Hence the
consciousness
of the Truths, or the sun, causes an obstacle to the vices, or to the stars.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-1-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
In the logic of this system, it is the external causes of destruction which destroy, and the characteristic of impermanence serves no function.
The same School admits that the mind and its mental states, like sound or a flame, perish immediately, without any foreign causes intervening, through the chacteristic of impermanence. Impermanence and duration accomplish their operation at one and the same time: a dharma lasts and perishes at the same time. This is inadmissable.
We conclude that it is with regard to the series that the Blessed One teaches the characteristics of conditioned things. Thus understood, the Sutra does not invite criticism, "There are three characteristics that show that the conditioned is conditioned, that it is produced through
2 successive causes . . . " "
***
If arising engenders, in a future state, the dharma that it should engender, why do not all future dharmas arise at one and the same
300
time?
46c-d. Arising engenders the dharma that it should engender, 301
but not without the cooperation of causes and conditions.
Isolated arising does not have the force of engendering the dharma that it should engender independent of the cooperation of causes and conditions.
[1. Objection of the Sautrantikas:] If this is the case, we rather
The Indriyas 247
it is with the cooperation of
? 248 Chapter Two
believe that it is the cause that engenders, and not arising; this characteristic accompanies the dhanna since the beginning of time and causes the dharma to arise when, finally, the cause of this dharma encounters another! When the causes are completed, the dharma arises; when they are not completed, it does not arise: what efficacy can
302 we attribute to arising?
[2. The Sarvastivadins answer:] Do you pretend to know all the 303
dharmas that exist? The nature of dharmas is subtle! Even though one sees them, one does not know their nature.
Moreover, in the absence of the characteristic "arising," the idea of 304
"birth" (jatabuddhi = jata iti) would be absent. And if arising is nothing other than the dharma itself exisitng after having been non- existent, the genitive "the arising of warmth" or "the arising of sensation" would not be justified; for this amounts to saying "the warmth of warmth" or "the sensation of sensation. " This is the same for duration, old age, and extinction.
[3. Reply of the Sautrantikas:] This theory leads you very far afield: in order to justify the idea of empty (sunya), or the idea of the impersonal, you would admit the existence of an entity called "emptiness" or the existence of an entity called "non-self. " And ag^in, in order to justify the ideas of one and two, large and small, separate, associated and disassociated, this and that, existant, etc. , you would admit, in agreement with the Vaisesikas, a long series of entities: number, extension, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, quality of being that, quality of being this, existence, etc. It obliges you to create a "pot-ness" in order to justify the idea of a pot.
As for the genitive, you do not admit that the individual nature of warmth and warmth are different things, and yet you speak of the individual nature of warmth.
Hence you have not proven that "arising" is a thing in and of itself; you have not proven that this is not merely a designation of a dharma in so far as it exists after having been non-existent.
When I want to teach someone that a certain dharma exists which formerly did not exist, I say to him, "This dharma has arisen," and I designate this dharma as being born. Many dharmas,--warmth,
? sensation, etc. ,--arise, that is to say, "exist after having been non- existent. " Hence there are many arisings, that is, many dharmas arising. Since arising is multiple, in order to distinguish it from other arisings, so that my questioner knows that it refers to an arising having the name "warmth" and not to an arising having the name "sensa- tion," I will employ the genitive, "the arising of warmth," or "the arising of sensation," although the arising of warmth is only the warmth arising. In the same way one says, in the world, "the odor of sandalwood," although sandalwood is only odor, or "the body of the
305 bust," although a bust is only its body.
[4. The Sarvastivadins answer:] We hold to the existence of the characteristic "arising," which belongs to conditioned things and does not belong to unconditioned things, and we can easily explain this by virtue of the fact that unconditioned things do not arise. But if conditioned things arise without "arising," why do unconditioned things, space, etc. , not arise?
We say that conditioned things arise, for they exist after having been non-existent. But how can unconditioned things arise, since they are eternal? You explain that certain dharmas,--the unconditioned dharmas,--are devoid of the characteristic "arising," because, you say, such is the nature of things (dharmata): we say, rather, that by virtue of the nature of things, none of the dharmas are susceptible of arising. Moreover, according to you, all conditioned things equally possess the characteristic "arising" that you refuse to unconditioned things: yet you admit that certain causes are capable of producing warmth but incapable of producing sensation. In the same way, according to you, since conditioned and unconditioned things are equally devoid of the characteristic of "arising," all causes that produce conditioned things are ineffacacious with regard to unconditioned things.
[5. The Vaibhasikas say that] the four characteristics, arising, etc. ,
306 are things in and of themselves.
Why?
307 308
Should we abandon the Agamas for the sole reason
that there are persons who object to them? One does not renounce
sowing for fear of deer, and one does not renounce eating dainties
309
because of flies. One must refute objections and adhere to the
The lndriyas 249
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Doctrine.
***
What is namakaya, padakdya, and vyanjanakdyal
47a-b. Namakaya, etc. , are collections of samjrlas, vdkyas, and
m aksaras.
1. Ndman, "name" or "word" is understood as "that which causes 311
ideas to arise," for example the words "warmth," "sound," "odor," etc.
2. Pada or "phrase" is understood as vakya, a discourse, a phrase 312
allowing the development necessary for a complete sentence, for
example the stanza, "Impermanent are the samskdras . . . " and the 313
rest. Or rather, one should understand pada as that which causes one to comprehend the different modalities of activity, quality, and time which concern a certain person: for example, he cooks, he reads, he
314
goes; it is black, yellow, or red; he cooks, he will cook, or he
315 cooked.
3. Vyanjana is understood as aksara or phoneme (varna), vowels andconsonents,forexample,a,d,[i,/,]etc.
But are not the aksaras the names of the letters?
One does not make or one does not pronounce phonemes with a view to designating, or of giving an idea of the letters; but one makes or one writes the letters with a view to giving an idea of the phonemes, so that, when one does not understand them, one still has an idea of them through writing. Consequently the phonemes are not the names of letters.
4. Kaya or "body" means "collection;" samukti, in fact, has the sense of samavaya according to the Dhdtupdtha, iv. 114.
Hence we have: namakaya = color, sound, odor, etc. ; padakdya = "The samskdras are impermanent, the dharmas are impersonal; Nirvana is tranquil. . . " etc. ; and vyanjanakaya = ka, kha, ga, gha . . .
***
? [1. Objection of the Sautrantikas:] Are not words, phrases, and phonemes (ndman, pada, vyanjana) "voice" (vac) by nature, and consequently "sound" (sabda)? Hence they form part of the mpaskandha\ they are not samskdras disassociated from the mind as the Sarvastivadins believe.
[The Sarvastivadins:] They are not "voice. " Voice is "vocal sound," and a vocal sound only; for example, a cry does not cause one to attain to or comprehend an object. But a word (ndman) which moreover is a function of vocal sound, illumines, causes one to attain to, or signifies the object.
[The Sautrantikas:] What I call "voice" is not merely vocal sound, but a vocal sound that causes one to attain to an object, that is, a vocal sound with regard to which persons who are speaking are in agreement as to what a certain thing signifies. It is thus that the Ancients have invested the sound go with the power to signify nine things: "The sages have established the sound go in nine things, that is, cardinal region, cattle, land, a beam of light, a word, a diamond, an
316
eye, a haven, and water. " The philosopher for whom "it is the word
(ndman) which illumines the object" should admit that the sound go has been endowed by convention with these different meanings. Then if a given object is signified to the hearer by a certain word, it is indeed vocal sound and nothing else, that signifies it. What advantage is there in supposing the existence of an entity you call "word? "
[2. The Sautrantikas continue:] A word is either produced by the
317 318
voice or revealed by the voice.
a. In the first hypothesis, since voice is vocal sound by nature, any vocal sound whatsoever, even the cry of an animal, would produce a word. If you answer that a word is produced solely through a vocal sound of a certain nature--the articulation of sound, varndtmaka--we would say that this sort of vocal sound which is capable of producing a word would be quite capable of designating an object also.
