It is thus the excellent
absorptions
which are called dhydna.
AbhidharmakosabhasyamVol-4VasubandhuPoussinPruden1991
285: "The Bodhisattva makes his dispositions (dfaya) well guarded, purified, taken in hand (svadhisphita)"\ Samyutta, v.
278: suggahlta svadhipphita; Samyutta, iii.
10, 135 (adhipphdndbhinive/a of the defilements in the mind).
? Adhitisthati = "To exercise a certain action on a thing, a person, oneself, by means of adhimoksa, Volition, will,' applied to this thing, etc. "
This general sense is specialized, in the Koia, into the sense of "making last"; [in the vocabulary of the Papisambhiddmagga, ii. 207, it refers to the miracles of multiplication, etc. ; ii. 207; see also Atthasdlini, trans, p. 121 and Compendium]. But it is through rUpddhisphdn- abala (Siksasamuccaya, 330. 11) that flowers place themselves around the head of Dlparhkara (Divya, 251. 1); the Buddhas convert through adhisthdna (= anubhdva), Bodhicarydvatdra, i. 5.
d. Burnouf translates "benediction" from byin kyi rlabs. It is, he says, through the benediction of a Thera that a person travels in the Thupavamsa; it is through a benediction of the Buddhas that the Bodhisattvas form vows to become Buddhas. (See the two abhisphdnas, of which the second is a consecration, abhiseka, of the Lankdvatdra, Nanjo, p. 100). The eighth bhumi is the adhisthdnabhumi (a great variety of Chinese equivalents): this bhumi is so called because it cannot be shaken (pardvikopanatvdt).
e. Compare Gitd, iv. 6: prakrtim svam adhisphdya sambhavdmy dtmamdyayd, and Lotus, xv. 3: dtmdnam adhisphahdmi sarvdmi ca sattvdn . . . nirvdnabhumim cupadarfaydmi. . . na cdpi nirvdmy ahu tasmi kale.
306. Divya, 61. maitreyah . . . kdiyapasya bhiksor avikopitam asthisamghdtam daksinena pdnind gfhitvd. . . On all the legends relative to KaSyapa, Przyluski, J. As 1914, ii. 524, and A<ioka, 169, 331; Fa-hien (=Fa-hsien), chap, xxxiii.
Kosa iii. 9d examines why the Bodhisattva is born from a womb, and not through an apparitional birth. It is with an end to being able to leave his relics, for the bodies of apparitional beings disappear at their death. This explanation is given by the masters who deny the ddhisthdnikt rddhi of the Bhagavat.
307. Dreams provoked by the adhisthdna of the gods, Vinitadeva ad Nydyabindu, p. 47 (Tibetan translation in Bibl. Indica).
308. Commentary in Anguttara, i. 209.
Footnotes 1211
? 1212 Chapter Seven
309. Manadyatana and dharmdyatana are not capable of being created, because the fictive being (nirmita) is devoid of mind, as results from the Sdstra: ninnitah acintiko vaktavyah/. . . nirmdtuscittavasena vartate (Vydkhyd). This Sdstra is the Kdranaprajndptisdstra, analyzed in Cosmologie bouddhique, p. 340-341.
310. See i. lOb. It has been said above, page 1169, that "creation" consists of external
dyatanas.
311. Hsuan-tsang puts Kdrikd 54 before Kdrikd 53c-d.
312. The rddhi that certain beings possess because they belong to a certain category of beings.
Examples of innate rddhi, Mahdvagga, i. 15. 2, vi. 15. 8, Culla vii. 1. 4; 2. 1. The four iddhis (beauty, long life, absence of sickness and good digestion, popularity) of the king of the Mahdsudassanasutta have something of the supernatural about them; but when Ajatasattu promises to destroy the Vajjyas, however great their iddhi may be, however great their dnubhdva may be (Mahdparinibbdna), the sense of these expressions remains doubtful. His minister Vassakara is without doubt a good magician.
313. Rddhi produced by "magic," through the power of formulas or herbs.
314. For example, the rddhi that certain persons possess from birth, such as Mandhatar, not because they are humans, but by reason of certain actions; differing thus from innate rddhi (see below note 328).
315. These persons possess eyes and ears "arisen from karma. "
316. Hsuan-tsang: What do the expressions "divine sight," "divine hearing" designate? If they refer to prajnd, consciousness, the expression "eye", "ear" is improper. If they refer to the material organs (rupsndriya), how are the organs Abhijfias? The Kdrikd says: "Divine sight and divine hearing are of pure rupa . . . "
317. "Pure rupa' is rupaprasdda, Kosa, i. 9c; the organs are bhautika, "derived matter," i. trans, p. 100.
Compare Kathdvatthu, iii. 7-8.
318. In opposition to divine sight which is innate in the gods.
The divine sight of the gods is defiled by eleven apaksolas, iii. 14a; see vii. 55d.
319. According to Hsuan-tsang: "Divine sight sees without omission. " It sees in all directions, before, behind (prsthatas), on the side (pdrsvatas), during the day, during the night, in light, in darkness (see i. p. 90).
320. In the version of Hsuan-tsang, Kdrikd 55a-b is placed after Kdrikd 43. And the Bhdsya is modified: "In respect to the activity of the Five Abhijnas, extended or narrow, in the universes (lokadhdtu) which are their domain, all the Aryans are not similar. The Sravakas, the Pratyekabuddhas and the Buddhas, when they do not make an extreme act of attention, produce the activity of their mastery in movement (gamana) and in creation (nirmdna), the first in a mahdsdhasra universe, the second in a dvisdhasra universe, and the third in a trisdhasra universe. When they make an extreme act of attention, in a dvisdhasra universe, in a trisdhasra universe, and in infinite universes. "
321. Quoted in a comentary to the Ndmasamgiti (ad vi. 18, asangadrk). 322. On the chiliocosms, see iii. 73.
323- The gods of Kamadhatu and the Anagamins in Rupadhatu possess, by the fact of their births, these four powers. These powers are absent in Arupyadhatu.
324. This is explained iii. l4a; above note 318.
? 325. The treatise of the iksanikas (Manu, ix. 258, etc. ). Above note 284. 326. Atthasdlini, 91.
