and meaning were quickly lost sight of by the tradition. A symbol with
complicated, culturally embedded roots, deeply entwined in Pre-Buddhist Indic religious culture
serving political interests and the ritual legitimation of sovereignty, the “wheel jewel” of the
wheel turning emperor (cakkavatti) was originally, to all appearances, a Buddhist analogue of the
horse of the asvamedha sacrifice. The locus classicus formulations of the wheel-turning
emperor's achievement of universal sovereignty through dharma rather than through violence
(for example, cakkavattisihanadasutta) was in origin clearly a stylized reformulation of the
Vedic asvamedha rite, in which a horse was ritually consecrated and allowed to wander into
neighboring territory for one year, accompanied by the aspiring emperor and his army, and rulers
of territories into which the horse infringed were compelled to either accept his overlordship, or
challenge his claim to it by battle. The Buddhist analogue corresponds directly to the symbolism
of the asvamedha in its form and purpose. (It differs in one key respect as to the means it
advocates for achieving that purpose: and herein lies its message.) It is a stylized representation,
rather than a ritual for enactment, replacing the ritually consecrated horse with a miraculously
manifesting “wheel jewel”, which spontaneously manifests and descends from the heavens
owing to the righteous conduct of a monarch and proceeds to roll across the earth systematically
in the four directions, rather than in the erratic wanderings of the consecrated horse. The
Buddhist formulation retains the structure of the asvamedha, the king and his army
accompanying behind the wheel as it rolls across the earth through adjacent territories, but the

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presence of the army is vestigial, as it were, rather than meaningful, for the central message of
the Buddhist formulation is that the aspiring emperor conquers adaṇdena, asatthena, “without
rod or weapon”, but by establishing the incorporated kingdoms in the rule of law (dhamma) by
imposing only the moral code of the five precepts (the first of which entails a pledge of non-
violent conduct, so as to live, again, nihitadaṇdo, nihitasattho, “as one who has laid down his
rod, laid down his weapon” -- to which all those encountered gladly submit without resistance.
The import of the Buddhist reformulation of the ancient pre-Buddhist symbolism of universal
sovereignty is a manifesto for the imposition of rule of law (to which the emperor is equally
subject), and for non-violent unification by advocating adherence to this order, rather than
conquest by violence. It is thus a potent image for the rule of law as against the rule of force, and
is a manifesto for an ideal of rulership by this, rather than warring factionalism.
The Buddha's wheel of dharma takes this miraculously manifesting wheel-jewel, the
Buddhist analog of the asvamedha symbolism -- thus presented in the Buddhist formulation as a
competing ideal of rulership expressing the universality and cosmic scope of its ethical code,
conformity to which brings about the wheel's manifestation, and thus this code's pertaining to
natural order -- and metaphorizes it, such that the Buddha's teaching of the dharma becomes
analogous to the universal emperor's spreading of moral order and expansion of sovereignty via
non-violent conquest that established its incorporated subjects in a higher moral order. The
Buddha's wheel of dharma is thus a symbol of sovereignty and expansion (cosmically sanctioned
in the Buddhist case) with conspicuously imperial overtones, advancing the rule of dharma with
the Buddha as its steward or chief proponent (cf. the assertion in the suttas that the king of the
dharma-king's king is dharma itself; the king turns the wheel through dharma220: defining the
ideal of the righteous king who rules by law and is subject to law.221 Thus the framing of the first
teaching as the setting in motion of the wheel of dharma is overtly political in its symbolism.222
The qualification that the wheel of dharma set in motion by the Buddha is appaṭivattiya
“unable to be turned back” by god or man, etc., can be made sense of only in the light of the
underlying imperial framework, rooted in the asvamedha, of conquest and submission. The
ensuing vertical relay of this assertion from the earthly to brahmic levels of the cosmos by the
deities who witness the event signifies expansion on a whole other axis than the horizontal,
earthly expansion of the wheel-turning emperor: the whole cosmos is incorporated into the
Buddha's moral kingdom under the sovereignty of the law he propounds.
The loss of the underlying significance of the wheel symbolism is testament to the fact
that the early tradition was not at all symbolically oriented. By the time of the earliest
commentarial tradition as witnessed in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), which dwells on it
at length, the “wheel” of the turning of the wheel discourse had been reinterpreted to stand for
the “series” of dhamma-s conducive to awakening (the bojjhanga-s) that was set in motion by
virtue of the teaching.223 While the preservation and interpretation of “meaning” (attha) was a
220
Tambiah 1976, 40-41, citing AN 3.14 (cakkavattisutta).
221
Compare for contrast of this proposed interpretation Tambiah 1976, 46, in which Tambiah speculates as to the
possible political commentary embedded in the cakkavatti mythos, missing this key point due to overlooking it
as essentially an analogue of the asvamedha. (The entirety of the cakkavatti mythos is framed as a response to
the asvamedha.)
222
These political overtones are reflected also in the usage of the word "sasana" (teaching/instruction but also
"dispensation" or social/religious order (on the analogy of political order) of which the Buddha is the head.
223
Paṭis-m, dhammacakkakatha, saccavaro.

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key concern of the exegetical tradition (represented in its most central project of aṭṭhakatha, or
establishing the orthodox account of scripture's meaning), it was not always concerned with
preserving specific contextual meaning, and favored generalizable expository correspondences
(e.g. the commentarial style of the Mahaniddesa or Vinayavibhanga, and later the Nettipakaraṇa
and Peṭakopadesa). It fostered very little philosophically speculative enterprise of unpacking
pregnant symbols and elaborating profound interpretation of these.224

The Indexical Orientation in Path Literature

In the literary legacy of path literature, this identification between the Buddha's path and
the path traversed by the practitioner in the service of approximation to contact (in this case with
the soteriological goal with which he is now equated) is taken for granted. From the far shore,
the Buddha beckons. A path of footprints is his legacy for his follower. The Buddhas were styled
as akkhataro, indicators of the way, which is to be followed by those who enter upon and make
progress on the path, styled paṭipanna, (those “embarked” upon the path paṭipada of practice
paṭipatti).225
It may come as no surprise that in this context much of the soteriological literature that
the tradition gave rise to has taken the form of “maps” and guidebooks: defining and charting the
path to liberation became a central enterprise of the exegetical tradition. This enterprise began in
the suttas and was amplified in the interpretive tradition. (The associated charting of the
bodhisattva path and its variations may be regarded as a parallel phenomenon.) The “map” of the
path, however, varied. In the era of abhidhammic theorization, somewhat postdating the original
formulations of the suttas and representing a first major hermeneutic shift (the canonical books
of the abhidhamma frequently contrast suttanta-naya with abhidhamma-naya (sutta mode of
analysis vs. abhidhammic mode of analysis), the notion of “path” itself was redefined. In the
abhidhammic analysis that developed, “path” was reduced to “path consciousness” (magga-
citta), arising at the moment of awakening and lasting for a single mind-moment. In the
commentarial era, perhaps unsurprisingly, we find that the conceptualization of the path in its
longue durée form persists, in spite of the abhidhammic redefinition. In spite of the notion of
path being reduced to the newer, technical sense, considerably truncating its scope and extent,
and arguably robbing the practice tradition of its central metaphor, by the time of Buddhaghosa
we find the path in its longue durée form making a reappearance. In the Path of Freedom
(vimuttimagga) / Path of Purification (Vism) strand of the exegetical tradition, the longue durée
path is resuscitated in a novel form: a new seven-stage scheme, expanding sila, samadhi, and
panna. This re-conceptualization of the path effectively replaced the eightfold path as the

224
The symbolic formulation of the bhavacakka metaphor, with its eventual rich and well-known visual depictions,
is one of the few traces of such an enterprise, which evolves quite late. The comparatively early model of the
cosmos, mapped in excruciating detail by the exegetical tradition, might be another, but it was conceived of
indexically as a map of the world cum psyche, rather than as a symbol. The "path" itself could arguably be
considered another of the few symbols the early tradition gave rise to, but as discussed above, lacking concrete
visual formulation, I prefer to consider the path a conceptual metaphor by which practice was understood. Path
was the source domain and practice was the target domain that was conceptualized via the metaphor. Thus,
practice was conceptualized as a pursuit of contact with the goal, via a trajectory of increasing approximation to
it, much as a path from A arriving at contact with B, in accordance with the tradition's deeply-seated indexical
orientation.
225
Dhp 276.

104
governing model of the path of practice. The new scheme solved the problems of sequentiality
associated with the eightfold path (referred to above), beginning straightforwardly with sila and
culminating in panna (unlike the eightfold path, which did not begin with sila and raised
questions about the location of panna). For all practical purposes, the original eightfold
formulation of the path was now relegated to its reduced abhidhammic status, as path
consciousness, in what constituted a first key reworking of the tradition's most central metaphor.
In a second key reworking, the new form of the longue durée path was now open to re-
articulation, and the exegetical tradition set out to chart the newly redefined path and re-elaborate
the map.
While Buddhaghosa in his magnum opus provided an encyclopedic and impersonal
treatment of this new formulation of the path (which effectively became the path as we know it),
virtuosos like Buddhadatta and Anuruddha stepped in to provide personal, aesthetically rendered
versions of this map. The path was rendered on a human scale, dramatizing its unfolding in
relatable, literary form.
We may note that it was the markedly indexical (rather than iconic or symbolic)
orientation of the early tradition that gave rise to the characteristic exegetical project of the
charting of the path and the resultant phenomenon of religious literature taking the form of
“maps” to attainment. A privileging of icon would perhaps have been more conducive to image-
based devotion and adoration as its associated praxis, and devotional literature in the textual
sphere; whereas a privileging of symbol might have led to abstract interpretation and
philosophical exploration and elaboration of meaning as its primary praxis, and mystical or
philosophical literature in the textual sphere. Indeed, there was a significant presence of this
strand in the abhidhamma project of translation of the teachings couched in conventional
(voharika) truth into ultimate (“paramattha”) terms. This was primarily the realm of pariyatti,
however, and the theorization of paṭipatti took place at a certain remove from the realm of the
absolute terms of the paramatthas. (We will see that models of the path as those in
Buddhaghosa's, Buddhadatta's, and Anuruddha's works do not fully engage their meticulously
analyzed paramattha theorizations when it comes to paṭipatti and their concrete accounts of path-
progress.) The abhidhammic accounts of paṭipatti and the path of practice reverted to the more
pragmatic longue durée conceptualization of the Buddhist path. The literary version of the map
as religious text that this indexical orientation gave rise to is the vivid depiction of path-
progress's unfolding such as we find it in Anuruddha's works.

Section II.
The Evolution of the Path
This section will trace the evolution of the working model of the path in the hands of the
exegetical tradition, as it came down to Anuruddha. Contrary to the claims of the exegetical
tradition itself, that model underwent significant updating over time. In addition to the basic
reworking of the structure of the path of practice, as discussed above, marking the transition
from the eightfold path structure to the seven-stages model of the Path to Freedom
(vimuttimagga) / Path of Purification (Vism) strand, and thus based on a now resolutely
sequential framework of the three trainings, beginning with sila and ending with panna, a deeper
ramification of this restructuring entailed a reconceptualization of the relationship between

105
samadhi and panna, given expression in the dichotomization of samatha/vipassana. This section
will explore this aspect of the tradition's hermeneutic drift in how it fundamentally “read”
samatha and vipassana in (or into) the canonical texts upon which it was founded, and how this
sea-change in conceptualization determined the updated understanding of the path (and its
translation into the terms of practice) as reflected in the new model.
For Anuruddha, the path of practice (paṭipatti), conceived of in the wake of Buddhaghosa
in the form of the seven stages of purification, begins only in the account of samatha. The seven
stages are in fact subsumed entirely within the samatha/vipassana dichotomy. Of Anuruddha's
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), the latter half is devoted to paṭipatti, as an account of the
seven-stages of purification model of the path, overlaid upon an account of samatha and
vipassana. Of the paṭipatti half of the work, three chapters are devoted to an account of samatha,
as a treatment of the Path of Purification (Vism)'s forty samatha objects, and a subsequent three
chapters constitute an account of vipassana, the core of which is a treatment of the ten stages of
insight.

Chart: Structure of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s latter half:

paṭipatti
samatha vipassana
1st purification 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th
sīla citta diṭṭhi kankha magga- paṭipadā ñaṇa-
amagga dassana

Even moreso that in the Path of Purification (Vism), the entire path appears to be conceived of
from within the framework of an all-subsuming samatha/vipassana dichotomy. The account of
sila is rolled into the treatment of samatha (properly, cittavisuddhi) as a mere preface to the
cultivation of the jhana-s; the account of the five stages pertaining to insight reduce the
treatments of diṭṭhivisuddhi and kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi to a bare minimum and focus on the
unfolding of the insight knowledges beginning in maggamaggannaṇavisuddhi and unfolding in
full over the course of the paṭipadanaṇavisuddhi: the key segment of the path (magga) in
Anuruddha's depiction of it seemingly this "path (paṭipada) within the path (magga)" of the
insight knowledges of the exegetical tradition.
The samatha chapters begin, as in the Path of Purification (Vism) account of its forty
objects (the samatha kammaṭṭhana-s), with an extensive treatment of the earth kasiṇa. This
extensive prefatory treatment to the taking up of a meditation object ostensibly applies to all
forty of the samatha objects, but is treated in full only with reference as a preface to the earth
kasiṇa. In the tradition represented by the Path of Purification (Vism), the earth kasiṇa (and the
kasiṇas in general) effectively becomes the paradigmatic meditation object, and the main object
of reference, for the cultivation of samadhi. In Anuruddha's treatment of this same material,
representing perhaps a further stage of development in the re-conceptualization of the path, the
first stage of purification, that of sila, is wholly subsumed within the earth kasiṇa's prefatory
discussion. This entails a discussion of the necessary prerequisites to the taking up of a
meditation object, born of categories that mostly find mention within the Path of Purification
(Vism) but which are selectively highlighted and uniquely amplified and poetically elaborated by

106
Anuruddha (see introduction to Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) ch. 8, in the next chapter). This
includes a vivid and coherent account of the process of taking up precepts, finding a teacher and
beseeching him to teach one a meditation object, determining a suitable place to practice, and
developing the disposition to take up the path of practice in earnest, contemplating at length the
danger (adinava) in pursuing objects of desire and the attendant flaring up the defilements
(kilesa-pariyuṭṭhana), growing weary (nibbiṇṇo) of this and becoming inclined toward their
renunciation (nekkhamma) and the meditative path of practice as a means of this (Namar-p ch. 8,
vv. 918-1043).
Taking the earth kasiṇa as the new primary object of reference for the cultivation of
samadhi (and, more importantly, its theorization), and as the new starting point for the
“mapping” of the path in the normative account, may have had greater ramifications than
immediately apparent. This new account implicitly did away with the sequential and cumulative
aspects of the path in its classic eight-limbed formulation, in that it was evidently no longer
considered essential for samadhi to be undertaken on the basis of sati in order to be “samma” (as
with the eight-fold path's samma samadhi); that is, cultivated upon an internal object, conducive
to the four satipaṭṭhana-s' “continuous observations” (anupassana) of body and attendant
sensations, the form of consciousness as it changes with increased concentration, and the
phenomena within the field of awareness that arise and pass in the process. As pointed out by
Arbel, the kasiṇa, as an external object (and thus inherently not based upon body, sensations,
consciousness, or manifesting phenomena, i.e., growing out of samma sati) was outside the
scope of an eightfold-path-oriented conception of samma samadhi resting on the foundation of
the other seven factors of the path as its essential prerequisites.226
The exegetical tradition does not deny this; rather it asserts that the cultivation of
samadhi in its formulation of the path (the seven stages based on a sequential cultivation of sila-
samadhi-panna) the concentration aimed at is in fact just the mundane one; the work of
liberating wisdom is a separate project, and comes only after, in the domain of panna. This re-
orientation from a conception of the trajectory of the four jhana-s as the liberating, culminating
segment of the path, as we see it articulated in the suttas, to a revised understanding of samadhi
as a mid-way stage upon the path, not conducive or necessarily even relevant to the pursuit of
liberation, marked a major hermeneutic shift within the interpretive tradition, as it gradually
began reading its founding texts differently.
The interpretive tradition as Anuruddha received it took for granted that concentration
was intrinsically mundane and not conducive to liberation. This was not necessarily the position
of the suttas, however, as we would be led to believe. There are many signals suggesting that the
suttas conceived of panna not as a subject of cultivation subsequent to and independent of the
cultivation of the jhana-s, but as beginning prior to and even co-occurring with them. The jhana-
s in their classic sutta descriptions were represented as states of sensate, full-body awareness,227
226
Arbel points out (rightly, in my opinion) the “dubious linkage” of the jhanas with kasiṇa practice, in normative
commentarial-era representations: “This discrepancy with the Nikayas’ account is added to by the commentaries’
dubious linkage of the jhanas with the kasiṇa practice, as a key exemplar method for attaining them, and their
view that the jhanas are concentration exercises that do not require insight into the three characteristics (what
Buddhaghosa defines as vipassana)” (Arbel 2015, 184).
227
“From the fading away of joy (pīti), he remains equanimous, and experiences pleasure with the body, aware and
clearly discerning; he enters into and abides in that which the noble ones refer to (when they say): "abiding in
pleasure equanimous and aware": the third jhana. He drenches this body with pleasure divested of joy; he makes

107
entailing sati and sampajanna (either at some stage or throughout: cf. the presence of sati and
sampajanna in third jhana pericope, and the questions this raises)228 and at their culmination (in
the fourth jhana) as awareness rendered perfectly pure by equanimity. The sensations that the
jhanic states were effectively equated with, permeating the entirety of the physical structure,
were represented in the third and fourth jhana-s as the objects of equanimous observation. The
five nivaraṇa-s (hindrances), characterized as defilements of consciousness weakening not
concentration but wisdom (ime panca nivaraṇe...pannaya dubbalikaraṇe229), were represented as
being eliminated prior to the attainment of jhana, rather than in the course of or after
(constituting the viveka of the first jhana's vivicca kamehi, vivicca akusalehi dhammehi, and
corresponding characterization of the state as vivekajaṃ pitisukhaṃ -- though by no means
suggesting a usage of viveka in its sanskritic sense of 'discernment' or 'wisdom', or grasping of
the three characteristics, as erroneously suggested by Arbel 2015230 and critiqued by Analayo
2016a. Most fundamentally of all, the jhanic trajectory, as controversially pointed out by Tilman
Vetter in his The ideas and meditative practices of early Buddhism (Vetter 1980), was the
ostensible culminating segment of the eightfold path.231 In the suttas' representation, the eightfold
path culminating in the four jhana-s of samma samadhi resulted in samma naṇa and samma
vimutti (yielding path in its full-fledged ten-limbed form) for asekha-s, i.e., arahants, only – but
directly in the respective paths and fruits for sekha-s (i.e., sotapanna-s, anagami-s, and
sakadagami-s, each entailing, according to the abhidhamma, consciousness's taking nibbana as
its object).232 All indications suggest that what the latter-day tradition described as vipassana and
its liberating function was in the suttas taught with reference to the four jhana-s.
it course with, fills, and suffuses it with it, so that there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by pleasure
divested of joy.” (e.g. DN 10, samadhikkhandha, as rendered by me. ...pitiya ca viraga upekkhako ca viharati
sato sampajano, sukhanca kayena paṭisaṃvedeti, yaṃ taṃ ariya acikkhanti “upekkhako satima sukhavihari” 'ti,
tatiyaṃ jhanaṃ upasampajja viharati. so imam eva kayaṃ nippitikena sukhena abhisandeti parisandeti
paripureti parippharati, nassa kinci sabbavato kayassa nippitikena sukhena apphuṭaṃ hoti). Contrast existing
authoritative translations of the pericope, which convey differing senses: “With the fading away as well of
rapture, I dwelled equanimous and, mindful and clearly comprehending, I experienced happiness with the body; I
entered and dwelled in the third jhana, of which the noble ones declare: 'He is equanimous, mindful, one who
dwells happily.' (SN 28 1-9, trans. Bodhi: idhahaṃ, avuso, pitiya ca viraga, upekkhako ca vihasiṃ, sato ca
sampajano, sukhan ca kayena paṭisaṃvedemi, yaṃ taṃ ariya acikkhanti ‘upekkhako satima sukhavihari’ 'ti
tatiyaṃ jhanaṃ upasampajja viharami.); “Furthermore, your majesty, by having no desire for joy a monk lives
equanimously, mindful and fully aware; he experiences the bodily happiness of which the nobles ones speak
saying “equanimous and mindful, one lives happily”, and so lives having attained the third absorption” (DN 2
Fruits of the Ascetic Life, p. 29 trans. Gethin in Sayings of the Buddha: puna ca paraṃ, maharaja, bhikkhu
pitiya ca viraga upekkhako ca viharati, sato sampajano; sukhan ca kayena paṭisaṃvedeti, yaṃ taṃ ariya
acikkhanti — ‘upekkhako satima sukhavihari’ 'ti, tatiyaṃ jhanaṃ upasampajja viharati).
228
Sati defined as entailing awareness of the four satipaṭṭhana-s; sampajanna defined as entailing constant
awareness of the arising, presence, and cessation of sensations, object-apprehension (vitakka), and the form of
perceptual reckoning of these (sanna) (SN 47.35 satisutta): kathan ca, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sampajano hoti?
idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno vidita vedana uppajjanti, vidita upaṭṭhahanti, vidita abbhatthaṃ gacchanti. vidita
vitakka uppajjanti, vidita upaṭṭhahanti, vidita abbhatthaṃ gacchanti. vidita sanna uppajjanti, vidita
upaṭṭhahanti, vidita abbhatthaṃ gacchanti. evaṃ kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sampajano hoti. sato, bhikkhave,
bhikkhu vihareyya sampajano. ayaṃ vo amhakaṃ anusasani” ti.
229
e.g. DN 25.
230
Arbel 2015, 187; 190-191.
231
Vetter 1980, 10.
232
Bucknell 1984, 8-9.

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 In the revised model of the path espoused by the interpretive tradition, the lofty position
accorded to the jhana-s in the suttas was downgraded. Samadhi was demoted to indicating
mundane samadhi, unproductive of liberation, such as that produced by concentration on an
external prop like a kasiṇa, bereft of sati's fourfold presences of mind. This essential re-
definition of samadhi and its scope proceeded, to all indications, unnoticed by the tradition,
though it occurred right before its eyes – eyes that were now looking at it differently, as the
hermeneutics of the exegetical tradition gradually altered.
While in the suttas, to all appearances, “vipassana” was taught with the reference to the jhana-s,
in the hermeneutics of the commentarial era (and it is through the lens of this that we conceive of
it today) this became unthinkable. It is this aspect of hermeneutic shift that I refer to as the
divorcing of jhana and panna, as the exegetical elaboration of a dichotomized
samatha/vipassana framework for its revised model of the path drove a wedge between them.
Scholarship has been concerned with the relationship of concentration and liberating
insight since the work of de La Vallée Poussin 1929 and the discussion it inspired, positing two
fundamentally different accounts of the trajectory to liberation co-existing within the earliest
tradition, and the eventual winning out of insight over concentration as the account-cum-
trajectory of choice in the early interpretive tradition. The debate over whether concentration or
insight in fact represented the earliest form of the Buddha's teachings with reference to
meditative path to liberation has been revisited in scholarly discourse of recent years in the work
of Karen Arbel and the animated responses it has provoked, reviving to some extent the original
discussion and revealing how little consensus there still is as to the fundamental “map” of the
path.233 (It is perhaps a perennial debate.)

The Divorce of Samatha & Vipassana

In 2015, Keren Arbel published an article, followed by a book, that revisited the age-old
debate within both the Buddhist tradition as well as the scholarly tradition of Buddhist Studies.
Her article was entitled “The Liberative Role of Jhanic Joy (Piti) and Pleasure (Sukha) in the
Early Buddhist Path to Awakening”, followed by the book, Early Buddhist Meditation: the Four
jhanas as the Actualization of Insight -- her titles serving as an indication of the nature of her
argument.
In claiming that the experience of jhanic pleasure was essentially the “actualization and
embodiment of insight”,234 misrepresented by the tradition as it has come down to us as separate
from insight and of no liberatory value in and of itself, she joined a long tradition of making
claims as to the so-called “heart of Buddhist meditation”, making a case as to the essential core
of the Buddha's practical teachings and how they were intended to be understood, and
implemented.235
Her study was characterized as “a vipassana-centric re-appreciation of the jhanas”236 and
considered fresh by some. It was promptly met with rebuttal in the form of an article tellingly

233
Arbel 2015, Analayo 2016a, Polak 2016, Analayo 2016b, etc.
234
Arbel 2015, 181, quoted in Analayo 2017, 271.
235
cf. The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (Nyanaponika, 1962, after participation in 6th Council and subsequent
training under Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw in Burmese Vipassana): the first major study on Burmese Insight
meditation, dubbing the heart, in this case, “mindfulness”, which he characterized as “bare attention”.
236
Harvey 2015, 177 note 1, 271.

109
entitled “On the Supposedly Liberating Function of the First Absorption” by Bhikkhu Analayo.237
Though recommending her basic claim be dismissed as misconceived, Analayo qualified this by
saying that he “[did] not intend to propose that absorption does not have an important role in
support of progress to liberation” and went on to invite continued discussion “regarding the role
and function of absorption in the early Buddhist scheme of mental training” -- for which he
referred to his own comments as “clearing the ground”.238
Much ink had in fact already been spilled on the topic. Early Buddhist Studies
scholarship had identified what it felt was an essential rift within the early Buddhist corpus, some
suttas apparently advocating an approach to nibbana via a graded ascension of increasingly
exalted meditative states (that is, the four jhana-s, and four formless attainments, crowned by
nirodha samapatti, the embodied experience of nibbana in this very life);239 some apparently
advocating an utterly distinct path of approach, characterized by the analytical discernment of all
phenomena as equally impermanent, and therefore suffering, and therefore not self – which was
felt to be incompatible with the trance-like “absorption” of jhana. Much early scholarship
viewed these so-called “two paths” as fundamentally irreconcilable, and as evidencing an
originary constitutive tension in Buddhism that the entire subsequent interpretive tradition was a
mere fumbling attempt to reconcile.240 This at times deeply unsympathetic scholarship, flirting
with abrasive characterizations of insight as “dry, discursive, and analytical”, and of exalted
meditative states as essentially states of “cataleptic trance”,241 posited a divide within the early
tradition, in which insight won out over concentration in an early debate,242 resulting in the broad
traditional consensus that insight alone possessed the power to liberate; concentration, being
demoted, was left with next to none.
This begged the question: which of these two paths -- the “meditative” path of “samatha”
or the “rational, analytical” path of “vipassana” -- was the one originally advocated? And many
views were advanced on this, traditionalists generally maintaining that it was “insight”
(understood in various ways), and scholars generally skeptical of this, suspecting that absorption
played a more central role than generally admitted.
While this mixed legacy of Buddhist Studies scholarship to the study of early Buddhist
meditation literature is no doubt correct, I think, in its focus on the early polarization of samatha
and vipassana, divorced early-on within the tradition itself, as a powerful dichotomy was given
birth (inasmuch as it can be understood as a problematization of this), this scholarly debate may
also be viewed as a mere addendum to the long tradition of competing claims as to the heart of
Buddhist meditation – that, as far as we can tell, is nearly as old as the tradition itself. The
question was unfortunately misframed.243

237
Analayo 2016a, in Buddhist Studies Review.
238
Analayo 2016a, 271.
239
de La Vallée Poussin 1929.
240
Griffiths 1981, 605.
241
Griffiths 1981, 608.
242
Gombrich 1996 ('Retracing an Ancient Debate: How Insight Worsted Concentration in the Pali Canon').
243
According to Gethin, the misframing lay in conflating this issue with that of gaṇṭhadhura vs. vipassanadhura
(monk as town-dwelling scholar vs. forest-dwelling meditator) (Gethin 1998, 201). According to Analayo it
hinged on mistakenly reading into it the dichotomy the Western dichotomy of thinker vs. mystic (Analayo
2016b, 48).

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 When, shortly after the publication of Arbel's work, re-opening this particular can of
worms, an additional article appeared, apparently inspired by hers and advancing a supporting
thesis -- entitled, “How was Liberating Insight Related to the Development of The Four Jhanas?
A New Perspective through an Interdisciplinary Approach” (Polak 2016) -- this prompted
Bhikkhu Analayo to again take to fervent published critique, this time with an even stronger
condemnation of this entire brand of “Two Paths” thinking244 that has long haunted Buddhist
Studies scholarship and which, to his view, it was high-time to finally put to rest.
While first acknowledging that, historically, the rigid opposition between samatha and
vipassana characteristic of the ultimate “Theravada” perspective was indeed not present in
suttas,245 and exegetical literature did appear to lose sight of interrelation of tranquillity and
insight as it reified their difference, in Analayo's view, scholars took this latter-day polarization
even further,246 managing to only further obscure the issue, rather than clarify it. This because of
relying on two questionable assumptions, firstly that insight was necessarily “rational and
discursive”, and second, that jhanic absorption represented as culminating in liberation was
indeed wholly independent of insight and “liberating in and of itself”.247
While I wholeheartedly concur with this assessment – of the early literature, the gradual
divergence of the interpretive tradition, and the scholarly debate this disjunction inspired -- I also
welcome Arbel's revisiting of the issue – which is perhaps the issue at the heart of Buddhism
(and close to the heart of Buddhist Studies): how are we to understand the Buddhist Path in its
earliest formulations, as depicted in the suttas, and how has the tradition's understanding of it
shifted over time? These are questions well worth asking, precisely because of the diverse
panoply of impassioned and conflicting responses they provoke, and for how they change our
understanding of Anuruddha. Unfortunately, whether we read with the tradition, or against it, we
find the lens we are offered does not quite fit.
As the legitimate questions raised by a close reading of the source texts, such as that
undertaken by Arbel, shows (which may indeed make us question our existing accounts) the
“heart of Buddhist meditation” is much less clearly understood than we generally imagine it to
be – a suspicion confirmed by the recent revisiting of the old scholarly debate, such as we
witness it playing out between Arbel and Analayo their recent published interactions -- which are
themselves the revisiting of a very old Buddhist debate. These various incarnations of the debate
and questionings of accepted interpretation show how unsure we really are about the basic
scenario. As best we can make sense of it: the Mahavihara interpretive tradition settled on an
understanding of a rigid distinction between samatha and vipassana, such that it lost touch to a
certain extent with the formulations of the early texts. The cultivation of the jhana-s, though it
was foregrounded and even emphasized in later centuries, was simultaneously re-envisioned now
as thoroughly divorced from insight and thus essentially non-liberating. The cultivation of
insight, even as it was exalted at a theoretical level, lost its priority, being rendered a distant and
abstruse practice reserved for embarking upon only after the descriptions of the path in the
suttas, culminating in the jhana-s, came to their end. Scholars, for their part, rightly perceiving a
degree of disjunction between the primary texts and their interpretive tradition, managed to
244
Analayo 2016b ("A Brief Criticism of the 'Two Paths to Liberation' Theory”).
245
Analayo 2016b, 39.
246
Analayo 2016b, 40.
247
Analayo 2016b, 41.

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confuse the situation further, accepting certain of the commentarial tradition's own questionable
assumptions even as they added their own,248 positing an incoherence that went all the way back
to the very origin of the tradition.

Arbel asks all the right questions, examines the right source material, but sadly at the last,
crucial moment arrives at a conclusion that replicates (ironically) the same tired position of the
debate of prior scholarship: that insight is discursive and analytical and the jhana-s – in her case,
the mere experiencing of jhanic pleasure – was originally conceived of as liberating in and of
itself. She fails to appreciate the possibility that craving and attachment can inhere in wholesome
jhanic pleasure as well249 -- signaled, for example in biographical accounts in which the Buddha
punctuates each description of jhanic pleasure with: eva-rupa pi kho me, aggivessana, uppanna
sukha vedana cittaṃ na pariyadaya tiṭṭhati, “But even such pleasant feeling as this, Aggivessana,
did not take over my mind and remain”,250 or in the inclusion of categories such as rupa-taṇha
and arupa-taṇha among the saṃyojana-s) -- and that the liberatory value in these pleasant states
could be in using them to ascertain the “gratification” (assada) and “danger” (adinava) (to
appeal to another rubric) in feeling -- the suffering that attends on even the highest pleasure --
and as tools to eradicate craving (the “way out”, nissaraṇa). It would appear that our texts were
in fact prescribing that the pleasant sensations of the jhana-s be used instrumentally, like all
feelings, for overcoming the tendency (anusaya251) of craving in response to these very
sensations at higher and higher levels, by seeing their nature of not lasting, and therefore
producing suffering when they change, as they must.252
248
Gethin 1998, 201 & Analayo 2016b, 48, cited above.
249
Even upekkha is represented as liable to be clung to, and one's clinging to it or not determining whether it has
liberatory value or not: evaṃ upekkhaṃ paṭilabhati. so taṃ upekkhaṃ abhinandati, abhivadati, ajjhosaya
tiṭṭhati. tassa taṃ upekkhaṃ abhinandato abhivadato ajjhosaya tiṭṭhato tannissitaṃ hoti vinnaṇaṃ tad-
upadanaṃ. sa-upadano, ananda, bhikkhu na parinibbayati” ti. “kahaṃ pana so, bhante, bhikkhu upadiyamano
upadiyati” ti? “nevasannanasannayatanaṃ, ananda” ti. “upadanaseṭṭhaṃ kira so, bhante, bhikkhu
upadiyamano upadiyati” ti? “upadanaseṭṭhan hi so, ananda, bhikkhu upadiyamano upadiyati. upadanaseṭṭhan
h'etaṃ, ananda, yadidaṃ — nevasannanasannayatanaṃ” (MN 106 anenjasappayasutta).
250
MN 36 Mahasaccaka sutta.
251
MN 44 cula vedalla sutta on raganusaya etc to be abandoned through jhana: “sukhaya kho, avuso visakha,
vedanaya raganusayo pahatabbo, dukkhaya vedanaya paṭighanusayo pahatabbo, adukkhamasukhaya vedanaya
avijjanusayo pahatabbo” ti. sabbaya nu kho, ayye, sukhaya vedanaya raganusayo pahatabbo, sabbaya dukkhaya
vedanaya paṭighanusayo pahatabbo, sabbaya adukkhamasukhaya vedanaya avijjanusayo pahatabbo”ti? na kho,
avuso visakha, sabbaya sukhaya vedanaya raganusayo pahatabbo, na sabbaya dukkhaya vedanaya paṭighanusayo
pahatabbo, na sabbaya adukkhamasukhaya vedanaya avijjanusayo pahatabbo. idhavuso visakha, bhikkhu
vivicceva kamehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṃ savicaraṃ vivekajaṃ pītisukhaṃ paṭhamaṃ jhanaṃ
upasampajja viharati. ragaṃ tena pajahati, na tattha raganusayo anuseti. idhavuso visakha, bhikkhu iti
paṭisañcikkhati — ‘kudassu namahaṃ tadayatanaṃ upasampajja viharissami yadariya etarahi ayatanaṃ
upasampajja viharantī’ti? iti anuttaresu vimokkhesu pihaṃ upaṭṭhapayato uppajjati pihappaccaya domanassaṃ.
paṭighaṃ tena pajahati, na tattha paṭighanusayo anuseti. idhavuso visakha, bhikkhu sukhassa ca pahana,
dukkhassa ca pahana, pubbeva somanassadomanassanaṃ atthangama, adukkhamasukhaṃ
upekkhasatiparisuddhiṃ catutthaṃ jhanaṃ upasampajja viharati. avijjaṃ tena pajahati, na tattha avijjanusayo
anusetī”ti.
252
idhananda, bhikkhu upadhiviveka akusalanaṃ dhammanaṃ pahana sabbaso kayaduṭṭhullanaṃ paṭippassaddhiya
vivicceva kamehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṃ savicaraṃ vivekajaṃ pītisukhaṃ paṭhamaṃ jhanaṃ
upasampajja viharati. so yadeva tattha hoti rūpagataṃ vedanagataṃ saññagataṃ sankharagataṃ viññaṇagataṃ te
dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaṇḍato sallato aghato abadhato parato palokato suññato anattato

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 Arbel broadly accepts the terms of prior scholarly discussion and its consensus that
insight, as depicted in the suttas and characterized unproblematically by the interpretive tradition
(and modern scholarship taking after de La Vallée Poussin) is discursive and analytical and
argues on the basis of a close reading of relevant Pali suttas that the non-discursive jhana indeed
appears to have represented the original trajectory endorsed by the Buddha, rather than insight.
In this she broadly appears to accept the terms of the modern scholarly debate, positing a
fundamental disconnect between concentration and insight, and a characterization of insight that
aligns it with the interests of scholasticism rather than practitioners of meditation, and replicates
its suspicion that a differently-valorized concentration characterized the earliest tradition as
represented in the suttas. Arbel for her part attempts to re-orient the liberating side of the
dichotomy toward jhana.
Though I do not agree with Arbel's conclusions, I welcome her revisiting of the topic and
the primary sources that form the basis of the discussion. Arbel raises legitimate questions and
brings them to bear on all the right sources, highlighting the relevant and complicating details
that they present. She makes a solid case for our current understanding not accurately
representing the situation as we see it in the suttas. It is only in accepting the now outdated
scholarly characterization of the dichotomy between samatha and vipassana that I disagree with
the conclusions she draws in line with its assumptions.
Analayo, responding to Arbel's argument, offers a cogent assessment of the situation that
provides valuable clues as to the hermeneutic shift that I propose took place between the early
suttas and their reception by Anuruddha through the lens of the interpretive tradition of which he
formed a part. Though he himself posits no significant shift, and represents the commentarial
tradition as broadly in line with the position of the suttas, and as a reasonable account (in contrast
to Arbel), his assessment addresses precisely the hermeneutic shift that I propose took place.
Though the shift was subtle, gradual, and in some ways justified (i.e., with reference to the
constraints of commentary treating topics exhaustively and by necessity in sequential order), it
samanupassati. so tehi dhammehi cittaṃ paṭivapeti {paṭipapeti (sya.), patiṭṭhapeti (ka.)}. so tehi dhammehi
cittaṃ paṭivapetva amataya dhatuya cittaṃ upasaṃharati — ‘etaṃ santaṃ etaṃ paṇītaṃ yadidaṃ
sabbasankharasamatho sabbūpadhipaṭinissaggo taṇhakkhayo virago nirodho nibbanan’ti. so tattha ṭhito
asavanaṃ khayaṃ papuṇati. “Here, Ananda, a monk ... enters upon and abides in the first jhana, which is
accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. Whatever exists
therein of material form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, he sees those states as impermanent,
as suffering, as a disease, as a tumour, as a barb, as a calamity, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as
void, as not self. He turns his mind away from those states and directs it towards the deathless element thus:
‘This is the peaceful, this is the sublime, that is, the stilling of all formations, the relinquishing of all attachments,
the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbana. If he is steady in that, he attains the destruction of the
taints” (MN 64 cūla malunkyaputta-sutta) (trans. Naṇamoli/Bodhi 1995 revised 2001, 539-540); & idha,
gahapati, bhikkhu vivicceva kamehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṃ savicaraṃ vivekajaṃ pītisukhaṃ
paṭhamaṃ jhanaṃ upasampajja viharati. so iti paṭisañcikkhati — ‘idampi paṭhamaṃ jhanaṃ abhisankhataṃ
abhisañcetayitaṃ. yaṃ kho pana kiñci abhisankhataṃ abhisañcetayitaṃ tadaniccaṃ nirodhadhamman’ti pajanati.
so tattha ṭhito asavanaṃ khayaṃ papuṇati. “[He attains the first jhana] and considers thus: this first jhana, too, is
generated and brought about by an intention; but he discerns whatever generated and brought about by an
intention as: “that is impermanent and subject to cessation.” And remaining therein, he reaches the end of the
asavas” (MN 52 aṭṭhakanagarasutta); & “For one who is concentrated no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me know
and see things as they really are.’ It is natural that one who is concentrated knows and sees things as they really
are.For one who knows and sees things as they really are no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me be disenchanted
and dispassionate.’ It is natural that one who knows and sees things as they really are is disenchanted and
dispassionate” (AN 10.2 Volition, trans. Bodhi).

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was substantive and had tremendous ramifications for the reconceptualization of the relationship
between samadhi and panna, as the fundamental turning point of the hermeneutics of the path.
Analayo 2016b offers us some pertinent details for understanding how we came to this
situation. He acknowledges that the polarized opposition between samatha and vipassana
characteristic of Path of Purification (Vism) period representations was not present in suttas:

“A clear-cut division between tranquillity and insight of the type found regularly in
Buddhist exegetical works ― best known in this respect is probably the Path of
Purification (Vism) by Buddhaghosa ― does not necessarily correspond to the situation
in the early discourses. In such discourses samatha and vipassana are rather interrelated
qualities, instead of representing two separate meditation practices.”253

In the project of charting and standardizing the interpretive tradition's representations of the path
as presented in later exegesis, there naturally arose a complication of the path's sequential aspects
becoming foregrounded (due to the demands of sequential treatment in exegetical projects
encyclopedic in scope, such as the vimuttimagga/Vism); cumulative and interrelated aspects, by
the same token, receding into background: “Although such standardization yields neat theoretical
presentations, a problem inevitably results from the fact that theoretical accounts can only
describe one item at a time. There is therefore an inherent danger that cumulative and interrelated
aspects of the path recede to the background, whereas its sequential aspects are foregrounded”.254
In Analayo's assessment, following this trend, exegetical literature did eventually appear to lose
sight of interrelation of tranquillity and insight, to a certain extent (the reification of their
difference perhaps to some extent a product the standardization of their linear sequentiality in
exegetical tradition), but scholars took this latter-day polarization much further: “With the
adoption of a unified and standardized mode of description, the interrelation between tranquillity
and insight appears to have to some degree faded out of sight in substantial parts of Buddhist
exegetical activity”;255 “This development would in turn have fuelled interpretations of the two
paths to liberation type, such as those proposed by de La Vallée Poussin and by other scholars
who have been influenced by his presentation. However, the position taken by these scholars
goes considerably further and results in losing sight of the interrelation between tranquillity and
insight to a much stronger degree than do the exegetical traditions”.256
The polarization of samatha and vipassana and stressing of their sequentiality that
evidently grew out of the exegetical tradition's project of charting the path to liberation, and
providing a definitive, standardized “map” on the basis of its revised model perhaps also owed
something to kasiṇas now being the standard object of reference for the cultivation of samadhi
(rather than anapana or some other object conducive to the four satipaṭṭhana-s and thus samma
samadhi). The samadhi of reference was now strictly the lokiya variety, non-productive of
liberation, such as that practiced in traditional accounts by the Bodhisattva prior to awakening.
The Path of Purification (Vism) went so far as to give a standardized injunction to cultivate all
eight jhana-s prior to taking up the cultivation of insight. This injunction interestingly replicated
253
Analayo 2016b, 39.
254
Analayo 2016b, 40.
255
Analayo 2016b, 40.
256
Analayo 2016b, 40.

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the biographical account of the Buddha as it came down in the Theravada tradition, representing
the seventh and eighth formless attainments as having been practiced257 by the Buddha prior to
enlightenment, read by the tradition as implying (though it is not openly stated) that the Buddha
mastered the four rupa-jhana-s -- as defined in canonical accounts of the jhana-s constitutive of
samma samadhi -- prior to these. The biographical account read thus would seem to cement the
intrinsically lokiya nature of the jhana-s and by extension samadhi and samatha writ-large, and
its rightful position prior to the critical turn to liberating insight. Our core texts, however, are
stubbornly at odds with this understanding, in certain key details, such as that of the actual
depiction of that critical turn as it comes down to us in the earliest accounts. It is, somewhat
problematically, a turn to the first jhana, rather than to insight:

na kho panāhaṃ imāya kaṭukāya dukkara-kārikāya adhigacchāmi uttari

manussadhammā alam ariya-nāṇa-dassana-visesaṃ. siyā nu kho anno maggo
bodhāyā ’ti?

But by this racking, painful asceticism, I do not attain any distinction worth reckoning
knowing and beholding that is noble, beyond the human state. Could there be another
path to awakening?

Recalling his childhood experience of the first jhana:

tassa mayhaṃ, aggivessana, etad ahosi — ‘abhijānāmi kho panāhaṃ pitu sakkassa
kammante, sītāya jambu-cchāyāya nisinno, vivicc' eva kāmehi, vivicca akusalehi
dhammehi, savitakkaṃ savicāraṃ, vivekajaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ
upasampajja viharitā. siyā nu kho eso maggo bodhāyā ’ti?

Then, Aggivessana, this occurred to me: ‘I recall myself seated in the cool shade of a
jambu tree at the working site of my father the king of the Sakyas, isolated from sensual
pleasures, isolated from unwholesome mental factors, entering into and abiding in
pleasure and joy born of isolation, accompanied by application and sustaining [of
attention], the first jhana. Could this be the path to awakening?’

tassa mayhaṃ, aggivessana, satānusāri vinnāṇaṃ ahosi — es' eva maggo bodhāyā
’ti.

Then, Aggivessana, the awareness following upon that memory occurred: ‘This is the
path to awakening’.258

It may be symptomatic or causal of the exegetical tradition's reconceptualization of the

samadhi of its sila-samadhi-panna model as strictly mundane that the paradigmatic object of
reference provided within the exegetical tradition for its modeling is the kasiṇa, rather than
anapana, or some other object conducive to fulfillment of the four satipaṭṭhana-s and thus
257
Ariyapariyesana or "Pasarasi" sutta, MN 26.
258
MN 36 Mahasaccaka sutta.

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samma samadhi. Anuruddha maintains this feature of the scheme he adapts from Buddhaghosa.
He will treat the forty samatha objects in three chapters, detailing the entire inception of the
seven-stage path with reference to the earth kasiṇa at the opening of his account, prior to
addressing insight and the latter stages of the path pertaining to it. Anuruddha's treatment of the
early stages of the path is unique and beautiful, and a key complication of the linearity of
samatha/vipassana is found in Anuruddha's treatment in the form of an awkward vipassana-
oriented appendix attached to his treatment of each samatha object, about which I will have more
to say later.

The Theorization of Insight

The work of insight was to take place only after this, over the course of the subsequent
four stages, centered upon the crucial unfolding of the nine or ten insight knowledges
(vipassana-naṇani) over the course those stages, those of the fourth, fifth, and sixth purifications
(kankhavitaraṇa, maggamaggannaṇa and, crucially, paṭipada-naṇa-dassana).
The gradual development and elaboration of the theorization of the insight knowledges is
the other key hermeneutical development that it is important to acknowledge in order to properly
appreciate the alterations in the way the path was conceptualized, to which the period between
the suttas and the interpretative tradition as Anuruddha received it gave rise. The insight
knowledges scheme, based originally on a sequential investigation of the three characteristics as
applied to the five aggregates, such as we find it articulated in the suttas, was gradually
elaborated and expanded upon within the exegetical tradition, yielding over time a finer and finer
gradation of stages, producing ultimately the nine or ten (or sixteen, as they are sometimes
reckoned, reverting to Path of Purification (Vism)'s account in place of Anuruddha's ultimate
systematization of them), as known today. They are described in great detail in the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) as the dasavattha “ten stages” of insight, and in brief in the Compendium
of Topics (Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)) as the nava vipassana-naṇani, “nine insight
knowledges.”259
The insight knowledges as a conscious elaboration of the three characteristics' sequential
discernment was was a key feature of Anuruddha's Account of the Maturation of Insight in his
Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) ch. 25 (vipassanavuddhikatha), commented on by me in my 2012
MA thesis, but has subsequently been beautifully articulated in full detail by Bhikkhu Analayo in
an article entitled “The Dynamics of Theravada Insight Meditation” (Analayo 2015), in which he
traces this historical development backward to its locus of origin in the three characteristics. This
is, to my knowledge, the best source for understanding this dynamic of the evolution of the
scheme of the insight knowledges and their elaboration from a common core in the three
characteristics. This doctrinal core was elaborated by the exegetical tradition over successive
iterations in commentarial era literature via the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s five
knowledges → Path to Freedom (vimuttimagga)'s six knowledges & the Path of Purification
(Vism)'s eight, with the ninth as knowledge in conformity with th enoble truths (anuloma) →
Buddhadatta's eight, Anuruddha's nine or ten,260 until the structure underpinning it had
transformed sufficiently to be virtually lost sight of, and it was conceived of as an independent
trajectory of development in its own right: now known simply as vipassana-bhavana, “the
259
Namar-p, ch. 12, corresponding to Abhidh-s, ch. 9, corresponding to Vism chs. XVII-XXIII.
260
Analayo 2015.

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cultivation of insight”.
Vipassana-bhavana was the counterpart of samatha-bhavana and now, in the path as re-
conceived through this central dichotomy, was moreover reckoned its all-important, liberating
segment. Paṭipada -- the path -- as evoked in the name of the stage of purification in which the
stages of insight, for the most part, unfold, (the sixth purification, paṭipada-naṇadassana-
visuddhi) had become largely equatable with this subset of the larger path betokening their
unfolding. Hence we can speak of the shift in importance within the interpretive tradition to this
path within the path, now understood as the key locus of the process of liberation. This revised
representation of insight as gradually emerging over the course of the nine or ten insight
knowledges overshadowed the suttas' depiction of insight emerging over the course of the
eightfold path. In place of the suttas' representation of insight beginning at the very inception of
the path, with samma diṭṭhi (right view), and governing its development from start to finish,
manifesting in chain effect in successively more complex forms of expression in action giving it
expression, and maturing ultimately in the liberation effected by samadhi undertaken on its basis
as the culmination of its trajectory of development, insight in the revised path model undertook
its own increasingly complex course of development, which began only late in the game. Insight
now represented the final segment of the path alone, a mere coda to the path in its original
eightfold formulation, where, for the exegetical tradition as it came down to Anuruddha, the
entirety of the liberating efficacy of the path was localized. For Anuruddha, this became a
correspondingly key site of focus for the literary dramatization of its unfolding.
The theorization of the insight knowledges, beginning independently in the exegetical
tradition (first attested in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)), was, with the Vimutti- and
Visuddhi- magga-s, either integrated into or framed in the seven stages of purification scheme to
effect a grand synthesis, yielding the map of the revised path as it has come down to us today.
The possibility of the seven stages' scheme being resorted to or elaborated primarily as a device
to accommodate the exegetical tradition's newly theorized insight knowledges, now conceived of
as the exclusive locus of the path's soteriological efficacy, is an important question begged by
this examination. Was the masterwork of the commentarial era -- its grand encyclopedic account
of the path in an entirely novel form -- prompted by the need for a suitable, canonically-derived
frame into which the 'path' of the insight knowledges could be integrated? Did they evolve hand-
in-hand, owing to the theorization of insight as independent and increasingly treated in isolation
from samadhi: the path of the insight knowledges now regarded as the separate and exclusive
site of the path's liberating efficacy in the light of the heavy-handed dichotomization of jhana
and panna that took place with the exegetical tradition's theorization of practice aimed at the
cultivation of samatha (samatha-bhavana) versus practice aimed at the cultivation of vipassana
(vipassana-bhavana)?

Contrary to the representation of the exegetical tradition itself, the path clearly underwent
significant modification in the intervening period between the suttas and the interpretive tradition
as it was received by Anuruddha. It was reconceptualized through the lens of the
samatha/vipassana dichotomy and on the basis of the three trainings as linearly conceived (and
the seven stages of purification as an expansion of this linear model). The resulting formulation
was neither the same as the original, nor totally distinct; it was however, undeniably, the product
of a long process of development across key shifts in hermeneutics, as its course was worked out,

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charted, and re-charted, as one of the interpretive tradition's central projects, perennially
occupying it over the centuries.
It is noteworthy that both the Path of Purification (Vism) and the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) end on the same note: one that may reflect a key polemic of the era (or in
Anuruddha's case, the polemics of a bygone era, now enshrined in doctrine): that of nirodha-
samapatti. This may be understood, I think, as indicative of the governing centrality of the
samatha-vipassana contrast within the exegetical tradition. The Mahavihara interpretive
tradition's use of nirodha-samapatti can be understood as cementing the trumping of samatha by
insight, and reifying their categorical difference: in the theory as construed in the Mahavihara, it
is essentially a samatha attainment accessible only to those who had perfected insight to a
requisite degree: i.e. not via a trajectory of development of samatha alone, which could take only
to nevasannanasannayatana (the highest attainment on the trajectory of jhanic development
approachable by cultivation of lokiya samatha), and not to nirodha, constituted as one step
beyond this on the same trajectory. It was only via insight, however, as a pre-requisite, that
access to this final, crowning samatha attainment could be gained. Nirodha-samapatti was
construed as a fruit; not an attainment like the others: we find it classed unambiguously as such
in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s concluding chapter – the highest fruit; a crowning
samatha achievement attainable only via accomplishment in insight, effectively subordinating
samatha to vipassana and vividly depicting the trumping of concentration by liberating insight.
The Mahavihara interpretive tradition's theory of nirodha cemented doctrinally the relationship
of samatha and vipassana (or rather, their estrangement) as separate, sequential, and
hierarchically ordered.
The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s culmination on this note, on the model of the
Path of Purification (Vism), perhaps gives us a hint as to the underlying polemics (of which
nirodha-samapatti can be seen as emblematic) that determined Anuruddha's eventual account.
We may also discern in it the extent of the influence that these polemics exerted on the
theorization and reformulation of the path in the hands of the exegetical tradition that gave rise to
Anuruddha. The works' culminating on nirodha-samapatti (to be distinguished from the mere
attainment of arahatship261) as a crowning samatha accomplishment attainable only in the wake
of and by virtue of prior cultivation of insight (in the view of the Mahavihara interpretive
tradition) signaled the triumph of insight over samatha in the new paradigm of their staticized
divorce and now hierarchically ordered, sequentially conceptualized development. Samatha and
vipassana become the two poles on which the revised model of the path is conceived, one
pertaining to the near shore, and one to the far; they serve as the two anchoring points on which
the seven stages of purification are spread as a bridge. This was a dichotomy that evolved in the
interpretive tradition out of their divorce and determined above all else the way the path was
conceptualized and the form that its grand synthesis eventually took. It is through this
background that it comes down to us, and before us to Anuruddha, who played a key role in the
fixing and embellishing of its form (and rendering it in three dimensions, so to speak), from
whose hands we receive the final product.

261
Nirodhasamapatti in the understanding of the Mahavihara interpretive tradition was an optional samatha
attainment accessible only to anagamī-s and arahants who had cultivated the eight jhana-s in addition to insight.
An arahant who had done so was known as ubhato-bhaga-vimutta "liberated with a share in both" (the fruits of
vipassana as well as samatha).

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Section III.
The Literary Depiction of the Path in Anuruddha

In Anuruddha's rendering, the treatment of the path assumes a curious structure, in large
part due to the constraints of these inherited conventions. Samatha-bhavana and vipassana-
bhavana were now hermeneutically read as sequentially and hierarchically ordered, and their
exegesis followed suit, as if reifying and reinforcing this hermeneutics (but perhaps, as Analayo
2016b suggested, playing a part in creating them). It was a matter of course, inherited from
Anruddha's Path of Purification (Vism) model, that a thorough treatment of samatha would
precede and a thorough independent treatment of vipassana follow. As if straining against the
artificiality of this convention, however, Anuruddha finds himself constantly moving back and
forth between domains, as if yearning to bridge the difference. He thus finds himself where
applicable entering into depictions of samatha objects culminating, via insight methodology
applied subsequently to these same objects262 in nibbana, while still in the domain of samatha
and before even initiating his treatment of the cultivation of insight per se.
These forays into insight reveal the artificiality of the totalizing separation of the
treatment of the two, but also grow out of it: it is natural that each object amenable to the
application of insight, after being used to develop the respective level of worldly concentration to
which is conducive, should, culminate in a “shift” to a mode of cultivating insight on the basis of
that same object, and issue, if successful, in nibbana (via the same sequence of insight
knowledges, regardless of the object: the trajectory of insight is now generalized and
independent of the object). This manifests, for example, in the form of “vipassana appendices” at
the conclusion of the treatment of many of the objects, detailing how they may be worked with
alternatively in an insight mode. An example of this is such a coda on the treatment of kayagata
sati, in which it is stated that the object may (and should) be engaged, not just as depicted, for (in
the case of that object) the cultivation of asubha (the perception of the body as “unlovely”) but,
if taken as a stationary object of concentration, may be used just like a kasiṇa for the cultivation
of the samatha, or, if taken as an object in flux, for discerning the three characteristics, it
becomes an object on the basis of which insight can be cultivated (vipassana-kammaṭṭhana) and
may lead (via the chain of insight knowledges not yet treated) to liberation:

asubhākāram ārabbha, bhāvanā ce pavattati,

kammaṭṭhānaṃ paṭikkūlaṃ, paṭhamajjhānikaṃ siyā. 1251

If the practice takes place

on the basis of the [body part's] not-lovely aspect,
then the meditation-subject is repulsiveness,
and may lead to the first jhana.

nīlādivaṇṇam ārabbha, paṭibhāgo yadā tadā,

nīlādikasiṇaṃ hutvā, pancakajjhānikaṃ bhave. 1252

262
cf. the "vipassana appendix" structure, occurring in Namar-p chs. 9 & 10, treating samatha kammaṭṭhana-s.

119
 (If it takes place) on the basis of the color [of the part], blue or so on,
when the counterpart [sign arises], then
becoming the blue kasiṇa, or so on,
it would become conducive to the five jhanas (the four rupa-jhana-s of the suttas
traditionally reckoned as five in an abhidhammic mode of analysis).

lakkhaṇākāram ārabbha, cintanā ce pavattati,

vipassanākammaṭṭhānam iti bhāsanti paṇḍitā. 1253

If reflection proceeds
on the basis of the (three) characteristics,
it becomes a vipassana meditation-subject --
so say the wise.

tidhā pabhedam icc' evaṃ, bhāvento puna buddhimā,

kāyagatāsatiṃ nāma, bhāvetī 'ti pavuccati. 1254

One who is astute, developing

this "bodily awareness"
develops it, it's said,
with this threefold division, thus.

Similar appendices describing the formless attainments (vv. 1482-), the six abhiñña-s (v.1502-),
and even an object like the resolution into elements (catudhatuvavatthana v. 1461-), which from
an earlier perspective was already considered to be within the domain of insight, but from the
perspective of rigid separation of samatha and vipassana, and a generalized, universalized
treatment of insight that now did not focus on the breakdown into the elements as a key aspect of
it, a distinction was drawn between the analysis of the elements for the cultivation of samatha
and the analysis of elements in the service of vipassana. Though the samatha application
culminates in descriptions that resemble, to all purposes, vipassana, it is relegated to samatha
until it engages insight in the (post-)canonical terms. The samatha description of the object
culminates in descriptions reminiscent of insight:

Manual of Discerning (Nāmar-p) ch. 10: Analysis of the Four Elements (samatha method)

icc evaṃ catukoṭṭhāso, dhātumatto kaḷevaro;

niccetano ca nissatto, nissāro parabhojano. 1454

This body thus consisting of these four,

just mindless elements;
devoid of any individual
or essence; food for other beings;

ritto tuccho ca sunno ca, vivitto ca pavajjito;

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 attā vā attanīyaṃ vā, n' atth' ev' ettha kathanci 'pi. 1455

without substance or meaning, empty,

and avoided, on its own;
there is, herein, no self, nor anything, by any means,
[to call] one's own.

kevalaṃ cetanāviṭṭho, kāyo 'yaṃ parivattati;

kampito yāya yantaṃ 'va, sādhippāyo 'va khāyati. 1456

This body goes around

laid hold of by volition;
by which, like a machine, it's made to move,
and appears as if it has its own intent.

āyu usmā ca vinnāṇaṃ, yadā kāyaṃ jahant' imaṃ;

apaviddho tadā seti, niratthaṃ 'va kalingaraṃ. 1457

Life, heat and consciousness:

when these desert this body,
it lies cast off
like a useless piece of wood.

viparītaṃ papancentā, bahudhā mohapārutā,

yattha micchāvipallāsaparābhūtā puthujjanā. 1458

upon which common people,

cloaked in ignorance, weave
illusions to the contrary of all sorts,
victim to distortions of perception,

saṃsāraddhānakantāraṃ, caturāpāyasankaraṃ,
byasanekāyanopāyaṃ, nātivattanti dujjanā. 1459

and, in their folly, cannot cross beyond

the wasteland of their passage through saṃsara,
mingling with the four lower worlds,
a means of coming only to misfortune.

Reminiscent of Buddhist insight as this is, for the exegetical tradition, these reflections were now
understood as still within the domain of samatha. We are told in the next verse that the samatha
of one who sees the body via its break-down into the four elements thus is that of upacara
samadhi:

121
 so yam evaṃ catuddhā ti, dhātubhedena passato,
tassopacāriko nāma, samatho hoti cetasi. 1460

The tranquillity in the mind

of him who sees which [body] thus,
as, by the elements' division, of four parts,
is one of upacara concentration.

Following upon this, the text continues, one may go on to discern these elements in terms of the
material and mental dharmas that constitute the field of experience (evoking
namarupaparicchedannaṇa, the first stage of insight as (post-)canonically conceived), and
apprehend their lasting only as long as their conditions (evoking paccaya-pariggahannaṇa “the
apprehension of conditionality”, the second stage of insight as (post-)canonically conceived); and
thence, discerning with insight (vipassanto) their arising and passing away (udayabbaya),
internally just as externally, he may proceed to cultivate vipassana on the basis of the elements.
Rather than being construed as an integral part of vipassana, the four elements have ironically
been initially reduced, in the rigidity of the two-tier method of exposition, to a samatha object
interchangeable with any other. To the logic of the exegetical tradition, the cultivation of
vipassana was necessarily subsequent to and categorically distinct from its initial engagement in
a samatha mode:

Manual of Discerning (Nāmar-p) ch. 10: Analysis of the Four Elements (cont.)
Appendix: Vipassana on the basis of catu-dhatu-vavatthana

itthaṃ dhātuvavatthānaṃ, katvā tad-anusārato,

upādārūpadhamme ca, nāmadhamme ca sabbathā, 1461

Having brought about the definition of the elements in this way,

following on that,
he apprehends the components (dhamma-s) of the somatic structure derived from them,
and the components of the psychic structure, thorough-goingly,

bhūmibhūte pariggayha, passanto paccayaṭṭhitiṃ,

ajjhattan ca bahiddhā ca, vipassanto 'dayabbayaṃ. 1462

that constitute the ground --

and seeing that they last only as long as their conditions,
discerning now with wisdom,
their arising and their passing, inside him as outside him;

yathābhūtam abhinnāya, nibbindanto virajjati;

virāgā ca vimuccitvā, pāragū 'ti pavuccati. 1463

and knowing them directly, as they are,

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 he's disenchanted; his craving for them fades;
and from its fading he's set free --
declared then "one who's reached the other shore".

The recollection of death, for its part, is not so divided, being accorded neither a clear status as
either one or the other, but given an interesting twist and used as a pivotal turning point between
the two. Reflection on the inevitability of death provides the impetus, much as in canonical
representations of saṃvega, to walk begin walking the path of practice in earnest” handaham
arabhissami, sammasambuddha-sasane; “Alright then, I shall make a start / in the fully and
rightly Awakened One's instructions,” (1229) becoming paṭipattiparo “wholly intent on progress
on the path” (1230).

handāham ārabhissāmi, sammāsambuddha-sāsane;

ātāpī pahitatto ca, hirottappasamāhito. 1229

Alright then, I shall make a start

in the fully and rightly Awakened One's instructions,
ardent and engaged,
concentrated, with caution and concern.

paṭipattiparo hutvā, pāpadhammanirankato;

nibbāpayāmi accantaṃ, sabbadukkha-hutāvahaṃ. 1230

And now wholly intent on making progress on the path,

ridden of unwholesome dhammas,
I'll ultimately quench
the whole conflagration of suffering.

itthaṃ pan' attano yogī, maraṇaṃ paṭicintayaṃ,

maraṇānussatiṃ nāma, bhāvetī 'ti pavuccati. 1231

And reflecting in this way

upon his own death,
the yogī, it's said, develops
"mindfulness of death".

We have seen that for Anuruddha the turn to practice in earnest with the resolve:
nibbapayami accantaṃ, sabbadukkha-hutavahaṃ “I'll ultimately quench / the whole
conflagration of suffering” (1230) entailed a turn to insight. And indeed this maraṇanussati, one
of the forty objects for the cultivation of samatha, has been re-configured by Anuruddha largely
as a point of transition to the cultivation of insight: it is only with this transition that, in the
meditation theory as Anuruddha received it, one genuinely “makes a start” (1229) in the
Buddha's instructions. Anuruddha's ninth chapter reworks the “ten recollections” as systematized
in the Path of Purification (Vism) as a sequence spread over two chapters into a single, coherent

123
trajectory that replicates the meditation theory of the exegetical tradition. In Anuruddha's
depiction, the ten recollections are sequentially and cumulatively modeled, as if being
sequentially undertaken by a paradigmiatic practitioner (yogi, in the text's terminology). They are
thus lent a progressive character not present in any prior depiction that I am aware of. They have
subtly been transformed from multiple topics to stages. Anuruddha has slightly rearranged the
order of the recollections, and in some cases limited their scope,263 in order to conform to the
hierarchically ordered arc of progress he has in mind. This begins with devotional reflections on
the triple gem; proceeds through the mundane kusala kammapatha qualities of dana, sīla, and so
forth, and begins to aspire for a higher wellbeing with a repositioned “recollection of peace”,
which in Path of Purification (Vism) was the final recollection in the series, but has been
repositioned by Anuruddha to the end of the lower recollections indicative of the mundane
sphere, all likewise pertaining to the preliminary level of concentration, upacara-samadhi. He
also treats the recollection of [nibbana as the highest] peace strictly aspirationally rather than as
a recollection in the wake of the attainment of nibbana (unlike Vism). Adding upasamanussati to
the end of the Vism's “cha anussati-s” unit (Vism ch. VII) (which provenes as a unit from the
suttas264), yields in Anuruddha's treatment the novel “sattanussati”, “seven recollections” (1205).
Anuruddha, master of systematization that he is, evidently does this re-ordering in order to create
the effect of a coherent arc of progress in conformity with the meditation theory underpinning
the text, proceeding from lower level of concentration (samatha) to higher, and culminating in
vipassana,
The extensive treatment of anapana that the chapter concludes with (much longer than
the treatment of any of the other objects) serves this purpose by being tightly framed on a single
expository rubric derived from the Path of Purification (Vism) schematizing its step-by-step
development in eight stages: the initial four pertaining to samatha and the attainment of jhana,
the latter four pertaining to the onward cultivation of vipassana on the basis of the attained
jhana.265 This allows ample treatment of a crowning vipassana mode of engagement (vipassana-
naya) (CITE v. ) on a single kammaṭṭhana on the basis of which samatha has been cultivated to
its maximum potential, prior to the turn to insight and its higher potential. Anapana, which
Anuruddha refers to as the “king” or “overlord” of meditation objects (kammaṭṭhanadhiraja
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) v. 1257) is ideally suited to portraying the full arc of
culmination in insight without necessitating an extraneous appendix: the appendix being built
into the exegetic convention already, as it were, in the eight stages scheme adapted from the
Vism, which is perhaps why it is showcased to the extent that it is.
Anuruddha's choice to weave the ten recollections into a coherent structure, in addition to
turning them into a miniature treatise on meditation encapsulating the Mahavihara's theory of
meditation, doctrinally, additionally served a literary end, dramatizing their progressive
unfolding within the model yogī, recollecting. This had the effect of personalizing the depiction
263
In the Path of Purification (Vism)'s exposition, the initial contemplations of Buddha, dhamma, and sangha, for
example, are primarily intended as reflections undertaken by noble disciples on the basis of avecca-pasada, or
“unshakeable faith” obtained in the wake of attainment; they may additionally be practiced prior to attainment
(according the Vism, as the exceptional case) but without producing their full effect (CITE Vism). Anuruddha,
by contrast, represents them as exclusively pertaining to the latter case, not presupposing attainment.
264
e.g. AN 6.10.
265
vv. 1260-1261. The theory of yuganaddha made even the kasiṇas amenable to insight practice, theoretically. This
was in fact the paradigmatic application of insight within the new framework.

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of the path's doctrinally charted stages. While the Path of Purification (Vism) often included
vivid and memorable analogies amidst its expositions, the encyclopedic character of the account
rendered them disconnected and impersonal. Anuruddha, in joining his doctrinal expositions to
depictions of the insights they represented unfolding from a unitary vantage point, lent his
depictions an unprecedented immediacy. As poetry, moreover, evoking these insights by the
power of suggestion (through long forays into images and metaphor rather than analytical
dissection), the insights they evoked could resonate and affectively impact the audience in a way
that most commentarial literature could not.
This represents a key feature of Anuruddha's handling of the abhidhammic subject matter
that was not accustomed to such a treatment. Anuruddha's literary and aestheticized mode of
engagement made possible a heretofore unrealized evocation of the path: one on a human scale,
vividly portraying its sequential unfolding as seen through the eyes of the ideal practitioner in
whose perspective the text locates the reader.
Pali style – commentarial as well – can often yield a quite immediate and emotive
representation of the perspectives it portrays, simply by virtue of its default preference for direct
quotation (iti clauses) rather than indirect quotation. (It shares this feature, of course, with
Sanskrit as well as South Indian languages). At the simple level of linguistic convention, one
says in Pali not “He sees that it is impermanent,” but, “He sees: 'it's impermanent'.” While Pali
has no exclamation point, context often seemingly supplies one – yielding as often as not
delightfully direct and dramatic representations as a matter of course. In Anuruddha, however,
this is taken to a much further degree, with long flights of verse placing us within the modeled
subjectivity of the perspective it evokes. These extended forays into subjective perspective
create the effect almost of frame-narrative as we slip again and again from doctrinal exposition
into the experiencing of those doctrinal realizations. Descriptions of canonical realizations blend
precipitously into depictions of their experiencing.
If Anuruddha's style represents a literary rendering of the “map” of the path (as charted
by the Mahavihara interpretive tradition) it is not that of a map as conceived from modernity's
top-down perspective, but from the horizontal vantage point of the path-farer in motion, such as
that which characterized pre-modern maps.266 Anuruddha depicts the path as traversed, as a
plotted series of modeled experience.
The novelty of Anuruddha's treatment lies in his fleshing out of the schematic framework
provided by his abhidhammic subject matter (and here the formulation of the path of practice in
an abhidhammic context) with the rich evocation of experience. The Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) provides a paradigmatic portrayal of the path as experienced, rather than merely as
categorically defined. Anuruddha's lengthy and detailed elaboration of the alterations of
perspective and motivation that lead up to the pursuit of meditation in the prelude to the earth
kasiṇa is a prime example of this. Over the course of 125 verses, shifts in perspective are
portrayed, emblematic of the discernment of the danger and degradation (adinava) in the pursuit
of objects of desire, of the desirability of their renunciation, disenchantment with the flaring up
of internal afflictions as obstructive to that, and the cultivation of meditative progress as the way
to exercise control over these from moment to moment – culminating in the development
('purification' in the terminology of the text) of the disposition (ajjhasaya) to undertake the path
in practice (paṭipatti) by actively cultivating samatha and vipassana. This dramatization is
266
Thongchai Winichakul 1988, discussed in Anderson 2006, 171-172.

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nowhere so vividly or relatably portrayed:

The Prelude to Undertaking Cultivation

Summary of the steps preceding meditation from the Path of Purification (Vism)'s bhavana-
vidhana section:267

1. “appassada kama” ti-adina nayena kamesu adīnavaṃ paccavekkhitva,

2. kamanissaraṇe sabbadukkhasamatikkamupayabhūte nekkhamme jatabhilasena,
buddhadhamma-sanghaguṇanussaraṇena pītipamojjaṃ janayitva,
3. “ayaṃ dani sa sabbabuddha-paccekabuddha-ariyasavakehi paṭipanna
nekkhammapaṭipada” ti paṭipattiya sañjatagaravena, “addha imaya paṭipadaya
pavivekasukharasassa bhagī bhavissamī” ti ussahaṃ janayitva,
4. samena akarena cakkhūni ummīletva nimittaṃ gaṇhantena bhavetabbaṃ.268

1. Having reviewed the danger in objects of desire;

2. and given rise to deep longing for renunciation as the means of leaving suffering
behind;
and given rise to joy and gladness recalling the qualities of the Buddha, dhamma, and
sangha;
3. and given rise to deep respect for the practice of renunciation of objects of desire as the
path followed by all Buddhas and arahants; and given rise to effort, [thinking:] "I too
shall be one who partakes of the taste of the pleasure of seclusion by this path" –
4. setting his eyes upon the object without strain (samena akarena, see note in
introduction to translation of ch. 8), he should grasp and cultivate the sign.

What is portrayed as a series of prescriptive injunctions in a single line in the Path of

Purification (Vism) is expanded into ~125 verses of chiefly descriptive nature in the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) (vv. 918-1043). Anuruddha frequently marks his descriptive elaborations
of schematic prescriptions received through the exegetical tradition with rhetorical questions of
the structure: “How should he do x or cultivate x?” --
ex.
kāmesv ādīnavaṃ disvā, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato,
pariyuṭṭhānanibbinno, sodheyy' ajjhāsayaṃ kathaṃ? 918

How should one purify the disposition (to practice),

having seen the danger in desires,
and their renunciation as safety,
disenchanted with the [kilesas'] flaring up?

Much of the novelty of Anuruddha's treatment can be considered these expansions of the how of
prescriptions embedded in expository rubrics into vivid depictions of their dynamic process and
267
Vism IV, bhavanavidhana, §27 = trans. Nyanamoli/Bodhi, pp. 123-124 (the translation here is mine).
268
Vism IV, §27.

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experience. Anuruddha's how often charts lengthy transformations of perspective evoked through
long, poetic excursuses that utilize the power of poetry to vividly convey to the reader the
process of coming to the vision they entail.
The arrival to the discernment of “kamesu adinava” (the dreadfulness and degradation, or
'danger' in objects of desire) begins canonically enough with allusions their being appassada,
mahadukkha, “of little relish and great pain” --

appassādā mahādukkhā, kāmā hi kaṭukapphalā;

dussaṃhārā durārakkhā, bahvādīnavasaṇṭhitā. 919

Sense-pleasures are of little relish

and great pain: their fruits are burning hot;
difficult to gather and retain,
entailing many dangers...

-- but rapidly proceeds to a stream of novel metaphors that flow by in a musing play of poetry
that develops as an extended reflection:

cetosaṃmohanaṭṭhānaṃ, pamādaparipanthakaṃ;
ohāri sithilaṃ c' etaṃ, duppamuncan ca bandhanaṃ. 940

This is the site of the heart's beguiling,

and heedlessness's ambush;
and heavy is its hold, both loose,
and difficult to get free of.

jālaṃ 'va vitataṃ loke, mārapāso samoḍḍito,

panjaraṃ cārako c' eso, sattānam anayāvaho. 941

Like a net spread in the world,

Mara's snare laid out,
this is beings' cage, their prison,
bringing them their ruination.

yatthānurāgasambaddhā, paliguṇṭhitasāyino;
makkaṭālepabaddhā 'va, nitthunanti vighātino. 942

Bound fast by their love of which [ object of desire],

lying there ensnared,
bound as it were by monkey hunters' pitch,
they screech awaiting death.

baḷisaṃ v' āmisacchannaṃ, savisaṃ viya bhojanaṃ;

migaludda-nivāpo 'va, vināsāya samoḍḍitā. 943

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 Like a baited hook,
like poisoned food,
they're spread for their downfall;
just like the fodder that the hunter spreads for deer,

mīnakā vankagiddhā 'va, ye gilitvā puthujjanā,

ghoraṃ maccumukhaṃ patvā, socantāpāyabhāgino. 944

having swallowed which the common masses

grieve, partakers only of the realms of woe,
greedy for the hooks, like little fish,
arriving at the merciless mouth of death.

Anuruddha's verses sweep one away with their extended flights of poetic reverie, and the
unfolding perspective that gradually comes into focus through them:

pāpakkhettam idaṃ ṭhānam icchālobhanisevanaṃ;

duccaritankurārohaṃ, apāyaphalapūraṇaṃ. 945

It's this, the site of the field of demerit,

with its tending of desire and greed,
sprouting tender shoots of wrongful deeds,
and yielding as its fruits the lower worlds.

ajjhositā pan' ettha ca, lobhamucchāvidāhino,

kodhūpanāhajalitā, issāmaccheradhūpitā, 946

And those disposed (ajjhosita, cf. ajjhasaya, “disposition”) toward this,

burning with desire and infatuation,
enflamed with anger and resentment,
fuming with envy and loath to share,

sārambhāyudhasannaddhā, vipphuranta-manorathā,
ābandhicchā-mahākacchā, ṭhanti lokavipattiyā. 947

stand, in their scintillating fantasies, as it were,

in chariots of war, high-flanked by bound desire,
and armed by their aggression and its weapons,
ready for the mishap of the world.

Anuruddha weds poetry's expansive power of suggestion with the analytical clarity and
precision of the abhidhamma. Though fanciful, his verses never dissolve into enigmatic
ambiguity, or lose their track: they are always in the service of elaborating a clearly defined and

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precise concept, and are clear about what that is. In verse 946 above, the line “And those
disposed (ajjhosita, cf. ajjhasaya, “disposition”) toward this (viz., the “field of demerit” that
objects of desire are the site of, in contrast to nekkhamma as the site of the field of merit, v.
963) ...stand ready for the mishap of the world” neatly anchors the poetic elaboration in an
ongoing reflection on the theme of the purification of the requisite ajjhasaya “disposition” for
taking up the path of practice. The verses' reflections very graphically depict the development or
“purification” of that disposition, as it emerges through them.
People disposed in this way toward objects of desire are thus depicted as waging a war in
pursuit of those objects, and as ultimately losing them, in spite of their efforts, despite their
efforts to obtain and retain them. In the process, they are “eaten away” from within by their
kilesa-s, which they host unknowingly, like worms, gradually depleting them until the “river of
craving” rained into spate by their heedlessness, eventually washes them helplessly out to sea at
the end of their lives, their objects of desire already dwindled away:

gāmasūkarapotā 'va, kāmāsucipariplutā,

cāmarīkatakammantā, asmiṃ loke palobhitā. 953

Like village piglets in their youth,

wallowing in the filth of their desires,
their actions like those of a fly-whisk,
hungering after this world.

khajjamānā kilesehi, kimīhi 'va nirantaraṃ;

parihāniṃ pan' annāya, parivārenti mucchitā. 954

Being eaten away by their kilesas,

ceaselessly, as if by worms,
they continue to host them, deluded,
not realizing the harm.

tato jarābhisantattaṃ, yobbanan copamuyhati;

kāmā ca parihāyanti, jīvitan coparujjhati. 955

Then, burnt up by old age,

their youth, too, becomes confused;
its objects of desire waste away
and life begins to cease.

paraṃ pamādābhivaṭṭhā, pāpaklesamahodakā,

tato taṇhānadī pūrā, pāpetāpāyasāgaraṃ. 956

Then, rained on by heedlessness to inundation,

heavy with waters of evil and affliction,
the river of craving, then, full,

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 carries them out to sea, to the lower worlds.

idhalokapariccattā, paralokatthadhaṃsitā,
gangākuṇapakākā 'va, senti sokaparāyaṇā. 957

Lost to this world,

and hopes for the next brought to ruin,
they lie like the crows on a corpse in the Ganges,
destined for sorrow.

Thus, Anuruddha concludes --

iti sādīnavā kāmā, ghorā sattisulūpamā,

yattha bālā visīdanti, n'atthi sango vijānataṃ. 959

It's thus that "desires are accompanied by danger,"

merciless like lances and spears,
onto which the ignorant sink down:
those knowing this don't have association with them.

In contrast to the perilous battleground to which objects of desire pertain, renunciation is

poetically depicted as an impenetrable fortress (puraṃ), a bastion of stability amidst such
worldly conflict, peopled by the wise:

sabbākāravaropetam etaṃ nekkhammasammataṃ,

sīlagambhīraparikhaṃ, dhutangoditatoraṇaṃ. 981

This [fortress (puraṃ)] held to be renunciation

is possessed of each and every finest feature:
with sīla's deep encircling trench,
with the dhutanga-s as its lofty arches; ... etc.

abhejjaṃ pāpaverīhi, puraṃ sugata-māpitaṃ,

anītim anupasaggaṃ, paṭipannā mahesayo, 984

the fortress founded by the Awakened One himself,

impregnable to foes, to any evil,
untroubled, unassaulted.
And great sages who embark upon its path,

paramassāsasampattā, paripuṇṇamanorathā,
sabbasangam atikkamma, nikkhantā akuto-bhayā, 985

attained unto the highest reassurance,

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 their dreams fulfilled,
renouncing all, gone forth, knowing no danger,
from any quarter, transcending all attachment,

sammadattham abhinnāya, maccudheyyap-pahāyino,

sabbadukkhoghanittiṇṇā, pāraṃ gacchanti paṇḍitā. 986

having directly known true welfare,

leaving the domain of death behind,
go, having crossed the deluge of all pain,
to the other shore, as men of wisdom.

Hearkening back to the beginning of his exposition, v. 918's nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato,
taking the famous line from the Suttanipata's pabbajja-sutta as its point of departure -- in which
the aspiring Buddha, freshly gone forth, expresses his mentality to King Bimbisara when he
offers him riches, saying, kamesv adinavaṃ disva, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato / padhanaya
gamissami, ettha me ranjati mano 'ti (Sn v. 426), Anuruddha now poetically elaborates the
element of seeing renunciation as safety into the metaphoric imagery of nekkhamma as an
impenetrable fortress, immune to the travails of worldly desires.
Again, this is poetic imagery in the service of elucidating technical terms; not a flight of
fancy. The technical stage in question is the second stage of the above rubric from the Path of
Purification (Vism):

2. kamanissaraṇe sabbadukkhasamatikkamupayabhute nekkhamme jatabhilasena, buddha-

dhamma-sangha-guṇanussaraṇena pitipamojjaṃ janayitva “having given rise to gladness
with joy through the recollection of the good qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and
Sangha, with deep longing arisen for renunciation as the way out of objects of desire,
serving as a means of leaving all suffering behind; (Vism IV, §27).

Anuruddha's verses turn this from an injunction to a vivid depiction of its process.

A long section follows, perhaps intended to add intensity to the abhilasa “deep longing”
felt for renunciation. It introduces a key term absent from the Path of Purification (Vism)'s
treatment of the subject but central to Anuruddha's: that of the pariyuṭṭhana, 'flaring up' of
internal afflictions (the kilesa-s):

iti sabbangasampannaṃ, mahesigaṇasevitaṃ,

nekkhammaṃ kāmanikkhantaṃ, saddhamma-patham uttamaṃ, 987
&
virādhenti parābhūtā, mucchitā yena dujjanā,
taṃ pāpasamudācāraṃ, pariyuṭṭhānam abravuṃ. 988

They've called the activity of unwholesome [mental factor-s] --

overcome by which the mean,

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 befuddled, miss
the peerless path of the true teaching,
renunciation, leaving objects of desire behind,
frequented by hosts of saints and seers
and consummate, like this, in every way –
“the [kilesa-s'] flaring up”.

It is this “flaring up” of unwholesome mental factors, or the 'kilesa-s' that threatens to hoodwink
one and make one miss the path out of suffering:

cetonīvaraṇaṃ c'etaṃ, pannācakkhunirodhanaṃ;

sīlopaghātakaraṇaṃ, cittavikkhepasangamo. 989

This is the hindering of the heart,

and obstructing of the wisdom eye;
it is the cause of virtue's downfall:
it's the meeting of the mind with perturbation.

Hearkening again back to the initial expository verse of the section, it is disenchantment with this
flaring up that marks the culmination of the series 1. seeing the danger in objects of desire and 2.
seeing their renunciation as safety; resulting in disenchantment with the kilesa-s' flaring up,
constituting the development of the requisite mental disposition to take up meditation (bhavana)
as the path of practice and application of the teaching (paṭipatti):

kāmesv ādīnavaṃ disvā, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato,

pariyuṭṭhānanibbinno, sodheyy' ajjhāsayaṃ kathaṃ? 918

How should one purify the disposition (to practice),

having seen the danger in desires,
and their renunciation as safety,
disenchanted with the [kilesa-s'] flaring up?

The disenchantment with pariyuṭṭhana is a theme intimitely connected to the motivation to

meditate in Anuruddha's treatment. This theme differentiated his treatment from that of the
Vism. A lengthy condemnation of unwholesome mantal qualities (dhamma-s) follows:

dhir atthu pāpadhammānaṃ, sabbakalyāṇa-hārinaṃ;

laddhā 'pi khaṇasampatti, dullabhā yehi nāsitā. 994

Accursed be unwholesome dhammas!

that take every good away;
by which the wealth of the right moment (to work for liberation),
so rare, though gained, is lost!

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 tesaṃ hi samudācāro, dullabhaṃ buddhasāsanaṃ,
samuddhaṃseti asani, yathā ratanapabbataṃ. 995

For their activity destroys

the precious teaching of the Buddha;
like a lightning bolt destroying
a hill of precious stone.

saddhammadhanacorā te, nekkhamma-paripanthakā;

paṭipattiṃ vilumpantā, palibundhanti pāṇino. 996

They are thieves of the true dhamma's wealth,

looters of renunciation;
stealing progress on the path,
they block the way for beings.

Reflection in this way on pariyuṭṭhana as the prime obstacle to renunciation and following 'the
peerless path of the true dhamma' (987) yields the desire to have recourse to meditation to quell
such “flarings up” from moment to moment, as and when they arise:

itthaṃ hitasamucchedī, kumaggo 'yaṃ rajāpatho,

pāpadhammappavattī 'ti, viditvā puna paṇḍito, 1018

Realizing that unwholesome dhammas' occurrence,

is a dangerous course, a path of dust,
that cuts off welfare thus,
becoming wise,

pariyuṭṭhānasaṃklesaṃ, vipphurantaṃ visārado,

paṭisankhāya rundheyya, manteneva mahāvisaṃ. 1019

now able, one should arrest

the flaring up's affliction as it sparks,
with wise reflection,
as one arrests great poison with a mantra.

khippam ādittacelo 'va, pāpapāvakam uṭṭhitaṃ,

bhāvanājalasekena, nibbāpeyya nirantaraṃ. 1020

Swiftly, like one's whose dress has caught on fire,

one should immediately put out
the flaring fire of unwholesomeness,
by throwing on it meditation's water.

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 appamādena medhāvī, nageneva mahānadiṃ,
pāpoghaṃ paṭibandhanto, pidaheyya khaṇe khaṇe. 1021

Wisely, one should block with heedfulness,

the deluge of unwholesomeness
from moment to moment,
blocking its course as, with a mountain, a great river.

It is perhaps in this theme that Anuruddha's abhidhammic orientation reveals itself, representing
bhavana (meditation, or more specifically the 'cultivation' of samatha and vipassana) as the
means to weild influence over the wholesome or unwholesome dhamma-s or mental factors
(cetasika), as they arise from moment (and which the first half of his work is centrally concerned
with). In this, I believe his treatment is quite novel, integrating bhavana in a very convincing
way into his abhidhamma framework.

The practitioner is now characterized as making effort and thoroughly resolved upon
practice (paṭipatti), responding to the Path of Purification (Vism) injunction:

3. “ayaṃ dani sa sabbabuddha-paccekabuddha-ariyasavakehi paṭipanna

nekkhammapaṭipada” ti paṭipattiya sanjatagaravena, “addha imaya paṭipadaya
pavivekasukharasassa bhagi bhavissami” ti ussahaṃ janayitva,

"and given rise to deep respect for the practice of renunciation of objects of desire as the
path followed by all Buddhas and arahants; and given rise to effort, [thinking:] "I too
shall be one who partakes of the taste of the pleasure of seclusion by this path" –"

In Anuruddha's treatment, however, we observe the focus in fact shifting slightly from the theme
of nekkhamma as paṭipada to bhavana as paṭipatti. Anuruddha embeds the former wihin the
latter by invoking the theme of 'doing worship' to the Buddha through the practice of the
dhamma; paṭipatti is not just the resolved-upon object of respect (1028), but the means of
offering respect (1029):

anolīnamano yogī, niccāraddhaparakkamo,

susamāhitasankappo, vippasanno anāvilo. 1027

The yogī, with an uncomplacent heart,

and constantly engaged courageous valor,
with finely concentrated aspiration,
clear, unruffled,

okappento 'dhimuccanto, pannavā paṭipattiyaṃ,

pihayanto mamāyanto, sammāsambuddhasāsanaṃ. 1028

setting his mind on and wisely resolving

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 on practice of the path (paṭipatti),
feeling regard for and taking as his own
the Buddha's teaching.

iti nīvaraṇāpeto, nāṇālokajutindharo,

pūjeti sammāsambuddhaṃ, saddhamma-paṭipattiyā. 1029

Emerging from the hindrances like this,

resplendent with the light of understanding,
he does worship to the fully awakened Buddha
with his practice of the path of the true teaching.

Represented now as paṭipattiparayaṇo, “wholly intent on progress on the path”, the

practitioner is poised to partake of the bhavanarasaṃ (1039), the highest “essence of
meditation”. This is rephrased a few lines later as the highest bhavanasukhaṃ “pleasure of
meditation”, confirming that these phrases refer to the Vism's “addha imaya paṭipadaya
pavivekasukharasassa bhagi bhavissami”, to which he obtains access having purified his
disposition to completion (cf. 1043) inasmuch as he is now “wholly intent on progress on the
path” (1039). Anuruddha relates this rasa in the culminating metaphor of the section to the rasa
(in the sense of dye) of the famous vatthupama sutta (MN 7, also occurring as the culmination of
the often repeated 'gradual discourse' pericope), the canonical simile of the cloth that, cleansed of
its impurities, can then correctly take the dye:

anuddhato acapalo, danto gutto yatindriyo,

cetosamādhigaruko, sampajāno satīyuto. 1037

unagitated, unflighty,
tamed, guarded, with sense-faculties restrained,
giving importance to the concentration of his mind,
intent on mindfulness, discerning,

ussāhajāto saddhamme, chandajāto nirantaraṃ;

sātaccakārī svākāro, paṭipattiparāyaṇo, 1038

giving rise to effort, constantly

giving rise to motivation in the true teaching,
and continuously acting on it, well-disposed,
wholly intent on progress on the path,

cetokalankāpagato, bhāvanārasam uttamaṃ,

rangaṃ niddhotavatthaṃ 'va, sādhukaṃ paṭigaṇhati. 1039

gone away, the stains upon his heart,

(his mind) correctly takes

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 the highest essence of meditation,
like a cloth washed clean correctly takes the dye.

From here Anuruddha will enter his discussion of precisely how he does so, with a
detailed treatment of the mechanics of samatha, object by object, and then vipassana. His survey
of the development of the disposition to meditate accomplished a unique dramatization of the
otherwise perfunctory prescriptive rubric from the Path of Purification (Vism), expanded to
human scale. The theme of the purification of ajjhasaya in which he chose to locate this
dramatization is a development of the exegetical tradition, and perhaps unique to Anuruddha. We
have seen that its key elements, corresponding directly to the sections of Anuruddha's treatment,
were seeing the danger in objects of desire; seeing safety in renunciation, and becoming
disenchanted with the 'flaring up' of unwholesome dhamma-s, abhidhammically conceived. This
rubric is contained in verse 918. While its first two elements have clear canonical precedents, the
last is quite novel in how it portrays disenchantment with unwholesome dhammas as the
culminating factor of in developing the requisite mental disposition to take up bhavana in
earnest. This is clever synthesis on Anuruddha's part, and evidently marks a significant
contribution to the Mahavihara's project of charting the path.
No corresponding discussion of either ajjhasaya or pariyuṭṭhana, together or separately,
occurs in Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av). A discussion of the
pariyuṭṭhana occurs only twice in the Path of Purification (Vism): once at the very beginning,
prior to silaniddesa (the exposition of virtue section), describing what each of the three trainings
(tisso sikkha) “counteract” (that to which they respectively function as 'paṭipakkha',
'counteragent') – and we are told that by the training in samadhi the counteragent to the kilesa-s'
pariyuṭṭhana is exemplified: tatha silena kilesanaṃ vitikkamapaṭipakkho pakasito hoti,
samadhina pariyuṭṭhanapaṭipakkho, pannaya anusayapaṭipakkho. (Vism I, §13) (while the
training in sīla correspondingly exemplifies the counteragent to transgression on their basis, and
the training in wisdom exemplifies the counteragent to them in their latent state (as anusaya-s).
This is apt and Anuruddha's development of the theme may be seen as entirely coherent with this
theme, but a significant elaboration.
For the other engagement of pariyuṭṭhana in the Path of Purification (Vism), we must
turn to its exegesis of buddhanussati, in which it takes up the canonical pericope describing the
sequential emergence of the bojjhanga-s (as the segue to samadhi) on the basis of the
recollection of the Buddha, as described in AN VI 10, Mahanamasutta:

idha, mahanama, ariyasavako tathagataṃ anussarati — ‘iti pi so bhagava arahaṃ

sammasambuddho vijjacaraṇasampanno sugato lokavidū anuttaro purisadammasarathi
sattha devamanussanaṃ buddho bhagava’ti. yasmiṃ, mahanama, samaye ariyasavako
tathagataṃ anussarati n'ev' assa tasmiṃ samaye ragapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ hoti, na
dosapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ hoti, na mohapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ hoti; ujugatam ev' assa
tasmiṃ samaye cittaṃ hoti tathagataṃ arabbha. ujugatacitto kho pana, mahanama,
ariyasavako labhati atthavedaṃ, labhati dhammavedaṃ, labhati dhammūpasaṃhitaṃ
pamojjaṃ. pamuditassa pīti jayati, pītimanassa kayo passambhati, passaddhakayo
sukhaṃ vediyati, sukhino cittaṃ samadhiyati.

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 Here, Mahanama, a noble disciple recollects the Tathagata: ‘iti pi so bhagava
[etc.] ’ti. At the time at which the noble disciple recollects the Tathagata, his mind is not
flared up with craving; his mind is not flared up with aversion; his mind is not flared up
with delusion. At that time his mind is just straight, on the basis of the Tathagata. And a
noble disciple whose mind is straight, Mahanama, obtains delight in the meaning. He
obtains delight in the dhamma. He obtains gladness in connection with the dhamma. And
for one who feels gladdened, joy arises. And for one in whose mind there is joy, the body
relaxes. One whose body is relaxed feels pleasure. And the mind of one feeling pleasure
converges in samadhi.

This is very much one of the earliest representations of the path of practice, so its
handling by the exegetical tradition very much interests us, and Anuruddha's re-supplying of it
into his formulation of the path may well be a mark of fidelity to the path's earlier canonical
formulation. The sequence it describes as beginning with the mind obtaining temporary respite
from being 'flared up' or incited by craving, aversion, or delusion (n' ev' assa tasmiṃ samaye
ragapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ hoti...), on the basis of its sati (here, anussati: 'recollection'), is very
much one of the earliest models of the path occurring in various places throughout the canon,
constituting essentially what Rupert Gethin deems the “basic framework” of meditation as it
occurs in the nikayas, and the “master narrative” in the context of which disparate details
pertaining to depictions of practice scattered throughout the suttas should be understood.269 The
notion of pariyuṭṭhana, while not rendered a technical term as we find it being used by
Anuruddha, thus clearly had deep and legitimate canonical roots, the overcoming of which
through some form of sati constituted a key initial stage of progress on the path toward samadhi
(and the upekkha at samadhi's culmination, cf. the seven bojjhanga-s)
The concept of pariyuṭṭhana (of kilesa-s and of views) occurs numerous times in the Path
of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), and it is perhaps through this receptive tradition that we encounter it
as a somewhat technicalized term occurring alongside other conspicuous technical terminology
of the exegetical tradition in Buddhaghosa's exegesis of this passage in the Path of Purification
(Vism). Buddhaghosa glosses the sutta's statement as: "Applied and sustained thoughts (vitakka-
s and vicara-s) inclining toward the qualities of the Buddha occur to him, his mind 'straightened'
by its being directed toward the meditation object (kammaṭṭhanabhimukhata), its hindrances
(nivaraṇani) temporarily suspended (vikkhambhita) by the absence of the 'flaring up' of craving
and so forth (ragadipariyuṭṭhanabhavena)."270 Thus there is very good precedent for
269
Responding to claims of earlier scholarship focused on the disparateness of accounts and presuming their
irreconcilability, which Gethin suggests resulted in a lack of appreciation of the kind of underlying basic
framework that he suggests the texts imply (citing La Vallée Poussin 1927, Schmithausen 1981, Griffiths 1981,
Vetter 1988, Gombrich 1996 (Gethin 2004, 209).
270
tass' evaṃ imina ca imina ca karaṇena so bhagava arahaṃ ... pe ... imina ca imina ca karaṇena bhagavati
buddhaguṇe anussarato “neva tasmiṃ samaye ragapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ hoti, na dosapariyuṭṭhitaṃ, na
mohapariyuṭṭhitaṃ \Be I 206/ cittaṃ hoti. ujugatam eva 'ssa tasmiṃ samaye cittaṃ hoti tathagatam arabbha”
(AN b VI 10). icc assa evaṃ ragadipariyuṭṭhanabhavena vikkhambhitanīvaraṇassa kammaṭṭhanabhimukhataya
ujugatacittassa buddhaguṇapoṇa vitakkavicara pavattanti. buddhaguṇe anuvitakkayato anuvicarayato pīti
uppajjati. pītimanassa pītipadaṭṭhanaya passaddhiya kayacittadaratha paṭippassambhanti. passaddhadarathassa
kayikampi cetasikampi sukhaṃ uppajjati. sukhino buddhaguṇarammaṇaṃ hutva cittaṃ samadhiyatīti
anukkamena ekakkhaṇe jhanangani uppajjanti. buddhaguṇanaṃ pana gambhīrataya
nanappakaraguṇanussaraṇadhimuttataya va appanaṃ appatva upacarappattam eva jhanaṃ hoti. tad etaṃ

137
Anuruddha's inclusion of a discussion of pariyuṭṭhana as an initial stage of the path, but nothing
like the centrality he gives it in his treatment in the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p). This is the
only occurrence of the concept in the Path of Purification (Vism), and Anuruddha makes it the
cornerstone of his depiction of the development of the requisite disposition to take up paṭipatti
and the cultivation of samatha and vipassana, rendering disenchantment with 'the flaring up' a
quasi- technical term.
We obtain confirmation that there is more to the story of the historical development of
this segment of the path as it ultimately manifests in Anuruddha in the verses with which he ends
the section, summarizing the purification of ajjhasaya not in his initial terms of kamesv adinava,
seeing renunciation as safety, and becoming disenchanted with the 'pariyuṭṭhana of
unwholesome dhamma-s, but in the relatively unelaborated terms of the six dispositions that lead
to the maturation of awakening for bodhisatta-s (dispositions toward: alobha, adosa, amoha,
nekkhamma, paviveka, and nissaraṇa):

icc' alobham adosan ca, mohābhāvam athāparaṃ,

nekkhammaṃ pavivekan ca, tathā nissaraṇaṃ budho, 1042
&
samārabbha visodhento, ajjhāsayam asesato,
dhīro sampaṭipādeti, bhāvanāsukham uttamaṃ. 1043

Purifying his disposition, to completeness,

with reference, thus,
to non-craving and non-aversion,
to the absence of delusion,
to renunciation, and seclusion,
and, so, to the way out --
the steadfast wise one brings about
the supreme pleasure of meditation.

Elaborated at Vism III, §128 kammaṭṭhanagahaṇaniddeso, the passage suggests the evolving
conceptualization the path, as its occurred behind the scenes in and outside of the Mahavihara:

sampannajjhasayena sampannadhimuttina ca hutva ti ettha pana tena yogina

alobhadīnaṃ vasena chahakarehi sampannajjhasayena bhavitabbaṃ. evaṃ
sampannajjhasayo hi tissannaṃ bodhīnaṃ aññataraṃ papuṇati. yathaha, “cha ajjhasaya
bodhisattanaṃ bodhiparipakaya saṃvattanti, alobhajjhasaya ca bodhisatta lobhe
dosadassavino, adosajjhasaya ca bodhisatta dose dosadassavino, amohajjhasaya ca
bodhisatta mohe dosadassavino, nekkhammajjhasaya ca bodhisatta gharavase
dosadassavino, pavivekajjhasaya ca bodhisatta sangaṇikaya dosadassavino,
nissaraṇajjhasaya ca bodhisatta sabbabhavagatīsu dosadassavino” ti. ye hi keci
atītanagatapaccuppanna sotapannasakadagamianagamikhīṇasava-paccekabuddha-
sammasambuddha, sabbe te imeh' eva chahakarehi attana attana pattabbaṃ visesaṃ patta.
tasma imehi chahakarehi sampannajjhasayena bhavitabbaṃ.

buddhaguṇanussaraṇavasena uppannatta buddhanussati 'cc eva sankhaṃ gacchati. Vis VII §§65-66

138
 "having come to be endowed with the disposition and endowed with the resolve": here, a
yogī should come to be endowed with the disposition -- that is, with the six aspects, non-
craving and so forth. For, one endowed with the disposition like this attains one or the
other of the three kinds of awakening. As it says: "six dispositions lead to bodhisattas'
awakening's full maturation: ) bodhisattas disposed toward non-craving, who have seen
the flaw in craving; 2) bodhisattas disposed toward non-aversion, who have seen the flaw
in aversion; 3) bodhisattas disposed toward non-delusion, who have seen the flaw in
delusion; 4) bodhisattas disposed toward renunciation, who have seen the flaw in
household life; 5) bodhisattas disposed toward solitude, who have seen the flaw in
keeping company; 6) bodhisattas disposed toward [finding] a way out, who have seen the
flaw in all forms of existence and destinations of rebirth." For whatever stream-enterers,
once returners, non-returners, arahants, pacceka Buddhas, and fully enlightened Buddhas
there have been in the past, or will be in the future, or are presently arisen, all of them
have attained to their respective distinctions of attainment via these six aspects. Therefore
one should come to be endowed with the disposition with these six aspects."

In his nod toward the theorization of the bodhisattva path, Anuruddha hints at the evolving
nature of the map, and the possible extra-Mahavihara origins of the discourse on the requisite
ajjhasaya for awakening. Anuruddha, for his part, in couching his elaboration of the perhaps
relatively recent category in the terms of the earliest canonical texts (pabbajjasutta of
Suttanipata) and a delicate elaboration of the theme of disenchantment with pariyuṭṭhana, which
could even be seen as re-incorporation of a decidedly early canonical theme (as present in the
“master-narrative”271 of Buddhist meditation pericope occurring in the Mahanamasutta, AN VI,
10), remains throughly grounded in the canonical representation of the path – in this respect, he
might be seen as even returning to a greater fidelity to it – even while he situates this “prelude”
to practice within the new governing frame of bhavana as the sequential cultivation of
samatha/vipassana.

The Literary Treatment of the Insight Knowledges

The other place where Anuruddha's literary mode of abhidhamma most strongly impacts
the resulting form of the path is in his treatment of the insight knowledges. If the dramatization
of the prelude to the cultivation of samatha dominates the beginning of his treatment of paṭipatti,
the dramatization of its culmination in the insight knowledges dominates its conclusion. The
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) concludes its trajectory of practice (minus a brief concluding
chapter on its fruits) in a magisterial dramatization of the model practitioner's passage through
the stages of insight. The ten insight knowledges are rendered in this vivid crescendoing
conclusion to the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) as vipassana's “ten stages” (dasavattha). Like
the prelude to samatha, in its description of the knowledges, the chapter locates the reader in the
first person subjective space of the model practitioner (the “yogi”) as he passes through these
stages successively, coming to the realizations they depict, via its modeled reflections. In their
modeling, the reader is afforded a taste of the insights depicted.
For Anuruddha, as discussed above, the insight knowledges indeed represented the final
271
Gethin 2004, 209.

139
stage of the path of practice, and its key liberating segment. Structurally, the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p) thus reflects the model of the path underpinning his works more directly
than any other of his works, and also renders its vision more vivid and accessible than any other.
Relying on effusive poetic description to evoke the experience of the insight knowledges even as
it analytically defines them, the streaming metaphors construct their realizations in the mind of
the reader, affording access in this way to the vision of panna as ultimately construed by the
tradition.
It is Anuruddha's unique aesthestic mode of treatment that renders the blow by blow
dramatization of the path's unfolding possible, and accessible to appreciation, as each insight is
modeled for the reader. Anuruddha's project of “modeling” insight thus represents a product of
his uniquely literary, aestheticized treatment of his abhidhammic subject matter.
In the integration of these 'ten stages' of vipassana into the scheme of the seven
purifications, the sequence proper begins in the fourth stage of purification (that of
kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi), progresses through the formative crisis of the subsequent stage
(maggamaggannaṇa) and primarily unfolds in the sixth of the seven purifications (that of
paṭipada-naṇa-dassana). As discussed above, in the updated model of the path proper to the
exegetical tradition, as represented in its grand synthesis in the Path of Purification (Vism), the
traversing of this newly defined series of insight knowledges very much came to constitute the
“knowing and beholding” (naṇa-dassana) of the path (paṭipada) via paṭipatti. Though ostensibly
representing the final stages of the path, the sequence of the insight knowledges in many ways
appears to have become coextensive with the path itself. This impression is reinforced by the
stage of purification that immediately precedes the major unfolding of the sequence (itself not a
part of it, but an essential hurdle to its gaining), termed knowledge “of what is path and what is
not” (maggamagga).
In the integration or framing of the insight knowledges in the scheme of the seven
purifications, this point of juncture is by far the commentarial tradition's most interesting
innovation. Written into the very structure of the path, as theorized by it, was a depiction of its
loss and subsequent recovery. In enshrining the loss and regaining of the path as a clear stage on
the path, prior to progress forward with insight, was the exegetical tradition making space for the
hard-won wisdom of experience as an essential determinant of progress? At first glance, the
critical realization suggests the trial and error process of learning by experience, as the
practitioner learns through mistakes what leads in fact to progress and what was a dead end, the
loss of the way essential to its rediscovery, and onward progress. The optional and variable form
the crisis of the maggamagga stage might take also made it eminently adaptable to experience
(or variable meditative experience adaptable to it). The exegetical tradition was clear that the
crisis was part and parcel of progress. Buddhadatta, in his Introduction to the Abhidhamma
(Abhidh-av), wrote: 1280. sampattapaṭivedhassa, sotapannadino pi ca / tatha vippaṭipannassa,
upaklesa na jayare. “The corruptions do not arise for one practicing improperly / or for one by
whom penetration has already been attained, a stream-enter, etc.” 1281. samma 'va
paṭipannassa, yuttayogassa bhikkhuno. sada vipassakass' eva, uppajjanti kirassu te. “Only for a
monk practicing correctly, diligently applying himself / and discerning constantly with insight
(sada vipassakassa) do they arise” (Abhidh-av 1280-81).272 If we look to the suttas, however, we

272
cf. Vism XX, §105: vipassanupakkilesa hi paṭivedhapattassa ariyasavakassa c'eva vippaṭpannakassa ca
nikkhittakammaṭṭhanassa kusītapuggalassa n'uppajjanti.

140
find a hint that the crisis in question may not have been in origin one pertaining to the early
stages of insight, as to the critical transition from samatha to insight, and the originary tension
between the two. In an almost assuredly late sutta in the tenth book of Anguttaranikaya (AN 10,
kalīsutta), represented as discourse of Mahakaccana to the female lay devotee, Kalī, “the
knowing and beholding of what constitutes the path and what does not”
(maggamagganaṇadassana: the only occurrence of the phrase in the nikaya-s (!)) is related not
to any ten corruptions of insight, but to 'some ascetics' regarding attainment of the kasiṇa-s'
attainments above all as the “goal” (attha) of practice'. The sutta explains in this connection that
the Blessed one, having known for himself the full scope of focus above all on the attainment of
the kasiṇa-s' attainments, further discerned the relish in this, the danger, the way out, and the
knowing and beholding of what constitutes the path and what does not – and in consequence of
this was able to further know the attainment of the genuine goal and genuine peace of heart
(atthassa patti, hadayassa santi).273
The sutta relates this chain of discernment to all the kasiṇa-s, uniquely enumerated as the
eight standard ones (representing the elements and colors), plus space, plus vinnaṇa (in contrast
to the Path of Purification (Vism)'s tenth “light” kasiṇa) – suggesting that the sutta represents a
relatively late understanding, relative to the suttas, but one prior to the Path of Purification
(Vism)'s systematization of the kasiṇa-s as the ten including akasa and aloka. The sutta thus
suggests that at a formative stage in the theorization of exegetical tradition's version of the path,
the development of the maggamaggannaṇa stage may well have been directly related to the
originary tension between samatha and vipassana, and specifically the tendency to give
precedence to the kasiṇa attainments and their associated phenomena (cf. the ten upakkilesa-s of
vipassana) over onward development of wisdom in contradistinction to this (and, more and
more, as a trajectory of progress completely alternative to the cultivation of samatha.)274
This path/not path crisis, taken, as in the sutta, as representing the cusp of insight, and
specifically insight that would set aside the meditative phenomena peculiar to the cultivation of
samatha (as “not the path”) in favor of the cultivation of vipassana (as “the path”), would then
serve as a very suitable transition to the territory of insight, proper, within the context of the
samatha-vipassana dichotomy so central to the theorization of the path, discussed above. The
tradition evidently came to regard the phenomena in question as owing to progress in insight
itself, conceived of as entirely separate from the previous cultivation of samatha, and as
273
pathavīkasiṇasamapattiparama kho, bhagini, eke samaṇabrahmaṇa `attho’ ti abhinibbattesuṃ. yavata kho,
bhagini, pathavīkasiṇasamapattiparamata, tadabhiññasi bhagava. tadabhiññaya bhagava assadam addasa
adīnavam addasa nissaraṇam addasa maggamaggañaṇadassanam addasa. tassa assadadassanahetu,
adīnavadassanahetu, nissaraṇadassanahetu, maggamaggañaṇadassanahetu, atthassa patti, hadayassa santi vidita
hoti (AN 10, kalīsutta).
274
MN 53, the upakkilesa-sutta, refers to a slightly different but evidently cognate set of
'imperfections/defilements/corruptions (upakkilesa) -- but relates these pointedly to the development of
concentration: tassa mayhaṃ, anuruddha, etad ahosi — ‘ye kho me cittassa upakkilesa, te me pahina. handa,
danahaṃ tividhena samadhiṃ bhavemi ’ti, “Those defilements my mind had have been abandoned by me. Well
then, now I shall develop concentration in three manners (viz. with vitakka and/or vicara and alternatively
without; with piti and alternatively without; and with sata (pleasant) and alternatively with upekkha).” The
abandonment of the series of eighteen unwholesome mental factors classically known as the cittassa upakkilesa
“the defilements of the mind” (abhijjha, vyapada, kodha, upanaha, etc.) is also treated an MN 7 as giving rise to
avecca-pasada “unshakeable faith”, joy and gladness (veda and pamojja), and thence to the bojjhanga-s
culminating in samadhi.

