345-6) where Vasubandhu
deviates
on a point: "The Pretas are solely apparitionaL However certain masters say that they are also born from a womb.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-2-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
[There is, furthermore, vedandvigraha, "mass of sensation", etc]; speech = vdgbhdsd (vdguccdrana): Hsiian-tsang and Paramartha translate: voke^ound (~vdg bhdsah).
Footnotes 501
? 502 Chapter Three
45. The Digha differs. We have the formula for Brahma's desire, " . . . oho vata atffie pi sattd itthattam dgaccheyyun ti," and the thought of the gods, "imam hi mayam addasdma idha pafhamam upapannam/ mayampan'amhdpacchdupapannd. ""forwehaveseenhimariseherebeforeus,and as for us, we have arisen after him. "
46. P'u-kuang (TD4l,p. 153a20) says that there are three answers to this question; Samghabhadra (TD 29, p. 462c20) mentions six responses; and the Vibhdsd (TD 27, p. 508c3) gives five answers of which Vasubandhu reproduces the first three.
47. Intermediate existence can be prolonged only when the intermediate being should be reincarnated into Kamadhatu, iii. l4d
48. According to the Vydkhyd
Paramartha understands: "The gods remember the past in the world of Brahma; they formerly
saw [=in a preceding existence in the world of Brahma] Brahma of long life and lasting for a long time; later, they see him anew; and as a consequence they s a y . . . "
Hsiian-tsang: "The gods remember the past of this being in this world itself; they have seen him previously. . . "
49. Destruction of the universe by fire, iil90a-b, 100c-d.
50. See viii. 4.
51. The Vydkhyd: paribhidyate'neneti paribhedah.
52. Vasubandhu reproduces the seventh of the eight explanations of the Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 708al3.
53. Addition of Hsiian-tsang who follows Samghabhadra (whom the Vydkhyd quotes ad iii. 7a), "The Aryans who are in the first three heavens of the Fourth Dhyana, desire to enter among the Suddhavasas (last five heavens of the Fourth Dhyana) or into Arupya; and the Suddhavasas desire Nirvana. "
54. Vydkhyd: cittacaittdndm mandapracdratvdd abalavad vijHdnam na tisthati.
55. Fa-pao says that the Sutra does not teach the nine sattvdvdsas, but the Vibhdsa (TD 27, p. 706bl3) is plain: "Why have we created this Sastra? In order to explain the meaning of the Sutra. The Sutra teaches seven vijndnasthitis, four vijndnasthitis, and nine sattvdvdsas, but it does not explain their distinctions and it does not say how they are included or are not included in one another . . . "
The Sutra of the Nine Dwellings of Beings: nava sattvdvdsdh / katame nava / rupinah santi sattvd ndndtvakdyd ndndtvasamjninas tadyathd manusyd ekatyds' ca devd / ayam prathamah sattvdvdsah . . . The fifth dwelling is that of the Unconscious Ones: rupinah santi sattvd asamjnino'pratisamjninah / tadyathddevdasamjn'isattvdh / ayam pancamah sattvdvdsas. . . The ninth dwelling: arupinah santi sattvd ye sarvaia akimcanydyatanam samatikramya naivasa- mjnandsamjnayatanam upasampadya viharanti / tadyathd devd naivasamjfandsamjridyatano- pagdh / ayam navamah sattvdvdsah. This is very close to the edition of the Digha, iii. 263, 288, Anguttara, iv. 401.
The Mahdvyutpatti, 119, adds the naivasarhjnandsamjnayatana (9th sattvdvdsa) and the asamjn'isattvas to the vijndnasthitis; the same for the Digha, ii. 68, which places the asamjnisattvas before naivasamjfid.
56. Hsiian-tsang adds: "With the exception of the place of the Asamjnisattvas, the Fourth Dhyana is not a dwelling, as explained above. "
The Vydkhyd observes that Vasubandhu enumerates the painful realms of rebirth through signs (mukhamdtra)\ this refers also to the gods of the Fourth Dhyana which is not a "dwelling," for no one desires to remain there. Samghabhadra is of this opinion. Some other commentators think that Vasubandhu, excluding only the painful realms of rebirth, holds the Fourth Dhyana to be a dwelling: they have to defend this opinion.
? 57. See viii3c
Digha, 9. 7, Samyukta, 3. 6. 1%/w, iii. 228, enumerates the four vijrldnasthuis according to the
Samyutta, iii. 54: rupupdyam va dvuso vifinanam mthamdnam titthati rupdrammanam rupapati- fpham nandUpasevanam vuddhim virulhim vepullam dpajjati / vedanUpdyam . . . The Sanskrit edition should be the nearest: the notable variant being the preference accorded to the expression rUpopagathe meaning is clear: "It is by going to the visible, to sensation, to ideas, to the samskdras, that the mind takes its support; it is with visible matter as its object and for its place that, associated withpleasure,theminddevelops . . . "
But the Abhidharma (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 706bl6) attributes to the Sutra the expressions rupopagdvijndnasthiti,vedanopagdvijndnasthiti. . . thegrammaticalexplanationofwhichisnot easy.
a. The Vaibhasikas understand: Vijndnasthiti, or "dwelling of the vijndna", is that upon which the mind resides(tisthati). This dwelling, this object of the mind, is upaga, that is to say "near" (samipacdrint) the mind. It is, by its nature, "visible. " Being visible and near, it is termed rupopagd.
b. Bhagavadvi&esa says that the Sautrantikas have two explanations: 1. Vijndnasthiti means the duration of the mind, the non-interruption of the series of the mind (vijndnasamtatyanupaccheda). Visible matter is "approached" (upagamyate), and it is "made one's own" (taddtmikriyate) by this sthitlTbe sthiti is thus rUpapagd: "duration of the mind which approaches the visible. " 2. Sthiti means "thirst" (trsna), for thirst causes the mind to last. We thus have vijndnasthiti = "duration of the mind, consisting of thirst". This thirst "approaches" visible matter, and attaches itself to it. We thus have: rupopagd vijfidnasthitib = "thirst attaching itself to visible matter and causing the vijftdna to last" But, in these two explanations, vijndnasthiti is distinct from visible matter; now it is visible matter which is vijfidnasthitiWe must then hold to explanation 4. (But this explanation is absurd from the grammatical point of view. Also) some others explain rupopagd vijOdnasthhih as rUpasvahhdvd vijndnasthitih: "The object wherein one fixes the mind and consisting of visible matter. " In fact the toot gam is understood in the sense of svabhdva, as we have khakhatakharagata, etc (But, we would ssy,gata is not upaga).
