In fact, they have denied mutual
causality
to derived matter (physical matter, taste, etc.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-1-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
Moreover, a father, a mother, or other persons arbitrarily fix the word that is the proper name of a son, etc.
: how can you admit that the word, like the characteristic "arising," arises simultaneously with the object?
Finally, unconditioned things would not have any name, since they do not arise: a consequence that the Sarvastivadins
? cannot admit.
[4. But the Sarvastivadins are warranted by a text. ] The Blessed
One said, "A stanza (gdthd) depends on words, and a poem depends on 319
stanzas. "
[The Sautrantikas answer that] word (ndman) is a sound (sabda)
upon which persons have come to an agreement that it signifies a 32
certain thing. ? A stanza {gdtha) is a certain arrangement of words: it is in this sense that it, according to the Blessed One, depends on words. To admit an entity in and of itself called pada, is a very superfluous hypothesis. You might as well maintain that there exists, distinct from ants and minds, things in and of themselves termed "a row of ants" or
321
"a succession of minds. " Recognize then that only the phonemes
(aksaras), which are sounds, exist in and of themselves.
The Vaibhasikas admit ndmakdya, padakdya, and vyanjanakdya, as
samskdras disassociated from the mind, for, they say, none of these 322
dharmas serve as a gate of understanding. ***
We ask: (1) to which sphere of existence do the phonemes, words, and phrases belong? (2) Do they belong to living beings (sattvdkhya, i. lOb)? (3) Are they of retribution, of accumulation or of out-flowing (i. 37)? and (4) Are they good, bad, or neutral?
47c-d. They exist in Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu; they belong to
323 living beings; they are out-flowing; and they are neutral.
The phonemes, etc. , belong to two spheres of existence. According
to one opinion, they also exist in Arupyadhatu, but there they are
324 "unpronounceable. "
They belong to living beings, being produced through the efforts of living beings and consisting of articulated sounds (varna), etc. In fact, they belong to the person who speaks, not to the things that they designate.
They are an out-flowing, being produced through sabhdgahetu
The Indriyas 253
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(ii. 52); they are not of retribution, since they proceed from the desire of the person who speaks; they are not of accumulation, since they are not material.
325 They are non-defiled-neutral {anivrtdvydkrta, ii. 28).
##*
We shall briefly explain the characteristics, not as yet mentioned, of the other dharmas disassociated from the mind (ii. 35).
47d-48b. The same for "genre," {sabhdgatd) which is also from retribution, and which belongs to the three spheres of existence.
"The same for," that is to say, like phonemes, words, and phrases, sabhdgatd is of the first two spheres of existence; it belongs to living beings; it is from out-flowing; and it is non-defiled-neutral.
But sabhdgatd is not only from out-flowing: it is also of retribution; it not only belongs to the first two spheres of existence, it also belongs to the third.
326 48b. Possession (prapti) is of two types.
It is of out-flowing and of retribution. 48c. Its characteristics also.
Its characteristics, arising, etc. , are of two types, like possession.
48c-d. The absorptions and non-possession (aprdpti) are of out-flowing.
The two absorptions and non-possession are only out-flowings.
As for their spheres, their relationship with living beings, their moral qualifications (good, etc. ), the explanations have been given above. The characteristics belong to all conditioned things, hence they belong to living beings and to non-living beings. For the dsamjnika and the ayus, see ii. 41d and 45a.
*##
? We have seen (9ii. 47c-d) that arising, in order to engender the
dharma that it should engender, needs the cooperation of hetus or
causes, and pratyayas or conditions. What are the hetus, and what are
327 the pratyayas?
49. The hetus are sixfold: kdranahetu, sahabhu, sabhdga, m
samprayutaka, sarvatraga, and vipdka.
Kdranahetu is reason for existence; sahabhuhetu is coexistent
cause; sabhdgahetu is parallel cause; samprayuktakahetu is associated
cause; sarvatragahetu is universal cause, and vipdkahetu is retributive
cause: such are the six types of causes that the Abhidharmikas (Jndna- 329
prasthdna, TD p. 920c5) recognize.
50a. All dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all, with the
exception of themselves.
A dharma is not a kdranahetu of itself.
With this exception, that all of the dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all other conditioned dharmas, because no dharma constitutes an obstacle to the arising of the dharmas susceptible of arising.
It results from this definition that the dharmas that are saha- bhuhetu, etc. , are also kdranahetu: all other hetus are included within kdranahetu. The hetu that does not receive a special name, which is simply kdrana, "reason for existence," without any other qualification is kdranahetu: it receives as its particular name the name that suits all the hetus. Compare this with the name of the rupdyatana (i. 24).
***
Kdranahetu calls for the following observations:
1. Vices are produced among the ignorant; once the Truths are known, they are not produced, as the stars are not visible when the sun shines. Hence the consciousness of the Truths, or the sun, causes an obstacle to the vices, or to the stars. Then it is false to say that all conditioned dharmas are kdranahetu because they create no obstacle to arising.
The Indrtyas 255
? 256 Chapter Two
We understand that the consciousness of the Truths and the clarity
of the sun create no obstacle to the arising of the dharma which is
"arising" {utpadyamdnd), that is to say of the dharma, which, its causes 330
being completed, continues to exist.
2. What is called cause or reason for existence, may be what is
capable of causing, or of not causing, an obstacle! In faa, when their
lord does not oppress them, villagers say, "We are fortunate through
331
the actions of our master. " But can one call cause that which, being
incapable of causing an obstacle, does not cause an obstacle? Nirvana is incapable of creating any obstacle to the arising of any conditioned thing: such too are future dharmas with regard to past dharmas, or creatures of hell or animals with regard to beings in Arupyadhatu: Nirvana, future dharmas, or creatures in hell are as if they did not exist with regard to their being an obstacle to the arising of the conditioned things in question. Can one consider them as causes?
They are causes; for, even when the lord is incapable of harming them, the villagers express themselves as we have said; but not about a non-existent lord
3. The definition that we have given of kdranahetu is a general
definition and includes that which is kdranahetu par excellence and
that which is simply kdranahetu. Kdranahetu par excellence is the
generating cause: in this sense, eye and color are the kdranahetu of the 332
consciousness of sight; as food is with regard to the body, the seeds, etc. , with regard to the sprout, etc. (see ii. 56b).
[4. Objection. ] If all the dharmas are the causes of other dharmas because they do not cause any obstacle, why do not all the dharmas
333
arise together? Why, when one murder is committed, are not all
creatures, like the murderer himself, guilty of the crime of murder? This objection is useless. In faa, all the dharmas receive the name of kdranahetu because they do not create any obstacle: it is not that
they are all agents.
5. According to other masters, all karanahetus possess a real
efficacy with regard to all dharmas. For example Nirvana and the consciousness of sight: a mental consciousness, good or bad, arises having Nirvana as its objea (dlambana, ii. 62c-d); from this mental
? consciousness there later arises a consciousness of sight; then Nirvana has efficacy, albeit mediately, with regard to the consciousness of sight.
The same argument applies to future dharmas, to beings in hell, etc.
***
50c-d Sahabhuhetu, coexistent causes, namely the elements
(bhuta), the mind and the companions of the mind, character-
istics and the thing characterized, are the dharmas that are 334
11. The dharmas that are causes (purusakdraphala, ii. 58) one of the other, are called sahabhuhetu. ^
336
For example, the primary elements (mahdbhuta) are, among
themselves, sahabhuhetu. The same for the mind and its companions (ii. 51); the same for the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b), and the dharmas that they characterize.
causes one of the other.
In the category of sahabhuhetu are then included all conditioned 337
dharmas which are in a mutual relationship of causality.
2. We have reason not to complete the above definition. A dharma
is a sahabhuhetu of its secondary characteristics (anulaksana, ii. 45)
without being in a mutual relationship of causality with them: for the
secondary characteristics are not the sahabhuhetu of their dharma. 338
This is a case to be added to the definition.
