Visuddhimagga - Notes I

THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka

NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1. Exact dates are not agreed. The Ceylon Chronicles give the lengths of
reigns of kings of Ceylon back to the time of the Buddha and also of kings of
Magadha from Asoka back to the same time. Calculated backwards the list gives
543 B.C. as the year of the Buddha's parinibbdna (see list of kings in Codrington's
Short History of Ceylon, Macmillan 1947, p. xvf.). For adjustments to this calcu-
lation that bring the date of the parinibbdna forward to 483 B.C. (the date most
generally accepted in Europe), see e.g. Geiger Mahdvarhsa translation (introduc-
tion); Epigraphia Zeylanica i, 156; E. J. Thomas, Life of the Buddha, Kegan Paul,
p. 26, n.l. It seems certain, however, that Mahanama was reigning in the year
428 because of a letter sent by him to the Chinese court (Codrington p.29; E.Z.
Ill, 12). If the adjusted date is accepted then 60 extra years have somehow to be
squeezed out without displacing Mahanama's reign. Here the older date has been
used.
2. See also A Record of Buddhist Religion by I-tsing, trsl. J. Takakusu, Claren-
don Press, 1896, p. xxiii, where a geographical distribution of various schools
gives MulasarvAstivada mainly in the north and Ariyasthavira mainly in the
south of India. I-tsing, who did not visit Ceylon, was in India at the end of the
7th cent.; but he does not mention whether the Ariyasthavira (Theravada) Nikaya
in India pursued its studies in the Pali of its Tipitaka or in Sanskrit or in a local
vernacular.
3. In the epilogues and prologues of various works between the 5th and 12th
centuries there is mention of e.g., Padaratittha (VisA. prol.: near Madras),
Kancipura (AA. epil.: = Conjevaram near Madras), and other places where dif-
ferent teachers accepting the Great-Monastery tradition lived and worked. See
also Malalasekera, Pali Literature in Ceylon, p. 13; E.Z., iv, 69-71; Journal of
Oriental Research, Madras, Vol. XIX, pp. 278f.
4. Possibly the Vinaya summaries, Mulasikkhd and Khuddasikkhd (though
Geiger places these much later), as well as some works of Buddhadatta Thera. It
has not been satisfaptorily explained why the Mahdvamsa, composed in the late
4th or early 5th cent., ends abruptly in the middle of Chapter 37 with Mahasena's
reign (the Chronicle being only resumed eight centuries later).
5. The Gandhavamsa also gives the Apadana Commentary as by him.
6. Other readings are: Mayurarupapattana, Mayuradutapattana. Identified with
Mylapore near Madras (J.O.R., Madras, Vol. XIX, p. 281).
7. Identified with Conjevaram near Madras: P.L.C., p. 113. Acariya Ananda,
author of the sub-commentary to the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Mula-Tika), also
lived there, perhaps any time after the middle of the 5th century. The Elder
Dhammapala sometimes refers to the old Sinhalese commentaries as if they were
still available to him.


8. Other readings are: Morandakhetaka, Mudantakhedaka, Murandakhetaka,
etc.; not yet identified. Refers more probably to his birth-place than to his place
of pabbajjd. See also J.O.R., Madras, Vol. XIX, p. 282, article Buddhaghosa—
His Place of Birth by R. Subramaniam and S. P. Nainar, where a certain coinci-
dence of names is mentioned that might suggest a possible identification of
Morandakhetaka (moranda being Pali for 'peacock egg* and khedaka Skr. for
* village
1
—see Vis. Harvard ed., p. xv) with adjacent villages, 51 miles from
Nagarjunakonda and 58 m. from Amaravati, called Kotanemalipuri and Gundla-
palli (nemali and gundla being Telegu respectively for 'peacock* and 'egg').
However, more specific information will be needed in support before it can be
accepted as an indication that the Mahdvamsa is wrong about his birth-place.
More information about any connexion between Ceylon and those great South
Indian Buddhist centres is badly needed.
9. A definite statement that the DhA. was written later by someone else can
hardly avoid the inference that the 'postscript' was a fraud, or at least mislead-
ing.
10. Adikaram, Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon, pp. 3 and 86.
11. Paritta or 'protection': a name for certain suttas recited for that purpose.
SeeMA.iv,114.
