No More Learning

Chapter III, the Loka-nirdesa of "Instruaion concerning the World"
is a description of the physical world, its inhabitants, and its various hells and the heavens of the gods.
Some interesting topics are raised in Chapter HI: how rebirth or transmigration takes place; an analysis of each of the parts of the schema of dependent origination; whether there can be such a thing as premature death in a world ruled by karma\ the various measurements of time and space; the cosmic cycle or kalpa; and the career of the Bodhisattva. There is also a discussion of whether there are one or many Buddhas in the cosmos, a recurring debate topic in Far Eastern Buddhism. This chapter also contains a discussion on whether the
intermediate state of existence (antardbhava) exists or not. This intermediate state is well known to students of Tibetan Buddhism as the bardo state, a state discussed at length in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Chapter III is a very interesting chapter.
Chapter IV, the Karma-nirdesa or "Instruction concerning Karma" is, as its title indicates, a presentation of the Buddhist teaching of karma, or consciously willed action, its moral tone, and its subsequent results. This Chapter contains the teaching on the precepts for the seven types of Buddhist believers, both lay and clerical; it also contains a discussion of avijnaptirupay the physical matter that does not inform anyone of its presence except through the cultivation of morality. The concept of avijnaptirupa later became an important topic of discussion in Far Eastern Buddhism.
Vasubandhu was also concerned with the nature of karma and of the problem of the subsistence of the influence of karma, given the
? Buddhist teaching of the non-substantiality and perpetual Imper-
manence of all things. In order to discuss this matter further,
Vasubandhu also composed a work, the Karmasiddhi-prakarana, which 1
has recently been published in an English translation.
Chapter IV is a very important chapter, detailing as it does the
moral life of the Community, and its related philosophical problems. Leo M. Pruden
1. See the Karmasiddhi Prakarana, the Treatise of Action by Vasubandhu, by Etienne Lamotte, English translation by Leo M. Pruden, Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley, 1988.
? CONTENTS
Chapter Three: The World
I. Living Beings and the Physical World: Introduaion 365 A. TheThreeDhatus 365
1. General Comments 365
2. Kamadhatu. 365
3. Rupadhatu. 365
4 Arupyadaatu 366
5. Definition of Terms 368
6. Qiaraaeristics of Dharmas and Minds in
the Three Dhatus 369
B. The Five Realms of Rebirth 371 C The Seven Abodes of Consciousness 374 D. The Nine Dwellings of Sentient Beings 378 E. The Four Abodes of Consciousness 378
II. The Variety of Sentient Beings; Their
Transmigration 380
A. The Four Types of Birth 380 B. Intermediate Existence 383 C. Discussion: Does Intermediate
Existence Exist? 383 Proof from Reasoning 383 Proof from Scripture 386
D. The Form of the Intermediate Existence 390 E. The Qiaraaeristics of Intermediate
Existence 392 F. How Transmigration Takes Place 394 a. Its Support 395
G. Intermediate Existence and the Four Methods
of Entering the Womb 397 a. Three Methods 398
H. The Doarine of No-Soul, Intermediate
Existence, and Transmigration 399
? III. Dependent Origination and Transmigration 401 A. The Twelve Parts of Dependent Origination
and the Three Time Periods; the Two Time
Periods 401 B. Nature of the Twelve Parts of
Dependent Origination 404 C The Four Types of Dependent Origination 405 D. Dependent Origination Applied Only to
Sentient Beings 406 E. Cause and Result and Dependent Origination
