Visuddhimagga - Notes IV

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


CHAPTER IX
1. * "Fighting against the wall": having undertaken the precepts of virtue and
sat down on a seat in his room with the door locked, he was developing lov-
ingkindness. Blinded by lust arisen under cover of the lovingkindness, he wanted
to go to his wife, and without noticing the door he beat on the wall in his desire
to get out even by breaking the wall down1
 (Pm. 286).
2. Reading dana-piyavacanadini with Sinhalese ed. (see four sangahavatthuni—
A. ii,32).
3. The Anguttara text has 'Let him ... reappear in a state of loss' and so on.
4. 'The eight great hells beginning with that of Sanjlva (see Ja.v, 266, 270). At
each of the four doors of the Great Unmitigated (Avici) Hell there are the four
beginning with the Ember (Kukula) Hell (M.iii,185), which make up the sixteen
prominent hells' (Pm. 291).
5. Sanku-patha—'set on piles': Pm. (p. 294) says: 'Sahku laggdpetvd te
dlambhitva gamanamaggo sahkupatho\ This disagrees with P.T.S. Diet, for this
ref.
6. Sana—'the bright principle': Skr. sattva\ one of the three principles in the
Sanikhya system, the other two being rajas (Pali: rajo) or turbulence and tamas
(Pali: tamo) or darkness. Not in P.T.S. Diet.
7. 'Here when the aggregates are not fully understood, there is naming
(abhidhdna) of them and of the consciousness of them as self (atta), that is to
say, the physical body or alternatively the five aggregates. "Derived from": ap-
prehending, gripping, making a support. "Since it is actually a mere concept":
because of presence (sabbhavato) as a mere concept in what is called a being,
though in the highest sense the "being" is non-existent' (Pm. 298). See also Ch.
VIII, n. 11
8. Harvard text reads
 k
byapadarahita\ which would be renderable as 'free
from ill will'. Pm. (p. 299) supports a reading byabadha, which seems better.
9. For dutthulla see Ch. IV, note 36. Here the meaning is more likely to be
'bad' or 'lewd' than 'inert'.
10. Mudita—'gladness' as one of the divine abidings is always in the sense of
gladness at others' success. Sometimes rendered 'altruistic joy' and 'sympathetic
gladness'.
11. Kinati—'it combats': Skr. krndti—to injure or kill. P.T.S. Diet, gives this
ref. under ordinary meaning 'to buy', which is wrong.
12. So Pm. 309.
13. All texts read kassa (whose), which is confirmed in the quotation translated
in note 20. It is tempting, in view of the context, to read kammassa (kamma's),
but there is no authority for it. The statement would then be an assertion instead
of a question.
14. 'Greed is the near enemy of lovingkindness since it is able to corrupt owing
to its similarity, like an enemy masquerading as a friend' (Pm. 309).
15. Patihannati—'to be resentful': not in P.T.S. Diet.; the verb has been needed


to correspond to 'resentment' (patigha), as the verb 'to be inflamed with greed'
(rajjati) corresponds with 'greed' (raga).
16. Sambhavetva—'judging': not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet. Pm. (p. 313)
explains by parikappetva (conjecturing).
17. For which kinds of body contemplation give which kinds of concentration
see Ch. VIII, §43 and MA.i,247.
18. ' "Mere unification of the mind": the kind of concentrating (samddhdna)
that is undeveloped and just obtained by one in pursuit of development. That is
called "basic concentration", however, since it is the basic reason for the kinds
of more distinguished concentration to be mentioned later in this connexion. This
"mere unification of the mind" is intended as momentary concentration as in the
passage beginning "I internally settled, steadied, unified and concentrated my
mind" (M.i,116). For the first unification of the mind is recognized as momen-
tary concentration here as it is in the first of the two successive descriptions:
"Tireless energy was aroused in me ... my mind was concentrated and unified"
followed by "Quite secluded from sense desires ..." (M.i,21)* (Pm. 314).