12. See Vis. epil.
13. For instance, Prof. Kosambi, in his preface to the Vis. Harvard ed., over-
looks these considerations when he says: 'More positive evidence (that he was
not a North-Indian Brahman) is in the passage "Unhassa ti aggisantdpassa.
Tassa vanaddhddisu sambhavo veditabbo" (Ch. I, §86). "Heat: the heat of fire,
such as occurs at the time of forest fires, etc." This is a comment upon protection
against heat given by a civara. His explanation is obviously ridiculous. It is not
known to Indian southerners that a bare skin is sure to be sunburnt in the north-
ern summer' (p. xii). And Professor Kosambi has not only overlooked the fact
that it is almost certainly translated material that he is criticizing as original com-
position, but he appears not to have even read the whole passage. The sutta
sentence (M.i,10) commented on in the Visuddhimagga (Ch. I, §86-87) contains
two words unha and dtapa. If, before condemning the explanation as 'ridiculous,'
he had read on, he would have found, a line or two below, the words Atapo ti
suriydtapo (' " Burning " is burning of the sun'—Ch. I, §87).
14. The allusion is to the author of various Pali works including the Abhi-
dhammdvatdra; see n. 4.
15. Sahghardjd ('Ruler of the Community' —a title existing in Thailand today):
possibly a mistake for Sanghapala here (see Vis. epil.).
16. A learned allusion to Vis. Ch. VIII, §1.
17. Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion, article 'Buddhaghosa' by T. W. Rhys
Davids. Note also that another elder of the same name invited the writing of the
Sammohavinodani. The problem is discussed at some length by Prof. Nihar-
ranjan Ray, Theravada Buddhism in Burma, pp. 24ff.
18. The legitimateness of the mental moment of 'presence' (thiti) as deducible


from A.i,152 is questioned by Acariya Ananda (VbhAA.), who wrote early in the
Middle Period; he cites the Yamaka (refs.: ii,13; ii,14; and i,216-17) against it.
19. The Elder Dhammapala, commenting on Vis. Ch. XXI, §77, takes the reading
phutthantam sacchikato and explains that (cf. Mula Tika Pug AA. p. 32), but the
Elder MahanAma, commenting on the PatisambhidAmagga from which the pas-
sage is quoted, takes the reading phutthattd sacchikato and comments differently
(PsA., p. 396, Hewavitarne ed.). Again, what is referred to as 'said by some
(keciY in the Elder Dhammapala's comment on the Visuddhimagga (see Vis. Ch.
VIII, n.46) is put forward by the Elder Mahanama with no such reservation
(PsA., p.351). It is the usual standard of strict consistency that makes such very
minor divergences noticeable. These two commentators, though, rarely repro-
duce each other verbatim. Contrastingly, where the Paramatthamahjusd and the
Mula Tikd similarly overlap, the sentences are mostly verbatim, but the former,
with extra material, looks like an expanded version of the latter, or the latter a
cut version of the former.
20. See A.ii,56; Ps.ii,92f.
21. In the present work the development of serenity (concentration) is carried to
its limit before insight (understanding) is dealt with. This is for clarity. But in the
commentary to the Satipatthana Sutta (D. Sutta 22, M. Sutta 10) either the two
are developed contemporaneously or insight is allowed to precede jhana concen-
tration. According to the Suttas, concentration of jhana strength is necessary for
the manifestation of the path (see e.g. Vis. Ch. XIV, §127; XV, n.7; D.ii,313 =
M.iii,252; A.ii,156, quoted at Ps.ii,92f.).
22. See Prof. I. A. Richards, Mencius on Mind, Kegan Paul, 1932.
23. Exceptions are certain early works of Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids. See also
discussions in appendixes to the translations of the Kathdvatthu (Points of Con-
troversy, P.T.S.) and the Abhidhammatthasahgaha (Compendium of Philosophy,
P.T.S.).
24. Pronounce letters as follows: a as in countryman, a father, e whey, i chin,
I machine, u full, u rule; c church (always), g give (always); h always sounded
separately, e.g. bh in cab-horse, ch in catch him (not kitchen), ph in upholstery
(not telephone), th in hot-house (not pathos), etc.; j joke; m and n as ng in singer,
n as ni in onion; d,}, n and t are pronounced with tongue-tip on palate; d, i, n and
t with tongue-tip on teeth; double consonants as in Italian, e.g. dd as in mad dog
(not madder), gg as in big gun (not bigger); rest as in English.
