THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[III. DETAILED EXPOSITION]
[(i) IGNORANCE / AVIJJA]
According to the Suttanta method [530] ignorance is unknowing
about the four instances beginning with suffering. According to the
Abhidhamma method it is unknowing about the eight instances [that is to
say, the above-mentioned four] together with [the four] beginning with
the past; for this is said: 'Herein, what is ignorance? It is unknowing
about suffering, [unknowing about the origin of suffering, unknowing
about the cessation of suffering, unknowing about the way leading to the
cessation of suffering], unknowing about the past, unknowing about the
future, unknowing about the past and future, unknowing about specific
conditionally and conditionally-arisen states' (cf. Dhs. §1162).
59. Herein, while ignorance about any instance that is not the two supra-
mundane truths can also arise as object (see §102), nevertheless here it is
only intended [subjectively] as concealment. For when [thus] arisen it
keeps the truth of suffering concealed, preventing penetration of the true
individual function and characteristic of that truth. Likewise, origin, ces-
sation, and the path, bygone five aggregates called the past, coming five
aggregates called the future, both of these together called the past and
future, and both specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen states
together called specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen states—
all of which it keeps concealed, preventing their true individual func-
tions and characteristics being penetrated thus: 'This is ignorance, these
are formations'. That is why it is said, 'It is unknowing about suffering
... unknowing about specific conditionality and conditionally-arisen
states'.
[(ii) FORMATIONS / SANKHARA]
60. Formations are the six mentioned in brief above thus, 'the three,
namely, formations of merit, etc., and the three, namely, the bodily for-
mation, etc' (§44); but in detail here the [first] three formations are
twenty-nine volitions, that is to say, the formation of merit consisting of
thirteen volitions, counting the eight sense-sphere profitable volitions
that occur in giving, in virtue, etc., and the five fine-material profitable
volitions that occur in development [of meditation]; then the formation
of demerit consisting of the twelve unprofitable volitions that occur in
killing living things, etc.; then the formation of the imperturbable con-
sisting in the four profitable volitions associated with the immaterial
sphere, which occur in development [of those meditations].
61. As regards the other three, the bodily formation is bodily volition,
the verbal formation is verbal volition, and the mental formation is men-
tal volition. This triad is mentioned in order to show that at the moment
of the accumulation of the kamma the formations of merit, etc., occur in
these [three] kamma doors. For the eight sense-sphere profitable and
twelve unprofitable volitions, making twenty, are the bodily formation
when they occur in the body door and produce bodily intimation. Those
same volitions [531] are called the verbal formation when they occur in
the speech door and produce verbal intimation. But volition connected
with direct-knowledge is not included here in these two cases because it
is not a condition for [resultant rebirth-linking] consciousness later. And
like direct-knowledge volition, so also volition connected with agitation
is not included; therefore that too should not be included as a condition
for [rebirth-linking] consciousness. However, all these have ignorance as
their condition. And all the twenty-nine volitions are the mental forma-
tion when they arise in the mind door without originating either kind of
intimation. So this triad comes within the first triad, and accordingly, as
far as the meaning is concerned, ignorance can be understood as condi-
tion simply for formations of merit and so on.
62. Herein, it might be [asked]: How can it be known that these forma-
tions have ignorance as their condition?—-By the fact that they exist
when ignorance exists. For when unknowing—in other words, igno-
rance—of suffering, etc., is unabandoned in a man, owing firstly to his
unknowing about suffering and about the past, etc., then he believes the
suffering of the round of rebirths to be pleasant and he embarks upon the
three kinds of formations which are the cause of that very suffering.
Owing to his unknowing about suffering's origin he embarks upon for-
mations that, being subordinated to craving, are actually the cause of
suffering, imagining them to be the cause of pleasure. And owing to his
unknowing about cessation and the path, he misperceives the cessation
of suffering to be in some particular destiny [such as the Brahma-world]
that is not in fact cessation; he misperceives the path to cessation, believ-
ing it to consist in sacrifices, mortification for immortality, etc., which
are not in fact the path to cessation; and so while aspiring to the cessa-
tion of suffering, he embarks upon the three kinds of formations in the
form of sacrifices, mortification for immortality, and so on.
63. Furthermore, his non-abandonment of that ignorance about the four
truths in particular prevents him from recognizing as suffering the kind
of suffering called the fruit of merit, which is fraught with the many
dangers beginning with birth, ageing, disease and death, and so he em-
barks upon the formation of merit classed as bodily, verbal, and mental
formations, in order to attain that [kind of suffering], like one desiring
celestial nymphs [who jumps over] a cliff. Also, not seeing how that
fruit of merit reckoned as pleasure eventually breeds great distress owing
to the suffering in its change and that it gives little satisfaction, he
embarks upon the formation of merit of the kinds already stated, which
is the condition for that very [suffering in change], like a moth that falls
into a lamp's flame, and like the man who wants the drop of honey and
licks the honey-smeared knife-edge. Also, not seeing the danger in the
indulgence of sense desires, etc., with its results, [wrongly] perceiving
pleasure and overcome by defilements, he embarks upon the formation
of demerit that occurs in the three doors [of kamma], like a child who
plays with filth, and like a man who wants to die and eats poison. Also,
unaware of the suffering due to formations and the suffering-in-change
[inherent] in kamma-results in the immaterial sphere, owing to the per-
version of [Wrongly perceiving them as] eternal, etc., he embarks upon
the formation of the imperturbable which is a mental formation, like one
who has lost his way and takes the road to a goblin city.
64. So formations exist only when ignorance exists, [532] not when it
does not; and that is how it can be known that these formations have
ignorance as their condition.
This is said too: 'Not knowing, bhikkhus, in ignorance, he forms the
formation of merit, forms the formation of demerit, forms the formation
of the imperturbable. As soon as a bhikkhu's ignorance is abandoned
and clear vision arisen, bhikkhus, with the fading away of ignorance and
the arising of clear vision he does not form even formations of merit' (cf.
S.ii,82).
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