*#*
What dharmas are called "the companions of the mind? "
51a-c The companions of the mind are: the mental states; the two disciplines (samvara); and the characteristics (laksanas) of the mental states, the two disciplines and the mind
These are all the dharmas associated with the mind {cittasam- prayukta, ii. 24), the discipline of absorption and pure discipline
The Indriyas 257
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(iv. l7d), and the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b) of all these, and also of the mind
[Why are they termed "companions of the mind"? ]
5 Id. From the point of view of time, of result, etc. , and of goodness, etc.
The companions are associated with the mind:
1. In regard to time: they have the same arising, the same duration,
and the same destruction as does the mind; they are of the same time period as the mind.
When we say "the same arising . . . ," we understand the word "same" in the sense of concomitance: the companions arise, last, and perish at the same time as does the mind; but their arising is distinct.
The minds that are not destined to arise do not arise, nor last, nor perish: the same for their companions. This is why the phrase, "The companions are of the same time period as the mind" is added. [The mind which should arise is future until the moment when it arises if it is to arise: its companions are hence future; it is past after the moment
339
when it shall perish if it arose: its companions are then past. ]
2. In regard to the result, etc. Result means purusakdraphala
(ii. 58a-b) and visamyogaphala (ii. 57d); and "et cetera" refers to vipdkaphala (ii. 57) and nisyandaphala (ii. 57c).
The companions have the same result, the same vipaka, and the same nisyanda as the mind: "same" indicates identity.
3. In regard to goodness, etc. The companions are good, bad, or neutral, like the mind which they accompany.
There are then ten reasons why the companions are termed
34 companions. ?
***
341
The mind having the least number of companions is a
sahabhuhetu of fifty-eight dharmas: namely 1) the ten mahdhhumikas (ii. 23) with the four characteristics of each of them; and 2) the four characteristics and the four secondary characteristics (anulaksana,
? ii. 46).
If, from these fifty-eight dharmas, the four secondary character-
istics of the mind--which have no effect upon it--are set aside, then 342
we have fifty-four dharmas that are sahahhuhetu of the same mind. According to another opinion, only fourteen dharmas are sahahhuhetu of this mind, namely its four charaaeristics and the ten
mahabhumikas. As the secondary charaaeristics have no effea on the mind, the characteristics of the mahabhumikas likewise have no effect on the mind
The Vaibhasikas reject this opinion--that the forty charaaeristics
of the mahabhumikas are not sahahhuhetu of the mind,--as contra-
dictory to the doctrine of the Prakaranagrantha according to which
"the four charaaeristics,--arising, duration, old age, and imperma-
nence,--of the belief in self {satkayadrsti) . . . and in the dharmas
associated with this belief (comprising the mahabhumikas), are at the 343
same time a result and a cause of the belief in self. "
Certain Masters, in their reading of the Prakaranagrantha, omit
the words, "and of the dharmas associated with this belief. " According to the Vaibhasikas of Kdsmir, these words figure in the text; or, if they are missing, the context indicates that one should supply them and that the passage as it stands is incomplete.
***
Any dharma that is a sahahhuhetu cause is a sahabhil or a coexistant item. But there are some coexistant items that are not sahahhuhetu:
1. the secondary characteristics of the principal dharma (mula- dharma) are not a sahahhuhetu regarding this dharma (ii. 46a-b);
2. these same are not sahahhuhetu among themselves;
3. the secondary characteristics of the companions of the mind are not a sahahhuhetu regarding the mind;
4. these same are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
5. derived matter, blue, etc. , susceptible of resistance and which has also arisen together, are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
The Indriyas 259
? 260 Chapter Two
6. a part of derived matter not susceptible to resistance and also arisen together with them, is not a sahabhuhetu) with the exception of the two disciplines (see 1. 136);
7. no derived matter, even though arisen with the elements, is a sahabhuhetu with the elements;
8. possession (prapti), even when it arises with the dbarma to which it is related, is not a sahabhuhetu to it.
The dharmas of these eight categories are coexistant (sahabhu), but are not sahabhuhetu, because their results, vipdka or nisyanda, are not identical (see p. 259). As for possession, it does not always accompany the dharma: it arises either before the dharma, or after it, or at the same time as it (ii. 37-38).
***
[The Sautrantikas criticize the doctrine of coexistant causes. ]
All this may be right, that is, "what is a sahabhuhetu cause, a mutually coexistant cause, is a coexistant item," and the rest. Never- theless, in the world, the relationship of cause to effect is well proven in certain cases: the cause is previous to the effect. It is in this way that a seed is the cause of the sprout, the sprout of the stalk, etc. But one does not prove a similar relationship between simultaneous things. You should then demonstrate that dharmas arisen together can be in a cause and effect relationship.
[The Sarvastivadins supply two examples. ] The lamp arises with its light; the sprout, growing in the light, arises with its shadow. Now a lamp is the cause of its light and a sprout is the cause of its shadow. Thus cause and effect can be simultaneous.
[The Sautrantikas:] These examples are not proven. We must examine whether a lamp is the cause of its light, or if, as we think, a lamp with its light are both the effeet of a complex of previous causes and conditions, oil, wick, etc. In the same way, a complex of previous causes (seed, light) is the cause of the sprout and its shadow, of the sprout with its shadow.
[The Sarvastivadins:] The relationship of cause and effect is
? proven by the existence and the non-existence of what is called effect,
similar to the existence and the non-existence of what is called cause.
The definition of the Logicians {hetukas) is very good: "When A is or
is not, and when B is or is not, then A is considered as cause, and B is
considered as effect. " Granted this, if we examine the dharmas that we
have defined as mutually coexistent and sahabhilhetu, we see that they
all exist when one of them exists, and that none exist when one of
344
them is absent. They are then in a relationship of mutual cause and
effect.
[The Sautrantikas:] Admitting that among the simultaneous
dharmasy one dharma can be the cause of another dharma, then the 345
organ of sight is the cause of visual consciousness. But how many simultaneous dharmas are the cause and effect of one another?
[The Sarvastivadins:] Mutual causality is proven by the definition that we have given of causality. When the mind exists, its mental states exist, and vice versa.
[The Sautrantikas:] Very well, but then the Sarvastivadins should revise their system.
In fact, they have denied mutual causality to derived matter (physical matter, taste, etc. ) although physical matter never exists without taste (ii. 22); they have denied mutual causality to derived matter and to the primary elements, and mutual causality to secondary characteristics and the mind.
[The Sarvastivadins:] In the same way that three staffs stand up supported one on the other, the causal relationship of simultaneous things, the mind and its mental states, etc. , is proven.
[The Sautrantikas:] This new example should be examined We ask whether the three staffs stand up together through the force that the three staffs possess through arising together, or rather, if the force of the complex of previous causes which caused them to arise together does not now also cause them to arise supported one on the other. Further, there are things here other than the mutual force of support: there is a rope and a hook, and there is the ground
But, [reply the Sarvastivadins,] mutually coexistant items have causes other than the sahabhuhetu, namely sabhagahetu, sarvatra- gahetu, and vipakahetu, which have a role analogous to that of the
The Indriyas 261
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cord, etc. Sahabhuhetu is then proven. ***
346 52a. Similar dharmas are sabhdgahetu or similar causes.
Similars (sabhdga) are sabhdgahetu of similars.
1. The five good skandhas are sabhdgahetu of the five good skandhas. When they are defiled, that is to say, bad, and defiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of defiled ones. Neutral, that is, undefiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of neutral ones.
Nevertheless, different masters are not in agreement on this last
point. According to some, neutral rupa is sabhdgahetu of the five
neutral skandhas, but the four skandhas,--sensation, etc. --are not
347 sabhdgahetu of rupa.
According to others, four skandhas are sabhdghetu of the five; but rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four.
And according to others, rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four, and vice versa.
