Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana ( The Guide ) - Specification Section Part 3-4
ACCORDING TO
KACCANA THERA
TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
Pali Text Society
Mode 4
[The Ninefold Thread in the Mode of Conveying Footings']
158. Herein, what is the Mode of Conveying Footings ? The
Mode of Conveying Footings is this:
'The Victor teaching an idea
Teaches what that idea has too
As footing; so with each idea:
This is the Mode Conveying Footings' (§9).
159. What does this [Mode] teach ? [It teaches as follows:]
[Definitions of the 18 Root-Terms—see §4]
Ignorance has the characteristic of not penetrating ideas according
to actuality; its footing is the [four] perversions. Craving has the
characteristic of cleaving to; its footing is endearing form or alluring
form. Greed has the characteristic of aspiring; its footing is the
taking of what is not given. [Hate
1
has the characteristic of willing
ill; its footing is killing breathing things. Delusion has the charac-
teristic of wrongly theorizing about things; its footing is wrong
theory.
2
] Perception of beauty has the characteristic of appre-
hending colour, shape and features;
3
its footing is non-restraint of
the faculties [beginning with the eye]. Perception of pleasure has
the characteristic of approaching contact affected by taints; its
footing is gratification. Perception of permanence has the charac-
teristic of unseeing of ideas that have the characteristic of being
determined [that they are so]; its footing is consciousness. Per-
ception of self has the characteristic of not seeing with perception of
impermanence and perception of pain; its footing is the name-body
(cf. Pe 121f.).
160. Science has the characteristic of penetrating all ideas; its
footing is the knowable. Quiet has the characteristic of preventing
distraction of cognizance; its footing is the kinds of ugliness.
1
159/1 The clauses for hate and delusion are oddly missing in all eds. ; they
are easily reconstructed from their counterparts in §160.
159/2 See n. 160/2.
159/3 There is no justification for rendering byanjana in this context by
'attire' as is done in PTS Netti index; what is meant is such 'personal features'
as nose, hand, etc.
160/1 'The kinds of ugliness' can be taken as the 31 (or 32) parts of the body
(e.g., D. ii, 293) or the 9 corpse-meditations (D. ii, 295f.), or the different
corpse-meditations (as at A. i, 42).
Non-greed has the characteristic of preventing recourse to wishes;
its footing is abstention from taking what is not given. Non-hate
has the characteristic of non-ill-will; its footing is abstention from
killing breathing things. Non-delusion has the characteristic of not
wrongly theorizing2
about things; its footing is right theory.
3
Perception of ugliness has the characteristic of apprehending the
discoloured [corpse-stage] and the festering [corpse-stage]; its
footing is dispassion. Perception of pain has the characteristic of
diagnosing contact affected by taints; its footing is feeling. Per-
ception of impermanence has the characteristic of seeing ideas that
have the characteristic of being determined; [28] its footing is rise
and subsidence (fall). Perception of not-self has the characteristic of
non-insistence
4
in the case of all ideas;
5
its footing is perception of
ideas
6
(cf. Pe 127f.).
[Further Definitions]
161. The five strands of sensual desire are the footing for lust for
sensual desires. The five faculties [beginning with the eye] that
have form are the footing for lust for form. The sixth1
base [namely
that of mind] is the footing for lust for being (existence). The state
of a contemplator
2
of being (existence) as occurrence is the footing
for the five categories of assumption. Recollection of past life is the
footing for knowing and seeing.
160/2 'Avippatipddana—without wrong theorizing': not in PED, see CPD.
160/3 'Sammdpatipatti—right theory' : patipatti in this sense not in PED,
see last note. The word appears in Vis. (pp. 468, 471, etc.), which doubtless
borrowed i t from here; cf. Pe 33, 35; Miln. 96.At A. iii, 325 micchdpatipanna
occurs with micchaditthika.
160/4 C confirms PTS reading; Ba and Bb sabbadhamrna-abhinivesa-; but
the sense demands sabbadhammdnabhinivesa- = sabbadhammdnam anabhi-
nivesa-.
160/5 The compound sabbadhammd should be taken as equivalent to sabbe
dhammd and translated 'all ideas' ; but i t could also—such is the ambiguity
of compounds—be taken in the sense of 'ideas of all' as the conceits (mannand)
based on the notion of 'all' (sabba: see esp. M. i, 3; 329; and S. iv, 15), though
this is an improbable meaning.
160/6 An allusion, apparently, to Dh. 279 quoted at §38, but also at the same
time to the fourth Foundation of Mindfulness (dhammdnupassand), cf. n. 4/1 .