141
provoked by the incipient insight of udayabbayanaṇa.275 The suggestion from the kalisutta of
this critical transition as having had, in origin, more to do with navigating a transition between
pursuit of the attainments of the kasiṇa-s, and attainment of a more genuine goal of Buddhist
practice (attainable via the turn to insight) has much explanatory appeal as a key factor of this
interesting innovation.
The path of the insight knowledges, as discussed above, represents a progressive
apprehension of the three characteristics as applied to the field of experience, specified as bhumi-
dhamma or simply as “sankhara-s” in the terminology of the text. While the term sankhara-s
reflects the canonical abhidhammic usage of the term established in the Dhammasangaṇī,
referring not to the sankhara aggregate, but to sankhata-dhamma (all "conditioned phenomena",
comprising citta, cetasika, and rupa), in contrast to the asankhata-dhamma (nibbana)276 (and
thus encompassing in this usage all of the aggregates rather than one among them), the term
bhumi-dhamma is metaphorical in nature and derives from the Path of Purification (Vism).
Anuruddha took this kenning from the Path of Purification (Vism)'s treatment of wisdom,
which was structured by a key metaphor, that of "the tree of wisdom". The core doctrinal
formulations that constitute the Buddhist analysis of experience (as discussed previously) are
represented as the "soil" (bhumi) in which the tree of wisdom grows. In the Path of Purification
(Vism), this metaphor is mapped as follows:

32. (v) HOW IS [WISDOM] CULTIVATED? Now, the things classed as aggregates, sense-
spheres, elements, faculties, truths, dependent origination, etc., are the soil of this wisdom,
and the [first] two purifications, namely, 1. "purification of virtue" and 2. "purification of
consciousness," are its roots, while the five purifications, namely, 3. "purification of view,"
4. "purification by overcoming doubt," 5. "purification by knowledge and vision of what is
the path and what is not the path," 6. "purification by knowledge and vision of the way," and
7. "purification by knowledge and vision," are its trunk. Consequently, one who is perfecting
these should first fortify his knowledge by learning and questioning about those things that
are the “soil” after he has perfected the two purifications that are its “roots.” Then he can
cultivate the five purifications that are its “trunk.” This is in brief. In detail it is as
follows".277

For Anuruddha, this metaphor was evidently viewed as so foundational that it is curiously
nowhere introduced in Anuruddha's works; simply employed: the terminology of the "dhamma-s
that constitute the soil" (bhumidhamma) used consistently to denote the object upon which
insight is cultivated:

bhūmidhamme yathābhūtaṃ, vipassitvā visārado,

275
cf. Vism XX, §105.
276
cf. Buswell & Jaini (date?) in Potter, Encyclopedia for Indian Philosophies, vol. IX: “The doctrinal edifice of the
Pali Abhidhamma rests upon the Dhammasangaṇī, the first book of the Abhidhammapiṭaka. The
Dhammasangaṇī presents a systematic analysis of all individual compounded elements of existence (saṃskrta
factors) within three major categories: states of consciousness (citta), mental concomitants (cetasika), and
material form/corporeality (rūpa). To this has also been added some discussion on the uncompounded element
[asaṃskrta factor), nirvaṇa.” p. 91 Buswell/Jaini
277
Vism XIV, §32, trans. Naṇamoli (slightly modified).

142
 appetānuttarajjhānam ayaṃ suddhi vipassanā. 1272

Having seen with insight, now mature,

the dhamma-s that constitute the soil, as they are,
one enters into transcendental jhana:
this is the purity of insight.278

As we might expect, Anuruddha incorporates this key metaphor into his account to
eidetically represent the growth of insight over the stages of the path pertaining to its
development. For Anuruddha, these are four, in contrast to the Path of Purification (Vism)'s five:
the purifications of view, of crossing beyond doubt, of knowledge of what constitutes the path
and what does not, and of one's own knowing and beholding of the path of insight's unfolding
(1518)279. In this constitutive metaphor (used as a matika-like mechanism280 for unpacking
content, returned to repeatedly over its several chapters pertaining to the development of insight,
chs. XIV-XVII), insight grows like a tree – perhaps very much on the analogy of the famous 'tree
of awakening', which we know had deep indexical appeal for the tradition and was especially
dear to the Mahavihara, as a special object of veneration in situ281 -- and these four stages
constitute its 'trunk' (sarira). Its 'roots' are sila and samadhi – the first two purifications – and the
ground from which it arises is the “bhumi-dhamma”, the dhamma-s “that constitute the ground”
-- in one sense, seemingly, as the constituent factors of field of experience, in the core doctrinal
analyses of this (the aggregates, the sense-spheres, the elements, etc.), but also extending in the
Path of Purification (Vism)'s usage to encompass the noble truths and dependent origination:
i.e., the foundational doctrines constitutive of insight, contemplation of which was pre-requisite
but not sufficient on its own to produce liberating wisdom, having to be approached instead
through practice (bhavana) arriving at penetration of them for oneself. These are “the soil of
understanding” in which wisdom grows, to use Naṇamoli's poetic rendering of the term282 and
Anuruddha repeatedly alludes to them by this metaphorical kenning as the primary phenomena
on the basis of which, and into which, the yogi gains insight (e.g. Namar-p 1512). This tree of
insight, as it grows, with progress on the path, gives rise to the karmically resultant 'fruits'
(nissanda-phala) of the stages of attainment and liberation, detailed in the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p)'s final chapter. In this way the metaphors of the maturation of wisdom (panna)
growing like a tree from the soil of both experience and the foundational doctrinal formulations
that analytically describe it and that of stage-by-stage progress on “the path” of purification
arriving at the purity of nibbana blend and overlap, in the pregnant Path of Purification (Vism)

278
Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), v. 1272.
279
In contrast to the Vism's five, including ñaṇadassanavisuddhi: ima pañca visuddhiyo sarīraṃ (Vism XIV §32) In
Anuruddha's presentation, the first four of the five constitute the trunk “sarīraṃ”. diṭṭhi kankhavitaraṇa,
maggamagga paṭippada / visuddhiyo catasso 'pi, _sarīran_ 'ti nidassita. 1518 “The four purifications -- of view;
of emerging from doubt; of what is the path and not / and of progress on the path -- are characterized as [the tree
of] (insight's) "trunk" (sarira) (Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) 1518).
280
matika-s summarize the subject matter and function similarly to a table of contents.
281
The bodhi tree at the Mahavihara and the veneration of it integral to residence there there is referred to numerous
times by Buddhaghosa and also by Anuruddha in his colophon to the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) (v. 1855)
282
Vism trans., ch. XVII §32, paññabhavan̄vidhanaṃ.

143
metaphor that Anuruddha here adopts and uses to frame his account.283
The apprehension of the initial elements of the bhumi-dhamma – viz, the
khandhayatanadhatu-indriya: aggregates, sense-spheres, and elements, and the faculties284 -- but
primarily the khandhayatanadhatuyo in Anuruddha's streamlining (1668), constitutes the
purification of view, by distinguishing the components of mind and matter that constitute the
field of experience perceived as self. This represented the analytical project deemed
“namarupapariccheda”, “the defining of mind and matter”, which is the inception of insight and
lent its name to Anuruddha's work (evidently conceived of as assisting in the purification of view
– and by the same token, in the inception of insight):

nāmarūpādibhedena, bhūmidhammapariggaho,
vuttā diṭṭhivisuddhī 'ti, attadiṭṭhippahānato. 1525

The apprehending of the dhamma-s that constitute the ground (bhumi-dhamma)

by separating them into mind and matter, and so forth,
is called "the purification of view" (diṭṭhi-visuddhi),
on account of (its bringing about) the abandoning of self-view.

Further examining the factors of mind and matter discerned leads to discernment of their
depending for their own existence on other factors that act as causal conditions for them, with
which they are thus in a sine qua non relationship:

āhacca paccayuppannā, tathā tabbhāvabhāvino,

pavattantī 'ti sankhāre, passato pana yoniso, 1526
283
Vism XIV, pañña-bhūmi-niddesa: kathaṃ bhavetabba [pañña]? ti -- ettha pana yasma imaya paññaya
khandhayatanadhatu-indriya-sacca-paṭiccasamuppadadi-bheda dhamma bhūmi. sīlavisuddhi ceva cittavisuddhi
cati ima dve visuddhiyo mūlaṃ. diṭṭhivisuddhi, kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi, maggamaggañaṇadassanavisuddhi,
paṭipadañaṇadassanavisuddhi, ñaṇadassanavisuddhīti ima pañca visuddhiyo sarīraṃ. tasma tesu bhūmibhūtesu
dhammesu uggahaparipucchavasena ñaṇaparicayaṃ katva mūlabhūta dve visuddhiyo sampadetva sarīrabhūta
pañca visuddhiyo sampadentena bhavetabba.
Answering the question, “How is pañña developed?” the Path of Purification (Vism) states (in Naṇamoli's
translation): “Now, the things classed as aggregates, bases, elements, faculties, truths, dependent origination,
etc., are the soil of this understanding, and the [first] two purifications, namely, purification of virtue and
purification of consciousness, are its roots, while the five purifications, namely, purification of view, purification
by overcoming doubt, purification by knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path,
purification by knowledge and vision of the way, and purification by knowledge and vision, are the trunk.
Consequently, one who is perfecting these should first fortify his knowledge by learning and questioning about
those things that are the “soil” after he has perfected the two purifications that are the “roots,” then he can
develop the five purifications that are the “trunk.” (Vism XIV, pañña-bhūmi-niddesa §32; Naṇamoli trans. 1975
pp. 442-443.)
284
Note: faculties defined in the Path of Purification (Vism) in an expansive sense incorporating twenty-two
faculties, including the six sense faculties as well as the faculty of maleness, faculty of femaleness, faculty of
life, etc.which find mention in the suttas: "The “faculties” listed next to the elements (XIV §32) are the twenty-
two faculties, namely, eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty, mind faculty,
femininity faculty, masculinity faculty, life faculty, [bodily] pleasure faculty, [bodily] pain faculty,[mental] joy
faculty, [mental] grief faculty, equanimity faculty, faith faculty, energy faculty, mindfulness faculty,
concentration faculty, understanding faculty, “I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown” faculty, final-knowledge
faculty, final-knower faculty" (Vism XVI §1, Naṇamoli trans. 1975, 497).

144
 And for the (yogi) taking up sankhara-s
and appropriately (yoniso) seeing that "They occur
arisen from conditions, their existence
likewise on account of that of those"...

-- thus leading, with this kankhavitaraṇa-visuddhi, the purification of crossing beyond doubts, to
discernment of the principle of causality and precariousness of existence, an appreciation of the
truths, dependent origination, and karmic causation (i.e., the latter members of the bhumi-
dhamma series).

Also within the scope of this purification is the contemplative knowledge (sammasana-
naṇa) of all the discerned bhumi-dhamma as equally impermanent, owing to this aspect of
conditional existence -- and therefore suffering and therefore not self, whether past, present, or
future, gross or subtle, etc., leading to a cognitive understanding of the pervasiveness of suffering
(kalapato sammasana-naṇa, the first stage of insight's “ten stages” in the Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p)'s reckoning).

Still on the basis of the aspect of causal dependence, there ensues an initial grasping of
the characteristic of impermanence with the discernment of arising and passing in them, owing to
the changeability of conditions:

uppādavayabhāvo 'pi, lakkhaṇattayasādhako,

paccayākāram ārabbha, lakkhīyati visesato. 1529

The state of arising and passing, too,

that is productive of all three characteristics,
is noted to an exceptional extent,
on the basis of their aspect of condition.

This initial udayabbayadassana (1530) “beholding of arising and passing” constituted

sufficient progress that the meditative phenomena it provoked, classed as the vipassanupakkilesa
“corruptions of insight” discussed above (cf. Namar-p, v. 1697), threatened to distract from the
observation of the characteristic of impermanence, and to that extent from the further
development of insight. Though positioned by the tradition as owing to progress in insight and
independent of prior engagement of samatha, it is worth considering that this may have more to
do with samatha and vipassana's being theorized independently of and without reference to each
other, as discussed above. Identification of the phenomena as mere saṃklesa-vikkhepaṃ (1531)
“corruption and distraction” from insight proper, and to this extent a path leading in the wrong
direction (kummagga), effected the next stage of purification, in which the path was
distinguished from what is not the path (maggamagga), in one's own “knowing and beholding”
(naṇa-dassana) (1531).
It is worth noting that Anuruddha strongly asserts that sammasana-naṇa as well as
udayabbaya-naṇa both come within the scope of the purification “of crossing beyond doubts”:

145
 tasmā sammasanannāṇaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ,
kankhāvitaraṇāyan tu, sangayhati visuddhiyaṃ. 1530

Therefore (both) "understanding based on reflection"

and "beholding of arising and passing" (the first two "insight knowledges" vipassana-
ñaṇani)
are included in the purification
of "crossing beyond doubts".

These two stages are somewhat ambiguously positioned between

khankhaviratanavisuddhi and maggamaggavisuddhi and sometimes attributed to the later
purification rather than the former,285 corresponding to the Path of Purification (Vism) chapter
arrangement, which treats these two knowledges after the khankhavitaraṇavisuddhi chapter and
within the maggamagganaṇadassanavisuddhi chapter, as a segue to the actual knowledge of
what constitutes the path and what does not (the crisis itself, and its successful navigation, rather
than any particular insight knowledge, constituting the stage of purification, according to
Anuruddha). These two knowledges are intimately connected to the overcoming of doubt's
discernment of causality, since “according to their mode of being sprung from condition / they
are (mentally) gathered up en masse, and reflected on, group by group, as impermanent,
suffering and not self” (i.e., kalapato sammasana-naṇa, v. 1529286), and, “Their nature of arising
and passing away, that produces the three characteristics / becomes perceived distinctly, too, on
engagement of their aspect of condition (i.e., udayabbaya-naṇa, v. 1530287).
The crisis of maggamagga-naṇa successfully navigated, returning to the discernment of
arising and passing away, now known through experience as the path that leads to progress, and
to insight, the same udayabbayannaṇa (knowledge of arising and passing) now occurs in an
untarnished (akliṭṭha) form (1532), as the foundational stage of the paṭipada-naṇadassana,
“knowing and beholding of the path”. We are strikingly told that the practice that took place
prior to this is not included in the stage betokening purity of practice (paṭipattivisuddhi, =
paṭipada-naṇadassana-visuddhi, presumably) since the former bhavana gives rise to the defiling
(of the ten corruptions of insight) and to straying (presumably from the path):

tato pubbe pavattā hi, saṃklesāpāyasambhavā,

paṭipattivisuddhī 'ti, na sangayhati bhāvanā. 1536

Since the cultivation that took place prior to this,

gave rise to the defiling and straying (from the path),
it is not included
as “purity of progress on the path”.

This reinforces our impression that for the tradition as Anuruddha articulates it, it is only with
285
as at Cousins 1996, 49 & Bodhi, Rewata, et al. 1993, 345 & exposition 349-352.
286
1528. anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, paccayayattavuttito / sankhipitva kalapena, sammasīyanti sankhata.
287
1529. uppadavayabhavo 'pi, lakkhaṇattayasadhako / paccayakaram arabbha, lakkhīyati visesato.

146
progress in insight that genuine practice occurs at all.

The pivotal crisis of ascertaining for oneself the genuine path of practice thus
successfully navigated, attending to arising and passing, now with the experiential knowledge
that it is herein progress lies, he progresses through the other insights, representing a sequentially
deepening apprehension of the three characteristics.

upaklesavisuddho hi, punadevodayabbayaṃ.

adhiṭṭhahitvā bhangādi-nāṇehi paṭipajjati. 1534

purified now of defilement,

(the yogī) resolves once again
upon arising and passing away
and progresses through the knowledges of bhanga, and so forth.

tathā cābhinavuppanne, bhijjamāne vipassato,

saṃvegākaḍḍhitaṃ nāṇaṃ, bhangādim anutiṭṭhati. 1535

And so, as he discerns with wisdom

things newly arisen breaking up,
the knowledge that is drawn to him by his alarm
starting with that of "dissolution" (bhanga), comes within his reach.

With the knowledge of “dissolution” (bhanga), his discernment of the characteristic of

impermanence (begun in udayabbayannaṇa) reaches its pinnacle. With the knowledges of
bhaya, adinava, and nibbida, the understanding of impermanence matures into the grasping of
dukkha as its intrinsic correlary, and corresponding disenchantment. With muncitukamyata,
paṭisankhanupassana, and sankharupekkhannana, he perceives the desirability of letting go of
that which has been perceived as dukkha and re-evaluatively observes the field of experience
from a new vantage point, perceiving it now as a field of impersonal phenomena, entirely devoid
of self, and therefore looks upon it with utter detachment --

udayabbayabhangesu, pākaṭā hi aniccatā;

bhayādīnavanibbede, dukkhatānattatā tato. 1704.

For, in arising and passing away and dissolution,

their being impermanent becomes apparent;
in fear, danger, and disenchantment,
their being suffering; and, after that, their being not-self.

-- leading to anuloma-naṇa, understanding that 'conforms' (anuloma) to the perspective of the

noble truths, the mind now 'ready' (equally, “anuloma”) to let go of the entire field of the
conditioned heretofore perceived as self, and turn for the first time to the unconditioned
(asankhata).

147
 This account raises the question of the end-point of the path: was 'the path' that was the
object of theorization primarily the path to arahatship or stream-entry? Was the path of the
insight-knowledges' trajectory, portrayed as culminating in the mind's taking nibbana as object in
the wake of the four truths, conceived of as delivering to stream-entry, or arahatship? In the
suttas a clear distinction was drawn between the path of eight factors, that pertained to sekha-s
“trainees” and the path of ten factors (appending right naṇa “understanding” and right vimutti
“liberation” to the eight familiar path factors) that pertained exclusively to asekha-s (those who
have completed their training – i.e., arahats). The path was thus in some sense only fully
traversed by arahats, and disciples of lower stages were represented as still training to that end
and, pointedly, not yet in possession of the path's two culminating factors, “right knowledge” and
“right liberation”. The sutta path in its full ten-limbed form including the right knowledge and
right liberation facilitated by the eightfold path was represented decisively as culminating in
arahatship.
Thus, for the suttas, the path was fundamentally conceived of as a path to arahatship and
it was the precise localization of trainees' milestones like stream-entry etc., that was more
ambiguous. In contrast to this, the exegetical tradition's path of insight culminated, via the above
stages representing apprehension of the three characteristics, in stream-entry. The reformulated
path, that of insight, concluded decisively at stream-entry, rather than arahatship.288 The
conclusion of the path in knowledge “conforming” to the noble truths (anuloma) was invariably
followed by a model of the cognitive process (citta-vithi) of the mind taking nibbana, the
unconditioned, as its object for the first time. For onward attainment of the higher stages of
liberation, the entire path (i.e., sequence of knowledges) had to be repeated:

bhāvetvā paṭhamaṃ maggam ittham ādiphale ṭhito,

tato paraṃ pariggayha, nāmarūpaṃ yathā pure, 1788

One stationed in this way in the initial fruit

having cultivated the first path(-consciousness),
thereafter, apprehending
mind and matter, as before,

kamena ca vipassanto, puna-d-eva yathārahaṃ,

yathānukkamam appeti, sakadāgāmi-ādayo. 1789

and discerning them accordingly

with wisdom, in this order, once again,
he enters into, one by one,
[the paths and fruits of] once-returner, and so forth.

288
Buddhadatta in the Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av) specifies that after the stage of
kankhavitaraṇa-visuddhi, one is considered a cula-sotapanna, a “minor” stream-enterer (v. 1261 abhidh-av),
reinforcing the impression that the revised path of the exegetical tradition was conceived of primarily as
culminating in stream-entry rather than arahatship. The exegetical category of cula-sotapanna stood in the same
relationship to sotapatti as the arising of the dhamma-eye stood with respect to arahatship.

148
 In representing all three characteristics as necessarily having to be sequentially
apprehended prior to arrival at stream-entry, the reformulated path of insight's account may
stand somewhat at odds with the representation of the three characteristics, as they relate to the
stages of liberation, as depicted in the suttas. In the locus classicus for the two-tiered approach to
arahatship via an initial 'arising of the dhamma-eye' (dhammacakku, understood by the tradition
as equatable to stream-entry) and subsequent attainment of full liberation via the mind's ceasing
to cling to anything as self and consequently being released from the asava-s (anupadaya
asavehi cittaṃ vimucci,289 i.e., arahatship,), the dhammacakkappavattanasutta depicts the
instruction of the five first disciples, and first among them, the disciple Koṇḍañña, as obtaining
the arising of the dhamma eye, formulaically expressed as “yaṃ kinci samudayadhammaṃ,
sabbaṃ taṃ nirodhadhammaṃ” ti: “whatever is subject to origination, all that is subject to
cessation”. There is good reason to interpret this expression as betokening the crucial transition
to an understanding of the pervasiveness of suffering (the second characteristic and essential
basis of the noble truths) via the characteristic of impermanence, since “anything that arises is
bound to cease” and thus anything subject to craving is bound to disappoint by virtue of its not
lasting, making dukkha, now discerned as a necessary correlate to impermanence, as all-
encompassing as existence. This grasping of the truth of suffering via the fact of impermanence
was plausibly representative of the penetration of the noble truth of suffering (and with it the
remaining truths), such that an appreciation of the characteristic of impermanence leading to an
understanding of the profound and pervasive aspect of suffering (the initial breakthrough termed
the arising of the “dhamma-eye”) was sufficient to deliver one to stream-entry.
It was only in the sequel to the dhammacakkappavattanasutta, representing the onward
progress of the five disciples, once all had obtained the arising of the dhamma-eye (and thus, we
are to understand, a realization of the noble truths centered on the penetration of the
characteristic of dukkha approached via the characteristic of impermanence), that they were
represented as being brought to arahatship by the teaching of the anattalakkhaṇasutta, “the
discourse on the characteristic of 'not-self'”. We may understand this second-tier instruction,
introducing the third characteristic, as representing the second critical transition from an
appreciation of impermanence and suffering to an understanding of 'not-self' – this second
critical juncture marking the attainment of the higher realization in which the grasping of
experience as self (upadana) leading to continued rebirth (bhava) is entirely let go (cf.
anupadaya asavehi cittaṃ vimucci, i.e. arahatship).
The depiction of the revised path model propounded by the exegetical tradition stands
somewhat at odds with this normative two-tiered depiction of the suttas, roughly equating the
transition from impermanence to dukkha with the first critical juncture, betokened by the arising
of the dhamma-eye (understood as stream-entry), and the transition from dukkha to anatta as the
second critical juncture, betokening the attainment of arahatship. In the new model, as depicted
by Anuruddha, all three characteristics were understood as having to be progressed through en
route to sotapatti (including the not-self characteristic).
The sequential grasping of the three characteristics is thus very much the essence of the
path for the interpretive tradition as Anuruddha received it. He accordingly spends considerable
time elaborating (and dramatizing) their sequential realization.

289
"having ceased to cling, his mind was liberated from the effluents".

149
 ten' evāniccato diṭṭhā, dukkhabhāvena khāyare;
sankhatattā sabhāvo hi, dukkhāya parivattati. 1613

Seen as anicca, just by that, [conditioned things]

become apparent as dukkha;
for, due to being conditioned, their nature
tends toward suffering.

aniccā puna sankhārā, dukkhā 'ti ca vavatthitā,

anattattaniyāmena, nidassenti salakkhaṇaṃ. 1614

Conditioned things that are anicca,

and defined moreover as dukkha,
with their constraint of being thus not oneself,
show their (anatta) characteristic.

kathaṃ attā parādhīnā, paccayuppannabhangurā;

vipattiniyatā vā 'tha, bādhamānā bhayāvahā? 1615

How can they be self if they're dependent,

fragilely arisen on conditions,
or if, inevitably constrained to failure,
they pose harm and bring grave danger?

āhaccākārabhedena, _tividhā hi vipassanā_,

aniccā dukkhānattā 'ti, ayam ettha vinicchayo. 1616

For, threefold is insight, by division

of (its three) aspects brought to bear (upon conditioned things)
discerned to be "anicca", "dukkha", and "anatta" --
and this, in this regard, is its defining.

Long sections describe the grasping of each of the characteristics, first individually, and
then on the basis of the aspects of causal dependence (“nimitta”) and moment by moment
occurrence (“pavatta”) (1584).

bhāvento tividham p' etaṃ, _nijjhāyati tilakkhaṇaṃ_,

nimittan ca pavattan ca, samārabbha yathākkamaṃ. 1581

Cultivating this threefold (perception),

he contemplates the three characteristics
each in sequence, with reference
to their cause (nimitta) and their occurrence (pavatta).

150
 attalābhanimittan ca, taṃtaṃpaccayanissitā,
tabbhāvabhāvibhāvena, lakkhīyanti nimittato. 1582.

Dependent upon this or that condition,

as the cause for their own coming into being,
their existence due to its existence,
they are perceived in terms of cause (nimitta).

jāyamānā ca jiyyantā, miyyamānā ca sankhatā,

taṃ taṃ bhāvam atikkamma, pavattanti khaṇe khaṇe. 1583.

Being born and growing old,

conditioned things, dying
and transcending that existence, repeatedly
occur (pavattanti) from moment to moment.

hetunissayanākāro, _nimittan_ 'ti tato mato;

_pavattaṃ_ vattanākāro, khaṇasantatiaddhato. 1584

Their aspect of dependence on condition

is thus considered "cause" (nimitta);
"occurrence" (pavatta) is their aspect of continued presence
by way of (present) moment, cognitive sequence, and span of life.

Conditioned things' many aspects are all encompassed within the two aspects of cause and of
occurrence, and it is by contemplating these two aspects that the three characteristics can be
grasped in them:

nimitte ca pavatte ca, vatthuto yanti sangahaṃ;

taṃ _dvayākāram_ārabbha, patiṭṭhāti tilakkhaṇaṃ. 1587.

[Their many aspects] are encompassed, as their basis,

in those of cause and of occurrence;
and it's engaging these two aspects,
that the three characteristics can be established.

Both these aspects are indispensable:

paccayādhīnadhammānaṃ, uppādavayalakkhitā,
aniccatā nimittaṭṭhā, pavattesu na pākaṭā. 1588

Betokened by the arisings and the passings

of phenomena that rest upon conditions,
the impermanence that inheres in that of cause

151
 is not apparent in them (in their aspect of repeatedly) occurring.

pubbāparavicittānam asamatthānam attani,

sannissayena nipphanno, bhāvadubbalyasādhako, 1589
&
hetusankhatabhāvo pi, sankhārānam aniccatā,
pavattamānā dasseti, taṃ sabhāvaṃ pan' attano. 1590

And their causes' nature, too, of being conditioned,

and accomplished only in dependence (on other conditions),
making for the tenuousness of their being,
which is the impermanence of conditioned things
occurring as different from the prior and the latter,
and unable (to arise) in isolation –
reveals its nature
only while occurring.

These two aspects, embodying a tension perhaps between approaching the characteristics
conceptually via the doctrinal perspective of causality versus meditatively via the observation of
present experience in continuous flux, are woven throughout Anuruddha's treatment and are
evidently a key concern for him and the exegetical tradition he represents. Each characteristic is
unpacked from the perspective of each aspect. The aspects evidently correspond to the Path of
Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s distinction of grasping udayabbaya by way of condition (paccayato)
as against by way of occurrence from moment to moment (khaṇato),290 and perhaps also relate to
the distinction between the initial grasping of udayabbaya by way of paccaya, discussed above
(vv. 1528-1529) and again later in a “purified” form, suggesting a hierarchical structuring of
them subordinating doctrinal reasoning to meditative observation from moment to moment. The
pair would then represent the tension and intertwining of the theory and praxis, the theory of
impermanence being couched in the terms of causality, but its praxis being couched in
observation of the continuous flux of presently arisen experience. Both are required, the text
avers, to illuminate each other.
Anuruddha also reworks the Paṭis-m's exposition of what it terms “eighteen-fold
Mahavipassana”, and incorporates this into his own exposition: aṭṭharasa mahavipassana nama
aniccanupassanadika panna, etc., “The wisdom starting with the observation as 'impermanent'
termed the eighteen discernments of 'Maha-vipassana'”.291 This treatment represents eighteen
distortions of perception that are abandoned via eighteen aspects of discerning things as they are,
each insight thus couteracting a corresponding distortion. The first, for example, is aniccataṃ
vipassanto, niccasannaṃ vimuncati, “discerning its impermanence, he lets go of the perception
'permanent'” (1618) Anuruddha does so, however, not following the Path of Discrimination
(Paṭis-m)'s enumeration, or its exposition in the Path of Purification (Vism), but by significantly
re-organizing it – re-grouping its eighteen aspects by way of the three characteristics. He signals

290
Cf. Paṭis-m fifty aspects of arising and passing, treated in Namar-p ch. 12, and in Vism XX §99 and ensuing
discussion to §104. paccayato is referred to as udayato in the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), v. 991.
291
Paṭis-m i.20 & 32-33 and corresponding Path of Purification (Vism) treatment at XX §90.

152
the novelty of his treatment in his concluding statement:

icc aṭṭhārasadhā bhinnā, paṭipakkhappahānato,

lakkhaṇākārabhedena, tividhā 'pi ca bhāvanā. 1642

The development (of insight), thus divided eighteen-fold,

by way of the antithetical perceptions' abandoning,
is also three-fold by their division
by way of the aspect of the characteristic (to which each pertains).

Anuruddha's treatment yields an innovative and unique exposition that occurs nowhere else, and
highlights the centrality of the eighteen aspects' unfolding on the basis of sequential observation
of the three characteristics underpinning the scheme (vv. 1617-1641, anicca observations: 1618-
27; dukkha observations 1628-30; anatta observations 1631-32, and the "freedom" observations
on the basis of the former three, 1633-1640.)292 He concludes his treatment tying the themes of
the aspects of cause and occurrence and the eighteen aspects together:

nimittam ārabbha tathā pavattaṃ, tilakkhaṇaṃ jhāyati yāya yogī,

tam ittham aṭṭhārasabhedabhinnaṃ, vipassanābhāvanam āhu dhīrā. 1640

The insight by which the yogī meditates on three characteristics

on the basis of things' cause and things' occurrence,
divided, in this way, by its eighteen-fold division,
the wise call “the development of insight”.

The Path of Purification (Vism) portrays the yogi at this juncture as having obtained the
height of sammasana-naṇa, knowledge based on cognitive understanding (equally of the bhumi-
dhamma discerned in the purification of view, their causal dependence, whether in past present
or future, discerned in the purification of crossing beyond doubt, and now of the three
characteristics as applying to these), and poised to continue his observation specifically on the
basis of the continuous flux of presently arisen phenomena.293 In situating such a comprehensive
treatment of the three characteristics, seemingly culminating in liberation, within an ostensibly
preliminary stage of insight (sammasana-naṇa, insight's first stage, by Anuruddha's reckoning,
and pertaining to the kankhavitaraṇa stage of purification (Namar-p v. 1530), the tradition seems
to recall the distinction between wisdom of a received or contemplative nature (suta- and cinta-
maya panna) and wisdom that is a product of meditative cultivation (bhavana-maya panna). It
represents the yogi as “partially penetrating” (ekadesaṃ paṭivijjhanto) the eighteen, which will
be gradually fully abandoned after the bhanga stage, by initiating the abandonment of their
antithetical perceptions: so evaṃ paguṇaruparupakammaṭṭhano ya upari bhanganupassanato
paṭṭhaya pahanaparinnavasena sabbakarato pattabba aṭṭharasa mahavipassana, tasaṃ idh' eva

292
cf. Vism XXII §114, and treated independently at XXI §15-18.
293
paccuppannanaṃ dhammanaṃ vipariṇamanupassane panna, udayabbayanupassane naṇaṃ, “discernment with
regard to the observation of the transformation of presently arisen dhammas, leading to knowledge pertaining to
the observation of arising and passing” (Paṭis-m i 54-57, and treated at Vism XX §93).

153
tava ekadesaṃ paṭivijjhanto tappaṭipakkhe dhamme pajahati, [the yogi) thus competent in form
and formless meditation objects, penetrating in part already here itself those eighteen insights
known as the "eighteen great discernments" (aṭṭharasa mahavipassana) which, from the
observation of dissolution, on, will be attained in full via full understanding as abandoning
(pahana-parinna)" (Vism XX §89). In this it seems to be locating the insight heretofore depicted
as of a contemplative or reflective nature (sammasana), while that to come will be on the basis of
the meditative observation of presently arisen dhammas. Whereas the “pavatta” aspect of the
three characteristics (the characteristics as reflected in their moment to moment occurrence),
encompassed khaṇa, moment, santati, continuous succession cognitive sequence, as well as
addha, span of time, the observation that was to ensue was strictly on the the basis of presently-
arisen phenomena in its momentary nature (v. 1584). If sammasana knowledge was the camera's
broad 'pan', the subsequent knowledges were its ensuing 'zoom', narrowing to focus exclusively
on the presently-arising dhammas:

tass' evaṃ sammasantassa, kammannaṃ hoti mānasaṃ;

sūpaṭṭhanti ca sankhārā, vodāyati ca bhāvanā. 1661

As he contemplates (sammasati) thus,

his mind becomes agile;
conditioned things present themselves,
and his cultivation gains in clarity.

tato paraṃ vipassanto, pariggaṇhāti paṇḍito.

paccuppannasabhāvānaṃ, khandhānam udayabbayaṃ. 1662

And then, discerning further,

he wisely apprehends
the arising and the passing of the aggregates
in their presently arisen nature.

It is this turn exclusively to the present moment that will characterize (and distinguish) the entire
ensuing trajectory of insight's unfolding. He perceives their constant arising and passing,
navigates the crisis of distracting phenomena that lure his attention from this (perhaps in origin
pertaining more to the phenomena of samatha, but eventually represented, as here, as resulting
from progress in vipassana), and regains the path with the conviction of experience, his insight
stronger for the reckoning:

āruḷhayoggācariyo, ājānīyaratho viya,

vātābhāve padīpo 'va, pasannekamukhaṭṭhitā, 1676.

Like the chariot of a thoroughbred,

with trainer mounted,
like a lamp-flame in the absence of the wind,
standing serenely still, and single-pointed,

154
 sukhumā nipuṇākārā, khuradhārāgatā viya,
gaṇhantī bhāvanāgabbhaṃ, pavaḍḍhati vipassanā. 1677

subtle and of minutest aspect,

like in a razor's edge,
his discernment, taking hold
in cultivation's womb, begins to wax.

jātesv etesu yaṃ kinci, uḷāraṃ jātavimhayo,

disvā vipassanāmaggā, vokkamitvā tato paraṃ. 1680

And when one of these [ten defilements of insight] is produced,

having seen it, with amazement, as sublime,
and after veered away
from insight's path...

sārathī 'va rathaṃ bhantam iti sankhāya sādhukaṃ,

paviṭṭhamaggaṃ vikkhittaṃ, sampādeti yathā pure. 1685

having reckoned [the situation] properly,

like a charioteer his chariot gone astray,
he makes his cultivation once again
regain the path embarked on, then lost sight of.

And, approaching the knowledge of dissolution:

tato 'dayā 'va paṭṭhāya, atthāya sūriyo viya,

vināsāya pavattantā, vayant' evā 'ti pekkhati. 1694

Then, he observes: “right from their dawning, till

their disappearance, like the sun,
proceeding toward destruction, [conditioned things]
just pass away”...

jāyantā 'pi ca jiyyantā, miyyantā ca nirantaraṃ,

nirodhāyābhidhāvantā, bhangābhimukhapātino. 1701

Being born and growing old,

and dying with no interval,
racing toward their end,
plunging always toward their dissolution,

vigacchantā 'va dissanti, khīyant' antaradhāyino;

155
 viddhaṃsayantā sankhārā, patantā ca vināsino. 1702

they appear while the act of disappearing,

coming to their end – their nature to vanish –
[these] conditioned things, getting destroyed,
and falling – their nature to perish.

And with this the plight of beings becomes apparent, with the knowledge of fear, the first of the
knowledges pertaining to dukkha, as beings begin to appear:

jātisankaṭapakkhantā, jarābyādhinipīḷitā,
maraṇāsanisammaddā, mahābyasanabhāgino. 1709.

Leapt directly from the straits of birth,

to be struck down by old age and illness,
and crushed by the thunderbolt of death,
[beings] partake of great affliction.

maccun' abbhāhatā niccaṃ, dukkhabhārasamotthaṭā,

sokopāyāsanissandā, paridevaparāyaṇā. 1710

Perpetually struck down by death,

and toiling beneath the heavy weight of suffering,
griefs and despairs are their assured fruits,
crying in lament, their destination.

taṇhādiṭṭhimamattena, sattā etthādhimucchitā;

baddhā bhayena baddhā 'va, muttā 'va bhayamuttakā. 1711

Through taking them as self by craving and views,

beings are rendered insensate toward this;
bound, they're as if bound with fear;
only the liberated are free of fear.

Seeing bhaya (fear) brings the understanding of adinava (danger), as the world begins to appear
correspondingly more perilous:294

āvudhākulasannaddhā, yuddhabhūmipatiṭṭhitā;
sangatā 'va mahāsenā, ghorānatthaniyāmitā. 1716.

Like a great army drawn together

its ground staked on the field of battle,

294
The two knowledges had in fact been the incipient and final aspects of a single knowledge in the earlier Patis-m
formulation, termed bhayatupaṭṭhane pañña adīnave ñaṇaṃ (Patis-m matika)

156
 armed with a throng of weapons,
destined to horrific harm.

rathaṃ cakkasamāruḷhaṃ, vuyhantaṃ vaḷavāmukhaṃ,

kappuṭṭhānamahārambhaṃ, kappo pattantaro yathā. 1717

Like a word-cycle arriving at its juncture,

to the great violence that arises at its end;
being borne forward, like a chariot on wheels,
into the mare-faced fire.

The poor beings born into such a world:

jāyamānā 'va jiyyantā, nānābyasanapīḷitā,

vipattāvaṭṭapatitā, maraṇābaddhanicchayā. 1723

Aging even as they're being born,

tormented by the many kinds of ill,
fallen into a whirlpool of misfortune,
with bound certainty of death...

mohandhakārapihitā, catur-ogha-samotthaṭā,
vitunnā dukkhasallena, vihannanti vighātino. 1724

closed fast within the darkness of delusion,

and smothered beneath four flooding inundations,
pierced by the dart of suffering,
writhe, coming to their ruin.

itthan ca visapupphaṃ 'va, nānānatthaphalāvahaṃ;

dukkhānubandhasambādhaṃ, ābādhaṃ 'va samuṭṭhitaṃ. 1725

And as such is like the flower of a poison tree

bringing as its fruit its many harms;
like an illness cropping up
with throngs of miseries in tow.

Becoming disenchanted, he arrives at the knowledge of disenchantment (nibbida):

bhayabheravapakkhante, bahvādīnavapaccaye,
sankhāre samavekkhanto, nibbindati nirālayo. 1729

Observing conditioned things closely,

[and seeing them] bounding into such fear and terror,

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 and as conditions that rise to many perils,
he becomes disenchanted with them, harboring for them now no desire.

visaṃ jīvitukāmo 'va, verike viya bhīruko;

supaṇṇaṃ nāgarājā 'va, coraṃ viya mahaddhano. 1730

Like one desirous of life on seeing poison;

like a timorous person one seeing enemies,
like a king cobra on seeing a garuda,
like a man of great wealth on seeing a thief:

dukkhānusayasambādhe, bādhamāne vibhāvayaṃ,

saṃvejeti nirānande, paripanthabhayākule. 1731

understanding them as similarly oppressive,

chock-full of sufferings borne latently within them,
he feels alarm at them, holding now for him no joy,
entangled with their pitfalls and their dangers.

Desiring to be liberated from them, he gains the knowledge of the desirability of letting go,
feeling:

mīnā 'va kumine baddhā, panjare viya pakkhino

coro cārakabaddho 'va, peḷāy' anto 'va pannago. 1736

like fish caught in a net;

like birds within a cage;
like a thief imprisoned in a prison,
or a snake inside a basket;

panke sanno mahānāgo, cando rāhumukhaṃ gato;

migo yathā pāsagato, tathā saṃsāracārake. 1737

Just like a mighty elephant sunk in mud,

or the moon in Rahu's mouth,
like a deer imprisoned in a hunter's snare,
just so am I in the prison of saṃsara:

avijjāpariyonaddhe, khandhapancakapatthare,
diṭṭhijālapaṭicchanne, vipallāsaparikkhite. 1738

hemmed fast within by ignorance,

on its bedrock of the five aggregates,
examined with distorted understanding,

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 covered over with the net of views;

pancanīvaraṇābaddhe, mānatthambhasamussaye.
icchāpapātagambhīre, vipattivinipātane. 1739

bound fast by the five hindrances,

with the prominence of looming pride and rigidity,
deep with the steep precipice of desires,
casting one to one's own ruination...

chālambābhihate niccaṃ, phassadvārādhikuṭṭane.

sancetanākāraṇike, vedanākammakāraṇe. 1742

With constant rain of blows by the six objects [of the senses]
on the six thresholds' butcher's block of contact,
with consciousness as that which carries out the sentence,
and sensations as the torture sentenced for one's deeds –

anatthālāpanigghose, klesarakkhasalālite,
maraṇārambhaniṭṭhāne, baddho muttiṃ gavesati. 1743

Imprisoned in [this prison of saṃsara]

echoing with the cries of injury,
played with by the raksasa-s of the kilesa-s,
and inevitably ending in dying's violence,
he seeks release.

With this he arrives to the knowledge of re-evaluative observation (paṭisankhanupassana), re-

examining the conditioned phenomena with which he identifies and finding nothing of self
therein:

sankhāre muncat' accantaṃ, āvijjhitvā 'va pannagaṃ,

lakkhaṇān' upanijjhāya, sukhumaṃ pana yoniso. 1748

He utterly lets go (his hold upon) conditioned,

having swung them like a serpent,
and scrutinized their characteristics,
at a subtle level, to the depth.

majjhattagahaṇo tasmā, nirapekkhavimuttiyā;

vaggulī 'vāphalaṃ rukkhaṃ, vīmaṃsati visesato. 1749

With an equanimous hold on them, therefore,

without an expectation of release,

159
 he examines them to an exceptional degree
like the fruit bat does a fruitless tree.

vihataṃ viya kappāsaṃ, vihananto punappunaṃ.

gandhaṃ viya ca piṃsanto, pisitaṃ yeva sādhukaṃ. 1750

Like beating beaten cotton

time and time again;
like grinding fragrant powders
already thoroughly ground –

aniccā dukkhā 'nattā 'ti, satimā susamāhito,

āhacca paṭivijjhanto, lakkhaṇāni vipassati. 1751

Concentrated, with equanimous awareness,

applying [the perception of the characteristics] and penetrating them
as "impermanent, suffering, and not self",
he espies in them the characteristics.

Reaching this ultimately equanimous perspective on the conditioned things with which he earlier
identified (and with this, sankharupekkha-naṇa), he sees them now as:

dhātumattā parādhīnā, attādheyyavivajjitā;

maccudheyyavasānītā, upadhihatagocarā. 1756

Mere elements, bereft of self-dependence,

devoid of anything that constitutes a self;
led by the power of death's domain,
and in the range struck through by the underpinnings of attachment.

ahaṃ maman 'ti vohāro, paro vā 'tha parassa vā;

attā vā attanīyaṃ vā, vatthuto n' atthi katthaci. 1757

The designation, "I", or "mine", is just convention,

or "someone else", or "someone else's";
there's nothing in reality in them
that's self or of one's own...

ettha gayhūpagaṃ n'atthi, palāse taṃ papancitaṃ;

niruddhassa samāyūhā, niratthakasamubbhavā. 1763

There's nothing herein to be taken (as "oneself");

that's something spun on grass and leaves;
they are the onward strivings of something ceased;

160
 given rise by something that has no extant referent.

aniccā hontu sankhārā, dukkhitā vā, mam' ettha kiṃ?

anattā vā 'ti _sankhārupekkhānāṇaṃ_ pavattati ||1764 ||

And (feeling):
"Let conditioned things be impermanent, or pained,
or not self – what of mine is there herein?" --
the knowledge, "equanimity towards sankhara-s" occurs.

With this his vipassana is fully mature (paripakka):

iti disvā yathābhūtaṃ, yāva bhangā tato paraṃ,

gaṇhantī bhāvanāgabbhaṃ, paripakkā vipassanā. 1765

And thus seeing 'as-it-is',

his discernment, taking root, from dissolution, onwards,
in the womb of meditation,
is now fully mature.

avassaṃ bhanganiṭṭhāne, bhayādīnavanicchite,

nibbinditvā virajjanto, paṭisankhāy' upekkhati, 1766

Becoming disenchanted (with sankhara-s)

coming inexorably to their end in dissolution,
their fear and danger ascertained, become dispassioned,
and re-evaluatively considered them,
he looks upon them now with equanimity.

vāri pokkharapatte 'va, sūcikagge 'va sāsapo,

khittaṃ kukkuṭapattaṃ 'va, daddulaṃ 'va hutāvahe, 1769

And like water on a lotus leaf,

like a mustard seed on the tip of a needle,
like a chicken's feather or a sinew
cast into a fire,

na pasārīyatī cittaṃ, na tu sajjati bajjhati;

ālayā patilīyanti, pativattati vaṭṭato. 1770

his mind does not reach out,

does not adhere or get afflicted;
they shrink back (as does his mind) – from the harboring of craving;
it turns back from the round.

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 sītaṃ ghammābhitatto 'va, chātajjhatto 'va bhojanaṃ.
pipāsito 'va pānīyaṃ, byādhito 'va mahosadhaṃ. 1771

Just like one scorched by summer heat [yearns for] coolness,

like one consumed by hunger [years for] food,
like one thirsting [yearns for] water,
or one who's ill [yearns for] a panacea –

ajarāmaram accantaṃ, asankhāram anāsavaṃ.

sabbadukkhakkhayaṃ ṭhānaṃ, nibbānam abhikankhati. 1773

he yearns for the site of all suffering's exhaustion,

unaging and undying, all-surpassing,
with no conditioned things and no effluent toxins:
nibbana.

vuṭṭhānagāminī cāyaṃ, sikhappattā vipassanā,

sakuṇī tīradassī 'va, _sānulomā_ pavattati. 1774

And this is discernment leading to emergence,

attained now to its summit;
it proceeds, "in conformity" (with the truths),
like a bird that spots the shore.

And it is this fully developed meditation, Anuruddha tells us, that forsakes the near shore and
plunges to the far shore of the unconditioned, like the bird kept on a ship, as soon as it sees land:

paripakkā kamen' evaṃ, paribhāvitabhāvanā,

pariccajantī sankhāre, pakkhandantī asankhate. 1777

The fully cultivated meditation

become thus stage by stage fully mature,
completely forsaking conditioned things,
and leaping forth into the unconditioned,

janetānuttaraṃ maggam āsevanavisesato.

kaṭṭhasanghaṭṭanā jātā, accidhūmā 'va bhāsuraṃ. 1778

produces the unexcelled path

as the culminating distinction of its practice,
as the flame and smoke produced from two sticks' friction
produces brilliance.

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 uggacchati yathādicco, purakkhatvāruṇaṃ tathā,
vipassanaṃ purakkhatvā, maggadhammo pavattati. 1779

Just as the sun rises

preceded by the dawn,
just so, the path-consciousness occurs
preceded by discerning things with wisdom.

The dramatization and 'modeling' of insight, in the unfolding sequence as it was worked
out by the exegetical tradition, thus portrays 'fully mature' insight, grown to maturity in the
'womb' of cultivation, as culminating in nibbana. In the suttas' classic formulations of the path,
nibbana was approached via the four jhana-s. It was evidently a matter of some urgency to the
exegetical tradition, in the wake of the hermeneutical shift that came to understand samadhi as
primarily mundane (except when occurring in the above form as “path consciousness”, the
“anuttara jhana” referred to previously), that this was not as it appeared – that nibbana was
approached via vipassana, and the progressively deepening, transformative grasping of the three
characteristics that it represented.
There is good reason to understand this not simply as an essential clarification, or an
evolving form of discourse describing essentially the same thing, but as a genuine shift in the
hermeneutics of the path. The suttas in later centuries were read and understood differently.
We have seen that in the suttas the jhanic states were largely equated with the sensations
they entailed, and that their trajectory was one of increasing equanimity toward these
(culminating in the total purity of sati, by virtue of its equanimity in the fourth jhana
(upekkhasatiparisuddhi). Pace Arbel, it was not the experiencing of these sensations per se,
however, that rendered the jhana-s liberating: it was the use of them as tools to overcome the
latent craving that could still be provoked in the face of such sensations; to overcome rupa-taṇha
and arupa-taṇha, in the terminology of the ten sannojana-s, and the anusaya of craving, in the
terminology of the suttas.
The logic of the jhana-s was the counterpart (with reference to pleasure) of the logic of
the salla-sutta (SN 36 (6) with reference to pain:

seyyathapi, bhikkhave, purisaṃ sallena vijjheyya. tamenaṃ dutiyena sallena anuvedhaṃ

na vijjheyya. evan hi so, bhikkhave, puriso ekasallena vedanaṃ vedayati. evam eva kho,
bhikkhave, sutava ariyasavako dukkhaya vedanaya phuṭṭho samano na socati, na kilamati,
na paridevati, na urattaliṃ kandati, na sammohaṃ apajjati. so ekaṃ vedanaṃ vedayati —
kayikaṃ, na cetasikaṃ. tassa yeva kho pana dukkhaya vedanaya phuṭṭho samano
paṭighava na hoti. tam enaṃ dukkhaya vedanaya appaṭighavantaṃ, yo dukkhaya vedanaya
paṭighanusayo, so nanuseti. so dukkhaya vedanaya phuṭṭho samano kamasukhaṃ
nabhinandati. taṃ kissa hetu? pajanati hi so, bhikkhave, sutava ariyasavako annatra
kamasukha dukkhaya vedanaya nissaraṇaṃ.295

Just as, monks, one were to shoot a man with a dart; but one would not shoot him,
following the piercing of the first, with the second dart -- and it is thus, monks, that that
295
SN 36 (6) salla-sutta.

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 man experiences sensation by a single dart – just so, monks: a learned, noble disciple with
the stimulus of painful sensation does not grieve, does not become vexed, does not cry out,
does not pound his chest and weep, and does not lose his senses; he experiences a single
sensation: bodily, not mental. And with the stimulus of that painful sensation, he does not
have aversion. And what latent aversion there is toward painful sensation does not
continue to inhere in him not having aversion toward that painful sensation. And with the
stimulus of that painful sensation, he does not pursue delight in sensual pleasure. Why is
that? Since that noble, learned disciple knows, monks, a way out of painful sensation apart
from sensual pleasure.

The way out apart from sensual pleasure is the non-sensual pleasure of the jhana-s. But
this too is liable to be experienced with underlying attachment (anusaya), perpetuating bondage,
if not used to eliminate precisely this underlying attachment. In the discourses to the Jain ascetics
critiquing their engagement of pain to a soteriological end, the Buddha directs the Jains' attention
from the mere experiencing of sensation, understood in their paradigm to be gradually
eliminating one's accumulated karma, to the generation of craving and aversion in response to
sensation – this being the genuine source of suffering and site of relevance for ascetic striving
(padhana) in the paradigm of the noble ones (MN 101, devadaha-sutta). The analogy is extended
from the painful sensation of asceticism to the dhammikaṃ sukhaṃ, “pleasure in accordance with
the dhamma”, of the jhana-s, and the analogy is given of seeking to eliminate the craving for this
pleasure, which is the genuine problem and source of suffering in pleasure (when it is no longer
available), just as a man tormented by his love for an ex-wife, if wise, seeks to eliminate his
craving for her, the source of his suffering (MN 101). It is the love that the Buddha
problematizes; not its object. Just so with the pleasure in accordance with the dhamma, it is the
craving for this that is the source of suffering and site of striving; not, with due respect to Arbel,
the experience per se.
The jhanic trajectory closely conforms to the logic of the salla sutta, the piti-sukhaṃ of
the first and second jhanic states corresponding to the “first arrow” of bodily pleasure (sukha)
accompanied by “second arrow” of mental exultation in this (i.e., piti); the nippitikaṃ sukhaṃ of
the third jhanic state, characterized as “experiencing bodily pleasure equanimous and aware”
corresponds to experiencing sensation by a single arrow, the mental counterpart of joyous
exultation in the first no more. The final jhanic state transcends the experience of pleasure
altogether, approaching peace, but mirrors the dichotomy of bodily and mental, the neutral
bodily sensation characterized as “neither-painful-nor-pleasant” having the perfect detachment of
equanimity (upekkha) as its mental counterpart. The jhanic pericopes are a precise
correspondence with reference to pleasure, of the salla sutta's treatment of pain.
They do not correspond in one key respect: that is, they lack the terminology of anusaya
present in that sutta with respect to pain. This can, however, be found in other suttas, giving the
impression that the discourse of anusaya is as central and applicable to prescribed engagement of
the pleasure of the jhana-s, as it is to that of pain. This is a non-normative claim, but I believe it
may represent the solution to Arbel's conundrum (Arbel 2015), and the answer to her many valid
questions on the basis of the suttas' representation of the jhana-s, which Analayo 2016a left
unaddressed. In MN 44, the cula-vedalla-sutta, the layman Visakha asks the bhikkhunī
Dhammadinna whether latent craving, aversion, and ignorance are to be abandoned with

164
reference to all pleasant, painful, and neutral sensations (respectively). Dhammadinna responds
that they are not, and directs his attention specifically to the pleasure of the jhana-s (specifically,
the first jhana) as the site where it is to be abandoned: ragaṃ tena pajahati; na tattha
raganusayo anuseti -- “through that [pleasure – and specifically, I would interpret, through
overcoming craving for that pleasure], one abandons craving; and latent craving does not
continue to inhere therein”.296 Similarly, aversion (paṭigha) is abandoned through the repeated
abandoning of the unhappiness (domanassa) that tends to arise due to desire (piha) for higher
liberating states (anuttaresu vimokkhesu), and latent aversion stops continuing to inhere in that
regard.297 And ignorance is abandoned through the abandonment of the ignorance that would
otherwise accompany the neutrality and equanimity of the fourth jhana, due to which latent
ignorance ceases to inhere in it. Interpretation of this challenging passage along these lines
would highlight the instrumental use of the sensations of the jhana-s that I am proposing,
specified to be used primarily to abandon the anusaya “latent continuity” of craving (primarily
craving, but also aversion and delusion: as we saw in the salla sutta as well, all three occur
together with reference to pleasure as well as pain), as I understand it being advocated in the
suttas' paradigm.
This role was not mutually exclusive with insight and would justify the jhana-s' position
in the earliest path model at the end and culmination of the path, with no separate addendum for
insight. Insight or lack thereof within the jhana could be seen precisely as the determining factor
that determined whether the abandonment of the tendency toward craving, etc. (the anusaya)
provoked by the experience of the jhana, occurred, or not:

idh' ananda, bhikkhu ... vivekajaṃ pitisukhaṃ paṭhamaṃ jhanaṃ upasampajja viharati. so
yad eva tattha hoti rupagataṃ vedanagataṃ sannagataṃ sankharagataṃ vinnaṇagataṃ te
dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaṇdato sallato aghato abadhato parato palokato
sunnato anattato samanupassati. so tehi dhammehi cittaṃ paṭivapeti {paṭipapeti (sya.),
patiṭṭhapeti (ka.)}. so tehi dhammehi cittaṃ paṭivapetva amataya dhatuya cittaṃ upasaṃharati
— ‘etaṃ santaṃ etaṃ paṇitaṃ yadidaṃ sabbasankharasamatho sabbupadhipaṭinissaggo
taṇhakkhayo virago nirodho nibbanan’ti. so tattha ṭhito asavanaṃ khayaṃ papuṇati...298

296
Naṇamoli/Bhikkhu Bodhi interpret precisely the opposite meaning in their translation of this passage
(Naṇamoli/Bodhi trans. 1995 revised 2001, 402). They understands the statement as asserting that one need not
abandon “the underlying tendency to lust” in the pleasant sensation of the first jhana, because by that sensation
one abandons lust. This interpretation would support Arbel's stance, rather than mine, and gains some support by
the salla sutta's statement that, “Since he does not seek delight in sensual pleasure [by virtue of being able to
enjoy the non-sensual pleasure of jhana], the underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feeling does not lie behind
this” (salla sutta, trans. Bodhi in Bodhi 2005, 32) (“this” referring here to seeking delight in sensual pleasure
while experiencing painful sensation). This distinction between “lust” or “sensual pleasure” and the non-sensual
pleasure “according with the dhamma” of the jhana-s is relevant and correspond to the distinction between the
kama-taṇha and rūpa- & arūpa-taṇha of the saññojana-s. I read raganusaya (perhaps problematically, perhaps
accurately) as encompassing both, and the passage as specifying jhana as the instrument through which latent
craving encompassing both can be cut off (by abandoning the craving that tends to arise toward the pleasant
sensation of the jhana).
297
It's not quite clear whether the tattha in this case refers to domanassa, as it grammatically appears to (which
would oddly positively valorize it), or is to be understood more broadly as with respect to one's present state, not
yet attained to the anuttara vimokkha-s, which reference to which one no longer experiences domanassa.
298
MN 64 Maha malunkyaputta-sutta.

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 Here, Ananda, a monk ... attains the pleasure accompanied by joy of the first jhana, born
of seclusion, and abides therein. Whatever there is in that [state] – pertaining to form,
pertaining to sensation, pertaining to perception, pertaining to volitional formations, and
pertaining to consciousness – he regards those phenomena as impermanent, as suffering, as
disease, as a sore, as a dart, as an evil, as an illness, as other, as decay, as empty, and as not
self. He causes his mind to be shorn away from those dhamma-s and collects it on the
element of the deathless (considering): ‘This is peaceful, this is sublime: the quiescence of
all formations, the relinquishment of all the underpinnings of attachment, the end of
craving, its fading away, its cessation, its quenching. And remaining therein [entailing,
presumably, progression through the remaining jhana-s, as classically depicted, the arc of
progress fueled precisely by the gradual abandonment of craving at successively higher
levels, toward the successively refined forms of pleasure they entail – viraga, e.g. pitiya ca
viraga. thus signifying not just “fading away” but fading away of raga for], he reaches the
end of the effluents (asava-s)....299

The exegetical tradition, as we have seen, separated its treatment of insight from that of
concentration, and in so doing made them sequential and mutually exclusive. Concentration was
now defined in levels, beginning with upacara-samadhi, (“access concentration”), attaining to
the level of absorption and thus access to jhana with appana-samadhi (“absorption
concentration”), and the relationship that governed the respective jhana-s was likewise
conceptualized as one of successive grades of concentration, rather than equanimity, with the
abandonment of craving toward successively refined experiences of pleasure. The jhanic
sensations were likewise re-interpreted as “accompanying” a given jhana, rather than
constituting it. Most critically however, these states were hermeneutically re-read as being
intrinsically distinct from insight. A categorically distinct form of concentration was theorized by
the exegetical tradition to characterize the moment by moment level of concentration at which
insight was understood to take place. The term khaṇika samadhi or khaṇika-cittekaggata
(“momentary concentration” or “momentary one-pointedness of mind” e.g. Vism VIII §232) was
coined for this, heightening the effect of its distinctness from concentration proper. The
relationship between the jhana-s and insight operating in tandem now had to be reread as a
complicated dance of entering and exiting absorption, equated with the “yuganaddha” approach
to liberation (of such scanty textual evidence in the nikaya-s, but so central to the exegetical
account: AN IV, 170, yuganaddha-sutta). Insight was now understood as taking place in the
review of a jhanic state, upon exiting it: thus not on the basis of presently arisen dhamma-s at all,
but prior constituents of jhanic states, on their review.300
This subtle but major shift in the hermeneutics of the path over time yielded the
reconfigured seven-staged path of the exegetical tradition, culminating not in the jhana-s, but
with the sequence of insight knowledges, as exquisitely rendered by Anuruddha. We see the
299
This represented as the path and practice to the abandonment of the five lower fetters (panca orambhagiya-
saṃyojana-s), thus suggesting this engagement of the three characteristics could pertain to a latter stage of the
path than that prior to the arising of the dhamma-eye): ayam pi kho, ananda, maggo ayaṃ paṭipada pancannaṃ
orambhagiyanaṃ saṃyojananaṃ pahanaya (MN 64, maha malukyaputtasutta).
300
For example: tani va pana jhanani samapajjitva vuṭṭhaya jhanasampayuttaṃ cittaṃ khayato vayato sammasati
Vism VIII §233.

166
evolution of this model via the canonical books of the abhidhamma (in particular the Vibhanga)
as they formulated the “dhamma theory”, as detailed by Karunadasa301 and especially the sutta
categories of khandha, ayatana, dhatu, sacca, & the (22) indriyas as subject of analysis (which
via the Path of Purification (Vism)'s metaphorization of these as detailed above will yield the
eventual “bhumi-dhamma-s” of Anuruddha's usage) → the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m),
taking inspiration from the Vibhanga and introducing the project of charting the path from the
point of view of the individual's evolving understanding → Path of Freedom (vimuttimagga) and
Path of Purification (Vism), furnishing a comprehensive, encyclopedic treatment of the fully
synthesized, reformulated path, building on the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) → Buddhadatta
& Anuruddha, streamlining and re-working the Vism's content in literary form, so as to depict
the path's unfolding from the vantage point of the model practitioner.
Anuruddha effectively caps off this long-developing literary tradition and crystalizes its
vision and understanding of the path essentially in the form it comes down to us today, becoming
its standard representation. The Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) gives us the most immediate
access to this vision and understanding available among his extant works.

301
The subject of Karunadasa 1996; revised and expanded at Karunadasa 2010, ch. 1.

167
 PART II

Chapter Four
Anuruddha's Manual of Defining Mind & Matter (namarupapariccheda)

[The Feast]

This chapter presents for the first time in English a translation of the second half of
Anuruddha's Manual of Defining Mind & Matter (namarupapariccheda), chs. 8-13, with notes,
critically edited facing Pali text, and section by section introduction and analysis. The text is
presented with facing translation for ease of reference and clarity as to preferred reading. The
Pali text included here represents a composite edition, rather than a critical edition, being based
on the two published Roman-script published editions of the Namarūpapariccheda: the English
edition (Ee) prepared by A. P. Buddhadatta in 1912 and published in 1914 in the Journal of the
Pali Text Society (JPTS, 1913-1914) (and corrigenda in (JPTS 1915), and the Chaṭṭhasangayana
CD-ROM edition of the Burmese Sixth Council edition of the Pali Tipiṭaka (Be), published in
1952 and digitally input by the Vipassana Research Institute in 1999 (Chaṭṭhasangayana CD-
ROM VRI 1999).302 A critical edition based on all available witnesses has not been attempted
here, as this was not the object of the project.) The Pali text included here thus represents a
composite edition, presenting Ee and Be readings side by side in notes and edited text
representing preferred reading upon which translation is based in facing Pali. Numbering
conforms to Be, since two verses were elided in Ee, as noted in A.P. Buddhadatta Errata in
Namarupapariccheda,303 resulting in a minor discrepancy in verse numbering in the two editions.
The Pali text presented in the left hand column represents the corrected or preferred reading on
which the translation is based, combining the two published Roman editions and Buddhadatta's
errata. Slight variation between the two editions is frequent, and in such cases both readings have
been shown side by side in the verse-by-verse notes, with the adopted reading clearly indicated
in bold.
The system of annotation is atypical but has been adopted to facilitate readability, in the
hopes of presenting both the edited Pali text and text of the translation in as clean and readable a
format as possible, with maximum reduction of cluttering on accounts of critical apparatus. As
such: all notes on text and translation are presented under a single footnote corresponding to
verse number, located at the conclusion of the Pali verse. Thus, textual variants are not indicated
by introjected footnotes within the body of the Pali text, but are presented in bold in the order in
which the occur in the running notes at the bottom of the page corresponding to the verse number
of the text. Notes to the translation are indicated by superscripted asterices and can be found
under the same footnote corresponding to verse number. Multiple notes within a single verse are
presented in the order in which they occur in the text (matched for clarity to an italicized
headword that indicates the part of the translation to which the note pertains). Verses that that

302
Additional published and unpublished manuscript witnesses are available in Burmese, Thai, and Sinhalese. (For
example, 1962 print edition in Burmese script: Buddhadatta, Anuruddha, and Dhammapala. Abhidhammavatara.
Rangoon: Buddha Sasana Samiti Press, 1962.
303
1283a in JPTS 1915, p. 55.

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present no textual variations and no notes to translation have been indicated with an ellipsis mark
(---). This unorthodox formatting has been adopted as a creative experiment in presenting as
clean and uncluttered and readable edited text and translation as humanly possible. It is
intentionally inconspicuous and unobtrusive and intended to allow reading to proceed without
constant intrusion owing to the critical apparatus.304 It is hoped that these unorthodox
modifications to established scholarly convention serve their purpose of conveying the essential
information of the critical apparatus that they represent in a discreet, pleasant, and unobtrusive
way so as not to impede reading and maximize simplicity while still retaining clarity and
precision. A slight degree of precision is arguably sacrificed by not signaling variants more
explicitly in the Pali text; however, it is hoped that the reader of the Pali text will scan the
running notes for the variants, marked clearly in bold, where they can be found, hopefully quite
clearly indicated. It is hoped that what is gained in cleanness of presentation makes up for what
is lost in the pin-pointing precision of a text littered with traditionally indicated indications of
editorial decisions. The information presented is intended to be the same and only the format is
novel.
A word must also be said about translation style. In becoming cognizant of Anuruddha's
minor works as deeply, even constitutively, literary and aesthetic in their presentation of their
received abhidhammic and exegetical material, it began to seem more and more appropriate,
even essential, that the translation should be adapted to reflect this. The Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p) is a deeply poetic work, and it seems essential that the translation should attempt to
convey its literary character, in order to render this aspect of it. (It could easily be lost sight of
entirely, in different translation style.)
Hank Heifetz has made the case for both the value and feasibility of faithful literary
translation of classical works of Sanskrit and Tamil poetry that seeks to render the rhythm,
cadence, and power of the original works in a way that "respects them enough to let them speak
our own language, in our own time, as we use it for life."305 It is with inspiration from his many
beautiful translations reflective of that potential (as well as from Rupert Gethin's exceptionally
sensitive translations that attempt to render ideas as coherently and understandably as possible)
that this literary mode of translation has been adopted. Heifetz' translations showed me that it
was possible to maintain philological precision and integrity while seeking to translate literary
dimensions of the text (frequently disregarded in academic translation), so as to achieve
corresponding literary and artistic integrity in the target language. The literary and aesthetic
dimensions of the text -- its verses' feel and cadence, their musicality and their poetic force --
have been regarded as an object of translation. It is these that render Anuruddha's minor works
literary abhidhamma texts and to disregard them in translation would be to translate without
translating.
Anuruddha's Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) in particular lends itself to a literary mode
of translation since its verses are both simple and straightforward, and for the most part tend to
be structured as four semi-independent segments, corresponding to the four eight-syllable pada-s

304
Inspired in part by the elegant Gethin 2008 Sayings of the Buddha, for the minimalist and slightly archaicizing
use of the asterisk rather than numbers to indicate notes to the text, and innovative approaches to editing such as
the novel and refreshingly idiosyncratic conventions utilized by Somdev Vasudev in the Clay Sanskrit Library
editions produced under his supervision.
305
e.g. Heifetz 1985, 15.

169
(quarters) of the two-line, thirty-two syllable meter in which the body of each chapter is
composed.

ito paraṃ pavakkhāmi, bhāvanānayam uttamaṃ,

nāmarūpaṃ pariggayha, paṭipajjitum icchato. 880

From here forward I will expound

the highest method, that of meditation,
for one who wants to apprehend
mind and matter and make progress on the path.

These four distinct segments of the original verse have been rendered in translation as four
distinct lines. This is both because English poetic convention prefers shorter lines for poetry than
Pali and Sanskrit convention ("From here forward I will expound the highest method, that of
meditation" becomes a very heavy line of poetry in English -- so heavy, it virtually ceases to be
identifiable as poetry). The translation choice of transposing the last line's 'mind and matter' to
pada D rather than keeping it in pada C as in the original is made with the consideration of
cadence and balance ("for one who wants to apprehend mind and matter / and make progress on
the path" would make the two lines last two lines very unbalanced, since 'for one who wants' has
to be rendered in pada C for English syntax. The simple compensatory shift of 'mind and matter'
to the beginning of the last line restores the balance of the lines without distorting the meaning
and is a good example of the translation choices that a literary mode of translation has frequently
entailed). Another example:

mārapāsasamucchedī, sattham etam anuttaraṃ;

mohandhakāraviddhaṃsī, vijjālokavirocano. 969

this is the matchless blade

that cuts through Mara's noose;
and the blazing forth of understanding's light,
scattering the darkness of delusion.

Such an attempt has not been made for the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), the language of
which is much more involved and does not, like the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) , tend to
fall into four clearly distinct segments in each verse. On the contrary, in the Decisive Treatment
(Pm-vn), all four segments are often syntactically interwoven, forming in translation a single,
long statement:

itthaṃ cittaṃ cetasikaṃ, rūpan c' evā 'ti sankhatā,

vuttā asankhataṃ dani, nibbanan ti pavuccati. 895 (Pm-vn 895)

The conditioned [paramattha dhamma-s] -- mind, mental concomitants, and matter --

have thus been stated; now, the unconditioned -- nibbana -- will be set forth.

170
The Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s complex verses thus present a much greater challenge for
literary translation. Since this is not at all the case with the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p),
however, literary translation has been undertaken without any great difficulty or resulting
distortion of meaning.

The content of the text is as follows and this chapter presents Manual of Discerning
(Namar-p), chapters eight through thirteen in translation, taking up the topic of paṭipatti or 'path-
progress', under the twin headings of two kinds of bhavana ("cultivation", "development", or
"meditation"): samatha ("tranquility" and vipassana ("insight")

Manual of Discerning Mind and Matter (namarupaparicchedapakarana) Contents:

Pt. I

Abhidhammaparamattha-vibhāga
1. namattaya-vibhago: 1
2. lakkhaṇarasupaṭṭhana-vibhago: 67
3. bhedasangaha-vibhago: 123
4. pakiṇṇaka-vibhago: 211
5. kamma-vibhago: 328
6. rūpa-vibhago: 481
7. sabbasangaha-vibhago: 617

Pt. II

Samathabhāvanā-vibhāga
8. kasiṇasubha-vibhago: 880
9. dasanussati-vibhago: 1100
10. sesakammaṭṭhana-vibhago: 1298

Pt. III

Vipassanā-vibhāga
11. vipassana-vibhago: 1506
12. dasavattha-vibhago: 1642
13. nissandaphala-vibhago: 1792

Nigamanakathā: 1848

Detailed Contents (PARTS II & III)

PART II: The Cultivation of Tranquillity section (samathabhavanavibhaga) (Chs. 8, 9 & 10)

Chapter 8: "Meditation devices (kasiṇa-s) and cultivation of the perception of foulness (asubha-
bhavana)" (kasiṇasubhavibhago): v. 880

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 • The Forty Objects of Meditation (cattalīsa kammaṭṭhanani): v. 884
• The Requisites of Practice (expository matrix): v. 885
◦ The Purity of Preparation (payoga-visuddhi) v. 886
◦ Acquisition of the Means (upaya-sampada): v. 898
◦ Purification of the Requisite Mental disposition (ajjhasaya-sodhana): v. 918
• Cultivation of Samatha on the basis of the Ten Kasinas: v. 1044
◦ The Signs (nimitta): v. 1053
• Cultivation of [the Perception] “Foul” (asubha-bhavana): v. 1069

Chapter 9: "The Ten Recollections" (dasanussativibhago)

• Recollection of the Buddha (buddhanussati): v. 1101

• Recollection of the Dhamma (dhammanussati): v. 1120
• Recollection of the Sangha (sanghanussati): v. 1137
• Recollection of Virtue (sīlanussati): v. 1152
• Recollection of Giving (caganussati): v. 1166
• Recollection of [likeness to] Deities (devatanussati): v. 1180
• Recollection of Peace (upasamanussati): v. 1195
• Mindfulness of Death (maraṇassati): v. 1209
• Bodily Awareness (kayagatasati): v. 1232
• Awareness of the In- and Out-breath (anapanassati): v. 1255

Chapter 10: "The Remaining Objects" (sesakammaṭṭhanavibhago)

• The Four Immeasurables or Brahmaviharas (appamañña): v. 1298

• The Perception "Repulsive" in Food (aharapaṭikkūlasañña): v. 1424
• The Resolution into the Four Elements (catu-dhatu-vavatthanaṃ): v.1445
◦ Vipassana appendix: Vipassana on the basis of catu-dhatu-vavatthana: v.1461
• The Formless Attainments (aruppa-samapatti-s): v. 1464
◦ Vipassana appendix: Vipassana & the aruppa-samapatti-s: the ubhatobhagavimutto
arahant: vv.1482-1483
• The Six Direct Knowledges (cha abhiñña): v. 1484
◦ Vipassana appendix: Vipassana and fivefold vs. sixfold abhiñña: the Mahakhīṇasavo
arahant: v. 1502

PART III: Vipassana Section (vipassanavibhago) (Chs. 11, 12 & 13)

Chapter 11: "Vipassana": (vipassanavibhago)

• Enumeration of Content of Vipassana Section, chs. 11-13: v. 1506

• The Cultivation of Insight: v. 1511

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 ◦ Two origins (samuṭṭhana): v. 1512
◦ Two modes of undertaking (dhura): v. 1513
◦ Three levels (bhūmī): v. 1514
◦ Three ways of inhering (abhinivesa): v. 1517
◦ The four stages of purification that constitute its body (sarīra)
• The Three Characteristics (tilakkhaṇa) that it discerns in conditioned things (sankhara): v.
1537
◦ anicca (perceiving them as "impermanent"): v. 1538
◦ dukkha (as "suffering"): v. 1548
◦ anatta (and as "not self"): v. 1564
• The Two Aspects (akara) of conditioned things in which it discerns the three
characteristics: Causal dependence (nimitta) & Moment to moment occurrence (pavatta):
v. 1581
• Eighteenfold "Mahavipassana": v. 1617
◦ The anicca observations: v. 1618
◦ the dukkha observations: v. 1628
◦ the anatta observations: v. 1631
◦ the freedom observations: v. 1633

Chapter 12: "The Ten Stages" (dasavatthavibhago)

• The Threefold Division of Eighteen-fold vipassana according to the three characteristics

and corresponding threefold division of the cultivation of Insight: v. 1642
• Insight's Division into Ten Stages: v. 1643
• I. Contemplative Knowledge by Grouping (Kalapato Sammasana-ñaṇa): v. 1652
• II. Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away (Udayabbaya-ñana): v. 1661
◦ The Ten Corruptions of Insight (dasa vipassana-upaklesa): v. 1678
• III. The Knowledge of Dissolution (Bhanga-ñaṇa): v. 1690
• IV. Knowledge of Fear (Bhaya-ñaṇa): v. 1705
• V. Knowledge of Danger (Adīnava-ñaṇa): v. 1713
• VI. Knowledge of Disenchantment (Nibbida-ñaṇa): v. 1729
• VII. Knowledge of the Desirability of Letting Go (Muñcitukamata-ñaṇa): v. 1735
• VIII. Knowledge of Re-evaluative Reflection (Paṭisankha-ñaṇaṃ): v. 1746
• IX. Knowledge of Equanimity toward All Conditioned Things (Sankhar-upekkha-ñaṇa):
v. 1753
• X. Knowledge "in Conformity" (with the noble truths) (Anuloma-ñaṇa); known also as:
paripakka vipassana, "Insight Attained to Full Maturity"; vuṭṭhanagaminī vipassana,
"Insight leading to Emergence"; and sikhappatta vipassana: "insight attained to its
summit": v. 1774
• The Process of Emergence: v. 1775
• Change of Lineage, Path & Fruition Consciousnesses (Gotrabhu, Magga & Phala Citta-
s): v. 1784

173
 • Review of Attainment (Paccavekkhaṇa): v. 1787
• The Higher Paths and Fruits: v. 1788

Chapter 13: "The Resultant Fruits" (nissandaphalavibhago)

• Penetration and the Fulfillment of the Task of Each Truth (Paṭivedha & Kicca): v. 1793
• The Three Routes of Emancipation and the Seven Noble Individuals Classification with
Reference to them (vimokkhattayaṃ & the satta-puggala-bheda): v. 1803
◦ The Two manners of Yoking Insight / The two "Yokings" of Insight vis a vis the
emergences: vuṭṭhana (vipassana-dhura-s): v. 1814
• The Eight Noble Individuals (aṭṭha ariya-puggala): v. 1821
• The Corresponding Loss of Defilement (Klesahani): v. 1826
• The Four Powers of Analysis (Paṭisambhida-s): v. 1829
• The Attainments (Samapatti-s): v. 1836
• The Attainment of Cessation (Nirodha-samapatti): v. 1839

Colophon (nigamana): vv. 1848-1857

Nāmar-p chs. 8-13, critically edited Pali text and annotated translation with section by
section introduction and analysis.

THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER

8. Chapter Eight
Meditation devices (kasiṇa-s) and cultivation of the perception of foulness (asubha-bhavana)

The Namarūpapariccheda's second half (chs. 8-13), closely corresponding to the

Visuddhimagga's samadhi and panna sections, presents the Mahavihara interpretive tradition's
account of normative Buddhist meditative praxis (paṭipatti). In doing so, it reframes its
immediately preceding treatment of the abhidhammaparamattha-s, core doctrinal formulations,
and pannatti (chs. 1-7), which constitutes the work's first half, as requisite acquisitional learning
(pariyatti), on the basis of which to proceed. Paṭipatti is treated under two headings: samatha
(chs 8-10) and vipassana (chs. 11-13). Chapter eight, following the Visuddhimagga, takes up
samatha in the form of an exposition of the forty kammaṭṭhana-s, beginning with the earth
kasiṇa. As the initial object of treatment, the earth kasiṇa receives special treatment, retaining
the status bequeathed upon it by the Visuddhimagga as the initial and thus paradigmatic object of
meditation: it is preceded by a lengthy prelude that describes the initial requisites to taking up the
practice of meditation per se (including cultivation of the desire to do so), understood as applying
to the taking up of any object. Namar-p ch. 8, the “kasiṇa-s (meditation devices) and Asubha-
bhavana (cultivation of the perception of foulness) Section,” includes this prelude as part of its
treatment of the earth kasiṇa, exposition of the remaining kasiṇas, and an exposition of the
cultivation of the perception of foulness in the form of the body's ten stages of decay as
systematized in the commentarial tradition.

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Synopsis: Two kinds of bhavana: samatha and vipassana; Among those, taking up samatha, two
kinds of concentration: upacara and appana. These are developed on forty objects. Taking these
up in order, the eighth chapter addresses the ten kasiṇas and asubhabhavana. As a prelude to the
taking up of any meditation object, the text addresses 1) initial preparation (payogasuddhi), 2)
acquisition of the means (upaya) to meditate, and 3) development of the requisite mentality or
“disposition” (ajjhasaya) for taking up meditation. This rubric, apparently Anuruddha's own
innovation as a synopsis of the Visuddhimagga's lengthy exposition, broadly structures the
discussion leading up to the kasiṇa-s. The bulk of the chapter is spent on its last item, as an
evocation of the development of the requisite mental disposition (ajjhasaya) for taking up
practice, for which he adapts a minor rubric from the Visuddhimagga cited in the pathavikasiṇa
section in connection with what the practitioner considers on sitting down to practice – but
expanded by Anuruddha into a lengthy and vivid evocation of these steps in their process of
unfolding, and leading to a desire to practice in the first place:

Summary of the steps preceding meditation (Vism IV, bhavanavidhana, §27 = trans.
Nyanamoli, pp.123-124):

1. Having reviewed the danger in objects of desire;

2. and given rise to deep longing for renunciation as the means (upaya) of leaving suffering
behind;
and given rise to joy and gladness recalling the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and
Sangha;
3. and given rise to deep respect for the practice of renunciation of objects of desire as the
path followed by all Buddhas and arahants; and given rise to effort, [thinking:] "I too
shall be one who partakes of the taste of the pleasure of seclusion by this path" –
4. setting his eyes upon the object without strain (samena akarena), he should grasp and
cultivate the sign.306

In Anuruddha's adaptation, this is rendered as a substantial treatment of the development of the

requisite ajjhasaya in three parts, under the headings:

1) having seen the danger in desires,

2) and their renunciation as safety,
3) disenchanted with the [kilesas'] flaring up.307

This section includes some of the most novel and creative parts of the work.

306
1. “appassada kama” ti-adina nayena kamesu adīnavaṃ paccavekkhitva, 2. kamanissaraṇe
sabbadukkhasamatikkamupayabhūte nekkhamme jatabhilasena, buddhadhammasanghaguṇanussaraṇena
pītipamojjaṃ janayitva, 3. “ayaṃ dani sa sabbabuddha paccekabuddha ariyasavakehi paṭipanna
nekkhammapaṭipada” ti paṭipattiya sañjatagaravena, “addha imaya paṭipadaya pavivekasukharasassa bhagī
bhavissamī” ti ussahaṃ janayitva, 4. samena akarena cakkhūni ummīletva nimittaṃ gaṇhantena bhavetabbaṃ
(Vism IV, §27).
307
kamesv adinavaṃ disva, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato / pariyuṭṭhananibbinno, sodheyy' ajjhasayaṃ kathaṃ?
(918).

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Anuruddha concludes his treatment of the kasiṇas returning to the theme of #5 above, that of
partaking of the taste of the pleasure of seclusion:

supakkhalitupaklesa, santacitta samahita,

pavivekarasassādaṃ, anubhonti yathasukhaṃ. 1068

their kilesas washed away,

with calmed and concentrated minds,
they can experience as and when they want
the enjoyment of the savor of seclusion.

He in fact weaves this theme throughout his discussion. He had earlier invoked the famous image
of the clean cloth correctly taking the dye (the climax of the “progressive discourse” pericope
(for example, yasapabbajja, vinaya mahavagga) or the simile of the cloth, vatthasutta, MN7),
tying it to this theme, likening the clean cloth to the mind now purified in disposition, and the
dye it takes to the “highest essence/taste (rasa) of meditation:”

cetokalankapagato, bhāvanārasam uttamaṃ,

rangaṃ niddhotavatthaṃ 'va, sadhukaṃ paṭigaṇhati. 1039

gone away, the stains upon his heart,

(his mind) correctly takes
the highest essence of meditation,
like a cloth washed clean correctly takes the dye.

Rephrased at 1043 as one who brings about “the highest pleasure of meditation,” making clear
the equation:

icc' alobham adosañ ca, mohabhavam athaparaṃ,

nekkhammaṃ pavivekañ ca, tatha nissaraṇaṃ budho, 1042
samarabbha visodhento, ajjhasayam asesato,
dhīro sampaṭipadeti, bhāvanāsukham uttamaṃ. 1043

Purifying his disposition, to completeness,

with reference, thus,
to non-craving and non-aversion,
then to the absence of delusion,
and to renunciation, and seclusion
and so to the way out, the wise one,
now steadfast, brings about
the supreme pleasure of meditation.

NB This is the poetic image and phrasing that Anuruddha ends the Abhidh-s on, referring to it
there as the paṭipattirasassada:

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Abhidh-s IX 13: (last lines of the last chapter, before nigamanakatha):

bhavetabbaṃ pan' icc' evaṃ bhavana-dvayam uttamaṃ;

paṭipattirasassadaṃ patthayantena sasane.

And so these two excellent modes of meditation

should be cultivated thus
by one in the sasana seeking
the savor of the taste of practice.

If the theme of acquiring the taste of the pleasure of solitude characterizes Anuruddha's treatment
of samatha, his treatment of asubhabhavana (and subsequent objects) stands out for its inclusion
of a coda on the method of its development as a practice pertaining to insight. He somewhat
perfunctorily closes his more standard treatment of asubha as culminating in the first jhana,
saying “this is the method as regards the development of tranquility.” He then turns to a
discussion of the method of development of insight on its basis, discernment of the transience of
one's own body on the basis of the asubha practice heralding what is considered insight.

aniccaṃ khayadhammañ ca, dukkham eva bhayavahaṃ;

anatta ca parabhūtaṃ, vibhijjati khaṇe khaṇe 1083

“It's subject to decay, impermanent;

and [this is] assuredly terrifying suffering;
and constrained, not self,
it's breaking up in every moment.”

vinassamanass' akaraṃ, tatth' evaṃ pana passato,

vipassana-bhavana 'ti, tam īrenti tathagata. 1084

And one's development of insight, seeing thus,

the aspect of it presently decaying,
the Buddhas speak of
as “insight meditation.”

Widening the scope of the practice considerably, he continues:

bhavanaṃ duvidham p' etaṃ, bhaventi puna paṇḍita;

jīvamane 'pi kayamhi, taṃtadakarasambhave. 1085

The wise develop

both kinds of meditation,
on a living body, too,
as it gives rise to the respective aspect.

177
This two-tiered treatment of meditation objects, briefly outlining their samatha employment, and
then culminating in coda-like appendices on the onward development of insight on the basis of
them, will characterize Anuruddha's treatment of the forty objects throughout the chapters of the
Samatha section (8, 9, & 10). In this way, somewhat ironically, Anuruddha's treatment of each
samatha object in his samatha section concludes in discussion of insight: semi-segregated and
crowning his treatment of each object, and pointing forward, toward the work's treatment of
insight yet to come.

To an extent, Anuruddha inherits the awkwardness of this arrangement from the Visuddhimagga,
which exhaustively treats the forty objects from the angle of samatha, prior to turning to a
discussion of insight in its subsequent pañña section (as the latter of the sequentially developed
seven stages of its purifications framework, the entirety of samatha coming within the second of
its stages, that of cittavisuddhi, the cultivation of pañña constituting the latter five stages). While
the Visuddhimagga may comment in passing on the amenability of the objects to insight, it is
nowhere as systematic or as predictable in its structure as in Anuruddha's curious and
conspicuous two-tiered treatment, producing extensive discussion of insight as it applies
specifically to each object well before its general discussion of insight as a topic in its own right
(chs. 11-13).

Chapter Content:

The Forty Objects of Meditation (cattalisa kammaṭṭhanani): v. 884

The Requisites of Practice (expository matrix): v. 885
The Purity of Preparation (payoga-visuddhi) v. 886
Acquisition of the Means (upaya-sampada): v. 898
Purification of the Requisite Mental disposition (ajjhasaya-sodhana): v. 918
Cultivation of Samatha on the basis of the Ten Kasinas: v. 1044
The Signs (nimitta): v. 1053
Cultivation of [the Perception] “Foul” (asubha-bhavana): v. 1069

NAMARUPAPARICCHEDO THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER

8. aṭṭhamo paricchedo 8. Chapter Eight
kasiṇasubhavibhago kasiṇas (meditation devices) and Asubha-bhavana
(cultivation of the perception of foulness) Section
ito paraṃ pavakkhami, bhavananayam uttamaṃ, From here forward I will expound
namarūpaṃ pariggayha, paṭipajjitum icchato. 880* the highest method, that of meditation,
for one who wants to apprehend
mind and matter and make progress on the path.

880
icchato: icchato Ee var. īhato; īhato Be. Infinitive followed by icchato has precedent in Anuruddha; inf. followed
by īhato, though it renders a plausible meaning (“endeavors to”), does not.
* Verse numeration follows Be. Be 880 = Ee 879 (and so on). Citation of Ee variants will not hereafter make
reference to corresponding Ee numeration.

178
bhavana duvidha tattha, samatho ca vipassana; Now, meditation is of two kinds:
samatho duvidho tattha, paritto ca mahaggato. 881 tranquility and discernment;
Now, tranquility is of two kinds:
limited and in full.
upacaram anuppatto, paritto ti pavuccati; Termed “limited” on reaching
mahaggat' appanapatto, samatho lokiyo mato. 882 access concentration,
mundane tranquility is considered
“in full” when it attains to full absorption.
THE OBJECTS OF MEDITATION
kasiṇani dasasubha, dasadhanussatī tatha; Now, the objects of concentration
appamañña ca sañña ca, vavattharuppakani ca; 883 are forty, say the wise,
applying themselves on which
&
they cultivate both of these tranquilities:
kammaṭṭhanani tatth' ahu, cattalīsa vicakkhaṇa,
yatthanuyogaṃ kubbanta, bhaventi samatha- the [10] kasinas and ten of foulness;
dvayaṃ. 884 the likewise ten-fold recollections,
the [4] illimitables, the [1] perception;
the [1] analytic resolution and the [4] formless.*
THE REQUISITES OF PRACTICE
(expository matrix)
taṃ payogavisuddhena, patvanopayasampadaṃ, They're to be cultivated, it is said,
ajjhasayaṃ visodhetva, bhavetabban ti bhasitaṃ 885
by one 1) pure in his initial preparation,
having acquired 2) endowment with the means,
and 3) purified the mental disposition.
I. PAYOGAVISUDDHI: Purity of Preparation
kathaṃ[?] karonto carittaṃ, varittañ ca vivajjiya, How? Enacting the virtue that's to be enacted,
patimokkhaṃ samadaya, saddhaya paripūraye. 886 and avoiding those actions that must be avoided
(in accordance with sila),
taking up the patimokkha's code of conduct,
one should fulfill it out of faith.
paṭisankhaya sodhetva, chadvaresu malasavaṃ, One should cleanse with careful reckoning
881
—
882
mahaggat' appanā: mahaggatappaṇa Ee; mahaggatappana Be. Reading mahaggat[o] appanapatto.
883
—
884
* The “foulnesses” (asubha) refer to the visuddhimagga's expansion of the “nava sivathika” (nine burning
ground) contemplations of the satipaṭṭhanasutta into ten aspects of corporeal decay (cf. Vism VI,
asubhakammaṭṭhana); the “recollections” (anussati) refer to the ten recollections (of buddha, dhamma, sangha,
sila, caga, devata, maraṇanussati, kayagatasati, anapanassati, and upasamanussati); the illimitables
(appamanna) refer to the four brahmavihara-s; the “perception” (sanna) refers to the perception of repulsiveness
in food (aharapaṭikulasanna); the “analytic resolution” (vavatthana) refers to the resolution into the four
elements (catudhatuvavatthana). cf. Vism III, cattalīsakammaṭṭhanavaṇṇana.
885
payogasuddhi: purity i.e. qualification with respect to initial preparation cf. Vism IV, paṭhamajjhanakatha
886
vivajjiya: vivajjiya Be; vivajjaye Ee
* caritta-sīla and varitta-sīla refer to the two facets of virtue as that to be cultivated and that to be avoided.
*
cf. Vism I, patimokkhasaṃvarasīlaṃ

179
chalindriyani medhavī, satarakkhena gopaye. 887 the flow of defilement at the six sense-doors,
and wisely guard the senses
with sati's constant watch.*
papakajīvanissango, kuhakacaranissaṭo. One should purify one's livelihood
ajīvaṃ parisodheyya, pahitatt' eṭṭhi-suddhiya. 888 through purity of pursuit (of material sustenance),
exerting oneself,
detached from wrongful means of living,
emerged from crooked ways.*
idam atthitam arabbha, paṭisankhaya yoniso. Having thoroughly reflected
paññava sampajaññena, paribhuñjeyya paccaye. 889 upon its purpose
one should make use of the requisites
with wisdom and with full understanding.*
saṃvaraṃ patimokkhe ca, sīlam indriyasaṃvaraṃ, Having undertaken fourfold virtue thus:
ajīvaparisuddhiñ ca, tatha paccayanissitaṃ, 890 1) (the virtue of) restraint in the patimokkha,
2) the virtue of restraint of the senses,
&
3) total purity of livelihood,
samadaya catuddh' evam adhiṭṭheyya tato paraṃ, and likewise 4) that based on the requisites,
tass' eva parivaraya, dhutangani yatharahaṃ. 891 one should thereafter resolve
upon the dhutanga practices, as appropriate,
for bolstering that virtue.*
paṃsukūlikam angaṃ, ti-cīvaraṃ cīvare yugaṃ; The dust-heap robe and three-robe practice
piṇḍapatikam angañ ca, sapadanikam uttamaṃ; 892 -- the pair pertaining to the robe;
the [eating exclusively from] alms-bowl practice;
and excellent no-house-excluded practice;
khalu-pacchabhattikangaṃ, dhutangaṃ patta- the practice of no-later-eating constituent (not
piṇḍikaṃ; eating after a main meal);
ekasanikam icc'evaṃ, pañcadha bhojane ṭhitaṃ; 893 the bowl-alms-only (whatever's dropped in)
dhutanga practice;
and that of (eating in a) single-sitting: thus five
kinds of practices pertaining to food;
araññikaṃ yathasanthatikangaṃ rukkhamūlikaṃ; The forest-dweller's practice; that of using bed as
abbhokasikasosanikanga nesajjikaṃ tatha; 894 per allotment;
that of dwelling at the base-of-a-tree;
those of dwelling in the open-air and in cremation
887
* cf. Vism I, indriyasaṃvarasīlaṃ
888
* cf. Vism I, ajīvaparisuddhisīlaṃ
889
* cf. Vism I, paccayasannissitasīlaṃ
890
pātimokkhe: patimokkho Ee; patimokkhe Be cf. Pm-vn 899-900 with saṃvaro patimokko:
899 saṃvaro patimokkho ca, tath' ev' indriyasaṃvaro / ajīvaparisuddhi ca, sīlaṃ paccayanissitaṃ.
900 iti sīlavisuddhī ti, suddham etaṃ pavuccati / catuparisuddhisīlaṃ, dhutangaparivaritaṃ.
891
ājīvapārisuddhin ca: ajīvaparisuddhī ca Ee ; ajīvaparisuddhin̄ca Be
892
cīvare yugaṃ: cīvare yugaṃ Ee; cīvarayugaṃ BeBe; but cf. Pm-vn 971 for a similarly anomalous plural form in
compound: tibhava-ratha-yojitaṃ “[the bhavacakka] attached to the chariot of the three forms of existence”
893
khalu: khalu Ee; khalu Be
894
—

180
 grounds;
and likewise that of sitting (rather than lying, to
sleep):
cha senasanam arabbha, dhutanganī ti terasa, thus with the six pertaining to the resting place,
kappiye pi ca loluppa-samacaravimuttiya, 895 the thirteen “dhutanga” practices
prescribed by the great sage
&
as proper practice
samīcipaṭipattī ti, katva sallekhavuttiya, and within the allowable* as regards austerity
paccayattayam ahacca, paññattani mahesina. 896 in connection with these three requisites (robe,
food, and resting place),
for freeing oneself from conduct based on greed.
catuparisuddhisīlaṃ, dhutangaparivaritaṃ. Having fulfilled
pūretvana visuddh' evaṃ, payogaparisuddhiya 897 the four purities' virtue,
bolstered by dhutanga practices,
one is pure in terms of purity of initial application.
II. UPAYASAMPADA: Acquisition of the Means
tato paṇidhisampanno, bhavanaya visarado. How, then, should one who has the aspiration,
upayaṃ paṭipadeyya, pavivekarato kathaṃ? 898 and is qualified for meditation,
intent upon seclusion,
bring about the means?
avaso ca kulaṃ labho, gaṇo kammañ ca pañcamaṃ. The skillful yogī, having severed
addhanaṃ ñati abadho, gantho iddhī ti te dasa 899 any obstacles, as needed --
& those ten of: residence; sponsors; profit;
students; fifthly, works;
chetvana nipako yogī, palibodhe yatharahaṃ.
travel; kin; or illness;
niralayo nirarambho, papañcopasame rato, 900
books; or psychic powers --
intent on overcoming proliferating complication,
without attachment or contention,
piyaṃ garuṃ bhavaniyaṃ, vattaraṃ vacanak- Coming wisely to a teacher
khamaṃ, who is learned and has many virtues --
kattaram atigambhīrakathaṃ ṭhananiyojakaṃ, 901 a kindly teacher inspiring respect,
895
* kappiye: perhaps to be read as kappiya “allowable” (suggestion by Mahesh Deokar)
896
—
897
—
898
—
899
gaṇo: gano Ee; gaṇo Be
* cf. Vism III, dasapalibodhavaṇṇana, quoting the verse that Anuruddha incorporates in full at 899: ayaṃ pana
vittharo, yaṃ tava vuttaṃ “yvassa dasasu palibodhesu palibodho atthi, taṃ upacchinditva” ti, ettha —
avaso ca kulaṃ labho, gaṇo kammañ ca pañcamaṃ.
addhanaṃ ñati abadho, gantho iddhī ti te dasa ti — ime dasa palibodha nama.
900
palibodhe: palibodhe Ee; palibodhe Be;
nirārambho: niralambho, var. nirarambho; nirarambho Be
901
atigambhīrakathaṃ: atigambhīraṃ kathaṃ Ee; atigambhīrakathaṃ Be
* cf. Vism III, kammaṭṭhanadayakavaṇṇana, citing AN verse (AN 7.37): kalyaṇamittan ti —

181
 who explains and welcomes discussion,
&
and makes profound discourse,
bahussutaṃ guṇavantam agamm' acariyaṃ budho, who can direct one to a meditation object --
khamo padakkhiṇaggahī, niyyatattuju bhadrako, 902 then, receptive, reverential,
dedicated and straight-forward, well-disposed,
aradhetvana gaṇheyya, taṃ kammaṭṭhanadayakaṃ, one should supplicate him to be
kammaṭṭhanaṃ parikkhitva, cariyaraham attano. 903 one's giver of a meditation object
and take a meditation object*
suitable to one's character, having examined [it]. *
rago doso ca moho ca, cariya tīhi paṇḍita The wise should understand
saddhabuddhivitakkehi, chabbidha ca vibhavayuṃ the characters as being of six kinds:
904
craving, aversion, and delusion,
with the three, faith, intellect, and thought.*
ragussannassa sappaya, koṭṭhasasubhabhavana, For a person with predominance of craving,
dosussannass' appamañña, nīladi ca catubbidha 905 the parts (of the body, i.e., kayagatasati) or [ten of]
cultivation of the [perception] foul* are
appropriate;
for a person who has predominance of aversion,
the fourfold illimitables (i.e., the brahmaviharas) or
[the four kasiṇa-s], the blue, etc.*

piyo garu bhavanīyo, vatta ca vacanakkhamo.

gambhīrañ ca kathaṃ katta, no c'aṭṭhane niyojako ti.
902
* dedicated (niyatatta): understanding niyaditatta: dedicated, able-handed
903
* for kammaṭṭhanaṃ gahetva: cf. Vism III, cattalīsakammaṭṭhanavaṇṇana: tasma yaṃ vuttaṃ cattalīsaya
kammaṭṭhanesu aññataraṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ gahetva ti. ettavata kalyaṇamittaṃ upasankamitva attano
cariyanukūlaṃ cattalīsaya kammaṭṭhanesu aññataraṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ gahetva ti imani padani sabbakarena
vittharitani hontī ti. &
*
having examined [it]: the syntax and grammatical object are ambiguous and would seem to suggest that it is the
supplicator who examines. This would normatively be the role of the teacher, however, as we find it in the
corresponding Vism passage: evaṃ ñatva cariyanukūlaṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ kathetabbaṃ [by the teacher] (vism III,
cattalīsakammaṭṭhanavaṇṇana). It would therefore appear that we are supposed to understand the gerund
vimaṃsitva (having examined) as construing with -dayakaṃ “one's giver of a meditation object, having
examined [his character], and take a meditation object suitable to it”. Vism elaborates on this point that the
teacher should determine the pupil's character either by cetopariyañaṇa or by questioning him: evaṃ
sampannajjhasayadhimuttino panassa kammaṭṭhanaṃ yacato cetopariyañaṇalabhina acariyena cittacaraṃ
oloketva cariya janitabba. itarena kiṃ caritosi? ke va te dhamma bahulaṃ samudacaranti? kiṃ va te
manasikaroto phasu hoti? katarasmiṃ va te kammaṭṭhane cittaṃ namatīti evamadīhi nayehi pucchitva janitabba.
evaṃ ñatva cariyanukūlaṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ kathetabbaṃ (cattalīsakammaṭṭhanavaṇṇana.)
904
saddhābuddhivitakkehi: saddha buddhi vitakkehi Ee; saddhabuddhivitakkehi Be
* The syntax of this verse is again ambiguous and suggests that the cariya (normally neuter) should be
understood as subject in the first half of the verse, but also reconstrued as (n.?) object of vibhavayyuṃ in the
second half. Cf. Vism III, cattalīsakammaṭṭhanavaṇṇana, cariyanukūlato ti section.
905
* cf. Vism: cariyanukūlato ti cariyanaṃ anukūlato p'ettha vinicchayo veditabbo, seyyathidaṃ — ragacaritassa
tava ettha dasa asubha, kayagatasatī ti ekadasa kammaṭṭhanani anukūlani; dosacaritassa cattaro brahmavihara
cattari vaṇṇakasinanī ti aṭṭha, mohacaritassa vitakkacaritassa ca ekaṃ anapanasatikammaṭṭhanam eva,
saddhacaritassa purima cha anussatiyo, buddhicaritassa maraṇasati upasamanussati catudhatuvavatthanaṃ ahare
paṭikkūlasañña ti cattari, sesakasiṇani cattaro ca aruppa sabbacaritanaṃ anukūlani. kasiṇesu ca yaṃ kiñci
parittaṃ vitakkacaritassa, appamaṇaṃ mohacaritassa ti evam ettha cariyanukulato vinicchayo veditabbo ti...

182
vitakka-mohussannanaṃ, anapanaṃ pakasitaṃ; For those who have predominance of thought or of
cha saddhacaritass' ahu, buddhanussati-adayo. 906 delusion,
meditation on the breath is declared [appropriate];
&
and for one of faith-character, the wise have said,
maraṇopasamasaññavavatthanani buddhino; the six recollections, the Buddha, and so forth.*
sesani pana sabbesaṃ, tatthapi kasiṇaṃ budha, 907
For one of intellect [character], [the recollections]
& death and peace*, the perception (i.e.,
aharapaṭikūlasañña, the perception of “repulsive” in
vitakkapakatikassa, parittaṃ mohacarino; food), or analysis (i.e., catudhatuvavatthana, the
mahantam iti sappayaṃ, gahetvana tato paraṃ, 908 analysis of the elements) [are appropriate].
The remaining (meditation-objects)* are
[appropriate] for all.
In this regard, the wise have also said
that a kasiṇa of small size is appropriate for one
whose nature [has predominance] of thought;
and that a large once is appropriate
for one disposed to delusion;
Having taken an appropriate [meditation object],
then:
A PLACE SUITABLE FOR MEDITATION
mahavasaṃ navaṃ jiṇṇaṃ, panthasoṇḍika- a person who is wise
santikaṃ; should avoid these eighteen places:
paṇṇapupphaphalakiṇṇaṃ, bahusammana-
1. a dwelling-place that's grand; or 2. new; or 3.
patthitaṃ; 909
old; etc;
& 4. one near a road or 5. liquor-shop;
6. one scattered with leaves, or 7. flowers, or 8.
sīmantadarunagara-kkhettapaccantanissitaṃ;
fruits;
visabhagam asappayaṃ, paṭṭanaṃ mittadullabhaṃ;
910 9. one held in high esteem, or 10. highly sought;
11. one attached to hinterlands, or 12. forest, 13.
& city, 14. field, or 15. border;
16. one with hostile people; 17. a port-town;
ṭhanan' aṭṭharas' etani, parivajjeyya paṇḍito. or 18. one in which a friend (kalyana-mitta) is hard
seveyya bhavanayoggaṃ, senasanam atandito 911 to find;
906
vitakka-mohussannānaṃ: vitakkaṃ mohussannanaṃ Be ; vitakka-mohussannanaṃ Ee
* The six recollections (anussatis), of Buddha, dhamma, sangha, sīla, caga, & devata.
907
* the recollection of peace: upasamanussati
* the remaining [of the vism's forty] meditation objects: i.e., the six kasiṇas, the one remaining anussati
(recollection of puñña), & four formless (aruppas)
908
vitakkapakatikassa: vitakkapakatīkassa Ee; vitakkapakatikassa Be
909
—
910
sīmantadārunagara-: sīmantadarunagara- Be; sīmantadvaranagara- Ee
911
* cf. Vism IV, ananurūpaviharo: imesaṃ aṭṭharasannaṃ dosanaṃ aññatarena samannagato ananurūpo ti
veditabbo. vuttam pi c'etaṃ aṭṭhakathasu —
mahavasaṃ navavasaṃ, jaravasañca panthaniṃ.
soṇḍiṃ paṇṇañca pupphañca, phalaṃ patthitameva ca.

183
 and should tirelessly resort
to a place of rest that's suitable to meditation:

natidūraṃ naccasannaṃ, appasaddam anakulaṃ. [a monastery] not too distant; not too near;
gamanagamanasampannaṃ, with few noises and no disturbance;
appaḍaṃsanupaddavaṃ; 912 endowed with [means of easy] departure and
approach;
with few biting insects and no trouble;
akicchapaccayuppadaṃ, lajjībhikkhugaṇocitaṃ. that gives rise to requisites with ease;
vivekaṭṭhanabahulaṃ, bahussutanisevitaṃ; 913 suitable for flocks of humble monks;
plentiful in places of solitude,
frequented by the learned;
appabhayaṃ nirasankaṃ, appadosaṃ mahaguṇaṃ, with little danger and no cause of apprehension;
viharam anusevanto, tattha nissangacetasa, 914 of few faults and great virtues;
resorting to [such a] monastery,
there, with mind detached,
SEVERING THE MINOR IMPEDIMENTS
tato kesanakhaccheda-rajanadim asesato. having then completely severed
khuddakaṃ palibodhañ ca, chinditvana the minor impediments --
yatharahaṃ; 915 the cutting of hair and nails, the dying of clothes,
and so forth, (maintenance of bowl; washing of
bedding),* as needed,
avasaṃ gocaraṃ bhassaṃ, puggalaṃ bhojanaṃ and so too avoiding that
tatha, 1. dwelling-place, 2. alms-area, 3. discussion,
vajjento 'tum asappayaṃ, iriyapatham attano, 916 4. individual, 5. food, 6. climate, and/or 7. posture
unsuitable to oneself* --
sevanto satta sappaye, te eva 'ti padhanava, having recourse to those same seven suitable to
bhavanūpayasampanno, vūpakaṭṭho rahogato. 917 him, making effort,
he is endowed now with the means to meditate,

nagaraṃ daruna khettaṃ, visabhagena paṭṭanaṃ.

paccantasīmasappayaṃ, yattha mitto na labbhati.
aṭṭharasetani ṭhanani, iti viññaya paṇḍito.
araka parivajjeyya, maggaṃ sappaṭibhayaṃ yatha ti.
912
appaḍaṃsānupaddavaṃ: appaḍaṃsad' upaddavaṃ Ee; appaḍaṃsanupaddavaṃ Be; I take the sandhi as å ṃ +
anupaddavaṃ or read the compound as a dvanda of the same.
913
—
914
appabhayaṃ: appabhayaṃ; notes var. rammabhūmim̧ Ee; appabhayaṃ Be Be
915
* cf. the exposition of the minor impediments, Vism IV, khuddakapalibodha: khuddakapalibodhupacchedaṃ
katva ti evaṃ patirūpe vihare viharantena yepissa te honti khuddakapalibodha, tepi upacchinditabba.
seyyathidaṃ, dīghani kesanakhalomani chinditabbani. jiṇṇacīvaresu dalhīkammaṃ va tunnakammaṃ va
katabbaṃ. kiliṭṭhani va rajitabbani. sace patte malaṃ hoti, patto pacitabbo. mañcapīṭhadīni sodhetabbanīti.
“ayaṃ khuddakapalibodhupacchedaṃ katva”ti ettha vittharo.
916
* cf. sattasappaye “seven unsuitables” section of Vism IV, pathavīkasiṇaniddesa: avaso gocaro bhassaṃ,
puggalo bhojanaṃ utu / iriyapatho ti satt' ete, asappaye vivajjaye (& etc. in extenso)
917
vūpakaṭṭho: upakaṭṭho Ee; vūpakaṭṭho Be

184
 withdrawn and in seclusion.

III. AJJHASAYASODHANA: Purification of the Requisite Mental Disposition (ajjhasaya):

kamesv adīnavaṃ disva, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu How should one purify the disposition (to
khemato, practice),*
pariyuṭṭhananibbinno, sodheyy' ajjhasayaṃ 1) having seen the danger in desires,
kathaṃ? 918 2) and their renunciation as safety,*
3) disenchanted with the [kilesas'] flaring up? *
1. kamesv adinavaṃ disva 1. “having seen the danger in desires”
appassada mahadukkha, kama hi kaṭukapphala; Sense-pleasures are of little relish
dussaṃhara durarakkha, bahvadīnavasaṇṭhita. 919 and great pain: their fruits are burning hot; *

918
pariyuṭṭhānanibbinno: pariyuṭṭhananibbinno Ee; pariyuṭṭhananibbindo Be;
*
the semantics of “purification” in Pali usage also entail “developing” and “bringing into being” (by virtue of the
increasing mental purity). To “purify the requisite mental disposition” is to gradually bring it the requisite
attitude and intention to meditate into being.
*
the form daṭṭhu is archaic and apparently represents Skt drsṭva rather than drasṭuṃ (a gerund rather than
infinitive), with which it has been conflated, or genitive/dative of daṭṭhar ("for one who sees renunciation as
safety, having seen danger in desires"). The phrase nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato famously appears in Sn
pabajjasutta (Sn 3.1) as well as parayanavagga 11, (jatukaṇṇimaṇavapuccha), and is glossed unambiguously in
the cūlaniddesa as if representing a gerund: ... daṭṭhuṃ: passitva tulayitva tīrayitva vibhavayitva vibhūtaṃ katva
ti — nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato (parayanavagganiddeso, 11, jatukaṇṇimaṇavapucchaniddeso). Cf. translation
as such at Bodhi 2017, p. 225. cf. Sn 3.1 kamesv adīnavaṃ disva, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato / padhanaya
gamissami, ettha me rañjatī mano ti (v. 426), the phrase also incorporated by Buddhadatta at Abhidh-av 853:
kamesv adīnavaṃ disva, nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato / paramaṃ pītipamojjaṃ, janetva ratanattaye, both
Anuruddha and Buddhadatta following closely Vism IV, bhavana-vidhana section, §27 (see next note for full):
tasma vuttanayen' eva nisīditva “appassada kama” tiadina nayena kamesu adīnavaṃ paccavekkhitva
kamanissaraṇe sabbadukkhasamatikkamupayabhūte nekkhamme jatabhilasena
buddhadhammasanghaguṇanussaraṇena pītipamojjaṃ janayitva “ayaṃ dani sa sabbabuddha paccekabuddha
ariyasavakehi paṭipanna nekkhammapaṭipada” ti paṭipattiya sañjatagaravena “addha imaya paṭipadaya
pavivekasukharasassa bhagī bhavissamī” ti ussahaṃ janayitva samena akarena cakkhūni ummīletva nimittaṃ
gaṇhantena bhavetabbaṃ. Buddhadatta continues: bhagī assam ahaṃ addha, imaya paṭipattiya /
pavivekasukhassa 'ti, katva ussaham uttamaṃ... (abhidh-av 854, corresponding to #5 below).
*
Summary of the steps preceding meditation (Vism IV, bhavanavidhana, §27 = trans. Nyanamoli, pp.123-124),
which structure the ensuing section as a preface to the practice of the earth kasiṇa:
1. “appassada kama” ti-adina nayena kamesu adīnavaṃ paccavekkhitva,
2. kamanissaraṇe sabbadukkhasamatikkamupayabhūte nekkhamme jatabhilasena,
buddhadhammasanghaguṇanussaraṇena pītipamojjaṃ janayitva,
3. “ayaṃ dani sa sabbabuddha paccekabuddha ariyasavakehi paṭipanna nekkhammapaṭipada” ti paṭipattiya
sañjatagaravena, “addha imaya paṭipadaya pavivekasukharasassa bhagī bhavissamī” ti ussahaṃ janayitva,
4. samena akarena cakkhūni ummīletva nimittaṃ gaṇhantena bhavetabbaṃ.
1. Having reviewed the danger in objects of desire;
2. and given rise to deep longing for renunciation as the MEANS of leaving suffering behind;
3. and given rise to joy and gladness recalling the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha;
4. and given rise to deep respect for the practice of renunciation of objects of desire as the path followed by all
Buddhas and arahants;
5. and given rise to the effort "I too shall be one who partakes of the taste of the pleasure of seclusion by this
path";
6. setting his eyes upon the object without strain (samena akarena; Nyanamoli: “moderately” p. 124), he should
grasp and cultivate the sign.