25. Of the principal English value words, 'rear, 'truth', 'beauty', 'good', 'abso-
lute', 'being', etc.: 'real' has been used for tatha (Ch. XVI, §24), 'truth' allotted
to sacca (Ch. XVI, §25) and beauty to subha (Ch. IX, §119); 'good' has been
used sometimes for the prefix su~ and also for the adj. kalydna and the subst.
attha. 'Absolute' has not been employed, though it might perhaps be used for the
word advaya, which qualifies the word hasina ('universality', 'totalization') at
M.ii,14, and then: 'One (man) perceives earth as a universality above, below,
around, absolute, measureless' could be an alternative for the rendering given in
Ch. V, §38. 'Being' (as abstract subst.) has sometimes been used for bhava,
which is otherwise rendered by 'becoming.'


CHAPTER I
1. 'From a visible datum sometimes as far down as a mental datum, or vice
versa, following the order of the six kinds of objects of consciousness as given in
the teaching' (Pm. 5, see Ch. XV, §1).
2. The Great Monastery (Mahdvihdra) at Anuradhapura in Ceylon.
3. 'The words "insight alone" are meant to exclude, not virtue, etc., but seren-
ity (i.e. jhana), which is the opposite number in the pair, serenity and insight.
This is for emphasis. But the word "alone" actually excludes only that concentra-
tion with distinction [of jhana]; for concentration is classed as both access and
absorption (see Ch. IV, §32). Taking this stanza as the teaching for one whose
vehicle is insight does not imply that there is no concentration; for no insight
comes about without momentary concentration. And again, insight should be
understood as the three contemplations of impermanence, pain, and not-self; not
contemplation of impermanence alone' (Pm. 9-10).
4. * "Develops" applies to both "consciousness" and "understanding". But are
they mundane or supramundane? They are supramundane, because the sublime
goal is described; for one developing them is said to disentangle the tangle of
craving by cutting it off at the path moment, and that is not mundane. But the
mundane are included here too because they immediately precede, since supra-
mundane (see Ch. Ill, note 5) concentration and insight are impossible without
mundane concentration and insight to precede them; for without the access and
absorption concentration in one whose vehicle is serenity, or without the mo-
mentary concentration in one whose vehicle is insight, and without the gateways
to liberation (see Ch. XXI, §66f.), the supramundane can never in either case be
reached' (Pm. 13). 'With triple root-cause' means with non-greed, non-hate and
non-delusion.
5. One who is virtuous has nothing to be remorseful about.
6. The three kinds of clear-vision are: recollection of past life, knowledge of
the passing away and reappearance of beings (divine eye), and knowledge of de-
struction of cankers (M.i,22-23). The six kinds of direct-knowledge are: knowl-
edge of supernormal power, the divine ear element, penetration of minds, recol-
lection of past life, knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings,
and knowledge of destruction of cankers (M.i,34-35). The four discriminations
are those of meaning, law, language, and intelligence (A.ii,160).
7. 'Consciousness-concomitants' (cetasika) is a collective term for feeling,
perception, and formations, variously subdivided; in other words, aspects of
mentality that arise together with consciousness.
8. Silana, and upadhdrana in this meaning (cf. Ch. I, §141 and sandhdrana,
Ch. XIV, §61), are not in P.T.S. Diet.
9. The three kinds of profitable bodily kamma or action (not killing or stealing
or indulging in sexual misconduct), the four kinds of profitable verbal kamma or
action (refraining from lying, malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip), and
right livelihood as the eighth.
10. Uposatha (der. from upavasati, to observe or to prepare) is the name for the


day of 'fasting' or 'vigil' observed on the days of the new moon, waxing half
moon, full moon, and waning half moon. On these days it is customary for
laymen to undertake the Eight Precepts {slid) or Five Precepts. On the new-moon
and full-moon days the Patimokkha (see note 11) is recited by bhikkhus. The two
quarter-moon days are called the 'eighth of the half moon'. The full-moon day is
called the 'fifteenth' (i.e. 15 days from the new moon) and is the last day of the
lunar month. That of the new moon is called the 'fourteenth' when it is the
second and fourth new moon of the four-month season (i.e. 14 days from the full
moon), the other two are called the 'fifteenth'. This compensates for the irregu-
larities of the lunar period.
