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
7. Of One gifted with the Marks.
Controverted Point.—That one who is gifted with the
Marks is a Bodhisat.
From the Commentary.—This and the two following discourses are
about Uttarapathaka views. This one deals with a belief derived from
a careless interpretation of the Sutta : 'for one endowed as a superman
there are two careers.'
1
[1] Th.—By your proposition you must also admit [a
fortiori] (a) that anyone who is gifted with the Marks to a
limited extent,
2
with one-third, or one-half of them, is a
limited, one-third, or half Bodhisat, respectively—which
you deny.
[2] And (b) that a universal emperor
3
—who is also
gifted with the Marks—is a Bodhisat, and that the previous
study and conduct, declaring and teaching the Norm4 in
the Bodhisat's career, are the*same as those in the uni-
versal emperor's career; that (c) when a universal emperor
is born, devas receive him first, and then humans, as they
do the new-born Bodhisat; [8] that (d) four sons of the
devas receiving the new-born imperial babe place it before
the mother, saying: ' Rejoice, 0 queen! to thee is bom a
mighty son!' even as they do for the new-born Bodhisat;
that (e) two rain-showers, cold and warm, come from the
sky, wherewith both babe and mother may be washed,
even as happens at the birth of a Bodhisat; [4] that (/) a
new-born imperial babe, standing on even feet, and facing
north, walks seven paces, a white canopy being held over
him, and looking round on all sides speaks the trumpet
5
notes: ' I am the foremost, I am chief, I am the highest
in the world. This is my last birth; now is there no more
coming again to be!' [5] that (g) there is manifested at
1
See below. On the thirty-two Marks and the Bodhisat—i.e.,
Bodhisatta,' enlightenment-being,' or one who in the same life becomes
a Buddha, i.e., a Samma-sambuddha—see Dialogues, ii. 14 f .
2
Padesa. See above, III. 1, n. 3.
3
Literally, a Wheel-Turner, disposer of the symbol of empire.
Dialogues, ii. 11 f .
4 Cf. above, III. 1, § 1.
5
Literally, bull-speech.
the birth of the one as of the other a mighty light, a
mighty radiance, a mighty earthquake; that (h) the natural
body of the one as of the other lights up a fathom's space
around it ; that (i) one and the other see a great dream1
—•
all of which you deny.
[6] U— But if you reject my proposition, tell me: is
there not a Suttanta in which the Exalted One said :
'Bhikkhus, to one endowed with the thirty-two marks of a
Superman, two careers lie open, and none other. If he live
the life of the house, he becomes Lord of the Wheel, a righteous
Lord of the Right, Ruler of the four quarters, conqueror,
guardian of the people's good, owner of the Seven Treasures;
his do those seven treasures become, to wit, the Wheel treasure,
the Elephant, the Horse, the Jeivel, the Woman, the Steward,
the Heir Apparent. More than a thousand sons are his,
heroes, vigorous of frame, crushers of the hosts of the enemy.
He, ivhen he has conquered this earth to * its ocean bounds, is
established not by the scourge, not by the sword, but by
righteousness. But if he go forth from his home to the home-
less, he becomes an Arahant Buddha Supreme, rolling back
the veil from the world' ?2
Is not therefore my proposition true ?
8. Of entering on the Path of Assurance.
Controverted Point.—That the Bodhisat had entered on
the Path of Assurance and conformed to the life therein
during the dispensation3
of Kassapa Buddha.
4
From the Commentary.—This discourse deals with a belief, shared
by the Andhakas,
5
with reference to the account in the Ghatikara Sutta
of Jotipala joining the Order,6 that [our] Bodhisat had entered the
1
On the five 'great dreams' see Anguttara-Nik, iii. 240 f .
2
Digha-Nik., iii. p. 145. Cf . Dialogues, ii. 13.
3
Literally, teaching or doctrine (pavacana).
4
This was the Buddha next before 'our' Buddha. See Dialogues,
ii., p. 6. On 'Assurance,' see V. 4, and Appendix:
4
Assurance.' ,
5
See preceding extract.
6
Majjhima-Nik., ii. p. 46 f. Jotipala was a Brahmin youth who,
Path of Assurance under Kassapa Buddha. Now Assurance (niyama )
and the ' higher life therein' (brahmacariya) are equivalents for
the Ariyan [Fourfold] Path. And there is no other entering upon that
Path for Bodhisats save when they are fulfilling the Perfections;1 other-
wise our Bodhisat would have been a disciple when Stream-Winner,
etc. The Buddhas prophesy ' he will become a Buddha' (as Kassapa
is said to have prophesied concerning Gotama Buddha, then alive as
this Jotipala) simply by the might of their insight.
