THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[SECTION C. THE WHEEL OF BECOMING]
[(i) THE WHEEL]
273. Now here at the end sorrow, etc., are stated. Consequently, the
ignorance stated at the beginning of the Wheel of Becoming thus, *With
ignorance as condition there are formations', is established by the sor-
row and so on. So it should accordingly be understood that:
Becoming's Wheel reveals no known beginning;
No maker, no experiencer there;
Void with a twelvefold voidness, and nowhere
It ever halts; forever it is spinning.
274. But (1) how is ignorance established by sorrow, etc.? (2) How has
this Wheel of Becoming no known beginning? (3) How is there no
maker or experiencer there? (4) How is it void with twelvefold voidness?
275. 1. Sorrow, grief and despair are inseparable from ignorance; and
lamentation is found in one who is deluded. So, firstly, when these are
established, ignorance is established. Furthermore, 'With the arising of
cankers there is the arising of ignorance' (M.i,54) is said, and with the
arising of cankers these things beginning with sorrow come into being.
How?
276. Firstly, sorrow about separation from sense desires as object has its
arising in the canker of sense desire, according as it is said:
'If, desiring and lusting, his desires elude him,
He suffers as though an arrow had pierced him' (Sn.767),
and according as it is said: 'Sorrow springs from sense desires' (Dh.
215).
277. And all these come about with the arising of the canker of views,
according as it is said: 'In one who [577] possesses [the view] "I am
materiality", "my materiality", with the change and transformation of
materiality there arise sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair'
(S.iii,3).
278. And as with the arising of the canker of views, so also with the
arising of the canker of becoming, according as it is said: 'Then what-
ever deities there are, long-lived, beautiful, blissful, long-resident in grand
palaces, when they hear the Perfect One's teaching of the Dhamma, they
feel fear, anxiety and a sense of urgency' (S.iii,85), as in the case of
deities harassed by the fear of death on seeing the five signs.
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279. And as with the arising of the canker of becoming, so also with the
canker of ignorance, according as it is said: 'The fool, bhikkhus, experi-
ences pain and grief here and now in three ways' (M.iii,163).
Now these states come about with the arising of cankers, and so
when they are established, they establish the cankers which are the cause
of ignorance. And when the cankers are established, ignorance is also
established because it is present when its condition is present. This, in
the first place, is how ignorance, etc., should be understood to be estab-
lished by sorrow and so on.
280. 2. But when ignorance is established since it is present when its
condition is present, and when 'with ignorance as condition there are
formations; with formations as condition, consciousness', there is no end
to the succession of cause with fruit in this way. Consequently, the
Wheel of Becoming with its twelve factors, revolving with the linking of
cause and effect, is established as having 'no known beginning'.
281. This being so, are not the words 'With ignorance as condition there
are formations', as an exposition of a simple beginning, contradicted?—
This is not an exposition of a simple beginning. It is an exposition of a
basic state (see §107). For ignorance is the basic state for the three
rounds (see §298). It is owing to his seizing ignorance that the fool gets
caught in the round of the remaining defilements, in the rounds of kamma,
etc., just as it is owing to seizing a snake's head that the arm gets caught
in [the coils of] the rest of the snake's body. But when the cutting off of
ignorance is effected, he is liberated from them just as the arm caught [in
the coils] is liberated when the snake's head is cut off, according as it is
said, 'With the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance'
(S.ii,l), and so on. So this is an exposition of the basic state whereby
there is bondage for him who grasps it, and liberation for him who lets it
go: it is not an exposition of a simple beginning.
This is how the Wheel of Becoming should be understood to have
no known beginning. [578]
282. 3. This Wheel of Becoming consists in the occurrence of forma-
tions, etc., with ignorance, etc., as the respective reasons. Therefore it is
devoid of a maker supplementary to that, such as a Brahma conjectured
thus, 'Brahma the Great, the Highest, the Creator' (D.i,18), to perform
the function of maker of the round of rebirths; and it is devoid of any
self as an experiencer of pleasure and pain conceived thus, *This self of
mine that speaks and feels' (cf. M.i,8). This is how it should be under-
stood to be without any maker or experiencer.
