The Central Conception of Buddhism

PRIZB PUBLIOATION lUND VOL. VII

1.'HE CENTRAL

CONCEPTION OF BUDDHISM AND THE

MEANING OJ' TH~~ WORD "DHARMA"

BY

TH. STCHERBATSKY, PH.D., ..

PROFESSOR IN THE IJNIVERSITY OF PETROGRAD, IIfEMB~.R OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF RUSSIA

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE

ROYAL ASIA'l'IC SOCIE'['Y AND SOLD AT

74 GROSVENOR STREET, LONDON, W 1 1923

STJ:PHJ!.N AUSTIN AND SON"! LTD

PRINTFR"I, III RTrORD

CONTENTS PRBFACB

I. PRELIMINARY II. SKANDHAS.

III. AYATANAS.

IV. DHITUS

V. MATTER

VI. ELEMENTS OF MIND

VII. FORCES

VIII. NON'BUBBl'ANTlALI'ry OF TIlE ELEMENTS

IX. PRATITYARAMUTPADA (CAUSALITY) X. KARMA

XI. IMPERMANENCE OF TlUJ ELEMENTlI

XII. IMPERMANENCE IN SlNKHYA'YOGA

XIII. UNREST OF TIlE ELEMFlNTB

XIV. THEORY OF COGNITION

XV. PREBtJDDHAIC BUDDHISM

XVI. SUMMARY.

ApPENDIX I Vasuhandhl1 on the flmclamental IlfIncrpll' of the SarvastlVOOo. School .

ApPENDIX II. Tables of the Elements u.ccorclmf.{ to thE' So.rviistlviidms

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES It

.

PAGE VII

1 6 7 9

11 15 20 24 28 81 87 48 48 54 65 78

76

93 108

INDEX OF SANRCRIT TEltMlI 109

PREFACE THIS shod trea.tise was originally conceived as

a. contribution to the Royal Asiatic Society's JO'Ulr'1/,o,l: its size induced the Council to publish it as a. monograph, and my best tllanks are due to the Council for this kind decision. I must also express my gratitude to Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys DavIds, who was always ready to help with her vast knowledge of Pali literature. Professor H. Jacobi kindly went through the proofs, and to him I am indebted for many 0. valuable suggestion. Dr. McGovern contributed some of the references to Chinese sourceR. But my deepest gl'atitude is due to Dr. F. W. Thomo."I, who devoted much of ius pleciou8 tilDe to the reviRlon of my work and to carrying it through the press.

In transhteration I have usually not distinguished the guttural, etc., naso.lR, when occurrmg before the con-sonants of their respecti ve classes.

'rHo S'l'CIIERBATSKY. July, 193.

The central conception of Buddhism and the mean~ of the term DIaGTma

I. PRELIMINA.RY 1 N a recent work Mrs. M. Geiger and Professor W. Geiger

have made an attempt to solve the uncert.ainty whioh still prevails about the meaning of the term dkamtA.1 'l'h., have drawn up a concordanoe of almost every case where the word occurs in Pali canonical hterature, and established a great variety of me&Il.Ulg8. Among them there is, indeed, only one that really matters, that is the specifically Buddhistio technical term dharma. The other significations whioh Buddhist literature sharell with the Brabmanical do not present any serious difficulty. About this meaning the authors rightly remark that it is' a "central conception of the Buddhist doctrine which must be elucidated as far as pOBSlble ". They also contend that the method followed by them is CI purely phIlological ". ThiS is also an indication of the limItations of thelr work, because the central con-ception of a highly comphcated system, a conception which in its varied connotations inoludes almost the totality of the system, cannot be expected to be.. fully elUCidated by .. plulological" methods only We therefore propose, m addition to Mrs and Professor Geiger's most valuable collections, to consider the matter from the philosophical standpoiJ!li, I e. to give, Wlth regard to thiS conception, a succinct account of the system in which It aduuttedly occupies the keystone position. Our chief source will be, nMi the Pali Canon, but a later work, the AbhidJ~ koS"G_ of Vasubandhu.1I t~though late, It IS professedly

I P.u DAGmmG, von KagdaIene u. Wllhelm GeJS8l', Mumoh, 1921. A plan of an pdItJ.on and tranalatlon of the whole work hu been oat-

\Jiraed and partly carried through by the BwZlolAect:J Btuldhtl'fJ at Petrograd. ........ ve appeared, (1) .A.b~kopJi:'4rd:4 and Bft4nG, 'l'ibetJD

1

t THE CENTRAL CONCEPTION 01' BU'DD8l8Ji

only a systematized exposition of a much earlier wotk-the A.bh~uih1tii.,a-9iUtf'G, which, in its tum. is bat a commentary on the abhidlaarma of the Sa.rristividin school.) Thla &Chool is one of the earliest, If not the earliest, of Buddhist sects. The question upon which it dtssented and from which it received its name had a bearing on the essence of what was called a dharma, so that an expoBltlon of its mWi will afford the best opportumty of examining the full ~ot&tion of this term.1 It must be left to later investIgalilon to determine the points where Vasubandhu's expomtion may D6 at ",ariance with the prumtive doctrine; but, generally speaking, he seems to have rendered the origmal doctnne very faithfully. Smce hIS age is about the same as that of the Pall commentanes,2 the difference between hIm and the

tnt, pt. I, edited by Professor Th. Stcherbataky, Petrograd, 1917; (I) SplIllIdrtMbll1dh4rma./eofa-tJy4khya of Yat;oDlltra, San8cnt text, pt. 1, edited by S. LeVI and Th. Stcherbatsky, Petrograd, 1917. The 8ICOnd parts of both these works, Tibetan text editIon by Professor Th. 8tcherbatsky and Vyikhyi (Sanscnt) by Professor W. Wogmara of Tokyo, are bemg prlllted m the Blbbot1ieca BuddhlCa. An Enghsh. trans-lation of the mnth (addltlona.l) pa.rt h ... been pubhshed by Professor Th. Stcherbataky under the title" The Soul Theory of the Buddhists" III the Bullet,,, de l' Acade11ue des SClences de RIU/Ble, Petrograd, 1920 (pp. 823--54: and 937-68). A renew of the system has been pubhshed by the late Pzofeaaor 0 Ro.senberg, of Petrograd UDlvemty, under the title Problem, 0/ B1UIdAast Phlloaophy, Petrograd, 1918 (m RUBBlan). Thla scholar baa rJao 181Ned an Illdex of Buddh18t tecbmcal terms III Chmese a.nd Japanese under the title An 1 n.troduetaon 10 the study of BuddhISm from Ohifteae antl JapG1leB8 SOUI'ces, Tokyo, 1917. Professor de la Vallee POU8iIID has pw.bhshed In BrUllae1S French translation of the tlurd pa.rt, ad 18 now ...-sed in prmtmg a translation of the first and second parts of the .4.6AIdllarma-ktJra

I Beside Mrs and Prof Geiger the question haa been treated by Mrs. Rbys DaVida, BKd. Psy. EthlCI, ltXltIIl; Walleaer, (huftdlage, 97-1{l4,; Warren, Btcddlnsm tn TranB14taou, 116,209; S. Z. Aung, Oompentllum, 179 n., 2M-9. S. UVlo Sucra14f/lJdra, 18, 21; L de 1. Vallee Poussm. Notes _ lea C(JI'pB eN BcnuIdAa, lrIu"n: 1913, pp. 283, 287. The question has been put in the proper lIght and brllha.ntly treated by Professor O. Rosenberg, ProblelllB, ohap. vi: but, smce hIS work 18 wnttenlll RUII8l&n and UI&ClOeIISible at peaent, BOIDe of his l'OIulta are repeated here.

The date of Vasubandhu 18 not yet quite eettled; .cf. the referenoel V. Smith. Barl, BMW" 3rd eeL, lIP 328 11. At the eud of chap '

J. PRELIMINARY 8

Pali 8OUlCe8 is not so much one of time as of school. Nothing it more instructive than the study of the divergent views of differeIlt schools, since it allows us to watch the builders of the' Buddhist doctrine at work. (The formula of the BuddhIst Credo (ye dkamma, etc.)-

which professedly contams the shortest statement of the essence and the spint of Buddhism I-dec]ares that Buddha discovered the elements (dhamm,a) of eXistence, theIr causal conneXlon, and a method to suppress theIr efficiency for ever

(n~rodho). Vasubandhu makes a SImilar statement about the essence bf the doctrine: It IS a method of convertlDg the elements of eXistence mto a conditIOn of rest, out of which ' , they never WIll emerge agam 2 From the first days of the BuddhIst church the nOVices, before obtammg admIttance mto the order, went through a course of mstructlOn m what may be termed the BuddhIst catechIsm, I.e an exposition of the elements (dharma) of eXistence and theIr ddferent classificatIOns into skandhas, iiyatanas, dM.tus.3 The same traming was consIdered mdispensable for the aspmng nllnS. These condItions have not changed down to the present day In all BuddhIst countrIes. In the whole of Mongoha and Tibet, in those parts of SIberIa where Buddhism IS sprE'ading agamst the prumtive Shamamsm among the Tunguz tribes of 1,000 (not 900) years, and the adlllgama (=abkldkarma) somewhat 111M than that. That there were two V&8ubandhus 18 not" a guess With no Bohri ba.sls"; the K09a actually quotes the opmlona of a vnddwlirya V /Ulubandhu and rejects them (i, 13, libetan text, p 23, cf. YaQomltra's comment). There rema.m the dates of the Chmese trana1ahons of the works of Asanga and Vasubandhu, which alone, If correct, would be suffiCient evideDce to &l81gn them to the fourth century. OtherwlBe one feels mclmed to brmg Vasubandhu Dearer to DIgniga, whose tea.

4: THE CENTRAl, CONCEPTION OF BUDDHISM

Transbalkaha, in the governments of Irkutsk and Astrachan, where It IS mamtalrnng itself against orthodox Christianity-everywhere It mvarIably proceeds by startmg rehglous schools (ckos-grva), where manuals similar to the Dhamma-sa'1fl9a1)i containing tables of dharmas are carefully studied, m the Tibetan orlgmal WIth explanatIOns m vernacular, by the young generatIon asplIlng to be admItted to the order and to be gradually promoted to the hIgher eccleSIastical ranks Scholars of Buddhism m Europe WIll do well to follow thIS example.