In the second hypothesis, this same criticism holds by replacing the verb "to produce" with the verb "to manifest. "
b. But it is absurd to suppose that the voice produces a word. In fact, sounds do not exist at the same time? one has, for example,
The Indriyas 251
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r-u-p-a--whereas the word, which you define as a dharma, an entity, cannot arise in parts. Then how can the voice, when it produces a word, produce it? You say that the case is analogous to that of avijnapti (iv. 3d): the last moment of the vijnapti, a corporeal or vocal act, creates avijnapti by reason of its previous moments. But, we would say, if the last moment of the sound of the voice creates the word, it would suffice to understand the last sound in order to attain or comprehend the object.
It is not an evasion to suppose that voice engenders the phoneme (vyanjana), that a phoneme engenders a word, and that a word causes comprehension of objects. In fact, the same objection is present, "The phonemes do not exist at the same time, etc. "
For these same reasons, it is absurd to suppose that the voice manifests a word. [Sounds do not exist at the same time, and a dharma, one entity, such as a word, cannot be mainfested in parts . . . and following].
c. [The hypothesis that "voice" engenders a phoneme--a hy- pothesis that we have previously tolerated--calls moreover for some new remarks]. Experts vainly apply their minds but do not discover a phoneme distinct from the voice. Moreover, the voice neither en- genders nor manifests the phoneme, for the same reasons that allow that the voice neither engenders nor manifests a word. [Since the "voice" is vocal sound by nature, all vocal sound would engender or manifest phonemes. If you reply that phonemes are only engendered or manifested by the vocal sound of a certain nature . . . as above ad 2a2. ]
[3. But the Sarvastivadins may suppose that] a word arises with its object, like the characteristic "arising. " The question of knowing whether it is produced or manifested by the voice, disappears.
In this hypothesis, no present word would designate a past or future thing. Moreover, a father, a mother, or other persons arbitrarily fix the word that is the proper name of a son, etc. : how can you admit that the word, like the characteristic "arising," arises simultaneously with the object? Finally, unconditioned things would not have any name, since they do not arise: a consequence that the Sarvastivadins
? cannot admit.
[4. But the Sarvastivadins are warranted by a text. ] The Blessed
One said, "A stanza (gdthd) depends on words, and a poem depends on 319
stanzas. "
[The Sautrantikas answer that] word (ndman) is a sound (sabda)
upon which persons have come to an agreement that it signifies a 32
certain thing. ? A stanza {gdtha) is a certain arrangement of words: it is in this sense that it, according to the Blessed One, depends on words. To admit an entity in and of itself called pada, is a very superfluous hypothesis. You might as well maintain that there exists, distinct from ants and minds, things in and of themselves termed "a row of ants" or
321
"a succession of minds. " Recognize then that only the phonemes
(aksaras), which are sounds, exist in and of themselves.
The Vaibhasikas admit ndmakdya, padakdya, and vyanjanakdya, as
samskdras disassociated from the mind, for, they say, none of these 322
dharmas serve as a gate of understanding. ***
We ask: (1) to which sphere of existence do the phonemes, words, and phrases belong? (2) Do they belong to living beings (sattvdkhya, i. lOb)? (3) Are they of retribution, of accumulation or of out-flowing (i. 37)? and (4) Are they good, bad, or neutral?
47c-d. They exist in Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu; they belong to
323 living beings; they are out-flowing; and they are neutral.
The phonemes, etc. , belong to two spheres of existence. According
to one opinion, they also exist in Arupyadhatu, but there they are
324 "unpronounceable. "
They belong to living beings, being produced through the efforts of living beings and consisting of articulated sounds (varna), etc. In fact, they belong to the person who speaks, not to the things that they designate.
They are an out-flowing, being produced through sabhdgahetu
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(ii. 52); they are not of retribution, since they proceed from the desire of the person who speaks; they are not of accumulation, since they are not material.
325 They are non-defiled-neutral {anivrtdvydkrta, ii. 28).
##*
We shall briefly explain the characteristics, not as yet mentioned, of the other dharmas disassociated from the mind (ii. 35).
47d-48b. The same for "genre," {sabhdgatd) which is also from retribution, and which belongs to the three spheres of existence.
"The same for," that is to say, like phonemes, words, and phrases, sabhdgatd is of the first two spheres of existence; it belongs to living beings; it is from out-flowing; and it is non-defiled-neutral.
But sabhdgatd is not only from out-flowing: it is also of retribution; it not only belongs to the first two spheres of existence, it also belongs to the third.
326 48b. Possession (prapti) is of two types.
It is of out-flowing and of retribution. 48c. Its characteristics also.
Its characteristics, arising, etc. , are of two types, like possession.
48c-d. The absorptions and non-possession (aprdpti) are of out-flowing.
The two absorptions and non-possession are only out-flowings.
As for their spheres, their relationship with living beings, their moral qualifications (good, etc. ), the explanations have been given above. The characteristics belong to all conditioned things, hence they belong to living beings and to non-living beings. For the dsamjnika and the ayus, see ii. 41d and 45a.
*##
? We have seen (9ii. 47c-d) that arising, in order to engender the
dharma that it should engender, needs the cooperation of hetus or
causes, and pratyayas or conditions. What are the hetus, and what are
327 the pratyayas?
49. The hetus are sixfold: kdranahetu, sahabhu, sabhdga, m
samprayutaka, sarvatraga, and vipdka.
Kdranahetu is reason for existence; sahabhuhetu is coexistent
cause; sabhdgahetu is parallel cause; samprayuktakahetu is associated
cause; sarvatragahetu is universal cause, and vipdkahetu is retributive
cause: such are the six types of causes that the Abhidharmikas (Jndna- 329
prasthdna, TD p. 920c5) recognize.
50a. All dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all, with the
exception of themselves.
A dharma is not a kdranahetu of itself.
With this exception, that all of the dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all other conditioned dharmas, because no dharma constitutes an obstacle to the arising of the dharmas susceptible of arising.
It results from this definition that the dharmas that are saha- bhuhetu, etc. , are also kdranahetu: all other hetus are included within kdranahetu. The hetu that does not receive a special name, which is simply kdrana, "reason for existence," without any other qualification is kdranahetu: it receives as its particular name the name that suits all the hetus. Compare this with the name of the rupdyatana (i. 24).
***
Kdranahetu calls for the following observations:
1. Vices are produced among the ignorant; once the Truths are known, they are not produced, as the stars are not visible when the sun shines.
Hence the consciousness of the Truths, or the sun, causes an obstacle to the vices, or to the stars. Then it is false to say that all conditioned dharmas are kdranahetu because they create no obstacle to arising.
The Indrtyas 255
? 256 Chapter Two
We understand that the consciousness of the Truths and the clarity
of the sun create no obstacle to the arising of the dharma which is
"arising" {utpadyamdnd), that is to say of the dharma, which, its causes 330
being completed, continues to exist.
