Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana - Author's Introduction II

Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana ( The Guide ) - Author's Introduction II

ACCORDING TO
KACCANA THERA

TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
Pali Text Society

 6. AUTHORSHIP AND DATE RECONSIDERED
This raises once more the disputed authorship. The venerable
oriental tradition, recorded at an unspecified date at the conclusion
of the text and also by the commentator some eight or more cen-


turies after the Parinibbdna of the Buddha ascribes it to the Buddha's
disciple, the Elder Maha-Kaccana.
30
 Modern-European scholars re-
ject this (sect. 3 above). Prof. Hardy (PTS Netti p. xxi, note), how-
ever, sketches a theory of multiple authorship. While, with the Pe
older than the Netti, that theory would not work out as he con-
ceived it, nevertheless it is worth pursuing. But two matters must
be distinguished here: the authorship of the Method on the one hand
and the authorships of the two books setting it forth on the other.
Even the commentator, while ascribing the Netti to the Buddha's
disciple, makes certain reservations (PTS Netti pp. viii-ix; trsln.
n.l/6) .
Perhaps something on the following lines happened. The
Buddha's disciple, Maha-Kaccana Thera, is distinguished in the
Anguttara Nikaya as 'foremost of those who analyse in detail what
has been stated in brief (A. i, 23) and there are a number of dis-
courses in the Nikdyas where he does this (e.g., M. Suttas 18, 133,
138; S. iii, 9-13; A, v, 46 and 255).
31
 From the Udana (p. 57) he
appears to have lived mostly in the rather remote S.W. Kingdom of
Avanti, where bhikkhus were few, and was an expounder of the
Buddha's utterances and a teacher of pupils. I t is not impossible
that a compendious method for avoiding wrong wording of such
expositions was formulated there, though there is no information
about what it was or that this was actually so. (It would be more
vain than hazardous to try and reconstruct such a method from the
discourses mentioned. What is indeed particularly notable is that
no mention at all is made either in the Netti or the Pe of his actual
expositions as these are recorded in the Suttas.) This method—its
elements—could have been discussed in one or more of the first
three Councils (that it was not can hardly be proved) and could have
been handed down orally in some skeleton form (perhaps partly or

30 The variants 'Kaccana', 'Kaccayana' and 'Maha-K.' can be disregarded.
The Pe (p. 3) has 'Kaccayanagotta' in a verse appearing in the Netti (p. 1)
slightly altered with the name as 'Maha-Kaccana'
 (but cf. PTS Netti p. 194).
The Pe in its third, fifth and eighth chapter-terminals calls him 'Jambuvana-
vasi', in connexion with which see Netti Tika quoted in translation at PTS
Netti p. viii, note 4. This matter leaves some points to be cleared up. The
Pe also adds to the terminal of its first chapter the words 'Tam jivitam
bhagavata madisena samuddanena tathagatena ti' (sic), cf. concluding words
of the Netti (p. 193).
31 However, the Elder Ananda appears in precisely the same role at S. iv,
93ff.


all in verse). Or, more likely perhaps, the Method as we have it
now was not his pupils' (which, if it existed, was lost), but another
derived from elsewhere and fathered on his name at some later time.
Then, still later, perhaps between Asoka's time and the first century
A.C, somewhere in S. India most likely, an attempt, not necessarily
the first, was made to set forth this Method in the form of a treatise.
This produced the Petakopadesa*2
 Some time later, perhaps cen-
turies rather than generations, this version, in the meantime con-
signed to writing, was considered not clear enough or adequate, and
a more polished and perspicuous version was undertaken. So the
Nettijypakarana was written; to which, later still, minor additions
were made. The Pe, being venerated though superseded, was
preserved. Both books (taking the Netti to have been composed
somewhere in India too) came to Ceylon at some fairly early period
(well before the 5th century A.C) , not necessarily at the same time.
Out of respect for the Thera with whose name they were connected,
both books were kept, though the Pe remained in obscure neglect.
Both were available to Acariyas Buddhaghosa and Dhammapala,
the Pe apparently containing a few passages now lost,
33
 and the two
commentators were, as their works show, acquainted intimately
with the Method and the details of its exemplification (see sect. 10
below).
All this is, of course largely conjectural; but if the history was
actually something on these lines, then the explanation of the
authorship (and the date) would lie somewhere between extreme
interpretations of both the Eastern tradition and Western scholar-
ship's opinion.