327. The five powers (fddhyddikd) are, for humans, either vairdgyaldbhika (- abbijnaphala) or tarkavidyausadhakarmakrta, not upapattildbhika.
328. Upapattildbhikam hi ndmayad upapattikdla eva sarvesdm nisargato labhyate/ na tuyat kasya rid evopapattikdldd urdhvam/ yathd paksmdm dkdsagamanam.
Footnotes 1213
? CHAPTER EIGHT
The Absorptions
o". m. Homage to the Buddha.
We have studied the qualities (guna) of the knowledges (the pranidhijnanaSf the abhijnas, etc. ). Let us now study the natures of the Dhyanas, etc. We shall speak first of their supports (asraya), that is, the mental states in which these qualities are produced.
la. The Dhyanas are twofold; (the Dhyanas are four in
number; the Dhyanas as existence have been defined. The
concentrations are the applications of pure minds on a single
1 object; with their concomitants, they are the five skandhas. )
(We shall first study the Dhyanas, since they are,--with the exception of the Arupyas or "non-material concentrations",--the support of all qualities, either common or specific, pure or impure. )
Each of these Dhyanas is of two types: samdpatti, absorption or 2
concentration, and upapatti or existence.
lb. The Dhyanas are four in number.
There are four Dhyanas, the First to the Fourth.
lc. The Dhyanas as existence have been defined.
? 1216 Chapter Eight
The Dhyanas as existence have been defined in the Third
Chapter of this book. How are they defined? It says, 'The first
3
Three are threefold and the Fourth is eightfold. " (iii. 2)
Id. Concentration is the application of a pure mind on a single object;
In general, Dhyana as absorption is defined as an application of 4
a pure mind on a single object, for the Dhyanas have samadhi or concentration (ii, p. 190) for their nature.
le. With their concomitents, they are the five skandhas.
If one consideres samadhi with its following, Dhyana as
5
absorption has the five skandhas for its nature. ***
What is "application on a single object"?
6
The fact that minds have a single object. [The Sautrantikas
object]: If this is the case, then what is designated by the word
samadhi are the minds themselves which have a single object.
There is no reason to admit the existence of a separate thing, a
1 certain mental dharma, as samadhi.
[The Vaibhasikas answer:] What is called samadhi is a certain dharma by which the minds are concentrated, applied on a single object. The concentrated minds are not samadhi*
Here many difficulties present themselves:
1. Since minds are momentary, each of them has a single object.
What then is the role of samadhi?
2. Samadhi causes the second mind to not be distracted or
? turned aside from the object of the first mind. But if this is the case, then the samddhi does not exercise any action with regard to the first mind which you consider as associated with samddhi
3. Why imagine samddhi in and of itself? Why not admit that the minds are applied to a single object by reason of the causes that you assign to samddhi?
4. Finally, you have defined samddhi as a universal dharma (mahdbhumika, ii. 24): hence all minds should possess the characteristic of being concentrated.
[The Vaibhasikas answer this last objection:] No, because of
9 the weakness of the samddhi.
The Sautrantikas say that the minds which have the same
object constitute samddhi'. samddhi does not exist separately. For it
is said in the Sutra that the Four Dhyanas are adhicitta siksa, the
"higher mental learning"; another says that the Four Dhyanas are
the primary element in the purification of the mind (cittaparifud- 10
dhipradhdna).
What is the meaning of the word dhydnaP
n
of upanidhydna. Upanidhyai signifies "to know truly", as it is said
By reason of dhydna the ascetic is "concentrated" and capable 12
in the Sutra, "He who is concentrated knows truly". dhyai is used in the sense of upanidhydna. )
13
(The root
In the School [of the Sarvastivadins], all dhydna is prajna
14
If the Dhyanas are absorptions or samadhis, then are all absorptions,--good, bad, or neutral,--Dhyana?
No. Only absorptions filled with certain excellences are called Dhyanas. So too in the world, it is the sun that is called "the light maker" (bhdskara) (and not the firefly).
[whereas in some other schools, dhydna is cinta or reflection]. ***
The Absorptions 1217
? 1218 Chapter Eight
What are the excellences?
Samadhi is in fact excellent: it is an absorption filled with
"parts" (angasamdyukta, viii. 10), which goes by the means of the
in which calmness and insight are in equilibrium], that is termed in the Sutra "happiness in this world" {drstadharmasukhavihdra, viii. 27) and "the easy path" (sukbapratipad, vi. 66), the path by which one knows better and easily.
It is thus the excellent absorptions which are called dhydna.
But if dhydna is an absorption filled with parts, how can a defiled absorption be called dhydna?
Because it is bad upanidhydna.
But this entails false conclusions. [In fact, one cultivates bad upanidhydna with a mind controlled by sensual desire, and this state cannot be a dhydna. ]
No. We give the name of dhydna to the defiled state that
resembles true dhydna, as, in the world, one calls a thing that
resembles a grain, although incapable of germinating, "rotten
grain", and not a pebble, etc. [In the same way one speaks of a
pdrdjika Bhiksu, iv. 39c-d. ] And the Blessed One speaks of bad 16
dhydna.
***
What are the characteristics of the First to the Fourth Dhyana?
yoke of calmness {samatha) and insight (vipasyana) [that is to say, 15
2a. The First is filled with vicdra, priti, and sukha, (parts 17
that the following [Dhyanas] successively abandon).
The First Dhyana is a good concentration filled with vicdra, priti, and sukha [that is to say, associated with a vicdra filled or associated with priti and sukha]. This also says implicitly, "filled
? with vitarka" for vitarka necessarily accompanies vicdra, as smoke
accompanies fire. It does not happen that vicdra is associated with
priti and sukha without at the same time being associated with 1
vitarka. *
2b. Parts that the following (Dhyanas) successively abandon.
The Second, Third, and Fourth Dhyana are characterized by the successive abandoning of each of these three parts; eliminating vicdra, the Second Dhyana is only filled with priti and sukha; eliminating priti, the Third Dhyana is only filled with sukha; and by eliminating sukha, these three parts are absent from the Fourth Dhyana.