2. What is called cause or reason for existence, may be what is
capable of causing, or of not causing, an obstacle! In faa, when their
lord does not oppress them, villagers say, "We are fortunate through
331
the actions of our master. " But can one call cause that which, being
incapable of causing an obstacle, does not cause an obstacle? Nirvana is incapable of creating any obstacle to the arising of any conditioned thing: such too are future dharmas with regard to past dharmas, or creatures of hell or animals with regard to beings in Arupyadhatu: Nirvana, future dharmas, or creatures in hell are as if they did not exist with regard to their being an obstacle to the arising of the conditioned things in question. Can one consider them as causes?
They are causes; for, even when the lord is incapable of harming them, the villagers express themselves as we have said; but not about a non-existent lord
3. The definition that we have given of kdranahetu is a general
definition and includes that which is kdranahetu par excellence and
that which is simply kdranahetu. Kdranahetu par excellence is the
generating cause: in this sense, eye and color are the kdranahetu of the 332
consciousness of sight; as food is with regard to the body, the seeds, etc. , with regard to the sprout, etc. (see ii. 56b).
[4. Objection. ] If all the dharmas are the causes of other dharmas because they do not cause any obstacle, why do not all the dharmas
333
arise together? Why, when one murder is committed, are not all
creatures, like the murderer himself, guilty of the crime of murder? This objection is useless. In faa, all the dharmas receive the name of kdranahetu because they do not create any obstacle: it is not that
they are all agents.
5. According to other masters, all karanahetus possess a real
efficacy with regard to all dharmas. For example Nirvana and the consciousness of sight: a mental consciousness, good or bad, arises having Nirvana as its objea (dlambana, ii. 62c-d); from this mental
? consciousness there later arises a consciousness of sight; then Nirvana has efficacy, albeit mediately, with regard to the consciousness of sight.
The same argument applies to future dharmas, to beings in hell, etc.
***
50c-d Sahabhuhetu, coexistent causes, namely the elements
(bhuta), the mind and the companions of the mind, character-
istics and the thing characterized, are the dharmas that are 334
11. The dharmas that are causes (purusakdraphala, ii. 58) one of the other, are called sahabhuhetu. ^
336
For example, the primary elements (mahdbhuta) are, among
themselves, sahabhuhetu. The same for the mind and its companions (ii. 51); the same for the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b), and the dharmas that they characterize.
causes one of the other.
In the category of sahabhuhetu are then included all conditioned 337
dharmas which are in a mutual relationship of causality.
2. We have reason not to complete the above definition. A dharma
is a sahabhuhetu of its secondary characteristics (anulaksana, ii. 45)
without being in a mutual relationship of causality with them: for the
secondary characteristics are not the sahabhuhetu of their dharma. 338
This is a case to be added to the definition.
*#*
What dharmas are called "the companions of the mind? "
51a-c The companions of the mind are: the mental states; the two disciplines (samvara); and the characteristics (laksanas) of the mental states, the two disciplines and the mind
These are all the dharmas associated with the mind {cittasam- prayukta, ii. 24), the discipline of absorption and pure discipline
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(iv. l7d), and the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b) of all these, and also of the mind
[Why are they termed "companions of the mind"? ]
5 Id. From the point of view of time, of result, etc. , and of goodness, etc.
The companions are associated with the mind:
1. In regard to time: they have the same arising, the same duration,
and the same destruction as does the mind; they are of the same time period as the mind.
When we say "the same arising . . . ," we understand the word "same" in the sense of concomitance: the companions arise, last, and perish at the same time as does the mind; but their arising is distinct.
The minds that are not destined to arise do not arise, nor last, nor perish: the same for their companions. This is why the phrase, "The companions are of the same time period as the mind" is added. [The mind which should arise is future until the moment when it arises if it is to arise: its companions are hence future; it is past after the moment
339
when it shall perish if it arose: its companions are then past. ]
2. In regard to the result, etc. Result means purusakdraphala
(ii. 58a-b) and visamyogaphala (ii. 57d); and "et cetera" refers to vipdkaphala (ii. 57) and nisyandaphala (ii. 57c).
The companions have the same result, the same vipaka, and the same nisyanda as the mind: "same" indicates identity.
3. In regard to goodness, etc. The companions are good, bad, or neutral, like the mind which they accompany.
There are then ten reasons why the companions are termed
34 companions. ?
***
341
The mind having the least number of companions is a
sahabhuhetu of fifty-eight dharmas: namely 1) the ten mahdhhumikas (ii. 23) with the four characteristics of each of them; and 2) the four characteristics and the four secondary characteristics (anulaksana,
? ii. 46).
If, from these fifty-eight dharmas, the four secondary character-
istics of the mind--which have no effect upon it--are set aside, then 342
we have fifty-four dharmas that are sahahhuhetu of the same mind. According to another opinion, only fourteen dharmas are sahahhuhetu of this mind, namely its four charaaeristics and the ten
mahabhumikas. As the secondary charaaeristics have no effea on the mind, the characteristics of the mahabhumikas likewise have no effect on the mind
The Vaibhasikas reject this opinion--that the forty charaaeristics
of the mahabhumikas are not sahahhuhetu of the mind,--as contra-
dictory to the doctrine of the Prakaranagrantha according to which
"the four charaaeristics,--arising, duration, old age, and imperma-
nence,--of the belief in self {satkayadrsti) . . . and in the dharmas
associated with this belief (comprising the mahabhumikas), are at the 343
same time a result and a cause of the belief in self. "
Certain Masters, in their reading of the Prakaranagrantha, omit
the words, "and of the dharmas associated with this belief. " According to the Vaibhasikas of Kdsmir, these words figure in the text; or, if they are missing, the context indicates that one should supply them and that the passage as it stands is incomplete.
***
Any dharma that is a sahahhuhetu cause is a sahabhil or a coexistant item. But there are some coexistant items that are not sahahhuhetu:
1. the secondary characteristics of the principal dharma (mula- dharma) are not a sahahhuhetu regarding this dharma (ii. 46a-b);
2. these same are not sahahhuhetu among themselves;
3. the secondary characteristics of the companions of the mind are not a sahahhuhetu regarding the mind;
4. these same are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
5. derived matter, blue, etc. , susceptible of resistance and which has also arisen together, are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
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? 260 Chapter Two
6. a part of derived matter not susceptible to resistance and also arisen together with them, is not a sahabhuhetu) with the exception of the two disciplines (see 1. 136);
7. no derived matter, even though arisen with the elements, is a sahabhuhetu with the elements;
8. possession (prapti), even when it arises with the dbarma to which it is related, is not a sahabhuhetu to it.
The dharmas of these eight categories are coexistant (sahabhu), but are not sahabhuhetu, because their results, vipdka or nisyanda, are not identical (see p. 259). As for possession, it does not always accompany the dharma: it arises either before the dharma, or after it, or at the same time as it (ii. 37-38).
***
[The Sautrantikas criticize the doctrine of coexistant causes. ]
All this may be right, that is, "what is a sahabhuhetu cause, a mutually coexistant cause, is a coexistant item," and the rest. Never- theless, in the world, the relationship of cause to effect is well proven in certain cases: the cause is previous to the effect. It is in this way that a seed is the cause of the sprout, the sprout of the stalk, etc. But one does not prove a similar relationship between simultaneous things. You should then demonstrate that dharmas arisen together can be in a cause and effect relationship.
[The Sarvastivadins supply two examples. ] The lamp arises with its light; the sprout, growing in the light, arises with its shadow. Now a lamp is the cause of its light and a sprout is the cause of its shadow. Thus cause and effect can be simultaneous.