11. The Suttavibhanga, the first book of the Vinaya Pitaka, contains in its two
parts the 227 rules for bhikkhus and the rules for bhikkhunis, who have received
the admission (upasampadd), together with accounts of the incidents that led to
the announcement of the rules, the modifications of the rules and the explana-
tions of them. The bare rules themselves form the Patimokkha for bhikkhus and
that for bhikkhunis. They are also known as the 'two codes' (dve mdtika). The
Patimokkha is recited by bhikkhus on the Uposatha days of the full moon and
new moon.
12. The 'ten instances of talk' (dasa kathdvatthuni) refer to the kinds of talk
given in the Suttas thus: 'Such talk as is concerned with effacement, as favours
the heart's release, as leads to complete dispassion, fading, cessation, peace,
direct knowledge, enlightenment, nibbana, that is to say: talk on wanting little,
contentment, seclusion, aloofness from contact, strenuousness, virtue, concentra-
tion, understanding, deliverance, knowledge and vision of deliverance' (M.i,145;
13. See Ch. IV, note 27.
14. ' "On seeing a visible object with the eye": if the eye were to see the visible
object, then (organs) belonging to other kinds of consciousness would see too;
but that is not so. Why? Because the eye has no thought (acetanatta). And then,
were consciousness itself to see a visible object, it would see it even behind a
wall because of being independent of sense resistance (appatighabhdvato); but
that is not so either because there is no seeing in all kinds of consciousness. And
herein, it is consciousness dependent on the eye that sees, not just any kind. And
that does not arise with respect to what is enclosed by walls, etc., where light is
excluded. But where there is no exclusion of light, as in the case of a crystal or a
mass of cloud, there it does arise even with respect to what is enclosed by them.
So it is as a basis of consciousness that the eye sees.
' "When there is the impingement of door and object": what is intended is:
when a visible datum as object has come into the eye's focus. "One sees": one
looks (oloketi)', for when the consciousness that has eye-sensitivity as its material
support is disclosing (obhdsente) by means of the special quality of its support a
visible datum as object that is assisted by light (dloka), then it is said that a
person possessed of that sees the visible datum. And here the illuminating is the
revealing of the visible datum according to its individual essence, in other words,
the apprehending of it experientially (paccakkhato).


Here it is the "sign of woman" because it is the cause of perceiving as
"woman" all such things as the shape that is grasped under the heading of the
visible data (materiality) invariably found in a female continuity, the un-clear-
cut-ness (avisadata) of the flesh of the breasts, the beardlessness of the face, the
use of cloth to bind the hair, the un-clear-cut stance, walk, and so on. The "sign
of man" is in the opposite sense.
* "The sign of beauty" here is the aspect of woman that is the cause for the
arising of lust. By the word-"etc." the sign of resentment (patigha), etc., are
included, which should be understood as the undesired aspect that is the cause
for the arising of hate. And here admittedly only covetousness and grief are
specified in the text but the sign of equanimity needs to be included too; since
there is non-restraint in the delusion that arises due to overlooking, or since
"forgetfulness or unknowing" is said below (§57). And here the "sign of equa-
nimity" should be understood as an object that is the basis for the kind of equa-
nimity associated with unknowing through overlooking it. So "the sign of beauty,
etc." given in brief thus is actually the cause of greed, hate, and delusion.
* "He stops at what is merely seen": according to the Sutta method "The
seen shall be merely seen" (Ud. 8). As soon as the colour basis has been appre-
hended by the consciousnesses of the cognitive series with eye-consciousness he
stops; he does not fancy any aspect of beauty, etc., beyond that.... In one who
fancies as beautiful, etc., the limbs of the opposite sex, defilements arisen with
respect to them successively become particularized, which is why they are called
"particulars". But these are simply modes of interpreting (sannivesdkdra) the
kinds of materiality derived from the (four) primaries that are interpreted
(sannivittha) in such and such wise; for apart from that there is in the ultimate
sense no such thing as a hand and so on' (Pm. 40-41). See also Ch. Ill, note 31.