283. 4. However, ignorance—and likewise the factors consisting of for-
mations, etc.—is void of lastingness since its nature is to rise and fall,
and it is void of beauty since it is defiled and causes defilement, and it is
void of pleasure since it is oppressed by rise and fall, and it is void of
any selfhood susceptible to the wielding of power since it exists in
dependence on conditions. Or ignorance—and likewise the factors con-
sisting of formations, etc.—is neither self nor self s nor in self nor
possessed of self. That is why this Wheel of Becoming should be under-
stood thus, *Void with a twelvefold voidness'.
[(ii) THE THREE TIMES]
284. After knowing this, again:
Its roots are ignorance and craving;
Its times are three as past and so on,
To which there properly belong
Two, eight, and two, from its [twelve] factors.
285. The two things, ignorance and craving, should be understood as the
root of this Wheel of Becoming. Of the derivation from the past, igno-
rance is the root and feeling the end. And of the continuation into the
future, craving is the root and ageing-and-death the end. It is twofold in
this way.
286. Herein, the first applies to one whose temperament is [false] view,
and the second to one whose temperament is craving. For in the round of
rebirths ignorance leads those whose temperament favours [false] view,
and craving those whose temperament favours craving. Or the first has
the purpose of eliminating the annihilation view because, by the evi-
dence of the fruit, it proves that there is no annihilation of the causes;
and the second has the purpose of eliminating the eternity view because
it proves the ageing and death of whatever has arisen. Or the first deals
with the child in the womb because it illustrates successive occurrence
[of the faculties], and the second deals with one apparitionally born
because of [their] simultaneous appearance.
287. The past, the present and the future are its three times. Of these, it
should be understood that, according to what is given as such in the
texts, the two factors ignorance and formations belong to the past time,
the eight beginning with consciousness belong to the present time, and
the two, birth and ageing-and-death, belong to the future time. [579]
[(iii) CAUSE AND FRUIT]
288. Again, it should be understood thus:
(1) It has three links with cause, fruit, cause,
As first parts; and (2) four different sections;
(3) Its spokes are twenty qualities;
(4) With triple round it spins for ever.
289. 1. Herein, between formations and rebirth-linking consciousness
there is one link consisting of cause-fruit. Between feeling and craving
there is one link consisting of fruit-cause. And between becoming and
birth there is one link consisting of cause-fruit. This is how it should be
understood that it has three links with cause, fruit, cause, as first parts,
290. 2. But there are four sections, which are determined by the begin-
nings and ends of the links, that is to say, ignorance/formations is one
section; consciousness/mentality-materiality/sixfold base/contact/feeling
is the second; craving/clinging/becoming is the third; and birth/ageing-
and-death is the fourth. This is how it should be understood to have/
different sections.
291. 3. Then:
(a) There were five causes in the past,
(b) And now there is a fivefold fruit;
(c) There are five causes now as well,
(d) And in the future fivefold fruit.
It is according to these twenty spokes called * qualities' that the
words its spokes are twenty qualities should be understood.
292. (a) Herein, [as regards the words] There were five causes in the
pasty firstly only these two, namely, ignorance and formations, are men-
tioned. But one who is ignorant hankers, and hankering, clings, and with
his clinging as condition there is becoming; therefore craving, clinging
and becoming are included as well. Hence it is said: 'In the previous
kamma-process becoming, there is delusion, which is ignorance; there is
accumulation, which is formations; there is attachment, which is crav-
ing; there is embracing, which is clinging; there is volition, which is be-
coming; thus these five things in the previous kamma-process becoming
are conditions for rebirth-linking here [in the present becoming]' (Ps.i,52).