2. From the point of view of one existence, the first embryonic state is the similar cause of ten states: these are the five embryonic states, kalala, arbuda, pesin, ghana, and prasdkhd; and the five post- embryonic states, bdla, kumara, yuvan, madhya and vrddha. The second embryonic state is the sabhdgahetu of nine states {arbuda to varddha), and thus following. A previous moment of each state is the similar cause of the later moments of that same state (compare iv. 53).
From the point of view of the states of existence followed by the same species, each of the states of the previous existence is the similar cause of the ten states.
The same holds for external things, corn, rice, etc, that is, the quality of sabhdgahetu remains confined in each series: corn is a similar cause of corn, not of rice.
[3. The Darstantikas deny that] physical matter {rupa) is a similar cause of matter; but this contradicts the Book (Jnanaprasthdna, TD 26, p. 985bl4), which says, "Past primary elements are the hetu and the
? adhipati of future primary elements. " Adhipati means adhipati- pratyaya (predominating conditions, ii. 62d); and hetu means sabha- gahetu, for the hetus are here evidently apart from cause.
***
Are all similar dharmas similar causes of similar dharmas^ No. Similar causes are the similar dharmas which
52b. Belong to the same category (nikaya) and the same stage (bhu).
This means that the dharmas belonging to a certain category and to a certain stage (bhumi) are a similar cause of dharmas of the same category and the same stage.
The dharmas are classed into five categories accordingly as they are susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing each of the Four Truths, or through Meditation (i. 40).
The dharmas belong to nine stages: they are either in Kamadhatu, or in one of the Four Dhyanas, or in one of the Four ArOpyas.
A dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering is a similar cause of another dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering, and not of the dharmas belonging to the other four categories; and thus following.
***
Sabhagahetu has not yet been exactly defined. In fact, only those dharmas are similar causes which have
52b. Arisen previously.
An arisen dharma, that is to say, any previously past or present
dharma is a similar cause of a later similar dharma, arisen or not 348
arisen. A future dharma cannot be a similar cause.
1. On what authority does this definition rest?
It rests on the Mulasastra, for the Jnanaprasthana (TD 26, p.
The Indrryas 263
? 264 Chapter Two
920cl5) says, "What \s similar cause (sabhdgahetu)? The root of good, arisen and previous, is a cause in the quality of a similar cause with regard to the later root of good and of the dharmas associated with it, of the same category and stage. In that way, the roots of good of the past are a similar cause with regard to past and present roots of good; past and present roots of good are similar causes with regard to future roots of good. "
2. [Objection:] A future dharma is a similar cause, for we read in this same Jndnaprasthdna, "[Question:] Is there a period when the dharma which is the cause of a certain dharma is not a cause? [Answer:] There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause. "
[The Vaibhasikas:] This text does not contradict the first; for the Jndnaprasthdna does not refer to that which is a cause in the quality of a similar cause (sabhdgahetu), but rather that which is a cause in the
qualities of sahabhuhetu, samprayuktakahetu, or vipdkahetu. According to another opinion, that of the "followers of the last
place" (paramavasthdvddin), the answer of the Jndnaprasthdna, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause" refers to sabhdgahetu, and they justify themselves as follows: A future dharma, in an arising state, is certainly sabhdgahetu. Hence, taking into account a future dharma in its last place, the Jndnaprasthdna can say that there is never a time when the dharma is not a cause, that it is always a cause, since, at a certain moment in the future, it is a cause.
This explanation does not resolve the difficulty. In fact, if a future dharma, after not having been a cause becomes a cause by arriving at a state of arising, then it has not always been a cause: but now the Jndnaprasthdna says absolutely that there is never a time when it is not a cause.
Furthermore, this explanation cannot be reconciled with the answer that the Jndnaprasthdna (p. 1026M9; Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 87a2) gives to another question, "Is there a period in which the dharma that is an immediately antecedent condition (samanantara, ii. 62a-b) of a certain dharma is not samanantara! Yes, when it has not yet arisen. " Now the case of samanantara is analogous to that of sabhdgahetu: future samanantara, arriving at a state of arising, is samanantara.
? Hence if the interpretation of the answer, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause," in the sense of "In the future, in an arising state, it is sabhdgahetu" is correct, then the Jndnaprasthdna, dealing with samanantara, should answer as for sabhdgahetu, "This dharma is never samanantara! * Now the Jndnaprasthdna answers, "It is not samanantara when it has not arisen. " Hence the word "cause" in the first answer should not be understood as sabhdgahetu.
The "followers of the last place" say that the Jndnaprasthdna answers the first question by saying, "There is never a time when it is not a cause," and the second by saying, "It is not a cause when it has not arisen," in order to show that one can answer in these two ways in order to express the same sense. One can answer the first question as the second, and the second as the first.
What a singular process of explanation! The author of the Sastra would then be totally useless! Hence the first explanation proposed is the best explanation.
3. If a future dharma is not a similar cause {sabhdgahetu), why does
the Prakaranapdda teach that future satkdyadrsti has satkdyadrsti as its
cause, and is in turn the cause of sa&kdyadrstfi We read, in faa (in the
text quoted in note 342, para. Bl(b)), "with the exception of
future satkdyadrstiand the Truth of Suffering which is associated
with it" (andgatdm satkdyadrsti tatsamprayuktam ca duhkhasatyam 349
This reading, [answer the Vaibhasikas,] is corrupted. It should read, "with the exception of the Truth of Suffering associated with future satkdyadrsti {andgatasatkdyadrstisamprayuktam). If we were to suppose that your reading is authentic, we must, because of the sense that the text expresses, consider it as without authority (na tantram), and as having been determined by the context of discourse (that is, through imitation of the preceeding phrase).
sthapayitvd. )
4. If a future dharma is not sabhdgahetu, how do you explain the m
following bhdfyam of the Prajnapti? This Treatise says in faa, "All the dharmas are determined from a fourfold point of view: cause,
m result, support (dsraya), and objea (dlambana). "
[The Vaibhasikas answer:] When it says, "This dharma is never
The Indriyas 265
? 266 Chapter Two
the cause of that dharma** the Treatise does not mean to speak of all types of causes. By cause, we must understand sarhprayuktakahetu and
352 sahabhuhetw, by result, adhipatiphala and purusakdraphala (ii. 58);
by support, the six organs (organ of sight, etc. ); and by object, the six spheres {visaya), visible things, etc.
5. If a future dharma is not sabhagahetu, then sabhagahetu did not exist at first, but then does exist.
But this is precisely what the Vaibhasikas affirm! The condition {avastha) of sabhagahetu of the sabhagahetu is new, that is, it exists after having been non-existent; but the thing itself, the dravya which is
a certain sabhagahetu, is not new. A future dharma is not sabhagahetu, but once it has arisen, it becomes sabhagahetu. In fact, the result of the complex of causes, is the condition of a thing and not the thing itself {dravya), the dharma. (A future dharma exists as a thing, dravyatas\ the complex of causes causes it to pass from the future into the
present, endows it with the condition of the present, and endows it, by this fact, with the quality of sabhagahetu', see v. 25. )
6. What harm do you see in this future dharma being a similar cause {sabhagahetu) in the same way that it is a retributive cause {vipakahetu, ii. 54)?
It it were sabhagahetu, it would be mentioned as such in the Jndnaprasthdna (see above p. 263 line 27); now the Jnsnaprasthana,
answering the question, "What is sabhagahetu? ** does not say that future roots of good are sabhagahetu of future roots of good.
We do not think that the omission of future dharma from this text creates an argument against us. This text, in fact mentions only the sabhdgahetus that are capable of "grasping" and of "giving forth" a result {phaladanagrahanasamartha, ii. 59).
No, for the result of sabhagahetu is an "out-flowing result of out-flowing," a result similar to its cause {nisyandaphala, ii. 57c), and this type of result does not suit a future dharma, because, in the future, there is no anteriority and posteriority. One cannot, on the other hand, admit that a past or present dharma already arisen is an out-flowing of a future dharma, in the same way that a past dharma is not an out-flowing of a present dharma, for a result is not anterior to its cause.