A school of Buddlusts whlCh claims as its fundamental doctrine the prinCiple that "everythIng exists" has very naturally been supposed to uphold some land of realIstlc views.1 TradltIOn affirms that the questIOn whlch gave rise to thls sect had been dlscussed at the tlme of Buddha hlmself. If a dlVlslon arlses m a community WIth the result that some of Its members are declared to be, or claim to be, realists, one would naturally be led to suppose that there were others who were non-reahsts, i.e ldeahsts of Bome kind. But, as a matter of fact, we do not meet wlth views defirutely Ideahstic, i e. Wlth the denial of the existence of extemal objects, until a comparatively late date. Consldermg, on the other hand, that these would-be reahsts, lIke all Buddhists, derned the existence of a soul or a personahty (titman, pudgala), our uncertamty mcreases, and the SUspICIon anses

. that the battle between the Sarvastlvadms and theIr opponents was fought on an altogether drlIerent plane, about a question which had lIttle to do WIth our conceptIOns of realism and Ideahsm.2

1 80 Takakusu s v m Ha8hngB' Encyclopll!dla Mr 8 Z Aung and M1'II. C. Rhys DaVlds, POints 01 ControverBY, pp 275-6, nghtly observe that the question bears upon the eXlStence of future and put dharmal/, but tlua does not mean that .. they beheved m contmued or Immutable eXlStence of everythmg". ThiS would be drlftmg mto Siinkbya dootrme. agalIlflt which Buddhist phdosophers were a.lways uttermg warrungs , of Appenw% I

I The Buddh18ts theDlllelves ascribe the ongm of their IdealistiC phlloaophy to Vasubandbu; cf mya.rtlclem theMu~n, 1905,11 ButtJuswaseVldently only a reVlval of a tendency WhICh, m a dUferent form, wu &lrea.dy revealed

I. PRELIMINARY 5

The occasion upon whIch Buddha hImself is supposed to have put forward the watchword "everythmg eXists" was a discusslOn Wlth the Ajivikas, who flatly demed the mfluence of past deeds upon our destlIDes, smce they were past and non-eXlStent.1 This sect upheld a kmd of extreme determinism which served as excuse for moral mcontmence; it mamtamed that" all things are malterably fixed. There 18 no cause, either proximate or remote, for the depravity of being, or ... for Its pnnty ... There IS no such thIng as power or energy or human exertlOn. Everything that thInks, has senses, 18 procreated, and lIves, IS destItute of force, power or energy. TheIr varymg conditlOns, at any tIme, are due to fate, to theIr enVlronment and theIr own nature".2 Buddha's teaching, both m the moral domam and m ontology, was the reverse of thIS, It mamtamed moral responsIbIlIty and at the same time transformed all eXlstmg thmgs lllto a congenes of subtle energIes (sarnskara-samuha) When pressed to say what was meant by the words "everythmg exists ", he answered " everythmg eXists means that the twelve ayatanas exist". 3 Now the twelve ayatanas are merely one of the many ~ classIficatlOns of the elements of eXistence of matter and mind. The Sarvastivadm school admItted seventy-five such I elements. These elements were called dharmas. The full mearung of the term will emerge at the end of thIS article; m the works of At:vagho(la and NagarJuna Ab K. bears witness that Ideahstlo views were already discussed m the V,bMsii'rasfra, of. I, 42, TIbetan text, p. 77, 10, and Yac;omltra's comment

1 Ab. K. ad v, 24; of AppendiX I Of. R Hoernle's article In Haattngs' EncyclopaJdla. Thl, passage (Sal'}'tyu1ctiigama, XIll, p 16 (McGovern cannot be traced ."

In the Pall Canon EVIdently the Theravidlns suppressed It because It dId not agree WIth their particular tenets They accused the VitsiputrlYas of haVing suppressed the p8.IJsages whICh ran agltlnst their views (Soul Theory, p 840), and eVidently dId themselves the same. But even m their school the word sabba seems to have been used rather hke a teohrucal term. It did not mean" everythmg ", but every Item of the I Buddh18t table of elements ThiS table was supposed to be an .. exhaustive diVISIon ": of Mrs. Rhys DaVIds, Buddkwt P8yckologlJ, p 41, Sal'}'tyvtta, IV, 15-27, Vwucldk,.Magga, ch XIV. Warren, Buddhls71l In translahon, p. 158; G. Gnmm, Buddhw71lUB, pa881711.

6 THE CENTRAL CO!

II. SKANDHAS 7

The physical elements of a personahty, mcludmg its outer world-the external objects-are represented in this classification by one Item-matter, 1 the mental ones are dIstributed among the four others.

For "Matter and Mind" the old, pre-BuddhistIC term niima-riZpn IS used, where riZpa represents the elements of matter and nama mcludes the four mental classes.

Rut the most general dIvISIon of all elements IS mto matter (ri],pa) , mmd (clita-calita), and forces (sarnsldira) The fourth group (samsMra-skandlla), "hleh mcllldes mental faculties and gener!].1 forces, is here spht into two parts, the mental facultles are then umted to all other mental groups, and are brought under the head of mind; the general forces or energIes receIve a separate place (cltta-vtprayltkta-samskiira) 2 ThIS threefold dIVISIon IS very popular and k-nown In Mongoha and TIbet to every schoolboy 3

III AYATANAS A second, more detar1erl, classdicatIOn of the elements IS

made WIth a vIew to a dnrisIOn mto cogmtive facultIes and thetr objects. There are SIX cognitive facultIes and SIX categolles of correspondmg objects They make the twelve iiyatanas or " bases" of cogmtIOn, VIZ

I Rl'I: mt 'rnal b\ses (mf/lyillllll' ayatana) or rOJcptlve faculties

(MdTlya) L Sense of VlSh,m (cahltr.lnt/Tlya.

agatan1) 2. Sense of audItIon (frotr.endnya.

allatana).

II SIX exterral base. (biihlla. (zyatana) or ol;;le(lt~ (vl9aya)

7 Colour and shape (rilpa.aya. 17nll)

8 Sound 'fabda.ayatana}.

1 Among the phYSIcal clements there IS one c~lled aVIJiiaph whIch broadly corresponds to what we mIght call the moral character of a person for SOIDIl spec1al reasons It IS entered bytheSarva~tlv;1dms m theIr phYSIcal class (r'llpa), but other schools mclude It m mmd (Ab K, I, 11) III the iiY2tIJna and dhdtlt classIficatlOns It IS mcluded not m the phys1calltems, but m the general clas8 dharmalt, I.e allatana or dMtu. No. 12 In the follo\\ mg account we leave thIS special element unnoticed, cf Appendix II, under Matter.

a Or a shghtIy dlffermg fivefold dlvlSlon rilpa, cstta, calfta, lI'prallu.kta8tJ!p8k1ira, and nlrval'a. of. Ab. K , ll, 22, and AppendIx II

Zu.g8,,".ldan.m,n.l!4u..byed

8 THE CENTRAL CONCEPTION OF BUDDHISM

3. Sense of smelling (ghriin-entlnya- 9. Odour (gandlaa-ayatana). iiyatana)

4. Sense of taste (Jlkv.endriya- 10. Taste (raBa-iil/alana). iiyatana)

5. Sense of touch (Uy-endrlya- 11. TB.Dglbles(8praslavya-iiyatana). ayalana)

6. Faculty of the Intellect or con- 12. Non-sensuous obJects (dllarma-sClousness (lIIana-lIulrtya- ayatana or dkarmcili). iiyalana)

In this claSSification the eleven first items correspond to eleven elements (dll.arma) , each mcludmg one. The twelfth item con tams all the remaInIng SIXty-four elements, and it IS therefore called dkarma-iiyatana or SImply dharmiill, i e. the rematmng elements

The term iiyatana means "entrance" (iiyam tanot~). It is an "entrance ' 01 conSClousness and mental phenomena (cttta-catttiiniim) ConSCIOusness, It IS stated, never anses alone, SInce It IS pure sensatlon, wIthout any content. It IS always supported or "mtroduced" by two elements: a cogmtlve faculty and a correspondIng objective element. These are the supporters or the "doors" (dvara) for con-sciousness to appear. Visual conSClousness (cak~ur-mJniina) arises m correlatIOn (pratitya) With the sense of VlSlon (caksur-mdnya) and some colour (riiparn cal In the case of the SIXth cogmbve facultv (manas) , consClousness Itself, i e. Its precedmg moment, acts as a faculty for apprehendmg non-sensuous obJects

The trend of thiS classlficatlOn, which IS a characteristic feature of Buddlusm from Its very begmnmgs, IS unmIstakable. It Intends to give a wVlslon of all obJects of cogmtlOn into sense-obJects and non-sensuous ones. The first are then chvided mto ten groups accordmg to the five senses and theIr five obJects, and the second (dkarma-iiyatana, or simply dharmiih), includmg every non-sensuous object, IS left un-diVlded. There are SIX items correspondIng to SIX cogmtive faculties. Thus the twelve iiyatanas, or "bases of cognition". represent all elements of existence distnbuted within six subjectIve and SIX correspondmg objective' Items. Their

III. AYATANAS 9

synonym is "everything" (8aroam). When the principle / "everything exists" IS Bet forth It has the meaning that' nothIng but the twelve bases of cognition a.re eXIstent. An object whIch cannot be VIewed as a 8eparate object of cognItIOn or a 8eparate faculty of cogrutIOn is unreal, as e g the soul, or the personality. Bemg a congerIes of separate elements It is declared to be a name, and not a reahty, not a dharma. l

IV. DHl.TUS The dIvision of the elements of existence into eighteen

dhatus, although very SImIlar-It represents, mdeed, in its first twelve Items a repetItion of the fonner one-is taken from a qUIte dIfferent VIew-pomt. Buddhist phIlosophy IS an analySIS of separate elements, or forces, whICh unite m the productIOn of one stream (sa'l]ltana) of events. The unphilosophic mmd of common people supposes thIS stream to represent a personahty or an indiVidual (pudgala). Viewed as components of such a stream, the elements are called dhatus. Just as dIfferent metals (dhiitus) might be extracted out of a mme, Just so does the stream of an mdlvldual lIfe reveal elements of eighteen different lands (dhiitu = gotra}.2 It always mcludes SIX faculties (from cak~ur-dhiitu up to mano-dhii~u), SIX kInds of objective elements (from rupa-dhiitu up to dharma-dhiitu), and SIX kInds of conSCIousness, begmnmg WIth visual consciousness, or VI'lual sensatIOn (cakxur-vljnana-dkiitu), and endmg WIth conSCIOusness purely mental, I.e. non-sensuous (mano-mjnana-dhiitu). Thus, m additIon to the twelve com-ponents correspondmg to the twelve bases of cogrution, we have :-

1 The nght expl&natlon of the term iiyatana IS given In 0 RosenllArg's Problem8, p 138 ff The usual translation "sphere" Ignores the /undamentum dWI810lns 8 Z. Aung, Compendium, p 256, although ,'on-tammg the right suggestIOn, think. It .. might well be left untranslated ".

Ab. K , i, 20 It may be noted that the number of ('omponent elements (tattVtJ8) of the ruchmentary body m 8ankhya IS hkc\\186 eighteen That the term d1Iatu hr,s been borrowed from mechcal SCience, where It means element of the body, can ha.rdly be doubted.

10 THE CENTRAL CON(,EPTION OF BUDDHISM

13 Veual consclousness (cak8u"''''Jiiiina.dhiit1l.). 14. Audltory (~ot,.a''''JiUina.dluitu) 15 Olfactory " (ghriina''''Jiiiina.dhiiJu) 16 Gustatory " (J,hvii"'piiina.dhiitu) 17. Tactile (kiiya."IJiiiina.dhiitu) 18 Non.sensuous" (mano.tJ'jnfinQ.dluilu)

Consciousness, whiCh 1S but one element (dharma), is split in this classIficatIOn mto seven Items, since It enters mto the compositiOn of an mdlvldual hfe as a faculty (mano-dhiitu) and as SIX different kmds of sensatIOns, differentiated by their origin, as from one of the senses, or from a purely mental non-sensuous source. l

All these vanetles of conSClOusness e~nst only ill the ordlDary plane of eXIstence (kiima-Dlliitu) In higher worlds (rilpa-Dltritu) sense-C'onsclOusness gradually disappears, m the ImmaterIal worlds (arupa-Dhiitu) only non-sensuous consCIous-ness IS left A diVIsIOn of conscIOusness mto varIOUS kmds (dMtlt 13-18) IS thus made necessary for the composltlOn of formulas of elements correspondmg to the deruzens of varIOUS worlds 2

We Will now proceed to conSider the separate elements m the order of their most general claSSificatIOn mto Matter, Mmd, and Forces