19. ' "Thus developed": just as a fire started with wood and banked up with
cowdung, dust, etc., although it arrives at the state of a "cowdung fire", etc. (cf.
M.i,259), is nevertheless called after the original fire that was started with the
wood, so too it is the basic concentration that is spoken of here, taking it as
banked up with lovingkindness, and so on. "In other objects" means in such
objects as the earth kasina' (Pm. 315).
20. 'The beautiful' (subha) is the third of the eight liberations {yimokkha—see
M.ii,12; MA.iii,255).
21. Reading in both cases 'avijjamdna-gahana-dakkam cittam', not '-dukkham*.
' "Because it has no more concern (abhoga)": because it has no further act of
being concerned (abhujana) by hoping (asimsana) for their pleasure, etc., thus
"May they be happy". The development of lovingkindness, etc., occurring as it
does in the form of hope for beings' pleasure, etc., makes them its object by
directing [the mind] to apprehension of [what is existent in] the ultimate sense
[i.e. pleasure, etc.]. But development of equanimity, instead of occurring like
that, makes beings its object by simply looking on. — But does not the divine
abiding of equanimity itself too make beings its object by directing the mind to
apprehension of [what is existent in] the ultimate sense, because of the words
"Beings are owners of their deeds. Whose [if not theirs] is the choice by which
they will become happy ..."? (§96) — Certainly that is so. But that is in the
prior stage of development of equanimity. When it has reached its culmination, it
makes beings its object by simply looking on. So its occurrence is specially
occupied with what is non-existent in the ultimate sense [i.e. beings, which are a
concept]. And so skill in apprehending the non-existent should be understood as
avoidance of bewilderment due to misrepresentation in apprehension of beings,
which avoidance of bewilderment has reached absorption' (Pm.).
22. For the 'ten powers' and 'four kinds of fearlessness' see M. Sutta 12. For
the 'six kinds of knowledge not shared by disciples' see Ps.i,121f. For the 'eight-
een states of the Enlightened One' see Cp. Commentary.


CHAPTER X
1. 'A dog, it seems, was attacked in the forest by a boar and fled. When it was
dusk he saw in the distance a cauldron for boiling rice, and perceiving it as a
boar, he fled in fear and terror. Again, a man who was afraid of pisdca goblins
saw a decapitated palm stump at night in a place that was unfamiliar to him, and
perceiving it as a pisdca goblin, he fell down in his fear, horror and confusion'
(Pm. 320).
2. P.T.S. Diet., this ref. reads ydnaputosd for ydnapatoli, taking it as one
compound (see under ydna and mutoli), but this does not fit the context happily.
Pm. (p. 321) has: * "Ydnappatolikumbhimuknddinan" ti ogunthana-sivikadi-ydnam
mukharh = ydna-mukharh\ patoliyd kuddakadvdrassa mukharh = patoli-mukham;
kumbhi-mukhan ti paccekarh mukha-saddo sambandhitabbo\ Tliis necessitates
taking ydna separately.
3. These two quotations refer respectively to the first of the eight liberations
and the first of the eight bases of mastery. (See MA.iii,255ff.)
4. This explanation depends on a play on the word sahhd as the (subjective)
perception and as the (objective) sign, signal or label perceived.
5. See Ch. XIV, §129, description of perception aggregate, which is classified
in the same way as the consciousness aggregate. Those referred to here are the
fifteen fine-material kinds, corresponding to nos. (9M13), (57M61) and (81M85)
in Table II.
6. See Ch. XIV, §96f. nos. (34M38) and (50M54) in Table II.
7. *A [formed] dhamma with an individual essence is delimited by rise and fall
because it is produced after having not been, and because after having been it
vanishes. But space is called boundless since it has neither rise nor fall because it
is a dhamma without individual essence' (Pm. 323).