32 There may have been still earlier attempts, which the Pe superseded and
are now quite lost. In its schedule of triads of its 3rd Grouping in ch. ii
(p. 23, 11. 19-21) two triads are included which do not appear in the body of
the chapter ('sakavacanadhitthanam . . . ' and 'Kiriyam phalam ...') , of which
the Pe itself (p. 23, last line) says 'Imani cha patikkhittani'. Does this indicate
a survival rejected by the Pe's compiler? As the two triads are redundant
against others, it seems unlikely that they should have been included simply
for rejection.
88 Quotations claiming to be made from the Pe are found at the refs. given
in note 22 (q.v.). Netti A (Sinn, ed.) provides two more quotations, one not
traceable (p. 3; cf. a differing reading at PTS Netti p. 201) and one traceable
(pp. 40ff.) to Pe pp. 46 and 44 with some differences (see also note 26). The
allusion to 'Petakopadesa* at PTJ3 Netti p. 241 is traceable to Pe ch. ii. There
are probably others in the Pali Commentaries.


7. THE FOKM OF THE GUIDE AND ITS ELEMENTS
a. The form in which the Guide is set out
The book has three increasingly detailed statements of the Method
and its Elements. After this beginning, the Method is then
exemplified by commentarial material in the four chapters of its
most bulky portion, called 'Counter-Demonstrative Subsection',
34
which begins at §31 of the translation (p. 5 of the Pali text) and
continues to the end. The first statement called 'Comprehensive
Section' can be likened to a label on a tool-kit. What follows is all
entitled 'Specification Section', which contains the two more
detailed statements and the exemplification. The first of these
'statements', the 'Indicative Subsection', can be said to list the tools
in the kit, while the second, the 'Demonstrative Subsection' des-
cribes the tools and how they should be used. The 'Counter-
Demonstrative Subsection' with its four chapters then exhibits in
four ways samples of what the tool-kit can do in marshalling and
preparing the raw material for a commentary.
With the Pe established as the earlier work, it can easily be seen
how the Netti has built up its three 'statements' from material taken
straight from different parts of the Pe with little added. The
Netti's first 'statement' takes the first verse at Pe p. 3,11. 4-5, as the
nucleus of its five verses; that is preceded by one homage-verse and
one verse referring to the 'twelve terms' ('letters', . . . 'for des-
cribing': also from Pe p. 5,11. 2-5, cf. Netti p. 4,1. 28, p. 5,1. 1 and
p. 8, 11. 29-32), and it is followed by two verses merely pointing to
the next 'statement'. The Netti's second 'statement' is simply a
slightly altered and improved version of the contents of Pe p. 3,
1. 6 to p. 4,1. 24. The Netti's third 'statement' is made up by taking
the introductory verses to the Modes of Conveying from the Pe's
fifth chapter, completed and revised, and adding the five verses
from Pe p. 259, 11. 6-16. To this are added merely the supple-
mentary last five verses appearing at Netti p. 4, 1. 25 to the end of
the 'statement'. The Netti's Counter-Demonstrative Subsection with
its four chapters is then simply a revision of the Pe's four pertinent
chapters (ii, v, vii and viii) with most of the material from the Pe's

34 These titles are reminiscent of those used in the Kathdvatihu, though
there is apparently nothing else in common between the two books. They
are not found in the Pe. With the Pe older, the Netti'a Summaries cannot,
as such, be very well a core later added to (see PTS Netti p. xx, n. 2).


other four chapters incorporated in some form and some more
material introduced.
This exemplifying Counter-Demonstrative Subsection presents its
four chapters in natural sequence of development. The first
exemplifies the 16 Modes of Conveying, themselves for the most part
derived directly from the Suttas, exhibiting and establishing each
by a different quotation, quotations, or other material, in order to
display its special character. The second chapter is intended to
show how a single Pito&a-passage or 'Thread' (example given in two
parts in §§491 and 595) can be treated under the 16 Modes. The
third chapter, dealing with the 5 Guide-IAnes, is in three parts, each
devoted to one of the three alternative 'meaning-Guide-Lines' in
combination with the two 'phrasing-Guide-Lines'. The concluding
fourth chapter, in two parts, presents a large selection of Thread-
passages classified respectively under two alternative comprehensive
groupings. (See 'Detailed Contents' for further elaboration.)
The Guide's inspiration in the Suttas would seem to reside in the
following passages: 'There are two who misrepresent a Perfect One.
What two? He who illustrates a Thread whose meaning (aim) needs
guiding (neyyattha) as one whose meaning is already guided (nitattha),
and he who illustrates a Thread whose meaning is already guided as one
whose meaning needs guiding9
 (A. i, 60; cf. §117: neyya and nita are
respectively gdve. and pp. of the same root (m) as that of netti and
naya); also 'Two ideas conduce to the confusion and disappearance of
faith's True Idea. What two? Term-phrasing ill-presented, and
meaning (aim) ill-guided' (A. i, 58-9; cf. §117). What is called
'faith's True Idea' here is the teaching of fourfold Truth, the
'teaching peculiar to Buddhas'.
35
 The Pe says of these four
ultimate aspects of Truth: 'Herein, while (in the teaching of the four
Truths) the letters, the terms, the phrases, the moods, the language
and the demonstrations (of them) are of ungauged measure (i.e.,
outside the ordinary philosophers' patterns of the world and its
values), they are nevertheless taught (i.e., made evident to under-