185
 difficult to gather and retain,
entailing many dangers,
aṭṭhika khajjamana 'va, vighataya pabhijjita; Like bones being chewed,
gayhant' attavadhay' ete, maṃsapesīva pakkhibhi, when they break, they lead to harm;*
920
these, like the lump of flesh by birds,
held onto lead to one's own slaughter.
paṭivate tiṇukka 'va, pariggahakadahino. like a grass torch held against the wind,
angarakasusankasa, sabbangaparitapaka 921 they are scorchers of their bearers;
like a pit of glowing embers,
they cause every limb to burn.
supine paribhutta 'va, nalaṃ kassaci tittiya; Like things enjoyed in dream,
na tu kassaci ayatta, alankara 'va yacita 922 they are not enough for satiation;
nor are they anyone's possessions
like jewelry that's borrowed.
chijjanta phalarukkha 'va, paṭipannapabhañjino; Like fruit trees being cut,
asisūnūpama niccam adhikoṭṭenti paṇino. 923 they shatter those in them who with them fall;
they are like slaughterhouses, always
smiting living beings.
sattisūlūpama dalhaṃ, taṇhasallanuvedhino; Like spears and lances, in their wake
ghoranatthavisakiṇṇa, kaṇhasappasirūpama. 924 they lodge the dart of craving firm;
laced with harm's fierce poison,
they're likened to the head of a black cobra.
sabbasavaparikliṭṭha, sabbasaṃklesavatthuka; Steeped in every toxin,
gamma ca capala nīca, puthujjanamamayita. 925 they are the grounds for all defilement;
they're vulgar, fleeting, base,
clung to by the masses as their own.
bahusadharaṇa c'ete, sapattajanapatthita; And common goods are these [i.e., unfaithful]
mahopaddavupassaṭṭha, bahvayasa bhayavaha. 926 wished upon one by one's foes;
attended by great trouble,

919
kāmā hi kaṭukapphalā: kama 'tikaṭukapphala Ee; kama hi kaṭukapphala Be
* kaṭuka evidently has the sense of "hot" rather than "bitter" ("bitter" represented in sutta idiom by tittaka). Hell
is described as "greatly scorching, burning hot (kaṭuka), and terrifying" (mahabhitapaṃ kaṭukaṃ bhayanakaṃ)
(Petavatthu KN 7.36); an equanimous meditator is described as equanimously bearing "painful, sharp, severe,
burning hot (kaṭuka) sensation that arises as a result of past kamma" (puraṇakammavipakajaṃ dukkhaṃ tibbaṃ
kharaṃ kaṭukaṃ vedanaṃ adhivasento sato sampajano) (Udana KN 3. 21).
920
pakkhibhi: pakkhihi Ee; pakkhibhi Be
* cf. MN 54 (potaliyasutta) kamadinavakatha
921
sabbangaparitāpakā: sabbangaparitapaka Ee; sabbangaparitasaka Be
922
āyattā: ayatta Ee; accanta Be
923
chijjantā: chijjanta Ee; chajjanta Be
924
—
925
sabbāsavaparikliṭṭhā: sabbasavapatikliṭṭha Ee; sabbasavaparikliṭṭha Be
sabbasaṃklesavatthukā: sabbasaṃklesavatthuka Ee; sabbasaṃklesavatthuka Be
926
mahopaddavupassaṭṭhā: mahopaddavupassaṭṭha Ee; mahopaddavupayaṭṭha Be

186
 bringing much despair, and many dangers.
maharambhasamaraddha, khippakaravidhaṃsino; Beginning with great fanfare,
sokasallaṃ pavesenta, vigacchanti suve suve. 927 they're quick to show their aspect of destruction;
day by day they vanish,
driving in the dart of sorrow,
nalaṃ kassaci taṇaya, nalam assasanaya ca; They're not enough for giving shelter,
avissasaniyavassaṃ, kitava marakiṃkara. 928 nor for reassuring;
dependably unreliable,
they're crafty servitors of Mara.
sattanam upaghataya, madhurakaranimmita; For beings' ruination,
rakkhasī viya santanam avisanti manohara. 929 they conjure up a sweet facade;
like a raksasi, they take hold of
the stream of consciousness, captivating.
aviṭṭha yehi dummedha, byasanahitasambhava, Possessed by which, the undiscerning,
vipallasaparabhūta, byapajjanta vihaññare. 930 giving rise to distress and disadvantage,
defeated owing to their misperception,
flounder and are ruined.
cetosankapparacita, nandiragopasevana, Conjured by the mind's own aspirations,
madhulittasidhara 'va, byaparenopasevita. 931 with its recourse to enjoyment and to craving,
they're like a sword's blade smeared in honey,
had recourse to by one's own activity.
manoramasubhakara, piyarūpopalambhino, With their charming, lovely aspect,
mittamukhaṃ sapatta 'va, vañcayanti mahajanaṃ. assuming friendly form,
932
actually enemies, but in the guise of friends,
they deceive the masses.
vañcita yehi dummedha, sabbasampattidhaṃsita. Deceived by which, the undiscerning,
khemamagga paribbhaṭṭha, dharenti vadham attano. their every fortune brought to ruin,
933
wandered far astray from the path to safety,
hold on to their undoing.
virūparūpakarena, nimmathenta palobhino, With their manifold aspect,
abhavitanaṃ balanaṃ, manasaṃ nihanant' ime. 934 churning the mind and exciting greed,
they bring the heart to ruin
of the naive who have not cultivated [wisdom].
927
—
928
avissāsaniyāvassaṃ: avissasaniyavassaṃ Ee; avisasaniyavassaṃ Be
929
—
930
āviṭṭhā: ajjhiṭṭha, corrected to aviṭṭha in corrigenda Ee; aviṭṭha Be. A.P. Buddhadatta reads: ajjhittha “resolved
upon”, which is nicely parallel to the topic, the purification of ajjhasaya, one's 'resolve' or 'disposition' (cf.
v.918); however the accompanying “yehi” sits uneasily with this. The form ajjhosita is used in this sense at v.
946.
931
byāpārenopasevitā: byaparenopasevita Ee; byapadenopasevita Be
932
piyarūpopalambhino: piyarūpopalambhino; notes var. ˚labbhino Ee; piyarūpopalambhino Be
933
—
934
—

187
yattha ragasaraviddha, salleneva vane miga, Wherever pierced by craving's dart,
tattha tatthanudhavanta, vipphandanti nirantaraṃ. like deer pierced by an arrow in the woods,
935
racing back and forth there,
they writhe without respite.
mamaṃkarena jumbhanta, ghoram asīvisaṃ yatha; Confident in objects of desire,
vissattha bhogadhammesu, assadenti aviddasū. 936 they relish them, unwise;
mouths gaping wide with hunger to possess them,
like (relishing) fierce poison of a snake. *
anayabyasanay' ete, vasī-kubbanti paṇino; They take beings into their hold, these [objects of
vicittakarasaṇṭhanaṃ, pisacanagaraṃ yatha. 937 desire], for their downfall and distress;
like a city of djinns,
with the semblance of a beautiful facade.
anatthavahita bala, vaguraṃ navabujjhare; Those who are naive, brought to harm's way,
tatth' eva paṭimuccanti, yatha haññanti mucchita. 938 don't realize they're a trap;
right there they get ensnared;
they come to harm, as the deluded do.
sīghavahī mahogho 'yaṃ, klesavaṭṭo mahabbhayo; This is a great flood, swiftly flowing,
sakaṇṭakañ ca gahanaṃ, panko ca duratikkamo. 939 with whirlpool afflictions, and great danger;
It's a thicket barbed with thorns,
and a bog that's hard to cross.
cetosaṃmohanaṭṭhanaṃ, pamadaparipanthakaṃ; This is the site of the heart's beguiling,
ohari sithilaṃ c' etaṃ, duppamuñcañ ca and heedlessness's ambush;
bandhanaṃ. 940 and heavy is its hold, both loose,
and difficult to get free of.
jalaṃ 'va vitataṃ loke, marapaso samoḍḍito, Like a net spread in the world,
pañjaraṃ carako c' eso, sattanam anayavaho. 941 Mara's snare laid out,
this is beings' cage, their prison,
bringing them their ruination.

935
rāgasarāviddhā: ragasaraviddha, var. ˚sara viddha, ˚samaviṭṭha Ee; ragasallaviddha Be
936
jumbhanti: jumbhanti, corrected to jumbhanta Ee; vuḍḍhanta Be;
vissatthā: vissattha ( < vissasati, to confide in) Ee; vissaṭṭha ( < visajjati, to let out) Be
aviddasū: aviddasū Ee; aviddasu Be
* a problematic verse. asivisaṃ: though visaṃ (poison) is n., in the sense of venomous snake, asīviso is normally
m. Therefore asīvisaṃ should be acc. or neuter, referring to poison, as it is read in this rendering, as object of
assadenti (relish). The verb of the first line is also questionable; Be reads vuḍḍhanta, “growing large” (transitive
would require vaḍḍhenta); Ee has jumbhanti “gape wide”, which would seem to evoke the image of a snake, but
the asīvisaṃ is acc., rather than the nom. that that would require.
937
vicittākārasaṇṭhānaṃ: vicittakarasaṇṭhanaṃ Ee; vicittakarasaṇṭhana Be
938
paṭimuccanti: < paṭimuñcati to fasten, to bind (pass. to be bound); em. from paṭimucchanti Ee; paṭivamanti Be
939
klesāvaṭṭo: klesavaṭṭo Ee; klesavaṭṭaṃ Be
panko ca: panko ca Ee; panko 'va Be
940
pamādaparipanthakaṃ: pamadapaṭipatthitaṃ, var. pamadaparipanthakaṃ, pamadapaṭisandhataṃ E e;
pamadapaṭisandhitaṃ Be;
ohāri sithilaṃ: ohara-sithilañ Ee; ohari sithilaṃ Be
941
vitataṃ: vitataṃ Ee; vitthataṃ Be

188
yatthanuragasambaddha, paliguṇṭhitasayino; Bound fast by their love of which,
makkaṭalepabaddha 'va, nitthunanti vighatino. 942 lying there ensnared,
bound as it were by monkey hunters' pitch,
they screech awaiting death.*
balisaṃ v' amisacchannaṃ, savisaṃ viya They're spread for their destruction; *
bhojanaṃ; like the fodder that the hunter spreads for deer;*
migaludda-nivapo 'va, vinasaya samoḍḍita. 943 they're like a baited hook,
like poisoned food --
mīnaka vankagiddha 'va, ye gilitva puthujjana, having swallowed which the masses
ghoraṃ maccumukhaṃ patva, socantapayabhagino. grieve, partakers only of the realms of woe,
944
greedy for the hooks, like little fish,
arriving at the awful mouth of death.
papakkhettam idaṃ ṭhanam icchalobhanisevanaṃ; It's this, the site of the field of demerit,
duccaritankurarohaṃ, apayaphalapūraṇaṃ. 945 with its tending of desire and greed,
sprouting tender shoots of wrongful deeds,
and yielding as its fruits the lower worlds.
ajjhosita pan' ettha ca, lobhamucchavidahino, And those disposed toward this,
kodhūpanahajalita, issamaccheradhūpita, 946 burning with desire and infatuation,
enflamed with anger and resentment,
fuming with envy and loath to share,
sarambhayudhasannaddha, vipphuranta-manoratha, stand armed in scintillating flights of fancy,
abandhiccha-mahakaccha, ṭhanti lokavipattiya. 947 with the weapons of hostility,
in chariots high-flanked with unbreakable desire,
ready for the mishap of the world.
avajjaṃ n' atthi etesam akattabbaṃ na vijjati; Nothing is too blameworthy for these;
sammuṭṭhasaccata tesu, na patiṭṭhati sadhuta. 948 there's nothing that they're not liable to do;
in them there is the utter loss of mindfulness;
and goodness cannot gain hold.
paropaghatabhirata, dayadhammaparammukha, Delighting in others' downfall,
sabbasattesv-avissasī, sabbattha parisankita 949 they turn their face away from those deserving pity.
distrustful of all beings,
and suspicious on account of everything.

942
* for the image of the monkey caught in the hunters' pitch, cf. SN 47.7 (makkaṭasutta)
943
* samoddita must be understood as referring to kama.
* cf. MN 25 (nivapasutta)
944
vankagiddhā: vankaghasta, var. vankagiddha Ee; vankagiddha Be
945
ṭhānam icchā-: ṭhanam iccha- Ee; ṭhanaṃ miccha- Be
duccarita: duccarita Ee; duccarīta Be
946
ettha ca: etth' eva ca Ee; ettha ca Be
lobhamucchā: bhogamuccha Ee; lobhamuccha Be
947
vipphuranta-manorathā: vipphuranta-manoratha Ee; vipphuranta manoratha Be
ābandhicchā-mahākacchā: abandhiccha-mahakaccha Ee; abandhiccha mahakaccha Be
948
na patiṭṭhāti: nappatiṭṭhati Ee; na patiṭṭhati Be
949
—

189
bhayasantasabahula, sabbanatthanusarino; With abundant fears and apprehension,
sadhenta caturapayaṃ, papakammapurakkhata. 950 pursuing every harm,
bringing into being the four lower worlds
following upon their wrongful actions.
mahasankaṭupabyūlha, palibodhaparipphuṭa, Hemmed in, in dangerous straights,
haññanti dukkhadhammehi, kame bala bhave 'pare. shot through with obstacles,
951
the naive are plagued by states of suffering
in their next sense-sphere birth.
tato maccunirasanka, khiḍḍarativimohita, And then, without concern of death,
kimpakkam iva bhakkhanta, rammakaravirodhino, in the spell of pleasure play,
952
as ones who feed on poison-fruit,
they act against their own act of enjoyment.
gamasūkarapota 'va, kamasuciparipluta, Like village piglets in their youth,
camarīkatakammanta, asmiṃ loke palobhita. 953 wallowing in the filth of their desires,
they hunger after this world,
their actions like the swatting of a fly-whisk.
khajjamana kilesehi, kimīhi 'va nirantaraṃ; Being eaten away by their kilesa-s,
parihaniṃ pan' aññaya, parivarenti mucchita. 954 ceaselessly, as if by worms,
they continue to host them, deluded,
not realizing the harm.
tato jarabhisantattaṃ, yobbanañ copamuyhati; Then, burnt up by old age,
kama ca parihayanti, jīvitañ coparujjhati. 955 their youth, too, gets confounded;
its objects of desire waste away
and life begins to cease.
paraṃ pamadabhivaṭṭha, papaklesamahodaka, And rained on by their heedlessness to inundation,
tato taṇhanadī pūra, papetapayasagaraṃ. 956 heavy with waters of evil and affliction,
the river of craving, now brim-full,
carries them out to sea, to the lower worlds.
idhalokapariccatta, paralokatthadhaṃsita, Lost to this world,
gangakuṇapakaka 'va, senti sokaparayaṇa. 957 and their hopes for the next brought to ruin,

950
˚purakkhatā: em. from ˚purakkhita Ee; ˚purakkhaka Be
951
upabyūḷhā: upabyūlha Ee; upabyulha Be
952
rammakāravirodhino: rammakaravirodhino Ee; rammakaravirodhino Be
953
camarī-: camarī-, var. camarī- Ee; camarī- Be;
pariplutā: ˚paripluta, var. paripphuṭa Ee; ˚paripluta Be;
asmiṃ loke palobhitā: apalokapalobhita, var. asmiṃ lokaṃ palobhita Ee; asmiṃ loke palobhita Be
954
kimīhi 'va: kimīhīva Ee; kimīhi 'va Be
955
jarābhisantattaṃ: jarabhisantattaṃ Ee; jarahi santattaṃ Be
956
paraṃ pamādābhivaṭṭhā: parappamadabhivaṭṭa, var. ˚abhivaṭṭha, ˚abhivuṭṭha Ee; param̧ pamadabhivaṭṭha Be
˚mahodakā: ˚mahodika Ee; ˚mahodaka Be
taṇhānadī pūrā: taṇhanadī-pūra Ee; taṇhanadī pūra Be
957
˚parāyaṇā: ˚parayana Ee; ˚parayaṇa Be;
* for the image of the crows perched on the corpse of an elephant, being carried down the Ganges out to sea (and
their destruction), cf. [cite]

190
 they lie like the crows on a corpse in the Ganges,
heading toward inevitable sorrow.*
icc' attatthaṃ paratthañ ca, satta kamanibandhana, Fettered by their own desires, beings
viddhaṃsetva vinassanti, idha c'eva parattha ca. 958 destroy their own welfare as well as others',
and come to ruin, thus,
both here, as well as in the life to come.
iti sadīnava kama, ghora sattisulūpama, It's thus that sense-desires "are accompanied by
yattha bala visīdanti, n'atthi sango vijanataṃ. 959 danger" --
merciless like lances and like spears,
onto which the ignorant sink down.
Those knowing this don't have association.
2. nekkhammaṃ daṭṭhu khemato 2. “having seen renunciation as safety”
itthaṃ kamabhayaṭṭanaṃ, sikkhattayam anuttaraṃ, For those suffering from desires' danger, thus,
samacikkhi vimokkhaya, nekkhammam iti the Awakened One, with his discerning eye,
cakkhuma. 960 declared the peerless triple training, for deliverance
therefrom, as one entailing their renunciation.
sabbasavavighataya, paṭipatti anuttara; This was the peerless practice
antadvayam anagamma, majjhima 'yaṃ pakasita. 961 for all asava-s' destruction,
declared the middle path
avoiding both extremes.
sabbadukkhasamugghatī, visuddhi param' uttama; The supreme and highest purification,
vijjacaraṇasampatti, sabbasampattisadhika. 962 that strips away all suffering;
it is the consummation of understanding and its
application,
and confers the means of accomplishing every
attainment.
puññakkhettam idaṃ ṭhanaṃ, tapokamma- This is the site of the field of merit,
nisevanaṃ; tended by one's acts of striving,
saddhasīlankurarohaṃ, sampattiphalapūraṇaṃ. 963 sown with tender shoots of faith and virtue,
and filling with the fruits of one's successes.
klesacarakamokkhaya, dvaram etam anuttaraṃ; This is a doorway like no other
mahoghuttaraṇaṃ kullaṃ, sotthi parimapapakaṃ. for freedom from the kilesa-s' prison,
964
a raft for crossing over the great deluge (of
saṃsara),
958
sattisūlūpamā: em. from salasilūpama Ee; salasilūpama Be; Ee editor notes that salasilūpama (?) is dubious and
suggestive of the commonplace sattisūlūpama, “like unto lances and spears” (e.g. MN 22), but is hesitant to
emend because the ṭīka supports the reading. I take the emended reading in order to make sense of the verse. Cf.
note p. 114 JPTS 1913-14 VII.
959
—
960
—
961
—
962
param' uttamā: param uttama Ee; paramuttama Be
963
—
964
sotthipārimapāpakaṃ: sotthi parimapapakaṃ, var. sotthi parimatīrakaṃ Ee; sotthi parimapapakaṃ Be

191
 welfare that ferries one to the far shore.
papacoravighataya, khemamaggo anuttaro; It is the unsurpassed safe path
akaṇṭako agahano, uju sabbhi pavedito. 965 for foiling evil's bandits;
free of thickets, free of thorns,
and straight, made known by saints.
mahabandhanamokkhaya, abbhuto jinaghosito; It is the wonderful forsaking of impediments
palibodhapariccago, abbhokaso alepano. 966 declared by the victorious Awakened One
for freedom from great bondage;
it's the uncloying open air.
sangapanka samuttaro, ganthanaṃ viniveṭhanaṃ; It is emergence from the mire of attachments,
taṇhadasabya-nittharo, seribhavo sukhavaho. 967 the disentangling of knots;
it is acquittance from enslavement to craving,
and the happiness-conferring state of being free.
sabbayogavisaṃyogo, sabbasokanirundhano; It is the unbinding of all bondage,
sabbalayavisankharo, sabbaduggatiniggamo. 968 the stopping of all griefs;
it's all desire's harboring's unmaking;
the exiting from every place of peril.
marapasasamucchedī, sattham etam anuttaraṃ; This is the matchless blade
mohandhakaraviddhaṃsī, vijjalokavirocano. 969 that cuts through Mara's noose;
and the blazing forth of understanding's light,
scattering the darkness of delusion.
abyapajjam idaṃ ṭhanam abhayaṃ nirupaddavaṃ; This is the site of non-affliction,
tapokammanam okaso, maracakkhuvimohano. 970 a shelter free of trouble;
it is scope for acts of meditative striving,
eluding Mara's faculty of sight.
sabbasantapaharaṇam idaṃ sītaṃ 'va candanaṃ; This taintless water of the teaching,
nimmalaṃ dhammasalilaṃ, saṃklesamala- like sandal paste that cools,
sodhanaṃ. 971 takes away all burning,
washing off the taint of one's affliction.
saṃsarasetu suhata, bodhipakkhiyapatthaṭa;* Well-anchored, it's a bridge out of saṃsara,
sokasallasamuddharī, yantaṃ sukatayojitaṃ. 972 spanned by the dhammas conducive to awakening,

965
—
966
—
967
sangapankā samuttāro: sangapanka samuttaro ; sangapankasamuttaro Be;
taṇhadasabya: taṇhadasavya Ee; taṇhadasabya Be
968
sabbasokanirundhano: sabbasokadirundhano Ee; sabbasokanirundhano Be;
sabbaduggatiniggamo: sabbaduggati-niggamo, var. sabbadukkhaviniggamo Ee; sabbadukkhaviniggamo Be
969
sattham: sattham Ee; pattaṃ Be
970
abyāpajjam: abyapajjam Ee; abyapajjam Be; understanding as = abyapajjha / abyabajjha (Skt. avyabadhya),
historically conflated with avyapajja in Pali; seemingly required here by context.
971
sītaṃ: sitaṃ Ee; sītaṃ Be
972
suhatā: sukata Ee; suhata Be;
bodhipakkhiyapatthaṭā: ˚patthaṭa Ee; ˚patthata Be
* M. Deokar points that setu is not f. and therefore there is some problem with the gender of suhata and

192
 it's an instrument assembled by good deeds,
able to remove the barb of grief.
cittatankasamuddhaṃsī, paribhogasukhosadhaṃ; It's medicine that's pleasant in consumption,
lokamisanaṃ vamanaṃ, cetodosavirecanaṃ. 973 vanquishing the plague assailing hearts;
it's the vomiting up of all the world's bait,
and purging of the hatred in the mind.
accantatittikaraṇam īrenti dhammabhojanaṃ; It's the food of the teaching, they say,
pipasaharaṇaṃ panaṃ, vimuttirasapesalaṃ. 974 that gives full satiation;
it's drink that, sweet with freedom's taste,
takes thirst away.
vaṇṇakittisugandha 'yaṃ, guṇamala suganthita; It's the garland of good virtues, finely strung,
papakopīnavasanaṃ, hirottappavicittitaṃ. 975 fragrant with the scent of praise and fame,
covering for evil's naked loincloth,
made beautiful by modesty and concern.
accantaparisuddha ca, saddhammaratanavali; And it's the string of jewels most pure --
ariyanam alankaro, anupadhisirinkaro. 976 of the true teaching;
the ornament of noble ones,
showing forth the majesty of non-possession.
cittanaṃ dunnimittanam idaṃ santikaraṃ paraṃ; This is the highest exorcism
vipattipaṭighataya, parittam idam uttamaṃ. 977 for thoughts of misdirected minds;
this is protection unsurpassed
for warding off misfortune.
antarayavinasaya, mangalaṃ jinadesitaṃ. It was the blessing taught, for obstacles' removal,
micchagahavimokkhaya, sotthi sambuddhabhasita. by the victorious Awakened One himself;
978
the word conferring welfare spoken by the Buddha
for emancipation from false claims.
anivatti ca paccakkham aveṇikam abhariyaṃ, And it is the irreversible,
amatosadham accantam ajaramarasadhanaṃ 979 extraordinary unburdening, known for oneself,
the all-surpassing medicine of the deathless,
productive of non-aging and non-dying.

bodhipakkhiyapatthaṭa
973
cetodosavirecanaṃ: ceto dosavirecanaṃ Ee; cetodosavirecanaṃ Be
974
accantatittikaraṇam: ˚karaṇam Ee; ˚karaṇam Be;
īrenti: idaṃ taṃ Ee; īrenti Be
975
vaṇṇakittisugandhā 'yaṃ: vaṇṇakittisugandhayaṃ Ee; vaṇṇakittisugandhaya Be
976
accantaparisuddhā: ˚parisuddha Ee; ˚parisuddho Be;
anupādhisirinkaro: anupadhi-siriṃkaro Ee; anupayi siriṃkaro Be
977
cittānaṃ: cittanaṃ, var. cintana Ee; cintanaṃ Be
978
—
979
anivatti: anivatti, var. anuvatti Ee; anuvatti Be. I take it as n. < anivartin
āveṇikam: avenikam Ee; aveṇikaṃ Be
abhāriyam̧: ahariyaṃ Ee; abhariyaṃ Be

193
yam etaṃ samadhiṭṭhaya, sambodhittayam having resolved themselves on which,
uttamaṃ, those who do so reach the three awakenings
papponti sabbasampatti-guṇaparamipūritaṃ 980 unsurpassed,*
filled with all attainments,
good virtues and perfections.
Renunciation Regarded as a Fortress
sabbakaravaropetam etaṃ nekkhammasammataṃ, This [fortress (puraṃ)] held to be renunciation*
sīlagambhīraparikhaṃ, dhutangoditatoraṇaṃ. 981 is possessed of each and every finest feature:
with sila's deep encircling trench,
and the dhutanga-s as its lofty arches;
samadhivīthivitthiṇṇaṃ, satipakaragopuraṃ, spreading on the inroads of samadhi,
saddhasamiddhisamphullaṃ, paññapasada- with its (four) rampart-towers of sati;
sobhitaṃ, 982 faith's abundance bursting into bloom;
and graced by panna as its central palace.
sammajīvadhajaṃ rammaṃ, hirottappa- Delightful with its banner of right livelihood,
paṭicchadaṃ, and canopy of modesty and fear of wrong;
vimuttamatasambhogaṃ, veneyyajanasevitaṃ. 983 enjoying freedom's nectar's ample bounty,
and frequented by its people, those in training.
abhejjaṃ papaverīhi, puraṃ sugata-mapitaṃ, The fortress founded by the Awakened One
anītim anupasaggaṃ, paṭipanna mahesayo, 984 himself,
impregnable to evil, to its foes,
free of trouble and vexation.
And great sages who embark upon its path
paramassasasampatta, paripuṇṇamanoratha, attained unto the highest reassurance,
sabbasangam atikkamma, nikkhanta akuto-bhaya, their dreams fulfilled,
985
gone forth, leaving behind them all attachment,
knowing no danger from any quarter,
sammadattham abhiññaya, maccudheyyap- having known true welfare,
pahayino, leaving the domain of death behind,
sabbadukkhoghanittiṇṇa, paraṃ gacchanti paṇḍita. crossing over the deluge of all pain,
986
go as men of wisdom to the farthest shore.

3. pariyuṭṭhananibbinno 3. “Disenchanted with the [kilesa-s'] flaring up”

iti sabbangasampannaṃ, mahesigaṇasevitaṃ, They've called the unwholesome conduct --
nekkhammaṃ kamanikkhantaṃ, saddhamma- overcome by which the mean,
980
* i.e., those of arahatship, paccekabodhi, sammasambodhi
981
sīlagambhīraparikhaṃ: ˚parikhaṃ Ee; ˚parikkhaṃ Be
* cf. v. 984
982
vitthiṇṇaṃ: vitthiṇṇaṃ Ee; vitthinnaṃ Be
983
—
984
anupasaggaṃ: anupassaggaṃ Ee; anupasaggaṃ Be ; though the single s variant is more etymologically correct,
the double ss spelling is well attested and called for by the meter here.
985
—
986
maccudheyyap-pahāyino: maccudheyyap-pahayino Ee; maccudheyyapahayino Be

194
patham uttamaṃ, 987 befuddled, miss
the peerless path of the true teaching,
&
renunciation, leaving objects of desire behind,
viradhenti parabhūta, mucchita yena dujjana, frequented by hosts of saints and seers
taṃ papasamudacaraṃ, pariyuṭṭhanam abravuṃ. 988 and consummate, like this, in every way –
“the [kilesa-s'] flaring up” (pariyuṭṭhana).
cetonīvaraṇaṃ c'etaṃ, paññacakkhunirodhanaṃ; This is the hindering of the heart,
sīlopaghatakaraṇaṃ, cittavikkhepasangamo. 989 and obstructing of the wisdom eye;
it is the cause of virtue's downfall:
it's the meeting of the mind with perturbation.
ayasanaṃ padaṭṭhanaṃ, guṇatejavinasanaṃ; It is the stepping stone to loss of reputation,
sabbasampattidahanaṃ, caturapayasadhakaṃ.* 990 and drives away the radiance of virtue;
it's the burning up of all one's past attainments,
and brings about [rebirth in] the four lower worlds.
991. sabbasava-malopeto, sabbopaklesasañcayo; Furnished with the taints of all mental toxins,
papayakkhasamaveso, dosasīvisasangamo. 991 it's all mental defilements' heaping up;
it's possession by evil's disembodied spirit;
it's contact with aversion's deadly snake.
pamadapathapakkanta-amittagaṇasangamaṃ; It gives rise to the gravest dangers,
mahabbhayasamuṭṭhanaṃ, mahabyasanasankaraṃ. producing great mishap,
992
joining company, as it were, with flocks of foes
set out along the path of heedlessness.
apayadukkham arūlhaṃ, ahitavahitaṃ padaṃ; It's the misery of the lower worlds, mounting,
sabbanatthakaraṃ ghoraṃ, sabbadukkha- a place to which one's brought by some misfortune;
vidhayakaṃ. 993 terrifying, producing every kind of harm,
and orchestrating suffering's ever form.
condemnation of unwholesome mental dhammas
dhir atthu papadhammanaṃ, sabbakalyaṇa- Accursed be unwholesome dhamma-s!
harinaṃ; that take every good away;
laddha 'pi khaṇasampatti, dullabha yehi nasita 994 by which the wealth of the right moment (to work
for liberation),*
987
—
988
—
989
—
990
* caturapaya: a evidently lengthened for meter.
991
sabbopaklesasancayo: sabbopakklesa- Ee; sabbopaklesa- Be;
samāveso: samaveso Ee; samo c'eso Be;
dosāsīvisasangamo: dosasivisa- Ee; dosasīvisa- Be
992
pamādapathapakkanta-: pamadapathapakkanta- Ee; pamadapatham akkantaṃ Be
993
ārūḷhaṃ: arūlhaṃ Ee; arulhaṃ Be;
padaṃ: paraṃ Ee; padaṃ Be
994
sabbakalyāṇahārinaṃ: ˚harinaṃ Ee; ˚hayinaṃ Be
* on khaṇasampatti, “the wealth of the right moment”: the old usage of khaṇa, “opportune moment” cf. khaṇo vo
ma upaccaga “let the opportune time not slip away” (Thg, malukyaputtattheragatha), shading into the later usage
of the eight “opportune times” vs. eight “inopportune times” (akkhaṇa) for practice

195
 so rare, though gained, is lost!
tesaṃ hi samudacaro, dullabhaṃ buddhasasanaṃ, For their activity destroys
samuddhaṃseti asani, yatha ratanapabbataṃ. 995 the precious teaching of the Buddha;
like a lightning bolt destroying
the hill of precious stone.
saddhammadhanacora te, nekkhamma- They are thieves of the true dhamma's wealth,
paripanthaka; looters of renunciation;
paṭipattiṃ vilumpanta, palibundhanti paṇino. 996 stealing progress on the path,
they block the way for beings.
vissasivadhaka p' ete, vissatthavassaghatino; And these strike down those who confide in them,
yehi bala hata senti, nissasaṃ jinasasane. 997 the inevitable destroyers of those who trust them,
by whom the naive, struck,
lie down breathless in the teaching of the victorious
Buddha.
te pi vasenti dummedha, nissanka mohaparuta; Those without discernment bear them
antomanasi ucchange, ghoram asīvisaṃ yatha. 998 without suspicion, blinded by delusion,
in their mind, as if a deadly snake
upon their lap.
attano ca vinasaya, nissaye klesapañjare, And accumulating them, for their own ruin,
cinanta navabujjhanti, vipattipathayayino. 999 they don't realize, in the kilesas' cage,
what they're depending on,
set out on the path to misadventure.
halahalaṃ 'va khadanta, alinganta 'va pavakaṃ, Consuming deadly poison, as it were,
avassam upahaññanti, papadhammopalalino. 1000 or embracing fire,
courting unwholesome dhammas,
they come assuredly to harm.
papacinta-paribyulha, vitakkamathita jana; Hemmed in by evil thoughts,
lokadvaya pi dhaṃsenti, atthadvayavinasino. 1001 people churned by what they think
deprive themselves of both worlds,
destroying their aims for both.
kodhūpanahī bībhacca, issamaccheradūsita, Loathing with anger and resentment,
makkhī palasī sarambhī, appatissa agarava, 1002 defiled with jealousy and avarice,
995
—
996
paripanthakā: paripanthaka “highwaymen, robbers” Ee; patibandhaka “preventers”
997
vissatth-: vissatth- Ee; vissaṭṭh- Be;
nissāsaṃ: nissasaṃ Ee; nissaye Be
998
nissankā mohapārutā: nissanka mohaparuta, var. nissangamohaparuta Ee; nissanka mohaparuta Be
ucchange: ucchange Ee; ucchanke Be
999
nissaye: nissaṭe, var. nissaye Ee; nissaṭaṃ Be
vipattipathayāyino: vipattipathasayino Ee; vipattipathayayino Be
1000
pāvakaṃ: pavakaṃ Ee; papakaṃ Be;
pāpadhammopalāḷino: ˚lalino Ee; ˚lalino Be
1001
paribyuḷhā: paribyūlha Ee; paribyulha Be
1002
kodhūpanāhī: kodhūpanahī Ee; kodhūpanahi Be

196
 haughty, spiteful, hostile,
not amenable to instruction and disrespectful;
manatimanabahula, muddha mukharacaṇḍika, with abundance of conceit and over-estimation of
uddhata ca pamatta ca, dappita ketugahino; 1003 themselves,
benighted, argumentative, and aggressive,
agitated and heedless,
emboldened, grasping their own flag, *
cetokhilakhilIbhūta, vinibandhanuveṭhita, made sterile by their callousness of heart,
mahogho viya sassani, vinasenti tapoguṇaṃ. 1004 and bound fast in its bonds,*
they lay waste to the good virtue of their striving,
just as a great deluge does one's crops.
visayassadavikkhitta, vikiṇṇa pakatindriya, Distracted by the relishing of objects,
muṭṭhassatī kusīta ca, jīvanti moghajīvitaṃ. 1005 scattered, with their faculties unguarded,
with mindfulness forsaken, indolent,
they live a fruitless life.
mahagghasa bahulika, duppañña kayadalhika, Voracious and indulgent,
ganthanīvaraṇabaddha, icchalobhavasīkata. 1006 faulty in their wisdom, firm in body,
bound by the (four) knots and the (five) hindrances,
they're fully in the sway of want and greed.
malaggahitasantana, tiracchanakatharata, Theirs streams of consciousness become impure,
vinayopasamapeta, visamacaragocara, 1007 they take pleasure in crude worldly conversation;
far removed from the peace of the discipline,
of rough conduct and inappropriate resort.
dubbhara 'tha ca dupposa, sukumarasukhalaya, They are hard to maintain and hard to nourish,
asantuṭṭha mahiccha ca, loluppacaralakkhita. 1008 harboring desire for fine pleasures;
not easily contented, with many wants,
they're marked by greedy conduct.
duggandheneva sunakha, amagandhena mucchita, Like dogs infatuated with the smell
tattha tatthabhidhavanta, na patiṭṭhanti sasane. 1009 of stinking flesh,
running this way and that,
they do not get established in the teaching.

bībhaccā: bībhacca Ee; vigaccha Be

1003
muddhā: muddha Ee; mudha Be;
dappitā: dappita Ee; dabbita Be
ketugāhino: setugahino Ee; ketugahino Be
* ketukamyata, “desirableness of flag,” is a characteristic of mana “conceit”
1004
cetokhila-: cetokhila Ee; cetokhila Be
* reading vinibhandha-s as = cetovinibandha-s
1005
—
1006
—
1007
—
1008
dubbharā 'tha: dubbhara 'tha Ee; dubbharata ca Be
sukumārasukhālayā: sukumarasukhalaya, var. sukumara sukhalaya; sukumarasukhalaya
1009
—

197
nillajja vītasarajja, lokadhammesu mucchita, Shameless, they're bereft of self-assurance,
papiccha kuhanacchanna, micchajīvapalobhita. 1010 infatuated with the dhammas of the world;*
with unwholesome desires, covered over by deceit,
their greed incited by wrong livelihood.
saṭha pagabbha mayavī, antopūtī avassuta; Cunning, reckless, masters of deception,
sankassarasamacara, kasambusithila jala. 1011 rotten inside, and with seeping lust,
with conduct that's suspicious,
unthinking, they are lax, (yielding) to filth.
singaracapala citta, pūtikayanuragino, Flighty with romance, beautified,*
sīdanta palipapanna, na virūlhanti sasane. 1012 with desire for the foul body,
fallen in a mire, and sinking,
they don't grow in the teaching.
papapuggalasaṃsaṭṭha, papadiṭṭhiparakata, Mixing with unwholesome individuals,
asaddha dhammanicchanda, duṭṭha dubbaca- turned against by evil views,
niṭṭhura. 1013 with no faith and no volition for the teaching,
they're unreceptive, hardened.
samaññaṃ paridhaṃsenta, dūsenta jinasasanaṃ; Causing the ascetic life's destruction,
atikkamma jinovadaṃ, bala duggatibhagino. 1014 defiling the victorious Buddha's teaching,
transgressing the victorious one's good counsel,
the naive partake of bad rebirth.
kamagiddha duracara, dussīla mohaparuta, Greedy for sense-pleasures, with bad conduct,
khajjanta kaddamībhūta, jinasasanakaṇṭaka. 1015 and virtueless, benighted by delusion,
being eaten, they're reduced to mud,
thorns in the victorious Buddha's dispensation,
hitahitam ajananta, anurodhavirodhino; They have preferences and aversions
cetopahatasantana, vipallasapalambhita. 1016 not knowing what is welfare and what isn't;
their streams of consciousness impaired,*

1010
micchājīvapalobhitā: ˚palobhita, var. ˚malosita, malohita Ee; micchajīvapalobhita Be
* The eight lokadhamma “worldly conditions” cf. AN 8.5.
1011
pagabbhā: sagabbha, var. pagabbha Ee; pagabbha Be;
antopūtī: antopūtī Ee; antopūti Be;
kasambusithilā: kasambusithila Ee; kasambu sithila Be
1012
singāracapalā cittā: singaracapalocitta, var. singaracapala citta; singaracapalacitta Be; reading as a compound,
singaracapalacitta “with minds fickle with love” would yield a better meaning, but was perhaps inadmissible due
to meter.
palipāpannā: palipapanna Ee; palimapanna Be;
virūḷhanti: virūlhanti Ee; virūlhanti Be; an unusual form, normally virūhati > virūlha- (p.p.p.), on analogy of
kaḍḍhati: kaḍḍha is actually p.p.p. of kasati (akrsta), but used as finite verb
* beautified: (citta) = Skt. citra)
1013
pāpadiṭṭhiparākatā: ˚parakata Ee; ˚paragata Be; para + kr "to put on the other side";
dhammanicchandā: dhammanicchanda Ee; dhammanicchinna Be;
asaddhā: assaddha; asaddha Be
1014
—
1015
—
1016
* understanding cetopahatasantana as ceto-upahata-

198
 confounded by distortions of perception.
vipannakulakammanta, papakarī parajita, Giving up and doing wrong,
socanti dīgham addhanaṃ, apayamhi samappita 1017 their agitated actions leading to disaster,
they grieve, consigned to hell,
for lengthy periods.
itthaṃ hitasamucchedī, kumaggo 'yaṃ rajapatho, Realizing that unwholesome dhammas' occurrence,
papadhammappavattī 'ti, viditva puna paṇḍito, 1018 is a dangerous course -- a path of dust --
that cuts off welfare thus,
wise now,
pariyuṭṭhanasaṃklesaṃ, vipphurantaṃ visarado, one should arrest
paṭisankhaya rundheyya, manteneva mahavisaṃ. the flaring up's affliction as it sparks,
1019
with wise reflection,
as one arrests great poison with a mantra.
Forsaking the “Flaring up” and Resolving on Renunciation
khippam adittacelo 'va, papapavakam uṭṭhitaṃ, Swiftly, like one's whose dress has caught on fire,
bhavanajalasekena, nibbapeyya nirantaraṃ. 1020
one should immediately put out
the flaring fire of unwholesomeness,
by throwing on it meditation's water.
appamadena medhavī, nageneva mahanadiṃ, Wisely, one should block with heedfulness,
papoghaṃ paṭibandhanto, pidaheyya khaṇe khaṇe. the deluge of unwholesomeness's torrent
1021
from moment to moment,
blocking its course as, with a mountain, a great
river.
sabhayaṃ viya kantaraṃ, ghoram asīvisaṃ yatha, Like a dangerous wasteland,
papatam iva gambhīraṃ, milhaṃ viya ca paṇḍito. or a fearsome, deadly snake,
1022
like a sheer cliffside,
or a cesspool, one who's wise
pahaya pariyuṭṭhanaṃ, nekkhammam adhimuccati; forsakes the flaring-up
kalyaṇamitto vajjesu, bhayadassavi subbato. 1023 and resolves upon renunciation.
Keeping noble friends, and seeing
danger in ignoble things, keeping good conduct.
kamaragavisaṃyutto, bhogadhananiralayo, Disassociated from sensual desire,
icchalobhavinimmutto, amamo apariggaho. 1024 not harboring desire for goods or wealth,
released from wants and greed,
without a sense of “mine”; without possessions;

1017
—
1018
—
1019
vipphurantaṃ: vipphurantaṃ Ee; vipphurantaṃ Be
1020
—
1021
—
1022
—
1023
adhimuccati: adhigacchati Ee “attains”; adhimuccati Be “resolves on”
1024
icchālobhavinimmutto: ˚vinimmutto Ee; ˚vinimutto Be

199
sorato sakhilo saṇho, mettayanto dayaparo, kindly disposed, with kindly speech, and gentle
anahaṭamano dhīro, santacitto khamaparo. 1025 ways,
treating all with metta, prone to mercy,
and steadfast, with mind not drawn (to anything),
with peaceful heart, prone to patience.
hitesī sabbapaṇīnaṃ, issamaccheramuccito, Seeking for the welfare of all beings,
kodhopanahabyapadavirodhopasame rato. 1026 set free from envy and selfishness,
taking pleasure in the allaying of dislike,
anger, spitefulness, and ill-will,
anolīnamano yogī, niccaraddhaparakkamo, the yogī, with an uncomplacent heart,
susamahitasankappo, vippasanno anavilo. 1027 and constantly engaged courageous valor,
with finely concentrated aspiration,
clear, unruffled,
okappento 'dhimuccanto, paññava paṭipattiyaṃ, setting his mind on and wisely resolving
pihayanto mamayanto, sammasambuddhasasanaṃ. on practice of the path (paṭipatti),
1028
feeling regard for and taking as his own
the Buddha's teaching...
Ajjhasayo Purified: Reverence for the Teaching in its Application (paṭipatti)
The purified mind takes the essence like pure cloth takes color
iti nīvaraṇapeto, ñaṇalokajutindharo, emerging from the hindrances like this,
pūjeti sammasambuddhaṃ, saddhamma- resplendent with the light of understanding,
paṭipattiya. 1029 does worship to the fully awakened Buddha
with his practice of path of the true teaching.
hirottappaguṇopeto, kalyaṇacaragocaro, Possessed of modesty and fear of wrong-doing's
makkhappalasarahito, sappatisso sagaravo. 1030 good virtues,
of good conduct and appropriate resort,
devoid of spitefulness and irrascibility,
amenable to guidance and respectful,
ajjavacaracaritto, mayasaṭheyyanissaṭo, with a character of upright conduct,
thambhasarambhanissango, maddavacarapesalo. 1031 emerged from deception and trickery,
with no attachment to stubbornness or to
aggression,
pleasant on account of gentle conduct,
manatimanavimukho, saddhammagarusadaro, turning away from conceit and over-estimation,
parappamadanimmaddī, saṃvegabahulo sada. 1032 with respect for the true teaching and his teacher,
destroyer of the highest heedlessness,
1025
—
1026
issāmaccheramuccito: ˚mucchito Ee; ˚muccito Be
1027
—
1028
'dhimuccanto: 'dhimuccanto Ee; vimuccanto Be
1029
—
1030
—
1031
ajjavācāracāritto: ˚caritto, var. ˚varitto Ee; ˘caritto Be
1032
—

200
 always abounding in the sense of urgency,
vodatacittasankappo, papicchamalavajjito, with pure thoughts,
micchadiṭṭhim atikkanto, saddhamme supatiṭṭhito. devoid of evil wishes' taint,
1033
and wrong view surpassed,
well-established in the true teaching,
cetokhilasamucchedī, vinibandhaviveṭhako, as one who has put an end to callousness of heart,
manasaṃ sampahaṃseti, saṃkilesavimuttiya. 1034 and unwrapped it from its bonds,
he makes his heart rejoice
in freedom from affliction.
pavivitto asaṃsaṭṭho, santo appicchatarato, Secluded, not in company of others,
ariyavaṃsalankaro, supposo subharo sukhī. 1035 calmed and taking pleasure in fewness of wishes,
an ornament for the line of noble ones,
easy to nourish and maintain, content,
sallekhavutti dhutava, papapacayatapparo, with acts of austerity and the ascetic practices,
pasadikasamacaro, pasadabahulo muni. 1036 wholly intent on getting rid of the unwholesome,
with inspiring behavior,
abounding in serenity, the sage,
anuddhato acapalo, danto gutto yatindriyo, unagitated, unflighty,
cetosamadhigaruko, sampajano satīyuto. 1037 tamed, guarded, with sense-faculties restrained,
giving importance to the concentration of his mind,
intent on mindfulness, discerning,
ussahajato saddhamme, chandajato nirantaraṃ; giving rise to effort, constantly
sataccakarī svakaro, paṭipattiparayaṇo 1038 giving rise to motivation in the true teaching,
and continuously acting on it, well-disposed,
wholly intent on progress on the path,
cetokalankapagato, bhavanarasam uttamaṃ, the stains upon his heart departed,
rangaṃ niddhotavatthaṃ 'va, sadhukaṃ (his mind) correctly takes
paṭigaṇhati. 1039 the highest essence of meditation,
like a cloth washed clean correctly takes the dye.

iti sampaditakaro, parisuddhamanoratho, As one who's made himself attain to such an aspect
niradīnavasañcaro, sotthipatto nirangaṇo. 1040 (as the above-described),
his dreams, now purified (i.e. brought into being),
his motion free of danger,
1033
vodātacittasankappo: vodana-, var. vodata- Ee; vodata- Be
saddhamme supatiṭṭhito: saddhamme supatiṭṭhito Ee; saddhammesu patiṭṭhito Be;
1034
saṃkilesavimuttiyā: sabbaklesavimuttiya Ee; saṃkilesavimuttiya Be
1035
—
1036
—
1037
—
1038
paṭipattiparāyaṇo: paṭipattiparayano Ee; paṭipattiparayaṇo Be
1039
cetokalankāpagato: cetokalankapagato Ee; cetokalakapagato Be
paṭigaṇhati: patigaṇhati Ee; paṭigaṇhati Be
1040
sotthipatto: sotthippatto Ee; sotthipatto Be

201
 has arrived at welfare, taintless.
papagahavinimmutto, rahumutto 'va candima, Released from the hold of the unwholesome,
guṇaraṃsiparikkhitto, sobheti jinasasanaṃ. 1041 like the moon released from Rahu's hold (i.e., from
an eclipse),
surrounded by the rays of his good virtues,
he graces the victorious Buddha's dispensation.
icc' alobham adosañ ca, mohabhavam athaparaṃ, Purifying his disposition, to completeness,
nekkhammaṃ pavivekañ ca, tatha nissaraṇaṃ with reference, thus,
budho, 1042 to non-craving and non-aversion,
to the absence of delusion,
samarabbha visodhento, ajjhasayam asesato, to renunciation, and seclusion,
dhīro sampaṭipadeti, bhavanasukham uttamaṃ. 1043 and, so, to the way out –
the steadfast wise one brings about
the supreme pleasure of meditation.*
end of section on purification of the disposition (ajjhasayo)

SAMATHA BHAVANA: The Cultivation of Tranquility on the Basis of the kasina-s

tato paṇītadhimutti, palibodhavinissaṭo, Thereafter, having that sublime resolve,
paripanthavinimmutto, vigatavaraṇalayo, 1044 and come out from obstructions,
wholly free of things standing against him,
his harboring of hindrances now gone,
bhavananinnasantano, kallacitto visarado, the stream of mind inclined toward meditation,
kasiṇadikam arabbha, bhaveyya samathaṃ kathaṃ? and qualified, the mind now ready,
1045
how should one cultivate tranquillity
on the kasiṇa-s, etc.?
pathavīkasiṇaṃ tava, vidatthicaturangulaṃ, Having made, then, first, an earth-kasiṇa,
katvanaruṇavaṇṇaya, mattikaya sumaṇḍalaṃ, 1046 one span, four fingers' width,
1041
pāpagāhavinimmutto: ˚vinimmutto Ee; ˚vinimutto Be
1042
icc' alobham: icc' alobham Ee; iccalobhaṃ Be
1043
* Anuruddha concludes his treatment of the development of the requisite mental disposition to take up
meditation with and allusion to a commentarial-era discussion of the six dispositions that lead to the maturation
of awakening for bodhisattas (quoted as yathaha, but source unknown; not sutta): Vism III, §128
kammaṭṭhanagahaṇaniddeso: sampannajjhasayena sampannadhimuttina ca hutva ti ettha pana tena yogina
alobhadīnaṃ vasena chahakarehi sampannajjhasayena bhavitabbaṃ. evaṃ sampannajjhasayo hi tissannaṃ
bodhīnaṃ aññataraṃ papuṇati. yathaha, “cha ajjhasaya bodhisattanaṃ bodhiparipakaya saṃvattanti,
alobhajjhasaya ca bodhisatta lobhe dosadassavino, adosajjhasaya ca bodhisatta dose dosadassavino,
amohajjhasaya ca bodhisatta mohe dosadassavino, nekkhammajjhasaya ca bodhisatta gharavase dosadassavino,
pavivekajjhasaya ca bodhisatta sangaṇikaya dosadassavino, nissaraṇajjhasaya ca bodhisatta sabbabhavagatīsu
dosadassavino”ti. ye hi keci atītanagatapaccuppanna sotapannasakadagamianagamikhīṇasava-paccekabuddha-
sammasambuddha, sabbe te imeh' eva chahakarehi attana attana pattabbaṃ visesaṃ patta. tasma imehi
chahakarehi sampannajjhasayena bhavitabbaṃ. tadadhimuttataya pana adhimuttisampannena bhavitabbaṃ.
samadhadhimuttena samadhigarukena samadhipabbharena, nibbanadhimuttena nibbanagarukena
nibbanapabbharena ca bhavitabban ti attho.
1044
paripanthavinimutto: paripanthavinimmutto Ee; paripanthavinimutto Be
1045
—
1046
pathavīkasiṇaṃ: pathavī- Ee; pathavī Be

202
 with light-colored clay,
perfectly round,
yugamatte ṭhapetvana, ṭhane sukhanisinnako, and set it at a yoke's distance,
pathavī 'ti samaññaya, katvabhogaṃ tu bhavaye. seated comfortably,
1047
he should turn his mind to it
with the designation "earth" and cultivate it.
akate 'pi khaladimhi, akicchen' eva maṇḍale, But even not having made (a kasiṇa device),
nimittaṃ jayat' icc' ahu, pubbayogavato pana. 1048 the sign (nimitta) may arise effortlessly, they say,
on the basis of the circle of a threshing ground, etc.,
for one with prior practice (i.e., stemming from a
former life).*
apomaṇḍalam uggaṇhe, bhajanadigate jale; He should apprehend a circle of the water
tejamhi tejokasiṇaṃ, paṭacchiddadisaṃgate. 1049 on the water in a vessel, etc;*
and the fire kasiṇa in fire
[visible through] the hole in a piece of cloth, etc; *
sassaggadimhi kampante, vayokasiṇamaṇḍalaṃ, and the air kasiṇa-circle
paṭibhagasamacaro, phuṭṭhaṭṭhane 'va jayati. 1050 on the waving tips of crops, etc;*
corresponding activity
arises at the place it touches (on the body);*
nīladikasiṇaṃ vatthe, pupphe va vaṇṇadhatuyaṃ; the blue- etc., kasiṇas on cloth or flower,
akasamaṇḍalaṃ bhitti-cchiddadimhi upaṭṭhitaṃ. 1051 or mineral of that color;*
1047
pathavī: paṭhavī Ee; pathavī Be
katvābhogaṃ tu: katvabhogan tu Ee; katvabhogaṃ tu Be
* cf. Vism IV, §27 for summation of initial steps corresponding to Anuruddha's treatment ( = trans. Nyanamoli,
pp.123-124) and §29 for the use of the (mentally verbalized) designation at the initial stage of development.
1048
khala: khala Ee; khala Be;
* cf. Vism IV, §23 for this statement.
1049
* cf. Vism V, §3: a bowl or water pot.
* cf. Vism V, §6: an old mat, or strip of leather or cloth
1050
kampante: kampante Ee; kammante Be
* cf. Vism V, §9: by way of sight on the stirring tips of sugarcane, or bamboo, trees, or hair; or by way of touch
on the body, at the place touched.
* the curious phrasing seems to refer not to the paṭibhaganimitta (counterpart sign), but to the touch on the body
corresponding to the wind observed by sight. Vism V, §9 specifies in each instance the recognition of the touch
on the body corresponding to the visually apprehended wind: tasma samasīsaṭṭhitaṃ ghanapattaṃ ucchuṃ va
veluṃ va rukkhaṃ va caturangulappamaṇaṃ ghanakesassa purisassa sīsaṃ va vatena pahariyamanaṃ disva
“ayaṃ vato etasmiṃ ṭhane paharatī” ti satiṃ ṭhapetva, yaṃ va panassa vatapanantarikaya va bhittichiddena va
pavisitva vato kayappadesaṃ paharati, tattha satiṃ ṭhapetva vatamalutaniladīsu vayunamesu
pakaṭanamavaseneva “vato vato”ti bhavetabbaṃ. That said, samacaro, as used in the namar-p, in every instance
refers to conduct / behavior rather than to activity such as that of the wind. Though there is no variant, it is
possible that this verse became corrupt and was in fact referring to the paṭibhaga-nimitta as arising samaṃ (still)
and acalaṃ (without movement) = samacalaṃ* (rather than samacaro), thus referring to the immediately
subsequent line of Vism V, §9, regarding the uggaha-nimitta arising with movement, but the paṭibhaga-nimitta
arising sannisinnaṃ (still) and niccalaṃ (without movement): idha uggahanimittavaḍḍhanato otaritamattassa
payasassa usumavaṭṭisadisaṃ calaṃ hutva upaṭṭhati; paṭibhaganimittaṃ sannisinnaṃ hoti niccalaṃ. It is also
possible the samacara here represents “still activity.”
1051
bhitti-cchiddādimhi: bhittic-chiddadimhi Ee; bhitti-chiddadimhi Be

203
 and a circle of space as it presents itself
in a hole, or so forth, in a wall.
chiddappaviṭṭham alokaṃ, uggaṇheyya patiṭṭhitaṃ, Light, classed as sunlight and so forth,*
sūriyalokadibhedaṃ, bhūmiyaṃ vatha bhittiyaṃ, he should apprehend
1052
as that established (i.e., falling) on the floor, or on
the wall, come in through a hole.
Nimitta: The Signs
dasadha kasiṇesv evaṃ, yattha katthaci yogino, As the yogī does initial practice (parikammaṃ)
parikammaṃ karontassa, uggaho nama jayati. 1053 on one among these kasina-s, ten in number, thus,
there arises that called [the sign of] "apprehension."
cittass' upaṭṭhite tasmiṃ, passantasseva cakkhuna, When that is presenting itself to the mind,
uggahamhi nimittamhi, paṭipadeyya bhavanaṃ. 1054 as if seeing it with the eye,
one should direct his meditation
to the apprehension sign.*

vikkhepaṃ vinivarento, paripanthe virajayaṃ, Warding off distraction,

nimittabhimukhen' eva, manasaṃ paṭipadaye. 1055 detaching it from pitfalls on the way,
one should cause the mind
to be exclusively directed toward the sign. *
asevantassa tass' evaṃ, cittaṃ hoti samahitaṃ; As one repeatedly applies himself to this,
saṃklesa sannisīdanti, paṭibhago ca jayati. 1056 the mind is concentrated;
its defilements subside;
and the “counterpart” (sign) arises.
tattha paṇṇattisankhate, nimitte bhavanamaye, Thereafter, one should yoke one's meditation
tath' eva paṭibhagamhi, tato yuñjeyya bhavanaṃ. to the counterpart sign,
1057
produced from meditation and reckoned
conceptual-in-nature,
in the same way (as one had to the apprehension
sign).
tatthadhimutto satima, nimittavidhikovido, Resolved thereon, and mindful,
indriyani samanento, sappayam upalakkhayaṃ, 1058 growing experienced in the method of [meditation
on] the signs,

* for “dhatu” as mineral, here: specified at Vism V, §17 as red colored flowers, cloth, or maṇidhatu “jewel-
mineral”; also detailed at §13, with examples of different blue dhatus as bronze-blue dhatu, foliage-blue dhatu,
or collyrium-blue dhatu.
1052
chiddappaviṭṭham: channappaviṭṭham, var. chidda- Ee; chiddappaviṭṭham
* cf. Vism V, §21: sunlight or moonlight
1053
—
1054
cittass' upaṭṭhite: citte sūpaṭṭhite Ee; cittass' upaṭṭhite Be
* cf. abhidh-av 860-861
1055
* cf. section concluding verses at Vism IV, §66, concluding: “evaṃ nimittabhimukhaṃ, manasaṃ paṭipadaye."
1056
—
1057
—
1058
—

204
 taking note of what is suitable,
and bringing his [five] faculties into balance:
niggayha uddhataṃ cittaṃ, paggayha līnamanasaṃ; reining in his mind when restless;*
ūhataṃ sampahaṃsento, upekkhanto samahitaṃ; prodding it when sluggish;*
1059
making it feel joy when in distress;*
and looking on equanimously when concentrated;
reṇumhi uppaladale, sutte navaya naliya; a wise man, acting in the manner
yatha madhukaradīnaṃ, pavatti samma-vaṇṇita, 1060
of the 1) bee and so on [2) the surgeon's
apprentices; 3) the man drawing out the spider's
thread; 4) the captain; and 5) the disciples], *
described as 'evenness' (samma) [and to this extent
'right' (samma) effort]*
with reference to 1) the pollen, 2) the lotus leaf,
3) the [spider's] thread, 4) the ship, and 5) the
[oil-]tube,
cittapavatti-akaraṃ, sadhukaṃ lakkhayaṃ budho, taking note correctly of
tatha samenakarena, pahitatto parakkame, 1061 how the mind is acting
and applying himself, in effort,
just so, with even balance,*
samappavattam akaraṃ, sallakkhetva nirantaraṃ, for one making effort thus,
padahantassa tass' evaṃ, appana nama jayati 1062 continuously noticing it in the form

1059
niggayha: niggayhaṃ Ee; niggayha Be;
paggayha: paggaṇhaṃ Ee; paggayha Be
ūhataṃ: uhataṃ Ee; ūhataṃ Be;
* when restless: from too much viriya. This commentarial-era conceptual metaphor for viriya-samata (balance of
energy), Vism, IV, §66, is evidently based on the idea of a skillful charioteer knowing when to rein in and when
to prod, and when to let the horses evenly proceed: sarathī 'va samappavattesu assesu (vism IV, §64).
* when sluggish: from too little viriya.
* when in distress (described as nirassadaṃ, “without any relish” vism IV, §64): cf. Vism IV, §63: from the
slowness of his application of wisdom, or from the non-attainment of the pleasure of tranquility. At these times
he is directed to generate saṃvega by contemplating the eight grounds for alarm, and pasada by contemplating
the Buddha, the dhamma, and the sangha.
1060
samma-vaṇṇitā: sampavaṇṇita Ee; samma-vaṇṇita Be. SK: samma = samma, or = Skt. samya 'evenness'? and
equivalent to 'samata'?
* as described in five metaphors for viriya-samata “even balance in effort” at Vism IV, §66-§73.
* There appears to be a play on words that goes back to Vism IV §66. The passage relates the 'samma' of samma
vayamo to his application of 'evenness' of effort (samata vīriyassa): evañ hi paṭipannassa, sace sa [the subject is
appana, 'absorption'] nappavattati / tathapi na jahe yogaṃ, vayameth' eva paṇḍito. hitva hi sammavayamaṃ,
visesaṃ nama maṇavo / adhigacche parittam pi, ṭhanam etaṃ na vijjati. cittappavattiakaraṃ, tasma sallakkhayaṃ
budho / samataṃ vīriyasseva, yojayetha punappunaṃ. The source of the quoted passage is unclear. It occurs
almost verbatim in Buddhadatta's Abhidh-av (leaving out the key list of five metaphors, the bee, etc., cited here
by Anuruddha) (Vism IV §66 & again at §73 = Abhidh-av vv. 889-893). I thus take Anuruddha's pavatti samma-
vaṇṇita as incorporating both senses: 'samma' as = samma, as well as = Skt. samya 'evenness' and equivalent to
samata.
1061
* cf. Vism IV §66: cittappavattiakaraṃ, tasma sallakkhayaṃ budho / samataṃ vīriyass' eva, yojayetha
punappunaṃ.
1062
appanā: appaṇa Ee; appana Be

205
 of acting with even balance,
there arises what is called "absorption."
paṭibhaganimittaṃ tu, vaḍḍheyya kasiṇaṃ puna, One should moreover then expand
upacarabhūmiyaṃ va, appanayaṃ va katthaci. 1063 the kasiṇa [in the form of] the counterpart sign,
either at the level of upacara concentration,
or else while in absorption,
ekangula-dvanguladi-vasen' eva yathakkamaṃ, spreading it with his mind,
pharanto manasa yeva, nipuṇo yavad-icchakaṃ, 1064
by one finger's breadth, then two, etc., gradually,
to the extent he wishes,*
becoming skillful.
tatth' evaṃ paṭhamajjhanaṃ, patvana paguṇaṃ tato, And having attained the first jhana like this,
katva ciṇṇavasībhūta, tamha vuṭṭhaya paṇḍito, 1065 having then gained competence in it,
now mastered through continuous practice*
having emerged from it, one who's wise,
vitakkadika-thūlangaṃ, pahanaya yathakkamaṃ, abandoning vitakka as its grossest factor,*
tath' eva paṭipajjanto, pappoti dutiyadayo. 1066 and so on, in order,
progressing in the same way,
attains the second jhana and so on.
dasadha kasiṇan' evaṃ, bhavetva pana yogino, And having cultivated
catukkapañcakajjhanaṃ, katva vikkhepanissaṭa, 1067
the ten kasiṇa-s like this,
come out of distraction,
yogī-s having brought about all four or all five
jhana-s,*
supakkhalitupaklesa, santacitta samahita, their kilesa-s washed away,
pavivekarasassadaṃ, anubhonti yathasukhaṃ. 1068 with calmed and concentrated minds,

1063
paṭibhāganimittaṃ tu: paṭibhaganimittan tu Ee; paṭibhaganimittaṃ tu Be;
appanāyaṃ: appaṇayaṃ Ee; appanayaṃ Be
* following Vism IV §126: cittabhavanavepullatthañ ca yathaladdhaṃ paṭibhaganimittaṃ vaḍḍhetabbaṃ. tassa
dve vaḍḍhanabhūmiyo upacaraṃ va appanaṃ va. upacaraṃ patva pi hi taṃ vaḍḍhetuṃ vaṭṭati appanaṃ patva pi.
ekasmiṃ pana ṭhane avassaṃ vaḍḍhetabbaṃ. tena vuttaṃ “yathaladdhaṃ paṭibhaganimittaṃ vaḍḍhetabban” ti.
1064
* cf. Vism IV §127
1065
ciṇṇavasībhūtā: ciṇṇavasībhūtaṃ Ee; ciṇṇavasībhūta Be
* reading ciṇṇavasībhuta as abl. agreeing with tamha. Cf. Vism IV §137: imasu pana pañcasu vasīsu ciṇṇavasina
paguṇapaṭhamajjhanato vuṭṭhaya...
1066
vitakkādika-thūlangaṃ, pahanaya: vitakkadika-thūlangap-pahanaya Ee; vitakkadika-thūlangaṃ, pahanaya Be
the five jhanic factors being: vitakka ("applied thought"), vicara ("sustained thought"), piti ("joy"), sukha,
pleasure (here understood as pleasant physical sensation, in contrast to somanassa, the pleasant mental feeling
based on this) and ekaggata ("one-pointedness"). These are abandoned one by one in the abhidhammic analysis,
yielding a classification of five jhana-s, but vitakka and vicara together in the (most common) sutta descriptions,
yielding the more classical system of the four jhana-s. The commentators were conscientious of the discrepancy,
and thus refer, like Anuruddha to both systems in their exegeses. Cf. v. 1067 "all four or all five jhana-s" and
accompanying note.
1067
catukkapancakajjhānaṃ: catutthapañcakajjhanaṃ Ee; catukkapañcakajjhanaṃ Be;
vikkhepanissaṭā: vikkhepanissaṭaṃ Ee; vikkhepanissaṭa Be
* four according to the sutta way of reckoning (sutta-naya); five according to the abhidhamma way of reckoning
(abhidhamma-naya).

206
 can experience as and when they want
the enjoyment of the savor of seclusion.

ASUBHA-BHAVANA: The Cultivation of the Foul

asubhaṃ pana bhavento, nimittaṃ yattha katthaci, And how should one who's meditating on the foul,
uddhumatadibhedamhi, uggaṇheyyasubhe kathaṃ? apprehend the sign with reference to the foul,
1069
on one among its objects,
classed as "bloated body,” and so forth?
ekahadim atikkantaṃ, uddhumatakam īritaṃ; That referred to as “the bloated body”
vigatacchavi-bībhacchaṃ, nīlakaraṃ vinīlakaṃ. 1070 is that more than one or two days dead;
the "livid body" is one blueish in appearance,
of repulsive aspect, the [color of its] skin gone. *
vikiṇṇapubbakuthitaṃ, paribhinnaṃ vipubbakaṃ; The "pustulent body" is one now breaking open,
viccheditangapaccangaṃ, vicchiddakaṃ putrid with besmeared with pus;
kalevaraṃ. 1071 the "slit body" is a corpse
slit open limb to limb.
vividhakarapaṇehi, khajjamanaṃ vikhaditaṃ; The “variously gnawed body” is one being eaten
vinasitangapaccangaṃ, vikkhittan 'ti pavuccati 1072 by living beings, in various ways;
the "dismembered body," one,
all the limbs of which are lost.
padadikhaggavikkhittaṃ, hatavikkhittakaṃ mataṃ; The body "chopped in pieces and dismembered"
is one with feet etc., dismembered by a sword;
the “blood-strewn” body, one strewn in blood;
the “maggot-ridden,” one rife with worms.

1068
supakkhālitupaklesā: ˚upakklesa Ee; ˚upaklesa
1069
* the ten objects of meditation on the foul “asubha-bhavana”, the bloated body, livid body, festering body, etc.,
outlined at Vism VI, §1:
1. uddhumatakaṃ.
2. vinīlakaṃ
3. vipubbakaṃ
4. vicchiddakaṃ
5. vikkhayitakaṃ
6. vikkhittakaṃ
7. hatavikkhittakaṃ
8. lohitakaṃ
9. pulavakaṃ
10. aṭṭhikaṃ
1070
vigatacchavi-bībhacchaṃ: vigatacchavi-bībhacchaṃ Ee; vigatacchavi bībhacchaṃ Be
* understanding chavi as = chavivaṇṇa, on M. Deokar's suggestion.
1071
vikiṇṇapubbakuthitaṃ: ˚kudhitaṃ, var. ˚kuthitaṃ Ee; ˚kudhitaṃ Be; the form kudhitaṃ appears nowhere else
in Anuruddha's works (or allied abhidhamma literature); whereas kuthitaṃ appears a number of times in the
namar-p (vv. 1431, 1434, 1714).
kaḷevaraṃ: kalebaraṃ Ee; kalevaraṃ Be
1072
vikhāditaṃ: vikhaditaṃ Ee; vikhaditaṃ Be; referred to in Vism. as “vikhayitakaṃ” (Vism VI, §1) (and as
khayitaṃ in pm-vn and abhidh-s) but twice in namar-p, with seemingly no variants, as khaditaṃ.
vināsitangapaccangaṃ: vinabhūtangapaccangaṃ Ee; vinasitangapaccangaṃ Be

207
lohitaṃ lohitakiṇṇaṃ, pulavaṃ kimisankulaṃ. 1073
aṭṭhisankhalikamattaṃ, aṭṭhikan ti ca sabbatha, And “the skeleton," that just
saṇṭhanakarabhedena, dasadhasubhadesana. 1074 a heap of bones – thus ten in all (the objects of)
the exposition of the foul,
classified according to their form.
tatth' evaṃ dasadha-bhede, nijjīvakuṇapasubhe, And therein: having looked
ujjhite bhūmibhagasmiṃ, matakaye kalevare, 1075 upon the foulness,
in a desolate location,
&
of a lifeless corpse
labbhamanakam akaraṃ, oloketva salakkhaṇaṃ, of ten kinds, thus,
uggahetvana cittena, taṃ taṃnamena bhavaye. 1076 seeing the aspect being obtained
in the body's dead cadaver,
with its specific characteristic,
apprehending that with his mind,
he should cultivate it by that name.
paṭikūlañ ca jegucchaṃ, duggandhañ ca “It's repulsive and disgusting,
virūpakaṃ; foul-smelling, ugly;
harayitam ajaññañ ca, hīlitaṃ dhikkatasivaṃ. 1077 repugnant and unbecoming;
hateful and accursed, inauspicious.”
icc evam asubhakare, katvabhogaṃ tu yogino, And for a yogī having directed his attention
bhaventass' upacaro ca, paṭibhago ca jayati. 1078 to the aspect of the foul in it, like this,
as he cultivates it,
access and the counterpart arise.
paṭibhaganimittaṃ tu, upacarena sevato, And attending to the counterpart sign
appeti paṭhamajjhanam etth' evaṃ samathe nayo. with access concentration,
1079
he enters into the first jhana:
this is the method as regards tranquillity meditation
(samatha).
The Method as regards Insight on the basis of the cultivation of the perception of foulness
vinasadhammaṃ pan' idaṃ, sarīraṃ bala-nanditaṃ; “This body that the ignorant delight in
vipattipariyosanaṃ, avassaṃ bhedagamikaṃ 1080 is, however, bound to perish;
1073
pādādikhaggavikkhittaṃ: hesitantly em. from padadikangavikkhittaṃ Ee; padadibhangavikkhittaṃ Be; on
account of the Vism characterization of this body as satthena hanitva vuttanayena vikkhitta- “dismembered ...
having been hit with a blade” (Vism VI, §7); Ee reading is also viable.
puḷavaṃ: pulavaṃ Ee; pulavaṃ Be
1074
—
1075
dasadhā-bhede: dasadha-bhede Ee; dasadha bhede Be
kaḷevare: kalebare Ee; kalevare Be
1076
taṃ taṃnāmena: taṃ taṃ namena Ee; taṃtaṃnamena Be
1077
paṭikūlan: paṭikkūlañ Ee; paṭikūlañ Be;
virūpakaṃ: vidūsakaṃ Ee; virūpakaṃ Be
hīḷitaṃ: hīlitaṃ Ee; hīlitaṃ Be;
dhikkatāsivaṃ: dhikkatasivaṃ, var. vikkhitasivaṃ; vikkhitasivaṃ
1078
katvābhogaṃ: katvabhogan Ee katvabhogaṃ Be
1079
paṭibhāganimittaṃ tu: paṭibhaganimittaṃ taṃ Ee; paṭibhaganimittaṃ tu Be

208
 ending in its failing,
leading ineluctably toward breakage.
yatha idaṃ tatha etaṃ, yatha etaṃ tatha idaṃ; “This body is just like mine;
jīvamanañ ca nijjīvam evaṃdhammaparayaṇaṃ. my body just like this;
1081
the living one destined to become of similar nature
when without life.
sabhavo so 'pi dehassa, sabbassapi ca sabbatha, “That is the basic nature of the body,
vicitabbā dhirenāpi, esayaṃ niyata gati. 1082 everyone's, in every way,
and this, its pre-determined destination,
/ var. bhavitabbā cirenāpi can be discerned by one who's wise.*
/ var.: will come about, though in good time.
aniccaṃ khayadhammañ ca, dukkham eva “It's subject to decay, impermanent;
bhayavahaṃ; and [this is] assuredly terrifying suffering;
anatta ca parabhūtaṃ, vibhijjati khaṇe khaṇe 1083 and constrained, not self,
it's breaking up in every moment.”
vinassamanass' akaraṃ, tatth' evaṃ pana passato, And one's development of insight, seeing thus,
vipassana-bhavana 'ti, tam īrenti tathagata. 1084 the aspect of it presently decaying,
the Buddhas speak of
as “insight meditation.”
ASUBHA-BHAVANA: CONCLUSION
bhavanaṃ duvidham p' etaṃ, bhaventi puna The wise develop
paṇḍita; both kinds of meditation,
jīvamane 'pi kayamhi, taṃtadakarasambhave. 1085 on a living body, too,
as it gives rise to the respective aspect.
jīvamano 'pi kayo 'yaṃ, kuṇapo 'va sabhavato; And this body, even while living,
tamalankarapaṭicchanno, balanaṃ na pakasati. 1086 is just a corpse, in essence ;
[but] covered up in its adornments,
it doesn't appear as such, to the naive.

1080
vināsadhammaṃ: vinasadhammaṃ Ee; vina saddhammaṃ Be
bālananditaṃ: balananditaṃ, var. balalalito Ee; balananditaṃ Be
1081
evaṃdhammaparāyaṇaṃ: evaṃ dhammaparayanaṃ Ee; eva dhammaparayaṇaṃ Be; cf. Cf. AN-a: _ayam pi
kho kayo evaṃdhammo evaṃbhavī evaṃanatīto_ti. idaṃ vuttaṃ hoti --- ayu usma viññaṇanti imesaṃ tiṇṇaṃ
dhammanaṃ atthitaya ayaṃ kayo ṭhanagamanadikhamo hoti, imesaṃ pana vigama ayam pi evaṃdhammo
evaṃpūtikasabhavo yeva ti.
1082
vicitabbā dhirenāpi: bhavitabba cirenapi Ee; vicitabba dhirenapi Be
In this case, it is difficult to tell which reading is preferable.
1083
dukkham eva: dukkham etaṃ Ee; dukkham eva Be;
parābhūtaṃ: parabhūtaṃ Ee; parabhūta Be. One might expect rather “parabhūta” here (“other; alien”)
vibhijjati: vibhijjati Ee; vibbhijjati Be
1084
vinassamānass': vinassamanass' Ee; vinasamanass' Be;
vipassanā-bhāvana: vipassana bhavana Ee; vipassanabhavana Be
1085
taṃtadākārasambhave: taṃ tadakara Ee; taṃtadakara Be
1086
tamalankārapaṭicchanno: tam-alankarapaṭicchanno Ee; tam alankarapaṭicchanno Be;
na pakāsati: nappakasati Ee; na pakasati Be

209
bahi maṭṭham upaṭṭhati, anto kuṇapapūritaṃ; It outwardly presents itself wiped clean;
uggharantaṃ paggharantaṃ, navadvara- inside, it's rotting, full of corpses;
malassavaṃ. 1087 oozing, dripping out,
exuding filth from its nine orifices.
sarīraṃ niccaduggandhaṃ, nanakimisamakulaṃ; The ever-stinking body,
tacamaṃsapaṭicchannaṃ, aṭṭhipañjarasaṇṭhitaṃ. 1088 crowded full with different kinds of worms,
framed on a cage of bones
covered up with flesh and skin.
vaccakūpam idaṃ nama, dvattiṃsasucipūritaṃ; This is indeed a well of feces,
naran' ukkarabhūmī 'va, nekavassagaṇocita. 1089 full of thirty-two parts' filth;
like a human dung hill,
piled up from passing crowds of many years'.
susana-gamanosanaṃ, bahusadharaṇasubhaṃ; It ends in going to the burning-ground,
gaṇḍabhūtaṃ sallabhūtaṃ, bahudukkha- and is foul, the common goods of many beings,
nibandhanaṃ. 1090 it's a boil and a barbed arrow;
bound up with many sufferings.
nanabyadhisamakiṇṇaṃ, nanopaddavasaṃkulaṃ; Crowded with diverse diseases;
nananatthasamodhanaṃ, nanasaṃklesavatthukaṃ. teaming with diverse troubles;
1091
it's the conjunction of diverse varieties of harm,
and the basis for diverse defilements.
positam 'pi ciraṃ kalaṃ, mamaṃkara-mamayitaṃ, Though nourished for long years,
lahu dujjanamitto 'va, pīlitaṃ sampadussati. 1092 and taken as one's own with a sense of "mine",
troubled only slightly, it becomes upset,
like a no-good friend.
parihayati nissaraṃ, jaratapītayobbanaṃ; Its youthfulness drunk up by getting old,
maccubhañjitam accantam asesaṃ paribhijjati. 1093 it wastes away, without enduring substance,
and dealt a crushing blow by death,
it ultimately breaks up without remainder.
tatha 'pi jalasantano, bahusankharasankhato, Even so, the body, child of craving's net,
vatthalankarasañchanno, malagandhadisobhito, 1094 generated by much conditioning,
covered in clothes and in adornments,
&
beautified with garlands and perfumes,
saviññattivikarehi, vicittakaramaṇḍito, with its changing play of gestures,
kayo līlhavilasehi, palambheti mahajanaṃ. 1095 adorned with beautified aspect,
1087
navadvāramalassavaṃ: navadvaramalassavaṃ; var. navaddvaravanassavaṃ Ee; navadvaramalassavaṃ Be
1088
—
1089
'va: ca Ee; 'va Be
1090
—
1091
nānāsaṃklesavatthukaṃ: nanopaklesa- Ee; nanasaṃklesa- Be
1092
lahu dujjanamitto: lahu dujjanamitto Ee; lahudujjanamitto Be;
pīḷitaṃ: picchilaṃ Ee; pīlitaṃ Be
1093
jaratāpītayobbanaṃ: jarata-pītayobbanaṃ Ee; jaratapi taṃ yobbanaṃ Be
bhanjitam: bhañjitam Ee; bhajjitam Be
1094
bahusankhārasankhato: bahusankharasankhato Ee; bahusambharasankhato Be;

210
 with graceful coquetries,
deceives the people.
vañcita yena dummedha, kamaklesabalī mata, Duped by which, those who lack discernment,
pūrenti caturapayaṃ, maradheyyanusarino. 1096 dying victim to desire and to the kilesas,
fill the lower worlds,*
conforming to the way of Mara's realm.
evam adīnavaṃ ñatva, pūtikaye vicakkhaṇa, Those of discerning vision, having realized
asubhadikam akaram arabbha chand' upaṭṭhahuṃ. the danger in the putrid body, thus,
1097
became present to their will
on the aspect of the foul in it, and so forth.
yasmiṃ patanti kuṇape viparītasañña, With misperception of which body,
saṃklesapapavasaga visamaṃ caranta; behaving wrongly,
taṃ passath' etam asubham pi vinasadhammaṃ, in the power of defilement and evil,
icc evam aha sugato dasadha vibhagaṃ. 1098 people fall –
see it, this body,
as foul, and subject to destruction --
the Buddha said,
with [foulness's] division in ten parts.
satthara kasiṇañ ca yaṃ dasavidhaṃ, vikkhepa- The ten kinds of kasiṇa, with their suspension of
vikkhambhanaṃ, distraction,
kamaklesavinasanaṃ dasavidhaṃ, yañ casubhaṃ and ten kinds of foulness, with their destruction of
bhasitaṃ; the defilement of passion,
dibbabrahmasukhavahaṃ samapadaṃ, vijjodayaṃ that the teacher told
yogina, as meditation objects bringing pleasure pertaining
kammaṭṭhanam alaṃ tam uttamaguṇen' asevitaṃ to the devas and the brahmas,
sevituṃ. 1099 made use of by a yogī of good virtue,
are enough to take one to the peaceful place
of understanding's dawning.
iti namarūpaparicchede kasiṇasubhavibhago nama So ends the eighth chapter in the Manual of
aṭṭhamo paricchedo. Discerning Mind and Matter, called “the section
on the meditation devices (kasiṇa-s) and the
cultivation of the perception of foulness (asubha-
bhavana)”.

1095
līḷhāvilāsehi: līlha- Ee; līla- Be
1096
kāmaklesabalī matā: ˚balīmata Ee; ˚malīmaya Be
* literally, the four lowers worlds (caturapayaṃ)
1097
chand' upaṭṭhahuṃ: chandupaṭṭhahuṃ; var. chandam abravuṃ Ee; chandupaṭṭhahuṃ Be
1098
—
1099
yoginā: yoginaṃ Ee; yogina Be

211
 THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER
9. Chapter Nine
The Ten Recollections

In chapter nine, Anuruddha continues his treatment of the forty samatha kammaṭṭhanas,
treating the Ten Recollections. His treatment continues to be closely modeled on the Vism (this
chapter correspending to the content of its seventh and eighth chapters) but even in so doing
demonstrates fascinating innovation. While I have broadly argued that Anuruddha's poetic
recasting and streamlining of the Visuddhimagga's exegesis of the path largely constitutes an
alteration of form, springing evidently from an intellectual climate in which orthodoxy was
highly prized, and, innovation in content being frowned upon, only innovation in form was felt to
be permissible, we shall also see that in some cases alteration of form can imbue whole
structures with new and fresh significance – and such is the case with Anuruddha’s treatment of
the Ten Recollections.
In the suttas the first six recollections occur frequently as a unit. Recollection of the
qualities of the Buddha, the dhamma, the sangha; of one’s own virtue and adherence to precepts;
of one’s prior acts of magnanimous sacrifice and charity; and of one’s possession in full measure
of the same qualities that earned the deities their exalted births in the heaven worlds. Reflection
on these is found prescribed as a means of uplifting the mind and giving rise to joy and pleasure
that pave the way for meditative progress.
When these six recollections occur as part of a longer series in the suttas, they are
followed by the awareness of respiration (anapanassati), of the inevitability of death
(maraṇassati); of the body, particularly as a collection of constituent parts (kayagatasati), and
lastly the recollection of nibbana as ultimate peace (upasamanussati).

1. Buddhanussati Recollection of the Buddha

2. Dhammanussati Recollection of the Dhamma
3. Sanghanussati Recollection of the Sangha
4. Sīlanussati Recollection of Virtue
5. Caganussati Recollection of Sacrifice
6. Devatanussati Recollection of Deities

7. Anapanassati Awareness of Respiration

8. Maraṇassati Awareness of Death
9. Kayagatasati Bodily Awareness
10. Upasamanussati Recollection of Peace

The Visuddhimagga, in its latter-day systematization of the "dasa anussatiyo” as a set of ten
recollections within the larger set of forty “meditation subjects” (kammaṭṭhana-s) that can serve
as objects of concentration, rearranges the last four in the series in its exposition of them, so that
the six recollections are followed by the recollection of death, then body, breath, and lastly
peace.
Taking this treatment as his point of departure, we can see that Anuruddha makes a
further adjustment, appending the recollection of peace onto the initial series of six (and treating

212
this now as a group of seven), and following it with death, body, and lastly breath:

Sutta Mahāniddesa Vimuttimagga Visuddhimagga Anuruddha

buddhanussati as suttas as suttas buddhanussati buddhanussati

dhammanussati dhammanussati dhammanussati
sanghanussati sanghanussati sanghanussati
sīlanussati sīlanussati sīlanussati
caganussati caganussati caganussati
devatanussati devatanussati devatanussati
upasamanussati
+ + +

anapanassati maraṇanussati maraṇassati;

maraṇassati kayagatasati kayagatasati;
kayagatasati anapanassati anapanassati
upasamanussati upasamanussati

We may justifiably ask to what end the recollections' sequence has been re-arranged; and
especially what Anuruddha’s final arrangement represents. In his unique treatment, weaving
them into a single, coherent, graded practice amenable to narrativization and literary staging, we
shall see that Anuruddha has re-formulated the sequence so as to culminate in Insight, presented
not as an altogether distinct practice, but as an alternate methodology of engaging the same
objects of meditation. Not all of these however being amenable to the development of insight, a
hierarchy of objects is created. Higher levels of wisdom are more rigidly the province of ascetics.
Weaving the ten recollections into a coherent structure, in this chapter, Anuruddha essentially
synthesizes a coherent, stand-alone treatise on meditation that embeds within its structure the
mature Mahavihara interpretive tradition's theory of the trajectory of Buddhist practice.
In Anuruddha's presentation, we see the early recollections being structured as an
ascending sequence of good qualities. His recollection of the Buddha therefore includes the
standard elements of the "iti pi so bhagava" formula, but passes through these swiftly in order to
linger on the more dramatic image of the Buddha as “dhammaraja” (1116): who shines
resplendent like a universal king (cakkavatti), with his vassal-king sangha in array / like the
moon cleansed of its blemish, encircled by its retinue of stars (1117).
The dhamma is not only svakkhato, etc, but a dhamma-ratho “chariot of dhamma" that
moves toward the attainment of one’s efforts’ consummation.
In his recollection of the sangha, in addition to being the pure and faultless field in which
the well-placed seed of faith can ripen into the highest fruit of attainment (1148-49) (and one
seeking that fruit, Anuruddha tells us, should cultivate this recollection (1150-1151)) – this more
dynamic martial theme again predominates: the sangha is a fearless assembly (1142) that is
armed with samadhi, and flashes in battle with the weapon of panna (1143). It is the assembly of
those who have stayed their straight course and scattered Mara’s army, their battle won, their
mighty valor graceful. (1143).
This set of three is extended to a set of six with the addition of the recollections of virtue,

213
sacrifice, and likeness to deities.
In Anuruddha’s recollection of sila, whether one observes five, eight, ten, or 227
precepts, one is advised to reflect upon the advantages of one’s adherence to these (1152-53).
Sila is praised as the root and source of progress on the path, the entryway to the Buddha’s
dispensation (1154-55).
In the recollection of sacrifice (caga), we gain a first clue as to Anuruddha’s recasting of
the ten recollections into a coherent sequential and cumulative series. The recollection begins:
"having given dana to those with sīla, as is fitting, out of faith…” and advises reflection upon
such magnanimous acts of sacrifice and the benefits that accrue from them. The sequence adds
an element of order to the qualities so far considered, and renders a cumulative series, saddha →
sila → dana.
In case the specific association of giving to the virtuous and its motivation in faith is
doubted, this is re-emphasized a few verses later: “I am one in whom the virtuous find support / a
succor for the poor / a servitor of the Buddha’s dispensation / on whom kin and friends depend”
(1175).
Caga/dana’s function of furthering soteriological advancement is highlighted, much as it
was for sila: “I am one for whom the path to the lower worlds is closed / and heaven's door is
open (pihitapaya-maggo ’smi / sagga-dvaram aparutaṃ) (1177). (Sila was similarly extolled as
"the stairway to the heaven-world / and the lower worlds’ forceful closing off” (1159), (sopaṇaṃ
sagga-lokassa / dalhapaya-pidhanakaṃ).)
With the recollection of [likeness in good qualities to the] deities, qualities of “learning”
(sutaṃ) and wisdom (panna) are added to the existing series of saddha, sila, and caga. These
five are collectively referred to as the "deva-dhamma”, understood as qualities that yield
heavenly rebirth. One is directed to reflect on one’s possession of these same qualities, in equal
measure, as the deities who acquired their long and glorious lives upon rebirth as a result of
them. In ascending hierarchy, whether the deities of the six increasingly exalted deva worlds or
the brahma deities above them, one’s possession of them in equal measure and by extension
karmic equality with them (deva-samannaṃ) (1194) is recalled: “I am the same as the deities /
adorned [already] with the ornaments of their virtues / the powers of the gods [already] within
reach / the attainment of divine [rebirth already] brought about” (1193) (“devatahi samano
‘haṃ / guṇalankarabhusito / hattha-patta ca dev’iddhi / nipphanna dibba-sampada).
We can make some observations about the series so far. First, we can note that the
ascending series of good qualities we've witnessed has implications for the relationship that
governs the various recollections: unlike in the sutta or the Path of Purification (Vism)'s
treatment, the anussati-s have here been imbued with a cumulative nature, one leading on to the
other.
Second, we may notice that there is perhaps a similarly ascending cosmological principle
at work in the ordering of the qualities. With the cultivation of saddha in the three jewels, the
path to karmically higher attainments is opened. With the cultivation of sila and dana, the lower
worlds are closed off and the heaven worlds are attained. With the cultivation of the deva-
dhamma, soteriological equality with the successively higher orders of beings inhabiting the
deva worlds is highlighted. Each anussati relates to a higher cosmological order – a principle that
will continue to hold in Anuruddha's treatment of the subsequent recollections.
Third, we may note that till now we are largely in a lay-oriented and "early stage"

214
religious framework, privileging the lokiya or mundane religious goals of the accumulation of
merit and good rebirth via faith and good conduct, and generosity, rather than the world-
transcending goals of higher meditative states leading to liberation from rebirth altogether.
Though Anuruddha in his recollection of sila includes the possibility of the practitioner
observing either five or 227 precepts and thus implicitly either a lay or monastic context, if we
look to the corresponding sutta-based expositions of the six recollections, we find an
overwhelmingly lay-oriented framework. In their locus classicus, AN suttas (AN 11.11 & 11.6),
these practices are in fact earmarked for a lay noble disciple.308
The lay-oriented context of the practices is readily apparent. In the caga recollection, the
sutta evokes an explicitly lay context: “I live in a household with a mind devoid of the taint of
selfishness, freely generous, openhanded, delighting in relinquishment, devoted to charity,
delighting in giving and sharing” (AN 11.11). This is echoed in Anuruddha’s characterization of
the practitioner as a "supporter of kin and friends", which clearly evokes a lay context.309
The purpose of these recollections, according to the sutta account, is to initiate the same
chain of cause and effect frequently associated with the abandoning of the five hindrances
(panca nivaraṇani), leading to the attainment of concentration via the subsiding of the major
defilements during the recollection, and the consequent inspiration, joy, and pleasure resulting
from it (a sequence apparently related to the emergence of the bojjhanga-s):

Recollecting the Buddha, craving and aversion subside;

the mind acquires inspiration and gladness;
gladdened, joy arises
the body of one whose mind is filled with joy becomes tranquil;
one with tranquil body feels pleasure;
the mind of one feeling pleasure becomes concentrated.310

Freeing the mind from the hold of craving, aversion, and delusion, and inspiring inspiration and
gladness, they thus pertain to the initial stages of that chain.311
One further point about context in the sutta account from which they derive becomes
clear: albeit in a lay context, in the suttas these are practices being recommended for use in the
wake of accomplishment. They are explicitly recommended for the use of an ariyasavako,
308
Both suttas are addressed to the lay noble disciple Mahanama, who asks the Buddha how, out of the many ways
of engaging oneself, the Buddha’s disciples should engage themselves during periods of the Buddha’s absence.
The response: in addition to cultivating the five indriyas (saddha, vīriya, sati, samadhi, pañña), he may recollect
the six: Buddha, dhamma, sangha, sīla, caga, and devata-s.
309
Devas, moreover, whatever the soteriological value of divine rebirth, seem to function as something of an analog
of a wealthy, prosperous layperson in the Pali imaginaire — enjoying a highly refined life of pleasure.
310
“When a noble disciple recollects the faith, virtuous behavior, learning, generosity, and wisdom in himself and in
those deities, on that occasion his mind is not obsessed by lust, hatred, or delusion; on that occasion his mind is
simply straight, based on the deities. A noble disciple whose mind is straight gains inspiration in the meaning,
gains inspiration in the Dhamma, gains joy connected with the Dhamma. When he is joyful, rapture arises. For
one with a rapturous mind, the body becomes tranquil. One tranquil in body feels pleasure. For one feeling
pleasure, the mind becomes concentrated” (AN 11.11, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi).
311
The commentaries summarize their purpose as “cittasampahaṃsanatthani” – "for the sake of the uplifting of the
mind”: iti imesu dasasu kammaṭṭhanesu anapanassati maraṇassati kayagatasatī ti imani tīṇi vipassanatthan' eva
honti, sesani satta cittasampahaṃsanatthani pi hontī ti. [citation])

215
characterized as “one who has entered the stream of the dhamma,” (dhammasotasamapanno), In
the Path of Purification (Vism), this is qualified: they are earmarked as specifically for the
accomplished, for full depth, but additionally as of use to the beginner (puthujjana) by way of
second hand knowledge (suta- or anussava-vasena).312
In contrast to both the suttas and the Path of Purification (Vism), in the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), they are somewhat remarkably represented as exclusively with reference
to the unaccomplished beginner. This supports my impression that it is Anuruddha’s intention to
weave the ten reflections into a single cumulative and sequential practice -- to create a graded,
ascending sequence that can be modeled in a linear progression via the text's literary evocation of
it. Anuruddha wants us to be able to watch the practice unfold as we read, and in our reading get
a taste of it.
The last four recollections are the site of the greatest divergence among the sutta loci
classici, the Path of Purification (Vism)'s systematization of this as representative of the
Mahavihara tradition, and Anuruddha's version.
On the heels of the six anussati-s, Anuruddha immediately introduces the recollection of
peace (upasama). Here the structure of the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) departs from that of
the Path of Purification (Vism) and the suttas and he refers to these now as “the seven
recollections”. What is the logic that governs this rearrangement in contrast to all his sources and
predecessors?313
Anuruddha characterizes nibbana as the letting go of one’s clinging (adana-nissaggo) to
things that are impermanent, suffering, and not self, battered as these are by illness, sorrows, and
despairs, on account of having birth (1195-96). Recognizing that this is the peaceful condition
(upasantaṃ idaṃ ṭhanaṃ) and aspiring to this goal constitutes the reflection on the letting go of
things ultimately conducive to suffering as peaceful and desirable.
Even though it the subject of the recollection represents the uttamariyasampatti “the
highest noble attainment" (1203), like the prior recollections, reflection on the qualities of
nibbana leads only to the level of upacara-samadhi (1206). On the trajectory of concentration,
due to the mind's being occupied with reflection on its many different kinds of qualities, it is
conducive only to a low level of concentration. Anruddha's placement thus accords with an
ascending sequence of lower to higher stages of concentration, and thence to insight and
liberation. The recollection of peace is re-positioned to mark a transition from aspiration for the
lokiya to the lokuttara and thus foreshadows insight and liberating wisdom (with references to
the three characteristics in its very first verse (1195).
These seven reflections, Anuruddha tells us, result in one’s having joy in abundance and
feeling inspired with faith (pasanno) in the Buddha’s dispensation. The merit they produce is
said to yield a good station of rebirth (1207). But the higher goal foreshadowed by the
recollection of peace is available only to one endowed with sufficient condition who
meditatively penetrates beyond these:
"One endowed with sufficient condition, having reached the highest penetration / quenches in the
312
The benefit in the case of the unaccomplished beginner is characterized as "cittaṃ pasīdati" (his mind becomes
uplifted). (evaṃ sante pi parisuddhasīladiguṇasamannagatena puthujjanenapi manasi katabba. anussavavasenapi
hi buddhadīnaṃ guṇe anussarato cittaṃ pasīdati yeva (Vism VII.166)).
313
Vism follows its exposition of the six recollections (“chanussati-niddeso”) with another section on recollection-
subjects comprised of death, body, breaths, and lastly peace ("the anussatikammaṭṭhana-niddeso"). Anuruddha,
however, adds the recollection of peace to the former six and rearranges the order of exposition of the latter.

216
present life itself the fire of suffering, his defilements no more" (upanissaya-sampanno, patva
nibbedham uttamaṃ / diṭthe 'va dhamme dukkhaggiṃ, nibbapeti anasavo) (1208).
Once again, though the Path of Purification (Vism) qualifies the recollection of the peace
of nibbana as attainable in all its fullness by a noble disciple (ariyassavakassa ijjhati) -- albeit of
value to a common person on the basis of the description of nibbana -- Anuruddha again treats
the practice only as the latter, lesser form and chiefly as productive of the aspiration to transcend
the mundane attainments and go further, to nibbana.
The placement of the recollection of peace in Anuruddha’s presentation of the ten
recollections thus appears to signify the critical transition between lokiya and lokuttara goals, lay
and monastic-oriented contexts of practice, stages of initial concentration and higher attainments,
and, most critically, as we shall see, the development of insight. It is aspirational, rather than
retrospective: a nod toward something higher, though not yet the attainment of it. This is
evidently a deliberate choice on Anuruddha’s part, so as create a clear linear trajectory of
progress that proceeds from concentration to insight.
With the recollection of death, the first insight characteristic of impermanence is brought
into vivid relief. All classes of beings, from the most humble to the most exalted, are terrorized
by death: none can escape it: “If not today, tomorrow,” death comes for living beings / all are
wracked with fear of death, like an army sent to war" (ajja suve 'ti maraṇaṃ, pariyesati paṇino /
sena yuddhapayata ‘va, sabbe maccubhayakula) (1216). Even the exalted devas of his earlier
contemplation — " ... who have godly power and strength / who enjoy great pleasures and
happiness…” (1219) "Even they, assailed by death, become distraught with fear / like birds
tossed by a monsoon wind — what to speak of those like me?" (1220) (te pi maccusamuddhatta,
bhavanti bhayasaṃkula / verambhakkhittapakkhi 'va, madisesu katha 'va ka?).

These reflections on the fate of beings lead to a re-evaluation of the world: “It has such a
plenitude of obstacles! this world, that gives rise to the misfortune of death — that turns
constantly around, [as if] mounted on a wheel” (1221) (accantarayabahulo,
maraṇahitasambhavo;
niccaṃ cakkasamarulho, loko 'yaṃ parivattati). And what of me then?: "Uncertain of even my
next in-breath — what even to say of my life? — as I turn round in its center, dying here within
it? (1222) (etth' antare marantassa, vemajjhe mama vattato / assase pi avissaṭṭhe, jivite me katha
'va ka?).
In Anuruddha’s synthesis, it is this reflection on personal and cosmic impermanence that
leads to active striving to pursue the higher goal of nibbana identified in the previous
recollection — to begin to put the Buddha’s teachings oriented toward lokuttara attainment into
practice. The modeled yogī reflects: “Alright then, I shall make a start in the fully and rightly
Awakened One’s instructions / ardent and engaged, concentrated, with caution (hiri) and concern
(ottappaṃ). And now wholly intent on progress on the path (paṭipatti), ridden of unwholesome
dhammas, I’ll ultimately quench the fire of all suffering" (1229-30) (handaham arabhissami,
sammasambuddha-sasane /
atapi pahitatto ca, hirottappasamahito. 1229 paṭipattiparo hutva, papadhammanirankato /
nibbapayami accantaṃ, sabbadukkha-hutavahaṃ. 1230). For Anuruddha, in some sense, it
would appear that real practice and real progress on the path (in the service of liberation and not
just worldly ends) begin only now.

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 Anuruddha informs us that by way of his cultivation to present, the practitioner has
become endowed with diligence (appamada) and disenchantment (nibbeda), and is concentrated
with access concentration -- again signaling the recollections' sequential and cumulative
character in his presentation. Taking up the cultivation of bodily awareness, he becomes enabled
now to do away with craving and attain the deathless (1232-33). In Anuruddha’s exposition of
the practice, the mature Theravada interpretive position on panna’s relationship to practice is
lucidly stated. The text refers to bodily awareness's (kayagatasati) "three-fold division” when
practiced on the basis of the thirty-two parts of the body. In Anuruddha’s words:

asubhākāram ārabbha, bhāvanā ce pavattati,

kammaṭṭhānaṃ paṭikkūlaṃ, paṭhamajjhānikaṃ siyā. 1251

If the practice takes place

on the basis of the [body part's] not-lovely aspect,
then the meditation-subject is repulsiveness,
and may lead to the first jhana.

nīlādivaṇṇam ārabbha, paṭibhāgo yadā tadā,

nīlādikasiṇaṃ hutvā, pancakajjhānikaṃ bhave. 1252

(If it takes place) on the basis of the color [of the part], blue or so on,
when the counterpart [sign arises], then
becoming the blue kasiṇa, or so on,
it would become conducive to the five jhana-s.

lakkhaṇākāram ārabbha, cintanā ce pavattati,

vipassanākammaṭṭhānam iti bhāsanti paṇḍitā. 1253

If reflection proceeds
on the basis of the (three) characteristics,
it becomes a vipassana meditation-subject --
so say the wise.

tidhā pabhedam icc' evaṃ, bhāvento puna buddhimā,

kāyagatāsatiṃ nāma, bhāvetī 'ti pavuccati. 1254

One who is astute, developing

this "bodily awareness"
develops it, it's said,
with this threefold division, thus.

The final verse departs slightly from a corresponding discussion in the Path of
Purification (Vism VIII, 60) by specifying the lakkhaṇa-s (three characteristics), rather than the

218
elements (dhatu-s) as the aspect (akara) that ultimately renders the meditation subject one of
insight (vipassana) rather than concentration (samatha), or repulsiveness (paṭikkula). This
treatment of kayagata sati is somewhat unique and especially clear, delineating as it does a
progression of development from repulsiveness --> concentration --> insight, which it uniquely
characterizes as the practice's "threefold division" (tidha pabheda, 1254).314
Anuruddha’s treatment of the recollection of breathing (anapanassati) is the culminating
and by far most extensive section of his presentation of the ten recollections. He characterizes it
as the "king" of meditation subjects and highlights that one can easily attain with it absorption as
well as access concentration, liberating insight as well as tranquillity, and the transcendental as
well as mundane:

ānāpānassatiṃ nāma, sammāsambuddhavaṇṇitaṃ,

kammaṭṭhānādhirājānaṃ, bhāvento pana paṇḍito, 1257.

A wise person, developing

the so-called "awareness of the in-coming and out-going breath",
praised by the rightly and fully Awakened One
as the sovereign king of meditation objects

appanan copacāran ca, samathan ca vipassanaṃ;

lokuttaraṃ lokiyan ca, sukhen' evādhigacchati. 1258.

can easily attain

absorption as well as access;
discernment as well as tranquillity;
the transcendental as well as the mundane.

314
cf. Vism. VIII, 60: evaṃ sattadha uggahakosallaṃ acikkhantena pana idaṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ asukasmiṃ sutte
paṭikkūlavasena kathitaṃ, asukasmiṃ dhatuvasenati ñatva acikkhitabbaṃ. idañhi mahasatipaṭṭhane (dī. ni.
2.377) paṭikkūlavaseneva kathitaṃ. mahahatthipadopama(ma. ni. 1.300 adayo) maharahulovada (ma. ni. 2.113
adayo) dhatuvibhangesu (ma. ni. 3.342 adayo) dhatuvasena kathitaṃ. kayagatasatisutte (ma. ni. 3.153) pana
yassa vaṇṇato upaṭṭhati, taṃ sandhaya cattari jhanani vibhattani. tattha dhatuvasena kathitaṃ
vipassanakammaṭṭhanaṃ hoti. paṭikkūlavasena kathitaṃ samathakammaṭṭhanaṃ. tadetaṃ idha
samathakammaṭṭhanameva ti.
Vism VIII, §180 sheds light on this discrepancy, describing a progress of insight from dhatu to the
characteristics:
vipassanayaṃ pana apariggahe pavatto kayasankharo olariko, mahabhūtapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko,
upadarūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, sakalarūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, arūpapariggahe
sukhumo. sopi olariko, rūparūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, paccayapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko,
sappaccayanamarūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, lakkhaṇarammaṇikavipassanaya sukhumo. sopi
dubbalavipassanaya olariko, balavavipassanaya sukhumo. tattha pubbe vuttanayeneva purimassa purimassa
pacchimena pacchimena paṭippassaddhi veditabba. evamettha olarikasukhumata ca passaddhi ca veditabba.
The course of development of insight is represented in the Vism account, representing a transitional phases
perhaps between the sutta's privilleging of the elements and the later traditons's privileging of the characteristics
as progressing from apprehension of mahabhūtas --> upadarūpa --> sakalarūpa --> arūpa --> rūparūpa -->
paccaya --> sapaccayanamarūpa --> lakkhaṇarammaṇika-vipassana. And thence dubbalavipassana -->
balavavipassana. Hence insight begins with elements and ends with characteristics.]

219
 Anapana as here presented is thus represented as culminating each of the trajectories of
concentration, soteriological efficacy, and cosmology that I have highlighted. The yogī who
develops it is moreover described as partaking of the deathless, having witnessed the ascetic
life's [highest aim or essence]" (sacchikatvana samannaṃ amataṃ paribhunjati) (1256),
situating the highest stages of the practice, it may be noted, in a specifically monastic rather than
lay context, and in an insight rather than concentration context.
Anuruddha adopts a single rubric from the Path of Purification (Vism)'s extensive
exposition for the basis of his treatment – that of Anapana's eight stages of practice: 1) counting,
2) staying with, 3) touching, 4) fixing, 5) observing, 6) turning away from, 7) purity, and 8)
review. In this rubric the first four stages are described as being according to samatha
methodology, up to the stage of "fixing", by which one attains the absorption level of
concentration and all four/five jhanas (1270).

nimitte ṭhapayaṃ cittaṃ, tato pāpeti appaṇaṃ;315

pancajjhānavasenāyaṃ, samathe bhāvanānayo. 1270

Fixing the mind on the sign,

one then makes it attain absorption (appaṇa).
This, proceeding via the five jhanas,
is the methodology of development with reference to tranquillity (samatha).

The latter four stages, however, are related to the "other methodology" (1271), that of insight,
which he says proceeds based on the investment of self (abhinivesa) in the in- and out-breath. In
this methodology the yogī discerns with insight the factors that constitute the level of
consciousness attained through samatha (its bhūmi-dhamma-s, in the terminology of the text),
and thus goes on to attain not just mundane, but transcendental jhana.

ārabhitvābhinivesam ānāpāne punāparo;

ajjhattan ca bahiddhā ca, tato tad-anusārato, 1271.

The other (methodology), again, having begun

inhering [in the present] in the in-breath and out-breath.
[Having seen with insight] internally and externally,
and then, following from that,

bhūmidhamme yathābhūtaṃ, vipassitvā visārado,

appetānuttarajjhānam ayaṃ suddhi vipassanā. 1272.

having seen with insight, now mature,

the dhamma-s that constitute the grounds (of insight), as they are,
one enters into transcendental jhana (attaining nibbana):
this is the purity of insight.

315
appaṇaṃ (Ee); appanaṃ (Be).

220
 Like the Vism, Anuruddha proceeds to treat anapana with reference to the four
satipaṭṭhana-s, via its sixteen aspects as described in the anapanassati sutta (MN 118). Unlike the
Vism, however, he relates these explicitly to the development of insight on the basis of jhanic
attainment (and as pertaining specifically to the latter four stages of his rubric).316

Anapana thus becomes a site for an extensive treatment of the development of wisdom as
an alternative methodology of meditative practice on the basis of the same meditation subjects
that are used as samatha objects. Like kayagatasati, Anuruddha's treatment depicts the ultimate
Theravada position as to the relational nature of wisdom: it takes place on the basis of the same
objects as concentration, but consists in a different way of looking at them. It is subsequent and
optional, but in some sense also where genuine “paṭipatti” (“practice / progress on the path” – to
the transcendental goal) begins.

We witness in this chapter this mode of treatment emerging as a trope in Anuruddha; later
he will treat even the elements in the same way, with their optional/subsequent use as a basis for
insight, discerning their arising and passing and the subsequent development of wisdom as a
means of attaining liberation as an appendix to his basic exposition (1461-63).

If we step back then, we see that Anuruddha has arranged the ten recollections
cumulatively so as to form a single hierarchical progression, culminating in Insight. From the
development of qualities, we have progressed to increasing levels of concentration with access
(upacara) and absorption (appana) levels of concentration leading on to the development of
liberating insight on their basis. His choice to present the initial recollections only in their lesser
form, as inspirational and not as being undertaken by a yogī who has already attained some
degree of liberation suggests that it is the dramatic presentation of this ascending trajectory that
most interests Anuruddha. He wishes to model a stage by stage progression for us, one
culminating in wisdom. This ironically required repositioning the recollection of the peace of
nibbana as a prior and merely inspirational practice, the real work of attaining liberation being
reserved for bodily awareness (to a lesser extent), and most fully in the awareness of breath.