58. The Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 706b20 and foil. , examines whether these skandhas are sattvdkhya or asattvdkhya. Two opinions.
59. Samyukta, TD2,p. 103a3; Samyutta, ii. 101 (Nettippakarana, 57): vinndne ca bhikkhave dhdre atthi nandiatthi rdgo atthi tanhd patitthitam tattha vin~ndnam virulham.
The word abhydrudha (a term employed in order to designate a sailor riding on a ship) should correspond to virulha of the Pa|i.
60. Samyukta, TD 2, p. 9a7. Compare Samyutta, iii. 54.
The four skandhas of the past and the future are the sthiti of past and future vijndna.
61. "Matrix, or "womb" is a useful equivalent. Better: "Four modes of birth, arising".
The theory of the four yonis in their relationship with the five gatis is presented in the
Kdranaprajridpti, Chap, xv {Cosmologie bouddhique, 345). Vasubandhu borrows his information from this work (the story of Kapotamalini, of the Bhiksuni "born in the hermitage", etc. ). The same subject studied in Visuddhimagga, 552.
Digha, iii. 230: catasso yonryo, anndajayoni, jaldbujayoni, samsedajayoni, opapdtikayoni; Majjhima, i. 73: andajdyoni. . . (with definitions); Visuddhimagga, 552,557; Mahdvyutpatti, 117:
jardyujdh, andajdh, samsvedajdh, upapddukdh.
62. Yoni=skyegnas;inHsiian-tsang,sheng4=tobeborn,toarise;inParamartha,tsa$|=tomix. fukrafonitasamnipdto yonih, in Pra/astapdda (Viz. S. S. p. 27) which defines the yonijas and ayonijas.
63. "Born from a wowb":jarayuryena mdtuh kuksau garbho vespitas tispbati / tasmdtjdtdjardyujdh. Majjhima:ye sattdvatthikosamabhinibbhijjajdyantiayarhvuccatijaldbujayoni. Onthenumerous modes of impregnation, Milmda 123, Samantapdsddikd, i. 213; Windisch, Geburt, 24.
Footnotes 503
? 504 Chapter Three
64. "Arisen from perspiration": bhMdndm pfthhyddmdm samsveddd dravatvalaksandj jdtdh. . . Majjhima:yesattdpa&imacche vd. . . jdyanti.
65. Upapdduka sattva, sems can skye ba pa, Hsiian-tsang: hua-sheng yu ch'mg {b^fe^f ffif Paramartha: tsejan sheng ch'ung sheng.
Upapdduka in Mahavyutpatti, Ko/avydkhyd, and Mahdvastu; aupapdduka in Divya, Avadd- nafataka; aupapddika in Caraka (quoted in Windisch, Geburt, 187), which corresponds to theJaina uvavdtya, and the Pali aupapdtika.
Upapdtika, upapattika, opapdtika (defined in Sumafigalavildsim: cavitva uppajjanakasattd: "one who, (immediately upon) death, is reborn").
A very long bibliography from the Lotus Sutra, 394: "came into the world by a miracle", Senart, JAs. 1876, ii. 477, Windisch, Geburt, 184, to S. Lev'tfAs. 1912, ii. 502 (who quotes Weber, Childers, Leumann, etc).
Upapdta simply signifies "birth, arising" (cyutyupapdtajtidna, vii. 29, etc) and not necessarily "casual and unusual birth" (Rhys Davids-Stede).
66. Organs not lacking is avikalendriydh; organs not deficient is ahinendriydh: the organ of the eye is hina when one is one-eyed or when one squints. The members, anga, are the hands, the feet; the "sub-members" are the fingers, etc
67. Majjhima: katamd ca opapdtikayoni / devd nerayikd ekacce ca manussd ekacce ca vinipdtikd.
68. Two merchants whose ship had burned found (samadhigata) a crane on the sea shore. From this union there were born the Sthaviras Saila and Upa? aila (Vydkhyd). According to another source, "&aila = mountain, Upa? aila = small mountain; a crane produced two eggs there, from whence there was born two men, and hence their names. "
69. The thirty-two eggs of Vis*? kha, Ralston-Schiefner, p. 125. The eggs of PadmavatI, Chavannes, Cinq cents contes, L81 ("Lait de la mere").
70. Five hundred eggs were born to the queen of the King of Pancala: they were placed in a box (manjasa) that was abandoned in the Ganges. The King of the Licchavis found the box and in it, five hundred young men (Vydkhyd*).
71. Mandhatar was born from a swelling (pitaka) which formed on the head of Uposadha; Cam and Upacaru were born from a swelling which formed on the knee of Mandhatar (Cakravartin Kings, see Koia, iil97d). Divya, 210, Ralston-Schiefner, p. xxxvii, Buddhacarita, i. 29), and the references of Cowell (Visnupurana, iv. 2, Mahdbhdrata, iii. 10450), Hopkins, Great Epic, 1915,169.
72. Kapotamalini was born from a swelling on the breast of King Brahmadatta.
73. Amrapali was born from the stem of a banana-tree.
See the story of Amrapali and Jivaka in Chavannes, Cinq cents contes, iii. 325, (translated
between A. D. 148 and 170); Ralston-Schiefner, p. lii A birth considered as "apparitional," in "Sisters," p. 120.
74. Compare Majjhima, i. 73, Vibhanga, 416.
75. This paragraph according to Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 626cl7 and also according to the Kdranaprajtidpti, xv (Cosmologie bouddhique, p.