35 See, e.g., M. i, 380. PED gives only 'exalting' or 'condensed' for
samukhamsika, which are both wrong. MA. explains as follows 'Samarh
ukkarhsitva attano yeva vadharitva gahita sayambhunaneria dittha asadharana
annesan ti atiho. Ka pana sa? Ariyasaccadesana* (iii, 92), which translates
thus 'Taken by putting up his own, by exhibiting what is proper to himself
alone, seen by knowledge that is (specially) his own and unshared by others.
What is that? The teaching of the Noble Truths' . The word has this
meaning of 'peculiar to' also at A. v, 194.


standing) by an explaining, displaying, divulging, analysing, ex-
hibiting, and describing, of that very meaning (cf. Netti §49).
Accordingly each one of these four aspects of Truth (four Truths)
must be searched as to its letters, terms, phrases, moods, language,
and demonstrations, that are of ungauged measure: the phrasing
for variety of meaning and also the meaning for variety of phrasing
(Pe p. 5). And again 'Wherever the Truths are demonstrated, there
the meaning can, by finding a way of entry from the Truth-charac-
teristic (stated in the Thread), be sought from the phrases of un-
gauged meaning (doing so), by means of phrasing that has parallel
occurrence with (conforms to) the meaning and again by means of
meaning that has parallel occurrence with (conforms to) the phrasing.
Then, while the phrasing of each (aspect of Truth) is of ungauged
measure, the four Noble Truths can nevertheless be demonstrated
by Threads according as they are presented (in the Pitakas)
9
 (Pe
p. 10).
b. Elements of the Method
The Guide's purely technical elements are notably few. They must
be clearly distinguished from the diffuse and variable material by
which they are exemplified in it. The whole THREAD (Sutta, i.e.,
the Buddha's whole utterance as the Sutta and Vinaya incorporated
in the Tipitaka) is regarded as conveying verbally the communication
of its ideas (dhamma) by its PHRASING (byanjana), which process
is represented by 6 PHRASING TERMS (byanjana-pada), and as
guiding these to its MEANING (aim: atiha) prescribed in the
Pitakas, which process is represented by 6 MEANING-TERMS
(attha-pada). (Note that these 12 terms appear only in ch. i, e.g.,
§49, referred to in §1.) In its detail the PHRASING comprises the
16 MODES-OF-CONVEYING (ham) and also 2 of the GUIDE-
LINES (naya), while the MEANING (aim) comprises the remaining
3 GUIDE-LINES. All 5 GUIDE-LINES are moulded (samutthita)
upon 18 ROOT-TERMS (mulapada) consisting of 1 pair each of
morally orienting dyads, triads, and tetrads. These pairs are each
made to represent the whole Pattern of the Dispensation (sasana-
patthana), in which THREADS are grouped into 2 alternative
comprehensive sets of types. (See §§1-30. For renderings of these
terms see sect. 8 below.)
In this compendious scheme of contextual type-situations drawn
from the huge mass of the Suttas, the ideas composing the Buddha's
teaching as a whole are taken as carrectly worded in the Pitakas, and


this is what is referred to here as the 'THREAD'.
36
 Conflict with
this must be avoided when a comment is made upon an individual
Thread-passage, re-wording it. So in this the Guide's elements
stand in for the Thread-as-a-whole. (See schematical layout
on p. xxxi.) The three 'statements' (§§1-30) give the elements; the
rest of the work exemplifies them. In the exemplification of
phrasing in chs. i and ii the 5 Guide-Lines of ch. iii have necessarily
already been involved whenever, in addition to mere phrasing, the
meaning (aim as liberation) is arrived at verbally. In particular,
the phraseological distinction between moral profit and unprofit is
made by the HOOK, while any similar employment of the pairs of
dyads, triads, or tetrads, belonging to the 18 ROOT-TERMS
involves the PLOTTING OF DIRECTIONS. And as the tele-
ological use of the pair of Root-Dyads to arrive at the meaning (aim)
involves the CONVERSION OF RELISHING, so the Root-Triads
involve the TREFOIL, and the Root-Tetrads the LIONS' PLAY.
Consequently the third chapter is not the setting out of something
new, but is simply the clarification of what is already exemplified in
chs. i and ii. Ch. iv contains schemes for classifications of Thread-
passages for treatment under ch. ii, and so, like ch. iii, contains no
additional task to be completed afterwards. (The 16 Modes are
individually discussed in sect. 9.)
The main purpose in including the detailed commentarial
matter (in ch. i, and in ch. ii Modes 1 and 2) is to exemplify the
elements of the Method. But at the same time it is so chosen here
(and in the Pe) as to attempt also to offer subordinately—by
representative samples, as it were—a kind of survey of the Thread's
main doctrines. This accounts for the selection of much of the
material. I t is this fact that has contributed to the mistaken view
that the Netti is itself a kind of commentary: it is, but not primarily
so.
8. RENDERINGS OF THE GUIDE'S TECHNICAL TERMS
Sutta ('Thread', 'Thread-of-Argument')
Literally sutta means 'thread', and by analogy there is the 'thread'
of a coherent discourse. In the Vinaya (iii, 8) the simile is given of
flowers placed on an altar without being tied together and thus soon
blown away, whereas those tied together by thread remain longer,

