Points of Controversy

19.4. Of Attainment (patti)

Controverted Point: That attainment is unconditioned

Is similar to PTS CS 19.3.1 in the foregoing

Theravādin: Again, do you imply that the winning through gifts of raiment, almsfood, lodging, medicine, is unconditioned? But if so, the same difficulty arises as in the case of attainment in general (PTS CS 19.4.1). In fact, you would have in these four and Nibbāna five “unconditioneds.”

A similar argument is used for the winning of any of the Rūpa jhānas (4), or of the Arūpa jhānas (4), or of the Four Paths and Four Fruits, concluding with: In fact, you would have in these eight and Nibbāna nine “unconditioneds,” etc.

Pubbaseliyas: But if I am wrong, can you identify winning with any one of the five aggregates, bodily or mental?

If not, then it is unconditioned.

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.