The chapter's trajectory, comparable to that of the stereotypical gradual discourse

(anupubbi-katha)317 with its emphasis on a transformation of perspective in the listener as he
becomes gradually prepared for and receptive to the development of insight, exemplifies
Anuruddha's focus on modeling a gradual transformation of perspective beginning with a
wholesome mundane perspective but ultimately transcending this and arriving, via concentration,
at liberating insight. By uniquely weaving the ten recollections into a unified, progressive
structure, he allows us to glimpse and appreciate this transformation unfolding in the model
practitioner, step by step.
316
For example, the vedana satipaṭṭhana aspects are described as "making the pīti and sukha in his samatha evident
with vipassana" (1278); the cittanupassana satipaṭṭhana as freeing consciousness from opposing factors via not
just their temporary suspension (vikkhambhana) but also their total eradication via insight (samuccheda) (1285).
317
• talk on giving, • virtuous behavior, and • heaven; → He revealed • the danger, degradation, and defilement of
sensual pleasures, and • the benefit of renunciation. → When the Blessed One knew that [his] mind was pliant,
softened, rid of hindrances, uplifted, and confident, he revealed that Dhamma teaching particular to the Buddhas:
• suffering, • its origin, • its cessation, and • the path.

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 Chapter Content:

Recollection of the Buddha (buddhanussati): v. 1101

Recollection of the Dhamma (dhammanussati): v. 1120
Recollection of the Sangha (sanghanussati): v. 1137
Recollection of Virtue (sīlanussati): v. 1152
Recollection of Giving (caganussati) v. 1166
Recollection of [likeness to] Deities (devatanussati): v. 1180
Recollection of Peace (upasamanussati): v. 1195
Mindfulness of Death (maraṇassati): v. 1209
Bodily Awareness (kayagatasati): v. 1232
Awareness of the In- and Out-breath (anapanassati): v. 1255

9. navamo paricchedo Chapter 9

dasanussativibhago The Ten Recollections

saddhapabbajito yogī, bhavento 'nussatiṃ pana, And how then should the yogī gone forth out of
dasanussatibhedesu, bhaveyya 'ññataraṃ kathaṃ? faith and cultivating recollection
1100
cultivate one among the recollections
classed as ten?
Buddhānussati
arahaṃ sugato loke, bhagava lokaparagū, Worthy is the Sugata in the world,
vijjacaraṇasampanno, vimuttipariṇayako. 1101 the Blessed One, who went beyond the world,
consummate in both knowledge and in practice,
guide who led the way to liberation.
jeṭṭho sammabhisambuddho, seṭṭho purisasarathī. Eldest, as the fully awakened Buddha;
sattha devamanussanaṃ, buddho appaṭipuggalo. 1102 and highest, as the charioteer of men,
teacher of gods and men,
the Buddha was without equal.
sabbalokahito bandhu, samatta-ratanalayo. Friend and benefactor of the whole world,
sattanam anukampaya, jato natho sivaṃkaro. 1103 bearing all* its jewels;
he was born out of compassion for its beings,
as its beneficent lord and master.
cakkhuma titthakusalo, dhammassamī tathagato; Possessed of wisdom's eye, skillful in soteriology,*
maccudheyyavimokkhaya, paṭipadayi paṇino. 1104 the Tathagata, master of the dhamma,

1100
—
1101
vimuttipariṇāyako: vimuttipariṇayako, var. vimuttipadanayako Ee; vimuttiparinayako Be
1102
—
1103
* reading samatta as representing Skt. samasta. cf. v. 1159
1104
* M. Deokar suggests tittha in sense of “doctrine” (heretical doctrine: titthaṃ nama dvasaṭṭhi diṭṭhiyo (AN-ṭ) >

222
 set beings endowed with life upon the path
to escape from death's domain.
satthavaho mahayoggo, maggamaggayugandharo Leader of a caravan most grand,
sirisattham adhiggayha, vicarittha mahapathaṃ. 1105
navigator of the path and the non-path;
having attained his majestic caravan,
he journeyed the great path.
anomo asamo dhīro, lokahitaparakkamo. The peerless one, unequaled, wise,
sabbakaravaropeto, accherabbhutapuggalo. 1106 whose every effort was for the world's benefit;
endowed with the best of every feature,
he was a wondrous, awe-inspiring being.
atthabhūto dhammabhūto, brahmabhūto mahayaso. He is welfare itself, dhamma itself,
ñaṇalokaparicchinna-ñeyyasesapariggaho. 1107 he is holiness itself, his glory great;
all things that can be known within his grasp,
encompassed by his understanding's light.
anubhavavasippatto, asabhaṇṭhananiccalo. Attained to mastery of godly power,
mahantamariyado 'yam anantagatigocaro. 1108 unshaking in his station at the forefront;
of such great extent, this being,
limitless the places in his reach.
sabbabhiññabalappatto, vesarajjavisarado. Who attained to every super knowledge (abhinna)
sabbasampattiniṭṭhano, guṇaparamipūrako. 1109 and power (bala),
and has the confidence of the [Buddha's four
inalienable] sources of confidence;
who brought about every attainment,
and brought every excellence unto perfection.
appameyyo mahanago, mahavīro mahamuni. Great hero and great sage,
mahesī* mahitacaro, mahamaho mahiddhiko. 1110 who can't be bounded, like a great elephant;

“skillful in doctrines”; I render as “soteriology” to restrict the sense further to its proper religious context. cf.
annatitthiya “adherent of other doctrines or soteriologies.” cf. titthasutta
1106
asamo: nasamo Ee; asamo Be;
lokahita-: lokahita Ee; lokahīta Be
1105
mahāyoggo: mahayoggo, var. mahayogo Ee; mahayoggo Be;
maggāmaggayugandharo: em. from maggamaggayudhandharo, var. mahamagga- Ee;
maggamaggayudhandharo Be. ayudhandhara is technically permissible, but has no instances and does not suit
the context; dhurandhara (equivalent in meaning to yugandhara), would make more sense and is used elsewhere
in namar-p, but would represent a more drastic emendation.
1107
—
1108
āsabhaṇṭhāna-: asabhaṇṭhana- Ee; asabhaṇḍana- Be; reading asabhaṇṭhana, ṇ seemingly superfluous, but this
form occurs elsewhere as an epithet of the Buddha]
mahantamariyādo 'yam: mahantamariyadayam-, var. mahantapariyadayam Ee; mahantamariyadoyam
[confirm] Be
anantagatigocaro: -anantagati gocaro Ee; -anantagatigocaro Be
1109
—
1110
mahāmaho mahiddhiko: mahamaha-mahiddhiko Ee; mahamaho mahiddhiko Be
* mahesī does not represent maha + isi (Skt maharsi). abhidh-av-abhinava-ṭ explanation: mahante
sīlakkhandhadike esati gavesatīti mahesī. tena _mahesina_ sammasambuddhena. ie does not represent maha +
isi, but rather maha + esin < esati: "great seeker" (?) though the commentary would evidently like to read maha

223
 the great seeker, of greatly celebrated deeds,
and great power, he, the greatest of the great.
sabbatthasiddhisañcaro, mahesīgaṇapūjito; Whose movements bring success in every sphere:
rajadhirajamahito, devabrahmabhivandito. 1111 worshipped by great seekers, come in flocks;
made celebration of, by kings among kings,
and rendered homage by the devas and by brahmas.
abhibhūya tayo loke, adicco 'va nabhantare. Who rose over the three worlds,
virocati mahatejo, andhakare pabhankaro 1112 like the sun in the night sky,
and, casting light in darkness,
blazes, with great splendor.
byamappabhaparikkhitto, ketumalah' alankato; Surrounded by his halo of radiance extending a full
dvattiṃsalakkhaṇasīti-anubyañjanasobhito. 1113 fathom,
adorned by streaming rays of light, as if by
garlands;*
resplendent with the [a great being's] thirty-two
primary and eighty secondary marks.
chabbaṇṇaraṃsilalito, ratanagghiyasannibho; Who, with the graceful play of six colors' rays of
samiddharūpasobhaggo, dassaneyyaṃ 'va piṇḍitaṃ. light,
1114
appearing as if dressed with precious jewels,*
has beauty in such bounty,
as if all loveliness amassed together.
phullaṃ padumasaṇḍaṃ 'va, kapparukkho v' Full-blown like a stand of lotuses in full bloom,
alankato; like a wish-fulfilling tree that's fully decked;
nabhaṃ 'va tarakakiṇṇaṃ, uttamo paṭidissati. 1115 like the night's sky, strewn with stars,
he is peerless in appearance.
satthukappamahavīraputtehi parivarito, Encircled by his great heroic sons
sabbalokam bahiddhā 'va, dhammaraja cast in their teacher's mold,
sayaṃvasī, 1116 the dhamma-king, with mastery of himself,
just as of all the world, externally,*
niddhotamalacando 'va, nakkhattaparivarito, shines resplendent like a universal monarch
khattasanghaparibyulho, cakkavattī 'va sobhati. 1117 encircled by his retinue of kings (khatta),

as a noun, "seeker of the great".

1111
—
1112
—
1113
* ketu “banner”, but here in the sense of "ray". I add “streaming” to capture the blend.
1114
samiddha-: samiddha- Ee; samiddhi- Be;
piṇḍitaṃ: maṇḍitaṃ Ee; piṇḍitaṃ Be
* ratanagghiya: a post decked with jewels or else simply a precious jewel.
1115
—
1116
sabbalokam bahiddhā 'va: em. from sabbalokam abhiddhaya (“having caused to prosper”?) Ee;
sabbalokamahiddhaya Be. The form appears to be corrupt. Neither edition offers a clearly preferable alternative.
Several possibilities for emendation present themselves: sabbalokam abhibhūya (cf. v. 1112, abhibhuya tayo
loke) (sense is viable, and with immediate precedent, but violates meter, requiring a heavy syllable at the -i-);
sabbalokam bahiddha 'va or sabbalokabahiddha 'va; “[master of himself] as of the entire world, without” (but this
would be unusual syntax); or sabbaloka-abhedaya (cf. pm-vn 375 for use of abheda).

224
 as if the moon, its blemish washed away,
encircled by its retinue of stars (nakkhatta).
iccanantaguṇakiṇṇam asesamalanissaṭaṃ, [Recalling the Buddha]
sabbasampattidataraṃ, vipattivinibandhakaṃ, 1118 as bestrewn with countless virtues, thus,
and emerged from every taint, without remainder;
as one's bestower of all fortune
and keeper from misfortune,
dayaparam ahorattaṃ, bhagavantam anussaraṃ, Recollecting in this way the blessed one,
bhaveti paññava yogī, buddhanussatibhavanaṃ. 1119 of such paramount compassion, day and night,
the yogī who has wisdom cultivates
the cultivation “recollection of the Buddha.”

Dhammānussati
svakhato tena saddhammo, sambuddhena satīmata, Well-declared by him was the true-dhamma
paccattapaṭivedhena, passitabbo yatharahaṃ. 1120 [discovered] by the fully awakened Buddha,
to be seen, accordingly, by one who has sati,
through individual penetration of it.*
taṇhadaliddanasaya, manorathasamiddhiya; It's for banishing the impoverishment of craving,
kalantaram anagamma, paccakkhaphaladayako. 1121
and realization of one's heart's true wish;
waiting for no interval of time ( = akaliko),
and giving its results before one's eyes ( =
sandiṭṭhiko).
upanissayavantanaṃ, "ehi passa" ti dassiyo; Able to be beheld, [inviting] "come!” and “see!"
paccattam eva viññūhi, veditabbo sabhavato. 1122 for all who have the requisite conditions;
able to be known, according to its nature,
by the discerning, each person for himself.
sabbasavasamugghatī, suddho sovatthiko sivo; Uprooting every toxin that arises,
pihitapayakummaggo, maggo nibbanapattiya. 1123 it's pure, beneficent, auspicious;
it's the path to the attainment of nibbana
by which the false path to downfall is closed off.
klesasaṃkaṭaduggamha, [It leads] from the afflictions' dangerous straights,
dukkhakkhandhamahabbhaya, so frightful with their multitude of sufferings,
khemantabhūmiṃ niyyati, accantam anupaddavaṃ. and delivers to safe ground,
1124
surpassingly untroubled.

1117
˚paribyuḷho: ˚paribbūlho Ee; ˚paribyulho Be
1118
vipattivinibandhakaṃ: Ee: vipattivinibaddhakaṃ Be: vipattivinibandhakaṃ
1119
—
1120
* reading satīmata not with sambuddhena, but with pada c, and taking paccattapaṭivedhena as a bahuvrīhi: “[to
be seen] by one possessed of sati, through individual penetration of it”
1121
—
1122
—
1123
—
1124
—

225
puññatittham idaṃ nama, mangalañ ca sivankaraṃ; It's this that's called a site of holy access,
hitodayasukhadhanam amataharam uttamaṃ. 1125 auspicious and sanctifying;
seat of happiness and source of welfare
unmatched, affording access to the nourishment of
the deathless.*
avijjapaṭaluddhara-vijjanettosadhaṃ varaṃ; It's fine medicine for the eye of wisdom:
paññadharam idaṃ satthaṃ, removal of the cataract of ignorance;
klesagaṇḍappabhedakaṃ. 1126 this is the blade, with wisdom's razor edge,
that breaks the festering sore of the afflictions.
caturoghanimugganaṃ, setubandho samuggato; For beings immersed in the four floods
bhavacarakaruddhanaṃ, mahadvaro aparuto. 1127 [it is] a bridge that rises;
for beings held captive in the prison of rebirth,
[it is] a mighty door flung open.*
sokopayasaviddhanaṃ, paridevasamanginaṃ, For beings pierced through by sorrows and
sallanīharaṇopayo, accantasukham īrito. 1128 despairs,
beset with lamentation,
it is the means of taking out the dart,
that's declared the ultimate happiness.
The Chariot of Dhamma
byasanopaddavapeto, saṃklesamalanissaṭo, Departed from all troubles and distress,
ujusammattaniyato, paṭipattivisuddhiya, 1129 come out of the taint of the afflictions,
straightforward and assured of good result,
by purity of practice,
suddhasīlaparikkharo, samadhimayapañjaro, with pure sīla as its flanks,
sammasankappacakkango, sammavayamavahano, and samadhi making up its frame,
1130
on the wheels of right aspiration,
carried forward by right effort,

1125
hitodayasukhādhānam: Ee: hitodayaṃ sukhadhanam, var. hitavassaṃ sukhadhanam; Be:
hitodayasukhadhanam cf. avinasasukhadhanaṃ of v. 1167: in compound, therefore perhaps here the
compounded form is preferable; this does not preclude the meaning “hitodaya AND sukhadhana” (a dvanda
composed of two tappurisas).
* aharo is masculine; thus amataharam must be a bahuvrīhi; I take ahara as "material support", on the literal end
of the "support/nourishment/food" spectrum of meaning. A more literal verbal sense of aharati, "conferring" the
deathless might also be possible, but I would expect ahara, rather than ahara, as a root compound, if that were
intended; thus I take ahara as a noun referring to the dhamma as the "material support" of the deathless
(nibbana). "Whose nourishment is the deathless" / "which has the deathless as its nourishment (or: the
nourishment it provides?)" is also possible (amatam eva aharo yassa). "In which there is the nourishment of the
deathless" (amatam eva aharo yasmiṃ)?
1126
pannādhāram: Ee: paññadharam, var. sanḥataraṃ; Be: paññadharam
1127
* NB linga-vipallasa (gender confusion): dvaraṃ is typically neuter, but is presumably m. here not as a
bahuvrīhi, but simply as referring to dhammo (m.). Apposition does not require gender agreement, but appears to
have taken place.
1128
—
1129
—
1130
—

226
satisarathisaṃyutto, sammadiṭṭhipurejavo, conjoined with sati as its charioteer,
esa dhammaratho yati, yogakkhemassa pattiya. 1131 and right view as its scout,
this chariot of dhamma goes forward
toward the attainment of one's efforts'
consummation.
vipattipaṭibahaya, sabbasampattisiddhiya, For the warding off of failure,
sabbabandhavimokkhaya, dhammaṃ desesi and the realization of all success,
cakkhuma. 1132 for freedom from all bonds,
he taught the dhamma, with his eye of wisdom.
hitesī sabbapaṇīnaṃ, dayapanno mahamuni. Desirous of the welfare of all beings,
dhammalokaṃ pakasesi, cakkhumantanam uttamo the compassionate, great sage,
1133
peerless among beings possessed of sight,
revealed the light of dhamma.
yaṃ dhammaṃ sammad-aññaya, Correctly fathoming which,
khemamaggappatiṭṭhita, established firmly on the path to safety,
papakapagata dhīra, passaddhadarathasaya, 1134 those steadfast in wisdom, come out of all that's
evil,
their propensity for suffering allayed,
bhavayoga vinimmutta, pahīnabhayabherava, released from rebirth's bondage,
accantasukham edhenti, sotthipatta mahesayo. 1135 fear and terror left behind,
great seekers who've arrived to safety
enjoy ultimate happiness.
tam evam uttamaṃ dhammaṃ, cintento pana And considering that peerless dhamma,
paṇḍito, wisely, in this way,
bhavetī ti pakasenti, dhammanussatibhavanaṃ. 1136 one cultivates, they say,
the cultivation of the recollection of the dhamma.

Sanghānussati
cattaro ca paṭipanna, cattaro ca phale ṭhita; The four set out on the path
esa sangho ujubhūto, paññasīlasamahito. 1137 and the four established in the fruit –
this is the upright sangha
concentrated, with wisdom and with virtue.

1131
—
1132
sabbabandha-: Ee: sabbabandha-, var. sabbakhandha-; Be: sabbakhandha.
1133
—
1134
passaddha-: Ee: passaddha- (preferable, cf. v 1206); Be: passaddhi-
1135
vinimmuttā: Ee: vinimmutta; Be: vinimutta
sotthipattā: Ee: sotthippatta; Be: sotthipatta
1136
—
1137
—

227
palasapagato suddho, paṭipattippatiṭṭhito; Bereft of malice, pure,
pariggahitasaddhammo, samiddhaguṇasobhito. 1138 established in its progress on the path,
having apprehended the true dhamma,
resplendent with its bounty of good virtues.
pahīnapayagamano, papaklesavinissaṭo, With going to the lower fields left behind,
paripanthasamucchedī, bhavacarakabhedako. 1139 having emerged from the unwholesome and
affliction,
sundered every hindrance,
it breaks the prison of rebirth.
uttamadamathappatto, suvinīto mahesina, Well-disciplined, attained to the highest taming,
vijjavimuttivodato, ajanīyapathe ṭhito. 1140 by the great seeker,
washed clean by knowledge and by freedom
and on the path of the well-trained thoroughbreds
of men.
sugatorasi sambhūto, sucidhammasirindharo, Become the Sugata's authentic sons*
paṭipaditasammatto, dhammasasanasevito. 1141 bearing the majesty of the dhammas of their purity;
having produced what is meant by "samma,"
and made use of their instruction in the dhamma.
bhayabheravanissango, jinatejanupalito; Without any connection to fear and terror,
moneyyapathasañcaro, sugatovadabhajano. 1142 safeguarded by the splendor of the victor,
moving on the silent sages' path,
vessel of the Sugata's good counsel.

1138
palāsāpagato: Ee: palasapagato = palasa -- spite, malice; Be: palapapagato. Both palasapagata and palapapagata
have instances; thus it is difficult to determine which reading is preferrable.
paṭipattippatiṭṭhito: Ee: paṭipattippatiṭṭhito; Be: paṭipattipatiṭṭhito;
samiddhaguṇasobhito: Ee: samiddhaguṇasobhito; Be: samiddhiguṇasobhito.
1140
—
1139
—
1141
paṭipāditasammatto: em. from Ee: paṭipaditasammattho “having brought about 'the right aim' or 'the sense of
samma' (?)”, em. fr. ˚sampatto; Be: paṭipaditasampatto. Both the Be reading and the Ee emendation are
problematic. An emendation like paṭipaditasampado is precluded by meter (requiring heavy syllables in 6th and
7th positions in the first and third padas); sammattaṃ “rightness” occurs as an abstract from samma and seems
preferable as an emendation.
Deokar: those who have brought about the right goal // practiced / made progress for the right goal (?)
* cf. “orasaputta; orasadhammadayada” bosom sons; bosom heirs of the dhamma
1142
—

228
appamadaparittaṇo, sīlalankarabhūsito; It has non-heedlessness as its protection,
cetosamadhisannaddho, paññayudhasamujjalo. 1143 and is regaled by the ornament of virtue,
it's clad in mental concentration's armor,
and blazes with the light of wisdom's sword.
ujumaggam adhiṭṭhaya, marakayappadalano, Standing firmly its straight course,
aparajitasangamo, lalitodaravikkamo. 1144 it scatters Mara's force;
its battle won
with graceful and mighty valor.
maccudheyyam atikkanto, It has passed beyond death's domain,
bodhidhammappatiṭṭhito, established in the dhamma of awakening,
chalabhiññabalappatto, samaradhitasasano. 1145 having gained the strength of the six abhinna-s*
and accomplished the instruction (of the teacher).
anubodhim anuppatto, pabhinnapaṭisambhido, Arrived to their awakening in his footsteps, *
samaññaparamippatto, toseti jinamanasaṃ. 1146 with the various analytical powers,*
arrived at the ascetic life's perfection,
it gratifies the victorious Buddha's heart.
The Field of Merit Endowed with infinite fine features,
nekakaravarūpeto, nanasampattiphullito, blossoming with multifarious achievements,
vipattipathanittiṇṇo, abhivuddhiparayaṇo. 1147 crossed over the path that leads to disaster
it's destined for the highest eminence.
ahuneyyo pahuneyyo, dakkhiṇeyyo sudullabho, [The sangha that is] worthy of invitation, worthy of
sadevakassa lokassa, puññakkhettam anuttaraṃ. 1148 veneration,

1143
appamādaparittāṇo: Ee: appamadaparittano; Be: appamadaparittaṇo
1146
jinamānasaṃ: Ee: janamanasaṃ; Be: jinamanasaṃ
* anu- can add the meaning of awakening after the Buddha or simply be a synonym of bodhi (perhaps as distinct
from the Buddha's bodhi)
* pabhinna may represent bhinna (various) or an active verbal sense of “breaking through to [the analytic
powers]”
1145
chaḷābhinnā: an odd form (with unnecessary lengthening of the a) that does evidently occur in late literature
(e.g.. mahavaṃsa, 13.4)
1144
lalitodāravikkamo: Ee: lalitodaravikkamo; Be: lalitodatavikkamo.
* Note: aparajitasangamo: lit. of non-lost-battle cf. PED vijitasangama: victorious, by whom the battle has been
won
1147
abhivuddhiparāyaṇo: Ee: abhivuddhiparayaṇo; Be: abhibuddhiparayaṇo (just orthographic variant)
1148
āhuneyyo: Ee: ahuṇeyyo; Be: ahuneyyo;
pāhuneyyo: Ee: pahuṇeyyo; Be: pahuneyyo.

229
 worthy of every offering, so very rare,
[it is] the highest field of merit
for the world with all its gods.
yattha suddhamhi niddose, saddhabījaṃ The seed of faith established
patiṭṭhitaṃ, in which (sangha), pure and faultless,
accantaṃ paripaceti, sampattiphalam uttamaṃ. 1149 it ripens fully
into all-surpassing fortune's highest fruit.
yaṃ phalaṃ paribhuñjanta, vimuttirasasevanaṃ, Partaking of which fruit,
accantasukhita dhīra, bhavanti ajaramara. 1150 and therein tasting freedom's taste,
the wise, with all-surpassing satisfaction
become unageing and undying.
taṃ phalaṃ patthayantena, sanghanussati-bhavana, And like this, so say the wise,
bhavetabba pan' icc' evam iti bhasanti paṇḍita. 1151 the one who seeks that fruit
should cultivate this cultivation
of the recollection of the sangha.

sīlānussati / The Recollection of Virtue

pañcasīlaṃ dasasīlaṃ, patimokkham uposathaṃ, The sīla (virtue) of five precepts or of ten;
catuparisuddhisīlaṃ, dhutangaparivaritaṃ. 1152 that of the paṭimokkha's or uposatha precepts;
or that of total purity in four respects,*
accompanied by the dhutanga practices:
evam etesu yaṃ kiñci, samadaya rahogato, whichever one among these one has undertaken,
tam-anisaṃsaṃ guṇato, phalato ca vicintaye. 1153 he should reflect, while in seclusion, in this way,
upon the benefits in that: 1) in terms of its good
virtues; and 2) in terms of its resulting fruits:
adi c' etaṃ patiṭṭha ca, mukhaṃ pamukham It's this that's both the first and the foundation,
uttamaṃ, the entrée, and preeminent, the final;
mūlaṃ kusaladhammanaṃ, pabhavaṃ paṭipattiya. it's wholesome dhammas' root,
1154
and it's the source of progress on the path
(paṭipatti).
sasanotaraṇadvaraṃ, titthaṃ saddhammavapiya; It's the gateway of one's entry to the teaching,
parisuddhipadaṭṭhanaṃ, maggo khemantapapako. the point of access to the reservoir of true dhamma;
1155
it is the stepping stone to total purity,
1149
suddhamhi: Ee: suddhamhi; Be: suddhimhi
1150
—
1151
—
1152
catupārisuddhisīlaṃ: Ee: catuparisuddhisīlaṃ; Be: catuparisuddhisīlaṃ
* 1) patimokkhasaṃvaro; 2) indriyasaṃvaro; 3) ajīvaparisuddhi 4) paccayasannissitasīlaṃ. cf. VISM I,
catuparisuddhisampadanavidhi section:
yatha ca patimokkhasaṃvaro saddhaya, evaṃ satiya indriyasaṃvaro sampadetabbo.
yatha pana indriyasaṃvaro satiya, tatha vīriyena ajīvaparisuddhi sampadetabba.
yatha ca vīriyena ajīvaparisuddhi, tatha paccayasannissitasīlaṃ paññaya sampadetabbaṃ.
N.B. dhutanga practices go only with catuparisuddhisīla. Monks would not be practicing five precepts; lay
people would not be practicing dhutangas.
1153
—

230
 and the path delivering one to safety.
sadhusikkhasamadanaṃ, bahusaccavibhūsanaṃ; It's the undertaking, as is proper, of the training;
ariyacaracarittam avaṇṇamalavajjanaṃ. 1156 and rendering of ornament to learning;
its prescription is the conduct of the noble
and it circumvents the stain of disrepute.
kolaputti-alankaro, papajallappavahanaṃ; It's the adornment of the gentle;
anapayi-sugandhañ ca, mahapurisasevitaṃ. 1157 the removal of unwholesomeness's perspiration;
the sweetness of its perfume undeparting,
associated with the most excellent of men.
pacchanutapaharaṇaṃ, pītipamojjavaḍḍhanaṃ; It's remorsefulness's removing,
nekkhammabhavanopetaṃ, pabbajjavesasobhanaṃ. and joy and gladness's increasing;
1158
and with it, renunciation's cultivation,
gracing with the guise of one gone forth.
sopaṇaṃ saggalokassa, dalhapaya-pidhanakaṃ; It is the stairway to the heaven world,
anupaddava-sampatti, samattaguṇasūdanī. 1159 and the lower worlds' firm closing off;
it is troublelessness's acquisition,
procuring all good virtues.
klesapañjaravicchedi, vipattipathavaraṇaṃ; It's the breaking of the cage of the afflictions,
sotthikammasamuṭṭhanaṃ, asadharaṇamangalaṃ and blocking of the path to loss;
1160
it is the rising up of beneficial kamma,
no small blessing.
“suladdha vata me laddha, saddha sugatasasane; How fortunate the faith I gained!
sīlaṃ me yassa kalyaṇaṃ, parisuddham obtained within the Buddha's dispensation;
akhaṇḍitaṃ. 1161 that I possess this beneficial virtue,
completely pure, unbroken.

1155
maggo khemantapāpako: maggo khemantapapako (Ee); maggaṃ khemantapapakaṃ (Be)
1156
sādhusikkhāsamādānaṃ: sadhusikkhasamadhanaṃ, var. -samadanaṃ (Ee); sadhu sikkhasamadanaṃ (Be)
˚cārittam: ˚carittam, var. ˚varittam (Ee); ˚carittam (Be;)
avaṇṇamalavajjanaṃ: avaṇṇaṃ malavajjanaṃ (Ee); avaṇṇamalavajjanaṃ (Be)
1154
ādi c' etaṃ: adim etaṃ (Ee); adi c' etaṃ (Be)
pabhavaṃ: pabhavaṃ, var. sambhavaṃ (Ee); pabhavaṃ (Be)
1157
kolaputti-alankāro: kolaputti-alankaro, var. kulaputta (Ee); kulaputtaalankaro (Be);
pāpajallappavāhanaṃ: papajallappavahanaṃ (Ee); papajallapavahanaṃ (Be);
anapāyi-sugandhan: em. fr. anapayi sugandhañ (Ee; Be).
1158
sobhanaṃ: sobhaṇaṃ (Ee); sobhanaṃ (Be).
1159
sopāṇaṃ: sopaṇaṃ (Ee); sopanaṃ (Be);
daḷhāpāya-pidhānakaṃ: dalhapaya-pidhanakaṃ (Ee); dalhapaya-vidhanakaṃ (!) (Be);
samattaguṇa-: samattaguṇa- ( = samasta cf. v. 1103) (Ee); Ch.S: samatthaguṇa- (Be);
˚sūdanī: ˚sūdanī (Ee); ˚sūdanī (Be). Reading as f. agreeing with sampatti rather than as agreeing with sīla (n.)
and requiring emendation to -s̄ udani (cf. -vicchedi v. 1160).
1160
klesapanjaravicchedi: klesapañjaravicchedī (Ee); klesapañjaravicchedi (Be)
1161
kalyāṇaṃ: kallyanaṃ ( < kalla / kalya, gen. pl.?) (Ee); kalyaṇaṃ (Be)

231
"dullabho vata me laddho, mahalabho anappako; How rare, what I've obtained!
yo 'ham akkhalitacaro, upaghatavivajjito. 1162 so great a gain, no little thing –
that, with unfaltering good conduct,
I've avoided downfall.
"dhammankuritasantano, mūlajato 'smi sasane; My mind-stream having sprouted a tender shoot of
ujumaggaṃ samarūlho, pihita sabhaya disa. 1163 dhamma,
I've set roots down in the dispensation;
I have entered upon the straight path;
the way where danger lies is closed.
"avañjha vata me jati, araddha khaṇasampada; How fruitful this, my birth!
patiṭṭhito 'mhi saddhamme, saphalaṃ mama its opportunity's fortune taken hold of ;
jīvitaṃ." 1164 I have become established in the true dhamma,
this life of mine has worth.
itthaṃ nanappakarena, cintento guṇam attano. And reflecting in this way
sīlakkhandhassa bhaveti, sīlanussatibhavanaṃ 1165 in many ways upon one's own
collection of virtues' good virtue, one cultivates
the cultivation of virtue's recollection.

cāgānussati / The Recollection of Giving

saddhaya sīlavantesu, datva danaṃ yatharahaṃ, Having given dana out of faith,
niddhotamalamacchero, vivitto tam anussare. 1166 as fitting, to those with sīla,
with stinginess a washed off stain,
one may recollect that in seclusion.
danaṃ nidhanam anugaṃ, asadharaṇam uttamaṃ; Dana pursues a worthy vessel,*
avinasasukhadhanaṃ, accantaṃ sabbakamadaṃ. not commonplace, the best;
1167
it is the seat of non-loss and happiness,
all-surpassing, granting every wish.
kopadahopasamanaṃ, maccheramalasodhanaṃ; Through it there is allaying of anger's burning;
pamadaniddavuṭṭhanaṃ, lobhapasavimocanaṃ. 1168 and the washing off of stinginess's dirt;
emergence from the sleep of heedlessness,
and freeing of oneself from craving's noose.

1162
akkhalitācāro: akkhalitacaro (Ee); akkhalitacaro (Be)
1163
dhammankurita-: dammankurita- (E); dhammankurita (Be); ankurita, "sprouted", does not evidently occur
elsewhere in Pali, but is attested in Sanskrit.
samārūḷho: samarūlho (Ee); samarulho (Be).
1164
avanjhā: avañjha (Ee); avañca (Be).
1165
—
1166
—
1167
* read as nidhana-m-anugaṃ? pursuing treasure, or pursued by treasure?
1168
—

232
cetovikaradamanaṃ, micchamagganivaraṇaṃ; Through it there is the taming of disturbances in
vittilabhasukhassado, vibhavodayamangalaṃ. 1169 mind;
and prevention of its taking the wrong path;
in it the taste of the happiness of gaining joy;
it augurs prosperity and upliftment.
saddhadiguṇavodanaṃ, ajjhasayavikasanaṃ; It purifies good virtues, faith, etc.;
sadacaraparikkharo, tanucetovibhūsanaṃ. 1170 and marks the flowering of [wholesome]
disposition;
accessory of wholesome conduct,
it ornaments the body and the mind.
appamaññapadaṭṭhanaṃ, appameyyena vaṇṇitaṃ; It's the stepping stone to the immeasurables,
mahapurisacarittaṃ, apadanaṃ mahesino. 1171 praised by the immeasurable Buddha;
it's great men's course of conduct,
and the great seeker's exhortation.
dhammadhigatabhoganaṃ, saradanam anuttaraṃ; It's the peerless taking of the substance
mahattadhigamūpayo, lokasantatikaraṇaṃ. 1172 of lawfully acquired possessions;
it's the means of greatness's acquisition,
and cause of people of the world' continuation.
"atthakarī ca samma 'haṃ, pariccagasamayuto; I make benefit and rightly, I'm
attano ca paresañ ca, hitaya paṭipannako. 1173 conjoined with something someone's sacrificed,
as one who practices for the welfare
of myself and others.
"ujumaddavacitto 'smi, kalussiyavinissaṭo; I am one whose mind has rectitude and gentleness,
papasaṃklesavimukho, paṇabhūtanukampako. 1174 I've come out impurity's mud;
I've turned away from unwholesomeness's
defilement,
trembling with sympathy for all beings.
"sīlavantapatiṭṭho 'smi, kapaṇanaṃ parayaṇo; I am one on whom the virtuous depend,
buddhasasan'upaṭṭhako, ñatimittopajīviko. 1175 and succor for the poor,
one who serves the teaching of the Buddha,
on whom kin and friends depend.*
"danavossaggasammukho, saṃvibhagarato sukhī, Happy in the face of others' giving
kapparukkho 'va phalito, jato lokabhivaḍḍhiya. 1176 and giving up, rejoicing in their sharing,

1169
—
1173
sammā 'haṃ: sammahaṃ, notes var. kammahaṃ (Ee); sammahaṃ (Be);
paṭipannako: paṭipannako (Ee); paṭipannaka (Be)
1172
mahattādhigamūpāyo: mahattadhigamūpayo (Ee); mahattadhigamūpayaṃ (Be).
1171
apadānaṃ: apadanaṃ (Ee); sapadanaṃ (Be);
mahesino: mahesino (Ee); mahesina (Be).
1170
sadācāraparikkhāro: sadacaraparikkharo (Ee); satacaraparikkharo (Be)
1174
—
1175
parayaṇo: parayano (Ee) parayaṇo (Be);
ñatimittopajīviko: ñatimittopajīviko; notes var. ñatimittopajīvito (Ee); ñatimittopajīviko (Be)
* or: dependent for my life on relatives and friends(?)

233
 like a wish-fulfilling tree that's giving fruit,
arisen for the world's increasing station.
"pihitapayamaggo 'smi, saggadvaram aparutaṃ; I am one for whom the path to the lower worlds has
sampatta sabbasampattī, daliddassa manapikaṃ. 1177
been closed off,
and heaven's door is open;
already attained my every fortune,
it being well-disposed to poverty.*
"saṃsaraddhanapatheyyaṃ, sabbadukkha- Provisions for saṃsara's course,
vinodanaṃ; and fending off of every hardship;
subaddhaṃ mama sabbattha, gahito ca kaṭaggaho" bound fast for me in every case,
– 1178 a winning throw (of dice) in hand –
evaṃ danaguṇaṃ nanappakarena vicintayaṃ, Reflecting on excellence of giving,
bhaveti dayako yogī, caganussatibhavanaṃ. 1179 in many ways, like this,
the yogī who has given cultivates
the cultivation of the recollection of donation.

devatānussati / Recollection of Deities

saddhaṃ sīlaṃ sutaṃ cagaṃ, paññaṃ Faith and virtue, learning and donation,
paṇḍitajatiko; and wisdom: one's who's wise
sampadayitva saddhamme, devatayo anussare. 1180 having caused himself to be endowed with these
good dhammas
should recall the deities.
cātumahārājikā ca, tavatiṃsa ca yamaka; The deities of the four kings' realm,
tusita c' eva nimmana-ratino vasavattino. 1181 the tavatiṃsa dieties and the yamaka;
the tusita deities and so the
nimmanarati deities, and the ones who wield power
over their creations;
taduttariñ ca ye deva, dibbakayam adhiṭṭhita; and those deities above them, too:
te 'pi saddhadidhammesu, cirakalaṃ patiṭṭhita. 1182 resolved on birth among the gods,
they, too, were long established,
in the dhammas of faith, and so forth;

1176
˚sammukho: ˚sumukho (Ee); sammukho (Be);
lokabhivaḍḍhiya: lokabhivuddhiya (Ee); lokabhivaḍḍhiya (Be) (both okay).
1177
saggadvāram: saggadvaram (Ee); maggadvaram (Be);
sabbasampattī: sabbasampattī (Ee); sabbasampatti (Be);
dāḷiddassa: daliddassa (Ee); daliddassa (Be);
manāpikaṃ: manapita, var. daliddassama-nasitaṃ (Ee); manapikaṃ (Be); [em. manapiko?]
* well-disposed (manapikaṃ) is neuter so evidently agrees with door (dvaram̧).
1178
subaddhaṃ: subaddhaṃ (Ee); subandhaṃ (Be)
1179
—
1180
—
1181
cātumahārājikā: catummaharajika (both forms occur, but that with the single m is far more frequent) (Ee);
catumaharajika (Be)
1182
cirakālaṃ patiṭṭhitā: cirakalappatiṭṭhita (Ee); cirakalaṃ patiṭṭhita (Be)

234
susamahitasankappa, danasīladhurandhara, with well-focused aspiration,
dhammamaggam adhiṭṭhaya, hirottappa- leading the way in generosity and virtue,
purakkhata. 1183 resolved upon the path of dhamma,
with modesty (hiri) and fear of censure (ottappa)
foremost,
taṃ lokaṃ upapannase, sassirīkaṃ parayaṇaṃ, they reached that world in rebirth,
iddhimanto jutīmanto, vaṇṇavanto yasassino. 1184 their regal destination,
with powers and with radiance,
with beauty and with glory.
dibbasampattisampatta, nanabhogasamappita, Obtained divine (birth's) fortune,
palenta dīgham addhanaṃ, anubhonti given over to their various enjoyments,
mahasukhaṃ. 1185 for a long span of time maintaining,
they enjoy great bliss.
te sabbe pi ca mayham pi, vijjanti anuyāyino, All those wholesome dhammas
saddhadikusala dhamma, devadhamma ti vissuta faith, and so forth,
1186
renowned as "deva-dhamma-s"
we have, too, corresponding.
saddhammaguṇasampatti-mata mangalanayika, And that which is the most propitious mother
dullabha 'pi ca me laddha, saddha sugatasasane. 1187 of winning the good virtues of the dhamma,
-- faith in the Buddha's teaching --
that, too, though rare, I've gained.
vajjopavadarahito, papakammaparammukho, [I am] devoid of blame and censure,
parisuddhasamacaro, pasannamalacetano. 1188 turned away from unwholesome deeds,
with conduct pure,
and stainless, bright volition,
"niccam ohitasoto 'smi, tathagatasubhasite; I am one who constantly gives heed
sutabhajanabhūto ca, satima susamahito. 1189 to the tathagata's good words,
and a vessel of learning,
mindful and well-focused.
maccheramalanittiṇṇo, lobhakkhandhavimuccito; Emerged from selfishness's taint;
opanabhūto lokasmiṃ, vissaṭṭhasukhayacano. 1190 released from greed's dense mass;
1183
hirottappapurakkhatā: hīrottappapurakkhata (Ee); hirottappapurakkhata (Be).
1184
lokaṃ upapannāse: lokaṃ upapannase (Ee); lokam upapannase (Be);
parāyaṇaṃ: parayanaṃ (Ee); parayaṇaṃ (Be);
jutīmanto: jutīmanto (Ee); jutimanto (Be).
1185
pālentā: palenta (Ee); palento (Be)
1186
anuyāyino: em. fr. anupayino [not having the means?] (Ee; Be); cf. Vism Devatanussatikatha 162:
yatharūpaya saddhaya samannagata ta devata ito cuta tattha upapanna, mayhampi tatharūpa saddha saṃvijjati.
yatharūpena sīlena. yatharūpena sutena. yatharūpena cagena. yatharūpaya paññaya samannagata ta devata ito
cuta tattha upapanna, mayhampi tatharūpa pañña saṃvijjatī”ti (a. ni. 6.10) evaṃ devata sakkhiṭṭhane ṭhapetva
attano saddhadiguṇa anussaritabba.
1187
˚mātā: ˚mata, var. ˚data (Ee); ˚data (Be). ˚mata (f.) agrees with saddha better than data (m.).
mangalanāyikā: mangalanayika (? sic) (Ee); mangalanayika (Be).
1188
—
1189
—

235
 become a well-spring in the world
at which requests for happiness are answered.
vatthuttayamahatte ca, hitahitavinicchaye; and with regard to the of the three bases' greatness
pañña vatthusabhave ca, tikhiṇa mama vattati. 1191 in the determination of what is beneficial and what
not,
and as to the nature of the base,
I have sharp wisdom.
samaradhitasaddhammo, katapuññamahussavo, I have done justice to the dhamma,
devadhammasamiddho 'smi, kalyaṇacaritakaro. 1192 one with a great festival of merit done
I am replete with the deva-dhamma-s,
the image of wholesome conduct.
devatahi samano 'haṃ, guṇalankarabhūsito; I am the same as the deities,
hatthapatta ca dev'iddhi, nipphanna dibbasampada. adorned [already] with the ornaments of [their]
1193
virtues,
the powers of the gods [already] within reach,
the attainment of divine (birth) assured to be
accomplished.*
devasamaññam icc' evaṃ, cintento guṇam attano, Considering one's own good virtues
bhaveti guṇasampanno, devatānussatiṃ paraṃ. 1194 as equal to the deities', like this,
one endowed with virtue next
cultivates the recollection of the deities.

upasamānussatī / Recollection of [Nibbāna's quenching as] Peace318

jātidhammā jarabyadhisokopayasabhañjite, The fading away and ceasing;
anicce dukkhe 'natte ca, nibbinnopadhisambhave, the giving up, releasing, and non-harboring,
1195
the letting go of clinging

& toward that which, due to birth

is battered by old age, illness, sorrows, and
virago ca nirodho ca, cago mutti analayo, despairs,
yo 'yam adananissaggo, nibbanam iti vuccati. 1196 being impermanent, suffering, and not self,

1190
vissaṭṭha-: vissaṭṭha-, var. vissattha- (Ee); vissaṭṭha- (Be)
1191
—
1192
samārādhita-: samaradhita-, var. samagamita (Ee); samaradhita- (Be);
kalyāṇa: kallyaṇa- (Ee); kalyaṇa- (Be).
1193
hatthapattā: hatthappatta (Ee); hatthapatta (Be)
* cf. Vism Devatanussati 163: "uttari appaṭivijjhanto pana sugatiparayano hoti."
1194
—
318
Here the structure of the Namar-p departs from that of Vism; Vism has section called "chanussatiniddeso"
(comprising the prev. six recollections; followed by maraṇassati, kayagata-sati/koṭṭhasavavaṭṭhapana,
anapanassati, and upasamanussati ("anussatikammaṭṭhana-niddeso") section). Namar-p adds upasamanussati to
the former six and calls these the seven recollections (cf. vs. 1205). Why this re-arrangement of the material?
1195
jātidhammā jarā: jatidhamma-jara- (Ee); jatidhamma jara- (Be).
1196
ādānanissaggo: adananissango (Ee); adananissaggo (Be);
nibbānam: nibbaṇam (Ee); nibbanam (Be)

236
 and the source of rebirth's underpinnings,
with which one has grown disenchanted –

is called nibbana.
upasantam idaṃ ṭhanam iti cinteti paṇḍito, the peaceful place is this
anupadanasaṃkliṭṭham asankharam anasavaṃ. 1197 reflects the one who's wise
unappropriated, undefiled,*
without conditioning, without effluent toxins.
appamaṇaṃ paṇītañ ca, sivaṃ paramam accutaṃ, measureless and sublime,
anantaguṇam accantam avikaram anamayaṃ. 1198 benevolent (word play: Siva?), supreme, immutable
(word play: Visṇu?),
of infinite virtues, all-surpassing,
changeless and afflictionless.
khemaṃ taṃ parimaṃ tīraṃ, papanasakaraṃ It is safety, the far shore,
paraṃ, unwholesomeness's supreme obliteration;
taṇaṃ leṇañ ca dīpañ ca, patiṭṭhanaṃ parayaṇaṃ. shelter, refuge, and safe harbour,
1199
firm footing and support.
vaṭṭanubandhavicchedo, bhavataṇhavisosanaṃ, It is the cutting of one's bondage to the round;
sabbūpadhisamugghato, dukkhanibbapanaṃ the evaporation of one's thirst for existence;*
sukhaṃ. 1200 the uprooting of (rebirth's) every underpinning;
the happy quenching of suffering.
sabbapapavinaso 'yaṃ, sabbaklesavisodhanaṃ; It is this that is all unwholesomeness's ending,
sokopayasasantapabhayabheravamocanaṃ. 1201 and all defilement's purification;
the releasing from sorrows, despairs, anguish,
(and all cause for) fear and fright.
palibodhasamucchedo, papañcaviniveṭhanaṃ; [It is] the cutting off of every obstruction
sabbasankharasamatho, sabbalokavinissaṭo. 1202 and disentangling of [every] complication;
[It is] the quelling of every urge to action
that has emerged from every world.*
parisuddhikara dhatu, bhavanissaraṇaṃ padaṃ; It is the element of total purification,
uttamariyasampatti, anomam amataṃ padaṃ. 1203 the locus of departure from existence;

* Note: // the phenomena that characterize birth (jati-dhamma) (is this a tappurisa, "the dhammas of birth (which
are as follows) or a bahubbīhi: "of one subject to birth")
1197
* anupadanasaṃkliṭṭham: likely that this compound is intended to be read as a dvanda: anupadan[aṃ]
asaṃkliṭṭham “without appropriation, unafflicted”. Next verse syntax suggests that this reading is preferable over
“undefiled by appropriation”.
1198
—
1199
khemaṃ taṃ: khemaṃ taṃ (Ee); khemantaṃ (Be);
pārimaṃ tīraṃ pāpanāsakaraṃ: parimaṃ tīraṃ papanasakaraṃ (Ee); parimatīra-mahayanakaraṃ (Be);
tāṇaṃ: tanaṃ (Ee); taṇaṃ (Be);
parāyaṇaṃ: parayanaṃ (Ee); parayaṇaṃ (Be).
1200
* NB visossana “drying up” is trans., not intransitive, thus "stemming", or "causing to dry up".
1201
˚santāpa-: ˚santapa-, var. ˚santasa- (Ee); ˚santapa- (Be).
1202
palibodha: palibodha- (Ee); palibodha- (Be).
* vinissaṭo: (m.) reading as in agreement with samatho

237
 it is the highest noble attainment,
the supreme locus of the deathless.
sabbatha bhaddam atulaṃ, nibbanam iti passato, This practice
upasamānussatī ti, bhavana 'yaṃ pavuccati. 1204 of the one seeing [the peace of] nibbana
as auspicious in every way and without parallel,
is declared
"the recollection of peace". *

The Seven Recollections: conclusion

sattanussatim icc' evaṃ, bhavento pana paṇḍito, And a man of wisdom practicing thus
pamojjabahulo hoti, pasanno buddhasasane. 1205 these recollections, seven in number,*
develops an abundance of joy,
exultant in the Buddha's dispensation.
paṭipassaddhadaratham upacarasamadhina, And his mind, its distress tranquilized
samadhiyati cittañ ca, parisuddham anamayaṃ. 1206
by access concentration
becomes concentrated,
utterly pure and free of affliction.
bhavana-mayam etañ ca, katva puññam And having produced the merit, by no means small,
anappakaṃ, that inheres in this cultivation,
vasana-gatisampatti-bhogabhagī ti vuccati. 1207 it is said that he is one who will partake
of (good) mental conditioning, good station of
rebirth, and sensorial pleasures.

1203
—
1204
sabbathā bhaddaṃ: sabbato-bhaddam (Ee); sabbatha bhaddaṃ. sabbato-bhaddam appears rarely as a phrase;
sabbatha bhaddaṃ appears to have no precedent.
nibbānam: nibbaṇam (Ee); nibbanam (Be).
* on translation of upasama: upasamanussati cited at Vism 245 (ChS 239) in context of recalling
"sabbadukkhūpasamasankhatassa nibbanassa guṇa..." ("the qualities of nibbana reckoned as the allaying of all
suffering"). Thus quelling/quiescence/stilling(Nanamoli)/allaying/pacification.
1205
* Note: Anuruddha departs here from the structure of the corresponding Vism treatment, classing the anussatis
as seven rather than six (including the recollection of peace, which is last in the vism, along with the six initial
recollections).
Vism adds: Attainment of jhana at just upacara samadhi:
tass' evaṃ madanimmadanatadiguṇavasena upasamaṃ anussarato neva tasmiṃ samaye ragapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ
hoti, na dosa... na mohapariyuṭṭhitaṃ cittaṃ hoti. ujugatamevassa tasmiṃ samaye cittaṃ hoti upasamaṃ
arabbhati buddhanussatiadīsu vuttanayeneva vikkhambhitanīvaraṇassa ekakkhaṇe jhanangani uppajjanti.
upasamaguṇanaṃ pana gambhīrataya nanappakaraguṇanussaraṇadhimuttataya va appanaṃ appatva
upacarappattam eva jhanaṃ hoti. tadetam upasamaguṇanussaraṇavasena upasamanussaticceva sankhyaṃ
gacchati.
cha anussatiyo viya ca ayampi ariyasavakasseva ijjhati, evaṃ santepi upasamagarukena puthujjanenapi manasi
katabba. sutavasenapi hi upasame cittaṃ pasīdati. imañca pana upasamanussatiṃ anuyutto bhikkhu sukhaṃ
supati, sukhaṃ paṭibujjhati, santindriyo hoti santamanaso hirottappasamannagato pasadiko paṇītadhimuttiko
sabrahmacarīnaṃ garu ca bhavanīyo ca. uttari appaṭivijjhanto pana sugatiparayano hoti.
– this comes to fulfillment for an ariyasavaka, like the other six anussatis -- but beneficial to a puthujjana as
well, who can do it "sutavasena" -- via the heard description of nibbana.
1206
samādhiyati: samadhīyati (Ee); samadhiyati Be).
1207
—

238
upanissayasampanno, patva nibbedham uttamaṃ, One endowed with sufficient condition,
diṭṭhe 'va dhamme dukkhaggiṃ, nibbapeti anasavo having reached the highest penetration,
1208
quenches in the present life itself
the fire of suffering, his defilements no more.*

maraṇānussati
lokappavattiṃ cintetva, maraṇanussatiṃ pana, Having thought about the fate of the (people of the)
bhaveyya sakam accantaṃ, cintento maraṇaṃ world,
kathaṃ? 1209 thinking about one's own ultimate passing,*
how should one develop
"mindfulness of death"?
animittam anaññataṃ, maccanam idha jīvitaṃ; The life of humans here
kasirañ ca parittañ ca, tañ ca dukkhena saṃyutaṃ. is without reason and is not understood;
1210
it is difficult and brief,
conjoined with pain.
appodakamhi macche 'va, phandamane Death carries them off,
rudammukhe; writhing and in tears,
maccu gacchati adaya, pekkhamane mahajane. 1211 like fish in scant waters,
even as people watch.
purakkhatva 'va maraṇaṃ, jayanti paṭisandhiyaṃ; Following upon the heels of death,
jata puna marissanti, evaṃdhamma hi paṇino. 1212 they arise again in rebirth;

1208
* These last two verses seems to mirror the Vism's last statement, quoted above. (imañca pana upasamanussatiṃ
anuyutto bhikkhu sukhaṃ supati, sukhaṃ paṭibujjhati, santindriyo hoti santamanaso hirottappasamannagato
pasadiko paṇītadhimuttiko sabrahmacarīnaṃ garu ca bhavanīyo ca. uttari appaṭivijjhanto pana sugatiparayano
hoti.)
1209
lokappavattiṃ: lokappavattiṃ (Ee); lokappavatti (Be).
sakamaccantaṃ: sakam accantaṃ (Ee); sakamaccantaṃ (Be)
* SK: saka-macc'antaṃ? "his own ending in death?" APB edits sakam accantaṃ "his own ultimate (maraṇaṃ
dying)?"
1210
maccānam: maccanaṃ (Ee); maccanam (Be)
saṃyutaṃ: saññutaṃ (Ee); saṃyutaṃ (Be).
* for meaning of animittaṃ, cf. Vism. VIII, 29-30: 174. animittato ti avavatthanato, paricchedabhavatoti attho.
sattanaṃ hi —
jīvitaṃ byadhi kalo ca, dehanikkhepanaṃ gati /
pañc' ete jīvalokasmiṃ, animitta na nayare.

tattha jīvitaṃ tava “ettakam eva jīvitabbaṃ, na ito paran”ti vavatthanabhavato animittaṃ. kalalakale pi hi satta
maranti, abbudapesighanamasikadvemasatemasacatumasapañcamasadasamasakale pi. kucchito nikkhantasamaye
pi. tato paraṃ vassasatassa anto pi bahi pi maranti yeva.
1211
phandamāne: phandamane (Ee); bandhamane (Be). I go with Buddhadatta's reading phandamane because the
form bandhamana- (presumably in the sense of "being trapped, bound"), without upasarga, does not occur in the
Pali corpus (anubandhamana- is common, in the sense of "following closely after" someone). Phandamana-
moreover commonly qualifies fish.
1212
evaṃdhammā: evaṃ dhamma (= paṇino as gen. s.?) (Ee); evaṃdhamma (Be).
* cf. Vism. VIII, 10-11
yatha hi ahicchattakamakulaṃ matthakena paṃsuṃ gahetvava uggacchati, evaṃ satta jaramaraṇaṃ gahetvava
nibbattanti. tatha hi nesaṃ paṭisandhicittaṃ uppadanantarameva jaraṃ patva pabbatasikharato patitasila viya

239
 born, again they die:
such is the fate of living beings.*
yam ekarattiṃ paṭhamaṃ, gabbhe vasati manavo, Since the very first night
abbhuṭṭhito 'va so yati, sa gacchaṃ na nivattati. 1213 a man dwells in the womb,
as soon as he springs into being, he's on his way;
and, going, he doesn't return.*
satta maranti gabbhe pi, jayamana ca daraka; Even in the womb beings die;
kumara yobbanappatta, balappatta mahattara 1214 and as children, being born;
and as young men, coming of age,
and as older, becoming mature.
athavassaṃ marant' eva, jiṇṇa daṇḍaparayaṇa, And then, as old men depending on walking sticks,
sūra puññabalatthama, nanabyadhinipīlita. 1215 brave men of merit, power, and strength
most surely die,
laid low by various kinds of disease.
ajja suve ti maraṇaṃ, pariyesati paṇino; "If not today, tomorrow," death
sena yuddhapayata 'va, sabbe maccubhayakula. 1216
comes for living beings;*
all are wracked with fear of death
like an army sent to war.
sattaratanalankara, caturiddhisamuggata, [Even] emperors of great splendor,
cakkavattī mahateja, rajamaṇḍalasobhino. 1217 adorned with the seven jewels (of a world
conquering emperor),
and arisen with the four prosperities (of a king), *
resplendent in their sphere of vassal-lords,
kappuṭṭhanamahavata, patita 'va mahasila, fall, like great mountain peaks felled
patanti maccuvikkhitta, paroceta na manava. 1218 in the great winds that rise up at the end of an

bhijjati saddhiṃ sampayuttakhandhehi. evaṃ khaṇikamaraṇaṃ tava saha jatiya agataṃ. jatassa pana avassaṃ
maraṇato idhadhippetamaraṇampi saha jatiya agataṃ. tasma esa satto jatakalato paṭṭhaya yatha nama uṭṭhito
sūriyo atthabhimukho gacchateva, gatagataṭṭhanato īsakampi na nivattati. yatha va nadī pabbateyya sīghasota
haraharinī sandateva vattateva īsakampi na nivattati, evaṃ īsakampi anivattamano maraṇabhimukhova yati. tena
vuttaṃ —
yam ekarattiṃ paṭhamaṃ, gabbhe vasati maṇavo /
abbhuṭṭhito 'va so yati, sa gacchaṃ na nivattatī 'ti. (ja. 1.15.363).
1213
mānavo: maṇavo (Ee); manavo (Be).
so yāti: sa yati (Ee); so yati (Be).
* quoting verse from ja. 510, ayogharajataka, cited in Vism VIII, 11.
1214
—
1215
daṇḍaparāyaṇā: daṇḍaparayana (Ee); daṇḍaparayaṇa (Be);
punnabalatthāmā: puññabalatthama, var. balappatta (Ee); puññabalatthama (Be).
1216
* paraphrasing bhaddekarattasutta
1217
sattaratanalankārā: sattaratanalankara (Ee); sattaratanalankara (Be). Clearly satta in the sense of seven is
required, cf. the seven jewels of the raja cakkavattī.
rājamaṇḍalasobhino: rajamaṇḍalasobhita (Ee); rajamaṇḍalasobhino (Be).
* for meaning of "iddhi", cf. PED "1. Pre -- Buddhistic; the Iddhi of a layman The four Iddhis of a king are
personal beauty, long life good health, and popularity (D ii.177; M iii.176, cp. J iii.454 for a later set)."
1218
mahāsilā: mahasila (Ee); mahasīla (Be);
paro cetā na mānavā: paroceta na maṇava (?) [sic] (Ee); paro cetana manava (Be).

240
 aeon,*
scattered by death;*
humans are not cognizant of what's to come. *
ye pi dīghayuka deva, vaṇṇavanta mahiddhika, Even those long-lived deities
anubhavabalappatta, mahabhogasukhedhino. 1219 who are radiant and powerful,
who have godly power and strength,
who enjoy great pleasures and happiness,
te pi maccusamuddhatta, bhavanti bhayasaṃkula; even they, assailed by death,
verambhakkhittapakkhī 'va, madisesu katha 'va ka? become distraught with fear,
1220
like birds tossed by a monsoon wind —*
what to speak of those like me?
accantarayabahulo, maraṇahitasambhavo; It has such a plenitude of obstacles!
niccaṃ cakkasamarūlho, loko 'yaṃ parivattati. 1221 this world, that gives birth to the misfortune of

* kapp'uṭṭhanamahavata, patita 'va mahasila: though seemingly "felled by the great winds...", this would require
kapp'uṭṭhanamahavata-patita 'va mahasila; so it seems we have to understand ˚mahavata as a bahubbīhi
qualifying mahasila; thus (peaks) in the great winds
* Anuruddha seems to be combining two distinct similes that come one after another at Vism VIII, 15-17: one
likening old age and death to great mountains of stone (sela pabbata), advancing from every direction, that crush
all beings beneath them without exception; and the other depicting even great kings as bound to be fallen upon
(upari patita) by death – what to speak of oneself?:
ten' aha —
yatha pi selā vipula, nabhaṃ ahacca pabbatā.
samanta anupariyeyyuṃ, nippothenta catuddisa.
evaṃ jara ca maccu ca, adhivattanti paṇine.
khattiye brahmaṇe vesse, sudde caṇḍalapukkuse.
na kiñci parivajjeti, sabbam evabhimaddati.
na tattha hatthīnaṃ bhūmi, na rathanaṃ na pattiya.
na capi mantayuddhena, sakka jetuṃ dhanena va ti. (quoting SN 1.136).
evaṃ jīvitasampattiya maraṇavipattipariyosanataṃ vavatthapentena sampattivipattito maraṇaṃ anussaritabbaṃ.
upasaṃharaṇato ti parehi saddhiṃ attano upasaṃharaṇato. tattha sattahakarehi upasaṃharaṇato maraṇaṃ
anussaritabbaṃ, yasamahattato, puññamahattato, thamamahattato, iddhimahattato, paññamahattato,
paccekabuddhato, sammasambuddhato ti. kathaṃ? idaṃ maraṇaṃ nama mahayasanaṃ mahaparivaranaṃ
sampannadhanavahananaṃ mahasammatamandhatumahasudassana-dalhanemi-nimippabhutīnam pi upari
nirasankam eva patitaṃ, kim-angaṃ pana mayhaṃ upari na patissati?
mahayasa rajavara, mahasammata-adayo.
te pi maccuvasaṃ patta, madisesu katha va ka? ti (Vism VIII, 15-17).
* The last pada, paroceta na manava, appears to be garbled. The paro may be a reference to the topic of the
section in which the latter simile occurs, ie parehi saddhiṃ attano upasaṃharaṇato "[recollecting death] by way
of comparing of oneself with others." All the verses cited in this section in the Path of Purification (Vism) end in
some variation on the line te pi maccuvasaṃ patta; madisesu katha 'va ka? "[Even these great people] came
under the sway of death; what can be said of those such as myself?" (cf. v. 1220). This seems plausible, however,
paro (beyond, next, more than) ≠ para (others), leaving the interpretation somewhat doubtful.
1219
—
1220
maccusamuddhattā: maccusamuddhasta (Ee); maccusamuddhatta (Be).
* cf. v. 1360 for a similar image.
1221
accantarāyabahulo: accantarayabahulo, var. in errata addendum: read bhavantaraya (?) (Ee); accantarayabahulo
(Be);
maraṇāhitasambhavo: maraṇahitasambhavo (Ee); maraṇahitasambhavo (Be);
cakkasamārūḷho: cakkasamarūlho (Ee); cakkasamarulho (Be).

241
 death --
that turns constantly around,
[as if] mounted on a wheel.
etth' antare marantassa, vemajjhe mama vattato, Uncertain of even my next in-breath,
assase pi avissaṭṭhe, jīvite me katha 'va ka? 1222 – what even to say of my life? –
as I turn round in its center,
dying here within it?
accheraṃ vata lokasmiṃ, khaṇamattam pi jīvitaṃ; Even a moment of life maintained
nissitopaddavaṭṭhane, mahabyasanapīlite. 1223 in this world is remarkable indeed –
a site of consequent disaster,
oppressed by great misfortune.
addhuvaṃ jīvitaṃ niccam, accantaṃ maraṇaṃ Life is constantly unsure;
mama; ultimately there will be death for me;
sabhavo maraṇan t' eva, viseso pana jīvitaṃ 1224 it is death that is the natural state;
life is the exceptional thing.
attham arabbha gacchanto, adicco 'va nabhantare, Like the sun in the sky above
maraṇayabhidhavanto, vihayami suve suve. 1225 going toward its setting,*
day by day I too decline
running toward my death.
vajjhappatto mahacoro, niyyat' aghatanaṃ yatha; Just as a thief who's to be killed
maraṇaya payato 'haṃ, tath' eva anivattiyo. 1226 set out for execution,*
I have set out towards death
and just so cannot turn back.
ambujo vankaghasto 'va, taṇaleṇavivajjito; I'm like the fish by whom the hook's been
niccaṃ maccuvasaṃ yanto, vissattho kim ahaṃ swallowed,
care. 1227 bereft of any refuge or recourse;
as I continue making my way into death's hold,
1222
marantassa: marantassa, var. maraṇassa (Ee); maraṇassa (Be).
jīvite me: jīvite me (Ee); jīvika ce (Be),
1223
˚pīḷite: ˚pīḍite, var. ˚piṇḍite (Ee); ˚pīlite (Be);
* Should nissitopaddavaṭṭhane perhaps be understood as nissitaṃ (agreeing with jīvitaṃ) upaddavaṭṭhane: life
"founded on a site of calamity"?
1224
—
1225
* For the image of the sun going toward its setting, cf. Vism VIII, 11
1226
niyyāt' āghātanaṃ: niyat' aghatanaṃ, var. nīyat' aghatanaṃ (Ee); niyyat' aghatanaṃ (Be). niyata, in the sense of
"fixed, sure" would seemingly have to construe with aghatanaṃ (niyataṃ aghatanaṃ). niyyata / nīyata in the
sense of "departed, set out for" and construing with the thief seems the better reading (niyyato aghatanaṃ).
niyyata is moreover parallel to payato of pada c. The vocabulary of the Vism analogy does not help.
tath' eva: tath' eva (Ee); tath' evam (Be).
* This image is reminiscent of the ukkhittasiko vadhako (the executioner with uplifted sword) of Vism VIII, 9-
13, who jivitaṃ harati yeva, na aharitva nivattati "takes the life; does not turn back not having taken it":
evaṃ ukkhittasiko vadhako viya saha jatiya agataṃ pan' etaṃ maraṇaṃ gīvaya asiṃ carayamano so vadhako
viya jīvitaṃ harati yeva, na aharitva nivattati (Vism VIII, 13).
1227
ambujo vankaghasto 'va: ambujo vankaghasto 'va (Ee); ambujo 'va vankaghasto (Be);
tāṇaleṇavivajjito: taṇaṃ leṇaṃ vivajjito (Ee); taṇaleṇavivajjito (Be);
vissattho: vissattho (Ee); vissaṭṭho (Be).

242
 should I move reassured?
ko me haso kimanando, kim ahaṃ mohaparuto? What mirth is it I have? What sort of joy?*
madappamadavikkhitto, vicarami nirankuso. 1228 Am I blinded by delusion?
Distracted by the recklessness of rut,
I roam without a goad.
handaham arabhissami, sammasambuddha-sasane; Alright then, I shall make a start
atapī pahitatto ca, hirottappasamahito. 1229 in the fully and rightly Awakened One's
instructions,
ardent and engaged,
concentrated, with caution and concern.
paṭipattiparo hutva, papadhammanirankato; And now wholly intent on making progress on the
nibbapayami accantaṃ, sabbadukkha-hutavahaṃ. path,
1230
rid of unwholesome dhammas,
I'll ultimately quench
the whole conflagration of suffering.
itthaṃ pan' attano yogī, maraṇaṃ paṭicintayaṃ, And reflecting in this way
maraṇanussatiṃ nama, bhavetī 'ti pavuccati. 1231 upon his own death,
the yogī, it's said, develops
"mindfulness of death".

kāyagatā sati / Bodily Awareness319

1228
madappamādavikkhitto: parappamadavikkhitto (Ee); madappamadavikkhitto (Be);
* taking kim in doubtful sense as in kinnaro, kiṃsamacaro; compounded. cf. dhp. 146:
ko nu haso kimanando, niccaṃ pajjalite sati;
andhakarena onaddha, padīpaṃ na gavesatha.
1229
—
1230
˚nirankato: ˚nirankuso, var. ˚nirankato, ˚nirakato (Ee); ˚nirankato (Be).
1231
paṭicintayaṃ: paticintayaṃ (Ee); paṭicintayaṃ (Be). paṭi + cinteti has virtually no instances in the Pali corpus
with the exception of one other occurrence in the namar-p, v. 1469 (Ch.S. ed.; Buddhadatta's edition reads
paricintayaṃ, an equally rare and problematic form). Buddhadatta's reading of pati rather than paṭi seems to
suggest the independent usage of the upasagga in the sense of "toward" (cf. suriyass' uggamanaṃ pati "toward
sunrise"); maraṇaṃ pati, "thinking toward his own death", despite the fact that his editing attaches it to cintayaṃ
as a prefix. In namar-p 1469 (Ch.S. ed.), the form "paṭicintayaṃ" occurs in conjunction with the independent
usage of the prefix, in the context of directing one's mind akasaṃ pati "toward space". maraṇaṃ pati has one
other instance (Th-a), in the sense of proceeding "toward death". Though plausible, "x pati √cint" does not have
enough textual support to warrant emendation.
319
Kayagata sati, Vism explains, properly refers to several practices: "anapanapabbaṃ, iriyapathapabbaṃ,
catusampajaññapabbaṃ, paṭikkūlamanasikarapabbaṃ, dhatumanasikarapabbaṃ, navasivathikapabbanīti imesaṃ
cuddasannaṃ pabbanaṃ vasena kayagatasatikammaṭṭhanaṃ niddiṭṭhaṃ", but all of these being treated separately
as respectively insight, concentration, or repulsiveness practices, only the thirty-two parts of the body practice
from the angle of repulsiveness, is treated as "kayagata sati" here. cf. Vism 42-43, "kayagatasatikatha:
178. idani yaṃ taṃ aññatra buddhuppada appavattapubbaṃ sabbatitthiyanaṃ avisayabhūtaṃ tesu tesu
suttantesu “ekadhammo, bhikkhave, bhavito bahulīkato mahato saṃvegaya saṃvattati. mahato atthaya
saṃvattati. mahato yogakkhemaya saṃvattati. mahato satisampajaññaya saṃvattati. ñaṇadassanapaṭilabhaya
saṃvattati. diṭṭhadhammasukhaviharaya saṃvattati. vijjavimuttiphalasacchikiriyaya saṃvattati. katamo
ekadhammo? kayagata sati... (a. ni. 1.563 adayo). amataṃ te, bhikkhave, paribhuñjanti, ye kayagatasatiṃ
paribhuñjanti. amataṃ te, bhikkhave, na paribhuñjanti, ye kayagatasatiṃ na paribhuñjanti. amataṃ tesaṃ,

243
tad etaṃ pana bhavetva, upacarasamahito, And having developed this,
nibbedabahulo hoti, appamadadhurandharo. 1232 concentrated with access concentration,
his disenchantment becomes plentiful
and he takes up the mantle of heedfulness.
micchadhammaṃ virajetva, nandiraganiralayo, And acquiring dispassion for wrong dhammas,
sabbasavaparikkhīṇo, pappoti amataṃ padaṃ. 1233 no longer harboring fresh craving and desire,
with the exhaustion of all flows of defilement,
he arrives at locus of the deathless.
gahetva pana medhavī, dvattiṃsakara-bhavanaṃ, A wise person should take up
kareyya tava paccha ca, anupubbam abhiṇhaso. 1234 the practice of the thirty-two facets,
and do it at first gradually (i.e. section by section)
and afterwards continuously.
kesa loma nakha danta, taco maṃsaṃ naharu ca; hairs of the head and hairs of body, nails and teeth;
aṭṭhī ca miñja vakkaṃ ca, hadayaṃ yakanaṃ tatha. skin and flesh and sinews;
1235
bones, bone-marrow, and kidney;
heart and liver;
kilomaṃ pihakaṃ papphasaṃ, antaṃ guṇam pleura, spleen, lung;
udariyaṃ; (large) intestine, small (intestine), undigested food,
matthalungaṃ karīsañ ca, pittaṃ semham brain and fecal matter;

bhikkhave, paribhuttaṃ... aparibhuttaṃ... parihīnaṃ... aparihīnaṃ... viraddhaṃ... aviraddhaṃ, yesaṃ

kayagatasati araddhati (a. ni. 1.603) evaṃ bhagavata anekehi akarehi pasaṃsitva “kathaṃ bhavita, bhikkhave,
kayagatasati kathaṃ bahulīkata mahapphala hoti mahanisaṃsa? idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu araññagato va”tiadina
(ma. ni. 3.154) nayena anapanapabbaṃ, iriyapathapabbaṃ, catusampajaññapabbaṃ,
paṭikkūlamanasikarapabbaṃ, dhatumanasikarapabbaṃ, navasivathikapabbanīti imesaṃ cuddasannaṃ pabbanaṃ
vasena kayagatasatikammaṭṭhanaṃ niddiṭṭhaṃ, tassa bhavananiddeso anuppatto.
tattha yasma iriyapathapabbaṃ catusampajaññapabbaṃ dhatumanasikarapabbanti imani tīṇi
vipassanavasena vuttani. nava sivathikapabbani vipassanañaṇesuyeva adīnavanupassanavasena vuttani. yapi
cettha uddhumatakadīsu samadhibhavana ijjheyya, sa asubhaniddese pakasitayeva. anapanapabbaṃ pana
paṭikkūlamanasikarapabbañca imanevettha dve samadhivasena vuttani. tesu anapanapabbaṃ anapanassativasena
visuṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃyeva. yaṃ panetaṃ “puna caparaṃ, bhikkhave, bhikkhu imameva kayaṃ uddhaṃ padatala
adho kesamatthaka tacapariyantaṃ pūraṃ nanappakarassa asucino paccavekkhati. atthi imasmiṃ kaye kesa loma
... pe ... muttan”ti (ma. ni. 3.154) evaṃ matthalungaṃ aṭṭhimiñjena sangahetva paṭikkūlamanasikaravasena
desitaṃ dvattiṃsakarakammaṭṭhanaṃ, idamidha kayagatasatīti adhippetaṃ.
1232
nibbedabahulo: nibbedhabahulo (Ee); nibbedabahulo (Be). On nibbedha "penetration" vs. "nibbeda" as pali
analog of Skt. nirveda "disenchantment" (standard pali nibbida < Sk. nirvid): nibbeda as a late pali analog of Skt.
nirveda has many instances in the aṭṭhakatha and ṭīka literature, and fits the context better here. For more
evidence of the conflation of the two, cf. namar-p v. 207: pubbabhage pi labbhanti, lokiyamhi yatharahaṃ |
nibbedhabhavanakale, chabbisuddhipavattiyaṃ. || & its pm-vn parallel, pm-vn 649: pubbabhage yathayogaṃ,
lokiyesu ca labbhare | nibbedabhavanakale, chabbisuddhipavattiyaṃ. ||
1233
—
1234
pacchā ca: paccha ca (Ee); paccha ve (Be).
1235
aṭṭhī: aṭṭhī (Ee); aṭṭhi (Be). aṭṭhī is an atypical n. pl. ending, but suits the meter better than the sing. aṭṭhi.
minjā: miñja (Ee); miñja (Be). miñjaṃ is typical in the sequence, but miñja (f.) is also found. This seems
preferable to miñja-vakkaṃ in compound.

244
athaparaṃ. 1236 then bile and phlegm,
pubbo ca lohitaṃ sedo, medo assu vasa 'tha va; pus, blood, and sweat,
khelo singhaṇika c' eva, lasika muttam icc' api. 1237 and fat; or tears and oils,
spit and snot,
joint fluid and urine -- so
ghanabandhasubhakara-vipallasanusarinaṃ, divided up by the great seeker
yathabhūtavabodhaya, vibhatta 'va mahesina. 1238 for grasping them as they are
for those who adhere to the illusion
of the thick fetter of their apparent beauty.
kaye battiṃsa koṭṭhasa, kuṇapa 'va samussita, thirty-two constituent pieces in the body
saragayhūpagapeta, dhikkata dhīrahīlita. 1239 amassed like so many corpses;
devoid of anything that can be taken as an essence
cursed and reviled by the wise.
asubha ca paṭikkūla, jeguccha sucivajjita; nindita not lovely and repulsive,
cakkhumantehi, andhabalopalalita. 1240 disgusting and devoid of any niceness;
scorned by those who have eyes to see,
fawned over by blind fools.
vicittachavisañchanna, tacagabbhasamohita, Arranged inside the fold of inner hide
parissavaparikliṭṭha, kuthita pūtigandhika. 1241 beneath the lustrous cover of surface skin,
they fester, foul-smelling,
drenched in bodily secretions.
dhoviyanta pi satataṃ, ajahanta malassavaṃ; Though washed, never leaving
sugandhanuvilitta 'pi, duggandhapariṇamino. 1242 their constant flow of filth;
though slathered with sweet fragrant things,
they turn them into stench.
ahaṃkaramamattena, vissatthasukhasangaha, Welcoming the happiness confided in them
sanghaṭaghanasambaddha, sammohenti by the ego's sense of possession of them,
mahajanaṃ. 1243 they captivate the people.
1236
pihakaṃ: pihakaṃ (Ee); pihaka (Be);
papphāsaṃ, antaṃ guṇam: papphas' ant' antaguṇam (Ee); papphasaṃ, antaṃ guṇam (Be). Buddhadasa's
reading of all three in compound could well be preferable. In the case of the Be readings, guṇaṃ must be
understood as standing for antaguṇaṃ.
1237
—
1238
ghana: ghaṇa (Ee); ghana (Be);
subhākāra-: subhakara (Ee); subhakara- (Be);
vibhattā 'va: vibhatta 'va (Ee); vibhatt' evaṃ (Be).
1239
bāttiṃsa: battiṃsa (Ee); battiṃsa (Be).
1240
asubhā ca: asubha ca (Ee); asubha 'va (Be);
andhabālopalālitā: andhabalopalalita (Ee); andhabalopalalita (Be).
1241
vicittachavisanchannā: vicittacchavisañchanna (Ee); vicittachavisañchanna (Be);
tacagabbhasamohitā: tacagabbhasamohita (Ee); tacabhattasamohita (Be);
parissavaparikliṭṭhā: parissavaparikkliṭṭha (Ee); parissavaparikliṭṭha (Be).
pūtigandhikā: pūtigandhika (Ee); pūtigandhita (Be).
1242
1243
vissattha: vissattha (Ee); vissaṭṭha (Be);

245
 bound in a composite mass.
chandaragasamūpeta, yattha mūlha puthujjana, (These) upon which the beguiled masses,
sevanti visamaṃ ghoraṃ, caturapayabhagino. 1244 endowed with lustful passion,
have recourse to dreadful misconduct,
and gain a share in the four lower worlds –
tattha cittaṃ virajetuṃ, paṭipanno yathakkamaṃ, the person of discerning eye
cetovibhavanatthaya, koṭṭhasesu vicakkhaṇo. 1245 practices sequentially through the pieces
for the sake of gaining clarity of mind
in order to divest the mind of its passion for them.
vacasa manasa c' eva, yathavuttanusarato, Having taken up and learned them
anulomapaṭilomaṃ, sajjhayitva tato paraṃ. 1246 in both speech and mind,
according to the stated sequence,
forward and backward, then –
vaṇṇasaṇṭhanadisato, vavatthapeyya paṇḍito, the wise person should mentally define them,
tat' okasapariccheda, paccekaṃ tu yathakkamaṃ. by 1) color, 2) shape, and 3) direction
1247
and then by 4) locus and 5) delimitation,
one-by-one, in sequence.
vaṇṇasaṇṭhanagandha ca, asayokasato tato, He should then work to clearly distinguish
vibhaveyyasubhakaram ekekasmiṃ tu pañcadha. (vibhaveyya) their not-lovely aspect,
1248
one-by-one, each in five ways,
according to 1) color, 2) shape, and 3) smell,
4) support, and 5) locus.
dasadhabhogam icc' evaṃ, katva bhavayato pana, For the one practicing having thus
sandhibhūta pakasenti, rathacakkarasadisa. 1249 inclined his mind toward them in these ten ways,
they present themselves conjoined
like the spokes on the wheel of a cart.
hitva appaguṇe tattha, gaṇhaṃ suppaguṇaṃ budho, Setting aside those among them that are not
appaṇaṃ paṭibhagañ ca, pappot' ekeka-vatthusu. 1250 familiar,
the wise person, taking up that which is thoroughly
familiar
attains absorption and the counterpart sign
one-by-one, on the basis of each.

sanghāṭaghana: sanghataghaṇa (Ee); sanghaṭaghana (Be).

1245
—
1244
samūpetā: ˚samūpeta (Ee, Be) for ˚samupeta: metri causa.
mūḷhā: mūlha (Ee); mulha (Be).
1246
—
1247
—
1248
—
1249
sandhibhūtā: sandhibhūta (Ee); santibhūta (Be). cf. Vism VIII, 56: koṭṭhasa pakaṭa honti, hatthasankhalika viya
vatipadapanti viya ca khayanti for the images hatthasankhalika "like a pair of clasped hands" (trans. Naṇamoli, p.
262) and like "a row of fence posts (ibid.). Pm "angulipanti", "a row of fingers" (Pm 246, cited in Naṇamoli note
15, p. 262).
1250
appaṇaṃ: appaṇaṃ (Ee); appanaṃ (Be).

246
Vipassanā Appendix: three ways of practicing
asubhakaram arabbha, bhavana ce pavattati, If the practice takes place
kammaṭṭhanaṃ paṭikkūlaṃ, paṭhamajjhanikaṃ on the basis of the [body part's] not-lovely aspect,
siya. 1251 then the meditation-subject is repulsiveness,
and may lead to the first jhana.
nīladivaṇṇam arabbha, paṭibhago yada tada, (If it takes place) on the basis of the color [of the
nīladikasiṇaṃ hutva, pañcakajjhanikaṃ bhave. 1252 part], blue or so on,
when the counterpart [sign arises], then
becoming the blue kasiṇa, or so on,
it would become conducive to the five jhanas.
lakkhaṇakaram arabbha, cintana ce pavattati, If reflection proceeds
vipassanakammaṭṭhanam iti bhasanti paṇḍita. 1253 on the basis of the (three) characteristics,
it becomes a vipassana meditation-subject --
so say the wise.*
tidha pabhedam icc' evaṃ, bhavento puna One who is astute, developing
buddhima, this "bodily awareness"
kayagatasatiṃ nama, bhavetī 'ti pavuccati. 1254 develops it, it's said,
with this threefold division, thus.

1251
—
1252
—
1253
* This verse departs slightly from the corresponding discussion in Vism by specifying the lakkhaṇa-s (three
characteristics), rather than the elements (dhatu-s) as the aspect (akara) that ultimately renders the meditation
subject one of insight (vipassana) rather than concentration (samatha), or repulsiveness (paṭikkūla). This
treatment of kayagata sati is somewhat unique, delineating as it does a progression of development from
repulsiveness --> concentration --> insight, which it characterizes as the practice's "threefold division" (tidha
pabheda, v 1254). cf. Vism. VIII, 60:
evaṃ sattadha uggahakosallaṃ acikkhantena pana idaṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ asukasmiṃ sutte paṭikkūlavasena
kathitaṃ, asukasmiṃ dhatuvasenati ñatva acikkhitabbaṃ. idañhi mahasatipaṭṭhane (dī. ni. 2.377)
paṭikkūlavaseneva kathitaṃ. mahahatthipadopama (ma. ni. 1.300 adayo) maharahulovada (ma. ni. 2.113 adayo)
dhatuvibhangesu (ma. ni. 3.342 adayo) dhatuvasena kathitaṃ. kayagatasatisutte (ma. ni. 3.153) pana yassa
vaṇṇato upaṭṭhati, taṃ sandhaya cattari jhanani vibhattani. tattha dhatuvasena kathitaṃ vipassanakammaṭṭhanaṃ
hoti. paṭikkūlavasena kathitaṃ samathakammaṭṭhanaṃ. tadetaṃ idha samathakammaṭṭhanamevati.

Vism VIII, §180 sheds light on this discrepancy, describing a progress of insight from dhatu to the
characteristics:
vipassanayaṃ pana apariggahe pavatto kayasankharo olariko, mahabhūtapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko,
upadarūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, sakalarūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, arūpapariggahe
sukhumo. sopi olariko, rūparūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, paccayapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko,
sappaccayanamarūpapariggahe sukhumo. sopi olariko, lakkhaṇarammaṇikavipassanaya sukhumo. sopi
dubbalavipassanaya olariko, balavavipassanaya sukhumo. tattha pubbe vuttanayeneva purimassa purimassa
pacchimena pacchimena paṭippassaddhi veditabba. evamettha olarikasukhumata ca passaddhi ca veditabba.

Course of development of insight as progressing from apprehension of mahabhūtas --> upadarūpa --> sakalarūpa
--> arūpa --> rūparūpa --> paccaya --> sapaccayanamarūpa --> lakkhaṇarammaṇika-vipassana. And thence
dubbalavipassana --> balavavipassana. Hence insight is represented as beginning with the elements and ending
in the characteristics.
1254
—

247
Anāpānassati / Awareness of Breathing
so 'yam ajjhattaṃ nibbinno, bahiddha ca niralayo, Disillusioned with regard to the inner
ubbegabahulo yogī, pamadam ativattati. 1255 and detached with regard to the outer,
with growing alarm the yogī
leaves heedlessness behind.
kamabandhavinimmutto, papa medhavi nissaṭo, Freed from desire's bonds,
sacchikatvana samaññaṃ, amataṃ paribhuñjati. 1256 grown wise, emerged from the unwholesome,
one witnesses and partakes
of the nectar of the deathless that is the holy life's
[true essence].
anapanassatiṃ nama, sammasambuddha-vaṇṇitaṃ, A wise person, developing
kammaṭṭhanadhirajanaṃ, bhavento pana paṇḍito. the so-called "awareness of the in-coming and out-
1257
going breath",
praised by the rightly and fully Awakened One
as the sovereign king of meditation objects,
appanañ copacarañ ca, samathañ ca vipassanaṃ, can easily attain
lokuttaraṃ lokiyañ ca, sukhen' evadhigacchati. 1258 absorption as well as access;
discernment as well as tranquillity;
the transcendental as well as the mundane.
sukhuma nipuṇa tikkha, paripakka bale ṭhita, And subtle, fine, and sharp,
bodhipakkhiyadhamma ca, vodayanti visesato. 1259 mature and standing in full power,
the mental factors conducive to awakening
become purified to an exceptional extent.
kammaṭṭhane tatha h' ettha, gaṇana anubandhana; And as such, herein,
phusana ṭhapana c' eva, sallakkhaṇavivaṭṭana; 1260 eight divisions in the meditation-subject
are set forth in the canonical list.
& Namely:

parisuddhi tato paccha, tesañ ca paṭipassana; 1) counting, 2) staying with,

icc' evam aṭṭhadha bheda, matikayaṃ pakasita. 1261 3) touching, 4) fixing,
5) observing, and 6) turning away from;*
7) total purity, and, then,
8) review of these.
vibhatta satipaṭṭhana-vasa solasadha tato, They are then divided into sixteen,*

1255
—
1256
vinimmutto: vinimmutto (Ee); vinimutto (Be);
pāpā medhāvi nissaṭo: papa-medhavi-nissaṭo (Ee); papa medhavi nissaṭo (Be). Medhavī not evidently in
compound but shortened metri causa.
1257
—
1258
—
1259
—
1260
* glossed as "maggo" in Vism.
1261
—

248
anapanappabhedena, bhinna dvattiṃsadha puna. 1262 according to the (four) sati-'paṭṭhana-s,
and again split into thirty-two*
by the dividing of in-breath and out-breath.
tam eva pariyadaya, samathañ ca vipassanaṃ, How should one fulfill that
mahattavepullagataṃ, bhaveyya satima kathaṃ? and develop with this awareness
1263
tranquillity and discernment (vipassana)
to the full extent of [this practice's] greatness? *
anapanaṃ pariggayha, pavivitto rahogato, Having thoroughly learned the [theory of the]
gaṇeyya paṭhamaṃ tava, nisinno sukham asane 1264 anapana [meditation-subject],
going into seclusion, in solitude,
one should first of all count,
seated at ease in a sitting posture.
pañcannaṃ na ṭhapetabbaṃ, heṭṭha na dasato 'pari; One should not count to less than five,
netabbam anupubbena, gaṇetabbam akhaṇḍitaṃ. or take one's count higher than ten;
1265
One should count (them) one by one,
without any break (in awareness).
anto bahi ca vikkhepam akatvana punappunaṃ; Without allowing (the awareness) to scatter
phuṭṭhaṭṭhanamhi satima, anubandheyya manasaṃ. (going) inside or outside, again and again,*

1262
* satipaṭṭhana 16: cf. Vism VIII, 145:
kathaṃ bhavito ca, bhikkhave, anapanassatisamadhi kathaṃ bahulīkato santo ceva paṇīto ca asecanako ca sukho
ca viharo, uppannuppanne ca papake akusale dhamme ṭhanaso antaradhapeti vūpasameti? idha, bhikkhave,
bhikkhu araññagato va rukkhamūlagato va suññagaragato va nisīdati pallankaṃ abhujitva ujuṃ kayaṃ
paṇidhaya parimukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetva, so satova assasati sato passasati.
1) dīghaṃ va assasanto dīghaṃ assasamīti pajanati. dīghaṃ va passasanto ... pe ...
2) rassaṃ va assasanto ... pe ... rassaṃ va passasanto rassaṃ passasamīti pajanati.
3) sabbakayapaṭisaṃvedī assasissamīti sikkhati. sabbakayapaṭisaṃvedī passasissamīti sikkhati.
4) passambhayaṃ kayasankharaṃ assasissamīti sikkhati. passambhayaṃ kayasankharaṃ passasissamīti sikkhati.
5) pītipaṭisaṃvedī... 6) sukhapaṭisaṃvedī... 7) cittasankharapaṭisaṃvedī... 8) passambhayaṃ cittasankharaṃ... 9)
cittapaṭisaṃvedī... 10) abhippamodayaṃ cittaṃ... 11) samadahaṃ cittaṃ... 12) vimocayaṃ cittaṃ ... 13)
aniccanupassī... 14) viraganupassī... 15) nirodhanupassī... 16) paṭinissagganupassī assasissamīti sikkhati.
paṭinissagganupassī passasissamīti sikkhatī”ti — evaṃ solasavatthukaṃ anapanassatikammaṭṭhanaṃ niddiṭṭhaṃ.
* anapana (-ssati sutta?) 32: cf. Paṭis-m's analysis of 32 ways in which one is a "satokarī" ("one who does so,
mindful" (paṭi. ma. 1.166) ), as explanation of "sato assasati, sato passasati", cited at Vism VIII §163:
“battiṃsaya akarehi sato karī hoti. 1) dīghaṃ assasavasena cittassa ekaggataṃ avikkhepaṃ pajanato sati
upaṭṭhita hoti. taya satiya tena ñaṇena sato karī hoti. 2) dīghaṃ passasavasena ... pe ... 31) paṭinissagganupassī
assasavasena. 32) paṭinissagganupassī passasavasena cittassa ekaggataṃ avikkhepaṃ pajanato sati upaṭṭhita hoti.
taya satiya tena ñaṇena sato karī hotī”ti (paṭi. ma. 1.165).
1263
* Comm. explanation of the rhetorical use of "kathaṃ?": kathan ti anapanassatisamadhibhavanaṃ
nanappakarato vittharetukamyatapuccha. (Vism VIII, 146)
1264
—
1265
—

249
1266
one should keep the attention with (the breath)
upon the spot it touches, maintaining this
awareness.
nasikaggottaroṭṭhe ca, katvabhogaṃ tato paraṃ, And then, having placed his attention
satat' assasasamphassaṃ, avajjantassa yogino, 1267 on the upper lip at the tip of the nose,*
for the yogī constantly adverting
to the contact of the in-breath,
puthulaṃ va 'tha dīghaṃ va, maṇḍalaṃ va 'tha either broad or long,
vitthataṃ, or round or spread-out,
tarakadisamakaraṃ, nimittaṃ tattha jayati. 1268 [some sort of] a "nimitta" ([counterpart-]sign)
arises there
in the form of a star or so forth.*
cittaṃ samahitaṃ hoti, upacarasamadhina; The mind becomes concentrated
upaklesa pahīyanti, paṭibhage samuṭṭhite. 1269 with proximity concentration (upacara-samadhi) //
with concentration approximating absorption
and mental defilements subside // afflictive mental
factors
when the counterpart[-sign] arises.
nimitte ṭhapayaṃ cittaṃ, tato papeti appaṇaṃ; Fixing the mind on the sign,
pañcajjhanavasenayaṃ, samathe bhavananayo. 1270 one then makes it attain absorption (appaṇa).
1266
* a reference to the instruction not to allow the awareness to follow the breath in and out each time, cf. Vism
193-194:
anto ca bahi ca vataṃ apariggahetva purimanayeneva vegena vegena gaṇetabbaṃ. anto pavisanavatena hi
saddhiṃ cittaṃ pavesayato abbhantaraṃ vatabbhahataṃ medapūritaṃ viya hoti. bahi nikkhamanavatena
saddhiṃ cittaṃ nīharato bahiddha puthuttarammaṇe cittaṃ vikkhipati. phuṭṭhaphuṭṭhokase pana satiṃ ṭhapetva
bhaventasseva bhavana sampajjati. tena vuttaṃ “anto ca bahi ca vataṃ apariggahetva purimanayeneva vegena
vegena gaṇetabban 'ti.
1267
assāsasamphassaṃ: assasapassasaṃ (Ee); assasasamphassaṃ (Be).
* nasik'aggottaroṭṭhe: the terminology is slightly different from precedents in Vism and Paṭis-m: cf. Vism VIII
§210: ime hi ( = breaths) dīghanasikassa nasapuṭaṃ ghaṭṭenta pavattanti. rassanasikassa uttaroṭṭhaṃ.
Cf. Paṭis-m (paṭi. ma. 1.159): evam eva bhikkhu nasikagge va mukhanimitte va satiṃ upaṭṭhapetva nisinno hoti,
na agate va gate va assasapassase manasi karoti, na ca agata va gata va assasapassasa avidita honti, padhanañ ca
paññayati, payogañ ca sadheti, visesam adhigacchati (quoted at Vism VIII §202).
It is not entirely clear whether the intended meaning is similar to that of the commentaries, suggesting two
distinct options, or suggestive of a single spot on the upper lip at the end of the nose. In contradistinction to the
comm. passages cited above, the phrasing here seems to suggest a single spot.
1268
* tarakadisamakaraṃ: to be read as tarakadi-samakaraṃ "with a form like a star, etc.", or taraka-(sa-)disam
akaraṃ? Presuming the former owing to better grammatical suitability and the Vism's long list. Cf. Vism VIII
214-215:
231. tassevamanuyuñjato na cirasseva nimittaṃ upaṭṭhati. taṃ pan' etaṃ na sabbesaṃ ekasadisaṃ hoti. apica kho
kassaci sukhasamphassaṃ uppadayamano tūlapicu viya kappasapicu viya vatadhara viya ca upaṭṭhatīti ekacce
ahu.
ayaṃ pana aṭṭhakathasu vinicchayo, idañhi kassaci tarakarūpaṃ viya maṇigulika viya muttagulika viya
ca, kassaci kharasamphassaṃ hutva kappasaṭṭhi viya darusarasūci viya ca, kassaci dīghapamangasuttaṃ viya
kusumadamaṃ viya dhūmasikha viya ca, kassaci vitthataṃ makkaṭakasuttaṃ viya valahakapaṭalaṃ viya
padumapupphaṃ viya rathacakkaṃ viya candamaṇḍalaṃ viya sūriyamaṇḍalaṃ viya ca upaṭṭhati.
1269
upaklesā: upakklesa (Ee); upaklesa (Be);
pahīyanti: pahīyanti (Ee); pahiyyanti (Be).

250
 This, proceeding via the five jhanas,
is the methodology of development with reference
to tranquillity (samatha).
arabhitvabhinivesam anapane punaparo; The other (methodology), again, having begun
ajjhattañ ca bahiddha ca, tato tad-anusarato. 1271 inhering [in the present] in the in-breath and out-
breath.*
[Having seen with insight] internally and
externally,
and then, following from that,
bhūmidhamme yathabhūtaṃ, vipassitva visarado, having seen with insight, now mature,
appetanuttarajjhanam ayaṃ suddhi vipassana. 1272 the dhamma-s that constitute the grounds (of
insight), as they are,*
one enters into transcendental jhana (attaining
nibbana):
this is the purity of insight.*
anapanasamapattiṃ, katva padakam uttaraṃ, How was the methodology related in its sixteen-
bhaventassa vasen' ahu, nayaṃ solasadha kathaṃ? fold form
1273
by way of the one cultivating
attainment in anapana
and making it the basis for higher attainment?

1270
appaṇaṃ: appaṇaṃ (Ee); appanaṃ (Be).
1271
* The reference to abhinivesa (either "inhering" or "investment of [something with a sense of] self") is curious
and does not have a parallel in the analogous Path of Purification (Vism) passage. In the 'investment of self'
sense, it could be a reference to the analogy that immediately follows in Vism VIII §222, entailing the realization
that the in-breath and out-breath function as an impersonal process of mind and matter, similar to a bellows and
the blowing of it:
kathaṃ? so hi samapattito vuṭṭhaya assasapassasanaṃ samudayo karajakayo ca cittañ ca ti passati. yatha hi
kammaragaggariya dhamamanaya bhastañ ca purisassa ca tajjaṃ vayamaṃ paṭicca vato sañcarati, evam eva
kayañ ca cittañ ca paṭicca assasapassasa ti. tato assasapassase ca kayañca rūpan ti cittañ ca
taṃsampayuttadhamme ca arūpanti vavatthapeti. ayam ettha sankhepo. vittharato pana namarūpavavatthanaṃ
parato avibhavissati. However, it seems more likely that this is a reference to the terminology of insight's
threefold abhinivesa cf. v. 1517 in the treatment of vipassana, in which: "Its three inherings (in the present) are
said to be by way of (present) moment; (present) cognitive sequence; and (present) span of life: herein [i.e. in the
present, seeing sankhara-s] as impermanent, as suffering, and as not self (khaṇa-santati-addhana-vasen' ettha
samirita / anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, tividha _'bhinivesana_ 1517). Translation follows the latter.
1272
appet: pappot (Ee); appet (Be);
suddhi vipassanā: suddhavipassana (Ee); suddhivipassana (Be);
* The "foundational dhammas" (bhumidhamma) = the five aggregates etc., on the basis of which (and with
reference to which) insight arises.
* Anuruddha seems to gloss over the 5th and 6th elements of the initial list of eight (sallakkhaṇa, noting of the
characteristics, and vivaṭṭana "turning away" by achieving dispassion and liberation from them. "Suddhi",
however, would seem to almost certainly refer to the 7th stage, "parisuddhi" (and thus speaks in favor of the
reading "suddhi", over Ee's "suddha-"). Stages 5-7 are thus treated as a unit and in brief very much as at Vism.
VIII §222: evaṃ nibbattacatukkapancakajjhano pan' ettha bhikkhu sallakkhaṇavivaṭṭanavasena kammaṭṭhanaṃ
vaddhetva parisuddhiṃ pattukamo tadeva jhanaṃ pancah' akarehi vasippattaṃ paguṇaṃ katva namarupaṃ
vavatthapetva vipassanaṃ paṭṭhapeti. Anuruddha returns to stages 5-8 at the end of section.
1273
—

251
dīgham assasapassasaṃ, rassaṃ va 'tha tatha Firstly, one apprehends
dvayaṃ; the in- and out-breath that is long –
satima matisampanno, paṭhamaṃ parigaṇhati. 1274 or be it short -- "as being long or short",
maintaining this awareness, and this knowledge.
adimajjhavasanaṃ taṃ, karonto viditaṃ tatha, And likewise making it [continuously] known
samahito sabbakaya-paṭisaṃvedi sikkhati. 1275 at its beginning, middle, and end,
becoming concentrated, he trains himself
to be "one who experiences the [breath's] whole
body".*
tato te eva sankhare, passambhento 'parūpari, And thence, stilling those very formations
vutto passambhayaṃ kayasankharaṃ sikkhatī 'ti ca. (sankhara-s),
1276
one after another,
he is said to be one who trains himself
to be "one stilling bodily sankhara-s".
anapanasat' icc' evaṃ, kayasankharanissita, Anapanassati ("Awareness of the in- and out-
kayanupassana nama, catudha 'pi ca bhasita. 1277 breath"),
grounded thus in bodily sankhara-s,

1274
dīgham assāsapassāsaṃ: dīgham assasapassasaṃ (Ee); dīghamassasapassasa (Be);
matisampanno: sattisampanno (Ee); matisampanno (Be).
1275
ādimajjhāvasānaṃ taṃ: adimajjhavasanaṃ taṃ, var. adimajjhavasanani (Ee); adimajjhavasanaṃ tu (Be).
* Anuruddha's vocabulary and exposition here echoes the Vism method of exposition, understanding "sabba-
kaya" to refer to the "body of the breath" ("assasa-kaya" or passasa-kaya"), knowing "all" of which would entail
knowing it clearly and continuously in its "beginning, middle, and end". cf. Vism. VIII, §172:
220. sabbakayapaṭisaṃvedī assasissami ... pe ... passasissamīti sikkhatīti sakalassa assasakayassa
adimajjhapariyosanaṃ viditaṃ karonto pakaṭaṃ karonto assasissamīti sikkhati. sakalassa passasakayassa
adimajjhapariyosanaṃ viditaṃ karonto pakaṭaṃ karonto passasissamīti sikkhati. evaṃ viditaṃ karonto pakaṭaṃ
karonto ñaṇasampayuttacittena assasati ceva passasati ca. tasma “assasissami passasissamī 'ti sikkhatī 'ti vuccati.
1276
—
1277
* The exposition of the first "tetrad" (catukkaṃ) of the 16-fold method, consisting of the stated four instructions
has just been completed. This tetrad concerns the "kaya" sati-'paṭṭhana. The following three tetrads respectively
deal with the remaining three sati-'paṭṭhana-s.
The first tetrad is taught, following the commentarial tradition, as a samatha practice appropriate for a beginner
"adikammika". The following three tetrads are conversely expounded as vipassana practices appropriate for one
who has attained the fourth samatha jhana on the basis of the first tetrad and wishes to go on to use this as his
basis for developing liberating insight.
This much is explained at Vism VIII §186, and perhaps helps explain a certain tension amongst the various
practice traditions regarding the interpretation of details of practice: ayaṃ tav' ettha kayanupassanavasena
vuttassa paṭhamacatukkassa anupubbapadavaṇṇana.
222. yasma pan' ettha idam eva catukkaṃ adikammikassa kammaṭṭhanavasena vuttaṃ. itarani pana tīṇi
catukkani ettha pattajjhanassa vedanacittadhammanupassanavasena vuttani. tasma idaṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ
bhavetva anapanacatutthajjhanapadaṭṭhanaya vipassanaya saha paṭisambhidahi arahattaṃ papuṇitukamena
adikammikena kulaputtena pubbe vuttanayen' eva sīlaparisodhanadīni sabbakiccani katva vuttappakarassa
acariyassa santike pañcasandhikaṃ kammaṭṭhanaṃ uggahetabbaṃ.
The following three tetrads comprise: 5) pītipaṭisaṃvedī... 6) sukhapaṭisaṃvedī... 7)
cittasankharapaṭisaṃvedī... 8) passambhayaṃ cittasankharaṃ...
9) cittapaṭisaṃvedī... 10) abhippamodayaṃ cittaṃ... 11) samadahaṃ cittaṃ... 12) vimocayaṃ cittaṃ ...
13) aniccanupassī... 14) viraganupassī... 15) nirodhanupassī... 16) paṭinissagganupassī assasissamī ti sikkhati.
paṭinissagganupassī passasissamīti sikkhatī 'ti —

252
 as the [sati-'paṭṭhana] "observation of body"
is also spoken of as fourfold:*
sampayuttena ñaṇena, pītim alambaṇena ca, Making 1) the joy (piti) in his samatha[-jhana]
vipassanaya samathe, kubbanto pakaṭaṃ sukhaṃ. evident
1278
to his discernment (vipassana) by [making it its]
object
conjoined with knowledge (naṇa),*
and [after that] 2) the pleasure (sukha),
vedanasaññasankhate, cittasankharake tatha, One is said to train oneself
pītadipaṭisaṃvedī, sikkhatī 'ti pavuccati. 1279 experiencing the joy (piti), and so forth, [ i.e.,
sukha & citta-sankhara]
pertaining to 3. the mental sankhara-s
reckoned as sensation (vedana) and [its associated]
perception (sanna).*
thūle te eva sankhare, sametuṃ paribhavayaṃ, And training oneself to still
vutto "passambhayaṃ citta-sankharaṃ sikkhatī" 'ti those sankhara-s that are gross,
ca. 1280 one is said to train oneself
4. "stilling mental sankhara".
tassa taṃtaṃmukhen' ettha, sampajjana-visesato, Directed here to these respective objects,
vedananupassana 'yaṃ, catudha samudīrita. 1281 especially for bringing it about,
the observation of sensation [sati-'paṭṭhana]
is referred to in these four ways. *

1278
pītim: pītim, var. satim (Ee); pītim (Be). [satim = satima?]
* For vocabulary of naṇa and alambaṇa, Cf. Vism VIII §227-228:
pītipaṭisaṃvedīti pītiṃ paṭisaṃviditaṃ karonto pākaṭaṃ karonto assasissami passasissamīti sikkhati. tattha
dvīhākārehi pīti paṭisaṃviditā hoti ārammaṇato ca asammohato ca.kathaṃ arammaṇato pīti paṭisaṃvidita
hoti? sappītike dve jhane samapajjati. tassa samapattikkhaṇe jhanapaṭilabhena arammaṇato pīti paṭisaṃvidita
hoti, arammaṇassa paṭisaṃviditatta. kathaṃ asammohato? sappītike dve jhane samapajjitva vuṭṭhaya
jhānasampayuttaṃ pītiṃ khayato vayato sammasati. tassa vipassanakkhaṇe lakkhaṇapaṭivedhena asammohato
pīti paṭisaṃvidita hoti. vuttañhetaṃ paṭisambhidayaṃ (paṭi. ma. 1.172) —
And in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s formulation, "taya satiyā tena nāṇena sa pīti paṭisaṃvidita hoti."
Alambaṇa thus appears to stand for the Path of Purification (Vism)'s arammaṇa, and naṇa for the Paṭis-m's
naṇa.
1279
vedanāsannāsankhāte: vedana sañña-sankhate (Ee); vedanasaññasankhate (Be);
pītādipaṭisaṃvedī: pītadipaṭisaṃvedī, var. cittadipaṭisaṃvedī (Ee); pītadipaṭisaṃvedī (Be).
* These two verses summarize the first three elements of the second tetrad:
5) pītipaṭisaṃvedī... 6) sukhapaṭisaṃvedī... 7) cittasankharapaṭisaṃvedī... [assasissamī 'ti sikkhati, etc.]. Cf.
Vism. VIII §230 for content:
api c'ettha pītipade pītisīsena vedana vutta. sukhapade sarūpen' eva vedana. dvīsu cittasankharapadesu “sañña ca
vedana ca cetasika ete dhamma cittapaṭibaddha cittasankhara” ti (paṭi. ma. 1.174; ma. ni. 1.463) vacanato
saññasampayutta vedana ti evaṃ vedananupassananayena idaṃ catukkaṃ bhasitan ti veditabbaṃ.
1280
citta-sankhāraṃ: citta-sankharaṃ (Ee); cittaṃ sankharaṃ (Be).
1281
tassā: tasma (Ee); tassa (Be); reading tassa construing with sampajjanavisesato: “especially for the production of
that (f.)”;
taṃtaṃmukhen' ettha: taṃ taṃ mukhen' ettha (Ee); taṃtaṃmukhen' ettha (Be);
vedananupassana 'yaṃ: vedananupassana 'yaṃ (Ee); vedananupassanaya (Be);
* These four together constitute the vedananupassana tetrad.

253
appento paccavekkhanto, bujjhanto ca pakasitaṃ, Entering [jhana-s] and reviewing [their associated
karonto manasaṃ citta-paṭisaṃvedi sikkhati. 1282 mental factors],
as one awakens and causes consciousness
to be revealed
one trains 1) "experiencing consciousness"
tam evabhippamodento, sappītikasamadhina, As one uplifts that consciousness
"abhippamodayaṃ cittaṃ, sikkhatī" ti pavuccati. through one's joy-filled concentration,
1283
one is said to train
2) "uplifting consciousness"
appanay' opacarena, tam evatha samadahaṃ, And so causing that (consciousness) to converge
yogī "samadahaṃ cittaṃ, sikkhatī" ti pakasito. 1284 with absorption and proximity [to absorption]
(upacara),
the yogī is described as training
3) "concentrating consciousness"
paccanīkehi vikkhambha-samucchedehi mocayaṃ, And likewise liberating it
tatha "vimocayaṃ cittaṃ, sikkhatī" 'ti 'pi bhasito. from the contrary (factors)
1285
via their (temporary) suspension or (permanent)
eradication,
he is said to train 4) "liberating consciousness".
anapanaṃ purodhaya, kammaṭṭhanaṃ yatharahaṃ, Proceeding accordingly from
cittanupassana nama, pavatta 'yaṃ catubbidha. 1286 the meditation-subject anapana,
this is the fourfold development* of the
"observation of consciousness" [sati-'paṭṭhana].
vipassanay' aniccanu-gatatta hi visesato, And owing to discernment's (vipassana) inhering
vipassanto aniccanu-passī sikkhati paṇḍito. 1287 to an especial extent in "anicca",
discerning (this in them) the wise one trains
1) "observing as 'impermanent'".
tato viraganupassī, nibbinditva virajayaṃ, And then 2) "observing dispassion"
tatha nirodhanupassī, bhūmidhamme nirodhayaṃ. as, becoming disenchantment, he makes his

1282
—
1283
—
1284
appanāy': appaṇāy (Ee corrigenda)
ti pakāsito: ti pavuccati (cf. errata: this verse was evidently dropped in the edition) (Ee corrigenda); ti pakasito
(Be).
* This verse was evidently dropped in the preparation of the Ee, but was flagged for re-insertion in the “Errata in
Namarūpapariccheda, JPTS 1913-1914,” published in the following issue of the JPTS after A.P. Buddadatta,
who had prepared the edition, consulted a newly acquired Burmese nissaya. Here he notes: “1283-1284 insert
between these numbers: 1283a appanay' opacarena, tam evatha samadahaṃ / yogī "samadahaṃ cittaṃ, sikkhatī"
ti pavuccati.” For this reason I have followed the Be verse numeration.
1285
paccanīkehi: paccanikehi (Ee); paccanīkehi (Be).
1286
purodhāya: purodhaya (Ee); pabhedaya (Be); purodhaya is an odd form, but a dative pabhedaya makes little
sense here. The word is apparently attested only three times in the pali corpus, but occurs twice in the namar-p
(cf. v. 1388) – enough textual support at least for this instance.
* 9) cittapaṭisaṃvedī... 10) abhippamodayaṃ cittaṃ... 11) samadahaṃ cittaṃ... 12) vimocayaṃ cittaṃ ...
1287
vipassanāy' aniccānu-: vipassanayaniccanu- (Ee); vipassanayaniccanu (Be).

254
1288
craving fade,
and so 3) "observing cessation"*
as he makes the dhammas that constitute the
ground come to an end.*
pakkhandanapariccaga-paṭinissaggato pana, And by way of letting go, via [consciousness's]
paṭinissagganupassī, sikkhatī 'ti pavuccati. 1289 leaping [into the unconditioned] and releasing [the
conditioned],
he is said to train
as one 4) "observing letting go".*
anapanamukhen' eva, bhūmidhamma-vipassana, Vipassana on the dhamma-s that constitute the
dhammanupassana nama, bhasit' evaṃ catubbidha. ground
1290
initiated via anapana
is what's referred to as "the observation of
dhamma-s" [satipaṭṭhana]*
and is said to be comprised, like this, of these four
parts.

