Compendium of Phenomena
2.3 Sections
2.3.3. The Suttanta Pairs Of Terms
(a) partake of wisdom?
States which are the associates of wisdom.
(b) partake of ignorance?
States which are the associates of ignorance.
Which are the states that have
(a) the likeness of lightning?
The science of the three lowest of the Noble Paths.
(b) the likeness of the thunderbolt?
The science of the topmost Path, the Path of Arahatship.
(a) foolish?
Unconscientiousness and disregard of blame. Besides, all bad states are foolish.
(b) discreet?
Conscientiousness and fear of blame. Besides, all good states are discreet.
(a) dark?
Unconscientiousness and disregard of blame. Besides, all bad states are dark.
(b) bright?
Conscientiousness and fear of blame. Besides, all good states are bright.
(a) conduce to remorse?
Misconduct in act, word and thought. Besides, all bad states conduce to remorse.
(b) do not conduce to remorse?
Good conduct in act, word and thought. Besides, no good states conduce to remorse.
Which are the states that are synonymous?
That which is an enumeration, that which is a designation, an expression, a current term, a name, a denomination, the assigning of a name, an interpretation, a distinctive mark of discourse on this or that state.
All states are processes of synonymous nomenclature.
Which are the states that are interpretative?
Answer as in §1306.
All states are processes of interpretation.
Which are the states that are expressions?
Answer as in §1306.
All states are processes of expression.
In this connexion,
The four skandhas and uncompounded element.
The four great phenomena and the form which is derived from them.
Answer as for ‘dullness’, §390 (omitting ‘on that occasion').
What is the craving for renewed existence?
Answer as for the ‘Fetter of the passion for renewed existence’, §1120.
What is speculative opinion about renewed existence?
Theories that both soul and world will be re-born, etc.
What is speculative opinion about existence not being renewed?
Theories that both soul and world will not be re-born, etc.
What is the sort of speculation known as Eternalism?
That both soul and world are eternal, etc.
What is the sort of speculation known as Annihilation?
That both soul and world will be dissolved, etc.
What is the sort of speculation known as the Finite Theory … the Infinite Theory?
That both soul and world are finite … infinite, etc.
What is the sort of speculation known as the Theory of Origins … the Theory of the Hereafter?
Theories concerning the ultimate past … concerning futurity.
- All this sort of opinion,
- walking in opinion,
- jungle of opinion,
- wilderness of opinion,
- puppet-show of opinion,
- scuffling of opinion,
- the 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 speculative opinion about renewed existence, and the rest.
What is unconscientiousness? … disregard of blame?
Answers as for the ninth and tenth ‘bases of corruption’, §§1238, 1239.
The feeling of conscientious scruple when scruples ought to be felt, conscientious scruple at attaining to bad and evil states.
The sense of guilt where a sense of guilt ought to be felt, a sense of guilt at attaining to bad and evil states.
The being surly, refractious, contumacious when that which is in accordance with the Law has been said, contrariness, captiousness, want of regard, of consideration, of reverence, of deference.
To follow after, to frequent the company of, and associate with, such persons as are unbelievers, immoral, uneducated, meanspirited and witless to resort to and consort with them, to be devoted to them, enthusiastic about them, and entangled with them.
The being gentle, tractable, amenable when that which is in accordance with the Law has been said, the refraining from contradiction and from captiousness; the showing regard and consideration, reverence and deference.
To follow after, frequent the company of, and associate with, such persons as are believers, virtuous, well educated, generous and intellectual; to resort to and consort with them, to be devoted to them, enthusiastic about them, mixed up with them.
- (a) the Offences?
- (b) restoration from the Offences?
- (c) the Attainments?
- (d) recovery from the Attainments?
That skill which is science, understanding, search, research, etc., when applied to
- (a) the Offences termed the Five Groups of Offences and the Seven Groups of Offences;
- (b) restoration from [the effects of] those Offences;
- (c) a case of Attainment where ‘conception works and thought discursive’,
- a case of Attainment ‘wherein is no working of conception, but only of thought discursive’,
- a case of Attainment ‘void of the working of conception and of thought discursive';
- (d) recovery from those Attainments.
What is proficiency in the Elements?