8. 'He should not give attention to it only as "Boundless, boundless"; instead
of developing it thus, he should give attention to it as "Boundless consciousness,
boundless consciousness" or as "Consciousness, consciousness" * (Pm. 324).
9. There is a play on the words natthi kind ('there is nothing') and akiheana
('non-owning'). At M.i,298 there occurs the expression 'Rdgo kho dvuso kiheano
(greed, friend, is an owning)', which is used in connexion with this attainment.
The commentary (MA.ii,354) says 'Rdgo uppajjitvd puggalam kincati, maddati,
palibujjhati, tasmd kiheano ti vutto (greed having arisen owns, presses, impedes,
a person, that is why it is called an owning)'. (Cf. MA.i,27; also Ch. XXI, §53
and note 19.) Pm. (p. 327) here says 'Kihcanan ti kihci pi
9
. The word kincati is
not in P.T.S. Diet.
10. Mahacca (see D.i,49 and DA.i,148); the form is not given in P.T.S. Diet.;
probably a form of mahatiya.
11. Sukhodaka—'tepid water': see Monier Williams Skr. Diet.; this meaning of
sukha not given in P.T.S. Diet.


CHAPTER XI
1. 'The word "perception" (sanna) is used for the dhamma with the character-
istic of perceiving (sanjanana), as in the case of "perception of visible objects",
"perception of sound", etc.; and it is used for insight, as in the case of "percep-
tion of impermanence", "perception of suffering", etc.; and it is used for serenity,
as in the passage, "Perception of the bloated and perception of visible objects,
have these one meaning or different meanings, Sopaka?" (?), and so on. Here,
however, it should be understood as the preliminary work for serenity; for it is
the apprehending of the repulsive aspect in nutriment, or the access jhana pro-
duced by means of that, that is intended here by "perception of repulsiveness in
nutriment" ' (Pm. 334-35).
2. A more detailed exposition of nutriment is given at MA.i, 107ff.' "/f nour-
ishes" (dfiaratiY: the meaning is that is leads up, fetches, produces, its own fruit
through its state as a condition for the fruit's arising or presence, which state is
called "nutriment condition". It is made into a mouthful (kabalarh kariyati), thus
it is physical (kabalinkdra). In this way it gets its designation from the concrete
object; but as to characteristic, it should be understood to have the characteristic
of nutritive essence (oja). It is physical and it is nutriment in the sense stated,
thus it is physical nutriment. So with the rest. It touches (phusati), thus it is
contact (phassa); for although this is an immaterial state, it occurs also as the
aspect of touching on an object (drammana—lit. 'what is to be leaned on'),
which is why it is said to have the characteristic of touching. It wills (cetayati),
thus it is volition (cetana); the meaning is that it arranges (collects) itself to-
gether with associated states upon the object. Mental volition is volition occu-
pied with the mind. It cognizes (vijdnati) by conjecturing about rebirth (see Ch.
XVII, §303), thus it is consciousness (vinndna = cognition)* (Pm. 335).
3. For the 'octad with nutritive essence as eighth' (ojatthamaka), see Ch.
XVIII, §5ff. and XX, §27ff.
4. Pm. (p. 355) explains attachment here as craving which is 'perilous because
it brings harm' (see e.g. D.ii,58-59), or in other words, 'greed for the five aggre-
gates (lust after five-aggregate experience)'. It cites the following: 'Bhikkhus,
when there is physical nutriment, there is greed (lust), there is delighting, there is
craving; consciousness being planted therein grows. Wherever consciousness
being planted grows, there is the combination of mind-and-matter. Wherever
there is the combination of mind-and-matter, there is ramification of formations.
Wherever there is ramification of formations, there is production of further be-
coming in the future. Wherever there is production of further becoming in the
future, there is future birth, ageing and death. Wherever there is future birth,
ageing and death, bhikkhus, the end is sorrow, I say, with woe and despair'
(S.ii,101; cf. S.ii,66). Approaching is explained as 'meeting, coinciding, with
unabandoned perversions [of perception] due to an object [being perceived as
permanent, etc., when it is not]'. That is 'perilous since it is not free from the
three kinds of suffering'. The quotation given is: 'Bhikkhus, due to contact of the
kind to be felt as pleasant, pleasant feeling arises. With that feeling as condition
there is craving, ... thus there is the arising of this whole mass of suffering' (cf.


