THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[B. DESCRIPTION OF THE ELEMENTS]
17. The "elements' next to that (XIV, §32) are the eighteen elements,
that is to say, eye element, visible-data element, eye-consciousness ele-
ment; ear element, sound element, ear-consciousness element; nose ele-
ment, odour element, nose-consciousness element; tongue element, fla-
vour element, tongue-consciousness element; body element, tangible-
data element, body-consciousness element; mind element, mental-data
element, mind-consciousness element.
18. Herein:
(1) As to meaning, (2) characteristic, et cetera,
(3) Order, (4) just so much, and (5) reckoning,
(6) Then condition, and (7) how to be seen—
Thus should be known the exposition.
19. 1. Herein, as to meaning: first the exposition of 'eye', etc., should
be known individually as to meaning in the way beginning: It relishes
(cakkhati), thus it is an eye (cakkhu); it makes visible (rupayati), thus it
is a visible datum; [485] and the consciousness of the eye is eye-con-
sciousness (see §3).
As to meaning in general: (a) it sorts out (vidahati), (b) it assorts
[well] (dhiyate), (c) a sorting out (vidhana), (d) it is sorted out (vidhiyate)
by means of that, or (e) it causes to be sorted (dhiyati) here, thus it is a
sort (dhatu = element).
10
20. (a) The mundane sorts (elements), when defined according to their
instrumentality, sort out (vidahanti) the suffering of the round of re-
births, which is of many kinds, just as the 'sorts' (ores—see Ch. XI, §20)
of gold and silver, etc., do gold and silver, and so on. (b) They assort
[well] (dhiyante) with living beings, as a burden does with burden bear-
ers; they are borne (dhariyanti), is the meaning, (c) And they are only
mere sortings out (vidhana) of suffering because no mastery is exer-
cisable over them, (d) And by means of them as instruments the suffer-
ing of the round of rebirths is continually being sorted out (anuvidhiyati)
by living beings, (e) And that [suffering], being sorted out (vihita) in this
way, is caused to be sorted (dhiyati) into those [sorts (elements)]; it is
caused to be placed in them, is the meaning. So each thing (dhamma)
among those beginning with the eye is called a 'sort' (dhatu—element)
in the meaning just stated beginning 'It sorts out, it assorts well'.
21. Furthermore, while the self of the sectarians does not exist with an
individual essence, not so these. These, on the contrary, are elements
(dhatu) since they cause [a state's] own individual essence to be borne
(dharenti).11
And just as in the world the variously-coloured constituents
of marble such as malachite, cinnabar, etc., are called 'elements', so too
these [beginning with the eye] are elements like those;
12
for they are the
'variously-coloured' constituents of knowledge and the knowable. Or
just as the general term 'elements' is used for juices, blood, etc., which
are constituents of the collection called the 'carcase', when they are
distinguished from each other by dissimilarity of characteristic, so too
the general term 'elements' should be understood as used for the con-
stituents of the selfhood (personality) called 'the pentad of aggregates';
for these things beginning with the eye are distinguished from each other
by dissimilarity of characteristic.
22. Furthermore, 'element' is a term for what is soulless; and for the
purpose of abolishing the perception of soul the Blessed One accord-
ingly taught the elements in such passages as 'Bhikkhu, this man has six
elements' (M.iii,239). Therefore the exposition should be understood
here firstly as to meaning thus: It is an eye and that is an element, thus it
is the eye-element.... It is mind-consciousness and that is an element,
thus it is mind-consciousness element.
23. 2. As to characteristic, et cetera: here too the exposition should be
understood as to the characteristic, etc., of the eye, and so on. And that
should be understood in the way given above in the Description of the
Aggregates (Ch. XIV, §§37ff.).
24. 3. As to order: here too, from among 'order of arising', etc., men-
tioned above (Ch. XIV, §211), only 'order of teaching' is appropriate. It
is set forth according to successive definition of cause and fruit.
13
For the
pair, eye element and visible-data element, are the cause and eye-con-
sciousness element is the fruit. So in each case.
25. 4. As to just so much: as just so many. What is meant is this: in
various places in the Suttas and Abhidhamma the following as well as
other [486] elements are met with—the illumination element, beauty
element, base-consisting-of-boundless-space element, base-consisting-of-
boundless-consciousness element, base-consisting-of-nothingness element,
base-consisting-of-neither-perception-nor-non-perception element, cessa-
tion-of-perception-and-feeling element (S.ii,150); sense-desire element,
ill-will element, cruelty element, renunciation element, non-ill-will ele-
ment, non-cruelty element (Vbh. 86); bodily-pleasure element, bodily-
pain element, joy element, grief element, equanimity element, ignorance
element (Vbh. 85); initiative element, launching element, persistence ele<*
ment (S.v,66); inferior element, medium element, superior element
(D.iii,215); earth element, water element, fire element, air element, space
element, consciousness element (Vbh. 82); formed element, unformed
element (M.iii,63); the world of many elements, of various elements
(M.i,70)—that being so, why is the classification only made according to
these eighteen instead of making it according to all of them? Because as
far as individual essence is concerned all existing elements are included
in that [classification].