15. 'As the elder was going along (occupied) only in keeping his meditation
subject in mind, since noise is a thorn to that in the early stage, he looked up
with the noise of the laughter, (wondering) "What is that?". "Perception of
foulness" is perception of bones; for the elder was then making bones his medita-
tion subject. The elder, it seems, as soon as he saw her teeth-bones while she was
laughing, got the counterpart sign with access jhana because he had developed
the preliminary-work well. While he stood there he reached the first jhana. Then
he made that the basis for insight, which he augmented until he attained the paths
one after the other and reached destruction of cankers' (Pm. 41-42).
16. To expect to find in the Paramatthamanjusa an exposition of the 'cognitive
series' (citta-vithi), and some explanation of the individual members in addition
to what is to be found in the Visuddhimagga itself, is to be disappointed. There
are only fragmentary treatments. All that is said here is this:
'There is no unvirtuousness, in other words, bodily or verbal misconduct, in
the five doors; consequently restraint of unvirtuousness happens through the
mind door, and the remaining restraint happens through the six doors. For the
arising of forgetfulness and the other three would be in the five doors since they
are unprofitable states opposed to mindfulness, etc.; and there is no arising of
unvirtuousness consisting in bodily and verbal transgression there because five-
door impulsions do not give rise to intimation. And the five kinds of non-


restraint beginning with unvirtuousness are stated here as the opposite of the five
kinds of restraint beginning with restraint as virtue' (Pm. 42). See also Ch. IV,
note 13.
17. The formula 'kuhana kuhdyand kuhitattam\ i.e. verbal noun in two forms
and abstract noun from pp., all from the same root, is common in Abhidhamma
definitions. It is sometimes hard to produce a corresponding effect in English,
yet to render such groups with words of different derivation obscures the mean-
ing and confuses the effect.
18. The renderings 'scheming' and so on in this context do not in all cases
agree with the P.T.S. Diet. They have been chosen after careful consideration.
The rendering 'rejection of requisites' takes the preferable reading patisedhana
though the more common reading here is patisevana (cultivation).
19. The Pali is: Icchdpakatassd ti icchdya apakatassa; up add utass a ti attho.
Icchdya apakatassa simply resolves the compound icchdpakatassa and is there-
fore untranslatable into English. Such resolutions are therefore sometimes omit-
ted in this translation.
20. ' " Putrid urine" is the name for all kinds of cow's urine whether old or not'
(Pm. 45). Fermented cow's urine with gallnuts (myrobalan) is a common Indian
medicine today.
21. It is not always certain now what kind of buildings these names refer to.
22. Nahand — tying, from nayhati (to tie). The noun is not in P.T.S. Diet.
23. The story of the oil-seller is given in the SammohavinodanI (VbhA. 483),
which reproduces this part of Vis. with some additions: 'Two bhikkhus, it seems,
went into a village and sat down in the sitting hall. Seeing a girl, they called her.
Then one asked the other, "Whose girl is this, venerable sir?"—"She is the
daughter of our supporter the oil-seller, friend. When we go to her mother's
house and she gives us ghee, she gives it in the pot. And this girl too gives it in
the pot as her mother does." ' Quoted at Pm. 46.
24. The 'ten instances of abuse' (akkosa-vatthu) are given in the Sammohavi-
nodanI (VbhA. 340) as: 'You are a thief, you are a fool, you are an idiot, you are
a camel (otthd), you are an ox, you are a donkey, you belong to the states of loss,
you belong to hell, you are a beast, there is not even a happy or an unhappy des-
tiny to be expected for you' (see also SnA. 364).
25. The following words of this paragraph are not in P.T.S. Diet.: Papana
(denigration), papanam (nt. denigrating), nippeseti (scrapes off—from pimsatil
cf. nippesikata—'belittling' §42, 64), nippuhchati (wipes off—only punchati in
Diet.), pesikd (scraper—not in this sense in Diet.: from same root as nippeseti),
nippimsitva (grinding, pounding), abbhahga (unguent = abbhanjana, Pm.47).
26. For attention (manasi-kara) as the means (upaya) and the way (patha) see
MA.i,64.
27. Avadhi —- 'limit' = odhi: this form is not in P.T.S. Diet, (see MA.ii,292).
28. 'Child's flesh" (putta-marhsa) is an allusion to the story (S.ii,98) of the
couple who set out to cross a desert with an insufficient food supply but got
to the other side by eating the flesh of their child who died on the way. The


derivation given in the P.T.S. Diet., 'A metaphor probably distorted from puta-
mamsa\ has no justification. The reference to rafts might be to D.ii,89.
