Kathavatthu - Of Emancipation As A Process

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

8. Of Emancipation.
Controverted Point—That 'becoming emancipated' has
reference to the heart being [at the time] in touch with
lust,1 etc.
From the Commentary.—"Whereas it is true that, in minds or hearts
devoid of e.g. lust, there is no need to get emancipated, the opinion held
at present by such as the Andhakas is that, just as a soiled garment is
released from its stains on being washed, so emancipation means that
a heart beset with lust is emancipated from lust.2
[1] Th.—You affirm this. Then you must equally affirm
that 'becoming emancipated' refers to a heart which is
accompanied by, co-existent with, mixed with, associated
with, has developed with, goes about with, lust; to a heart,
again, which is immoral, worldly, in touch with intoxicants,
allied with fetters,.ties, floods, bonds, hindrances, is in-
fected, allied with grasping, corrupt—which you refuse
to do.
[2] If the heart or mind which is in contact be emanci-
pated, are both contact and mind emancipated? 'Yes' you
say. But then you must equally affirm that, if the heart
which is in touch with lust be emancipated, both lust and
heart are emancipated—which you refuse to do.
The same reasoning holds good not only of contact, but
also of [the other properties of the mind]—feeling, per-
ception, volition, . . . reason, or understanding.

1 Saragang . The prefix sa corresponds to our co (or affix -ful).
Sa implies contact (phassa), and contact was ranked as the essential
co-efficient of mind as receptive of, in touch with, sense.
2 In other words, the climax and crown of Path-graduation is de-
graded to denote progress in the early stages. Emancipation is
technically applied to release from rebirth, through release from the
conditions thereof. Nibban a is extinction of lust, hate, and
nescience or delusion^ Emancipation is the state of purity after the
purging was done (cf. III. 4). The opponent holds the serious errors
that the Arahant still has lust, etc., to get rid of, and that a preceding
unit of consciousness is essentially identical with the succeeding unit.
Cf . Samyutta-Nik., iv. 251; ii. 171 and passim.


[3] Once more, if mind which is in contact, and in touch
with lust, be emancipated, are both contact and mind
emancipated ? Yes, you say. But then you must equally
affirm that both lust and mind are emancipated—which
you refuse to do.
The same reasoning holds good of the other properties
of the mind.
[4-6, 7-9] The same argument is then applied to 'emanci-
pation ' referred to ' hate,' and to 'nescience or delusion'—
the other two of the fundamental conditions of evil doing.
[10] A.—You say that we are wrong in affirming that a
mind full of lust, hate and nescience undergoes emancipa-
tion. But your denial that a mind which is devoid of all
three undergoes emancipation rather confirms our view.
4. Of Emancipation as a Process.
Controverted Point.-—That spiritual emancipation is a
[gradual] process of becoming free.
1
From the Commentary.—The opinion is questioned of those who
•confuse the emancipation by partial arrest in the exercise of Jhana
with that emancipation by complete severance experienced in a ' Path-
moment.' They think that the mind, partially liberated by the former,
completes its emancipation by the gradual process of the latter.
[1] Th.—If your proposition is to stand, you must affirm
also that such a mind is then in part freed, in part not. And
if you assent to the second proposition, you must admit
that your subject is part Stream-Winner, part not—in other
words, that he has all the attributes o f the Stream-Winner
in part only.
2
[2-4] The same argument holds for the other three Paths.
[5] You must also affirm as to whether [each conscious
unit] is emancipated at the moment of its genesis, and in
process of being emancipated as it ceases.3.. .

1
The heresy seems to be analogous to that in III . 3, and to involve
a misapprehension of the orthodox meaning of the term in question
{vimutti).
2
Here and in [2-4] the same lists are given as in I. 4, §§ 1, 5, 9, 13.
3
Cf . II . 7, §1 : ekang cittang (unit of consciousness).
T.S. V.


[6] Opponent —You do not assent to my proposition;
but was it not said by the Exalted One: 'For him who thus
knows thus sees, the heart is set free from the intoxicants of
sense-desires, of becoming, and of ignorance'?1 Is there no
' being emancipated' here of the emancipated mind ?
[7] Th.—But is there not also a Suttanta in which the
Exalted One said: ' With heart thus made serene, made
wholly pure, and very clean9 freed from lust and from de-
filement, become pliant, ready to work and imperturbable, he-
bends over the mind to insight in the destruction of intoxi-
cants'?2 There is no process here of being set free.
[8] You would not speak of a mind partially lusting,
hating, being bewildered, being corrupted. How can you
then maintain your proposition ? "Would you not say
[straight away] that the mind is lustful or not, mal-
evolent or not, confused or not, suspended or not, destroyed
or not, finished or not ?3

1 Dialogues, i. 93.
2 Ibid., 92, It seems a little strange that this is not quoted as < the
same Suttanta.' There are, however, parallels in this work, e.g., p. 96 f.
Cf . 98, n. 1.
3 'The mind' (in our idiom) being, in Buddhist doctrine, a con-
ditioned series of citta's, each as momentary as the 'moments' of its
attainments. Here the Theravadin resorts to the principle of Excluded
Middle, ' there being no room in philosophic Keality for a third alter-
native'—paramatthato tatiya koti natthi.—Comy.