1 Dluitu IS often defined Just as dllarma 8!'a'8!'OhIIliI'adhiira7liit, or 8l'alal'KIItRtlMraflfit (d R Z Aung, ('OIllp5 ff), but thls IB only partly corre~t. smco the dhltu No 12 mduueA sl'I:tvfour dharmas, and the seven dM/U8, No 6 and Nos 13-18, ('orrospond to one smgle dllarma-the "IJiiihlll (=manaR =nttam) The defimtlOn 10 Ab K, 1, 20, IS dM/1t =go/ra \\"0 ('an, ac('ordmgly, translate dhiitu by .. component ", .. element". or" ('lass of elements ", Just as the case may requll'e

I When the three Dhizt1l8 are mentioned the term Dha/u moans world (Ioka) or plane of e"usten('o (al'acara) It haH nothmg to do wlth the elghteen dhiitU8 The worlds are dlvlded mto material (nipa.) and lmmatenal (ariipa.) "orlds, the former agam mto "orlda of carnal deSIre or defiled matter-kiima(rupa).Dhdtu, and those of pure, or reduced, matter-(ltI8kiima.) rupa.Dhiitlt In the kiimaDhiitu hfe conslSts of eIghteen components (dMtU8). 1D the riipaDhiitu of fourteen (excepted are Nos 9-10 and 1.516),10 the arlipaDhdt" of three (Nos 6, 12, and 18). In rupa. and ariip/J.Dhd~us Me 18 characterlZed by dlfferent degrees of perpetual trance (dhyana) Ordinary people can bo trallilferred mto theso hlgher reglons of trance eIther through beIDg reborn In them (u/patn) or through an effort of translC medltatJon (samtipath)

V. MATTER 11

v. ELEMENTS OF MATTER Matter (TUpa) or the physical elements (rupMo dkarmiih),

whICh In the first classIficatIOn occupIed one Item (rupa-skandha), IS otherw18e dlstnbuted mto ten IteIU~(Nos 1-5 and 7-11). The term rupa-iiyatana IS reserved for Visible matter or, more preCisely, the phenomenon of vlSlblhtyalone, this bemg matter par excellence.1 The general charactenstlC of matter, or materIal elements, IS Impenetrablhty (sa-pratlghatva), whlCh IS defined as the fact that space occupIed by one of them cannot, at the same time, be occupied byanother.2

The elements of vl!!lLllity are diVIded mto two mam groups, colours and shapes There are eIght colourE> and twelve different shapes. Another theory reduces all colours to two, light and darkness All other varletlCs of YISlbility arc represented as dIfferences of hnes Tlw OpposIte VIew, namely, that colours alone are reahtws and shapes (samsthiina) represent com,tructlOns of the mmd (nriinmmm, JI(1TI~allntam) (superImposed upon the dIfference of coloratIOn as an mterpretatlOn of It), was favoured by the 8autriinhkas 3 A lme, say a hne drawn by the motion of the hand, bemg an

1 Ab K, 1, 24 S The etymological cxplanatIon IS rilpya/a III rilpam, Ie mattl'r IS

what materializes DIfferent meamngs are then gnoen of tlll~ ma.tena.hzmg : pressure, pam, dlHappearance, or cha.nge Thus matter IS something tha.t disappears The real meamng I~ ImpenetralJ1iIty (Ra-prahgltfl/t'a), whIch IS further varIOusly explamed Kumiiralllbha gIves to the phenomenon of Impenetrability an Idealistic mterpretatlon .. the ImpOSSIbility for the mtellect to Imagme the pre~en('e of t~o sUl'h objects occup~mg the same space" (IbId, TIbetan text, p 50, 17 ff) Professor 0 Rosenberg strongly objects to the 11Iterpretatlon of rupa as matter He mamtams that BuddhISm from Its very oubet VIewed the phenomenal ~orld as an liluslOn ancl relegated every reailty to some transcendental world (cC Problem" chap x) He suggests .. sense-elements" for riipa ThIS would bnol a place 111 an IdealIstiC' system and would be supported by the above lIlter-pretatlOn of Kumaralibha But It IS, eVIdently, not the vIew adopted by the school of the Sarvishvii.dms It 18 true that there IS no other matter than sense-data ThiS should not prevent us, just as It does not prevent modern phIlosophers who favour the same View, from usmg the term .. matter" for faots characterized by Impenetrablilty

3 Ab. E., I, 10, and Y 0.9 comment.


IntImatIon of something (mJnaptt), IS an element (rilpa-dkarma) of length 1; the hne of the flIght of a bIrd In the all'IS the same. They are interpreted as the apparItIons of the element of length or of some colour, and all BuddhIst matter must be conceIved accordIng to thIS pattern. They are materIal elements WIthout any matter In them

A glance at the ten Items correspondmg to matter in the agatana-division WIll convince us that no other matter except sense-data IS recogruzed It is broadly diVIded mto two ca.tegones, objective sense-data (msaya) constltutmg external objects, and sense-organs (mdnya) conceIved as a kind of translucent subtle matter whICh covers the body when It Itl hVIng ThIS dIVISIOn remmds US of the F;ankhya VIew that matter developed along two ddlerent hnes, the one WIth predomInance of the translucent IntellIgence-stuff (sattva) resultmg In sense-organs, the other, WIth predommance of dead matter (lamas), resultmg In sense-objects In theIr subtle (tan-matra) and gross (rnahiihhUta) forms. In fact the concept of tan-maim comes very near to the Buddhist con-ceptIOn of an element of matter (rupa-dharma). The fundamental dIfference between the two conceptIOns IS that lD the Sankhya system these elements are modIficatIOns or appurtenances of an eternal substance In Buddhism they are mere sense-data WIthout any substance

The translucent matter of the sense-organs (rupa-prasada) 18 very subtle; It IS hke the shmmg of a Jewel, It cannot be cut m two,2 It cannot be burnt,3 It has no welght, 4 and it diS-appears WIthout a reSidue at death 5 It IS, nevertheless,

1 Ab K, 1, 10, Tlb text, p. 17 If a member, or all members, are chopped oft' the body, the sense-organ-

matter IS not cut even In two parts, 1 e the parts that are cut off are senseless The movements of a hzard's t&ll after It IS knocked off the main body are explained not by the presence of thiS hfe-matter (l1ulr,ya), but by the InteDBlficatlOn of the tJiiYll element, I e It 18 a lifeless process (Ab. K , 1, 36, Tibetan text, p 63, and Ya~ comment)

a Ab K, I, 36, Tlb text, p 63, 13 ' Ibid. Ab K, 1, 37, and YS9 comment mrtaaya IJMn'UlITllela. ThIs 18 a

pomt of ana.logy With the langa-f/lrira of the Sinkhyas

V. MATTER 13

atomic, and is represented by five dIfferent kmds of atoms. The atoms of the organ of sIght (cak~uNndrtJla) cover In con-centric circles the eye-ball The atoms of the organ of taste, or, more preClsely, that matter whlCh IS supposed to convey the sensatIon of taste, covers m concentnc semIcIrcles the tongue. The atoms of the organ of touch (kiiy-endnJla) cover the whole body.l The Idea that all these dIfferent lands of special matter are, mdeed, the same translucent subtle stuff covermg the whole hYing body and disappearmg at death had also Its advocates, who consequently reduced all senses to one. the sense of touch, but thIS dId not find general acceptance Bemg as subtle as the shmmg of a jewel, thIS matter cannot appear alone, It IS supported by gross matter (mahiibhilta), of whlCh the eye-ball and flesh m general COnsIst

The atoms of external matter are hkeWIse dIvided into atoms of general, unIversal, or fundamental matter, and speCIal atoms of colour-, sound-, tangibilIty-matter, etc. The fundamental elements are four m number; they are marufested by the facts of hardness or repulslOn, coheSIon or attractIon, hcat and motiOn 2 ConventiOnally they are called earth, water, fire, and aIr, but It IS speClfied that these are only conventiOnal appellatIOns, and that m the name of the fourth general element (lrana) alone both the techmcal and the usual meamngs coalesce, because the word irana has both the slgmficatlOns of motIOn and aIr as well 3 The fact that the fourth element IS motIon IS an mdlCation of the trend of thIS diVlBlOn; the general elements of matter, lIke all BuddhIst I elements, are more forces than substances. These four elements appear always together, always In equal proportIon. There is as much element of heat In a blaZIng flame as there IS In wood or in water, and VIce versa, the dIfference IS only m' theIr mtenslty 4. The general elements of matter (mahiibhuta)

1 Ab K. I, 44, TIbetan text, p 84, 15 ft I Ab K. I, 12 3 Ab K, I, 13 4 e g the tactd~ sensatIon may have a dd'ferent degree of mtenslty as

the touch hy a bunch of steel needles 18 more mtensely felt than the touch of a pa1nter's brush, although the quantIty may be the same TheeZlStenoe


are brought under the" head of tangibles (iiyatana No. Il). Smce there IS only a lIroJ.ted number of general manIfestatIOns of tangtbIlity, therefore theIr number IS four 1 There IS, apparently, a distInction between the elements In themselves and theIr manIfestatIOns, beca.use the four facts of reSIStance, attraction, heat, and motion are clearly called mamfestatIOns

(lak~ana) of the elements (dharma), which, accordmgly, must be somethmg different, somethIng mystenous or trans-cendental. SimIlar In thiS respect to the gunas of the Sankhyas. The other five kmds of obJective matter (iiyatanas Nos 7-11) were not general, but speCldl, correspondmg to each of the five senses, the tangibilIty-matter alone (liyatana No 11) mcludes both the general (mahiibhata) and the speCial (bhautlW) elements of matter 2 They were also atomiC, but could not appear mdependently Without being combIned With the funda.mental ones, In the ratio of four atoms of prImary matter to one of secondary Thus the mmimum number of atoms Indispensable for their actual appearance In hfe was eight four atoms of general matenahty combIned With each atom of colour, odour, tastc, and secondary tangIbilIty-matter (such as smoothness, coarseness, etc.). If the particular piece of matter resounded, atoms of sound were added and the combInatIOn conblstt>d then of nIne different atoms 3 The combIned atoms (san.qhiita-paramiinu) a.lone appear In phenomenal realIty, the SImple ones, or infra-atomIC elements, presumably, were relegated to trans-cendental realIty, In accordance With the general character

of coheslveneAs, I (' of the element "\\ ater" In a flame, IS proved by Its keepmg a Hhape, the presence of repulSIOn, I (' of the clement " earth", In water, IS proved by the fact of Its supporting a shIp, etc. (cf. Ab. K, 11, 22, and Yalt0m )

1 Ab. K , I, 35, Tibetan teAt, p 61, 5 If I Ibid I The actual number of atoms In a. sanghiita.paramiinu will be much

greater, Since ('aeh atom of secondary (bkauhla) matter needs a set of four primary atoms of Ih own, but If dkatU8 alone are reckon.ed the number ",111 e'tpress the classes (dhiitu) of elements (dllarma) represented (cf. Ab. K., 11, 22)

V. MATTER 15

of a Buddhist element. ThIs deVice made It an easy task for BuddhISts to oppose the mdiVIslbilIty of atoms.1

VI. ELEMENTS OF MIND In the iiyatana classIficatIOn two items (Nos. 6 and 12)

Ilre devoted to the elements of mmd (cztta-ca~tta-dharmiih, arilpulO dltarmiih) and, accordmg to the prmciple of thIS classIficatIOn, they represent two correlatIve groups: a subJectIve one (tndnya) and an obJective one (vlsaya) The prmClple of externalIty of one element In regard to another, I e the Idea of separate elements (p,tlzag-dharma), IS mamtamed m the field of mmd Just as In the field of mattcr l\Imu IS Rpht Into two chief partll. The suh-JectlYc part, or nllnu VIewed as a receptl\Te faculty, IS represented by onc element called, mdlscrurunately, c~tta, '/)I}iiiina, or ma11.as 2 It represents pure conSCIOusness, or purc sensatIOn, wIthout any content. Its content IS plaecd m the obJcctlve part WhICh contams the defimte sem,atlOn

(spar~), Ieelmgs (l~danii), lueas (sallJiiii), volItIons (cctanii), and varIOUS other mental phenomena up to the number of forty-tuX separate elements.3 So It IS that feehngs come to be VIewed as obJccts of the mmd, a position whICh, for other reasons, they lIkewIse possess In the Siinkhya system The category In whICh they are entereu IS ('aIled the (general) group of elements (dlta(l/U/,-iiyatana) or simply" the elemcnts" (dlta1 mall). As stated abo\'e, the first eleven " bases" contam one element (dharma) each, but thIS last one contams the remalDIDg SIxty-four elements of the hst. BeSIde the forty-six mental phenomena It contams the fourteen elementary forces (t'zprayukta-Sa1!lSkara), the element of character (av~Jliapt~) and the three etcrnal elements (asa'f/lskrta). among the latter IS Nuvdna, the chief dharma.

