All the good practices of the body, pure or impure, are a
purification
of the body, because, either for a time or in a definitive manner, they efface the impurity of the defilements and bad practices.
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delivered from attachment with regard to a certain plane of existence (Kamadhatu, the First Dhyana. . . ), in this stage he never produces action to be experienced in his next rebirth.
52c The Aryan no longer produces any aaion to be experienced in a later existence.
When he is firm, the Saint does not produce, in the stage from whence he is detached, any aaion to be experienced either in the next existence or in a later existence.
In fact, the Prthagjana incapable of falling away is not reborn, in the next existence, in the stage from whence he is detached; and a Saint incapable of falling away is never reborn at this stage.
Both produce, relative to the stage wherein they are born, actions to be experienced in the present existence, and indeterminate action.
52d'ITieAj7an,notfkm,whenheisdetadiedfromKamadham or from Bhavagra, the same.
An Aryan detached from Kamadhatu is an Anagamin (vi. 36).
An Aryan detached from Bhavagra or m^ivasamjndndsaihjndya$ana} the last stage of Arupyadhatu, is an Arhat (vi. 45).
Even when they are subject to falling away, that is to say, susceptible of losing the results obtained, these Saints do not produce aaion to be experienced in the next existence, nor in a subsequent existence, either in Kamadhatu or in Bhavagra.
We shall explain (vi. 60) how the Saint, subjea to falling away, always reacquires the results before dying.
**#
Does the intermediate being (antarabhava, iii. l2c) produce any aaions?
53a-b. The intermediate being, in Kamadhatu, produces twenty-
224 two types of aaions.
The embryo passes through five states, kalala, arbuda, pe/in, gfoana, 2xApraiakhd. K human being passes through five states, as an infant, an
225 adolescent, a grown person, a mature person, and an old person.
? The intermediate creature produces determinate actions to be experienced as an intermediate being, as kalala, as arbuda. . . as an infant, asanadolescent. . . . thereareeleventypesofdeterminateactions. Inthis same way he produces eleven indeterminate actions.
53c These actions bear their results in the present existence.
The eleven determinate actions of the intermediate being belong to the category "to be experienced in the present existence. "
Why?
53d. For all these states form, together with the intermediate
226 existence, only a single existence.
The intermediate existence and the ten states which follow it are projeaed by a single aaion (iii. 13). Thus one does not distinguish an aaion "to be experienced in the intermediate existence:" this is projeaed, in faa, by the aaion itself which is to be experienced in the life
227 which follows the intermediate existence.
#**
By virtue of what charaaeristics is an aaion determinate, that is to say, necessarily retributed?
54. Aaion accomplished through intense defilement or through intense faith, with regard to the field of qualities, continually, and the murdering of a father and a mother, are determinate.
Aaion accomplished through intense defilement, aaion accom- plished through intense faith, aaion accomplished with regard to a field of qualities, and aaion continually accomplished, are determinate.
"Field of qualities" signifies either the Three Jewels, or certain persons, namely the possessors of the results, or Saints (Srotaapanna, etc. ), and the possessors of certain absorptions (nirodhasamdpatti, il44d; arand, viL35c; matin, viiL29). Aaion accomplished with regard to these fields, even in the absence of an intense thought of defilement or of faith, or of continuity, is determinate, whether it is good or bad
The same for the murder of one's father or mother, with whatever
228 intention it was committed.
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All other aaion--which is done with a weak defilement, etc--is indeterminate.
##*
By virtue of what characteristic is an action experienced in the present existence?
55a-h Action bears result in the present existence by reason of
229 certain characteristics of the field and the intention.
By reason of the excellence of the field, even though the intention may be weak: for example, the Bhiksu who becomes a woman through having insulted the Sangha, 'Tou are nothing but women! "
By reason of the excellence of the intention: for example the eunuch
who delivered bulls from the danger of being castrated, and so regained
230 his own sexuality.
Or still further:
55c. And also, when one is definitively detached with regard to the stage in which the action appears.
When a person is definitively detached from a certain stage (iv. 52), he cannot anymore be reborn in this stage: as a consequence, action retributable in this stage, but in another existence, whether it is good or bad, changes its nature and becomes retributable in the present existence.
231 55d Aaion "determinate with regard to retribution. "
This refers to aaion having a necessary retribution, but in- determinate with regard to the period of its retribution: this aaion will be retributed in the present life.
As for aaion determinate with regard to the period of its retribution, it will be retributed in the period for which it is determinate: the person for whom aaions should be retributed, in this first rebirth, in a certain stage, cannot be definitively detached from this stage.
As for aaion non-determinate with regard to the retribution itself, it will not be retributed if one detaches himself from the stage where it could have been retributed
? Which field confers on an action which is in a relationship with it, the quality of being necessarily retributed in the present existence?
In general, it is the Sangha of Bhiksus having at its head the Buddha; to enumerate its persons, there are five types of persons:
56. Persons who have left either nirodha, or maitri, or arana, or Seeing the Truths, or the result of Arhat: all good and all bad
232 with regard to tfiem is immediately retributed
The person who leaves the absorption of extinction (nirodha- samapatti, ii. 41c, viii. 33): in th&'absorption he has obtained an extreme tranquility of thought, for this absorption is similar to Nirvana. When he leaves it, it is as if he had gone to Nirvana and has returned from it.
The person who leaves the absorption which arrests the defile- ments of another (arandsamapatti, viii. 35c): in this absorption, his mental series is endowed with the intention of placing an infinite number of beings into the absence of defilement; when he leaves it, his series is penetrated with an intense and measureless merit.
The person who leaves the absorption of compassion (maitri- samdpatti, viii. 29): in this absorption, his series is endowed with the intention of increasing the well-being of an infinite number of beings; when he leaves it, his series is penetrated with an intense and measureless merit.
233
The person who leaves the Path of Seeing the Truths: in this
Path, he has abandoned all the defilements which are abandoned through Seeing the Truths. When he leaves it, his series is thus pure, since his personality has just been renewed
The person who leaves the result of Arhat, that is to say, who has just acquired the result of Arhat: he has just achieved the abandoning of all the defilements which are abandoned through Meditation on the Truths. His series is pure, since his personality has just been renewed
This is why good or bad actions, well or badly done, with regard to these five persons, bear a result in the present existence (Vibhdsa, TD 27,p. 782c27).
The Paths of Meditation through which one obtains the results of Sakrdagamin and of Anagamin, are incomplete in themslves and in
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their result. Persons who leave the conquest of these two results are not fields of merit comparable to an Arhat. Their series is not pure; their personalities have not been recently renewed
The essential element of retribution is sensation.
Gin the retribution of a certain aaion be excusively mental sensation, and not bodily sensation (kayiki, ii. 7)? And can the retribution of a certain aaion be bodily sensation, and not mental sensation?
57a-c Sensation, the result of good aaion free from vitarka, is exclusively mental
Aaions of the the sphere of dhyanantara, the interval between the
First and Second Dhyanas (iv. 48b), and the aaions of the higher stages
are free from vitarka (ii. 31, viiL23c). Like bodily sensation, that is to say,
associated with the five sense consciousnesses, which always embraces
vitarka and vicara (i. 32), it cannot be the result of a retribution of an 254
aaion free from vitarka.
57d Sensation, which is the result of a bad aaion, is exclusively
physical.
A sensation, the result of retribution of a bad aaion, is painful;
painful mental sensation is what is termed a sensation of dissatisfaaion.
We have established that dissatisfaaion is never the result of retribution
235 (iL10b-c).
***
But if dissatisfaaion, or painful mental sensation, is not retribution, in which consciousness--visual consciousness, etc, mental conscious- ness--is mental trouble or trouble-of-the-mind, which is painful sensation, produced? [Apparently it is the retribution of a bad aaion].
236 58a. Mental-trouble is produced in the mental consciousness.
The expression that the Karika uses, manascitta, "mental thought,"
? is equivalent to the expression manovijnana, "mental consciousness, consciousness of the manas. "
The five sense consciousnesses cannot be troubled because they are free from imagining, inquiry and memory, and mental trouble is the imagining of that which does not exist (asadvikalpa, i. 33).
58b. It arises from the retribution of action.
Mental trouble arises from the retribution of actioa
The person who troubles and deranges the mind of another through curses and formulas; the person who causes another to drink poison or alcohol when he does not want to drink it; the person who frightens game, either in the hunt, or by setting the jungle on fire, or by the hollowing out of traps; and the person who, by whatever means, troubles the memory and the presence of mind of another, will have his own mind troubled, deprived of the aid of his memory through the
237 effect of the retribution of these actions.
58c-& Through fear, the attack of demons, irritation of the
238 elements, and fear.
