Visuddhimagga - Purification of View - No being apart from mentality-materiality

THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka


[NO BEING APART FROM MENTALITY-MATERIALITY]
24. He defines the four immaterial aggregates that have thus become
evident through contact, etc., as 'mentality'. And he defines their ob-
jects, namely, the four primaries and the materiality derived from the
four primaries, as 'materiality'. So, as one who opens a box with a knife,
as one who splits a twin palmyra bulb in two, he defines all states of the
three planes,
9
the eighteen elements, twelve bases, five aggregates, in the
double way as 'mentality-materiality', and he concludes that over and
above mere mentality-materiality there is nothing else that is a being or a
person or a deity or a Brahma.
25. After defining mentality-materiality thus according to its true
nature, then in order to abandon this worldly designation of 'a being'
and 'a person' more thoroughly, to surmount confusion about beings and
to establish his mind on the plane of non-confusion, he makes sure that
the meaning defined, namely, 'This is mere mentality-materiality, there
is no being, no person' is confirmed by a number of suttas. For this has
been said:
'As with the assembly of parts
The word "chariot" is countenanced,
So, when the aggregates are present,
"A being" is said in common usage' (S.i,135).
26. Again, this has been said: 'Just as when a space is enclosed with
timber and creepers and grass and clay, there comes to be the term
"house", so too, when a space is enclosed with bones and sinews and
flesh and skin, there comes to be the term "material form" (rupa)'
(M.i,190).
27. And again this has been said:
'It is ill alone that rises,
HI that remains, ill that departs,
Nothing rises else than ill,
And nothing ceases else than ill' (S.i,135).
28. So in many hundred suttas it is only mentality-materiality that is
illustrated, not a being, not a person. Therefore, just as when the compo-
nent parts such as axles, wheels, frame poles, etc., are arranged in a
certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage 'chariot',
yet in the ultimate sense when each part is examined there is no char-


iot,—and just as when the component parts of a house such as wattles,
etc., are placed so that they enclose a space in a certain way, there comes
to be the mere term of common usage * house', yet in the ultimate sense
there is no house,—and just as when the fingers, thumb, etc., are placed
in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage
[594] 'fist',—with body and strings, 'lute'; with elephants, horses, etc.,
'army'; with surrounding walls, houses, states, etc., 'city';—just as when
trunk, branches, foliage, etc., are placed in a certain way, there comes to
be the mere term of common usage 'tree', yet in the ultimate sense,
when each component is examined, there is no tree,—so too, when there
are the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging, there comes to be the
mere term of common usage *a being', 'a person', yet in the ultimate
sense, when each component is examined, there is no being as a basis for
the assumption 'I am' or T; in the ultimate sense there is only mental-
ity-materiality. The vision of one who sees in this way is called correct
vision.
29. But when a man rejects this correct vision and assumes that a [per-
manent] being exists, he has to conclude either that it comes to be anni-
hilated or that it does not. If he concludes that it does not come to be
annihilated, he falls into the eternity [view]. If he concludes that it does
come to be annihilated, he falls into the annihilation [view]. Why? Be-
cause [the assumption] precludes any gradual change like that of milk
into curd. So he either holds back, concluding that the assumed being is
eternal, or he overreaches, concluding that it comes to be annihilated.
30. Hence the Blessed One said: 'There are two kinds of view, bhikkhus,
and when deities and human beings are obsessed by them, some hold
back and some overreach; only those with eyes see. And how do some
hold back? Deities and human beings love becoming, delight in becom-
ing, rejoice in becoming. When Dhamma is taught to them for the ceas-
ing of becoming, their minds do not enter into it, become settled, steady
and resolute. Thus it is that some hold back. And how do some over-
reach? Some are ashamed, humiliated and disgusted by that same be-
coming, they are concerned with non-becoming in this way: "Sirs, when
with the breakup of the body this self is cut off, annihilated, does not
become any more after death, that is peaceful, that is sublime, that is
true". Thus it is that some overreach. And how do those with eyes see?
Here a bhikkhu sees what is become as become. Having seen what is
become as become, he has entered upon the way to dispassion for it, to
the fading away of greed for it, to its cessation. This is how one with
eyes sees' (Iti. 43; Ps.i,159).
31. Therefore, just as a marionette is void, soulless and without curios-
ity, and while it walks and stands merely through the combination of