1 Ab K , 1, 43, T1betan text, p 83 I Ab K, 11, 34 The same terms In the Pall Canon, 8arpyultll, 11, 94. I The Thera.vida J:ockoned fiftyone Of tho fifty bhiwas of the Siinkhyas.

some of them exb1b1tmg an analogy Wlth correspondtng Buddlust cadta-dh4rmtu. A full hst of the fOrty-BIl[ cadtadharma8 1S glven beloW', App II


For this reason the term" elements" (dharmJih) is a sufficient indlcatlOn of th18 group, because the other categorIes, although also contammg elements (dharmiih), have a specIal name each.1 The common feature of all these elements IS that they are apprehended by the intellect dtrectly without any inter-medla.te agency of the senses. In the a.pprehenslOn of sense-objects there IS lIkewIse participation by the mtellect; but these dharmiik are non-sensuous objects, they are the exclusive domam of the receptIve mtellect, just as colour is the exclusive domam of the Bense of VlSlon 2 The definition of receptIve consCIOusness IS pregnant vlJiiiinam pratuII,.Jooptlh, I.e. " con-SCiousness IS an mtImatlOn, or awareness, m every smgle case" (of what IS now present to the senses, or to the mmd dIrectly) 3 If an apprehenSIOn contaIns some, albeIt qUite inde6rute, content, say some mdefimte VIsual sensatIOn, It Will then

1 Every iiyatana IS thus a dharmiiyatalla, but No 12 IS dharmiiyatana par excellence. Just so lS It that the ten materIal iiyatanas all mclude matter They are, consoquently, all of them, rilpliyatana! But only one of them-the VlSlble element, iiyatana No 7-retams the name of rilpdyatana a'! Its spe~lal designatIOn, because It represents the most eharacterLStlc and Important among the elements of matter Cf. Ab K, I, 24, Tibetan te'Ct, p 42, 17 If

2 Prof and Mrs Geiger, op CIt, P 80, have e~tabhshed for the dharmak 10 the techrucal sense the slgmfication .. the emplrlcal thmgs". TillS 16 an example of the Impotence of the .. phuologlca.l method" I It has not escaped their attention that dkarma~ IS synonymous With dharmiiyatana and dharmad1W.!u, m wluch Nirvana IS meluded (p 83), "hleh 18 anythmg but empmcai. The dharmii~ are apprehended by manak (p 81), but, the emphaSIS 18 put on the fact that they are apprebended untllout the co. operatIon 0/ the 8eMe8 Everythmg IS apprehended. by manal., but the dharmak are external With regard to manak, theIr place lU the system IS among the SlX visaya, as opposed tlil the SlX Indnya, one of which, the Ruth, IS manak Concernmg the mearung of the terms "external" and .. mternal " some remarks wul be made later on, pp 58-9, when dLScussmg the theory of cogmtlon "a Ab K, I, 16 Czttaln vlJanlill, Asl, P 42 = " lS awa.re flaT10U811l" (l\1 Tmg), must have the same Import, If any Cf the Sankhya defimtLOu of pratyaksa m Siinkkya.mnkli, 5 prahVIBall-iidkyavasiillQ drsjam. where we have hkeWISe the dlStnbutIve pratl-, but fllJiitina = fllJiiDptlk, smce It lS In the Sinkhya system represented by puruaa (cf below, Theory of Cogmtlon, p 63). 18 replaced by adkyava8fi.ya-the function of the mtAImaJ. organ (synthesiS)

VI. MIND 17

represent the next degree, a real sensatIon {8parfa).1 The definite perceptIOn (panc}t~ttt) of a colour wdl be an " Idea " (sanJiiii), but consciousness as the perceptive faculty is pure sensatIOn Although qUIte undIfferentIated m Itself, thIS pure sensatIon IS, nevertheless, dIstlngmshed from the standpoInt of Its orlgm or, more precIsely, Its enVlIonment, 1 e the elements by whICh its appearance IS accompamed From thIS pomt of VIew, as stated above, there IS a set of SIX ddIerent kmds (dhiitu) of COllSClOusness, correspondmg to a set of SlX receptive facultIes and a set of SIX kmds of objects We thus have SIX categories of conSClOusness (~ad-VtJniina-kiiyiih), begInnIng With vIsual sensatIOn or, more preCISely, pure sensatIOn arISIng In conneXlon wIth some colour (cak8ur-vlJiiiina-dkiitu) and endmg With consCIousness accompanymg a non-sensuous object (mano-vIJiiiina-dhiitu). We have beSides the same consCIOUS-ness as a. receptIve faculty (dhiitu No 6) As a receptIve faculty mano-dkiitu IS not dIfferent from conSCIousness ariswg In connexion WIth abstract objects (mano-IJ1Jiiana-dMtu); It IS the same reahty, the same dharma But for symmetrical arrangement It has been found necessary to have a set of three Items for the purely me-ntal elements, Just as there IS a threefold set of faculty, object, and sensation correspondIng to each of the senses 2 The dIfference between eOnSl'IOusuess as a receptIve faculty and the same conSCiOusness accom-panymg an abstract object IS then saId to be a dIfIerence of time ConSCiOusness In the role correspondIng to the place occupied ill the system by the senses IS the conSCIousness of the precedIng moment 3 The Theraviidms, eVIdently for the same purpose of symmetrtcal arrangement, mtroduced Into

1 Three dharma8 are engaged when thiS kmd of sensation, sometimes translated a8 .. contact ", 18 produl'ed tr"yiillum sunnllKllail 8p6r~uh (tl"tI(Zm 8amgah phasso) the cons(,lousne~s (ntta), the senseorgan, and the sense-obJect Cf below under theorJ of ('ogllltJOn

lAb. K., I, 16, Tibetan te'l:t, p 29, I 17 a The mental phenomena (caltea.dliarlna) also have their obJects, they

are according to the current termmology Biilambana, but they are themselves t'\8I11/fJ and not tnd"YII (Ab K, 1, 3~, cf Tibetan text, 'P 49, I 19)

2


the system a "heart-stufi" (hadaya-vattku) which supports the non-sensuous cognitions, just as the other sense-stufls II support" sense-cogrutIons. It occupies in the system the place of the sIxth organ (ayatana or dkatu No. 6).1

Although enernal In regard to one another, consciousness and mental phenomena (C'ttta-ca~tta) were conceived as being in a closer, more mtunate, conneXlon than other combmmg elements. Pure sensatlOn (c~tta) could never appeal' In hfe In Its true separate condItion; It was always accompamed by some secondary mental phenomena (cattta).2 Among these mental phenomena (catUa-dharma) or faculties (samskiira) three are espeCIally conspicuous, namely, feelings (vedana), Ideas (san) 00), and vohtions (cetana). In the clasSlfica.tion Into groups (skandka) they occupy three separa.te items, all the remaming ones being Included together with the volitions In the 8a'T]tskiira-skandha. FeelIngs (vedana) are defined as emotIons pleasant, unpleasant, or neutraf.3 Ideas (8alljna) are defined as operatIons ot abstract thought, as that which" abstracts" (udgrakana) a common characterIstIc Sign (ntmitta) from the IndiVIdual obJects' Even the defimte representation (panchtth) of a colour IS brought under this head.' It 18 exactly what In later Indian philosophy, Buddhist as well as Brahmamcal, was understood by "de.firute" (sa-vzlcalpaka) cogmtlon. Dignag& and Dbarmakirtl mtroduced Into IndIan loglc the dlstmctlOn between pure sense knowledge, free from any operatlOn of abstract thought (kalpanapodha), and definIte cogwtlon (8a-mkalpaka) & It was then adopted by "C'ddyotakara and

1 Cf. Mrs C. Rhys DaVIds, B. P8ych., pp 32, 70. Th18 heartstuff had, presumably, as httle to do With the actual heart as the cakBur.,ndr'ya.stuff With the actual eye Indian medIcal sCience assumed the eX18tence of a subtle iikiira.foodstuft' as a vehicle of mental processes It 18 here called heartstuff.

lAb. K, n, 23. Ab. K ,1,14. IbId. Of. the definition of yatyaTt,a m N yay4.617111u 1.

VI. MIND 19

the whole of the Nyaya-Valgeslka school 1 It now appears that Dignaga was not the orIgInator of thIS doctrIne, he only adapted It to hIS system. From the very beginnIng BuddhIsm had established thIS ddIerenee: VtJ1iiina and Its synonyms Cleta, manah represent pure sensatIOn, the same as the kalpaniipodha pratyak~a of Dignitga, and sanJiiii corresponds to definite Ideas. Every constructIOn (kalpanii), every abstractIOn (udgrakana),2 every definIte (pa7"lch1,nna) representatIOn, such as blue and yellow, long and short, male and female, fnend and enemy, happv and miserable-this is all brought under the head of ideas (san.1iid) as distinguished from v1,Jiuina = pure sensation.

VohtlOn (cetanii) IS defined as the mental effort that precedes actIOn. It IS an element 01' a force whICh enters In the com-pOSItIOn of a personal hfe (santana) It must not be forgotten that, SInce there is no personality m the BuddhIst outlook of the universe, there certamly IS no will in our sense, i.e. no personal WIll. There IS a certam arrangement of elements, there IS an element, or a force, or, stIll more preCIsely, the SImple fact (dharma) that the elements are arranged in a certam way, accordmg to certam laws. ThiS fact IS pOInted to by the term cetana. It "arranges" (sancetayatt) 3 the elements in " streams ", whICh SImple folk deem to he personalIties. It IS synonymous WIth the law of moral causatIOn (karma)' and hkewlse with the force of vltahty. the "elan Vital" (bkiivanii, viisanii), whICh III the Buddhist system replaces any conSCIOUS agent, whether soul or God or even a conSCIOUS

1 Cf. Nyayii.-varttlka, pralyak~a-Biilra. , Ud1f'ahana 1S literally" abstraction", lalpana .. 1magmatlon ", .. ('on-

struct1on" It corrcsponds to the part taken m Kant's system by" pro-ductlve 1magmatlon", whereas 1131iiina, or thc pratyakaa of D1gniga, corresponds to .. reme S1nnilchkelt" Cf my LogIC of laler BuddlltBla (chapter on lalpand)

8 To be der1ved from the root Cl from wh1ch the Buddhists derIve cllta as well (Asb ,p 63); Ba71('clagatz IS exactly, In form and meanmg, the RUSSIan Bochetayetl" the PiJI ablnBandakah has th", same Import, cf S Z Aung, CompendIum, p. 235.

The definItlOn of karma 1S relana eetQytltYz ea laranam, Ab K, IV, 1 fl., the same as m Ang!dlara, lll, 415 l'f Mrs C Rhys Da.Vlds, B Psych., p 93.


human being.1 A moment of this kUld of wI accompanies every conscious moment (CtUa).