345-6) where Vasubandhu deviates on a point: "The Pretas are solely apparitionaL However certain masters say that they are also born from a womb. One Preti in fact said to Maudgalyayana. . . " The Vydkhyd observes that the discourse of the Preti appears to indicate that her sons are apparitional; if they were born from a womb, the mother would be satisfied. But this fecundity is explained by the speed with which the sons of the Preta are constituted, and the violence of the mother's hunger explains how they do not satisfy as food
We have the Petavatthu, 16: kdlenapaflcapundnisdyarhpah^apundpare/ vijayitvdna khdddmi te pi na honti me alam 11 The Vydkhyd furnishes fragments of the Sanskrit stanza: [aham] rdtrau paftca sutdn dw&paftca tathapardn /janayhvd [pi khdddmi] ndsti trptis tathdpi me //
? In Ceylon the nijjhamatanhikapetas, which are exclusively apparitional, are distinguished from the other Pretas which are of the four types. See Rhys Davids-Stede, s. voc peta.
76. The fifth of the Bodhisattvava? itas of the Mahavyutpatti, 27; defined in the Madhyamakdvatdra, 347.
77. In the Mahavastu, i. 145, "the Buddhas are produced through their own virtues and their birth is miraculous (upapdduka)"; LI54, "Rahula descended directly from Tusita into the bowels of his mother; his birth is marvellous without being, for that, like that of the Cakravartins, and like that of those of aupapadukabML" On these texts and other Lokottaravadin declarations of the Mahavastu, see Barth, /. des Savants, Aug. 1899. Compare Latita, Lefmann, 88.
78. These Tlrthikas are Maskarin, etc
We read in the Nirgrantha/dstra: rddhim bhadanta ko dariayati / mayavi gautamah, and
elsewhere, referring to the Bhagavat, the passage quoted by Vasubandhu: kalpafatasydtyaydd evamvidho loke mayavi prddurbhuya lokarh bhaksayati (Vydkhya). ("to devour the world" is to "live at the expense of the world," upajiv). Compare Majjhima, 1375: samano hi bhante gotamo mayavi. . . Samyutta, iv. 34l; Commentary of the Theragdthd, 1209.
Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 38bll. "The Tlrthikas slander the Buddha saying that he is a great magician who troubles the mind of the world. " And p. 139a23: The PataM-tlrthika says, "Gautama, do you know magic? If you do not know it, you are not omniscient; if you do know it, you are a magician. "
79. Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 627cl5 and foil
80. According to the Suvarnaprabhdsa, relics are as illusory as the Buddhas (JRAS. 1906,970).
81. There is kdyanidhana, that is to say kdyand/a: the body disappears (antardhiyate) at death. . . This is the teaching of the Karanaprajfiapti.
82. On the preservation of relics and rddhi, vii. 52.
The Vydkhya explains: "The thing that the magician consecrates (adhitisfhati) saying, 'may this
thing be thus' is termedadbistbdna. This thing is the object (prayojana) of this rddhi, or this rddhi is produced in this thing: thus this rddhi is called ddhisthdniki.
83. On the four types of Garudas and Nagas (W. de Visser, The Dragon in China andJapan, 1913), and in which order the first eat the second, Dirgha, TD 1, p. 127b29, Samyutta, iii 240,246.
There are sixteen Nagas safe from the attacks of the Garudas (Sagara, Nanda, etc), note of W. de Visser. See iiL83b, Beal, 48.
84. Sarhghabhadra (7X>29, p. 467b29) mentions a second opinion, that the womb of perspiration is the most extended
85. See p. 390.
A bibliographic summary of antardbhava.
Koia, iii. 10-15,40c; iv. 53a-b, vi34a, 39.
Kathavatthu, viii2. The Theravadins deny antardbhava against the Sammitlyas and the
Pubbaseliyas. These latter stress the existence of an Anagamin called Antaraparinirvayin (see below p. 386 and iii. 40c); they do not attribute antardbhava to creatures who are going to hell, to the Asafinasattas, or to Arupyadhata
SammifiyanikayaSs'dstra, TD 32, number 1646, Third Chapter.
Kdranaprajfidptis'dstra, xi. 5 (Cosmohgie bouddhique, 341).
Sects that deny antardbhava are the Mahasarhghikas, Ekavyavaharikas, Lokottaravadins,
Kukkutikas, Mahi&asakas (Vasumitra), Mahasarhghikas, Mahigasakas, and Vibhajyavadins (Vibhd- sd, TD 27, p. 356cl4). The Vydkhyd mentions many opinions: no antardbhava; antardbhava preceding birth in the Three Dhatus; antardbhava preceding birth in Kamadhatu; finally,--the sole correct opinion,--antardbhava preceding birth in Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu.
Vibhdsa TD 27, p. 352bl8-366al: "Even though there is a difference in time and place between death and birth, because in the interval, there is no destruction following upon birth, these Schools
Footnotes 505
? 506 Chapter Three
do not admit antardbhava. " In Visuddhimagga, 604, as in Madhyamakavrtti, 544, birth immediately follows upon death: tesarh antarikd natthi.
Brahmanical sources, notably Slokavdrttika, Atmavdda, 62: "Vindhyavasin has refuted antardbhavadeha"', Goldstucker s. voc. antardbhava and ativdhika, dtivdhika; SdmkhyasUtra, v. 103. (A. B. Keith, Karmamimdmsd, p. 59, Bulletin School Oriental Studies, 1924, p. 554, thinks that this Vindhyavasin is not the Samkhya master, about which see Takakusu, "Life of Vasubandhu," JRAS, January, 1905. )
On the manner in which "the disembodied/it^, before it secures a new dyatana (body) wanders about like a great cloud" see Hopkins, Great Epic, 39, JAOS, 22, 372; the demon body which undergoes death in order to go to hell, Sdmkhyapravacanabhdsya, iii. 7.
Diverse references, JRAS, 1897,466; JAs. 1902, ii. 295; Nirvana (1925), 28; Keith, Buddhist Philosophy, 201 \ Sutrdlamkdra, p. 152, Madhyamakavrtti, 286,544. On the Bar-do, seeJaschke and Sarad Candra Das (and a very rich literature).
86. This causes a difficulty. We have seen that thegati is undefiled-neutral. Now arising is always defiled (iii. 38) and death can be good or defiled. How can one say that intermediate existence, which is to be found between death and arising, is found between two gatis, gatyor antardle? Answer. At the moment of death as at the moment of arising there exists the nikdyasabhaga, the jivitendriya, the jdtis, etc, and the kdyendriya (ii. 35), which are undefiled-neutral and are as a consequence, with no difficulty, gati by their very nature.
