All
knowledge
which envisions a "self" is saihvrtijndna, conventional, impure knowledge.
AbhidharmakosabhasyamVol-4VasubandhuPoussinPruden1991
Beings in the other realms of rebirth where a knowledge of the mind of another and a memory of past existences are innate always know because their sufferings do not overwhelm them.
328
Among humans, the five powers, rddhi, etc. , described above, are not innate.
56c. The beings in hell know from the very beginning.
56d. Among humans, not innate.
If this is so, how do certain persons, the Bodhisattvas, naturally
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possess a remembranace of past existences?
The remembrance of past existences that they possess by nature is not innate among them, that is, acquired by the mere fact of their human birth; it results from certain actions.
How is this?
A knowledge of the memory of past existences is of three types: a result of meditation (the supernormal knowledge described above), innate (as among the gods), or realized through action (as is the case with the Bodhisattvas).
***
? 1. This Chapter is divided into two parts. The first deals with 1. the distinction between patience (ksdnti), knowledge (jfidna), and seeing (drf) (Kurika 1); 2. the characteristics of the ten knowledges (2-9); 3. the aspects of the ten knowledges (10-13b); 4. different questions, prainanirdeia (13c-27); and the second deals with the qualities (guna) which consist of knowledge (jtidnamaya (28-55). (This is according to the gloss of the Japanese editor, Kyokuga Saeki. )
Among Vasubandhu's sources, the Prakaranapdda, xiii. 10, fol. 14: definition of the ten jUdnas; dariana which is notjfidna; object of thejndnas (I4bll); reciprocal inclusion (15a3); why? (15a8); which jndna is sdsrava, andsrava, sdsravapratyaya, samskrta, etc. Pali sources, Samyutta, ii. 57, Digha iii. 226-227. Papisambhiddmagga, Vibhanga, 306-344, especially 328.
2. On jndnadarsana, see vii. 27c. Prajnd (that is to say the caitta described in ii. 24 which accompanies all minds) is either pure (andsrava) or impure (sdsrava).
i. Pure, prajfid is "knowledge" (jndna) or "patience" (ksdnti).
a. "Knowledge" signifies a consciousness of certitude, free from doubt (niicita; jnanam niicitarupena utpadyate).
Knowledge can be "pure contemplation" (paratyaveksanamdtra; below note 6); such as kssyajndna and anutpadajndna (vi. 67a-b).
It can be accompanied by samttrana, by parimdrgandiaya; in other words, it can be an upanidbydnapurvaka manasikdra (i. 4lc- d): in this case it is dariana a "view" or seeing. This knowledge includes the desire to instruct itself; it is preceded by reflection; let us say then that it is "consideration" or examination. Nevertherless the Western equivalents are insufficient, for they do not refer to a "discursive" consciousness, but to a consciousness which can last only one moment, which is produced in the states of absorption free from vitarka and vicdra.
b. Patience is not free from doubt, since it has for its end the production of knowledge through the expulsion of doubt. It does not arise as certitude (niicaya), but as "consent" (ksamanarUpena). Perhaps we can render this nuance by saying that the ascetic, in the state of patience, thinks, "The dharmas are doubtless transitory . . . ," and, in the state of knowledge,"Thedharmasaretransitory. . . "Thepurepatiencesarethus iaiksisamyagdfsti (i. 4a). They are produced in fact in the course of the Path of Seeing and as a consequence they belong to the Saiksa. And they are dariana.
ii. Impure, prajnd is associated either with the five sense consciousnesses (eye consciousness, etc. ), or with the mental consciousness (manovijnana).
In the first case, it is knowledge (jn~ana)\ it is never "seeing. "
In the second case, it is knowledge (samvrtijn~dna, vii. 2b); and it is "seeing": a. when it is bound to bad opinions (satkdyadrspi, etc. , i. 41a), b. when it is good (kuiala), that is to say associated with right views (samyagdrspi). However it happens that it is, improperly, termed "patience": the third nirvedhabhdgiya (vi. l8c) is in fact a "knowledge", even though it is termed "patience. "
3. Prakarana (xxiii. 10,10b3) quoted in the Vydkhyd ad vii. 7'.
4. samtirandtmakatvdt - upanidhydnasvabhdvatvdt (Koia i. 4l; below note 6 and viii. l). The impure ksdntis (for example vi. l8c) ? ? ? /? ? ? *, or more precisely samvrtijndna (vii.
note 40). Vydkhyd: amaldeva ksantay? ? ? jnanam ity avadbaranat sdsravdh ksdntayo jfianam ity uktarh bhavati.