239
1. Demon beings, with horrible features, will approach such a
person: seeing them, the person is frightened and his mind is troubled 2. Furious at the evil condua of humans, demon beings will hit them in their vital parts. 3. The primary elements of the body will lose their equilibrium: the wind, heat and liquid will be irritated. 4. Fear also
240
But, one would say, if mental trouble, or trouble of the mental consciousness, arises from the retribution of action, how can one say that this mental sensation is not retribution?
We do not say that trouble of the mind--a troubled mind--is retribution of action, but that it arises from the retribution of action. The primary elements in a state of disequilibrium are retribution: the troubled mind proceeds from it; it thus arises from retributioa One says that the mind is troubled when,--by reason of the disequilibrium or the irritation of the humors, which results from action,--the mind is
troubles the mind, for example in the case of Vasisthi, etc
***
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deranged, anarchic, devoid of mindfulness.
Four alternatives: 1. The mind troubled without being disturbed: the
mind undefiled but troubled; 2. the mind disordered without being troubled: the mind defiled, but tranquil; 3. the mind troubled and disordered; [and 4. the mind neither troubled nor disordered],
### ,
Among whom is trouble of the mind produced?
58d Among beings in Kamadhatu, with the exception of the Kurus. *
Among the gods of Kamadhatu, there are two madnesses; all the more so is there madness among humans, Pretas, and animals.
Beings in hell always have troubled minds: their vital parts are incessantly hurt by thousands of different torments; they are crushed down by suffering; they do not recognize themselves, so they do not distinguish that which they should do and that which they should avoid We give as an example a being in hell who laments by saying, "Ah! The mind! "
With the exception of the Buddha, the Aryans are not free from trouble of the mind: their thoughts can be troubled following the disequilibrium of the elements. But their disequilibrium of the elements is never retribution: for "determinate" actions where retribution could produce trouble of the mind are retributed before they have obtained the Path, and "indeterminate" actions will not bear their results due to the fact that the Path is obtained Neither terror, nor the attack of demon beings, nor fear can trouble the mind of the Aryans, for they are
241
above the five fears, they do no disobedient actions which excite the
242 fury of demon beings, for they completely know the nature of things.
***
The Sutra teaches that there are three crookednesses, crookedness of the body, speech, and mind; and thus three corruptions and three stains.
? Karma 635 243
59a-b. What is termed crookedness, corruption, stains, is aaion arisen from hypocrisy, hatred, and attachment.
Aaion of the body, speech, and mind which arises from hypocrisy, proceeds from crookedness, and is called crookedness (kautilya, vi. 50b); aaion which arises from hatred, proceeds from hatred, and is called corruption; and aaion which arises from attachment, proceeds from
244 stain, and is termed stain.
245
The Sutra teaches that aaion is of four types: black, of black retribution; white, of white retribution; black-white, of black-white retribution; neither black nor white, without black or white retribution; and that which destroys the other aaions.
60. Bad aaions, good aaion of Rupa, good aaions of Kama, are,
respeaively, black, white, black-white; aaion which destroys the
246 other aaions is pure aaion.
1. Bad aaion, being defiled, is absolutely black; retribution, being painful, is black.
2. Good aaion of the sphere of Rupadhatu, not mixed with the bad, is absolutely white; its retribution, being agreeable, is white (see above p. 621, aninjya aaion).
Objeaion: Why not say the same for good aaion of the sphere of Arupyadhatu?
247
59c-d Aaion is of four types, white, black, etc
Because
the qualification "white" applies only to aaion which has
two retributions (i. e. , in intermediate existence and in an existence
248
proper), and which is threefold, bodily, vocal and mental Now aaion
of the sphere of Arupyadhatu does not present these charaaeristics.
But the Sutra describes aaion of the sphere of Arupyadhatu as white
249 and of white retribution.
3. Good aaion of the sphere of Kamadhatu, being mixed with the bad, is black-white; its retribution is mixed, so it is thus black-white.
This definition is to be understood as applying, not to the nature of
the aaion itself, but to the "series" or the person; in one and the same
mental series, good aaion is mixed with bad aaion. There is no aaion
which is black-white, nor any retribution which is black-white, which
250 would be a contradictioa
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Objection: But bad action is also mixed with white action, hence bad action should be defined as black-white.
Bad action is not necessarily mixed with good action; whereas, in
Kamadhatu, good action is necessarily mixed with bad, because, in this
251 sphere, the bad is stronger than the good.
4. Pure action destroys the other three types of action. Not being
252
defiled, it is not black; not being retributiion, it is not white. It is
"non-white" (asukla).
This expression of the Sutra, asukla, is "intentional:" the Blessed
One wishes to oppose pure action to white action; but, speaking in the
m
Maha? unyatdsffira of the dharmas proper to the Arhat, he expresses
himself thus, "The dharmas of the Arhat, Oh Ananda, are absolutely white, absolutely good, absolutely irreprochable. " And one reads in the
254
Treatise, "What are the white dharmas? The good dharmas and the
neutral dharmas? "
Pure action does not have any retribution, for it is not of the domain
255 of the spheres of existence; in fact, it arrests the process of existence.
Does any pure action destroy all the actions of the first three categories, black, white, or black-white?
No.
61. A volition may be of twelve types, namely the volition of the
dharmaksantis and of the first eight paths of abandoning in the
detachment of Kamadhatu: such is the action which destroys
256 black action.
Four volitions correspond to the four dharmaksantis of the Path of Seeing the Truths; eight volitions correspond to the first eight paths of abandoning in the detachment of Kamadhatu: in all twelve volitions, all pure actions which destroy bad actions.
62a-b. The volition of the ninth is the action which destroys black-white action.
The volition which corresponds to the ninth path of abandoning in the detachment of Kamadhatu is the pure action which causes the abandoning of black-white action and black action, for at this moment one abandons, in its entirety, good action of Kamadhatu (which is black-white) and the ninth and last category of bad action.
? 62c-d Volition which arises in the last paths of abandoning of the detachment of the dhyanas destroys good aaion
The volition of the ninth and last path of abandoning which produces detachment of Kamadhatu with regard to each dhydna is fourfold volition which destroys white aaion.
Objeaion: The first eight paths of abandoning in the detachment of Kamadhatu destroy black aaion. But you attribute the power to destroy white-black and white aaion (good and impure aaions: kusaksasrava) solely to the ninth path of abandoning. Why is this?
There is not, properly speaking, abandonment of any good
dharmas, for even if they are abandoned, the good dharmas can
reappear; but when the defilement which has this dharma for its objea
is destroyed this dharma is said to be abandoned. Therefore as long as
the last category of defilement which can grasp it as its objea is not
destroyed, this gooddharma is not considered abandoned. [Now it is the
ninth path of abandoning which breaks the prdpti of the ninth category
of defilement relative to each sphere (Kamadhatu, dhyanas) and, as a
consequence, allows one to obtain disconneaion (ii. 57d) from this
257 defilement).
63a-b. According to others, the first two aaions are retributed in hell and retributed moreover in Kamadhatu.
According to other masters (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 590al) aaion which should be experienced in hell is black aaion; aaion which should be experienced elsewhere in Kamadhatu, in addition to hell, is black- white aaion. Infernal retribution is produced exclusively through bad aaion: as a consequence, aaion which should be experienced in hell is black aaion. Retribution in Kamadhatu, with the exception of hell, is exclusively produced by good-bad aaion (that is, by good aaion mixed with bad aaion).
63c-d According to others, arisen in Kama, aaions are black
when they can be abandoned through Seeing the Truths; they
258 are black-white in the contrary case.
According to other masters (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 590c5) aaion which is abandoned through Seeing the Truths, not being mixed with the
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good, is black. All other actions of Kamadhatu, namely action which
is abandoned through Meditation, is black-white, that is, good mixed with bad.
***
The Sutra says, "There are three silences, silence of the body, voice,
260 and of the mind. "
64a-c. Asaiksa, that is, an Arhat's, actions of the body, voice and 261
mind, are, in this order, the three silences.
Silence of the body and silence of the voice is bodily and vocal action
262
which belongs to the Arhat. Silence of the mind is the mind or
thought which belongs to an Arhat: this is not mental action. Why is this?
Because the mind is the true Silent One, the true Muni.
The Vahasikas say that one knows through inference--by reason of the actions of the body and voice--that the mind is of oikfa.
But an Arhat's bodily and vocal action, is, in its nature, "abstention,"
whereas the action of the mind is not, by nature, "abstention," because 263
three is no avijnapti of the mind.
But "silence" is abstention, thus the mind itself "which abstains"
receives the name of silence.
Why does only the mind of the Arhat receive this name?
Because the Arhat is the true Silent One through the cessation of all
murmuring of his defilements.
