No More Learning

It is for three reasons that the saint combines his Dhyanas: (1)
the Anagamin of sharp faculties, with a view to a rebirth among
264
the Suddhavasas and with a view to happiness in this life; the
Anagamin of weak faculties, also through fear of the defilements, so that he may avoid falling away by holding the absorption of disgust at a distance (viii. 6); (2) the Arhat of sharp faculties, with a view to happiness here below; the Arhat of weak faculties, also through fear of the defilements, so that he may avoid falling away.
? 265 Why are there five types of birth among the Suddhavasas?
The cultivation of the combination of the Fourth Dhyana, described above,
43a-b. As it is fivefold, there are five births or types of existence among the Suddhavasas.
The cultivation of the combination is fivefold, weak, medium, strong, stronger, and strongest.
266 pure, one impure, and one pure; in the second cultivation, six
In the weak cultivation, one calls up three thoughts,
The five births are, in this order, the result of these five cultivations. They are produced by the force of the impure moments included in these cultivations.
268
According to others, the five births take place by reason of
the predominance of the different faculties: Avrhas, by the predominance of faith . . . Akanisthas by the predominance of prajUd.
43c-d. The Anagamin who has acquired extinction is
269 considered a Kayasaksin.
One who is in possession of the absorption of extinction (samjndveditanirodhasamdpatti) is called one who has acquired extinction.
As the Anagamin, whichever one he may be, has acquired extinction--as he has, in his body, seen the absence of thought and immediately experienced (sdksdtkaroti) a dharma similar to
267
nine, twelve, and fifteen thoughts.
thoughts;
in the third, the fourth, and the fifth cultivations,
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Nirvana, namely the Absorption of Extinction--he is called a Kayasaksin, a bodily witness.
How does he immediately experience by the body alone?
Because, in the absence of thought, this immediate perception takes place dependent on the body. [Such is the theory of the Vaibhasikas. ]
But this is how the Sautrantikas would explain this. When the saint leaves the Absorption of Extinction, from the moment when he thinks, "Oh! This absorption of extinction is calm like Nirvana! **, he acquires a calmness of his conscious body [that is, of the body in which the consciousness has arisen again] never previously acquired. In this way, he directly perceives by the body the calmness [of extinction], and this by two acts of perception: in the first, during the absorption there is the acquisition (prdpti) of a body conforming to the extinction, and in the second, upon leaving the absorption, there is a consciousness which becomes conscious of the state of the body. Perception or experience, saksatkriya, is the fact of making present (pratyakstkdra). There is saksatkriya when one ascertains the calmness of the body which has again become conscious; and, from this ascertaining, it results that this
270 calmness has been acquired while the body was non-conscious.
271 According to the Sutra, there are eighteen Saiksas. Why is
not the Kayasaksin mentioned as one of the types of Saiksa?
Because the quality of Kayasaksin is not one of the causes of the quality of Saiksa.
What are the causes of this second quality?
They are the three siksas, learnings or disciplines, adhisilam,
212
adhicittam, and adhiprajndm, which constitute the Path, and
the result of these three fiksas, namely disconnection (i. 6a, ii. 55d).
It is by reason of the diversity of the siksas and of their result that
one distinguishes the Saiksas. Now the Absorption of Extinction is
not a fiksa, not being a path of abandoning, nor a result of siksa,
273
not being disconnection. Consequently a saint, merely by virtue
? of the fact that he possesses the Absorption of Extinction, is not called a type of &aiksa.
***
We have roughly enumerated the Anagamins: "There are five who go to Rupadhatu," "another, who goes to Artipyadhatu, is of four types; another obtains Nirvana here" (vi. 38c-d); but, in greater detail, one arrives at a higher number as an examination of one type of Anagamin, the first type, the Anagamin who obtains Nirvana in the intermediate state (Antaraparinirvayin) will show.