There are, on the whole, ten mental elements which accom-pany every conscious moment; they are called the" general" mental elements 2 There are ten others which are partlCularly " favourable" for progress towards the final appeasement of hie, they are faIth, courage, eqU8lllmIty, etc. Ten others have the contrary unfavourable or oppressive (kllfta) character There are some others whICh have no definIte moral character. All these mental elements are not general , they accompany only some of the moments of conSCiousness, not all of them 3

VII. FORCES The definItions of the wIll (cetana) and of the force (sa1/lskara)

are indeed the same, "what produces the mamfestatlOns (a'bkz-aa?!/,8karolt) of combmmg elements (sa?}lskrtam) '" it IS a " concerted agency". 5 Smce all forces are agencies actmg In some combInatIOn WIth other elements, we may In rendenng thIS conceptIOn, for the sake of expedIency, safely drop the word " combming " and use" forces" alone 6 There are some mdICatIOns that ongmally there was only one samskiira In the Buddhist system, the wIll, and that gradually a whole catalogue of them was developed, some of the elements bemg entered roto thIS group rather forCIbly, WIth excuses.7 The

I Ab K, IX, Soul Theory, p 942 I Cltla-makiibhu,mka a A full list of them "Ill be found In 0 Rosenberg's Problem8, p 374,

and at the end of thiS book 6 ThiS defimtlOn \'Ie find already In the old~st sources, e g Sa1/lyutla,

lll, 87, and It IS repeated In numberless pa,sages of the Ab K., cf S Z. Aung, Compendllltn, Jl 236

.'iarllbkii.yakdrllvam, Ab K, I, 7 ThiS the Buddhists themselves have also done In replacmg ,am8krta

by krlaka, of lIyayab.likd, pp 47, 50, etc. A umth WIthout combIDlng, can produce nothmg na h/'j'IC.d eka'Z ekaamat (Dlgnage.)

7 In the Ab. K., I, 15, there IS an mterestmg effort to prove that all lIa'l\o!kiira8 (sIxty) are Included. In the 8Qf/lBkiira-8Lalldkaand notcelanci alone, BSlt would be pOSSible to conclude from scrIptural }laMagee As the !leCond member of the ch&J1l of causation, aaf/IBlcara IS eqUIvalent to karma.

VII. FORCER 21

most typIcal forces are the four forees of origmation and decay, etc, whICh accompany every other element In hfe. Some detaIls concernIng them wIll be glven In the sequel. In general, all elements may be dIVIded Into substances ( and forces (dra'V!Ja and samskara). The forces are then I dIVided Into mental facultles, WIth the wIll as chief among tht'm, and non-mental ('~Ua-vzprallukfa) forces, among whICh the orIginatIOn and dt'cay forces are the' most typICal But even these latter forces are sometimes gIvt'n a certain amount of substantlahty (dra'V!lato~ sant~) 1 The word and conceptIOn sa1ilskara performs a conspICUOUS part in all Indian phIlosophICal systems. It usually means some latent mysterIOUS power, which later on reveals itself In snme patent fact. It sometlmes 18 identIfied With the " unknown" (adrsta) concClved as a force sw genens. Smce every phIlosophy IS but a search for the hIdden reahty as opposed to the patent surface of lIfe, the Importance of the conceptIOn of a samskiira IS qUIte natural Every system had ItS own defimtIOn and scope attnbuted to the connotahon of thIS term. The IJivika sect, as we have seen, was known by ItS demal of the eXistence of surh forces. The BuddhIsts, on the contrary, converted all theIr elements Into subtle forces of some degree The subtler the element the more was it gtven the character of a force. but even the coarsest elements, the mahiibhilfas, look more hke forces than substances There IS a constant fluctuatIOn In BuddhIst terminology between a force (samskiira) and a substance mfluenced by these forces (sarnskrta). A forct', It must be recalled, should not be regarded all a real influence of somethIng extendmg beyond Its own eXistence m order to penetrate mto another-thIS would be

Mrs C Rhys D&Vld~ calls mv attentIon to th( folIOlung very I1lummatlDg words In Sa""yutta, Ill, 60 Katama ca bk,!.khave BallkMra? Cha-lI,me eetaniikt'iYli r'iipn.Badda.gandha-ra8a-pMffhabba-sa,iceta1la dhammaBaiiceta1la lIne t',,&Callh BaltkMra. Ac('ordlDg to Yal,'omltra, Ie, t be mentaIfacultJes are J Included In the Ba'1l'kiirn-skandha because they obey the Will, the othl!l' foroes beoa.use they are slmIlar to the Will (cetana).

1 Ab. K , n, 2, 24.


upakara-but simply as a condItion, a fact, upon which another fact anses or becomes promInent (utkar~a) by Itself -this IS sa'1]l8kara m the Budd1ust system.1

The little we know of the history of IndIan philosophy induces us to look to the Siinkhya system as the foundation of scientific thInkIng. In that school the fundamental ideas were formed which sometImes unconsclOusly affected all later constructlOns What do we find there ~ Three fundamental pnnciples, Matter, MInd-stuff, and Energy-stuff, as mter-dependent moments In every real and substantial existence. Even energy IS substantIal In thIS sense. The mfimteslmals of energy, present eyerywhere, are semI-materIal, although dIfIerent from the mertIa of Matter, and the lUmInOSIty of Mind, they are separate and substantlal 2 The Buddhist elements as mfimtesimal realItIes, dIvIded mto elements of

'Matter, Mmd, and Forces, look lIke a reply to the Sankhya constructIOns from an archItect of greater skIll. "you mam-tam the reahtles are gunas, we say they are dharmns" The fundamental Idea of mfimtesunal realItIes may be recognized m the dharmas, the Idea of forces everywhere present can be traced to Its OrIgm m the Siinkhya conceptlOn of raJas, there are forces whICh are dIfferent from ma.tter and mmd (rupa-clua-vtprayttkta) A pluralIstIC View of the whole IS added to make the origmalIty of the new system, III contrast to the umtarIan tendency of the old one But, be the case as It may, every element of matter and ullnd llla.y be called In BuddhISm a samskiira, whIch, 1ll thIS case, WIll stand for Sa1f/,8h da-dharma 3 The BuddhISt Idea of a force

1 Cf. the pa1'lbhasii8 to Piinull,ll, 3, 53. VI, I, 139, and IV, 2, 16, IV, 4, 3,

(10 the Kii~ikii (not occurrmg m the M. bhiisya) Cf below, p 69

Cf. B Seal, The Posllwe SCWICU of the Hindus, and S Dasgupta, The Study of Pata,iJall The mterpretatlOn of the gU'!IaB given there IS entIrely based on Yyii.sa who, as Will be sern below, p 46, was strongly mfluenced by abh.dharma Concernmg their 1t1ytllOloglcal origin cf Senart, J. As 1915, v. 11, pp 131 ff

Ya90mltra (Ab K, I, 15) remarks that the name Ba'lfl8krta 18 given In antlOlpatlon, smce an element Will become Bamdrta only when the forces (Ba'lfl8kiira) shall have exhIbIted their effiClenoy. In the popular formula anltydh 8/lrve Bamalairab the word Ba'lfl8kiira stands for Ba'lfl8krta-dharma.

VII. FORCES 23

seems to be that it is the subtle form of a substance, but even substance is here subtle enough. The order in which the elements appear m the first classification into groups is interpreted as a. gradual progress from coarseness to subtlety; maliter (rupa) IS coarser than feeling (vedana), feelmg more palpable than ideas (aanjM), the remainmg energies (aar},lakiira) still more subtle 1

The pure forces (mprayukta-aamakiira) are the most subtle among the elements. In the loftIest, highest worlds, where eXIstence is entirely spintuahzed, theIr agency continues; they are the last to be suppressed before final extinction is reached. The chief among them are the four forces of origmatlOn and destruction, etc., which are the very essence of every eXlstence. Then there are two forces, prapt and aprapt&, whIch are supposed to control the collectIOn of elements composIng a personal hfe or to prevent (aprapti) the appearance in it of an element that is not m agreement WIth ItS general character The Sautrantlkas and Vasubandhu deny the reality of these forces; for them they are mere names (prO:l'iiaptl).2 There are two forces supposed to be active in producmg the highest degrees of trance-the unconSCIOUS trance (aaan)i'h-samapath) and the cessahon (mrodha-) trance or catalepsy They are also brought under the head of pure forces.3 They eVldently could not be brought under the head of mmd, because consCIOusness at that time 18 supposed to be suppressed. Then there are three forces correspondmg to the sphota of other systems. All Indl8.n systems contaIn speculatIOns about the nature of sound, Its physical as well as Its significatIve aspect. The physical sound was in BuddhIsm conSIdered, in agreement with the whole system, as a production, i.e. (flashing) of sound-atoms reposmg on the atoms of fundamental matter. If 8atp.8kiira etymolOgIZed as wana ... lidhana would mean force, and alf mrma'Biid1IallG would be equal to 8cz1flBkrtadllarma. The mchvldual Ide, which OOD8l8ts of all these phy&lcal and mental elements and foroes, 18 called BtJ'1I8h21'tJ-Ba",iJAah, cf. Yayom. (Ab. E., IX), 8tJ CiJpl CczJtrtJ-tJbhut'haliall R'1I8A:!irtJR",tllla-BallltlillGb.

1 Ab K, 1,22 A6 E., 11, 37. Ibid, D, 46.


simultaneously some atoms of translucent sOlmd matter (ffJbda-riipa-prasiida) appeared m the ear, an auditory sensation (frotra-tl1,Jnana) was produced But the significance of the sounds of speech was given by specml forces. The Mim8.rpsaka school was known for lts theory of transcendental, lDtelligible sounds whlch were eternal and ublqultous, like PlatOnIC ldeas, and mamfested themselves in the case of physlCal words bemg pronounced. Followingtht'Irfundamental pnnciple of analysmg everything mto minutest elements, the BuddhIsts imagmed three separate forces which Imparted to the sounds of speech their significatIveness; the force of sound (vyanJana) , whlch would seem to correspond to the modem ldea of a "phonema ", the force of words (nama), and the force of sentences (pada).1

Generahty, general ldeas, are also concelved as a kind of force, and It IS chrlstened by the name of ntkiiya-sabhiigafii, a conceptIOn mtended to replace by a "force' the substantlal reahty of the s{i1luinya of ot.her systems 2 In general thls group of forces lS a rather mcongruous assemblage of elements whIch could not be placed elsewhere As a separate group of elements It IS absent m the Theravada school. Some of Its members seem to have found a place, for some reason, among the physlcal (riipa) group of that school 3

VIII. NON-SUBSTANTIAUTY OF THE ELEMENTS After thIS succmct reVlew of the elements of eXlstence and

theIr dlfferent classIficatlOns, we may conSIder the questlOn as to what wt're they In theIr essence, what was the Buddhlst

J Ah. K, 11,4711 V1/allJa1la here corresponds to varna, nama to BallJ,iti, and pada to viik1/a, a case exhlbltmg clearly the deSIre to have a. termmology of one's own, so common to IndIan systems .. you mamtam It in splJoIa, we .. y It IS vyalt,1ana-niima-padG-Ba'1l8k4ra" The real eXlstence of these forces 18 admItted by the Sarvistlviidm alone. For tws reason they brmg the Holy Scriptures under the head of sa1fl8kiira-skandlw, whereas the Salltritnt!lus clasSify It under r1ipa, as fabda, and the VIJiliinavadms under 1l1,1nalUl-skandlw, cf VmItadeva.'s mtroductl0n to the SantantinlcH'a Blddln, edIted by me m the B,bl. Buddhlca.

lAb. K, n, 41 Of. S. Z. Aung, CompendllJ,m, p. 157.

