THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[(5) THE DIVINE EYE—KNOWLEDGE OF PASSING AWAY AND
REAPPEARANCE OF BEINGS]
72. As to the explanation of the knowledge of passing away and reap-
pearance of beings, [here is the text: 'He directs, he inclines, his mind to
the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings. With the
divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings
passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, happy
or unhappy in their destiny; he understands beings as faring according to
their deeds: "These worthy beings who were ill-conducted in body, speech
and mind, revilers of noble ones, wrong in their views, acquirers of
kamma due to wrong view, have, on the breakup of the body, after death,
appeared in a state of loss, in an unhappy destiny, in perdition in hell;
but these worthy beings, who are well conducted in body, speech and
mind, not revilers of noble ones, right in their views, acquirers of kamma
due to right view, have, on the breakup of the body, after death, appeared
in a happy destiny, in the heavenly world". Thus with the .divine eye,
which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away
and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, happy or unhappy
in their destiny; he understands beings as faring according to their deeds'
(D.i,82). Herein,] to the knowledge of the passing away and reappear-
ance: cutupapdtahdndya = cutiyd ca upapdte ca hdndya (resolution of
compound); [the meaning is,] for the kind of knowledge by means of
which beings' passing away and reappearance is known; for knowledge
of the divine eye, is what is meant. He directs, he inclines, his mind: he
both directs and inclines preliminary-work consciousness. He is the
bhikkhu who does the directing of his mind.
73. But as regards with the divine eye, etc., it is divine because of its
similarity to the divine; for deities have as divine eye the sensitivity that
is produced by kamma consisting in good conduct and is unimpeded by
bile, phlegm, blood, etc., and capable of receiving an object even though
far off because it is liberated from imperfections. And this eye, consist-
ing in knowledge, which is produced by the power of this bhikkhu's
energy in development, is similar to that, so it is *divine' because it is
similar to the divine. Also it is 'divine' because it is obtained by means
of divine abiding, and because it has divine abiding as its support. And it
is 'divine' because it greatly illuminates by discerning light. And it is
'divine' because it has a great range through seeing visible objects that
are behind walls, and so on. All that should be understood according to
the science of grammar. It is an eye in the sense of seeing. Also it is an
eye since it is like an eye in its performance of an eye's function. It is
purified since it is a cause of purification of view, owing to seeing pass-
ing away and reappearance.
74. One who sees only passing away and not reappearance assumes the
annihilation view; and one who sees only reappearance and not passing
away assumes the view that a new being appears. But since one who
sees both outstrips that twofold [false] view, that vision of his is there-
fore a cause for purification of view. And the Buddhas' sons see both
of these. Hence it was said above: [424] 'It is "purified" since it is a
cause of purification of view, owing to seeing passing away and reap-
pearance'.
73. It surpasses the human in the seeing of visible objects by surpassing
the human environment. Or it can be understood that it surpasses the
human in surpassing the human fleshly eye. With that divine eye, which
is purified and superhuman, he sees beings, he watches beings as men
do with the fleshly eye.
76. Passing away and reappearing: he cannot see them with the divine
eye actually at the death moment of reappearance.
17
But it is those who,
being on the verge of death, will die now that are intended as 'passing
away* and those who have taken rebirth-linking and have just reappeared
that are intended by * reappearing'. What is pointed out is that he sees
them as such passing away and reappearing.
77. Inferior: despised, disdained, looked down upon, scorned, on ac-
count of birth, clan, wealth, etc., because of reaping the outcome of
delusion. Superior: the opposite of that because of reaping the outcome
of non-delusion. Fair: having a desirable, agreeable, pleasing appearance
because of reaping the outcome of non-hate. Ugly: having undesirable,
disagreeable, unpleasing appearance because of reaping the outcome of
hate; unsightly, ill-favoured, is the meaning. Happy in their destiny:
gone to a happy destiny; or rich, very wealthy, because of reaping the
outcome of non-greed. Unhappy in their destiny: gone to an unhappy
destiny; or poor with little food and drink because of reaping the out-
come of greed.