The Antaraparinirvayin is (1) from the point of view of his faculties, of three types, of sharp, medium, and weak faculties; (2) from the point of view of his sphere (bhumi), of four types, accordingly as he has for his support a certain Dhyana [this refers to an Anagamin who goes to Rupadhatu]; (3) from the point of view of his family (gotra), of six types: a Parihanadharman (one who can fall away), a Cetanadharman (one who can, at will, put an end to his existence), a Anuraksanadharman (one who can preserve himself), a Sthitakampya (one who cherishes deliver- ance), a Prativedhanadharman (one who can penetrate the state of Arhat at will), and an Akopyadharman (one who has immovable deliverance of mind) (vi. 57c-d); (4) from the point of view of place, of six types: the places towards which he shall enter as an
274
intermediate being, are the sixteen heavens, from the Brahma-
kayikas to the Akanisthas; (5) from the point of view of his detachment from the different spheres, of thirty-six types: the Antaraparinirvayin can be 1. bound by all the bonds of Rupadhatu; 2-9. he can be detached from one category. . . from eight categories of defilements of the First Dhyana; 10. he can be bound by all the bonds of the Second Dhyana . . . We thus have four groups of nine Antaraparinirvayins.
We do not count the saint delivered from the ninth category of defilements of the Fourth Dhyana, who is bound by all the bonds of Arupyadhatu: since this refers to the Antaraparinirvayin, and so
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to an Anagamin "who goes to Rupadhatu," since intermediate existence does not exist above Rupadhatu.
Therefore, by taking into consideration the different distinc- tions of place, gotras, detachment, and faculties, one obtains the total of 2,592 types of Antaraparinirvayins.
For each place [for example Brahmapurohita], there are six gotras. For each of these gotras, there are nine saints: one who is bound by all the bonds . . . and one who is detached from the bonds with respect to the eight categories of defilements: this makes six groups of nines, or fifty-four. If one multiplies this number by the number of places, that is, by sixteen, then we have eight hundred and sixty-four. By taking into consideration the difference in their faculties, that is, three times eight hundred and sixty-four, we then have two thousand five hundred and ninty-two.
With a view to obtaining a uniform distribution of nine saints through Dhyana, the saint who is detached from the ninth category of a lower Dhyana is considered to be bound by all the bonds of a higher Dhyana.
As for the Antaraparinirvayin, so too for the others, the Upapadyaparinirvayin . . . and the tJrdhvasrotas. We have therefore, for the Anagamins who go to Rupadhatu, five times two thousand five hundred and ninty-two for a total of twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty. In this same way one could calculate the number of types of Anagamins who go to Arupyadhatu.
44a-b. Up to the moment when he destroys the eighth part of Bhavagra, he is a candidate for the quality of Arhat.
We are speaking of the Anagamin. From the moment when he is detached from the first category of the defilements of the First Dhyana, up to the moment when he abandons the eighth category of the defilements of Bhavagra (=Naivasamjnanasamjnayatana), the Anagamin is a candidate for the state of Arhat.
? 44c. Also in the ninth path of abandoning.
In the path of abandoning (=the Irresistible Path, iv. 28a) which brings about the abandoning of the ninth category of defilements of Bhavagra, he is again a candidate for the state of Arhat.
275 44d. This path is similar to a diamond.
This ninth path, which breaks all of the latent defilements (anusayas) is called the absorption similar to a diamond (Vajro- pamasamadhi). In truth, it does not break all of the latent defilements because many are already broken: but it has the power to break all of them, being the most powerful of all the paths of abandoning (=the Irresistible Path).
***
There are many types of Vajropamasamadhi.
The ascetic can produce it by entering into the different states of absorption in any one of the nine stages, anagamya, dhyanan- tara, the Four Dhyanas, or three Arupyas.
216
i. Produced in anagamya, there are eight Vajropamasamad-
his associated with each of the four aspects of the Consecutive Knowledge of suffering and with each of the four aspects of the Consecutive Knowledge of origin, these Consecutive Knowledges bearing respectively on suffering and origin in Bhavagra (vii. l3a).
Eight Vajropamasamadhis are associated with each of the four aspects of the Dharma Knowledge of extinction, and with each of the four aspects of the Dharma Knowledge of the Path. [Accord- ing to the principle elucidated in vii. 9].
Four Vajropamasamadhis associated with each of the four
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aspects of the Consecutive Knowledge of Extinction bear on the First Dhyana; and so on until: four Vajropamasamadhis associated with each of the four aspects of the Consecutive Knowledge of Extinction bear on Bhavagra.