S.iv,215). Reappearance is 'rebirth in some kind of becoming or other. Being
flung into a new becoming is perilous because there is no immunity from the
risks rooted in reappearance*. The following is quoted: 'Not knowing, bhikkhus,
a man forms the formation of merit, and his [rebirth] consciousness accords with
the merit [he performed]; he forms the formation of demerit; ... he forms the
formation of the imperturbable ...' (S.ii,82). Rebirth-linking is the actual linking
with the next becoming, which 'is perilous since it is not immune from the
suffering due to the signs of [the impending] rebirth-linking'. The quotation
given is: 'Bhikkhus, when there is consciousness as nutriment there is greed
(lust), there is delighting ...' (S.ii,102—complete as above).
5. ' "Twenty or thirty times": here some say that the definition of the number
of times is according to what is present-by-continuity (see Ch. XIV, §188). But
others say that it is by way of "warming up the seat" (see MA.i,255); for devel-
opment that has not reached suppression of hindrances does not remove the bod-
ily discomfort in the act of sitting, because of the lack of pervading happiness.
So there is inconstancy of posture too. Then "twenty or thirty" is taken as the
number already observed by the time of setting out on the alms round. Or
alternatively, from "going" up to "smearing" is one turn; then it is after giving
attention to the meditation subject by twenty or thirty turns in this way' (Pm.
339).
6. Paccattharana—'carpet': the word normally means a coverlet, but here, ac-
cording to Pm. (p. 339), it is 'a spread (attharana) consisting of a rug (cilimika)
to be spread on the ground for protecting the skin'.
7. For pamukha—'doorstep', perhaps an open upper floor gallery here, see Ch.
XIII, §6.
8. 7aTw£A—'bat' = khuddaka-vagguli (Pm. 339): not in P.T.S. Diet.; see Ch.
XIII, §97.
9. Pdrdvata—'pigeon': only spelling pdrdpata given in P.T.S. Diet.
10. For this meaning of parivena see Ch. IV, note 37.
11. Vitakka-malaka—'debating lodge': Pm. (p. 339) says:' "Kattha nu kho ajja
bhikkhdya caritabban" ti ddind vitakkamdlake' ('in a lodge for thinking in the
way beginning "Where must I go for alms today?" ').
12. Pindika-mamsa—'flesh of the calves' =janghapindikamarhsapadesa (Pm. 340).
Cf. Ch. VIII, §97; also AA. 417. Not in this sense in* P.T.S. Diet.
13. Kummasa—'jelly': usually rendered 'junket', but the Vinaya commentaries
give it as made of corn (yava).
14. Nagabala—z kind of plant; not in P.T.S. Diet.
15. Pavana—'draught': not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet.; see Ch. XVI, §37.
16. Dhatu—'ore': not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet. See also Ch. XV, §20.
17. ' "A certain one" is said with reference to the anal orifice. But those who
are scrupulously clean by nature wash their hands again after washing the mouth,
and so on' (Pm. 342).
18. ' "That sign": that object as the sign for development, which sign is called


physical nutriment and has appeared in the repulsive aspect to one who gives his
attention to it repeatedly in the ways already described. And there, while devel-
opment occurs through the repulsive aspect, it is only the dhammas on account
of which there comes to be the concept of physical nutriment that are repulsive,
not the concept. But it is because the occurrence of development is contingent
only upon dhammas with an individual essence, and because the profundity is
due to that actual individual essence of dhammas that have individual essences,
that the jhana cannot reach absorption in it through apprehension of the repulsive
aspect. For it is owing to profundity that the first pair of truths is hard to see*
(Pm. 342-43).