[The Sautrantikas:] These examples are not proven. We must examine whether a lamp is the cause of its light, or if, as we think, a lamp with its light are both the effeet of a complex of previous causes and conditions, oil, wick, etc. In the same way, a complex of previous causes (seed, light) is the cause of the sprout and its shadow, of the sprout with its shadow.
[The Sarvastivadins:] The relationship of cause and effect is
? proven by the existence and the non-existence of what is called effect,
similar to the existence and the non-existence of what is called cause.
The definition of the Logicians {hetukas) is very good: "When A is or
is not, and when B is or is not, then A is considered as cause, and B is
considered as effect. " Granted this, if we examine the dharmas that we
have defined as mutually coexistent and sahabhilhetu, we see that they
all exist when one of them exists, and that none exist when one of
344
them is absent. They are then in a relationship of mutual cause and
effect.
[The Sautrantikas:] Admitting that among the simultaneous
dharmasy one dharma can be the cause of another dharma, then the 345
organ of sight is the cause of visual consciousness. But how many simultaneous dharmas are the cause and effect of one another?
[The Sarvastivadins:] Mutual causality is proven by the definition that we have given of causality. When the mind exists, its mental states exist, and vice versa.
[The Sautrantikas:] Very well, but then the Sarvastivadins should revise their system. In fact, they have denied mutual causality to derived matter (physical matter, taste, etc. ) although physical matter never exists without taste (ii. 22); they have denied mutual causality to derived matter and to the primary elements, and mutual causality to secondary characteristics and the mind.
[The Sarvastivadins:] In the same way that three staffs stand up supported one on the other, the causal relationship of simultaneous things, the mind and its mental states, etc. , is proven.
[The Sautrantikas:] This new example should be examined We ask whether the three staffs stand up together through the force that the three staffs possess through arising together, or rather, if the force of the complex of previous causes which caused them to arise together does not now also cause them to arise supported one on the other. Further, there are things here other than the mutual force of support: there is a rope and a hook, and there is the ground
But, [reply the Sarvastivadins,] mutually coexistant items have causes other than the sahabhuhetu, namely sabhagahetu, sarvatra- gahetu, and vipakahetu, which have a role analogous to that of the
The Indriyas 261
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cord, etc. Sahabhuhetu is then proven. ***
346 52a. Similar dharmas are sabhdgahetu or similar causes.
Similars (sabhdga) are sabhdgahetu of similars.
1. The five good skandhas are sabhdgahetu of the five good skandhas. When they are defiled, that is to say, bad, and defiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of defiled ones. Neutral, that is, undefiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of neutral ones.
Nevertheless, different masters are not in agreement on this last
point. According to some, neutral rupa is sabhdgahetu of the five
neutral skandhas, but the four skandhas,--sensation, etc. --are not
347 sabhdgahetu of rupa.
According to others, four skandhas are sabhdghetu of the five; but rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four.
And according to others, rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four, and vice versa.
2. From the point of view of one existence, the first embryonic state is the similar cause of ten states: these are the five embryonic states, kalala, arbuda, pesin, ghana, and prasdkhd; and the five post- embryonic states, bdla, kumara, yuvan, madhya and vrddha. The second embryonic state is the sabhdgahetu of nine states {arbuda to varddha), and thus following. A previous moment of each state is the similar cause of the later moments of that same state (compare iv. 53).
From the point of view of the states of existence followed by the same species, each of the states of the previous existence is the similar cause of the ten states.
The same holds for external things, corn, rice, etc, that is, the quality of sabhdgahetu remains confined in each series: corn is a similar cause of corn, not of rice.
[3. The Darstantikas deny that] physical matter {rupa) is a similar cause of matter; but this contradicts the Book (Jnanaprasthdna, TD 26, p. 985bl4), which says, "Past primary elements are the hetu and the
? adhipati of future primary elements. " Adhipati means adhipati- pratyaya (predominating conditions, ii. 62d); and hetu means sabha- gahetu, for the hetus are here evidently apart from cause.
***
Are all similar dharmas similar causes of similar dharmas^ No. Similar causes are the similar dharmas which
52b. Belong to the same category (nikaya) and the same stage (bhu).
This means that the dharmas belonging to a certain category and to a certain stage (bhumi) are a similar cause of dharmas of the same category and the same stage.
The dharmas are classed into five categories accordingly as they are susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing each of the Four Truths, or through Meditation (i. 40).
The dharmas belong to nine stages: they are either in Kamadhatu, or in one of the Four Dhyanas, or in one of the Four ArOpyas.
A dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering is a similar cause of another dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering, and not of the dharmas belonging to the other four categories; and thus following.
***
Sabhagahetu has not yet been exactly defined. In fact, only those dharmas are similar causes which have
52b. Arisen previously.
An arisen dharma, that is to say, any previously past or present
dharma is a similar cause of a later similar dharma, arisen or not 348
arisen. A future dharma cannot be a similar cause.
1. On what authority does this definition rest?
It rests on the Mulasastra, for the Jnanaprasthana (TD 26, p.
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920cl5) says, "What \s similar cause (sabhdgahetu)? The root of good, arisen and previous, is a cause in the quality of a similar cause with regard to the later root of good and of the dharmas associated with it, of the same category and stage. In that way, the roots of good of the past are a similar cause with regard to past and present roots of good; past and present roots of good are similar causes with regard to future roots of good. "
2. [Objection:] A future dharma is a similar cause, for we read in this same Jndnaprasthdna, "[Question:] Is there a period when the dharma which is the cause of a certain dharma is not a cause? [Answer:] There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause. "
[The Vaibhasikas:] This text does not contradict the first; for the Jndnaprasthdna does not refer to that which is a cause in the quality of a similar cause (sabhdgahetu), but rather that which is a cause in the
qualities of sahabhuhetu, samprayuktakahetu, or vipdkahetu. According to another opinion, that of the "followers of the last
place" (paramavasthdvddin), the answer of the Jndnaprasthdna, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause" refers to sabhdgahetu, and they justify themselves as follows: A future dharma, in an arising state, is certainly sabhdgahetu. Hence, taking into account a future dharma in its last place, the Jndnaprasthdna can say that there is never a time when the dharma is not a cause, that it is always a cause, since, at a certain moment in the future, it is a cause.
This explanation does not resolve the difficulty. In fact, if a future dharma, after not having been a cause becomes a cause by arriving at a state of arising, then it has not always been a cause: but now the Jndnaprasthdna says absolutely that there is never a time when it is not a cause.
Furthermore, this explanation cannot be reconciled with the answer that the Jndnaprasthdna (p. 1026M9; Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 87a2) gives to another question, "Is there a period in which the dharma that is an immediately antecedent condition (samanantara, ii. 62a-b) of a certain dharma is not samanantara! Yes, when it has not yet arisen. " Now the case of samanantara is analogous to that of sabhdgahetu: future samanantara, arriving at a state of arising, is samanantara.
? Hence if the interpretation of the answer, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause," in the sense of "In the future, in an arising state, it is sabhdgahetu" is correct, then the Jndnaprasthdna, dealing with samanantara, should answer as for sabhdgahetu, "This dharma is never samanantara! * Now the Jndnaprasthdna answers, "It is not samanantara when it has not arisen. " Hence the word "cause" in the first answer should not be understood as sabhdgahetu.
The "followers of the last place" say that the Jndnaprasthdna answers the first question by saying, "There is never a time when it is not a cause," and the second by saying, "It is not a cause when it has not arisen," in order to show that one can answer in these two ways in order to express the same sense.