***
The Sutra says, "There are three purifications, purification of the
264 body, purification of the voice, and purification of the mind. "
64c-d. The threefold good practice in its entirety is the threefold purification.
All the good practices of the body, pure or impure, are a purification of the body, because, either for a time or in a definitive manner, they efface the impurity of the defilements and bad practices.
? The same holds for the voice and mind
This teaching has for its goal the instruction of persons who take a
265 false silence for silence, and a false purification of purification.
***
266
The Sutra says that there are three bad practices.
65a-b. The bad actions of the body, speech and mind are regarded as being the three bad practices.
267 Bad actions of the body are the bad praaices of the body and so on.
65c-d Even though greed, wickedness, anger and false views are not actions, they constitute a threefold bad practice of the mind.
Further, there are three bad practices of the mind which, by their
268
nature, are not mental action: greed, wickedness or harm, and false
views.
The Darstantikas say that greed, wickedness and false views are,
269
in fact, mental actions, for the Samcetantyasutra considers them as 270
actions.
The Vaibhasikas: In this hypothesis, defilements and actions would
be the same thing.
The Darstantikas: What harm do you see in that?
The Vaibhasikas: To admit that defilement is action is to contradict
the Sutra and the definition that it gives of action (iv. lb). As for the Samcetantyasutra to which you allude, it is volition itself that it designates when it says "greed," because volition comes into play under the influence of greed
Because these produce a painful retribution, and because they are condemned by gpod persons, these praaices of the body, speech and mind are bad; they are thus termed bad praaices.
271 66a. Good praaice is the opposite.
The opposite of bad praaice is good praaice: good actions of the body, speech, and mind; further, non-greed, non-wickedness and right views.
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*#*
272 How can false views or right views by regarded as bad, or good?
In fact, the first does not contain an intention to do evil, and the second does not contain an intention to do good to another.
This is true, but they are the root of this twofold intentioa
66b-d By taking, among these practices, the most evident, one
273 defines the ten courses of action, good and bad respectively.
The Sutra defines ten courses of action: good courses of action, by taking the most important,--which are the easiest to see--from among the good practices; and bad courses of action, by taking the gravest from among the bad practices.
***
What practices, bad or good, are not included in the courses of action?
A part of the bad practices of the body, namely (1) preparatory and consecutive actions of bodily courses of action (prayoga, prsthabhiita, iv. 68c); and (2) certain defiled actions of the body, for example, drinking alcohol, hitting, binding, etc (Majjhbna, iii. 34), are not included among the courses of action, because these practices are not extremely grave. Among the bad practices of the body are courses of action which deprive another of his life, of his goods, or of his wife: one must absolutely abstain from them.
That which is very grave among bad practices of speech, is, for this same reason, declared to be a course of action, not preparatory, consecutive, or minor action.
One part of the bad praaice of the mind, volition, is also excluded
274 from the bad courses of actioa
The good courses of action do not include 1. either a part of the good
praaice of the body: preparatory or consecutive; abstention from
275
inebriating drinks, etc. ; alms, worship, etc. ; 2. or one part of the good
276
praaice of speech, affeaionate words, etc. ; 3. or one part of the good
praaice of the mind, good volition.
? Among the courses of action,
67a. Six bad courses of action can be exclusively avijnapti.
When one has six courses of action--murder, stealing, lying,
malicious speech, harmful speech, or inconsiderate speech--performed
by another, then these six courses of aaion are only avijnapti. He who
had these actions carried out is lacking the principle vijnapti, that is, the
278
act of killing itself, etc
67b. One bad course of aaion is always of two types.
Adulteryisalwaysvijnaptiandavijnapti,foritmustbeperpetrated in person. When one has it committed by another, he does not procure the same pleasure.
67b. Six, when one carries them out himself, are of two types
27 also. *
When one executes them himself, the six courses of aaion specified
above (67a) are at one and the same time vijnapti and avijnapti if death 280
takes place at the same moment as the vijnapti (that is, at the moment of the stroke by which one intends to kill): if death takes place later, there is only avijnapti.
***
Among the good courses of aaion,
67c Seven good courses of aaion are of two types.
Seven courses of material aaions, that is, of the body and the voice, are of two types, vijnapti and avijnapti. In faa the morality that one undertakes depends on one vijnapti.
61d. They are only avijnapti when they have arisen from absorption.
The courses of aaion which are included in dharmaiUa, that is, in the discipline of dhyana and in the pure discipline, are qualified as
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"arisen from absorption/' These two disciplines depend on a single
21 thought: the courses of action are thus not vij&apti. *
Is this also the case for preparatory and consecutive actions as for the principle action or the course of aaion proper?
68a. The samantakas are vijnapti.
The samantakas or preliminary actions are actions which prepare forthecoursesofaaionofthesphereofKamadhatu Theyarealways vijnapti (iv. 2b, 3d).
68b. They may or may not be avijnapti.
When they are accomplished with a great violence of passion (paryavastbana, v. 47, dhfikya, 032, etc), or with an extreme strength of faith (prasddagbanarasena, iv. 22), they are avijnapti. If not, then no.
282
Consecutive actions are, on the contrary, necessarily avijnapti. They are vijfiapti when, having accomplished a course of aaion, one continues to commit aaions analogous to the course of aaioa
***
What is it that constitutes preparatory aaion, the course of aaion
283 proper, and consecutive aaion?
A man, desiring to kill an animal, rises from his bed, takes some silver, goes to the market, feels the animal, buys the animal, leads it, pulls it, makes it enter, mistreats it, takes a sword, strikes the head once or twice: as long as he does not kill it, the aaion preparatory to killing lasts.
At the stroke by which he deprives the animal of its life--that is, at the moment when the animal dies--the vijnapti of this moment and the avijnapti which is simultaneous to this vijnapti, are the course of aaion proper. For it is by reason of two causes that one is touched by the transgression of murder: by reason of the preparatory aaion and by
284
reason of the achievement of the result [of the preparatory aaion]. The moments that follow, the moments of avijnapti created by the killing, are the consecutive aaion; the series of the moments of vijnapti
68c The opposite concerning consecutive aaioa
? are also consecutive action: moments that constitute pulling the hide off the animal, washing it, weighing it, selling it, cooking it, eating it, and congratulating oneself on it.
In the same way one can explain, with the necessary changes, the
285 other six courses of bodily and vocal aaion.
There is no reason to distinguish preparatory and consecutive aaion for greed, wickedness and false views: at the moment when they manifest themselves, by the sole fact of their presence, they are courses of action proper.
Objection: A question is raised. Is the course of action made up of
vijnapti and avijnapti at the moment when the animal is in marana- 286
bhava, that is, at the moment when the animal dies? Or is the vijnapti and the avijnapti of the moment when the animal is in mrtabhava, that is, when it is dead?
If you accept the first hypothesis, a person would be guilty of the transgression of killing when he kills at the very moment when the killed animal dies: but your system (siddhanta, iv. 72a-b) does not admit this. And in the second hypothesis, you have rightly said that, "at the stroke by which he deprives the animal of its life, the vijnapti of this moment and the avijnapti simultaneous to this vijnapti, are the course of action proper," [You should have said, mrte prdniniyd vijnaptih. . . "The vijnapti which took place when the animal dies. . . "]
Further, if you accept the second hypothesis, you contradict the
explanation that the Vaibhasikas give to the phrase, "while the prayoga
has not yet disappeared," that one reads in the Mulafastra (Jnana-
prasthma, TD 26, p. 975a8). This Sastra says, "Can it be the case that a
living being has already been killed but that murder has not yet
287
occured? Yes, when the living being has already been deprived of life,
288
but when the prayoga [of the murder] has not yet disappeared" The
Vaibhasikas (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 6l7a3) explain this text by saying that the word prayoga ("conjoined with")--which normally signifies preparation--here has the meaning of consecutive aaion. Now you contradia this explanation since, placing the course of principle aaion at the moment when the animal dies, it is indeed the course of principal
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aaion which, according to you, has not disappeared at the moment when the animal dies. You interpret the word prayoga of the Sastra in the sense of the principal aaion
The Vaibhasikas: One must explain the Sastra in such a manner that it does not lend itself to criticism. And how is that? In the text in question, prayoga signifies principal course of aaion: [at least when one envisions the moment which immediately follows the death of the animal; when one envisions the moments which follow this moment,
prayoga signifies, as the Vibhasa says, the consecutive aaion]
But how could the vijnapti of the moment when the animal is
already dead be the principal course of aaion?
The Vaibhasikas: Why would it not be?