Four Vajropamasamadhis are associated with each of the four aspects of the Consecutive Knowledge of the Path, because the Consecutive Knowledge of the Path has a universal sphere. [There is no reason to distinguish the spheres, as in the case for the Consecutive Knowledge of Extinction].
We have therefore, in the sphere of anagamya, fifty-two Vajropamasamadhis by reason of the distinction of the aspects and the objects of the Knowledges and the Consecutive Knowledges.
ii. The same calculation holds with respect to the Vajropama- samadhis produced in the other spheres up to and including the Fourth Dhyana.
iii. For the Vajropamasamadhis produced in the first three Arupyas, we have, in this order, twenty-eight, twenty-four, and twenty.
1. Dharma Knowledge is absent there; 2. the Consecutive Knowledge having the extinction of a lower sphere for its object is also absent there (viii. 21); 3. the Consecutive Knowledge exists there having for its object the Path which is opposed to a lower sphere, by reason of the quality of cause which the paths have among themselves (ii. 52c).
[Certain Abhidharmikas maintain that] the Consecutive Knowledge of the Path does not bear on all the spheres at one and the same time, but that one must distinguish the different spheres, as for the Consecutive Knowledge of Extinction: in this theory, one must add twenty-eight to the calculation of the Vajropama- samadhis which are produced in andgamya, etc. For the Arupyas, we have forty, thirty-two and twenty-four.
By taking into consideration the families (gotras, vi. 58c) and
277 the faculties, we obtain even higher figures.
? We have seen that the ninth category of Bhavagra is aban- doned by Vajropamasamadhi.
44d-45a. With the acquisiton of the destruction of this
278 category, there is the knowledge of destruction.
At the moment when the saint acquires the destruction of the ninth category, there arises the knowledge of destruction {ksayajndna). Immediately after Vajropamasamadhi, the last path of abandoning (=the Irresistible Path), there arises the last Path of Deliverance. This is why this Path of Deliverance, arising at the same time as the acquisition of the destruction of all the vices (dsravas), is the first knowledge of the destruction which arises; it is thus called the ksayajndna [by eliminating the middle word: ksayaprathamajndnd].
279 45b. Then the saint is an Asaiksa, an Arhat.
When this knowledge has arisen, the candidate for the quality of Arhat has acquired the state of Asaiksa, the state of Arhat: he no longer has to apply himself (liks) with a view to another state; he is therefore an Asaiksa. For the same reason, having achieved his task with respect to himself, he is worthy {arhattva) to do good for others; he is worthy to receive offerings from all beings who are still subject to desire.
From the fact that one defines an Arhat as an ASaiksa, it results that the seven other saints, four candidates and three abiders, are Saiksas.
Why are they Saiksas? Because it is their nature to be always
20
applying themselves to the three siksds * with a view to the
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destruction of their vices. These three siksds, namely adhi/tlam
2B1
282
and adhiprajfidm siksd,
285
are by their
siksd,
nature morality, absorption (samddhi), and speculative knowledge (prajnd).
But, according to this definition, can a Prthagjana be a Saiksa? . No, because he does not exactly discern the Truths; and because
he is susceptible to completely losing the siksds that he has 284
acquired.
This is why, with a view to affirming that he who exclusively
applies himself is a Saiksa, and to deny that he who abandons the
adhicittam hksd,
tiksd is a Saiksa, the Sutra repeats [the words of the Blessed One], 285
"Oh Sivaka, he who applies himself to that to which he should
286 apply himself, him alone do I call a Saiksa/*
But how can one say that the Aryan, when he finds himself in a normal state and not in absorption, has it for his nature to apply himself?
By reason of his intention; as the traveller who stops for a moment is nevertheless still a traveller. Or because the possessions of morality, absorption and prajnd, remain attached to him even when he is in a normal state.
287 What are the dharmas that are called Saiksa?
The pure conditioned dharmas of the Saiksa. So too the dharmas that are called asaiksa are the pure conditioned dharmas of the Asaiksa.
288 Why is not Nirvana, the unconditioned, a faiksa?
Because both the Asaiksa and the Prthagjana are endowed with
it. The Prthagjana is endowed with a Nirvana obtained through a
289 worldly path.