1288
* In this verse Anuruddha summarizes both the second and third items of the last tetrad: viraganupassī and
nirodhanupassī: 13) aniccanupassī... 14) viraganupassī... 15) nirodhanupassī... 16) paṭinissagganupassī
[...assasissamīti sikkhati. paṭinissagganupassī passasissamīti sikkhatī” ti].
* There is an interesting discrepancy here between the Vism's exposition and Anuruddha's. While the Vism here
(VIII §235) takes "viraga" in the sense of "fading away", and treats it as a synonym of nirodha, dividing it into
two types viz momentary vs. ultimate: khayavirago ( = sankharanaṃ khaṇabhango) and accantavirago ( =
nibbanaṃ), Anuruddha, using the verbal form virajeti, and associating it with nibbida, seems to use it in its more
conventional sense of "divesting the mind of passion; bringing about dispassion". Normally, in conjunction with
nirodha, viraga has the sense of "fading away" (cf. avijjaya tv eva asesa-viraga-nirodha "From the remainderless
fading away and cessation of avijja"); while, associated with nibbida, it has the sense of "dispassion" (cf.
nibbindaṃ virajjati; viraga vimuccati "becoming disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate; from his dispassion,
he is liberated").
Also relevant here is the mention in Vism that this last tetrad is expounded with reference to
suddhavipassana, whereas the previous three were expounded with reference to samatha & vipassana: idaṃ
catutthacatukkaṃ suddhavipassanavaseneva vuttaṃ. purimani pana tīṇi samathavipassanavasena (Vism VIII
§237). Cf. Vism VIII §235: viraganupassī ti ettha pana dve viraga khayavirago ca accantavirago ca. tattha
khayavirago ti sankharanaṃ khaṇabhango. accantavirago ti nibbanaṃ. viraganupassana ti
tadubhayadassanavasena pavatta vipassana ca maggo ca. taya duvidhaya pi anupassanaya samannagato hutva
assasanto passasanto ca “viraganupassī assasissami passasissamī ti sikkhatī” ti veditabbo. nirodhanupassīpade pi
es' eva nayo.
1289
* paṭinissagga (letting go) is divided into two types in the Vism: pariccaga (letting go of the kilesas and together
with them the sankhara-s that give rise to the khandhas) and pakkhandana (the citta's "leaping" toward nibbana,
when it sees it). Cf. Vism VIII §236: paṭinissagganupassī ti etthapi dve paṭinissagga pariccagapaṭinissaggo ca
pakkhandanapaṭinissaggo ca. paṭinissaggo yeva anupassana paṭinissagganupassana. vipassanamagganaṃ etam
adhivacanaṃ.
vipassana hi tadangavasena saddhiṃ khandhabhisankharehi kilese pariccajati, sankhatadosadassanena
ca tabbiparīte nibbane tanninnataya pakkhandatī ti pariccagapaṭinissaggo c'eva pakkhandanapaṭinissaggoti ca
vuccati. maggo samucchedavasena saddhiṃ khandhabhisankharehi kilese pariccajati, arammaṇakaraṇena ca
nibbane pakkhandatī ti pariccagapaṭinissaggo c'eva pakkhandanapaṭinissaggo ti ca vuccati.
1290 *
Here Anuruddha strikingly equates the dhammanupassana satipaṭṭthana (undertaken even in the context of
anapana) with the cultivation of insight itself (vipassana).

255
iti solasadhakaraṃ, sikkhattayapatiṭṭhitaṃ, And thus, it also fulfills
catubbidham 'pi pūreti, satipaṭṭhana-bhavanaṃ. 1291 the cultivation of the "foundations of awareness"
(satipaṭṭhana-s), in all four parts,
with its sixteen aspects,
founded on the triple training (in sila, samadhi, and
panna)
pariggayha satiñ c' evam ussahanto vipassanaṃ, And one taking up awareness (sati),
dvattiṃsakarabhedehi, satokarī ti vuccati. 1292 and applying himself to discernment (vipassana) in
this way,
is called a "satokari" (doing so mindfully).
by way of the classifications of the thirty-two
aspects.*
itthañ ca gaṇanadīhi, bhavetva samathaṃ tato, And thus having cultivated tranquillity
vipassanadhivacanaṃ, katva sallakkhaṇaṃ puna. by way of 1) counting and so on [ 2) anubandhana,
1293
3) phusana, & 4) ṭhapana]*
and thence done 5) observation (sallakkhaṇa)
which here designates insight (vipassana),
patva vivaṭṭanamaggaṃ, parisuddhiphale ṭhito, and attained the 6) turning away, i.e. the path,
paccavekkhaṇasankhataṃ, pappoti sati-passanaṃ. established in the 7) purity, i.e. the fruit,
1294
he reaches the recollective viewing
reckoned 8) review.
anapanasat' icc' evam asesaṃ paripūrita, Anapanassati (the awareness of in-breath and out-
sakaraṃ sappabhedañ ca, bhavita 'ti pavuccati. 1295 breath)
brought to complete fulfillment thus,
is said to be developed
with every aspect and every part.*
anapanasamadhim etam atulaṃ Developing this, the incomparable concentration of
buddhapadanuttamaṃ, papaklesarajoharaṃ anapana, the Buddha's chief advice,
sukhamukhaṃ dukkhaggi-nibbapanaṃ; which washes away depravity and defilement's
bhavetva satisampajaññavipula vikkhepa- dust, and in the guise of ease* puts out dukkha's
viddhaṃsaka, fire,
pappont' uttaram uttamamatapadaṃ bodhittaya- those who conquer distraction with bountiful sati

1291
sikkhattayapatiṭṭhitaṃ: sikkhattayapatiṭṭhitaṃ, var. sikkhattayam adhiṭṭhitaṃ (Ee); sikkhattayapatiṭṭhitaṃ
(Be).
1292 *
As described in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), applying the sixteen aspects to in-breath and out-breath
separately.
1293 *
Cf. vv. 1260 & 1261
1294
vivaṭṭanāmaggaṃ: vivaṭṭanamaggaṃ, var. vipassanamaggaṃ (Ee); vivaṭṭanamaggaṃ (Be).
1295 *
perhaps however referring by “aspects and “parts” specifically to the sixteen “aspects” of anapana as fulfilling
the four satipaṭṭhana-s (cf. solasadhakaraṃ 1291) and the thirty-two “divisions” of these aspects (cf.
dvattiṃsakarabhedehi 1292) by way of in-breath and out-breath as enumerated in the Paṭisambhidamagga.

256
byapakaṃ. 1296 and sampajanna,
attain to higher still, the highest seat of the
deathless, comprising bodhi in all three forms.*
buddhaṃ dhammañ ca sanghaṃ This awareness (sati) that, applied* upon
puthujanamahitaṃ suddhasīlaṃ sudanaṃ, the Buddha and the Dhamma, and the celebrated
dhammaṭṭha devatayo 'pasam' atha maraṇaṃ Sangha;
kayam anañ ca panaṃ; and pure sīla, and one's dana;
paññattarabbha ya 'yaṃ sati samavahita and deities of dhammic virtue, quiescent peace, and
bodhimaggodayaya, death;
sa 'yaṃ saddhammanettī sahitasivaguṇa and the body, and the in-breath and the out --
sevitabbadarena. 1297 for the arising of the path to awakening
is the conduit to true dhamma, with its most
auspicious virtues,
should be made use of with the deepest of respect.
iti namarupaparicchede dasanussativibhago nama So ends the ninth chapter in the Manual of
Discerning Mind and Matter, named
navamo paricchedo.
(the section on) “The Ten Recollections”.

THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER

10. Chapter Ten
The Remaining Objects

In the tenth chapter, Anuruddha continues his survey of the forty samatha objects. He treats the
remaining objects in five sections, surveying the four brahmavihara-s; the cultivation of the
perception "repulsive" in food; the resolution of the body into four elements; and the four
formless attainments. To this he adds a concluding treatment of the six abhiñña-s or "direct
knowledges", treated as the fruits of samatha (and corresponding in some measure to ch. 13,
representing the fruits of vipassana). Wherever possible, Anuruddha continues his insight-
appendix treatment of the objects, as in chapter nine, according, somewhat remarkably, the four
elements an appendix on the theme of the application of this object to insight. This is remarkable
because for the suttas, the resolution into elements was framed as part and parcel of the practice
of insight itself; but for the exegetical tradition rereading the practice of meditation through the
1296
satisampajannavipulā: satisampajaññavipula, variants: satisampajaññanipuṇa; ˚nipuṇaṃ (Ee);
satisampajaññavipula (Be);
viddhaṃsakā: ˚viddhaṃsakaṃ (Ee); ˚viddhaṃsaka (Be).
* for translation of "sukhamukhaṃ", cf. Vism-mṭ "mettamukhena uppannaragena andhīkato "blinded by the
passion arisen in him in the guise of metta", and "mettayanamukhena rago vañcetī’’ ti (Nett-a 21) "passion in the
guise of generating metta deceives one" (Vism-mṭ. 240).
* presumably the savakabodhi, paccekabodhi, and sammasambodhi.
1297
puthujanamahitaṃ: puthujanamahitaṃ (Ee); puthunanamahitaṃ (Be).
* readings samavahita = samohita, “applied”

257
dichotomy of concentration versus insight, a distinction between the resolution into elements
practice in the service of samatha versus in the service of vipassana came to be drawn. The
appendix considers the practice exclusively in the service of insight but in so doing conjures up a
new notion of a version of the practice entirely divorced from insight. A similar vipassana-
oriented appendix occurs at the end of the treatment of the four formless attainments (aruppa-
samapatti-s), concerning the ubhatobhagavimutto arahant (vv.1482-1483), the arahant who has
cultivated insight in addition to the four formless attainments, and has thus attained the most
exalted soteriological status, beyond even these. Anuruddha likewise treats the six abhiñña-s in a
distinctively hierarchical manner, drawing a heavy-handed distinction between what he in fact
terms the five abhiñña-s (panc' abhinna, v. 1486, in contrast to the usual mode of referring to
them cf. cha abhinna), which are described explicitly as mundane (lokiya), in contrast to the
culminating abhinna, asavakkhayanaṇa, the "knowledge of the ending of the effluents" which is
specified as the uniquely transcendental direct knowledge, and contingent on the development of
insight. One who develops abhiñña in its "sixfold peerless form" chadhabhiññam anuttaraṃ), is
termed a great arahant who has made an end of the effluents (mahakhīṇasavo) and is therefore a
chalabhinno, one who is in possession of all six abhinna-s (vv. 1502-1502). Anuruddha
concludes his chapter and treatment of the samatha objects thus, bringing, as is his tendency, his
exegesis even of the samatha objects to culmination in nibbana with reference to vipassana.

Contents:

• The Four Immeasurables or Brahmaviharas (appamanna) (v. 1298);

• The Perception "Repulsive" in Food (aharapaṭikkulasanna) (v. 1424);
• The Resolution into the Four Elements (catu-dhatu-vavatthanaṃ) (v.1445);
◦ Vipassana appendix: Vipassana on the basis of catu-dhatu-vavatthana (vv.1461)
• The Formless Attainments (aruppa-samapatti-s) (v. 1464);
◦ Vipassana appendix: Vipassana & the aruppa-samapatti-s: the ubhatobhagavimutto
arahant (vv.1482-1483)
• The Six Direct Knowledges (cha abhiñña) (v. 1484).
◦ Appendix: Vipassana and fivefold vs. sixfold abhiñña: the Mahakhīṇasavo arahant (v.
1502).

10. dasamo paricchedo Chapter 10

sesakammaṭṭhānavibhāgo The Remaining Objects

The Brahma-viharas; Aharapaṭikkulasanna;
Catu-dhatu-vavatthanaṃ; & the Aruppa-
samapatti-s. The Six Abhinna-s.

Appamañña (Brahma-vihara-s)

258
(Preface: the dangers of ill-will and the virtues of khanti)
(vv. 1298-1337)
byapadadīnavaṃ disva, khemabhavañ ca Seeing the danger in ill-will,
khantiyaṃ, and in forbearance the state of safety,
appamañña tu bhavento, vineyya paṭighaṃ how, developing the immeasurables,
kathaṃ? 1298 does one curb hostility?*

Byapadadīnavaṃ: The Dangers of Ill-will (vv. 1299-1316)

ceto-santapano kodho, sampasadavikopano; Anger has the quality of burning the consciousness
virūpabībhacchakaro, mukhavaṇṇappadhaṃsano. it touches;
1299
unsettling the peace;
it makes one ugly and repellent,
destroying one's countenance.
sīlakalussiyuppado, cittavikkhepasambhavo; There is the arising, due to it, of lurking taints in
paññapajjotaviddhaṃsī, paṭipattivibandhako. 1300 sīla,
and production of distraction in samadhi;
it puts out the light of panna,
halting progress on the path.
apayekayano maggo, papakaṇṭakabandhako; It is a path that leads directly to the lower worlds;
dhammamaggasamucchedī, maggadvarapidhanako. impeding with unwholesomeness's thorn,
1301
it cuts off dhamma's path completely;
closing off the entrance to the path.
yasovaṇṇavisankharo, guṇamūlappabhañjako; It's one's praise and fame's undoing,
dukkhadhammasamodhano, byasanopaddavakaro. shattering one's virtues at the root;
1302
it imbues one with the factors of affliction,
a mine of endless troubles and distress.
dunnimittam idaṃ jataṃ, It's this that, when arisen, is a portent of
sabbasampattidhaṃsanaṃ; dhūmaketusamuppado, misfortune,
sabbalokavinasako. 1303 and one's every fortune's ruination;
it's a smoke-trailed comet's rising,
leaving every world in ruins.*
sabbakalyaṇadhammanaṃ, avamangalam uṭṭhitaṃ; Arisen, it's a harbinger of loss
hitarambhasamugghatī, antarayasamagamo. 1304 for all auspicious mental factors;

1298
* The opening portion of Anuruddha's exposition is structured in terms of identifying the adinava in anger and
the virtues of khanti, in accord with the Vism exposition of metta as a samatha object: Cf. Vism. IX §1: adito
tava dose adinavo, khantiyan ca anisaṃso paccavekkhitabbo.
1299
—
1300
sīlakālussiyuppādo: sīlakalusiyuppado (Ee); sīlakalussiyuppado (Be). Both forms are found.
1301
—
1302
—
1303
* dhumaketu (comet, literally 'smoke-pennanted-one') can mean comet or simply fire. The line could also be
interpreted as: “It's the sparking of a fire / that leaves all the world in ashes”. I take “comet” as the more likely
meaning here, since this is more coherent with the first line's augur/omen of ill fortune (dunnimitta), as a
similarly inauspicious sign.

259
 overturning efforts for welfare,
bringing them to impasse.
sabbakarapaṭikkūlaṃ, sabbaviddesakaraṇaṃ; Repugnant in every aspect,
vipattimukham uppannaṃ, amittajanapatthitaṃ. 1305
it's every hatred's cause;
it comes up in the guise of fortune turning
as one's enemies' wish fulfilled.
sapattakaraṇaṃ ghoraṃ, sabbanatthavidhayakaṃ; It effects one's enemies' cruel bidding,
bhayam antarato jataṃ, taṃ jano navabujjhati. 1306 bringing about every sort of harm;
it's a danger arisen from within;
that people fail to see.
khuradharaṃ lihanta 'va, gilanta 'va hutasanaṃ; Like people licking a razor's edge,
tittalabuṃ 'va khadanta, gaṇhanta 'dittam ayudhaṃ. or putting fire down their throat,
1307
or eating a bitter gourd,
or grasping a red-hot blade --
byapadam attasambhavam attaghaññaya kevalaṃ; Unthinkingly they play with
upalalenti dummedha, ghoram asīvisaṃ yatha. 1308 ill-will, to which they themselves have given rise
exclusively for their own harm,
as one might a fearsome snake.
dosatejena rukkho 'va, susirarūlhapavako; With the fierceness of the anger,
anto 'nuḍayhamana 'pi, vipphandanti vighatino. 1309
like a tree with fire in its hollow,
they, too, burning up inside // smoldering within
writhe as they're brought down.
navabujjhanti dummedha, cetosankappavayuna; Unknowing they don't realize
ukkamukham iv' adittam ujjalanta punappunaṃ. 1310
that they're flaring up time and again
from the wind-blast of their mind's intention
like a blacksmith's furnace fired.
bhayamaggasamarūlha, khemamaggavirodhino; Embarked upon a dangerous path,
byapanna kibbisakiṇṇa, atthadvayavirodhino 1311 and opposed to the path of peace,
hostile and awash in misdeeds,
they act against the welfare of both others and
themselves.
anatha sallakaviddha, visaṭṭa anusocino; Pierced by a dart, and with no one to save them,
1304
sabbakalyāṇadhammānaṃ: APB: sabbakallyaṇadhammanaṃ (Ee); sabbakalyaṇadhammanaṃ (Be);
1305
amittajanapatthitaṃ: APB: amittajanapatthitaṃ, var. amittajanapaṭṭanaṃ (Ee); amittajanapatthitaṃ (Be)
1306
* cf. Kodhanasutta, AN 7.64, which begins: satt' ime, bhikkhave, dhamma sapattakanta sapattakaraṇa
kodhanaṃ agacchanti itthiṃ va purisaṃ va. and has among its concluding verses: anatthajanano kodho, kodho
cittappakopano / bhayam antarato jataṃ, taṃ jano navabujjhati.
1307
tittālābuṃ: APB: tittalabuṃ (Ee); tittalabuṃ (Be).
1308
upalāḷenti: APB: upalalenti (Ee); upalalenti (Be).
1309
susirārūḷha-: APB: susirarūlha-, var. susiradaḍḍha- (Ee); susirarulha- (Be);
'nuḍayhamānā: 'nuḍayhamana (Ee); 'nudayhamana (Be).
1310
cetosankappavāyunā: cetosankappavayuna (?) [sic] (Ee); cetosankappavayuna (Be);
ukkāmukham: ukkamukham (Ee); ukkamukham (Be).
1311
˚samārūḷhā: ˚samarūlha (Ee); ˚samarulha (Be).

260
andha viya miga 'raññe, bhamanti hatacakkhuka. like blinded deer in the jungle
1312
they roam, stricken by its poison, and in grief,
their sight destroyed.*
asaṃvihitakammanta, bala kodhavasanuga; With their erratic deeds
khippaṃ lakkhipariccatta, yasobhogehi dhaṃsare. people of immature wisdom fall under the sway of
1313
anger,
and, abandoned by good-fortune,
soon find themselves bereft of fame and wealth.
duppaṭippaditarambha, kodhasankhobhamohita, All their efforts wrongly undertaken,
dhammamatarasassadaṃ, na vindanti aviddasu. 1314 those confused by anger's great commotion,
unseeing, don't obtain the taste
of the savor of the deathless in the dhamma.
bahvadīnavam icc' evam anto byadhim iv' uṭṭhitaṃ, Lowly people disregard
jatanalam iv' ucchange, ajjhupekkhanti dujjana. 1315 (anger) and its many dangers thus,
sprung up like an illness from within
like fire sprung to life in one's own lap.
codīyamana dukkhehi, klesaciṇṇamalīmaha, Spurred on by their sufferings,
papakammehi pūrenta, senti maccupathe 'ciraṃ. 1316 grown heavy with the defilements' chronic dirt,
filling up with their unwholesome deeds,
soon enough they lie down on the way to death.
The advantages of khanti (vv.1317-1337)
tam evaṃ paṭisankhaya, paṭighaṃ pana yoniso; And for the safety of the yogī
valamigaṃ 'va dhavantaṃ, avisantaṃ 'va who carefully observes ill-will
rakkhasaṃ; 1317 properly like this,
& and fears it as if fearing
a wild beast running amok;
pavakaṃ 'va paribyūlhaṃ, bhayamanassa yogino, an evil spirit taking hold;
sotthibhavaya khemantam upaññattaṃ mahesina, or fire that surrounds him--
1318
a safe refuge (khemantaṃ)
was made known by the great seeker:
mata kalyaṇadhammanaṃ, khama nama The mother of auspicious mental factors
mahiddhika; called forbearance, great her powers:

1312
sallakāviddhā: sallakaviddha, variants sallakaviṭṭha; sankitaviṭṭa; sankaṭaviṭṭha (Ee); sallakaviddha (Be); SK:
not salaka "sticks"?
* Understanding sallaka ('dart') as a (poisoned) arrow, and aṭṭa = Skt arta, "afflicted".
1313
lakkhipariccattā: lakkhipariccatta (Ee); lakkhiṃ pariccatta (Be).
1314
—
1315
evam: evaṃ (Ee); evam (Be);
anto: mando (Ee); anto (Be); reading anto-byadhi an "illness (arisen) from within"
byādhim iv' uṭṭhitaṃ: byadhim iv' uṭṭhitaṃ, var. byapada-vuṭṭhitaṃ (Ee); byadhim iv' uṭṭhitaṃ (Be).
1316
codīyamānā: codīyamana (Ee); codayamana (Be).
'ciraṃ: ciraṃ (Ee); ciraṃ (Be); reading 'ciraṃ, “soon”.
1317
—
1318
paribyūḷhaṃ: paribbūlhaṃ (Ee); paribyulhaṃ (Be).

261
samappavatti sattesu, sabbasampattisadhika. 1319 even temper toward all beings,
bringing into being every fortune.

kodhanalajalaseko, sokopayasanasanaṃ; It's the sprinkling of water on angers' fire

aghatasallaniddharī, upanahavimocanaṃ. 1320 and the warding off of sorrow and despair;
it removes the dart of resentment,
and sets one free from grudge.
vaṇṇakittisamuṭṭhanaṃ, guṇamūlabhisevanaṃ; It's the rising up of praise and of renown;
aparutamukhaṃ c' etam atthadvayasamiddhiya. 1321 the tending to good qualities at the root;
it's this that has a face that's unconcealed,
with its accomplishment of both one's own and
others' good.
vighatapariyadanam asavanam asesato; Its end is the destruction
paṭipassambhanaṃ ceto-pītikaraṇacandanaṃ. 1322 of the effluent toxins (asava-s) without remainder;
it is calming down, and cooling
sandal paste, delighting to the mind.
sabbadukkhasamugghatī, sukhupaṭṭhanam It is the extirpation of all dukkha,
uttamaṃ; and sukha's highest coming into presence;
byasanodayavicchedo, bhayabheravaniggamo. 1323 it is the cutting off of difficulty's rising,
and fear and terror's downfall.
cetopasadasandhano, pasadikaphalavaho; It's the forging of a bond with mental peace
pavaro bodhisambharo, naranaranisevito. 1324 that brings to one the peaceful fruits;
it's awakening's foremost requisite,
pursued by men and gods.
papakantaranittharo, caturapayarodhako; It's the way out from the wasteland of the
dvaravapuraṇañ c' etaṃ, devalokūpapattiya. 1325 unwholesome
that closes off the four lower worlds;
and it's this that is the key that opens the way
to rebirth in the deva worlds.
paññasīlasamadhanaṃ, paṭipattivisodhano; It's the drawing together of wisdom and virtue;
piyankaro sommabhavo, dullabho bahupatthito. 1326
clearing the way for progress on the path
it's the delightful peaceful state
that is sought after by many, but hard to find.
klesasankhobhavikkhepa-vipannapaṭibandhanaṃ; It's the thwarted captivation

1319
—
1320
—
1321
guṇamūlābhisevanaṃ: ˚mūladhisevanaṃ (Ee); ˚mūlabhisevanaṃ (Be);
c' etam: c'etam (Ee); ve 'tam (Be).
1322
ceto-pītikaraṇacandanaṃ: ceto pītikaraṇacandanaṃ (Ee); ceto-pītikaraṇacandanaṃ (Be).
1323
˚samugghātī: ˚samugghatī (Ee); ˚samugghati (Be).
1324
cetopasādasandhāno: cetopasadasandhano, var. cetopaharasantano (!) (Ee); cetopasadasandhano (Be).
1325
—
1326
—

262
titikkhaguṇam akkhatam arakkhavidhim attano. 1327 of the defilements' commotion and distraction;
it's the quality of tolerance, declared
the means of self-protection.
vihiṃsaratisarambha-paṭirodhavimocanaṃ; It's freedom from the obstructions
verikibbisaviddhaṃsī, lokanuggahakaraṇaṃ. 1328 of violence, discontent, and strife;
it's inimical misconduct's complete eradication,
an act of kindness to the people of the world.
dhammapajjotakaraṇaṃ, saṃyogamalasodhanaṃ; It is the spreading of the dhamma's light,
sammohatimiruddharī, sampattipaṭipadanaṃ. 1329 and the washing off of bondage's taint;
it lifts the darkness of delusion,
and brings about attainment.
icc' att'atthaṃ par'atthañ ca, sampadetva Thus having brought about one's own
khamaparo, and others' good, the one intent on forbearance
sadheti sabbasampattim idha c' eva parattha ca. 1330 brings about the accomplishment of every
attainment
both here and with respect to the next world.
titikkhaguṇasampanno, paṇabhūtanukampako, Endowed with the virtue of tolerance,
anakulitakammanto, sorato sakhilo suci. 1331 sympathetic to (the welfare) of all beings,
as one with action free of agitation,
gentle, congenial, and pure,
nivato samitacaro, subhago piyadassano, humble and of peaceful demeanor,
paṭisankhabalappatto, dhitima matipaṭavo. 1332 graced by good fortune whose sight is dear to
others,
endowed the powers of reflection,
resolute in wisdom, and clever in thought,
akkhobho adhivasento, sabbanatthe parissaye, in (the face of) every injury and crisis,
bhīmasangamavacaro, hatthinago 'va sobhati. 1333 he shines resplendent like an elephant of war
in the midst of frightful battle,
enduring it unshakably.
itthaṃ samantato bhaddaṃ, titikkhaṃ Mentally reviewing tolerance like this,
paccavekkhato, as wholly good in every way,
passambheti samuṭṭhaya, khama forbearance arises in him and allays
byapadasambhamaṃ. 1334 ill-will's agitation.
dibb'osadham iv' atankaṃ, meghajaṃ 'va Like a healing salve one's sickness;
1327
˚vipannapaṭibandhanaṃ: ˚vipannapaṭibandhanaṃ (Ee); ˚vipphandapaṭibandhanaṃ (Be).
1328
1329
˚uddhārī: ˚uddharī (Ee); ˚uddhari (Be);
sampattipaṭipādanaṃ: sampatti-paṭipadanaṃ (Ee); sammatta-paṭipadanaṃ (Be).
1330
—
1331
—
1332
—
1333
akkhobho: akkhobho, var. akkodho (Ee); akkhobho (Be). akkhobbho (gerundive) would seem more apt – does
the form represent a gerundive, bbh shortened to bh to keep the o from shortening due to law of mora?
1334
—

263
hutasanaṃ; like a cloud-burst a raging fire;
khippam antaradhapeti, titikkha kodham attano. 1335 tolerance quickly causes
his own anger to vanish.
tato 'nekaguṇopetaṃ, nekadosappabhañjanaṃ, And then, with a mind steadfast and uplifted,
khantidhammam adhiṭṭhaya, pasannadhīramanaso. resolved upon the quality forbearance,
1336
possessed of countless virtues,
and shattering countless aversions,
bhaveyya paṭhamaṃ tava, _mettabhavanam_ he should first develop
uttamaṃ; the peerless cultivation of goodwill
attanam upamaṃ katva, sattesu hitabuddhiya. 1337 with a mind of welfare toward all beings, *
having put himself, by analogy, in their place.

Metta-bhavana: The Cultivation of Goodwill (vv.1338-1349)

sabbe satta ca paṇa ca, bhūta jīva ca puggala, May all beings and living creatures,
abyapajja tatha 'vera, anīgha ca sukhedhino. 1338 all creatures, lives, and persons,
be free of hatred and ill-will,
and free of want, abound in happiness.*
vijjasampattibhogehi, pavaḍḍhantu yasassino; May they grow in glory
parivarabalappatta, bhayopaddavavajjita. 1339 with wisdom, fortune, and enjoyments,
attaining strength, and, all around, support,
devoid of fears and troubles.
sakhila sukhasambhasa, aññamaññavirodhino, Congenial and easily conversing,
modantu suhita sabbe, ma kiñci papam agama. 1340 without opposing one another,
may they all enjoy, well-sated,
may no wrong come.
saddhapamojjabahula, danasīlamahussava, With abundant faith and joy,
guṇabhūsitasantana, ayuṃ palent' anamayaṃ. 1341 with great celebration of giving and virtue,
may they live long and healthy lives,
their offspring graced by virtues.
sammadiṭṭhiṃ purodhaya, saddhammapaṭipattiya, With progress on the path of dhamma
aradhentu hitopayam accantasukhasadhanaṃ. 1342 preceded by right view

1335
meghajaṃ 'va: meghajaṃ 'va, var. meghajalaṃ (Ee); meghajjavaṃ (Be);
kodham: kayam, var. kodham (Ee); kodham (Be). APB's preference of the reading kayam is difficult to
understand.
1336
pasannadhīramānaso: sampanna-thira-manaso (Ee); pasannadhīramanaso (Be).
1337
hitabuddhiyā: hitabuddhiya (Ee); hitavuḍḍhiya (Be).
* I take the reading ˚buddhiya as preferrable, given the context, despite the rarity of the word in Pali usage. I take
it as analogous to the expressions "sattesu hitamanasaṃ" at v. 1343 and majjhattamanasa and samamanasa at
1383 and 1400, respectively.
1338
* for meaning of igha, (here rendered “want”), cf. PED "nigha": “...Otherwise always combd with nirasa: S
i.12=23,141; Sn 1048, 1060, 1078. Expld correctly at SnA 590 by ragadi -- īgha -- virahita.”
1339
—
1340
—
1341
—

264
 may they be favored by the welfare of the means
to bring about the happiness that's all-surpassing.
iti nanappakarena, sattesu hitamanasaṃ, In many ways, like this,
mata 'va piyaputtamhi, pavatteyya nirantaraṃ. 1343 he should continuously give rise
to a mind of welfare toward all beings,
like a mother toward a much-loved child.
sinehaṃ parivajjento, byapadañ ca vinasayaṃ, Avoiding base attractions,
parisuddhena cittena, hitakamo 'va kevalaṃ. 1344 and driving out ill-will,
with mind completely pure
wishing only welfare,
mettaya mitte majjhatte, verike ca yathakkamaṃ, he should suffuse with goodwill
karonto sīmasambhedaṃ, attani ca samaṃ phare. friends, neutral acquaintances, and foes, in succession,
1345
and, causing the breaking-down of boundary,
himself as well, all equally.*
asevantassa tass' evaṃ, hitabhogasamahitaṃ, Repeatedly practicing thus,
sattapaññattim arabbha, samadhiyati manasaṃ. 1346 concentrated with the inclination toward welfare
on the basis of the concept "beings",
his mind converges in samadhi.
tato anīgho ekaggo, upasantamanoratho, And then with single-pointed focus, free of hatred,
jhanattikaṃ catukkaṃ va, mettacetovimuttiya. 1347 and with his own desires laid to rest,
he enters into the three or four jhana-s*
& with the (temporary) mental liberation [from suffering]
through metta:
bhūmidesadisasatta-bhedabhinnesu odhiso, in part or whole -- (towards beings) divided by
yathasambhavam appeti, sabbasattesv anodhiso. 1348 distinctions of sphere, place, or direction,
as per their belonging --
or toward all beings (without distinction).
tadevam ekasattamhi, paricchedaniyamato, And thus according to the limitation of its scope,
bahukesu ca sattesu, sabbesu ca pavattati. 1349 it can function toward a single being,

1342
accantasukhasādhanaṃ: accanta-sukhasadhanaṃ (Ee); accantaṃ sukhasadhanaṃ (Be).
1344
—
1343
—
1345
* A hallmark of the practice of metta as expounded in the Vism is the cultivation of "sīma-sambheda", "the
breaking-down of boundary" between oneself and others (specifically, between the four categories of friend,
neutral acquaintance, enemy, and oneself). Cf. Vism IX §40-43. When this has been accomplished, upacara
samadhi is said to arise instantaneously toward any recipient of goodwill's mental representation, and appana to
become viable on the basis of this object: 253. evaṃ M.1.301 V.1.298 sīmasambhedasamakalameva ca imina
bhikkhuna nimittañca upacarañca laddhaṃ hoti. sīmasambhede pana kate tameva nimittaṃ asevanto bhavento
bahulīkaronto appakasireneva pathavīkasiṇe vuttanayeneva appanaṃ papuṇati (Vism IX §43).
1346
samādhiyati: samadhīyati (Ee); samadhiyati (Be). cf. additional instances at vv. 1206 & 1675.
1347 *
according to the sutta or abhidhamma reckoning of the jhana-s, respectively (only equanimity being conducive
to the fourth jhana (fifth by abhidhamma reckoning)).
1348
—
1349
—

265
 or many beings,
or all.

Karuṇa-bhavana: The Cultivation of Compassion (vv.1350-1368)

tathasevitasantano, mettacetovimuttiya, With a mind-stream repeatedly conditioned thus
_karuṇabhavana-yogam arabheyya tato paraṃ. 1350 with (temporary) liberation [from suffering]
through metta,
he should then begin applying himself
to the cultivation of compassion...
sattanaṃ dukkhitakaram avajjitvana yoniso, ...thoroughly adverting
"aho dukkha vimuccantu, sabbe satta" ti cintayaṃ. to the aspect of beings' being pained,
1351
and thinking, "oh, may all these beings
be freed from pain!"
kathaṃ? maṇavako 'yañ ca, bhayabheravakampito, How? This young student, too,
byasanopaddavaviṭṭho, vipphandati vighatava. 1352 wracked with fear and terror,
in the grips of his trouble and distress,
trembles in his plight.
tatha h' ete vimosaya, paṭipanna virodhino; But just so these who stop him,
sabyapajja vihaññanti, cetodukkhasamappita. 1353 set out for the sake of crime --
they're tormented with their ill-will,
wholly steeped in mental pain.
ath' aññe paridevanti, vipattivinipatika; And there are others, still, who weep,
padhūpayitasankappa, sokopayasabhagino. 1354 brought down by the misfortune;
with thickly clouded thoughts,
partaking in the sorrow and despair.
athapare parabhūta, kamaklesavasīkata, And then other beings who, overpowered,
mohandhakarapakkhanta, satta gacchanti duggatiṃ. under the sway of their desires and afflictions,
1355
set out in the darkness of delusion,*
go toward bad rebirth.
te tattha kaṭukaṃ ghoram anubhonta sakaṃ Experiencing therein
phalaṃ; the fiercely bitter fruit of their own making,
dukkhasūlasamaviddha, baha paggayha kandare 1356 impaled on suffering's stake,
they hold out their arms and sob.
dīgharattadhimuttaya, devalokasamiddhiya, The hosts of devas fall away
devakaya vihayanti, akama parivattino. 1357 from the abundance of the deva world

1350
tathāsevitasantāno: tatha 'sevitasantano (Ee); tathasevitasantano (Be).
1351
—
1352
āviṭṭho: aviṭṭho (Ee); aviddho (Be).
1353
sabyāpajjā: sabyapajjha (Ee); sabyapajja (Be).
1354
padhūpayitasankappa: padhūpayita-sankappa (Ee); padhupayikasankappa (Be).
1355 *
reading pakkhanta as = pakkanta, as past participle of pakkamati rather than pakkhandhati cf. sutta usage.
1356
—
1357
devakāyā: devakaya, var. devaloka (Ee); devakaya (Be).

266
 to which they'd long been given,
whisked away against their will. *
cirakalaṃ jalitvana, sūriyo 'va nabhantare, And having blazed for long,
brahmano 'pi patant' eva, brahmalokaparayaṇa. 1358 like the sun in the sky above,
even brahma-s surely fall,
not headed for (rebirth in) the brahma world.
khandhapañcakam icc' evaṃ, dukkhabharaṃ Bearing the burden of the five aggregates,
samubbahaṃ, a heavy load of suffering, like this,
nanagatisu vikkhittaṃ, paṇajataṃ vihaññati. 1359 cast about in many destinations of rebirth
the whole of living beings struggles.
anatham anayapannaṃ, parihanibhayakulaṃ, It's whisked about
vatamaṇḍalikakkhitta-pakkhī 'va parivattati. 1360 like a bird cast into a whirlwind,
in peril and with no one who can save it,
beside itself with fear of being lost.
iti disvana sutva va, sambhavetvana tu puna, Having (oneself) seen as much, or heard (from
dukkhapagamam icchanto, dukkhapagama others),
patthayaṃ, 1361 or else imagined it as so,*
desiring (beings') suffering to go away,
seeking for (beings') suffering to go away,
sukhitesu ca medhavī, dukkhakaram anussaraṃ, recalling, with one's wisdom,
pavatteyya dayapanno, karuṇabhavanappanaṃ. 1362 the aspect of suffering with reference to happy
beings as well,
feeling pity one should undertake
the absorption based on cultivation of compassion:

* for the translation of parivattino, "turning / transforming" (here: 'whisked away') cf. the apparent whirlwind
metaphor of v.1360, below, in the context of which Anuruddha seems to be using it.
1358
brahmalokāparāyaṇā: brahmalokaparayaṇa (Ee); brahmalokaparayaṇa (Be). Obviously the Be reading is
correct.
1359
dukkhabhāraṃ samubbahaṃ: dukkhabhara-samubbahaṃ (Ee); dukkhagaraṃ samubbahaṃ (Be). Both the
readings dukkha-bharaṃ and dukkha-agaraṃ would be grammatically viable. The dukkha-agara reading would
be more novel. Dukkha-bhara would be in line with the famous bharaharo puggalo' image, cf. bharasutta, SN
22: 22, in which the five aggregates are likened to a heavy load or burden (“bhara”) and the empirical individual
(puggala) likened to the load's bearer (bharaharo puggalo). I take the dukkhabhara reading, since this has
greater precedent.
nānāgatisu: nanagatīsu (Ee); nanagatisu (Be). The pali form in short -i can be regarded as archaic and poetic.
1360
anayāpannaṃ: anayapannaṃ, var. manasapannaṃ (Ee); anayapannaṃ (Be).
1361
sambhāvetvāna: sambhavetvana, var. taṃ bhavetvana (Ee); sambhavetvana (Be). For preference of sam- cf.
Vism IX §109 and cf. v. 1376.
tu puna: tu puna (Ee); va puna (Be). cf. punappunaṃ of v.1376.
dukkhāpagama patthayaṃ: dukkhapagama-pattha-yaṃ (Ee); dukkhapagama patthayaṃ (Be). I take patthayaṃ
as simply a present participle and the accusative case marker of apagama[ṃ] dropped due to metrical necessity,
analogous in sense to the expression "sabbadukkhasamugghataṃ, patthento" in v. 1367 below. I am not sure
what meaning APB had in mind in the above reading.
* For the phrase, disva va sutva va, sambhavetva va, cf. Vism IX §109 with analogous reference to karuṇa and
"dukkhapanayanaṃ"
1362
karuṇābhāvanappanaṃ: ˚bhavanappanaṃ, var. ˚bhavanaṃ pana (Ee); ˚bhavanappanaṃ (Be).

267
"aho satta vimuccantu, dukkhadhammehi sabbatha; Oh, may beings be freed
sadhu [sammant'] upayasa, soka ca paridevana. 1363 entirely from suffering's mental factors;
may their despairs be quelled, [reading sammantu]
their sorrows and their cries.
"khīyantu papadhamma ca, passambhant' amaya May their unwholesome mental factors come to an
tatha; end
saṃklesa palibodha ca, samucchijjantu paṇinaṃ. and their afflictions be allayed;
1364
may the defilements and hindrances
of living beings desist.
"byapada ca vihayantu, vinivattant' upaddava; May their ill-wills dwindle*
byasanani vinassantu, vigacchantu vipattiyo. 1365 and their troubles be averted;
may their distresses all be banished;
may their misfortunes disappear.
"vihesa ca vighata ca, khīyantu[;] bhayabherava, May disturbances and injuries to them
paṭikkamantu; vissattha, sotthiṃ passantu paṇino." come to an end; may frightening and terrifying
1366
things retreat;* taking heart,
may all beings see well-being.
icc' evam anukampanto, sabbasatte 'pi sabbatha, Sympathizing thus,
sabbadukkhasamugghataṃ, patthento karuṇayati. wishing for the removal of all their dukkha,
1367
he feels compassion (karuṇa)
for all beings, one and all, in every way.

1363
[sammant'] upāyāsā: em. from samentupayasa (Ee); samentupayasa (Be). In spite of the agreement of
Buddhadatta's edition and the chaṭṭha-sangayana edition, I feel that emendation from samentu to an implied
sammantu is the only option here, since samentu ("come together") makes no sense here. Understanding a
causative samentu is equally problematic, since soka and upayasa are clearly the subjects of the verb cannot be
read as accusatives. The only viable reading I can conceive of is sammantu, in the sense of "die down; become
allayed". I therefore emend the text accordingly. There is the additional possibility that the verb eti might have
been intended here in its sense of "to go" rather than "to come"; but in combination with the upasagga sam- ("go
together"?), this seems rather unlikely. Saṃ as an accusative as locus of motion likewise does not render
meaning. The emended sammantu is analogous in form and meaning to the constructions in the immediately
following verse (khiyantu, passambhantu, samucchijjantu) -- NB the Be reading of "passambhentu" (v. 1364)
apparently presents the same problem of conflation of causative and passive or quasi-passive intransitive forms
(see note next verse).
1364
passambhant' āmayā: passambhant' amaya (Ee); passambhentamaya (Be). While it is possible to read amaya as
a n. pl. acc. form, reading it as a nominative (whether m. or n.), subject of the intransitive form of the verb
"passambhantu" would be analogous to the other two constructions in the verse and therefore seems preferable.
NB the conflation of transitive vs. intransitive forms presented by the variants is identical to the problem that the
reading "samentu" (rather than the expected "sammantu") presents in v.1363.
1365
vinivattant' upaddavā: vinivaṭṭantupaddava (Ee); vinivattantupaddava (Be).
* reading byapada as nom. m. pl.
1366
vissatthā: vissattha (Ee); vissaṭṭha (Be).
* reading bhayabherava as a nom. pl. construing with paṭikkamantu, rather than as a bahubbihi characterizing
the subject (paṇino). Cf. Khandhaparitta's "paṭikkamantu bhutani sariṃsapani ahi-vicchika," etc. to which I take
this expression as analogous, with a subject “frightening and terrifying things” in place of the khandhaparitta's
“beings” (bhutani).
1367
—

268
sokuppattiṃ nivarento, vihiṃsaṃ dūrato haraṃ, Preventing the arising of sorrow (in himself)
mettayam iva papeti, karuṇajhanam appanaṃ. 1368 and removing (his own) harmfulness from afar,
as in metta, he brings about
the absorption of the jhana of compassion.

Mudita: The Cultivation of Joy (vv.1369-1382)

karuṇanantaraṃ yogī, bhaveyya _muditaṃ_ tato; Then after karuṇa the yogī
sattanaṃ sukhitakaram avajjetvana yoniso. 1369 should cultivate happiness for others (muditaṃ);
adverting thoroughly
to the aspect of beings being happy.
kathaṃ? ciraya brahmano, mahateja mahiddhika; How? Brahmas long enjoy
pītibhakkha subhaṭṭhayī, pamodanti niramaya. 1370 happiness without affliction;
with great radiance and power,
living only on joy, and enduringly refulgent.
devakaya mahabhoga, mahesakkha yasassino, The hosts of gods with their great luxuries,
accharaparivarehi, paricarenti nandane. 1371 great in power and in glory,
with entourages of celestial nymphs
amuse themselves in the Nandana gardens.
rajabhisekasampatta, chattacamarabhūsita, Those consecrated king,
adhippaccam adhiṭṭhaya, sukhita rajabhogino. 1372 adorned with parasol (of state) and whisk,
owing to their rulership
know happiness with kingly pleasures.
yathopaṭṭhitabhogehi, tadaññe 'pi ca paṇino, And beings other than these, too,
yathakamitanipphanna, modanti sukhapīṇita. 1373 as per their attendant pleasures,
pleased by happiness, take delight
as and when their wishes are fulfilled.
caturapayika satta, papakammaparikkhaya, The beings of the four lower worlds,
tato cuta 'bhinandanti, sukhaṭṭhane patiṭṭhita. 1374 from the exhaustion of their unwholesome kamma,
celebrate as they're released from them,
established in a happy place.
sabbalayasamugghataṃ, patva lokuttaraṃ padaṃ, And having reached the foothold of the world-
paṭipassaddhadaratha, sukhaṃ modant' anappakaṃ. transcendent,
1375
the uprooting of all harboring of craving,

1368
sokuppattiṃ: sokuppattiṃ (Ee); sokuppattaṃ (Be);
mettāyam iva: metta samiddhaṃ, variants mettasamiddhiṃ; mettayam iva (Ee); mettayamiva (Be). Can iva be
used in "just as" sense? cf. the same phrase is found in v.1382
1369
—
1370
cirāya: cirassaṃ (Ee); ciraya (Be).
1371
—
1372
—
1373
sukhapīṇitā: sukhapīṇita (Ee); sukhapītika (Be).
1374
—
1375
—

269
 those whose every source of distress is
correspondingly allayed
enjoy happiness without measure.
iti disvana sutva va, sambhavetva punappunaṃ, Thus whether having (himself) seen, or heard (from
sattanam adhivasento, sukhakaraṃ pamodati. 1376 others),
bringing about (this reflection) over and over,
he welcomes and takes pleasure
in beings' aspect of being happy.
"aho sadhu aho suṭṭhu, modanti vata paṇino; Oh, wonderful! Oh, good! --
aho suladdhaṃ sattanaṃ, samiddhim for beings indeed have joy!
abhipatthitaṃ. 1377 Oh it's well that beings have gained
the prosperity they wished for!
"pasannamukhavaṇṇa ca, paripuṇṇamanoratha, Serene of countenance,
pītipamojjabahula, ciraṃ jīvantu 'namaya. 1378 their dreams fulfilled,
may they live long without affliction
with abundant joy and happiness.
"bhayamaggam atikkanta, dukkhasanghaṭanissaṭa, Out of danger's path,
khemamaggam anuppatta, pītisampattiphullita. 1379 and emerged from suffering's thicket,
having reached the path of peace,
they are abloom with joy and fortune.
"samagga sahita c' ete, paṭisantharapesala, Harmonious and united, these,
sampattim abhivedenti, kalyaṇaguṇabhūsita" 1380 pleasant in the kindness they extend,
make their fortune known,
adorned by their auspicious qualities.
iti samma piyayanto, sukhadhigamasampadaṃ, Thus rightly finding pleasure in
sattanam abhirocento, muditaya samaṃ pharaṃ, 1381 the good fortune of beings' attainment of happiness,
delighting equally in that and brimming
with mudita (happiness for others),
hitva palasabhisangaṃ, issaratinirankato, setting aside one's compulsion to resent,
mettayam iva papeti, muditajhanam appanaṃ. 1382 with jealousy and discontent discarded,
1376
sattānam: santanam (Ee); sattanam (Be). Taking sattanaṃ as construing with sukhakaraṃ.
1377
—
1378
pasannamukhavaṇṇā: sampannamukhavaṇṇa (Ee); pasannamukhavaṇṇa (Be);
jīvantu 'nāmayā: jīvant' anamaya (Ee); jīvantu 'namaya (Be). It is difficult to determine whether an imperative
or simple indicative is the intended reading. ciraṃ jivati is a standard blessing, so one would expect jivantu;
however, in this case it is possible that beings who are simply living long and prosperous lives are being
considered. Context offers no help, for lack of other finite verbs (except in v.1380, where there is in fact an
indicative). The sandhi of APB's reading could be resolved as jivantu, or, equally, jivanti.
1379
dukkhasanghāṭanissaṭā: dukkhasankharanissaṭa (Ee); dukkhasanghaṭanissaṭa (Be);
pītisampatti-: phītasampatti-, var. pītisampatti- (Ee); pītisampatti- (Be).
1380
sahitā: sahita (Ee); suhita (Be).
paṭisanthāra-: paṭisanthara-, var. paṭisandhana- (Ee); paṭisandhana- (Be).
1381
piyāyanto: piyayanto (Ee); pihayanto (Be). pihayati "wanting or wishing for"; piyayanto "liking; feeling
fondness for". pihayati shows irregular lengthening, which might be metri causa, but piyayati renders a more
suitable meaning in the context of mudita.

270
 as with regard to metta one brings about
the absorption of the jhana based on happiness for
others.

Upekkha: The Cultivation of Equanimity (vv.1383-1395)

muditaṃ pana bhavetva, bhaveyy' _upekkham_ Having cultivated happiness for others,
uttamaṃ. one should cultivate equanimity, highest of all,
virodhanunayaṃ hitva, hutva majjhattamanaso 1383
having set aside all favor and opposition,
and becoming impartially-minded...*
sabhavabhūta lokassa, labhalabhaṃ yasayasaṃ. ...seeing the exclusive gain and loss,
nindapasaṃsaṃ passanto, sukhadukkhañ ca fame and disrepute, blame and praise,
kevalaṃ 1384 and pleasure and pain,
that are the world's nature.
kathaṃ [?] kammassakatta 'yaṃ, loko How? From ownership of deeds
'nuparivattati. this world circles round
lokadhamme parabhūto, attadheyyavivajjito 1385 the dhammas of the world, (viz. the eight loka-
dhamma-s enumerated above),
devoid of self-determination.*
kiṃ nam' atthi samatth' ettha, pavattetuṃ yatharuci; What indeed in this world can be made
kassa va ruciya honti, sukhita va 'tha dukkhita 1386 to happen according to one's preference?
According to whose preference, now,
are beings made happy or unhappy?*
yathapaccayasambhūta, sukhadukkha hi paṇino. For the happiness and unhappiness of a being
na sakka parivattetuṃ, aññena puna kenaci. 1387 are brought about according to conditions
(yathapaccaya);
1382
palāsābhisangaṃ: palasabhissangaṃ (Ee); palasabhisangaṃ (Be).
˚nirankato: ˚nirankato, var. ˚nirakato (Ee); ˚nirankato (Be).
pāpeti: pappoti (Ee); papeti (Be). Cf. vv. 1368 & 1395 parallels with papeti.
1383
—
1384
sabhāvabhūta lokassa: sabhavabhūtaṃ lokassa (Ee); sabhavabhūta lokassa (Be). Reading sabhavabhūta(ṃ)
lokassa; truncated for meter.
sukhadukkhan: sukha-dukkhañ (Ee); sukhaṃ dukkhañ (Be).
1385
kathaṃ [?] kammassakattā 'yaṃ: kata-kammassakatta 'yaṃ, var. kathaṃ kammassakatta 'yaṃ (Ee); kathaṃ
kammassakatatta 'yaṃ [sic] (Be). It appears as if the first line has gotten garbled due to the attempt to read the
technical term kammassakata (ownership of one's deeds) into the verse. I suspect this reading was not intended
and that the reference is simply to kamma and not to kammassakata yet. In APB's reading we lose the important
prompter kathaṃ?, which is present in this position in all the previous verses that introduce the brahmvihara-s'
explanations (and additionally get the irregular technical term -ssakattaṃ, in place of -ssakata).
loko 'nuparivattati: loko 'nuparivattati (Ee); lokanuparivattati (Be)
* atta-dheyya: "to be taken (i.e. regardable) as a self" or att'adheyya? "that belongs to (i.e. constitutes) a self"? cf.
anattadhīna "independent": v.1398; from adhīna "dependent on" (also written adhīna).
1386
kiṃ nām': kinnam' (Ee); kiṃ nam (Be)
* Cf. Vism IX §96 “kammassaka satta, te kassa ruciya sukhita va bhavissanti, dukkhato va muccissanti,
pattasampattito va na parihayissantī” ti evaṃ pavattakammassakatadassanapadaṭṭhana.
1387
yathāpaccayasambhūtā: yathapaccasambhūta-sukhadukkha [sic] (Ee); yathapaccayasambhūta, sukhadukkha
(Be).

271
 and it is not possible for theses to be changed
by any other.
micchamaggam adhiṭṭhaya, vipajjanti ca manava; Resolved upon the wrong path,
sammamaggaṃ purodhaya, sampajjanti pun' attana humans meet with loss;
1388
and proceeding by the right path,
they meet with fortune, by themselves.
tattha kammavasen' ete, parivattanti aññatha; These (beings), then, turn into something else,
yatharucitakammanta, paccekavasavattino 1389 by force of their own acts
according to the acts that they give preference --
each person wielding power over himself.
niratthakavihesa 'yaṃ, maññe lokavicaraṇa; This is a pointless struggle, it would seem
santam etaṃ paṇītañ ca, yadidaṃ tatr' upekkhanaṃ. to think after the world;
1390
peaceful and sublime is this:
to look equanimously upon it.
ahaṃ ko nama? ke c' ete? kim aṭṭhanabudhantaro? Who indeed am I to them, and who are they to me?
pares' upari 'pekkhanto, vihaññamī 'ti attano. 1391 Am I one of those who pry into inappropriate
things?
And [he realizes] of himself that, "Pinning my
hopes on others,
I cause myself distress."
sukhita hontu va ma va, dukkha muccantu va na va; Whether happy or else not;
samiddha va dalidda va, ka mam' ettha vicaraṇa? whether freed from suffering or else not,
1392
whether prosperous or poor,
What involvement have I here?
attanaṃ pariharenti, yathakamaṃ tu paṇino; Beings look after themselves
palibodho papañco va, byapado va na me tahiṃ. 1393 as and how they wish;
I have no hindrance or involvement,
or ill-will therein.
iti sankhay' upekkhanto, hitakamo 'pi paṇinaṃ, Having reckoned thus, regarding equanimously,
apakkhapatupekkhaya, samaṃ pharati yoniso. 1394 even though still wishing for beings' welfare
1388
mānavā: maṇava (Ee); manava (Be).
1389
tattha: satta, var. tattha (Ee); tattha (Be);
kammavasen': kammavasen', var. kayavasen' (Ee); kayavasen' (Be).
1390
~vihesā 'yaṃ: ~vihesaya (Ee); ~vihesayaṃ (Be).
upekkhanaṃ: upekkhana (Ee); upekkhanaṃ (Be).
1391
kim aṭṭhānabudhantaro: kim aṭṭhana-budhantaro, var. kim aṭṭhane vihaññasi? (Ee); kimaṭṭhanabudhantaro
(Be). In verse 210, there is an analogous use of -budha as a root suffix element at the end of a tappurisa
compound occurs. Though quite unusual, an "aṭṭhanabudha" can be taken as "one who comes to know (bujjhati)
inappropriate things (aṭṭhana)".
pares' upari 'pekkhanto: pares' upari pakkhanto, var. padesu paripakkhanto (Ee); pares' upari 'pekkhanto (Be).
attano: attano, var. attana (Ee); attano (Be).
1392
daḷiddā: dalidda (Ee); dalidda (Be).
1393
parihārenti: pariharenti (Ee); pariharantu (Be). The causative is perplexing, and the intended meaning not
immediately apparent. Is the lengthening just for meter and not indicative of causative?
palibodho: palibodho (Ee); palibodho (Be).

272
 he thoroughly suffuses them all equally,
with the equanimity of impartiality.
aññaṇupekkha nikkhanto, anurodhaṃ virajiya, Come out of the equanimity of not knowing,
mettayam iva papeti, pañcamajjhanam appanaṃ. and having caused his preferences of liking (and
1395
disliking) to fade away,
as in metta he causes (his mind) to reach
the absorption of the fifth jhana (according to the
abhidhamma-naya).*

Appamañña-s (conclusion) (appameyyanisaṃsa) (vv.1396-1423)

appamañña catass' evam acikkhi vadataṃ varo; The four immeasurables were related thus
mahapurisadhorayho, hitakamo mahamuni. 1396 by that finest of speakers,
the torch-bearer of great men,
the great, well-wishing sage.
na lingavisabhagamhi, adikammikayogina, They should not be developed by a yogī who's a
bhavetabba matasatte, mettam eva na sabbatha. 1397
beginner
on a being of the opposite sex;
or on a being that's dead;
[specifying] metta only; not in every case.*
pattabbasampadakaraṃ, dukkhakarañ ca paṇisu; Adverting with regard to living beings
avajjaṃ muditakaram anattadhīnataṃ tatha. 1398 to the aspect of good fortune to be gained;
to the aspect of their suffering; or of their taking
joy;
or of it not depending on oneself.
attani duggate mitte, majjhatte 'ti yathakkamaṃ, Having initially begun his practice
paṭhamaṃ bhavanayogam arabhitva tato paraṃ, 1399 with reference to himself, someone in hardship,
a friend, and someone to whom he's impartial,
in that respective order, after that, *
attani mitte majjhatte, verike 'ti catūsu 'pi, breaking down the boundaries
karonto sīmasambhedaṃ, sabbattha samamanaso, between the four -- self, friend,
1400
the one to whom he's impartial,
and the enemy -- with equal mind towards all,

1394
—
1395
mettāyam iva pāpeti: mettayam iva papeti, var. mettaya evaṃ pappoti (Ee); mettayam iva papeti (Be).
* In contrast to the prior brahmaviharas, that of upekkha alone is conducive to the fourth jhana, based on
equanimity (fifth by the abhidhamma reckoning).
1396
—
1397 *
Evidently Anuruddha wants to make clear that these restrictions apply only to one beginning the cultivation of
the four brahmavihara-s, starting with metta, and thus do not apply to the subsequent brahmavihara-s. There is no
explicit verb for the accusative. It is taken as an accusative of emphatic reference.
1398
āvajjaṃ: avajja (Ee); avajjaṃ (Be). Cf. parallel terminology v.1385.
1399
* Taking himself as the initial object of practice with regard to metta; someone in hardship with regard to
karuṇa; a friend with regard to mudita; and someone to whom he's impartial with regard to upekkha.
1400
catūsu 'pi: catūsv api (Ee); catūsu 'pi (Be).

273
bhūmikadippabhedehi, paricchijj' odhiso tatha, and they should be developed, likewise,
aparicchijja va c' eta, bhavetabba 'ti bhasita. 1401 according to having delimited their scope
by way of making distinctions of realm, etc.
or not delimiting it, it's said.
asankhobhitasantana, tahi bhūtanukampaka, Since those who dwell in these with sympathy for
viharant' uttama brahmavihara 'ti tato mata. 1402 beings
and unperturbed mind-streams
dwell supreme, they're therefore regarded
as "godly abidings" (brahma-vihara-s).
appamaṇalambaṇatta, tatha suppaṭipattiya. And likewise, since with progress
sattesu appamaṇatta, appamañña 'ti sammata. 1403 they have objects without measure,
due to the immeasurability in respect of beings,
they are regarded as "immeasurables"
(appamanna).*
asampattahita satta, dukkhita laddhasampada, Having thought respectively of beings
kammassaka 'ti cintetva, tato tesu yathakkamaṃ. who don't have welfare,
1404
who are pained, or meeting with success,
or as owners of their actions, then, toward these:
"sampattīhi samijjhantu, dukkha muccantu paṇino; wishing, "may they prosper with good fortunes;"
aho satta sukhappatta, hontu satta yatha tatha". 1405 "may beings be freed from pain;"
"ah, beings attained to happiness!"
or "let beings be as they are,"
iccabhivuddhim icchanto, dukkhapagamanaṃ for their upliftment
tatha, and so their coming out of pain,
samiddhe anumodanto, upekkhanto ca pīṇite. 1406 and rejoicing in their fortune,
and looking equanimously upon them in their
satisfaction.
mata 'va dahare putte, gilane yobbane ṭhite, Like a mother who proceeds,
sakiccapasute c' eva, catudha sampavattati. 1407 in four ways toward her child: in infancy;

1401
aparicchijja vā c' etā: aparicchijj' atha va c' eta (Ee); aparicchijja va c' eta (Be).
1402
asankhobhitasantānā: asankhobhita-santana, var. asankhotita-sampatta (Ee); asankhotitasantana (Be). Cf. Vism
IX §106: vuccate, seṭṭhaṭṭhena tava niddosabhavena cettha brahmaviharata veditabba. sattesu
sammapaṭipattibhavena hi seṭṭha ete vihara. yatha ca brahmano niddosacitta viharanti, evaṃ etehi sampayutta
yogino brahmasama hutva viharantī 'ti seṭṭhaṭṭhena niddosabhavena ca brahmavihara 'ti vuccanti.
1403
* Cf. Vism IX §110: yasma pana sabba p'eta appamaṇe gocare pavattanti. appamaṇa hi satta etasaṃ gocarabhūta.
ekasattassapi ca ettake padese mettadayo bhavetabbati evaṃ pamaṇaṃ agahetva sakalapharaṇavaseneva
pavattati. tena vuttaṃ — visuddhimaggadivasa catasso, hitadiakaravasa panasaṃ / kamo pavattanti ca appamaṇe,
ta gocare yena tadappamañña ti.
1404
—
1405
—
1406
pīṇite: pīṇite, var. paṇḍito (Ee); pīṇite (Be). Pīṇite does not make much sense here; is the var. paṇdito the better
reading?
iccābhivuddhim: the long a appears superfluous. Presumably metri causa.
1407
yobbane ṭhite: yobbanaṭṭhite (Ee); yobbane ṭhite (Be).
* “proceeds”: the form sampavattati, while extremely rare, does occur. A transitive “sampavatteti” does not

274
 when sick; when in fullness of youth,
and when pursuing his own affairs -- *
itthaṃ catuddha sattesu, samma cittapavattana, just so the fourfold proper attitude of mind
sabbatha 'pi catuddha 'va, tato vutta mahesina. 1408 to have toward beings
was stated by the great seeker
as these four (metta, etc.).
icc' eta pana bhavento, pasannamukhamanaso, And the one developing these four,
sukhaṃ supati sutto 'pi, papaṃ kiñci na passati. 1409
serene of face and heart,
sleeps in ease and while asleep
sees also no bad [dream];
paṭibujjhat' anutraso, jagaro ca pamodati; He wakes up without fright,
cetaso ca samadhanaṃ, khippam evadhigacchati. and while awake feels joy;
1410
and swiftly he attains
concentration of the mind.
parissaya pahīyanti, vigacchanti c' upaddava; His dangers are forsaken,
devata 'pi ca rakkhanti, amuyhantaṃ anakulaṃ, 1411
his troubles disappear;
the deities protect him;
& and unconfused and undisturbed,*
phullaṃ 'va kamalaṃ kale, candaṃ 'va vimalaṃ like a lotus in full bloom, at the time of his death,
jano. people regard him with eyes full of affection,
sommakomaladhammehi, piyacakkhūhi passati. 1412 with his qualities of tenderness and calm,
pure like the moon.
asaṃhīro asaṃkuppo, sabbavatthasu paṇḍito, Unshakable, undisturbable,
samaṃ pavattitarambho, lokam eso 'nugaṇhati. 1413 in all situations wise,

seem to occur at all. The subject of the verb is somewhat ambiguous, whether "he" is intended (following from
the previous verses) or "it". c' eva should perhaps be read as c' evaṃ.

Cf. Vism IX §108 for the four attitudes of a mother towards her four sons: yatha mata
daharagilanayobbanappattasakiccapasutesu catūsu puttesu daharassa abhivuḍḍhikama hoti, gilanassa
gelaññapanayanakama, yobbanappattassa yobbanasampattiya ciraṭṭhitikama, sakakiccapasutassa kismiñci
pariyaye abyavaṭa hoti, tatha appamaññaviharikenapi sabbasattesu mettadivasena bhavitabbaṃ. tasma ito
visuddhimaggadivasa catassova appamañña.

Note: It is possible that Anuruddha is modifying the Vism account of four sons in favor of a single son in four
different situations, thus offering a more cogent analogy.
1408
catuddhā (pada a): catuddha [but cf. catudha in previous verse] (Ee); catudha (Be).
1409
—
1410
jāgaro ca: jagaro ca (Ee); jagaro 'va (Be).
samādhānaṃ: samodhanaṃ (Ee); samadhanaṃ (Be).
1411
* The last element would normally be + [at the time of death] Cf. Vism IX §75 "asammūlho kalaṃ karoti”, “he
dies unconfused”. It is not quite clear if the kale in the next verse refers to the time of death in this context, or to
a lotus in its season. This line may be read as independent or as construing with the next verse (reading as people
seeing him at the time of his death as amuyhantaṃ anakulaṃ, “unconfused and undisturbed”, like a lotus in full
bloom, etc. I read it in this way.
1412
—
1413
sabbāvatthāsu: sabbavatthasu; notes var. sabbasattesu (Ee); sabbavatthasu (Be).

275
 balanced in the effort he applies,
this person graces the world.
khaṇamattopacar' eka, pavatt' ekamhi puggale, [Any] one [of them] occuring for even an instant of
appamaṇaphalī tv eva, vaṇṇayanti mahesino. 1414 upacara (concentration approximating jhana)
upon a single individual,
and great seekers describe
one as having the immeasurables' fruit;
pageva sabbasattesu, appaṇapattabhavana, let alone the practice attained to absorption
catasso 'pi samībhūta, vasībhūta nirantaraṃ. 1415 on the basis of all beings,
all four becoming equal[ly developed],
mastered and continuous[ly maintained].
puññadhara 'bhisandanta, paripūrenti paṇḍitaṃ; The flowing streams of merit
appameyyamahogho 'va, sagaraṃ vīci-malinaṃ. 1416 fill that wise one to the brim;
like an immeasurably great flood
[filling up] the sea [and making it] garlanded with
waves.
appamaññamayanaṃ hi, puññanaṃ solasiṃ kalaṃ, It's said that all the merits conducive to rebirth
sabbopadhikapuññani, nagghantī 'ti pakasitaṃ. 1417 do not equal in worth
one sixteenth part the merits
of which the immeasurables consist.
avañjha tassa pabbajja, yassa h' etasu garavo; His going forth is not in vain
sukhumodagyabahulo, tīsu sikkhasu sikkhati. 1418 who has regard for these;
for with plentiful and subtle exultation
he trains himself in [all] three trainings.
amoghaṃ raṭṭhapiṇḍañ ca, bhuñjat' eso visesato; And such a one as this does not consume
tamhi mahapphalaṃ hoti, saddhadeyyaṃ the country's alms to no effect;
patiṭṭhitaṃ. 1419 bestowed on him, that given out of faith
bears especially great fruit.

samaṃ: samaṃ; notes var. samma (Ee); samaṃ (Be).

1414
appamāṇaphalī tv eva: appamaṇa-phalī tv eva (Ee); appamaṇa phalitv' eva (Be).

Note: Does tveva here represent iti + eva, with atypical sandhi due to the need to preserve the prior long vowel of
˚phalī?
1415
appaṇāpattabhāvanā: appaṇapattabhavana; notes var. ˚bhavita (Ee); appanapattabhavana (Be).
1416
vīci-mālinaṃ: ˚malinaṃ; notes var. ˚paṇinaṃ (Ee); ˚malinaṃ (Be).
1417
sabbopadhikapunnāni: sabbopadhikapuññani; notes var. sabban' adhika˚ (Ee); sabbopadhikapuññani (Be). The
reading opadhikapuññani (in the sense of mundane merit conducive to rebirth) is attested in the Itivuttaka
aṭṭhakatha: kasma pana bhagavata samane pi opadhikabhave metta itarehi opadhikapunnehi visesetva vutta ti?
For meaning, cf. PED entry “opadhika”: "the correct interpretation is given by Dhpala at VvA 154 as "attabhava-
janaka-paṭisandhi-pavatti-vipaka-dayaka".
pakāsitaṃ: pakasita (Ee); pakasitaṃ (Be).
1418
sukhumodagyabahulo: sukhumodagga˚ (Ee); sukhumodagya˚ (Be).
tīsu sikkhāsu sikkhati: tīsu sikkhasu sikkhati (Ee); tisso sikkha susikkhati (Be). The Ee reading is greatly
attested; the Be reading, though ostensibly plausible, is not found.
1419
tamhi: tamhi (Ee); tam 'pi (Be).

276
saddhadikusala dhamma, pavaḍḍhanti akhaṇḍita; The wholesome dhammas, saddha, and so forth,
sambuddhicariyanañ ca, mahattaṃ tassa pakaṭaṃ. flourish unimpaired;
1420
and its greatness is well known
for those of the intellectual temperament...
&
akicchapaṭivedhaya, padakajjhanam uttamaṃ; ...for easy realization,
uju c' ekayano maggo, brahmalokūpapattiya. 1421 as a basis for cultivating insight, its jhana
unexcelled.
It is a straight path with a single destination
[leading] to rebirth in brahma-loka.*
vasanabhagiya c' eta, bodhisambharakūlika; And these belong to that conditioning (of the mind)
sovaggika sukhahara, lokarakkha niruttara. 1422 classed among the requisites of awakening;
conferring happiness and heaven,
peerless as protectors of the world.
appameyyanisaṃs' evaṃ, appameyyaguṇodaya; With their immeasurable benefits thus,
appamañña tato tasu, na pamajjeyya paṇḍito. 1423 and to immeasurable virtues giving rise --
they "have no measure"; so a person who is wise
should not neglect them.

Ahare paṭikkūla-sañña: Cultivation of the Perception "Repulsive" in Food (vv.1424-1444)

paṭikkūlaṃ pan' ahare, bhavento saññam uttamaṃ, Developing the unexcelled perception
kabalīkaram aharam annapanadisangahaṃ. 1424 of "repulsive" with regard to food... *
&
asitaṃ khayitaṃ pītaṃ, sayitañ ca rahogato, ...how should one in seclusion think
paṭikkūlan 'ti cinteyya, gamanadivasa kathaṃ? 1425 of edible (kabalīkaram) food,
comprising food and drink and so forth
eaten, chewed, or drunk, or licked,
as "repulsive"

1420
mahattaṃ tassa pākaṭaṃ: mahattaṃ tassa pakaṭaṃ; notes var. mahataṃ taṃ supakaṭaṃ (Ee); mahattaṃ tassa
pakaṭaṃ (Be).
1421
* Reading as construing with the previous verse.
1422
—
1423
na pamajjeyya: nappamajjeyya (Ee); na pamajjeyya (Be).
1424
kabaḷīkāram: kabalinkaram (Ee); kabalīkaram (Be).
* N.B. Anuruddha here places the ahara-paṭikkūla-sañña directly after the brahma-vihara-s, in contrast to the
Vism, which places the four aruppa-samapatti-s between these.
1425
* The ten aspects by way of which the consideration of repulsiveness is prescribed are laid out as per the Vism
exposition: 1) gamanato "by way of the going", 2) pariyesanato "the seeking", 3) paribhogato "the consuming",
4) asayato "the digestive fluids", 5) nidhanato "the depositing", 6) aparipakkato "the undigested form", 7)
paripakkato "the digested form", 8) phalato "the results", 9) nissandato "the flows of discharge", 10)
sammakkhanato "the being smeared with". Cf. Vism XI §5: taṃ ahare paṭikkulasannaṃ bhavetukamena
kammaṭṭhanaṃ uggahetva uggahato ekapadam pi avirajjhantena rahogatena paṭisallinena
asitapitakhayitasayitappabhede kabalikarahare dasahakarehi paṭikkulata paccavekkhitabba. seyyathidaṃ,
gamanato, pariyesanato, paribhogato, asayato, nidhanato, aparipakkato, paripakkato, phalato, nissandato,
sammakkhanato ti.

277
 by way of 1) the going, and the rest?*
tapovanam idaṃ hitva, ramaṇīyam anakulaṃ, [He reflects:]
aharahetu gantabbo, gamo gamajanakulo. 1426 This forest grove that's pleasant and disturbance-
free
must be left,
and, for the sake of food,
the town athrong with townsfolk must be gone to.*
tatthasuciparikliṭṭhe, dujjanacarasankare, And soiled there by filth,
dīnam esayat' ucciṭṭhaṃ, gehe gehe tu bhojanaṃ. amidst mingling with the ways of lowly people,
1427
it makes him seek vile leftovers
from house to house as food.*
taṃ khelamalasaṃkliṭṭhaṃ, jivhaggaparivattitaṃ, And that, turned round and round on the tip of the
dantacuṇṇitasambhinnavaṇṇagandhaṃ gilīyati. 1428 tongue,
polluted with the impurity of saliva,
with its color and fragrance broken up,
pulverized by the teeth, gets swallowed.*
pittasemhaparibyūlhaṃ, pubbalohitamissitaṃ, And amassed with bile and phlegm,
pavisantaṃ paṭikkūlaṃ, jegucchaṃ dhikkatasivaṃ. mixed with blood and pus,
1429
as repulsive and disgusting,*
accursed unseemliness, entering...

kucchiyaṃ kuṇapakiṇṇe, duggandhaparibhavite, ..into a belly strewn with corpses,*

suvanavamath'akaraṃ, vantaṃ 'va svanadoṇiyaṃ. thoroughly impregnated with their stench,
1430
vomited, with its aspect of dog-vomit,
into a dog-bowl, as it were.*

tattacandanikayaṃ 'va, nanakimisamakule, And, as if in a hot cesspool,

tattha bubbulakacchannaṃ, kuthitaṃ paripaccati. teeming with all different kinds of worms,
1431
there, seething, it digests,
1426
* = gamanato, “by way of the going” cf. Vism XI §6-10.
1427
dujjanācāra-: dujjanacara- (Ee); dujjanavara- (Be).
ucciṭṭhaṃ: ucciṭṭhaṃ (Ee); uttiṭṭhaṃ (Be).
* = pariyesanato, “by way of the seeking", cf. Vism XI §11-13.
1428
kheḷamalasaṃkliṭṭhaṃ: kalamala; notes var. kayamala (Ee); khelamala (Be).
dantacuṇṇitasambhinnavaṇṇagandhaṃ: danta-cuṇṇita-sambhinna-vaṇṇa-gandhaṃ (Ee);
dantacuṇṇitasambhinnaṃ, vaṇṇagandhaṃ (Be).
gilīyati: gilīyati (Ee); vilissati (= vilīyissati)
* = paribhogato, “by way of the consuming", cf. Vism XI §14-16.
1429
˚paribyūḷhaṃ: paribyūlhaṃ (Ee); paribyulhaṃ (Be).
* = asayato, “by way of the digestive fluids", cf. Vism XI §17.
1430
svānadoṇiyaṃ: svanadoniyaṃ (Ee); svanadoṇiyaṃ (Be).
* corpses: cf. Vism XI §19 for kuṇapa (corpses) reference.
* = nidhanato, “by way of the depositing", cf. Vism XI §18, which differs in its treatment. Cf. Vism XI §16 for
suvanadoṇiyaṃ ṭhitasuvanavamathu analogy: "so evaṃ vicuṇṇitamakkhito tankhaṇanneva
antarahitavaṇṇagandhasankharaviseso suvanadoṇiyaṃ ṭhitasuvanavamathu viya paramajegucchabhavaṃ
upagacchati.”

278
 beneath a covering of bubbles.*
saṃpaccantaṃ pan' etañ ca, sabhavañ ca visevitaṃ, And, becoming properly digested
vaḍḍheti kesalomadi-nanakuṇapasañcayaṃ. 1432 and taking recourse to its true nature, this
makes the pile of various corpses grow;
head-hairs, body-hairs, and so forth.*
vipaccantam atho p' etam anekopaddavavahaṃ, Improperly digested, this, however,
kuṭṭhagaṇḍakilasadimahabyadhisatodayaṃ. 1433 brings one countless troubles:
giving rise to leprosy, abscesses,
leukoderma, etc. -- the hundred great diseases. *
pūtibhūtañ ca taṃ pakkam anekadvarasañcitaṃ, And digested, heaping up,
medapiṇḍaṃ 'va kuthitaṃ, parissavati santataṃ. 1434 at many an exit, now turned foul,
like a lump of fat that's boiled,
it flows, extending out.*
yena pūtigato kayo, niccaṃ duggandhavayiko, Fouled by which, the body,
dhoviyanto 'pi satataṃ, sucibhavaṃ na gacchati. 1435 with its eternally foul airs,
though constantly being washed,
cannot be fully cleansed.*
kucchito so 'yam aharo, kayasucinisevano; Loathsome is this food;
nissandamalaniṭṭhano, upaklesaphalavaho. 1436 its access gained with dirt upon the body;
its culmination outward flowing filth:
defilement is the fruit it brings.
kamaragasamuṭṭhanaṃ, rogajatinibandhanaṃ; It's the source of passion's craving;
madappamadadhiṭṭhanaṃ, papakammamahapatho. it's bound up with disease's birth;
1437
it's a site of intoxication and heedlessness;
1431
tattacanda-: tattacanda-; notes var. pakka˚ (Ee); tattacanda- (Be).
kuthitaṃ: kudhitaṃ; notes var. kuthitaṃ (Ee); kuthitaṃ (Be).
* = aparipakkato, “by way of the undigested form", cf. Vism XI §19.
1432
kesalomādi-nānākuṇapasancayaṃ: kesa-lomadi-nanakuṇapa-sañcayaṃ (Ee); kesalomadiṃ,
nanakuṇapasañcayaṃ (Be).
* = paripakkato "by way of the digested form" & phalato (a) (samma paripaccamano “properly digesting”), "by
way of the results", cf. Vism XI §20: kathaṃ paripakkato? so tattakayaggina paripakko samano na
suvaṇṇarajatadidhatuyo viya suvaṇṇarajatadibhavaṃ upagacchati. pheṇapupphulake pana muncanto
saṇhakaraṇiyaṃ pisitva nalike pakkhittapaṇdumattika viya karisabhavaṃ upagantva pakkasayaṃ, muttabhavaṃ
upagantva muttavatthinca puretiti evaṃ paripakkato paṭikkulata paccavekkhitabba. & Vism XI §21: kathaṃ
phalato? samma paripaccamano ca panayaṃ kesalomanakhadantadini nanakuṇapani nipphadeti;
asammaparipaccamano daddukaṇdukacchukuṭṭhakilasasosakasatisarappabhutini rogasatani, idamassa phalanti
evaṃ phalato paṭikkulata paccavekkhitabba.
1433
* = phalato (b) (asamma paripaccamano, “not properly digesting”), "by way of the results", cf. Vism XI §21:
kathaṃ phalato? samma paripaccamano ca panayaṃ kesalomanakhadantadini nanakuṇapani nipphadeti;
asammaparipaccamano daddukaṇdukacchukuṭṭhakilasasosakasatisarappabhutini rogasatani, idam assa phalan
ti evaṃ phalato paṭikkulata paccavekkhitabba.
1434
kuthitaṃ: kudhitaṃ; notes var. kuthitaṃ (Ee); kuthitaṃ (Be).
* = nissandato, “by way of the flows of discharge", cf. Vism XI §22-23.
1435
* = sammakkhanato, “by way of being smeared with", cf. Vism XI §24.
1436
upaklesa-: upakklesa- (Ee); upaklesa- (Be).
1437
madappamādādhiṭṭhānaṃ: parappamadadhiṭṭhanaṃ (Ee); madappamadadhiṭṭhanaṃ (Be).

279
 it's the foremost path to unwholesome action.

ahitodayamaggo 'yaṃ, bhayabheravasambhavo; It paves the way for misfortune to arise,

byasanagamanadvaraṃ, apayavahitaṃ mukhaṃ. producing fear and terror;
1438
it's the door by which afflictions enter,
facing toward the lower worlds.

carant' attasamatta 'va, yatth' odariyamucchita, People go about, their feeding finished,*
kliṭṭhakammani dummedha, karonta dazed by their stomach's burden, [of food]
dukkhabhagino. 1439 doing, in their folly, tainted deeds
and partaking of the suffering (they produce).
tattha cittaviragaya, kiṃpakkaphalasannibhe, for divesting the mind of its passion for it,
rasassadapiyakare, ghoradīnavasañcite. 1440 resembling, as it does, a poison fruit,
heaped high with fearsome danger,
in pleasant aspect, as the savoring of flavor,
bhaventassa paṭikkūla-saññam evaṃ vibhavino, ...the mind of the one cultivating, with clarity of
upacarapathaṃ patva, cittaṃ hoti samahitaṃ. 1441 understanding, thus,
the perception of repulsiveness in it,
becomes concentrated [to the extent of]
reaching upacara concentration's course.*
so 'yaṃ passambhitahara-visadoso vicakkhaṇo, The person of discerning vision
madappamadanikkhanto, rasassadaniralayo. 1442 who has thus quelled the fault of poison within
food,
emerged from his crazed intoxication [with it],
harboring no craving for the savoring of flavor.

1438
—
1439
* Reading atta as p.p.p. < √ad, "to eat", in nominal sense, "eating; feeding", and samatta p.p.p. < sam + √ap,
"finished".
1440
kiṃpakka: kiṃpakka (Ee); kiṃ pakka (Be).
1441
* Cf. Vism XI, §25 for this upper limit of concentration based on this practice.
1442
-visadoso: -visadoso (Ee); -visado so (Be).
madappamāda-: parappamada- (Ee); madappamada- (Be).

280
limpento viya bhesajjam, akkha-r-abbhañjako He eats his food
yatha; like one applying medicine;
puttamaṃsaṃ 'va khadanto, aharaṃ paribhuñjati. like one who greases his axle;
1443
like one who eats the flesh of his own son.
ariyavaṃsanupajato, appicchadiguṇodito, Gradually born into the noble lineage,
kamajalaṃ padaletva, sotthiṃ pappoti paṇḍito. 1444 with the rising of the virtues of having few desires,
and so forth,
grown wise, he breaks through craving's net,
and reaches ultimate well-being.

Catu-dhatu-vavatthanaṃ: Defining of the Four Elements (vv.1445-1460)

catudhatuvavatthanaṃ, bhavento pana pañcadha, One cultivating the fivefold
dhatuyo parigaṇheyya, catasso 'pi sabhavato. 1445 "defining of the four elements",*
should apprehend the elements,
together four, each according to its nature.
sankhepena ca vitthara, sambhara ca salakkhaṇa, How should he analyze them in four ways,
ajjhattañ ca bahiddha ca, catudha vibhaje kathaṃ? internally and externally, 1) in brief; 2) in full;
1446
3) by way of the parts they constitute;
and 4) with their characteristics? *

1443
akkha-r-abbhanjako: akkharabbhañjako (Ee); akkharabbhañjako (Be). The compound akkha-r-abbhanjako is
difficult to resolve, as is its relation to the other padas. Has it gotten corrupted? We may read akkha "axle" in
compound with abbhanjako “one who greases” with an intervocalic glide, -r-, and understand an analogy with
one who greases the axle of his vehicle solely so that he may continue his journey. cf. PED -- akkhaŋ abbhañjati
“to lubricate the axle” S iv.177; Miln 367. The Vism parallel mentions only the analogy of the eaters of the
putta-maṃsa (“the son's flesh”, puttamaṃsasutta, SN 12.63): cf. Vism XI §26: iman ca pana ahare
paṭikkulasannaṃ anuyuttassa bhikkhuno rasataṇhaya cittaṃ patiliyati patikuṭati pativaṭṭati. so
kantaranittharaṇatthiko viya puttamaṃsaṃ vigatamado aharaṃ ahareti yavad eva dukkhassa nittharaṇatthaya.
Cf. Mahaniddesa pericope which cites akkhaṃ abbhanjeyya together with the puttamaṃsa parable: yatha vanaṃ
alimpeyya yavad eva ropanatthaya, yatha va pana akkhaṃ abbhanjeyya yavad eva bharassa nittharaṇatthaya --
“or like one would grease his axle just for the sake of the bringing of the load to an end” -- yatha va pana
puttamaṃsaṃ aharaṃ ahareyya yavadeva kantarassa nittharaṇatthaya; evam eva bhikkhu paṭisankha yoniso
aharaṃ ahareti — “neva davaya ...pe... phasuviharo ca”ti (Nidd purabhedasuttaniddeso). The parallelism
between the three similes in Anuruddha's verse and the three similes in the Niddesa make one wonder if the first
Niddesa simile, yatha vanaṃ alimpeyya yavad eva ropanatthaya “like one would smear the forest just for the
sake of planting,” has gotten corrupted and should rather read: yatha vaṇaṃ alimpeyya yavad eva rogassa
nittharaṇatthaya “like one would smear a wound (i.e., with medicine) just for the sake of the bringing of an
illness to an end”, cf. Namar-p 1443 pada a: limpento viya bhesajjam “like one smearing medicine”.
1444
—
1445
pancadhā: pañcadha; notes var. paññava (Ee); pañcadha (Be).
* fivefold (pancadha): cf. Vism XI §47 re: the five aspects by which each body part (pertaining to the respective
four elements) is to be analyzed. This analysis is termed sa-sambhara-vibhatti, "with components and analysis":
ayam eva hi viseso, tattha vaṇṇa-saṇṭhana-disokasa-pariccheda-vasena kesadayo manasikaritvapi
paṭikkulavasena cittaṃ ṭhapetabbaṃ, idha dhatuvasena. tasma vaṇṇadivasena pancadha pancadha kesadayo
manasikaritva avasane evaṃ manasikaro pavattetabbo. The analysis thus proceeds part by part by way of its
respective 1) color, 2) shape, 3) direction, 4) locus, and 5) delimitation.
1446
* “with their characteristics” (lakkhaṇato) (“lakkhaṇadito” in Vism, cf. XI §93) intends the qualities of hardness
etc. of the respective elements (and the rest of the lakkhaṇa-rasa-paccupaṭṭhana analysis).

281
yaṃ kiñci kesalomadi-kakkhalattaṃ pavuccati; Internally, whatever [has the characteristic of]
ajjhattaṃ pathavīdhatu, bahiddha tu tato para. 1447 hardness --
head-hairs, body-hairs, etc. -- is called
the (internal) element of earth;
while that beyond that is [the] external.
yūsabhūtan tu yaṃ kiñci, apo 'va paripacakaṃ; While whatever is fluid, water;
tejo vayo ti gaṇheyya, vitthambhakam asesato. 1448 and fire, that which heats;
and one should take as air
all that which makes inflate.
vittharato 'pi sambhara, kesalomadi vīsati; And in full, as the things they constitute:
pathavīdhatu; pittadi, dvadas' apo ti bhavaye. 1449 the twenty -- head-hairs, body-hairs, etc. --
are the element of earth; the twelve --
bile, etc. -- one should understand as water;
tejena yena kayo 'yaṃ, santappati jirīyati; The heat by which this body
pariḍayhati samma ca, paccanti asit'adayo. 1450 is warmed and caused to age;
and consumed with fever;
and things eaten, [drunk,] etc., properly digest --
tad-etaṃ catukoṭṭhasaṃ, kayasambhavam attano, this four-part (heat),
tejodhatū 'ti gaṇheyya, vayodhatū 'ti caparaṃ. 1451 born of one's body,
one should take as the element of fire,
And, lastly, as the element of air:
uddhañ cadhogama vata, kucchikoṭṭhasaya tatha; the upward- and the downward-going gasses;
angamanganusarī ca, chadha 'napanam icc api. 1452 those inside the belly and the bowels;
likewise that which moves throughout the limbs;
and the in- and out-going breath: thus of these six
kinds.
taṃ taṃ lakkhaṇam arabbha, niddharetva Based on each [element's] characteristic mark,
salakkhaṇaṃ, one should ascertain them by their characteristic,
parigaṇheyya sabbattha, catudha dhatusangahaṃ. and apprehend in all respects
1453
the elements' fourfold grouping.
icc evaṃ catukoṭṭhaso, dhatumatto kalevaro; This body thus consisting of these four,
niccetano ca nissatto, nissaro parabhojano. 1454 just mindless elements

1447
kesalomādi-kakkhaḷattaṃ: kesalomadi-kakkhalattaṃ (Ee); kesalomadi kakkhalattaṃ (Be).
pathavīdhātu: paṭhavīdhatu (Ee); pathavīdhatu (Be).
tato parā: tatopara (Ee); tatopara (Be).

Note: literally, "while, externally, that [element] beyond that [is the external element of earth]"
1448
tu: tu (Ee); ti (Be).
1449
kesalomādi vīsati: kesalomadi-vīsati (Ee); kesalomadi vīsati (Be)
pathavīdhātu: paṭhavī˚ (Ee); pathavī˚ (Be).
1450
pariḍayhati: pariḍayhati (Ee); paridayhati (Be).
1451
—
1452
—
1453
—

282
 devoid of any individual
or essence; food for other beings;
ritto tuccho ca suñño ca, vivitto ca pavajjito; substanceless and hollow, empty,
atta va attanīyaṃ va, n' atth' ev' ettha kathañci 'pi. and avoided, on its own;
1455
there is, herein, no self, nor anything at all
[to call] one's own.
kevalaṃ cetanaviṭṭho, kayo 'yaṃ parivattati; This body goes around
kampito yaya yantaṃ 'va, sadhippayo 'va khayati. only by (virtue of) mind's inhering in it;
1456
by which, like a machine, it's made to move,
and appears as if it had its own intent.

ayu usma ca viññaṇaṃ, yada kayaṃ jahant' imaṃ, Life, heat and consciousness:
apaviddho tada seti, niratthaṃ 'va kalingaraṃ. 1457 when these desert this body,
it lies cast off
like a useless piece of wood.*
viparītaṃ papañcenta, bahudha mohaparuta, [This body] upon which the common masses,
yattha micchavipallasaparabhūta puthujjana. 1458 blinkered by delusion, weave, in many ways,
illusions to the contrary of all sorts,
victim to distortions of perception,
saṃsaraddhanakantaraṃ, caturapayasankaraṃ, and, in their folly, cannot cross beyond
byasanekayanopayaṃ, nativattanti dujjana. 1459 the wasteland of their coursing through saṃsara,
mingling with the four lower worlds,
and inevitably a means of coming to distress.
so yam evaṃ catuddha ti, dhatubhedena passato, The tranquillity in the mind
tassopacariko nama, samatho hoti cetasi. 1460 of him who sees which [body] thus,
as, by the elements' division, of four parts,
is one of upacara concentration.

Appendix: Vipassana on the basis of catu-dhatu-vavatthana (vv.1461-1463)

itthaṃ dhatuvavatthanaṃ, katva tad-anusarato, Having brought about the definition of the elements
upadarūpadhamme ca, namadhamme ca sabbatha. in this way,
1461
following on that,
he apprehends the components (dhamma-s) of the
1454
kaḷevaro: kalebaro (Ee); kalevaro (Be).
1455
—
1456
cetanāviṭṭho: cetanaviṭṭho; notes var. cetanasiddho (Ee); cetanaviddho (Be).
1457
* Fusing two famous verses and their imagery: cf. Pheṇapiṇḍūpamasutta, SN 22.95: ayu usma ca viññaṇaṃ, yada
kayaṃ jahant' imaṃ / apaviddho tada seti, parabhattaṃ acetanaṃ. & Dhp 41: aciraṃ vat' ayaṃ kayo, pathaviṃ
adhisessati / chuddho apetaviññaṇo, niratthaṃ 'va kalingaraṃ.
1458
—
1459
byasanekāyanopāyaṃ: vyasanekayanopayaṃ (Ee); byasanekayanopayaṃ (Be).
1460
so yam: so 'yam (Ee); so yam (Be). Reading yam as referring pointedly to the body rather than merely as a
double pronoun, so ayaṃ.
1461
—

283
 somatic structure derived from them,
and the components of the psychic structure,
thorough-goingly,
bhūmibhūte pariggayha, passanto paccayaṭṭhitiṃ, that constitute the ground [of insight]
ajjhattañ ca bahiddha ca, vipassanto 'dayabbayaṃ. and seeing that they last only as long as their
1462
conditions,
discerning now with wisdom,
their arising and their passing, within him as
outside him;
yathabhūtam abhiññaya, nibbindanto virajjati; and knowing them directly, as they are,
viraga ca vimuccitva, paragū 'ti pavuccati. 1463 he's disenchanted; his craving for them fades;
and from its fading he's set free --
declared, then, "one who's reached the other shore".

Aruppaṃ: Cultivation of the Immaterial Attainments (vv.1464-1481)

aruppaṃ pana bhavento, kammaṭṭhanam anavilaṃ, As for one cultivating the unclouded
catukkapañcakajjhanaṃ, patva kasiṇamaṇḍale, 1464 immaterial as his subject of meditation,
having attained upon the circle of a kasiṇa
& (meditation device)
the four or five [material] jhana-s (five by the
abhidhamma reckoning)...
pariciṇṇavasībhūta, jhana vuṭṭhaya pañcama, then emerging from the fifth, that's been
cinteti daṇḍadanadirūpadosam abhiṇhaso. 1465 practiced thoroughly and mastered,
repeatedly he thinks of matter's faults:
the taking up of sticks [and blades], etc. *
nibbindanto tato rūpe, tadakare ca gocare, Disenchanted with regard to matter, thence,
tadalambaṇadhamme ca, patthento samatikkamaṃ. and with regard to the (entire) field that has this
1466
aspect,
1462
passanto: passanto (Ee); passato (Be).
vipassanto: vipassanto (Ee); vipassato (Be).
1463
—
1464
—
1465
* Alluding to the praise of the immaterial states in the suttas as devoid of disadvantages based on matter such as
daṇdadana-satthadana-kalaha-viggaha-vivada, "the taking up of sticks; the taking up of blades; quarrels, battles,
and disputes"; cited at the outset of the Vism's exposition of the immaterial states: cf. Vism X §1: catusu
aruppesu akasanancayatanaṃ tava bhavetukamo “dissante kho pana rupadhikaraṇaṃ daṇdadanasatthadana-
kalahaviggahavivada, natthi kho panetaṃ sabbaso aruppe ti. so iti paṭisankhaya rupanaṃyeva nibbidaya
viragaya nirodhaya paṭipanno hoti” ti (ma. ni. 2.103) vacanato etesaṃ daṇdadanadinan c'eva
cakkhusotarogadinanca abadhasahassanaṃ vasena karajarupe adinavaṃ disva tassa samatikkamaya ṭhapetva
paricchinnakasakasiṇaṃ navasu pathavikasiṇadisu annatarasmiṃ catutthajjhanaṃ uppadeti.
1466
tadālambaṇadhamme: tadalambakadhamme (Ee); tadalambaṇadhamme (Be).
* the tadalambaṇadhamma refers to the (subtle) matter of the kasiṇa-rūpam, which inasmuch as it is the
counterpart (paṭibhaga) of gross matter (karaja-rūpa), he wishes to overcome as well. I leave the reading as
tadalambaṇa rather than Ee's ˚alambaka because of its specifically referring to the kasiṇa's matter as the
paṭibhaga-nimitta (rather than simply the mental phenomena that has matter as an object), in this context. Cf.
Vism X §2-5: tassa kiñcapi rūpavacara-catutthajjhanavasena karajarūpaṃ atikkantaṃ hoti, atha kho kasiṇarūpam

284
 as well as to the mental phenomenon (dhamma)
dependent on that --*
seeking to transcend them, ...
pattharitvana yaṃ kiñci, akasakasiṇaṃ vina, ...he extends any given kasiṇa,*
ugghaṭeti tam evatha, kasiṇaṃ dhitima sato. 1467 other than that of space,
and then removes the same,
remaining steadfast and aware.*
na taṃ manasikaroti, n' avajjati na pekkhati; He [simply] doesn't attend to it;
cintabhogavinimmutto, kasiṇaṃ pati sabbatha. 1468 doesn't advert to it and doesn't view it; *
and released of thought inclined
toward the kasiṇa, entirely,
tadapayasamaññatam akasaṃ pati manasaṃ, he wholly directs his mind
sadhukaṃ paṭipadeti, yoniso paṭicintayaṃ. 1469 toward the space
known in its absence,
thinking thoroughly on this.*
tass' avajjanasampannaṃ, upayapaṭipaditaṃ, Thought occurs to him about the space
kasiṇapagamakasaṃ, cintana 'rabbha vattati. 1470 that's there in the absence of the kasiṇa;
and that, endowed with his attention,
provides him with the means (to reach to the
immaterial).*
ittham antaradhapetva, kasiṇaṃ tu tato paraṃ, Causing then the kasiṇa in this way

pi yasma tappaṭibhagam eva, tasma tam pi samatikkamitukamo hoti.

1467
kasiṇaṃ dhitimā sato: kasiṇaṃ dhitima sato (?) [sic]; notes var. kasiṇanti samasato (?) [sic] (Ee); kasiṇaṃ
dhitima sato (Be).
* For "extending the kasiṇa", Cf. Vism §6: cakkavalapariyantaṃ va yattakaṃ icchati tattakaṃ va kasiṇaṃ
pattharitva tena phuṭṭhokasaṃ “akaso akaso”ti va, “ananto akaso”ti va manasikaronto ugghaṭeti kasiṇaṃ.
* A.P. Buddadatta (Ee Ed.) seems to object to a reference to sato in a discussion of the immaterial jhanas, but a
similar statement occurs in the analogous Vism passage at X §7: tass' evaṃ punappunaṃ avajjayato takkahataṃ
vitakkahataṃ karoto nivaraṇani vikkhambhanti, sati santiṭṭhati, upacarena cittaṃ samadhiyati. Or else perhaps
he objects to the phraseology of extending the kasiṇa (the physical device) rather than the nimitta (the mental
representation thereof).
1468
manasikaroti: manasīkaroti (Ee); manasi karoti (Be).
cintābhogavinimmutto: cintabhogavinimmutto (Ee); cintabhogavinimutto (Be).
* For phraseology, cf. Vism X §7, with modification of paccavekkhati to pekkhati: ugghaṭento hi neva kilanjaṃ
viya saṃvelleti, na kapalato puvaṃ viya uddharati, kevalaṃ pana taṃ neva avajjeti, na manasikaroti, na
paccavekkhati, anavajjento amanasikaronto apaccavekkhanto ca annadatthu tena phuṭṭhokasaṃ “akaso
akaso”ti manasikaronto kasiṇaṃ ugghaṭeti nama. (Note: avajjati / anavajjanto in Warder/Kosambi ed.)
1469
tadapāya-: tad-apaya- (Ee); tadappaya- (Be).
paṭicintayaṃ: paricintayaṃ (Ee); paṭicintayaṃ (Be). Cf. v. 1231 with the same unusual form, paṭi + √cint. Pari
+ √cint is equally problematic.
* For the sense of paṭicintayaṃ (“thinking on this”, cf. Vism reference to directing all his thought and attention
to this space, "striking it with his applied and sustained thought again and again, adverting 'space, space'": so taṃ
kasiṇugghaṭimakasanimittaṃ “akaso akaso”ti punappunaṃ avajjeti, takkahataṃ vitakkahataṃ karoti (Vism X,
§9), thus establishing upacara samadhi upon the basis of this (concept) as an object.
1470
āvajjanasampannaṃ: avajjanasampannaṃ; notes var. avajjanam uppannaṃ (Ee); avajjanasampannaṃ (Be).
kasiṇāpagamākāsaṃ: kasiṇaparam akasaṃ (Ee); kasiṇapagamakasaṃ (Be).
* Reading arabbha with akasaṃ and cintana as subj.

285
sabbavantam anantaraṃ, pharat' akasagocaraṃ. 1471 to disappear, he then
pervades the entire contiguous
field of space.
tattha vuttanayen' eva, bhaventassopacarato, And as he practices on that
_paṭhamaruppam_ appeti, akasanantagocare. 1472 in the same way with upacara,
(his mind) enters into the first immaterial (state)
with reference to the infinite field of space.
tato tamha vasībhūta, vuṭṭhahitva vicintayaṃ, And then, once it's been mastered
"asannarūpavacarajjhanapaccatthikan" 'ti taṃ. 1473 emerging from it, he reflects
that the proximity it has to form-sphere jhana
is disadvantageous --
nikantiṃ pariyadaya, tamha akasagocara, and, having come to the end of his attachment [to
pappotuṃ dutiyaruppam atisantan 'ti gaṇhati. 1474 it]*
in order to attain the second immaterial,
he takes this as more peaceful still
than that, and its field of space.
paṭhamaruppaviññaṇam anantaṃ pharato tato, And then, as he pervades the infinite
_dutiyaruppam_ appeti, viññaṇanantagocare. 1475 consciousness of the first immaterial state,
(his mind) enters into the second immaterial state
with reference to the infinite field of consciousness.
paṭhamaruppaviññaṇam abhavento tato paraṃ, And then, ceasing to develop
appeti _tatiyaruppam_ akiñcaññamhi gocare. 1476 first immaterial state's consciousness,
he enters into the third immaterial state,
with reference to nothingness, its field.
tato ca tatiyaruppaṃ, "santam etan" 'ti passato, And then, as he sees the third immaterial state
_catuttharuppam_ appeti, tatiyaruppagocare. 1477 as "this is peaceful",
(his mind) enters into the fourth immaterial state,

1471
—
1472
—
1473
—
1474
pappotuṃ: pappotuṃ (Ee); appetuṃ (Be).
gaṇhati: gaṇhati (Ee); gacchati (Be).
* Cf. Naṇamoli this phrase: having "ended his attachment" (+ loc. = for/towards)
1475
—
1476
—
1477
tatiyāruppagocare: tatiyaruppa (Ee); tatiyaruppaṃ (Be). While it is possible to make the case for either the
comparative or accusative reading on the basis of the Vism description at X §40, I take the acc. reading on the
strength of the last statement: "akincannayatanasamapatti santa santa” ti punappunaṃ avajjitabba". Cf. Vism X
§40: nevasannanasannayatanaṃ bhavetukamena pana pancahakarehi akincannayatanasamapattiyaṃ
ciṇṇavasibhavena “asannavinnaṇancayatanapaccatthika ayaṃ samapatti, no ca nevasannanasannayatanaṃ
viya santa”ti va “sanna rogo, sanna gaṇdo, sanna sallaṃ, etaṃ santaṃ, etaṃ paṇitaṃ yadidaṃ
nevasannanasanna”ti va evaṃ akincannayatane adinavaṃ, upari anisaṃsanca disva akincannayatane nikantiṃ
pariyadaya nevasannanasannayatanaṃ santato manasikaritva “sava abhavaṃ arammaṇaṃ katva pavattita
akincannayatanasamapatti santa santa” ti (M.1.329) punappunaṃ avajjitabba, manasikatabba,
paccavekkhitabba, takkahata vitakkahata katabba.

286
 with reference to the field of the third immaterial
state.
gūthamhi maṇḍape laggo, eko tannissito paro; One man clinging to a structure [built on] foulness;
eko bahi anissaya, taṃ taṃ nissaya caparo. 1478 the next man taking his support;
one (standing) outside, not taking its support;
and another standing with support from him:*
ṭhito; catūhi etehi, purisehi yathakkamaṃ, the four immaterial attainments
samanataya ñatabba, catasso 'pi vibhavina. 1479 should be understood by one who's wise
by their respective likeness
to these four men.
icc alambaṇabhedehi, catudharuppabhavana; The development of the four immaterial (states)
angabhedaṃ pan' etasaṃ, na kathenti; tatha 'pi ca. is thus according to their differences of object;
1480
they make no mention of any difference
in their (constituent mental) factors -- but even so: *
suppaṇītatara honti, uddham uddhaṃ the higher in their order,
yathakkamaṃ, the more increasingly sublime,
catumaharajikadidibbasampattiyo yatha. 1481 like the (higher and higher) celestial splendors
of the four great kings', etc. heavens.

Appendix: Vipassana & the aruppa-samapatti-s: the ubhatobhagavimutto

arahant (vv.1482-1483)
aneñjam iti bhavetva, samapattiṃ catubbidhaṃ, And having thus developed
susamahitasankappo, sampannacalamanaso. 1482 the four attainments pertaining to (the state known
as) "unshakable stability",
fully concentrated in intent,
and possessed of a mind that's motionless,*
vipassanto yathabhūtaṃ, sacchikatva phaluttamaṃ, seeing then with wisdom, as it is,
ubhatobhagavimutto, araha 'ti pavuccati. 1483 and seeing for himself the highest fruit,
he is then called an arhant that's
"liberated with a share in both (samatha and

1478
tannissito paro: tannissito paro (Ee); tannissitoparo (Be). cf. Vism X §61 in support of APB's reading.
* These two verses are quoted nearly verbatim from the concluding part of the Vism's exposition of the aruppa-
samapatti-, in illustration of their gradually increasing sublimity (anupubbena paṇita-paṇita) -- with one minor
change; the substitution of guthamhi for the Vism version's hypermetrical asucimhi. Cf. Vism X §61 and its
elucidation at §62-63.
1479
catūhi: catuhi (Ee); catūhi (Be).
1480
* Cf. Vism X §58-59: angatikkamaṃ pana etasaṃ na icchanti paṇdita. na hi rupavacarasamapattisu viya etasu
angatikkamo atthi. sabbasupi hi etasu upekkha, cittekaggata ti dve eva jhanangani honti. evaṃ sante pi —
suppaṇitatara honti, pacchima pacchima idha ...
1481
cātumahārājikādi- APB: catummaharajikadi- (Ee); catumaharajikadi- (Be). The reading with the single m is
more commonly attested and occurs in this form in the Namar-p, Abhidh-s, and the Pm-vn.
1482
* The fourth jhana is styled anenjaṃ (as a t.t., the state of "unstirrableness; immovableness; thus 'unshakeable
stability'"), and the four immaterial states are regard as derivative of it.
1483
—

287
 vipassana's fruits)".

The Abhiñña-s: The Higher Faculties of Knowing (vv.1484-1501)

kammaṭṭhanavidhiṃ ñatva, cattalīsavidhaṃ tato, Knowing the prescribed method
abhiññayo 'pi viññeyya, samathe bhavananaye. 1484 for the meditation subject, with its forty different
forms,
then the "higher faculties of knowing" (abhinna)
should also be borne in mind,
as regards their method of development in (the
practice of) tranquillity (samatha).*
iddhividha dibbasota, cetopariyajanana; 1) The different kinds of powers; 2) the divine ear;
pubbenivasanussati, dibbacakkhu tatha para. 1485 3) knowing another's mind;
4) recollection of one's former abidings (in
previous lives;
and, so, the next, 5) the divine eye;
cetosamadhinissaṭṭha, pañcabhiñña pakasita; five higher faculties of knowing,
rūpavacaradhamma 'va, pañcamajjhanabhūmika. bequeathed by concentration are described;
1486
pertaining exclusively to form-sphere
(consciousness),*
having the fifth jhana as their base.
bahubhavadi-dhiṭṭhanaṃ, komaradivikubbana; Three kinds of (many) powers, those
manomayabhinimmanam icc evaṃ tividhiddhiyo. of resolve -- to become many, etc.;
1487
of changing form -- (taking) that of a boy, etc.;
and of mind-made creation (the mind-made body).*
dibbe ca manuse sadde, tatha dūre ca santike, That by which they hear
suṇanti yaya sa dibba, sotadhatū ti bhasita. 1488 divine and man-made sounds,
those far as well as near,
is spoken of as the range of the auditory organ
that's divine.
cetopariyañaṇan 'ti, parapuggalacetaso, (Knowledge) of another person's state of mind
saragavītaragadiparicchedakam īritaṃ. 1489 that distinguishes its having
craving or no craving, and so forth, is bespoken
1484 *
N.B. Like Vism, Anuruddha places his description of the abhiñña-s at the conclusion of his exposition of the
forty samatha kammaṭṭhana-s.
1485
—
1486
rūpāvacaradhammā 'va: rūpavacaradhamma ca (Ee); rūpavacaradhammava (Be).

Note: form-sphere (ie pertaining to the level of jhanic consciousness), in contradistinction to kamavacara "sense-
sphere" (pertaining to the level of the five sense consciousness) and arūpavacara "formless-sphere" (pertaining to
the level of the formless jhanic consciousness).
1487
bahubhāvādi-dhiṭṭhānaṃ: bhūmikammad' adhiṭṭhanaṃ (Ee); bahubhavadidhiṭṭhanaṃ (Be).
* The three cited forms of iddhividha follow precisely the first three items of the Vism exegesis at XII §23, §24,
and §25.
1488
—
1489
—

288
 as "knowledge of another's mind".
pubbenivutthakhandhanussaraṇe ñaṇam īritaṃ, Knowledge pertaining to the recalling
pubbenivasanussatiñaṇa namena tadina. 1490 of aggregates formerly dwelt-in
was bespoken by the Buddha
with the name, "knowledge of recollection of one's
former dwellings".
cavamane ca jayante, satte rūpam arūpakaṃ; Beings slipping (from one form) and being reborn
tatha manusakaṃ rūpaṃ, thūlaṃ sukhuma (in another):
santikaṃ. 1491 a form-sphere (form), or formless;
or so a human form;
gross or settle; near, ...
dūre pakasaṃ channañ ca, yena passanti yogino, ...or far; visible, or hidden;
cutūpapatañaṇaṃ taṃ, dibbacakkhū 'ti vuccati. 1492 that knowledge of passing away from and being
reborn in
with which yogī-s can see them
is called "the divine eye".
anagataṃsañaṇañ ca, yathakammūpagaṃ tatha, Knowledge pertaining to the future
tannissitatta gacchanti, dibbacakkhumhi sangahaṃ. and likewise what will follow due to kamma,
1493
are considered, since they rely on it,
included in divine eye.
iti pañcavidhaṃ pattum abhiññaṃ pana paṇḍito, And in order to obtain this five-fold
katvana pañcamajjhane, pañcadha vasitaṃ c' idaṃ. higher cognitive faculty (abhiñña), the wise [yogī]
1494
already having brought about a [fully] five-fold
mastery*
with regard to the fifth jhana,
tatha samahite citte, parisuddhe nirangaṇe, with his mind converged in such samadhi,
mudubhūte kammaniye, aneñjamhi patiṭṭhite. 1495 completely pure and without taint,
now malleable and pliant,
established in unshakeable stability (anenja),
abhiññapadakajjhana, tato vuṭṭhaya pañcama, he should emerge therefrom, from the fifth jhana
abhiññaparikammaya, ninnameyyatha manasaṃ. which serves as the foundation (for cultivation of)
1490
—
1491
—
1492
taṃ: ti (Ee); taṃ (Be).
1493
yathākammūpagaṃ: yathakammūpagaṃ (Ee); yathakammupagaṃ (Be).
1494
pattum abhinnaṃ pana: pattum abhiññaṃ pana; notes var. sattam abhiñña pana (Ee); pattum abhiññaṃ pana
(Be).
* For the five aspects of "mastery" of a jhana, cf. v. 413: avajjana ca vasita, taṃsamapajjana tatha /
vuṭṭhanadhiṭṭhana pacca-vekkhaṇati ca pancadha. Mastery of 1) adverting to it (avajjana), 2) attaining it
(samapajjana); 3) emerging from it (vuṭṭhana); 4) the setting of intention with regard to it (adhiṭṭhana); & 5)
reviewing it (paccavekkhaṇa). The c' idaṃ sits awkwardly in this verse. I'm not sure how to understand it. It may
be to emphasize the fivefoldness of both the abhiñña AND the requisite mastery (of the fifth jhana: thus perhaps
the jhana's fifthness as well; thus pañca -- pañca -- pañca). N.B. This is a very brief digression on the requisite
preparation compared to the Vism's extensive treatment of the topic at Vism ch. XII §2-12.
1495
—

289
1496
higher cognitive faculties,
and incline his mind then toward
preparatory work for the higher cognitive faculties.
adhiṭṭheyyadikaṃ taṃ taṃ avajjitva yatharahaṃ, And having turned his mind
parikammaṃ karitvana, samapajjeyya padakaṃ. 1497 to his object of resolve, and so on, as appropriate,
the set-up work now done,
he should enter the foundational jhana.
punadeva ca vuṭṭhaya, parikammaṃ yatha pure, And emerging once again,
karontassa pan' appeti, abhiññaṇena pañcamaṃ. 1498 as he does the set-up work as before,
this time his mind enters the fifth (jhana)
with the higher faculty of knowledge.
adhiṭṭhantaṃ vikubbantaṃ, nimminantaṃ And accordingly resolving or changing form,
yatharahaṃ, or making manifest,
sadde suṇantaṃ sattanaṃ, parijanañ ca manasaṃ. or hearing the sounds of beings,
1499
or knowing well their mind,
saraṃ pubbenivasañ ca, passaṃ sugatiduggatiṃ, or recalling his former dwellings,
yathakammaṃ vipakañ ca, pajanantam anagataṃ. or seeing the good or bad destination of (beings')
1500
rebirth,
or the result a deed will bear,
or knowing the future --
yathasambhavam icc evam upayakusalo muni, as per the given faculty, in this way,
upanissayasampanno, abhiññam adhigacchati. 1501 the sage of skillful means
endowed with the sufficient prior conditions
attains the higher faculty of knowing.