19. * "By characterizing individual essences': by making certain (upadhdrana)
of the specific characteristics of hardness, and so on. For this meditation subject
does not consist in the observing of a mere concept, as in the case of the earth
kasina as a meditation subject, neither does it consist in the observing of the
colour blue, etc., as in the case of the blue kasina as a meditation subject, nor in
the observing of the general characteristics of impermanence, etc., in formations,
as in the case of insight as a meditation subject; but rather it consists in the
observing of the individual essences of earth, and so on. That is why "by charac-
terizing individual essences" is said, which means "by making certain of the
specific characteristics of hardness, and so on" ' (Pm. 344).
20. * Herein, as regards 'earth element \ etc., the meaning of element is the
meaning of individual essence, the meaning of individual essence is the meaning
of voidness, the meaning of voidness is the meaning of not-a-living-being. So it
is just earth in the sense of individual essence, voidness and not-a-living-being
that is the element; hence it is earth element. So too in the case of the water
element, and the rest. The earth element is the element that is the foothold for the
conascent material states. Likewise the water element is the element of their
cohesion; the fire element is the element of their ripening; and the air element is
the element of their conveyance and distension' (Pm. 345).
To avoid confusion, it might be mentioned here that in 'physical' earth, fire,
water, and air, it would be held that all four elements are present in each equally,
but that in 'physical' earth the earth element is dominant in efficacy as the mode
of hardness; and correspondingly with water and the rest. See e.g. Ch. XIV, §45.
21. Kharigata—'harsh': not in P.T.S. Diet., but see khara.
22. 'What occurs in attendance (adhikicca) upon self (attd) by its pertaining to
the state that may be taken as self because it is included in one's own continuity
as internal (ajjhattaY (Pm. 347).
23. Jara— 'fever': not in P.T.S. Diet.; see A.v,100; Nd. 1,17.
24. Vitthambhana—'distension': the word most usually employed to describe
the air element. It is often rendered by 'supporting', a word earmarked here for
nissaya. The twofold function of the air element is (a) to uphold (sandhdrana)
by distending (vitthambhana) and preventing collapse (§92), and (b) to move
(samudirana), or more strictly, cause the appearance of motion (calana, see n.
37). In Ch. XIV, §61 it is said to cause thambhana, rendered by 'stiffening'; but
there is the description of the earth element as thaddha (e.g. §39; pp. of tham-


bhati, from which the n. thambhana comes), rendered by 'stiffenedness'. It may
also be noted that the word sandhdrana (upholding) is used to describe both the
earth element (Ch. XIV, §47) and the'air element (Ch. XIV, §61).
25. Drava-bhava—'fluidity': not in P.T.S. Diet.
26. Silesa—'cement': not in this meaning in P.T.S. Diet.; MA.i,37 sam—.
27. Dhammani—'rat snake': not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet.; see AA. 459.
28. Sippika—'bag' (?): not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet.
29. * "Because of bearing their own characteristics": these are not like the Pri-
mordial Essence (pakati—Skr. prakrti) and the self (atta) imagined by the theo-
rists, which are non-existent as to individual essence. On the contrary these do
bear their own characteristics, which is why they are elements' (Pm. 359). Capi-
tals have been used here and elsewhere though Indian alphabets do not justify it.
Appdyati—'to satisfy' is not in P.T.S. Diet.; see VbhA. 9.
30. ' "From resolution of these eight": the eight dhammas beginning with col-
our, when resolved by means of understanding, are apprehendable (upalabbhanti)
in the ultimate sense through mutual negation (annam-anna-vyatirekena); but
head hairs are not apprehendable in the ultimate sense through negation of colour
and so on. Consequently, the term of common usage "head hairs" is applied to
these dhammas in their co-arisen state; but if they are each taken separately
"There is no common-usage head hairs". The meaning is that it is a mere con-
ventional term. "Only a mere group of eight states" is said, taking the colour,
etc., which are real (bhuta—lit. 'become'), as a unity by means of the concept
(pannatti) "a head hair", not only because they are merely the eight states' (Pm.
