Kathavatthu - Of Articulate Utterance During Ecstasy

Points of Controversy
OR
Subjects of Discourse
BEING A TRANSLATION OF THE KATHAVATTHU
FROM THE ABHIDHAMMA-PITAKA
BY
SHWE ZAN AUNG, B.A
AND
MRS. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A

5. Of Articulate Utterance [during Ecstasy].
Controverted Point—That there is articulate utterance
1
on the part of one who has entered into Jhana.
From the Commentary.—It was held by the Pubbaseliyas and others
that anyone in First Jhana, at the moment of attaining the [first or]
Stream-Winner's Path, uttered the truth : 'Sorrow!'
2
This is refuted
by the Theravadin.
[1] You affirm this [in general]. Your statement should
hold good for such an one everywhere, always, for all such
persons, and for all such attainments in ecstatic meditation.
But you do not admit all such cases. Then you cannot
affirm it at all.
[2] Does such an one make utterance by bodily move-
ments? You deny that he does so, but why not, if your
thesis is true? If he make no bodily expression, you
should not affirm that he makes vocal expression.
[3]'If one during Jhana having [the power of] speech,
gives vocal expression, it follows that, having a body, he
may also make bodily expression.
[4] You affirm that, knowing the fact of Ill, he utters the
word ' Sorrow,' yet you deny that, knowing the fact of Cause
[of Ill] , he utters the word ' Cause.'
3
But why ? "Why,
again, deny that he, knowing the facts of 'Cessation' [of
Ill] , and 'Path' [leading to that Cessation],4 utters those
words?
[5] Or, taken negatively, why deny that he utters any of
the last three terms, yet not deny that he utters the first?
[6] You say that the object of such an one's insight is
the [Ariyan] truth. But you deny that the object of
1
Bhedo is literally a breaking or dividing off or up. The Com-
mentary paraphrases by vinnatti , intimation. See Bud. Psy. Eth
192 f.; Compendium, 22, 264. We have also rendered it by 'ex-
pression.'
2
I.e., the first of the four Ariyan Truths: that everything in life is
liable to undergo suffering or ill in general (dukkha).
3
I.e. the second of the four Ariyan Truths.
4
I.e., the third and fourth of these four.


such an one's ear
1
is truth. This, you say, is sound.
But you deny that the object of his insight is sound.
[7] No, you say, the truth is the object of his insight,
sound the object of his ear. But i f his insight has the
truth as its object, and his ear has sound as its object,
then, good sir, you should not affirm that such an one
mates articulate utterance.
[7a] If you say, that while his insight is concerned with
the [first] truth and his ear with the sound, the attainer
makes articulate utterance, you must admit a combination
of two contacts, two feelings, two perceptions, two voli-
tions, two consciousnesses [at a given moment], (which is
absurd).
[8] You affirm your thesis, yet you deny that it applies
to one who has attained Jhana by any one of the eight
artifices,
2
to wit, earth, water, fire, or air; blue-green,
yellow, red, or white colour, or by [any o f the four im-
material conceptual inductions, to wit,] infinity of space
or of consciousness, 'nothingness,' or 'neither perception
nor non-perception.'
3
How is this intelligible ? [9] If you
deny each of these possibilities, you cannot affirm your
proposition.
[10] You deny, further, that one who practises Jhana
for merely mundane objects makes articulate expression,
whether he attain any of the four stages. Neither then
can you affirm your proposition. [11] If you deny the
former, you must deny the latter.
[12] You affirm your proposition only of one attaining
the first supramundane Jhana, not the second, third, or
fourth. But if you affirm it of the first stage, what is
there to make you deny it of the other three stages ?
[14] P.—Is it wrong to say that there is articulate utter-
ance on the part of one who has entered Jhana ?
Th.—Yes.
P.—But was it not said by the Exalted One that initial
1
Or, hearing (sotang) .
2
Bud. Psy. Eth., 43, n. 4; 58.
3
Ibid., p. 71 f .


and sustained application of mind was vocal activity?
1
And does not such application belong to one in first
Jhana ? Surely then my proposition is true.
[15] Th.—Granting that you quote correctly, and that
one in first Jhana is engaged in such application, I say, you
have just denied that anyone attaining Jhana by any o f the
eight artifices does make articulate utterance. How then
can you also affirm your proposition ?
[16] P.—But was it not said by the Exalted One that
speech arises from initial application [or directing] of
thought? And does not such movement of thought belong
to one in first Jhana ?
[17] Th.—That is no good reason. The Exalted One
also said that speech is caused by perception.
2
Now one
in second, third, or fourth Jhana has perception, but [we
know that] he no longer applies or sustains thought. So
also for the four more abstract Jhana states (see § 8).
[18] Moreover, is it not said in the Suttanta : 'In one
who has entered first Jhana speech has ceased'?3
[19] If you maintain your proposition in the teeth of
this one, you must cease to hold [in accordance with the
next words] in the Suttanta: that 'in one who has entered
second Jhana, thought initial and sustained has ceased.'
4
Similarly you must contradict the remaining words: ' in
one who has entered third Jhana, zest has ceased ; in one ivho
has induced fourth Jhana, respiration has ceased; in one who-
has induced ecstasy of infinite space, perception of bodily
qualities has ceased; in one who has induced ecstasy of in-
finite consciousness, perception of space infinity has ceased;
1
Majjhima-Nik., i. 301: 'vitakka-vicara vaci-sankharo
quoted in Yamaka, i. 229). The context in the Sutta (the Cula-Vedalla)
shows that Dhammadinna teaches, not identity between the two terms,
but causal sequence Thinking leads to speaking. This is probably
the reference made in § 16, or it may be to Dhamma-sangani,
§§ 981,982.
2
See again Dhamma-sangani, ibid. Perception (sanna) is
awareness without the more ratiocinative procedure implied in 'applied
and sustained thought.'
3
Samyutta-Nik, iv. 217.
4
Ibid.


in one who has induced ecstasy of ;nothingness, perception of
infinity, of consciousness, ceased; in one who has induced
ecstasy wherein is neither perception nor non-perception,
ception of nothingness has ceased ; in one who has induced
trance,
1
both perception and feeling have ceased.'
2
[20] P.—But if my proposition is wrong, why did the
Exalted One say that 'forfirst Jhana sound is obnoxious' ?3
Does not this show that one who has attained Jhana can
emit speech ?
[21] Th.—You accept both the Suttanta dictum and your
proposition. But, by the same Sutta, that which is elimi-
nated successively, as each further stage of Jhana4 is
reached, was pronounced to be obnoxious in its turn.
Does that therefore indicate that one who attained each
stage, practised each obstacle to that stage ?
[22] P.—But did not the Exalted One say in the Suttanta:
O Ananda, Abhibhu, disciple of Sikhin, the Exalted One,
Arahant Buddha Supreme, standing in the Brahma-world,
lifted up his voice over ten thousand worlds, saying5:
'Arise and strive ! go forth and give
Yourselves unto the Buddha's Rule !
Sweep ye away the hosts of Death
As elephant a rush-built shed.
Who in this Norm and Discipline
Earnest and zealous shall abide,
Casting away the round of births,
He shall make utter end of Ill' ?6
Surely then an attainer does utter articulate sounds
during ecstasy.
1
Literally, the cessation of perception and sensation.
2
Op. cit., ibid.
3
Anguttara-Nik., v. 133 f .
4
Ibid. The stages are here given as those in § 19, but in the Sutta,
only the four Jhanas and trance are given.
5
Ibid. i. 227.
6
Samyutta-Nik., i. 157.