Because it is ineffeaive [The animal is dead: one does not cause it to
die again]
The Vaibhasikas: But how is avijnapti, which is always ineffecive, a
course of aaion? It is not their efficacy which makes a vijnapti and an avijnapti courses of aaion; it is the faa that they are produced at the
289
Gin it be the case that one course of aaion is either a preparatory aaion or a consecutive action of another course of aaion?
Yes. For example the ten courses of aaion can be a preparatory aaion for murder. A man desires to kill his enemy; in order to assure the success of this enterprise, he takes the goods of another and offers an animal in sacrifice; as a means to this same end, he committs adultery with the wife of his enemy in order to make her an accomplice; through lying, malicious, injurious, and frivolous words, he causes a falling out
between his enemy and his friends who would be able to defend him; he covets the goods of his enemy; he wishes to do evil to his enemy; he nourishes false views with regard to the murder that he wants to commit.
In this same way the ten courses of aaion can be the consecutive aaion of murder. And the same for the other courses of aaion, stealing,
290
But, greed, wickedness and false views are never preparatory
moment of the achievement of the result of the preparatory aaion.
etc
? actions, for they are not the beginning of an aaion; nor are they
291
The Sutra says, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, three types of killing: killing arisen from desire, killing arisen from hatred, and killing arisen from ignorance," and thus following to, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, three types of false views. " What are these different killings, etc?
All the courses of aaion are not indifferently achieved by desire, hatred, or ignorance; but
292 68d Preparatory aaion arises from three roots.
The preparatory aaion of all of the courses of aaion can indifferently arise from the three roots. The Blessed One, by expressing himself as we have seen, refers to the first cause, the cause which gives rise (samidtbapaka, iv. lOa-b) to the course of aaion.
293
1. Killing (iv. 73) arisen from desire: killing in order to seize a
certain part of an animal; killing in order to seize some goods; killing for pleasure; killing in order to defend oneself, or one's friends.
Killing arisen from hatred, in order to satiate hostility.
Killing arisen through ignorance. To consider the sacrifice as a
294
pious aaion and so to kill; when a king, according to the authority of
the legalists kills through duty, "The first of the meritorious aaions of
the king is to punish evil-doers"; when the Persians say, "One should
295
kill one's aged and sick parents"; when one says, "One should kill
preparatory actions, for they are solely a production of the mind
*##
serpents, scorpions, and tryambuka flies (Mahavyutpatti, 213,91), etc. , 296
because these creatures are poisonous; one must kill game, cattle,
297 birds, and buffalos in order to nourish oneself. "
And finally killing which is provoked by false views: murder committed by a person who denys a future life and whom nothing can stop.
2. Stealing (iv. 73c-d) arisen from desire. Either one steals the objea
desired, or one steals in order to then gain possession of another objea,
298
to acquire honor and respea, or in order to defend oneself and one's
friends.
Stealing arisen from hatred, in order to satiate hostility.
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Stealing arisen from ignorance. A king, upon the authority of the legalists, seizes the goods of evil-doers. The Brahmins say, "All things have been given to the Brahmins by Brahma; and it is through the weakness of the Brahmins that the Vr? alas enjoy it. Consequently, when a Brahmin steals, he takes that which belongs to him; he eats what is his,
299
wears what is his, and gives what is his. " And yet, when Brahmins
take, they indeed have the notion of the goods of another.
Stealing provoked through false views is also stealing from
ignorance.
3. Illicit sexuality (iv. 74a-b) arisen from desire. Sexual intercourse
with the wife of another, either through love, or in order to obtain honor and respect, or in order to defend oneself and one's friends.
Illicit sexuality arisen through hatred, in order to satiate hostility.
Illicit sexuality arisen from ignorance. The Persians, etc, have
30 intercourse with their mothers and other forbidden womea ? In the
301
gosava sacrifice, a Brahmin drinks water in the manner of an animal,
grazes through the grass, has intercourse with his mother, his sister, or a woman of his gotta; he must copulate with them wherever he finds them: in this manner this bull will triumph over the world And such
,r
too are those that say, Women are like rice mortars, flowers, fruits,
302 cooked food, ladders, roads, and ferryboats: they are there to be used"
4-7. Lying (iv. 74c-d) and other vocal transgressions arisen from ignorance and from hatred, as above.
Lying arisen from ignorance. "Oh King, playful lying, lying to
women, in marriage, or in danger of death, does not hurt: one says that
303
these five lies are not transgressions. " This is lying provoked by false
views.
Malicious words and other vocal transgressions arisen from
ignorance. These are provoked through false views. Further, the false discourses of the Vedas, etc, are frivolous words arisen from ignorance. 8-10. How do greed, wickedness and false views (iv. 77-78) arise out
of desire, etc? Since they are not preparatory action, this creates a difficulty:
69a-b. Greed and the other two mental courses arise from the three roots because they appear subsequent to these roots.
When they appear immediately after desire, they arise from desire;
? the same for the other two roots. ***
We have explained the bad courses of aaion in their relationship with the roots. As for the good courses of aaion,
69c-d Good actions, with their preparatory and consecutive aaions, arise fron non-desire, non-hatred, and non-ignorance.
Good courses of aaion, with their preparatory and consecutive aaions, have a good mind for their originating (pravartaka, iv. 10) cause. This good mind, being necessarily associated with the three roots, arises from the three roots.
The renouncing of a preparation of a bad course of aaion is a preparation of a good course of aaion; the renouncing of the aaion proper which constitutes a bad course of aaion is itself a good course of aaion; the renouncing of a consecutive aaion of a bad course of aaion is a consecutive aaion of a good course of aaion.
Let us give as an example: the ordination of a novice. From the
m
moment when the novice enters into the nandvasa, salutes the
Sangha, addresses his request to the Upadhyaya, until the first or second
305
karmavdcana, this is the preparatory aaion.
At the achievement of
the third karmavdcana there takes place a vijnapti, and an avijnapti
simultaneous to this vijnapti, which constitute the course of aaion itself.
After this moment, when one notifies the new monk of the nisrayas,
306
when he makes known that he accepts them, and as long as the series
of the avijnapti created by the principal aaion continues--that is to say, as long as the monk does not lose the Pratimoksa discipline (iv. 38)-- this is the consecutive aaion.
##*
We have seen that bad courses of aaion were not indifferently "achieved" by the three roots.
70a-b. Killing, wickedness, and injurious words are achieved through hate.
Karma 647
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307 Solely by hate. They are achieved when one thought of murder, or
one thought of violence (concerning wickedness and injurious words) manifests itself.
70b-d Adultery, greed, and stealing are achieved through desire. "Adultery" is illicit sexuality.
71a. False views, through ignorance. Through an extreme ignorance.
71b. The others, by the three.
The other courses of action,--lying, malicious words, and in- considerate words,--are achieved either through desire, hatred, or ignorance.
The courses of action, which have just been divided into four sections, three (70a-b), three, one and three, have respectively for their
71c-d Object: living beings, objeas of enjoyment, namarupa,
308 and ndman.
Living beings are the objects of killing, wickedness and injurious
speech; the objeas of enjoyment are the objeas of adultery, greed and
stealing; namarupa, that is, the five skandhas, are the objea of false
views; ndman, that is, the ndmakdya (ii. 47) is the objea of lying and the 309
other two transgressions of the voice.
#*#
When one has decided to kill someone, and if the murderer dies either before the intended victim, or if he dies at precisely the same
moment as the viaim, is there a principal course of action for the author of the murder?
72a-b. If one dies before or at the same time, there is no principal
310 course of aaion.
This is why the Vibhdsd says, "Question: When a person has made the preparation for killing, can it be that, at the moment when the result of this preparation is achieved, this person is not touched by the
? 311
transgression of killing? Answer: Yes, when the murderer dies
before or at the same time [as the viaim]. " The reason is clear: as long as the viaim is living, the murderer is not touched by the transgression of murder; and when the viaim dies, he (=the murderer) no longer exists if he died at the same time or before.
72b. Because a new body has come into existence.
The body--the personality--by whom the preparation had been accomplished, the body of the murderer, is destroyed; the murderer takes up a new body which belongs to another nikayasabhaga (ii. 41a): this body did not make the preparation, is not prayoktar and, as a consequence, cannot be touched by the transgression of murder.
*##
When many persons are united with the intention to kill, either in war, or in the hunt, or in banditry, who is guilty of murder, if only one of them kills?
72c-d As soldiers, etc. , concur in the realization of the same effea, all are as guilty as the one who kills.
Having a common goal, all are guilty exaaly as he who among them kills, for all mutually incite one another, not through speech, but by the very faa that they are united together in order to kill
But is the person who has been constrained through force to join the army also guilty?
Evidently so, unless he has formed the resolution, "Even in order to save my life, I shall not kill a living being. "
***
What does he do in order that he who kills should commit the course of aaion? Same question for the other transgressions up to and including false views.
