THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[How Ignorance is a Condition for Formations]
101. Now as regards these twenty-four conditions:
For those of merit ignorance
Is a condition in two ways
And for the next in many ways
But for the last kind only once.
102. Herein, for those of merit ignorance is a condition in two ways: it is
a condition in two ways, namely, as object condition and as decisive-
support condition. For ignorance is a condition, as object condition, for
formations of merit of the sense sphere at the time of comprehending [by
means of insight] ignorance as liable to destruction and fall; and it is
likewise for those of the fine-material sphere at the time of knowing a
confused mind by means of direct-knowledge consciousness [through
penetrating others' minds, and so on]. But it is a condition, as decisive-
support condition* in two cases, that is to say, [for the sense-sphere
formation] in one who, for the purpose of surmounting ignorance, fulfils
the various instances of sense-sphere merit-making consisting in giving,
etc., and [for the fine-material-sphere formation] in one who arouses the
fine-material jhanas [for the same purpose]. Likewise in one who effects
that merit while aspiring to the delight of sense-sphere becoming and
fine-material becoming because he is confused by ignorance.
103. And for the next in many ways: it is a condition for formations of
demerit in many ways. How? As object condition at the time of the
arising of greed, etc., contingent upon ignorance; as object-predomi-
nance and object-decisive-support respectively at the times of giving
importance [to ignorance] and enjoying [it]; as decisive-support in one
who, being confused by ignorance and unaware of danger, kills living
things, etc.; as proximity, contiguity, proximity-decisive-support, repeti-
tion, absence, and disappearance, for the second impulsion and those that
follow; as root-cause, conascence, mutuality, support, association, pres-
ence, and non-disappearance, in one doing anything unprofitable. It is
thus a condition in many ways.
104. But for the last kind only once: [542] it is reckoned as a condition in
one way, namely, as decisive-support condition only, for formations of
the imperturbable. But its relation as decisive-support condition should
be understood as stated under formations of merit.
[No Single Fruit from Single Cause]
105. Here it may be asked: But how is this? Is ignorance the only condi-
tion for formations, or are there other conditions? What is the position
here? For firstly, if it is the only one, there follows the assertion of a
single cause;
17
but then if there are others, the description of it as a single
cause, namely, 'With ignorance as condition there are formations', is
incorrect.—It is not incorrect. Why not? Here is the reason:
Nor from a single cause arise
One fruit or many, nor one fruit from many;
Tis helpful, though, to utilize
One cause and fruit as representative.
106. Here there is no single or multiple fruit of any kind from a single
cause, nor a single fruit from multiple causes, but only multiple fruit
from multiple causes. So from multiple causes, in other words, from
temperature, earth, seed, and moisture, is seen to arise a multiple fruit, in
other words, the shoot, which has visible form, odour, taste, and so on.
But one representative cause and fruit given in this way, 'With ignorance
as condition there are formations; with formations as condition, con-
sciousness', have a meaning and a use.
107. For the Blessed One employs one representative cause and fruit
when it is suitable for the sake of elegance in instruction and to suit the
idiosyncrasies of those susceptible of being taught. And he does so in
some instances because it is a basic factor, and in some instances be-
cause it is the most obvious, and in some instances because it is not
common to all.
In the passage 'With contact as condition, feeling' (M.i,261) he
mentions a single cause and fruit because they are basic factors. For
contact is the basic cause of feeling since the kinds of feeling are defined
according to the kinds of contact [as 'eye-contact-born feeling' and so
on], and feeling is contact's basic fruit since contact is defined according
to the kinds of feeling [that it produces]. He mentions a single cause in
the passage 'Disease due to phlegm' (A.v,110) because that is the most
obvious. For here what is obvious is the phlegm, not the kamma, etc.,
[mentioned later in the same sutta]. He mentions a single cause in the
passage 'Bhikkhus, any states whatever that are unprofitable are all rooted
in unwise attention' (cf. S.v,91) because it is not common to all. For
unwise attention to unprofitable things is not common to all [states] in
the way that, say, physical basis and object are common to all.
108. Consequently, although other causes of formations such as physical
basis and object, conascent states, etc., are actually existent, still igno-
rance may be understood as the representative cause of formations [firstly]
because it is the basic factor as the cause of other causes of formations
such as craving, etc., as it is said: * Craving increases in one who dwells
seeing enjoyment' (S.ii,84), and 'With the arising of ignorance there is
the arising of cankers' (M.i,55); and again because it is the most obvi-
ous, *Not knowing, bhikkhus, in ignorance, he forms the formation of
merit' (cf. S.ii,82); and lastly because it is not common to all. [543] So
the use of one representative cause and fruit should in each instance be
understood according to this explanation of it.
