Points of Controversy

16.10. Of Desire for Life in the Higher Heavens

Controverted Point: That lust for life in Rūpa or Arūpa spheres is included among the data thereof

Theravādin: Similar to PTS CS 16.9.1.

And you cannot maintain your view without admitting that a corresponding lust for the objects of hearing, smelling, taste and touch is one of the data in the sphere of each of these respectively.

If you cannot affirm the latter, you cannot make an exception of the former.

Next with regard to (ii.) lust for life on the Arūpa immaterial plane as a datum thereof—my first argument used above (Kv 16.9) holds good. . So does my second used above (PTS CS 16.10.2). If your proposition is to stand, then a desire for each sense-object must be among the elemental data of the sphere of that particular object. You cannot make an exception of the desire for life in the immaterial sphere.

Andhakas: But is not desire for life in the plane of sense kāmadhātu among the elemental data of that plane?Then surely you cannot make an exception as to desire for life in the Rūpa and Arūpa spheres?

The Points of Controversy, an English translation of the Pali Abhidhamma Kathāvatthu. Translated by Shwe Zan Aung and C.A.F. Rhys Davids. Published by Pali Text Society, 1915.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Bhikkhu Sujato, assisted by Jatin Patel and team from Hi-Tech Outsourcing, in 2013–2014. It contains several minor changes in terminology, the intent of which was to bring the translation in line with more commonly accepted renderings, while eliminating some ambiguities and archaisms. These were particularly apparent in the verses, so I have newly translated most of these. In addition, the corrections listed on pp. lv–lvi of the original edition incorporated in the text. Much of the text is highly compressed, and is often a paraphrase rather than a translation. All notes and excerpts from the commentaries have been omitted, with the exception of the identification of schools, which is marked with each argument. These do not entail that these schools existed at the time of the Kathāvatthu’s composition.

In May 2013, this volume was kindly released by the Pali Text Society under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 licence (CC BY-NC 3.0). The current SuttaCentral edition, including all revisions, corrections, additions, and modifications, is released under the same terms.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.