87. The first term refers to the action which projects the existence (divine, human, etc. ), the second to actions which complete the existence (caste, stature, etc), according to iv. 95.
Or rather: the place where the retribution projected by the action is manifested, namely the ndmarupa, and where the saddyatana is completed
88. Four schools, the Mahasamghikas etc, do not admit antardbhava, see the Commentary to the Samayabheda of Vasumitra in the Materiaux ofJ. Przyluski; the same for the Mah&asakas (Saeki).
89. The Vydkhyd says: atrdcdrya Gunamatih sahatisyendcdryaVasumitrena svanikdydnurdgabhd- vitamatir vydkhydnavydpdram apdsya pratyavasthdnapara eva vartate / vayam iha s'dstrdrtha- vivaranam praty ddriydmahe na taMUsanam nihsdratvdd bahuvaktavyabhaydc ca.
Yasomitra, in the introductory stanzas to the Vydkhyd,notes that he follows "the commentators, Gunamati, Vasumitra, etc. ", in the places where they are correct; in the commentary to i. l, p. 7 (Petrograd edition), he condemns the explanation that Gunamati and his student Vasumitra give to tasmai namaskrtyaJFrom the gloss that we have here, it results that Gunamati and Vasumitra belong to another sea or school (nikdya). Details are lacking.
90. Compare Chavannes, Cinq cents contes, ii. 200.
91. See above, note 29.
92. Majjhima, ii. 156: jdnanti pana bhonto yathd gabbhassa avakkanti hoti / jandma mayam bho yathd gabbhassa avakkanti hoti / idha mdtdpitaro ca sannipatitd honti mdtd ca utuni hoti gandhabbo ca paccupaffhito hoti / evam ttnnam sannipdtd gabbhassa avakkanti hoti. The same
formula, Majjhima, i. 265. {A propos these formulas, Rhys Davids-Stede say that the Gandharva "is said to preside over child-conception") (For other modes of conception, asucipanena, etc, see Samantapdsddikd, i. 214, Milinda, 123, which repeats the formula of the Majjhima. )
(We can compare the avakrdnti of ndmarupa which takes place when the vijridna is pratispbita, Sarhyutta, ii. 66; elsewhere we find avakrdnti of the vijridna, ibid ii. 91).
A different redaction, Divya, 1. 440: traydndm sthdndndm sammukhtbhavdt putra jayante duhitaras ca / katamesdm traydndm / mdtdpitarau raktau bhavatah samnipatitau / mdtd kalyd bhavati rtumati / gandharvah pratyupasthito bhavati / esdm traydndm . . . (The reading gandharvapratyupasthitd that Windisch retains, Geburt, p. 27, is certainly faulty: four Mss. have pratyupasthito).
Our text has garbhdvakrdntih, descent of the embryo (and not: ptardjayante. . . ); it places the
? qualities of the woman before the union of the parents; for the rest it follows the Dwya. Discussed in Vibhasa, TD 27, p. 363b2; kafya signifies "not sick"; details on rtumatl
On the Gandharva, see the sources mentioned in note 85. Also the remarks in Hist, de I'lnde
(Cavaignac, Hist, du Monde, vol iii), i. 287. Oldenberg, Religion du Veda, 209, has indeed shown that the Buddhist Gandharva is "the animated seed which, passing from an old existence to a new existence, waits and instantly grasps on to the act of generation in order to become an embryo, or garbha" (Against Hillebrandt, who makes the Gandharva a genie of fertility; same conception in Rhys Davids-Stede: the Gandharva "is said to preside over child conception. " Also against Pischel who makes the Gandharva an embryo). Gandharva is the "Veda-ized" or "Brahmanisized" name of the disembodied spirit as "primitives" conceived it.
93. According to the Lotsava. Hsiian-tsang: " . . . a Gandharva is made ready. If he is not the intermediate being, what will the Gandharva be? How could a dissolution of the former skandhas be made ready? If they do not read this text, how do they explain the AfvaldyanasMra}. . . " We are led to believe that the meaning is: "The school that we are combating pretends that the word gandharva signifies maranabhava or skandhabheda . . . "
Vydkhya: skandhabheda/ca pratyupasthita iti maranabhavah.
94. The Assaldyanasutta, Majjhima, ii. 157, gives a more archaic recension of our text.
95. Samyukta, 37. 20, Dirgha, TD 1, p. 51cl2, Digha, iii. 237; Koia, vi. 37.
Whatever we may think of the Antaraparinirvayin of the Kathdvatthu, viii. 2 and the
Puggalapanfiati (quoted below note 97), the definition that the Anguttara, ii 134, gives of this saint, presupposes a belief in intermediate existence (See below iii. 40c - 4la).
96. Madhyama, TD 1, p. 427all, Anguttara, iv. 70, Ko/a, vi40. I have compared the Sanskrit version, reproduced in full in the Vydkhya, with the Pali version, JRAS, 1906,446.
97. One should compare this explanation of the Vibhajyavadins with that of the PudgaUpaMati, 16. The Antaraparinibbayin realizes the path upapannam va samanatara apattam va vemajjham ayupamdnam: the Upaliaccaparinibbayin realizes the path atikkamitvd vemajjham ayupamdnam
upahacca. . . upahacca vdd kalakrtyam (According to the commentary, upahacca = upagantvd, thus "holds firm to the place of death"). Buddhaghosa,^/ Kathdvatthu, iv. 2 (If one can become an Arhat
by birth) reproaches the Uttarapathakas for substituting upapajjaparinibbdyin for upahacca-.
98. There is premature death (antardmarana) in Arupyadhatu; thus a being of Arupyadhatu can enter into Nirvana before having completed his thousands of kdpas of existences in Arupyadhatu.
99. For an explanation of this iloka, see Cosmologie bouddhique, 141,235, Anguttara, iv. 422.
100. Hsiian-tsang: After a long time (gloss: after 900 years) the sovereign master of the Law has entered into Nirvana; the great generals of the Law (Gloss: Sdradvatiputra, etc) have also entered intoNirvanna . . .