73a-b.
delivered from attachment with regard to a certain plane of existence (Kamadhatu, the First Dhyana. . . ), in this stage he never produces action to be experienced in his next rebirth.
52c The Aryan no longer produces any aaion to be experienced in a later existence.
When he is firm, the Saint does not produce, in the stage from whence he is detached, any aaion to be experienced either in the next existence or in a later existence.
In fact, the Prthagjana incapable of falling away is not reborn, in the next existence, in the stage from whence he is detached; and a Saint incapable of falling away is never reborn at this stage.
Both produce, relative to the stage wherein they are born, actions to be experienced in the present existence, and indeterminate action.
52d'ITieAj7an,notfkm,whenheisdetadiedfromKamadham or from Bhavagra, the same.
An Aryan detached from Kamadhatu is an Anagamin (vi. 36).
An Aryan detached from Bhavagra or m^ivasamjndndsaihjndya$ana} the last stage of Arupyadhatu, is an Arhat (vi. 45).
Even when they are subject to falling away, that is to say, susceptible of losing the results obtained, these Saints do not produce aaion to be experienced in the next existence, nor in a subsequent existence, either in Kamadhatu or in Bhavagra.
We shall explain (vi. 60) how the Saint, subjea to falling away, always reacquires the results before dying.
**#
Does the intermediate being (antarabhava, iii. l2c) produce any aaions?
53a-b. The intermediate being, in Kamadhatu, produces twenty-
224 two types of aaions.
The embryo passes through five states, kalala, arbuda, pe/in, gfoana, 2xApraiakhd. K human being passes through five states, as an infant, an
225 adolescent, a grown person, a mature person, and an old person.
? The intermediate creature produces determinate actions to be experienced as an intermediate being, as kalala, as arbuda. . . as an infant, asanadolescent. . . . thereareeleventypesofdeterminateactions. Inthis same way he produces eleven indeterminate actions.
53c These actions bear their results in the present existence.
The eleven determinate actions of the intermediate being belong to the category "to be experienced in the present existence. "
Why?
53d. For all these states form, together with the intermediate
226 existence, only a single existence.
The intermediate existence and the ten states which follow it are projeaed by a single aaion (iii. 13). Thus one does not distinguish an aaion "to be experienced in the intermediate existence:" this is projeaed, in faa, by the aaion itself which is to be experienced in the life
227 which follows the intermediate existence.
#**
By virtue of what charaaeristics is an aaion determinate, that is to say, necessarily retributed?
54. Aaion accomplished through intense defilement or through intense faith, with regard to the field of qualities, continually, and the murdering of a father and a mother, are determinate.
Aaion accomplished through intense defilement, aaion accom- plished through intense faith, aaion accomplished with regard to a field of qualities, and aaion continually accomplished, are determinate.
"Field of qualities" signifies either the Three Jewels, or certain persons, namely the possessors of the results, or Saints (Srotaapanna, etc. ), and the possessors of certain absorptions (nirodhasamdpatti, il44d; arand, viL35c; matin, viiL29). Aaion accomplished with regard to these fields, even in the absence of an intense thought of defilement or of faith, or of continuity, is determinate, whether it is good or bad
The same for the murder of one's father or mother, with whatever
228 intention it was committed.
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All other aaion--which is done with a weak defilement, etc--is indeterminate.
##*
By virtue of what characteristic is an action experienced in the present existence?
55a-h Action bears result in the present existence by reason of
229 certain characteristics of the field and the intention.
By reason of the excellence of the field, even though the intention may be weak: for example, the Bhiksu who becomes a woman through having insulted the Sangha, 'Tou are nothing but women! "
By reason of the excellence of the intention: for example the eunuch
who delivered bulls from the danger of being castrated, and so regained
230 his own sexuality.
Or still further:
55c. And also, when one is definitively detached with regard to the stage in which the action appears.
When a person is definitively detached from a certain stage (iv. 52), he cannot anymore be reborn in this stage: as a consequence, action retributable in this stage, but in another existence, whether it is good or bad, changes its nature and becomes retributable in the present existence.
231 55d Aaion "determinate with regard to retribution. "
This refers to aaion having a necessary retribution, but in- determinate with regard to the period of its retribution: this aaion will be retributed in the present life.
As for aaion determinate with regard to the period of its retribution, it will be retributed in the period for which it is determinate: the person for whom aaions should be retributed, in this first rebirth, in a certain stage, cannot be definitively detached from this stage.
As for aaion non-determinate with regard to the retribution itself, it will not be retributed if one detaches himself from the stage where it could have been retributed
? Which field confers on an action which is in a relationship with it, the quality of being necessarily retributed in the present existence?
In general, it is the Sangha of Bhiksus having at its head the Buddha; to enumerate its persons, there are five types of persons:
56. Persons who have left either nirodha, or maitri, or arana, or Seeing the Truths, or the result of Arhat: all good and all bad
232 with regard to tfiem is immediately retributed
The person who leaves the absorption of extinction (nirodha- samapatti, ii. 41c, viii. 33): in th&'absorption he has obtained an extreme tranquility of thought, for this absorption is similar to Nirvana. When he leaves it, it is as if he had gone to Nirvana and has returned from it.
The person who leaves the absorption which arrests the defile- ments of another (arandsamapatti, viii. 35c): in this absorption, his mental series is endowed with the intention of placing an infinite number of beings into the absence of defilement; when he leaves it, his series is penetrated with an intense and measureless merit.
The person who leaves the absorption of compassion (maitri- samdpatti, viii. 29): in this absorption, his series is endowed with the intention of increasing the well-being of an infinite number of beings; when he leaves it, his series is penetrated with an intense and measureless merit.
233
The person who leaves the Path of Seeing the Truths: in this
Path, he has abandoned all the defilements which are abandoned through Seeing the Truths. When he leaves it, his series is thus pure, since his personality has just been renewed
The person who leaves the result of Arhat, that is to say, who has just acquired the result of Arhat: he has just achieved the abandoning of all the defilements which are abandoned through Meditation on the Truths. His series is pure, since his personality has just been renewed
This is why good or bad actions, well or badly done, with regard to these five persons, bear a result in the present existence (Vibhdsa, TD 27,p. 782c27).
The Paths of Meditation through which one obtains the results of Sakrdagamin and of Anagamin, are incomplete in themslves and in
Karma 631
? 632 Chapter Four __
their result. Persons who leave the conquest of these two results are not fields of merit comparable to an Arhat. Their series is not pure; their personalities have not been recently renewed
The essential element of retribution is sensation.
Gin the retribution of a certain aaion be excusively mental sensation, and not bodily sensation (kayiki, ii. 7)? And can the retribution of a certain aaion be bodily sensation, and not mental sensation?
57a-c Sensation, the result of good aaion free from vitarka, is exclusively mental
Aaions of the the sphere of dhyanantara, the interval between the
First and Second Dhyanas (iv. 48b), and the aaions of the higher stages
are free from vitarka (ii. 31, viiL23c). Like bodily sensation, that is to say,
associated with the five sense consciousnesses, which always embraces
vitarka and vicara (i. 32), it cannot be the result of a retribution of an 254
aaion free from vitarka.
57d Sensation, which is the result of a bad aaion, is exclusively
physical.
A sensation, the result of retribution of a bad aaion, is painful;
painful mental sensation is what is termed a sensation of dissatisfaaion.
We have established that dissatisfaaion is never the result of retribution
235 (iL10b-c).
***
But if dissatisfaaion, or painful mental sensation, is not retribution, in which consciousness--visual consciousness, etc, mental conscious- ness--is mental trouble or trouble-of-the-mind, which is painful sensation, produced? [Apparently it is the retribution of a bad aaion].
236 58a. Mental-trouble is produced in the mental consciousness.
The expression that the Karika uses, manascitta, "mental thought,"
? is equivalent to the expression manovijnana, "mental consciousness, consciousness of the manas. "
The five sense consciousnesses cannot be troubled because they are free from imagining, inquiry and memory, and mental trouble is the imagining of that which does not exist (asadvikalpa, i. 33).
58b. It arises from the retribution of action.
Mental trouble arises from the retribution of actioa
The person who troubles and deranges the mind of another through curses and formulas; the person who causes another to drink poison or alcohol when he does not want to drink it; the person who frightens game, either in the hunt, or by setting the jungle on fire, or by the hollowing out of traps; and the person who, by whatever means, troubles the memory and the presence of mind of another, will have his own mind troubled, deprived of the aid of his memory through the
237 effect of the retribution of these actions.
58c-& Through fear, the attack of demons, irritation of the
238 elements, and fear.