***
We have described the Dhyanas. What are the Arupyas?
2c. So too, the Arupyas (which are made up of four
19 skandhas).
a. The Arupyas, that is, the absorptions of, and the rebirths in Arupyadhatu are like the Dhyanas in their number and nature.
There are four Arupyas and each Arupya is twofold, existence and concentration. [The existences have been defined in the Third Chapter, iii. 3]. The concentrations of Arupya, in their nature and in general, are applications of pure minds on a single object.
By reason of this double similarity, the stanza says "So too, the Anipyas" (are like the Dhyanas).
2d. They are made up of four skandhas.
? 1220 Chapter Eight
b. The Dhyanas are accompanied by five skandhas, but the Arupyas are accompanied by only four skandhas, for no rupa or physical matter accompanies it.
2e. It arises out of separation from lower spheres. 20
All the Arupyas are concentration; but there are four Arupyas because the concentration that constitutes each Arupya proceeds from separation from a lower sphere. AkaSunantyayatana is the absorption that proceeds from separation from the Fourth Dhyana; and so on to Naivasamjnanasamjnayatana (or Bhavagra) which proceeds from separation from Akimcanyayatana.
What is separation?
The paths (Anantaryamarga and Vimuktimarga) by which the ascetic is delivered from the lower spheres, because these paths have turned him away from them.
? ? -b. They are called vibhutarupasamjna together with three samantakas. 21
[The basic or maula Arupyas, with the preparatory stages or thresholds, the samantakas of the three higher Arupyas are defined as abodes of "those who have conquered the idea of physical matter/']
The first sdmantaka, the threshold of Akasanantyayatana is not called a sdmantaka because it has the Fourth Dhyana for its object, and so the idea of physical matter is not completely transcended in it.
The Arupyas are so called because there is no rupa or physical matter in them: they are made up of the four skandhas as mentioned above.
? [Hsuan-tsang: 3c. There is no rupa in Arupyadhatu. ]
This should be proved, say some Schools, for we maintain that there is some physical matter, rupa, in the Arupyas.
But then why are the arupyas called arupyas, "absences of physical matter"?
They are called this because their rupa is reduced, in the same way that a little red {tsatpingala) is called "reddish" (apingala, "absence of red") (i. 17, English trans, p. 75).
So be it; but what type of physical matter is in Arupyadhatu?
i. If you say that this physical matter is neither the body nor the voice, but merely the physical matter that constitutes bodily and vocal discipline (kayavaksamvaramatra, the rupa that forms part of the dharmayatana, iv. p. 561), then how can this discipline exist in the absence of body and voice? And how can a rupa derived from the primary elements {bhautika), namely discipline, exist in the absence of these same primary elements (mahabhutas)? If you answer that bodily and vocal discipline exists in Arupyadhatu without the cooperation of primary physical matter, in the same way that pure discipline exists without primary elements of their same, i. e. , pure, nature, then this answer does not hold, for pure discipline has impure primary elements for its support, elements in the sphere in which the Aryan is born (iv. 6).
This proof for the absence of physical matter does not hold only for existence in Arupyadhatu, but also for the absorption of
[in which samvara or discipline, which is rupa, is
ii. If you attribute material organs {rupindriya) to the beings in Arupyadhatu, how can you say that the physical matter of Arupyadhatu is subtle?
Because their dimensions are very small; the beings are therefore of reduced rupa (tsadrupa), so the beings are then
22 also absent].
Arupyadhatu,
The Absorptions 1221
? 1222 Chapter Eight
"without physical matter. "
But if you reason in this way, then the tiny and invisible aquatic animals [of which the Vinaya speaks] would also be "without rupa"
Would you say that the physical matter of Arupyadhatu is
transparent {accha, it. English trans, p. 173)? But intermediate
beings and the beings in Rupadhatu also possess transparent
23 physical matter.
Would you say that the physical matter of Arupyadhatu is more transparent and so merits being called "absence of physical matter"? But then you should only call the highest stage of Arupyadhatu "absence of physical matter/' for bodies will be all the more transparent the more distinguished is the absorption of
24 the stage to which they belong.
Furthermore, the physical matter of Rupadhatu (or of the Dhyanas) cannot be perceived by an eye in a lower sphere, since it is too transparent. How does this differ from the physical matter that you attribute to Arupyadhatu?
Finally it is a gratutitous affirmation to maintain that the name of the first two Dhatus (i. e. , Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu)
25
correspond to their objects (anvarthasamjna) but that this is not
so in the case of Arupyadhatu.
iii. It is maintained that physical matter exists in Arupyadhatu. There are four arguments in favor of this position:
26 1. It is said that life and warmth are interconnected (samsrsta)
2. It is said that ndman (i. e. , the four nonmaterial skandhas) and physical matter support one another, like two bunches of
27 roses.
3. It is said that namarupa (both the material and nonmaterial 2
skandhas) are caused by the consciousenss (vijnana) *
4. It is said that consciousness does not come or go independ- ently of physical matter, sensation, ideas, or the sarhskarasP
? These texts are not decisive, for there is reason to interpret them:
1. The Sutra says that life (ayus) is associated with warmth, which is physical matter. But does this refer to all types of life or
30
2. The Sutra says that ndman and rupa (the nonmaterial and the material skandhas) support one another. But does this refer to all of the Dhatus or only to Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu?
3. The Sutra says "vijndnapratyayam ndmarupam" ("the nonmaterial and material skandhas are conditioned by the
31
only to life in Kamadhatu?
consciousness").
But does this text teach that all consciousness--
either a consciousness caused by the samskdras of Kamadhatu or
Rupadhatu, or a consciousness caused by the samskdras of
Arupyadhatu, (that is, a consciousness caused by actions retributa-
ble by an existence in Kamadhatu . . . )--is a cause of the material
and nonmaterial skandhas? Rather, it teaches that all material and
32 nonmaterial skandhas have consciousness for their cause.
4. The Sutra denies that consciousness comes and goes independently of the four "abodes of consciousness" (vijndnasthiti, iii. 7), that is, independently of rupa, vedand, samjnd, and the samskdras. But should this Sutra be understood as meaning "independently of all of these abodes together"?