VIII. NON-RU:BSTANTIAI.ITY 25

conception of an element. The elements had four salient features (1) they were not-substance-thIs refers to all the seventy-five elements. whether eternal or Impermanent; (2) they had no duratIOn-thIs refers only to the seventy-two Impermanent elements of phenomenal eXIstenCE'; (3) they were unrest-thIS :efers only to one part of the latter class, that whIch roughly corresponds to the ordmary man as opposed to the purIfied condition of the elements of a saint (drya) ; and (4) theIr unrest had Its end In final delIverance. Speakmg techmcally (1) all dharmas are aniitman, (2) all sa'Yflskrta-dharmas are anttya, (3) all siisrat'a-dTlarmas are duhlrha, and (4) theIr mrviin.a alone IS {,tinta. An element IS non-substantutl, It IS evanese'ent, It is In a beginrungless state of commotion, and its final suppressIOn IS the only Calm. These are what the TIbetan'.! call the four" seals" of Buddha 1 We now proceed to examme them separatE'Iy.

Anatma The term aniilman IS usually translated as "non-soul ",

but In reahty atman IS here synonymous WIth a personahty, nn ego, a self, an IndIVIdual, a hvmg bemg, a conscIous agent, etr 2 The underlymg idea 11'1 that, whatsoever be deSIgnated by all these names, It IS not a real and 11ltlmate faLt, It IS a mere namc for a multItude of mterconnected facts, ,vhlch Buddhist phIlosophy IS A.ttemptmg to analyse byreducmg them to real elements (dharma) Thu:;" soullessness' (nmriitmya) IS but the negatJ' e exprE'ssion, mdeed a synonym, for the E'Xlstence of ultImate reahtIe'.! (dharmatii) 3 BuddhIsm

1 The Southerns reckoned three .. marks .. , eYldently mC'ludmg the fourth m du1J,kluJ, as Its cessatIon. C'f S Z Aung, Compendzum, p 210 I. The whole Issue WIth every detaIl IS admirably expounded by Vasuba.ndhu In a concluding, ninth, chapter of Ab K, translated III my Soul Themy of tlie Boud,lk.BU1. The terms atma, Jivall, Battva, pudgala are here used as synonyms, cf Soul Tlieory, P ~38, and KathiivaUhu.attluJlcathii, p 8 The Vii.fslputrfyas made some dJ1ference bet" een pudgala a.nd alma" ; they were pudgalavad.nB, but not iitma,'dd,nB Although a.dmlttlng a hmlted, very shady, reahty of pudgala, they denied It the ultimate reahty of 8. dharma; cf Soul Tlieory and below, p 70 fl.

lTalltJcanadharmatii punar atra natriitmyam budd1uinu~d8ani va, Y&9om. ad .db. II IX, In fine.


\ neVE'r denied the eXIstence of a personality, or a. soul, In the empirical sense, It only maIntamed that It was no ultimate reahty (not a dharma). The Buddhist term for an IndlVldual, a term which is Intended to suggest the (hfference between

,the Buddhist view and other theories, is santana, I e. a " Atream ", VIZ of Interconnected facts. It mcludes the mental elements and the phYSiCal ones as well, the elements of one's own body and the external objects, as far as they constitute the experIence of a given personahty. The representatives of Clghteen classes (dhiitu) of elements combme together to produce this mterconnected stream. There IS a spemal force, called priiph, which holds these elements combIned. It operates only WithIn the hmlts of a SIngle stream and not beyond. ThiS stream of ('lements kept together, and not hmlted to present bfe, but haVIng Its roots In past eXistences and Its contInUatIOn In future ones-Is the Buddhist counter-part of the Soul or the Self of other systems.

Consequ('nt upon the demal of substance IS the derual of every difference between the categorIes of substance and quahty There IS no " Inherence" of quahties In substance , In thiS respect all real elem('nts are equally Independent. As separate entIties they then become substances SUI genens. "Whatsoever eXists IS a substance," says Vasubandhu.1 "An element IS somethIng haVIng an essence of Its own," 2 is the current defimhon To every urut of quahty there IS a correspondmg subtle element (dharma) which eIther dIrectly

(mamfests Itself or, accordmg to the Sarv8stIvo.dlns, flremaInIng for ever a transcendental realIty, produces a reactIon \(A.arttv(I, lak~",na) whiCh we wrongly mterpret as beIng a

I qualIty. All sense-data (rupa) are substances In that sense that there IS no stuff they belong to If we say c, earth has odour, etc.", It IS only an Inadequate expreSSIOn, we ought to say" ('arth ~s odour, etc", smce beSide these sense-data 'lAb. Koo lX, .'",IYlllllli7llJm arllVyq.m, Y&90m. adds 8V11Z11ksczMto vlara-mci7llJ'fl arllvyq.m~f. Soul Theory, p 943

I SVldaksa7llJ.dwlI1kid dharmah, Y &C}om ad Ab K, i, 3.

VIII. NON-RUBSTANTIALITY 27

there is absolutely nothing the name could be applied to.l The same principle IS apphed to the mental sphere; there is no splrLtualsnhstance apart from mental elements, or facultIes, that are conceIved as subtle reahties vr substances sui gener/,8, "ery much on the same pattern as the elements of matter.1II There IS no soul apart from fet-hngs, Ideas, vohtIOn!'!, etc.s Therefore an element technIcally mt-an'! "non-self" 4

1 P1'thzvi gandhavatity ukte rii.pa-(Jandha-raaa-8par~ebhyo nanya dar~allttum ~kyate, YaQom. ad Ab K., IX, cf SOlll Theory, p 742

I In hlB Htstarll of Indlafl. Ph,lo8ophy (CambruiglJ, 1922), p. 244, ProfOBBor IS Dasgupta mamtalDs that In Sfmkhya phIlosophy there IS lIkeWise no Iscparate eX18tcnce of qualitIes (I e no mherent.e of qualIties In a substa.nce) ThiS IS based (as the lcarned author mforms me m a letter) on Vyasa, UI, 12 (8apcL"ko dharma-dlwrml-bMvali) and Vii.caspatl's comment There are other po.ssages suggestive of a Similar Idea, e g dlw71ln-8tar/;pa-miitro I" dha.rmah. (Ibid ,m,13). But Ihs addeddharml-vllnyalt'a es!i dllarma-dvdr!i prapa7icyate In Buddhism thcre cannot be any change of dharnn,

, smce everythmg IS new at every moment Besldps It must not be forgotten that Vyii.l!a, as w1l1 be sho\\n later, was strongly mfluenced by the

I Abhldharmlsts If Professor S. Daqgupta's view that the ultimate entities lD Sii.nkhya \\ere called gU7Ul8, probably to suggest that they are the entities whteh by their variOus modificatIons mamfest thcmselves as gunas or qualIties, IS accepted, thIS would constitute a very strong analogy between the Sli.nkhya. g~ and the Buddhist dharmaa In h18 r'piiinam!itra-siddh,

~asubandhu apphes the term dharma to the ta.ttva.s of the S."i.nkhyas (0 Rosenberg)

a It IS a matter of surprise how long It has taken European sCience to realIze th18 doctrme, which IS so clearly stated In numberless passages of Buddh18t writ, and In one of them even In terms very nearly approaching to Hume's statement (Sa1fl,Ylltta, lll, 46) "all Brahmanas or Cramanas who attentIvely consIder the soul, wruch so "artously ha'l been desc~lbed to them, find elthcr the five groups of phenomena (phYSical, feehngs,ldeas, volItiOns,

(or pure sensation) or one of them," etc The stumbling-block has always been the supposed theory of transnugratton of souls and ItS "glarmg" contradIctIOn With the derual of soul Buddhism always had two languages, one for the learned (nilartha) and one for the Simple (neyartha)

Ab. K , IX, cf Soul Theory, p. 840, where It 18 stated that a1Uitma IS synonymous With 5 8kandhalJ, 12 !iyatanaa, and 18 dhatu8, I e WIth aU dharnw8, a smgle dharma IS lIkeWise synonymous lHth n,haattva It IS, therefore, mIsleadIng to translate BuddhaghOlla's mterpretatlon of dharma = ''''8Satta, 1UJJi.va, as meanmg " marumate thIng", 11.8 Mrs. and Prof Geiger have done, op Cit., p. 4 (Unbelebtes, Ding, Sache). SInce consolousness ltseH and aU mental phenomena and even NIrvana are dharmtU, BuddhaghOlla could not have meant that they are "marumate thIngs" In the orclma.ry sense. of the word. The compound fl.188atta. must be explamed eIther a.s a madhyama-padcl-lopi-71~rgGCqb aaUVGh,or a.s a bahuflTi'h,-nlrgGCab ltHhIo !fG8m4t.


IX PRATITYA-SA'IUTPADA (CAUSALITY) Although the separate elements (dharmas) are not connected

wIth one another, eltht'r by a pervadlDg stuff in space or by duratIOn lD tIme, there IS, nevertheless, a conneXlon between them, theIr mamfestatlons lD tlmf', as well as in space, are suhject to defimte laws, the laws of causatIon. These laws bear the general name pratit,/a-samutpiida We have seen that the connotatIOn of tht" word dllarma Implies the meamng of elements operatlDg together wIth others. ThiS concerted hfe of the elements (sams/:rtatm) is but another name for the laws of causatIOn-the combmed orlglDatIOu (~am-utpiida) of some elements wIth regard (proWl/a) to otht"r elements 1 Thus It IS that the fundamental Idea of BuddhIsm-the

I conceptwn of a plural1ty of separate plempnly-includes the I idea of the most slrlct causahf1j controllIng theIr operatIOn lD the worlrl-procefls The" theory of elements "-the dkarma-sanl:eta, RaYS Vasubandhu, means that "If somethmg appears, such and such result wIll follow "-asmm 8at~ ulaJ!t bkavah 2

The mORt popular form of the laws of causatIOn IS represente

IX. CAURAI.JTY 29

In the popular literature of the Sutras the term pratitya-samutpiida 18 almost exclusIvely applIed to thIs formula of the " wheel of lIfe ", although the general meanmg of It must have been present to the mmd of all BuddhIsts It IS ImplIed In the dIvIsIOn of dharmas mto ii1latanaa, whICh IS fOlHld('d on the theory that knowledge arISCS (samutpad'late) when condItIoned (pratitl/a) by an object and a recertlve faculty .. All (lbh~dharma IS but an mterpretatlOn of the sutras" the current says defimtlOn. Therefore the general meanmg of the Idea of "Interconnected ongmatlOn of elements" may have appeared m the abludllm ma by a sort of generahzatlon founded on actual conceptIOns that are to be found m the sutras m a somewhat dIfferent form ThIs questIOn IS dIrectly asked by Vasubandhu "Why IS It," says he, "that the twelve members of mterconne


ties together the four fundamental and the secondary elements of matter-bMta and bhautlka. The same relatIOn apphes to the simultaneous origmation of conSCIousness and mental phenomena (cltta and caltta). But for the vice versa con-JunctIon-one would be tempted to say" mherence" if It was not so grave a mIstake against the fundamental prmciple of BuddhIsm-of the mental elements With pure conSCIousness (mtta), a speCIfic, more mtimate, aSSoCIatIOn was Imagmed. EVIdently there was a feelIng that the varlOUS mental facts were more closely umted With conSCIousness than the atoms of matter WIth one another ThIS fact receIved the name of sampra1loga, I e a thorough and mtensive UnIon, and It was explamed as anupanvartana, I.e. a followmg and envelopmg of conSCIOusness by concomItant mental phenomena or the secondary mental elements (ca'/,Ua). It must not be Imagmed that thIS close conneXIOn of conSCIousness WIth other mental elements means any umty between them, allowmg only a logIcal dIstmctIOn for purposes of analysIs, as m modern psychologies. A BuddhIst element IS always a se-parate entity, It is neIther " compound" nor "phenomenon", but an element (dharma). The close conneXlOn, "envelopment" of con-SCIOUSneSF.l ~y other mental elements only means that they are ItS satelhtes, they appear and dIsappear together, they are produce-d by the same causes, and have the same moral aspect 1 Ten such satellItes are the IDlmmum number to accompany conSCIousness (cltta) at every moment; a feehng, an Idea, a vohtlOn, some attentIOn, some under-standIng (mat~ = pTaJiiii), some concentratlOn (sumiidkl), etc., are always present In every conSCIOUS moment.2 They are

1 Ab K, 11, 52, reckons ten dlfJerent ties of the" satelhtes .. With calla The Theravida seems to reckon only four, cf A8l, P 42' ekuppadadinam va.'Iena 8Gmpayogatlho vullo

I The number 18 then Increased by the four 8G'lI8krtG-lalsG7;1a8 of each element, and by the four la1cSG7IaB and four G7IUlak8Gnas of calla Itself, thus makmg fifty-eight satellItes the minimum number'to Unite In every smgle kBana WIth Cilia, the fifty-runth (Ab K, 11, 52).