29. This verse has been misunderstood in * Psalms of the Brethren'.
30. * "Making the whole rock resound'
1
: 'making the whole rock reverberate as
one doing so by means of an earth tremor. But some say that it was owing to the
cheering of the deities who lived there' (Pm. 58).
31. 'Four-sweets'—catumadhura: a medicinal sweet made of four ingredients.
32. "The Elder Maha-Tissa, it seems, was going on a journey during a famine,
and being tired in body and weak through lack of food and travel weariness, he
lay down at the root of a mango tree covered with fruit. There were many fallen
mangoes here and there'(Pm. 60). 'Though ownerless mangoes were lying fallen
on the ground near him, he would not eat them in the absence of someone to
accept them from' (Pm. 65). 'Then a lay devotee, who was older than he, went to
the elder, and learning of his exhaustion, gave him mango juice to drink. Then he
mounted him on his back and took him to his home. Meanwhile the elder
admonished himself as follows: "Nor your mother nor your father", etc. (see
§133). And beginning the comprehension [of formations], and augmenting in-
sight, he realized Arahantship after the other paths in due succession while he was
still mounted on his back' (Pm. 60).
33. ' "As elements" in this way: "This robe, etc., consists merely of [the four]
elements and occurs when its conditions are present; and the person who uses it
[likewise]". "As repulsive" in this way: Firstly perception of repulsiveness in
nutriment in the case of alms food; then as bringing repulsiveness to mind thus:
"But all these robes, etc., which are not in themselves disgusting, become utterly
disgusting on reaching this filthy body" '(Pm. 61).
34. ' "Use as theft": use by one who is unworthy. And the requisites are al-
lowed by the Blessed One to one in his own dispensation who is virtuous, not
unviituous; and the generosity of the givers is towards one who is virtuous, not
towards one who is not, since they expect great fruit from their actions' (Pm. 61;
cf. M. Sutta 142 and commentary).
35. The figures depend on whether koti is taken as 1,000,000 or 100,000 or
10,000.
36. 'Comprehending' (sammasana) is a technical term that will become clear in
Ch. XX. In short, it is inference that generalizes the 'three characteristics' from
one's own directly-known experience to all possible formed experience at all
times (see S.ii,107). Commenting on 'He comprehended that same illness' (§138),
Pm. says: 'He exercised insight by discerning the feeling in the illness under the
heading of the feeling [aggregate] and the remaining material dhammas as materi-
ality' (Pm. 65).
37. A story of the Jambu River and its gold is given at MA.iv,147.
38. This list describes, in terms of abandoning, etc., the stages in the normal
progress from ignorance to Arahantship, and it falls into the following groups: I.
Virtue: the abandoning of the ten unprofitable courses of action (1>—(10). II. Con-
centration: A. abandoning the seven hindrances to concentration by means of


their opposites (11)-(17); B. the eight attainments of concentration, and what is
abandoned by each (18)—(25). III. Understanding: A. Insight: the eighteen princi-
pal insights beginning with the seven contemplations (26)-(43). B. Paths: the
four paths and what is abandoned by each (44)-(47).
Pm. comments here as follows on (26): 'The contemplation of what is im-
permanent, or contemplation as "impermanent", is "contemplation of imperma-
nence"; this is insight. It is the name for the kind of insight that occurs in
apprehending the impermanence in dhammas of the three [mundane] planes. "In
the case of the perception of permanence" means in the case of wrong perception
of formed dhammas that occurs thus "They are permanent, eternal". The same
method applies below (Pm. 67). For explanations of the other principal insights
see Ch. XX, notes 3 and 28.
39. Sabbhava—'presence' ( = sat + bhava): not in P.T.S. Diet. Not to be con-
fused with sabhava—'individual essence' ( = sa (Skr. sva) + bhava, or saha +
bhava).
40. The seven consisting of parajika, sanghadisesa, pacittiya, patidesaniya
dukkata, thullaccaya, dubbhasita (mentioned at MA.ii,33).
41. An allusion to the Gosihga Suttas (M. Suttas 31 and 32).
CHAPTER II
1. Nibbacana—'derivative name (or verbal derivative)'; gram, term not in
P.T.S. Diet; MA.i,61,105; Vis. Ch. XVI, §16.
