Points of Controversy

8.1. Of Divers Destinies

Controverted Point: That there are six spheres of destiny.

Theravādin: Did not the Exalted One name five destinies—purgatory, the animal kingdom, the Peta-realm, mankind, the devas? And did not the Kalakañjaka Asuras, who resembled the Petas in ugly or frightful shape, sex-life, diet, and length of life, intermarry with them? And did not Vepacitti’s troop, who in the same respects resembled the devas, intermarry with devas? And had not Vepacitti’s troop been formerly devas?

Andhakas and Uttarapāthakas: But since there is an Asura-group, it is surely right to speak of it as a possible destiny?

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.