We would say that the Sutra expresses itself in a general manner: we do not have to interpret it, and we do not have the right to think that it refers to Kamadhatu, etc.
The answer does not hold, for to hold to the letter of the Sutra, one would come to absurd conclusions:
1. Life would necessarily accompany all warmth, even if it be external warmth.
2. External physical matter would be supported by the nonmaterial skandhas.
3. External physical matter would be caused by consciousness.
The Absorptions 1223
? 1224 Chapter Eight
4. There would be material food (lit. : "food taken by the mouthfuls") in Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu, for the Sutra says, in a general way, that there are four types of food (iii. 40), in the same way that it says in a general way that there are four "abodes of consciousness": from whence you conclude that the "abode of physical matter" exists in Arupyadhatu.
No, for the Sutra, while expressing itself in a general way concerning the four types of food, formulates exceptions to the rule: it speaks of a being "who surpasses the gods who nourish
33
themselves with material food"; and it speaks of beings "who
34 nourish themselves with joy".
Very well, but does not the Sutra also say, and categorically so,
that there is no physical matter in Arupyadhatu? It says, 1) "One
departs from the rupas through the Arupyas"; 2) "These states of 35
calm deliverance, beyond the rupas, namely the Arupyas . . . "; 3) "There are existences without physical matter, absolutely passing
36
beyond the ideas of physical matter":
were to exist in the existences or the absorptions of Arupyadhatu, beings who are in Arupyadhatu would have ideas of their own physical matter. And the Sutra would not say that an ascetic obtains these existences and absorptions by passing beyond all ideas of physical matter.
Our opponent answers that the Sutra, in these different passages, intends to speak not of physical matter in general, but of gross physical matter of a lower sphere.
We answer that, in this hypothesis, 1. one should understand in the same sense the text relative to material food, which would exist, albeit subtly, in Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu; 2. one should say that an ascetic leaves the rupas through the Dhyanas, and that the Dhyanas belong to Arupyadhatu, for the Dhyanas are beyond the coarse rupas of a lower sphere, namely Kamadhatu; 3. one should say that, through the Arupyas, the ascetic leaves sensation (vedana), etc. , for the Arupyas are beyond the sensations of lower spheres, and one should call them "without sensation," etc. But the
now, if physical matter
? Sutra does not express itself in this way. We then assume that the Arupyas are beyond any and all physical matter.
[Objection. ] How can the Arupyas be the "leaving" of the
rupas? The Blessed One, in fact, denies that existence (bhava) can
through bhava" The Blessed One expresses himself in this manner with reason, for one cannot leave a certain existence (or mode of existence, bhava) by means of this same existence, and one can neither leave all of the existences nor definitively leave any existence by means of any existence whatsoever.
Finally the Blessed One says that there is rupa, vedand, sarhjnd, the samskdras, and vijndna in the Dhyanas, and that there is vedand . . . and vijndna in the Arupyas. If there were truly rupa in the Arupyas, why did not the Blessed One say that there is rupa in them, as he did for the Dhyanas?
Hence,
3c. There is no rupa in the Arupyas.
[From the two arguments given above, it follows that there is no physical matter in Ampyadhatu. The masters who maintain the existence of physical matter in Ampyadhatu maintain a thesis that is false and in contradiction to reason. ]
If this is the case, then when a being obtains an existence in Ampyadhatu, his series of physical matter is cut off for numerous cosmic periods (iii. 81). When this being is finally reborn in a lower
38
3d. Physical matter arises from the mind (citta).
A cause was formerly produced--a certain action, etc. ,--which should ripen in physical matter; a trace (vdsand) of this cause
be the leaving of existence: "I say that one cannot leave bhava bl
sphere, where does his physical matter come from?
The Absorptions 1225
? 1226 Chapter Eight
remains in the mind: its efficacy now matures;39 the physical
matter that now arises arises from the mind.
But how can a mind in Arupyadhatu exist without being
supported by physical matter, ? ? ? ? ?
Why could it not exist without physical matter?
Because it never happens here below that a mind exists without a body.
But, by virtue of this same reasoning, you should deny that beings in Rupadhatu live on material food. Moreover we have already explained40 how a mind in Arupyadhatu has nikdya ("genre") and fivita ("life") as its support.
***
Do the Arupyas receive their different names,--AkaSanan- tyayatana, etc. ,--from the fact that they have space (dkdsa) etc. , for their objects?
No. The first three,
4a-c. AkaSunantya, Vijnananantya, and Akimcanya are named after their preparatory exercises.
The three lower Arupyas receive their names from the fact that, in their preparatory exercises, one considers space, etc. 41
4c-d. Because of its weakness, the (next) absorption is called Neither-Ideas-Nor-Absence of Ideas (nasamjndndpyasamj- ndkah). 42
The Fourth Arupya receives its name from the fact that samjndf "ideas," is very weak in it. Ideas are not active in it, but neither is it completely without ideas.
? Without doubt, one prepares himself for this Arupya by
43
considering, "Ideas are a sickness! Ideas are an ulcer! Ideas are an
arrow! The absence of ideas (dsamjnika, compare ii. 41b) is 44
stupidity (sammoha)l This is calmness, this is excellent, the Faculty of Neither-Ideas-Nor-Absence of Ideas! " But it is not by reason of this preparatory exercise that the Fourth Arupya receives its name.
And why is the Fourth Arupya conceived of, by the ascetic who
finds himself in the preparatory absorptions, as Neither-Ideas-Nor-
45 Absence of Ideas?
It is because of the slightness of the ideas in it. This is the explanation of its name.
***
5a. There are then eight things that are basic absorptions;
The Four Dhyanas and the Four Arupyas are the eight basic
46 absorptions.
5b. The (first) seven are threefold.
The first seven of these eight are threefold.
5c. Enjoyment, pure, and free from the defilements.
They are associated with enjoyment, are pure, and are free from the defilements.
5d. The eighth is twofold.
Bhavagra is associated with enjoyment and is pure, but it is not
? 1228 Chapter Eight
free from the defilements.
