No More Learning

The merit of such a measure that one is happy in heaven for a kalpa is the Brahmin merit, for the lifespan of the Brahmapurohitas is a kalpa
553
(iii. 80d). And in another Canon, one reads, "He engenders Brahmin
merit, he is happy in the heavens for a kalpa" *##
554 We have studied material giving.
125a-b. The gift of the Dharmas is the correct teaching, not
555
The gift of the Dharma is to teach, correctly and with a mind not defiled, the Sutra and the other parts of Scripture. Consequently, those who teach the Dharma either falsely, or with a defiled mind, through a
556
desire for gain, for respea, and for reputation, destroy the great merit
which would otherwise fall to them.
***
We have explained the three types of good according to the distinction of the three items of meritorious work. Furthermore,
125c-d Good is threefold, merit, Nirvana and penetration.
Good merit, or good "favorable to merit" is the good which leads to
557 an agreeable retribution.
defiled, of the Sutras etc
? 558
The good which is deliverance is the good which, when it arises,
559
becomes a dharma of ParinirvSna. It is recognized that whoever,
understanding the sermons concerning the defects of Samsara, the
non-self, and the qualities of Nirvana, has his hairs stand on end and 560
who pours forth tears, possesses the moksabhdgrya root of good; in 561
this same way, one knows that there was a seed in the khalabila, when, in the rain, one sees a plant put forth shoots.
The good of penetration is fourfold, usmagatas, etc; it will be 562
***
What is the nature of what is popularly called writing, carving (mudrd), eloquence, poetry (kdvya), and calculation?
126. An industrious aaion, of the body, of the voice or of the
mind, with that which gives rise to it, are such things as writing,
563 carving, eloquence, poetry, and calculation.
"Industrious," that is, due to a certain technique.
"Threefold action" is bodily, vocal, and mental action.
"Writing and carving" are bodily actions, industrious, together with
what gives rise to this aaion, namely the colieaion of the mind and its mental states.
"Eloquence and poetry" are vocal actions,
Consequently, writing, carving, eloquence, and poetry, are by their nature, the five skandhas.
"Calculation" is mental aaion: this refers to the mental enumera- tion of the dharmas. TM
***
Now let us explain some synonyms:
127a-b. Defiled dharmas are savadya, nivrta, and hina.
Some synonyms of "defiled" are: savadya, associated with avadya, or bad; nivrta, that is, "covered" by the defilements: and the defilements themselves are covered by other defilements; hina, or ignoble, because
explained later (vi. 17).
Karma 707
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they are low or abandoned by the Aryans.
127b-c Good and pure dharmas are prantta.
Pranita, "excellent," is a synonym for subha, that is, kusala, good, and of amala, immaculate or andsrava.
The dharmas which are neither ignoble nor excellent, are thus
565 median (madhya).
127c-d Good conditioned dharmas are sevya.
Sevya, "to be cultivated" is synonymous with "good" and "con- ditioned. "
It then follows that other dharmas, some unconditioned, others conditioned but defiled or non-defiled-neutral, are not to be cultivated In fact, unconditioned dharmas are not susceptible of being produced, or cultivated, since the unconditioned has no result: now, it is with a view to a result that one cultivates.
###
566 All the other dharmas are inferior.
127d Deliverance is the highest.
These is nothing which outweighs Nirvana. Nirvana, being eternal and good, outweighs all.
? 1. Ariguttara iii. 415: cetandham bhikkbave kammarh vaddmi, cetayitva kammarh karoti kayena vdcdya manasd. Compare Atthasdlini p. 88; Kathavatthu, p. 393; Madhyamaka, xvii. 2 and 3: cetand cetayitva ca karmoktam paramarsind /. . . tatrayac cetanety uktarh karma tan mdnasam smrtam / cetayitva cayat t&ktam tat tu kdyikavdcikam //Madhyamakdvatara, vi. 89, quoted in Bodhicaryd- vatdrapanfikd (v. 3, ix. 73), p. 472.