The same School admits that the mind and its mental states, like sound or a flame, perish immediately, without any foreign causes intervening, through the chacteristic of impermanence. Impermanence and duration accomplish their operation at one and the same time: a dharma lasts and perishes at the same time. This is inadmissable.
We conclude that it is with regard to the series that the Blessed One teaches the characteristics of conditioned things. Thus understood, the Sutra does not invite criticism, "There are three characteristics that show that the conditioned is conditioned, that it is produced through
2 successive causes . . . " "
***
If arising engenders, in a future state, the dharma that it should engender, why do not all future dharmas arise at one and the same
300
time?
46c-d. Arising engenders the dharma that it should engender, 301
but not without the cooperation of causes and conditions.
Isolated arising does not have the force of engendering the dharma that it should engender independent of the cooperation of causes and conditions.
[1. Objection of the Sautrantikas:] If this is the case, we rather
The Indriyas 247
it is with the cooperation of
? 248 Chapter Two
believe that it is the cause that engenders, and not arising; this characteristic accompanies the dhanna since the beginning of time and causes the dharma to arise when, finally, the cause of this dharma encounters another! When the causes are completed, the dharma arises; when they are not completed, it does not arise: what efficacy can
302 we attribute to arising?
[2. The Sarvastivadins answer:] Do you pretend to know all the 303
dharmas that exist? The nature of dharmas is subtle! Even though one sees them, one does not know their nature.
Moreover, in the absence of the characteristic "arising," the idea of 304
"birth" (jatabuddhi = jata iti) would be absent. And if arising is nothing other than the dharma itself exisitng after having been non- existent, the genitive "the arising of warmth" or "the arising of sensation" would not be justified; for this amounts to saying "the warmth of warmth" or "the sensation of sensation. " This is the same for duration, old age, and extinction.
[3. Reply of the Sautrantikas:] This theory leads you very far afield: in order to justify the idea of empty (sunya), or the idea of the impersonal, you would admit the existence of an entity called "emptiness" or the existence of an entity called "non-self. " And ag^in, in order to justify the ideas of one and two, large and small, separate, associated and disassociated, this and that, existant, etc. , you would admit, in agreement with the Vaisesikas, a long series of entities: number, extension, individuality, conjunction, disjunction, quality of being that, quality of being this, existence, etc. It obliges you to create a "pot-ness" in order to justify the idea of a pot.
As for the genitive, you do not admit that the individual nature of warmth and warmth are different things, and yet you speak of the individual nature of warmth.
Hence you have not proven that "arising" is a thing in and of itself; you have not proven that this is not merely a designation of a dharma in so far as it exists after having been non-existent.
When I want to teach someone that a certain dharma exists which formerly did not exist, I say to him, "This dharma has arisen," and I designate this dharma as being born. Many dharmas,--warmth,
? sensation, etc. ,--arise, that is to say, "exist after having been non- existent. " Hence there are many arisings, that is, many dharmas arising. Since arising is multiple, in order to distinguish it from other arisings, so that my questioner knows that it refers to an arising having the name "warmth" and not to an arising having the name "sensa- tion," I will employ the genitive, "the arising of warmth," or "the arising of sensation," although the arising of warmth is only the warmth arising. In the same way one says, in the world, "the odor of sandalwood," although sandalwood is only odor, or "the body of the
305 bust," although a bust is only its body.
[4. The Sarvastivadins answer:] We hold to the existence of the characteristic "arising," which belongs to conditioned things and does not belong to unconditioned things, and we can easily explain this by virtue of the fact that unconditioned things do not arise. But if conditioned things arise without "arising," why do unconditioned things, space, etc. , not arise?
We say that conditioned things arise, for they exist after having been non-existent. But how can unconditioned things arise, since they are eternal? You explain that certain dharmas,--the unconditioned dharmas,--are devoid of the characteristic "arising," because, you say, such is the nature of things (dharmata): we say, rather, that by virtue of the nature of things, none of the dharmas are susceptible of arising. Moreover, according to you, all conditioned things equally possess the characteristic "arising" that you refuse to unconditioned things: yet you admit that certain causes are capable of producing warmth but incapable of producing sensation. In the same way, according to you, since conditioned and unconditioned things are equally devoid of the characteristic of "arising," all causes that produce conditioned things are ineffacacious with regard to unconditioned things.
[5. The Vaibhasikas say that] the four characteristics, arising, etc. ,
306 are things in and of themselves.
Why?
307 308
Should we abandon the Agamas for the sole reason
that there are persons who object to them? One does not renounce
sowing for fear of deer, and one does not renounce eating dainties
309
because of flies. One must refute objections and adhere to the
The lndriyas 249
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Doctrine.
***
What is namakaya, padakdya, and vyanjanakdyal
47a-b. Namakaya, etc. , are collections of samjrlas, vdkyas, and
m aksaras.
1. Ndman, "name" or "word" is understood as "that which causes 311
ideas to arise," for example the words "warmth," "sound," "odor," etc.
2. Pada or "phrase" is understood as vakya, a discourse, a phrase 312
allowing the development necessary for a complete sentence, for
example the stanza, "Impermanent are the samskdras . . . " and the 313
rest. Or rather, one should understand pada as that which causes one to comprehend the different modalities of activity, quality, and time which concern a certain person: for example, he cooks, he reads, he
314
goes; it is black, yellow, or red; he cooks, he will cook, or he
315 cooked.
3. Vyanjana is understood as aksara or phoneme (varna), vowels andconsonents,forexample,a,d,[i,/,]etc.
But are not the aksaras the names of the letters?
One does not make or one does not pronounce phonemes with a view to designating, or of giving an idea of the letters; but one makes or one writes the letters with a view to giving an idea of the phonemes, so that, when one does not understand them, one still has an idea of them through writing. Consequently the phonemes are not the names of letters.
4. Kaya or "body" means "collection;" samukti, in fact, has the sense of samavaya according to the Dhdtupdtha, iv. 114.
Hence we have: namakaya = color, sound, odor, etc. ; padakdya = "The samskdras are impermanent, the dharmas are impersonal; Nirvana is tranquil. . . " etc. ; and vyanjanakaya = ka, kha, ga, gha . . .
***
? [1. Objection of the Sautrantikas:] Are not words, phrases, and phonemes (ndman, pada, vyanjana) "voice" (vac) by nature, and consequently "sound" (sabda)? Hence they form part of the mpaskandha\ they are not samskdras disassociated from the mind as the Sarvastivadins believe.
[The Sarvastivadins:] They are not "voice. " Voice is "vocal sound," and a vocal sound only; for example, a cry does not cause one to attain to or comprehend an object. But a word (ndman) which moreover is a function of vocal sound, illumines, causes one to attain to, or signifies the object.
[The Sautrantikas:] What I call "voice" is not merely vocal sound, but a vocal sound that causes one to attain to an object, that is, a vocal sound with regard to which persons who are speaking are in agreement as to what a certain thing signifies. It is thus that the Ancients have invested the sound go with the power to signify nine things: "The sages have established the sound go in nine things, that is, cardinal region, cattle, land, a beam of light, a word, a diamond, an
316
eye, a haven, and water. " The philosopher for whom "it is the word
(ndman) which illumines the object" should admit that the sound go has been endowed by convention with these different meanings. Then if a given object is signified to the hearer by a certain word, it is indeed vocal sound and nothing else, that signifies it. What advantage is there in supposing the existence of an entity you call "word? "
[2. The Sautrantikas continue:] A word is either produced by the
317 318
voice or revealed by the voice.
a. In the first hypothesis, since voice is vocal sound by nature, any vocal sound whatsoever, even the cry of an animal, would produce a word. If you answer that a word is produced solely through a vocal sound of a certain nature--the articulation of sound, varndtmaka--we would say that this sort of vocal sound which is capable of producing a word would be quite capable of designating an object also.