in the Three Time Periods 406 1. Defilement, Action, and Foundation 407 2. Their Eternal and Mutual
Interdependence 409 F. Pratityasamutpada versus Pratityasamutpanna 413 G. Definition of the Term Pratityasamutpada 419 H. Ignorance 419
1. Is Ignorance a Substantial Entity? 422 I. Namarupa 423 J. Contact 423
1. The Six Types of Contact: Are Any of
Them Substantial Entities? 423
2. Actual and Denominational Contact 425
3. The Six Types of Contact and the Three
Types of Contact 425
K. Sensation 426 The Six Types of Sensation 426
2. The Relationship Between Contact and
Sensation 427
3. The Eighteen Upavicaras 431
4. The Eighteen Upavicaras and the
Three Dhatus 433
5. Varient Opinions Concerning the
Eighteen Upavicaras 436
L. A Summary Presentation of the Remaining
Items in Dependent Origination 437
? IV. The Lifespan and the Death of Sentient Beings
A. The Four Types of Food 439 B. The Consciousness at Death 447 C The Three Categories of Beings 448
V. The Physical World; The Size and Lifespans of
Sentient Beings 451
A. The Three Cakras 451 B. The Nine Mountains 452 C The Eight Oceans 454 D. The Four Continents 455 E. The Geography of Jambudvlpa 455 F. The Hells 456
1. The Eight Hot Hells 456 a. The Sixteen Utsadas of Hell 457 b. The Guardians of the Hells 458
2. The Eight Cold Hells 459 G. The Dwelling Place of Animals and Pretas 460 H. The Sun and the Moon 460 I. The Heavens and Their Various Gods 462
1. General Remarks 462 2. The Four Terraces of Mt. Sumeru 462 3. The Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods 463 4. The Gods of Aerial Abodes 465 5. Sex Among the Gods 465 6. Birth as a God; the Size and Speech of
the Gods 465 7. Arising of Desire and Arising of Pleasure 466 8. The Location of the Various Heavens 467 9. The Rising and Falling of Gods and
Humans 467 J. The Dimensions of the Heavens 468 K. The Cosmos 468 L The Size of Human Bodies 469 M. The Lifespan of Humans 470
1. The Lifespan of Beings in Pleasurable
Realms of Rebirth 470
? a. Kamadhatu 470
b. Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu 471 2. The Lifespan of Beings in Painful
Realms of Rebirth 472 3. Premature Death 473
L The Dimensions of Time and Space; the Cosmic
Cycle 474
A. The Method of Calculating Space (Physical
Matter) and Time 474 1. The Smallest Dimension of Physical Matter,
Words, and Time 474 2. The Dimensions of Space 474
3. The Dimensions of Time
B. The Four Kalpas 475
1. General Remarks 475 2. The Kalpa of Disappearance 475 3. The Kalpa of Creation 477 4. The Kalpa of Duration 478 5. Small Kalpas 478
C The Buddha and Bodhisattva 479
1. The Length of Time it Takes a
Bodhisattva to Become a Buddha 479 a. Why Does it Take So Long? 480
2. When Do Buddhas and Pratyekabuddhas
Appear in the World? 481
a. Pratyekabuddhas 482
3. The Cakravartin Monarch 484
a. Discussion: Are There One or Many
Buddhas in the Cosmos? 484
D. The Appearance of Beings At the Beginning of
the Kalpa; the Establishment of Kingship 487 E The Calamities 489 1. The Three Minor Calamities 489 2. The Three Major Calamities 490 a. Discussion: A Whole and Its Parts 491 3. The Limits of the Calamities 494 4. The Order of the Calamities 495
475
? Chapter Four: Karma
L Karma 551 A. General Introduction 551 B. Definition 551 C Informative and Non-Informative
Action 552 1. Different Theories of Vijnapti 553
a. Discussion: The Impossibility
of Movement 553
2. The Sautrantika Theory 556 D. Avijnaptir&pa 560
1. Introductory Remarks: The
Sautrantika Theory 560
2. The Vaibhasika Theory 562
3. The Sautrantika Refutation 562
4. The Vaibha? ika Position 564
5. The Sarvastivadin Response 565
E. The Primary Elements 568 1. The Dhatus and the Primary