360).
31. Paramanu—'the smallest atom'; see VbhA. 343. According to VbhA. the
size of a paramanu works out at 1/581,147,136th part of an ahgula (fingerbreadth
or inch). Pm. remarks (p. 361): 'Therefore ... a paramanu as a particle of space
is not the province of the physical eye, it is the province of the divine eye'.
32. Sangahita—'held together': not quite in this sense in P.T.S. Diet. 'Held
(gahita) by conjoining through cohesion and prevented from being scattered'
(Pm. 361).
33. 'Kept guarded (anurakkita) so that it may not lapse into a wet and slippery
state through the water element, which has trickling as its essence' (Pm. 361).
34. Parissavati—'to run away': not in P.T.S. Diet.;—vissarati (Pm. 361).
35. 'This is said with reference to the water element as a juice that helps
growth' (Pm. 361).
36. Samabbhahata—'propelled': see Ch. IV, note 38.
37. Abhinihdra—'conveying': not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet.' "Conveying" is
acting as cause for the successive arising at adjacent locations (desantaruppatti)
of the conglomeration of elements (bhutasahghata)
1
 (Pm. 363). Elsewhere
Pm. (p. 359) says of the air element: ' "It blows" (§87): it is stirred; the meaning
is that the conglomeration of elements is made to move (go) by its action as
cause for successive arising at adjacent locations (points)', and 'Propelling


(samahbhdhana) is the act of causing the successive arising at adjacent locations
of material groups (rupa-kaldpaY (P- 362).
38. 'A great primary (mahdbhuta) is a great wonder (jnahanto abbhuto) be-
cause it shows various unreal things (abhutd), various wonders (abbhuta), and
various marvels (acchariya). Or alternatively: there are great wonders (abbhuta)
here, thus there are magicians. And spirits, etc., are huge (mahant) creatures
(bhuta) owing to being born from them, thus they are great primaries. Or alterna-
tively: this term "great primary" can be regarded as a generic term for all of
them. But earth, etc., are great primaries because they deceive, and because, like
the huge creatures, their standing place cannot be pointed to. The deception lies
in causing the apparent individual essences of blue-black, etc., and it lies in
causing the appearance of what has the aspect of woman and man, and so on.
Likewise their undemonstrability, since they are not found inside or outside each
other though they rely upon each other for support. For if these elements were
found inside each other, they would not each perform their particular functions,
owing to mutual frustration. And if they were found outside each other, they
would be already resolved (separate), and that being so, any description of them
as unresolved (inseparable) would be meaningless. So although their standing
place is undemonstrable, still each one assists the other by its particular func-
tion—the functions of establishing, etc., whereby each becomes a condition for
the others as conascence condition and so on' (Pm. 363).
39. This alludes to the length of duration of a moment of matter's existence,
which is described as seventeen times as long as that of consciousness (see
VbhA. 25f.).
40. 'The term "producing condition" refers to causing origination, though as a
condition it is actually kamma condition. For this is said: "Profitable and unprof-
itable volition is a condition, as kamma condition, for resultant aggregates and
for materiality due to kamma performed" (Ptn.1,5)' (Pm. 368).
41. * "For the rest": for consciousness-originated, and so on. It is indirectly
decisive-support condition because in the Patthana the decisive-support condi-
tion has only been given for immaterial dhammas, so there is, directly, no deci-
sive-support condition [in kamma] for material dhammas. However, because of
the words "With a person as decisive support" (M.i,107 ) and "With a grove as
decisive support" (M.i,106) in the Suttas, the decisive-support condition can be
indirectly understood according to the Suttas in the sense of "absence without" '
(Pm. 368).
42. Ugghdta—'exhilarated' and nigghdta—'depressed': neither word is in P.T.S
Diet.; Pm. glosses with ubbildvitatta and dinabhdvappatti respectively.