2. Vocal action is "voice," vdg eva karma. However kdyakarma is defined as kayena kdyasya vd karma.
3. On cetand, see ii. 24. Mrs. Rhys Davids {Psychology, p. 8), translates this as "thinking"; Aung {Compendium, p. 16) translates it as "volition. " "Volition" is only slightly satisfying, for we shall see (belowj>. 565) that action includes a subsequent cetand, "I have killed"
For theJains, mental action is only semi-action (addbakamma), Majjbima, L372 {Kofa, iv. 105), Uvdsakadasdo, il App. 2, p. 18; SBE. xiv, pp. 83,165,179,242,315. Koto, iv. 73a-b.
4. Vydkbyd: Cetayitd ceti / evam cedam karisydmUi. Madhyamakavrtti, 397. 1: evam caivam ca kdyavdgbhydm pravartisya ity evam cetasd samcintyayat kriyate tat cetayitva karmety ucyate.
5. (a) Vijtiapti is "that which informs" {vijfiapayati), the manifestation of a mind either by means of the body, or by means of the voice. It is bodily in the first case, vocal in the second: kdyavijfiapti, information through the body, which we call an action, fariracespd, or vispanda {Madhyamakavrtti, p. 307), the kdyavipphandana or "bodily suffusion" of Mrs. Rhys Davids {DhammasaHgani, 636, Atthasdlmi, p. 323); vdgvijfiapH is information through the voice or words {Kofa, iv. 3d).
The School holds {Ko/a, iv. 2b-3b) that kdyavijtiapti is not an action, a movement of the body, but a disposition, a "shape" of the body. The Sautrantikas deny that shape exists in and of itself (iv. 3c).
But should vijtiapti be considered as being, in its nature, action? This is the opinion of the Vaibhasikas and the heretics of the Kathdvatthu, viii. 9, x. 10 (the Mahirhsasakas, Sammitiyas, and Mahasamghikas) who believe that "action" and words constitute "action after having been willed" of which the Blessed One speaks (iv. lb), an action distinct from volition, and rupa in its nature. But for the Theravadins {Atthasdlini, p. 88, 96, 323, Anguttara, ii. 157, Samyutta, ii. 39) and for the Sautrantikas (below p-559|) action is volition {cetand); "bodily action" does not mean "information by the body," but a kdyasamcetand, a volition relative to the body and which leads the body. (The versionofAung,PointsofControversy,p. 225,isnottotallycorrect. )(b)Avijfiapti(ill,iv. 4)isan action "which does not inform anything to another"\avijfiapti is rupa, but does not form part of the rupdyatana: it is classed within the dharmdyatana and is only known by the mental consciousness.
In order to make all this easier to comprehend, the person who commits a murder or takes the vows of a Bhiksu produces after his volition {cetand) a bodily or vocal "information"--an action or a word--and, at the same time, an invisible action, nevertheless material and made up of the primary elements, which continues to exist in him and to increase, by reason of which he is either a murderer or a BhiksiL This invisible action, created by certain visible or audible actions and which "informs," is called avijnapti, "non-information"; it is considered to be either bodily or vocal accordingly as it is created by an action or by a word.
When a person gives orders to an assassin, he does not accomplish the action by which the murder is committed; the order that he gives is solely a preparation for murder; he is then not guilty of "the bodily information of murder. " But, at the moment when the person assassinated is murdered, a "non-information" of murder arises in him: he is, by this fact, guilty of murder.
When a person enters into a Dhyana--which supposes detachment from the defilements of Kamadhatu--he does not pronounce the vows by which one renounces killing, etc He does not produce "vocal information" by which the monk produces this "non-information" which constitutes his monkhood and which is called discipline {samvara, iv. 13). But in a Dhyana, the mind is strong enough to create, by itself and without intervention of "vocal information," the action of "non-information," or discipline.
6. The text has apare, "according to others. " The Vydkbyd holds that the "others" are the Vatslputriyas. The gloss of the Japanese editor, Saeki, mentions the Sammitiyas.