? Hence a future dharma is not a similar cause.
7. If this is the case, then a future dharma would no longer be a
vipakahetu, a retributive cause (ii. 54c), for 1) a retributive result (vtpdkaphala, ii. 56a) cannot be either simultaneous or anterior to its cause; and 2) because future dharmas have no earlier or later periods of time.
[The Vaibhasikas answer that] the cause is not the same. A similar cause (sabhagahetu) and its out-flowing (nisyanda) result are similar dharmas. Now this is to suppose that they exist in the future, that they lack anteriority and posteriority, and that they are the mutual cause of one another, and as a consequences the results of one another: now it is not admissable that two dharmas are an out flowing of one another. On the contrary, a retributive cause and a retributive result are dissimilar. Even if the anteriority and the posteriority were absent, a cause remains only a cause, and a result remains only a result. The quality of sabhagahetu results from a condition or state (avastha): a future dharma is not sabhdgahetu\ but when it enters into a present or a past condition, it becomes sabhagahetu. Its quality of retributive cause results from the nature of the dharma itself.
***
We have said that a dharma is a similar cause (sabhagahetu) of only those dharmas that belong to its stage. Does this restriction apply to all the dharmas?
It applies only to impure dharmas, not to pure dharmas:
52c-d. But the Path is sabhagahetu to the Path, without
distinguishing the nine stages.
The Path is of nine stages or spheres--the anagamya, the dhyandntara, the Four primary (mula) Dhyanas, and the three inferior, primary Arupyas (vi. 20c)--in the sense that an ascetic, abiding in these nine states of absorption, can cultivate the Path.
The dharmas that constitute the Path are similar causes of the dharmas that constitute the Path, from stage to stage. In fact, the Path
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resides in the different stages as a visitor, without forming part of the spheres of existence to which these stages belong: the desire of Kamadhatu, of Rupadhatu, of ArQpyadhatu, are not on the Path. The Path, whatever be the stage upon which the ascetic relies in order to cultivate it, stays of the same nature; the Path is hence a similar cause of the Path.
Nevertheless, the complete Path is not a similar cause of the complete Path. One does not have to take into account the stage in which it is cultivated, but rather the characteristics proper to the Path itself.
52d. The Path is sabhdgahetu to an equal or superior Path.
Not of an inferior Path, because the Path is always acquired through effort.
Let us define the terms, "inferior," "equal," and "superior Path. "
1. When past or present duhkhe dharmajndnaksdnti (the first moment of the Path of Seeing, darfanamdrga, vi. 25d) is a similar cause of this same ksdnti of the future, the caused Path is equal to the causing Path.
When this ksdnti is a similar cause of duhkhe dharmajndna (the second moment of the Path of Seeing, darsanamdrga, vi. 26a) the caused Path is superior to the causing Path.
And thus following up to anutpddajndna (vi. 50) which, not having a superior, can only be the similar cause of an equal Path, namely a future anutpddajndna.
To state it more precisely, the Path of Seeing (darsanamdrga) is a similar cause of the Path of Seeing, the Path of Meditation (bhdvand- mdrga), and the Path of the Asaiksas (asaiksamdrga); the Path of Meditation is a similar cause of the Path of Meditation and the Path of the Asaiksa; and the Path of the Asaiksa is a similar cause of an equal or superior Path of the Asaiksa.
3. Any Path can be cultivated by an ascetic of weak faculties or active faculties: a Path of weak faculties is the similar cause of the same Path of weak faculties and of active faculties; a Path of active faculties is the similar cause of the same Path of active faculties. Consequently
? the Paths of sraddhdnusdrin (vi. 29), sraddhddhimukta (vi. 31) and samayavimukta (vi. 56-7) are, respectively, the similar causes of six, four, and two Paths; the Paths of dharmdnusdrin (vi. 29), drstiprdpti (vi. 31) and asamayavimukta (vi56-7) are, respectively, the similar causes of three, two, and one Path.
When a Path cultivated in a higher stage is the similar cause of a Path cultivated in a lower stage, how can it be the cause of an equal or higher Path?
The Path cultivated in a lower stage can be equal or higher 1) from
the point of view of the faculties {indriyas) which can be weak or active
in any stage, or 2) from the point of view of the accumulation of
354 causes.
It does not follow that the same person successively grasps
sraddhdnusdrin and dharmdnusdrin Paths; yet the first, in the past or 355
present, is a similar cause of the second, the later one.
***
Does the rule of equal or higher results apply only to the pure dharmas, that is, to the dharmas that form part of the Path?
53a. The dharmas acquired through cultivation are sabhdgahetu of the same two classes, the equal and the higher.
Worldly dharmas acquired through effort or exercise are similar causes of equal or higher dharmas, but not of inferior dharmas.
What are the dharmas acquired through effort?
53b. Those which arise through hearing, through reflection,
etc
The dharmas "acquired through effort" are the opposite of the "innate" dharmas. These former dharmas are qualities (guna) proceed- ing from hearing {sruta)y that is, from the Word of the Buddha, from reflection (cintd), and from meditation (bhdvand).
Since they are acquired through effort, they are the similar cause of greater or of equal, but not of lesser, good
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The dharmas of hearing in Kamadhatu are similar causes of the dharmas of hearing and reflection in Kamadhatu; but not of the dharmas of meditation, because these dharmas do not exist in Kamadhatu, and because a dharma is a similar cause of dharmas of the same sphere of existence.
The dharmas of hearing in Rupadhatu are similar causes of the dharmas of hearing and meditation in Rupadhatu; but not of the dharmas of reflection, because these dharmas do not exist in this sphere of existence: in Rupadhatu, as soon as one begins to reflect, one immediately enters into absorption (samddhi).
The dharmas of meditation in Rupadhatu are similar causes of the dharmas of meditation in Rupadhatu, but not of the dharmas of hearing in Rupadhatu, because these are less good.
The dharmas of meditation in Arupyadhatu are the similar causes of the dharmas of meditation in Arupyadhatu. The dharmas of hearing and of reflection do not exist in this sphere of existence.
Furthermore, one must consider that the dharmas acquired through effort are of nine classes: weak-weak, medium-weak, etc. The weak-weak are the similar causes of dharmas of nine classes; the medium-weak, of dharmas of eight classes, with the exception of the weak-weak; and thus following.
The nine classes of the "innate" good dharmas are similar cause of one another. The same holds for the defiled dharmas.
The undefiled-neutral dharmas are of four categories (ii. 72), the following being "better" than the preceding: dharmas arisen from retribution (vipakaja, i. 37); dharmas relative to lying down, to sitting attitudes, etc. ; dharmas relative to professional work; and the mind that can create fictive beings {nirmanacitta, vii. 48). These four categories are, respectively, the similar cause of four, three, two, and one category.
Furthermore, as a mind capable of creating fictive beings of the sphere of Kamadhatu can be the result of each of the Four Dhyanas {Vibhasa, TD 27, p. 89al2), there is reason to establish here the same distinctions: the minds capable of creating fiaive beings constitute four classes, and are, according to their class, similar causes of four, three,
? two, or one mind capable of creating fictive beings. In fact, since it is a result of a higher Dhyana, the mind capable of creating fictive beings is not the similar cause of a mind capable of creating fictive beings which is the result of a lower Dhyana: from one similar cause (a mind capable of creating fictive beings) realized with the greatest effort, there cannot proceed a dharma less good, realized with less effort.
***
Once these principles have been established, the following ques-
356 tions are stated and resolved:
1. Is there a pure dharma, already arisen, which is not the cause of a pure dharma not destined to arise?
Yes. Duhkhe dharmajndna already arisen is a cause of duhkhe dharmajndnaksdntis not destined to arise. Furthermore, a better good is not the cause of lesser good.
2. Is there, in a series, a pure dharma, previously acquired (of which one has first obtained the prapti), which is not the cause of a pure dharma arisen later?