36 See train, n. 1/2.


and likewise the Buddhas* teaching lasts longer if given in the
'threaded' form of connected discourse (sutta). The NettiA cites
the following verse 'from the Sangahas'*1
 and though there applied
to the Sutta-Pitaka it applies to all three:
'Atthanam sucanato suvuttato savanato 'tha sudanato
Suttavia suttasabhagato ca suttam suttan ti akkhatam'
Attha ('meaning', 'aim', 'good')
A much used word of many shades, of which the principal are the
three given here in the heading. Here, when opposed to byanjana
(see next) what is referred to is the aim of the teaching. In the
expression padattha the reference is to 'dictionary meaning of a
word', but when opposed (as in the 4 patisambhida) to dhamma (idea)
what is referred to is what the dhamma (as mind-object or as teaching)
stands as a sign (nimitta) for. When opposed to anattha (in the
sense of 'harm') it refers to 'good' or 'benefit'. In this work the
technical meanings are properly only word-meaning and the meaning-
as-aim of the Buddha's teaching.
Byanjana {'phrasing', 'phrase')
Here this word, which has several distinct meanings, is used only in
the sense of the phrasing or wording of ideas as opposed to the
meaning-as-aim of those ideas (see last). I t appears in two types of
context here: as one of the '6 phrasing-terms', namely phrase (§27),
and in opposition to attha (meaning-as-aim), namely phrasing.
(Also 'consonant' opposed to 'vowel' {sard) in grammar; but that
and its other meanings, including 'bodily feature' (§159 only),
'detail', and 'curry-sauce' are not relevant here.)
Pada {'term')
This common word with a wide range of meanings comes from
<\/pad to happen, step, exist or proceed. As used technically in this
work it refers indifferently either to a term as a single word or as a
phrase for a single idea or to the 'foot' of a verse (i.e., half-line)
(§§64, 416). Otherwise it has the common general sense of 'foot-
print' or 'trace'. (Also '(4) parts of speech' {MA. i, 16); but that is
not meant here.)

37 The 'Sangahas' ('Compendiums') may perhaps in this case refer to works
of Acariya Buddhadatta (5th century A.C.).


Netti ('guide')
A not too uncommon word adopted by this work for its name. I t
is one of the substantives from <>/nt to guide, to lead.
38
 Netti A:
'In what sense is the Guide (netti) so called? (1) I t is called a guide
in the sense of guiding (naycmdf* to faith's true object; for just as
it is said '"Craving guides (nayati) creatures to sensual-desire
existence, etc., thus it is the guide to existence" (bhavanetti: cf.
MA. iii, 342), so too, since this guides (nayati) creatures capable of
being guided out (veneyya) to the Noble True Idea, it is called a
guide in the sense of its guiding to faith's true object. (2) Or
alternatively, they guide (nayanti) by its means, thus it is a guide;
for it is by the Guide-Treatise (Netti-ppalmrana), it serving as the
instrument (karana), that expounders of the True Idea guide out-
guidable creatures to—make them reach—the (first) Path, which
affords seeing (of extinction of greed, hate and delusion). (3) Or
alternatively they are guided (niyanti)*0
 here; this treatise being
their terms-of-expression—it serving them as standpoint—, the
outguidable are made to reach extinction, thus it is a guide. For
without the support of the Guide's method of disclosure (upadesa)
there is no ascertaining the Thread's meaning without distortion... .
Since the Guide is all detail (samvannand), guide (netti) and dis-
closure (upadesa) of the Thread's meaning (aim), it derives its
existence from the Thread, as the Thread derives its existence from
the Buddha' (Sinh. NettiA p. 2; PTS p. 194).
Hara ('Mode-of-Conveying')
The word seems peculiar to this work and the Pe. Presumably
from ^/har to carry, to convey. NettiA: 'In what sense (Mode-
of-)Conveying (hara)'
1
. (1) By them, or here, any unknowing,
doubts, and perverted perceptions, whose field is the (ninefold
Thread, namely the) Threads, Songs, etc.,
41
 are conveyed away
(hariyanti), thus they are Conveyings (hara). (2) Or they them-