26. The visible data-element itself is the illumination element. The beauty
element is bound up with visible-data and so on. Why? Because it is the
sign of the beautiful. The sign of the beautiful is the beauty element and
that does not exist apart from visible data and so on. Or since the visible
data, etc., that are objects consisting of profitable kamma-result are them-
selves the beauty element, that is thus merely visible data and so on. As
regards the base-consisting-of-boundless-space element, etc., the con-
sciousness is mind-consciousness element only, while the remaining
[states] are the mental-data element. But the cessation-of-perception-
and-feeling element does not exist as an individual essence; for that is
merely the cessation of two elements.
14
27. The sense-desire element is either merely the mental-data element,
according as it is said, * Herein, what is the sense-desire element? It is the
thought, applied thought,... wrong thinking, that is associated with sense
desires' (Von. 86), or it is the eighteen elements, according as it is said:
'Making the Avici hell the lower limit and making the Paranimmi-
tavasavatti deities the upper limit, the aggregates, elements, bases, materi-
ality, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness that are in this
interval, that belong here, are included here: these are called the sense-
desire element' (Vbh. 86). [487]
28. The renunciation element is the mental-data element; also, because
of the passage 'Also all profitable states are the renunciation element'
(Vbh. 86), it is the mind-consciousness element too. The elements of ill-
will, cruelty, non-ill-will, non-cruelty, bodily pleasure, bodily pain, joy,
grief, equanimity, ignorance, initiative, launching, and persistence are
the mental-data element too.
29. The inferior, medium, and superior elements are the eighteen ele-
ments themselves; for inferior eyes, etc., are the inferior element, and
medium and superior eyes, etc., are the medium and superior elements.
But literally speaking, the unprofitable mental-data element and mind-
consciousness element are the inferior element; both these elements,
when mundane profitable or mundane indeterminate, and the eye ele-
ment, etc., are the medium element; but the supramundane mental-data
element and mind-consciousness element are the superior element.
30. The earth, fire, and air elements are the tangible-data element; the
water element and the space element are the mental-data element only;
'consciousness element' is a term summarizing the seven consciousness
elements beginning with eye-consciousness.
31. Seventeen elements and one part of the mental-data element are the
formed element; but the unformed element is one part of the mental-data
element only. The * world of many elements, of various elements' is
merely what is divided up into the eighteen elements.
So they are given as eighteen because, as to individual essence, all
existing elements are included in that [classification].
32. Furthermore, they are stated as eighteen for the purpose of eliminat-
ing the kind of perception to be found in those who perceive a soul in
consciousness, the individual essence of which is cognizing; for there
are beings who perceive a soul in consciousness, the individual essence
of which is cognizing. And so the Blessed One, who was desirous of
eliminating the long-inherent perception of a soul, has expounded the
eighteen elements thus making evident to them not only consciousness's
multiplicity when classed as eye-, ear- nose- tongue- and body-con-
sciousness elements, and mind, and mind-consciousness elements, but
also its impermanence, which is due to its existing in dependence on
eye-cum-visible-data, etc., as conditions.
33. What is more, the inclinations of those who are teachable in this
way [have to be considered]; and in order to suit the inclinations of
beings who are teachable by a teaching that is neither too brief nor too
long, eighteen are expounded. For:
By methods terse and long as need may be
He taught the Dhamma, so that from beings' hearts,
If they have wit to learn, the dark departs
Melting in the Good Dhamma's brilliancy.
This is how the exposition should be understood here as to just so
much.
34. 5. As to reckoning: the eye-element, firstly, is reckoned as one thing
according to kind, [488] namely, eye sensitivity. Likewise, the ear, nose,
tongue, body, visible-data, sound, odour, and flavour elements are reck-
oned as ear sensitivity, and so on (Ch. XIV, §37ff.). But the tangible-
data element is reckoned as three things, namely, earth, fire and air. The
eye-consciousness element is reckoned as two things, namely, profitable
and unprofitable kamma-result; and likewise the consciousness elements
of the ear, nose, tongue, and body. The mind element is reckoned as
three things, namely, five-door adverting (70), and profitable (39) and
unprofitable (55) resultant receiving. The mental-data element as twenty
things, namely, three immaterial aggregates, sixteen kinds of subtle mat-
ter, and the unformed element (see Vbh. 88).
15
Mind-consciousness ele-
ment is reckoned as seventy-six things, namely, the remaining profitable,
unprofitable, and indeterminate consciousnesses. This is how the exposi-
tion should be understood as to reckoning.