78. Faring according to their deeds: moving on in accordance with
whatever deeds (kamma) may have been accumulated. Herein, the func-
tion of the divine eye is described by the first expressions beginning with
'passing away*. But the function of knowledge of faring according to
deeds is described by this last expression.
79. The order in which that knowledge arises is this. Here a bhikkhu
extends light downwards in the direction of hell, and he sees beings in
hell undergoing great suffering. That vision is only the divine eye's
function. He gives it attention in this way, 'After doing what deeds do
these beings undergo this suffering?'. Then knowledge that has those
deeds as its object arises in him in this way, 'It was after doing this'.
Likewise he extends light upwards in the direction of the [sensual-sphere]
divine world, and he sees beings in the Nandana Grove, the Missaka
Grove, the Pharusaka Grove, etc., enjoying great good fortune. That vi-
sion also is only the divine eye's function. He gives attention to it in this
way, 'After doing what deeds do these beings enjoy this good fortune?'.
Then knowledge that has those deeds as its object arises in him in this
way, 'It was after doing this'. This is what is called knowledge of faring
according to deeds.
80. There is no special preliminary work for this. And as in this case, so
too in the case of knowledge of the future; for these have the divine eye
as their basis and their success is dependent on that of the divine eye.
[425]
81. As to ill-conducted in body, etc., it is bad conduct (dutthu caritam\
or it is corrupted conduct (duttham caritam) because it is rotten with de-
filements, thus it is ill-conduct (duccarita). The ill-conduct comes about
by means of the body, or the ill-conduct has arisen due to the body, thus
it is ill-conduct in body. So too with the rest. Ill-conducted is endowed
with ill-conduct.
82. Revilers of noble ones: being desirous of harm for noble ones con-
sisting of Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and disciples, and also of house-
holders who are stream-enterers, they revile them with the worst accusa-
tions or with denial of their special qualities (see Ud. 44 and M. Sutta
12); they abuse and upbraid them, is what is meant.
83. Herein, it should be understood that when they say, 'They have no
asceticism, they are not ascetics', they revile them with the worst accusa-
tion; and when they say, 'They have no jhana or liberation or path of
fruition, etc.', they revile them with denial of their special qualities. And
whether done knowingly or unknowingly it is in either case reviling of
noble ones; it is weighty kamma resembling that of immediate result,
and it is an obstacle both to heaven and to the path. But it is remediable.
84. The following story should be understood in order to make this
clear. An elder and a young bhikkhu, it seems, wandered for alms in a
certain village. At the first house they got only a spoonful of hot gruel.
The elder's stomach was paining him with wind. He thought, 'This gruel
is good for me; I shall drink it before it gets cold'. People brought a
wooden stool to the doorstep, and he sat down and drank it. The other
was disgusted and remarked, 'The old man has let his hunger get the
better of him and has done what he should be ashamed to do'. The elder
wandered for alms, and on returning to the monastery he asked the
young bhikkhu, 'Have you any footing in this Dispensation, friend?'.—
'Yes, venerable sir, I am a stream-enterer'.—'Then, friend, do not try for
the higher paths; one whose cankers are destroyed has been reviled by
you'. The young bhikkhu asked for the elder's forgiveness and was
thereby restored to his former state.
85. So one who reviles a noble one, even if he is one himself, should go
to him; if he himself is senior, [426] he should sit down in the squatting
position and get his forgiveness in this way, 'I have said such and such
to the venerable one; may he forgive me'. If he himself is junior, he
should pay homage, and sitting in the squatting position and holding out
his hands palms together, he should get his forgiveness in this way, 'I
have said such and such to you, venerable sir, forgive me'. If the other
has gone away, he should get his forgiveness either by going to him
himself or by sending someone such as a co-resident.
86. If he can neither go nor send, he should go to the bhikkhus who live
in that monastery, and, sitting down in the squatting position if they are
junior, or acting in the way already described if they are senior, he
should get forgiveness by saying, 'Venerable sirs, I have said such and
such to the venerable one named so and so; may that venerable one
forgive me\ And this should also be done when he fails to get forgive-
ness in his presence.