6a. The absorption of enjoyment is associated with thirst; (a pure absorption is of a worldly order of good; it is the object of enjoyment of the first; the absorption free from
47
For enjoyment is itself thirst (=desire).
? Adhitisthati = "To exercise a certain action on a thing, a person, oneself, by means of adhimoksa, Volition, will,' applied to this thing, etc. "
This general sense is specialized, in the Koia, into the sense of "making last"; [in the vocabulary of the Papisambhiddmagga, ii. 207, it refers to the miracles of multiplication, etc. ; ii. 207; see also Atthasdlini, trans, p. 121 and Compendium]. But it is through rUpddhisphdn- abala (Siksasamuccaya, 330. 11) that flowers place themselves around the head of Dlparhkara (Divya, 251. 1); the Buddhas convert through adhisthdna (= anubhdva), Bodhicarydvatdra, i. 5.
d. Burnouf translates "benediction" from byin kyi rlabs. It is, he says, through the benediction of a Thera that a person travels in the Thupavamsa; it is through a benediction of the Buddhas that the Bodhisattvas form vows to become Buddhas. (See the two abhisphdnas, of which the second is a consecration, abhiseka, of the Lankdvatdra, Nanjo, p. 100). The eighth bhumi is the adhisthdnabhumi (a great variety of Chinese equivalents): this bhumi is so called because it cannot be shaken (pardvikopanatvdt).
e. Compare Gitd, iv. 6: prakrtim svam adhisphdya sambhavdmy dtmamdyayd, and Lotus, xv. 3: dtmdnam adhisphahdmi sarvdmi ca sattvdn . . . nirvdnabhumim cupadarfaydmi. . . na cdpi nirvdmy ahu tasmi kale.
306. Divya, 61. maitreyah . . . kdiyapasya bhiksor avikopitam asthisamghdtam daksinena pdnind gfhitvd. . . On all the legends relative to KaSyapa, Przyluski, J. As 1914, ii. 524, and A<ioka, 169, 331; Fa-hien (=Fa-hsien), chap, xxxiii.
Kosa iii. 9d examines why the Bodhisattva is born from a womb, and not through an apparitional birth. It is with an end to being able to leave his relics, for the bodies of apparitional beings disappear at their death. This explanation is given by the masters who deny the ddhisthdnikt rddhi of the Bhagavat.
307. Dreams provoked by the adhisthdna of the gods, Vinitadeva ad Nydyabindu, p. 47 (Tibetan translation in Bibl. Indica).
308. Commentary in Anguttara, i. 209.
Footnotes 1211
? 1212 Chapter Seven
309. Manadyatana and dharmdyatana are not capable of being created, because the fictive being (nirmita) is devoid of mind, as results from the Sdstra: ninnitah acintiko vaktavyah/. . . nirmdtuscittavasena vartate (Vydkhyd). This Sdstra is the Kdranaprajndptisdstra, analyzed in Cosmologie bouddhique, p. 340-341.
310. See i. lOb. It has been said above, page 1169, that "creation" consists of external
dyatanas.
311. Hsuan-tsang puts Kdrikd 54 before Kdrikd 53c-d.
312. The rddhi that certain beings possess because they belong to a certain category of beings.
Examples of innate rddhi, Mahdvagga, i. 15. 2, vi. 15. 8, Culla vii. 1. 4; 2. 1. The four iddhis (beauty, long life, absence of sickness and good digestion, popularity) of the king of the Mahdsudassanasutta have something of the supernatural about them; but when Ajatasattu promises to destroy the Vajjyas, however great their iddhi may be, however great their dnubhdva may be (Mahdparinibbdna), the sense of these expressions remains doubtful. His minister Vassakara is without doubt a good magician.
313. Rddhi produced by "magic," through the power of formulas or herbs.
314. For example, the rddhi that certain persons possess from birth, such as Mandhatar, not because they are humans, but by reason of certain actions; differing thus from innate rddhi (see below note 328).
315. These persons possess eyes and ears "arisen from karma. "
316. Hsuan-tsang: What do the expressions "divine sight," "divine hearing" designate? If they refer to prajnd, consciousness, the expression "eye", "ear" is improper. If they refer to the material organs (rupsndriya), how are the organs Abhijfias? The Kdrikd says: "Divine sight and divine hearing are of pure rupa . . . "
317. "Pure rupa' is rupaprasdda, Kosa, i. 9c; the organs are bhautika, "derived matter," i. trans, p. 100.
Compare Kathdvatthu, iii. 7-8.
318. In opposition to divine sight which is innate in the gods.
The divine sight of the gods is defiled by eleven apaksolas, iii. 14a; see vii. 55d.
319. According to Hsuan-tsang: "Divine sight sees without omission. " It sees in all directions, before, behind (prsthatas), on the side (pdrsvatas), during the day, during the night, in light, in darkness (see i. p. 90).
320. In the version of Hsuan-tsang, Kdrikd 55a-b is placed after Kdrikd 43. And the Bhdsya is modified: "In respect to the activity of the Five Abhijnas, extended or narrow, in the universes (lokadhdtu) which are their domain, all the Aryans are not similar. The Sravakas, the Pratyekabuddhas and the Buddhas, when they do not make an extreme act of attention, produce the activity of their mastery in movement (gamana) and in creation (nirmdna), the first in a mahdsdhasra universe, the second in a dvisdhasra universe, and the third in a trisdhasra universe. When they make an extreme act of attention, in a dvisdhasra universe, in a trisdhasra universe, and in infinite universes. "
321. Quoted in a comentary to the Ndmasamgiti (ad vi. 18, asangadrk). 322. On the chiliocosms, see iii. 73.
323- The gods of Kamadhatu and the Anagamins in Rupadhatu possess, by the fact of their births, these four powers. These powers are absent in Arupyadhatu.
324. This is explained iii. l4a; above note 318.
? 325. The treatise of the iksanikas (Manu, ix. 258, etc. ). Above note 284. 326. Atthasdlini, 91.
327. The five powers (fddhyddikd) are, for humans, either vairdgyaldbhika (- abbijnaphala) or tarkavidyausadhakarmakrta, not upapattildbhika.