38 See PTS Netti p. vii for etymological details and discussion of the word netti.
39 Nayana is also used metaphorically for the eye, which 'guides' by its seeing.
40 At PTS Netti p. 195 the spelling is niyyanti, but that would seem to be
the pres. 3rd pers. pi. of the verb niyydti to find an outlet (\/ya to go: see,
e.g., §42); while a pun may be intended here, it is more likely a misspelling
for nlyanti, pres. 3rd pers. pi. passive of nayati (y/ni to guide) since this form
does not appear otherwise in this exegesis, which is incomplete without it.
But cf. spelling niyanti under naya below.
41 Seetrsln. note 1/9.


selves convey (them) away (haranti), thus they are Conveyings.
(3) Or else they are the mere conveying away (harana), thus they
are Conveyings, through the metaphor of using the fruit's name for
its cause (phalupacdra). (4) Or else they are conveyed (hariyanti),
purveyed (vohariyanti, i.e., communicated), in the giving of the
True Idea by the Expounder of the True Idea and in the receiving
of it by the recipient, thus they are Conveyings. (5) Or else they
are like chaplets (hdra),
42
 thus they are Conveyings; for just as the
chain of many jewels called a chaplet (hara) assuages in the bodies
of those who use it distress produced by burning and fever since it,
is pleasant through the refreshing provided (sampajaniyamana-
hildda-sukho: Sinh. ed.) by the contact of the jewels that are its
members, so too the (rare) distinctions of these details, which
furnish the setting for the many kinds of jewels of ultimate meaning,
assuage in the hearts of people receiving the True Idea the distress
due to defilement by lust for sensual desires and so on, since they are
pleasant through the extinguishment furnished by finding the jewels
of ultimate meaning that are their own constituents. (6) Or
alternatively, they effect conveying of (hdrayanti), they perform—
announce—the conveying away (hara), the removal, of unknowing,
etc., thus they are Conveyings. (7) Or alternatively, they are
Conveyings (HARA) because of their elating (HArana), delighting
(RAmana), the heart of the person who hears them; and this is by
use of the Language Guide-Line (niruttinaya) in the same way as it
is said "He has rejected (VAnta) going (GAmana) in the kinds of
existence (BHAvesu)" (Vis p. 210)' (Sinh. NettiA p. 13; PTS
p. 195).
43
The 16 Hara
NettiA's explanation (Sinh. ed. pp. 13-14) is given within quotes for
each one in what follows here.
44
 (For discussion see sect. 9.)

42 See Vis. p. 10 for hdra as 'chaplet' or 'necklace'. This meaning not in PED.
43 Netti Tika (p. 22) observes that the first five of these seven explanations
are grammatical establishments (sddhana) of meaning as follows: (1) as
instrument (karana) or container (adhikarana), (2) as verb-subject = agent
(kattu), (3) as substantive (bhava), (4) as verb-object (kamma), and (5) as
analogy (sadisa-kappana). In (6) hdrayanti is a denominative form from the
noun hdra (itself a subst. from the verb harati). (7) The last is a grammarian's
game with syllables. (Apparently the word netti will not play the game.)
44 Further explanations of the 16 given in NettiA's comments on the
appropriate verses (§§5-20) are not rendered here since they have been
absorbed in the rendering of those verses (see PTS Netti pp. 199-206).


1. 'Teaching (desama): by it the Thread's meaning (aim) is taught,
is detailed (samvanniyati), thus it is a teaching. Or it is a teaching
because concomitant of a teaching.—But are not the other Modes-
of-Conveying also concomitants of a teaching since they too detail
the meaning of the teaching called the Thread?—That is true.
Nevertheless this Mode-of-Conveying being mainly recognizable by
the doctrinal aspect (yatkaruta), it merits being called concomitant
of a teaching more than the others; for there is no Thread-teaching
devoid of showing "gratification", "disappointment", "escape",
etc. (see §§33ff.); and this Mode-of-Conveying has the character of
clarifying the showing of gratification and the rest.' Desand,
causative noun fin. s/dis to show, is lit.
 e
giving a sight of. Although
NettiA here underlines the terms 'gratification', etc., nevertheless,
while these represent the whole teaching as do also the 4 Truths (see
§48), yet they alone are not exclusively distinctive of this Mode since
they are not mentioned in it in ch. ii or in the Pe's expositions of it
(Pe chs. v and vii), the Pe making them instead a Grouping of
Thread-types in its ch. ii (see trsln. below, n. 5/1). The Pe's
'label-verse' for this Mode is more general. The Sutta-quotation in
§32 is the foundation.
2. 'Investigation (vicaya): by it, or here, questions, etc., are
investigated (vicayanti), or it is itself their examination (viciti), thus
it is investigation (vicaya). But in the text the following meaning
is given "I t investigates (vicinati, see §62 where texts have vicinatiy
9
,
thus it is an investigation.' This Mode communicates what an
investigation is, see quotations of investigations done in §§63ff.;
investigation as a manner of behaviour and communication is
exemplified very fully and quite differently in both ch. i and ch. ii.
In ch. i emphasis is laid on illustrating investigation in 4 fields (§62),
as the characteristic of the Mode, but in ch. ii the emphasis is laid
on what is best to investigate, namely the stages and aspects of the
way to liberation from suffering, and in this framework the 10
Powers of a Perfect One are inserted for investigation as the achieve-
ments of a Buddha, the supreme example of one liberated. This
falls under head no. (4) in §62. Such investigation is recommended
in the Suttas at, e.g., A. i, 189, M. Suttas 47 and 91. Otherwise it
is simply investigation of each term in the Thread (see trsln. n.
6/1, 62/1 and Appx.).
3. 'Construing (yutti): is construing as establishment of reappear-
ance (proof of representation—upapattisadhana). But here the
*'construing" is a construing-exploration (yutti-vicarana) with