101. Madhyama, TD 1, p.
Footnotes 501
? 502 Chapter Three
45. The Digha differs. We have the formula for Brahma's desire, " . . . oho vata atffie pi sattd itthattam dgaccheyyun ti," and the thought of the gods, "imam hi mayam addasdma idha pafhamam upapannam/ mayampan'amhdpacchdupapannd. ""forwehaveseenhimariseherebeforeus,and as for us, we have arisen after him. "
46. P'u-kuang (TD4l,p. 153a20) says that there are three answers to this question; Samghabhadra (TD 29, p. 462c20) mentions six responses; and the Vibhdsd (TD 27, p. 508c3) gives five answers of which Vasubandhu reproduces the first three.
47. Intermediate existence can be prolonged only when the intermediate being should be reincarnated into Kamadhatu, iii. l4d
48. According to the Vydkhyd
Paramartha understands: "The gods remember the past in the world of Brahma; they formerly
saw [=in a preceding existence in the world of Brahma] Brahma of long life and lasting for a long time; later, they see him anew; and as a consequence they s a y . . . "
Hsiian-tsang: "The gods remember the past of this being in this world itself; they have seen him previously. . . "
49. Destruction of the universe by fire, iil90a-b, 100c-d.
50. See viii. 4.
51. The Vydkhyd: paribhidyate'neneti paribhedah.
52. Vasubandhu reproduces the seventh of the eight explanations of the Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 708al3.
53. Addition of Hsiian-tsang who follows Samghabhadra (whom the Vydkhyd quotes ad iii. 7a), "The Aryans who are in the first three heavens of the Fourth Dhyana, desire to enter among the Suddhavasas (last five heavens of the Fourth Dhyana) or into Arupya; and the Suddhavasas desire Nirvana. "
54. Vydkhyd: cittacaittdndm mandapracdratvdd abalavad vijHdnam na tisthati.
55. Fa-pao says that the Sutra does not teach the nine sattvdvdsas, but the Vibhdsa (TD 27, p. 706bl3) is plain: "Why have we created this Sastra? In order to explain the meaning of the Sutra. The Sutra teaches seven vijndnasthitis, four vijndnasthitis, and nine sattvdvdsas, but it does not explain their distinctions and it does not say how they are included or are not included in one another . . . "
The Sutra of the Nine Dwellings of Beings: nava sattvdvdsdh / katame nava / rupinah santi sattvd ndndtvakdyd ndndtvasamjninas tadyathd manusyd ekatyds' ca devd / ayam prathamah sattvdvdsah . . . The fifth dwelling is that of the Unconscious Ones: rupinah santi sattvd asamjnino'pratisamjninah / tadyathddevdasamjn'isattvdh / ayam pancamah sattvdvdsas. . . The ninth dwelling: arupinah santi sattvd ye sarvaia akimcanydyatanam samatikramya naivasa- mjnandsamjnayatanam upasampadya viharanti / tadyathd devd naivasamjfandsamjridyatano- pagdh / ayam navamah sattvdvdsah. This is very close to the edition of the Digha, iii. 263, 288, Anguttara, iv. 401.
The Mahdvyutpatti, 119, adds the naivasarhjnandsamjnayatana (9th sattvdvdsa) and the asamjn'isattvas to the vijndnasthitis; the same for the Digha, ii. 68, which places the asamjnisattvas before naivasamjfid.
56. Hsiian-tsang adds: "With the exception of the place of the Asamjnisattvas, the Fourth Dhyana is not a dwelling, as explained above. "
The Vydkhyd observes that Vasubandhu enumerates the painful realms of rebirth through signs (mukhamdtra)\ this refers also to the gods of the Fourth Dhyana which is not a "dwelling," for no one desires to remain there. Samghabhadra is of this opinion. Some other commentators think that Vasubandhu, excluding only the painful realms of rebirth, holds the Fourth Dhyana to be a dwelling: they have to defend this opinion.
? 57. See viii3c
Digha, 9. 7, Samyukta, 3. 6. 1%/w, iii. 228, enumerates the four vijrldnasthuis according to the
Samyutta, iii. 54: rupupdyam va dvuso vifinanam mthamdnam titthati rupdrammanam rupapati- fpham nandUpasevanam vuddhim virulhim vepullam dpajjati / vedanUpdyam . . . The Sanskrit edition should be the nearest: the notable variant being the preference accorded to the expression rUpopagathe meaning is clear: "It is by going to the visible, to sensation, to ideas, to the samskdras, that the mind takes its support; it is with visible matter as its object and for its place that, associated withpleasure,theminddevelops . . . "
But the Abhidharma (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 706bl6) attributes to the Sutra the expressions rupopagdvijndnasthiti,vedanopagdvijndnasthiti. . . thegrammaticalexplanationofwhichisnot easy.
a. The Vaibhasikas understand: Vijndnasthiti, or "dwelling of the vijndna", is that upon which the mind resides(tisthati). This dwelling, this object of the mind, is upaga, that is to say "near" (samipacdrint) the mind. It is, by its nature, "visible. " Being visible and near, it is termed rupopagd.
b. Bhagavadvi&esa says that the Sautrantikas have two explanations: 1. Vijndnasthiti means the duration of the mind, the non-interruption of the series of the mind (vijndnasamtatyanupaccheda). Visible matter is "approached" (upagamyate), and it is "made one's own" (taddtmikriyate) by this sthitlTbe sthiti is thus rUpapagd: "duration of the mind which approaches the visible. " 2. Sthiti means "thirst" (trsna), for thirst causes the mind to last. We thus have vijndnasthiti = "duration of the mind, consisting of thirst". This thirst "approaches" visible matter, and attaches itself to it. We thus have: rupopagd vijfidnasthitib = "thirst attaching itself to visible matter and causing the vijftdna to last" But, in these two explanations, vijndnasthiti is distinct from visible matter; now it is visible matter which is vijfidnasthitiWe must then hold to explanation 4. (But this explanation is absurd from the grammatical point of view. Also) some others explain rupopagd vijOdnasthhih as rUpasvahhdvd vijndnasthitih: "The object wherein one fixes the mind and consisting of visible matter. " In fact the toot gam is understood in the sense of svabhdva, as we have khakhatakharagata, etc (But, we would ssy,gata is not upaga).