328. Upapattildbhikam hi ndmayad upapattikdla eva sarvesdm nisargato labhyate/ na tuyat kasya rid evopapattikdldd urdhvam/ yathd paksmdm dkdsagamanam.
Footnotes 1213
? CHAPTER EIGHT
The Absorptions
o". m. Homage to the Buddha.
We have studied the qualities (guna) of the knowledges (the pranidhijnanaSf the abhijnas, etc. ). Let us now study the natures of the Dhyanas, etc. We shall speak first of their supports (asraya), that is, the mental states in which these qualities are produced.
la. The Dhyanas are twofold; (the Dhyanas are four in
number; the Dhyanas as existence have been defined. The
concentrations are the applications of pure minds on a single
1 object; with their concomitants, they are the five skandhas. )
(We shall first study the Dhyanas, since they are,--with the exception of the Arupyas or "non-material concentrations",--the support of all qualities, either common or specific, pure or impure. )
Each of these Dhyanas is of two types: samdpatti, absorption or 2
concentration, and upapatti or existence.
lb. The Dhyanas are four in number.
There are four Dhyanas, the First to the Fourth.
lc. The Dhyanas as existence have been defined.
? 1216 Chapter Eight
The Dhyanas as existence have been defined in the Third
Chapter of this book. How are they defined? It says, 'The first
3
Three are threefold and the Fourth is eightfold. " (iii. 2)
Id. Concentration is the application of a pure mind on a single object;
In general, Dhyana as absorption is defined as an application of 4
a pure mind on a single object, for the Dhyanas have samadhi or concentration (ii, p. 190) for their nature.
le. With their concomitents, they are the five skandhas.
If one consideres samadhi with its following, Dhyana as
5
absorption has the five skandhas for its nature. ***
What is "application on a single object"?
6
The fact that minds have a single object. [The Sautrantikas
object]: If this is the case, then what is designated by the word
samadhi are the minds themselves which have a single object.
There is no reason to admit the existence of a separate thing, a
1 certain mental dharma, as samadhi.
[The Vaibhasikas answer:] What is called samadhi is a certain dharma by which the minds are concentrated, applied on a single object. The concentrated minds are not samadhi*
Here many difficulties present themselves:
1. Since minds are momentary, each of them has a single object.
What then is the role of samadhi?
2. Samadhi causes the second mind to not be distracted or
? turned aside from the object of the first mind. But if this is the case, then the samddhi does not exercise any action with regard to the first mind which you consider as associated with samddhi
3. Why imagine samddhi in and of itself? Why not admit that the minds are applied to a single object by reason of the causes that you assign to samddhi?
4. Finally, you have defined samddhi as a universal dharma (mahdbhumika, ii. 24): hence all minds should possess the characteristic of being concentrated.
[The Vaibhasikas answer this last objection:] No, because of
9 the weakness of the samddhi.
The Sautrantikas say that the minds which have the same
object constitute samddhi'. samddhi does not exist separately. For it
is said in the Sutra that the Four Dhyanas are adhicitta siksa, the
"higher mental learning"; another says that the Four Dhyanas are
the primary element in the purification of the mind (cittaparifud- 10
dhipradhdna).
What is the meaning of the word dhydnaP
n
of upanidhydna. Upanidhyai signifies "to know truly", as it is said
By reason of dhydna the ascetic is "concentrated" and capable 12
in the Sutra, "He who is concentrated knows truly". dhyai is used in the sense of upanidhydna. )
13
(The root
In the School [of the Sarvastivadins], all dhydna is prajna
14
If the Dhyanas are absorptions or samadhis, then are all absorptions,--good, bad, or neutral,--Dhyana?
No. Only absorptions filled with certain excellences are called Dhyanas. So too in the world, it is the sun that is called "the light maker" (bhdskara) (and not the firefly).
[whereas in some other schools, dhydna is cinta or reflection]. ***
The Absorptions 1217
? 1218 Chapter Eight
What are the excellences?
Samadhi is in fact excellent: it is an absorption filled with
"parts" (angasamdyukta, viii. 10), which goes by the means of the
in which calmness and insight are in equilibrium], that is termed in the Sutra "happiness in this world" {drstadharmasukhavihdra, viii. 27) and "the easy path" (sukbapratipad, vi. 66), the path by which one knows better and easily.
It is thus the excellent absorptions which are called dhydna.
But if dhydna is an absorption filled with parts, how can a defiled absorption be called dhydna?
Because it is bad upanidhydna.
But this entails false conclusions. [In fact, one cultivates bad upanidhydna with a mind controlled by sensual desire, and this state cannot be a dhydna. ]
No. We give the name of dhydna to the defiled state that
resembles true dhydna, as, in the world, one calls a thing that
resembles a grain, although incapable of germinating, "rotten
grain", and not a pebble, etc. [In the same way one speaks of a
pdrdjika Bhiksu, iv. 39c-d. ] And the Blessed One speaks of bad 16
dhydna.
***
What are the characteristics of the First to the Fourth Dhyana?
yoke of calmness {samatha) and insight (vipasyana) [that is to say, 15
2a. The First is filled with vicdra, priti, and sukha, (parts 17
that the following [Dhyanas] successively abandon).
The First Dhyana is a good concentration filled with vicdra, priti, and sukha [that is to say, associated with a vicdra filled or associated with priti and sukha]. This also says implicitly, "filled
? with vitarka" for vitarka necessarily accompanies vicdra, as smoke
accompanies fire. It does not happen that vicdra is associated with
priti and sukha without at the same time being associated with 1
vitarka. *
2b. Parts that the following (Dhyanas) successively abandon.
The Second, Third, and Fourth Dhyana are characterized by the successive abandoning of each of these three parts; eliminating vicdra, the Second Dhyana is only filled with priti and sukha; eliminating priti, the Third Dhyana is only filled with sukha; and by eliminating sukha, these three parts are absent from the Fourth Dhyana.
***
We have described the Dhyanas. What are the Arupyas?
2c. So too, the Arupyas (which are made up of four
19 skandhas).
a. The Arupyas, that is, the absorptions of, and the rebirths in Arupyadhatu are like the Dhyanas in their number and nature.