2. Patati—'to gather (or to wander)': not in P.T.S. Diet.
3. Avakhandana—'hiatus' and ddna—'gap': not in P.T.S. Diet.
4. Such references to 'the Commentary' are to the old Sinhalese commentary,
no longer extant, from which Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa drew his material.
5. ' "Ekasangitika": one who knows one of the five collections (nikdya) begin-
ning with the Collection of Long Discourses (Digha Nikaya)' (Pm. 76).
6. 'That elder, it seems, was a sitter, but no one knew it. Then one night the
other saw him by the light of a flash of lightning sitting up on his bed. He asked,
"Are you a sitter, venerable sir?". Out of fewness of wishes that his ascetic
practice should get known, the elder lay down. Afterwards he undertook the
practice anew. So the story has come down' (Pm. 77).
7. 'The name of a street in Mahagama (S.E. Ceylon). Also in Anuradhapura,
they say' (Pm. 77).
8. On certain occasions, when the going forth was given by the Buddha with
only the words 'Ehi bhikkhu (Come, bhikkhu)', owing to the disciple's past merit
robes appeared miraculously upon him (see e.g. Vin. Mahavagga, Kh. 1).
9. Apddana—'institution (or production)': not in P.T.S. Diet.
10. Tatratthaka-paccattharana—'a bedspread that remains there': 'A name for
what has been determined upon as a bedspread in one's own resting place or in
someone else's. They say accordingly (it is said in a commentary) that there is


no breach of the ascetic practice even when these two, that is, the bedspread and
the undyed cloth, are kept as extra robes' (Pm. 78-79). For tatratthaka (fixture)
see also §61.
11. 'A meal to be given by setting it out in a principal house only' (Pm. 79).
This meaning of dhura-bhatta not in P.T.S. Diet.
12. Tickets that are not for actual food, but deal with medicine, etc' (Pm. 79).
Patikkamana—refectory' (§28) = bojun hal (eating hall) in Sinhalese transla-
tion.
13. Sakkard—'sugar': spelt sakkhard in P.T.S. Diet.
14. Subbata—'truly devoted': fm. su + vata (having good vows). See also §59.
15. Reading acchinna-mariyadam with Pm., which says: * "Without a drip-ledge
cut (acchinna-mariyddam)" means without a drip-ledge (mariydda) made above,
which might come under the heading of a drip-ledge (mahyddasahkhepena)
made to prevent rain water from coming in. But if the rain water comes under the
overhang (pabbhara) and is allowed to go in under it, then this comes under the
heading of the open air (abbhokasikasahkhepaY (Pm. 84). This seems to refer to
the widespread habit in ancient Ceylon of cutting a drip-ledge on over-hanging
rocks used for bhikkhus' dwellings so that the rain that falls on top of the rock
drips down in front of the space under the overhang instead of trickling down
under the rock and wetting the back and floor. Pabbhara in this context is 'over-
hang' rather than 'slope'.
16. 'He should not go into families' houses because he smells of the dead and is
followed by pisdea goblins' (Pm. 84).
17. Ayogapatta—'a binding-strap': this is probably the meaning. But cf. Vin.
ii, 135 and VinA. 891.
18. For the triads of the Abhidhamma Matika (Abhidhamma Schedule) see
Ch. XIII, n.20.
' "Those who hold": a reference to the inhabitants of the Abhayagiri Monas-
tery at Anuradhapura. For they say that ascetic practice is a concept consisting in
a name (ndma-pannatti). That being so, they could have no meaning of shaking
off defilements, or possibility of being undertaken, because in the ultimate sense
they would be non-existent [concepts having no existence]' (Pm. 87). Cf. Ch.
IV, §29.
19. Apajjati (and its noun dpatti) is the normal word used for undesirable conse-
quences that follow on some unsound logical proposition. See Ch. XVI, §68f.
This meaning is not in P.T.S. Diet.
20. Idamatthita — 'that specific quality': 'Owing to these profitable states it
exists, (thus it is "specific by those"; imehi kusaladhammehi atthi = idam-atthi).
The knowledge by means of which one who has gone forth should be established
in the refuse-rag-wearer's practice, etc., and by means of which, on being so in-
structed, one undertakes and persists in the ascetic qualities — that knowledge is
idamatthitd' (Pm. 88).
21. SeeCh. XXI, §117.