Why is not Nirvana asaiksa?
Because both the Saiksa and the Prthagjana are endowed with
it.
? The four candidates and the four abiders are the eight saints, or dryapudgala: from "one who is in the progress of realizing the state of Srotaapanna", and Srotaapanna, up to "one who is in the progress of realizing the state of Arhat," and the Arhat.
Eight in considering their names, but in fact, only five, namely the first candidate, that is to say, the person who is in the Path of the Seeing of the Truths, and the four abiders. In fact, the last three candidates are confused with the first three abiders.
This should be understood of the case in which the ascetic obtains the four states in sequential order. In fact, the bhilyovttar- dga and the kdmavitardga, who have respectively abandoned six and nine categories of defilements of Kamadhatu before entering into the Path of Seeing, are, within the Path of Seeing, candidates for the states of Sakrdagamin and Anagamin, without being Srotaapannas and Sakrdagamins. Here the candidate for a higher state is not confused with the abider in a lower state (vi. 30).
We have said that the Path of Meditation is of two types, worldly or impure, transworldly or pure (vi. lc-d). Through what type of Path of Meditation does the Saiksa detach himself from the different spheres?
45c-d. Detachment from Bhavagra is through the trans-
290 worldly path.
And not through the worldly path. In fact. (1) there is no worldly path higher than Bhavagra [one detaches oneself from a sphere by the worldly path of a higher sphere; now Bhavagra is the highest sphere]; (2) the worldly path of a certain sphere cannot be opposed to this same sphere, because the defilements of this
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sphere attach themselves to this path.
Since it is a given that one defilement attached itself to a path, this defilement cannot be expelled by this same path; and since it is a given also that a path is opposed to a defilement, it is certain that this defilement does not attach itself to this path.
45d. There is detachment from the other spheres in two ways.
One detaches oneself from the eight other spheres, with the exception of Bhavagra, either through the worldly path or through the transworldly path.
46a-b. For the Aryan who detaches himself through the
worldly path, his acquisitions of the disconnections are of
291 two types.
The Aryan who detaches himself from the first eight spheres [Kamadhatu, the Four Dhyanas, and three Arupyas] obtains disconnection from the defilements of these spheres through the worldly path; in other words, he acquires the prdpti or possession of the pratisamkhydnirodha of these defilements (ii. 55a).
This possession is worldly and transworldly.
46c. According to other masters, he becomes detached through the transworldly path, in the same way.
Some other masters say that in the case also where the Aryan becomes detached through the transworldly path, his acquisition of disconnection is twofold.
Why is this?
? 46d. For, even when pure disconnection is lost, the Aryan is
292 not filled with the defilements.
Let us admit an instance, [say these other masters,] when the Aryan becomes detached through the transworldly or Aryan Path; he then does not have worldly possession of disconnection. In this hypothesis, there may be an Aryan who, through the Aryan Path, becomes detached from Akincanyayatana; who then, in a Dhyana (according to vi. 61c-d), transforms, that is, sharpens (samcarati) his faculties (indriya). This Aryan--by the fact that he abandons the paths previously acquired, [namely, the paths of Arupya in relation to his weak faculties], by the fact that he only possesses the path of the state of Anagamin, in relation to his sharp faculties--will no longer be in possession of disconnection from the defilements of Arupyadhatu; and, having lost this disconnection, he will be filled with these defilements.
47a-b. But, if he is not filled with these defilements, he is like a saint half delivered from Bhavagra, like a person who is reborn above.
This Aryan does not have worldly acquisition of disconnection; nevertheless this Aryan is not filled with the said defilements.
So too, the saint who is delivered from half of the categories of defilements of Bhavagra, certainly does not possess a worldly acquisition of disconnection from these categories, since only the transworldly or Aryan Path destroys the defilements of Bhavagra. Let us suppose that this saint, sharpening his faculties in a Dhyana, abandons the transworldly acquisition of disconnection from these defilements of Bhavagra: you yourself recognize, nevertheless, that he is not filled with these defilements.
