Points of Controversy

23.2. Of Bogus Arahants

Controverted Point: That infra-human beings, taking the shape of Arahants, follow sexual desires.

Theravādin: Would you also say that such beings, resembling Arahants, commit any or all such crimes as are stated above (PTS CS 23.1)? You deny; but why limit them to one only of those crimes?

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.