Yes. Future duhkhe dharmajnanaksdnti [whose possession (prdpti) has been obtained in the first moment of the Path] are not the cause of duhkhe dharmajndna already arisen. This is because a result cannot be anterior to its cause, and because a future dharma is not a similar cause.
3. Is there a pure dharma, arisen previously, which is not the cause of a pure dharma arisen later?
Yes.
? cannot admit.
[4. But the Sarvastivadins are warranted by a text. ] The Blessed
One said, "A stanza (gdthd) depends on words, and a poem depends on 319
stanzas. "
[The Sautrantikas answer that] word (ndman) is a sound (sabda)
upon which persons have come to an agreement that it signifies a 32
certain thing. ? A stanza {gdtha) is a certain arrangement of words: it is in this sense that it, according to the Blessed One, depends on words. To admit an entity in and of itself called pada, is a very superfluous hypothesis. You might as well maintain that there exists, distinct from ants and minds, things in and of themselves termed "a row of ants" or
321
"a succession of minds. " Recognize then that only the phonemes
(aksaras), which are sounds, exist in and of themselves.
The Vaibhasikas admit ndmakdya, padakdya, and vyanjanakdya, as
samskdras disassociated from the mind, for, they say, none of these 322
dharmas serve as a gate of understanding. ***
We ask: (1) to which sphere of existence do the phonemes, words, and phrases belong? (2) Do they belong to living beings (sattvdkhya, i. lOb)? (3) Are they of retribution, of accumulation or of out-flowing (i. 37)? and (4) Are they good, bad, or neutral?
47c-d. They exist in Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu; they belong to
323 living beings; they are out-flowing; and they are neutral.
The phonemes, etc. , belong to two spheres of existence. According
to one opinion, they also exist in Arupyadhatu, but there they are
324 "unpronounceable. "
They belong to living beings, being produced through the efforts of living beings and consisting of articulated sounds (varna), etc. In fact, they belong to the person who speaks, not to the things that they designate.
They are an out-flowing, being produced through sabhdgahetu
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(ii. 52); they are not of retribution, since they proceed from the desire of the person who speaks; they are not of accumulation, since they are not material.
325 They are non-defiled-neutral {anivrtdvydkrta, ii. 28).
##*
We shall briefly explain the characteristics, not as yet mentioned, of the other dharmas disassociated from the mind (ii. 35).
47d-48b. The same for "genre," {sabhdgatd) which is also from retribution, and which belongs to the three spheres of existence.
"The same for," that is to say, like phonemes, words, and phrases, sabhdgatd is of the first two spheres of existence; it belongs to living beings; it is from out-flowing; and it is non-defiled-neutral.
But sabhdgatd is not only from out-flowing: it is also of retribution; it not only belongs to the first two spheres of existence, it also belongs to the third.
326 48b. Possession (prapti) is of two types.
It is of out-flowing and of retribution. 48c. Its characteristics also.
Its characteristics, arising, etc. , are of two types, like possession.
48c-d. The absorptions and non-possession (aprdpti) are of out-flowing.
The two absorptions and non-possession are only out-flowings.
As for their spheres, their relationship with living beings, their moral qualifications (good, etc. ), the explanations have been given above. The characteristics belong to all conditioned things, hence they belong to living beings and to non-living beings. For the dsamjnika and the ayus, see ii. 41d and 45a.
*##
? We have seen (9ii. 47c-d) that arising, in order to engender the
dharma that it should engender, needs the cooperation of hetus or
causes, and pratyayas or conditions. What are the hetus, and what are
327 the pratyayas?
49. The hetus are sixfold: kdranahetu, sahabhu, sabhdga, m
samprayutaka, sarvatraga, and vipdka.
Kdranahetu is reason for existence; sahabhuhetu is coexistent
cause; sabhdgahetu is parallel cause; samprayuktakahetu is associated
cause; sarvatragahetu is universal cause, and vipdkahetu is retributive
cause: such are the six types of causes that the Abhidharmikas (Jndna- 329
prasthdna, TD p. 920c5) recognize.
50a. All dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all, with the
exception of themselves.
A dharma is not a kdranahetu of itself.
With this exception, that all of the dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all other conditioned dharmas, because no dharma constitutes an obstacle to the arising of the dharmas susceptible of arising.
It results from this definition that the dharmas that are saha- bhuhetu, etc. , are also kdranahetu: all other hetus are included within kdranahetu. The hetu that does not receive a special name, which is simply kdrana, "reason for existence," without any other qualification is kdranahetu: it receives as its particular name the name that suits all the hetus. Compare this with the name of the rupdyatana (i. 24).
***
Kdranahetu calls for the following observations:
1. Vices are produced among the ignorant; once the Truths are known, they are not produced, as the stars are not visible when the sun shines. Hence the consciousness of the Truths, or the sun, causes an obstacle to the vices, or to the stars. Then it is false to say that all conditioned dharmas are kdranahetu because they create no obstacle to arising.
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We understand that the consciousness of the Truths and the clarity
of the sun create no obstacle to the arising of the dharma which is
"arising" {utpadyamdnd), that is to say of the dharma, which, its causes 330
being completed, continues to exist.
2. What is called cause or reason for existence, may be what is
capable of causing, or of not causing, an obstacle! In faa, when their
lord does not oppress them, villagers say, "We are fortunate through
331
the actions of our master. " But can one call cause that which, being
incapable of causing an obstacle, does not cause an obstacle? Nirvana is incapable of creating any obstacle to the arising of any conditioned thing: such too are future dharmas with regard to past dharmas, or creatures of hell or animals with regard to beings in Arupyadhatu: Nirvana, future dharmas, or creatures in hell are as if they did not exist with regard to their being an obstacle to the arising of the conditioned things in question. Can one consider them as causes?
They are causes; for, even when the lord is incapable of harming them, the villagers express themselves as we have said; but not about a non-existent lord
3. The definition that we have given of kdranahetu is a general
definition and includes that which is kdranahetu par excellence and
that which is simply kdranahetu. Kdranahetu par excellence is the
generating cause: in this sense, eye and color are the kdranahetu of the 332
consciousness of sight; as food is with regard to the body, the seeds, etc. , with regard to the sprout, etc. (see ii. 56b).
[4. Objection. ] If all the dharmas are the causes of other dharmas because they do not cause any obstacle, why do not all the dharmas
333
arise together? Why, when one murder is committed, are not all
creatures, like the murderer himself, guilty of the crime of murder? This objection is useless. In faa, all the dharmas receive the name of kdranahetu because they do not create any obstacle: it is not that
they are all agents.
5. According to other masters, all karanahetus possess a real
efficacy with regard to all dharmas. For example Nirvana and the consciousness of sight: a mental consciousness, good or bad, arises having Nirvana as its objea (dlambana, ii. 62c-d); from this mental
? consciousness there later arises a consciousness of sight; then Nirvana has efficacy, albeit mediately, with regard to the consciousness of sight.
The same argument applies to future dharmas, to beings in hell, etc.
***
50c-d Sahabhuhetu, coexistent causes, namely the elements
(bhuta), the mind and the companions of the mind, character-
istics and the thing characterized, are the dharmas that are 334
11. The dharmas that are causes (purusakdraphala, ii. 58) one of the other, are called sahabhuhetu. ^
336
For example, the primary elements (mahdbhuta) are, among
themselves, sahabhuhetu. The same for the mind and its companions (ii. 51); the same for the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b), and the dharmas that they characterize.
causes one of the other.
In the category of sahabhuhetu are then included all conditioned 337
dharmas which are in a mutual relationship of causality.
2. We have reason not to complete the above definition. A dharma
is a sahabhuhetu of its secondary characteristics (anulaksana, ii. 45)
without being in a mutual relationship of causality with them: for the
secondary characteristics are not the sahabhuhetu of their dharma. 338
This is a case to be added to the definition.