5. See vii. 4b. Dhi = prajnd, dri - drspi = dariana. The prajnd or consciousness which consists of the knowledge of the destruction of the defilements (ksayajn"dna)f of the knowledge of no new arising of the defilements (anutpddajn~dna), is not drsti, or dariana.
6. As long as the ascetic has not done what he should do (krtakrtya), he reflects
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(dhydyati), he inquires {parimdrgayati) into the subject of the Truths. When he has done that which he should have done, he only contemplates (pratyaveksanamdtra) the Suffering which is known, etc. , and he no longer inquires. [Compare Samantapdsddikd, 168, Milinda 338 (note trans, ii. p. 240)y paccavekkhanandna].
I. Hsuan-tsang here enumerates the ten jndnas: samvrti, dharma, anvaya, duhkha, samudaya, nirodha, mdrga, paracitta, ksaya, and anutpddajndna; an enumeration which, in the original, is given later on page 12. This is not the order of the Sdstra, below note 32.
8. See vii. 3a, 7a, 8, 10b, 12a-b, 18c, 20c-21. Vydkhyd: samvrtau bhavarh sdmvrtam, and below: svabhdvatah samvrtk jndnam samvrtau va jndnam samvrtijndnam.
See below vii. 21.
The Madhyamikas distinguish between lokasamvrtijndna and? ogisamvrtijndna (see for example Bodhicarydvatdra ix. 2). The latter corresponds to the laukika jndna prsthalabdh, Kosa, vi. trans, p. 141-2; and vii. l2a-b (prsthaja), 20c.
9. Samvrtisadvastu, vi. 4; Sutrdlamkdra, i. 12, Kathdvatthu, v. 6.
10. Pure jndna is the consciousness of the general characteristics of the dharmas; it is called dharmajndna when it bears on the dharmas of Kamadhatu, anvayajndna when it bears on the dharmas of the two higher Dhatus, vi. 26.
II. The Andhakas {Kathdvatthu, v. 6) say: sammutindnam pi saccdrammanam eva: Conventional knowledge has for its object only the Truths (according to Aung and Rhys-Davids).
12. See vi. 44d, 50a, vii. l, 7, 12a-b.
13. Paramartha: "when they are not by nature asaiksi samyagdrsti. " We have seen (vi. 50d) that all the Arhats possess "correct view proper to the Asaiksas"; this samyagdrsti is by its nature darfana; it consists of dharmajndna and anvayajndna.
14. Ksayajndna and anutpddajndna necessarily have Bhavagra from whence the Arhat is about to deliver himself for their object. When a person dies from a poisoned wound, the poison, after having spread over all the body, concentrates itself, at the moment of death, in the wound; in this same way the ascetic's jndna concentrates itself on the object to be abandoned, namely the skandhas of Bhavagra; it bears on Suffering (yena pidyate) and its Arising.
15. Vydkhyd: duhkhdkdrair anityddibhih/ samudaydkdrair vd hetvddibhih . . . Paramartha: "under six aspects of duhkha and samudaya (Gloss of the Japanese editor: anitya, duhkha, hetu samudaya, prabhava, pratyaya: two aspects of suffering, four aspects of its arising. See below vii. l2a-b, which justifies the correction of Hsuan-tsang).
16. The consciousness of another's mind, in principle, is conventional knowledge, samvrtijndna. But when another's mind is a pure mind, that is to say a mind forming part of the pure path (darfanamdrga or bhdvandmdrga), the consciousness which I have of this mind should be pure; it embraces mdrgajndna, pure knowledge relative to the Path; the following mdrgajndna which is relative to Kamadhatu or to the higher spheres is either a dharmajndna or an anvayajndna. Therefore the knowledge of the mind of another (paracittavid) contains fourjndnas.
17. See vii. lla-d and the Balas, Abhijnas, etc.
18. The text has: Paracittajndna by the lower does not know the higher: it does not know, by the Anagamin path, the path of the Arhat. . .