Appendix: Vipassana and fivefold vs. sixfold abhiñña: the Mahakhīṇasavo

arahant (vv.1502-1503)
pattabhiñño mahayogī, pariyodatamanaso, The great yogī of pure mind
paripakkena ñaṇena, vipassitva tilakkhaṇaṃ. 1502 attained to higher knowing,
who discerns with ripened wisdom
the three characteristics,
laddhasavakkhayaṃ ñaṇaṃ, chadhabhiññam and attains the knowledge of the asava-s'
anuttaraṃ, extinction*
mahakhīṇasavo nama, chalabhiñño pavuccati. 1503 (and thus) higher knowing in its peerless six-fold

1496
—
1497
taṃ āvajjitvā: taṃ avajjitva (Ee); tam avajjitva (Be).
1498
—
1499
—
1500
sugatiduggatiṃ: sugatiduggatī (Ee); sugatiduggatiṃ (Be).
1501
—
1502
—
1503
Reading laddha (“and attains”) as a gerund (= Sk. labdhva): an archaic but viable form, to avoid change of
subject on the heels of the previous vipassitva

290
 form,
is then declared a great arahant of extinct
defilement (mahakhiṇasava)
a possessor of the six-fold higher knowledge
(chalabhinna).
cattalīsavidhaṃ pan' ittham amalo The methodology of meditation subjects,
cetomalakkhalanaṃ, that the taintless Buddha taught
kammaṭṭhananayaṃ yam aha sugato samma as a means of washing off the taints of mind,
samadhanakaṃ; and as its right concentrating, is thus of forty kinds;
saṃkhittaṃ kathitaṃ tam ettha sakalaṃ sabhiññam all that and the higher faculties of knowing (i.e., the
ettavata, abhin̄n̄a-s),
kattabba munin' ettha sadhumatina sambhavana has been stated here in brief, in what's been said
sabbatha. 1504 and reflection on it should be undertaken
from all angles by a sage of able mind.
varaguṇagaṇabhūsitanusiṭṭhaṃ, iti samatham iman And having developed this tranquillity enjoined
tu bhavayitva, by one who was adorned with the best virtues in
paramam anupamaṃ bhajanti dhīra, droves
hitasukhamukham uttamanubuddhaṃ. 1506 those with steadfast wisdom win communion with
the supreme and incomparable
in the guise of the great well-being and happiness
awakened to by them.
iti namarūpaparicchede Thus the tenth chapter in the Manual of Discerning
sesakammaṭṭhanavibhago nama Mind and Matter, named (the section on) “The
dasamo paricchedo. Remaining Meditation Objects”.

niṭṭhito ca namarūpaparicchede sabbatha pi And the Manual of Discerning Mind and Matter's
samathabhavanavibhago. section on the cultivation of samatha is complete.

1504
cattāḷīsavidhaṃ: cattalīsavidhaṃ (Ee); cattalīsavidhaṃ (Be).
ittham amalo: uttama-mano; cites var. ittham amalo (Ee); ittham amalo (Be).
cetomalakkhālanaṃ: cetoparaṃ lakkhaṇaṃ (Ee); cetomalakkhalanaṃ (Be).
1506
iman: iman (Ee); imaṃ (Be).

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 THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER
Section III: Vipassana (Chs. 11, 12 & 13)
11. Chapter Eleven
Vipassana Section

Anuruddha's eleventh and twelfth chapters constitute his survey of vipassana and are in
many ways the culmination of the work. The eleventh chapter expounds insight analytically and
the twelfth dramatizes its progress, depicting the crescendoing trajectory of its ten "stages"
(avattha), beginning with sammasana-nana, 'knowledge based on contemplation', here reckoned
its inception, and culminating in the attainment of nibbana with the tenth and final stage,
anuloma, representing knowledge "in conformity" with the noble truths.
Anuruddha's formal exposition of insight is in many ways unique and offers categories
both familiar and relatively uncommon in standard treatments of insight such as those based on
his Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s). His treatment here has a depth and texture entirely absent
in the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s schematic presentation. He lays out the structure for
all three chapters pertaining to the development of insight at the beginning of chapter eleven (vv.
1506-1510). Insight's arising on the basis of concentration (samadhi) or mere pre-jhanic
awareness (sati) is addressed under the rubric of insight's two samuṭṭhana-s (origins or that from
which it arises). Its mode of engagement (dhura), whether by faith or wisdom, seemingly treats
an early distinction between saddhanusari-s and dhammanusari-s "followers by faith" and
"followers by dhamma", respectively, describing two pre-streamentry tracks of path-progress.320
Anuruddha's emphasis of the uncommon distinction between engaging insight via faith or via
wisdom suggests the importance of this distinction that is little emphasized in treatments of
insight as known today. Insight is likewise divided into three levels (bhumi), following the
tradition's hermeneutic analysis of the noble truth of suffering's being "fully known" (pariñña:
"fully knowing", the imperative (kicca) of the first noble truth) and its successive realization.
This entails not only the knowledge of truth at a conceptual level (the first "bhumi"), but
additionally the grasping of the task this knowledge entails: namely, its "needing to be fully
known" (parinneyyaṃ), and ultimately the recognition of the accomplishment of this task when
the truth is seen to have indeed been known fully and completely (parinnataṃ -- entailing the
realization of nibbana and suffering's having been abandoned). The exegetical tradition
accordingly divided "full knowing" (parinna) into three distinct stages and here Anuruddha
situates the theorization of insight's stage by stage development within that analysis. Thus, nata-
parinna, the full knowing of the fact of the thing known, is related to the stages of insight
preceding the ten stages proper -- those of identifying the elements of mind and matter than make
up experience and the conditions on which they depend for their existence. The second stage,
tiraṇa-parinna, the full knowing that "determines" the necessity of abandoning the suffering now

320
This interesting and uncommon topic evidently pertains to the analysis of the "seven individuals": an early sutta-
based variant of the more well-known rubric of the "eight noble persons" comprising in pairs the four stages of
realization in Theravada soteriology, which highlights the distinction between faith and wisdom as distinct
modalities of progress (perhaps recalling a tension felt keenly in the early tradition between truth as received --
the domain of faith -- and truth as independently discovered -- the domain of wisdom).

292
seen -- is correlated to the insight knowledges of sammasana-naṇa and udayabbaya-naṇa (the
first two of Anuruddha's ten stages of insight). The final stage, that of pahana-parinna, the full
knowing that accomplishes the abandonment of that suffering, is correlated to to the knowledges
of bhanga-naṇa, on, culminating in liberation. The trajectory of the insight knowledges treated in
these chapters is thus made to correspond to insight's second and third bhumi-s ("levels"). It is
thus placed within a broader context pertaining to the hermeneutic discourse relating to the
realization of the knowledge represented by the four noble truths. This broader context thus
includes the preliminary stages of insight represented as taking place in the middling stages of
purification (diṭṭhi-visuddhi and kankhavitaraṇa-visiddhi), which take place at a more conceptual
and doctrinal, rather than strictly meditative, level. This important framing of the insight
knowledges with reference to the broader hermeneutic discourse around the knowing (and
gradual "realization") of the noble truths321 is not present in typical accounts of insight.
Adopting a key conceptual metaphor from the Path of Purification (Vism), the four
stages of purification pertaining to panna (wisdom),322 are likened to the body or "trunk" of the
tree of insight, which has two "roots" in the form of the first two purifications (those pertaining
to sila and samadhi), and grows from the "ground" of those factors that constitute experience and
its analysis in Buddhist doctrine (the "bhumi-dhamma", including the aggregates, sense-spheres,
and (eighteen) elements, but also the noble truths and dependent origination, as the "grounds"
from which wisdom arises). The fruits of this tree are described in the final chapter, describing
its , its karmically resultant fruits (nissanda-phala-s): the fruits that this tree of insight bears, in
the form of the attainments, soteriological stages, and corresponding abandonment of defilement
(kilesa) and "fetters" (sannojana) owing to its growth.
The latter part of chapter eleven again treats relatively little-known topics in connection
with the exposition of insight. It addresses not only the three characteristics, but the two key
aspects "akara-s" of conditioned things (sankhara-s) on the basis of which the characteristics are
grasped. These are termed "nimitta" (cause) and "pavatta" (occurrence). These terms derive from
a more extensive rubric in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), treating sankhara-s' multifarious
akara-s, those of nimitta and pavatta being singled out by Anuruddha as of exceptional utility for
the grasping of the three characteristics. The term nimitta is here used in its atypical causal sense,
corresponding to paccaya (causal condition), and pavatta in the sense of moment to moment
occurrence. The distinction appears to relate to the difference between grasping impermanence
on the basis of causality, and causal dependence (phenomena as effects that cease when their
respective causes come to an end, thus depending on those for their own existence), and its
grasping on the basis of the moment to moment observation of experience in its continuous
occurrence, as a swift-flowing flux of phenomena arising and passing in the present moment.
These two "aspects" of conditioned things -- as causally dependent, and as presently occurring --
are singled out and discussed at length as being especially capable of bringing about the
apprehension of the characteristics (v. 1587).
Finally, a unique presentation of eighteen perceptions that constitute insight, and the

321
Outlined in the dhammacakkapavattana sutta and elaborated by the exegetical tradition in the form of the
analysis of the three aspects-cum-stages of parinna, the "full knowing" of suffering.
322
Reckoned as four by Anuruddha, in contrast to the Path of Purification (Vism), which refers to them as five.
Anuruddha's reckoning excludes the final stage of insight's consummation (in contrast to the Path of
Purification), correlating this to insight's "fruits".

293
eighteen antithetical perceptions that constitute ordinary perception in the grips of avijja, of
which these bring about the abandonment, concludes the chapter. This rubric was known as
"eighteen-fold great insight" (aṭṭharasa mahavipassana") in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)
and was evidently considered a topic of some importance. Anuruddha's presentation of it is novel
and does not occur elsewhere, to my knowledge (not corresponding to the Path of Purification
(Vism)'s treatment), uniquely re-grouping the eighteen aspects according to the characteristic to
which they pertain. Anuruddha's treatment thus subsumes this sprawling list to the familiar
categories of the three characteristics (and liberation), re-organizing it and making it uniquely
comprehensible.
This is not the only instance in which Anuruddha has sought to qualify and improve the
Path of Purification (Vism)'s presentation of the Mahavihara path- and insight-related material.
He goes out of his way in his structural overview of vipassana, presented in this chapter, to make
the case that the first two insight knowledges (sammasana-naṇa and udayabbaya-naṇa) in fact
pertain to the kankhavitaraṇa stage of purification (and not to the "path-not-path" stage, as often
represented). This is a direct qualification on Buddhaghosa's presentation of the insight
knowledges in the Path of Purification (Vism), which presents these two knowledges together
together with maggamagga stage of purification (the path-not-path stage) as a segue into that
stage its twentieth chapter -- leading not unreasonably to the frequent association of these two
knowledges with that purification rather than with the previous one. Anuruddha confidently
seeks to offer clarification on the matter and improve what his great predecessor had left
ambiguous.

Contents:

• Enumeration of Content of Vipassana Section, chs. 11-13 (v. 1506)

• The Cultivation of Insight (v. 1511)
◦ Two origins (samuṭṭhana) (v. 1512)
◦ Two modes of undertaking (dhura) (v. 1513)
◦ Three levels (bhumi) (v. 1514)
◦ Three ways of inhering (abhinivesa) (v. 1517)
◦ The four stages of purification that constitute its body (sarira)
• The Three Characteristics (tilakkhaṇa) that it discerns in conditioned things (sankhara)
(v. 1537)
◦ anicca (perceiving them as "impermanent") (v. 1538)
◦ dukkha (as "suffering") (v. 1548)
◦ anatta (and as "not self") (v. 1564)
• The Two Aspects (akara) of conditioned things in which it discerns the three
characteristics: Causal dependence (nimitta) & Moment to moment occurrence (pavatta)
(v. 1581)
• Eighteenfold Great Insight (maha-vipassana) (v. 1617)
◦ The anicca observations (v. 1618)
◦ the dukkha observations (v. 1628)
◦ the anatta observations (v. 1631)

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 ◦ the freedom observations (v. 1633)

VIPASSANAVIBHAGO
Section III: Vipassana (Chs. 11, 12 & 13)

ekādasamo paricchedo Chapter 11

vipassanāvibhāgo Vipassanā Section
Enumeration (Contents):
dvidha samuṭṭhanadhura, tividha bhūmiyo mata. [Insight:]
tividhabhinivesa ca, sarīraṃ tu catubbidhaṃ. 1506 Its origins and modes of undertaking are both
twofold;
its levels are considered three;
in three ways it inheres (in the present);
and its main body is fourfold.*
tividha bhavana tattha, sankharesu yatharahaṃ. Cultivation of it is of three varieties:
duvidhakaram arabbha, nijjhayati tilakkhaṇaṃ. 1507 on the basis of two aspects,*
it contemplates accordingly
three characteristics in conditioned things
(sankhara-s).*
aṭṭharasakarabhinna, dasavattha vibhavita. It is divided into eighteen aspects,*
tidha-vibhaga sadheti, vimokkhattayam uttamaṃ. and envisioned as having ten stages (of
1508
development).*
1506
sarīraṃ: sarīran (Ee); sarīraṃ (Be).
* Cf. Central Vism image of insight springing like a tree from the "ground" of khandhayatan-dhatu-indriya-
sacca-paṭiccasamuppadadi-dhamma.:Vism XIV §32. Here, however, not just the four visuddhis, diṭṭhi --
khankha-vitaraṇa -- maggamaggañaṇa -- padipadañaṇadassana, but also the fifth, ñaṇadassana-visuddhi are
counted as its "body" (i.e. trunk).
1507 *
viz. nimitta & pavatta: causal dependence and moment-to-moment occurrence, cf. 1582-1587
*
anicca, dukkha, and anatta: the characteristics of being "impermanent" (and therefore) "suffering", and thus
"not self".
1508
aṭṭhārasākārabhinnā dasāvatthā: aṭṭharasakarabhinna-dasavattha (Ee); aṭṭharasakarabhinna, dasavattha (Be).
* in eighteen aspects (aṭṭharasakara): Vipassana in the wake of the knowledge deriving from continuous
observation of dissolution (bhanganupassana-naṇa), with all these eighteen aspects of discernment, which
abandon the corresponding antithetical distortions of view (and thus constitute "pahana-parinna",
"comprehension in its aspect of abandoning") is known in the commentaries as "Mahavipassana". The eighteen
aspects derive from the Paṭisambhida-magga, but the term Mahavipassana seems to have been coined later. Cf.
Vism "bhanganupassanato paṭṭhaya pahanaparinnavasena sabbakarato pattabba aṭṭharasa mahavipassana"
(Vism XX §89-90 & XXII §113, deriving from Paṭis-m i, 32-47).
* ten stages (dasavattha): the "ten stages (of discernment)", otherwise called the dasa vipassana-ñaṇani, "ten
insight knowledges" (in their fully evolved form -- referred to as nine knowledges in Vism; eight in Abhidh-av,
both leaving out sammasananaṇa and the knowledges prior to the paṭipadanaṇadassanavisuddhi stage of
purification; and still fewer in Paṭis-m) are: 1) sammasananaṇaṃ 2) udayabbayanaṇaṃ 3) bhanganaṇaṃ 4)
bhayanaṇaṃ 5) adinavanaṇaṃ 6) nibbidanaṇaṃ 7) muccitukamyatanaṇaṃ 8) paṭisankhanaṇaṃ 9)
sankharupekkhanaṇaṃ 10) anulomanaṇan ceti dasa vipassananaṇani (Abhidh-s version, abhidh-s 9.46).
* with their three main sections (tidha-vibhaga): Anuruddha groups the ten stages into three groups in two
distinct ways: 1) according to the sequential penetration of the three characteristics -- the three divisions of the
knowledges referring in the respective knowledge's pertaining to anicca, dukkha, or anatta; and 2) according to

295
 With their three main sections, it brings about*
the peerless threefold [doors of] liberation. *
catusaccapaṭivedha, sattaṭṭhariyapuggala. The penetration of four truths,
klesahanī yathayogaṃ, catasso paṭisambhida. 1509 the seven and the eight noble individuals;**
the corresponding loss of defilement;
and (gaining of) four powers of analysis.
tividha ca samapatti, nirodha ca tathapara. Three kinds of attainment,
nissandaphalam icc ahu, tassa sasanakovida. 1510 and, so too, that of cessation, after those,
are the karmically resultant fruits it bears, declare
those skillful in the teaching.*

The Cultivation of Vipassanā:

vipassanabhavana 'yam iti bhasanti paṇḍita. The wise say this
tam idani pavakkhami, yathanukkamato; kathaṃ? is the development of insight (vipassana).
1511
I shall now explain it
part by part, according to its sequence. How?

Its Two Samuṭṭhāna-s (origins) and Two Dhura-s (modes of engaging)

bhūmidhamme pariggayha, vicinantassa yogino. Insight arises
satiya samatha va 'tha, _samuṭṭhati_ vipassana. 1512 from either awareness (sati) or tranquillity

their correspondence to the sutta-derived sequence of stages of realization, as they pertain to the sutta categories
of yatha-bhuta-naṇa-dassaṇa (knowing and beholding of things as they really are), leading to nibbida
(disenchantment) and thence to viraga (the fading away of craving, or "dispassion"), culminating in vimutti
(liberation). Here, Anuruddha refers to the latter division mapping the ten insight knowledge onto the classical
sutta categories leading up to liberation (cf. vv. 1645-1647). For the mapping of them as they correspond to the
successive realization of the three characteristics, cf. v. 1704: udayabbayabhangesu, pakaṭa hi aniccata /
bhayadīnavanibbede, dukkhatanattata tato. "For, in arising and passing away and dissolution, their being
impermanent becomes apparent; / in fear, danger, and disenchantment, their being suffering; and, after that, their
being not-self."
* threefold [doors of] liberation (vimokkhattayam): referring to the three “doors” of liberation, “the signless”
(animitta), the desireless” (appanihita), and “emptiness” (suññata), corresponding to whether nibbana is
approached via the characteristic of impermanence, suffering of not-self, respectively.
1509
sattaṭṭhāriyapuggalā: sataṭṭhariyapuggala (?) [sic] (Ee); sattaṭṭhariyapuggala (Be).
* the seven individuals (sattapuggala): referring to the seven-fold classification of noble individuals as
saddhanusari, dhammanusari; saddhavimuttako, diṭṭhipatto, kayasakkhi; pannavimutto, ubhatobhagavimutto. cf
v. 1813;
* the eight noble individuals (aṭṭhariyapuggala): persons of the four paths and four fruits 1) sotapatti; 2)
sakadagamita; 3) anagamita; 4) arahattaṃ.
* loss of defilement (klesahani): the defilements abandoned upon attaining those paths and fruits.
* Four powers of analysis (paṭisambhida): pertaining to attha (meaning), dhamma (principle); nirutti (linguistic
expression), and paṭibhana (directly intuited truth).
1510
* Verses 1506-1510 broadly lay out the contents of the entire vipassana-vibhaga (Vipassana Section), chapters
11-13 of the Namarūpapariccheda.
1511
vipassanābhāvanā 'yam iti: ˚bhavana 'yam iti; notes var. ˚bhavanaya-vidhiṃ (Ee); ˚bhavanayamiti (Be).
1512
* from either awareness (sati) or tranquillity (samatha) (satiya samatha va): Vipassana can be undertaken either
from the level of jhana (samatha), for one who has cultivated jhana, or prior to that (sati), for one who has not
cultivated the jhana-s.

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 (samatha)*
for the yogī having apprehended the phenomena
that constitute its “grounds”*
while analytically discerning these with wisdom.*
sabhavapaṭivedhe ca, saddhammapaṭipattiyaṃ. The torchbearers of its wisdom say
pañña-saddha-dvayaṃ tassa, _dhuram_ ahu that the modes of engaging it (dhura) are two: with
dhurandhara. 1513 (predominance of) wisdom or of faith,*
as regard the penetration of their natures
and one's progress through the [stages of] the path.
Its Three Bhūmi-s (levels of comprehension):
tebhūmakasabhavanaṃ, sappaccayapariggaho. The apprehension of the natures,
ñatapariñña nama 'yaṃ, bhūmī 'ti paṭhama mata. 1514
of all things pertaining to the triple world*
along with their respective conditions,
is considered its first level (bhumi):
termed "comprehension as being known"
(nataparinna).*
kalapato sammasanaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ. Reflection by amassing*
pariñña tīraṇa nama, dutiya bhūmi bhasita. 1515 and beholding arising and passing away

* the phenomena that constitute its “grounds” (bhumidhamma): The term refers to the dhamma-s that constitute
the "ground of insight" as per the famous visuddhimagga image at Vism XIV §32, referring to "khandhayatana-
dhatu-indriya-sacca-paṭiccasamuppadadi-dhamma" as a group. In the commentarial era's synthesis, these are the
factors in the investigation of which insight is given rise.
* analytically discerning them with wisdom (vicinantassa): referring to dhamma-vicayo “the discrimination of
phenomena” as a bojjhanga, which corresponds to pañña (in its capacity of “discriminating wisdom”, discerning
and differentiating composite phenomena).
1513
* This evidently refers to the old distinction of the saddanusarī vs. dhammanusarī, reflected in the seven noble
individuals classification (found in sutta-s): suggesting two separate trajectories of progress on the path (via the
formal stages of liberation culminating in arahatship), based, it seems on the distinction of faith in second-hand
knowledge (received wisdom) vs. individually discovered first-hand knowledge (the wisdom of one's own
discovery). There was evidently divergence of opinion as to whether the former was able to convey all the way
to arahatship or not.
1514
* of all things pertaining to the triple world (tebhumaka): i.e. all things, all mind and matter, at the level of
sense-sphere existence, form-sphere, as well as formless-sphere existence (kamavacara, rupavacara, and
arupavacara). Glossed in the ṭīka on the corresponding abhidh-s passage as "lokuttaravajjesu
tibhumipariyapannesu namarupesu (9.53) "mind and matter, inclusive [of mind and matter] at [all] three levels
[of existence], with the exception of the transcendental (lokuttara)”.
* the three levels of pariñña “comprehension” are an old commentarial analysis of the deepening levels of first
noble truth. The kicca (“task, application”) of the first noble truth (dukkha-sacca, the truth of suffering) is that
the suffering discerned must be parinneyyaṃ “fully comprehended”. The knowing of the fact of suffering
represents nata-parinna “comprehension as its being known”; the determination of the need to fully comprehend
it represents tirana-parinna, “comprehension as determination”. Suffering's abandonment in the wake of the
accomplishment of full comprehension (yielding liberation) constitutes the third level, pahana-parinna
“comprehension as abandonment”.
1515
* reflection by amassing (kalapato sammasanaṃ) N.B. kalapato here corresponds to the key verb sankhipitva
"having thrown together; amassed" (most likely because a derived noun from this verb, "sankhepa", has an
altogether different meaning in Pali); its sense is thus "amassment; grouping; or bundling" and refers to an
inferential discernment by which all constituents of the empirical self (whether as khandha-s, ayatana-s, or
dhatu-s), past, future, as well as present, and of whatever form, are grasped as being equally anicca, dukkha, and

297
 is its second level, called
"comprehension as determination" (tīraṇapariñña).
pahanapariññabhūmi, tatiy' ahu tato paraṃ. The level of "comprehension as abandoning"
bhangadiñaṇam icc evaṃ, tividha _bhūmiyo_ mata. (pahanaparinna)
1516
they call its third, (comprising) the subsequent
knowledges, starting with bhanga (dissolution):
its levels are thus regarded as these three.
Three-fold Abhinivesanā (inhering):
khaṇa-santati-addhana-vasen' ettha samīrita. Its three inherings (in the present) are said to be
anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, tividha _'bhinivesana_. 1517 by way of (present) moment; (present) cognitive
sequence;
and (present) span of life: herein [seeing sankhara-
s]
as impermanent, as suffering, and as not self.
The Four Purifications that constitute "the trunk/body" of Discernment:
diṭṭhi kankhavitaraṇa, maggamagga paṭippada. The four purifications -- of view;
visuddhiyo catasso 'pi, _sarīran_ 'ti nidassita. 1518 of emerging from doubt; of what is the path and
not;
and of progress on the path --
are characterized as [the tree of] (insight's)
"trunk" ...
salakkhaṇavavatthanaṃ, paccayakaranicchayo. (respectively) defining [mind and matter] with their
kummaggapariharo ca, tilakkhaṇavipassana. 1519 (three) characteristics; *
coming to certainty with regard to their
(dependence on) conditions;
the handling of the wrong path;
and discerning with insight the three
characteristics;
iti lakkhaṇabhinnatta, labbhant' ekakkhaṇe 'pi ca. hence the purifications, divided like this
desita hetubhūtena, kamen' evaṃ visuddhiyo. 1520 by way of what characterizes each, respectively,
are taught in causal sequence, as follows,

anatta. It does not appear to have anything to do with the "aṭṭhakalapa" in the sense of "atom", with which this
stage of insight is sometimes conflated. The term kalapa is in fact wholly absent in the earliest description of
"sammasana-naṇa" (in the Paṭis-m) and was evidently introduced later (as most likely the need was felt for a
nominal counterpart to the key verb sankhipitva), but perhaps prior to the intimate association of the word with
the Theravada atomic theory.
1516
—
1517
—
1518
maggāmaggā: maggamagga (Ee); maggamagga (Be).
* the 3rd-6th purifications, in the series of seven; i.e., those of: 3) diṭṭhi; 4) kankhavitaraṇa; 5)
maggamaggadassana 6) paṭippadanaṇadassana.
* for "trunk" cf. the Vism metaphor at Vism XIV, §32. I take this as a modified mapping of this same tree
metaphor.
1519
* with their three characteristics (salakkhaṇa): sa- or sva- ? (reading as sa- “with”, rather than sva “own”.)
1520
—

298
 though they can be obtained all at once, as well. //
though they are all obtained in a single moment,
too.
sīlavisuddhiadīnaṃ, tatha sa 'va parampara. It's thus set forth as the linked chain
cittavisuddhiadīnam atthaya 'ti pakasita. 1521 of purifications beginning with that of sīla (sila-
visuddhi)
(undertaken) for the sake of (attaining)
that of mind [by samadhi] (citta-visuddhi), and so
on.
dissamanasabhavanaṃ, passanto paccayaṭṭhitiṃ And freed now from the hindrances,
paripanthavimutto hi, paṭipadeti bhavanaṃ. 1522 he causes his discernment to progress
seeing the persistence of the things appearing to
him, each with its own nature,
to be dependent on these things' conditions.
tatha 'pi ca visesena, paṭipannassa yogino. And how can they still more precisely be divided
tattha tattha vibhūtatta, ṭhanato bhedita kathaṃ. 1523 according to their scope
on account of the clarity the yogī has
with regard to this or that, as he progresses?
rūpapubbangamaṃ va 'tha, namapubbangamaṃ Whether proceeding first from matter,
tatha. or proceeding first from mind,*
ajjhattaṃ va bahiddha va, yathapakaṭadhammato. whether internally or externally,
1524
in accordance with the phenomena that become
evident,
namarūpadibhedena, bhūmidhammapariggaho. the apprehending of the dhammas that constitute
vutta diṭṭhivisuddhī 'ti, attadiṭṭhippahanato. 1525 the ground (of insight)*
by separating them into mind and matter, and so
forth,*
is called "the purification of view" (diṭṭhi-
visuddhi),*
on account of (its bringing about) the abandoning

1521
sīlavisuddhiādīnaṃ: sīlavisuddhiadīnaṃ (Ee); sīlabbisuddhiadīnaṃ (Be).
cittavisuddhi-: cittavisuddhi- (Ee); cittabbisuddhi- (Be).
1522
paccayaṭṭhitiṃ: paccayaṭṭhitiṃ (Ee); paccayaṭṭhiti (Be).
paripanthavimutto hi: paripanthavimutto pi; notes var. parisuddhivisuddho hi (Ee); paripanthavimutto hi (Be).
1523
—
1524
yathāpākaṭadhammato: yathapakaṭadhammato (Ee); yathapakaṭadhammato (Be).
* Cf. Vism XVIII §3-5, for the account of how discernment of matter may proceed discernment of mind, or,
equally, vice-versa, depending on one's object of observation.
1525
* the ground (of insight) (bhumidhamma): the five aggregates, etc. Naṇamoli trans.: "all states of the three
planes" Vism trans. XVIII §24
* and so forth: presumably the finer distinctions of these, viz., the four elements and their derived forms of
matter, the various rūpa-dhamma-s; and the four aggregates or five main dhammas (phassapañcama-dhamma)
that constitute nama, as well as the various citta-s and cetasika-s.
* Apprehending the bhumidhamma-s in terms of nama & rūpa = namarūpapariccheda-ñaṇa = diṭṭhivisuddhi
(normally diṭṭhivisuddhi is defined in terms of namarūpapariccheda-ñaṇa; Anuruddha here defines it in terms of
apprehending the bhumidhamma-s by way of the distinctions of nama and rūpa, etc.

299
 of self-view.
ahacca paccayuppanna, tatha tabbhavabhavino. And for the (yogī) taking up sankhara-s
pavattantī 'ti sankhare, passato pana yoniso. 1526 and appropriately (yoniso) seeing that "They occur
arisen from conditions, their existence
likewise on account of that of those",
paccayaggahinī pañña, namarūpappavattiya. the wisdom that grasps hold
kankha taranti taya 'ti, kankhavitaraṇa mata. 1527 of the conditions of mind and matter's occurring
is regarded as (the purification of) "doubts'
crossing" (kankhavitaraṇa visuddhi) –
since with it they now cross beyond their doubts.
anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, paccayayattavuttito. conditioned things are gathered up
sankhipitva kalapena, sammasīyanti sankhata. 1528 and reflected on in groups,
as impermanent, suffering and not self,
according to their being dependent on conditions.
uppadavayabhavo 'pi, lakkhaṇattayasadhako. Their state of arising and passing, too,
paccayakaram arabbha, lakkhīyati visesato. 1529 that is productive of all three characteristics,
is noted to an exceptional extent,
on the basis of their aspect of condition.
tasma sammasanaññaṇaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ. Therefore (both) "knowledge deriving from
kankhavitaraṇayan tu, sangayhati visuddhiyaṃ. 1530
reflection"
and "beholding of arising and passing" (the first
two "insight knowledges")
are included in the purification
of "crossing beyond doubts".
tattha saṃklesavikkhepaṃ, kummaggaṃ And, in that regard, the knowing and beholding
parivajjato. of one avoiding
maggamaggavisuddhī 'ti, ñaṇadassanam īritaṃ. 1531 the false path of defilement and distraction
is called the purification of path-not-path
(maggamagganaṇadassanavisuddhi).
tato kathenti akliṭṭhaṃ udayabbayadassanaṃ. And after that, they say,
adiṃ katva paṭipadañaṇadassanasuddhiyaṃ. 1532 making the beholding of arising and passing,
no more defiled, his beginning
in the purity of the "knowing and beholding of the
path" (paṭipadanaṇadassanavisuddhi),
paccayapaccayuppanne, yathavatthuvavatthite. by way of the path-progress leading out (of
pahatum īhamananaṃ, niyyanapaṭipattito. 1533 bondage)
1526
—
1527
—
1528
—
1529
—
1530
sammasanannāṇaṃ: sammasanaññaṇaṃ (Ee); sammasanañaṇaṃ (Be).
kankhāvitaraṇāyan: kankhavitaraṇayan (Ee); kankhavitaraṇayaṃ (Be).
1531
—
1532
akliṭṭhaṃ: akkliṭṭhaṃ (Ee); akliṭṭham (Be).

300
 of those striving to abandon
the conditions and the things arisen from
conditions,
as defined according to each object,
upaklesavisuddho hi, punadevodayabbayaṃ. one who's purified of the defilements [of insight],*
adhiṭṭhahitva bhangadi-ñaṇehi paṭipajjati. 1534 once again resolves
upon arising and passing away
and progresses through the knowledges of bhanga,
and so forth.
tatha cabhinavuppanne, bhijjamane vipassato. And so, as he discerns with wisdom
saṃvegakaḍḍhitaṃ ñaṇaṃ, bhangadim anutiṭṭhati. things newly arisen breaking up,
1535
the knowledge that is drawn to him by his alarm
starting with that of "dissolution" (bhanga), comes
within his reach.
tato pubbe pavatta hi, saṃklesapayasambhava. Since the cultivation that took place prior to this,
paṭipattivisuddhī 'ti, na sangayhati bhavana. 1536 gave rise to the defiling and straying (from the
path),
it is not included
as “purity of progress on the path”.*

Cultivating the discernment of the three characteristics

sampadento pan' icc eta, catasso 'pi visuddhiyo. And bringing about these four purifications thus,
anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, bhaveyya tividha kathaṃ? how should one develop the threefold
1537
[perception of conditioned things]*
as impermanent, and suffering, and not self?

paccayapaccayuppanna, jata 'nantarabhedino. Conditions and things arisen from conditions

anicca ca pabhangū ca, palujjanti cavanti ca. 1538 are produced;
and immediately thereafter they break up;
impermanent and bound to break,
they fall apart and pass away.
addhuva ca asara ca, vibhava ca vinasino. Unstable, insubstantial

1533
niyyānapaṭipattito: nīyanapaṭipattito (Ee); niyyanapaṭipattito (Be).
1534
upaklesa-: upakklesa- (Ee); upaklesa- (Be).
* referring to the ten vipassan'upakkilesa-s "corruptions of insight"
1535
saṃvegākaḍḍhitaṃ: saṃvegakaḍḍhitaṃ (Ee); saṃvegakaḍḍhitaṃ (Be).
1536
sangayhati: sa gayhati (Ee); sangayhati (Be).
* i.e., it is not included in the stage of purification paṭipadanaṇadassanavisuddhi.
1537 *
anicca, etc. may either be either feminine hearkening back to their characterization in v. 1517 as insight's
threefold abhinivesana ("vesting; inhering"), or masculine plural, implying some implicit subject like "sankhara-s"
or "sankhata" (cf. vv. 1538-39). Given the presence of tividha, and the identical replication of the phrasing of v.
1517, the first option -- that of an implicit "threefold abhinivesa" -- might seem more likely; but in that case one
would expect an acc. rather than a nom. in a 'ti clause, as we have here. I thus take them as m. pl. and translate
assuming the implied subject "sankhara-s".
1538
—

301
sankhata vipariṇama-dhamma ittarakalika. 1539 they're coming to an end and perishable;
they're things conditioned; bound to change;
and lasting only briefly.
khayadhamma vayadhamma, lahukalappavattino. As things that must inevitably end, and pass away,
tavakalikadhamma ca, parittaṭṭhitika tatha. 1540 their occurrence is short-lived;
they are phenomena of just so much duration,
and their period of endurance very little.
khaṇattayaparicchinna, pubbaparavicittaka. They are limited to the three moments (of their
purakkhata nirodhassa, sassata na kudacanaṃ. 1541 arising, persistence, and dissolution), *
and differentiated from the prior and the following;
at no time are they eternal;
they are the antecedents of cessation.
jayanti parihanaya, na tu jayanti vuddhiya. They are born for certain downfall;
jiyyamana 'va tiṭṭhanti, jiṇṇa bhangaparayaṇa. 1542 they are not born to rise;
they grow old as they persist;
and old, are destined to dissolve.
ahutva yev' uppajjanti, na kutoci 'pi agata. they arise not having been;
hutva antaradhayanti, na tu katthaci sañcita. 1543 come into being from nowhere;
and having been they vanish;
not anywhere stored up.*
taṃ taṃ paccayasamaggim attalabhaya nissita. They depend, for their own being,
nirodhadhamma jayanti, jata byanti-bhavanti te. 1544 on the alignment of this or that condition;
they are born to cease (with it);
and born, come to their end.
yatha nadī pabbateyya, yatha dīpasikha tatha. Swift like a mountain stream;
sīghasīghaṃ pavattanta, uppajjanti vayanti ca. 1545 swift like an oil lamp's flame;
as swift in their occurrence,
they arise and pass away.
jata jata nirujjhanti, aññe aññe tu jayare. Newly born, they cease;
avīci-anusambandha, na jananti visesato. 1546 and others in their place
successively arise without a gap;
People do not see them as distinct.

1539
—
1540
—
1541
* three moments (khaṇattayaṃ): Cf. Abhidh-s 4.8: uppada-ṭhiti-bhanga-vasena khaṇattayaṃ "ekacittakkhaṇaṃ"
nama.
1542
jiyyamānā: jīyamana (Ee); jiyyamana *Be).
1543
* For this sentiment, famously illustrated with the simile of the viṇa and the sound it produces, cf. Vism. XX
§96.
1544
byanti-bhavanti: byanti-bhavanti (Ee); byanti bhavanti (Be).
1545
vayanti: cavanti (Ee); vayanti (Be).
1546
avīci-anusambandhā: emended from avīcim anusambandha (Ee); avīci anusambandha (Be).
jānanti: jananti; notes var. jayanti (Ee); jananti (Be).

302
iti nanappakarena, vipassanto vicakkhaṇo. Seeing them with wisdom, one who's perspicacious
_aniccabhavanaṃ_ dhīro, paripaceti sadhukaṃ. 1547 skillfully matures his cultivation
of [the perception of them as] "anicca",
in various ways, like this.

Cultivation of [the perception of them as] Dukkha:

dukkha ca dukkhavatthū ca, abhiṇhaparipīlita. They are suffering and suffering's basis;
roga gaṇḍa ca salla ca, aghato ca upaddava. 1548 being constantly oppressed;
they're diseases, boils, and darts;
they're troubles, and seen as harm.
bhayopasaggaghamūla, sasavadīnavaṭṭhita. They're the root of harm of fear's attack;
aleṇasaraṇataṇa, vadhaka marakamisa. 1549 while remaining with the danger of the asava-s'
from which there is no shelter, refuge, or safe
harbor;
they're the murderous baits of Mara.
jatidhamma jarabyadhi-sokopayasabhagino. Subject to birth, they also partake
paridevasabhava ca, saṃklesa dukkhabhagino. 1550 of old age and disease; of sorrows and despairs;
their cries of grief are natural;
they are afflicted; part of dukkha.
jeguccha paṭikūla ca, bībhaccha ca virūpino. Disgusting and repulsive,
ajañña capala hīna, duggandha balasevita. 1551 frightening and ugly,
common, unpredictable and base,
foul-smelling and associated with by those who yet
lack wisdom.
sokantarikata niccaṃ, taṇhay' akaḍḍhita bhusaṃ. Always making way for sorrow,
kapaṇa duggata dīna, vipanna ca vighatino. 1552 and inexorably drawn to one by craving,
beggarly and tragic in their plight,
they're failed by fortune, bound to persish.
attalabhaṃ gavesanti, taṃtaṃpaccayanissita. They seek their being
dukkhadhiṭṭhanam accantaṃ, jata puna vihaññare. on the basis of this or that condition --
1553
a resolve that leads to suffering, unsurpassed;
and, born, they face again its misery.
aggikūpe nimugga 'va, klesasantapabhagino. Like being plunged into a fire-pit, they face
oviddha viya sattīhi, sankhara niccadukkhita. 1554 the burning of the kilesa-s they give rise;

1547
—
1548
aghato: aghata (Ee); aghato (Be). Cf. the series: roga gaṇda salla agha etc.
1549
sāsavādīnavaṭṭhitā: sasavadīnavaṭṭhita (Ee); sasavadīnavītita (Be).
1550
jarābyādhi-: jaravyadhi- (Ee); jarabyadhi- (Be).
1551
jegucchā paṭikūlā ca: jeguccha ca paṭikkūla (Ee); jeguccha paṭikūla ca (Be).
bālasevitā: balasevana (Ee); balasevita (Be).
1552
sokantarikatā: sokantarikata 'niccaṃ (Ee); sokantarikataniccaṃ (Be).
taṇhāy' ākaḍḍhitā: taṇhay' akaḍḍhita (Ee); taṇhaya kaḍḍhita (Be).
1553
taṃtaṃpaccayanissitā: taṃ taṃ paccayanissita (Ee); taṃtaṃpaccayanissita (Be).
1554
—

303
 like being pierced by knives,
conditioned things (sankhara-s) face constant pain.
jayamana ca jiyyanta, miyyanta ca khaṇe khaṇe. Taking birth and growing old,
pasuka viya niccamma, haññanti serikatura. 1555 and dying, every moment,
like skinless cows, they suffer,*
distressed despite their freedom.
tilani tila-yante 'va, ucchu-yante 'va ucchuyo. For arisings and passings
udayabbaya 'vassaṃ te, pīlayanti abhiṇhaso. 1556 inevitably oppress them without end;
[crushing them] like sesame in an oil press;
like sugar cane in a suger press.
manoramanavakara, vipallasaparikkhata. With their fresh and pleasant aspect,
iriyapathasañchanna, nopatiṭṭhanti dukkhato. 1557 furnished by distorted vision,
and under the cover of changing postures,
they don't present themselves as dukkha.
sankharesu pan' etesu, vedanassadarodhino. And so among these sankharas,
savagaddulasambaddha, sammohaparivarita. 1558 they're held captive by their relishing of sensation,
bound by the leash of its extracted savor,
and pent-in by their delusion.
aduṃ dukkham idaṃ dukkham iti saṃsaracarino. Wanderers in saṃsara,
dukkhahetum ajananta, sambhamanti aviddasū. 1559
from one suffering to another,
not seeing their suffering's real cause,
they wander blindly round and round.
sukhakaram apassanta, dukkhabharanipīlita. Without seeing its happy aspect,
patthenti dukkham ev' aññaṃ, bala oppressed by suffering's burden,
byasanabhagino. 1560 partaking of misfortune, in want of wisdom,
they seek only further suffering.
cavanta upapajjanta, rukkhasakhaṃ 'va makkaṭo. Dying and being reborn,
dukkham ekaṃ vimuñcanti, tato gaṇhanti caparaṃ. like a monkey the branch of a tree,
1561
they let go of one (kind of) suffering,

1555
jiyyantā: jīyanta (Ee); jiyyanta (Be).
miyyantā: mīyanta (Ee); miyyanta (Be).
* Cf. Image of the skinless cow used in suttas to describe the misery of the phassa (sense-door contact) as one of
the four "ahara-s" ("sustenances" of mind and matter). e.g. puttamaṃsupamasutta (SN 12.63).
1556
—
1557
vipallāsaparikkhatā: vipallasaparikkhata; notes var. vipallasapurakkhita (Ee); vipallasaparikkhata (Be).
1559
aviddasū: aviddasū (Ee); aviddasu (Be).
1558
vedanassādarodhino: vedanassada (Ee); vedanassada (Be).
sāvagaddulasambaddhā: emended from sa 'va sandūlasambaddha (Ee); sava sandulasambaddha (Be). sandula:
corrupt for saddula "tiger" (Skt sardūla); or gaddula/gaddūla "leash"? gaddula used in desc. of taṇha with
participle "-baddha". Cf. Dhs-a: "yatha sunakha gaddulabaddha yadicchakaṃ nīyanti, evaṃ taṇhabaddha sattapīti
dalhabandhanaṭṭhena gaddulaṃ viyati gaddulaṃ. taṇhava gaddulaṃ __taṇhagaddulaṃ_." or Thi-a: "_sunakhova
sankhalabaddho_ti yatha gaddulena baddho \Ee 293/ sunakho gaddulabandhena thambhe upanibaddho aññato
gantuṃ asakkonto tattheva paribbhamati, evaṃ tvaṃ kamataṇhaya baddho"; OR: sava = "juice" (then sand- <
sandati?)
1560
byasanabhāgino: vyasanabhagino (Ee); byasanabhagino (Be).

304
 and thence take hold of another.
te dīgharattaṃ socanti, taṇhasallasamappita. For many a day they grieve,
diṭṭhipasasamūpeta, manatthambhanusarino. 1562 consigned to craving's dart,
with self-view's noose, devoted
to its pride and obstinence.
tam akaraṃ pan' icc evaṃ, vipassanto visarado. And seeing its aspect, thus,
_dukkhanupassanaṃ_ nama, paripaceti bhavanaṃ. with wisdom, now mature,
1563
he matures his cultivation
of "observing (them as) dukkha".

Cultivation of [the perception of them as] Anattā:

dhammaṭṭhitiniyama hi, khandhayatanadhatuyo. The aggregates, sense-spheres, and elements
anatta 'sassatanta ca, īhabhogavivajjita. 1564 are fixed elements of natural order;
not self and not the stuff of an eternalist extreme,
devoid, themselves, of wish or inclination.
payojanam adhiṭṭhaya, na tu byaparayanti ca. Each being resolved upon its function,
paccayapaccayuppanna, janetuṃ va 'tha jayituṃ. they cannot, however, be employed
1565
-- being themselves conditions and their products --
to beget themselves or to be born.
tatha 'pi hetusamaggi-sambhave sambhavanti te. So when causal alignment
tabbhavabhavibhavena, aññamaññappavattita. 1566 arises, they arise;
their existence due to its,
proceeding mutually bound.
ajayituṃ na sakkonti, sati paccayasambhave. They cannot not have birth,
paccayanam alabhe tu, na jayanti kudacanaṃ. 1567 if their condition has arisen;
whereas, their conditions not obtaining,
they cannot ever be born.
na kiñci 'tthaṃ apekkhitva, samagga honti paccaya. Thus it's not out of desire for anything
na janetuṃ na sakkonti, samagga ca kudacanaṃ. that conditions come into accord;
1561
ekaṃ: etaṃ; notes var. ekaṃ (Ee); ekaṃ (Be).
vimuncanti: emended from vimuccanti (Ee); vimuccanti (Be). Em. to vimuncanti "release" (trans., rather than
passive vimuccanti, "are released").
1562
diṭṭhipāsasamūpetā: ˚samūpeta (Ee); ˚samupeta (Be). SK: ū metri causa, cf. v. 1244 for same phenomenon and
elsewhere, rarely, in Pali corpus.
mānatthambhānusārino: manatthambhanusarino (Ee); manatthambhanusayino (Be). Cf. multiple instances of
"anusarī" in Namar-p, but rarity of anusayi. While mana is given in the stereotypical list of (seven) anusaya-s,
thambha is not.
1563
tam ākāraṃ: tam-akaraṃ, notes var. thambhakaraṃ (Ee); tam akaraṃ (Be).
1564
'sassatantā: 'sassatanta (Ee); anattasassatanta (Be). Read as: 'sassatanta, "not eternal"? or sassatanta, (things that
have) "the eternalist extreme"? Reading as the latter.
1565
—
1566
tabbhāvabhāvibhāvena: tabbhavabhavībhavena (Ee); tabbhavabhavibhavena (Be).
annamannappavattitā: aññamaññappavattita(Ee); aññamaññapavattita (Be).
1567
paccayānam: paccayanaṃ; notes var. paccayani (Ee); paccayanam (Be).
alābhe tu: panahetu (Ee); alabhe tu (Be).

305
1568
whenever in accord,
they cannot not give birth.
yathapaccayalabhena, pavattanti yatha tatha. They occur in accordance with whether
rakkhita va vidhata va, n' atthi assamika tatha. 1569 their conditions obtain or not;
whether as preserved or as begetter,
none of them are independent.
"ahaṃ maman" ti gaṇhanta, pariṇamenti aññatha. Taking these as "Me" and "Mine",
vissasanta harant' ete, parabhūta palambhino. 1570 they turn them into what they're not;
trusting them they take them off,
and, cheated by them, are brought down.
ritta tuccha ca suñña ca, vivitta saravajjita. Bereft of substance, hollow, empty,
salakkhaṇaparicchinna, dhamma n' atth' ettha they're separate things, devoid of any essence;
puggalo. 1571 they're phenomena limited to their own
characteristics;
there is herein no person.
jayamana ca jiyyanta, miyyamana ca sankhata. Being born and growing old,
vivasa parivattanti, vaso tesaṃ na katthaci. 1572 and dying, things conditioned
change out of one's control;
there's no control of them.
na tesu kassac' isseraṃ, na tesañ c' atthi katthaci. No one has power over them;
na c' attanī ti sankhara, adhipaccavivajjita. 1573 nor do they have over any, either;
and not over themselves; sankhara-s
lacking thus all governance,
kadalīpattavaṭṭī 'va, aññamaññappatiṭṭhita. like the banana tree's (trunk of) leaves,
sahajatagghanībhūta, nopaṭṭhanti anattato. 1574 nested each within the other;
they don't present themselves as not self
with their co-arisen density.
arūpanissitaṃ rūpaṃ, arūpaṃ rūpanissitaṃ. The material depends on the immaterial for its
jaccandhapīṭhasappī 'va, aññamaññappavattikaṃ. support;
1575
and for its, the immaterial depends on the material;
like one man without sight, and another without
legs;
proceeding each dependent on the other.

1568
kinci 'tthaṃ: kiñcitthaṃ (Ee); kiñcettha (Be).
1569
vidhātā: vidhata, notes variants: vijata; avijata (Ee); vidhata (Be).
1570
—
1571
salakkhaṇaparicchinnā dhammā : salakkhaṇaparicchinna-dhamma (Ee); salakkhaṇaparicchinna, dhamma
(Be).
1572
jiyyantā: jīyanta (Ee); jiyyanta (Be).
miyyamānā: mīyamana (Ee); miyyamana (Be).
1573
c' attanī 'ti: c' attanīti (Ee); cattanīti (Be).
1574
annamannappatiṭṭhitā: aññamaññappatiṭṭhita (Ee); aññamaññapatiṭṭhita (Be).
1575
rūpaṃ: rūpam (Ee); rūpaṃ (Be).
annamannappavattikaṃ: aññamaññappavattikaṃ (Ee); aññamaññavavatthitaṃ (Be).

306
yantasuttena yantaṃ 'va, kayayantaṃ pavattati. The machine of this body proceeds
namavakaḍḍhitaṃ tattha, n' atthi atta sayaṃvasī. like a machine pulled by its string --
1576
by the mental (nama) it's pulled along;
it has no self controlling it within.
cetovippharanipphanna, vayodhatusamuṭṭhita. Its alterations of posture and of gesture,
iriyapathaviññattivikara palaka mata. 1577 seen as its maintaining,
are arisen from the element of wind,
produced with mind's pervasion.
oviddhavedanasallavikarapariṇamato. And as a correlate to the alterations
balanaṃ cittanipphanna, atta 'ti parikappana. 1578 owing to the dart of sensation by which it's pierced,
the conceptualization (of these) as "self"
is produced by mind, for those yet weak in wisdom.
suddhasankharapuñjo 'yaṃ, n' ettha satto This is a heap of just conditioned things;
'palabbhati. no being is found herein;
taṃ taṃ paccayam agamma, dukkhakkhandho 'va their conditions being met with,
jayati. 1579 this mass of suffering has its birth.
evam-adippakarehi, vipassanto anattato. Seeing in these ways
_anattabhavanaṃ_ nama, bhavetī 'ti pavuccati. 1580 with wisdom as not self,
he's said to cultivate
the "cultivation of (the perception of them as) not
self".

Nimitta and Pavatta:

bhavento tividham p' etaṃ, _nijjhayati Cultivating this threefold (perception),
tilakkhaṇaṃ_. he contemplates the three characteristics
nimittañ ca pavattañ ca, samarabbha yathakkamaṃ. each in sequence, with reference
1581
to their cause and their occurrence.*

1576
sayaṃvasī: sayaṃ c' api (Ee); sayaṃvasī (Be).
1577
—
1578
—
1579
—
1580
—
1581
* cause (nimitta) and occurrence (pavatta): here the term “nimitta” is evidently used in its atypical 'causal' sense.
Cf. v. 1582. This distinction between the observation of the three characteristics on the basis of their aspect of
being causally conditioned vs. the aspect of their moment by moment occurrence seems to correspond to the
Vism's discussion of the apprehension of the arising and passing (udaya and vaya) of the khandhas 'paccayato
and khaṇato': “by way of condition” re: paṭicca-samuppada, and “by way of momentary occurrence”, re: their
constant change). Cf. Vism XX §99 and ensuing discussion to §104. These two aspects of sankhara-s are singled
out by Anuruddha for fruitful investigation (for the purposes of insight) from the larger list of fifteen aspects of
sankhara-s that occurs at Paṭis-m. The first five of these, 1) uppada, 2) pavatta, 3) nimitta, 4) ayūhana, and 5)
paṭisandhi, occur in connection with bhaya/adīnava-ñaṇa (Paṭis-m adīnavañaṇaniddeso), defining the seeing of
these five aspects as dukkha as constituting adīnava-ñaṇa, and the seeing of the five corresponding negative
counterparts of these as sukha as knowledge pertaining to “the site of peace” (santipada) seemingly associated
with this knowledge as its converse: uppadañ ca pavattañ ca, nimittaṃ dukkhan ti passati / ayūhanaṃ
paṭisandhiṃ, ñaṇaṃ adīnave idaṃ. anuppadaṃ appavattaṃ, animittaṃ sukhan ti ca / anayūhanaṃ appaṭisandhiṃ,
ñaṇaṃ santipade idaṃ. idaṃ adīnave ñaṇaṃ, pañcaṭhanesu jayati / pañcaṭhane santipade, dasa ñaṇe pajanati. Of

307
attalabhanimittañ ca, taṃtaṃpaccayanissita. Dependent upon this or that condition,
tabbhavabhavibhavena, lakkhīyanti nimittato. 1582 as the cause for their own coming into being,
their existence due to its existence,
they are perceived in terms of cause.
jayamana ca jiyyanta, miyyamana ca sankhata. Being born and growing old,
taṃ taṃ bhavam atikkamma, pavattanti khaṇe and dying, conditioned things,
khaṇe. 1583 transcending this or that existence,
occur from moment to moment.
hetunissayanakaro, _nimittan_ 'ti tato mato. The aspect of dependence on causal condition
_pavattaṃ_ vattanakaro, khaṇasantatiaddhato. 1584 is what's thus considered "cause" (nimitta);
"occurrence" (pavatta) is the aspect of presently
occurring
by way of (present) moment, cognitive sequence,
and span of life.
apubbabhinavuppatti, uppado 'ti pakasito. Their new arising without prior occurrence
pubbapariyasandhanaṃ, paṭisandhī 'ti bhasita. 1585 is highlighted as their "arising" (uppada);
their uniting of prior and latter
is described as their "connecting" (paṭisandhi).
ayūhantī 'ti vuccanti, tadatthaṃ pana vyavaṭa. They're spoken of as "making kamma" (ayuhanti),
iccadipariyayehi, bahv-akara 'pi sankhata. 1586 when to that purpose they're engaged;
and though conditioned things have many aspects,
such as these,

these, Anuruddha singled out the two aspects nimitta and pavatta as especially fruitful for contemplation above
at verse 1507: “and in two modes it takes up the three characteristics for contemplation / accordingly in
sankhara-s” (sankharesu yatharahaṃ / duvidhakaram arabbha, nijjhayati tilakkhaṇaṃ). These “two modes” or
“aspects” (akara) are unpacked here as referring to nimitta and pavatta. In vv. 1583-87, Anuruddha refers to the
“many aspects” (bahvakara) of sankhara-s (cf. the Paṭis-m's fifteen) and singles out nimitta and pavatta as the
two most important of these, on the basis of which discernment of the three characteristics arises: nimitte ca
pavatte ca, vatthuto yanti sangahaṃ / taṃ _dvayakaram_arabbha, patiṭṭhati tilakkhaṇaṃ, “...they're all
encompassed, as their basis, in those of cause and of occurrence; and it's engaging these two aspects, that the
three characteristics can be established. These two aspects broadly correspond to the early stages' (of the stages
of purification) emphasis on the discernment of condition, (paccaya, cf. vv. 1526-1530) and the latter stages'
focus on the continuous arising and passing of phenomena in the present moment (khaṇa). Anuruddha appears to
want to draw a distinction between the knowledge of arising and passing in its early stage (before the crisis of
path-not-path) as latter stage (after the successful navigation of the crisis and now pertaining the the stage of
paṭipadañaṇavisuddhi) as hinging on the observation of arising and passing on the basis of condition vs. moment
by moment arising and passing, respectively. Cf. verse 1687: cetopavattanakaram iti sallakkhayaṃ budho, /
sadhukaṃ paṭivijjhanto, sukhumaṃ nipuṇaṃ tato, “And then, thus noting, wakeful, and thoroughly penetrating /
the subtle and minute aspect of consciousness's occurring (pavattanakara)”, describing udayabbayanaṇa after
the resolution of the crisis and just prior to the stage of bhanganaṇa.
1582
taṃtaṃpaccayanissitā: taṃ taṃ paccayanissita (Ee); taṃtaṃpaccayanissita (Be).
tabbhāvabhāvibhāvena: tabbhavabhavībhavena (Ee); tabbhavabhavibhavena (Be).
1583
jiyyantā: jīyanta (Ee); jiyyanta (Be).
miyyamānā: mīyamana (Ee); miyyamana (Be).
1584
—
1585
bhāsitā: bhasitaṃ (Ee); bhasita (Be).
1586
vyāvaṭā: vyavaṭa (Ee); vavaṭa (Be).

308
nimitte ca pavatte ca, vatthuto yanti sangahaṃ. ...they're all encompassed, as their basis,
taṃ _dvayakaram_arabbha, patiṭṭhati tilakkhaṇaṃ. in those of cause and of occurrence;
1587
and it's engaging these two aspects,
that the three characteristics become apparent.
paccayadhīnadhammanaṃ, uppadavayalakkhita. Betokened by the arisings and the passings
aniccata nimittaṭṭha, pavattesu na pakaṭa. 1588 of phenomena that rest upon conditions,
the impermanence that's there within the cause
is not apparent in them as they occur.
pubbaparavicittanam asamatthanam attani. For, different from the prior and the latter,
sannissayena nipphanno, bhavadubbalyasadhako. but unable (to arise) in isolation,
1589
conditioned things' causes, too, being conditioned,
& produced with reliance (on other conditions),
hetusankhatabhavo pi, sankharanam aniccata. making for the tenuousness of their existence,
pavattamana dasseti, taṃ sabhavaṃ pan' attano. 1590 is their impermanence
that, continuously occurring,
reveals to one its nature.
nicca dhuva ce sankhara, kasma 'pekkhanti If conditioned things are permanent and fixed,
paccaye? why do they wait for their conditions?
ahutva yadi nissaya, jata ka tattha niccata? 1591 if, not having been, depending upon these
they're born, what permanence can there be in
them?
attalabhaṃ labhitvana, hetusamaggilabhato. And having obtained being,
yapessanti tam aññatra, kathaṃ nam' attadubbala. by way of obtaining causal alignment,
1592
they will sustain it elsewhere;
how feeble, indeed, per se!
paccaye anapekkhitva, yadi n' atthi samatthata. If in want of their conditions,
attalabhūpalabhaya, kiṃ samattha 'nupalane? 1593 they have no power
to even obtain their own being,
then do they have the power to preserve it?
janaka paccayanañ hi, tad-ayūhanato paraṃ. For they're creators of conditions
parihayitum araddha, jiya khittasara yatha. 1594 that, after the striving of that action,
have begun to lose vitality,
like the bowstring that's cast its arrow.

1587
—
1588
aniccatā nimittaṭṭhā: aniccata nimittaṭṭha (Ee); aniccatanimittaṭṭha (Be).
1589
asamatthānam: appavattanam (Ee); asamatthanam (Be).
bhāvadubbalyasādhako: bhavadubballya (Ee); bhavadubbalya (Be).
1590
hetusankhatabhāvo: hetusankhatabhavo (Ee); hetusankhatabhavo (Be).
pi: pi (Ee); hi (Be).
1591
—
1592
—
1593
—
1594
parihāyitum: parihayitum (Ee); pariharitum (Be).
khittasarā: khittasara (Ee); khittasaro (Be).

309
accī 'va vaṭṭinikkhanta, meghamutta 'va vijjuta. Like flames departed from their wick;
paccayuddhaṭavissaṭṭha, dhamma bhangaparayaṇa. like lightning streaks freed from their cloud;
1595
uprooted and released from their condition,
dhammas are destined to dissolve.
tasma _nimittam akaraṃ, _ passanto sa vipassako. Therefore that discerner, seeing
"vinassanti avassan" ti, saddahanto vimuccati. 1596 their aspect of causal dependence,
surrendering (to the truth of his faith)* that they
inevitably perish
is released.
aniccato tatha h' evaṃ, vipassantassa yogino. And the yogī thus discerning
saddhavimokkha-bahulyaṃ, bhavatī 'ti pakasitaṃ. them with wisdom as impermanent,
1597
has, it's said, predominance
of release through surrender (to the truth of his
faith).*
iti sankharadhammesu, nimittakara-nicchitaṃ. Thus, steadfast in wisdom,
aniccalakkhaṇaṃ dhīro, nijjhayati niyamato. 1598 he considers the characteristic of anicca
ascertained in conditioned things
via the aspect of their cause,
according to its inevitability.
badhakattabhayakara, pavatte dukkhita viya. In their aspect of being harmful and a source of
pavattamana pīlenti, sankhara ca bhayavaha. 1599 danger,
steeped in suffering, as it were, in their occurrence,
conditioned things oppress when they occur
(thus) they are also terrifying.
uppadabhinavakaraṃ, atikkamma tato paraṃ. Leaving their fresh aspect at arising
jarajajjarita hutva, bhañjamana kathaṃ sukha? 1600 behind, and soon, thereafter,
becoming worn with age
as they dissolve, how are they happy?
tasma _pavattam akaraṃ,_ nijjhayanto nirantaraṃ. Therefore as he examines
sankhare dukkhato disva, hitvana paṇidhiṃ tahiṃ. the aspect of their occurrence,
1601
immediately he sees conditioned things as suffering
(dukkha),
and sets aside all inclination toward them...

1595
—
1596
he surrenders to the truth: cf. note v. 1597.
1597
-bāhulyaṃ: -bahullyaṃ (Ee); bahulyaṃ (Be).
* Both saddahanto vimuccati (1596) and saddha-vimokkha (1597) play on the same idiom -- that of "release
through faith" which I suspect is best captured by an English expression to "accept the truth (of something)", or
"surrender to the truth (of a tenet of faith)". To render saddhanto as "confiding" would suggest that it remains a
topic of mere, belief, and I think something quite different is implied by this phrase. Here translated accordingly.
1598
—
1599
—
1600
jarājajjaritā: jarajajjarita (Ee); jarajaccarita (Be).
1601
—

310
tad-ayūhananissango, passaddhadaratho sukhī. ...and disinterested in all their kammic toiling,
samadhibahulo yogī, upasanto 'ti vuccati. 1602 his heart's distress allayed, with happiness,
the yogī with samadhi in predominance
is said to be at peace.
byaparavasitakaraṃ, sankharanaṃ vipassato. For one discerning with wisdom
nimitte ca pavatte ca, upaṭṭhati anattato. 1603 at both the level of cause and of occurrence,
the aspect of conditioned things' activity being
under control (or not)
presents itself to him as not self.
anattadhīnanipphanna, vasatītappavattino. Produced relying not on me;
bhavadubbalyanissara, katham atta bhavissare?. 1604 occurring out of my control;
substanceless in the tenuousness of their being --
how can they be self?
tam evaṃ paṭivijjhanto, maññatanattalakkhaṇaṃ. Penetrating it like this, he now
vipassanarasassadī, saṃvegabahulo bhave. 1605 pays heed to the characteristic of not self;
as one who's tasted insight's savor,
with a predominance of alarm regarding existence.
icc' ahacca pavattanaṃ, lakkhaṇanaṃ sabhavato. The ascertainment of the respective characteristic
vavatthito tattha tattha, taṃtaṃlakkhaṇanicchayo. [of conditioned things] as they occur,
1606
is thus arrived at and respectively defined,
each according to its nature.
tatha 'pi pakaṭaṭṭhane, hetubhūte ca yoniso. Just as on site in which they are apparent,
vavatthapeti sankhaya, lakkhaṇani vicakkhaṇo. 1607 one who's perspicacious reckons closely
and defines them
in that which is its cause, as well.
uppadavayabhavena, dissamana hi sankhata. For, conditioned things, being regarded
pubbaparavivekena, dassenti tad-aniccataṃ. 1608 in their state of arising and of passing,
reveal that they're not permanent
in their distinctness from those that come before
and those that come after.
tatha ca viparīṇamaṃ, vipassanto visarado. And seeing their constant changing
nimittaphalanipphannaṃ, tam-attham adhimuccati. with insight, now mature,
1609
he likewise settles on its meaning:
the product of a cause's having fruit.

1602
upasanto: upasanto (Ee); vūpasanto (Be).
1603
—
1604
bhāvadubbalyanissārā: bhavadubballyanissara (Ee); bhavadubbalyanissara (Be).
1605
—
1606
vavatthānaṃ: pavattanaṃ; notes var. vavatthanaṃ (Ee); pavattanaṃ (Be).
taṃtaṃlakkhaṇanicchayo: taṃ taṃ lakkhaṇanicchayo (Ee); taṃtaṃlakkhaṇanicchayo (Be).
1607
tathā 'pi pākaṭaṭṭhāne: tatha pi pakaṭaṭṭhane (Ee); tathapipakaṭaṭṭhane (Be).
1608
—
1609
viparīṇāmaṃ: viparīṇamaṃ (Ee); vipariṇamaṃ (Be). Lengthened metri causa.
tam-attham: tam-attham (Ee); tamattham (Be). tam atthaṃ?

311
dukkhappavattihetutta, nimittam api paṇḍito. And because it is the source of suffering's
bhayavahaniyamena, badhakan t' eva passati. 1610 occurrence,
a person who has wisdom
sees that the cause itself is harmful
as well, what with the danger it inevitably brings.
tatha hi paccayarabbha, sankhara nissayanti ce. And if conditioned things depend,
tato 'vassaṃ bhavissanti, mahabbhayasamohita. 1611 on their conditions,
then from that point on they certainly will be
connected with great danger.
nirodhadhamma jayanti, sallaviddha 'va dukkhita. They're born subject to ending;
jaratura vipajjanta, bhijjanta ca vighatino. 1612 suffering as if pierced through by a dart;
afflicted by old age, their fortune fails,
and, breaking up, they perish.
ten' evaniccato diṭṭha, dukkhabhavena khayare. Seen as anicca, just by that,
sankhatatta sabhavo hi, dukkhaya parivattati. 1613 they become apparent as dukkha;
for, due to being conditioned, their nature
tends toward suffering.
anicca puna sankhara, dukkha 'ti ca vavatthita. Conditioned things that are anicca,
anattattaniyamena, nidassenti salakkhaṇaṃ. 1614 and defined moreover as dukkha,
with their constraint of being thus not oneself,
show their (anatta) characteristic.
kathaṃ atta paradhīna, paccayuppannabhangura. How are they self if they're dependent,
vipattiniyata va 'tha, badhamana bhayavaha? 1615 arisen on conditions, prone to breaking;
or constrained to fortune's failing,
bringing grave danger, harming?
ahaccakarabhedena, _tividha hi vipassana_. By division of the aspects brought to bear (upon
anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, ayam ettha vinicchayo. 1616 conditioned things)
(perceived to be) "anicca", "dukkha", and "anatta",
insight's discernment (vipassana) is threefold
and this, in this regard, is its defining.

Eighteenfold Mahāvipassanā:
tidhabhūta pan' icc' eta, pahanakarabhedita. How, then, is this insight of these three kinds
_mahavipassana_ nama, _aṭṭharasavidha_ kathaṃ?. divided according to its aspect of abandoning,
1617
into the great eighteen-fold form
1610
bādhakan t' eva: badhakant' eva (Ee); badhakanteva (Be).
1611
tathā: kuto; notes var. tatha (Ee); tatha (Be).
paccayārabbha: paccayarambha (Ee); paccayarabbha (Be).
1612
ca: ca (Ee); va (Be).
1613
—
1614
—
1615
attā parādhīnā: atta paradhīna (Ee); attaparadhīna (Be).
1616
—
1617
* Anuruddha here reorganizes the traditional list of eighteen in an innovative way, re-grouping them by way of

312
 known as "maha-vipassana" ("Great
Discernment")?*
The Anicca Observations
hetusamagginipphannam aniccan 'ti tilakkhaṇaṃ. (Seeing) that produced from the alignment of
aniccataṃ vipassanto, niccasaññaṃ vimuñcati. 1618 causes
1. ( = Paṭis-m 1) and having the three characteristics as "anicca",
discerning impermanence,
he lets go of his perception of it as permanent.
aniccatayadhiṭṭhananimittaṃ pana passato. And for one seeing the mental sign (nimitta)
animitte vimuccantī, animittanupassana. 1619 with firm resolve upon its impermanence,

the characteristic to which they pertain. This is the only occurrence of the list in this form, that I am aware. The
Vism does not break up the list at all, except to treat the first seven as a coherent group pertaining to
bhanganupassana: tattha yatha aniccanupassanadīhi sattahi niccasaññadīnaṃ pahanaṃ hoti, taṃ
bhanganupassane vuttam eva (XXII §114) (and treated independently at XXI §15-18). Cf. Vism. XX §90 [cf.
Paṭis-m i.32-33]: aṭṭharasa mahavipassana nama aniccanupassanadika pañña. yasu
1. aniccanupassanaṃ bhavento niccasaññaṃ pajahati, (P)
2. dukkhanupassanaṃ bhavento sukhasaññaṃ pajahati, (P)
3. anattanupassanaṃ bhavento attasaññaṃ pajahati, (P)
4. nibbidanupassanaṃ bhavento nandiṃ pajahati,
5. viraganupassanaṃ bhavento ragaṃ pajahati,
6. nirodhanupassanaṃ bhavento samudayaṃ pajahati,
7. paṭinissagganupassanaṃ bhavento adanaṃ pajahati,
8. khayanupassanaṃ bhavento ghanasaññaṃ pajahati, (P)
9. vayanupassanaṃ bhavento ayūhanaṃ pajahati, (P)
10. vipariṇamanupassanaṃ bhavento dhuvasaññaṃ pajahati, (P)
11. animittanupassanaṃ bhavento nimittaṃ pajahati, (P)
12. appaṇihitanupassanaṃ bhavento paṇidhiṃ pajahati, (P)
13. suññatanupassanaṃ bhavento abhinivesaṃ pajahati, (P)
14. adhipaññadhammavipassanaṃ bhavento saradanabhinivesaṃ pajahati,
15. yathabhūtañaṇadassanaṃ bhavento sammohabhinivesaṃ pajahati,
16. adīnavanupassanaṃ bhavento alayabhinivesaṃ pajahati,
17. paṭisankhanupassanaṃ bhavento appaṭisankhaṃ pajahati,
18. vivaṭṭanupassanaṃ bhavento saṃyogabhinivesaṃ pajahati.
Sekho: + ñaṇa; aññaṇaṃ pajahati
Vitarago: + visaññoga; saññoyaṃ pajahati; + nirodha, sankharanupaṭṭhanakusalo hoti
Var. Paṭis-m: adhipaññadhammavipassanaya saragabhinivesassa ... yathabhūtañaṇadassanena
sammohabhinivesassa ... adīnavanupassanaya alayabhinivesassa ... paṭisankhanupassanaya appaṭisankhaya ...
vivaṭṭananupassanaya saññogabhinivesassa bhavetabbaṃ bhavento sikkhati.
& Vism XXII §113 [Cf. Paṭis-m i.47]:
yaṃ va pana aṭṭharasasu mahavipassanasu aniccanupassanaya niccasaññaya. dukkhanupassanaya sukhasaññaya.
anattanupassanaya attasaññaya. nibbidanupassanaya nandiya. viraganupassanaya ragassa. nirodhanupassanaya
samudayassa. paṭinissagganupassanaya adanassa. khayanupassanaya ghanasaññaya. vayanupassanaya
ayūhanassa. vipariṇamanupassanaya dhuvasaññaya. animittanupassanaya nimittassa. appaṇihitanupassanaya
paṇidhiya. suññatanupassanaya abhinivesassa. adhipaññadhammavipassanaya saradanabhinivesassa.
yathabhūtañaṇadassanena sammohabhinivesassa. adīnavanupassanaya alayabhinivesassa. paṭisankhanupassanaya
appaṭisankhaya. vivaṭṭanupassanaya saṃyogabhinivesassa pahanaṃ. idam pi tadangappahanam eva.
1618
—
1619
* non-representation or “the signless”: According to the Vism, "the signless / without sign" refers to the
observation of them as impermanent, and therefore without their "representation as permanent" (nicca-nimitta):
animittanupassana 'ti aniccanupassana 'va, taya niccanimittassa pahanaṃ hoti “the observation of non-

313
2. ( = Paṭis-m 11) for him there is the observation of "the signless".*
being let go in absence of the sign.
nirujjhamanadhammanaṃ, byantibhavaṃ And discerning ceasing dhammas'
vipassato. coming to their end,
samudayaṃ pajahantī, nirodhanuvipassana. 1620 there is continuous discernment of cessation;
3. ( = Patis-m 6) abandoning arising.
sithila jatu nissara, dubbala lahughatino. And having reckoned that, so fragile,
khayadhamma 'ti sankhaya, ghanasaññaṃ substanceless and weak, swiftly perishing,
vimuñcati. 1621 4. ( = Patis-m 8) they're subject to exhaustion,
he lets go of his perception of them as being solid.
attalabham atikkamma, vayantī 'ti vicintayaṃ. And reflecting that they pass away,
jahat' ayūhanaṃ tattha, putte pūtipaja viya. 1622 leaving their own being behind,
5. ( = Patis-m 11) he gives up his striving for their sake,
like a woman giving birth to still-born children.*
anavaṭṭhitabhavanaṃ, aññathattaṃ vipassato. And as he sees their constant alteration,
vikarapariṇamesu, dhuvasañña virajjati. 1623 their (former) state no longer remaining,
6. ( = Patis-m 10) in the gradual transformations of decay,
his perception of them as stable fades away.
alambañ ca tadalamba-ñaṇabhangañ ca bhavayaṃ. And cultivating [knowledge] of the dissolution of
saradanabhinivesaṃ, adhipaññaya muñcati. 1624 the object

representation is just the observation as 'impermanent'. Through that there comes about the abandoning of
representation as 'permanent'” (Vism XXII §117). Cf. also Vism XX 91, affirming the identity of
aniccanupassana and animittanupassana, on the authority of the Paṭis-m. Given the phrasing however
(vimuccati), one wonders if Anuruddha is referring to "animitta-vimokkha-dvara", which relates to attaining path
via the characteristic of impermanence.
1620
nirodhānuvipassanā: nirodhanuvipassana (Ee); nirodhaanupassana (Be). nirodha-anupassana?; “anuvipassana”
is nowhere attested, though it might be a clever play on words with reference to the verb vipassati and
anupassana, resorted to for the sake of meter.
1621
ghana-: ghaṇa- (Ee); ghana- (Be).
1622
attalābham: attalabhaṃ (Ee); attalabham (Be).
vicintayaṃ: hi cintayaṃ (Ee); vicintayaṃ (Be).
pūtipajā: pūtipaja; notes var. sūtipaja (Ee); sūtipaja (Be).
* Cf. Vism simile of the puti-paja itthi "still-born bearing woman", used in illustration of bhayat'upaṭṭhana-
naṇa. Vism XXI, §31: apara pi upama --- eka kira pūtipaja itthī dasa darake vijayi. tesu nava mata, eko
hatthagato marati, aparo kucchiyaṃ. sa nava darake mate dasamañca mīyamanaṃ disva kucchigate alayaṃ
vissajji ``ayam pi etesañ ñeva sadiso bhavissatī ’ti. tattha tassa itthiya navannaṃ darakanaṃ maraṇanussaraṇaṃ
viya yogino atītasankharanaṃ nirodhadassanaṃ, hatthagatassa mīyamanabhavadassanaṃ viya yogino
paccuppannanaṃ nirodhadassanaṃ, kucchigate alayavissajjanaṃ viya anagatanaṃ nirodhadassanaṃ. tass' evaṃ
passato etasmiṃ khaṇe uppajjati bhayat-upaṭṭhanañaṇaṃ.
1623
anavaṭṭhitabhāvānaṃ: anavaṭṭhitabhavanaṃ (Ee); anavattitabhavanaṃ (Be). Cf. Commentarial connection with
“avattha”: _taṃ taṃ paricchedan ti adananikkhepadikaṃ taṃ taṃ paricchedaṃ. _aññathapavattidassanan ti
vuttaparicchedato pubbe, paccha ca aññakarappavattiya dassanaṃ, avatthavisesappavattidassanaṃ va (Vism ṭīka)
1624
muncati: muñcati (Ee); muccati (Be).
* Cf. Mahavipassana rubric §14. adhipannadhammavipassanaṃ bhavento saradanabhinivesaṃ pajahati. Cf.
Vism XXII §118: defining adhipannadhammavipassana as the observation of the dissolution of an object as well
as the consciousness that takes that object, giving insight into sunnata as mere sankhara-s observing sankhara-s,
and bringing about relinquishment of grasping them as self -- on authority of a Paṭis-m verse:

314
7. ( = Paṭis-m 14) as well as of the consciousness that apprehends it,
through higher wisdom he lets go*
of investing these with a sense of having substance
(i.e. as nicca or as atta).*
iccanicca 'nimitta ca, nirodha ca khaya vaya. Thus the observations of them pertaining to 1)
viparīṇama 'dhipañña-dhammanupassana 'ti ca. 1625 anicca;
2) non-representation (as permanent); 3) cessation;
and 4) exhaustion;
5) passing away 6) gradually transforming;
and 7) through higher wisdom as dhammas ...
sattanupassanabhedam aniccakaradassanaṃ. ... constitute the beholding of their aspect of anicca,
niccasaññadibhangaya, paridīpenti paṇḍita. 1626 with division into seven observations,
the wise explain, for the destruction
of the perception of them as permanent, etc.
taṃ tam akaram arabbha, tatha bahulyavuttito. Taking up each aspect (anicca, etc.)
taṃlakkhaṇanugata ca, bheda tass' eva sattadha. 1627 as it occurs in full,
and from their division according to the
characteristic to which each pertains,
only the division (of the anicca observations) is in
seven.
The Dukkha Observations
sukhasaññaṃ nissajantī, vutta dukkhanupassana. The observation that dispenses with perceiving
nibbinna nibbidañaṇaṃ, viraga ragavajjita. 1628 them as pleasant,
8. 9. 10. ( = Paṭis-m 2, 4, 5) is termed as that of dukkha;
that thereby disenchanted, as knowing
disenchantment;
and that now devoid of passion, as pertaining to
dispassion.

__adhipaññadhammavipassana_ti --- ``arammaṇañ ca paṭisankha, bhangañ ca anupassati | suññato ca

upaṭṭhanaṃ, adhipañña vipassana’’ ti. (Paṭis-m 1. 58) --- evaṃ vutta rūpadiarammaṇaṃ janitva tassa ca
arammaṇassa tadarammaṇassa ca cittassa bhangaṃ disva ``sankhara va bhijjanti, sankharanaṃ maraṇaṃ, na
añño koci atthī ’ti bhangavasena suññataṃ gahetva pavatta vipassana. sa adhipañña ca dhammesu ca vipassana 'ti
katva adhipaññadhammavipassana 'ti vuccati. taya niccasarabhavassa ca attasarabhavassa ca suṭṭhu diṭṭhatta
saradanabhinivesassa pahanaṃ hoti.
* saradanabhinivesa: glossed in the vism ṭīka as "asaresu saragahaṇabhinivesa".
1625
viparīṇama 'dhipañña-: em. from viparīṇamadhipañña; notes variants: viparīṇamadisañña; viparīṇamadisañña
(Ee); viparīṇamadhisañña (Be). Construing viparīṇama 'dhipañña-dhammanupassana, rather than "'dhipañña,
dhammanupassana", cf. "adhipaññadhammavipassana", note v. 1624.

Note: 1625-26 summary verses of preceeding anupassana-s as all anicca-related.

1626
—
1627
bāhulyavuttito: bahullavuttito (Ee); bahulyavuttito (Be).
bhedā: bhedo; notes var. bheda (Ee); bheda (Be).
1628
nissajantī: nissajantī (Ee); nissajjantī (Be).
nibbinnā nibbidānāṇaṃ: nibbidaṇan ti nibbinna; notes variants: nibbedhananti; nibbidayanti (Ee); nibbinna
nibbidañaṇaṃ (Be).

315
jatappaṇihita nama, muñcantī paṇidhiṃ tatha. And, just so, as it leaves all inclination toward them
niralayabhinivesa, adīnavanupassana. 1629 it becomes that called the "uninclined" (appaṇihita)
11. 12. ( = Paṭis-m 12, 16. and the observation of them as danger,
harboring no clinging for them.
pañcanupassanabhedaṃ, tad-idaṃ This, then, is the beholding of (them as) dukkha,
dukkhadassanaṃ. with its division into five observations
sukhasaññadibhangaya, pavattan 'ti pakasitaṃ. 1630 which are explained as taking place
for the destruction of the perception of them
pleasant, etc.
The Anatta Observations
anattato vipassanto, attasañña vimuñcati. Seeing them with insight as not self
jahat' attabhinivesam, jhayanto puna suññato 1631 he lets go of his perception of them as "me";
13. 14. ( = Paṭis-m 3, 13) and meditating on them now as empty,
abandons his investing of them with a sense of self.
dvayanupassanabhedam anattakaradassanaṃ. The beholding of the aspect of anatta
attasaññabhinivesa-vimokkhaya vibhavitaṃ. 1632 is divided into these two observations,
and is explained to be for liberation
from the perception of them as self and the
investing of them with that sense.
The Freedom Observations
paṭinissaggato disva, sankharesu tilakkhaṇaṃ. Having seen the three characteristics
jahanto sankhatadanaṃ, pakkhandati asankhate. 1633 in conditioned things, now, as for his relinquishing
15. (7) of them,
letting go his holding on to the conditioned,
he takes the leap into the unconditioned.
yathabhūtena ñaṇena, vipassanto vimuccati. Seeing them with wisdom as they are,
sammohabhinivesamha, avipallatthadassano. 1634 he is released,
16. (15) from the great delusion he'd pinned on them,
(now) beholding them with vision undistorted.
mohat' abhoganimmutta, paṭisankhanupassana. The observation of his reckoning reflection,
jahant' appaṭisankhaṃ tu, paṭisankhaya lakkhaṇaṃ. freed from all deluded inclination,
1635
17. ( = Paṭis-m 17) giving up unreckoning reflection,*

1629
—
1630
—
1631
attasannā: attasaññaṃ (Ee); attasañña (Be).
vimuncati: vimuñcati (Ee); vimuccati (Be).
1632
attasannābhinivesa-vimokkhāya: attasaññabhinivesa-vimokkhaya (Ee); attasaññabhinivesaṃ, vimokkhaya
(Be).
vibhāvitaṃ: vibhavitaṃ (Ee); vibhavituṃ (Be).
1633
—
1634
avipallatthadassano: avipallatthadassino (Ee); avipallatthadassano (Be). Clearly a nom. is required and a gen.
makes no sense; mis-parsed and conflated perhaps with "attha-dassī" (speaking of vipallattha-dassana!).
1635
mohat' ābhoganimmuttā: mohatabhoganimmutta (Ee); mohatabhogavimutta (Be).
appaṭisankhaṃ: appaṭisankhan (Ee); appaṭisankhaṃ (Be).

316
 reckoning in full its characteristic.
diṭṭhisankhatadosatta, vibhavento vivaṭṭato. Due to what's reckoned "view" (of self) being in
saṃyogabhinivesamha, paṭilīno vimuccati. 1636 error,
18. ( = Paṭis-m 18) undoing it by turning back from it,*
withdrawing now, he frees himself
from his investment in its bonds.
muñcitukamyatañaṇaṃ, paṭinissaggasammataṃ. The knowledge of the desirability of letting go,
yathabhūtaṃ tatha ñaṇaṃ, paccayakaranissitaṃ. 1637
is considered to be the (above-stated)
"relinquishing" (paṭinissagga)
and, just so, knowledge based on the aspect of
condition
(is considered the above-stated) "knowledge as it
is" (yathabhuta-naṇa).
sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ tu, paṭisankhanupassana. Whereas the knowledge of equanimity toward all
vuṭṭhanagaminī nama, vivaṭṭan ti pavuccati. 1638 conditioned things,
is said to be the (above-stated) "observation with
reckoning reflection" (paṭisankhanupassana)
and the (insight) termed "leading to emergence"
(vuṭṭhana-gamini vipassana)
is said to be the (above-stated) "turning from"
(vivaṭṭa).
catasso 'pi pan' icc' eta, adanadippabhañjita. All four of these, destroying*
lakkhaṇattayam ahacca, pavattanti yatha tatha. 1639 one's holding on (adana), etc.,*
take place as they do
on the basis of all three of the characteristics.
nimittam arabbha tatha pavattaṃ, That development of the insight of which the wise
tilakkhaṇaṃ jhayati yaya yogī; have spoken,
tam ittham aṭṭharasabhedabhinnaṃ, with which a yogī meditates upon the three
vipassanabhavanam ahu dhīra. 1640 characteristics
on the basis of things' cause and, just so, of things'
occurrence,
is divided in its eighteen-fold form in this way.
vipassananayam imam uttamaṃ subhaṃ, Understanding this most auspicious methodology
nidassitaṃ jinavacananusarato | of insight

* giving up: reading jahant(ī).

1636
* undoing it (vibhavayaṃ): understanding the neg. sense of the verb “causing it to not exist” cf. “vibhava-taṇha”
& Niddesa attestation of negative sense: rupaṃ vibhoti vibhaviyati atikkamiyati samatikkamiyati vitivattiyati ti
(Niddesa 205).
1637
muncitu-: muñcitu- (Ee); muccītu- (Be).
yathā bhūtaṃ: yathabhūtaṃ (Ee); yatha bhūtaṃ (Be).
1638
sankhārupekkhānāṇaṃ: ˚ñaṇan (Ee); ˚ñaṇaṃ (Be).
1639
* dissolvers: reading pabhanjita as f. pl. agentive (?)
* cf. aspect 15, observation with relinquishing (paṭinisagganupassana) countering one's holding on (adana), etc.
(the other aspects of the freedom observations and the things they counter).
1640
tam ittham: tam-ittham (Ee); tam ittham (Be).

317
 vibhavayaṃ manasi hitavahaṃ paraṃ, presented here as per the victorious Buddha's words
niramayaṃ padam anupapuṇissati. 1641 one will reach the highest foothold of that bereft of
all affliction
that brings wellbeing supreme within one's heart.
iti
namarūpaparicchede Thus [ends] the eleventh chapter
vipassanavibhago nama in the Manual of Discerning Mind and Matter,
ekadasamo paricchedo. entitled, “the Vipassana Section”.

THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER

12. Chapter Twelve
The Ten Stages

Chapter twelve, the culmination of the work, expounds the ten insight knowledges
(vipassana-naṇani) and frames these as ten "stages", progression through which it models. Here
Anuruddha showcases his talent at vibhavana, the imaginative "modeling" of the stereotypic
realization of the content being expounded, hand in hand with its exposition, from an idealized
perspective. He introduces his grand treatment of these ten stages in an uncharacteristically
personal declaration specifically as a vibhavana, a mode of exegesis in addition to uddesa (initial
exposition of content, broadly) and niddesa (detailed exposition of each individual item of that
content) saying:

iti bhāvetukāmassa, vibhāvemi yathākkamaṃ,

dasāvatthāvibhāgena, samādāya yathākkamaṃ. 1649

And so, for one who wishes to develop [the ten insight knowledges] like this,
having undertaken each, according to their order,
let me portray them clearly (vibhavemi) in their sequence,
by way of their division in ten stages: ....

Each of the ten stages is expounded and depicted, the progressive realizations they
represent dramatically portrayed in addition to being analytically described. Much of the chapter
situates the reader in the subjective space of this unfolding sequence of realizations, culminating
in the emergence of consciousness from the field of its object of investigation, the conditioned
factors of experience (sankhara-s) to the unconditioned (asankhata), nibbana, representing the
initial attainment of path consciousness and the fruit of steam-entry.
Anuruddha detains himself at length describing in dramatic form the formative crisis of
the "purification of the knowing and beholding of what constitutes the path and what does not"
(maggamagganaṇadassana-visuddhi), which comes after initial development of the knowledge

1641
—

318
of arising and passing away (udayabbaya-naṇa), on the cusp of the "knowing and beholding of
[genuine] progress on the path" (paṭipada-naṇa-dassana-visuddhi), which begins from the
successful navigation of that crisis.
It is from here that, in a very emphasized metaphor, occurring twice in the chapter, book-
ending the account of this genuine "path-progress", insight is depicted as 'growing to maturity'
'within the womb' of meditation (v. 1677 & v. 1765). This growth is described in one instance as
beginning from the knowledge of dissolution (bhanga-naṇa), and in such details as this, we
obtain a glimpse of Anuruddha's direct engagement of the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) as a
critical source of reference for his treatment. The Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) was evidently
viewed as the foundational account of insight that Anuruddha saw himself as engaging and
reformulating, beyond the more immediate Path of Purification (Vism). A number of expository
details hearken directly to the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s account, dispensing
occasionally with the Path of Purification (Vism)'s mediating lens.
The broad trajectory of the knowledges and their underlying scheme is described in two
overlapping ways, one pointing to the commentarial era's conception of the content of insight as
a sequential penetration of the three characteristics (anicca, dukkha, and anatta, perceiving
sankhara-s, "conditioned things" as impermanent, suffering, and not self) -- just in finer
gradation -- and one reflecting the commentarial tradition's attempt to square the novel sequence,
a product of post-canonical thought, with the suttas' depictions of the trajectory of liberating
realization correlating the progression of the ten knowledges to the more classic progression
found in suttas from "seeing things as they are" (yathabhutanaṇadassana), to "disenchantment"
(nibbida), to "dispassion" or the fading away of craving (viraga), resulting in "liberation"
(vimutti).

Both schemes of correspondence are mapped in this chapter; the first at v. 1704,
representing the scheme of the three characteristics as underlying the scheme of the ten
knowledges, as has been described in Analayo 2015:

udayabbayabhangesu, pākaṭā hi aniccatā;

bhayādīnavanibbede, dukkhatānattatā tato. 1704

For, in [the knowledges of] arising and passing away and dissolution,
their being impermanent becomes apparent;
in [the knowledges of] fear, danger, and disenchantment,
their being suffering; and, [in the knowledges] after that, their being not-self.

In this scheme the knowledges of arising and passing and dissolution pertain to the successively
deepening realization of the characteristic of impermanence; the knowledges of fear, danger and
disenchantment to the deepening realization of the characteristic of suffering; and the
knowledges of the desirability of letting go, re-evaluative reflection, and equanimity toward all
conditioned things to the deepening realization of the characteristic of not self. This scheme
adequately explains details of the knowledges, such as the knowledge of equanimity toward all
conditioned things (sankharupekkha), in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m)'s account,
entailing perception of the act of perception (sanna) that recognizes other dhamma-s as

319
impersonal sankhara-s divested of any sense of 'me' or 'mine' (the gist of the 're-evaluative
refection' stage) as equally, itself, an impersonal sankhara -- a 'conditioned thing' no longer to be
identified with. It thus frames this knowledge as, at core, a realization the not self characteristic
as encompassing the field beholding vantage point (construed as a beholder) as well at the beheld
-- rather than as simply a matter of exceedingly strong equanimity. In this way, understanding
the three characteristics scheme as underlying the ten knowledges frames the sequence of
insight's stages as culminating in an admirable resolution of the "witness" problem intrinsic to
mindfulness or observation-based techniques of meditation (i.e., the tendency to identify with
the observer of arising and passing phenomena and thus reify a sense of an abiding self standing
apart from experience and objectively and dispassionately observing it).323 In this understanding,
a focus is placed on not-self as the culminating insight of insight's trajectory.
Complicating this appealing reduction, however, Anuruddha simultaneously attributes the
ten knowledges to categories of derivation from the sutta pericopes describing the progressive
attainment of the liberation. Verses 1645-1647 provide an alternate mapping of the knowledges
onto the sutta-based categories of "seeing things as they are" (yathabhutanaṇadassana), leading
to "disenchantment" (nibbida), and thence to "dispassion" or the fading away of craving
(viraga), and the resultant attainment of liberation (vimutti):

icc' avatthāpabhedena, dasadhā pi vibhāvitā;

sabhāgatthavisesena, _tidhā sangahitā_ puna. 1645

[Insight is] also understood as ten-fold,

by division of its stages.
And these are re-grouped again as threefold,
by distinction of their corresponding subject matter:

yathābhūtaṃ nāma nāṇattayaṃ sammasanādikaṃ;

bhayādināṇaṃ tividhaṃ, nibbidā 'ti pavuccati. 1646

The three knowledges beginning with contemplation (sammasana)

are called [knowing] "as it is";
the three knowledges that start with fear (bhaya),
are said to be "disenchantment";

tathā muncitukāmādi, virāgo 'va catubbidhaṃ;

lakkhaṇattayanijjhāna-vasena puna vuṭṭhitā, 1647

and just so, the four kinds starting

with desire to let go (muncitukama) are just "dispassion". ....
323
The curious qualification at the end of the satipaṭṭhana-sutta refrain, that mindfulness of a respective foundation
of awareness is to be established yavad eva nanamattaya, paṭissatimattaya, "just for the mere knowing of it, for
the mere reflexive awareness of it" may be seen as equally responding to this issue, which was thus evidently a
concern of sutta literature as well as the commentarial tradition, though not always recognized as such. Why
would a limit be placed on sati (yavad eva), if not for the tendency to identify with the perceiving sanna and
thereby reify a sense of self?

320
This alternate mapping, not addressed by Analayo in his account (Analayo 2015), is portrayed by
Anuruddha as equally determinative of the stages and their character -- and it is this dual,
overlapping mapping that has been discussed above as lending the stages their depth as
categories not being reducible to mere totalistic equation with the progressive realization of the
characteristics. For one thing, this scheme includes the initial knowledge deriving from reflection
or contemplation (sammasana-naṇa), which the former does not, comprising as it does a
conceptual appreciation of all three characteristics, and, accounts well for elements of various
stages that have reference to all three characteristics and not just one. It also incorporates the
final stage, that of anuloma, knowledge now in conformity with the noble truths, seen as a
penetration of the truth of dukkha (rather than anatta per se). This mapping highlights the
apprehension and removal of suffering's cause, the craving (taṇha) whose fading away is
betokened by viraga "dipassion", resulting directly in liberation. It would thus construe the
culmination of the trajectory of insight more as one of the relinquishing of craving (and
sankharupekkhanaṇa indeed as more a matter of strong equanimity) than of apprehension of
anatta. The tension between these two mappings creates as sum greater than its parts, in the
resulting understanding of the insight knowledges.
The ten stages segue into a gesture toward the abhidhammic account of the cognitive
process of path consciousness entailed by liberation, and transformed soteriological status as the
culmination of insight's trajectory with the successive arising of gotrabhu consciousness (the
exegetical tradition's rendering of the attainment of ariya "noble" status), and path and fruit
consciousness. These are represented as arising like the light from the smoke and flame produced
from the rubbing together of two pieces of wood, and as arising in the wake of vipassana insight
carried through to its completion as assuredly as the arising of the sun in the wake of the dawn's
light:

janetānuttaraṃ maggam āsevanavisesato.

kaṭṭhasanghaṭṭanā jātā, accidhūmā 'va bhāsuraṃ. 1778

It produces the unexcelled path

as the culminating distinction of its repeated application,
as brightness from the flame and smoke
produced from the rubbing together of two pieces of wood.

uggacchati yathādicco, purakkhatvāruṇaṃ tathā.

vipassanaṃ purakkhatvā, maggadhammo pavattati. 1779

As the sun rises up

following the dawn, just so
the path phenomenon occurs
following on insight.

Contents:

321
 • The Threefold Division of Eighteen-fold vipassana according to the three characteristics
and corresponding threefold division of the cultivation of Insight (v. 1642)
• Insight's Division into Ten Stages (v. 1643)
◦ I. Kalapato Sammasana-naṇa: Contemplative Knowledge by Grouping (v. 1652)
◦ II. Udayabbaya-nana: Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away (v. 1661)
▪ The dasa vipassana-upaklesa: The Ten Corruptions of Insight (v. 1678)
◦ III. Bhanga-naṇa: The Knowledge of Dissolution (v. 1690)
◦ IV. Bhaya-naṇa: Knowledge of Fear (v. 1705)
◦ V. Adinava-naṇa: Knowledge of Danger (v.1713)
◦ VI. Nibbida-naṇa: Knowledge of Disenchantment (v. 1729)
◦ VII. Muncitukamata-naṇa: Knowledge of the Desirability of Letting Go (v. 1735)
◦ VIII. Paṭisankha-naṇaṃ: Knowledge of Re-evaluative Reflection (v. 1746)
◦ IX. Sankhar-upekkha-naṇa: Knowledge of Equanimity toward All Conditioned
Things (v. 1753)
◦ X. Anuloma-naṇa: Knowledge "in Conformity" (with the noble truths); known also
as: paripakka vipassana, "Insight Attained to Full Maturity"; vuṭṭhanagamini
vipassana, "Insight leading to Emergence"; and sikhappatta vipassana: "insight
attained to its summit" (v. 1774)
• The Process of Emergence (v. 1775)
◦ Gotrabhu, Magga & Phala Citta-s: Change of Lineage, Path & Fruition
Consciousnesses (v. 1784)
• Paccavekkhaṇa: Review of Attainment (v. 1787)
• The Higher Paths and Fruits (v. 1788)

dvādasamo paricchedo Chapter 12

dasāvatthāvibhāgo "The Ten Stages"

icc aṭṭharasadha bhinna, paṭipakkhappahanato; The development (of insight), divided

lakkhaṇakarabhedena, tividha 'pi ca bhavana. 1642 by way of the abandoning of antithetical
perceptions [it produces], into eighteen, like this,
can also be divided into three, by division
of these according to the aspect of the characteristic
(to which each pertains).

Insight's Further Division into Ten Stages

kalapato sammasanaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ, And as: 1. contemplation by amassing;
bhange ñaṇaṃ bhaye ñaṇaṃ, ñaṇam adīnave 'pi ca; 2. beholding arising and passing;
1643
as 3. knowledge that pertains to dissolution; 4.
knowledge that pertains to fear;
and as 5. knowledge that pertains to danger;

1642
—
1643
—

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tath' eva nibbidañaṇaṃ, ñaṇaṃ muñcitukamyata, and, just so, as 6. knowledge of disenchantment;
paṭisankha ca sankharupekkhañaṇanulomakaṃ. 1644 as knowledge of 7. letting go's desirability;
as 8. re-evaluative reflection; 9. knowledge of
equanimity looking upon conditioned thing; and as
10. such knowledge as conforms (to the noble
truths) --
icc' avatthapabhedena, dasadha pi vibhavita; by its division into (ten) stages
sabhagatthavisesena, _tidha sangahita_ puna. 1645 it can be understood as ten-fold, also.
And these can be re-grouped again as threefold
by distinction of the topic to which they
correspond:
yathabhūtaṃ nama ñaṇattayaṃ sammasanadikaṃ; The three knowledges beginning with
bhayadiñaṇaṃ tividhaṃ, nibbida 'ti pavuccati. 1646 contemplation (sammasana)
are called (knowing) "as it is"; (yathabhuta)
the three knowledges that start with fear (bhaya),
are said to be "disenchantment" (nibbida);
tatha muñcitukamadi, virago 'va catubbidhaṃ; and so, the four kinds starting
lakkhaṇattayanijjhana-vasena puna vuṭṭhita, 1647 with desire to let go (muncitukama) are just
"dispassion" (viraga).
And, again, emerging via
contemplation of the three characteristics,
suññatañ canimittañ ca, tatha 'ppaṇihitan 'ti ca, it brings about the three supreme emancipations
sadheti maggasankhataṃ, _vimokkhattayam_ of "emptiness"; the "signless";
uttamaṃ. 1648 and the "uninclined" – *
which are reckoned the path.
iti bhavetukamassa, vibhavemi yathakkamaṃ, And so, for one who wishes to develop them like
dasavatthavibhagena, samadaya yathakkamaṃ. 1649 this,
having undertaken each, according to their order,
let me portray them clearly in their sequence,
by way of their division in ten stages:
visuddho paṭhamaṃ tava, sadhu _sīlavisuddhiya_, Purified, then, firstly,
upacarappaṇayañ ca, ṭhatva _cittavisuddhiyaṃ_, by the goodly purity of virtue,
1650
and stationed, then, in access and absorption,
1644
muncitukamyatā: muñcitukamyata (Ee); munccitukamyata (Be);
sankhārupekkhānāṇānulomakaṃ: sankharupekkha ñaṇanulomakaṃ (Ee); sankharupekkhañaṇanulomakaṃ
(Be).
1645
icc' avatthāpabhedena: icc' avatthapabhedena (Ee); iccavatthapabhedena (Be).
1646
—
1647
muncitukāmādi: muñcitukamadi (Ee); muccitukamadi (Be).
1648 *
Corresponding to the arising of the path on the basis of contemplation of the anatta, anicca, or dukkha
characteristic, respectively. Taken up at ch. 13 v. 1803.
1649
vibhāvemi: vibhavemi (Ee); vibhaveti (Be).
yathā kathaṃ: yathakkamaṃ (Ee); yatha kathaṃ (Be).
1650
upacārappaṇāyan: upacarappaṇayañ (Ee); upacarappanayañ (Be).
* i.e., in the second stage of purification, cittavisuddhi, corresponding to samadhi or adhicitta-sikkha, the training

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 in the purity of mind,*

sappaccayaṃ pariggayha, namarūpaṃ sabhavato, and then having apprehended mind and matter
_diṭṭhi-kankhavitaraṇaṃ_, patva suddhiṃ tato according to their nature,
paraṃ, 1651 and with them their conditions,
and (thus) attained the purity of view and crossing
doubts,

I. Kalāpato Sammasana-nāṇa: Contemplative Knowledge by Grouping

atītanagate khandhe, paccuppanne ca sasave, one should contemplate the three characteristics
kalapato sammasitva, sammaseyya tilakkhaṇaṃ, having contemplated the aggregates
1652
past and future, and presently arising,
[clung to] with the asava-s, by group (kalapato)*
&
adananikkhepanato, vayovuddhatthagamito; by way, in method, of the seven [ways of
aharato pi ututo, kammato capi cittato; 1653 apprehending the three characteristics] with respect
to matter:
& 1) by way of [matter's] taking up and casting off;
2) the vanishing of that grown in each life period;
by way of its 3) material sustenance; and its 4)
temperature;
and its 5) (origin from) kamma; and from 6) mind;
dhammatarūpato capi, _rūpasattakato_ naye; and in terms of 7) matter in its natural state, as
kalapato yamakato, khaṇika paṭipaṭito; 1654 well.*
And, with respect to mind, by way, in method, of
& the seven: 1) by groupings (kalapa);* 2) by pairings
(each present consciousness cognizing the
immediately prior consciousness); and by way of 3)
their momentary succession; and 4) continuous
sequence [till the tenth];
diṭṭhim ugghaṭayanto ca, manam ugghaṭayaṃ tatha, as one 5) uprooting view,
nikantipariyadano, _namasattakato_ naye. 1655 and so, uprooting, too, 6) conceit of self;
pertaining to the mind.
1651
—
1652 *
group or groupings (kalapa): explained in the Path of Purification (Vism) as = phassapancamaka dhamma
according to visuddhikatha; but consciousness perceiving the prior consciousness contemplating matter as
anicca, dukkha, and anatta, according to ariyavaṃsakatha method of analysis, preferred by Buddhaghosa as
yuttatara (“more suitable”). See Vism XX 77-78.
1653
pi: ca (Ee); pi (Be)
1654
* Cf. the seven ways of apprehending the three characteristics with reference to matter (rupasattaka): cf. Vism
XX §46-75: contemplating the three characteristics in the methodology of the "material septad"]
* defined in Vism as the successive clusters of mental factors involved in cognition (phassapancamaka dhamma)
that arise while contemplating matter (in the form of the thirty-two parts of the body, hair of the head, hair of the
body, etc.) Vism XX §46-75.
1655
ugghāṭayanto: ugghatayanto (Ee); ugghaṭayanto (Be).
nikantipariyādāno: nikantipariyadinno (Ee); nikantipariyadano (Be). Vism XX §87 has ˚pariyadanaṃ. As a n.

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 as one 7) in whom there's ending of attachment.*
nicca ce na nirujjheyyuṃ, na badheyyuṃ sukha If they were permanent, they would not cease to be;
yadi; if they were pleasant, they would not afflict;
vase vatteyyum atta ce, tadabhava na tadisa. 1656 they would be under one's control if they were self;
because of that's not being the case, they are not
such.
sambhavanti hi sankhara, sati paccayasambhave; For, as conditioned things, they come into
tato paccayanipphanna, avassaṃ bhedagamino. 1657
existence
upon the origination of their condition;
and so, produced contingent on conditions,
inevitably they lead to breaking up.
tad anicca khayaṭṭhena, dukkha nama bhayaṭṭhato, So, understanding that as conditioned things
anattasarakaṭṭhena, sankhara ti vibhavayaṃ, 1658 they are unlasting, in the sense of coming to an end,
suffering, in the sense of source of fear,
and not self, in the sense of having no substantial
core,
kalena sammase rūpaṃ, namaṃ kalena sammase, he should at times contemplate matter
ajjhattañ ca bahiddha ca, samasa-byasato tato. 1659 and at times contemplate mind,
then internal and external,
together and apart.
yathopaṭṭhitabhedena, sammasanto samūhato, And contemplating them by way of groups
kalapato sammasanam iti bhaveti paṇḍito. 1660 as per the division that presents itself,
the clever person thus develops
[the knowledge of] contemplation by amassment.

II. Udayabbaya-nāna: Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away

tass' evaṃ sammasantassa, kammaññaṃ hoti As he contemplates thus,
manasaṃ; his mind becomes agile;
sūpaṭṭhanti ca sankhara, vodayati ca bhavana. 1661 sankhara-s readily present themselves,
and his meditation becomes more pure.
tato paraṃ vipassanto, pariggaṇhati paṇḍito, And then discerning them with wisdom,
paccuppannasabhavanaṃ, khandhanam the clever person apprehends,
udayabbayaṃ. 1662 the arising and passing away
of the aggregates in their presently arisen nature.

noun, the masculine forms must be regarded as adjectives – either a bahubbīhi (˚pariyadano) or tappurisa
(˚pariyadinno) – in agreement with the subject of sammaseyya, characterized as 'visuddho' in v. 1650.
* Cf. Vism XX, §76-§88, "the immaterial septad".
1656
—
1657
—
1658
—
1659
samāsa-byāsato: samasa-vyasato (Ee); samasa-byasato (Be).
1660
—
1661
—
1662
—

325
taṇhasammohakammehi, And seeing by way of condition (paccayato), that
khandhapañcakasaṃbhavo; each of the five aggregates has origination
rūpam aharato hoti, phassato vedanadayo. 1663 from craving, and from ignorance, and from
kamma;
& and that (the aggregate of) form comes into being
from nutriment;
and (the aggregates) beginning with sensation, [i.e.,
vedana, sanna, and sankhara], from sense stimulus
(phassa);
viññaṇaṃ namarūpamha, sambhotī 'ti ca passato, and that (the aggregate of) consciousness comes
tassa paccayato hoti, khandhes' udayadassanaṃ. 1664
into being from mind and matter,
there comes about for him
the beholding of arising in the aggregates.*
taṇhadīnaṃ nirodha ca, nirodho hoti passato, And seeing that from the cessation of craving and
tatha vīsatidha hoti, tatth' eva vayadassanaṃ. 1665 so forth [ignorance, kamma, and nutriment, sense
stimulus, and mind and matter, respectively]
they have cessation,
there comes about for him, just so, in twenty ways,
the beholding, in those same (aggregates), of
passing.
nibbattivipariṇamalakkhaṇaṃ pana passato, And seeing, then, moreover, in each of them the
khaṇato dasadha nesam udayabbayadassanaṃ. 1666 characteristic of 1) production and 2) of change,
there is the beholding of their arising and and their
passing, from moment to moment (khaṇato), in ten
ways.
itthaṃ paññasadha-bhedo, khandhanam The arising and passing of the aggregates
udayabbayo, is classified like this in fifty ways;
ayatanadibhedo pi, yojetabbo yatharahaṃ. 1667 the classification of the sense-spheres and so forth
1663
saṃbhavo: saṃbhavo (Ee); sabhavo (Be).
1664
* Cf. the fifty aspects of arising and passing that constitute the apprehension of arising and passing by way of
paccaya (arising from a condition, and passing due to that condition's ceasing) and by way of khaṇa (arising and
passing from moment to moment) treated at Vism XX, 97, citing Paṭis-m's i. 55-57 summarization of the
Vibhanga (Paṭis-m's i. 55-57). In full form, these are as follows: seeing each aggregate's arising due to taṇha ( =
5); seeing each aggregate's arising due to avijja ( = 5); seeing each aggregate's arising due to kamma ( = 5);
seeing rūpakkhandha's arising due to nutriment ( = 1); seeing vedana, sañña, and sankharakkhandhas' arising due
to phassa ( = 3); and seeing viññaṇakkhandha's arising due to nama-rūpa ( = 1). These together constitute twenty
discernments of (20) arising. Twenty (20) discernments of passing are perceived due to the cessation of each of
those conditions (v. 1665). These forty aspects constitute discernment of arising and passing on the basis of
condition (paccayato). For the remaining ten aspects on the basis of discerning arising and passing from moment
to moment, cf. v. 1666.
1665
—
1666
dasadhā nesam: dasa ṭhanesu (Ee); dasadha nesam (Be)
* The last ten aspects are seeing the characteristics of production (nibbatti-lakkhaṇaṃ), then change (vipariṇama-
lakkhaṇaṃ) in each of the five aggregates ( = 5 + 5). These ten (10) aspects constitute seeing arising and passing
from moment to moment (khaṇato) (noting the characteristic of arising and the characteristic of changing from
moment to moment in each aggregate).
1667
pannāsadhā-bhedo: em. from paññasadha bhedo (Ee; Be).