In the second hypothesis, this same criticism holds by replacing the verb "to produce" with the verb "to manifest. "
b. But it is absurd to suppose that the voice produces a word. In fact, sounds do not exist at the same time? one has, for example,
The Indriyas 251
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r-u-p-a--whereas the word, which you define as a dharma, an entity, cannot arise in parts. Then how can the voice, when it produces a word, produce it? You say that the case is analogous to that of avijnapti (iv. 3d): the last moment of the vijnapti, a corporeal or vocal act, creates avijnapti by reason of its previous moments. But, we would say, if the last moment of the sound of the voice creates the word, it would suffice to understand the last sound in order to attain or comprehend the object.
It is not an evasion to suppose that voice engenders the phoneme (vyanjana), that a phoneme engenders a word, and that a word causes comprehension of objects. In fact, the same objection is present, "The phonemes do not exist at the same time, etc. "
For these same reasons, it is absurd to suppose that the voice manifests a word. [Sounds do not exist at the same time, and a dharma, one entity, such as a word, cannot be mainfested in parts . . . and following].
c. [The hypothesis that "voice" engenders a phoneme--a hy- pothesis that we have previously tolerated--calls moreover for some new remarks]. Experts vainly apply their minds but do not discover a phoneme distinct from the voice. Moreover, the voice neither en- genders nor manifests the phoneme, for the same reasons that allow that the voice neither engenders nor manifests a word. [Since the "voice" is vocal sound by nature, all vocal sound would engender or manifest phonemes. If you reply that phonemes are only engendered or manifested by the vocal sound of a certain nature . . . as above ad 2a2. ]
[3. But the Sarvastivadins may suppose that] a word arises with its object, like the characteristic "arising. " The question of knowing whether it is produced or manifested by the voice, disappears.
In this hypothesis, no present word would designate a past or future thing. Moreover, a father, a mother, or other persons arbitrarily fix the word that is the proper name of a son, etc. : how can you admit that the word, like the characteristic "arising," arises simultaneously with the object? Finally, unconditioned things would not have any name, since they do not arise: a consequence that the Sarvastivadins
? cannot admit.
[4. But the Sarvastivadins are warranted by a text. ] The Blessed
One said, "A stanza (gdthd) depends on words, and a poem depends on 319
stanzas. "
[The Sautrantikas answer that] word (ndman) is a sound (sabda)
upon which persons have come to an agreement that it signifies a 32
certain thing. ? A stanza {gdtha) is a certain arrangement of words: it is in this sense that it, according to the Blessed One, depends on words. To admit an entity in and of itself called pada, is a very superfluous hypothesis. You might as well maintain that there exists, distinct from ants and minds, things in and of themselves termed "a row of ants" or
321
"a succession of minds. " Recognize then that only the phonemes
(aksaras), which are sounds, exist in and of themselves.
The Vaibhasikas admit ndmakdya, padakdya, and vyanjanakdya, as
samskdras disassociated from the mind, for, they say, none of these 322
dharmas serve as a gate of understanding. ***
We ask: (1) to which sphere of existence do the phonemes, words, and phrases belong? (2) Do they belong to living beings (sattvdkhya, i. lOb)? (3) Are they of retribution, of accumulation or of out-flowing (i. 37)? and (4) Are they good, bad, or neutral?
47c-d. They exist in Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu; they belong to
323 living beings; they are out-flowing; and they are neutral.
The phonemes, etc. , belong to two spheres of existence. According
to one opinion, they also exist in Arupyadhatu, but there they are
324 "unpronounceable. "
They belong to living beings, being produced through the efforts of living beings and consisting of articulated sounds (varna), etc. In fact, they belong to the person who speaks, not to the things that they designate.
They are an out-flowing, being produced through sabhdgahetu
The Indriyas 253
? 254 Chapter Two
(ii. 52); they are not of retribution, since they proceed from the desire of the person who speaks; they are not of accumulation, since they are not material.
325 They are non-defiled-neutral {anivrtdvydkrta, ii. 28).
##*
We shall briefly explain the characteristics, not as yet mentioned, of the other dharmas disassociated from the mind (ii. 35).
47d-48b. The same for "genre," {sabhdgatd) which is also from retribution, and which belongs to the three spheres of existence.
"The same for," that is to say, like phonemes, words, and phrases, sabhdgatd is of the first two spheres of existence; it belongs to living beings; it is from out-flowing; and it is non-defiled-neutral.
But sabhdgatd is not only from out-flowing: it is also of retribution; it not only belongs to the first two spheres of existence, it also belongs to the third.
326 48b. Possession (prapti) is of two types.
It is of out-flowing and of retribution. 48c. Its characteristics also.
Its characteristics, arising, etc. , are of two types, like possession.
48c-d. The absorptions and non-possession (aprdpti) are of out-flowing.
The two absorptions and non-possession are only out-flowings.
As for their spheres, their relationship with living beings, their moral qualifications (good, etc. ), the explanations have been given above. The characteristics belong to all conditioned things, hence they belong to living beings and to non-living beings. For the dsamjnika and the ayus, see ii. 41d and 45a.
*##
? We have seen (9ii. 47c-d) that arising, in order to engender the
dharma that it should engender, needs the cooperation of hetus or
causes, and pratyayas or conditions. What are the hetus, and what are
327 the pratyayas?
49. The hetus are sixfold: kdranahetu, sahabhu, sabhdga, m
samprayutaka, sarvatraga, and vipdka.
Kdranahetu is reason for existence; sahabhuhetu is coexistent
cause; sabhdgahetu is parallel cause; samprayuktakahetu is associated
cause; sarvatragahetu is universal cause, and vipdkahetu is retributive
cause: such are the six types of causes that the Abhidharmikas (Jndna- 329
prasthdna, TD p. 920c5) recognize.
50a. All dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all, with the
exception of themselves.
A dharma is not a kdranahetu of itself.
With this exception, that all of the dharmas are kdranahetu with regard to all other conditioned dharmas, because no dharma constitutes an obstacle to the arising of the dharmas susceptible of arising.
It results from this definition that the dharmas that are saha- bhuhetu, etc. , are also kdranahetu: all other hetus are included within kdranahetu. The hetu that does not receive a special name, which is simply kdrana, "reason for existence," without any other qualification is kdranahetu: it receives as its particular name the name that suits all the hetus. Compare this with the name of the rupdyatana (i. 24).
***
Kdranahetu calls for the following observations:
1. Vices are produced among the ignorant; once the Truths are known, they are not produced, as the stars are not visible when the sun shines.
Hence the consciousness of the Truths, or the sun, causes an obstacle to the vices, or to the stars. Then it is false to say that all conditioned dharmas are kdranahetu because they create no obstacle to arising.
The Indrtyas 255
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We understand that the consciousness of the Truths and the clarity
of the sun create no obstacle to the arising of the dharma which is
"arising" {utpadyamdnd), that is to say of the dharma, which, its causes 330
being completed, continues to exist.