elision of the second term as in "rupabhavo = rupam". Or else it
is so as the concomitant of a construing, in which case the meaning's
detail is as for the 1st Mode (see above).' This Mode, based as it is
on the four Principal Appeals to Authority (A. ii, 167; see §120),
implies construing the re-wording of any passage with what is said
in the Suttas as a whole and avoiding contradiction of them.
4. 'A Footing (padatthdna): is a near-reason (asanna-kdrana); and
here too it can be understood in the way beginning "I t is a footing-
exploration" (see last.).' The Pali means literally 'term-stand';
sometimes rendered by 'proximate cause'. The term itself is not
apparently current in the Suttas, but this Mode conveys an implicit
teaching of Dependent Arising, namely that an idea never arises
alone and that each has another for its footing and is the footing for
another. The term reappears in Mode 16 as the 1st of its 4 sub-
divisions (see trsln. n. 8/1).
5. 'Characteristic (lakkhana): by it, or here, are characterized ideas
that share a single (class-) characteristic even though they may not
be stated in the singular, thus it is a characteristic' What is put
forward is general characteristic, specific characteristic having
already been included in Mode 4. The Mode is perhaps implicit in
a good deal of Sutta usage.
6. 'Fourfold Array (catubyuha): by it, or here, they are arrayed
(viyuhiyanti), or they are specifically (vibhdgena) put in conjunction
(pindiyanti), thus it is an array (vyuha); it is the array of four,
namely the (grammatical) derivatives (nibbacana: §186) and the rest
(§§187-218), thus it is a fourfold array.' The four are Linguistic
(nerutta) = grammar (see trsln. n. 10/2), Purport (adhippaya) =
speaker's intention, Source (nidana) = circumstances surrounding
the utterance, and Consecutive-Sequence (pubbaparasandhi) —
coherence, which last is subdivided into four as Sequence of Meaning,
of Phrasing, of Teaching, and of Demonstration.
7. 'Conversion (avatta): by it, or here, similar and dissimilar ideas
are converted (avattiyanti), or it is their act-of-converting (avattana),
thus it is a conversion.' What the summary-verse (§11) intends
here is explained below (sect. 9, q.v.). The word avatta (avatta) is
from prefix a-\-y/vat to turn, to happen; lit. a turning to (contrast
Mode 9). (The 2 Nikaya Tikas use the verb intransitively and
NettiA in the passive.) The term is in the Suttas, e.g., at M. i,
382 in a cognate sense.
8. 'Analysis (vibhatti): by it, or here, are analysed planes of shared
and unshared ideas of defilement and of cleansing, thus it is an


analysis. Or else it is the act-of-analysing (vibhajana) those ideas
by plane, thus it is an analysis.' Ch. i gives examples of analysis by
Thread-type as furnished in ch. iv, and by ideas that are shared or
not by types of persons, etc.; but ch. ii simply analyses into profit
and unprofit, thereby combining this Mode with the Hook Guide-
Line. The Buddha describes himself as an 'analyser' (vibhajjavddt:
M. ii, 197, cf. A. v, 190); also one of the 4 Types of Question is that
'declarable only after analysis' (A. i, 197), which is the sense given
to this Mode by the Pe and can be regarded as its fundamental one.
(Vibhatti as used by grammarians for 'accidence' is not intended
here.) The choice of rendering is here dictated by the use. Prefix
vi-^^bhaj to break; lit. to disrupt, to divide (see trsln. n. 12/1).
9. 'Reversal (parivattana): by this, or here, ideas stated in the
Thread are reversed (parivattiyanti) by way of contrary-opposite, or
it is their reversing (parivattana), thus it is a reversal.' In ch. i, the
'reversal' is derived direct from M. Sutta 117, last section, as the
contradiction a moralist involves himself in by denying a Right Idea
(preached by another), whereby he consequently praises the con-
trary-opposite Wrong Idea. (The Pe in its ch. v has 'any opposite'.)
The Guide's treatment in its ch. ii, is too brief to exhibit the Mode
well. (Parivattana is the late Pali word for 'translation' from one
language to another, but that is not meant here.) The use decides
the rendering. Prefix pari-\-\/vat', lit. to overturn.
10. 'Synonym (vevacana): here there is a diverse wording (vividham
vacanam) that words (vacaha) but one meaning, thus it is synony-
mous (vivacana), and synonymous is the same as synonym (veva-
cana); or else the meaning is worded (said) diversely (vividham
vuccati), thus it is synonymous, the rest being as before.' This
Mode's name reappears in Mode 16. The term vevacana is not itself
current in the Suttas, where, however, synonymous usage is quite
frequent.
11. 'Description (pannatti): by this, or here, it is by kind (pakdra)
or by class (pabheda) that meanings are made known (ndpiyanti),
thus it is a description.' *s/jd to know-(-prefix pa gives the active
pajdndti to understand, whence the causative verb panndpeti to
make understood, to describe, and its substantive pannatti a making-
understood, a description. 'Description' is accurate and probably
cannot be bettered; it is preferable to 'concept'. The words
panndpeti and pannatti appear not infrequently in the Tipitaha, and
in some important contexts (e.g., D. ii, 63ff.). The Puggalapannatti
Commentary's elaborate sets of 'description-types' (see Ppn ch. viii,