*#*
What dharmas are called "the companions of the mind? "
51a-c The companions of the mind are: the mental states; the two disciplines (samvara); and the characteristics (laksanas) of the mental states, the two disciplines and the mind
These are all the dharmas associated with the mind {cittasam- prayukta, ii. 24), the discipline of absorption and pure discipline
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(iv. l7d), and the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b) of all these, and also of the mind
[Why are they termed "companions of the mind"? ]
5 Id. From the point of view of time, of result, etc. , and of goodness, etc.
The companions are associated with the mind:
1. In regard to time: they have the same arising, the same duration,
and the same destruction as does the mind; they are of the same time period as the mind.
When we say "the same arising . . . ," we understand the word "same" in the sense of concomitance: the companions arise, last, and perish at the same time as does the mind; but their arising is distinct.
The minds that are not destined to arise do not arise, nor last, nor perish: the same for their companions. This is why the phrase, "The companions are of the same time period as the mind" is added. [The mind which should arise is future until the moment when it arises if it is to arise: its companions are hence future; it is past after the moment
339
when it shall perish if it arose: its companions are then past. ]
2. In regard to the result, etc. Result means purusakdraphala
(ii. 58a-b) and visamyogaphala (ii. 57d); and "et cetera" refers to vipdkaphala (ii. 57) and nisyandaphala (ii. 57c).
The companions have the same result, the same vipaka, and the same nisyanda as the mind: "same" indicates identity.
3. In regard to goodness, etc. The companions are good, bad, or neutral, like the mind which they accompany.
There are then ten reasons why the companions are termed
34 companions. ?
***
341
The mind having the least number of companions is a
sahabhuhetu of fifty-eight dharmas: namely 1) the ten mahdhhumikas (ii. 23) with the four characteristics of each of them; and 2) the four characteristics and the four secondary characteristics (anulaksana,
? ii. 46).
If, from these fifty-eight dharmas, the four secondary character-
istics of the mind--which have no effect upon it--are set aside, then 342
we have fifty-four dharmas that are sahahhuhetu of the same mind. According to another opinion, only fourteen dharmas are sahahhuhetu of this mind, namely its four charaaeristics and the ten
mahabhumikas. As the secondary charaaeristics have no effea on the mind, the characteristics of the mahabhumikas likewise have no effect on the mind
The Vaibhasikas reject this opinion--that the forty charaaeristics
of the mahabhumikas are not sahahhuhetu of the mind,--as contra-
dictory to the doctrine of the Prakaranagrantha according to which
"the four charaaeristics,--arising, duration, old age, and imperma-
nence,--of the belief in self {satkayadrsti) . . . and in the dharmas
associated with this belief (comprising the mahabhumikas), are at the 343
same time a result and a cause of the belief in self. "
Certain Masters, in their reading of the Prakaranagrantha, omit
the words, "and of the dharmas associated with this belief. " According to the Vaibhasikas of Kdsmir, these words figure in the text; or, if they are missing, the context indicates that one should supply them and that the passage as it stands is incomplete.
***
Any dharma that is a sahahhuhetu cause is a sahabhil or a coexistant item. But there are some coexistant items that are not sahahhuhetu:
1. the secondary characteristics of the principal dharma (mula- dharma) are not a sahahhuhetu regarding this dharma (ii. 46a-b);
2. these same are not sahahhuhetu among themselves;
3. the secondary characteristics of the companions of the mind are not a sahahhuhetu regarding the mind;
4. these same are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
5. derived matter, blue, etc. , susceptible of resistance and which has also arisen together, are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
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6. a part of derived matter not susceptible to resistance and also arisen together with them, is not a sahabhuhetu) with the exception of the two disciplines (see 1. 136);
7. no derived matter, even though arisen with the elements, is a sahabhuhetu with the elements;
8. possession (prapti), even when it arises with the dbarma to which it is related, is not a sahabhuhetu to it.
The dharmas of these eight categories are coexistant (sahabhu), but are not sahabhuhetu, because their results, vipdka or nisyanda, are not identical (see p. 259). As for possession, it does not always accompany the dharma: it arises either before the dharma, or after it, or at the same time as it (ii. 37-38).
***
[The Sautrantikas criticize the doctrine of coexistant causes. ]
All this may be right, that is, "what is a sahabhuhetu cause, a mutually coexistant cause, is a coexistant item," and the rest. Never- theless, in the world, the relationship of cause to effect is well proven in certain cases: the cause is previous to the effect. It is in this way that a seed is the cause of the sprout, the sprout of the stalk, etc. But one does not prove a similar relationship between simultaneous things. You should then demonstrate that dharmas arisen together can be in a cause and effect relationship.
[The Sarvastivadins supply two examples. ] The lamp arises with its light; the sprout, growing in the light, arises with its shadow. Now a lamp is the cause of its light and a sprout is the cause of its shadow. Thus cause and effect can be simultaneous.
[The Sautrantikas:] These examples are not proven. We must examine whether a lamp is the cause of its light, or if, as we think, a lamp with its light are both the effeet of a complex of previous causes and conditions, oil, wick, etc. In the same way, a complex of previous causes (seed, light) is the cause of the sprout and its shadow, of the sprout with its shadow.
[The Sarvastivadins:] The relationship of cause and effect is
? proven by the existence and the non-existence of what is called effect,
similar to the existence and the non-existence of what is called cause.
The definition of the Logicians {hetukas) is very good: "When A is or
is not, and when B is or is not, then A is considered as cause, and B is
considered as effect. " Granted this, if we examine the dharmas that we
have defined as mutually coexistent and sahabhilhetu, we see that they
all exist when one of them exists, and that none exist when one of
344
them is absent. They are then in a relationship of mutual cause and
effect.
[The Sautrantikas:] Admitting that among the simultaneous
dharmasy one dharma can be the cause of another dharma, then the 345
organ of sight is the cause of visual consciousness. But how many simultaneous dharmas are the cause and effect of one another?
[The Sarvastivadins:] Mutual causality is proven by the definition that we have given of causality. When the mind exists, its mental states exist, and vice versa.
[The Sautrantikas:] Very well, but then the Sarvastivadins should revise their system.
In fact, they have denied mutual causality to derived matter (physical matter, taste, etc. ) although physical matter never exists without taste (ii. 22); they have denied mutual causality to derived matter and to the primary elements, and mutual causality to secondary characteristics and the mind.
[The Sarvastivadins:] In the same way that three staffs stand up supported one on the other, the causal relationship of simultaneous things, the mind and its mental states, etc. , is proven.
[The Sautrantikas:] This new example should be examined We ask whether the three staffs stand up together through the force that the three staffs possess through arising together, or rather, if the force of the complex of previous causes which caused them to arise together does not now also cause them to arise supported one on the other. Further, there are things here other than the mutual force of support: there is a rope and a hook, and there is the ground
But, [reply the Sarvastivadins,] mutually coexistant items have causes other than the sahabhuhetu, namely sabhagahetu, sarvatra- gahetu, and vipakahetu, which have a role analogous to that of the
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cord, etc. Sahabhuhetu is then proven. ***
346 52a. Similar dharmas are sabhdgahetu or similar causes.
Similars (sabhdga) are sabhdgahetu of similars.
1. The five good skandhas are sabhdgahetu of the five good skandhas. When they are defiled, that is to say, bad, and defiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of defiled ones. Neutral, that is, undefiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of neutral ones.
Nevertheless, different masters are not in agreement on this last
point. According to some, neutral rupa is sabhdgahetu of the five
neutral skandhas, but the four skandhas,--sensation, etc. --are not
347 sabhdgahetu of rupa.
According to others, four skandhas are sabhdghetu of the five; but rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four.
And according to others, rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four, and vice versa.
2. From the point of view of one existence, the first embryonic state is the similar cause of ten states: these are the five embryonic states, kalala, arbuda, pesin, ghana, and prasdkhd; and the five post- embryonic states, bdla, kumara, yuvan, madhya and vrddha. The second embryonic state is the sabhdgahetu of nine states {arbuda to varddha), and thus following. A previous moment of each state is the similar cause of the later moments of that same state (compare iv. 53).