So too, a Prthagjana is born above the First Dhyana, in the Second Dhyana, etc. By the fact that he passes into the Second
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Dhyana (changing his bhumi, bhumisamcara, vi. 21c), he loses the
acquisition of disconnection from the defilements of K&madhatu;
nevertheless you admit that he is not filled with these defile-
293 ments.
[Therefore the argument of the other masters is not demon-
294 strative. ]
***
By means of what spheres does one obtain detachment from the different spheres?
47c-d. One becomes detached from all the spheres by means
295 of pure andgamya.
296 From all the spheres up to Bhavagra.
When the ascetic becomes detached from a lower sphere in a
sdmantaka (viii. 22), should one admit that all of the Paths of
Deliverance arise from the sdmantaka, as is the case for the 297
Irresistible Paths? No.
Why is this?
48a-b. At the detachment from the Three Dhatus, the last Path of Deliverance arises either from the Dhyana, or from a sdmantaka.
There are nine spheres of arising: Kamadhatu, the Four Dhyanas and the Four Arupyas (viii. l).
When one triumphs over the Three Dhatus,--that is, when one becomes detached from Kamadhatu, from the First Dhyana, or
?
from the Second Dhyana,--it is with a ninth Path of Deliverance which arises either from a sdmantaka or from the Dhyana itself.
29 48c. Above, it does not arise from a sdmantaka. *
With respect to the higher spheres, the last Path of Deliver- ance always arises from the fundamental absorption (samapatti)y never from the preliminary stage or threshold of this absorption. In fact, after the Fourth Dhyana, the fundamental absorption and the preliminary absorption have the same sensation, the sensation of indifference. In the spheres of the first Dhyanas, the two sensations differ: ascetics with weak faculties are not capable of entering, in the ninth Path of Deliverance, the fundamental
299 absorption, for the transformation of their sensation is difficult.
Therefore the ninth Path of Deliverance of detachment from the
300 first three spheres arises from preliminary absorption.
We have seen that the ascetic can detach himself from all the spheres through the pure paths practiced in anagamya (vi. 47c). It is not said that the same power belongs to the pure paths cultivated in spheres other than anagamya.
48c-d. Through the eight pure paths, he triumphs over his
301 sphere, and over a higher sphere.
Through the pure path cultivated in eight spheres,--the Dhyanas, dhyanantara, and three Arupyas,--the ascetic detaches himself from the sphere in which he finds himself and from higher spheres; but not from a lower sphere because he is already detached from it.
***
It is established that the transworldly paths, the Irresistible
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Path as well as the Path of Deliverance, proceed from aspects of the Truths (satydkdrapravrtta, vii. l3a), that is to say, from seeing the dharmas as impermanent, suffering, etc.
49a-c. The worldly paths, paths of deliverance and paths of abandoning, have respectively the aspects of calm, etc. ; coarse, etc.
The worldly paths of deliverance (the Path of Deliverance) have the aspects of calm, etc. , that is, seeing their objects as calm, etc. The worldly paths of abandoning (the Irresistible Path) have the aspect of coarse, etc.
Respectively,
49d. They have for their objects the higher sphere, and the lower sphere.
302
The paths of deliverance can
see the higher spheres (or
higher places, sthana) as calm, excellent, and as definitive
liberation. The paths of abandoning see the lower spheres as
303
coarse, bad, as a thick wall: as coarse, because it is not calm,
304
entailing a great effort;
because it is odious as well as presenting the greatest incapacity to the body and the mind; and as a thick wall, because, by means of this lower sphere, it is impossible to escape from this sphere, as if it were a wall.
The aspects of calm, excellent, definitive liberation, are the opposite.
***
Having terminated this accessory question, let us return to our subject.
as bad, because it is not excellent,
? What arises immediately after the Knowledge of Destruction?
50a-b. When he is Immovable, after his Knowledge of Destruction, there is the consciousness of non-arising.
If the Arhat is of the class of the Immovable Ones (akopyad- harman, vi. 56), immediately after his Knowledge of Destruction (ksayajndna, vi. 45a) there arises the consciousness of the future non-arising of the vices or dsravas {anutpddajndna, vi. 67a, viii. lb, 4c).