2. What is called cause or reason for existence, may be what is
capable of causing, or of not causing, an obstacle! In faa, when their
lord does not oppress them, villagers say, "We are fortunate through
331
the actions of our master. " But can one call cause that which, being
incapable of causing an obstacle, does not cause an obstacle? Nirvana is incapable of creating any obstacle to the arising of any conditioned thing: such too are future dharmas with regard to past dharmas, or creatures of hell or animals with regard to beings in Arupyadhatu: Nirvana, future dharmas, or creatures in hell are as if they did not exist with regard to their being an obstacle to the arising of the conditioned things in question. Can one consider them as causes?
They are causes; for, even when the lord is incapable of harming them, the villagers express themselves as we have said; but not about a non-existent lord
3. The definition that we have given of kdranahetu is a general
definition and includes that which is kdranahetu par excellence and
that which is simply kdranahetu. Kdranahetu par excellence is the
generating cause: in this sense, eye and color are the kdranahetu of the 332
consciousness of sight; as food is with regard to the body, the seeds, etc. , with regard to the sprout, etc. (see ii. 56b).
[4. Objection. ] If all the dharmas are the causes of other dharmas because they do not cause any obstacle, why do not all the dharmas
333
arise together? Why, when one murder is committed, are not all
creatures, like the murderer himself, guilty of the crime of murder? This objection is useless. In faa, all the dharmas receive the name of kdranahetu because they do not create any obstacle: it is not that
they are all agents.
5. According to other masters, all karanahetus possess a real
efficacy with regard to all dharmas. For example Nirvana and the consciousness of sight: a mental consciousness, good or bad, arises having Nirvana as its objea (dlambana, ii. 62c-d); from this mental
? consciousness there later arises a consciousness of sight; then Nirvana has efficacy, albeit mediately, with regard to the consciousness of sight.
The same argument applies to future dharmas, to beings in hell, etc.
***
50c-d Sahabhuhetu, coexistent causes, namely the elements
(bhuta), the mind and the companions of the mind, character-
istics and the thing characterized, are the dharmas that are 334
11. The dharmas that are causes (purusakdraphala, ii. 58) one of the other, are called sahabhuhetu. ^
336
For example, the primary elements (mahdbhuta) are, among
themselves, sahabhuhetu. The same for the mind and its companions (ii. 51); the same for the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b), and the dharmas that they characterize.
causes one of the other.
In the category of sahabhuhetu are then included all conditioned 337
dharmas which are in a mutual relationship of causality.
2. We have reason not to complete the above definition. A dharma
is a sahabhuhetu of its secondary characteristics (anulaksana, ii. 45)
without being in a mutual relationship of causality with them: for the
secondary characteristics are not the sahabhuhetu of their dharma. 338
This is a case to be added to the definition.
*#*
What dharmas are called "the companions of the mind? "
51a-c The companions of the mind are: the mental states; the two disciplines (samvara); and the characteristics (laksanas) of the mental states, the two disciplines and the mind
These are all the dharmas associated with the mind {cittasam- prayukta, ii. 24), the discipline of absorption and pure discipline
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(iv. l7d), and the characteristics, arising, etc. (ii. 45b) of all these, and also of the mind
[Why are they termed "companions of the mind"? ]
5 Id. From the point of view of time, of result, etc. , and of goodness, etc.
The companions are associated with the mind:
1. In regard to time: they have the same arising, the same duration,
and the same destruction as does the mind; they are of the same time period as the mind.
When we say "the same arising . . . ," we understand the word "same" in the sense of concomitance: the companions arise, last, and perish at the same time as does the mind; but their arising is distinct.
The minds that are not destined to arise do not arise, nor last, nor perish: the same for their companions. This is why the phrase, "The companions are of the same time period as the mind" is added. [The mind which should arise is future until the moment when it arises if it is to arise: its companions are hence future; it is past after the moment
339
when it shall perish if it arose: its companions are then past. ]
2. In regard to the result, etc. Result means purusakdraphala
(ii. 58a-b) and visamyogaphala (ii. 57d); and "et cetera" refers to vipdkaphala (ii. 57) and nisyandaphala (ii. 57c).
The companions have the same result, the same vipaka, and the same nisyanda as the mind: "same" indicates identity.
3. In regard to goodness, etc. The companions are good, bad, or neutral, like the mind which they accompany.
There are then ten reasons why the companions are termed
34 companions. ?
***
341
The mind having the least number of companions is a
sahabhuhetu of fifty-eight dharmas: namely 1) the ten mahdhhumikas (ii. 23) with the four characteristics of each of them; and 2) the four characteristics and the four secondary characteristics (anulaksana,
? ii. 46).
If, from these fifty-eight dharmas, the four secondary character-
istics of the mind--which have no effect upon it--are set aside, then 342
we have fifty-four dharmas that are sahahhuhetu of the same mind. According to another opinion, only fourteen dharmas are sahahhuhetu of this mind, namely its four charaaeristics and the ten
mahabhumikas. As the secondary charaaeristics have no effea on the mind, the characteristics of the mahabhumikas likewise have no effect on the mind
The Vaibhasikas reject this opinion--that the forty charaaeristics
of the mahabhumikas are not sahahhuhetu of the mind,--as contra-
dictory to the doctrine of the Prakaranagrantha according to which
"the four charaaeristics,--arising, duration, old age, and imperma-
nence,--of the belief in self {satkayadrsti) . . . and in the dharmas
associated with this belief (comprising the mahabhumikas), are at the 343
same time a result and a cause of the belief in self. "
Certain Masters, in their reading of the Prakaranagrantha, omit
the words, "and of the dharmas associated with this belief. " According to the Vaibhasikas of Kdsmir, these words figure in the text; or, if they are missing, the context indicates that one should supply them and that the passage as it stands is incomplete.
***
Any dharma that is a sahahhuhetu cause is a sahabhil or a coexistant item. But there are some coexistant items that are not sahahhuhetu:
1. the secondary characteristics of the principal dharma (mula- dharma) are not a sahahhuhetu regarding this dharma (ii. 46a-b);
2. these same are not sahahhuhetu among themselves;
3. the secondary characteristics of the companions of the mind are not a sahahhuhetu regarding the mind;
4. these same are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
5. derived matter, blue, etc. , susceptible of resistance and which has also arisen together, are not a sahahhuhetu among themselves;
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6. a part of derived matter not susceptible to resistance and also arisen together with them, is not a sahabhuhetu) with the exception of the two disciplines (see 1. 136);
7. no derived matter, even though arisen with the elements, is a sahabhuhetu with the elements;
8. possession (prapti), even when it arises with the dbarma to which it is related, is not a sahabhuhetu to it.
The dharmas of these eight categories are coexistant (sahabhu), but are not sahabhuhetu, because their results, vipdka or nisyanda, are not identical (see p. 259). As for possession, it does not always accompany the dharma: it arises either before the dharma, or after it, or at the same time as it (ii. 37-38).
***
[The Sautrantikas criticize the doctrine of coexistant causes. ]
All this may be right, that is, "what is a sahabhuhetu cause, a mutually coexistant cause, is a coexistant item," and the rest. Never- theless, in the world, the relationship of cause to effect is well proven in certain cases: the cause is previous to the effect. It is in this way that a seed is the cause of the sprout, the sprout of the stalk, etc. But one does not prove a similar relationship between simultaneous things. You should then demonstrate that dharmas arisen together can be in a cause and effect relationship.
[The Sarvastivadins supply two examples. ] The lamp arises with its light; the sprout, growing in the light, arises with its shadow. Now a lamp is the cause of its light and a sprout is the cause of its shadow. Thus cause and effect can be simultaneous.