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7. According to the Dbammasangani, bodily vijfiapti is "to advance, withdraw, to fix the gaze, to look at all sides, to advance the arms, to withdraw them, etc"
8. Hsiian-tsang: 'Tor when the body moves, it moves by reason of action. "
9. The Vyakhya adds: "or rather a ksana is the minimum length of time" (iil85d). See ii. 46a-b. 10. Hsiian-tsang: "since it perishes later. "
ll. I&tinction does not have a cause, see JCo^^
8,222,413. The ^addarianasamuccaya (ed Suali, 46) quotes a Sutra of the Sautrantikas: paficemam bhiksavah samjttm&rampratijttm&ram samvrtimdtram vyavabdramdtram / katamampaHca / atUo'dhva andgato'dhva sahetuko vindiah dkafam pudgcda iti / VeddntasMra ii. 2, 23; Nya-
yavdrttikatatparyafikd (Viz. S. S. ), 383.
12. According to the Vydkhyd: Sthavkavasubandhuprabhrtibhir ayam hetur uktah. According to
the gloss of Saeki, "According to the School of the Sthaviras. "
13. Ksana eva ksane means ksane ksana eva which isfarthergiossedbytasminn eva ksane. lt arises by reason of merit, and immediately perishes by reason of demerit; reborn by reason of merit. . . Or it arises by reason of demerit, perishes by reason of merit. . . Or rather ksana eva ksane signifies mukhye ksane'naupacdrike ksane.
14. Vyakhya: Sakyai caisa kdranaparikalpa iti vistarak / dharmdd adharmavmasa Hi kdranapari- kalpa iti sarvatra samskrte dvyanukadau amtyesu rupddisu karmani ca iakyate kartum ato na vaktavyam etad agnisamyqgat kdsphddindm vmdfa ity evamddi.
15. According to Saeki, the Sammitlyas.
16. Compare Asanga, Sitralamkara, xviii. 82.
17. Hsiian-tsang, who is translated above, departs from the original:". . . this is to simply repeat your affirmation, since the existence of similar atoms is not proved If it were proved, then these atoms could be joined together; but the self nature of the parts of a shape is not proved as is the case
for the parts of a thing of color (na ca samsthanavayavandrh varnddivat svabhavah siddhah) that is to say, the parts of a "long" thing are not "long," etc: how can these parts, by their coming together, bring about a determined shape?
18. One sees an army without seeing its soldiers; but this does not prove that an army exists apart from its soldiers. In the same Way one sees shape without distinguishing its color.
19. According to Hsiian-tsang. The Tibetan has: First there is produced a certain resolution (samkaJpa). When one has thus willed a volition is produced whose function or action it is to set into motion (vartayati), and which is "the action after having been willed"
20. For avyflapti of the sphere of Kamadhatu depends on vijriapti, bodily and vocal action, or rupa; it does not accompany the mind as does the avijfiapti of Rupadhatu. But see iv. 75c-d
21. The RBpasamgrahasmra. Compare Digha, iii. 217; Vibbanga, pp. 13,64.
22. The Vyakhya here quotes a part of the discourse of the Buddha to Cunda on the two types of meritorious works (see Minayev, Recherches, p. 185-186, and below iv. H7a-b), an extract of the story of Ghosila in the Vinaya ofthe Sarvdstivddins, see E. Huber, Sources du Divydvadana, BEFEO. 1906, p. 18.
Upadhi means the thing (drama, vihdra, etc) given to a monk or to the Samgha; the merit that proceeds (tadbhava) from this upadhi is called aupadhika.
MahacundasUtra (Madhyama, TD 1, p. 427c29): saptemdni Cunda aupadhikani punya- kriyavastuni mahaphalamyavan mahavaistdrikamyaih samanvdgatasya irdddhasya ktdaputrasya va kuladuhitur va carato va tisphato vd svapato vajagrato va satatasamitam abhivardbata eva punyamupajayataevapunyam/ katamdnisapta/ ihaCundairaddhahkulaputrov&kuladuhitava cSturdiiaya bbiksusamgbaydrumam pratipddayati / idarh Cunda prathamam. . .