Elements 568 F. Avijfiapti and Vijnapti and the Primary Elements 569 1. Avijfiapti 569 2. Vijnapti 570 3. Their Moral Tone 571 4. The Dhatus and Bhumis 571
G. The Moral Tone of the Mind and
the Dharmas 573
H. The Two Types of Absorption and
Avijfiapti 575
I. The Three Types of Avijfiaptirupa 580 J. Discipline 580 1. The Pratimok^a Precepts 581
2. The Upasaka, Upavasaka, Sramana,
and Bhiksu Precepts 581 a. Synonyms of "Pratimoksa" 583
? 3. Mental Discipline and Indriya
Discipline 586
4. Vijnapti and Avijnapti 587
5. Discipline and Undiscipline 588 a. The Intermediary Person 588 b. Synonyms of "Undiscipline" 590
6. Conditions for Acquiring the
Precepts 591
7. The Length of Time One Undertakes
the Precepts 592 a. The Pratimoksa Precepts 593
i. Discussion: What is Time? 593 b. The Duration of Undiscipline 594
8. The Upavasatha Precepts 595 a. How to Acquire these Precepts 595 b. The Reason for these Precepts 596
c. Qualifications for Receiving
these Precepts 597
9. Upasakas and the Upasaka Precepts 598 a. The Three Refuges 598 i. The Meaning of Prandpeta 598 ii. The One Rule Upasaka 599
b. Nature and Function of the
Three Refuges 601 i. The Upasaka Precepts and
Sexual Misconduct 603 ii. Deluded and Abusive Speech 605 iii. Strong Liquor 605 iv. The Removal of Transgressions 606
K. The Acquiring of Discipline and
Undiscipline 608 1. The Scope and Motivation for
Acquiring the Precepts 608 2. How One Acquires Undiscipline 611
a. Discussion: On Acquiring
Discipline and Undiscipline 612
L. Discarding Discipline 613
? 1. Discarding the Pnitimoksa
Precepts 613
2. Discarding the Dhyana and the
Undefiled Precepts 616
3. Discarding Undiscipline 617
4. Discarding Avijnapti 618
5. Discarding Non-Material Good, and
the Defiled Dharmas 618
M. Beings Susceptible to Discipline and
Undiscipline 619
II. Karma as Taught in Various Scriptures 621 A. The Three Types of Karma 621 B. Meritorious Action, Demeritorious
Action, and Non-Agitated Action 621 C Sensation as Retribution 622 1. Five Modes of Sensation 624
2. Determinate and Indeterminate
Actions 625
D. Karma in the Three Time Periods 625
1. Four Alternatives 626
2.
The Simultaneity of the Four Karmas 627
a. Projecting Karma 627
3. Karma in the Three Dhatus and the
Five Realms of Rebirth 627
4. Karma in Antarabhava 628
E. Necessarily Retributed Karma 629 1. Karma Experienced in the Present Existence 630 a. Its Cause 631 F. Karma as Sensation 632 G. Painful Mental Sensation 633 1. The Three Dhatus 634
H. The Three Crookednesses, the Three
Corruptions, and the Three Stains 634
I. The Four Karmas 635 1. Black and White Karma 635 2. Black and White Karma and
Undefiled Karma 636
? 3. The Three Silences
4. The Three Purifications 638 5. The Three Bad Praaices 639 6. The Morality of Views 640
III. The Courses of Aaion 640 A. The Ten Courses of Aaion, and Good
and Bad Praaices 641 B. Vijnapti and Avijfktptirupa 641
1. Preparatory and Subsequent Aaion 642
2. An Aa of Murder and the Time of
Death of the Viaim 643 a. Discussion: Can One Course of
Aaion be a Preparatory or a
Subsequent Aaion? 644
C The Three Good and Bad Roots 645 1. A Bad Course of Aaion 645 2. A Good Course of Aaion 647
D. The Roots of a Bad Course of Aaion 647 E. Murder and the Prapti of its
Transgression 648 1. When a Murderer Dies at the Same
Time as, or Earlier than His Viaim 648 2. When a Murderer is a Member of an
Organization 649 F. The Charaaeristics that Determine
a Course of Aaion 649 1. Killing 650 a. Refutation of the Jain Idea of Karma 650 2. Robbery 651 3. Sexual Miscondua 651 4. Lying 652 a. "Seen, Heard, Cognized, or Known" 653 5. Malicious Speech 655 6. Greed, Anger, and Ignorance 657 G. The Meaning of "Course of Aaion" 657