19. He begins the preparatory cultivations from the time that he sees that the ascetic is about to enter into darianamdrga; this cultivation is accomplished when he sees the mind of another occupied in the duhkha of Kamadhatu, in duhkha as part of dharmajfidna.
? 20. On the paracittajndna of the Pratyekabuddhas, see Vibhdsd TD 27, p. 515al8, p. 515c7, and elsewhere. Four opinions according to Sarhghabhadra, namely the two opinions mentioned by Vasubandhu, and also: "The Fratyekabuddha knows moments 1, 2, 8, 14", "The Pratyekabuddha knows moments 1, 2, 11 and 12. " The third opinion is the correct one: for if he knows moment 8, it is because his preparatory cultivation with its consciousness as part of anvayajndna lasts only 5 moments; thus during moments 9-13 he could prepare himself for the consciousness of moment 14.
21. Nettippakarana, 15: khind me jdtiti idam khaye ndnam naparam itthattdyd ti pajdndti idam anuppdde ndnam.
22. Paramartha, "According to the Abhidharma. " This is the text of the Prakarana, TD 26, p. 694a8 (Hsiian-tsang's translation); see also Jfidnaprastbana, TD 26, p. 1021c.
23. Omitted by Paramartha; given by the Prakarana and Hsiian-tsang.
24. The Vydkhyd explains tad upadaya as tat puraskrtya. See p. 1108.
Hsiian-tsang translates tad updddya asyu-tz'u ? ? |? ? > by reason of this" (Gloss of the
editor: "the jndna which grasps these aspects: Suffering is known . . . "); Paramartha has i-tz'u- i tJljktit "taking this meaning into consideration"; the Prakarana has
yu-tz'u-erh-ch'i ? ? ? ? ? ?
25. We have, Nettippakarana, 54: cakkhu, vijjd, buddhi, bhuri, medhd, dloka. Compare Kosa,
vi. 54d.
26. In fact pure jndna bears on duhkha, on the dharmas and their general characteristics, and not on a "self" knowing the duhkha, a self which implies the formula duhkham me parijn~dtam.
All knowledge which envisions a "self" is saihvrtijndna, conventional, impure knowledge.
27. The specific (vis'esa) characteristic of the two pure jndnas, which are nirvikalpa, is known by inference {anumiyate) by reason of the two samvrtijndnas which are their outflowing (nisyanda). Below vii. l2a-b.
28. According to the gloss of the Japanese editor: pafcdtyasramanasautrdntikadayah. According to these masters, there are some pure aspects outside of the sixteen recognized by the Vaibhasikas (see below vii. l2c).
29. See ii. trans, p. 263, iv. trans, p. 701.
30. The Sdstra is quoted in the Vydkhyd: ? at tdvaj jndnam darsanam api tat/ sydt tu darsanam najndnam astdv abhisamaydntikdh ksdntayah. According to the note of the Japanese, the Jndnaprasthana, TD 26, p. 957c2, and the Prakaranapada, TD 26, p. 694c5.
31. Paramartha adds: "Furthermore, in order to indicate that the darsanas here differ from the drstis discussed above. "
32. Same order in the Prakaranapada, TD 26, p. 693c22. The order differs in Hsiian-tsang (above note 7) and Mahdvyutpatti, 57.
33. This question is absent in Paramartha and in the original. The original has tatra . . . = "Among these jndnas, saihvrtijndna constitutes . . . "
34. Vydkhyd: samvrtijndnam samvrtijndnam eva svabhavdsamgrahatah/ ekasya ca paracittajndnasya bhdga ekadesah/.
35. The part which presents the aspect "Duhkha is known by me . . . "
36. The Vydkhyd does not give the Sdstra's definition. Prakaranapada, TD 26, p. 694a3: lokasamvrtijndnam katamat/ sdsravd prajnd.