161/1 All Oriental eds. and NettiA have (correctly) chatthdyatanam. The
allusion is to there being only the 'sixth' (i.e., mind) in the 4 formless states.
161/2 'Anupassitd—state of one contemplating' : fern, abstr. subst., not in
PED, see CPD.
[Definitions of the five faculties]
162. Faith has the characteristic of trusting, and its manifestation
is belief. Confidence has the characteristic of being undisturbed
and its manifestation is confiding (clarification).
1
Faith has the
characteristic of credence;
2
its footing is confidence-by-having-
undergone.
3
Confidence has the characteristic of being undisturbed;
its footing is faith.
163. Energy has the characteristic of instigating; its footing is a
right endeavour. Mindfulness has the characteristic of non-
drifting;
1
its footing is a foundation of mindfulness. Concentration
has the characteristic of unification; its footing is the meditations.
Understanding has the characteristic of act-of-understanding; its
footing is the four Truths (cf. §295; also Pe 128-9).
[Definitions of the Members of the Formula of Dependent Arising]
164. Another guide-line:
Unreasoned attention has the characteristic of directing attention
to gratification; its footing is ignorance. Ignorance has the charac-
teristic of confusing Truth; it
1
is the footing for determinations.
Determinations have the characteristic of developing2
renewal of
162/1 'Pasdda—confidence' means fit. 'transparency' or 'settledness' (i.e.,
of water that was muddy and has become clear), and the word pasldati is
used both for the clearing of water and for acquiring confidence. Faith is
thus regarded as the settling of the disturbance of doubts and clearing of
the mind by resolution or trust .
162/2 'Abhipatt(h)iyana—credence': not in PED, see CPD; NettiA, which
spells abhipatthiyana, glosses by 'Saddahanam eva' ('Simply having faith',
p. 78).
162/3 'Avecca—having undergone' : the rendering is both literal and accurate.
Ger. of ava- ('down', 'under') + -\A* Ct o
g°')- The meaning can be clarified
by looking over the substance of M. Sutta 47 (M. i, 320). Avecca-pasdda
('confidence by having undergone') thus means the kind of confidence (in
the Three Jewels) that is due to one's having oneself actually undergone the
cessation of craving that comes with attainment of the 1st Path, since before
that undergoing there was only unconfirmed faith in what had been heard
about it from the word of another.
163/1 See n. 83/3.
164/1 'Tarn—it', while agreeing in gender, number and case with padatthdnam
(neut.), refers back in meaning to avijjd (f.). For this syntactical rule see
n. 64/1. In the Pal i this paragraph contains a string of examples.
164/2 'Virohana—developing': not in PED; caus. n. fm. viruhati.
being (existence); they are the footing for consciousness. Con-
sciousness has the characteristic of causing occurrence by opening
the way to reappearance;
3
it is the footing for name-and-form.
Name-and-form has the characteristic of conjoining the name-body
and the form-body;
4
it is the footing for the sixfold base.
5
The
sixfold base has the characteristic of denning the [six] faculties; it is
the footing for contact.
6
Contact has the characteristic of causing
concurrence of [e.g.] eye, forms, and consciousness; it is the footing
for feeling (affectivity). Feeling has the characteristic of being
coessential
7
with the wished-for and the un-wished-for; it is the
footing for craving.
8
Craving has the characteristic of cleaving to;
it is the footing for assuming.
9
Assuming opens the way to re-
appearance;
3
it is the footing for being (existence).
10
Being
(existence) has the characteristic of giving actual being (existence)
to the name-body and the form-body; [29] it is the footing for
birth. Birth has the characteristic of giving manifest being
(existence)
11
to the categories; it is the footing for ageing. Ageing
164/3 'Opapaccdyika—opening the way to reappearance' ; fm. upapatti +
aya + ka; not in PED; NettiA says of the first mention, in definition of
consciousness, 'This means that i t has for its individual essence the causing of
occurrence as a state of existence-as-appearance (upapatti-bhava-bhdvena, cf.
Ps. i, 52 for this term)' and of the second mention, in the definition of assump-
tion. 'I t causes the occurrence of the categories in reappearance [in the new
existence]' (p. 79).
164/4 PED, under ndmarupa, equates that term with ndmakdya—a bad
mistake. See definition at §445; see also n. 84/1.
164/5 The 'sixfold base' (saldyatana) is a term for the eye, ear, nose, tongue,
body, and mind.
164/6 'Phassa—contact': See definition at , e.g., M. i, 111.