1. Discussion: Is Volition a Mental Aaion?
? H. Cutting Off the Roots of Good 659 1. What Roots are Cut Off? 659 I. Volition and the Course of Aaion 664
J. Courses of Aaion in the Three Dhatus
and the Realms of Rebirth 666
K- The Results of the Courses of Aaion 670 L Wrong Speech, Wrong Aaion, and
Wrong Livelihood 671
IV. Karma and its Results 672 A. The Five Results 672 B. The Moral Tone of the Results 673 C The Three Time Periods 674
V Karma as Taught in the Commentaries 677 A. Proper Aaion, etc 677
1. Discussion: Does One Aaion Projea
One or Many Births? 677
B. The Three Obstacles 678 1. Definition of Ananatarya 680 2. Their Sphere 680
C Schism 681 D. Conditions for Moral Transgressions 685 1. Volitional Intention 686 2. Mortal Transgression and Detachment 687
E. The Relative Gravity of the Mortal
Transgressions and their Results 688 1. The Best of Good Moral Aaions 689 2. Mortal Transgressions and Rebirth in Hell 689 3. Killing a Bodhisattva 690
VI. The Bodhisattva 690 A. When is One a Bodhisattva? 690 B. His Cultivation 690 C His Marks 691 D. The Buddhas that He Met 692 E. The Paramitas
? VII. The Three Meritorious Actions
A. Definition of Meritorious Action 694 B. Giving 695
1. Its Results 696 2. Giving Different Objects 697 3. Different Recipients 698 4. The Highest Form of Giving 698 5. The Eight Gifts 699 6. Non-Aryan Fields of Merit 700 7. The Karma of Giving 700
a. The Six Causes 700 b. Aaion Done versus Aaion Accumulated 701 c Offerings Made to a Caitya 702 d A Gift Made to a Bad Field of Merit 703
C The Meritorious Aaions of the Precepts 703 D. The Meritorious Aaions of Absorption 705 E. "Brahmin Merit" 706 F. The Gift of the Dharma 706 G. The Three Types of Good 706
VIII. Miscellaneous Discussions
A. The Value of Writing, Carving,
Eloquence, Poetry, and Calculation B. Synonyms of Various Dharmas
707 707
? CHAPTER THREE
The World
v / m . Homage to the Buddha.
The author wishes to explain the diverse topics of mind that are
produced in Kamadhatu, Rupadhatu, and Arupyadhatu, the realms of desire, physical matter, and no physical matter (ii. 66-73).
What are these three realms?
la-c. Kamadhatu consists of hell, the Pretas, animals, humans,
l
and six gods.
Kamadhatu consists of four complete realms of rebirth (gati, iii. 4) and one part of the heavenly realm of rebirth, namely the six groups of gods, the Caturmaharajikas, the TrayastrimSas, the Yamas, the Tusitas, the Nirmanaratis, and the Paranirmitavasavartins; plus the physical world (bhajanaloka, iii. 45) that contains these beings.
How many places {sthana) are there in Kamadhatu?
lc-d. Twenty, through the division of the hells and the differences in the continents.
The twenty places are eight hells (iii. 58): Samjiva, Kalasutra, Samghata, Raurava, Maharaurava, Tapana, Pratapana, and Avici; four continents (iii. 53): Jambudvlpa, Purvavideha, Avaragodaniya, and Uttarakuru; and six heavenly abodes as above (iii. 64). And the Pretas and animals. Hence, from Avici hell up to the heaven of the Paranirmitavasavartins, there are twenty places which constitute, with the physical world which rests on the circle of wind (iii. 45), Kamadhatu.
2a-b. Above is Rupadhatu, of seventeen places
The seventeen places of Rupadhatu are above Kamadhatu,
? 2b-d. made up of dhyanas which are each of three stages. But the 2
Each of the dhydnas contains three stages or spheres, with the exception of the fourth.
The First Dhyana is made up of the Brahmakayikas, the Brahma- purohitas, and the Mahabrahmanus.
The Second Dhyana is made up of the Parittabhas, the Aprama-
3 nabhas, and the Abhasvaras.
The Third Dhyana is made up of the Parltta? ubhas, the Aprama- nasubhas, and the Subhakrtsnas.