87. If it is a bhikkhu who wanders alone and it cannot be discovered
where he is living or where he has gone, he should go to a wise bhikkhu
and say, 'Venerable sir, I have said such and such to the venerable one
named so and so. When I remember it, I am remorseful. What shall I
do?'. He should be told, 'Think no more about it; the elder forgives you.
Set your mind at rest*. Then he should extend his hands palms together
in the direction taken by the noble one and say, 'Forgive me'.
88. If the noble one has attained the final nibbana, he should go to the
place where the bed is, on which he attained the final nibbana, and
should go as far as the charnel ground to ask forgiveness. When this has
been done, there is no obstruction either to heaven or to the path. He
becomes as he was before.
89. Wrong in their views: having distorted vision. Acquirers ofkamma
due to wrong view: those who have kamma of the various kinds acquired
through wrong view, and also those who incite others to bodily kamma,
etc., rooted in wrong view. And here, though reviling of noble ones has
already been included by the mention of verbal misconduct, and though
wrong view has already been included by the mention of mental miscon-
duct, it may be understood, nevertheless, that the two are mentioned
again in order to emphasize their great reprehensibility.
90. Reviling noble ones is greatly reprehensible because of its resem-
blance to kamma with immediate result. For this is said: 'Sariputta, just
as a bhikkhu possessing virtuous conduct, concentration and understand-
ing could here and now attain final knowledge, so it is in this case, I say;
if he does not abandon such talk and such thoughts and renounce such
views, he will find himself in heD as surely as if he had been carried off
and put there' (M.i,71).
18
[427] And there is nothing more reprehensible
than wrong view, according as it is said: 'Bhikkhus, I do not see any one
thing so reprehensible as wrong view* (A.i,33).
91. On the breakup of the body: on the giving up of the clung-to
aggregates. After death: in the taking up of the aggregates generated next
after that. Or alternatively, on the breakup of the body is on the interrup-
tion of the life faculty, and after death is beyond the death conscious-
ness.
92. A state of loss and the rest are all only synonyms for hell. Hell is a
state of loss (apdya) because it is removed (apeta) from the reason
(aya)
19
known as merit, which is the cause of [attaining] heaven and de-
liverance; or because of the absence (abhdva) of any origin (dya) of
pleasures. The destiny (gati, going), the refuge, of suffering (dukkha) is
the unhappy destiny (duggati); or the destiny (gati) produced by kamma
that is corrupted (duttha) by much hate (dosa) is an unhappy destiny
(duggati). Those who commit wrongdoings, being separated out (vivasa),
fall (nipatanti) in here, thus it is perdition (vinipdta); or alternatively,
when they are destroyed (vinassanto), they fall (patanti) in here, all their
limbs being broken up, thus it is perdition (vinipdta). There is no reason
(aya) reckoned as satisfying here, thus it is hell (niraya).
93. Or alternatively, the animal generation is indicated by the mention
of states of loss; for the animal generation is a state of loss because it is
removed from the happy destiny; but it is not an unhappy destiny be-
cause it allows the existence of royal nAgas (serpents), who are greatly
honoured. The realm of ghosts is indicated by the mention of the un-
happy destiny; for that is both a state of loss and an unhappy destiny
because it is removed from the happy destiny and because it is the
destiny of suffering; but it is not perdition because it is not a state of
perdition such as that of the asura demons. The race of asura demons is
indicated by the mention of perdition; for that is both a state of loss and
an unhappy destiny in the way already described, and it is called 'perdi-
tion' (deprivation) from all opportunities. Hell itself in the various as-
pects of Avici, etc., is indicated by the mention of hell.
Have ... appeared: have gone to; have been reborn there, is the in-
tention.
94. The bright side should be understood in the opposite way. But there
is this difference. Here the mention of the happy destiny includes the hu-
man destiny, and only the divine destiny is included by the mention of
heavenly. Herein, a good (sundara) destiny (gati) is a happy destiny
(sugati). It is the very highest (sutthu aggo) in such things as the objec-
tive fields comprising visible objects, etc., thus it is heavenly (sagga).