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37. Definition of the Sdstra, quoted in the Vydkhyd and which corresponds to Prakarana, TD 26. p. 693c23:
dharmajridnam katamat/ kdmapratisamyuktesu samskdresu ? ad andsravam jfidnam/ kdmapratisarhyuktdndm sarhskdrdndm hetau yad andstravam jfidnam/ kdmapratisarhyuk- tdndm sarhskdrdndm nirodhe yad andsravam jfidnam/ kdmapratisarhyuktdndm sarhskd- rdndm prahdndya marge yad andsravam jfidnam idam ucyate dharmajfldnam/ api khalu dharmajndne dharmajndnabhumau ca yad andsravam jfidnam idam ucyate dharmajridnam. anvayajfidnam katamat/ rupdrupyapratisamyuktesu samskdresu yad andsravam jfidnam . . . See vi. 26, anvetity anvayajfidna.
38. Correct sdsravahetuka vi, note 11, line 11.
39. Vydkhyd:nirodhamdrgau hy adhdtupatitau/ tdv adhardv api na hinau vyavasthdpyete/ duhkhasamudayasatye tv adharabhumike nihlne/ na taddlambanam dharmajridnam rupdrupyadhdtupratipaksa ity avagantavyam. Nirodha and mdrga do not form part of the Dhdtus. To consider nirodha with respect to Kamadhatu (nirodhe dharmajndna) is to also combat the klesas of the higher spheres.
In the state of darsanamdrga, it is the anvayadharmaksdntis which expell the anusayas of the higher spheres.
40. Vydkhyd: sodasdkdram usmagatddisu/ svasdmdnyalaksanddigrahandd iti svalaksanagra- handt sdmdnyalaksanagrahandc ca/ ddisabdena bhumksva tistha gacchety evamdkdram ca/ na hy ete svalaksandkdrdh ? ? tarhy evamdkdrd eva.
In the usmagatas, etc. (vi. l7c), samvrtijndna grasps the sixteen aspects of the Truths. Samvrtijndna grasps their general characteristics (for example, impermanence), their unique characteristics (for example, the specific characteristic of rupa); and it also grasps the aspect which is expressed by the words "Eat! Go! . . . ": such a samvrtijndna does not have for its aspect a unique characteristic, and one can only say that it is evamdkdra, "of such an aspect. "
41. According to Paramartha: svasvasatydkdratai catustayam.
42. Paramartha: paramanojndnam api tathdmalam. Cetopariydye nana or paricce nana (-paracittajndna) is not sammatinana (Vibhanga, 330). The Andhakas think that it bears solely on the mind, Kathdvatthu, v. 7, and wrongly maintain that a Sravaka can, through this fidna, know when others attain a result, v. 10.
43. See note 42.
44. See note 42.
45. The Vydkhyd quotes the Sutra: sardgam cittam sardgam cittam itiyathdbhutam prajdndti/ vigatardgam cittam vigatardgam cittam itiyathdbhutam prajdndti/ yathd sardgam vigatardgam evarh sadvesarh vigatadvesarh samoham vigatamoham samksiptam viksiptarh linam pragrhitam uddhatam anuddhatam avy up as ant am,vy up as ant am asamdhitam samdhitam abhdvitarh bhdvitam avimuktarh vimuktam itiyathdbhutam prajdndti.
According to the glosses of the Bhdsya, one should add the two pairs amahadgata and mahadgata, sa-uttara and anuttara before avyupasdnta: in all twelve pairs. However these two pairs are missing in the Sutra quoted in the Vijndnakdya (TD 26, p. 534al-a5) and in the edition of the Sutra quoted by the Vydkhyd below vii. 42a-d.
According to Saeki, the list of the Ekottara (TD 2, p. 776b20) includes some eleven parts, that of the Madhyama (TD 1, p. 553bl9) has ten, by omitting uddhata-anuddhata and avyupasdnta-vyupasanta, and by adding sadosa-adosa\ that of the Samyukta (TD 2, p. 150a6) has ten pairs.
Pali sources, for example Samyutta, v. 265, Anguttata, iv. 32, Vibhaiiga, 329, Visuddhimagga, 410 (whose explanation diverge from those of the Abhidharma). We have
? Footnotes 1185 only eight pairs: sardga-vitardga, sadosa-vitadosa, samoha-vitamoha, sankhitta-vikkhitta,
mahaggata-amahaggata, sauttara-anuttara, asamdhita-samdhita, and avimutta-vimutta. 46. Vydkhyd: yathd ? add vastram iti paricchinndkdram vijndnam utpadyate na tadd malam
grhndti and vice versa. See i, trans, p. 67.
