Kathavatthu - Of Cessation

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

11. Of Cessation.
Controverted Point.—That there are two cessations [of
sorrow].
From the Commentary.—It is a belief of the Mahingsasakas and
the Andhakas that the Third Truth (as to the Cessation of Ill) ,
though constructed as one, relates to two cessations, according as
sorrow ceases through reasoned or unreasoned reflections about
things.


[1] If you assert that there are two kinds of cessation,
1
you must also assert this duality with respect to the cessa-
tion of Ill , the Truth about the cessation of Ill , the Truth
about the nature of Ill , its cause, and the path leading to
the cessation of Ill—to none of which you consent.
Further, you must assert that there are two shelters,
two retreats, two refuges, two supports, two deathless-
nesses, two ambrosias, two Nibbanas
2
—which you deny.
Or if you admit that there are, say, two Nibbanas, you
must admit some specific difference, say, of high, low, base,
sublime, superior, inferior—some boundary, division, line
or cleavage3 in these two Nibbanas—which you deny.4
[2] Further, you admit, do you not, that things5 which
have ceased without deep reflection,6 may also be made

1
Nirodha . In religions import, the term is a synonym of
Nibbana, whether it refers to cessation of Ill (dukkha) , or to the
conditions of rebirth which inevitably result in Ill. In the medically
inspired formula of the four Truths, nirodh a is tantamount to
'health,' i.e., to the ' cessation' of disease. Hence it suggests happiness,
rather than the reverse. Hence the English word ' riddance' might
often be a better rendering.
2
These terms are all similes for Nibbana, from the Suttas.
3
To the different readings of this word (see text, 226, n. 3), we would
add antarika , 'interstice in threads,' from Vinaya Texts, III. 94.
4 The somewhat scholastic insistence on the oneness of Nibbana
in the mediaeval Compendium (p. 168) is here shown to have early
authority, but we cannot quote any Suttanta support for it.
5
Sankhara. On the meaning in this context, cf. Compendium,
211, n. 3. It should not be .concluded that on any idealistic view
'things' are made no longer to exist now for the individual thinker
through his thought. According to the Commentarial tradition,
' to cease' means here prospective cessation; ' to make to cease =
to cause to go into a state of not re-arising (anuppattibhavang)'—
the negative of the term used to express future rebirth.
6
Patisankha , literally, re-reckoning. On this term, large, if
vague in import, yet rarely used in the Nikayas, see Bud. Psy. Eth.,
p. 354, n. 2. In popular diction its use in negative form is well
shown in the simile of the thirsty, exhausted man drinking 'rashly,
unreflectingly,' from a cup against the contents of which he had been
warned. Samyutta-Nik., ii. 110. See Compendium, loc. cit. Deep
reflection of spiritual insight, through its purity and the absence of state-
ments and questionings, is said to make worldly things cease.—Comy.


to cease by deep reflection ? But this does not involve two
(final) cessations.
[8] M. A.—Surely it does, if you admit, as do you not,
that things which have ceased without, and those that
have ceased by, deep reflection are both annihilated for
ever?
1
[4] Th.—You admit that the latter class of things ceases
because the Ariyan [eightfold] Path has been attained ?
Then must you also admit that the former class of things
ceases for the same reason—but you do not.
[5] Again, the latter class (i.e., things which have ceased
by deep reflection) does not, according to. you, ever arise
again. Then you must also admit this o f the former
class—but you do not.
2
. . . Hence cessation is really
one, not two.
1
Comy. PTS edition, p. 61, line 1: for sakavadissa read
paravadissa . The Theravadin assents to the asserted annihilation,
partly because there is no need to destroy what has been destroyed,
partly because the things that have ceased without patisankh a
continue as non-existent when the Path is developed.—Corny.
2
Contra the Theravadin's view, § 3.