There are four Arupyas and each Arupya is twofold, existence and concentration. [The existences have been defined in the Third Chapter, iii. 3]. The concentrations of Arupya, in their nature and in general, are applications of pure minds on a single object.
By reason of this double similarity, the stanza says "So too, the Anipyas" (are like the Dhyanas).
2d. They are made up of four skandhas.
? 1220 Chapter Eight
b. The Dhyanas are accompanied by five skandhas, but the Arupyas are accompanied by only four skandhas, for no rupa or physical matter accompanies it.
2e. It arises out of separation from lower spheres. 20
All the Arupyas are concentration; but there are four Arupyas because the concentration that constitutes each Arupya proceeds from separation from a lower sphere. AkaSunantyayatana is the absorption that proceeds from separation from the Fourth Dhyana; and so on to Naivasamjnanasamjnayatana (or Bhavagra) which proceeds from separation from Akimcanyayatana.
What is separation?
The paths (Anantaryamarga and Vimuktimarga) by which the ascetic is delivered from the lower spheres, because these paths have turned him away from them.
? ? -b. They are called vibhutarupasamjna together with three samantakas. 21
[The basic or maula Arupyas, with the preparatory stages or thresholds, the samantakas of the three higher Arupyas are defined as abodes of "those who have conquered the idea of physical matter/']
The first sdmantaka, the threshold of Akasanantyayatana is not called a sdmantaka because it has the Fourth Dhyana for its object, and so the idea of physical matter is not completely transcended in it.
The Arupyas are so called because there is no rupa or physical matter in them: they are made up of the four skandhas as mentioned above.
? [Hsuan-tsang: 3c. There is no rupa in Arupyadhatu. ]
This should be proved, say some Schools, for we maintain that there is some physical matter, rupa, in the Arupyas.
But then why are the arupyas called arupyas, "absences of physical matter"?
They are called this because their rupa is reduced, in the same way that a little red {tsatpingala) is called "reddish" (apingala, "absence of red") (i. 17, English trans, p. 75).
So be it; but what type of physical matter is in Arupyadhatu?
i. If you say that this physical matter is neither the body nor the voice, but merely the physical matter that constitutes bodily and vocal discipline (kayavaksamvaramatra, the rupa that forms part of the dharmayatana, iv. p. 561), then how can this discipline exist in the absence of body and voice? And how can a rupa derived from the primary elements {bhautika), namely discipline, exist in the absence of these same primary elements (mahabhutas)? If you answer that bodily and vocal discipline exists in Arupyadhatu without the cooperation of primary physical matter, in the same way that pure discipline exists without primary elements of their same, i. e. , pure, nature, then this answer does not hold, for pure discipline has impure primary elements for its support, elements in the sphere in which the Aryan is born (iv. 6).
This proof for the absence of physical matter does not hold only for existence in Arupyadhatu, but also for the absorption of
[in which samvara or discipline, which is rupa, is
ii. If you attribute material organs {rupindriya) to the beings in Arupyadhatu, how can you say that the physical matter of Arupyadhatu is subtle?
Because their dimensions are very small; the beings are therefore of reduced rupa (tsadrupa), so the beings are then
22 also absent].
Arupyadhatu,
The Absorptions 1221
? 1222 Chapter Eight
"without physical matter. "
But if you reason in this way, then the tiny and invisible aquatic animals [of which the Vinaya speaks] would also be "without rupa"
Would you say that the physical matter of Arupyadhatu is
transparent {accha, it. English trans, p. 173)? But intermediate
beings and the beings in Rupadhatu also possess transparent
23 physical matter.
Would you say that the physical matter of Arupyadhatu is more transparent and so merits being called "absence of physical matter"? But then you should only call the highest stage of Arupyadhatu "absence of physical matter/' for bodies will be all the more transparent the more distinguished is the absorption of
24 the stage to which they belong.
Furthermore, the physical matter of Rupadhatu (or of the Dhyanas) cannot be perceived by an eye in a lower sphere, since it is too transparent. How does this differ from the physical matter that you attribute to Arupyadhatu?
Finally it is a gratutitous affirmation to maintain that the name of the first two Dhatus (i. e. , Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu)
25
correspond to their objects (anvarthasamjna) but that this is not
so in the case of Arupyadhatu.
iii. It is maintained that physical matter exists in Arupyadhatu. There are four arguments in favor of this position:
26 1. It is said that life and warmth are interconnected (samsrsta)
2. It is said that ndman (i. e. , the four nonmaterial skandhas) and physical matter support one another, like two bunches of
27 roses.
3. It is said that namarupa (both the material and nonmaterial 2
skandhas) are caused by the consciousenss (vijnana) *
4. It is said that consciousness does not come or go independ- ently of physical matter, sensation, ideas, or the sarhskarasP
? These texts are not decisive, for there is reason to interpret them:
1. The Sutra says that life (ayus) is associated with warmth, which is physical matter. But does this refer to all types of life or
30
2. The Sutra says that ndman and rupa (the nonmaterial and the material skandhas) support one another. But does this refer to all of the Dhatus or only to Kamadhatu and Rupadhatu?
3. The Sutra says "vijndnapratyayam ndmarupam" ("the nonmaterial and material skandhas are conditioned by the
31
only to life in Kamadhatu?
consciousness").
But does this text teach that all consciousness--
either a consciousness caused by the samskdras of Kamadhatu or
Rupadhatu, or a consciousness caused by the samskdras of
Arupyadhatu, (that is, a consciousness caused by actions retributa-
ble by an existence in Kamadhatu . . . )--is a cause of the material
and nonmaterial skandhas? Rather, it teaches that all material and
32 nonmaterial skandhas have consciousness for their cause.
4. The Sutra denies that consciousness comes and goes independently of the four "abodes of consciousness" (vijndnasthiti, iii. 7), that is, independently of rupa, vedand, samjnd, and the samskdras. But should this Sutra be understood as meaning "independently of all of these abodes together"?
We would say that the Sutra expresses itself in a general manner: we do not have to interpret it, and we do not have the right to think that it refers to Kamadhatu, etc.