50b-c. In the contrary case, there is either the Knowledge of
305 Destruction or the "seeing of the Asaiksas/'
If the Arhat is not of this class, then after his Knowledge of Destruction there arises either the same Knowledge of Destruc- tion, or the Right Views of the Asaiksas; but not the Knowledge of Non-Arising: for, as the ascetic who is not immovable can fall away (vi. 56), he cannot produce the Knowledge of Non-Arising.
***
Is this to say that the Immovable Arhat does not possess the Views of the Asaiksa?
50d. These Views belong to all the Arhats.
In the Immovable Arhat, sometimes the Knowledge of
Non-Arising succeeds Knowledge of Non-Arising, sometimes the
306 Right Views of the ASaiksa.
***
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We have spoken of the four states or results. Of what are they the results?
307 They are the results of srdmanya or "the religious life. "
What is srdmanya?
51a. Srdmanya is the immaculate path.
Srdmanya is the pure path. By this path, by srdmanya, one becomes a Sramana, that is to say a person who calms or who makes cease (famayati) the defilements. ( Dhammapada, 265).
Therefore it is said in the Sutra (Madhyama, TD 1, p. 725c4), "He is called a Sramana because he calms all of the types of dharmas of transgression, bad, favorable to transmigration, producing rebirth . . . old age and death. "
The Prthagjana is not a true Sramana (^paramdrthairamana) because he does not calm the defilements in an absolute manner.
308 51b. His result is both conditioned and unconditioned.
The results of srdmanya are conditioned and unconditioned 9 310
dharmasTM TheSutrasaysthattheseresultsarefourinnumber. On the other hand,
51c. There are eighty-nine.
What are these eighty-nine?
5 Id. The paths of deliverance with their destructions.
We have eight Irresistible Paths, followed by eight Paths of Deliverance, for the abandoning of the defilement to be abandoned
? through seeing (=the sixteen moments of comprehension, vi. 27a). We have eighty-one Irresistible Paths for the abandoning of the defilements abandoned through meditation, namely nine paths through which one abandons the nine categories of defilements of each of the nine spheres (Kamadhatu . . . Bhavagra), and also as many for the Paths of Deliverance.
The eighty-nine Irresistible Paths constitute iramanya.
The eighty-nine Paths of Deliverance are the conditioned results of sramanya, being outflowing results (nisyandaphala, ii. 56c-d) and virile results (purusakdraphala, ii. 56d) of sramanya.
The abandoning or pratisamkhyanirodha of the eighty-nine categories of defilements is the unconditioned result of sramanya,
3U
being the virile result of sramanya (ii. 55d, p. 278).
We have therefore eighty-nine results of iramanya.
***
But, if this theory is correct, is there not reason to complete the
312 teaching of the Buddha?
No. The results are indeed eighty-nine in number;
52a-b. But four results are established for five reasons which are encountered therein.
The Blessed One defined as results the stages {avastha) of the path of abandoning in which some five causes are encountered. Such is the opinion of the School. What are these five causes?
52c-53b. In a result, there is the abandoning of a previous path, the acquisition of another path, the addition of destructions, the acquisition of a group of eight knowledges, and the acquisition of sixteen aspects.
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That is to say: (1-2) there is the abandoning of the path of the candidate, and the acquisition of the path of the result; (3) the
313
acquisition of a single possession of abandoning in its entirety (v. 70); (4) the acquisition at one and the same time of eight Knowledges, the fourfold Dharma Knowledge, and the fourfold Consecutive Knowledge (vi. 26, vii. 3); and (5) the acquisition of the sixteen aspects, impermanence, etc. (On acquisition, see vii. 22. )
These characteristics exist in each of the four results.
But if only the pure path receives the name of framanya, how can the two states, those of Sakrdagamin and Anagamin, when
nA theyareobtainedbyaworldlypath,betheresultsof sramanya?
53c~d. (The abandoning) obtained by a worldly path is a result, because it is combined, and because it is supported by pure possession.
The state of Sakrdagamin and the state of Anagamin, even if they were acquired by a worldly path, are not only abandonings resulting from a worldly Path of Meditation: in fact, they also include an abandoning result of the Path of Seeing; this second abandoning is not separable from the first abandoning; for there is inherent in the results of Sakrdagamin and Anagamin the single possession of abandoning in its entirety, on the one hand, of defilements abandoned by Seeing, and on the other hand, of defilements abandoned by the worldly Path of Meditation.