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 [i.e. eighteen dhatu-s]
should be applied accordingly, as well.
tad evam anupassanto, khandhayatanadhatuyo, Observing it continually, like this,
anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, bhaveti bahudha budho. 1668 one cultivates in many ways, becoming wise,
[the insight] that the aggregates, sense-spheres, and
elements
are impermanent, and suffering, and not self.
The bodhipakkhiya dhamma: The Mental Factors Pertaining to Awakening
bhavanapasutass' evaṃ, passato bodhipakkhiya, And for one seeing them intent on the development
patubhūta pavattanti, visesena visarada. 1669 [of insight] in this way,
the mental factors pertaining to awakening
manifest and ready, now occur
to an exceptional degree.
salakkhaṇaparicchinne, tilakkhaṇavavatthite, One's will (chanda) pursues its fullness,*
chando sasavasankhare, saradaṃ pariyesati. 1670 the conditioned [clung to] with the asava-s,*
analyzed in terms of the three characteristics, *
defined now clearly with its characteristics.
tattha pubbangamaṃ hutva, saṃpakkhandati Mind becomes the forerunner therein
manasaṃ; and springs to action;
sankappo 'bhiniropeti, ahananto punappunaṃ. 1671 Aspiration (sankappa) plants the seed,
bringing them to bear on it repeatedly.
yathavatthusabhavena, tato saddha 'dhimuccati; Then Faith (saddha) confides,
sati sūpaṭṭhita hoti, pariggayha sabhavato. 1672 according to its object's nature;
Awareness (sati-bojjhanga) readily attends,
having apprehended them according to their nature;
pañña sampaṭivijjhantī, samahacca vipassati; And Wisdom (panna [ = dhammavicaya-
paggahetvana vayamo, paṭipadeti bhavanaṃ. 1673 bojjhanga]), thoroughly penetrating [the
characteristics],
brings them to bear [upon its object] and discerns;
Effort (vayama [ = viriya-bojjhanga]) seizes hold
and causes [insight's] cultivation to advance.
tato pītimano hoti, nipphaditamanoratho; Then, one is of joyful mind (piti-bojjhanga),

1668
—
1669
—
1670
sāradaṃ: sadaraṃ (Ee); saradaṃ (Be).
* fullness (saradaṃ): reading conjectural, supposing = visarada.
* reading (also somewhat conjecturally) the last three lines as a single absolute.
* reading as sa-, not sva-
sarada? giving substance?
sadaram
1671
āhananto: aharanto, var. ahananto (Ee); aharanto (Be). Reading cf. ahacca < ahanati, in the sense of 'bringing to
bear' on something (esp. the characteristics upon the aggregates).
1672
'dhimuccati: vimuccati (Ee); 'dhimuccati (Be).
1673
—

327
pamojjabahulo hutva, passaddhadaratho pana. 1674 one's fantasy fulfilled,
having felt abundance of gladness (pamojja),
and all distress, moreover, allayed (passaddhi-
bojjhanga).
vikkhepuddhaccanittiṇṇo, samadhiyati niccalo; And crossed beyond distraction and agitation,
upekkha bhavanavīthiṃ, adhiṭṭhati tato paraṃ. 1675 one converges now, unmoving, in absorption
(samadhi-bojjhanga).
And Equanimity (upekkha-bojjhanga) presides,
thereafter,
over the course of its cultivation.
arulhayoggacariyo, ajanīyaratho viya, Like the chariot of a thoroughbred,
vatabhave padīpo 'va, pasannekamukhaṭṭhita, 1676 with trainer mounted,
like a lamp-flame in the absence of the wind,
standing serenely still, and single-pointed,
sukhuma nipuṇakara, khuradharagata viya, subtle and of minutest aspect,
gaṇhantī bhavanagabbhaṃ, pavaḍḍhati vipassana. like in a razor's edge,
1677
his discernment, taking hold
in cultivation's womb, begins to wax.
The dasa vipassana-upaklesa: The Ten Corruptions of Insight
sampattapaṭivedhassa, tass' evaṃ taṃ vipassato, As he sees it thus with insight, (ie. arising and
jayate ko upakleso, dasopaklesavatthuka. 1678 passing)
1674
pāmojjabahulo: pamujjabahulo (Ee); pamojjabahulo (Be).
1675
samādhiyati: samadhīyati (Ee); samadhiyati (Be).
1676
āruḷha-: arūlha- (Ee); arulha- (Be).
vātābhāve: tathabhave, var. vatabhave (Ee); vatabhave (Be).
pasannekamukhaṭṭhitā: pasann' ekamukhaṭṭhita (?) [sic] (Ee); pasannekamukhaṭṭhita (Be).
1677
—
1678
upakleso: upakkleso (Ee); upakleso (Be).
dasopaklesa-: dasopakklesa-, var. na copakklesa- (Ee); dasopaklesa (Be).
* reading jayate ko upakkileso? rather that jayat' eko upakkileso, upon comparison with Vism §105, introducing
the enumeration of the ten with a similar question: katame pana te dasa upakkilesa 'ti? Anuruddha, however,
seems to expand his question to not just what are those ten?, but what is the corruption that those ten are the
basis for – which he proceeds to answer in 1680-1682.
* upakkilesavatthuka: reading not as f. describing vipassana as the basis for the (arising of the) ten (also
plausible, grammatically), but as plural in agreement with dasa, in line with the Abhidh-av explaining that these
ten dhammas are referred to as “corruptions” not because they are themselves defilements, but by virtue of their
being the basis for defilement: etth' obhasadayo dhamma, upaklesassa vatthuto / upaklesa ti niddiṭṭha" (Abhidh-
av 1292) "They are expounded as 'corruptions' due to being the basis of corruption”, taking from Vism §124:
ettha ca obhasadayo upakkilesavatthutaya upakkilesa 'ti vutta; na akusalatta. … vatthuvasen' eva c' ete dasa;
gahavasena pana samatiṃsa honti (according being grasped by diṭṭhi, mana, or taṇha). The statement and its
phrasing are curious. The phenomena themselves are not unwholesome (apart from the last, nikanti,
"attachment" to the prior ones); only the “relishing” of them (and taking them as one's object of attention in place
of the characteristics) is (1681-82). Cf. Vism XX, §105 ten factors that, though by no means negative
themselves, distract from the observation of arising and passing and the discernment of the characteristics. They
characterize “the mind in the grips of the agitation of mental phenomena” (dhammuddhaccaviggahitamanasaṃ)
in the Paṭisambhidamagga's description of them, from which they stem (Paṭis-m ii 100-1, quoted at Vism XX
§106), evidently revealing the meaning of the “dhammuddhaccaviggahitaṃ manasaṃ” of the enigmatic and

328
 penetration (paṭivedha) now attained,
what is the corruption (upakkilesa) that arises?*
Ten, the things the basis for corruption: *
obhaso pīti passaddhi, adhimokkho ca paggaho; Light, joy, tranquillity,
sukhaṃ ñaṇam upaṭṭhanam upekkha ca nikanti ca. (faith's) resolve and (effort's) taking hold,
1679
pleasure, knowledge, presence (of awareness),
equanimity, and attachment (to the presence of
these).
jatesv etesu yaṃ kiñci, ularaṃ jatavimhayo, When any one among these is produced,
disva vipassanamagga, vokkamitva tato paraṃ, 1680 having seen it – something lofty – with
amazement,*
and deviated, then,
from insight's path...
tam ahaṃkaravikkhitto, assadento mamayati; relishing it,
hotadhimaniko va 'tha, maññanto tam anuttaraṃ. distracted due to ego, he takes it to be 'mine',
1681
or else overestimates himself, *
thinking it to be the unexcelled.*
siya c' evam upakliṭṭha, patita va 'tha bhavana; And his meditation would either be corrupted,
tatth' evaṃ paṭisankhaya, paṭivijjhati paṇḍito. 1682 or else fallen, in this way;
but reflecting thus, in that regard,
the clever person pierces through it [realizing]:
'nariya-taṇhadiṭṭhimana-pariyogahahetuto, Due to the object's having the (three)
lakkhaṇalambaṇatta ca, lokiya 'yaṃ vipassana. 1683 characteristics, and due to being grasped

seemingly late yuganaddhasutta (AN IV, 170), described as a fourth mode of approach to the attainment of
arahatship (distinct from samatha and vipassana either cultivated sequentially or together). Buddhadatta
highlights that they are not defilements themselves, but, rather: etth' obhasadayo dhamma, upaklesassa
vatthuto / upaklesa ti niddiṭṭha (Abhidh-av 1292) "They are expounded as 'corruptions' due to being the basis of
corruption." The genuine defilements they give rise to are false view (diṭṭhi), viewing them as 'mine', conceit
(mana), viewing them as desirable, and/or craving (taṇha), in the act of relishing them (Vism XX §125).
Anuruddha, unlike the Vism and Buddhadatta, precedes their exposition with an exposition of the
bodhipakkhiya-dhamma, with which, to a great extent, they coincide, as if to justify them and highlight their
positive character. The main problem with them, in Anuruddha's treatment, is thinking that they indicate
transcendental attainment (thus taking what is not the path to be the path) due to relishing them and paying
attention to them rather than arising and passing, thus derailing the progress of insight (Vism XX §107, cf. 1680-
82 below).
1679
—
1680 *
lofty (ulara): the adjective typically associated with obhasa. cf. appamaṇo ca ularo obhaso loke paturahosi,
atikkamma devanaṃ devanubhavaṃ (dhammacakkappavattanasutta). I therefore take it as an adjective in nexus
with yaṃ kinci (“as sublime), rather than as construing with jatavimhayo adverbially (~ “giving rise to great
amazement”). The descriptor perhaps point to the primacy of obhasa among the ten upakkilesa-s as the
corruption of reference.
1682
—
1681 *
the genuine defilements they give rise to being the three: taṇha "craving" ( = taṃ assadento); diṭṭhi "wrong
view" ( = ahaṃkaravikkhitto … mamayati), and mana "conceit" ( = hoti adhimaniko, maññanto taṃ anuttaraṃ)
(cf. v. 1683 and Vism XX §125).
*the unexcelled referring to nibbana, thinking “addha, maggappatto 'smi, phalappatto 'smi” Vism XX, §123. —
1683
'nariya-taṇhādiṭṭhimāna-: nariya-taṇha-diṭṭhi-mana- (in compound with pada b) (Ee); na taṇhadiṭṭhimanehi

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 with ignoble craving, false view, and conceit,
this discernment is mundane.*
diṭṭhimananikantī ca, kummagga paripanthaka; and, with false view, conceit, and attachment,
maggo visuddhiya nama, visuddha ca vipassana. it is a false path, one that hinders;
1684
the path is that of purity, by name,
and purified discernment.
sarathī 'va rathaṃ bhantam iti sankhaya sadhukaṃ, Having reckoned thus [the situation] properly,
paviṭṭhamaggaṃ vikkhittaṃ, sampadeti yatha pure. like a charioteer his chariot gone astray,
1685
he causes it to once again regain
the path embarked upon, and then lost sight of.

itthaṃ magge amagge ca, yathavapaṭivedhakaṃ, Knowing and beholding thus is called
_maggamaggavisuddhī_ 'ti, ñaṇadassanam īritaṃ. the purification of path and non-path,
1686
which penetrates reality as it is,
with reference to the path and non-path.
cetopavattanakaram iti sallakkhayaṃ budho, And then, thus noting, wakeful,
sadhukaṃ paṭivijjhanto, sukhumaṃ nipuṇaṃ tato, and thoroughly penetrating
1687
the subtle and minute
aspect of consciousness's occurring (pavattanakara)
[i.e., from moment to moment]...*
paripanthe vimocetva, bodhetva bodhipakkhiye, ...having freed himself of side-tracks,
bhavanaṃ paṭipadento, punad evodayabbayaṃ, 1688 and roused the mental factors of awakening,
causing his meditation to progress,
& resolving once again
samadhiṭṭhaya medhavī, vipassati tilakkhaṇaṃ; on arising and passing away,
_udayabbayañaṇan_ 'ti, tam īrenti tato paraṃ. 1689 with wisdom he discerns the three characteristics.
And this they call the “knowledge

(Be). A na does not make sense here. For the interpretation of lakkhaṇalambaṇatta as “due to the object's having
the (three) characteristics”, cf. Vism XX, §126, describing the clever practitioner as realizing that the light, etc.
that has arisen is still impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to arising and passing, etc., and
possessed of the marks of all three characteristics.
* mundane: i.e., not yet attained to the transcendental, as the lofty phenomena in question cause him to suspect.
Cf. maññanto tam anuttaraṃ (1681).
1684
kummaggā paripanthakā: kummagga-paripanthaka, var. catummagga-paripanthaka (Ee); kummagga
paripanthaka (Be).
1685
paviṭṭhamaggaṃ vikkhittaṃ: paviṭṭhamagga -vikkhittaṃ [sic], var. paviṭṭhamaggaṃ vikkhittaṃ (Ee);
paviṭṭhamaggaṃ vikkhittaṃ (Be).
1686
—
1687
cetopavattanākāram: ceto pavattanakaram (Ee); cetopavattanakaram (Be).
* Here Anuruddha appears to be drawing a distinction between the udayabbaya-ñaṇa prior to the crisis as taking
place upon the aspect of condition (paccaya) and subsequent to the crisis, in its mature phase (now pertaining to
the paṭipada-ñaṇa-dassana-visuddhi stage of purification, as taking place on the aspect of moment-to-moment
occurrence (pavatta).
1688
—
1689
—

330
 of arising and passing away”. And then –
III. Bhanga-nāṇa: The Knowledge of Dissolution
sankharanaṃ vibhūtatta, sakaranaṃ visesato, due to the sankhara-s' being apparent,
tilakkhaṇanaṃ diṭṭhatta, sankharesu sabhavato 1690 in all their aspects, to an exceptional degree,
and due to the three characteristics' being seen
in sankhara-s, as per their true nature,
paripantha vimuttassa, maggamaggavisuddhiya, for him now freed from the side-track
yathavīthippavattassa, paṭipattivisuddhiya. 1691 by the purification of what constitutes the path and
what does not,
and proceeding now on course
due to the purification of his practice,
indriyanaṃ sutikkhatta, paripakka vipassana, how is it that his insight, now mature,
udayamha vimuccitva, bhange ṭhati yatha kathaṃ? owing to his faculties' extreme acuteness,
1692
is freed from [the perception of] arising
and stays in [the perception of] dissolution?
uppado paccayayatto, dhammanam iti nicchite; It being ascertained for certain
nirodhanugata jati, siddhavassaṃ niyamato. 1693 that things' arising is contingent on conditions,
birth is demonstrated as inevitably
followed by cessation, according to fixed order.
tato 'daya 'va paṭṭhaya, atthaya sūriyo viya, Then, he observes: “Right from their dawning,
vinasaya pavattanta, vayant' eva 'ti pekkhati. 1694 until their disappearance, like the sun,
they are but passing away,
proceeding toward destruction.”
udayabhogam ohaya, vayant' icc' eva sabbatha; His mind's inclination toward arising being lost,
bhedassabhavam arabbha, dhammesu sati tiṭṭhati. [thinking] only, “they are just passing away”,
1695
his awareness stays wholly focused
on the nature of breaking up in dhamma-s.
atīta ca niruddha 'va, nirujjhissanti 'nagata; Observing thus:
nirujjhant' eva vattanta, icc' evam anupassato. 1696 “The past have ceased;
those yet to come will, too;
and so are those currently occurring” –
nijjharo 'va giraggamhi, vari v' oṇatapokkhare; [they appear to him] like a torrent on a hilltop;
padīpo viya jhayanto, aragge-r-iva sasapo. 1697 like water on a sloping lotus leaf,
like a lamp's flame, burning;

1690
sankhāresu: sankhatesu (Ee); sankharesu (Be).
1691
yathāvīthippavattassa: yathavīthippavattassa, var. yathavidhi pavattassa (Ee); yathavīthippavattassa (Be).
1692
yathā kathaṃ: yathakkamaṃ (Ee); yatha kathaṃ (Be).
1694
—
1693
nicchite: nicchite, variants nicchaye, nicchiya (Ee); nicchite (Be);
siddhāvassaṃ: siddhavassaṃ, var. siddha va 'yaṃ (Ee); siddhavassaṃ (Be).
1695
bhedassabhāvam: bhedasabhavam (Ee); bhedassabhavam (Be).
1696
nirujjhissanti 'nāgatā: nirujjhissant' anagata (Ee); nirujjhissanti 'nagata (Be).
1697
—

331
 like a mustard seed on the tip of a needle;
atape viya ussavo, parissave jalaṃ viya; like dewdrops in hot sunlight;
madditaṃ pheṇapiṇḍaṃ 'va, loṇapiṇḍam ivodake. like water in a strainer;
1698
like a lump of foam that's crushed;
like a lump of salt in water;
udake daṇḍarajīva, vijjuta 'va valahake; like lines drawn on the water with a stick;
jalaṃ tattakapale 'va, salile viya bubbulaṃ. 1699 like a streaking flash of lightning in a storm;
like water on a scorching pan;
like bubbles bubbling on the water;
vatabbhahatatūlaṃ 'va, tīraṃ patta 'va vīciyo; like a tuft of cotton struck by wind;
phalaṃ bandhanamuttaṃ 'va, tiṇanīva hutavahe. 1700 like waves arriving at the shore;
like fruit freed from its binding [stem];
like blades of grass cast in a fire;
jayanta 'pi ca jiyyanta, miyyanta ca nirantaraṃ; being born and growing old,
nirodhayabhidhavanta, bhangabhimukhapatino. 1701 and dying without interval,
racing towards cessation,
falling in the face of dissolution –
vigacchanta 'va dissanti, khīyant' antaradhayino; they appear as if in the process disappearing,
viddhaṃsayanta sankhara, patanta ca vinasino. 1702 coming to their end and vanishing;
conditioned things being destroyed,
and falling, lost.
_bhangañaṇaṃ_ tam akkhataṃ, yena ñaṇena That is declared the “knowledge of dissolution”.
passato, And one seeing with that knowledge
aniccatanudhavanti, tividha 'pi vipassana. 1703 has also insight of three kinds*
swiftly following impermanence:
udayabbayabhangesu, pakaṭa hi aniccata; For, in arising and passing away and dissolution,
bhayadīnavanibbede, dukkhatanattata tato. 1704 their being impermanent becomes apparent;
in fear, danger, and disenchantment,
their being suffering; and, after that, their being
1698
—
1699
—
1700
tiṇānīva: tiṇanīva, var. tilanīva (Ee); tiṇanīva (Be).
1701
jiyyantā: jīyanta (Ee); jiyyanta (Be);
miyyantā: mīyanta (Ee); miyyanta (Be).
1702
—
1703
aniccatānudhāvanti: aniccatanudhavanti (Ee); aniccantanudhavanti (Be). (f. pres part.?) We would expect
-vantī, as a fem. pres. participle agreeing with vipassana. Though the preceding verses have a plural subject,
agreeing with “they appear”, verses 1703-1704 describe this knowledge as vipassana growing out of the
discernment of the characteristic of impermanence: this relates to the Paṭis-m's statement relating “knowledge
pertaining to seeing with insight (vipassane naṇaṃ)” to “discernment (panna) pertaining to the observation of
dissolution”: arammaṇaṃ paṭisankha, bhanganupassane panna, vipassane naṇaṃ (Paṭis-m, matika, §7). The
characteristic of impermanence being viscerally grasped in these two knowledges, marking the inception of
“mature insight” (1692), the characteristics of suffering and not-self are grasped over the course of the
subsequent knowledges (as detailed in 1704), running thus in threefold form “on the heels of impermanence”.
1704
—

332
 not-self.

IV. Bhaya-nāṇa: Knowledge of Fear

itthaṃ bhangam adhiṭṭhaya, passantassa having resolved on dissolution, thus,
tilakkhaṇaṃ, seeing the three characteristics,
sankhara sabhaya hutva, samupaṭṭhanti yogino. 1705 conditioned things present themselves to the yogī
as inspiring fear.*
valamiganubaddha 'va, nimmujjanta viy' aṇṇave; [All conditioned things are:)
amanussagahīta 'va, parikkhitta 'va verihi. 1706 as if chased by wild beasts
as if sinking in the sea,
as if assailed by spirits,
as if surrounded by enemies;
kaṇhasappasamalīlha, caṇḍahatthisamuṭṭhita; as if licked by a black cobra,
papatavaṭapakkhanta, patanta 'va hutavahe. 1707 or woken up by a fierce elephant,
leapt from a precipice into a pit,
or falling into a fire;
vajjhappatta mahacora, chijjanta viya sīsato; like great criminals arrived at their execution,
sūlam aropiyanta 'va, pabbaten' otthaṭa viya. 1708 being severed from the head,
or mounted on a lance,
or smothered beneath a mountain.
jatisankaṭapakkhanta, jarabyadhinipīlita; Beings, leapt from the straits of birth,
maraṇasanisammadda, mahabyasanabhagino. 1709 and battered down by old age and illness,
are flattened by the thunderbolt of death,
they partake of great affliction.
maccun' abbhahata niccaṃ, Perpetually struck down by death,
dukkhabharasamotthaṭa; and smothered beneath the heavy weight of
sokopayasanissanda, paridevaparayaṇa. 1710 suffering,
they have sorrows and despairs as their resulting
fruits,
and are headed for lamentation;
taṇhadiṭṭhimamattena, satta etthadhimucchita; and mesmerized herein (toward conditions things)
baddha bhayena baddha 'va, mutta 'va by craving and false view, and (the conceit of)
bhayamuttaka. 1711 being 'mine'
they're bound with fear as if bound men;
only the liberated are released from fear. *

1705
tilakkhaṇaṃ: tilakkhanaṃ (Ee); tilakkhaṇaṃ (Be).
* cf. Vism viya mahabhayaṃ hutva upaṭṭhahanti. Thus not: "[as] having come about along with danger".
1706
amanussagahītā: amanussagahīta (Ee); amanussagahita (Be).
1707
patantā 'va: patanta 'va, var. sakunta 'va (Ee); patanta 'va (Be).
1708
—
1709
—
1710
—
1711
taṇhādiṭṭhimamattena: taṇhadiṭṭhimamattena, var. taṇhadiṭṭhipamattena (Ee); taṇhadiṭṭhimamattena (Be).
* cf. bhayamutta mahesayo below, v. 1712

333
iti sankharadhammesu, bhayuppattim udikkhato, Great sages freed from fear
_bhayañaṇan_ti bhasanti, bhayamutta mahesayo. say one regarding fear's arising, thus,
1712
with regard to conditioned phenomena
has the "knowledge of fear".

V. Adīnava-nāṇa: Knowledge of Danger

sabhaya puna sankhara, sandissanti samantato; And conditioned things [seen as] inspiring fear
ahitavahita niccam adīnava-nirantara. 1713 appear as being led to harm
on every side, and as ever followed
by grave danger.
gūthakūpaṃ 'va kuthitaṃ, bhasmacchanno 'va They're like a fetid cesspool;
pavako; like a fire veiled in ash;
sarakkhasaṃ 'va salilaṃ, savisaṃ viya bhojanaṃ. like a pool of water guarded a demon;
1714
like food [laced] with poison.
vanaṃ valamigakiṇṇaṃ, maggo coramahabbhayo; Like a forest strewn with wild beasts;
bhijjamana mahanava, phalanta asanī yatha. 1715 like a road that's terrorized by thieves;
like a great ship breaking up;
like bolts of lightning crashing.
avudhakulasannaddha, yuddhabhūmipatiṭṭhita; Like a great battalion assembled
sangata 'va mahasena, ghoranatthaniyamita. 1716 staking ground upon the field of battle;
armored and athrong with weapons
bound for awful harm.
rathaṃ cakkasamarulhaṃ, vuyhantaṃ Like a world-age arriving
valavamukhaṃ. to the great violence that arises at its end *
kappuṭṭhanamaharambhaṃ, kappo pattantaro yatha. being born into the mare-faced fire,
1717
like a chariot on wheels.
tatha loka tayo p' ete, mahopaddavasankula; Just so all these three worlds
ḍayhant' ekadasaggīhi, paripphandaparayaṇa. 1718 are packed with great calamities.
1712
—
1713
ādīnava-nirantarā: adīnava-nirantara (Ee); adīnavaṃ nirantaraṃ (Be).
1714
—
1715
—
1716
—
1717
cakkasamāruḷhaṃ: cakkasamarūlhaṃ (Ee); cakkasamarulhaṃ (Be). Should we perhaps read: ratha-cakka˚
rather than rathaṃ cakka˚?
vaḷavāmukhaṃ: valabamukhaṃ (Ee); valavamukhaṃ (Be).
kappuṭṭhānamahārambhaṃ: kappuṭṭhanamaharambhaṃ (Ee); kappuṭṭhanamaharambhaṃ (Be);
mahabhesmaṃ; (Be2 Burmese script Burmese ed.)
pattantaro: edit as: patt'[o] antaro, understanding antara-kappa being arrived at?
* PED: kappa -- uṭṭhana arising at or belonging to the (end of a) kappa. PED: valabha -- mukha a submarine fire
or a purgatory Abhp 889. The Epic Sk. form is vaḍava -- mukha (Halayudha i.70; iii.1).
1718 *
a reference to the eleven fires described in the famous adittapariyayasutta (the "Fire Sermon"): raga,
dosa, moha, jati, jara, maraṇa, soka-s, parideva-s, dukkha-s, domanassa-s, and upayasa-s. Many
thanks to Sayalay Piyadassi of Shan State Buddhist University for figuring out this allusion during a
reading seminar focused on this chapter in June-July, 2020.

334
 By eleven fires they're heated*
and heading toward a roiling boil.
maharaññam iv' adittaṃ, bhavayonigatiṭṭhiti- The abodes of beings'
sattavasa samībhūta, jalitangarakasuka. 1719 existence, birth, destination, and persistence
are like a great forest that's ablaze,
becoming all homogenous fire-pits of burning
embers.
asīvisa mahabhūta, vadhaka khandhapañcaka; The elements are deadly snakes;
cakkhadayo suñña gama, gocara gamaghataka. 1720 the five aggregates murderous killers;
the eye and so forth empty towns;
the fields (of the sense objects) are the plunderers
of towns.
iccanayasamakiṇṇaṃ, bhavasagaramaṇḍalaṃ; The circle of the ocean of existence
leṇaṃ taṇaṃ patiṭṭha va, saraṇaṃ va na vijjati. 1721 is thus brimming with travails;
and no shelter, no safe harbor, no sure footing,
or a refuge can be found.
etthabhirodhino bala, vankaghasta 'va mīnaka; Those yet lacking wisdom are caught here
mahasakaṭupabbulha, mahabbhayapatiṭṭhita. 1722 like fish that swallowed a hook;
drawn into great straits
situated in great danger.
jayamana 'va jiyyanta, nanabyasanapīlita, aging even as they are being born,
vipattavaṭṭapatita, maraṇabaddhanicchaya. 1723 tormented by many kinds of distress,
fallen into a whirlpool of calamity,
with bound certainty of death;
mohandhakarapihita, catur-ogha-samotthaṭa, Enclosed within the darkness of delusion,
vitunna dukkhasallena, vihaññanti vighatino. 1724 engulfed within four floods,
pierced by suffering's dart,
they writhe, struck down.
itthañ ca visapupphaṃ 'va, nananatthaphalavahaṃ, And as such,
dukkhanubandhasambadhaṃ, abadhaṃ 'va the knowledge seeing conditioned things'
samuṭṭhitaṃ, 1725 arising, their occurrence,
1719
bhavayonigatiṭṭhiti-: bhavayonigatiṭṭhiti (Ee); bhavayonigatiṭṭhiti- (Be).
1720
—
1721
—
1722
mahāsakaṭupabbuḷhā: mahasankaṭ' upabbūlha (Ee); mahasakaṭupabbulha (Be).
mahabbhayapatiṭṭhitā: mahabbhayam adhiṭṭhita (Ee) “founded upon”; mahabbhayapatiṭṭhita (Be) “
established”.
1723
vipattāvaṭṭapatitā: vipattavaṭapatita (Ee); vipattavaṭṭapatita (Be).
1724
—
1725
cf. v. 1727 and Anuruddha's discussion of pavatta and nimitta as the aspects of chief importance for discernment
of the three characteristics, in ch. 11. Uppada, pavatta, etc. are among the various aspects of sankhara-s treated
in connection with bhaya/adinava-naṇa in the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m), in which adinava-naṇa is
defined as seeing these five aspects as dukkha, and seeing the five corresponding negative counterparts of these
as sukha as knowledge "pertaining to the site of peace" (santipada): uppadan ca pavattan ca, nimittaṃ dukkhan
ti passati / ayuhanaṃ paṭisandhiṃ, naṇaṃ adinave idaṃ. anuppadaṃ appavattaṃ, animittaṃ sukhan ti ca /

335
 their cause, their karmically productive activity,
& and their re-linking in rebirth*
as like the flower of a poison tree,
bringing as its fruit so many kinds of harm;
like an affliction cropping up
with a crowd of pains in tow;
asīvisaṃ 'va kupitaṃ, ghoraṃ bhayanibandhanaṃ, like a deadly snake that's angered,
asisūnaṃ 'va sarambhaṃ, dukkhayūhanakaṃ terrifying, entailing danger;
padaṃ; 1726 like a violent slaughterhouse,
& the site of the karmically productive activity of
dukkha;
savidahaparipphanda-pakkabandham iv' odakaṃ; like the water that's combined with cooking food,
uppadañ ca pavattañ ca, nimittayūhanaṃ tatha, 1727 roiling with scorching heat:
&
1728. paṭisandhiñ ca passantaṃ, _ñaṇam the knowledge seeing them like this
adīnavaṃ_ mataṃ. is considered the knowledge of danger (adinava)
tebhūmakesu tenāyam avuddhiṃ paṭivijjhati. in regard to the (sankhara-s) of the three worlds;
1728
and with that this (yogī)
penetrates the unarising [as the site of peace].*

VI. Nibbidā-nāṇa: Knowledge of Disenchantment

bhayabheravapakkhante, bahvadīnavapaccaye, Observing conditioned things closely,
sankhare samavekkhanto, nibbindati niralayo. 1729 and [seeing them] bounding into dreadful dangers,*
and as directly giving rise to much danger,
one becomes disenchanted with them, and harbors
no desire toward them anymore.
visaṃ jīvitukamo 'va, verike viya bhīruko; [He regards them:]
supaṇṇaṃ nagaraja 'va, coraṃ viya mahaddhano. like one desirous of life (regarding) poison;
1730
like a fearful man (regarding) enemies,
like a regal naga (regards) a garuda,
like a wealthy man (regards) a thief.
dukkhanusayasambadhe, badhamane vibhavayaṃ, Clearly understanding them as oppressive,

anayuhanaṃ appaṭisandhiṃ, naṇaṃ santipade idaṃ.

idaṃ adinave naṇaṃ, pancaṭhanesu jayati / pancaṭhane santipade, dasa naṇe pajanati (Paṭis-m
adīnavañaṇaniddesa).
1726
asisūnaṃ: asisūṇaṃ (Ee); asisūnaṃ (Be).
1727
-pakkabandham: -pakkabandham, var. pakkamantam (advancing) (Ee), “like advancing water” quivering with
boiling heat; pakkabandham (Be), “like the water that's combined with cooking food” quivering with boiling
heat. I take the latter reading.
1728 *
the unarising [as the site of peace]: cf. Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m) at end of adinavanaṇaniddeso section
for corresponding statement regarding penetrating the santipada ("site of peace", passage cited in note, v. 1725).
Here, I take it that avuddhi = nibbana = santipada, and the statement is made with reference to this statement in
the Path of Discrimination (Paṭis-m).
1729 *
understanding pakkhanta = pakkhanna, ppp of pakkhandati
1730
—

336
saṃvejeti niranande, paripanthabhayakule. 1731 chock-full of latent sufferings,
he regards them with alarm -- they offer him no
joy,
filled with their many pitfalls and their dangers.
suddho muttakarīsaṃ 'va, suhito vamitaṃ viya; Like someone pure (regarding) urine and feces;
suvilitto 'va duggandhaṃ, sunhato angaṇaṃ viya. like someone full (regarding) vomit,
1732
like someone well-perfumed (regarding) something
stinking,
like someone well-bathed (regarding) something
tainting.
ragadosaparikliṭṭhe, caturasavapūtike, [Becoming disgusted with them as]
hīnalokamisasare, saṃklesavisadūsite, 1733 thoroughly defiled by craving and aversion,
putrid with the asava-s' four effluent toxins,
and as mere bait for the lower worlds and as having
no substance,
spoiled by their defilement and poison,
sankhare 'pi jigucchanto, nabhinandati paṇḍito; becoming disgusted with conditioned things,
tass' etaṃ nandinissaṭṭhaṃ, _nibbidañaṇam_ wise now, he takes no delight in them.
abravuṃ. 1734 They've termed this knowledge that he has,
dissociated from delight,
"knowledge of disenchantment".*

VII. Muncitukāmatā-nāṇa: Knowledge of the Desirability of Letting Go

sabhayadīnave disva, sankhare puna paṇḍito, Having seen conditioned things as inspiring fear
nibbindanto tato tehi, parimuccitum icchati... 1735 and bringing danger, a wise person,
becoming disenchanted with them, then,
desires to be freed from them:
mīna 'va kumine baddha, pañjare viya pakkhino [He sees them:]
coro carakabaddho 'va, pelay' anto 'va pannago... like fish trapped in a net,
1736
like birds trapped in a cage;
like a thief trapped in a prison;
like a snake trapped a basket.
panke sanno mahanago, cando rahumukhaṃ gato Like a mighty elephant sunk in mud;
migo yatha pasagato, tatha saṃsaracarake... 1737 like the moon in Rahu's mouth,
1731
—
1732
—
1733
parikliṭṭhe: parikkliṭṭhe (Ee); parikliṭṭhe (Be).
hīnalokāmisāsāre: hīnalokamisasare (Ee); hīnalokamisa-piye (Be).
1734
The three major metaphors in the Path of Purification (Vism)'s account of this knowledge -- Haṃsa, Lion, &
Chaddanta Elephant -- are curiously absent in Anuruddha's account.
1735
—
1736
kumine: kumine (Ee); kumīne (Be).
1737
prison (caraka): occurring in this meaning in the Lalitavistara.
* cf. Vism XXI, §46 for metaphors: yatha nama jalabbhantaragato maccho, sappamukhagato maṇḍūko,
pañjarapakkhitto vanakukkuṭo, dalhapasavasagato migo, ahituṇḍikahatthagato sappo, mahapankapakkhando

337
 just like a deer in a hunter's trap
just so [am I] in the prison of saṃsara:*
avijjapariyonaddhe, khandhapañcakapatthare hemmed in by ignorance,
diṭṭhijalapaṭicchanne, vipallasaparikkhite..1738 on the bedrock of the five aggregates,
covered with the net of views
examined with distorted understanding,
pañcanīvaraṇabaddhe, manatthambhasamussaye. bound by the five hindrances,
icchapapatagambhīre, vipattivinipatane. 1739 with prominence of pride and stubbornness,
steep with the precipice of want,
dropping into failure;
jarabyadhisamuppade, dhūmaketupapattike. giving rise to old age and disease,
kodhūpanahadahane, sokopayasadhūpite. 1740 and rebirth like a shooting star;
burning with anger and resentment;
smoldering with sorrows and despairs.
madappamadavarodhe, bhavataṇhavakaḍḍhane. beset with drunken recklessness,
vippayogasamuttase, niccapayabhayakule. 1741 with the allure of craving for existence,
with the fear of separation,
and constantly distressed by the danger of
downfall.
chalambabhihate niccaṃ, phassadvaradhikuṭṭane. Constantly bombarded by the six sense objects'
sañcetanakaraṇike, vedanakammakaraṇe. 1742 striking
on the executioner's block of the sense-doors'
stimuli,
with cognizance of these as what's inflicted
and sensations as the torture for one's deeds.
anatthalapanigghose, klesarakkhasalalite. Trapped within [this prison of saṃsara]
maraṇarambhaniṭṭhane, baddho muttiṃ gavesati. resounding with laments of injury,
1743
toyed with by demons of the kilesa-s
and ending in dying's violence --
one seeks release.
aggiṃ viya ca samphuṭṭham asuciṃ gahitaṃ viya. And like fire touched;
petaṃ khaditukamaṃ 'va, ukkhittam iva avudhaṃ. or filth laid hold of;

kuñjaro, supaṇṇamukhagato nagaraja, rahumukhappaviṭṭho cando, sapattaparivarito puriso ti evamadayo tato tato
muccitukama nissaritukama va honti, evaṃ tassa yogino cittaṃ sabbasma sankharagata muccitukamaṃ
nissaritukamaṃ hoti. NB: No caraka (prison), the predominant metaphor of the Anuruddha's version.
1738
—
1739
—
1740
jarābyādhi-samuppāde: ˚bahuppade (Ee); ˚samuppade (Be).
1741
madappamādā-: parappamada- (Ee); madappamada- (Be).
vippayogasamuttāse: vippayogasamuttase, var. vippayogasamuttare (Ee); vippayogasamuttase (Be).
1742
phassadvārādhikuṭṭane: phassadvaradhikuṭṭane, var. phassadvaradhikoṭṭane (Ee); phassadvaradhikuṭṭane (Be).
sancetanākāraṇike: sañcetana karaṇike (Ee); sañcetanakaraṇike (Be).
1743
—

338
1744
like a hungry ghost the hunger (that torments it)
like the weapon lifted up (above one's head):
mahabyasanupassaṭṭhe, sankhare mottum icchato. for one wishing to get free of conditioned things,
_muccitukamyatañaṇam_ uppannan 'ti pavuccati. bound up with great affliction,
1745
it's said the knowledge of the desirability of their
being let go
has arisen.*

VIII. Paṭisankhā-nāṇaṃ: Knowledge of Re-evaluative Reflection

dujjahe palibajjhante, ganthanusayasangame. [These conditioned things] hard to extricate oneself
taṇhupadanagahaṇe, nandiraganubandhane. 1746 from, sticking fast,*
tied with knots of latent defilements,
with their grasping by desire and clinging,
and their pursuit by craving and delight,
diṭṭhimanamadatthaddhe, lobhapasanirantare. rigid with wrong view, conceit, and arrogance,
saṃyojanamahadugge, cirakalappapañcite. 1747 and the noose of greed immediately;
with their impossible approach by way of fetters
long elaborated --
sankhare muñcat' accantaṃ, avijjhitva 'va these conditioned things, he utterly releases --
pannagaṃ. as if a serpent, having swung it overhead,*
lakkhaṇan' upanijjhaya, sukhumaṃ pana yoniso. having scrutinized the characteristics
1748
thoroughly and at a subtle level.
majjhattagahaṇo tasma, nirapekkhavimuttiya. With an indifferent hold on them, therefore,
vaggulī 'vaphalaṃ rukkhaṃ, vīmaṃsati visesato. without expectation of release,
1749
he examines them to an exceptional extent
the way a fruit bat does a fruitless tree. *

1744
ukkhittam iva āvudhaṃ: ukkhittam iva avudhaṃ (Ee); vikkantentam iv' avudhaṃ (Be).
1745
* Cf. Vism XXI §§90-92 for the fruit bat and other key classical metaphors for this knowledge.
1746
palibajjhante: palibuddhante (?) [sic] (Ee); palibajjhante (Be). (For meaning, reading as = palibujjhati.)
* PED Palibuddhati, Pass. palibujjhati [this word occurs only in Commentary style & late works. In the Niddesa
the nearest synonym is ;lag, as seen from the freq. combn palibuddha+lagga, palibodha+laggana: see Nd2 p. 188
under nissita] to be obstructed or hindered, to be kept by (instr. or loc.) to stick or adhere to, to trouble about
attend to Nd2 74, 77 (paligijjhati+), 88, 107, 597, 657 Miln 263. -- pp. palibuddha (q. v.).
1747
diṭṭhimāna-madatthaddhe: ˚madatthaddhe, vars. ˚upatthaddhe; ˚paritthaddhe (Ee); ˚madatthaddhe (Be).
1748
muncat' accantaṃ: muñcat' accantaṃ, var. muñcitaccantaṃ (Ee); muñcat' accantaṃ (Be).
āvijjhitvā: avijjhitva; notes var. avajjhetva (Ee); avijjhitva (Be).
* cf. Vism XXI. 758: describing in the same vocabulary how a serpent is swung overhead two of three times
before it is flung away, in order to weaken it upon release: uparisise dve tayo vare avijjhitva sappaṃ, dubbalaṃ
katva, “gaccha duṭṭha sappa” ti nissajjitva. yatha hi so puriso sappaṃ avijjhitva dubbalaṃ katva nivattetva
daṃsituṃ asamatthabhavaṃ papetva sumuttaṃ muncati, evam ayaṃ yogavacaro tilakkhaṇaropanena sankhare
avijjhitva, dubbale katva, puna niccasukhasubhattakarena upaṭṭhatuṃ asamatthataṃ papetva sumuttaṃ
muncati.
1749
* The metaphor of the fruit bat and the fruitless tree is one of twelve metaphors used to illustrate the meaning of
insight leading to emergence (vuṭṭhanagaminī vipassana) (Vism XXI §90-92). vaggulī ti (M.2.302) eka kira
vaggulī “ettha pupphaṃ va phalaṃ va labhissamī”ti pañcasakhe madhukarukkhe nilīyitva ekaṃ sakhaṃ
paramasitva na tattha kiñci pupphaṃ phalaṃ va gayhupagaṃ addasa, etc. (Vism XXI §91).

339
vihataṃ viya kappasaṃ, vihananto punappunaṃ. Like beating beaten cotton
gandhaṃ viya ca piṃsanto, pisitaṃ yeva yet again;
sadhukaṃ. 1750 and like grinding fragrant powders
already well ground,
anicca dukkha 'natta 'ti, satima susamahito. Well concentrated, with equanimous awareness,
ahacca paṭivijjhanto, lakkhaṇani vipassati. 1751 bringing the characteristics to bear on them and
penetrating them
as "impermanent, suffering, and not self",
with wisdom he discerns them.
vipassantassa tass' evaṃ, _paṭisankhanupassana- For him seeing them with wisdom thus,
ñaṇam_ icc ahu nipuṇaṃ, vicinantaṃ visarada. 1752 (there is) the refined, discerning (vicinantaṃ)
knowledge, fully seasoned, that they call
"observation with re-evaluative reflection."

IX. Sankhār-upekkhā-nāṇa: Knowledge of Equanimity toward All Conditioned Things

iti samma vipassanto, sacchikatva tilakkhaṇaṃ. And so, seeing [them] rightly with wisdom,
yathabhūtasabhavena, tatth' evam anupassati. 1753 having directly witnessed the three characteristics,
he observes them in accordance with their nature,
as they are:
anicca vata sankhara, nicca 'ti gahita pure. Conditioned things taken as permanent before
dukkha 'va sukhato diṭṭha, anatta 'va pan' attato. 1754 are impermanent indeed!
Seen before as pleasant, they are suffering!
And seen as self before, they are not self!
anicca dukkha 'natta ca, sankhata puna sabbatha. And conditioned things are
alabbhaneyyadhamma ca, tath' evakamakariya. 1755 impermanent, suffering, and not self in every way:
they are unattainable by nature;
and likewise not able to be made to behave
according to one's wish.
dhatumatta paradhīna, attadheyyavivajjita. They are mere elements, lacking self-determination
maccudheyyavasanīta, upadhihatagocara. 1756 and devoid of anything that constitutes a self;

1750
piṃsanto: piṃsanto (Ee); pisento (Be).
1751
—
1752
visāradā: visarado (it's not clear what APB takes visarado as construing with) (Ee); visarada (Be). [visaradaṃ??
supply pavattati "occurs"?]
* Cf. Vism 21.47 Eng. // 21.758 Pali Analogy of ridding oneself of snake misidentified as fish:
paṭisankhanupassana (reviewing three characteristics so as to weaken definitively sankhara-s) = Weakening
snake by swinging it above head before casting it far away.
1753
—
1754
pan': pun' (Ee); pan' (Be).
1755
alabbhaneyya-: alabbhaneyya-, var. alambhaneyya- (Ee); alabbhaneyya- (Be)
evākāmakāriyā: ev' akamakariya (Ee); evakamakariya (Be). Cf. Vism comm. gloss: pheṇapiṇdena bhajanadiṃ
katukamassa viya rupassa niccatadiṃ katukamassa taṃ na sijjhati, sakaicchavasena va kaci kiriya natthi 'ti
_akamakariyato_. ``evaṃ rupaṃ hotu, ma evan ’ti _alabbhaniyato_ (Vism-a
sankharupekkhañaṇakathavaṇṇana).
1756
upadhi-: upadhī (Ee); upadhi (Be).

340
 they are brought against their will into death's
sway,
their field stricken by the underpinnings of rebirth.
ahaṃ maman 'ti voharo, paro va 'tha parassa va. They have the conventional designation "I", or
atta va attanīyaṃ va, vatthuto n' atthi katthaci. 1757 "mine",
or "other", or else "another's";
but in reality there is nothing in them at all
that is oneself or is one's own.
yatha 'pi angasambhara, hoti saddo ratho iti. Just as from an assemblage of parts
evaṃ khandhesu santesu, hoti satto 'ti sammuti. 1758 there comes about a word called “chariot” --
just so, when the aggregates are present,
there comes about a convention called “a being”.
tattha kappenti attanaṃ, bala dummedhino jana. Naive people lacking proper wisdom
ajjhattaṃ va bahiddha va, passato n'atthi kiñcanaṃ. fabricate a self therein.
1759
As he sees inside or out that there is nothing
(that can be called oneself, or one's own)...*
sukhito dukkhito vatha, puggalo nama katthaci. (it occurs to him that) there is in actually nowhere
vatthuto natthi sabbattha, sankhara taṃsabhavino. any "individual"
1760
that feels pleasure or feels pain;
that everywhere there are (only)
conditioned things that have those natures,
jayamana ca jiyyanta, miyyamana ca sankhata. being born and growing old,
atta 'va dukkhita h' ete, na tu dukkhaya kassaci. 1761 and dying, coming into combination;
that these, indeed, themselves feel pain --
but are not for the pain of any person.
dukkham eva hi sambhoti, dukkhaṃ tiṭṭhati veti ca. For suffering alone arises,
naññatra dukkha sambhoti, naññaṃ dukkha suffering persists, and suffering passes.
nirujjhati. 1762 Nothing outside of suffering arises;
and, other than suffering, nothing ceases.
ettha gayhūpagaṃ n'atthi, palase taṃ papañcitaṃ. There is nothing herein graspable as "self";
niruddhassa samayūha, niratthakasamubbhava. 1763 this is a take spun on dry leaves and grass;*
1757
—
1758
—
1759
* Cf. Vism XXI. 760 “suññam idaṃ attena va attaniyena va 'ti (ma. ni. 3.69) dvikoṭikaṃ suññataṃ pariggaṇhati.
For "kiñcanaṃ": ayañ hi nahaṃ kvacanī 'ti kvaci attanaṃ na passati. kassaci kiñcanatasmin 'ti attano attanaṃ
kassaci parassa kiñcanabhave upanetabbaṃ na passati.
1760
—
1761
—
1762
—
1763
palāse taṃ: palas' etaṃ (Ee); palase taṃ (Be).
* An allusion to the famous passage of the alagaddūpamasutta (MN 22) in which the Buddha asks the monks he
is addressing in the Jetavana monastic grounds in Savatthi whether they would be troubled if someone came and
carried off the dry grass and firewood and foliage (tiṇakaṭṭhapalasa) of the monastic grounds, and advised them
to regard the five aggregates with the same detachment -- to "let go" of "what's not theirs" (MN 22 "na
tumhakaṃ" section).

341
 (just) karmic playing out (samayūha) of something
ceased,
given rise to by something with no referent.
anicca hontu sankhara, dukkhita va, mam' ettha And [thinking:]
kiṃ? "Let conditioned things be impermanent, -- or else
anatta va 'ti _sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ_ pavattati. 1764 be pained, or be not self – what of mine is there
herein?"
the knowledge, "equanimity toward all conditioned
things" occurs.*

X. Anuloma-nāṇa: Knowledge "in conformity" (with the noble truths); known also as
paripakka vipassana: "fully mature insight"; vuṭṭhanagaminī vipassana: "insight leading to
emergence"; and sikhappatta vipassana: "insight at its summit"
iti disva yathabhūtaṃ, yava bhanga tato paraṃ. And, like this, seeing "as it is",
gaṇhantī bhavanagabbhaṃ, paripakka vipassana. from bhanga(-naṇa), onwards,
1765
(slowly) taking root in the womb of his meditation,
his discernment has now reached full maturity.*
avassaṃ bhanganiṭṭhane, bhayadīnavanicchite. Becoming disenchanted and his craving fading,
nibbinditva virajjanto, paṭisankhay' upekkhati. 1766 having re-evaluatively considered them,
inevitably ending in destruction,
their fear and danger ascertained,
he looks upon them (now) with equanimity.
tattha muttakarīsaṃ 'va, khelapiṇḍaṃ 'va ujjhitaṃ. Therein, like urine and excreta,
vissaṭṭhaparaputtaṃ 'va, vissaṭṭhabhariyaṃ viya. like an expectorated lump of spit,
1767
like a child not one's own, set aside (on finding out
1764
hontu: honti (Ee); hontu (Be).
* The Path of Purification (Vism)'s inclusion of a treatment of the realization of sunnata (XXI.760) with the
following metaphors (XXI.762) has no corresponding section in Anuruddha: yatha nalo asaro nissaro
sarapagato. yatha eraṇdo... yatha udumbaro... yatha setavaccho... yatha palibhaddako... yatha pheṇapiṇdo...
yatha udakabubbulaṃ... yatha marici... yatha kadalikkhandho...
1765
* The metaphor of vipassana taking root in the womb of the meditator's meditation and growing to maturity over
the course of the knowledges frames Anuruddha's exposition of the stages of insight. Cf. Namar-p 1677:
sukhuma nipuṇakara, khuradharagata viya / gaṇhantī bhavanagabbhaṃ, pavaḍḍhati vipassana, “subtle and of
minutest aspect, like in a razor's edge / his discernment, taking hold in cultivation's womb, begins to grow”. The
detail “yava bhanga tato paraṃ”, “from bhanga(-ñaṇa), onwards”, directly evokes the Paṭis-m's association of
vipassana with the observation of dissolution (bhanganupassana): “arammaṇaṃ paṭisankha bhanganupassane
pañña vipassane ñaṇaṃ”, “discernment with regard to the observation of dissolution having regarded the object
[producing] knowledge pertaining to vipassana” (Paṭis-m matika §7). The implication of vipassana beginning
with the knowledge of dissolution stands in contrast to the Vism and Anuruddha's works, which regard it as
beginning with either namarupapariccheda-naṇa or sammasana-naṇa. The detail thus recalls an earlier
understanding of vipassana characteristic of the Paṭis-m.
1766
—
1767
* paraputta: Cf. Vism XXI. §100-101: darako ti eka kira puttagiddhinī itthī, sa uparipasade nisinnava
antaravīthiyaṃ darakasaddaṃ sutva “putto nu kho me kenaci viheṭhiyatī” ti vegasa gantva “attano putto”ti
saññaya paraputtaṃ aggahesi. sa “paraputto ayan”ti sañjanitva ottappamana ito cito ca oloketva “ma heva maṃ
koci ‘darakacorī ayan’ti vadeyya”ti darakaṃ tattheva oropetva puna vegasa pasadaṃ aruyha nisīdi. tattha attano
puttasaññaya paraputtassa gahaṇaṃ viya “ahaṃ mama”ti pañcakkhandhagahaṇaṃ, “paraputto ayan”ti

342
 that it is not one's own)*
like a[n ex-]wife, set aside,*
pavattañ ca nimittañ ca, paṭisankhay' upekkhato. Having re-evaluatively considered
sabbasankharadhammesu, gatiyonibhavesu va. 1768 their occurring and their cause, and looking
equanimously on all conditioned phenomena,
or on (all) destinations, modes, and forms of birth,*
vari pokkharapatte 'va, sūcikagge 'va sasapo. like water on a lotus leaf,
khittaṃ kukkuṭapattaṃ 'va, daddulaṃ 'va hutavahe. like a mustard seed on a needle-tip,
1769
like a chicken's feather or a sinew
cast into a fire,*
na pasarīyatī cittaṃ, na tu sajjati bajjhati. his mind neither reaches out,
alaya patilīyanti, pativattati vaṭṭato. 1770 nor adheres, nor is it bound;
they shrink back (as does his mind) – from the
harboring of craving;*
it turns back from the round.
sītaṃ ghammabhitatto 'va, chatajjhatto 'va Like one scorched by summer heat [yearns for]

sañjananaṃ viya tilakkhaṇavasena “nahaṃ, na mama”ti sañjananaṃ, ottappanaṃ viya bhayatupaṭṭhanaṃ, ito cito
ca olokanaṃ viya muñcitukamyatañaṇaṃ, tattheva darakassa oropanaṃ viya anulomaṃ, oropetva antaravīthiyaṃ
ṭhitakalo viya gotrabhu, pasadarūhanaṃ viya maggo, aruyha nisīdanaṃ viya phalaṃ.
* vissaṭṭhabhariya: Cf. Vism XXI §61-62: evaṃ suññato disva tilakkhaṇaṃ aropetva sankhare pariggaṇhanto
bhayañca nandiñca vippahaya sankharesu udasīno ahosi majjhatto, ahanti va mamanti va na gaṇhati
vissaṭṭhabhariyo viya puriso. yatha nama purisassa bhariya bhaveyya iṭṭha kanta manapa, so taya vina
muhuttampi adhivasetuṃ na sakkuṇeyya, ativiya naṃ mamayeyya, so taṃ itthiṃ aññena purisena saddhiṃ
ṭhitaṃ va nisinnaṃ va kathentiṃ va hasantiṃ va disva kupito assa anattamano, adhimattaṃ domanassaṃ
paṭisaṃvedeyya. so aparena samayena tassa itthiya dosaṃ disva muñcitukamo hutva taṃ vissajjeyya, na naṃ
mamati gaṇheyya. tato paṭṭhaya taṃ yenakenaci saddhiṃ yaṃkiñci kurumanaṃ disvapi neva kuppeyya, na
domanassaṃ apajjeyya, aññadatthu udasīnova bhaveyya majjhatto. evamevayaṃ sabbasankharehi muñcitukamo
hutva paṭisankhanupassanaya sankhare pariggaṇhanto ahaṃ mamati gahetabbaṃ adisva bhayañca nandiñca
vippahaya sabbasankharesu udasīno hoti majjhatto.
1768
* cf. Vism XXI §63 for the source of “gatiyonibhavesu”, referring to the mind's turning back (patilīyati patikuṭati
pativattati na sampasariyati) from the three bhava-s (forms of rebirth), the four yoni-s (modes of birth), the five
gati-s (destinations of rebirth), the seven viññaṇaṭṭhiti-s (stations of consciousness), and the nine sattavasa-s
(abodes of beings).
1769
* For similes, cf. Vism XXI §63 seyyathapi nama padumapalase īsakapoṇe udakaphusitani patilīyanti patikuṭanti
pativattanti na sampasariyanti, evam eva ... pe ... seyyathapi nama kukkuṭapattaṃ va naharudaddulaṃ va
aggimhi pakkhittaṃ patilīyati patikuṭati pativattati na sampasariyati (a. ni. 7.49), evam eva tassa tīsu bhavesu
cittaṃ ... pe ... upekkha va paṭikulyata va saṇṭhati. icc' assa sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ nama uppannaṃ hoti.
1770
patilīyanti: paṭilīyanti (Ee); patilīyanti (Be).
pativattati: parivaṭṭati, vars. paṭivaṭṭati; parivattati (Ee); parivattati (Be). I emend to the anomalous pativattati
cf. Vism XXI §63 (see note v. 1769 above) & AN 7.49, featuring the form patilīyati ( = paṭivaṭṭati).
* they shrink back (patiliyanti) (as does his mind): this might be read as a play on alaya < a + √lī, suggesting its
negation, taking alaya as the subject and patilīyanti as in agreement with it. Cf. the form patilinacaro quoted
from Sn at Vism XXI §110, in spite of Warren/Kosambi's editing “paṭilīyati” (Vism XXI §109): ettavata ca pan'
esa patilīnacaro nama hoti, yaṃ sandhaya vuttaṃ — “patilīnacarassa bhikkhuno, bhajamanassa
vivittamasanaṃ / samaggiyamahu tassa taṃ, yo attanaṃ bhavane na dassaye ”ti. (Sn 816, cited at Vism XXI
§110). I prefer to read the plural as replicating the plural of the metaphor at Vism XXI, §63 (seyyathapi nama
padumapalase isakapoṇe udakaphusitani patiliyanti patikuṭanti pativattanti), and an implication that his mind
does so similarly from alaya (the harboring of craving, read as ablative).

343
bhojanaṃ. cool,
pipasito 'va panīyaṃ, byadhito 'va mahosadhaṃ. like one consumed by hunger [yearns for] food,
1771
like one who's thirsty [yearns for] water,
like one who's ill [yearns for] a panacea,*
bhīto khemantabhūmiṃ 'va, duggato 'va like one fearing [yearns for] safe ground,
mahanidhiṃ. like one fallen into poverty [yearns for] great
añjasaṃ maggamulho 'va, dīpaṃ viya ca aṇṇave. treasure,
1772
like one who's lost his way [yearns for] a sign,
and like one who's at sea [yearns for] an island,
ajaramaram accantaṃ, asankharam anasavaṃ. he yearns for the unaging and undying,
sabbadukkhakkhayaṃ ṭhanaṃ, nibbanam the unconditioned, uneffluent,
abhikankhati. 1773 all-surpassing site of suffering's end,
nibbana.
vuṭṭhanagaminī cayaṃ, sikhappatta vipassana. And this is insight that's arrived now at its summit,
sakuṇī tīradassī 'va, _sanuloma_ pavattati. 1774 leading to emergence,
like a bird (on the mast of a ship at sea) that has
seen land,*
"in conformity" (with the noble truths) occurs.*

The Process of Emergence

appavattam animittaṃ, passanto pana santato. And seeing the un-occurring and un-caused
pakkhī 'va nipphalaṃ rukkhaṃ, hitva vuṭṭhati as peaceful,
sankhata. 1775 he sets aside and emerges from the [field of the]
conditioned,
like a bird a fruitless tree,
upacarasamadhī 'ti, kamavacarabhavana. The meditation that pertains to sense-sphere
vutto 'yaṃ lokiyo maggo, pubbabhagavipassana. (consciousness)
1776
as "access concentration" --
this is called "preliminary insight"
and the mundane path.
paripakka kamen' evaṃ, paribhavitabhavana. The fully cultivated meditation
pariccajantī sankhare, pakkhandantī asankhate. 1777 thus gradually become fully mature,

1771
* For these similes, cf. Vism XXI, §102-106.
1772
—
1773
—
1774
* cf. that parable of the mast-crow used by sailors at Vism sakuṇī f.
* The Path of Purification (Vism) characterizes this, the last and culminating insight knowledge, as “knowledge
in conformity with the truths” (saccanulomikaṃ naṇaṃ), suggesting that the name “conformity” relates to
understanding that conforms to that of the four noble truths (Vism XXI §1). This, seemingly, in spite of the fact
that elsewhere the statement is made that it conforms to the eight knowledges that precede it (reckoning from
paṭipadanaṇadassanavisuddhi, beginning with udaybbayanaṇa after the resolution of the maggamagga crisis –
according to which anuloma is “the ninth” knowledge) and to the bodhipakkhiya-dhamma-s (Vism XXI §130). I
follow the former interpretation as more meaningful and coherent.
1775
—
1776
vutto: vutto (Ee); mutto (Be). Cf. Vism XXI §135 for vutta.

344
 completely forsaking conditioned things
and leaping forth, into the unconditioned,
janetanuttaraṃ maggam asevanavisesato. gives rise to the transcendental path
kaṭṭhasanghaṭṭana jata, accidhūma 'va bhasuraṃ. as the culminating distinction of its practice,
1778
like brilliance from the smoke and spark
produced from two sticks' rubbing.
uggacchati yathadicco, purakkhatvaruṇaṃ tatha. And just as the sun rises
vipassanaṃ purakkhatva, maggadhammo pavattati. following dawn's light,
1779
just so the path phenomenon occurs
following on insight.
tatha pavattamano ca, nibbanapadagocaro. And just so occurring,
vimokkhattayanamena, yatharaham asesato. 1780 with the scope (of serving as) the stepping stone to
nibbana,
& and with the name of its respective (door)
to liberation,
klesadūsitasantane, abhihantva vigacchati. in the single mind-moment of its duration,
ekacittakkhaṇuppado, asanī viya pabbataṃ. 1781 it strikes the stream of consciousness defiled by the
defilements (and destroys it) completely, then
disappears
like a bolt of lightning (detroys) a mountain.
pubbe vuttanayen' eva, appananayam īraye. In the same way as already stated
padakajjhanabhedena, jhananganiyamo bhave. 1782 one may state the methodology via absorption;
its jhana-factors would be determined
by the jhana that gives rise to it (padaka-jhana).
parikammopacaranulomasankhatagocara. They would occur within the scope of (knowledge)
yaṃ kiñci lakkhaṇakaraṃ, vipassanta pavattare. 1783 reckoned "conforming" (to the noble truths) at a
preparatory, or access (upacara) level of
concentration,
discerning with wisdom the aspect
of any given characteristic.

Gotrabhu, Magga & Phala Citta-s: Change of Lineage, Path & Fruition Consciousnesses
tato gotra-bhu nibbanam alambitvana jayati. Thereafter, change-of-lineage (consciousness)
bahiddha khandhato tasma, vuṭṭhanan 'ti pavuccati. arises,
1784
with nibbana as its object.

1777
paripakkā kamen' evaṃ: paripakka kamen' evaṃ, var. paripakakamen' evaṃ (Ee); paripakka kamen' evaṃ
(Be).
1778
jātā, accidhūmā 'va bhāsuram: jata-accidhumavabhasuram, var. accimummava- (Ee); jata, accidhūma 'va
bhasuraṃ (Be).
1779
purakkhatvā: purakkhitva (Ee); purakkhatva (Be).
1780
—
1781
—
1782
appanā: appaṇa (Ee); appana (Be).
1783
—

345
 Since its (emerges) to outside the aggregates,
it is termed "emergence".
tato _maggo_ kilesamha, vimuccanto pavattati. Thereafter path (-consciousness) occurs,
vuṭṭhanaṃ ubhato tasma, khandhato ca kilesato. 1785
becoming freed from defilement,
Therefore the "emergence" is from both:
from aggregate and from defilement.
dve tatha tīṇi va honti, _phalani_ ca tato paraṃ. And after that there are two or three
bhavangapato taṃ chetva, jayate paccavekkhaṇa. fruition (-consciousnesses)
1786
subsidence into bhavanga having interrupted that,
review(-consciousness) arises.
Paccavekkhaṇā: Review of Attainment
maggaṃ phalañ ca nibbanaṃ, paccavekkhati The wise one (now) reviews
paṇḍito. path, the fruit, and nibbana
hīne kilese sese ca, paccavekkhati va na va. 1787 and may or may not review
the defilements abandoned and those remaining.
The Higher Paths and Fruits
bhavetva paṭhamaṃ maggam ittham adiphale ṭhito, One stationed in this way in the initial fruit
tato paraṃ pariggayha, namarūpaṃ yatha pure, 1788 having cultivated the first path,
thereafter, apprehending
mind and matter, as before,
kamena ca vipassanto, puna-d-eva yatharahaṃ, and discerning them with wisdom,
yathanukkamam appeti, sakadagami-adayo. 1789 in this order, once again,
enters, one by one,
into [the paths and fruits of] the once-returner, and
so forth.
itthaṃ vibhattaparipakavibhavanayaṃ, Meditative cultivation being fully cultivated
buddhanubuddhaparibhavitabhavanayaṃ. and realized in the footsteps of the Buddha's
paccuddhareti bhavasagaraparagamī, realization,
maggo mahesi guṇasagaraparagamī. 1790 the understanding (vibhavana) of the maturation
of which is charted thus,
the path uplifts, betaking one to the far shore
of the ocean of great seekers' virtues,
and leading to the far shore of the ocean of rebirths.
icc' etaṃ dasavidha-bhavanavibhagaṃ, Having cultivated this, the ten-fold classification of
bhavetva paramahitavahaṃ kamena. its cultivation thus,

1784
—
1785
—
1786
—
1787
—
1788
—
1789
—
1790
vibhattaparipakavibhavanayaṃ: ˚paripakkavibhavanayaṃ, var. ˚vipassanayaṃ (Ee); paripakavibhavanayaṃ
(Be).

346
papponti padam ajaramaraṃ ciraya, bringing step-by-step the highest welfare,
saṃklesaṃ sakalam avassajanti dhīra. 1791 men of wisdom reach at long last the aging-and-
deathless abode
and relinquish all defilement.
iti namarūpaparicchede Thus concludes
dasavatthavibhago nama the twelfth chapter in the Manual of Discerning
dvadasamo paricchedo. Mind and Matter
entitled the "ten stages” section.

THE ANALYSIS OF MIND AND MATTER

13. Chapter Thirteen
The Resultant Fruits

Anuruddha introduces his chapter on the fruits of the practice of insight with reference to
the four "tasks" (kicca) entailed by a preliminary understand the noble truths, the realization of
which (that is, the need to accomplish which) constitutes an important tier of their realization.
The realization of these tasks' having been accomplished constitutes their final tier (cf. the
knowing and beholding of the four truths in three turnings and thus twelve aspects (tiparivaṭṭam,
dvadasakaram) in the discourse on the turning of the wheel of dhamma). Fulfillment of these
tasks yields the seven individuals, a sutta typology designating separate tracks of awakening
differentiating soteriological progress according to its being made via a predominance of faith or
wisdom -- a sutta rubric evidently of some interest to Anuruddha, though it ultimately proved
less popular than the more well known typology of "eight noble individuals" in four pairs.
Concern with the category of the superior individual "liberated in both ways"
(ubhatobhagavimutta), partaking of both the soteriological fruits of insight (vipassana) and with
access to the higher tranquillity-based attainments associated with tranquility (samatha) --
including the highest of these, nirodhasamapatti (the attainment of "cessation"), a crowning
samatha attainment accessible only to one who has also engaged insight -- reveals the
interpretive tradition's dominating concern with the dichotomy and interrelation of samatha and
vipassana and the exegetical tradition's attempt to sort out the resulting complications. An
account of the loss of defilement corresponding to the respective individual and a survey of
optional soteriological fruits including the four analytical powers (paṭisaṃbhida) concludes the
work. Like the Path of Purification (Vism), Anuruddha's work culminates in an evocation of
this attainment, reckoned as the experience of nibbana in tangible form. This perhaps ultimately
betokens (like so many other details) the interpretive tradition's polemical claim of the trumping
of samatha by vipassana. Here this takes the form of a crowning samatha achievement
accessible only to one who has cultivated insight in the aforementioned manner (anagami-s and

1791
—

347
arahants cf. v. 1839 who have cultivated samatha "conjoined" or "yoked in tandem"
(yuganaddha / 'yuganandha' v. 1841) with vipassana -- the coordinated form of practice most
exalted by Anuruddha and the exegetical tradition he represents), thus rendering this highest of
all samatha attainments a crowning grace on the samatha path bestowed explicitly by insight.

Contents:

• Penetration and the Fulfillment of the Task of Each Truth (paṭivedha & kicca) (v. 1793)
• The Three Routes of Emancipation and the Seven Noble Individuals Classification with
Reference to Them (vimokkhattayaṃ & the satta-puggala-bheda) (v. 1803)
◦ The Two Manners of Yoking Insight / The two "Yokings" of Insight
(vipassana-"dhura"-s) vis a vis the emergences (vuṭṭhana) (v. 1814)
• The Eight Noble Individuals (aṭṭha ariya-puggala) (v. 1821)
• The Corresponding Loss of Defilement (klesahani) (v. 1826)
• The Four Powers of Analysis (paṭisambhida-s): (v. 1829)
• The Attainments (samapatti-s) (v. 1836)
• The Attainment of Cessation (nirodha-samapatti) (v. 1839)

• Colophon (nigamana): (vv. 1848-1857)

terasamo paricchedo Chapter 13

nissandaphalavibhāgo "The Resultant Fruits"
vipassanaya nissandam iti vuttam ito paraṃ. With what follows, I shall now describe
saccanaṃ paṭivedhadiṃ, pavakkhami what was called above
yathakkamaṃ. 1792 "vipassana's resultant fruits" (nissanda-phala)*
-- the penetration of the (noble) truths, etc. -- in
their order.

Paṭivedha & Kicca: Penetration and the Task of each Truth

pariñña ca pahanañ ca, sacchikiriya ca bhavana. The four "tasks" (kicca), they say, pertaining
iti dukkhadisaccesu, _kiccam_ahu catubbidhaṃ. 1793 to the truth of suffering, etc.,
are full knowing (parinna) and abandoning
(pahana),
witnessing (sacchikaraṇa) and developing
(bhavana).
taṃ sabbaṃ maggakalamhi, karissati tato paraṃ. One will do that all
paṭipassaddhakiccatta, kataṃ hoti phale kathaṃ? at the time of path (-consciousness) -- but then,
1794
how is it as regards the fruit of that
when done, the need to do allayed?

1792
Cf. Abhidh-s ch. VIII, 8. sokadivacanaṃ pan' ettha nissandaphalanidassanaṃ. describing sorrow and so forth as
the “resultant fruit” of dependent origination.
1793
—
1794
paṭipassaddhakiccattā: paṭippassaddhakiccatta (Ee); paṭipassaddhakiccatta (Be).

348
chinnatalo phalasseva, chinnanusayamūlaka. Just like a severed palm for fruit,
khandha nalam adhiṭṭhanaṃ, vipallasapavattiya. 1795 the aggregates are insufficient grounds
for distorted views' occurrence,
the roots of their persistence in latent form now cut.
accantapaṭipakkhatta, catumaggappavattiya. And, just like the sprout of a scorched seed,
paraṃ klesa na jayanti, daḍḍhabījankuraṃ yatha. defilements no longer can arise,
1796
due to their being utterly opposed
by the four paths' occurrence.
niyyanaṭṭhavisesena, aññamaññassa paccayo. Path (-consciousness) itself, in the specific sense of
maggo 'va maggaṃ bhaveti, jayamano 'tha va puna. "leading out",
1797
develops path,
each a mutual condition for the other --
or else, as it arises --
maggappavattisantane, bhavana 'ti pavuccati. in the cognitive sequence of path (-consciousness's)
vattamanena taṃ kiccaṃ, nipphaditam asesato. 1798 occurrence,
it is said to have its "development"
and that "task" is brought about in full
by it as it occurs.
iti tīṇi 'pi saccani, kiccato paṭivijjhati. Path (-consciousness) thus penetrates
nibbanaṃ sacchikubbanto, maggo ekakkhaṇe saha. the three (remaining) truths, by way of (their
1799
respective) tasks, in a single moment,
as it witnesses nibbana, with its occurrence.
kiccappavattito c' ettha, _paṭivedho_'ti vuccati. And from these tasks' occurrence,
tañ ca sadheti maggo 'yaṃ, niyyanto santigocaro. there's "penetration" with regard to them, as well,
1800
and this path produces that:
emerged, and now within the range of peace; (= 1st
truth)
pariccajitva sankhare, maggass' arabbha nibbutiṃ, having forsaken all conditioned things; ( = 2nd
niyyanam eva saccesu, kiccasadhanam īritaṃ. 1801 truth)
on the basis of quenching (nibbuti) of the path; ( =
3rd truth)
the emerging itself ( = 4th truth) -- bespoken
as the tasks' accomplishing, with reference to the
truths.
maggo eva hi niyyati, sesa tassopakaraka. For it's path(-consciousness) alone that which
appenta jhanadhamma ca, bujjhanta emerges;

1795
—
1796
catumaggappavattiyā: catumaggappavattiya (Ee); catumaggapavattiya (Be).
daḍḍhabījankuraṃ: daḍḍhabīj' ankuraṃ (presumably reading as abl.) (Ee); daḍḍhabījankuraṃ (Be).
1797
niyyānaṭṭh: nīyanattha- (Ee); niyyanaṭṭha- (Be).
1798
—
1799
—
1800
niyyanto: nīyanto (Ee); niyyanto (Be).
1801
niyyānam: nīyanam (Ee); niyyanam (Be).

349
bodhipakkhiya. 1802 the other things just its supporting factors --
as the jhana states absorb
and the mental factors pertaining to awakening
awaken.

vimokkhattayam & the satta-puggala-bheda: The Three Routes of Emancipation and the
Seven Noble Individuals Classification with Reference to them
tasma tass' eva vuṭṭhanaṃ, pakasenti visesato. How, then, do they specifically explain
khandhehi ca kilesehi, vimokkhattayato kathaṃ? the emergence of that (path),
1803
via the three (routes of) liberation
from 1) the aggregates and 2) from the
defilements?
katvanabhinivesaṃ tu, yattha tattha yatha tatha. Having apprehended the phenomena that constitute
bhūmidhammaṃ pariggayha, vipassitva tato paraṃ. the ground*
1804
and seen them then with wisdom,
as they are, wherein
one's sense of self had been invested,
and how and where it had been --
yato kutoci vuṭṭhanaṃ, yadi hoti aniccato. then, from whichever (characteristic, from which
hutva 'dhimokkhabahulo, saddhindriyavisesato. 1805 the path has) its emergence:
if from anicca, then having had
a predominance of surrender,
from the especial extent of his faculty of faith
(saddha),
animittavimokkhena, niyyanto sattapuggalo. then, emerging via the (route of) emancipation
saddhanusarī paṭhame, majjhe saddhavimuttako. called "the signless" (animitta-vimokkha),
1806
the tathagata-s declare him,
now one among the seven (noble) persons,
& at the first (path) "one who proceeds by faith"

1802
niyyāti: nīyati (Ee); niyyati (Be).
1803
—
1804
katvānābhinivesaṃ: katvanabhinivesan (Ee); katvanabhinivesaṃ (Be).
* here singular, suggesting perhaps that any one among the "dhamma-s that constitute the ground" (of experience
and for the emergence of insight) may be the object, wherever the sense of self is found to inhere.
1805
Cf. Vism XXI: (sankharupekkha section) <771> yaṃ pana vuttaṃ ``sattaariyapuggalavibhagaya paccayo hotī’’
ti, tattha saddhanusarī, saddhavimutto, kayasakkhi, ubhatobhagavimutto, dhammanusarī, diṭṭhippatto,
paññavimuttoti \Ne II 296/ ime tava satta ariyapuggala, tesaṃ vibhagaya idaṃ sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ paccayo
hoti. <772> yo hi __aniccato_ manasikaronto adhimokkhabahulo __saddhindriyaṃ_ paṭilabhati, so
sotapattimaggakkhaṇe __saddhanusarī_ hoti. sesesu sattasu ṭhanesu __saddhavimutto_. <773> yo pana
__dukkhato_ manasikaronto passaddhibahulo __samadhindriyaṃ_ paṭilabhati, so sabbattha __kayasakkhi_ nama
hoti. arūpajjhanaṃ pana patva aggaphalappatto __ubhatobhagavimutto_ nama hoti. <774> yo \Be II 298/ pana
__anattato_ manasikaronto vedabahulo __paññindriyaṃ_ paṭilabhati, so sotapattimaggakkhaṇe
__dhammanusarī_ hoti. chasu ṭhanesu __diṭṭhippatto_ aggaphale __paññavimutto_ti.
1806
niyyanto: nīyanto (Ee); niyyanto (Be).
sattapuggalo: sattapuggalo; notes var. santa- (Ee); sattapuggalo (Be).
paṭhame: paṭhamaṃ (Ee); paṭhame (Be).

350
 (saddhanusari);
ante paññavimutto 'ti, tam īrenti tathagata. and in the middle (paths) "one being freed by faith"
sankhare dukkhato disva, vuṭṭhahanto sa puggalo. (saddha-vimuttaka);
1807
and, at the last, "one freed by wisdom" (panna-
vimutta).
A person who emerges
seeing conditioned things as dukkha...
passaddhibahulo hutva, samadhindriyalabhato. having had predominance of tranquillity
tath' evappaṇihitena, niyyanto tividho bhave. 1808 (passaddhi),
on account of having gained the faculty of
concentration (samadhi),
emerging via the (route of liberation called the)
"uninclined" (appaṇihita),
would be of those same three kinds.
anattato vuṭṭhahitva, vedabahulyayogato. And one emerging via the not-self characteristic
suññatenâtha niyyanto, paññindriyavisesato. 1809 (anatta),
due to a predominance of wisdom,
emerging via the (route of liberation called the)
"empty" (sunnata)*
due to the especial extent of his faculty of
wisdom, ...
dhammanusarī paṭhame, diṭṭhippatto tato paraṃ. (is termed) "one who proceeds by dhamma"
ante paññavimutto 'ti, tam 'pi dīpenti paṇḍita. 1810 (dhammanusari) at the first (path);
and one "arrived at right view" (diṭṭhippatta), (on
the paths) thereafter;
and him, too, at the last (path), the wise declare
to be "one freed by wisdom" (panna-vimutto).
aneñjapadakajjhana-namakayavisesato. (Those who've) witnessed nibbana
sacchikatvana nibbanaṃ, majjhe cha kayasakkhino. from their mental body's
1811
having (the state known as) "unshakable stability",
as their point-of-departure jhana (padakajjhana), to
an especial extent,
are termed "bodily witnesses" (kaya-sakkhi-s) at
the middle six (paths)...

1807
—
1808
niyyanto: nīyanto (Ee); niyyanto (Be).
1809
niyyanto: nīyanto (Ee); niyyanto (Be).
* masc. evidently because of implicit -vimokkha; not from sunnata, but sunnato (adv.), according to PED.
1810
paṭhame: paṭhamaṃ (Ee); paṭhame (Be). for locative, cf. Saccasankhepa 352-356 for similar phrasing: 352. dve
tikkhasaddhasamatha, siyuṃ saddhanusarino / ado majjhesu ṭhanesu, chasu saddhavimuttaka. 353. itaro
dhammanusarīdo, diṭṭhippatto anantake / paññamuttobhayatthante, ajhanijhanika ca te. 354. tikkhasaddhassa
cante pi, saddhamuttattamīritaṃ / _visuddhimagge_ majjhassa, kayasakkhittamaṭṭhasu. 355. vuttaṃ
mokkhakathayaṃ yaṃ, tikkhapaññarahassa tu / diṭṭhipattattaṃ hetañ ca, tañ ca natthabhidhammike. 356. te
sabbe aṭṭhamokkhanaṃ, labhī ce chasu majjhasu / kayasakkhī siyuṃ ante, ubhatobhagamuttaka.
1811
nibbānaṃ: nibbaṇaṃ (Ee); nibbanaṃ (Be).

351
arūpato ca maggena, aneñjena ca rūpato. ...and (being liberated) by the path [arisen] from the
vimutto ubhatobhaga-vimutto araha bhave. 1812 immaterial,
as well as from the material, by unshakeable
stability,
when liberated, he would be
an arahant "liberated from both sides" (ubhato-
bhaga-vimutta).
tivimokkhamukhībhūta, iti vuṭṭhanasadhika. Insight, becoming thus the entrance to
_sattapuggalabhedañ_ ca, sampadeti vipassana. 1813 emancipation in these three forms
and bringing about emergence in this way
causes the classification
of the seven persons to be produced as well.

The two vipassana-dhura-s: The Two manners of yoking insight / The two "Yokings" of
Insight vis a vis the emergences (vuṭṭhana)
adhimuccati saddha ca, yathavatthusabhavato. Faith surrenders (to the truth);
ñeyyadhammesu sabbattha, pañña ca paṭivijjhati. wisdom penetrates it --
1814
(both, however,) according with the nature of their
object
and with regard to all things that can be known.
tasma saddha ca pañña ca, vatthunicchayalakkhaṇa. Therefore both faith and wisdom
vatthuppatiṭṭhita cayaṃ, tilakkhaṇavipassana. 1815 have ascertainment of their object as their mark;
and this insight gets established
on the object, in discerning its three marks.
tasma saddhadhuro yogī, disv' olarikalakkhaṇaṃ. The yogī, then, who yokes (insight) by faith
tato param anatta 'ti, sukhume adhimuccati. 1816 sees first the grosser characteristic, *
and afterwards surrenders
to "not self" (anatta), which is more subtle.
tass' evam adhimuttassa, saddha va pana kevala. Surrendered thus, his faith,
samadhindriyadhika ca, vuṭṭhanaghaṭita bhave. 1817 either alone, or bolstered
by the faculty of concentration,
might get connected with emergence.
thūlalakkhaṇam ohaya, paññadhure vipassato. For one in wisdom's yoke, seeing with wisdom,
dhammasabhavam ahacca, sukhumaṃ paṭivijjhati. leaving the coarser characteristic * behind,
1818
based on the nature of the dhamma-s,
(his insight) penetrates the subtle (characteristic). *

1812
—
1813
—
1814
saddhā ca: saddhaya (Ee); saddha ca (Be).
1815
—
1816
* i.e. impermanence (anicca)
1817
vuṭṭhānaghaṭitā: vuṭṭhanaghaṭita (Ee); vuṭṭhanaghaṭika (Be).
1818
* i.e. impermanence (anicca)
* i.e. not self (anatta)

352
tasma saddhadhurass' eva, vuṭṭhanadvayam adito. So one who yokes (insight) by faith
ante saddhanugatassa, pañña suparipūrati. 1819 has the two initial emergences by it;
and at the end the wisdom
that follows faith completes the process.
paññadhurassa sesan 'ti, keci acariya pana. Some teachers, though, maintain
dhurasaṃsandanaṃ nama, vuṭṭhanesu vibhavayuṃ. that the (last) remaining (emergence) is now of one
1820
who yokes by wisdom;
and have explained this in connection with the
emergences
as what they term the "confluence of the yokings"
(dhurasaṃsandana).

The aṭṭha ariya-puggala: The Eight Noble Individuals

sattakkhattuparamo ca, kolaṃkolo tathaparo. One who's "entered the stream" (a sotapanna) is
ekabījī 'ti tividho, _sotapanno_ pavuccati. 1821 said to be of these three kinds:*
(termed:) one who has "seven times (rebirth) at
most" (satta-khattu-parama);
one who (takes birth) "from clan to (noble) clan"
("kolaṃ-kola");
and one who "has a single (rebirth's) seed" ("eka-
biji").
sakiṃdeva imaṃ lokaṃ, agantva puna puggalo. And returning to this world*
_sakadagami_namena, dutiyo 'pi pakasito. 1822 but once, the second (noble) person,
1819
saddhānugatassa: saddhanubhavaya (Ee); saddhanugatassa (Be).
* = in the list of seven? Or in the series: saddhanusarī; saddhavimuttaka; paññavimutto?
1820
—
1821
* Explained as three grades of stream-enterers, differentiated according to the strength of their insight
(vipassana); if very strong, the "ekabījī sotapanna" will attain arahatship after a single rebirth; if not so strong, a
"kolam̧kola sotapanna" will attain arahatship within two to six births; if weak, a "satta-khattu-parama sotapanna"
will inexorably attain arahatship by the end of his seven birth -- even if he dies while dropping off to sleep, being
struck on the head by lightning or a falling boulder, he will do so simultaneously attaining arahatship. Cf.
Mohavicchedanī:
_aṭṭhamaṃ bhavaṃ nibbatteyya_ti ettha ariyasavakassa aṭṭhamabhavagahaṇaṃ kena niyamitanti? vipassanaya.
yassa hi sa \Be 280/ tikkha, so ekaṃ eva bhavaṃ nibbattitva arahattaṃ patva __ekabījī_ nama hoti. yassa manda,
so dutiye ... pe ... chaṭṭhe va bhave arahattaṃ patva __kolaṃkolo_ nama hoti. yassa pana atimanda, so sattamaṃ
bhavaṃ natikkamati, tattha niyamena arahattaṃ papuṇitva __sattakkhattuparamo_ nama hoti. sacepi hissa
sattame bhave niddaṃ okkantassa matthake asani va pabbatakūṭo va pateyya, tasmimpi kale arahattaṃ patvava
parinibbati. uttamakoṭiya hi sattamabhavanatikkamanaññeva sandhayeva ``niyato sambodhiparayaṇo’’ ti (MN I
66; II 169; SN c V 998) vutto ti. & Vism XXIII, §55: visesato panettha paṭhamamaggapaññaṃ tava bhavetva
mandaya vipassanaya agato mudindriyopi sattakkhattuparamo nama hoti, sattasugatibhave saṃsaritva
dukkhassantaṃ karoti. majjhimaya vipassanaya agato majjhimindriyo kolaṃkolo nama hoti, dve va tīṇi va kulani
sandhavitva saṃsaritva dukkhassantaṃ karoti. tikkhaya vipassanaya agato tikkhindriyo ekabījī nama hoti,
ekaññeva manusakaṃ bhavaṃ nibbattetva dukkhassantaṃ karoti. &
1822
* this world: usually understood as kama-loka, the world characterized by all five senses and their objects; but
specified as manussagati (the human world) in the Mohavicchedanī passage cited below.
* a sakadagami is stereotypically understood to be reborn in the devalokas after attaining sakadagamita in the
human world and thence to be reborn to the human world a single time, attaining arahatship in that birth. Four
other types of sakadagamī-s are recognized in the commentaries, according to whether one 1) already having

353
 is called a "sakad-agami", one who'll
"return a single time".*
antaraparinibbayī, upahaccâparo tatha. And the one "who won't return", the anagami, is
asankhara-sasankhara-uddhaṃsoto 'ti pañcadha. 1823
the third,
considered of five kinds, according to whether
& parinibbana will come within his life (antara-
parinibbayi),
_anagamī_ ca tatiyo, catuttho _araha_ 'ti ca.
itthaṃ phalaṭṭha cattaro, _maggaṭṭha_ ca tato 'pare. or at its very end (upahacca-parinibbayi);
1824 without making effort ("asankhara") or with effort
("sasankhara");
or "up-stream" (in the rupa brahma loka-s)
("uddhaṃsoto").*
And the fourth, "the worthy one", the arahant;
these the four thus stationed in their fruits;

attained sakadagamita attains arahatship in the next birth, in this world; 2) attains sakadagamita in this world and
arahatship in the next birth, in the deva world; 3) attains sakadagamita in the deva world and arahatship in the
next birth, also in the deva world; or 4) attains sakadagamita in the deva world and arahatship in the next birth in
the human world. Cf. Mohavicchedanī: paṭisandhivasena pana sakiṃ imaṃ manussagatiṃ agacchatī ti
__sakadagamī, _ dutiyamaggaphalasamangī. imina pañcasu sakadagamīsu cattaro vajjetva ekova gahito. ekacco
hi sakadagamiphale ṭhatva puna dutiyabhave idheva parinibbati, ekacco idha patva devaloke parinibbati, ekacco
devaloke patva dutiyabhave tattheva parinibbati, ekacco devaloke patva idhūpapajjitva parinibbati, ime cattaropi
idha na gahita. yo pana idha patva devaloke \Be 349/ nibbattitva puna idhūpapajjitva parinibbati, ayamekova
idha gahito. imassa ca dve paṭisandhiyo, ekabījissa pana ekava ti idaṃ tesaṃ nanakaraṇan ti veditabbaṃ.
1823
asankhāra-sasankhāra-uddhaṃsoto: asankhara-sasankhara-uddhaṃsoto (Ee); asankharaṃ sasankharaṃ,
uddhaṃsoto (Be).
* cf. Vism XXIII, §56-57.
1824
tato 'pare: tato pare (Ee); tatopare SK: Cf. 1823 unambiguous use of "apara" rather than "para".
* Cf. Mohavicchedanī: _antaraparinibbayissa_ti ayuvemajjhassa antarayeva kilesaparinibbanena parinibbayanato
antaraparinibbayī. so pana uppannasamanantara parinibbayī, ayuvemajjhaṃ appatva parinibbayī, ayuvemajjhaṃ
patva parinibbayīti tividho hoti. tassa antaraparinibbayissa anagamino. __upahaccaparinibbayissa_ti
ayuvemajjhaṃ atikkamitva va kalakiriyaṃ upagantva va kilesaparinibbanena parinibbayantassa anagamino.
__asankharaparinibbayissa_ti asankharena appayogena adhimattappayogaṃ akatvava kilesaparinibbanena
parinibbayanadhammassa anagamino. __sasankharaparinibbayissa_ti sasankharena dukkhena kasirena
adhimattappayogaṃ katvava kilesaparinibbanena parinibbayanadhammassa anagamino. __uddhaṃsotassa
akaniṭṭhagamino_ti uddhaṃvahibhavena uddhamassa taṇhasotaṃ vaṭṭasotaṃ vati uddhaṃsoto, uddhaṃ va
gantva paṭilabhitabbato uddhamassa maggasotanti uddhaṃsoto, akaniṭṭhaṃ gacchatīti akaniṭṭhagamī. tassa
uddhaṃsotassa akaniṭṭhagamino anagamissa. ayaṃ pana anagamī catuppabhedo --- yo avihato paṭṭhaya cattaro
brahmaloke sodhetva akaniṭṭhaṃ gantva parinibbayati, ayaṃ uddhaṃsoto akaniṭṭhagamī nama. yo heṭṭha tayo
brahmaloke sodhetva sudassībrahmaloke ṭhatva parinibbayati, ayaṃ uddhaṃsoto na akaniṭṭhagamī nama. yo ito
akaniṭṭhameva gantva parinibbayati, ayaṃ na uddhaṃsoto akaniṭṭhagamī nama. yo heṭṭha catūsu \Ne II 63/
brahmalokesu tattha \Ee II 466/ tattheva parinibbayati, ayaṃ na uddhaṃsoto na akaniṭṭhagamī namati. ime pañca
anagamino suddhavasaṃ gahetva vutta. anagamino pana rūparagarūparaganaṃ appahīnatta akankhamana
sesarūparūpabhavesupi nibbattanti. suddhavase nibbatta pana aññattha na nibbattanti. __aveccappasanna_ti
ariyamaggavasena janitva bujjhitva acalappasadena pasanna. & Vism XXIII, §55-57: tatiyamaggapaññaṃ
bhavetva anagamī nama hoti. so indriyavemattatavasena antaraparinibbayī, upahaccaparinibbayī,
asankharaparinibbayī, sasankharaparinibbayī, uddhaṃsoto akaniṭṭhagamīti pañcadha. idha vihayaniṭṭho hoti.
tattha antaraparinibbayīti yattha katthaci suddhavasabhave upapajjitva ayuvemajjhaṃ appatvava parinibbayati.
upahaccaparinibbayīti ayuvemajjhaṃ atikkamitva parinibbayati. asankharaparinibbayīti asankharena appayogena
uparimaggaṃ nibbatteti. sasankharaparinibbayīti sasankharena sappayogena uparimaggaṃ nibbatteti.
uddhaṃsoto akaniṭṭhagamīti yatthupapanno, tato uddhaṃ yava akaniṭṭhabhava aruyha tattha parinibbayati.

354
 the ones upon their paths another four. *
bhavanapariyayena, paṭivedhanurūpato. As either in the course of its development,
cattaro ca yuga honti, _aṭṭha cariyapuggala_. 1825 or with its corresponding penetration:
they are the four pairs
and eight noble persons.

The Klesahani: The Corresponding Loss of Defilement

diṭṭhikankha pahīyanti, adimaggena sabbatha. View (of self) and doubt are given up
apayagamanīyam 'pi, papam aññaṃ pahīyati. 1826 by the initial path completely*
as well as other (kamma that's) unwholesome
and would lead one to the lower worlds.
sakadagamimaggena, khīyant' olarika tatha. By the once-returner's path,
anagamikamaggena, kamadosa 'va sabbatha. 1827 in their gross forms,
-- and by the non-returner's path, in their entirety --
passion and aversion come to their end.
arahattena sabbe 'pi, klesa khīyanti sabbatha. With arahatship, all defilements (kilesa-s)
_klesahani_ yathayogam iti ñeyya vibhavina. 1828 come wholly to an end.
The corresponding loss of defilement, as it applies,
may be understood like this by one who's wise.

The Four Paṭisambhida-s: The Four Powers of Analysis

_paṭisambhida catasso_ 'va, atthe dhamme The "powers of analysis" (paṭisambhida) are four:
niruttiyaṃ. the wise refer to them as understanding
paṭibhane ca bhasanti, ñaṇaṃ bhedagataṃ budha. pertaining to: 1) the "scope" (attha); 2) the
1829
"principle" (of cause) (dhamma);
3) their "formulation" (nirutti), and 4) "spontaneous
understanding" (paṭibhana).
hetupphalañ ca nibbanaṃ, bhasitattho tathaparo. By "scope", these five things are referred to: *
paka kriya 'ti pañc' ete, _atthanamena bhasita. 1830 a cause's fruit (1);* nibbana (2); so too

1825
—
1826
apāyagamanīyam 'pi: apayagamanīyan tu (Ee); apayagamanīyam pi (Be).
* cf. sakkaya-diṭṭhi
1827
kāmadosā 'va: kamo doso ca (Ee); kamadosa 'va (Be).
1828
—
1829
catasso 'va: catasso va (hypermetrical, but vatta meter requires fifth syllable to be short) (Ee); catasso (Be).
paṭibhāne: paṭibhaṇe (Ee); paṭibhane (Be).
* Cf. "atthe ñaṇaṃ atthapaṭisambhida" ti: canonical phrase? or paṭisambhida-magga? Vibhanga? Comms. treat it
as a quote from the pali, glossed as "atthe pabhedagataṃ ñaṇaṃ" etc. "niruttabhilape pabhedagataṃ ñaṇaṃ"; &
"niruttipaṭibhanappabheda tabbisayanaṃ atthadīnaṃ paccayuppannatadibhedehi bhinditva veditabba". Vism-a 2
Cf. Vism 2: dutiyacatukke catasso paṭisambhida nama atthadīsu pabhedagatani cattari ñaṇani. vuttañhetaṃ —
“atthe ñaṇaṃ atthapaṭisambhida. dhamme ñaṇaṃ dhammapaṭisambhida. tatradhammaniruttabhilape ñaṇaṃ
niruttipaṭisambhida. ñaṇesu ñaṇaṃ paṭibhanapaṭisambhida””ti (vibha. 718).
1830
hetupphalan: hetu phalañ (Ee) (incorrect for once; cf. vibh.); hetupphalañ (Be).
nibbānaṃ: nibbaṇaṃ (Ee); nibbanaṃ (Be).
pākā kriyā: paka kriya (Ee); pakakriya (Be). SK: paka standing for vipako; kriya for kiriya Cf.. Abhi-a

355
 the meaning of the spoken word (3);
the ripenings (of deeds) (4); and the non-
kammically productive act (5).
hetu cariyamaggo ca, bhasitañ ca tathaparaṃ. And "principle" (of cause) (dhamma) is explained
kusalakusalañ ceti, pañca _dhammo_ pakasito. 1831 as these five things:
the cause (1); the noble path (2);
and, so, the spoken word (3);
and the wholesome or unwholesome deed (4 & 5).
tatth' evaṃ dasadha-bhede, atthadhamme And "formulation" is regarded
yatharahaṃ. as the linguistic usage that accords with the nature
yo voharo sabhavena, sa _niruttī_'ti sammata. 1832 as regards the scope and principle (of cause),
in their ten-fold division, thus.
taṃtaṃgocarakiccadi-bhedabhinnaṃ tahiṃ tahiṃ. "Spontaneous understanding" is said
pavattamanaṃ yaṃ ñaṇaṃ, _paṭibhanaṃ_ tam (to refer to) the knowing taking place
īritaṃ. 1833 regarding these, divided
by way of their respective scope and functions, etc.
pubbayogo bahussaccaṃ, desabhasa tathagamo. Prior practice and vast learning,
paripuccha cadhigamo, nissayo mittasampada. 1834 the region's languages and tradition;

Vibhanga:Abhi-a Vibh, 15. Paṭisambhidavibhango, 1. Suttantabhajanīyaṃ, 1. Sangahavaravaṇṇana, para. 2:

Pabhedato pana yaṃkiñci paccayasamuppannaṃ, nibbanaṃ, bhasitattho, vipako, kiriya ti ime pañca dhamma
attho ti veditabba. & synopsis at vism: Vism 2, 14. khandhaniddeso, paññapabhedakatha, para. 1. N.B: kiriya: cf.
kiriya-citta; seems to be lengthened simply because it always occurs last in the list of five and thus before 'ti:
Kiriyato catūsū ti idaṃ pana asekkhanaṃ vasena vuttaṃ. Tesañ hi dhammaṃ paccavekkhaṇakale heṭṭha vuttaṃ
pañcappakaraṃ dhammaṃ arammaṇaṃ katva catūsu ñaṇasampayuttakiriyacittesu dhammapaṭisambhida
uppajjati. Tatha niruttipaccavekkhaṇakale saddaṃ arammaṇaṃ katva niruttipaṭisambhida; ñaṇaṃ
paccavekkhaṇakale sabbatthakañaṇaṃ arammaṇaṃ katva paṭibhanapaṭisambhidati (Vibh-a §746).
* "scope" (attha) in Pali has multiple senses, including meaning, aim or goal, referent or corresponding thing,
and topic or subject matter, and the commentarial list exploits multiple of these meanings. It is contrasted as a
pair with dhamma from sutta times, and this informs the contrasting complementarity of these lists.
* a cause's fruit: for hetupphalaṃ as "the fruit of a cause", cf. vibh, glossed as "yaṃ kiñci paccaysamuppannaṃ"
1831
—
1832
—
1833
taṃtaṃgocarakiccādi-: taṃ taṃ gocarakiccadi- (Ee); taṃtaṃgocarakiccadi- (Be).
paṭibhānaṃ: paṭibhaṇaṃ (Ee); paṭibhanaṃ (Be).
1834
cādhigamo: adhigamo (Ee); cadhigamo
* For these categories, cf. Vism (khandhaniddeso, paññapabhedakatha): apare ahu —
pubbayogo bahusaccaṃ, desabhasa ca agamo.
paripuccha adhigamo, garusannissayo tatha.
mittasampatti cevati, paṭisambhidapaccaya 'ti.
tattha pubbayogo vuttanayo 'va. [pubbayogo nama pubbabuddhanaṃ sasane gatapaccagatikabhavena yava
anulomaṃ gotrabhusamīpaṃ, tava vipassananuyogo.] bahusaccaṃ nama tesu tesu satthesu ca sippayatanesu ca
kusalata. desabhasa nama ekasatavoharakusalata. visesena pana magadhike kosallaṃ. agamo nama antamaso
opammavaggamattassapi buddhavacanassa pariyapuṇanaṃ. paripuccha nama ekagathayapi
atthavinicchayapucchanaṃ. adhigamo nama sotapannata va ... pe ... arahattaṃ va. garusannissayo V.2.70 nama
sutapaṭibhanabahulanaṃ garūnaṃ santike vaso. mittasampatti nama tatharūpanaṃyeva mittanaṃ paṭilabhoti.
tattha buddha ca paccekabuddha ca pubbayogañceva adhigamañca nissaya paṭisambhida papuṇanti. savaka
sabbanipi etani karaṇani. paṭisambhidappattiya ca paṭiyekko M.2.73 kammaṭṭhanabhavananuyogo nama natthi.
sekkhanaṃ pana sekkhaphalavimokkhantika. asekkhanaṃ asekkhaphalavimokkhantikava paṭisambhidappatti

356
 questioning and attaining,
the support (of elders), and the benefit of friends. *
iccūpanissayaṃ laddha, bhijjati paṭisambhida. Power of analysis is classified
asekkhabhūmiyaṃ va 'tha, sekkhabhūmiyam eva (according to how it) obtains its support thus
va. 1835 as pertaining to the level of trainees
or the level of the adept.

Samapatti-s: The Attainments

sarasato agamato, tath' alambaṇato 'pi ca. The wise explain the arising of the name
namuppattiṃ pakasenti, phalassa tividhaṃ budha. of a fruit to be in these three ways:
1836
according to its function, to its (way of) coming,
or to its object (i.e. nibbana).*
tidha tato _samapatti, _ sotapattiphaladika. Attainment as the fruits of stream-entry, etc.
suññata canimitta ca, tatha 'ppaṇihita 'ti ca. 1837 are therefore of three kinds:
as "empty", and as "signless",
and so, as "disinclined".
tañ ca vuttanayen' eva, samapajjitum icchato. And as one discerns conditioned things with
vipassantassa sankhare, phalam appeti attano. 1838 wisdom,

hoti. tathagatanaṃ hi dasabalani viya ariyanaṃ ariyaphaleneva paṭisambhida ijjhantīti ima paṭisambhida
sandhaya vuttaṃ catupaṭisambhidavasena catubbidhati.
1835
—
1836
sarasato: sarasato (Ee); sarassato (Be).
tividhaṃ: tividha (Ee); tividhaṃ (Be).
cf. Vism 802. api ca maggo nama pañcahi karaṇehi namaṃ labhati sarasena va paccanīkena va saguṇena va
arammaṇena va agamanena va. sace hi sankharupekkha aniccato sankhare sammasitva vuṭṭhati,
animittavimokkhena vimuccati. sace dukkhato sammasitva vuṭṭhati, appaṇihitavimokkhena vimuccati. sace
anattato sammasitva vuṭṭhati, suññatavimokkhena vimuccati. idaṃ __sarasato_ namaṃ nama.
yasma panesa aniccanupassanaya sankharanaṃ ghanavinibbhogaṃ katva
niccanimittadhuvanimittasassatanimittani pajahanto agato, tasma animitto. dukkhanupassanaya pana
sukhasaññaṃ pahaya paṇidhiṃ patthanaṃ sukkhapetva agatatta appaṇihito. anattanupassanaya
attasattapuggalasaññaṃ pahaya sankharanaṃ suññato diṭṭhatta suññatoti idaṃ __paccanīkato_ namaṃ nama.
ragadīhi panesa suññatta suññato, rūpanimittadīnaṃ raganimittadīnaññeva va abhavena animitto,
ragapaṇidhiadīnaṃ abhavato appaṇihitoti idamassa __saguṇato_ namaṃ.
svayaṃ suññaṃ animittaṃ appaṇihitañca nibbanaṃ arammaṇaṃ karotītipi suññato animitto appaṇihitoti vuccati.
idamassa __arammaṇato_ namaṃ.
803. agamanaṃ pana duvidhaṃ vipassanagamanaṃ maggagamanañca. tattha magge vipassanagamanaṃ labhati,
phale maggagamanaṃ. anattanupassana hi suññata nama, suññatavipassanaya maggo suññato, aniccanupassana
animitta nama \Be II 308/, animittavipassanaya \Ne II 306/ maggo animitto. idaṃ pana namaṃ na
abhidhammapariyayena labbhati, suttantapariyayena labbhati. tatra hi gotrabhuñaṇaṃ animittaṃ nibbanaṃ
arammaṇaṃ katva animittanamakaṃ hutva sayaṃ agamanīyaṭṭhane ṭhatva maggassa namaṃ detīti vadanti. tena
maggo animittoti vutto. maggagamanena pana phalaṃ animittanti yujjatiyeva. dukkhanupassana sankharesu
paṇidhiṃ sukkhapetva agatatta appaṇihita nama, appaṇihitavipassanaya maggo appaṇihito, appaṇihitamaggassa
phalaṃ appaṇihitaṃ. evaṃ vipassana attano namaṃ maggassa deti, maggo phalassati idaṃ __agamanato_
namaṃ. evam ayaṃ sankharupekkha vimokkhavisesaṃ niyametīti.
sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ niṭṭhitaṃ (Vism XXI, sankharupekkhañaṇakatha).
* Anuruddha seems to be adapting a discussion in Vism regarding how the path obtains these different names to
a discussion of the fruit.
1837
—

357
 wishing to attain it
in the manner stated,
it enters into its respective fruit.

Nirodha-samapatti: The Attainment of Cessation

nirodhaṃ tu samapattiṃ, rūparūpassa labhako. The attainment of cessation (nirodha samapatti),
samapajjat' anagamī, araha ca yatha tatha. 1839 however,
is attained by one who has obtained
[all eight] form and formless attainments
and is an anagami or else arahant.
rūparūpasamapattiṃ, samapajja yathakkamaṃ. Having attained the form and formless attainments
vuṭṭhahitva vipassanto, tattha tatth' eva sankhate. sequentially
1840
and having emerged (from each successively)
discerning with insight
conditioned things wherever (he looks),
yuganandhaṃ pavattetva, samathañ ca vipassanaṃ. having made samatha and vipassana proceed
yav' akiñcaññayatanam itthaṃ patva tato paraṃ. 1841 in combination, yoked together,
and having reached as far as the sphere of
nothingness, like this, thereafter:
adhiṭṭheyyam adhiṭṭhaya, katv' abhogaṃ having made the necessary resolution (to emerge), *
yatharahaṃ. and having inclined the mind appropriately (to
maggarūpasamapattiṃ, samapajjati paṇḍito. 1842 cessation),

1838
—
1839
lābhako: labhiko (Ee); labhako (Be).
samāpajjat' anāgāmī: samapajjat' anagamī (Ee); samapajjatanagamī (Be).
1840
—
1841
—
1842
maggārūpasamāpattiṃ: maggarūpasamapattī (Ee); maggarūpasamapattiṃ (Be).
* cf. Vism XXIII, §43 so evaṃ akiñcaññayatanaṃ samapajjitva vuṭṭhaya imaṃ pubbakiccaṃ katva
nevasaññanasaññayatanaṃ samapajjati. “Adhiṭṭheyyaṃ” as resolve to come out of it at a certain time.
* Cf. Vism parable of the “maggaṃ agatapubbapurisūpama” man who knows the path (magga) and is thus able
to progress to what lies beyond it versus the man who is not familiar with the path and therefore has to turn back.
Just so the meditator who has made the requisite resolve to enter nirodha upon emerging from the 7th jhana is
able to enter nirodha, whereas the one who is not familiar with the territory and does not make the resolve falls
back to the 7th jhana after attaining the 8th:
yo pana bhikkhu akiñcaññayatanato vuṭṭhaya idaṃ pubbakiccaṃ akatva nevasaññanasaññayatanaṃ samapajjati,
so parato acittako bhavituṃ na sakkoti, paṭinivattitva puna akiñcaññayataneyeva patiṭṭhati. maggaṃ
agatapubbapurisūpama cettha vattabba ---
eko \Ne II 349/ kira puriso ekaṃ maggaṃ agatapubbo antara udakakandaraṃ va gambhīraṃ udakacikkhallaṃ
atikkamitva ṭhapitaṃ caṇḍatapasantattapasaṇaṃ va agamma taṃ nivasanapavuraṇaṃ asaṇṭhapetvava kandaraṃ
orūlho parikkharatemanabhayena punadeva tīre patiṭṭhati. pasaṇaṃ akkamitvapi santattapado punadeva orabhage
patiṭṭhati. tattha yatha so puriso asaṇṭhapitanivasanapavuraṇatta kandaraṃ otiṇṇamattova, tattapasaṇaṃ
akkantamatto eva ca paṭinivattitva oratova patiṭṭhati, evaṃ yogavacaropi pubbakiccassa akatatta
nevasaññanasaññayatanaṃ samapannamattova paṭinivattitva akiñcaññayatane patiṭṭhati.
yatha pana pubbepi taṃ maggaṃ gatapubbapuriso taṃ ṭhanaṃ agamma ekaṃ saṭakaṃ dalhaṃ nivasetva aparaṃ
hatthena gahetva kandaraṃ uttaritva tattapasaṇaṃ \Be II 351/ va akkantamattakameva karitva parato gacchati,
evamevaṃ katapubbakicco bhikkhu nevasaññanasaññayatanaṃ samapajjitvava parato acittako hutva nirodhaṃ

358
 the wise one attains
path (-consciousness)'s formless attainment (i.e.
nevasannanasannayatana serving as path
consciousness).**
tato nirodhaṃ phusati, cittuppadadvaya paraṃ. And then, after two arisings of [that variety of]
tass' evaṃ manasabhavo, _nirodho_'ti pavuccati. consciousness (nevasannanasannayatana serving
1843
as path consciousness)*
he touches cessation.
His mind's non-existence, thus,
is termed “cessation”.
phalacittasamuppada, vuṭṭhanaṃ tassa dīpitaṃ. His emergence [from from that state, cessation] is
tato bhavangaṃ taṃ chetva, paccavekkhati explained
buddhima. 1844 as due to the arising of fruition consciousness.*
Then, bhavanga consciousness having interrupted
that,
he reviews it, in his wisdom.*
iccanekaguṇadharaṃ, paññabhavanam uttamaṃ. The perspicacious yogī
bhaveyya matima yogī, patthento hitam attano. 1845 seeking his own welfare
should cultivate the excellent cultivation of wisdom
-- foundation of such countless good virtues as
these.
itthaṃ susampaditasīlacitta- Those causing the purifications of their fully
paññavisuddhī paṭipadayanta. consummate virtue, mind, and wisdom
patvana sambodhim apetasoka, to progress in this way
palenti sotthiṃ paramaṃ ciraya. 1846 having attained awakening in all its fullness, their
sorrows no more,
procure supreme well being for a long time.
te pattipatta paramappatīta, Those great sages, attained to attainment, contented
pakkhalitaklesamala mahesī. by the supreme,
accantavodataguṇoditatta, the taint of their impurities washed away,
lokassa hont' uttamadakkhiṇeyya. 1847 on account of their supremely pure virtues' arising
are worthy of the highest tribute in the world.

phusitva viharati.
* The last few lines of namar-p mirror in content the last few paragraphs of visuddhimagga. Even the parable of
the maggaṃ agatapubbapurisūpama
1843
* cf. one or two instances
1844
taṃ chetvā: taṃ chetva (Ee); chetvana (Be).
* cf. in contrast to: <1786> dve tatha tīṇi va honti, __phalani_ ca tato paraṃ. bhavangapato taṃ chetva, jayate
paccavekkhaṇa. Diff. from above verse. Subsiding into bhavanga having cut off that fruit consciousness
* phalacitta! Seems to require expansion of visuddhimagga's mere mention of magga as a parable to include a
sense of the 8th jhana functioning as “path-consciousness” to the “fruition consciousness" of nirodha. Showing
development Vism –> Anuruddha?
1845
—
1846
paṭipādayantā: paṭipadayanto (Ee); paṭipadayanta (Be).
1847
accantavodātaguṇoditattā: ˚guṇe ṭhitatta (Ee); ˚guṇoditatta (Be).

359
 iti namarūpaparicchede Thus concludes
nissandaphalavibhago nama the thirteenth chapter in the Manual of Discerning
terasamo paricchedo. Mind and Matter
entitled "The Resulting Fruits” section.
niṭṭhito ca sabbatha 'pi vipassanavibhago.
And the vipassana section is entirely complete.