293. Herein, In the previous kamma-process becoming means in kamma-
process becoming done in the previous birth. There is delusion, which is
ignorance means that the delusion that there then was about suffering,
etc., deluded whereby the man did the kamma, was ignorance. There is
accumulation, which is formations means the prior volitions arisen in
one who prepares the things necessary for a gift during a month, per-
haps, or a year after he has had the thought 'I shall give a gift*. [580] But
it is the volitions of one who is actually placing the offerings in the
recipients' hands that are called 'becoming'. Or alternatively, it is the
volition that is accumulation in six of the impulsions of a single advert-
ing that is called 'formations', and the seventh volition is called 'becom-
ing'. Or any kind of volition is called 'becoming' and the accumulations
associated therewith are called 'formations'. There is attachment, which
is craving means that in one performing kamma whatever attachment
there is and aspiration for its fruit as rebirth-process becoming is craving.
There is embracing, which is clinging means that the embracing, the
grasping, the adherence, which is a condition for kamma-process becom-
ing and occurs thus, 'By doing this I shall preserve, or I shall cut off,
sense desire in such and such a place', is called clinging. There is voli-
tion, which is becoming means the kind of volition stated already at the
end of the [sentence dealing with] accumulation is becoming. This is
how the meaning should be understood.
294. (b) And now there is a fivefold fruit (§291) means what is given in
the text beginning with consciousness and ending with feeling, accord-
ing as it is said: 'Here [in the present becoming] there is rebirth-linking,
which is consciousness', there is descent [into the womb], which is men-
tality-materiality; there is sensitivity, which is sense base; there is what
is touched, which is contact; there is what is felt, which is feeling; thus
these five things here in the [present] rebirth-process becoming have
their conditions
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in kamma done in the past' (Ps.i,52).
295. Herein, there is rebirth-linking, which is consciousness means that it
is what is called 'rebirth-linking' because it arises linking the next be-
coming that is consciousness. There is descent [into the womb], which is
mentality-materiality means that it is what consists in the descent of the
material and immaterial states into a womb, their arrival and entry as it
were, that is mentality-materiality. There is sensitivity, which is sense
base: this is said of the five bases beginning with the eye. There is what
is touched, which is contact means that it is what is arisen when an
object is touched or in the touching of it, that is contact. There is what is
felt, which is feeling means that it is what is felt as results [of kamma]
that is arisen together with rebirth-linking consciousness, or with the
contact that has the sixfold base as its condition, that is feeling. Thus
should the meaning be understood.
296. (c) There are five causes now as well (§291) means craving, and so
on. Craving, clinging and becoming are given in the text. But when be-
coming is included, the formations that precede it or that are associated
with it are included too. And by including craving and clinging, the
ignorance associated with them, deluded by which a man performs kamma,
is included too. So they are five. Hence it is said: 'Here [in the present
becoming], with the maturing of the bases there is delusion, which is
ignorance; there is accumulation, which is formations; there is attach-
ment, which is craving; there is embracing, which is clinging; there is
volition, which is becoming; thus these five things here in the [present]
kamma-process becoming are conditions for rebirth-linking in the fu-
ture' (Ps.i,52). [581]
Herein, the words Here [in the present becoming], with the maturing
of the bases point out the delusion existing at the time of the perform-
ance of the kamma in one whose bases have matured. The rest is clear.
297. (d) And in the future fivefold fruit: the five beginning with con-
sciousness. These are expressed by the term 'birth'. But 'ageing-and-
death' is the ageing and the death of these [five] themselves. Hence it is
said: 'In the future there is rebirth-linking, which is consciousness; there
is descent [into the womb], which is mentality-materiality; there is sensi-
tivity, which is sense base; there is what is touched, which is contact;
there is what is felt, which is feeling; thus these five things in the future
rebirth-process becoming have their condition in kamma done here [in
the present becoming]' (Ps.i,52].
So this [Wheel of Becoming] has twenty spokes with these qualities.
298. 4. With triple round it spins for ever (§288): here formations and
becoming are the round of kamma. Ignorance, craving and clinging are
the round of defilements. Consciousness, mentality-materiality, the sixfold
base, contact and feeling are the round of result. So this Wheel of Be-
coming, having a triple round with these three rounds, should be under-
stood to spin, revolving again and again, forever, for the conditions are
not cut off as long as the round of defilements is not cut off.
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