IX. CAUSALITY 31

conjoIned, but conjoined by the law of "satelb.tes" (samprayoga).l

The Sarvistivadm school reckons In all SIX ddferent causal relations, but m these detaIls the schools varIed a great deal, and they eVIdently represent a later development of the orIgInal Idea. The detaIled account gIven In the

Abku1harma-ko~a represents the doctrme in Its final form whIch It receIved In the abkidharma of the SarvastIvadlns.

X. KARMA One of the most IlluminatIng features of BuddhIst

phtlosophy IS Its deep research Into the phenomenon of moral causatIOn All IndIan systems contam an appeal to the " unknown" (ad'llta, aml7"llQ.) as a transcendental cause whIch has to be pOSIted in explaIning the ongIn and the ultImate goal of hfe. The BuddhIsts dIstInguish between (1) causatIOn among elements of dead matter, where the law of homogeneIty (sabkiiga-hetu) between cause and result reIgns, (2) causatIOn lD the orgamc world, "here we have the phenomenon of growth (upacaya), and (3) causatIon In the ammate world, where the operatIon of moral causation (v~pa~'a-ketu) IS superImposed upon the natural The elements constItutmg the stream of our present hfe are condItioned, In addItIOn to the natural course of events, by the mysterIOUS effiClency of past elements or deeds, If the latter have possessed a moral character of some force or prommence. The indrfierent actIVltles of everyday hfe have no such effiClency But a promInent deed, whether good or bad, Will affect the whole stream and may carry ItS result either at an early or very remote date. The resultmg event (lnpiilca-pkala) IS always IndIfferent (avyiikrta) in the

1 The figurahve words of BuddhaghOlila (quoted by Mrs Rhys DaVids, B PBych, P 54) aro apparently mtended to descrIbe thiS kmd of Union That Vi)1iiina 18 the most general mental element 18 admitted by all BuddhlSts; but that It .. mcludes and mvolves " other elements, let a.Ione aggregates. ha.s never been admitted m ab/i,dkarma-It would be pure vIJliiina.vada. The Bam'{1l'ayoga conneXlon 18 known to BuddhaghOlila. cf A8l., p 42 The Ab. K., I, 35, Tibetan, p 6.2, 9, argues that, If the mental phenomena were not cW!erent from catla, they would not have been called eattta


moral sense, because it IS a natural outflow of a previous cause, and IS supposed not to be produced volunumly. This moral law is also called karma I

The Influence of karma is not In the Buddhist outlook so overwhelming, controlling the whole UnIverse, as It IS mother !lon-BuddhIst systems, and as It also becomes, under the name of v{u,'!nt;;, m the later IdealIstIC systems of BuddhIsm also In abhulharma It IS one of the forces controlhng the world-process. It IS the chIef force so far as rt controls ItS gradual pro~ress towards Final DelIverance Its operatIOn IS subject to the followmg conditIOns. Every fact produced by the "maturmg mfluence" (t'~piika) of moral or Intellectual antecedents (karma) necessarily belongs to ammate hfe (sattt-akhyalt), but IS by Itself morally IndIfferent (avyiikrto dharmah) It IS IndIfferent because It IS a natural outcome of antecedents, It always arrIves mVOhIntarIly, automatIcally. If somethIng IS produced voluntarIly, It may become the startmg-poInt of a new development. W'hen It has an outspoken strong moral charac-ter, whether good or bad, It becomes lMrma, and wdl haye correFlpondmg consequences whIch, aga.m, WIll appear automatic-ally, Since they are fully foreshadowed by their antecedent and are not voluntary acts. ThiS explaIns the defimtIOn of Karma, as given by Vasubandhu Karma IS wIll (cetan(t) and voluntary actIOn (celayltvii karallam) I Exactly the same defimtIon IS found m thf' Pah canon, and eVidently was current m BuddhISm from the begmmng 2

When a new hfe IS produced, ItS component elements, I.e. the eIghteen classes (dhiitus) of elements, are present, although In an undeveloped conditIOn. The first moment of the new hfe IS conventIOnally called tIJiiana. It constItutes the third member (mdana) of the eyer revolvIng" wheel of hfe ". Its antecedents are karma, I.e tht- good or had InstIncts stickIng to It from the begInlllng. In the formula of the ., wheel of hfe" thiS member appears under the na.me of samakiira, I.e.

1 Ab K. IV, 1 If A"uutlara, vol. IV, 415.

X. KARMA ss

pre-natal forces. Another, more general, antecedent is amdIJii, the mst member of the wheel, representmg the defiling influence (klefG) of lIlOrance and other VIces, the absence of dIscnmmatmg knowledge (praJ'iiii) Among the components (dhatu) of the new lIfe ten represent matter. They are atomIC. The atoms are compound atoms, they contain the usual eIght components WIth addItIOn of partIcles of sensIbIlity-stuff (rupa-prasiida) or "orgamc" stuff (= ~ndnIJa). The " tangIbility "-stuff (kiiyendnya) pervades the whole body. In some parts of the body, e g In the organ of VISIOn, the atoms have a stIll more complicated structure But not only does matter consist of compound atoms, It COnsiSts of momentary appearances of atoms In dead, morgamc matter one moment follows the other, obeymg solely the law of umformity or homogeneous production (sabhiigaJa) The next moment follows automatically (m.yyanda) on the former one. There IS neIther growth nor decay ThiS unIform course ,vould represent the Buddhist counterpart of what we mIght call etermty of matter Although the same matter IS also present m the orgamc body, nevertheless the term "umform course" (saMiiga-ltetu) cannot be appbed to It m that condition. It IS reserved for those cases where there are no other causes m additIon to the uniform sequence of moments COnstItutIng inorganic matter. When other processes-the process of growth (upacaya), the Influence of mtellectual and moral causes (v'tpiika)-are superImposed upon the uniform course of the eXIStence of matter, when It becomes orgamc and lIvmg, the consecutlOn of Its moments receIves other names (upacayaJa, vtpiikaJa). The pure "umformlty-relatlOn" between consecutive moments-the sabhiiga-n~anda-relatlOn -obtains only m the realm of Inorgaruc, dead matter When the atoms of orgamc matter have aSbembled, the phenomenon of growth (upacaya) becomes the controlling prInCiple of de"elopment, the atoms mcrease III number. ThIS process of growth 18 supported by favourable cIrcumstances. good food (anna-V't9ta), qUiet sleep (8vapna-vtfe~cal


tIdIness (8a7Jl8kdra-v~fe8a), and careful behaVIour (samddhi-1nfC~a). But this growth IS not the only factor whICh controls the development of hVIng bodIes. The influence of what we may term heredIty steps In, and IS superimposed upon the natural process of gro\\1;h. ThIS IS the Influence of karma, the maturIng (vtpiika) mfluence of moral antecedcnts When the organs of the body are bemg formed, or are developmg, thIS mfluence condItIOns theu final constltutlOn The questIOn IS then raIsed, what IS the mutual relatIOn of these two dIfferent agenCIes, natural development and heredIty? The answer is that the first process constltutes the "vanguard ", or a rampart, under the protectIOn of whICh the second, the t'lpiika, may safely operate.1 It IS not qUIte easy to realIze what such an answer may exactly mean. At any rate, It suggests a more subtle, spIrItual, or seml-spmtual character of t,he second force. Karma IS not qUIte phySICal (paudgaltka) WIth the BuddhIsts, as It IS WIth the Jams, but It seems to be semI-physIcal, smce It mterferes m the dISposItIOn of atoms along wlth the prInCIple of growth that accumulates them

A very mterestmg IllustratIOn of the meamng of these BuddhIst conceptIOns about heredIty, retrIbutIOn, etc.-all facts falhng under the head of karma-ttpiika-Is gtven by the followmg scholastIC questIOn. VOIce IS always produced volunt..arIly, consequently It cannot be the product of moral antecedents, of karma I t IS not V1piikaJa, for all the facts of heredlty are produced automatIcally (m~yanda). But we know that the Great Man (mahiipuru~a), 1 e. a Buddha, has a captlvatmg, melodIOUS VOIce, a noble elocutIOn. It IS one of the characterIstIc gtfts of a Buddha, and is due, hke all hIS subhme quahtles, to heredity, 1 e to a long course of moral progress runmng through generations Therefore hIS extra-ordmary VOIce and elocutIOn must hkewlse be a consequence of hIS moral antecedents (vtpiikaJa). The puzzle IS solved by

1 Ab. K., 1, 37, and Yac;:om -upacaya.Balilc/,no Hpaka'8antii7lll8ytJ parn'(ira'QVQ8tJlti1lt'1IQlIQ cirQE,.(i.

X. KARMA

assuming a double causahty. The configuratIon of atoms m hIS organs of speech was 1nfluenced by hered1ty, I.e. moral causes (vtpakaJa), but hIS actual speech IS a voluntary, not an automatIca.1 act, and therefore could not be interpreted as a dIrect product of hiS subhme nature, or the result of hiS former achlevements.1

The elements of moral defilement (kle9a) are always present In a lIfe (samtlina), m a latent or patent cond1tion. When latent they have tlle form of "res1dues" (anufaya), they stICk to the other elements, pollute them, brmg them mto commotIOn and prevent theIr commg down to rest. Th1s mfluence of the dlsqUletmg elements m hfe IS termed " general cause" (sarmtraga-ltetu) because 1t affects the whole of the stream of hfe (santana), all ItS elements become SOIled. The primary cause of this unhappy condItIon IS "illusion" (avulyii), the first, fundamental member m the wheel of hfe It contmues to eXIst and exhibIt Its mfluence as long as the " wheel" turns, and IS gradually neutrahzed and finally stopped by an antidote m the form of transcendmg Wisdom (praJ1tii amalu). Some detaIls about thIS process w1l1 be gIven later on when deahng With the "unrest" of the elements. ThiS process of gradual extmctIOn of the kler;as and the con-sl'quent purificatIOn of hfe 1S the ultImate aIm of the BuddhIst doctrme. For the sake of It the analysis of hIe mto elements, the research mto the1r functIons and connexIODS was undertaken. sankler;a-vyavadiinlkam UW:T{I, ~iistram-this doctnne 1S a doctnne about defilement and purIficatIOn, or, more exactly, about the commotIOn and final appeasement of hfe.2

'4!though emphatIcally banned from the dwelhng of BuddhIst phIlosophy and replaced by the laws of Inter-connexIOn, the conceptIOns of substance and quahty seem to have found a back-door through which partly to

1 Ab. K , I, 37. Tlb text, pp 6Ci ff. 2 The second ps.rt.of the second K~a.8tTliina contams an exposition of the

hetupratyaya theory Cf also Ab K. I, 36-6, Tibetan tll'tt, pp 64 ff.