47. That is to say "associated with rdga, rdgasamprayukta. All this paragraph is according to
Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 950a24, quoted by Saeki, xxvi. 8a.
48. These two explanations will be commented upon and refuted above page 1105 and
following.
49. That is to say any mind defiled (klista) but not associated with rdga; any neutral mind; any good (ku/ala) worldly (laukika) mind. The supramundane mind, a mind forming part of the Path, is not sdsrava. See page 1105 line 14.
50. There are three opinions.
First masters: A mind associated with rdga is sardga; a mind opposed to rdga is
vigatardga.
Second masters: A mind united with rdga, which can be understood in two ways, as
above note 49, is sardga.
Third masters: A mind associated with rdga is sardga; a mind not associated with rdga is
vigatardga.
According to the Vibhdsd (TD 27, p. 950a24 and following), the second opinion is the
best one. Vasubandhu adopts the third opinion. 51. Paramartha: "because its object is small. "
52. In the Vibhdsd (TD 27, p. 950c8), lueh Bg ("abbreviated, reduced"), in Hsuan-tsang, chit ? ("concentrated").
53. Ibid, an atilina mind is kosajjasahagata, kosajjasampayutta.
54. Ibid. The atipaggahita mind is uddhaccasahagata uddhaccasampayutta. In Divya,
pragrhita = "elevated, high" (as a mountain palace, etc. ).
55. The "great person" par excellence is the Buddha. This paragraph is according to the Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 950c20: The defiled mind is small because it is cultivated (sevita) by a svalpajana (thsiao-sheng, / J ^ "a small person"); the good mind is great because it is cultivated by a mahdjana.
Objection: Do we not see that an immeasurable number of beings cultivates the bad, that a small number of beings cultivates the good? How can one say that the defiled mind is cultivated by svalpajana}
We do not say "small" because the category is small in number; that which has few pure dharmas is called small.
56. Bhdvand - pratilambha, acquisition. According to the principle: kuialasamskrtd dharmd bhdvayitavydh (iv. l27c). "These are the good sarhskrta dharmas which one acquires in a future state. " See below vii. 25d.
57. Paramartha: "past and future".
58. On sa-uttara, iv. l27d, v. trans, p. 818.
59. It is not released when it is good-impure (kusalasdsrava) and when it arises in a series where the kle/as have not been cut off. On deliverance of the mind, see vi. 76c.
60. For samksipta, Paramartha has lueh, "? Hsuan-tsang, chii ? \samnirodha, Paramartha: she ? (-samgraha), ch'ih ffi (dhar), Hsuan-tsang: chih xh (famatha).
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Saeki observes that, according to the Sautrantikas, vipaiyana and Samatha are excluded. Samyutta, v. 219'. katamam ca bhikkhave ajjhattam samkhittam cittam/ yam bhikkhave
cittam thinamiddhasahagatam thinamiddhasampayuttam/ idarh vuccati. . . / katamam ca. . . bahiddha vikkhittam cittam/ yam . . . cittam bahiddha paHca gune drabbha anuvikkhittam anuvisatam/ idarh vuccati. . .
61. Hsuan-tsang translates: "In fact we do not admit (pu-hsu ^? - ? ? pratijnayate) that a defiled mind, associated with langour, is distracted. " The same for Paramartha: "We donotestablish(pu-li ^ft )? ? ? "
Vyakhya: kim iti krtvd viksiptatvam atra na pratijnayate/ kim middhasahagate citte viksiptatvam ndstiti na pratijnayate dhosvid vidyamdnam api viksiptatvam samksiptatvend- vasthdpitatvdn na pratijnayate/ ubhayathdpi vyacaksate/ kecid vyacaksate/ middhasahaga- tdt Mist ad? ad anyat klistam tad viksiptam pratijnayate middhasahagatam tu klistam aklistam vdvisesena samksiptam eveti/ apare punar vyacaksate/? an middhasamyuktam tat samksiptam eva na viksiptam/ ? at tu visayesu visrtam tad eva viksiptam ity ato'tra middhasamprayukte citte [viksiptatvam] na pratijnayate.
62. Vyakhya: abuddhokyam abhidharmaiastram ity abhiprayah. Compare KoS'a, i. 3, iii.