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109. Here it may be said: 'We admit that. But ignorance is reprehensible
and has entirely undesirable fruit. How then can it rightly be a condition
for formations of merit and of the imperturbable? Sugarcane does not
grow from [bitter] nimba seeds'. Why should it not be right? For in the
world [that is, even among thinkers outside the Dispensation it is recog-
nized that]
Both as opposed and unopposed
A state's conditions may be found,
And both as like and unlike too:
That does not make it their result.
110. It is established in the world that when states have a condition, it
may be opposed or unopposed to them as to presence, individual es-
sence, function, and so on. For a preceding consciousness is a condition,
opposed as to presence, for the succeeding consciousness; and the pre-
ceding training is a condition likewise for the plying of crafts, etc.,
which take place subsequently. Kamma is a condition, opposed as to
individual essence, for materiality; and so are milk, etc., for curds, and
so on. Light is a condition, opposed as to function, for eye-conscious-
ness; and so are molasses, etc., for intoxicants, and so on. But eye-cum-
visible-data, etc., are respectively a condition, unopposed as to presence,
for eye-consciousness, and so on. And the first impulsion,'and those that
follow, are a condition, unopposed as to individual essence and function,
for the impulsions that follow them. And just as conditions operate as
opposed and unopposed, so also they operate as like and unlike. Materi-
ality—for example, temperature and nutriment—is a condition for materi-
ality: the like for the like. And so are paddy seeds, etc., for paddy crops,
and so on. The material is a condition for the immaterial, and so is the
immaterial for the material: the unlike for the like. And so are ox hair
and ram's hair, horns, curd, and sesamum flour, etc., respectively for
dabba grass, reeds, bhutinaka grass, and so on.
19
And those states for
which these are the opposed and unopposed, like and unlike, conditions
are not the results of these states as well.
111. So although this ignorance has entirely undesirable fruit for its result
and is reprehensible in its individual essence, yet it should be understood
as a condition, opposed or unopposed and like or unlike as the case may
be, as to presence, function, and individual essence, for all these forma-
tions of merit, etc. And its state as a condition has already been given in
the way beginning, Tor when unknowing—in other words, ignorance—
of suffering, etc., is unabandoned in a man, owing firstly to his unknow-
ing about suffering and about the past, etc., then be believes the suffer-
ing 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' (§62).
112. Moreover, there is this way of explanation as well:
Now when a man is ignorant
Of death and rebirth and the round,
The characteristics of the formed,
Dependently-arisen states, [544]
And in his ignorance he forms
Formations of this triple kind,
Then ignorance itself will be
Condition for each of the three.
113. But how does a man who is confused about these things perform
these three kinds of formations? Firstly, when he is confused about death,
instead of taking death thus, *Death in every case is break-up of aggre-
gates', he figures that it is a [lasting] being that dies, that it is a [lasting]
being's transmigration to another incarnation, and so on.
114. When he is confused about reappearance, instead of taking rebirth
thus, 'Birth in every case is manifestation of aggregates', he figures that
it is a lasting being's manifestation in a new body.
115. When he is confused about the round of rebirths, instead of taking
the round of rebirths as pictured thus:
The endless chain of aggregates,
Of elements, of bases too,
That carries on unbrokenly
Is what is called 'the round of births',
he figures that it is a lasting being that goes from this world to another
world, that comes from another world to this world.
116. When he is confused about the characteristics of formations, instead
of apprehending their specific and general characteristics, he figures that
formations are self, belong to a self, are lasting, pleasant, beautiful.
U7. When he is confused about dependently-arisen states, instead of
taking the occurrence of formations to be due to ignorance, etc., he
figures that it is a self that knows or does not know, that acts and causes
action, that appears in rebirth-linking, and he figures that atoms, an
Overlord, etc., shape its body in the various states of the embryo and
endow it with faculties, and that when it has been endowed with faculties
it touches, feels, craves, clings, and endeavours, and that it becomes
anew in the next becoming; or he figures thus, 'AH beings ... [are]
moulded by fate, coincidence and nature' (D.i,53).
118. Thus he figures, blinded by ignorance. He is like a blind man who
wanders about the earth, encountering now right and now wrong paths,
now heights and now hollows, now even and now uneven ground, and so
he forms formations now of merit, now of demerit, now imperturbable.
119. Hence this is said:
As one born blind, who gropes along
Without assistance from a guide,
Chooses a road that may be right
At one time, at another wrong,
So while the foolish man pursues
The round of births without a guide,
Now to do merit he may choose
And now demerit in such plight.
But when the Dhamma he comes to know
And penetrates the truths besides,
Then ignorance is put to flight
At last, and he in peace may go.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause 'With ignorance as
condition there are formations'. [545]
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