239
1. Demon beings, with horrible features, will approach such a
person: seeing them, the person is frightened and his mind is troubled 2. Furious at the evil condua of humans, demon beings will hit them in their vital parts. 3. The primary elements of the body will lose their equilibrium: the wind, heat and liquid will be irritated. 4. Fear also
240
But, one would say, if mental trouble, or trouble of the mental consciousness, arises from the retribution of action, how can one say that this mental sensation is not retribution?
We do not say that trouble of the mind--a troubled mind--is retribution of action, but that it arises from the retribution of action. The primary elements in a state of disequilibrium are retribution: the troubled mind proceeds from it; it thus arises from retributioa One says that the mind is troubled when,--by reason of the disequilibrium or the irritation of the humors, which results from action,--the mind is
troubles the mind, for example in the case of Vasisthi, etc
***
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deranged, anarchic, devoid of mindfulness.
Four alternatives: 1. The mind troubled without being disturbed: the
mind undefiled but troubled; 2. the mind disordered without being troubled: the mind defiled, but tranquil; 3. the mind troubled and disordered; [and 4. the mind neither troubled nor disordered],
### ,
Among whom is trouble of the mind produced?
58d Among beings in Kamadhatu, with the exception of the Kurus. *
Among the gods of Kamadhatu, there are two madnesses; all the more so is there madness among humans, Pretas, and animals.
Beings in hell always have troubled minds: their vital parts are incessantly hurt by thousands of different torments; they are crushed down by suffering; they do not recognize themselves, so they do not distinguish that which they should do and that which they should avoid We give as an example a being in hell who laments by saying, "Ah! The mind! "
With the exception of the Buddha, the Aryans are not free from trouble of the mind: their thoughts can be troubled following the disequilibrium of the elements. But their disequilibrium of the elements is never retribution: for "determinate" actions where retribution could produce trouble of the mind are retributed before they have obtained the Path, and "indeterminate" actions will not bear their results due to the fact that the Path is obtained Neither terror, nor the attack of demon beings, nor fear can trouble the mind of the Aryans, for they are
241
above the five fears, they do no disobedient actions which excite the
242 fury of demon beings, for they completely know the nature of things.
***
The Sutra teaches that there are three crookednesses, crookedness of the body, speech, and mind; and thus three corruptions and three stains.
? Karma 635 243
59a-b. What is termed crookedness, corruption, stains, is aaion arisen from hypocrisy, hatred, and attachment.
Aaion of the body, speech, and mind which arises from hypocrisy, proceeds from crookedness, and is called crookedness (kautilya, vi. 50b); aaion which arises from hatred, proceeds from hatred, and is called corruption; and aaion which arises from attachment, proceeds from
244 stain, and is termed stain.
245
The Sutra teaches that aaion is of four types: black, of black retribution; white, of white retribution; black-white, of black-white retribution; neither black nor white, without black or white retribution; and that which destroys the other aaions.
60. Bad aaions, good aaion of Rupa, good aaions of Kama, are,
respeaively, black, white, black-white; aaion which destroys the
246 other aaions is pure aaion.
1. Bad aaion, being defiled, is absolutely black; retribution, being painful, is black.
2. Good aaion of the sphere of Rupadhatu, not mixed with the bad, is absolutely white; its retribution, being agreeable, is white (see above p. 621, aninjya aaion).
Objeaion: Why not say the same for good aaion of the sphere of Arupyadhatu?
247
59c-d Aaion is of four types, white, black, etc
Because
the qualification "white" applies only to aaion which has
two retributions (i. e. , in intermediate existence and in an existence
248
proper), and which is threefold, bodily, vocal and mental Now aaion
of the sphere of Arupyadhatu does not present these charaaeristics.
But the Sutra describes aaion of the sphere of Arupyadhatu as white
249 and of white retribution.
3. Good aaion of the sphere of Kamadhatu, being mixed with the bad, is black-white; its retribution is mixed, so it is thus black-white.
This definition is to be understood as applying, not to the nature of
the aaion itself, but to the "series" or the person; in one and the same
mental series, good aaion is mixed with bad aaion. There is no aaion
which is black-white, nor any retribution which is black-white, which
250 would be a contradictioa
? Chapter Four
Objection: But bad action is also mixed with white action, hence bad action should be defined as black-white.
Bad action is not necessarily mixed with good action; whereas, in
Kamadhatu, good action is necessarily mixed with bad, because, in this
251 sphere, the bad is stronger than the good.
4. Pure action destroys the other three types of action. Not being
252
defiled, it is not black; not being retributiion, it is not white. It is
"non-white" (asukla).
This expression of the Sutra, asukla, is "intentional:" the Blessed
One wishes to oppose pure action to white action; but, speaking in the
m
Maha? unyatdsffira of the dharmas proper to the Arhat, he expresses
himself thus, "The dharmas of the Arhat, Oh Ananda, are absolutely white, absolutely good, absolutely irreprochable. " And one reads in the
254
Treatise, "What are the white dharmas? The good dharmas and the
neutral dharmas? "
Pure action does not have any retribution, for it is not of the domain
255 of the spheres of existence; in fact, it arrests the process of existence.
Does any pure action destroy all the actions of the first three categories, black, white, or black-white?
No.
61. A volition may be of twelve types, namely the volition of the
dharmaksantis and of the first eight paths of abandoning in the
detachment of Kamadhatu: such is the action which destroys
256 black action.
Four volitions correspond to the four dharmaksantis of the Path of Seeing the Truths; eight volitions correspond to the first eight paths of abandoning in the detachment of Kamadhatu: in all twelve volitions, all pure actions which destroy bad actions.
62a-b. The volition of the ninth is the action which destroys black-white action.
The volition which corresponds to the ninth path of abandoning in the detachment of Kamadhatu is the pure action which causes the abandoning of black-white action and black action, for at this moment one abandons, in its entirety, good action of Kamadhatu (which is black-white) and the ninth and last category of bad action.
? 62c-d Volition which arises in the last paths of abandoning of the detachment of the dhyanas destroys good aaion
The volition of the ninth and last path of abandoning which produces detachment of Kamadhatu with regard to each dhydna is fourfold volition which destroys white aaion.
Objeaion: The first eight paths of abandoning in the detachment of Kamadhatu destroy black aaion. But you attribute the power to destroy white-black and white aaion (good and impure aaions: kusaksasrava) solely to the ninth path of abandoning. Why is this?
There is not, properly speaking, abandonment of any good
dharmas, for even if they are abandoned, the good dharmas can
reappear; but when the defilement which has this dharma for its objea
is destroyed this dharma is said to be abandoned. Therefore as long as
the last category of defilement which can grasp it as its objea is not
destroyed, this gooddharma is not considered abandoned. [Now it is the
ninth path of abandoning which breaks the prdpti of the ninth category
of defilement relative to each sphere (Kamadhatu, dhyanas) and, as a
consequence, allows one to obtain disconneaion (ii. 57d) from this
257 defilement).
63a-b. According to others, the first two aaions are retributed in hell and retributed moreover in Kamadhatu.
According to other masters (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 590al) aaion which should be experienced in hell is black aaion; aaion which should be experienced elsewhere in Kamadhatu, in addition to hell, is black- white aaion. Infernal retribution is produced exclusively through bad aaion: as a consequence, aaion which should be experienced in hell is black aaion. Retribution in Kamadhatu, with the exception of hell, is exclusively produced by good-bad aaion (that is, by good aaion mixed with bad aaion).
63c-d According to others, arisen in Kama, aaions are black
when they can be abandoned through Seeing the Truths; they
258 are black-white in the contrary case.
According to other masters (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 590c5) aaion which is abandoned through Seeing the Truths, not being mixed with the
Karma 637
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good, is black. All other actions of Kamadhatu, namely action which
is abandoned through Meditation, is black-white, that is, good mixed with bad.
***
The Sutra says, "There are three silences, silence of the body, voice,
260 and of the mind. "
64a-c. Asaiksa, that is, an Arhat's, actions of the body, voice and 261
mind, are, in this order, the three silences.
Silence of the body and silence of the voice is bodily and vocal action
262
which belongs to the Arhat. Silence of the mind is the mind or
thought which belongs to an Arhat: this is not mental action. Why is this?
Because the mind is the true Silent One, the true Muni.
The Vahasikas say that one knows through inference--by reason of the actions of the body and voice--that the mind is of oikfa.
But an Arhat's bodily and vocal action, is, in its nature, "abstention,"
whereas the action of the mind is not, by nature, "abstention," because 263
three is no avijnapti of the mind.
But "silence" is abstention, thus the mind itself "which abstains"
receives the name of silence.
Why does only the mind of the Arhat receive this name?
Because the Arhat is the true Silent One through the cessation of all
murmuring of his defilements.