n. 11, rendered 'concept' there) are not implied here, where no
significant sets emerge.
12. 'Ways of Entry (otarana): by this, or here, ideas contained in
the Thread are made ways of entry (otartyanti), are used for giving
appropriate ingress (anuppavestyanti) in the instances of Dependent
Arising and the rest, thus they are ways of entry.' This Mode shows
by what Ways-In the 'movement' of Entry to the Truths demanded
by Mode 3 is made. Otarati from prefix ava-\-\/tar; lit. to cross
down into. The word is commonly glossed by 'pavisati' (to enter).
The rendering is based on the contexts here. Drawn directly from
use at A. ii, 167.
13. 'Clearing Up (sodhana): by it, or here, terms, term-meanings,
and instigations-of-questions, are cleared up (sodhiyanti), are put
right (samddhiyanti), thus it is a clearing up.' (The term is used in
late Pali for the 'correction' of wrong readings in texts (pdtha-
sodhana), but that is not meant here.)
14. 'Terms of Expression (adhitthdna): by it, or here, ideas that
Can be both general and particular are expressed (adhitthiyanti), are
established to occur accordingly (anupavatUyanti), without (such)
disjunction (vikappa) (affecting the ideas so expressed), thus terms
of expression.' This Mode's particular treatment can be connected,
as to the dialectic of unity/diversity, with such naming and des-
criptions as that of 'suffering' at D. ii, 305, and as to the dialectic of
creatures/ideas with such Suttas, perhaps, as those at A. i, 91
('dve . . . dhammd') and A. i, 266 ('tayo . . . puggald'), etc., etc.
The word is one much used in a wide range of senses in the Suttas.
Prefix adhi-\-^Jthd\ lit. to stand on, to make stand for. The
contexts must decide the rendering here.
15. 'Exquisites (parikkhara): it requisitions (parikaroti), actively-
determines (abhisankharoti), a fruit, thus it is a requisite, that is a
cause or condition. I t announces the requisite, thus it is a requisite,
or the Conveying (hdra) is the requisite because a requisite is its
objective field, or because it is concomitant with a requisite.' The
use of the word parikkhara in this particular sense is drawn from the
beginning of M. Sutta 117 where it occurs. The Mode's subject-
matter is 'cause' and 'condition' (as particular aspects of 'footing'),
but it is pared to the bone in ch. ii. The incidental and embryonic
theory of cause and condition here in ch. i (adapted and altered from
the Pe), rather differs from anything in the Tipitaka's Dependent
Arising presentations (e.g., D. Sutta 14, M. Suttas 9 and 38; S.
Nidana-Samyutta, Vbh. Paccayakaravibhanga, and Ps. i, 51-2),