This is why the Sutra says, "What is the result of Sakrdagamin? The abandoning of the three bonds (satkayadrsti, clinging to rule and ritual, and doubt)-which are abandoned through Seeing--and
0
the reduction of lust, anger, and delusion. "What is the result of
Anagamin? The abandoning of the five bonds here below
15 (avarabhdgiya)"*
? Furthermore, the abandoning which results from the worldly path (abandoning of the six categories of defilements in the case of the Sakrdagamin, etc. ) is supported, confirmed {samdharyate) by the pure possession of disconnection (according to vi. 46a-b), as it results from the fact that, by virtue of this pure possession, the Sakrdagamin and the Anagamin cannot die in a state of falling away: they can lose their qualities, but they take them up again before dying (vi. 60).
***
Sramanya or the religious life
54a-b. Is brahmanya; it is brahmacakra^
It is brahmacakra because it expells the defilements; brahmacakra, the Wheel of Brahma,
54b. Because it is set into motion by Brahma.
317
it is
The Blessed One, possessing supreme brahmanya, is Brahma.
318
In fact, the Sutra says, "This Blessed One is Brahma"; the Blessed One is calm and pacified.
it says that
This cakra belongs to him; this cakra is therefore of Brahma, because he sets it into motion.
319 54c. The Wheel of the Dharma is the Path of Seeing.
520 It is termed wheel, cakra, because it moves (carikramanat).
The Path of Seeing, being of the nature of a wheel (a Jewel of a Wheel, cakraratna), is called the Wheel of the Dharma.
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How is the Path of Seeing of the nature of a wheel?
54d. Because it goes quickly, etc. ; because it has spokes,
321 etc.
1. Because it goes quickly, for it comprehends the Truths in fifteen moments of thought; 2. because it leaves one spot and occupies another, leaving the Irresistible Path and occupying the Path of Deliverance; 3. because it subdues the unsubdued and rules over those subdued, triumphing over the defilements through the Irresistible Path by cutting off the possession of these defilements; ruling over the vanquished defilements by the Path of Deliverance by obtaining possession of disconnection from these defilements; (4) because it rises and descends, either because it is alternatively the Irresistible Path and the Path of Deliverance, or because it successively takes as its object Kamadhatu and the higher spheres.
The Bhadanta Ghosaka says: The Noble Eightfold Path is a wheel, because its parts are in the nature of spokes, etc. : Right Views, Right Thought, Right Effort, and Right Mindfulness are similar to spokes; Right Speech, Right Actions, and Right Livelihood are similar to the axle; and Right Concentration is
322 similar to the rim.
On what rests the doctrine that the Wheel of the Dharma is the Path of Seeing the Truths?
On the Agama which says that, at the moment when this Path
arose within the Aryan Kaundinya, [the gods] declared that the
323 Wheel of the Dharma had been set into motion.
***
How is this Path of threefold revolution aspects?
324
and of twelve
The Vaibhasikas say: The three revolutions are 1. "this is the
? Noble Truth of Suffering"; 2. "It should be perfectly known"; and
3. "It is perfectly known. " At each revolution there arises sight
(caksus), knowledge (jndna)9 knowing (vidyd), and intelligence 325
(buddhi). Thus we have twelve aspects.
The same holds true for the other Truths: "This is the Origin
of Suffering," etc.
Since the revolutions and the aspects are the same for each Truth, the Wheel of the Dharma is of three revolutions and twelve aspects; not of twelve revolutions and forty-eight aspects. So too "the teaching of two things" is the teaching of a great number of things which go by twos (eye and physical matter, etc. ); in the same way a person "skillful in seven things", is skillful in a great
326
The three revolutions correspond, in this order, to the Path of Seeing, the Path of Meditation, and the Path of the Arhat or Asaiksa.
Such is the explanation of the Vaibhasikas (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 411al8).