***
The Sutra says, "There are three purifications, purification of the
264 body, purification of the voice, and purification of the mind. "
64c-d. The threefold good practice in its entirety is the threefold purification.
All the good practices of the body, pure or impure, are a purification of the body, because, either for a time or in a definitive manner, they efface the impurity of the defilements and bad practices.
? The same holds for the voice and mind
This teaching has for its goal the instruction of persons who take a
265 false silence for silence, and a false purification of purification.
***
266
The Sutra says that there are three bad practices.
65a-b. The bad actions of the body, speech and mind are regarded as being the three bad practices.
267 Bad actions of the body are the bad praaices of the body and so on.
65c-d Even though greed, wickedness, anger and false views are not actions, they constitute a threefold bad practice of the mind.
Further, there are three bad practices of the mind which, by their
268
nature, are not mental action: greed, wickedness or harm, and false
views.
The Darstantikas say that greed, wickedness and false views are,
269
in fact, mental actions, for the Samcetantyasutra considers them as 270
actions.
The Vaibhasikas: In this hypothesis, defilements and actions would
be the same thing.
The Darstantikas: What harm do you see in that?
The Vaibhasikas: To admit that defilement is action is to contradict
the Sutra and the definition that it gives of action (iv. lb). As for the Samcetantyasutra to which you allude, it is volition itself that it designates when it says "greed," because volition comes into play under the influence of greed
Because these produce a painful retribution, and because they are condemned by gpod persons, these praaices of the body, speech and mind are bad; they are thus termed bad praaices.
271 66a. Good praaice is the opposite.
The opposite of bad praaice is good praaice: good actions of the body, speech, and mind; further, non-greed, non-wickedness and right views.
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*#*
272 How can false views or right views by regarded as bad, or good?
In fact, the first does not contain an intention to do evil, and the second does not contain an intention to do good to another.
This is true, but they are the root of this twofold intentioa
66b-d By taking, among these practices, the most evident, one
273 defines the ten courses of action, good and bad respectively.
The Sutra defines ten courses of action: good courses of action, by taking the most important,--which are the easiest to see--from among the good practices; and bad courses of action, by taking the gravest from among the bad practices.
***
What practices, bad or good, are not included in the courses of action?
A part of the bad practices of the body, namely (1) preparatory and consecutive actions of bodily courses of action (prayoga, prsthabhiita, iv. 68c); and (2) certain defiled actions of the body, for example, drinking alcohol, hitting, binding, etc (Majjhbna, iii. 34), are not included among the courses of action, because these practices are not extremely grave. Among the bad practices of the body are courses of action which deprive another of his life, of his goods, or of his wife: one must absolutely abstain from them.
That which is very grave among bad practices of speech, is, for this same reason, declared to be a course of action, not preparatory, consecutive, or minor action.
One part of the bad praaice of the mind, volition, is also excluded
274 from the bad courses of actioa
The good courses of action do not include 1. either a part of the good
praaice of the body: preparatory or consecutive; abstention from
275
inebriating drinks, etc. ; alms, worship, etc. ; 2. or one part of the good
276
praaice of speech, affeaionate words, etc. ; 3. or one part of the good
praaice of the mind, good volition.
? Among the courses of action,
67a. Six bad courses of action can be exclusively avijnapti.
When one has six courses of action--murder, stealing, lying,
malicious speech, harmful speech, or inconsiderate speech--performed
by another, then these six courses of aaion are only avijnapti. He who
had these actions carried out is lacking the principle vijnapti, that is, the
278
act of killing itself, etc
67b. One bad course of aaion is always of two types.
Adulteryisalwaysvijnaptiandavijnapti,foritmustbeperpetrated in person. When one has it committed by another, he does not procure the same pleasure.
67b. Six, when one carries them out himself, are of two types
27 also. *
When one executes them himself, the six courses of aaion specified
above (67a) are at one and the same time vijnapti and avijnapti if death 280
takes place at the same moment as the vijnapti (that is, at the moment of the stroke by which one intends to kill): if death takes place later, there is only avijnapti.
***
Among the good courses of aaion,
67c Seven good courses of aaion are of two types.
Seven courses of material aaions, that is, of the body and the voice, are of two types, vijnapti and avijnapti. In faa the morality that one undertakes depends on one vijnapti.
61d. They are only avijnapti when they have arisen from absorption.
The courses of aaion which are included in dharmaiUa, that is, in the discipline of dhyana and in the pure discipline, are qualified as
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"arisen from absorption/' These two disciplines depend on a single
21 thought: the courses of action are thus not vij&apti. *
Is this also the case for preparatory and consecutive actions as for the principle action or the course of aaion proper?
68a. The samantakas are vijnapti.
The samantakas or preliminary actions are actions which prepare forthecoursesofaaionofthesphereofKamadhatu Theyarealways vijnapti (iv. 2b, 3d).
68b. They may or may not be avijnapti.
When they are accomplished with a great violence of passion (paryavastbana, v. 47, dhfikya, 032, etc), or with an extreme strength of faith (prasddagbanarasena, iv. 22), they are avijnapti. If not, then no.
282
Consecutive actions are, on the contrary, necessarily avijnapti. They are vijfiapti when, having accomplished a course of aaion, one continues to commit aaions analogous to the course of aaioa
***
What is it that constitutes preparatory aaion, the course of aaion
283 proper, and consecutive aaion?
A man, desiring to kill an animal, rises from his bed, takes some silver, goes to the market, feels the animal, buys the animal, leads it, pulls it, makes it enter, mistreats it, takes a sword, strikes the head once or twice: as long as he does not kill it, the aaion preparatory to killing lasts.
At the stroke by which he deprives the animal of its life--that is, at the moment when the animal dies--the vijnapti of this moment and the avijnapti which is simultaneous to this vijnapti, are the course of aaion proper. For it is by reason of two causes that one is touched by the transgression of murder: by reason of the preparatory aaion and by
284
reason of the achievement of the result [of the preparatory aaion]. The moments that follow, the moments of avijnapti created by the killing, are the consecutive aaion; the series of the moments of vijnapti
68c The opposite concerning consecutive aaioa
? are also consecutive action: moments that constitute pulling the hide off the animal, washing it, weighing it, selling it, cooking it, eating it, and congratulating oneself on it.
In the same way one can explain, with the necessary changes, the
285 other six courses of bodily and vocal aaion.
There is no reason to distinguish preparatory and consecutive aaion for greed, wickedness and false views: at the moment when they manifest themselves, by the sole fact of their presence, they are courses of action proper.
Objection: A question is raised. Is the course of action made up of
vijnapti and avijnapti at the moment when the animal is in marana- 286
bhava, that is, at the moment when the animal dies? Or is the vijnapti and the avijnapti of the moment when the animal is in mrtabhava, that is, when it is dead?
If you accept the first hypothesis, a person would be guilty of the transgression of killing when he kills at the very moment when the killed animal dies: but your system (siddhanta, iv. 72a-b) does not admit this. And in the second hypothesis, you have rightly said that, "at the stroke by which he deprives the animal of its life, the vijnapti of this moment and the avijnapti simultaneous to this vijnapti, are the course of action proper," [You should have said, mrte prdniniyd vijnaptih. . . "The vijnapti which took place when the animal dies. . . "]
Further, if you accept the second hypothesis, you contradict the
explanation that the Vaibhasikas give to the phrase, "while the prayoga
has not yet disappeared," that one reads in the Mulafastra (Jnana-
prasthma, TD 26, p. 975a8). This Sastra says, "Can it be the case that a
living being has already been killed but that murder has not yet
287
occured? Yes, when the living being has already been deprived of life,
288
but when the prayoga [of the murder] has not yet disappeared" The
Vaibhasikas (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 6l7a3) explain this text by saying that the word prayoga ("conjoined with")--which normally signifies preparation--here has the meaning of consecutive aaion. Now you contradia this explanation since, placing the course of principle aaion at the moment when the animal dies, it is indeed the course of principal
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aaion which, according to you, has not disappeared at the moment when the animal dies. You interpret the word prayoga of the Sastra in the sense of the principal aaion
The Vaibhasikas: One must explain the Sastra in such a manner that it does not lend itself to criticism. And how is that? In the text in question, prayoga signifies principal course of aaion: [at least when one envisions the moment which immediately follows the death of the animal; when one envisions the moments which follow this moment,
prayoga signifies, as the Vibhasa says, the consecutive aaion]
But how could the vijnapti of the moment when the animal is
already dead be the principal course of aaion?
The Vaibhasikas: Why would it not be?
Because it is ineffeaive [The animal is dead: one does not cause it to
die again]
The Vaibhasikas: But how is avijnapti, which is always ineffecive, a
course of aaion? It is not their efficacy which makes a vijnapti and an avijnapti courses of aaion; it is the faa that they are produced at the
289
Gin it be the case that one course of aaion is either a preparatory aaion or a consecutive action of another course of aaion?