The answer does not hold, for to hold to the letter of the Sutra, one would come to absurd conclusions:
1. Life would necessarily accompany all warmth, even if it be external warmth.
2. External physical matter would be supported by the nonmaterial skandhas.
3. External physical matter would be caused by consciousness.
The Absorptions 1223
? 1224 Chapter Eight
4. There would be material food (lit. : "food taken by the mouthfuls") in Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu, for the Sutra says, in a general way, that there are four types of food (iii. 40), in the same way that it says in a general way that there are four "abodes of consciousness": from whence you conclude that the "abode of physical matter" exists in Arupyadhatu.
No, for the Sutra, while expressing itself in a general way concerning the four types of food, formulates exceptions to the rule: it speaks of a being "who surpasses the gods who nourish
33
themselves with material food"; and it speaks of beings "who
34 nourish themselves with joy".
Very well, but does not the Sutra also say, and categorically so,
that there is no physical matter in Arupyadhatu? It says, 1) "One
departs from the rupas through the Arupyas"; 2) "These states of 35
calm deliverance, beyond the rupas, namely the Arupyas . . . "; 3) "There are existences without physical matter, absolutely passing
36
beyond the ideas of physical matter":
were to exist in the existences or the absorptions of Arupyadhatu, beings who are in Arupyadhatu would have ideas of their own physical matter. And the Sutra would not say that an ascetic obtains these existences and absorptions by passing beyond all ideas of physical matter.
Our opponent answers that the Sutra, in these different passages, intends to speak not of physical matter in general, but of gross physical matter of a lower sphere.
We answer that, in this hypothesis, 1. one should understand in the same sense the text relative to material food, which would exist, albeit subtly, in Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu; 2. one should say that an ascetic leaves the rupas through the Dhyanas, and that the Dhyanas belong to Arupyadhatu, for the Dhyanas are beyond the coarse rupas of a lower sphere, namely Kamadhatu; 3. one should say that, through the Arupyas, the ascetic leaves sensation (vedana), etc. , for the Arupyas are beyond the sensations of lower spheres, and one should call them "without sensation," etc. But the
now, if physical matter
? Sutra does not express itself in this way. We then assume that the Arupyas are beyond any and all physical matter.
[Objection. ] How can the Arupyas be the "leaving" of the
rupas? The Blessed One, in fact, denies that existence (bhava) can
through bhava" The Blessed One expresses himself in this manner with reason, for one cannot leave a certain existence (or mode of existence, bhava) by means of this same existence, and one can neither leave all of the existences nor definitively leave any existence by means of any existence whatsoever.
Finally the Blessed One says that there is rupa, vedand, sarhjnd, the samskdras, and vijndna in the Dhyanas, and that there is vedand . . . and vijndna in the Arupyas. If there were truly rupa in the Arupyas, why did not the Blessed One say that there is rupa in them, as he did for the Dhyanas?
Hence,
3c. There is no rupa in the Arupyas.
[From the two arguments given above, it follows that there is no physical matter in Ampyadhatu. The masters who maintain the existence of physical matter in Ampyadhatu maintain a thesis that is false and in contradiction to reason. ]
If this is the case, then when a being obtains an existence in Ampyadhatu, his series of physical matter is cut off for numerous cosmic periods (iii. 81). When this being is finally reborn in a lower
38
3d. Physical matter arises from the mind (citta).
A cause was formerly produced--a certain action, etc. ,--which should ripen in physical matter; a trace (vdsand) of this cause
be the leaving of existence: "I say that one cannot leave bhava bl
sphere, where does his physical matter come from?
The Absorptions 1225
? 1226 Chapter Eight
remains in the mind: its efficacy now matures;39 the physical
matter that now arises arises from the mind.
But how can a mind in Arupyadhatu exist without being
supported by physical matter, ? ? ? ? ?
Why could it not exist without physical matter?
Because it never happens here below that a mind exists without a body.
But, by virtue of this same reasoning, you should deny that beings in Rupadhatu live on material food. Moreover we have already explained40 how a mind in Arupyadhatu has nikdya ("genre") and fivita ("life") as its support.
***
Do the Arupyas receive their different names,--AkaSanan- tyayatana, etc. ,--from the fact that they have space (dkdsa) etc. , for their objects?
No. The first three,
4a-c. AkaSunantya, Vijnananantya, and Akimcanya are named after their preparatory exercises.
The three lower Arupyas receive their names from the fact that, in their preparatory exercises, one considers space, etc. 41
4c-d. Because of its weakness, the (next) absorption is called Neither-Ideas-Nor-Absence of Ideas (nasamjndndpyasamj- ndkah). 42
The Fourth Arupya receives its name from the fact that samjndf "ideas," is very weak in it. Ideas are not active in it, but neither is it completely without ideas.
? Without doubt, one prepares himself for this Arupya by
43
considering, "Ideas are a sickness! Ideas are an ulcer! Ideas are an
arrow! The absence of ideas (dsamjnika, compare ii. 41b) is 44
stupidity (sammoha)l This is calmness, this is excellent, the Faculty of Neither-Ideas-Nor-Absence of Ideas! " But it is not by reason of this preparatory exercise that the Fourth Arupya receives its name.
And why is the Fourth Arupya conceived of, by the ascetic who
finds himself in the preparatory absorptions, as Neither-Ideas-Nor-
45 Absence of Ideas?
It is because of the slightness of the ideas in it. This is the explanation of its name.
***
5a. There are then eight things that are basic absorptions;
The Four Dhyanas and the Four Arupyas are the eight basic
46 absorptions.
5b. The (first) seven are threefold.
The first seven of these eight are threefold.
5c. Enjoyment, pure, and free from the defilements.
They are associated with enjoyment, are pure, and are free from the defilements.
5d. The eighth is twofold.
Bhavagra is associated with enjoyment and is pure, but it is not
? 1228 Chapter Eight
free from the defilements.
6a. The absorption of enjoyment is associated with thirst; (a pure absorption is of a worldly order of good; it is the object of enjoyment of the first; the absorption free from
47
For enjoyment is itself thirst (=desire).