43. Reading yogivarasihassa kilitarh. Cf. Netti 'Siha-kilana\
44. The sense demands reading with Pm. appandpubbabhdgacittesu as a single
compound.
45. This is an allusion to M.i,179, etc. 'The process of existence in the round of
rebirths, which is a very cramped place, is crowded by the defilements of craving
and so on' (Pm. 371).


46. Siidana—'cleaning': not in P.T.S. Diet. See title of Majjhima Nikaya Com-
mentary. Another reading here is sodhana.
CHAPTER XII
1. Anenja—'imperturbability': a term normally used for the four immaterial
states, together with the fourth jhana. See also §16f., and M. Sutta 106.
2. Giribhandavahanapujd: Pm. (p. 375) says: 'Giribhandavahanapujd ndma
Cetiyagirirh ddirh katvd sakaladipe samudde ca ydva yojand mahati dipapujd
(it is a name for a great island-offering starting with the Cetiyagiri (Mihintale)
and extending over the whole island and up to a league into the sea)'. Mentioned
in AA. commentary to A. EkanipAta, i, 1; MA.ii,398; and Mahavamsa 34, 81.
3. These are the four headings of the roads to power (see §50).
4. I.e. one wants it to be known that he can practise jhana.
5. 'It counter-strikes (patiharati), thus it is a counter-stroke (pdtihariya—meta-
morphosis = miracle). What strikes out (harati), removes, what is counter to it
(patipakkha) is therefore called counter-striking (patihdriya), since what is counter-
striking strikes out anything counter (patipakkha) to itself. Patihdriya (counter-
striking) is the same as pdtihariya (counter-stroke = metamorphosis = miracle)'
(Pm. 379)
6. Sitd: not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet. Pm. (p. 383) says, 'It is the path
traversed by a ploughshare in ploughing that is called a sitd\ Another reading is
karisa (an area of land).
7. Visavitd—'majesty': not in P.T.S. Diet.; cf. passavati. Pm. (p. 385) glosses
with iddhiyd vividhdnisamsa-pasavandya. Cf. DhsA.109; DhsAA. (p. 84) glosses
thus visavitdyd ti arahatdya.
8. Further explanatory details are given in the commentary to the Iddhipada-
Vibhahga.
9. Aneja (or anenja)—'unperturbed': form not in P.T.S. Diet.
10. Angirasa—'the One with Radiant Limbs': one of the epithets for the Bud-
dha. Not in P.T.S. Diet.; see A.iii,239.
11. Dedication of what is to be given accompanied by pouring water over the
hand.
12. ' "They become of the kinds desired": they become whatever the kinds that
were desired: for they come to possess as many varieties in appearance, etc., as it
was wished they should have. But although they become manifold in this way by
being made the object in different modes of appearance, nevertheless it is only a
single resolution consciousness that occurs. This is its power. For it is like the
single volition that produces a personality possessed of many different facets
(see Ch. XIV, n.14). And there it is the aspiration to become that is a condition
for the differentiation in the kamma; and kamma-result is imponderable. And
here too it is the preliminary-work consciousness that should be taken as a condi-
tion for the difference. And the field of supernormal power is imponderable too'
(Pm. 390).


13. Certain grammatical problems arise about the case of the words dvibhdvam,
etc., both in the sutta passage and (more so) in the Patisambhida passage; they
are examined by Pm. (p. 390) but are not renderable into English.
14. Kutdgdra—'palanquin': not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet. See story at MA.v,90,
where it is told how 500 of these were made by Sakka's architect Vissakamma
for the Buddha to journey through the air in. The same word is also commonly
used in the Commentaries for the portable structure (catafalque) in which a bier
is carried to the pyre. This, built often in the form of a house, is still used now in
Ceylon and called ransivi-ge. See AA., commentary to A. Tikanipata 42, and to
A. Ekanipata xx, 38; also DhA.iii,470. Not in this sense in P.T.S. Diet.
15. The only book in the Tipitaka to mention the Twin Miracle is the
Patisambhidamagga (Ps.i,53).