? The non-material meritorious works do not include offerings: they essentially consist of the joy that the believer experiences from the nearness, from the presence, from drawing near to the Tathagata or a Sravaka. The seventh includes the taking of the Refuges and the undertaking of the prohibitions.
lha Cunda irdddhah kulaputro va kuladuhitd va Srnoti tathdgatam va tathagatairdvaham va amukam grdmaksetram upaniiritya viharatUi frutvd ca punar adhigacchati pruipfdmodyam uddram kuialam naiskramyopasamhitam / idath Cunda prathamam mraupadhikam punyakriyd- vastu.
See Siksasamuccaya, p. 137 {Ratnardfisutra). Madhyamakavpti, p. 309 and the sources quoted in the notes.
Pali sources: Anguttara, ii. 50, 54; and the discussion in the Kathdvatthu, vii. 5: pari- bhogamayam puHndm vaddhati and x. 9: samdddnahetukam silam vaddhati. The Kathdvatthu touches on some other points relative to the doctrine of avijftapti, viil9, x. 8,11-12.
23. The Kathdvatthu denies that samvara is kamma (xill).
24. Compare Sumangalavildsini, 305, the third type of virati, proper to the Aryans and not susceptible of being cut off, or setughdtavirati; Atthasdlini, p. 103, has samucchedavirati; below v. 33a-b.
The Dhammasangani, 299, defines right speech {sammSvdcd): catuhi vadduccaritehi droit virati. . . anatikkamo setughato. According to Buddhaghosa {Atthasdlini, p.
219) setum hanatiti setughato: right speech is the destruction {ghata) of the dike through which the transgressbns of the voice pass. The translator {Psychology, 87) adopts this interpretation and refers to Anguttara L220,261, ii. 145. But, in these passages setughdta = setubandha - setu = a dike, obstacle: "The Blessed One has declared that maithuna is a setughato. " 'Thus, monks, there is a setughdta with respect to laughing. " "The Nigantha teaches that one destroys former actions through penitence and that one dikes them up {setughdta) by abstention {akarana). " The Mahdvyutpatti, 255. 9, has sdmpardyikdndm setusamudghdtdya; Tibetan version: "with a view to arresting the defilments by means of a dike"; Chinese version: "with a view to arresting the defilements like a torrent. " See also Madhyamakavpti, p. 525 the definition of NirvanajalapravdnirodhabhMasetusthdmyah.
25. rnd 'byor spyod pa dag. Paramartha: The ancient masters of the Yogacara {hsien-chiu kuan-hsing shih 5fcltHfT$! i )? Hsiian-tsang:yU-chia shih ^(R)M%.
Saeki has a long note 7b-8a.
It follows from the Vvdkhyd that the term Yogacara does not here designate the follower of a certain philosophic school but simply an ascetic: "The Yogacarin who actualizes the Path {mdrgam sammukhikurvdnah) takes possession of a mental disposition {dfaya) and a psycho-physical substrate {dfraya), whereas he takes possession of pure morality (andsrava iUa) as he takes possession of right view: having acquired this pure morality, he abides in a natural morality {prakrtifilatd)! ' Or rather {atha va) the Masters maintain that, in this same pure absorption, there is a rupa of the same nature, that is to say pure (andsrave'pi samddhau tadevamvidham rupam ta dcdrya icchanti).
Siksasamuccaya, 138: yadi bhiksavo yukto yogdcdro mama fiksdydm pratipannah sarvasa- mskdresv anityadarsi. . .
On yogacara in the Mahavastu, L 120. 9, see the remarks of the editor, i. 469. The passage is obscure.
There follows some relevant references in the Abhidharmakoia:
i. 17. Vydkhyd: In the system {dar/ana) of the Yogacaras, the manodhdtu is distinct from the six vijndnas.
i. 41. The Vijnanavadins defend the thesis: vijnanam paiyati.
ii. 24. The Vydkhyd quotes the definition that xhtyogdcdracittas give rise to adhimukti (note 117 of our translation).
ii. 44e. The doctrine of the former masters of the samdpattis quoted by the Sautrantikas (p. 231 of our translation).
