Abhidhammattha Sangaha - Classification of Matter

Abhidhammattha Sangaha ( A Manual of Abhidhamma )

Translated by Narada Maha Thera
Published By the Buddhist Missionary Society

Rupavibhago
§3.Sabban ca pan’ etam ahetukam sappaccayam,
sasavam, samkhatam, lokiyam, kamavacaram, anaramma-
nam, appahatabbam’ eva’ ti ekavidham pi ajjhattikabahi-
radivasena bahudha bhedam gacchati.
Katham?
Pasadasankhatam pancavidham pi ajjhattikarupam
nama; itaram bahirarupam.
Pasadahadayasankhatan chabbidham pi vatthuru-
pam nama; itaram avatthurupam.
Pasadavinnattisankhatam sattavidham pi dvararupam,
nama; itaram advararupam.
Pasadabhavajivitasankhatam atthavidham pi indriya
129.According to commentators during the time occupied by a flash of lightning
billions of thought-moments may arise.

rupam nama; itaram anindriyarupam.
Pasadavisayasankhatam dvadasavidham’ pi olarikaru-
pam, santike rupam, sappatigharupam ca; itaram sukhu-
marupam, dure rupam, appatigharupam.
Kammajam upadinnarupam; itaram anupadinnaru-
pam.
Rupayatanam sanidassanarupam; itaram anidassana-
rupam.
Cakkhadidvayam asampattavasena, ghanadittayam
sampattavasena’ ti pancavidham pi gocaraggahikarupam;
itaram agocaraggahikarupam.
Vanno, gandho, raso, oja, bhutacatukkanc’ ati
atthavidham pi avinibbhogarupam; itaram vinibbhogaru-
pam.
Icc’ evam’ atthavisati vidham pi ca vicakkhana
Ajjhattikadibhedena vibhajanti yatharaham.
Ayam’ ettha rupavihago.
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Classification of Matter
§3.Now all this matter divides itself into various catego-
ries as follows:—
1.Rootless (35)
2.Causal (36)
3.With Defilements (37)
4.Conditioned (38)
5.Mundane (39)
6.Pertaining to the Kama-Sphere (40)

7.Objectless (41)
8.Not to be eradicated (42)
Matter is thus onefold. When conceived as personal, exter-
nal and so forth matter becomes manifold.
How?
The five kinds of sensitise material qualities are per-
sonal (43); the rest are external.
The six kinds, comprising the sensitives and the
heart, are material qualities with basis (44); the rest are
without a basis.
The seven kinds, comprising the sensitives and (the
two) media of communication, are material qualities with
a door (45); the rest are without doors.
The eight kinds, comprising the sensitives, sex-states,
and vitality, are material qualities with a controlling fac-
ulty (46); the rest are without a controlling faculty.
The twelve kinds, comprising the sensitives and
sense-objects (7)130 are gross (47), proximate and imping-
ing material qualities; the rest are subtle, distant, and non-
impinging.
Material qualities born of Kamma are ‘grasped at’
(48); the others are ‘not grasped at.
Object of form is visible; the rest are invisible.
Eye and ear, as not reaching (the object), and nose,
tongue and body as reaching (the object), are five kinds of
material phenomena that take objects (49); the others do
not.
130.Because “tangibility” comprises the three elements, excluding apo.

Colour, odour, taste, sap (50) and the four Essentials
are the eight kinds (51) of material phenomena that are
inseparable; the rest are separable.
Summary
Thus the wise analyse, accordingly, the 28 kinds with
respect to ‘personal’ and so forth.
Herein this is the analysis of Matter.
Section 3
35.Ahetukam—Because they are not associated
with the roots lobha, dosa, etc.
36.Sappaccayam—Because they are related to the
causes—Kamma, citta, utu, and ahara.
37.Sasavam—Since they serve as objects for
Defilements.
38.Sankhatam—Because they are conditioned by
the four causes, Kamma, citta, etc.
39.Lokiyam—Because they are connected with the
world of the Five Aggregates of Attachment (pancupada-
nakkhandhaloka). There is no supramundane rupa.
40.Kamavacaram—Because they come within the
range of sensual objects.

41.Anarammanam—As they themselves do not
perceive objects. It is the mind that perceives objects
through the senses. Rupas serve as sense-objects.
42.Appahatabbam—Because there is no gradual
eradication of matter like passions. ‘Indestructibility’ of
matter is not implied by this term.
43.Ajjhattikam—Belonging to the so-called self.
The five sensitive organs are essential for living beings.
Without them they are inanimate logs. They serve as doors
to the mind.
44. i. e., they serve as seats of consciousness.
45. They serve as doors to moral and immoral actions,
mind and mental states, deeds and speech.
46. They are so called because they possess a con-
trolling power in their respective spheres. The physical
eye, for instance, is composed of ten material qualities; but
it is the sensitive eye (cakkhupasadarupa) that controls the
remaining nine. The remaining pasadarupas should be
similarly understood. The state of sex controls masculinity
and femininity. Like the captain of a ship it is vitality that
controls rupas.
47.Oëarikam—Because of their importance both
subjectively and objectively. They are regarded as santike
(near) because of their receptivity. Owing to the gross-
ness and nearness both sensitive organs and sense-

objects mutually strike each other. Hence they are called
sappatigha, lit., ‘with striking’.
See Compendium, p. 159, n. 4.
48.Upadinnam—The first 18 kinds of rupa born of
Kamma are grasped by craving and false view.
49.Gocaraggahikarupam—They are so called be-
cause they take external objects as pasture. According to the
Abhidhammattha Sangaha, sight and sound are regarded as
objects that do not approach the eye and ear respectively as
in the case of bodily contacts etc. Both eye and ear cognize
distant objects without any direct approach. In the case of
other objects they directly contact the sense-organs. For in-
stance, taste must directly touch the tongue. So are the
other two objects. This may be the reason, irrespective of
the wave theory, why the author distinguishes between
senses that reach, and do not reach, the objects.
See Compendium, p. 160.
50.Oja, as a rupa in itself, has the power of produc-
ing other rupas as well.
51. As a rule these eight rupas are bound together.
The four Essentials are inseparable and so are the other
four Derivatives. Hence they are also termed ‘suddhat-
thaka’ (‘pure octad’) and ‘ojatthaka’ (‘with oja as the
eighth’) The growth of inanimate matter is also due to the
presence of this universal Oja.
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