36 THF CENTRo\.L CONCEPTION OF BUDDHISM

re-enter m theIr usual positIOn For the dIvISion of the elements of matter mto primary and secondary (bkUta and bkauttka) and of the mental elements mto fundamental and derivatIve (eltta and catua) approaches very nearly the relation of substance and qualIty The secondary are supported (ilp-tta) 1 by the pIlmary, and thIS conneXlOn IS mseparable, the one cannot a.ppear Without the other. In the Buddhist mterpretatlon they are, nevertheless, separate elements although lmked together by the laws of causatIon A speCial relatIOn of Simultaneous or reCiprocal causatIon (sakabhu) IS then ImagIned to save the SituatIOn. In theory the one element IS as much the cause of the other as the latter IS the cause of the former 2 The mental phenomena are not mcluded m consCiousness (ctUa) , but are standmg by It, mutually they are envelopIng (anupartvartante) It, but, nevertheless, they are separate elements 3 N ot-wlthstandmg these efforts to mamtaIn theIr equal rights, we see that the attempt has not been successful, smce there IS a prImary and secondary posItIOn, the secondary IS spoken of

a~ supported by the primary, and their connexlon IS mseparable It IS presumably for thIS reason that Buddhadeva, one of the celebrities of the Sautrantlka school, revolted agaInst such mequahty of treatment, and demed the difference between primary and secondary ell'ments; he mamtamed that all were equally prImary (bMta and not Mautt/ca) 4 But thIS strICture had no success, It was dlSposed of by reference to the Scriptures and by pomtmg, as It would seem,

1 The derlvod elements of matter are called ulludiiya-rupa, Ie. bhiUii1lt "11 idiiya, cf the diSCUS&IOn under Ab K, I, 35

I Ibid, 11, 51 a It IS curious that the rltta 18 relatod to caltta by the sahabMi. relation,

whICh 18 defined as mutual causalIty, one member bemg the cause of the othor as much as the lattor 18 tho cause of tho formor Nevertheless, the cadlas stand to cllta m another relatIOn, called samprayoga They" envelop" the calta, but do not entor mto It, for thiS would moan" Inherence", which 18 prohibited Through the cobweb of these devlCes one can clearly watch the apparitIOn of the ghost of the Roul, which It has cost so much effort to ban

Ibid, I, 35

X. KARMA 37

to the promInence of the tactIle sense data; the general mamfestatIOns (lak~ana) of matter-repulsIOn, attractIon, heat, and motIon-are all tactIle phenomena, and they are genernl,l whereas colour, t-tc. can be appreht-nded by VIsion alone. Moreover, the t.ranslucent matter of the sense organs could not eXIst (1 e. appear) WIthout beIng backed by some more con'-lIstent forces 2)

XI. IMPERMANENCE OF THE ELEMENTS

The elements of eXIstence are momentary appearances, momentary flashmgs mto the phenomenal world out of an unknown I)onrce Just as they are chsconnec.ted, so to say, III breadth, not bemg hnked togt-ther by any pervadIng substance, just so are they dIsconnected In depth or In duratIOn, SInce they last only one SIngle moment (ksana). They dIsappear as soon as they appear, In order to be followed the next moment by another momentary eXIstence. Thus a moment becomes a Eoynonym of an element (dharma), two moments are two dlfferent elements. An element becomes somethIng lIke a POInt In tIme-space The SarviistlvadIn school makes an attempt mathematIcally to determme the duratIOn of a moment 3 It, nevertheless, admIttedly represents the smallest partICle of tIme ImagInable. Such computatIOns of the sIze of the atom and of the duration of a moment are eVIdently mt-re attempts to seIze the mfirutesImal. The Idea that two moments make two dIfferent elements

1 Caraka ({JarirasIMlla, chap I) likeWIse pomts out that tho 'alr"allo,8 of hiS five bkilfaa are tacttle phenom~na.-spaTf-!'ndrlya-!1oearam.

2 Bulilihadeva In hIS turn quotes the Garbkii~akrallh-sii.tra (not to be tTaced In tho Pah canon) a.nd a passage statmg that at the conceptIOn moment of Buddha (I e the thll'd nulana, teebnICaUy called IIIJiiilna) the embryo was IIarldkiitulra, I e consIstIng of SIX elsml'nts, tltJ,;,ana, fuur mahabkii.taa, and a~~. tho bkauh I.."a8 are not mentIOned But It IS answered that the makabkii.las a.re alone mentIOned, smce Mula represents the bkalltllras as well, and vlJoona IS here eqUIvalent to cilia and cmtta (Ab E, 1,35, Tlbtltan text, p 62,6 If) Su~rtlta(8iUra-8tkalla, xu) has the same View as Buddhadeva HehkswIAe shares the VIew that the prommen!'e, ufkarao" not the quantity, of one kind of atoms, determmes the class of th" compound.

a Ab. E., 111, 15; cf. S Z Aung, Oompendlum, p 25.

S8 THE CENTRAL CONCEPTION OF BUDDHISM

remains. Consequently, the elements do not change, but disappear, the world becomes a cmema.. DIsappearance is the very essence of existence; what does not dJsappear does not exist 1 A cause for the Buddhists was not a real cause but a precedmg moment, whIch lIkeWIse arose out of nothing In order to dIsappear mto nothmg.

It IS at present impossIble to determme the epoch when th18 theory was definitely framed Some of the oldest schools, at any rate, expressed It very clearly. a They mamtamed that mountaIns, trees, the elements of matter, all elements In general, were momentary appaIltlOns, hke moments of thought. The schools differed on thiS pomt, and the complete logical demonstration was constructed, probably, at the time when logiC had taken the place of abludll,arma 3 But It IS easy to reahze that, gIven the fundamental BuddhIst Idea of the plurahty and separateness (prthal..tva) of theIr elements, thIS Idea, worked out With the characteIlstlC IndIan intrepidity In phIlosophical constructIOn, mll8t have been carried to ItS logical COnBt'quence, I.e. the assummg of no duratIon, Slllce there was no stuff that could possess duratIOn

1 Thus eXistence becomes synonymous With non-eXistence, SIDce every fact dISappears at the same moment when It appears ThiS IS the Indian way of expressmg the Idea developed by H Bergson, CreattVe Evolution, p 2 .. the truth 111 that we change Without ceasing, and that the stlLte It,elf IS nothmg but cha.nge .. The conclUSIOn of Bergson IS to the mdlvlSlbllIty of duration, whereas the Buddhlsts stick to the separate moment'! and make them a.ppear out of nothmg--

XI. I~PERMANENCE 39

A consequence of thIS doctrme was a delllal of motion. A really eXlstmg object, I.e an element, cannot move, because It dIsappears as soon as It appears, there is no time for It to move. ThIS does not contradIct the Clrcumstance that one of the general characterIstics of matter, the fourth maMbhiUa, is motIon Every motion is resolved m a serIes of separate apparItions, or flashings, ariSing In contIguIty to one another} MotIOn of physIcal objects, as explained In the abhidharma, gave the best E.Upport to the conSIderation of dead matter as a serIes of evanescent flashmgs. The phenomen of acceleration of falhng bodies IS explained by a dIfference In the llltensity of the element weIght or motion (irana) at every moment of Its downward course, Since the object at every moment IS dIfferently composed.2 An element 18 thus comparable to a fire, It conSIsts of a serIes of separate flashmgs follOWing one another, every moment representmg a new fire.

The Sarvastivadins construe the theory of the momentary character of the elements In the followmg manner.a Every element appearing In phenomenal hie IS affected SImultaneously by four different forces (saf!lSktiras), the forces of ol'lgmatlOn (utpiida) , decay (Jara), maintenance (sthltt), destructIOn (amt.'1atii) " These forces affect every element at every moment of ItS eXIstence, they are the most UnIversal forces, the characterIstIC feature or the mamfestmg forces of phenomenal eXIstence (sams!rta-laksaniirH). The elements affected by them are called the mamfested elements (sarnskria-dltarma) Unaficcted by them are only the three

1 Ab K, IV, 2, na gahr, niit It IS not 1nya, but mrantara-utpiida. see below, under Theory of CogmtlOn, p 60

I Ab K, 11, 46 The Vau;eslka admit one mdlvmble Bamakara tlll the cessation of a motIOn ThIS would ('orrflSpond to Hl'rgson's Idea of the Indlv18lblhty of motIOn The NalyJ.Ylkas, on the contrary, admit as many 8al1",lca7'aB as there are momontary I.nyiiB

a It I'! expounded With all detaIls of the Issue between Sautrti.ntlkas and SlI.rvii.stlvii.dln'l by Vasubandhu III Ab K, 11, 46 Profo~sor J. de la Vallee Pous9m has kmdly oommumcated to me hIS French translation of thJ8 lmportant text, }VhlCh I compared WIth my own Enghsh translatIOn.

Sometime, reduced to three-birth, subSIStence, and decay


elements of eternal unchanging eXlStence (asaf!U!krta-dka'f'fOO). The term sarp,skrta IS therefore synonymous wIth ksan~ka, I e Impermanent or momentary 1

ACcordlDg to the laws of mterconnCXIOn between elements, these four forces always appear together and Simultaneously. They are lIaltabhil 2 BeIng elements themselves, they are In need of secondary forces (upalak~ana) In order to display theIr effiClency. The reahstIc tendency of the SarvastlvidIns, If

I there was any, consisted In constructIng some reahtles correspondmg to our Ideas or habIts of speech. ThIS tendency they shared with the Nyaya-Vall;esIka system Just as the latter had a qualIty of conJunction (samyoga) as somethIng real, additional to the thIngs whICh were JOIDlng, Just so the SarvastlvadIns had theIr orIgInatIOn, decay, eXIstence, and destructIOn In addItion to the elements origInatIng and dIsappearIng at the same moment They InSisted that these four forces, and the secondary potenCles Influencmg them In their turn, were realItIes (dravyatah santt). AgaInst thiS Idea of an element whICh was SImultaneously orIgInatIng, eXistIng, and dIsappearIng, the very natural obJectIon was raIsed by all the other BuddhIst and non-BuddhIst schools that productIOn and destruction could not be SImultaneous. On the other hand, It was ImpOSSIble to allow an element more than one SIngle moment's duratIOn, SInce two moments constItuted two elements The SarvastIvawns met the obJectIon by pOIntIng to the drfierence between an element In It.self, Its real nature (svabluiva) and its effiClency-moment, Its functIOn, or manIfestatIOn (kii..!J;lva, la~a). The elements or forces Dlay be opposed to one another, yet theIr effect may result In some smgle real fact, as e.g., SUppOSIng three assaSSInS have resolved together to kill a man hidIng In some

1 The tra.nslatlon of 8al7ukrm-dkarma as .. compound" is a contradlctl!) In adJeclo A dharma 18 never compound, It 18 IIlways Simple Wherever there IS composition there aTe several dkarmlJ8

I Just &8 the Cltta never appears Without Simultaneously bemg accom-panIed by callta-dluJrmas, or the fOUT mal/(wkiltaB appearmg Simultaneously WIth the bhauhka8

XI IMPERMANEN0R 41

dark recess, one of them (utpada) pulls him out of his hldmg-place (the future), the other seizes him, the thIrd stabs him, all actmg simultaneously. The VIctim (dharma) appears only to disappear The reahty moment IS the moment of actI

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The Central Conception of Buddhism