The Fourth Dhyana is made up of the Anabhrakas, the Punya- prasavas, the Brhatphalas, [and the five Suddhavasikas:] Avrhas, Atapas, Sudrsas, Sudarsanas, Akanisthas. These seventeen places
4
But the Kasmirians say that Rupadhatu is made up of only sixteen
5
places. In the heaven of the Brahmapurohitas there rises, they say, a
6 loftydwellingwhichisnamedtheHeavenofBrahma, inhabitedbya
78
single ruler --such as a terrace or a high place --but which does not
constitute a stage (bhumi).
3a. Arupyadhatu is not a place.
In fact non-material dharmas do not occupy a place: likewise the material dharmas when they are past or future, avijnapti and the nonmaterial dharmas, do not occupy a location. But
3b. It is fourfold through its mode of existence.
Akasanantyayatana, Vijnanantyayatana, Akimcanyayatana, and Naivasamjnanasamjnayatana (or Bhavagra) constitute Arupyadhatu which is thus of four types. "Existence** means the appearance of the skandhas in a new existence by reason of aaion: it is not through one and the same aaion that one obtains these different ayatanas that are superior to one another. But this superiority does not imply difference of stage. Where a person exists who possesses an absorption [which produces an existence in Arupyadhatu], here the existence in question begins; here too, at the end of this existence, the intermeditate being who is called to take up a new existence will be formed [in Kamadhatu
fourth is of eight stages.
constitute Rupadhata
9
? or Rupadhatu] (See below, note 36). ***
The mental series, the mind and mental states (pitta and caitta, ii. 23) of material beings is supported on physical matter, rilpa, and in this way can exist. What is the support of the mental series of beings in Ariipyadhatu?
3c-d. Here the mental series exists supported by the nikaya and 40
According to the Abhidharmikas, the mental series of beings in
Ariipyadhatu has for its support two dharmas disassociated from the
mind, nikayasabhagata, genre or genus, an&fivitendriyay the vital organ
(ii-45).
1x
The mental series of material beings is not supported by these two dharmas, because they lack force; but the mental series of nonmaterial beings possess the necessary force, because they proceed from an absorption from whence the idea of physical matter has been eliminated.
But, one would say, genre and the vital organ of material beings is supported by physical matter: but what is the support of genre and the vital organ for nonmaterial beings?
These two support one another. Among material beings, genre and the vital organ do not have the force necessary to support one another, but they have this force among nonmaterial beings, because they proceed from a certain absorption.
According to the Sautrantikas, the mental series, mind and mental states, does not have, among nonmaterial beings, any support which is external to it. This series is strong and can serve as a support.
Or rather, we say that the mind is supported by the mental states, and the mental states by the mind, in the way that you say that genre and the vital organ support one another.
The series of minds of a new existence is "projected" by a certain cause (action-defilement, karma-klesa)\ if this cause is not free from attachment to physical matter, the mind will be reborn with matter, and its series will be supported by matter; if this cause is free from
the vital organ.
ine worm 00/
? attachment to physical matter--as in the case for absorption which is the cause which projects an existence in Arupyadhatu--the mind will be reborn and will exist without relation to physical matter.
***
12 What is the meaning of these terms, Kamadhatu, etc. ,
13
Dhdtu is that which carries (dadhdti) a svalaksana (namely the
kdmas9 etc); or dhatu signifies gotta as has been explained above (i. 20a, English trans, p. 78).
1. Kamadhatu can be understood as "a dhdtu associated with kamas" by ommitting the middle word "assocated with" (samprayukta), as we say "diamond ring" (vajravdlakd) for "a ring decorated with diamonds" {vajrena samprayukto'nguliyakah), or "pepper potion" {maricapdnaka) for "a potion mixed with pepper. "
In the same way Rupadhatu signifies "a dhdtu associated with matter. "
We have the adjective arupa or "free from matter," from whence the 14
abstract noun arupya, absence of matter.
Or rather rupa is that which is susceptible to being struck (rupana),
to resistance (i. 24, English trans, p. 85); arupa, by absence of rupa; arupya, the faa of being such. Arupyadhatu is that which is associated with arupya.