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iii. l5c Definition of a Gandharva. Bhasya: "The former masters"; Vyakhya: Purvdcdrya yogacdrya Arydsangaprabhrtayah.
iil63a-b. Phases of the moon. Opinion of the former masters; but according to the Vyakhya, the Yogacarins.
iv. 75. Bhasya: "The former masters," but, according to the Vyakhya: In the system (? nayena) of the Yogacarins.
v. 8. Vyakhya: "According to the Yogacarins (? mati), there are one hundred and twenty-eight klefas.
v. 43b-c Definition of the avarabhdgtyas attributed to apare. These "other masters" as the Yogacarins (Vyakhya).
vilOa-b. The ascetics (yogacdrya) who practice afubhd are of three types, ddikarmika. *. 26. According to the gloss of Saeki On this point of doctrine, see 13Id and Vyakhya, p. 14.
27. The expression sdsava upddantya in Samyutta iii. 47, Anguttara iii. 248 (definition of the updddnaskandhas).
28. PaHca cetokhiia, Digha, iii. 237, q. v. ; Mahavyupatti, 10. 24; vydpddakhUadvesa.
29. Hsiian-tsang adds here: If one says "How do the qualities and the actions of a certain person produce a transformation in another person who is thinking of another thing? " This difficulty also presents itself in the theory of avijriapti: how do the qualities and the actions of a certain person cause a certain thing, the avijrtapti, to arise in another person?
30. Compare Anguttara, ii. 54 and the Ratnardfisutra, quoted in the Siksasamuccaya, p. 138. The phraseology of our Sutra differs from these two sources; Hsiian-tsang differs here from the Tibetan. He has: "An outflowing of merit moistens his series and a sukha without measure flows into his body. "
31. According to Pu-kuang, the Bhadanta is Dharmatrata (See L20a-b). See TD41, p. 108b6.
32. According to Hsiian-tsang: However whoever has this threefold volition while carrying out himself, without any error of person, the action of murder, is touched by the transgression of murder. If the Bhadanta refers to this case, then he is correct.
33. Vyakhya: Afayaf cdfrayafceti / of ayah pranatipatadyakaranafayah fraddhddydfayo va / dfraya dfrayapardvrttih. "Intention" refers to the intention of not committing murder, or the intention of faith. When one says that an ascetic obtains a certain dfraya, one means that he has undergone a modification (paravrtti) of his psycho-physiological substrate. (The dfraya is defined ii. 5,6,36c-d, 44d).
P'u-kuang explains: A fray a consists of chanda, or of adhimukti, or of chanda and oi adhimukti. . The dfraya is the cetand which is produced at the same time as the dfraya; it serves as the support
(dfraya) of the dfraya. . .
The meaning ofpardvrtta is clearly stated in Vydkhydiv. l4c: "When the gender of the mother
or the father is pardvrtta, that is to say, when the quality of mother or father is destroyed by the paravrtti of gender . . . "
The tradition of Asahga is heir to the expression dfrayapardvrtti, Stitrdlamkara, be 12. This refers, as S. Levi says, to a revolution of the very basis of the being, of the appearance of a new personality: a Prthagjana becomes an Aryan, a woman becomes a man, a man becomes an animal, etc
On paravrtti, see vL41.
34. Numerous and divergent definitions of the eight lokadharmas, Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 871b29-cL
35. Here Hsiian-tsang has two pddas which are absent m Paramartha "It depends (upddaddti) on primary elements which are the support (dfraya) of the vyfinapti. " Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 684cl2.
? 36. Certain masters say that vijriapti and avijriapti arise from the same four primary elements. They ask: "Are there four primary elements which produce two dyatanas, or two rtipas? Yes, they produce rupdyatana and dbarmdyatana, iabddyatana and dbarmdyatana. " The Bhadanta Ghosaka says: "The Abhidharma masters say that this is not correct; it is impossible that the same four primary elements produce both a subtle result and a gross result. . . " (Vibbdfd, TD 27, p. 684c23. )
37. The Tibetan version omits this first paragraph.
38. Vydkbyd: Samutthdpakacittdeksatvdd asarndbaacittdvijiiaptyadbikdrdc ca na svapnasamd
dbyadyaupacayikamahabbutajd.