164/7 i
Anubhavana—being coessential with' : anu- = 'parallel with' or
'co-', and the \/bhu 'to be' , which should not have its ontological significance
obscured here by another rendering, recollecting that the formula of Dependent
Arising is intended to describe the structure (and potentiality for cessation)
of both positive and negative being (bhava) as well as its complexity; here the
Craving for the aifectivity-stimulation of feeling induces assuming future
being . . .
164/8 'Tanhd—craving': see n. 42/1. For ajjhosdna ('cleaving to') see,
e.g., def. ofajjhosaya titthati at MA. ii, 311 'tanhajjhosdnena gilitvd parinittha-
petvd ganhdti.
164/9 'Updddna—assuming': mostly rendered by 'clinging'; but see Intro,
(sect. 14).
164/10 'Bhava—being (existence)': for rendering see KhpA. Trsln. Appx. I .
164/11 l
Pdtubhavana—giving manifest being' : fm. pdtu(r) ('manifest')+
\/bhu ('to be') ; birth (as historical beginning) brings the individualized
5-category process into manifest renewed existence.
has the characteristic of overripening the essentials of existence;
12
it is the footing for death. Death has the characteristic of inter-
rupting the life-faculty; it is the footing for sorrow. Sorrow (soka)
causes care (ussukha); it is the footing for lamentation. Lamentation
causes constant crying out; it is the footing for pain. Pain is
oppression of body; it is the footing for grief. Grief is oppression of
cognizance; it is the footing for despair. Despair causes surrender-
ing;
13
it is the footing for being (cf. Pe 117-18).
[How Being comes about]
165. When these factors of being (existence)
1
are (exist) [by their]
having occurrence in harmony, [then] that [is] being (existence);
that [is] the footing for the roundabout [of rebirths].
[Further Definitions]
166. The Path has the characteristic of giving outlet; it is the
footing for cessation.
167. Knowledge of watering-places is the footing for knowledge of
what it is to have drunk [enough] (see M. i, 220). Knowledge of
what it is to have drunk [enough] is the footing for knowledge of the
164/12 l
Upadhi—essentials of existence': upa + \/dhd (to put) . What is
meant is any necessity for life in the widest possible sense. But cf. Pe 117:
indriydnam paribhedo upandho (sic, read upaddho or upadhil) paripdko and
(p. 118) upanaya- (sic, read also upaddha- or upadhi-1) paripdkalakkhand jard.
164/13 l
Odahana—surrendering' (if this translation is correct): the meaning
'putting in, fig. attention, devotion' in PED) this ref., will not do since it
has no regard for the context. NettiA says 'Avadahanam, attano nissayassa
santappanam eva* (' = avadahana, simply tormenting one's own physical
support'—p. 79).
165/1 l
Bhavanga—factor of being' : NettiA says 'Bhavangdni means either
"factors of being" or "factors called being". Of these, the defilements are
"factors of being" and the round of action's ripening is the "factors called
being". "Harmony" means all of this' (p. 70). The term is very frequently
used by Acariya Buddhaghosa and others to explain the continuity of
cognizance. While they have taken this term from the Patthdna, which is
the only place where it occurs in the Tipitaka (though without explanation—
Ptn. 159, 160, 169, 324), no Pitaka commentary offers any explanation of it.
It s meaning here is not quite the same, perhaps, and seems to be the more
simple one that each item (from 'ignorance' down as far as 'assumption') in
the formula of Dependent Arising is to be considered as a 'factor of being'
(itself a member of the formula).
[right] amount.
1
Knowledge of the [right] amount {mattannutd) is
the footing for self-knowledge (attannuta)? Self-knowledge is the
footing for the state of having previously performed merit. The
state of having previously performed merit is the footing for living
in befitting places. Living in befitting places is the footing for
waiting on true men. Waiting on true men is the footing for right
disposition in self-guidance (see A. ii, 32). Right disposition in
self-guidance is the footing for the kinds of virtue. The kinds of
virtue are the footing for gladness. Gladness is the footing for
tranquillity. Tranquillity is the footing for pleasure. Pleasure is
the footing for concentration. Concentration is the footing for
knowing and seeing how [things] are. Knowing and seeing how
[things] are is the footing for dispassion. Dispassion is the footing
for fading of lust. Fading of lust is the footing for deliverance.
Deliverance is the footing for knowing and seeing of deliverance.
168. In this way all kinds of general-support, all kinds of conditions,
are a footing.
1
169. That is why the venerable Maha-Kaccana said:
'The Victor teaching an idea
Teaches what that idea has too
As footing; so with all ideas:
This is the Mode Conveying Footings' (§8).
The Mode Conveying Footings is ended.
0 comments:
Post a Comment