2. Or rather these terms are compounds the first term of which is a genitive: Kamadhatu, the receptacle oidhdtu of the kamas; Rupadhatu, the receptacle of matter; Arupyadhatu, the receptacle of arupya.
What is kdma}
Concupiscence, the desire to eat by mouthfuls (kavadikarahdra, iii. 39) and sexual desire. [Kama does not signify the object of desire, which is called more exactly kdmaguna, but "that which desires," kdmyata aneneti kdmah]. We will see this by the following stanzas.
Sariputra said to an Ajivika, "The fine things of this world are not kamas; kdma is the desire that the imagination nourishes among humans. The objects of the universe are of little importance: the sage overcomes all desire with regard to them. " The Ajivika answered, "If the fine things of this world are not kamas, if kdma is the desire that is nourished by the imagination, the same Bhiksu would be a 'taster of the kamas when he produces bad imaginations. " Sariputra answered, "If the
? fine things of this world are kdmas, if kdma is not desire which the imagination nourishes, then the Master himself would be a taster of the
15 kdmas when he sees objects. "
#**
Should one consider as "intergral" to one Dhatu [= as being of the 16
domain of a Dhatu], all the dharmas that are produced in this Dhatu? No, but merely thedharma with regard to which there develops, and
in which there resides craving (rdga) proper to this Dhatu, craving of Kamadhatu, Rupadhatu, and AArupyadhatu.
What is the craving proper to each Dhatu?
The craving that develops, that resides in the dharmas of this Dhatu. This is the example of the tether: "To whom does this tether
belong? " "To the owner of this horse. " "To whom does this horse belong? " "To the owner of this tether. " This answer does not teach us anything.
We have enumerated the places that constitute Kamadhatu. "Craving proper to Kamadhatu" is the craving of the being who is not detached from this place, who has not rejected craving with regard to the dharmas of this place. The same for the other two Dhatus.
Or rather, "craving proper to Kamadhatu" is the craving of a being who is not absorbed (samdhita); "craving proper to Rupadhatu, to Arupyadhatu" is craving relative to the absorption of dhydna, to the absorptions of arupya.
**#
17
The mind by which one creates magical objects in the sphere of
Kamadhatu is the result of a dhyana.
But this mind is produced only among beings detached from
Kamadhatu.
How can one say that this mind is of the sphere of Kamadhatu? In
fact this mind is not produced among a being not detached from Kamadhatu, and, when this mind is produced among a being detached from Kamadhatu, it cannnot be for him the object of a aaving of the order of Kamadhatu. This mind is hence of the sphere of Kamadhatu
loe worta Toy
? 5/u Lbapter ltoree
without there being, with regard to it, any craving of the order of Kamadhatu: this is a difficulty that contradicts your definition of the Dhatus.
This mind is of the sphere of Kamadhatu because a craving of the order of Kamadhatu is produced with regard to it in a person who intends to speak of this mind as belonging to another, or who remembers having possessed it previously, or who sees magic creations. Or rather because this mind creates some odors or tastes: now a mind of the sphere of Rupadhatu cannot create odors or tastes because beings in Rupadhatu are detached from both of these.
***
18
The triple Dhatus are infinite, like space; although there has not
been any production of new beings, and although innumerable Buddhas
convert innumerable beings and cause them to obtain Nirvana, the
19 beings of innumerable Dhatus are never exhausted
***
How are the three Dhatus arranged?
20 21 22 Horizontally, as the Sutra proves, "as when the cloud Isadhara
rains, there is no interval or discontinuity of the drops of water that fall from space, so too towards the East there is no interval or discontinuity of universes (lokadhatus) in a state of creation and of dissolution; as towards the East, the same towards the South, the West and the North. " The Sutra does not add "toward the zenith and the nadir. "
23
According to another opinion, the universe superimposes itself
24 toward the zenith and the nadir, for, according to other Sutras, the
universes are arranged towards the ten cardinal points. There is then a
25 Kamadhatu above Akanistha and an Akanistha below Kamadhatu.
#**
Whoever is detached from one Kamadhatu is detached from the Kamadhatus of all the universes; the same for the other two Dhatus.
Is this triple Dhatu unique?