strings and wood, [595] yet it seems as if it had curiosity and interest-
edness, so too, this mentality-materiality is void, soulless and without
curiosity, and while it walks and stands merely through the combination
of the two together, yet it seems as if it had curiosity and interestedness.
This is how it should be regarded. Hence the Ancients said:
'The mental and material are really here,
But here there is no human being to be found,
For it is void and merely fashioned like a doll—
Just suffering piled up like grass and sticks'.
[INTERDEPENDENCE OF MENTALITY AND MATERIALITY]
32. And this should be explained not only by means of the simile of the
marionette, but also by means of the analogies of the sheaves of reeds
and so on. For just as when two sheaves of reeds are propped one against
the other, each one gives the other consolidating support, and when one
falls the other falls, so too, in the five-constituent becoming mentality-
materiality occurs as an interdependent state, each of its components
giving the other consolidating support, and when one falls owing to
death, the other falls too. Hence the Ancients said:
The mental and material
Are twins and each supports the other;
When one breaks up they both break up
Through interconditionality*.
33. And just as when sound occurs having as its support a drum that is
beaten by the stick, then the drum is one and the sound another, the drum
and the sound are not mixed up together, the drum is void of the sound
and the sound is void of the drum, so too, when mentality occurs having
as its support the materiality called the physical basis, the door and the
object, then the materiality is one and the mentality is another, the men-
tality and materiality are not mixed up together, the mentality is void of
the materiality and the materiality is void of the mentality; yet the men-
tality occurs due to the materiality as the sound occurs due to the drum.
Hence the Ancients said:
'The pentad based on contact comes not from the eye,
Or from things seen, or something that is in between;
Due to a cause it comes to be, and formed as well,
Just as the sound that issues from a beaten drum.
'The pentad based on contact comes not from the ear,
Or yet from sound, or something that is in between;
Due to a cause .. .


The pentad based on contact comes not from the nose
Or yet from smells, or something that is in between;
Due to a cause ...
The pentad based on contact comes not from the tongue,
Or yet from tastes, or something that is in between; [596]
Due to a cause ...
The pentad based on contact comes not from the body,
Or yet from touch, or something that is in between;
Due to a cause ...
'Being formed, it does not come from the material basis,
Nor does it issue from the mental-datum base;
Due to a cause it comes to be, and formed as well,
Just as the sound that issues from a beaten drum'.
34. Furthermore, mentality has no efficient power, it cannot occur by its
own efficient power. It does not eat, it does not drink, it does not speak,
it does not adopt postures. And materiality is without efficient power; it
cannot occur by its own efficient power. For it has no desire to eat, it has
no desire to drink, it has no desire to speak, it has no desire to adopt
postures. But rather it is when supported by materiality that mentality
occurs; and it is when supported by mentality that materiality occurs.
When mentality has the desire to eat, the desire to drink, the desire to
speak, the desire to adopt a posture, it is materiality that eats, drinks,
speaks and adopts a posture.
35. But for the purpose of explaining this meaning they gave this simile
as an example: a man born blind and a stool-crawling cripple wanted to
go somewhere. The blind man said to the cripple, 'Look, I can do what
should be done by legs, but I have no eyes with which to see what is
rough and smooth'. The cripple said, 'Look, I can do what should be
done by eyes, but I have no legs with which to go and come'. The blind
man was delighted, and he made the cripple climb up on his shoulder.
Sitting on the blind man's shoulder the cripple spoke thus, 'Leave the
left, take the right; leave the right, take the left'.
Herein, the blind man has no efficient power; he is impotent; he
cannot travel by his own efficient power, by his own strength. And the
cripple has no efficient power; he is impotent; he cannot travel by his
own efficient power, by his own strength. But there is nothing to prevent
their going when they support each other. So too, mentality has no effi-
cient power; it does not arise or occur in such and such functions by its
own efficient power. And materiality has no efficient power; it does not
arise or occur in such and such functions by its own efficient power.


But there is nothing to prevent their occurrence when they support each
other.
36. Hence this is said:
*They cannot come to be by their own strength,
Or yet maintain themselves by their own strength;
Relying for support on other states,
Weak in themselves, and formed, they come to be;
[597] They come to be with others as condition.
They are aroused by others as their objects,
They are produced by object and condition,
And each by something other than itself.
* And just as men depend upon
A boat for traversing the sea,
So does the mental body need
The matter-body for occurrence.
And as the boat depends upon
The men for traversing the sea,
So does the matter-body need
The mental body for occurrence.
Depending each upon the other
The boat and men go on the sea.
And so do mind and matter both
Depend the one upon the other*.
37. The correct vision of mentality and materiality, which, after defin-
ing mentality-materiality by these various methods, has been established
on the plane of non-confusion by overcoming the perception of a being,
is what should be understood as purification of view. Other terms for it
are 'defining of mentality-materiality' and 'delimitation of formations'.
The eighteenth chapter called 'The Descrip-
tion of Purification of View' in the Treatise on
the Development of Understanding in the Path of
Purification composed for the purpose of glad-
dening good people.