Colophon (nigamanakatha )
ettavata paṭiññato, pavakkhamī 'ti adito. And with this, what I had promised
namarūpaparicchedo, pariniṭṭhapito maya. 1848 to explain at the beginning,
this analysis of mind and matter
(namarupapariccheda)
has been brought to a conclusion.
teras' eva pariccheda, vibhatta satta sadhika. In the analysis of mind and matter
namarūpaparicchede, bhaṇavara pakasita. 1849 more than seven recitation sections
divided into thirteen chapters,
have been presented.
abhidhammaparamattha, samatho ca vipassana. Herein, its section are considered three:
visuṃ visuṃ vibhatta 'ti, vibhag' ettha tidha mata. the abhidhamma ultimates,
1850
tranquillity, and insight –
since each of these has been treated individually.
so 'yaṃ vijjavimokkha ca, hadayesu vibhavinaṃ. And because of its [i.e. the Manual of Discerning
vallabhattam adhiṭṭhaya, sasane 'ttha gavesinaṃ. (Namar-p)'s] being dear to seekers in the sasana,
1851
here,
& who are discerning with regard to the varieties of
consciousness,
manogatatam' uddhaṃsī, raviraṃsī 'va paṇḍito.
on account of final emancipation by understanding,
dassetu ciram alokaṃ, saddhammaratanalaye. 1852
may the man of wisdom long shed light
with rays like the sun's,
scattering the darkness in people's minds,
in this abode of the jewel of the true teachings.

paṇḍiccaṃ paramatthesu, paṭavaṃ paṭipattiyaṃ. And by the meritorious deed that I have done
patthayantena bhikkhūnam itthaṃ sugatasasane. 1853 making the Namarūpapariccheda, free of any
& admixture or intrusion,
desiring the welfare of the monks in the Buddha's
namarūpaparicchedam asaṃkiṇṇam anakulaṃ.
dispensation,
kubbata hitakamena, sukatena katena me. 1854

1848
—
1849
—
1850
abhidhammaparamatthā: ˚paramattha ca (Ee); ˚paramattha (Be).
1851
vijjāvimokkhā ca: vijja vimokkha (Ee); vijjavimokkha (Be)
sāsane 'ttha gavesinaṃ: sasanattha-gavesinaṃ (Ee); sasanettha gavesinaṃ
1852
manogatatam' uddhaṃsī: manoratha-tam'uddhaṃsī (Ee); manogata-tam'uddhaṃsī (Be).
1853
—
1854
—

360
 seeking their acquisition of wisdom with regard to
the paramatthas
and aptitude with regard to practice,
mahamerunibhaṃ gehaṃ, mahacetiyabhūsitaṃ. may they, rich in spiritual wealth, long be fit to
mahaviharam arulha-mahabodhimahussavaṃ. 1855 grace
& this great monastery, the Mahavihara,
adorned by its great stūpa,
alankatuṃ pahontalaṃ, cirakalaṃ tapodhana.
an edifice the likeness of great Mt. Meru,
lankadīpass' alankaraṃ, kalankapagatalayaṃ. 1856
with its great festivities for the Mahabodhi, the
great tree that rises above it,
the crowning grace of this Lanka isle
and abode of men free of all taint.
namarūpaparicchedo, antarayaṃ vina yatha. Just as this Manual of Discerning Mind & Matter
niṭṭhito 'yaṃ tatha loke, niṭṭhant' ajjhasaya subha. has been completed without hindrance,
1857
just so may wholesome aspirations*
in the world all be fulfilled.
iti And thus the treatise
anuruddhacariyena viracitaṃ "The Manual of Discerning Mind & Matter"
namarūpaparicchedapakaraṇaṃ composed by Anuruddha Acariya
niṭṭhitaṃ. is complete.

1855
gehaṃ: gehaṃ (?) [sic] (Ee); gehaṃ (Be).
āruḷha: arūlha (Ee); arulha (Be).
1856
—
1857
* aspirations (ajjhasaya): lit. mental dispositions cf. ch. 8 "requisite mental disposition".

361
 Chapter V
Anuruddha's Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma Ultimates (paramattha-vinicchaya),
"Nibbana" Section

This chapter presents in translation material from Anuruddha's Decisive Treatment of the
Abhidhamma Ultimates (Pm-vn). The Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn)'s nibbanavibhaga, "(section
on) Nibbana" reframes the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s samatha- and vipassana- vibhaga-
s (sections on samatha and vipassana) as a treatment of the fourth abhidhamma ultimate,
nibbana. Anuruddha sets out the structure of his treatment in the opening verses of the work:
namo tassa bhagavato arahato namo tassa bhagavato arahato
sammasambuddhassa. sammasambuddhassa.

paramatthavinicchayo The Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma

Ultimates

gantharambhakatha Preface
vanditva vandaneyyanaṃ, uttamaṃ ratanattayaṃ; Having venerated the venerable ones' peerless
pavakkhami samasena, paramatthavinicchayaṃ. 1 triple gem, I shall declare in brief the decisive
analysis of the ultimates.
paṭhamo paricchedo Chapter One
1. cittavibhago Section 1. The Analysis of Mind
1. sarūpasangahakatha 1. The account of the compendium of [things that
have] inherent nature
cittaṃ cetasikaṃ rūpaṃ, nibbanan ti niruttaro; The unexcelled one who revealed the four truths
catudha desayī dhamme, catusaccappakasano. 2 taught dhammas as being of four kinds: mind,
mental concomitants, matter, and nibbana.
cittam ekūnanavutividhaṃ tattha vibhavaye; Therein, one may understand mind as being of
ekanavutividhaṃ va, ekavīsasatam pi va. 3 eighty-nine kinds, or of ninety-one kinds, or else of
one hundred and twenty-one.
dvepaññasa sarūpena, dhamma cetasika mata; Mental concomitants are held to be the fifty-two
cittuppadavasa bhinna, sampayoganusarato. 4 dhamma-s, by nature, classed according to the
variety of consciousness [with which they arise] in
accordance with their association.
aṭṭhavīsavidhaṃ rūpaṃ, bhūtopadayabhedato; Matter is of twenty-eight kinds; according to the
duvidhaṃ rūparūpaṃ tu, aṭṭharasavidhaṃ bhave. 5 classification of the elements and [matter] derived
from them, it is two-fold, but as material-matter it
would be of eighteen kinds.
nibbanaṃ pana dīpenti, asankhatam anuttaraṃ; They explain nibbana, on the other hand, as the
atthanamavasa dvedha, paññattī ti pavuccati. 6 transcendental unconditioned [dhamma]; [and] it is
said that concept (pannatti) is of two kinds, by way

362
 of being signified (attha) or signifier (nama).
tesaṃ dani pavakkhami, vibhagaṃ tu I shall now declare their analysis according to its
yathakkamaṃ; order: the fourfold account of ultimate realities; and
catudha paramatthanaṃ, dvidha paññattiya kathaṃ. twofold account of conceptual realities.
7

In the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn), the seven stages of purification and "ten stages” of insight
(dasavattha cf. Namar-p ch. 12) are accommodated as an analysis of the fourth paramattha-
dhamma, nibbana. Anuruddha opens his account with a justification of this accommodation, the
last of the seven stages of purification (that of naṇa-dassana-visuddhi) being transcendental
(anuttara, in contrast to lokiya, cf. vv. 895-898). The chapter then begins the survey of these
seven stages (and their culmination in nibbana), elegantly grouped so as to cover two stages in
each chapter. Chapter 23 treats the first two stages of purification, the Path of Purification
(Vism)'s purification of virtue (silavisuddhi) and purification of mind (cittavisuddhi, by which it
intends an exhaustive treatment of the objects of samatha meditation and the mental states
cultivatable via these), framed in the terms of the Path of Purification's tree of wisdom metaphor
as this tree's two roots, and thus as an "account of the purification of the two things that are
wisdom's roots -- viz., sila and samadhi. The material of this chapter recapitulates the extensive
survey of the forty samatha kammaṭṭhana-s (passing perfunctorily over the account of sīla),
corresponding to the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s chapters 8, 9, and 10 and to the
Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)'s ch. 9, kammaṭṭhanasangaha. The extensive, multi-faceted
preface to taking up a meditation practice contained in Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) ch. 8 is
absent, but its terms evoked in v. 940's summary of the chapter as payogasayasampanno,
nibbanabhirato "delighting in nibbana and endowed with the preparation and the disposition".
Anuruddha frames his survey of cittavisuddhi as a compendium of absorptions (appana)
and the methodologies of the attainment “appananayasangaha” (938), and in terms of “higher
and higher absorptions” (uparupari appana, v. 928). The forty samatha objects are enumerated
in this context, highlighting not method or modeling of realization, as in the Manual of
Discerning (Namar-p), but classifications in terms of the degree of convergence (samadhi) to
which they conduce. Convergence attainments up to the attainment of cessation
(nirodhasamapatti) are described. Nibbana is thus treated from the angle of absorptions: the
successive absorptions that lead up to it, and the cognitive process (vithi) of absorption in
connection with it. Transcendental (lokuttara) absorptions, having nibbana as their object, are
accessible to one who discerns the bhumidhamma (appealing again to the Path of Purification's
tree of wisdom metaphor, the "dhamma-s that constitute the ground") with insight (vipassati) as
impermanent, suffering, and not self (930).
Though ostensibly an outline of the first and second stages of purification, discussion of
the highest (transcendental) absorptions thus necessitates reference to both insight and the
highest stages of the path. The resulting arrangement of the material is somewhat unique,
perhaps so as to justify the treatment of the topic under the heading of nibbana (i.e. the
“nibbana” of the section heading).

363
 paramatthavinicchaya The Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma
Ultimates
4. nibbānavibhāgo Section 4: (the section on) Nibbana
23. mūlavisuddhikathā Chapter 23: The Account of the Purification of
the Roots324

itthaṃ cittaṃ cetasikaṃ, rūpañ c' eva 'ti sankhata The conditioned [paramattha dhamma-s], mind,
vutta asankhataṃ dani, nibbanan ti pavuccati. 895 mental concomitants, and matter, have thus been
stated; now, the unconditioned one will be
discussed: nibbana,
sīlavisuddhi adimhi, tato cittavisuddhi ca. [With] the purification of virtue (1) at the
diṭṭhivisuddhinama ca, kankhavitaraṇa pi ca. 896 beginning, and after that the purification of mind
(2); and that called the purification of view (3); and
also that of passing beyond doubt (4);325
tato paraṃ maggamagga-ñaṇadassananamika. And after that that [purification] called the
tatha paṭipadañaṇa-dassana ñaṇadassanaṃ. 897 knowing and beholding that which constitutes the
path and that which does not (5); and likewise the
[purification of] knowing and beholding the path
(6) and knowing and beholding (7):
iccanukkamato vutta, satta honti visuddhiyo. The seven purifications are thus stated according to
sattama 'nuttara tattha, pubbabhaga cha lokiya. 898 their order. Among those, the seventh is
transcendental; the prior six, its precursors, are
mundane.
saṃvaro patimokkho ca, tath' ev' indriyasaṃvaro. 1) The restraint of the code of discipline, and
ajīvaparisuddhi ca, sīlaṃ paccayanissitaṃ. 899 likewise 2) restraint of the senses; 3) the purity of
livelihood, and 4) virtue based on the requisites:326
iti sīlavisuddhī 'ti, suddham etaṃ pavuccati. when [these four are] pure, this “purification of
catuparisuddhisīlaṃ, dhutangaparivaritaṃ. 900 virtue” is said to be the sīla of four-fold purity,
[and is] bolstered by the ascetic practices.
kasiṇani dasasubha, dasanussatiyo pana. The ten kasiṇas, and ten unlovelies, the ten
appamañña ca sañña ca, vavattharuppakati ca. 901 recollections, the [4]immeasurables, the [1]
perception, the [1] analysis and the [4] formless
attainments
samathakkammaṭṭhanani, talīsaṭṭhakathanaye. are the meditation objects for [the cultivation of]
paliyaṃ tu vibhattani, aṭṭhatiṃsa 'ti vaṇṇitaṃ327. tranquility (samatha): classified as forty in the

324
cf. The “tree of insight” metaphor used in the Path of Purification (Vism), classifying sila-visuddhi and citta-
visuddhi as the two “roots” of insight (Vism XIV, §32).
325
Enumerating the seven stages of purification = Visuddhisangaha in Abhidh-s ch. 9.43: vipassanakammaṭṭhanaṃ
visuddhibhedo 43. _vipassanakammaṭṭhane_ pana sīlavisuddhi cittavisuddhi diṭṭhivisuddhi
kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi maggamaggañaṇadassanavisuddhi paṭipadañaṇadassanavisuddhi ñaṇadassanavisuddhi
ceti sattavidhena visuddhisangaho.
326
= Abhidh-s 9.49: kathaṃ? patimokkhasaṃvarasīlaṃ indriyasaṃvarasīlaṃ ajīvaparisuddhisīlaṃ
paccayasannissitasīlañceti catuparisuddhisīlaṃ __sīlavisuddhi_ nama,

364
902 commentarial methodology, but described as
thirty-eight in the canonical texts.328
pathavapo ca tejo ca, vayo nīlañ ca pītakaṃ. The earth (kasiṇa) (1) and the water (2), the fire
lohitodatamakasaṃ, alokakasiṇan ti ca. 903 (3); and the air (4); the blue (5); and yellow (6); red
(7); and white (8); space (9) and light (10)
devices:329
kasiṇani dasetani, vuttanaṭṭhakathanaye. The meditation devices (kasiṇa-s) are stated in the
aṭṭh' eva paliyaṃ hitva, ante tu kasiṇadvayaṃ. 904 commentarial manner as these ten, but are stated as
just eight in the canonical texts, leaving out the two
devices at the end.
uddhumataṃ vinīlañca, vipubbakaṃ vikhayitaṃ. The ten "unlovelies" (asubha) are set forth as:
vicchiddakañca vikkhittaṃ, hatavikkhittalohitaṃ. the bloated (1) and the blued (2), the festering (3),
905 the decayed (4); the one riddled with holes (5), the
scattered (dismembered) (6), the mangled and
& scattered (dismembered) (7) and the bloody (8);330
pulavakaṃ aṭṭhikañ ceti, asubha dasa desita. The maggot-eaten (9), and the skeleton (10):
rūpakayavibhagaya, dasakayavipattiya331. 906 (ten "unlovelies") for the analysis of the material
body, through ten [aspects] of bodily decay.
buddhe dhamme ca sanghe ca, sīle cage ca attana. The ten recollections (dasanussatiyo) are
devatopasamayañ ca, sattanussatiyo kama. 907 considered:
the seven recollections pertaining, in their order, to
& the buddha, to the dhamma, and the sangha; to
virtue; to sacrifice (caga = dana), to deities; and to
peace.332
maraṇassati nameka, tatha kayagatasati. And the one termed awareness of death, and
anapanassati 'cc evaṃ, dasanussatiyo mata. 908 likewise bodily awareness,333 and awareness of
breathing – thus making ten.
metta karuṇa mudita, upekkha 'ti catubbidha. Goodwill, compassion, sympathetic joy, and
vutta brahmavihara ca, appamañña 'ti tadina. 909 equanimity are the four [states] that were called the
"godly abidings" (brahmavihara) and the

327
var. vaṇṇita (Ee).
328
Cf. ch.9 Abhidh-s kammaṭṭhanasangaha: tattha __samathasangahe_ tava dasa kasiṇani, dasa asubha, dasa
anussatiyo, catasso appamaññayo, eka sañña, ekaṃ vavatthanaṃ, cattaro aruppa ceti sattavidhena
samathakammaṭṭhanasangaho.
329
= Abhidh-s (9.6).
330
= Abhidh-s 9.7.
331
var. dasakaravipattiya (Ee).
332
Here Anuruddha retains the unique organization of the ten recollections that characterizes his exposition of them
in Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) ch. 9. Anuruddha includes the recollection of peace with what the Path of
Purification (Vism) classes as the six recollection (cha anussati) following the suttas (e.g. AN VI, 10,
mahanamasutta).
333
Also referred to as koṭṭhasa, meditation on the [thirty-one or thirty-two] "parts" of the body.

365
 “immeasurables” by the Buddha.334
ekahare paṭikkūla-sañña nam' ekam eva tu. The one perception – that of repulsiveness
catudhatuvavatthanaṃ, catudhatupariggaho. 910 pertaining to [material] sustenance -- and the
likewise single four elements' analysis, the
apprehending of the four elements.
akasanañcayatanaṃ, viññaṇañcam athaparaṃ. the four immaterial meditation objects are
akiñcaññaṃ tatha neva-saññanasaññanamakaṃ. proclaimed:
911 the sphere of the infinity of space; and after that the
infinity of consciousness; and just so that of
& nothingness, and that termed neither perception nor
non-perception:
iccanukkamato vutta, arūpajjhanika pana. stated in their order, and pertaining to the four
arūpakammaṭṭhanani, cattaro pi pakittita. 912 immaterial (i.e. "formless") jhana-s. 335
kasiṇasubhakoṭṭhase, anapane ca sabbatha. For one undertaking the preparatory
disva sutva phusitva va, parikammaṃ tu kubbato. (development), having seen, heard, or touched the
913 preparatory (sign)336 pertaining to the devices, the
unpleasants, the parts (of the body), and anapana,
respectively,
uggaho nama sambhoti, nimittaṃ tattha yuñjato. there arises the sign known as (the sign of)
paṭibhago tam arabbha, tattha vattati appana. 914 “acquisition" (uggaha-nimitta). Applying himself
to that, the “counterpart” [sign] (paṭibhaga-nimitta)
arises; absorption (appana-samadhi) takes place on
that, on the basis of it.337
sadhu satta sukhī hontu, dukkha muccantu paṇino. And [thinking respectively], “May beings be
aho satta sukhappatta, hontu yadicchaka ti ca. 915 happy," or "May beings be freed from suffering,"
or, "Ah! Beings attained to happiness!" or, "Let
beings be what they will” --338
334
= Abhidh-s 9.9, highlighting in the same way the dual terminology: metta karuṇa mudita upekkha ceti ima
__catasso appamaññayo_ nama, brahmaviharo ti ca pavuccati.
335
It is unclear what the masc. gender (cattaro, vutta, etc.) refers to, seemingly construing with kammaṭṭhanani.
336
cf. Abhidh-s 9.28: Cf Abhidh-s ch.9.26: gocarabhedo 26. _nimittesu_ pana parikammanimittaṃ uggahanimittañ
ca sabbattha pi yatharahaṃ pariyayena labbhante 'va. 27. paṭibhaganimittaṃ pana
kasiṇasubhakoṭṭhasaanapanesveva labbhati, tattha hi paṭibhaganimittamarabbha upacarasamadhi appanasamadhi
ca pavattanti. 28. kathaṃ? adikammikassa hi pathavīmaṇḍaladīsu nimittaṃ uggaṇhantassa tam arammaṇaṃ
parikammanimittan ti pavuccati, sa ca bhavana parikammabhavana nama.
337
cf Abhidh-s 9.29: <29> yada pana taṃ nimittaṃ cittena samuggahitaṃ hoti, cakkhuna passantasseva
manodvarassa apathamagataṃ, tada tamevarammaṇaṃ uggahanimittaṃ nama, sa ca bhavana samadhiyati. <30>
tatha samahitassa panetassa tato paraṃ tasmiṃ uggahanimitte parikammasamadhina bhavanamanuyuñjantassa
yada tappaṭibhagaṃ vatthudhammavimuccitaṃ paññattisankhataṃ bhavanamayamarammaṇaṃ citte
sannisannaṃ samappitaṃ hoti, tada taṃ paṭibhaganimittaṃ samuppannanti pavuccati. <31> tato paṭṭhaya
paripanthavippahīna kamavacarasamadhisankhata upacarabhavana nipphanna nama hoti. <32> tato paraṃ tam
eva paribhaganimittaṃ upacarasamadhina samasevantassa rūpavacarapaṭhamajjhanam appeti.
338
For reverting to the brahmavihara-s in an account of the jhana-s (and then proceeding to the immaterial
("formless") attainments: cf. Abhidh-s 9.35: <35> avasesesu pana appamañña sattapaññattiyaṃ pavattanti. <36>
akasavajjitakasiṇesu pana yaṃ kiñci kasiṇaṃ ugghaṭetva laddhamakasaṃ anantavasena parikammaṃ karontassa
paṭhamaruppam appeti.

366
uddissa va anodissa, yuñjato sattagocare. With specification or without, for one applying
appamañña pan' appenti, anupubbena vattika. 916 himself upon the field of beings, the (four)
illimitables are entered into (in absorption)
occurring in succession.339
kasiṇugghaṭim akase, paṭhamaruppamanase. (And for the one applying himself upon) the
tass' eva natthibhave ca, tatiyaruppaketi ca. 917 removal of the kasiṇa-device with reference to 1)
space; 2) the first immaterial jhana consciousness;
& 3) the absence of that very consciousness; and 4)
the third immaterial jhana consciousness,
yuñjantassa pan' etesu, gocaresu catūsu pi340. ...the fourfold immaterial attainments are entered
appenti anupubbena, aruppa pi catubbidha. 918 into in succession, with reference to these four
fields.341
anapanañ ca kasiṇaṃ, pañcakajjhanikaṃ tahiṃ. In that regard, the kasiṇa and anapana
paṭhamajjhanika vutta, koṭṭhasasubhabhavana. 919 (kammaṭṭhanas) are conducive to all five jhana-s;
the cultivation of the [thirty-two] parts [of the
body] and the unlovelies are said to be conducive
to the first jhana.
sukhitajjhanika tisso, appamañña ca heṭṭhima. The lower three illimitables (viz. metta, karuṇa,
upekkharuppaka pañca, upekkhajhanika 'ti ca. 920 and mudita) are pleasant-jhanic (i.e., pertaining to
the lower jhana-s characterized by pleasure
(sukha));
and the five, the equanimity (brahmavihara) and
the (4) immaterial attainments, are neutral-jhanic
(i.e., pertaining to the highest form-jhana -- and the
formless attainments --, which are characterized by
equanimity).342
ekadas' ekadasa ca, tayo pañceti sabbatha. Thus, in all, eleven, (i.e. the ten kasiṇa-s and
parikammavasa tiṃsa, cha koṭṭhasa yathakkamaṃ. anapana -- all conducive to all five jhana-s) and
921 eleven (the ten unlovelies and bodily awareness --
all conducive to the first jhana), three (the first

339
It is not clear whether "in succession" (anupubbena) refers to the progression through the four jhana-s or the four
brahma-vihara-s, one after another.
340
var. catusvapi (Ee).
341
i.e., the space obtained by the removal of any one of the material kasiṇa-s (yaṃ kinci kasiṇaṃ ugghaṭetva
laddham akasaṃ). Each of the successive objects is likewise "removed", yielding the corresponding object. Cf.
Abhidh-s 9.36: <36> akasavajjitakasiṇesu pana yaṃ kiñci kasiṇaṃ ugghaṭetva laddham akasaṃ anantavasena
parikammaṃ karontassa paṭhamaruppam appeti. <37> tam eva paṭhamaruppaviññaṇaṃ anantavasena
parikammaṃ karontassa dutiyaruppam appeti. <38> tam eva paṭhamaruppaviññaṇabhavaṃ pana "natthi kiñcī" ti
parikammaṃ karontassa tatiyaruppam appeti. <39> tatiyaruppaṃ "santam etaṃ, paṇītam etan"ti parikammaṃ
karontassa catuttharuppam appeti.
342
"pleasant-jhanic" seems to be a brief way of saying "are conducive to the three jhana-s in the sutta classification,
and four in the abhidhamma classification". "Neutral-jhanic" = "is conducive to the fourth jhana in the sutta
classification, which is the fifth jhana in the abhidhammic manner of classification". This terminology is not
used by Anuruddha elsewhere. Cf. Abhidh-s IX, 23-25: <23> mettadayo tayo catukkajjhanika. <24> upekkha
pañcamajjhanika ti chabbīsati rūpavacarajjhanikani kammaṭṭhanani. <25> cattaro pana aruppa aruppajjhanika ti.
ayam ettha bhavanabhedo.

367
 three brahmavihara-s, all conducive to the lower
four jhana-s according to the abhidhammic
classification), and five (the equanimity
brahmavihara and the four immaterial attainments
-- all conducive to the fifth material jhana and the
respective immaterial jhana-s, respectively): thus
making thirty [objects conducive to absorption] by
way of preparatory (development), [in] six
groups.343
pañcakadisukhopekkha-jhanabheda344 catubbidha. These [thirty] would be of four kinds according to
ekaccatupañcajhana-vasena tividha siyuṃ. 922 the classification of being conducive to all five
jhana-s; etc. [i.e., to just the first jhana]; to the
jhana-s characterized by pleasant sensation; or
those characterized by neutral sensation; and of
three kinds by way of being conducive to one, four,
or five jhana-s.
rūparūpavasa dve ca,345 appanato punekadha. And they are of two kinds by way of being material
icc evam appana kammaṭṭhanabheda samissita.346 or immaterial (absorptions); but [are all] moreover
923 of a single kind according to [all being likewise
conducive to] absorption: the absorptions are
[tallied? (samissita)] like this according to their
classification by meditation object.
dve ca saññavavatthana, aṭṭhanussatiyo 'ti ca. And the remaining ten [kammaṭṭhana-s), viz. the
sesa dasa347 pavuccanti, upacarasamadhika. 924 two -- the perception (of disgust in material
sustenance) and the analysis (into the four
elements) -- and the eight recollections (of the ten,
discounting bodily awareness and awareness of
breathing), are said to be conducive to access
concentration.348
parikammopacaranulomagotrabhuto paraṃ. Following preparatory, access, conformity, and
pañcamaṃ va catutthaṃ va, javanaṃ hoti appana. change-of-lineage (consciousnesses), absorption
925 occurs as either the fourth or fifth javana.349

343
This brief (and otherwise impenetrable) synopsis summarizes the arithmetic of the Compendium of Topics
(Abhidh-s)'s bhavanabhedo: <19> _bhavanasu_ sabbatthapi parikammabhavana labbhat' eva,
buddhanussatiadīsu aṭṭhasu saññavavatthanesu ca 'ti dasasukammaṭṭhanesu upacarabhavana 'va sampajjati, natthi
appana. <20> sesesu pana samatiṃsakammaṭṭhanesu appanabhavana pi sampajjati. <21> tatthapi dasa kasiṇani
anapanañ ca pañcakajjhanikani. <22> dasa asubha kayagatasati ca paṭhamajjhanika. <23> mettadayo tayo
catukkajjhanika. <24> upekkha pañcamajjhanikati chabbīsati rūpavacarajjhanikani kammaṭṭhanani. <25>
cattaro pana aruppa aruppajjhanikati. ayam ettha bhavanabhedo.
344
em. following Ee from: pancakadisukhopekkha jhanabheda.
345
var. dve 'va (Ee) .
346
em. to sammisita cf. Pm-vn v. 381 sammisetva, clearly in the sense of 'tallying' or adding together: 381. taṃ
dvayam pi sammissetva, pancabhinna ca lokiya / asavakkhayanaṇan ca, chalabhinna pavuccare. var. samissata
(Ee).
347
var. sesa pana (Ee).
348
Cf. Abhidh-s 9.19 (quoted above).

368
appanajavanaṃ sabbaṃ, lokuttaramahaggataṃ. All transcendental (consciousness) and expanded
tihetukaparittani, purimani yatharahaṃ. 926 (i.e., jhanic-level) consciousness takes place with
absorption javana;
those (javana-s) that precede it being, accordingly,
limited (i.e. pre-absorption) (consciousness), with
three roots.
avajjana ca vasita, taṃsamapajjana tatha. There mastery of adverting (to absorption), and
adhiṭṭhana ca vuṭṭhana, paccavekkhaṇa-pañcama. likewise of its attaining, that of resolving on it, and
927 that of emerging from it, and that of reviewing it as
the fifth [i.e., in the list]:
vasitahi vasībhūta350, iti katvana pañcahi. having caused them to be mastered through these
bhaventassa pan' appenti, uparūpari appana. 928 five masteries, thus, for one cultivating
[absorption] higher absorptions are entered into,
one after another.
yuñjantassa tu vuṭṭhaya, kasiṇajjhanapañcama. And for the one applying himself (to these), having
pañcabhiññahi351 appenti, rūpasaddadigocare. 929 emerged from the fifth of the jhana-s based on the
kasiṇa-s,
they are entered into with the five higher faculties
of knowing (abhinna-s), pertaining to the field of
visual forms, sounds, and so forth.352
lokuttara pan' appenti, sabbe nibbanagocare. And transcendental (absorptions) are moreover
aniccadukkhanatta 'ti, bhūmidhamme vipassato. entered into, all pertaining to the field of nibbana,
930 for one discerning the dhamma-s that constitute the
ground (for the emergence of wisdom: i.e., the
aggregates, sense-sphere, etc.) as impermanent, and
suffering, and not self.
tattha ca padakajjhanaṃ, sammaṭṭhajjhanam eva And in that regard, the jhana that serves as basis
va. for its attainment, or else the jhana that is
ajjhasayo ca vuṭṭhana-gaminī ca vipassana. 931 contemplated, itself; the mental disposition, and the
insight leading to emergence...
magganaṃ jhanabhedaya, yathayogaṃ niyamata353. are the determining factors for the classification of
yathasakaṃ phalanaṃ354 tu, magga honti the jhana of the corresponding path
niyamata355. 932 (consciousnesses), and the respective path
(consciousnesses) are the determining factors [for
the classification] of their respective fruition
349
This sequence refers to the attainment of path consciousness and the cognitive process it entails cf. Pm-vn v.
1020.
350
var. vasitahi vasibhutaṃ (Ee).
351
var. pañcabhiñña hi (Ee).
352
Cf Abhidh-s 9.41: <41> abhiññavasena pavattamanaṃ pana rūpavacarapañcamajjhanaṃ
abhiññapadakapañcamajjhana vuṭṭhahitva adhiṭṭheyyadikamavajjetva parikammaṃ karontassa rūpadīsu
arammaṇesu yatharahamappeti.
353
em. following (Ee) from niyamata (Be). var. niyamita cited in Ee.
354
var. yathasaka-phalanaṃ (Ee).
355
em. following (Ee) from niyamata (Be). var. niyamita cited in Ee.

369
 (consciousnesses).
magganantaram evatha, bhūmidhamme vipassato. Then, for one discerning the dhamma-s that
phalasamapattiyam pi, appeti phalamanasaṃ. 933 constitute the ground, immediately following upon
path (consciousness), fruition-consciousness
(absorption) is also entered into, in connection with
the attainment of the fruit.
anupubbasamapattiṃ, samapajjiya356 vuṭṭhito357. The wise one, having attained and emerged from
jhanadhamme vipassitva, tattha tatth' eva paṇḍito. successive attainments, seeing the constituent
934 mental factors of each jhana with wisdom,
catuttharuppam appetva, ekadvijavanaparaṃ. Having entered into the fourth immaterial
nirodhaṃ nama phusati, samapattim acittakaṃ. 935 [attainment], following one or two javana-s, he
touches what is called cessation (nirodha-
samapatti): the attainment in which citta ceases to
exist (acittaka)
araha va anagamī, pañcavokarabhūmiyaṃ. As an arahant or non-returner in the realm of five
yathasakaṃ phaluppado, vuṭṭhanan 'ti tato mato. sense-sphere existence, the arising of the
936 corresponding fruition (consciousness) is
considered emergence from it.
appanapariyosane, siya sabbattha sambhava. At the conclusion of the absorption, there would in
bhavangapato taṃ chetva, jayate paccavekkhaṇa. all cases be, after its arising, subsiding into
937 bhavanga consciousness; and having interrupted
that, reviewing consciousness arises.358
iti vuttanusarena, appananayasangahaṃ. Let the discerning person cultivate understanding
yathayogaṃ vibhaveyya, tattha tattha vicakkhaṇo. of the compendium of absorption's methodology,
938 properly and in accordance with what has thus
been stated.
cittavisuddhi namayaṃ, cittasaṃklesasodhano359. This constitutes tranquility's initial cleansing of
upacarappanabhedo, samatho pubbabhagiyo 'ti. 939 consciousness's defilement, in what is termed the
“purification of consciousness”, with its divisions
of access and absorption concentration.360
iti nibbanavibhage mūlavisuddhikatha niṭṭhita. The account of the purification of the (two) "roots"
in the section on nibbana is complete.

tevisatimo paricchedo. [Here ends] the twenty-third chapter.

356
em. following Ee from samapajjissa (Be).
357
var. vuṭṭhite (Ee),
358
Cf. Abhidh-s 9.59: <59> tato paraṃ dve tīṇi phalacittani pavattitva bhavangapatova hoti, puna bhavangaṃ
vocchinditva paccavekkhaṇañaṇani pavattanti.
359
var. sodhana (Ee).
360
Cf. Abhidh-s 9.50: <50> upacarasamadhi appanasamadhi ceti duvidho pi samadhi _cittavisuddhi_ nama.

370
 Chapter 24: The Account of the Purifications Entailing Apprehension
Chapter twenty-four is framed as a survey of the next two stages of purification,
diṭṭhivisuddhi, the purification of view, and kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi, the purification of crossing
beyond doubts, which both entail pariggaha (apprehension). The purification of view is
described as entailing apprehension of mind and matter (namarupa) and its various constituents,
and the purification of crossing beyond doubts as entailing apprehension of the conditions
(paccaya-s) that give rise to these with reference to past, future, and present causes (v. 980). The
apprehension of mind and matter (namarupa) is described specifically in terms of the defining of
the dhamma-s that constitute the ground (bhumidhammavavatthana v. 946), extending the usage
of the key metaphor deriving from the Path of Purification (Vism), which is amply made use of
in Anuruddha's texts. These are identified as the aggregates, sense-spheres, and elements, etc. (v.
941). Seeing these to be "pure[ly] conditioned things" (suddhasankharadassanaṃ) -- alluding to
the famous response of the nun Vajira to Mara in the Bhikkhunīsaṃyutta (SN 1.5.10) -- the
"unbroken succession" (anukkamo abbocchinno) of which constitutes saṃsara (v. 945), effects
the apprehension, which dispels the view of self (attadiṭṭhipahana v. 947). The apprehension of
the causes of these conditioned things is treated from a variety of angles, continuing, in effect,
the survey of the so-called "dhamma-s that constitute the ground (bhumidhamma)", which
include the four noble truths and the dependent origination. The treatment of their causes thus
begins unusually with a discussion of the noble truths, and craving's causation of suffering (vv.
949-951) as "saṃsara's leading factor" (949). It proceeds even more unusually to discussion of a
little-discussed theme in Theravada abhidhamma, that of the eighteen elements' dependence on
the external material elements to which the sensitive matter of each sense-organ is specifically
sensitive: that of the eye to light; that of the ear to space; that of the nose to air; the tongue to
water; and the body to the earth element. This theme, while rare in Theravada abhidhamma, and
contested in general in abhidhammic thought (cf. Karunadasa 2010, 174-175), also occurs in
Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av vv. 498-509), another signal of direct
connection between especially the Decisive Treatment (Pm-vn) (which shares its opening verse
with it) and that work.
The survey of conditions continues via a robust synopsis of the analysis of dependent
origination, including mention of its "wheel" (bhavacakka) formulation (v. 970), and suggesting
equation between the causal chain of dependent origination's linked causes to the continuity of
saṃsara (v. 976). The chapter make only brief mention of the twenty-four paṭṭhana-paccaya-s as
more elaborate treatment of mind and matter's conditions, but does not treat these in detail
(unlike the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p) and the Compendium of Topics (Abhidh-s)).

paramatthavinicchaya The Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma

Ultimates
24. pariggahavisuddhikathā Chapter 24: The Account of the Purifications
Entailing Apprehension

sīlacittavisuddhīhi, yathavuttahi maṇḍito. 940 Adorned (now) with the purifications of virtue and

371
payogasayasampanno, nibbanabhirato tato. consciousness, as per what's been stated, then,
delighting in nibbana and endowed with the
preparation and the disposition361:
khandhayatanadhatadippabhedehi yatharahaṃ. 941, 942: he apprehends conditioned things
lakkhaṇapaccupaṭṭhana-padaṭṭhanavibhagato. 941 by way of the divisions of the aggregates, sense-
spheres, or elements, etc., as appropriate, and
& according to the classification of their defining
characteristics, manifestations, and proximate
causes,362
pariggahetva sankhare, namarūpaṃ yathatathaṃ363. defining mind and matter as they are, with wisdom
vavatthapento tatth' evam anupassati paññava. 942 he observes them thus:
namarūpam idaṃ suddhaṃ, attabhavo 'ti vuccati. This is purely mind and matter, [which is] called
n'atth' ettha koci atta va, satto jīvo ca puggalo. 943 "the empirical self"; there is no self herein, no
being, no soul, no individual.
yatha pi angasambhara, hoti saddo ratho iti. Just as there's the word “chariot” on account of an
evaṃ khandhesu santesu, hoti satto ti sammuti. 944 assemblage of parts, there comes about the
convention of “a being” when the [five] aggregates
are present.364
khandhayatanadhatūnaṃ, yathayogam anukkamo. The unbroken succession of the aggregates, sense-
abbocchinno pavattanto, saṃsaro ti pavuccati. 945 spheres, and elements taking place is what's called
“saṃsara”.
iti nanappakarena, tebhūmakapariggaho. His apprehension of the conditioned things of all
bhūmidhammavavatthanaṃ, three realms of existence [takes place] like this, in
suddhasankharadassanaṃ. 946 many ways, as a defining of the dhamma-s that
constitute the ground, and as beholding these to be
purely conditioned things.

361
the preparation and the disposition: Cf. Namar-p 8. 884, describing the requisites for practice as: payogasuddhi
(purification of initial preparation); upayasampada (acquisition of the means) and ajjhasayasodhana (purification
of the requisite mental disposition) . Here an account of upaya is left out, but the other two members clearly must
correspond (and are thus to be understood as a dvanda compound rather than a tappurisa).
362
cf. 9.51: (defining diṭṭhivisuddhi in terms of apprehending mind and matter by way of these categories, and
kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi in terms of apprehending their conditions: <51>
lakkhaṇarasapaccupaṭṭhanapadaṭṭhanavasena namarūpa pariggaho _diṭṭhivisuddhi_ nama, <52> tesam eva ca
namarūpanaṃ paccayapariggaho _kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi_ nama.
363
em. following Ee from yathakathaṃ (Be).
364
Quoting SN 1.5.10 (Vajira bhikkhunī in Bhikkhunīsaṃyutta). Not in Abhidh-s, but also quoted at Namar-p
1758.:
atha kho... vajira bhikkhunī ``maro ayaṃ papima’’ iti
viditva, maraṃ papimantaṃ gathahi paccabhasi ---
kiṃ nu satto ti paccesi, mara diṭṭhigataṃ nu te.
suddhasankharapuñjo 'yaṃ, nayidha satt' upalabbhati.
yatha hi angasambhara, hoti saddo ratho iti.
evaṃ khandhesu santesu, hoti satto ti sammuti.
dukkham eva hi sambhoti, dukkhaṃ tiṭṭhati veti ca.
naññatra dukkha sambhoti, naññaṃ dukkha nirujjhatī’’ ti.

372
attadiṭṭhipahanena, diṭṭhisaṃklesasodhanaṃ. His washing off of view's defiling, by his
diṭṭhivisuddhi-nama 'ti365, ñaṇam etaṃ pavuccati. abandoning of the view of self, is called “the
947 purification of view” and is declared to be this
knowledge.
pariggahitasankharo, namarūpappavattiya366. As one by whom conditioned things have been
tato paraṃ yathayogaṃ, pariggaṇhati367 paccaye. apprehended, he then apprehends the causal
948 conditions, as applicable, for the occurrence of
mind and matter.
dukkhasamudayo tattha, taṇha saṃsaranayika. In that regard, desire, saṃsara-s leading factor, and
samodhaneti sankhare, tattha tatthupapattiya. 949 the origin of suffering, combines and recombines
conditioned things through rebirth here and there.
taṇhasambhavam ev' etaṃ, tasma dukkhaṃ This has desire alone as its origin; therefore [desire]
pavuccati. is called suffering. Nibbana is that desire's non-
tadappavatti nibbanaṃ, maggo taṃpapako 'ti ca. occurring; the path is that which leads to that.
950
catusaccavavatthana-mukhen' evam pi paccaye. Some apprehend the causes of conditioned things
pariggaṇhanti ekacce, sankharanam athapare. 951 via the defining of the four noble truths, like this.
While others (apprehend the causes of conditioned
& things as follows):
alokakasavayapapathaviñ c' upanissayaṃ. Some conditioned things occur as immaterial,
bhavangapariṇamañ ca, labhitva 'va yatharahaṃ. but they do so only having obtained light, space,
952 air, water, earth, or the transformation of bhavanga,
as appropriate, as their supporting condition
& (upanissaya).
cha vatthūni ca nissaya, cha dvararammaṇani ca. These take place relying on the six material bases
paṭicca manasikaraṃ368, pavattanti arūpino. 953 (vatthuni -- the sensitive matter physical basis of
the eye sense-door, etc., and the hadaya-vatthu,
& physical basis of the mind sense door) and the six
sense-doors and their objects (i.e., the contact
between these), with attention as condition.
yathasakasamuṭṭhana-vibhagehi369 ca rūpino. While other (conditioned things) occur as material,
pavattanti ekacceti, pariggaṇhanti paccaye. 954 classified as per their respective source.
avijjapaccaya honti, sankhara tu; tato tatha. From the condition ignorance, there come about
viññaṇaṃ namarūpañ ca, salayatananamakaṃ. 955 conditioned things; and likewise, due to that,
consciousness, and (due to that) mind and matter,
and (due to that) that termed the six sense-spheres.
phasso ca vedana taṇha, upadanaṃ bhavo tato. And (then) contact, and sensation, and craving, and
jati jara maraṇañ ca, pavattati yatharahaṃ. 956 then clinging and a form of existence -- and from

365
em. following Ee from diṭṭhivisuddhi nama ti (Be).
366
em. following Ee from namarupamapatthiya (Be).
367
em. following Ee from pariggaṇhati (Be).
368
var. manasikarani (Ee).
369
em. following Ee from yathasakasamuṭṭhanaṃ, vibhagehi (Be).

373
 that birth takes place, and, accordingly, old age and
dying.
tato soko paridevo, dukkhañ c'eva tathaparaṃ. And from that, sorrow, lamentation, pain, and,
domanassamupayaso, sambhoti ca yatharahaṃ. 957 likewise, after that, unhappiness and despair,
accordingly, come into being.
etassa kevalass' evaṃ, dukkhakkhandhassa The source of all this, thus a mere mass of
sambhavo. suffering, is just dependent origination: there is no
paṭiccasamuppado 'va, natth' añño koci karako. 958 other (being) who acts.
tatthavijjadayo dve pi, addhatīto anagato. In that, the two (conditions) ignorance [and
jatadayo 'pare aṭṭha370, paccuppanno ti vaṇṇito. 959 volitional formations] are explained as past; those
(conditions) beginning with birth are explained as
future; and the other eight as present.371
puññapuññaneñjavasa, sankhara tividha tatha. Volitional formations (sankhara-s), which are
bhavekadeso kammañ ca, kammavaṭṭan ti vuccati. likewise of three kinds, by way of being either
960 wholesome, unwholesome or [pertaining to]
immobility372, and one part of becoming – that of
action (kamma-bhava373) -- are called the “round of
kamma”.374
avijjataṇhupadana, klesavaṭṭam athapare. Ignorance, craving and clinging are called the
vipakavaṭṭaṃ sattapi, upapattibhavo pi ca. 961 round of defilement; and the other seven, and
rebirth as [the other part of] becoming are called
the round of kammic fruits.
avijjasankharanaṃ tu, gahaṇe gahita 'va te. [Past] craving, clinging, and becoming are included
taṇhupadanabhava ti, atīte pañca hetavo. 962 in the understanding of ignorance and volitional
formations: thus making five the causes in the
past;375
taṇhupadanabhavanaṃ, gahaṇe gahita 'va te. [Present] ignorance and volitional formations are
avijja sankhara ceti, paccuppanne pi pañcake376. included in the understanding of craving, clinging
963 and becoming: thus making five the causes in the
370
var. jatadayo; pare aṭṭha (Ee).
371
Kankhavitaraṇavisuddhi is characterized as comprehension of the conditions (paccaya-s) of nama & rūpa with
regard to the three times. (Also known as paccayapariggahañaṇa). Cf. Abhidh-s 8.6: <6> kathaṃ? avijjasankhara
atīto addha, jatijaramaraṇaṃ anagato addha, majjhe aṭṭha paccuppanno addha 'ti tayo addha.
372
immobility (anenja): the technical term for exalted forms of consciousness and the volitional formations
(sankhara-s) that their attainment generates, pertaining to the fourth jhana and above.) Cf. discussion Bodhi,
Rewata, et al. (1993), 295.
373
as against upapatti-bhava, becoming as rebirth.
374
Cf. Bodhi, Rewata, et al. (1993), 300 for an explanation of the three "rounds" (tiṇi vaṭṭani cf. Abhidh-s 8.5). And
cf. Abhidh-s 8.11 for the break-down of these: <11> avijjataṇhupadana ca kilesavaṭṭaṃ, kammabhavasankhato
bhavekadeso sankhara ca kammavaṭṭaṃ, upapatti bhavasankhato bhavekadeso avasesa ca vipakavaṭṭan ti tīṇi
vaṭṭani.
375
Cf. Abhidh-s 8.9: <9> avijjasankharaggahaṇena pan' ettha taṇhupadanabhava pi gahita bhavanti, tatha
taṇhupadanabhavaggahaṇena ca avijjasankhara, jatijaramaraṇaggahaṇena ca viññaṇadiphalapañcakameva
gahitan ti katva...
376
var. panca te (Ee).

374
 present, also.
viññaṇadisarūpena, dassitaṃ phalapañcakaṃ. The five-fold group of (present) fruits is shown by
tatha tad eva jatadi-namenanagatan ti ca. 964 consciousness, etc. [i.e., viññaṇa, namarūpa,
salayatana, phassa, and vedana] in their present
form377; and that same (group of five fruits) in its
future form is shown by the name birth, etc.
atīte hetavo378 pañca, idani phalapañcakaṃ. Five causes in the past, and now five present fruits;
idani hetavo pañca, ayatiṃ phalapañcakaṃ. 965 five causes in the present; the and five future
fruits:379
hetuphalaṃ phalahetu, puna hetuphalani ca. With its three junctures between (past) cause and
tisandhi catusankhepaṃ, vīsatakaram abravuṃ. 966 (present) fruit; (present) fruit and (present) cause;
and (present) cause and (future) fruit, they've said
[dependent origination] to have three junctures,
[between its] four [above] groupings, [yielding]
twenty aspects.380
atthadhammapaṭivedha-desananaṃ yatharahaṃ. Due to the profundity of four things: it's meaning,
gambhīratta catunnam pi, catugambhīrata mata. its principle, its penetration, and its exposition; in
967 these four ways it's held to be profound.
ekattananattanaya, abyaparanayo 'paro. Its methods of analysis are said to be of four kinds:
tath' evaṃdhammata ceti, naya vutta catubbidha. those of the unity and difference (of its causes and
968 effects); and that of their automaticity; and likewise
that of their having such a nature. 381
jaramaraṇasokadi-pīlitanam abhiṇhaso. Due to the origination of asava-s [on the part] of
asavanaṃ samuppada, avijja ca pavattati. 969 those repeatedly oppressed by aging and dying,
grief, and so forth, ignorance also occurs.
avijjapaccaya honti, sankhara pi382 yatha pure. And from the condition ignorance, there come
baddhavicchedam icc evaṃ, bhavacakkam about volitional formation, as well, [and so on] as
anadikaṃ. 970 before: thus, bound and unbreaking, it is the
beginningless wheel of existence (bhavacakka).383
taṇhavijjanabhikaṃ taṃ, jaramaraṇanemikaṃ. With craving and ignorance as its center, aging and
sesakaradighaṭikaṃ384, tibhavarathayojitaṃ385. 971 death as its circumference, the remaining aspects

377
the term sarupa is generally not used by Anuruddha in his other works.
378
var. hetuyo (Ee) (both instances).
379
cf. Abhidh-s 8.10: <10> atīte hetavo pañca, idani phalapañcakaṃ. idani hetavo pañca, ayatiṃ phalapañcakan ti.
vīsatakara tisandhi, catusankhepa ca bhavanti.
380
three junctures, four groupings, and twenty aspects: cf. table Bodhi, Rewata, et al. (1993), 301. Three junctures:
those between past causes and present effects (i.e., between sankhara & vinnaṇaṃ); present effects and present
causes (i.e., between vedana & taṇha); and present causes and future effects (between bhava and jati).

381
The four naya-s "analytical methodologies" and profundities are not treated in the Abhidh-s, but are in the
Manual of Discerning: Namar-p 760-764.
382
Read sankharadi?
383
Cf. Abhidh-s 8.12-13 for parallel.
384
var. ghaṭitaṃ (Ee).

375
 and so forth as its spokes, it is joined to the chariot
of existence in the three realms;
tiaddhañ ca tivaṭṭañ ca, tisandhighaṭikaṃ tatha. It has three tenses and three rounds, and three
catusankhepagambhīranayamaṇḍitadesanaṃ. 972 junctures, likewise, as its spokes386. And its
exposition is adorned by four grouping, four
profundities, and four methods of analysis.
vīsatakaravibhagaṃ, dvadasakarasangahaṃ. The wise explain its causality (idapaccayata) with
dhammaṭṭhitī 'ti dīpenti, idappaccayataṃ budha. its twelve included aspects, and the division of
973 these aspects into twenty, as "natural order"
(dhammaṭṭhiti).
paṭiccasamuppado 'yaṃ, paccayakaranamato387. This dependent origination, is [reckoned] in brief
sankhepato ca vitthara, vividhakarabhedato388. 974 according to the names of its conditions' aspect,
and in full by way of the analysis of its multifarious
aspects.
janeti paccayuppanne, avijjadipavattiya. It produces the things arisen from its conditions,
avijjadinirodhena, nirodheti ca sabbatha. 975 due to the occurrence of ignorance, and so forth;
and with the cessation of ignorance and so forth, it
causes them to cease, entirely.
paccayappaccayuppanna-vasen' eva pavattati. There are some who apprehend the conditions [of
saṃsaro 'yan ti ekacce, pariggaṇhanti paccaye. 976 mind and matter] saying that this saṃsara proceeds
by virtue of (each) condition and that arisen from
(each) condition, alone.
samantapaṭṭhanamahapakaraṇavibhagato. Others apprehend the conditions [of mind and
ekacce pariggaṇhanti, catuvīsati paccaye. 977 matter] as the twenty-four [paṭṭhana-paccaya-s]389,
according to the divisions of the Great Treatise, the
all-encompassing Paṭṭhana.390
iti nanappakarena, paccayanaṃ pariggaho. The apprehension of conditions thus, in different
sappaccayanamarūpa-vavatthanan391 'ti veditaṃ392. ways, is known as the defining of mind and matter
978 along with its conditions.

385
N.B. irregular lengthening tibhava-
386
I suspect this should read ghaṭitaṃ (joined, connected), and has gotten conflated with the ghatikaṃ (spokes) of
verse 971. A.P. Buddhadatta flags a variant here, but it reads the same as his text (ghaṭikaṃ). I suspect there is
some error here and either the reading or the variant should have been ghaṭitaṃ.
387
var. namako (Ee).
388
var. bhedito (Ee).
389
Cf. “paṭṭhananaya” of Abhidh-s 8.2-3: <2> paṭiccasamuppadanayo paṭṭhananayo c'eti paccayasangaho duvidho
veditabbo. <3> tattha tabbhavabhavībhavakaramattopalakkhito paṭiccasamuppadanayo, paṭṭhananayo pana
ahacca paccayaṭṭhitim arabbha pavuccati, ubhayaṃ pana vomissetva papañcenti acariya. Bodhi renders “ahacca
paccayaṭṭhiti” as “the specific causal efficacy of the conditions” (Bodhi, Rewata, et al. (1994), 294.
390
Last book of the Abhidhammapitaka, known for its analysis of the causal conditions that comprehensively relate
the dhamma-s analyzed by the first book of the Abhidhammapiṭaka, the Dhammasangaṇi.
391
em. following Ee from sappaccayanamarupaṃ vavatthanan (Be).
392
var. ti bheditaṃ (Ee),

376
idappaccayatañaṇaṃ, paccayakaradassanaṃ. And is named "the knowing and beholding as it is
dhammaṭṭhiti-yathabhūtañaṇadassananamakaṃ393. of natural order", with its knowing of conditionality
979 and its beholding of the aspects of their conditions.
kalattayavibhagesu, kankhasaṃklesasodhanaṃ. The cleansing of doubts' defiling of with reference
kankhavitaraṇa nama, visuddhī 'ti pavuccatī 'ti. 980 to their divisions into past, future, and present, is
proclaimed the purification called “crossing beyond
doubt”.
iti nibbanavibhage pariggahavisuddhikatha niṭṭhita. The account of the purifications entailing
apprehension in the section on nibbana is complete.

catuvisatimo paricchedo. [Here ends] the twenty-fourth chapter.

Chapter 25: The Account of the Growth of Insight

Chapter Twenty-five departs from its explicit framing in terms of the stages of insight and
instead takes the ten insight knowledges at its primary organizational framework. This
corresponds to Manual of Discerning ch. 12, and follows a similar trajectory, from the
knowledge of contemplation by amassing (kalapato sammasana-naṇa) which it reckons as the
first knowledge, to knowledge "that conforms" to the noble truths (anuloma-naṇa), which it
reckons the tenth. In this it differs in its enumeration from the Path of Purification and
Buddhadatta's Introduction to the Abhidhamma (Abhidh-av). Anuruddha is consistent, however,
with his own treatment. The chapter deftly recaps the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s twelfth
chapter, covering, in the process, the next two purifications: the crisis of the knowing and
beholding of what constitutes the path and what does not (maggamagganaṇadassanavisuddhi (v.
1000) and the knowing and beholding of the path (of the insight knowledges:
vipassanapaṭipadaṃ, v. 1018) (paṭipadanaṇadassanavisuddhi, v. 1001). The chapter culminates
in the beholding of nibbana, invoking the metaphor of the bird at sea when it sees land (v. 1016
= Namar-p v.1774), which likewise culminate's the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p)'s treatment.

paramatthavinicchaya The Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma

Ultimates
25. vipassanāvuddhikathā Chapter 25: The Account of the Growth of
Insight

393
em. following Ee from dhammaṭṭhiti yathabhutanaṇadassananamakaṃ (Be).

377
sīlacittadiṭṭhikankhavitaraṇavisuddhiyo; Having, then, attained the purifications of virtue,
patva kalapato tava, sammaseyya; tato paraṃ. 981. view, and overcoming doubts, let him thereafter
contemplate by amassing (kalapato)394:
kalapato sammasanaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ; 1) Contemplation by amassing, 2) the beholding of
bhangañaṇaṃ bhayañaṇaṃ, tathadīnavanibbida. arising and passing, 3) the knowledge of
982. dissolution, 4) the knowledge of fear, and likewise,
5) danger and 6) disenchantment,
muccitukamyatañaṇaṃ395, paṭisankhanupassana; 7) the knowledge of having desire for release 396, 8)
sankharupekkhanulomam iccanukkamato ṭhita. re-evaluative observation397, 9) equanimity toward
983. the conditioned things and 10) [knowledge] that
conforms [to the noble truths]:
vipassana 'ti c'akkhata, dasañaṇaparampara; having brought the three characteristics [anicca,
lakkhaṇattayam ahacca, sankharesu pavattati. 984. dukkha, and anatta] to bear upon the conditioned
things, there occurs the series of ten successive
knowledges arrayed, according to their sequence,
thus (iccanukkamato ṭhita), known as insight
(vipassana).
tasma kalapato tava, sammaseyya tilakkhaṇaṃ398; So, to that extent, let him contemplate the three
sammasitva atītadi-khandhayatanadhatuyo. 985. characteristics, having contemplated by way of
amassing (kalapato) the past, etc.399 aggregates,
sense-spheres, and elements400,

394
Because of Anuruddha's tendency to privilege enjambement and complex syntax, especially exaggerated in the
Pm-vn, it is nearly impossible to reflect line divisions in the translation (unlike, say, in the Namar-p). N.b. this is
also the case with Buddhadatta (another undisputed South Indian composing aesthetic texts) in contrast to
Buddhaghosa. In my translation, I thus render the verses in simple prose, without reference to line divisions of
the original, but trying to maintain the verse order as much as possible for the sake of convenient comparison
with the original.
395
muccitukamyatanaṇaṃ: var. muñcitu˚ Buddhadatta (both forms are frequently found).
396
muccitukamyata often translated as “the desirability of release”; I don't see how this translation is tenable. I take
the form as an abstract of the noun muccitukamo, a bahubbīhi formation compounding -kama with the
nominalized (passive) infinitive of muñcati /muccati: thus, “the state of one (or the mind) who has the desire to
be released”. The other interpretation apparently interprets: kamyata (“the desirability”) + muccituṃ “to be
released”, not in a bahubbīhi formation. cf. vism: evaṃ tassa yogino cittaṃ sabbasma sankharagata
muccitukamaṃ nissaritukamaṃ hoti. athassa evaṃ sabbasankharesu vigatalayassa sabbasma sankharagata
muccitukamassa uppajjati muñcitukamyatañaṇan ti: “Thus, the mind of that yogī has the desire to be released
(muccitukamaṃ... hoti), the desire to escape (nissaritukamaṃ hoti), from all that which pertains to the
conditioned (sabbasma sankharagata). Then, the knowledge [deriving from] having the desire to be released
arises to him who thus harbors no more desire with regard to sankhara-s, and who has the desire to be released
from all that which pertains to sankhara-s”, (vism 756). However, an active usage , in the form muñcitukamyata,
is also found. In the analogy of the mistaken grasping of the snake, sappaṃ muñcitukamata viya
muñcitukamyatañaṇaṃ: “ muñcitukamyatañaṇaṃ is like the having of the desire to release the snake. Perhaps
the transitive/intransitive ambiguity of the infinitive is intentional (vism 758).
397
Paṭisankha: p. can represent a noun or truncated gerund, and often carries adverbial force. The proposed translation
reflects this adverbial usage, and takes into consideration the contextual account of the realization, as described in vv.
1010-1012.
398
tilakkhaṇaṃ: var. vicakkhaṇo.
399
[.../future /present; internal /external; gross /subtle; degraded /sublime; and far /near]: five binary (one ternary,

378
anicca te khayaṭṭhena, khandha dukkha reflecting constantly that they are “impermanent in
bhayaṭṭhato; the sense of coming to an end”, those aggregates,
anatta asarakaṭṭhena, iccabhiṇhaṃ vicintayaṃ401. “suffering in the sense of being a source of fear,”
986. and “anatta in the sense of having no solid core”402.
tass'evaṃ sammasantassa, upaṭṭhati tilakkhaṇaṃ; As he contemplates in this way, the three
sankharesu; tato yogī, khaṇasantatiaddhato. 987. characteristics become apparent to him with
reference to conditioned things; then, by way of
moment, continuous succession, and span of time 403,
the yogi
paccuppannana dhammanaṃ, udayañ ca vayaṃ observes the arising and likewise the passing away
tatha; of presently arisen phenomena in terms of fifty
paññasakarabhedehi, anupassati; tattha hi. 988. distinct aspects404. Therein:
avijjataṇhakammanaṃ, udaya ca nirodhato; Originations and cessations of [all] five
samudaya nirodha ca, pañcannaṃ dassita; tatha. [aggregates] are beheld [to occur] due to the arising
989. or the cessation of ignorance, craving, and kamma;
Likewise:
rūpassaharato: tiṇṇaṃ, phassato405; namarūpato; [origination and cessation] of the aggregate of
viññaṇasseti sabbe 'pi, cattalīsa samissita 406. 990. matter [is beheld to occur] due to [the arising or the

strictly speaking) relationships collapsed with reference to each of the aggregates, successively. The scheme
derives from Paṭis and features in the commentarial literature as the ekadasabheda-s “eleven divisions” for
analysis, each respective binary indicating comprehensiveness (ie. “internal or external, it is all matter, and all
equally characterized by anicca, dukkha, and anatta”, etc.). The Abhidh-s-mht describes this analytical
reflection, which is characterized as the basis for the discernment of arising and passing away (udayabbaya), as
follows: “yaṃ atite jataṃ rupaṃ, taṃ atite 'va niruddhaṃ. yaṃ anagate bhavi rupaṃ, tam 'pi tatth' eva
nirujjhissati. yaṃ paccuppannaṃ, taṃ anagataṃ appatva etth' eva nirujjhati, tatha
ajjhattabahiddhasukhumaolarikahinapaṇitarupadayo”, “that matter that arose in the past – it came to an end in
the past itself; that matter that will arise in the future – that, too, will come to an end right there; that matter that
is presently arisen – without reaching the future, it ceases right here; and likewise the matter, etc. that arises
internally and externally, subtle and gross, degraded and sublime.
400
cf. Namar-p v. 1652, which confirms the syntax (as discussed above), as well as Abhidh-s 53.
401
vicintayaṃ: the commentary notes the variant reading vicintaye, and devotes considerable space to the discussion
of a number of ways the two verses may be construed, depending on 1) whether or not atītadi and
khandhayatanadhatuyo are taken as a compound; 2) whether sammaseyya, sammasitva or vicintayaṃ construes
with tilakkhaṇam; and 3) which variant of the verb vicinteti is taken.
402
cf. Namar-p v.1658, and Abhidh-s 53 (cont.). The important quote again derives from Paṭis.
403
The commentary here quotes a long selection from Paṭisambhidamagga, analyzing the term “paccuppanna” into
three varieties of presently-arisenness: presently arisen with respect to khaṇa, “moment” (ie the momentary
duration of a dhamma, a single uppadaṭṭhitibhanga, “arising, remaining, and breaking up” of which constitues
the present moment); presently arisen with respect to santati, “sequence” (of mind-moments in the cognitive
process - eka-dve santativara, “one to two occurrences of the sequence” of which, according to the reciters of the
majjhima nikaya, and dve-tayo javanavara “two to three impulsions within which, according to the reciters of the
saṃyutta - constitute the “present cognition”); and, lastly, presently arisen with respect to addha “span” (of a
life, ie “the present life”). cf. Abhidh-s 53; but absent in the corresponding Namar-p 1661-1662
404
This scheme of fifty distinct aspects of arising and passing away that are observed on the basis of the aggregates
again derives from the Paṭis, and is additionally quoted at Vism XX.97. Also summarized by in the Abhidh-s-
mhṭ's exposition of Abhidh-s 53. Cf. Namar-p's exposition of the same in vv. 1663-1667.
405
phassato: var. passato A, R

379
 cessation of] its material sustenance; [origination
and cessation] of three [aggregates, viz. vedana,
sanna, and sankhara-s, is beheld to occur] due to
[the arising or the cessation of] contact (at a sense
door); and [origination and cessation] of
consciousness [is beheld to occur] due to [the
arising or the cessation of] mind and matter: all
combined, making forty;
nibbattilakkhaṇaṃ bhanga-lakkhaṇañ c'ettha and for him seeing in this way the characteristic of
passato; production and the characteristic of dissolution [in
khaṇato 'dayato c'eti, samapaññasa honti te. 991. each] from moment to moment (khaṇato) and by
way of its [causal] arising (udayato407), they
become an even fifty408.
iti khandhamukhen' ete, vibhatta udayabbaya; In this way, these are the arisings and passings
ayatannadibhedehi, yojetabba yatharahaṃ. 992. distinguished by one regarding the aggregates. [The
arisings and passings] by way of the divisions of
the sense-doors, etc. are to be supplied
accordingly409.
udayañ ca vayañ c'evaṃ, passato tassa yogino; And for that yogi beholding arising and passing
vibhūta honti sankhara, samuṭṭhati away in this way, conditioned things become quite
tilakkhaṇaṃ.993. clear; the three characteristics stand out410;
bodhipakkhiyadhamma ca411, te passanti412 visesato; and the dhammas conducive to awakening are able
tato jayantupaklesa, dasopaklesavatthuka. 994. to see those413 (conditioned things) exceptionally
clearly414; from that arise corruptions -- ten things
the basis for the corruption [of his insight]:

406
samissita: var. samussita R
407
rather than udayato, the vism has paccayato; I assume however that they are referring to the same concept, that
is, the causally determined aspect of arising and passing (khaṇato representing the temporal).
408
This extremely oblique manner of enumeration, which condenses long lists to incredibly succinct and difficult
verses such as the ones above, are typical of the Pm-vn. Whereas the typical abhidhamma style would demand
listing wholesale all fifty aspects, Anuruddha attempts to reduce such enumerative lists to their densest possible
formulations. I understand such displays as virtuoso feats, intended only for those already intimately familiar
with the material. This tendency of super-condensation is for the most part antithetical to the abhidhammic
methodology, so Anuruddha's expository style is quite remarkable. Cf. vism XX.97 for the expanded list (a
striking comparison).
409
Cf. Namar-p v. 1667
410
cf. Namar-p v. 1668
411
bodhipakkhiyadhamma ca: var. bodhipakkhiyadhammani B, R
412
te passanti: var. tesaṃ santi BN
413
this verse is one of the most compelling arguments for much of the Pm-vn's direct derivation from the Namar-p.
See Namar-p v. 1669, which fills in the context, and no doubt informs this verse: bhavanapasutass' evaṃ, passato
bodhipakkhiya; patubhūta pavattanti, visesena visarada. “for the one intent upon development, seeing thus, the
dhammas conducive to awakening; become manifest and active, acting with especial prowess”. The following
six verses chart this development, as the factors of awakening (bodhipakkhiyadhamma) activate and act in
concert.
414
Likely an allusion: see note 122, above.

380
obhaso pīti passaddhi, adhimokkho ca paggaho. light, joy, tranquillity, resolve, exertion, pleasure,
sukhaṃ ñaṇamupaṭṭhanaṃ, upekkha ca nikanti ca. knowledge, establishment (of awareness),
995. equanimity, and expectation.
taṇhamanadiṭṭhiggahavasena tividhe 'pi te415; Relishing those, each threefold, moreover, by way
assadento unnamanto, mamayanto kilissati. 996. of being grasped with craving, conceit, or false
view, becoming conceited and taking them as
“mine”, he becomes defiled.
maggaṃ phalañ ca nibbanaṃ, patto 'smī ti akovido; Overestimating himself, believing, “I have attained
vikkhepañ catimaññanto416 pappoti417 path and fruit, nibbana”, the one who is not clever
adhimaniko418. 997. (akovido), becoming conceited, comes to
distraction.
maggadayo na hont' ete, taṇhagahadivatthuto; “These are not the path, etc., on account of being
taṇhamanadiṭṭhiyo c'upaklesa419 paripanthaka. 998. the basis for grasping with craving, and so forth.
And craving, conceit, and false view are
corruptions, making for side-tracks420.
poraṇam eva khandhanaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ; “The path that is the condition for nibbana is the
tilakkhaṇarammaṇato, maggo nibbanapaccayo 421. beholding, as of old, of the arising and passing
999. away of the aggregates, with the three
characteristics as object.”
iti maggaṃ amaggañ ca, visodhentassa sijjhati; And purifying the path and non-path in this way,
visuddhi ca maggamaggañaṇadassananamika. for him the purification named “knowing and
1000. beholding of that which constitutes the path and
that which does not” is also accomplished.
tathapara visuddhīnaṃ, udayabbayadassanaṃ; Likewise making the beholding of arising and
adiṃ katva paṭipadañaṇadassananamika. 1001. passing away its starting point, the next of the
purifications is the one named “the knowing and
beholding of the path”.
paccha saṃklesavikkhepavisuddhan422taṃ yatha Purified of its defilement and distraction, the man
415
'pi te: var. ṭhite S, D
416
vikkhepan catimannanto: var. vekkhabujjhati maññanto CS, S, BN, D; paccavekkhati maññanto R; vekkhapaccha
ti
maññanto; Buddhadatta emends to “vikkhepañ ca ti maññanto”
417
pappoti: Buddhadatta emends to “so hoti”
418
The verse has apparently gotten quite garbled in transmission. Comparision with Namar-p v. 1681 is useful: tam
ahaṃkaravikkhitto, assadento mamayati; hotadhimaniko vatha, maññanto tam anuttaraṃ. vikkhitto speaks in
favor of “vikkhepaṃ”; hotadhimaniko does not speak highly in favor of “pappoti adhimaniko”, but the
parallelism between the nibbanaṃ patto 'smi ti of the first line, and the vikkhepaṃ pappoti would seem a
poetically sophisticated choice. Alternatively, attempting to stay closer to the consensus reading, “vekkha bujjha
'ti maññanto”, one might render: “believing, 'having seen (vekkha < vīksya) path and fruit, having awakened
(bujjha), I have reached nibbana'; unwise (akovido) like this, he becomes (so hoti) conceited (adhimaniko)”.
Namar-p 1681, hot'adhimaniko vatha, mannanto tam anuttaram ̣, would seem to offer support for this reading.
419
c'upaklesa: var. t' upaklesa, Buddhadatta. I find the sandhi unlikely.
420
While paripantha means hindrance or side-track, I suspect the -ka suffix is significant, hence my rendering.
421
maggo nibbanapaccayo: var. magganibbanapaccayo, Buddhadatta
422
paccha saṃklesavikkhepavisuddhan: var. pacca saṃklesavikkhepavisuddhan B; paccupaklesa˚, Buddhadatta

381
pure; of intelligence then sets out, just as before, upon
paṭipajjati medhavī, udayabbayadassanaṃ.1002. that path (paṭipajjati) of beholding arising and
passing away;
iti kho 'dayabbayanupassanañaṇavīthiyaṃ; And training in this way in the course of the
sikkhantassaciren' eva, paripakka vipassana.1003. knowledges [starting from] the observation of
arising and passing away423, his discernment soon
becomes fully mature424.
pahayodayavoharaṃ, vayamevadhimuccato. Leaving aside the notion of arising, as he resolves
uppadabhogamohaya, bhangamevanutiṭṭhati.1004. exclusively upon the passing away, abandoning his
idea of production, he attends to dissolution
(bhanga) alone425.
tato nijjharadhara426 'va, cangavarodakaṃ427 viya. And then, seeing how conditioned things (sankhate)
bhijjamanatiṇani 'va, padīpassa428 sikha viya. 1005. fall and pass away, how they break up -- like a
stream of falling water; like water [passing
through] a sieve; like blades of grass breaking
apart429, like the flame of a lamp430 --
423
while otherwise ambiguous, the Abhidh-s parallel makes the exact meaning of the compound clear: <54> tatha
paripanthavimuttassa pana tassa udayabbayañaṇato paṭṭhaya yavanuloma tilakkhaṇaṃ vipassanaparamparaya
paṭipajjantassa nava vipassanañaṇani __paṭipadañaṇadassanavisuddhi_ nama, “And likewise, for the one
released from the side-tracks, who is progressing by way of the successive stages of discernment [of] the three
characteristics, the nine discernment-knowledges, from the knowledge of arising and passing away, up to
conformity, are known as the purification of the knowing and beholding of progress on the path”. Thus vīthi,
here, refers to the “course” of of these nine knowledges. I translate as “royal course” because vīthi also has the
sense of “highway”, with connotations of royal thoroughfare, cf. “rajavīthi”, as well as of “processional circuit”,
cf. the circular roads around temples that are used for the processional circuit of the deity – and I suspect these
connotations may come into play here.
424
Cf. Namar-p 1691-1692.
425
Cf. Namar-p 1695: udayabhogam ohaya, vayant'icc'eva sabbatha; bhedassa bhavam arabbha, dhammesu sati
tiṭṭhati.
abandoning the thought (abhoga) of their arising, [thinking] exclusively, “they are passing away”, his awareness
with regard to dhammas tends entirely toward their state of breaking up. (This passage was presented above in
the discussion of the texts' use of metaphor.)
426
nijjharadhara: var. nijjaradhara BN; nirujjhatabhava R, A.
427
cangavarodakaṃ: em., following Buddhadatta, from gangavarodakaṃ (CS); var. cankavabhedakaṃ R, A;
gangasarodakaṃ S, D; see following notes on Namar-p parallels for discussion.
428
padīpassa: em from paṭipajja (CS, R, BN, B); var. dīpujjala D, S; padipajja A; see following notes fore discussion.
429
cf Namar-p 1700: tiṇaniva hutavahe. Evidently the context, which is rather obscure without the parallel, is that
of blades of grass breaking up (bhijjamana) in a fire.
430
for these metaphors, cf. Namar-p vv. 1697 & 1698 (also discussed above): nijjharo 'va gir'aggamhi, vari
v'oṇatapokkhare; padīpo viya jhāyanto, aragge-r-iva sasapo. atape viya ussavo, parissāve jalaṃ viya;
madditaṃ pheṇapiṇḍaṃ 'va, loṇapiṇḍam ivodake. “[They appear to him] like a waterfall on a mountain peak;
like water on a sloped lotus leaf, like the flame of a lamp, burning; like a mustard seed on the tip of a needle;
like dewdrops in hot sunlight; like water in a strainer; like a lump of foam, crushed; like a lump of salt in
water”. These verses not only illuminate the pm-vm, but virtually rescue the metaphors of the badly corrupted
verse from oblivion. We can confirm our reading of nijjharadhara and padipassa but also the even trickier
cangavarodakaṃ. While cangavara is hardly the same lexical item as parissava, (a standard word for “water
filter”), cangavara is used unambiguously as a synonym for parissava a handful of times in the commentaries
and later literature. It is noteworthy that the word is both rare and of Tamil origin: cf. PED: Cangavāra [cp.

382
patante ca vayante ca, bhijjant' icc eva sankhate; he is said to have the knowledge that derives from
passato tassa bhanganupassanañaṇam īritaṃ. 1006. the observation of dissolution431.
tato bhayanupassana, sabhaya 'ti vipassato; And thereafter, [the knowledge deriving from]
adīnavanupassana-ñaṇaṃ adīnava 'ti ca. 1007. observation with fear, as he discerns (vipassato)
how they are fearsome; and [discerning] how they
are dangerous, that [deriving from] observation of
danger432;
nibbidanupassana ca, nibbindantassa yogino; And the [knowledge deriving from] observation
muccitukamyatañaṇaṃ433, tato muccitum icchato. with disenchantment, as the yogi becomes
1008. disenchanted; and thereafter, the [knowledge
deriving from] the desire to be released 434, as he
wants to be released.
nicca ce na nirujjheyyuṃ435, na badheyyuṃ436 sukha “If they were permanent, they would not cease;
Tamil canguvad̤a a dhoney, Anglo--Ind. d̤oni, a canoe hollowed from a log, see also doṇi] a hollow vessel, a bowl,
cask M I.142; J V.186 (in similes). As °ka Miln 365 (trsl. Miln II.278 by "straining cloth").
431
iritaṃ (< īreti) has two meanings, 1) moved, stirred and 2) uttered. While originally taking the sense of “stirred”
here (“for him that knowledge is stirred”, which accords with usage elsewhere in the text (samudīraṇata
_vayodhatu_, “the air element on account of its nature of moving...); but on comparison with Namar-p v. 1689:
_udayabbayañaṇan_ 'ti, tam īrenti “they call that 'the knowledge of arising and passing away'”, an unambiguous
use of the word in its second sense, I take the speech-related meaning here. Also cf. v. 1014, below.
432
while these two knowledges are dealt with succinctly, together in a single verse, in the Namar-p there is a long,
elaborate section of metaphorical elaboration similar to that presented for bhanga, above, for each of the ten
knowledges. For fear, cf. Namar-p vv. 1705-1712; for adīnava, cf. vv. 1713-1728; for nibbida, cf. 1729-1734.
The Namar-p mentions that the knowledges to some extent recapitulate the three characteristics, representing
progressively deepening and viscerally experienced insight into them: udayabbayabhangesu, pakaṭa hi aniccata;
bhayadīnavanibbede, dukkhatanattata tato. (Namar-p v. 1704) “in the knowledges of arising and passing away
and of dissolution, impermanence becomes manifestly apparent; then, in the knowledges of fear and danger and
disillusion, suffering and not self (respectively)”.
433
muccitukamyatanaṇaṃ: var. muñcitukamyatañaṇaṃ Buddhadatta.
434
cf Namar-p vv. 1735-1745 for the metaphorical elaboration of muccitukamyatañaṇaṃ:
sabhayadīnave disva, sankhare puna paṇḍito. nibbindanto tato tehi, parimuccitum icchati.1735.
mīna 'va kumine baddha, pañjare viya pakkhino. coro carakabaddho 'va, pelayanto 'va pannago.1736.
panke sanno mahanago, cando rahumukhaṃ gato. migo yatha pasagato, tatha saṃsaracarake.1737.
Having seen sankhara-s to be fearsome and dreadful, the wise man thereby becoming disenchanted with them
wishes to be released from them: like fish trapped within a net; like birds, within a cage; like a thief trapped in a
prison; like a serpent, within a basket; Like a great snake sunk in mire, the moon in the jaws of rahu, or a deer
that's been snared – [he sees himself bound] just so in the prison of samsara.
435
nirujjheyyuṃ: em. from nirujjheyya CS, R, B, BN, D. Though nearly all the manuscripts have the singular, I
cannot make sense of a singular subject. Moreover, the same verse with the plural forms appears in the Namar-p:
nicca ce na nirujjheyyuṃ, na badheyyuṃ sukha yadi; vase vatteyyum atta ce, tad abhava na tadisa. (v. 1656, but
in the context of kalapato sammasanaṃ!). Buddhadatta, who noted this problem, was correct in his emendation
of the text to -uṃ, despite the manuscript evidence. The verse appears to derive from the vism formula: sace
sankhārā attā bhaveyyuṃ, attati gahetuṃ vaṭṭeyyuṃ, anatta ca pana attati gahita, tasma te avasavattanaṭṭhena
anattā, hutvā abhāvaṭṭhena aniccā, uppādavayapaṭipīḷanaṭṭhena dukkhāti passato _diṭṭhiugghaṭanaṃ_
nama hoti. sace sankhārā niccā bhaveyyuṃ, niccati gahetuṃ vaṭṭeyyuṃ, … etc.: “If sankhara-s were self, they
would rightly ought to be taken as self; but not being self and yet being taken as self, therefore there is the
destruction of false view for him seeing them in the sense of not being under one's control as not-self, in the
sense of not being, having (formerly) been, as impermanent, and in the sense of constantly oppressing in their
arising and passing away, as pain. If sankhara-s were permanent... etc. (vism 721) (found in its exposition of

383
yadi; they would not cause affliction if they were
vase vatteyyuṃ437 atta ce, tad abhava na te tatha. pleasant; if they were self, they would be in one's
1009. control; in the absence of that, they are not thus:
suṭṭhu muccitum icc evaṃ, paṭisañcikkhato438 tato; “Well it would be to be released [from them]!”:
paṭisankhanupassana-ñaṇaṃ jatan439 ti vuccati. scrutinizing them thus, it is said that for him,
1010. “knowledge [deriving from] observation with (re-
evaluative) reflection” is thereby produced 440.
sadhukaṃ paṭisankhaya, sankharesu tilakkhaṇaṃ441; Having thoroughly reflected upon the three
supariññatasankhare, tath' eva paṭipassati. 1011. characteristics [inherent] in conditioned things, just
so he looks back at the conditioned things now well
and thoroughly comprehended:
anicca dukkhanatta ca, sankhara 'va na caparo; [and reflecting:] “what is impermanent, suffering,
atta va attanīyaṃ va, nahaṃ na tu mama 'ti ca. and not self is only conditioned things; not another,
1012. nor oneself, nor anything one's own; not “I”, and
not “my”, either442”;

sammasanañaṇa).
436
badheyyuṃ: em., as above, from badheyya.
437
vatteyyum: em., as above, from vatteyya.
438
paṭisancikkhato: em. from paṭipaccakkhato: this is the most invasive editing I've carried out on this text; the
manuscripts are unanimous, and there are no known variants, however the word is indisputably a hapax
legomenon and renders no coherent meaning, as far as I can tell (Buddhadatta also inserts a (?) after the word in
his edition, indicating his skepticism about the form). Paccakkhato is of course common, in the sense of “on the
basis of one's own experience” (perhaps influencing the variant janan – see the following note). However, an
additional paṭi- preceding it would seem redundant, and moreover, that makes the form an adverb, rather than a
genitive present participle, which is the desired form in this position. paṭi-paccavekkhato, “for (the yogī) re-
reviewing (them thus)...” would also be viable, and satisfies the context, but proves hypermetrical. On the other
hand, perhaps this would explain how the form got corrupted, dropping the [ve] in an attempt to correct the
meter. In any case, emending to Paṭisancikkhato has the advantage of preserving the initial paṭi- and the final
-kkhato of the manuscript form, not violating the meter, and yielding a meaning which is absolutely appropriate.
Paṭisancikkhati is moreover the intensive of Paṭisankhati, and thus relates perfectly to the context of
Paṭisankhanupassananaṇaṃ.
439
jatan: var. janan BN, A (this variant attests to the ambiguity of the word paṭipaccakkhato).
440
cf. Namar-p vv. 1746-1752 for the elaboration of Paṭisankhanupassanañaṇaṃ:
majjhattagahaṇo tasma, nirapekkhavimuttiya; vaggulīvaphalaṃ rukkhaṃ, vīmaṃsati visesato.1749.
vihataṃ viya kappasaṃ, vihananto punappunaṃ; gandhaṃ viya ca pisento, pisitaṃ yeva sadhukaṃ.1750.
anicca dukkhanatta 'ti, satima susamahito; ahacca paṭivijjhanto, lakkhaṇani vipassati.1751.
His grasp thereby indifferent, without anticipation of liberation, he investigates thoroughly, like a bat a fruitless
tree;
as if combing cotton already combed, as if grinding again and again [sandal] powder that's been thoroughly
ground,
concentrated with the awareness, “anicca”, “dukkha”, and “anatta”, he brings to bear and discerns the three
characteristics, penetrating to realization.
441
Whereas the of the previous ñaṇaṃ is characterized by there being the desire for release (muñcitukamata), the
application of the three characteristics to the sankhara-s through this [Paṭisañkhanupassana] ñaṇaṃ
(paṭisankhanupassanañaṇena sankharesu tilakkhaṇaropanaṃ) is likened to the muncanassa upayakaraṇaṃ, the
creation of a means of release (vism 758).
442
The confusing syntax of this verse becomes clear in the light of Namar-p v. 1757: ahaṃ maman 'ti voharo, paro
vatha parassa va; atta va attanīyaṃ va, vatthuto natthi katthaci.: ““I” and “mine” is a [mere] convention; in

384
tato 'va tattha majjhatto, nandiragavinissaṭo; and thereby indifferent toward them, emerging
attattaniy' abhavena443, sankhare svajjhupekkhati444. from enjoying and desiring (nandiraga) [them], he
1013. looks equanimously445 upon conditioned things
without a sense of [them as] self or as one's own.
sankharupekkhasankhataṃ ñaṇaṃ tassa itīritaṃ 446; He is said to have the knowledge reckoned 447
tato vuṭṭhanaghaṭitaṃ, anuloman ti vuccati. 1014. “equanimity toward [all] conditioned things”448;
and thereafter, when connected with
emergence449450, it is called [knowledge] “that
conforms” [with the noble truths].
supariññatasankhare, susammaṭṭhatilakkhaṇe; Looking equanimously upon the conditioned
upekkhantassa tass' eva, sikhapatta vipassana. things, now well and thoroughly comprehended,
1015. their three characteristics well and thoroughly
contemplated451, that yogi's insight is arrived now at
its summit452.

reality, there is nowhere any “self” or thing “belonging to oneself”, no “other” or any “other's”.
443
It appears that the last syllable of attaniya- has been elided causa metri. The fifth syllable of Anurudda's meter is
invariably hrasva. Semantically, moreover, reading attattaniya-bhavena does not make sense. On the other hand,
there appears to be a sort of parallel in Namar-p v. 1753, where we find yathabhutasabhavena in the same
position: iti samma vipassanto, sacchikatva tilakkhaṇaṃ; yathabhutasabhavena, tatth' evam anupassati. “having
witnessed and rightly discerning the three characteristics, according to the nature of things as they really are, he
observes therein:...” (Namar-p v. 1753) which might suggest that there was originally a sa- between the two,
(either hypermetrical, or else demanding the reading attattan(i)yasabhavena). The awkward sv- between sankhare
and ajjhupekkhati also recalls this (perhaps) lost syllable (and might represent the poetic echoing of it, supposing
it was there). The rationale for its presence of the sv- before ajjhupekkhati is likely that “sankhare ajjhupekkhati”
is in fact a quote deriving from Paṭis: te sankhare ajjhupekkhatiti sankharupekkha (Paṭis I 54). Here I take the
simplest reading, which is simply the elision of the final vowel of attaniya, for the sake of the meter.
444
The verse evidently reworks material from vism 766: evaṃ suññato disva tilakkhaṇaṃ aropetva sankhare
pariggaṇhanto
bhayañ ca nandiñ ca vippahaya sankharesu udasīno ahosi; majjhatto ahan ti va maman ti va na gaṇhati
vissaṭṭhabhariyo viya puriso: “Having thus seen them as devoid (of selfhood), apprehending sankhara-s having
applied the three characteristics to them, having abandoned both fear and delight, he has become disaffected with
regard to the sankhara-s; indifferent, he does not take them as either “I” or “mine”, like the man who has
dismissed his wife. The vism goes on to relate the story of the man who dearly loved his wife and could not bear
to be without her, becoming angry and displeased any time he would observe her in the company of, or speaking
with, or smiling at other men; however, after some time having found fault with her, he dismissed her and
severed all relationship with her, and thereafter no longer became angry or upset on account of her, do what she
may with anyone. The Namar-p includes a reference to the dismissed wife in its exposition of
sankhar'upekkhañaṇaṃ: tattha muttakarīsaṃ 'va, khelapiṇḍaṃ va ujjhitaṃ; vissaṭṭhaparaputtaṃ va,
vissaṭṭhabhariyaṃ viya. [He looks upon them like:] offal matter, or a lump of spittle cast down, or the
dismissed child of another (conflated with one's own cf. vism XXI 100-101) or a dismissed wife” (Namar-p v.
1767).
445
the sv- most likely represents the upasagga su- “well” (see the note above), but could perhaps alternatively
represent a sandhi of the pronoun “so”.
446
tassa itiritaṃ: var. tassam itīritaṃ R, BN, B; tassa udīritaṃ A. Buddhadatta emends to: taṃ samudīritaṃ. I take
the text as it appears in CS, though Buddhadatta's emendation also appears viable, and is perhaps suggested by
the corrupt variants. samudīritaṃ also occurs in the text at least once, also without an iti, and multiple times in
the Namar-p. According to that reading: “That knowledge is known as 'equanimity toward sankharas'”.
447
(saṃ + khya)

385
sankharadhamme arabbha, tavakalaṃ pavattati; It proceeds with reference to conditioned things 453
tīradassī 'va sakuṇo, yava paraṃ na passati. 1016. until such time as, like the bird that has seen land 454,
it sees the far shore.
yada passati nibbanaṃ, vuṭṭhanaghaṭita455 tada; When it sees nibbana, it is [discernment] connected
vuṭṭhanagaminī nama, sanuloma pavuccati. 1017 with emergence, termed “conforming" [to the noble
truths]” and “leading to emergence”.
iti dvīhi visuddhīhi, visuddhaya vipassato; And discerning with discernment thus purified by
vipassanapaṭipadaṃ, pūretī 'ti pavuccatī 'ti. 1018 these two purifications, his progress on the path of
insight is said to be complete.

448
cf. Namar-p vv. 1753-1764. Many of the verses in this section were translated above in connection with the
discussion of metaphors for anatta.
449
vuṭṭhanaghaṭitaṃ knowledge that has gotten “connected with emergence”: see ref. to “vuṭṭhanagaminī vipassana
in following note.
450
the commentaries explain that the distinctions between this knowledge (sankharupekkha) and the two previous
knowledges (muñcitukamyata and paṭisankhanupassana) are only a commentarial tradition, whereas the
canonical texts regard them all as sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ (vism 778 and 781, citing Paṭis I 227). Thus, the
structure of the last few knowledge, as we have seen, can be reduced to a visceral grasping of the three
characteristics (anicca with 2 and 3; dukkha with 4 and 5; anatta with 6, as has been pointed out above) and the
emergence of equanimity in the face of them (with 7, 8, and 9).
451
< sammasati, a standard form for Anuruddha, though not in the PED (usually occurring as sammasita).
452
At the stage of sankhar'upekkha, discernment is metaphorically referred to as sikhapatta (attained to its summit).
The usage apparently comes down from the earliest commentaries, attributed to the poraṇa-s in vism (vism 778).
The term is used interchangeably with vuṭṭhanagamini, “leading to emergence”, “emergence” explained as
indicating “path” (magga) due to the transcendental path's entailing emergence both from continued occurrence
(pavatta), in terms of the perceiver (ajjhatta), and from the clung-to basis (abhiniviṭṭhavatthu), in the form of the
manifest object (nimitta), in terms of the perceived (bahiddha). Discernment is called “leading to emergence”
because it leads to that path, ie. it gets connected with the path (maggena saddhiṃ ghaṭiyatī ti attho) (vism 782).
The Namar-p also refers to the two aspects of sankhara-s, pavatta and nimitta, upon which he reflects and
becomes equanimous: pavattañ ca nimittañ ca, paṭisankhayupekkhato... (v. 1768). Soon after, it refers to them
again as absent in nibbana: appavattam animittaṃ, passanto pana santato; pakkhī 'va nipphalaṃ rukkhaṃ,
hitva vuṭṭhati sankhata. “But seeing as peaceful that which is without occurrence and without manifest object, he
sets aside and emerges from the conditioned, like a bird a fruitless tree” (Namar-p v. 1775).
453
“sankharadhamma-s” (lit. sankhara-dhamma-s: volitional formation phenomena): the phrase appears somewhat
odd, but is well attested across Anuruddha's texts. Often, one finds “sankhatadhamma” in this usage (lit.
compounded or conditioned things – dhamma, in its widest sense). Cf. Namar-p, in the same context: pavattañ ca
nimittañ ca, paṭisankhay' upekkhato; sabbasankhāradhammesu, gatiyonibhavesu va. for him having reflected
upon and regarding equanimously both the continued occurrence and manifest object with reference to all
conditional things, or destinies of rebirth, wombs, and existences, … (v. 1768). In contrast, nibbana is described
as asankharam: ajaramaram accantaṃ, asankhāram anasavaṃ; sabbadukkhakkhayaṃ ṭhanaṃ nibbanam
abhikankhati. He yearns for the place that is ageless and deathless, the absolute, the unconditional
(asankharaṃ), the undefiled; the place where all suffering comes to an end” (Namar-p 1773). The Abhidh-s also
employs the term while describing the attainment of nirodha-samapatti, which entails emerging from a formless
jhana, and discerning as and when they arise (tattha tatth'eva vipassanto) the conditional phenomena that
compose it (tattha gate sankhāradhamme) (Abhidh-s 73).
454
The Namar-p also uses the metaphor in this context: vuṭṭhanagaminī cayaṃ, sikhappatta vipassana;
sakuṇī tīradassī'va, _sanuloma_ pavattati. And this discernment, attained to its peak, occurs with conformity
when leading to emergence, like a land-spying bird (Namar-p 1774). This standard metaphor of the mast crow -
a sort of predecessor to the modern compass - is explained in full in the Visuddhimagga: taṃ pan' etaṃ sace
santipadaṃ nibbanaṃ santato passati, sabbaṃ sankharappavattaṃ vissajjetva nibbanam eva pakkhandati. no ce

386
 iti nibbanavibhage vipassanavuddhikatha niṭṭhita. The account of the growth of insight in the section
on nibbana is complete.

pancavisatimo paricchedo. [Here ends] the twenty-fifth chapter.

Chapter 26: The Account of the Purification of Emergence

Chapter twenty-six corresponds in major part to Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), ch. 13, treating
the fruits of liberation, but begins with an account of the process of emergence from the field of
conditioned things to the unconditioned (nibbana), with the attainment of liberation as the culmination of
the insight process described in the previous chapter. Having treated the attainment of cessation already in
the citta-visuddhi chapter (23), it does not end on this note, as the Manual of Discerning (Namar-p), but is
free to focus on the soteriological stages and the path's culmination in these and in nibbana. Thus the
analyses of the seven and eight noble persons are treated, and the involved coordincation of the seven
persons rubric with the two manners of yoking insight (vipassana-dhura-s, i.e., via faith or wisdom), the
correspondence of these to the three characteristics, and the attainment of liberation via the three
gateways of liberation (vimokkhadvaraṇi), corresponding likewise to the three characteristics. Path
consciousness is described in its functions of fulfilling the respective tasks of the noble truths in the
moment of its occurrence, and as eradicating the fetters (saṃyojana-s) and defilements (kilesa-s) of the
respective paths. The distinctions of yana, i.e., whether taking tranquility or insight as one's "vehicle", are
likewise taken up, the arahant "liberated on both sides" (ubhatobhagavimutto) held up as the exalted
ideal. The chapter is framed as a treatment of the final stage of purification, that of the knowing and
beholding of nibbana (the object of the "path consciousness" arrived at in this stage), and it is in this way,
the work concludes, that the path theory treated over the course of these four chapters culminates in
nibbana:

chabbisuddhikamen' evaṃ, sabbathāya visuddhiyā.

sattamāyānupattabbaṃ, nibbānan3 'ti pavuccati. 1053

nibbanaṃ santato passati, punappunaṃ sankhararammaṇam eva hutva pavattati samuddikanaṃ disakako viya.
samuddika kira vaṇijaka navaṃ arohanta disakakaṃ nama gaṇhanti; te yada nava vatakkhitta videsaṃ
pakkhandati, tīraṃ na paññayati, tada disakakaṃ vissajjenti. so kūpakayaṭṭhito akasaṃ langhitva sabba disa ca
vidisa ca anugantva sace tīraṃ passati, tadabhimukho 'va gacchati. no ce passati, punappunaṃ agantva
kūpakayaṭṭhiṃ yeva allīyati. evam eva sace sankharupekkhañaṇaṃ santipadaṃ nibbanaṃ santato passati,
sabbaṃ sankharappavattaṃ vissajjetva nibbanam eva pakkhandati. no ce passati, punappunaṃ
sankhararammaṇam eva hutva pavattati: “If it sees this locus of quiescence, nibbana, as quiescent, [the mind]
dismisses all that which is instigated by sankhara-s and leaps into nibbana; if it does not see nibbana as
quiescent, it carries on coming about again and again with conditioned things as its object, like the mariners'
compass-crow. For marine merchants, boarding their ship, take with them what is called a compass-crow; when
their ship, tossed by the winds, leaps out of sight of land, and the shore can't be seen, they release the compass-
crow. Sitting upon the mast-pole, it leaps into the sky and going in all the directions and intermediate directions,
if it sees the shore, it goes toward it. If it doesn't see it, it returns again and again and perches on the mast-pole.
Just so, if the knowledge of equanimity toward sankhara-s sees the locus of quiescence, nibbana, as quiescence,
it dismisses all continued occurrence of sankhara-s and leaps into nibbana; if it doesn't see it, it continues to
occur again and again, taking sankhara-s as its object (vism 767).
455
vuṭṭhanaghaṭita: em., with Buddhadatta, from vuṭṭhanagahita (CS).

387
 It is said that via the sequence of the six purifications, in this way,
with the complete purification of the seventh, that at which one arrives is nibbana:

klesakkhayakaraṃ tāṇaṃ, saṃsārātikkamaṃ paraṃ.

pārimaṃ tīram abhayaṃ, sabbasankhāranissaṭaṃ. 1054

the shelter that confers the defilements' destruction; the supreme transcendence of saṃsara;
the far shore free from danger; emerged from all conditioned things.

paramatthavinicchaya The Decisive Treatment of the Abhidhamma

Ultimates
26. vuṭṭhānavisuddhikathā Chapter 26: The Account of the Purification of
Emergence

tass' evaṃ paṭipannassa, sikhapatta vipassana. Practicing in this way, his insight is attained to its
vuṭṭhanagaminī nama, yada hoti tada pana. 1019 summit. When it is termed “(insight) leading to
emergence”:
parikammopacaranulomagotrabhuto paraṃ. then, following preparatory, access, conforming;
maggo tato phalaṃ hoti, bhavanga paccavekkhaṇa. and change-of-lineage (consciousness), there
1020 comes about path (consciousness), and then fruition
(consciousness), and (instances of) bhavanga
(consciousness) and reviewing (consciousness);
parikammopacaranulomasankhatagocara. From the field reckoned preparatory, access, and
maggass' avajjanaṃ hutva, nibbane hoti gotrabhu. conforming [consciousnesses], there comes about
1021 change-of-lineage (consciousness), with the path's
adverting to nibbana (as its object).
catutthaṃ pañcamaṃ va 'tha, chaṭṭhaṃ va pi Then, as the fourth, fifth, or sixth javana, as the
yatharahaṃ. case may be, the javana of path-consciousness is
appeti maggajavanaṃ, nibbane sakim eva taṃ. entered into in absorption on nibbana -- that, a
1022. single javana alone.
tato phalani tīṇi dve, ekaṃ va 'tha yathakkamaṃ. Then, three, two, or one (instances of) fruition
maggavasesanirodhamaggavuṭṭhanavīthiyaṃ. 1023. (consciousness), as per the sequence that pertains
to the cognitive sequences of emergence via path
consciousness, the remaining (higher) paths, and
cessation.
tato bhavangapato 'va, taṃ chetva paccavekkhaṇa. Then there is subsiding into bhavanga
tisso pañcavidha honti, yathayogaṃ tatha hi ca. (consciousness), and interrupting that, and three
1024 (instances) of reviewing (consciousness), of five
kinds, as the case may be.
maggaṃ phalañ ca nibbanaṃ, avassaṃ It reviews path and fruition, and nibbana,
paccavekkhati. invariably, and may or may not review the
hīne kilese sese ca, paccavekkhati va na va. 1025 defilements abandoned (hine) and those remaining.
tato ca puna sankhare, vipassanto yatha pure. And after that, seeing conditioned things with

388
appeti anupubbena, sesamaggaphalani ca. 1026 wisdom, as before, he enters into the remaining
paths and fruits, one by one, in order.
tattha vuccanti nibbana-phalamaggavipassana. The insights (vipassana-s), in that regard, that are
suññata canimitta ca, tathapaṇihitani ca. 1027 the paths to nibbana and its fruits are termed (the
discernment of): “emptiness”, “the signless”, and
“the uninclined”.
suññatavipassanadinamena hi vipassati. For the wisdom it sees with is called “insight into
vimokkhamukhabhūta 'ti, tividha bhajita tatha. emptiness”, etc, and is divided into three
1028 accordingly as it becomes the respective entrance
to liberation.
suññatadikanamena, vimokkha tividha mata. The liberations are likewise held to be of three
nibbanaphalamagga ca, samapattisamadhayo. 1029 kinds, with the names “(liberation via) emptiness”,
etc., and (these are) the attainment-samadhi-s that
are the paths to nibbana and its fruits.
tatth' eva paṭhamabhūmiṃ, patto ariyapuggalo. And in that regard, a noble individual attained to
sattakkhattuparamo so, sotapanno 'ti vuccati. 1030 the first stage (of liberation), with (rebirth) seven
times at most, is termed a sotapanna ("stream-
enterer");
patto dutiyabhūmiñ ca, sakadagaminamako. And one attained to the second stage is called a
sakim eva imaṃ lokaṃ, aganta456 hoti manusaṃ. sakadagami ("once-returner"): one who returns but
1031 once to this human world.
patto tatiyabhūmiñ ca, anagamī 'ti vuccati. And one attained to the third stage is called an
brahmaloka anaganta457, idha kamopapattiya.1032 anagami ("non-returner"): one who does not return
brahmaloka, through rebirth here, within the sense-
sphere realm.
patto catutthabhūmiñ ca, araha aggapuggalo. And one attained to the fourth stage is an arahant (a
diṭṭhe 'va dhamme dukkhaggiṃ, nibbapetī 'ti "worthy one"), the foremost [noble] individual, and
vuccati. 1033 is said to, in this very life, put out the fire of
suffering.
iti maggaphalaṭṭhanaṃ vasa ariyapuggala. And these noble ones make eight noble individuals,
dvidha pi catudha yuga458, aṭṭha honti vibhagato. by way of their division in four pairs, each two-fold
1034 by way of their being situated on the path or in the
fruit.
ubhatobhagavimutta-vibhagadivasa pana. But these make seven, when divided by way of the
vibhatta honti satt' ete, yathayogaṃ tatha hi ca. divisions of (the arahant) "liberated in both-ways",
1035 and so forth, as the case may be. And just so:
saddhadhurassaniccato, vuṭṭhanaṃ dukkhato 'pi ca. The wise explain that the emergence of one who
paññadhurassanattato, iti dīpenti paṇḍita. 1036 yokes (insight) by faith is via the anicca, or the
dukkha characteristic; and the emergence of one
who yokes by wisdom is via the anatta

456
em. following Ee from agantva (Be).
457
em. following Ee from anagantva (Be).
458
em. following Ee from yugga (Be).

389
 characteristic.
saddhanusari adimhi, majjhe saddhavimuttako. Therefore one who yokes by faith would be
ante paññavimutto ca459, tasma saddhadhuro siya. [termed] “one who proceeds by faith” at the
1037 beginning; one “liberated by faith” in the middle,
and one “liberated by wisdom” at the end.460
dhammanusari adimhi, diṭṭhippatto tato 'pari. And one who yokes by wisdom is [termed] “one
ante paññavimutto 'va, hoti paññadhuro pi ca. 1038 who proceeds by dhamma” at the beginning, one
“attained to right view” in the stages after that; and
one “liberated by wisdom” at the end.
samathayanika c'eva, rūpanuttarapadaka. There are samatha-yanika-s, who make tranquillity
vipassanayanika ca, sabbe sukkhavipassaka. 1039 their vehicle, and the form jhana-s their basis for
(penetrating to) the transcendental; and there are
vipassana-yanika-s, who make insight alone their
vehicle -- all these “dry insight” practitioners
(sukkha-vipassaka-s).
dhuravuṭṭhanabhedena, honti pañc' eva sabbatha. Those who make the formless (attainments) their
aruppapadaka capi, adimhi duvidha tatha. 1040 basis (for cultivating insight), are five, altogether,
according to the dividing of their mode of yoking it
and their emergence: at the beginning they are of
the same two kinds (viz., saddhanusari or
dhammanusari);
chasu ṭhanesu majjhake461, kayasakkhī 'ti bhajita. In the middle six stations, they are classed as
ubhatobhagavimutto, arahatte patiṭṭhito462. 1041 “bodily-witnesses”. And, established in arahatship,
they are “liberated both ways”
(ubhatobhagavimutta).
itthaṃ vuttayanadhura-vuṭṭhananaṃ vibhagato. The seven and eight noble individuals, and the
maggaphalabhūmiyo463 ca, sattaṭṭhariyapuggala. stages of path and fruits, are (classified) as thus
1042 stated, according to the division of their vehicle,
mode of yoking, and emergence.
tattha canuttarañaṇaṃ, saccanaṃ paṭivedhakaṃ. And in that regard, the transcendental knowledge
samucchedappahanena, klesanusayasodhanaṃ. that penetrates the noble truths, and cleanses of
1043 defilement and its latency by the abandoning of
total extirpation
catumaggavibhagena, vuṭṭhanan 'ti pakittitaṃ. is celebrated as “emergence”, with its division into
ñaṇadassanavisuddhi, nama hoti tatha pi ca. 1044 four noble paths, and is what called the

459
em. following Ee from va (Be).
460
“Beginning” here refers to the attainment of the path of stream-entry; “middle” refers to the following six
attainments, from the fruit of stream-entry until the path of arahatship. “End” refers to the fruit of arahatship.
These distinctions suggest a long-durée conception of the path somewhat at odds with the abhidhammic
framework (which understands path and fruit as contiguous mind-moments, doing away with the long durée
notion of the path).
461
var. majjhatto (Ee).
462
var. bhasito (Ee).
463
em. following Ee from maggapphalabhumiyo (Be).

390
 “purification of knowing and beholding”.
464
maggo ca parijanati, dukkhaṃ tebhūmakaṃ And path (consciousness) fully comprehends the
tatha. suffering that characterizes conditioned things of
yathayogaṃ pajahati, taṇhasamudayam pi ca. 1045 all three realms of existence. And it likewise
accordingly abandons the desire (taṇha) that gives
rise to it.
nirodhaṃ sacchikaroti, maggasaccam anuttaraṃ. It witnesses cessation; and set out on the course of
bhavanavīthim otiṇṇo, bhavetī 'ti pavuccati. 1046 cultivation, it's said it cultivates the noble truth of
the transcendental path to this.
diṭṭhiggatavicikiccha-sīlabbatam465 asesato. The path of stream-entry, the first stage of
apayagamanīyañ ca, ragadosadikattayaṃ. 1047 awakening, abandons wrong view (i.e.,
sakkayadiṭṭhi: “personality belief”), doubt
& (vikiccha), and [attachment that inheres in] vows
and precepts (silabbataparamasa) without
tadekaṭṭhe kilese ca, sahajatappahanato.
pajahati sotapatti-maggo paṭhamabhūmiko. 1048 remainder. And such craving, aversion, and
delusion [as is] liable to lead to (rebirth in) the
lower worlds; and the defilements bound up with
those, by way of the abandoning of what is co-
nascent.
tadekaṭṭhe pajahati, ragadosadike pi ca. The path of the once-returner, for its part, the
thūle tu sakadagami-maggo466 dutiyabhūmiko. 1049 second stage of awakening, abandons gross
craving, aversion, and delusion, and the
defilements bound up with those.
pajahati anagami-maggo niravasesato. The path of the non-returner abandons without
kamaragabyapade ca, tadekaṭṭhe ca sambhava. remainder craving (kamaraga) and aversion
1050 (byapada) (pertaining to sense-sphere existence)
and the defilements bound up with them from
being given rise to by them.
rūparūparagamanuddhaccavijja 'ti pañcakaṃ. The foremost path (of arahatship) abandons the five
aggamaggo pajahati, klese sese ca sabbatha. 1051 (fetters) craving pertaining to form and formless
spheres; conceit; agitation; and ignorance -- and
any remaining defilements, completely.
iti saccapaṭivedhaṃ, klesakkhayaphalavahaṃ. The wise explain the seventh purification, the
maggañaṇaṃ pakasenti, visuddhiṃ sattamaṃ “knowledge of the path” as penetrating in this way
budha. 1052 the noble truths and bringing as its fruit the
defilements' destruction.
chabbisuddhikamen' evaṃ467, sabbathaya468 It is said that via the sequence of the six
visuddhiya. purifications, in this way, with the complete
sattamayanupattabbaṃ, nibbanan469 'ti pavuccati. purification of the seventh, that at which one
464
var. 'va (Ee).
465
var. diṭṭhigataṃ vicikicchaṃ silabbatam (Ee).
466
var. sakadagami-maggo (Ee).
467
var. eva (Ee).
468
vars. pattabbaya; sattatthaya (Ee).

391
1053 arrives is nibbana:
klesakkhayakaraṃ taṇaṃ, saṃsaratikkamaṃ the shelter that confers the defilements' destruction;
paraṃ. the supreme transcendence of saṃsara; the far
parimaṃ tīram abhayaṃ, sabbasankharanissaṭaṃ. shore free from danger; emerged from all
1054 conditioned things.
tena madanimmadanaṃ470, pipasavinayadina. By it, with its removal of thirst, etc., the opposite of
klesasaṃsarasankhara-paṭipakkhanidassitaṃ. 1055 the defilements, saṃsara, and conditioned things is
shown, and the sobering of all intoxication.
ajaramaram accantam anuppadam asankhataṃ. It is the unaging and undying, and all-surpassing
anuttaram asankharaṃ, anantam atulañ ca taṃ. unarising, and the unconditioned; it is the peerless
1056 place of no conditioned things, endless and
unequaled, that.
paramattham anopammaṃ, santi appaṭimaṃ It is the incomparable ultimate existent; peace, and
sukhaṃ. happiness that has no like. It is the noble truth of
nirodhasaccaṃ nibbanaṃ471, ekantaṃ amataṃ cessation, and nibbana's quenching, definitive site
padaṃ. 1057 of the deathless.
sopadisesanibbana-dhatu c'eva tatha 'para. It is of two kinds, by way of explanation: nibbana-
anupadisesa ceti, duvidha pariyayato. 1058 dhatu with substrate remaining; and likewise that
without substrate remaining.
suññataṃ canimittañ ca, tathapaṇihitan 'ti ca. And it is classified in three ways according to the
attadigahabhavena, tividha pi ca bhajitaṃ. 1059 absence of being taken to be self, etc.: as
emptiness, and as the signless, and as the
uninclined.
klesasaṃsarasankhara-paccanīkavibhagato472. And in many ways, as well, is it referred to:
bhavakkhayadibhedehi, bahudha pi pavuccati. 1060 according to the various classifications of it as the
ending of existence, etc. according to its being
divided into the counter-agent of the defilements,
or of saṃsara, or of conditioned things.
tad evam accutaṃ dhammaṃ, lokuttaram akalikaṃ. That transcendent, timeless, and undying dhamma,
vanabhava vanatītaṃ473, "nibbanan" 'ti pakittitaṃ. thus, beyond desire (vana), from desire's absence,
1061 is celebrated as “nibbana”.
iti nibbanavibhage vuṭṭhanavisuddhikatha niṭṭhita. The account of the purification of emergence in the
section on nibbana is complete.
chabbīsatimo paricchedo. [Here ends] the twenty-seventh section.

niṭṭhito ca sabbatha pi nibbanavibhago. The section on nibbana is entirely complete as well.

469
var. nibbaṇa (Ee).
470
em. following Ee from tenammadanimmadanaṃ (Be).
471
em following Ee from nirodhasaccanibbanaṃ (Be). Ee reads nibbaṇa.
472
var. -paccanika˚ (Ee).
473
em. following Ee from vanatito (Be).

392
393
 ABBREVIATIONS

Be Burmese edition
Ee English edition
em. emended
var. variant

HPL Handbook of Pali Literature (Hinuber 1996)

PED Pali English Dictionary (Pali Text Society)

AN Anguttaranikaya
MN Majjhimanikaya
DN Dīghanikaya
KN Khuddakanikaya
SN Saṃyuttanikaya

-a aṭṭhakatha (commentary)
Abhidh-av Abhidhammavatara
Abhidh-s Abhidhammatthasangaha
cv Cūlavaṃsa
Ja Jataka
Khuddas-pṭ Khuddasikhapuraṇaṭīka
Khuddas-aṭ Khuddasikhaabhinavaṭīka
Moh Mohavicchedanī
Namar-p Namarūpapariccheda
Paṭis-m Paṭisambhidamagga
Pm-vn Paramatthavinicchaya
Sn Suttanipata
Vin-vn Vinayavinicchaya
Vism Visuddhimagga

394
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