[The Sautrantikas:] These examples are not proven. We must examine whether a lamp is the cause of its light, or if, as we think, a lamp with its light are both the effeet of a complex of previous causes and conditions, oil, wick, etc. In the same way, a complex of previous causes (seed, light) is the cause of the sprout and its shadow, of the sprout with its shadow.
[The Sarvastivadins:] The relationship of cause and effect is
? proven by the existence and the non-existence of what is called effect,
similar to the existence and the non-existence of what is called cause.
The definition of the Logicians {hetukas) is very good: "When A is or
is not, and when B is or is not, then A is considered as cause, and B is
considered as effect. " Granted this, if we examine the dharmas that we
have defined as mutually coexistent and sahabhilhetu, we see that they
all exist when one of them exists, and that none exist when one of
344
them is absent. They are then in a relationship of mutual cause and
effect.
[The Sautrantikas:] Admitting that among the simultaneous
dharmasy one dharma can be the cause of another dharma, then the 345
organ of sight is the cause of visual consciousness. But how many simultaneous dharmas are the cause and effect of one another?
[The Sarvastivadins:] Mutual causality is proven by the definition that we have given of causality. When the mind exists, its mental states exist, and vice versa.
[The Sautrantikas:] Very well, but then the Sarvastivadins should revise their system. In fact, they have denied mutual causality to derived matter (physical matter, taste, etc. ) although physical matter never exists without taste (ii. 22); they have denied mutual causality to derived matter and to the primary elements, and mutual causality to secondary characteristics and the mind.
[The Sarvastivadins:] In the same way that three staffs stand up supported one on the other, the causal relationship of simultaneous things, the mind and its mental states, etc. , is proven.
[The Sautrantikas:] This new example should be examined We ask whether the three staffs stand up together through the force that the three staffs possess through arising together, or rather, if the force of the complex of previous causes which caused them to arise together does not now also cause them to arise supported one on the other. Further, there are things here other than the mutual force of support: there is a rope and a hook, and there is the ground
But, [reply the Sarvastivadins,] mutually coexistant items have causes other than the sahabhuhetu, namely sabhagahetu, sarvatra- gahetu, and vipakahetu, which have a role analogous to that of the
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cord, etc. Sahabhuhetu is then proven. ***
346 52a. Similar dharmas are sabhdgahetu or similar causes.
Similars (sabhdga) are sabhdgahetu of similars.
1. The five good skandhas are sabhdgahetu of the five good skandhas. When they are defiled, that is to say, bad, and defiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of defiled ones. Neutral, that is, undefiled-neutral, they are sabhdgahetu of neutral ones.
Nevertheless, different masters are not in agreement on this last
point. According to some, neutral rupa is sabhdgahetu of the five
neutral skandhas, but the four skandhas,--sensation, etc. --are not
347 sabhdgahetu of rupa.
According to others, four skandhas are sabhdghetu of the five; but rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four.
And according to others, rupa is not sabhdgahetu of the four, and vice versa.
2. From the point of view of one existence, the first embryonic state is the similar cause of ten states: these are the five embryonic states, kalala, arbuda, pesin, ghana, and prasdkhd; and the five post- embryonic states, bdla, kumara, yuvan, madhya and vrddha. The second embryonic state is the sabhdgahetu of nine states {arbuda to varddha), and thus following. A previous moment of each state is the similar cause of the later moments of that same state (compare iv. 53).
From the point of view of the states of existence followed by the same species, each of the states of the previous existence is the similar cause of the ten states.
The same holds for external things, corn, rice, etc, that is, the quality of sabhdgahetu remains confined in each series: corn is a similar cause of corn, not of rice.
[3. The Darstantikas deny that] physical matter {rupa) is a similar cause of matter; but this contradicts the Book (Jnanaprasthdna, TD 26, p. 985bl4), which says, "Past primary elements are the hetu and the
? adhipati of future primary elements. " Adhipati means adhipati- pratyaya (predominating conditions, ii. 62d); and hetu means sabha- gahetu, for the hetus are here evidently apart from cause.
***
Are all similar dharmas similar causes of similar dharmas^ No. Similar causes are the similar dharmas which
52b. Belong to the same category (nikaya) and the same stage (bhu).
This means that the dharmas belonging to a certain category and to a certain stage (bhumi) are a similar cause of dharmas of the same category and the same stage.
The dharmas are classed into five categories accordingly as they are susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing each of the Four Truths, or through Meditation (i. 40).
The dharmas belong to nine stages: they are either in Kamadhatu, or in one of the Four Dhyanas, or in one of the Four ArOpyas.
A dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering is a similar cause of another dharma susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing the Truth of Suffering, and not of the dharmas belonging to the other four categories; and thus following.
***
Sabhagahetu has not yet been exactly defined. In fact, only those dharmas are similar causes which have
52b. Arisen previously.
An arisen dharma, that is to say, any previously past or present
dharma is a similar cause of a later similar dharma, arisen or not 348
arisen. A future dharma cannot be a similar cause.
1. On what authority does this definition rest?
It rests on the Mulasastra, for the Jnanaprasthana (TD 26, p.
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920cl5) says, "What \s similar cause (sabhdgahetu)? The root of good, arisen and previous, is a cause in the quality of a similar cause with regard to the later root of good and of the dharmas associated with it, of the same category and stage. In that way, the roots of good of the past are a similar cause with regard to past and present roots of good; past and present roots of good are similar causes with regard to future roots of good. "
2. [Objection:] A future dharma is a similar cause, for we read in this same Jndnaprasthdna, "[Question:] Is there a period when the dharma which is the cause of a certain dharma is not a cause? [Answer:] There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause. "
[The Vaibhasikas:] This text does not contradict the first; for the Jndnaprasthdna does not refer to that which is a cause in the quality of a similar cause (sabhdgahetu), but rather that which is a cause in the
qualities of sahabhuhetu, samprayuktakahetu, or vipdkahetu. According to another opinion, that of the "followers of the last
place" (paramavasthdvddin), the answer of the Jndnaprasthdna, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause" refers to sabhdgahetu, and they justify themselves as follows: A future dharma, in an arising state, is certainly sabhdgahetu. Hence, taking into account a future dharma in its last place, the Jndnaprasthdna can say that there is never a time when the dharma is not a cause, that it is always a cause, since, at a certain moment in the future, it is a cause.
This explanation does not resolve the difficulty. In fact, if a future dharma, after not having been a cause becomes a cause by arriving at a state of arising, then it has not always been a cause: but now the Jndnaprasthdna says absolutely that there is never a time when it is not a cause.
Furthermore, this explanation cannot be reconciled with the answer that the Jndnaprasthdna (p. 1026M9; Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 87a2) gives to another question, "Is there a period in which the dharma that is an immediately antecedent condition (samanantara, ii. 62a-b) of a certain dharma is not samanantara! Yes, when it has not yet arisen. " Now the case of samanantara is analogous to that of sabhdgahetu: future samanantara, arriving at a state of arising, is samanantara.
? Hence if the interpretation of the answer, "There is never a time when this dharma is not a cause," in the sense of "In the future, in an arising state, it is sabhdgahetu" is correct, then the Jndnaprasthdna, dealing with samanantara, should answer as for sabhdgahetu, "This dharma is never samanantara! * Now the Jndnaprasthdna answers, "It is not samanantara when it has not arisen. " Hence the word "cause" in the first answer should not be understood as sabhdgahetu.
The "followers of the last place" say that the Jndnaprasthdna answers the first question by saying, "There is never a time when it is not a cause," and the second by saying, "It is not a cause when it has not arisen," in order to show that one can answer in these two ways in order to express the same sense.