That proficiency which is
- science,
- understanding,
- search,
- research,
- etc.,
when applied to the eighteen elements, viz.:
- sight, visual object and visual cognition,
- hearing, sound and auditory cognition,
- smell, odour and olfactory cognition,
- taste, sapid object and gustatory cognition,
- body-sensibility, the tangible and tactile cognition,
- mind, mental object and representative cognition.
What is proficiency in attention?
That proficiency in attention which is science, understanding, etc., when applied to those elements.
That skill which is science, understanding, etc., when applied to the twelve spheres, namely, sight and visual form, hearing and sound, smell and odorous object, taste and sapid object, body-sensibility and the tangible, mind and mental object.
What is skill in the ‘Conditioned Geneses’?
Science, understanding, etc., when applied to the formula:
- ‘The syntheses come to pass because of ignorance;
- cognition comes to pass because of syntheses;
- name and form come to pass because of cognition;
- the sixfold sphere comes to pass because of name and form;
- contact comes to pass because of the sixfold sphere,
- feeling because of contact,
- craving because of feeling,
- grasping because of craving,
- renewed existence because of grasping,
- birth because of renewed existence,
- old age and death, grief, lamentation, distress, melancholy and despair come to pass because of birth.
- Such is the uprising of this whole mass of Ill’.
What is skill in affirming … in negating [causal conjuncture]?
Science, understanding, etc., when applied to discerning that, in a given conjuncture, certain states are … are not, the cause and conditions of certain other states.
Uprightness, without deflexion, twist, or crookedness.
That which is plasticity, gentleness, smoothness, pliancy, lowliness of heart.
That patience which is long-suffering, compliance, absence of rudeness and abruptness, complacency of heart.
That which is the absence of excess in deed, in word, and in deed and word together.
Besides, all moral self-restraint is temperance.
When all such speech as is
- insolent,
- disagreeable,
- grating,
- harsh to others,
- vituperative to others,
- bordering upon anger,
- not conducive to concentration,
- is put away,
and when all such speech as is
- innocuous,
- pleasant to the ear,
- affectionate,
- such as goes to the heart,
- is urbane,
- sweet and acceptable to people generally
— when speech of this sort is spoken—polished, friendly and gentle language—this is what is called amity.
The two forms of courtesy: hospitality towards bodily needs and considerateness in matters of doctrine. When anyone shows courtesy it is in one or other of these two forms.
What is it to have the door of the faculties unguarded?
When a certain individual sees an object with the eye he is entranced with the general appearance, or in the details of it. He does not set himself to restrain that which might give occasion for wicked states, covetous, dejected, to flow in over him, were he to dwell unrestrained as to the sense of sight. He keeps no watch over his faculty of sight, nor does he attain to mastery over it.
And so in like manner when he hears a sound with the ear … smells an odour with the nose … tastes a sapid with the tongue … feels a tangible with the body … recognises a mental object with the mind, he is entranced with the general appearance and in the details of it.
He does not set himself to restrain that which might give occasion for wicked states, covetous, dejected, to flow in over him, were he to dwell unrestrained as to the mental faculty.
He keeps no watch over the mental faculty, nor does he attain to mastery over it.
That these six faculties should be thus unguarded, untended, unwatched over, unrestrained, is what is called having the door of the faculties unguarded.
When anyone, through carelessness and without judgment, takes food for purposes of sport, sensual excess, personal charm and adornment, his insatiableness, immoderation, and want of judgment are what is called immoderation in diet.
What is it to have the doors of the faculties guarded?
When a certain individual sees an object with the eye he is not entranced with the general appearance or the details of it.
He sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for wicked states, covetous, dejected, to flow in over him, were he to dwell unrestrained as to the sense of sight.
He keeps watch over this faculty of sight, and attains to mastery over it. And so in like manner, when he hears a sound with the ear … smells an odour with the nose … tastes a sapid with the tongue … feels a tangible with the body … recognises an idea with the mind, he is not entranced with the general appearance and the details of it.
He sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for wicked states, covetous, dejected, to flow in over him, were he to dwell unrestrained as to the mental faculty.
He keeps watch over the mental faculty, and attains to mastery over it.
That these six faculties should be thus guarded, tended, watched over, restrained, is what is called having the doors of the faculties guarded.