58. The Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 706b20 and foil. , examines whether these skandhas are sattvdkhya or asattvdkhya. Two opinions.
59. Samyukta, TD2,p. 103a3; Samyutta, ii. 101 (Nettippakarana, 57): vinndne ca bhikkhave dhdre atthi nandiatthi rdgo atthi tanhd patitthitam tattha vin~ndnam virulham.
The word abhydrudha (a term employed in order to designate a sailor riding on a ship) should correspond to virulha of the Pa|i.
60. Samyukta, TD 2, p. 9a7. Compare Samyutta, iii. 54.
The four skandhas of the past and the future are the sthiti of past and future vijndna.
61. "Matrix, or "womb" is a useful equivalent. Better: "Four modes of birth, arising".
The theory of the four yonis in their relationship with the five gatis is presented in the
Kdranaprajridpti, Chap, xv {Cosmologie bouddhique, 345). Vasubandhu borrows his information from this work (the story of Kapotamalini, of the Bhiksuni "born in the hermitage", etc. ). The same subject studied in Visuddhimagga, 552.
Digha, iii. 230: catasso yonryo, anndajayoni, jaldbujayoni, samsedajayoni, opapdtikayoni; Majjhima, i. 73: andajdyoni. . . (with definitions); Visuddhimagga, 552,557; Mahdvyutpatti, 117:
jardyujdh, andajdh, samsvedajdh, upapddukdh.
62. Yoni=skyegnas;inHsiian-tsang,sheng4=tobeborn,toarise;inParamartha,tsa$|=tomix. fukrafonitasamnipdto yonih, in Pra/astapdda (Viz. S. S. p. 27) which defines the yonijas and ayonijas.
63. "Born from a wowb":jarayuryena mdtuh kuksau garbho vespitas tispbati / tasmdtjdtdjardyujdh. Majjhima:ye sattdvatthikosamabhinibbhijjajdyantiayarhvuccatijaldbujayoni. Onthenumerous modes of impregnation, Milmda 123, Samantapdsddikd, i. 213; Windisch, Geburt, 24.
Footnotes 503
? 504 Chapter Three
64. "Arisen from perspiration": bhMdndm pfthhyddmdm samsveddd dravatvalaksandj jdtdh. . . Majjhima:yesattdpa&imacche vd. . . jdyanti.
65. Upapdduka sattva, sems can skye ba pa, Hsiian-tsang: hua-sheng yu ch'mg {b^fe^f ffif Paramartha: tsejan sheng ch'ung sheng.
Upapdduka in Mahavyutpatti, Ko/avydkhyd, and Mahdvastu; aupapdduka in Divya, Avadd- nafataka; aupapddika in Caraka (quoted in Windisch, Geburt, 187), which corresponds to theJaina uvavdtya, and the Pali aupapdtika.
Upapdtika, upapattika, opapdtika (defined in Sumafigalavildsim: cavitva uppajjanakasattd: "one who, (immediately upon) death, is reborn").
A very long bibliography from the Lotus Sutra, 394: "came into the world by a miracle", Senart, JAs. 1876, ii. 477, Windisch, Geburt, 184, to S. Lev'tfAs. 1912, ii. 502 (who quotes Weber, Childers, Leumann, etc).
Upapdta simply signifies "birth, arising" (cyutyupapdtajtidna, vii. 29, etc) and not necessarily "casual and unusual birth" (Rhys Davids-Stede).
66. Organs not lacking is avikalendriydh; organs not deficient is ahinendriydh: the organ of the eye is hina when one is one-eyed or when one squints. The members, anga, are the hands, the feet; the "sub-members" are the fingers, etc
67. Majjhima: katamd ca opapdtikayoni / devd nerayikd ekacce ca manussd ekacce ca vinipdtikd.
68. Two merchants whose ship had burned found (samadhigata) a crane on the sea shore. From this union there were born the Sthaviras Saila and Upa? aila (Vydkhyd). According to another source, "&aila = mountain, Upa? aila = small mountain; a crane produced two eggs there, from whence there was born two men, and hence their names. "
69. The thirty-two eggs of Vis*? kha, Ralston-Schiefner, p. 125. The eggs of PadmavatI, Chavannes, Cinq cents contes, L81 ("Lait de la mere").
70. Five hundred eggs were born to the queen of the King of Pancala: they were placed in a box (manjasa) that was abandoned in the Ganges. The King of the Licchavis found the box and in it, five hundred young men (Vydkhyd*).
71. Mandhatar was born from a swelling (pitaka) which formed on the head of Uposadha; Cam and Upacaru were born from a swelling which formed on the knee of Mandhatar (Cakravartin Kings, see Koia, iil97d). Divya, 210, Ralston-Schiefner, p. xxxvii, Buddhacarita, i. 29), and the references of Cowell (Visnupurana, iv. 2, Mahdbhdrata, iii. 10450), Hopkins, Great Epic, 1915,169.
72. Kapotamalini was born from a swelling on the breast of King Brahmadatta.
73. Amrapali was born from the stem of a banana-tree.
See the story of Amrapali and Jivaka in Chavannes, Cinq cents contes, iii. 325, (translated
between A. D. 148 and 170); Ralston-Schiefner, p. lii A birth considered as "apparitional," in "Sisters," p. 120.
74. Compare Majjhima, i. 73, Vibhanga, 416.
75. This paragraph according to Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 626cl7 and also according to the Kdranaprajtidpti, xv (Cosmologie bouddhique, p.