[1] Th.—If so, [our] Bodhisat must have been a disciple
—i.e., one in the Ariyan Way—of Kassapa Buddha. You
deny. For if you assent, you must admit that he became
Buddha after his career as disciple. Moreover, a ' disciple '
is one who learns through information from others, while
a Buddha is self-developed.
2
[2] Further, if the Bodhisat became Kassapa's disciple,
[entering on the first Path and Fruit], it follows that there
were only three .stages of fruition for him to know
thoroughly when under the Bodhi Tree. But we believe
that all four were then realized.
3
[3] Further, would one who had entered on the Path of
Assurance [as a disciple] have undergone the austerities
practised by the Bodhisat [in his own last life]? And would
such an one point to others as his teachers and practise
their austerities, as did the Bodhisat in his last life ?
4
[4] Do we learn that, as the Venerable Ananda, and the
householder Citta and Hatthaka the Alavakan entered into
Assurance and lived its higher life as disciples under the
Exalted One, so the Exalted One himself, as Bodhisat,
acted under Kassapa Buddha? You deny, of course.
[5] If they did so enter, under the Exalted One, as" his
disciples, you cannot affirm that the Bodhisat entered on
the Path of Assurance, and lived its higher life under
Kassapa Buddha without being his disciple. Or can a
against his will, was brought by Ghatikara, the potter, to hear Kas-
sapa Buddha, and became a bhikkhu. Gotama Buddha affirmed that
Jotipala was a former impersonation of himself.
1 Cf . Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 18 f .
2 Sayam-bhu.
3 Op. cit, 109.
4 Majjhima-Nik., i. 80, 245.
disciple who has evolved past one birth become a non-
disciple afterwards ? You deny, o f course.
[6] A. U.—But if our proposition is wrong, is there not
a Suttanta in which the Exalted One said: 'Under the
Exalted One Kassapa, An an da, I lived the higher life for
supreme enlightenment in the future ' ?1
[7] Th.—But is there not a Suttanta in which the
Exalted One said:
' All have I overcome. All things I know,
'Mid all things undefiled. Renouncing all,
In death of craving wholly free. My own
The deeper vieiv. Whom shoidd I name to thee
2
For me no teacher lives. I stand alone
On earth, in lieav'n rival to me there's none.
Yea, I am Arahant as to this world,
A Teacher I above whom there is none.
Supreme enlightenment is mine alone.
In holy Coolness I, all fires extinct.
Noiv go I on seeking Benares totvn,
To start the Wheel, to set on foot the Norm.
Amid a ivorld in gloom and very blind,
I strike the alarm upon Ambrosia's Drum' ?
'According to what thou declarest, brother, thou art indeed
Arahant, ["worthy" to be]2
conqueror world without end.'
' Like unto me indeed are conquerors
Who every poisonous canker have cast out.
Conquered by me is every evil thing,
And therefore am I conqueror, Upaka ' ? 3
[8] And is there not a Suttanta in which the Exalted
One said : " O bhikkhus, it was concerning things unlearnt
before that vision, insight, understanding, wisdom, light arose
in me at the thought of the Ariyan Truth of the nature and
1
We cannot trace this, but cf. Majjhima-Nik, ii., p. 54 ; Buddha-
vangsa, xxv. 10.
2
Br. and PTS editions read araha'si; Majjhima-Nik. (Trenckner)
has arahasi.
3
Vinaya Texts, i. 91; Majjhima-Nik., i. 171; Pss. Sisters, 129.
fact of Ill, and that this Truth was to be understood, and was
understood by me. It was concerning things unlearnt before
that vision, insight, understanding, wisdom, light arose in me
at the thought of the Ariyan Truth as to the Cause of Ill, and
that this Truth was concerning something to be put away, and
was put away by me. It was concerning things unlearnt before
that vision, insight, understanding, wisdom, light arose in me
at the thought of the Ariyan Truth as to the Cessation of Ill,
and that this Truth was concerning something to be realized,
and ivas realized by me. It was concerning things unlearnt
before that vision, insight, 'understanding, wisdom, light arose
in me at the thought of the A riyan Truth as to the Course
leading to the cessation of Ill, and that this truth was to be
developed, and was developed by me ' ?1
How then can you say that the Bodhisat entered on the
Path of Assurance and lived the higher life thereof [as far
back as] the age of Kassapa Buddha ?
1
Samyutta-Nik., v. 422.
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