***
327
But if this is the case, then the Path of Seeing would not have
three revolutions and twelve aspects. Therefore how would the Wheel of the Dharma be the Path of Seeing? Consequently one should understand that the Wheel of the Dharma is this sermon itself (dharmaparydya), the Sermon of Benares, which sets into motion (pravartana) the Wheel of the Dharma, which includes three revolutions and twelve aspects: three revolutions, because it
Through the setting into motion of this sermon, one should understand that it goes, that it is cast into the intelligence of another; it goes towards the intelligence of another, in that it
number of seven things.
328
aspects, because it considers each Truth under a threefold aspect.
causes the Truths to be turned some three times;
and twelve 329
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330 comes to be known by another.
331
Or rather, the entirety of the Noble Path, the Path of Seeing,
the Path of Meditation, and the Path of the Asaiksa, is the Wheel of the Dharma, because it penetrates into the intelligence of those
12
to be disciplined {vineya)? If the Sutra says that the Wheel was
set into motion (pravartita) when Kaundinya realized the Path of
Seeing, this is because the prefix pra indicates the beginning of
action: pravartita signifies what begins to be vartita. When the
Path of Seeing is produced in the intelligence of another, in the
intelligence of Kaundinya, the Wheel of the Dharma begins to be
set into motion, begins to be cast into the intelligence of
333 another.
***
How can one obtain the results within each sphere?
55a. Three are acquired in Kamadhatu.
Three can only be acquired in Kamadhatu, not elsewhere. [Let us understand: by beings born in Kamadhatu].
55a-b. The last, in the three Dhatus.
The last state of sramanya, or the quality of Arhat, can be acquired in the Three Dhatus.
We can understand why the first two states, which suppose that the ascetic is not detached from Kamadhatu, cannot be acquired in the higher spheres; but why does the same hold for the third?
55b. Higher, the Path of the Seeing of the Truths is absent.
? Above Kamadhatu, the Path of Seeing is absent. In its absence, a person detached from Kamadhatu and reborn in a higher heaven
334
Why is the Path of Seeing absent there?
With respect to Arupyadhatu, because hearing is absent
cannot obtain the state of Anagamin.
335 336 and because the Path of Seeing bears on Kamadhatu.
there;
With respect to Rupadhatu,
55c~d. Disgust is absent there, because the Sutra says, "Here
337 one undertakes, and there one achieves. "
Prthagjanas, reborn in Rupadhatu, are totally given over to the bliss of absorption: all suffering sensation is absent in them; therefore disgust is impossible there, and one cannot enter the Noble Path except through disgust.
Furthermore the Sutra says, "Five persons, the Antaraparinir- vayin being the first and the Urdhvasrotas being the fifth, undertake here and achieve there. "
"Undertake", vidha, means to establish the Path, because it is the means (updya) to Nirvana.
***
We have seen that: "If the Arhat is Immovable, then after his Knowledge of Destruction there arises the Knowledge of Non-Arising"; is this to say that there are differences among the Arhats?
56a. Six types of Arhat are known.
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The Sutra says that there are six types of Arhats: Parihanad- harmans (those who can fall away), Cetanadharmans (those who can at will put an end to their existences), Anuraksanadharmans (those who can preserve themselves), Sthitakampyas (those who cherish deliverance), Prativedhanadharmans (those who can penetrate the state of Arhat at will), and Akopyadharmans (those who have immovable deliverance of mind). They will be defined on p. 1002, 1007.
56a-b. Five arise from the Sraddhadhimuktas ("those liberated through faith").
Five, with the exception of the Immovable Ones (the Ako- pyadharmans) have been Sraddhadhimuktas (vi. 32).
339 56c. Their deliverance is occasional.
It should be known that the deliverance of mind (cetomivukti) 340
of these five types of Arhats is occasional (sdmayikt) and dear,
for it should be constantly guarded. Consequently these Arhats are
called samayavimukta. Depending {apeksd) on the occasion
{samaya), they are delivered {vimukta): this compound is made by
omitting the middle term (= apeksd). We have thus samayavi-
mukta, delivered by reason of the occasion, like ghrtaghata, a pot 341
For them, the realization of absorption depends on samaya, on circumstances: possession of a number of material goods, the absence of illness, a certain place.
56d. For an Immovable One, it is immovable.
The deliverance of an Immovable One cannot be moved because he cannot fall away from this deliverance; consequently it
full of butter, a pot for butter.
? is immovable.