Dhamma-Sangani - THE DIVISION ENTITLED ELIMINATION - The Group on Grasping

A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI

Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.

[Chapter XII.
The Group on Grasping (upadana-gocchakam).]
[1213] Which are the states that have the attribute of
Grasping ?^
^ Upadana. This fundamental notion in Buddhist
ethics is in the Cy. (pp. 450 and 385), paraphrased by the
words *
they take violently, i.e., they take hold with a
strong grasp' (bhusam adiyanti . . . dalhagaham
ganhanti), the prefix upa being credited with augmenta-
tive import as in other terms, such as upayaso and
upakkuttho. This shows that, in so far as Buddha-
ghosa gives the traditional sense, the word, in the Buddhism
of his day, connoted rather the dynamic force of '
grasping '
than the static condition of '
attachment ' (e.g., Warren,
'Buddhism in Translations,' p. 189 et seq.) or *
cleaving
'
(Hardy, '
Manual,' 394). Nor does his comment ratify such
renderings as '
Hang ' or *
Lebenstrieb '
(Neumann, '
Die
Eeden Gotamo Buddhos,' pp. 104, 470). Fausboll's
*
seizures' (S. N. in S. B. E., x., p. 138) and Oldenberg's
'Ergreifen' ('Buddha,' 3rd ed., 269), on the other hand,
agree with Buddhaghosa.
The relation of the cognate term upadaniyo to
up ad an am (c/. §§ 655, 881, 1219) is most clearly set
forth in S. iv. 89 ; there the special senses are termed
upadaniya dhamma, and the passionate desire con-
nected therewith the upadana m. See also S. iv. 258.
Buddhaghosa makes no comment on upadaniyam when,
as in § 1219, it is applied to dhamma; but when it is a
question of rupam . . . upadaniyam (Dh. S., §§ 655,
881), he defines this as 'states which are favourable to
(hit a, lit., good for) the Graspings as objects by their


The four Graspings :
—the Grasping after sense, the
Grasping after speculative opinion, the Grasping after
mere rule and ritual, the Grasping after a theory of soul.
In this connexion,
[1214] What is the Grasping after sense ?
That sensual desire, sensual passion, sensual delight,
sensual craving, sensual cleaving, sensual fever, sensual
languishing, sensual rapacity, which is excited by the
pleasures of the senses.^
[1215] What is the Grasping after speculative opinion ?
*
There is no such thing as alms, or sacrifice, or offering ;'^
there is neither fruit, nor result of good, or of evil deeds ;
there is no such thing as this world, or the next f there is
no such thing as mother or father, or beings springing
into birth without them ;* there are in the world no
recluses or brahmins who have reached the highest point,
who have attained the height, who, having understood and
being bound up with grasping ; in other words, phenomena
which are the conditions of the mental objects of grasping
'
(upadanassa arammana-paccaya-bhutani). Asl. 42.
In the same connexion, rupam upadinnam (Dh. S.,
§ 653) is by Buddhaghosa defined as [states] which have
been got, laid hold of, taken (gahita), by way of fruition
—
heaped up by karma having the property of craving. Ibid.
None of the comments explains upadanamin the sense of
fuel, i.e., as the basis of re-birth ; each of the four Upadanas
is paraphrased simply by to grasp at sense (kamam
upadiyati), at speculation, etc.
1 See § 1114 and § 1097 ; also § 1153.
2 The Cy. explains these negations as merely meaning
that none of the three has an efficacy, any fruition.
Asl. 385.
^ Ignoring any deeper metaphysic that may have here
been implied, the Cy. explains these negations as held by
the inhabitant of another world respecting this, or by an
inhabitant here below respecting another world. Ibid.
^ Beings so born, continues the Cy., he assumes there
are none ; nor have one's former lives any efficacy over
one's subsequent parentage.


realized by themselves alone both this world and the next,
make known the same '^
—all this sort of speculation, this
walking in opinion, wilderness of opinion, puppet-show of
opinion, scuffling of opinion, this Fetter of opinion, the
grip and tenacity of it, the inclination towards it, the being
infected by it, this by-path, wrong road, wrongness, this
*
fording-place,' this shiftiness of grasp^—this is what is
called the Grasping after speculative opinion.
And with the exception of the Graspings after mere rule
and ritual and after soul-theory, all wrong views are in-
cluded in the Grasping after speculative opinion.
[1216] What is the Gi^asping after mere rule and ritual ?
Answer as for the '
Contagion of mere rule and ritual,'
§ 1005.3
[1217] What is the Grasping after soul- theory ?
Ansiver as for the * Theory of individuality,' § 1003.
[1218] Which are the states that have not the attribute
of Grasping ?
All other states whatever, good, bad and indeterminate
(except the foregoing), whether they relate to the worlds of
sense, or of form, or of the formless, or to the life that is
Unincluded ; in other words, the four skandhas ; all form
also and uncompounded element.
[1219] Which are the states that are favourable
Grasping ?
Co-Intoxicant states, good, bad and indeterminate
^ Buddhaghosa gives as typical forms of speculation
grasped at, *
Both the soul (self) and the world are eternal.'
These he calls the purimaditthim uttaraditthim {sic
lege), terms which, whether they mean *
earlier and subse-
quent heresies,' or 'Eastern and Northern views,' or both,
are equally interesting. The text, however, selects as a
typical current speculation the views put forward by Ajita
Kesakambali. See D. i. 55 and M. i. 402.
2 Cf § 381.
3 The '
bovine morality and practices ' noticed above
(§ 1005, n. 3) are again instanced in the Cy. Ibid.


whether they relate to the worlds of sense, form or the
formless ; in other words, the ^ve skandhas.
[1220] Which are the states that are not favourable to
Grasping ?
The Paths that are the Unincluded, and the Fruits of
the Paths ; and uncompounded element.
[1221-1224] Which are the states that are
(a) associated tvith Grasping ?
{b) disconnected ivith Grasping ?
(c) Grasping and also favourable to Grasping ?
(d) favourable to Gi^asping but not Grasping ?
Ansivers exactly analogous to those given to corresponding
questions in other Groups, e.g., §§ 1125, 1141, 1164.
[1225-1228] Which are the states that are
(a) both Grasping and associated with Grasping ?
The Grasping after speculation in conjunction with that
after sense is both, and conversely.
So is each of the other tivo Graspings in conjunction with
that after sense, and conversely.
(b) associated with Grasping but not Grasping ?
(c) disconnected with Grasping yet favourable to it?
(d) disconnected with Grasping and not favourable to it ?
Ansivers as in the Groups specified above, §§ 1125, 1141,
1164 et seq.^
^ The First Path disposes of all forms of Grasping save
the first, the extirpation of which is a task not finished till
all the four Paths have been traversed. Asl. 386. Contrast
with this §§ 1173 n., 1134 n., and 1112 n., where in every
case *
sense,' '
sensuality ' and '
sensual desire '
are in the
Cy. said to succumb in the Third or Anagami's Path.