39. Hsiian-tsang makes two pddas out of this phrase: "The vijriapti is solely an outflowing. . . " The
Bbdsya of Hsiian-tsang adds: "For the test, it is like the avijriapti of a non-absorbed state. " 40. Avydkrta, see ii. 54, iv. 9c at the end
41. According to the principle vitarkya vicaryavacam bhdsate, iL33a-b, p. .
42. Digba, 118,221; above il31; below v. 49c, 53c; Vibbdsd, TD 27, p. 670b24-c25.
43. But the &astra says: fabdadb&und kab samanvdgatab / aha / kamar&pavacarah / ko'samanvdgatab/ drOpydvacarah/ IfthebeingsofRupdhatuare"endowed"withsound,itcannot be a question of an external sound, one not belonging to a living being (asattvasamkbydta). Thus one should attribute to the beings of Rupdhatu the type of sound that one makes with the hands, etc Inordertoavoidthiscriticism,someothermasterssay, "Vijriapti. . . "
44. Two opinions: 1) the vijriapti which is produced in the Second Dhyana and above is of the sphere of the First Dhyana, being produced by a mind of the sphere of the First Dhyana, according to the rule given in viiL13. This is the opinion of the Vaibhasikas. 2) This vijfiapti is of the Second Dhyana and above. One vijriapti of a higher sphere is thus produced by a mind of a higher sphere. When the beings of these Dhyanas talk among themselves, etc (parasparasambbdsanddikur- vatdm), their vijriapti is anivrtdvydkrta.
45. Hsiian-tsang: "The first opinion is correct. " Gloss of Saeki: "Such is the opinion of the author. "
46. Vibbdfd, TD 27, p. 74lal0. The Bhadanta says: There are four reasons why one uses the word kuiala: because it is good by nature, by association, in origin, and absolutely. Good by nature: some say: briand anapatrapya; some say: the three kuialamulas. . . Absolutely good: Nirvana, called good because it is calm (ksema).
According to the Vibhajyavadins, Jnana is good by nature; the Vijnana, etc associated with jrlana, is good by association; the actions of the body and the voice which proceed from it are good in
origin; and Nirvana absolutely good. The definitions of aku/ala are parallel (ie. , moha is bad by nature).
47. The other kuSalas are not
48. Divya, 255. 16. On the good, bad, and neutral roots, see v. 20.
49. According to the Tibetan. Paramartha and Hsiian-tsang: "Bodily action, vocal action and the cittavfprayuktasamskdras. " This is also the reading of the Vibbdfd. Sarhghabhadra (TD 29, p. 546b27 and following): Bodily action, vocal action, jdti, etc {loksana, ii. 48c) and the prdptis of the two absorptions without mind (nirodba and asathjrtisamdpattt).
50. When one again takes possession of the roots of good through doubt (vidkitsa) (iv. 80), the prdptis of these roots are good: now they are neither good in and of themselves, by association, in origin, nor absolutely so. In the same way, the prdptis of innate good (ii. 71b) are good and are not included in any of the four categories. Sarhghabhadra responds to this objection, TD 29, p. 546b27 and following.
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51. The doctrine of the Kathdvatthu on good, bad, and neutral, is presented xiv. 8; Nibbana is avydkata, xi. 1, xiiL9 xiv. 8.
52. Vibhdfd, TD 27, p. 610a5.
53. Paramartha: "If this were the case, then when a person free from mind (acittaka) produces avtjfiaptifUa, where would his anuvartaka mind be? " Hsiian-tsang: "If this were the case, how could a person free from mind produce sHa? "
Suppose that a person, while he is receiving ordination (upasampddyamdna) and is thus "binding" his bodily actions {kdyavijflaptim dbadhnan), enters into nirodhasamapatti and so becomes free from mind. When he produces restraint (samvara) in himself, how can bodily action (kdyavijriapti)--which supposes restraint {? antargata)--take place after this ceremony (karma- vdcandvasdna)?