35. 6. Condition: the eye element, firstly, is a condition, in six ways,
namely, dissociation, prenascence, presence, non-disappearance, support,
and faculty for the eye-consciousness element. The visible-data element
is a condition, in four ways, namely, prenascence, presence, non-disap-
pearance, and object, for the eye-consciousness element. Similarly with
the ear-element and the sound element for the ear-consciousness element
and so on,
36. The adverting mind element (70) is a condition, as the five condi-
tions, namely, proximity, contiguity, absence, disappearance, and prox-
imity-decisive-support, for these five [beginning with the eye-conscious-
ness element]. And these five are so too for the receiving mind element
((39), (55)). And so is the receiving mind element for the investigating
mind-consciousness element ((40), (41), (56)). And so is that too for the
determining mind-consciousness element (71). And so is the determining
mind-consciousness element for impulsion mind-consciousness element.
But the impulsion mind-consciousness element is a condition, as the six
conditions, namely, as the five already stated and as repetition condition,
for the immediately following impulsion mind-consciousness element.
This, firstly, is the way in the case of the five doors.
37. In the case of the mind door, however, the life-continuum mind-con-
sciousness element is a condition, as the previously-stated five condi-
tions, for the adverting mind-consciousness element (71). And the ad-
verting mind-consciousness element is so for the impulsion mind-con-
sciousness element.
38. The mental-data element is a condition in many ways, as conas-
cence, mutuality, support, association, presence, non-disappearance, etc.,
16
for the seven consciousness elements. The eye element, etc., and some of
the mental-data element,
17
are conditions, as object condition, etc., for
some of the mind-consciousness element.
39. And not only are the eye and visible data, etc., conditions for the
eye-consciousness element, etc., [respectively], but also light, etc., are
too. Hence the former teachers said: 'Eye-consciousness arises due to
eye, visible datum, light, and attention. [489] Ear-consciousness arises
due to ear, sound, aperture, and attention. Nose-consciousness arises due
to nose, odour, air, and attention. Tongue-consciousness arises due to
tongue, flavour, water, and attention. Body-consciousness arises due to
body, tangible datum, earth, and attention. Mind-consciousness arises
due to life-continuum mind,
18
mental datum, and attention'.
This is in brief. But the kinds of conditions will be explained in
detail in the Description of Dependent Origination (Ch. XVII, §66ff.).
This is how the exposition should be understood here as to condi-
tion.
40. 7. How to be seen: the meaning is that here too the exposition
should be understood as to how they are to be regarded. For all formed
elements are to be regarded as secluded from the past and future,19 as
void of any lastingness, beauty, pleasure, or self, and as existing in
dependence on conditions.
41. Individually, however, the eye element should be regarded as the
surface of a drum, the visible-data element as the drumstick, and the eye-
consciousness element as the sound. Likewise, the eye element should
be regarded as the surface of a looking-glass, the visible-data element as
the face, and the eye-consciousness element as the image of the face. Or
else, the eye-element should be regarded as sugarcane or sesamum, the
visible-data element as the [sugarcane] mill or the [sesamum] wheel rod,
and the eye-consciousness element as the sugarcane juice or the ses-
amum oil. Likewise, the eye-element should be regarded as the lower
fire-stick, the visible-data element as the upper fire-stick,
20
and the eye-
consciousness element as the fire. So too in the case of the ear and so on.
42. The mind element, however, should be regarded as the forerunner
and follower of eye-consciousness, etc., as that arises.
As to the mental-data element, the feeling aggregate should be re-
garded as a dart and as a stake, the perception and formations aggregates
as a disease owing to their connexion with the dart and stake of feeling.
Or the ordinary man's perception should be regarded as an empty fist be-
cause it produces pain through [disappointed] desire; or as a forest deer
[with a scarecrow] because it apprehends the sign incorrectly. And the
formations aggregate should be regarded as men who throw one into a
pit of hot coals, because they throw one into rebirth-linking, or as thieves
pursued by the king's men because they are pursued by the pains of
birth; or as the seeds of a poison-tree, because they are the root-cause of
the aggregates' continuity, which brings all kinds of harm. And material-
ity should be regarded as a razor-wheel (see Ja.iv,3), because it is the
sign of various kinds of dangers.
The unformed element, however, should be regarded as deathless, as
peace, as safety. Why? Because it is the opposite of all ill. [490]
43. The mind-consciousness element should be regarded as a forest mon-
key, because it does not stay still on its object; or as a wild horse,
because it it difficult to tame; or as a stick flung into the air, because it
falls anyhow; or as a stage dancer, because it adopts the guise of the
various defilements such as greed and hate.
The fifteenth chapter called 'The Descrip-
tion of the Bases and Elements' in the Treatise
on the Development of Understanding in the
Path of Purification composed for the purpose
of gladdening good people.
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