though it cannot exactly be said in any way to contradict it. (In
Sutta usage 'cause' (hetu) and 'condition' (paccaya) are often used
loosely together quite synonymously.)
16. 'Coordination (samdropana): by it, or here, ideas are co-
ordinated (samdropiyanti) under the four heads, namely Footing
(Mode 4), Synonym (Mode 10), Keeping-in-being, and Abandoning,
thus it is a coordination.' This Mode revises the re-wording under
the 4 heads mentioned. Its last 2 subdivisions are perhaps trace-
able to Ps. i, 33-4 (see relevant PsA), where the notion of 'ekattha' is
developed as those sets of ideas that are conascent with the Path's
Jceeping-in-being and those sets which are abandoned by it, in each of
its 4 stages. Causative substantive from sam^a^ruh to mount.
General: 'And since the meaning must be proved by substantival
establishment (bhavasadhana) (as well as the verbal one (kattu-
sddhana) given above), that should also be added in each case.'
(Sinh. NettiA p. 14.) See also sect. 9 below for a discussion of the
16 Modes.
Nay a ('guide-line')
Another substantive from \^nl to guide, to lead. NettiA : '(1) They
guide (nayanti) the corruptions, and (2) specifically they are the
cleansings that cause the guiding (ndpenti),*5
 thus they are Guide-
lines (naya). (3) Or else those (cleansings) are guided (niyanti)
either by them or here, thus they are Guide-Lines. (4) Or else they
themselves are guided (niyanti), are made guiding-examples (upa~
niyanti),*6
 by expounders of the True Idea for the purpose of
investigating the Thread's meaning (aim), thus they are Guide-
Lines. (5) Or alternatively, they are like the Guide-Lines (naya)*1
thus they are Guide-Lines; for just as the Guide-Lines of Identity and
the rest, when completely penetrated, conduce to penetration of the
truth of ultimate meaning when they expose without confusion the
individual essence of conventional truth and truth of ultimate
meaning by showing how condition-ideas and conditionally-arisen-
ideas are appropriate fruits (Sinh. ed.: -anurupa-phala-) without
active-interest, whose specificness is bound up with the order (of

45 Napenti here is a form of the causative naydpenti (fm. nayati, not janati).
46 Upanayana is also the logician's word for the 'guiding-example' in the
classical Indian syllogism.
47 For the Nirutti-naya see word 'hard above and Vis ref. given; the
Ekatta-naya and Nanatta-naya appear at Vis. 585 (cf. the 'unity and diver-
sity' in Mode 14).


their relatedness), so too, these (guide-lines) conduce to outguidable
(persons') penetration of the four Truths when they experience the
ascertainment of the Thread's undistorted meaning by showing the
specificness of ideas in black and white counterparts. (6) Or
alternatively, according to the Language Guide-Line (nirutti-naya),
they are Guide-Lines (NAYA) because of their guiding (NAyana)
the meaning (aim) of the texts and because of their restraining
(YAmana) from defilement' (Sink, NettiA p. 15; PTS Netti'pip.
195-6).
The five Nay a
NettiA's explanation (Sinh. ed. p. 15) is given within quotes for each.
1. 'A conversion by it is like a "conversion of relishing",
48
 thus it
is the Conversion of Relishing (nandiyavatta); for just as a "con-
version of relishing" externally converts by means of a basic
member that remains within, so too does this Guide-Line, is the
meaning. Or else here there is the conversion of relishing, of
Craving, of Negligence, thus it is a Conversion of Relishing.' This
Guide-Line works with the pair of Root-Dyads for conversion (of
craving's cleaving to its object in the opposite moods of lust and
hate referred to by the 'relishing' (abhinandati) of all kinds of
feeling, as at M. i, 266) to the pattern of the 4 Truths, of which the
third, namely cessation, is the meaning (aim). Thus it reflects,
with change of emphasis from phrasing to meaning, the 7th Mode
conveying a Conversion.
2. 'By the three (tiki) members beginning with greed on the side
of corruption and by the three beginning with non-greed on the side
of cleansing it is fair (pukkhala), it is creditable, thus it is the Trefoil
(tipuhkhala).
9
 This Guide-Line seems to have no other charac-
teristic than that it works with the Root-Triads.
3. 'Taking it that the Blessed One is a Lion by his association
with the distinctions of courage, speed, persistence, etc., and that his
Play is the abiding that consists in the verbal action of teaching,
here, then, is the play of a lion in exhibiting the perversions'
opposites, thus it is the Play-of-Lions Guide-Line (sihavikkilita-
naya). Or else the Guide-Line is a lion's play because it is like the
play of a lion in its exhibiting devotion to the distinction of power.
And here the distinction of power is either the five powers beginning
with faith or the ten powers of a Perfect One too.' The dis-
tinguishing characteristics of this Guide-Line are that it works with

48 This seems to imply some recognized idiomatic use for 'mndiyavatla".


the Root-Tetrads and counters the 4 perversions by the four
faculties of energy, mindfulness, concentration, and understanding,
made the object of the faculty of faith.
These three Guide-Lines are called 'meaning-Guide-Lines' and are
alternatives. Each works in combination with the remaining two
together.
4. 'The plotting of profitable and unprofitable ideas according to
the (double, treble or quadruple) directional state of the three mean-
ing-Guide-Lines is the Plotting of Directions (disdlocana).' This de-
cides the pairs of dyads or triads or tetrads, for employment by the
three meaning-Guide-Lines. I t works in conjunction with the next.
5. 'The Hook (ankusa) is like a hook because, in conjunction with
(any one of) the three meaning-Guide-Lines, it is a guiding-together
(samdnayana) of the ideas thus plotted.' I t is what 'guides them
together'—'marshals' them—on the two sides of unprofit and
profit (cf. §§106ff.).