Yes. For example the ten courses of aaion can be a preparatory aaion for murder. A man desires to kill his enemy; in order to assure the success of this enterprise, he takes the goods of another and offers an animal in sacrifice; as a means to this same end, he committs adultery with the wife of his enemy in order to make her an accomplice; through lying, malicious, injurious, and frivolous words, he causes a falling out
between his enemy and his friends who would be able to defend him; he covets the goods of his enemy; he wishes to do evil to his enemy; he nourishes false views with regard to the murder that he wants to commit.
In this same way the ten courses of aaion can be the consecutive aaion of murder. And the same for the other courses of aaion, stealing,
290
But, greed, wickedness and false views are never preparatory
moment of the achievement of the result of the preparatory aaion.
etc
? actions, for they are not the beginning of an aaion; nor are they
291
The Sutra says, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, three types of killing: killing arisen from desire, killing arisen from hatred, and killing arisen from ignorance," and thus following to, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, three types of false views. " What are these different killings, etc?
All the courses of aaion are not indifferently achieved by desire, hatred, or ignorance; but
292 68d Preparatory aaion arises from three roots.
The preparatory aaion of all of the courses of aaion can indifferently arise from the three roots. The Blessed One, by expressing himself as we have seen, refers to the first cause, the cause which gives rise (samidtbapaka, iv. lOa-b) to the course of aaion.
293
1. Killing (iv. 73) arisen from desire: killing in order to seize a
certain part of an animal; killing in order to seize some goods; killing for pleasure; killing in order to defend oneself, or one's friends.
Killing arisen from hatred, in order to satiate hostility.
Killing arisen through ignorance. To consider the sacrifice as a
294
pious aaion and so to kill; when a king, according to the authority of
the legalists kills through duty, "The first of the meritorious aaions of
the king is to punish evil-doers"; when the Persians say, "One should
295
kill one's aged and sick parents"; when one says, "One should kill
preparatory actions, for they are solely a production of the mind
*##
serpents, scorpions, and tryambuka flies (Mahavyutpatti, 213,91), etc. , 296
because these creatures are poisonous; one must kill game, cattle,
297 birds, and buffalos in order to nourish oneself. "
And finally killing which is provoked by false views: murder committed by a person who denys a future life and whom nothing can stop.
2. Stealing (iv. 73c-d) arisen from desire. Either one steals the objea
desired, or one steals in order to then gain possession of another objea,
298
to acquire honor and respea, or in order to defend oneself and one's
friends.
Stealing arisen from hatred, in order to satiate hostility.
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Stealing arisen from ignorance. A king, upon the authority of the legalists, seizes the goods of evil-doers. The Brahmins say, "All things have been given to the Brahmins by Brahma; and it is through the weakness of the Brahmins that the Vr? alas enjoy it. Consequently, when a Brahmin steals, he takes that which belongs to him; he eats what is his,
299
wears what is his, and gives what is his. " And yet, when Brahmins
take, they indeed have the notion of the goods of another.
Stealing provoked through false views is also stealing from
ignorance.
3. Illicit sexuality (iv. 74a-b) arisen from desire. Sexual intercourse
with the wife of another, either through love, or in order to obtain honor and respect, or in order to defend oneself and one's friends.
Illicit sexuality arisen through hatred, in order to satiate hostility.
Illicit sexuality arisen from ignorance. The Persians, etc, have
30 intercourse with their mothers and other forbidden womea ? In the
301
gosava sacrifice, a Brahmin drinks water in the manner of an animal,
grazes through the grass, has intercourse with his mother, his sister, or a woman of his gotta; he must copulate with them wherever he finds them: in this manner this bull will triumph over the world And such
,r
too are those that say, Women are like rice mortars, flowers, fruits,
302 cooked food, ladders, roads, and ferryboats: they are there to be used"
4-7. Lying (iv. 74c-d) and other vocal transgressions arisen from ignorance and from hatred, as above.
Lying arisen from ignorance. "Oh King, playful lying, lying to
women, in marriage, or in danger of death, does not hurt: one says that
303
these five lies are not transgressions. " This is lying provoked by false
views.
Malicious words and other vocal transgressions arisen from
ignorance. These are provoked through false views. Further, the false discourses of the Vedas, etc, are frivolous words arisen from ignorance. 8-10. How do greed, wickedness and false views (iv. 77-78) arise out
of desire, etc? Since they are not preparatory action, this creates a difficulty:
69a-b. Greed and the other two mental courses arise from the three roots because they appear subsequent to these roots.
When they appear immediately after desire, they arise from desire;
? the same for the other two roots. ***
We have explained the bad courses of aaion in their relationship with the roots. As for the good courses of aaion,
69c-d Good actions, with their preparatory and consecutive aaions, arise fron non-desire, non-hatred, and non-ignorance.
Good courses of aaion, with their preparatory and consecutive aaions, have a good mind for their originating (pravartaka, iv. 10) cause. This good mind, being necessarily associated with the three roots, arises from the three roots.
The renouncing of a preparation of a bad course of aaion is a preparation of a good course of aaion; the renouncing of the aaion proper which constitutes a bad course of aaion is itself a good course of aaion; the renouncing of a consecutive aaion of a bad course of aaion is a consecutive aaion of a good course of aaion.
Let us give as an example: the ordination of a novice. From the
m
moment when the novice enters into the nandvasa, salutes the
Sangha, addresses his request to the Upadhyaya, until the first or second
305
karmavdcana, this is the preparatory aaion.
At the achievement of
the third karmavdcana there takes place a vijnapti, and an avijnapti
simultaneous to this vijnapti, which constitute the course of aaion itself.
After this moment, when one notifies the new monk of the nisrayas,
306
when he makes known that he accepts them, and as long as the series
of the avijnapti created by the principal aaion continues--that is to say, as long as the monk does not lose the Pratimoksa discipline (iv. 38)-- this is the consecutive aaion.
##*
We have seen that bad courses of aaion were not indifferently "achieved" by the three roots.
70a-b. Killing, wickedness, and injurious words are achieved through hate.
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307 Solely by hate. They are achieved when one thought of murder, or
one thought of violence (concerning wickedness and injurious words) manifests itself.
70b-d Adultery, greed, and stealing are achieved through desire. "Adultery" is illicit sexuality.
71a. False views, through ignorance. Through an extreme ignorance.
71b. The others, by the three.
The other courses of action,--lying, malicious words, and in- considerate words,--are achieved either through desire, hatred, or ignorance.
The courses of action, which have just been divided into four sections, three (70a-b), three, one and three, have respectively for their
71c-d Object: living beings, objeas of enjoyment, namarupa,
308 and ndman.
Living beings are the objects of killing, wickedness and injurious
speech; the objeas of enjoyment are the objeas of adultery, greed and
stealing; namarupa, that is, the five skandhas, are the objea of false
views; ndman, that is, the ndmakdya (ii. 47) is the objea of lying and the 309
other two transgressions of the voice.
#*#
When one has decided to kill someone, and if the murderer dies either before the intended victim, or if he dies at precisely the same
moment as the viaim, is there a principal course of action for the author of the murder?
72a-b. If one dies before or at the same time, there is no principal
310 course of aaion.
This is why the Vibhdsd says, "Question: When a person has made the preparation for killing, can it be that, at the moment when the result of this preparation is achieved, this person is not touched by the
? 311
transgression of killing? Answer: Yes, when the murderer dies
before or at the same time [as the viaim]. " The reason is clear: as long as the viaim is living, the murderer is not touched by the transgression of murder; and when the viaim dies, he (=the murderer) no longer exists if he died at the same time or before.
72b. Because a new body has come into existence.
The body--the personality--by whom the preparation had been accomplished, the body of the murderer, is destroyed; the murderer takes up a new body which belongs to another nikayasabhaga (ii. 41a): this body did not make the preparation, is not prayoktar and, as a consequence, cannot be touched by the transgression of murder.
*##
When many persons are united with the intention to kill, either in war, or in the hunt, or in banditry, who is guilty of murder, if only one of them kills?
72c-d As soldiers, etc. , concur in the realization of the same effea, all are as guilty as the one who kills.
Having a common goal, all are guilty exaaly as he who among them kills, for all mutually incite one another, not through speech, but by the very faa that they are united together in order to kill
But is the person who has been constrained through force to join the army also guilty?
Evidently so, unless he has formed the resolution, "Even in order to save my life, I shall not kill a living being. "
***
What does he do in order that he who kills should commit the course of aaion? Same question for the other transgressions up to and including false views.
73a-b.