16. Anathapindika's younger brother (Pm. 391).
17. Okdseti—'to scatter': P.T.S. Diet., this ref., gives 'to show', which does not
fit the context. Pm. glosses with pakirati.
18. Pm. (p. 394): 'Vadhu-kumdri-kannd-vatthdhi tividhdhi ndtakitthlhV.
19. ' "The ramparts of Sineru'\ the girdle of Sineru. There are, it seems, four
ramparts that encircle Sineru, measuring 5,000 leagues in breadth and width.
They were built to protect the realm of the Thirty-three against nagas, garudas,
kumbhandas and yakkhas. They enclose half of Sineru, it seems' (Pm. 394).
20. 'Only this is correct because instances of clung-to (kammically acquired)
materiality do not arise owing to consciousness or to temperature. Or alterna-
tively, 'clung-to' is intended as all matter that is bound up with faculties (i.e.
'sentient'), too. And so to take it as enlargement of that is likewise not correct.
Consequently, enlargement should be understood only in the way stated. Though
the clung-to and the unclung-to occur, as it were, mixed up in a single continuity,
they are nevertheless not mixed up in meaning. Herein, just as when a pint
measure (dlhaka) of milk is poured into a number of pints of water, though the
milk becomes completely mixed up with the water, and is present appreciably in
all, it is nevertheless not the milk that has increased there, but only the water.
And so too, although the clung-to and unclung-to occur mixed up together, it is
nevertheless not the clung-to that is enlarged. It should be taken that it is the
consciousness-born matter that is enlarged by the influence of the supernormal
power, and the temperature-born is enlarged pari passu' (Pm. 395).
21. ' "There is only the going of consciousness": there is only a going that is the
same as that of the mind. But how does the body, whose going [being that of
matter] is slow, come to have the same going as the mind, which quickly passes?
Its going is not the same in all respects; for in the case of converting the mind to
conform with the body, the mind does not come to have the same going as the
body in all respects. For it is not that the mind then occurs with the moment of a
material state, which passes slowly, instead of passing with its own kind of
moment, which is what establishes its individual essence. But rather the mind is
called "converted to accord with the going of the body" as long as it goes on
occurring in a continuity that conforms with the body until the desired place is


arrived at. This is because its passing occurs parallel with that of the body,
whose going is slow, owing to the resolution, "Let the mind be like this body".
And likewise, it is while the body keeps occurring in suchwise that its arrival at
the desired place comes about in only a few quick passes of the mind instead of
passing slowly, as in those who have not developed the roads to power—and this
mode of occurrence is due to the possession of the perception of lightness, to say
nothing of the resolve, "Let this body be like this mind"—that the body is called
"converted to accord with the going of the mind," not because it arrives at the
desired place in a single consciousness moment. And when taken thus the simile,
"Just as a strong man might stretch out his bent arm, or bend his outstretched
arm" (Vin.i,5) can be taken literally. And this must be accepted in this way
without reserve, otherwise there is conflict with the Suttas, the Abhidhamma and
the Commentary, as well as contradiction of natural law (dhammata). "Bhikkhus,
I see no other one thing that is so quickly transformed as the mind" (A.i,10)—
here it is material states that are referred to by the word "other" because they do
not pass quickly. And in the Abhidhamma only matter is called prenascence con-
dition and only consciousness postnascence condition. And wherever states
(dhamma) arise, there they dissolve. There is no transmigration to an adjacent
location (desantara-sankamana), nor does the individual essence become other.
For it is not possible to effect any alteration of the characteristics of dhammas by
force of the roads to power. But it is possible to effect alteration of the mode in
which they are present (bhava)' (Pm. 397).
22. *This should be regarded as implying that there is no sex or life faculty in it
either' (Pm. 398).