When anyone takes food with reflection and judgment, not for purposes of sport, excess, personal charm and attractions, but so as to suffice for the sustenance and preservation of the body, for allaying the pangs [of hunger] and for aiding the practice of the higher life, and thinking the while, ‘I shall subdue that which I have been feeling and shall cause no new feeling to arise, and maintenance shall be mine, blamelessness also and comfort’— this content, moderation, judgment in diet is what is called moderation in diet.
- Unmindfulness,
- lapse of memory,
- non-recollection,
- nonremembrance,
- not bearing in mind,
- superficiality,
- oblivion.
Answer as for ‘ignorance’ or ‘dullness’, §1311, etc.
Answer as in §14, omitting ‘on that occasion’.
Answer as for ‘wisdom’ or ‘science’, §16. And see §53.
What is the power of computation?
Answer as for ‘wisdom’, §16.
What is the power of cultivation?
That which is the pursuing, the cultivating, the multiplying of good states.
Moreover, the seven factors in the Great Awakening are the power of cultivation.
Answer as for ‘quiet’, §§11, 54.
Answer as for ‘insight’ and ‘wisdom’, §§55, 16.
What is ‘the mark of composure’?
Answer as for ‘quiet’, §1357.
Answer as for ‘grasp’ and ‘energy’, §§56, 13.
Answer as for ‘the mark of grasp’, §1358.
Answer as for ‘balance’, §57.
Excess in deed, excess in word, excess in both together. Moreover, all immorality is moral failure.
- ‘There is no such thing as alms, or sacrifice, or offering; there is neither fruit, nor result of good or evil deeds;
- there is no such thing as this world or the next;
- 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 realized by themselves alone both this world and the next, make known the same’
— all this sort of speculation … this is what is called theoretic fallacy. Moreover, all wrong views are theoretic fallacies.
Absence of excess in deed, in word, and in deed and word together’.
- ‘There is such a thing as alms, sacrifice, and offering;
- … fruit, and the result of good and evil deeds;
- … this world and the next;
- mother, father and beings springing into birth without them;
- … recluses and brahmins who have reached the highest, who have attained the height, who having understood and realized by themselves alone both this world and the other world, make known the same’
— all this sort of
- science,
- understanding,
- etc… .
this is what is called progress in theory. Moreover, all right views are progress in theory.
Absence of excess in deed, in word, and in deed and word together.
Knowledge of the specific nature of Karma; knowledge of the Truths in their due order; the knowledge of him who holds the Path; the knowledge of him who holds the Fruit of the Path.
(i.) The phrase ‘Now purity of theory’ is equivalent to that science, understanding … right theory (views) described above, §16.
(ii) In the phrase ‘And as the struggle of him who holds certain views’, ‘struggle’ means that inception of energy etc. described above, §13.
(iii.) The phrase ‘agitation’ implies dread of birth, dread of old age, dread of sickness, dread of death.
(iv.) The phrase ‘occasion of agitation’ means birth, old age, sickness, death.
(v.) The phrase ‘And the earnest struggle of him who is agitated’ refers to [the four Eight Struggles]:
— When a bhikkhu brings forth the desire
- (a) that bad and wicked states which have not arisen should not arise,
- (b) that bad and wicked states which have arisen should be put away,
- (c) that good states which have not arisen should arise,
- (d) that good states which have arisen should stand firm, should not get confused, should be frequently practised, made to abound, cultivated, and perfected
— then he uses endeavour, sets energy a-going, reaches forward in thought and struggles.
(vi.) The phrase ‘And discontent in good states’ means the longing for higher achievement in one who is dissatisfied over the cultivation of good states.
(vii.) The phrase ‘And the not shrinking back in the struggle’ means the thorough and persevering and unresting performance, the absence of stagnation, the unfaltering volition, the unflinching endurance, the assiduous pursuit, exercise and repetition which attend the cultivation of good states.
(viii.) The phrase ‘Wisdom’ means the threefold wisdom, namely:
- (a) reminiscent knowledge of one's former births,
- (b) knowledge of the relapse and renascence of beings,
- (c) the knowledge that makes an end of the Intoxicants.
(ix.) The phrase ‘Emancipation’ means the twofold emancipation, namely,
- (a) detachment of thought, and
- (b) Nirvana.
(x.) The phrase ‘knowledge in making an end’ means the knowledge he has who holds the Path.
(xi.) The phrase ‘knowledge in origins’ means the knowledge he has who holds the Fruit of the Path.
End of the Division entitled ‘Elimination’.
The End