From the point of view of the states of existence followed by the same species, each of the states of the previous existence is the similar cause of the ten states.
The same holds for external things, corn, rice, etc, that is, the quality of sabhdgahetu remains confined in each series: corn is a similar cause of corn, not of rice.
[3. The Darstantikas deny that] physical matter {rupa) is a similar cause of matter; but this contradicts the Book (Jnanaprasthdna, TD 26, p. 985bl4), which says, "Past primary elements are the hetu and the
? adhipati of future primary elements. " Adhipati means adhipati- pratyaya (predominating conditions, ii. 62d); and hetu means sabha- gahetu, for the hetus are here evidently apart from cause.
***
Are all similar dharmas similar causes of similar dharmas^ No. Similar causes are the similar dharmas which
52b. Belong to the same category (nikaya) and the same stage (bhu).
This means that the dharmas belonging to a certain category and to a certain stage (bhumi) are a similar cause of dharmas of the same category and the same stage.
The dharmas are classed into five categories accordingly as they are susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing each of the Four Truths, or through Meditation (i. 40).
The dharmas belong to nine stages: they are either in Kamadhatu, or in one of the Four Dhyanas, or in one of the Four ArOpyas.
A dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering is a similar cause of another dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering, and not of the dharmas belonging to the other four categories; and thus following.
***
Sabhagahetu has not yet been exactly defined. In fact, only those dharmas are similar causes which have
52b. Arisen previously.
An arisen dharma, that is to say, any previously past or present
dharma is a similar cause of a later similar dharma, arisen or not 348
arisen. A future dharma cannot be a similar cause.
1. On what authority does this definition rest?
It rests on the Mulasastra, for the Jnanaprasthana (TD 26, p.
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920cl5) says, "What \s similar cause (sabhdgahetu)? The root of good, arisen and previous, is a cause in the quality of a similar cause with regard to the later root of good and of the dharmas associated with it, of the same category and stage. In that way, the roots of good of the past are a similar cause with regard to past and present roots of good; past and present roots of good are similar causes with regard to future roots of good. "
2. [Objection:] A future dharma is a similar cause, for we read in this same Jndnaprasthdna, "[Question:] Is there a period when the dharma which is the cause of a certain dharma is not a cause? [Answer:] There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause. "
[The Vaibhasikas:] This text does not contradict the first; for the Jndnaprasthdna does not refer to that which is a cause in the quality of a similar cause (sabhdgahetu), but rather that which is a cause in the
qualities of sahabhuhetu, samprayuktakahetu, or vipdkahetu. According to another opinion, that of the "followers of the last
place" (paramavasthdvddin), the answer of the Jndnaprasthdna, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause" refers to sabhdgahetu, and they justify themselves as follows: A future dharma, in an arising state, is certainly sabhdgahetu. Hence, taking into account a future dharma in its last place, the Jndnaprasthdna can say that there is never a time when the dharma is not a cause, that it is always a cause, since, at a certain moment in the future, it is a cause.
This explanation does not resolve the difficulty. In fact, if a future dharma, after not having been a cause becomes a cause by arriving at a state of arising, then it has not always been a cause: but now the Jndnaprasthdna says absolutely that there is never a time when it is not a cause.
Furthermore, this explanation cannot be reconciled with the answer that the Jndnaprasthdna (p. 1026M9; Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 87a2) gives to another question, "Is there a period in which the dharma that is an immediately antecedent condition (samanantara, ii. 62a-b) of a certain dharma is not samanantara! Yes, when it has not yet arisen. " Now the case of samanantara is analogous to that of sabhdgahetu: future samanantara, arriving at a state of arising, is samanantara.
? Hence if the interpretation of the answer, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause," in the sense of "In the future, in an arising state, it is sabhdgahetu" is correct, then the Jndnaprasthdna, dealing with samanantara, should answer as for sabhdgahetu, "This dharma is never samanantara! * Now the Jndnaprasthdna answers, "It is not samanantara when it has not arisen. " Hence the word "cause" in the first answer should not be understood as sabhdgahetu.
The "followers of the last place" say that the Jndnaprasthdna answers the first question by saying, "There is never a time when it is not a cause," and the second by saying, "It is not a cause when it has not arisen," in order to show that one can answer in these two ways in order to express the same sense. One can answer the first question as the second, and the second as the first.
What a singular process of explanation! The author of the Sastra would then be totally useless! Hence the first explanation proposed is the best explanation.
3. If a future dharma is not a similar cause {sabhdgahetu), why does
the Prakaranapdda teach that future satkdyadrsti has satkdyadrsti as its
cause, and is in turn the cause of sa&kdyadrstfi We read, in faa (in the
text quoted in note 342, para. Bl(b)), "with the exception of
future satkdyadrstiand the Truth of Suffering which is associated
with it" (andgatdm satkdyadrsti tatsamprayuktam ca duhkhasatyam 349
This reading, [answer the Vaibhasikas,] is corrupted. It should read, "with the exception of the Truth of Suffering associated with future satkdyadrsti {andgatasatkdyadrstisamprayuktam). If we were to suppose that your reading is authentic, we must, because of the sense that the text expresses, consider it as without authority (na tantram), and as having been determined by the context of discourse (that is, through imitation of the preceeding phrase).
sthapayitvd. )
4. If a future dharma is not sabhdgahetu, how do you explain the m
following bhdfyam of the Prajnapti? This Treatise says in faa, "All the dharmas are determined from a fourfold point of view: cause,
m result, support (dsraya), and objea (dlambana). "
[The Vaibhasikas answer:] When it says, "This dharma is never
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the cause of that dharma** the Treatise does not mean to speak of all types of causes. By cause, we must understand sarhprayuktakahetu and
352 sahabhuhetw, by result, adhipatiphala and purusakdraphala (ii. 58);
by support, the six organs (organ of sight, etc. ); and by object, the six spheres {visaya), visible things, etc.
5. If a future dharma is not sabhagahetu, then sabhagahetu did not exist at first, but then does exist.
But this is precisely what the Vaibhasikas affirm! The condition {avastha) of sabhagahetu of the sabhagahetu is new, that is, it exists after having been non-existent; but the thing itself, the dravya which is
a certain sabhagahetu, is not new. A future dharma is not sabhagahetu, but once it has arisen, it becomes sabhagahetu. In fact, the result of the complex of causes, is the condition of a thing and not the thing itself {dravya), the dharma. (A future dharma exists as a thing, dravyatas\ the complex of causes causes it to pass from the future into the
present, endows it with the condition of the present, and endows it, by this fact, with the quality of sabhagahetu', see v. 25. )
6. What harm do you see in this future dharma being a similar cause {sabhagahetu) in the same way that it is a retributive cause {vipakahetu, ii. 54)?
It it were sabhagahetu, it would be mentioned as such in the Jndnaprasthdna (see above p. 263 line 27); now the Jnsnaprasthana,
answering the question, "What is sabhagahetu? ** does not say that future roots of good are sabhagahetu of future roots of good.
We do not think that the omission of future dharma from this text creates an argument against us. This text, in fact mentions only the sabhdgahetus that are capable of "grasping" and of "giving forth" a result {phaladanagrahanasamartha, ii. 59).
No, for the result of sabhagahetu is an "out-flowing result of out-flowing," a result similar to its cause {nisyandaphala, ii. 57c), and this type of result does not suit a future dharma, because, in the future, there is no anteriority and posteriority. One cannot, on the other hand, admit that a past or present dharma already arisen is an out-flowing of a future dharma, in the same way that a past dharma is not an out-flowing of a present dharma, for a result is not anterior to its cause.
? Hence a future dharma is not a similar cause.
7. If this is the case, then a future dharma would no longer be a
vipakahetu, a retributive cause (ii. 54c), for 1) a retributive result (vtpdkaphala, ii. 56a) cannot be either simultaneous or anterior to its cause; and 2) because future dharmas have no earlier or later periods of time.