345-6) where Vasubandhu deviates on a point: "The Pretas are solely apparitionaL However certain masters say that they are also born from a womb. One Preti in fact said to Maudgalyayana. . . " The Vydkhyd observes that the discourse of the Preti appears to indicate that her sons are apparitional; if they were born from a womb, the mother would be satisfied. But this fecundity is explained by the speed with which the sons of the Preta are constituted, and the violence of the mother's hunger explains how they do not satisfy as food
We have the Petavatthu, 16: kdlenapaflcapundnisdyarhpah^apundpare/ vijayitvdna khdddmi te pi na honti me alam 11 The Vydkhyd furnishes fragments of the Sanskrit stanza: [aham] rdtrau paftca sutdn dw&paftca tathapardn /janayhvd [pi khdddmi] ndsti trptis tathdpi me //
? In Ceylon the nijjhamatanhikapetas, which are exclusively apparitional, are distinguished from the other Pretas which are of the four types. See Rhys Davids-Stede, s. voc peta.
76. The fifth of the Bodhisattvava? itas of the Mahavyutpatti, 27; defined in the Madhyamakdvatdra, 347.
77. In the Mahavastu, i. 145, "the Buddhas are produced through their own virtues and their birth is miraculous (upapdduka)"; LI54, "Rahula descended directly from Tusita into the bowels of his mother; his birth is marvellous without being, for that, like that of the Cakravartins, and like that of those of aupapadukabML" On these texts and other Lokottaravadin declarations of the Mahavastu, see Barth, /. des Savants, Aug. 1899. Compare Latita, Lefmann, 88.
78. These Tlrthikas are Maskarin, etc
We read in the Nirgrantha/dstra: rddhim bhadanta ko dariayati / mayavi gautamah, and
elsewhere, referring to the Bhagavat, the passage quoted by Vasubandhu: kalpafatasydtyaydd evamvidho loke mayavi prddurbhuya lokarh bhaksayati (Vydkhya). ("to devour the world" is to "live at the expense of the world," upajiv). Compare Majjhima, 1375: samano hi bhante gotamo mayavi. . . Samyutta, iv. 34l; Commentary of the Theragdthd, 1209.
Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 38bll. "The Tlrthikas slander the Buddha saying that he is a great magician who troubles the mind of the world. " And p. 139a23: The PataM-tlrthika says, "Gautama, do you know magic? If you do not know it, you are not omniscient; if you do know it, you are a magician. "
79. Vibhdsa, TD 27, p. 627cl5 and foil
80. According to the Suvarnaprabhdsa, relics are as illusory as the Buddhas (JRAS. 1906,970).
81. There is kdyanidhana, that is to say kdyand/a: the body disappears (antardhiyate) at death. . . This is the teaching of the Karanaprajfiapti.
82. On the preservation of relics and rddhi, vii. 52.
The Vydkhya explains: "The thing that the magician consecrates (adhitisfhati) saying, 'may this
thing be thus' is termedadbistbdna. This thing is the object (prayojana) of this rddhi, or this rddhi is produced in this thing: thus this rddhi is called ddhisthdniki.
83. On the four types of Garudas and Nagas (W. de Visser, The Dragon in China andJapan, 1913), and in which order the first eat the second, Dirgha, TD 1, p. 127b29, Samyutta, iii 240,246.
There are sixteen Nagas safe from the attacks of the Garudas (Sagara, Nanda, etc), note of W. de Visser. See iiL83b, Beal, 48.
84. Sarhghabhadra (7X>29, p. 467b29) mentions a second opinion, that the womb of perspiration is the most extended
85. See p. 390.
A bibliographic summary of antardbhava.
Koia, iii. 10-15,40c; iv. 53a-b, vi34a, 39.
Kathavatthu, viii2. The Theravadins deny antardbhava against the Sammitlyas and the
Pubbaseliyas. These latter stress the existence of an Anagamin called Antaraparinirvayin (see below p. 386 and iii. 40c); they do not attribute antardbhava to creatures who are going to hell, to the Asafinasattas, or to Arupyadhata
SammifiyanikayaSs'dstra, TD 32, number 1646, Third Chapter.
Kdranaprajfidptis'dstra, xi. 5 (Cosmohgie bouddhique, 341).
Sects that deny antardbhava are the Mahasarhghikas, Ekavyavaharikas, Lokottaravadins,
Kukkutikas, Mahi&asakas (Vasumitra), Mahasarhghikas, Mahigasakas, and Vibhajyavadins (Vibhd- sd, TD 27, p. 356cl4). The Vydkhyd mentions many opinions: no antardbhava; antardbhava preceding birth in the Three Dhatus; antardbhava preceding birth in Kamadhatu; finally,--the sole correct opinion,--antardbhava preceding birth in Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu.
Vibhdsa TD 27, p. 352bl8-366al: "Even though there is a difference in time and place between death and birth, because in the interval, there is no destruction following upon birth, these Schools
Footnotes 505
? 506 Chapter Three
do not admit antardbhava. " In Visuddhimagga, 604, as in Madhyamakavrtti, 544, birth immediately follows upon death: tesarh antarikd natthi.
Brahmanical sources, notably Slokavdrttika, Atmavdda, 62: "Vindhyavasin has refuted antardbhavadeha"', Goldstucker s. voc. antardbhava and ativdhika, dtivdhika; SdmkhyasUtra, v. 103. (A. B. Keith, Karmamimdmsd, p. 59, Bulletin School Oriental Studies, 1924, p. 554, thinks that this Vindhyavasin is not the Samkhya master, about which see Takakusu, "Life of Vasubandhu," JRAS, January, 1905. )
On the manner in which "the disembodied/it^, before it secures a new dyatana (body) wanders about like a great cloud" see Hopkins, Great Epic, 39, JAOS, 22, 372; the demon body which undergoes death in order to go to hell, Sdmkhyapravacanabhdsya, iii. 7.
Diverse references, JRAS, 1897,466; JAs. 1902, ii. 295; Nirvana (1925), 28; Keith, Buddhist Philosophy, 201 \ Sutrdlamkdra, p. 152, Madhyamakavrtti, 286,544. On the Bar-do, seeJaschke and Sarad Candra Das (and a very rich literature).
86. This causes a difficulty. We have seen that thegati is undefiled-neutral. Now arising is always defiled (iii. 38) and death can be good or defiled. How can one say that intermediate existence, which is to be found between death and arising, is found between two gatis, gatyor antardle? Answer. At the moment of death as at the moment of arising there exists the nikdyasabhaga, the jivitendriya, the jdtis, etc, and the kdyendriya (ii. 35), which are undefiled-neutral and are as a consequence, with no difficulty, gati by their very nature.