All that is a world (loka) in the sense of crumbling and disintegrating
(lujjana-palujjana). This is the word meaning.
Thus with the divine eye, etc., is all a summing-up phrase; the mean-
ing here in brief is this: so with the divine eye ... he sees.
95. Now a clansman who is a beginner and wants to see in this way
should make sure that the jhana, which has a kasina as its object and is
the basis for direct-knowledge, is made in all ways susceptible of his
guidance. Then one of these three kasinas, that is to say, the fire kasina,
white kasina, [428] or light kasina, should be brought to the neighbour-
hood [of the arising of divine-eye knowledge]. He should make this
access jhana his resort and stop there to extend [the kasina]; the intention
is that absorption should not be aroused here; for if he does induce
absorption, the [kasina] will become the support for basic jhana, but not
for the [direct-knowledge] preliminary work. The light kasina is the best
of the three. So either that, or one of the others, should be worked up in
the way stated in the Description of the Kasinas, and it should be stopped
at the level of access and extended there. And the method for extending
it should be understood in the way already described there too. It is only
what is visible within the area to which the kasina has been extended
that can be seen.
96. However, while he is seeing what is visible, the turn of the prelimi-
nary work runs out. Thereupon the light disappears. When that has dis-
appeared, he no longer sees what is visible (cf. M.iii,158). Then he
should again and again attain the basic jhana, emerge and pervade with
light. In this way the light gradually gets consolidated till at length it
remains in whatever sized area has been delimited by him in this way,
'Let there be light here'. Even if he sits watching all day he can still see
visible objects.
97. And here there is the simile of the man who set out on a journey by
night with a grass torch. Someone set out on a journey by night, it
seems, with a grass torch. His torch stopped flaming. Then the even and
uneven places were no more evident to him. He stubbed the torch on the
ground and it again blazed up. In doing so it gave more light than before.
As it went on dying out and flaring up again, eventually the sun rose.
When the sun had risen, he thought, 'There is no further need of the
torch*, and he threw it away and went on by daylight.
98. Herein, the kasina light at the time of the preliminary work is like
the light of the torch. His no more seeing what is visible when the light
has disappeared owing to the turn of the preliminary work running out
while he is seeing what is visible is like the man's not seeing the even
and uneven places owing to the torch's stopping flaming. His repeated
attaining is like the stubbing of the torch. His more powerful pervasion
with light by repeating the preliminary work is like the torch's giving
more light than before. The strong light's remaining in as large an area
as he delimits is like the sun's rising. His seeing even during a whole
day what is visible in the strong light after throwing the limited light
away is like the man's going on by day after throwing the torch away.
99. Herein, when visible objects that are not within the focus of the
bhikkhu's fleshly eye come into the focus of his eye of knowledge—that
is to say, visible objects that are inside his belly, belonging to the heart
basis, belonging to what is below the earth's surface, behind walls, moun-
tains and enclosures, or in another world-sphere—[429] and are as if
seen with the fleshly eye, then it should be understood that the divine
eye has arisen. And only that is capable of seeing the visible objects
here, not the preliminary-work consciousnesses.
100. But this is an obstacle for an ordinary man. Why? Because wherever
he determines, 'Let there be light', it becomes all light, even after pene-
trating through earth, sea and mountains. Then fear arises in him when
he sees the fearful forms of spirits, ogres, etc., that are there, owing to
which his mind is distracted and he loses his jhana. So he needs to be
careful in seeing what is visible (see M.iii,158).
101. Here is the order of arising of the divine eye: when mind-door
adverting, which has made its object that visible datum of the kind al-
ready described, has arisen and ceased, then, making that same visible
datum the object, all should be understood in the way already described
beginning 'Either four or five impulsions impel ...' (§5). Here also the
[three or four] prior consciousnesses are of the sense sphere and have ap-
plied and sustained thought. The last of these consciousnesses, which ac-
complishes the aim, is of the fine-material sphere belonging to the fourth
jhana. Knowledge conascent with that is called 'knowledge of the pass-
ing away and reappearance of beings' and 'knowledge of the divine
eye'.
The explanation of knowledge of passing away and reappearance is
ended.
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