[The Vaibhasikas answer that] the cause is not the same. A similar cause (sabhagahetu) and its out-flowing (nisyanda) result are similar dharmas. Now this is to suppose that they exist in the future, that they lack anteriority and posteriority, and that they are the mutual cause of one another, and as a consequences the results of one another: now it is not admissable that two dharmas are an out flowing of one another. On the contrary, a retributive cause and a retributive result are dissimilar. Even if the anteriority and the posteriority were absent, a cause remains only a cause, and a result remains only a result. The quality of sabhagahetu results from a condition or state (avastha): a future dharma is not sabhdgahetu\ but when it enters into a present or a past condition, it becomes sabhagahetu. Its quality of retributive cause results from the nature of the dharma itself.
***
We have said that a dharma is a similar cause (sabhagahetu) of only those dharmas that belong to its stage. Does this restriction apply to all the dharmas?
It applies only to impure dharmas, not to pure dharmas:
52c-d. But the Path is sabhagahetu to the Path, without
distinguishing the nine stages.
The Path is of nine stages or spheres--the anagamya, the dhyandntara, the Four primary (mula) Dhyanas, and the three inferior, primary Arupyas (vi. 20c)--in the sense that an ascetic, abiding in these nine states of absorption, can cultivate the Path.
The dharmas that constitute the Path are similar causes of the dharmas that constitute the Path, from stage to stage. In fact, the Path
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resides in the different stages as a visitor, without forming part of the spheres of existence to which these stages belong: the desire of Kamadhatu, of Rupadhatu, of ArQpyadhatu, are not on the Path. The Path, whatever be the stage upon which the ascetic relies in order to cultivate it, stays of the same nature; the Path is hence a similar cause of the Path.
Nevertheless, the complete Path is not a similar cause of the complete Path. One does not have to take into account the stage in which it is cultivated, but rather the characteristics proper to the Path itself.
52d. The Path is sabhdgahetu to an equal or superior Path.
Not of an inferior Path, because the Path is always acquired through effort.
Let us define the terms, "inferior," "equal," and "superior Path. "
1. When past or present duhkhe dharmajndnaksdnti (the first moment of the Path of Seeing, darfanamdrga, vi. 25d) is a similar cause of this same ksdnti of the future, the caused Path is equal to the causing Path.
When this ksdnti is a similar cause of duhkhe dharmajndna (the second moment of the Path of Seeing, darsanamdrga, vi. 26a) the caused Path is superior to the causing Path.
And thus following up to anutpddajndna (vi. 50) which, not having a superior, can only be the similar cause of an equal Path, namely a future anutpddajndna.
To state it more precisely, the Path of Seeing (darsanamdrga) is a similar cause of the Path of Seeing, the Path of Meditation (bhdvand- mdrga), and the Path of the Asaiksas (asaiksamdrga); the Path of Meditation is a similar cause of the Path of Meditation and the Path of the Asaiksa; and the Path of the Asaiksa is a similar cause of an equal or superior Path of the Asaiksa.
3. Any Path can be cultivated by an ascetic of weak faculties or active faculties: a Path of weak faculties is the similar cause of the same Path of weak faculties and of active faculties; a Path of active faculties is the similar cause of the same Path of active faculties. Consequently
? the Paths of sraddhdnusdrin (vi. 29), sraddhddhimukta (vi. 31) and samayavimukta (vi. 56-7) are, respectively, the similar causes of six, four, and two Paths; the Paths of dharmdnusdrin (vi. 29), drstiprdpti (vi. 31) and asamayavimukta (vi56-7) are, respectively, the similar causes of three, two, and one Path.
When a Path cultivated in a higher stage is the similar cause of a Path cultivated in a lower stage, how can it be the cause of an equal or higher Path?
The Path cultivated in a lower stage can be equal or higher 1) from
the point of view of the faculties {indriyas) which can be weak or active
in any stage, or 2) from the point of view of the accumulation of
354 causes.
It does not follow that the same person successively grasps
sraddhdnusdrin and dharmdnusdrin Paths; yet the first, in the past or 355
present, is a similar cause of the second, the later one.
***
Does the rule of equal or higher results apply only to the pure dharmas, that is, to the dharmas that form part of the Path?
53a. The dharmas acquired through cultivation are sabhdgahetu of the same two classes, the equal and the higher.
Worldly dharmas acquired through effort or exercise are similar causes of equal or higher dharmas, but not of inferior dharmas.
What are the dharmas acquired through effort?
53b. Those which arise through hearing, through reflection,
etc
The dharmas "acquired through effort" are the opposite of the "innate" dharmas. These former dharmas are qualities (guna) proceed- ing from hearing {sruta)y that is, from the Word of the Buddha, from reflection (cintd), and from meditation (bhdvand).
Since they are acquired through effort, they are the similar cause of greater or of equal, but not of lesser, good
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The dharmas of hearing in Kamadhatu are similar causes of the dharmas of hearing and reflection in Kamadhatu; but not of the dharmas of meditation, because these dharmas do not exist in Kamadhatu, and because a dharma is a similar cause of dharmas of the same sphere of existence.
The dharmas of hearing in Rupadhatu are similar causes of the dharmas of hearing and meditation in Rupadhatu; but not of the dharmas of reflection, because these dharmas do not exist in this sphere of existence: in Rupadhatu, as soon as one begins to reflect, one immediately enters into absorption (samddhi).
The dharmas of meditation in Rupadhatu are similar causes of the dharmas of meditation in Rupadhatu, but not of the dharmas of hearing in Rupadhatu, because these are less good.
The dharmas of meditation in Arupyadhatu are the similar causes of the dharmas of meditation in Arupyadhatu. The dharmas of hearing and of reflection do not exist in this sphere of existence.
Furthermore, one must consider that the dharmas acquired through effort are of nine classes: weak-weak, medium-weak, etc. The weak-weak are the similar causes of dharmas of nine classes; the medium-weak, of dharmas of eight classes, with the exception of the weak-weak; and thus following.
The nine classes of the "innate" good dharmas are similar cause of one another. The same holds for the defiled dharmas.
The undefiled-neutral dharmas are of four categories (ii. 72), the following being "better" than the preceding: dharmas arisen from retribution (vipakaja, i. 37); dharmas relative to lying down, to sitting attitudes, etc. ; dharmas relative to professional work; and the mind that can create fictive beings {nirmanacitta, vii. 48). These four categories are, respectively, the similar cause of four, three, two, and one category.
Furthermore, as a mind capable of creating fictive beings of the sphere of Kamadhatu can be the result of each of the Four Dhyanas {Vibhasa, TD 27, p. 89al2), there is reason to establish here the same distinctions: the minds capable of creating fiaive beings constitute four classes, and are, according to their class, similar causes of four, three,
? two, or one mind capable of creating fictive beings. In fact, since it is a result of a higher Dhyana, the mind capable of creating fictive beings is not the similar cause of a mind capable of creating fictive beings which is the result of a lower Dhyana: from one similar cause (a mind capable of creating fictive beings) realized with the greatest effort, there cannot proceed a dharma less good, realized with less effort.
***
Once these principles have been established, the following ques-
356 tions are stated and resolved:
1. Is there a pure dharma, already arisen, which is not the cause of a pure dharma not destined to arise?
Yes. Duhkhe dharmajndna already arisen is a cause of duhkhe dharmajndnaksdntis not destined to arise. Furthermore, a better good is not the cause of lesser good.
2. Is there, in a series, a pure dharma, previously acquired (of which one has first obtained the prapti), which is not the cause of a pure dharma arisen later?
Yes. Future duhkhe dharmajnanaksdnti [whose possession (prdpti) has been obtained in the first moment of the Path] are not the cause of duhkhe dharmajndna already arisen. This is because a result cannot be anterior to its cause, and because a future dharma is not a similar cause.
3. Is there a pure dharma, arisen previously, which is not the cause of a pure dharma arisen later?
Yes.