87. The first term refers to the action which projects the existence (divine, human, etc. ), the second to actions which complete the existence (caste, stature, etc), according to iv. 95.
Or rather: the place where the retribution projected by the action is manifested, namely the ndmarupa, and where the saddyatana is completed
88. Four schools, the Mahasamghikas etc, do not admit antardbhava, see the Commentary to the Samayabheda of Vasumitra in the Materiaux ofJ. Przyluski; the same for the Mah&asakas (Saeki).
89. The Vydkhyd says: atrdcdrya Gunamatih sahatisyendcdryaVasumitrena svanikdydnurdgabhd- vitamatir vydkhydnavydpdram apdsya pratyavasthdnapara eva vartate / vayam iha s'dstrdrtha- vivaranam praty ddriydmahe na taMUsanam nihsdratvdd bahuvaktavyabhaydc ca.
Yasomitra, in the introductory stanzas to the Vydkhyd,notes that he follows "the commentators, Gunamati, Vasumitra, etc. ", in the places where they are correct; in the commentary to i. l, p. 7 (Petrograd edition), he condemns the explanation that Gunamati and his student Vasumitra give to tasmai namaskrtyaJFrom the gloss that we have here, it results that Gunamati and Vasumitra belong to another sea or school (nikdya). Details are lacking.
90. Compare Chavannes, Cinq cents contes, ii. 200.
91. See above, note 29.
92. Majjhima, ii. 156: jdnanti pana bhonto yathd gabbhassa avakkanti hoti / jandma mayam bho yathd gabbhassa avakkanti hoti / idha mdtdpitaro ca sannipatitd honti mdtd ca utuni hoti gandhabbo ca paccupaffhito hoti / evam ttnnam sannipdtd gabbhassa avakkanti hoti. The same
formula, Majjhima, i. 265. {A propos these formulas, Rhys Davids-Stede say that the Gandharva "is said to preside over child-conception") (For other modes of conception, asucipanena, etc, see Samantapdsddikd, i. 214, Milinda, 123, which repeats the formula of the Majjhima. )
(We can compare the avakrdnti of ndmarupa which takes place when the vijridna is pratispbita, Sarhyutta, ii. 66; elsewhere we find avakrdnti of the vijridna, ibid ii. 91).
A different redaction, Divya, 1. 440: traydndm sthdndndm sammukhtbhavdt putra jayante duhitaras ca / katamesdm traydndm / mdtdpitarau raktau bhavatah samnipatitau / mdtd kalyd bhavati rtumati / gandharvah pratyupasthito bhavati / esdm traydndm . . . (The reading gandharvapratyupasthitd that Windisch retains, Geburt, p. 27, is certainly faulty: four Mss. have pratyupasthito).
Our text has garbhdvakrdntih, descent of the embryo (and not: ptardjayante. . . ); it places the
? qualities of the woman before the union of the parents; for the rest it follows the Dwya. Discussed in Vibhasa, TD 27, p. 363b2; kafya signifies "not sick"; details on rtumatl
On the Gandharva, see the sources mentioned in note 85. Also the remarks in Hist, de I'lnde
(Cavaignac, Hist, du Monde, vol iii), i. 287. Oldenberg, Religion du Veda, 209, has indeed shown that the Buddhist Gandharva is "the animated seed which, passing from an old existence to a new existence, waits and instantly grasps on to the act of generation in order to become an embryo, or garbha" (Against Hillebrandt, who makes the Gandharva a genie of fertility; same conception in Rhys Davids-Stede: the Gandharva "is said to preside over child conception. " Also against Pischel who makes the Gandharva an embryo). Gandharva is the "Veda-ized" or "Brahmanisized" name of the disembodied spirit as "primitives" conceived it.
93. According to the Lotsava. Hsiian-tsang: " . . . a Gandharva is made ready. If he is not the intermediate being, what will the Gandharva be? How could a dissolution of the former skandhas be made ready? If they do not read this text, how do they explain the AfvaldyanasMra}. . . " We are led to believe that the meaning is: "The school that we are combating pretends that the word gandharva signifies maranabhava or skandhabheda . . . "
Vydkhya: skandhabheda/ca pratyupasthita iti maranabhavah.
94. The Assaldyanasutta, Majjhima, ii. 157, gives a more archaic recension of our text.
95. Samyukta, 37. 20, Dirgha, TD 1, p. 51cl2, Digha, iii. 237; Koia, vi. 37.
Whatever we may think of the Antaraparinirvayin of the Kathdvatthu, viii. 2 and the
Puggalapanfiati (quoted below note 97), the definition that the Anguttara, ii 134, gives of this saint, presupposes a belief in intermediate existence (See below iii. 40c - 4la).
96. Madhyama, TD 1, p. 427all, Anguttara, iv. 70, Ko/a, vi40. I have compared the Sanskrit version, reproduced in full in the Vydkhya, with the Pali version, JRAS, 1906,446.
97. One should compare this explanation of the Vibhajyavadins with that of the PudgaUpaMati, 16. The Antaraparinibbayin realizes the path upapannam va samanatara apattam va vemajjham ayupamdnam: the Upaliaccaparinibbayin realizes the path atikkamitvd vemajjham ayupamdnam
upahacca. . . upahacca vdd kalakrtyam (According to the commentary, upahacca = upagantvd, thus "holds firm to the place of death"). Buddhaghosa,^/ Kathdvatthu, iv. 2 (If one can become an Arhat
by birth) reproaches the Uttarapathakas for substituting upapajjaparinibbdyin for upahacca-.
98. There is premature death (antardmarana) in Arupyadhatu; thus a being of Arupyadhatu can enter into Nirvana before having completed his thousands of kdpas of existences in Arupyadhatu.
99. For an explanation of this iloka, see Cosmologie bouddhique, 141,235, Anguttara, iv. 422.
100. Hsiian-tsang: After a long time (gloss: after 900 years) the sovereign master of the Law has entered into Nirvana; the great generals of the Law (Gloss: Sdradvatiputra, etc) have also entered intoNirvanna . . .
101. Madhyama, TD 1, p.
